South Africa: Parties pledge fair campaigning for 8 May election The political parties set to contest the 2019 national and provincial elections have vowed to uphold the Independent Electoral Commissions (IEC) Code of Conduct while campaigning in the run up to the 8 May polls. Party leaders today took turns pledging to respect the code of conduct during an event at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand. Addressing delegates, IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini said the assurance of a free and fair election was the responsibility of every South African and not just the IEC. It is everybodys business. It is our responsibility as citizens of this country. It is the responsibility of the leaders of this country. The rules are straightforward, they derive from the electoral act... electoral conduct is firmly rooted in the founding provisions of our constitution, he said. He added that the code of conduct was in place to promote conditions that are conducive to free and fair elections, characterised by tolerance among political parties. The rules of the conduct, among others, requires that parties speak against political violence and threats against other parties, the IEC members and members of the public and the media. It also requires that parties alert authorities of planned marches and rallies. They are also expected to accept election results or challenge them in court. The code prohibits the use of language that provokes violence, intimidation of candidates or voters. It also prohibits the publishing of false information about other parties and their candidates. The plagiarising of party symbols, name or acronym as well as the destroying, defacing or removal of posters of other parties is also not allowed. President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as African National Congress (ANC) leader, said the party was committed to upholding and promoting the code of conduct. We are bound, as we are gathered, by responsibility that the will of the people shall prevail by appending our signatures, he said. By this, the President said the ANC was affirming its commitment to work with all political parties and South Africans to build a strong and durable democracy. Cope leader Mouisoa Lekota said the party was signing the Code of Conduct in order to endorse its support for South Africas democracy. We do it so we can inspire our voters. Also to sustain that which we achieved in 1994. We also sign so that future generations may look to this moment and continue to follow those who founded this democracy, he said. During the ceremony, IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo revealed that the election will see 48 political parties contest the election. We are a third of the way into the election timetable and just 49 days remain before South Africans vote in our countrys sixth national and provincial democratic elections, he said. Mamabolo revealed that the voters roll, containing 26 756 898 voters, has been certified and the final roll published. It contains 26 756 898 voters of whom 55 percent are women and 45 percent are men. This voters roll represents 74.6 of the total voting age population. Since the first universal voters roll was compiled in 1999, the roll has grown by 47 percent, the CEO said. Young voters under the age of 29 constitute 20 percent of the total voters roll, he said. The 22 924 voting stations which will host voting and counting on 8 May have been secured and published along with the routes and stopping times for our 32 mobile stations, he added. The 29 334 registered to vote South Africans living abroad will cast their ballots on 27 April in the countrys 121 foreign missions around the world. This is a 10 percent increase over the 26 716 permitted to vote abroad in 2014, he said. During the event, the IEC conducted a draw to determine the sequential configuration of parties on the national and provincial ballot papers. The CEO said logistical preparations for the elections are well advanced and on track. Following todays ballot paper draw, the IEC said it is ready to commence the ballot production process. In tandem with the number of registered voters and applying universally accepted buffer threshold, we will be printing over 50 million ballot papers using over 40 tons of paper. The ballot production process will take about 14 days to complete, he said. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Arthur Edwards - Pool/Getty ImagesLionel Richie, say Hello to Prince Charles. The Prince of Wales announced Wednesday that Lionel has been named the first global ambassador of his charity, The Princes Trust. The two men met up in Barbados, as part of Charles tour of the Caribbean, to celebrate the partnership. U.K.s The Mirror reports that when Charles thanked Lionel for taking on the role, he made a joking reference to the American Idol judge's signature tune Hello -- much to Lionel's amusement. "It must have been you I was looking for, said the heir to the throne. "Oh, did you say that? Lionel replied in mock disbelief. He did say that" Lionel will support the global expansion of the Princes Trust as it tackles issues like youth education and unemployment, supporting indigenous youth and helping to build sustainable communities. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The consensus was reached during talks between Gen. Luong Cuong, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Standing Member of the Central Military Commission and Director of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA) General Department of Politics, and visiting Lieut. Gen. Thongloy Silivong, member of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee, Deputy Defence Minister and Director of the Lao Peoples Army (LPA) General Department of Politics, in Hanoi, on March 19. Addressing the talks, Gen. Luong Cuong affirmed that Silivongs visit, which took place shortly after the official friendly visit to Laos made by Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, will contribute to concretising and implementing the high-level agreements reached by the two countries, as well as further deepening the traditional friendly ties, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and armies. Both sides agreed that the cooperation between the VPA General Department of Politics and the LPA General Department of Politics has been implemented in a comprehensive, extensive, pragmatic and effective manner over the past few years, especially in sharing experience across the areas of information, communication and education about traditions, training officers, exchanging all-level delegations and searching and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts in Laos. A general view of the talks between the high-ranking political delegations of the VPA and the LPA. The collaboration between the two armies has now become a pillar in the Vietnam-Laos relations, contributing to promoting sustainable and stable development in other areas of bilateral cooperation, they stated. Lieut. Gen. Thongloy Silivong said he believed that the fine relations between the two countries armies will strengthen the trust and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, peoples and armies of the two countries, while ensuring the maintenance of political security and stability in each country, thereby contributing to maintaining peace, stability and development in both countries. Regarding cooperation orientations for the time ahead, the two sides agreed to accelerate the progress of searching and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Laos, in addition to boosting the exchange of delegations and cultural and sport exchanges, and twinning their respective units. As part of their working trip to Vietnam, the high-ranking political delegation of the LPA, led by Lieut. Gen. Thongloy Silivong, paid courtesy calls to Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich, Politburo member, Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Minister of Defence, and Tran Quoc Vuong, Politburo member and permanent member of the PCCs Secretariat. The guests also made working visits to the Military Zone 7 and the Military Zone 9. Now if only he can keep his job in the fall election. Up in Canada, the Trudeau government's new budget includes C$ 300 million to provide a C$ 5,000 incentive toward the purchase or electric or hydrogen-powered cars that cost under C$ 45,000. According to the budget: Transportation accounts for about one quarter of Canadas greenhouse gas emissions, mainly coming from gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks. The future of transportation lies in the increased use of zero-emission vehiclescars and trucks powered by rechargeable electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. While these vehicles are not yet common in communities across Canada, they can provide a cleaner, more efficient way to transport people and goods and, over the long run, help Canadians reduce the everyday cost of transportation. That is why Canada has set a target to sell 100 per cent zero-emission vehicles by 2040, with sales goals of 10 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030 along the way. By becoming an early adopter of this new technology, Canada will help the Canadian zero-emission vehicle market advance, making zero-emission vehicle options more readily available and affordable for more and more Canadians. Now I could argue about the hydrogen, but they will never cost less than $C45k so they are a moot point. The recognition that there are other forms of low-carbon transport, like subsidies for electric bikes and transit fares, would also be nice, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. The budget also lets businesses write off the investment in zero-emission vehicles more quickly, and pledges C$130 million to build charging stations in workplaces, parking lots, office and residential buildings and "remote locations" of which there are plenty in Canada. Ashton Paul/ Gardiner expressway at Keating channel/CC BY 2.0 The Federal Government is also releasing a big pot of money from the Gas Tax Fund, C$ 2.2 billion, for "serious municipal infrastructure deficits." Unfortunately, they are not directing this at anything in particular, and one can imagine Toronto's portion being used to fix elevated highways. There are actually piles of green goodies, from wind power in the Northwest Territories to new subway cars in Montreal and tidal power in Nova Scotia. There is a Public Transit Infrastructure Fund designed to "alleviate traffic congestion, reduce air pollution and cut long commutes that make it harder for people to get to work and for families to spend time together to strengthen communities." There is a "connect to innovate" fund that will "extend high-speed Internet to rural and remote communities in Canada, with a focus on building new backbone infrastructure in communities to provide connections to institutions like schools, hospitals and libraries." And there is the big one, the carbon tax, dealing with what they call carbon pollution. It is the most efficient way to send a price signal to companies, investors, and consumers to make more environmentally sustainable choices. This is the least costly way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster clean innovation. Starting this year, it is no longer free to pollute in Canada. The Government is making sure that there is a price on carbon pollution across the country, while also taking steps to maintain affordability for households and ensuring that Canadian companies can compete and succeed in a competitive global marketplace. Unfortunately, the opposition Conservatives are possibly going to be elected later this year by playing up what they call a corruption scandal into something much bigger than it is, so we will have yet another climate-denying fake populist cancelling carbon taxes and pushing pipelines and dumping Paris targets. Scheer blames carbon taxes for killing jobs. If the government of Canada imposes huge new taxes on companies, on employers, people who are giving people jobs, so if a factory closes down here and pops up in China or another country where they dont have access to clean technology clean energy, then the world isnt better off. So he will just keep polluting right here. Environmentalists might have many complaints about Justin Trudeau, starting with his support of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline, but seriously, just look at the alternatives. And it couldn't come a moment too soon. I'll say it again: Amid some pretty depressing headlines on climate of late, the rapid collapse of coal in Britain has been a reminder of just how fast and unpredictable change can be once it really takes hold. And with other countries moving up their coal phase-out plans, there's reason to believe that the dirtiest of dirty fossil fuels is finally on the ropes. But what about Asia? Despite research linking significantly lower life expectancy in China to emissions from the burning of coal, it's long been assumed that coal consumption would continue to grow in the region for many years to come. That was also true in Japan, where the post-tsunami nuclear phase-out led to a reliance on coal that was initially hard to shake. Recently, however, things have begun to shift. Japanese insurers started to explore coal divestment, and now Ben Smee and Daniel Hurst over at the Guardian suggest that a broader conversation is happening in which investors are ditching new coal mining and production in favor of a massive expansion of renewables, including 13 offshore wind farms currently in the planning and environmental impact phase: Major Japanese investors, including those most indebted to coal, are seeking to back large-scale renewables projects across Asia, marking a monumental shift that energy market analysts say is the start of the end for thermal coal. At the same time, Japanese banks and trading houses are walking away from coal investments, selling out of Australian mines and scrapping plans to build coal-fired power. Of course, Japan is just one country. But Tim Buckley, an energy analyst, argues that Japanese investors are central to the coal industry's overall plan for the future. Once they go, Buckley tells the Guardian, very little makes sense in terms of future growth plans. Add this to news reported yesterday that one of China's largest state-owned investment companies is dropping coal also. Who knows? Maybe we'll see even more pro-environment concessions from the Australian government soon. Because their coal exports aren't likely to pick up if these trends continue... Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) The climate crisis has worsenedand will continue to worsen, scientists warn the western U.S.'s annual fire season. As the planet warms and exacerbates drought conditions, larger swaths of the country have become more susceptible to rampant blazes . In 2020 alone, Colorado had its second-largest fire on record, more than 1,000,000 acres were torched in Oregon, and California had its worst fire year ever. In total, across the U.S., 10 million acres burned . Of course, wildfires have always been a natural (and beneficial) part of many natural ecosystems, but some are simply catastrophic. 1 of 10 2020 California Wildfire Season (California) Bloomberg Creative / Getty Images California experienced its worst fire season on record in 2020. A total of 10,431 fires occurred, causing more than 4 million acres to burn. Nearly all of themsave the 563 that were ignited by lightningwere started by humans. The largest wildfire in the country in 2020 (and the largest fire complex in California history) was the August Complex fire. Started by a series of lightning strikes, the fire burned throughout Northern California's Coast Rangeincluding the counties of Glenn, Shasta, Mendocino, Lake, Trinity, and Tehamaeventually joining the Elkhorn Fire. Together, they cloaked nearby San Francisco in thick, red, apocalyptic smoke. The August Complex fire raged from August to mid-November. 2 of 10 The Miramichi Fire (Maine) Drawn on the spot by Capt. Hervey Smyth, etched by Paul Sandby (1731-1809), retouched by P. Benazech / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain The Miramichi Fire of 1825 was one of the worst forest fires in North American history. Though most of its damage was done in New Brunswick (around the Canadian city of Miramichi), the firestorm also reached well into the U.S. state of Maine. By the time the blaze was dispelled, more than 3 million acres had burned and at least 160 people had been killed. One of the more harrowing survival stories to come out of this event involves the residents along the Miramichi River, who waded for hours in its waters while the fire passed. It is said that they shared the water with livestock and even wild animals, including raccoons, deer, bears, and moose, all trying to escape the flames. 3 of 10 The Great Fire of 1910 (Idaho, Montana, and Washington) U.S. Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain The Great Fire of 1910, also occasionally referred to as the "Big Burn," scorched more than 3 million acres in Idaho, Montana, and Washingtonin all, a total area roughly the size of Connecticut. There were 87 fatalities from the fire, 78 of them firefighters. The handling of the blaze went on to shape the future of the U.S. Forest Service. Immediately after the 1910 fire, the service vowed to fight all wildfires, even ones that are naturally occurring and of no threat to human life or property. The merits of this policy are still debated today, especially by ecologists who insist that some wildfires are necessary for ecosystem health. 4 of 10 The Great Fires of 1871 (Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin) U.S. Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Four of the worst fires in U.S. history all broke out in the same weekOctober 8, 1871across the Upper Midwest. The Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed about a third of the city's valuation at the time and left more than 100,000 residents homeless, stole the headlines, but three other fires were also burning. Holland and Manistee, Michigan, were leveled by the "Great Michigan Fire," while across the state, another destroyed Port Huron. The worst of all was perhaps the Great Peshtigo Fire, which ravaged the Wisconsin countryside and killed more than 1,500making it the deadliest forest fire in U.S. history. That all of these fires happened simultaneously, over such wide distances, has prompted scientists to suggest that the fires were caused by a shower of meteorites, fragments from the impact of Comet Biela. Others blame the unusual confluence of events on high winds. 5 of 10 2008 California Wildfire Season (California) David McNew / Getty Images California experienced one of the most devastating wildfire seasons of the decade in 2008, when 6,255 fires burned 1.5 million acres of land throughout Northern California, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and the Pacific Coast. The largest fire that year was the Klamath Theatre Complex fire, in which 11 fires merged to burn nearly 200,000 acres in Siskiyou County (California's northernmost point). Two firefighters died as a result. Other notable infernos from the 2008 California wildfire season include the Basin Complex firethe second largest of the year, ignited by a lightning strike near Big Surand the Iron Alps Complex fire, which led to 10 fatalities in Trinity County. 6 of 10 The Great Fire (Oregon) A single fire in 1845 destroyed as much land as was burned during the entire 2008 California wildfire season. The Great Fire ravaged 1.5 million acres in northern Oregon, ripping through downtown Portland just two years after it officially became a city. The flames spread across 20 square blocks in just 24 hours, destroying hundreds of businesses, houses, and commercial properties. The entire downtown area shifted west as a result of the firewhose scars can now be seen in what is now known as the Portland Yamhill Historic District. 7 of 10 Taylor Complex Fire (Alaska) At the time of Alaska's Taylor Complex fire, in 2004, it was the largest wildfire on record in the U.S. since 1997. Burning more than 1.3 million acres in eastern Alaska near the Canada border, the complex left both sides of the Taylor Highway ablaze and threatened the gold rush town-turned-tourist attraction Chicken. It was the largest conflagration in Alaska's record-breaking 2004 fire season, which ended up seeing roughly 6.6 million acres of forest scorchedthe highest total in U.S. history. The fire occurred on one of the driest and hottest summers on record at the time. It was triggered by lightning strikes and remained active from June to September. 8 of 10 2017 Montana Wildfire Season (Montana) Rebecca L. Latson / Getty Images In 2017, about 2,500 wildfires torched 1.3 million acres of Montana land. Though the year was predicted to bring a "below-average fire season," severe flash droughts made for the perfect conditions for wildfire spreading. According to the Montana DNRC's end-of-year fire report, 46% were caused by lightning strikes and 53% by humans. The biggest blaze of the 2017 Montana wildfire season was the Lodgepole Complex fire, which reached 270,000-some acres of grassland and pine forest in and around Jordan and was active from July to August. It destroyed more than 30 homes and structures. 9 of 10 Thumb Fire (Michigan) Also known as the Great Forest Fire of 1881 or the Huron Fire, the 1881 Thumb Fire is named for its location in Michigan's Thumb region. It spread through the counties of Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, and St. Clair, taking hundreds of lives and destroying countless structures, largely due to a drought caused by a months-long rain deficit. It torched more than a million acres in less than a day (September 6), altering the landscape of the Thumb region for decadesif not centuriesto come. The 1881 fire cloaked much of the eastern U.S. in smoke, resulting in a pseudo twilight at 12 p.m. For this reason, the following day was dubbed "Yellow Tuesday." The fire led to the formation of the Northern Forest and Protection Association, which was superseded by the U.S. Forest Service in 1905. Here's a little experiment. Arrange the following six industries in order from worst to least polluting: coal/oil, tourism, beef, transportation, fracking, and fashion. Which are the worst offenders? It turns out that coal and oil take first place, followed by fashion. This discovery comes as a shock to most people, who do not make a connection between their clean clothes and a dirty industry. And yet, it's something that we should all know more about, which is why British TV presenter and journalist Stacey Dooley made a short film about it. Fashion's Dirty Secrets aired on BBC Three in October 2018, but it only just arrived in Canada, which enabled me to view it this week. (It is available for Canadian viewers here.) I approached the 45-minute film with curiosity, wondering if it would be condensed version of The True Cost film or an expanded version of the Story of Stuff's problem with plastic microfibres, but it turned out to be neither. Fashion Uses and Ruins Water The film focuses on water specifically, how much water is required to grow cotton, which is the world's favorite fabric and also the most resource-intensive. Dooley travels to Kazakhstan to the site of the former Aral Sea, a vast body of water that has almost dried up entirely over the last four decades, due to irrigation of cotton crops. Where there used to be fish, there are now camels, as well as dust storms carrying toxic pesticide residue. People who relied on the sea for food, tourism, and a tempering effect on the weather have seen their quality of life and health deteriorate. As Dooley said, "We all know what plastic does to the earth... We're fed that every day and rightly so, but did I know that cotton was capable of this? Of course I didn't. I had no idea." Dooley then travels to Indonesia, where she boats down the Citarum River, a principal waterway that is now used as a sewer for 400+ textile factories. Pipes gush black, purple, and foamy liquids. The river looks like it's boiling, a sign of little oxygen, and dead animals float past. It's obvious the stench is overwhelming. Nearby, children play in the water. Mothers wash clothes and bathe. Apparently there are 28 million Indonesians who rely on this river and eat food grown with its water. When Dooley's group gathers a water sample, they discover it's full of heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and mercury. It's horrifying to imagine living so close to such a toxic source, and yet it's inescapable for most of these people. Quick Turnover Is Consequential Lucy Siegle, another British journalist who has investigated the environmental impact of clothing, blames fast fashion: "Their business model basically treats clothing as if it's a fast-moving consumer good. We used to have autumn, winter, spring, summer collections. We now have 52-plus collections a year, some brands up to 2 or 3 collections a week. If you don't buy it now, you won't get it next time because they don't restock." When Dooley approaches high street brands like ASOS, Primark, H&M;, Zara, and Topshop with questions, they refuse to speak to her. Even when she attends the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which is meant to be a place for brands, influencers, and designers to discuss sustainability, no one will talk, except a Levi's representative. The film wraps up with her meeting four Instagram influencers, whose shopping hauls have garnered them millions of followers. Dooley questions them about the effects of their actions, and whether their platforms could be better used to inform people of the consequences of our fashion choices. The girls seem stunned. Apparently one did a wardrobe purge a few weeks later. Final Thoughts I came away from the film thoroughly depressed and horrified by the heartbreaking scenes in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. I have no doubt they will play through my mind the next time I'm tempted to buy a superfluous new piece of clothing and immediately quell that urge. I'm also left mulling over how interesting it was to see a documentary that didn't focus on plastic microfibres. As massive as that problem is, we cannot forget that even natural fibers, as clean and green as they seem, come at a high cost, too. It appears that the only solution lies in buying far less and viewing the pieces we do buy as a long-term investment. West Ward I just got finished reading about the West Ward resident who seems to think that everything is improving. I dont know what part of the west ward he lives in but its not improving in my part of the West Ward, people. The open-air drug dealing is still going on on Stuyvesant Avenue. So all these improvements and their so-called West Trenton police force. Give me a break. Got to be something better than that. I dont see any improvements. West Ward resident Some improvement is better than none, but it would be great if there was improvement in all parts of the city. Ed Note Disrespectful commander As a veteran and one currently associated with a uniformed first responder unit, I find President Trumps recent comments regarding a true American hero, John McCain, extremely outrageous. Trump never wore uniform in defense of this great country, and therefore is not worthy, in my opinion, to be called Commander in Chief. I sincerely hope that come next election, he is promptly voted out of office. A Navy vet While I disagree that a person who never served in uniform cant be a good Commander in Chief, I agree that Trump is a bad one. He doesnt take advice from the respective experts. He has military generals that report to him and advise him on military issues, but he defies their advice regularly and defers to talking heads on Fox News instead to advise him on how to govern and how to run the military. Disagreeing with John McCain would be fine, if Trump did it in a respectful way. There is no need to demean the man and inflict further pain on his family and friends who are still in mourning. Ed Note laxmi@tribune.com Auburn Hills, March 19 Warning: Dont do anything stupid! reads the sign to the right of Rick Haas office computer. It is the same tongue-in-cheek warning affixed to the dashboard of every off-road Mahindra Roxor vehicle that Indian automaker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd assembles in a suburb north of Detroit. The motto might also apply to the Indian automakers latest attempt to enter the US auto market an effort Haas, a former executive at Ford Motor Co and Tesla Inc, is leading. A decade ago, Mahindra tried to break into the US market with a low-cost pickup truck. The foray ended in failure and a lawsuit from dealers demanding their franchise fees back. Haas, the automakers North American chief executive, says this time Mahindra has a more cautious pay-as-you-go strategy. Instead of starting with a truck or passenger car, Mahindra is reintroducing its brand with the Roxor, a vehicle that looks like a vintage Jeep. Mahindra has built around 3,000 off-road Roxors and is using the model, which starts at around $15,000, to demonstrate to American consumers and dealers acutely aware of our previous experience here that the Indian automaker can build a reliable product before it launches mainstream models for use on American roads, Haas said. Getting burned makes you cautious, Haas said. Mahindra is one of a handful of European and Asian automakers gearing up to enter the US market in hopes of gaining sales as well as credibility that can boost their brands at home. Frances PSA and Chinas Zotye and GAC all have outlined plans for establishing beachheads in the worlds second-largest market by sales, which offers rich pickings in segments, including pickup trucks, SUVs and crossovers. But the US is a mature market that most industry executives say is heading for a downturn, and it is already crowded with over 40 automotive brands and 300-plus models on sale. Analysts and auto executives say new entrants must stand out in a crowd to crack the US market, as Tesla Inc has with electric vehicles. Reuters Making inroads laxmi@tribune.com Vijay C Roy Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 19 With nearly 200 malls and still counting, the northern region, including the Delhi-NCR, is beaming with mall culture. However, malls with high footfalls and good sales are less than 20%. So whats special about these successful malls? These malls are no longer just shopping destinations but they have transformed into community hubs. From offering right brand mix for shoppers to culinary experiences, events, including related to fitness and promotions, they are offering almost everything. The fundamentals of good malls are location, catchment, design, occupier mix and management. While nearly 40 malls continue to perform extremely well in the region, there are many that have been struggling for number of years now to meet customer expectations because of lack of proper planning. If you see Delhi and NCR, there are around 140 malls, but relevant malls with good footfalls and sales are about 10-15%. For planning any mall, category mix is the key and the first step is getting it right. This is closely linked to zoning and the brand mix as per the catchment. A good mix of the category and available brands placed together in a zone makes it easier for a shopper to look for products in a similar category without spending too much time and makes the shopper prefer the mall with the right mix over other destinations. Also, there should be something for every member of the family, said Yogeshwar Sharma, executive director and CEO, Select Citywalk (Delhi). According to experts, the northern region has a huge potential but in the absence of proper planning and design, these malls are not doing well. For example, there have been instances where there is a demand and retail space is not there and where there is little demand, there is influx of malls. We see the likelihood of acquisitions of malls that are not performing well by investment funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts in future because it will de-risk the original investor and capitalise on best management capabilities. Best practices in retail and technology will drive the future of malls as they strongly compete with e-commerce, he added. The reason behind most of the malls in the region not doing well is the supply has not been in right quadrant, virtually affecting their sustainability. The strata-owned malls, where developers sold off store by store to individual investors, are struggling and finally will be converted into neighbourhood stores, office space and clinics etc., said Pankaj Renjhen, COO of Virtuous Retail. The company has a mall in Mohali district of Punjab and is growing at 25%. Prominent ONES in region laxmi@tribune.com New Delhi, March 19 The RBI has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) over the order passed regarding classification of debt of IL&FS group companies as NPA. A two-member NCLAT bench, headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, has said that it would hear the RBI on the issue. The RBI is seeking modification of the order passed by the tribunal which has provided moratorium on repayment of loans regarding the accounts of IL&FS and its over 300 group companies. During the proceedings, RBIs counsel said that there was a overlap of power on the issue. The tribunal has also asked the Ministry of Corporate Affairs about the progress made with respect to resolution of IL&FS issues. Further, the tribunal has sought company-wise updates from the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and Resolution Professional. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 19 The local Municipal Corporation has decided to provide a job to the son of Jaspal, an employee of its enforcement wing who reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his house in Sector 19 yesterday. Mayor Rajesh Kalia and senior officers of the MC today visited his house and met family members of the deceased employee. The Mayor said all possible help would be provided to the family members, besides providing a job to the son of the employee through outsourcing. Body handed over to kin after autopsy The autopsy of the 49-year-old MC employee, Jaspal, was conducted today. The victim had left a suicide note in which he had accused a senior MC official and a sub-inspector of the enforcement wing of harassing him. The police said the autopsy was conducted at the GMSH-16 here, following which the body was handed over to the victims family. Suicide note had blamed officials The victim, Jaspal, had named a senior MC official and a sub-inspector of the enforcement wing in the suicide note, written on March 16. Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd) Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd) Addl Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi THE Pulwama and Balakot incidents have pushed into the background the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the Indian Air Force (IAF) acquisitions, of which the Rafale deal hogged the limelight. Despite the favourable Pulwama end state being achieved, albeit temporary, there is an imperative that needs urgent government attention. Tucked away in the CAG report is a cry beseeching a look into what one may call defence distress, paraphrasing the term from the agrarian and farmers distress that every politician is talking about. The last two are vote banks which no politician can be reticent about, as they are leveraged through morchas, hartals and strikes. Unfortunately, when defence distress strikes, it is deadly, and often fatal in a way. The Balakot incident demonstrated resoundingly that India has had enough of Pakistans support to terrorism; however, it should not divert our attention from the fact that defence pangs are a reality and the tell-tale signs should be recognised and acted upon. There are three pointers that need elaboration; though IAF examples are discussed, the issues are valid for other defence forces too. Critiquing sub-optimal defence procurement procedures, CAG has commented that the non-conclusion of a usage contract precluded the use of the flight simulator for the C-130 Hercules aircraft till 2016, despite it being ready four years earlier. In the interim, India lost five air warriors and a multi-million-dollar aircraft in 2014, attributed to a training issue. This is the first pointer lack of empathy and understanding of an operational requirement due to bureaucratic procedures and attitudes (remember, the simulator was fully ready). In any other country, where the political and bureaucratic climate is cognisant of military urgencies, many heads would have rolled. The second pointer is of an intangible kind, which, if neglected, shows up with deadly results later. The HAL-built HPT-32 trainer was grounded in 2009 after many accidents, 13 of which were fatal. Many red flags had been raised about the stone-like gliding quality of the HPT after an engine failure (a frequent occurrence). The IAF had pulled along till the proverbial straw fell on the camels back and we lost two flying instructors at the Air Force Academy (AFA). The HPT was grounded, throwing the training profiles of rookie pilots into bedlam, and for the next few years a sub-optimal training pattern on the HJT-16 Kiran was followed. The emergency purchase of the Pilatus aircraft revolutionised training; AFAs flight line was chock-a-block with the gleaming new trainers till 2017 or so when, due to non-finalisation of maintenance contracts, a severe lack of spares ensued. This is the situation even now, as per media reports. However, training has to continue to ensure a regular pilot feed for frontline squadrons and one is sure that cannibalisation (shifting) of spares among aircraft is being done and extension given to parts whose life is expiring. The situation must be similar for some other fleets, too, as many acquisition and upgrade programmes have been inordinately delayed, a fact stated by the Air Chief last month. This unacceptable situation is the second indicator of a serious problem, where lack of funds could be pushing reliability of war- fighting equipment towards an unsafe zone, which may translate into tragic results later. The third warning is where op-preparedness starts getting affected. Under-equipping of the Indian Army was one of the major causes of the 1962 China debacle. At a recent conference, tears welled up in a retired Lt Generals eyes while narrating the humiliation the armed forces had felt then. Thank God for the subsequent 1965 Indo-Pak war that brought back some self-respect, remarked the General. After 1962, the government funded an accelerated re-equipping plan and the victory in the 1971 war bears witness to that effort. However, as per recent media reports, we are on the downslide again with a shortage of fighter squadrons and many critical items; soldiers rifles are having to be imported by the fast-track route, ammunition is in short supply, and sniper rifles, Naval helicopters and MiG-29 fighters for the IAF are planned to be imported too. But will these just remain plans, as this years defence acquisition budget is insufficient even for previously concluded contracts? Answers to these pointers have a bearing on what happens hereafter. Will the post-Pulwama happenings deter Pakistan? The answer is an emphatic no. It is time to remember Bernard Brodie, the doyen of strategic thought, who said, Avoidance of blackmail can be achieved only by demonstrating that our readiness to accept risks need not be and is not less than the blackmailers. History shows that adversaries cannot be reformed as per ones wish but have to be coped with through management strategies in which hard power is vital to prevent blackmail. Addressing defence concerns (though not a vote catcher) is an imperative first step to manage Pakistan and simultaneously weigh against China. While short-term responses after the Pulwama attack will be implemented, long-term solutions require tons of money and decades of time spread over many governments. Of the three attributes that determine deterrence to prevent blackmail resolve, capability and capacity the Balakot incident demonstrated the first two; the third, dependent on an indigenous arms base, is in short supply. Politicians of all hues need to put their shoulders to the wheel and address defence preparedness in a bi-partisan manner indigenous defence R&D and manufacture must be kickstarted. Hard power, in quality and quantity, is the key to building deterrence to avert future Pulwamas. Can every political party elaborate, in its election manifesto, what it would do to address defence preparedness? That would indeed be welcome. Views are personal Wajahat Habibullah Wajahat Habibullah Indias first Chief Information Commissioner Freedoms terrible thirst, flooding Kashmir,/is bringing love to its tormented glass,/Stranger, who will inherit the last night of the past?/Of what shall I not sing, and sing? Agha Shahid Ali, Kashmiri poet Writing in the January 9 edition of The Tribune, I had anticipated that as time limits approached it will be argued that given the state of law and order in J&K, particularly in Kashmir the time is not right for elections. I had argued that conceding such an argument would amount to capitulation of its primary duty by any democracy. Whether the voters participate or not is the right and the responsibility of the citizen. Providing for the exercise of that right is the first duty and responsibility of the government. In keeping with this constitutional responsibility, elections to panchayats although unlike the Constitution of India, the Constitution of J&K has no such mandatory provision were held from November 17 to December 11, 2018, overriding the boycott by mainstream parties of J&K for as many as 4,483 panchayats in 35,029 constituencies with an electorate of over 58 lakh. Despite its wide expanse the polling was peaceful Given the recent experience in the state, including the failure of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold elections in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, despite constitutional compulsion, I had argued that it might be assumed that participation in the election in Kashmir will be low, even negligible, as it was in the panchayat polls. This is readily explicable as arising from a conviction, particularly among disgruntled youth, that the elections are only for acquisition of power and never a craving for service. Their cry has been unanimous: azadi. But is this cry sedition as many might claim? No, for Indias Constitution in its very first words secures to all of us, including the Kashmiris, liberty, the English equivalent of azadi. Let us not forget that when in face of a Pakistani invasion masquerading as a tribal intrusion in 1947, the supremely popular leader of Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, not only stood firm in support of India precipitating the accession of the princely state to a newborn, democratic India, the decision was, as he explained to Joseph Korbel, head of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan, the only surety of real freedom for the Kashmiris. The history of the disaffection that grew in the state, and the fact that separatism still lives is a sad comment on the extent of that freedom we allowed. Juxtapose this with the sparkling image of India as not only the largest, but also among the most liberal of the worlds democracies. Can anything be more fatal to a faith in that democracy than a denial of its full stature to a section of that very nation? It is then the responsibility of the political leadership to assuage such cynicism and reassure constituents that they will work with and for the people. Just prior to the announcement of the election calendar, the ECI had announced that a team headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Sharma will hold meetings with leaders of seven national and three regional parties in Srinagar. These meetings reflected a consensus among the leadership on the issue when they discussed it with the visiting team. Their advice was ignored insofar as the Assembly polls are concerned, although Lok Sabha elections are scheduled. Since the arrangements required for both are identical, save a few additional pieces of equipment, the leadership stands somewhat mystified. Participation in the electoral process is only one aspect of participation in governance, which includes development, but is the necessary first step. By denying the Kashmiris this freedom, the ECI is compromising the exercise of this right by a vital section of the Kashmiris. Has it taken into account the fact that the summer will bring the migration of the Gujjars and Bakarwals, the shepherd community classified as Scheduled Tribe, to their highland pastures in remote valleys? Has the ECI prepared to replicate the required electoral infrastructure, including the location of staff seconded from regular government assignments to these often inaccessible locations, to ensure efficient conduct of elections? More than two years in the making, Jashn-e-azadi, a feature-length documentary launched in 2007 by film-maker Sanjay Kak, explores the implications of the struggle for freedom, an open forum seeking conversations about the film, about Kashmir, and about azadi itself. The full and free exercise of our democracy is our trump card in the resolution of controversies surrounding J&K. We already have the precedence of Sajjad Lone, once leading dissident and heir to Hurriyat leader AG Lone, leading the Peoples Conference and BJP ally, having joined the democratic process. He today controls the important Srinagar municipality with Junaid Mattoo as its head, whose father, a chief engineer in the J&K Government had led employees three-month strike in 1991 that had left me as Divisional Commissioner as the only functioning officer, together with my Gujjar jamedar in all Kashmir. Kashmirs young leader Shah Faesal, throwing off the shackles of government service, has flung himself into the political ring. Other young people, boys and girls, not thus far participant in the political process are readying for contest. If we are to move towards resolution of the issues that have blighted Kashmirs history since the birth of our Republic, it must be with the participation of all sections of public opinion united in the supreme exercise of democratic liberty, which begins with selecting a government of their choice. The ECI should give them the chance guaranteed by no less than the Constitution of India. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Ottawa, March 20 Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh has created political history in Canada when he made his debut in the House of Commons as the first non-white leader of a major opposition party in the country. The arrival of the turbaned leader into the house on Monday, cheered by all members, coincided with the induction of a senior woman member into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Singh, 40, the leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the House of Commons, the lower of house of Parliament, before the daily question period. He was elected in federal by-elections held on February 25. Singh's first words as an elected lawmaker were about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... in Christchurch," he said. About 50 people were killed last week in the Pacific country's worst-ever mass shooting. He then launched his first question about housing in Burnaby-South. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" he said. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. Speculations are rife that the last budget of the Trudeau government with an eye on the general elections in October is expected to have several attractions for the middle class. PTI vinaymishra188@gmail.com A father advising his son not to contest elections is unusual in Indian politics. Rarer still is such a piece of advice emanating from a veteran politician dad, albeit one miffed with his party, to a son who is a bred-in-the-bone five-time MLA. Dynastic politics holds sway in the country as a web of powerful relatives canvasses to maximise their influence to gain power, unlike in most democracies of the developed world. The kin of local and regional satraps sons, daughters, brothers, spouses or children-in-law dot the political landscape. Wielding varying degrees of power in the constituencies nurtured by the family patriarchs or matriarchs, they make for an interesting set walking the tightrope. The motley crowd includes ambitious power-hungry people juxtaposed with reluctant entrants to the arena. Giving wind to this flourishing practice are most political parties as they converge on the neta-ka-beta in the name of winnability. The tall intentions of giving one ticket in one family and putting their rivals in the dock for promoting dynasts are good for rhetoric. The cut-throat competitive electoral world also begets fights for a bigger share in the familys political pie, giving rise to internal strife. The clamour for power among clan members escalates during the poll season, putting their power-brokering skills to test. People watch their shenanigans with amusement-ridden bated breath. At times, the feuding members soon comprise and call it a truce. Like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav did before the last UP Assembly elections. On other occasions, the rift deepens into a split in the party. This was seen in Haryana recently on the eve of the Jind bypoll when the Chautala familys Dushyant faction severed ties with the four-generation-old INLD to form a new party, the Jannayak Janata Party. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsas veiled threat to not canvass for son Parminder Singh Dhindsa wrapped in his suggestion against Junior entering the poll fray this time in Punjab is another instance of a war in a parivar. This move in the poll dance has the political pundits and voters hooked. vinaymishra188@gmail.com Over a month after the UK ordered the extradition of business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is accused of defrauding banks and laundering money to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore, a London court has issued an arrest warrant against fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, the main accused in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank scam. The development, which comes weeks before the high-stakes Lok Sabha elections, is a shot in the arm for the NDA government, which has been under fire from the Opposition for allegedly failing to stop high-profile offenders from fleeing the country. Incidentally, the news regarding the arrest warrant came hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi took potshots at PM Narendra Modi, accusing him of acting as a chowkidar (watchman) for the likes of Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya. The legal proceedings for the diamond jewellers extradition will start only after his formal arrest by the London Metropolitan police, even as he has the option of seeking bail. Going by the apparent fast-tracking of the Mallya and Nirav Modi cases, its easy to jump to the conclusion that Britain is finally cracking the whip on tainted moneybags from other countries. Facing the heat from India and other nations, the UK had late last year decided to suspend the golden visa scheme, which offers permanent residency on a platter for an investment of 5-10 million. However, the authorities soon did a U-turn on the scheme, which has helped several big shots find a safe haven in Britain while escaping punishment for their misdeeds in their home country. The UK needs to consistently demonstrate its judicial and political will in order to shed the harbourer tag. The breakthrough in the Nirav Modi case might weaken the Oppositions anti-corruption tirade against the ruling BJP. However, the Congress and Co will certainly wonder why the wheels of justice have started moving so late, why things were allowed to come to such a pass. The government owes an explanation to the nation on this count. amansharma@tribunemail.com Bhartesh Singh Thakur & Sanjay Bumbroo Tribune News Service Panchkula, March 20 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court on Wednesday acquitted all four accused, including Swami Aseemanand, in the 2007 Samjhauta blasts case that killed 68 persons and left 12 injured. Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had exploded aboard the train on February 18, 2007, near Dewana railway station in Panipat. The case, synonymous with Hindu terror or saffron terror, had remained a bone of contention between India and Pakistan as most of the victims on board the special train between the two countries were Pakistanis. Besides Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary were put on trial for murder, attempt to murder and charges under the Railways Act, Explosive Substances Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Of the four other accused in the case, Sunil Joshi was murdered on December 29, 2007, while Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangre and Amit, alias Ashwani Chauhan, were never traced. The trial went on for over five years but all key witnesses turned hostile. While Assemanand, accused of being the ideologue and financier, got bail on August 28, 2014, Sharma, Chauhan and Chaudhary facing charges of planting bombs on board the train stayed in jail. NIAs special prosecutor Rajan Malhotra said: We will first go through the judgment and then give our opinion on filing an appeal. The NIA had told the court that it probed all possible links of jihadi groups, including LeT, Al-Qaida, SIMI, etc, and suspected persons associated with them e.g. Arif Qasmani, Safdar Nagori, David Headly, etc. The first major breakthrough came during the 2008 Malegaon blast investigation by ATS, Maharashtra, which hinted towards the possible involvement of Sunil Joshi, Col Purohit, Ramchandra Kalsangra, Dange and others in the Samjhauta blasts. The NIA claimed Aseemanand was upset about terror attacks on temples and expressed anger during discussions with Joshi, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Rateshwar, all of whom developed vengeance not only against jihadists, but also the Muslim community. In June 2006, Aseemanand, Sadhvi Pragya, Joshi, Dange, Kalsangra, Sharma and Amit hatched a conspiracy in Gujarat, the agency claimed. The NIA arrested Aseemanand in 2010. The ideologue recorded a confessional statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, but later retracted. Samjhauta blast: A timeline February 18, 2007: A blast in Samjhauta Express in Haryanas Panipat kills 68 people, mostly Pak nationals. February 20, 2007: Haryana Police set up SIT to probe the case. July 29, 2010: NIA takes over the probe from Haryana Police. June 20, 2011: NIA files chargesheet in Panchkula court. July 2014: Aseemanand gets bail. March 6, 2019: Final arguments in the case conclude, court reserves verdict. March 11: A Pak woman, daughter of a blast victim, moves court for examination of eyewitnesses from her country. March 18: Arguments concludes on the Pak woman's plea. March 20, 2019: Anti-terror court first dismisses her petition, acquits four accused. editorial@tribune.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 19 Divisions in the Haryana Congress were apparent today with senior MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi skipping the maiden meeting of the state poll coordination panel and casting a shadow on the grand old partys plan of putting up a united front. The meeting held in the presence of Congress general secretary (Haryana) Ghulam Nabi Azad and under the chairmanship of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda however went ahead with the election preparation plans and decided to undertake a bus tour across Haryana from March 26 to 30. Out of 15 coordination committee members, 14 attended the meeting with the exception of Bishnoi, who is said to be unhappy with the state of affairs in the Haryana Congress. Bishnoi is also learnt to have conveyed his sentiments to the party. News also is that hes keen on fielding his son Bhavya from the Hisar Lok Sabha segment but the Congress hasnt given him any assurance in this regard yet. On the contrary, some Congress leaders want Kuldeep Bishnoi to contest from Hisar. Meanwhile, the bus travel of the Haryana coordination committee members was finalised today. It will start from Faridabad and end in Jhajjar. The aim is to deliver an all-is-well message to the voters who have long witnessed public displays of discord between the state Congress leaders. Bishnois absence from todays meeting did spoil the optics for the Congress but Azad skirted questions around the missing senior leader and said the party was raring to go in Haryana. To that end, the Congress will hold a meeting of Haryana workers in New Delhi on March 23 at the AICC headquarters. The idea is to sound the poll bugle in the state from this meeting and then take the campaign message of the party across Haryana by way of a bus tour to be attended by all top leaders. The Haryana Congress coordination committee members who participated in todays meeting were former minister Kumari Selja, Tanwar, CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Randeep Surjewala, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Ajay Singh Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Naveen Jindal, Kailasho Saini, Anil Thakkar, Kuldeep Sharma, Jaiveer Valmiki and Sardar Jaipal Singh Lali. Former Haryana Assembly speaker Kuldeep Sharma said, The meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere. It was after long that the state Congress leaders today sat on a common AICC platform and resolved to forge unity in the ranks. The challenge for them is to sustain this unity narrative until the elections. Privately, party sources said state leaders understand the urgency of getting together in Haryana to counter an aggressive BJP, which won the MC elections followed by the crucial Jind byelection. The question in Haryana is one of collective survival or collective failure. Already a lot of time has been lost in figuring out the best way ahead and finding the right balance of leaders and castes. Its time for some action now. Otherwise everyone will lose, a Congress senior said. Out of the 10 LS seats in Haryana, the Congress holds only Rohtak; BJP holds seven and INLD two. monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, March 20 The National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Kurukshetra has warned its students against "gate crashing" weddings near its premises. "It has been reported that some of the students have been going to attend weddings in the city without having invitation. This is not only unethical and immoral but also uncalled for," a letter sent to hostel inmates by the Chief Warden said. Sources in the institute said that off late there have been complaints that students have been gate crashing weddings to skip meals in the mess, which is why this directive was issued. The letter directed students to desist from indulging in such type of "uncivilised activities" which also brings a bad name to the institution. The letter warned students of disciplinary action if they are found doing so. "Disciplinary action as per the institute rules will be taken against the students if they are found indulging in such an activity, the letter said. PTI editorial@tribune.com Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, March 19 With no assurance from the BJP of being given the Mandi Lok Sabha ticket, Ashray Sharma has met senior Congress leaders in Delhi to seek re-entry into the party and be fielded for the parliamentary poll. Ashray has been staking claim for the Mandi Lok Sabha ticket from the BJP, represented by his grandfather, former Telecommunication Minister Sukh Ram, on several occasions. With chances of the BJP fielding him being bleak, he is learnt to be in touch with the central Congress leadership. Incidentally, Ashrays father Anil Sharma is the Minister for Power in the BJP government in the state. Anil had joined the BJP just before the 2017 Assembly poll, primarily due to bitter relations Virbhadra and his father shared. He too was sidelined during the Virbhadra regime, pushing him to join the BJP. If the Congress agrees to field Ashray, Anil will have to resign as a minister and also as an MLA as he had won on the BJP ticket. Even as there is talk of Ashray meeting Congress leaders, Virbhadra, who has won the Mandi seat, is vehemently opposed to his candidature. The frontrunners for the Congress ticket from Mandi include Virbhadra Singh, his son Vikramaditya Singh and former minister Kaul Singh Thakur. It is reliably learnt that though the Congress is not averse to Ashrays candidature, the biggest hurdle is Virbhadra Singh. He had won from Mandi and his wife Pratibha Singh also won two parliamentary poll from this seat. On the other hand, Ashray too is staking claim on the Mandi seat, terming it his familys traditional seat. He has even started his campaign and visited most parts of Mandi district and even Kinnaur which is part of the Lok Sabha segment. Ashrays younger brother is married to Bollywood actor Salman Khans sister Arpita Khan and the star could also play a role in getting the ticket to Ashray. As the tug of war for the ticket continues, it could take some more days before both BJP and Congress finalise the names. Political implications editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, March 19 The pictures and names of Chief Minister and ministers have been deleted from official websites of government departments, corporations, boards and institutions following enforcement of model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections. All references and pictures of politicians and ministers would remain deleted from official websites till the election process is completed. The Election Commission has issued clear instructions in this regard, noting that many departments of state and the Central government had not implemented the instructions of the Commission and reiterated that the clause VII(iv) of Model Code of Conduct for guidance of political parties was clear in this regard. The commission had noted that in many cases, the ministers and politicians were claiming the achievement of the government as their personal achievement on official websites which amounted to breach of code of conduct. The instructions further said that the party in power would ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it has used its official position for the purpose of election campaign in particular. Further, the ruling party would scrupulously avoid issue of advertisement at the cost of state exchequer in newspapers and other media and not misuse the official media for the purpose of elections. uttara@tribuneindia.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 20 The Supreme Court has granted bail to a man from Himachal Pradesh convicted in a drugs trafficking case and sentenced to 20-year imprisonment, noting that the state high court did not deal with the reasons recorded by the trial court for his acquittal. We have gone through the judgment of the high court and are prima facie satisfied that the reasons which weighed with the trial court while recording acquittal were not dealt with by the high court, a Bench headed by Justice UU Lalit said in an order earlier this month, granting bail to accused Shiv Ram.In our view, the appellant is, therefore, entitled to be released on bail during the pendency of the present appeal. Shiv Ramwho was allegedly caught sitting on the rear seat of a vehicle with 8.6 kg charas in a black bag on his lap supplied by one Sita Ramwas charged with certain offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. However, he acquitted by Special Judge, Kinnaur (Sessions Division) at Rampur Bushahr on August 6, 2011 along with his alleged accomplice. The trial court held that the recovery of the contraband was not established from the appellant. On an appeal filed by the state, the high court on September 6, 2016 affirmed the acquittal of accused Sita Ram but reversed the acquittal of Shiv Ram. It held that the recovery of contraband was fully established from Shiv Ram on the basis of the testimony of official witnesses and accordingly sentenced him to 20-year imprisonment with fine. In case he defaulted on payment of fine, Shiv Ram was ordered to undergo a further rigorous imprisonment of six months. Shiv Rams counsel Anil Nag contended before the Supreme Court that the high court overlooked certain vital aspects of the case. Nag pointed out that no independent witness was associated even though there were shops and houses near the place of the occurrence. Also, no gazetted officer or magistrate was called to conduct personal search of the appellant and there was overwriting in the consent memo prepared on the spot, he contended. Nag argued that the word bag had been introduced at a later stage and it was wrongly described as a black bag in the seizure memo even though there were 3-inch wide red stripes on the bag. He said the appeal raised an important question as to whether in the absence of independent witnesses, the version of official witnessesSHO Gurbachan Singh and Head Constable Kashmi Ram could be relied upon to establish recovery of contraband from the possession of the appellant/accused Shiv Ram. Nag pointed out that there were discrepancies in the evidence of official witnesses in relation to non-mentioning of the bag containing contraband in the consent memo prepared by the complainant. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Mandi, March 19 To ensure good turnout at polling booths, election officials will make special arrangements for the elderly and persons with disabilities. District Election Officer Rugved Thakur said as per the directions of the Election Commission of India, a team of officials would visit each voter and indentify those who could not cast vote in the last elections. He said arrangements would be made for ferrying elderly people and the differently abled. Apart from this, the authorities will make sure that more youngsters are registered in electoral rolls. There are around 35,000 youngsters in the 18-19 age-group. Of them, 18,344 are registered. A special campaign was held in schools and colleges of the district for the purpose. We will try to cover the remaining youths by visiting their home, the District Election Officer said. Today, we started a special campaign under SVEEP as SPREM (Sampark Pratyek Matdata) in Mandi, in which a large number of students participated. SVEEPs primary goal is to build a truly participative democracy in India by encouraging all eligible citizens to vote and make an informed decision during the elections. The programme is based on general as well as targeted interventions, which are designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state. shalender@tribune.com Jalandhar: An ICSSR-sponsored national seminar on Tourism Economics, under the aegis of the department of economics of KRM DAV College Nakodar, was held recently. A total of 90 research papers were received for the seminar. The participants were apprised of how Tourism Economics could help in sustainable development model. Dr Anoop Kumar, principal of the college, stressed on the need of such seminars.The keynote address was delivered by Dr Prasanth Kumar Gautam, Director, ULHTM, Punjab University, Chandigarh. He highlighted how Mauritius and Switzerland had survived on tourism only. TNS rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, March 20 The Congress and the National Conference on Wednesday announced an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha polls, saying it is in national interest and would help strengthen secular forces. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC patron Farooq Abdullah jointly told the media while the Congress would contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference would fight from Srinagar. There would be a friendly contest between the two parties on the Anantnag and Baramulla seats, they said. Abdullah said the two parties are also discussing an arrangement for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. The state sends six MPs to the Lok Sabha. The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J&K as the state faces threat from Pakistan, Azad told reporters. Live and let live. This is the best decision taken in national interest. If either the Congress or National Conference wins, it is a win-win situation for both, he said. Azad said the tie-up would ensure there is no division of secular votes and the BJP didnt benefit. He said all Congress leaders would also campaign for Abdullah, who would be the joint candidate from the Srinagar Parliamentary seat, which he currently represented. PTI editorial@tribune.com Amit Khajuria Tribune News Service Jammu, March 19 In fast-changing political developments, NC president Farooq Abdullah and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad will hold the final phase of talks on a pre-poll alliance on Wednesday. Farooq arrived in Jammu on Tuesday afternoon, while Azad will reach here on Wednesday to hold what is believed to be the decisive phase of talks on the seat-sharing arrangement. In late evening developments, the NC upped the ante by saying that it would contest five seats and would support the Congress in the Udhampur-Doda seat. The Congress has finalised the name of Dogra dynasty scion Vikramaditya Singh for the seat to challenge the sitting MP and Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh of the BJP. After discussing the issue on Tuesday evening, Farooq and Azad decided to meet on Wednesday to negotiate on the issue. The NC has already decided the candidates for three parliamentary constituencies of the Kashmir valley Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla. While Farooq will contest from Srinagar, Akbar Lone from Baramulla and Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi is in the fray from Anantnag. Since both the parties (NC and Congress) are fighting their common enemy BJP, thats why the NC is willing to concede one of the two seats in the Jammu region. There may be further negotiations for the Jammu-Poonch seat, sources told The Tribune. The sources also said the NC president had started exploring chances of fielding a candidate from the Ladakh constituency that goes to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6. He held discussions with Leh and Kargil leaders in Jammu. editorial@tribune.com Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, March 19 Former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday condemned the withdrawal of security to several political leaders, including former IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal. The two former Chief Ministers took to microblogging site Twitter to express concern over the decision of withdrawing the security and warned it placed the leaders in danger. I wish to place on record my strong objections to the decision of the Governor and J&K Police to withdraw security of politicians like Shah Faesal, Wahid Para and Engineer Rashid among others, Omar said. While Faesal recently formed his own political party, Para is a member of the PDP and Rashid a former legislator. Para, who had round-the-clock security cover of six policemen, told The Tribune that an order was issued during the day to withdraw the security of three of them following which the policemen guarding him have been withdrawn. There is no security with me right now, he said. There was no immediate official confirmation of the order. The revision of security cover to political leaders has come in the backdrop of last months announcement by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that security provided to people receiving funds from Pakistan would be reviewed. The decision was announced after the deadly suicide bombing in Pulwama district. In response to the withdrawal of security to the trio, Omar said it was a bizarre decision at a time when the administration had used the excuse of the security environment to refuse the conduct of Assembly elections. God forbid should anything happen to any of these politicians who have had their security withdrawn, Governor Malik and his administration will be personally responsible, Omar said. In this absence of any logical reason for this withdrawal of security to these mainstream politicians, the decision smacks of personal vendetta and victimisation, he said. The PDP president also lashed out at the decision of withdrawal of security to these political leaders and alleged it was a brazen attempt at influencing elections. Security to political leaders being used as a political tool it is a kind of pre-poll rigging. The ECI should immediately intervene, she said. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Jammu, March 19 The Pakistan army continued to violate the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors. Mortar shelling and small arms firing continued throughout the night in Akhnoor sector. Hours after Rifleman Karamjit Singh was killed and four others injured in shelling along the LoC, the Pakistan army again violated the truce in the Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors. According to Defence PRO, the Pakistan army initiated unprovoked shelling with mortars and small arms firing along the LoC in the Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors, after which the Army retaliated befittingly. Firing in the Sunderbani area of Rajouri district stopped after an hour, however, it continued throughout the night on Monday in the Chhamb and Jourian areas of Akhnoor sector of Jammu district. No loss of life was reported. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Srinagar, March 19 The custodial death of a school teacher from Pulwama has evoked widespread condemnation from mainstream and separatist parties, who have called for a shutdown on Wednesday. Terming the incident an unacceptable development, former Chief Minister and National Conference president Omar Abdullah said it must be investigated in a transparent and time-bound manner. I had hoped custodial deaths were a thing of our dark past. This is an unacceptable development and must be investigated in a transparent, time-bound manner. Exemplary punishment must be handed out to the killers of this young man, Omar tweeted. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti also took to Twitter and posted: Innocent men hauled up from their homes for interrogation return home only in coffins now. GoIs repressive approach leaves young educated men vulnerable who are forced to take up arms. Stop using Kashmir to exhibit your sick chauvinistic nationalism. We have suffered enough. Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone too condemned the custodial death. JKPCC president GA Mir said the Governors administration must take effective measures to ascertain the identity of the persons responsible for the killing. IAS-turned-politician Shah Faesal said this custodial killing could further destroy the prospectus of peace in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the joint resistance leadership of the separatists termed the custodial killing of Rizwan a glaring act of state terrorism. They have called for a shutdown on Wednesday and protests for the next two days. editorial@tribune.com Rifat Mohidin Tribune news service Srinagar, March 19 After the CRPF Inspector General expressed concern to the Election Commission of India team in the Valley recently, the J&K Police have been asked to identify safe accommodation for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) men deployed in Kashmir ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission team was in Kashmir last week to take stock of the situation ahead of the elections. The written communication has been sent by the nodal officer for elections to the J&K Police, asking them to identify safe accommodation for the paramilitary men. The written communication to the top police brass in Kashmir read: In the backdrop of the induction of a large number of CAPF companies for the general election, the IG, CRPF, has expressed concern during his interaction with the Election Commission of India on March 4 and 5 regarding the accommodation and other facilities for the CAPF companies. You (the police) may please identify suitable places for accommodating the CAPF companies, including arrangements for the allied facilities required for them, and accordingly furnish a detailed plan to the police headquarters, it read. The Centre recently deployed additional 10,000 paramilitary men in the Valley to strengthen the security ahead of the elections. shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com Tribune Web Desk Chandigarh, March 20 A 32-year-old cab driver has been arrested for allegedly stalking film producer Ekta Kapoor over the past few months in Mumbai. The accused identified Sudhir Rajendra Singh has been working for a cab aggregator. According to police, Sudhir, who is a resident of Haryana, wanted to befriend Ekta in order to bag a role in one of her films or television series. The police found 30 different instances of Sudhir Rajender following Kapoor, including to a Juhu temple and her gym. Singh continued to stalk Ekta, despite being dismissed multiple times. He was also warned by Ektas bodyguards, when he tried to meet her at a temple in Juhu. The 32-year-old collected information on Ekta and enrolled himself in the gym that the producer would go to everyday. While, the producer worked out, the stalker would wait for her outside the gym. A police officer said: "On March 16, Singh tried to follow Ekta into the gym, but was stopped by her guards. Ekta's company submitted a complaint about Singh after which he was arrested on March 18 from Andheri West. We have booked him under Section 354 (D) of the IPC". The police are also checking Singhs phone. We need to find out how he got information about Kapoors whereabouts and schedule. We will submit a chargesheet soon, the officer said. The police used CCTV footage to nab Sudhir. uttara@tribuneindia.com IMPHAL/KHUMULWNG, March 20 Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lacerated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for "destroying" one crore jobs and unleashing "politics of division and hatred", insisting while these were happening the prime minister was busy "marketing" himself. Addressing election rallies in Manipur capital Imphal and Khumulwng in Tripura in the Northeast, where his party's last standing citadel fell to rival BJP's ally Mizo National Front in Mizoram in November 2018, Gandhi accused the saffron party of abandoning its 'act east policy' and attacking the culture and ethos of the people of the region. Unsparing in his assault on Modi, Gandhi also wondered whether the prime minister ever studied at a university, and alleged educational institutions were undergoing saffronisation under his watch. Attacking Modi over alleged loss of employment opportunities, the Congress leader said the prime minister had claimed on taking over the reins of the government that two crore jobs will be created every year, but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. Over 30,000 jobs were lost on an average every day, he claimed. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," Gandhi told the well-attended rally in Imphal. A Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report had recently claimed 1.09 crore jobs were lost in the country in the past one year. The Modi government is under fire from opposition parties as also allies like the Shiv Sena over alleged job loss. "Modi has reduced the Prime Minister's Office to the status of Publicity Minister's Office as he is busy marketing himself," he earlier said during an interaction with students in Imphal, where he also accused the Centre of saffronising educational institutions. During the interaction, he claimed nobody knew whether Modi ever went to a university. "We still have no access to his university degree. Nobody actually knows if he went to university or not. There is an RTI (application) in Delhi seeking PM's degree but it has not been responded to," Gandhi said, adding "the prime minister is imposing mediocrity on a sophisticated country". Speaking about the unrest at the Manipur University last year after students and teachers demanded removal of the then vice chancellor AP Pandey over his alleged "anti-academic activities", Gandhi said he was happy that the people of Manipur succeeded in forcing him out. The protests for the ouster of Pandey, who allegedly had RSS links, had led to the closure of the university for three months. "He (Pandey) was imposed on you. The only qualification to run a university (now) is to wear a pair of shorts, wield a 'lathi' (stick) and spread hatred," Gandhi said, in an oblique reference to the RSS. Gandhi said an ideological battle was being fought in the country between the "politics of hatred and policy of love", with the BJP and the Congress on rival sides. "There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is politics of division and hatred of BJP, and on the other hand there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of Congress. "I call upon all party supporters and common people to wage this ideological battle against BJP and help the Congress in forming the government at the Centre," he told a rally in Khumulwng, 25 km from Agartala. As he attempted to retrieve the ground the Congress has ceded to the BJP and its allies in the Northeast, Gandhi, while addressing election rallies in Manipur and Tripura, called the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill an "onslaught on the "land, language, culture and history" of people living in the region. Targeting BJP president Amit Shah over his assertion that the Citizenship Bill will be re-introduced if his party forms the next government, the Congress leader dubbed it as an attack on the culture of the Northeast. "His (Modi's) party president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed...it will never become a law," he told the Imphal rally. Accusing the Modi government of neglecting the Northeast, the Congress leader said, the prime minister's words do not match his acts. "Don't only look east, but act east," he said. Addressing the election meeting in Tripura, the Congress leader alleged the prime minister was "complicit" in aiding the "theft" of public money by fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi. Gandhi's remark came on a day when Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London, in a major boost to India's efforts to bring back the fugitive diamantaire. Mallya also faces the prospect of extradition to India to face trial on money laundering charges after the Westminster Magistrates Court rejected his plea against the move. "All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged, as he targeted the prime minister over the note ban. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Vishal Joshi Tribune News Service Kurukshetra, March 19 At least 24 patients, including five women, have suffered eye infection following botched cataract surgeries at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Civil Hospital (LNJPCH) here. They have been admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh. The PGI this evening confirmed that its Advanced Eye Centre had received 24 patients of post-cataract surgery endophthalmitis, inflammation of the interior of the eye, over the past few weeks. They were operated upon for cataract surgery at LNJPCH, Kurukshetra. At the AEC, 19 patients have so far been operated upon. All patients are doing well on topical and systemic antibiotics, the PGIMER release said. The district health authorities have suspended surgeries at the LNJPCH operation theatre (OT) till Friday. Civil Surgeon Dr Sukhbir Singh said an investigation was on to ascertain the cause of the infection and fix responsibility. Senior eye surgeon Dr Anita Goyal performed around 100 cataract surgeries between February 27 and March 11, he said. Balbir Singh, 64, of Nouch village in adjoining Kaithal district was operated upon on March 6. His son Devi Lal said after the surgery, his father complained of irritation in the eye. The doctors referred my father to the PGI where another surgery was performed on March 13. They have said the infection was not severe and that my father will gain normal vision in the next few weeks, said Devi Lal. Medical Superintendent Dr Manjit Singh said the patients who underwent surgery around March 6 suffered bacterial infection from an unknown source. Some patients who were referred and did not belong to the below poverty line category had to pay for the ongoing treatment at the PGI, he added. A team of doctors will visit the PGI on Wednesday to assess the situation and further recommend to the state government to either pay the medical bills of such patients directly to the PGI or reimburse them. We will examine all patients who underwent surgery at the LNJPCH over the past one month to ensure no case of infection goes untreated, he said. Dr Goyal, who performed the surgeries at LNJPCH, said the infection might have been caused due to tools or fluids used in the surgeries. It was possible that a bacterial infection might have been present in a patient and was transmitted to others, she said. The operation theatre was maintained as per the surgery protocol to contain any chance of infection. It is a matter of investigation to pinpoint the cause of the infection, she added. shalender@tribune.com Shahira Naim Tribune News Service Mirzapur, March 19 Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday urged the people not to get distracted by non-issues and remain focused on their demand for development. People will come to you during the election and will try to talk about caste and religion. Bring them back to the agenda of development and ask what they have to offer for your development, Priyanka told a large number of people who had come to hear her at the Sindhaura ghat in Mirzapur where she introduced Congress candidate Lalitesh Pati Tripathi. The day included visits to two temples and a dargah, an unscheduled visit to the house of a weaver, listening to the woes of Shiksha Mitras and periodically stopping to interact with crowds who had been waiting for hours to have a glimpse of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Later, in her public meeting at the Sindhaura ghat, she shared her experience of the day to illustrate the problems thrown up by the BJP rule. None of the youth I spoke to during the day has any work. All said that they were berozgaar (unemployed), only a few ran shops. The weaver I met said that during the last five years, his profit has gone down by 50 per cent. Today only a Shiksha Mitra has committed suicide, the Asha Bahus and Anganwadi workers are getting a pittance, said Priyanka. Speaking of the problems of the farmers, she said her brother Rahul Gandhi was moving around the country promising the farmers the right price for their produce and easy availability of seeds and fertilizers. As soon as our government came in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the farmers loans were written off, she pointed out. Priyanka said she had come to Purvanchal to understand the problems of the people. Earlier, she spent considerable time interacting with Shikta Mitras in Sitamarhi. She then visited the Sita Samahit Sthal and Balmiki ashram. Moving towards Mirzapur, she made an impromptu visit to the Bunkar colony in Gopiganj where she dropped to have chat with a weaver Phoolchand Yadav. She then visited the famous Vindhyavasini temple in Mirzapur where she spent considerable time in puja. At the temple, some BJP and Congress supporters indulged in slogan-shouting contest as they raised slogans in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. Later, she greeted people at the Bhatauli Ghat in Mirzapur and addressed a meeting at Sindhaura Ghat before retiring for the day at Chunaar guest house where she is scheduled to have a meeting with party workers. On the concluding day of her Ganga Yatra on Wednesday, she is to move to Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of PM Modi. shalender@tribune.com Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 19 PM Narendra Modi will address more than 25 lakh chowkidars on the eve of Holi through audio bridge as he intensifies his Main bhi chowkidar campaign. BJP media incharge Anil Baluni said Modi would share the colours of Holi with watchmen across the country on Wednesday. On March 31, the PM is also scheduled to interact with people who have pledged their support to the Main bhi chowkidar (I am also a watchman) campaign from 500 places via video conferencing. The BJP believes that the campaign is turning into a movement, with which the people are connecting. Whether chowkidar will prove to be the chaiwala moment for the Prime Minister and the interaction get similar traction as chai pe charcha in 2014 is the question. After a rather lukewarm response to the Modi hai to Mumkin hai campaign, the chowkidar theme seems to have caught the attention of the people. Baluni said, The programme is aimed at the common man of the country who silently works in the background and is one of the invisible pillars of the country. The #MainBhiChowkidar campaign has got a massive response on the social media. A chowkidar is a person you see every day, whether it is your society guard, the ATM guard, your office guard or security in a mall. Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to bring these common men from behind the scenes to the vanguard of a New India, he adds. However, the PM prefixing chowkidar on his Twitter handle has also received equal amount of disdain. Maya mocks, hes no more chaiwala Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has changed his profile from chaiwala to chowkidar only to get votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. So now Narendra Modi is a chowkidar and no more a chaiwala which he was at the time of last Lok Sabha election. What a change India is witnessing under the BJP rule. Bravo! she tweeted. BJP holds 2nd CEC, shah may not contest BJP chief Amit Shah is unlikely to contest the LS polls and the first list is expected to include the PMs name, sources indicated, as the BJP central election committee (CEC) began its second round of deliberations to finalise the list of candidates. Several sitting MPs are expected to be changed to avoid the anti-incumbency factor. rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, March 20 Accusing the Congress of insulting institutions, including Parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces, during its tenures, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged people to think wisely before casting their vote in the Lok Sabha election beginning April 11. His government had changed things as it put institutions above everything else, the Prime Minister said in a blog post. As you go to vote--remember the past and how one familys desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now, Modi wrote. Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way. Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct, he said, taking a dig at the principal opposition party. India had seen that whenever dynastic politics had been powerful, institutions had taken a severe beating, he said. Referring to parliamentary proceedings, he said, The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party [has a] higher number, its tendency to work more is visible...which were the forces disrupting the House and why. Discussing the freedom of expression, the Prime Minister alleged that dynastic parties had never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. No wonder, the very first constitutional amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press, was seen as vulgar and indecent, Modi wrote. He pointed out that the UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail...the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power, he said. Modi said he wanted to tell the Congress that no amount of intimidation would change the ground realities. Curbing freedom of expression will not change peoples poor impression of the party. Referring to Emergency, he said it was imposed to safeguard the interests of a dynasty. The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed, he wrote. Referring to the judiciary, he alleged that the Congresss contempt for courts is anyway legendary. It was Mrs Indira Gandhi who called for a committed judiciary, which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution, he claimed. This pursuit of a committed judiciary, Modi said, made the Congress overlook several respected judges while appointing the chief justice of India. Congress modus operandi is simple--reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge, he said apparently referring to moves to impeach then CJI Dipak Misra. He said from CAG to the erstwhile Planning Commission, the Congress never respected institutions. In a telling comment, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr Manmohan Singh a bunch of jokers, he said. The CBI, he alleged, became the Congress Bureau of Investigation and was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference, he said. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi tearing up a copy of an ordinance which sought to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on immediate disqualification of a lawmaker upon conviction. The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Ministers Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions? he asked. Referring to defence preparedness, Modi alleged the Congress had always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved. After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family. When a top Congress leader calls the Army chief a gunda and is subsequently promoted in the party rank and file, it shows their scant regard for the forces, he wrote. Continuing his attack, he said, When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing Khoon Ki Dalali. When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too. In an opaque reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhis brother-in-law Robert Vadras appearance before investigating agencies, he said, The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. He also accused the Congress of lacking internal democracy, saying if a leader dared to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out. Modi said that in 2014, the people voted for honesty over dynasty, development over decay, security over stagnation, opportunities over obstacles and vikas (development) over vote-bank politics. Modis attack against the Congress came on a day its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused him of undermining every institution in the country. The Prime Minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part, Priyanka Gandhi told reporters in Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. PTI shalender@tribune.com KV Prasad Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 19 The inability of Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi to finalise alliances to date is a talking point among the parties that are opposed to the BJP amid a gnawing feeling that the grand old party is working on a different plan - regain strength. At a time when the BJP walked the extra mile to firm up alliances displaying flexibility in keeping allies in good humour, the Congress approach sticks out in contrast. Its leadership in the states are unwilling to walk the talk of its president Rahul Gandhi who tweeted after the Congress working committee meet that No sacrifice is too great in this endeavour; no effort too little; this battle will be won. In fact, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, a rebel against the current BJP leadership, today issued tweets reflecting the sense of frustration. Unsolicited advice to Rahul Gandhi, Pl finalise your alliances in Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi and elsewhere today. It is already too late, Sinha tweeted. He also suggested unsolicited advice to all leaders of Opposition parties Stop speaking against each other in public. Sort out your differences privately. Both aimed at the need for the parties opposed to the BJP-led coalition to put their heads together in taking on Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo in the General Election. The AAP sought some kind of alliance in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana that was rejected and until this afternoon, the AAP held out hope of some understanding with two formulae doing rounds of possible seat-sharing arrangement 4-3 or 3-3-1, with the one being a joint candidate. Running out of patience, AAP today said the Congress is playing for time with one leader observing that a three-way division would result in a big advantage to the BJP. Similarly, in West Bengal, efforts by the Left parties to leave four seats ran into trouble after the Congress insisted it would field candidates even on two seats held by the CPM in the state. There were reports that Deepa Dasmunshi, widow of former Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, was willing to cross over in case she was not nominated from Raiganj she once represented. The party gave in. She is in the fray against incumbent MP Mohammed Salim of the CPM. A senior Left leader told The Tribune that Rahul Gandhi could not demonstrate the firmness former Congress president Sonia Gandhi did when she worked out alliances to challenge the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime in 2004. The Congress, which Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, wanted to be at the head of the battering ram against Modi-Shah duo, signs emanating are not in consonance with the objective. That leads to the surmise the Congress under Rahul Gandhi is seeking to rebuild the organisation instead of seen scrambling to wrest power from the BJP. harinder@tribunemail.com Beijing, March 19 China today rejected the Dalai Lamas assertions that his successor could be from India and a nominee by Beijing would not be respected, saying the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to be approved by the Communist government. Chinas response came after the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate told a news agency yesterday that it was possible that once he dies, his incarnation could be found in India and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and systems, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters when asked about remarks by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959. The Chinese government has policy of freedom of religious belief. We have regulation on religious affairs and regulation on the reincarnation system in Tibetan Buddhism. We respect and protect such ways of Tibetan Buddhism, Geng said. Dalai Lama is a title given to spiritual leaders of Tibetan people. This title is given to those who are considered among the most important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was just two years old. The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai has also been recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the central government. So the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the national rules and regulations and the religious rituals, Geng said. Amidst the Tibetan uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India in March that year to escape a Chinese crackdown in his Himalyan abode. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 19 In a rarest of rare order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled that death sentence was not enough and properties of convicts in heinous crime cases should be sold for recovery of heavy fine to be slapped on them. The ruling came as a Division Bench imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh, while upholding death sentence awarded to seven convicts in a gangrape and murder case. The Rohtak Deputy Commissioner was also directed to identify immovable properties of all convicts within a month and sell the attached assets two months thereafter. The convicts, Rajesh, Pawan, Sunil aka Mada, Padam, Sarwar, Manbir and Sunil aka Sheela, had moved the High Court after they were sentenced to be hanged by neck till they are dead for murder and criminal conspiracy under Sections 302 and 120-B of IPC. They were also awarded imprisonment for rest of their natural life for gangrape under Section 376-D of the IPC. Another accused, Somvir, committed suicide in Delhi the day the first accused was arrested. A murder case was registered at the Sadar police station in Rohtak after a body was found from the fields in February 2015. The police was told that the victim, aged about 27, was differently abled and brought from Nepal to Rohtak. She was residing with her sister. Acting on a tip-off, the police caught hold of Padam, who during interrogation disclosed the names of all other accused. Taking up the matter, the Bench of Justice AB Chaudhari and Justice Surinder Gupta added that it was shocked to see the number and nature of injuries inflicted through brutal and predatory acts of perpetrators of the barbaric crime. The Bench asserted it found that stern penal laws were in places, yet deterrence in the matter of sentences, including death, was not satisfactory. We think imposition of heavy fine, which if recovered by sale of the properties of the guilty, would prove additional deterrent, it said, adding the victim or relatives would also find some solace, if they were compensated by selling the properties of the guilty. The Bench added that Rs 50 lakh fine was appropriate, taking into consideration the entire factual matrix of the matter. It was quite possible that one or more of the convicts were not owning or possessing immovable property. But if they could come together to commit the crime jointly and individually, and not one of them resisted, liability to pay fine must be made jointly and severally. The Bench said half of the sale proceeds would go to the state and the remaining to the victims sister. harinder@tribunemail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 19 The Congress and Aam Aadmi Partys Lok Sabha alliance thriller continued today amid fresh efforts by sections of both parties to try and find common ground. The NCP also got involved in attempts to bring the two outfits together for the Lok Sabha elections so as to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar hosted AAPs Sanjay Singh at his Delhi residence today to discuss the political situation. The two ended up talking Delhi and if an AAP and Congress pact in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana was possible. After the meeting, Sanjay Singh said he discussed with Pawar AAPs proposal of pre-poll alliances with the Congress in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. The AAP wants five seats out of seven in Delhi; three out of 13 in Punjab and two out of 10 in Haryana. The AAPs three-state precondition for an alliance with the Congress has so far sabotaged all efforts of any electoral understanding with Congress leaders in Punjab and Haryana, rejecting the offer outright. AICC general secretary incharge of Haryana Ghulam Nabi Azad today ruled out any scope of an alliance in Haryana. With the Congress closed to any understanding in Punjab and Haryana, it remains to be seen if a standalone Delhi pact between the two parties is possible. In evident signs of pressure exertion, AAPs Gopal Rai today said AAP would go alone in Delhi and has declared all seven LS candidates. Enough time has been given to Congress. There will be no pact, Rai said hours after Sanjay Singh signaled fresh efforts towards an alliance. AICC incharge of Delhi PC Chacko said, I am talking to Delhi Congress leaders to try and convince them about the need for an alliance of likeminded parties to defeat the BJP. The Congress Plenary Session resolution reflected this sentiment and the Congress working committee recently endorsed the same line. The final decision on alliance will be taken by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit is against an alliance with AAP and has said a pact will be struck only if Rahul decides. Chacko, who favours an alliance, however, used Congress internal communications application Shakti to ask workers what they wanted. The majority Delhi Congress workers are said to have spoken for an alliance. If it decides to ally with the AAP, Congress will have to placate Dikshit who was earlier sacrificed in the line of a last-minute Congress-SP alliance for the 2017 state elections. The NCP, meanwhile, lauded AAP convener Arvind Kejriwals invitation of an alliance with Congress. rchopra@tribunemail.com New Delhi, March 20 Germany has initiated a move at the European Union to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, days after China blocked a bid at the United Nations to ban him, diplomatic sources said. They said Germany was in touch with several member-nations of the European Union to list Azhar as a terrorist which will result in his travel ban as well as freezing of his assets in the 28-country bloc. Germany had floated a proposal to ban Azhar by the European Union, but no resolution on the issue had been moved yet, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. They said all 28 member-countries of the European Union would have to support the move to ban the Pakistan-based terrorist as the bloc decided on such issues under the principle of consensus. On March 15, France imposed financial sanctions on Azhar and said it would work with its European partners to put the JeM chiefs name on the EU list of persons and entities involved in terrorist acts. The decision by France came two days after China put a hold on a fresh move to designate Azhar a global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council. The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council supported the proposal, but China was the only country which did not go with the move. PTI uttara@tribuneindia.com Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 20 Turning the tables on Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his oft-repeated chowkidar chor hai jibe Prime Minister Narendra Modi told security guards to wear the abuse like a piece of jewellery. Interacting with 25 lakh security guards across the country on the eve of holi, the prime minister said he was aware that the "chowkidars" of the country felt offended at being repeatedly referred to as "chor", a thief, but they should take his example and continue with their duties of guarding the nation. The Prime Minister said he was happy to be linked with the watchmen. People across the country are saying I am also chowkidar. I salute all the watchmen who are always working in spite of all the adversities and hardships and performing their duties without thinking about themselves or their families, he said. People may not know your name or recognise you but you continue to perform your duty irrespective of that, he said. And then, speaking to a woman security guard from Uttar Pradesh, who claimed she was upset at being called chor, he said he would like to apologise to all security guards, jawans and security forces who felt offended by those politicians using such words for their political gains. Attacking the Congress president Rahul Gandhi without naming him, the Prime Minister said this was not the first time he was experiencing such abuse. It is a common practice of naamdaars to belittle the kaamdaars, he said. We should not get disheartened, we have to ensure the progress of our children but we also have to ensure that the 'chowkidaar" within them is kept alive," he said. The BJP is intensifying its Main bhi chowkidar campaign ahead of general elections. The Prime Minister will connect to people via video conference on May 31 as well. Earlier on Wednesday, he wrote a blog highlighting how the dynastic politics has undermined democracy and its institutions in India. rchopra@tribunemail.com Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 20 In a surprise move, BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday pulled out of the race for the Lok Sabha election, triggering speculation. This is the second time a veteran opposition leader is withdrawing from parliamentary election. Last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar withdrew from the Lok Sabha poll after his party had officially said that he would fight from Madha in Maharashtra. The withdrawal of the anti-BJP stalwarts from election is being viewed in political circles as a possible sign of acknowledgment of the BJPs surge post the Pulwama strikes. Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls also, top Congress leaders had decided to stay out of the LS race. Among them were then defence minister AK Antony, then finance minister P Chidambaram and veterans Digvijaya Singh and Kumari Selja. All took the Rajya Sabha route to parliament. Asked whether they saw Mayawati pulling back as a sign of her withdrawal from a possible PM race, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, The Congress is going to form a government at the Centre and all parties that appear to be at variance with us will come on board and we will weave everyone in one string to govern the nation. rchopra@tribunemail.com Peshawar, March 20 Members representing the minority community at a provincial assembly in Pakistan walked out of the session after a PPP lawmaker said Hindus are our enemy in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack. His remark was criticised by Ravi Kumar and Ranjeet Singh, who walked out of the assembly session. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sher Azam Wazir, in his address in the assembly, said Hindus are our enemy. Wazir, however, apologised over his choice of words saying he should have used the word Hindustan instead. Later, the assembly members took both the protesting members of provincial assembly into confidence and brought them back to the session. Kumar said though India is hostile to Pakistan, the Hindu community is not. Speaker Mushtaq Ghani expunged remarks of Wazir from the assembly proceedings. There are three minority members in the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district in February 14. India launched a counter-terror operation in Balakot. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured its pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. PTI shalender@tribune.com Itanagar, March 19 With fervent nationalism becoming the flavour of the election season, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modis patriotic credentials and accused him of not raising the issue of Indias territorial integrity during his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The Congress leader claimed the Prime Minister did not utter a word on the boundary question when he hosted President Xi in his home state Gujarat a few years ago. During Xi Jinpings meeting with Modi in India, the PM was seen sitting with him over a cup of tea without uttering a single word on the boundary dispute. Even during his (Modi) visit to China he never took up the Doklam issue, Gandhi told an election rally in the Arunachal Pradesh capital. India and China are locked in a protracted dispute over Arunachal Pradesh, often resulting in incursions by their respective armies into each others territory. In June 2017, a military standoff occurred between China and India as Chinese soldiers attempted to extend a road on the Doklam plateau and Indian troops moved in to prevent them. India had claimed to have acted on behalf of Bhutan with which it has a special relationship. How can he (Modi) claim himself a Desh Bhakt (patriot) when he did not even take up the issue of the countrys territorial integrity? The country doesnt want such patriots. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are more patriotic as they are zealously protecting the countrys territory, he told the rally. Gandhi said Modi had visited China without an agenda on the vexed boundary question. The Congress president had recently called Modi weak and scared of the Chinese president, after Beijing once again blocked a UN resolution to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. Weak Modi is scared of Xi. Not a word comes out of his mouth when China acts against India. NoMos China diplomacy: 1. Swing with Xi in Gujarat. 2. Hug Xi in Delhi. 3. Bow to Xi in China, Gandhi had said on Twitter. Rahul repeated his allegation that Modi continued to shoot for a documentary in the Corbett National Park when the nation was mourning the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in a terror bombing in Kashmirs Pulwama. Referring to the recent killing of three people in police firing during the agitation against permanent residency certificates to some sections in Arunachal, he said, Was there any necessity for police firing? The issue could have been resolved in other ways without harsh action. PTI harinder@tribunemail.com Samaan Lateef, Majid Jahangir & Suhail A Shah Tribune News Service Awantipora, March 19 School principal and son of a Jamaat-e-Islami member, who was picked up from his house on Sunday night, was allegedly killed in police custody. The death of Rizwan Asad, 28, of Awantipora in Pulwama district, triggered protests across the Valley today even as the government ordered a magisterial probe. Kashmiri separatists group Joint Resistance Leadership has called for a shutdown tomorrow against the killing to be followed by protests in the next two days. The development comes at a time when the Election Commission has announced poll dates for the Lok Sabha elections. A three-member team of observers had only recently toured the state to assess the situation for the Assembly polls. The J&K Police claimed Rizwan was a suspect in a terror case who died while in custody. But Rizwans family called it custodial killing. Its a cold-blooded, planned murder, alleged his younger brother Mubashir. The police raided our house on Sunday at 11.30 pm. They locked my family members in a room. After a 45-minute search, they took away Rizwan. The raiding party comprised policemen from the local police station, barely 50 metres from our house. To ascertain Rizwan's whereabouts, we visited the police station the following day. We were told he had been shifted to the counter-insurgency unit headquarters in Srinagar. We later learnt of his death on the social media, he said. Angry locals, including students, who assembled at Rizwans house, raised slogans as well as hurled stones at security personnel. Educational institutions in the area were shut and entry points to Awantipora sealed. He died in police custody. As per the procedure laid down in CrPC Section 176, a magisterial inquiry is underway, a police spokesman in Srinagar said. Rizwan, a postgraduate in chemistry and principal of a private School in Awantipora, was a popular figure. He set up relief and medical camps during the 2014 floods. He was booked under the Public Safety Act in September 2018 for alleged involvement in unlawful activities. However, the court on November 30 ordered his release. Rizwans father Muhammad Assadullah retired as an officer with the Centre-run Handicrafts Department. He is now a member of the banned Jamat-e-Islami. Earlier in the day, the NIA rubbished reports that it had detained Rizwan for questioning. He was neither called for questioning, nor was he examined with cases being investigated by us, NIA spokesperson Alok Mittal said. editorial@tribune.com STICKING to the party game plan of portraying Prime Minister Narender Modi as the poster boy of the BJP for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, president of the Punjab unit of the party, Shwait Malik, spoke volumes about Modis role in achieving the state of a unified house of the party. In an interview with The Tribune reporter Sanjeev Singh Bariana, Malik spoke on diverse issues facing Punjab and public expectations. Excerpts: What are the local issues which can have an impact on Punjab voters these election? People are looking for a way out of the dark alley of failed promises of the Congress government.Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh pledged to end the scourge of drugs within four weeks after he assumed power, but nothing happened. Farmers who were asked to stop payment of their loans are shocked to see court proceedings. The CM had announced a hike in amount for shagun from Rs 21,000 to Rs 5,51,000. They are not even getting the original amount. What are the biggest drawbacks of the state government that you would like to highlight? Poor governance and inaccessibility to a common man are the biggest problems underlining the Congress government. The CM doesnt meet his own party leaders. The sand mafia and drug mafia continues to have a free hand despite tall promises. Many state Congress leaders can be heard openly speaking against their own government. Union minister Vijay Sampla, former Local Government Minister Anil Joshi and MLA Som Parkash are some of the names, which have figured in instances of differences within the state unit of the BJP. Your comments. The BJP is a family and small differences are minor issues. Words being ascribed to BJP leaders in media are all rumours. Has any party leader come on record criticising the party leadership in the state or the national level? The unity in our party upsets the Congress, which was why they planted wrong news. Will you like to comment on whether there has been any recent demand from your party workers seeking a bigger seat share in the alliance ratio of 10:3 with your partner, the Akali Dal? The issue of any change in the sharing ratio of representation in the state alliance has never featured in any of the official meetings. I was forced to give a statement because people are spreading lies. Was it a conscious choice by the party to not play up any other leader except Prime Minister Narender Modi before the public? Narender Modi is the brand ambassador for the achievements of our party. The choice for making him our party image is unanimous. Modi has becomes the image of our party because people trust him. He delivers what he says. uttara@tribuneindia.com Lahore, March 20 As Pakistan and India discuss the alignment of the Kartarpur corridor, some 600 villagers who are facing forcible eviction due to the project say they will block the development work if denied compensation of their land on commercial rates. The entire population (600) of village Kothay Khurd, where Gurdwara Dera Sahib Kartarpur is located (some 125-km from Lahore), has been ordered by the district administration to vacate their houses immediately for the development of the Kartarpur corridor to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims from India. My ancestors had settled in the village even before the partition and now our fifth generation is living here. Some officials came here and told the residents that the government was planning to build Kartarpur corridor on our land, therefore we will have to vacate the land, Mohammad Arshad of Kothay Khurd told reporters. We are living in the area for centuries and it was not possible for us to leave the area and the graves of our ancestors, another villager Zaeem Hussain said, adding that the government officials had only told them that they would be compensated after their land and houses had been acquired. Hussain said there has been consensus among the villagers to sacrifice their agricultural land but none of them is ready to leave their ancestral houses. He said the villagers will protest and not let the government develop the corridor if it forcibly evicted them from their houses. We want compensation of our land on commercial rates, he demanded. The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee has demanded immediate compensation for farmers on commercial rates. It said no ordinary compensation would be accepted and the affected families be given one job each. Deputy Commissioner Waheed Asghar says the government is acquiring the land under Section 4 of the Punjab Land Acquisition Act 1894 and it will pay compensation for the crop and land. He denied that the government was forcefully evicting the villagers. We are trying to resolve the matter peacefully, he added. Evacuee Trust Property Board spokesman Asif Hashmi told PTI that almost 40 per cent of the development work on the Kartarpur corridor has been completed. The development work on the corridor is underway and will be completed well ahead of this November to observe the 550 birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, Hashmi said. Experts from India and Pakistan on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the alignment of the Kartarpur border-crossing corridor project. Both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the zero point and discussed technical aspects including finished road level, high flood level, etc. Zero point is the point at which the Indian side of the corridor and the Pakistani side of the corridor will be meeting. The two sides agreed on some technical aspects and hope to finalise other modalities soon. The next meeting is to be held at Wagah on April 2. The meeting had come amid heightened tensions between the two neighbours following Indias air strike on a terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Pakistans subsequent retaliation. Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faiths founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Indias Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistans Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Two days later, Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal. PTI editorial@tribune.com GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, March 19 Amritsar resident Charat Singh (32) set an exemplary humanitarian example by gifting life to a young man suffering from cancer by donating his blood stem cells. Charat had got himself registered in 2013 with the DATRI, countrys largest unrelated blood stem cell donors registration non-profit organisation in Chennai. Probably, the first one from the Holy City to donate peripheral blood stem cells, Charat said it happened just by chance that he got associated with DATRI. I came across a counter set up by DATRI at a shopping mall in Dubai for the Indian community on behalf of a cancer patient. I too got my saliva test done and got myself registered with them, he said. After six years, he received a call that he could be a potential match to save the life of a 23-year-old cancer patient. A patient has bleak chance of finding a matched donor even within the family. There is one in a million chance of finding an unrelated matched donor through human leukocyte antigen (HLA), typing that is used to match patients and donors for bone marrow or cord blood transplants. I felt myself fortunate to be chosen by Guru to do this service, he said. He decided to move ahead, but he had to convince his family to support his decision. An agriculturist by profession, Charat is married with two children. Gursangat Kaur, his wife, said, Guru Nanak Dev teaches us that we are human beings of the briefest moment, we do not know the appointed time of our departure. So, what else can be a bigger service than being a source to save a life. Through DATRI he also got connected with Dr Shruti Kakkar, a paediatric haematologist in Ludhiana, who herself is a donor. I had read a story that was carried by The Tribune about six-year-old boy Fateh Singh in 2017 who was the first recipient of unrelated bone marrow in Amritsar and now leading a normal life. This story further encouraged me to have the privilege to be a donor, he said. Dr Kakkar told him that it would be just a four-day process for a donor to undergo certain medical examination with negligible side effects. He underwent the donation process on January 29. As per the protocol, the identity of the recipient is kept anonymous for a year, before a formal meeting is arranged by DATRI. Charat was told that his donation had worked wonders for the patient who is on the way to recovery. I am quite eager to meet him as and when norms permit, he added. DATRI has over 3,95,000 potential volunteer donors registered and only 526 donors have donated their life saving stem cells till today. Co-founder and CEO of DATRI Raghu Rajagopal said, The need is really huge as the only chance to receive a second chance at life is with blood stem cell transplant. We have just 4,480 donors registered with us from the state. There is dire need to spread awareness. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Moga, March 19 Residents of Dholewala and its adjoining villages in the district took on the mining mafia by stopping at least 40 trucks, tippers and tractor-trailers laden with sand during the past two days and handed them over to the local police. However, no action was taken against these vehicles, which were loaded with sand from the river belt during the night time against the mining rules. The locals alleged that mining activities had suddenly increased manifold in the past few days. All mining operations in the Sutlej are carried out during the night time, they added. Karaj Singh, sarpanch of Dholewala village, Anoop Singh, Dholewala Khurd village, Raman Singh, Kannian village, Jagjit Singh, Sherpur Khurd village and other residents of the area alleged that the link roads in and around Dholewala were built recently, but overloaded trucks/tippers of the mining mafia had damaged these. They claimed that the mafia was indulging in indiscriminate and unscientific mining activities in the Sutlej river belt in Pipli Mayani area of Jalandhar district and few locations in Moga. However, all heavy vehicles overloaded with sand were transporting sand through Moga district causing damage to local environment and infrastructure. There was no route plan notified by the state government for the plying of trucks and tippers laden with mining minerals, they added. ADC to discuss issue today Additional Deputy Commissioner of Moga Anita Darshi has summoned a meeting of the Mining Department, panchayat of Dholewala village and mining contractors on Wednesday. A local magistrate visited the mining sites and inspected the damaged link roads on Tuesday. He submitted a report to the district administration, following which the ADC has called the meeting to discuss the issue. Further action will be taken by the administration, accordingly. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Amritsar, March 19 Two men reportedly died due to asphyxiation while cleaning a sewer near a flyover at Rayya here today. The deceased have been identified as Vijay Kumar, alias Dhola (30), resident of Dubgarh Colony, Rayya, and Mukesh Kumar (35), alias Sheela, resident of Bhalipur Purba village. The men were hired by a private contractor engaged with the Municipal Committee, Rayya. The incident occurred around 10 am. Vijay Kumar entered the manhole of the main sewerage line on GT Road. Due to poisonous gases in the sewer, he fell unconscious. Immediately, Mukesh Kumar entered the manhole to rescue him and also met with the same fate. The other workers raised alarm and people started gathering around. After half an hour, residents took them out of the manhole and rushed them to the Civil Hospital. Doctors declared them brought dead at the hospital. Family members and relatives of the deceased staged a protest against the contractor and Municipal Committee at the Civil Hospital. They demanded registration of a case against the contractor. Dalbir Singh Tong, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, joined the demonstrators and demanded compensation for the family, job for the dependents and case against municipal officials and contractor. In the late evening, the families of the deceased entered into a compromise with the contractor. The police filed proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC in the case. We have filed the proceedings as per the complaint. The families of the victims dont want any action against anyone, said Amrik Singh, SHO, Beas. kin cry foul rchopra@tribunemail.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 20 The Punjab state election committee of the BJP has decided to keep the legacy of Vinod Khanna alive by recommending his familys name as a candidate from the Gurdaspur constituency. The party has three seats out of 13 in its alliance with the SAD. A senior party official, requesting anonymity, said it could be actors wife Kavita or his son Akshay Khanna. Vinod is loved in his constituency till date. The party will consider his family. The central election committee under president Amit Shah will take the final call. Party president Shwait Malik, accompanied by state incharge for elections Capt Abhimanyu and general secretary (organisation), are expected to meet Shah in Delhi later this week. Meanwhile, the 15-member panel is also learnt to have recommended film actor Poonam Dhillon for the Amritsar seat. She is an old member and has shown interest, a senior leader said. The names recommended for Amritsar include former Local Government minister Anil Joshi, Rajinder Singh Chinna and former IFS officer Hardeep Singh Puri. Besides the Khanna family, the names recommended for Gurdaspur include former minister Mohan Lal, former state president Ashwani Sharma and state vice president Narinder Parmar. The name of Swaran Salaria, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha bypoll against Sunil Jakhar, was taken, but it found no support as he had lost by a big margin. The names of Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla, MLA Som Parkash and former chairman of the Punjab Scheduled Caste Commission Rajesh Bagga have been recommended for the Hoshiarpur seat. vinaymishra188@gmail.com THE Imperial Legislative Council, or rather the official majority have, under the guidance of the Executive Government, taken the fatal step which the country has been asking them with one voice to avoid. At 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday they passed the Criminal Emergency Powers, now called the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Bill. An Associated Press message states that the Bill was passed after a full discussion that during the debate nearly all the non-official Indian members opposed the Bill, and that some of these members, notably Messrs Banerjea and Shastri, Dr. Sapru, Pandit Malaviya and Mr. Sharma made strong speeches. We have not before us the text of these speeches, but judging from past experience we have no difficulty in forming an idea of what transpired. It must have been one more case of the reasons being on one side and the votes on the other. Some non-official members were either absent or did not vote, for while the official majority stood at nearly its original figure, being 35, the non-official minority was 20 or five less than the number that supported the amendment. ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Honolulu: Hawaii will be the first state in the US to ban most plastics at restaurants under legislation that aims to cut down on waste that pollutes the ocean. Dozens of cities across the country have banned plastic foam containers, but Hawaiis measure will make it the first to do so statewide. The liberal state has a history of prioritising the environment its mandated renewable energy use and prohibited sunscreen ingredients that harm coral. AP Ex-Peru Prez held in California drunkenness case San Francisco: Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, wanted in his home country in connection with Latin Americas biggest graft scandal, was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication and spent the night in jail before he was released on Monday morning, authorities have said. Alejandro Toledo (72), was arrested on Sunday night at a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay Area city of Menlo Park, said San Mateo County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade on Monday. AP Soviet New Wave film-maker Khutsiev dies at 93 Moscow Renowned Soviet-era film-maker Marlen Khutsiev, one of the countrys most influential post-war directors, has died aged 93, the Russian Union of Cinematographers said on Tuesday. A leading representative of the Soviet New Wave, he lived a life full of drama and joy, spokeswoman Tatyana Nemchinskaya told the media.The directors career spanned more than six decades and he worked into his 90s. AFP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Milan, March 20 Premier Giuseppe Conte pledged on Tuesday to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join Chinas ambitious Belt and Road initiative, despite objections from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition. Speaking to Parliament, Conte said that Italys signing of a memorandum of understanding for the infrastructure-building venture, which is due to happen during the Chinese premiers visit this week, would not in the least put into question Italys position within the strategic trans-Atlantic alliance or with European partners. Italys signature would be considered a major legitimation of the project that envisions overland and maritime routes connecting China with Europe. A White House official has warned Italy against joining, calling it a Chinese vanity project. European governments declined to sign a joint declaration on the Belt and Road at a forum last year in Beijing. They argued it lacked standards on financing and transparency. In his first remarks to lawmakers on the deal on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit, Conte said the details have been worked out over months of consultations at every level of government. He emphasised that the memorandum is not legally binding and that it would give Italy access to an enormous market. We want to first and foremost rebalance our trade, which is not favourable to us now. Our exports to China are far lower than other European countries, Conte said. The infrastructure will redefine commercial traffic routes. We will have new airports, new trade corridors, and it will certainly influence our economic growth. We dont want to lose any opportunity. Chinas foreign ministry said Wednesday that Xi will visit Sicily in addition to Rome, with plans to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as well as Conte. It also defended the Belt and Road initiative against naysayers in Italy. During the process of developing the Belt and Road initiative cooperation, it is inevitable that we may encounter some misunderstandings and even doubts, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao. But facts will always speak louder than words. Wang said an agreement between China and Italy would be beneficial for both countries economic development. As for ... whether it will help promote trade for Italy, I think it is absolutely Yes, he said. Pressed about Chinese investments in Italian ports and whether there is an excess in infrastructure developments, given Chinese existing investments in the area that could lead to additional debt, Wang said Chinese investments are decided by market rules. Whether to invest in a region or not, I believe that will be decided by the market Wang said without elaborating. In parliament, the opposition attacked the planned memorandum and the lack of detail provided to lawmakers, warning that the deal could be a Trojan horse for China to undermine Italian industries. Concerns also center around whether the accords include 5G access. Even lawmakers from the right-wing League, part of Contes coalition, say their support for the memorandum is conditional on it not harming Italys relations with its partners. If it opens exports for Italian companies, it is great. The only constraints are security, the control of Italians data, and energy. I would not like someone to wake up on the other side of the world and turn off the switch, League leader Matteo Salvini said this week. If the Chinese want to invest in railways and ports, fine. What is important that control remains in Italian hands. Francesco Sisci, a China expert currently working as a researcher at Renmin University in China, said the biggest problem with the deals with China is that Italy pursued them without properly keeping its allies informed. There was a lack of professionalism and political know-how. Whatever the deal is, they need to speak first with the Americans and the Europeans, agreeing to a common approach, then speak with China, Sisci said. Italy is part of NATO. It is part of the European Union and shares a currency. How do they not speak with their allies? It is crazy, he said. AP pardeepdhull@gmail.com Kabul/Balkh (Afghanistan), March 20 After fighting forced Mohammad Khan, a villager from the northern Afghanistan province of Sar-e Pul, to move his family to the more secure province of Balkh last year, they quickly fell on harder times. Khans wife grew gravely ill, he could not find work, and struggled to feed their seven children. So in January, Khan sold their baby, just 40 days old, to a neighbour. I sold him for 70,000 afghanis ($929) so that my other children would not die of hunger, he said. In a country where half the population is younger than 15, Afghanistans 17-year war has arguably hit children the hardest. Some 927 children were killed last year, the most since records have been kept, according to a U.N. report released in February. Aid workers say they are seeing a growing number of children orphaned or forced to work in the streets. I think the hope that used to exist, doesnt anymore, said Adele Khodr, the representative for UNICEF, the United Nations childrens agency, in Afghanistan. Aschiana, a charity that provides school half a day for children who beg and sell in Kabuls streets, has seen the number of Afghan children at risk rise sharply in recent years as the Taliban seized more territory across the country. It has been forced to reduce the number of children it helps, however, as its funding from donors declined, said Engineer Mohammad Yousef, Aschianas director. Children do not belong to political groups, for this reason they are ignored in Afghanistan, he said, walking through dark hallways and classrooms where lights are turned off to save money. They dont have power. Zabiullah Mujahed, 12, is learning to draw at Aschiana and hopes to become a painter. He spends the balance of his day polishing shoes on Kabuls streets to earn up to 100 Afghanis per day ($1.32). The money is critical to support himself, his mother and six siblings, after his father was killed in a Taliban suicide attack four years ago. Im worried about when peace will come and what will happen to my future, he said. If I dont work, my mother, brothers, and sisters will remain hungry. Long road Girls were banned from attending school under the Taliban governments five-year rule that ended when the Islamists were ousted by US-backed forces in 2001. Enabling girls education has been a key goal of Afghanistans western-backed government and its foreign allies. But some 3.7 million school-age children are still not in school, according to a first-of-its-kind UNICEF report in June 2018. Worsening security, poverty and migration have all made educating children more difficult in recent years, Khodr said. Sexual abuse and trafficking of boys, a practise that exploded during Afghanistans civil war in the 1990s, has also worsened, said Yasin Mohammadi, project manager for the non-governmental organization Youth Health and Development Organization (YHDO). Boys from rural areas have flocked to cities such as Kabul and Herat to find work to support families, leaving them vulnerable to those employers who take them in and molest them before circulating them to other abusers, he said. The practice of men sexually abusing boys, known by the Dari slang term bacha bazi for boy play, has been illegal in Afghanistan for only a year, and so far there are few known examples of perpetrators being sentenced. The Afghanistan governments director of childrens issues, Najib Akhlaqi, acknowledges that the situation for children is eroding. Progress is slow, but underway, he said, including drafting a national, long-term plan to help children. I am only one person. We cant solve all these problems, he told Reuters in an interview. It takes a long time. Perils of peace Aid groups welcome the prospect of peace, but worry that the inclusion of the Taliban in any post-settlement government could see a slide back towards the hardline Islamist rule it imposed between 1996 and 2001. The Talibans possible role in any new Afghanistan government has not been defined as the latest round of talks with the United States wrapped up. The Taliban never supported children, never supported people. I think we would see a worse situation than today, said Pashtana Rasol, executive director of the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization orphanage. Rasol, who was orphaned herself at age eight after she says the Taliban killed her father, doubts that the orphanages she runs would remain open under a Taliban-led government. We are raising very powerful women here, Rasol said in a Kabul orphanage where smiling girls practiced a dance routine, twirling in brightly coloured dresses. We want the girls to be improved, to be teachers, doctors, but of course the Taliban and the fundamentalist people do not want it. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the fault for the wars devastating impact on Afghan children lies with foreign invaders, adding that it has an organization that helps orphans in areas that it controls. If a peace accord is struck, the Taliban would encourage non-governmental organizations to continue their work in the country, but they would be under close scrutiny to ensure their activities adjust to cultural and religious values, he said. Yousef, director of Aschiana, worries that women may not be able to work in a society with greater Taliban influence, putting more children at risk. Peace is very important to children, he said. But we are looking for real peace. Reuters uttara@tribuneindia.com Brussels, March 20 The European Commission opposes extending British membership of the European Union to June 30 as Prime Minister Theresa May proposed on Wednesday, according to a document seen by Reuters. In a Wednesday note, Commission officials said EU leaders meeting May at a summit on Thursday faced a "binary" choice of a short Brexit delay from March 29 to May 23, or a long lag to at least the end of this year, with Britain obliged to hold European Parliament elections in May. "Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections," the document said. "This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions." EU states due to receive additional legislative seats after Brexit would need to know by mid- to late-April if they would be denied those seats because Britain was staying. The note also said in any extended membership, Britain should, "in a spirit of loyal cooperation", commit to "constructive abstention" on key issues, such as the EU's long-term budget and filling top EU posts after the May election. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned May in a call on Wednesday against requesting a delay beyond May 23, unless the United Kingdom takes part in the European vote, an EU spokeswoman said. Most EU states vote on Sundays and will vote on May 26 but Britain votes on Thursdays, and so would vote on May 23. Legal uncertainty "President Juncker has formally warned the PM against including a date for the extension that is after the EP elections," a Commission spokeswoman said. "That's why he repeated to her his advice ... that the withdrawal has to be complete before 23 Mayotherwise we face institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty. European Parliament elections have to be held (in the UK) if the extension date is after 23 May," she said. The EU is wary of undermining the legitimacy of the new European Parliamentwhich convenes on July 2should Britain eschew the vote in May but remain a member of the bloc for longer, denying its citizens the right for parliamentary representation picked in a direct vote. Any legal doubts over the new parliament would risk poisoning its next decisions, including on the appointment of a new European Commission later this year or on the EU's budget. "Every decision would be open to legal challenge," the Commission said in its note. The Commission, which may hold a stricter view on the matter than some of the 27 EU national leaders who would make any final decision, also said a long Brexit delay could last until the end of this year or longer and could be cut short if a solution were found earlier. "Under all circumstances... the European Council should envisage a single extension, rather than a series of extensions, which would keep the European Union in limbo for an extended period," it said. It insisted any leniency could be granted to Britain only on condition that it would not seek to use the extra time to renegotiate the stalled divorce deal. Reuters No delay beyond June British Prime Minister Theresa May has sent a clear signal about what she believes is the correct way ahead on Brexit, her political spokesman said when asked if she could resign if the country's EU exit is delayed for longer than she wishes. Earlier, May said that "as Prime Minister" she was not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30, prompting speculation that she could resign if her request for a three-month delay was refused by the European Union. Pound slides The British pound fell on simmering Brexit tensions after May asked EU leaders to delay the nation's departure until June 30. On eve of an EU summit in Brussels, May told parliament that she has written to EU President Donald Tusk to ask for the withdrawal date to be moved from March 29. At around 1300 GMT, sterling was down almost one per cent in value, sliding to USD 1.3149, while the euro rose to 86.40 pence. The unit was already in negative territory prior to May's announcement. Analysts expressed doubt that the delay extension would allow May's Conservative government sufficient time to resolve the crisis. "The pound's Wednesday only got worse after the confirmation that Theresa May is seeking a short delay from the EU, one that arguably does not give the government enough time to get through a sterling-positive Brexit deal," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP. "It appears that, despite the various votes highlighting MPs unwilling to leave the EU without a deal, that kind of disastrous exit is still very much on the table." Rebecca O'Keeffe, analyst at online broker Interactive Investor, was similarly downbeat. "A short delay is being perceived as the worst of all possible worlds for the UK and sterling," she said. "Rather than resolve the crisis, it suggests that Mrs May is likely to undergo three more months of brinkmanship. This will represent one more damaging quarter for UK businesses, especially those who had already implemented plans to cope with an end-March Brexit date. So it really is no surprise that the pound is going down, as investors face the prospect of another three months of purgatory." pardeepdhull@gmail.com Sydney, March 20 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to confront comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of at least 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. Erdogan who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections said Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings which the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification. Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey, Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face. Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders aboard. Despite Peters intervention, an extract from Tarrants alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogans rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkeys ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogans comments be removed from Turkeys state broadcaster. I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table, Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Morrison said Australias ambassador to Turkey will on Wednesday meet with the members of Erdogans government. Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey. Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. The area has become a site of pilgrimage for visitors who honour their nations fallen in graveyards halfway around the world on ANZAC Day every April 25. Reuters gspannu7@gmail.com Washington, March 20 US President Donald Trump will meet his key ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, an official announcement said on Wednesday. Trump will welcome Netanyahu to the White House from March 25 to 26, presidential spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. The president and the prime minister will discuss their countries shared interests and actions in the Middle East during a working meeting on March 25, she said. Trump will also host Netanyahu for dinner on March 26, Sanders said. PTI (Reuters) Blackstone Group (BX.N) has raised $695 million from Mexican pension funds for its first two local private equity funds, filings showed, joining Black Rock and KKR & Co (KKR.N) in expanding in Mexico following regulatory changes. Several of the worlds top private equity managers have quietly raised billions of dollars from Mexican pension funds, known as afores, since new rules were enacted early last year, filings to the Mexican Stock Exchange and a non-public document reviewed by Reuters showed. Regulators have authorized some managers to raise more over time. To read this article: WHEN the new coronavirus variant Omicron was first detected in Botswana, it was as if Dr Nicole Ramlachans worst nightmare had come true. For the past eight months the geneticist and associate professor at UTT had been warning that if there wasnt an uptick in vaccination rates, the chances of the virus mutating would be higher. Her fears were confirmed on November 26 when the World Health Organisation officially declared Omicron a variant of concern. Watson Duke has been given three months to relinquish his position as president of the Public Services Association (PSA). This is according to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, who also said yesterday, for the first time in the history of the THA, the position Duke holds as Deputy Chief Secretary will be a titular one. The Ambassador was received by Sounthon Xayachak, member of the LPRP Central Committee and head of the LPRP Central Committees Commission for External Relations. Ambassador Hung expressed joy and pride at the great accomplishments that the Lao people have made during the struggle for national liberation and national construction and defence over the past 64 years. He voiced the belief that despite certain difficulties and complicated developments in the regional and world situations, the Lao people will continue to reap even greater success under the sound leadership of the LPRP. The Vietnamese diplomat underlined the contribution made by the LPRPs Commission for External Relations to the achievements of the Lao people, stressing that the commissions advisory role will become more important in the period of international integration. He wished for continued coordination between the LPRPs Commission for External Relations and the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos for the effective implementation of agreements signed between Vietnam and Laos. For her part, the Lao party official expressed deep gratitude on behalf of the LPRP, State and people of Laos to Vietnam for the valuable, practical and timely help that Vietnam had provided for Laos during its national liberation struggle and national construction and defence. She said the Lao party, State and people are proud to have a faithful friend like Vietnam, stressing that all successes of Laos are connected with Vietnams support. Sounthon Xayachak affirmed that the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Laos and Vietnam will never change regardless of whatever happens in the world. The LPRP Central Committees Commission for External Relations will do the best to preserve and nurture the development of the special ties between the two countries, she said. Everyone is born free and equal in dignity and rights. However, racism, discrimination and intolerance are still very present in all societies. We in T&T must stand up for our rights, and the rights of others. Equality, injustice and freedom empower us all, and prevent violence and sustain peace. - Magufuli's government dispatched 200 tonnes of maize and 17 tonnes of rice as relief food to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe - The Tanzanian government also sent to the affected southern Africa countries 24 tonnes of medicine - President Uhuru Kenyatta on his part sent a condolence message to those who lost loved ones in the disaster - At least 1,000 people were feared dead following the catastrophic floods that struck the southern hemisphere Tanzania has dispatched relief supplies to support victims of the devastating tropical cyclone that hit Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique leaving thousands displaced and more than 1,000 people feared dead. President John Pombe Magufuli's government flagged off 200 tonnes of maize and 17 tonnes of rice to go towards supporting the three disaster-ravaged southern Africa countries where many were left homeless by the deadly cyclone Idai. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Baringo MCA claims 17 people have died of starvation President Magufuli on Tuesday, March 19, approved 200 tonnes of maize and 17 tonnes of rice as relief food for those affected by Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. Photo: Above Whispers. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Death toll rises to 13 as starvation continues to bite in Baringo county Tanzania's Foreign Affairs minister, Palamagamba Kabudi, on Tuesday announced the government would also be sending 24 tonnes of medicine to the affected countries. According to Kabudi, Magufuli had already communicated with his counterparts in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and offered to support them in the spirit of unity and as members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Tanzania's The Citizen reported Magufuli was saddened by the disaster and urged citizens and other Africans to also join hands and provide support where they can. READ ALSO: Rais Yoweri Museveni akubali kuwania tena urais 2021 Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday joined the rest of African leaders in condoling with those who lost loved ones in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique as a result of the cyclone that hit the southern Africa region on March 14. "I condole and pass my message of encouragement to the people of Southern Africa who are suffering devastation from cyclone Idai. To my friends presidents Filipe Nyusi (Mozambique), Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zimbabwe) and Peter Mutharika (Malawi), Kenya stands with you and your people as you mourn and recover from the destruction," Uhuru tweeted. READ ALSO: Congolese rumba maestro Koffi Olomide jailed for raping 15-year-old dancer The cyclone Idai first hit land close to Beira, Mozambique's fourth largest city, then gradually moved inland, leaving behind a trail of destruction and rendering several rural homes inaccessible. Hundreds of villages were submerged and bodies could be seen floating in the mighty floods described by experts as one of the worst disasters ever witnessed in the region. The United Nations (UN) World Food Programme senior spokesperson, Herve Verhoosel, said close to two million people were likely to be affected by the cyclone in Mozambique and Malawi alone as shown by satellite images of the hit regions. READ ALSO: Nine Baringo residents starve to death as drought effects hit hard Unlike Tanzania, however, Kenya did not send any aid to the affected southern Africa nations as this came at a time when the the country was also grappling with its own share of disaster. The northern part of Kenya has been ravaged by drought and famine with more than 1.1 million people staring at starvation according to deputy presidentWilliam Ruto. 13 counties are affected by drought. 1.1 million people are affected generally. The situation has been caused by insufficient long rains. Every county must provide the first line of intervention, the DP said on March 18. READ ALSO: Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa under fire over remarks nobody has died of hunger As of March 20, reports indicated at least 17 people had died as a result of the prolonged drought and starvation in Turkana and Baringo counties alone. The national government, which has since moved in to contain the situation, refuted the figures arguing there was no proof that the reported deaths resulted from hunger. Do you have a life-changing story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. The Kenyan Woman With a Million Dollar Closet :Sonal Maherali - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - Ojwang allegedly benefited from construction of a road leading to his rural house in Migori County in exchange for a favourable ruling to Obado - The JSC report asked President Uhuru to form a tribunal to further investigate the matter with a view of expelling the judge - During the proceedings, Ojwang refused to appear before the commission in person - Judge Ojwang is also implicated in another petition seeking removal of four Supreme Court judges file by lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi Supreme Court Judge Jackton Ojwang is on the verge of being axed from the bench of seven top judges in the country after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended for his removal for gross misconduct during a murder case involving Migori governor Okoth Obado. The JSC directed that President Uhuru Kenyatta establishes a tribunal to investigate Ojwang for corruption and abuse of office. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Governor Obado staring at life in prison over murder as aides cut deal with detectives JSC has recommended removal of Supreme court Judge Jackton Ojwang for corruption in Obado case. Photo/Citizen TV Source: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: Baringo Senator Gideon Moi blames counties for deaths emanating from hunger According to Citizen Digital, the Commission on Tuesday, March 19, established that Justice Ojwang allegedly benefited from the construction of a road leading to his rural house in Migori County in return for a favourable ruling involving the murder case that implicated the governor. The JSC noted the judge also declined to appear in person before the commission, a move commissioners concluded as disrespectful. Upon receiving the report, the president will form a tribunal to further investigate the Judge and if found capable, the Head of State will be obliged to axe him from the bench. Migori governor Okoth Obado was implicated in a murder case of University student, Sharon Atieno. Photo/Citizen TV. Source: UGC Source: UGC Obado was accused of aiding and abetting commission of the murder of Sharon Atieno, a university student turned governor's lover, between September 3 and September 4, 2018. He was released on a cash bail of KSh 5 million pending further investigations into the matter. The recommendation for removal of Ojwang came just a week after JSC received a petition seeking the removal of four Supreme Court judges in which Ojwang was as well implicated for allegedly violating the Constitution during the Wajir gubernatorial petition. A statement from the JSC said the petition also implicated justices Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndungu. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. His Family in-lwa took away his children after his wife died - Tuko TV Source: Tuko - The country was ranked number 121 out of 156 countries that participated in the survey - Kenya beat neighbouring countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan in the happiness index - Countries were ranked based on income, healthy life expectancy, freedom, trust, generosity and social support The latest World Happiness Report 2019 has ranked Kenya among the happiest nations in Eastern Africa. The report seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, March 20, indicated Kenya scored 4.5 which saw it grab position 121 out of 156 countries where the annual happiness survey took place. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Jamaa ajiua Kakamega baada ya kushindwa kulipa madeni The World Happiness Report 2019 ranked Kenyans number 212 out of 156, way above number 124 recorded in 2018. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: William Ruto vows to punish chiefs revealing number of people dying from hunger The country was ranked ahead of its East African peers like Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. The report showed Uganda was position 136, followed by Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania at position 145, 152, and 153 respectively. South Sudan came last at position 156. Globally, Finland was declared the country with the happiest people on earth followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Netherlands at position two, three, four and five in that order. READ ALSO: Tanzania sends relief food to flood-ravaged African countries as Kenya battles devastating starvation The countries were ranked based on income, healthy life expectancy, freedom, trust, generosity and social support. Kenya managed to pull through three positions after it was ranked number 124. In a 2018 survey conducted by Pew Research Centre, a US-based polling agency, it indicated 54% of Kenyans were ready to abandon their home-country for another. The survey also found Kenya was the fourth largest source of African immigrants to America with some 120,000 Kenyans said to be already residing in US. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news Would you vote for a heterosexual president? Source: Kenya Breaking News Today - The party National Executive Council (NEC) accused Osotsi of deliberately defying party rules and disrespecting leadership - The party also summoned nominated Senator Petronila Were to defend herself for unspecified offenses - This comes shortly after Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) expelled Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa for same reasons Amani National Congress (ANC) has finally cracked the whip on defiant MP Godfrey Osotsi after long standing political and ideological differences between the nominated legislator and the party leadership. The party governing council accused Osotsi of being disrespectful and openly defying party rules and summons even after being rewarded with the nomination slot in Parliament. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happen. READ ALSO: KWS posts cheeky tweet with photo of rhinos mating in Nairobi National Park Mudavadi's ANC party has expelled nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi for defying party rules.Photo/Citizen Source: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: Kenya could become one of Africa's top automakers as Uhuru boosts local vehicle manufacturing In a verdict that was delivered on Tuesday, March 19, the party said the decision to expel Osotsi had been communicated to the Clerk of Registrar of Political Parties advising that the MP's name be struck from the party's register. Pursuant to Article 50 and having exhaustively deliberated over the matters before it, the disciplinary committee has decided that Godfrey Osotsi be hereby expelled forthwith from the membership of ANC party, said a press release sent to newsrooms. READ ALSO: William Ruto vows to punish chiefs revealing number of people dying from hunger Mudavadi's ANC has expelled nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi (pictured) for defying party rules. Photo/Citizen TV Source: UGC The former ANC secretary general has been on a political warpath with top leaders in the party and at some point, dared its leader Musalia Mudavadi to expel him. The party also summoned nominated Senator Petronila Were to appear before the ANC Disciplinary Committee on Friday, March 29, and defend herself over unspecified allegations. Petronila Were is hereby summoned within 14 days to appear before the Disciplinary Committee and offer clarification to her response to allegations facing her," added the NEC statement Other leaders who are on the radar of ANC leadership include Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and his Vihiga counterpart George Khaniri who have openly been supporting Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga. The decision by ANC to expel Osotsi came a few weeks after ODM expelled Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa who was also accused of defying party rules. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news Televangelist James Nga'ng'a denies death threat charges in court I Tuko TV Source: Breaking News - Global carmaker Nissan has announced plans to establish an assembly line in the country - It will become the eighth top vehicle manufacturer to set up an assembly plant in Kenya - President Kenyatta has gone all out to boost local car manufacturing as part of his Big Four agenda - He has ordered all state agencies to buy locally-made cars in line with the Buy Kenya Build Kenya policy - A policy that will reduce car imports underlines governments commitment to boost local manufacturing Kenya is set to become a continental vehicle manufacturing giant if the spirited undertaking by President Uhuru Kenyattas administration to revive the automotive industry is anything to go by. Only this week, global car maker Nissan has announced plans to invest Sh2 billion in a local assembly line, a move that will make Kenya only the 21st country where the company manufactures it vehicles. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens Nissan will become the eighth company to set up an assembly plant in the country, with many other top global vehicle makers having already expressed interest of manufacturing locally. READ ALSO: William Ruto vows to punish chiefs revealing number of people dying from hunger In a bid to boost the Big Four Agenda in manufacturing President Uhuru Kenyatta has resorted to boost vehicle assembly sector. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Study ranks Kenyans the happiest in Eastern Africa This will be a major boost for Kenyas automotive industry which is growing at an impressive 11% per annum. The country is expected to hit a motorisation rate of 56% by 2030, far outstripping Africas rate of 42%. Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron unveiled a locally-assembled Peugeot 3008, SUV, the second model assembled in Kenya by the Thika-based French vehicle manufacturer, PSA Groupe. President Kenyatta and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron unveiled a locally-assembled Peugeot 3008, SUV, the second model assembled in Kenya. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Tanzania sends relief food to flood-ravaged African countries as Kenya battles devastating starvation The firm which is the second largest car manufacturer in Europe inaugurated the Peugeot 508 saloon in 2017. Manufacturing of two additional models is expected to start later in 2019, with the manufacturer hoping to soon assemble at least 15,000 vehicles in the country annually for both the local and regional markets. Toyota, Isuzu, Tata, Hyundai and recently Volkswagen are among the other top manufacturers with established local production lines. Uhuru directed all ministries and other state agencies to buy locally assembled cars and spare parts in a bid to support the local manufacturers. Once successful, the plan will see a greater reduction in number of imported cars on Kenyan roads. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Balozi wa Zambia nchini Kenya Brenda Muntemba afariki kufuatia ajali mbaya barabarani He ordered the executive decree be strictly adhered to as an affirmation to his commitment in supporting the Buy Kenya Build Kenya policy. This policy directive is intended to promote our agenda on manufacturing, creating good jobs for our people, and enhancing technology transfer to our country, the President said. To further boost local manufacturing, the government has gone all out to ensure a conducive environment for automakers. It is already working on a national automotive policy that will see among other things, a reduction of the age of imported used cars from the current eight years to five years later this year and ultimately to three years by 2021. The import limitation is expected to significantly escalate the cost of imported vehicles, subsequently pushing buyers to the local market. According to Tim Jaques, the Nissan Kenya chairman, such regulation will also mean safer and cleaner cars on Kenyan roads. Besides providing locally assembled vehicles, the governments plan will see new jobs created for the youths. Source: UGC READ ALSO: KWS posts cheeky tweet with photo of rhinos mating in Nairobi National Park The once-thriving local car assembly sector has in recent years choked under the weight of a booming second-hand car imports market. Currently, none of Kenyas three motor vehicle assembly plants utilise more than 35% of their capacity. Associated Vehicle Assemblers in Mombasa is operating at a 35% capacity, Nairobis Isuzu East Africa Limited at 23% while the Thika-based Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers is operating at a measly two percent. Laban Dundo a manager at KVM, revealed that the assembly plant has the capacity to assemble 6,500 vehicles annually in a single shift but currently produces not more than 400 vehicles annually. Nissan is expected to first assemble Nissan pickups from semi-knockdown kits on the condition that the government agrees to waive a 25% import tax. The company will submit a proposal to the government once market studies and due diligence studies have been completed and is expected to have an operational assembly line by the end of 2019 if it receives the green light. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news Source: Tuko.co.ke 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. The following is a release by the Elections and Boundaries Commission on the recount request Russian occupation forces violated ceasefire seven times, using weapons banned under the Minsk agreements six times, in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day. The enemy fired 51 82mm and 120mm mortars into Ukrainian troops. In the zone of action of tactical force East, the invaders used heavy machine guns to shell Ukrainian strongholds near Marinka (23km south-west of Donetsk), the JFO Headquarters press center reports on Facebook. In the zone of action of tactical force North, the Russian-led forces fired 120mm mortars, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns and small arms on Ukrainian defenders of Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk); 120mm and 82mm mortars near Krymske (42km north-west of Luhansk); 82mm mortars and hand-held antitank grenade launchers in the area of Novoluhanske (53km north-east of Donetsk); 120mm mortars, hand-held antitank grenade launchers and small arms outside Novotoshkivske (53km west of Luhansk). No casualties among Ukrainian troops were reported. The Joint Forces returned fire in response to enemys attacks, annihilating three invaders and wounding three more. In addition, one enemys tactical vehicle was destroyed by antitank missile system. Today, invaders have already opened fire from automatic mounted grenade launchers and heavy machine guns on a Joint Forces stronghold in the area of Lebedynske (16km east of Mariupol)in the zone of action of tactical force East. One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded. The Joint Forces reliably control the actions of the enemy on the contact line, adhering to the ceasefire regime. ol Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak met with a group of strategic advisers from NATO member countries and thanked for assistance in building a perspective system of the military management of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the ministrys press service reported on Tuesday evening. Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak met with a group of the Alliance strategic advisers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Poland and Germany, reads the report. The defense minister said that all the advice of Ukraines partners will be thoroughly studied and the reform process will be extended to the defined terms. All of you have joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces reform. The Ukrainian military has done a lot over the last four years, namely stopped one of the strongest armies in the world. I am grateful for the constructive and effective work; you demonstrate unity in the intentions to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces to become stronger, said Poltorak. He stressed once again that the ministry grateful for the assistance provided by the group of strategic advisers form NATO member countries. iy Turkeys Bayraktar unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) have been successfully tested in Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko says. "The test of Turkish Bayraktar UCAVs, which were delivered to equip the Ukrainian army, was successful. I congratulate the Ukrainian Armed Forces and our partners from Turkey, as well as all Ukrainians - today we have completely new modern weapons," the head of state wrote on Twitter. As reported, on March 6, 2019, Poroshenko announced that Turkish Bayraktar UCAVs were already in the territory of Ukraine. In January, the State Company Ukrspecexport, which is part of the State Concern "Ukroboronprom", and the Turkish company Baykar Makina signed the agreement on the purchase of Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs for the Ukrainian army. In addition, a joint Ukrainian-Turkish enterprise is expected to be set up in Zaporizhzhia to produce component parts for modern unmanned vehicles. ish An unmanned aerial vehicle of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine again spotted Russian cutting-edge radio-electronic jamming systems in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine. On March 16, an SMM mini-UAV spotted an automatic jamming system (R-330Zh, Zhitel) on a KamAZ-4310 and a radio-electronic jamming complex (Tirada-2) near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka (60km west of Luhansk), reads the report of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), based on information received as of 19:30, 18 March 2019. The SMM has already repeatedly reported on the discovery of various types of Russian radio-electronic jamming systems in Donbas, in particular, R-330Zh, Zhitel, Leer-3 RB-341B, 1L269 Krasuha-2, RB-109A Bylina as well as Repellent-1 anti-UAV system. On February 10, the OSCE SMM spotted a modern Russian radio intelligence system TORN in the occupied parts of Donbas. This system is one of the latest Russian developments used exclusively by the Russian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE calls on Russia to explain how its modern radio-electronic systems appeared in Donbas. ol The Czech Republic does not intend to recognize Crimea as a Russian territory and urges Moscow to immediately release the Ukrainian political prisoners. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic announced this in the official statement on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. "The Czech Republic having also experienced a military occupation of a part of its territory by a strong neighbouring country remains steadfast in its commitment to pursuing a non-recognition policy," the report says. Five years ago by annexing Crimea Russia committed a flagrant breach of international law. The Czech Republic as well as the European Union and the overwhelming majority of countries continue to consider the Crimean peninsula as a part of Ukraine. "The ongoing militarization of the territory of Crimea, as well as a violation of unhindered and free navigation through the Kerch Strait and in the Sea of Azov, represent yet another blatant breach of international law. Moreover, it poses a threat to stability and security in Europe," Czech Foreign Ministry stresses. Since the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the fundamental human and civil rights of the Crimean Tatars, as well as those of other ethnic and religious communities, have been violated. The Czech Republic calls on the Russian Federation to assure compliance with the international human rights standards as well as to immediately release Oleg Sentsov and other illegally detained Ukrainian citizens including the crewmembers captured during the attack on Ukrainian vessels in November 2018. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar during a meeting with the delegation of the Defense Commission of the Swedish Parliament discussed further consolidation of efforts in countering Russian aggression, the Foreign Ministrys press service reported. "Ukraine's experience in countering Russian military and hybrid threats, as well as cyberattacks, is of considerable interest to Stockholm. During the meeting, the sides said that Russia's aggressive policy towards Ukraine is also part of the Kremlins plans to destabilize the European continent and undermine public trust in democratic institutions," the ministrys press service reported. Vasyl Bodnar also informed the Swedish delegation about the current situation in Donbas and stressed the importance of further consolidation of international community to put more pressure on Moscow so that to return to occupied territories. The deputy minister thanked the Swedish delegation for the strong support of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity and said that "this support is particularly noticeable in the EU and the UN, where our Swedish partners are co-initiators of all important decisions, resolutions and other documents in support of Ukraine." Members of the Swedish delegation, in turn, assured that Sweden remains a reliable partner of Ukraine in advocating its sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a sincere friend in providing practical assistance in conducting reforms. iy Ukraines Ambassador to Slovenia Mykhailo Brodovych and Interior Minister of Slovenia Bostjan Poklukar discussed cooperation in the fight against human trafficking. The press service of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Slovenia reported this on the results of a meeting of the ambassador with Slovenian officials. "The meeting was dedicated to strengthening interaction and establishing direct contacts between the agencies of both countries, authorized to perform functions in the field of combating human trafficking. The parties expressed their readiness to cooperate in this direction, and also discussed the issues of attracting Ukrainian representatives to international events in the field of combating trafficking in human beings to be held in Slovenia," the report says. During the meeting, the sides also discussed the issue of developing a draft implementation protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia of the agreement between Ukraine and the European Community on readmission of persons. The ambassador also informed about the internal political situation in Ukraine, preparation for the next presidential election and asked for support in order to properly organize the voting process in Slovenia. The Slovenian side outlined the main challenges related to the migration situation in Slovenia, informed about the results achieved in this area and positively assessed the effect of a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU. ish Museums are considered to be a treasure trove of history and offer a peek into the past. However, there are certain museums that take a less-traveled path by highlighting exotic items. These museums are comprised of quirky and hilarious exhibits from all over the world. Moreover, the museum exhibits explore the limitless capability of the human mind. Here is a list of 15 of the most bizarre, offbeat, and weirdest museums the world has to offer. 1. Museum of Broken Relationships A museum in Croatia where people can leave personal objects left by ex-lovers accompanied by brief descriptions. The Museum of Broken Relationships located in Croatia is exclusively dedicated to failed love relationships. The museum includes personal objects left by former lovers with brief descriptions. The museum was a brainchild of a couple of Croatian artists, Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic. The artists conceived the idea after their love relationship came to an end after four years. After contemplating the idea for a long time, they contacted their friends as well to donate things left by former lovers. The museum was opened to the public in 2016 and is the citys first privately owned museum. The museum is divided into three segments material remains such as objects and pictures, a virtual web museum where donors can upload images and documents, and finally a confession space which is an interactive part of the museum. Due to its quirkiness, in May 2011, it received the Kenneth Hudson Award as Europes most innovative museum. (source) 2. Museum of Bad Art A museum exclusively dedicated to awful artwork. It is a permanent collection that includes over 700 pieces of art that are too bad to be ignored. The museum dedicated to awful artwork is located in Massachusetts. The museum is comprised of 700 pieces of awful artwork that are too bad to be ignored. The private museum was conceptualized in 1994 after an art dealer, Scott Wilson, displayed an artwork that he retrieved from the trash to his friends. He retrieved the museums signature piece Lucy in the Field with Flowers. Based on his friends suggestions, the museum started displaying artwork that is original with a serious backstory. The museum started gaining popularity through word-of-mouth publicity. The museum was initially operated out of a basement in Dedham, Massachusetts. Due to increasing popularity, it was later moved to various branches across Massachusetts. The famous artworks in the display include Lucy in the Field with Flowers, Sunday on the Pot with George, Bone-Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt, and Motifs and Interpretations. (source) Advertisements 3. Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum A museum located in Osaka exclusively dedicated to instant and cup noodles. The museum is dedicated to food innovator Momofuku Ando is located in Osaka. The museum highlights the history of instant noodles around the world. It is comprised of more than 800 packets of instant noodles organized in chronological order. Instant noodles were born in Japan and gradually spread until they are now found all around the world. The quirky museum also boasts a My Cup Noodles Factory where visitors can customize their noodles. They can also manufacture their own noodles and top them off with their favorite sauce. This museum is a must-visit for ramen and cup noodles lovers. (source) 4. The Clown Museum A museum and a research center dedicated to the preservation and advancement of clown art and achievement. The museum recognizes the outstanding history of clowns and is an ode to the circus. The museum pays tribute to clown performers and also consists of a research center. The museum was set up in 1987 at Delavan, Wisconsin which is considered to be the birthplace of the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus. The museums hall of fame has more than 61 clowns who are considered to be outstanding performers. The museum also exhibits a range of different types of clowns and their funny costumes. It also consists of the famous mini-car driven by the famous clown Chester Bobo Barnett, and trunks full of clowns costumes, posters, and collectors paraphernalia. (source) 5. International UFO Museum This is a museum that focusses on the 1947 Roswell Crash and later supposed UFO incidents in the United States and elsewhere. The International UFO Museum and Research Centre is located at Roswell, New Mexico. The museum was founded by Glenn Dennis and inaugurated in September 1991. The museum was organized to highlight the events following the alleged Roswell Incident. It is comprised of a collection of materials and information related to the incident that occurred in 1947. It also exhibits models of aliens, UFOs, alien autopsy reports, and documentaries. The museum is run by a non-profit organization and has an extensive collection of extra-terrestrial exhibits from all over the world. (source) Advertisements 6. Cockroach Museum This is an unusual museum that features the largest and best-dressed cockroaches. The roaches are dressed like celebrities and historical figures. It is an eccentric series of museums throughout the United States and Canada. The museum features roach celebrities and live cockroaches. The museum consists of a hilarious collection of dead bugs dressed as celebrities and historical figures. The cockroach hall of fame exhibits Liberoache, a roach dressed in a housecoat and a wig with a miniature piano. It also consists of Bates Roach Motel a psycho-roach replete with a tiny knife in its hand. Moreover, visitors can see roaches dressed as Elvis Presley, Britney Spears, Santa Claus, and more. (source) 7. Museum of Failed Products This museum contains thousands of consumer products that never took off including gems like Clairols A Touch of Yoghurt shampoo and Pepsis AM Breakfast Cola. The museum which is located in Ann Arbor features a collection of failed products and services. The museum was created by Robert McMath in 1960s when he started purchasing and preserving samples of every item he could lay his hands on. The museum features over 70 failed products and risky innovations. Among them, the famous items on display are Clairols yogurt shampoo, Pepsis breakfast cola, Apple Newton MessagePad, Harley-Davidson Cologne, Heinzs EZ Squirt purple- or green-colored ketchup, Colgate Beef Lasagne, Google glass, BiC for Her, and much more. The museum also exhibits a confession wall were visitors can write their failure on a post-it note and display it to the world. (source) As prepared for delivery. Your Excellency, the President of Argentina (also President of the Conference), Your Excellency, the President of the General Assembly, Your Excellency, the Secretary General of the United Nations Your Excellency, the President of the Economic and Social Council, Your Excellency, the President-designate of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation, Distinguished Heads of State and Government, Honorable Ministers, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a privilege for me to address this opening session of the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation. I would like to thank the Government of Argentina for hosting us in Buenos Aires, for their warm hospitality, and for their longstanding unwavering support to South-South cooperation. It is also a great honour to serve as the Secretary-General of the conference given the historic timing. I would like to thank Member States for their confidence. Approximately 40 years ago, Argentina hosted the Conference on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries. That landmark meeting adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action which not only highlighted the importance of South-South cooperation in addressing challenges confronting the developing world, but also called on the UN system to implement its recommendations. As has been mentioned explicitly in the Plan, it is not a read once and put away document. The conference comes at a fitting time - few would have predicted that in the 40 years since BAPA, developing countries would be accounting for such levels of global economic output. Intra-South trade is higher than ever - accounting for more than one quarter of all world trade, while foreign direct investment outflows from the South represent one-third of global Foreign Direct Investment flows. Today, solutions created in the South are delivering lasting results around the world. There is so much critical, concrete work happening on the ground every day. They range from: - a vital exchange of expertise on resilient climate-resistant rice production between Colombia and the Dominican Republic; -to a South-South exchange where Cameroon learnt from Ethiopia about how best to implement the HIV Safety Net Programme; -to an Australia-China-Papua New Guinea Pilot Cooperation to tackle malaria; -to an online platform pioneered in Bangladesh which allows millions of people to access free public services online thus negating the need for the poorest to travel that knowledge is now being shared and replicated in a range of other countries. South-South cooperation: a critical element to achieve 2030 Agenda Forty years on from BAPA, South-South cooperation continues to play an indispensable - and ever growing - role in todays development landscape. There has been evolution of the substantive focus on South-South cooperation, from technical and economic cooperation to embracing the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, environmental and social. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda welcome the increased contribution of South-South cooperation to poverty eradication and sustainable development. Given its scope and ambition, it is clear the implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires the mobilization of all types of partnerships and resources that should be utilized coherently towards common objectives. Developing countries, regardless of size or level of development, have accumulated capacities and experiences which offer cost-effective solutions which may be adapted by other developing countries (even countries of the north) to their unique circumstances. UNDP firmly committed to South-South cooperation The United Nations Development System is enhancing its support for South-South and triangular cooperation, including through the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, proudly hosted and supported by UNDP over the last four decades. The promotion of South-South cooperation as a central element of global development cooperation and its proven ability to deliver results on the ground - is something which we at UNDP takes very seriously. Accordingly, we have been increasing our efforts to better support; and further promote South-South cooperation as an important complement to traditional development cooperation. Here, I want to appreciate the acknowledgement of UNDPs support to UNOSSC and the recognition of our, commitment in the promotion of South-South approaches to sustainable development in the final draft Outcome Document of this Conference. At this moment, I would like to highlight the renewed UNDP offer on South-South and Triangular cooperation which rests on several compelling comparative advantages such as the fact that we have trusted local partnerships in 170 countries. Moreover, UNDPs six signature solutions bring a multidisciplinary approach to keeping people out of poverty, strengthen governance, enhance crisis prevention and recovery, promote nature-based solutions for development, ways to close the energy gap, and the advancement of gender equality. The overall challenge is to identify the right lessons and then tailoring them to specific contexts so they can have the best possible development impact. The approach is about connecting more countries and finding better ways to share UNDP can offer the platform to do just that. UNDP has a long history as a trusted knowledge broker, partnership facilitator, and a capacity-development supporter for South-South and triangular cooperation UNDP is the partner of choice for South-South cooperation. It works to support a range of innovative projects which have the ability to be replicated and translated to other environments easily. For example, Youth Connekt is a multi-dimensional programme, which was developed in Rwanda in 2012, with the aim of connecting young people to their role models, peers, resources, technologies, skills and economic opportunities. UNDP and its partners are scaling-up the approach across six countries in Africa. We are seeking to create 10 million jobs for youth and to close the gender gap. The model also has great potential to translate to a range of other countries across the world. Looking ahead, UNDP is examining how to better connect countries be it be it labour markets, finance, education etc. and it keenly recognize how technology and innovation plays a vital role the new UNDP Accelerator Labs which are being established in 60 developing countries to quickly scale-up local solutions are a reflection of this thinking. We hope that these local solutions can be replicated in other countries. Closing UNDP is just one cog in a wider machine which works in tandem with the UN System, Regional Commissions and other partnerships to strengthen support to South-South cooperation even as we look at ways to revitalize the UN development assistance frameworks. We also strongly believe that the UN System-wide South-South Cooperation Strategy that the UN Secretary-General has called for will bring even more coherent and coordinated support by the UN system. South-South and triangular cooperation is critical as, on spite all the efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda and its goals, persistent development challenges remain and they need to be addressed with a joined-up approach. All stakeholders committed to leveraging the potential of South-South and triangular cooperation are here in Buenos Aires so we can seize this opportunity. We must strengthen and build upon the commitments for South-South cooperation established here four decades ago to address the cross-cutting challenges before us and t leave no one behind. In sum I want the conference to provide strong momentum for concerted and cooperative action, through partnerships among all stakeholders, to bolster the role of South-South cooperation and for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. When thousands of children, women and men fled Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for safety in western Tanzania, they spent months in dilapidated emergency shelters and tents, at the mercy of wet season rains. But thanks to flexible funding from its donors, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, was able to build 470 robust, long-lasting shelters. While the overall need is far greater, they gave the most vulnerable the security, comfort and privacy they desperately needed. UNHCR uses the so-called unearmarked funds in three main ways: to make an immediate difference in peoples lives by kick-starting emergency responses; bolstering efforts in underfunded and forgotten crises, and scaling up programmes in a coordinated and efficient way. Unearmarked funds are vital, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, during a recent visit to Nyarugusu camp in western Tanzania, which is home to more than 150,000 refugees. How does UNHCR use unearmarked funds? (Kathryn Porteous, producer) They allow us to build shelters, to help with the education of refugees, to promote activities which bring together the host communities and the refugees, he added. In the East African country, needs are acute as UNHCRs operations are severely underfunded, at just 6 per cent of the US$126 million sought. In addition to providing the new, more environmentally friendly housing, flexible funding has allowed UNHCR to keep schools open and support projects such as farms and small businesses that benefit not just the 162,000 refugees in Tanzania, but also their host communities. Congolese refugee Apolina Nyassa, 86, lives alone in a Refugee Housing Unit (RHU) given to refugees with special needs, at Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania. UNHCR/Georgina Goodwin Burundian refugee Nimbona Valyne, 26, teaches at Jugudi Primary School in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania. There are 68 boys and 44 girls in her class. UNHCR/Georgina Goodwin Syrian refugee Amira with her daughter Amani in their home in an informal settlement in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, February 2018. The family built their shelter with wood and tarpaulin supplied by UNHCR. UNHCR/Hannah Maule-ffinch Two men build a house as part of a UNHCR construction project in the Malemaka district of Bangui, Central African Republic, November 2017. UNHCR/Djerassem Mbaiorem A class is in full swing at Mbera camp, Mauritania, May 2018. UNHCR support to primary education includes paying stipends to teachers and maintaining the school facilities UNHCR/Jose Manuel Caceres With around 68 per cent of the funding UNHCR received last year earmarked or tightly earmarked for spending in particular situations, up from about 65 per cent in 2017, flexible funding is more important than ever. In Lebanon, which hosts around one million Syrian refugees, unearmarked funds provide cash assistance that helps cover rent, pay for education, and, during the chill winter months, help pay for shelter materials and fuel. In the Central African Republic, where a gradual transition to peace and stability began in late 2016, flexible funds are supporting the reintegration of thousands of returning refugees and internally displaced people. In Mauritania, meanwhile, they are supporting primary education for almost 6,000 Malian children, paying the salaries of 120 teachers and school staff working in six primary schools, two extensions and school canteens. I thank those donors that trust us and give us the responsibility to make the choice of where to put those funds, Grandi said during his visit to Tanzania. And I want to encourage all donors to support refugees with unearmarked funding so that we may respond quickly and to those in need. When he speaks of his home country, Carlos big, mahogany eyes well up. It is too beautiful, he says, Venezuela has a variety of everything. The 13-year-old has since moved with his family to Trinidad and Tobago an island barely 11 kilometres away from Venezuela, yet a completely different world. The worst in our country would be the lack of food and the fact that, after being such a wonderful country with so many resources, after being one of the best in Latin America, now its become one of the worst, with a huge economic crisis, he says. Trinidad and Tobago, with a population of nearly 1.4 million, hosts more than 40,000 Venezuelans. The countrys current legislation does not allow refugees and migrants to work or access the official school system. Yet a lot of Trinbagonians are welcoming Venezuelans and other asylum seekers, helping them to integrate through activities like Moko Jumbie stilt walking a tradition brought to the country by its African peoples during slavery. The short documentary Lifted, produced by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and directed by Miquel Galofre, follows Carlos and his family as they get back on their feet after fleeing hunger and scarcity in Venezuela. When we go to Moko Jumbie its like a little break from our real life. Trinidad and Tobago is such a rich, beautiful mix of different cultures. We hope that this film will allow people to understand the refugee experience a little bit better, and to understand each other a little bit better. At the end of the day, everyone just wants to be embraced and accepted by their community," says Leila Jane Nassif, UNHCR Chief of Mission in Trinidad and Tobago. Carlos spends most of his days inside a humble apartment with his mother and older brother. He attends a temporary learning facility run by Living Water Community, a local non-profit organization and UNHCR partner that provides refugees and asylum-seekers with humanitarian assistance. Lifted Trailer The whole family looks forward to the days they go out to practice stilt walking with Sticks in De Yard. When we go to Moko Jumbie its like a little break from our real life, Carlos mother says. The people are very pleasant there. They practice, we laugh, we try to be normal. Carnival is one of the most beloved celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago and one of its staples are Moko Jumbies men and women acrobatically dancing on meters-high stilts. "The moment you stand up on a pair of sticks, everybody watches you, no matter who it is. The local group Sticks in De Yard took on this tradition and opened it up to community members, including young refugees and migrants, to help build their self-confidence and better integrate in the community. "The moment you stand up on a pair of sticks and you take a walk out into the road, everybody watches you, no matter who it is, states Damir Shorab Ali, a teacher at Sticks in De Yard. Despite his fears, Carlos gets on a pair of orange stilts, about a metre high, and takes his first steps as Mekhai Weekes, another member of Sticks in De Yard, holds his hands. They go out on the public square and practice. For me the best moment of the day was that, when youre about to fall, the teachers are there to catch you and they dont let you fall, Carlos says laying on the squares grass after the class. See also: Temporary residency permits a lifeline for Venezuelans in Peru The worst moment I think its when we have to leave, because I havent had any bad moment yet, he adds. The government of Trinidad and Tobago recently announced that it will start registering Venezuelan asylum-seekers and refugees in the country. UNHCR operates in Trinidad and Tobago at the request of the national government to assist the authorities, civil society partners and other actors in supporting the country's asylum infrastructure and representing a safeguard against forced return. It also facilitates the provision of humanitarian aid, access to legal assistance, learning, and other support through its partner, Living Water Community, and by initiatives aimed at empowerment and solidarity conducted with academic, non-governmental and other groups, such as Sticks in De Yard. Ukraine gov't to extend contract with Naftogaz CEO Kobolyev for another year The contract will be extended subject to the fulfillment of three basic conditions. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukrainian sanctions against Russian banks' subsidiaries in Ukraine extended for two years Sberbank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank are among the banks subject to Ukraine's sanctions. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter The district administrative court of Kyiv recognized as legitimate the earlier decision of the Kyiv State City Administration adopted in November 2017. Touring circuses that hold animals have been prohibited from operating in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. Animal rights activists from UAnimals public movement on Tuesday praised the District Administrative Court of Kyiv's ruling in the suit filed by representatives of touring circuses. The report says the lawsuit was dismissed. Today, the court confirmed the legitimacy of the KSCA decision to ban touring circuses with animals in Kyiv. Circus lobbyists abandoned their attempts to have this torture return to Kyiv, the activists wrote on March 19. Read alsoAnimal rights activists hold rallies in 20 Ukrainian cities (Photos, video) On the morning of Tuesday, they held a rally For circus without animals outside the court. As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 9, 2017, the Kyiv City Council, by 66 votes, passed a decision "On the termination of the placement of visiting touring circuses with animals in the territory of the city of Kyiv." By its decision, the City Council recommended the Department of Urban Improvement of the KSCA to refrain from granting consent to the placement of touring circuses with animals in the capital. The president added that the Army would soon receive new models of military equipment and weaponry. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 strike drones are now being tested in Ukraine. "Today is a special day. Here [in Khmelnytskiy region] and now, Turkish-made Bayraktar UAVs are being tested," Poroshenko said in a live broadcast on Facebook. The president added that the Army would soon receive new models of military equipment and weaponry. Bayraktar TB2 drones will be supplied to Ukraine's special operations forces and air assault units, as well as motorized brigades. Read alsoTurkish strike drones to boost Ukraine's defense capabilities Air Force As UNIAN reported earlier, Poroshenko announced on January 12 Ukraine was set to purchase Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 strike drones. On January 14, the country's Air Force Command said Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 strike drones would significantly strengthen Ukraine's defense capability. Parubiy urges lawmakers not to delay the bill's consideration. Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy has said passing a law on the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language cannot be hindered either by the Kremlin or its representatives in Ukraine, including in the Ukrainian parliament. "No one will stop us, neither the Kremlin nor its representatives in Ukraine or in the Ukrainian parliament," Parubiy said at a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, March 20, according to an UNIAN correspondent. The Rada speaker said some lawmakers were "deliberately delaying the bill's consideration." Read alsoVolker hopes Hungary, Ukraine to settle issue of minority rights in Zakarpattia Parubiy said he had agreed with Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Culture Committee Mykola Kniazhytsky to limit the timing of speeches at the session hall to save time. Parubiy said passing the language law was a must: "I appeal to my colleagues not to artificially delay the language bill [consideration]. It must be passed. This is our duty, this is the historical duty of this convocation of the Ukrainian parliament." As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada is yet to vote in the second reading the bill on the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language. Only 656 out of 2,080 amendments have been considered so far. Today, the parliament continues their consideration. This week is the last plenary one before the presidential election scheduled for March 31. The sanctions were imposed on 294 legal entities and 848 individuals. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed decree No. 82/2019 to enact a decision passed by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine on March 19 on personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) against Russian citizens and legal entities. The sanctions were imposed on 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, the NSDC press service said. The sanctions list includes individuals and legal entities involved in the construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge, as well as in an attack on three Ukrainian naval boats and the capture of 24 Ukrainian sailors in November 2018, and in preparations and holding of illegal local elections in Russia-occupied Donbas and Crimea. Subject to the Ukrainian sanctions are also those who have defiantly violated Ukrainian laws on entry/exit into the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine's Crimea; who distribute anti-Ukrainian printed products; who have illegally obtained and used museum collections belonging to Ukraine. In addition, the sanctions were introduced against leaders of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Read alsoAustralia imposes financial sanctions, travel bans over Russia's continued aggression against Ukraine The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine also sanctioned the individuals and legal entities subject to sanctions of the European Union, the United States and Canada. Also, as proposed by the National Bank of Ukraine, sanctions against four banks with Russian capital were extended. Meanwhile, restrictive measures against eight legal entities were abolished upon the submission of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine in connection with the achieved goal of imposed sanctions, as most of them ceased economic operations. Also, the identification data of one physical and two legal entities was updated on the SBU's initiative. Under Articles 1 and 5 of the Law of Ukraine on Sanctions, sanctions shall be applied to legal entities that are residents of Ukraine only if they are involved in the implementation of terrorist activities. In this regard, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to complete the verification whether the legal entities listed in Appendix 1 of a parliament resolution dated October 4, 2018, are involved in terrorist activities. Therefore, the issue of applying sanctions initiated by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will be considered after the end of the verification. Ukrainian laws do not allow a person who is a citizen of an aggressor or invader state to work as an international observer at elections. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has denied registration to the citizens of the Russian Federation nominated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) as international observers at the presidential elections in Ukraine on March 31. CEC members took the respective decision at a meeting on Wednesday, March 20, an UNIAN correspondent said. Read also"Unprecedented" number of observers registered for upcoming presidential election in Ukraine CEC CEC Secretary Natalia Bernatska said the commission received an application from the OSCE/ODIHR on March 15 to register 24 citizens of the Russian Federation as official observers at the presidential elections in Ukraine. She stressed that, according to Ukrainian laws, an international observer cannot be a person who is a citizen of an aggressor or invader state. Thus, the Central Election Commission refused to register Russian citizens as OSCE/ODIHR observers. As UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on February 7 prohibited citizens of the Russian Federation from being official observers at presidential, parliamentary and local elections in Ukraine. In turn, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, the Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said she was disappointed at the decision. According to her, the ban on Russian observers is contrary to the obligations of Ukraine to the OSCE and its member states. On February 6, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted it would not accept applications from Russian citizens for registration as official observers at the upcoming elections in Ukraine. The ministry said the decision is not contrary to Ukraine's international obligations in the area of free and democratic elections. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to order the State Border Service of Ukraine to ban observers from the Russian Federation from entering Ukraine. In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry on February 8 announced it had decided to refrain from sending Russian citizens to Ukraine to work as long-term observers in Ukraine. On February 27, the OSCE/ODIHR announced they would submit to Ukraine a list of short-term observers for accreditation from all participating countries, including Russia. Short-term observers should arrive in Ukraine a few days prior to the vote and observe the voting process directly. On March 15, ODIHR Spokesperson Thomas Rymer said in an exclusive comment to UNIAN that the OSCE/ODIHR presidential election observation mission in Ukraine had submitted a list of 24 Russian citizens to the CEC for accreditation as election observers in Ukraine. The State Department called Lutsenko's claim of receiving a do not prosecute list, "an outright fabrication." Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko told Hill.TV's John Solomon in an interview that aired Wednesday that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch gave him a do not prosecute list during their first meeting. "Unfortunately, from the first meeting with the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, [Yovanovitch] gave me a list of people whom we should not prosecute," Lutsenko, who took his post in 2016, told Hill.TV last week. "My response of that is it is inadmissible. Nobody in this country, neither our president nor our parliament nor our ambassador, will stop me from prosecuting whether there is a crime," he continued. The State Department called Lutsenko's claim of receiving a do not prosecute list, "an outright fabrication." "We have seen reports of the allegations," a department spokesperson told Hill.TV. "The United States is not currently providing any assistance to the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), but did previously attempt to support fundamental justice sector reform, including in the PGO, in the aftermath of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. When the political will for genuine reform by successive Prosecutors General proved lacking, we exercised our fiduciary responsibility to the American taxpayer and redirected assistance to more productive projects." Hill.TV has reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine for comment. Read alsoAmbassador Yovanovitch: SAPO chief must be replaced Lutsenko also said that he has not received funds amounting to nearly $4 million that the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine was supposed to allocate to his office, saying that "the situation was actually rather strange" and pointing to the fact that the funds were designated, but "never received." "At that time we had a case for the embezzlement of the U.S. government technical assistance worth 4 million U.S. dollars, and in that regard, we had this dialogue," he said. "At that time, [Yovanovitch] thought that our interviews of Ukrainian citizens, of Ukrainian civil servants, who were frequent visitors of the U.S. Embassy put a shadow on that anti-corruption policy." "Actually, we got the letter from the U.S. Embassy, from the ambassador, that the money that we are speaking about [was] under full control of the U.S. Embassy, and that the U.S. Embassy did not require our legal assessment of these facts," he said. "The situation was actually rather strange because the funds we are talking about were designated for the prosecutor general's office also and we told [them] we have never seen those, and the U.S. Embassy replied there was no problem." "The portion of the funds namely 4.4 million U.S. dollars were designated and were foreseen for the recipient Prosecutor General's office. But we have never received it," he said. Yovanovitch previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Armenia under former presidents Obama and George W. Bush, as well as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan under Bush. She also served as ambassador to Ukraine under Obama. The day has brought no casualties across the warzone. Russian-led forces mounted seven attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in the past 24 hours. "No Ukrainian army casualties were reported in the past day. According to intelligence reports, three invaders were killed," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on March 20, 2019. What is more, Ukrainian troops destroyed an enemy military transport vehicle, using an anti-tank missile system. Read alsoOSCE monitors spot about 30 howitzers in Russia-occupied areas in Donbas During the period under review, the Russian occupation forces opened fire from 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms, attacking the Ukrainian positions near the town of Maryinka and the villages of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Krymske, Novoluhanske, and Novotoshkivske. "Since Wednesday midnight, Russian-led forces have attacked a Ukrainian fortified position near the village of Lebedynske, using automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of the shelling. Information on the enemy's losses is being clarified," the report said. The Mission earlier reported nearly 30 howitzers in the occupied territory. Observers who are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have spotted projectiles from a Grad multiple launch rocket system in the town of Ilovaisk, Donetsk region. "On March 18, in Ilovaisk (non-government-controlled, 30km south-east of Donetsk) the SMM saw for the first time two metal objects assessed as probable projectiles from a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS, Grad-type, 122mm) protruding from the road surface near 57 and 85 Shevchenka Street, about 70m from the nearest building," the OSCE said in an update based on information received as of 19:30 Kyiv time on March 18, 2019. Read alsoOSCE monitors spot about 30 howitzers in Russia-occupied areas in Donbas "At 171 Shevchenka Street, the Mission again saw a previously observed unexploded ordnance," reads the report. As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian-led forces mounted seven attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past 24 hours. Nazarbayev could be a real deterrent against Putin, the analyst believes. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, 78, resigned because he understood that the country would have been torn apart if he died while still holding a presidential office, a Ukrainian political expert and former MP Taras Chornovil believes. Nazarbayev decided to become a "national guide", Chornovil told Glavred. Nazarbayev was the only official able to hold back significant centrifugal forces existing in Kazakhstan clan forces, which could try to tear the country apart in the case of his death. "... there is also a colossal Russian factor: both external and internal. Nazarbayev managed to harshly suppress pro-Russian opposition forces. They don't play around with Russians there as we do here in Ukraine. Russian language is restricted there," the expert said. "The opportunities of non-Kazakhs to hold public office are strictly limited. Meanwhile, in law enforcement agencies, Nazarbayev has carried out a colossal purge. And Russia couldn't do anything about it," Chornovil added. Read alsoKazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev says he is resigning media The analyst said that Kazakhstan was also influenced by an external factor somewhat similar to the one Ukraine is seeing as Russia "showed itself" a couple of times. "In the former Aktyubinsk, there were attempts to set up a revolt the same way it was done with the 'LPR' and the 'DPR': 'tourists' were deployed there from Russia the same way, there were attempts at terror acts, and they tried to seize administrative buildings," he said. "Under Nazarbayev, all of this ended very quickly. And no one knows where these rebels are now: whether they are in prison or physically liquidated. It was only Nazarbayev who could act like that because of his authority and influence," the source said. The ex-people's deputy stressed that Nazarbayev could be a real deterrent against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nazarbayev understands that if he dies, Kazakhstan will simply be torn apart. Therefore, he is taking this step transition to the status of a national guide, a leader who will ensure actual succession and its strengthening, the analyst added. The resignation of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev didn't actually come as such a surprise. During the past six months, experts have been expecting some kind of a transit of power, suggesting that Nazarbayev could be preparing some platform and a framework for the future architecture of power transition to his successor. Last year there were first personnel changes, which showed that Nazarbayev intensified the role of the administration of the president and security forces. Moreover, he was doing it not to suit his own rule but rather to provide for that transit stage. Ultimately, this became clear after he appealed to the Constitutional Court with a request to clarify the position of the Constitution referring to a president stepping down from office. Although when Nazarbayev appealed to the Constitutional Court, he made a remark that he didn't want any early presidential elections. Even back then, experts suggested that the president could be clearing up the path for his nephew, Samat Abish. It is he who Nazarbayev sees his successor. Abish is an influential figure from Nazarbayev's clan. However, the idea was that this could happen no earlier than 2020. On February 27, 2019, at a Nur Otan Party congress, chaired by Nazarbayev himself, Nazarbayev gave some instructions that left a clear impression of him planning to remain at the helm of both the country and political force. He talked about the presidential elections scheduled to be held in a few years, and in no way hinted at planning to leave office. Now he has resigned. According to the constitution of Kazakhstan, the power is transferred to the speaker of the upper chamber of the Senate, Kasim-Zhomart Tokayev. Of course, he is no successor. He is a head of state purely technically. Nazarbayev seems to be resigning, but on the other hand, he is not going anywhere, while remaining a significant factor and the center of gravity and influence in the future power architecture Tokayev is only a nominal leader, since Nazarbayev remains the head of the country's Security Council, the body which enjoys significant powers. The constitution of Kazakhstan stipulates the rights and obligations of "the first president-leader of the nation" (this is Nazarbayev's status now). This is a life-long position, that is, Nazarbayev may head the Security Council until the day he dies. In addition, the first president has the right to veto certain decisions taken by both the president and parliament. Thus, Nazarbayev seems to be resigning, but on the other hand, he is not going anywhere, while remaining a significant factor and the center of gravity and influence in the future power architecture. First reshuffles have already begun. In particular, Gizat Nurdauletov was appointed general prosecutor. He is believed to be a person close to Nazarbayev's brother and set to become a mentor and political advisor for Samat Abish. In addition, former akim [head] of Akmolinsky region Malik Murzalin has returned to the presidential administration to become its Deputy Head. Experts say he will be shaping the foreign policy of the future president. In particular, in 2013-2017, he was deputy head of the president's office. A career diplomat and protocol executor, he is expected to ensure the impeccable transition of power to the next president and preparation for the elections to make sure that it's Abish who becomes president. Nazarbayev will remain the main active figure and provide a direct transit of power There are also other clans in circles close to Nazarbayev, which wouldn't like to see Abish's increasing influence and could be a competition for him. In particular, it was about the son-in-law of the president, Mr Kulibayev, and the president's daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva. Neither would be too pleased over the election of Samat Abish, and perhaps they could join forces in opposition. That's because they control part of the security forces and the army. They could create an actual competition. But that's only if Nazarbayev died. Then the situation would be similar to what happened in Uzbekistan. However, Nazarbayev is alive and, judging by his long address late February, looks rather healthy. Therefore, obviously, Nazarbayev will remain the main active figure and provide for a direct transit of power. From my point of view, Nazarbayev studied the experience of a neighboring Uzbekistan, where the power was transferred to Shavkat Mersiyoyev after the death of Islam Karimov. Mersiyoyev had been a prime minister of this country. And although it was a seemingly peaceful transfer of power, there were some real clashes behind closed doors of high offices, which resulted in the elimination of a number of significant figures. Moreover, the new leadership almost completely cut the influence of the Karimov family: his nephews, his wife, his daughter, and his closest entourage were all removed from decision-making. Seeing the case where young wolves simply cleansed president's entire family, depriving them of any opportunities for financial influence and influence on government decisions, the Kazakh leader decided not to wait for tragic developments, instead ensuring that, following transfer, the power is retained within the Nazarbayev clan. Therefore, I fully agree with those Kazakh experts who say that Nazarbayev "steps down without going anywhere." Thirty years having Nazarbayev as president is a rather long term. During this period, Kazakhstan has undergone a certain period of its development, seen changes, while certain transparency processes have taken place, along with a significant economic improvement. In particular, in October 2018 and February 2019, Nazarbayev announced a number of significant social and economic changes. In fact, he's leaving office at a fairly high level of both trust and expectations. He has not been totally discredited despite some growth in dissatisfaction rates and a certain demonization of the Akorda (the presidential administration), the president's institutions, his entourage, and the government. The level of public support slid compared to 2010. Yet the level of income and living standards of the population, confidence in the country's leadership, as well as in the future of the Kazakhs, have been high enough under Nazarbayev's rule, especially over the past five years. I believe that Nazarbayev's move followed consultations with Moscow and Beijing In October, Nazarbayev announced a 35% increase of the minimum wage to public servants, while in February he confirmed doubling of minimum wages. That is, he made several steps that create a favorable atmosphere for Abish to win in the presidential election to ensure that the real authority remains within the Nazarbayev clan. Regarding the foreign policy risks Nazarbayev's resignation could entail... I believe that Nazarbayev's move followed consultations with Moscow and Beijing. It is Russia and China that are decisive powers for the future of Kazakhstan. Therefore, probably, the resignation had been discussed with the leadership of both countries. Obviously, in the conversation with Moscow, certain assurances were voiced that the Eurasian integration would not be curtailed, that Kazakhstan would not lose its role in the Eurasian Union, that it would not leave the CSTO, that the military-political bloc would remain in place, and that Kazakhstan would continue to play a major role in SCO and a dialogue with China. Therefore, I think that the issues of foreign policy risks were removed. At the same time, by retiring, Nazarbayev removed from the agenda the issue of "public fatigue" around his figure. We have been seeing recently the rising forces of foreign opposition to Nazarbayev among the Kazakh diaspora as the latter became more revolution-minded. In addition, such major opposition figures as Kaszhegildin or a leader of the democratic movement tried to somehow create mechanisms for criticizing the country's authorities. Having retired, Nazarbayev is leveling out the issues of rallies or protests against him despite the fact that certain protest moods had already been broiling in the country... On a separate note, we should touch upon the issue of a possible annexation or invasion on the part of Vladimir Putin, as well as intensification of efforts by pro-Russian movements in the north of Kazakhstan. In part, the Kazakhs have resolved the issue through "creeping Kazakhization" and a covert squeezing of Russians and Russian-speakers from official posts at various levels. Besides, Kazakhstan is seeing a demographic boom. So due to successful demographic policies, relocations, incentives, squeezing Russians out of public offices, and cleansing the country of the "Russian element", the Kazakhs managed to partially weaken major risks to their security. This does not remove the issue of Russia's claims to Northern Kazakhstan. Before 2014, pro-Russian political networks had been working there, but after the start of Donbas war and Crimea annexation, Kazakhstan has taken a number of steps aimed at neutralizing similar threats. This does not mean that Kazakhstan's national security lacks weak spots or that Astana is in full control of the security situation in the country's northern regions. This is not the case, but more or less, the situation remains calm. It is unlikely that Russia, having secured Nazarbayev's personal certain guarantees and assurances of preserving Eurasian integration and the pro-Russian course, will launch in Kazakhstan some kind of turbulence or "Russian Spring-2". This is unlikely to happen in the near future because Kazakhstan remains Putin's important ally and partner in Central Asia. Without Kazakhstan, it's impossible for Russia to claim control over the Caspian Sea or Central Asia in general. Who Russia needs is Nazarbayev's successor. Vitaliy Kulik is a political analyst, chief of Center for Civil Society Studies The whistleblower believed her work would help Facebook understand how its platform could be gamed, but no longer believes the fight against trolls is winnable. Lyudmila Savchuk is a Russian journalist who first exposed the story of Russia's disinformation campaign back in 2014, after she applied to the Internet Research Agency (IRA) as a blogger and got the job. "I wanted to get in there to see how it works, of course," says Savchuk, according to Business Insider. "But the most important thing was to see if there was some way to stop it." Savchuk was stunned to see hundreds of mostly younger Russians working as paid trolls in rotating shifts. Roaming the halls when she could cameras were everywhere Savchuk discovered the IRA was full of different "departments." There was the "news division," the "social media seeders", and a group dedicated to producing visual memes known as "demotivators." Each worker had a quota to fill every day and every night. Despite the division of labor, the content was remarkably uniform. The U.S., the EU, Ukraine's pro-European government, and Russia's opposition were regular targets for scorn. And then there was Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly no Russian triumph under his rule was too small to warrant a celebratory tweet, meme or post. Read alsoU.S. Cyber Command operation disrupted Internet access of Russian troll factory on day of 2018 midterms The Washington Post At one point Savchuk pedaled pro-Kremlin talking points under the guise of a fortune teller. This kind of soft-pedal trolling, Savchuk says, seemed to prove that the IRA was bent on reaching even the most marginal and apolitical of Russia's expanding online audience. In total, Savchuk spent just two and a half months at the IRA before she went public about the troll factory in a local newspaper. The operation was run by a local restauranteur who was placed under U.S. sanctions for attempting to interfere with U.S. elections. Her conclusion: The troll farm was a Kremlin project, run by a shadowy local restaurateur named Evgeny Prigozhin. Even before the local troll expose spread into a full-blown international scandal, Savchuk shifted to activism: lecturing on disinformation and trying to name and shame participants in the troll farm. "I acted like any journalist would," she says. "Only, then I went further. I realized an article wasn't enough." Read alsoFacebook prohibits foreign-funded ads for Ukraine election media She even sued the IRA in a Russian court in 2015 winning a symbolic 1 ruble victory over the troll farm for labor code violations. The court ruling brought the work of the Internet Research Agency "out of the shadows," says Ivan Pavlov, a human rights lawyer who represented Savchuk in the case. Meanwhile, Savchuk continued to publish her thoughts on countering disinformation to her main online outlet: her Facebook feed. And this is where Savchuk's weird troll-slaying story takes an even weirder turn. After returning home from a disinformation conference in Washington, DC, in November, Savchuk found her Facebook account inexplicably blocked. Savchuk posits that IRA trolls may have flooded the platform with complaints about her account. Her problems with Facebook, she notes, started only after she talked openly about threats she'd received from people affiliated with Evgeny Prigozhin. Read alsoVast scale of Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election revealed Meanwhile, the stress and online isolation have taken a toll. Savchuk doesn't hide that she had a breakdown since blowing the whistle on the IRA. And while she doesn't regret taking on the fight, this troll slayer now 37 is no longer convinced she can win. Even though he was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team last year, "Putin's Chef" is doing just fine, Savchuk notes. A recent investigation into Prigozhin suggests his media empire and government contracts have grown exponentially since the IRA was cast out of the shadows. Despite or maybe because of attention from the U.S., good things keep coming Prigozhin's way. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe March 20 2019 South Ayrshire Council has opened a consultation into the fate of three tower blocks at Riverside Place, Ayr with all options on the table ranging from a full refurbishment to a complete rebuild. Over 200 tenants have been presented with three future options ranging from a temporary decant while upgrades are carried out to a permanent move to new accommodation to allow demolition. A third option would see tenants temporarily rehoused with some being invited to return to a reduced amount of new build accommodation on the same site. Councillor Philip Saxton commented: We are committed to ensuring that our tenants are fully involved in the discussions about the future of their flats, which is why were taking such a detailed approach to this consultation. Its vital that tenants understand all the facts so they can form their own views about the option that is best for them. Councilors will decide on the best course of action in June with North Ayrshire is currently progressing its own tower block renewal programme. March 20 2019 The Scottish Land Commission has published a report calling for the break-up of concentrated land ownership around the country, complete with a set of recommendations for government ministers. Drawing on responses from land owners, land managers and local communities the report highlighted a concentration of power associated with land ownership, rather than the scale of land holdings alone, as the strongest argument for reform. Recommendations include a number of statutory changes requiring changes in legislation; notably a new public interest test and approval mechanism for any significant land transfers in future, a requirement for those with larger land holdings to formulate a management plan and a review mechanism to be put in place for when these systems break down. Other recommendations include the pursuit of more diverse private ownership and local engagement where in any change of land use. CEO Hamish Trench said: These reforms seek to address the issues of concentrated land ownership using ways that are normal in other countries and economic sectors. It is common in international practice to have some form of approval measures at point of land transaction and we are also used to regulating the concentration of market power and monopoly positions in other sectors of the economy. A series of events and public meetings will now be held to go over the report in greater detail ahead of a conference in October. The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, monitored the construction of the 'Sheikha Fatima Motherhood and Childhood Hospital' in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott NOUAKCHOTT, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Mar, 2019) The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, monitored the construction of the 'Sheikha Fatima Motherhood and Childhood Hospital' in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott. The AED2 million hospital construction is being implemented with the support of H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, who is also the Honorary Chairwoman of the ERC. An ERC delegation, led by Fahad Abdulrahman bin Sultan, Deputy Secretary-General for Development and International Cooperation, monitored the construction of the two-storey hospital, which will provide health services to mothers and new-born babies, and will include numerous health facilities, such as operations rooms, sterilisation rooms, and emergency reception and 20 beds. The hospital is expected to receive 50 cases per day, and will help reduce the death rates of new-born babies and pregnant mothers, which are high in Mauritania. Dr. Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi, Secretary-General of the ERC, stressed that the efforts of Sheikha Fatima to support motherhood and childhood has helped care for mothers and children in many provinces, which lack the necessary services. He added that Sheikha Fatimas initiatives, through the ERC, have enhanced the organisations ability to launch projects that will fulfil the development needs of countries facing various humanitarian and developmental challenges, as well as ease the suffering of their peoples from poverty. "Sheikha Fatima was and still is a strong pillar and key supporter of the ERCs activities and humanitarian giving," he further added while stressing that Sheikha Fatimas patronage of charitable and humanitarian organisations highlights the values that she aims to ingrain into the entire community. Al Falahi said that the hospital will directly improve the lives of mothers while highlighting the ERCs efforts to complete the project on time, as well as realise its health and humanitarian goals. Mauritanias recent humanitarian conditions have worsened the suffering of women, children and refugees from neighbouring countries caused by displacement and drought. Russia's Luna-25 unmanned lunar exploration mission, which is set to test the soft landing technologies on the moon, may be ready for launch in the period between 2022 and 2024, Russian Academy of Sciences Vice President Yury Balega said on Tuesday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) Russia 's Luna-25 unmanned lunar exploration mission, which is set to test the soft landing technologies on the moon may be ready for launch in the period between 2022 and 2024, Russian academy of Sciences Vice President Yury Balega said on Tuesday. In early January, Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said that the Luna-25, which was initially planned to be launched in 2014, would be sent to the moon in 2021. The Luna-26 and the Luna-27 missions are slated for 2023 and 2024 respectively, according to Rogozin. "Luna-25 will be launched in 2022-2024, God willing," Balega told reporters. Luna-25, which will be the first Russian mission to the moon after a 40-year hiatus, is projected to search for water ice at the earth natural satellite's south pole and test the lunar soft landing technologies. The Luna-26 orbital vehicle will conduct mapping and remote sensing of the moon, while the Luna-27 lander will take samples of soil at the south pole of the moon and study it. In 2027, the Luna-28 lander is scheduled to take cryogenic soil samples from the south pole of the moon to the Earth. In 2028, the Luna-29 lander will deliver a rover to the moon. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced on Tuesday establishment of a first Arab space coordination group comprising 11 states MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced on Tuesday establishment of a first Arab space coordination group comprising 11 states. "During the opening of the Global Space Congress in Abu Dhabi, we attended the launch of the first Arab space coordination group that includes 11 countries. The group's first project will be a satellite built by Arab scientists in the UAE. I personally believe in Arab talents," the prime minister wrote on Twitter. The prime minister also added that the new satellite would be called "813. " "We called the new satellite '813' in reference to the date that marked the beginning of prosperity for the House of Wisdom in Baghdad under the reign of Al-Ma'mun. Resembling our region, the House embraced scientists, translated notable texts and produced scientific capabilities," Sheikh Al Maktoum noted. The Global Space Congress is taking place in Dubai on March 19-21. The congress is one of the key events bringing together space sector leaders of the middle East and North Africa region. Ankara and Tehran will continue their joint operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated by Turkey as a terrorist group, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Wednesday ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) Ankara and Tehran will continue their joint operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated by Turkey as a terrorist group, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Wednesday. "Turkey and Iran launched a joint operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] and the Kurdistan Free Life Party [PJAK] members ... on March 18. Turkish Gendarme Commander Arif Cetin held telephone talks with his Iranian counterpart, Qassem Rezai, and agreed with him to continue the joint operation," Soylu said. PJAK is often described as an offshoot of the PKK. In a separate phone call, the Turkish and Iranian deputy interior ministers, Muhterem Ince and Hossein Zolfaghari respectively, welcomed the stage reached during the joint operations, according to the Turkish ministry. The announcement of the joint campaign against the Kurds came from Soylu on Monday. However, on Tuesday, an Iranian military source denied Tehran's involvement in the operation, speaking to the Fars news agency. There has been no official confirmation or denial from the Iranian authorities on the operation so far. It is not clear yet where exactly the operation is being carried out. Back in 2018, Turkey led Operation Olive Branch in majority-Kurdish Afrin district in northern Syria. Ankara has been in a confrontation with the PKK, which seeks to establish a Kurdish autonomy in the country, since 1980s. In 2013, the sides agreed to a two-year ceasefire that collapsed due to attacks allegedly committed by PKK militants. Turkish security forces carry out regular anti-PKK raids, mainly in the south-east of the country, and conduct airstrikes against the group in northern Iraq. Azerbaijan and the European Union will hold fresh talks on concluding a bilateral comprehensive agreement later this month, a diplomatic source in Baku told Sputnik on Wednesday BAKU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) Azerbaijan and the European Union will hold fresh talks on concluding a bilateral comprehensive agreement later this month, a diplomatic source in Baku told Sputnik on Wednesday. "The talks will cover political direction, issues of security and trade," the source added. On 14 November 2016, the Council of the European Union adopted a mandate to negotiate a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan. The new deal is intended to replace the 1996 EU-Azerbaijan partnership and cooperation agreement. The negotiations of the new agreement were launched in February 2017 after the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Brussels. According to European Council President Donald Tusk, the new deal will expand the scope of the EU-Azerbaijan relations, taking into account the new global, political and economic interests. Doha is planning to host a conference on the settlement of the Afghan conflict with the participation of Qatari and Russian representatives, Russian Ambassador to Qatar Nurmakhmad Kholov told Sputnik DOHA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) Doha is planning to host a conference on the settlement of the Afghan conflict with the participation of Qatari and Russian representatives, Russian Ambassador to Qatar Nurmakhmad Kholov told Sputnik. "Qatar plays an active intermediary role in the intra-Afghan settlement. A conference on the intra-Afghan settlement with the participation of Qatar is expected to be held in Doha, a representative of Russia is expected to take part [in the event as well," the ambassador said in an interview. According to the diplomat, the level of Russia's participation in the conference has not been discussed yet. In February and March, talks between the Taliban movement, one of the main warring parties to the Afghan conflict, and US representatives were held in Doha, where the group's political office is based. No final agreement has been produced yet, but the sides have agreed in draft on Taliban's counterterrorism assurances and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Moscow, in turn, also serves as a platform for consultations on Afghanistan, and has recently hosted an intra-Afghan meeting, although official Kabul was not present at the event. The Taliban has repeatedly refused to engage in direct talks with the Afghan authorities. The deadly floods and landslide struck at the weekend after torrential rain fell across the Cyclops mountain range, much of which has been stripped of tree cover by villagers chopping fire wood and farmers cultivating plantations. The death toll shot up to nearly 80 from 58 on March 17 as rescuers found more victims as they struggled to clear mud, rocks and shattered trees from the area near the provincial capital of Jayapura, including a 70 km stretch of road. With 43 people missing, Widodo urged rescuers to step up their efforts. "What is most important is handling the evacuation," he said in a statement posted on Instagram. More than 4,000 people have been displaced and are sheltering in tents, schools, and public buildings. Disaster authorities have warned provincial officials of the danger of flash floods due to deforestation, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster mitigation agency. The central government sent supplies of seedlings last year, hoping to help restore some forest cover, he said. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Damascus is prepared to ensure the safety and security of six humanitarian convoys evacuating refugees from the Rukban camp in Syria, according to a statement by the joint Russia-Syria coordination center on refugee repatriation, published on Wednesday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) Damascus is prepared to ensure the safety and security of six humanitarian convoys evacuating refugees from the Rukban camp in Syria, according to a statement by the joint Russia-Syria coordination center on refugee repatriation, published on Wednesday. "The Syrian government is ready to provide reliable protection and defense for six humanitarian car convoys through the Syrian Arab Republic's security forces cooperating with military police units of the Russian Armed Forces," the statement read. According to the statement, the US At-Tanf base, located near Rukban, does not have the ability to ensure the safety of the camp's inhabitants, who want to return home. The sides called on the United States to "support the initiative and appoint its representatives to escort the convoys," as well as put pressure on armed groups that are under its control "to ensure unhindered access to the Rukban camp," the statement said. Earlier this month, Russia and Syria called on the United States to disband the camp, which is situated the US-controlled zone near At-Tanf base in Syria. In January, the World Health Organization described people residing in the camp as "trapped," adding that they live "in deplorable conditions." The Syrian-Iraqi intergovernmental commission will convene for the first time since 2011 in April in the Syrian capital of Damascus, and a number of bilateral agreements are expected to be signed, Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported, citing an unnamed Iraqi official DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) The Syrian-Iraqi intergovernmental commission will convene for the first time since 2011 in April in the Syrian capital of Damascus, and a number of bilateral agreements are expected to be signed, Syrian newspaper al-Watan reported, citing an unnamed Iraqi official. "A decision was made that a high-ranking Iraqi delegation will visit Damascus in April. The delegation will include several ministers. The visit will aim at resuming the operation of the Syrian-Iraqi commission that has been suspended since 2011 ... Several agreements and protocols on cooperation in various areas are expected to be signed," the source said. The intergovernmental commission last convened in 2011 in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Exactly that year, Syria plunged in a civil war, in which the government forces have been fighting against numerous opposition groups and militant and terrorist organizations for years. Iraq has been assisting Damascus in its fight, serving as a ceasefire guarantor. As the Syrian government has regained control over most of the country's territories that were seized by terrorists, the country is now returning to peaceful life. Meanwhile, a Syrian-Iraqi working group discussed, at its meeting held in Damascus in late January, trade relations, freight traffic and the possibility to open border checkpoints between the neighboring countries. In ESMO 2018, Mr. Alex Hoyle presented STAMPEDE data demonstrating the role of abiraterone + prednisone + androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in low-risk mHSPC. The definition of high risk or high-volume according to CHAARTED and LATITUDE differ, as can be seen in table 2, and depending on the definition used, the results can change when comparing these patients. Table 2 Difference in risk and volume between CHAARTED and LATITUDE: In ESMO 2018, Mr. Alex Hoyle presented STAMPEDE data demonstrating the role of abiraterone + prednisone + androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in low-risk mHSPC. The definition of high risk or high-volume according to CHAARTED and LATITUDE differ, as can be seen in table 2, and depending on the definition used, the results can change when comparing these patients.Table 2 Difference in risk and volume between CHAARTED and LATITUDE: Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) Dr. Nguyen presented a summary of the latest news in the treatment of metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Four recent major trials were summarized and discussed in this presentation:Up until the publication of these recent trials, the data we had on mHSPC was limited and based on the CHAARTED , GETUG 15 and STAMPEDE (older data), as seen in table 1. But these four recent trials have given us plenty of new data to incorporate and absorb.Table 1 What was known up until now on mHSPC: This data from STAMPEDE presented at ESMO 2018 demonstrated that abiraterone +prednisone +ADT resulted in a significant improvement in all outcomes, when compared to ADT alone (Figure 1). Figure 1- Outcomes using LATITUDE risk stratification This study demonstrated that both in low risk and high-risk disease, abiraterone + prednisone + ADT demonstrated an overall survival advantage, compared to ADT alone, as can be seen in figure 2. Figure 2- Overall survival in low and high disease in the STAMPEDE trial: Next, the final analysis of the LATITUDE study was discussed by Dr. Nguyen. This was presented in the recent GU ASCO in 2019 by Dr. Kim Chi. The study design of LATITUDE is shown in figure 3. This study was conducted in 235 sites in 34 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. Figure 3 LATITUDE study design: Next, the final analysis of the LATITUDE study was discussed by Dr. Nguyen. This was presented in the recent GU ASCO in 2019 by Dr. Kim Chi. The study design of LATITUDE is shown in figure 3. This study was conducted in 235 sites in 34 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Canada.Figure 3 LATITUDE study design: The final LATITUDE results were quite impressive, after 852 events. Importantly, the treatment arms in this study were well-balanced with a similar percentage of patients with high-volume disease according to the CHAARTED definition (82% vs. 78%). The median follow-up was 51.8 months, with a clear overall survival benefit seen in the abiraterone arm, with a hazard ratio of 0.66 (95% CI 0.56-0.78, p<0.001). This overall survival benefit was consistent across all subgroups of patients, as seen in figure 4. When stratifying the overall survival according to the volume of disease (using the CHAARTED definition), there was a clear advantage in the abiraterone arm in the high-volume disease, but for low-volume disease, the data did not look mature enough, and no difference was discerned (figure 5). Figure 4 Final LATITUDE analysis Consistent overall survival benefit across all subgroups: The final LATITUDE results were quite impressive, after 852 events. Importantly, the treatment arms in this study were well-balanced with a similar percentage of patients with high-volume disease according to the CHAARTED definition (82% vs. 78%). The median follow-up was 51.8 months, with a clear overall survival benefit seen in the abiraterone arm, with a hazard ratio of 0.66 (95% CI 0.56-0.78, p<0.001). This overall survival benefit was consistent across all subgroups of patients, as seen in figure 4. When stratifying the overall survival according to the volume of disease (using the CHAARTED definition), there was a clear advantage in the abiraterone arm in the high-volume disease, but for low-volume disease, the data did not look mature enough, and no difference was discerned (figure 5).Figure 4 Final LATITUDE analysis Consistent overall survival benefit across all subgroups: Figure 5 Overall survival stratified by disease volume in the final analysis of the LATITUDE trial: Figure 5 Overall survival stratified by disease volume in the final analysis of the LATITUDE trial: Famed Spanish photographer Gervasio Sanchez has covered dozens of armed conflicts on several continents, but says his career was shaped decisively by his experience in the strife-torn Central America of the 1980s. Here in Central America I began to understand what it meant to cover combat, here is where I came of age as a person and as a journalist. I made a man of me, Sanchez told EFE in Tegucigalpa on the eve of the inauguration of his photo exhibition Vida (Life). The display is being inaugurated this Tuesday in the Cultural Center of Spain in Tegucigalpa by the Spanish ambassador to the Honduran capital, Guillermo Kirkpatrick, together with Sanchez, who in the early 1980s began working as an independent journalist. In the Americas his work took Sanchez to also cover wars in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru, countries where guns also thundered in the final decades of the 20th century. Starting in the year 1991 I began working in the Balkans, covering the war in Croatia, the war in Bosnia, the war in Kosovo, after which I worked a lot on some bloody African conflicts, in Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Congo, Angola... Sanchez recalled in an interview with EFE. He has also worked in Afghanistan, the Middle East, East Timor and Cambodia, among other places of fierce conflict, medium conflict and post-conflict. The exhibition, to remain at the Cultural Center until May 5, shows 40 of Sanchezs 100 unpublished photos, which include only one photo of a person killed in battle, but who is seen next to one who is alive. Three years ago, exhibit curator Gerardo Mosquera suggested to Sanchez the possibility of recovering pictures he had taken but were never published, together with others that were well known, to put together an exhibition that, despite showing the war and its violence, life would always be present, more than death. That was the guideline for selecting 100 photos, of which 40 are being exhibited in Honduras, more or less in line with the Mosqueras idea of showing the work of a photojournalist in conflict zones, with images that besides their communicational value, are also artistic. If Sanchez is a great reporter of world stature, this exhibit presents him in a different way: it is the artist who stands out, Mosquera said. In the end what we want is that people who see this work realize, at least from my point of view, that life is always more important than death, and that I never focused so much on death when I covered conflicts, but rather on the life of the survivors, on the people who try to maintain their dignity amid the ruins, Sanchez said. Sanchezs work, which has received such honors as the 2008 Ortega y Gasset Prize for photography and the 2009 King of Spain International Journalism Award, includes entire books with some very unforgiving images of conflicts in which he saw many people die. Sanchez remembers being in the siege of Sarajevo and witnessing the exchange of shots between child soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nor will he forget the war in El Salvador, where several of his friends and colleagues were hit by bullets and killed. In Central America, the exhibition Vida had its first showing last August in Guatemala. After Honduras, Sanchez plans to take it to El Salvador, and from there to Nicaragua and Mexico. Sanchez, born in Cordoba in 1959, studied journalism in the Faculty of Information Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Assessments conducted by Kenyas Catholic Church, government and humanitarian agencies and reports from local media indicate that as of this month, March, the food insecure population in that country has reached 1,111,500 people. National Communication Network News - Nairobi Speaking in Nairobi, Wednesday, The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) President, Archbishop Philip Anyolo (Kisumu Archdiocese) and President of Caritas Kenya Archbishop Martin Kivuva (Archdiocese of Mombasa) said that a poor rainy season is threatening to culminate into a major humanitarian crisis. The Church of this East African country is now calling for an urgent response from all actors. The food security situation in Kenya has deteriorated following the poor performance of the 2018 rains. This has led to below average crop performance. The 12 most affected counties are Turkana, Baringo, Mandera, Garissa, Kilifi, Tana River, West Pokot, Marsabit, Makueni, Kajiado, Kwale and Isiolo. These areas are said to have 865,300 people now in need of food aid. With crop failure, cases of malnutrition have increased The higher than average day-time temperatures currently being experienced in Kenya have led to the rapid drying of dams, water pans and other water sources. Cases of Malnutrition have rapidly increased in the affected areas. Similarly, Livestock is severely affected. The main humanitarian needs include food, water, nutrition supplements, livestock feeds, early recovery and restoration of livelihoods support in drought-hit communities. Church appeals to the faithful in Kenya for donations The two Archbishops recognise that government is doing something about the situation but feels that more needs to be done. We appreciate efforts made by the national and county governments to remedy the situation. However, many families still remain at risk of starvation. We call upon the Government (national and county) and other humanitarian agencies to continue the work they are doing to support communities in distress, the Archbishops have said. The climate-related drought situation in the country has led the Church in Kenya to raise the alarm and appeal to all the faithful and people of good-will, to join hands in solidarity by donating funds, food and non-food items to save lives. Caritas Kenya, the development and humanitarian arm of the church, will coordinate this initiative. Two Arrested After Manhunt Police tracked the suspects to Root Place and then searched the Elm Street area. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The two men who led authorities on a manhunt on Tuesday are facing a number of charges. Police say Arnold Chapman and Shannon Brown were arrested after leading police on a lengthy chase spanning from North Adams to Pittsfield. The incident started when the two allegedly attempted to return some $2,000 worth of stolen merchandise to the North Adams Walmart. They fled in a black pickup truck with Florida plates as North Adams Police were responding to the store. The suspects fled shortly after 2:15 p.m. as police from North Adams, Adams, and Cheshire chased the vehicle. The drivers then cut over the Connector Road in Lanesborough to Route 7, where the Massachusetts State Police and Pittsfield Police joined the search to find the suspects. The vehicle was abandoned on West Housatonic Street, in a parking lot across from the Lebanon Avenue intersection. The two men then got a taxi from there to the Enterprise car-rental service on East Street. A trooper responded there and Brown allegedly assaulted her, broke free, and ran toward Cove street, and then onto Root Place. State and Pittsfield Police and deputies from the sheriff's department launched a wide-spanning manhunt for the suspects around the Elm Street and East Street areas. The search included K9 units and a police helicopter. At about 4:30 p.m., officers found and arrested Brown on Root Place. Brown allegedly gave the name of "Alstin Guice" and had a Florida driver's license in that name but troopers were later able to identify him as Brown through fingerprinting. The 33-year-old Brown, from Tampa, Fla., had $4,210 in cash on hand. He was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, providing a false name to police, and as a fugitive from justice. Police also say Brown was the subject of a warrant in Phoenix, Ariz., for charges of fraudulent schemes, artifices, and theft. Authorities in Arizona intend to ask for his rendition to face those charges. Chapman was later found in the same area suffering from hypothermia and shock after allegedly going into the Housatonic River while running from police. He was transported to Berkshire Medical Center and is still being treated as of Wednesday afternoon. Pittsfield Police say the two suspects were involved in similar scams at the Walmart in Pittsfield, for $3,700, and in Hadley, for $2,600. Chapman also had a warrant in the state of Florida on charges of fleeing law enforcement at a high rate of speed, habitual traffic offender, and leaving the scene of property damage. Locally he will be facing a single count of larceny by false pretense, over $1,200, and additional charges may be forthcoming. The State Police brought in a helicopter to help search for the men. Original Post: Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 5:46 p.m. PITTSFIELD, Mass. A high-speed chase and manhunt throughout the county tied up local law enforcement for hours on Tuesday. Pittsfield Police and State Police confirmed they were helping search for two men wanted by North Adams Police but opted to withhold comment until they had more information. North Adams Police were still investigating the situation when asked for comment and said information may not be available for hours. According to the scanner reports, however, state and local police were chasing two men in a black pickup truck with Florida plates southbound on Route 8 from North Adams shortly after 1 in the afternoon. The men reportedly fled after an incident from the Super Walmart in North Adams, although that could not be confirmed. The men evaded authorities all the way to West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield, where they then ditched the truck. The pair then allegedly caught a cab and went back to the center of Pittsfield. Officers tracked the suspects onto Root Place and a manhunt ensued throughout a large portion of the Elm Street area. The State Police brought in the airwing to search for the men and Pittsfield Police had a K9 unit. The search continued throughout the day. Both men appear to have apprehended but authorities have not yet confirmed that fact. At an international conference in Georgetown University, Washington DC, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, spoke about the Churchs commitment to the indigenous people. By Robin Gomes Integral ecology, which is a fundamental part of the Churchs proclamation of the Gospel and the concrete exercise of charity, calls urgently for a new solidarity between the various sectors of the human family but in a very special way with the indigenous peoples, particularly in the Amazonia. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York made the point at an international conference on Integral Ecology in the Amazon region and other biomes, being held in Georgetown University, Washington DC, March 19-21. The Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) is organizing the conference. In a lengthy speech, the Vatican diplomat elaborated the efforts and commitment of Pope Francis, the Holy See and the United Nations to the indigenous people and their cause. Pope Francis and indigenous people Arch. Auza noted that Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si, urges all to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions, not merely out of defense for their rights but in recognition of how much indigenous peoples have to teach the world about the integrated ecology that the Church vigorously proclaims as part of the Gospel of Creation. They indicate lines of proper ecological conversion and ecological education. The Pope calls for special care for indigenous communities because their lives, communities, and cultural traditions are gravely endangered, with their lands, culture, rights and dignity overlooked, sacrificed or even trampled by the economic interests of others. This is particularly true in the vast region of the Amazon, the largest tropical forest in the world, encompassing 9 nations. During his visit to Brazil in 2013, Pope Francis pointed out that the Churchs presence in the Amazon is not one of someone with bags packed and ready to leave after having exploited everything possible. Hence the Churchs work needs to be encouraged and re-launched in order to consolidate, as it were, the Churchs Amazonian face. And the upcoming Synod on the Pan-Amazon Region, in the Vatican in October, to focus on new paths for the Church and for integral ecology, is an opportunity to show this Amazonian face to the world. During his 2018 visit to the Amazon in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, the Pope noted that the native Amazonian peoples have probably never been so threatened on their own lands as they are at present. He spoke about the threat from extractive exploitation and pressure by great business interests that want to grab the rich natural resources of the Amazonia, dealing a devastating assault on life through environmental contamination and illegal mining. There are also threats from certain policies and movements which under the guise of preserving nature and the forests, lead to the oppression of the native people, depriving them of their land, natural resources and livelihood. According to Pope Francis, the peoples themselves, and not just their lands, need to be defended and promoted. For this to happen, what is needed first is to break the historical paradigm that views Amazonia as an inexhaustible source of supplies for other countries without concern for its inhabitants. Secondly, one must support promising initiatives coming from indigenous communities and organizations which advocate that the native peoples and communities themselves be the guardians of the woodlands. This is what is being done by groups such as REPAM and other networks. The UN and indigenous people Arch. Auza also highlighted the UNs commitment to the indigenous peoples and their issues. Through the annual Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), that brings representatives of indigenous people from around the world in New York, he said, the UN highlights their economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. The Holy See, which participates actively in the Permanent Forum and its side events, also sponsors conferences with REPAM and other groups. In the upcoming Permanent Forum, Arch. Auza said, the Holy See intends to sponsor a conference on integral ecology as a response to the urgent cries and horizons of the Amazon region. Another important UN effort towards the protection and promotion of indigenous peoples, the Filipino archbishop pointed out, is the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is a comprehensive list on their rights to self-determination, to protect their culture, to self-govern and participate in their economic, environmental, social, human and cultural development, to health, and to land rights. It also serves as the most comprehensive reference for states and the international community. Through the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, under the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, Arch. Auza said, the UN assists Member States in implementing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Through the office of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN also works for the interests of the indigenous people. Holy See and indigenous people Arch. Auza pointed to 4 areas that the Holy See puts emphasis on in its statements at the UN with regard to the implementation of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Holy See stresses the harmonization of their right to cultural and social development alongside their economic development. It stresses the prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples for initiatives that affect them, and that nothing should be done about them without them. The third is respect for their indigenous identity in participation at the local and national levels. Lastly, the Holy See underscores the collective right of indigenous peoples to their lands and resources, giving them the political, economic and social space necessary to affirm their identity and to become agents of their own development and destiny. Las Vegas Days (formerly known as Helldorado Days), an annual cowboy-themed event celebrating Las Vegas tribute to the Wild West, will offer two nights of rodeo at the all-new Core Arena Friday-Saturday, May 10-11, as well as the annual Helldorado Parade May 11. The Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial and the Plaza Hotel & Casino are sponsoring the rodeo, and admission will be free. Celebrating its 85th year, the Las Vegas Days Rodeo is fully sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, May 10-11. The rodeo will feature bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding and bareback riding, with prize purses totaling $40,000 and custom belt buckles for the champions. More details will be available at https://www.plazahotelcasino. com/entertainment/core-arena/. Its great to see the Las Vegas Days Rodeo hit 85 years, PRCA CEO George Taylor said. We are happy to again welcome Las Vegas Days to the PRCAs fold of 650 rodeos. All community members are invited to submit entries in the Helldorado Parade at no charge schools, local businesses, car clubs, equestrian groups, civic groups, nonprofits and more. The 2019 Helldorado Parade is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11, downtown on Fourth Street from Gass to Stewart avenues. An independent panel of judges will decide on the award winners for the best entry, most creative, best theme, best float, best equestrian entry, best car club or motorized vehicle, and best walking group. The theme of entries should reflect our western heritage; the birthday of the city of Las Vegas; Vegas, then and now; and/or the traditions of Helldorado Days. Submit your application to participate online no later than April 19, 2019. You can also apply and view full application packet information at www.lasvegasnevada.gov/ Helldorado. Three Square Food Bank and Nevada HAND announce joint efforts to combat senior hunger and food insecurity in Southern Nevada. With the help of a generous $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to Nevada HAND, the organizations are collaborating to implement initiatives to break down barriers and better understand the facilitators of food security to help meet the needs of the more than 26,000 seniors in the community who struggle with hunger. We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to support Nevada HAND with their new feeding programs. We have a longstanding partnership with them and we have already accomplished many great things together, said Jodi Tyson, vice president of strategic initiatives at Three Square Food Bank. We will enhance our partnership by coupling Three Squares food sourcing ability with Nevada HANDs outreach to better reach the vulnerable seniors they serve. The first initiative is a food pantry program that will be available at three of Nevada HANDs independent senior communities (Bonanza Pines, Rochelle Pines, and Stewart Pines). The custom-built pantries will offer residents fresh and nutritious food options provided by Three Square on a regular basis. There will be a pantry manager on site to support with healthy meal planning, nutrition assistance, as well as provide other resources for residents. The second initiative is the expansion of Nevada HANDs prepared meal and dining room program, Anytime Dining. Residents of Nevada HANDs independent senior community, Decatur Pines, can now access prepared meals and the dining room at the organizations assisted living community, Silver Sky at Deer Springs, located just next door. Anytime Dining provides seniors with the opportunity to access nutritious prepared meals, and combat isolation while promoting healthy food and social choices. We are thrilled to partner with Three Square on these key initiatives to reduce hunger and food instability, as well as to promote healthy choices for our senior residents, said Mike Mullin, founder and CEO of Nevada HAND. The food pantries and Anytime Dining program create opportunities for our residents to live well by accessing fresh, nutritious food and healthy dining options. Equally important is the opportunity for our residents to engage with one another to create healthy relationships and reduce isolation. We thank Three Square for their partnership and the donor who made these programs possible. It is estimated that Nevada will see a 36 percent increase in the older adult population over the next decade. Programs like the new initiatives offered through Nevada HAND and its established resident services team, which provides the organizations 7,300 residents with a variety of programs, services, and referrals to improve their economic prospects, will make a significant impact for many seniors in the community. The Anytime Dining program began offering meals to seniors on February 18 at Deer Springs, and the pantry at Bonanza Pines is scheduled for completion in mid-March. There will be a special ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of the pantry on Thursday, March 28, at 8:30 a.m. Celebrating three decades of jazz in Las Vegas, Clark County Parks & Recreation has announced the talent that will be performing at the 30th annual Jazz in the Park Concert Series. Taking over the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater, Jazz in the Park boasts live performances, picnic and seating areas, and an array of food and drinks to choose. This year, Jazz in the Park will host Norman Brown (pictured above) on May 11, Tito Puente Jr. on May 18, Raul Midon on May 25, Althea Rene, Selina Albright and Kayla Waters on June 1 and Paul Taylor on June 15. The admission and parking for the event is free and open to all ages. For more information, visit https://www.clarkcountynv.gov Grammy Award-winning contemporary jazz and R&B superstar Norman Brown has sold close to 2 million albums in his extraordinary career and virtually lives at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz sales and radio charts. Having shared the stage with virtually every contemporary jazz superstar from Boney James to Dave Koz to Gerald Albright. Brown first picked up a guitar at the age of eight. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, it was his fathers preference for the sound of Wes Montgomery that set Brown on his stylistic journey. Brown attended the Musicians Institute, where he also taught for a short time. Brown was discovered and while playing with his own group at local clubs and was signed to the fledgling MoJazz label, a division of Motown. He delivered his debut album Just Between Us, and it followed with a gold-certified After The Storm and Better Days Ahead. With the critical acclaim and sales behind him, in 2002, Brown debuted his smooth jazz band, but quickly returned to his solo work in 2004. Browns audience has been expanding over the years. Armed with knowledge of who he is as an artist, Brown says he spent just four months in the studio making Stay with Me his shortest recording time on a project ever. Let It Go, Browns inspired debut album for Shanachie Records, has something for everyone, whether an R&B fan or a jazz aficionado, it is Norman Brown at his best. New York-born Tito Puente Jr., son of Latin music legend Rey del Timbal, studied music and composition in his native city, joined a heavy metal band, got involved in Latin music and participated in different local numbers before moving to Miami. Puente Jr.s debut album Guarachando featuring classic Oye Como Va, was released by EMI Latin in 1996. After a year, the album achieved a Billboard award for Best Video. Combining Afro-Caribbean ehythms, Latin jazz and dance style, the talented artist returned with Sientelo, produced by A.B. Quintanilla and Larry Davis. Flutist and bandleader Althena Rene is a dynamic, soulful performer with a bent toward contemporary jazz, funk and instrumental R&B. A native of Detroit and daughter of trumpeter, saxophonist and longtime original Funk Brothers Dezie McCullers, Rene grew up in a musical family. Encouraged to study music from a young age, she eventually enrolled in a classical music program at Howard University in Washington, DC. However, while at Howard, she discovered her love of jazz, and eventually returned to Detroit. She entered the police academy and spent the next 11 years balancing her time between working as a deputy sheriff and honing her musical skills playing jazz in local clubs. In 2000, she released her independently produced debut album, Flute Talk. More albums followed as her career took off, including 2000s Chocolate Rush, 2006s In The Moment, and 2008sNo Restrictions. Along with her albums, she has made numerous festival appearances, including dates at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Austin Jazz Festival, Norman Brown All-Star Jazz Cruise and others. In 2013, she signed with the Trippin n Rhythm label for the Michael Broening-produced In The Flow. Buoyed by the singles Sunday Cruise and Free, it peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart. Two years later, she delivered the concert album Live in Detroit, showcasing a well-received performance at the Detroit Public Library. Selina Albrights R&B and soul release entitled Brighter topped the UK Soul Chart for four weeks, and her sassy 2010 jazz original, You and I, was featured on iTunes Top 100 Downloads list for the genre of Jazz in 2010. Her 2016 single release Sun Comes Up primed the market for her 2017 full-length R&B project titled Conversations, featuring Billboard chart-topping, Grammy-considered singles Eat Something and Possible. A special edition release of Conversations was released in 2017 throughout all Japanese territories and remained on the Sapporo Hot 100 Char for weeks in a row, among artists such as Katy Perry and Rihanna. Aside from her R&B and jazz releases, the artist has also joined forced with electronic music artists, demonstrating yet another facet of her creativity. The world has responded strongly to her collaborations with the internationally-revered DJ duo Manufactured Superstars. A major highlight of Albrights career was her performance of Serious for the Electronic Daisy Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2011, before more than 200,000 high-energy ravers and fans. Kayla Waters in an elite pianist, composer, producer and music director. After a successful breakout year, both Kaylas debut single and album charted on Billboards Smooth Jazz Songs and Albums of the Year. Waters has eloquently found herself welcoming and utilizing a plethora of opportunities to play and work with musical legends, music directors and major recording artists worldwide. This distinctive list includes musical giants such as Stevie Wonder, Patrice Rushen, Avery Sunshine, Maysa Leak, Kim Burse and Ray Chew. Waters has graced the stages across the country at festivals such as the Derby City Jazz Festival, Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival, Baltimore County African American Jazz Festival and the Catalina Island Jazz Festival. She was also recognized nationally on the BET television networks highly acclaimed Black Girls Rock Awards Show. Waters expertly played keyboards for the legendary Gladys Knight, Marsha Ambrosius, Corinne Bailey Rae and Imani Uzuri. Paul Taylor is an American smooth jazz saxophonist who has released 11 albums since his debut On The Horn in 1995. He is signed to Peak Records. Although originally from Denver, Colorado, he is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is known for his soulful sweet sound and innovative music. Taylor has also played as a special guest with the Rippingtons for a short time in 1999 and 2000, after Jeff Kashiwa left the group and before Eric Marienthal joined. Taylor collaborated with many R&B vocalists such as LaToya London, Regina Belle, Maxi Priest, Peabo Bryson and Terry Dexter. Jazz in the Park Concert Series is produced by Clark Country Parks & Recreation and sponsored by Findlay Chevrolet, Nevada Public Radio and KUNV 91.5 The Source. Heading over to Sin City for the weekend? Every week, thousands of tourists flock to Las Vegas to immerse themselves in the pleasures this glamorous city has to offer. The old adage, however, about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, doesnt hold true when it comes to criminal law. Nevada has its laws just like any other state, and its all too easy for a tourist to overstep the boundaries and end up in a courtroom. While Inmate101 is an ideal resource to know about the states prisons, wed much rather you not face legal convictions. Before heading off for a wild weekend, therefore, get acquainted with these basic Las Vegas laws so that you can have fun responsibly. If youre still not sure about the laws here, experts from Law-Essay-Profy will explain how to avoid accidentally offending against law. Liquor Laws Nevada, and especially Las Vegas, are famous for their relaxed liquor laws. It is legal to buy alcohol all day on any day of the week, and public consumption in places like The Strip is also legal subject to regulations on breach of peace due to intoxication or when driving a vehicle. It is still illegal, however, for minors (people under the age of 21) to buy, be supplied with or to be allowed into establishments that sell alcohol. Gun Control Laws Nevada has a colorful history as part of the Wild West, and its gun control laws are fairly relaxed even today. The State operates on a shall issue basis so any qualified applicant above 21 years of age must be given a concealed carry permit. Loaded firearms can be carried openly in Las Vegas and every other part of Nevada except inside a vehicle or on a public road. In addition, convicted felons cannot possess firearms. Marijuana Laws One of the biggest questions every tourist has is about whether marijuana is legal in Las Vegas. And the answer is yes recreational cannabis has been legal since June 30, 2017! This comes with a set of caveats, however. While everyone above the age of 21 can buy marijuana as long as they hold valid ID, Las Vegas deems it illegal to consume it in a public place like a casino or The Strip and you can be fined up to $1000 for doing so. You also need to be careful about carrying marijuana in your car while you can transport it in a sealed container in a vehicle, its illegal to consume it in your car, even if its your own vehicle. Cocaine Laws Las Vegas might be the ultimate party destination, but its laws on cocaine are as strict as anywhere else in the United States. The sale of cocaine is a felony crime in Nevada and could mean imprisonment for up to 20 years, and even possession could bring you 6 years with double penalties if the offense is near a school. You can consult a Nevada drug crime attorney to know more. Personal Injury Laws Personal injuries happen all day across Las Vegas, from speeding buses causing car accidents to wet floors tripping up people. You can file a lawsuit in cases where you believe that someone else was legally responsible for your injury. The standard timeframe within which you must file a lawsuit is two years, although it can go up to three years in case of medical malpractice. The extent of the damages you can claim depends on the degree of your own negligence. In Las Vegas, as long as you are less than 51% negligent, you can press charges. Gambling Laws Nevada is notorious for legalizing gambling, and the casinos of Las Vegas are famous around the world. The Gaming Control Board, however, has a strict set of regulations in place to govern gambling activities. These regulations can often be hard to remember, especially for a tourist if you find yourself in possible contravention of these rules, consulting a Nevada gaming attorney is your best bet. DUI Laws Driving under the influence (DUI) is illegal across the United States, and Nevada has its own laws for dealing with those driving under the influence of intoxicants. A blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more is deemed illegal, with the figure being 0.02% for drivers under 21 years of age. Punishments include community service, fines of up to $5000, drivers license revoking and imprisonment for up to six years depending on how many previous DUI convictions the person has. Disorderly Conduct Laws Referred to as breach of peace laws in Nevada, these laws are related to conduct that disturbs the public peace. A person can be guilty of breaching the peace, provoking someone else to breach the peace or assembling in order to breach the peace. Common defenses include lack of intent or self-defense against another partys provocation. You can consult a Nevada criminal defense lawyer for advice on disorderly conduct laws. Las Vegas, in short, allows its visitors a lot of licenses to have fun, but there are laws just like in any city to protect its residents and maintain public order. Keep the above laws in mind, therefore, and you can enjoy a safe and unforgettable weekend in Vegas! Tarrant said in an online manifesto that he had acted in part to avenge the killing of a young girl in a jihadist attack in Sweden in 2017. (Photo: AFP/Mark Mitchell) Security services in France, Britain, Germany and Italy have repeatedly warned of the risks associated with growing tensions within Western societies over immigration and Islamist attacks. "Europe is in great danger: extremism is rising everywhere and we, the intelligence services, are busy channelling resources into looking at the far-right," Patrick Calvar, the then director of French counter-intelligence, said in May 2016. "We have to anticipate and stop all these groups which, sooner or later, would like to spark inter-communal clashes," he added. Peter Neumann, head of the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, told CNN on Friday that "across Western countries we've seen an increase for four of five years in the number of hate crimes and also right-wing terrorist violence. "I attribute that to deepening polarisation which has increased extremism not only on the jihadist side but also on the extreme right-wing side," he added. European countries have suffered a wave of gun and bombing attacks since 2004 from people inspired by the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda terror networks which have left hundreds dead. In New Zealand, Brenton Tarrant, who is accused of shooting dead 50 people in Christchurch last week, said in an online manifesto that he had acted in part to avenge Ebba Akerlund, a young girl killed in a jihadist attack in Sweden in 2017. "The broader contextual drivers of extreme-right violence in the United Kingdom, particularly in relation to lone actors, appears to derive, at least in part, from a process of reciprocal radicalisation," according to Graham Macklin, of Oslo University, writing in January in CTC Sentinel, a US military publication. 'COULD HAPPEN IN BRITAIN' The ultra-right, which was responsible for large outbreaks of violence in the 1980s, is now firmly back on the radar screens for security services. According to analysts at Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), counter-terrorism operations linked to far-right extremism or hate crimes increased by 88 per cent between 2016 and 2017. And British Security Minister Ben Wallace told BBC radio on Monday that nearly 50 percent of people in a government-backed programme to fight radicalisation were involved in "far-right extremism." The government is now looking to increase the budget for the programme, known as Prevent, from its current level of 45 million pounds (us$59 million) in response to the New Zealand attack, Wallace said. A New Zealand-style attack "absolutely could happen in Britain," he added. In Germany, intelligence agencies will devote 50 per cent more staff in 2019 to fighting right-wing groups, domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang said last year. A number of neo-nazi groups have been broken up over the past years in Germany. The most recent operation against them involved the detention of seven members of the so-called "Revolution Chemnitz" group which was allegedly planning an attack linked to Oct 3 national day celebrations last year. And while many right-wing groups are deeply nationalist, some, such as the British National Action (NA), have sought to grow ties across Europe to gain clout. "NA activists cultivated ties with militants in Germany, the Baltics, and Scandinavia," according to Macklin. "There is also evidence of NA activists visiting the Azov Battalion, formerly a far-right militia fighting Russian forces, in Ukraine," he added. An illegal parking lot by the Linh Dam Apartment Building in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. - Photo baotintuc.vn In the document sent to relevant authorities, director of the department Vu Van Vien said illegal parking remained widespread in the capital city. Some parking areas are operating with expired certificates, and many failed to comply with regulations, causing traffic problems and annoyance among the public. To ensure traffic order and safety at public parking spots in the city, Vien has assigned the departments inspectors to work with the city police, local authorities, the Committee for Maintenance of Transport Facilities and related units to organise inspections on parking areas in the city. Illegal parking areas would be eliminated and any areas found in violation of the rules would have their operation certificates revoked. The Committee for Maintenance of Transport Facilities would co-ordinate with the departments inspectorate to eliminate the illegal parking areas. The citys Sub-department of Traffic Infrastructure Management has been assigned to collate the results of inspections and handling of violations for the department. Recently, the public raised concerns over some illegal parking areas in the city, causing traffic disorder. A parking lot on Lac Trung Street in Hai Ba Trung District was one example. The lot doesnt have a licence, but accommodates hundreds of cars every day, causing traffic congestion during peak hours since last November. The lot covers an area of 2,000 square metres. PetroVietnam and Petronas will co-operate on the Ca Mau gas-power-fertiliser complex On March 15, PetroVietnam and Petronas signed a Head of Agreement (HoA) for the sale and purchase of additional gas to the Ca Mau area. Under the agreement, the complex would receive on billion cubic metres of additional gas per year from the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 to solve the gas shortage. Besides, the two parties will continue to negotiate a gas purchase contract following the signing to ensure the stable and effective operation of the complex as well as energy security of the country. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Nguyen Quoc Thap, deputy general director of PetroVietnam, said, After the success of the HoA, PetroVietnam expects that the two parties will sign a contract by the end of 2019 in order to start the sale and purchase in 2020. Maliki Kamal Yasin, deputy general director of Petronas, affirmed that the signing marks a start for the next contracts between the two parties. The Ca Mau gas-power-fertiliser project was approved by the prime minister in 2001 with the aim to explore and use the countrys natural gas resources effectively. In October 2012, PetroVietnam held a ceremony to inaugurate the complex. The $2 billion complex includes a PM3-CM gas pipeline, the CM1 and CM2 power plants, the Ca Mau fertiliser plant, and other facilities. The first project is the PM3-Ca Mau gas pipeline carrying gas from the PM3-CAA gas well (in the overlapping area between Vietnam and Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand) and Block 46-Cai Nuoc (off the coast of Vietnam) to the complex to produce electricity and fertiliser. The other projects are the Ca Mau No.1 and 2 gas power plants with a combined capacity of 1,500MW, and the Ca Mau fertiliser plant with the designed output of 800,000 tonnes per year. Pham Thai Lai What is your view about the prospect of Vietnams economy in 2019? Vietnam has continuously achieved very impressive economic growths in the past few years and Im confident that Vietnam will be able to keep this growth momentum in 2019 and the years to come. Going forward, Vietnam is entering an exciting time with many growth opportunities brought by the implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ratification of EU-Vietnam Trade Agreement, as well as the finalisation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnerships negotiations. These trade agreements, once ratified, will be key drivers for trade promotion, further attraction of foreign direct investment, job creation and GDP growth for Vietnam. Besides, the enhancement of Vietnams position and prestige in the international arena supplemented by the governments great efforts to ensure a more open and transparent business environment will definitely make the country even more attractive to investors. I strongly believe that there will be many investment flows from overseas for high-valued projects in Vietnam. This will enable Vietnam to become a hub for trade and investment activities in South East Asia. What will be biggest opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese enterprises? Free trade agreements offer Vietnam great advantages in term of export, and at the same time help to diversify its import markets. Not only can Vietnam gain benefits from significant tariff reduction but also from having amble opportunities to access, invade and expand to new markets worldwide. Vietnams deeper global integration has also enabled the local business community to access new and state-of-the-art technologies as well as to expand business relationships internationally. For example, FPT has been selected to be Siemens global partner for MindSphere a cloud-based, open IoT operating system from Siemens. However, competitive pressure will certainly be intensified and increased whereas one of the biggest challenges of Vietnam is from the stagnation of the local enterprise system. Their adaptability to the market economy is generally weak. Vietnamese enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized ones, are facing many challenges such as low labour productivity, weak competitiveness, inadequate management and leadership skills, and especially lack of capital investment. They also have limited knowledge about international business law and international integration, as well as limited international business experiences. Other emerging challenges such as the scarcity of natural resources, which results in the pressing need to find alternatives, and the utmost requirements for environment protection and CO2 emission reduction have also forced enterprises to invest in clean and green technologies, which are often very costly. What should Vietnam do to achieve a more sustainable growth, raise its national competitiveness, and to be well prepared for Industry 4.0? Vietnam needs to focus on these three basic factors, including the establishment of a stable legal framework to support business, development of high skilled labour force, and improvement of basic infrastructure. In particular, Vietnam should develop a smart infrastructure roadmap in order to build its sustainable future over the coming years. Such a roadmap will need to take a holistic view at all vital development areas for the country, including infrastructure projects in the areas of power generation, transmission and distribution, energy efficiency and transportation, and also building up skilled workforce capacities. Digital and smart infrastructure ranging from digital factories, highly efficient power plants, smart grid, smart building or seamless mobility systems are key levers to strengthen the basic infrastructure in Vietnam, and also help to drive efficiency and increase productivity. For example, our most comprehensive product lifecycle management portfolio helps VinFast to fulfill its vision of building the first made-in-Vietnam car in record time. Siemens leading steam and gas turbine technologies have helped create the highest efficiency and most environmentally friendly power plants in Vietnam. Siemens smart grid solutions automate and stabilise Vietnams power grid and help to cope with fluctuating energy sources such as wind or solar power. Digital twin of buildings offers new dimensions to optimise the energy usage and operation of buildings. Lastly, digital railway provides new opportunities for cities and train operators to run railways that are interactive and self-managing, and also provides passengers with new level of connectivity besides convenience and comfort when moving around. Education and training are also key factors for Vietnams sustainable growth. In the past years, Siemens has donated Industry 4.0 software licences valued at over $70 million to academic institutions such as the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City polytechnics or the Vietnamese German University. We also have enabled local businesses to gain access to our latest Internet of Things technologies. We are supporting local customers such as VinFast with our digital factory software suite to speed up the manufacturing of the first car made in Vietnam. Vietnams growth is driving a need for new energy sources, Photo: Shutterstock Ian Hatton, chairman and founder of Enterprize Energy, gave an update to a conference on Vietnams low carbon energy future last week on progress of a proposal for the $11.9 billion Ke Ga offshore wind farm. The facility plans involve total capacity of 3,400 megawatts (MW), where an average wind speed of 9.5 metres per second has been recorded. Enterprize Energy is targeting commissioning the first string of turbines by the end of 2022, and completing the proposed 600MW of initial construction phase during 2023. Hatton announced that the group would be engaging with UK-based ODE Ltd., to further develop an articulated wind column foundation, which can provide a cost-effective turbine solution for water depths from 70 to 150 metres. We see real potential for this foundation in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan. Enterprize has already identified prospective sites in Vietnam and Taiwan for its deployment, Hatton said. It is a great example of technology transfer from the oil and gas sector, an area where the UK has been an exemplar of engineering excellence in successfully opening up energy resources in extremely challenging marine conditions. In January 2019, the Vietnamese prime minister asked Enterprize to prepare and conduct a survey, feasibility report, and formal proposal to put 3,400MW of the Ke Ga offshore wind power project into the Revised National Power Development Plan VII. Last week, the detailed survey and work plan to evaluate the 2,000 square kilometre Ke Ga zone was submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for approval. The contents of the plan include full environmental impact assessment, geotechnical research, wind resource assessment, grid connection, and impact analysis, along with design of sub-structures for offshore turbines and sub-stations, a project execution plan, and a financing plan. The contractor for the survey plan is Electricity Construction Consultancy JSC 3, supported by Enterprizes technical team and technical advisers from British companies such as ODE, APEM, and Braemar. Financial planning is supported by Societe Generale (SocGen), appointed by Enterprize to lead this process. Enterprize has adopted an accelerated, parallel processed schedule to promote the rapid development of the Ke Ga zone. It had previously announced selection of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to supply wind turbine generators, the design of sub-structures by Vietsovpetro, and their fabrication by Vietsovpetro and PVC-MS. SocGen has been appointed lead advisor for project financing and structuring. If successful, the gigantic Ke Ga offshore wind farm will play an important role as the largest offshore wind power project in Southeast Asia, providing a large amount of clean electricity for the countrys power mix, especially in the context of concern on potential power shortages in the southern provinces. Vietnams impressive economic growth is driving a need for new energy resources. The government has very clear determination to meet rising energy demand with substantive growth in the supply of low-carbon, renewable energy, Hatton said. We have high-graded an area which we refer to as the Ke Ga Offshore Wind Development Zone, offshore southern Vietnam, where we believe our collaborative approach has the potential to deliver utility-scale offshore wind energy development within the governments price expectations. The Vietnam Energy Associations chairman Tran Viet Ngai suggested, To ensure the effectiveness of the Ke Ga wind power project, we suggest that while sketching out the project schedule, we must ensure consistency among phases, from plant construction, transmission lines, and substation planting operations each year to completion. Ngai continued, We must pay attention to the investment in transmission lines and substations, and who will be in charge of the consumption of the Ke Ga wind power supply. The supply can soon be utilised for Vietnams socio-economic development, make up for the shortage of power in the near future, and ensure the nations energy security, as the countrys electricity demand is expected to see an increase of more than 10 per cent per annum in the coming years due to rising population and accelerating economic growth. US corporations are increasingly keen to invest in Vietnam thanks to the countrys improved business climate, Photo: Le Toan Over 50 corporations from the United States worked with some Vietnamese government agencies and ministries last week to seek solutions to concerns over public-private partnership (PPP), and the sectors of energy, healthcare, financial services, food and agriculture, and technology in a bid to leverage their future investment plans in the country. The annual mission included powerful US companies including AstraZeneca, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, GE, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, UPS, and FedEx. Being all members of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), the companies already have years-long and successful operations in Vietnam, and are planning to expand further. This years get-together of brand giants followed the recent historic second visit to Vietnam by US President Donald Trump. Not only that, Vietnam is currently pushing its efforts to make changes to the legal system in order to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). Todays solutions, tomorrows prospects At a meeting between the USABC with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), top discussions were on the FDI attraction strategy in the future, public investment restructuring, prioritised industries to FDI attraction, legal policies on PPP, and tax policy strategy. Healthcare and agriculture innovator Bayer, which has been operating in Vietnam since 1994, raised attention to investment policies for high-added value agriculture, and issues related to land, materials, infrastructure, energy, labour, and the development of the value chain from production to processing and consumption. In response, MPI Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang said that Vietnam always gives priority to attraction of foreign investment in high-valued agriculture, and deep processing of agro-forestry-fishery. The Vietnamese government will amend policies towards encouraging more foreign investment in hi-tech agriculture, while dealing with all the mentioned barriers, he noted. Regarding US concerns over PPP, Thang said that at present, the MPI is working on a law on PPP. It is expected that the MPI will seek comments for the draft law in April, and then submit to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal in July and the National Assembly in September. In addition to PPP, Vietnam is also prioritising attraction of foreign investment in processing and manufacturing, electronics and telecommunications, and renewable energy. As for tax policies, conditions for investment incentives will focus on the value chain, added value, hi-tech application and environmentally-friendly factors, instead of location, sectors, and investment scale. Also last week, the US giants met with the Ministry of Health, seeking solutions to concerns over the import of medical devices and other issues related to pharmaceuticals. At a meeting with the Ministry of Finance (MoF), US investors gave rise to the draft amendment to the Law on Tax Administration, the draft amendment to the Law on Securities, and the draft amendment to the Decree No.68/2016/ND-CP governing the conditions for duty-free business, warehouses, sites for customs clearance, customs inspection and supervision. The MoF is completing the draft amendment to the Law on Tax Administration which is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in May, while the draft amendment to the Law on Securities is expected to be approved in October, said Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung. While working with the Ministry of Transport, US enterprises including 3M, Dow, Ford and others sought its support to facilitate their activities in transport safety technology, supply of aero engines, reflection painting, and the import of automobiles as ruled in the governments Decree No.116/2017/ND-CP dated October 17, 2017 on requirements for manufacturing, assembly and import of motor vehicles and trade in motor vehicle warranty and maintenance services. As part of the working session, US businesses also held discussions with the ministries of Public Security, Natural Resources and the Environment, Industry and Trade, and several more. Evidently, US investors seem to be ready for new plans in Vietnam and now look for barriers to be broken and paths to be smoothed in order to make bold next steps. Vietnamese ministries are now being urged to take further action to add to its attraction to welcome new possible US investment inflows. Time for a change? To date, American investment in Vietnam has reached 920 projects with total accumulated registered capital of $9.1 billion, ranking 11th among the 130 countries and territories with investments in Vietnam. Experts believe the ranking is higher if US investments through businesses registered in third economies such as Singapore and Hong Kong are taken into account. Vietnams next-generation FDI attraction strategy by 2030 shows its ambition to lure US large-scale projects in the fields of technology, renewable energy, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. These include trans-national corporations (TNCs) named in Forbes List of Global 2000. Also, the country is revising the Law on Investment 2014, the Law on Enterprises 2014, and tax policies, while restructuring public investment, aiming to increase its national competitiveness to ASEAN 4 Group by 2021 and in ASEAN 3 Group by 2030. Now US investors and others from Japan and South Korea are heading to Southeast Asia with new policies to expand markets amidst the trade dispute between China and the US, and to benefit from the US governments recent announcement of the US-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership. The partnership aims to offer opportunities for US tech companies to develop key urban digital infrastructure in one of the worlds fastest-growing markets. The $21 billion worth of deals signed recently between Vietnamese and US companies during President Donald Trumps last month visit went some way to proving how attractive the Vietnamese market is to US investors. US companies have a strong interest in Vietnam and they will pour more investment in the future, said Adam Sitkoff, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi. In this file photo taken on Feb 22, 2019, US President Donald Trump watches as China's Vice Premier Liu He (left) speaks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (right) in the Oval Office. (AFP/MANDEL NGAN) The renewed shuttle diplomacy is a sign of progress in the talks after several weeks in which momentum toward a resolution appeared to have slowed. Following the renewed talks in Beijing, Chinese trade envoy Liu He will return to Washington the following week, with talks in their final stages, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters the talks were going "very well," reiterating the positive message of recent months. But Trump also said last week that he was in "no rush" to strike a bargain, insisting any deal had to do more than make cosmetic changes, while also saying an outcome one way or the other was likely to occur in "three to four weeks." US and Chinese officials in recent weeks have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that they have much to do before reaching a final outcome. On Friday, China's rubber-stamp parliament approved a foreign investment law to strengthen protections for intellectual property - a central US grievance - but foreign businesses said they were not given enough time add input. FAR-REACHING CHANGES The bill will eliminate the requirement for foreign enterprises to transfer proprietary technology to Chinese joint-venture partners and protect against "illegal government interference" - major sticking points in the trade negotiations. Word of the new round of talks helped lift Wall Street after stock prices had begun to sag following reporting by Bloomberg that some US officials said China was reneging on earlier trade concessions. US officials are demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese industrial policy - including an end to massive state intervention in markets, subsidies and the alleged theft of American technology - and insist that any agreement must be enforceable. China has been willing to increase purchases of American commodities such as energy and soybeans but analysts say they will be reluctant to accede to American demands in ways that could weaken the communist party's hold on power - such as fully exposing state enterprises to market forces. The two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than US$360 billion in two-way trade. Lighthizer has declined to state publicly whether Washington would lift the tariffs it has imposed so far if both sides reach a deal. In congressional testimony last week, he said China and the United States were in "the final weeks" of talks but he stopped short of predicting success. Representatives from UPS and AIP foundations at the event Leading up to the third United Nations Ministerial Meeting scheduled in Sweden in February 2020, Vietnam has been selected to launch the five-continent Round the World Roundtable initiative organised by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety. The initiative supports the UN Voluntary Global Performance Targets for Road Safety. At the event, a symbolic baton was handed over to UN Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt by the Government of Vietnam to signify their commitment. It is essential to increase the uptake of helmet use. Wearing a quality helmet has been proven to reduce drastically the risk of death and serious injury in the event of a crash. At the same time, it is essential to ensure that helmets available on the market meet acceptable safety standards to protect lives, said Jean Todt. The Vietnamese government recognises the challenges remaining and has committed to increasing helmet wearing rates among the children of Vietnam to over 80 per cent by 2030; enforcing quality compliance for helmets and ban all counterfeit helmets that do not meet technical requirements; ensuring successful implementation of the governments three-year road safety action plan which includes the Global Road Safety Performance Targets; and presenting these commitments in Stockholm in 2020, said Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the NTSC. Founder and president of AIP (Asia Injury Prevention) Foundation Greig Craft said: The impact of head trauma on children and families remains a global health epidemic. The Vietnamese governments commitment is commendable and sets an example for other countries. In turn, civil society partners and the corporate sector have committed to support the initiatives set forth by the government, which marks a global milestone in road crash prevention. We are honoured to be one of the founding members of this Global Road Safety Initiative, said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation. By contributing our safety expertise, providing funding, and collaborating with long-time partner, the AIP Foundation, we create a powerful multiplier effect that will accelerate the initiative and help save lives. I am pleased to announce today that The UPS Foundation will contribute $1 million to the AIP Foundation to support child helmet use and increase road safety skills and awareness in Vietnam, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia, he added. Road fatalities are increasing globally. Commitments at national level, such as this one, are critical to reversing the deadly trend and we applaud the Government of Vietnam for taking a stand. NGOs are pushing hard to raise road safety on their countries agendas. AIP Foundation are working side-by-side with us and our 225 other NGOs in 90 countries around the world to secure commitments that will save lives, said Lotte Brondum, executive director of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety. Singapore is an ideal destination for business expansion for a variety of reasons The investment and trade relations between Vietnam and Singapore have continued to grow ever since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. The two countries have a close economic co-operation and opportunities are bilateral: both for Singaporean companies that expand to Vietnam and for Vietnamese companies expanding to Singapore. What are the main reasons to expand a Vietnamese business to Singapore? Low taxes and a favourable business climate are just two of the most important ones. Singapore, a top option for company expansion Singapore is one of the top locations in Asia to expand a business. The city-state has a favourable business climate that allows for a quick and easy company formation or expansion. It is one of the jurisdictions constantly included in the World Bank Doing Business Report as one of the easiest locations to do business. Another reason to consider expanding a Vietnamese business to Singapore is connectivity: Singapore has a strategic location that allows businesses to easily conduct activities with international business partners. By being located in one of the main business and commercial hubs in the region, Vietnamese companies can diversify their clientele and also hire talented foreign workers. A good transportation network and the fact that the city-state is a hub for a highly educated workforce are also valid reasons to relocate a company here. A team of agents specialised in setting up companies in Singapore can assist foreign investors during the incorporation stages. Advantageous taxation in Singapore In addition to the business environment, Singapore also has one of the lowest taxation systems not only in the region but in the world. This criterion is also taken into consideration by those looking to invest in Hong Kong. Apart from the low tax rates, Vietnamese company owners in Singapore can find that there are a number of support systems for entrepreneurs. Vietnamese entrepreneurs who are keen on exploring different expansion options, such as in Europe, can request company formation services in Germany or other countries such as France or the Netherlands. The decision to expand business is an important one that should be carefully considered. It is also a sign of business maturity, professionalism, and success and it marks a new stage for the company. Bernard Krisher, the journalist, and philanthropist who founded Cambodias first daily English-language newspaper died on March 5 in Tokyo. He was 87. His death was first reported by his newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, which quoted family members as attributing his death to heart failure. Krisher had a long and illustrious career as a journalist and became a well-known figure in Asian journalism, producing exclusive interviews with high-profile figures including Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Indonesian President Sukarno. He founded the Daily in 1993 following the establishment of the Phnom Penh Post a year earlier, then published fortnightly. Both newspapers came to symbolize a new optimism for a post-civil war Cambodia, one that would fade with successive crackdowns on freedom of the press and the opposition in recent years. The Daily was forced to close its print edition last year and the Post was sold to a Malaysian investor with links to the government. In Cambodia, journalists and former staff members at the Daily, along with colleagues and friends from World Assistance for Cambodia, and NGO Krisher founded bid farewell and paid their respects. A two-day Buddhist ceremony ended on Tuesday. A former senior journalist at the Daily, Vann Roeun, said Krisher wanted to train both international and Cambodian journalists and promote independent reporting. Losing him is equal to losing the newspaper completely because of everything he built for freedom of the press and journalism training for both local and international journalists, he said. He added that over the years the Daily faced numerous threats of closure, but until its eventual shutdown in 2017 Krisher managed to keep the paper afloat. Despite many obstacles, his [Krishers] stance was stoic. He kept moving forward and never backed down. He solved problems peacefully, he did not hurry, but acted with confidence, Roeun said. Krisher began to step back from the management of the Daily from 2016 as his health worsened, passing control of the paper to his daughter, Deborah Krisher-Steele. But Krisher-Steeles proprietorship would be short-lived, as in 2017 the government handed the Daily a $6 million tax bill it could not pay, forcing the print edition to close. Other media outlets, including Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, were also targeted by officials. Chhorn Chansy, another former staffer, said Krisher was a problem-solver by nature. He was a very smart person, he said. As the government imposed the tax bill on the Daily in late 2017, Krisher said he would take full responsibility. If the government wants to prosecute anyone, I will come back because I did this, he wrote in a statement at the time. The charges against my newspaper is the regimes thuggish attempt to disable our operation is haste. Pu Sothirak, a former Cambodian ambassador to Japan, where Krisher lived for much of his life, said he was a champion of the free press. I am so sorry to know he passed away, but we will remember his good deeds for Cambodia. He knew many of our leaders, including our late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, he added. Krisher met Sihanouk in 1964 when he interviewed Indonesian president Sukarno. Sihanouk then invited Krisher to visit Cambodia. Prince Sisowath Thomico, a former assistant to Sihanouk, said Krisher and Sihanouk became good friends. The king, he said, read the Daily every day. Since 2002 or 2003, His Majesty the late King stopped reading some [other] newspapers... Therefore, he read the Cambodia Daily, every day, almost every single article in the Cambodia Daily, he said. Elizabeth Becker, a veteran journalist who covered the Vietnam and Cambodia conflicts, said she admired Krisher. Few foreigners have had such a permanent and positive commitment to Cambodia as Bernie. Starting a major newspaper and publishing house are difficult in any circumstances. And he kept his commitment until forced to close down the newspaper, she said. Thanks to him for founding the Cambodia Daily and to Michael Hayes who started the Phnom Penh Post, several generations of Cambodians were trained at the highest levels. They are the living legacy of Bernie. In government, however, Krisher and the Daily had their critics. I dont think the Cambodia Daily was a professional newspaper, says Phay Siphan, a government spokesman. The Cambodia Daily was just a place to amplify international non-governmental organizations with political motivations. Reporters Without Borders, the press freedom watchdog, ranks Cambodia 142 out of 180 countries it surveys. Nop Vy, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said Krishers death was a great loss for Cambodia. Without the presence of such independent media, problems will persist, he said. I acknowledge his [Krishers] courage and his achievement remains with our journalists... I have a strong commitment to keeping on this duty to promote journalism and support journalists to build up their capacity and to make sure they run their media outlets to the level of the Cambodia Daily. Cheng Sokhorng, a former journalist at the Daily who now works for the Post, said: I believe that his achievement will stay in Cambodia and remain with Cambodians and Khmer people will remember his name, she said. Krishers legacy, said Becker, will be seen in the lives of the many Cambodians who learned to read English from copies of the Daily and the journalists who cut their teeth at the paper. It lives on in Cambodian journalists who learned their skills through his newspaper and the people who read it and have a much better understanding of how to view their world. Classical dancer Om Yuvanna was 20 years old when the Khmer Rouge rolled their tanks and armored personnel carriers into Phnom Penh in April 1975. Like other survivors, Yuvanna saw how the regime used the arts for propaganda, but has since seen how the arts can play an important role in the post-war healing process. I also do not want to be reminded of the past but it is important for the younger generation to know, she said, speaking at a panel discussion at the 2019 Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh this month. Now a traditional arts instructor at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Yuvanna, in her sixties, spoke about her personal experiences and the role of arts in the healing process. Our art is communicated in technical language. Back then, they would change the choreography or lyrics to promote propaganda, Yuvanna said, referring to the Khmer Rouges use of the arts to nurture their propaganda efforts. Artists were named among those targeted for execution by the Khmer Rouge with some 80 percent dying under the regime, according to an official estimate. Out of 190 dancers active in the royal ballet team in 1975, only 40 survived. In a cozy hall at Phnom Penhs Bophana Center, the panel -- made up of artists, civil society workers, and college students - spoke about roles and power of arts and cultural production in the healing and reparation process. Art is the identity of our nation. It sets us apart from neighboring countries, Yuvanna said. As artists, it is our responsibility to maintain our identity and share it with the others. The panel discussion also marked the opening of an exhibition, Four decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, in which eleven paintings from artist Sang Nan, who also sat on the panel, are on display until March 22. Known for his graphics and artistic involvement with renowned Cambodian film director Rithy Panh in the Oscar-nominated movie The Missing Picture and Graves without a name, Nan, 28, said he was inspired by the stories of the survivors from his family. Nan was frustrated by a lack of exposure to Khmer Rouge history during his teenage years. So he chose to re-tell the stories about the suffering and the hopes of those who lived under the Khmer Rouge regime through his paintings. I think it is an important responsibility for us to share our knowledge and stories from one generation to another because it can serve as a lesson for the younger generation, he said. Nan said he was aware that it is not an easy task for artists to tell their story to Cambodian audiences through abstract arts, but he emphasized the importance of curiosity, which enables the younger audiences to understand the messages encoded in artworks. I hope that they [younger Cambodians] will be able to interpret the emotions behind my works. Sometimes, they see fear and sorrow from starvation, and possible execution, he said. Each of my paintings has its own meaning, he said. My work usually represents both sorrow and hope. Meas Phidochampa, 56, said: We should not confuse between individual history and social [collective] history. Just like jigsaw pieces, the stories of five million people are accumulated into one national history. We need both to further our understanding. Him Savy, a traditional musician, and composer said it was important for Cambodians to study their history. "It enables them to know what their country and people have been through," she said. "When we artists produce art, it is not for ourselves, but for the sake of history. The Pentagon's Office of Inspector General has launched an investigation into allegations that Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan violated ethics rules by promoting his former employer, Boeing, while serving in the Trump administration. The watch group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint last week claiming that Shanahan had appeared to promote Boeing and disparage former competitors such as Lockheed Martin in his statements. One example listed in the complaint was the allegation that Shanahan pushed the Pentagon to buy more Boeing-made F-15X fighter jets over other fighter jets made by Boeing's competitors. The Secretary's office issued a statement Wednesday asserting that "Shanahan welcomes the Inspector General's review." "Acting Secretary Shanahan has at all times remained committed to upholding his ethics agreement filed with the DoD.This agreement ensures any matters pertaining to Boeing are handled by appropriate officials within the Pentagon to eliminate any perceived or actual conflict of interest issue(s) with Boeing," the statement read. Shanahan served as deputy secretary of defense at the Pentagon after spending more than three decades at Boeing. Replaces Jim Mattis He stepped into the role of acting secretary of defense after former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned on Dec. 20, saying in his resignation letter that President Donald Trump had the "right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned" with his. The president decided to replace Mattis before his expected resignation date, tapping Shanahan to take the post as of Jan. 1, 2019. Shanahan has had to repel questions about potential conflicts of interest since taking office. Last week, he told Congress he welcomed any such investigation into his actions at the Pentagon. In January, he called claims of favoritism "just noise." An Afghan official in the countrys National Security Council Tuesday downplayed a Reuters report alleging that senior U.S. diplomats have informed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that his national security adviser is no longer welcome in Washington following his blistering public attacks on the U.S Special Representative for Afghan reconciliation last week. Abasin Barial, an adviser for strategic relations at the Afghan National Security Council, told VOA that the U.S. and Afghanistan enjoy close relations based on common interests. We want to have very good and very close relations with the U.S. [because] we have common goals and objectives. It is very clear that during the last four years, the government of President [Ashraf] Ghani had the best relations with the U.S. government, Barial told VOA. About the Reuters story, I think it is limited to this media outlet. I do not think it has relied that much on the actual issues that U.S. [officials] have discussed regarding this matter. I think we will see more of such analysis and comments [in the media], he added. Last week, Afghan National Security Advisor, Hamdullah Mohib criticized U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad over what he said was his approach of keeping the Afghan government in dark in the ongoing peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar. "We don't have the kind of transparency that we should have," he said. "The last people to find out are us." Mohib told reporters Thursday. "The reason he is delegitimizing the Afghan government and weakening it, and at the same time elevating the Taliban, can only have one approach. Perhaps all this talk is to create a caretaker government of which he [Khalilzad] will become the viceroy. We are only saying this because that is the perception, Mohib added. U.S. Response Robert Palladino, the deputy spokesperson of the State Department told media on Thursday that David Hale, the U.S undersecretary for political affairs, summoned Mohib and rejected his attacks on the U.S. approach to Afghanistan reconciliation. Palladino said Hale reiterated to the Afghan official that Khalilzad represented Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "and that attacks on Ambassador Khalilzad are attacks on the department and only serve to hinder the bilateral relationship and the peace process." The spokesperson also said that Hale "expressed our commitment to the Afghan governments stability and full participation in the peace process." A day after Mohibs comments, Undersecretary Hale told Ghani by phone that Mohib would no longer be received in Washington and U.S. civilian and military officials would not do business with him, Reuters reported, citing sources. Hale called Ghani and told him that Mohib is no longer welcome in D.C. The U.S. will not deal with him in Kabul or in D.C. anymore, a former senior Afghan official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Reactions Reactions are mixed regarding Mohibs comments with some in Afghanistan applauding him for making his governments concerns heard and others criticizing him for jeopardizing strategic ties with a key ally at a crucial time. The statement made by the National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib in the U.S. certainly was not diplomatic, Haroon Mir, a Kabul-based political analyst told VOA. But it certainly translated the frustration that the Afghan government has vis-a-vis the negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban and the government felt humiliated that it was kept in the dark, Mir added. Thomas Johnson, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and author of Taliban Narratives echoed Mirs assessment in saying Mohibs comments are not in his best interest. But, he added that the Afghan officials have the right to make statements. Ambassador Mohib is a young diplomat, and diplomats often make mistakes. So it might not be in his best interest to make some of the statements but he has the right to make statements, Johnson said. Afghanistan is not a colony of the United States and valid and senior Afghan leaders should be able to voice their concerns over how the peace talks are going especially considering that they are not part of the peace talks, Johnson added. Jason Campbell, a policy researcher at Rand Corporation, a U.S. think tank, however believes that Mohib put the U.S. in an awkward position with his comments. Even if he or the Afghan government harbored suspicions about Ambassador Khalilzad, these were better voiced behind closed doors and with evidence, Campbell said. The U.S. government was put in a very awkward position and it is not surprising that officials ultimately decided to no longer communicate through Mohib on this subject, even though he was likely acting at least in large part on guidance from the ARG [Afghan Presidential Palace], Campbell added. Campbell said Mohibs comments reflect a misunderstanding on the part of the Afghan government about where U.S. strategy currently stands on the issue. Miscalculation? Some experts like Waheed Muzhda, a Kabul-based political analyst charge that the Afghan government miscalculated the move and did not anticipate the blow back. I think Mr. Ghani and Mr. Mohib did not have a good idea of the current situation. They were not expecting this much of a reaction. They thought a criticism would be made about the U.S. policies regarding excluding the Afghan government from negotiations and this issue would be address as a grievance and it would not be taken as seriously by the U.S, Muzhda said. Analyst Mir said Washington is an irreplaceable ally for Kabul implying that the latter should recognize the importance of the former. No other country or a coalition of the regional countries would be able to fill the vacuum of the U.S. in Afghanistan, either in terms of its military assistance or financial assistance in the country. Mir said. VOAs Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. Officials in Afghanistan have delayed the country's presidential election for a second time, setting Sept. 28 as the new date. They also announced Wednesday that provincial council elections in all 34 Afghan provinces would be held on the same date. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said recent amendments to election laws and the pending resolution of "numerous problems and challenges" facing the voting system prompted it to push back the polls. The presidential election originally was scheduled for April 20, then was delayed to July 20 mainly because of security concerns and widespread skepticism about IEC's ability to organize a fair ballot in the wake of last October's controversial Afghan parliamentary polls. The parliamentary ballot was set up in 33 provinces; security concerns and local political disputes prevented IEC from holding elections in Ghazni province. Question of finances IEC Chairperson Hawa Alam Nuristani, speaking to reporters, described the October polls as "the worst elections in the last 15 years." She cautioned, however, that her institution would be able to hold the elections in time, provided "all relevant sides, especially the government and the international community," provide the IEC with the required finances. The rescheduling of the presidential vote comes as the United States is trying to find a political settlement to its 18-year-old war with the Taliban. But it is not clear whether the dialogue has anything to do with the rescheduling of the elections. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking re-election and completes his mandated term in May, said the government was determined to cooperate with and fully supported the IEC's decision to delay the polls. Ghani's main challengers in the elections will be his coalition partner, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and former National Security Adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar. Taliban talks The U.S.-Taliban peace talks have excluded the Ghani government because the insurgent group is opposed to engaging in any talks with Kabul. Afghan officials say the move has undermined the legitimacy of the elected government, and they caution that no sustainable peace can be initiated without involving them. Ghani's national security adviser last week launched blistering public attacks on chief U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad for allegedly sidelining the government and giving the Taliban legitimacy. Hamdullah Mohib, while speaking to reporters during his visit to Washington, went on to accuse the Afghan-born U.S. diplomat of trying to create "a caretaker government [in Afghanistan] of which he would then become viceroy," a title used for the colonial administrator of British-ruled India. The following day, Robert Palladino, the deputy spokesman of the State Department, told a news conference that Mohib was "summoned" and told "attacks on Ambassador Khalilzad are attacks on the department and only serve to hinder the bilateral relationship and the peace process." Media reports later quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying they had conveyed to Ghani that his national security adviser would no longer be welcomed in Washington and that U.S. officials would no longer do business with Mohib. Faces of The Fellowship: Valerii and Liliia The Fellowship | March 20, 2019 This conflict has had a direct impact on our lives, says new olim (immigrant), Valerii, who with help from The Fellowship just made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from war-torn Ukraine with his wife, Liliia. We lived along the combat line, and shelling fell over our house, destroying our windows and breaking the roof. We lived in constant fear for our lives and our future, Valerii says. Because of the financial crisis in Ukraine, the family struggled. Living in a state of permanent need is something we got used to over the last few years, says Valerii. In Israel, they hope to find more secure job opportunities. They are leaving behind their two adult children and their grandchildren, but they hope their family will join them in the Holy Land soon. As for their aliyah with The Fellowship, they feel confident they made the right choice. For the first six months in Israel, they know they can rely on The Fellowship for the resources and financial support necessary to begin a new and successful life there. The monetary bonus that The Fellowship provides, when added to the services The Fellowshipgives, is something that we consider to be more than just useful, especially taking into account our current situation. Liliia and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. A United Nations court has increased the sentence to life in prison for convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic, after hearing his appeal of the original sentence. Karadzic, 73, was in court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday appealing his original sentence of 40 years for organizing mass killings in the Bosnian War, which lasted from 1992 to 1995. He was also appealing his 2016 convictions of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, for ordering the July 1995 mass killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnias Srebrenica region. The court not only upheld his convictions but lengthened his sentence. The judge said the 2016 court was wrong to limit his sentence to 40 years, given the sheer scale and systematic cruelty of the crimes. As the sentence was pronounced, observers in the public gallery broke into applause and cheers. The decision was also broadcast at a memorial in Srebrenica, where friends and family of the victims, holding photos of their loved ones, cried out and applauded. Sefik Dzaferovic, a Muslim member of Bosnias multi-ethnic presidency, said Karadzic got the punishment he deserved. Dzaferovic described Karadzic on Wednesday as one of the architects and leaders of the joint criminal enterprise which resulted in genocide and crimes against humanity. But the Serb member of the presidency, Milorad Dodik, called the ruling arrogant and cynical. The presidency also includes a Croat member. Karadzics lawyer Goran Petronijevic told Bosnias N1 television news channel Wednesday that this is purely a political decision not based on law. Another former Bosnian Serb commander, Ratko Mladic, is also waiting for a decision on his appeals of his convictions for genocide and war crimes. The European Union could approve Britain's request for a short delay to Brexit but only if U.K. MPs next week approve the withdrawal deal they have twice rejected, European Council President Donald Tusk said Wednesday. With nine days to go before Britain is due to leave the bloc, the country is gripped by uncertainty about how to proceed, and Tusk's statement was received as an ultimatum to lawmakers to get behind May's deal. "I believe a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons," Tusk told reporters. May told her country in a televised address from Downing Street late Wednesday that she was still "determined" to deliver Brexit and pull Britain through its worst political crisis in a generation. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with this. I agree. I am on your side," May said, adding that she was requesting a delay until June 30 with "great personal regret." Lawmakers have twice resoundingly rejected May's agreement, and a third vote the premier hoped to hold this week was canceled by the House of Commons speaker on the ground that the same vote could not be held again. Brussels meeting May now heads to Brussels for an EU leaders summit Thursday and Friday, where she will hope to secure a possible addition to her agreement that will let her put it to a vote next week. The pound fell sharply against the euro during the day, reflecting fears that Britain could crash out without any agreement at all. Exactly 1,000 days on from Britain's seismic 2016 vote to split from the other EU nations, the country is unclear about the path ahead. 'Credibility' May said any postponement beyond the end of June would undermine voters' trust. "It is high time we made a decision" on leaving, May said in her address. However, the European Commission advised EU leaders that it would be preferable to either have a shorter delay to May 23 when voting begins in European Parliament elections or a much longer one, until at least the end of 2019. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed London's "clear request" and said she would "make every effort" to bring about an agreement at the Brussels summit. But her foreign minister, Heiko Maas of the junior coalition partner Social Democrats, said May's letter "only pushes the solution further down the road". And in Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had a tough message. "A situation in which Mrs. May is unable to deliver sufficient guarantees on the credibility of her strategy at the European Council meeting would lead to the request being refused and a preference for a no deal," he said. Country in crisis The British Parliament has been deadlocked for months over Brexit, with MPs unable to decide how to implement the referendum result, and voters themselves are also sharply divided. But Britain is now in crisis, facing the potentially catastrophic prospect of leaving its biggest trading partner after 46 years with no arrangements in place. May had reluctantly accepted that a delay to Brexit was needed, and told MPs Wednesday she had written to Tusk. "Some argue that I am making the wrong choice and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond, to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward," May told Britons in her special message. "That would mean asking you to vote in European elections nearly three years after our country voted to leave. What kind of message would that send?" Elections for the European Parliament will be held at the end of May. Resignation threat? In her letter, May said she intended to bring her deal back to the Commons "as soon as possible," arguing that if it passed, she would need the delay to implement the treaty. If the text is rejected a third time, May told lawmakers earlier on Wednesday that Parliament would have to decide what happened next. "As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30," she told lawmakers, in comments interpreted as a hint about her own future. May's team will try to engage senior members of the main opposition Labor Party, hoping to bring enough of its members on side to pull her deal through. Police in Cameroon have arrested four wildlife traffickers caught with huge quantities of elephant tusks and scales from pangolins. The traffickers, said to be operating across Africa, were planning to transport the scales and ivory to Asian countries through Nigeria. Francis Durand Nna, the highest wildlife official in Cameroons coastal city of Douala, says the traffickers were arrested following a tipoff from residents. He says the police supported by Cameroons Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and conservation groups including the Last Great Ape, LAGA, seized scales harvested from at least 3,000 pangolins and 300 elephant tusks plucked from 150 elephants that were illegally killed. He says it is an enormous loss to biodiversity, nature and the economy. He is calling on people to adhere to the fight to protect wildlife and forest resources because only traffickers benefit. Police say the men are part of an organized ring operating in parks and protected areas on Cameroons eastern and southern borders, and possibly working with accomplices in the neighboring states. Central and Eastern Africa are hotspots for poaching and trafficking pangolins, an animal also known as the scaly anteater. Boniface Dogmo, a senior wildlife control official at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, says Cameroon has been implementing its anti-poaching and trafficking laws, but says the practices are difficult to stop because of the huge demand for certain animal products in Asia. In Vietnam, pangolin meat and scales can fetch up to $1,000 per kilogram. Eric Kaba Tah, a media official for LAGA says traffickers quite often deliver their illegal catch to Nigeria, from where it is shipped to Asia, the biggest source of demand for pangolin scales and ivory. He says corrupt practices from government officials and the police is making it difficult to stop the illegal trade. "These traffickers are very top professionals," he said. "They know the mechanisms of corruption extremely well. They are international, they are young, they turn to move from where there is strong wildlife enforcement to where wildlife law enforcement is not very strict. Traffickers are given lenient treatment, which is a very wrong signal." International trade in pangolins was banned in 2016 under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). But the trade continues. In 2017, officials in Cameroon seized and burned more than three tons of pangolin skins and scales that were destined for Asia. A few seconds were all that it took to change ten-year-old Srey Pheaks life forever. When she reached into the brick machine to clean off some clay, she got trapped. The machine quickly pulled her arm in, like it would with clay, and crushed it. When the incident just happened, inside the ambulance, she asked me: Mum, my hand is chopped. When I recover, will it regrow? I told her yes, her mother Khim Channa recounts in the hospital while holding her daughter in her arms. But Srey Pheaks arm wont regrow, and her mother was unable to hold back her tears in the ambulance, she tells Voice of America. I was crying, and she told me mummy, dont cry. I survive. Its just the hand thats chopped, I still have life in my body. She comforted me. Its not me who comforted her, the 34-year-old mother recounts, tears welling up in her eyes. While Channa tells how Srey Pheak lost her arm, her daughter is unable to speak. She is in visible pain, and where her arm was is now a patch of bandages. Drugged with pain killers and medicine, she can only stare into space, sometimes whimpering. It has been five days since the accident. Channa and her whole family lived and worked at a brick kiln factory in Kandal Province. Two of her three children 12 and 10 years old would help out for an hour or two a day, Channa says, to support the familys income. Mother Channa and father Chheng Bunham together earned about $5 to $6 a day, barely enough to feed their family. She came to help me because she saw that Im very tired and very hardworking, she says while caressing her daughters back. I feel regret, but its too late now. They moved to the factory about six years ago to take up a loan from the brick kiln owner to buy some land in their home province Kampong Cham. But instead of being able to pay off the $3,500-heavy loan, they worked hard every day just to sustain themselves. Laurie Parsons, a researcher at Royal Holloway University of Livelihoods and co-author of study Blood Bricks: Untold Stories of Modern Slavery and Climate Change from Cambodia, said brick kiln owners attracted workers by offering to pay off loans they had taken up elsewhere. The workers were told they could pay back by working for the factory owners. On average, he said, workers owed just under $800 to the brick kiln owners, but also loans of up to $5,000 were not uncommon. In that sense, Channas case was unusual, he said, as she hadnt been indebted before working at the factory. But she shared the common fate of many brick kiln workers: not being able to pay off the debt over years. Parsons explained that the workers were paid by the number of bricks they produced. As brick production was much more difficult during rainy season with clay not being able to dry quickly, brick workers had to take up additional loans during that period and found themselves trapped in debt bondage. But while Channa regrets having let Srey Pheak work, she did not blame the owner for her daughters accident in March. She said he had reminded them not to let their children work, and had now said he would cover the medical expenses, as well as school tuition fees, and waive her debt. Parsons said most brick kiln workers felt positively toward factory owners as they were repeatedly told that the owners were doing them a favor by letting them work to pay off their loans. The brick kiln owners [say] that they dont have to do it, but they do it out of the goodness of their heart, he said. Channa said at least five other children were also working at the same factory. The factory owner could not be reached for comment. While authorities initially denied the existence of child labor, the Labour Ministry has now fined the factory and started a lawsuit against the owner. But Parsons said more far-reaching reforms that addressed the causes of child labor debt bondage being a main factor had to be implemented. One way would be for the government to extend the minimum wage beyond the garment industry to include brick factories. Ministry of Labour spokesperson Heng Sour said in a message to VOA that we work on this with stakeholders, without elaborating further. For Srey Pheak, this will come too late. My daughter suddenly got very angry, Channa says, explaining that her daughter could neither drink nor eat because of the medicine. She said: okay mum, Im very sick, but I cant eat, so just let me die then. While her mother does not know when they will be ready to leave the hospital, she says she knows one thing: she now wants to send her daughter to school. I will tell her to study because now that she is handicapped, going to school will help her with the future, she says. China on Wednesday welcomed the new president of Kazakhstan as an "old friend" after the sudden resignation of veteran strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan has ever known, shocked the nation Tuesday with his resignation after nearly three decades in power. "China understands and supports President Nazarbayev's decision," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. "Since we established diplomatic ties 27 years ago, President Nazarbayev has been committed to friendly relations," Geng told reporters, noting the oil-rich nation will achieve new progress under the acting president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Observers widely expect Nazarbayev, 78, to retain control from behind the scenes. He came to power when Kazakhstan was still a Soviet republic. He passed the presidency to the chairman of the senate, loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, a former prime minister and career diplomat who was sworn in Wednesday. "The acting President Tokayev is an old friend and good friend of the Chinese people," Geng said. Kazakhstan, which shares a border with China's restive Xinjiang region, has been on diplomatic tiptoes since its major trading partner began to send ethnic Kazakhs to internment camps under its anti-extremism policy. Earlier this month, authorities in Kazakhstan arrested a Xinjiang rights activist, who had campaigned for victims of China's security crackdown in the region, and charged him with inciting inter-ethnic hatred. As New Zealand police continue to work with families to positively identify those slain in last Fridays attack at two Christchurch mosques, members of the community buried their dead Wednesday and pressed forward with their lives. "The process to reunite the victims with their loved ones, this is for us an absolute priority - for family reasons, for compassionate reasons and for cultural reasons. That's progressing very well, it was our intention to do what we could to complete that by today, we are making very good progress, said New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush. He added, "As of last night at 11:30pm, twenty-one of those victims had been formally identified and were being made available to release to their loved ones." Watch Steve Miller's report from Christchurch Two of the 50 victims were laid to rest in Memorial Park Cemetery Wednesday. Hundreds gathered for the memorial service, including some who traveled from elsewhere in the country. Seeing the body lowered down, it was a very emotional time for me, Gulshad Ali told Reuters News Agency. He flew from Auckland to attend the funeral. While members of the Muslim community were mourning, New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern visited Christchurchs Cashmere High School. There, she told students it was okay to grieve. "It is ok to ask for help, she said, even if you weren't directly affected. These things, these images that people are seeing they are really difficult to process." Thats something Jennifer Hammon, a life long resident of Christchurch, is also struggling with - how to make sense of something that many in the city thought was unimaginable, as well as, how to explain what happened to her young daughter. You can't explain it, Hammond told VOA as her voice began trembling, We lost people who were part of our lives. The thought of children being targeted angers me you can't even put it into words. It's hurt, there's some anger there, and grief. It will take time With nearly half of the bodies identified and some returned to families, the burial process has begun in Christchurch for those slain. Dr. Reza Abdul-Jabbar, an Imam from Invercargill, came to the city to assist in the process. Weve got to dig in dig deep within ourselves, to move past the events of last week Abdul-Jabbar stated. He says politicians, academics, and religious leaders are now in a position to change how communities deal with extremists. Abdul-Jabbar urges the dialog on what comes next not be sugarcoated, so that real conversations can take place. I think we will move forward as a nation, he said, because 99.99999 percent of us are behind everybody. That sentiment, that those killed Friday are part of the larger New Zealand community and vice versa is also something Hammond believes. We rally together. Thats who we are, and we will always be like that, she said. But in a city still reeling from an earthquake that killed 185 people in 2011, Hammond notes it will take time and more than just words to help the community heal. Tributes continue While the large numbers of visitors to Hagley Park, across the street from the Al Noor mosque, have started to diminish five days after Fridays attack, the number of memorials and tributes has not. Adorning the parks chainlink fence, several links of love have been draped over the steel structure and accompanying police tape. The paper links, woven together, contain messages for those lost and the Muslim community. We are here, Stay strong, and Love appear on just some of the thousands of links now gracing the park. Similar thoughts could be found among the notes left at one of the trees surrounded by memorial candles and flower bouquets. A visitor from the United Kingdom shared their thoughts on the tragedy by leaving a note adorned with an inked flower pattern. To the families suffering, please dont forget there is more good than evil, stay strong. Im sorry this happened to your loved ones. Everyone is thinking of you and sending you our sympathies and love. Have hope harness your strength. Only love can fight hate, the note read, signed only as Peace and Love from the U.K. Memorials for individuals have also appeared, as the community shares the names of those were lost. Ansi Alibava, 23, was killed in Fridays attack. Her picture, work smock, flowers, and cards have been placed next to a tree in Hagley Park. Those remembering her also arranged memorial candles to spell out her name and form a heart. One poem conveyed to the Muslim community the sense of inclusiveness several residents expressed. Walking down the street towards those I am going to greet. They may be of different religion or colours. Nonetheless, they are our sisters and brothers. Together a wall we can create to block all this negative hate. We stand united to ignore the fuss, because in the end THEY ARE US! U.S.-backed forces are starting to search through the remnants of the Islamic State's final enclave in northeastern Syria, looking for fighters, mines and booby-trapped explosives. The effort Wednesday to sift through the broken buildings and shredded tents that litter the landscape in the town of Baghuz comes a day after Syrian Democratic Forces took the area from IS fighters in what officials described as a significant blow to the terror group. SDF officials said as many as 1,500 more people surrendered following Tuesday's incursion into IS's final stronghold, including hundreds of injured IS fighters. But concerns run high that fighters lurk in trenches dug all around the former IS enclave, as well as in a complex network of caves and tunnels, which some officials said could run for more than two kilometers. An unknown number of IS fighters have also retreated to a sliver of land along the Euphrates River, and there are no estimates for how many fighters could be hiding in other parts of Baghuz. "A group of Daesh in Baghuz still fight back and hold their families as human shields," Zana Amedi, a media official with the YPG militia, which has been supporting the SDF offensive, told VOA Wednesday, using the terror group's Arabic acronym. Despite the official caution, small celebrations broke out Wednesday around Baghuz, with some groups of SDF fighters playing music and dancing. "We have won. We have eliminated the enemy, the terrorists," Majid Hejjo, an SDF fighter, told the French news agency. "The comrades are tired, and the battle is over," said another SDF fighter. No 'complete victory' yet In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump was equally effusive, telling reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that the very last speck of IS-held territory would be liberated within hours. "There is no red," Trump said just hours after an intelligence briefing, showing off a map that compared IS-held territory now and the day he was elected. "In fact, there's actually a tiny spot, which will be gone by tonight." Still, SDF officials and U.S. defense officials have been wary of saying the fight against the terror group's self-declared caliphate is over. It has been three months since Trump first announced the defeat of IS in a tweet, and more than a month since he told a meeting of ministers from coalition countries that the end of the caliphate "should be formally announced, probably sometime next week." More recently, multiple SDF officials have also forecast the fall of IS within days or even hours, only to see efforts slowed by fierce fighting and the presence of tens of thousands of civilians, mostly the wives, children and family members of IS fighters. They now say more than 5,000 people have fled Baghuz since SDF resumed its final assault on IS just over a week ago, despite earlier saying only about 1,000 civilians and 300 fighters were holed up in Baghuz shortly after the operation to liberate the town got under way last month. In all, SDF says more than 5,000 IS fighters have surrendered or been captured over the past month, while another 1,300 have been killed in the fighting. The U.S.-led coalition also said Wednesday there has been no letup in efforts to ensure the terror group is defeated. "The ground offensive, coalition airstrikes and artillery continue as needed," coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told VOA. "The SDF feel they are in control of the area, but as long as Daesh puts up any type of fight and hides in tunnels, they cannot declare complete victory." 'Tens of thousands' of fighters SDF officials have raised the possibility that the remaining IS fighters may also be holding prisoners and hostages, but there has been no word as to their fate in recent days. Thousands of SDF troops have massed around Baghuz for weeks, laying siege to the town in an effort to liberate the final IS enclave in Syria. Officials said Kurdish special forces from Iraq also had been brought in to help with the operations. Even once an official announcement is made, U.S. defense officials caution IS still has "tens of thousands" of fighters working either as part of sleeper cells or as part of an active, clandestine insurgency. Additionally, senior officials believe most of the group's senior leadership, including its self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remain at large. Garment factory workers in Bangladesh filed a record number of complaints about safety 662 last year, showing that a mechanism set up by European fashion brands to improve working conditions was proving effective, trade unions said Tuesday. The Bangladesh Accord was signed by some 200 global brands and unions in 2013 after the Rana Plaza disaster, when about 1,100 people were killed after a garment factory complex collapsed sparking outrage over poor working conditions. The legally-binding Accord, which covers almost 1,700 factories, has signatory clothing brands and retailers from about 20 countries, such as Britain's supermarket group Tesco, Swedish fashion group H&M and German sportswear giant Adidas. The Accord has received 1,152 complaints since starting work in 2014, many relating to fire and structural hazards, it said in a report Monday, adding that it had made more than 100 factories ineligible to supply its signatory firms. "Compared to other complaint mechanisms, the owners take the complaints filed in the Accord a bit more seriously," Amirul Haque Amin, head of the National Garment Workers Federation, Bangladesh's largest union, told Reuters. "They know that the buyers are also a stakeholder here and if they don't address the problem properly, their business may be affected," he said, referring to the Accord's ban on noncompliant factories supplying its signatory buyers. Bangladesh, which ranks behind only China as a supplier of clothes to Western countries, relies on the garment industry for more than 80 percent of its exports, and about 4 million jobs. While the Rana Plaza disaster, one of the world's worst industrial accidents, prompted retailers to take stronger action to protect workers, campaigners say progress has been slow. The Accord said it had resolved about one-third of the complaints it had received from physical abuse and sexual harassment to mandatory overtime and non-payment of maternity benefits. A similar number fell outside its mandate, it said. The latest figures come as the Accord is battling to extend its stay in Bangladesh until 2021, as agreed by its signatories, when it will be replaced by a national regulatory body. A High Court last year ordered the Accord to shut down, following a petition filed by a local readymade garments supplier against the pact, a ruling that it is appealing in the Supreme Court. A hearing is due April 7. "This is a strong platform," said Kalpona Akter, head of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, a union. "Based on the cases that I have seen, I can say that whenever a complaint is resolved through Accord, a precedent is set in the factory." For people streaming in from rural areas around New Delhi, the first stop is a collection of busy city intersections where contractors select daily wage labor from the crowds of young and old waiting every morning to get work. Many standing at these intersections say they get work for barely half the month. I have the ability to work hard. I never turn down any work. But I would prefer to get a cleaner, permanent job, says 29-year-old Tek Chand. "The problem is one day I have money to buy rations, the next day I dont." Like millions of others, he migrated from his village three years ago to seek work and a better life in the city. As India prepares for general elections on April 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being attacked by opposition parties for failing to make good on a promise he made in 2014 to create millions of jobs for Indias huge young population. Modis Bharatiya Janata Party rebuts that criticism and says India is generating new opportunities as it becomes one of the worlds fastest growing major economies. Job creation is a massive challenge for a nation with one of the worlds youngest populations -- half the countrys 1.3 billion people are under the age of 25. Recent data shows that joblessness has soared to record high levels. Opposition parties have made joblessness one of their principal election planks and have accused the prime minister of failing the estimated 8 to 10 million young people who enter the workforce every year. The independent Mumbai-based Center for Monitoring Indian Economy estimates that unemployment reached 7.2 percent last month and that 11 million jobs were lost in 2018. With a working population of 500 million, that translates into more than 30 million people waiting for jobs. An unpublished official survey that showed unemployment at a 45-year-high has also been widely quoted by Indian media. On the campaign trail, the head of the main opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, who is seen as Modis principal challenger, talks repeatedly about a jobs crisis. Our government is refusing to accept that we have a massive crisis and potential disaster in front of us, Gandhi told a group of university students in New Delhi recently, many who will be first time voters. Modis Bharatiya Janata Party dismisses concerns about the job data saying it does not capture the real picture because it focuses only on the 15 percent of Indians who work in the formal economy. It points to a recent industry report that jobs have been created in the medium and small sectors. The BJP says millions of people have found work in the transport and infrastructure sectors or as delivery boys in booming online businesses as India becomes one of the worlds fastest growing major economies. They point out that the issue is not jobs but livelihoods, and point to millions of people who are not counted in job data. They are self-employed people like cab owner Chain Pal Singh. As the app based taxi business boomed, Singhs friend, who operated a cab, persuaded him to quit his job and take out a loan to buy a car. His decision has paid off -- in four years he has earned enough money to invest in two more cabs. Singh says he is much better off than when he held a job. I used to earn about $225 dollars a month. Now in some months I can earn almost double that amount. Its beneficial for me. Following defeats in key state elections in December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told parliament last month, This truth has to be acknowledged. The unorganized sector has 80 to 85 percent of the employment. He pointed to millions of commercial vehicles sold in recent years and questioned if they had not generated jobs for drivers. Economists admit Indias large informal sector has made it difficult to calculate employment, but they say joblessness or underemployment remains the countrys biggest challenge. While scarcity of jobs is not a new problem, two disruptive economic steps in the last two years exacerbated the problem. In 2016 a sweeping currency ban meant to tackle the problem of illegal cash, dried up jobs as it created huge currency shortages, particularly in small businesses and in the countryside. A poorly-implemented tax reform known as the Goods and Services Tax a few months later was another blow to businesses. Meanwhile, Modis Made in India campaign, which aimed at making India a manufacturing hub like China, has made a slow start and sluggish labor-intensive sectors cannot cater to growing numbers of job seekers. We can't keep patting ourselves on the back that we are the fastest growing economy specially if all these other indicators are not growing at a rate that will absorb the growing labor force, says Santosh Mehrotra, a human development economist at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. More young people are entering the labor force, millions want to leave agriculture but cant find construction work because construction activity has slowed down because the investment rate in the economy has slowed down. He points out that exports, another sector that created a number of jobs has also not been performing well. As the campaign heats up, the opposition will try to keep the spotlight on jobs, or lack of them, even as the BJP tries to focus on national security following a recent confrontation with Pakistan. The final verdict on whether to give Prime Minister Modi a second term in office will be delivered by millions of voters when they cast their ballots. Dutch prosecutors on Tuesday said they were investigating a possible "terrorist motive" behind the shooting on a tram in the city of Utrecht in which three people were killed and five wounded. A Turkish-born man, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, was arrested after a seven-hour manhunt on Monday by security forces and remained in custody. Two other men were arrested on Monday and released after being cleared of involvement. A fourth suspect was arrested on Tuesday. "His role is being further investigated," prosecutors said in a statement. They described Tanis as the chief suspect. "Up to this point, a terrorist motive is seriously being considered," prosecutors said in a statement, citing "the nature of the shooting and a letter found in the getaway car." But it remained unclear whether the shooter acted on political beliefs or some personal vendetta. "Other motives are not being ruled out," the statement said. Tanis has a history of run-ins with law enforcement. He was convicted for illegal weapons possession in 2014 and for shop lifting and burglary earlier this month. He was released from custody on March 1, after having been detained on suspicion of rape, the Utrecht District Court said in a statement released after his arrest on Monday. He is due to appear in court in July in relation to the rape charge, it said. Under Dutch law Tanis must be brought before a judge by Thursday but does not yet have to be charged. The three Dutch victims were identified as a 19-year-old woman and two men aged 28 and 49. Three others, ranging from 20 to 74 years old, were critically injured in the shooting. Prosecutors said they had so far not been able to establish a connection between the victims and the suspected gunman. "It's very sad things like this happen in the world these days," said Rene van Nieuwenhuizen, an accountant living in Utrecht, a picturesque city of 340,000. "I don't think it will happen to me but it happens and so people get killed." Tanis had previously been arrested, prosecutors said, but have declined to provide details. There was no immediate comment from Tanis or any lawyer representing him. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks immediately after the incident, which came three days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Utrecht went into lockdown in the aftermath of Monday's shooting on a tram just after the morning rush hour. London, Paris and several other European cities have suffered militant attacks over the past years which have killed hundreds of people and authorities are on high alert. Flags flew at half-mast on government buildings across the Netherlands on Tuesday in tribute to the victims. Why I Turned My Bomb Shelter into a Playroom Stand for Israel | March 20, 2019 children, young girls in bomb shelter with writing, drawing on the walls, Its a fact of life in Israel that the many enemies who surround the Israeli people on all sides will violently attack. One of the ways Israelis protect themselves is by having bomb shelters ready for when terrorist rockets begin to fly. Writing at Fox News, Fellowship President Yael Eckstein, a mother of four, talks about the toll this takes on Israeli parents and children: Last week, Iranian-supplied rockets were aimed from Gaza at beautiful, vibrant Tel Aviv. Thank God, no one was injured. But it was a reminder to all of us who live here how perilously close we live to wars we dont start with enemies whose baseless hatred for the Jewish people knows no bounds. These attacks are particularly jarring for Israels moms. Like so many families, my husband and I have decorated our homes bomb shelter as a playroom. Our hope is that our kids will get used to being in there, so it wont traumatize them too much when we have to rush them hastily inside. My husband and I have coordinated who will grab each of our four children in the seconds we have to enter our shelter when not if the emergency sirens blare in the night. We go over these plans often to make sure they become our instinct. Lets call this part of the on-the-job training that every parent living in Israel has to master. I now lead The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization founded by my father thirty-six years ago. Our group has provided over 5,500 of these bomb shelters to families in Israel thanks to the love and generosity of Christian friends. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Christian friends of Israel send into our ministry over $100 million dollars to help poor and persecuted Jewish people with basic needs, security projects, and aliyah (immigration to Israel). Our average donor gift is $74 a month. Its an unacceptable reality when our priority needs to be providing bomb shelters to Jews whose families were killed in the Holocaust. Often I find myself asking, Are we going to let the darkest time in history repeat itself on our watch? U.S. tariffs on China are likely to remain in place for a while, even if a trade deal is reached, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday. "The deal is coming along nicely," the president said about the trade talks with Beijing, noting U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be heading to China within days to continue discussions. "We're taking in billions and billions of dollars right now in tariff money, and for a period of time that will stay," Trump said. The president's remarks indicated that Washington's tariffs could stay in place until U.S. officials are convinced the Chinese are adhering to the terms of the agreement. "They've had a lot of problems living by certain deals," the president noted on the White House South Lawn just before boarding the Marine One helicopter. China might accept a deal in which most of the U.S. tariffs are rolled back, according to Brookings Institution senior fellow David Dollar, but he said he expected President Xi Jinping would not accept any pact in which no tariffs were lifted. "It's very hard for the Chinese president to agree to a deal that's so clearly asymmetric. Chinese people are so active on the internet and social media, and President Xi will hear about it from the people if he makes a deal that looks bad for China," Dollar told VOA. Tit-for-tat tariffs imposed last year ignited fears of a trade war between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies, which annually trade more than a half-trillion dollars' worth of goods. The value of Chinese products sold in the United States far outweighs the value of those sent to China, and that deficit alone represents about 80 percent of America's overall trade gap in goods. A pillar of the Trump presidency has been reducing that huge gap by negotiating bilateral trade deals and rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base. Trump traveled Wednesday to an area in Ohio where General Motors is set to shutter a car assembly plant, affecting about 1,500 jobs and undercutting the president's manufacturing revival message. "What's going on with General Motors?" Trump asked during a speech. "Get that plant open or sell it to somebody and they'll open it. Everybody wants it." "Intervening to try to keep one factory open isn't going to do much for the economy" at a time when manufacturing is declining as a share of the overall job market, said Dollar, of the Brookings Institution. "It's a bad precedent for politicians to intervene like that." A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Claude Barfield, agrees presidents should not intervene in individual corporate decisions. "The president is woefully ignorant about trade and this part of the economy. He thinks it does help. I don't think it does at all help," Barfield, a former consultant to the office of the U.S. trade representative, told VOA. The closure of the GM plant in Lordstown, according to a Cleveland State University study, will result in a total loss of 7,700 jobs in the region, including supply chain and consumer services employment tied to the auto plant, cutting 10 percent of the gross regional product in the greater Youngstown area. Trump, in his remarks on Wednesday, placed some of the blame on the United Auto Workers, the union representing the GM workers. "Your union leaders aren't on our side," Trump declared. "They could have kept General Motors" operating the Lordstown plant. Trump spoke at a facility in Lima that makes the M1 Abrams tank for the U.S. Army, about 300 kilometers from the idled auto factory. "You better love me. I kept this place open," Trump told workers at the General Dynamics facility, which was nearly closed six years ago after Army officials told Congress they did not need the additional tanks. Ohio, which Trump won in the 2016 election by 8 percentage points, again will be a key battleground state in next year's presidential election. Polls in the Buckeye State, where the president relies on a strong base of working-class voters, show his approval rating slipping. Trade and tariffs are "not even the core issue about retaining the manufacturing jobs in this region," University of Akron associate professor Mahesh Srinivasan, who is director of the school's Institute of Global Business, told VOA. Srinivasan said the focus by the Trump administration should not be so much on trade agreements as on "the inevitable march of automation and technology that has displaced workers from traditional jobs. The need of the hour is doubling down with even more emphasis on worker training and education to prepare the workforce for tomorrow's jobs." Tariffs on imported automobiles as are being contemplated by the White House "would be counterproductive, like we have seen with steel tariffs," said Srinivasan, who was part of former President Barack Obama's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership task force. "It could attract retaliatory tariffs that will negatively impact numerous automobile manufacturers in Ohio and other Midwestern states, which today are supplying to automobile manufacturers globally." Some trade analysts agree that Trump's metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico have hurt American manufacturing, including making U.S. auto plants less competitive. Patsy Widakuswara and Elizabeth Cherneff contributed to this report. A group of asylum-seekers sent back to Mexico was set to cross the border Tuesday for their first hearings in U.S. immigration court in an early test of a controversial new policy from the Trump administration. The U.S. program, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), turns people seeking protection in the United States around to wait out their U.S. court proceedings in Mexican border towns. Some 240 people including families have been returned since late January, according to U.S. officials. Court officials in San Diego referred questions about the number of hearings being held Tuesday to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which did not respond to a request for comment. But attorneys representing a handful of clients were preparing to appear in court. Migrants like 19-year-old Ariel, who said he left Honduras because of gang death threats against himself and his family, were preparing to line up at the San Ysidro port of entry first thing Tuesday morning. Ariel, who asked to use only his middle name because of fears of reprisals in his home country, was among the first group of asylum-seeking migrants sent back to Mexico on Jan. 30 and given a notice to appear in U.S. court in San Diego. "God willing everything will move ahead and I will be able to prove that if I am sent back to Honduras, I'll be killed," Ariel said. While awaiting his U.S. hearing, Ariel said he was unable to get a legal work permit in Mexico but found a job as a restaurant busboy in Tijuana, which does not pay him enough to move out of a shelter. Critics of MPP The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups are suing in federal court to halt the MPP program, which is part of a series of measures the administration of President Donald Trump has taken to try to curb the flow of mostly Central American migrants trying to enter the United States. The Trump administration says most asylum claims, especially for Central Americans, are ultimately rejected, but because of crushing immigration court backlogs people are often released pending resolution of their cases and live in the United States for years. The government has said the new program is aimed at ending "the exploitation of our generous immigration laws." Critics of the program say it violates U.S. law and international norms since migrants are sent back to often dangerous towns in Mexico in precarious living situations where it is difficult to get notice about changes to U.S. court dates and to find legal help. Scheduling glitches Immigration advocates are closely watching how the proceedings will be carried out this week, especially after scheduling glitches created confusion around three hearings last week, according to a report in the San Diego Union Tribune. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which runs U.S. immigration courts under the Department of Justice, said only that it uses its regular court scheduling system for the MPP hearings and did not respond to a question about the reported scheduling problems. Gregory Chen, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said there are real concerns about the difficulties of carrying out this major shift in U.S. immigration policy. "The government did not have its shoes tied when they introduced this program," he said. Living in a tool shed on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital, 10-year-old Asalif Tewold straddles a unique space between modernity and tradition. In his short life, he has lived on a rural farm and in the shadows of a towering condominium complex learning how to dodge dangerous hyenas and land developers as he and his dispossessed family try to find a place to call home. The young boy and his mother are the subject of the film "Anbessa," meaning "lion" in Amharic, one of Ethiopia's main languages, that tracks their displacement off farmland to make way for a block of flats on the fringes of Addis Ababa. The playful protagonist, Asalif, takes center stage of the documentary by U.S. filmmaker Mo Scarpelli, premiering in London on Wednesday at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival as he lives and plays in the looming shadow of the buildings. "Asalif is the perfect person ... he lives literally on the rift of old and new," Scarpelli told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Anbessa" follows Asalif over two years as he seeks to ward off roaming hyenas both literally in the forest and in the form of lurking land developers. As he carves out a space to call home, he and millions of others globally are learning that "progress" is not for them, said Scarpelli, as the film analyses universal themes of gentrification and urbanization. Ethiopia, a nation of 105 million and an economic power in East Africa, is grappling with a housing crisis and new developments are leaving millions like Asalif out of the picture, Scarpelli said. About 40 percent of Africa's 1 billion people live in towns and cities and the urban population is expected to double over the next 25 years, the World Bank predicts. "I do feel like there's this kind of sweeping narrative about the future and about a better way of life that for sure has been exported from Europe and North America to the rest of the world," said Scarpelli. "That this is the way we should live - bigger is better." But the film is concerned with what gets lost along the way, from storytelling to family structures, steam-rolled by modernity, she said. In Ethiopia, all land is formally owned by the state, making security of tenure rare and dispossession easier, said Felix Horne, senior Ethiopia researcher for Human Rights Watch. Recourse to courts is often difficult, making forced displacement a major social issue, he said. Lions and Hyenas The contested edges of Asalif's home also shed light on wider issues in Africa's second-most populous nation, and a country in the midst of social and economic change. Unrest spread in Ethiopia in 2015 and 2016, sparked initially by an urban development plan for the capital. Anger over land expropriations and unfair compensation, in particular, drove protests, leading eventually to a new reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018. "Most residents of the city do feel stretched because there isn't enough supply of decent housing for many of them," said Mekonnen Firew Ayano, an Ethiopian legal expert at Harvard University in the United States. "Rural dwellers have been pushed away from their land without any meaningful alternative." Ayano said the government's housing policy targeted the middle and upper social classes and that the pace of growth was leaving many behind, which could stoke ethnic and social tensions. Asalif's story does not, however, present a clear division between good and evil, as the new tower blocks offer treasures and adventures for the child. "Everybody living on either side is connected to each other, they can't not be, and that's the way that the world is," said Scarpelli. The film ends with Asalif, the metaphorical lion, besting the hyenas, and his future remains promising, said Scarpelli. "I don't know how things will unfold, but I do have a hope that the average Ethiopian will have more of a say on what happens to their land and their family moving forward." An American woman has filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, accusing the prestigious institution of "shamelessly" profiting from photos of her ancestors who were slaves in the 19th century. Tamara Lanier of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for "wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation'' of images of her great-great-great grandfather, Renty, and his daughter, Delia. She wants Harvard to hand the images over to her family and pay an unspecified amount in damages. Early type of photography used The lawsuit says the 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photograph, were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz who was seeking racially "pure'' slaves born in Africa. The father and daughter were stripped and photographed from various angles in an effort to "prove" Agassiz's theory that black people are inferior and to "justify their subjugation, exploitation and segregation." "To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens,'' the suit says. "The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered.'' The suit says Harvard has over the years exploited the images, including using an image of Renty to promote a 2017 conference called "Universities and Slavery: Bound by History," which explored the relationships between universities and slavery, and as a cover of a book that explores the use of photography in anthropology. History shared by mother Lanier said as a child she heard stories about Renty from her mother who made sure to pass down family history. She alleges that in 2011 she wrote to then-Harvard president Drew Faust, detailing her ties to Renty. At the time, she wanted to learn more about the images and how they would be used. In another letter sent in 2017, she demanded that Harvard relinquish the photos. In both cases, she said, Harvard did not address her requests. The suit charges that "by contesting Lanier's claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans' genealogy by a century's worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves' family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy.'' Hundreds of trucks transporting food and humanitarian assistance to the Central African Republic are blocked at the border with Cameroon, as rebels have cut off the road to the capital, Bangui. The rebels acted to protest the president's new cabinet, which they say is not being representative enough. Among the 230 trucks and more than 500 drivers stranded in Garoua Boulay was Kum Aki, 54, who was transporting rice, maize and vegetable oil to the troubled CAR. He said most of the drivers had exhausted their $200 to $400 allowances they were given to cover the distance within a maximum of 10 days. Expenses mount "We are almost about 10 days here. ... You have eaten, you have paid hotel bills and all this. So now we are short of money," he said. Alex Nseumen, president of the CAR transport trade union, said he crossed the border but was asked to return. He said that when he crossed the border, he was told that CAR rebels had blocked the road at Nzokombo, 14 kilometers from the town of Garoua Boulay. He said he was expecting his boss to send additional funds so he could take care of himself and the assistant driver. Garoua Boulay residents have complained of the mass movement of panic-stricken CAR residents across the border, expressing concern it may escalate. In a crisis meeting Monday, Laurence Diyem Jam, the highest-ranking government official in Garoua Boulay, assured the population of their safety and said the military was controlling the border. El Hadj Oumarou, Cameroon coordinator of the land freight transportation bureau, visited the drivers and thanked the government of Cameroon for assuring their safety. He said he was very happy that the government had secured the trucks, goods and lives of the stranded drivers despite the tension their presence is causing in Garoua Boulay. He said they had not documented any incidents that would be a threat to anyone's life. Landlocked CAR depends on Cameroon's Douala seaport for about 95 percent of its supplies. Etienne Mbonjo, director of Catholic Church Health Services in CAR, said patients might begin to suffer soon, if drugs meant for Bangui remained in Cameroon for another week. He said it took courage to meet the rebel groups, though negotiations failed to open the border. He said health and humanitarian needs were increasing daily and that the United Nations should take note. CAR rebel groups accuse President Faustin-Archange Touadera of failing to comply with a 2018 peace agreement that required a government with representatives from all armed groups. Only six of the 14 groups that signed the deal have members in the cabinet. Iran's many woes briefly went up in smoke on Tuesday as Iranians observed a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition known as the Festival of Fire. The celebration is held on the last Tuesday night before Nowruz, or the Iranian New Year, which will be celebrated Thursday. The annual ritual dates back to at least 1700 B.C. and is linked to the Zoroastrian religion. To celebrate, people light bonfires, set off fireworks and send wish lanterns floating off into the night sky. Others jump over and around fires, chanting "My yellow is yours, your red is mine," invoking the replacement of ills with warmth and energy. The fire festival also features an Iranian version of trick-or-treating, with people going door to door and being given a holiday mix of nuts and berries, as well as buckets of water. Arezou Abarghouei held hands with her daughter and husband as they leaped over a small fire in Tehran. "Iranians love to celebrate, and they need it, especially now, when all of us are facing economic problems," she said. "This is a way to forget these difficulties just for one night.'' This year Nowruz comes at a time of growing economic hardship following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal and restore crippling sanctions. Iran's currency has plummeted in recent months, sending prices skyrocketing and wiping out many people's life savings. The fire festival is one of two holidays with ancient roots that are still observed each year in the Islamic Republic, the other being a picnic day in early April. The holiday offers a rare opportunity for Iranians to dance and celebrate in public, something authorities usually frown on. Police warned people to stay away from major streets and public squares, but largely ignored celebrations held inside neighborhoods. Hard-liners discourage such celebrations, viewing them as pagan holdovers. The Western-allied monarchy that was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution had emphasized the country's pre-Islamic past, presenting itself as heir to a Persian civilization stretching back to antiquity. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted head of the country's emergency committee as saying 155 people were injured during the celebrations, mainly from fireworks. It said 22 people lost limbs and 48 suffered eye injuries. A Hezbollah commander who allegedly headed a 2007 raid on an American base in Iraq, which ended with the slaying of kidnapped American soldiers, is now building a secret force that could attack Israel from Syria, according to an Israeli military intelligence report. Their report was released in the days leading up to a visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also is stopping in Kuwait and Lebanon, where discussions will include the threat of Iran and Hezbollah. The force that Ali Musa Daqduq is building could be used to widen a front with Israel in case of another clash with Lebanon. Hezbollah also could launch attacks only from Syrian territory in an effort to spare Lebanon from painful Israeli retaliations, Yoram Schweitzer of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv said in an interview. Israel and Lebanon have amassed such a destructive capability on both sides of the border that they deter one another there. Hence, Israeli attacks on convoys of arms for Hezbollah were targeted when they were in Syria, not Lebanon. Daqduq, who also is known as Ali Hussein Sajid, joined Hezbollah a quarter-century ago. He was involved in attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, trained militants in Iran and Iraq, established cells in Iraq to fight American and Iraqi forces, and commanded the January 2007 raid on an American base in the Karbala region. There, raiders wearing American-style uniforms killed a guard and abducted four soldiers who were later executed. British troops arrested Daqduq in Basra two months later; he was in jail, without trial, until the American withdrawal from Iraq. The security agreement with Iraq required that its government would have to concede to transfer individuals into or out of the country, so an American idea of transferring him to Guantanamo was dropped, the Israeli Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center noted. The Iraqis returned him to Lebanon in 2012, citing a lack of evidence. He then became responsible for training Hezbollah's Special Forces, the Israeli intelligence report said. Golan File The new buildup, called the Golan File, started last summer in the northern tip of the Golan Heights, close to Lebanon. The recruits come from the town of Quneitra and several villages such as Hader, Arneh and Khan Arnabeh, some of which are Druze. The Druze community did not join the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The report suggested the recruits "joined for financial reasons." While some of the men had been trained in sabotage, sharpshooting, and firing mortars and Grad rockets, they now engage in gathering intelligence on Israel, sometimes from Syrian army positions along the border. They patrol the border to familiarize themselves with the terrain and analyze infiltration routes, but the network is still "in initial stages of establishment and recruitment and is not yet operational," the intelligence report added. The men's light arms and anti-tank missiles have been in the area during the civil war, but the report anticipates attempts to deliver additional weaponry from Lebanon "or avail themselves of the existing arsenals kept by Hezbollah and Iran in Syria." The Golan File is very secret, compartmentalized, and has been initiated "without informing the Assad regime," the report noted. Assad is "sitting in his office and doesn't know about it." Earlier attempts to establish buildups on the Golan crashed when commanders assigned to the task Samir Kuntar and Jihad Mughniyah were killed. Israel was the immediate suspect but never assumed responsibility for their deaths. Israeli preparations Hezbollah apparently knows that Assad wants to stabilize the area and doesn't want to give Israel reasons to strike there. In an attempt to nudge him, the Israeli report argued that, "Now, with the end of the [civil] war in sight, Hezbollah has lost its legitimacy to stay in Syria." Russia, too, would not want to see clashes there. "The Russians have a growing interest in security stability of the Assad regime," the report noted. Israeli troops, meanwhile, have stepped up their preparations for an encounter, with more elite forces deployed there. Israel strengthened its intelligence-gathering capabilities and established new hidden routes, said the commander of the division that is deployed on the Golan, Brig. Gen. Amit Fisher. The military "will act with full force to push it away from the Golan front," he added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel knows what you're doing; Israel knows where you're doing it. What we've uncovered today is just the tip of the iceberg. We know a lot more." Italian authorities have seized Italian charity ship Mare Jonio and questioned the crew, which might have defied an Interior Ministry order that closes all ports to vessels carrying rescued migrants. The Mare Jonio is docked and empty in the port of Lampedusa, confiscated by authorities after its crew was placed under investigation by Sicilian magistrates for allegedly favoring illegal immigration. The 49 migrants who were on board, including 12 minors, disembarked in Lampedusa late Tuesday. They were given food, water and fresh clothing two days after their rescue off the Libyan coast. Authorities first questioned the owner and captain of the vessel Tuesday night and further questioning of the crew was taking place Wednesday to reconstruct the entire rescue operation in Libyan waters and the requests made for the migrants to disembark in a safe port. Owner Beppe Caccia said he had asked to see the formal written request banning the vessel from entering Italian waters, but none was made available. Alessandra Sciurba, the spokesperson for NGO Mediterranea, which runs the vessel, said there was "no order to take the migrants to Libya, not by the Libyans or by the Italians." Italian authorities said the Mare Jonio had not been granted permission to enter the islands port. The captain of the boat said he had decided to push forward, citing security reasons and rough seas. The NGO said the migrants had been saved from either drowning or from being returned to the "horror from which they were fleeing." The mayor of Lampedusa, Salvatore Martello, said that with the law of the sea, if a vessel is flying an Italian flag, that boat must be allowed into an Italian port. The rescued migrants are in the Lampedusa reception center waiting to be told where they will be transferred next. The last arrival of migrants on the island took place three weeks ago. Arrivals have noticeably decreased since Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini started enforcing a closed port policy last year. Jordan Peele's sweet spot as a filmmaker are the "pit in your stomach" moments. That thing that happens when you realize the woman stirring the tea isn't just there for conversation. When you notice that the help is a little off. Or, as in his new film Us, when you see that the family of four standing in your driveway late at night looks exactly like you. Peele knows how to get under your skin and stay there, and it's what made him the must-see horror filmmaker of the moment. Us, out nationwide Friday, is only his second and yet it's been an event-in-the-making ever since it was announced. That's what happens when your debut is Get Out. Get Out wasn't even finished when the former sketch-comedian started cooking up the idea for his follow-up about doppelgangers, loosely inspired by the Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image." Then the wild success of Get Out four Oscars nominations, one win (Peele for original screenplay), over $255 million in tickets sold against a $4.5 million budget, and general cultural impact put Peele on another level. So by the time Universal Pictures agreed to make Us, not only did he have a budget over five times higher than his first, but he had his pick of collaborators too. "Because of Get Out, I was privileged enough to be able to tap the best talent in the industry," Peele said recently. Nyong'o and Duke That goes for stars Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke, who play dual roles as the nuclear American family, the Wilsons, and the terrifying red jumpsuit-wearing and gold scissor-wielding Red and Abraham, as well as the below-the-line talent: Production designer Ruth De Jong (Twin Peaks); cinematographer Mike Gioulakis (It Follows); and costume designer Kym Barrett (The Matrix) among them. "I had an amazing team on Get Out," Peele said. "But this group sort of allowed me to stretch a little bit more." Duke was impressed by his calm. He knew there were "sophomore pressures" he had his own set following his breakout role in Black Panther but said Peele never brought any of that to set. "Day one, [Peele] said, 'Before we do anything I just want to let you guys know that I'm here for you. I won't stop until we get the shot. When I say cut, we got the shot. So trust me, believe in me,"' Duke said. "And I was like, that's all I need." Duke and Nyong'o already had a short hand working together. Yes, they had just both been in Black Panther, but they were also Yale Drama School graduates and have seen one another do everything from clown work to Chekov. "It was great to be able to perform with someone who I value as much more than a friend I value her as a cohort. I value her as an ally. I went to work every day trying to make sure we could create a space where she could excel. I thought that was my duty," Duke said. "We had a female lead and in our climate in Hollywood we were doing the work and leading by example." And Peele put them both through the wringer. The days on set as the Wilsons were full of laughter and fun. But the days as the murderous doppelgangers known as The Tethered, Peele said, felt like "a morgue." "The air getting sucked out of the room is an understatement. But it was kind of cool," Peele said. The actors went "pretty method" on those days. Nyong'o had it especially hard. She'd chosen to affect a strained vocal condition spasmodic dysphonia to make Red even more haunting. And she had to do Red's first big monologue 11 times with that raspy, painful sounding voice. Horror movie Us is chock full of pop culture references, subtle and overt: A Jaws T-shirt here, a C.H.U.D. VHS there. Even the setting, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, is a callback to The Lost Boys. And every reference works "on two different levels and hopefully more," Peele said. But don't stress if you don't catch or decipher them all. "There are many of these things that only I will ever know," Peele revealed. Although one thing is not really up for interpretation: the genre. He tweeted the other day that "Us is a horror movie." "I can see the debate already beginning and people are calling it different things. I have a little bit of fun with the big genre conversation," he said. "But I saw enough little pieces of like 'horror-thriller,' 'horror-comedy,' 'social-thriller,' out there that I just want to make it nice clean and defined: It's a horror movie." Race Peele hasn't tired of explaining that Us isn't about race, either. Though he understands why people might think it would be, considering Get Out. "I know the way we are, the lack of representation in the industry and genre has led us to this point where it's almost impossible to not see race in a movie with a black family in the center. And I wanted people to be ready to expand their expectations," Peele said. "My fear was if I didn't say anything, that people would take away that this was a movie about black-on-black violence which was not my intention." As for whether Peele has felt internal or external pressures to match Get Out's magic? "There are, but it's OK," he laughed. "It's just movies." European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday the European Union is not open to further negotiations on Britain's exit from the bloc and is unlikely to decide this week whether to give Britain an extension on its March 29 deadline. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to send a letter to EU leaders to ask for a delay to give her government and parliament more time to agree on how exactly the divorce should take place. So far, Britain's House of Commons has emphatically rejected the terms British and EU negotiators reached after two years of talks, and has also signaled an objection to proceeding with no deal in place. The BBC reported Wednesday that according to a Downing Street official, May's request will be for a short delay, not a long one. Juncker told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio that May needs to show the EU some more clarity about Britain's plans in order to win an extension, which must be approved by all of the other EU members. "There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations and no additional assurances on top of the additional assurances we have already given," he said. May sought to have another parliament vote on her proposed terms for leaving the EU, but House of Commons Speaker John Bercow ruled this week that the prime minister cannot keep asking lawmakers to vote on a proposal they have already rejected. Mexico's government said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Brazil on the free trade of light vehicles, subject to a 40 percent regional content requirement, paving the way for more open commerce between Latin America's two biggest economies. The agreement takes effect on Tuesday and the content requirement would be subject to current formulas for calculation, the economy ministry said in a statement. The statement did not provide details on the formula. Mexico has been seeking to diversify trading partners since U.S. President Donald Trump warned of the possible death of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has underpinned Mexico's foreign trade for a quarter-century. The economy ministry said Mexico racked up a trade surplus in the auto sector with Brazil worth $868 million last year, three times the total recorded in 2017. Brazil's auto industry is protected by subsidies and import taxes. Antonio Megale, president of automotive sector trade group Anfavea, told newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo he would have preferred to delay the free trade agreement by three years. Announcing new investments in Brazil on Tuesday, Carlos Zarlenga, General Motors' top executive for South America, said the Brazilian industry was competitive and benefited from its scale, but noted that taxes were so high that 50 percent of the automaker's revenue in the country was spent on taxes. In addition to the Brazil agreement, Mexico has renewed auto trade quotas with Argentina for the next three years, after which there will be free trade, the ministry said. In the first year the auto trade quota between Mexico and Argentina would increase by 10 percent, followed by a five percent increase in the second year, then another five percent in the third and final year. Since 2012, Mexico's fast-growing auto sector has had to contend with curbs in trade with Brazil and Argentina, whose governments have sought to protect local manufacturing. Militants carried out a pre-dawn assault Wednesday on a security outpost in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least six paramilitary forces. The attack occurred in Ziarat, a remote district in the countrys largest and natural resource-rich Baluchistan province. Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, the deputy commissioner of Ziarat, told VOA security forces have launched a search operation in the area to try to capture the terrorists who carried out the attack, about 50 kilometers from the provincial capital, Quetta. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for plotting the raid. A purported TTP spokesman alleged in a statement the raid was carried out to avenge killings of some of its members by security personnel deployed at the outpost. Sparsely populated Baluchistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan and Iran, routinely experiences militant attacks. In addition to TTP,several secessionist groups are active in the province along with a regional affiliate of Islamic State, known as Khorasan Province (ISKP), which Pakistani officials say operates out of volatile border areas of Afghanistan. On Sunday, a bomb detonated in one of the cars of a Quetta-bound train, killing four passengers and wounding at least eight others. Baluch separatists claimed responsibility for the bombing. The ethnic-based low-level insurgency has long defended its violent campaign, accusing the central government of unfairly exploiting the regions gas and mineral wealth. Pakistani officials reject the charges and insist economic uplift in the relatively underdeveloped province has lately been the priority for local and federal government. Baluchistan is home to several major Chinese-funded infrastructure projects being built under the multi-billion dollar bilateral China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Three days of national mourning began Wednesday in Mozambique after one of the most destructive storms to strike southern Africa in decades killed hundreds of people.. Cyclone Idai, packing sustained winds of up to 170 kilometers per hour, hit Mozambique's port city of Beira last Thursday before sweeping inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi. Forecasters predict more torrential rains are expected through Thursday and floodwaters are still rising. Aid groups are trying to transport essential goods to desperate survivors. President Filipe Nyusi said Tuesday Idai had killed more than 200 people in Mozambique and that rescuers were still finding bodies. After flying over affected areas on Monday, Nyusi said he expected the death toll to exceed 1,000. The confirmed death toll Wednesday in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi stood at more than 300, officials said. Aid agencies said they prepared for the cyclone but not for the massive floods that followed. Mozambique was hardest hit as a result of rivers flowing downstream from its neighbors. The agencies said they were struggling to reach many survivors stranded in badly damaged remote areas of Mozambique. Mozambique and South Africa are conducting aerial rescue and aid distribution missions. The U.N. World Food Program said it was transporting enough aid for 600,000 people. The U.N. said it had allocated $20 million from its central emergency response fund, and it urged other donors to contribute. The European Union announced an initial aid package for the storm-stricken countries valued at nearly $4 million. Britain and the United Arab Emirates have also promised aid. The U.S. State Department said the U.S. is supporting relief efforts "in coordination with our partners." Her family wanted a puppy, so Alicia Barnett dreamed they would find one that was smart, steady and a bit mysterious. She hoped their new addition could share a personality and a name with the man who has become her rather unlikely idol. And so, the Barnetts' new chocolate Lab was christened Mueller an homage to the stoic special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether members of the Trump campaign played any part. For devoted Democrats like Barnett, Robert Mueller has become a sort of folk hero since his appointment in May 2017. To them, he represents calm in the face of a storm, quiet in a city of bombast, a symbol of hope that a presidency they view as dishonorable might soon face some type of consequences. "He gives me reassurance that all is not lost," says Barnett, who lives with her family and Mueller the puppy in Kansas City, Kansas. "I admire his mystique. I admire that I haven't heard his voice. He is someone who can sift through all this mess and come up with a rationale that makes sense to everyone." The special counsel a 74-year-old registered Republican, Marine and former director the FBI has even inspired his own genre of arts and crafts. One can buy Mueller paintings, prayer candles, valentines and ornaments. A necklace, earrings, keychains. A stuffed toy of Mueller in a Superman outfit, cross-stitch patterns, baby onesies even an illustration of his haircut to hang on the wall. "Stare at Special Counsel Mueller's crisp coiffure for three minutes and you will notice a sense of calm come over you,'' that artist, Oakland, California-based Wayne Shellabarger, wrote in his online listing for a $10 print. "That's a haircut you can set your watch to." Mueller has become a boogeyman for many of President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, as the leader of the investigation the president derides as a "witch hunt." But his fans often speak of him in soaring analogies. Barnett imagines him as a duck's legs: kicking heroically to keep things afloat but under the water, out of view. Karen Adler, a Placerville, California, crafter who sells a coffee mug with Mueller dressed as a saint and wearing a crown of laurels "for victory," describes him as "Paul Bunyan-esque," a man of superhuman labor. Shellabarger thinks of him "almost like Bigfoot," a mystical creature rarely seen in public. Mueller has remained completely silent as the ceaseless speculation about his investigation turned him into one of the most famous men in America. He hasn't given a single interview, and his office does not leak. When Kim Six posted her cross-stitch tribute to Mueller on her Facebook page, some people told her to keep politics out of crafting. The framed stitching featured the letters "M.A.G.A." down the side, a reference to Trump's "Make American Great Again" slogan but with these words substituted: "Mueller Ain't Going Away." Her critics assumed she was far-left, but she considers herself a centrist, having voted in the past for moderate Republicans. Her husband is a "card-carrying Trump fan," says the resident of California's Bay Area. They agree to disagree, and she thinks Americans should be able to do the same. To her, Mueller represents a middle ground where facts exist, as opposed to the ideological rants that consume political discourse. "Let's get all the facts on the table," she says, "and let this impartial person come in and tell us what the truth is not spin, just truth." She's imagined findings so thorough Congress and voters would be forced to act accordingly. But as the investigation has continued on, with 34 people charged and five sentenced to prison, she's noticed Americans retreating to their corners and rearranging the facts to fit their political position. She's losing faith that Mueller's probe, whenever it does come to an end, will change anything at all. "How naive I was," she says. "I have this fear, no matter what happens, either side is going to spin it the way they want to. So I don't know anymore if he's the coming savior we had hoped for." Carmen Martinez feels doubt, too. She and her business partner in New York City have sold 500 Christmas ornaments and earrings with Mueller's face. They tend to get a rush of orders after major Mueller news: indictments, sentencings. Martinez saw him as the one person who could lead the country out of chaos with truth, and believed his report would push everyone to turn away from Trumpism. But Martinez, a Peruvian immigrant, was shocked last year by the administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border. She started to wonder: If images of children in cages don't sway many minds, how could Mueller's report, just words on paper? Others remain hopeful: "I feel like we're in the middle of a book, like a saga," says Janice Harris, a textile artist in Detroit. "And we're just waiting for the climax." She was never a particularly political person before Trump's election much of her work featured kittens or dancers. But she was inspired to immortalize Mueller on handmade makeup bags. She had custom fabric printed with Mueller's face, stitched it into her pouches and sold around 50. Wayne Shellabarger has sold two prints of his Mueller haircut illustration. One happy customer wrote that using the print as a meditation aide allowed her to stop taking anti-anxiety medication. "The world has gone completely insane and topsy-turvy," Shellabarger says. "Mueller's hair is one little shining piece of sanity in a sea of madness, so precise and sober and straightforward and without deceit, absolutely by the book, the opposite of everything that's going on in the world." He hung one of the haircut prints in his own living room in Oakland, California close to the television, so when he watches the news and his heart starts to pound, he can glance up at it. There is such a thing as fact, it reminds him. "And that gives me hope," Shellabarger says, "that since he's in charge, the world can be normal again." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the Middle East for regional security talks as Washington looks to draw new support in its opposition to Iranian aggression. Pompeo began is trip in Kuwait late Tuesday and headed to Israel Wednesday. His trip will also take him to Lebanon. In Israel, Pompeo is due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government is headed to a tough April 9 re-election contest as Netanyahu is embroiled in a corruption investigation and facing allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Pompeo, in comments to reporters en route to the Middle East, dismissed the suggestion that his meeting with Netanyahu could be seen as the U.S. intruding in the Israeli election in support of Netanyahu. A senior State Department official said last week that Pompeo would not be meeting with Netanyahu's opponents, but Netanyahu alone as the current head of the Israeli government. Netanyahu is visiting Washington next week for the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful Jewish lobbying group in the United States, and also could meet with President Donald Trump. Pompeo said the recent U.S. shift away from terminology describing the West Bank and Syria's Golan Heights as "Israeli-occupied" to that of "controlled" by the Jewish state was not accidental. He said that the characterization in a recent State Department report on human rights around the world about Israeli control of the disputed territories "was a factual statement about how we observe the situation. And we think its very accurate, and we stand behind it." Pompeo said that on his third stop, in Beirut, "well spend a lot of time talking with the Lebanese government about how we can help them disconnect from the threat that Iran and Hezbollah present to them." The United States considers Hezbollah, a militant Islamist political group, as a pro-Iranian "terrorist" organization, even though it is represented in the coalition government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a U.S. ally. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are vowing to counter what they call Iran's aggression in the Middle East. "We need to increase it, we need to expand it, and together the United States and Israel are working in close coordination to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world," Netanyahu said Wednesday, noting U.S. pressure on Iran is already having an impact. He made the comments after regional security talks with Pompeo, who arrived in Israel from Kuwait earlier in the day. During Wednesday's talks, Netanyahu and Pompeo emphasized the closeness of the U.S.-Israeli relationship and vowed to deter Iranian threats to Israel. Both leaders also announced President Donald Trump will host Netanyahu at the White House next week. The Israeli prime minister thanked the U.S. secretary of state for the Trump administration's support for Israel and the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, calling the decision "historic." Pompeo noted what he called threats toward Israel from Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei. "The Ayatollah has declared that the annihilation and destruction of Israel is his primary goal," Pompeo said. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparalleled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself." The top U.S. diplomat also said the Trump administration is dedicated to combating anti-Semitism, and hatred and bigotry in all forms. "With the dark wave of anti-Semitism rising in Europe and in the United States, all nations, especially those in the West, must go to the barricades against bigotry," Pompeo said. On Thursday, the secretary said he and his wife will visit the newly-opened U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, as well as historic and holy sites in the city. Netanyahu's government is headed to a tough April 9 re-election contest as the prime minister is embroiled in a corruption investigation and facing allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Pompeo, in comments to reporters on route to the Middle East, dismissed the suggestion that his meeting with Netanyahu could be seen as the United States intruding in the Israeli election in support of Netanyahu. A senior State Department official said last week that Pompeo would not be meeting with Netanyahu's opponents, but Netanyahu alone as the current head of the Israeli government. Pompeo, speaking while traveling to the region, said the recent U.S. shift away from terminology describing the West Bank and Syria's Golan Heights as "Israeli-occupied" to that of "controlled" by the Jewish state was not accidental. He said that the characterization in a recent State Department report on human rights around the world about Israeli control of the disputed territories "was a factual statement about how we observe the situation. And we think it's very accurate, and we stand behind it." From Israel, Pompeo will travel to his third and final stop on his Middle East trip, Beirut, Lebanon. "We'll spend a lot of time talking with the Lebanese government about how we can help them disconnect from the threat that Iran and Hezbollah present to them," Pompeo said. The United States considers Hezbollah, a militant Islamist political group, as a pro-Iranian "terrorist" organization, even though it is represented in the coalition government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a U.S. ally. Hamas is facing the biggest demonstrations yet against its 12-year rule of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of Palestinians taking to the streets in recent days to protest the dire living conditions in the blockaded territory. With little tolerance for dissent, the Islamic militant group has responded with heavy-handed tactics. It has arrested dozens of protesters, beaten activists and violently suppressed attempts by local media to cover the unrest. Hamas has accused the rival West Bank-based Palestinian Authority of orchestrating the protests a charge that organizers vehemently reject. "There is no political agenda at all," said Amin Abed, 30, an organizer who has been forced into hiding. "We simply want to live in dignity," he said by telephone. "We just ask Hamas to ease the economic hardships and tax burdens." Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade, a step meant to prevent Hamas from arming. The blockade, and three wars with Israel, have ravaged Gaza's economy but done nothing to loosen Hamas' grip on power. Unemployment is over 50 percent and much higher for young university graduates like Abed. Tap water is undrinkable, electricity is limited and travel abroad severely restricted. Hamas' cash-strapped government recently raised taxes on basic goods like bread, beans and cigarettes. Protests Protesters accuse Hamas of corruption and imposing the hefty taxes to enrich itself. They used social media to organize protests last week with the slogan "We want to live!" The protests come just as Hamas marks the one-year anniversary of its weekly demonstrations along the frontier with Israel. The demonstrations, aimed largely at easing the blockade, have accomplished little, even as some 190 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli fire. This is not the first time people have taken to the streets against Hamas. Two years ago, protesters demonstrated against the chronic power cuts on a cold January day before Hamas violently dispersed them. This time around, the sporadic rallies have continued for five days, despite a similarly violent response. "These protests were the largest, the longest and the most violent in terms of Hamas' suppression," said Mkhaimar Abusada, political science professor at Gaza's al-Azhar University. "This was a message of anger to Hamas that the situation is unbearable and that it must reconsider all its policies," he added. Beatings, arrests On Monday, Amnesty International reported that hundreds of protesters have been beaten, arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to ill-treatment. Journalists and human rights workers, including a researcher for the London-based organization, were also roughed up, Amnesty said. "The crackdown on freedom of expression and the use of torture in Gaza has reached alarming new levels," said Amnesty's Middle East deputy director Saleh Higazi. Osama al-Kahlout, a journalist with the local news site Donia al-Wattan, last week published a photo of a protester on crutches raising a sign that said "I want to live in dignity." The next day, he was detained as he went live on Facebook during another protest. Al-Kahlout said police smashed furniture, seized his belongings and beat him on the way to the police station. "I'm a journalist," he said. "I don't regret covering it." He said he was released after a meeting with the police chief in which officials "advised" journalists not to cover the protests. Heba el-Buhissi, 31, who filmed the raids at her family home, said a policeman fired a warning shot in the air as others cursed and yelled at her after she started filming. Her videos show a group of Hamas police beating her cousin with wooden batons. Other amateur videos have shown protesters burning tires and hurling stones toward Hamas forces. Hamas gunmen can be seen jumping out of vehicles and beating people with clubs. Other videos show Hamas going door to door and carrying out mass arrests. El-Buhissi filmed the incident last Thursday when she saw Hamas dispersing some of her neighbors who had hoisted banners against tax hikes. Her family opened the home to allow youths to escape the police. "This is what drove the police crazy, and that's why they stormed our houses," she said. "I felt I have to film to prove what was going on." The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists reported Monday that 42 Palestinian journalists "were targeted" by Hamas forces in the past five days. The abuses included physical assaults, summons, threats, home arrests and seizure of equipment. The official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reported Monday that the spokesman of Abbas' Fatah movement in Gaza, Atef Abu Saif, was badly beaten by Hamas. It showed pictures of Abu Saif with a bandaged leg, bruises and blood-stained clothes lying on a hospital bed. Ammar Dwaik, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza, said Hamas forces have dispersed 25 protests with excessive force and arrested about 1,000 people. He said some 300 people remain in custody. "This is worst crackdown in Gaza since the Hamas takeover in 2007 in terms of its scope and cruelty," Dwaik said. Hamas statement On Tuesday, Hamas issued a brief statement "rejecting the use of violence and repression against any Palestinian for practicing his legitimate right of expression." But Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas official, used tougher language in a Twitter post, accusing Israel and the Palestinian Authority of conspiring to organize protests. "The attempts of the Palestinian Authority and the occupation to drive a wedge between the people and the resistance have failed," he said. The demonstrations appeared to subside Monday, but organizers say the protests will continue until Hamas cancels taxes on dozens of goods, creates a national employment program and releases everyone who has been arrested in the crackdown. Abed, the protest leader, said Hamas has stormed his family's house and delivered an arrest warrant for him to his father. "Hamas doesn't want us to scream. It wants us to die in silence," he said. Two South Korean energy companies have agreed to plead guilty and pay $75 million in fines for rigging bids for contracts to supply fuel to the Pentagon. The U.S. Justice Department unsealed the indictment Wednesday. Hyundai Oilbank, S-Oil Corp. and seven individuals were charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by "impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful function of the procurement process for the fuel supply contracts." One of the seven was also indicted for alleged witness tampering for threatening those trying to cooperate with the investigation. "Illegal bid-rigging schemes violate fundamental tenets of government contracting and lead to inflated charges and costs to the government," Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said. Because of the action of the companies and the seven suspects, the Pentagon paid "substantially more" for fuel supplies in South Korea than it would have if the bidding for contracts had not been rigged, the indictment says. The two companies agreed to plead guilty, while the seven individuals charged have not yet entered pleas. All seven face up to 10 years in federal prison and as much as $1 million in fines if convicted. Three other South Korean energy companies pleaded guilty and were fined $236 million in November for their part in bid rigging. The South Sudan National Revenue Authority is threatening to publicly shame government and bank officials who steal tax revenue. The Authority said it collected more than $9 million in February 2019 compared to $4.7 million dollars the month before, but Authority Commissioner Olympio Attipoe says a few, corrupt tax officials are still steering a significant amount of money into their private accounts. He said the tax body will soon publicly announce their names. Last month the revenue authority said it collected more than a billion pounds and $4 million after creating a block account to improve non-oil revenue collection. Attipoe told reporters in Juba Tuesday that while revenue collection is up, the tax bodys local currency collection fell from 1.2 million pounds in January to 1.1 million pounds in February. Attipoe said that is due in no small part to tax evasion. In February we had $9.1 million as revenue collection but if you look at the statistics, the pounds have fallen and we have 1.1 billion pounds, Attipoe told South Sudan in Focus. He accused some tax officials of conspiring with certain commercial bank operators to divert tax revenue into private accounts. You are helping those people to divert money, you some of the banks are still doing that and we are aware but it is going to be very unfortunate for you if we get the documents and evidence we need and we hold a press conference because we are going to be naming and shaming, said Atiipoe. He advised corrupt bank officials to Put your house in order because very soon we are going to crack the whip and no bank is going to be immune. And Attipoe had a few more pearls of wisdom for corrupt officials: If you want to be rich go and do smart business and get rich, you cannot be pocketing government money and be proud that you are rich. James Deng, Manager of the Kenya Commercial Bank in South Sudan, denies his bank helped corrupt officials steal tax money. At KCB South Sudan, we are very clear and only have the block account which is given to us by the government and it is the only one we are operating and we dont have any account that we hide, Deng told South Sudan in Focus. Attipoe said the tax body will soon introduce an electronic tracking system to stop those who are evading taxes on cargo that comes into the country. And that is only way we are going to reduce the diversion because we are talking about multi-purpose corruption activity. At times the cargo arrives in Mombasa and they claim they are destining for South Sudan so because they are transit goods, they will not pay duty there in Kenya, they disappear, meaning they are not destined for South Sudan, said Attipoe. Attipoe said the revenue authority will make sure the tax collection system in the country is transparent but warns that after the money is collected, it is up to South Sudanese citizens and their elected representatives to hold government officials accountable as to how that money is used. Thailand's military chief, Prayut Chan-o-cha, is applying all resources to ensure his prime minister position remains unchallenged Sunday, when the first poll since 2011 is held here. Prayut says if he wins, voters would be returning his junta-led country to a "democracy." Prayut's biggest threat remains the exiled Shinawatra family and whether he can develop enough cross-party support to give his leadership the impression of legitimacy. Few doubt General Prayut will return as prime minister. A friendly constitution that grants the military unprecedented say in forming a civilian government will bolster that prospect alongside opposition parties that have been stymied by five years of harsh military rule. As the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations recently noted, "The kingdom looks unlikely to resolve its political tensions, no matter the result of the vote. "Instead, Thailand seems destined for continued political instability, although that instability could come in different forms, depending on the results of the election." About 52 million Thais will cast ballots for the 500-seat House of Representatives. There will be 350 members elected directly, and 150 seats will be awarded based on a party's popularity. Members in the 250-seat Senate will be appointed entirely by the armed forces. That gives Prayut and his Phalang Pracharat party the advantage. The next prime minister will be elected in a joint sitting of both houses, thus he needs as few as 126 seats to secure power, while other political parties need at least 376 seats. Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Ubon Ratchathani University, said it was unlikely any of the opposition parties could earn enough votes to elect their own prime minister. "It will be very difficult because the constitution has already helped Prayut to remain in power by giving power to the senators to vote for prime minister after the election. So who decides?" Titipol said. "Not just the house of parliament but the senators will also have some say in this election of prime minister," he added. Almost 80 parties will field more than 2,700 candidates. The Phalang Pracharat Party also has the option of forging a coalition with the Ruam Palang Prachachat Thai Party and the People's Reform Party. That worries some Thais. Nongnapat Patcham, a registered voter in Los Angeles, said the sheer number of parties means there is not an equal opportunity for all of them to get their message out to the voters. She says the ruling party has an unfair advantage in this election. The Thai constitution gives expats the right to vote in the country's elections. This year, "around 120,000 Thais around the world have registered to cast their votes," Thani Thongpakdi, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told VOA. He said about 15,000 Thais will be voting by mail-in ballots in the Unites States. Prayut's biggest challenge will stem from the Shinawatra-backed Pheu Thai Party, popular in the rural heartland, and Future Forward Party, led by young entrepreneur Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who is hoping to win the youth vote. Titipol, however, said that is not guaranteed. "When we talk about the seven-, eight million new voters, they would actually mean a lot to the future of democracy if they vote. But that doesn't mean all their votes would actually go to the Future Forward Party; some of them grew up with families when Pheu Thai was in power," he said. Promised elections have been persistently delayed since Prayut ousted Yingluck Shinawatra in a 2014 coup, after months of political turmoil and a constitutional court ruling that removed her for abuse of power. Yingluck's brother, Thaksin, was pushed from leadership by the military eight years earlier. Both live in exile amid allegations of corruption. Despite that, parties aligned with the family have won every Thai election since 2001. Analysts said Pheu Thai and its allies can only be expected to win up to 160 seats, gaining a further 70 through alliances. That's not enough to form a government. The Democrat Party, however, remains in the mix and its leader and former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, says he will not support Prayut's return. For the anti-military parties including Pheu Thai, the Democrats and Future Forward to defeat Prayut, they must win a combined majority. Observers say that is unlikely and that it would be almost impossible to find common ground to form a grand coalition, noting Thaksin and the Democrats are natural enemies and Future Forward is offering an alternative from the color-coded red shirt, yellow shirt politics of the past. They say Abhisit could emerge with a face-saving minor victory if Prayut falters and needs his votes. Reform-minded Democrats might then decide compromise and a deal are the better options. Historian Chris Baker, co-author of A History of Thailand, said opinion polls showed that more than half the people polled had not decided on whom they would vote for and drew comparisons to recent elections in the United States, France and the Brexit process in Britain. "The key to understanding this election is that the voting is going to be more emotional than rational. Why should that not be, after all we've seen [U.S. President Donald] Trump and Brexit and [French President Emmanual] Macron. They're essentially very emotional results of elections, so why should that not happen here?" he questioned. The lead-up to this poll was controversial. The National Election Commission cleared Prayut of being a "state official," which would have barred him from competing. It also cleared Future Forward's Thanathorn of allegations he posted misleading information online. The Shinawatra-friendly Thai Raksa Chart Party was not so lucky. It was dissolved and its executive board members banned from political activity for 10 years after they attempted to nominate Princess Ubolratana Mahidol as a prime ministerial candidate. Since 1932, Thailand has been riddled by at least 13 military interventions. Thailand is preparing for a Sunday vote in its first general election since a 2014 military coup. Nearly 52 million Thais are eligible to vote, with some 75 percent expected to go to the polls, according to Aim Sinpeng, an assistant professor in the Department of Government & International Relations at the University of Sydney, who said, "Turnout is usually high in Thailand." Reflecting widespread interest in the general election despite limits on dissent, of the 2.6 million people who registered for early voting on March 17, 86.98 per cent of them turned up, according to Thai PBS. The military government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had repeatedly delayed the general election, first tentatively set for 2015, which means many people have expectations, based on a buildup OF "wants, and aspirations, and hopes for themselves and the society, which aren't being realized under this kind of authoritarian culture, which the military government has created," said Chris Baker, a historian who co-authored "A History of Thailand" with Pasuk Phongpaichit. Key issues for voters include a sluggish economy Thailand is Southeast Asia's second-largest economy after Indonesia and growing inequality caused in part by a plunge in the world prices of commodities. The price of rubber, which supports one of every 10 people has fallen 65 percent since 2011. That happened against a faltering economy; Thailand has dropped 10 places on the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index since 2007. That's the biggest decline among Southeast Asia's top economies, and globally, Thailand ranked 38 out of 140 countries last year, according to Bloomberg. Somprawin Manprasert, the chief economist at Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, told Bloomberg, "Thailand can ill-afford another period of lagging behind from political disorder. I believe we've bottomed out as people realize we need to improve productivity." Voters have choices thousands of candidates represent dozens of political parties. New to the scene are the young voters, those between 18 and 24 years old, who "have grown up under military rule as they reached adulthood," said Carl Thayer, professor emeritus, at the University of New South Wales, Canberra and the Australian Defense Force Academy. He says these first-time voters, numbering 7 million or more, are looking for change, and in general, dislike military rule. But the youth bloc's preference may matter little, as the military, acting as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) appointed drafters of a new constitution the 20th in Thailand since 1932 and curbed debates on the legislation after taking power in a 2014 coup, the 12th since 1932 that paved the way for Sunday's vote. Aside from the generational divide, there's a regional one among Thai voters. The north and northeast support parties affiliated with ousted populist Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck, who each served as prime minister until deposed in military coups. There's widespread support for the Democrat Party in the south. Sinpeng believes that the latest constitution ratified in 2017 structured elections to prevent a level playing field. "A number of key features of the constitution are quite non-democratic, and in fact reflect how the military can continue its political dominance going forward regardless of who's elected." Under the new constitution, the 250-member Senate will be chosen by the NCPO. The 500-member House will be elected by voters. Of those seats, 350 members (MPs) will be directly chosen by the voters in their constituencies. The remaining 150 will be allotted to political parties using a formula based on total election turnout divided by 500. To win with full control, one party would need to gain at least 376 seats, which will be, according to experts, impossible. The process, designed by the military to retain power, is expected to lessen the influence of larger parties while giving seats to many smaller parties, and forming a government will require the creation of a multi-party coalition. The many parties running in the general election break-out into distinct groups. Here are some of the ones to watch. The Palang Pracharat Party is pro-military. It named the current prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, as its candidate. He began his military career in the prestigious Queen's Guard, and became army chief in 2010. After the 2014 coup, he emerged as the acting premier, and the regime began cracking down on dissent. The anti-military faction is led by the Pheu Thai Party which is the largest of three major Thaksin-leaning populist parties. Also in this cohort is the Future Forward Party, founded in 2018 by auto parts tycoon Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit who has been described by local media as a "billionaire peasant" after he said that while he may be a member of the 1 percent, he represents everyone else. At 40, he's something of a millennial darling. The Democrat Party, one of Thailand's oldest, led by former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva has been perceived as pro-business and pro-establishment. Although the party has been Thaksin's archrival, voters' growing frustration with the military has forced to Abhisit to vow not to support Prayut as prime minister. "Once the election results come out, [these parties will] have leverage to bargain, to be part of either side of the political divide," said Sinpeng, predicting that the smaller parties will "make or break who's going to be in the government." According to Thayer, that means "Thailand is likely to be governed by a coalition government of weak, medium-to-small political parties led by a prime minister who is not popularly elected." "The new government will be constrained in what it can do" he added as senior or retired bureaucrats, high-ranking military officers, and well-connected wealthy businessmen appointed by the military junta that seized power will continue to exert power behind the scenes," Thayer said. And, while the election will give legitimacy to Phalang Pracharat, which is backed by the military, Thayer suggested the upside will be that "for the first time in five years, political parties that oppose military rule will have legal status to register, to contest the elections, campaign, and have their representatives serve in the Lower House of Parliament." The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused social media outlets, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, of being biased, and suggested that the situation needs scrutiny. In answer to a reporter at the White House Tuesday, Trump said digital platforms tend to suppress Republican and conservative views. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. U.S. President Donald Trump has continued his string of attacks on late Sen. John McCain, saying during a speech in Ohio that he was never thanked for "giving [McCain] the kind of funeral that he wanted." Trump went on an extended rant about McCain, who died of brain cancer nearly seven months ago. It was the fourth time in five days the president made pointed, public criticisms of McCain, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and longtime U.S. Republican senator. "I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this. I didn't get a thank you. That's OK," Trump said during his speech. "To be honest, I've never liked him much," he added. Trump was not invited to McCain's funeral last year. The flag over the White House was left at full staff after McCain's death until the administration was criticized by Democrats and Republicans. Trump has renewed his attacks on McCain in recent days, blaming him for instigating the lengthy investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia during the 2016 election, and later for casting the decisive vote that doomed Trump's effort to overhaul national health policies that were the signature legislative achievement of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. During the president's days-long rant, McCain's supporters have fiercely defended him. Republican stalwart U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia lashed out at Trump in an interview Wednesday with Georgia Public Broadcasting. Isakson, who vowed at the time of McCain's death to defend him to detractors, called the president's comments "deplorable." Earlier, Isakson raised concerns about the message Trump was sending to U.S. troops by targeting McCain, a naval fighter pilot who was held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for 5.5 years. Meghan McCain, a regular on the morning talk show The View, said Wednesday her father would "think it was so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he [McCain] was dominating the news cycle in death." U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his feud Wednesday with the spouse of one of his top aides, Kellyanne Conway, calling George Conway "a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!" Trump later described Conway as a "whack job." Trump attacked George Conway for the second day in a row after the conservative Republican lawyer and critic of the president suggested that Trump is increasingly mentally impaired. "George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wifes success & angry that I, with her help, didnt give him the job he so desperately wanted," as a top-level Justice Department official, Trump claimed on Twitter. Within 20 minutes, Conway responded with an acerbic tweet of his own, telling Trump, "You seem determined to prove my point. Good for you!," adding, "#NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder." In a followup tweet, Conway told Trump: "You. Are. Nuts." Questioned about Conway as he left for the midwestern state of Ohio to visit a manufacturing plant, Trump told reporters, "He's a whack job. I think he's doing a tremendous disservice to his wife. She's a wonderful woman." Kellyanne Conway, in an interview with the political news site Politico, defended Trump's attacks on her husband. "You think he shouldnt respond when somebody, a non-medical professional accuses him of having a mental disorder?" the presidential adviser said. "You think he should just take that sitting down? Don't play psychiatrist any more than George should be, she added. You're not a psychiatrist and he's not, respectfully. Conway, who on occasion has represented Trump in legal transactions, said Tuesday he decided not to take the position Trump offered him, as head of the civil division in the Justice Department, after Trump attacked top officials at the agency and fired James Comey, then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Conway has been a frequent critic of the president, co-founding Checks and Balances, a group of conservative and libertarian lawyers who have attacked Trump for the way he has handled legal and political situations during his 26-month presidency. Conway is without qualifications in psychology. But on Sunday, as Trump vented his wrath at a variety of targets in a hail of Twitter comments, Conway cited the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to claim that the president embodies a grandiose sense of self-importance," is "pre-occupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance" and shows signs of "irritability and aggressiveness." His condition is getting worse, Conway said. His wife, a fixture on U.S. news shows defending Trump and by now accustomed to her husband's months of taunts against the president, dismissed his armchair assessment of Trump's mental stability. "No, I don't share those concerns," she said Monday. But the feud between George Conway and the president first ratcheted up Tuesday when Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said on Twitter that Trump "turned down Mr. Kellyanne Conway for a job he desperately wanted. He barely worked @TheJusticeDept and was either fired/quit, didnt want the scrutiny?" He added, "Now he hurts his wife because he is jealous of her success," claiming that Trump "doesn't even know him!" The couple, however, has attended black tie events together with Trump. Trump retweeted Parscale's disparaging assessment of George Conway, saying, "A total loser!" Within minutes of Trump's comment, George Conway replied, "Congratulations! You just guaranteed that millions of more people are going to learn about narcissistic personality disorder and malignant narcissism! Great job! The president's doctor, after examining Trump last month, said he is healthy although overweight. I am happy to announce the president of the United States is in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency, and beyond, White House doctor Sean Conley said. Trump's assessment of his key aide's spouse was once decidedly more favorable. The Washington Post published a 2006 letter, a decade before Trump ran for the presidency, in which Trump, then a real estate mogul, praised George Conway for his work representing him in a dispute with tenants at his Trump World Tower condominium in New York. "I want to thank you for your wonderful assistance in ridding Trump World Tower of some very bad people," Trump wrote Conway. "What I was most impressed with was how quickly you were able to comprehend a very bad situation." Conway, 55, and Kellyanne Conway, 52, married in 2001 and have four children together. Conway told one interviewer last year that he knows his wife does not appreciate his barbed comments about her boss, the president. "But I've told her, I don't like the administration, so it's even," he said. President Donald Trump shocked some last month when he suggested that the criminal charges against Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, might be used as leverage in his administration's ongoing trade talks with China. "We're going to be discussing all of that during the course of the next couple of weeks," Trump told reporters at the White House Feb. 22 in response to a question about Meng's case. "We'll be talking to the U.S. attorneys. We'll be talking to the attorney general. We'll be making that decision. Right now, it's not something we've discussed." The president's apparent willingness to possibly barter away the prosecution of Huawei and one of its executives in exchange for a favorable trade deal with China alarmed legal experts who say it could lead to pushback at the Justice Department. "If the White House told the Department of Justice that it wanted Justice to dismiss altogether the case against Huawei and Ms. Meng, I'd expect there to be mighty objections and resistance to that," said David Laufman, who served as a senior national security official at the Justice Department until last year and is now in private practice. The Justice Department, while an arm of the executive branch of government, has a long tradition of independence in prosecuting cases. Critics say Trump's frequent public trashing of Justice Department officials amid the investigation of Russian interference in U.S. elections has undercut the department's independence. That perception would be reinforced by outright White House intervention in the Huawei criminal case. Ron Cheng, a former federal prosecutor who was the Justice Department's sole resident envoy in Beijing, said it would be highly unusual for the criminal case against Meng to be affected by the trade talks. "There are a number of concerns about the precedent something like that would establish," said Cheng, now a partner at the O'Melveny & Myers law firm. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will return to China next week for a new round of talks with Chinese officials with the aim of inking a trade deal by late April. The Justice Department on Jan. 29 unsealed a 13-count criminal indictment in New York against Meng, Huawei and two subsidiaries for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and related charges, nearly two months after Meng was arrested in Canada at the request of U.S. authorities. A separate, 10-count indictment in Washington State accused Huawei and its U.S. affiliate of stealing robotics trade secrets from U.S. telecom provider T-Mobile. The Justice Department's request for Meng's extradition along with the indictments exacerbated tensions with China and led Beijing to denounce the case against Meng as "political persecution." That prompted Trump's overture. Trump, who prides himself on his negotiating skills, could well have been bluffing in hopes of enticing the Chinese into a trade agreement. But a quid pro quo deal as part of the trade talks is not without precedent. Last year, Trump ordered the Commerce Department to lift a ban imposed on ZTE Corporation, Huawei's smaller rival. ZTE had violated the terms of an agreement with the department to settle charges that it had exported U.S. goods to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. In Huawei's case, the extent of Trump's personal involvement and the nature of any talks between the White House and the Justice Department about the company's fate remain unclear. After Meng's arrest in December, a spokesman for National Security Adviser John Bolton said that neither Bolton nor Trump had been told about her detention in advance. Trump later said the White House had talked to the Justice Department about the Huawei case. Senior Justice Department officials have sought to tamp down talk of any linkage between the Huawei case and the ongoing trade talks with China. Asked about the issue after the Justice Department unsealed the indictments in January, then acting attorney general Matt Whitaker said, "We do our cases independent from the federal government writ large because that's the way the criminal system has to be." A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to say whether the White House had engaged the department in any discussions about Huawei since Trump's latest comments. The company has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought in New York and Seattle. Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorneys for those cities said the cases are proceeding. The charges against Huawei come as the Trump administration has stepped up a global campaign against the telecom behemoth, warning that the company founded by a former People's Liberation Army official poses a national security threat and urging allies to keep it out of their 5-G networks. While Australia and New Zealand have imposed a ban, other U.S. allies have demurred. With business operations in more than 170 countries and annual revenues of $108 billion, Huawei is the world's largest supplier of telecom equipment. Last year, the multinational company beat Apple to become the No. 2 manufacturer of smartphones and tablets in the world. In national security related criminal cases, it is not uncommon for the Justice Department to notify the White House about impending law enforcement actions.This allows officials to deescalate conflict if necessary or weigh in on the timing of an announcement. "It's not to give the White House prior approval authority or veto authority," Laufman said. Some experts see the real possibility that the White House crosses the line and intervenes in the criminal case. Short of calling for a dismissal of the case, the White House could press the Justice Department to devise a resolution that would afford the agency a measure of vindication without appearing to let the company or Meng off the hook. Such a resolution could involve Huawei admitting responsibility, paying a hefty fine, and agreeing to a stringent compliance regime and other conditions, according to Laufman. "But I think even there, that will likely engender concern throughout the Justice Department," Laufman said. That is how ZTE settled charges of violating U.S. sanctions. In 2017, ZTE pleaded guilty and paid $430 million for exporting U.S. goods and technology to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. The company later admitted to violating the terms of its settlement with the Commerce Department and faced near collapse after the department responded by forbidding U.S. companies from selling it crucial components. After Trump intervened, the Commerce Department lifted its ban, but not without imposing what it called the most "stringent compliance measures." The Huawei case could well be settled under similar terms. But there is a hitch. Because she faces criminal charges, Meng would have to appear in a U.S. court to enter a plea. "The only way to resolve a case like this with some sort of a formal disposition is to come to the United States," Cheng said. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused social media platforms Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of favoring his Democratic opponents over him and his fellow Republicans. "But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA," he said in a tweet. MAGA refers to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Facebook and Twitter declined to comment. Alphabet's Google, which owns YouTube, did not immediately comment. Watch: Trump Accuses Twitter, Facebook, Google of Siding with 'Radical Left Democrats' The president and other conservatives have repeatedly complained that these big tech platforms treat them unfairly. Trump has previously accused Twitter of restricting the visibility of prominent U.S. Republicans, without any providing evidence, and the avid social media user has promised to investigate the company's practices. Trump and other conservatives say Twitter targets fellow Republicans with a practice dubbed "shadow banning," limiting the visibility of a Twitter user, including in the platform's auto-populated dropdown search box. Representative Devin Nunes of California has sued Twitter over the alleged practice, according to court documents. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey has said that algorithms have been changed to fix that issue. The Justice Department held a meeting last fall between federal officials and state attorneys general to discuss allegations that conservative ideas are suppressed online, but so far no concrete action has been taken as a result. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the last pocket of the Islamic State's land in Syria would be liberated by U.S.-backed forces "by tonight." Trump previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters re-emerged. With no signs of fighting on Wednesday, however, the long-running battle to retake the militants' last outpost in eastern Syria appeared to have reached its conclusion. "The caliphate is gone as of tonight," Trump said in a speech at a factory in Lima, Ohio, where military tanks are assembled. End of caliphate The complete fall of Baghuz would mark the end of IS's self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. During his speech, Trump held up two maps of Syria one covered in red representing territory held by the militant group when he was elected president in November 2016 and the other that had only a speck of red. "When I took over, it was a mess. They were all over the place all over Syria and Iraq," said Trump, who has said the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely. For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign against the group. But even after Baghuz's fall, IS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten a continuing insurgency. The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their propaganda machine working even as their hold on territory has been slipping away. The battle for Baghuz has dragged on for weeks and the encampment had proven to be a major battleground, with tents covering foxholes and underground tunnels. Tens of thousands of civilians The siege has also been slowed by the unexpectedly large number of civilians in Baghuz, most of them families of IS members. Over past weeks they have been flowing out, exhausted, hungry and often wounded. The sheer number who emerged nearly 30,000 since early January, according to Kurdish officials took the Syrian Democratic Forces by surprise. Ciyager Amed, an official with the Kurdish-led SDF, said they were searching for any IS militants hiding in tunnels in a riverside pocket in the village of Baghuz. The SDF has not yet announced a victory over IS. Associated Press journalists saw SDF soldiers loading women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghuz, a sign that evacuations were still underway Wednesday. Black smoke was rising from the village. On Tuesday, the SDF seized control of the encampment held by IS after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, signaling the group's collapse after months of stiff resistance. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet at his Florida resort on Friday with the leaders of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia to discuss Chinese "predatory economic practices" and the Venezuela situation, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Trump and the Caribbean leaders will also discuss security cooperation and the potential opportunities for energy investment, the White House said. "The President looks forward to working with countries in the region to strengthen our security cooperation and counter China's predatory economic practices," the White House statement said. Washington has warned countries in the region about accepting Chinese investment. In October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Mexico City that "when China comes calling it's not always to the good of your citizens." "When they show up with deals that seem to be too good to be true it's often the case that they, in fact, are," Pompeo said. On Venezuela, the United States has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency in January, saying President Nicolas Maduro's re-election was not legitimate. Most Western countries have backed Guaido as head of state. Turkey is heralding as groundbreaking a joint military operation with Iran against Kurdish rebel groups. Turkish-Iranian relations have markedly improved, to the concern of Turkey's Western allies. Coordinated and concurrent military strikes against "terror groups" were carried out along the "borders of the two countries," read a statement by the Iranian Interior Ministry, released Wednesday and reported by Turkish media. The announcement came two days after Iran, through military sources quoted by the Fars news agency, denied involvement. The Turkish interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, announced the operation Monday, declaring it "a first in history." The operation targeted the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is fighting a decades-long insurgency for greater minority rights in Turkey. Few details about the joint military mission, however, have been given by either Ankara or Tehran, other than a few photos, released Wednesday, showing Turkish soldiers in mountainous regions. Ankara has long courted Tehran's support in its war against the PKK. The rebel group has used Iranian territory to enter Turkey from its main bases in Iraq, located near the Iranian border. According to former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, Tehran's support would be essential in targeting the PKK's headquarters in Iraq's Qandil mountains. "Iran is geographically important because the entry to Qandil is on the Iranian side, as Qandil is a complex mountainous region that is almost inaccessible," Selcen said. Claims seen as not 'realistic' Selcen opened Turkey's consulate in Iraq's Kurdish region and served in Baghdad, spending much of his time working on countering the PKK. Selcen has voiced skepticism about Ankara's claims of a breakthrough with Tehran in Ankara's war against the PKK. "I don't find it realistic that such a [joint] operation took place. We have always heard for years that Iran will offer such cooperation, and it never happened. Because Iran has its problems with its Kurdish population, they would prefer to keep their own Kurdish region quiet," Selcen said. The PKK has an Iranian wing called PJAK, which in recent years has mostly avoided confrontation with Iran's military forces. Analysts often describe Iranian-Turkish relations as a combination of cooperation and rivalry. However, they say efforts to end the Syrian conflict are providing the impetus to strengthen bilateral cooperation, even though Iran and Turkey backed rival sides in the civil war. The deepening bilateral relations coincide with a souring in ties between Turkey and the United States. Turkey is angered by America's support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in its war against Islamic State. Turkey claims the YPG is affiliated with the PKK. Turkish and U.S. military officials are in talks over the creation of a security zone in Syria to protect Turkey's border from the YPG. With Turkish media reporting the U.S.-Turkish talks deadlocked, analysts suggest the announced Iranian-Turkish operation is sending a signal to Washington that Ankara has alternatives in combating the PKK and its affiliates. "It's a credible idea if you are sitting behind your desk in Ankara," said Selcen. "But whether such a move will have much effect today on the U.S., I am not so sure, because Turkey and U.S. relations as they are right now have enough troubles. ... So it could be quite a risky strategy." Pulling Ankara from West Analysts say Iran, along with Russia, is working to draw Ankara away from its traditional Western allies. Both countries have committed themselves to developing deeper trade relationships with Turkey. They point out, however, that there are limitations to this courtship, given they remain rivals in the region. "We get no trading favors from either Iran or Russia, and that does not surprise me," said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners, a business management consultancy in New York. "Iran and Russia understand a more prosperous Turkey would invade their markets and would eventually become a political rival to them." Four years ago, Tehran and Ankara signed a preferential trade agreement to boost annual trade to $35 billion. In 2018, bilateral trade amounted to $9.3 billion, a nine-year low. Trade is set to worsen after the Iranian parliament passed legislation in January aimed at encouraging use of locally produced goods. "I don't know if it [the new legislation] is specifically against Turkish imports, but in reality, it does affect a lot of Turkish imports into Iran," said Yesilada. "I have spoken to dozens of businesses who told me Iranians had not granted any favors to Turkish businesspeople." Similar skepticism has been expressed in the past by Turkish officials regarding Tehran's commitment to assisting Ankara in combating the PKK. "They always talk about cooperation, but when it comes to it, they do nothing," said a senior Turkish counterterrorism official, who asked not to be identified. Turkish government ministers in the past went as far as accusing Tehran of supporting the PKK in a bid to weaken Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is campaigning ahead of hotly contested local elections, is aware anti-Western rhetoric and policies play well with his nationalist and religious base. Analysts suggest with the election results of the last four years, Erdogan may have more room to maneuver for a diplomatic reset. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says last Friday's massacre at two New Zealand mosques should in no way be linked to Christianity and that the gunman is no different from Islamic State terrorists. "I categorically reject any attempt to associate last week's terrorist attacks with the teachings, morals or maxims of Christianity," the Muslim politician wrote in an opinion piece published Wednesday by The Washington Post. "If anything, what happened in New Zealand was the toxic product of ignorance and hate." Authorities say Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist suspected of killing 50 people in the mosques in the city of Christchurch, seemed keenly interested in Islam and its historical wars with Christianity. They say that months before the attack, he traveled to multiple European sites of battles with the Ottoman Empire, which preceded modern day Turkey. The names of several Christian-Muslim battles in eastern Europe between the 14th and 20th centuries were displayed on his rifle magazines, according to authorities. And in his online manifesto, Tarrant vilified immigrants to Western countries and clamored for revenge against Muslims. Erdogan accused the 28-year-old Tarrant, who visited Turkey twice in 2016, of trying to "legitimize his twisted views by distorting world history and the Christian faith." Erdogan added, "He sought to plant seeds of hate among fellow humans." The Turkish president said Tarrant and IS shared a common objective: the conquest of the Turkish city of Istanbul. IS, he wrote, called for the "reconquest" of Istanbul much like the Christchurch attacker, who pledged in his manifesto to make the city "rightfully christian owned once more." "In this regard, we must establish that there is absolutely no difference between the murderer who killed innocent people in New Zealand and those who have carried out terrorist acts in Turkey, France, Indonesia and elsewhere," Erdogan said. Erdogan said he and other Muslim leaders vowed to counter "any attempt by terrorists to hijack our religion" following IS attacks but "Islamophobia and xenophobia, among other practices incompatible with liberal values, were met with silence in Europe and other parts of the Western world. We cannot afford to allow this again." Erdogan said Western countries now have "certain responsibilities" after the Christchurch massacre, calling on them to "reject the normalization of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, which has been on the rise in recent years." He applauded New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for urging Western leaders to "embrace Muslims living in their respective countries." Erdogan has been campaigning ahead of local elections March 31 and made the mosque killings a central part of his campaign. A grainy video of the gunman attacking the mosques has been repeatedly played at his campaign meetings. The New Zealand government has called on Ankara to stop airing the video and to turn down the rhetoric, which Wellington warns could provoke attacks on New Zealand citizens. The Soviet-era carriages decorated in the blue and yellow hues of the Ukrainian flag have seen better days. But as the passengers prepare to embark, the smartly uniformed staff takes great pride in the train. Windows and handles are given a last polish, coal-fired heaters are stoked for the cold night ahead, and fresh bed sheets are fitted into newly-refurbished compartments. At precisely 4:32 p.m. local time, Train 84 "Azov" pulls out of the Kyiv station into the southern suburbs of the capital bound for Mariupol - a journey of more than 1,000 kilometers to the frontline of Ukraines war with Russia. On board for the night is a cross-section of Ukrainian society. Amid preparations for Ukraine's presidential elections at the end of this month, VOA joined this epic journey to the east to talk to passengers heading for the key strategic port. Thirty-one-year-old Sergey Ivanic has undergone eye surgery in Kyiv and is returning home to Mariupol with his wife Lena, who enjoys the slow pace of the night train. You can lie in bed and sleep and relax and you arrive in the morning full of energy, she says. Sergey Ivanic laments that many young Ukrainians are leaving in search of a better life. The main issue is to stop the torrent of young people leaving to go abroad, to create stable jobs. After five years of war, Lena wants an end to the divisions in Ukrainian society. Ukraine is divided between east and west and we are always being made to fight each other. But in reality, normal people live on both sides. So I want the new president to unite us as a nation. Outside, dusk falls over the fields of Ukraines vast steppeland. Epic journeys are second nature for Gennadiy Syuzev, a merchant seaman on his way to Mariupols huge commercial port. In my mind, it doesnt matter who is going to be the next president. Nothing significant will change, says Syuzev. A series of sharp jolts brings us to a halt, one of 19 scheduled stops on the route. It takes 18 hours for the train to travel from Kyiv to Mariupol. Its days could be numbered. The current government has promised to reopen Mariupols dilapidated airport, which would put the city just an hours domestic flight from the capital an election pledge thats attracting voters. For others, night trains are part of Ukraines way of life. The cheapest tickets buy you a narrow bed in an open carriage, effectively a dormitory on wheels. Chatting away to their neighboring passengers, Oksana Repetskaya and her daughter are returning from a dance competition in Kyiv. We got used to living with the conflict, she says. My eldest son is doing military service; hes with the army in Dnipropetrovsk. We still have the same faces in power and so I have strong doubts that anything will change. But I also really hope that new faces will emerge, she adds. Close to midnight, the conversations fade and the lights are dimmed. By daybreak, the train is running parallel to the frontlines of the conflict with Russian-backed separatists, which lie just seven kilometres to the east. Disembarking at Mariupol, the signs of the nearby conflict are clear. Heavily armed soldiers patrol the platforms with sniffer dogs. A few nearby buildings are pockmarked with bullet holes and shell damage sustained during the height of the war in 2014, when it appeared that the separatists might take the city. That risk appears to have diminished for now. But the threat of renewed fighting looms constantly. For Ukrainians returning home to Mariupol, the election offers hope of change. But few believe their next president will have a quick fix to end the war. Cyclone Idai may be one of the worst weather disasters ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, U.N. experts say, with Mozambique suffering the brunt of the storm. Idai tore across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe late last week, leaving behind a trail of devastation, including more than 350 people killed, hundreds missing, and hundreds of thousands homeless. Mozambique's death toll exceeded 200 Tuesday, President Filipe Nyusi said, after saying earlier the final number of dead could top 1,000. Officials say the cyclone created an "inland ocean" across the country. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called the damage to the coastal city of Beira "massive and horrifying." They estimate 90 percent of the city was destroyed. Rescue workers were dropping food, fresh water, and blankets to flood victims stranded on roofs, treetops, and any high piece of land. Airdrops are the only way to help most people in Beria, where roads are under water and communications gone. Mozambique-based UNICEF spokesman Daniel Timme told VOA via Skype Tuesday officials are still getting details on the impact of the storm. "At the moment, we still don't have the full picture of the situation, but we agree with the assessment of the government that the disaster is of a dimension which is much, much bigger than we thought in the beginning," he said. "This is due to the fact that information was coming in very slowly, because the city of Beira had been cut off of all communication lines and still is, and has also been cut off physically because the roads to Beira are destroyed." Timme says UNICEF is appealing to international donors for more than $20 million to support its response in the three affected countries. "We are at the same time actually preparing to supply people with the most urgent things. What is very important in such situations is the supply of safe drinking water, so we will be supplying water purification pills." South Africa sent a military force to Mozambique to help with the rescue and recovery. International relations spokesman, Ndivhuwo Mabaya, tells VOA South Africa will try to do more. "We have also called on South African companies to donate for humanitarian assistance and following this morning's assessment, we'll make a further announcement for how we'll assist going forward," he said Tuesday. In Zimbabwe, the death toll stood at 98 Tuesday. One local government official says bodies from Zambia have been flowing on the river into neighboring Mozambique. Malawi's government put the death toll in that country at 56 with nearly 600 people suffering from storm-related injuries. The European Union announced Tuesday it is sending an initial $4 million in aid to the three devastated countries. Britain has also pledged a separate aid package and the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe said it is "mobilizing to provide support," without giving any details. Frustrated in the Trump era, several Democratic presidential hopefuls are proposing dramatic reforms that would shake up US institutions and their centuries-old traditions, including abolishing the Electoral College and adding justices to the Supreme Court. The changes are not typically debated in the country's presidential campaigns, and remain largely out of reach for the moment, given the paralysis in a divided Congress and certain opposition by Republicans. But they represent some of the new ideological litmus tests being proposed by a left-leaning party still smarting from Donald Trump's 2016 victory and desperate to oust him in 2020. On Monday, US Senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren offered concrete support for scrapping the election system that has endured fierce demonization by Democrats because it allowed two Republicans to recently win the presidency despite losing the popular vote: Trump in 2016 and George W. Bush in 2000. "My view is that every vote matters," Warren told a townhall meeting in Mississippi, arguing that the southern state along with several populous ones like California rarely receive presidential candidates because they aren't considered battlegrounds. "I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote," she said. "We can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College." Other Democrats have warmed to the idea, including potential presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana who said ending the system would encourage greater voter participation at the national level. Another proxy debate for Democrats as they weigh who will be their standardbearer: whether to expand the Supreme Court beyond its current nine members. Warren and two other candidates, Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, told Politico they want to address the issue. Two 2020 hopefuls, Buttigieg and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, have floated the idea of expanding to 15 justices: five nominated by Democrats, five by Republicans and the remaining five picked by the other 10. Trump rejected the suggestions Tuesday, saying Democrats were seeking to return the court to a liberal lean after it shifted to the right with the president placing conservative nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the bench. "It'll never happen. I guarantee it won't happen for six years," Trump said, referring to his remaining time in office should he win re-election. Democrats are potentially seeking retribution for what they see as grievous political injustices. Several Democratic lawmakers say Republican leaders' refusal to consider Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, is tantamount to stealing a Supreme Court seat, and liberal activists have pushed for rebalance through expansion of the court. Constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at University of California, Berkeley Law School, says it's "premature" for Democrats to talk about packing the court. "There are difficult issues and it only matters if the Democrats win the presidency and both houses of Congress," Chemerinsky told AFP. Ignoring 'rural' America? Achieving another Democratic goal, abolishing the Electoral College, would also be difficult. It would require lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment -- no easy feat in a paralyzed Congress -- and then ratification by 38 out of the 50 states. The current system consists of 538 electors -- the total number of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, plus three electors for the capital Washington -- who vote in favor of the candidate who gets the most votes in a state. Securing 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. In nearly all states, it's a winner-take-all proposition, even if the winner does not secure a majority, such as when third-party candidates are on the ballot. Trump, for example, won swing state Pennsylvania with just 48.2 percent of the vote, but earned all 20 of its electoral votes. Only Maine and Nebraska allot electoral votes according to who wins the states' congressional districts. The system is a step closer to elections decided by a nationwide popular vote. Another option is gaining momentum. A handful of Democrat-leaning states including California, Illinois and New York have joined a compact aiming to elect presidents based on who wins the popular vote. On Friday, Colorado became the first swing state to join the group. Critics argue that the Electoral College minimizes the role of millions of voters in several populous states because the results there are rarely in doubt. The system is lauded by Republicans because it forces candidates to earn votes from various parts of country, not just the big cities. "The desire to abolish the Electoral College is driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically," tweeted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. A human rights group says 14 civilians were killed during five U.S. airstrikes in Somalia in the last two years, an allegation the U.S. military strongly denies. Amnesty International issued a civilian casualty report Tuesday, which included accounts from 65 eyewitness interviews, several photos, satellite imagery and social media posts as evidence of airstrikes in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region from October 2017 to December 2018. The rights group concludes that its report "provides credible evidence that U.S. airstrikes were responsible for four of these incidents and that the fifth was most plausibly caused by a U.S. airstrike." U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which conducts U.S. military strikes in Somalia in coordination with the Somali government, asserted that no civilians have been killed in its strikes and said Amnesty's report "does not accurately reflect AFRICOM's record in mitigating civilian casualties." "AFRICOM goes to extraordinary lengths to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties, exercising restraint as a matter of policy," it said. The rights group presented 13 allegations to the command in October 2018 and February 2019, five of which were detailed in its report. Amnesty's Conor Fortune told VOA Tuesday that the other allegations lacked "sufficient corroborating evidence" or were disregarded by the rights group based on "untrustworthy" sources. According to defense officials, the U.S. military has assessed 18 allegations of civilian casualties in Somalia since 2017, allegations that were received from its own internal examination of strikes or from outside allegations. Post-strike analysis "using intelligence methods not available to nonmilitary organizations" found that none of those airstrikes resulted in any civilian casualty or injury, a defense official said. The official added that AFRICOM did not even conduct a strike at the time and place of one of the five allegations presented in the report. "I'm confident that our procedures would permit us to do thorough evaluations of any allegations and come up with an answer that is accurate and can be transparently conveyed," Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, AFRICOM's Director of Operations, said Tuesday. U.S. defense officials said pro-al-Shabab media outlets "regularly use the opportunity to assert civilian casualties in the aftermath" of strikes, often pushing staged photographs and stock photographs as evidence. In addition to the U.S. military, Kenyans and Ethiopians have also struck militant targets in Somalia in support of the international effort to defeat the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab fighters. DETAILS OF THE ALLEGATIONS Oct. 16, 2017, Farah Waeys Settlement Status: Military confirms strike, denies civilian casualties Amnesty reports a U.S. armed drone targeted a suspected al-Shabab vehicle traveling between the towns of Awdheegle and Barire with two strikes. The first missed the vehicle, killing two civilians, and injuring five others, including children. The second strike destroyed the vehicle and killed the suspected a-Shabab fighters inside. Residents told Amnesty that al-Shabab came to the village and collected the bodies of those in the vehicle. However, relatives and neighbors of the victims killed outside the vehicle told Amnesty they were not associated with al-Shabab "in any way" and were "innocent." In a response from AFRICOM obtained by VOA, the U.S. military said it conducted an assessment after posts on social media alleged civilian casualties. It concluded the strike was "not likely" to have killed or injured civilians. Dec. 6, 2017, Illimey Status: Military denies strike was conducted by the U.S. Amnesty said a truck carrying suspected al-Shabab militants exploded, killing five civilians, including two children, in secondary explosions and fires. All suspects in the vehicle were also killed. The rights group believes the explosion was most plausibly caused by a U.S. airstrike, but the U.S. military said a strike was not carried out, neither on that day nor in that location. The military reported it did strike a vehicle laden with explosives a week later in an area 56 kilometers away, but asserted no secondary explosions occurred. Nov. 12, 2017, Dar es Salaam Status: Military confirms strike, denies civilian casualties Amnesty said three civilian farmers were killed by a U.S. airstrike outside the village of Dar es Salaam as they camped on the edge of a road after irrigating their farm late into the night. Witnesses told Amnesty that al-Shabab moved the bodies and staged them for photographs posted to social media. Once the bodies were returned by the terror group, interviewees said al-Shabab refused to let the families wash the bodies, "declaring them martyrs who must be left in their clothes," according to the report. AFRICOM said it determined in a civilian casualty allegation assessment at the time that the three men were al-Shabab members. Aug. 2, 2018, Outside Gobanle Village Status: Military confirms strike, denies civilian casualties Amnesty reported that a U.S. drone strike killed three civilians, including two well diggers and an employee from Hormuud Telecommunications Company, who were riding in a vehicle with a suspected al-Shabab member. AFRICOM, in a response to Amnesty, said they conducted a civilian casualty assessment based on allegations from pro-al-Shabab media at the time of the strike but determined the individuals were members of al-Shabab. Dec. 9, 2018, Baladul-Rahma Status: Military confirms strike, denies civilian casualties Amnesty said U.S. forces conducted an airstrike near the village of Baladul-Rahma, killing a civilian farmer and injuring another as they irrigated their farm. The rights group said it believed the casualties were either incidental or a result of misidentification. A defense official denied any civilians were killed or injured in the Dec. 9 strike and described this allegation as one of the "very cut and dry" circumstances where U.S. partner forces were on the ground with Somali partners being actively shot at by al-Shabab militants. AFRICOM confirmed a strike was conducted at that time against al-Shabab fighters who were "attacking partner forces." The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, warns political divisions in Venezuela are worsening an already critical human rights and humanitarian situation in the country. In a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Bachelet urged the dissenting factions to resolve their political differences. Bachelet said escalating human rights violations are also leading to a further deterioration of the economic and social dynamics. She said it also is serving to destabilize conditions in the region. She noted more than 3 million people have fled to neighboring countries in search of food, health care, work and protection. Bachelet said peaceful protests and dissent are criminalized. She reports her office has documented numerous rights violations and abuses, including killings by security forces and pro-government armed groups. She says during nationwide anti-government protests earlier this year, people were threatened and intimidated, arbitrarily arrested, and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in detention. Bachelet said her office continues to investigate reports of hundreds of possible extrajudicial executions by the security forces known as FAES. It appears that some of these killings have followed a similar pattern. They take place during illegal house raids carried out by the FAES, which subsequently reports the death as resulting from an armed confrontation although witnesses report the victims were unarmed. Most of the victims live in poor neighborhoods and participated in anti-government protests, and I am particularly concerned about reports that indicate that this type of operation is used as a form of reprisal and intimidation, she said. Bachelet said the volatile political situation is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. She said people are going hungry and that lack of health care is increasing maternal and infant mortality. She said more than one million children are not going to school. This is because their parents cannot feed them breakfast and school feeding programs have stopped. The U.N. rights chief said she fears the recent sanctions imposed by the United States on financial transfers related to the sale of Venezuelan oil may worsen the economic crisis. Venezuelas ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Jorge Valero, accused the international media of distorting his countrys human rights record. He said Venezuela is a free and democratic country where peaceful protests are allowed. Valero blamed part of the opposition for instigating the violence, which he said is whipped up by foreign funding. Valero also accused the United States of pillaging Venezuelas economic resources and denying his country the possibility of acquiring the food and medicine it needs for its people. Tuberculosis has plagued humans for thousands of years and continues to do so. In advance of this years World TB Day, March 24, the World Health Organization is issuing a call to action to eradicate the disease by 2030. As part of these efforts, the WHO is launching an oral drug regimen it says can more effectively treat people with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. TB remains the worlds deadliest infectious disease, killing nearly 4,500 people a day and infecting 10 million people a year. Despite the grim statistics, much progress has been made in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the disease. The WHO says 54 million lives have been saved since 2000. But the WHO also warns the gains risk being lost with the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB or MDR-TB. The current treatment for MDR-TB involves a two-year treatment course of painful injections, which provoke many bad side effects. The WHO says it is hopeful the new oral treatment program it is launching will be more effective in controlling the spread of the particularly virulent form of tuberculosis. The director of the WHOs Global TB Program, Tereza Kasaeva, told VOA the new oral drug treatment the WHO is recommending has far fewer adverse side effects. Of course, it will be definitely much, much easier and there will not be a need for regular frequent visits of the physicians or health workers for making these injections. No doubt, as we see from the data, the effectiveness, the treatment success will be definitely much, much higher, Kasaeva said. The South African government has announced it plans to adopt the injection-free treatment. Kasaeva said the cost of the oral treatment is around $2,000, which is largely unaffordable for low-income countries. She said South Africa is engaging in talks with pharmaceutical companies to drop the price to $400. The WHO says South Africa is one of the 20 countries most affected by MDR-TB. Others include Russia, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Vietnam. It would be irresponsible for any scientist to conduct human gene-editing studies in people, and a central registry of research plans should be set up to ensure transparency, World Health Organization experts said Tuesday. After its first two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO panel of gene-editing experts which was established in December after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies said it had agreed on a framework for setting future standards. It said a central registry of all human genome-editing research was needed "in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work," and asked the WHO to start setting up such a registry immediately. "The committee will develop essential tools and guidance for all those working on this new technology to ensure maximum benefit and minimal risk to human health," Soumya Swamanathan, the WHO's chief scientist, said in a statement. A Chinese scientist last year claimed to have edited the genes of twin baby girls. News of the births prompted global condemnation, in part because it raised the ethical specter of so-called "designer babies" in which embryos can be genetically modified to produce children with desirable traits. Top scientists and ethicists from seven countries called last week for a global moratorium on gene editing of human eggs, sperm or embryos that would result in such genetically-altered babies saying this "could have permanent and possibly harmful effects on the species." The WHO panel's statement said any human gene-editing work should be done for research only, should not be done in human clinical trials, and should be conducted transparently. "It is irresponsible at this time for anyone to proceed with clinical applications of human germline genome editing." The WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the panel's initial plans. "Gene editing holds incredible promise for health, but it also poses some risks, both ethically and medically," he said in a statement. The committee said it aims over the next two years to produce "a comprehensive governance framework" for national, local and international authorities to ensure human genome-editing science progresses within agreed ethical boundaries. Just over a year ago the Chinese government announced 31 incentives for Taiwanese to work, study and invest in China, a market where salaries can run higher than in Taiwan and the number of consumers has no equal. The Taiwan government fretted then that China was trying to attract Taiwanese people as a way of pressing its case for political unification a goal that Taipei opposes. But those measures have made little impact over the past year because of anxiety among the Taiwanese being targeted, experts and officials say. Economists point to rising costs in China. Theres spillover from the Sino-U.S. trade friction. Some Taiwanese worry about holes in Chinas legal system, particularly when it comes to protecting copyrights and trademarks. Other Taiwanese wonder whether, by working or investing, they would unwittingly help Chinas goal of unification, the government in Taipei believes. The main goal is to inject some energy into Chinas economy, said Chiu Chui-cheng, spokesman for the Taiwan governments Mainland Affairs Council. As for us, our initial review over the past year is that at the moment, to be honest, theres no obvious impact on our society, industry or economy. Political backdrop China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s and threatened to take it by force if needed. More than seven in 10 Taiwanese oppose unification, the Mainland Affairs Council said in January. Officials in Taipei see the incentives as a soft approach to bring the two sides together. Taiwanese have learned to be a little bit smarter than taking the bait from China, said Shane Lee, political scientist with Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. Political reasons have overtaken the economic reasons. Other workers and investors may fear that Chinas communist political system lacks the legal guarantees, such as copyright protections and fair court hearings, that theyre used to in their democratic homeland, some analysts say. Gaps are also clear in the development of Chinas market economy compared to Taiwans, Chiu said. China needs to gain Taiwans trust in its laws and structure that includes economics and politics, said Wu Hui-lin, research fellow with Taipei-based policy research organization Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. Shifting economic landscape Sino-U.S. trade friction over the past year also raises tariffs on Taiwanese companies that produce in China for export to the United States. China rolled out its incentives for Taiwan a month before U.S. President Donald Trump issued a memorandum ordering the round of tariffs that kicked off the past year of trade tensions. These 31 measures, held up to the Sino-U.S. trade conflict, they didnt offer much of a big incentive at that time, said Darson Chiu, deputy macroeconomic forecasting director with the think tank Taiwan Institute of Economic Research in Taipei. Labor costs are also rising, and Chinese environmental rules growing more stringent, causing trouble for some Taiwanese investors, Chiu said. Taiwanese investors have capitalized factories in China since the 1980s, taking advantage then of cheap labor and a fast-growing domestic consumer base. Investments there totaled $8.74 billion in 2017 after falling for three straight years. As costs of business rise in China, some Taiwanese investors have expanded into Southeast Asia or back to Taiwan. Taiwanese investors from offshore, often in China, have applied since January to start projects at home worth a total $1.29 billion since January, the economic affairs ministry in Taipei said on March 15. It cites its own incentives as a reason. Its impossible to survive in China, Wu said, referring especially to Taiwanese tech firms. So, we can see these Taiwanese investors who have recently returned, almost all are going to the science parks to look for land. More incentives coming Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said March 15 his government would offer additional incentives for Taiwanese people. He did not give details when making the announcement in Beijing. The premier probably means good jobs and good conditions for investment that might appeal especially to this years batch of Taiwanese university graduates, Lee said. Those incentives would be consistent with last years list. The existing 31 measures include tax breaks and special land use rights. Young people in Taiwan might still try out Chinas incentives, the Mainland Affairs Council spokesman said. China is encouraging younger Taiwanese to start their own companies in its hubs for startups. The success rate of Taiwanese peoples business launches in China is about 1 percent, the spokesman cautioned. Theyve run into some difficulties, he said. Weve reminded our youth to beware of the risks. A senior Houthi rebel leader in Yemen said Tuesday that his group will not give up the key port city of Hodeida, the focus of months of U.N.-brokered talks with the government. Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the rebels' Supreme Revolutionary Committees, accused his rivals from the internationally-recognized government of misinterpreting the deal. He says the Houthis have agreed to withdraw their forces but will remain in control. He said the Saudi-backed government "couldn't get (the port) by force and they won't seize it by tricks." "We agree on the redeployment according to the presented mechanism, but withdrawal as they are promoting, is impossible," he said in an interview conducted in undisclosed location in Sanaa, after relocating to avoid airstrikes. Hodeida is the main entry point for humanitarian aid to Yemen, where nearly four years of war has spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The two sides have agreed to withdraw their forces from the port, but are divided over who will run it once they pull out. The U.N.-brokered deal was vague on that point, saying a "local force" would take over without specifying who would lead it. U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths said Tuesday "significant progress" has been made on the withdrawal of forces from Hodeida. He said in a statement that "operational details" of the agreement on phase one of the redeployment will be presented to a U.N. committee shortly. Griffiths said he looks forward to the committee's "swift endorsement of the plan." A mutual pullout from Hodeida, which handles about 70 percent of Yemen's imports, and the two smaller ports of Salif and Ras Issa, was agreed to in Sweden in December and was seen as an important first step toward ending the conflict. But a lack of trust between the government and the Houthis hampered agreement on details of the withdrawals. Each side has accused the other of violating the Hodeida cease-fire, and fighting has continued in other parts of the country. "This is a process that will take a lot of patience so I don't want to sound over-confident about this, but any progress in getting the parties to agreement is welcome, and that is why today's developments are welcome and a positive step forward," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. "Whether we can get to the final step of actually having the withdrawals occur, that remains to be seen," he added. The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Iranian-backed Houthis. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015. The fighting in the Arab world's poorest country has killed an estimated 60,000 people and left millions suffering from food and medical care shortages. U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has said about 80 percent of Yemen's population 24 million people need humanitarian assistance, including nearly 10 million "just a step away from famine" and nearly 240,000 "facing catastrophic levels of hunger." Last month, Griffiths said that forces will initially be withdrawn from Salif and Ras Issa, followed by a pullout from Hodeida and critical parts of the city. That would allow access to the Red Sea Mills, a major U.N. storage facility holding enough grain to feed 3.7 million people for a month. The U.S.-backed and Saudi-led coalition allied with the government views the Houthis as an Iranian proxy. A U.N. panel of experts said earlier this year that Iran finances the war through illegal oil shipments to rebels. Both Iran and the Houthis deny Tehran has armed them. Al-Houthi, who is considered the deputy leader of the movement, denied the rebels receive any aid from Iran, saying only that they have shared goals. He said there was still a "big chance for peace" but only if the other side is committed to it. "My message is that there is a big chance for peace despite the terrorism we face." But, he added, "if you decide to go for war, you will find us fierce warriors." Zimbabweans have started raising funds and donating goods to provide relief to those who have been affected by Cyclone Idai, which the government says has killed nearly 100 people and displaced hundreds. The government says people are wary of who receives the donations. At a local church, volunteers arrange donated items destined for places affected by Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe. Food, water, blankets, clothing are all found here. The volunteers then load them onto waiting trucks provided by donors to head to Zimbabwes eastern border where Cyclone Idai ravaged homes and left dozens dead. One of the volunteers - Johanne Chapungu Oposi - is from the affected region. The 43-year-old man tells me that his former classmate and neighbor together with the classmate's wife and three children, were buried alive when a hill collapsed on them while they slept. But my elder brother and our family survived, when they saw that thats what was about to happen they quickly escaped. I want to say that the food supplies there and where to stay are a challenge, or even where to buy food; there is nowhere they can buy because the shops are at the steep slopes so they were destroyed too. I feel quite relieved to be seeing these efforts. Tadzi Madzima of the non-governmental organization Ignite Youth says she is happy that Zimbabweans have responded to her calls for people to donate to ease the effects of Cyclone Idai. We reached out to the youths in Zimbabwe. We went out mainly on social media where most youths are," she said. "The response has been overwhelming. We plan to give everything that has been collected here to people affected by Cyclone Idai. We felt that this is the role that we have to play as young people, to help where we can. The Red Cross is one of the aid organizations leading efforts to bring relief to Cyclone Idai's victims. Karikoga Kutadzaushe, the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society operations director, says his organization has deployed teams to ensure that the injured are treated and that there is clean drinking water. The situation on the ground is quite dire in that accessibility has been one of the biggest challenges considering Tsinde Eastern is a mountainous area and there have been serious landslides, damaged roads and inaccessibility is one of the worst situations," he said. "To date, we have almost closer to 100 people who have been confirmed dead, 200 closer to 250 are also currently missing and with regards to people who are currently displaced, we have plus or minus 600 who are actually only currently staying on higher ground within the area. Government spokesman Ndavaningi Nick Mangwana told reporters that Harare has deployed army engineers to ensure that damaged roads and bridges are fixed so that assistance can reach the needy. On Zimbabweans responding to calls on social media from organizations and individuals to assist victims of Cyclone Idai, he said: "Its good that we have got such goodwill among Zimbabweans; its good that we are all running altogether in one accord to help our vulnerable others, our compatriots who are in a bad state at the moment and in a bad place," he said. "The only thing is we need accountability - we know that in situations like this there is the very fringe minority who will take advantage of the situation...thats why we say corruption is one of our issues so we hope that there will be systems in place to make sure that whatever is donated, whatever is given ends up at the end user to the point of need where it's needed most." As the truck leaves Harare for Chimanimani and other affected areas, it is hoped the donations reach the intended recipients those affected by Cyclone Idai. Nancy Kachingwe is among those who donated items. The sense of if it was if this happens to me what would I do, you know this happens to families and households so we all have to all understand that, you know, in these days of disasters and climate change, it can happen to anybody; any of us can be next where we end up finding ourselves losing everything, so solidarity has to be part of how we live, she said Emergency workers have described flooding spawned by the cyclone as the region's most destructive in 20 years. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited the affected region Tuesday. The United States Department of State has issued a statement offering sympathies to people and communities affected by Cyclone Idai. In the statement issued Wednesday, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said, "the United States offers its heartfelt sympathies to those in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe affected by Cyclone Idai and other recent flooding in southern Africa, in particular those who were injured and those who have lost loved ones." The statement also offered assurances that the U.S. is providing assistance. "In coordination with our partners, the United States is providing support to the relief efforts. Our embassies in each of these countries stand ready to provide consular services to any U.S. citizens who may have been affected." The U.S. Embassy in Harare twitted that it is contributing on US$100, 000 as a start, towards assisting those affected by the cyclone. "The U.S. Embassy is contributing an initial US$100,000 through @USAID to bring relief to victims of #Cycloneidai in Zim. Working with civil society partners to provide safe water, hygiene and sanitation svcs, & shelter to Zimbabweans in need." Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited the country flooded Chimanimani area on Tuesday after cyclone winds and floods swept across southeastern Africa affecting more than 2.6 million people. United Nations officials said Cyclone Idai could rank as one of the worst weather-related disasters recorded in the southern hemisphere. Mnangwagwa said his government is in the process of assessing damage to provide adequate assistance. "I have come in order to visit families, communities, as well as the infrastructure I am briefed has been destroyed so we can assess and determine what the government can do in terms of assistance. We need to make sure we understand the quantum of devastation in order for us to mobilize resources to deal with the situation as it stands, he told reporters. The European Union announced on Tuesday an initial emergency aid package of 3.5 million euros ($3.97 million) to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe for logistical support to reach affected people, emergency shelters, hygiene, sanitation and health care. Britain also pledged up to six-million pounds ($7.96 million) in aid. Mnangagwa added that several African countries have also pledged support, as well as the United Arab Emirates where he recently visited. Countries like South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola have indicated that they also want to know what our needs are, and we are busy now compiling materials which we think they could assist us with," he said. The Zimbabwe government puts the number of people killed by the cyclone at 98, but with many badly injured and others still missing, the number is expected to rise to as high as 300, according to the countrys Permanent Secretary of Information, Nick Mangwana. We gave a figure of 98 of our compatriots deceased. We expect that figure to rise because we hear reports that there are bodies that have been detected in this place and that place. What we simply need to establish now is whether those bodies are Zimbabweans or not, or they are from the neighboring countries such as Mozambique. Once we have established that, then we can actually give a clear figure of how many of our people we have lost. But its possible its northward of 300, said Mangwana. Accessing the hardest hit areas in Manicaland like Chipinge and Chimanimani, as well as Masvingo Province to assist those in need, have been until recently, almost impossible due to the cyclones destruction of roads, bridges and telecommunication lines. Mangwana, however, said the situation has greatly improved with the help of the military which created temporary pathways. Makeshift roads are being made, some detours are being made as well so that we can access the areas that were previously impassable. That has been a lot of progress, because what we had was a situation where aid was on one side, the needs were on the other side, and to now bridge that divide between the aid itself, the trucks full of aid and supplies and where the people were was an issue. Its still an issue but some aid is going now through these makeshift roads. Mangwana said aid has been pouring in from all corners of the country, including from corporations and private citizens who have contributed by mobilizing donations, including cash, food and clothes to help thousands of families whose homes were wrecked by the cyclone. Some goodwill also from Zimbabweans. Some have hired helicopters actually, some private helicopters that have been hired by Zimbabweans who prefer to remain anonymous, those ones are also supporting the issue of ferrying aid to where its needed and moreso medical supplies, primarily medical supplies, he said. While the cyclone knocked down power lines, and destroyed the Beira Corridor that linked Zimbabwe to Mozambique for the traders bringing in food and other supplies, Energy Minister Joram Gumbo said fuel was still available, and that there was no need to panic. We get our fuel from the pipeline which has not been affected by the cyclone, said Gumbo. The road from Mutare to Beira, particularly on the Mozambican side is the section that have been very badly damaged and that i think will take some time for our counterparts to repair, and that will affect those companies that have been collecting fuel using the roads. But mostly, most of the companies have been collecting their fuel from Zimbabwe at our depots in Mabvuku and Masasa, so they are not affected, he assured. Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change, visited the cyclone-hit area Monday, and also contributed supplies such as clothing and food. Amanda Knox. Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Knox Amanda Knox knows a thing or two about the world of true crime. As you may have heard, Knox was a 20-year-old exchange student when her roommate Meredith Kercher was murdered in their home in Italy. Afterward, Knox was famously portrayed in the media as a sexually deviant murderer known as Foxy Knoxy who had worked alongside her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, to murder Kercher. After being found guilty in an initial trial, her conviction was eventually overturned, and a later retrial before an Italian Supreme Court found her and Sollecito not guilty. Since then, Knox has been busy. Shes spent her time trying to help others wrongfully accused, giving voice to survivors of true crime and media sensationalization through her podcast, The Truth About True Crime, currently in its second season, which covers the case of the cultish Alamo Christian Foundation. (Season one centered on the Jonestown massacre.) She also has a regular web series, and shell be speaking this week at the Death Becomes Us festival. We sat down to talk with Knox about the podcast, the case that made her famous, and her dream of leaving everything behind to make hats. On your podcast, you often relate what youre reporting on with your own personal experiences. Was that an important distinction you wanted for the show, adding a point of view that other true-crime podcasts couldnt provide? I thought that was a really interesting opportunity to bring some perspective as someone who has been the subject of true-crime diagnosis from psychologists who are hundreds of miles away from me, and who have never spoken to me before. I know what it means to be at the center of a story that tantalizes and entertains people. So being able to speak to that when looking at other cases seemed like a really great opportunity. In a recent episode, you talk about #MeToo and how at the core of both the Alamo Christian Foundation case and your case, it was about women not being believed. I mean, the whole discussion of #MeToo and how it intersects with the innocence movement is really interesting. Yes, we have this problem of not believing women and not only not believing women but finding reasons to vilify them so that we dont believe them. And I think that you can absolutely have a criminal-justice system that protects the rights of the accused. But at the same time, women have been coming forward, and theyve been called sluts and psychopaths just for coming forward. Theres a lot that I see in both of these movements that are trying to protect innocent people who have been hurt by people or systems that are bigger than themselves they have a lot in common, and I kind of weirdly bridge the gap in an interesting way. Speaking of women being vilified the Netflix documentary on you features Nick Pisa, the Daily Mail journalist who widely covered your case, but who also seemed unwilling to take any responsibility for how your case was covered. Has this affected how you cover victims and those accused on your podcast? I think that Nick Pisa is a hoot in that film. Isnt he? [Laughs.] One thing that the documentary filmmakers, Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst, did was to give those sit-down interviews, including Pisa and including my prosecutor, a chance to see the film before it ever came out, before anyone else ever saw it, and every single one of them felt like they were portrayed honestly. And an interesting thing about Nick Pisa is, he doesnt feel responsible for how his articles affected my life. He feels that hes a part of a system that requires speed and delivery, and you write one article that says shes guilty and one article that says shes innocent and you immediately publish it as soon as the verdict comes out, and you have all these fake, made-up things about Amanda crying or Amanda cheering or whatever. Hes a part of this system, and he doesnt feel responsible as being a cog in that system and I look at that and I go, Youre an asshole, but also youre kind of right. Everyone does have a personal responsibility when they are a small piece of a larger system, but he is right that he alone changing this behavior wouldnt necessarily have changed the outcome for me. Nick Pisa didnt invent that. What, ultimately, do you want people to understand about being wrongfully accused? My main message that I usually try to convey to people is the genuine human existential-crisis experience that comes from going through this situation. The great takeaway for me was that when you cast anyone in terms of good and evil, and you put those mantles on people and institutions, youre inevitably creating a false narrative about them. Just taking a moment to pause and go, What do I know? Whats important here? So when I think about anything, even my own prosecutor, I dont look at the criminal-justice system, which deeply hurt me and took my life away, and think its a bad, evil thing. I think, Wow, this is flawed and fucked up, but its also something thats really important and is trying its best. And I think its very easy to jump on the bandwagon without thinking about it. How do you hope people remember you? Oh, gosh. Thats a big question. For a long time, I really struggled with the fact that this happened, that I was inevitably going to be forever associated with murder and wrongful conviction. This was all stuff that just happened to me that I had nothing to do with. Its so surreal and weird to have that be some kind of legacy that I carry with me when it really just happened to me. I just happened to be Merediths roommate, so it just happened to me. I dont love the idea of, like, going down in history as that girl who was wrongly accused of murder. I hate that. And thats one of the reasons that I feel so much for other exonerees who also have spent way more time and lost way more years in prison than I have, because I get to come out of it, and Im still young and I get to do work and people want to work with me, amazingly. So I hope that people will come to think of me as that person who was a part of an idea of treating human beings better and seeing them better. I didnt want to come out of this experience hating people and hating society and hating the media and hating the criminal-justice system. I dont want that to be my life. I want to be something positive. Lets leave true crime behind altogether if you could just go do anything, what would it be? Im just a silly person, and I think it would be so awesome to make fantastic hats. Hats? [Laughs.] Its so dumb. Its not what people expect. I have so much appreciation for the intellectual work Im doing. But at the same time, I also just kind of want to hide away in a closet and make hats. The two top diplomats discussed the current situation in Venezuela during a phone conversation at the initiative of the Iranian side, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement. They expressed "readiness to contribute, on the basis of the principles of the UN (United Nations) Charter, to the efforts of the international community to find mutual understanding between the responsible political forces of Venezuela." These efforts should be in the interests of ensuring Venezuela's internal peace and the earliest possible solution of pressing social and economic tasks, the statement said. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is scheduled to meet US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams in Rome later on March 19. Russia has said repeatedly that it opposes foreign interference, especially armed intervention, in Venezuela's internal affairs and called for dialogue between the government and the opposition. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has stirred reactions from some Nigerians, after he made claims that he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari by 1,615,302 votes, in the presidential election. This was contained in the petition filed by Atiku and his party at the presidential election tribunal. According to PDP and Atiku, data from the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reveal that he won Buhari by over 1.6million votes. Some supporters of president Buhari and APC, are asking how Atiku and his party, manage to gain access into INEC server. See reactions So ATIKU and the PDP claimed to have gained access to INEC servers. Who gave them the permission? Is this the same hacking as part of their #DubaiStrategy we talked about earlier on? Abubakar Sidiq Usman (@MrAbuSidiq) March 20, 2019 Atiku's desperation is taking him into damaging hallucination.I thought it is what is collated at d collation centres that goes into INEC https://t.co/tzxm42Q20W did Atiku come about 1.6m"win"on INEC server?HATERS will suspend sound reasoning in believing Atiku n run wit d TRASH! Chris Ososa Asuelime (@OsosaChris) March 20, 2019 https://twitter.com/Optimistic_Ade/status/1108376227474259968?s=19 So the PDP had access to INEC server? Impressive how they achieved this? it begins with YOU!! (@ufuomadogun) March 20, 2019 INEC server shows Buhari lost presidential election with 1.6 million votes Atiku, PDP Me: You checked the server of the postponed 16th February stuffed ballot Box Presidential election. Please Check the server where Nigerians voted on the 23rd of February Ndok! Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) March 20, 2019 https://twitter.com/cbngov_akin1/status/1108271122343215105?s=19 If PDP can access INEC server thru d back door then they can manipulate d result through same means. Am I making point somebody? Chris Ososa Asuelime (@OsosaChris) March 20, 2019 PRESIDENTIAL TRIBUNAL: How did the petitioner gain access to INEC servers without permission of the electoral commission? How did he know that 1.6mn votes were in his favour if not that the server was hacked, that's if figures are true. Is this not a crime? Cambridge Analytica? Sumner Shagari Sambo (@Sumner_Sambo) March 20, 2019 https://twitter.com/ChroniclesPH/status/1108340815716323328?s=19 Senator Ben Murray Bruce representing Bayelsa East federal constituency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari lacks intelligent people in his cabinet. The senator said this while speaking on the floor of the senate, about agencies in Nigeria that need to be scrapped, they have given no economic value to Nigeria since 1960. Mr Bruce said that the ongoing railway construction which was conceded to China, is terribly expensive. He notes that Nigeria didnt have to go to China for the project, when theres Ajaokuta steel company. He further stated that if the people in Buharis cabinet could think, then the country wouldnt be making terrible policies under the present government. Watch video below Jimi Agbaje, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Lagos, is the latest to dump the party, and Nigerians arent having any of that As they have to taken to social media to drop their opinion about Agbajes move. Just a few days ago, a former Ogun state governor and Director-General of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization, Gbenga Daniel, made headlines after he announced his decision to quick the party and partisan politics. With insinuations he might be joining the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, because thats what his supporters want of him. Agbaje, who has now followed in line, says his decision to leave PDP is because of the irreconcilable difference between himself and party leadership Having been accused of being responsible for their poor performance at the just concluded gubernatorial election in Lagos. I have tried to remain focused and ignore all the distractions coming from the leadership of the party. I am making the decision after due consultations with my supporters and loved ones for the sake of peace, he said. Take a look at what some Nigerians think of his defection, on Twitter Either Jimi Agbaje leaves PDP or stays on is irrelevant at this point, the last results have shown that PDP needs someone like Gbadamosi or a fresh face devoid of voluble and aphoristic mien who can serve as a rallying point. Dalighieri (@bunmola2010) March 20, 2019 So Jimi Agbaje has jumped from a sinking PDP after scamming them for 12 years. Bankole Akintunde Adebayo (@AdeBanqie) March 20, 2019 Jimi Agbaje never planned to become the Gov of Lagos. Baba is just a hustler like the BMC boys. Working silently for Tinubu to make the election a walk over for APC every four years. Disappear for 4 years, then show up suddenly to contest & amass wealth for himself. Crook Oluwaremilekun (@Ceorhemz) March 20, 2019 https://twitter.com/MOnwuasoeze/status/1108298550205710336?s=19 https://twitter.com/walegates/status/1108282251891089409?s=19 Politics will always be the same. Jimi Agbaje is the most recent evidence El Jefe (@kelvinmemo) March 20, 2019 Special openings throughout 2019 at Baths of Caracalla in Rome. The Baths of Caracalla will open free of charge for eight days during 2019 as part of the Io Vado al Museo initiative involving free entry to state museums and archaeological sites. The first free day will be 22 March on the occasion of World Water Day, with two free guided tours scheduled at midday and at 15.00. The next free day will be 8 April, to mark the birth of Castor and Pollux as well as the anniversary of the death in 217 AD of Emperor Caracalla. The bath complex will open for free again on 21 April for Rome's 2,772nd birthday, known as Natale di Roma, followed by holidays for Festa della Repubblica on 2 June and the Feast of Peter and Paul, Rome's patron saints, on 29 June. The Baths of Caracalla will be free to visitors for Ferragosto, on 15 August, before Italy's free museums days begin again in October (every first Sunday of the month from October to March). Two further special free days take place at the baths site on 4 November, for National Unity and Armed Forces Day, and again on 17 December, on the occasion of the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. Rome's Piramide Cestia can be visited on four mornings a month. Romes only surviving ancient Egyptian-style pyramid is located directly oppostite the Piramide train station, beside the city's Non-Catholic Cemetery, on the edge of the city's Testaccio district. The 36-metre high monument dates from the first century BC and was built as a tomb for the powerful Roman magistrate Caius Cestius. The Pyramid of Cestius is built into the Aurelian Walls and an inscription on its white marble facade states that its construction took 330 days. In 2013 the monument underwent a major two-year restoration project whose 2 million cost was sponsored by Japanese entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi. Door leading into Rome's pyramid. Photo R. Belincanta. In addition to cleaning the exterior, the project included restoring the frescoes painted in the inner chambers of the pyramid whose grounds are today home to a cat sanctuary. The interior of the pyramid can be visited on the third and fourth Saturdays and Sundays of each month for individuals at 11.00. Tours are conducted in Italian and tickets cost 5.50. Inside Rome's Pyramid of Cestius. Private tours for groups (maximum 20 people) also take place on the third and fourth Saturdays and Sundays of each month, at 10.00 and midday. These tours can be requested in English, Italian, French, German and Spanish, and the group rate is 130. Reservations required for both types of tours. To reserve tel. 0639967702, Mon-Fri 09.00-13.00 / 14.00-17.00. Sat 09.00-14.00. The pyramid is closed to all visits in August. For full details see pyramid website. Cover photo: ACEA Aviation has been a mans game for decades despite womens significant contributions from the beginning but now aviation leaders say they want to ensure more leading roles for women. The boys club of aviation is a result of many decades of neglect, ignoring or diminishing womens contributions, creating artificial hurdles and sending mixed messages to young girls, especially in advertising. The fact is that women have played a pivotal role in the growth of aviation from the beginning, and particularly during times of war. They have piloted, helped build and maintained aircraft, even helped build the systems that keep aircraft flying safely. In time past, aircraft piloting was more of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects concepts, but technology has twisted and turned that around. With nimble fingers and a well-organised mind, electronics computers have put flying in the hands of anybody with basic education as well as articulate mind and the passion to fly. Many people know of Amelia Earhart, whose mysterious disappearance while crossing the Pacific Ocean continues to garner speculation, but other women who accomplished great things in aviation are, sadly, less well known. Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African American woman to earn her pilots license in 1938 and a commercial pilots license in 1939. She was also the first African American woman officer to serve in the US Civil Air Patrol and the first woman in the US who was qualified both as a pilot and as an aircraft mechanic. She even helped found the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics. In her spare time on the ground, Brown was also the first African American woman to run for Congress. This suggests lots of capabilities amongst women that would require encouragement Over the past ten years, the number of women successfully gaining their ways into the cockpit around the world, and in Nigeria too, is overwhelmingly encouraging. This can be attributed to the fact that the factors that had hindered ladies into the cockpit have been completely eliminated with modern day science and greater awareness in the society. With hydraulic system enhancement and computerisation of flight controls, flying no longer requires so much of physical human power; you now need more articulate and multitasking minds to excel in the modern day cockpit. In the hierarchy of attributes required to fly an aircraft in our modern world, male special attributes like higher physical strength now occupies nowhere; conversely, multitasking ability which is regarded to be found more in women is in the upper echelon of the hierarchy. Ladies are also considered to have less societal pressure and are naturally endowed to be much calmer; these also occupy a higher space in the hierarchy of attributes. Human intelligence which sits atop all the attributes is shared equally by both genders. Therefore, male pilots can no longer, realistically, be said to have better chances to the cockpit in the modern time aviation world. In our own Nigeria society, given the nature of boldness with which our women have embraced the challenges to measure up to the current world order, be it business, politics, art and fashion etc, the only identified inhibiting factor that might militate against having near equal number of gender in our cockpits over the next twenty years, would be the cost of training and self limitations. But that has also, always, been a factor to both genders. At the moment, it costs as high as $100,000 to $200,000 to train an initial pilot up to the commercial flight. And very few families can afford that cost in our society, especially with the current economic downturn. But this is again where women have an advantage if one considers that aviation investors are more likely to invest in initial training of female pilots than male; reason being that research has shown that ladies when drawn on an agreement to serve the sponsoring organisation for a given period to offset training costs, are more likely to do so than their male counterpart without resorting to rancors which have over the years discouraged investors from sponsoring initial trainings for pilots. There is push back from all corners in the past to helping women develop and grow in Aviation, both out of a concern for equality and for economic reasons. Airlines now realize that they are going to run critically short of the manpower they need to grow and are making a priority of recruiting and training more women to take charge. Considering these factors, business aviation like every other highly technical commercial adventure where consistency and reliability is key; as well as a commercial enterprise where income and return to investment is also a critical success factor, women in our modern world stand the brighter chance of taking their full share of the aviation cockpit. Motivating factors for pilots are second to none if one considers that an average captain earns as high as $10,000 per month in the industry today. Of course, you cannot earn that high in your first year as a pilot but it is something that can happen within a few years as a pilot, all things being equal. It is also a highly dignified profession capable of rubbing away completely any iota of inequality or lack of self-esteem, especially for women in our third world environment. Rigorous enhancement professional trainings; ranges of safety awareness; system functionalities; geographical and climatic condition as well as highly technical communication precision etc, trainings and retrainings associated with the art, positions aviation pilots men and women to live out their lives fulfilled anywhere in the world. In conclusion, where financial resource is not a factor and excellence is desired; and boldness resides in the mind, distaff is most desired in the cockpit for the safety, reliability and consistency in our current aviation world where glass ceiling has already been shattered and history is being made on daily bases. Commercial aviation investors crave for more stability in their ever challenging operations, ladies are generally more cool headed, a not-easy-to-find amongst male pilots, especially nowadays; so, ladies are more likely to get pilot job position if the opportunity is placed between two equally qualified male and female. So opportunities for female pilots in Nigeria is matchless and highly probable. Chinese officials have pushed to have the tariffs removed as part of the talks, but White House officials have so far resisted. Still, Trump has said the final agreement will have to be sorted out between himself and Xi, and its possible he would leave the tariffs on the table until that point. Or, as he said on Wednesday, he could decide to keep the tariffs in place indefinitely, challenging Chinese leaders to walk away at the last moment. To keep an attorney general from quietly snuffing out a special counsel investigation, the attorney general must explain any cases in which the attorney general stopped the special counsel from taking action because it was so inappropriate or unwarranted that it could not be allowed. If Mueller wanted to charge someone and the attorney general forbade it, it would seem that action would have to be revealed to Congress. Nothing in the rules requires the revelations to Congress to be confidential. Nor do they say whether that report is short or long. So Barr must make a report and, once again, can decide how detailed to be. Unfortunately, most of those works cant travel, so visitors to the National Gallery will have to imagine the impact of essential early works, such as Tintorettos 1548 Miracle of the Slave, in which St. Mark flies into the picture from on high to save a naked Christian slave, prostrate on the ground in a dramatically foreshortened position. The huge 1565 The Crucifixion that he created for a confraternity, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which bustles with detail and incident, isnt leaving Venice, either. And one wishes it had been possible to include the room-size horizontal painting Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples, held by the Prado (which made it to Madrid but would be a formidable thing to crate and move, even today). The Prado painting is one of the strangest things in any museum, anywhere an elongated image meant to be seen from one side (when it was installed in a church) that pushes Jesus off to one edge, and disperses the individual figures throughout an open, architectural space, as though they are actors focusing on their lines in the moment just before the director calls, Action! Plenty. But, in the final analysis, not nearly enough. Based on Rhidian Brooks book of the same name, The Aftermath is inspired by the authors grandfather, a British colonel who also commandeered a German home after the war and also refused to evict its owners. One would hope thats where the similarities end in a story that promises to be a provocative examination of moral culpability and mutual incomprehension and resentment, but winds up being a plotty, naughty potboiler. As ever, Knightley is exquisite as a trembling, fragile embodiment of exquisite suffering, while Alexander Skarsgard lends equal dollops of stoicism and sex appeal to the unfailingly polite Lubert. Its all veddy, veddy attractive and tragic, with the tastefulness of the production becoming ever more oppressive as the erotic and political complications pile up, including a subplot involving a group of young Nazi revanchists. All by way of saying that the audiences enjoyment of Us is far more dependent on their love of scary movies than on pointed satire, which Get Out blended with such elegant finesse. Peele still wants to work out serious ideas in this movie about inequality, materialism, envy and disenfranchisement but theyre far more bluntly expressed. Both simplistic and overcomplicated, Us depends on some of horrors most hackneyed cliches and gaps in logic by now, shouldnt all movie characters know never to go back into the house and to always stay together? as well as a few windy speeches explaining why bizarre things keep happening. The viewer begins to wish that Peele had given his script one more pass, either to pare it down or beef it up. Klein has built a journeymans career, never landing on Broadway but enjoying plenty of productions around the country. His two-character adventure T Bone N Weasel was a staple on the regional circuit in the 1990s, which is also when his environmental comedy (and interspecies romance) Betty the Yeti gained wide traction. He published a book, Life as a Playwright: A Survival Guide, last year; Klein describes it as notes to aspiring writers from a working-stiff playwright, not very well known but mostly able to make a living at it. I tell people what theyre in for, the good and the bad. Theres a whole chapter about luck. The publisher went, Luck? People cant do anything about luck. Exactly! Thats why I want to talk about it. Traditional fiction, after all, likes to depict a woman in peril and the caped male avenger swooping in to save the day. While local news media tend to focus on policy that would affect their communities, national media look for and endlessly repeat the broad-brush caricature: Gillibrand is the mean woman who unfairly took down Al Franken; ORourke is tall and cute and wants to heal a divided country. We regret that ABRA has seen it fit to suspend our license for 7 days, wrote Ted Clements, a D.C. Eagle owner, in a Wednesday Facebook post. During that time, we will not be open to the D.C. community at large and our employees, many of them residents of Ward 7 and other parts of the District, will not receive pay. The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance issued an order this week stating that an email list that Todd compiled at least in part through his council offices dealings with constituents was used to distribute campaign literature and seek donations for Rhonda Henderson, his favored candidate in a December special election to the education board. A former aide to ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has said nothing would make him defect from the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). His reaction came after a host of PDP faithful like Jimi Agbaje, Musiliu Obanikoro, and Iyiola Omisore, switched camp. Speaking via his Twitter handle, he said he has built his business to a point where it is God sufficient and does not need to play stomach politics for the rest of his life. What he said: In online tests, technology problems at 80 percent of the properties desktop websites and 72 percent of their mobile websites showed different or undetectable information to testers who were and were not disabled, the report said. The most common problems were with screen-readers for the blind that could not perceive virtual tours or access online applications, according to the report. But the drop is even more severe than an initial reading of budget documents suggests. For the first time, the cost of providing security on campuses is being taken out of individual school budgets instead of being covered through the school systems central office. So when accounting for $817,541 in security costs, Ballou winds up hemorrhaging nearly $1 million. That brings its budget to $12.4 million for an expected 568 students. C.L. Max Nikias, who had been president of USC since 2010, was forced out last August amid turmoil over the universitys handling of controversies including allegations of abuse by a USC gynecologist and the resignations of two medical school deans in connection with alleged misconduct. Now, USC is at the center of a scandal involving alleged efforts to help children of the wealthy secure admission to prestigious universities through cheating and bribery. Hogan, Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) have all sharply criticized the deals, which were first reported by the Baltimore Sun and were in some cases worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stephen A. Burch, the chairman of the board of the medical system, which is known as UMMS, said the board will meet Thursday about the next steps it will take. The following information, provided by the Montgomery County Police Department, shows selected offenses reported to police. Crime reports may be based on preliminary information that is subject to change as a result of further investigation. The police said they were in the 1200 block of Thompson Run Court about 8 p.m. Thursday during a search for someone who had fled from the scene of a hit-and-run incident. As officers searched, police said, they were told by a homeowner that someone had forced entry into a home. The location was in the Vienna area. The St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and public school system said in a statement that various threats of mass violence had been made on social media and on text messages at some schools in that area. None of the threats were considered sustained or credible, police said. White said in the statement that he first learned of the crash after spotting damage to the front end of his vehicle Tuesday morning and called police, believing another vehicle had struck his while it was parked. He said in the statement that police told him his vehicle had been involved in an earlier crash. In another case, Leesburg Police said they received a call Tuesday afternoon about a man inside Tuscarora High School who was carrying a holstered gun. Police came to the school and talked to Mi-Allah Justice Grant, 18, of Lucketts, Va., who told them he was a recent graduate of the school and a military boot camp program and that he had come back to speak with students about joining the military. Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) is not ready to rescind on its decision not to present Governor Rochas Okorocha with the Senate Certificate of return. Speaking on live televisionChannels today, Festus Okoye, the electoral umpires director of voter education shared that INEC has investigated the claims that he was declared winner under duress and its true. His full declaration: Fenwick St., 41500 block, March 11. A man was arrested after he backed into a persons vehicle in a parking lot and sped off. He then failed to stop for police, crashing through a closed gate at a business, destroying the gate, and landed the disabled vehicle in a ditch. While officers searched for him in the woods, he attempted to enter a marked police cruiser, then fled. Police located the 18-year-old Leonardtown man and charged him with attempted motor vehicle/unlawful taking, malicious destruction of property, attempting to elude police in an official police vehicle by failing to stop, and failure to stop after an accident involving damage to an attended vehicle. Among them: how new automated features of the plane were tested, certified, and integrated; what safety assumptions led to the FAAs decision not to revise pilot training programs and manuals to reflect the automated features; how the FAAs delegation of authority to Boeing may have affected the certification process; and what corrective actions have been taken since the initial accident in October 2018. He does have a good story to tell in Virginia, she said. The question is whether thats enough for a primary electorate that is looking for the candidate who can beat Trump, which in many ways is the candidate who is not going to come with a lot of baggage. . . . Show me how you can beat Donald Trump when he runs an ad showing you hugging Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton? Tell me how youre going to fight the perception that you arent simply part of the dreaded establishment and the swamp? Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a news conference that monitors show the levels of contaminants in the air are safe and that the plume coming from the site in Deer Park, southeast of Houston, is reaching at least 4,000 feet and staying high enough that the air quality at ground level is safe. Serial stowaway sentenced to probation: A woman who's been dubbed a serial stowaway was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to sneaking past Chicago airport security last year, boarding a plane and flying to London without a ticket. As part of her plea deal, Marilyn Hartman, 67, can't go to Chicago's O'Hare or Midway airports without a ticket. Her plea to a criminal trespassing charge is the latest chapter in a story that's played out over the past decade in Chicago, Hawaii, San Francisco, Florida and elsewhere. Hartman has been caught in and near airports dozens of times and made it onto planes maybe a half-dozen times. Authorities have said she boarded the flight to London by walking past two British Airlines ticket agents who were checking other passengers. She was arrested after her London trip and was free on bond in January 2018 when she was again discovered wandering at O'Hare. This time, a judge ordered her held without bond, and she was later found unfit for trial. Hartman spent time at a state mental institution. Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos during the March 9 Governorship and House of Assembly poll, Jimi Agbaje, has announced his defection from PDP to the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) today. He said he is leaving PDP over an unresolved disagreement between him and the leadership of the party in the state. He added it is necessary for him to leave this party following a series of allegations levelled against him after PDP lost the governorship election. Nigerians in their reactions have called him a mole planted by APC in PDP in the last 12 years. Reactions: Either Jimi Agbaje leaves PDP or stays on is irrelevant at this point, the last results have shown that PDP needs someone like Gbadamosi or a fresh face devoid of voluble and aphoristic mien who can serve as a rallying point. Dalighieri (@bunmola2010) March 20, 2019 Jimi Agbaje has done well for the APC He held the uncontested guber place for 12 good years He has made competition irrelevant in Lagos Demola Adetona (@DemolaExpoze) March 20, 2019 After sowing serious seeds of discord and hatred between Igbos and Yorubas in Lagos,Jimi Agbaje is leaving PDP. If ever he is allowed into APC,I will invite Nnamdi Kanu to join too let the madness begin https://t.co/iEdY7UBnE3 Udeagha Nwosu (@boddos68) March 20, 2019 https://twitter.com/MOnwuasoeze/status/1108298550205710336 Were all impacted, even when theres an attack on the other side of the world, she said. Just the image of somebody doing something that terrible affects people. . . . I hear a loud noise and I put the thought of a gunshot out of my mind. The fact that I have to do that is interesting. The fact that I have to tell myself, Thats a balloon. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, makes remarks when presiding over a symposium for teachers of ideological and political theory in Beijing, capital of China, March 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Sheng Jiapeng) BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday stressed efforts to implement the Party's education policy and foster virtue through education with the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when presiding over a symposium in Beijing for teachers of ideological and political theory. Efforts should be made to foster a new generation of young people capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation, and those who have all-round moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetical grounding with a hard-working spirit, Xi said. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, attended the symposium. Being committed to the great cause of the Chinese nation, the Party must nurture generations of talent who support the leadership of the CPC and the country's socialist system and devote their lives to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Xi noted. Xi said that it is essential to gradually open and upgrade ideological and political theory courses in primary, secondary and tertiary schools, which is an important guarantee for training future generations who are well-prepared to join the socialist cause. He stressed that the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era should be used to educate people and guide students to strengthen their confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to boost patriotism. Xi said the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to education. "We are fully confident of and capable of running ideological and political theory courses better," he said. The key, Xi said, lies in teachers, adding that it is crucial to give full play to teachers' enthusiasm, initiative and creativity. He said ideological and political theory teachers must have strong political integrity, deep feelings, creative thinking, broad vision, be disciplined and upright. Stressing the innovation of ideological and political education, Xi instructed teachers to improve the ideological and theoretical level of the courses and make the courses r to students and more focused. The ideological and political courses should deliver the country's mainstream ideology and directly respond to false ideas and thoughts, he said. He ordered Party committees at all levels to put this work high on agenda and to push forward the project to coordinate the design of ideological and political courses at primary, secondary and tertiary schools. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Lagos state, Jimi Agbaje, has debunked reports that he has left the party. According to the three-time governorhip candidate of the party, no one can force him to leave PDP. His position was made known in a statement by Felix Oboagwina, his Director of Media and Publicity. I have never discussed with anyone any plan to dump PDP, neither has such a prospect crossed my mindThere is no reason for it. It is uncalled for, he said. According to Agbaje, rumour mongers who want to tarnish his reputation, are responsible for the claims. He also made it clear that he wouldnt leave the party, despite his disagreement with some party leaders. For a party that has twice accorded me the honour of running on its platform, I should be regarded as uncharitable to say I am abandoning PDP now, he added. Suffice to say that Chief Layi Ogunbambis claim of being denied funds as Director-General of Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council in Lagos State amounted to attempting to build something on nothing. For starters, the position he lays claim gives him no locus standi as no such formal position existed in the entire campaign structure of PDP in Lagos or any of the other 35 states. On campaign funds disbursement, and allegations of pilfering funds, Agbaje said: I, as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Lagos, was Chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign in Lagos. Mr. Leke Osikoya was the State Campaign Director. The national body recognised and related with us accordingly. The title of Director General was reserved for the national campaign council. If there was an Atiku/Obi Presidential Campaign it would have, at best, been a Support Group. Dr. Ogunbanmbi also went to the extent of stating his contributions financially and policy wise to my campaign. This is news to me. May be he should tell the world his financial contributions to my campaigns. There is no time I have ever sat with Dr. Ogunbanmbi to discuss policy issues. I was not given one kobo by the party or the PDP Presidential Candidate for the gubernatorial elections. We ran our campaign from beginning to end on a shoe-string budget. You cannot steal or divert what is not given. So we should take a moment to note that this was, for us, a good sign: Anti-Irish bigotry is now so alien to most Americans that it no longer occurs to them to think of us as a minority group who might suffer from stereotyping. This lack of delicacy justifiably irks those who actually faced down those prejudices but it is probably the price of raising a generation who has never heard an anti-Catholic or anti-Irish slur used in earnest by someone who mattered. But donors are within their rights to redirect giving to other charitable organizations. Its true that the liability of public schools is limited by many states laws, but they also are more accountable in that school board members can be voted out of office and school superintendents can be fired. And while the Catholic Church has implemented some reforms, many in its hierarchy seem barely to acknowledge the scale and scope of the churchs problems with coming to terms with abuse. People are only beginning to understand the threat posed by cattle, a docile-looking but murderous beast that tramples, gores or otherwise kills, in cold blood, 20 people a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found way more than are killed in shark attacks. Cattle burps and flatulence are the largest component of livestocks 14.5 percent share of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the United Nations as much as the entire transport sector. And then there are all the dangerous illnesses cows spread, such as lactose intolerance. The March 17 editorial A need for peace argued that a separate deal would cripple the Afghan governments leverage in peace talks. The dysfunctional, corrupt Afghan government has had more than 17 years to reach a deal with the Taliban, and at some point we need to realize it is either unwilling to make or incapable of making the tough choices needed to end the war. Mr. Kadyrov has been sanctioned by the U.S Treasury Department under the Magnitsky Act, but that doesnt seem to have slowed him down. He has been cutting deals with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have invested heavily in Chechnya. A resolution passed by Congress this month urges the State Department to investigate all business activities and any entities controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov . . . outside the Russian Federation. It wont be surprising if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose critics also have turned up dead or in prison, turns out to be one of those propping up Chechnyas despot. There are good reasons for doing so: Able defense lawyers are essential to the functioning of the adversary system. They ensure that the government meets its burden of proof, which ultimately protects all of us. It is especially important to hold the government to its burden when the accused is a social pariah, as Weinstein has become. He is the galvanizing force behind the #MeToo movement and has become the face of predatory rape. The rush to judgment against Weinstein has been swift and harsh. No one is sticking their neck out for him. (Weinstein has denied all of the charges.) Trump himself offered France an unsolicited lecture on Saturday, ridiculing the French government over arson and looting in Paris. How is the Paris Environmental Accord working out for France? the president tweeted. After 18 weeks of rioting by the Yellow Vest Protesters, I guess not so well! A similar intervention by Trump in December prompted Frances foreign minister to tell French television: We do not take domestic American politics into account, and we want that to be reciprocated. I say this to Donald Trump, and the French president says it, too: Leave our nation be. Udo Udoma, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udoma, has revealed that the Federal Government would go into negotiations with pensioners after the bill on the new National Minimum Wage is approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is coming on the heels of the approval of a new N30,000 minimum wage by the Senate. And although Coxs Bazar remains a haven for the refugees, the political trend in Dhaka is worrisome. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Dhaka might soon begin to take unilateral action to incentivize Rohingya refugees to return into the arms of Myanmar by looking to create some kind of hostile environment in and around the refugee camps. The international community needs to be aware of the fact that the situation is once again looking to take a turn for the worse and should intervene to help Bangladesh sustain the refugees and reward it for the good it has done so far. ORourke is a planetary and existential sort of guy, someone for whom Have a nice day doesnt begin to get at the level of joy we ought to have during our time on this Earth. He exudes energy, optimism and confidence laced with the requisite quotient of self-criticism. This Democrat is eager to make clear that he hates a politics rooted in trashing enemies. And while everything about him looks spontaneous, he speaks in the brisk, well-formed sentences that could come only from someone who knows how this game is played. Another wealthy possible candidate, former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, recently has been the focus of skepticism and not just because he proposes running as a centrist independent. Schultz, on a book tour the past couple of months, has spoken of his childhood growing up in a Brooklyn housing project and his familys dire circumstances. In his book From the Ground Up, he describes a noisy, smoke-and-alcohol-infused household often filled with poker players who kept him up late and his family afloat during destitute times. But two of his trials the only ones in which more than one African American sat on the panel resulted in hung juries. In three other trials, convictions were overturned because of misconduct on the part of District Attorney Doug Evans that violated the Supreme Courts ruling in Batson v. Kentucky, which says that jurors may not be dismissed because of their race. In that vein, the panels questions are likely to differ slightly, with the Intelligence Committee focused on Russia and the Judiciary Committee asking about possible obstruction. Sater, for example, could be asked about whether he was ever instructed to lie or mislead to protect Trump regarding the timing of the 2016 Trump Tower Moscow talks. Later in the exchange, which was captured by CNN and other national media, King added: Ive long said that a baby can be lifted out of a cradle anywhere in the world and brought into any home in America, whatever the color of the folks in that household, and they can be raised to be American as any other. Explain that, because my voters dont get it, and I dont get it, Trump said. Now, at the same time, let it come out. Let people see it. Thats up to the attorney general . . . and well see what happens. This is not the first time in recent weeks Clyburn invoked Nazi Germany. During an interview after the broad condemnation of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) over comments she made about Israel that many interpreted as anti-Semitic, Clyburn defended her and said her experience as a refugee is more personal than that of children of Holocaust survivors. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has commended the Senate for the approval of the new N30,000 minimum wage. Following months of negotiations, Senators finally approved the new minimum wage after hearing the recommendations of the Minimum wage Committee on Tuesday. NLC praised the efforts of the senators in ensuring that the lives of Nigerians are improved upon by approving a new minimum wage. NLC also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to hasten up to sign the bill into law. NLC revealed that despite the approval, the struggle still remains energized until the implementation of a new minimum wage before the celebration of workers day. This week alone, the degree to which she has painted herself into a corner has become more vividly clear than ever. On the one hand, she is handcuffed by a ruling by John Bercow, the colorful and independent-minded speaker of the House of Commons, who said Monday that she cannot bring the exit agreement back for a third vote without substantial changes. She had planned to try that third vote Tuesday. Now its not clear when that will happen. Trump did go negative at some points, however, including five minutes at the start of his speech disparaging the late senator John McCain. He railed against the media and said former president Barack Obama and Crooked Hillary could not have achieved what he has. He even made fun of Michael Dukakis, who famously posed inside a tank for a picture when he was the Democratic nominee for president in 1988, an image that looked so foolish that some say it cost him the election. During a tour of the plant, which manufactures tanks, Trump turned down an offer to get in one because of Dukakis. Trump Jr. said the Brexit process should be over by now and that May erred by not taking his fathers advice on how to sever ties. May has said that Trump advised her to sue the E.U. rather than enter into what became protracted negotiations. The Israeli attorney general notified Netanyahus legal team last month of plans to charge the prime minister with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three criminal cases, pending a hearing in which he can present his defense. The accuracy of the U.S. militarys drone strikes in Somalia has come under increased scrutiny since President Trump relaxed rules of engagement there in March 2017, when he declared the southern part of the country an area of active hostilities. Since then, the number of strikes carried out by Reaper drones and manned aircraft has dramatically increased, as have worries about a possible civilian toll. Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central has described the statement of Governor Yari of Zamfara State as a true reflection of the security situation of the country. Governor Yari on Tuesday revealed that the bandits raiding in the North Eastern parts of Nigeria are more equipped than the Nigerian military. This prompted the reaction from Shehu Sani. Sani pointed out that the failure of the Federal Government to provide a rebuttal to the message of the Chairman of the Governors Forum is a true sign of the security situation of the country. He said; You, the public, have had enough, she said. You are tired of the infighting. You are tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows. Tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our childrens schools, our National Health Service and knife crime. You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. The move fell short of an outright expulsion, sought by some within the center-right European Peoples Party, and Orban painted it as a compromise he had a role in shaping. But it was still the strongest move against him from a political group that until now had done little to condemn his use of anti-Semitic imagery, his steady erosion of democratic institutions and his disdain for what Europe has often said are its core values. Last week, a Pakistani national the daughter of one of the victims had asked the court to allow witnesses from Pakistan to depose before it. Her application said that no proper summons had been sent to the witnesses. The investigating agency opposed the request saying they had sent summons through diplomatic channels on three occasions but had received no response. On Wednesday, the court dismissed her request before pronouncing the verdict. A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC and a former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, has debunked claims hes in Kano state, to help Governor Umar Ganduje rig thr forthcoming supplementary elections. The former governor said this, while reacting to a trending photo of himself and the Kano state governor with rumours that he has travelled to the northwestern state to influence the outcome of the supplementary election saying it is the handiwork of rumour mongers. Tinubu in a statement via the head of his media office, Tunde Rahman, urged Nigerians to disregard any report to the contrary as they are just the lies and mongering of those whose love and support for democracy are much less than his. See part of the statement below For the record, Asiwaju is not in Kano and has not been in Kano at any point during the conduct of these elections. The picture that these liars are circulating of Asiwaju and Governor Ganduje is one that was taken last year when the governor visited Lagos. The fear-mongers know the picture is old and was taken in Lagos. They still use it because their relationship to the truth is an adversarial one. Scratch a liar and you will find a hypocrite as well. Regarding the people of Kano, Asiwaju has nothing but the utmost respect and admiration. Kano has historically stood as a bastion of progressive politics. Its brand of politics helped inspire the establishment of the APC. Kano has an enlightened electorate that will vote as they believe. Asiwaju hopes that they will disregard the lies and rumors about him and remain faithful to their progressive tradition. WFP is starting food distributions in Dondo today outside Beira, said Deborah Nguyen, part of the WFP response in the port city. Communities stranded by floods in Buzi and surroundings are being rescued by helicopters to Beira for now, she added, referring to the area across the river from the port where thousands of people are believed to be stranded and which the United Nations has warned risks being submerged. Imagine how deeply emotional the video of this right-wing terrorist attack is to many people who have nothing to do with terrorism, then imagine what affect it might have on people who already think the West is at war with their religion, said a North African intelligence official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak in public. US securities regulators countered Tesla CEO Elon Musk's contempt-of-court defence, writing in court papers that he brazenly disregarded a federal judge's order and that one of his arguments "borders on the ridiculous." Tesla founder and former chairman Elon Musk. Credit:AP Lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a response to Musk, wrote that when the contempt motion was filed in February, Musk had not had a single tweet approved by a company lawyer, violating a requirement of a court-approved settlement order. The October securities fraud settlement stemmed from tweets by Musk in August about having the money to take Tesla private at $US420 per share. But Musk didn't have the funding secured. Tesla and Musk each had to pay $US20 million ($28.2 million) in fines and agree to governance changes that included Musk's removal as chairman. SEC lawyers led by Cheryl Crumpton wrote in a response to Musk's defense that he interprets the settlement order as not requiring pre-approval unless Musk decides the tweets are meaningful to investors. The agency said Musk's argument that tweeting about car production forecasts on February 19 wasn't material information is nearly ridiculous. "His interpretation is inconsistent with the plain terms of this court's order and renders its pre-approval requirement meaningless," the lawyers wrote. Global law firm Jones Day Lawyers has moved into Melbournes Rialto building after leasing a whole floor in the recently-upgraded Collins Street tower. The expanding international legal group first mooted opening a Melbourne branch early last year and has taken a 1000-square-metre lease over the buildings 48th floor to cement its presence in the city. It will replace Shadforth Financial Group, which moved out of the co-owned Grollo Group and St Martins Properties tower to new digs at 161 Collins Street. The Rialto is now bearing the fruit from its refurbishment. The Rialto, now 30 years old, underwent a major refurbishment last year which boosted its status to a 5.5 star NABERS indoor environment rating and added substantial new retail and office space in its ground floor atrium. A 2916 sq m office/warehouse at 7 Brand Road has sold to an investor for $1.85 million on a tight 5.2 per cent yield. Lawson Real Estates Mark Spigelman said the tight yield demonstrates a lack of quality investments being offered in the market. Essendon The retail space at 41 Albion Street sold for $360,000. CVAs Craig McKellar and Oliver Price struck a deal to sell a retail space at 41 Albion Street for $360,000. The 40 sq m shop is leased to Boutique Estate Agents for $19,500 per annum net. It was purchased after auction on a yield of 5.42 per cent. Wantirna An empty old factory at 1, 2 Eastgate Court set a record-breaking price when it sold for $585,000, according to Colliers Internationals Andrew Chrapot and Harry Larwill. The price set at $550,000. We ended up receiving four offers over $570,000 and then Searle Bros Building Contractors came through with a strong offer and short settlement, Mr Chrapot said. LEASES Hawthorn Business accounting software provider Xero has leased a 1450 sq m office at 1A Oxley Road. Gorman Commercials Richard Height brokered the two and a half year lease. This lease now fills the final vacancy for this landlord having leased the adjoining 3700 sq m office at 600 Glenferrie Road to United Petroleum and 1B Oxley Road to to co-working firm Creative Cubes, Mr Height said. Rents were undisclosed but likely to be in the order of $380 per sq m. Robert Magids Overland Properties owns 745 Springvale Road. Mulgrave Robert Magids Overland Properties has secured two lease deals in separate Mulgrave assets totalling more than 5000 sq m. Dental implant producer Osteon Medical has moved into a 2450 sq m ground floor office at 759 Springvale Road after signing an eight-year lease. The premises were previously occupied by Catch of the Day. And Keysight Technologies has signed a 10-year lease for $240 per sq m over a 1686 sq m office and a 1135 sq m warehouse at 745 Springvale Road. CBREs Elise Betts and Gianni Macdonald negotiated both transactions with Colliers International as conjunctional agents. Melbourne Vita Medical Centre will relocate from Elizabeth Street to King Street in a leasing deal negotiated by Colliers Internationals Stephanie Harding and Jarrod Herscu. Vita secured 57 sq m at 375 King Street on a five-year lease paying $950 per sq m. King and Queen streets are experiencing an influx of retailers who have lost their sites to development and who have been priced out of Elizabeth Street, Ms Harding said. Malvern Board and card games retailer General Games has leased a 160 sq m ground floor shop at 50 Glenferrie Road at a rate equivalent to about $500 per sq m, Josh McMullin from Morley Commercial said. General Games has three other stores in different locations. Mr McMullin said there was still good demand for well-located retail property. Noble Park Property group Centuria has leased 3A, 207 Browns Road to Tomax Logistics. The 4605 sq m industrial property was leased at gross face rent of $85 per sq m on a three-plus-three year basis, Colliers Internationals Gordon Code and Jonathan Mercuri said. Coburg Telco giant Telstra has leased a refurbished shop at 368 Sydney Road in a deal negotiated by Craig McKellar from CVA in conjunction with RE Blue Estate Agents. On the corner of Sydney Road and Harding Street, Telstra took the 70 sq m space for $55,000 per annum. The site has a high volume of passing foot and car traffic with car parking. Hawthorn Sustainable product manufacturer Ecostore has relocated its Australian head office to 74 Burwood Road in a deal negotiated by Colliers Internationals Tom Rothel and John Howell. Ecostore took 164 sq m at rent about $350 sq m net for three years. MOVERS Colliers International has appointed Brad Harding as director of facilities management. Mr Harding was formerly with Knight Frank. At the same time Matthew Mariani has joined the firm, based in Chadstone, as associate director of real estate management. CBRE has expanded its specialist retirement and healthcare valuation team, appointing Mars Njoo. Mr Njoo, with 11 years of valuation experience, joins from Cushman & Wakefield. Retail giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has moved into the residential build-to-rent sector after forming a new partnership worth 750 million ($1.2 billion) adjacent to Westfield Stratford City in London. In a tie-up to be called Cherry Park Partnership, it is with the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board and global real estate company QuadReal Property Group. Construction work is set to start in the second quarter of 2019, with a phased completion and a delivery expected post 2023. The Westfield Stratford City centre in London will see new apartments developed nearby as build-to-rent. Credit:Bloomberg The Cherry Park Development will feature about 1200 new homes with amenities including a residents gym, swimming pool, workspace and high-quality public areas. These will be rented instead of owned by tenants. A writer who responded to the New Zealand massacre by noting that "everything [shooter Brenton] Tarrant identifies as qualities of a disintegrating Western civilisation is true" and an academic who runs a fan blog dedicated to right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos are some of the "distinguished visiting speakers" being promoted by the controversial Ramsay Centre. The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, which recently signed an agreement with the University of Wollongong to begin offering a new Bachelor of Arts in Western Civilisation, has come under fire for including The American Conservative editor Rod Dreher and University of Chicago academic Rachel Fulton-Brown on its 2019 lecture series speakers list. An academic who runs a fan blog dedicated to right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who was banned from Australia following his comments on the New Zealand massacre, is on the Ramsay Centre speakers list. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In an article on Tarrant's manifesto, a 74-page document which was published online and sent to New Zealand politicians in the minutes before Mr Tarrant killed at least 50 people in a mosque in Christchurch, Mr Dreher writes: "Its a chilling document, for a couple of reasons. First, its grounded in both paranoid, racist grievance, and legitimate, realistic concerns. "You may think that declining numbers of ethnic Europeans is a good thing, or something that has no particular moral meaning. But it really is happening," Mr Dreher writes in the article that was published on Friday afternoon under a screenshot from a video of the massacre filmed by Tarrant and disseminated online. A diamond ring that once belonged to a woman who has been missing from the state's north-west since 1982 could hold clues to her disappearance, police say. Police released images of the ring as investigators prepared to launch a forensic excavation at the Walgett property where Roxlyn Bowie was last seen alive nearly 37 years ago. Missing mother Roxlyn Bowie with one of her children before her 1982 disappearance. During a search of the home and yard on Wednesday, experts determined that a patch of ground beside the house required further examination. The land will be excavated and forensically examined from Thursday. Alliance chair Kim Dravenieks, a former co-ordinator of the Rethink the Link group which rallied against the Perth Freight Link and Roe 8, believes there is an opportunity, with the view of whats happening with our shipping infrastructure, to actually say whats happening with WA. Loading Currently, Fremantle Port is WAs only container terminal, handling about 1000 ships and more than 700,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. Outer harbour operations already in place in Kwinana handle bulk such as minerals, grains, and petroleum while Bunbury currently accommodates bulk and is also a passenger port for cruise ships. Fremantle also handles bulk and general cargo, including livestock and vehicles. Its southern Victoria Quay is a passenger terminal. Eight options outlined in the Westport taskforces mid-term progress report in December range from working with whats already established in Fremantle and transitioning to either Bunbury or Kwinana over time, to de-industrialising the port completely, or alternatively keeping Fremantles title as WAs only container port. Westport's independent chair Nicole Lockwood is upfront that the earliest an outer harbour could be delivered in WA would be 2030, but depending on whom you ask government should already be planning. Just how fast is Fremantle expected to grow? A Deloitte Access Economics forecast for Westport looking ahead 50 years has predicted a long-term average annual growth rate of 2.8 per cent for container trade at Fremantle Port. The Westport interim report noted containerised trade had increased by 7.5 per cent from 2016/17-2017/18, but as Ms Lockwood points out, that 50-year outlook smooths out short-term peaks and troughs. But its this 2.8 per cent figure which has North Fremantle Community Association convenor Gerry MacGill concerned. A former Fremantle North Ward councillor, Mr MacGill in March compiled a 22-page examination of the history and future of Fremantle Port along with fellow former councillor and resident Ann Forma. While the two are adamantly not anti-port, and wanted to stay out of the heated outer harbour debate, Mr MacGill says a historical lack of planning and environmental or social impact studies was paving the way for more expensive band-aids and higher costs as the port grew. He and Mrs Forma were spurred to compile their submission by the City of Fremantles assertion the port would remain a working container port into the future, before Westport had even delivered its findings. Using Fremantle Ports Authority data spanning decades, Mr MacGill calculated the historical average growth rate to be 6.3 per cent, with even a small departure from the 2.8 per cent figure putting further time pressure on the port, he says. However Ms Lockwood says the forecast would not pan out to be completely accurate it is a long-term average, smoothing short-term peaks and troughs and stage two of the Westport taskforce is peer-reviewing the data to provide more clarity. But the end game of Westport is to provide government with an interactive model that can be adjusted to give accurate information when called on to plan for WAs port future. What we want to make sure at the end of this ... that resource is there and it is ready to use at any point the government needs it. Westport taskforce independent chair Nicole Lockwood Were building all of our options out of a geo-spatial framework, and that allows us to input all of the data electronically and it will actually show us what needs to happen by when, Ms Lockwood says. If after two or three years its clear that weve had a big spike, [the government] might say OK well lets re-forecast and lets now put in this growth rate, what does that then do? What we want to make sure at the end of this is that no matter what the answer, that resource is there and it is ready to use at any point the government needs it. Fremantle has the capacity, but access is key The pressure on Fremantle Port comes largely not from the ports capacity itself, but from the infrastructure tasked with bringing trade in and out of the harbour. Were very comfortable that the port asset itself has room to grow and the ports done a great job of that really we need to decide what capacity we need to grow the road and the rail network in, Ms Lockwood says. Its a point the union also argues in pushing against an outer harbour Fremantles inner harbour can handle plenty more trade, it says, and thats without infrastructure upgrades. Last year the port in Sydney traded 2.4 million TEUs for a population of around 5.5 million, so Perth has quite a long time before we reach that population and max out our current port facilities, West Coast branch secretary Chris Cain says. Part of the solution, the MUA believes, is to grant the two current stevedoring operators at the port two seven-year lease extensions, and replace the ageing Fremantle Traffic Bridge recently listed as a national priority by Infrastructure Australia to include a dedicated freight rail line. Increasing the number of TEUs in and out of the port via rail has helped mitigate the growth of trucks navigating the congested roads in and out of the north quay. But a further increase in rail movements is constrained by the single bridge across the Swan River, shared by both freight and passenger trains. With regular rail services ferrying passengers from Fremantle to Perth and vice versa, there is little time for freight movements during the day. Ms Lockwood says the rail bridge was a critical component, and a government rail subsidy had paid dividends in the shorter term the rail share was this month at 22.9 per cent, the highest in the country and highest Fremantle has ever seen. One of the options is to duplicate that bridge, which provides a dedicated freight path, which would definitely provide us an uplift, she said. Loading From Westports perspective, growth going through rail is preferable to through the road. The road problem, Ms Lockwood says, is much more difficult. A planned upgrade to High Street, including the Stirling Highway intersection, was recommended for approval by the EPA only last month. It will help, but incremental improvements to the key route into Fremantle Port are what Ms Lockwood and her team are modelling. Truck movements, Ms Lockwood says, are often constrained to when customers want their freight delivered. Currently the majority of trucks operate between 6am and 6pm on weekdays. The biggest constraint at the moment is really the market and what its asking for, and the scale of Perth as well and how much these activities are happening at night and theyre not really, she says. To take advantage of quieter roads at night, there needs to be distribution centres happy to take goods out of hours, and technology is slowly curbing emissions and noise from trucks a point of contention for residents living close to Tydeman Road, a key access point to the North Quay. Spreading the container traffic is not going to be an easy job, Mr MacGill notes. You do hear it overnight ... [trucks] take no notice of the sign saying respect residential areas, you can hear them changing down as they cross [Stirling Highway] bridge. Its on this point many parties agree about the challenge faced at Fremantle the port has capacity, but the road and rail infrastructure is the weak point in the chain. The incendiary Perth Freight Link and Roe 8 proposals sought to address this problem of road and rail infrastructure, and a 2014 AECOM report found several road and rail upgrades and tweaks could have provided for a throughput of around 2.1 million TEUs a year at Fremantle Port. But, in citing that study, Westports interim report states; it is important to note that the road network envisaged by the 2014 report is no longer state government policy. In arguing an outer harbour is not needed, the MUA points out logistical efficiencies have seen about 580 fewer trucks a day visiting Fremantle Port, compared to 2014, despite a 10 per cent growth in trade. This is a bigger reduction than what the Perth Freight Link would have delivered, they say. For Mr MacGill, who has lived in North Fremantle for 40 years, there is no issue keeping the port as a working container port for decades to come as long as government, both local and state, plan accordingly. What we note in our look through the history was that never in half a century of container port development has there been a single environmental impact study of any kind, he says. National security agencies are reviewing whether it is safe for Australians to travel to Gallipoli for Anzac Day services, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison considers expelling Turkey's ambassador over "highly offensive and highly reckless" comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan overnight. Mr Morrison met the ambassador, Korhan Karakoc, at Parliament House on Wednesday morning and asked for Mr Erdogan to withdraw his remarks. Prime Minister Scott Morrison Credit:Peter Rae Mr Morrison was wary of heightening tensions just one month out from Anzac Day, but told reporters that Turkey's official safe travel status was under review just weeks before hundreds of Australians are set to flock to the country for memorial ceremonies. "They insult the memory of our Anzacs," Mr Morrison said. "It was highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless." Prime Minister Scott Morrison says an eight-year-old report claiming he once urged the Coalition to score political points with Muslim immigration is an "ugly and disgusting lie". The story, which was published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2011 when Mr Morrison was Tony Abbott's immigration spokesman, has been widely shared after TV host Waleed Aly alluded to it during an editorial about Friday's shooting massacre at two mosques in New Zealand. After intially declining to comment when the story was published, the Prime Minister later denied he told shadow cabinet to capitalise on the electorate's concerns about "Muslim immigration", "Muslims in Australia" and the "inability" of Muslim migrants to integrate, but on Wednesday went on the attack when pressed again over whether he made the comments. "It is a disgraceful smear and an appalling lie," Mr Morrison told ABC TV, noting he had a history of working with the Islamic community as a public figure. Turkeys leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an authoritarian populist who routinely exploits religion for political value in his country. If theres any doubt that his ridiculous remarks to supporters were driven by local elections, it is put to rest by a comparison with the far more restrained remarks about Christchurch he made to an American audience via an op-ed in The Washington Post yesterday. This dissonance sums up Erdogan: the leader of a NATO member who can nonetheless find it within himself to tell a political rally that Australia and New Zealand fought Turkish troops at Gallipoli because "were Muslim and theyre Christian". Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech at an election rally. Credit: Its revolting conduct at a time when other world leaders are trying to soothe differences and encourage harmony in the wake of the Christchurch massacre. The accused Christchurch killer was "on the way to a further attack" when he was arrested by police, according to Police Commissioner Mike Bush. "We strongly believe we stopped him on the way to a further attack," Mr Bush said at a press conference, "So lives were saved by our staff" who were "courageous in their intervention". The two officers who made the arrest have been hailed as heroes, given the shooter was still armed and home-made bombs were found in the car. Bush said police knew where the gunman was heading, but declined to comment further as the accused has been charged and a prosecution process is under way. Christchurch: More families are beginning the painful process of burying the dead in Christchurch as the community has gathered to farewell the first victims of the mosque terror attack. A woman gets some water after being overcome during the funerals. Credit:Jason South Thirty bodies had been formally identified by Wednesday afternoon and could be returned shortly, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said as the first victims were laid to rest. Zahid Mustafa, 13, in a wheelchair recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg, tried to stand for prayers as his father Khaled and older brother Hamza, 15, became the first buried. Within hours another four victims were buried. BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping stressed firm implementation of major reforms at the seventh meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform Tuesday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the central committee for deepening overall reform, presided over and addressed the meeting. Xi stressed efforts to fix the problem of formalities for formalities' sake at the grassroots level through reform, continue to strengthen people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, and unswervingly promote the implementation of major reform policies and measures. Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the reform committee Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng also attended the meeting. Participants agreed that to reach a new stage in the large-scale development of the western region, measures should be taken to focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness. The meeting decided to prioritize ecological and environmental protection and stick to a new path featuring environmental protection and green growth in the western region development. With joint development of the Belt and Road playing a leading role, the country should accelerate cross-border route and regional hub construction as well as improve the infrastructure network, for a high level of opening-up and economic development. The meeting also stressed efforts to promote high-quality development and coordinate economic and social development of the population, resources and environment in the western region. Stating that higher education and research institutes serve as important forces in the process of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and making China a country of innovators, the participants underlined efforts to streamline management procedures for science and technology projects and reform the system on approval and enforcement of major science and technology projects. Participants agreed that efforts should be made to promote further integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy, deepen reform and innovation, optimize the institutional environment and boost the innovation vitality of enterprises. The meeting also stressed strengthening and improving rural governance, calling for the establishment of a law-based modern rural social governance model under which Party committees exercise leadership, the government assumes responsibility, non-governmental actors provide assistance, and the public gets involved. Efforts are needed to deepen the integration and sharing of public resource trading platforms, innovate the transaction supervision system, and improve the efficiency and fairness of public resource allocation. The meeting stressed promoting reform in the operation mechanism of the oil and natural gas pipeline network. The country will set up oil and gas pipeline network companies that are state-owned capital controlled and with diversified investors. The country will also work to improve the oil and natural gas resource allocation efficiency and ensure a stable supply of resources. The meeting stressed speeding up the building of a modern public legal service system that covers urban and rural areas with high efficiency, convenience, and equitable access. As for reform on firefighting law enforcement, the meeting stressed efforts to develop new ways of regulation and supervision, strengthen management at the source, further streamline administration and delegate powers, and resolutely remove various unreasonable barriers. The participants called for efforts to defuse prominent tensions and problems and push forward reform in a steady and orderly way as this year will face more challenges and risks in reform and development. A number of documents were reviewed and adopted at Tuesday's meeting. Are you struggling to meet a potential wife in your home country? Are you unsatisfied with your dating life at home? If yes, maybe you should expand your horizons and start looking for love abroad. In most cases, if you target the right countries, you are almost certain to find girls that are much better than the ones you could have hoped for back home. I have traveled to more than 60 countries in the past 4 years and I can tell you exactly where you should start looking for a serious relationship. I know where you will find the prettiest, sweetest, most caring women in the world. I can also tell you what you should be cautious about and how to avoid the most common scams. SeekingArrangement is the #1 sugar dating website in the world - Free to join! In the countries below, even if you are just a regular guy with a normal job and an average look, you should be able to be successful within just a few weeks or months. You can try your luck on the dating sites I recommend (all are free to register) and you will see for yourself. What are the best countries in the world to find a wife? Here are the 10 most recommended countries to find a serious girlfriend or a wife (in no particular order). Philippines If you cant decide whether you prefer Latinas or Asian girls, then maybe you should choose the Philippines. After almost 300 years of Spanish colonization, most Filipinas have mixed blood to a certain extent, making them among the prettiest women on earth . The country is actually the 2nd in the world for the number of International beauty pageants wins (number 1 is Venezuela). Pros: - Beautiful girls who speak excellent English. Fun personalities, hard-working and loyal. - Very family-oriented. - It's relatively easy to date someone out of your league. Cons: - Always focus on women who are either students or who have a normal job. Religion: Mostly Catholic. To meet a Filipina: - If you are in the Philippines: Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Zamboanga Colombia Colombia is certainly the best country in Latin America to find a girlfriend or a wife. The girls are feminine, open-minded, and there isn't too much competition from other guys. They are also attracted to foreigners (especially Europeans). Pros: - In general, Colombian girls have awesome personalities (fun, cheerful, sociable) and sexy bodies. - I found the culture in Colombia quite similar to that of Western countries. The cultural gap is therefore limited. If you choose to bring your future Colombian wife to a Western country, she will adapt easily. - While there are still some safety issues, living in Colombia is pretty nice, especially in Medellin: Cheap, pleasant weather, friendly people, foreigner-friendly. Cons: - Colombian girls are known to be "flaky": They will agree to a date, then cancel at the last minute (or not warn you in advance). It can be quite annoying. - English is not well-spoken (but most girls don't mind teaching you some Spanish). - A lot of Colombian girls have had cosmetic surgery. I'm not a fan. - Some guys I know who are married with Colombian girls have told me that their relationship can be very passionate and intense, with some crazy fights! Religion: Mostly Catholic or atheist (in larger cities). To meet a Colombian girl: - If you are in Colombia: Bogota is the best, then Medellin (most beautiful girls but more foreigners too), Cali (darker girls) and Cartagena (caution: many prostitutes there). - If you are not in Colombia yet: Check Colombian Cupid Vietnam From all the country Ive visited, I would say that Vietnam is where you can most easily date a very pretty girl. There are just so many of them, even the ones selling street food are worth asking out. However, the language barrier can be an issue. Its pretty much impossible to learn Vietnamese, and the majority of local girls do not speak English well. Its not the end of the world, but it means you are limited to communicating with 5% or 10% of the population. Pros: - Pretty girls with a strong character, who value education and family. - Vietnamese girls dont seem to care too much about the age difference. Up to 20 years is fine as long as you can be faithful and support them financially. - Vietnam is cheap and it is a pleasant country to live in. Cons: - Vietnamese girls can be quite conservative. They expect you to marry them, not fool around. - Communication might be difficult and you may have a hard time bonding with your partner. Religion: Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, and Atheist. To meet a Vietnamese girl: - If you are in Vietnam : HCMC (best), Hanoi (more conservative), Danang (less competition) Ukraine Ukrainian Girls on dating sites (like Ukraine Date ) are so beautiful that you might wonder if their photos are fake. I've been to their several times, and I can tell you they are not. If you have an affinity for tall, blonde, slim and white-skinned women, then the country will feel like a paradise. Pros: - Maybe the prettiest girls in Europe, yet quite easy to date - Traditional mentality, strong family values and committed to their marriage (not afraid to make sacrifices) Cons: - Beware of the golddiggers or the ones who just want a visa to your home country. If a girl who is too good to be true likes you suddenly, she is probably faking the romance. Religion: Mostly Orthodox (70%) and Catholic (10%). To meet a Ukrainian girl - If you are in Ukraine: Kiev, Lviv (student town), Odessa (coastal city) Kazakhstan Kazakh model Anelia Moor Im pretty sure you never thought about Kazakhstan to find a girlfriend, right? Thats exactly why you should consider it: Low competition. This is a rather isolated country, rarely visited by tourists, with few expats, and yet girls are among the hottest Ive ever seen. Pros: - Girls are very diverse: Kazakhs (mostly Asian features), Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans, Chinese, etc. - Very warm and charming personalities - An inexpensive and safe country, very pleasant in the summer months Cons: - Not many airlines flying to Kazakhstan so the tickets to go there can be expensive - Very cold weather most of the year - Not easy to meet Kazakh girls if you live abroad Religion: Mostly atheist. To meet a Kazakh girl Its better to go directly to Astana or Almaty Indonesia Ive lived over 6 years in Indonesia so this is the country I know best. Indonesian girls can be wonderful: Generous, caring and fun to be with. I also find them beautiful and exotic. However, you must be careful: Avoid bar girls or professional girlfriends, and focus on the ones with a job. Pros: - You can date way above your league in Indonesia: If you are serious about marriage, you will be very successful, even with girls in their early 20s. - Indonesian girls are very easy-going and uncomplicated (but jealous!) - The Indonesian language is easy to learn - Who doesnt want to move to Bali or retire there? Cons: - Most Indonesian Muslim girls will not marry you if you dont become a Muslim. - As a husband, you will have to help your brides family financially when needed (hospital bills, accidents, education, etc). - Very deep cultural differences between Indonesians and Westerners (but youll need a few years in the country to realize that). - If your Indonesian wife follows you to your home country, she may have difficulties to adapt. On the contrary, it might be difficult for you to find a job in Indonesia or to enjoy living in large Indonesian cities. Religion: 90% Muslim, 10% Christian, Hindu, Atheist. Religion is very important for most Indonesian girls (or, at least, pretending to be religious is important). To meet an Indonesian girl: - If you are abroad, Id recommend using IndonesianCupid or Seeking Arrangement - If you are in Indonesia: Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali. Thailand Even though millions of tourists come to Thailand each year, it is still a good option to find a wife. Of course, you should avoid the bar and club scene, and focus instead on the tens of thousands of normal girls who have day jobs. Pros: - Thailand is easy to visit, cheap, with fairly good infrastructure and many opportunities for foreigners. - There are still plenty of pretty Thai girls who are single and looking for an overseas fiance. - Thailand is richer than neighboring countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, etc. - Most Thai girls speak English Cons: - Most expats I know who are married to a Thai woman complain about money. It seems there is never enough and/or that it is spent too easily - The prettiest Thai girls will date Thai guys from rich families or rich expats. If you are a middle-aged tourist with an average budget, dont get your hope too high. Religion: Mostly Buddhist To meet a Thai girl - If you are in Thailand: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or visit cities in the Isan region (Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen). Avoid Pattaya and Phuket. China There are over 250 million singles in China. Among them, the Chinese girls who are above 30, especially the most educated ones, have a lot of difficulties finding a local husband. They are considered left-overs . For this reason, many are open to dating foreigners. Pros: - Lots of pretty girls, thin, and rather easy to date - Strong family values, hard-working, well-educated - An age difference of up to 15 years in a couple is common and accepted Cons: - The Chinese and the Western mindset are very different so you will need to be open-minded and flexible. - Many dating sites and apps are blocked in China so it limits the number of girls available for chatting. - Living in China is not attractive to many people: Pollution, bureaucracy, difficult language, etc. Religion: Quite diverse but mostly Buddhist, Taoist, Confucianist. To meet a Chinese girl: Brazil Brazil is such a large country, you will certainly be surprised by the diversity of girls there: Black, white, Metis, Asian, etc. It's pretty much like in the States. You will also see huge differences between the South of the country, the North, the Center or the Coastal areas. Pros: - In general, well-educated, smart, financially independent to a certain extent, sexy and outgoing - Very large choice - Almost no cultural gap Cons: - More difficult to date than in the other countries listed here Religion: Catholic, Evangelical To meet a Brazilian girl: If you are in Brazil, the competition is a bit tough in the larger cities (Rio, Sao Paulo) so you may want to visit instead more provincial towns like Goiania, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Curitiba. Russia I have actually never been to Russia, but I met several Russian girls while traveling. Honestly, they couldnt stop complaining about Russian guys and how it was difficult for them to find a decent man. Basically, if you have a good job, if you are manly, if you are romantic and if you are stable, you will be successful with them. Pros: - Tons of girls, especially the ones in their 30-35, who are very interested to meet foreign guys (lots of divorcees or single moms in particular) - Smart girls, educated, who can adapt to moving to a different country Cons: - Not as warm and fun to be with as Latin American or Southeast Asian girls. Religion: 50% orthodox. Quite many atheists too. To meet a Russian girl: - Moscow and Saint Petersburg have more westernized and sophisticated girls. You can also check Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. Uncertainty does create wariness from investors, McHaney says. Especially when its political uncertainty, its something thats hard to predict or model out. He explains that while the investment landscape in the EU has grown rocky over the past year or two, a situation helped nothing by the European Central Bank reducing its forecast, BMO GAM does get the sense that things certainly arent in a terrible position and that a lot of the key indicators have shown signs of somewhat bottoming out. So for an investor looking for long-term exposure, we think Europe still has some good potential opportunities there. As such, McHaney feels investors with long-term windows have little to fear from what may wind up being short-term turmoil; the political decisions being made today will be inevitably be adapted to. At the end of the day, whats going to drive returns is the fundamentals. In the long run it always comes back to that, he says. Capitalizing on those fundamentals is the primary thrust behind BMO GAMs High Dividend Covered Call Hedged to CAD ETF (ZWE). Designed to provide exposure to a dividend-focused portfolio while earning call option premiums, the funds underlying portfolio is yield-weighted and broadly diversified across a number of key sectors, including financials, health care, consumer staples and industrials. Its strict screening process takes into consideration securities dividend growth, sustainability and option liquidity, resulting in investments in quality, cash-generative companies that are well equipped to ride out periods of turmoil. And if there is a prolonged downturn, McHaney says, these are the types of companies that will make it out the other side. In addition to investing in high dividend-paying stocks that generate strong cash flows, investors in ZWE also gain access to the funds covered call overlay. It helps you get paid while you wait, so to speak, says McHaney. We think things are bottoming-out from an economic perspective, but it will be some time before that economy turns around and grows to any significant degree. If you can get paid while you wait through option premiums, as well as through high dividend payment payments, youre sort of half-way to your return expectations without the market going up or down at all. by Richard Coulson The word Brexit only became popular three years ago, meaning Britains exit from the European Union after 42 years. The United Kingdom (UK) of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island is now scheduled to separate or maybe not effective March 29, or maybe at some unknown future date. I certainly cant make sense for Bahamian readers how or why this chaotic outcome is fast approaching or may be resolved. Even Britains smartest pundits and toughest politicians seem baffled by the complexities, while spinning endless speculative theories. But here are some personal observations. After the end of World War II, France and Germany and the other major continental nations recognized that a similar human catastrophe was unthinkable and began to create a unifying structure, initially a piecemeal federation but evolving into precise customs and monetary links and open borders for free migration of their citizens. Clearly the UK, although traditionally remote across the 25-mile wide moat of the English Channel, became motivated to join the European Union (EU). Working in London in the 1970s, I had a front-row seat to observe the unification process. I was fortunate to know Geoffrey Rippon Q.C., the jovial but hard-working House of Commons member who caught the eye of Conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath and was appointed the minister in charge of negotiating the UKs entry into the Common Market, as it was then popularly called. His efforts involved endless hours of meetings back and forth to Brussels exerting his legal and political skills, often relaxing over a late night drink at Annabels with congenial friends. I naturally became an enthusiast for joining, together with most Britons, although the Labour Party voiced token opposition. Thus it was no surprise that on January 1st 1973 The Act of Accession became effective admitting not only the UK but also Denmark, Ireland and Norway to the European Union, and in 1975 a referendum showed UK approval by a margin of 67% , with 66 of 68 constituencies voting in favor. Rippon was knighted for his efforts and upon retirement from active politics was granted a peerage as Lord Rippon of Hexham. In the following years the membership of the Union grew to a total of 28 nations. Skip forward to June 2016, when under political pressures Conservative PM James Cameron called another referendum, rashly assuming that the existing order would prevail. He was wrong. To general astonishment, the UK chose to withdraw from the Union, by a narrow majority of 52% to 48%, and Cameron was forced to resign into political oblivion, succeeded by Theresa May as the new Conservative leader. Why had the UK electorate changed so radically from 1973 to 2016? Voting patterns showed that the bulk of the leave votes was concentrated in a generally blue-collar industrial region of northeast England, (while Scots voters opted heavily to remain). Many old- fashioned insular citizens had become upset with nit-picky regulations imposed by Brussels bureaucrats, but the last straw was the immigration of millions of foreign-language strangers allowed under the European Union open- border policies, allegedly taking jobs and eroding age-age old English customs. The leave leaders adopted a shrewd advertising campaign preying on these fears, using many false or misleading statistics to convince credulous voters. No matter. A bare majority won the day, a British version of Mr. Trumps Make America Great Again faction, and Mrs. May was left with the hapless task of negotiating the complex details of how to leave, none of which was spelled out in the simplistic referendum terms. The most intractable issue has been the 310-mile border dividing Ireland. On one side is Northern Ireland, firmly ensconced within the UK, while on other side is the separate Republic of Ireland, a sovereign nation in the European Community. Theoretically there should be a hard border between the two, but that would mean the destruction of the Good Friday Agreement so painfully reached in 1998 ending the grisly sectarian conflict and encouraging totally free passage, now irreversible for both parties. Mrs. May has never resolved this dilemma, only fudged it with a series of so-called backstop measures. Faced with innumerable views splitting both the Conservative and Labour parties, after nearly three years she has been unable to cobble together a parliamentary majority capable of presenting the national position, just days before the official departure date of March 29. The straightforward path of cancelling the referendum, favored by many Brits, seems politically impossible, although Parliament is said to have supreme powers in the absence of a written constitution. Mrs. May will not propose a no-deal Brexit with its incalculable consequences, so must hastily negotiate a last-minute extension acceptable to all 27 member nations, no easy task. Englands highly literate opinion leaders have had a field day commenting on this debacle. One of the most influential is the on-line InFacts a journalistic enterprise making a fact-based case against Brexit. Its chairman and lead writer is Hugo Dixon, whom I first met as a precocious schoolboy the 1970s, the son of my friends Piers and Edwina Dixon. Piers was briefly a Conservative MP, and Edwina is the flame-haired granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill and now a successful artist in the USA. With this establishment background, Hugo enjoyed a top education, first at Eton then taking a first-class degree at Balliol, the most intellectual of Oxfords colleges. Later, he wrote for the Financial Times, becoming editor of the acute and widely read Lex business column, before going independent. With his kind permission, I provide this acerbic except from his InFacts column of March 14: Weve had three victories in three daysagainst the prime ministers deal, against crashing out with no deal and now for extra time. But like a cockroach her deal is coming back again. And well have to squish it once again. Todays victory wasnt as complete as it might have been. This is because the governments motion proposing a delay to Brexit contained the suggestion that MPs should have another go at passing her deal. . . But the good news is that the motion accepts that government would ask the EU next week for a longish delay if it fails to get through by Wednesday. We would then have enough time to hold a Peoples Vote. The prime minister will of course fight tooth and nail to stop that. Whatever works in the UK Parliamentary system, we in the Bahamas may learn a different lesson from the long-running UK mess. We should be wary of any referendum or plebiscite stemming from the popular will, which can be capricious, misguided or just plain wrong, as with Brexit. With all their faults, our elected legislators give better guidance to public policy. Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier. The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the WeblogBahamas (which has no corporate view). Netiquette Die Kommentare auf weltwoche-daily.ch dienen als Diskussionsplattform und sollen den offenen Meinungsaustausch unter den Lesern ermoglichen. Es ist uns ein wichtiges Anliegen, dass in allen Kommentarspalten fair und sachlich debattiert wird. Scharfe, sachbezogene Kritik am Inhalt des Artikels oder wo angebracht an Beitragen anderer Forumsteilnehmer ist erwunscht, solange sie hoflich vorgetragen wird. Personlichkeitsverletzende und diskriminierende Ausserungen hingegen verstossen gegen unsere Richtlinien. Sie werden ebenso geloscht wie Kommentare, die eine sexistische, beleidigende oder anstossige Ausdrucksweise verwenden. Beitrage kommerzieller Natur werden nicht freigegeben. 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Medical Jobs 2019 For Clinic & Hospital in Saudi Arabia Latest Barkha International Company Medical Posts Saudi Arabia 2021 Medical, health, mbbs, doctors and experienced personnel for the posts of General Physician, General Practitioner & General Nurse required for Clinic & Hospital in Islamabad. How to Apply on Barkha International Company Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted. GREENWICH The developer behind two controversial proposals for apartment complexes on West Putnam Avenue is changing strategies in hopes of gaining approval from the town Planning and Zoning Commission. On Tuesday night, the commission closed public testimony, for now, on the proposals for 500 and 585 West Putnam Avenue. And John Fareri, the projects developer, plans to work with neighbors to address their concerns. Fareri had originally sought final site plan approval for the developments, but he and his representatives changed that strategy to instead seek preliminary approval and delay consideration for final approval until a later date. I think this is a movement in a positive direction, town Director of Planning and Zoning Katie DeLuca said. The commission has yet to vote on moving the designation on the projects from preliminary site plans to a final site plans. Once it does vote, new submissions will be made and public testimony will resume. The commission must approve the final site plans before any construction can begin. Acting Chair Margarita Alban said the commission will send Fareri and his representatives a laundry list of guidance about what they need to do as they seek the final plan approval. Both proposed complexes would set aside apartments for moderate-income housing, which would be set aside for town employees such as police officers, teachers and others providing vital services. But neighbors have expressed concerns about the projects impact on Western Greenwich from the added traffic and congestion. They were also concerned about safety and changes to the neighborhoods character. Fareri has already made several changes to the 585 W. Putnam Ave. proposal, which would have 67 residential units, with 14 for moderate-income tenants. But the development no longer has space for a supermarket but would still include a restaurant and other businesses, most likely a fitness center and a small bank branch. Attorney John Tesei, who is representing Fareri, said those changes would lower the height of the building by nearly 5 feet, addressing a concern from the commission. A planned loading dock for the supermarket was also eliminated. A smaller dock would still be part of the plans to serve tenants. We think this is a win/win for everyone, Tesei said. These changes also address concerns about traffic from the development, he said. But neighbors said the changes were not sufficient. Several said they hoped to take their concerns directly to Fareri as part of the preliminary site plan process. The two rundown vacant buildings should be demolished, but the developers replacement is out of balance and inconsistent with the suburban character of Greenwich, neighbor Tracy Lavery said at Tuesday nights meeting. The density is too much and should be scaled back. We dont need more commercial space in Western Greenwich. U.S. 1 and that part of town should not be defined by auto dealers, mediocre architecture and destruction of environmental features. There is a chance to create a project with better balance, Lavery said, and work should be done to get it right. He added that the neighbors needed to know more about the changes to determine the impact. Several speakers, including Annette Wilson, made that point. Wilson said she hoped for constructive discussions with Fareri. How do we create a modern, inspired look for Western Greenwich that also has commercial developments? she said. I think if the town has a chance to develop some architectural ideas and sit down with Fareri and his design team, we could create a healthy compromise that is something the town can be proud of. Town resident Darryl Marks, who runs in the area, said the increased traffic would have a big impact on the area. He said with highway tolls a possibility, traffic could increase on the Post Road as drivers look to avoid the tolls. Until we know what the state wants to do with tolls ... why would you let someone add more congestion? Marks said. He asked the commission to pay attention to all of the variables that are going to burden this infrastructure. The 500 W. Putnam Ave. project, which drew less public pushback, is slated to be built adjacent to office space already on the property. The proposal includes 35 multifamily apartments, eight of which would be designated as moderate-income units. Tesei and the design team outlined a small reduction of 3,000 square feet for that project to address concerns about how it would fit into the surrounding area. He said the number of housing units would not change. Both developments would include parking garages. The buildings at 585 W. Putnam would be demolished under the plan, and the property would be connected to the nearby Greenwich Office Park, which Fareri also owns. Tesei said the area would also be made more walking friendly and user friendly. He likes the idea of people coming in to enjoy it, Tesei said. Its all part of his master plan, if you will, for upgrading the park and upgrading the area. Allowing the project to move to final site plans is not an approval from the commission. The final site plans will still need to be considered at a later date before any work can begin. When the commission considers the final site plan, Tesei said the developer would have more details about other possible businesses for the complex at 585 W. Putnam Ave. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com GREENWICH A judge has determined that Greenwich school officials must turn over documents they have to a family suing the town of Greenwich over the suicide of their teenage son. But the process of discovery, in which documents, police reports and other evidence is shared, is being contested. Lawyers for the family of Bart Palosz have sought to obtain records from the town and the school district in a wrongful-death lawsuit involving the death of Bart, a 15-year-old boy who killed himself after what his parents say were years of being bullied in Greenwich schools. The Palosz plaintiffs are seeking to obtain information of every incident or alleged incident of physical or emotional bullying, teasing, harassment, ridicule and/or intimidation directed toward Bart Palosz, according to court documents filed in state Superior Court. The Palosz legal team also wants documents related to any incidents in which Bart was harassed at Western Middle School, such as one instance in which he was allegedly tripped by another student. The plaintiffs also want to obtain all Greenwich Police Department reports, statements and documents pertaining or referring to its investigation of Bart Paloszs suicide, as well as his schools records and any internal correspondence about him. The discovery phase of the lawsuit was delayed, while procedural issues around the case went to the states highest court. The towns legal team is raising objections to the release of the documents. The objections filed in Superior Court in Stamford contend that the release could violate the attorney-client privilege, among other procedural issues. The challenge filed by the towns attorney, Harold Friedman, also says the material requested does not accurately characterize the facts of the case. A judge has yet to rule on the objections. The lawsuit was filed against the town and the school board in August 2015, and it claims that the school administration was negligent in its handling of Barts circumstances. Bart shot himself in the head after the first day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High School in 2013. The towns legal staff has denied that school officials acted improperly, according to court documents, and said the other claims in the lawsuit will have to be proven. The towns lawyers said numerous documents have already been turned over. The amount of damages has not been specified. A trial could be held in early 2020, according to the Superior Court case schedule. rmarchant@greenwichtime.com STAMFORD The Board of Ethics has found probable cause that a city engineer failed to follow rules governing conflict of interest when she reviewed project plans submitted by a company that employs her husband. The board found evidence supporting a complaint that Susan Kisken, coordinator of inspections and plan review in the Engineering Department, violated the citys Code of Ethics. Kiskens husband is a principal with Redniss & Mead, a prominent land-use consulting company that brings development projects before the city for approval. The Code of Ethics requires that city employees disqualify themselves from matters that may pose a conflict of interest. Kisken and her attorney, Thomas Cassone, reached an agreement with the Board of Ethics stipulating that from now on any of her work involving Redniss & Mead will be checked by other city engineers, and the city will hire an outside entity to do spot checks to satisfy the city that the firm of Redniss & Mead was not given any material benefit because of the relationship. According to the agreement, Kisken denies that her actions violated either the spirit or text of the code, but she acknowledges that if the matter were litigated, the Board of Ethics could present sufficient evidence to support that an ethical violation occurred. Cassone said Tuesday Kisken never hid that her husband is a principal with Redniss & Mead. She did disclose that. No question. It was known from the day she was hired, Cassone said. It wasnt an issue. Kisken herself worked at Redniss & Mead before taking the city job, Cassone said. The ethics complaint was filed by Sam Magliari who, like Kisken, worked for Redniss & Mead and for the city, where he was an engineering technician from 1986 to 2000. Magliaris complaint says Kisken inspects the work of Redniss & Mead, and reviews their plans, approves their plans, supplies information and orders other employees to provide research information for the company. Magliari sent a letter to the Board of Ethics saying the agreement reached with Kisken is inadequate. It costs taxpayers, Magliari said. The stipulated agreement allows her to continue the work, and it has to be reviewed at taxpayers expense, Magliari said. Its an abuse of our tax dollars. In ethics investigations, the city defends employees and covers their legal costs unless they go to a full hearing and are found to have violated the Code of Ethics. Kiskens case never went to a hearing because she and the board reached an agreement. A spokesman for Mayor David Martin said Tuesday he does not yet have an amount for the legal fees. During the ethics boards deliberations, City Engineer Lou Casolo said Kisken is the sole plan reviewer in the department. Her job is not to approve plans but to make comments on them and send them on to the Zoning Board and Land Use Bureau, Casolo said. Its not just Susans eyes only. There are a lot of other people looking over these development plans, he said. Ethics board Chair Cheryl Bader said she was concerned that lack of staff is not a sound basis for an agreement. It says because we dont have a better solution, it means the conflict is somehow resolved, Bader said. I think the right solution is to have somebody else reviewing plans submitted by Redniss & Mead, Bader said, because Kisken has the ability to influence whether a project goes forward. Cassone reminded the board that there has been no allegation or proof that there has been some material benefit to Redniss & Mead. Through the agreement, we are trying to insert some accountability, Cassone said, to ensure that the citizens of Stamford dont feel that there is any favoritism. There isnt, said Rick Redniss, president of Redniss & Mead, which employs surveyors, engineers, and planning and zoning consultants to help developers launch projects large and small. This is an unfortunate situation, Redniss said. We received absolutely no preferential treatment. In fact a review of our applications ... will show we are held to a higher standard, and are always happy to achieve to that standard. The Kisken case came up Monday night, when Martin held a Mayors Night Out at Twin Rinks on Hope Street, an event videotaped by the Springdale Neighborhood Association and attended by Magliari. Near the end of the meeting Magliari told Martin the agreement is unfair. Martin pointed out that he met with Magliari last fall, when Martin said he learned of a potential conflict of interest in the Engineering Department, and during that discussion Magliari asked him for a job. Martin declined through his spokesman to comment for this story. Magliari confirmed Tuesday that he did ask Martin for a job when they met. I said, How come Im not being hired as a clerk of the works? Magliari said Tuesday. They stop me from being hired. Since I left the city they have discriminated against me. He would not say why he no longer works in the Engineering Department, except that he was forced out. His ethics complaint, however, had merits, according to what Martin told the residents gathered at Twin Rinks. The city will test to see whether there was any material favoritism that might have been awarded to anybody, Martin said. We are changing procedures in the Engineering Department to eliminate any potential conflicts of interest. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296. WESTON Caring for loved ones can often be an overwhelming experience for families, but now a new support group in Weston hopes to ease those challenges. Allison Lisbon, director of social services in Weston, kicked off a caregivers support group at the senior center on March 14. We wanted to bring this to Weston, so it stays local, and that people dont have to drive anywhere else to get the support that they need, she said. While only six individuals attended the first session, Lisbon said she plans to see more people in the future, once word of the group starts to spread. Twice a month, on the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 1 to 2 p.m., people are invited to the senior center to get advice on how to be a caregiver. Due to the sensitivity and privacy of the matter, only those who are caregivers or looking to be a caregiver are allowed to attend the meetings. During the first group meeting, participants primarily spent time making introductions, sharing stories of the people they cared for and the diseases and ailments they suffer from, and the biggest caregiver concerns. Depending on the severity of the ailments, the numerous responsibilities that come with caring for another person can sometimes be overwhelming medication handling, driving to doctors appointments, and being there for emotional support were among experiences shared by the group. Our hope with this group is to establish connections in the community, provide peer support, share resources, provide education and introduce self-care through shared positive experiences and time to focus on the caregivers journey, Lisbon said. Lisbon, the newest addition to the towns Social Services Department, became director this January. Since then, she has been trying to make the Weston community a more comfortable place for residents, and make sure that those needing help are taken care of. There will be a guest speaker at the next group session on March 28, though their name has not been announced. Each month will follow a similar format of the first session being a support group, and the second incorporating a presenter on a relative topic. For information, contact Lisbon at 203-222-2663, or Rose Cruz, assistant social worker at 203-222-2556; or visit www.westonct.gov/townhall/27652/28677/29470 WESTPORT A Connecticut woman is suing Harvard University for the wrongful seizure, possession and monetization of photos that depict two of her slave ancestors, according to a news release. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League school on Wednesday in Massachusetts state court, claiming the university profited from licensing the pictures for years and ignored requests to return them to the family. Lanier plans to discuss the case at a news conference at the Harvard Club in New York City at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, accompanied by her attorneys, civil rights litigator Ben Crump and attorney Josh Koskoff, of Westport. Koskoff also represents families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Remington. Tamara Lanier has accused Harvard University of the wrongful seizure, possession and monetization of photographic images of her great-great-great grandfather, an enslaved African man named Renty, and his daughter, Delia, the release says. The images, believed to be the earliest known photographs of American slaves, were commissioned in 1850 by a Harvard professor seeking to prove the theory, known as polygenism, that racial groups do not share a common origin and thus that Africans and African-Americans are inferior to whites. Because Harvard has ignored repeated requests over several years to stop licensing the pictures for profit and instead return them to the family, Tamara Lanier, Rentys great-great-granddaughter, filed a lawsuit against the university seeking reparations, according to the release. The suit additionally asks Harvard to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for the humiliation of Renty and Delia, and that Harvard was complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery. Associated Press contributed to this report. Oil & Gas Company Jobs 2019 For Saudi Arabia Latest Al Rafay Trade Test and Training Center Labor Posts Saudi Arabia 2021 Experienced and energetic personnel for the posts of General Worker, Multi Welder, Pipe Fitter required for a leading Oil & Gas Company in Saudi Arabia 2019. How to Apply on Al Rafay Trade Test and Training Center Job Advertisement Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online. Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. 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By: Paige Cline Sometimes I am asked to reprint a column from the past. Here[Read More] CALGARY - Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A few shoppers browse the sprawling New Horizon Mall in Calgary on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week.That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place -- at last -- this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley CALGARY - Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week. That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place at last this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group. The Calgary anchor tenant is The Best Shop, which operates a store described as a "Chinese Walmart" in Toronto's Pacific Mall, a similar shopping centre opened by The Torgan Group about 20 years ago. Negotiations are nearing completion for an unnamed second anchor store, which Swirsky said is in food merchandising but not a restaurant or grocery store. "It took two years with Pacific Mall to get to full occupancy and I think we're going to match the same. I think those two anchors are going to provide a major momentum for other tenants to come in," said Swirsky in an interview. Unlike most shopping centres in Canada, about 70 per cent of New Horizon Mall's retail space has been sold to individual investors who have the option of leasing to others or operating their spaces themselves. The rest of the space about 80,000 square feet is being held by the developer for anchor tenants. The mall began allowing tenants to set up their shops in May of 2018 but only nine of its 517 spaces were occupied by last September. It says The Best Shop's opening will take the total number of shops to 73. According to the mall, the store's products will include mahjong tables and an extremely small washing machine that sells for around $100, plus brands such as Haier and Midea that are popular in China but relatively unknown in Canada. It will be the second outlet in Canada. Best Shop is getting about eight months of free rent and financial help with improvements on its 15,000-square-foot space, Swirsky said, adding the mall is also offering to help unit owners cover the costs of bringing in tenants to occupy spaces they own. "Everybody wants the traffic to be there so that when they open the business they have the customers outside the front door," said Swirsky, asked to explain why it's taking so long to fill the mall. "The reality is the more businesses open, the more traffic that will be generated." Tenants at the mall welcomed the anchor signing, while pointing out that rents have been falling steadily since opening due to the lack of customers. "(My rent) is a good deal. I think there could be a better deal," said Ryan Low-On, who said he's negotiating a reduction in the $2,000 per month he pays for his 450-square-foot custom decal and imported products shop opened last summer. "A lot of unit holders here are giving out essentially free rent, just pay condo fees for 12 months." Farther down the echoing hallway, David Chamberlain of Boardgames4Us said he intended to rent out the two 40 square-metre (436-square-foot) units he bought but couldn't find a tenant willing to spend the $6,000 each per month he thinks the spaces should command. Instead, he decided to convert his online board game and puzzle marketing business into physical stores in December. "Right now, I'd say we're still in the perception of the glass is half-empty," he said. "So until we start to get more of the units occupied ... we really won't get the benefit of being near CrossIron Mills." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Alina Wu, who opened a clothing alternations shop on Monday, said she's only paying $1,000 per month for her space. New Horizon Mall is located next to the highly successful CrossIron Mills outlet shopping centre but its location next to a highway in a rural/industrial area is a problem, said retail analyst Maureen Atkinson, a senior partner at J.C. Williams Group of Toronto. "It's based on an Asian model that's not necessarily applicable in Calgary ... The challenge is it's not in the middle of an Asian community," she said. "CrossIron Mills has proven that people will go that distance to shop for something different. But whether this (mall) is strong enough to be able to do that is really very questionable." She conceded that strong anchor tenants will help New Horizon Mall fill its many empty spaces. Follow @HealingSlowly on Twitter. Baltimore has ratcheted up a bitter dispute with the owners of a historic racetrack in an effort to seize a nearly 150-year-old course and block the move of one of America's premier horse races out of the city where it was first run in 1873. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In this May 15, 2018 file photo, people walk outside of a building at Pimlico Race Course as preparations take place for the Preakness Stakes horse race, in Baltimore. Baltimore has ratcheted up a bitter dispute with the owners of the historic racetrack in an effort to seize a nearly 150-year-old course and block the move of one of AmericaAos premier horse races out of the city where it was first run in 1873. Under state law, the Preakness Stakes - the middle jewel of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing - can be moved to another track in Maryland "only as a result of a disaster or emergency." But the Canada-based development company that owns and operates the rundown Pimlico Race Course has made it abundantly clear that it wants to move the storied race out of the city. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) Baltimore has ratcheted up a bitter dispute with the owners of a historic racetrack in an effort to seize a nearly 150-year-old course and block the move of one of America's premier horse races out of the city where it was first run in 1873. Under state law, the Preakness Stakes the middle jewel of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing can be moved to another track in Maryland "only as a result of a disaster or emergency." But the Canada-based development company that owns and operates the rundown Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has made it abundantly clear that it wants to move the storied race out of the city. A lawsuit freshly filed by Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, the City Council and three residents claims that the Canada-based development company that owns the track is "openly planning to violate Maryland law by moving the Preakness to a different racetrack despite the absence of any disaster or emergency, except for the disaster that they are in the process of creating." The Stronach Group is looking at a fresher track it owns in Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County about 30 miles (about 50 kilometres) south of the Baltimore facility as a better option for the Preakness. It has only pledged to keep the Preakness at the Baltimore track through 2020. In an email seeking comment about the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, the Stronach Group said it "believes these actions are premature and unfounded." Here's what it wants to do: Stronach aims to make some $80 million in improvements to build a "super track" at Laurel Park and company officials are lobbying Maryland's General Assembly to permit funding from gambling proceeds to help realize their vision. Baltimore's lawsuit, meanwhile, asks a court to grant ownership of the Pimlico track and the Preakness race to Maryland's biggest city through condemnation. Baltimore is also trying to prevent the Stronach Group from using state bonds to fund improvements at Laurel Park. The lawsuit accuses the company of essentially manufacturing a disaster by "systematically" underinvesting in Pimlico, instead spending the majority of the state aid it receives on boosting its Laurel track. Hard feelings between Baltimore and the owners of Pimlico had been intensifying before this week's lawsuit. In a February letter to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Maryland lawmakers, Pugh portrayed the Stronach Group as a family business in disarray, noting that the feuding "father, daughter and now granddaughter" were "suing one another in multiple lawsuits." The Preakness saga's latest chapter comes a few months after the Maryland Stadium Authority issued a report saying the Pimlico track should be torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $424 million. It said the rundown condition of the aging Baltimore track presents challenges threatening the "continued existence and the success of the Preakness Stakes," but it also stressed there did not appear to be "situational factors" such as the surrounding city neighbourhood of Park Heights and accessibility issues that would "negatively affect Pimlico Race Course's ability to remain the long-term home" of the Preakness. Pugh strongly endorsed the redevelopment plan recommended by the Maryland Stadium Authority, saying the economic opportunity it would bring could dramatically revitalize an area that's experienced disinvestment for decades. Dubble Trouble A Western Hockey League newsletter by Mike Sawatzky of the Winnipeg Free Press and Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun. Dubble Trouble arrives in your inbox every other Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Hogan appears less than receptive to Baltimore's latest tack, telling WBAL's radio station that "the overwhelming number of people in Maryland don't really care where it (the Preakness) is." "They would just like to keep it in Maryland." Yet the Republican governor also reiterated that he would like to see the major horse race remain in Baltimore. Back in its heyday, Pimlico hosted many of the sport's most memorable races: Seabiscuit's match race with War Admiral in 1938; Man o' War's debut in 1920 with a stunning win over Upset; and Secretariat's last-to-first victory during his Triple Crown run in 1973. Though work crews have found a way to make the track presentable for the Preakness every year on the third Saturday in May, many racing fans have said the need for a dramatic makeover has been blatantly obvious for many years. ___ Follow David McFadden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmcfadd Jan den Oudsten was so attached to the Winnipeg bus company he salvaged from the edge of the scrap heap in the mid-80's that when New Flyer Industries was sold in 2004 by the private equity firm that he had partnered with he couldn't bear to stay in Winnipeg if it meant he was not going to be able to be part of the company he built. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Jan den Oudsten was so attached to the Winnipeg bus company he salvaged from the edge of the scrap heap in the mid-80's that when New Flyer Industries was sold in 2004 by the private equity firm that he had partnered with he couldn't bear to stay in Winnipeg if it meant he was not going to be able to be part of the company he built. Den Oudsten, now 88, is back in Winnipeg this week being honoured by Red River College marking the renaming of the colleges Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre to the Jan den Oudsten Vehicle Technology & Research Centre (VTRC) after den Oudsten and his wife and partner, Maria, donated $1.5 million to Red River College, one of the college's largest ever gifts from an individual donor. This week he's also receiving the Pioneer award from the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporter at a gala dinner on Thursday. Although slowed down a little with some health issues -- den Oudsten now leans heavily on a cane -- he's still sharp and engaged. "I'm very happy the company is still doing well," he said of New Flyer Industries. When he acquired Flyer Industries from the Manitoba government in the mid-'80s for about $1 million there were a couple of hundred employees and a very uncertain future. But den Oudsten knew a lot about buses -- his family owned a bus company in The Netherlands -- and he had some very specific ideas about how to improve the company, that he renamed New Flyer, whose graphic wing logo was the same as that of his family's Dutch company, Den Oudsten Bussen. He is credited with bringing low floor technology to the North American market that is now standard in the industry and was involved in other innovations like the early development of hydrogen fuel cell technology applications and the 60-foot articulated diesel-electric hybrid bus. He said he believes that electric buses are the technology of the future -- "But you still have to figure out how to deal with the batteries," he said -- and remembered that the company built electric trolley buses when he was at the helm. He admits he is not intimately knowledgeable about the goings on at the company, which was recently renamed NFI Group Inc., but said he believes the drop in share price -- NFI shares have lost about half their value over the course of the last 12 months -- is probably more about some previous over-exuberance than anything specific to the company or its market. When they left Winnipeg, den Oudsten and his wife moved to Bragg Creek, in the foothills of the Rockies just west of Calgary where they lived for several years. They also did a stint in Vancouver and recently moved to Toronto to be close to their son as well as travelling to The Netherlands and to their winter home in Curacao. Both he and Maria say their time in Winnipeg was among their happiest. Maria has founded a charitable fund raising organization themed around snowmen after learning to love the snow during her residency in Winnipeg. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Den Oudsten has already been inducted into both the Canadian Urban Transit Association's and American Public Transit Association's Hall and Fame. He grew up in the bus business, the 10th child of 14. His move to Canada and acquisition of Flyer in 1985 came about because of his belief that the family business was too small and would not be able to continue to innovate. Depending on the global economic environment, any growing business will have its ups and downs. After the economic gyrations caused by the Y2K scare and the bursting of the dot.com bubble, the banks were getting antsy and despite the fact that New Flyer's business was going well new equity was required. That's when KPS Special Situation Fund came in to partner with den Oudsten. But the deal required den Oudsten to tender his shares when KPS sold, which came about only 18 months later. They made about 10 times return on that short investment, which meant den Oudsten also walked away a wealthy man. But unlike most of us who would gladly take the money and run, den Oudsten did so with a heavy heart leaving behind a company he built from 150 employees when he started less than 20 years earlier to one that had 2,000 employees. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca COEBURN, Va. - Former coal miner John Robinson's bills for black lung treatments run $4,000 a month, but the federal fund he depends on to help cover them is being drained of money because of inaction by Congress and the Trump administration. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Retired coal miner John Robinson uses a nebulizer during his daily breathing treatments for black lung disease on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 in Coeburn, Va. Robinson was 47 when he was diagnosed with black lung disease, part of a new generation of black lung sufferers who are contracting the deadly disease at younger ages. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) COEBURN, Va. - Former coal miner John Robinson's bills for black lung treatments run $4,000 a month, but the federal fund he depends on to help cover them is being drained of money because of inaction by Congress and the Trump administration. Amid the turmoil of the government shutdown this winter, a tax on coal that helps pay for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund was cut sharply Jan. 1 and never restored, potentially saving coal operators hundreds of millions of dollars a year. With cash trickling into the fund at less than half its usual rate, budget officials estimate that by the middle of 2020 there won't be enough money to fully cover the fund's benefit payments. As a surge of black lung disease scars miners' lungs at younger ages than ever, Robinson worries not only about cuts to his benefits, but that younger miners won't get any coverage. "Coal miners sort of been put on the back burner, thrown to the side," Robinson said recently, sitting at his kitchen table in the small Virginia town of Coeburn, near the Kentucky border. "They just ain't being done right." President Donald Trump, who vowed to save the coal industry during the 2016 campaign, has repeatedly praised miners. At an August rally in West Virginia filled with miners in hard hats, he called them "great people. Brave people. I don't know how the hell you do that. You guys have a lot of courage." Trump made no mention of restoring the 2018 tax rate in his proposed budget released in mid-March. The White House said in a statement Tuesday that "President Trump and this administration have always supported the mining industry by prioritizing deregulation and less Washington interference." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose home state of Kentucky is third in the nation in coal production, told a reporter from Ohio Valley ReSource in October the tax rate would "be taken care of before we get into an expiration situation." Retired coal miner John Robinson displays his mining helmet at his home in Coeburn, Va., on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Robinson was 47 when he was diagnosed with black lung disease, part of a new generation of black lung sufferers who are contracting the deadly disease at younger ages. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) That didn't happen. McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer didn't repeat that pledge this week; rather, he wrote in an email, "benefits provided through the Black Lung Disability Fund continue to be provided at regular levels" and that McConnell "continues to prioritize maintaining and protecting the benefits." Trump and McConnell have reaped large contributions from the coal industry, according to the political money website Open Secrets. Trump received more than $276,000 during the 2016 presidential election from political action committees and individuals affiliated with coal companies. His inaugural committee received $1 million from Joe Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and $300,000 from the Murray Energy Corporation, the nation's largest privately-owned coal-mining company. McConnell received more than $297,000 in coal industry donations since 2014, when he was last up for election. Congress established the trust fund in 1978. Until the rate expired, money came from an excise tax of $1.10 per ton on underground coal and 55 cents on surface-mined coal that brought in $450 million last year. Rates fell to about 50 cents and 25 cents when lawmakers failed to act on its Dec. 31 expiration date. The fund provides health benefits and payments to about 25,000 retired miners. Most worked for companies that are now bankrupt. Many, including Robinson, struggle to breathe as their lungs are slowly stifled by tiny dust and particles trapped there. Robinson was 47 when he was diagnosed, part of a wave of younger miners that doctors and experts say have been swept up in a new black lung epidemic in Appalachia. Robinson, now 53, and others who depend on the fund are disappointed in McConnell and other leaders who typically enjoy miners' support. "I just feel that Mitch McConnell has let the citizens of Kentucky down, especially the miners," said Patty Amburgey, whose husband, Crawford, died of black lung disease at age 62 in 2007. She draws a monthly widow's payment through his black lung disability benefits. "And now there's an epidemic of black lung." Dr. Brandon Crum has watched that epidemic unfold at his Pikeville, Kentucky, radiology clinic. In less than four years, Crum has seen 200 miners diagnosed with a severe form of black lung disease, called pulmonary massive fibrosis. The nation had 31 such diagnoses in the 1990s, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. "We're looking at men in their 30s and 40s on oxygen, being evaluated for lung transplants," Crum said. "Those are usually middle-age individuals with younger families, so it affects their wives, a lot." His findings were published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a December 2016 report that showed a shockingly high level of severe black lung cases at his clinic. Amburgey, of Letcher County, Kentucky, said there will be fewer benefits for the growing number of younger miners with black lung if the fund is depleted. Robinson said he's now worried the trust fund's "pot of money will dry up." West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and other coal-state Democratic senators are pushing a bill to shore up the fund by restoring the larger tax for 10 years. Manchin said in a statement that lawmakers "cannot continue to allow these solutions to be put off again and again." That bill is in a Senate finance committee. The mining industry supported the increased tax rate's expiration, calling the effort to maintain it an unnecessary tax increase. The National Mining Association, which speaks for the industry, says the lower rate "will be sufficient to cover monthly benefit costs for the fund." The group argued extending the rate would lead to job losses. The May 2018 GAO report contradicts that claim, saying the fund's beneficiaries could multiply "due to the increased occurrence of black lung disease and its most severe form, progressive massive fibrosis, particularly among Appalachian coal miners." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The increase in younger black lung sufferers will put more pressure on the fund, as the industry continues to shrink. "I think people always thought they would get (black lung) if they worked long enough in the mines, but I think it's a disease they thought would affect them at the end of their life, in their 70s or 80s," Crum said. Amburgey says Trump reneged on his pledge to support miners. "Mr. Trump promised that he would bring the mines back and take care of the miners, and that is not happening," she said. "He promised us a snowball in July." ___ Follow Lovan on Twitter at twitter.com/dylanlovan OTTAWA - The Liberals will happily run on their economic record in the upcoming federal election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, despite the billions of dollars they've added to the national debt. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canadian finance minister Bill Morneau leaves the stage following an armchair discussion hosted by the Toronto Region Board of Trade, The Empire Club and Canadian Club of Toronto, in Toronto, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston OTTAWA - The Liberals will happily run on their economic record in the upcoming federal election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, despite the billions of dollars they've added to the national debt. At an afternoon stop outside a housing development in Ottawa's eastern suburbs, touting the measures in the new federal budget to make homes more affordable, Trudeau gave what sounded much like a stump speech, talking about "historic investments" in Canadians getting there after dismissing Conservatives' complaints that the Liberals should have to answer more for the SNC-Lavalin affair. "What eats away at the Conservatives the most is that our approach is working," he said. "Over the past three years, 900,000 Canadians created new jobs. Over the past three years, we've seen the lowest employment in 40 years. And we've see 825,000 Canadians, including 300,000 kids, lifted out of poverty because of measures this government is taking. And in this budget we just put forward yesterday, from easier access to home-ownership, to support for students, to money directly for seniors, to investments in broadband and high-speed internet access right across the country, we are responding to the priorities that Canadians have. The Conservatives have no plan for the economy, that's why they want to talk about anything else. We are going to stay focused on delivering for Canadians, as we are today." While Trudeau emphasizes what all the government spending has done, the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer say it's a spree funded by borrowing against the future. Scheer had given a public speech to his caucus members in Ottawa earlier in the day, portraying Trudeau's Liberals as a big-spending government with nothing but disdain for the idea of balanced budgets. During the 2015 campaign, Trudeau warned that a Liberal government would initially run modest deficits, but would balance the books by 2019. That promise went out the window Tuesday with a budget that projects of 2019-20 deficit of $19.8 billion. "During the televised leaders' debate, he said this: 'I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest the way we always have... We will balance the budget in 2019,' " Scheer said to the laughter of his colleagues. "Canadians who don't have family fortunes like him know ... that you can't borrow your way out of debt and you can't make other people pay for your mistakes." Trudeau acknowledged that his government has been borrowing heavily but he emphasized that although the national debt keeps growing, the economy is growing at about the same rate, so the burden isn't getting harder to bear. "Canadians need to know that our projections are sustainable," he said, Finance Minister Bill Morneau made his own post-budget sales effort Wednesday, defending the Liberal strategy of investing in consumer confidence in two separate appearances. The budget Morneau tabled Tuesday in the House of Commons showcased several measures aimed at helping more would-be homebuyers get into the housing market for the first time; that's what he focused on in a morning speech to the Empire Club in Toronto. Under the new measures, the government is proposing to pick up five per cent of a mortgage on the purchase of an existing home for households that earn under $120,000 and have been approved for a mortgage no more than four times their income or 10 per cent, if the house is new, in an attempt to spur construction. The Liberals will also let first-time buyers, and a few others in special circumstances, take up to $35,000 from their tax-free retirement savings accounts to spend on homes. But Morneau insisted the government has also taken prudent steps to ensure that additional demand in markets like Toronto and Vancouver won't result in higher prices. "When we think about the overall homebuyer market, we have roughly half a million home purchases a year, but 100,000 of them are first-time homebuyers," Morneau told a news conference after a morning speech to the Empire Club in Toronto. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We're talking about (adding) 20, maybe 30, maybe 40,000 new families, which is really important to those families, but we've done the modelling to show (it's) not an issue around changing demand dynamics." In particular, Morneau picked out three other measures in the budget that he said are aimed at preventing a spike in home prices: A Canada Revenue Agency crackdown on real-estate money-laundering, $10 billion in affordable rental construction financing and a $300-million contest of sorts to challenge municipalities to come up with creative solutions to adding housing stock. In an afternoon appearance back in downtown Ottawa, at just the same time as Trudeau's, Morneau focused on a program to help workers pay for skills training while keeping their jobs. "We're always going to try and encourage Canadians to invest in their own success. Like we've put forward in this budget, we're hoping that people will continue to improve their skills so that they can do better in their current jobs and do better for themselves and their families," he said. "I'm always going to hope that we can have a higher level of growth. I think that the only way we can do that is by recognizing that what the tools are at our disposal are people. So, if we have highly educated, highly trained people, we're going to do better." And then he echoed Trudeau on how content the Liberals will be to fight the election on their record of borrowing and spending. "I think what will be happening in the election campaign is Canadians look at what we've done over the last four years," Morneau said. "We made promises that we would invest in Canadians. What they can see is we followed through on those promises." DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced $900 million manufacturing investment in the Detroit area, boosting the number of jobs added from 850 to 900. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE- This Feb. 15, 2018, file photo shows a Ford logo on the grill of a car on display at the Pittsburgh Auto Show. Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced manufacturing investment in the Detroit area and now says it will spend $900 million and create 900 new jobs over the next four years. Most of the new workers will build a new generation of electric vehicle at FordAos existing factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, south of Detroit, which will see an $850 million investment. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is repackaging a previously announced $900 million manufacturing investment in the Detroit area, boosting the number of jobs added from 850 to 900. Most of the new workers will build a new generation of electric vehicle at Ford's existing factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, south of Detroit, which will see an $850 million investment. The company also plans a roughly $50 million autonomous vehicle manufacturing centre at an undisclosed site near Detroit that will add hardware to existing vehicles. Back in January of 2017, Ford had announced different plans for the money, directing $700 million to the Flat Rock plant to make hybrid, electric and autonomous vehicles. Later that year, the company moved an all-electric SUV to a factory in Mexico, freeing more space at Flat Rock to build future electric and self-driving cars and adding $200 million to that investment. At that time, it was promising 850 new jobs. Wednesday's announcement comes just after a three-day string of venomous tweets by President Donald Trump condemning crosstown rival General Motors for shutting down its small-car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland. Trump demanded that GM reopen the plant, criticized the local union leader and expressed frustration with GM CEO Mary Barra. Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, wouldn't directly answer questions about whether Trump's actions influenced the moves, but said Wednesday that the investment is part of the company's plans to run its business more efficiently. The timing of the announcement was due to requirements that parts suppliers be notified of manufacturing plans, Hinrichs said. "We've been running our business this way for 10-plus years," he said in an interview. Hinrichs said Ford is aware that auto manufacturing gets a lot of attention these days, and said he is proud that Ford employs more workers represented by the United Auto Workers union than any other manufacturer. A union spokesman confirmed that statement. The company intends to add a second shift at Flat Rock to build an electric vehicle, which Hinrichs would not detail. Ford said production would begin in 2023. Hinrichs said that company projections of electric vehicle sales made it clear that Ford needed more space to build them. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We had to change some of our plans," he said, adding that the new plan is a better use of capital spending dollars. Ford said it expects more electric vehicle sales in the coming years largely because millennials, the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, are more open to buying them. The company also sees higher gasoline prices and stronger emissions regulations in the future as well as more electric vehicle charging stations. The Flat Rock plant now builds the Mustang muscle car and the Lincoln Continental luxury car, which has a murky future because Ford has announced it intends to stop selling all cars in the U.S. but the Mustang. It plans to transfer 650 workers from Flat Rock to other factories in April. Hinrichs said the new autonomous vehicle centre will start modifying existing Ford models with plans to deploy them in 2021, as previously announced. ____ This story has been corrected to show that the number of new jobs Ford had announced in late 2017 at the Flat Rock, Michigan, plant is 850, not 950. RIO DE JANEIRO - Gunmen fired on a convoy transporting uranium fuel to a Brazilian nuclear plant as it drove past a rough neighbourhood in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but the company operating the plant said the attack didn't appear to be related to the radioactive material. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. RIO DE JANEIRO - Gunmen fired on a convoy transporting uranium fuel to a Brazilian nuclear plant as it drove past a rough neighbourhood in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but the company operating the plant said the attack didn't appear to be related to the radioactive material. The state-owned Eletronuclear company said men in the Frade neighbourhood shot at a police car that was escorting the convoy and police returned fire on Tuesday, but there were no injuries or arrests. The trucks carrying the fuel did not stop and reached the Angra dos Reis nuclear plant safely. The company said the criminals apparently were caught off-guard by the convoy. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Some bandits, frightened by the strong police presence, shot at a (police) vehicle", Eletronuclear said. Brazil's Federal Highway Police said it had seized a dozen 9mm bullets that had been left behind by attackers at the scene. Authorities did not say whether an investigation had been opened, but the G1 news portal reported there were police operations Wednesday in Frade and another Angra dos Reis neighbourhood. The incident raise security concerns in the area, home to Brazil's sole power plant and where drug traffickers are known to operate. In 2017, an American diplomat was shot in the foot during an attempted robbery on a coastal road in the tourist town of Angra dos Reis. Earlier that year, Eloise Dixon, a British tourist, was also hit by a bullet when she and her family strayed into another rough neighbourhood. Electronuclear said the uranium transported was in its "natural state" and therefore did not pose a threat to the population or the environment. President Donald Trump has tapped a former Delta Air Lines executive to lead the Federal Aviation Administration as the regulator deals with questions about its approval of a Boeing airliner involved in two deadly crashes within five months. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. President Donald Trump has tapped a former Delta Air Lines executive to lead the Federal Aviation Administration as the regulator deals with questions about its approval of a Boeing airliner involved in two deadly crashes within five months. The White House said Tuesday that Trump will nominate Stephen Dickson to head the FAA. The agency has been led by an acting administrator since January 2018. Separately, the Transportation Department confirmed that its watchdog agency will examine how the FAA certified the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, the now-grounded plane involved in two fatal accidents within five months. The FAA had stood by the safety of the plane up until last Wednesday, despite other countries grounding it. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao formally requested the audit in a letter sent to Inspector General Calvin Scovel III on Tuesday. Chao, whose agency oversees the FAA, said the audit will improve the department's decision-making. Her letter confirmed that she had previously requested an audit. It did not mention reports that the inspector general and federal prosecutors are looking into the development and regulatory approval of the jet. The letter requests "an audit to compile an objective and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft." It also says the audit will help the FAA "in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively." Boeing said in a statement Tuesday that it will co-operate with the audit. Questions about the FAA's handling of the issue extend beyond U.S. borders and will pose an immediate challenge for Dickson, if he is confirmed to lead the agency. Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said this week that even if FAA certifies Boeing's fix for the software on the 737 Max jet, "we will do our own certification." Dickson was Delta's senior vice-president of flight operations until retiring on Oct. 1 after 27 years with the airline, including time flying the 737 and other Boeing jets. Before that, he was an Air Force pilot. He emerged in recent weeks as the likely choice to lead FAA. For the past 14 months, the agency has been under an acting administrator, Daniel Elwell, a former Air Force and American Airlines pilot. A Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed off the coast of Indonesia last October, and an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 crashed this month near Addis Ababa. Investigators suspect that incorrect sensor readings feeding into a new automated flight-control system may have played a role in the Indonesian crash, and the Ethiopian plane had a similar, erratic flight path. Boeing began working on an upgrade to software behind the flight-control system shortly after the Lion Air crash. CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in recent days that the company is close to finishing the update and changes in pilot training to help crews respond to faulty sensor readings. Elwell told House Transportation Committee members that Boeing expects the software update to be finished by Monday, according to a person familiar with the briefing who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the timing publicly. The FAA earlier required design changes to the flight-control system "no later than April." After Boeing finishes the software, the FAA still must approve it. The Associated Press reported Monday that the Justice Department and the Inspector General are probing development of the Max, according to a person briefed on the matter. It is unclear when those inquiries began. The Justice Department and the Transportation Department's inspector general are examining the way Boeing was regulated by the FAA, according to a person familiar with the matter and who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is not public. Critics have questioned the FAA's practice of using employees of aircraft manufacturers to handle some safety inspections. FAA inspectors review the work of the manufacturers' employees, who are on the company payroll and could face a conflict of interest. A federal grand jury in Washington sent a subpoena to someone involved in the plane's development seeking emails, messages and other communications, the person told The Associated Press. A report in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday said the inspector general was looking into the plane's anti-stall system. It quoted unidentified people familiar with both cases. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The Oct. 29 Lion Air crash killed 189 people, and 157 died in the March 10 accident involving an Ethiopian Airlines jet. Both accidents happened shortly after takeoff. Other nations banned the Max 8 and a slightly larger model, the Max 9, in the days after the Ethiopian crash. The FAA and U.S. airlines that use the planes stood by the plane's safety until last week. There are about 370 Max jets of various models at airlines around the world. American, Southwest and United have said the grounding of their Max jets have led to some cancelled flights. The plane is an important part of Chicago-based Boeing's future. The company has taken more than 5,000 orders and delivered more than 250 Max jets last year. Boeing still makes an older version of the popular 737, but it expected the Max to account for 90 per cent of all 737 deliveries this year. ___ Koenig reported from Dallas and Krisher reported from Detroit. AP staff writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. TORONTO - The publisher of Toronto Life, Weddingbells and Fashion Magazine will acquire the last of Rogers Media's consumer-oriented print and digital publications in a deal that seems at odds with the prevailing pessimism about traditional media. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO - The publisher of Toronto Life, Weddingbells and Fashion Magazine will acquire the last of Rogers Media's consumer-oriented print and digital publications in a deal that seems at odds with the prevailing pessimism about traditional media. Seven print and digital titles including Maclean's and the French and English versions of Chatelaine will move from Rogers Media to St. Joseph Communications, a privately owned printing and publishing company based in Toronto. Tony Gagliano, executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, which publishes Toronto Life and other magazines, poses in this undated handout photo. St. Joseph Communications announced Wednesday that it will buy Maclean's and six other titles from Rogers Media. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - St. Joseph Communications Tony Gagliano, the executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph Communications, said he sees untapped opportunities with consumers and advertisers by adding the Rogers titles. "What we have done I think what we're good at is finding new revenue opportunities, where sometimes traditional advertising has fallen by the wayside," Gagliano said Wednesday in an interview. Its Toronto Life, he said, has had double-digit revenue growth "and more than that in profitability growth" for the last two years. In part, that growth was fuelled by more special events and through a membership benefit program, he said. "Because of that, the brand becomes very important to them. The more important the brand comes the stronger revenue opportunities we have, the stronger profitability opportunities we have," Gagliano said. "Data is very important to us as well," he said. "That a new model . . . that is very different from a traditional advertising model." By analyzing the interests and behaviours of readers and audiences a technique used by search engine and social media companies traditional publishers and broadcasters are offering advertisers more targeted access to consumers. By adding the Rogers titles to its own, St. Joseph will add data about a number of important market segments such as fashion and beauty, parenting, and current affairs. St. Joseph's deal with Rogers Media includes Today's Parent and Hello! Canada, as well as the digital publications Flare and Canadian Business, which no longer have print editions, and a custom content business. Gagliano also said he thinks there's been too much emphasis on digital media over printed magazines, books and catalogues, which have the advantage of providing a selection of portable content without extensive internet searching. "I think it's going to come back in favour of print in time when people see the benefits of it," he said. "I think there's obviously room for both." The companies said Wednesday that St. Joseph will offer jobs to all current employees of Rogers Media Publishing. They account for about 125 full-time positions within Rogers Media, which has about 2,650 full-time employees overall The transaction comes a year after Apple Computer Inc. acquired the Texture magazine app and service from Next Issue Media LLC, a partnership formed years earlier by Rogers Media, Time Inc., Hearst and Conde Nast. In November, Rogers Media sold its MoneySense personal finance website to Ratehub, a Toronto-based company that owns an online comparison site for financial products Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. That was followed by months of unconfirmed reports that the media arm of Rogers Communications Inc. had been negotiating with various groups to sell its remaining consumer publications. As with the other divestitures, financial terms of the Rogers-St. Joseph deal weren't disclosed. Rogers Media's exit from magazine publishing comes as its parent one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies repositions its media business, which includes the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, the Sportsnet specialty TV channel as well as radio and local TV stations. "It was a difficult decision, but one we believe is right as we accelerate our strategic vision and reposition our media business for the future," Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media, said in a statement. "We are extremely proud of these iconic magazine brands and all the employees who have delivered high-quality content for decades and helped shape Canadian culture and conversation." Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B) TORONTO - The chief executive of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. says he never cited the protection of 9,000 Canadian jobs as a reason the company should be granted a remediation agreement to avoid a criminal trial on allegations it paid millions of dollars in bribes to obtain government business in Libya. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. SNC-Lavalin CEO Neil Bruce is photographed in Toronto on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young TORONTO - The chief executive of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. says he never cited the protection of 9,000 Canadian jobs as a reason the company should be granted a remediation agreement to avoid a criminal trial on allegations it paid millions of dollars in bribes to obtain government business in Libya. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Neil Bruce said Wednesday if the engineering firm is convicted and barred from bidding on federal contracts here at home its workers would end up working for the Montreal-based company's foreign rivals. "There would be a reduction with us but these are talented folks. They'll get a job," Bruce said. "This thing that somehow they're going to be unemployed is not true because they are highly qualified, highly experienced people." Bruce's comments come as a political storm in Ottawa continues over allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his senior staff and others improperly pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to end a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau and his staff have said their only concern was for SNC-Lavalin's 9,000 jobs, which might be at risk if the company were convicted and then barred from bidding on federal contracts for up to 10 years The affair has so far cost Trudeau two cabinet ministers, his principal secretary and the country's top public servant, although he continues to insist no one did anything wrong. Bruce said its Canadian workforce has decreased from 20,000 in 2012 and will likely fall further. That, despite it being the only Canadian company that does nuclear technology work helping Ontario facilities like Chalk River, Darlington and Pickering. Also, no other domestic firm does the scope of infrastructure services on projects in cities like Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. He said the company has calculated that about 75 per cent of its rivals have concluded deferred prosecution agreements (DPA) in their host countries and are free to work in Canada. Meanwhile, Bruce said he still doesn't know why the director of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould were not open to granting a remediation agreement. He said the company appealed that decision in Federal Court, hoping to learn some of the rationale. "We did an appeal not because we thought we would win the appeal but because we thought we might get a reason and that got tossed out with no reason so we still don't know." Bruce said he's not holding much hope that an agreement will be offered under the current political climate, especially if the Conservatives win the fall election, and is preparing for a lengthy legal process. "We have never asked for the charges to be dropped, we've never asked for anything to be circumvented," he said. "We just want to move on for the sake principally of our employees first and foremost and our investors." A main stumbling block to getting a DPA could be public perception that former employees accused of crimes aren't being held accountable, he said. He said innocent SNC-Lavalin employees feel bruised and battered by the last six weeks since a report surfaced that government officials pressured the former attorney general to grant the company a deferred prosecution agreement. "And I think fundamentally that's unfair on our employees who had nothing to do with what went on seven to 20 years ago." While he's not surprised that politicians would make hay out of this issue during an election year, Bruce said he's concerned the company will continue to be a political punching bag as the campaign unfolds. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "If it sort of doesn't move on from that or gets worse of course it's a concern." Bruce also said few people have publicly defended the company's important contribution to the country as a home-grown success story. "So if anybody's happy for us not being able to do that work and give it to the Americans or give it to the Europeans I think that's a sad, sad position." He said there's no plans to move the company's headquarters from Montreal, adding competitors are envious of its shareholder base that is 82 per cent Canadian and led by the Caisse de depot which has helped fund its acquisition of British engineering firm Atkins. "We see ourselves as Team Canada. We are a global champion, one of few. There's not many and we're proud to be Canadian." Companies in this story: (TSX:SNC) LONDON - Diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, whose jewels once adorned stars from Bollywood to Hollywood, was ordered held without bail in London on Wednesday, more than a year after Indian authorities alleged he was involved in a $1.8 billion bank fraud. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A prison van carrying unknown occupants leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, shortly after fugitive Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi was denied bail in a hearing, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Modi, who is wanted over his alleged involvement in a $2 billion banking fraud, has been arrested in London at the request of Indian authorities. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) LONDON - Diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, whose jewels once adorned stars from Bollywood to Hollywood, was ordered held without bail in London on Wednesday, more than a year after Indian authorities alleged he was involved in a $1.8 billion bank fraud. A judge remanded Modi into custody at the end of a Westminster Magistrates' Court hearing. District Judge Marie Mallon said there was a risk Modi wouldn't appear for future hearings because of his access to large sums of money that could help him evade the courts and his "keenness to do so." Modi, 48, refused to submit to extradition to India. His lawyer, George Hepburne Scott, had argued Modi had been living openly in London since June 2018. He was arrested Tuesday in central London. Members of the media report from outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London, shortly after fugitive Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi was denied bail in a hearing, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Modi, who is wanted over his alleged involvement in a $2 billion banking fraud, has been arrested in London at the request of Indian authorities. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Indian authorities have sought Modi's arrest since February 2018, when they alleged companies he controlled defrauded the state-owned Punjab National Bank by using fake financial documents to get loans to buy and import jewels. Police in India later raided the homes and offices of Modi and business partner Mehul Choksi, seizing nearly $800 million in jewels and gold. The men are thought to have left India before the alleged fraud was discovered. Modi denies the allegations and has sought political asylum in the U.K. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In a letter to Punjab National Bank last year, Modi said he owed the institution about 50 billion rupees ($775 million). The $1.8 billion figure cited by the bank resulted in a media frenzy that pressured authorities to quickly search and seize assets from two of his companies, Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International, Modi said. The son of a diamond merchant, Modi built an international jewelry empire that stretched from India to New York and Hong Kong. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra became the face of his eponymous brand and Hollywood actress Naomi Watts appeared with Modi at the opening of his first U.S. boutique in 2015. As recently as 2017, Forbes magazine estimated Modi's wealth at $1.8 billion. But his empire began to crumble after the fraud allegations, and he was removed from the publication's billionaires list in 2018. Last year, the international police organization Interpol issued a "red notice" seeking Modi's arrest worldwide. His arrest finally came after Britain's Daily Telegraph earlier this month said it had tracked him down to a luxury apartment in London's Centre Point tower, a 34-story building that promotes itself as a "landmark with unparalleled views." ___ Ashok Sharma contributed to this story. OTTAWA - The federal Liberal government plans to spend $4.5 billion over the next five years to try to narrow the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people part of a plan to keep reconciliation at the forefront of this fall's campaign narrative. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau speak as they walk to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Tuesday March 19, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - The federal Liberal government plans to spend $4.5 billion over the next five years to try to narrow the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people part of a plan to keep reconciliation at the forefront of this fall's campaign narrative. Speaking to reporters, Finance Minister Bill Morneau stressed the Liberals have been committed to reconciliation from the beginning of their mandate. "It is a continuation of what we've been doing since Day 1," Morneau said. "It is driven by the fact that we know in this country, we need to get this right. We've got a lot of work to do and we are going to stay on it." After the fiscal blueprint was tabled, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said he thought the government is moving in the right direction while he stressed the need to get resources out to communities to ensure they have meaningful impacts on the ground. "If we are going to have true reconciliation in Canada, we have to close the gap," Bellegarde said. "We have to maintain the momentum for that." Part of Tuesday's budget pledge is $1.2 billion over three years $404 million per year beginning in 2019-2020 to develop a long-term approach for services for First Nations children. The policy is named after a Manitoba First Nations boy from Norway House Cree Nation, Jordan River Anderson, who had multiple disabilities. When he was two years old, doctors recommended he move to a special home suited to his medical needs. He died three years later, after jurisdictional squabbles between federal and provincial governments over payment for his care. "It should be no surprise that we continue to deal with issues, like Jordan's Principle, that we've been talking about for a long time," Morneau said. The budget also includes plans to invest $220 million over five years, beginning in 2019-2020, to provide services to Inuit children who face unique challenges to get health and social services due to the remoteness of their communities and limited availability of culturally appropriate care. The Liberal government is communicating in the budget it is serious about its commitment to Indigenous Peoples, said Rebekah Young, the director of fiscal and provincial economics with Scotiabank. "We are looking at almost $5 billion (in new spending) over five years, of a total budget spend of $20 billion," she said. "We are talking about a quarter of the budget." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The federal budget also includes plans to act on calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that spent six years probing the dark legacy of Canada's residential schools. The spending plan includes $126.5 million in 2020-21 to establish a national council on reconciliation designed to be a permanent reminder of the fraught past between Canada and Indigenous Peoples and to contribute to better understanding of it. There is also $333.7 million over the next five years earmarked for helping to revitalize Indigenous languages a move that follows legislation introduced in February. The funding will help create a commissioner of Indigenous languages, the budget said, adding that only one in seven Indigenous children reports being able to carry on a conversation in an Indigenous language. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said there is no relationship more important than the Canadian government's with Indigenous Peoples, though some Indigenous leaders and the federal NDP have raised concerns about the rate of progress. Follow @kkirkup on Twitter Winnipeg city hall has opened a new front in whats become a protracted war with the province. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeg city hall has opened a new front in whats become a protracted war with the province. Mayor Brian Bowman told reporters Tuesday hes putting the provincial government "on notice" to remove the requirement for municipalities to collect school taxes or city hall wont do it next year. Education is a provincial responsibility, he said. "I wanted to put it on public record today that I would urge the MLAs to change the framework, because certainly next year, I do not intend to support it and I will be urging my council colleagues not to approve it," Bowman said. This is an old and common complaint from Manitoba municipalities. "If they were responsible for sending their tax bills out, they would be scrutinized like we are for decisions we make on taxation rates with greater openness and transparency. Mayor Brian Bowman While the province, municipalities and school divisions set their own property tax rates, every municipality is required by legislation (the Public Schools Act) to include on the annual bill sent to all property owners the mill rates set by council and also the mill rates set by the province (education support levy) and school divisions (education special levy); to collect those monies from property owners; and to forward the share of the tax bill revenue to the respective school divisions and provincial government. Bowman also used the opportunity Tuesday to criticize the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Brian Pallister for forcing the Winnipeg School Division to roll back its planned property tax increase, explaining trustees are elected officials and it was wrong of the province to interfere. Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman wants the province to remove the requirement for municipalities to collect school taxes. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press) City hall has been fighting with the provincial government over what it says is a retroactive $40-million cut to its local street renewal program from 2018, forcing Winnipeg to cut back spending on local streets by $20 million each this year and the next. The $40 million is the last remaining portion of a five-year, $250-million commitment made by the former NDP government. The province denies it has shortchanged Winnipeg, saying it has fulfilled the commitment and paid out the entire sum. However, the province has refused to provide an accounting when requested by city hall and by the Free Press of how and when it believes those dollars were allocated. Winnipeg has also traded punches with Manitoba over ambulance funding, transit and policing. Add the collection of school taxes to the list. A provincial government spokeswoman said city hall is required by law to collect school taxes, and no changes in this process is planned. Minister of Education and Training Kelvin Goertzen issued a statement advising Bowman to comply with legislation as it is written. Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen said the city has to follow the law and collect the education taxes. (Jessica Botelho-Urbanski / Winnipeg Free Press files) "It would be in the interest of the city to follow the law," he said. Bowman said he would have urged council to stop collecting school taxes this year, but he wanted a briefing on the implications of such a move and to give the province time to make necessary changes. "It would be in the interest of the city to follow the law." Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen The mayor said hes convinced city council has to right to vote against the education tax rates, but said he doesnt know what would happen in that event. "The Public Schools Act requires us to approve (education tax rates) but we are democratically elected and we can vote yea or nay (to education tax rates) on the floor of council, so that doesnt make sense to me," Bowman said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. However, the mayor did acknowledge city hall could face a financial penalty interest charged by school divisions and the provincial government on the amount they expect to receive if it failed to forward the funds owed to them. Bowman said city hall has made its position on this issue clear to provincial officials. "We shouldnt responsible for sending out the education taxes on our property tax bills," Bowman said, adding it confuses homeowners who do not understand a portion of the taxes are being forwarded to school divisions and the provincial government to cover the cost of education. "I understand why folks would get a tax bill and just presume that this is just a tax bill from the City of Winnipeg, as a whole," Bowman said. "I dont think that leads to the greatest accountability for school divisions. "If they were responsible for sending their tax bills out, they would be scrutinized like we are for decisions we make on taxation rates with greater openness and transparency." aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA A quarter of the Liberals new budget spending will go to help bridge the socio-economic gap between Indigenous Peoples and mainstream society, but some say it will take more. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/3/2019 (998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA A quarter of the Liberals new budget spending will go to help bridge the socio-economic gap between Indigenous Peoples and mainstream society, but some say it will take more. Tuesdays budget outlined some $4.5 billion for programs affecting First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. "I think there may be more money needed, because the depth of the inequality and the history of deprivation of basic services for kids is so significant," said Cindy Blackstock, a renowned child advocate who heads the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. Ottawa has allotted $1.2 billion over three years for Jordans Principle programs to ensure First Nations children can access all public services, including health care, dental needs and education programs, when they need them. The government of first contact pays for the service and resolves jurisdictional/payment disputes later. That concept is named after Jordan River Anderson, who died in 2005 at age five of complex medical issues. He languished in a Winnipeg hospital for two years instead of being sent home to Norway House Cree Nation because Ottawa and the province couldnt decide who should pay for his home care. For Blackstock, the budget is "a way of making Jordans legacy a legacy for many kids; Im really happy about that." But she wonders if the funding will be enough, after leading a decade-long tribunal case that revealed massive shortfalls in how Ottawa has funded basic services for children on reserves. Parliament enacted Jordans Principle in 2007, after a push by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, while the Liberals made it a formal policy in July 2016. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Manitoba reserves now tap into that funding more than any other province. The Liberals did not specify Tuesday any increase in spending for child welfare. Thats despite introducing a landmark bill that would recognize Indigenous jurisdiction by having their own organizations ensure children keep their family and cultural ties. "When does this become real?" Blackstock said. "Without funding, the jurisdiction cannot be exercised, and thats going to be another disappointment for many First Nations children and families." While the Liberals did not put up more cash for urban Indigenous programming, they earmarked $60 million over the coming five years for buildings where such activities take place. Tuesdays budget also promised $250 million over the coming five years to help Indigenous communities prevent and deal with natural disasters. The Liberals also promised to launch an Indigenous fire marshals office. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Code whites a protocol triggered when health-care workers or security guards are confronted with violent or aggressive persons and need help to de-escalate the situation have become daily, or near daily, occurrences at three Winnipeg hospitals, new data show. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Code whites a protocol triggered when health-care workers or security guards are confronted with violent or aggressive persons and need help to de-escalate the situation have become daily, or near daily, occurrences at three Winnipeg hospitals, new data show. According to statistics released by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the Health Sciences Centre had 501 code whites in 2018, with Grace Hospital and Victoria General Hospital registering 325 and 339, respectively. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES According to statistics released by the WRHA, Grace Hospital registered 325 code whites in 2018. "The numbers show a clear increase in the number of violent incidents happening in our hospitals. That's obviously very concerning, but it's not news to our members. This is what our members working in hospitals have been saying for quite some time," said Jean-Guy Bourgeois, director of internal operations for the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union. The biggest spike in code whites came at Victoria: a 47 per cent increase in 2018, after registering 230 the year before. The HSC and Grace registered increases of five per cent and seven per cent, respectively. A spokesman for the WRHA said the three hospitals are the only ones which have statistics on code whites available, so it remains unclear how the numbers compare to other Winnipeg facilities. "We are always working to find new and better solutions to reduce the risk of violent incidents occurring and to mitigate the severity of those few incidents that unfortunately do occur," the spokesman said in a written statement. "We make every effort to keep up with best practices in health-care safety and security, as well as clinical best practices in dealing with patients whose actions are not deliberate or premeditated." NDP health critic Bernadette Smith raised the issue in question period Tuesday. Health Minister Cameron Friesen accused her of conflating the increase in code whites with a rise in illicit drug use, specifically methamphetamine consumption in Manitoba. "The member should know that when it comes to health facilities, the largest number of those code whites is actually due to individuals with dementia or other confusion wandering off. There's a broad variety of reasons for these codes and they are on the rise, we're aware of that," Friesen said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. When told of the minister's comments, Bourgeois countered it doesn't matter whether what leads to a code white, as the impact on front-line workers is the same. "First off, I'd say that I trust our members working on the front lines more than the minister of health. They're saying they're seeing more violent incidents and the nature of those incidents are more threatening," he said. "Whether the cause is dementia or meth-induced psychosis, the feeling of being threatened is the same. There's a risk of physical injury, plus there's also the mental stress that comes with being exposed to those situations on a repeated basis." with files from Jessica Botelho-Urbanski ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe File photo taken on Aug. 12, 2018 shows Nursultan Nazarbayev attending the Fifth Caspian Summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his sudden resignation on March 19, 2019 after nearly three decades of leadership in the Central Asian country. (Xinhua/Abilov) ASTANA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his sudden resignation on Tuesday after nearly three decades of leadership in the Central Asian country. "As the founder of an independent Kazakh state, I see my future task in ensuring a new generation of leaders coming to power who will continue the transformations being carried out in the country," Nazarbayev said in a statement before signing a decree terminating his presidency from March 20. He said he would retain the post of the head of the country's Security Council and leader of the Nur Otan party, and remain a member of the Constitutional Council. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstan's acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution, Nazarbayev added. Nazarbayev, 79, had been serving as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A four-year-old girl who was struck Monday by a vehicle at a Winnipeg crosswalk has died. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A four-year-old girl who was struck Monday by a vehicle at a Winnipeg crosswalk has died. The girl, named Galila, recently arrived in Canada from Eritrea with her parents and six-year-old brother. She died at the Health Sciences Centre, where she and her mother, who was also hit by the vehicle as they crossed Isabel Street at Alexander Avenue, had been listed in critical condition. "It's a profound shock," said family spokeswoman Dorota Blumczynska, who was at the hospital late Tuesday to console the child's father. "Everything has happened so quickly," said the executive director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, which runs the transitional housing complex on Isabel Street where the family lives. "The family has continued to ask for privacy." Galila passed away at the Health Sciences Centre after being struck by a vehicle at the crosswalk on Isabel Street near Alexander Avenue Monday. (John Woods / Free Press files) On Monday, just before noon, Galila and her mother identified Wednesday by Blumczynska as Genet Bruk were walking to pick up Galila's six-year-old brother, Lamek, at Dufferin School. The pair were hit by a northbound vehicle at the crosswalk. City police have not released any further details about the incident, other than Galila died as a result of her injuries. Blumczynska said Bruk remains in hospital in stable condition. Her husband, Rezene Bruk, was there when his daughter died Tuesday evening, she said. "Now he has to direct his energy to his wife," said an emotional Blumczynska, after she and other IRCOM staff held a vigil at the hospital with the Bruks until the early hours Wednesday. The couple are in the early stages of learning English and an interpreter is helping the couple through complex medical information at HSC. The language of grief, however, is painfully simple. "The father and I exchanged some words of profound sadness," Blumczynska said through tears. "The mom needs to fully recover and it will be a long journey for her... She and her husband and son need our continued prayers and love and support to make it through this." Second child's crosswalk death in two years Galila's death echoes a similar tragedy in the city little more than a year ago. In February 2018, eight-year-old Surafiel Musse Tesfamariam was on his way to Ecole Varennes with his mother, when he was hit and killed by a vehicle at the crosswalk on St. Anne's Road. After Surafiel's death, St. Vital residents pushed for greater safety at the crosswalk, Coun. Brian Mayes said. In February 2018, Surafiel Musse Tesfamariam, 8, was on his way to Ecole Varennes with his mother, when he was hit and killed by a vehicle at a crosswalk on St. Anne's Road. "I got more calls and emails on this than anything," he said. "It was upsetting for the whole community." In May, city councillors on the public works committee unanimously approved an administration plan for the installation of eye-level, flashing warning lights at the St. Anne's Road crosswalk. Tree branches that could obscure the existing flashing amber lights at the crossing were pruned to improve visibility. The cost was roughly $25,000. "I think it improves visibility," said the councillor for St. Vital, adding he would like to see more crosswalks with beefed-up warning lights. "Anecdotally, people have been positive about it," said Mayes, who is awaiting a formal report on the impact of the St. Anne's Road crosswalk improvements. Most pedestrians hit weekdays, afternoons Manitoba Public Insurance's more recent statistics show the number of pedestrians hit by vehicles has gone up. MPI doesn't have specific crosswalk data, but its 2017 report shows 179 people were killed or injured that year an involvement rate of 13.2 per 100,000 people, compared to an average of 11.4 per 100,000 from 2012 to 2016. Most pedestrians in Manitoba were hit on a weekday (82 per cent) and between noon and 6 p.m. Almost half (41 per cent) were hit at an intersection and had the right of way. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Manitobans ages 55 to 64 had the highest rate of being hit and killed, MPI numbers show. Children under the age of 10 had the lowest rate of pedestrian deaths and injuries in Manitoba. Their deaths, understandably, often prompt the biggest response, said Mayes. "When a child is killed, people want action," the councillor said. In April, the city's Riel community committee will consider a request from Surafiel's mother to put an honorary street name topper on the sign at the corner where he died. The blue sign would say "Surafiel," said Mayes. He said he'll vote to approve the sign staying up for 10 years. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca When Theodoros "Teddy" Belayneh was growing up in Winnipeg, apparel started disappearing from his family's home. A jacket of his father's, a scarf of his mother's, a pair of boots here and there. Unnoticed at first, a young Belayneh would slip away with the clothing and donate it to the homeless, giving to people who were cold. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When Theodoros "Teddy" Belayneh was growing up in Winnipeg, apparel started disappearing from his family's home. A jacket of his father's, a scarf of his mother's, a pair of boots here and there. Unnoticed at first, a young Belayneh would slip away with the clothing and donate it to the homeless, giving to people who were cold. His mother tried to do much the same Tuesday afternoon as she stood in front of her eldest son's accused killers, facing them with a "strength and grace" that left Court of Queen's Bench Justice Chris Martin sitting "in awe." Julian Donally Telfer, 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing Belayneh in a flash of drive-by gunfire facilitated by 23-year-old Paige Eveline Crossman, who was driving the rented SUV across the city around 3 a.m. Nov. 26, 2016. Crossman was acquitted of murder because, Martin ruled, there was no evidence she knew Telfer was going to fire the gun. Both pleaded guilty to drug charges related to their crack cocaine trafficking operation police uncovered during the murder investigation. After hearing the judge's decision, Meaza Belayneh outstretched her right arm to Telfer and to Crossman "my son and my daughter" and offered them her forgiveness. "You have been used by evil to (inflict) such devastation, pain, to me and to his family," she said. "You were used to (leave) me in agony, a hole in my heart forever until I see him again in the kingdom of our lord... now, after saying this, you two are more the victim than us, his family," she said. "If there is a soul in you, it will eat you every day." About three hours before Telfer shot him to death, Teddy Belayneh, 32, started a fight with the other man at a Pembina Highway bar, punching him and knocking him to the ground. Telfer was kicked out of the Reset Ultralounge, but he had "ample time" to return to the parking lot with Crossman and follow Belayneh and his friends when they left the bar, Martin ruled. The shooting happened around 3 a.m. on Donald Street near Stradbrook Avenue, killing Belayneh and injuring the other driver, Biniam Fitur. Martin found Telfer not guilty of attempted murder for shooting Fitur, and instead convicted him of discharging a firearm with intent. Telfer is from Toronto and began operating a street-level crack cocaine delivery service in Winnipeg after he racked up several drug and weapons convictions in Ontario. There was no evidence he and Belayneh knew each other before that night, and they argued over a girl at the bar who Belayneh thought was with Telfer. The shooting afterward was "a cold-blooded execution," Justice Martin said. "Life experience, particularly from criminal courts, demonstrates time and time again that minor slights often become the stuff of serious crimes." Telfer was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. An additional 15 years for discharging the firearm and possession for the purpose of trafficking will be served at the same time as his life sentence. Crossman is a mother of two from Winnipeg who scarcely had a criminal record before she got involved with Telfer -- she was fined $150 for possession of cocaine in 2014. Although she avoided a murder conviction --- "you slid by... by the skin of your teeth," Martin told her --- she pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced to four years, with 27 months left to serve in a federal prison. Neither of them chose to speak in court on Tuesday, although Telfer exchanged heated words with one of Belayneh's supporters after the judge left the courtroom. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. For Teddy's family, it was important to be present during the trial, which began Feb. 11, and to bury him here, where he was born, even though they now live in Edmonton. In memory of his generous spirit, they founded Teddy's Outreach Foundation, a registered charity that collects food and clothing and runs youth empowerment programs in both cities. "Winnipeg lost a son, a great one," his mother said, speaking to reporters outside the courtroom. A tear rolled down her cheek as she talked about Teddy's smile, his zest for life, and the photo of him she clutches every night, hoping to be able to sleep. "How do you take a life? How do you take sunshine and make it always dark?" she said. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay A Manitoba labour leader has quit her job, shocking other local union members with descriptions of misogynist and humiliating remarks she allegedly endured from union brothers, as well as a sexual assault. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Manitoba labour leader has quit her job, shocking other local union members with descriptions of misogynist and humiliating remarks she allegedly endured from union brothers, as well as a sexual assault. Postal worker Basia Sokal, now the former president of the Winnipeg Labour Council (WLC), resigned at a board meeting Tuesday evening in front of a crowd of about 60 people. A 15-minute audio recording of her resignation speech was uploaded online by Rank & File Radio Prairie Edition. In her remarks, Sokal detailed some of the things allegedly said to her during her tenure as council president, a role she began in January 2017. "'You women are all the same. If you don't like what's going on, why don't you just leave?'" Sokal said she was told, as well as: "'Let me tell you a story about what happened to the last person who didn't agree with us,'" and "'Nice tits.'" Someone in the room can be heard shouting, "Name names. Out them!" in the recording, which Sokal did not do. "I just wanted to announce that because of all of these degrading and disgusting actions that I will be taking a leave and I will be stepping down. I dont believe I want to be a part of this any longer. This is not what I signed up to do," she said during her speech. "It breaks my heart that I feel the need to tell you this, but we need to do better. We need to do so much better," she said. "Because, as a woman in this role, I feel I was basically tapped so that I could be told what to do because it would look good to have a female president at the head, it would look great to have a woman in that position." In an interview at her home Wednesday, Sokal elaborated on her concerns, noting she contacted the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) last spring, after hearing women were degraded at a WLC meeting when she wasn't present. CLC began an investigation, which Sokal said wasn't thorough and ultimately led to worse behaviour. "The CLC flew in last April or May... to address some of these concerns, left and said there would be a report back. And nothing happened," Sokal said. "It just perpetuated even more vile and hateful comments, and then other people got on board with that." CLC's Manitoba representative, Bernie Wood, responded to initial inquiries from the Free Press and said an investigation into Sokal's recent comments is underway. He referred follow-up questions to CLC prairie director Darla Deguire, who did not respond by deadline Wednesday. 'It breaks my heart that I feel the need to tell you this, but we need to do better. We need to do so much better' Basia Sokal Deguire, however, spoke to the CBC and said an investigation into Sokal's latest comments "has not yet started because we have not yet received a complaint." For her part, Sokal isn't convinced a new CLC investigation would produce a different outcome. "I find that curious because why would there be an investigation now when I came forward over the last year with complaints and concerns? What would an investigation do now?" she said. Last year, Sokal also filed a complaint to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a fellow member. She said three other women came forward with similar allegations about the same man. Sokal said she didn't want to contact police, after she had a previous negative reporting experience with officers, so she decided to go the union route. She declined to elaborate. CUPW Local 856 president Lisa Peterson confirmed the union is conducting hearings about the sexual-assault allegation. "There are internal processes and Basia Sokal had access to those. CUPW is following its own investigation process," Peterson said in an interview, noting she couldn't elaborate further. Sokal's resignation has sparked discussions among union members about power and gender dynamics. With the 100th anniversary of Winnipeg's 1919 General Strike on the horizon, she said such soul-searching is overdue. Sokal said some local union leaders are disconnected from workers' needs and are largely white and male, unlike the workforces they represent. She took issue with some taking home six-figure salaries, while the workers they represent aren't always making living wages. (Sokal said she made around $75,000 as WLC president.) "This is my general strike," she said Wednesday from home, where she was busy fielding messages from friends and family concerned about her well-being. She said, by the afternoon, none she had received were from union leaders. Sokal described the local labour movement as fractured, and said it has lost its way, detouring from traditional left-leaning roots to angle more support more right-leaning or centrist candidates in recent elections. "We're supporting candidates who will vote on a very difficult budget to raise transit fares by 25 cents? Where's the boldness? There is none. And we are supposed to be the boldness in the labour movement, and we are supposed to be holding those folks accountable," she said of local politicians. "And that is what I came to do in this position: to hold elected officials accountable. But I understand that that's not what labour wants, based on my experience there." Sokal said she's concerned about other women in the labour movement, who can't speak out for fear of losing their jobs. "I worry that the women who have some serious things to say, who have legitimate concerns, wont be able to come forward," she said. Michelle McHale, a friend of Sokal's, previously worked for UFCW and was a member of the Manitoba Federation of Labour's executive council. She left labour to work in health care last year, and said Wednesday she had similar experiences. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "I know Basia to be a woman of integrity and... somebody that I see as a true leader in what the labour movement should be in that shes a representative and a voice of the people who share things with her," McHale said in an interview. "And Ive seen the things that shes talked about. Theres a lot of really good people in the labour movement who are there for the right reasons. But there are definitely people who need to re-evaluate how theyre doing things." with files from Ryan Thorpe jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbu OTTAWA Tuesdays budget came up short for the leaders of Winnipeg and Manitoba. The Free Press recently asked the mayor and premier for their federal budget wish list, which the federal Liberals have only partially fulfilled. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Tuesdays budget came up short for the leaders of Winnipeg and Manitoba. The Free Press recently asked the mayor and premier for their federal budget wish list, which the federal Liberals have only partially fulfilled. Wish fulfilled Not fulfilled Partial/unclear Premier Brian Pallister Asylum-seeker compensation () Tuesdays budget gave no details on how Ottawa will compensate Manitoba for costs incurred due to border-crossing asylum seekers. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister Ottawa provided Manitoba $3 million for housing costs last June; Pallister had requested a total of $7.9 million two months prior. In February, the Free Press learned that estimate had ballooned to $17 million, despite the number of crossers in Manitoba cresting two years ago. Thats because many awaiting refugee hearings are incurring welfare, education and legal costs. Ottawa earmarked in January $100 million for impacted provinces but still hasn't said how much Manitoba will get. Health-care cash () Pallisters office said he wants "sustainable and predictable federal support for health care," which is a polite way of asking Ottawa to reverse its 2017 decision to curtail billions of federal dollars. The Liberals have upheld a Harper-government cut to health-care transfers, halving their annual rise to three per cent until 2022. Pallister has called that "a dangerous deal" given an aging population. While Tuesday's budget outlines spending for issues like dementia and organ donations, there was no change to the health transfer. Remove internal trade barriers () One of Pallisters four budget requests was "action to eliminate internal trade barriers that fall under federal jurisdiction." Tuesday's budget outlined an annual $3.1 million for the federal Treasury Board to oversee "regulatory co-operation priorities" involving both provincial and international rules though that cash only starts to flow a year from now. Last spring, the premier started pushing Ottawa and the provinces to harmonize rules around everything from First Aid kits to alcohol classifications. No specific measures were mentioned in Tuesday's budget. Clarity for pipelines, flood channels () Tuesdays budget had nothing to say about the proposed overhaul of major infrastructure and energy projects. The Liberals tabled Bill C-69 in an effort to add clarity and speed to how pipelines and hydro projects are assessed. Manitobas senators have warned it might have the opposite effect. Pallister worries the bill could delay the construction of Interlake flood-outlet channels and impede new hydro-transmission lines. The budget did not touch on the bill, though it did increase spending on disaster prevention and relief. Mayor Brian Bowman Keep existing pledges () The mayors first listed wish was that Ottawa "maintain existing funding commitments for existing capital commitments." It appears there were no surprises on that front, with Ottawa instead doubling down on infrastructure cash in cities, amid difficulties in getting projects underway. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Mayor Brian Bowman On Tuesday, the Liberals committed to a one-time doubling of revenues from the federal gas tax, a levy collected at the gas pumps that is remitted to provinces and municipalities. This extra $2.2 billion is supposed to specifically address municipal priorities. Direct transit cash () Bowman was hoping Ottawa would "cash flow public-transit capital support directly to municipalities," breaking with the tradition of linking support for transit with provincial funding. While Trudeau was in Winnipeg last month to announce such a project at the Fort Rouge bus garage, Tuesday budget did not indicate the Liberals envision making these bilateral agreements a regular thing. However, the gas tax top-up may help fund transit. City-specific meth, pot money () Two of Bowmans requests were for a cut of revenues from the sin tax on legalized cannabis, as well as from federal allocations meant to beat back the meth and opioid crises. While Ottawa has encouraged provinces to share one-third of their revenues from legalized cannabis, it never prescribed such a quota. Meanwhile, Manitoba is the sole jurisdiction that didn't join a taxation agreement with Ottawa, giving the Liberals zero leverage over how the province uses its excise tax. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. This month's provincial budget included almost nothing on expected cannabis revenues, and the premier has told municipalities not to expect any either. Meanwhile, the federal budget outlined new cash for the opioid crisis, but did not top up an existing federal fund for meth treatment, which the Pallister government helps administer. A cut of the carbon tax () Bowman wanted Ottawa to "explicitly name all municipalities as recipients for the fuel-charge revenues as rebates from the federal carbon tax." Tuesdays budget did not take that step; municipalities, businesses and largely provincial coffers will be the recipients of carbon-tax revenues collected in Manitoba. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca They escaped troubled Eritrea and were tackling the challenges of being refugees, before the streets of Winnipeg nearly killed them. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. They escaped troubled Eritrea and were tackling the challenges of being refugees, before the streets of Winnipeg nearly killed them. On Monday, a young mother and her daughter who had moved into the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba's transitional housing complex on Isabel Street in February were struck by a vehicle at the crosswalk located at Isabel and Alexander Avenue. "The mom and daughter are in critical condition and fighting for their lives," Dorota Blumczynska, IRCOM executive director, said Tuesday. "They're very new to Canada." Can crosswalks be made safer? In February 2018, Surafiel Musse Tesfamariam, a Grade 3 student at Ecole Varennes, died in hospital after he was struck crossing St. Anne's Road near Varennes Avenue. He was on his way to school with his mother. click to read more In February 2018, Surafiel Musse Tesfamariam, a Grade 3 student at Ecole Varennes, died in hospital after he was struck crossing St. Anne's Road near Varennes Avenue. He was on his way to school with his mother. In May 2018, Winnipeg city councillors on the public works committee unanimously approved an administration plan for the installation of eye-level warning lights and possibly strobe-like flashing LED lights at the crosswalk before the start of the 2018-19 school year. Transportation manager David Patman said tree branches that might obscure the existing flashing amber lights at the crossing will be pruned to improve driver vision. On Monday, a woman and her child were struck by a vehicle at a crosswalk on Isabel Street. On Tuesday, area residents and community leaders weighed in on what could be done to make Isabel Street safer for pedestrians. Adding bright, eye-level flashing warning lights in advance of the crosswalk may alert motorists to pedestrians, said Shane Connolly, who used the crosswalk near Dufferin School with his three children at lunchtime Tuesday. "Right now, sometimes, they don't even stop," he said of vehicles that blow past flashing crosswalk lights. On Tuesday, Connolly and his children traversed Isabel escorted by an adult crossing guard, who is on duty before and after school and at lunchtime. It is believed the guard wasn't yet on duty when the mother and daughter were struck Monday around noon. "There is a lot of speeding around here," said Connolly. Adding speed bumps or reducing the 50 km/h speed limit on that stretch of Isabel Street could make it safer for pedestrians, said Yonas Zewude, whose Walia's Convenience Store is across the street from the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba building and Dufferin School. Injuries and near-misses at the crosswalks are not uncommon, said Zewude, who hopes Monday's incident will prompt stronger safety measures. "If they don't do anything, more will come." Coun. Ross Eadie said he's in favour of installing photo-radar-like cameras at crosswalks to make drivers obey the rules of the road and better protect pedestrians. In 2014, the councillor for Mynarski, who is blind, asked the police board to study the feasibility of installing cameras at crosswalks after nearly being hit several times. The crosswalk cameras were not approved, but Eadie isn't giving up. He's advocating for Vision Zero, the international campaign aimed at convincing elected officials at all levels to adopt leading-edge road-safety innovations dubbed Toward Zero in Winnipeg. "It requires enforcement and education," said Eadie, who said pedestrians also need to know and follow the rules. On Tuesday, a man waiting for his grandkids at lunchtime outside Dufferin School said they always wait for all the vehicles to stop at the crosswalk before stepping off the sidewalk. He said Isabel Street should be a 30 km/h zone in front of the school, as is Alexander Avenue beside it, because so many children need to cross the busy, four-lane thoroughfare. In 2017, traffic lights were proposed for the intersection of Isabel Street and Ross Avenue, said Vivian Santos, the city councillor for the area (Point Douglas), who was former councillor Mike Pagtakhan's assistant at the time. Santos said a traffic study was conducted, and it was determined there was not enough traffic to warrant it. She said the city may need to review its policy. "These conversations need to take place." Carol Sanders Close The collision happened before noon by the crosswalk close to Dufferin School. "They were going to pick up her (child's) brother," said Blumczynska, who added the woman's husband is with his wife and child at hospital and "devastated and distraught." Several children and adults were on scene at the time, Blumczynska said, declining to comment further until the police investigation is concluded, likely within three weeks. The injured woman and child have not yet been publicly identified. The northbound lanes of Isabel Street leading to the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge were closed to traffic Monday afternoon. Winnipeg police later put out a call for witnesses to come forward. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Police investigate the closed crosswalk at Isabel and Alexander after a vehicle hit a pedestrian in Winnipeg Monday. On Tuesday, police were not releasing details about the collision nor if the vehicle's driver was facing any charges. Blumczynska said, as far as she knows, the mother and child were using the crosswalk correctly. As part of IRCOM's new tenant orientation, traffic safety is discussed, said the executive director of the non-profit organization that offers housing and resettlement support to newcomers at its two transitional housing complexes on Isabel and Ellen streets. CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Parent Shane Connolly with his kids (from left) Colten, Xzandra, and Wyatt by Dufferin School Tuesday has to cross busy Isabel Street with them, even though there is a crossing guard on duty. Connolly said that flashing warning lights ahead of the pedestrian crosswalk might make it safer. "We do talk about safety and local navigation and movement around the neighbourhood and neighbourhood resources," she said. There are two crosswalks within several hundred metres of IRCOM (one each at Ross and Alexander avenues). For many newcomers who've experienced running for their lives and living in conflict zones, arriving in Canada where they feel protected may allow them to let their guard down a bit, Blumczynska said. "There's often a sense of overwhelming relief and a sense of safety," she said, adding she doesn't know if that was the case for the mom and daughter hit at the crosswalk Monday. "Before we jump to any conclusions, we need to understand the situation far better. We do recognize that Isabel is a very quick thoroughfare and it's a densely populated area." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The focus should be on the family whose members are clinging to life, Blumczynska said, adding they're asking for privacy and prayers. The injured woman's husband (also the father of the little girl) is getting help through a traumatic time, she said "He has his community with him, some extended family, as well as a faith leader, and they are working with a WRHA health interpreter to understand everything that is happening." At Dufferin School, resource staff are being made available for students and staff if they require further support, the Winnipeg School Division said in a prepared statement, "and as always we have ongoing conversations regarding traffic and street safety with our students." "As a general reminder, we ask drivers to slow down and be mindful of all pedestrians, in school zones or otherwise." carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca While Canada and Mexico have definitely grown closer economically and politically since the early 1990s, and often see themselves as two amigos squeezed by the U.S. hegemon, the strength of that bilateral relationship is being tested today. Ottawa and Mexico City, its fair to say, simply do not see eye to eye on what is happening on the ground in socially ravaged Venezuela. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion While Canada and Mexico have definitely grown closer economically and politically since the early 1990s, and often see themselves as two amigos squeezed by the U.S. hegemon, the strength of that bilateral relationship is being tested today. Ottawa and Mexico City, its fair to say, simply do not see eye to eye on what is happening on the ground in socially ravaged Venezuela. The Liberal government has been a harsh and unrelenting critic of the Nicolas Maduro government and has called for it to step aside, has backed the leadership of Juan Guaido and has urged fair elections to be held in Venezuela. Canada has also been working very hard within the Lima Group of countries to sanction Maduros government, to facilitate aid into the country and to push Maduro to seek political exile in a friendly country. The Mexicans, on the other hand, have adopted more of a wait-and-see approach and have kept most of their diplomatic powder dry. The new leftist president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), has been content with mostly sitting on the sidelines and watching events unfold in the hemisphere. It is worth mentioning that Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in Latin America, has the second-largest economy and is a major political actor in the region. And as Canadas third-largest trading partner overall (after the United States and China), we have a number of reasons to maintain cordial relations with Mexico. It goes without saying, then, that Mexicos voice carries important political weight in the region. But by standing with the Venezuelan government along with the 15-member Caribbean Community it exposes a significant crack in the emerging hemispheric consensus on Maduros removal. Taking a neutral position on the crisis really translates into Mexico backing the beleaguered Maduro government. Consequently, this stance has put Mexico on the outs with a number of other countries in the Americas. Indeed, AMLO is not talking at all about punitive measures against Maduro, or fresh and free elections in Venezuela. Nor is he willing to bend to substantial diplomatic pressure from the United States. Instead, AMLO has advocated for the United Nations to handle the thorny issue of delivering humanitarian aid to Venezuela. He has also called for a "national dialogue" to help untangle the current socio-economic and political mess in Venezuela. Moreover, Lopez Obrador has essentially shunned the Lima Group of countries, a hemispheric grouping that Canada spearheaded in 2017. In fact, he has offered to mediate talks between the Maduro government and the Guaido-led opposition. However, that is a non-starter for those countries, including Canada, that want Maduro gone yesterday. They have absolutely no interest in negotiations that will only buy more time and bolster the legitimacy of the sitting government in Caracas. As Ontario Liberal MP Bob Nault recently explained, "Obviously, Canada has a difference of opinion. We think Mexico, as a serious player in the hemisphere, should be working with us. They havent walked away from Lima, necessarily, but theyre being very cautious." Nevertheless, Lopez Obrador is sticking very close to the line that Mexico as has often been the case historically and constitutionally does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, especially those in the Americas. Adhering to this storied doctrine of non-intervention means Mexico will stay mostly on the outside looking in as its actions with respect to the Lima Group clearly demonstrate. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The chairman of Mexicos Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hector Vasconcelos, sums up the Mexican position this way: "My personal opinion is that we must judge every situation on its merits and have a certain pragmatism, according to the seriousness of each situation, while maintaining the principle of non-intervention." But right now, Ottawa wants Mexico to intervene on its behalf, to change course on Venezuela and to take a much harder line. To be sure, it wants AMLO to break with Maduro completely. I just cant see that happening anytime soon. In the meantime, Mexicos relations with Canada (and the U.S.) will be temporarily placed in a diplomatic deep freeze. When that is coupled with differences over a joint strategy to renegotiate the new NAFTA last year, it will likely make diplomatic exchanges between the two countries a little testy. Still, I dont believe that this current setback will inflict long-term damage on Canadian-Mexican relations. The fact of the matter is that both Canada and Mexico have shared interests in too many areas trade, relations with the U.S., security interests and hemispheric concerns to risk jeopardizing their long-standing friendship. Peter McKenna is professor and chairman of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown. When the provincial government announced it would undertake a comprehensive review of the K-12 education system, the Manitoba Teachers Society (MTS) applauded. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion When the provincial government announced it would undertake a comprehensive review of the K-12 education system, the Manitoba Teachers Society (MTS) applauded. On behalf of our 16,000 members, MTS agreed that it was time for a major review to see if there were new ways to enhance student learning. We welcomed the initiative because we, and the public, were assured that the government would appoint commissioners with no strings attached. Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen said as much that he had no preconceived ideas as to what the end result should be. That was repeated many times, and taken on faith by Manitoba teachers. At least until now. The hiring of a lead consultant for the review casts at least a pall over the process and raises questions about whether the commission will be free of someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. The consultant, Avis Glaze, is well-known in education circles, most recently for a review she undertook of the Nova Scotia education system. That report called for seismic changes in Nova Scotia, including the elimination of all English school divisions, to be replaced by provincial government staff. One of the reasons for the recommendation was the "dysfunctional" relationship of some boards with the provincial government. Its not paranoia to wonder whether the recent fight between the province and the Winnipeg School Division isnt creating the justification for a similar recommendation here. Goertzen has been quoted as saying that he doesnt think Glaze will draft a carbon copy of her Nova Scotia report. That could well be, but consultants in all fields have strong views as to how best any system should operate. Just because theyre convinced doesnt mean its true. Glaze is certainly well-qualified, but there are equally qualified experts in Manitoba who know the system and wouldnt have had to face questions about perceived bias. The Manitoba Teachers Society has been preparing a brief it will present to the commission. As it is, it focuses exclusively on measures that can be taken to improve student learning in the classroom. We didnt feel we had to address all issues that are distant from the classroom. But maybe we should. Glazes Nova Scotia report touches on many topics that do not appear to have a direct link to student learning. Two are concerning to teachers in Manitoba. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. She recommended in Nova Scotia that principals and vice-principals be stripped of their rights by removing them from the union there and putting them in their own "association." She based this recommendation on the fact principals in Nova Scotia had a difficult time when teachers went on strike and took other job action in a dispute with the province. We can only hope now that someone points out to her that a vast majority of principals surveyed by MTS have said they want to retain their rights. And perhaps add that in the organizations 100-year history, Manitoba teachers have never taken job action despite assorted disputes with governments and school boards. Glaze also recommended that the Nova Scotia government establish a "teachers college" to handle such issues as certification and discipline of teachers. It is our belief that would just be an unnecessary bureaucracy created to solve a non-existent problem. Now we are left wondering whether we continue to focus on student learning or have to make a presentation to the commission on these tangential issues as well. The hiring has created a cloud that neednt have been cast over the process. But there is one recommendation from the Nova Scotia report we would heartily endorse: that the government calculate the savings of the changes and put that money back into education. Norm Gould is president of the Manitoba Teachers Society. John le Carre, the undisputed master of the modern Cold War spy novel, never used canola oil as one of the building blocks of his complex, geopolitical narratives. He might want to reconsider that decision for his next book. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. John le Carre, the undisputed master of the modern Cold War spy novel, never used canola oil as one of the building blocks of his complex, geopolitical narratives. He might want to reconsider that decision for his next book. In the new Cold War, canola oil and mobile telephones have seemingly replaced microfilm and cyanide tablets as the fodder for international espionage. For evidence, we need only look at the dilemma facing Winnipeg-based grain giant Richardson International Ltd. China recently alleged that canola shipped by Richardson the largest purveyor of the Canadian oilseed was contaminated with pests. The country has banned Richardson shipments of canola for the foreseeable future. Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou's detention seems to have led to canola dispute. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press files) If the allegation were true, it would be a devastating blow to one of Canadas most successful exporters and the farmers that rely on its global reach. However, there is strong evidence that nouveau Cold War politics, and not agricultural pests, are behind this move. Canadian officials have double-checked tests done on samples from these shipments and found no "irregularities." If the canola is, in fact, pest-free, then what is Chinas strategy? Many believe this is yet another instance of retaliation by China for Canadas arrest last fall of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer for mobile technology giant Huawei. Meng was detained by Canadian officials and is facing extradition to the United States, where her company has been charged with bank and wire fraud, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and obstructing justice. That indictment is part of a broader technology dispute between the U.S. and China, with the former accusing the latter of using its advanced mobile technologies as a front for state-sponsored intelligence gathering. China and Huawei have denied these allegations. But under U.S. pressure, countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have already expressed concerns about whether Huawei phones and other related technology have enough safeguards to prevent them from being used to pry into the intimate details of citizens and businesses. Bottles of Canola Harvest brand canola oil, manufactured by Richardson International, are seen on the shelf of a grocery store in Beijing earlier this month. They could disappear from shelves in China altogether if the trade dispute continues. (Mark Schiefelbein / The Associated Press files) Richardson is not the only victim of this Cold War struggle. Two Canadians diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor have been detained without charges after China alleged they were "stealing state secrets." Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Its a tit-for-tat battle between the U.S. and China, with Canadian companies and citizens caught in the crossfire. How should Canada proceed in this new Cold War? The path forward is not clear. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that Canada is a "rule of law country" that will honour its extradition treaty with the U.S. It is neither fair nor particularly effective for China to punish Canada for fulfilling its obligations under that treaty. Canada has already announced that extradition proceedings have begun. Meng will most definitely be sent to New York state, where the indictment against Huawei was filed. However, fairness or effectiveness do not seem to be the order of the day in this dispute. These are desperate times and the major players in this conflict do not seem overly concerned about the collateral damage that will be done to Canadians doing business in China, either directly or through massive agricultural imports. Canada is pleading its case, and publicly protesting Chinas treatment of Canadians and Canadian companies. However, until tensions between China and the U.S. ease, its likely that our canola will continue to be held hostage in a Cold War conflict that really has nothing to do with canola. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners Wednesday, the first funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that horrified a nation known for being welcoming and diverse. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. People wait for the start of funeral services in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. The first two burials of the victims from last weekAos mosque shootings are scheduled to take place Wednesday morning. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners Wednesday, the first funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that horrified a nation known for being welcoming and diverse. The funerals of Khalid Mustafa, 44, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, came five days after a white supremacist methodically gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch a massacre that he broadcast live on Facebook. Police said Wednesday they believe he was on his way to a third attack when officers ran him off the road and arrested him. They declined to release any more details, citing the active investigation. During the funerals, Hamza's high school principal described the student as compassionate and hardworking, and said he was an excellent horse rider who aspired to be a veterinarian. Those present included Hamza's younger brother, 13-year-old Zaed, who was wounded in an arm and a leg during the attack. The boy tried to stand during the ceremony but had to sit back in his wheelchair, one mourner said. "We tried to not shake his hand, and not touch his hand or his foot, but he refused, he wanted to shake everybody's hand, he wanted to show everyone that he appreciated them. And that's amazing," said Jamil El-Biza, who travelled from Australia to attend the funeral. The Mustafas had moved to New Zealand last year after spending six years as refugees in Jordan. Mustafa's wife, Salwa, told Radio New Zealand that when the family asked about New Zealand they were told "it's the safest country in the world, the most wonderful country you can go ... you will start a very wonderful life there." Mourners carry the body of a victim of the Friday March 15 mosque shootings for a burial at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) She added, "But it wasn't." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the family should have been safe. "I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that a family came here for safety and for refuge," she said. Four other burials were under way on Wednesday evening. Those victims include Junaid Ismail, Ashraf Ali and Lilik Abdul Hamid. The fourth victim's name was suppressed by court order. Families of those killed had been awaiting word on when they could bury their loved ones. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police have now formally identified and released the remains of 21 of those killed. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. Also on Wednesday, a man accused of sharing video footage of Friday's massacre was jailed by a judge until his next court appearance in mid-April. And Bush said he believes police officers stopped the gunman on his way to a third attack. Ardern has been arguing against giving the accused gunman notoriety followed his move to represent himself in court, raising concerns he would attempt to use the trial as a platform for airing his racist views. A worker carries a coffin away from the grave site of a victim in the Friday, March 15, mosque shootings for burial at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) She revisited that concern during a visit Wednesday to the high school Hamza and another victim attended, where she asked students not to say the attacker's name or dwell on him. "Look after one another, but also let New Zealand be a place where there is no tolerance for racism," she told students at Cashmere High School. "That's something we can all do." Another Cashmere student, 14-year-old Sayyad Milne, also died in the attack. Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man, has been charged with murder and is next scheduled to appear in court on April 5. Police have said they are certain Tarrant was the only gunman but are still investigating whether he had support from others. Ardern previously has said reforms of New Zealand's gun laws would be announced next week and she said an inquiry would be convened to look into the intelligence and security services' failures to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. New Zealand's international spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, confirmed it had not received any relevant information or intelligence before the shootings. Philip Arps, 44, appeared in a Christchurch court Wednesday on two charges of distributing the killer's livestream video of the attack on the Al Noor mosque, the first mosque that was attacked, a violation of the country's objectionable publications law. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Arps, heavily tattooed and dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants, hasn't entered a plea. He remained expressionless during the hearing, his hands clasped behind his back. Judge Stephen O'Driscoll denied him bail. Charging documents accuse Arps of distributing the video on Saturday, one day after the massacre. Most details of bail hearings are suppressed under New Zealand law. The judge made an additional suppression order regarding the police summary of facts in the case, limiting reporting of the accusations to the charges themselves. Bush, the police commissioner, said they believe they know where the gunman was going for a third attack when officers rammed his car off the road but won't say more because it's an active investigation. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In a 74-page manifesto he released before the attack, Tarrant said he was going to attack two mosques in Christchurch and then one in the town of Ashburton if he made it that far. Bush also revised his timeline, saying officers rammed the suspect's car 21 minutes after the first emergency call, rather than 36 minutes. Bush said FBI agents have travelled to New Zealand to help with the investigation. Abizar Valibhai, of Christchurch, said Wednesday's burials marked an important moment. "It's not only for the Muslim community, but for the whole of New Zealand, and the world as well," he said. "If we don't show our support at this time, when are we going to show it?" He said there would be many waves of emotions to come for the families of the victims. "They are fathers, they are mothers, they are brothers, they are sisters, they are wives," he said. "There are a lot of things that will be shattered." CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe - Mozambique began three days of national mourning on Wednesday for more than 200 victims of Cyclone Idai, while the death toll in neighbouring Zimbabwe rose to more than 100 from one of the most destructive storms to strike southern Africa in decades. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Soldiers and paramedics rush to a helicopter to carry injured survivors in Chimanimani about 600 kilometres south east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, March, 19, 2019. According to the government, Cyclone Idai has killed more than 100 people in Chipinge and Chimanimani and according to residents the figures could be higher because the hardest hit areas are still inaccessible. Some hundreds are dead, many more are missing, and some thousands at risk from the massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe - Mozambique began three days of national mourning on Wednesday for more than 200 victims of Cyclone Idai, while the death toll in neighbouring Zimbabwe rose to more than 100 from one of the most destructive storms to strike southern Africa in decades. Torrential rains were expected to continue into Thursday and floodwaters were still rising, according to aid groups trying to get food, water and clothing to desperate survivors. It will be days before Mozambique's inundated plains drain toward the Indian Ocean and even longer before the full scale of the devastation is known. The rapidly rising floodwaters created "an inland ocean" in Mozambique, endangering tens of thousands of families, aid workers said.; People have been clinging to trees and huddling on rooftops since the cyclone roared in over the weekend, and aid groups were desperately trying to rescue as many as they can. The United Nations humanitarian office said the town of Buzi, with some 200,000 people, was at risk of becoming at least partially submerged. "Floodwaters are predicted to rise significantly in the coming days and 350,000 people are at risk," the U.N. office said. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa received a sombre welcome in the hard-hit mountain community of Chimanimani near the border with Mozambique. Zimbabwean officials have said some 350 people may have died. A woman makes her way to a school building being used as an emergency shelter for some 300 local people who are unable to return to their homes following cyclone force winds and heavy rain in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. More than 1,000 people are feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the southern African country destroying vulnerable residential areas. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) "We do not want to hear that anyone has died of hunger," Mnangagwa said. Clutching a bag of his few remaining possessions, Amos Makunduwa described the devastation with one stark sentence. "There is death all over," he said. "It is beginning to smell really bad," he added. "The whole area is like one big body of water, huge rocks and mud. There are no houses, as if no one ever stayed here." Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, center with scarf, visits Chimanimani about 600 km south east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Wednesday March 20, 2019. Mnangagwa visited a part of Chimanimnani affected by cyclone Idai and promised assitance in the form of food and rebuilding of homes. Hundreds are dead, many more missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) The force of the flood waters swept some victims from Zimbabwe down the mountainside into Mozambique, officials said. "Some of the peasants in Mozambique were calling some of our people to say, 'We see bodies, we believe those bodies are coming from Zimbabwe,'" said a local government minister, July Moyo. Entire villages were swept away, said Gen. Joe Muzvidziwa, who was leading the military's rescue efforts in Zimbabwe. Some people had been out at beer halls when the cyclone hit and came home to find nothing left. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi said late Tuesday that more than 200 people were confirmed dead in his country. After flying over the affected region on Monday, he said he expected the death toll to be more than 1,000. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, visits Chimanimani, about 600km south east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Wednesday, March, 20, 2019. Mnangagwa visited a part of Chimanimnani affected by cyclone Idai and promised assitance in the form of food and rebuilding of homes. Hundreds are dead, many more missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Aid workers were shocked as they arrived in the Mozambique port city of Beira, estimated to be 90 per cent destroyed. The 500,000 residents of the city, which has some neighbourhoods that are below sea level, were scrambling for food, fuel and medicine. "The power of the cyclone is visible everywhere, with shipping containers moved like little Lego blocks," said Marc Nosbach, Mozambique country director for the aid group CARE. In footage shot by South African broadcaster eNCA, food and other supplies were dropped from a helicopter to a survivor standing waist-deep in water outside Beira. Another man clinging to a tree branch was hoisted to safety. Rescuers cradled small children, keeping them warm. Flooding in Sofala Province in Mozambique.; Meanwhile, international aid started trickling in. "Everyone is doubling, tripling, quadrupling whatever they were planning" in terms of aid, said Caroline Haga of the Red Cross in Beira. "It's much larger than anyone could ever anticipate." The United Arab Emirates pledged $4.9 million to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, the Emirates News Agency reported, citing the Emirates Red Crescent. Norway said it was providing $700,000. The chairman of the African Union Commission said it would provide $350,000 in immediate support to the countries, and the United Nations allocated $20 million. The European Union released $3.9 million in emergency aid, and Britain pledged up to $7.9 million. Tanzania's military has sent 238 tons of food and medicine, and three Indian naval ships have been diverted to Beira to help with evacuations and other efforts. Sacha Myers of the non-profit Save the Children described overflowing rivers and dams, and said getting in aid was difficult, with roads and bridges washed away or submerged in the region. Hunger and illness were growing concerns, with crops destroyed and waterborne diseases likely to spread. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "There are large areas where people are really finding it difficult to find sources of clean water," said Gert Verdonck, the emergency co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Beira. "On top of all of that, there's the issue of how to treat people who fall sick, with so many health centres damaged or destroyed." ___ Associated Press writers Andrew Meldrum and Cara Anna in Johannesburg and Matt Sedensky in New York contributed to this report. ___ Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa Her family wanted a puppy, so Alicia Barnett dreamed they would find one that was smart, steady and a bit mysterious. She hoped their new addition could share a personality and a name with the man who has become her rather unlikely idol. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Her family wanted a puppy, so Alicia Barnett dreamed they would find one that was smart, steady and a bit mysterious. She hoped their new addition could share a personality and a name with the man who has become her rather unlikely idol. And so, the Barnetts' new chocolate Lab was christened Mueller an homage to the stoic special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether members of the Trump campaign played any part. In this March 13, 2019 image from video provided by Alicia Barnett, her dog's tag is laser engraved with his name, "Mueller," at a pet store in Kansas City, Kan. At Christmas, her teenage son brought home a 10-week-old chocolate lab. AuThe strong, silent type,Au Barnett observed. And then she named him AuMuellerAu _ an homage to the stoic special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether members of the Trump campaign played any part. (Alicia Barnett via AP) For devoted Democrats like Barnett, Robert Mueller has become a sort of folk hero since his appointment in May 2017. To them, he represents calm in the face of a storm, quiet in a city of bombast, a symbol of hope that a presidency they view as dishonourable might soon face some type of consequences. "He gives me reassurance that all is not lost," says Barnett, who lives with her family and Mueller the puppy in Kansas City, Kansas. "I admire his mystique. I admire that I haven't heard his voice. He is someone who can sift through all this mess and come up with a rationale that makes sense to everyone." The special counsel a 74-year-old registered Republican, Marine and former director the FBI has even inspired his own genre of arts and crafts. One can buy Mueller paintings, prayer candles, valentines and ornaments. A necklace, earrings, keychains. A stuffed toy of Mueller in a Superman outfit, cross-stitch patterns, baby onesies even an illustration of his haircut to hang on the wall. "Stare at Special Counsel Mueller's crisp coiffure for three minutes and you will notice a sense of calm come over you," that artist, Oakland, California-based Wayne Shellabarger, wrote in his online listing for a $10 print. "That's a haircut you can set your watch to." Mueller has become a boogeyman for many of President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, as the leader of the investigation the president derides as a "witch hunt." But his fans often speak of him in soaring analogies. Barnett imagines him as a duck's legs: kicking heroically to keep things afloat but under the water, out of view. Karen Adler, a Placerville, California, crafter who sells a coffee mug with Mueller dressed as a saint and wearing a crown of laurels "for victory," describes him as "Paul Bunyan-esque," a man of superhuman labour. Shellabarger thinks of him "almost like Bigfoot," a mystical creature rarely seen in public. Mueller has remained completely silent as the ceaseless speculation about his investigation turned him into one of the most famous men in America. He hasn't given a single interview, and his office does not leak. When Kim Six posted her cross-stitch tribute to Mueller on her Facebook page, some people told her to keep politics out of crafting. The framed stitching featured the letters "M.A.G.A." down the side, a reference to Trump's "Make American Great Again" slogan but with these words substituted: "Mueller Ain't Going Away." Her critics assumed she was far-left, but she considers herself a centrist, having voted in the past for moderate Republicans. Her husband is a "card-carrying Trump fan," says the resident of California's Bay Area. They agree to disagree, and she thinks Americans should be able to do the same. To her, Mueller represents a middle ground where facts exist, as opposed to the ideological rants that consume political discourse. "Let's get all the facts on the table," she says, "and let this impartial person come in and tell us what the truth is not spin, just truth." She's imagined findings so thorough Congress and voters would be forced to act accordingly. But as the investigation has continued on, with 34 people charged and five sentenced to prison, she's noticed Americans retreating to their corners and rearranging the facts to fit their political position. She's losing faith that Mueller's probe, whenever it does come to an end, will change anything at all. "How naive I was," she says. "I have this fear, no matter what happens, either side is going to spin it the way they want to. So I don't know anymore if he's the coming saviour we had hoped for." Carmen Martinez feels doubt, too. She and her business partner in New York City have sold 500 Christmas ornaments and earrings with Mueller's face. They tend to get a rush of orders after major Mueller news: indictments, sentencings. Martinez saw him as the one person who could lead the country out of chaos with truth, and believed his report would push everyone to turn away from Trumpism. But Martinez, a Peruvian immigrant, was shocked last year by the administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexico border. She started to wonder: If images of children in cages don't sway many minds, how could Mueller's report, just words on paper? Others remain hopeful: "I feel like we're in the middle of a book, like a saga," says Janice Harris, a textile artist in Detroit. "And we're just waiting for the climax." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. She was never a particularly political person before Trump's election much of her work featured kittens or dancers. But she was inspired to immortalize Mueller on handmade makeup bags. She had custom fabric printed with Mueller's face, stitched it into her pouches and sold around 50. Wayne Shellabarger has sold two prints of his Mueller haircut illustration. One happy customer wrote that using the print as a meditation aide allowed her to stop taking anti-anxiety medication. "The world has gone completely insane and topsy-turvy," Shellabarger says. "Mueller's hair is one little shining piece of sanity in a sea of madness, so precise and sober and straightforward and without deceit, absolutely by the book, the opposite of everything that's going on in the world." He hung one of the haircut prints in his own living room in Oakland, California close to the television, so when he watches the news and his heart starts to pound, he can glance up at it. There is such a thing as fact, it reminds him. "And that gives me hope," Shellabarger says, "that since he's in charge, the world can be normal again." As protests continue to erupt in the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and across the world in outrage against the horrific shooting of Jacob Bla Read more HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Do you have two personalities? The fabulous Elisabeth Elo says she does, and more on that in a moment, But firstoh. I am so excited. Its such an absolute joy when a dear pal has a wild success. I am trying to remember where I met Elisabeth Elo Elisabeth, do you remember? But it seems as if we have always been friends. Elisabeth hit a home run with her first thriller, NORTH OF BOSTON. It made all the best of lists and she was on the way. Now, her journey to certain stardom continueswith FINDING KATARINA M. And in all the books in all the world, you have nee read anything like this. Elisabeth hit a home run with her first thriller, NORTH OF BOSTON.It made all the best oflists and she was on the way. Now, her journey to certain stardom continueswithAnd in all the books in all the world, you have nee read anything like this. Spies, Russia, reindeer, an amazing heroine, non-stop adventure, disaster, radioactive waste, diamonds, ballerinas, prisons, blizzards, a trek over an icy river, murder, betrayal love and family. And vodka. Spies, Russia, reindeer, an amazing heroine, non-stop adventure, disaster, radioactive waste, diamonds, ballerinas, prisons,blizzards, a trek over an icy river, murder, betrayal love and family. And vodka. How do you like it so far? How do you like it so far? And, as I said, the wonderful Elisabeth insists she has two personalities. Do you? And, as I said, the wonderful Elisabeth insists she has two personalities. Do you? WHERE IN THE WORLD Sometimes I do things as a writer I would never do in real life. For example, the Real Me would never fly halfway around the world to trek to a small village in northeastern Siberia so I could just hang out for a while and soak up the atmosphere. Nope, that sort of thing does not appeal to the Real Me at all. Im your basic latte-and-chocolate kind of girl. I like to sit in my cozy house with my fluffy pooch curled up at my feet. For example, the Real Me would never fly halfway around the world to trek to a small village in northeastern Siberia so I could just hang out for a while and soak up the atmosphere. Nope, that sort of thing does not appeal to the Real Me at all. Im your basic latte-and-chocolate kind of girl.I like to sit in my cozy house with my fluffy pooch curled up at my feet. The Writer Me is an entirely different creature . She routinely dreams up wacky, off-the-wall ideas and immediately, thoughtlessly, blurts out YES! THAT WILL DEFINITELY WORK! She routinely dreams up wacky, off-the-wall ideas and immediately, thoughtlessly, blurts out YES! THAT WILL DEFINITELY WORK! Plus, while the Real Me is not any more motivated than the next person, the Writer Me fervently believes in the transcendent value of ART and will go far, far out of her way for the sake of a story. That was how I ended up boarding a plane a few years ago to go off on a solo adventure to Siberia. Looking back, Im sort of amazed I did it, but Im not at all sorry, because that trip gave me my just-published novel, Looking back, Im sort of amazed I did it, but Im not at all sorry, because that trip gave me my just-published novel, Finding Katarina M. I couldnt possibly have written it without first-hand experience of the people and the place. So there you go. The Writer Me wasnt so crazy after all. She was just doing her work. What I came to understand from my experience is that there are usually two sides to a place. Theres the place as it exists in your imagination; then theres the real place. I am sorry to say that I saw the whole region as a sort of dreadful prison. These two places can be, and usually are, quite different. The Siberia of my imagination was a cold, dark, dangerous place where millions of people had died in the gulag and many more had been exiled.I am sorry to say that I saw the whole region as a sort of dreadful prison. The real Siberia, of course, is nothing like that. Its a vital, evolving society full of diverse peoples who are doing amazing things. When I was in Yakutsk, the city was booming; construction cranes were everywhere. Cultural life includes opera, ballet, and a yearly film festival. Yakutsk is Russian city, obviously, but it feels very much like its own place, with its own identity and pride. . Its a vital, evolving society full of diverse peoples who are doing amazing things. When I was in Yakutsk, the city was booming; construction cranes were everywhere. Cultural life includes opera, ballet, and a yearly film festival. Yakutsk is Russian city, obviously, but it feels very much like its own place, with its own identity and pride. somehow, from the merging of these two things, came a novel about an American woman who travels to Siberia to find a grandmother she mistakenly believed had perished in the gulag. Natalie (thats the main character) faces down a lot of bad stuff and experiences some good stuff along the way, none of which she could possibly have predicted when she lived in her cozy world of lattes and chocolate (sound familiar?). So my western imagination got a good dose of reality, and. Natalie (thats the main character) faces down a lot of bad stuff and experiences some good stuff along the way, none of which she could possibly have predicted when she lived in her cozy world of lattes and chocolate (sound familiar?). Which brings me to a question I love to think about, and you might enjoy as well. We all have certain places that live vividly in our imaginations, either for good, bad, or mixed reasons. f you could set a novel anywhere in world, where would you go and what kind of novel would you write? A foggy London mystery? A sensual love story set in the south of France? An African adventure? Where would your character stay? For how long? Why is she there, and what does she hope to discover? Let your imagination run wildwhy not? Its fun, and its only a story, right? A foggy London mystery? A sensual love story set in the south of France? An African adventure? Where would your character stay? For how long? Why is she there, and what does she hope to discover? Let your imagination run wildwhy not?Its fun, and its only a story, right? HANK: Oooooh. Let me think. And we have to go there, right? So...not Siberia. How about you, Reds and readers? (Have you ever been there?) And a copy of FINDING KATARINA M. to one very lucky commenter! Finding Katarina M. andNorth of Boston, chosen by Booklist as a Best Crime Novel Debut. She grew up in Boston, attended Brown University, and earned a PhD in English from Brandeis. She worked as a children's magazine editor, a high-tech product manager, and a halfway house counselor before starting to write fiction. To learn more, visit www.elisabethelo.com Elisabeth Elo is the author of the suspense novels. and, chosen byas a Best Crime Novel Debut. She grew up in Boston, attended Brown University, and earned a PhD in English from Brandeis. She worked as a children's magazine editor, a high-tech product manager, and a halfway house counselor before starting to write fiction. To learn more, visit www.elisabethelo.com FINDING KATARINA M American doctor travels to Russia to find her estranged grandmother, only to uncover dark family secrets and a dangerous international plot. Natalie March is a successful doctor enjoying a busy life in Washington DC. She always thought that her maternal grandparents perished in the gulag, Stalins notorious network of labor camps. But when a young Russian dancer comes to Natalies office claiming to be her cousin, Natalie must face a surprising truth: her grandmother, Katarina Melnikova, is still very much alive. Natalie eagerly travels to Siberia to meet her, only to be drawn into a web of mystery, intrigue, and danger that will push her to the limits of her endurance. How far will Natalie go to find Katarina M.? How much will she risk to protect her Russian family and her own country from a deadly threat? FINDING KATARINA M. takes the reader on an extraordinary journey across Siberiato reindeer herding camps, Sakha villages, and parties with endless vodka toastswhile it explores what it means to be loyal to your family, your country, and yourself. Westhaven Gold Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. It owns 100% interest in four properties, including the Shovelnose, Prospect Valley, Skoonka Creek, and Skoonka North gold projects covering approximately 37,000 hectares located in British Columbia. The company was formerly known as Westhaven Ventures Inc. and changed its name to Westhaven Gold Corp. in June 2020. Westhaven Gold Corp. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. 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Limited, and Zeban Nominees Limited. Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and: (Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company), Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Adaptec Manufacturing Singapore, Alverix, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. 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B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences, GeneOhm Sciences Canada ULC, Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Iontophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., LifeBond, Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics, NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C. (Isialys) Societe a responsabilitie limitee (Societe a associe unique), PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med, Safety Syringes, Safety Syringes Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical, Straub Medical AG, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical, TVA Medical Inc., Tepha, Tepha Inc., Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging, TriPath Imaging Inc., Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Velano Vascular, Velano Vascular Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Y-Med Inc., Y-Med LLC, and ZebraSci Inc.. Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft engages in the manufacture and distribution of consumer goods in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Consumer Business and Tesa Business. The Consumer Business Segment offers skin and body care products. The Tesa Business segment provides self-adhesive system and product solutions for industries, craft businesses, and consumers. This segment offers its system solutions to the automotive, electronics, printing and paper, and building and construction industries. The company offers its products under the NIVEA, Eucerin, La Prairie, Elastoplast, Labello, Hansaplast, 8x4, FLORENA, Coppertone, HIDROFUGAL, GAMMON, SKIN STORIES, FLORENA FERMENTED SKINCARE, STOP THE WATER WHILE USING ME, CHAUL, and TESA brands. Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft is a subsidiary of maxingvest ag. Read More Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. engages in the acquisition, evaluation, exploration, and development of mineral properties. The company primarily explores for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, and copper deposits. Its flagship property is the Castle mine consists of 19 claims, 34 leases, and two licenses covering an area of 2,815 hectares located in Ontario, Canada. The company was formerly known as Canada Cobalt Works Inc. and changed its name to Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. in May 2020. Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. is headquartered in Coquitlam, Canada. Read More Ralph Lauren Corp. engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of premium lifestyle products. The firm offers apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and other licensed product. It operates through the following segments: North America, Europe, and Asia. The North America segment consists of sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Club Monaco. The Europe segment caters to sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in Europe and the Middle East, excluding Club Monaco. The Asia segment covers the sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The company was founded by Ralph Lauren in 1967 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More e-Therapeutics plc operates as a drug discovery company in the United Kingdom. The company's Network-Driven Drug Discovery platform perform in silico phenotypic screens to generate sets of small molecules that are enriched in active compounds ensuring high in vitro hit rates in complex phenotypic screens; and Genome-Associated Interaction Networks platform to analyze genome-wide association study data, which identifies disease variants at the genome level to identify potential intervention strategies, therapies, and diagnostics, as well as developing RNAi platform to modulate any gene to harness novel targets identified computationally. It also develops search engine technology. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Long Hanborough, the United Kingdom. Read More We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Read More Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Read More 3 hours ago 3 Dependable Dow Stocks to Buy in December Dow Jones Stocks Can Offer Dependable Long-Term Returns Adding components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to your investing strategy certainly comes with its fair share of positives. Since the companies that make up this widely-recognized stock market index are some of the worlds best businesses, investors know they are getting quality by focusing on the Dow. Read Article A few shoppers browse the sprawling New Horizon Mall in Calgary on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week.That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place -- at last -- this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified, community-based financial services company. It is engaged in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance. It firm operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Wealth & Investment Management, and Other. The Community Banking segment offers complete line of diversified financial products and services for consumers and small businesses including checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, and automobile, student, and small business lending. The Wholesale Banking segment provides financial solutions to businesses across the United States and globally. The Wealth and Investment Management segment includes personalized wealth management, investment and retirement products and services to clients across U.S. based businesses. The Other segment refers to the products of WIM customers served through community banking distribution channels. The company was founded by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo on March 18, 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Read More Finland has a lot to celebrate. Not only does it have a capital city bursting with gastronomic creativity, the spectacular Northern Lights and Santa Claus's year-round home (plus the reindeer support staff) in Lapland. It's also the happiest country in the world for the second year in a row, according to the latest World Happiness Report. It's followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands. The World Happiness Report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, the date that the United Nations has declared to be the International Day of Happiness. The report ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. "The top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables, as well as emotional measures of well-being," says report co-editor John Helliwell, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of British Columbia. And that's not just about the native-born residents of those countries. "It's true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries' residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world," says Helliwell. "It's not about Finnish DNA. It's the way life is lived in those countries." They pay high taxes for a social safety net, they trust their government, they live in freedom and they are generous with each other. "They do care about each other," he says. "That's the kind of place people want to live." Differences among the top eight countries are small enough that jostling among the top five is expected every year. Switzerland came in sixth place, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Canada (the only country in the Americas) and Austria. The 2019 list only changed a little, with Austria nudging Australia out of the top 10 list. Australia dropped one spot to 11th place. Support in difficult times Ranking high in happiness doesn't protect a country's people from violence or trauma, as the recent attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand show. But the response of New Zealand's people to the attacks does. New Zealand came in eighth place this year, as it did last year. "What stands out about the happiest and most well connected societies is their resilience and ability to deal with bad things," says Helliwell. "After the 2011 earthquake and now the terrorist attack in Christchurch -- with high social capital, where people are connected -- people rally and help each other and (after the earthquake) rebuild immediately." The US rank is dropping The United States came in 19th place, dropping one spot since last year and a total of five spots since 2017. Except for its 10th place ranking for income, the US doesn't rank in the top 10 on measures that make up a happy country in the UN report. They include 12th place for generosity, 37th place for social support, 61st place for freedom and 42nd place for corruption. Addiction is partly to blame, says report co-author Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, who wrote a chapter focused on the US epidemic of addictions and unhappiness in America, a rich country where happiness has been declining. This year's report provides sobering evidence of how addictions are causing considerable unhappiness and depression in the US," says Sachs, in a press release. "Addictions come in many forms, from substance abuse to gambling to digital media. The compulsive pursuit of substance abuse and addictive behaviors is causing severe unhappiness." Social connections are weakening in the US as social media usage is raising anxiety, especially among adolescents, says Helliwell. Superpowers are not super happy No other super powers made it into the top 10 rankings, either. The United Kingdom came in 15th place, up from 18th place, while Germany came in 17th place, down from 15th. Japan came in 58th place (down from 54th), Russia came in 68th place (down from 59th) and China came in 93rd place (down from 86th). People in South Sudan are the most unhappy with their lives, according to the survey of 156 countries, followed by Central African Republic (155), Afghanistan (154), Tanzania (153) and Rwanda (152). Bolstered by population growth, overall world happiness has fallen over the past few years, which has mostly been fueled by a sustained drop in India, which came in 140th place this year (versus 133rd place in 2018). There has also been an increase of negative emotions, which were also measured and include worry, sadness and anger. It began with Bhutan The prime minister of the tiny country of Bhutan proposed a World Happiness Day to the United Nations in 2011, which brought international attention to happiness as a metric. Bhutan came in 95th place (up two spots from last year) in this year's report. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 20 as World Happiness Day, recognizing "the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives." This report is the seventh to come out since 2012. The rankings of the world's happiest countries came from an analysis of data from surveys in 156 countries, including the Gallup World Poll starting in 2005-2006. World's happiest countries 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Iceland 5. Netherlands 6. Switzerland 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Canada 10. Australia World's least happy countries 1. South Sudan 2. Central African Republic 3. Afghanistan 4. Tanzania 5. Rwanda 6. Yemen 7. Malawi 8. Syria 9. Botswana 10. Haiti A former fire chief is being nationally recognized for his leadership. Brian McQueen, a retired fire chief with the Whitesboro Fire Department, was chosen to receive the James P. Seavey Sr. Health and Wellness Leadership Award, by the National Volunteer Fire Council. Only four people are chosen each year to receive the award by the council. McQueen was diagnosed with cancer from his work as a firefighter. He founded the Believe 271 Foundation, which provides financial assistance to firefighters who suffer from life threatening illnesses. McQueen will formally receive the award at a ceremony next month in Virginia. The United Kingdom is edging towards what might turn out to be the ultimate act of involuntary downsizing undertaken by any nation in history. For sure, the Soviet Union lost its satellite states as communism crumbled, leaving Russia a relic of its former glory. But Theresa May, the Prime Minister, is currently nudging closer to sacrificing national limbs so the body, her cherished Withdrawal Agreement, might survive. The point is not lost on diplomats at the European Union's central command in Brussels, Belgium. Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte seized on the idea last week, posting a memorable meme depicting a limbless swordsman from Monty Python's eponymous movie, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." John Cleese plays the Black Knight, who meets his match in King Arthur. Cleese's character is determined to press ahead on his chosen road in quest of the mythical grail, whereby Arthur swiftly defenestrates him of his limbs. A bloody and somewhat shorter -- but still chipper -- Cleese chides his attacker: "It's just a flesh wound ... We'll call it a draw ... Come back here ... I'll bite your legs off." While May is unlikely to indulge in actual bodily harm, the Brexit deal she has struck with the EU and her path towards it has shorn her of political support. Yet Rutte's Black Knight meme may not be a comment on May's leadership style but a frank assessment of the political dysmorphia that currently threatens to dismember the United Kingdom. In Scotland, where 62% of voters used the Brexit referendum to state unequivocally they want Scotland to remain part of the EU, the chaotic Westminster process is growing calls for a second independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party, or SNP, has been angling for a reason to go back to the voters since losing the last referendum 55% to 45% in 2014. And although May's Conservative Party stormed back in 2017 from an almost complete electoral eclipse at the hands of the SNP north of the border, Ian Blackford, the leader of the SNP's 35 Westminster members of Parliament, never misses a chance tell May that Scotland "will not be dragged out of the EU" by English politicians. Were it not for the popular Scottish Conservative Party leader, Ruth Davidson, May might well have been another dozen members of Parliament down and unable to govern, even with the support of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP. Conventional wisdom is that Westminster would need to sign off on another Scottish vote for independence. For now, this is all just scheming in Holyrood, Scotland's seat of government. In the cut and thrust of the Brexit chaos, the UK's political class has forgotten about the real constitutional crisis brewing around the nation. Twenty-one years ago, the Belfast or Good Friday agreement began to lower, if not bury, the pro-Unionist, pro-Irish hatchets that carved three decades of violence into the island's ledger. Brexit has brought it all back to the surface. Pro-British Unionists reacted angrily to pro-Irish Sinn Fein politicians at a Saint Patrick's Day parade in New York, carrying a banner demanding the English get out of Ireland. Sinn Fein has never been shy about rallying support for a United Ireland. But this year, thanks to Brexit, the stakes have been raised. Northern Ireland voted 56% in favor of remaining in the EU. In Catholic-majority neighborhoods, such as Foyle, that number hit 80%. Irish Nationalists feel they are suffering a double body blow. Firstly, English Nationalists are stealing their aspirations towards a United Ireland, brought closer by remaining in the EU, of which the Irish Republic is part. Secondly, the members of Parliament with most sway over May are Northern Ireland's arch pro-British unionists, the DUP . May's weekend machinations to bring the DUP back into line, with their costly confidence and supply commitment given in 2017, are rumored to include giving the DUP a greater say in Brexit negotiations. If May were to concede, it would be an undoubted red rag for the SNP's Sturgeon, who has also demanded representation and would quite happily lock constitutional horns over the issue. In a landscape lacking political giants, the inability of Parliament to get a head-up look at the real dangers coming should alarm all of us. For Parliament's pygmies, mired in the cozy mulch of revisionist revelry, it's time to empty the stable and let the grown-ups get to work raking out the muck, clearing a less odious path forward. It is another day where temperatures are not only beating all-time March records, but also April records in Canada. The heat extends into the northwestern U.S. It is already 77 at Seattle's Tacoma Airport. The low was just 59, making it a record warm low temperature for the date This beat the old record of 57 set in 1900. It is warmer right now, as of midday local time, at Fort Smith, Northwest Territories than our high temperature so far today as of 3:30 p.m. local time here. It is sunny & 56 there & light rain & 45 here at West Lafayette. It is warmer on the shores of Reindeer Lake, near Hudson Bay than it is here with 59 there. Wildfires are now actually being reported due to the extremely warm, dry weather with incredibly early snow melt. Dew points all the way to the northwest U.S. have been running in the teens & 20s & 30s, despite temperatures to 80. It has cooled in Alaska. It is back down to 25 at Fairbanks currently, but the chill has not made it farther southward to Klawock where it is 64 currently. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ This ridge will try to move southeastward & build all the way to Texas, but it is the developing big East Coast Nor'Easter that will mess up our forecast of 6 days of nice weather with this ridge. If we can push the Nor'Easter away & let the ridge come in completely, then 70s would be easy, but I think we will have to settle on 50s to 60s with three days of dry, nice weather instead, not six. This is a large Nor'Easter with a deep moisture plume indundating areas way to the east. Bermuda will is & will continue to be socked in rainfall with high winds. Gale Warnings & Craft Advisories are up for the island. Looks like we are going to split this spring weather into two pieces. One piece will occur initially the end of this week to the weekend & then the other mid to late next week. In-between will be out brief, sharp cold snap. Watch how the warm ridge begins to build southeastward & then it is halted a bit as the cold trough comes down around the East Coast storm tonight-Friday: Note how that the short of potent cold air rushes in Monday as East Coast storm wraps up over far eastern Canada. Also note how brief the cold snap is. It is in & out in really 2.5 days. We are back to the 50s Wednesday, then 60s by late next week. So, after scattered showers today-tonight & a bit of spotty rain/snow Thursday morning, it will be cloudy right up to Thursday afternoon before we begin to clear. After lows 34-38 tonight, highs tomorrow will run 47-52 with brisk northwest winds at 13-24 mph. Friday looks gray, cold, blustery & cloudy for the morning hours, then skies should clear. After near 30 in the morning, we should see a late day rally of 50-57. With frosty & clearing skies Friday night, lows of 27-30 are likely. Saturday looks good with 58-64, followed by 30s Saturday night & increasing clouds with 50s to 60s Sunday. With breezy conditions, some showers are possible late Sunday. Showers & windy conditions are likely Monday with falling temperatures into the 30s. Rain may end as snow. With lows near 25 with clearing Monday night, wind chill will drop to the low to mid teens. Tuesday looks bright, but cold with highs 36-41, followed by 20-25 Tuesday night. Some increasing clouds & rapid warm-up to 49-55 is likely Wednesday with strong southerly winds. Late next week looks warm with spring-like 60s & eventually some showers & t'storms. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Llivia is an enclave of Spanish territory which is in the French department of Pyrenees-Orientales and it is administratively part of the province of Girona in Spain. The enclave was initially named Julia Libyca by the Romans. The name later evolved to Julia Livia and finally to Llivia. It was the capital of the ancient district of Cerdana until 1177. Significance of Llivia The enclave is overshadowed by the Pyrenees and surrounded by French territory. The enclave has retained its Spanishness despite the French influence that surrounds territory. It retains Spanish legislation, economy, and taxes. The dialing codes and police are also Spanish. Despite the differences, the enclave has helped build bridges between the two nations. It represents a beacon of cross border cooperation in Europe due to the unhindered cooperation between the residents of both nations. French residents are seen to establish closer ties with their Spanish counterparts. The cooperation between the two states has led to what is considered the first trans-border hospital in Europe, which is shared by both countries. The enclave is connected to the Spanish border town of Puigceida by a neutral road which passes less than two miles through France. Creation of the Geographic Anomaly The enclave has an area of about 8 square miles which is nearly seven times larger than Monaco. The town of Lliviais is estimated to have more than 1,000 people. The enclave is considered a geographic anomaly that was as a result of a quirk in the Treaty of the Pyrenees that brought to an end the more than two decades of conflict between France and Spain. The treaty recognized the defeat of Philip IV. According to the Treaty, 33 villages were to be ceded to the French Crown in the Querol Valley. French historians have claimed that France was tricked out of Llivia by a Spanish ruse. The Spanish claimed that Llivia was not a village but a town. Llivia has remained landlocked in France for more than 350 years as a result of the Treaty. Attractions in the Town Llivia claims to be home to the oldest pharmacy in Europe dating back to the 15th century, the Esteve Pharmacy. Artifacts of the pharmacy are displayed at the town's museum. The residents of the enclave are fiercely Catalan and speak both Catalan and Spanish. Those visiting the town can get to experience excellent restaurants that serve traditional Catalan and Spanish cuisine while enjoying the ambiance of a small medieval town. Administration Challenges While the Spanish police were cracking down on attempts at an independence referendum in 2017 that was deemed illegal by the Spanish government in other parts of Catalonia, the enclave enjoyed the tactical advantages due to its separation from the rest of Spain as Spanish police would not cross French territory to stop voting in the region. The separation from the Spanish mainland often implies that the town experiences delays in the settling of grievances raised to the regional government and occasionally to the central government in Madrid. One of the prominent issues remains that of water supplies that occasionally dry up. French citizens in the surrounding area are not faced with the same challenges which the Spanish government has been slow to address. Bulgaria, formally known as the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country situated in the southeastern region of continental Europe. According to recent estimates from the United Nations, Bulgarias current population stands at approximately 7,019,624 with a population density of 168 people per mile. In terms of area, the country covers some 41,915 square miles with the majority of its residents, about 74%, living in urbanized areas. Once a part of the Ottoman Empire Bulgaria became a democratic republic in 1991 and is currently a member of a number of international organizations including NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Council of Europe. In terms of geography Bulgaria is bordered by the Black Sea on its eastern coast as well as numerous countries including Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, and Greece. Romania Romania is located in the central southeastern portion of Europe. Covering a land area of about 92,043 square miles the nation is home to some 19,542,827 residents. 60% of who live in the urban areas of the country. Perhaps one of the best known regions of Romania is Transylvania, a place name which can be translated to land beyond the forest. Serbia Officially known as the Republic of Serbia, this country of 8,751,074 residents has a population density of 259 people per square mile. Serbia was previously a part of the former Yugoslavia before entering into a political union with Montenegro and then gaining its independence in 2006. Serbia is a member of several international organizations including the Council of Europe, Central European Free Trade Agreement, the United Nations, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Macedonia The Republic of Macedonia currently has a population of approximately 2,085,779 with a density of 214 people per square mile. The country is made up of people from a variety of ethnic groups including about 64% Macedonians, 25% Albanians, 3.9% Turks, 2.7% Romani, and 1.8% Serbians. Although the official languages of the nation is Macedonian residents also speak a variety of other languages include Albanian, Romani, Turkish, and Serbian. Turkey The country of Turkey has a long and storied past that includes being inhabited by various foreign peoples including the Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians. Today the country, formally known as the Republic of Turkey, is a presidential constitutional republic. Turkey is also an important member of a wide array of international organizations including NATO, the United Nations (since 1945), the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (starting in 1969), and the G-20 (1999). Greece Greece, or the Hellenic Republic, has a population of approximately 11,135,394 people over a land area of 49,769 square miles. A significant percentage of its population (78.7%) reside in the countrys urban centers. As a parliamentary democracy Greeces head of state is its president who is elected by the 300 member parliament. According to its constitution political power in Greece is divided between three branches of government; executive, legislative, and judicial. R&D investment, innovation edge help withstand US crackdown Employees pass by a screen showing Huawei's innovation roadmap at its office in Milan, Italy, on February 28. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT Huawei will continue to lead in the 5G telecommunications space with substantial influence and significant contributions despite a US-led geopolitical crackdown, as it has taken a leading position by continuously investing in research and development (R&D) and prioritizing innovation. Huawei filed the largest number of patent applications among all companies with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of UN, worldwide in 2018, and industry insiders said that continuous investment in R&D and a focus on new technologies is helping China forge ahead in global patent applications. The Shenzhen-based company - the world's largest telecoms equipment provider - filed a record 5,405 patents in 2018, the highest among corporate filers, the WIPO said in a report released on Tuesday. Next came Japan-based Mitsubishi Electric Corp, followed by US technology giants Intel and Qualcomm. The US remained the largest applicant globally in 2018, with a total of 56,142 patents filed, down 0.9 percent from 2017. China is now the second-largest patent applicant with 53,345 filed in 2018, up 9.1 percent year-on-year, the report showed. "Asia is now the majority filer of international patent applications via the WIPO, which is an important milestone for that economically dynamic region and underscores the historical geographical shift of innovative activity from West to East," Francis Gurry, director-general of the WIPO, was quoted as saying in the report. Chinese lead Huawei invests about $15-20 billion in R&D annually, ranking in the top five among global companies, company founder Ren Zhengfei said during a group interview in January. "We have obtained 87,805 licensed patents, of which 11,152 are core technology patents in the US, and we have participated in more than 360 standards organizations and contributed over 54,000 proposals," he said, explaining why Huawei is competitive in the telecom industry. The company has filed more than 129,000 patent applications as of now, among which wireless telecom patents exceeded 44,000, according to the latest figures provided by Huawei. "Our R&D investment is at the global forefront, and this is also the top priority of the company's founder Ren," a Huawei spokesperson told the Global Times on Tuesday. Huawei's major rival ZTE Corp also ranked among the top five applicants in the WIPO report, with a total of 2,080 patent filings in 2018. "China accounts for about 10 percent of all 5G-related patents, which is also in line with the government's ambitions in leading the 5G era," Li Zhen, an industry expert at Beijing-based CCID Consulting, said in explaining why the number of patent filings by Chinese companies surged in 2018. Absolute advantage "Our absolute competitive advantage in 5G is also another reason [for the lead in global patent applications]," the Huawei spokesperson said. The year of 2018 was a key year for 5G development, and Huawei has been concentrating its research efforts on the next generation of wireless technologies since 2009. The number of patents Huawei filed that were related to 5G also accounted for a large part of all the patent filings by the company, the spokesperson said. Despite the US-led global crackdown on the Chinese company, industry representatives have acknowledged that Huawei is a leading 5G player with the highest count of 5G 3GPP contributions and therefore not easily substitutable. The New York Times said on Sunday that the US campaign to ban Huawei overseas is stumbling as its major allies resist. "Huawei is one of the leaders in the 5G space with substantial influence and significant contributions," Charlie Dai, principal analyst at American consultancy Forrester, told the Global Times on Tuesday. According to the latest figures intellectual property tracker IPlytics GmbH published in February, Huawei holds 1,529 5G standard essential patents, ahead of Nokia, which holds 1,397. Samsung has 1,296 and Ericsson holds 812, the analyst noted. "Technically it is possible to find workarounds regarding Huawei's technology, but it would be a huge waste of money and not beneficial for the whole ecosystem," he said. ` Prime Minister Theresa May will ask for an extension before Britains exit from the European Union (EU) comes into effect. If this is rejected by Brussels at a summit on Thursday, Brexit is set for March 29, in just nine days. No one knows exactly what May will ask fora short extension (June 30 has been raised) or one extending beyond the summer that would require UK participation in the European elections. May has not ruled out asking for a combined short extension, with the back-up of a two-year delay if no parliamentary agreement on her EU deal is possible. It is far from certain that the EU will agree an extension. Its leaders have made clear they want May to provide sufficient reason for doing so, insisting it will come with a political and financial cost to the UK. May met with her cabinet yesterday, after her plan to bring her Brexit deal back to parliament for a third meaningful vote was scuppered by the intervention of Parliamentary Speaker John Bercow. The pro-Remain Conservative ruled Tuesday that a parliamentary convention dating back to 1604 meant it was unacceptable for another vote on a deal rejected twice alreadythe second time by a majority of 149. MPs decided that May had not secured the necessary concessions on the UKs right to unilaterally leave the Northern Irish backstop customs arrangement already agreed with the EU. Bercow ruled that any additional vote would demand a new proposition that is neither the same nor substantially the same as that disposed of by the House on March 12 He added that this ruling should not be regarded as my last word on the subject, suggesting a possible compromise. But Solicitor General Robert Buckland described his intervention as a constitutional crisis and May readily agreed. The 90-minute Tory cabinet meeting was bitter and angry. One insider compared it to the last days of Rome. May has the support of those of her MPs who fear a hard Brexit and loss of tariff-free access to the Single European Market. Her aim now is to force hard-Brexit Tory MPs and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)whose votes May relies on to rule as a minority governmentto accept that the likely alternative to her soft-Brexit option is not a no-deal Brexit, but an extended period of continued EU membership. She also counts on their fear of a delay that might create the conditions for a second referendum to overturn the 2016 result or possibly even a general election. Mays closest allies gave out conflicting signals, with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay suggesting that a third vote on her deal could still take place next week if enough Tory rebels and the 10 DUP MPs change their minds. Barclay warned, Parliament is leaving no other option, other than to revoke [Article 50], if you take the deal off the table and no-deal off the table. An official party spokesperson reiterated Mays earlier warning that rejecting her deal would provoke a national crisis, while other sources speculated that the queen might prorogue parliamentending this session and then reopening parliamentso that Bercows no second vote ruling was no longer valid. Any extension before invoking Article 50 of the EU constitution would have to be agreed by all 27 member states. German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to fight to the last hour of the deadline on 29 March for an orderly exit," but her Europe minister, Michael Roth, spoke of the EUs patience really being put to the test at the moment and insisting on a concrete proposal about why the UK is seeking an extension. Numbers are being frantically crunched to determine whether there is a parliamentary majority for a second referendum, given that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accepted that one should be held if Mays renegotiated deal is still unacceptable and threatens a no-deal Brexit. Divisions in the Labour Party over Brexit are part of a toxic mix of factional conflicts in the Tory Party. There is a swathe of Labourites in pro-Leave constituencies whom May is trying to persuade to back her deal. Meanwhile Corbyn has still not said he will support a Remain vote if a second referendum is held. He is meeting with the leaders of the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Partywho are collectively urging him to back a Remain vote. But he is also discussing with MPs calling for a Norway Plus non-membership free trade arrangement with the EU. The group spans Nick Boles and Oliver Letwin of the Tory Party and Stephen Kinnock and Lucy Powell of Labour. Corbyn is still suggesting that he wants to fight for his own Brexit strategyincluding tariff-free EU access. On Sunday he suggested he might table another no-confidence motion in the government if Mays proposals fail. At that point we should say there has to be a general election so the people of this country can decide 'do they want a Labour government investing in people's communities, dealing with inequality, injustice and having a relationship with Europe that protects jobs and guarantees our trade for the future, he said. This only confirms that Corbyn is anathema to his Blairite opponents, who want an end to Brexit and are just as vehement in their opposition to a Labour government under his leadership. There is no real political division between the phalanx of Labour MPs who split to form the (pro-EU) The Independent Group (TIG) and the larger numbers who have set up an internal opposition, the Future Group, led by Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson. Even as May was fighting for her political future, senior members of Labours shadow cabinet were briefing the Evening Standard that Corbyn was tired and fed-up and ready to quit as party leader. That same day the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), a Zionist organisation that has played a central role in the Blairite campaign to remove Corbyn and drive out his supporters, announced that it would debate a no-confidence motion in Corbyn at its congress next month. The motion continues efforts to slander Corbyn as an anti-Semite. If passed, it would register the JLMs intention to end all campaigning for Labour candidates who are not allies in the fight against anti-Semitism, i.e. those backing Corbyn. The resolution states that The blame for this crisis of anti-Semitism and the partys failure to deal with it lies with Jeremy Corbyn. He is therefore unfit to be Prime Minister and a Labour government led by him would not be in the interests of British Jews. Corbyns refusal to fight the Blairite fifth column, even as they collude openly with the Tories and the media and carry out the expulsion of some of his key supporters, epitomises his political role in demobilising the working class. The Tory government is in a state of meltdown. Britain is in the grip of a major constitutional crisis. Yet Corbyn and his pro-capitalist clique are preventing workers and youth from shifting political life decisively away from the faction fight ripping through the ruling elite onto an axis of the class struggle. Brexit has provoked an internecine struggle between arch reactionaries whose differences over EU membership are entirely subordinate to their collective aim of imposing further savage attacks on working people and pursuing an aggressive militarist agenda in the domestic and global interests of the financial oligarchy. The fight for a progressive alternative depends upon the most far-sighted workers and young people drawing the necessary conclusions, breaking from Labour to the left and waging a genuine struggle for socialism in Britain and throughout Europe. Officials from the state of Texas and Intercontinental Terminals Co. (ITC) have been monitoring a massive Houston-area chemical fire around the clock since the weekend. Due to the nature of the blaze, firefighters have to let the fire burn itself out but are unsure of when the chemicals will stop burning. The fire has been raging since Sunday around 10:30 a.m. It began when a tank containing component chemicals for gasoline caught fire at ITCs petrochemical storage facility in Deer Park, Texas. The fire has since spread to at least six other tanks as firefighters work with foam and water to try to keep the flames from spreading further. Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen told reporters there is not an estimate for when the fire will stop burning. Officials had initially stated that the fire would burn out by Wednesday. Fuel has burned off, Christensen told a press conference Tuesday morning. That may be what has to happen. What I cant tell you is how long that will take. A massive black plume of smoke has billowed from the site and spread over the city of Houston, and continues to move in a north-northwestern direction. The huge column of smoke was visible virtually everywhere in the Houston area on Monday. At the time of this writing, the edge of the smoke plume has reached Austin, approximately 162 miles away. The fire is located in a section of the facility that contains 15 tanks, and the number of tanks on fire has varied throughout the incident. At a news conference on Tuesday, an ITC spokesperson stated eight tanks were on fire but soon after issued a news release saying seven tanks were ablaze. Most of the chemicals in the fire are used to produce gasoline, and exposure at 100 ppm can cause unpleasant side effects. Two of the tanks burning contain a gasoline blend, one tank contains naphtha, another xylene, and one has pyrolysis gasoline. Naphtha can cause irritation to the eyes and the respiratory system, it affects the central nervous system and is harmful and even fatal if it is swallowed. Xylene causes skin irritation and may also be fatal if it is swallowed or enters the airway. State regulators have said the plume of smoke poses no immediate health risks. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the states environmental regulatory agency, said in a statement Monday afternoon that there is no need to be concerned about health impacts. According to officials, favorable weather has lifted the smoke well about ground level, around 6,000 feet, posing little threat to residents in the area. Dry and clear conditions are helping the particles of the chemicals dissipate above the ground, according to earlier reports in the Houston Chronicle. Additionally, warmer afternoon temperatures are causing the plume to stay above 1,000 feet, where people would be at serious risk for smoke or soot inhalation, according to National Weather Service meteorologists. However, environmental groups have said that neither the TCEQ nor ITC have released enough data to back up claims that theres no immediate risk to human health. Theyre asking us to trust their professional judgment, and theyre giving us zero reason to believe thats true, Elena Craft, a senior health scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, told the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Craft told reporters that the TCEQ has a history of lax enforcement concerning pollution events. A 2017 Texas Tribune investigation found that thousands of rogue air pollution events occur at industrial facilities in Texas every year but that only a handful of them garner fines. By looking behind me, you can tell this is not normal, this is not fine, Corey Williams, policy and research director for Air Alliance Houston, told local ABC 13. The only thing preventing this from being a major catastrophe is favorable weather conditions. Williams added that there may be delayed health effects, as black particles could be seen settling in parts of the city. Locals have also cast doubt on official reports of the health risks. Jorge Guerra, who lives three miles away from the fire, told CBS News he doesnt believe the air quality is safe. Ive seen ash fall outblack pieces of ash, Guerra said. Ive seen it on my cars, Ive seen it on the front porch on the sidewalk. Does that scare you? It does, it does. What scares me more is what we dont see. Experts say even if the air quality is good now, any sudden change in weather could quickly reverse the situation. If we get a thunderstorm or something like that, which mixes the atmosphere, then all that junk is going to come to the surface, Robert Talbot, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Houston, told CBS News. Classes resumed at La Porte and Deer Park ISD after the districts initially closed schools on Monday. But there was mixed reaction from parents, especially since 19 different schools are within a five-mile radius of the incident and the black smoke is still visible. Parents expressed dissatisfaction on Facebook. Kids at San Jacinto Elementary will be able to see the fire out of their school window. Youre putting our kids at risk for what reason? My kids will not be in school until the fire is out, one parent wrote. Another parent said, My kid will not be in class until the fire is out. My sons school is a couple of miles away. I will not gamble with his life. ITC has a history of environmental violations, having paid more than $200,000 in fines over the past decade. The TCEQs databases show the agency has fined the company at least 10 times since 2002, and at least twice last year, for various pollution-related incidents. The company also has been in significant noncompliance with the federal Clean Water Act for 9 of the last 12 quarters, according to an EPA enforcement database. This includes an incident last year in which ITC released more than 10 times the allowable limit of cyanide into the San Jacinto River basin from April through June. One hundred years ago this month, from March 2 to March 6, 1919, the founding congress of the Third, Communist International took place in Moscow. Although the journey was difficult due to the raging civil war and imperialist blockade, 51 delegates took part in the congress, 35 with full voting rights representing 17 organisations, and 16 with consultative votes representing a further 16 organisations. Over subsequent years, millions of revolutionary-minded workers around the world would join the communist parties of the Third International. The Collapse of the Second International The founding of the Third International was the response to the collapse of the Second International at the beginning of World War I. On 4 August 1914, its most powerful and influential section, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), voted for war credits in the Reichstag and thereby lent its support to German imperialist war aims. With the exception of the Russian and Serbian sections, all of the other sections followed the SPD's example and backed the imperialist bloodbath. With their support for war credits, the Social Democratic leaders betrayed the most elementary principles of socialist internationalism. Just a few weeks earlier they had condemned the war and pledged in ceremonial speeches to mobilise the working class against it. Then they joined the imperialist camp, concluding a labour truce with their own bourgeoisies, suppressed the class struggle, and drove their members into the trenches, where they slaughtered each other. A political betrayal on such an historical scale could not be explained by subjective motives. It had deep-going objective roots. The various internationals did not appear by accident, but their emergence, politics, and methods of work were closely bound up with specific stages of social development. Founding of the International Workers Association in London in 1864 (Marx, sitting, left of speaker) The First International, which emerged with the active participation of Marx and Engels in 1864, was of a preparatory character. It anticipated future developments and prepared them politically and theoretically. Following the suppression of the Paris Commune, the first heroic attempt by the working class to seize power, it was dissolved in the course of the 1870s. The Second International was founded in 1889 and corresponded to a different epoch. Under conditions of a rapid economic expansion, powerful workers' organisations developed and consolidated themselves. Although they declared their support for internationalism, objective conditions imposed a national character on their political views and practical activities. Their praxis was focused on the struggle for democratic and social reform, and the organisational strengthening of parties and trade unions. It was a period of gradual, organic development, which did not provide the social democratic parties with an opportunity for a revolutionary struggle against the state power. Karl Kautsky's famous sentence, The Socialist party is a revolutionary, but not a revolution-making party, which he formulated in Die Neue Zeit in 1893, undoubtedly reflected the relationship between the subjective and objective factors of the time. The tension between revolutionary perspective and reformist practice created fertile ground for opportunist tendencies opposed to a revolutionary perspective. They found support among privileged party functionaries, trade union bureaucrats, and better-off sections of workers. As Lenin explained, the bourgeoisie, in a period of relatively peaceful expansion gave them crumbs from the profits of national capital, which tore them away from the misery, suffering, and revolutionary temper of the ruined masses. Rosa Luxemburg addressing a rally at the 1907 congress of the Second International in Stuttgart This workers' aristocracy increasingly identified its interests, in peacetime and at war, with the economic and political successes of their own imperialism. At SPD congresses, they remained, together with their most prominent spokesperson Eduard Bernstein, in the minority. However, they were tolerated as a legitimate part of the SPD and won greater influence in the party apparatus and trade unions. The outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914 marked the beginning of a new stage of capitalist development, the epoch of imperialism, an epoch of wars and revolutions. World politics dominated national politics; it became impossible to maintain a revolutionary orientation within the framework of the nation state. This was the reason for the collapse of the Second International. Opportunism, which confronted by the war advocated reformism and class collaboration, now showed its true colours, embraced chauvinism and pro-war enthusiasm, and captured all of the indecisive and half-hearted elements. The real, objective significance of the War is the breakdown of the present national economic centres, and the substitution of a world economy in its stead, wrote Trotsky in summing up the significance of the war several weeks after its outbreak. The Socialist parties of the epoch now concluded were national parties. They had become ingrained in the national states with all the different branches of their organizations, with all their activities and with their psychology. In the face of the solemn declarations at their congresses they rose to the defence of the conservative state, when imperialism, grown big on the national soil, began to demolish the antiquated national barriers. And in their historic crash the national states have pulled down with them the national Socialist parties also. Tasks of the Third International Lenin and Trotsky were therefore convinced that it was not a question of reviving the Second International following its collapse. The most urgent political task was the construction of a Third International, whose tasks and methods would be fundamentally different from those of its predecessor. Firstly, it was no longer possible to work in the same organisation as the opportunists. Although the Marxists inside the Second International combatted the opportunists for years, revisionism was nevertheless regarded as a legitimate part of the Social Democracy. Lenin stressed that this could not continue, writing, Unity with the opportunists actually means today, subordinating the working class to its national bourgeoisie, alliance with it for the purpose of oppressing other nations and of fighting for great-power privileges; it means splitting the revolutionary proletariat in all countries. Secondly, the relationship between the objective and subjective factors had radically changed. While the Second International merely posed the question of the conquest of power theoretically, the socialist revolution was for the Third International a practical task, not a general goal for the distant future. Kautsky's dictum that the Social Democrats were not a revolution-making party, and that It is not part of our work to instigate a revolution or to prepare the way for it, which had a certain justification in the 1890s, was now an obstacle to the revolution and an entirely false assessment. The founding congress of the Communist International in 1919 The Third International stood for a different conception of revolutionary leadership. Its tasks consisted not merely in predicting the inevitability of revolution, but to prepare and lead it. This arose out of the character of the imperialist epoch, in which all of the economic prerequisites for the socialist revolution were ripe. The conflict between private property and socialised production, between world economy and the nation state produced sharp social tensions. But their inevitable explosion could only result in a socialist revolution if a revolutionary Marxist party consciously intervened. If the First International presaged the future course of development and indicated its paths; if the Second International gathered and organized millions of workers; then the Third International is the International of open mass action, the International of revolutionary realization, the International of the deed, declared the manifesto of the Third International's founding congress, which Trotsky authored. And thirdly, the Third International was not a federation of national sections, but a world party pursuing a global strategy. This did not mean that conditions in every country were the same, that the revolution would take place everywhere at the same time, or that no specific tactics for a given country were necessary. It meant that a correct national policy could be developed only on the basis of a global analysis, that each section must proceed directly from an analysis of the conditions and tendencies of world economy and of the world political system taken as a whole, as noted by Trotsky, who wrote in 1928, In the present epoch, to a much larger extent than in the past, the national orientation of the proletariat must and can flow only from a world orientation and not vice versa. Herein lies the basic and primary difference between communist internationalism and all varieties of national socialism. This accounts for the incredible political and theoretical richness of the Third International's work in the first years of its existence. It was a school of international strategy concentrating on the problems and tasks of communist parties around the world. Through it, the working class could follow the theory and practice of the international workers' movement as a whole, engage with its complex political problems, and learn from them. The resolutions and protocols of the first four congresses, which fill several volumes, provide an inexhaustible guide to revolutionary strategy and tactics. The 1917 October Revolution The construction of the Third International was the most important conclusion drawn by Lenin from the betrayal of 1914. This was not an abstract, academic question. It determined the perspective and programme of the Bolshevik Party in the revolutionary year of 1917. Together with Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution, it formed the basis for the victory of the October Revolution. Since the outbreak of the war, Lenin advocated a complete break from the opportunists, and called for the transformation of the war into a civil war, i.e. into a socialist revolution. But even at the first international anti-war conference, which met in the Swiss village of Zimmerwald in September 1915, he remained with this position in the minority. The majority of the anti-war socialists demanded peace without annexations, i.e. a return to the status quo prior to the war. But Lenin's perspective was to receive dramatic confirmation just two years later. The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, who came to power in Russia in February 1917 following a revolutionary mass uprising against the Tsarist regime, refused to fulfil a single one of the masses revolutionary demands, proving thereby that there was no way out of the war on a capitalist basis. They continued the imperialist war, opposed land reform, and launched a ruthless crackdown against revolutionary workers. The working class moved leftwards and turned to the Bolsheviks. Under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, they seized power in October 1917, and established the first workers' state in history. The Second Congress of the Communist International (Trotsky is third from the left, next to Paul Levi and Zinoviev) Lenin and Trotsky firmly believed that workers' power in economically backward Russia could only be consolidated over the long term if it served as the prelude to world socialist revolution. This perspective was realistic. The subsequent years were dominated by mass working-class struggles throughout Europe, and anticolonial struggles in China, India, and other countries. These movements failed to produce victorious revolutions solely due to the lack of experienced revolutionary leadership, or its inadequate connection to the masses. In November 1918, the German revolution spread like wildfire throughout the entire country, forcing the Kaiser to abdicate and leading to the emergence of workers' and soldiers' councils everywhere. The Social Democrats came to power and suppressed the revolution by forming an alliance with the army's high command and murdering the revolutionary leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Soviet republics existed in Bavaria for several days, and in Hungary for several months, but they were both brutally put down by counterrevolutionary troops. Against this backdrop, the Communist International emerged rapidly as the centre of world revolution. Stalinist degeneration The central role of the subjective factor in the imperialist epoch was also the chief problem that the Third International had to resolve. It had to bridge the gulf between the maturity of the political situation and the immaturity of the revolutionary leadership. This problem, which was the legacy of previous developments, could have been overcome with time. However, a process of political degeneration within the Russian Communist Party increasingly counteracted such efforts. By the time the fourth congress of the Communist International met in November 1922, Lenin had already suffered his first stroke. Shortly thereafter, in March 1923, a further stroke prevented him from undertaking further political work. Trotsky, the leading theoretician of the world socialist revolution, came under pressure from a nationally oriented party and state bureaucracy under the leadership of Stalin. In 1924, Stalin proclaimed the theory of socialism in one country, which claimed it was possible to construct socialism independently of the world economy and within the national framework of the Soviet Union. It became the state doctrine of the Stalinist regime. Theoretically, this meant a return to the national socialism of the right wing of the Social Democrats, and politically the subordination of the Communist International to the national interests of the Soviet bureaucracy. Trotsky and the Left Opposition waged a years-long struggle against this degeneration. In 1928, Trotsky, who had been expelled from the Communist International a year earlier, authored a devastating critique of its draft programme. He demonstrated that the theory of socialism in one country had horrendous implications for economic policy in the Soviet Union. The seizure of power by the proletariat has not at all excluded the Soviet republic from the system of the international division of labour, wrote Trotsky. He also stressed that socialism in one country was the cause of disastrous defeats for the international working class, culminating in the destruction of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927. Trotsky and everyone else who defended the perspective of world socialist revolution were first excluded from the communist parties, then imprisoned, sent into exile, and finally murdered in the tens of thousands during the Great Terror of 1937-38. Trotsky was assassinated in August 1940 by an agent of the Stalinist secret police. The Fourth International Until 1933, Trotsky and the International Left Opposition sought to correct the Communist International's policies. But after the German Communist Party, under the influence of Stalin, refused to form a united front with the Social Democrats against the Nazis and thereby paved the way for Hitler to take power without a fight, and after no section of the Communist International protested against this, Trotsky called for the building of the Fourth International. The Fourth International based itself on the first four congresses of the Third International. During a period in which the world sank into barbarism, fascism, and war, the Fourth International maintained the continuity of Marxism and prepared a new epoch of revolutionary struggles. But it did not merely continue the work of its predecessor. For one thing, social contradictions had sharpened further since the Third Internationals founding. The world stood on the brink of World War II. Trotsky spoke of the death agony of capitalism. On the other hand, the resolution of the crisis of proletarian leadership was complicated by the rise of Stalinism. After the German catastrophe, the Communist International emerged as an openly counterrevolutionary force. In the name of the popular front, it formed alliances with bourgeois parties and suppressed every revolutionary striving of the working class that sought to challenge bourgeois rule. In France, the popular front suppressed the 1936 general strike, paving the way for Marshall Petain, who established a pro-Nazi, authoritarian regime four years later. In Spain, the Soviet secret police murdered revolutionary fighters behind the front lines of the civil war, making possible the victory of the fascist Franco. In the Soviet Union, the Stalinist regime exterminated virtually the entire leadership of the October Revolution within the framework of the Moscow Trials. Stalin finally dissolved the Communist International in 1943 because it had become an obstacle to his alliance with American and British imperialism. Leon Trotsky in Mexico Since 1939, the Fourth International has also had to combat opportunist tendencies in its own ranks which, under the pressure of war and fascism, adapted to the democratic imperialist or Stalinist camps. This pressure intensified following the Second World War, when the counterrevolutionary role of Stalinism and the vast economic power of US imperialism secured breathing space for capitalism. The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) was founded in 1953 to prevent the dissolution of the Fourth International into the Stalinist bureaucracy and various bourgeois nationalist liberation movements by a revisionist tendency led by Michel Pablo and Ernest Mandel. Ever since, it has relentlessly upheld the perspective of world socialist revolution under extremely difficult conditions against various opportunist tendencies that dishonestly sought to portray themselves as Trotskyists in the post-war period. This struggle reached its high point in 1985. In the conflict with the renegades of the British Workers Revolutionary Party, the ICFI confirmed its continuity with the entire history of the Fourth International, and the struggles waged against Stalinism, bourgeois nationalism, and petty-bourgeois opportunism. In a 1988 perspectives document that recapitulated the significance of its history, the International Committee pointed to the globalisation of production, the emergence of transnational corporations, and the impact this would have on the socialist revolution. It predicted that the next stage of the class struggle would be characterised by an unprecedented internationalisation, making the class struggle not merely international in its content, but also in form. Based on this assessment, the ICFI constituted its sections as Socialist Equality parties, and developed the World Socialist Web Site, an international organ that is published in 20 languages, is read around the globe, and provides workers with political orientation on a daily basis. While the numerous pseudo-left tendencies have all integrated themselves into the bureaucracies and state apparatus, supported bourgeois governments, and backed imperialist wars, the ICFI is the only tendency today that stands for a socialist and internationalist programme based on the traditions of the first four congresses of the Third International, and the Fourth International. One hundred years after the founding of the Third International, none of the contradictions that made the 20th century the most violent in human history have been resolved. Glaring social inequality, sharp global economic crises, the subordination of entire countries to the imperialist powers, the collapse of parliamentary democracy, the rise of fascist movements, the bitter conflicts between the major powers, and the immediate danger of world war threaten humanity once again. Following decades in which the class struggle was suppressed by the bureaucratic organisations, the working class is once again entering into struggle and raising its own independent demands. The eruption of mass social struggles in France, Algeria, the US, and numerous other countries marks the beginning of a new revolutionary period. The working class confronts the same tasks which the Third International sought to resolve a century ago: the overthrow of capitalism, the overcoming of the nation state, and the reorganisation of the vast resources of the world economy in the interests of society as a whole, rather than the profit drive of a tiny, wealthy few. The objective prerequisites for the resolution of these tasks exist. The ranks of the working class are many times greater, the world economy much more integrated, and technical resources far more developed than they were a century ago. Everything now depends on the building of a revolutionary leadership capable of mastering these tasks. Due to its history, traditions, and programme, this can only be the International Committee of the Fourth International and its sections, the Socialist Equality parties. The Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee and the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held a well-attended conference at the Hatton Town Hall in Sri Lankas tea growing district in the central hills on March 17. Entitled The lessons of the plantation workers struggle and way forward to win higher wages and democratic rights, the event attracted over 100 people, including more than 30 estate workers, workers from a diverse range of trades, university students and housewives. Around 20 SEP members and supporters travelled from Sri Lankas war-ravaged Northern Province to participate. The conference, which was held after weeks of campaigning in tea estates, urban industrial areas and at the universities, unanimously passed resolutions demanding the release of jailed Maruti-Suzuki workers in India and freedom for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and US whistleblower Chelsea Manning. S. Kandipan S. Kandipan, a worker from the Glenugie Estate Maskeliya and a member of the SEP, chaired the event. The unions betrayal of the plantation workers wage struggle, he said, vindicated the long-held analysis of the SEP and the WSWS that the trade unions no longer represent or defend the interests of the working class. The unions have become instruments of the ruling class. The companies, the government and the unions are on one side and the workers the other, he said, and explained that the decision by Abbotsleigh estate workers to establish their own action committee was an example to all other workers. SEP Political Committee member M. Thevarajah presented the main report, describing the conference as a clear expression of the international resurgence of the working class. Thevarajah pointed out that the plantation workers wage struggle was in response to constant attacks on their living conditions. The demand for a 100 percent increase in the basic daily wage came from the workers. As protests developed throughout plantations against the companies outright rejection of their demand, the largest union in the estate sector, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), called a strike in order to dissipate workers anger. M. Thevarajah The union called off the strike after seven days citing a bogus promise by President Maithripala Sirisena that he would resolve the wage issue. But estate workers remained on strike for another two days. The plantation struggle developed as a rebellion against unions, which culminated in the Abbotsleigh estate workers taking the initiative to form an action committee under the guidance of the SEP. The speaker referred to the attempts of Abbotsleigh Estate management, with the support of the unions, to witch hunt S. Suntharalingam, chairman of the action committee, as well as its members. The assistant manager of Abbotsleigh even assigned Suntharalingam to special duties on March 17, to prevent him participating in the workers conference in Hatton. Several Abbotsleigh workers, however, attended the event in defiance of management threats. Thevarajah explained that the ruling classes internationally were attempting to impose the full burden of the escalating crisis of the world capitalist system on the working class. The plantation companies in Sri Lanka are doing the same thing, he said. They demand that tea production costs must be reduced in order to compete in the international market but are not ready to sacrifice any part of their profits. While these companies earn massive profits and their CEOs are paid huge salaries, estate workers daily wage has only risen by a pittance of just 20 rupees in the sell-out collective agreement signed between the employers and the unions. At the same time the daily target for plucking leaves has been increased, he said. Thevarajah pointed out that the companies were pushing for the abolition of the wage system via the allocation of small plots of land to workers and their transformation into tenant farmers or modern-day bonded labour. Entire families will be dragged into maintaining these plots, he warned. Supporters of the conference campaigning among plantation workers The wage struggle by plantation workers, the speaker said, confirmed that Sri Lankan workers, like the fellow workers around the world, cannot win or secure their rights through the unions or by pressuring or appealing to bourgeois governments or employers. Large-scale estates, factories, and banks should be brought under the democratic ownership and control of the working class, he said, and the global economy re-organised to provide for the needs of the majority of the society instead of serving capitalist profits. Thevarajah appealed to workers in all the estates and in other sectors to break with the unions, establish their own action committees and unify those organisations to fight the attacks of the capitalist class and the government. The implementation of a socialist program requires the bringing to power of a workers and peasants government as part of the struggle for socialism on an international scale, he explained. Several audience members spoke during the lively discussion session at the conference. Thanabalan from Hanthana Estate, which is run by the government-controlled Janatha Estate Development Board, told the conference that management failed to properly maintain the estate and keep it clean and free of weeds. They keep it clean along the road side because tourist buses pass through the area, he said. Thanabalan Government ministers and politicians have gradually taken control of Hanthana Estate lands but the estate workers still have to work on these properties, and now there are small hotels emerging from this land. Thanabalan said that estate managements terminate workers when they reach retirement age but do not pay their pension funds. Theres been no platform to reveal these issues. I came here today to expose these things. A female worker from Bloomfield Estate said: They say that they have increased our [daily] salary up to 700 rupees. In reality they increased it by just 20 rupees, but in the meantime the price of essential goods keeps going up. Management demands 16 kilos of tea leaves in order to get a full days salary. I want to know why our children have to grow up as estate workers and deal with the suffering and lack of education we face? Shouldnt we change this situation? Devika Devika, a Colombo harbour worker, said the conference revealed to her the real situation facing plantation workers. Estate workers were major income earners for Sri Lanka, she said, and there had to be a solution to the problems they confronted. Pointing to the situation facing Colombo harbour workers, she explained that the government is trying to privatise the eastern part of the port. If it happens, it would have a severe effect on the massive work force in the port. The problems inside the port are covered up by the activities of the port trade unions. Mayuran from Peradeniya University told the conference that it was 71 years since Sri Lanka gained independence but the basic problems of the people remain unsolved. He reminded the audience of the reactionary decision to abolish the citizenship rights of plantation workers in 1948 and how the ruling class continues to employ racist policies to divide the working class today. Mayuran Mayuran said that the university students in the North and East of Sri Lanka organised protests in support of the striking plantation workers. And I can assure you, that the students will raise their voices for estate workers in the future, he said. An Abbotsleigh worker said: Im happy to attend this conference as a member of the Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee. Several people have delivered good speeches here today. Only by participating in this sort of conference can we talk about and understand the problems in our society and discuss how to solve it. Two weeks ago I came here to participate in the release of the Tamil book of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century by David North. On the way home I thought what I would achieve if I joined [the SEP]? At home I read two pages of the book and asked my daughter to read those pages. The money for this book has not been wasted because there are many important things explained. We should all carefully read the sentences in this sort of book. Sulakshana Sulakshana, a young woman from one estate, spoke about the so-called revenue-sharing or share-cropping system. The education of estate children will be affected by this revenue sharing system. More burdens will be imposed on workers. If the children become workers then the capitalists will exploit them too. Estate workers, who have been oppressed for 150 years, she said, will face slave-like conditions under this system and they should reject it completely. We should break from the unions [and], as the SEP has explained, democratically elect action committees. The solution will come only if a revolution comes. In his concluding remarks to the conference, K. Ratnayake, national editor of the WSWS, said the Hatton event represented a new stage of the development of working-class struggle. Abbotsleigh workers took a bold and progressive initiative to break the from unions and organise independently to fight for their rights, he said. This is part of an international development as is shown by workers at General Motors moving to establish rank and file committees. K. Ratnayake Plantation companies are demanding the abolition of the wage system and the establishment of a bonded labour system. International conglomerates, such as Unilever and Tata, demand low cost production in order to accumulate massive profits, he said. This exploitation, he explained, was a global process. There is no national solution to these attacks. Workers can fight only by organising internationally and fighting for socialism. Ratnayake told the conference that the Sri Lankan ruling elite was in an advanced state of decay. The ruling United National Party, President Sirisena and the opposition led by former President Mahinda Rajapakse have no solution to the problems facing the masses and are all preparing in their own ways to impose autocratic forms of rule. This is a ruling class that waged a 30-year war against its own people, that is, a communal war against the Tamil people, he said and urged all those in attendance to join the SEP, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and build it as the mass revolutionary party of the working class. In a 5-4 decision Tuesday, the US Supreme Court upheld the federal governments interpretation of a law in a manner that enables it to indefinitely detain immigrants years after they have been released from criminal custody for certain offenses, while they await a decision on their immigration status. The ruling emboldens the Trump administration in its fascistic war on immigrants, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents a free hand to hunt down and detain, without bail, any migrant, documented or undocumented, who served time for a criminal offense, including charges as minor as marijuana possession or the illegal download of music. The ruling creates a class of US residents who can be disappeared into Americas network of immigration detention centers over actions that took place years in their past. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented the plaintiffs in the case, released a statement on Twitter Tuesday denouncing the decision. For two terms in a row now, the statement declared, SCOTUS [the Supreme Court of the United States] has endorsed the most extreme interpretation of immigration detention statutes, allowing mass incarceration of people without any hearing, simply because they are fighting a deportation charge. At question in the case, Nielsen v. Preap, was a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals that a 1996 law enacted under Democratic President Bill Clinton stipulated that immigrants with a criminal conviction could be detained by immigration agents without a bond hearing only if they were arrested within 24 hours of their release from prison. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the extreme right-wing majority, used sophistry, including an argument based on faulty grammar, to reverse the Ninth Circuits ruling and justify the unconstitutional and arbitrary detention of immigrants, including legal immigrants holding green cards. As we have held time and again, an officials crucial duties are better carried out late than never, Alito declared, with the concurrence of the four other Republican appointees on the court. The ruling overturns the status quo and puts thousands of immigrants with a criminal conviction on their record at risk of being locked up by ICE while their case is pending. Fathers and mothers will be torn from their families with no hope of being released while they await a deportation hearing, placing them at risk of abuse or even death in inhuman conditions. A 40-year-old Mexican man died on Monday after being taken into Customs and Border Protection custody on Sunday. Reports indicate he had been suffering from flu-like symptoms. In February, a 24-year-old Honduran woman delivered a stillborn baby in an ICE detention facility in Texas just four days after she had been detained. Justice Stephen Breyer, who authored the dissent, took the unusual step of reading it aloud from the bench so as to underscore the seriousness of the issues involved. In deciphering the intent of the Congress that wrote this statute, he said, we must decidein the face of what is, at worst, linguistic ambiguitywhether Congress intended that persons who have long since paid their debt to society would be deprived of their liberty for months or years without the possibility of bail. We cannot decide that question without bearing in mind basic American legal values: the Governments duty not to deprive any person of liberty without due process of law. Breyer was joined in dissent by the three other Democratic-appointed justicesRuth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Strict enforcement of the courts ruling will spur a dramatic growth of the already expansive network of immigrant detention centers, as thousands more are arrested. This will only add to the backlog of immigration cases, resulting in an increase in the amount of time it takes for a case to reach its conclusion. The greater importance of the case, Breyer noted in his dissent, lies in the power that the majoritys interpretation grants the government. It is a power to detain persons who committed a minor crime many years before. And it is a power to hold those persons, perhaps for many months, without an opportunity to obtain bail. Under the governments view, Breyer added, the aliens subject to detention without a bail hearing may have been released from criminal custody years earlier, and may have established families and put down roots in a community. The use of the 1996 law to impose this regime of legal terror on immigrants underscores the bipartisan character of the assault on the rights of immigrants and democratic rights more generally. President Bill Clinton signed into law the sweeping Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which expedited deportation proceedings for those convicted of certain crimes and authorized the construction of barriers and fencing along the US-Mexico border. Republican President George W. Bush transformed the Immigration and Naturalization Service into ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) when the immigration and border control system was brought under the umbrella of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security in 2003. Under Democratic President Barack Obama, approximately 3 million people were deported from the US, more than in any previous administration. Trump, who ran on an openly chauvinist and anti-immigrant platform, has dramatically escalated the war on immigrants, whose central purpose is to divide the working class and establish a police state framework for attacking the working class as whole. Without any significant protest from the Democrats or the media, and in violation of international law, the administration has eliminated the right of workers to come into the US and apply for asylum. The Democrats have done nothing to mobilize popular opposition to Trumps decision to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. The Supreme Courts decision in Nielsen v. Preap marks yet another step in the dangerous expansion of the police powers of the state, which can and will be turned against the entire working class, not just immigrants. With each new law, court decision and executive order, the US immigration system increasingly takes on the character of an all-embracing gulag, where potentially millions are stripped of all democratic rights. Following last Fridays mass killing at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, which claimed 50 lives, tens of thousands of ordinary people have attended vigils to show their grief and outrage and to express solidarity with the Muslim community targeted by this horrific act of fascist terrorism. However, even as the population seeks to come to terms with the slaughter, an operation is underway to divert attention from its real, underlying causes. The political establishment in New Zealand and internationally is seeking to cover up its culpability for stoking anti-Islamic racism and xenophobia to justify imperialist war and divide the working class as it faces deteriorating social conditions, growing inequality and poverty. An estimated 12,000 people attended Wellington vigil The perpetrator of the Christchurch attack, Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian citizen, is being falsely presented as a deranged outsider whose actions could not be predicted in peaceful New Zealand. Labour Party Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared after the shooting that the person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not [us]. Writing in the pro-Labour Party Daily Blog, prominent commentator Chris Trotter echoed Ardern, describing Tarrant as a lone wolf terrorist who took advantage of everything that is good about New Zealand and who could not have been stopped. The same basic message has been repeated throughout the media. In reality, Tarrant is the product of the promotion of extreme nationalism by established political parties and the corporate media internationally, including in New Zealand and Australia. There is no mention in Trotters column, or most media coverage, of the fact that the Labour Party and the Greens have for years acted in an alliance with New Zealand First, a blatantly xenophobic and anti-immigrant party, which plays a major role in the present Labour-led coalition government. Deputy Prime Minister and NZ First leader Winston Peters has repeatedly demonised Muslims and denounced mass immigration from Asia in terms not very different from those used in the manifesto of the Christchurch shooter. Trotter and the Daily Blog have played a particularly foul role in supporting Labour and NZ Firsts racist scapegoating of Chinese people for the countrys social crisis. Claims that Tarrant acted alone and could not have been stopped do not withstand serious scrutiny. Despite official statements that Tarrant was not known to New Zealand or Australian authorities, police and intelligence agencies were warned about the danger of anti-Islamic extremism and turned a blind eye to it. Yesterday, the minister in charge of the intelligence agencies Andrew Little admitted to the New Zealand Herald that the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) only began explicitly doing work on alt-right stuff in the middle of 2018 and a plan to tackle right-wing extremism had not been completed at the time of the Christchurch attack. Little did not explain why this intelligence work only began last year. According to Tarrants 73-page fascist manifesto, he spent two years in New Zealand planning his attack and had contact with nationalist groups throughout the world. He claimed to have received a blessing for the massacre from Anders Behring Breivik, the anti-Muslim terrorist who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011. It is also highly possible that Tarrant had contact with neo-Nazis in New Zealand. An unnamed 18-year-old is currently in custody charged with, between March 8 and 15, posting a photo of the Deans Avenue mosque with the words Target Identified, and messages inciting extreme violence. Notwithstanding propaganda from Trotter and others that New Zealand is a good place and the Christchurch massacre was an anomaly, there have in fact been several previous fascist attacks. In 1989, 22-year-old Wayne Motz was killed in Christchurchs Cathedral Square by a neo-Nazi skinhead who then shot himself. In 2003 two skinheads brutally murdered Korean backpacker Jae Hyeon Kim on the West Coast of the South Island. The question must be raised: has the far-right been allowed to operate free from interference because it enjoys sympathy and connections with the police and intelligence agencies in Australia and New Zealand? Internationally, there are close ties between the state apparatus and fascist organisations, including in Germany, where the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany is the main opposition party in parliament. US President Donald Trump, whom Tarrant viewed as a symbol of white renewal, has brought fascist advisors into the White House and sought to create an extreme anti-immigrant base in border security agencies, the police and the military. Anjum Rahman, a spokesperson for the NZ Islamic Womens Council, told Radio NZ that her organisation repeatedly warned the intelligence agencies about the rise in anti-Islamic racism and threats. In March 2016, the Masjid Al-Noor mosque, at the centre of Fridays massacre, was delivered boxes of pigs heads by Hitler-saluting men who boasted: Bring on the cull. The chief perpetrator, insulation business owner Philip Arps, posted a video on social media declaring that the boxes should have contained f***ing molotovs. Rahman said in 2016 and 2017 we told [the SIS] about our concerns over the rise of vitriol and the rise of the alt-right in New Zealand. We asked them what resources were being put in to monitoring alt-right groups. In May 2018, the Council asked why security agencies were spending so much on surveilling our community but not on preventing violence. New Zealand is part of the US-led Five Eyes surveillance network, which spies on millions of people throughout the world, including New Zealand citizens. People travelling to the Middle East have been targeted purportedly because they might be joining ISIS. Muslims have reported being routinely searched and made to feel like criminals when entering and leaving New Zealand. Tarrant apparently faced no such obstacles during his extensive international travels. Since 2012, he visited Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, France, the UK, Spain, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan and even North Korea. Turkish agencies revealed on Monday they suspect the gunman, who travelled the world while having no apparent job, may have been supported by a well resourced organisation. Police did not prevent Tarrant from amassing multiple firearms. He obtained a gun licence in November 2017 after passing a police background check and joined the Bruce Rifle Club near Dunedin. A former soldier, Pete Breidahl, said he warned police in late 2017 about the toxic culture at the club, describing it as the perfect breeding ground for a mass shooting. Breidahl told Newshub that people at the club were ranting and raving that the military would be deployed on Dunedin streets because of Muslim terrorist attacks, and that too many Muslims were coming here. He says he saw members with the Confederate flag and another person informed him that he had visited a club members house and saw German SS uniforms. Briedahl said the police officer he spoke to dismissed his concerns, saying dont worry about them, its all good. The government has announced that an inquiry will be held into the circumstances surrounding the Christchurch massacre. This exercise is destined to be a whitewash. Its role will be to cover up the complicit role of the state agencies and to obscure the fact that governments, including the Labour-NZ First-Greens coalition, have promoted many of the same nationalist and anti-immigrant policies of the far-right. While fascism is not yet a mass movement, the danger it poses cannot be ignored. Fascism is the tool used by the ruling class to divide and crush working-class opposition to austerity and war. It cannot be opposed by allowing governments to censor the internet and impose other police-state measures, which will be used primarily against the working class and the left. The urgent lesson of the 1920s and 1930s is that fascism can only be defeated by a movement of the working class, united across borders and armed with a socialist program to abolish capitalism. World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke to attendees at the launch of the English-language edition of Why Are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germanyat Londons Foyles bookshop. Jude Jude from Leicester said, I thought David Norths report and Q&A session were a master class in 20th century history and Marxist analysis. Christoph Vandreier has produced a vital work in carrying forward the fight against fascism and historical falsification. We cannot afford for history to repeat itself, as in the betrayals by social democracy and Stalinism after the First World War. North had noted that the fascist gunman who killed 50 in Christchurch, New Zealand stated that the historical figure he most identified with was the pre-war fascist leader and anti-Semite, Sir Oswald Mosley. Jude said, I think it is vital to seize back the initiative on defining anti-Semitism from the likes of right-wing Blairites such as Margaret Hodge, whose witch-hunt against socialist workers I find truly offensive. Historical accuracy needs to be reclaimed by the working class and fought for. A stand must be taken against those that tell lies. [Labour leader Jeremy] Corbyn and his ilk are not going to do this. Kristin Kristen is a university student at Oxford. She said, The launch of Why Are They Back? was eye-opening, engaging, and, most of all, terrifying. This demonstrates to me why we must seek to educate and unite ourselves in an independent political movement of the working class. This responsibility, I feel, lies particularly with students. As a student myself, Christophs detailing of the actions taken by Humboldt University against the students criticising the far-right academic, Jorg Baberowski, was pertinent. It is easy to forget how dangerous it can be for students to speak out against academic opinion, and how necessary it is to support these international struggles if we are to truly prevent the return of fascism. Luke Luke is a 6th form student in Bradford. He said, The book launch was thoroughly engaging, presenting to a large audience how important it is, now more than ever, to oppose the development of fascism. The speeches by David North and Christoph Vandreier highlighted how simple the choice between socialism or barbarism is. Both made it clear that the only way to oppose these horrid developments is through education, which was provided at the event by explaining how the state and academia facilitate the fascists return. Secondly, it explained how only an international socialist struggle can end this plague. That is why it is so important to support the International Committee of the Fourth International and due to the amazing number of people who made the effort to travel to London, it is clear that Trotskyism still remains popular. I hope that we can all spread the news of the fight by the ICFI [International Committee of the Fourth International] and hopefully attract people to Christophs American tour. Firdevs, a PhD student at University College London, said, I stumbled upon this book at the London Book Fair two days ago. It is really important that we talk about the far right and fascism. These are the evil ideologies behind so much of what is going wrong in the world today, regardless of the identities, ethnicities, religions and everything else involved. Fascism, the far right and the alt-right are the evils we are facing in the world today. There is huge hypocrisy in the worlds media and governments when talking about fascism and the far right. It is wrong to think we live in genuinely free societies. There are powerful conspiracies in action to bring fascism back into the world and I think we should be talking about it. Bringing this and other facts to light in Why Are They Back? is extremely important. Ive never considered myself ideologically close to socialism, but listening to David Norths presentation I realise that there are problems which we cant solve with whatever we have in our hands right now. Im studying Diplomacy and International Relations and I know the levels of conspiracy and the lies that have to be told to keep states going as they are. There has to be a way out and socialism might be an answer. Im not knowledgeable enough about socialism yet, but it does seem like a serious alternative way forward. Brendan Brendan, who has worked in the legal profession, said, Ive been coming to [WSWS] readers meetings locally in Yorkshire for quite some time. Im certainly interested in whats happening in Germany, the rise of the far right. Im glad we came, we learned a lot. The speeches give you a framework. They bring precision to how you think about these things, give you clarity. There is a lot of fog out there in the general media. Youre not getting proper reports of whats going on in the world. Its deliberately obscured. The Alternative for Germany is the principal opposition party in Germany! And, as the speaker said, whereas in the 1960s a small percentage vote for a neo-Nazi party was considered a crisis, today its not deemed worthy of comment. That sort of thing is disturbing and unsettling. But it is reassuring to know that there is another, socialist, perspective, and that the socialist movement has the tools to resist the advance of far-right ideology. Nasrullah Nasrullah, a doctor and microbiologist, said I heard from one of my colleagues that there was a book launch about fascism and Zionism and Im very interested in these topics, mainly because of the current situation. I am myself a Muslim, and when I heard that 50 Muslims had been killed [in the fascist terror attack in New Zealand] I became very interested in this movement [the Socialist Equality Party]. I found the speeches very useful. They broadened my horizons and Ive learnt many things that I didnt know beforewhy there is increased conflict, why there is injustice in Europe, the USA and the world. Ill start to think more about these issues and I would like to be part of this movement in order to bring justice to humanity. Michael said, I thought it was really informative as I have been perplexed at why there was such a rise of fascism. He had been at a yellow vest protest in France and was stuck in a tear gas attack. I was with a journalist. I have lots of questions still and am thinking of joining the SEP. Sofia (right) having her copy of Why Are They Back signed by Christoph Vandreier Sofia said, I think its clear that the growth of the far right is a response to huge and growing social inequality. People are aware that theres something to fight, but theres a lack of knowledge of the root causes, which leaves a big gap that the far right fills. People do notice and feel frustrated when their so-called leaders dont speak out against the far right. People are starting to wake up to the duplicity of the political leadership. Theres nobody out there taking a serious look at it. David North was saying that in the 1960s when the far right achieved a small gain in votes there was huge outrage and panic around the world. Now its not taken seriously. Its mentioned but its not ever picked apart by anybody in the media or political establishment. Joe said, Both speakers were very good, it was very powerful. The reason why I came was because two-and-a-half years ago I came to the lecture on Trump by David North. It was interesting because my lecturer the day before had stated he was a mere aberration and in 2020 all will be well with a Democrat candidate elected. I thought it was very clarifying, especially from a British perspective with the explanation of Zionism and the deliberate confusion being created against Jeremy Corbyn. Sam came from Gosport on the south coast. I thought the meeting was fascinating and as we see the implications of the growth of the far right are international. I was able to understand more the connection between anti-Semitism and fascism. My sister lives just two blocks away from where the massacre in Christchurch happened. Countries like New Zealand were formed through immigration and now you have people who will kill people for being immigrants. Tim had read David Norths book, The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique. It was a great meeting and I thought that the most important thing was when Christoph spoke about post-modernism, and how in order to fully understand it you have to look at history and the Frankfurt School and how it evolved in the post-war period. The meeting explained how not fighting the far right fits in with academia and modern historians own social interests. It explained how they fail to fight back and how to an extent they can accommodate to it, as do the top 10 percent of the population who are promoting identity politics. Alan said, I decided to come to meeting about the rise of the far-right because I studied politics at university. Ive always been politically left-wing and come from a left-wing family. I think populist rhetoric provides an easy win because it plays into peoples fears. But were not given any alternatives because all the news says that Corbyn is an anti-Semite and the Labour Party is a disaster and will never get into power. Large swathes of Southeast Africa face a humanitarian crisis in the wake of Cyclone Idai which swept through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi this past week. The storm, categorized by the United Nations as the worst ever disaster to hit the southern hemisphere, has already destroyed crops, caused massive flooding, rendered hundreds of thousands homeless. While the official death toll as of this writing stands at 552, Mozambiques president, Filipe Nyusi, reported that more than 1,000 people had been killed by high winds and widespread flooding. The storm is believed to have affected over 2.6 million people. Mozambique, the country where the storm first made landfall, is perhaps the worst hit, with vast swathes of land completely submerged. The port city of Beira, home to 500,000 people, was hit on Friday. Media reports indicate that the city appears to be an island in the ocean and was initially completely cut off from the rest of the world. Jill Lovell, an Australian running a missionary school in Beira, was able to send out an email message, cited by the Guardian, describing the situation: It is a total mess here ... People are in trees and on rooftops. Emergency relief crews are slowly coming in. Rains continue to make it all even harder. So many lives lost and homes destroyed. Reports from pilots attempting rescue missions describe chaotic and heart-wrenching scenes of completely submerged homes, with people clinging on to what remains of roofs, tree trunks and small islands that have appeared overnight without any possibility of accessing food or clean water. The situation is so grim that pilots have been forced to make the difficult call of having to decide whom to save. In its report on the catastrophe, the Guardian quotes Ian Scher of Rescue SA, highlighting the awful reality: Sometimes we can only save two out of five, sometimes we rather drop food and go to someone else whos in bigger danger ... We just save what we can save and the others will perish. The Guardian also provided a graphic description of the situation in Beiras central hospital when the storm hit. Mark Ellul, a British doctor in Beira, described the hospital as already being in a bad situation prior to the storm, and operating at full capacity. When the storm hit, ripping apart the roof and tearing out windows, patients who could walk tried to get out, while those who couldnt remained clinging to their beds. Ellul barricaded himself under the sink in his hotel room to ride out the storm, coming out only to see debris thrown everywhere, trees ripped up and roofs thrown off, [and] electricity poles pushed over the roads. Many of the people he met told him that they had seen bodies in the street or had had neighbours killed. There have been reports of dams close to Beira bursting, though it is not yet confirmed. Dams across the region are thought to be full to the brim, and will have to open their floodgates soon. The bigger threat would be if the massive Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams on the Zambezi river were to be affected. As of now, that does not seem to be the case, but both dams were built about 50 years ago and the Kariba needs urgent maintenance. In Zimbabwe, residents in the Southeastern town of Chimanimani told of losing relatives and neighbors to the storm and watching houses and even bodies being swept away to neighboring Mozambique. In the nearby town of Chipinge, over 20,000 homes have been described as partially damaged and over 600 completely destroyed. According to UN reports, the storm has directly affected over 920,000 people in Malawi. The worst hit were the lower Shire river districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje in the far south of the country. Half of the districts in Nsanje have been flooded with over 11,000 households being displaced. Rick Emenaker, a pilot for a humanitarian aviation organization that was carrying out a survey of the damage, told the South African news site Lowvelder: It was a heartbreaking flight today as we flew over many miles of flooded land in the Buzi River basin ... a number of villages were completely buried in the flood waters. The magnitude of this disaster is hard to comprehend. Even as the storm subsides, the disappearance of bridges and impassable roads have made the rescue operations as well as the delivery of vitally needed food, clean water and medicines an extremely risky proposition. Medicins Sans Frontiers, in reporting its response to the disaster, has highlighted the fact that the worst affected areas remain inaccessible, or only accessible through helicopter, or in some cases, boats. At this point, UN and Red Cross officials have already warned of the high risk of outbreaks of cholera and typhoid in the affected areas. Doug Fords right-wing populist Progressive Conservative government has unveiled a plan that in the name of education reform makes savage cuts to Ontarios public education system. This attack, which is part of a broader assault on public and social services to pay for further massive handouts to the corporate elite, will see class sizes in Ontario high schools increase by over 25 percent, with smaller increases for lower grades. Education Minister Lisa Thompson announced last Thursday that the high school class-size average will be increased over the next four years by the equivalent of six students, from 22.1 to 28.1. For Grades 4 to 8, the class-size average will be raised by one student to 24.5. Additionally, the government intends to revise the provinces sex education curriculum, which has been the target of fierce denunciations from the religious right and their far-right allies, and to change the way that math is taught to focus more on rote learning. Thompson made the preposterous claim that not a single teacher will lose his or her job as a result of the governments changes. In truth, the real character of the reform was underscored two weeks prior to her announcement, when Deputy Education Minister Nancy Naylor addressed a letter to school board heads urging them to impose an immediate hiring freeze. School boards are advised to defer the annual processes of filling vacancies for retirements and other leaves related to teachers and other staff until the minister of education provides an update to the sector on or before March 15th, wrote Naylor, according to a March 1 CBC report. In other words, the governments vicious cost-cutting will be implemented through natural attritioni.e., by refusing to fill vacant posts following teacher retirements or other departures from the profession. This will force teachers to accept larger workloads. Needless to say, the quality of education, especially for pupils needing additional teacher support due to learning difficulties or adverse economic or family circumstances, will suffer. According to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), the increased class-size average will result in the elimination of 3,630 frontline teaching positions at schools it represents. OSSTF President Harvey Bischof also warned that the new policy could result in core subjects, like math, having classes as large as 40, while making it harder for schools to offer specialized subjects that require smaller class sizes. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association projected that an additional 5,000 posts will be lost in the provinces government-supported separate school system, taking the total number of teacher job cuts in the province to almost 10,000. Bischof described Thompsons announcement as akin to taking a sledgehammer to Ontarios schools, and in its official response, the OSSTF said the government has declared war on Ontarios public education system. However, the unions have no intention of fighting to mobilize the independent industrial and political strength of the working class to defend public education and oppose the austerity agenda of big business and the political establishment. Bischof blustered that the OSSTF is absolutely not going to be in a position where were going to give away the class size caps that we have achieved over years of negotiations, a reference to the fact that the current caps are written into Ontario teachers collective agreements, which are up for renegotiation in the fall. But as teachers know from bitter experience, such assurances are entirely worthless and are in fact nothing more than snake oil aimed at preventing teachers from organizing genuine resistance. Whenever teachers have sought to fight back against government austerity, including during the mass mobilizations of the mid-1990s against the Harris Conservatives Common Sense Revolution, the unions have stepped in to smother their opposition and suppress the class struggle. In 2012-2013, for example, the education unions, which spent millions of dollars in successive elections to support the election of Liberal governments, torpedoed the struggle against the McGuinty governments wage-cutting net zero public sector pay framework. Two of the teachers unions rammed through contracts that adhered to the governments demands, and the OSSTF and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario immediately capitulated when the government responded to the threat of limited job action by criminalizing teacher strikes. In the midst of all this, the teachers unions connived behind the scenes with the Liberals to gut teachers pension rights, in a deal that rank-and-file teachers were prevented from voting on. In the fall of 2015, the teachers unions were again complicit in negotiating concessionary contracts that contained no real pay increases for teachers. The vicious attacks imposed by the Liberals, which devastated public services across the province, and the support extended to this right-wing agenda by the unions, paved the way for Ford and his Tories to come to power last June. Since taking office, Ford has launched a frontal assault on the working class, slashing welfare and the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), canceling a modest minimum wage increase, gutting labour standards, and laying the groundwork for tens of billions in cuts to education, health care, and public and social infrastructure. None of the unions, from the teachers unions to Unifor and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), has called even a mass protest against this onslaught, let alone sought to galvanize the mass working-class opposition. This is because the privileged, well-heeled bureaucrats who head the union apparatuses are terrified that even the most token show of resistance could trigger a working-class upsurge that could quickly escape the unions political and organizational control. The OFLas exemplified by the provincial election countdown clock prominently displayed on the front page of its websiteis telling workers to wait another three years until June 2022 for the opportunity to elect a progressive governmenti.e., a Liberal-New Democratic Party (NDP) coalition or a majority government led by one of the two. This is a declaration of the unions determination to prevent the eruption of a mass working-class challenge to the Ford government and its austerity program. It is also part of their effort to divert the mounting opposition to the Tories behind the NDP, now the Official Opposition at Queens Park. This is the same NDP that propped up a Liberal minority government for over two years ending in May 2014, allowing it to impose its net zero public sector pay framework and two vicious austerity budgets. Wherever the NDP has held office across country, it has cut public spending, broken strikes, imposed concessions-laden contracts on public sector workers, and upheld the low-tax, balanced-budget policies that cater to the needs of the corporate elite. To oppose austerity, fight Fords attacks, and defend public education, teachers must recognize that they are engaged in a political struggle that demands the independent political mobilization of the working class. They must draw the lessons of the struggles waged by educators in the United States and internationally, as well as by autoworkers and other sections of the working class, who have rebelled against the trade union bureaucrats, so as to assert their class interests. To this end, teachers should form rank-and-file action committees independently of and in opposition to the trade unions to mobilize the entire working class against the Ontario governments onslaught on public services and workers rights. Fords savage right-wing, pro-corporate agenda can be stopped only if teachers unite their struggle in a common fight with working people throughout the province, across Canada, and internationally and on the basis of a socialist program that puts the needs of working people before capitalist profit. The author also recommends: Canada: The unions suppression of the 1995-97 anti-Harris movementPolitical lessons for today Part 3: The 1997 Ontario teachers strike [10 October 2018] OFL and NDP complicit in Liberal attacks: Workers need a new perspective and new organizations to mount class political struggle [26 January 2013] The three-day visit to Washington by the president of Brazil brought together two of the most right-wing figures in the world: Jair Bolsonaro, a former military officer and fervent admirer of the blood-soaked military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, and Donald Trump, who has become the pole of attraction for authoritarians and fascists the world over, including the gunman who slaughtered 50 Muslims at two New Zealand mosques last week. During their joint press conference at the White House Tuesday afternoon, Trump repeated his declaration, delivered to an audience of right-wing Cuban and Venezuelan exiles in Florida, that The twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere. He emphasized, as he did in his State of the Union speech, that this also involved putting an end to the threat of socialism within the United States itself. Both Trump and Bolsonaro have made the extirpation of socialismthe political core of fascist movementsthe central goal of their governments. At their joint press conference, they railed against socialism only days after the massacre in New Zealand, carried out by Brenton Tarrant. Tarrant posted a manifesto hailing Trump as a symbol of renewed white identity and declaring his desire to put his boot on the neck of every Marxist. The mutual embrace of Trump and Bolsonaro at the White House is symbolic of the elevation of far-right parties and cultivation of fascistic forces by capitalist governments and established bourgeois parties all over the world. It underscores the fact that the growth of fascism in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the US is the result not of a groundswell of mass support from below, but rather the sponsorship and encouragement of so-called democratic governments that are, in fact, controlled top to bottom by corporate oligarchs. The global promotion of extreme right politics was embodied by the presence of right-wing ideologue Steve Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs vice president and Navy officer, as a guest of honor at a dinner with Jair Bolsonaro Monday night. Bannon has close ties with Bolsonaros son, Eduardo, who is a member of the Brazilian Parliament and a Latin American representative of the political consortium set up by Bannon, known as the Movement, whose aim is to promote extreme right-wing political parties throughout the world. Some of the Bolsonaro team on the right see themselves as disciples of the Bannon movement and representatives of Bannon for Brazil and Latin America, one former Trump administration official told McClatchy. At the press conference, both Jair Bolsonaro and Trump pledged their support to a fascistic litany of god, family and nation, as Trump put it. Bolsonaro declared, Brazil and the United States stand side-by-side in their efforts to share liberties and respect to traditional and family lifestyles, respect to God, our creator, against the gender ideology of the politically correct attitudes, and fake news. Both presidents threatened the use of military force against Venezuela, demonizing President Nicolas Maduro as a socialist dictator. (He heads a capitalist regime, but one whose foreign policy tilts toward China and Russia rather than US imperialism). Trump reiterated the mantra that all options are on the table against Venezuela. Bolsonaro was asked if he would permit US soldiers to use Brazilian soil as a base for military operations against Venezuela. Rather than dismissing that prospect as a violation of both Brazilian and Venezuelan sovereignty, he declined to answer, citing the need for maintaining operational secrecy and the element of surprise. One of the bilateral agreements that Trump and Bolsonaro signed would allow the United States to use Brazils Alcantara Aerospace Launch Base for its satellites. Brazil also announced an end to visa requirements for US visitors. Both actions provide avenues for the integration of Brazil into Pentagon operations, particularly drone-missile warfare and the deployment of special operations forces. Before visiting the White House, Bolsonaro made an unannounced visit to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia, an extraordinary move for the president of a country that was subjected to 21 years of unrestrained torture and murder by a military dictatorship installed in a CIA-backed coup. The dire implications for the working class of the global rise of the far right are indicated by Bolsonaros glorification of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Trump hailed the shared values between his government and that of a former military officer who praises a regime that jailed, tortured and murdered tens of thousands of workers and students. Twenty years ago, Bolsonaro told an interviewer that the Brazilian Congress should be shut down and that the country could be changed only by a civil war that completed the job that the military regime didnt do, killing 30,000 people. The capitalist ruling classes are turning once again to dictatorship and fascism in response to the intensification of the world economic crisis, the disintegration of the postwar international order and growth of trade war and geostrategic conflicts, and, above all, the resurgence of the class struggle on a world scale. Petrified by the prospect of mass working-class opposition and the growth of anti-capitalist and socialist sentiment, they are reviving all of the ideological and political filth of the 20th century, including racism, anti-Semitism and the politics of blood and soil. They are actively recruiting fascists and racists and integrating them into the military/police agencies of the state, to be unleashed against an insurgent working class. These developments show that the alternatives are not socialism or reformism, but socialism or barbarismthat is, the descent into fascism and world war. It would be politically criminal to underestimate the danger to the working class represented by the growth of far-right and fascist movements and the elevation of far-right parties and politicians into governmentas is already the case in Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Brazil and other countries. To defeat this danger, it is above all necessary to learn the lessons of history. The entire history of the 20th century demonstrates that fascism and war cannot be prevented by appeals to the ruling class or popular front-style politics, which subordinates the working class to supposed progressive sections of the bourgeoisie. The only way to stop fascism and prevent imperialist war is to mobilize the working class on an international scale for the overthrow of capitalism. The Russian Socialist Movement (RSM) group affiliated with the Pabloite International Secretariat has recently intensified its push for the construction of a broad left alliance. Contrary to what the name suggests, this alliance is of an extremely right-wing character: it would include not just Stalinist but also fascistic forces as well as Alexei Navalny, the central figure in the US preparations for a color-revolution scheme to topple the Putin-regime in Russia and replace it with a more direct client regime that would be entirely subservient to the interests of imperialism. Its ultimate aim is to block the growing social and political opposition within the Russian working class from developing into a socialist movement, and to provided a left fig leaf for the advanced preparations for war and a regime change operation in Russia. Since the imperialist-backed, far-right coup in Ukraine in February 2014, the imperialist powers have been engaged in economic warfare against Russia and advancing preparations for a regime change operation aimed at replacing the Putin regime with one directly compliant with the interests of imperialism. The war crisis has exacerbated an already significant political and social crisis. The Putin regime and the oligarchy it represents have responded to the pressure from imperialism with a combination of the promotion of militarism and nationalism, attempts to find a negotiated settlement with imperialism and, last but not least, growing attacks on the working class. The most significant among them, so far, has been the raising of the retirement age, announced in the summer of 2018. The pension reform was correctly perceived by broad sectors of workers, youth and intellectuals as something of a declaration of social war by the oligarchy. Over 90 percent of the population opposed it. Nevertheless, the Kremlin has been able to push through the pension reform. In October, Putin signed the bill into law, raising the retirement age by five years for both men (from 55 to 60) and women (from 60 to 65). This was in no small part due to the political role played by the RSM. Amid mass opposition to the pension reform last summer, the RSM stepped forward with the proposed alliance of the People Against ( Narod protiv ) to prevent this opposition from finding a left-wing political expression. The alliance consisted of supporters of Alexei Navalny, a notorious racist who has marched at several fascist demonstrations, the Stalinist Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) and the fascistic Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), which is headed by the notorious chauvinist and anti-Semite Vladimir Zhirinovsky. None of these forces had, at any point, any interest in preventing the raising of the retirement age. The KPRF has for decades worked as the official opposition to the Putin regime: its main political function has consisted in intervening in social protests and strikes to stifle them, and in promoting far-right nationalism and Stalinism under the banner of communism. Zhirinovskys LDPR has likewise closely worked with the Putin regime, while engaging in far-right demagogy. The WSWS commented on these protests by noting that the barely disguised purpose of this alliance is to derail and disorient popular opposition, so the pension cuts can pass. While Narod Protiv calls on protesters to issue impotent appeals to Duma deputies not to approve the cuts, it admits that the Duma will approve the bill anyway. This assessment has been confirmed. Since then, the Duma has approved the pension reform with slight changes and, starting this year, the Russian government has started to gradually raise the retirement age. The RSM has responded to these developments by redoubling their efforts to push for the construction of an alliance with supporters of Navalny and other right-wing tendencies. In a programmatic article entitled The broad left: myth and reality, published on the RSMs Russian website anticapitalist.ru on January 11, Ivan Ovsiannikov made the case for a broad left, writing: The idea of a broad left is again in the air. Even bourgeois experts who notice a social quest for left politics and dissatisfaction of the population with the popular parties, spell it out today. In another article published on the international Pabloite website International Viewpoint on February 7, Ilya Budraitskis concluded that the main reason for the defeat of the protests against the pension reform was the lack of willingness on the part of the RSMs right-wing allies, above all Navalny and the Stalinist KPRF, to work for the alliance proposed and pushed for by the RSM. He lamented that both KPRFs and Navalnys organization did not contribute to the creation of a potential social movement against pension reforms for different reasons. The The People Are Against campaign, which was founded by independent trade unions, was obviously conceived as a prototype of such a movement. The broad left proposed by Budraitskis and Ovsiannikov is a political fraud and trap. It is aimed not only at diverting social opposition, but also at providing forces involved in the US preparations for a regime change in Moscow with a left cover. This goes, in particular, for their promotion of the so called independent trade unions with whom the RSM maintains close collaboration that have for decades been complicit in the systematic suppression of the class struggle. Sections of the independent trade union leaderships also maintain open ties to the pro-US liberal opposition. The head of the independent auto trade union MPRA, Aleksei Etmanov, for instance, has been a member of the liberal party Yabloko which is notorious for its ties to the State Department and various CIA outfits. As for Navalny: He is a well-known racist and stooge of US imperialism. In the past, he has repeatedly participated in the far-right Russian March, shouting slogans like Russia to Russians. He has also called Chechens cockroaches in a video unambiguously calling for their murder. Since 2010, he has been deliberately built up by the US state and media as a supposedly liberal opponent of Putin who could lead a color revolution type movement in Russia, by uniting far-right, liberal and pseudo-left forces. (See also: What does Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny represent? ) Vastly unpopular among the majority of Russians, Navalny has recently been trying to tap into the growing social discontent by focusing more on presenting his fight against corruption as a social struggle, and by creating the so called Navalny trade union. The RSM has worked systematically to provide credence to these fraudulent efforts of Navalny. The line advanced by the RSM is based on opposition to any independent politics for the working class: If you dont support Putin, you have to support his imperialist-backed opponent. Budraitskis, writing alongside with Ilya Matveev (also RSM) and the American academic Sean Guillory, for Jacobin Magazine, which is closely associated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), stated back in 2017, Leftists should prove themselves as Putins most consistent and active critics, not as Navalnys opponents. They should, the article continued, show unconditional solidarity with its democratic demands, and support and develop the socially progressive elements of Navalnys program. The Left, both in Russia and all over the world, must embrace this opportunity for the future democratization and the realization of social justice in Russia. The support for Navalny by the RSM is of a piece with its unconditional backing of the imperialist-orchestrated, far-right coup in Ukraine in February 2014. Back then, Budraitskis endorsed the participation of the far-right in the Maidan, writing: Without the ultra-right proponents of a national dictatorship from the Right Sector, there would never have been any barricades on Hrushevskoho or occupied ministries turned into headquarters of the revolution. What the RSM and their allies in Jacobin now called democratization and the realization of social justice in Russia are the equivalent of a Maidan-style operation in Moscow with consequences that would be even more deadly and catastrophic than the five-year long civil war in Ukraine, which has cost up to 10,000 lives. A regime change operation in Moscow would not only almost certainly trigger a civil war and bring to power a far-right regime, dedicated to enacting the demands of US imperialism and attacking the working class. In a country with the largest nuclear arsenal after the United States, it would also raise the immediate danger of a broader war and a nuclear catastrophe The right-wing positions advanced by the RSM flow from the history of the Pabloite tendency and the social interests it represents. Historically, the Pabloites emerged as a revisionist tendency within the Fourth International that attacked the internationalist foundations of the Trotskyist movement and sought to liquidate it into the Stalinist parties and bureaucracies, as well as into social democracy and national bourgeois liberation movements. To the Stalinist bureaucracy, which had just engaged in a genocide of Marxists and Trotskyists, they ascribed a revolutionary role. Instead of the overthrow of the bureaucracy in a political revolution by the working class, and an extension of the socialist revolution internationally, they advocated for pressuring the allegedly reformist faction of the bureaucracy. This perspective culminated in their open support for the restoration of capitalism by the bureaucracy, starting with the perestroika program under Gorbachev in 1985. In this process, the Pabloites rendered the Soviet bureaucracy and imperialism the invaluable service of providing the social counter-revolution against October 1917 with a left and even Trotskyist fig leaf, thus blocking any opposition to it from the working class and creating substantial confusion about what Trotskyism represents. Already then the Pabloites marched next to pro-market liberals, open nationalists and even fascists, to support the restoration of capitalism. They thus bear substantial political responsibility for the socio-economic and political disaster created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and capitalist restoration. Russia is today the most unequal of all major economies in the world with the the top 1 percent owning as much as one third of the countrys net wealth, and the top 10 percent of income earners own two-thirds. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent of the population own less than 5 percent of the countrys net wealth. The RSM speaks for narrow layers of the upper middle class in Moscow, St. Petersburg and some of the other major cities that have been able to climb up the social ladder owing to their support for and participation in the restoration of capitalism by the Soviet bureaucracy. However, they still feel disadvantaged by the oligarchs in power and lay claim to a larger share in the spoils. In their orientation toward open collaboration with imperialism and the liberal faction of the Russian oligarchy, they see a way to advance their own social interests and participate more directly in political affairs. Under conditions of a reemergence of the class struggle internationally, the growing attacks on the working class in Russia through the raising of the retirement age as well as the expected layoffs in the auto industry by the American auto company Ford, will sooner rather than later trigger significant social and political struggles by industrial workers as well as broader sections of the population. However, any significant social and political movement in Russia will inevitably raise directly the question of the fate of the Russian Revolution, the restoration of capitalism in Russia and the struggle of Trotskyism against Stalinism. None of these issues can be clarified outside the building of a Russian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. This struggle has to be conducted in opposition to the criminal machinations of the Pabloites who for decades have sought to prevent the building of the Trotskyist movement and to disorient working class opposition through alliances with nationalist and pro-imperialist forces. Last Friday, more than 92 percent of voting teachers in the Sacramento Unified School District in Californias state capital voted to authorize a strike by the districts 2,500 teachers. The vote expresses the growing militancy of teachers who over the last year have engaged in the largest number of walkouts in decades, involving nearly a half million teachers, including more than 40,000 in Los Angeles and Oakland. Teachers in Dublin, California, 23 miles east of Oakland, have also voted by 98 percent to strike in the suburban district, which serves 12,300 students. The 623 teachers, who have been working without a new contract for more than a year, are demanding improved wages, smaller class sizes, reduced workloads, additional counselors and more affordable healthcare. The Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA), which conducted the vote, said a strike could be called if the district and the city persist in their unlawful behavior and avoid taking measures to correct their unlawful behavior. The Sacramento City Unified School District serves approximately 40,000 students across 75 school sites. The union did not set a date for a strike. If it is called it will likely not occur until April at the earliest as the SCTA has offered to meet with the district on either March 26 or March 28. Like other teacher unions, the SCTA has fully accepted the budgetary framework set by state Democrats who after decades of corporate tax cuts and school funding cuts, have left California 43rd in the nation for per pupil spending. The unlawful behavior relates to the districts non-compliance with provisions of the November 2017 agreement with the district, according to SCTA President David Fisher. In that agreement, the union apparently agreed to accept cuts to health plans to fund class size reductions and add additional school nurses and psychologists. The 2017 agreement also modestly increased teacher salaries. In the wake of the strike authorization vote, union, district and city officials have scrambled to prevent any teacher walkout and to come to an agreement on even deeper school cuts. Sacramento mayor and former state senate president, Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, declared, todays strike vote by the Sacramento City Teachers Association compels us to urge the district and the union to resume negotiations and explore all options as soon as possible. Sacrifices will have to be made. [emphasis added]. SCTA president Fisher has made it clear that the union has no intention of opposing this economic blackmail and essentially apologized for the vote, saying, First of all, we hope not to go on strike. However, the membership voted to authorize it if necessary. The SCTA has already signaled its willingness to accept the planned layoff of more than 150 teachers and district personnel just as it did with health care cuts in 2017. Sacramento teachers must draw the lessons from the recent Los Angeles and Oakland teacher strikes. In both cases, the chief obstacle to unify teachers and school employees throughout the district, the state and more broadly was the unions. Allied with the very same Democrats who are slashing budgets and promoting the expansion of for-profit charter schools, they isolated striking teachers, shut down the walkouts and agreed to deals that provided miniscule pay increases funded through further cuts and school closures. If a fight is going to be taken up, Sacramento teachers must take the conduct of the struggle into their own hands by forming rank-and-file committees in every school and community. These committees should reach out to the students, parents and the broadest sections of the working class, including University of California workers, Dublin teachers and others, to prepare a statewide strike to defend public education and living wages. A special appeal for unity must be made to Sacramento school support staff to join any walkout and to defy the strikebreaking efforts of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Teamsters, and United Professional Educators (UPE), which have already signaled their willingness to order their members to cross teacher picket lines. This also means rejection the unions efforts to encourage a fratricidal struggle between public school employees over the narrow resources the district and the state have made available. Richard Owen, UPE Executive Director, denounced the strike vote by the teachers, saying, We have 100 percent votes saying thats the silliest, most selfish thing you could possibly do to a district thats in these dire circumstances. For them to assume that we need to take care of our contract, and our contract only and to hell with all the other employees in the district. Speaking like a business executive, SEIU Local 1021 Field Team Supervisor Ian Arnold denounced a potential teacher strike, saying, it would be devastating to our students, devastating to our staff, and would really hurt the region. No company would want to relocate to a region where the schools are failing. If the district faces the prospect of failing, this is entirely due to a manufactured crisis. The Democrats, who control every lever of state government, from the governors seat to both houses of the state legislature, have systematically starved the schools of funding. At the same time, they have provided endless tax giveaways to Silicon Valley tech giants, financial and real estate firms, energy monopolies, agribusinesses, aerospace and defense and other industries that dominate the state economy. Now, California officials have given the Sacramento school district until June to fix a $35 million budget deficit or face a potential state takeover. Such a takeover would lead to even more draconian budget cuts ordered by a state-appointed financial director who would essentially function as a dictator for wealthy bondholders who control the districts debts. The situation facing the Sacramento school district highlights the complete irreconcilability of the profit system with the needs of teachers and students. To put matters in perspective, the $35 million deficit represents a mere 0.05 percent of the wealth owned by Californias richest individual, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth currently stands at $63.5 billion. It is estimated that the worlds richest individual, Amazons Jeff Bezos makes $230,000 each minute. This means that Bezos makes the average American workers annual salary of $44,564 in about 12 seconds time each day and the average Sacramento teacher salary of $61,698 in about 15 seconds time. In approximately two and half hours, Bezos would make an amount equal to the entire Sacramento district budget deficit. There is more than enough money to fully fund education. But teachers, students and school workers face implacable foes in the Democratic Party and the trade union bureaucracy who do everything in their power to impose cuts and austerity. That is why Sacramento teachers must form their own rank-and-file committees to fight for what teachers and their students need, not what the corporate-controlled parties and unions say is affordable. We urge all teachers, workers and students in Sacramento and throughout California to contact the World Socialist Web Site Teacher Newsletter and to take up this struggle today. The government will use another 5 billion forints (EUR 15.9m) to assist small and medium-size ventures with investments creating new jobs, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said. Some 250 firms could benefit from the new programme, and the scheme could create 1,500 new jobs, Varga said. He added that 1.7 million forints from state coffers would go towards the creation of each new position, an amount which could be further increased, to a maximum of 3.6 million forints, if the venture seeks to employ registered job seekers or single mothers, or if it is located in an economically disadvantaged area. The programme was designed to close gaps between different areas in the country and increase employment, the minister said. MTI Photo: Koszticsak Szilard A historian remembering Hungarys 1944 occupation contends that the Allied powers ignored the fate of Hungarian Jews. Another young historian calls for a more nuanced and less politicized interpretation of the 1944 events. On Index, the US-based historian Laszlo Borhi citing recently discovered historical documents claims that the Allied powers provoked Germany to invade Hungary, ignoring the implications for Hungarian Jews. Borhi recalls that in 1943, the Hungarian government actively negotiated with the Allied powers Hungarys surrender, but London and Washington preferred Hungarys Nazi German occupation in order to weaken the German armys capacity to engage with the planned Allied landing operations in Europe. In their strategic calculations, the Allied powers completely disregarded the implications of Hungarys occupation for the then 825,000 strong Jewish population, Borhi contends. In Magyar Nemzet, Laszlo Bernat Veszpremy calls for thorough historiographic research to go beyond the highly politicized myths concerning Hungarys 1944 occupation by Nazi Germany. The conservative historian writes that the Left likes to interpret Hungarys invasion as if it was welcomed by the whole country, while the Right wants to blame all responsibility for the Holocaust on the German invaders. Veszpremy thinks that most Hungarians were passive bystanders rather than actively protesting or welcoming Hungarys occupation. Hungary lost its sovereignty on March 19, 1944, he writes, and the majority of Hungarian Jews were taken away when Regent Horthy was still in office, and before the Arrow Cross movement took power. Photo: MTI Citing a threat to national security, the opposition Jobbik party is protesting against plans to move the Russia-based International Investment Banks (IIB) headquarters to Budapest, saying that Russia would be setting up a nest of spies in the country with support of Hungarys prime minister and government. In early February, the Hungarian government signed an agreement with IIB on the banks relocation to Budapest from Moscow. The nationalist partys deputy leader told a press conference that individuals with dubious backgrounds would be operating in Hungary as a result of the move. Tibor Bana said that the family of IIBs chairman, Nikolay Kosov, is clearly linked to Russian secret services. The government is serving interests that aim to destabilise the EU, and this puts Hungary at the mercy of Russia, he said. MTI Photo / Finance Ministry Prince Harry is putting his royal green thumb to work! The prince, 34, took part in his familys tradition of planting a tree during a visit to a school in west London on Tuesday. The visit was part of the ongoing campaign to secure forests around the globe under the Queens Commonwealth Canopy, an initiative that began in 2015 as a network of forest conservation programs throughout the 53 countries of the Commonwealth. James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock Harry joined young students from St. Vincents Catholic Primary School, Acton as they planted saplings in the schools outdoor nature area. The spot will eventually become their own forest school. He then planted his own tree a wild cherry sapling in recognition of the achievements of the QCC and the Woodland Trust charity in providing 74,000 trees across the U.K. Prince Harry | James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock On the way in, Harry, who is expecting his first child with wife Meghan Markle in late April, crouched down and admired some special welcome signs that the children had created for his visit. The mini flags contained messages like, Good luck with your baby. Simon Perry How long did it take you to make? he asked one 9-year-old student. When told the artwork came easily to the children, he teased, What, five minutes? Wow! RELATED: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Attend Christening of Zara Tindalls Daughter 1 Month Before Their Babys Arrival! Alastair Grant/AP/REX/Shutterstock Alastair Grant/AP/REX/Shutterstock And another little fan caught his eye Winnie, the dog of head teacher Monica McCarthy. The lively dog licked Harrys hand as he petted it, before he playfully shushed her. The obedient pet did what she was told. Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Prince Harry | James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock Prince Harry | James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock On the way out, Harry received a gift from the students for the new baby (a onesie!) and playfully shook it. Prince Harry playfully shakes a gift he was given for him and wife Meghan as he left St. Vincents primary school. (It was a babys onesie so it likely didnt rattle too much!) #royal #princeharry @people pic.twitter.com/30V9ni7Rel Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) March 20, 2019 The two organizations launched free plant-a-tree campaigns last year to highlight the importance of trees and woods and the impact they have on the environment and the Woodland Trust is providing St. Vincents with 60 broadleaf trees, to encourage and inspire environmental considerations in children as they grow their new mini forest. Story continues Members of the royal family have made it an often-lighthearted tradition to plant trees wherever they visit, especially on foreign tours. But Harry who visited Queens Commonwealth Canopy forests when he and Meghan toured Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji last year has made it part of a more serious campaign and message to secure and rejuvenate the worlds forest. He has led the QCC initiative that aims to create a global network of indigenous forests to benefit communities and wildlife, now, and into the future. To date, more than 8.4 million hectares of forests in 43 countries have been dedicated to the QCC. And, in 2017, Harry visited the Epping Forest QCC dedication. The visit came a day after he and Meghan, who is about eight months pregnant, made a surprise tribute to those killed in the shooting at two mosques in New Zealand last week. Hong Kong actor-director Derek Kwok-cheung Tsang has recently found himself in the spotlight of the world of cinema, but for the wrong reason. Tsang will be joining a Hong Kong filmmakers panel at FilMart on Thursday with Sunny Chan (Man on the Dragon) and Pang Ho-cheung (Love in a Puff). Related stories HAF: 'Assassination,' 'Apprenticeship' Named Project Market Winners Chinese, Thai Shingles Pact for Co-Production Fund at FilMart Beleaguered Chinese Tech Firm Huawei Seeks Content for Expansion Into Southeast Asia The 39-year-old filmmaker was expecting a world premiere of his second full-length drama feature as a director, Hong Kong-Chinese co-production Better Days, at the recent Berlin Film Festival, but it was pulled just days before its scheduled bow. Later in the festival, Zhang Yimous One Second was withdrawn from its Berlin bow. The events sparked speculation on how China is tightening its grip on censorship and creativity. Better Days was reportedly pulled because it did not obtain permits from the mainland Chinese authorities required to travel to international film festivals. The son of star Eric Tsang, Derek once told the media that his passion for the cinematic art was not fully developed until he was 15. He began his showbiz career as an actor in 2003, and launched his career as a helmer in 2010, co-directing romantic drama Lovers Discourse. Unlike other young film directors who focus on Hong Kong stories and making films locally, Tsang worked mostly in mainland China. His full-length feature as a solo director debuted in 2016 with the acclaimed Soul Mate, a drama revolving the friendship and secrets between two women. The film earned him nominations for best director and best new director at the Hong Kong Film Awards and best Hong Kong/Taiwan director at the 8th China Film Directors Guild Awards. The success gave Tsang a lot of hope for the Chinese film industry. He told the media in 2017 that the rapid growth of the China market has opened doors to young Hong Kong filmmakers as big name directors can do big-budget movies on the mainland, giving room to new directors to work on smaller films. Only Tsangs next career moves will show whether his views on the China film biz have changed after the withdrawal of Better Days from Berlin. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In 2016, New York Magazine affiliate The Cut published an article titled The Hustlers at Scores, an exploration of a described modern Robin Hood story about a group of onetime workers at the famed New York City strip club Scores, who wound up in a complicated embezzlement scheme involving the clubs high-spending Wall Street clientele. Its the kind of real-life story you read and immediately go yeah, thats going to be a movie one day, and sure enough, its now the inspiration for an upcoming ensemble feature. Deadline reports that the upcoming film Hustlers has begun to put together an intriguing cast, with director Lorene Scafaria (Nick & Norah) attached to helm the project. Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, and Julia Stiles have reportedly signed on to star, along with former stripped-turned- Grammy winner Cardi B, who will make her big-screen debut with the film. Considering how baffling (and yet completely plausible) the source material is, its possible that Hustlers could come together and make a big impression. Shooting begins later this week for the film, and particularly given the pedigree of its cast, Hustlers is likely to make a fair deal of noise as it develops. In the meantime, you can find Cardi everywhere, constantly, all the time. Cindy McCain on Tuesday shared a vicious and profane message that a stranger had sent her on Facebook about her husband, the late Sen. John McCain, who has repeatedly been attacked by President Donald Trump many months after his death. I want to make sure all of you could see how kind and loving a stranger can be, Cindy, 64, wrote with a screenshot of the message, which she tweeted. Im posting her note [so] her family and friends could see. The message Cindy received described Sen. McCain, who died last summer from brain cancer, as a traitorous piece of warmongering s. Im glad hes dead, this person wrote, going on to savage the McCains daughter Meghan, who is a co-host of The View. This person attacked Meghans weight, writing: Hope your Mrs. Piggy looking daughter chokes to death on the next burger. RELATED: Cindy McCain Reflects on Last Moments with John Living Without Him Is Not an Easy Adjustment Cindy, who is on the board of trustees at the McCain Institute, was quickly met with bipartisan support. Longtime Democratic operative Donna Brazile tweeted to both her and Meghan: So sorry you have to endure this level of vitriol and plain old nastiness. Some folks have taken liberty to simply yell and scream. Keep your heads up dear sisters. This too shall pass. Referencing Sen. McCains mother, Brazile added, Give my regards to Ms Roberta. Cindy McCain | Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty President Donald Trump (left) and Sen. John McCain President Trump and Sen. McCain made no secret of their political disagreements before McCains death last year. But the president took it further, including disparaging McCains military service (joking about him being captured during the Vietnam War). In the most recent round of attacks, he has fixated on what he believes was McCains role in the ongoing Russia investigation. During a Twitter spree over the weekend while some of his family fled the spotlight for Florida the president retweeted another user who wrote, Millions of Americans truly LOVE President Trump, not McCain. Im one! We hated McCain for his ties to the Russian dossier & his vote against repealing Obamacare. Story continues Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, according to NBC News, Trump said: I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be. Meghan has often responded to Trumps attacks on her father while on The View. RELATED: Inside John McCains Love Story with Wife Cindy He Is My Hero [Trump] spends his weekend obsessing over great men because he knows it and I know it and all of you know it he will never be a great man, she said Monday. My father was his kryptonite in life, hes his kryptonite in death. George Sen. Johnny Isakson reportedly plans to rebuke Trumps attacks on his former colleague in a Senate speech on Tuesday. I just want to lay it on the line, that the country deserves better, the McCain family deserves better, Isakson told The Bulwark, a conservative website. I dont care if hes president of United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world. Nothing is more important than the integrity of the country and those who fought and risked their lives for all of us. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz arrive at the weekly German cabinet meeting in Berlin, March 13, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Annegret Hilse Federal finance minister Olaf Scholz said today that the German government was in a strong position to withstand the uncertainty of Brexit. Presenting his new household budget, Scholz said Germany has a lot of money and is armed against uncertainties like Brexit. Scholz presented the governments 360bn (310bn, $408bn) budget, noting that it would incur no new debts. Scholz, like his predecessor Wolfgang Schauble, is committed to keeping a balanced budget, called the black zero (Schwarze Null). Scholz said that the government was planning a record amount of investment in infrastructure, housing, and education. Berlin came under fire this week from US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell for not increasing its NATO contributions in the new budget. While Germany will invest 45bn into its military next year (a 2bn increase from this year), its spending will drop to 1.25% of its GDP, breaking its promise to contribute 1.5% of its GDP to NATO by 2025. Scholz refused to comment today on whether he thought Grenell was meddling in Germanys domestic affairs. On Tuesday, the deputy chairperson of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Kubicki, called for Grenell to be expelled, and other politicians called him a total disgrace as an ambassador. Scholz was also questioned today about his support for a potential merger between Germanys Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, which he has said would create a national champion. Workers unions have predicted upwards of 30,000 job losses in the event the two banks merge, with banking union DBV telling Bloomberg today that 10,000 jobs could be lost in financial capital Frankfurt alone. Scholz said it is still unclear whether the merger will happen it was up to the banks and their shareholders to decide but he believes Germany needs to have a strong finance industry in any case. Asked whether the taxpayer could end up footing the bill for the merger, he said government had no plans for financial expenses [for the merger] in the budget. READ MORE: Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank merger could put 30,000 jobs at risk Video posted online on Monday by a media arm of the Islamic State group shows IS fighters firing their weapons during clashes with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters in Syria. Source: AP Isis has called for retaliation over the terror attack on two mosques by a white Australian that killed 50 in the New Zealand town of Christchurch. The spokesman for the jihadist group, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, has broken a six-month silence to say last weeks massacre should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion, The New York Times reports. The release of a 44-minute recording came as US-backed Syrian forces said they were nearing victory over IS in its final bit of territory at Baghouz in eastern Syria. Brenton Tarrant appears in court last week accused with carrying out the massacre (Getty) Self-described white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged over the attacks which resulted in the deaths of 50 and the injury of another 50 people, all of whom were attending Friday prayers. The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said in the recording. Hundreds of mourners gathered in a Christchurch cemetery on Wednesday for the first funerals of those killed in the twin mosque massacre last Friday. Jacinda Ardern vows to never recognise mosque attacker New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to never say the name of the man charged with the Christchurch mosque terror attack, in an effort to deny him notoriety. Australian man Brenton Tarrant, 28, is planning to represent himself when he stands trial for shootings last week that killed 50. Ardern told reporters efforts had to be made to prevent giving the gunman the attention he wanted. One thing I can assure you, you wont hear me speak his name. He obviously had a range or reasons for committing this atrocious terrorist attacks. Lifting his profile was one them and thats something we can absolutely deny him, she said. One thing I can assure you, you wont hear me speak his name. New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets with one of the first responders who was at the scene of the Christchurch mosque shooting. Source: Reuters He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Dream Theater are kicking off their 2019 North American spring tour tonight (March 20th) in San Diego, California, and the unique trek will not only support their new LP, Distance Over Time, but also celebrate the 20th anniversary of their concept album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory. Distance Over Time has been receiving critical acclaim since its release last month, including a very favorable review right here at Heavy Consequence, while Scenes From a Memory is considered one of the prog-metal bands greatest achievements. We recently sat down with Dream Theaters John Petrucci to discuss the new album, and during that conversation, the virtuoso guitarist also reflected on Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, while giving us some details about what to expect on the tour. That portion of our interview can be read below, followed by a list of tour dates. Distance Over Time can be ordered here, while tickets for the spring tour are available at this location or at StubHub for shows that sell out. Vinyl copies of Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory are available at Reverb LP. On the 20th anniversary of Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory That was a big record for us. Were celebrating the 20th anniversary, which is crazy. That was the first record [keyboardist] Jordan Rudess recorded with us when he joined the band, so it was monumental that way, and it was the first record where we self-produced every record before that, we had an outside producer. And it was our first concept album, which was a big undertaking for us. As a progressive band, youd think its a very natural thing to fall into, but some of our favorite bands made some of the most incredible concept albums of all time like [Pink Floyds] The Wall, and [The Whos] Tommy, and [Queensryches] Operation Mindcrime. So, we were like, Are we ready to do this? We dont want it to be some hack concept. We want to do it right. So, it ended up being something our fans really loved, and felt really close to and 20 years later, it turned out to be one of our bands favorites. So were happy to celebrate the [anniversary of] its release. Story continues On what the band has rediscovered about Metropolis Pt. 2 while rehearsing for their spring 2019 tour Right now, were preparing for rehearsals for the tour, and this is something that nobody really thinks about, but as musicians, you dont just automatically remember the music you wrote. You have to go back and learn it What the hell was I playing there? and try to figure out and remember the fingerings, and the sounds, and then try to practice that stuff and make sure you can perform it. Yeah, theres some crazy stuff [on that album]. Like in the songs Beyond this Life or The Dance of Eternity, theres some insane playing, so it takes some work to get that back into play. On how the band plans to present the new Distance Over Time songs alongside the Metropolis Pt. 2 tracks on tour So, were doing An Evening With itll be two sets with an intermission. The first set is focused on songs from the new record, of course, and some older songs, and then the second set is Scenes From a Memory in its entirety. So, thats the way were breaking it up. Yeah, it should be a fun night. Dream Theater 2019 North American Tour Dates: 03/20 San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre 03/21 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern 03/22 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern 03/24 San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic 03/26 Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre 03/28 St. Paul, MN @ The Ordway 03/29 Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre 03/31 Milwaukee, WI @ Miller Theater 04/02 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit 04/04 Toronto, ON @ Sony Centre 04/05 Montreal, QC @ Place Des Arts Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier 04/06 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Capitole-Cabaret Du 04/08 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre 04/09 Oakdale, CT @ Toyota Presents Oakdale 04/10 Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Center for the Arts 04/12 New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre 04/13 Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theater 04/15 Washington, D.C. @ Warner Theatre 04/17 Nashville, TN @ TPAC 04/22 Charlotte, NC @Ovens Auditorium 04/23 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle 04/26 St. Petersburg, FL @ Mahaffey Theater 04/27 Jacksonville, FL @ Moran Theater 04/29 Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory 04/30 Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center 05/01 Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall Dream Theater Interview with Heavy Metallica's Top 5 Songs Disturbed's David Draiman Discusses Vinnie Tool's Top 5 Music Videos Behemoth's Top 5 Songs Ozzfest Promo Video: Ozzy Interview Rhiannon Giddens, whose collaborative project Our Native Daughters released its debut album in February, continues her exploration of world music with the May 3rd release of There Is No Other, an album recorded in Dublin with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and produced by Joe Henry. The title (stylized as there is no Other) refers to the marginalizing practice of othering, which includes, but is not limited to, discrimination and prejudice on the basis of group identity. The music the pair has created explores how sounds moved from Africa and the Arabic world to influence music throughout Europe and the Americas. Its all about movement, for both of us. . . movements of human beings and how we affect each other, Giddens recently told The Irish Times. If you just look at our range of instruments, where theyve come from and how theyve traveled across the world, its pretty amazing. The way that both of us approach music is very similar because were both educated about where the music is coming from. But when it comes to playing, were both just playing what we feel. Related stories How Our Native Daughters Reimagine Folk Song Narratives Folk Supergroup Our Native Daughters Release Simmering New Song 'Quasheba, Quasheba' Rhiannon Giddens Details Collaborative New Album 'Songs of Our Native Daughters' Among the tunes recorded by Giddens and Turrisi during a five-day period at Dublins Windmill Lane recording studios, is Im on My Way, an intensely striking tune which finds both sweet freedom and an uncertain future in the image of a little bird stretching out to the shimmering, shaking blue. The original songs penned by Giddens for the LP are joined by interpretations of classics such as Ola Belle Reeds Im Gonna Write Me a Letter, and Oscar Brown, Jr.s Brown Baby, as well as the traditional Italian tune, Pizzica di San Vito. With very little editing and overdubbing throughout the album, the two musicians play the majority of instruments, with Giddens singing and contributing minstrel banjo, octave violin and viola, while Turrisi plays piano, accordion, frame drum, tamburello, lute, cello banjo, daf and colascione. Musician Kate Ellis joins them on four cuts, playing cello and viola. Story continues Giddens and Turrisi will debut several songs from the album at this weekends Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Friday, March 22nd. Lucy Negro Redux, the new ballet scored by the pair, will be performed twice at the festival, with Giddens and Turrisi playing the score live on stage. Giddens, who is also featured in Ken Burns upcoming PBS series Country Music, will be among the acts featured at concerts tied to the series in New York and Nashville. She and Turrisi have plans for a tour that extends throughout the fall. There Is No Other, out May 3rd on Nonesuch Records, is now available for pre-order, with Nonesuch store pre-orders including an exclusive, limited-edition signed print. A deluxe vinyl edition of the album will be released in the fall. There Is No Other track list: Ten Thousand Voices Im Gonna Write Me a Letter Wayfaring Stranger there is no Other Trees on the Mountains Pizzica di San Vito Brown Baby Briggs Forro Little Margaret Black Swan Im On My Way He Will See You Through Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Students at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School were caught circulating a list of female classmates, ranked by their looks. (Photo: Google) Words: Hope Schreiber Some male students at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland, US, have been disciplined after it was discovered they created and shared a list on social media on which they ranked their female classmates based on their looks. According to school officials, the students targeted 18 senior girls (the equivalent to Year 13 in the UK) by creating a list with their first names and a rating beside each. In a letter sent to parents and students on March 9, according to Washington, D.C., news station NBC4, Principal Donna Jones said, This incident has been very upsetting for students, staff and families. B-CC High School has no tolerance for bullying. Our school strives to create a sense of belonging and respect for all students. This incident does not reflect those values. Jones did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyles requests for comment. READ MORE: Teen with terminal cancer gets early graduation I think, honestly, the consensus was that it wasnt an OK thing at all, and all the girls, they kind of banded together and took it on as a team because it was really hurtful to a lot of people, a female student told NBC4. Although Jones said that the students were disciplined based on the school systems code of conduct, some students believe more should have been done. I dont think [the administration] handled it well at all, senior Jane Corcoran, whose name was on the list, told Bethesda Magazine. Basically, what admin did, in my honest opinion, by dismissing it and not giving the boys a strong punishment, is saying, Boys will be boys and thats OK. We cant get them in trouble for something immature guys do. According to Corcoran, a group of 50 boys circulated the list for a year before a female student saw it open on a laptop in class two weeks ago. READ MORE: Teen falls off bridge taking selfie Female students told the news outlet that one male student was the ringleader, and he received a brief in-school suspension, whereas the rest of the boys were not punished. Corcoran said that a meeting was organised for the girls involved to share their feelings while the boys sat and listened. To the student, it wasnt good enough. It was like seeing everything you are insecure about brought to you by someone else. Putting a number on a girl like this is the same as any other slur a homophobic or racial slur. Its a way to degrade women, she said. Last year, after Rolling Stone Country published an in-depth report on the culture of sexual harassment and misconduct in the world of country radio, Tennessee legislators introduced HB 1984/SB 2130, a bill that would offer full-time employee rights to artists and freelancers concerning sexual harassment. Led by Democrats Rep. Brenda Gilmore and Sen. Jeff Yarbro, it eventually died in the House without ample Republican support but found new life this week when reintroduced by Rep. Bob Freeman as HB 387. During Tuesdays hearing by the House Employee Affairs Subcommittee, local Americana musician Bri Murphy testified about the experiences she has endured trying to get her music heard after relocating to Nashville in 2011. This time, the bill was denied approval and deferred to summer study for further consideration after the legislature officially adjourns in the spring. Related stories R. Kelly in First Interview Following Sex Abuse Charges: 'I'm Fighting for My F-cking Life' Nikki Sixx on Rape Story in Motley Crue Memoir: 'I Have No Clue Why It's In There' For R. Kelly's Accusers, a Mix of Optimism and Disbelief I dont have just one story. I have countless stories, Murphy said in her testimony. I have literally lost track of how many times Ive experienced sexual harassment in the music industry. I find myself to this day in situations where I expect to have to fend off unwanted advances. I doubt these stories surprise anybody in this room, thanks to the countless brave women and men who have spoken up about the harassment they have encountered. Im one of many. And it doesnt have to be this way. Murphy spoke directly to the bills detractors: namely, House Republicans and Jim Brown, who leads the Tennessee chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. Earlier Tuesday, Brown sent an email to members of House Employee Affairs Subcommittee urging them to vote No on HB 387. This very well-intended legislation could have a significant negative impact on our employer-employee relationship laws, he wrote. This legislation would create a slippery slope and unintended consequences that would undermine established federal and state employer-employee relationship laws. Story continues Some of HB 1984/SB 2130s supporters included Rodney Crowell, Lilly Hiatt, Andrew Combs and Lorrie Morgan, as well as Katie Armiger, who advocated publicly for the bill last March. I was a teenager dealing with radio programmers touching me under tables at industry events and making inappropriate sexual remarks, she said. I was instructed not only to tolerate it, but to encourage it. HB 387 will now be considered in summer study, and Tennessee Democrats tell Rolling Stone Country that a crucial next step would be for artists and representatives from major labels and publishers to come and speak to the committee on the importance of such legislation. Bris testimony really moved the committee to a place where everyone is ready to have a real conversation on this issue, Democratic State Rep. Bob Freeman of Nashville says. Now, we need business leaders from the industry who want to do the right thing and work to end harassment to step up and take part in this process. For Murphy, its simply about creating a fair and safe workplace. Passing this bill could lead to an industry where the girl who is moving here today at 20 years old to pursue her dreams can speak to you all eight years from now, she said, without the same memories and stories I have of being grabbed, chased, held down, blackmailed, drugged, stalked, catcalled, solicited for sex, followed, threatened and raped. I believe in Tennessee as a state that can lead the way for the music industry to become a safe and diverse working environment for anybody who dares to dream. Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Tyler Perry is doing all he can to help a grieving family. The actor and filmmaker, 49, stepped in to help Tynesha Evans four kids after police say she was fatally shot by her boyfriend on Saturday in Atlanta. The suspect, Othniel Inniss, allegedly lured the 45-year-old mom to a Wells Fargo bank under the pretense of giving her money for rent only to shoot her instead, according to police. Evans daughter Audrey Turner says that she got a call from Perry after the news broke, and was surprised to hear how much he was willing to help. It was a call I wasnt even going to answer. I said, Well, let me answer it to see who it is. I answered and the person on the other end said, This is Tyler. I said, Who? He said, This is Tyler. I said, Tyler who? and he said, Tyler Perry. At that point, I just broke down crying, Audrey told a local news station. WATCH: Tyler Perry Gives Commencement Speech at Oprahs Leadership Academy Before Taking Stage at Global Citizen Festival Perry paid their rent so the family could continue living in their house, and volunteered to pay for Evans funeral in Atlanta, as well as fly her body to her home state of Wisconsin for another funeral. The actor also promised to pay tuition for Evans other daughter Sharadiant Turner, who is a freshman at Spelman College. Im going to do what she wanted me to do. She started me on math and now Im going to get to graduate with a mathematics degree from Spelman College without debt, it means everything, Sharadiant told the news station. Inniss, 58, has been charged with murder and aggravated assault with a firearm, according to police. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family, with over $59,000 already raised. This isnt the first time Tyler Perry has helped families in need in the Atlanta area. This Christmas, the Madea actor paid off all the layaway items at two different Walmarts in the Georgia capital a total cost of $434,000. Story continues Perry shared the news in a video on Twitter, in which he admitted he tried to do this anonymously but failed. Trying to do this anonymously but, um, due to some circumstances yall know how nothing stays secret these days, he said. So, I just wanted to go ahead and tell you. RELATED: Tyler Perry Covers All of the Layaways at 2 Atlanta Walmarts at a Cost of $434,000 Perry explained, If you have a layaway at the Walmart at 844 Cleveland Avenue in East Point, Georgia in Atlanta or if you have a layaway at the Walmart at 7001 Concourse Parkway in Douglasville, Georgia if you have a layaway at either place and it was in there as of 9:30 this morning, it was already in layaway before 9:30 this morning I have paid for all of your layaways for Christmas. Taking a pause to stifle his laughter, Perry continued, So, Merry Christmas to everybody. You have to go into the Walmart, get your layaway, pay a penny one penny and you get your layaway, he shared. I know its hard times, a lot of people are struggling. Im just really, really grateful to be able to be in a position to do this. New Zealand Mass Shooter Will Have Justice but Not Infamy: 'We Will Give Him Nothing. Not Even His Name.' New Zealands prime minister vowed Tuesday to give not a single shred not one second or one syllable of recognition to the man who attacked two local mosques last week, killing 50 people. You will never hear me mention his name, Jacinda Ardern told Parliament in her first address there since the mass shootings on Friday, the deadliest in the countrys modern history. That quiet Friday afternoon has become our darkest of days, she said. Ardern called the killer a terrorist, criminal and extremist. But he will when I speak be nameless, she continued, and to others I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them. He may have sought notoriety, Ardern said. But we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name. RELATED: What to Know About New Zealands Prime Minister Among those slain in the shooting was a woman trying to save other people including her husband, who is confined to a wheelchair, according to the womans nephew. Husna Ara Parvin, 42, went with her husband to mosque last Friday as she did every Friday, her nephew Mahfuz Chowdhury told The Daily Start of Bangladesh, Husnes country of origin. According to Chowdhurys account to the paper, Parvin went to the womans mosque while her husband, Farid Uddin Ahmed, went to the mens mosque. When gunfire erupted in the mens mosque, Parvin rushed to the scene and was fatally shot while Ahmed survived. Chowdhury said the couple settled in New Zealand sometime after 1994. Ardern said Tuesday that the suspect, a 28-year-old Australian man accused of murder, will face other charges. The families of the fallen will have justice, she said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern | Hagen Hopkins/Getty The suspected shooter appears to have circulated a rabidly anti-Muslim and white supremacist manifesto before the attack, at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch. Video of at least part of the shootings was also posted on social media. He sought many things from his act of terror but one was notoriety, Ardern said. But she spent most of her time discussing New Zealands Muslim community, who lost so much. Story continues We cannot know your grief but we can walk with you at every stage. Our hearts our heavy, but our spirit is strong, she said. Ardern also spoke out against Islamophobia and white nationalism taking care to note that while the suspected mosque shooter was not from New Zealand, that did not mean those same ideas did not exist in New Zealand. RELATED: Survivor of the New Zealand Mass Shooting Shares Horror of His Escape I Had to Run We wish for every member of our communities to feel safe. Safety means being free from the fear of violence. But it also means being free from the fear of those sentiments of racism and hate that create a place where violence can flourish, Ardern said. And every single one of us has the power to change that. Ardern, her countrys youngest leader in 150 years, has been lauded for her response since the Friday attack, as the face of a grieving but resilient nation. Her point about namelessness is a resonant one for anti-gun violence advocates and experts on violent threats: As mass shootings have become ever deadlier in America, they have pushed for media companies and other public groups to avoid focusing the discussion on the shooter or shooters including naming them so as to prevent the unattended spread of their ideas. As one psychiatry professor said in 2015, according to the New York Times: If you blast the names and faces of shooters on news stations and constantly repeat their names, there may be an inadvertent process of creating a blueprint. With GREG HANLON A matter of 'life and blood': REDress Project seeks to highlight violence against Native American women originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The red dresses hang from barren branches and flutter in the chilly spring air. One looks like it's meant to be worn to the office. Another resembles a "date night" dress. Yet another could be worn for a casual day out. The dresses are part of an outdoor installation by artist Jaime Black and are aimed at drawing attention to the ongoing issue of violence against Native American women. The stark silhouettes flanking the Riverwalk located in the National Museum of the American Indians Native Landscape area commemorate Womens History Month. PHOTO: The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (National Museum of the American) (MORE: Senators reintroduce bill to protect Native American women, finish work started by defeated colleague) Originating in Canada, this is the first time the exhibit has been in the United States. Black attempts to create dialogue around social and political events and issues, through provocation and creating space for reflection. "Since the onset of colonization, Indigenous women have been standing up to protect and defend the lands, waters, and communities," Black said in a statement. "It is because of this stand that Indigenous women and girls have been the target of colonial violence for centuries." PHOTO: The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (National Museum of the American) Since 2011, the dresses which were collected through community donations, have symbolized the indigenous female body as a target of violence. This violence includes kidnapping, murder, and sex trafficking. Over 600 dresses have been collected to represent a missing loved one. Black chose red for her exhibit because it is a powerful color of indigenous communities. "It is the color of life and blood," she said in a statement. "It is a very sacred color that represents the violence that these women are facing, and it connects all of us together." It is so easy to picture a woman wearing the red dresses and that is exactly Black's point. She wants people to know that it is not a fashion showroom. Story continues Violence against Native American women is a topic lawmakers on the Hill have grappled with over the years as members of those communities have pressed members of Congress for help on the issue. University of Kansas Professor Sarah Deer, a citizen of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma who has been working for two decades on the issue of violence against Native American women, testified recently to Congress that the disappearances date back to 1492 when Europeans kidnapped native people and sent them to Europe. (MORE: Violence against tribal women becomes a backdrop for a battle of legacies between outgoing lawmakers) PHOTO: The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (National Museum of the American) According to Deer, there is currently no formal government-funded national database that tracks the cases of missing Native American women. Native American women and girls are also targets of violent crime because of a complicated jurisdictional loophole that applies to Indian country. Anytime a Native American person is taken against their will or a victim of a homicide; tribal officials will be the first to respond, Deer said. However, tribal criminal jurisdiction is curtailed particularly when the offender is non-Indian. Because tribal nations lack criminal jurisdictions over non-Indians, legal-savvy predators are attracted to Indian lands because there is less likelihood of being caught and prosecuted. "As a nation, I believe we are better than this." Deer told the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States in an oversight hearing titled "Unmasking the Hidden Crisis of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. PHOTO: The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (National Museum of the American) The Sovereign Bodies Institute, a Native American-owned and operated non-profit organization has been working since 2015 to gather as much of the data on missing women as possible. The organization uses open source reporting and input from the missing women's family members. There are currently nearly two thousand names in the database. "Violence will not silence Indigenous women," says Black. "Through the REDress Project, the spirits of the missing or murdered women and girls stand with us giving us courage, strength, and clarity, leading us forward on the path to reclaiming our sovereignty as Indigenous women." Although his long-shot 2018 bid for elected office came up just short of victory, one of the Democratic Partys brightest young stars backed by an enthusiastic grassroots base is finally set to reveal his ambitions for 2020. I am referring, of course, to Andrew Gillum, who will announce on Wednesday the formation of Bring It Home Florida, an organization dedicated to leading nonpartisan voter-registration efforts in his home state between now and the next election. This sort of sustained effort to increase participation in the democratic processespecially one backed by Gillum's celebrity and the nearly $4 million remaining in his campaigns bank accounthas the potential, at least, to reshape Floridas political landscape. In 2016, Donald Trump won the state by a mere 112,911 votes, or 1.2 percent of the 9.4 million ballots cast. Meanwhile, although Floridas voting-age population is a little over 15.8 million, only 13.4 million of them are actually registered to vote. With 2020 less than 20 months away, there are about 2.4 million prospective voters out there whose allegiances are still up for grabs. The pool of prospective voters is larger now, too, thanks to the 2018 passage of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to the states ex-felons. This means that in the next election, about 1.5 million Floridians will be eligible to cast a ballot for the first time since their post-conviction disenfranchisement. The diligent efforts of Floridas GOP-controlled legislature to blunt Amendment 4s impact reveals a lot about its potential to alter the distribution of political power in the near future. Democrats have only a six-figure deficit to make up in 2020, and there are literally millions of people who could help them do it. This is not only a gambit to turn Florida blue on the next Electoral College map. In each election, half the state Senate and the entire state Houseboth of which, again, are held by GOP majoritiesgo up for re-election. Flipping one or both of these chambers is a prerequisite to doing things like expanding Medicaid, which Republican politicians have long resisted, even though about 60 percent of their constituents favor it. Even picking off a few seats might make Republican lawmakers think hard about the wisdom of continuing to oppose the provision of some 700,000 low-income Floridians with affordable health insurance. Story continues Gillums initiative parallels the one launched last year by Stacey Abrams, who after conceding the Georgia governors race announced the formation of Fair Fight Actionan organization dedicated to making future elections more transparent after her opponent, Brian Kemp, relied heavily on voter disenfranchisement to eke out the victory. Abrams is likely to be her partys top-choice candidate to challenge incumbent senator Johnny Isakson in 2020, if she doesnt announce a White House bid of her own. In the meantime, though, she is working to ensure a system that badly failed her wont fail anyone else. Gillums and Abramss losses were especially painful for many Democrats, since their candidacies sparked a fresh optimism for long-suffering progressives in red states. Now, by focusing not on their political aspirations but instead on strengthening the democratic process, Gillum and Abrams provide supporters with a tangible outlet for their frustrations, redirecting that energy to efforts that, next time, might lead to different outcomes. Given the parallels between their candidacies, its hard not to notice the different approaches adopted by Gillum and Abrams on the one hand, and 2018s other beloved underdogBeto ORourkeon the other. All three earned presidential buzz well before their losses became official, and so far, only one of them has decided that this is his moment. After a pair of breakout 2018 campaigns, Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum appear set to be fixtures of Democratic Party politics in the years to come. If one of them (or both of them!) indeed becomes senator, governor, and/or president of the United States one day, it will be in part because they did the legwork necessary to put themselvesand any Democrat who runs for any office in their respective statesover the top. And the promo photos are as sexy as you'd think they'd be. Photo: Courtesy of Quay Australia/Infinity Creative Agency Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez aren't missing a beat in celebrity couple world: Only a week and a half after the two announced their engagement on Instagram, Lopez and Rodriguez have landed their first major campaign together as the face of Quay Australia for 2019. As part of the year-long sponsorship with the two celebrities, Quay released Quay x JLo, a women's line that comprises of six sunglass styles featuring a variety of oversized shapes and luxe metal accents (think "Jenny From the Block" circa 2002). Quay also released Quay x Arod, a men's line that includes five sunglass styles centering around sleek durability. Each pair of sunglasses retail between $50 and $60. "Quay Australia has been one of my go-to brands ever since I first discovered them a few years ago," Lopez said in the release. "I fell in love with them, and I've worn them regularly since. When the opportunity to team up was presented, it felt so fitting. Getting to do this with Alex was a big bonus too. He loves sunglasses as much as I do." Take a look at the steamy campaign photos shot appropriately in Miami below. Photo: Courtesy of Quay Australia/Infinity Creative Agency View the 7 images of this gallery on the original article Stay current on the latest trends, news and people shaping the fashion industry. Sign up for our daily newsletter. A Ferraris purr away from the mink-clad glitz of St. Moritz and the swagger of Davos, something of a cultural revolution is afoot. Sitting in the heart of the Engadin region in Switzerland, the Muzeum Susch opened in January, and is the brainchild of Polish entrepreneur and collector Grazyna Kulczyk. Located in a campus on the site of a 12th-century monastery and former brewery in Susch, the museum shows a number of site-specific works by international contemporary artists, alongside a program of temporary curated exhibitions. Its inaugural exhibition, Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, explores the notion of feminism in a social, political and cultural context, running until June 30, 2019. The museum forms a growing art-driven landscape in the Engadin region, offering temptations beyond the Cresta Run and snow polo. Von Bartha has a satellite space in nearby S-chanf and Hauser & Wirth opened an outpost in St. Moritz in December 2018, with other galleries such as Vito Schnabel in the upmarket ski town providing a lure for collectors. Kulczyk is one of Polands most successful businesswomen with her collection considered to be one of the largest of its kind in Europe. We caught up with her around the opening. Installation view of A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women. Why did you decide to open the museum? I have been engaged in different art activities for the last 45 years. Even as a law student I began giving a lectures about contemporary art. Since then I have supported hundreds of various art projects, later introducing my life motto of 50 percent art, 50 percent business to structure my engagements into coherent actions taking place at Stary Browar, the 8-hectare former industrial block that I restored in the center of my hometown Poznan to allow people to see art in the public spaces. Here in the Swiss Alps I have decided to focus on art only but in the very large sense. Muzeum Susch overall hosts five pillars: exhibition spaces, a research institute, a choreography center, artists residency and an annual academic symposium. Story continues Related stories The Peninsula Hotel Kicks Off Art Basel Hong Kong With a New Traveling Art Program These 9 Luxury Hotels Will Serve You Michelin Meals--in Bed Long a Designer and Dealer Favorite, Mercanteinfiera Art Fair Takes Over Parma, Italy, This Week Courtesy Art Stations Foundation CH, Muzeum Susch Bazej Pindor for Muzeum Susch / Art Stations Foundation CH Was it a lengthy process finding that interesting site? I have lived in Engadine for 10 years so I had enough time to get to know this spectacular region, which can be simultaneously dramatic and picturesque. Four years ago I was still planning my main museum institution in Warsaw when I realized that I would spend years on administrative fights, whereas making an art post in a smaller place I could focus all of my cultural activities here and build a place just as strong due to its ambitious program and a unique architectural beauty to attract visitors from all over the world. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation You have said coming to the museum should be a kind of pilgrimage. Can you elaborate? I started thinking of the essence of the word from the moment that I started to communicate on the creation of the museum that was to be housed in a restored and enlarged former monastery complex. A pilgrimage is a demanding act as it is not only going from A to B but it needs devotion to do so. For me art has a very sacred texture, so pilgrimage became an obvious means of describing it. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation Are there any other spaces like this globally? Muzeum Susch is quite unique in the combination of its location, physicality and outlook; yet there are some inspirations to name, such as Japanese Island Naoshima, Kaviar Faktory in Henningsvr, Norwa and the Glenstone museum in Potomac, Maryland. Installation view of A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women. Courtesy Art Stations Foundation CH, Muzeum Susch Bazej Pindor for Muzeum Susch / Art Stations Foundation CH Do you hope to open more? I have invested not only a significant amount of money over here but also invested my heart and all my attention. It is relatively easy to build a building, but then the art is about creating the very strong institutional program resistant to time and to be able to engage people for decades. The answer is simple: This is my final destination for art. Installation view of A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women. Courtesy Art Stations Foundation CH, Muzeum Susch Bazej Pindor for Muzeum Susch / Art Stations Foundation CH What artwork first sparked your interest in art? As a student, the only art I could truly collect were posters, and Poland a few decades ago created a very specific poster school called the Polish School of Posters, which was highly regarded as an art form. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation What was the first one you bought yourself? I do not remember exactly the first artwork I bought, but I can tell you what was my first auction-house purchase. I remember it because it was not only the caliber of artist but it broke the line for a person from behind the old Iron Curtain. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation Can you describe more what the symposium will entail? We named the annual symposium, the same as the other foundation pillars, in Rumansch (the locally spoken dialect)Disputaziuns Susch. Once a year it brings together scientists, artists and thinkers to discuss and to come up with potentially contradicting but still complementary interpretations and explanations of the world we inhabit. The first Disputaziuns Susch in 2017 On Reformation and Standards of Thought took the 500th anniversary of the Reformation as a starting point. Disputaziuns Susch 2018 was Do they dream of electric sheep?challenging beliefs and re-examining assumptions about artificial intelligence. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation And how will the institute explore gender exactly? The Womens Centre for Excellence is a research project between the Art Institute at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel and Instituto Susch, a joint venture from Grazyna Kulczyk and Art Stations Foundation CH, the umbrella organization overseeing the programming at Muzeum Susch. It is conceived as a think-tank tasked to assess, develop and propose new social languages and methods to understand the position and the role of women in arts, science and technology and to situate crucial historical and current questions. Installation view of A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women. Courtesy Art Stations Foundation CH, Muzeum Susch Bazej Pindor for Muzeum Susch / Art Stations Foundation CH Contemporary dance will feature at the museum. Have you always had an interest in this? Since art is a complex interdisciplinary matrix of a Gesamtkunstwerk [total work of art], I can only quote [American choreographer] Trisha Brown, who said, Choreography is in the crack between visual arts and traditionally understood dance. Studio Stefano Graziani, courtesy Muzeum Susch, Art Stations Foundation How is the way that art is displayed/viewed changing do you think? Art has come a long way, being displayed/viewed in so many ways from religious to secular, from intimate and humble Dutch bourgeois interiors, from palaces to grandiose museum buildingsnow it is being democratized by urban museum super-machines to InstaArt. I try to find together with some other museum founders the alternative path, which is being defined now often as Slow Artart aficionados, specialists, collectors now want to take their time and devote much more to observe and think about the art. Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Photo credit: AmericanBeautyStar - Instagram From Cosmopolitan OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING 1. 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SPONSOR: The Sponsor of this Sweepstakes is Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. ('You Might Also Like',) If you spend any time on the Internet these days, youve probably seen the word adulting come up on your feed several times. It refers to the process of acting like an adulthaving a job, paying your bills, and making yourself dinner instead of just ordering takeoutand has gained a lot of traction among Millennials in recent years, probably because theyre more likely to still be living with their parents and actively avoiding marriage than previous generations were at their age. The term has therefore opened up a discussion in recent years about what being an adult really means, especially since psychologists have added emerging adulthood to the list of life phases in order to describe people in their twenties who feel like theyre not teenagers anymore but arent quite adults yet either. And while, legally, you become an adult at the age of 18, scientists now say that you dont really become fully adult until you hit 30, which is the age when your brain concludes its three-decades-long development. What were really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks increasingly absurd, Peter Jones, Professor of Psychiatry and Deputy Head of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC. Its a much more nuanced transition that takes place over three decades. Jones admits that the age at which someone becomes an adult is different for everyone, but indicates that it would be inaccurate to call someone in their twenties an adult because theyre still going through a lot of brain development. There isnt a childhood and then an adulthood. People are on a pathway, theyre on a trajectory, he said. Of course, being an adult on a neurological level and feeling like one on an emotional level are two very different things. In light of the news, Bloomberg recently asked some people in their late twenties and early 30s if they feel like adults, and they all had very different answers. Story continues Scientists say people dont fully become adults until their 30s. We spoke to some under 30s to see how they felt about it pic.twitter.com/uwaC8jadIO TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) March 19, 2019 I think the surest sign of feeling like youre an adult is maybe wishing you werent one, responded Charlie, 28. (Which, lets face it, is right on the money). [Ill feel like an adult] when I can afford to live on an island and have like a private jet and go on holidays, said Fiona, 26, perhaps setting the bar a little too high. When asked what the surest sign of being an adult was, one 30-year-old just stared blankly at the camera for what felt like a lengthy period of time. All of which is to say that, if you dont know what being an adult really means, dont worry, because neither does anyone else. And for more news you can use, check out The Surprising Thing That Can Make You Less Likely To Vote. To discover more amazing secrets about living your best life, click here to follow us on Instagram! [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [SOUND]. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] First things first: No, Tom Ford did not call First Lady Melania Trump a "glorified escort" who "has bad taste in men." The luxury fashion designer became a trending Twitter topic on Tuesday morning after a now-deleted tweet falsely attributing the incendiary words to Ford went viral. The post, from user @fras99, featured a split image of the designer-cum-Hollywood director and the first lady with the text: "I have no interest in dressing a glorified escort who steals speeches and has bad taste in men." A spokeswoman for the brand tells InStyle, "This is an absolutely fabricated and completely fake quote attributed to Mr. Ford that has somehow gone viral. Mr. Ford did not make this statement; it is completely false." After deleting the tweet, the same user later posted a Washington Post article which featured a two-year-old quote that the designer gave during an appearance on The View while promoting his film Nocturnal Animals. I was asked to dress [Melania Trump] quite a few years ago and I declined. Shes not necessarily my image, he said. Even had Hillary won she shouldnt be wearing my clothes, theyre too expensive. I dont mean that in a bad way; theyre not artificially expensive, its how much it costs to make these things. I think the first lady has to relate to everybody." (Donald Trump, being Donald Trump, responded to Ford's quotes at the time by saying that the designer "was never asked" to dress FLOTUS, adding "I never liked him or his designs. Hes never had something to dress like that [pointing to his wife, who was in the room at the time].) As was pointed out back in 2016, former First Lady Michelle Obama once wore his designs to an official White House-related event, however the occasion was a high-profile visit to the Queen in London. But regardless of what was true, by midmorning, the falsely-attributed quote had already spread faster online than a California wildfire through the Sepulveda Pass. On social media, some users applauded the brash quote, while others called for a boycott of the brand. It wasn't until a few journalists began digging into the origins of the supposed quote that the tweet began to unravel. Story continues RELATED: Donald Trump Just Weighed in on the "Fake Melania" Conspiracy The Fashion Law pointed to a 2018 Science Magazine report which only confirms this danger of the spread of "fake news," specifically politically motivated "news." The authors of "The Spread of True and False News Online," who are affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote that false news travels "significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information," adding that more users are likely to retweet false claims. A prime example: the Tom Ford fiasco. Unfortunately, the study's authors didn't provide us a specific game plan for combating the spread of false news (other than investing more money into more research) so for now we're doing our best to put the truth out into the world. We're shooting our shot, internet. ATHENS, Greece (AP) In March 2016, European governments breathed a sigh of relief as the European Union reached a deal with Turkey designed to stop hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants heading into the heart of Europe. For many of those who had fled war, hunger and poverty hoping for a bright future on the continent, the deal shattered their dreams. Three years on, here is a look back at the agreement and the effect it's had on migration. WHAT DID THE EU-TURKEY DEAL SAY? One of the main provisions of the deal, which came into effect on March 20, 2016, was that all those arriving on Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast the preferred route at the time would be detained and returned to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece. They wouldn't be able to move on to the Greek mainland, from where hundreds of thousands before them had made their way through the Balkans and on to central and northern Europe. However, the deportations didn't go as planned. Instead of waiting to apply for asylum in their preferred European country, new arrivals applied as soon as they arrived on the islands, which delayed deportations and created a massive backlog in Greece's asylum system. In practice, actual deportations have been very few and far between. DID THE AGREEMENT WORK? On a very basic level of reducing the number of asylum-seekers heading to other European countries, the deal was very effective. More than 1.2 million people registered for asylum in EU member states in 2015 and again in 2016, at the height of the crisis. That number fell by half the following year, with just over 654,000 new asylum applications in 2017 and even fewer just over 580,000 in 2018, according to the EU's statistics office Eurostat. Germany continues to be the most popular country for those seeking refugee status, followed by France and Greece. The main countries of origin of the applicants are Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Story continues But the reduction in numbers has come at a cost. Aid groups have repeatedly slammed the deal as inhumane, noting it has left thousands stranded in miserable conditions. On the eve of its third anniversary, 25 human rights, medical aid and volunteer groups signed an open letter calling on European leaders "to take immediate and sustained action to end the unfair and unnecessary containment policy." It has also not completely stopped arrivals on Greek islands, although the numbers are far lower than the thousands per day in 2015 and early 2016. WHAT IS THE SITUATION ON THE ISLANDS? The stipulation of new arrivals being held on the islands has left thousands languishing in crammed camps. Samos island has seen the worst overcrowding, with around 4,000 people vying for space in a camp with a capacity of 648. The largest camp in the eastern Aegean, Moria on the island of Lesbos which holds more than 4,800 people in facilities designed for 3,100, has come under the severest criticism from rights groups and even local officials over poor living and security conditions. Greek authorities note that the terms of the EU-Turkey agreement prevent them from moving people off the islands en masse. Instead, they have tried to ease overcrowding by sending to the mainland those designated as vulnerable such as the sick or very elderly, families with young children or single parent families. But with dozens, sometimes hundreds, arriving each week, that hasn't been enough to definitively deal with the problem. As of Monday night, a total of 14,742 people were being held on the islands, most of them on Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos. "Greece has become a dumping ground for the men, women and children that the European Union has failed to protect," Emmanuel Goue of the Doctors Without Borders medical aid group said in a statement on the third anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal. "What was once touted as a 'refugee emergency' has given way to inexcusable levels of human suffering across the Greek islands and on mainland Greece," Goue said. "The EU and Greek authorities continue to rob vulnerable people of their dignity and health, seemingly in an effort to deter others from coming. This policy is cruel, inhumane and cynical, and it needs to end." WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF EUROPE? The increased difficulty heading into Europe from the Greek islands meant migrants and refugees soon sought out alternative routes to get into the EU. With more than 57,000 unauthorized arrivals by sea in 2018, Spain became the No. 1 route to the EU by sea. The figure was more than double the number of arrivals in 2017 at 21,000. NGOs and the Spanish government itself blamed the increase on the EU-Turkey deal and on later agreements with Libya which essentially shut down the central Mediterranean route which had seen boats head from Libya to Italy. There has, however, been a sharp decrease in the number of arrivals by sea in Spain in late 2018 and the first three months of this year. More people are also dying. According to the International Organization for Migration, around 2,300 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year, almost double the year before. Nearly one third of them perished in the so-called Western Mediterranean, which links the northwestern African coast with European coasts in Spain. ____ Aritz Parra in Madrid, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, contributed to this report. The Daily Beast Bridgeport Police DepartmentThe remains of a Connecticut man were discovered buried five feet under a garage more than eight years after he vanished, and now the local landlord who led detectives to his body faces murder charges.Bridgeport police said on Thursday that strong evidence suggests the two men arrested in connection with the murder of 24-year-old Aryndel Castro had beaten and choked him to death on the night of Sept. 22, 2013. After murdering Castro, Shawn Gibson, 45, and Terrance B BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina has temporarily closed its airspace to flights using Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, following similar measures taken by other countries in the region after two fatal crashes involving the plane, the state-run news agency said on Saturday. The decision comes after the crash as week ago of a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines[ETHA.UL] that killed 157 people. Five months earlier, a Lion Air flight using the same model also crashed shortly after take off, killing 189 people. Telam, the state-run news agency, said the government's resolution will be published on Monday. The National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) did not immediately reply to a request for comment. ANAC "has proposed to temporarily ground and even prevent flights in Argentine territory of all types of aircraft Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 737 Max 9 immediately and until the investigation into the most recent accident concludes with justification for lifting the measure," the government's resolution said, according to Telam. On Wednesday, the governments of Mexico, Panama and Colombia suspended the operations of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) By Lizbeth Diaz and Jose Gallego Espina TIJUANA, Mexico/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Three asylum seekers due to be returned to Mexico after appearing in U.S. immigration court on Tuesday asked officials to let them stay in the United States because they feared for their safety while waiting out the process in Mexico. The requests are a new approach by migrants in response to President Donald Trump's recent policy that requires people seeking protection in the United States to wait for their U.S. court dates in Mexican border towns, part of his hard line stance to halt migration. Some 240 people - including families - have been returned to Mexico since late January under the program, dubbed Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), according to U.S. officials. Six Central American migrants who crossed from Tijuana through the San Ysidro port of entry had their cases heard at a San Diego courthouse in the program's first day of hearings on Tuesday. All were told to return to Mexico. Robyn Barnard, a lawyer from the nonprofit group Human Rights First, said she asked officials to let her two Honduran clients stay in the United States. Both are afraid of returning to Tijuana to wait for their next hearings in early August. Tijuana, like much of Mexico's northern border zone, has seen extensive bloodshed since the federal government began using the military against drug cartels over a decade ago. "Mexico is not a safe place for all people, and there are vulnerable groups at risk," Barnard told reporters after the hearing. Her clients would remain at a U.S. Port of Entry on Tuesday night, ahead of interviews with asylum officers, likely the next day, Barnard's assistant said. One client, 19-year-old Ariel, said he left Honduras because of gang threats and gave only his middle name because he feared reprisals. He was among the first group of asylum seekers sent back to Mexico on Jan. 30 and given a notice to appear in U.S. court in San Diego. "God willing everything will move ahead and I will be able to prove that if I am sent back to Honduras, I'll be killed," he said prior to the hearing. Mariel Villarreal, an immigration lawyer with San Francisco-based Pangea Legal Services, said she asked that her client from Guatemala be allowed to stay in the United States. "They are just being sent back to homelessness in Tijuana," she said, adding that Mexican officials are not explaining how returnees can earn work permits. U.S. officials have said they are working with the Mexican government to ensure migrants are safe while they wait in Mexico. But some Mexican officials have warned the country's border cities would struggle to look after asylum seekers for long periods. "GENEROUS" LAWS The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups are suing in federal court to halt the MPP program, which is part of a series of measures the Trump administration has taken to curb the flow of mostly Central American migrants trying to enter the United States. The administration says most asylum claims, especially for Central Americans, are rejected, but because of immigration court backlogs people are often released and live in the United States for years waiting for their cases to be resolved. The government has said the new program is aimed at ending "the exploitation of our generous immigration laws." Critics say the program violates U.S. law and international norms because migrants are sent back to often dangerous towns in Mexico where it is difficult to keep track of their U.S. court dates and to find legal help. Gregory Chen, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said there are real concerns about carrying out this major shift in U.S. immigration policy. "The government did not have its shoes tied when they introduced this program," he said. Immigration advocates are watching how the proceedings will be carried out this week, especially after scheduling glitches created confusion around three hearings last week, according to a report in the San Diego Union Tribune. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which runs U.S. immigration courts under the Department of Justice, said only that it uses its regular court scheduling system for the MPP hearings and did not respond to a question about the reported scheduling problems. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Tijuana and Jose Gallego Espina in San Diego; writing and additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City; Editing by Bill Trott and Darren Schuettler) The internet has tried to raise several thousand dollars for Will Connolly, better known as Egg Boy, after he slapped an egg on the head of New Zealand senator Fraser Annig. As of publication, the Go Fund Me has more than $71,000, which will be donated to the victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings. Connolly went viral as the perfect, realtime response to the racist views espoused by Annig, who spoke of anti-immigrant (and anti-Muslim) rhetoric directly following the Christchurch massacre despite himself being an immigrant to New Zealand. Thanks to his courageous act, Connolly has become a kind of internet sensation. A native of Australia, Connolly got a little recognition by countryman Ben Simmons on Tuesday. Via Twitter: Ben Simmons giving a shout out to Egg Boy on court for the 76ers tonight (via @pjsteinfort) pic.twitter.com/zPJMEZ7zwn Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) March 19, 2019 Gen Z is going to save us. Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil is "still studying" the relocation of its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Brazil's top diplomat said Wednesday, days before President Jair Bolsonaro is due to visit the country. After taking power in January, Bolsonaro reiterated a pledge to follow US President Donald Trump's lead in moving the embassy from Tel Aviv. But his far-right government has since rowed back in response to fears the shift could endanger Brazil's valuable meat exports to Arab markets. Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo's latest remarks, however, suggest the controversial proposal is still on the table. "The issue of Jerusalem is very important, it is part of the essence of what this new relationship with Israel may mean, we are still studying the way that (decision) will be taken," Araujo told reporters. The shift must be in line with "other policies in the region to make it clear that, if it were the case, it would be a positive movement, as part of Brazil's contribution to peace and stability," he added. Bolsonaro, who has been in the United States this week for talks with President Donald Trump before going to Chile, is due to visit Israel from March 31 to April 2 as he seeks to strengthen ties with ultraconservative governments around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended Bolsonaro's January 1 inauguration in Brazil. The decision to move the embassy is highly sensitive because Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of its future state. Virtually all countries agree that Jerusalem's status can only be defined through wider Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. So far, only the United States and Guatemala have broken with that consensus by opening embassies in Jerusalem. Paraguay backtracked on a decision last year to move its embassy. Israel and the US have spoken with Honduras about its embassy going to Jerusalem. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Communist Party of China and state leaders Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu and Wang Huning attend the opening ceremony of the eighth congress of the China Law Society and extend their congratulations to the congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu and Wang Huning, Tuesday attended the opening ceremony of the eighth congress of the China Law Society and extended their congratulations to the congress. Entrusted by the CPC Central Committee, Guo Shengkun, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, made a speech at the ceremony. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, historical achievements have been made in building rule of law in China, and socialist rule of law has steadily opened new horizons, Guo said. Guo called on law professionals to be committed to socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, building a socialist country based on the rule of law, developing Chinese socialist rule of law theory, and cultivating legal talent with integrity and ability. The congress will summarize the society's work over the past five years, plan its work in the coming five years and elect a new leadership. By Tom Lasseter and Tom Westbrook CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) - The bodies of victims from New Zealand's mosques mass shooting were carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent at Christchurch's Memorial Park Cemetery on Wednesday - the first burials of the 50 victims. The majority of victims from Friday's attack in the South Island city were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents. The first two victims buried, father and son Khaled and Hamza Mustafa, came from war-torn Syria. "I cannot tell you how gutting it is...a family came here for safety and they should have been safe here," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, visiting the city for the second time since the massacre. Wrapped in white cloth, the bodies were laid to face Mecca, and, after jenazah (funeral) prayers, were carried towards their freshly dug graves. Seeing the body lowered down, it was a very emotional time for me, said Gulshad Ali, who had traveled from Auckland to attend the first funeral. Several mounds of dirt piled high marked the site of multiple graves which will be used for New Zealand's worst mass shooting. Hundreds gathered to mourn, some men wearing a taqiyah (skullcap), others in shalwar kameez (long tunic and trousers), while women wore hijabs and scarfs. Heavily armed police stood watch with flowers tucked in their revolver holsters and attached to their high powered rifles. Six victims were buried on Wednesday, with more expected during the week. Ardern said this coming Friday's call to prayers for Muslims in New Zealand will be broadcast nationally and there will be a two minute silence on Friday. "There is a desire to show support for the Muslim community as they return to mosques on Friday," she said. The bullet-ridden Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 people died, was being cleaned and repaired for Friday prayers. Near the mosque, members of rival gangs did a Maori haka, a powerful indigenous ceremonial performance, and a crowd of people sung New Zealand's national anthem as the sun set. The Australian National Imams Council has called on Imams to dedicate this Friday's Khutbah (sermon) to the Christchurch mosque mass shooting. "This is a human and an international tragedy, not only a Muslim and NZ tragedy. These acts of terror are there to divide us...and we reject this in all its forms and ways, but rather we will stay united and strong." INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist who was living in Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island, has been charged with murder following the attack. He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, when police said he was likely to face more charges. New Zealand's police chief said global intelligence agencies, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and those from Australia, Canada and Britain, were building up a profile of the alleged shooter. "I can assure you this is an absolute international investigation," Police Commissioner Mike Bush said at a media briefing in the capital Wellington. Questions were being asked about New Zealand's relaxed gun laws, which Ardern has promised to tighten, and on whether New Zealand authorities were focused enough on the risk from far-right extremists. As of Tuesday night 21 victims had been identified, with the remainder expected to be completed on Wednesday before their bodies can be released for burial, police said. Families of the victims have been frustrated by the delay as under Islam bodies are usually buried within 24 hours. Bush said police had to prove the cause of death to the satisfaction of the coroner and the judge handling the case. "You cannot convict for murder without that cause of death. So this is a very comprehensive process that must be completed to the highest standard," he said. Twenty nine people wounded in the attacks remained in hospital, eight still in intensive care. Many have had to undergo multiple surgeries due to complicated gunshot wounds. The gunman used semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, with large magazines, and a shotgun. TRAGEDY FOR A SCHOOL The attack was broadcast live on Facebook and quickly distributed to other platforms, prompting Ardern and others to rebuke the technology companies. A group of state-run New Zealand investment funds with a combined NZ$90 billion ($61.5 billion) in assets said they were putting their investment heft behind calls for Facebook, Google and Twitter to take action following the livestreaming and sharing on social media of the attack. Ardern earlier visited Cashmere High School in Christchurch which lost two students in the attack - teenagers Sayyad Milne and Hamza Mustafa - plus Hamza's father Khaled, and a former student Tariq Omar. She talked to about 200 children gathered at the school auditorium about racism and changes in gun laws. "Never mention the perpetrator's name ... never remember him for what he did," she said, asking the children to focus on the victims. ($1 = 1.4624 New Zealand dollars) (Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Edgar Sue in CHRISTCHURCH, Praveen Menon in WELLINGTON; Editing by Michael Perry, Lincoln Feast and Simon Cameron-Moore) Christchurch (New Zealand) (AFP) - Muslims praying in front of the one of the Christchurch mosques attacked by a white supremacist were protected on Wednesday evening by locals, moments after hundreds performed a mass haka. The touching display was the latest act of solidarity shown by inhabitants of a city still reeling from the worst attack on Muslims in the West in recent times. Throughout the last five days small groups of Muslims have defiantly held evening prayers in front of the Al Noor mosque, the first of two to be assaulted last Friday by a lone gunman in an attack that killed 50 people. But on Wednesday evening they had help. As men, women and children prayed and prostrated, dozens of locals silently stood behind them, their arms interlinked. "My heart is racing, it's something unbelievable, I can barely describe it," Omar, a 32-year-old Muslim who had flown from Sydney earlier this week, told AFP. "To see the community all so close together, it's amazing," he added. Moments earlier a crowd of hundreds thumped their chests, stomped their feet and stuck out their tongues for a haka dance, their Maori cries echoing across the park towards the bloodstained mosque. Nuha Asad, who lost her husband Ali Elmadani in the massacre, was watching from the sidelines, visibly moved. "The New Zealand community really cares for us and we're really together in this," she told AFP. "It made us a littler happier in the grief". - 'We bleed the same' - The traditional haka is used in Maori culture in a variety of ways -- to intimidate ahead of All Black rugby matches, to celebrate weddings but also to mourn, melding both hostility and beauty into an outpouring of true emotion. In the aftermath of Friday's attack it has become a common sight to see groups breaking out into the dance, from schoolkids to bikers. But Wednesday's mass haka was one of the largest yet. It was led by a group of biker gangs, many sporting the patches of the clubs and arriving on guttural choppers. Story continues "We are here because love is greater than hate, that's the theme. We are here tonight for our Muslim whanau," said Derek Tait, a biker and pastor dressed in a black leather, using a Maori term for an extended family. But he also called on New Zealanders to show more than just solidarity in the coming weeks and months. "It should be from here forward that we make a stand against any hate at all," he added, to loud applause from the crowd. One of those in the crowd was Jacob Leo Skilling, proudly sporting a freshly inked tattoo on his left calf, the skin still red and sore from the needle. It showed the face of a Muslim woman wearing a face veil with the words "They are us" written above and a dove. The 27-year-old said he had decided to get the tattoo earlier that day. "At the end of the day, we're all one race," he told AFP. "Regardless of religion, colour, black, white, it doesn't matter, we're all human beings, we all bleed the same." Have you ever seen a whale up close? The experience is otherworldly. I recently snorkeled within a few feet of a mother whale and her baby calf in Silver Bank, a humpback whale breeding ground 90 miles north of Puerto Plata. Let me tell you: A baby whale, while a baby, is not small. I was traveling with Aquatic Adventures, a Dominican Republic-based tour operator that organizes week-long excursions to see the whales up close. In many ways, these trips transcend the modern age of Instagram-inspired travel. You'll learn quickly that whales explicitly dont do it for the gram; the animals have this great power to remind you that nature often trumps technology. It's refreshing. Even when when your fellow passengers point behind you, and you turn around just seconds too late. Aquatic Adventures 124-foot boat departs out of Puerto Plata, a beach city with direct flights from the U.S. on several major carriers. They operate from January through April humpback season, when thousands of whales travel down to the warmer waters around Hispaniola. I embarked on a Saturday night, with a 10-hour overnight trip to Silver Bank before me. The miraculousness of whale watching will hopefully make you forget about the turbulent ride out: Dramamine is your friend, and the boat is fully stocked with other remedies lest your pride gets in the way of careful packing. The crew aboard the Turks & Caicos Explorer II runs a pretty tight ship, if you will: Tom Conlin, who has led Aquatic Adventures since 1991, is a bonafide whale expert. He and his team, most of whom have some kind of marine biology degree, do as much as they can to ensure guests are comfortable both on and off the boat. This is a true expedition vessel, but it's not without its comforts: there are 10 cabins, each of which is equipped with a private bathroom with running hot water (a true plus for sleeping out on the open ocean). The Instagram factor is low, but thats not the point. Your cabin a place to wash up, change, and sleep before heading back into the water and the whales. Story continues Twice a day, weather-permitting, Conlin and his team take guests out on the two 25-foot tenders that accompany the Explorer II. Experts drive eager whale watchers out across Silver Bank to delight in the world of whales. Everyones in charge of spotting them, and if your captain deems it safe and worthy youll soon be headed in that direction to get a closer look. I learned that humpbacks are generally indifferent to nearby people, and the more gregarious ones will let you work them. (This is whale-watching lingo: to work a whale is to assess how it responds toward your boats presence and to gauge its comfort with your proximity.) When a whale seems amenable to human company, a crew member dives into the water in snorkel gear; if everything goes right, it's your turn to come in. You won't be unprepared: In your orientation training, youre taught PIWWE, or the Passive In-Water Whale Encounter technique, which helps you approach the animals with non-aggressive movements. Equipped with fins and a snorkel mask, it's surprisingly easy to tread near the humpbacks and behold their inconceivable grace. Don't worry unlike many of their marine brethren, these animals are not interested in eating you. (Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier.) On one of my dives, I swam above two adult whales sleeping near the bottom of the ocean. Their size was hard to grasp and I felt a bit like an intruder as I watched them rest. Another day, I stopped just a few feet from a mother and her calf; the mother assumed her maternal role and warned a person from my group not to get much closer. She (lightly) tapped his underwater camera with her fin! We also spotted countless acrobatic performances from inside the boat. I watched a whale torpedo out of the waters surface like a screw on a drill it twirled. I looked on as the animals lazily came up for air, and couldnt help thinking they looked like enormous, gray school busses. I saw a "lobtail" when the whale slaps the water, loudly, with its colossal tailfin. There is something entirely fantastical about the size and the movements of these creatures, and at some point, seeing them so close starts to feel unreal. When youre not whale watching, you might be suntanning, learning more about whale behavior, or effortlessly stuffing your face. The chef on my trip pulled inspiration from seemingly every cuisine imaginable, drawing on her recent travels throughout Southeast Asia. Beyond the daily meals, the ship is brimming with snacks and beer you can expect the friendly and fun kitchen staff to ask if youre hungry several times a day. We were treated to crunchy slaws, slow-cooked pork shoulder carnitas, fat breakfast burritos and avocado toast but back to the whales. I cant tell you what youll feel when you see your first whale just a few feet before you. What I can say: photos will not do it justice. Dont misunderstand theres ample opportunity to take great pictures on this trip, especially if youve got hi-tech, water-safe gear. But youll come away from this once-in-a-lifetime experience feeling small. If anything, the whales prodded me to remember that we humans are just a speck on the world map. Swimming with humpbacks was a welcome relief from the world of perfectly staged, envy-inducing travel photos. On this trip, no matter how hard you work to get the shot, the whales will dazzle only on their terms. And when they do, you wont kick yourself for not capturing it on camera because youll have seen it with your very own eyes. The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism provided support for the reporting of this story. Istanbul (AFP) - Comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the massacre in New Zealand that sparked protest by Australia were taken "out of context", a senior aide said on Wednesday, after Canberra summoned Turkey's envoy over the remarks. "President #Erdogan's words were unfortunately taken out of context," Fahrettin Altun, communications director for the Turkish presidency, wrote on Twitter. Erdogan angered Australia after he warned anti-Muslim Australians -- like the suspected gunman -- would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, which was the scene of a blood-drenched WWI battle. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned the comments as "reckless" and "highly offensive", warning he would consider "all options" in reviewing ties. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces around the seaside town, a landmark moment in Australian history. On the campaign trail, the Turkish leader has showed the video footage of the terror attack that killed 50 people on two mosques in Christchurch and said the massacre intended to target Turkey and Islam. Erdogan "was responding to the so-called 'manifesto' of the terrorist who killed 50 innocent Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand," Altun said. "Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their visitors," he added, referring to Australian and New Zealand veterans and families. Altun shared on Twitter the official translation of Erdogan's speech delivered in Canakkale on Monday on the 104th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. By Maggie Fick, Tim Hepher and David Shepardson ADDIS ABABA/PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of Boeing's 737 MAX, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying worldwide after they were grounded in the wake of two accidents killing more than 300 people. As the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) analyses Boeing's plans for a software fix prompted by the first crash five months ago, the European Union's aviation safety agency EASA promised its own deep look at any design improvements. "We will not allow the aircraft to fly if we have not found acceptable answers to all our questions," EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky told an EU parliament committee hearing. Canada said it would independently certify the 737 MAX in the future, rather than accepting FAA validation. It also said it would send a team to help U.S. authorities evaluate proposed design changes and decide if others were needed. Boeing Co declined to comment. U.S. government officials do not believe the crash will lead to a worldwide shift away from FAA certifications but U.S. lawmakers, as well as federal prosecutors, are scrutinizing the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX. The FAA declined to comment on individual actions by Canada or other countries, but said in a statement that the current, historic aviation safety record in the U.S. and globally is achieved through the FAAs robust processes and full collaboration with the aviation community." The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general plans to audit the FAA's certification of the jet, an official with the office said on Tuesday. The office can recommend changes or improvements to how the FAA operates. Boeing said it would cooperate with the audit. The unusual public intervention by two leading regulators came as a probe into the final minutes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 turned toward secrets hidden in the cockpit voice recorder. Story continues The voices of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed could help explain the March 10 crash of the Boeing 737 MAX that has worrying parallels with another disaster involving the same model off Indonesia in October. The twin disasters killed 346 people, but there is no conclusive evidence so far that they are linked. Black box data was downloaded in France but only Ethiopian experts leading the probe have access to the dialogue between Getachew, 29, and Mohammed, 25. The data was back in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, sources familiar with the probe told Reuters. Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing's flagship MAX fleet - intended to stop stalling by dipping the nose - may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged downwards. Both came down just minutes after take-off after erratic flight patterns and loss of control reported by the pilots. However, every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors, experts say. The prestige of Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa's most successful companies, and Boeing, the world's biggest planemaker and a massive U.S. exporter, are at stake. AWKWARD QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY Lawmakers and safety experts are questioning how thoroughly regulators vetted the MAX model and how well pilots were trained on new features. For now, global regulators have grounded the existing fleet of more than 300 MAX aircraft, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more - worth well over $500 billion - are on hold. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hv2btC) Pressure on Chicago-headquartered Boeing has grown with news that federal prosecutors are scrutinizing how carefully the MAX model was developed, two people briefed on the matter said. The U.S. Justice Department is also looking at the FAA's oversight of Boeing, one of the people said. And a federal grand jury last week issued at least one subpoena to an entity involved in the plane's development. U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to head the FAA on Tuesday. The agency has been without a permanent head for 14 months. In the hope of getting its MAX line back into the air soon, Boeing has said it will roll out a software update and revise pilot training. In the case of the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, it has raised questions about whether crew used the correct procedures. Development of the 737 MAX, which offers cost savings of about 15 percent on fuel, began in 2011 after the successful launch by its main rival of the Airbus A320neo. The 737 MAX entered service in 2017 after six years of preparation. Argus Research cut Boeing stock to "hold" from "buy", giving the planemaker at least its fourth downgrade since the crash, Refinitiv data showed. Its shares, however, were enjoying a rare respite on Tuesday, up 0.3 percent at $373.43. GLOBAL RAMIFICATIONS Various firms are reconsidering Boeing orders, and some are revising financial forecasts given they now cannot count on maintenance and fuel savings factored in from the MAX. Air Canada said it intended to keep its MAX aircraft grounded until at least July 1, would accelerate intake of recently acquired Airbus A321 planes, and had hired other carriers to provide extra capacity meantime. Beyond the corporate ramifications, anguished relatives are still waiting to find out what happened. Many have visited the crash site in a charred field to seek some closure, but there is anger at the slow pace of information and all they have been given for funerals is earth. "I'm just so terribly sad. I had to leave here without the body of my dead brother," said Abdulmajid Shariff, a Yemeni relative who headed home disappointed on Tuesday. (Reporting by Maggie Fick in Addis Ababa, Tim Hepher in Paris and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Jamie Freed in Singapore, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Savio D'Souza in Bengaluru; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ben Klayman; Editing by Keith Weir, Mark Potter and Lisa Shumaker) (Reuters) - More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 passenger jets have been grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in the past five months in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed nearly 350 people. Investigators looking to uncover the causes must answer one of the biggest questions: Was the plane's software to blame? WHAT WE KNOW - Europe and Canada said they would independently certify the safety of the jets, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying. - Boeing has stopped delivery of all new MAX jets to its customers. Stock losses have wiped around $28 billion from its market value since the Ethiopian Airlines crash. - Boeing maintains its new, fuel-efficient jets are safe, but supported the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision to ground them. - Investigators have found strong similarities in the 'angle of attack' data from both flights. A piece of a stabilizer in the wreckage of the Ethiopian jet with the trim set in an unusual position was similar to that of the Lion Air plane, sources said. - Investigators who verified data from the black box recorders of the Ethiopian plane have found 'clear similarities' with the doomed Lion Air flight, French air accident authority BEA has also said. - Experts believe a new flight control system, MCAS, on the jets, designed to stop stalling by dipping the nose, may have been a factor in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged. But no conclusive evidence yet links the two accidents. - The pilot of the Ethiopian flight had reported internal control problems and received permission to return. The pilot of the Lion Air flight, which crashed on Oct. 29 with the loss of all 189 aboard, had also asked to return soon after take-off from Jakarta. - Sources with knowledge of the doomed Lion Air cockpit voice recorder revealed how pilots scoured a manual in a losing battle to figure out why they were hurtling down to sea. - Communications showed that in the final moments, the Lion Air captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, while the first officer was unable to control the plane. Story continues - Indonesia has advanced the date for the release of its report on the Lion Air crash to between July and August, versus a previous schedule of between August and September. - Boeing's commercial airplane division has brought in a new vice president of engineering while dedicating another top executive to the aircraft investigations, a company email showed. WHAT'S NEXT? - Boeing plans to release upgraded software for its 737 MAX in a week to 10 days, sources familiar with the matter said on March 16. - U.S. lawmakers said the planes could be grounded for weeks to upgrade and install the software in every plane. Other countries may ground the planes even longer. - The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general plans to audit the FAA's certification of the jet, an official with the office said on Tuesday. The office can recommend changes or improvements to how the FAA operates. - The U.S. Justice Department is also looking at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight of Boeing, one of the people said. The FAA has said it is "absolutely" confident in its vetting. - The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives transportation committee and another key Democrat asked the Transportation Department's inspector general to examine key decisions the FAA made in certifying the MAX jet for use. - U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to head the FAA, the White House said. - Ethiopian Airlines said on March 16 that DNA testing of the remains of the passengers may take up to six months. (Compiled by Ben Klayman, Sayantani Ghosh, Mark Potter and Keith Weir; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Alexander Smith) Paris (AFP) - A French jihadist arrested in December after years of fighting in the Middle East has been charged with the 2011 kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen, judicial sources said Wednesday. Peter Cherif, 36, had been facing terrorism conspiracy charges for joining Al-Qaeda when he managed to escape during his trial in Paris in March 2011. His name surfaced again when it emerged Cherif was close to the brothers who massacred staff members at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. In 2017, investigators opened a new investigation into his activities in Yemen, where he joined the senior ranks of the local branch of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). French authorities finally arrested him three months ago when he was caught in Djibouti after arriving from Yemen carrying fake ID documents. Cherif was charged with the Yemen kidnappings last month by anti-terror judges investigating his case, the judicial source told AFP. The three aid workers for the French NGO Triangle Generation Humanitaire, aged 25 to 30, were seized on May 28, 2011, and held for five months before being released. Cherif, also known as Abou Hamza, was placed on the US blacklist of foreign terrorists in 2015. He was first arrested in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but managed to escape and go to Syria, where he was again caught and extradited to France. He has been a figure of interest for French police investigating a trio of attacks in January 2015 that left 17 people dead, including at Charlie Hebdo's offices and a kosher supermarket in Paris. But despite media reports suggesting he may have played a role in the attacks, he has not been formally charged in the Charlie Hebdo probe. The attack on the magazine marked the start of a wave of jihadist attacks in France which have claimed more than 240 lives. BERLIN (Reuters) - The mood among German investors improved by much more than expected in March, a survey by the ZEW research institute showed on Tuesday, as a potential delay to Britain's departure from the European Union buoyed sentiment. British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last Thursday to seek a delay in Britain's exit from the EU. "The possible delay in the Brexit process as well as the renewed hope for a deal on the UK's withdrawal from the EU seem to have given rise to more optimism among financial market experts," ZEW President Achim Wambach said in a statement. "Progress made in the negotiations between China and the U.S. to end the trade war between the two nations may also have contributed," he added. The ZEW research institute said its monthly survey showed economic sentiment among investors rose to -3.6 from -13.4 in February. Economists had expected an increase to -11.0. A separate gauge measuring investors' assessment of the economy's current conditions dipped to 11.1 from 15.0 in the previous month. Markets had predicted a fall to 11.7. The stronger-than-expected ZEW reading bucked a recent run of weak data on the German economy, Europe's largest, which stalled in the final quarter of last year, just skirting recession. "Nevertheless, the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany points to relatively weak growth in the first half of 2019," Wambach added. Figures released earlier this month showed industrial orders posted their biggest drop in seven months in January, a sign that the economy had a subdued start to 2019. Many of the country's traditionally export-focused companies have been hit hard by a cooling global economy and trade disputes triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump. They also face taking a hit if Britain's exit from the European Union is disorderly. A panel of advisers to the German government on Tuesday cut its growth forecast for this year to 0.8 percent and warned risks related to Britain's departure from the EU, trade disputes and a sharper than expected slowdown in China remained high. Christoph Schmidt, one of the advisers, said: "The German economic boom is over but a recession is not currently expected due to the robust domestic economy." (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Michelle Martin) Miami (AFP) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's ambassador to Washington said Monday he had taken control of three Venezuelan diplomatic properties in the United States. Carlos Vecchio, appointed by self-declared president Guaido, entered two Venezuelan military buildings in Washington -- while advisory minister Gustavo Marcano took control of the consulate in New York. "We are recovering and protecting the assets of the Venezuelan people to stop the usurper regime from continuing to steal from and destroy them as it has in the last 20 years," Vecchio said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who is loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro, denounced the "forced and illegal occupation." In a statement on Twitter, the Venezuelan government branded the action an "extremely serious violation of the US government's international obligations," and threatened to take reciprocal action in Venezuela. The ambassador said that in the coming days, his mission would take possession of the Venezuelan embassy, although its accounts are frozen. A source close to Vecchio said the opposition-controlled National Assembly would have to approve their use. A US State Department spokesman confirmed that President Donald Trump's administration -- which recognizes Guaido's authority along with some 50 other countries -- backed the move. "This is a welcome development for our bilateral relations with Venezuela... US policy is to support democracy in Venezuela, interim President Guaido and the National Assembly, which is the only democratically elected institution in the country," the spokesman told AFP. Vecchio added that the Venezuela's military attache in Washington, Colonel Jose Luis Silva Silva, would remain in his poist. Silva Silva represented Maduro until January 26, when he took advantage of Guaido's offer of amnesty for military personnel who reject Maduro's socialist government. By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A Guatemalan judge has ordered the arrest of former attorney general and presidential candidate Thelma Aldana on charges including embezzlement, the police said on Tuesday, amid an escalating campaign on high-profile corruption and rights cases. Aldana, who helped lead investigations into top politicians, including the current president, is seeking the presidency in a June election. The warrant for her arrest, issued by Judge Victor Cruz, cited charges of embezzlement, lying and tax fraud. Aldana has denied wrongdoing. Aldana, who was in El Salvador on Tuesday for a meeting, planned to return to Guatemala by Thursday, she said in an appearance on CNN. She added that her presidential candidacy, approved by electoral authorities on Tuesday, had granted her immunity and that she would not take action against the arrest order. "We're not going to do anything... They know that I'm going to keep up the fight against corruption, and lots of people in Guatemala are trembling because of that," she said. President Jimmy Morales has fought back against a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body that, along with Aldana, sought to impeach him in a campaign financing investigation. In January, he expelled the head of the corruption body, known as CICIG, from the country and has declined to renew its mandate. Aldana and CICIG's investigation of former President Otto Perez Molina led to his impeachment and cut short his presidency. He remains in custody on charges of involvement in a customs corruption ring. Morales' party is seeking to pass a law to free military officials convicted of human rights crimes during the Central American country's 36-year civil war. Lawmakers were set to review changes to the law on Wednesday, but dropped it from the agenda amid an onslaught of criticism from local and international rights groups, including the United Nations. Instead, they have scheduled a discussion on modifying the criminal procedure code. The proposed changes would limit jail time for accused people awaiting verdicts, which could allow the release of at least 100 people facing corruption charges, as well as others accused of war crimes. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City, Additional reporting by Adriana Barrera in Mexico City; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Leslie Adler and Clarence Fernandez) Photo credit: philippe giraud/Sygma via Getty Images - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics Many of the Earth's most dramatic natural phenomena are hidden from us. For example: according to a new pre-print paper, the largest offshore volcanic event in recorded history happened last November. If you don't remember, don't worry. No human on the planet could feel the event, and many seismic machines also missed it. At the time, November 11, 2018, scientists noted that "something big" was happening. The origin point seemed to be located near the African island nation of Madagascar and island of Mayotte, which is controlled by the French government. Whats unusual is you see this very long signal traveling most of the way around the world which hasnt been detected by operational earthquake detection systems, said Stephen Hicks at the time, a seismologist at the University of Southampton speaking to The Guardian. Yep folks, something biggggg, yet strangely slow, sent seismic rumblings around the surface of much of the planet yesterday. The event seems to have happened west of Madagascar. Best analogue so far is a prolonged roof collapse of a volcano magma chamber. Thread#twitterscience https://t.co/nb8qsUY8M8 - Stephen Hicks (@seismo_steve) November 12, 2018 Geologists had been paying attention to the region since May 2018, when the Madagascar-Mayotte region was hit by a 5.8 earthquake. Scientists weren't sure, but after the November event, they suspected the two were related. While the event is still mysterious, the new paper from researchers at the French Geological Survey and Frances Ecole Normale Superieure offers some suggestions. It appears that a vast amount of magma shifted on the ocean's floor. That shifting caused the ground below the magma, known as a magma chamber, to significantly deflate. That's what led to the invisible rumbling. Story continues It's a solid theory that makes sense. But a major problem, as Gizmodo notes, is that there's a major lack in offshore monitoring of earthquakes. "The 2018 event at Mayotte does appear to show a substantial volume of magma leaving a deep storage region which, if erupted, would make this indeed one of the largest recent submarine eruptions documented," says Samuel Mitchell, an expert in underwater eruptions at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, speaking to the site. Scientists have not ruled out the chance that something else is happening deep below the ocean floor. The event appears to still be ongoing, whatever it is, and still affecting the area around Mayotte, which has a population of around 246,000. Readings indicate that the seafloor off the French island's eastern shoreline is sinking at a rate of approximately 0.4 inches per month. "The people in Mayotte really want to know whats going to happen next, says Jean Paul Ampuero, a seismologist and director of research at Frances Research Institute for Development, speaking to Gizmodo. That understandable, considering all the unknowns still at play:, like what's causing the volcanic activity. There are also curious and unsubstantiated reports of deep-sea fish burning up in the magma shift. Source: Gizmodo ('You Might Also Like',) Jerusalem (AFP) - Hungary opened a new trade office in west Jerusalem on Tuesday, fulfilling a February pledge by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Israel to do so in the disputed city. The opening stops short of moving Hungary's Israel embassy to Jerusalem as US President Donald Trump has done, breaking with decades of international consensus, but was still welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Attending the ribbon-cutting in a city-centre office tower along with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, Netanyahu hailed the move. "It's the first European diplomatic mission to open in Jerusalem in many decades," Netanyahu said. He called it "important for trade, for diplomacy and for the move that Hungary is leading right now to change the attitude in Europe towards Jerusalem." The Jerusalem office is to be a branch of the Hungarian embassy in Tel Aviv. The European Union's collective position is that Jerusalem's status must be negotiated by Israel and the Palestinians as part of a future peace agreement. The Palestinians see the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of the city as the capital of their future state. Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said Tuesday he would consider moving Lithuania's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem should he win May's presidential elections. Senior politicians in fellow EU states Czech Republic and Romania have said they are also considered moving their embassies to Jerusalem but no decisions have been announced. Netanyahu frequently lashes out at what he calls the EU's "hypocritical and hostile attitude", referring to the bloc's criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. The Jewish state considers the entire city its capital. Trump in December 2017 drew criticism worldwide when he recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Story continues His country's embassy moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv the following May. Guatemala was the first country to follow in America's footsteps, and Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, has said he wants to also move its embassy to Jerusalem. Australia in December recognised west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but said it would not shift its embassy from Tel Aviv until a peace settlement is signed. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's ruling Fidesz party will immediately quit the EU's center-right political grouping if a decision is made to suspend it, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff told state news agency MTI on Wednesday. Fidesz cannot accept any decision to suspend its membership in the European People's Party (EPP) grouping, MTI cited Gergely Gulyas as saying. "It is about the dignity of Fidesz and the country." Orban, who has clashed repeatedly with the European Union over his anti-immigration campaigns and judicial reforms, was due to attend a meeting later on Wednesday of an EPP committee that will decide Fidesz's fate (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Sandor Peto; Editing by Gareth Jones) This is the latest dispatch in a series from Jeff Goodell, who is aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer in Antarctica, investigating the effect of climate change on Thwaites glacier. Yesterday, the Nathaniel B. Palmer left Antarctica behind and made the turn toward home. The last science experiments were completed, and the ship headed north, toward Punta Arenas, Chile, where our two-month journey will end. Scientists on board are packing up equipment and writing rough drafts of papers based on discoveries they made during our adventure into uncharted waters around Thwaites glacier. But an almost existential question looms above it all: Did we just witness what amounts to a climate catastrophe playing out in real time? Related stories Students Lead a Worldwide Climate Strike. Will Adults Listen? Journey to Antarctica: What Scientists Think of Trump's Latest Climate Tweet Teen Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Has Been Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize On March 3rd, Bastien Queste, an oceanographer at the University of East Anglia who is a key member of the science team aboard the ship, got a WhatsApp message from a colleague back in the UK. She had sent him a satellite image of Thwaites glacier and the surrounding region in West Antarctica. At the time, we had just completed our own close encounter with the awesome craggy blue glacier and were only a few miles away, mapping the seabed in front of the glacier with the ships sonar device. On this trip, satellite images have been indispensable in helping scientists track the ever-changing ice in the regions weve been exploring. But the map Queste received that morning was different. He noticed dark cracks in parts of the ice shelf, which floats out over the sea like a huge fingernail from the glacier itself. They had not been there before. The ice shelf was clearly starting to break up. Questes first thought: Oh, shit. Queste knew as well as anyone, the whole point of this research trip is to better understand the risk of collapse of Thwaites glacier, one of the most consequential tipping points in the Earths climate system. Its not just that Thwaites is big, although it is (imagine a glacier the size of Florida). But because of how the glacier terminates in deep water, as well as the reverse slope of the ground beneath it, Thwaites is vulnerable to particularly rapid collapse. Even more troubling, Thwaites is like the cork in the wine bottle for the rest of the West Antarctica ice sheet. If Thwaites were to fall apart, scientists fear the entire ice sheet could begin to collapse, eventually raising sea levels more than 10 feet. Story continues Thats what Questes oh, shit was about. It was non-scientific-but-very-human-shorthand for, Is Thwaites falling apart in real time, right before our eyes? Queste showed the image to Rob Larter, the chief scientist on the Palmer. Larter was not entirely surprised by what he saw. A few days earlier, as we cruised along the front of Thwaites, Larter had remarked on how chaotic and jumbled the ice shelf looked. I thought something like this might happen because of how broken up the ice on the shelf appeared, he says. Over the next few days, Queste and Larter as well as nearly every other scientist and student on the ship watched the disintegration of the Thwaites ice shelf. It was a spooky sensation, looking at the satellite images then looking out the window as a parade of icebergs floated right by us on their way out to sea. In a matter of 48 hours or so, a melange of ice about 25 miles wide and 15 miles deep cracked up and scattered into the sea. As Queste says, A part of the glacier that is as big as the city I live in it was just gone. Here are satellite images of Thwaites before and after the blowout. The red dot shows where the ship was located on those days. For scientists both on and off the ship, the big question is, was the blowout a sign that Thwaites is collapsing before our eyes, or was it a more or less ordinary event in the lifecycle of a big glacier? These are not easy questions to answer. Glaciers are practically alive, in flux all the time, exquisitely sensitive to small changes in atmospheric and ocean temperatures. Sometimes changes that look dramatic to non-scientists, like the breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica a few years ago, have an inconsequential impact on sea level rise (unlike the Thwaites ice shelf, the Larsen B is not holding back a massive city-drowning glacier). And its important to point out that the Thwaites blowout is not the same thing as what scientists typically call a calving event, which you often see in movies and documentaries, where big slabs of ice fall off glaciers into the sea. What we witnessed was the sudden disintegration of an ice shelf, which is a very different thing. Unlike the calving of land-based ice into the sea, the break-up of an ice shelf does not itself contribute to sea level rise, because the ice is already floating just as when the ice in your whiskey melts, the level of whiskey in your drink doesnt rise. Nevertheless, ice shelves are important. They buttress the glacier itself, providing stability and in effect holding it back from slipping faster into the sea. The ice shelf that blew out at Thwaites was particularly messy and chaotic its a bunch of bergs glued together with seasonal sea ice rather than a solid shelf. So maybe it wasnt doing much to stabilize Thwaites, and the blowout wasnt a big deal. But given the larger fragility of Thwaites, and the consequences of a sudden collapse, any dramatic change in the structure of the glacier is hardly an encouraging sign. When it comes to melting glaciers and sea level rise, climate scientists have traditionally been far more concerned about Greenland than Antarctica. In our warming world, Antarctica was viewed as a stable place: very big, very cold, very distant. Then, in the early 1990s, improved satellite observations proved those assumptions were wrong. Of special concern was West Antarctica, which is particularly vulnerable to warm Circumpolar Deep Water attacking the glaciers from below. A recent paper co-authored by scientists from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California noted that the main trunk of Thwaites accelerated 33 percent between 2006 and 2013 its now sliding into the sea at a rate of about two miles per year. In addition, parts of the glacier are thinning by as much as 13 feet each year. Heres a GIF that captures how much Thwaites has changed in just the past five years. The orange and red sections are the fastest flowing parts of the glacier. And heres a graph that shows how quickly the ice flow on Thwaites has accelerated its almost doubled in the last five years. So what does all this mean? Nobody can say for sure. Im holding my breath to see what happens next, says Larter. The blowout could be the start of a new phase of the evolution of Thwaites glacier. But Im wary, because sometimes you see things that you think are going to be the start of something big, and then things settle down. I think its too early to say which way this is going to go. In an email, Eric Rignot, a senior scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has co-authored recent papers suggesting the collapse of Thwaites is already past the point of no return, told me that he wouldnt view the blowout as particularly alarming unless he saw retreat of the front of the glacier itself during the process (which, in the most recent satellite images, he hasnt). But Rignot ended his email to me with an important note: This sort of event is a good reminder that changes can happen fast in these environments, even though it may seem that nothing much is happening when you are staring at the glacier from a ship deck, right? Richard Alley, a highly respected glaciologist at Penn State, had a more nuanced view of it all. Alley (who, like Rignot, is not on the ship) pointed out that because the ice shelf that blew out was already pretty chaotic, it was likely not providing much stability to the glacier. So its loss is not a huge issue for the still-grounded ice, Alley emailed. But the chaotic ice was still doing something. He compared Thwaites to glaciers in Greenland, where the blowout of similar melanges are often followed by calving of ice from the glacier itself, which is far more troubling. Alley also pointed out that the loss of ice shelves leaves glaciers vulnerable to stress from what he called remote forcing storms across the Pacific, or tsunamis from an earthquake. To stretch the analogy a little bit, Alley said, if Thwaites were a car, you could say that it has lost part of its bumper. And, while thats not hugely important, it is part of a pattern that is pointing toward larger changes to come. This is, in short, what makes climate change so alarming, and so unlike other threats that humans have faced. By loading the atmosphere with carbon, we are messing with a system that even the best scientists in the world dont fully understand. Individual events are hard to interpret in real time. In the history of human civilization, weve never seen the rapid collapse of a glacier like Thwaites, Larter points out. So we dont know how exactly it starts, or what it looks like while its happening. But in the long run, the arc of uncertainty bends toward catastrophe. It may be that this blowout at Thwaites was driven by wind or a shift in ocean temperature that, in the big picture, means little. Or it may be further evidence that the collapse of Thwaites is already underway, and its only a matter of time perhaps even during the lifetimes of kids alive today before virtually every coastal city from Miami to Jakarta is under six, seven, eight or more feet of water. If thats the case, then big parts of the world we live in today may already be doomed. We just dont know yet. Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - The political insider who replaced long-reigning Nursultan Nazarbayev as president of Kazakhstan on Wednesday is a somewhat unusual figure in Kazakhstan's elite. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, will serve out the rest of Nazarbayev's mandate until elections next year. The former president meanwhile retains significant powers in the country he ruled for nearly three decades before his shock resignation Tuesday. Tokayev, a long-time diplomat, was born in 1953 to an intelligentsia family in then Soviet-ruled Kazakhstan. He graduated from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1975. He then began a career as a diplomat that would see him become a force in Kazakhstan's independence-era foreign ministry. He served as foreign minister twice and was appointed prime minister from 1999 to 2002. But his role as chairman of the senate was more indicative of Nazarbayev's trust in him. Tokayev filled the position twice, from 2007 to 2011, and from 2013 until his swearing in on Wednesday as president. The role positions him as next in line to the presidency according to the constitution. - First Kazakh in high international office - Tokayev also served as Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, becoming the first Kazakh to hold such high office in an international organisation. In recent years, he tried to boost his low key public profile, regularly taking to Twitter to inform the country of his daily meetings. In one tweet from 2017 he unleashed a surprisingly barbed attack on neighbouring Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambayev, after the latter assailed Nazarbayev in a fiery speech. In it he wished Atambayev a "speedy recovery" from alleged alcohol and psychological problems. If the public demonstration of loyalty to the 78-year-old Nazarbayev was typical of Tokayev, the forray into controversy was not. Tokayev's even mannered nature has sometimes seen him accused of lacking charisma. Story continues Nazarbayev's foreign-based political nemesis Mukhtar Ablyazov once memorably likened Tokayev to furniture, which "emits a squeak when it is moved around." Ablyazov, a fugitive banker committed to the overthrow of the Nazarbayev regime crowed on Facebook on Tuesday that Nazarbayev had "put the furniture in charge of the presidency." "But not for long!" he added. Tokayev, however, may know more about Nazarbayev's plans for Kazakhstan's future than anybody else bar the man himself. In June last year, he predicted Nazarbayev would not seek another term in an interview with the BBC that alerted observers to the potential imminence of a succession move. "Speaking frankly, I don't think that President Nazarbayev will go to the 2020 election," Tokayev said at the time. He turned out to be right and Kazakhs now wait to see if he will run himself. Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics Moments before Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea killing all 189 people onboard last October, pilots of the plane searched through a handbook looking for guidance on how to rescue the aircraft from its downward trajectory, Reuters reports. Three sources familiar with the investigation of the Boeing 737 Max 8's flight data recorders gave a visceral play-by-play of what ensued inside the cockpit, when a faulty sensor on the plane's fuselage triggered an automated anti-stall system that sent the plane into a nosedive. Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft have been grounded by aviation authorities across the world after two catastrophic crashes in five months. Earlier this month, Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 crashed shortly after departing Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people. Both crashes occurred within minutes of takeoff, with pilots on both flights requesting to return to their respective airports. Authorities investigating the Ethiopia Airlines crash have remarked upon the "clear similarities" surrounding the circumstances of both crashes, and the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Inspector General is now formally investigating the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval process of Boeing's planes. Before the Lion Air Flight crashed 15 minutes after departure, pilots struggled to overcome the plane's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which tilts the aircraft's nose downward in the event of a stall upon ascent. Except the plane wasn't stalling. Rather, the recently replaced sensor was feeding inaccurate readings into the cockpit, according to reports. Officials who spoke anonymously with Reuters revealed the contents of the plane's black box recorders, which hadn't previously been made public. Per Reuters, the first officer relayed a "flight control problem" two minutes after departure. A brief synopsis of the situation in the cockpit is harrowing: Story continues The captain asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source said. For the next nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response, the report showed. A stall is when the airflow over a planes wings is too weak to generate lift and keep it flying. As was previously reported, the pilots struggled to overcome the nosedive, and found themselves headed for a collision with the ocean. In the tragedy's aftermath, questions have surfaced concerning whether the pilots were adequately trained, and whether Boeing provided enough information to pilots on how to disable the MCAS system. Two sources who spoke with Reuters noted that the aircraft experienced the issue the evening before on a separate flight, but the glitch was overcome by the pilot. The manufacturer has said that there's a strict protocol that must be memorized by pilots to overcome the glitch. Boeing has assured airlines and regulators across the world that a software update to amend the faulty glitch is imminent, and should be made available by the end of the month. Meanwhile, its plane remains grounded at airports across the world. Source: Reuters ('You Might Also Like',) By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller, examining potential conspiracy between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, is leading the latest in a series of high-profile U.S. investigations conducted by prosecutors outside usual Justice Department channels in recent decades. The release of the findings by previous investigators analogous to Mueller has been handled differently, sometimes with voluminous reports and other times with no reports or with key elements kept under wraps for months and even years. Mueller is preparing to submit a report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on his findings, including Russia's role in the election and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. The Republican president has denied collusion and obstruction. Russia has denied election interference. Barr already is coming under pressure from lawmakers to make the entire document public quickly, though he has wide latitude in what to release. Here is an explanation of some past investigations and how their findings were made public. WATERGATE SCANDAL The Justice Department named a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal that eventually forced Republican Richard Nixon in 1974 to become the only U.S. president to resign from office. At the time, no specific regulations or laws governed special prosecutors. Attorney General Elliot Richardson, as a condition of his Senate confirmation, appointed Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor to examine the 1972 break-in by Republican operatives at Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington. Cox found himself at odds with Nixon over subpoenas to obtain taped White House conversations. Nixon ultimately ordered the firing of Cox, and several top Justice Department officials resigned in protest including Richardson, in an event dubbed the Saturday Night Massacre. Leon Jaworski, subsequently named as the new Watergate special prosecutor, prepared a report with his findings, known as the "road map," to assist Congress with possible impeachment proceedings to remove Nixon from office. The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee used it as a basis for hearings and passed articles of impeachment, though Nixon quit before the full House could act. The 1974 "road map" remained under seal by a federal court until it was released by federal archivists in 2018. IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR The job of independent counsel, with broader powers, was created by Congress after the Watergate scandal. In 1986, Lawrence Walsh was named as independent counsel to investigate the Iran-Contra affair involving illegal arms sales to Iran under Republican President Ronald Reagan, with the proceeds diverted to fund rebels in Nicaragua called Contras. The probe lasted nearly seven years and led to criminal charges against 14 people. The convictions of some prominent officials - Oliver North and John Poindexter - were overturned on appeal. In 1992, Republican President George H.W. Bush pardoned others. Walsh submitted his final report in 1993 to a federal court, which had the power to release it publicly but was not required to do so. Its release was delayed after people identified in the report sued to keep it suppressed. A federal appeals court ruled in 1994 that it should be released in the public interest. Walsh then unveiled it at a news conference. WHITEWATER AND LEWINSKY SCANDALS Attorney General Janet Reno in 1994 appointed Robert Fiske as a independent counsel to investigate allegations of impropriety by Democratic President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton regarding real estate investments in the Whitewater Development Corporation. Fiske's probe was expanded to include reviewing the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster, which police had ruled a suicide. Fiske, who was not subject to the independent counsel law because it had temporarily lapsed, publicly released an interim report in 1994 clearing White House officials of wrongdoing in the Whitewater affair and confirming that Foster's death was a suicide unrelated to Whitewater. On that same day, Clinton signed a law reauthorizing the independent counsel statute, which paved the way for a federal court to replace Fiske as independent counsel with Kenneth Starr. Starr turned in a report on Foster's death to federal courts in 1997, also finding no foul play. It remained under seal for three months before being released. Starr's probe expanded into other areas, including a sexual affair between Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky and alleged improprieties in the White House travel office. His expansive 445-page report, containing explicit details on Clinton's sexual affair, was sent to Congress in 1998. Two days later, lawmakers voted to release it publicly. Its findings triggered an unsuccessful Republican effort to remove Clinton from office through the impeachment process. In 2018, Starr wrote that he regretted taking on the Lewinsky part of the investigation, but felt he had no other option. Congress let the independent counsel law expire, with some lawmakers believing Starr went too far. The Justice Department in 1999 wrote regulations creating the new job of special counsel, with more limited powers. FEDERAL RAID AT WACO Reno in 1999 appointed John Danforth as special counsel to investigate the 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas. The FBI used tear gas and a fire broke out, killing more than 70 people including cult leader David Koresh. Danforth was the first person appointed under the 1999 regulations, the rules that now apply to Mueller. Under those rules, a special counsel must submit a confidential report to the attorney general, who then has discretion to publicly release some or all of it. The attorney general must weigh the public interest. But he also must consider thorny issues such as secrecy of grand jury testimony, protecting classified information, communications with the White House possibly subject to the principle of executive privilege shielding certain information from disclosure, and safeguarding confidential reasons for why some individuals were not charged. Reno specifically instructed Danforth to prepare two versions of his report, a confidential one and another for public release. Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department's No. 2 official, gave no such instruction to Mueller when he appointed him in May 2017. In 2000, Danforth held a news conference to publicly release his report, exonerating federal agents and Justice Department officials of any wrongdoing. OUTING OF CIA AGENT PLAME In 2003, James Comey, then the Justice Department's No. 2 official, appointed Patrick Fitzgerald as special counsel to investigate how CIA operative Valerie Plame's cover was blown through media leaks. Fitzgerald was not appointed under the 1999 regulations and was not bound by them. Fitzgerald held a 2005 news conference to announce that a grand jury had returned a five-count indictment against Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements. Fitzgerald never published a final report on his findings. A jury convicted Libby. Republican President George W. Bush commuted his sentence in 2007. Trump gave Libby a full pardon in 2018. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham) By Karen Dillon BROWNVILLE, Neb. (Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence in Nebraska on Tuesday took stock of the devastation unleashed across the U.S. Midwest by floods that have killed four people, left one missing and caused more than a billion dollars in damage to crops, livestock and roads. "I never fail to be inspired by moments like this. The way communities come together and people volunteer to put themselves in harm's way to help others," Pence said Tuesday in Omaha, according to an official statement. Pence also said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to expedite a request from Nebraska's governor for a federal emergency declaration, which will provide more aid to the state. The floodwaters have inundated a large swath of farm states Iowa and Nebraska along the Missouri River, North America's longest river, prompting half of Iowa's 99 counties to declare states of emergency. "The hearts of the American people are with those who have been impacted across the Midwest!" Pence said in the tweet earlier Tuesday. Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have all declared states of emergency in the floods, which stem from a powerful winter hurricane known as a "bomb cyclone" that slammed into the U.S. Farm Belt last week, killing untold numbers of livestock, destroying grains and soybeans in storage, and cutting off access to farms because of road and rail damage. The latest confirmed death was identified by the sheriff in Fremont County, Iowa, as 55-year-old Aleido Rojas Galan, who was pulled from floodwaters along with another man on Friday and later succumbed to injuries. A Nebraska man who has been missing since the collapse of the Spencer Dam last week on the Niobrara River was identified by the Omaha World-Herald newspaper as Kenny Angel. Authorities said they had rescued nearly 300 people in Nebraska alone, with some rivers continuing to rise. Rescuers could be seen in boats pulling pets from flooded homes. Some roadways crumbled to rubble, while sections of others were submerged. In Hamburg, Iowa, floodwaters covered buildings. Story continues In Brownville, Nebraska, floodwaters lapped at the edge of the small town of 132 people, closing the main bridge across the Missouri River. $1 BILLION IN DAMAGE "Its a lot worse than Ive ever seen it, said Malina Wheeldon, who went ahead with the scheduled opening of her new Euphoric Soul Salon & Boutique business despite the floods. Her husband, Justin, who grew up in Brownville, agreed, saying he had lived through the floods of 1993, 2010 and 2011. "About every five years now, we have a 100-year flood, he said. The Missouri was expected to crest at 47.5 feet (14.5 m) on Tuesday, breaking its 2011 record by more than a foot (31 cm), the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said. The flooding was expected to continue through Thursday. Nebraska officials estimated more than $1 billion in flood damage for the state's agricultural sector so far, according to Craig Head, vice president of issue management at the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Head said the number was expected to grow as floodwaters recede. "It's really too early to know for sure how bad this is going to get. But one thing we do know: It's catastrophic for farmers," said Matt Perdue, government relations director for the National Farmers Union trade group. "Were hoping it's only $1 billion, but that's only a hope." Nebraska officials estimate the floods have caused $553 million in damage to public infrastructure and other assets, as well as $89 million in privately owned assets, according to the state's Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday. The water also covered about a third of Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska, home to the U.S. Strategic Command, whose responsibilities include defending against and responding to nuclear attacks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is distributing 400,000 sandbags to operators of 12 levees along the Missouri River in Missouri and Kansas that were in danger of being breached by floodwaters, the Army Corps said in a news release on Tuesday. In Niobrara, Nebraska, south of the Missouri River near the border with South Dakota, Mayor Jody Stark said flooding that began on Thursday had devastated his community of 350 people, with businesses being the hardest hit. "Our road system is shot pretty much in every direction coming into town," Stark said. "It's one day at a time. We will do what we can to get back on our feet," Stark said. "It's just so heartbreaking. It's going to be tough, but hopefully we can all get through it." The floodwaters were the result of snowmelt following heavy rains last week and warm weather, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Roads leading to the Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper nuclear plant near Brownville were engulfed by floodwaters from the Missouri, but the facility was still operating safely at full power on Tuesday. The plant operator was flying staff members and supplies to the plant with helicopters, said power district spokesman Mark Becker. (Reporting by Karen Dillon; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia, P.J. Huffstutter and Mark Weinraub in Chicago and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) DETROIT (AP) U.S. securities regulators countered Tesla CEO Elon Musk's contempt-of-court defense Monday night, writing in court papers that he brazenly disregarded a federal judge's order and that one of his arguments "borders on the ridiculous." Lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a response to Musk, wrote that when the contempt motion was filed in February, Musk had not had a single tweet approved by a company lawyer, violating a requirement of a court-approved settlement order. The October securities fraud settlement stemmed from tweets by Musk in August about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share. But Musk didn't have the funding secured. Tesla and Musk each had to pay $20 million in fines and agree to governance changes that included Musk's removal as chairman. SEC lawyers led by Cheryl Crumpton wrote in a response to Musk's defense that he interprets the settlement order as not requiring pre-approval unless Musk decides the tweets are meaningful to investors. The agency said Musk's argument that tweeting about car production forecasts on Feb. 19 wasn't material information is nearly ridiculous. "His interpretation is inconsistent with the plain terms of this court's order and renders its pre-approval requirement meaningless," the lawyers wrote. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan will decide if Musk is in contempt and whether he should be punished. The SEC said no hearing is necessary on the matter "because there appear to be no disputed issues of material fact." Musk's lawyers wrote last week that the Feb. 19 tweet merely restated previously approved disclosures on electric car production. They wrote that the tweet, which was published after the markets closed, neither revealed material information, nor altered the mix of data available to investors. The lawyers also accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of censorship and of violating Musk's First Amendment rights by imposing a prior restraint on his speech. Story continues But the SEC lawyers wrote that submitting statements for approval does not mean Musk is prohibited from speaking. "As long as a statement submitted for pre-approval is not false or misleading, Tesla would presumably approve its publication without prior restraint on Musk," they wrote. The SEC also wrote that Musk waived any First Amendment challenge to the order when he agreed to it. Musk's lawyers also argued that the SEC's motion for contempt is an over-reach that exceeds its authority. But the SEC said enforcement of the order is up to the judge, who has broad powers to enforce court orders. Also Monday, Musk lawyer, former Enron prosecutor John C. Hueston of Newport Beach, California, asked the court for permission to file another response to the SEC, this one by Friday. In a one-page letter to the judge, Hueston said the SEC raised new allegations in its reply, which he contends is improper. He called the new assertions "unsupported" and asked to submit documentation about negotiations with the agency "which undermines the newly-presented interpretation the SEC sets forth in its reply." Monday's filing said the Feb. 19 tweet was different from prior public disclosures by the company. Also, Musk has regularly published tweets with "substantive information" about the company and its business, the SEC contended. Musk's 13-word Feb. 19 tweet said that Tesla would produce around 500,000 vehicles this year, but it wasn't approved by the company's "disclosure counsel," the SEC has said. The lawyer quickly realized it and arranged a meeting with Musk to write a correction. The company would make vehicles at a rate of 500,000 per year, but it wouldn't produce a half-million in 2019. Musk's response by Hueston said that the settlement allows Musk "reasonable discretion" to determine if his communications would require the lawyer's approval. In the case of the Feb. 19 tweet, Musk determined that it did not. Legal experts say it's unlikely that Musk will be punished severely, but the commission wants to get on the record that Musk violated the terms, to prepare for any future violations. The tweet was posted and corrected after U.S. markets had closed, but experts say regulators don't care much about that because stocks are traded nearly around the clock. Tesla's stock rose by just $1.10, or less than 1 percent, the next day. At a speech at an Ohio tank factory, President Trump complained that he wasnt thanked for giving John McCain the kind of funeral he wanted. I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted which as president I had to approve. I dont care about this, I didnt get thank you, thats OK, Trump said, to a crowd of workers at the Lima Army Tank Plant in Lima, Ohio. The audience, which had applauded and cheered through much of the speech, sat virtually silent during the attack on the late senator and decorated war hero. Trumps remarks about McCains funeral and his burial at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., last September came in a speech that was marked by a long list of grievances about the former Arizona senator, part of a days-long assault. A lot of people are asking, because they love me and they ask me about a man named John McCain, Trump said. If you want me to tell you about should I or not? Yes? A handful of workers in the audience obliged the president, shouting, Yeah! So I have to be honest, Ive never liked him much. Hasnt been for me, Trump said, the room descending into awkward silence. Ive really probably never will, but theres certain reasons for it and I will tell you, and I do this to save a little time with the press later on, John McCain received a fake and phony dossier, did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by crooked Hillary Clinton, right, Trump continued, to a smattering of boos. And John McCain got it, he got it, and what did he do? He didnt call me. He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put me in jeopardy, and thats not the nicest thing to do. You know when those people say, because Im a very loyal person... President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks at the Lima Army Tank Plant, Wednesday, March 20, 2019, in Lima, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Trump proceeded to bash McCain for campaigning on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act but voting against a Republican bill that would have done just that. And the other thing is, were in a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard, Trump said, the silence seeming to grow. He was calling Bush, President Bush all the time, Get into the Middle East, get into the Middle East. So now were into that war for $7 trillion, thousands and thousands of our people have been killed, millions of people overall, and frankly, were straightening it out now but it has been a disaster for our country. Story continues Trump said the war was worse than it was 19 years ago. The invasion of Iraq actually began 16 years ago. The United States was not at war in the Middle East in 2000. So John McCain loved it, Trump said. With the tension on the factory floor growing with each passing insult, Trump finally wound down the McCain section of his remarks. Now were all set. I dont think I have to answer that question, but the press keeps What do you think of McCain? What do you think? Not my kind of guy, but some people like him and I think thats great. McCains daughter, Meghan McCain, has defended her fathers legacy, and Republican stalwarts like Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Mitch McConnell have distanced themselves from Trumps attacks. Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes. Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) March 20, 2019 Trump joked about climbing into a tank at the factory, recalling how Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic candidate for president, hurt his campaign by being photographed atop a tank turret. I remember he tanked when he got into the tank, Trump said. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: MBC Newsdesk anchor Wang Jong-myung speaks during an interview with actress Yoon Ji-oh in this captured image from MBC. New York (AFP) - General Motors' decision to shutter an Ohio auto plant was back in the spotlight on Tuesday following repeat Twitter attacks on the company from President Donald Trump. Trump, who is scheduled to visit the politically crucial Midwestern state on Wednesday, revived his criticism of the company, saying on Twitter over the weekend that GM "let our country down" and calling on the company on Monday to reverse a decision to close the plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The plant, which employed about 1,400 prior to ceasing production earlier this month, was one of five North American plants that GM announced in November would be closed as part of a cost-cutting reorganization. Lordstown had been building the Chevrolet Cruze, a sedan model that has been losing favor in the US as consumers embrace larger vehicles. Trump, who blasted GM's decision last year, again unloaded on the company, calling on GM and the United Auto Workers to begin talks immediately and defend the plant. "General Motors and the UAW are going to start 'talks' in September/October. Why wait, start them now!" Trump tweeted Monday. "I want jobs to stay in the U.S.A. and want Lordstown (Ohio), in one of the best economies in our history, opened or sold to a company who will open it up fast!" GM has characterized the reorganization as essential to its long-term competitiveness and emphasized its efforts to place affected workers at other US factories. - Some workers relocated - A GM spokesman said Tuesday the ultimate fate of Lordstown would be determined by the talks with UAW. "We remain open to talking with all affected stakeholders, but our main focus remains on our employees and offering them jobs in our plants where we have growth opportunities," the GM spokesman said. "We have now placed over 1,000 employees from our unallocated plants to other GM locations, and we have opportunities available for virtually all impacted employees." Story continues The UAW vowed to continue to push for the workers. "The UAW's focus is and has been on our members impacted and we will leave no stone unturned in keeping the GM plants opened," said UAW International spokesman Brian Rothenberg. Trump, who also attacked the UAW, is scheduled to visit a defense plant on Wednesday and fundraise for his 2020 campaign. Trump carried Ohio in the 2016 race but The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday that the visit comes as Trump's popularity has declined in the state during his presidency. Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown defended the UAW from Trump's attacks and blasted the US president for signing a 2017 tax cut law that he said created incentives to shut US factories. Trump "has made lots of big promises and failed to stand up for workers at every turn," Brown said. "Instead of fighting to save these jobs, President Trump decided to side with corporations and give companies like GM massive tax breaks to shut down American factories and ship jobs overseas." Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday launched a prolonged attack on the integrity of a huge probe into whether he or his election campaign colluded with Russia or obstructed justice -- but did say that the final report should be released. "If you want to let them see it, let them see it," Trump said of the report, which independent special prosecutor Robert Mueller is believed to be close to finishing. Trump has been investigated for almost two years, following suspicions that he or his team had improper ties to Moscow. Mueller will submit his findings to the Trump-appointed attorney general, who is not obligated to release the report. But pressure is intense for the contents to be made public. In anticipation, Trump intensified his long-running campaign to question the legitimacy of Mueller, who is widely respected, and to undermine confidence in the report itself. Trump referred to his 2016 election win as "one of the greatest... in the history of this country" and said by contrast that Mueller had no popular support. Mueller is "a man out of the blue" and "writing a report that never got a vote," Trump told journalists at the White House. Mueller, a former FBI director, was appointed in May 2017 with widespread bipartisan backing in Congress, four months into Trump's turbulent presidency. Trump has repeatedly attacked the probe into his Russia ties as "a witch hunt" and is expected to raise the volume as he starts campaigning for reelection in 2020. "My voters don't get it and I don't get it," he said of the Mueller probe. WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed forces have captured Islamic State fighters tied to a January suicide bombing in Syria that killed four Americans, U.S. officials say, generating concrete leads for Washington about the deadliest attack to date there against U.S. personnel. The bombing killed Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon Kent and Scott Wirtz from the Defense Intelligence Agency. It also killed Ghadir Taher, a naturalized U.S. citizen working as a civilian interpreter for a U.S. contractor. One of the officials told Reuters the number of people detained was in the "single digits." A second official said there were several "initial detentions" made in February, without offering a specific number. The detentions have not been previously reported. "Those initial detentions have provided some leads and opportunities that we are continuing to exploit," the second official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and declining to offer additional details. "The investigation is ongoing as are efforts to bring all of those terrorists responsible to justice." The attack was the worst single incident involving U.S. personnel in Syria since they deployed on the ground there in 2015 and took place at a cafe in the town of Manbij, which was controlled by a militia allied to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. The bombing occurred nearly a month after President Donald Trump confounded his own national security team and allies with a surprise decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring Islamic State had been defeated there. Critics seized on the killings as clear evidence that the Islamic State still posed a threat. Trump backtracked in February, agreeing to leave a small U.S. presence to help keep pressure on Islamic State during what the U.S. military believes will be a critical stabilization phase in Syria. The United States is seeking contributions from allies including Britain and France to remain in Syria. Story continues INSURGENCY THREAT The U.S. military has warned that Islamic State may still count tens of thousands of fighters, dispersed throughout Iraq and Syria, with enough leaders and resources to present a menacing insurgency in the months ahead. The Pentagon's own internal watchdog released a report last month saying Islamic State remained an active insurgent group and was regenerating functions and capabilities more quickly in Iraq than in Syria. "Absent sustained (counterterrorism) pressure, ISIS could likely resurge in Syria within six to 12 months and regain limited territory," the report from the Pentagon's inspector general said. The report, citing information from U.S. Central Command, said Islamic State would portray the withdrawal as a "victory" and conduct attacks on American personnel during the pullout process. A report by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Islamic State has transformed into a covert network, but is still a threat with centralized leadership, up to $300 million at its disposal and thousands of fighters. It said the group was interested in attacking aviation and using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and that there were up to 18,000 Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including up to 3,000 foreign fighters. (Reporting by Phil Stewart Editing by Tom Brown) Photo credit: EVARISTO SA - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics This week, new Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro signed a deal that would open his country's national spaceport to U.S. satellite launches. The move has been seen mostly as a way for the new leader to ingratiate himself to the Trump administration. But behind the politics, the deal is also the latest attempt to salvage Brazils once-promising space program, which has languished amid failed launches and fruitless international partnerships. Representatives from Boeing and Lockheed Martin are known to have toured the spaceport recently, which is a sure sign of interest from the aerospace bigs. Small launch companies may be even more interested, attracted by an equatorial spin that produces 30 percent fuel savings. That means more small sats launched more cheaply at time when many emerging companies are jockeying for customers. Jim Cantrell, of the small sat launch company Vector, signaled his support with a dash of fear over the wildlife: Thinking about launching from Alcantara Brazil given the Tech Safeguards Agreement signed between Brazil and the US today. THIS on the other hand gives me pause. https://t.co/PHh7fPvsZW - Jim Cantrell (@jamesncantrell) March 19, 2019 Disaster in the Amazon The Alcantara spaceport was once a source of national pride for Brazil. Tucked against the Atlantic Ocean and surrounded by dense jungle, its location is an ideal place for a spaceport. Rockets launch east to take advantage of the earths spin, and there's nothing to the east of Alcantara but open water. The launch center at Alcantara is also remote, as all spaceports must be. A rockets mass is 90 percent explosive fuel traveling at extremely high speeds. Flying them requires a large empty space in case anything goes wrong. Third, Alcantara is just 2.3 degrees south of the equator, a near-perfect placement for slinging satellites into equatorial or polar orbits. Story continues Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons But Brazils program has been plagued with failures, the most serious coming on August 22, 2003. Just days before the planned launch of two satellites, engineers and technicians swarmed around the three-stage Veiculo Lancador de Satelites (VLS, or satellite launch vehicle), readying the rocket for liftoff. There were 21 people working in the 118-foot-tall support gantry, a massive steel structure with multiple levels that engineers and techs use to make the final preparations. On the day of the launch, the gantry would slide away on rails, leaving the upright rocket on its launch pad. At 1:30 in the afternoon, a flicker of flame appeared at the base of the rocket-one of the main engines ignited. Within seconds, the rocket, packed with solid rocket fuel, detonated in an ear-shattering concussion. The resulting fireball consumed the gantry and set fire to the jungle surrounding the pad. The heat melted the gantry into a heap, and the flames immolated all 21 workers at the site, leaving nothing but teeth for medical examiners to identify the bodies. Back To Brazil Photo credit: EVARISTO SA - Getty Images After that, the space launch industry in Brazil sputtered. In the meantime, the European-run spaceport in French Guiana did steady and brisk business, expanding to accept small launchers from Italy and mid-size Russian rockets. That spaceport can now offer rides on three rockets. Brazil then tried to move forward by inking a deal with Ukraine to launch from the spaceport, but the deal fell apart. Now, a more right-leaning president is trying his luck with the United States. We should be thanking God for the recent change of ideology in Brazil, Bolsonaro said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week. We want to have a great Brazil, just like Trump wants to make America great. Still, it's slow going. The U.S.-Brazil deal is called a technology safeguards agreement, which means it's basically a workaround for export laws designed to protect American space launch and satellite hardware from foreign eyes. With space so sensitive and missile technology so similar, these safeguards are meant to protect national security as well as American intellectual property. The deal needs approval from the Brazilian Congress, which could be a steep climb considering the Brazilian president is a polarizing figure and a similar agreement died in that legislative body after politicians fretted about a loss of sovereignty to the United States. But the U.S. space industry looks a lot different these days. Small private space companies, rather than U.S. defense aerospace giants, may be more palatable tenants at the spaceport. ('You Might Also Like',) By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a man serving life in prison over his role in a deadly 2002 shooting spree in the Washington area should be resentenced because he was only 17 years old at the time. The nine justices will hear an appeal filed by the state of Virginia objecting to a lower court's decision ordering that Lee Boyd Malvo's sentence of life in prison without parole in the so-called D.C. Sniper crimes be thrown out. If Malvo wins, he and other prison inmates in similar cases involving certain crimes committed by minors could receive more lenient sentences. Malvo and an older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, shot dead 10 people over three weeks in Washington, Maryland and Virginia. Muhammad also was convicted and was executed in 2009 at age 48 in a Virginia state prison. Virginia appealed in the Malvo case after the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June 2018 that he should be resentenced. The appeals court cited Supreme Court decisions issued since the shooting spree finding that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional, and that this rule applied retroactively. Malvo, 34, received four life sentences in Virginia, where he was convicted of two murders and later entered a separate guilty plea to avoid the death penalty. He also received a sentence of life in prison without parole in Maryland. The appeals court called these crimes "the most heinous, random acts of premeditated violence conceivable." Malvo and Muhammad were arrested when police found them sleeping at a Maryland rest area in a Chevrolet Caprice after a frantic search over crimes that panicked the U.S. capital region. The appeal concerns the scope of a 2012 decision in which the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that mandatory life sentences without parole in homicide cases involving juvenile killers violated the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In 2016, the court decided that the 2012 ruling applied retroactively, enabling people imprisoned years ago to argue for their release. Story continues Malvo's appeal concerns whether the earlier rulings do not apply only to people facing automatic life without parole sentences but also to instances in which a judge had discretion over what sentence to impose. Courts across the United States are divided on that question. The justice who cast the pivotal vote in the 2012 case, Anthony Kennedy, retired last year. His replacement, President Donald Trump's conservative appointee Brett Kavanaugh, could have an important role in the eventual ruling. Malvo's Maryland sentence would not be directly affected by the outcome in the Virginia dispute. The justices on Monday also took up two other criminal cases. One centers on whether the Constitution requires jury verdicts to be unanimous. In that case, 10 of 12 jurors agreed the defendant was guilty in a 2016 Louisiana murder conviction. Louisiana and Oregon at the time were the only states that allowed such split verdicts - which would end in a hung jury elsewhere - but Louisiana voters last November approved a state constitutional amendment to end the practice for serious felonies, starting this year. The other case, involving a death sentence for a 2009 murder in Kansas, challenges limitations that some states impose on the defense arguing that the accused person was insane when committing a crime. The Supreme Court will decide the cases in its next term, which begins in October and ends in June 2020. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) Senator Elizabeth Warren said Monday that she supports eliminating the Electoral College. My view is that every vote matters and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College, Warren told the audience at a CNN town hall at Mississippis Jackson State University. The Massachusetts Democrat, who announced her 2020 presidential campaign last month, noted that before a general election, candidates do not visit places like Mississippi or Massachusetts since they are not a swing states. Warren also called for a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and makes sure that vote gets counted. Hillary Clinton won almost three million more votes than President Trump in 2016, but lost the Electoral College and thus the presidency. For Democrats, the loss evoked bitter memories of 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush after an intense legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Years before the 2016 campaign, Trump himself once called for an end to the Electoral College, calling it a disaster for a democracy in a 2012 tweet. Despite his victory, the president said last year that he stood by that position. I would rather have a popular election, but its a totally different campaign, he told Fox News. Youre practicing for the 100-yard dash as opposed to the one mile. . . . I would rather have the popular vote because its, to me, its much easier to win the popular vote. More from National Review In her first speech to Parliament since last weeks terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand prime minster Jacinda Ardern vowed she would not publicly say the name of the far-right mass shooter who took 50 lives. He is a terrorist, he is a criminal, he is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless, Ardern said. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name. Its a marked difference from the U.S.where media outlets routinely plaster the face, name, and background of terrorists and mass shooters on 24-7 cable news, feeding a twisted publicity machine that makes household names out of them. (To follow Arderns lead, we wont name the person here either, although we all know who he is.) Arderns philosophy is in keeping with the No Notoriety campaign, an effort to minimize the medias often gratuitous reporting on perpetrators of mass violenceNo name. No photo. No notoriety, its tagline readsand dedicate more focus to victims and heroes. (One exception for broadcasting faces and names: when suspects are on the loose.) Founded by Tom and Caren Teves, whose 24-year-old son, Alex, was among those murdered in the 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, No Notorietys principles have been adopted by the likes of Anderson Cooper and Parkland survivor David Hogg, who, after last years shooting at a school in Santa Fe, tweeted: I dont know the shooters name and dont want to. If you agree, any time you see a post with their name or face from news organizations post #NoNotoriety with one of the victims names. The protocol isnt just about publicity or the way that breathless, irresponsible news reporting can make celebrities out of terrorists and mass shooters. Its also a matter of public safety, according to the Teveses. They point to data that suggests that media-fueled notoriety can inspire copycats. In a disturbing blurb on its website, No Notoriety details instances of mass shooters motivating one another, noting that the gunman in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre had reportedly studied the Columbine killers and mailed a preprepared package of video and other materials to NBC News; in the Northern Illinois University shooting a year later, the gunman reportedly studied the Virginia Tech killing. Before Sandy Hook, the gunman reportedly kept a spreadsheet of past mass shooters. Last year, the government gave its official support to the tenets of No Notoriety. In its recommendations for how to make schools safer for children, the Federal Commission on School Safety, which was formed in the wake of Parkland, proposed the media not name shooters or publish their pictures. It would be one step toward a more thoughtful response to violence in the mass-shooting capital of the world. New Zealand is already poised to ban assault weapons after the Christchurch attack; Americans are still waiting. (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to "confront" comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. Erdogan - who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections - said on Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification. "Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey," Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. "He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face." Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times during public gatherings in recent days. Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker's "manifesto", which was posted online by the attacker and later taken down. "Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors," Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. "As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present." During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back "in caskets" anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul. Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad. Despite Peters' intervention, an extract from Tarrant's alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan's rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkey's ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogan's comments be removed from Turkey's state broadcaster. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Australia's ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of Erdogan's government on Wednesday, Morrison said. Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey. Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services. Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. Visitors come to the area to honor their nations fallen on ANZAC Day every April 25. (Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry) New investment can be a double-edged sword for Park By Lee Kyung-min Standard Chartered Bank Korea CEO Park Jong-bok 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. Seoul ranked 36th out of 112 cities in the Global Financial Centers Index published by the London-based think tank Z/Yen last week. / gettyimagesbank By Kim Bo-eun Korea needs a level playing field to attract more financial experts from around the world and transform Seoul and Busan into international financial centers, Mark Yeandle, lead author and co-creator of the Global Financial Centers Index, told The Korea Times, Wednesday. He pointed out that Korea's financial centers lack competitiveness because of an unfriendly business environment. "The business environment is currently the most important. Korea suffers from a business environment that needs improvement," Yeandle, director of Z/Yen Group of Companies, said in an email interview. His advice came after London-based think tank released its 2019 Global Financial Centers Index a week ago. Mark Yeandle, director of Z/Yen Group of Companies Hamas resumed the nightly border riots along the security fence in the Gaza Strip on Monday, after a 10-day lull in violence. During the riots, Israeli military arrested several Palestinians who breached the security fence. The suspects were taken for further questioning. Police are investigating anti-Semitic messages and Nazi imagery scrawled on dozens of gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Fall River police say the vandalism at Hebrew Cemetery occurred over the weekend. Sgt. J.T. Hoar says police became aware of the graffiti Sunday after receiving a report of a suspicious vehicle that had been parked in the cemetery for two days. The vehicle was gone by the time officers arrived. Anti-Jewish posters in Warsaw The Herald News reports that at least 30 gravestones were tagged with swastikas and phrases including heil Hitler and Hitler was right in black marker. One stone was tagged with Oy vey! This is MAGA country, an apparent reference to President Donald Trumps campaign slogan, Make America Great Again. No arrests have been announced. The incident is the latest in a chain of similar events that have taken place in the past year around the world, in particular in Europe, with swastikas and hate graffiti appearing on Jewish institutions and property in Poland, Greece, Spain, France and other countries. In Madrid, two vandalism incidents that included Nazi graffiti took place in the passing year: one outside the home of emissaries from the World Zionist Organization, and a second in front of the house of a senior local Jewish activist and chairman of a Jewish organization fighting local boycotts of Israel. In Manchester, in the north of England, headstones at Urmston Jewish Cemetery were vandalized in early February. The anti-Jewish sentiment has also reached Poland, when large posters were placed on several residential buildings in Warsaw mid February. Signs read: "These buildings will soon be returned to the Jews, to meet their demands." Nazi symbols daubed outside the home of Jewish activist Angel Mas In the Greek capital Athens, anti-Semitic graffiti was sprayed in the yard of a Jewish school in the passing year. The graffiti said, among other things: "Jews are whores." In France, which is home to the largest Jewish community in the world after Israel and the US, has seen an increasing number of such anti-Semitic attacks. Recent incidents include swastikas sprayed on mailboxes image of late French Jewish politician Simone Veil, who was a Holocaust survivor, a minister in the French government and president of the European Parliament. In Paris, the word Juden (German for Jew) was daubed on the window of a bagel shop. In another incident, the French-Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was attacked with anti-Semitic slogans when he came across a yellow vest demonstration in central Paris. Days later, at least 80 graves were desecrated in a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg, in the eastern part of the country. In addition, unknown assailants vandalized the Paris memorial to Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew who was tortured and murdered in a 2006 anti-Semitic attack that shocked France. Also in February, anti-Semitic graffiti was painted on the facades of houses and street furniture in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. A municipal official said that there had been dozen cases of anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on several streets in the southern part of the French capital. In the wake of the wave of anti-Semitic incidents in France, tens of thousands took to the streets of Paris and other locations in the country in protest mid February. Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AFP) The Paris demonstration was attended by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. Before the rally, Philippe warned that anti-Semitism was "deeply rooted in French society." In the U.S., other recent anti-Semitic vandalism acts included swastikas graffitied on a Jewish professor's office in Columbia University in New York City; Heil Hitler, graffiti in a Park in NYC; and a Southern California synagogue vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti. US Jewry experienced its worst ever anti-Semitic attack in October, 2018, when a gunman stormed a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during Shabbat services and shot worshipers, killing 11 and wounding six others. An ailing parrot in the blockaded Gaza Strip received treatment Tuesday from an Israeli animal rights group after its Palestinian owner appealed for help via Facebook. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Abdullah Sharaf told the Associated Press that his African grey parrot, Koki, drank bleach that burned a hole in his throat. He said local veterinarians, ill-equipped to handle specialized cases, suggested his exotic pet be put down. Koki undergoing medical treatment at Erez crossing The owner then wrote a post in Arabic on the NGOs Facebook page asking for help, and said he was very attached to his parrot and will do whatever he possibly can to avoid putting him down. The Israeli NGO was happy to assist, and quickly organized all required permits for the operation. The owner brought the parrot to the checkpoint Tuesday, where the NGO organized a suitable surgery clinic since neither of the sides can cross the border. The surgery was performed by Dr. Shlomit Levy, the only veterinarian in Israel who is solely dedicated to the care of birds and parrots. The patient is recovering from the ordeal. The NGOs founder Avihu Sherwood was excited to be able to help: Weve never gotten such a request, and were happy to be able to take part in something that brings people together, he said. Koki, the African grey parrot from Gaza We were pained to hear about the parrots condition, and didnt see a reason to put him down if we can supply him with the medical care he needs, despite it being unavailable in Gaza, said Sherwood. Tuesday's rescue was coordinated with COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza since the Hamas terror group seized power in 2007. Palestinians in Gaza face severe travel restrictions, making it difficult to get specialized medical treatment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pays a visit to Israel this week but its what hes not doing while there that may be the most notable aspect of the trip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Pompeo doesnt plan to talk publicly about the deal of the century that President Donald Trump said he would offer to settle the Israel-Palestinian conflict, a plan so important that he delegated negotiations to his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Look, we desperately want a good solution, Pompeo told reporters Tuesday before his plane landed in Kuwait City for the first stop of the trip. Mr. Kushners working on the Middle East peace plan. Therell be a right time when we will introduce bigger pieces of that. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mike Pompeo (Photo: AFP) Pompeos Israel itinerary is characteristic of the administrations approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been largely private and without participation from the Palestinians. The secretary wont even meet with any Palestinian officials on this trip, something that would have been routine for any top US diplomat in recent decades. Pompeos mere presence in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just weeks before a national election may be symbolic of the administrations political preference, but his main public message will be a familiar one: The US has an unbreakable commitment to Israels security no matter whos in charge. Im going to Israel because of the important relationship we have, he said. Leaders will change in both countries over time. That relationship matters no matter who the leaders are. He said he would spend a good deal of time speaking about the security challenges posed by the conflict in Syria ahead of a sharp reduction in the US presence there, as well as about the longstanding threats Israel faces from Iran and the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Palestinians wouldnt meet with Pompeo even if he wanted to see them. They have severed ties with the administration over its recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital, moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv and slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of aid. Political relations with the US administration are broken unless it backs down from its decisions on Jerusalem and refugees and abides by international law, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Mahmoud Abbas (: ) For now, the only apparent interaction between US and Palestinian officialdom seems to be an increasingly frequent stream of tweets from international negotiations envoy Jason Greenblatt, taking issue with Palestinian positions and criticism, most of which he says is incorrect, relies on faulty hearsay or is otherwise intended to deceive. The message is that those who spread misinformation about the conflict or the plan are not going to get away with it anymore, said Greenblatt, who is leading the talks with Kushner, in an interview last week. If you lie or deceive to try to shape public opinion, were not going to let you do that without a response. We are in the midst of educating, and in some cases, re-educating people. Greenblatt brushed away criticism of the tweets from former would-be peacemakers and diplomats with experience in the region who say such engagement is undignified. In some cases it might be more useful to provide information behind closed doors, but they wont engage with us that way, he said. But more importantly, they are speaking loudly and publicly, so why should the US not say something publicly and respond to accusations, misinformation or manipulation? The peace plan itself doesnt yet exist, at least not outside a small circle of top White House aides led by Kushner and Greenblatt. They insist the plan is real but wont say when it will be presented other than after Israels April 9 election. But officials note there is only a narrow window between the election, the start of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover in late April and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in early May. That means the plan is likely to be delayed further. Jared Kushner (Photo: Twitter) In the meantime, Kushner and Greenblatt have begun to preview the nonpolitical elements of the plan to interested parties, including Israelis, Palestinians outside of the Palestinian Authority, Arab countries that will be critical to the economic part of the plan, and the Jewish and evangelical Christian communities in the US that staunchly back Israel. Administration officials familiar with that outreach say each group has its own issues and concerns. They add that Greenblatt and Kushner have their work cut out for them as they try to promote a peace plan for which they are unwilling to provide details, particularly on the most sensitive parts of what must be in an eventual deal: the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, territorial sovereignty and borders. Those officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the effort and spoke on condition of anonymity, conceded that early discussions had produced some unease, particularly as Greenblatt and Kushner make clear that both Israel and the Palestinians will have to make hard compromises to achieve peace. Suggestions that the plan will not explicitly call for a two-state solution, which is favored by most of the international community, and instead offer the Palestinians something less in return for massive economic investment have not sat well with veteran Mideast hands. The architects of Trumps deal of the century believe thats old think, said Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel and the second of the Obama administrations three Mideast peace envoys. Their idea is that the Palestinians can be persuaded to forgo their national aspirations in return for normalcy and prosperity funded by the Arab states. Yet administration officials believe the mood in the region has changed, that Arab nations have higher priorities and that even if the plan fails it may have benefit in more closely aligning Israeli and Arab interests on Iran. The Israeli military said it has shot and killed two Palestinians who attacked troops at Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank early Wednesday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The military says several explosive devices were hurled at soldiers securing Jewish worshippers at the biblical tomb in the city of Nablus. Troops opened fire in retaliation and killed two of the assailants. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified them as 21-year-old Raed Hamadan and 20-year-old Zeid Nouri. 21-year-old Raed Hamadan and 20-year-old Zeid Nouri Late Tuesday, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian suspected of carrying out a weekend stabbing and shooting attack that left 19-year-old Staff Sergeant Gal Keidan and 47-year-old Rabbi Achiad Ettingert dead near a West Bank settlement of Ariel three days ago. IDF forces locate Ariel killer X Another soldier, 19-year-old Alexander Dvorsky, was seriously wounded in the attack and spent two days at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva fighting for his life. Dvorsky's condition has since stabilized and is now described as moderate. The military says 20-year-old Omar Abu Lila was fatally shot when he opened fire on soldiers trying to arrest him. IDF troops in Nablus (Photo: Reuters) "I congratulate the Shin Bet, Israel Police special anti-terror unit and the IDF on the quick action that led to the elimination of the abhorrent terrorist who murdered Sgt. Gal Keidan and Rabbi Achiad Ettinger," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "The long arm of Israel reaches all those who attack our civilians and our soldiers." The two-day manhunt for Abu Lila had raised tensions in Israel and the West Bank following a period of relative calm. Hamas is facing the biggest demonstrations yet against its 12-year rule of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of Palestinians taking to the streets in recent days to protest the dire living conditions in the blockaded territory. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter With little tolerance for dissent, the Islamic militant group has responded with heavy-handed tactics. It has arrested dozens of protesters, beaten activists and violently suppressed attempts by local media to cover the unrest. Hamas has accused the rival West Bank-based Palestinian Authority of orchestrating the protests a charge that organizers vehemently reject. Anti-government rallies in Gaza (Photos: Archive ) There is no political agenda at all, said Amin Abed, 30, an organizer who has been forced into hiding. We simply want to live in dignity, he said by telephone. We just ask Hamas to ease the economic hardships and tax burdens. Hamas, which seeks Israels destruction, seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade, a step meant to prevent Hamas from arming. The blockade, and three wars with Israel, have ravaged Gazas economy but done nothing to loosen Hamas grip on power. Unemployment is over 50 percent and much higher for young university graduates like Abed. Tap water is undrinkable, electricity is limited and travel abroad severely restricted. Hamas cash-strapped government recently raised taxes on basic goods like bread, beans and cigarettes. Protesters accuse Hamas of corruption and imposing the hefty taxes to enrich itself. They used social media to organize protests last week with the slogan We want to live! The protests come just as Hamas marks the one-year anniversary of its weekly demonstrations along the frontier with Israel. The demonstrations, aimed largely at easing the blockade, have accomplished little, even as some 190 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli fire. Hamas stages counter-protest This is not the first time people have taken to the streets against Hamas. Two years ago, protesters demonstrated against the chronic power cuts on a cold January day before Hamas violently dispersed them. This time around, the sporadic rallies have continued for five days, despite a similarly violent response. These protests were the largest, the longest and the most violent in terms of Hamas suppression, said Mkhaimar Abusada, political science professor at Gazas al-Azhar University. This was a message of anger to Hamas that the situation is unbearable and that it must reconsider all its policies, he added. On Monday, Amnesty International reported that hundreds of protesters have been beaten, arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to ill-treatment. Journalists and human rights workers, including a researcher for the London-based organization, were also roughed up, Amnesty said. The crackdown on freedom of expression and the use of torture in Gaza has reached alarming new levels, said Amnestys Middle East deputy director Saleh Higazi. Osama al-Kahlout, a journalist with the local news site Donia al-Wattan, last week published a photo of a protester on crutches raising a sign that said I want to live in dignity. The next day, he was detained as he went live on Facebook during another protest. Anti-government rallies in Gaza Al-Kahlout said police smashed furniture, seized his belongings and beat him on the way to the police station. Im a journalist, he said. I dont regret covering it. He said he was released after a meeting with the police chief in which officials advised journalists not to cover the protests. Heba el-Buhissi, 31, who filmed the raids at her family home, said a policeman fired a warning shot in the air as others cursed and yelled at her after she started filming. Her videos show a group of Hamas police beating her cousin with wooden batons. Other amateur videos have shown protesters burning tires and hurling stones toward Hamas forces. Hamas gunmen can be seen jumping out of vehicles and beating people with clubs. Other videos show Hamas going door to door and carrying out mass arrests. El-Buhissi filmed the incident last Thursday when she saw Hamas dispersing some of her neighbors who had hoisted banners against tax hikes. Her family opened the home to allow youths to escape the police. This is what drove the police crazy, and thats why they stormed our houses, she said. I felt I have to film to prove what was going on. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists reported Monday that 42 Palestinian journalists were targeted by Hamas forces in the past five days. The abuses included physical assaults, summons, threats, home arrests and seizure of equipment. The official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reported Monday that the spokesman of Abbas Fatah movement in Gaza, Atef Abu Saif, was badly beaten by Hamas. It showed pictures of Abu Said with a bandaged leg, bruises and blood-stained clothes lying on a hospital bed. Hamas operative shoots at protesters Ammar Dwaik, director of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza, said Hamas forces have dispersed 25 protests with excessive force and arrested about 1,000 people. He said some 300 people remain in custody. This is worst crackdown in Gaza since the Hamas takeover in 2007 in terms of its scope and cruelty, Dwaik said. On Tuesday, Hamas issued a brief statement rejecting the use of violence and repression against any Palestinian for practicing his legitimate right of expression. But Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas official, used tougher language in a Twitter post, accusing Israel and the Palestinian Authority of conspiring to organize protests. The attempts of the Palestinian Authority and the occupation to drive a wedge between the people and the resistance have failed, he said. The demonstrations appeared to subside on Monday, but organizers say the protests will continue until Hamas cancels taxes on dozens of goods, creates a national employment program and releases everyone who has been arrested in the crackdown. Abed, the protest leader, said Hamas has stormed his familys house and delivered an arrest warrant for him to his father. Hamas doesnt want us to scream. It wants us to die in silence, he said. President Rivlin paid a condolence visit Wednesday to the family of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, who was murdered in a terror attack at the Ariel Junction three days ago. The Korean Finance & Service Workers' Union protests against big merchants abusing their power against credit card companies over transaction fee rates in front of the government complex in Seoul, March 13. Yonhap By Park Hyong-ki A conflict that started between credit card companies and Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors over the formers' unilateral transaction fee hikes is about to widen to the telecom and retail sectors. This comes after the two giant carmakers recently sealed a deal limiting the fee rise to 0.2 percentage points, not the 1 percentage point the card companies were going to initially impose. The automakers had threatened to no longer accept payments using the cards if the fee was raised to 1.9 percent from last year's 1.8 percent. Given the dominant market position of Hyundai Motor Group, the card companies such as Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana and NongHyup accepted this. This followed Hyundai's earlier move to cancel its contract with those card companies. Even though the card companies did not officially express their discontent, their workers protested claiming large merchants were abusing their power over the card firm. In this relationship, merchants are the customers, and the card companies are the service providers. "So, that really leaves the card firms with no other option as the customers can take their business elsewhere if they do not like what's on the shelves," a local card industry source said. The workers through a number of unions in the financial industry demanded the regulators solve the conflict, and prevent further conflicts of interest over rates. "Big merchants are taking advantage of their market position and the latest case is from Hyundai and Kia's contract cancellation," said Korean Finance & Service Workers' Union in a press statement, March 13. To this end, it added it would be impossible for the card companies to raise their rates. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has taken the same routine regarding the issue, saying it will "watch" what's going on in the market. However, if it spots irregularities during the negotiations between the two sides, the FSC will "severely punish" anyone caught abusing their power. Those who cross the line will face a fine of up to 10 million won (8,850 won) or could go to jail for a year if found guilty, the FSC added. The telecom industry has not received any notifications from the card companies that they are about to hike the rates. But it is very much aware of the situation. "They have not yet reached us regarding the matter, or asked to start negotiating over the rates. We are just watching this issue as it is moving along," said a SK Telecom spokesman. Big retailers have expressed their dissatisfaction through the Mart Association after getting calls from the card companies that they will hike the rates by around 0.3 percentage points. The card companies have been trying to raise their transaction fee rates on purchases of goods offered by conglomerates as they were forced to lower them to near zero for small businesses and the self-employed early this year. Israeli military arrested Wednesday a Palestinian man who breached a security fence on the Israel-Gaza border. The suspect was unarmed and had been taken for further questioning. A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied that his country was responsible for hacking the phone of Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. "The Zionists are used to playing the victim and starting media storms," the spokesman said. LONDON - Iran on Wednesday denied Israeli media reports that its intelligence service had hacked the mobile phone of Benny Gantz, the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in next month's election. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The alleged hack was not confirmed or denied by the Shin Bet domestic security agency. Benny Gantz (Photo: Tomeriko) The report has been aired repeatedly by Netanyahu's Likud party in a bid to cast former IDF chief Gantz as weak on security and possibly vulnerable to blackmail. Netanyahu, meanwhile, is at the center of at least three separate corruption investigations and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit last month recommended that the prime minister be charged in these affairs. Gantz has confirmed that his phone was hacked but said it carried no sensitive information. He has not blamed Iran. Answering a question about the report, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that "the (Israeli) regime's officials are long used to spreading lies," according to the state news agency IRNA. "They use their propaganda tools to link any event in the world to Iran." Qasemi said the allegations were part of an Israeli "psychological war" aimed at stoking hostility. The two arch-enemies have long been locked in a shadow war. Israel and the United States are widely suspected of deploying the Stuxnet malware, uncovered in 2010, that sabotaged components of Iran's nuclear program. Iran's nuclear facility at Fordow Iranian hackers have been behind several cyber attacks and online disinformation campaigns in recent years as Iran tries to strengthen its clout in the Middle East and beyond, a Reuters Special Report published in November found. The European Union digital security agency said in January that Iran was likely to expand its cyber espionage as its relations with Western powers worsen. Qasemi also denied reports by Australian media in February that attempts to hack into the Australian parliament's computer network originated from Iran. Palestinian security prisoners at the Ramon Prison in southern Israel set fire to their cells on Tuesday, after Israel introduced a jamming signal that blocks illicit mobile phones. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The prisoners, all from the Hamas terrorist organization, set alight the mattresses in 14 cells, lightly wounding a staff member and an inmate. File photo: Palestinian prisoners in Israel (Photo: Gadi Kablo) For more than a month, the Israel Prison Service has been on high alert due to the threat of arson or violence against guards over the new method of blocking calls from smuggled cell phones. Security prisoners viewed the step as a serious blow to their quality of life, as the phones were used to communicate with their families. The prisoners, however, also used these same cell phones to communicate with members of terrorist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. The leaders of the prisoners at Ramon resigned about a month ago, which the IPS saw as a very serious protest measure. Following the resignations, the IPS became concerned that the prisoners will make good on their threats to harm prison guards, cause damage to prison installations or cause riots. Ramon Prison (Photo: Herzl Yosef) The protests reached their peak Tuesday, after several hunger strikes and small demonstrations. At around 6pm, prison staff noticed smoke coming out of the cells in the wing where security prisoners affiliated with Hamas are being held. The guards who saw the fire immediately entered the wing and extinguished it. At the same time, they evacuated the 88 prisoners in the wing who were in danger from the fire. The IPS said that the situation was under full control and that the prisoners who were responsible for the arson would be tried and severely punished. "The prison was ready for the fire and it was therefore quickly extinguished," the prison said. "The innmates were informed that such actions would not be tolerated. We will continue to maintain our control over our prisons and disrupt any threat to Israel's security." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday sought to paint Benny Gantz as vulnerable to blackmail by Iran, accusing him of hiding the fact that there was sensitive information on a cell phone allegedly hacked by Tehran. Gantz soon hit back, with his Blue and White party hinting at the prime minister's connection to a police corruption investigation. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter "Benny Gantz what are you hiding from the Israeli public?" Netanyahu said during a press conference from his official Jerusalem residence. "What do the Iranians know about you that you are not telling us? What classified information do the Iranians have on you that you are not revealing even to your fellow party members?" Benjamin Netanyahu addresssing the media at his Jerusalem residence (Photo: Moshe Mizrahi) The prime minister, whose Likud party is more or less tied with Gantz's Blue and White Party with just weeks to go before the April 9 elections, said that the alleged hack was "a matter of national security." Gantz has insisted that there was no sensitive information on the phone. Iran has denied any role in hacking the device. Netanyahu's language echoed that of Gantz earlier in the day, when the former army chief said that the purchase of vessels from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp had "security and strategic implications" for the State of Israel, and called for a full investigation into the affair. The investigation into the sale, known as Case 3000, deals with suspicions that Israeli officials unlawfully profited from the acquisition of three submarines and four patrol boats, which were earmarked to secure Israel's gas fields in the Mediterreanean Sea. Police suspect that substantial bribes were paid to Israeli officials to guarantee that the sale was completed. While the prime minister has not been directly implicated in the 2 billion-euro deal, a number of his associates, including his personal lawyer and cousin David Shimron, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, former chief of staff David Sharan, former Navy commander Eliezer Marom and former National Security Council deputy chief Avriel Bar-Yosef, have been detained and/or questioned. Benny Gantz (Photo: Tomeriko) On Tuesday, key state witness Miki Ganor, who was ThyssenKrupp's agent in Israel, announced that he was changing his statement about the affair, which backed up police suspicions of bribery and corruption in the sale, and was promptly arrested as his immunity in the investigation had been lifted. Netanyahu congratulated the security forces on the killing of the terrorist who shot dead two people in the West Bank on Sunday, before quickly moving on to attack the Blue and White party and its leaders, accusing them of dredging up stale information on the submarine purchase in an effort to discredit him politically. "(Yair) Lapid and Gantz have reached a new low, and in recent days have been pushing old information," Netanyahu said. "The reason for this panic is clear it is because Iran broke into Gantz's phone and took sensitive information." The Blue and White party swiftly hit back at the prime minister, linking him to Case 3000 with the receipt of "NIS 16 million from a company that does business with the submarine manufacturer." Mimicking Netanyahu's own words, the party asked: "Why did you hide it from the public?" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet next week with US President Donald Trump at the White House, according to an official statement from Washington. The two will meet on the sidelines of the annual AIPAC conference, where both Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz will speak. They will discuss common interests between the two countries and the situation in the Middle East. AIPAC is the largest pro-Israel lobby in the US, and its annual conference draws the top names in Israeli and American politics. Trump is also apparently considering delivering a speech at the conference. JERUSALEM, April 2, 2029 -- The State of Israel shocked the world today when it revealed that its entire population has been resettled on the surface of Mars. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Israeli leaders called the massive and secret undertaking Shniyah Shemot, or "The Second Exodus", a reference to the departure of the Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt. The undertaking was timed to coincide with the Passover celebration on Earth that begins at sunset tonight, April 2. Israelis on Mars The revelation stunned the world's political leadership and upended the equilibrium of international relations. The United Nations Security Council floated an emergency resolution to condemn Israel's departure from Earth as "an interstellar act of aggression" designed to "steal the future from the Palestinian People." The US and Germany vetoed the measure. In a statement beamed to Earth, Israeli Prime Minister Danny Damrosch said: "Mars is a hostile and deadly environment, but we haven't found any Martians who want to kill us because we practice a different religionso thats a real bonus for us. The Israeli settlement is located at Arsia Mons, the site of an extinct volcano. The Israelis renamed the Martian surface "Zion". The landing site is being called New Jerusalem, which created an outpouring of anger across the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe and among the far left in the United States. "Jerusalem belongs to the Palestinian people, here, on Mars -- everywhere," said Abbas Haniyeh, the leader of PIH, the Hamas & ISIS Party in Palestine. "The Zionists steal our lands on Earth and then steal our lands on other planets, but we will fight them wherever they go. We will crush them with asteroids!" Palestine achieved statehood in August 2021 and immediately launched a military invasion of Israel, backed by Iran, the Islamic Republic of France, and Russia. The invasion required the intervention of 22,000 Indian and Canadian troops to restore peace. European, African and South American Jews joined the Martian adventure, leaving only American and Canadian Jewish populations behind. Sources said North American Jewish organizations felt angry and betrayed at being misled about the mission. We should have been consulted, said Wurman Finkelstein, director of the American Jewish Committee. Im not saying this is a parent-child relationship, but weve always known whats best for Israel. Right-leaning American Jews were said to be overjoyed with the operation. "Next year on Mars!" tweeted one prominent Republican Jewish CEO. The United Nations General Assembly: Now with less Jews (Photo: EPA) Arab and Muslim leaders seethed in anger at the sudden disappearance of their long-standing enemy. "We didn't become a state to live alongside the Jews. We became a state so we could push them all into the sea," Walid Jafar, the acting Prime Minister of Palestine, told Reuters. "They deprived the Muslim world of a happy ending." However, many moderate Muslim clerics and Arab intellectuals sent good wishes to the Israeli settlers and denounced the stream of angry rhetoric. "May Allah grant good luck, prosperity and abundant water to our Jewish cousins," said Sheikh Ahmad al-Adwan of Jordan. "Who doesn't want to live somewhere with peace and quiet?" Anti-Israel organizations seemed unprepared to accept the new reality. Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Britain's Labour Party and the University of California BDS movement condemned the exodus as "a continuation of the apartheid oppression. The group issued a statement that deplored the "intolerable second-planet status" of the Palestinian people and called for immediate missions to Mars to "reclaim newly occupied Palestinian territories," including "East New Jerusalem" and the "West Bank of Zion." The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that without Israeli or European Jews to physically attack, the state's proxy terror groups, such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, would now harass and attack Christians with Jewish-sounding surnames, people who eat in kosher delis and anyone who listens to Barbra Streisand. Barbra Streisand: Fans targeted (Photo: Getty Images) The United Nations was thrown into institutional chaos. A Wall Street Journal review of UN activity dating to 2008 showed that 43 percent of all resolutions debated within the body were dedicated to denouncing or penalizing Israel. "Without Israel, the UN will have no one left to blame for anything," said a source at the US State Department. "The entire body will literally have no day-to-day agenda." A source in Saudi intelligence said that about 100 non-aligned countries in the UN were frantically studying small, politically weak nations like Costa Rica, Andorra and Lichtenstein that could act as replacement global scapegoats. Americas evangelical Christians, among Israel's most steadfast supporters, were devastated by the news. Thousands of churchgoers across the Midwest and South wept openly in their congregations Sunday morning. Many evangelicals believe that "The Rapture" -- the appearance of the Messiah and the end of days -- will be instigated by a war between Israel and its enemies. That possibility now looks increasingly unlikely, said top Christian theologians. "This is another annoying setback for the whole Rapture-industrial complex," said a left-leaning Baptist minister. Bruce Stockler is a humorist and works in corporate communications in the advertising industry. He lives in the suburbs of New York City. Palestinians sources reported Wednesday night that one person was killed and three others were wounded in IDF gunfire on a car at a checkpoint in the southern West Bank. According to the sources, 28-year-old Ahmad Manasra was killed in the incident near the village of al-Khadr, in the Bethlehem area. The wounded, including at least person in serious condition, were treated at the scene by Red Crescent personnel. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing on worldwide threats on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Jan. 29. UPI-Yonhap The U.S. intelligence chief is in South Korea, a government source said Wednesday, on a visit seen as aimed at sharing information and assessment of North Korea following the breakdown of last month's summit between the two countries. Earlier, a local newspaper reported that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats arrived at a U.S airbase in Osan, south of Seoul, Tuesday night for a three-day stay. The government source confirmed his arrival but declined to elaborate further. His detailed schedule in Seoul has yet to be confirmed but he is likely to meet his South Korean counterpart, National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon, and other senior officials. The trip came after North Korea repaired its Dongchang-ri long-range rocket launch site that had been partially dismantled last year. That led to concern that the rebuilding could be a sign Pyongyang may be preparing a missile launch. By JAN TUCKER [email protected] Ontonagon The Ontonagon County Board of Commissioners Tuesday joined other counties around the Upper Peninsula in supporting Michigan mining. The action comes in a resolution supporting state House Bill 4227 to create a committee on Michigans mining future to ensure a comprehensive plan focused on ferrous, non-ferrous and aggregate mining industry needs. The proposed committee would be comprised of 15 members with governor-appointed representatives from diverse areas of industry, state departments, environmental groups, tribal members and labor groups to meet the challenges and take advantage of opportunities for the future. The county, Tuesday, approved a formal agreement with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to house Keweenaw Bay inmates when needed, at the Ontonagon County Jail. Ontonagon County Sheriff Dale Rantala told the commission that the agreement has the same conditions as in previous years, except this time its on paper. Rantala also informed the board that several of his correction officers will be trying to qualify for deputy school in Marquette on April 12. Jason Clinesmith, Carlo Pantti and Jason Black have interest in attending the school if they pass the physical tests prior to enrollment. The board agreed to support the efforts of Mi-TRALE to ask for funding for the much needed repairs at Bond Falls. Donald Helsel, in a letter to the county, said the Department of Natural Resources is submitting funding to obtain engineering services and construction funding to make repairs to the concrete stairs and viewing platform structure at the Bond Falls scenic site. He described some of the other areas which do not meet state and federal standards and code requirements. The county will send a letter of support to the DNR for the funds and repairs. The board approved the action of Equalization Director Ann Marie Husar to appoint Renee Pantti as an appraiser. The board authorized sending Pantti for certification training and pay for travel and reimburse her for the training program itself. In other action the board: Approved a purchase of an ADA compliant assistive listening device for the District and Circuit Court as required by the court when someone involved in the court process has a hearing problem. The cost is $1,338. Heard Pat Kitzman cite the historical issues which he claimed show the county should be sharing PILT money with the schools and township, and claimed the county has given him no answers on the issue. Heard from the treasurer, that the county has no authority to forgive the summer taxes on the old Greenland Road building as requested by the village of Ontonagon. Approved the remonumentation project on 17 corners in Ontonagon County at $1,100 per corner by Timberline Land Surveying. Agreed to release Ontonagon Countys interest in a lien agreement in 2013 under a Community Development Housing Rehabilitation program in the estate of the late Rosemarie Herter. Named Mead and Hunt as airport consultants. Heard that Karen Morris has completed her probationary period and is now deputy treasurer. By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] Bessemer A New London, Wis., man pleaded guilty to a pair of felonies for his role in a December home invasion in Marenisco Township in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday. Todd Matthew Norton, 48, pleaded guilty to first-degree home invasion and assault with intent to do great bodily harm for his role in the home invasion and robbery. The plea came as part of a plea agreement that will have charges of armed robbery, possessing a weapon while committing a felony and being a felon in possession of a weapon dismissed at sentencing. Norton also admitted to being a habitual offender-second offense, which increases the maximum possible sentences he faces. Prosecutor Nick Jacobs is also recommending Norton serve the sentences for the two felonies concurrently as part of the plea agreement. During the plea hearing, Norton testified he was one of five people who drove to an East Shore Road property near Lake Gogebic on Dec. 18, 2018. Norton said he and two other men used a credit card to break in through the front door. Norton woke the property owner up by hitting him on the head with the butt of a pistol he found on the counter, and then the group tied the man up and threw a blanket over him. Norton told Judge Michael Pope the group wanted to get all of his gold and silver that he had, as well as any money they found. Norton said he didnt know if he hurt the man when he hit him with the pistol but didnt think he hit him that hard. The property owner was later able to free himself and alert police, leading to an unsuccessful search of the area and the execution of a search warrant in the city of Ironwood. Norton and several co-defendants in the case were later arrested in Wisconsin and charged in connection to the home invasion. Norton is scheduled to be sentenced June 18. Macquarie bank has announced that it will halt its "bank of mum and dad" financing and borrowing for self-managed super fund (SMSF) investment property starting April 30. On Monday, the bank also stopped offering family loan guarantees. "We are streamlining our core Macquarie loan offering," the bank said in a memo to mortgage brokers. Macquarie will still service existing clients who hold these products, but those with applications will need to complete them by June 30, according to a report by The Australian Financial Review. Many lenders are assessing their mortgage offerings amid increased funding costs, declining demand, growing negative equity, and rising risk from softening residential markets. AMP and Commonwealth Bank of Australia both ended their SMSF lending last year as regulatory concerns climbed and property values dwindled. Macquarie, meanwhile, offered up to 70% of the value of the property to a maximum of $1 million. "Bank of mum and dad" is a term used to refer to parents guaranteeing loans and lending funds to their children to be able to buy properties. Nowadays, thanks to high prices, static wages and other factors, younger properties buyers are becoming more dependent on parents assistance to purchase a property. Macquarie allowed family members, such as parents, to use the equity in the family home as security for their children's loan. The bank typically offered a basic home loan of up to $750,000 for an owner-occupier or investment loan. Any debt on the guarantor's property had to [be] refinanced across to Macquarie, said The Australian Financial Review. Macquarie also stopped underwriting new home-branded wholesale loans. Lee Do-hoon, front, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, departs for Russia and Belgium at Incheon International Airport, Mar. 18. Yonhap South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will visit the headquarters of the European Union on Wednesday for discussions on North Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, plans to deliver a speech at the EU's Political and Security Committee in Brussels. He will have a luncheon meeting with Helga Schmid, secretary general of the European External Action Service, the following day. It's part of Seoul's efforts to strengthen partnerships with the international community on the North Korea issue. Concern has grown about the future of the fragile denuclearization and peace-building process since the second summit between Pyongyang and Washington in late February yielded no agreement. Helga Schmid, left, secretary general of the European External Action Service. Photo from WIKIDATA Latest News West Lafayette, Indiana - The public will have a chance to get a closer glimpse into Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrongs life through an exhibition presented by Purdue Archives and Special Collections. Apollo in the Archives: Selections from the Neil A. Armstrong Papers, opens March 18 and runs through Aug. 16. The exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight that landed on the moon where Armstrong took those famed first steps. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, coincides with the universitys July celebration of the moon landing, as well as the universitys sesquicentennial celebration, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. Neil wanted his collections to be used for both scholarship and research at his alma mater, said Tracy Grimm, associate head of Purdue Archives and Special Collections and the Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration, and curator of the exhibition. Students and researchers have the unique opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes look at Neils life and legacy when they conduct research using Neils personal papers. This exhibition offers the public an opportunity to get to know Armstrong and the steps leading up to the Apollo 11 mission through access to Armstrongs papers. The exhibition charts Armstrongs experiences leading up to Apollo 11 mission, including training and coursework, planning for how and where to land on the moon, the success of the mission itself, and the impact it had on society. The following 11 items represent a portion of the items the public can expect to see on display at Apollo in the Archives: * An Apollo 11 flight suit, worn by Armstrong. * Armstrongs NASA astronaut program acceptance letter. * A script for a skit written by Armstrong and Elliot See Jr., both part of the Gemini 5 backup crew. * A bag of Gemini 8 capsule personal items. * LLRV lunar lander research vehicle pilot flight checklist. * Apollo translunar/transearth trajectory plotting chart from the Apollo 11 mission. * Lunar dust disturbance on descent memorandum. * Model of Apollo lunar lander, made by the Grumman Corp. * Purdue centennial flag flown to the moon on Apollo 11 in 1969. * Apollo 11 lunar module lunar surface maps. * Apollo 11 lunar module lunar ascent card. Purdue Archives and Special Collections is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is located in the Stewart Center inside the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education library on the fourth floor of the library. In addition to the Apollo in the Archives, Purdues Ringel Gallery, in partnership with Archives and Special Collections, will present the exhibition Return to Entry, which will feature artwork inspired by Armstrongs archival collection, March 25 to May 11, in the Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center. A reception and a panel discussion will be held at 5:30 on April 4. For this exhibition, the artists challenge was to bring art, engineering and science together to imagine new horizons informed by archival documents and artifacts contained in the Armstrong Papers and the papers of other astronauts and engineers. This exhibition will feature work by Frances Gallardo, Michael Oatman and Jennifer Scheuer, who will be part of the panel discussion on April 4. These exhibitions are one of many events celebrating Purdues Sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. The yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdues remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the worlds problems. The celebration concludes in October with an astronaut reunion. Latest News Washington, DC - "Together, we will defeat this epidemic its a true epidemic as one people, one family, and one magnificent nation under God." ~ President Donald J. Trump MAKING PROGRESS: On the one-year anniversary of the launch of President Donald J. Trumps initiative to tackle the driving forces of the Opioid Crisis, progress has been made. One year ago, President Trump unveiled his Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse, a first-of-its-kind effort to draw out the factors fueling the opioid crisis and make real change. Since the launch of the initiative, the Administration has unveiled numerous programs designed to reduce opioid demand, cut off the flow of illicit drugs, and save lives. The programs span the breadth of the Federal Government from health-directed initiatives in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to law enforcement activities in the Department of Justice (DOJ). The President has secured $6 billion in new funding over two years to fight opioid abuse, and the Administration has awarded $1.5 billion for State Opioid Response grants. This money funds vital programs throughout the Federal Government, as well as directly supporting State and local initiatives to address the opioid crisis in our communities. The DOJ has awarded more than $400 million to support treatment, prevention, and domestic law enforcement efforts. In total, President Trump and his Administration are committed to addressing the opioid epidemic and solving this public health crisis in partnership with State, local, and tribal leaders. The President has provided local teams of experts to assist States and providers with training and education on how best to address the crisis in their State. CUTTING OFF THE SUPPLY: In the past year, the Administration has taken action to target the international and domestic suppliers of illicit opioids. Key to President Trumps opioid initiative was his crack-down on the illicit suppliers of dangerous drugs like fentanyl, both in the United States and abroad. Thanks to the Presidents efforts to improve border security, officials have prevented thousands of pounds of fentanyl from entering America. In FY 2018, at the southern border alone, between ports of entry, Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly 90 million Americans. In America, the DOJ shut down the countrys biggest Darknet distributor of drugs, seizing more than 4.8 kilograms of drugs and enough fentanyl to kill 105,000 Americans. The DOJ has also worked diligently to increase indictments against dealers of illicit drugs and has targeted seizures in areas hit hardest by the opioid crisis. The President supports strengthening criminal penalties and invoking mandatory minimums for drug dealers knowingly distributing lethal amounts of opioids. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), from 2017 to the present, more than 16,000 kilograms of heroin and nearly 5,000 kilograms of fentanyl have been seized in the United States. President Trumps leadership on DEAs National Take Back Days shattered records, recovering nearly 3.7 million pounds of unused prescription drugs. More illicit shipments of drugs are being stopped through the mail than before. From FY 2016 to FY 2018, postal inspectors achieved a 1000 percent increase in international parcel seizures and a 750 percent increase in domestic parcel seizures related to synthetic opioids. The DOJ is tackling the prescription opioid crisis by expanding fraud and abuse detection while also holding manufacturers accountable. REDUCING DEMAND: Along with cutting down on the supply of opioids, the Administration has made great strides in reducing demand in the United States. The Administration is helping to educate millions of Americans about the dangers of opioid misuse and is working to curb over-prescription. Thanks to the Trump Administrations partnership with the Truth Initiative and Ad Council, 58 percent of young American and 1.4 billion viewers have seen ads highlighting the dangers of opioids. In the Presidents first year in office, 107,000 fewer adolescents started misusing prescription painkillers and 68 percent fewer Americans over the age of 26 began using heroin than in the previous year. New efforts within the Trump Administration are resulting in a decline of opioid prescribing nationwide. The Administration issued the highest number of Drug-Free Communities Support Program grants in the programs 20-year history, providing more than $90 million to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to prevent youth substance use. HELPING AMERICANS RECOVER: President Trump and his Administration are helping individuals afflicted by drug addiction throughout the country. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. A Russian delegation of the country's senators, left, meets its North Korean counterparts, including the country's external economic relations ministry official and Kim Chaek University of Technology president Hong Seo-hyun, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, Mar. 19. Yonhap via Korea Central News Agency A group of Russian senators visiting Pyongyang met with North Korean officials to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, Russia's news agency reported. Oleg Melnichenko, who heads the delegation, said they had a meeting with a vice ministerial-level official from the North's Ministry of External Economic Relations on Tuesday, according to the TASS news agency. During the meeting, they discussed economic cooperation projects that could be proceeded without violating U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea, such as building a bridge to connect the two countries across the Tumen River on the North's east coast, the senator was quoted as saying. They also discussed possible cooperation between North Korea and Russia's provincial governments, the report said. This document lists virtually all programs and competitions under which the Department (we) has invited or expects to invite applications for new awards and provides actual or estimated deadline dates for the transmittal of applications under these programs. The lists are in the form of charts -- organized according to the Department's principal program offices -- and include programs and competitions we have previously announced, as well as those we plan to announce at a later date. If you are interested in applying for any upcoming grants with the Department of Education, please take the time to register with SAM at www.SAM.gov, as you must have an active account in order to submit a grant application with our agency. We recommend you register now even as you are looking for eligible grant programs so that your SAM registration is active by the time the application is published. This will allow you to focus on writing the application during the period the application is available and you are not spending a portion of that time obtaining SAM registration. Please click here to refer to the SAM tip sheet for additional information. Note: This document is advisory only and is not an official application notice of the Department of Education. We expect to provide updates to this document starting in the first week of June in a fiscal year and continuing through the following August. Please keep in mind that the dates recorded in this document are SUBJECT TO CHANGE and that the average size/number of awards are ESTIMATES. Note on printing: For best results, print this document in landscape orientation. We have assigned to each principal office a separate chart as follows: Chart 1 - Institute of Education Sciences. Chart 2 - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Chart 3 - Office of Postsecondary Education (Link to HEP Chart) Chart 4 - Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (Links to RSA Chart) Chart 5- Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education Chart 6 - Office of English Language Acquisition Here's how you can tell whether we've already published an application notice for a particular program or competition in the Federal Register and whether the dates we list in this Forecast of Funding Opportunities are actual or estimates: If we have published the application notice, we will list the Federal Register (FR) volume and page number (e.g., 65 FR 53402) after the date in column two. The other dates for that program or competition (columns four and five) are actual (as opposed to estimated) dates. If we do not follow the date in column two with an FR citation, it means that we have yet to publish the application notice, and the dates (columns, two, four, and five) are estimates only. The actual dates will appear in the official application notice for that program or competition in the Federal Register. Date of Application Notice. In column two of the charts, we lists the actual or estimated date for publication of the application notice for a given program or competition. Link to Notice. In column three of the charts, after its publication in the Federal Register, we will provide a link to the application notice for a given program or competition. Electronic Grant Applications. Applications may be submitted electronically, for certain programs listed in the Forecast, through the Grants Management System (G5: www.g5.gov) or through Grants.gov. The requirements and instructions for submitting applications electronically under the program identified will appear in the Federal Register in the application notice for these programs or competitions. It is important to note that, if a competition is using Grants.gov, it will not be using G5 and vice versa. As part of doing business with the Federal Government, applicants must have an active registration with SAM (www.SAM.gov). Therefore, we strongly recommend that you create a SAM account now (or update your account if you already have an existing one) before the application package becomes available so that once the package is posted, your registration will be complete. Program Contact Person. In column seven of the charts, we list the name, e-mail address, fax, and telephone numbers of the person or persons to contact for obtaining an application or further information about the programs listed. We also include this information in the actual application notice for that program. For Users of TDD or FIRS. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the TDD number, if any, listed in the individual application notice. If a TDD number is not listed for a given program, individuals who use a TDD may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. Available Funds. The programs and funding amounts listed in this document are based on the Secretary's best estimates at this time. The Secretary is providing this document in order to give potential applicants adequate time to prepare applications. Potential applicants should note, however, that the Department may cancel some of the competitions listed in this document and may announce some new competitions not listed in this document. Estimated Average Size of Awards and Number of Awards. Except for programs and competitions administered by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), column six lists estimated average size and number of awards. The amounts and numbers referenced in this column are advisory and represent the Secretary's best estimates at this time. The average size of an award is the estimate for a single-year project or for the first budget period of a multi-year project. In the application package for an individual program or competition, applicants will receive information about the amount the Secretary intends to make available for each year of a multi-year project. In the case of programs and competitions administered by the principal components of OSERS, the charts differ with regard to the average size of awards. For programs and competitions of this office, column six of the charts lists the average or estimated maximum size of the awards per year. Applicants will receive further information about funding amounts in the application packages for the individual programs. Note: The Department is not bound by any of the estimates in this document. We advise you to read the actual individual application notices for these programs or competitions published in the Federal Register. - (As of June 24, 2021) Chart 1 - Institute of Education Sciences (IES) For any application notice not already published, the dates in this chart are estimates. For further information regarding any of the following competitions, please contact the person in the listing below at the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20208. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Applications Available: Information regarding application packages and forms is available at the IES web site: https://ies.ed.gov/funding/ Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities Under this competition, NCSER will consider only applications that directly address a pandemic-related problem, issue, program, policy, or practice that is important to a State or local education agency, has the potential to improve outcomes significantly and rapidly for students with or at risk for disabilities, and will provide actionable and timely results to districts and schools Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities Under this competition, NCSER will consider only applications that directly address a pandemic-related problem, issue, program, policy, or practice that is important to a State or local education agency, has the potential to improve outcomes significantly and rapidly for students with or at risk for disabilities, and will provide actionable and timely results to districts and schools. Eligible applicants must be a State educational agency (SEA), defined as a State or Territory's K-12 authority, alone, or in conjunction with research organizations such as universities and research firms, and/or with other appropriate organizations (such as other State agencies or local educational agencies). The SEA must be the grantee and must provide the Principal Investigator. Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities IES is interested in broadening institutional participation in its research grant programs. IES encourages applications from minority-serving institutions (MSIs), alone or in combination with other institutions, that meet the eligibility criteria for this RFA. MSIs include Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, American Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Predominantly Black Institutions, and Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institutions. Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities. For the Research Training in the Education Sciences grant program, eligible applicants vary by program topic. For the Early Career Mentoring Program, applicants must be a minority-serving institution. For the Postdoctoral Research Training Program in the Education Sciences, applicants must be academic institutions located in the United States and its territories that confer doctoral degrees in fields relevant to education. For the Methods Training for Education Researchers program, applicants must be located in the territorial United States and have the ability and capacity to conduct training in scientific research methods. Applicants that have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are eligible to apply. These include, but are not limited to, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and institutions of higher education, such as colleges and universities TBD = To be determined - (As of December 3, 2021) Chart 2 - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) For any application notice not already published, the dates in this chart are estimates. For further information regarding any of the following competitions, please contact the person in the listing below at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., room 3W344, Washington, DC 20202-6110. Telephone: (202) 260-1925. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Estimated Available Funds: $2,150,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $300,000-$500,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $400,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $500,000 to any applicant per 12-month budget period. The Department plans to fully fund awards made under this notice with FY 2021 funds. Estimated Number of Awards: 2-3. An institution of higher education or other nonprofit or for-profit organization with demonstrated expertise in the development of evidence-based approaches with the potential to improve the quality of American history, civics and government, or geography learning and teaching. Estimated Available Funds: $1,700,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $300,000-$500,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $400,000 per year. Estimated Number of Awards: 1. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $500,000 to any applicant per 12-month budget period. The Department plans to fully fund awards made under this notice with FY 2021 funds. Estimated Available Funds: $180,000,000. These estimated available funds are the total available for all three types of grants under the EIR program (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion grants). Contingent upon the availability of funds and the quality of applications, we may make additional awards in subsequent years from the list of unfunded applications from this competition. Estimated Average Size of Awards: Up to $4,000,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $4,000,000 for a project period of 60 months. The Department intends to fund one or more projects under each of the EIR competitions, including Expansion (84.411A), Mid-phase (84.411B), and Early-phase (84.411C). Entities may submit applications for different projects for more than one competition (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion). The maximum award amount a grantee may receive under these three competitions, taken together, is $15,000,000. If an entity is within funding range for multiple applications, the Department will award the highest scoring applications up to $15,000,000. Estimated Number of Awards: 12-23. In addition, any IHE is eligible to be a partner in an application where an LEA, SEA, BIE, consortium of SEAs or LEAs, or a nonprofit organization is the lead applicant that submits the application. A private IHE that is a nonprofit organization can apply for an EIR grant. A nonprofit organization, such as a development foundation, that is affiliated with a public IHE can apply for a grant. A public IHE that has 501(c)(3) status would also qualify as a nonprofit organization and could be a lead applicant for an EIR grant. A public IHE without 501(c)(3) status (even if that entity is tax exempt under Section 115 of the Internal Revenue Code or any other State or Federal provision), or that could not provide any other documentation described in 34 CFR 75.51(b), however, would not qualify as a nonprofit organization, and therefore could not apply for and receive an EIR grant. Note If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual, (3) a certified copy of the applicants certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant, or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. Applicants are encouraged to retrieve locale codes from the National Center for Education Statistics School District search tool ( https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/ ), where districts can be looked up individually to retrieve locale codes, and Public School search tool ( https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/ ), where individual schools can be looked up to retrieve locale codes. More information on rural applicant eligibility is in the application package. 1. Eligible Applicants (a) An LEA; (b) An SEA; (c)The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); (d) A consortium of SEAs or LEAs; (e) A nonprofit (as defined in this notice) organization; and (f) An LEA, an SEA, the BIE, or a consortium described in clause (d), in partnership with-- (1 A nonprofit organization; (2) A business; (3) An educational service agency; or (4) An IHE. To qualify as a rural applicant under the EIR program, an applicant must meet both of the following requirements: (a) The applicant is-- (1) An LEA with an urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; (2) A consortium of such LEAs; (3) An educational service agency or a nonprofit organization in partnership with such an LEA; or (4) A grantee described in clause (1) or (2) in partnership with an SEA; and (b) A majority of the schools to be served by the program are designated with a locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such codes, as determined by the Secretary. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $8,000,000 for a project period of 60 months. The Department intends to fund one or more projects under each of the EIR competitions, including Expansion (84.411A), Mid-phase (84.411B), and Early-phase (84.411C). Entities may submit applications for different projects for more than one competition (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion). The maximum award amount a grantee may receive under these three competitions, taken together, is $15,000,000. If an entity is within funding range for multiple applications, the Department will award the highest scoring applications up to $15,000,000. These estimated available funds are the total available for all three types of grants under the EIR program (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion grants). (1) A local educational agency (LEA); (2) A State educational agency (SEA); (3) The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); (4) A consortium of SEAs or LEAs; (5) A nonprofit organization; and (6) An SEA, an LEA, a consortium described in (4), or the Bureau of Indian Education, in partnership with (1) A nonprofit organization; (2) A business; (3) An educational service agency; or (4) An institution of higher education. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $15,000,000 for a project period of 60 months. The Department intends to fund one or more projects under each of the EIR competitions, including Expansion (84.411A), Mid-phase (84.411B), and Early-phase (84.411C). Entities may submit applications for different projects for more than one competition (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion). The maximum award amount a grantee may receive under these three competitions, taken together, is $15,000,000. If an entity is within funding range for multiple applications, the Department will award the highest scoring applications up to $15,000,000. Estimated Available Funds: $180,000,000. These estimated available funds are the total available for all three types of grants under the EIR program (Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion grants). Estimated Average Size of Awards: Up to $15,000,000. In addition, any IHE is eligible to be a partner in an application where an LEA, SEA, BIE, consortium of SEAs or LEAs, or a nonprofit organization is the lead applicant that submits the application. A private IHE that is a non-profit organization can apply for an EIR grant. A nonprofit organization, such as a development foundation, that is affiliated with a public IHE can apply for a grant. A public IHE that has 501(c)(3) status would also qualify as a nonprofit organization and could be a lead applicant for an EIR grant. A public IHE without 501(c)(3) status (even if that entity is tax exempt under Section 115 of the Internal Revenue Code or any other State or Federal provision), or that could not provide any other documentation described in 34 CFR 75.51(b), however, would not qualify as a nonprofit organization, and therefore could not apply for and receive an EIR grant. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual, (3) a certified copy of the applicants certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant, or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. Applicants are encouraged to retrieve locale codes from the National Center for Education Statistics School District search tool (https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/) , where districts can be looked up individually to retrieve locale codes, and Public School search tool (https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/) , where individual schools can be look (b) A majority of the schools to be served by the program are designated with a locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such codes, as determined by the Secretary. To qualify as a rural applicant under the EIR program, an applicant must meet both of the following requirements: (a) An LEA; (b) An SEA; (c) The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); (d) A consortium of SEAs or LEAs; (e) A nonprofit organization; and (f) An LEA, an SEA, the BIE, or a consortium described in clause (d), in partnership with-- (1) A nonprofit organization; (2) A business; (3) An educational service agency; or (4) An IHE. e: The Department estimates a wide range of awards, given the potentially large differences in the scope of funded projects, including the size and number of participating LEAs. 1. Eligible Applicants: (a) An LEA, including a charter school that is an LEA, or a consortium of LEAs;[1] (b) A State educational agency (SEA) or other State agency designated by the Chief Executive of a State to participate; (c) The Bureau of Indian Education; or (d) A partnership[2] consisting of-- (i) One or more agencies described in paragraph (a), (b), or (c); and (ii) At least one nonprofit organization as defined in 2 CFR 200.70 or at least one for-profit entity. Note: An LEA may receive (whether individually or as part of a consortium or partnership) a grant under the TSL program only twice. Note: The Secretary considers all schools funded by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Education to be LEAs under section 8101(30)(C) of the ESEA. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization , under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. (1) Absolute Priority 1: Authorized Native Hawaiian Education Activities: $250,000 - $950,000 for each 12-month budget period. (2) Absolute Priority 2: Research and Data Collection Activities: $1,000,000 - $3,000,000 for each 12-month budget period. (1) Absolute Priority 1: Authorized Native Hawaiian Education Activities: $750,000 for each 12-month budget period. (2) Absolute Priority 2: Research and Data Collection Activities: $2,000,000 for each 12-month budget period. 1. Eligible Applicants: The following entities are eligible to apply under this competition: (a) Native Hawaiian educational organizations. (b) Native Hawaiian community-based organizations. (c) Public and private nonprofit organizations, agencies, and institutions with experience in developing or operating Native Hawaiian programs or programs of instruction in the Native Hawaiian language. (d) Charter schools. (e) Consortia of the organizations, agencies, and institutions described in paragraphs (a) through (c). Note: Although State educational agencies (SEAs) and LEAs are not eligible entities, applicants are encouraged to partner and coordinate with an SEA or LEA in proposing and implementing a project. In addition, all applicants must meet the application requirement to solicit comments on the proposed project from the LEA and submit those comments, if any, with the application. An eligible applicant must be (a) Alaska Native organizations with experience operating programs that fulfill the purposes of the ANE program; (b) Alaska Native organizations that do not have experience operating programs that fulfill the purposes of the ANE program, but are in partnership with-- (i) An SEA or LEA; or (ii) An Alaska Native organization that operates a program that fulfills the purposes of the ANE program; or (c) An entity located in Alaska, and predominately governed by Alaska Natives, that does not meet the definition of an Alaska Native organization but-- (i) Has experience operating programs that fulfill the purposes of the ANE program; and (ii) Is granted an official charter or sanction from at least one Alaska Native Tribe or Alaska Native organization to carry out programs that meet the purposes of the ANE program. $43,000,000 Estimated Range of Awards: $4,000,000 to $12,000,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $11,000,000. Maximum Award: We will not award a grant for more than $12,000,000 for a grant project. The Department may change the maximum amount through a notice published in the Federal Register. Estimated Number of Awards: 4. 1. Eligible Applicants: (a) A public entity, such as a State or local governmental entity; (b) A private, nonprofit entity; or (c) A consortium of entities described in (a) and (b). Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. Eligible Applicants: To be considered for an award under this competition, an applicant must: (a) Be one of the following: (1) a LEA in which 20 percent or more of the students served by the local educational agency are from families with an income below the poverty line; (2) a consortium of such LEAs; (3) a SEA; (4) an institution of higher education; (5) a museum of cultural institution; (6) the Bureau of Indian Education; (7) an eligible national non-profit organization; or (8) another private agency, institution, or organization. 1. Eligible Applicants: (a) An eligible applicant must be either -- (1) An IHE or a TCU; (2) A State educational agency in consortium with an IHE or a TCU; (3) An LEA in consortium with an IHE or a TCU; (4) An Indian Tribe or Indian organization in consortium with an IHE or a TCU; or (5) A BIE-funded school in consortium with at least one TCU, where feasible. (b) Eligibility of an applicant requiring a consortium with an IHE or a TCU, requires that the IHE or TCU be accredited to provide the coursework and level of degree or Native American language certificate required by the project. 1. Eligible Applicants: To be considered for an award under this competition, an applicant must be one or more of the following: (1) An LEA in which 20 percent or more of the students served by the LEA are from families with an income below the poverty line (as defined in section 8101(41) of the ESEA). (2) A consortium of such LEAs described in paragraph (1) above. (3) The Bureau of Indian Education. (4) An eligible national nonprofit organization (as defined in section 2226(b)(2) of the ESEA) that serves children and students within the attendance boundaries of one or more eligible LEAs. Estimated Available Funds: $3,200,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $50,000 to $350,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $250,000. Maximum Award: The total amount of Project SAFE funds an LEA requests must not exceed the amount of the financial penalty for adopting and implementing CDC guidance that the LEA incurred or will incur during the project period. The Department may fund awards in whole, or in part, consistent with this notice, and may establish a maximum grant award level through a notice in the Federal Register in order to serve as many eligible applicants as possible. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: Applications will be reviewed and approved on a rolling, expedited basis contingent on the availability of funding. 1. Eligible Applicants: An LEA that-- a. Has adopted a policy to implement and is implementing one or more of the strategies recommended in the CDC Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools, as may be updated.[1] The most recent guidance incorporates the following strategies: (i) Promoting vaccination; (ii) Consistent and correct mask use; (iii) Physical distancing; (iv) Screening testing to promptly identify cases, clusters, and outbreaks; (v) Ventilation; (vi) Handwashing and respiratory etiquette; (vii) Staying home when sick and getting tested; (viii) Contact tracing, in combination with isolation and quarantine; and (ix) Cleaning and disinfection. b. Has incurred or will incur a financial penalty imposed by its SEA or other State entity, such as a reduction in funding, including but not limited to reduction in salaries for school board members or superintendents, due to implementation of one or more strategies described in paragraph (a); and c. To protect the safety and well-being of students, has continued at the time of application to implement such strategy or strategies for which the penalty was imposed and commits to maintain such strategy or strategies to the extent consistent with CDC guidance for the 2021-2022 school year. Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested $13,800,166 for new awards for this program for FY 2022. Estimated Range of Awards: $180,000$475,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $475,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $475,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Minimum Award: The Department will not make an award for less than the amount of $180,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. 1. Eligible Applicants: An IHE (as defined in section 101 and 102 of the HEA) or a private nonprofit (as those terms are defined in 34 CFR 77.1) organization may apply for a grant to operate a CAMP project. If a private nonprofit organization other than an IHE applies for a CAMP grant, that organization must plan the project in cooperation with an IHE and must propose to operate the project with the facilities of that IHE. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested $12,574,487 for new awards for this program for FY 2022. Estimated Range of Awards: $180,000$475,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $475,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $475,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Minimum Award: The Department will not make an award for less than the amount of $180,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 1. Eligible Applicants: An IHE (as defined in section 101 and 102 of the HEA) or a private nonprofit (as those terms are defined in 34 CFR 77.1) organization may apply for a grant to operate a HEP project. If a private nonprofit organization other than an IHE applies for a HEP grant, that organization must plan the project in cooperation with an IHE and must propose to operate some aspects of the project with the facilities of that IHE. TBD = To be determined - (As of December 2, 2021 ) Chart 3 - Office of Postsecondary Education Higher Education Programs (OPE/IFLE) For any application notice not already published, the dates in the chart are estimates. For further information regarding any of the following competitions, please contact the person in the listing below at the Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, Washington, DC 20006, Telephone: (202) 453-6138. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Consortia of United States Institutions of HigherEducation that receive more than 50 percent of their funding from public orprivate United States sources, have a permanent presence in the country inwhich the center is located, and are organizations described in section501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, which are exempt fromtaxation under section 501(a) of such Code. 1. Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education (IHEs) that have entered into agreements with business enterprises, trade organizations, or associations that are engaged in international economic activity--or a consortium of these enterprises, organizations, or associations--for the purposes of pursuing the activities authorized under this program. Estimated Available Funds: $3,332,000. Estimated Range of Awards: GPA short-term projects: $50,000-$180,000. GPA long-term projects: $50,000-$300,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: GPA short-term projects: $100,059. GPA long-term projects: $215,025. Maximum Award: We will not make a GPA short-term award exceeding $180,000 for a single project period of 18 months. We will not make a GPA long-term project award exceeding $300,000 for a single budget period of 24 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 21. GPA short-term projects: 10. GPA long-term projects: 11. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) Proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 1. Eligible Applicants: (1) IHEs, (2) State educational agencies, (3) private nonprofit educational organizations, and (4) consortia of these entities. Eligible Participants: Citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States, who are (1) faculty members who teach modern foreign languages or area studies at an IHE, (2) teachers in elementary or secondary schools, (3) experienced education administrators responsible for planning, conducting, or supervising programs in modern foreign language or area studies at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary levels, or (4) graduate students, or juniors or seniors in an IHE, who plan teaching careers in modern foreign languages or area studies. Estimated Available Funds: $3,332,000. Estimated Range of Awards: GPA short-term projects: $50,000-$180,000. GPA long-term projects: $50,000-$300,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: GPA short-term projects: $100,059. GPA long-term projects: $215,025. Maximum Award: We will not make a GPA short-term award exceeding $180,000 for a single project period of 18 months. We will not make a GPA long-term project award exceeding $300,000 for a single budget period of 24 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 21. GPA short-term projects: 10. GPA long-term projects: 11. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) Proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 1. Eligible Applicants: (1) IHEs, (2) State educational agencies, (3) private nonprofit educational organizations, and (4) consortia of these entities. Eligible Participants: Citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States, who are (1) faculty members who teach modern foreign languages or area studies at an IHE, (2) teachers in elementary or secondary schools, (3) experienced education administrators responsible for planning, conducting, or supervising programs in modern foreign language or area studies at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary levels, or (4) graduate students, or juniors or seniors in an IHE, who plan teaching careers in modern foreign languages or area studies. Estimated Range of Awards: For single applicant grants: $70,000-$100,000 for each 12-month budget period. For consortia or partnership grants: $90,000-$120,000 for each 12- month budget period. Estimated Average Size of Awards: For single applicant grants: $83,603. For consortia or partnership grants: $101,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $100,000 for a single applicant for a single budget period of 12 months, or an award exceeding $120,000 for a consortium or partnership applicant for a single budget period of 12 months. TBD = To be determined (As of November 5, 2021) Chart 3 A- Office of Postsecondary Education Higher Education Programs (OPE/HEP) For any application notice not already published, the dates in the chart are estimates. For further information regarding any of the following competitions, please contact the person in the listing below at the Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, Washington, DC 20006, Telephone: (202) 453-6138. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. OPE/HEP Assistance Listing No. (formerly CFDA No.) and Name Eligible Entities Application Notice Link to Notice Application Deadline Estimated Maximum or Average Size/ Number of Awards Program Contact Person Program Web Page 84.031A - Strengthening Institutions Program This program is authorized by title III, part A, of the HEA. To qualify as an eligible institution under any title III, part A program, an institution must-- (a) Be accredited or preaccredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered; (b) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelors degree; and (c) Be designated as an eligible institution by demonstrating that it: (1) has an enrollment of needy students as described in 34 CFR 607.3; and (2) has low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student as described in 34 CFR 607.4. 05-14-2021 Text PDF 07-13-2021 Individual Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $400,000-$450,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $425,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $450,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 28. Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000-$550,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $525,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $550,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 10. Nalini Lamba-Nieves Nalini.Lamba-Nieves@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-7953 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduestitle3a/index.html 84.031C - Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (STEM) 1. Eligible Applicants: (a)IHEs that qualify as eligible HSIs are eligible to apply for new grants under the HSI STEM and Articulation Program. To be an eligible HSI, an IHE must-- (i) Have an enrollment of needy students, as defined in section 502(b) of the HEA (section 502(a)(2)(A)(i) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(2)(A)(i)); (ii) Have, except as provided in section 522(b) of the HEA, average education and general expenditures that are low, per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student, in comparison with the average education and general expenditures per FTE undergraduate student of institutions that offer similar instruction (section 502(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(2)(A)(ii)); Note: To demonstrate an enrollment of needy students and low average education and general expenditures per FTE undergraduate student, an IHE must be designated as an eligible institution in accordance with 34 CFR 606.3 through 606.5 and the notice inviting applications for designation as an eligible institution for the fiscal year for which the grant competition is being conducted. Note: The notice announcing the FY 2021 process for designation of eligible institutions, and inviting applications for waiver of eligibility requirements, was published in the Federal Register on March 3, 2021 (86 FR 12665). A notice extending the deadline was published in the Federal Register on April 13, 2021 (86 FR 19231). Only institutions that the Department determines are eligible, or are granted a waiver, may apply for a grant in this program. (iii) Be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered, or making reasonable progress toward accreditation, according to such an agency or association (section 502(a)(2)(A)(iv) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(2)(A)(iv)); (iv) Be legally authorized to provide, and provides within the State, an education program for which the institution awards a bachelors degree (section 502(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(2)(A)(iii)), or be a junior or community college (section 502(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(2)(A)(iii)); (v) Have an enrollment of undergraduate FTE students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application (section 502(a)(5)(B) of the HEA; 20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5)(B)); Note: For this program, the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application refers to the end of the fiscal year prior to the application due date. For purposes of this competition, the data that we will use to determine percent enrollment of undergraduate FTE of Hispanic students is from academic year 2019-2020. (b) An eligible HSI may only submit one grant application in the lead role. 04/31/2021 Text PDF 6/14/2021 $94,100,000 Estimated Range of Awards: $700,000-$1,000,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $775,000. Estimated Number of Awards: 96. Jymece Seward Jymece.Seward@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-6138 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/hsistem/index.html 84.031R/V - Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (Part F) 1. Eligible Applicants: This program is authorized by title III, part F, of the HEA. At the time of submission of their applications, applicants must certify their total undergraduate headcount enrollment and that either 20 percent of the IHEs enrollment is Alaska Native or 10 percent is Native Hawaiian. An assurance form, which is included in the application materials for this competition, must be signed by an official for the applicant and submitted. To qualify as an eligible institution under the ANNH Program, an institution must-- (a) Be accredited or preaccredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered; (b) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelors degree; and (c) Be designated as an eligible institution by demonstrating that it: (1) has an enrollment of needy students as described in 34 CFR 607.3; and (2) has low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student as described in 34 CFR 607.4. Note: The notice announcing the FY 2021 process for designation of eligible institutions, and inviting applications for waiver of eligibility requirements, was published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2021, (86 FR 12665). Only institutions that the Department determines are eligible, or which are granted a waiver under the process described in that notice, may apply for a grant in this program. An eligible IHE that submits applications for an Individual Development Grant and a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant in this competition may be awarded both in the same fiscal year. A grantee with an Individual Development Grant or a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant may be a partner in one or more Cooperative Development Arrangement Grants. The lead institution in a Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant must be an eligible institution. Partners are not required to be eligible institutions. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 4/26/2021 Text PDF 6/10/2021 $13,973,850 Individual Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000-$550,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $525,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $550,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 20. Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000-$600,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $550,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $600,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 5. Robyn Wood Robyn.Wood@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-7744 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduesannh/index.html 84.044A - Talent Search Program 1. Eligible Applicants: (a) Institutions of higher education, (b) public or private agencies or organizations, including community-based organizations with experience in serving disadvantaged youth, (c) secondary schools, and (d) combinations of such institutions, agencies, and organizations, for planning, developing, or carrying out one or more of the services identified under this program. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) Proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 12/28/2020 Text PDF 3/1/2021 3/15/2021 $171,000,000 Estimated Range of Awards: $267,995-$1,030,588. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $391,715. Maximum Award: For an applicant that is not currently receiving a Talent Search Program grant, the maximum award amount is $277,375. All projects must serve a minimum of 500 participants annually and have a per participant cost of no more than $555. For an applicant that is currently receiving a Talent Search Program grant, the maximum award amount is the greater of (a) $277,375 or (b) 100 percent of the applicant's base award amount for FY 2020. For example, an applicant that is eligible for, and requests, a $550,000 grant, must propose to serve at least 990 participants. All projects must serve a minimum of 500 participants annually and have a per participant cost of no more than $555. Estimated Number of Awards: 473. Antoinette Clark Edwards Antoinette.Edwards@ed.gov TRIO@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-7121 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/triotalent/applicant.html 84.066A - Educational Opportunity Centers Program 1. Eligible Applicants: IHEs; public and private agencies and organizations, including community-based organizations with experience in serving disadvantaged youth; secondary schools; and combinations of such institutions, agencies, and organizations. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) Proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 1/13/2021 Text PDF 3/1/2021 3/15/2021 $55,994,306 Estimated Range of Awards: $232,050-$1,280,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $273,793. Maximum Award: The maximum award varies based on whether the applicant is currently receiving an EOC Program grant, as well as the number of participants served. For an applicant that is not currently receiving an EOC Program grant, the maximum award amount is $232,050. Applicants must have a per-participant cost of no more than $273 and propose to serve a minimum of 850 participants. For an applicant that is currently receiving an EOC Program grant-- 1. The applicant may request a maximum award amount that is an amount equal to 100 percent of the applicant's base award amount for FY 2020 to serve a minimum number of participants equal to the applicant's approved FY 2020 participant number; or 2. If the applicant proposes to reduce the number of participants to be served below the amount served in FY 2020, the proposed number of participants must be at least 850 and the per-participant cost must not exceed the applicant's cost per participant for FY 2020 or $273, whichever is greater. For example, if an applicant's per participant cost for FY 2020 is $344 and the applicant is proposing to serve 850 participants under the FY 2021 competition, the applicant would be eligible to request a $292,400 grant ($344 x 850 = $292,400). Note: Applicants currently receiving an EOC Program grant in FY 2020 are strongly encouraged to continue to serve the same number of participants under the proposed project. Estimated Number of Awards: 140. Rachael Wiley Ed.D Rachael.Wiley@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-6078 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioeoc/index.html 84.116D - National Center for Information and Technical Support for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities Program 1. Eligible Applicants: Under section 777(a)(3) of the HEA, an eligible entity is an IHE (as defined in this notice); a nonprofit organization; or a partnership of two or more IHEs or organizations, with demonstrated expertise in: (a) Supporting students with disabilities in postsecondary education; (b) Technical knowledge necessary for the dissemination of information in accessible formats; (c) Working with diverse types of IHEs, including community colleges; and (d) The subjects necessary to support students across the broad spectrum of disabilities. 9/22/2021 Text PDF 10/22/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $1,980,000. Estimated Average Size of Award: $1,980,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $1,980,000 for a project period of 48 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 1. Shedita Alston Shedita.Alston@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-7090 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/ncitspsd/index.html 84.116N - Basic Needs Program 1. Eligible Applicants: Community Colleges (as defined in this notice) that are Minority-Serving Institutions (as defined in this notice), Historically Black colleges and universities (as defined in this notice), or Tribal Colleges or Universities (as defined in this notice). 11/5/2021 Text PDF 12/6/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $4,950,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $750,000 to $990,000 over 36 months. Estimated Average Size of Award: $865,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $990,000 for a single budget period of 36 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 5. Njeri Clark Njeri.Clark@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-6224. 84.116S - Modeling and Simulation Programs 1. Eligible Applicants: A public or private nonprofit institution of higher education, as defined in section 101(a) of the HEA. 11/5/2021 Text PDF 12/6/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $6,930,000. Approximately fifty percent of available funds will be used to fund an award under Absolute Priority 1, and approximately 50 percent will be used to fund an award under Absolute Priority 2. Estimated Range of Awards: $750,000 to $1,155,000 for a performance period of 36 months. Estimated Average Award Size: $866,250. Maximum Award: $1,155,000 for a performance period of 36 months. Note: Applicants may include in their award requests up to 10 percent for activities related to task force participation. Estimated Number of Awards: 8. Robin M. Dabney Robin.Dabney@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7908. 84.116V - Center of Educational Excellence for Black Teachers (CEEBT) Program at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program Center of Educational Excellence for Black Teachers (CEEBT) Program at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program 10/29/2021 Text PDF 11/29/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $1,980,000. Maximum Award: Up to $1,980,000 for 36 months. Note: The maximum award is based on a 3-year budget period. Applicants will need to prepare a multiyear budget request for up to 3 years. Estimated Number of Awards: Up to 2. Wendy Lawrence Wendy.Lawrence@ed.gov Telephone (202) 453-7821 84.116W - Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development Program 1. Eligible Applicants: For the FY 2021 grant competition in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of GEPA, the following are eligible applicants: Public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education (IHEs), as defined in section 101 of the HEA, with enrollment of at least 30 percent of students who attended high schools located in rural areas (as defined in this notice). 11/5/2021 Text PDF 12/6/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $9,900,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $1,100,000 to $1,237,500. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,200, Maximum Award: $1,237,500. Note: The maximum award is based on a 3-year budget period. Applicants will need to prepare a multiyear budget request for up to 3 years. Estimated Number of Awards: 8. Kurrinn Abrams Kurrinn.Abrams@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7906 84.116Y - Transitioning Gang-Involved Youth to Higher Education Program 1. Eligible Applicants: Community colleges (as defined in this notice). 10/29/2021 Text PDF 11/29/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $990,000. Maximum Award: $990,000 for a single budget period of 36 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 1. Jymece Seward Jymece.Seward@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-6138. 84.120A- Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program 1. Eligible Applicants: The eligibility of an applicant is dependent on the type of MSEIP grant the applicant seeks. There are four types of MSEIP grants: institutional project, special project, cooperative project, and design project. Institutional project grants are grants that support the implementation of a comprehensive science improvement plan, which may include any combination of activities for improving the preparation of minority students for careers in science. There are two types of special project grants. First, there are special project grants for which only minority institutions are eligible. These special project grants support activities that: (1) improve quality training in science and engineering at minority institutions; or (2) enhance the minority institutions' general scientific research capabilities. There also are special project grants for which all applicants are eligible. These special project grants support activities that: (1) provide a needed service to a group of eligible minority institutions; or (2) provide in-service training for project directors, scientists, and engineers from eligible minority institutions. Cooperative project grants assist groups of nonprofit accredited colleges and universities to work together to conduct a science improvement program. Design project grants assist minority institutions that do not have their own appropriate resources or personnel to plan and develop long-range science improvement programs. We will not award design project grants in the FY 2021 competition. (a) For institutional project grants, eligible applicants are limited to-- (1) Public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education that: (i) award baccalaureate degrees; and (ii) are minority institutions; (2) Public or private nonprofit institutions of higher education that: (i) award associate degrees; and (ii) are minority institutions that (A) have a curriculum that includes science or engineering subjects; and (B) enter into a partnership with public or private nonprofit institutions of higher education that award baccalaureate degrees in science and engineering. (b) For special project grants for which only minority institutions are eligible, eligible applicants are described in paragraph (a). (c) For special project grants for which all applicants are eligible, eligible applicants include those described in paragraph (a), and-- (1) Nonprofit science-oriented organizations, professional scientific societies, and institutions of higher education that award baccalaureate degrees that: (i) provide a needed service to a group of minority institutions; or (ii) provide in-service training to project directors, scientists, and engineers from minority institutions; or (2) A consortia of organizations that provide needed services to one or more minority institutions, the membership of which may include: (i) institutions of higher education which have a curriculum in science or engineering; (ii) institutions of higher education that have a graduate or professional program in science or engineering; (iii) research laboratories of, or under contract with, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, or the National Institutes of Health; (iv) relevant offices of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, and National Institute of Standards and Technology; (v) quasi-governmental entities that have a significant scientific or engineering mission; or (vi) institutions of higher education that have State-sponsored centers for research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. (d) For cooperative project grants, eligible applicants are groups of nonprofit accredited colleges and universities whose primary fiscal agent is an eligible minority institution as defined in 34 CFR 637.4(b). Note: As defined in 34 CFR 637.4(b), minority institution means an accredited college or university whose enrollment of a single minority group or a combination of minority groups as defined in 34 CFR 637.4 exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment. The Secretary verifies this information from the data on enrollments (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 12-Month Enrollment survey) furnished by the institution to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), United States Department of Education.[1] Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 5/20/2021 Text PDF 7/6/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $3,021,891. Estimated Range of Awards: Institutional Project Grants: $200,000-$250,000. Special Project Grants: $200,000-$250,000. Cooperative Project Grants: $275,000-$300,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: Institutional Project Grants: $225,000. Special Project Grants: $225,000. Cooperative Project Grants: $287,500. Maximum Awards: Institutional Project Grants: $250,000. Special Project Grants: $250,000. Cooperative Project Grants: $300,000. Estimated Number of Awards: Institutional Project Grants: 10. Special Project Grants: 2. Cooperative Project Grants: 1. Bernadette Hence Bernadette.Hence@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7913 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduesmsi/index.html 84.200A - Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) 1. Eligible Applicants: (a) Any academic department of an IHE that provides a course of study that-- (i) Leads to a graduate degree in an area of national need; and (ii) Has been in existence for at least four years at the time of an application for a grant under this competition; or (b) An academic department of an IHE that-- (i) Satisfies the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section; and (ii) Submits a joint application with one or more eligible non- degree-granting institutions that have formal arrangements for the support of doctoral dissertation research with one or more degree-granting institutions. Note: Students are not eligible to apply for grants under this program. Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) Proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 1/15/2021 PDF TXT 3/1/2021 $20,425,000 Estimated Range of Awards: $101,460-$405,840. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $275,000 Estimated Number of Awards: 72. Rebecca Ell Reshone.moore@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-6348 OPE_GAANN_Program@ed.gov or ReShone Moore Reshone.moore@ed.gov Telephone: 202-453-7624 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/gaann/index.html 84.334A -Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP); Partnership Grants 1. Eligible Applicants: Partnerships consisting of (a) at least one LEA and (b) at least one degree-granting IHE. Partnerships may include not less than two other community organizations or entities, such as businesses, professional organizations, State agencies, institutions or agencies sponsoring programs authorized under the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program authorized in part A, subpart 4, of title IV of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070c et seq.), or other public or private agencies or organizations (20 U.S.C. 1070a-21(c)(2)). Note: If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate. 4/29/2021 Text PDF 6/28/2021 $35,617,582 Estimated Range of Awards: $100,000 - $5,000,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $1,200,000. Maximum Award: We will not fund any application for a partnership grant above the maximum award of $800 per student for a single budget period of 12 months. Additionally, no funding will be awarded for increases in years two through seven. 28 Awards Ben Witthoefft Ben.Witthoefft@ed.gov Telephone: (202)) 453-7576 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index. 84.334S - Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP); State Grants 1. Eligible Applicants: States (as defined in section 103(20) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1003(20)), which includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Freely Associated States. Per congressional direction in House Report 116-450 and reinforced in the Explanatory Statement to the Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260), only States without an active State GEAR UP grant, or States that have an active State GEAR UP grant that is scheduled to end prior to October 1, 2021, are eligible to receive a new State GEAR UP award in this competition. States with grants remaining open beyond October 1, 2021, for a no-cost extension period or for the sole purpose of data collection and analysis activities, are not considered active for purposes of implementing this directive. 4/29/2021 Text PDF 6/28/2021 $35,617,582 Estimated Range of Awards: $2,500,000-$5,000,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $3,535,000. Maximum Award: We will not make an award for a State grant exceeding $5,000,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Additionally, no funding will be awarded for increases in years two through seven. 11 Awards Ben Witthoefft Ben.Witthoefft@ed.gov Telephone: (202)) 453-7576 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index. 84.335A - Child Care Access Means Parentsin School (CCAMPIS) Program 1. Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education that awarded a total of $250,000 or more of Federal Pell Grant funds during FY 2020 to students enrolled at the institution. 3/3/2021 PDF 6/1/2021 $43,500,000 275 Tanisha Hamblin-Johnson, Ed.D. tanisha.johnson@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-6090 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/campisp/index.html 84.382A - Predominantly Black Institutions Competitive Grant Program 1. Eligible Applicants: To qualify as an eligible institution under the PBI-C Program, an institution of higher education (IHE) must-- (a) Have an enrollment of needy students, as defined by section 371(c)(3) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1067q(c)(3)). The term enrollment of needy students means the enrollment at the eligible IHE with respect to which not less than 50 percent of the undergraduate students enrolled in an academic program leading to a degree (i) In the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the determination is made, were Federal Pell Grant recipients for such year; (ii) Come from families that receive benefits under a means-tested Federal benefit program (as defined in section 371(c)(5) of the HEA, 20 U.S.C. 1067q(c)(5)); (iii) Attended a public or nonprofit private secondary school that-- (A) Is in the school district of an LEA that was eligible for assistance under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.), for any year during which the student attended such secondary school; and (B) For the purpose of this paragraph and for that year, was determined by the Secretary (pursuant to regulations and after consultation with the State educational agency of the State in which the school is located) to be a school in which the enrollment of children counted under a measure of poverty described in section 1113(a)(5) of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)) exceeds 30 percent of the total enrollment of such school; or (iv) Are first-generation college students, as that term is defined in section 402A(h) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11(h)), and a majority of such first-generation college students are low-income individuals, as that term is defined in section 402A(h) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11(h)); (b) Have an average educational and general expenditure that is low, per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student, in comparison with the average educational and general expenditure per FTE undergraduate student of IHEs that offer similar instruction. The Secretary may waive this requirement, in accordance with section 392(b) of the HEA (20 U.S.C.1068a(b)), in the same manner as the Secretary applies the waiver requirements to grant applicants under section 312(b)(1)(B) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1058(b)(1)(B)); (c) Have an enrollment of undergraduate students-- (i) That is at least 40 percent Black American students; (ii) That is at least 1,000 undergraduate students; (iii) Of which not less than 50 percent of the undergraduate students enrolled at the institution are low-income individuals, as that term is defined in section 402A(h) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11(h)), or first-generation college students, as that term is defined in section 402A(h) of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1070a-11(h)); and (iv) Of which not less than 50 percent of the undergraduate students are enrolled in an educational program leading to a bachelors or associates degree that the institution is licensed to award by the State in which the institution is located; (d) Be legally authorized to provide, and provide, within the State an educational program for which the IHE awards a bachelors degree or, in the case of a junior or community college, an associates degree; (e) Be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered, or be, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation; and (f) Not be receiving assistance under part B of title III or part A of title V of the HEA or an annual authorization of appropriations under the Act of March 2, 1867 (20 U.S.C. 123). 05/14/2021 Text PDF 6/28/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $14,115,000. Estimated Range of Awards: $400,000 - $600,000. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $564,600. Maximum Awards: We will not make an award exceeding $600,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 25. Kelly Harris Kelly.Harris@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7346. Or Ashley Hillary Ashley.Hillary@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7880. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/pbi/index.html 84.382B - Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program AANAPISI 1. Eligible Applicants: This program is authorized by title III, part F, of the HEA. At the time of submission of their applications, applicants must certify their total undergraduate headcount enrollment and that at least 10 percent of the IHEs enrollment is Asian American or Native American Pacific Islander. An assurance form, which is included in the application materials for this competition, must be signed by an official for the applicant and submitted. To qualify as an eligible institution under the AANAPISI Program, an institution must-- (i) Be accredited or preaccredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered; (ii) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's degree; and (iii) Be designated as an eligible institution, as defined in 34 CFR 600.2, by demonstrating that it: (1) has an enrollment of needy students as described in 34 CFR 607.3; and (2) has low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student as described in 34 CFR 607.4. 05/14/2021 Text PDF 06/28/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $4,638,703. Individual Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $250,000-$300,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $275,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $300,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 12. Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $350,000-$400,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $375,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $400,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 4. Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice. Pearson Owens Pearson.Owens@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 453-7997 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/aanapi/index.html 84.382C - Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions Program NASNTI 1. Eligible Applicants: This program is authorized by title III, part F, of the HEA. At the time of submission of their applications, applicants must certify their total undergraduate headcount enrollment and that 10 percent of the IHEs enrollment is Native American. An assurance form, which is included in the application materials for this competition, must be signed by an official for the applicant and submitted. To qualify as an eligible institution under the NASNTI Program, an institution must-- (i) Be accredited or preaccredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered; (ii) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's degree; and (iii) Be designated as an eligible institution, by demonstrating that it: (1) has an enrollment of needy students as described in 34 CFR 607.3; and (2) has low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student as described in 34 CFR 607.4. 5/27/2021 Text PDF 7/12/2021 Estimated Available Funds: $4,700,000. Individual Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $350,000-$450,000 per year. Estimated Average Size of Awards: $400,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $450,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. Estimated Number of Awards: 8 Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants: Estimated Range of Awards: $450,000-$550,000 per year Estimated Average Size of Awards: $500,000 per year. Maximum Award: We will not make an award exceeding $500,000 for a single budget period of 12 months Estimated Number of Awards: 3. Don Crews Don.Crews@ed.gov Telephone: (202) 502-7574 https://www2.ed.gov/programs/nasnti/index.html The Western Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service has arrested some 68 illegal miners in the region, 59 of which were foreign nationals with the rest being local accomplices. The illegal miners were arrested on Tuesday dawn, March 19, 2019 by the Immigration Service personnel during a joint operation with the Mpohor District Security Council in the Western Region. Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Beatrice Okpoti said the 59 foreigners were from Burkina-Faso, Benin and Niger. Source: Getty Images Source: UGC READ ALSO: Driver and mate get legal support for assault case She added that the 68 illegal miners were between the ages of 20 and 39 adding that they are in the custody of the Ghana Immigration Service. The government in 2018 lifted a ban it had placed on small scale mining also known as galamsey in the country, while convener of the Media Coalition against Galamsey, Ken Ashigbey in December 2018, said the fight against illegal mining had not yet been won. He indicated that the Forestry Commission had also failed as far as tackling galamsey is concerned, given that most illegal mining activities are freely-conducted around forest reserves. PAY ATTENTION: Meet Top 20 Wealthiest Families Of The World Ghana Nti: I Can't think far about the capacity of Ghana's police service | #Yencomgh Do you have a story to share or you have information for us? Get featured on YEN.com.gh. Message us on Facebook Source: Yen.com.gh New Delhi: In the backdrop of rising tension between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan on Wednesday cancelled the annual maritime dialogue with India. Pakistani highlighted the prevailing condition between the two neighbouring nations for the cancellation of talks. The dialogue is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Pakistan in 2005. The heads of ICG and PMSA also have a hotline link on the lines of India Pakistan DGMOs for regular exchange of information on non-military maritime issues as per the 2005 agreement. The meet between India's Coast Guard (ICG) and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) was to happen on March 19, 20 and 21. Both Pakistan and India had initially given their consent for the meet. Last year India and Pakistan held their first dialogue after a gap of two years with ICG director General Rajendra Singh and PMSA chief Rear Admiral Zaka Ur Rehman meeting in Delhi. Before that, the meeting had taken place in Islamabad in 2016. In 2018 meeting, the release of Indian fisherman was the key focus from New Delhi. The Indian coast guard in a release said, "During the meeting, the Indian side reiterated the need for instituting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for immediate release and repatriation of the fishermen who cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) inadvertently as the issue needs to be approached in the humanitarian context." At least 483 Indian fishermen are in Pakistani custody according to the list exchanged between India and Pakistan on January 1st as part of 2008 agreement. On January 17th, PMSA had opened fire on an Indian fishing boat near Mitha port in Gujarat in which one Indian fisherman died. Six other fishermen were immediately rescued from the boat by ICG. The incident took place on January 17 morning when a PMSA vessel fired at the Indian fishing boat and later rammed and sunk it along with the fisherman 64 nautical miles south-west off Mitha port. On January 27, after the IAF airstrike on Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp in Balakote, Pakistan carried out a counter strike against Indian military installations along the Line of Control. New Delhi: Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation on Thursday announced their agreement to begin considering concrete collaboration in new fields including production of the Suzuki - developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza at Toyota's plant in India from 2022 and supplying Suzukis India - produced vehicles Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz and Ertiga) to Toyota, targeting the African market. Both companies intend to grow in new fields, such as joint collaboration in production and in the widespread popularization of electrified vehicles, a company statement said. Toyota and Suzuki have been considering the concrete details of such collaboration since having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on February 6, 2017, it added. Under the collaboration, both companies will widely spread hybrid electric vehicle ( H E V ) technologies in India through local procurement of HEV systems, engines and batteries in India, supply of two compact vehicle s built on Suzuki platforms (Ciaz and Ertiga) to Toyota in India and drawing upon Suzuki s expertise in developing vehicles in India, joint development of a Toyota C - segment MPV and OEM supply to Suzuki. Toyota will adopt newly developed Suzuki engines for compact vehicles. Such engines are to be supported by Denso and Toyota, and will be manufactured at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland, supply THS (Toyota Hybrid System) to Suzuki and supply of two new electrified vehicles built on Toyota platforms (RAV4, Corolla Wagon ) to Suzuki in Europe. New Delhi: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is gearing up for the release of 'Kesari' on the ocassion of Holi. The film will hit the silver screens on March 21 and tells the story of the battle of Saragarhi in which 21 Sikh soldiers fought an army of 10,000 soldiers. Talking about the film and the battle of Saragarhi, in an exclusive interview to Zee News, Akshay said, I was upset to know that the Battle of Saragarhi is not a part of the school syllabus. There is no mention of it in our history classes. In Britain, they celebrate the Saragarhi Day but there is no such celebration here. Hence I did this film and I have never heard a story about such bravery. If you Google about the five biggest and best world battles, the third one is ours. The story of Saragarhi should be in our syllabus. The actor further added ''There was a film made in English titled '300'. In that, 300 warriors fought with 10,000 Persians. I got to know a few days back that it is a fictitious tale. People liked the film a lot. But in our country, 21 soldiers fought and this is no fiction! It is real...My heart swells with pride when I listen to such stories. 'Kesari' also has Parineeti Chopra on board and is helmed by Anurag Singh. The film's songs have already created quite a buzz and fans are excited to watch it in theatres. New Delhi: Bollywood stunner Deepika Padukone is all gung-ho about her next venture 'Chhapaak' which she is co-producing as well. The movie will be helmed by 'Raazi' director Meghna Gulzar and the work on the project has already begun. The team has begun with the script reading session and the pictures of which were shared on social media by the lead actress and the filmmaker as well. Check it out: Deepika looks happy while busy reading the 'Chhapaak' script. The movie is based on the real-life incident involving acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. It will showcase her life journey and how she braved a deadly acid attack. The acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal was attacked way back in 2005 when she was only 15. The 32-year-old assailant was known to the family and after Laxmi rejected his advances, he attacked her. This will be Deepika's first film after Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama 'Padmaavat'. With this movie, the actress is also venturing into production. This is the first time that Deepika will be seen playing a character based on real-life. Meghna just delivered a massive hit 'Raazi' with Alia Bhatt and now with Deepika in her next, expectations are sky-rocketing that 'Chhapaak' will be a hard-hitting narrative with some stellar performances. While Deepika plays the titular role of Laxmi Agarwal, Vikrant Massey will be seen in a pivotal role opposite the actress. New Delhi: Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi will be next seen in the most talked about biopic based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The movie is directed by 'Mary Kom' fame filmmaker Omung Kumar and the makers made some interesting revealtions at the trailer launch event. Vivek, who plays the titular role of the PM in the biopic, attended the trailer launch event dressed as the prime minister. Some of the key things about the biopic which you should know include: - The movie was made in a flat 38-day schedule. - Talking about the release of the movie ahead of Lok Sabha 2019 election, the actor said, 'Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai'. -Congress party had expressed his reservation against the film and written a letter demanding a ban on the release. The producer, reacted to it saying, "we have made the film and what the future holds none can predict." - Certain portions of the film are still being shot and Vivek came to attend the event straight from the shoot. The movie will hit the screens on April 5, 2019. There is a lot of interest amongst the viewers to watch the life journey of the Prime Minister on 70mm screens. The movie stars actors like Boman Irani, Manoj Joshi, Prashant Narayanan, Barkha Bisht, Rajendra Gupta, Zarina Wahab and several others. 'PM Narendra Modi' biopic is produced by Sandip Ssingh, Anand Pandit and Suresh Oberoi. New Delhi: The CBI has arrested an executive director in the Airports Authority of India for allegedly demanding a bribe from the owner of an airports ground handling company, officials said Wednesday. Ravichandran, Executive Director (Finance), had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 4 lakh for each allotted tenders to the company for 'D' category airports, they said. The company owner did not want to pay the bribe. He approached the CBI with a complaint against the officer, they said. Based on his inputs, the CBI laid a trap on Wednesday morning when the alleged bribe was to be paid to Ravichandran. The CBI nabbed the officer receiving Rs two lakh as bribe, they said. Searches were carried out and incriminating documents were recovered from him, they said. New Delhi: Banks are likely to infuse fresh funds into cash-strapped Jet Airways provided major shareholders of the airline, including Gulf carrier Etihad Airways, pledge their shares as collateral, sources said. With the airline unable to get fresh funds, the options are limited now, they added. The full service carrier is grappling with acute financial woes that has resulted in grounding of a significant number of planes, defaulting on debt repayments And delay in payment of salaries to pilots and other senior officials. Founder Chairman Naresh Goyal and his family owns around 52 per cent stake in Jet Airways while Etihad, a strategic partner, has 24 per cent shareholding. The sources said that banks can provide further loans if major stakeholders --Goyal and Etihad -- agree to pledge their shares as security. A consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), is working on a resolution plan for Jet Airways, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,200 crore. Earlier, sources said that Goyal had agreed to pare down his holding to 22 per cent as part of securing a deal to bailout the airline. Last week, a senior SBI official expressed hope that resolution should be finalised in a week or so. On February 14, Jet Airways board approved a bank-led resolution plan whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline. Following approval from the shareholders, part of debt would be converted into 11.4 crore shares at a consideration of Re 1 apiece as per the RBI norms. Since January, Jet Airways has defaulted thrice on payments to its debenture holders. So far, the finance ministry has maintained arm's length in the matter due to its commercial nature and creditors and debtors are working on the resolution plan, according to sources. RABAT, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday signed an agreement with Morocco to provide 100 million yuan (about 14.9 million U.S. dollars) to finance public projects in the north African kingdom. This deal was inked by Morocco's Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Benchaaboun and Chinese Ambassador to Morocco Li Li. Benchaaboun thanked the Chinese government for its continuous support for Morocco's economic and social development, while expressing his satisfaction with the quality of the projects undertaken in Morocco with the financial support of China. He also commended the excellent China-Morocco relationship in various areas, highlighting the remarkable increase in Chinese investment in Morocco and the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the kingdom since the implementation of the visa exemption policy. For his part, the Chinese ambassador said that this financial contribution by China will help create important projects in Morocco covering several key sectors such as information and communications technology, and education. Li also reiterated China's readiness to further cement the strategic partnership between China and Morocco. American artillery brigade soldiers participating in the U.S.-South Korea joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill take a break at a training ground in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, June 19, 2018. Korea Times file A North Korean propaganda outlet on Wednesday lashed out at military exercises that South Korea plans to conduct on its own without U.S. troops, even though Seoul and Washington have scaled back their joint drills as part of efforts to keep the dialogue mood with the North alive. In a commentary, Uriminzokkiri said the South Korean military's Ssangyong and Ulchi Taegeuk exercises are a "vicious challenge" to hopes for peace and a violation of the agreements reached between the two Koreas. The Ulchi Taegeuk exercise slated for late May is designed to replace the summertime South Korea-U.S. military training as part of efforts to support diplomacy for denuclearization. The U.S. has also decided not to send any troops or equipment to this year's annual combined regiment-level Ssangyong amphibious landing exercise next month, apparently to facilitate ongoing talks with the North. New Delhi: Absconding jeweller Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion (Rs 13,500 crore) PNB fraud case, was arrested in London by the Scotland Yard from Holborn on Tuesday in pursuance of the extradition request by Enforcement Directorate (ED). The absconding diamantaire was arrested on a warrant issued by London's Westminster Magistrates' Court and will be produced before court shortly today. It is believed that the 48-year-old fugitive jeweller will be formally charged at Westminster Magistrates' Court, following which he is expected to seek bail. Modi had fled immediately after the PNB Scam surfaced last year. A Red Corner Notice was issued by the Interpol against Modi in June last year. Meanwhile the External Affairs ministry had also sent an extradition request to the United Kingdom in August last year. India's premiere investigative agencies, the Enforcement Directorate as well as the CBI are probing the PNB scam involving Modi and his Uncle and aide Mehul Choksi. Choksi also fled India last year and has taken refuge in Antigua. The CBI has registered an FIR against Modi, Choksi, Modi's brother and wife. While his wife Ami is a US citizen, his brother Nishal is a Belgian citizen. Case against Nirav Modi and other co-accused in the matter Modi along with Choksi allegedly cheated Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs), thus siphoning off funds worth Rs 6,498.20 from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai while Choksi has been accused of swindling Rs 7080.86 crore. An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant. Billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested on Wednesday in London on Indias extradition request. On Sunday, Westminster Court in London had issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi. The arrest warrant was issued days after British home secretary Sajid Javid certified the request filed by the Indian government to extradite him to face charges for his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. According to CBI, Nirav Modi-owned firms namely M/s. Diamond R US, M/s. Solar Exports and M/s Stellar Diamond, Surat, India, have got fraudulently issued Letters of Undertaking aggregating to USD 1015.35 million during the period from Feb 2011 to May, 2017 from Punjab National Bank (PNB), Mumbai. A case under the provisions of PMLA, 2002, was recorded against Nirav Modi on February 14 last year. After registration of case, searches were conducted on February 15, 2018 and more than 75 searches related to this case were conducted all over India. After the raids, the agencies seized valuables/jewelry/paintings etc amounting to approximately Rs 1600 crore. Nirav Modi was summoned thrice to appear personally before the investigating authorities but he refused to appear for questioning. Ministry of External Affairs later revoked Nirav Modi's passport on the request of ED. The ED has attached properties worth Rs 1873.08 crore vide 12 PAOs and total seizure of Rs.489.75 crore vide 20 seizure orders including various overseas assets and bank accounts. The attachment includes overseas attachment of Rs. 961.49 Crore in Hong Kong, Switzerland, UK, USA, Singapore and UAE. The first Prosecution Complaint(PC) was filed on May 24, 2018 establishing role of Nirav Modi and his close associates and family members. The PC provides detail of money trail and evidences of rotation, siphoning and misappropriation of LOUs illegally obtained from PNB using dummy entities in India and abroad. Special PMLA court took cognizance of the first PC on June 12, 2018 and supplementary Prosecution Complaint were filed on February this year. In the supplementary PC, money trail of USD 927 million out of USD 1015 million has been ascertained. Cognizance of the supplementary PC has been taken on March 15, 2019. Apart from Nirav Modi, his wife Ami Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother Neeshal Modi, father Deepak Kumar Modi, cousin Mihir Bhansali and other associates have also been made accused in these PCs. On July 10, 2018, an application was filed under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act against Nirav Modi for declaring him a fugitive offender and for confiscation of his properties worth Rs 1404.7 crore. The next date of hearing of this case is on Friday. Red Corner Notice have been issued against Nirav Modi, Nishal Modi, Aditya Nanavati, Ms. Purvi Modi, Mihir Bhansali & Subhash Parab on request of ED. Income Tax authorities had seized 173 paintings belonging to M/s Camelot Enterprises Private Limited beneficially owned by Nirav Modi during the course of their investigation for recovery of Income tax dues of Rs 95.91 Crore. These paintings valued at Rs 57.72 crore were also provisionally attached by ED. In a related development , PMLA Special Court on Wednesday also allowed sale of 11 vehicles belonging to Nirav Modi on the application of ED. These vehicles include Rolls Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota Fortuner. The court has also issued open-ended Non-Bailable Warrant against Ami Modi, wife of Nirav Modi on the request of ED, paving way for further action. London/New Delhi: Absconding jeweller Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion (Rs 13,500 crore) PNB fraud case, who was arrested in London by Scotland Yard on Tuesday, was denied bail by the Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. Remanding him to police custody, the court has scheduled the next hearing on the case to March 29. It is believed that Modi has sought time before the court to present his version in the case. Apparently, it was a bank clerk who actually recognised Modi and called the police. Modi's lawyer stated in court that he had been openly living and he was honest. The judge retired for about 10 minutes, deliberated on the two sides arguments and finally handed over the custody till March 29. The judge however did consider a possibility on bail but finally ruled against it observing that there were substantial grounds to believe that Nirav Modi would fail to surrender if granted bail. Jonathan Swain from CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) is representing India, while Nirav Modi's counsel is George Hepburne Scott. The absconding diamantaire was arrested on a warrant issued by London's Westminster Magistrates' Court. He was presented before the District Magistrate and was formally charged. The fugitive jeweller was arrested in pursuance of the extradition request by Enforcement Directorate (ED). Modi had fled from India immediately after the PNB Scam surfaced last year. A Red Corner Notice was issued by the Interpol against Modi in June last year. Meanwhile the External Affairs ministry has already sent an extradition request to the United Kingdom . India's premiere investigative agencies, the Enforcement Directorate as well as the CBI are probing the PNB scam involving Modi and his Uncle and aide Mehul Choksi. Choksi also fled India last year and has taken refuge in Antigua. The CBI has registered an FIR against Modi, Choksi, Modi's brother and wife. While his wife Ami is a US citizen, his brother Nishal is a Belgian citizen. Modi along with Choksi allegedly cheated Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs), thus siphoning off funds worth Rs 6,498.20 from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai while Choksi has been accused of swindling Rs 7080.86 crore. An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant. New Delhi: Chinese smart device maker Xiaomi Tuesday announced its foray into the digital payment segment with launch of MiPay app and expansion of its mobile manufacturing. "We have introduced our innovative MiPay service for our consumers in India. MiPay serves as the ultimate solution to a variety of consumer payment needs, hence empowering millions of Xiaomi users with access to digital payments. Thus, acting as an equaliser providing a seamless experience across all smartphones," Xiaomi India Chief Operating Officer Muralikrishnan B said here. He said there are security concerns around data of individuals, hence, the company stores all MiPay data in India. The company has received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and has partnered ICICI bank for the service. Xiaomi announced partnership with electronics manufacturing services firm Flex to expand its mobile production in the country. "We are proud to announce that we'll be officially unveiling a new manufacturing plant in India in collaboration with Flex. We now have 7 smartphone manufacturing plants across 4 campuses in India with the recent one spanning 1 million square feet in Sriperumbudur," Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain said. The company also announced partnership with Navitasys India Pvt Ltd, a TDK group subsidiary to manufacture Mi Power banks locally. The Chinese firm claims that 99 per cent of its mobile phones sold in India are manufactured locally. Xiaomi officials said the company is also bringing the component ecosystem to India and 65 per cent of the value of the smartphones is sourced locally. The company also unveiled a 4G smartphone RedmiGo for Rs 4,499 with Rs 2,200 cashback offer from Jio. The handset will be available from March 22 through its own website, Flipkart and Mi Home stores. New Delhi: Zee Business, the Business news channel of Zee Media group has bagged three prestigious awards at the India Bullion and Jewellers Association Awards 2019 that were held recently. The three awards were in the category of Best Business Channel, Icon of Business Journalism and Best Commodity Anchor. While Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi bagged the Icon of Business Journalism award, the Best Commodity Anchor hindi went to Mrituenjay Jha. India Bullion and Jewellers Association Ltd. (IBJA) was established in 1919 to adopt a multi-faceted approach to the problems and challenges faced by the bullion traders in the country. The IBJA website says that it is now considered the Apex association for all bullion and jewellery associations in India. New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced five Uttar Pradesh policemen to 10-year-jail term for custodial death of a 26-year-old man, saying any lenient view by way of a meagre sentence will be against the societal interest. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra awarded the jail term to Sub Inspectors (SIs) Hindveer Singh and Mahesh Mishra and Constables Pradeep Kumar, Pushpender Kumar and Haripal Singh for abducting the victim, Sonu, making incorrect entries in the General Diary to mislead evidence and torturing him which lead to his death in 2006. "Any lenient view by imposing meagre sentence or taking too sympathetic view will be result wise counterproductive in the long run and against the societal interest which needs to be cared for and strengthened by string of deterrence in built in the sentencing system. "The court cannot lose sight of the fact that a precious human life has been lost while the deceased was in the police custody without any evidence or reasonable suspicion against him and therefore under these circumstances, keeping in view the submissions and gravity of offence...Convicts are sentenced with 10 years rigorous imprisonment," the court said. It also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 each on them. Besides, the court sentenced a middleman, Kunwar Pal Singh, who connived with the convicts in abducting Sonu, to three years in jail with a fine of Rs 5,000. The court also directed convicts Singh and Mishra to pay Rs 5 lakh each in compensation; Pushpender and Haripal to pay Rs 2 lakh each and Pal to pay a Rs 1 lakh to the father of the victim. The court had while convicting them said that one of the reasons for custodial death was that the police were confident that they will not be held accountable even if the victim dies in the custody and the truth revealed. It had convicted the five police officials for the offences under sections 365 (abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 220 (confinement by person having authority who knows he is acting contrary to law) 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (criminal acts done by several persons with a common intention) of the IPC. It had held Pal guilty of offences of kidnapping and conniving with the other accused. Sonu was apprehended on the suspicion of being involved in a robbery. The court had earlier directed DGP of Uttar Pradesh Police to take appropriate action for prosecution as well as for disciplinary proceedings against Inspector Deepak Chaturvedi and Constable Manoj Kumar, who were posted as Station Officer and GD writer respectively on that day for their connivance with accused persons in recording wrong entries in the GD Register and for causing disappearance of evidence. The Supreme Court had transferred the case from a sessions court in Uttar Pradesh to a court in Delhi and observed that the manner in which the investigation was conducted after registration of the case unmistakably showed that free and fair trial would not be possible within the state as the accused were members of the police force. "It has been duly proved beyond reasonable doubt that the five accused policemen... In connivance with Kunwar Pal Singh (middleman) and in furtherance of their common intention abducted Sonu from his native village Hazrat Pur (in Uttar Pradesh) and maliciously confined him till he was declared dead knowingly that by confining him illegally they were acting contrary to law as they were apprehending his involvement in a robbery case without any evidence or reasonable suspicion against him," the Sessions Court had said. "Not only this, they tortured Sonu while he was in their custody knowingly that by such beatings/torture they are likely to cause his death. Further, in order to claim a false defence that they lodged Sonu in hale and hearty condition, they in collusion with their colleagues got prepared an incorrect general diary," the court had said. It had acquitted SI Vinod Pandey, one of the accused, of all charges due to lack of evidence against him. According to complaint lodged by the father of the deceased, in September 2006, Kunwar Pal, who worked as a property dealer with his son, came to his house with five police officials in civil dress. Pal had told Sonu that the five persons accompanying him had come to purchase a land and asked him to show the property to them. On that pretext they took him in a car. The complaint further claimed that he was taken to a police station on the false implication of a robbery case where he was tortured by the officers. Sonu's father claimed that his son was murdered by the police after being tortured and they had given it colour of suicide. During the trial, all the accused denied the charges levelled against them. The medical report of Sonu showed that there were contusions on the back of his abdomen and elbow and abrasions on his knee and shoulder. Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a case of fratricide at their camp in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. A CRPF officer said that there was a scuffle and heated argument between some soldiers following which one of them opened fire killing three of his colleagues at the Battal Balia camp of the 187 battalion of the force. The CRPF personnel who opened fire later turned the gun on himself and was seriously injured. The critically injured jawan has been admitted in District Hospital Udhampur. This incident comes just a day after all the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), who together have more than 10 lakh soldiers, have decided against celebrating Holi as a homage to 40 CRPF personnel who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, 2019. The 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir after a car carrying 100 kg explosives rammed into the bus of their bus on Jammu-Srinagar Highway. The cowardly attack was carried by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. The Defence Ministry on Monday approved projects worth Rs 2355 crores, including acquisition of multimode grenades and fire control systems for the Teg, Talwar and Saryu class of warships, sources told ANI. The approval was given during the Defence Acquisition Council meeting. During the meeting, the Minister also cleared the proposal for acquisition of 10 lakh 'Made in India' hand grenades for Indian Army. The new grenades which will eventually replace the existing inventories of grenades. The move is also in line with giving impetus to developing and manufacturing weapons for the armed forces in the country itself. Defence sources added that the policy guidelines cleared by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman-led meeting will also enable issuing of tenders for projects worth Rs 25,000 cr in coming year. The Ministry has also taken steps to encourage medium and small shipyards by making them eligible for small value projects On Tuesday, it was reported that the government has decided to buy assault rifles, ammunition, parachutes and several other specialised equipments for Special Forces of Indian Army from the US. The Army already has American M4A1 assault rifles, which are used extensively in counter-terrorism operations. It is learnt that the government is also planning to equip the Special Forces of Army with more carbines. In February, the Defence Ministry a deal was sealed by the Defence Ministry to procure 72,400 7.6mm Sig Sauer assault rifles under fast-track procedures. The deal worth Rs 700 crore is aimed at modernising the infantry, PTI had reported. The state-of-the-art Sig Sauer assault rifles are already being used by armed forces in the US and some European countries. The Indian Army will receive a bulk - 66,400 - of the assault rifles, while the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy will get 4,000 and 2,000 rifles respectively. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the world's second-largest arms importer between 2014 and 2018. Before this, the country had been at the top of the list but Saudi Arabia raced ahead of India in the 2014-2018 period. India currently contributes 9.5 per cent in the global arms import index and Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is taking measures to bring it down in the future. All the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), who together have more than 10 lakh soldiers, have decided to cancel their ceremonial Holi celebrations across the nation in solidarity with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. This is the second consecutive year when the CAPFs are not celebrating Holi. The Central Armed Police Forces--Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Shastra Seema Bal (SSB) have decided not to celebrate Holi this year. On February 14, 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir after a vehicle carrying 100 kg explosives rammed into the bus of the CRPF personnel. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad took the responsibility of the attack, just hours after the incident. The suicide bomber was identified as 20-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar, also known as Adil Ahmad Gaadi Takranewala, was a resident of Gundibagh village of Pulwama district of south Kashmir and a JeM member. In 2017 too, the CAPFs had cancelled their Holi celebrations in wake of the Sukma attack on the CRPF men. On April 2017, Maoist attacked CRPF personnel in Sukma district of Chattisgarh in which 25 CRPF personnel were martyred. On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also announced not to celebrate Holi as a mark of respect to the Pulwama martyrs. At present, these security forces are deployed in various security related duties on the borders, internal security in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh and fighting the Naxal menace in the red corridor. The day will be marked as a tribute to the CRPF martyrs. Jodhpur: A sarpanch body in Rajasthan on Tuesday demanded an apology from a Congress legislator who had asked a village head to sit on the floor instead on a chair beside her at a meeting. The Rajasthan Sarpanch Sangh's reaction comes after a video went viral where MLA Divya Maderna was asking the Khetasar village head in Osian area of Jodhpur district on Saturday to sit among the people on the ground. "Divya must apologise for the humiliation of a female sarpanch. If she does not do so, she should be ready to face our ire", said Bhanwarlal, president of the Rajasthan Sarpanch Sangh. The village head, Chandu Devi, said being a woman, she did not expect such behaviour from a female public representative. "I am very disappointed with the behaviour meted out to me by Maderna. I had gone to the meeting of Maderna on the insistence of the villagers and also sat on the dais after the villagers wanted me to sit beside the MLA," Devi said. Maderna, however, pointed out that the sarpanch belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked how she could be allowed to sit on the dais in a meeting that was organised to give thanks to the villagers for voting the Congress MLA to power. Later, the Osian MLA said she did not know that Devi was a sarpanch as the latter's face was covered under a veil. "I could not recognise her. I considered her a simple villager and thought that she had come to me on the dais with some grievance." In the video, however, it could be seen that Devi first greeted Maderna and had almost seated on the chair when the legislator asked her to sit with the villagers. Maderna has been taking a round of the villages of her constituency to pay gratitude to her voters for electing her as an MLA. Saab International Technology Korea Vice President and Head of Marketing and Sales Martin Malmfors poses before Korean Air Force's Black Eagles aerobatic team T-50 aircraft during ADEX exhibition at Seoul Airport in Seongnam in 2017. Saab, a Swedish defense and security company, participated in the 2017 exhibition. / Courtesy of Martin Malmfors By Yi Whan-woo It is not surprising to run into non-Koreans who are aware of Arirang, Korea's probably most popular folk song, amid growing international interest in Korean culture. But Martin Malmfors, Saab International Technology Korea's vice president and head of marketing and sales, still stands out. The well-traveled exec can fluently sing Arirang, play the piece on clarinet and recite the historical and cultural significance behind its lyrics. This was the case for the Swede when he was asked by the Embassy of Sweden in Seoul to represent the Swedish business community and perform a Korean song of his choice at the 60th anniversary reception for Sweden -Korea relations at the Seoul Museum of History on March 11. "When it came to my selection of music, I did not have to hesitate at all," Malmfors told The Korea Times in an email interview, March 19. "For me, no other piece of Korean music summarizes and represents better the memories and strong emotions that I have developed in Korea over the past 15 years." He referred to Arirang as "a true testament" of Korean passion and love as well hardship and suffering that the Korean Peninsula has endured for centuries. "Not only does Arirang have a beautiful melody, but also some deeply symbolic lyrics which so well capture the soul, spirit and heritage of the Korean people," he said. Saab International Technology Korea Vice President and Head of Marketing and Sales Martin Malmfors plays Arirang on clarinet during a reception to mark the 60th anniversary of Sweden-Korea diplomatic relations at the Seoul Museum of History in Seoul, March 11. / Korea Times photo by Yi Whan-woo Living in Seoul since 2004, he became interested in Arirang in August 2005 when he visited North Korea as member of the European Union business delegation and had a chance to watch the Arirang Festival, a mass games event with tens of thousands of gymnasts and dancers. It was held to mark the 60th anniversary of Liberation Day on Aug. 15, one of the few holidays celebrated in both Koreas after the peninsula was freed from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. "It was truly a mesmerizing once-in-a-lifetime experience to be allowed to personally witness such a spectacle first-hand," he said of the festival, which is known for huge human-pixel images created by 30,000 schoolchildren using colored boards. "Immediately upon my return to Seoul I made some further research on the Arirang song. It then became very clear to my why this song has been dubbed as the unofficial anthem of Korea and twice listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list." Malmfors said, following his trip to the North, Korean traditional music or gugak, especially pansori, shin-gugak and fusion gugak, "has played an important role in my endeavors to learn more about Korea." Malmfors, 48, considers himself blessed and fortunate to be experiencing the "Korean wonder in-the-making" and promoting Korea worldwide. "I strongly believe that we, both as countries and peoples, have so much to learn from and be inspired by each other. Therefore, it has come very naturally to me to try my best to assist in informally promoting Korea in Sweden and vice versa," he said. Saab International Technology Korea Vice President and Head of Marketing and Sales Martin Malmfors, right, poses with his wife, Sun-mi, left, and their son, in this photo taken early this year. / Courtesy of Martin Malmfors He said his Korean wife, Sun-mi, has inspired him to have particular interest toward Korean culinary culture and food heritage. He pointed out his wife is from Wando, South Jeolla Province, known for its delicacies and rich culinary history, and that she has exceptional cooking skills. This led him to open Moi-Copenhagen (www.moikorean.com), a Korean restaurant in Copenhagen, Demark, in April 2018, jointly with David Mill, the chef and owner of Grand Hotel Molle in Sweden. It is run by Kim Hee a Korean chef who runs several restaurants in Seoul, including the popular "Moi Kitchen" in Hannam-dong. Commenting on the 60th anniversary of Sweden-Korea ties, Malmfors said it "gains even further symbolic importance and reason to celebrate" considering 60 years, or hwangap, is a full big cycle in the lunar calendar and is a particularly important period of time in Korean culture. "I have had the fortune to be involved with and get to know Korea during only a brief part of this period. But nevertheless, I sense a vast and positive change just during the past decade," he said. "So, let that positive change and the strengthened ties between our countries continue to thrive for many more hwangaps to come. This is just the beginning!" A former intelligence officer at Swedish Air Force, Malmfors has been working for Saab, a Swedish defense and security company, since September 2016. He previously worked for EUKOR Car Carriers, a Scandinavian-Korean shipping company dealing with global shipments of Hyundai and Kia automobiles. India on Wednesday welcomed the arrest of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in London, United Kingdom, adding that it was actively following up with the UK for his extradition at the earliest. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We welcome the fact that Nirav Modi has been arrested by the United Kingdom authorities pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrate Court. Government of India continues to actively follow up this matter with the authorities concerned in the UK, with a view to having Nirav Modi extradited to India at the earliest." Modi is the main accused in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case and was arrested in London by Scotland Yard on Tuesday. He was denied bail by the Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. The court has scheduled the next hearing on the case to March 29 and remanded him to police custody. It was a bank clerk who actually recognised Modi and called the police. Modi's lawyer stated in court that he had been openly living and he was honest. Jonathan Swain from CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) is representing India, while Nirav Modi's counsel is George Hepburne Scott. The fugitive jeweller was arrested in pursuance of the extradition request by Enforcement Directorate (ED). Modi had fled from India immediately after the PNB Scam surfaced in 2018 and a Red Corner Notice was issued by the Interpol against him in June 2018. Meanwhile, the External Affairs ministry has already sent an extradition request to the United Kingdom. India's premier investigative agencies, the ED as well as the CBI are probing the PNB scam involving Modi and his Uncle and aide Mehul Choksi. Choksi also fled India last year and has taken refuge in Antigua. The CBI has registered an FIR against Modi, Choksi, Modi's brother and wife. While his wife Ami is a US citizen, his brother Nishal is a Belgian citizen. Modi along with Choksi allegedly cheated Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs), thus syphoning off funds worth Rs 6,498.20 from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai while Choksi has been accused of swindling Rs 7080.86 crore. An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant. Ottawa: Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh has created political history in Canada when he made his debut in the House of Commons as the first non-white leader of a major opposition party in the country. The arrival of the turbaned leader into the house on Monday, cheered by all members, coincided with the induction of a senior woman member into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Singh, 40, the leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the House of Commons, the lower of the house of Parliament, before the daily question period. He was elected in federal by-elections held on February 25. Singh's first words as an elected lawmaker were about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... In Christchurch," he said. About 50 people were killed last week in the Pacific country's worst-ever mass shooting. He then launched his first question about housing in Burnaby-South. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" he said. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. Speculations are rife that the last budget of the Trudeau government with an eye on the general elections in October is expected to have several attractions for the middle class. The blackbox data of the Indian Air Force's Mirage 2000 fighter jet that crashed at Yemlur Airport in Bengaluru on February 1 killing both pilots have suggested that it was not due to pilot error and it is likely that the accident happened due to technical malfunction related to sensors. Two IAF pilots testing the upgraded Mirage 2000, Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and Squadron Leader Siddhartha Negi, were killed in the crash, which took place during a test sortie. The aircraft which crashed on February 1 had been subjected to six test flights by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Both Negi and Abrol were from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). One of the two pilots had ejected successfully from the plane, but he died after falling on the debris of the crashed aircraft. The other pilot was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to his injuries. The crashed happened when Negi and Abrol were taking out the Mirage to check the upgrade of avionics and electronic warfare capabilities of the planes. A Court of inquiry to ascertain the exact reason behind the cause of the crash is still on. ASTE is the only test centre of the IAF for field trials of its fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters that are indigenous or imported from other countries. HAL, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) also use the ASTE for evaluating aircraft, helicopters, weapons, sub-systems and other aerial warfare equipment manufactured in India. The state-run HAL upgraded Mirage 2000 was originally built by the French aerospace major Dassault Aviation. It is to be noted that the aircraft crashed moments after taking off from the runaway. The Indian government had signed a deal worth USD 2.4 billion deal with Dassault in 2011 to upgrade its fleet of 51 Mirage-2000 fighters. These fighter jets were bought by the IAF in the 1980s. New Delhi: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Kurukshetra has warned its students against "gatecrashing" weddings near its premises. "It has been reported that some of the students have been going to attend weddings in the city without having an invitation. This is not only unethical and immoral but also uncalled for," a letter sent to hostel inmates by the Chief Warden said. Sources in the institute said that off late there have been complaints that students have been gatecrashing weddings to skip meals in the mess which is why this directive was issued. The letter directed students to desist from indulging in such type of "uncivilised activities" which also brings a bad name to the institution. The letter warned students of disciplinary action if they are found doing so. "Disciplinary action as per the institute rules will be taken against the students if they are found indulging in such an activity," the letter said. Jammu: In a blistering attack at former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for dubbing emergence of new parties in Kashmir as a New Delhi ploy to divide Kashmiri mandate, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday said J&K is not a personal property of the National Conference. Mehbooba's attack followed Peoples Conference chief Sajjad Gani Lone's diatribe against Omar Abdullah that he needed 'mental treatment" for opposing emergence of new parties. "It is unfortunate that National conference considers Jammu and Kashmir as its own estate. When (former Chief Minister) Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed brought Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, they called them worms of dirty drain (as a Delhi's party)," Mehbooba told reporters here. "When the PDP was formed, they alleged the same thing. Today when Shah Faseal formed a new outfit, Omar Abdullah says the same thing," said Mehbooba. The PDP chief said Omar Abdullah feels any party formed in J&K will claim right on their estate of Jammu and Kashmir. "It is a democratic country and everyone has the right to form one's own party and do politics. Jammu and Kashmir is not a personal property of the NC," she added. Omar's remarks came on the day Shah Faesal, a bureaucrat-turned-politician who was reportedly slated to join the NC, launched his own party - 'Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement'. Omar had reacted to the development dubbing it as a New Delhi ploy to divide the kashmiri mandate. "Why is it that these political parties are launched only in Kashmir, why not in Jammu or Ladakh? Doesn't it clearly indicate a ploy aimed at dividing us further?? Omar had asked, addressing his party workers' convention in Anantnag Monday. "It is a fact that conspiracies have been hatched for long to weaken our special status. While in Jammu and Ladakh, the (political) field is being left open for the Congress and the BJP, here (in Kashmir) there is always an attempt to divide the mandate,? Omar had said, indirectly blaming New Delhi behind the move. Lone too had attacked Omar Abdullah Monday. "Were we to give power to Omar Abdullah after Maharaja Hari Singh? He got Kashmiris killed in 2010. Before that his father got people killed and maimed from 1996 to 2002. Before that his father rigged the elections in 1987,? Lone had told reporters in Handwara. Peoples Conference chief asked Omar Abdullah if there should be no other party except the NC. "Do they have a copyright? Let me tell you Omar Abdullah is not a kid. He is throwing others' lives in danger. New people have come on the political horizon. They are moving with few PSOs. Omar and his father and other family members are guarded by 600 to 700 security guards," he said. Lone said had Shah Faesal joined National Conference, then he would have been a "good man" for Omar. "Now he has launched his own party, so he becomes a New Delhi's agent. Omar should get his mental system treated," he had said. New Delhi: The National Conference and Congress on Wednesday announced their alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to held in seven phases, starting from April 11. Both the parties said that the alliance is in the national interest and will help strengthen secular forces. Addressing joint media conference in Jammu together, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that NC will contest from Srinagar whereas Congress will fight on Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats. "There will be a friendly contest between National Conference and Congress in Anantnag and Baramulla. We are also discussing the Ladakh seat," Farooq told media. Azad said that there will be friendly fights between the two parties in Anantnag and Baramulla in Kashmir Valley and if 'either party of two wins the seats, it will be a win-win situation for both of them. In the meantime, the discussions for the sixth Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh is still underway between the two sides. Jammu and Kashmir has six Lok Sabha seats. The Election Commission of India, which announced the Lok Sabha poll dates recently, said that assembly elections will not be held in Jammu and Kashmir along with the Lok Sabha elections due to security reasons. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said considering constraint of availability of central forces, other logistics and recent incidents of violence, the EC has decided to hold only Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The state will have five-phase voting. The Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir will go for polling in three phases due to security reasons. The Jammu and Kashmir assembly was dissolved in November last year, months after the Mehbooba Mufti-headed government in the state fell following the BJP withdrawing support to it in June. A team from the National Disaster Response Force joined local authorities to help rescue people from under the rubble of an under-construction building that came down on Tuesday night in Karnataka's Dharwad. Rescue operations were in full swing well into the wee hours of Tuesday morning with authorities saying that it could take even longer to ensure that no one is trapped. News agency ANI reported that 37 people have been rescued and that one more dead body was recovered - taking the death toll to three. The under-construction building came crashing down in Dharwad's Kumareshwar Nagar. Initial reports suggested that close to 40 people were feared trapped under the rubble although there has been no confirmation on the exact number. Cops and fire tenders rushed to the spot soon after the collapse and commenced rescue and relief operations. District Collector Deepa Cholan was also present here soon after the collapse. The reason for the under-construction building - owned by three individuals named Basavraj Nigadi, Gangadhar Shintre and Ravi Sobrad - is not yet known with authorities saying that rescue operations are the main focus area as of now. An investigation could be launched once it is confirmed that everyone has been rescued from the site. Meanwhile, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy expressed his shock over the unfortunate incident. "Shocked to learn about the collapse of an under-construction building in Dharwad. I've instructed the Chief Secretary to supervise rescue operations. I have also directed the CS to send additional resources and expert rescuers by a special flight to #Dharwad," he tweeted on Tuesday night. New Delhi: The death toll in the building collapse at Dharwad in Karnataka plumbed to five on Wednesday. So far at least 55 people have been pulled out from the debris by the rescuers while 15-20 people are still feared to be trapped inside. One State Disaster Response Force team (SDRF) and three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) along with local authorities are undertaking the rescue operations. 10 ambulances and five fire tenders are also deployed for relief and rescue work. About 150 police, fire and emergency personnel too have joined the rescue operations. No arrests have been made so far. #UPDATE DG Police and Chief of Fire & Emergency Services, Karnataka, M N Reddi on Dharwad building collapse: Death toll rises to 5 and 55 people have been rescued. https://t.co/IuKSCzz8jz ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Karnataka Revenue Minister RV Deshpande said that those injured are treated free of cost. Earlier today, the authorities had recovered one more body from the rubble. According to police, the rescue operations have been intensified to extricate people believed to be still trapped beneath the debris. Most of the people trapped inside the building are believed to be migrant labourers from north Indian who were engaged in laying tiles when the 4-storey structure collapsed on Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said rescue efforts will be conducted on a war footing and urged locals not to panic. On Tuesday, a four-storeyed building under construction had collapsed at Kumareshwaranagar in Dharwad in north Karnataka. Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader from the region Vinay Kulkarni had said yesterday that one of the partners in the building was his relative and that whoever was involved should face action. Two major political parties - All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) - have promised to release the killers of the former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi in their manifestos for upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019. Both the Tamil Nadu-based parties have vowed to release the seven persons convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. As political battles heat up on the ground ahead of the Lok Sabha election, releasing the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi has emerged as one of the top poll planks for the Tamil Nadu-based parties. However, the promise allegedly violates the Election Commission of India's Model Code of Conduct, which categorically states, No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic. AIADMK and DMK's promise to set Rajiv's killers free is aimed at securing votes of the Tamil Nadu public. While the AIADMK is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the DMK is an ally of the Congress and an important member of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists on May 21, 1991, during an election rally at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. Sixteen others, including LTTE suicide bomber Dhanu, were also killed in the attack. The terrorists were retaliating to Rajiv Gandhis decision to send the India Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to support the Sri Lankan government in its war against the LTTE. Twenty-six people were found guilty in the assassination case, out of which 19 were later acquitted. The remaining seven convicts V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthenthirarajan alias Santhan, A G Perarivalan, B Robert Payas, P Ravichandran, S Jayakumar and S Nalini have been in prison for the last 27 years. The LTTE has since been listed as a proscribed terrorist organisation by 32 countries worldwide, including India, United States, United Kingdom, European Union and Canada. However, the outfit's image on the ground is very different. For a long time, LTTE was viewed as a militant organization fighting for the minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka. The country has a long history of ethnic riots and political tensions, resulting in the deaths and displacements of thousands of Tamilians. For a while, LTTE became synonymous to 'Tamil Pride' or 'Tamil Sentiment'. In 2014, J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government had decided to release the convicts, a move supported by local outfits. The Centre had at the time moved the Supreme Court and secured a stay. "Releasing convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will have international ramifications, set dangerous precedents," the Centre told the Supreme Court. Highlighting the sensitivity of the case, the Home Ministry in a report says, The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was the most heinous and gruesome crime, the brutal Act brought the Indian democratic process to a grinding halt in as much as the general election to the Lok Sabha and the perpetrators do not deserve any leniency. It was observed that the involvement of a woman as a human bomb to kill the former Prime Minister is the rarest of rare case, a fact accepted by High Court and Supreme Court, said the Centre. New Delhi: With less than a month to go for Lok Sabha election 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to intensify it's Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address over 25 lakh 'chowkidars' (watchmen and security personnel) across the country via audio bridge technology on Wednesday, a day before Holi. The party launched its 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign on Saturday with PM Modi pre-fixing `chowkidar` to his Twitter handle. Several BJP leaders including party president Amit Shah and Union ministers followed the suit and added `chowkidar` to their names on the microblogging site. The BJP also released its 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' caller tune on Wednesday. Subscribers of various cellular networks will now be able to access and download the caller tune. You may now make #MainBhiChowkidar song as your Caller Tune, tweeted the BJP's official handle on the microblogging platform. You may now make #MainBhiChowkidar song as your Caller Tune. Dial 57878617 from your Airtel mobile phone. Dial 53711116475 from your Vodafone mobile phone. Dial 5678911116415 from your Idea mobile phone. Jio users can type chowkidar and send SMS to 56789. pic.twitter.com/9YDshjNWyN BJP (@BJP4India) March 19, 2019 Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday claimed that the campaign has become a "people's movement" with the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' hashtag being tweeted 20 lakh times and had 1680 crore impressions. "The outreach programme, which is already turning into a mass movement, is aimed at the common man of the country who silently work in the background and as such is one of the invisible pillars of the country. The address with chowkidars on March 20 is a significant step towards meeting the objectives of `antyodaya` and `sabka saath sabka vikas`," BJP media cell convenor Anil Baluni told IANS. The Prime Minister will once again address security personnel from 500 locations via video conference on March 31. By Lee Suh-yoonWith the country celebrating its centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement, more victims of wartime forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule are stepping out of the shadows to demand reparations from Japanese firms.On Tuesday, a Gwangju-based civic group and a local branch office of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, started gathering applications from victims or descendants of victims in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province for a joint lawsuit that will be filed by the end of next month."For decades, the victims lived without knowing where to exercise their right to reparations due to the 1965 Korea-Japan diplomatic treaty," Lee Kook-un, head of the NGO for Supporting Female Victims of Enforced Labor by Japan, told The Korea Times, Wednesday. "They were ignored by both national governments (of Korea and Japan), and during the military dictatorship era could not even bring up the subject."Since announcing their plans to organize and file the public suit, the civic group's office has been swamped with phone inquiries on how to join, Lee said.Though more than a dozen lawsuits representing some 1,000 Korean victims have already been filed against Japanese firms for wartime forced labor, many remain unrepresented. Of the 224,000 victims who were forcibly mobilized for Japan's war effort, 68 percent, or 147,000, toiled inside Japanese factories, according to registered figures at a special government support committee for victims.The number of surviving forced labor victims in the country was 5,245 in February last year, with 121 in Gwangju and 544 in South Jeolla Province, data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety showed.Civic groups hope bringing more victims onboard could impose greater accountability from Japan and push through stalled reparation talks with Japanese firms most notably Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi , both of which have refused to abide by Oct. 30 and Nov. 29 Supreme Court rulings ordering compensation for victims. Victims have filed for seizure of the companies' assets in Korea. Last month, the lawyers group and civic groups in Seoul gathered forced labor victims of two Japanese firms Nippon Steel and Fujikoshi for another joint suit that may be filed as early as next week, sources said.The Japanese government has shown even greater resistance to the reparations order than the firms themselves. Last week, it said it would consider limiting visas for Koreans in Japan if the court goes ahead to liquidate Nippon Steel's assets in Korea."The biggest problem is that even the victims who have already won their case in court have still not been compensated," Kim Jung-hee, a lawyer who will represent the new victims from Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, said in a phone interview, Wednesday. "We hope these new lawsuits can also pressure the Japanese government and firms to apologize to victims and pay proper reparations." Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir BJP Wednesday alleged that the Congress had conceded to the National Conference's (NC) pro-separatist agenda after the two parties announced a pre-poll alliance in the state. The Congress and the NC finalised arrangements for the six Lok Sabha seats of the state earlier in the day. "The NC-Congress alliance is an eye wash and a wake up call for Jammu," BJP spokesperson Brig (retd) Anil Gupta told reporters. "The Congress has not only surrendered to the National Conference but also conceded to the pro-separatist, Kashmir-centric, communal and divisive agenda of that party," he said. He added that the "opportunistic" alliance was aimed at promoting "Kashmiri hegemony". With the NC insisting on contesting from all the three seats in Kashmir, the party's couldn't-care-less attitude towards Jammu is obvious, Gupta said. The BJP spokesperson claimed the Congress, like the NC, will oppose granting citizenship to West Pakistan refugees and inheritance rights to the state's daughters. The Congress-NC combine will put an end to anti terror operations and revive the over ground terror support network, Gupta alleged. "They will revoke the ban on Jammat-e-Islami Kashmir and promote radicalisation in Kashmir. They will ensure that Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims are given permanent residence so that the demography of the region is changed and Jammu also becomes insecure like the Valley," he warned. People of Jammu will do a great disservice to their future generations if they vote for the communal and divisive agenda of the NC-Congress alliance, Gupta said. It would not be surprising if the Peoples Democratic Party also joins hands with them to further marginalise the voice of Jammu, he said. While the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the NC will fight from Srinagar, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said at a joint press conference here with NC president Omar Abdullah. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. PATNA: In a setback for the BJP, Uday Singh, a former MP of the party from Bihar's Purnea district, on Wednesday quit the BJP and joined the Congress. It is expected that Singh would contest the Lok Sabha poll from the Purnea seat. "I have joined the Congress and will do whatever the party will ask me to do," Singh said at a press meet at the Congress headquarters here. Talking about his decision to quit the BJP, Singh said he was happy to return to the Congress. Singh said that he had decided to join the BJP in 2014 following the request of then BJP leader and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Singh had contested in 2014 from Purnea and won. He resigned from the BJP in January, saying: "I had joined the BJP in 2004 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but the party is no more strong as it was and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also declined." Sources said that Singh was unhappy with the BJP's decision to enter into an alliance with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) sending a message that the saffron party has decided to give the Purnea seat to JD-U. (with IANS inputs) Patna: Former BJP MP from Bihar`s Purnea district, Uday Singh, on Wednesday joined the Congress and is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Purnea seat. "I have joined the Congress and will do whatever the party will ask me to do," Singh said at a press meet at the Congress headquarters here. Singh said he was happy to return to the Congress. He had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2004 following the request of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He had contested the then Lok Sabha polls and won. He resigned from the BJP in January, saying: "I had joined the BJP in 2004 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but the party is no more strong as it was and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also declined." Singh was reportedly unhappy with the BJP after the saffron party joined hands with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in a clear signal to give the Purnea seat to a JD-U candidate. NEW DELHI: With the battle for Lok Sabha election 2019 heating up across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a fiery attack on Congress party and the Gandhi family on Wednesday. In an 1165-worded blog post, the Prime Minister recalled how the nation decided to vote for vikas (development) over dynastic politics and 'opportunities over obstacles' in 2014 general election. Comparing the achievements of the NDA government to the previous UPA rule, the PM writes, India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38% in 2014 to 98% now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth. Openly addressing Congress, PM Modi says no amount of intimidation will change the ground realities. Curbing freedom of expression will not change peoples poor impression of the party. Less than a month left for polls, PM Modi asked the voters to think wisely and work hard to strengthen the intuitions given to us by the makers of our Constitution. Self-goal? Congress' Tariq Anwar targets PM Modi over 'dynasty' issue, Twitter returns fire PM Modi's Blog: Institutional respect and Institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches In the summer of 2014, the people voted decisively for: Honesty over dynasty. Development over decay. Security over stagnation. Opportunities over obstacles. Vikas over vote-bank politics. Indians were tired of our beloved nation being in the Fragile Five, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive. India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future. The mandate of 2014 was epoch-making also because it was for the first time in the history of India that a non-dynastic party was blessed with a complete majority. When a Government works with the spirit of India First instead of Family First, it shows in its working. Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the worlds eyes. India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38% in 2014 to 98% now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth. Reflective of this paradigm shift is the fact that now, there is a Government that puts institutions above everything else. India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating. Parliament: The overall productivity of the 16th Lok Sabha was a phenomenal 85%, which is significantly higher than the productivity of the 15th Lok Sabha. Between 2014 and 2019, the Rajya Sabhas productivity was 68%. The Interim Budget session witnessed productivity of 89% in the Lok Sabha and a mere 8% in the Rajya Sabha. The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party in higher number its tendency to work more is visible. India should ask- why was the Rajya Sabha not working as productively as the Lok Sabha? Which were the forces disrupting the House and why? Press and Expression: Dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. No wonder, the very first Constitutional Amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent. The recent UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail. Just a few days ago, the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power. But I want to tell the Congress that no amount of intimidation will change the ground realities. Curbing freedom of expression will not change peoples poor impression of the party. Constitution and Courts: When the sun set on the evening of 25th June 1975, it took with it the democratic ethos of India. A hurried radio address by the then Prime Minister showed the extent to which the Congress can go to safeguard the interests of one dynasty. The Emergency made the nation a prison overnight. Even to express was to commit sin. The 42nd Amendment put curbs on the courts, covering the Parliament and more. It took a groundswell of public opinion to end the Emergency but the anti-constitutional mindset of those who imposed it remained. The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed. Congress contempt for the courts is anyway legendary. It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a committed judiciary, which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution. This pursuit of a committed judiciary made Congress overlook several respected Judges while appointing the Chief Justice of India. Congress modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge. Government bodies: In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, A bunch of jokers. This comment gives you a glimpse of how Congress treats government institutions. Remember the UPA years, when the Congress questioned the CAG just because that institution exposed their corrupt shenanigans like 2G, Coal Scam etc. CBI became the Congress Bureau of Investigation- it was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. Tensions were deliberately created in organisations such as IB and RAW. A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference. The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Ministers Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions? In the 1990s, a fictitious spy scandal was created in Indias premier space agency ISRO just to suit Kerala Congress factional politics. It did not matter to them that a brilliant scientist had to suffer due to that. Armed Forces: Congress has always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved. After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family. When a top Congress leader calls the Army Chief a Gunda and is subsequently promoted in the party rank and file, it shows their scant regard for the forces. When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing Khoon Ki Dalali. When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too. Congress own (lack of) internal democracy and sense of entitlement: Political parties are vibrant bodies that manifest diverse public opinion. Sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. If a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress. The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. Are they scared of accountability or do they not believe in it? Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way. Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct. As you go to vote- remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty. Let us stay vigilant and work hard to strengthen the intuitions given to us by the makers of our Constitution. PATNA/NEW DELHI: Bihar's mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is intact, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday. An announcement on the same is expected post-Holi. Mahagathbandhan is intact, seats and constituencies will be announced after Holi. There is nothing to worry, all is fine in the alliance, Yadav told news agency ANI. The deadlock over the seat-sharing deal in Bihar's grand alliance has finally been solved, sources has earlier told Zee News. The RJD will contest on 20 seats and Congress on nine seats added sources. Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party will contest on four seats, Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha from three seats, Loktantrik Janata Dal from two seats and Vikassheel Insan Party on one. The alliance talks hit a wall over Darbhanga and Madhubani parliamentary constituencies. The RJD wants 21 seats for itself, eight for Congress, five for Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, three for Hindustani Awam Party. It wants to leave the remaining three seats with Vikassheel Insan Party and Left parties, a source in Rashtriya Janata Dal said. The Grand Alliance comprises old allies like the Congress and the RJD, and new entrants such as the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and the Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP). RLSP chief and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, HAM chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and VIP President Mukesh Sahani, have returned from New Delhi after completing talks on seat-sharing. Left Front on Wednesday issued a press statement confirming that it will have no seat sharing arrangement with Congress in West Bengal for upcoming Lok Sabha poll. The Left Front has also decided to field four candidates in the seats where Congress has sitting MPs - Malda Uttar, Malda Dakshin, Jangipur and Berhampore. On Tuesday, the Left Front had given Congress 24 hours to respond to the seat sharing deal but the Congress did not response to the Left Front's call, leaving it with no option other than to contest the Lok Sabha poll alone. The Left Front on Tuesday announced the names of candidates for 38 seats of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The Left Front is an alliance of Communist Party of India (Marxist), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the Marxist Forward Bloc, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Revolutionary Communist Party of India and the Biplabi Bangla Congress. Out of 38 seats, CPI (M) will field its candidates from 29 seats, AIFB from three seats, RSP from three seats and CPI from three seats. Congress had announced the candidature of ex-union minister Deepa Dasmunsi and Abu Hena from Raiganj and Murshidabad constituencies respectively on Monday. Dasmunsi is the widow of Congress stalwart late PR Dasmunsi and she will contest against sitting CPI(M) MP Mohd. Salim, while Hena will fight against Badarudozza Khan. Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of former President Pranab Mukherjee, will contest from Jangipur, while former West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary will fight the Lok Sabha poll from Berhampore. Rahul Gandhi has attacked PM Narendra Modi for the Centre's policies, plans and programs time and again. Time and again, the Congress president has also turned the verbal duel into personal jobes and on Wednesday, he chose to do it in front of hundreds of students. While interacting with students in Imphal, Rahul chose to focus on PM Modi's educational qualifications and claimed that no one is aware of his degrees. "We still have not had access to PM's university degree. Nobody actually knows whether the Prime Minister went to a university or not," he said in a brazen move to yet again make his political rivalry personal. This, however, is not the first time Congress has chosen to cast aspersions on PM Modi's education. In 2017, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh had accused PM Modi of being secretive' about his educational degrees and when slammed for his remark, said it was no crime to question a Prime Minister. AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal too had tweeted about PM Modi's educational background for which a bailable warrant had been issued against him. BJP has maintained that when rival parties run out of credible points of arguments against its leaders, they lean on flimsy and personal excuses to attack PM Modi. The Centre had also taken out copies of BA and MA degrees of PM Modi from Delhi University and Gujarat University, respectively. In 2016, in fact, Delhi University's registrar had confirmed the authenticity of the PM's degree which had been awarded to him in 1979. New Delhi: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday accused the BJP of showing undue hurry to get state BJP president Pramod Sawant appointed as the Chief Minister, a day after the death of Manohar Parikkar on Sunday. The Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece Saamna said that the BJP should have waited till Parrikar`s ashes were immersed. Sawant in the wee hours of Monday took charge of the Chief Minister's office, hours after the final rites of his predecessor, Manohar Parrikar, were conducted with full state honours. On a closer look, Congress-led by Rahul Gandhi was in a hurry to try to form its own government in the state. Goa Congress leader Girish Chodankar and Chandrakant Kavlekar wrote to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha for forming the government in Goa hours after the news of Parrikar`s death hit the television screens. Parrikar died on March 17 (Sunday), at the age of 63 after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. He served as the chief minister of Goa four times and as the defence minister for three years in the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre. After the death of Parrikar, the strength of 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly was reduced to 36. JP MLA Francis D'Souza died in January, while two other Congress members had quit the workplace in 2018. New Delhi: A debate has started on the naming of a road going to Bombay Hospital. The officials are in a dilemma to decide on the name on whom the 600-metre long street should be named. All the doctors and employees of the Bombay Hospital are keen to have the road named after late Dr BK Goyal. Goyal was the renowned cardiologist and honorary dean of the Bombay Hospital. He passed away at the age of 82 at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital in February 2018. After his death, he was accorded funeral with full state honours. A day before his death, Goyal performed at least 22 angioplasty and gave new life to patients. He was no less than a Messiah for his patients. After more than a year after death, BK Goyal's son Rahul Goyal has appealed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to name the road after his father. Goyal was associated with the Bombay Hospital for almost 52 years. He treated several dignitaries and celebrities and also served as the Chairman of Haffkine Institute. In 1980, he was appointed as Mumbai Sheriff. He has been awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. In 2012, All India Medical Council proposed his name for the post of President of India. Goyal was associated with many renowned hospitals abroad. On the other hand, Shaina NC, who is the spokesperson of BJP, wants BMC to name the street after her late father, Nana Chudasama. Speaking about it, she said, "Dr BK Goyal did nothing about Bombay Hospital. Till date, they did not offer a proposal on road laning. We verified the divider. My letter regarding the naming of the street reached BMC office almost two months after the death of my father. And the letter was sent by Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant. As far as naming of the street is considered, my father has contributed a lot to the city of Mumbai, so there is nothing wrong in that." Los Angeles: Actor Brian Austin Green says he is "still mourning" the death of his "Beverly Hills, 90210" co-star Luke Perry. Perry, the star of the hit 90's show, passed away aged 52 on March 4. The actor was hospitalised the previous week after he suffered a massive stroke at his Sherman Oaks home. Green was missing from the list of Hollywood celebrities who paid tributes to Perry on social media but he made it up for it in a recent episode of his podcast. "Luke was a special guy. I'm still mourning over it, so there's a part of me that's kind of shocked that I'm speaking about Luke this way," he said. "We all knew that at some point we'd have to deal with losing cast members and friends, but not this soon. Not at 52. Not in such an abrupt way," he added. The actor also revealed that he sent Perry a text following his untimely demise. "I texted him after he passed, knowing obviously that he can't text me back but on some level, hoping that he would text me back, or that he was out there somewhere. And I know he is. I know he's looking down and I know he's smiling," Green said. A worker at Seocho-gu Office in southern Seoul explains various services available at the support center for single-person households in the district. / Courtesy of Seocho-gu Office By Lee Suh-yoon Seocho-gu in southern Seoul is opening a support center for single-person households, the first of its kind in the country, the district office announced last week. The center will provide visitation services like nursing for ill residents and a 100,000 won ($88) subsidy to fix small leaks and cracks around homes. "I remember how difficult it was when I got the flu," a man surnamed Kim in his 50s, who lives alone, said in a recent interview with Seocho-gu officials. "I could not tell my family for fear of worrying them and needed a place I could ask for help." The center will flesh out further details of its one-on-one support schemes for people living alone based on the results of an ongoing survey of 57,000 such households in Seocho-gu. Other types of support being discussed include installing home security equipment, buddy services for hospital visits and psychological counseling. People participate in a wooden furniture-making class for single-person households at Seocho-gu Office. / Courtesy of Seocho-gu Office Mumbai: Vivek Oberoi, who is portraying Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an upcoming biopic, says he is a "balanced person" and has respect for both the supporters and the detractors of the PM. During the trailer launch of the film "PM Narendra Modi", the 42-year-old actor said he is not an "extreme" person when it comes to his political leanings. "I'm not an extreme kind of a person. I am a balanced person. I appreciate the bhakts and criticism of the critics. "You are portraying a living legend and those who hate or love him, do that with intensity. People have become his bhakt," he said. The actor turned up at the event dressed as Modi and he said it was because he was shooting a montage scene for the film. The Omung Kumar-directed film was previously scheduled for April 12, apparently a day after the completion of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, but has now been preponed to April 5. Vivek evaded a query about the reports that several opposition parties have sought a ban on the film and instead asked producer Sandeep Ssingh to respond to it. "We are filmmakers and they are politicians we are doing our job they are doing their job. As far as the propaganda thing is concerned you are journalists you decide when the film releases. "We are focusing on releasing the film and bringing a true story on the screen than who is saying what or sending letter to whom," Singh said. Vivek said it took him just 30 seconds to say yes to the film. He added that he got to explore a lot more about Modi after he started working on the project. "Lot of people thought a film should be made on Narendra Modi as it is a great story but only Ssandeep Singh made it happen. I took me 30 seconds to say yes to the film. My team and director believes I have done justice. I have considered him as an inspiration. "I felt I know him from the interactions I have had with him as a neutral person. But when I started doing research for the film, I realised that he was never afraid of any difficulties or struggle he was very clear in his vision." When pointed out that a biopic usually tends to whitewash the personality it is based on, the producer said they have not shied away from any aspect of Modi's life, including the Godhra riots controversy. Kumar, who has previously directed films such as Mary Kom" and "Sarbjit", said he has been neutral in his approach. "I am a very neutral person. It is a big responsibility. The story is so inspiring. Who wouldn't want to make a film on him? I like the zero to hero story. I like the stories of struggle as that inspires one. He did it and we all got inspired from it," Omung said. Meanwhile, when Vivek was asked to react on Cobra post controversy, he said, "I would just say that those who know the truth they know it all and for those who don't know it doesn't matter (Jo Sach jaante hai woh jaante hai aur jo nahi jaante woh matter nahi karte)." Vivek was among the 30 Bollywood celebrities who were caught in a sting operation, agreeing to promote the agenda of political parties on social media platforms in exchange for money. Jhunjhunu: Two men were thrashed by the staff of Shri Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewala University here after they barged into the premises of the varsity to settle the score with a teacher who had beaten their friend. Elaborating on the brawl which broke out on Tuesday, SHO, Sadar Police Station, Jhunjhunu, Suresh Kumar told ANI, "On getting information about the fight in college police went there. We came to know that two boys entered the college with the purpose of fighting. Following this a fight ensued between the staff and the other two men. One or two teachers also got injured. Those boys also got injured." "A student was scolded by a teacher two days back. Today these men entered the campus they are not the students. We are investigating the matter," he added. Rajasthan: Some teachers of a college in Jhunjhunu were thrashed by a few men in the college premises. Police say, "A student had been scolded by a teacher 2 days back. Today these men entered the campus, they are not its students. We are investigating the matter." (19.03.2019) pic.twitter.com/iFwNUodC7C ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Meanwhile, one of the men who barged into the university cried foul and said, "A teacher had slapped my cousin brother. He called me and asked me to come. We went there to ask what happened. The college staff and teacher thrashed us severely." Veteran actor Mohan Babu turned a year older on Tuesday and on this occasion, his kids Manchu Manoj and Manchu Vishnu have done something really good in the name of his father. His elder son Manchu Vishnu announced that he would be donating Rs 1 crore for the development of various facilities in Ruia hospital, Tirupati. Vishnu made his official announcement and said that this is the gift for his father too. In the next three years, Vishnu will make a total donation of Rs 1 crore that will help to improve the Neo Natal ICU and Medical ICU Pediatric department in the Ruia hospital. Apart from the above, Vishnu also vowed to assist for the construction of an Emergency and OPD block. On Tuesday, Vishnu handed over the first cheque to the authorities of the Ruia hospitals. Well, Manchu Manoj has also done something just like his brother. He has adopted a girl called Ashwitha from Sirisilla and will be taking care of all her expenses and responsibilities. He shared a photograph with Ashwitha and her family and wrote, "Nana's birthday tomorrow and turned to be my best! i take pride in #adopting #Ashwitha frm #Sirisilla. Enrolled her today at @ividyanikethan. I hereby, take up all her responsibilities to support, educate &ensure her safety & desire to become an #IAS officer! Thank you all who helped! #JOyOfGiving #KTR #KTROffice#Bharat" (sic) Fans of the Manchu family are pretty happy and proud that Manoj and Vishnu have taken these good initiatives to do good to people on the day of their father's birthday. Celebrations were held on a grand scale at Vidyanikethan High School in Tirupathi. Manchu Lakshmi Prasanna, Viranica Manchu and others were also part of the celebrations. Nayantharas Airaa is all set to release on April 28, 2019. The makers have announced the date recently and have released new stills of the lady superstar from the film. The film is releasing in both Tamil and Telugu languages with the same title. The film also has Kalaiyarasan as the male lead. Kotapadai J Rajesh will be bankrolling this project under KJR Studios. For the first time in her career, Nayanthara is seen playing a dual role on-screen. According to the makers, she will be seen playing Bhavani and Yamuna and the title replicates her strength and attitude in the film. For one of the roles, she will be seen without any makeup and in fact in a darker complexion too. Contrast to it, the other one will show her in a completely modern role. The trailer of the film is released and it is going viral for all the right reasons. Fans of Nayanthara are just waiting for the release of the film. It was supposed to release during Christmas last year. But the team couldnt complete shooting in time and so, it was delayed for three months. The teaser of 'Airaa' was released in January and it went viral for its unique concept and story. The film also has cast and crew like Sundaramurthy KS, Sundara Srinivasan, Priyanka Ravindran, Karthik Jogesh, Siva Sankar and others. Nayantharas recent film is 'Imaikka Nodigal' and it is a crime thriller. The film has become a huge hit and the actor has received a lot of compliments for her role in the film. She played the role of a cop in this film. New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday said that the number of telephone subscribers in India showed a monthly growth rate of 0.49 %. It increased from 1,197.87 million at the end of December 2018 to 1,203.77 million (1.20 billion) at the end of January 2019, the TRAI data found. The urban subscription increased from 666.28 million at the end of December 2018 to 672.91 million at the end of January 2019. However, TRAI said that the rural subscription declined from 531.59 million to 530.86 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural subscription were 1.00% and -0.14% respectively during the month of January 2019. The overall Tele-density in India increased from 91.45 at the end of December 2018 to 91.82 at the end of January 2019. The Urban Tele-density increased from 159.98 at the end of December 2018 to 161.34 at the end of January 2019, however Rural Tele-density declined from 59.50 at the end of December 2018 to 59.38 at the end of January 2019. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of January 2019 was 55.90% and 44.10% respectively. The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers for January this year were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (289.44 million), Vodafone Idea (109.84 million), Bharti Airtel (107.96 million), BSNL (11.64 million) and Tata Teleservices (1.79 million), TRAI data said. In the month of January, 2019, 5.84 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 411.98 million at the end of December 2018 to 417.82 million at the end of January 2019, since implementation of MNP. SEATTLE: Boeing Co, facing its biggest crisis in years following deadly crashes of its flagship 737 MAX aircraft, has brought in a new vice president of engineering while dedicating another top executive to the aircraft investigations, a company email showed on Tuesday. The management reshuffle comes as Europe and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of Boeing`s 737 MAX, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying worldwide after they were grounded in the wake of crashes that killed more than 300 people. John Hamilton, formerly both vice president and chief engineer in Boeing`s Commercial Airplanes division, will focus solely on the role of chief engineer, the unit`s Chief Executive Officer Kevin McAllister told employees on Tuesday in an email seen by Reuters. "This will allow him to fully dedicate his attention to the ongoing accident investigations," McAllister said, adding that the staffing changes were needed as "we prioritise and bring on additional resources for the ongoing accident investigations." Lynne Hopper - who previously led Test & Evaluation in Boeing`s Engineering, Test & Technology group - has been named vice president of Engineering, McAllister said. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment but confirmed the authenticity of the email. The shakeup showed how the world`s largest planemaker was freeing up engineering resources as it faces scrutiny during crash investigations while also maintaining production of its money-spinning 737 single-aisle aircraft. Previously, Hamilton served as the vice president of engineering for Boeing Commercial Airplanes from April 2016 through March 2019, according to a biography on Boeing`s website. From July 2013 through March 2016, Hamilton served as the vice president of Safety, Security and Compliance and oversaw the Commercial Airplanes Organization Designation Authorization - a program that takes on specific safety certification duties on behalf of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Lawmakers and safety experts are questioning how thoroughly regulators vetted the MAX model and how well pilots were trained on new features. For now, global regulators have grounded the existing fleet of more than 300 MAX aircraft, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more - worth well over $500 billion - are on hold. LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May requested a three-month delay to Brexit on Wednesday after her failure to get a deal ratified by parliament left the United Kingdom`s divorce from the European Union in turmoil. Nearly three years the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and nine days before the formal exit deadline, British politicians are still arguing over how, when or even if the world`s fifth largest economy should leave the bloc it first joined 1973. When May set the March 29 exit date two years ago by serving the formal Article 50 divorce papers, she declared there would be "no turning back" but parliament`s refusal to ratify the withdrawal deal she agreed with the EU has thrust her government into crisis. Now, May has written to European Council President Donald Tusk to ask for a delay until June 30. "As prime minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June," May told a rowdy session of parliament. "I have therefore this morning written to President Tusk, the president of the European Council, informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the article 50 period until the 30th June," she said. She said she planned to ask parliament to vote a third time on her departure deal, which lawmakers have already voted down twice. She didn`t say when the vote would happen. The opposition Labour Party said that by choosing a short delay May was forcing British lawmakers to decide between accepting a deal they have already rejected twice or crashing out of the European Union without a deal. Pro-Brexit members of May`s Conservative Party are opposed to a longer delay because they fear this could mean that Brexit might never happen. For its part, the EU said any extension should either be until May 23 or "significantly longer" and require Britain to take part in European elections in May. The prime minister said it was not in Britain`s interests to take part in European elections. An EU Commission document seen by Reuters said the EU should offer Britain just one extension as multiple delays would leave the bloc in limbo. Early support for May`s request for an extension came from Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. While the United Kingdom remains divided over Brexit, most agree that it will shape the economic future of generations to come and, if it goes badly, could undermine the West and threaten London`s position as the dominant global financial capital. The loss of Britain for the EU is the biggest blow yet to more than 60 years of effort to forge European unity after two world wars, though the 27 other members of the bloc have shown surprising unity during the tortuous negotiations. Britain`s Brexit crisis has left allies and investors puzzled by a country that for decades seemed a confident pillar of Western economic and political stability. EU leaders are expected to discuss May`s request for a Brexit delay at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU had done much to accommodate Britain and can go no further. "There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations, no additional guarantees in addition to those already given," Juncker told Germany`s Deutschlandfunk radio. "We have intensively moved towards Britain, there can be no more." China has plans of soon starting work on a massive nuclear-powered ship and has reportedly invited bids for its construction. South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday that while the purpose of the ship has not been specified, the plan is to have a 152-metre long, 32-metre wide and with a displacement of 30,000 tonnes. The report further states that it has been planned as an 'experimental platform' although the country has plans of building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the foreseeable future. For now, China has plans of developing the nuclear-powered ship to test its capabilities before diving straight into building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The ship planned for now is expected to be fitted with two 23-megawatt compact pressurised water reactors which could propel it to speeds of up to 11.5 knots. The ship could have similarities with Russia's nuclear-powered ice-breaking 23,000-tonne ship. Developing its own nuclear-powered ship as an icebreaker is bein seen as China's way of expanding its reach significantly in the Arctic Ocean. More significantly, and as mentioned before, this ship could lay the groundwork for development of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier even as China aims to challenge US' naval might. ADDIS ABABA/JAKARTA: The world`s biggest planemaker Boeing faced growing obstacles to returning its grounded 737 MAX fleet to the skies on Wednesday, while chilling details emerged of an Indonesian crash with similarities to the Ethiopian disaster. Experts suspect an automated system, meant to stop stalling by dipping the nose, may be involved in both cases, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged downwards. The March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash has shaken the global aviation industry and cast a shadow over the flagship Boeing model intended to be a standard for decades to come, given parallels with the Lion Air calamity off Jakarta in October. The twin crashes killed 346 people. Chicago-headquartered Boeing has promised a swift update of the automatic flight software for the craft but major regulators in Europe and Canada want to be sure themselves, rather than rely on U.S. vetting. As Ethiopian investigators pored over black box data from their crash, sources with knowledge of the doomed Lion Air cockpit voice recorder revealed how pilots scoured a manual in a losing battle to figure out why they were hurtling down to sea. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash want to know how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency. Communications showed that in the final moments, the captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, while the first officer was unable to control the plane. "It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75," said one of the sources with knowledge of the cockpit recording that has not been made public. "So you panic. It is a time-out condition." At the end, the sources told Reuters, the Indian-born captain, 31, was quiet, while the Indonesian officer, 41, said "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") - an Arabic phrase to express excitement, shock, praise or distress. The plane then hit water. U.S. "CREDIBILITY DAMAGED" Boeing has said there was a documented procedure to handle the situation. A different crew on the same plane the evening before had the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists, though they did not pass on all that information to the doomed crew, the preliminary report by investigators released in November said. Rowing back from previous reliance on U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) vetting, Canada and the European Union will now seek their own guarantees over the MAX planes, complicating Boeing`s hopes to get them flying worldwide again. Regulators want to be absolutely sure of Boeing`s new automated flight control system, known as MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), and that pilots are fully trained to handle it. "Our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged," wrote Chesley Sullenberger, a U.S. pilot famed for landing a jet on the Hudson River saving all 155 people on board a decade ago. "Boeing and the FAA have been found wanting in this ugly saga that began years ago but has come home to roost with two terrible fatal crashes, with no survivors, in less than five months, on a new airplane type, the Boeing 737 Max 8, something that is unprecedented in modern aviation history," he added in a scathing article on marketwatch.com Facing such high-profile scrutiny, Boeing, one of the United States` most prestigious exporters, reshuffled executives in its commercial airplanes unit to focus on the crash fallout. VOICE RECORDINGS The FAA noted in a statement that its "robust processes" and "full collaboration with the aviation community" were key to safety worldwide. The regulator is due to have a new head soon, likely to be former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson. U.S. President Donald Trump had apparently been considering his longtime personal pilot, John Dunkin, before leaning towards Dickson who had a 27-year career at Delta. In Ethiopia, which is leading the investigation, experts were poring over the in-flight recording of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed`s voices. As with the Indonesia flight, they radioed control problems shortly after take-off and sought to turn back, struggling to get their plane on track before it hit a field. However, there is no proven link and experts emphasize that every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors. For now, though, more than 300 MAX aircraft are grounded round the world, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more - worth well over $500 billion - are on hold. Development of the 737 MAX, which offers cost savings of about 15 percent on fuel, began in 2011 after the successful launch by its main rival of the Airbus A320neo. The 737 MAX entered service in 2017 after six years of preparation. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday met the senior officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force to hold discussions over the security situation amid tension between Pakistan and India after February 14 Pulwama attack, which resulted in the martyrdom of 40 CRPF personnel. The Pakistan prime minister also discussed the security situation along Pakistan's eastern border with India. The meeting was attended by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, PTI reported. The crucial meeting was held just two days before the Pakistan Day parade in Islamabad. It is to be noted that Pakistan military will used the parade to display its hardware. "The security situation of the country including professional matters pertaining to Armed Forces of Pakistan were discussed during the meeting," according to an official statement. Tension between India and Pakistan heightened after the Pulwama attack which was carried out by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The cowardly attack sparked a nationwide outrage and the Indian government retaliated by allowing the Indian Air Force to carry out a daring operation inside Pakistan. The IAF fighter jets bombed a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. Pakistan Air Force tried to retaliate on February 27 but there attempt was thwarted by IAF. The PAF, however, shot down a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was released by Pakistan after 50 hours. (with PTI inputs) By Lee Min-hyung Free Joseon, an anti-North Korea political group previously known as Cheollima Civil Defense, had over the past two years raised a 38 million won ($34,000) "bitcoin fund." According to the group's website, Wednesday, it received 14.22 bitcoin between March 8, 2017, and March 18 of this year, from sponsors of its activities which include support for North Korean defectors. The group has made seven withdrawals accounting for almost all the bitcoin. Free Joseon is best known for protecting Kim Han-sol, the son of Kim Jong-nam who was assassinated in Malaysia in 2017. Jong-nam was the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. With the assassination apparently by the North Korean regime making headlines here and abroad, calls grew for the need to save the lives of Jong-nam's immediate family. The anti-North Korea group has since claimed that it is protecting the life of Han-sol. In 2017, the group released footage of an interview with him, drawing media attention. Established as Cheollima Civil Defense in March 2017, the organization became mired in controversy over a raid on the North Korean Embassy in Madrid last month. In response it renamed itself "Free Joseon" this month. At that time, overseas media reported the organization was behind the raid, but no clear evidence of its alleged involvement has been found. BAGHOUZ: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) conducted clearing operations on Wednesday after taking most of the last Islamic State pocket in east Syria, an official with the U.S.-backed militia said. Fighters searched the pocket at Baghouz near the Iraqi border for hidden jihadists, tunnels and landmines, but there was calm and no clashes, the SDF official said. Islamic State`s defeat at Baghouz would end its territorial control over the third of Syria and Iraq it held in 2014 as it sought to carve out a huge caliphate in the region. While it would represent a significant milestone in Syria`s eight-year-old war and in the battle against Islamic State, the jihadist group remains a threat. Some of the group`s fighters are still holed up in the central Syrian desert and others have gone underground in Iraqi cities to wage an insurgent campaign to destabilise the government. On Tuesday, the SDF said they had driven the remaining Islamic State fighters in Baghouz from a makeshift encampment that had represented most of its remaining territory. Remaining diehard fighters had been pushed to the bank of the Euphrates, and on Tuesday night they continued clashing with the SDF, a spokesman for the militia said. President Moon Jae-in speaks during the joint press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on March 13, the second day of his three-day state visit to the Southeast Asian country. Joint Press Corps By Jung Da-min The presidential office is in the hot seat after it was realized that President Moon Jae-in gave by mistake an Indonesian greeting while visiting Malaysia from March 12 to 14. Moon used the wrong greeting due to "confusion," according to Cheong Wa Dae deputy spokesperson Ko Min-jung, Wednesday. "There was confusion in the process of writing the local greeting to express familiarity with the people in the host country," Ko told reporters. After the meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on March 13, President Moon greeted the joint press briefing saying "Selamat sore," which means "good afternoon" in Indonesian, instead of using the Malaysian expression "Selamat petang." This could have been regarded as rude to the host country, but Malaysia did not make an issue of it, Ko said. "We will do our best to prevent a similar situation from happening again," Ko said, acknowledging it was a mistake that should never have happened. It later became a controversy with some professors in South Korea expressing concern over possible diplomatic discourtesy. Opposition parties demanded punishment for those who prepared Moon's greeting. "Cheong Wa Dae should be blamed for what happened in Malaysia. That was too big a mistake that could have caused a diplomatic row," the main opposition Liberty Korea Party said in a commentary. Moon made a three-day state visit to Malaysia from March 12 to 14, the first time in nine years for a South Korean President to visit the Southeast Asian country. The trip came a year ahead of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It was the second leg of his tour of three ASEAN member nations, also including Brunei and Cambodia. President Moon Jae-in, left, shakes hands with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats upon the U.S. intelligence chief's visit to Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. Yonhap By Kim Yoo-chul President Moon Jae-in met U.S. spy chief Dan Coats at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday, to discuss pending issues, according to presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. Without disclosing details, the spokesman said Moon and Coats shared views on "a wide range of issues in a candid manner." Ahead of his visit to Cheong Wa Dae, Coats and South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Suh Hoon discussed ways to break the continued impasse in nuclear talks after last month's failed Hanoi summit, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks said. "Coats and NIS Chief Suh discussed coordinated efforts to advance North Korean denuclearization. They also shared a definition of verified denuclearization and what that means for North Korea," one source said, asking not to be named. Coats arrived Tuesday evening at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. His visit to Seoul was not made public. Another source said the Moon-Coats meeting also covered ways on how to share classified information relating to North Korea, to respond should North Korea decide to conduct any type of missile tests, because North Korea is said to be building long-range missiles. The source said Coats also demonstrated some concerns among U.S. politicians over Seoul's push to ease sanctions on North Korea. In a recent appearance before Congress, Coats said North Korea is "unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons." While he told U.S lawmakers North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continues to demonstrate openness to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, U.S. intelligence agencies are still assessing North Korea will "seek to retain its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities as rulers in the North view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said early Tuesday (KST) that the United States will "re-engage" with North Korea over issues of mutual concern, but hinted at maintaining the current hardline stance on the negotiating table no sanctions easing without full and verified denuclearization. North Korea said it was considering dropping out of the nuclear talks. In order to prevent further backtracking, President Moon Jae-in said he will play his role as "facilitator" in advancing the talks between Washington and Pyongyang and asked the United States to grant approval for an early resumption of two frozen inter-Korean economic projects as a type of concession. After the failure of the Hanoi summit, U.S.-North Korea engagement has appeared to be in limbo. Given the lack of a meaningful progress, Moon's role as facilitator is questioned as more U.S. politicians are calling for the Trump administration to correct the "status quo" and to maintain the administration's "maximum pressure and engagement" doctrine. The U.S. Department of State said Washington's special envoy for the North Korean nuclear issue Stephen Biegun will meet his British, French, and German counterparts until next week to discuss coordinated efforts to advance talks aimed at scrapping North Korea's nuclear program. By Lee Min-hyung The time is ripe for North Korea to prove its willingness to denuclearize by responding to a proposal from the U.S., Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said in a National Assembly interpellation session Wednesday. "It appears North Korea was not ready to respond to a big proposal from the U.S. during their second summit in Hanoi," Lee said. It is high time for North Korea to take concrete actions in a way to verify its firm determination for complete nuclear disarmament for the peninsula, according to the prime minister. On the second day of the four-day session, lawmakers took issue with the so-called "post Hanoi-summit" countermeasures in the wake of a failure at the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon also attended the session to share the South's plans to rekindle the bilateral dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang. Kang shared her views on continuing to impose sanctions on the regime unless it takes concrete steps toward denuclearization. "I think international society should keep imposing sanctions thoroughly at a time when the North does not take specific steps for denuclearization," Kang said. Following the fiasco of the second summit between the two, opposition parties here ramped up their criticism of the President Moon Jae-in administration for what they call "being passive" in engaging in mediating activities following the summit breakdown. For a year, South Korea has played such a role between the U.S. and the North to push forward continued talks on denuclearization. But both sides failed to make any outstanding progress in the dialogue due to their lingering differences on the nuclear disarmament roadmap. Regarding a recent report by the United Nations Panel of Experts, the South Korean unification minister said his ministry would remain more careful in handling inter-Korean activities in so as not to violate international sanctions on the North. "We will negotiate with relevant organizations handing the issue, as the latest report showed that our views on sanctions were different from those of the U.N.," Cho said. The remarks came in response to a report that South Korea failed to notify the United Nations Security Council of the country's shipments of petroleum products to the North last year for the establishment of an inter-Korean liaison office there. But Cho said the government does not view the petroleum shipments to the North as a violation of sanctions on the regime. "The shipments of petroleum products to the regime were for transportation purposes when our delegations visit the North for negotiations," he said. Kim?'s possible announcement imminent Speculation is rampant that Kim will announce the regime's stance on the summit breakdown "shortly," as North Korean ambassadors return home. According to sources, three North Korean diplomats, Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong, Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song and Ambassador to Russia Kim Hyung-joon departed for Pyongyang Tuesday afternoon, in what critics say is a sign that the possible nuclear announcement is imminent. It is uncommon for the North to call back its ranking diplomats all at once. For this reason, rumors have circulated that Kim Jong-un will make public the regime's possibly negative views on the ongoing denuclearization talks with the U.S in the very near future. Last week, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui also expressed pessimism on continuing dialogue with the U.S., saying the regime considers suspending the peace talks and resuming nuclear armament. The South Korean government said it would keep a closer tab on the recent movement from the North. Unification ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said in a briefing: "It is too early to speak about the rumors, but we are paying sharp attention to the issue." The Korean Automobile and Transport Workers' Federation holds a representative conference in Seoul to discuss settlement conditions for its possible strike in May, Tuesday. Yonhap By Kim Hyun-bin The Korean Automobile and Transport Workers' Federation threatened to hold a nationwide bus driver strike in May, if the government does not compensate for estimated lost income resulting from implementation of the 52-hour work week system in July. Bus drivers claim that the 52-hour work week will drastically reduce their monthly paycheck. The federation plans to release their strike settlement conditions on April 29, and if the conditions are not met, bus drivers plan to hold a nationwide strike in mid-May. The federation is by far the largest bus driver union in the country with over 83,000 members. "There have been bus strikes in parts of the country before, but it is unprecedented to have a whole federation conducting a nationwide strike," an official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said. The federation claims the government's 52-hour work week restriction will drastically reduce their pay. The restriction is scheduled to be enforced on July 1, and will apply to bus companies that have more than 300 employees. Initially, the restriction did not apply to bus companies, however, last year a revision was made to the labor law to include them. According to the Korea Research Institute of Transportation Industries, an average monthly paycheck for a bus driver is 3.54 million won ($3,130), however, the base pay is only 49 percent of the total and the rest consists of overtime pay. "Once the 52-hour work week is enforced bus drivers monthly pay will decrease 10 to 20 percent," an official from the federation said. "At the minimum, the company needs to preserve our pay." Bus companies say they can't afford to preserve drivers' wages and at the same time hire more employees to fill the workforce. "Most of the bus companies are getting assistance from local government already. In addition, we need to deal with the recent minimum wage hike and have to employ more workers due to the 52-hour work restriction, we will not be able to cover the costs," a senior executive at a Gyeonggi Province bus company said. Both unions and management are requesting assistance from the government for budget support. "To normalize operation at bus companies the government needs to compensate for the losses from the 52-hour work week, elderly and bus transfer discounts," the federation said. Many experts predict there will be traffic chaos when the nationwide bus strike begins, which will become a hefty burden on students and low-income families. They say deploying government charter buses and extension of subway operations will be hardly enough to cover for the strike. Award-winning multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson came to Seoul which he says is his second time visiting the city as part of his "Colors of Love tour" to Asia. His concert was held on March 17 at the KEPCO Art Center, south of Seoul. His schedule was pretty jam-packed, staying in each city for just a day or two before he moved onto the next stop. He told the Korea Times that he did not have much time to look around the city but he managed to go to Myeongdong for some shopping and tried Korean barbecue. He said he loved Seoul, the atmosphere and the energy the city and its people show, making him so excited to be back to perform! Miller MobleyHe's from Pennsylvania, but it seems like every state wants to honor Meek Mill. On Tuesday, when his Motivation tour rolled into Hartford, Connecticut on Tuesday night, the rapper was presented with the key to the state, and March 19 was declared to be "Meek Mill Day" throughout Connecticut. Meek also received his own weekend in his hometown of Philadelphia earlier this month, and February 24 was declared "Meek Mill Day" in Houston, Texas. The honors come in the wake of the rapper's efforts to bring about criminal justice reform. In January, he launched the REFORM Alliance, in partnership with 76ers owner Michael Rubin, JAY-Z and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Van Jones, the CEO of REFORM Alliance, was in Connecticut the day before to talk about the initiative. He met with Gov. Ned Lamond and former inmates to discuss restoring voting privileges to convicted felons when they are freed. Complex reports that Meek didn't attend the meeting with Jones, but sent the governor and the inmates pairs of his PUMA Clyde Court #REFORM sneakers. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Customers choose products at the Bulk House, a zero waste and package free store, in Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Tang Yi) BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Bulk House, a pioneer social enterprise promoting a zero-waste lifestyle in the Chinese mainland, will close its physical store located in downtown Beijing on Wednesday, March 20. But it won't disappear: it will switch to a more flexible and innovative business model to engage a wider audience and be more actively present in places and occasions, said Joe Harvey, co-founder and manager of the store championing a lifestyle that is "zero waste, package free, reusable, and natural." "The closing of The Bulk House is, in a way, to reduce the waste of resources of operating a physical place and it will give us more time to do more," he explained to Xinhua. The Chinese mainland's first zero-waste store will move its presence from the artsy and trendy Drum Tower area to online channels, pop-up stores, lectures and workshops, he said. Since The Bulk House opened its doors in early 2018, it has inspired more and more people - local residents and travelers from inside China and abroad - to take up the challenge of reducing the amount of waste that we produce in our daily life. "For over a year, I have witnessed with surprise that so many people have joined us to become zero-wasters, to live a green, eco-friendly life and to share their experience with more people around them," Harvey told Xinhua at the store's closing party on Saturday. He said he felt proud to be part of and witness first-hand the zero waste movement that has been growing rapidly in China. "I've had more support in China than back home in the U.K.," he said, pointing to his vintage training shoes. "My mates back home would tease me for wearing the same pair of sneakers, but here my Chinese friends think I look cool." Harvey and his Chinese partner, Yu Yuan (or Carrie Yu) have been practicing and promoting a zero-waste lifestyle not only in their shop but also in their own lives. Yu has been a zero-waster since 2016, inspired by Bea Johnson, "mother of zero waste lifestyle movement," a French woman living in the United States whose family embraced a sustainable lifestyle that produced a mason jar of garbage in six years. "Every individual can contribute to saving the world from its plastic crisis and we don't need to wear tights and a cape to do so," she said, adding that starting from the details in our everyday life, each person can make a difference. Yu and Harvey live by the six Rs of sustainability - Refuse the use of single-use, non-degradable materials such as plastic, reduce unnecessary consumption/purchase of resources, reuse materials instead of throwing them away, repair the broken or replenish what's exhausted, recycle the recyclable and be creative to recycle the non-recyclable, and rot and compost the organic such as kitchen waste. At The Bulk House, people can bring in containers for refills of eco-friendly shampoos and detergents, or donate and trade things they no longer use. Stainless steel straws, bamboo toothbrushes and a cotton mesh drying agent can be used to replace single-use items. There are also shopping bags made with recycled packaging waste, and beauty products that leave no impact on the environment when washed off and flushed into the waterways. Though Bea Johnson is a major source of inspiration, many zero-waste ideas have roots in Chinese traditions. "The Chinese nation has always valued frugality and thriftiness. Many people who come to our store tell us that it brings back fond memories of the good old times when extravagance would be scornfully rejected," Harvey said. However, in recent years, with the industries of "fast fashion," online shopping and food delivery services booming in pursuit of convenience and profits, greater quantities of low-end disposable products that soon end up in the trash bins have worsened the situation of a "trash crisis" and plastic pollution is posing a more and more critical challenge for mankind. Facing this crisis, China has taken firm steps to tackle the waste problem. In February 2019, the southern island province of Hainan announced a total plastic ban, committing to end the production, sales and use of single-use, non-degradable plastic by the end of 2025. Shanghai Municipal People's Congress - the eastern metropolis' legislation - approved a bill to legalize garbage sorting, pledging to establish a comprehensive system of waste treatment. "Based on our experience, it is much easier to reduce the amount of waste produced from the source, meaning if we could use less disposable materials and avoid waste, we would produce less garbage and lighten the pressure on urban waste treatment," said Yu. Not long ago, a zero-waster in the eastern province of Shandong who purchased items from The Bulk House's online shop brought back all the carton boxes that he had received in earlier purchases on a work trip to Beijing. Yu and Harvey were touched, they told Xinhua. "In our future online operations, we will make sure that all our packaging is made of 100 percent degradable and recycled materials and work to create a circular way to reuse the packaging materials," Yu said. Besides the previously mentioned six Rs, raising awareness of a products' environmental impacts should be placed as a priority during the design process, pointed out Dr. Mao Da, an expert in environmental history at Beijing Normal University. "The key to mitigating the waste crisis is to redesign the products and make them eco-friendly from the very beginning," he noted. By Do Je-hae Portrait of Kim Nan-sa and her Order of Merit for National Foundation medal awarded in 1995 during the Kim Young-sam adminstration at the Chungdong First Methodist Church Korea Times photo by Do Je-hae By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS Following the failed Hanoi summit with the U.S., North Korea is now sending mixed messages concerning its denuclearization and missile testing intentions. Pyongyang's deliberately cryptic policy is likely meant to sow confusion and gain a negotiating advantage with the U.S. over Washington's efforts to denuclearize North Korea. Nonetheless, despite diplomatic posturing, what remains clear is the riveting reality that North Korea still faces a humanitarian emergency which directly impacts on nearly half its population. While the quaintly titled Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) pursues a covert policy to develop neutrons for weapons proliferation over needed nutrition for its own people, the very same country faces significant food and medicine shortages. A new U.N. survey starkly outlines the DPRK's continuing humanitarian challenges. The humanitarian document "DPR Korea Needs and Priorities" outlines a troubling situation in the communist country of 25 million. "An estimated 11 million ordinary men, women and children lack sufficient nutritious food, clean drinking water or access to basic services like health and sanitation," the report states adding, "Widespread undernutrition threatens an entire generation of children." The survey says, "As worrying as the lack of nutritious food, is the acute lack of access to clean water and sanitation, especially in the most remote areas of the country. Almost 10 million people do not have access to safe drinking water." Tapan Mishra, the U.N.'s coordinator for North Korean relief, adds that efforts are currently targeting the most acute starvation. "Humanitarian agencies in DPRK need $120 million to provide assistance to 3.8 million people. This is a relatively small amount of money compared to the global humanitarian need, but will have a huge impact on ordinary people's lives," focused on the most vulnerable including 1.6 million under-five children. By James M. Dorsey When Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu became the first high-level foreign government delegation to travel to Christchurch last weekend they were doing more than expressing solidarity with New Zealand's grieving Muslim community. Oktay and Cavusoglu were planting Turkey's flag far and wide in a global effort to expand beyond the Turkic and former Ottoman world support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's style of religiously-packaged authoritarian rule, a marriage of Islam and Turkish nationalism. Showing footage of the rampage in Christchurch at a rally in advance of March 31 local elections, Erdogan declared that "there is a benefit in watching this on the screen. Remnants of the Crusaders cannot prevent Turkey's rise." Erdogan went on to say that "we have been here for 1,000 years and God willing we will be until doomsday. You will not be able to make Istanbul Constantinople. Your ancestors came and saw that we were here. Some of them returned on foot and some returned in coffins. If you come with the same intent, we will be waiting for you too." Erdogan was responding to an assertion by Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist perpetrator of the Christchurch attacks in which 49 people were killed in two mosques, that Turks were "ethnic soldiers currently occupying Europe." Oktay and Cavusoglu's visit, two days after the attacks, is one more facet of a Turkish campaign that employs religious as well as traditional diplomatic tools. The campaign aims to establish Turkey as a leader of the Muslim world in competition with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and to a lesser degree Morocco. As part of the campaign, Turkey has positioned itself as a cheerleader for Muslim causes such as Jerusalem and the Rohingya at a moment that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Muslim nations are taking a step back. Although cautious not to rupture relations with Beijing, Turkey has also breached the wall of silence maintained by the vast majority of Muslim countries by speaking out against China's brutal crackdown on Turkic Muslims in the troubled northwestern province of Xinjiang. Erdogan's religious and traditional diplomatic effort has seen Turkey build grand mosques and/or cultural centers across the globe in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia, finance religious education and restore Ottoman heritage sites. It has pressured governments in Africa and Asia to hand over schools operated by the Hizmet movement led by exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan holds Gulen responsible for the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016. On the diplomatic front, Turkey has in recent years opened at least 26 embassies in Africa, expanded the Turkish Airlines network to 55 destinations in Africa, established military bases in Somalia and Qatar, and negotiated a long-term lease for Sudan's Suakin Island in the Red Sea. The Turkish religious campaign takes a leaf out of Saudi Arabia's four decade long, $100-billion effort to globally propagate ultra-conservative Sunni Islam. Like the Saudis, Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) provides services to Muslim communities, organizes pilgrimages to Mecca, trains religious personnel, publishes religious literature, translates the Quran into local languages and funds students from across the world to study Islam at Turkish institutions. Turkish Muslim NGOs provide humanitarian assistance in former parts of the Ottoman empire, the Middle East and Africa much like the Saudi-led World Muslim League and other Saudi governmental and nongovernmental organizations, many of which have been shut down since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Saudi Arabia, since the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2015, has significantly reduced global funding for ultra-conservatism. Nonetheless, Turkey is at loggerheads with Saudi Arabia as well as the UAE over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; Turkish support for Qatar in its dispute with the Saudis and Emiratis; differences over Libya, Syria and the Kurds; and Ankara's activist foreign policy. Turkey is seeking to position itself as an Islamic alternative. Decades of Saudi funding has left the kingdom's imprint on the global Muslim community. Yet, Turkey's current struggles with Saudi Arabia are more geopolitical than ideological. While Turkey competes geopolitically with the UAE in the Horn of Africa, Libya and Syria, ideologically the two countries' rivalry is between the UAE's effort to establish itself as a center of a quietist, apolitical Islam as opposed to Turkey's activist approach and its support for the Muslim Brotherhood. In contrast to Saudi Arabia that adheres to Wahhabism, an austere ultra-conservative interpretation of the faith, the UAE projects itself and its religiosity as far more modern, tolerant and forward looking. The UAE's projection goes beyond Prince Mohammed's attempt to shave off the raw edges of Wahhabism in an attempt to present himself as a proponent of what he has termed moderate Islam. The UAE scored a significant success with the first ever papal visit in February by Pope Francis I during which he signed a Document on Human Fraternity with Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Muslim learning. The signing was the result of UAE-funded efforts of Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to depoliticize Islam and gain control of Al Azhar that Sheikh al-Tayeb resisted despite supporting Al-Sisi's 2013 military coup. To enhance its influence within Al Azhar and counter that of Saudi Araba, the UAE has funded Egyptian universities and hospitals and has encouraged Al Azhar to open a branch in the UAE. The UAE effort paid off when the pope, in a public address, thanked Egyptian judge Mohamed Abdel Salam, an adviser to Sheikh al-Tayeb who is believed to be close to both the Emiratis and Al-Sisi, for drafting the declaration. "Abdel Salam enabled Al-Sisi to outmaneuver Al Azhar in the struggle for reform," said an influential activist. The Turkey-UAE rivalry has spilt from the geopolitical and ideological into competing versions of Islamic history. Turkey last year renamed the street on which the UAE Embassy in Ankara is located after an Ottoman general that was at the center of a Twitter spat between Erdogan and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Erdogan responded angrily to the tweet that accused Fahreddin Pasha, who defended the holy city of Medina against the British in the early 20th century, of abusing the local Arab population and stealing their property as well as sacred relics from the Prophet Muhammad's tomb. The tweet described the general as one of Erdogan's ancestors. "When my ancestors were defending Medina, you impudent (man), where were yours? Some impertinent man sinks low and goes as far as accusing our ancestors of thievery. What spoiled this man? He was spoiled by oil, by the money he has," Erdogan retorted, referring to al-Nahyan. Dr. James M. Dorsey ( jmdorsey@questfze.com ) is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wurzburg's Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. Authorities should get to the bottom of KT case Telecom giant KT faces illegal recruitment allegations following the arrest of a human resources executive suspected of unfairly hiring a daughter of Rep. Kim Sung-tae, former floor leader of the largest opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP). The arrest of the executive prompted the KT union to urge the prosecution, Monday, to expand its investigation into other suspected "preferential" recruitment cases besides that of Rep. Kim's daughter. The union alleged that as many as 35 out of 300 workers recruited in an open competition in 2009 were chosen thanks to their connections to high-profile figures. The board of directors sided with the union, calling for an immediate investigation into the allegations. The hiring scandal comes at a time when many young people are struggling to find jobs amid the tightening job market. According to Statistics Korea, the unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 29 hit a record high of 24.4 percent in February. Any unfair recruitment at such a coveted company as KT cannot be connived at. KT, the country's second-largest mobile carrier, should conduct an internal investigation to shed light on the illicit hiring allegations. Law enforcement authorities must go all-out to dig into the case in a bid to crack down on recruitment scams that have already hit state-run companies and banks. Hiring fraud of any kind is a grave crime that crushes the hopes and dreams of young people who have been preparing for years to land jobs. Doing a favor for children of politicians, lawmakers and bureaucrats is tantamount to stealing jobs from better-qualified jobseekers. The KT case appears to have something to do with the unfair practice of the government "parachuting" people with connections to political power into state enterprises, banks and some private firms as executives and auditors. This bad practice has shown no signs of abating although KT was privatized 17 years ago. These parachuted executives tend to curry favor with political bigwigs in the government, the National Assembly and other authoritative entities. They are not in a position to reject undue requests from those in power, including the hiring of their children. In this sense, the government is also responsible for this shameful practice. The Assembly is to hold a hearing about the KT hiring scandal April 4. Lawmakers should seize the rare opportunity to get to the bottom of the case involving Rep. Kim's daughter. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the opposition LKP must go beyond their partisan feud over the case to root out all types of hiring irregularities. Cabinet nominees hit for lack of qualifications People cannot help but express deep disappointment at all seven minister nominees ahead of National Assembly confirmation hearings slated for March 25 to 27. The reason is because the nominees face allegations of property speculation, false resident registration, reckless remarks and ideological prejudice. More worrisome is that Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon recommended the minister candidates to President Moon Jae-in even though he recognized their ethical lapses and other shortcomings. It can be inferred that Moon was aware of the serious concerns around each nominee. First of all, the President's nomination of the problematic and controversial figures is not in line with his principled policy of creating a fair, equitable and just society. How can he achieve this policy by appointing such figures to the Cabinet? One of the problems could be the difficulty in finding qualified candidates with higher moral standards as well as competence. As seen in Moon's previous minister nominees, few candidates are well qualified. This suggests that no figures in leadership or decision-making positions are free from real estate speculation, tax evasion, draft dodging, plagiarism, or other illicit activities. What also matters is an apparent lack of any rigorous vetting process. Whenever any president announces ministerial nominees, Cheong Wa Dae comes under criticism for failing to undertake a thorough check on the candidates' qualifications. This problem usually takes place no matter who is in office regardless of their liberal or conservative status. One typical example is Choi Jeong-ho, a nominee for the minister of land, infrastructure and transport. He and his wife are owners of multiple homes. They invite the ire of the people because of their alleged speculative purchase of apartments. Right before his nomination, Choi hurriedly handed over an apartment to his daughter. Of course, there is no rule banning any would-be minister from owning two or more homes. But it is hard to expect a multi-home owner to take strong measures against property speculation which has been an issue in the housing market over the past few years. Unification Minister-nominee Kim Yeon-chul is another controversial figure. In a newspaper column in 2010, he inadvertently described the 2008 killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier at the Mount Geumgang resort as a "rite of passage." He even declared sanctions against North Korea as "self-harm." Kim did not stop there. He went so far as to post a Facebook message in 2015 that Moon was "putting on a show" wearing a military uniform. He was apparently scoffing at Moon, then opposition party leader, who visited a Marine Corps unit to commemorate the fifth anniversary of North Korea's torpedo attack on the South's warship Cheonan which claimed the lives of 46 sailors. Worse, Kim's leftist ideology is also a cause for concern. He is under fire for his pro-North Korean stance. President Moon is seeking to appoint him as unification minister in an apparent bid to resume inter-Korean economic projects amid stalled denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. We urge the President to consider dropping his nomination of unqualified figures such as Choi and Kim. Otherwise, Moon will have no other choice but to face a strong public backlash which could undermine the credibility of his government and policies. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Cashmere High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 20. Reuters By Jung Min-ho New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and telecom company leaders are calling for greater accountability from so-called platform companies such as Facebook and Twitter after the video of the Christchurch mosque shootings spread instantly across the world. "We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published," Ardern said during a speech to parliament on March 19. "They are the publisher. Not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit and no responsibility." She noted her government would investigate the role platform companies played in the attacks, in which 50 people were killed at two mosques on March 15. The leaders of telecom operators Vodafone NZ, Spark and 2degrees also urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss a solution to such problems urgently. "We call on Facebook, Twitter and Google, whose platforms carry so much content, to be a part of an urgent discussion at an industry and New Zealand Government level on an enduring solution to this issue," they said in a joint letter. "Although we recognize the speed with which social network companies sought to remove Friday's video once they were made aware of it, this was still a response to material that was rapidly spreading globally and should never have been made available online. We believe society has the right to expect companies such as yours to take more responsibility for the content on their platforms." Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack in the first 24 hours. It blocked 1.2 million videos at the point of upload but the rest were there for a while until the company deleted them. The telecom leaders said more onerous requirements should apply to content like the video, including being taken down within a specified period, proactive measures and fines for failure to do so. "Consumers have the right to be protected whether using services funded by money or data," they noted. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also expressed concern over the "continuing and unrestricted role" played by internet technology in terrorist attacks. In a letter to Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who will chair the G20 summit at Osaka in June, he asked for the issue to be discussed. "It is unacceptable to treat the internet as an ungoverned space," Morrison wrote. "It is imperative that the global community works together to ensure that technology firms meet their moral obligation to protect the communities which they serve and from which they profit." Ren Zhengfei, founder and president of Huawei / Courtesy of Huawei Korea By Baek Byung-yeul While the United States has kept up pressure on Huawei Technologies, claiming that the Chinese tech firm has provided confidential information to the Chinese government, the founder of the firm denied such claims and vowed to overcome pressures from the U.S. "The charges made against us are not a verdict. They are only the first steps in a legal process. We can resolve these issues through legal proceedings. Let the courts decide," said Ren Zhengfei, founder and president of Huawei, during his recent interview with the U.S. broadcasting company CBS. While the U.S. government has been lobbying its allies to block the use of Huawei's fifth-generation (5G) network equipment, Ren added the series of actions made by high-ranking officials of the U.S. only helped the firm raise its global profile. "Before this, no one really knew what 5G was for. Now the entire world knows about 5G, and when they look into it more closely, they realize that Huawei does 5G the best," said Ren. Mike Pence, vice president of the U.S. recently said at the Munich Security Conference that "we cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East." The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also warned allied countries that it would be harder for the U.S. to partner with countries that didn't distance themselves from Huawei. Despite such pressure and all the sustained allegations, Ren said he is looking for a silver lining. The founder added Huawei has been seeing more contracts for its equipment and consumer products in the world including the European markets, saying "the sales of Huawei's consumer products rose by 68 percent in January 2019." He said he is confident that this is in fact not a big crisis for Huawei with minimal impact on the company's bottom line. "Many of our customers have been working with us for over two decades. They make their own decisions, and they won't decide to buy something or not just because someone else told them to," he said. Speaking of allegations that Huawei installed backdoors in its equipment to provide information to the Chinese government, Ren refuted the allegations. "We absolutely have not and will never do anything like that. The Chinese government has made itself clear, and I have made myself clear. Our message is the same. There are no backdoors. Over the past 30 years, Huawei has never shared data with the Chinese government and we don't intend to start any time soon," said Ren. Oh Kwang-won, left, CEO of Tago Solutions, poses with Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee, center, and Kakao Mobility CEO Jung Joo-hwan during a launching event of new ride-hailing service at the Pier59 Studios in Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Tago Solutions By Baek Byung-yeul A group of taxi operators and Kakao jointly launched a "rejection-free" taxi hailing service, they said Wednesday. Tago Solutions, a taxi franchise service operator, said it teamed up with Kakao Mobility, the transportation service arm of Kakao and launched a taxi hailing service Waygo Blue and a female-only cab service Waygo Lady. Users of the Waygo Blue service are required to pay 3,000 won ($2.66) as a basic service charge and make a reservation through Kakao Mobility's Kakao T taxi hailing app. The Waygo service is a first example of the compromise made between taxi companies and the shared mobility operator. Taxi unions and Kakao Mobility have had a string of conflicts due to the latter's bid to launch a carpool service. After a series of meetings between the government, Kakao and taxi unions, they reached a compromise on March 7 to allow Kakao Mobility to run a ride-share service for four hours a day on weekdays while enabling taxi companies to run an Uber-style ride-hailing service using the remaining taxis. Oh Kwang-won, CEO of Tago Solutions, emphasized the Waygo service will be rejection free. "Tago Solutions was established to provide better mobility service to customers. The biggest problem passengers have had was taxi drivers' refusal to take customers. When customers call for the Waygo Blue service, the drivers cannot reject or refuse passengers," Oh said during a press conference at the Pier59 Studios in Seoul. Comprised of 50 taxi companies in Seoul and Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tago Solutions is established in May 2018 in a bid to improve profitability of the struggling taxi industry by providing a quality mobility service. In addition to refusing passengers, taxi drivers have been criticized for their reckless driving and rudeness. To solve this issue, Oh said the Waygo drivers are employed on a monthly salary basis. "While taxi drivers have to pay some of their daily earnings to their companies, the Waygo drivers will get paid their monthly salary which will be about 2.6 million won ($2,300)," he said adding the Waygo drivers are thoroughly trained by the company's driver education program. To improve customer satisfaction, the Waygo Blue taxis are equipped with air purifiers and deodorizing products. Tago Solutions said trial operation begins in Seoul this Wednesday with about 100 Waygo Blue cars. Currently about 600 drivers have received training through the firm's driver education program. The firm said the service will be officially launched in April and will expand its service coverage. For the Waygo Lady service, the company said it has hired 20 female taxi drivers. The company said those who want to use the Waygo Lady service can make a reservation through its webpage, not the Kakao T app. Kakao Mobility said the new ride-hailing service is designed to meet the demands of consumers who want to experience improved taxi services. The Waygo Blue and Lady services will be more convenient and better for customers," Kakao Mobility CEO Jung Joo-hwan said. "To be a more beloved service, Kakao Mobility will give full support to Tago Solutions ranging from our artificial intelligence technology-based car allocation system to our demand forecasting system." Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics who heads the Device Solutions Division, delivers a speech during a general meeting of stockholders at the company's Seocho office in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Samsung Electronics painted a gloomy outlook for its business in 2019, Wednesday, saying its three business units device "solutions" (DS), consumer electronics (CE) and IT & mobile communications (IM) will grapple with intensifying competition, falling demand and other unfavorable conditions. Kim Ki-nam, Kim Hyun-suk and Koh Dong-jin, the respective heads of the DS, CE, and IM divisions, made the remarks during a general meeting of stockholders at the tech company's Seocho office in southern Seoul. They said the firm will push for innovation in all business areas to enhance competitiveness and overcome difficult management conditions. "The DS Division is expected to have a difficult year as the smartphone market, which has driven demand for semiconductors and parts, is slowing down, and data centers have reduced their investment," said Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics who heads the DS Division. But he noted that demand for semiconductors for cars and other new growth engine industries, including fifth-generation (5G) network services, is consistently increasing with the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. "We believe there should be opportunities despite a crisis," Kim said, vowing to focus efforts on developing next-generation products such as sixth-generation V-NAND. Kim Hyun-suk, president and head of the CE Division, said competition is expected to heat up in the consumer electronics market amid the extended application of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT). He said the firm will expand the lineup of large-sized 8K quantum-dot light-emitting diode (QLED) televisions to solidify its leadership in the premium TV market. "We will have the full lineup of 8K TVs ranging from 65 to 98 inches," Kim said. "We will actively promote AI-powered quantum processors that automatically upgrade full-high definition or ultra-high definition video to 8K." Koh Dong-jin, president and head of the IM Division, said the growth of the smartphone market this year is expected to be stagnant due to the slow global economy. He said more difficulties will be caused by intensifying competition between rival companies and increased materials costs. He vowed to enhance the competitive edge of the firm's products and secure price competitiveness to increase sales. "Samsung Electronics will also enhance its leadership in the premium smartphone market to create growth momentum," he said. Koh added the Galaxy S10, which was recently unveiled, has been well-received by the market, saying the firm will also create a new segment by launching a 5G-enabled foldable smartphone. The company stressed that it posted record high profits last year despite difficult management conditions in and outside the country, saying its sales and operating profit stood at 244 trillion won ($216 billion) and 59 trillion won, respectively. A Hyundai Motor employee assembles a vehicle at the company's plant in Ulsan in this undated file photo. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor EVs, future cars require less manpowe By Nam Hyun-woo Thousands of manufacturing jobs at Hyundai, Kia and other automakers here will disappear when electric vehicles (EVs) and other future cars become mainstream, according to industry analysts Wednesday. They said the size of job cuts will differ depending on the share of fully-electrified cars in the future market, but it seems inevitable for carmakers to trim their conventional jobs, given Hyundai Motor's recent argument with its labor force over job cuts stemming from EVs and hydrogen cars. "An engine car is comprised of approximately 30,000 parts, while an EV needs 20,000 parts," Prof. Hwang Sung-ho at Sungkyunkwan University's Mechanical Engineering Department. "This does not necessarily mean that the workforce required for an EV is two-thirds of that of an engine car, but to the question of whether EVs require less labor force, the answer is yes," he said. "There will be job cuts due to the decrease in the number of parts required and a massive number of personnel relocation will follow." Hwang's comment came amid the argument between labor and management of Hyundai Motor over estimated job cuts stemming from the automaker's shift of focus to EVs and hydrogen cars. According to Hyundai Motor officials, the management has recently told the union that it estimates 7,000 jobs will be slashed in 2025, as it expands its manufacturing volume of eco-friendly cars while shrinking the share of engine cars. Hyundai Motor plans to assemble 450,000 green cars in 2025 by setting up two EV-making assembly lines in its Ulsan factory. Due to this, 3,000 jobs will disappear and additional changes in the manufacturing process will cost 4,000 more jobs, the company expects. This is similar to a recent move by Volkswagen, which announced earlier this month that it is planning to cut 5,000 to 7,000 jobs by 2023 by not hiring new employees. The union, however, claimed that the company has to hire 10,000 additional employees by then, because 17,500 people are scheduled to retire by then. The union cited a clause in its agreement with the management, stating the company should directly hire necessary employees if a position is vacated due to retirement. "Even though we accept the management's anticipation of cutting 7,000 jobs by 2025, 17,500 are scheduled to retire by then. Thus the company has to hire at least 10,000 to keep its plant running," Hyundai Motor union leader Ha Boo-young said in an interview with a labor publication. Hyundai Motor officials said that it is yet to decide whether to fill the vacancy with new employees or follow the Volkswagen path, but Hwang said it seems inevitable for Hyundai to downsize its workforce. "Pursuing EV or other eco-friendly cars is a must, not an option," Hwang said. "If domestic automakers refuse to change, they will fall behind and bring about the collapse of the entire automotive industry." "New jobs will be created, while more jobs will disappear. If side effects of job cuts are expected, then both labor and management should compromise some of their arguments and find a point where they can both agree," he said. He added automakers should make efforts to educate and train their employees to embrace the technological change, while unions also have to accept the change in the industry and find ways to transform themselves. After China established vocational education and training centers in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, some western officials and media outlets constantly attacked China with groundless accusations. However, if they had paid attention to heated discussions about vocational education during China's two sessions in early March and interpreted China's moves from that perspective, their misunderstanding of China might be reduced. On February 23, 2019, the vocational training school teacher (third from left) explained the cooking knowledge to the students in the Tarim Village, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo: Li Fei, Peoples Daily Online) The Chinese government is determined to stabilize and expand employment. "Stepping up the development of modern vocational education is a strategic move that will ease current employment pressure," reads the Government Work Report that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered on March 5 to the second session of the 13th National People's Congress. During China's rapid growth and current economic transition, technicians and skilled workers are urgently needed. There are about 280 million migrant workers in China who are the main workforce for the country's secondary and tertiary industries. Despite the huge number, highly skilled personnel are still in short supply as a majority of migrant workers don't have a good academic or technical background that enable them to be competent. However, China's industrial development is directly linked with workforce capability. In addition, people without wanted skills could face unemployment and be gradually marginalized. Marginalization will breed antisocial emotions that affect the stability of a country and its development. This could happen in China or in any other country. To prevent such destabilizing factors, vocational education and training centers have been established across China for migrant workers to improve themselves from big cities like Beijing and Shenzhen to smaller ones like Bincheng in East China's Shandong Province. The Chinese government will allocate 100 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) to provide training for more than 15 million people to help them upgrade their skills or switch jobs or industries. The vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang are along the same lines. On May 11, 2018, students from the Alar Vocational and Technical School in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region studied textile knowledge in a local textile enterprise workshop. (Photo: Wang Zhiqing, Peoples Daily Online) The underdeveloped education in the autonomous region has limited people from learning modern work skills. In addition, extremist thinking has forced some ethnic minority people away from the country's development achievements and made them feel it is hard to integrate into modern society. Vocational education will help fix these problems, maintain stability of employment and boost the development of China. The training centers in Xinjiang are part of China's effort to prop up vocational education and enable more people to gain professional skills. On December 13, 2018, Zhao Yanan (front left), a teacher from the Tacheng District Health School in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, taught students single-handed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. (Photo: Gao Bo, Peoples Daily Online) Since reform and opening-up, the Chinese government has realized the importance of the workforce and attached great importance to improving their capability in both academic and technical aspects. Enhancing vocational education is in line with China's lessons learned from development in the past decades. As China aims to comprehensively develop its economy, skilled workers will play a key role that affects the speed and quality of growth. Kwak Yeon-soo Hyundai Mobis signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Yandex to boost cooperation in developing an autonomous driving platform, the auto parts maker said Wednesday. Yandex, Russia's biggest IT company that provides mobility service, builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. According to the Hyundai Motor Group unit, it is their first time signing an MOU with a global IT company. Teaming up with Yandex will serve as a gateway to advancing into the future mobility market and securing future vehicle technologies, the company said. The two plan to cooperate in developing artificial intelligence technologies for voice and video recognition as well as infotainment technologies. At the signing ceremony held at Hyundai Mobis Tech Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, the two companies expressed hope that their cooperation will accelerate development of a stable, fully autonomous vehicle platform. "Yandex has strengths in AI-based autonomous vehicle algorithms," Park Chung-kook, CEO of Hyundai Mobis, said. "We will provide core autonomous parts technologies to engage in non-stop development of autonomous driving technology." "It took us roughly two years to go from the first basic tests to a full-fledged public robot taxi service. With an agreement with Hyundai Mobis, we expect to move faster on fostering self-driving technologies," said Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex. Patrick Ho was found guilty on seven counts of bribery and money laundering last year. Photo from South China Morning Post By Alvin Lum Patrick Ho Chi-ping has compared himself to arrested Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou and claimed he is the first "sacrificial lamb" in the United States' trade war with China, as prosecutors call for him to be jailed for five years over a bribery conviction. Their recommendation, which also asked for a fine of US$400,000 (HK$3 million) to be imposed on the former Hong Kong official, was made in a 27-page submission to New York Southern District Court on Tuesday, a week before sentencing. Prosecutors urged the court to neglect Ho's request to be sentenced to time served and said his attempt to bribe top African officials deserved "substantial punishment". "The defendant does not deserve such a shockingly low sentence," Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney for the southern district, said. Berman also argued Ho had played a leadership role in "orchestrating and supervising" a bribery scheme to secure business advantages for Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy in Chad and Uganda, although the head of CEFC, Ye Jianming, was allegedly ultimately responsible for the scheme. "It is difficult to quantify the damage the defendant did," Berman said in the court filing. "But the damage caused by corruption is real and lasting." In this July 2015, file photo, Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, former Hong Kong home secretary, deputy chairman of an non-governmental organization funded by CEFC China Energy poses during an interview in Hong Kong. AP-Yonhap The former home affairs minister was found guilty by a federal jury in December on seven counts of bribery and money laundering. He was accused of "orchestrating" US$2.9 million offers in bribes to African state leaders and diplomats, including Chad's President Idriss Deby, Senegalese diplomat Cheikh Gadio and Sam Kutesa, Uganda's foreign minister. Ho's legal team previously said their client "deeply regretted" his actions and the 16 months he had already spent in custody was adequate punishment. But the prosecution painted a different picture and showed US District Judge Loretta Preska exchanges between Ho, his wife and a friend. In those, they claimed Ho showed little remorse by suggesting his case was a political one. In an email shortly after the verdict last December, Ho, citing a Post report on the arrest of Meng in Canada, compared himself to Huawei's chief financial officer and said he was a victim of anti-China sentiment. "I am the first of the sacrificial lambs of such hostility," Ho wrote to a friend. "This story is just beginning to unfold. "The storm is just starting to whip up to a roaring disaster. Brace yourself for the darkest moment before dawn." In another exchange between Ho and his wife, Sibelle Hu Hui-chung, just before the guilty verdict, Ho said the jury could be under "invisible pressure". "Justice is in the people's heart, deep down everyone knew [this case is] not a simple law litigation, something else is controlling the case," Ho said. Patrick Ho exchanged several emails with wife Sibelle Hu where he hinted at what he believed was the political nature of his case. Photo from South China Morning Post Opinion / Guest Commentary / Our Readers Write: Academic standards, strong curriculum and sustained enrollment at La Jolla High School are endangered and eroding. Last month, I read a small notice in the flood of La Jolla Highs online school bulletins announcing that 9th Grade World History would not be offered next fall. I was alarmed! Three years of History is required for graduation from La Jolla High School and 9th Grade World History is the first step. I also know that what gets dropped from a San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) curriculum is usually gone forever. Most important, I think its essential for students to learn whats happened in the past in order to inform their present and shape their futures. Always important, but especially now. I attended the LJHS Governance Team meeting on March 4 to inquire further and to express dismay at this possibility. Its true! The school plans to drop 9th Grade World History next fall. Hand-wringing and regret were expressed about the system by involved parents, faculty and even Principal Chuck Podhorsky. But there was no resolve to change this path, to acknowledge that something important is being lost, to organize or push back to salvage this essential part of the high school curriculum. Going along to get along will not forestall the slide that is now obvious. I hope the community will change things it cannot accept and express its will to keep 9th Grade World History at LJHS. We must make a fuss to get whats needed for our children from an unresponsive bureaucracy. Its happened before and can happen again think Coggan Pool, the formation of the La Jolla Cluster Association, parent participation in principal selection, the Farmers Market. Dropping 9th Grade World History? History is a strong department at LJHS an important part of the schools identity as a classic college preparatory institution. Much has been lost from the curriculum over time. LJHS has eliminated French, German, Japanese and American Sign Language. Only Spanish and Latin remain. The Latin instructor is shared with Muirlands. Librarians have been eliminated, but library technicians keep the doors open at Muirlands and LJHS, including at lunchtime. Foundations help with private funds, but they are a limited resource. How could the principal decide to drop 9th Grade World History? How could LJHS Governance, teachers and parents go along with this? These are school-site decisions ... they can do better. I would argue that keeping World History matters far more than the distracting debate over early start times. World History is more substantive and valuable than many other credit-generating electives remaining on the roster for next Fall. Among those is a career-path invention called Bio-Medical Science whose explanatory video shows students doing CPR on a dummy; ASB student government where, per the video, young politicians plan fundraisers and work on school spirit; even Video Production itself, in which students produce haphazard video clips for other students which are broadcast irregularly and without discernible quality control. Removing World History from the curriculum is anti-intellectual and unacceptable. But its being linked to a predicted decline in enrollment at LJHS next year. According to SDUSD policy, a projected decrease in 2019-2020 enrollment at LJHS means that five teachers will be laid off, possibly including one counselor. Notices of possible teacher layoffs for next year are required to be sent this month. Enrollment is reportedly down at Muirlands Middle School, too, so there may be layoffs there as well. SDUSD class size is set by contract at 35 students per classroom. When that near-highest in the nation 35-student class size cannot be sustained because enrollment drops, teacher layoffs are set in motion. Classes smaller than 35 are treated as a liability. And when teacher layoffs happen, its last-hired, first-fired: no consideration is given to quality or qualifications. Longevity rules. LJHS and Muirlands enrollments are dropping, in my view, because new District policy redirects VEEP and CHOICE students away from La Jolla and back to their own or other neighborhood schools. Consequently socio-economic and racial integration at LJHS and Muirlands suffers. LJHS enrollment is falling because families refuse to let their students get stuck with an entrenched inadequate teacher who cannot deliver as an educator and yet is retained year after year, despite parent complaints, student appeals and collegial opprobrium. When La Jolla secondary students select classes in February and March for next September, they worry when a school bulletin warns, as happened last month: Due to our projected low enrollment, it will be very difficult, potentially not even possible, to switch classes once the school year begins. Or, even more inhospitably: Counselors will be conducting articulation for the next few weeks and will not easily be available for other issues. (Articulation is the complicated task of assigning students to their classes. Other issues would be counseling.) Finally, enrollment declines when college-bound students see the curriculum being shredded, as in eliminating World History. What disappears seldom comes back kids or courses. What can be done? For starters, World History should be restored to the curriculum list of electives offered. Since there are dire staffing consequences to declining enrollments, the La Jolla Cluster should survey the community to determine why families are leaving our public schools. Local realtors and many others will want to know. The community can then rally to fix whats gone haywire. Frances ONeill Zimmerman has lived in La Jolla for almost 50 years. Her daughters went to La Jolla schools and she is grandmother to four kids who now attend La Jolla High, Muirlands Middle and Torrey Pines Elementary. Zimmerman served on the San Diego Unified Board of Education for eight years from 1996 to 2004. I have visited more than 10 Chinese cities in my nearly 30 trips to China. I liked interacting with the local communities every time I arrived in a new place, during which I was deeply impressed by the elements of inclusiveness and harmony contained in Chinese culture while maintaining diversity. Such inclusiveness and harmony are reflected in every aspect, including Chinas interaction with the world. The first 1,000 tons of asphalt produced by Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company is being loaded in Meishan Port Area of Zhoushan Port in Ningbo, Zhejiang province on February 12, 2018. The asphalt will be shipped to Pakistan for the construction of the superhighway connecting the countrys southern port city of Karachi with northwestern city Peshawar. It is the first highway along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Photo: Peoples Daily Online Over the past 40-plus years, China has made incredible accomplishments in the economic arena. At the same time it witnessed comprehensive and historical changes in the society, with advances being made in every field. With increasing comprehensive national strength, the country is playing a more important role in regional and international affairs. Belt and Road initiative is a reflection of Chinese willingness to share development opportunities with the world, which indicates the confidence and sense of responsibility of a major country. In my opinion, inclusiveness and harmony are the essence of Chinese wisdom. They not only serve as a cultural factor that propels Chinas social advances and development, but also are a reason for the popularity of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in many countries. People of insight across the world, envisioned by the BRI, are aware that global challenges require all the people to seek shared development by treating each other as equals, beefing up coordination and making good use of resources. The BRI, which encourages all countries to realize peaceful co-existence and common development through more inclusive and harmonious cooperation, sets a great example for the world. By proposing the BRI and building of a community with a shared future for mankind, China has contributed new solutions to global governance by following a principle of mutual benefit and win-win result. Photo taken is the under-construction railway connecting Golmud in northwest China's Qinghai province and Korla in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is not only a key national rail line project, but also a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Photo: Peoples Daily Online Harmony and development are complementary to each other in Chinese philosophy. The BRI underlines the inseparable relationship between national and regional development, in a belief that every country makes contribution to regional stability by its own development, and in turn, regional stability will provide guarantee for the economic and social development of individual countries, as well as the mutually beneficial cooperation among them. During the past five years, the BRI has started improving the connectivity among the countries along the route, and thus bringing closer the people from different countries and regions. It will be facilitating win-win economic and trade cooperation, and will also be creating substantial opportunities for progress in more developing countries. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a very good testimony. As an important pivot linking the land and maritime silk roads, the CPEC has reaped abundant harvests. A batch of infrastructure projects have facilitated the life of Pakistani residents after they were completed and put into operation. The construction of the CPEC has also increased the connectivity between Pakistan and the region, and in a long run, it will fully unleash the economic potential of the region and boost their trade. Indeed, the BRI is making tangible contribution to regional prosperity and stability. (Khalid Rahman is Executive President at Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad. The article is compiled by Peoples Daily reporter Ding Xuezhen based on an interview with Rahman.) Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Hon. Tilak Marapana, PC., MP, addressed the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) following the presentation of the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sri Lanka by madam Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, today 20 March 2019. Hon. (Dr) Sarath Amunugama, Member of Parliament, the Governor of the Northern Province Hon (Dr) Suren Raghavan, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha, Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle, Permanent Representative Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Deputy Permanent Representative Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya and the diplomatic officers of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva were associated with the Foreign Minister. English - Full Statement , Reading Version Sinhala - Full Statement , Reading Version Tamil - Full Statement , Reading Version Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva 20 March 2019 BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities and communities in China have come up with various measures to combat extravagant rural wedding traditions such as hefty "caili" (betrothal gifts), according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs Monday. According to the tradition of "caili," the groom's family is required to give riches to their future in-laws to either secure a happy marriage or display the family's wealth. On occasion, the cost of this gift can put certain families in poverty. In Ningling County, north China's Henan Province, all 364 villages have formulated village rules and regulations to promote thriftiness in hosting weddings and funerals. Local governments in east China's Jiangxi and Shandong Provinces have also issued recommendations on several aspects of weddings, including the cost of banquets and the number of limousines. To fully facilitate the reform against extravagant wedding traditions this year, the ministry has pledged to mobilize grassroots organizations in rural areas to promote such practices and explore new forms of weddings, such as group weddings. The initiative was prominently featured in a document released by China's central authorities on Feb. 19, which prioritizes the development of agriculture and rural areas. Business DVB-S and DVB-S2Whats the difference between DVB-S and DVB-S2|Soukacatv.com HDMI Encoder Modulator,16in1 Digital Headend,HD RF Modulator at Soukacatv.com 20.03.2019 07:54:00 - DVBS is basically SD (NOT HD) and DVBS2 is HD. Now why is that so Important, well if you have a flatter and bigger tv having DVBS2 is much better cuz it got upto 5 times better picture and much better sound. (live-PR.com) - Well DVBS is basically SD (NOT HD) and DVBS2 is HD. Now why is that so Important, well if you have a flatter and bigger tv having DVBS2 is much better cuz it got upto 5 times better picture and much better sound. And so the picture doesnt look like crap on a bigger tv, cuz if you use SD - Well DVBS is basically SD (NOT HD) and DVBS2 is HD. Now why is that so Important, well if you have a flatter and bigger tv having DVBS2 is much better cuz it got upto 5 times better picture and much better sound. And so the picture doesnt look like crap on a bigger tv, cuz if you use SD on a HD tv it will stretch out the picture and it will look bad and not clear. So speaking technically DVBS sends in MPEG2 like what you find in DVD`s, and DVBS2 sends in MPEG4 witch is a better compression algorithm. Forexample bluray disc got MPEG4. Now dont forget just because you have MPEG4 doesnt mean its HD. To have HD it must be from 720 to 1080 lines of resolution, and with SD its 480 to 576 lines. HDMI Encoder Modulator,16in1 Digital Headend,HD RF Modulator at Soukacatv.com DVB-S2 Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and ratified by ETSI (EN 302307) in March 2005. The standard is based on, and improves upon DVB-S and the electronic news-gathering (or Digital Satellite News Gathering) system, used by mobile units for sending sounds and images from remote locations worldwide back to their home television stations. DVB-S2 is envisaged (contemplate) for broadcast services including standard and HDTV, interactive services including Internet access, and (professional) data content distribution. The development of DVB-S2 coincided with the introduction of HDTV and H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) video codecs. Two new key features that were added compared to the DVB-S standard are: A powerful coding scheme based on a modern LDPC code. For low encoding complexity, the LDPC codes chosen have a special structure, also known as Irregular Repeat-Accumulate codes. VCM (Variable Coding and Modulation) and ACM (Adaptive Coding and Modulation) modes, which allow optimizing bandwidth utilization by dynamically changing transmission parameters. Other features include enhanced modulation schemes up to 32APSK, additional code rates, and the introduction of a generic transport mechanism for IP packet data including MPEG-4 audiovideo streams, while supporting backward compatibility with existing MPEG-2 TS based transmission. DVB-S2 achieves significantly better performance than its predecessors mainly allowing for an increase of available bitrate over the same satellite transponder bandwidth. The measured DVB-S2 performance gain over DVB-S is around 30% at the same satellite transponder bandwidth and emitted signal power. When the contribution of improvements in video compression is added, an (MPEG-4 AVC) HDTV service can now be delivered in the same bandwidth that supported an early DVB-S based MPEG-2 SDTV service only a decade before. In March 2014, DVB-S2X specification has been published by DVB Project as an optional extension adding further improvements. In 1994, the world's first digital satellite TV services were launched in Thailand and South Africa. They utilized the newly developed Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) system. Over time, DVB-S became the most popular system for delivering digital TV broadcasts. Technology has advanced and spread tremendously since then, which lead to an increased need for advances to the DVB-S system. Thus, the DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X systems were born! Let's take a look at these two DVB standards and the main differences between them. DVB-S2 One of the biggest reasons for the second generation of digital video broadcasting was to enable the ability for the commercial launch of HDTV services. More specifically, some major benefits of DVB-S2 compared to DVB-S include Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Forward Error Correction Variable Code Modulation (VCM) Adaptive Code Modulation (ACM) Enhanced Modulation Schemes up to 32 APSK Support for MPEG-2 TS Based Systems and MPEG-4 Audio-video streams. DVB-S2 is able to achieve about a 30% increase in spectral performance compared to the original DVB-S. This allows for an increase in bit rate over the same DVB-S frequency bandwidth. In fact, it comes close to the Shannon Limit, the theoretical maximum information transfer rate in a channel for a given noise level. DVB-S2 was formally published as an ETSI standard in 2005. Since then, there are now a number of major satellite broadcasters in both Europe and the USA that adopted the service. DVB-S2 is still evolving with our constantly changing technology. In 2012, the DVB Project approved a new version of the specification that adds the reception of wideband signals (for example 200 MHz or 500 MHz). Upgrades and enhancements are still being made to the service. DVB-S2X The DVB-S2X system is not necessarily another model up of the DVB-S2, but an extension. The DVB-S2X was specified in the mid 2000s and provides additional technologies and features for the core applications of the DVB-S2. Applications include Direct to Home (DTH), Contribution, VSAT, and DSNG. It also covers an extended operating range with a focus on providing to emerging markets such as cellular devices and 5G. DVB-S2X supports very low C/N down to -10 dB for mobile applications such as marine, aerospace, trains, etc. Like DVB-S2, DVB-S2X uses LDPC Forward Error Correction schemes and BCH FEC as an outer code. DVB-S2X adds additional features and technologies such as More granularity of modulation and coding modes Smaller filter roll-off options of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 35% New constellation options for linear and non-linear channels Channel Bonding up to 3 channels More scrambling options for critical co-channel interference situations Very low SNR operation supporting C/N of down to -10dB Super Frame option Technology upgrades and improvements also enable DVB-S2X to use smaller antennas and future broadband interactive networks for VSAT applications (intra-system interference mitigation, beam-hopping, and multi-format transmissions). Established in 2000, the Soukacatv.com main products are modulators both in analog and digital ones, amplifier and combiner. We are the very first one in manufacturing the headend system in China. Our 16 in 1 and 24 in 1 now are the most popular products all over the world. For more, please access to CONTACT US Company:Dingshengwei Electronics Co., Ltd Address : BldgA,the first industry park of Guanlong,Xili Town,Nanshan,Shenzhen,Guangdong,China Tel : +86 0755 26909863 Fax : +86 0755 26984949 Mobile : 13410066011 Email : Website: Source: Wikipedia & blog.bliley on a HD tv it will stretch out the picture and it will look bad and not clear.So speaking technically DVBS sends in MPEG2 like what you find in DVD`s, and DVBS2 sends in MPEG4 witch is a better compression algorithm. Forexample bluray disc got MPEG4. Now dont forget just because you have MPEG4 doesnt mean its HD. To have HD it must be from 720 to 1080 lines of resolution, and with SD its 480 to 576 lines.HDMI Encoder Modulator,16in1 Digital Headend,HD RF Modulator at Soukacatv.comDVB-S2Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and ratified by ETSI (EN 302307) in March 2005. The standard is based on, and improves upon DVB-S and the electronic news-gathering (or Digital Satellite News Gathering) system, used by mobile units for sending sounds and images from remote locations worldwide back to their home television stations.DVB-S2 is envisaged (contemplate) for broadcast services including standard and HDTV, interactive services including Internet access, and (professional) data content distribution. The development of DVB-S2 coincided with the introduction of HDTV and H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) video codecs.Two new key features that were added compared to the DVB-S standard are: A powerful coding scheme based on a modern LDPC code. For low encoding complexity, the LDPC codes chosen have a special structure, also known as Irregular Repeat-Accumulate codes. VCM (Variable Coding and Modulation) and ACM (Adaptive Coding and Modulation) modes, which allow optimizing bandwidth utilization by dynamically changing transmission parameters.Other features include enhanced modulation schemes up to 32APSK, additional code rates, and the introduction of a generic transport mechanism for IP packet data including MPEG-4 audiovideo streams, while supporting backward compatibility with existing MPEG-2 TS based transmission.DVB-S2 achieves significantly better performance than its predecessors mainly allowing for an increase of available bitrate over the same satellite transponder bandwidth. The measured DVB-S2 performance gain over DVB-S is around 30% at the same satellite transponder bandwidth and emitted signal power. When the contribution of improvements in video compression is added, an (MPEG-4 AVC) HDTV service can now be delivered in the same bandwidth that supported an early DVB-S based MPEG-2 SDTV service only a decade before.In March 2014, DVB-S2X specification has been published by DVB Project as an optional extension adding further improvements.In 1994, the world's first digital satellite TV services were launched in Thailand and South Africa. They utilized the newly developed Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) system.Over time, DVB-S became the most popular system for delivering digital TV broadcasts. Technology has advanced and spread tremendously since then, which lead to an increased need for advances to the DVB-S system. Thus, the DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X systems were born!Let's take a look at these two DVB standards and the main differences between them.DVB-S2One of the biggest reasons for the second generation of digital video broadcasting was to enable the ability for the commercial launch of HDTV services. More specifically, some major benefits of DVB-S2 compared to DVB-S include Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Forward Error Correction Variable Code Modulation (VCM) Adaptive Code Modulation (ACM) Enhanced Modulation Schemes up to 32 APSK Support for MPEG-2 TS Based Systems and MPEG-4 Audio-video streams.DVB-S2 is able to achieve about a 30% increase in spectral performance compared to the original DVB-S. This allows for an increase in bit rate over the same DVB-S frequency bandwidth. In fact, it comes close to the Shannon Limit, the theoretical maximum information transfer rate in a channel for a given noise level.DVB-S2 was formally published as an ETSI standard in 2005. Since then, there are now a number of major satellite broadcasters in both Europe and the USA that adopted the service.DVB-S2 is still evolving with our constantly changing technology. In 2012, the DVB Project approved a new version of the specification that adds the reception of wideband signals (for example 200 MHz or 500 MHz). Upgrades and enhancements are still being made to the service.DVB-S2XThe DVB-S2X system is not necessarily another model up of the DVB-S2, but an extension. The DVB-S2X was specified in the mid 2000s and provides additional technologies and features for the core applications of the DVB-S2. Applications include Direct to Home (DTH), Contribution, VSAT, and DSNG. It also covers an extended operating range with a focus on providing to emerging markets such as cellular devices and 5G.DVB-S2X supports very low C/N down to -10 dB for mobile applications such as marine, aerospace, trains, etc. Like DVB-S2, DVB-S2X uses LDPC Forward Error Correction schemes and BCH FEC as an outer code.DVB-S2X adds additional features and technologies such as More granularity of modulation and coding modes Smaller filter roll-off options of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 35% New constellation options for linear and non-linear channels Channel Bonding up to 3 channels More scrambling options for critical co-channel interference situations Very low SNR operation supporting C/N of down to -10dB Super Frame optionTechnology upgrades and improvements also enable DVB-S2X to use smaller antennas and future broadband interactive networks for VSAT applications (intra-system interference mitigation, beam-hopping, and multi-format transmissions).Established in 2000, the Soukacatv.com main products are modulators both in analog and digital ones, amplifier and combiner. We are the very first one in manufacturing the headend system in China. Our 16 in 1 and 24 in 1 now are the most popular products all over the world.For more, please access to www.soukacatv.com CONTACT USCompany:Dingshengwei Electronics Co., LtdAddress : BldgA,the first industry park of Guanlong,Xili Town,Nanshan,Shenzhen,Guangdong,ChinaTel : +86 0755 26909863Fax : +86 0755 26984949Mobile : 13410066011Email : ken@soukacatv.com Website: www.soukacatv.com Source: Wikipedia & blog.bliley Press Information: Dingshengwei Electronics Co., Ltd BldgA,the first industry park of Guanlong,Xili Town,Nanshan,Shenzhen,Guangdong,China Contact Person: Phone: 13410066011 eMail: eMail Web: http://https://www.soukacatv.com 20.03.2019 07:54:00 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. The Lord Mayor of London Peter Estlin is in China from 18 to 23 March 2019 to promote links with the UK in fintech, green finance and the Belt and Road Initiative. Lord Mayor of London leads fintech delegation to China to promote trade and investment (Photo by Tianxing Bai) The Lord Mayor, in his role as an ambassador for the UKs financial and professional services, will meet senior members of the Chinese government and business leaders during his visit. The six-day visit will see him travel to Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing accompanied by a delegation of 13 innovative fintech firms headed by John McLean OBE, a board member of the China Britain Business Council (CBBC). In each of the three cities, a fintech forum will be held with government and industry leaders, with the aim of boosting city-to-city links in the sector. These events will see the Lord Mayor speak alongside senior Chinese business figures, and will also provide the opportunity for members of the delegation to pitch to potential investors. The Lord Mayor will meet with senior figures of the Shenzhen and Shanghai governments, both of which have longstanding cooperation agreements with the City of London Corporation, to discuss how both sides can further strengthen relationships in areas including fintech, asset management and capital markets. In Beijing, a major announcement is expected on green finance, following nearly two years of cooperation between the City of London Corporations Green Finance Initiative and Chinas Green Finance Committee. During the visit, the Lord Mayor will also promote innovation and technology, champion digital skills and address digital and social inclusion as part of his Shaping Tomorrows City Today programme. Speaking ahead of his trip, The Lord Mayor of London Peter Estlin said, Seventy years on from the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, ties between our two countries have gone from strength to strength, with bilateral trade now worth nearly 70 billion. As China continues to expand and open up its economy, the City of London and more broadly the UK continues to play an important part in the countrys success story. I look forward to helping build on these solid foundations during my visit, and to strengthening ties in areas including fintech and green finance, he added. The government is now tapping multilateral funding institutions led by the World Bank, instead of China, to support the construction of the 982-megawatt Agus-Pulangi hydro powerplant in Mindanao, according to the National Power Corp. Napocor president Pio Benavidez said the government was looking at funding from the World Bank and development partners France, Australia and Japan. So it will be a multilateral loan. Its no longer China, Benavidez said. The World Bank would be joining other funding institutions covering multilateral funding. The role of the World Bank is to do a feasibility study on what are the options for Agus, he said. He said the government was looking at the options for the Agus-Pulangi hydro plant rehabilitation such as attaining the rated generation capacity, increasing the generation capacity by 10 percent and improving the water efficiency. He said Napocor, the National Economic Development Authority and the Finance Department would study the best rehabilitation option for Agus-Pulangi power plants which were running at 40 percent of their rated capacity. The Finance Department proposed the rehabilitation of the hydro plants before their privatization to increase the value of the facility. Once the rehab is completed, then it will be privatized. The value of the plant will go up. As of now, if you dont rehabilitate, the value of the plant is low, Benavidez said.Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government made significant progress in the implementation of infrastructure projects financed by official development assistance from China. Dominguez in a courtesy visit to China Vice President Wang Qishan updated him on the Build, Build, Build infrastructure projects, some of which are being implemented with funding support from China. China-funded projects include two bridges that will help ease traffic in Metro Manilathe Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantaleon bridges which are being funded by a 397 million renminbi ($63.13 million) grant from China. Dominguez also thanked China for providing concessional loan financing for the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project and the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project. China extended a $62.09-million loan for the Chico river irrigation project and a $211.21-million loan for the construction of the Kaliwa Dam. We have been meeting with the Ministry of Commerce of China for the past two years, and we have made a lot of progress with our actual official development assistance relations with China, Dominguez said during the meeting. Heres What Youre Not Hearing About the US - China Trade War Chinas been playing hardball with the U.S. over trade talks. Theres good reason: theyre gunning for the title of Top Global Economic Power, above the U.S. and other players. Theyre embracing the short-term pain to win the long-term fight. But They have growing problems, with slowing growth and exports, and weve heard much about this lately from Main Street. But those are only symptoms. Deep down, they have a demographic problem, an overinvestment-in-infrastructure problem, and a real estate problem. Today, lets talk about that last one. recently talked about Japans housing crisis . There, 8 million homes stand empty (thats 15% of their market)!Well, compared to China, Japans real estate problem is a minor crack in the foundation.In China, 65 million homes stand empty!Thats 22% of all urban homes there.And its the worst in tiers 2 and 3. Check it out A quick note on the Chinese city tier system: While the Chinese government doesnt officially recognize this system, its become a popular way for people and businesses to differentiate between cities, which reflect differences in consumer behavior, income level, population size, consumer sophistication, infrastructure, and so on. Tier 1 cities are the most developed in the country, with the most affluent and sophisticated consumers. Theyre crammed full of people, and as urban metropolises, they have a huge economic, cultural, and political influence in China. Tier 1 cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Now look back at that first chart. See how Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities share the largest proportion of empty homes? Thats where the greatest overbuilding has been as Tier 1 cities run out of space to build. Thats a problem! But Is Chinas Problem Worse than Japans? I said earlier that, compared to Japans empty homes problem, Chinas is much more severe. Of course, we must consider that China is a much larger country than Japan, with 1.4 trillion people compared to Japans 127 million (I rounded up those numbers). A fairer comparison would be between Chinas 465 million households and Japans 49 million. Chinas empty homes as a percentage of urban households are 14.3%. Japans is 16.3%. But thats not counting empty homes in Chinas rural areas. I couldnt find numbers of the rural empty-homes situation, but Id be willing to bet its high enough to make the situation in the Red Dragon far more precarious than in the Land of the Rising Sun. Besides, 75% of Chinese net worth is in real estate! Build it and They Will Come? Hardly! Japans empty homes are concentrated in rural areas, where theyre worth much less. And while there was some overbuilding, Japans biggest problem is a dying population. China, however, is home to so many empty homes well because the government simply overbuilt! Of those 65 million empty urban homes in China, 23 million or 35% have been built just since 2011. Vacant homes in Tier 2 cities have gone up the fastest as a percent: 18.8% to 22.2%. Empty Tier 3 city homes have been the highest in numbers, but have grown a little less in percentage terms, from 19.0% to 21.8%. Home sales have fallen around 15% since May 2018 in these cities, thanks to the slowest demand. Thats a sure sign of the inevitable housing collapse ahead. And the fact that home prices have surged since 2015 is another sure sign of trouble Home prices have been the strongest in Tier 1 cities like Shanghai, up 47% in the last three years, and Beijing, up 38.5% during the same time. The top Tier 2 city has been Zhengzhou, up 42% since 2015. And the top Tier 3 city has been Yangzhou, up at 37%. But remember: The bigger the bubble, the bigger the burst. China is the victim of the biggest overbuilding spree this century. As a result, its enjoyed the greatest bubble compared to income of any major country. Accordingly, it will suffer the worst when the dream crumbles. My bubble model forecasts a Shanghai property price burst of 78%! And it could take over a decade to play out. Thats greater than the 67% real estate crash Japan endured in the 1990s, when it had overbuilt and bubbled into its 1991 peak. The U.S. only suffered a 34% decline in home prices during the 2006-2012 crash. With 75% of Chinese net worth in real estate, this will cause the greatest evaporation of consumer wealth in history. Chinas playing the long game in the trade war with the U.S., but it may have overestimated its strength. Mark my words: History will show that this trade showdown will be the wrecking ball that downsized the dragon from its real estate overbuilding Achilles Heel. Tread carefully if youre investing in real estate. Right now, the markets are walking a hair-thin tightrope with Chinese as the greatest foreign investors in English-speaking markets like ours. Harry http://economyandmarkets.com Follow me on Twitter @HarryDentjr P.S. Another way to stay ahead is by reading the 27 simple stock secrets that our Seven-Figure Trader says are worth $588,221. Youll find the details here. Harry studied economics in college in the 70s, but found it vague and inconclusive. He became so disillusioned by the state of the profession that he turned his back on it. Instead, he threw himself into the burgeoning New Science of Finance, which married economic research and market research and encompassed identifying and studying demographic trends, business cycles, consumers purchasing power and many, many other trends that empowered him to forecast economic and market changes. Copyright 2019 Harry Dent- All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. Harry Dent Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Chinas first cloned police dog born using the genes of a honored police dog has been born and is now ready for training in Kunming, southwest Chinas Yunnan province. Kunxun, the special dog, was born in January 2019 and was cloned from genes of Huahuangma, a seven-year-old female dog from Kunming who was honored after helping to solve dozens of murder cases, the Science and Technology Daily reported. Preparations for Kunxuns birth started last September when a millimeter-size skin sample of Huahuangma was taken for cell cultivation. Scientists then took egg cells from another female dog to create an enucleated egg cell, which was then injected with the nucleus cultivated from Huahuangma. After the clone embryo was created, it was then implanted in another female surrogate for the birth, according to Liu Xiaojuan, a scientist on the project. According to tests done at the Ministry of Public Securitys dog training base, Kunxuns DNA shares 99.9% similarity with Huahuangma, proving the successful cloning of the first police dog in China. The healthy puppy will undergo three to five months of training at the base to prepare for professional course trainings, such as drug detection or suspect tracking. The puppy has shown the same energy and friendliness of the donor dog. China has tens of thousands of police dogs, but thousands more are needed across the nation. It is hard and expensive to train a perfect police dog, explained Wan Jiusheng, a researcher at the police dog training base in Kunming. At present, the cloned police dog is still in the laboratory stage. I hope that in the next 10 years, after the technology matures and scales, we can batch clone honored dogs, Wan was quoted as saying. The project also mulls to establish a cell base from honored dogs like Huahuangma to preserve the best genes of police dogs for 50 years, Wan revealed. Photo via Xinhua President Xi Jinping will pay states visit to Italy, Monaco, and France from March 21 to 26, marking the presidents first state visits of the year, which carry the expectation that mutual ties will be boosted between China and the EU. As the worlds largest developing country and the largest national union, China and the European Union (EU) are important forces in the international community to boost economic development and cultural exchange. Italy is the first stop of Xi Jinpings trip to Europe and also the first visit by a Chinese president in a decade, Xinhua reported. Earlier this month, before China announced the visit, Italy made known its interest in joining the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which would make Italy the first G7 member to join the initiative. Besides the potential BRI cooperation, China and Italy are expected to enhance comprehensive collaboration this year, as 2019 marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between two countries, and the two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year. China and Monaco have maintained frequent friendly exchanges. Prince Albert II, head of state of the Principality of Monaco, has made 10 visits to China. As a member of the International Olympic Committee, he actively supported and participated in major events held in China, including the Beijing Olympic Games and Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, according to Chinese state media. Currently, China is vigorously promoting ecological civilization and actively participating in the multilateral climate governance process. As a country with a unique urban development model, Monaco will see deeper cooperation with China in the coming years, which could set a model for friendly exchanges between large and small countries. As the first Western county to establish diplomatic ties with Peoples Republic of China, France and China have promoted multi-level cooperation on combating terrorism, resolving climate change issues, and safeguarding multilateralism. 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. BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visits to Italy, Monaco and France are expected to inject new impetus into China-EU relations, a senior official said Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Xi would pay state visits to the three European countries from March 21 to 26, at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco Albert II and French President Emmanuel Macron. Xi's visit to Europe will be the first overseas trip in 2019 by the Chinese head of state, also the top leader of the Communist Party of China, bearing historic significance for the development of relations between China and the three countries, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao told a press briefing. Noting that Italy is an important member country of the G20 and Europe Union, Wang said this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, and next year will mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. "Bilateral relations of the two countries are faced with important opportunities." Xi's visit to Italy will be of historic significance in building on the past and opening up the future for the bilateral relations, Wang said. During his visit to Italy, Xi will hold talks with President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, meet with presidents of the Senate of the Republic and the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and the two sides will exchange in-depth views on China-Italy, China-EU relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. "President Xi and Prime Minister Conte will jointly witness the signing of intergovernmental cooperation documents in fields of diplomacy, economy and trade, culture, as well as commercial agreements in infrastructure, machinery and finance," Wang said, adding that the two sides would strengthen Belt and Road cooperation. Xi will also visit Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily, Wang said. Noting that China and Monaco have set an example of friendly relations between countries of different sizes, Wang said Xi's visit to Monaco, the first-ever one by a Chinese president, will be of historic significance to bilateral relations. Xi will hold talks with Prince Albert II during his visit to Monaco and they will exchange views on issues such as politics, economy, humanities and environmental protection, and jointly open up a new era of China-Monaco relations, Wang said. Hailing that France was the first major Western country to establish official diplomatic ties with New China, Wang said current China-France relations have maintained sound, stable and high-level development and have distinct strategic, contemporary and global characteristics. The two countries have made steady progress in jointly building the Belt and Road and third-party market cooperation, as well as in cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, aerospace, agriculture, finance and sustainable development, Wang said. The two sides have also maintained coordination in safeguarding multilateralism, improving global governance and dealing with climate change, and witnessed increasing people-to-people exchanges, he added. Wang said Xi's state visit to France, his second within five years, will coincide with the 55th anniversary of China-France diplomatic ties, and is of special significance to bilateral relations. During his visit, Xi will hold talks with President Macron, meet with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Speaker of the Senate and President of the National Assembly, according to Wang. The leaders of the two countries will exchange in-depth views on the China-France relations, China-EU relations, and international and regional issues of common interest, and witness the signing of cooperation agreements covering energy, transport, agriculture, finance, culture and technology. Wang said Xi's visits will bring the pragmatic cooperation between China and the three countries to a new height, inject new impetus into China-EU relations in the new era, and open up new space for jointly building the Belt and Road. Cancer survivors receiving treatment in North Carolina are the first VA patients to get no-cost genetic testing under a program that could cover a quarter-million veterans by 2022. The testing, which is offered through a partnership between the VA and nonprofit health care system Sanford Health, will help providers determine appropriate medications and dosages for patients. The program began with cancer survivors in a pilot phase in Durham, N.C., this year, with plans to expand to 125 sites and include patients with other ailments - up to 250,000 veterans. Our goal is to continue delivering the best care possible for our nation's heroes, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement. And this partnership helps us do just that. The VA Pharmacogenomics Action for Cancer Survivorship testing program, also known as PHASeR, is funded by a $25 million gift from philanthropist Denny Sanford, the health care system's namesake, and matching funds from Sanford Health. [RELATED: President's Budget Would Provide Another Year of Funding Increases for VA] The test will help providers determine which medications will be most effective for patients, including decisions on prescribed medications for cardiovascular and mental health diseases and pain management. The tests also will improve access to appropriate treatments and reduce adverse drug reactions, per the VA. Veterans interested in participating in upcoming tests can fill out a contact form at the Sanford Health website. The Sanford-VA partnership will be the largest such testing effort in the country, Sanford Health officials told USA Today. Amanda Dolasinski is MOAA's staff writer. She can be reached at amandad@moaa.org. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMOAA. [March 20, 2019] EV Group Partners with NSI to Enable First Wafer-level Heterogeneous Integration of GaAs on Silicon for RF Front-end Module Manufacturing SHANGHAI, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMICON China -- EV Group (EVG), a leading supplier of wafer bonding and lithography equipment, today announced that it has partnered with Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI), a specialty semiconductor foundry based in Ningbo, China, in the development of the industry's first process technology platform for wafer-level heterogeneous integration of gallium arsenide (GaAs) on silicon for use in RF front-end module (FEM) manufacturing. This marks an important milestone in the development of next-generation, high-performance, ultra-compact RF front-end chipsets that are needed for 4G and 5G smartphones and other handsets. As part of this strategic collaborative effort, EVG provided NSI with its industry-leading temporary bonding/debonding (TB/DB), permanent bonding, mask alignment lithography, and related special metrology equipment and process expertise, which NSI leveraged together with its proprietary micro wafer-level system integration (uWLSI) technology platform to produce the innovative RF FEM products for a leading RF front-end devices and system solution provider. NSI is a joint venture subsidiary of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) with China IC Investment Fund, Ningbo Economic Development Zone Industrial Investment Company, Ltd. and other IC investment funds. According to Dr. Herb Huang, CEO of NSI, "High-performance, ultra-compact RF front-end microsystem components are vital to the success of the 5G wireless terminal. To support the customers and their RF front-end module products of the next generation of wireless terminals for meeting the stringent requirements of lower insertion loss, higher energy efficiency, ultra-miniaturization, etc., it is necessary to provide more advanced wafer-level multi-chip heterogeneous integration process solutions for supporting and helping the customer meet the product standards and quickly ramp to volume production. We are pleased to have access to EV Group's leading wafer bonding technology, lithography technology and expertise in heterogeneous integration in order to facilitate the manufacturing success." Wafer-level Heterogeneous Integration Needed for 5G RF FEMs include several key components, such as power amplifiers (PAs), antenna switches and filters. The high-density 3D heterogeneous integration of materials with different properties, such as GaAs and silicon, is effective in enabling improved gain, linearity and power performance for RF FEMs. At the same time, however, the migration to 5G broadband wireless technology is driving the need for wider multi-band PAs and more RF filters in the FEM, which in turn can drive up cost and footprint of the overall chipset package. Enabling heterogeneous system integration at the wafer level provides a cost-effective approach for achieving greater chipset density with minimal footprint increase. "5G is offering huge opportunity to the RF front end industry," stated Cedric Malaquin, technology and market analyst, RF Devices and Technology, at market research and strategy consulting company Yole Developpement (Yole). "5G will completely redefine the interactions between the network and the modem. Indeed, new RF bands, sub-6 GHz and mm-wave pose big challenges for the industry." According to Yole, the mobile handset RF front-end market, along with the WiFi connectivity sector, is projected to reach US$35.2 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 14% (1). uWLSI is a middle-end-of-line technology platform for a unique wafer fabrication process developed by NSI for enabling heterogeneous multi-die-on-wafer system integration and wafer-level system testing while eliminating the need for bumping and flip-chip processes in typical system-in-package practices. NSI developed the uWLSI technology platform to specifically address the surging need for high-density heterogeneous system integration of a variety of chipsets and microsystems through more wafer-level fabrication processing. EVG's TB/DB systems play a key role in enabling the heterogeneous integration of compound semiconductors with silicon devices in a More-than-Moore approach. For example, TB/DB facilitates the reliable transfer and processing of very thin compound semiconductor, silicon and mold wafers, which can be integrated into higher-density vertical packages. Likewise, EVG's mask alignment systems support wafer-level heterogeneous integration by enabling lithography patterning of carrier mounted and warped substrates, which is essential for the uWLSI process. "NSI is at the forefront in the development of specialty semiconductors for next-generation wireless and telecommunications technologies, such as 5G," according to Swen Zhu, general manager, China, EV Group. "EVG is pleased that NSI has entrusted us once again to work with them to support their advanced manufacturing effortsthis time on their ground-breaking development in RF FEM platforms. The expertise that we have built up as a technology and market leader in wafer bonding and lithography process solutions will play an important role in our work with this leading foundry company." EVG will showcase its latest wafer bonding and lithography solutions for heterogeneous integration and other applications at SEMICON China, a leading exhibition for China's semiconductor industry, which will be held this week (March 20-22) at the Shanghai International Expo. Attendees interested in learning more can visit EVG at Booth #2547 in Hall N2. (1) Source: 5G's Impact on RF Front-End Module and Connectivity for Cell Phones report, Yole Developpement, 2018 About NSI Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI) is a joint venture subsidiary of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) with China IC Investment Fund, Ningbo Economic Development Zone Industrial Investment Company, Ltd. and other IC investment funds. Through acquisition, adoption, enhancement and development of intellectual property and technology, NSI develops analog and specialty semiconductor technology platforms in the areas of high-voltage analog, radio frequency, and optoelectronics. These developments support customers in IC design and product development for applications in smart home, industrial, and automotive electronics, new generations of radio communications, AR/VR/MR, and other specialty systems. For more information on NSI, please contact: [email protected]. About EV Group (EVG) EV Group (EVG) is a leading supplier of equipment and process solutions for the manufacture of semiconductors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), compound semiconductors, power devices and nanotechnology devices. Key products include wafer bonding, thin-wafer processing, lithography/nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and metrology equipment, as well as photoresist coaters, cleaners and inspection systems. Founded in 1980, EV Group services and supports an elaborate network of global customers and partners all over the world. More information about EVG is available at www.EVGroup.com. Contacts: Clemens Schutte David Moreno Director, Marketing and Communications Principal EV Group Open Sky Communications Tel: +43 7712 5311 0 Tel: +1.415.519.3915 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ev-group-partners-with-nsi-to-enable-first-wafer-level-heterogeneous-integration-of-gaas-on-silicon-for-rf-front-end-module-manufacturing-300815457.html SOURCE EV Group [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\broadband-stimulus's Homepage ] Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted Jonathan Choi, Chairman of the Hong Kong-Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce, and President of Sunwah Group, in Hanoi on March 19. He underlined the sound cooperation between Vietnam and China and particularly Hong Kong in various fields such as economy, trade, investment, tourism and culture. Jonathan Choi expressed his pleasure at the fact that many Hong Kong firms do successful business in Vietnam, including Sunwah, thanks to the facilitation of the Prime Minister, the Vietnamese Government and relevant agencies. Many Chinese enterprises are eyeing investment in Vietnam in the fields of start-up, tourism, energy and infrastructure, he added. PM Phuc said he supports activities to increase culture and education cooperation between Vietnam and China, contributing to promoting people-to-people exchanges. He hailed the chamber for organising many activities to connect Chinese and Japanese businesses to jointly invest in Vietnam as well as encourage Chinese firms to help Vietnamese farm produce reach out to the global market. The leader suggested the chamber host more similar activities to step up cooperation between Vietnamese and Chinese companies, not only for coffee and rice but also seafood and other products. The PM welcomed Chinese firms to invest in transport infrastructure and energy in Vietnam, affirming that the Government will create all possible conditions for foreign investors to do business in Vietnam without causing environmental pollution. He also called for bilateral cooperation in tourism, revealing Vietnams target of serving 50 million international visitors per year in the near future.-VNA Sitting talking to Guy Semon, the mathematician who heads up the TAG Heuer Institute, across a desk strewn with technical journals and a huge tome on carbon nanotubes, you sometimes have to pinch yourself to remember you are at the TAG Heuer HQ in La Chaux-de-Fonds rather than some university. Yet as a Frenchman who hails from the Doubs region of France, which saw its watch industry die out in the short space of a few years, he is acutely aware of the impact that technological developments can have on the industry. He is now using just such a technological development in search of growth in a sluggish market by capturing market share from his competitors. Mr Semon has a gift for making even the most complex subjects readily understandable, even if the explanations are sometimes accompanied with mathematical comparisons. Faced with the challenge of coming up with something different from everyone else, he quickly settled on the regulating organ, dismissing the power reserve (too many constraints) and the gear train (there will always be 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour you cant change that). More specifically, he focused on the hairspring. TAG Heuer I decided to look at what the mathematical limits of precision for a spring were, he says, but there are challenges here, too, because springs are very difficult to produce and require about 20 different operations. Their frequency is also directly related to their stiffness. Silicon could have been an option, but Patek Philippe, Rolex and the Swatch Group have together sealed off that avenue. We could have made it ourselves, he adds, but it would have taken us a couple of years and we would have just ended up with the same thing as the others, only it would have been more expensive. And I am here to make the difference and to do that we look into areas where other brands havent ventured. To be sure, no other brand can be looking into areas where TAG Heuer is. The TAG Heuer Institute consists of 24 people from 11 different nationalities and together they have academic experience totaling 250 years. Only one of them has a watchmaking background. They are there to push the limits and challenge the impossible, to such an extent that they all have a piggy bank on their desk where they have to put five francs every time they sigh or say that something is too complicated or impossible. Guy Semon says the fine will soon rise to 10 francs Carbon+ 150 system by CVD Equipment Corporation, USA ; configured per TAG Heuer specifications and operated in La Chaux-de-Fonds The Institute consists of four departments, working on metals, compliant mechanics, nano-materials and the industrialization of any technology developed by the Institute. The new balance spring is the work of the nano-materials department which, as Guy Semon poetically puts it, tries to talk to the atoms... But first we have to catch them. Catching them involves using a three-million Swiss franc scanning electron microscope (SEM), which is impressive in itself. But the Institute will very soon take delivery of a colossal 4.3m high transmission electron microscope (TEM) that can only work with zero vibrations. The road outside the factory and the nearby overhead railway cables would be enough to disturb it, so a giant hole several metres deep was excavated right underneath the room where it will be installed and filled with 26 tonnes of concrete to form a solid foundation. The inspiration for the new carbon spring came from graphene, which was discovered by chance in the 1990s and has hexagonal bonds that make it the perfect spring. It returns the energy it absorbs as it jumps back into place. The only problem is that this only worked at the atomic level and what happens at atomic level can never be replicated at the macro level of real-world applications... until now. The TAG Heuer Institute is the first to develop a mechanical structure from an atomic structure. Chemical reaction: How the new carbon spring is made With the theory for the material in place, the first step was to develop software to calculate the perfect geometry for a spring (using Youngs modulus). From that, drawings were produced and used as a basis for creating a mould. In this case the mould is a silicon wafer (because silicon is chemically neutral, clean and flat). TAG Heuer In the next step, what Guy Semon describes as an atomic pencil is used to draw the outline of the spring on the wafer in iron atoms. This is all done in a specialist clean room in Holland. Once these wafers arrive at TAG Heuer in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the first step is to remove any traces of oxygen (the presence of oxygen means the possibility of oxidation, or rust). Carbon+ 150 system by CVD Equipment Corporation, USA ; configured per TAG Heuer specifications and operated in La Chaux-de-Fonds The wafers are then heated to 900C in a quartz tube into which a mixture of hydrogen and ethylene is injected. Ethylene is used because it is rich in carbon atoms (its chemical formula is C2H4) and carbon is not usually available in gaseous form. The hydrogen atoms in the ethylene naturally bond with the atoms in the hydrogen, leaving the carbon atoms excited, since they are not in their natural state. Since all elements tend to return to their natural state, the carbon atoms need to bond. Normally they would bind together to form graphite, but we dont want that, explains Guy Semon. That is why we use the iron atoms, because they are a natural catalyst. Carbon+ 150 system by CVD Equipment Corporation, USA ; configured per TAG Heuer specifications and operated in La Chaux-de-Fonds After this first operation, 96% of the resulting material is just empty space, which Guy Semon compares with a forest at atomic level. Carbon atoms are inserted into the spaces between the atomic trees to form a composite material. All this is done without any human intervention whatsoever, which has led to the internal nickname of cadabrium for the material, from the abracadabra used by magicians. Each silicon wafer can hold up to 400 individual springs. It takes several hours to produce one batch and the only two machines of their kind in the world that can do this are right opposite Guy Semons office. TAG Heuer Once the springs are ready, the wafers are put into a plasma cleaner to remove any carbon film, after which the springs can simply be pulled off the wafer with tweezers. TAG Heuer currently has the capacity to produce about 100,000 springs per year, but is working on increasing the size of the wafers and stacking them vertically in the machine (at the moment, only one wafer at a time is used), which could triple this capacity. TAG Heuer The terminal curve is preformed and the thickness of the spring actually changes from the perimeter to the centre. The collet at the centre of the spring can be produced in any shape and TAG Heuer has taken advantage of this to incorporate the brands shield emblem which, at just 15 microns in size, is a fantastic anti-counterfeiting measure. The future TAG Heuer has already produced tens of thousands of these springs, which can withstand forces of 5,000g without breaking much more than any other spring. Guy Semon is already working on the next steps. Now we need to explore this forest, which is why we have the electron microscope. No other watch brand has anything like this. Given the brain power inside the Institute and the fact that this major new development took a relatively short three years from idea to fruition, we can expect much more to come from the TAG Heuer Institute. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. Daniele Venturelli/Daniele Venturelli/ Getty ImagesNow that Orlando Bloom is engaged to Katy Perry, he doesnt need his bachelor pad anymore. According to Variety, the actor has put his Beverly Hills, California home up for sale for an asking price of nearly $9 million. The modern, minimalist property features four bedrooms and four bathrooms, a sunken sitting room, a zero-edge swimming pool and spa, and a fire pit. The master suite opens to a lounging and dining deck with skyline views. Its unclear if Katy and Orlando will buy a new home together, but they may not need to, since Katy already has plenty of properties to choose from. Last month she sold two side-by-side homes at the top of Runyon Canyon for $12.7 million, but she still owns two multi-million-dollar homes in Beverly Hills and is involved in an ongoing bid to acquire a convent in Los Feliz that she plans to convert into a family compound. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Egypts government revealed more details on Tuesday about the new phase of the anti-hepatitis C initiative 100 Million Lives which will see refugees and Africans screened for the disease, as announced by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi earlier this week. In media statements on Tuesday, government spokesperson Nader Asad said that the new phase of the initiative is divided into two sections, the first for refugees who live in Egypt and the second for African citizens in their countries. Asad said that refugees living in Egypt would be informed by the UNHCR office in Egypt or by embassies like that of Sudan of the addresses of the hospitals currently doing hepatitis C screenings as part of the initiative, adding that the priority was governorates with a high population of refugees. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting on Tuesday with Minister of Health Hala Zayed to follow up on the directivesPresident El-Sisi issued in the closing session of the Arab African Youth Platform in Aswan earlier this week regarding the new phase. Launched in October 2018, 100 Million Lives is the countrys largest ever anti-hepatitis C campaign and had screened nearly 30 million Egyptians as of last month. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said there are currently 5 million refugees in Egypt. Search Keywords: Short link: Google Middle East celebrated the 119th birthday of Egyptian poet Jamila Al-Alaily on Wednesday with a doodle featuring her on the search engine page. Al-Alaily was born in Mansoura in 1907, moving to Cairo as an adult. Her poems were featured in the famous Egyptian magazine Apollo, published by the Apollo society for literature, winning the praise of its famous members like writers Ibrahim Nagy and Ali El-Gendy. Al-Alaily went on to become the Apollo societys only female member. She was married to journalist Sayed Nada and together they published a monthly literature magazine Ahdaf (Goals) between 1949 and 1975. She passed away on 11 April 1991. Search Keywords: Short link: The first day of spring has become synonymous with Dairy Queens annual Free Cone Day! All day on Wednesday March 20, 2019, participating locations all customers can get a free small vanilla soft-serve cone. We love that our tradition of Free Cone Day has become synonymous with return of warmer weather and bringing people together, said Maria Hokanson, executive vice president of ADQ, in a press release. We know the start of soft-serve season brings joy to our fans, and we cant wait to help spread smiles. Following Free Cone Day, DQ is offering a small regular or dipped soft serve cone for 50 cents, available for redemption only with the DQ mobile app, March 21-31 at participating DQ and DQ Grill & Chill locations. This offer includes the NEW DQ orange, creamy and crunchy dreamsicle dip, or try the DQ classic chocolate dip. The first day of spring also is a traditional freebie day at Ritas Italian Ice. Its the Pennsylvania-based companys 27th annual first day of spring giveaway, which will take place during regular hours Wednesday. Most stores are open noon to 9 p.m. The company expects to give away more than 1 million cups of free Italian ices at its more than 600 locations. Limit one free promotional-size cup per customer. Customers can choose to add a custard topper for an extra charge. WALLINGFORD A third person has been charged in a January robbery of the Citgo on Main Street in Yalesville. Alisha Rivera, 36, of 15 Riverview Place, Chicopee, Massachusetts, was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, second-degree hindering prosecution, and false statement. Dennis Girard, 31, of Hartford, and Jamie Cacace, 33, of North Haven, were both previously charged with first-degree robbery, fifth-degree larceny and conspiracy on both counts. On Jan. 12 around 7:45 p.m. officers responded to a report of a robbery at Citgo, 305 Main St. (Route 150). A witness reported seeing Girard run out of the gas station/convenience store and get into the passenger seat of a vehicle that drove off, according to a police report. The vehicle was later spotted at the Route 15 south rest stop between exits 64 and 63. Girard was taken into custody when he got into a second vehicle, which contained Cacace and Rivera, the report said. Police recovered an undisclosed amount of cash from inside the second vehicle. Cacace was taken into custody that night. Rivera denied knowing Girard. Police investigated and later determined Rivera knew about the robbery and was with Girard earlier in the night, the report said. Rivera was arraigned in Meriden Superior Court on Wednesday. Her bond was set at $150,000. lsellew@record-journal.com 203-317-2225 Twitter: @LaurenSellewRJ The Egyptian European Business Council held a gathering on Wednesday to announce their support for proposed amendments to Egypt's constitution which would allow President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to run for two more terms after his current term expires in 2022. The parliament approved the changes in a preliminary vote last month, although it must hold a second vote before they are put to a national referendum. The changes, initiated by pro-government parliamentary bloc Support Egypt, have ignited controversy. Those who back the changes say they are important for the stability of a country hit by years of political turmoil since the 2011 revolution, and to allow the president more time to carry out his economic development plans. Opponents say the changes consolidate authoritarian rule. The amendments include extending the presidential term from four to six years in Article 140 of the constitution, and adding a transitional clause that allows the current president to run for two more six-year terms after his current and second term ends in 2022. The changes would allow any other president to run for two terms only. They give the president new authorities to appoint members of the judiciary and give the military the role of "safeguarding the constitution and democracy and the fundamental makeup of the country and its civil nature. The proposals also includes setting up a second house of parliament, the Council of Senators; under the changes proposed, the president would appoint one-third of its members. The changes were preliminarily approved in February by 485 MPs in the 596-seat assembly, more than the two-thirds majority required to pass amendments to the national charter. The left-leaning 25-30 parliamentary bloc, which comprises of 16 MPs, opposed the changes, which it said "undermine the principle of the transfer of power." Thousands of others, including prominent lawyers, judges, actors, as well as ordinary Egyptians, have signed a petition against the changes, which has been circulating on social media. The parliament begun a series of national dialogue meetings over the amendments on Wednesday, expected to last for two weeks. The first of six scheduled hearings for the parliament's national dialogue over the proposals was held earlier on Wednesday, with dozens of university professors, Al-Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church clerics, as well as representatives from state-run-media and public and private TV and radio channels in attendance. Search Keywords: Short link: By PTI NEW DELHI: Banks are likely to infuse fresh funds into cash-strapped Jet Airways provided major shareholders of the airline, including Gulf carrier Etihad Airways, pledge their shares as collateral, sources said. With the airline unable to get fresh funds, the options are limited now, they added. The full-service carrier is grappling with acute financial woes that has resulted in the grounding of a significant number of planes, defaulting on debt repayments and delay in payment of salaries to pilots and other senior officials. Founder Chairman Naresh Goyal and his family own around 52 per cent stake in Jet Airways while Etihad, a strategic partner, has 24 per cent shareholding. ALSO READ: Jet crisis worsens, pilots warn they won't fly from April 1 if salaries remain unpaid The sources said that banks can provide further loans if major stakeholders --Goyal and Etihad -- agree to pledge their shares as security. A consortium of lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), is working on a resolution plan for Jet Airways, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,200 crore. Earlier, sources said that Goyal had agreed to pare down his holding to 22 per cent as part of securing a deal to bailout the airline. Last week, a senior SBI official expressed hope that resolution should be finalised in a week or so. On February 14, Jet Airways board approved a bank-led resolution plan whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline. ALSO READ: More Jet Airways' flights likely to be grounded in coming weeks: DGCA Following approval from the shareholders, part of debt would be converted into 11.4 crore shares at a consideration of Re 1 apiece as per the RBI norms. Since January, Jet Airways has defaulted thrice on payments to its debenture holders. So far, the finance ministry has maintained arm's length in the matter due to its commercial nature and creditors and debtors are working on the resolution plan, according to sources. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Nearly three months after the Tamil Nadu government implemented with much fanfare the ban on single use plastic and polythene bags on January 1, polythene bags are back in the city markets, with street vendors and storekeepers in the city rampantly using them. When Express visited one of the busiest markets in T Nagar on Tuesday, it found that from vegetable sellers to restaurants, from flower vendors to multi-storey garment shops, all were offering polythene bags happily to their customers in blatant violation of the ban order. The storekeepers and even the people were seen using polythene bags without any fear. When asked, the traders cited different reasons for using the banned plastic bags. While some blamed lack of affordable alternatives, some others blamed the lackadaisical attitude of the Corporation officials in conducting regular raids. Before implementing the ban, the authorities took no measures to ensure availability of cheap eco-friendly alternatives to polythene bags. We are using the banned plastics bags as they are still easily available in markets and also because customers are not bringing their own bags, said Ganesan, a fruit vendor at T Nagar. No official comes for checking at our store. Initially, we spent a lot on eco-friendly biodegradable plastic bags out of fear, but now we have switched back to polythene bags as it is cheap also, said manager of a garment shop. Some even pointed out that they have old stocks of plastic bags left so they are using them to exhaust the stock. Nearly 70 to 80 per cent of the restaurants and hotels have started using eco-friendly bags for takeaways. Only a few of those who have bulk stocks of polythene bags are still using it, said M Ravi, president of Chennai Hotels Association. According to environmentalists, one of the major reasons for rampant use of polythene despite the ban is lack of proper surveillance. Initially after the ban, citizens and traders were wholeheartedly cooperating in implementation of the ban, but the authorities did not monitor the situation well. The surveillance was not carried out properly which posed a hurdle to an effective implementation of the ban, said environmentalist Dharmesh Shah. The authorities are not keeping constant vigil on units involved in selling and manufacturing polythene bags, added Shah. However, the officials of City Corporation have refuted the allegations. On a regular basis, raids are being conducted in different parts of the city. Efforts are being made to ensure implementation of the ban order in letter and spirit, said an official of the Corporation. According to Corporation data, in January and February they seized around 110.42 tons of plastic by conducting raids. However, from March 1 to 15, in just 15 days the Corporation seized 113.63 tons of plastics. While Corporation officials claim the seizure quantity has increased due to their sustained efforts, experts feel the rise in figure reflects that banned plastic is available in plenty in market. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) officials have also claimed that they are keeping a close watch on registered plastic manufacturing units but it seems there are some units which are doing it illegally. Officials are hopeful that after implementation of proposed penalty it will ensure better implementation of plastic ban. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Congress leadership in Delhi appears to have mellowed its stand against the possibility of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital. After maintaining a stoic no to a tie-up for the elections for over two weeks, leaders of the local unit including its chief Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday said that they would abide by the decision of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. I have left it to the Congress high command and whatever they decide I will go by it. I believe the Congress is in a position to fight with the workers on its own, Dikshit said. READ | Congress has refused to form alliance with AAP in Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal The state Congress functionaries said the possibility of the alliance could not be ruled out completely as Sharad Pawar, president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has intervened in the matter. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Recently, Farooq Abdullah, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference spoke to Dikshit and Gandhi separately urging them to join hands with AAP in Delhi. AAPs Sanjay Singh met Pawar and held discussions over seat-sharing with the Congress, said the Congress leader. The party can be saved later... there will be enough time to save the party. Right now the attempt should be to save the country and democracy, which is in danger due to the Modi government, said Sanjay, without giving details of the meeting. READ | Despite Sheila Dikshit's warning, Congress still mulling AAP alliance Pawarji is an important ally in Mahagathbandhan. He is actively involved in bringing both parties back to the negotiation table. Talks were revived after Pawar started mediation, said a Delhi Congress functionary. Dikshit and three working presidents Haroon Yusuf, Rajesh Lilothia, and Devendra Yadav had reportedly written to Gandhi against a coalition with AAP last week after the Central leadership conducted a survey of grass root level workers to seek their views on a possible pre-poll alliance in Delhi. The Lok Sabha elections in Delhi are slated for May 12. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The Centre and State governments decision to hand over the Anganwadi centers in Rangareddy district to Akshaya Patra Foundation has not gone down well with hundreds of Anganwadi employees. The employees staged a protest at Ranga Reddy district collectorate office in Lakdikapool on Tuesday. They alleged that the decision was taken merely to favour a corporate company and not in the best interest of children. Speaking to media persons, Telangana Anganwadi Workers Teachers and Helpers Union general secretary G Kavitha alleged, the union members have doubts on the Akshaya Patra Foundations commitment in providing nutritious food to the children. We cannot not ensure that the foundation will supply fresh food for the children.It has always been done by everyday helpers in Anganwadi centers and they never missed in feeding the kids, she said.Kavitha also said that the government was working in favour of corporate companies and they demanded the government to withdraw their decision to hand over the centres to Akshaya Patra Foundation. Speaking to Express, the district welfare officer Sakkubhai said that Akshaya Patra Foundation will supply nutritional food for children. Anganwadi workers were worried about their jobs which they will not lose, she added. By UNI NEW DELHI: Terming the arrest of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi as a move clearly aimed at the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Wednesday said that it was the BJP-led NDA Government which allowed him to escape. Talking to reporters here, senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "they (BJP) had only helped him flee the country. Now they are bringing him back. They are bringing him back for the elections, they will send him back after elections." ''Fugitive Indian diamantaire Nirav Modi has been arrested in London," the media reports said on Wednesday. Modi, 48, wanted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a loan fraud of approximately Rs 14,000 crores from a branch of Punjab National Bank in Mumbai, was arrested from the Holborn area of central London on Tuesday. He is expected to appear in London's Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. The court had issued the arrest warrants on Monday. By Online Desk BJP rebel and in-house critic Shatrughan Sinha may contest next month's Lok Sabha polls from Patna Sahib, his constituency in Bihar as a candidate of the rival Congress party. The actor-turned-politician, who is a very well-known Modi baiter, may not figure on the BJP's list of candidates for the upcoming general elections at all. Sinha had on Sunday said he will not change his constituency in the coming Lok Sabha election "whatever the situation", making clear he would contest again from Patna Sahib seat irrespective of the party decision. "Situation kuch bhi ho, location wahi hogi (Whatever the situation, location would be same)," Sinha told PTI on the phone from Ranchi. The sitting Patna Sahib lawmaker has been at loggerheads with the current BJP leadership since the 2015 Bihar election, over several issues. He has often taken a stance at variance with the official party line, including on demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, and shared the stage with opposition leaders at an anti-BJP rally in Kolkata in January, where he was projected as the "star speaker". By ANI GURGAON: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will not hold any official function to celebrate Holi anywhere in the country in solidarity with the families of its personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack, its chief R R Bhatnagar said on Wednesday. "No official function will be held in the establishments of CRPF in solidarity with the martyr families," he said. ALSO READ: India hasn't forgotten, will not forget Pulwama terror attack, says NSA Doval According to officials, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Border Security Force (BSF) and other para-military forces have also decided to refrain from "officially" celebrating the festival. In the deadliest terror attack on security forces in Kashmir, 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 when their convoy was targeted in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. CRPF, which celebrated its 80th Raising day on Tuesday, is the leading internal security force of the country. By Online Desk The Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday denied bail to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi who was arrested in London's Holborn Metro Station. The UK Judge who remanded the main accused in 13500 crore PNB loan scam said, "Substantial grounds to believe Nirav Modi would fail to surrender if granted bail." A London court on Monday had issued an arrest warrant against Modi in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in the money-laundering case. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in their statement. Meanwhile, the PMLA Court in Mumbai has permitted the Enforcement Directorate to sell 173 paintings, auction 11 cars belonging to Nirav Modi. The court has further issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Nirav's wife Ami Modi. On March 8, a video released by London's UK's The Telegraph newspaper had shown the diamantaire walking across a London street. Wearing a changed look - with a handlebar moustache and long hair - and sporting an ostrich hide jacket estimated to be worth 10,000 pounds (Rs 9 lakhs), he had responded to all questions thrown his way with a smile and "No comments". ALSO READ | Did India show lack of interest in Nirav Modi extradition? This report indicates so The 48-year-old was reportedly staying in a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block in London, where rent is estimated to cost 17000 pounds (almost Rs 15.5 lakh) a month. One of the early responses to the news of the arrest came from National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah. "It's amusing to see the BJP falling over itself to credit the PM with the Nirav Modi arrest while completely ignoring the fact that it was The Telegraph of London and it's correspondent who found Nirav Modi, not the PM and his agencies," the former Jammu and Kashmir CM tweeted. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was dismissive terming it as "an election stunt". Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. ALSO READ | The 'golden' touch that enabled Nirav Modi's flight to the UK Modi has been charge-sheeted by both the agencies and the ED has also attached his assets worth Rs 1873.08 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and has also seized assets linked to him and his family worth Rs 489.75 crore. By Express News Service Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad says he will contest from Varanasi only to show the world he is afraid of no one. Excerpts from his interview with Namita Bajpai. You claim to lead a social organisation. How far will you be involved in this election? Being an aware citizen and representative of a particular section of society, I will be involved in the electoral process as much as anyone who believes in democracy. Why have you decided to challenge the PM as a candidate from Varanasi? I respect the PMs post but have a problem with the present occupant. He claims to be a Chowkidar but its not so. He is Hissedar (a party) in big time scams and hera-pheri. In fact, the Chowkidaar and his coterie want to steal the Constitution and subvert it. They want to impose RSS ideology on us through back door. By contesting, arent you dividing anti-BJP votes? I will contest only from Varanasi. Had I a political ambition, I would have fought from a safer seat like Nagina, a reserved seat near my home with Dalits and Muslim majority and won hands down. I chose Varanasi just to tell the zalim that people may be scared of them, but I am not. Hum to Andhiyon ke khilaf chirag lekar nikle hain dekhte hain kya hota hai (I have lighted a lamp against a gale. Lets see what happens). FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE There is the perception that you are RSS backed so BSP chief Mayawati keeps you at bay? I am fighting the present social system and on the ideology of bahujan sukhay, bahujan hitaya. I am struggling to sustain the movement espoused by our icons who had a vision of brotherhood, equality, amity and harmony in society, transcending boundaries of caste and community. Actually, people have seen my success only but unaware of my wounds and struggle. The so-called political leaderships across parties are not able to digest my success. They fear youth power. What are the prospects of SP-BSP alliance in this election? It will all depend on the hard work of alliance partners. However, I feel all likeminded parties should have been on one platform against BJP. Will you support the Congress, especially after Priyanka Gandhis visit? She is a sister. She visited me, I welcomed her. Now when I talk about saving the Constitution, my moral duty is to support all those who are there to defeat the BJP across the country to save democracy. How do you see the snub of SP and BSP leaders to Congresss gesture of leaving 7 seats for alliance? This is nothing but sheer arrogance of Bhai Akhilesh and Behenji. Arrogance drives people to destruction. They should also introspect what they have done so far. The fight should not be to gain power but to save the Constitution and democracy. You have been saying that you want to see Mayawati as PM. Why dont you make BSP stronger? I am fighting for honour and pride of dalits. We tried a number of times to unite the bahujan samaj. My movement is inspired by Kanshiram ji.I believe that political aspiration may or may not be fulfilled, power may or may not come but the movement to bring about social change should continue. I want to empower my people and bring them at par as they are still suffering due to their caste. Jab vote inka hai to raj bhi inka hi hona chaiye (If they have the votes, it should be they who rule). Why does BSP chief refuse your support? Possibly, she takes me as her potential competitor and an alternative to her leadership. The bill requires prospective and existing employees at ministries, state companies, local authorities and other bodies to undergo a drug test before being hired, promoted or awarded a contract Egypt's cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft law that mandates drug tests for state employees, with possible firings for those who test positive or evade it. The bill requires prospective and existing employees at ministries, state companies, local authorities and other state bodies to undergo a drug test before being hired, promoted, awarded a contract or having their contract renewed, the cabinet said in a statement. For existing employees, the test will be carried out without prior notice. Those who test positive will be "suspended from work by the force of law," the cabinet said. The new regulations also apply to those working at orphanages, care houses, rehabilitation centres, nurseries, schools and private hospitals. The bill mandates that employees who refrain from undergoing tests or deliberately evade them without a plausible excuse will be terminated from their jobs. The draft law will be referred to parliament for approval. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly urged stiffer penalties for government employees who test positive for drugs, after a railway employee involved in a deadly train station fire last month tested positive for narcotics. An anti-drug fund affiliated with the social solidarity ministry offers free-of-charge, confidential treatment for drug users. The fund's hotline (16023) has been announced at state bodies and universities. Search Keywords: Short link: By Express News Service KOLKATA: The Election Commission has refused to accept a West Bengal government report designating only 30 per cent of the booths across the state as sensitive. Expressing apprehension of largescale poll violence, the BJP had earlier appealed to the poll panel to declare the entire state as super-sensitive. The collated report of district magistrates and superintendents of police of 23 districts of the state designated 28 lakh of 79 lakh booths in West Bengal as sensitive. But deputy Election Commission Sudip Jain refused to accept the report at a recent meeting with police and administration and asked the SPs and DMs to do a proper analysis and submit a fresh report to the commission. The final decision on designating the booths as sensitive rests with the EC, which will announce its decision four days prior to the polls. The TMC, on the other hand, is planning to complain to the EC against the conduct of central paramilitary forces deployed in the state, accusing them of intimidating people. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE While both Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim questioned the impartiality of the central forces and said it should not act at the behest of the BJP, controversial Birbhum district TMC president called termed the forces Modis dalal and asked party workers to be prepared to deal with them in every booth. Reacting to TMC members remarks against central forces, state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said: The TMC is scared of central forces as it knows that they will beat up TMC goons on the streets if they try to cause any trouble during the polls. Some 10 companies of CRPF personnel have been deployed across south Bengal districts and are conducting route marches and door-to-door communication asking people not to be afraid of political goons. Some 35 more companies of central forces are expected to reach the state soon. By PTI LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati Wednesday announced she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but stressed it was not necessary to be an MP to become a minister or a prime minister. The statement announcing her decision pointedly mentioned that a minister or a prime minister has six months to become a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. The Bahujan Samaj Party chief has in the past indicated that she is not averse to becoming the country's prime minister and posters put up by her supporters in Uttar Pradesh have pitched her for the position. "In view of the present circumstances and the need of the country and the interests of the party, the movement and the public, it is the need of the hour that I do not contest the Lok Sabha polls," Mayawati said. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asked party workers to not get disheartened with her decision. "When I became UP Chief Minister the first time in 1995, I was not a member of either the UP Assembly or the Council. It is a similar provision at the Centre, where a person has to become a Lok Sabha or a Rajya Sabha member within six months of holding the office of a minister or the prime minister," she added. Don't get disheartened by my decision to not contest the Lok Sabha polls now. The Dalit leader added it would not be a problem if there is a need for her to enter Parliament later. "If it so happens that I have to get elected to the Lok Sabha later, I can contest from any seat by getting it vacated and becoming an MP. I will not face any problem," she said. Mayawati claimed that all she has to do is to file the nomination papers and her party workers will ensure her victory. The BSP chief suggested that if she contests now, party workers will focus on her seat even if she forbids them, affecting the campaign in other constituencies. "Hence, winning each and every Lok Sabha seat is more important than my personal victory," she added. The BSP, Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal have entered into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the April-May Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is not part of this pact, but the alliance has said it will not field candidates in Amethi and Raebareli, the two seats that are now with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. The Congress, in turn, said it will leave seven UP seats for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, an offer that was spurned by Mayawati. By Express News Service GUWAHATI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed the Narendra Modi government destroyed 30,000 jobs every day last year. The Prime Minister had promised to this country that every year he would give jobs to two crore youngsters. It was a huge promise. He has been in power for five years and this morning, the job statistics have come out. In 2018, the Narendra Modi government destroyed one crore jobs in India. They did not create jobs but destroyed them. Let me put it differently. Every single day of 2018, Mr Narendra Modi destroyed 30,000 jobs in India, Gandhi told people at a rally in Manipur capital Imphal. He added: This is a scale of his incompetence. It is so absurd. It is so ridiculous that our Prime Minister makes announcement of giving two crore jobs to India and the truth is every day last year, the Prime Minister destroyed 30,000 jobs. Taking a swipe at Modi government, he accused it of curtailing the liberty of judiciary. Supreme Court judges come out and tell the media we are not being allowed to work Normally public goes to the judges and says give us justice. And today in India, the Supreme Court is coming to the public and says please give us justice. We are not getting justice. This is Narendra Modis governance, Gandhi said. He continued in the same vein saying, BJP president Amit Shah, who makes all these statements about Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, has got a murder charge against him. Imagine the status that the president of BJP is murder-charged. But, proudly, they send him around the country. Attacking Modi further, Gandhi said the PM had destroyed the small scale and mediocre traders through demonetisation. He (PM) got up one morning some time back and he decided he wants to demonetize currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denominations. At 8pm, he says I dont like these notes and so, I am banning these. He destroyed small scale and mediocre traders. He does it laughing. He gets fun. Peoples lives are ruined and families devastated, Gandhi said. He slammed the Modi government also for allegedly imposing people with background in the RSS on higher educational institutes. They imposed a vice chancellor (VC), who knows nothing about education and a completely mediocre and incompetent man, on Manipur University. They did it because he knows how to put on shorts and hold a lathi. He knows how to go to a shakha in the morning and spread hatred. That is the qualification of a vice chancellor in India today, Gandhi said continuing with his tirade. He said he was glad the people of Manipur had stood up against the VC and removed him. India is not a hateful place. India is not a country of hatred. India is a country of love and affection and unity. India is a country of carrying everybody together. Everybody understood that Mr Narendra Modi is a messenger of hatred. Mr Narendra Modi spreads hatred in the country. Wherever he goes, he has something nasty to say. Wherever he goes, he divides people. He will say something to disturb or hurt peoples sentiments, the Congress president alleged. He promised that the Congress would keep opposing the Citizenship Bill and not allow it to be passed in Parliament. We defended the Northeast in the Rajya Sabha. We did not allow the Citizenship Amendment Bill to be passed. I am committing to you over here that the Congress party is going to defend your culture, language and history. Congress will stand with you and we will ensure the Bill doesnt become law. We will fight it in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. If we have to, we will fight on the streets with you but we are never going to allow this Bill to be passed. They dont understand every state has a voice, a history and a passion. India is all states put together. India is not one idea that you impose from top. India is not Nagpur, Gandhi said. He promised that if the Congress is voted to power, it would restore special status to Northeast and the North East Industrial Policy. We will give the best institutes. I am committed to the idea of Look East. I want to make the Look East Policy a reality. I want to make Manipur and Northeast a centre for job creation and manufacturing. I want to turn it into a bridge, a historic bridge between Asia and India, Gandhi added. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: The three-day Ganga Yatra of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra culminated in the most ancient cultural city of Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of PM Narendra Modi, on Wednesday. A belligerent Congress general secretary launched a scathing attack on PM Modi without taking his name in his stronghold by accusing the BJP of systematically attacking every institution in last five years including the media. "The prime minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they can see through this," Priyanka Gandhi said. Congress leader's retort came in response to PM Modi's attack on Gandhi family in his latest blog post where he had said that institutional insult was the Congress way. The prime minister also said that the top leadership of the Congress was "on bail vis-a-vis a major scam." Priyanka countered the PM saying: "They think that those who speak against them are scared of them. This is not true. We are not scared of them." "No matter how much they harass us, we are not scared of them. We will keep fighting them. The more they harass us, stronger will be our fight against them," she said. However, the Congress general secretary and in-charge eastern UP also accused the BJP of having failed to keep the promises made to the people of Varanasi in 2014. READ| PM Modi destroyed one crore jobs in 2018: Rahul Gandhi Flashing the BJP manifesto of 2014 at a Holi Milan programme of Congress workers, Priyanka said it was high time to change the face of the politics which was turning into the politics of branding day by day. "We don't want politics of negativity. It should be done for the development of the nation. But the aim of their (BJP) politics is to grab power and muzzle people's voice," she said. She accused the BJP workers of shouting slogans and thrashing Congress workers while she was on way to the programme. "Congress doesn't indulge in such a politics. We fought against British rule through non-violence. We only brought the truth to the fore," she stated. However, the Congress leader said that the struggle was still continuing. "The only difference is that 'the autocrat' on PM's chair now happens to be an Indian," said the Congress leader, and eastern UP in charge. Priyanka acknowledged the fact that Congress was a weak organisation at the grass root and a lot of hard work was needed to consolidate it at the booth level. "We have to revive the Congres and its ideology on the basis of which we fought for the independence of this country," Priyanka told her party workers. "If the Congress is voted to power, it would work for farmers and the poor," she asserted. Earlier, Priyanka reached the residence former PM late Lal Bahadur Shastri to pay floral tributes to the great leader. Then she went to Dashashwamedh Ghat by boat from Assi Ghat along the banks of holy Ganga. She worshipped the holy river and went to Kashi Vishwanath temple for darshan of Lord Shiva. She performed 'Jalabhishek' at the temple. From Kashi Vishwanath, Priyanka went to Piplani Katra to address Congress workers. Here the party got a shot in its arm as Amrita Pandey, the daughter-in-law of state BJP chief and Chandauli MP Mahendra Nath Pandey's elder brother joined Congress. Before winding up her three-day sojourn to eastern UP, Priyanka paid a visit to a number of martyrs including those who sacrificed life in Pulwama last month. By PTI NEW DELHI: Public health experts, including doctors from the AIIMS, Wednesday questioned the potential of government's flagship healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat, claiming it was an "official channel" through which public money will go to the private sector. Referring to implementation of such healthcare schemes in the past, sector experts pressed for urgent need to strengthen publicly funded hospitals to offer universal health care, while speaking at a panel discussion on 'Ayushman Bharat: Fact and Fiction', organised by AIIMS Front for Social Consciousness in the campus of country's premiere medical institution here. ALSO READ | Ayushman Bharat not for common man, lifesaver for private insurance firms: Congress The Ayushman Bharat scheme was nothing but an old wine in a new bottle, said Dr Vikas Bajpai, professor at the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health of Jawaharlal Nehru University. He stressed on the need to analyse the "failures" of the various publicly-funded health insurance schemes, including the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana or RSBY, to ensure that "inadequacies" in their implementation were not repeated. "Apart from lack of desire to commit the required financial resources, the scheme is oblivious and irrespective of the real causes of ill-health of the people, especially the poor," he said. "This was the creation of just another official channel through which public money will go to private set-ups," Dr Bajpai added. ALSO READ | 'Ayushman Bharat' can be brought under national health agency payroll: BJP affiliated think tank Subrato Sinha, head of department of Biochemistry at AIIMS, said Ayushman Bharat does not provide out-patient department care support, which is a major component of health expenditures and is as expensive as the in-patient care. "Also, the main thrust of any healthcare programme should always be on improving and strengthening the public health infrastructure as insurance is always less efficient than direct provision of health services by the government," he said. Dr Pratap Sharan, professor in the department of Psychiatry at AIIMS, said the government is shifting its stance from providing services to purchasing services mostly from the private sector and "it is an abdication of its basic responsibility. " Dr Shah Alam Khan, professor in the department of Orthopaedics at AIIMS, referring to a recent report released by the WHO, which showed that the out-of-pocket expenditure on health in two countries -- India and Pakistan -- was the maximum, said, "This means people were spending more money in these two nations, which almost went to war after the Pulwama attack. This shows that both the countries do not care about what is happening to the health of their people. " He pointed out the hurdles people face to avail the benefits once they enrol into the scheme and stressed on the need for identification of those hindrances. "The crux of the problem is in the very first Budget presented by the current government in May 2014, they slashed the budget for health by 20 per cent. The only way you can help the poor and the needy is by increasing by spending on healthcare in public hospitals and that is not happening," Dr Khan said. Former chief of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, Harjit Bhatti, said budget allocations "do not reflect the government's good intentions" because Rs 6,400 crore for 10 crore families comes down to Rs 640 per family and Rs 128 per person, which was "too low" to expect good treatment from hospitals. "The Ayushman Bharat is an eyewash to hide the incompetence of the government which is not able to provide required healthcare infrastructure effectively," he said. Imrana Qadeer, faculty at Council for Social Development, said in western countries, where national insurance was successful in providing basic health services, its universality and strong regulatory mechanisms of the state that controlled the private sector were critical. "Neglect of basic healthcare infrastructures under the National Rural Health Mission by drastically curtailing investments, increases the load on secondary and tertiary care institutions and rationalises partnerships with private sector, which are waiting to enhance its profits through schemes like RSBY and PMJAY," she said. Sujata Anandan By The first time I picked up flowers and other offerings from a Muslim vendor outside the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mumbai, I felt as queasy as the man in the Brooke Bond ad who comes to buy an idol of Lord Ganpati only to discover the seller is Muslim. The ad is one of the most beautiful ones I have seen on Indian culture and unity. The market looks like the one that is usually set up in Lalbaug in Mumbai (abutting the Muslim ghetto of Mohammad Ali Road) where most of the idols are made before being sent on to other markets in the city. Lalbaug also sets up among the tallest Ganpati idols and every year actor Salman Khan is among the earliest worshippers offering huge donations to the Lalbaug Ganpati Mandal, the proceeds of which go to help poor kidney patients, both Hindu and Muslim, with free dialysis. In this Brooke Bond ad, the idol vendor seems to know more about Ganpati and his vahana, the mooshak (or mouse) who was a cursed Asura in his previous birth and returns as Ganpatis vehicle to atone for his sins. As the buyer is making his choice of idol, the azaan sounds from a mosque nearby (indeed there is a huge one just behind the Lalbaug Ganpati market) and the vendor dons his prayer cap. Suddenly the buyer does not want to buy from him any more but a cup of tea offered by the Muslim vendor changes his mind and he does not just book an idolhe leaves with one. The ad was meant to sell tea but in todays polarised times, it brings home the message of national integration and religious harmony. The flower seller outside the Siddhi Vinayak temple somehow seemed to be more devoted to his work than other vendors. The curiosity of a journalist got the better of my devotion as a Hindu and I discovered he had been a poor streetside vendor of eatables when his son had fallen seriously ill. He offered prayers at Haji Ali and to Our Lady at the St Michaels Church in Mahim (as Jaya Bachchan had done when Amitabh Bachchan had been seriously injured during a shooting for the film Coolie years ago). Both places are famed for answering your sincere prayers. But when the mans son continued to be ill, he made his way gingerly to Siddhi Vinayakbarefoot, as is the tradition, for five Tuesdays. Miraculously, his son recovered after his fifth offering to Siddhi Vinayak and he gave up his food stall to set up a flowers and coconut kiosk outside the temple to serve Lord Ganpati for the rest of his life. His son is not interested in following in his footsteps, but now times are such that the father does not insist either. But, I believe, ads like that of Brooke Bond have been inspired by stories like his, even if there are fewer takers today for the message of unity in diversity. At one time, I would have curled up my nose and dismissed the latest Surf Excel ad as a government-like Mera Bharat Mahan type of commercial. But after the to-do by right-wing bigots over it, I have begun to appreciate the fact that there still remain people and professionals in India who have not lost their sense of proportion and are keeping the idea of India alive. Just ahead of Holi, which falls on March 20 and 21 this year, the ad depicts children playing with colours. A young girl draws others out to drench her and when they are all out of colour or water, she tells her five-year-old friend, It is now safe to come out. The little boy, in pristine white, tells her he will return after offering namaaz whereupon she warns him to be ready to be drenched with colours when he does. The ad is meant to promote the stain-removing powers of the detergent but once again it has emphasised the idea of India, its unity in diversity and its integrated culture. Frankly speaking, I could not understand the outrage of the right-wingers. The young kids playing the lead roles in the commercial are no more than five to six years old and love jihad of the kind the bigots were raging about is never even on the horizon of children that age. Opinions have been divided with as many people coming down heavily on the bigots as the bigots outraging about the ad. But I hope the spirit of that commercial continues to be part of our DNA as it has been for centuries. How many people know, for example, that at the birth of a child in a few Muslim households they sing a hymnsoharto Allah to give them a son like Nandlal (or Lord Krishna)? That is the spirit of India and it must never die out. Which is why I am also glad at the fright of a lawyer of a petitionercalling for Indian Muslims to be sent to Pakistanin the Supreme Court last week when Justice Rohinton Nariman came down heavily on the man. Asked if he really wanted to argue the case, the lawyer said just one word No. And the case was summarily dismissed. We should similarly dismiss all bigotry from this country and salute the Muslim Ganpati worshippers both in the ad and outside the temple. And the Hindu child facilitating the namaaz of her Muslim friend. That is the real India. Sujata Anandan Senior journalist and political commentator Email: sujata.anandan@gmail.com External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had reasons to smile upon returning to New Delhi on Monday after a two-day trip to the Maldives. This was the first official Indian visit to the country since the new government, led by President Ibrahim Solih, assumed office in November, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a brief visit there to attend Solihs swearing-in ceremony. Solih replaced Abdulla Yameen, who snubbed India and courted Chinese investments, running up massive debts as Beijing flooded the island with a slew of infrastructure projects. Despite repeated requests from Maldivian opposition leaders for Indian intervention after Yameen rejected a Supreme Court order to free political prisoners and declared an emergency, New Delhi played the waiting game. And it paid off when Solih trounced Yameen in the elections last year. His first foreign trip was to Delhi in December, where he was accorded a red-carpet welcome, and a stay in Rashtrapati Bhavan. During talks with Indian leaders including Modi, Solih reiterated his countrys India-first policy, and returned with a $1.4 billion aid package, apart from pledges to invest in Maldives infrastructure, housing, and health sectors. Days later, a liberal visa regime was inked, allowing Maldivian business persons and tourists to stay in India for 90 days without a visa. Subsequently, the Maldivian defence minister visited India and held discussions on installing Indian military radars in the island nation. Progress was made during Swarajs visit. Agreements on visa facilitation for diplomats, development cooperation and renewable energy were signed. Also, Maldives request for help with the construction of a stadium is likely to get Delhis nod. But India cannot afford to be complacent. Former Maldivian Home Minister Umar Naseer sought to hold an anti-India rally, a day before Sushmas arrival. In his official Facebook page, Umar has accused India of funding Maldivian politicians and plotting to make the island nation a state of India by 2030. New Delhi needs to counter such narratives diplomatically or risk losing a friend once again. By Express News Service KURNOOL / KADAPA / ANANTAPUR: TDP president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said he had not considered the representations from a YSR Congress MLA for various welfare works as she was in the other party (read Opposition). I did not consider her representations, though she had met me whenever I came to Kurnool, as she was in the other party, Naidu said, while addressing a public meeting in Kurnool. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Introducing Panyam Assembly candidate Gouru Charitha to the gathering, Naidu said, I visited Kurnool several times when she was in the Opposition. Even though she was in the Opposition, she used to behave in a decent manner. Half the Opposition MLAs never met me, but Charitha used to come to my programmes and submit representations seeking my support to implement welfare works for the people of her constituency. Charitha, who won on the YSRC ticket in 2014 elections, recently joined the TDP. In a candid admission, Naidu went on to add, On some occasions, I did not consider her representations as she was in the Opposition and told her the same. But she used to meet me whenever I came here. I am happy that such an MLA is now with our party, the CM remarked. Mallikarjun Hiremath By Express News Service DHARWAD: A loud crash and clouds of dust rose in the sky. People started running helter-skelter in panic, blinded by the air thick with dust, as the five-storey commercial complex came crumbling down in Kumareshwar Nagar in Dharwad on Tuesday afternoon. A few minutes later, crowds began to gather to see what had happened and some rushed to rescue people trapped in the debris. The police arrived immediately as the office of the Dharwad Superintendent of Police is located close by. Fire tenders and ambulances were summoned and rescue operations began. The rescued were immediately shifted to nearby hospitals, including Dharwad District Hospital and KIMS Hospital in Hubballi. A number of ambulances were kept ready to transfer those rescued. The collapse claimed two lives, while 40 people are still feared trapped in the rubble. READ MORE | Three dead, around 40 trapped as under-construction building collapses in Karnatakas Dharwad A car stuck in the debris; Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan, Police Commissioner M N Nagaraj and SP Sangeeta G also rushed to the spot along with other officials, to take stock of the operations. Fire department staff and the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation took part in the rescue operation, besides deploying cranes and earthmovers to remove the wreckage. HDMC deployed civic labourers to remove the rubble. Border Security Force personnel, who are in the city on poll duty, also joined in the rescue operation. The state government has decided to airdrop a special force of the fire department and forest department officials were also instructed to coordinate with agencies involved in the rescue and relief operations. For those engaged in the rescue, it was a struggle to clear the public gathered to see what had happened. But some of them volunteered to help remove debris and bring out the injured. Commissioner Nagaraj imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 IPC to keep the public away. Officials involved in the rescue operation said that removing the rubble could take more time due to space constraints, but wherever they got an inkling of people trapped inside, they immediately began supplying oxygen to relieve them from suffocation. Floodlights and gas cutters were being used as dusk fell. A HDMC official said that poor quality of construction might be the reason for the collapse, but the exact reason would be clear only after a thorough inquiry. He said that priority would be given to complete rescue and relief operations and save the people trapped under the rubble. Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi said, I have spoken to the district administration and HDMC officials and requested them to take up the rescue operation. I urge the state government to send a special force to take up rescue work, and announce compensation for the deceased and the injured. Helping hands Ashok Hippargi, a local, was worried about a pregnant woman working at an adjacent medical store. With help, he rescued the lady. Saved self and two others A local painter, Shivanagouda Nargund, who was trapped under the debris, made a hole in the wall and crawled out. Certificate given for ground, 3 floors The building was constructed by Hubballi-based Renuka Construction Company, which is headed by civil engineer Vivek Pawar. According to sources, the HDMC has given the completion certificate for the ground and two floors as the construction of other floors work was under progress. Girls father stuck in debris Megha Manvi was standing outside and crying for her father who was stuck inside the building. She said, My father asked me to stand outside and said he would return soon. As soon as he entered, it collapsed. By Express News Service DHARWAD: Frantic search is on for survivors trapped under the debris of an under-construction building that collapsed in Kumareshwar Nagar on Tuesday. Until Wednesday night, the rescue teams had brought out 55 people to safety and retrieved seven bodies. However, 18 people are still feared trapped. Close to 2,000 personnel from various forces, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and governmental agencies, are at the site. The NDRF has said that the rescue may stretch to three days. The family members of missing persons are in touch with the police. Based on the complaints, it is estimated that at least 18 more people may be trapped. A help desk has been set up at the site. The NDRF members said they had traced the presence of four people on the ground floor, and were trying to establish contact with them. The team confirmed their presence by using the Victim Location Camera (VLC), which was placed under the debris after drilling a hole. On the other side of the building, a womans voice was heard and the rescue team is removing the debris to rescue her. ALSO READ | Karnataka building collapse: Fire department, BSF, locals jump into rescue ops Regional Commissioner Tushar Girinath said though the city corporation issued the completion certificate, it did not issue the occupancy certificate as the construction work was going on. He said the DC would conduct an inquiry on what basis the completion certificate was issued and how shops were allowed to be occupied without proper certification. Magisterial probe to be ordered Regional Commissioner Tushar Girinath said a magisterial inquiry will be initiated into the tragedy. The samples of building material will be sent to private labs to check for the quality, he said. A 90-day U.S. waiver allows Iraq to continue to pay for electricity from Iran, a State Department official said on Wednesday. The official said the new waiver extension exempting Iraq from U.S. sanctions on Iran was granted on Tuesday. Search Keywords: Short link: By Express News Service BENGALURU: Congress and JDS leaders came together in a show of strength in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday but issues over seats, admittedly, remain a thorn in the partners arrangement. While noise is being made over Tumkur and the decision to hand it over to JDS, the real issue for the alliance partners lies in Mandya. The official entry of Sumalatha Ambareesh in the fray has compounded the woes of the coalition that was already fighting a losing battle in bringing its workers together. We are holding meetings with the district leaders to sort out the differences. Action will be taken against any Congress leader seen publicly campaigning for any other candidate, said Dinesh Gundu Rao, president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Convincing grassroot-level workers to join hands with their JDS counterparts was already a challenge for Congress in Mandya - a seat where JDS and Congress rivalry dates back to decades. ALSO READ: Mandya constituency: Democracy has become a joke here Politics in Mandya is not as simple as it is in the city. Congress workers did not go watch Nikhil Kumaraswamys debut movie because he is the son of a JDS man and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. Mending those differences are impossible, said a Congress party worker from Mandya town who did not wish to be named. With such differences at play, Sumalathas official entry as an independent candidate into the fray has given a new option to Congress workers who were unwilling to campaign for JDS-Congress coalitions joint candidate Nikhil. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE The new option has come as a headache to JDS as well as the Congress with both parties under pressure to consolidate not just votes but also the perception of support. JDS will treat Congress in Mysuru just how the Congress will treat the JDS in Mandya, said a JDS leader, almost threatening that if his party does not get the Congress support - on paper and on ground in Mandya, then the Congress should expect nothing more in return in Mysuru a seat that has been given to Congress. The situation is tricky but we are trying our best to talk to our party workers. We hope that we succeed. It is not necessary that the issues in Mandya should impact Mysuru or other constituencies, a Congress party office-bearer said. Mallikarjun Hiremath By Express News Service In what can be called as the biggest rescue operation in North Karnataka, over 2,000 personnel from various agencies have been roped in for rescuing people from the building collapse site in Dharwad. On Wednesday morning, the NDRF team reached Dharwad and prepared a plan according to the building structure and the way it came crashing down. The forces have collected the suspected numbers and lifting the pillars without disturbing or harming the trapped people. The staircases have been piled up on one another centralising the weight. ALSO READ | Karnataka building collapse: Fire department, BSF, locals jump into rescue ops An officer from NDRF said, as it is a business establishment nobody knows the exact number of the people trapped under the debris. Few people claim that, they have seen 15 college students and other general public which accounts to 100 plus, keeping all the statistics the work is being progressed. The sniffer squad is helping in tracing out the trapped people, the efforts is focused to rescue the people alive, he said. In a view to provide the first aid the NDRF has setup a first aid treatment tent. The entire rescue operation from Thursday morning is being handled by NDRF. The entire picture of rescue is being recorded by the force. Cement columns and staircases which have webbed with each other is causing the delay and the operation work is being taken by two sides of the building. Other two sides there is no place for the rescue teams to ply the machines or other heavy equipment. The force is working manually in vulnerable places, explained a police officer. On Wednesday, the rescue teams brought out five bodies till Wednesday evening. The police managed to keep away the onlookers and provided space for the rescue teams to conduct operation. As The Day Progressed Sea Of Humanity Several people including college students lend their hands in rescue operations. They help the rescue team clear the debris where the heavy machinery was unable to reach. Girl students carried debris in baskets away from the crashed building site Food For Thought Several organisations and individuals provided fruits, food and chai to rescue teams, journalists and medical teams at the site. Water packets were also distributed. This besides district administration making arrangements for the rescue and police personnel Health Desk A Health Desk has been opened near the incident spot and as many as 3,000 people are working in various teams for the last two days. About 26 ambulances have been deployed at the site and 16 doctors are kept available Engineers Help The civil engineers in twin city arrived to the spot and extended their support to the rescue team by briefing about the details of the building structure. They also demanded the HDMC officials to issue some strict guidelines for the engineers to avoid such kind of untoward incidents in future. Massive Rescue Team In total, close to 2,000 personnel from various forces including the NDRF and governmental agencies are at the site where people are still feared trapped. The NDRF has said that the rescue may stretch to three days Minister Promises Action District Minister R V Deshpande visited the hospitals and met the injured and assured the treatment will be given under Ayushman Bhavan scheme. He also expressed his gratitude for the public who extended their service during the rescue work. The minister assured that the offenders will be punished Pride Falls Sick Sniffer dog from NDRF, Pride took ill as he developed fever. The veterinary doctor from Dharwad visited the site and treated the canine. Post treatment the canine took part in rescue operations By Express News Service CHENNAI: A staff nurse who was delivering the baby of a 26-year-old woman at an Additional Primary Health Centre in Koovathur, Kancheepuram district, removed the head of the baby leaving the torso inside the womb. The woman was later shifted to the Government Chengalpet Medical College Hospital where doctors administered drugs to expel the torso of the baby on Wednesday. The woman is said to be stable. Dr VK Palani, Deputy Director of Health Services, Saidapet, told Express that Bommi from Koovathur had been rushed to the PHC fully dilated at around 6 am on Wednesday. "A preliminary inquiry conducted by a team of experts has indicated that the foetus had died in the womb at least 12 hours before the woman arrived at the PHC. There are chances of the head snapping off a dead foetus if the body is nearly decayed," he explained. "The nurse who conducted the delivery has two years of experience and has conducted over 40 deliveries," said a senior health department official. Doctors at the Government Chengalpet Medical College Hospital said the body of the baby was expelled and for postmortem examination. The mother is said to be stable. Senior gynaecologists said such an incident was unheard of in Tamil Nadu's medical history. "In my service of over three decades, I have never heard of something like this. If the foetus is decaying in the womb, chances of decapitation are there, so we have always been told to handle cases of intra-uterine deaths carefully," said a senior gynaecologist, who is retired from government service. It may be noted that a few months ago in Rajasthan, a nurse separated the body of a baby from its head, leaving the head inside the mother's womb. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Retired Inspector General of Police A G Mourya and film producer Kameela Nasser will make their electoral debuts in the upcoming parliamentary polls for the Makkal Needhi Maiam. Mourya will contest from Chennai North and Kameela from Chennai Central. MNM president Kamal Haasan on Monday announced 21 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The remaining candidates will be announced in Coimbatore on Sunday, he said, explaining that interviews for candidates from some constituencies were still on. Kamal, however, refused to confirm or deny his own candidature, even as rumours about his contesting from hometown Ramanathapuram are doing the rounds. All speculations will be put to rest on Sunday, Haasan said. The list of candidates announced includes seven businessmen, three advocates, and two doctors. Retired district judge K Guruviah and founder of the Dalit Munnetra Kazhagam, Anbin Poyyamozhi have also been given seats and will be contesting from Nagapattinam and Villupuram respectively. Standing true to their promise of allowing non-party members to contest the polls, Makkal Needhi Maiam has given a seat to G Ebenezer, a businessman from Chennai, who caught the party presidents eye when he actively led jallikattu protests at the Marina in 2017. Ebenezer, who had formed his own party with youngsters after the protests, will be contesting from Kanniyakumari. When I was approached by the MNM to take part in interviews, I readily accepted and I am thrilled to represent the party from Kanniyakumari, which is close to my home town, Ebenezar told Express. Speaking to press after announcing the candidates, Kamal Haasan criticised the increasingly visible dynasty politics of the Dravidian majors and their manifestos that were released on Monday. They used to say it was the land of the Rising Sun (on dynasty politics in the DMK) but they clearly seem to have misspelled the word, Haasan, said in a jocular vein. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: TPCC working president A Revanth Reddy, who is a Congress candidate from Malkajgiri Lok Sabha segment, challenged TRS chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to contest for Lok Sabha seat from Malkajgiri constituency. Revanth on Tuesday met with party leaders and workers from the constituency after inaugurating his election campaign office in Malkajgiri. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Revanth exuded confidence that he will win Malkajgiri seat. He alleged that the TRS party high command is searching for realtors and industrialists as candidates to fight the general elections from Malkajgiri constituency. He said that TRS government was ruling the State in the most undemocratic manner by buying Congress party MLAs. According to Revanth, Maheshwaram MLA Sabitha Indra Reddy and LB Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy have extended support to his candidature from Malkajgiri. By PTI SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned "reckless" and "highly offensive" comments made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, warning he would consider "all options" in reviewing ties. On the campaign trail, the Turkish leader has used video footage of the terror attack that killed 50 people and painted it as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam. He has also warned anti-Muslim Australians -- like the suspected gunman -- would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, which was the scene of a blood-drenched WWI battle. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces around the seaside town, a landmark moment in Australian history. "Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment," Morrison said after summoning the Turkish ambassador and dismissing the "excuses" offered. ALSO READ | Turkish President Erdogan draws flak from NZ after using mosque attack video for election campaign "I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn," Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. "I've asked for these comments, particularly their reporting of the misrepresented position of Australia on Turkish television, the state-sponsored broadcaster, to be taken down and I expect that to occur." He described claims about Australia and New Zealand's response to the white supremacist attack as "vile." New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern refused to be drawn on Erdogan's comments, but said her deputy would be going to Turkey to "set the record straight." Morrison said Australians travelling to Turkey should exercise common sense and cautioned that travel advice for Turkey was under review. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison said. ALSO READ | Erdogan says New Zealand mass shooting shows growing hostility to Islam In fiery remarks, Morrison accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk -- the father of the modern state and a revered figure in Turkey -- to forge peace between the two countries. A memorial at the battlefield carries Ataturk's words: "There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." "Ataturk sought to transform his country into a modern nation and, an embracing nation, and I think these comments are at odds with that spirit," Morrison said. Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair". Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. ALSO READ | Facebook says no one flagged New Zealand mosque shooting livestream Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, live-streamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was a strike against Muslim "invaders". The manifesto references Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. "This is not an isolated event, it is something more organised," he said during a campaign event on Monday in Canakkale in western Turkey. "They are testing us with the message they are sending us from New Zealand, 16,500 km (10,250 miles) from here." Erdogan did not project the video at the Monday event. Peters said he had complained directly to visiting Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. By PTI NEW YORK: Preet Bharara, the Indian-American former Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has acknowledged in a new book that the strip-search which Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was subject to following her arrest in 2013 for alleged visa fraud "could have and should have been avoided". In a new book titled 'Doing Justice - A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law,' Bharara writes about Khobragade's arrest and charges filed against her. The episode had caused a major diplomatic row between India and the US and plummeted bilateral relations to a new low. Bharara writes in his book that in 2013, the State Department "arrested a mid-level female Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, for visa fraud in connection with lies about what she would pay her domestic worker." He said the Southern District of New York had agreed to prosecute the case, at the State Department's 'explicit request". "It was not the crime of the century but a serious offense nonetheless and a burgeoning problem among the diplomatic corps in the United States. That's why the State Department opened the case; that's why the State Department investigated it; that's why the career agents in the State Department asked career prosecutors in my office to approve criminal charges," he writes. There was outrage in India over the arrest of Khobragade, who was then the country's Deputy Counsel General in New York, and reports that she had been strip-searched furthered caused anger in India. "Khobragade was afforded a number of courtesies during the course of her arrest, because of her diplomatic status, but she was strip-searched per regular procedure by the US Marshals Service in the SDNY. That could have and should have been avoided, given that no one would have sought pretrial detention," Bharara writes. The admission that Khobragade's strip-search could and should have been avoided is the first by a former top prosecutor who had handled the case. Following Khobragade's second indictment in the case in March 2014, the Ministry of External Affairs had expressed disappointment saying that this was an unnecessary step. Any measures consequent to this decision in the US, will, unfortunately, impact upon efforts on both sides to build the India-US strategic partnership, to which both sides are committed. Bharara said in the book that Khobragade's arrest had caused an international incident. It was an election year in India, and the ruling Congress Party was in danger of an electoral bloodbath loss to the Indian nationalist BJP. The BJP, the party of the future prime minister Narendra Modi, shrewdly seized upon this supposed Western insult to Indian sovereignty and caused a crisis for the Congress Party, he said in the book. In the days following Khobragade's arrest and indictment, in a retaliatory action, India removed security barriers from outside the US Embassy in New Delhi. The then secretary of state, John Kerry, was pressured to make the case go away. The Indians threatened retaliation against our embassy in New Delhi and suggested taking privileges away from American diplomats. At one point, as the Indian government raged, our largest democratic ally in the world "in its most hostile action removed security barriers from the outside of the U.S.embassy," Bharara said. He however added that he is 'proud' of the case and 'how we upheld the rule of law,' despite he becoming the subject of hate and widespread criticism from various quarters across India. "I defended our work, loudly. Because I was the US Attorney and I happened to be Indian-born, an avalanche of vitriol and bile came my way. Never mind that the case was initiated and investigated by career law enforcement officials, and I personally became aware of it only the day before the arrest. The Indian government and press decided that the case was brought by me "an Indian American" for all manner of nefarious reasons," he writes. "Finally, I saw a peculiar line of attack in the foreign press, which was this: in a brazen betrayal of my roots, I had undertaken this case for only one reason to serve my 'white masters'. My white masters. These were, presumably, Eric Holder and Barack Obama," he writes. Bharara was "fired" by the Trump administration in March 2017 after he refused to quit following orders to the 46 Obama administration-appointed attorneys to resign immediately. By PTI BEIRA: The death toll from a cyclone that smashed into Mozambique and Zimbabwe rose to more than 300 as rescuers raced against the clock to help survivors and the UN led the charge to provide aid. "We already have more than 200 dead, and nearly 350,000 people are at risk," Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced Tuesday, while the government in Zimbabwe said around 100 people had died but the toll could be three times that figure. The UN, meanwhile, said that one of the worst storms to hit southern Africa in decades had also unleashed a humanitarian crisis in Malawi, affecting nearly a million people and forcing more than 80,000 from their homes. Four days after Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall, emergency teams in central Mozambique fanned out in boats and helicopters, seeking to pluck survivors from roofs and treetops in an inland sea of floodwater, sometimes in the dead of night. Luckymore Rusero and his family walk past a collapsing road in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (Photo | AP) Air force personnel from Mozambique and South Africa were drafted in to fly rescue missions, while an NGO called Rescue South Africa said it had picked up 34 people since Friday night, using three helicopters. "It is the only way to access the people that are stranded," Rescue SA's Abrie Senekal told AFP, saying the NGO was trying to hire more helicopters. Ian Scher, who heads Rescue SA, said the helicopter teams were having to make difficult decisions. "Sometimes we can only save two out of five, sometimes we drop food and go to someone else who's in bigger danger," he said. "We just save what we can save and the others will perish." In Nhamatanda, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of Beira, 27-year-old Jose Batio and his wife and children survived by climbing onto a roof. But a lot of their neighbours "were swept by the water," he said. "Water came like a tsunami and destroyed most things. We were prisoners on the roof," he told AFP after they were rescued by boat. The city of Beira, Mozambique's second largest city and a major port, was immediately cut off after the storm. According to the Red Cross, the cyclone damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the city of half a million people. A family dig for their son who got buried in the mud when Cyclone Idai struck in Chimanimani about 600 kilometres south east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, March, 19, 2019. (Photo | AP) President Nyusi, speaking on Tuesday after attending a cabinet meeting in the ravaged city, said the confirmed death toll stood at 202 and nearly 350,000 were "at risk". The government had declared a national emergency and ordered three days of national mourning, he said. "We are in an extremely difficult situation," Nyusi said, warning of high tides and waves of around eight metres (26 feet) in the coming days. On Monday, Nyusi had said he feared more than 1,000 had died and more than 100,000 people were in danger. Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, was also hit by deadly floods in 2000 that killed 800 people and left at least 50,000 homeless. The storm also lashed eastern Zimbabwe, leaving around 100 dead, a toll that could be as much as 300, local government minister July Moyo said after a cabinet briefing. "I understand there are bodies which are floating, some have floated all the way to Mozambique," he said. "The total number, we were told they could be 100, some are saying there could be 300. But we cannot confirm this situation," he said. At least 217 others are missing and 44 stranded, officials said. Worst hit was Chimanimani in Manicaland, an eastern province which borders Mozambique. Families started burying their dead in damp graves on Monday, as injured survivors filled up the hospitals, an AFP correspondent said. Military helicopters were airlifting people to Mutare, the largest city near Chimanimani. The storm swept away homes and bridges, devastating huge areas in what Defence Minister Perrance Shiri said "resembles the aftermath of a full-scale war". Some roads were swallowed by massive sinkholes, while bridges were ripped to pieces by flash floods. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was mobilising aid for some 600,000 people, saying the world did not yet appreciate the scale of the "massive disaster". So far, it has dispatched more than five tonnes of emergency provisions to the affected areas. "WFP aims to support 500,000 to 600,000 people in the coming weeks," spokesman Herve Verhoosel told reporters in Geneva. "I don't think that the world (has) realised yet the scale of the problem." In Malawi, 920,000 people have been affected by the cyclone and 82,000 people have been displaced, the UN said. "OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) has deployed resources to support assessments and information management, and UNICEF is deploying additional supplies to affected areas including tents, water and sanitation supplies and learning materials to affected children," it said. By PTI MILAN: Premier Giuseppe Conte pledged Tuesday to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join China's ambitious Belt and Road initiative, despite objections from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition. Speaking to parliament, Conte said that Italy's signing of a memorandum of understanding for the infrastructure-building venture, which is due to happen during the Chinese premier's visit this week, would not "in the least" put into question Italy's position within the strategic trans-Atlantic alliance or with European partners. Italy's signature would be considered a major legitimation of the project that envisions overland and maritime routes connecting China with Europe. A White House official has warned Italy against joining, calling it a Chinese "vanity project." European governments declined to sign a joint declaration on the "Belt and Road" at a forum last year in Beijing. They argued it lacked standards on financing and transparency. In his first remarks to lawmakers on the deal on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, Conte said the details have been worked out over months of consultations at every level of government. He emphasised that the memorandum is not legally binding and that it would give Italy access to an enormous market. "We want to first and foremost rebalance our trade, which is not favourable to us now. Our exports to China are far lower than other European countries," Conte said. "The infrastructure will redefine commercial traffic routes. We will have new airports, new trade corridors, and it will certainly influence our economic growth. We don't want to lose any opportunity." China's foreign ministry said Wednesday that Xi will visit Sicily in addition to Rome, with plans to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as well as Conte. It also defended the Belt and Road initiative against naysayers in Italy. "During the process of developing the Belt and Road initiative cooperation, it is inevitable that we may encounter some misunderstandings and even doubts," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao. "But facts will always speak louder than words." Wang said an agreement between China and Italy would be beneficial for both countries' economic development. "As for whether it will help promote trade for Italy, I think it is absolutely 'Yes,'" he said. Pressed about Chinese investments in Italian ports and whether there is an excess in infrastructure developments, given Chinese existing investments in the area that could lead to additional debt, Wang said Chinese investments are decided by market rules. "Whether to invest in a region or not, I believe that will be decided by the market" Wang said without elaborating. In parliament, the opposition attacked the planned memorandum and the lack of detail provided to lawmakers, warning that the deal could be a Trojan horse for China to undermine Italian industries. Concerns also center around whether the accords include 5G access. Even lawmakers from the right-wing League, part of Conte's coalition, say their support for the memorandum is conditional on it not harming Italy's relations with its partners. "If it opens exports for Italian companies, it is great. The only constraints are security, the control of Italians' data, and energy. I would not like someone to wake up on the other side of the world and turn off the switch," League leader Matteo Salvini said this week. "If the Chinese want to invest in railways and ports, fine. What is important that control remains in Italian hands." Francesco Sisci, a China expert currently working as a researcher at Renmin University in China, said the biggest problem with the deals with China is that Italy pursued them without properly keeping its allies informed. "There was a lack of professionalism and political know-how. Whatever the deal is, they need to speak first with the Americans and the Europeans, agreeing to a common approach, then speak with China," Sisci said. "Italy is part of NATO. It is part of the European Union and shares a currency. How do they not speak with their allies? It is crazy," he said. By Online Desk DUBAI: An employee at a Dubai-based security company lost his job and deported for celebrating the deadly New Zealand mosque attacks. Transguard security group, which is affiliated with the Emirates Group that includes Emirates Airline, on Wednesday said that the person used a fake identity on Facebook and posted inflammatory comments on the social media. The company did not name him or reveal his nationality. "Over the weekend, a Transguard employee made inflammatory comments on his personal Facebook account celebrating the deplorable mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," the Transguard security group said in a statement. "Despite posting under a false name, the employee responsible for last weekend's inflammatory (Facebook) comments has been identified, terminated as per Transguard policy and handed over to the authorities." An Australian white supremacist shot dead 50 Muslims praying at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday. The attacks sparked global revulsion and drew condemnation from the United Arab Emirates. (With AFP inputs) Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will hand over power to a democratically elected successor after a new constitution is approved and a national conference is held, Deputy Prime Minister Ramtane Lamamra said on Wednesday. "The plan to get out of this situation, the plan which President Bouteflika presented on March 11, states that the president is committed not to run in any new election and that the collective, independent national conference is the one to fix the date of this election," he told a news conference in Berlin. "Once this national conference happens ... and a new constitution is in place ... a presidential election will be held and by then the term of President Bouteflika will expire and the presidency will be handed over to the person elected by the Algerian people," Lamamra said. Search Keywords: Short link: By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday extended his greeting to the country's Hindu community on the occasion of Holi. "Wishing our Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours," Khan said in a tweet. The festival of Holi marks the end of winter and the start of spring. The festival is also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love". Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), also took to twitter to wish people on Holi. "Happy Holi to all my Hindu brothers and sisters. On the happy occasion of Holi, let us spread the wonderful massage of peace and happiness," he wrote. The Hindu community in Pakistan celebrates the festival by playing with colours. They also burn logs of wood to symbolise the victory of good over evil and observe Holi Pooja. According to Pakistan Hindu Council, the Hindus constitute about 4 per cent of Pakistan's total population of 200 million. By Bloomberg As the Lion Air crew fought to control their diving Boeing Co. 737 Max 8, they got help from an unexpected source: an off-duty pilot who happened to be riding in the cockpit. That extra pilot, who was seated in the cockpit jumpseat, correctly diagnosed the problem and told the crew how to disable a malfunctioning flight-control system and save the plane, according to two people familiar with Indonesias investigation. The next day, under command of a different crew facing what investigators said was an identical malfunction, the jetliner crashed into the Java Sea killing all 189 aboard. The previously undisclosed detail on the earlier Lion Air flight represents a new clue in the mystery of how some 737 Max pilots faced with the malfunction have been able to avert disaster while the others lost control of their planes and crashed. The presence of a third pilot in the cockpit wasnt contained in Indonesias National Transportation Safety Committees Nov. 28 report on the crash and hasnt previously been reported. The so-called dead-head pilot on the earlier flight from Bali to Jakarta told the crew to cut power to the motor driving the nose down, according to the people familiar, part of a checklist that all pilots are required to memorize. All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC. We cant provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident, Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro said by phone. The Indonesia safety committee report said the plane had had multiple failures on previous flights and hadnt been properly repaired. Representatives for Boeing and the Indonesian safety committee declined to comment on the earlier flight. The safety system, designed to keep planes from climbing too steeply and stalling, has come under scrutiny by investigators of the crash as well as a subsequent one less than five months later in Ethiopia. A malfunctioning sensor is believed to have tricked the Lion Air planes computers into thinking it needed to automatically bring the nose down to avoid a stall. Boeings 737 Max was grounded March 13 by U.S. regulators after similarities to the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash emerged in the investigation of the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. In the wake of the two accidents, questions have emerged about how Boeings design of the new 737 model were approved. The Transportation Departments inspector general is conducting a review of how the plane was certified to fly and a grand jury under the U.S. Justice Department is also seeking records in a possible criminal probe of the planes certification. The FAA last week said it planned to mandate changes in the system to make it less likely to activate when there is no emergency. The agency and Boeing said they are also going to require additional training and references to it in flight manuals. We will fully cooperate in the review in the Department of Transportations audit, Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said in an email. The company has declined to comment on the criminal probe. After the Lion Air crash, two U.S. pilots unions said the potential risks of the system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, hadnt been sufficiently spelled out in their manuals or training. None of the documentation for the Max aircraft included an explanation, the union leaders said. We dont like that we werent notified, Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in November. It makes us question, Is that everything, guys? I would hope there are no more surprises out there. The Allied Pilots Association union at American Airlines Group Inc. also said details about the system werent included in the documentation about the plane. Following the Lion Air crash, the FAA required Boeing to notify airlines about the system and Boeing sent a bulletin to all customers flying the Max reminding them how to disable it in an emergency. Why Indonesian Plane Crash Has Led to U.S. Lawsuits: QuickTake Authorities have released few details about Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 other than it flew a very similar track as the Lion Air planes and then dove sharply into the ground. There have been no reports of maintenance issues with the Ethiopian Airlines plane before its crash. If the same issue is also found to have helped bring down Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, one of the most vexing questions crash investigators and aviation safety consultants are asking is why the pilots on that flight didnt perform the checklist that disables the system. After this horrific Lion Air accident, youd think that everyone flying this airplane would know thats how you turn this off, said Steve Wallace, the former director of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrations accident investigation branch. The combination of factors required to bring down a plane in these circumstances suggests other issues may also have occurred in the Ethiopia crash, said Jeffrey Guzzetti, who also directed accident investigations at FAA and is now a consultant. Its simply implausible that this MCAS deficiency by itself can down a modern jetliner with a trained crew, Guzzetti said. MCAS is driven by a single sensor near the nose that measures the so-called angle of attack, or whether air is flowing parallel to the length of the fuselage or at an angle. On the Lion Air flights, the angle-of-attack sensor had failed and was sending erroneous readings indicating the planes nose was pointed dangerously upward. By Online Desk During an effort to disperse the protesting crowd at capital Sofia, the Bulgarian police pepper sprayed at the protesters only to realise that they ended up spraying it on themselves. This happened as they failed to read the direction of the wind. The police were trying to disperse the people who were protesting demanding early elections. The video of the incident, posted by a person called Jasper Neve, has garnered over a million views on Twitter. It shows the protesters remaining unharmed while the police personnel rubbing their eyes and running in search of water to rinse their eyes. Bulgarian police used pepper spray against protesters in front of parliament, but didn't take the wind direction into account pic.twitter.com/B8b7uQyIEG Jasper Neve (@JasperNeve) March 17, 2019 Neve, also tweeted saying, "Bulgaria is a peaceful country, where protests very rarely go more violent than a bit of pushing. This explains the inexperience of the police with things like pepper spray." The video has got over 3 million views and thousands of reactions. One person jokingly tweeted "Pro tip for protestors: always conduct your protests upwind of the police" while, another user tweeted "Karma has an awesome sense of humour!" By AFP BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she would struggle until the last possible moment to achieve an orderly Brexit, saying the interests of Germany, Britain and the EU were at stake. "I will fight to the last hour of the deadline on March 29 for an orderly exit (of Britain from the European Union)," she told a conference in Berlin. "We don't have a lot of time for it but still have a few days." Merkel admitted she had been surprised by the bombshell announcement on Monday by House of Commons speaker John Bercow that he could not put Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan to another vote in its current form. "I must confess that I was not familiar with the rules of order of the British parliament from the 17th century," she said with a wry smile. And she stressed ahead of a crunch EU summit in Brussels Thursday and Friday at which Brexit is to take centre stage that the ball remained in London's court to plot the way forward. "I am as of now unable to say what my position will be on Thursday because it depends on what Theresa May presents, what the situation looks like, (and) what may still happen in parliament," she said. Merkel stressed that avoiding Britain crashing out of the EU without an exit deal was in the fundamental interest of all sides. "We, together as the other 27 (EU member states), will react in an adequate manner and the less people play guessing games, the easier it will be," she said. May is still hoping she can get the divorce agreement she struck with the European Union through parliament before March 29, despite MPs having rejected it twice. But weeks of chaotic political deadlock in parliament have already forced May to concede that Brexit must be delayed, amid fears of an economic shock if Britain ends its 46-year membership of the EU with no new arrangements in place. She had been hoping to ask EU leaders for only a short delay when they meet at the Brussels summit, warning that without a deal, any extension would be lengthy. Reporter Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey). Champaign, IL (61820) Today Windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 39F. Winds W at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 29F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. U.S. President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next Monday and Tuesday, the White House said, reaffirming the two leaders' close ties. The announcement came shortly after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and planned to deliver remarks alongside Netanyahu. "The president and the prime minister will discuss their countries shared interests and actions in the Middle East during a working meeting on March 25," the White House said in a statement. Trump will host Netanyahu at a dinner on Tuesday night. The Israeli prime minister planned to visit Washington next week to address the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, two weeks before the Israeli election on April 9. "Relations with the United States have never been this strong," Netanyahu said in a speech earlier Wednesday. Israel's attorney general said on Feb. 28 he plans to indict Netanyahu in three corruption cases. Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, will have the chance to persuade the attorney-general to scrap the charges at a hearing expected after the election. Search Keywords: Short link: Wilkes County split between Congressional Districts 10 and 12 Wilkes County has been split between Congressional Districts 10 and 12. According to the maps finalized by the General Assembly, the majority of Wilkes County has been enveloped by Congressional... Chinas trade war does affect Georgias economy; Chris Clarke Chris Clarke, the CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, broguth new facts to light during rotarys weekly meeting. The issue of globalization and the rise of China may seem... Cobb and Harden selected to play in Border Bowl Washington-Wilkes Tiger Varsity Football players Dalen Cobb and JoVares Harden have been selected to play in the annual Georgia vs. South Carolina Border Bowl football game. Scott Skadden, a broadcast... Pearl K. Dowe, noted political scientist and scholar, will join Emory University in fall 2019 as Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Political Science and African American Studies with a joint appointment between the universitys Oxford College and Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Dowe currently chairs the department of political science and is an affiliated faculty member of the African and African American Studies Program at the University of Arkansas. This Asa Griggs Candler professorship is an exciting and important addition to our faculty ranks, says Oxford College Dean Douglas A. Hicks. Welcoming a scholar of Pearl Dowes stature to Oxford and Emory will greatly strengthen our curriculum in African American studies and leadership education. Her expertise in African American political leadership will make a valuable and much-needed contribution to our curriculum and to faculty scholarship in service to American democracy. Dowes unique joint appointment will bridge Oxford and Emory colleges. With a home base for teaching and scholarship at Oxford, Dowe will liaise to the Department of African American Studies at Emory College, where she will teach a course each year and help expand the curriculum. At Oxford, her courses will have a thematic focus on understanding leadership. Throughout our search, the support and vision of Provost Dwight A. McBride have been essential, and the partnership with colleagues in Emory College made recruiting Dr. Dowe possible, says Hicks. Building a strong community of scholars who study race, inequality and resilience is one of our strategic priorities, and Pearl Dowe will help us to achieve that goal, says Michael A. Elliott, dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Dowe to the Emory community, says Dwight A. McBride, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Dr. Dowes scholarship and teaching will contribute significantly to the innovative work taking place at both the Oxford and Atlanta campuses while also creating another connection between them. Dowes most recent research focuses on African American womens political ambition and public leadership. Her published writing includes co-authorship of Remaking the Democratic Party: Lyndon B. Johnson as Native-Son Presidential Candidate (University of Michigan Press: 2016) and editorship of African Americans in Georgia: A Reflection of Politics and Policy Reflection in the New South (Mercer University Press, 2010). She has published numerous articles and book chapters that have appeared in the Journal of African American Studies, Political Psychology, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal of Black Studies and Social Science Quarterly. Dowe has presented widely at professional conferences and given frequent news-media interviews about American political topics. She currently serves as parliamentarian for the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, is a member of several committees for the American Political Science Association and previously served on the executive council of the Southern Political Science Association. She is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy and the Race, Gender & Class Journal. The University of Arkansas recognized Dowe for her commitments to diversity and students, awarding her the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Nudie E. Williams Diversity Award, the NAACP Faculty of the Year Award, and the University of Arkansas Greek Life's Order of Omega Faculty of the Year Award. Raised in Georgia, Dowe is a graduate of Savannah State University and holds an MA in political science from Georgia Southern University and a PhD in political science from Howard University. She joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas in 2008. In 2016 she was visiting scholar in residence at Howard Universitys Ronald Walters Center for Public Policy. (Newser) Warren Buffett is offering $1 million a year for life in his March Madness bracket challengebut this year, only Berkshire Hathaway's 390,000 employees are eligible. Employees will need to correctly guess which NCAA Division I teams make the Sweet 16"assuming nobody else wins at the same time then you split the million," Buffett told CNBC last month. According to the New York Post, the odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion (9.2 billion billions) when you consider 50/50 odds for all 63 games. In other words, you're more likely to be hit by a falling satellite. On the bright side, the employee who fares best will receive a $100,000 consolation prize, which was split between eight employees last year, per USA Today. (Read more Warren Buffett stories.) President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes special counsel Robert Mueller's report should be released to the public, even as he disparaged its very existence as ``ridiculous.'' ``Let it come out, let people see it,'' Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Wednesday for a trip to Ohio. ``Let's see whether or not it's legit.'' Mueller is expected to present a report to the Justice Department any day now outlining the findings of his nearly two-year investigation into Russian election meddling, possible collusion with Trump campaign officials and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Mueller is required to produce a confidential report that at a minimum explains decisions about who was and was not prosecuted. Attorney General William Barr is then expected to produce his own report for Congress and has said he wants to make public as much of Mueller's findings as he can under the law. Trump said he was personally looking forward to reading the findings, even as he scorned the fact that Mueller was empowered to write the report in the first place. ``I just won one of the greatest elections of all time in the history of this country. ... And now I have somebody writing a report that never got a vote?'' Trump said. ``It's called the Mueller report. So explain that because my voters don't get it. And I don't get it.'' Trump went on to mischaracterize the effort, saying ``it's sort of interesting that a man out of the blue just writes a report.'' The House voted unanimously last week for a resolution calling for any report in Mueller's investigation to be made public. It was a symbolic action designed to pressure Barr into releasing as much information as possible. Trump and his outside attorneys have worked for months now to undermine Mueller and cast doubt on his eventually findings. Trump continued that effort Wednesday, calling Mueller ``conflicted'' and criticizing the lawyers who have worked on the case. Though Mueller's office has said nothing publicly about the timing of a report, several prosecutors detailed to Mueller's team have left in recent months, suggesting the investigation is winding down. Trump, for his part, said he had no idea when the report would be released, but maintained his innocence, saying there was ``no collusion'' and ``no obstruction. There was no nothing.'' ``With all of that being said,'' he added, ``I look forward to seeing the report.'' Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a prison sentence of less than seven years for a white Chicago police officer convicted of killing black teenager Laquan McDonald that many criticized as far too lenient. The high court offered no explanation for its 4-2 decision that denied a rare bid by Illinois' attorney general and a special prosecutor to get the justices to toss a lower court's sentence. One judge issued a strong dissent and one partially dissented, the AP reports. Jason Van Dyke, 40, the first Chicago police officer sentenced for an on-duty shooting in a half century, could go free in as little as three years with credit for good behavior behind bars. McDonald was carrying a small knife in 2014 when Van Dyke exited his squad car and almost immediately opened fire. Police video released in 2015 showed Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into McDonald, many after the 17-year-old had crumpled to the ground. story continues below Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul stopped short of criticizing the court, though he went out of his way several times to note the four justices in the majority didn't offer a word of explanation for why they ruled as they did. An appeal to the US Supreme Court doesn't appear to be an option, including because the core legal issues have to do exclusively with Illinois law. Raoul acknowledged that his office had run out of options. Asked whether Van Dyke's comparatively light sentence was an illustration of racial disparities in sentencing, Raoul paused before saying: "Suffice to say that I believe the sentence was inconsistent with the law." Jurors in October convicted Van Dyke of one count of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum 20-year prison term, and 16 counts of aggravated battery, which carries up to 30 years on each count. (Van Dyke's lawyer says he was beaten in prison.) (Newser) There is credible evidence that US military airstrikes in Somalia have killed or wounded nearly two dozen civilians, an international human rights group said Tuesday, charging that the Pentagon is not adequately investigating potential casualties. US Africa Command officials immediately disputed the allegations laid out in a report by Amnesty International, and insisted that the military has investigated 18 cases of possible civilian casualties since 2017 and found that none were credible. The seemingly contradictory information underscores the complexities of military operations against the al-Shabab group in Somalia, involving airstrikes by several allied nations in hostile, remote locations that are difficult to access safely, the AP reports. story continues below The report came the same day that a Somali intelligence official said a US drone strike on Monday killed civilians. The Somali official said the drone targeted a vehicle carrying suspected militants and apparently hit another vehicle. In a rare move, US Africa Command mentioned those possible casualties in a press release about the strike and said officials will look into the incident. But, more broadly, defense officials said casualty allegations in Somalia are questionable because militants make false claims or force local citizens to do the same. Amnesty International, however, said it analyzed satellite imagery and other data, and interviewed 65 witnesses and survivors of five specific airstrikes detailed in the report. (Read more Somalia stories.) (Newser) The Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee isn't happy about what the 2016 candidate is saying about the 2008 nominee. In a tweet Tuesday night, Sen. Mitt Romney wondered why President Trump had renewed his attacks on John McCain seven months after the Arizona senator's death, USA Today reports. "I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God," Romney said. story continues below Trump attacked McCain on issues including ObamaCare repeal in tweets over the weekend and doubled down on Tuesday despite criticism from lawmakers from both parties, Fox reports. "I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be," the president said during a White House meeting with Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro. Before his death from brain cancer in August, the 81-year-old McCain regularly clashed with Trump, and some Republicans have suggested Romney could play a similar role by standing up to the president when necessary, the Hill reports. (Read more Mitt Romney stories.) (Newser) One of Tynesha Evans' daughters is calling Tyler Perry an "angel on Earth" after the star stepped up following Evans' murder in Georgia over the weekend. Per an Alpharetta Department of Public Safety post on Facebook, Evans, 45, was gunned down Saturday in a Wells Fargo parking lot; her on-again, off-again boyfriend, 58-year-old Othnel Inniss, was taken into custody and charged with murder. Per a GoFundMe page, Evans was a single mom with four kids, two of them minors, and thanks to a phone call the kids received after their mom was killed, they won't be evicted from their apartment. "I answered [the call] and the person on the other end said, 'This is Tyler.' I said, 'Tyler who?' and he said, 'Tyler Perry,'" daughter Audrey Turner tells USA Today. "At that point, I just broke down crying." story continues below Perry's publicist has confirmed that call and his offer to help to CNN. Evans' kids say she owed $3,200 in back rent, and their power was turned off earlier this week, per WSB-TV. Perry is reported to have offered to pay for the family's next six months of rentWSB reporter Michael Seiden notes that originally building management refused Perry's money, but it has since acquiescedas well as for two funerals for Evans (one in Georgia and one in her Wisconsin hometown) and college tuition for one of her daughters. "Now I'm going to get to graduate with a mathematics degree from Spelman College without debt. It means everything," Sharadiant Turner tells USA Today. (Check out the "gift" Perry gave Walmart patrons around the holidays.) (Newser) Government scientists have fed dog remains to cats, injected cat remains into mice, and conducted other experiments on animals that one member of Congress says "need to end now." The White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit watchdog, drew the information from USDA publications for a report it plans to give to Congress, NBC News reports. The group found the experiments to be pointless. "It's crazy," a former USDA scientist says. "Cannibal cats, cats eating dogsI don't see the logic." The experiments were carried out at the Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Maryland. Experiments there in which cats were intentionally infected with T. gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, killing the cats, had already drawn criticism. "The details of these kitten experiments keep getting worse," says Florida's GOP Rep. Brian Mast, who has co-sponsored a bill to stop those experiments. story continues below The USDA's job is to protect the food supply, the ex-USDA scientist notes, but cats and dogs aren't part of the food chain here. Its reports say the idea was to study various forms of a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. Per lab publications, the dogs and cats were killed in Asia, South America, and Africa; tissues from the animals were then sent to the USDA lab. Some of the animals had been purchased from markets that were condemned in a House resolution last year, per the Washington Post. That resolution called for other countries to ban the consumption of animals commonly kept as pets in the US. "DEEPLY disturbing that USDA has been purchasing cats and dogs from notoriously inhumane meat markets in Asia, then feeding the meat to animals they're experimenting on," Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley tweeted. "We can advance scientific discovery while treating animals humanely." (Read more USDA stories.) We use cookies. By Clicking "OK" or any content on this site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. Read more in our privacy policy (Newser) Wedded bliss it was not. Adam Anhang, a 32-year-old Canadian millionaire, had moved to Puerto Rico in the early 2000s intending to try his hand at property development there. The Wharton School of Business grad, who had an estimated $24 million fortune thanks in part to an online gaming company, started dating Aurea Vazquez Rijos, a former Miss Puerto Rico Petite. The two married in early 2005; six months later, he wanted a divorce. On the evening of Sept. 22, 2005, Anhang was stabbed to death after having dinner with his wife in the Old San Juan district; Vazquez Rijos sustained only cuts and bruises. On Friday, the 38-year-old learned she will spend the rest of her life in prison for ordering his murder. The story: The Washington Post reports that soon after the couple began dating, Vazquez Rijos told him she was pregnant and that her Catholic faith demanded they marry. They did, except there was no pregnancy, a friend of Anhang's recounted to Dateline in 2008. Anhang felt tricked and within months he wanted out. Twelve hours after he told her so he was dead, following dinner the two had together. Jonathan Roman Rivera, a 22-year-old dishwasher, was arrested in what appeared to be a robbery gone wrong and handed a 105-year sentence. But Anhang's family was skeptical. The killer didn't rob Anhang of his money and no evidence tied Roman Rivera to the murder. But Vazquez Rijos, they thought, had a motive: She would have gotten no more than $360,000 under the couple's prenup; after Anhang's death, she sued his family for a $9 million slice of his estate, reports the AP. story continues below (Newser) "I'm glad he's dead," a stranger told John McCain's widow in a private social media message. Cindy McCain received the message after President Trump renewed his criticism of the longtime senator and POW, tweeting a series of attacks on McCain over the weekend, Today reports. John McCain died last year of brain cancer; Trump was not invited to the funeral. "Your husband was a traitorous piece of warmongering shit," the message said. "Hope your Mrs. Piggy looking daughter chokes to death on the next burger she stuffs down her fat neck, too." The post showed the writer's name. "I want to make sure all of you could see how kind and loving a stranger can be," Cindy McCain wrote. story continues below Trump's attacks focused on McCain's vote against repealing ObamaCare and other matters, and he said McCain was "last in his class" at the Naval Academywhich Roll Call points out isn't true. On Tuesday, Trump said at the White House, "I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be, though he donated more than $30,000 to McCain's presidential campaign in 2008, per CNN. Meghan McCain, who tweeted in response to Trump in the immediate aftermath of his tweetstorm, also fired back at the president on The View, which she co-hosts. "He spends his weekend obsessing over great men because he knows it and I know it and all of you know it, he will never be a great man," she said Monday on the show. She seemed to think we haven't heard the last of it from Trump. "My father was his kryptonite in life," she said. "Hes his kryptonite in death." (Trump's attacks on McCain baffle Mitt Romney.) (Newser) A bus driver in northern Italy abducted 51 children and their chaperones Wednesday, ordering the children's hands to be bound and threatening them with death during the drive, before setting the vehicle on fire when he was stopped by a Carabinieri blockade, the AP reports. Officers broke the glass in the back door of the bus and got all the passengers to safety without serious injury before the flames destroyed the vehicle, authorities said. As he was apprehended, the driver said he was protesting migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Commander Luca De Marchis said. De Marchis said the driver, an Italian citizen of Senegalese origin in his 40s, threatened the passengers, telling them that "no one would survive today" as he commandeered the bus carrying two middle-school classes in Cremona province, some 25 miles from Milan. story continues below One of the students said the driver took all their phones and ordered the chaperones to bind the students' hands with cable ties, threatening to spill gas and set the bus ablaze. The bus was intercepted on the outskirts of Milan by three Carabinieri vehicles, which were able to force it into the guardrail, De Marchis said. "While two officers kept the driver busyhe took a lighter and threatened to set fire to the vehicle with a gasoline canister on boardthe others forced open the back door," De Marchis said. While the evacuation was underway, the driver started the blaze. The driver was apprehended and was being treated for burns. ANSA identified him as Ousseynou Sy, and said he was being investigated on suspicion of kidnapping, intention to commit mass murder, arson, and resisting law enforcement. (Read more hijacking stories.) (Newser) On Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said during a campaign rally that Turkey would make sure the suspect in the New Zealand mosque shootings pays if New Zealand does notand on Wednesday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country will not let those comments go unadressed, Reuters reports. Foreign Minister Winston Peters is traveling to Istanbul this week for a meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, the AP reports, and Ardern told reporters, "Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey. He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face." Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also promised Australia will address Erdogan's comments. story continues below An Australian suspected of being a white supremacist killed 50 people in the shootings during Friday prayers, and Erdoganwho is trying to rally support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in local elections coming up at the end of the monthshared video footage of the shootings that the suspect streamed on Facebook while making his comments. He also suggested Australia and New Zealand sent troops to fight in World War I's Gallipoli campaign due to their opposition to Islam, and said that any Australians or New Zealanders who came to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would be sent back to their homeland in coffins "like their grandfathers" were during the campaign. An official says the comments were taken out of context. (Read more New Zealand stories.) Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Occasional snow showers. Low 3F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.. Tonight Occasional snow showers. Low 3F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulations less than one inch. Courtesy Rock & Roll Hall of FameIt appears that Radiohead will be represented in some capacity at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony later this month. A rep for the Rock Hall confirms to ABC Radio a Cleveland.com report, which states that "every artist being inducted, except for a few members of Radiohead" will attend the Brooklyn ceremony. While that means that not every Radiohead member will be on hand, it does imply that at least somebody from the band will be in attendance. It's unclear exactly which Radiohead member will show up, though we know at least one person who won't: frontman Thom Yorke. He told Variety earlier this year that he can't attend due to a scheduling conflict. Meanwhile, Yorke's band mates have largely been blase about the Rock Hall. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2017, drummer Phil Selway and guitarists Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien expressed disinterest in the whole thing, though bassist Colin Greenwood said he'd be "grateful" to be inducted. When Radiohead was announced as an inductee last December, the band shared a statement that read, "The members of Radiohead have been surprised to learn of the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2019. The band thanks the Hall of Fame voting body and extends congratulations to this year's fellow inductees." The 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place March 29 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The other inductees are The Cure, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Roxy Music and The Zombies. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Some suspected cult members, on Tuesday, interrupted academic activities at the Oba Akenzua Secondary School and the Ihogbe College in B... Some suspected cult members, on Tuesday, interrupted academic activities at the Oba Akenzua Secondary School and the Ihogbe College in Benin, Edo State. The prompt intervention of police personnel, however, saved what could have been a free-for-all, as several pupils were reportedly wounded with knives and cutlasses by the invaders. Both schools are adjacent to each other and are located on the ICE Road, off Wire Road, Benin. Observers said the teachers and pupils ran in different directions when the alleged cultists started shooting and attacking the pupils. According to reports, the supposed cultists were heading towards a target in the area when some pupils, suspected to be junior members of a rival cult group, started throwing stones at them. Thereafter, the cultists stormed the schools and started attacking any pupil in sight. One of the pupils was said to have been seriously injured and was rushed to the hospital. Two of the suspected attackers, who were arrested by the police, were crying and insisting that they were innocent. A resident of the area said cult-related attacks had been on the rise in recent times. The Edo State Commissioner for Education, Emmanuel Agbale, who confirmed the incident, said no student was killed in the attack. Agbale said policemen were quickly conscripted to the area and the cultists were chased away. The Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, has spoken on shuffling of President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet. Speaking on a l... The Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, has spoken on shuffling of President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet. Speaking on a likely cabinet change, Amaechi said the passion to work had been built into the system and that anyone could perform optimally in any sector. He, however, said that before May, when the cabinet might be reshuffled, the ministry would push for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Rail and also get approval for the Ibadan-Kano Rail, NAN reports. We need to get the government to approve the Ibadan-Kano and see how far the China Exim bank can fight and give us a loan; we also need to establish the University of Transportation in Daura. The Ibadan-Kano is currently one track because the China Exim Bank said it does not have money for double track. We are funding 15 per cent and they are funding 85 per cent. He added that he has done his best for the transport sector which has recorded a lot of success since he became minister in 2015. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was fully committed to the victory of the partys gove... The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was fully committed to the victory of the partys governorship candidate in Kano, Abba Kabiru Yusuf, his associate, Mohammed Abdullahi Sugar, has said. Sugar stated this while reacting to the reports that Atiku wasnt committed to Abbas candidature. The PDP candidate will slug it out with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state in Saturdays supplementary election to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It is a lie concocted to portray Atiku in bad light. He has never involved himself in anti-party in his political career spanning decades. Atiku, our incoming president is totally in support of Abbas candidature because Kano is his second home after Adamawa state. We are very happy that Kano people are politically-savvy persons, hence they voted against the APC government in the state, he said in a phone interview. Sugar, a grassroots politician in Kano, said Abba will transform Kano when elected as the governor of the state. Under Abba, Kano will regain its glory as the commercial nerve of the North. Businesses will bounce back and life will return to the state. He wont be a stooge of Kwankwaso as being speculated, he said. He expressed optimism that Atiku will reclaim, what he tagged as his stolen mandate through the court. President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected two bills which the national assembly transmitted to him for assent. The bills are the Cha... President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected two bills which the national assembly transmitted to him for assent. The bills are the Chartered Institute of Training and Development of Nigeria bill, and the Nigerian Aeronautic Research Rescue bill. Buhari announced his decision to decline assent to the bills via a letter read during house of representatives plenary on Tuesday by Yakubu Dogara, the speaker. He cited discrepancies with global best practices and duplication of duties of existing government agencies for reasons for rejecting the bills. For the Chartered Institute of Training and Development of Nigeria bill, the president expressed concern that the institute does not possess the capacity of the requirements that might be imposed on it if the bill is assented to. He also said he did not assent the Nigerian Aeronautic Research Rescue bill because some of its provisions are duplication of the roles of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and similar agencies. He added that there were numerous discrepancies in the bill that would limit its performance and make it not to be in tandem global best practices in the aviation industry. The two bills brings to eight the total number of bills so far rejected by the president in 2019 Previous bills rejected by the president this year are: The governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Emmanuel Jime is to face prosecution by the Economic and F... The governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Emmanuel Jime is to face prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over money laundering and vote-buying charges. This is sequel to an application of writ of mandamus directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the EFCC to arrest and prosecute the governorship candidate and his personal driver over money laundering and electoral offences. The suit which was filed yesterday at the Federal High, Makurdi court by Barrister Daniel Sorkaa on behalf of his client, Ati Terkula, the EFCC had on the 9th of March 2019, apprehended one Joseph Mannaseh with freshly minted money running into millions of naira in a vehicle belonging to Mr Emmanuel Jime for the purpose of vote buying and inducement of voters. The petition reads in part, During the conduct of the election, the 1st and 2nd respondents were apprehended by men of the 4th respondents with MILLIONS OF NAIRA in bags inside the boot of a vehicle belonging to the 1st respondents and driven by the 2nd respondent which money was used to buy votes and induce voters against the interest of the applicant on the day of elections. The application further claims that Jime and Mannaseh had committed criminal offences prohibited by the Money Laundering Act and Electoral Act, 2011 (as amended). The case mandating the prosecution of Jime further accuses the EFCC and INEC of neglecting their official duty by failing to prosecute the duo. It could be recalled that on the day of the governorship election, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission did announce the arrest of a man who it said works for the governorship candidate of the APC, Emmanuel Jime with huge sums of money found in his vehicle. Muslims at Aleluya Estate in Osogbo, Capital of Osun State escaped deaths by a whisker this morning as suspected gunmen trailed them on ... Muslims at Aleluya Estate in Osogbo, Capital of Osun State escaped deaths by a whisker this morning as suspected gunmen trailed them on their way to mosque. The Muslims in the area said some men carrying guns trailed and tried to shoot at them on their way to the mosque for the early morning Subuhi prayer. One of the victims who made a distress call to his relatives to seek help, said that his brothers also face a similar experience. The Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Abu Mustapha who heard about the incident mobilised policemen from the Dada Estate Police Divisional Headquarters. Policemen arrived at the scene promptly and one of the gunmen was arrested and a gun was recovered from him. The Police Public Relations Officer for Osun State Police Command, Folasade Odoro confirmed the incident. Kidnappers of the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, staff in Jigawa State have demanded 500,000 ransom for his freedom. ... Kidnappers of the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, staff in Jigawa State have demanded 500,000 ransom for his freedom. Father to the kidnapped victim, Malam Mahadi Kofar Wambai, revealed that the kidnappers demanded 500,000 before they could free the victim. He explained that the kidnappers contacted him through a telephone call on Saturday and demanded the amount on the following day and threatened to kill him if we fail to comply with the arrangement. They demanded 500,000 as ransom or kill him if we fail to give the said amount on the following day, he said. Malam Mahadi said that on Sunday he paid the said amount to the kidnappers but they failed to release him. Meanwhile, INEC has confirmed that its Jigawa State staff last Friday was missing on his way on Kazaure, Gwiwa Road. The INEC HOD Voter Education and Publicity in the state, Mr. John Kaiwa, said Mr. Mahadi has been missing since Friday. Police in Taraba state have arrested 16 kidnappers, rapists and cattle rustlers. The state police commissioner, Alkasim Sanusi, wh... Police in Taraba state have arrested 16 kidnappers, rapists and cattle rustlers. The state police commissioner, Alkasim Sanusi, while parading the suspects said they were arrested at different locations in the state. He also revealed that 50 cows rustled in some villages in Lau local government area of the state were recovered According to him, the rustled cows were recovered in Cham town along Yola Gombe road in the state. Sanusi further stated that the arrests of the suspects followed an intensive investigation into the activities of the kidnapping and cattle rustling gang that terrorized the state which led to their arrests. Proceedings at the Nigeria Senate Wednesday was greeted with rowdiness over the motion, militarization of electoral process, which w... Proceedings at the Nigeria Senate Wednesday was greeted with rowdiness over the motion, militarization of electoral process, which was sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye and co-sponsored by seven others. Sponsors of the motion were all Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party, hence it set the stage for rancour even as the motion was opposed for debate to no avail last week as the Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki insisted that it must be presented as a full motion. In his lead debate, Dino decried militarization of electoral process, and inconsistent application of electoral laws in the just concluded general election. Reacting, the Senate leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC) stressed that the issue of election shouldnt have been brought to the Senate, cautioning that lawmakers should not be partisan and sentimental. Senator Mao Ohabunwa in a counter contribution commended the lower chamber to have discussed the matter without bickers, saying, Senators are elder statesmen who should be patriotic rather than partisan. He reminded those opposed to debating the motion to be wary of generational curse, if they refused to do the right thing. Senate Minority, leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi in her contributions insisted that the election was massively rigged, hence there was nothing wrong debating it. Her contributions was amid pandemonium from lawmakers of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki having calmed the noise, raised a voice vote to sustain prayers of the motion. Dear Chief Tinubu, The back page of your The Nation of Tuesday 12 March where one of your Rottweilers under the FORGED name Segun Ibirogba wrote Odumakins anxiety over vanishing feeding-bottles has un-paused the button on this serial. I have always wondered why this intellectual almajiris around you always attack me under fake names. It is either they are afraid of me or they dont believe in you to risk their names doing the dirty job for you.Well, we know many of them to hold worst views about you than us but for the free money, they have been accustomed to from a Robbin Hood. The piece referenced was a rehash of same old silly lies and freshly minted ones. In keeping faith with my resolve that for every dart of lie you guys throw in my direction, I will return 10 bombs of truth I make this response. And for every line I write, I can say like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti Na true I wan talk again o, if I dey lie o, make Edumare punish me o. Since you guys made a failed attempt to impugn my integrity, I have chosen to use this edition to place your life side-by-side mine on the scale of integrity so we can know if your hen can point at the boil in a hawks eye. I intend to show that were it not that Nigeria has become Ceasers palace where the leper holds the veil, nobody in your circle should move near that subject. I am Yinka Odumakin and nobody can say he had known me under any identity in my life.I have led a straight life unlike you that people know under different identities depending on where they met you in your about 80 years on earth .Yes,80! Those of us who are knowledgeable about you cant buy your 66 claim for so many rreasons. The current governor of Osun is the son of your immediate senior sister from Iragbiji and he is 63 while you are claiming 66. Your first wife died in Lagos recently unannounced at 74. When the son he had for you died many moths earlier his age had to be doctored to fit into the lie that you live. And there is a photograph of yours at the palace of Soun Ogbomoso in 1974 when the current monarch was installed with a bottle of beer and packet of cigarette in your front. You mean you were 20 when you were drinking and smoking in a palace? There is no school I have attended in my life that my classmates would not come out in droves to say yeah, we were there together!. From St Augustine Primary School, Ondo to CAC Grammar School, Edunabon and Oduduwa College Ile -Ife down to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile -Ife and University of Ghana. At your end St John Primary School Aroloya you claimed may be created by your new governor in Lagos. The old boys of Government College Ibadan were planning a reception for you when someone asked which set you belonged to .There has been no answer to that till date and the reception was cancelled. The tales by moonlight on Chigago State University and University of Chiicago are all over the place. My parents are alive in Osun and by Gods grace I will give them a befitting burial. I will not have to send emissaries to bury them since I have not abandoned moomi (thats how we Oyo people in Osun call mummy) to be calling another woman maami in Lagos to fit a life of lie and greed. No Mama HID Awolowo would have told me that she knew all the children of maami and that I was not one of them. My parents are not rich but I am proud of them because it is from their black pot that my white palp has come out. I say proudly among my University mates today that they could not afford more than N60 per month for me throughout my University days .The story of grass to grace is a proud thing among the Yoruba. MKO Abiola was proud of the story that he ate egg for the first time in his life in the home of Simbiat Abiolas parents. With the modest means of my parents, they instilled so much values in me that there is no crime attached to my name in all my years on earth. Forging traveling passports had never appealed to me. Neither has my name been linked to a narcotic ring leading to inquiry and forfeiture of assets. All my life, my hands have provided for me. And they have provided for you too. I recall when you returned from exile in 1998 and running for governor. You were not Ezeego then. You had only the Sunday Adigun house and all the four cars you used then belonged to Mr Ganiyu Solomon. There were a lot of printings being done for you by your friends at The News. I saw the price you were being offered and I told you my press could do it at 40%. I delivered and saved you 60%. I recall Mr Babafemi Ojodu complained openly that they could not do the price I offered you ! That should tell you and your attack dogs that I have always separated the cause I believe in from what I would eat unlike you who always mix the two. You pose as a June 12 hero today but Kola Abiola is alive to tell the story of what happened to MKOs money as Bashorun is no longer alive. In 20 years, there is hardly any boundary between Lagos treasury and your private pockets. Your O to ge moment is coming some day and all the dirty deals will be out. Like a rapist, you can tell your victims to shout O to pe for as long as stolen funds and drug money rule Lagos politics. I have noticed that because you and your followers have no abiding principle and you are driven by only lust for money, you assume it is so for everybody. Your being glued to the lowest of all spirits (money) makes it difficult for you to make the right judgement about people thinking they are all about money. Was it that you didnt have money when I told you in December 2006 that it was over between us politically? Have I ever looked in your direction ever? There are men who may not be able to give N10,000 to a cause but if they say they want to see me at 8AM I would be there at 7. Can you summon me with all your bullion vans? I recall how you said to me in 2006 about Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I quote you Adiye ni Tokunbo, yin agbado fun a pada (Tokunbo is a fowl, throw corns and it is U-turn). Has he not turned his back at you today? You dont have corns again? This was the man who was your fall guy when you made all the forgeries in 1999. He was among the team that went to bury your biological mother in Iragbiji when you could not show your face, has his exit not shown you there are men who place value on principle than money? I have lived my political life on the basis of the fact that an adversary today can be an ally tomorrow and vice versa. I am not beholden to any person outside the core beliefs we share. One of the men I had an open disagreement with was President Obasanjo and when we reconciled it was an open thing. That differentiates me from you who walk both sides of the streets simultaneously. You were with NADECO and also in bed with Abacha through whom you forged friendship with the Chagourys who are your business partners till date. The political buffoons around you would hold you out as an anti-third term person today but you know what happened between us on May 2, 2006. We had a meeting at Airport Hotel in Lagos where you were dictating the communique against third term unknown to participants you were at a meeting till wee hours of that morning to work third term in another way. I was reading the communique to the press when you called me. I gave the phone to the late Rev Tunji Adebiyi but you told him you wanted to speak with me. We didnt get to talk till late in the night. I had with me in the car as you spoke with me from VGC to Ikeja then President of Egbe Omo Yoruba in North America, Mr Odusanya. Let me quote you verbatim : I hope you have not released that communique. We need to manage this third term carefully. Obasanjo is a blind cat. If he causes problem now and they kill one Yoruba graduate in Kano and we kill 200 people selling onions in mile 12 it is not equal. I am therefore proposing that we have a win-win situation. Instead of outright third term we can have the confab recommendation of one six-year tenure starting with the incumbent having 2 extra years and so with we the governors. We can use the two years to empower people like you and handover to one of you. I have asked General Alani Akinrinade to come and I am going to meet Prof Soyinka to discuss it. I want you to think about it I told you as a matter of fact that the proposition was unreasonable and there was nothing for me to think about as I would prefer outright third term where we would have elections to automatic two years extension. But my eyes were opened to how unreliable you are that night. Here was a man dictating communique against third term in the morning having this conversation with me at night. I made up my mind on you that night. The conversation I had with you minutes after Funso Williams was killed and the way you handled your succession made me to severe political links with you within six months. 20/03/2019 - Portugal needs to reform its pensions system to address the challenges of a fast-shrinking workforce and high levels of old-age inequality, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal says the countrys rapidly ageing population, a result of low fertility and rising life expectancy, is putting pressure on pension finances. The total population recently started to shrink and is projected to fall below 9 million by 2050 from a peak of 10.7 million in 2009, due to a sharp decrease in the number of young people and working-age adults. The working-age population decline will be among the steepest among OECD countries, with the number of 20-64 year-olds set to fall by 30% by 2050 compared with an average drop of 5% on average in the OECD area. There will be 7 people older than 65 years for 10 people of working-age in 2050, against slightly more than 1 in 3 now and 1 in 5 in 1975. This could have a major impact on the labour market, economic growth and pension finances, according to the report. Portugal has profoundly reformed its pension system over the past decades and made it more financially sustainable, said Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, launching the report in Lisbon with Portugals Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Jose Antonio Vieira da Silva. Now the focus should be on strengthening the incentives and ability of older people to stay longer in the labour market, simplifying the old-age safety-net and pension system, and improving its design to better cope with longer lives. Recent major pension reforms in Portugal have included aligning the retirement age between women and men; linking the retirement age to life expectancy; increasing the period to calculate the reference wage; and gradually integrating the scheme for civil servants with the general regime. However, the current pension system can still be improved. Income inequality among older people is high in Portugal, even though safety-net provisions reduce the risk of old-age poverty, which is below the OECD average. However, access to these provisions is not always straightforward. Administrative complexity generates costs and contributes to long waiting times, and some people may be discouraged to apply for benefits. At the same time, non-contributory benefits should be simplified to avoid the multiplication of instruments with similar objectives. In particular, the old-age social pension, the complement (CES), and the top-up (CSI) should be merged while the CSIs means testing to childrens income should be removed. The current link between the statutory retirement age and changes in life expectancy is needed to ensure the financial sustainability of pension systems. That link should be extended to the minimum age of early retirement. Moreover, while longer working lives should be encouraged, the sustainability factor, which was reformed in 2014, only generates a very large penalty in case of early retirement. While appropriate financial penalties for early retirement are needed, the sustainability factor should rather be used to adjust pension benefits across the board as an ultimate instrument to ensure financial sustainability. Incentives to contribute to voluntary pension schemes should also be improved and occupational plans promoted to increase coverage. Pension fund regulation should be enhanced. Read the report: OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Portugal. For more information, journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 80 97). Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Related Documents The panzer soldier who was taking the exam fires a round of ammunition from the cockpit. Photo: Cui Meng/GT "One point off if you hit an obstacle bar while driving, and two points off if you completely roll over the bar. Be careful, because everyone has only one chance!" The shouts from an examiner filled the morning air in the training field of an armored regiment of Northwest China's Xinjiang military region affiliated to the Western Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The soldiers were waiting to drive an armored vehicle through obstructed routes, and they looked nervous. Their prospects for future promotion could be affected by the results in this exam. Starting in March, the PLA Army organized all officers and soldiers to take a military training grade evaluation. It was the first time the PLA ground forces carried out wide-ranging tests of this kind. Computer theory tests, drawing analysis, battlefield operations, and physical assembly operations are all being conducted simultaneously. The PLA Army is developing more focused, professional and scientific exams designed to make soldiers more versatile and ready for combat. All categories of commanders, staff officers, and military professionals will be placed into junior, middle, and senior levels in their major through this assessment, which combines theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Experts believe the assessment is a concrete step in raising the PLA's military professionalism, as a professional army needs long-term support from high-level and specialized personnel. In the future, a soldier's physical ability will no longer be the most important factor, and only qualified soldiers with comprehensive knowledge will be able to adapt to modern warfare. The panzer regiment soldiers conduct a mechanical check on the armored vehicle in Northwest China's Xinjiang military region affiliated to the Western Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army. Photo: Cui Meng/GT Versatility is key This panzer regiment in Xinjiang is committed to cultivating "versatile" military personnel by asking those who sign up for senior-level assessment to have basic-level qualifications in two other related disciplines, according to the PLA Army's test syllabus guidelines. "For example, a tank driver is eligible for senior qualification through the exam only if he has basic qualifications in artillery and electro-communication. This enables the driver to deal with other problems when facing an emergency in real combat," Shi Hongtao, head of the tank battalion, told the Global Times. "In peacetime, evaluation in conditions close to real combat is becoming the most important measure for assessing a serviceman's quality," said Li Daguang, a professor at the National Defense University of the PLA in Beijing. "People who come here to muddle along or slack off don't have a chance. Each officer or soldier has to be clear about their own strengths and weaknesses through the assessment, and try to train themselves to be versatile," Li said. "Unlike flashy military shows or contests, the assessment serves as a true test of combat effectiveness, and helps to identify the talented soldiers and eliminate those who are unqualified. Soldiers take a theory exam. Photo: Cui Meng/GT Midnight oil On the afternoon of March 5, Chen Shuai, a new recruit, moistened his palms as he got into the armored vehicle. Eight minutes later, he became the first to successfully pass the driving test at junior level. The newbie had arrived only six months earlier, and never expected to undergo such a big challenge so soon after joining the army. "I was very nervous because each person only had one chance, and the examination was very strict throughout. I got to know the exact route only a few minutes before the test," Chen told the Global Times. "It's common to work until late night as everyone attaches great importance to the exam," he said. "The result reflects the overall strength of the , and is also a great chance to examine what I've learned in the first stage of my military career," said Chen. "When the notification comes, so does the pressure," said Shi Hongtao. "The content of this exam is very wide-ranging, and the rules and division of expertise is unprecedented in detail." "Many people work overnight at the dormitory study room. You can see the lights on late into the night, while others squeeze time out of their daily training or sacrifice their rest time for preparation," said Chen. Jin Han, the person in charge of training and tests for the armoured regiment, told the Global Times that the results will be recorded in everyone's profile, and will be used as important criteria for future promotion and education. It is a challenge not only for new recruits who have to take such an important test just three months after joining the army, but also for some veterans who have been away from their field of expertise for a long time. Li Zhi (pseudonym), a member of the armored regiment who had been given senior qualification in his major, was transferred to another post several months ago. For him, this overall re-evaluation meant a lot of pressure. "I thought the previous assessment results could be used for life, but I didn't expect to have to get retested so soon. This assessment takes me back to my primary major." A layer of dust covers the face of the armored regiment soldier who has just completed his driving test. Photo: Cui Meng/GT Identifying expertise "Ordinary soldiers used to be ranked and scored in 'common subjects' [physical fitness, light weapons, military theory], because their various specialized subjects' had very diverse standards. However, that drew many away from their expertise, as participants put more effort into the contest to earn a higher rank rather than focusing more on their own profession," Shi told the Global Times. It is like providing one single examination paper for people in different positions and professions, Shi pointed out bluntly, referring to an analogy in which teachers of different subjects are asked to compete in writing on a blackboard, which tells nothing of their true capability. "Now, there's a chance to redefine the standards, to make officers and soldiers understand where their jobs and responsibilities are focused," Shi said. He noted that "in our commander subject placement exam, overall basic knowledge accounts for only 30 percent of the total score, while their specialized actual combat command ability accounts for 70 percent. This places more emphasis on their practical capability." Jin Han told the Global Times that the artillery corps of the armored regiment now aims to cultivate truly combat-ready troops, and not just seek glory through competition results. He said he was not worried about the number of people who fail the assessment, and they would not artificially lower their assessment standards, but would rather use the tests to expose people's shortcomings. The regiment deploys discipline inspectors to supervise the examination, and the entire process is recorded on video. All exam results are given out and confirmed on the spot, leaving no chance for tampering. In recent years, China has made great efforts to implement "all-weather, all-season and all-region combat training," in order to build a powerful modern army. More frequent cross-regional exercises, joint exercises and training, international competitions, and now large-scale assessments, are all part of that process. ABC RadioThe lineup for Woodstock 50, the 50th anniversary Woodstock festival, was announced at a special event held Tuesday night at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The press gathering featured a Q&A with festival producer Michael Lang and two artists that will be performing at the three-day extravaganza -- ex-Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty and rapper Common. Lang noted that even though 50 years have passed, the U.S. is currently dealing with issues similar to those it faced when the original Woodstock fest was held. "[We were concerned then with] racial divides and care for the environment and women's rights," Lang maintained. "Now we have Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movement and climate deniers, and another ***hole in the White House." Fogerty, whose old band performed at Woodstock in 1969, explained that one reason why he's taking part in the new festival is he likes the idea of marking the anniversary. "I'm very glad I'm able to be here 50 years later celebrating it," John noted. "I hope to have a great time. I'm gonna be playing most of the same songs that I played then." As for Common, who wasn't born when the first Woodstock took place in 1969, said he liked the fact that this year's event will feature artists from a wide range of genres and eras. "[I]t's a broad spectrum of what really this country and this world's supposed to be," he maintained, "and anybody who loves music or loves love can go and appreciate it." Speaking with ABC Radio after the Q&A, Lang revealed that plans are in place to stream Woodstock 50 online, and that there are also discussions about capturing the event for a concert film and/or documentary. Asked whether all the artists he'd hoped would play the festival had signed on, Lang said, "Pretty much, yeah. I mean, there were a few artists that weren't availablebut I can't imagine a better lineup, frankly. I think it's amazing." To end the press event, attendees were treated to performances by Fogerty and Common. Fogerty played four classic CCR tunes -- "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Bad Moon Rising" and "Fortunate Son." Woodstock 50 is scheduled for August 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York. Visit Woodstock.com to check out the full lineup and event detail. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. By Xu Wen BEIJING, Mar. 19 (ChinaMil) -- The Ministry of Veterans Affairs of the People's Republic of China signed cooperation agreements on preferential policies with 10 banks in Beijing on March 19th, which included Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of Communications (BOCOM), Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank (CEB), China Merchants Bank (CMB) and Industrial Bank. The 10 banks promised to provide priority, quality and preferential financial services to military personnel, their families, and veterans. Those who are entitled to the preferential treatment can apply for exclusive bank cards at branches of the above-mentioned banks by presenting valid military identity documentation such as certificate of officer, certificate of soldier and certificate of veteran. The banks will set up special windows at its branches and post priority signs for military personnel and veterans so as to open green channels and provide priority services for customers presenting exclusive bank cards. The cost of the card, annual fee, petty account management fee and inter-bank transfer fee will be waived. Other personalized exclusive financial preferential services will also be provided. In addition, within the framework of the agreements, the banks will also provide necessary financial and human resources support for preferential treatment of military personnel. A responsible official from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs said that the signing of the cooperation agreements is a beneficial attempt to mobilize social resources to serve recipients of preferential treatment. Socialized preferential treatment of military personnel in more fields will be carried out in future so as to make "military service a respected occupation in society." By Yue Huairang BEIJING, Mar. 20 (ChinaMil) -- According to the official website of the Chinese Embassy in India, Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui and his wife Dr. Jiang Yili held a welcome reception for Major General Yu Haibo, new defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in India, at the Leela Palace New Delhi on Monday evening. More than 200 people, including representatives from the Indian Ministry of National Defense and Indian military, representatives from foreign embassies in India and the defense attaches group, as well as representatives of Chinese-funded enterprises, attended the event. Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui delivered an address and welcomed his new colleague, Major General Yu Haibo, to serve as new defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in India. According to Luo, Major General Yu Haibo has served in the Chinese military for many years. Yu is experienced in military diplomacy and proficient in Russian and English. He served in the former General Staff Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and in the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan. He served as the defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in North Macedonia, Singapore, and Egypt. In addition, Major General Yu Haibo also holds a doctorate in international politics, which is rare among Chinese military diplomats. With professional training, long-term research and solid academic background, Yu has got a broad, strategic vision. "His outstanding abilities, qualifications and educational attainment impressed me and my colleagues a lot. We believe that we will benefit from his unique insights into global and regional issues," Luo said. Luo added that the time when Major General Yu Haibo takes office as new Chinese defense attache to India is also the critical period to stride forward in consolidating and developing China-India relations. Last year witnessed extraordinary development of China-India relations. The bilateral ties moved into a "fast lane" of development. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held four meetings, among which the informal meeting in Wuhan was a great milestone for the bilateral ties. In order to implement the outcome reached during the Wuhan meeting, three Chinese state councilors visited India, and the first meeting of the China-India high-level cultural exchange mechanism was successfully held. Luo said that as an indispensable part of China-India relations, the bilateral military exchanges have shown positive momentum of development since last year. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe paid a fruitful visit in India and further strengthened the defense cooperation between the two militaries. The ever-deepening exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries will enhance mutual trust and maintain peace and stability in border areas. "Major General Yu shoulders great responsibility, and I hope that he will work as hard as his predecessors and other colleagues, contributing to maintaining good momentum in bilateral relations. In addition, I hope that our friends from the Indian military and the embassies in India offer him support and help," added Luo. The above-mentioned news quoted from the official website of the Chinese Embassy in India confirms that Major General Yu Haibo, former defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, has reported to his new position at the Chinese Embassy in India as a Chinese defense attache. While Major General Wang Xiaojun, former defense attache of the Chinese Embassy in India, was appointed as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in December 2016. As a diplomatic representative of the national armed forces, Chinese defense attaches abroad are dispatched by the Ministry of National Defense of China and serve as the military aide to the diplomatic envoys to foreign countries of China. At present, China has sent defense attaches ranked Major General to nine countries. These countries include the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, and Brazil. Review: The Hottie-Heavy (Uh, Not Ben Affleck) Triple Frontier Excels When Eviscerating American Imperialism and Jingoistic Greed By Roxana Hadadi | Film | March 19, 2019 | Let me explain the first five or so minutes of Triple Frontier to you, because in these first two scenes, youll understand the vibe of this entire movie, and the good things it does, and the bad things it does. Are you ready? GET READY. The film opens with the introduction of retired Capt. William Miller (Charlie Hunnam, Im still not over this man admitting to being a Jordan Peterson fan, please respect my grief at this time), who is described as having traveled the world and serving in a bunch of places you dont want to go. He strides up there in his dark-wash jeans and his forearm-bearing shirt (Dont think about how hot he still is despite his stupid opinions, Roxana!) and he tells a story about how he was in the cereal aisle of a Publix recently, with my arm around some guys throat squeezing so hard he pissed himself. He hadnt moved his cart when I asked, Miller explains, and so he attacked the guy, because: I was the best of the best. Able to shut down, control, manipulate all human instincts toward one goalthe completion of my mission. But the effects of committing extreme violence on other human beings are biological and psychological. Thats the price of being a warrior. Got that? Digested it? Understood how manly and American Miller is? Great, Im glad. Now, in your mind, SMASH CUT to a black helicopter flying over a run-down village, above a caravan of black SUVs and motorcycles, all emblazoned with POLICIA, with Oscar Isaac inside the chopper. Metallicas For Whom the Bell Tollsa song named after an Ernest Hemingway war novel, naturallyblasts at maximum volume, and its Isaac who is listening to it, cool in his sunglasses and his bulletproof vest and his American authority, and no biggie, hes just going to go fuck up this village to serve U.S. interests. Because that is good and that is patriotic and that is morally right. How much irony is at play in Triple Frontier? That opening scene doesnt make it seem like much, but the film from director J. C. Chandor and screenwriter Mark Boal (who has played around with these themes before, in Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker) is at its best when it goes that routeanalytical and criticalinstead of blindly supportive. The men in this film are not really good people, and they do mostly bad things, and their bond of brotherhood does not absolve them from moral bankruptcy and overwhelming greed. Triple Frontier is excellent when it makes that plainwhen it complicates the narrative of Men who serve this country are immediately and inherently deserving of our respect. A countrys interests can be self-serving and a countrys actions can be evil, and when Boal and Chandor tell that story, Triple Frontier clicks into being a well-acted ensemble piece in which individual interests are corrupted alongside national ones. The men in Triple Frontier, all retired Army Special Forces, are villains, each in their own way. Inspirational speaker Miller lectures military members about leaving for the private sector (I have never had a feeling as pure or proud as completing a mission with our flag on my soldier. Stay where you belong) and can name the exact number of people hes killed. His brother Ben (Garrett Hedlund, to whom I devoted an entire series of thirsty tweets ) by the old gods and the new, this is all my fetishes. don't worry, garrett hedlund's voice is also still very hot, especially when he says dialogue like "focus guys, it's fight night!" pic.twitter.com/triMSJo2uA = roxanna = roxanne = roxy (@roxana_hadadi) March 18, 2019 is a brawler making ends meet by fighting in the shitty local mixed-martial-arts circuit. Pilot Francisco (Pedro Pascal) has his license suspended for flying cocaine across the border. Operations guy Tom (Ben Affleck) is being squeezed for money by his ex-wife and failing as a real estate agent. And private military advisor Santiago (Oscar Isaac) rounds them all up for what seems like an easy, enticing job: travel to South America, kill a drug lord, steal $75 million from him, and return to the U.S. to better lives. No more struggling for money. No more embarrassing themselves in front of their children. These men took bullets for their country, and they took lives for their country, and they deserve more than this, Santiago says, and hes as compelling in his arguments as any snake-oil salesman Ive ever seen. (OK, I havent actually seen any snake-oil salesmen, but you get my point.) So the men sign up. So they go down south. And of course, almost immediately, everything goes to shit. Santiagos informant Yovanna (Adria Arjona) might not be entirely truthful with her information about how heavily the drug lords home is protected. Santiago himself might have different motivations and different backers than what he presented to his buddies. And there are intragroup frictions: between brothers William and Ben, between Santiago and Francisco, and between Tom and every damn body. If you had pulled this shit when we were active duty, I would have court-martialed your ass, Tom says to Santiago, but helike all of the menis swayed by the potentially massive payday, and by Santiagos self-righteous pontificating. Do we finally get to use our skills for our own benefit and finally change something? Santiago asks, and when youve spent your whole adult life being trained to kill and to further the American agenda, how difficult is it really to shift your mindset from This is good for my country to This is good for me, and hence also good for my country? Doesnt seem that far apart, does it? But I must reel this in: This very good analysis of American imperialism and its devastatingly insidious effects on the individuals it ensnares into its web is only, like, half of Triple Frontier. The other half of Triple Frontier walks this idea back, tries to argue that the bonds of brotherhood between the men are also worthwhile and respectable, and that is where the film falters. In its inability to make up its mind about what its trying to say, Triple Frontier demonstrates the worst tendencies of Boals work, which can be brutal just for brutalitys sake (Detroit, anyone?). And that then dulls the razor-sharpness of Chandors direction (who has otherwise made a career dissecting institutions of power, as in Margin Call and A Most Violent Year) and Roman Vasyanovs gorgeous cinematography. The film feels 10 or 15 minutes too long, and the ending is unconscionable in its rah-rah sincerity. We got what we deserved, one of the men says toward the end of the film, but its actual conclusion undermines that statement, putting the whole ideology of the film into question. I can understand that Triple Frontier will be boring to somehell, I know Chandors A Most Violent Year was like pulling teeth for some peopleand I appreciate that our very own Kate Hudson was popping into my tweet thread Sunday night to resolutely voice her This movie is hella uninteresting stance. But I think the parts of Triple Frontier that explore the fluidity of the borders between concepts like nationalism and neocolonialism are quite good, and the ensemble cast is very strongyes, even Affleck!and there is a particular scene, where Hedlunds Ben goes a little haywire and starts burning stacks of money, that is beautifully shot and an insightful distillation of the meaninglessness of their entire mission. If only that had been the whole movie. Triple Frontier is screening in select theaters around the U.S. and started streaming on Netflix on March 13. Can Netflix's 'Love, Death + Robots' Re-Program Our Expectations As Viewers? | Review: Hulu's 'Shrill' Traffics in the Radical Idea Of Treating People Like People Roxana Hadadi is a Senior Editor for Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter. Image sources (in order of posting): Netflix Media Center, Netflix Media Center, Netflix Media Center, Triple Frontier/Netflix Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday promoted investments in Africa when he addressed the ongoing 14thConfederation of Indian Industry (CII) Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi, India. Speaking as the guest speaker at the high-notch meeting of leaders of Indian businesses and many others from the rest of Africa, he said Africa has a lot to offer to the world. He charged investors to engage their African counterparts as the people of the continent and their governments prepare to take their destinies into their own hands so that they can take their rightful places in the world. He said Africa is on the move and eager to shake off past failures and other encumbrances due to blind colonial and cold-war alignments and sheer bad governance. According to him, the new Africa being envisioned is one built through partnership between investors and others who believe in this pattern. The three-day engagement is themed: Partners in Development, Building New Synergies. The engagement has assembled some 500 delegates alongside ministers and heads of governments from over 40 countries in Africa. Thirteen chapters of such conclaves have been held making it an outstanding conference of Indian and African governments and industry, during which they chart new courses towards the improvement of the business environments in their countries. The Vice President had his audience clapping when he introduced them to innovations by President Akufo-Addo, some of which are novelties on the continent. The free SHS and the mobile money interoperability were some of his disclosures which had his listeners clapping loudly. With over 1.2 billion population and a combined GDP of US$2.24trillion, Africas emerging markets offer great chances for economic growth, Dr. Bawumia indicated. He announced that the leaders of Africa had already started moves intended to make trading on the continent less cumbersome as contained in the Africa Unions Agenda 2063, which is the bodys long-term objective for a prosperous continent. Recalling the AUs vision for remarkable freedom of air transport, he said the Single African Air Transport Market (SAAT) was launched as a project and it is a flagship of the continental body. Enhanced air connectivity, improved intra-African trade, expanded markets through continental economic integration and free movement of people provide greater business opportunities, he stressed. Dr. Bawumia issued a rallying cry for constructive dialogue and charged his audience not to depart from the conclave without concrete engagements in business partnerships in key strategic areas. Some of the Indian businesses represented during the engagements have presence in Ghana. One of them is engaged in the construction of the Accra to Akosombo railway project, having constructed the Jubilee House project at the behest of then Defence Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor. 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 Lt. Gen. Dennis Gyllensporre of Sweden - Force Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) reviews the Chinese peacekeeping force during the UN Peace Medal of Honor awarding ceremony held by MINUSMA on March 7, 2019. (Photo by Jia Chunming) By Ma Debao At present, the world is changing at a pace that hasnt been seen in the past one hundred years, and Chinas national security is under a more and more complex, comprehensive and changeable circumstance. China did not increase its military spending this year despite rapid economic development. This is because China considers military expenditure not only from the perspective of defense need and the possibility of economic support, but also from the political perspective, reflecting the responsibility to maintain world peace. Responsibility-oriented In recent years, while the international environment has developed in a peaceful and stable manner in general, some contradictions and problems have accumulated. Some countries pursue unilateralism, constantly quitting international treaties and organizations, provoking global trade wars, and increasing military spending especially in high-end strategic sectors such as space, network technology, and nuclear power, thus seriously impacting world peace and stability. To tackle these shocks, some countries have increased the development of countering armed forces and accelerated the pace of combat preparations. Under such circumstances, China continues to adhere to the consistent policy of not engaging in an arms race with any country, has not substantially increased military spending, and joins hands with international society to prevent the militarization of international relations. It is a manifestation of responsibility and courage. Peace-oriented Chinas peace-oriented approach is not only enshrined in China's traditional culture, but also has risen to the level of a conscious national strategy. In that case, its impossible for China to take the initiative to resolve conflicts with other countries in the form of war or threat of war, regardless how small or weak the opponents are. The conscious constraints of cherishing peace have effectively restrained military spending in this peaceful environment. Defense-oriented Chinese people never recognize the idea of a strong country is bound to seek hegemony. The white paper Chinas Military Strategy released by the Chinese government in 2015 publicly declared to the world that China still pursues a national defense policy that is purely defensive in nature and a military strategy of active defense. At the same time, China unswervingly defends its core interests. At any time, no country or no one should expect China to take actions that will harm its core interests. Compared to strategic offensives, the resource requirements for implementing strategic defenses are relatively small. China's modest increase in military spending is only a quarter of the U.S. military budget in 2019 in absolute value. This increase is acceptable given Chinas defensive strategy. People-oriented China is the largest developing country in the world with a population of nearly 1.4 billion. In 2018, the per capita GDP has not yet reached the global average level although the total GDP exceeded 90 trillion yuan. Judging from the human development index, Chinas development level is still relatively backward and there are some obvious weaknesses. From the 35-trillion-yuan budget allocation of Chinas central government fiscal expenditure in 2019, the defense spending increased by only 7.5 percent, while science and technology spending increased by 13.4 percent. According to the budget, the central general public budget expenditure is 33.94 trillion yuan, and the military expenditure only accounted for about 3.5 percent. In the U.S., the fiscal expenditure of the federal government in fiscal year 2019 totaled 4.407 trillion U.S. dollars. The military expenditures reached 716 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 16 percent of the total fiscal expenditure. The comparison shows that China pays more attention to investing its limited financial resources in promoting economic and social development. In a peaceful environment, the political orientation of Chinas military spending is long-term and stable. Only when the war is approaching, would China rapidly increase its military spending (The author is with the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese PLA.) The Vice President and head of Ghana's economic management team, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will answer questions relating to the state of Ghana's economy at a town hall meeting on April 3, 2019, at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra. The town hall meeting, which is aimed at briefing Ghanaians about developments in Ghana, forms part of a new initiative announced by the Ministry of Information on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Addressing a press briefing, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said Dr Bawumia's address will focus on updating the nation on "the economic gains that have been made so far, the current status and the next steps as well". "... The Ministry of Information is just about rolling out the 2019 Town Hall Meetings and it starts on the 29th of March 2019 with a maiden townhall meeting in Kasoa at the Datus School Park," Mr Oppong Nkrumah said. "The town hall meetings are designed to bring government closer to the people and shall, therefore, see state actors such as Ministers of state, MMDCEs and head of agencies give an account to the people who will also have an opportunity to ask questions and make contributions towards the governance of our country." "In all, we expect to have 24 town hall meetings this year 2019. The town hall meetings represent a major shift in government's policy to make information easily accessible and usable to the public here in Ghana and in the diaspora as well". Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the town hall meetings will be accompanied by an exhibition by the ISD which will provide pictorial and audio-visual evidence of the first three years of change of President Akufo-Addo's administration. Mr Oppong Nkrumah further disclosed that the third town hall meeting will be held at the Dominion Centre in North London and addressed by the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. He said the session will afford Ghanaians in the diaspora the opportunity to get a first-hand account from leadership and put forward their concerns as well. Source: Graphic.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The country pays US$25million monthly for unused power, as existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) enjoin the state to pay for all megawatts produced whether they are consumed or not, Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has told Parliament. Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Friday, March 15, 2019, the sector minister said: The issue of take or pay without considering what Ghanaians will pay is gone. Under this presidents watch, we are beginning to consider a regime of take and pay. You cannot continue to pay for goods and services that you are not consuming; that era has gone. According to him, due to the numerous PPAs, the country has been saddled with overcapacity payments averaging about US$25million monthly. To minimise this, he said, We are engaging in renegotiating the PPAs to bring these costs down to the barest minimum in the interim. We believe that the issue of take and pay must begin to trickle down to every Ghanaian. We will continue to make sure that the highly excessive regime of tariffs being imposed will no longer be witnessed by any Ghanaian. Gas purchase agreements have been signed without considering what the benefit will be, and this government has taken the trouble to negotiate the OTCP price with the price brought down to a margin of US$2. That translates to about US$50million relief per annum for the consuming public, the minister noted. Ghanas power system experienced a number of network disturbances between March 12 and 13, 2019 which resulted in the interruption of power supply to customers. The disturbances were due to challenges at the newly-commissioned Accra Central substation. In his statement, he indicated that these challenges have occurred when there is already an on-going five-day outage that has been imposed on the 330kV transmission line between Tema and Aboadze for relocation of two towers on the line, at the request of the Ghana Highway Authority to enable construction of a new interchange at Pokuase. The fundamental cause of the blackout is the ongoing construction of the road interchange at Pokuase, which has necessitated the diversion of GRIDCos 330kV transmission line towers that run from Tema to Aboadze in the vicinity. This requires creating an outage of the entire line to undertake the diversion, he said. The power system of Ghana has an installed generation capacity of 4,775MW. Available generating capacity is 2,641 MV currently, with the maximum peak demand recorded so far in 2019 at around 2,600MW. It is expected that when some unavailable plants are brought back into operation, the quantum of available capacity will increase. For the power system to function effectively, all the components in the value chain namely generation, transmission and distribution must be in good shape. Therefore, you may have enough available capacity, but if the transmission system experiences a challenge, just like we witnessed in the past few days, we occasionally experience temporary outages. This is also true if the transmission system is intact but faces inadequate generation. The private sector participation in ECG that is meant to bring about improvement in the distribution subsector became effective on March 1, 2029, with the concessionaire, Power Distribution Service (Gh) Limited, taking over the assets and operations of ECG for a period of 20 years. To reduce dependence on liquid fuels and their attendant costs, the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Sankofa project was developed to utilise gas for power generation as a cheaper and cleaner substitute for liquid fuels. The OCTP Sankofa gas is ready, but the facilities to offtake the gas are not. We are currently making efforts to relocate the 450MW Karpowership, currently at Tema and running on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), to Sekondi and enable an offtake of 90MMbtu per day representing about 50% of OCTP gas production. This will minimise onerous potential take or pay obligations to GNPC and government under the OCTP agreement, he noted. The movement of the 450MW Karpowership from Tema to Sekondi-Takoradi will lead to the avoidance of gas transportation cost of US$1,68/MMbtu. That is, US$55million per annum the country would have paid for the transportation of gas. In spite of the ministers statement, the Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu-John Jinapor, maintained that the power sector as it stands now is financially bankrupt; and that the current debt overhang stands at GH13billion. These debts are mainly owed to GRIDCo and the Volta River Authority. He indicated that government is moving to renegotiate a new power purchase agreement, the take and pay arrangement which is expected to be more cost-effective, Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has told parliament. The Energy Minister has accused the previous NDC government of arranging a take or pay agreement which he says has incurred more cost to the country. Source: B&FT 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 Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey says the decision to obtain French as a second language is a major concern of the Government of Ghana, in line with national priorities. She reiterated plans by government to include the promotion of the learning of French in basic schools and across all other levels of learning, as part of a general reform of Ghanas education sector. The Hon. Foreign Minister however, regretted the inadequate number of French teachers in the country and limited learning and teaching materials, encouraging more participation and support in this area. Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey was addressing the opening session of the 2019 La Francophonie week in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, themed Say it in French...please. Ghana signed the Linguistic Pact with La Francophonie for improved technical support and capacity building for the teaching and learning of French in 2018. A move, according to Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, marked the start of a historical process, aimed at improving regional integration through the development of the French language across the country. We believe that the extensive teaching and learning of French will inure to the benefit of Ghana as we are bordered by three Francophone countries; namely, Togo, Burkina Faso and La Cote dIvoire, the Hon. Foreign Minister stressed. She intimated that prioritizing the French language in Ghana has become even more necessary now so as to further enhance relations for better cooperation at all levels with the countrys Francophone partners. The Ghanaian Foreign Minister opined that governments strong participation in this years Francophonie week celebrations also lends credence to the continued desire of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for Ghana to become a full Member of La Francophonie, since becoming an Associate Member in 2006. She recalled President Akufo-AddoS bold commitment at the last Summit of the La Francophonie held in Erevan, Armenia, in October 2018 to the organization. To that end, the President has appointed a Senior Presidential Staffer and French scholar, Dr. Stephen Adawen Syme, as the Focal Person for the coordination of La Francophonie activities in Ghana to ensure a seamless transition, Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey told the gathering . The objectives of La Francophonie include the promotion of peace and good governance, support for education, training and research, and promotion of the French language and cultural diversity, values the Hon. Foreign Minister is convinced is equally espoused by Ghana. Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey expressed the hope for continued support by the Council of La Francophonie Ambassadors for their contribution towards the development of the French language and La Francophonie in Ghana. The annual La Francophonie event, which will be held over a period of eight days, brought together representatives of the Francophone Embassies in Ghana and other stakeholders. Ghanas Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, was in attendance. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Majority Leader in Parliament, Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, has dismissed as untrue media reports that the Speaker, Rt Hon Mike Oquaye led administration is giving away some new buses to Members of Parliament under the guise of an auction. According to Hon Mensah-Bonsu, to the best of his knowledge, the House has not yet decided on whether to either sell or auction the buses as reported by the Herald Newspaper. Speaking on Okay FMs Ade Akye Abia Programme, he revealed that parliament discovered some challenges with the buses 6 months after its purchase, adding that the maintenance of the vehicles was too high. "So we decided to sell them in other to purchase new ones for the workers. It is true some 3 workers have applied as well as MPs, but I suggested to the House to allow those going on retirement to purchase them but nothing serious has been decided on them yet," he stated. He reiterated that Parliament has not made a final decision on how to dispose of the vehicles. The only agreement reached is to ask the State Transport Company to help in auctioning them, should it get to that point. Therefore the publication is false and must not be taken serious". Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[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 Date for a concert in memory of late Ghanaian artiste, Ebony born Priscilla Opuku Kwarteng has been announced. Dubbed Ebony Reigns Memorial Concert, it will be held at the West Hills Mall, Weija on March 29, 2019. There is no word yet on the artistes likely to perform at the concert. Ebony died on Thursday, February 8, 2018 when the vehicle she was travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with a VIP bus on the Kumasi-Sunyani road on her way back to Accra from Sunyani where she visited her mother. She was pronounced dead at the Bechem Government Hospital on the same day. Her funeral service was held at the forecourt of the State House, followed by a burial service at the Osu cemetery on Saturday, March 24, 2018. 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 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a statement, at 10 Downing Street, in London, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. May says it's a matter of "great personal regret" that U.K. won't leave the EU with a deal on March 29. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP) New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is urging lawmakers to join her in never uttering the name of the man accused of killing 50 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques last Friday. During an emotional address before Parliament Tuesday, Prime Minister Ardern said the suspected gunman "is a terrorist, he is a criminal, he is an extremist, but he will, when I speak, be nameless." "I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them," Ardern said. Authorities have accused 28-year-old Australian Brenton Harris Tarrant of committing the horrific attack. He is the only person in custody linked to the killings and has been charged with murder. Tarrant has not yet entered a plea. Media reports say he has refused a lawyer and will represent himself in court proceedings. His next court appearance is April 5. Prime Minister Ardern said her government will launch an inquiry into whether the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies missed any signs about Tarrant and his intentions. She also expressed her frustrations about U.S.-based social media giant Facebook for allowing Tarrant to livestream the attack, as well as the fact that the footage was still online four days later. "We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and what is said is not the responsibility of the place where they are published," Ardern said in her speech to parliament. "They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility." Facebook says it removed 1.5 million versions of the video of the massacre during the first 24 hours after the attack. Ardern has said she was one of more than 30 recipients of a 74-page white nationalist manifesto emailed by Tarrant nine minutes before his alleged attacks. In the manifesto, Tarrant allegedly denounced Muslims and called immigrants "invaders." The U.S. Department of Defense has diverted funding for military operations in Korea to build U.S. President Donald Trump's wall along the border with Mexico. Trump has had trouble getting funding for the controversial project due to opposition from Democrats, who have taken control of the House of Representatives, so he needs to cast around for money elsewhere. The diversion of funds is raising fears of a further weakening of the Seoul-Washington alliance after they scrapped large-scale joint drills. CNN on Tuesday published a 20-page report the Pentagon sent to Congress detailing areas of defense spending that will be appropriated for the border wall. It includes hundreds of defense-related projects around the world. The U.S. government allocated a budget of US$4.3 billion for those projects in 2018, and $6.8 billion has been set aside for them this year. The list contains defense-related construction projects without a budget. The construction projects in Korea mentioned in the report include a classified Theater Air Naval Ground Operations or "TANGO" military bunker in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province and a drone hangar at an air base in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. The Pentagon allocated $17.5 million for the "TANGO" bunker this year and $53 million for the drone hangar last year. In Japan, the only diverted funding listed is for a $10-million project at Kadena Air Base, but five U.S. bases in Germany are under review. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Pregnant women in areas with high levels of ultrafine dust pollution are at greater risk of giving birth prematurely, a study suggests. Women in large cities and in industrial areas are particularly susceptible. The National Cancer Center and Kyunghee University Hospital conducted a study of 1.74 million babies born from 2010 to 2013 and their mothers. It showed a close correlation between areas of high concentrations of ultrafine dust and premature birth. With the average annual level of 70 / considered safe by the World Health Organization as the standard, the study found that in areas with higher levels 7.4 percent of pregnant women gave birth prematurely while in areas with lower levels the figure was 4.7 percent. After correcting for other factors, the researchers concluded that women in areas above the WHO standard were still 1.57 times more prone to premature birth than those in below-standard regions. Women living in polluted areas were twice as likely to give birth to premature babies less than 32 weeks old. Making The Most Of It All The holidays came upon us quickly this year it feels like, but correspondingly we have gotten into the holiday spirit much earlier than usual! We... Letters To The Editor LIRR Station Concerns A copy of this letter was received at theoffices of the Queens Gazette. November 30th, 2021 Phillip Eng, MTA LIRR President Dear... North Korea's ambassadors to China, Russia, and the UN hastily returned to Pyongyang on Tuesday ahead of an expected statement from leader Kim Jong-un about his moratorium on nuclear and missile tests. Ambassadors to China Ji Jae-ryong, Russia Kim Hyong-jun, and the UN Kim Song took an Air Koryo flight from Beijing to Pyongyang on Tuesday afternoon, according to diplomatic sources. North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said during an urgent press conference last Friday that Kim Jong-un was considering putting a halt to negotiations with the U.S. and would soon announce a future action plan, including whether to scrap the moratorium. "Rumors are spreading fast that Kim Jong-un will hold a press conference on Wednesday," a diplomatic source in Beijing said. "It's possible that the gathering of North Korean envoys has something to do with this." Illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products to North Korea have more than doubled over the past year, South Korean military data suggest. The transfers aimed at evading tough import quotas set by the UN Security Council have taken place not only on the South China Sea but even on the West Sea as the North has become bolder amid dwindling supplies. But South Korea has done little to intercept them. According to data Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Baek Seung-joo obtained from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suspected cases of illegal transshipments involving North Korean vessels rose from around 60 in 2017 to around 130 last year. The figures are supported by evidence gathered by communications and satellite surveillance. A staffer at Baek's office said Tuesday, "These are clear instances of illegal transshipments that took place on the high seas and captured through communications surveillance activities." Although they took place primarily on the South China Sea, some occurred in the West Sea as well. A military source said some North Korean ships were caught near a South Korean port on the West Sea. Topeka, KS -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/20/2019 --AI Janosik Insurance Agency is a premier company that majorly serves the people belonging to the states of Kansas and Missouri, as well as its neighboring areas. 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They provide video and photo services to many surrounding areas in and around Los Angeles. Los Angeles Photo Team knows just what angles to shoot from in order to get the best quality photographs. This is what separates them from other e-commerce product photography in Los Angeles companies. Los Angeles Photo Team has experience shooting for e-commerce sites. Their e-commerce product photography in Los Angeles services have been the number one choice for many small businesses. They have photographed food items, home ware, clothing, and more. Los Angeles Photo Team is full of professionals who each have a passion and experience for videography and photography. E-commerce product photography in Los Angeles requires skills that are shown through LA Photo Team's work. About Los Angeles Photo Team Los Angeles Photo Team is the choice for e-commerce product photography in Los Angeles. They are able to do product photography for e-commerce sites with no problems. As experts in e-commerce product photography in Los Angeles, they have professional high-end equipment and attention to detail. Their photographs make it easy to display on social media or e-commerce websites. LA Photo Team is located at 11040 Santa Monica Boulevard Third Floor Studio LA California 90025 and you can get more information from their site https://www.laphototeam.com/product/ (310) 968-2962) Zurich, Switzerland -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/20/2019 --Beauty is skin deep, but learning lasts a lifetime. That is the business model of Metro Models, a Zurich-based modeling agency that has amassed a collection of models that turn heads with their CVs as much as with their headshots. "Ninety percent of our models are multilingual, and sixty percent have their college degrees," says Metro Models founder (and college professor) David Ratmoko. "We are a modeling agency that believes models should know more than just how to walk." As the modeling industry shifts to being driven by celebrities, athletes, actors, musicians and artists, Ratmoko argues that brands are increasingly looking to associate their products with inspirational people whose stories are as appealing as their looks. Among the budding superstars on Metro Models' talent list: Arthur Keller, 30, a Swiss model with a degree in economics who runs a financial consulting company in London. Arthur speaks fluent English and French. Sofya Titova, 23, from St. Petersburg Russia, who speaks fluent Russian, English and French. Sofya has a bachelor's degree in psychology and recently started a modeling agency of her own. Courtney Shallcross, 27, from Pittsburg, is also an airplane pilot, having first studied to become an airtraffic controller. She speaks English and German. Noella Coursaris, 37, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, graduated in business management and is the founder of a charity organization called Malaika, empowering and educating girls in he native DRC. She is fluent in French and English. "To bring out the best in young people, helping them to reach their full potential, has always been my goal, both as a professor and as a model agent", says Ratmoko. "In fact, it is a harmful stereotype to believe that beautiful people cannot cultivate their minds." David Ratmoko and the models of Metro Models are available for interviews about shifts in the modeling industry. To schedule an interview, contact Metro Models at info@metromodels.com. About Metro Models Founded in 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland, Metro Models is the first modeling agency focused on educating its talent on more than just runway etiquette. Metro Models are presented with not just their headshots and body types, but with biographies highlighting career achievement, education and personality. The company's complete roster can be found at www.metromodels.com. Contact David Ratmoko, Founder Email info@metromodels.com Phone +4176 5233876 Hyundai is investing US$300 million in Indian ride-hailing app Ola, the Korean carmaker said Tuesday. Hyundai vice chairman Chung Eui-sun met with Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal in Seoul to sign for what will be the largest investment the conglomerate has ever made in another company. Ola was established in 2011 and offers ride-hailing services in 125 cities around the world using 1.3 million vehicles, from tuk-tuks to luxury cars. A senior Hyundai executive said, "We used to sell cars to individual consumers, but future sales will often involve large volumes supplied to car-sharing services." He added the company will then be able to use mileage data, highway information and other big data from such companies to develop self-driving cars. *Preamble : I have two theories here that are entirely plausible. One is the Ismail Sabri Theory (well actually it is not a theory I think it is already... 4 hours ago Obtained by ABC News(BOSTON) -- A hate crime investigation is underway after 59 headstones were defaced and two were knocked over at a Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts, according to local police. Officers responded to the Hebrew Cemetery in Fall River Sunday afternoon after a maintenance worker discovered gravestones damaged with swastikas and anti-Semitic messages, including "expel the Jew" and "Hitler was right," according to police. It appeared the crime occurred Saturday or early Sunday morning, police said. A Bristol County Sheriff's deputy walked the grounds of the cemetery Wednesday as relatives of those whose graves were desecrated documented the vandalism. Robert Trestan, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in New England, called the crime "an inexcusable act of antisemitic hatred in the place where we honor and remember the lives of our community members." "We are grateful for the priority that this apparent hate crime is being given by the Fall River Police Department," Trestan said. The ADL said it's offering a $1,500 reward for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call Major Crimes Division Sgt. Tom Mauretti and Detective Moses Pereira at 508-324-2796. Anonymous tips can be submitted to 508-672-TIPS. The United States had seen a decline in expression of anti-Semitism over the past several decades -- until three to four years ago, when it started to rise, according to John Cohen, a former acting undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and current ABC News contributor. Of the 1,749 victims of anti-religious hate crimes in 2017, 58.1 percent were victims of crimes motivated by the perpetrators' anti-Jewish bias, according to statistics from the FBI. The rise in anti-Semitic expressions, according to Cohen, spans from harassment to vandalism to assault to murder to mass murder -- and "seems to be coinciding with a rise in public expressions of white supremacy." Social media plays a role, Cohen said, but he added, those who feel this way "feel empowered because they hear public officials using the language of their thought leaders and promoting the agenda of their organizations." "The themes promoted by white supremacist leaders and the language they use has now been promoted into mainstream political discourse," Cohen said. "[When] racist, mentally unwell, violence-prone individuals hear our elected officials promoting the ideological themes of white supremacy and anti-Semitism, then that serves to empower those people to action." Cohen said law enforcement is concerned anti-Semitic acts will get worse before they get better. Going forward, Cohen said, "The first step of dealing with the problem of anti-Semitism and extremist violence in this country is to acknowledge that the problem is actually here." "We've spent a lot of our political oxygen over the last three years focusing on the threat posed by foreign terrorist groups, the threat posed by immigrants," Cohen said. "The primary threat today is from individuals who become inspired by what they see online and on their own go out and commit an attack." Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Yangtze conservation paying off From:ChinaDaily | 2019-03-20 08:13 Waters of 'mother river' improve, while industrial transformation creates growth opportunities Over the past three years, Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co Ltd has shut down about one-third of its production capacity as well as four chemical waste discharge flues along the Yangtze River. The moves are in line with government calls for improving ecological protection and cleaning up China's "mother river", which has faced severe environmental challenges in recent years. Central government bodies and provincial authorities along the river have been prioritizing the protection of the Yangtze since 2016, when President Xi Jinping highlighted environmental restoration and protection in and around the country's longest waterway. Li Guozhang, chairman of Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co, said the company took the lead in shuttering plants near the river in 2016. He said that despite strong opposition from management, "we formed an understanding that lagging production capacity had to be eliminated and updated. The relocation was a challenge, but it was an opportunity if we grabbed the chance to upgrade our products." Three years after relocation projects began, the group has not laid off any employees but instead added 1,300 workers as its new operationsmicroelectronics and organic silicongained momentum, Li added. With an investment of about 2 billion yuan ($298 million), new business has taken up about 20 percent of Xingfa's overall operations. Xingfa is one of the petrochemical companies that shut down polluting production, and it has relocated production to new areas of Yichang, Hubei province, that are away from the river. The petrochemical industry has fueled strong growth in Yichang for years. Last year, Yichang achieved strong recovery, with GDP growth climbing to 7.7 percent from 2.4 percent in 2017. Its GDP reached more than 400 billion yuan. The transformation and update of traditional industries for a city like Yichang is a must, not an option, said Zhang Jiasheng, mayor of Yichang and a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature. "Only by taking initiatives will lagging industries have more opportunities," he said. Last year, the city continued its efforts to relocate petrochemical enterprises and close outdated production facilities. Two companies moved into industrial parks and three optimized their production structures. The city took the lead in the province in shutting down its coal mining industry, which had operated for about 200 years. This year, an additional four petrochemical companies will be closed, 18 will be updated and 14 relocated, Zhang said. The city government has set up a subsidy fund of 500 million yuan that from 2018 to 2020 is helping petrochemical companies relocate and optimize structures, with another 20 million yuan to develop technology to more efficiently extract phosphogypsum, the waste product of phosphorus-related production, to help reduce pollution. Innovations have stimulated the city's development and smoothed transformation to high-end and environmentally friendly industries, he added. The city has fostered biological medicine, electrical information, new materials and equipment manufacturing to drive its new economic growth. In 2018, the four sectors have taken up 38.1 percent of its industrial gross production value. Jiang Chaoliang, Party secretary of Hubei province and an NPC deputy, said Hubei has the longest stretch of the Yangtze, and is also home to the Three Gorges Dam, so a vibrant ecology and green development are top priorities in guiding the province to achieve high-quality development. In 2018, across the province, more than 100 petrochemical companies along the Yangtze were closed and relocated. To better preserve the ecology along the Yangtze, a systematic and national-level management network integrating related government sectors should be established to plan, regulate and guide the process, said Niu Xinqiang, head of the Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research. Overfishing and shipping have also contributed to the degradation of the fishing industry in the river, said Niu. Lack of proper waste disposal treatment is also a grave threat to the river. Cities along the river have to strengthen new infrastructure, better process sewage and enhance water conservation, he added. PM : Media front is no less important than the military front in face of aggression [20/March/2019] ANAA, March 20 (Saba) - Prime Minister Dr. Abdulaziz bin Habtoor on Tuesday congratulated the Yemeni media on their national day and praised the celebration on this occasion to gave it a national, moral and humanitarian dimension. During his participation in the event organized by the Ministry of Information in Sanaa on the occasion of the National Media Day and four years of Yemen's steadfastness, he referred to the strategic position of the media in the reality of nations and peoples especially the developed ones and its positive roles in building and development and forming positive public opinion. "We have followed the role of the media in the so-called Arab Spring in the disruption of society and to incite people on each other and feed intolerance and encourage fighting calls." The Prime Minister referred to the destructive approach followed by the enemy's media and the quality of the studied terms used by them and its circulation through its media means to change facts and create a public opinion interacting with its destructive projects, stressing in this regard on the great moral responsibility that the media should have to play an important role towards its society and homeland. In his speech, the Prime Minister highlighted the national vision for the further development of the structure of modern state of Yemen, which was approved by the Supreme Political Council after extensive discussion by the government and various constitutional institutions, official and community frameworks, including Yemeni universities and political and partisan organizations. He pointed out that the vision is a reading of the past, present and future of Yemen and a response to the slanders, lies and deception adopted by the US-saudi coalition of aggression and mercenaries since the beginning of their aggression to accuse the political thought of Ansaruallah. adding that "The position of the leader of the revolution, Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr al-Deen al-Houthi, was clear and strong when he said recently that the return to sectarianism, and racial is a call to ignorance, affirming that the rule of law and transparency is what Yemen wants to prevail." He pointed out that the government will embark on the immediate implementation of the vision while working on the continuous evaluation to confirm the readiness to build a modern Yemeni state, stressing that this great national work is only a continuation of Yemen's civilized human experience started by ancestors thousands of years ago. The Minister of Information, Dhaifallah Al-Shami, praised the media workers on the National Media Day. The Minister of Information referred also to the role of journalists, activists and writers from outside Yemen who represent part of this homeland and its steadfastness. He pointed out that the celebration of the media National Day of Information represents a revival of values and principles of media message, pointing out that President al-Mashat ordered to seek funding for a radio station belonging to Radio Sanaa, the general program to cover the southern provinces and the coastal areas. He pointed out that the engineering sector in the Ministry of Information and the Yemeni General Corporation for Radio and Television has repaired three radio stations from 15 airfields bombed by the coalition which were installed to strengthen the broadcasting in Saada, Najran, Jizan and Asir regions, as well as Hodeidah and the western coast. "There are achievements in the Yemeni satellite T.V. channel and various media and channels at the level of programs and coverage of news and reports and we are keen to develop a strategy to transfer news from the fronts," he said. Minister al-Shami said that the Ministry of Information invited foreign media to visit Yemen and had received requests made by 226 international media outlets and international networks. He pointed out that 83 media outlets were only able to reach Yemen to convey the voice of truth, while the coalition had prevented 143 intentional media means from entering. He pointed out that the United Nations has been approached to transfer representatives of the media on its planes, but apologized after agreeing due to prevention by the coalition from the entry of any journalist to Yemen. AA Saba Army denies targeting headquarters of coalition's representatives in Joint Commission [20/March/2019] ANAA, March 20 (Saba) - Spokesman for the Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sarie, on Tuesday denied the authenticity of the reports published by the US- saudi aggression coalition's media outlets about the army targeting the headquarters for representatives of aggression coalition in the Joint Commission for Ceasefire in Hodeidah. The allegation of the coalition, their mercenaries and their media is incorrect and comes within the framework of covering their continuous violations and their great reinforcements as well as comes within the framework of a clear and explicit settlement in an attempt to evade their obligations concern implementation of the Sweden agreement, he affirmed. "The coalition's position is no longer hidden even on the members of the UN team itself, who were targeted in their residence more than ten times in the Itihad Palace, Sarie added. The spokesman of the armed forces affirmed that the coalition' troops continue their intensive violations in Hodeidah on a daily basis indifferent to the Security Council resolutions and international efforts to achieve peace in Yemen, where their violations have exceeded, since the declaration of the cease-fire in Hodeidah on 18 December 2018 until yesterday, more than 13031 monitored violation. "We have repeatedly stressed our seriousness and commitment to the implementation of the Sweden agreement and the UN Security Council resolution as a moral aspect and our forces have begun implementing the first phase of the redeployment in Hodeidah, but the coalition aggression and their mercenaries have not respected their obligations and tried to disavow them and impede the implementation of the agreement," he affirmed. AA Saba To intensify the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would interact with people, mainly security guards, across the country through audio bridge technology on Wednesday a day ahead of Holi, the festival of colours. The Prime Minister will again on March 31 address the people who have pledged support to the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" through video conferencing. BJP media cell convenor Anil Baluni, who announced the two events of the Prime Minister, said that the campaign initiated has been turning into "a mass movement". "The outreach programme, which is already turning into a mass movement, is aimed at the common man of the country who silently work in the background and as such is one of the invisible pillars of the country. The address with chowkidars on March 20 is a significant step towards meeting the objectives of 'antyodaya' and 'sabka saath sabka vikas'," Baluni said in a statement. He said under the campaign on Twitter, at least 20 lakh people came out to support it and tweeted on their accounts with hashtag 'MainBhiChowkidar. Earlier, BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media that while the movement was becoming popular among the common man, those who were out on bail and facing various legal action were troubled by it. "Over one crore people have joined the campaign and it is now a people's movement. PM Narendra Modi will interact with those pledged for it at 500 locations in the country via video conference on March 31,: he said. Not Delhi but from one of these locations, Modi may address the 'Chowkidars', who include political workers, leaders, professionals, farmers, sanitation workers, retired armed force personnel, the youth, sportsmen, women, among others, he added. While the campaign was becoming popular among the people, there were some who opposed it, the Minister said. "Those who are out on bail with their families or have something to hide are opposing the movement. Some people are saying 'Chowkidar' is for the rich. These are the same people who looted about 12 lakh crore from poor people," he said. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Modi last week tweeted a video with hashtag '#MainBhiChowkidar' (I am also a watchman) and called all those fighting corruption, dirt and social evils a 'watchman'. BJP leaders have added 'Chowkidar' before their names on Twitter. China on Tuesday told the international community not to target Pakistan following the Pulwama suicide bombing in Kashmir and said it will stand by Islamabad during testing times and firmly support its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The two long-standing allies at a meeting of Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Shah Mehmood Qureshi discussed the Pulwama attack which killed 40 CRPF troopers and led to a major crisis in India-Pakistan relations. Qureshi told his Chinese counterpart about the increase in what he claimed were violations of human rights of Kashmiris in India after the attack. Qureshi also said that Pakistan "was and is" ready for a dialogue with India to arrest the deteriorating bilateral situation which he said could have spiralled out of control after India bombed a terrorist training camp at Balkot. The two Ministers met under the framework of China-Pakistan strategic dialogue in Beijing a week after China for the fourth time blocked a resolution at the UN to declare JeM leader Masood Azhar an international terrorist. His outfit claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Pakistan is faced with international opprobrium for not acting tough against terror outfits at home, with France sanctioning Azhar and freezing his assets. On Tuesday, China came to the defence of its ally Pakistan, again asking other countries not to vilify it. "No matter how things change in the world and in the region, China will firmly support Pakistan in upholding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and dignity," Wang said. Wang said that a peaceful and stable South Asia was in the common interest of regional counties. "China commends the constructive efforts taken by Pakistan to ease the situation. We call Pakistan and India to exercise restraint and peacefully resolve their differences." After the Indian air raid, Pakistan tried to pay back in kind by scrambling its fighter jets which led to a dogfight with Indian jets. Both sides lost one jet each while an India pilot was captured by Pakistan, only to be released within days. Fourteen months after he fled India, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Wednesday arrested in London on charges of defrauding on a huge loan taken from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), official sources said. Police made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. He will be produced before a court later in the day. The Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi in July 2018 at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The businessman's whereabouts were a mystery as he had been spotted in New York, Hong Kong and other cities. Along with his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group, Nirav Modi left the country before the CBI formally started investigating the PNB scam. The ED had on May 24 and 26 last year filed chargesheets against both men. Non-bailable warrants were also issued against them. The development came days after the The Telegraph newspaper in Britain claimed that Modi was spotted in London. Accused in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case, Nirav Modi was living in a three-bedroom flat, occupying half the floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, The Telegraph reported. The report also claimed Nirav Modi was involved in a new diamond business, run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his apartment. The new business was incorporated in May 2018, it said. An extradition request against him had been pending before the UK authorities since September last year. The ED on February 26 attached Rs 147 crore worth of property of Nirav Modi and his associate companies in connection with the PNB case. Currently a parking lot for Petco Park VIPs, the asphalt rectangle sandwiched between the Padres stadium and an MTS parking garage is once again being looked at for a major project. The site in question, known as Ballpark Village Parcel D, received a large density bonus from San Diegos City Council on Tuesday. Council members voted unanimously to reinstate an expired provision that allows the owners JMI Realty and Lennar Homes (operating as Ballpark Village LLC) to build something nearly double the size normally allowed. The decision paves the way for a big, stadium-adjacent development, although specifics are unknown. This would allow the developer to develop a larger project than would otherwise be permitted on the site, said Jeff Zinner, senior project manager with Civic San Diego, the citys downtown planning agency. It facilitates the developers ability to market and develop plans for a specific Parcel D development. Advertisement Located southeast of Park Boulevard and south of Imperial Avenue, Parcel D is a cornerstone of the 24-block ballpark district surrounding Petco Park, and one of the last areas ripe for development. JMI Realty, former Padres owner John Moores real estate company, master-planned the East Village district, which voters approved in 1998 with the idea that financing for the stadium would come from taxes generated by surrounding development. The parcel in question is governed by the terms of whats called the Ballpark Village Owner Participation Agreement. The contract dictates land uses and owner obligations, including affordable housing stipulations and a $4 million payment for the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge. It was originally executed by the citys former redevelopment agency in January 2006, and is currently managed by Civic as the agency was dissolved in 2012. The agreement included a provision that gave JMI and Lennar the option to transfer density from the ballpark to the parcel, increasing the total building area by 804,032 square feet. That allowance, however, expired in 2016, and only recently became of renewed interest to the owners. In August, JMI President John Kratzer petitioned Civic San Diego in a letter to have the density bonus reinstated, noting that the city would collect more tax revenue from a larger development on the site. Kratzer also explained some of the reasons why the firm let its 2016 deadline lapse. (Ballpark Village LLC) was actively negotiating the development of a proposed convention hotel with Marriott International, Inc. in 2006-2007, but these negotiations were ultimately terminated due to uncertainty created by allegations of potential violations by former Centre City Development Corporation President Nancy Graham, he wrote in the letter. The investigations were not completed until 2008, so the sites timeframes were significantly delayed by these events. Then, in 2008, a severe economic downturn further impeded the firms ability to market the property, Kratzer said. Instead, JMI and Lennar focused their attention on the adjacent Ballpark Village parcel, Parcel C, which they sold to Greystar in 2015. That site at Park Boulevard and 12th Avenue is now home to the 37-story Park 12 apartment complex that towers over Petco Park. Tuesdays council action suggests a renewed interest in whats left of the long-promised village and hints at a major development on the horizon. However, no project has been submitted to Civic for formal consideration, Zinner said. JMI did not respond to requests to discuss its plan for the site. Business jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin At $250,000, the price tag for a National City home is hard to beat. But its about the size of a studio apartment and falling apart. Listed for sale on L Avenue is a 500-square-foot lot, with a 94-year-old house occupying 98 percent of it. Depending on how you look at it, it is either the last gasp of a market that has overheated or a screaming deal in a region that has largely stopped building single-family homes. Listing agent Nicole Kaemerle said the home is located in a nice area, and the cost to rehab the property now completely gutted may not be too expensive because it is so small. Advertisement Honestly, the most run down property on this street was this property, she said. I think it is pretty reasonably priced. Its your own lot. Its not connected to anything. The home, located at 1725 L Ave., is in extreme disrepair and has the smallest lot size of any single-family property for sale in the county. White paint is chipping off the exterior of the 490-square-foot home, windows are broken, there are signs of water damage, and all thats left of the interior is the wooden frame. Despite all the work likely involved in making the property livable, it has a few positives in the competitive San Diego market. The home is not in a Mello-Roos tax district, where a special tax is levied in addition to property tax to pay for infrastructure. Nor is it subject to any homeowner association fees. New single-family homes are becoming more of a rarity in San Diego County, which has seen a shift to multifamily construction as developers choose to build higher density projects. The county had 3,389 building permits pulled for single-family homes in 2018, down 15 percent from the previous year, said the Construction Industry Research Board. This 500-square-feet home listed for sale on L Avenue in National City, list for $250,000.00. The inside of the home has been gutted down to the studs. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) Gary Kent, a La Jolla-based real estate agent, said a better value would be a resale condo that is around the same cost, in a different neighborhood, with less work needed. If youre going to find (a single-family house) in the $250,000 range, that fits the bill, he said of the National City home. But its not a great area, its a small lot, small house, one bedroom, beat up. Financing for a buyer would be difficult because the home is gutted, likely requiring a cash sale. Property records show the National City home, packaged with three other adjacent homes, together sold in late 2018 for $860,000 to a Los Angeles County-based corporation called David A Thompson MD Inc Profit Sharing. Kaemerle said the owner eventually plans to sell the remaining homes. A $250,000 house for sale in West Virginia (Trulia) There are eight homes for sale in San Diego County that are 500 square feet and under, although most are in areas that are more than an hour commute from downtown San Diego. Several of the properties, which could be considered cabins, are in Palomar Mountain, Campo and Spring Valley. The most expensive tiny home, at $1.3 million, has similar dimensions to the National City house but with ocean views. The home, at 4541 Orchard Ave. in Point Loma, is 448 square feet but has a lot size of 8,115-square-feet. Heres what $250,000 could get a buyer in other markets: 5153 Babbit Dr., Troy, Michigan This three-bedroom, two-bathroom house sits on a 10,018-square-foot lot. The home, built in 1969, is 1,656 square feet. The suburban colonial-style Detroit home has a pool, fireplace and was remodeled four years ago. 4402 Staunton Ave SE, Charleston, West Virginia This 1,976-square-foot home on a 1.38-acre lot has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Built in 1946, the home boasts a two-car garage and a deck that overlooks the large backyard. 805 11th Street, Arapahoe, Nebraska This three-bedroom, two-bath house has a beauty salon with three styling chairs on the first floor, as well as a hot tub, patio and tanning bed. Built in 1975, the .30-acre lot is close to several schools. 2730 S Avondale Ct., Sioux Falls, South Dakota This three-bedroom, two bath 1,845-square-foot house sits on a 8,341-square-foot lot. Built in 1995, the house has vaulted ceilings and a basement. 1101 N Haven Cir., Lynn Haven, Florida The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house is 1,978 square feet and sits on a 5,340-square-foot lot. Built in 2009, the home is in the suburbs of Panama City. Business phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar ALSO Is San Diego County done building single-family homes? San Diego County apartment rush continues. More than 4,500 planned for 19 New Tijuana condo towers will hit record heights Women on tour stayed to get work as domestics From:Shanghai Daily | 2019-03-20 08:29 Four Filipinos who entered China on a group-visitor visa but left their tour group to overstay have been sentenced to deportation as well as imprisonment, detention and fines of up to 3,000 yuan (US$447), the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Peoples Court said yesterday. The four women, whose names were not released by the court, wanted to stay in China to make money by working as maids. The chief culprit was given seven months in jail with deportation and a fine of 3,000 yuan, while her three accomplices all got six-month detentions, fines of 1,000 yuan and deportation. According to the court, the chief culprit found the nations household service market is profitable, and that Filipino maids are especially popular among the employers. She came up with an idea that she could bring her family members and friends to China. She then contacted her neighbor and two sisters, asking them to apply for a group-visitor visa to China. On September 8 last year, the three women arrived in the city with a tour group. On the third day of their tour, the trio got their passports back from the guide and left the tour. They were taken to the chief culprits residence and waited for a job. Their guide reported the missing women to police. The four women were captured by police officers on September 11. The four did not appeal. The U.S. Army has put a price tag on releasing the results of water tests for a dangerous contaminant at military installations: nearly $300,000. In a March 12 letter, the Army told the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, that the military would charge the group $290,400 to provide records of water tests at 154 installations for a family of compounds known as PFAS, which federal authorities say appear linked to certain cancers and other health and developmental problems. Formally called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS are found in firefighting foam used at military bases and are in a wide range of nonstick and stain-resistant consumer products. First made after World War II, the tough compounds have been dubbed forever chemicals because they are expected to take hundreds or thousands of years to break up. A deputy assistant Defense secretary, Maureen Sullivan, told a House panel this month that the Defense Department has identified 401 military sites where it believes PFAS were used and has found 24 U.S. military drinking water systems around the world with PFAS levels above the current U.S. advisory level. Advertisement Environmental attorneys asked for the water test records under the federal Freedom of Information Act. We are really trying to get the full scope of the problem, and it seems like the Pentagon has that data, said Melanie Benesh, one of the attorneys who made the request. The results also would be of interest to ordinary people and communities that are worried about water contamination but may not have lawyers able to wrangle with the Pentagon and certainly dont have the money to pay for this kind of information, Benesh said. The Army declined to comment. In the Armys letter, attorney Paul DeAgostino said the environmental groups request was too broad and asked the group to narrow it. Complying with the request would take an estimated 6,400 work hours, he wrote. The environmental group said it submitted an appeal on Wednesday. Federal toxicologists in a draft study last year cited the compounds links to cancer and other health problems and said the substances are dangerous in drinking water at levels far below the current Environmental Protection Agency advisory level. An email first obtained by Politico showed officials in President Donald Trumps administration calling the draft study a potential public relations nightmare. Many lawmakers, public health officials and others increasingly are urging the EPA to regulate PFAS, which local officials are finding in many public water systems around the country. The EPA held a series of national hearings on the substances last year. Federal agencies typically waive fees for processing open-records requests for journalists, nonprofit advocacy or education groups or others seeking release of public records for the purposes of public education. Three Navy and Marine offices that the group also asked for the results of the water tests waived the processing fees, Benesh said. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. After 66 years, Alpine Elementary School will be shutting its doors at the end of this school year. In its place is a plan for something residents of this rural mountain town in East County have been seeking for more than 25 years a high school. There is now a letter of intent between Alpine Union School District and Grossmont Union High School District to formalize a process to bring high school options to Alpine, Alpine Superintendent Rich Newman said. A small high school could open on the site as soon as September of this year, Newman said. Adult education courses will also be part of a restructured campus. Advertisement The Alpine Union School District board voted 4-1 on Tuesday to close Alpine Elementary School, with board member Joe Perricone voting against the closure. The school serves students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. The closure will leave five schools in the district Boulder Oaks Elementary School, Shadow Hills Elementary School, Creekside Early Learning Center, Mountain View Learning Academy and Joan MacQueen Middle School. The district intends to move 114 of the schools 158 students, those in grades 1-4, to Boulder Oaks next school year. Boulder Oaks, on Tavern Road, currently has 272 students enrolled. Shadow Hills is a Spanish Immersion school on Harbison Canyon Road. Alpine Elementarys six full-time teachers are being retained, Newman said, but plans have not been formalized for where they will be placed. Alpine Elementary School, which opened for 500 students on Alpine Boulevard in 1953, will hold its last day of classes on June 13. Im heartbroken and so are my kids, said April Daniel, the schools PTSA president and art docent volunteer. Daniel has two children attending Alpine Elementary and another who graduated from the school and now goes to Joan MacQueen. She said she will be sending her youngest child to a charter school in Alpine. Its a big deal and there are a lot of hurt people, she said. This school has been amazing and the teachers really care for the kids. I absolutely want the best for our community and support our school board but it is devastating. I love our school. While Daniel and several other parents of students at Alpine Elementary School say they are unhappy about the closure, Newman said declining enrollment at the school for several years forced the districts hand. Closing a school is something a district never wants to do, Newman said. He said that 10 forums five for the community, five for staff have been held in the past three years to discuss options. A thought exchange was launched earlier this year that engaged the entire town of about 15,000, asking them to weigh in with ideas about the future of all the schools in the district. Newman said that the districts task force assigned to look into the issue received more than 500 suggestions, and 30,000 ratings through online outreach about possible changes. Another plan examined by the task force was to move the districts nearly 250 kindergarten students from Creekside to elementary schools. He said that offering high school options on the campus is something the community has been waiting for. Alpine has had a great desire for 20-plus years for a high school here, Newman said. Both boards realize the importance of serving all of our students from our entire community. This is the beginning of something we hope provides options for our students to have. As we start, the high school will be small but we are just happy to be part of the process of giving the community options. Grossmont Union High School District Superintendent Tim Glover said his district has been having discussions with Alpine for several months regarding potential programs and services targeting high school and adult school students as part of a satellite program option. Glover said the collaboration between the districts is not a first. At this time last year, we partnered with Alpine to provide buses and home-to-school transportation, Glover said. Since 2002, Alpine has been trying to create an independent educational district, one that unifies a high school with its elementary schools and lone middle school. Alpine serves about 1,750 students in grades K-8; the Grossmont Union High School District schools about 22,000 students. After finishing eighth grade at MacQueen, students in Alpine typically go to Granite Hills High School in El Cajon or Steele Canyon Charter High School in Jamul. In January 2018, the state Board of Education denied Alpines bid to add a high school to the rural towns K-8 district. That decision came on the heels of an appellate court decision upholding findings by a Superior Court judge that the Grossmont district did not have to build a high school for Alpine. In February 2018, the Alpine and Grossmont school districts reached an accord after three years of court battles. The truce also included the Alpine Taxpayers for Bond Accountability, a group that was also fighting the Grossmont district. A joint statement released by the school districts last year declared that neither Alpine group would fight a California Court of Appeals decision about the matter. karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com The All Tribes American Indian Charter School in Valley Center was recognized by the California Charter Schools Association for its work educating Native American students. On March 12, the schools founders and administrators, Michelle Parada and Mary Ann Donohue, received the Hart Vision Award at the 26th Annual Charter Schools Conference in Sacramento. The California Charter Schools Association bestows the annual award to recognize achievements of charter public schools, leaders, teachers and advocates in honor of Gary K. Hart, retired state senator, former California Secretary of Education and author of Californias charter public school legislation. Native American students in California have long seen achievement gaps in public schools, and scored 36.8 points below grade level standards for English language arts, and 73 points below grade level standards for math in 2018, according to the California School Dashboard. Advertisement Parada and Donohue founded All Tribes American Indian Charter School in 2001 to address problems in the Native American community including low high suicide and dropout rates, along with low academic performance and low graduation rates. Their drive and passion to provide a quality education to all students helped change how much the community valued a public education, the charter school association said in a statement about the award. The K-12 school combines academic instruction in the context of Native American culture, according to its website. It aims to help students develop positive self images about their identity, to see their culture affirmed, and engage with people who care for them at school. There are 96 students enrolled at the school, which serves students from San Diego area reservations, including the San Pasqual and Pala Bands of Mission Indians, and the Pauma, Rincon and La Jolla Bands of Luiseno Indians, as well as other students from the general area. Besides founding the charter school, Parada and Donohue provide foster care, and offer housing, financial, and emotional support to the school community, to make sure that students have the help they need to succeed in school, according to the charter school association. deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan A large housing development long-planned for the Pala area in North County has been withdrawn just weeks before it was scheduled for an important hearing before the countys Planning Commission. The Warner Ranch project would have been built on private property north of state Route 76 about six miles east of Interstate 15 and just west of the Pala Casino & Resort. It called for construction of 780 dwelling units on 513 acres. It is now dead. First proposed 14 years ago, the project had faced numerous delays but was finally expected to go before the commission on April 5 and possibly later this year before the Board of Supervisors. Advertisement But late last week, developer Ali Shapouri informed the county he was withdrawing Warner Ranch from future consideration following discussions with county planners, who had prepared a report recommending the project be denied. Shapouri on Wednesday said the decision was made based not on fear that the county would deny the project but rather on the prospect of years of legal battles and other challenges after approval was won. He said investors have spent millions of dollars planning the development and faced the prospect of spending millions more battling lawsuits from environmental groups, the Pala Indian tribe and others. He also said the feasibility of the project, the goal of which was to provide work force housing in the area for hundreds of casino employees, diminishes as time passes and construction costs rise. Further, he said, a recent court decision invalidating the countys greenhouse gas emission requirements threatened to further delay any new construction as an appeal works its way through the courts. He said backers of the project are now re-evaluating what could happen in the future with the land, including the possibility of building estate-style homes under current zoning guidelines that would not require an amendment to the countys General Plan. At the end of the day, its unfortunate because I think the county lost a pretty tremendous stock of work force housing in the area which is really needed, he said. The withdrawal met with cheers from environmental groups and others who have opposed Warner Ranch and other large unincorporated North County housing projects such as Newland Sierra and Lilac Hills Ranch. This is very positive news for patterns of growth and development in the unincorporated parts of the county, said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League. We are very pleased about it and hope this indicates a new direction. County planners had penned a report that would have been presented to the planning commission next month saying there were too many inconsistencies with the countys General Plan for it to be approved. Foremost was a condition that had to be met to win an amendment that a project be located near a village or town that can offer basic services to a community. But the only village claimed by backers was the small town of Pala and the casino and resort, both of which are on tribal land. County guidelines specifically say any such villages must be located in areas controlled by the county. Indian reservations are sovereign lands, exempt from county regulations. Additionally, the Pala Band of Mission Indians has been strongly opposed to the development for years for various reasons including traffic and water use. The tribe has long shown its willingness to legally battle any incursions into areas near their reservation and the Warner Ranch plans were no exceptions. The development would have been surrounded on three sides by the reservation. Attorney Walter Rusinek, who represents the Pala tribe, said its been clear for some time that the countys own planning staff felt the project was filled with General Plan inconsistencies. It was leapfrog development in the clearest sense, Rusinek said. They tried to show that Pala would be providing services like any town would but there are none of those services there. Several years ago, plans to build a landfill west of the Pala reservation were finally quashed when the tribe purchased part of the land where the dump would be constructed. Rusinek said it is way too early to say if the same fate might be in the future for the Warner Ranch property. Shapouri said the land is not for sale. jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones Manuel Bojorquez understands the challenges English-language learners at the elementary school he oversees in San Ysidro face because he was once in their shoes. When his family moved from Tijuana to National City, Bojorquez, then 10, didnt read, write or speak English. It was a challenge, said Bojorquez, now the principal at Willow Elementary School. Like their principal, English-language learners at Willow a group that makes up 77 percent of the student population have been able to overcome the obstacles that come with learning a new language. Advertisement Under Bojorquezs leadership, during his first three years as principal, the rate at which English-language learners have become fluent in English increased fourfold. The achievement was spotlighted when Bojorquez was named Elementary Principal of the Year by the San Diego County School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators Region 18, which encompasses both San Diego and Imperial counties. Bojorquez, who is in his eighth year as Willows principal, will receive the award in May. Its a team effort, he said in a recent interview, giving much of the credit to teachers. Bojorquez oversees about 800 students at a school that is located just a mile north of the San Ysidro Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. The percentage of students at Willow who are learning English almost 80 percent is higher than the percentage across the San Ysidro School District, at 60 percent. The greatest challenge for students learning English is being taught a range of subjects math, language arts and so on in a language (English) they dont yet master. With that comes the need to study harder, spend more time reading, spend more time speaking the language, Bojorquez said. The sooner students become fluent in English, the sooner they are able to learn other subjects with less struggles. Yet, outside the classroom, most students are immersed in a cross-border lifestyle dominated by their native language: Spanish. The opportunity for practice and growth can be limited, Bojorquez said. That means time spent learning in class is crucial. Its no surprise much of the focus in the classrooms is on English-language development, including areas such as vocabulary. The last 45 minutes of every class is reserved to improve students English-language skills, Bojorquez said Teachers, with the help of aides, also work with students in small groups on English-language development and language arts, among other subjects. Additional support is offered in small groups through so-called intervention programs before and after school for students to improve their English-language skills. Throughout the school year, teachers monitor the progress. Students are assessed at the classroom level on multiple subjects every six or seven weeks. Teachers use the scores to compile and review data to plan their lessons. All that is structured, Bojorquez said. And the collaboration has helped us to build up the academic gains that were seeing. To be reclassified a term for students who become fluent in English students must pass at least two school assessments, score at a proficient level on a state exam and receive a recommendation by a teacher. Learning English is not the only barrier most students at Willow face. Almost 40 percent are homeless and 80 percent are low-income, creating a burden on families to support their children. Its a situation that builds stress on (students), Bojorquez said, and then we expect them to learn. To help families and minimize the impacts of outside challenges on students academics, Willow offers a range of programs and services, including a mobile health clinic that visits once a month, a pantry service that is available twice a month and English classes for parents, as well as workshops. Bojorquez, who received a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from UC San Diego and a masters degree in educational administration, said he identifies with the children and families he sees day in and day out. The impacts on their lives is what drives him, he said. We are very fortunate to work in this profession, Bojorquez said. We are in a position to make change. We are in a position to build a future. Bojorquez has worked for the district for 24 years, including as a teacher and vice principal. He and his wife, Elvia Cervantes, have two daughters, Daniela Maria (who attends Montgomery High School) and Maria Estela (who attends Southwestern College). Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com Phone: (619) 293-1876 Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez Fashion expert Carson Kressley and interior designer Thom Filicia, two of the original cast members of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, reunited on Bravo with Get A Room with Carson & Thom, a show Kressley describes as, a sassy, best-friend buddy comedy with a hearty dose of great information about interior design. (Missed it? Season 1 is re-airing now.) We caught up with the slaying superheroes of style to get their take on the crimes of interior design, lessons learned during shooting, advice for beginners and more: Strike out on your own Leave the themed spaces for Disneyland. People tend to get thematic, Filicia said. They buy a midcentury house and then everything they buy is midcentury. Its no different than going to an early American museum. It tells the story of the theme instead of the people who live there. Advertisement Dont chicken out. The other thing I see very often is that people know what they want but when they go to execute it, they back out, Filicia said. They dont follow through and trust their instincts. That can lead to a very ho-hum interior, something thats not terribly interesting or authentic. It doesnt have any energy. When bad is better than none I always say I would rather someone have bad taste than no taste, or lame taste. Its more interesting than just being bland, Filicia said. Aha! moments The Ghost and the Grotto Episode 101: Sherrie and Daves vast living room and grotto before a redesign. (Bravo / Greg Endries/Bravo) For a successful interior you need two things your floor plan, all of your measurements, how tall your ceiling is, how wide your room is, what kind of furniture is going to fit. Having that physical plan is your road map, Kressley said. It will help prevent you from making big, expensive mistakes. The other part of that plan is to know the overall concept or vibe, Kressley said. Create a concept board to keep your style on track. Words of wisdom? My biggest piece of advice is just get started, said Kressley. Theres temporary peel-and-stick wallpaper, which is amazing. We used a brand called Tempaper on the show, and it was so fun and easy. We put it on the ceiling of a closet, the inside of a bookcase those small triumphs can motivate you to tackle bigger projects. Sixth sense One of my very first projects [on the show] was creating a work space for a psychic, said Kressley, and we were getting advice from the great beyond. The woman who had owned the space before was the clients late mother-in-law, and we were checking in with her. So there were moments where we were kind of designing for two people, one who was alive and one who was dead. Carson Kressley, left, and Thom Filicia flank homeowners Dave and Sherrie before the reveal on Get a Room With Carson & Thom. (Greg Endries/Bravo) And what you wont see Heres one moment that we wish were captured on Get a Room cameras, especially since it ended without injury or lawsuits: Kressley said while driving around a particularly beautiful neighborhood for the show he hopped out of the car to take an aspirational selfie. I heard some screaming, said Kressley, and by the time I finished my selfie I realized I hadnt put the car in park, so it was rolling downhill with Thom buckled in Bonnie McCarthy contributes to the Los Angeles Times as a home and lifestyle design writer. She enjoys scouting for directional trends and reporting on whats new and next. Follow her on Twitter @ThsAmericanHome ALSO How designer Nate Berkus blended old and new in his L.A. kitchen remodel They found a real estate unicorn: A house with great bones, ready for decorating Youve never seen a kitchen island sink like this How online art galleries are serving up talent and sales without the tude For months, U.S. Navy veteran Michael R. Whites imprisonment in Iran has been shrouded in secrecy. Now, one thing is near certain: he wont be coming home any time soon. Last week, a court in Iran sentenced the Imperial Beach resident to 10 years in prison on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting a personal photo online. The day of reckoning came nearly eight months after White, 47, was arrested in the northern city of Mashhad, where hed been visiting his Iranian girlfriend, who hed met online. Advertisement He is the first American to be arrested in Iran under President Donald Trumps presidency. The sentencing comes after Trump reinstated economic sanctions against the regime last fall in an aggressive push to force the nation to abide by nuclear agreements. Whites family, devastated at the prospect of a decade-long prison term, has turned their attention to hiring an Iranian lawyer for an appeal and raising money for prison basics he may need, such as extra food and medicine. But they soon discovered just how far the sanctions against Iran reach. A fundraising campaign through GoFundMe was suspended this month after only a few days by its payment processor WePay, citing use in a manner which is either prohibited by financial regulations or which has been deemed unduly high risk. Jonathan Franks, a family spokesman, said to comply with the law, the funds would be transferred through a complicated chain of custody: to the State Department, then to the Swiss government which acts as an intermediary for U.S. interests in Iran on to the Swiss Consulate in Tehran. The Consulate would then disburse the aid to Whites defense attorney and deposit funds in his prison account. GoFundMe did not respond to requests for comment on the situation Tuesday, but a general statement on its website says that in some rare cases, U.S. sanctions will prohibit us from supporting your campaign for specific countries. Iran is included in that list. GoFundMe advises the account holder to apply for a license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets, or OFAC, an arm of the Treasury Department, to get a legal exception from sanctions. Erich Ferrari, a sanctions attorney in Washington, D.C., who is not affiliated with the case, said there is a clear exception allowing for the retention of legal services for U.S. citizens. But a strict reading of the law suggests GoFundMe probably needs a license to solicit donations for the export of services to Iran, he said. Funds going to Whites prison commissary account could present another challenge, since an Iranian prison is a government entity, Ferrari said. Efforts to resolve the legal roadblock, including getting guidance from OFAC, have been unsuccessful so far, said Mark Zaid, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney hired to help Whites mother navigate the intricacies of the case from the U.S. Obtaining a license from OFAC typically takes nine months to a year, Ferrari said, although a situation such as this would likely be expedited. There is some urgency. An Iranian attorney is needed to file the appeal, which must happen 22 days from the time White is notified of his sentence. The sanctions have added an ironic twist in an incredibly complex geopolitical situation. This should be a no-brainer, said Zaid, an expert in national security law. Whites family hopes to raise at least $30,000; $450 was raised before their efforts were suspended. This isnt a family of means, Franks said. Franks described the Whites as salt of the earth people, and White himself as your average Joe. White spent 13 years in the Navy, serving in support roles such as a data entry clerk and a cook, before medically retiring about a decade ago. He settled in Imperial Beach, his last job working as a commercial janitor. So often Americans are accused of espionage-related crimes, Franks said. He is not a spy. Little is known of his relationship with the woman in the holy city of Mashhad, Irans second-largest metropolis located in the north, near the border with Afghanistan. Franks said they met online, although it is not clear on which website. White traveled to Iran at least three times over the past five years, each time on legal visas, Franks said. His last day in Iran was to be July 21 or 22; he was set to return to San Diego on July 27. White took a cab to a tourist office to pay a fee, and at some point was pulled over by plainclothes police, arrested, beaten, interrogated about his military career and held for a few months at a detention center, according to the family spokesman. He was later transferred to Vakilabad prison, where he remains. He was taken to several court proceedings but no translator was provided, Franks said. It was only in the last two hearings that the proceedings were translated into English, and he learned of the actual charges against him. Authorities have not explained further the allegation that White insulted the Supreme Leader, Franks said. The charge of the personal photo being posted online likely stems from a picture on Whites Instagram of him with a woman who appears to be his girlfriend, Franks said. The photo is not risque and would be quite normal for a dating couple to post online, he said. Whites Instagram account was taken offline, likely by or at the direction of the Iranian government, Franks surmises. An Iranian prosecutor said the case stems from a complaint from a private individual, not the government, according to an Iranian news agency. Information has been scarce coming from the regime, leaving his family mostly in the dark. White has not been allowed to communicate with his family, at the request of a prosecutor. Now that he is sentenced, his family hopes a judge can lift those restrictions. However, he has had two visits from the Swiss ambassador to Tehran. We can assuredly say that Mr. White is being treated humanely and in the best possible conditions given the criminal complaint against him, Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Irans United Nations Mission, wrote on Twitter on March 4, repeating a statement he gave to The New York Times. He said the consulate access has been in spite of the 1,000 kilometer distance between Masshad and the capital. They have done their best to preserve his rights as a prisoner, and more importantly, as a human being, Miryousefi said. White, who suffers from asthma, has also been provided unspecified medications, even though the prices have much increased due to the U.S. sanctions, he said. Still, Whites mother, Joanne, who lives in Arizona, worries about his health, Franks said. White is a cancer survivor, and there has been at least one report from another inmate at the prison that a possible tumor has reappeared on Whites neck. She is very, very clear that she doesnt think her son is going to make it long term in prison, Franks said. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis The monument in the heart of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus was a landmark, honoring former students who fought for the slave-holding Confederacy. But the Confederate statue became a lightning rod for Carol L. Folt, who led the university amid intense debate over the statue and was named Wednesday as the new president of USC. Folt championed the removing of the statue from its central location on campus. The decision would play a role in her abrupt departure at the North Carolina college. Carol Folt (Ethan Hyman / The News & Observer) Advertisement Now, Folt is returning to California. An environmental scientist, she received bachelors and masters degrees from UC Santa Barbara and a doctorate from UC Davis. She went on to join the Dartmouth faculty in 1983 and rose to become provost and interim president before leaving for North Carolina. Here is some background about the controversial UNC statue and the new USC president from the pages of The Times and other sources. Silent Sam The removal of the statue known as Silent Sam occurred amid a larger debate across the South over Confederate statues and other symbols. Other communities had removed statues in recent years, and there was debate in Chapel Hill about what to do with this one. In 2018, protesters toppled the monument. It was placed in temporary storage and quickly became a flashpoint. In August, about a dozen people carrying Confederate flags were met by dozens of protesters. A violent clash ensued, and seven people were arrested. The idea was to move the statue to a less prominent location as part of a larger exhibit that Folt described as a truly strong interactive center that tells our full history of this university. Folt ordered the base for the toppled statue removed because of continuing unspecified threats. Despite our best efforts, even since that time, threats have continued to grow and place our community at serious risk. This led me to the action that I authorized, she told reporters in January. While I recognize that some may not agree with my decision to remove the base and tablets now, Im confident that this was the right one for our community. The action brought cheers from many quarters on campus, and some said Folt was brave for taking a stand. But conservatives in the state slammed her, including some on the board that oversaw the university. Folt, said the Sons of Confederate Veterans, has effectively erased the contribution and sacrifice of these brave veterans and the tribute paid to them by subsequent generations. The largest piece of a Confederate monument pedestal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is lifted away. (Julia Wall / News & Observer) Stepping down Folt stunned many by announcing she would step down at the same time the statue was removed. In a letter announcing her resignation, Folt said: There has been too much recent disruption due to the monument controversy. Carolinas leadership needs to return its full attention to helping our University achieve its vision and to live its values. In the same announcement, she ordered the removal of the Confederate monuments base and commemorative plaques. Folt told the News & Observer her resignation was not directly tied to the statue controversy. I was making these decisions somewhat separately, she said. This really was a decision I was making about my next step and the proper timing of that for the university. The university trustees ended up having her leave months earlier than she had planned. We feel strongly that its probably in the bes t interest to go ahead and allow a change in leadership so we can move to a healing process, a board trustee and critic of Folt told the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. Updated: This story was updated to make clear Folt supported moving Silent Sam to a different location on campus, not completely remove it. Housing for homeless people? In Chatsworth? Jason Brackett isnt holding his breath. Its not gonna happen on this side of town, Brackett said one afternoon this month, pausing from pulling shopping carts down a sidewalk. They dont want us here. Despite the pledge that Los Angeles City Council members made one year ago Wednesday to support new housing with supportive services in each of their districts, zero units have been approved in this northwestern stretch of the San Fernando Valley, formerly represented by Councilman Mitchell Englander. And only 13 units have been approved in a neighboring district, represented by Bob Blumenfield. Advertisement Source: L.A. Housing and Community Investment Department (Kyle Kim / Los Angeles Times) The numbers are starkly different in the Westlake-to-Highland Park district represented by Councilman Gil Cedillo, where the city has already given the green light for more than 650 new units. And in Councilman Jose Huizars district, which covers much of downtown and Eastside neighborhoods including Boyle Heights and El Sereno, more than 800 new supportive housing units have been approved. That uneven progress across L.A. has maintained the pattern that predated last years pledge. Housing for homeless people is still being disproportionately slated for lower-income areas especially in and around downtown and less so for affluent areas. Just five of Los Angeles 15 city council districts account for nearly 70% of the homeless housing units that have been approved so far under Proposition HHH, the $1.2-billion bond measure approved by voters in 2016. Those districts cover parts of downtown and the central and eastern sections of the city, as well as South L.A. Council members still have more than a year to make good on their pledge and meet their self-imposed goal of backing at least 222 supportive housing units in each district by July 1, 2020. But the ongoing pattern of where homeless housing is being built and where it isnt has raised concerns inside and outside City Hall about perpetuating economic segregation and failing to address the need that exists across the city. Theres homeless people out there, Cedillo said of Englanders former district in the northwest San Fernando Valley, which includes Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Chatsworth. So it needs to be built out there. READ MORE: Across a diverse landscape, L.As hidden homeless live hard lives in fanciful homes In the face of sluggish progress in some districts, politicians have blamed high land prices, a lack of interest from developers and other barriers. Colin Sweeney, former spokesman for Englander and now for interim appointee Greig Smith, said that after one project fell through, there were no other proposals for homeless housing in the area. We will duly consider any that come our way, Sweeney said in an email. When asked if the council office had taken any proactive steps to encourage such development, Sweeney said staff had done an assessment of surplus city properties in the district, but the few that existed were not zoned for the right kind of development. He declined a request to interview Smith, who took office in January. Sources: L.A. Housing and Community Investment Department, city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (Kyle Kim / Los Angeles Times Graphics) District 5 Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents Bel-Air and other well-off parts of the Westside, has emphasized the high cost of land in his district, as well as stiff competition for available parcels. So far, only 49 new units of supportive housing have been approved and Koretz said he is not wildly optimistic about hitting his 222-unit goal next year. People want to build market-rate housing and commercial projects in this district. Developers are grabbing whatever they can spot, Koretz said. It just hasnt been easy. And Blumenfield, whose San Fernando Valley district stretches from Woodland Hills to Winnetka, lamented that developers are not knocking on our door. Blumenfield said he has taken steps to encourage housing and services in his area: He enlisted the city to purchase a site in Reseda, which led to a project with 13 units for homeless residents. This year, he also asked city staff to assess whether some city-owned Reseda parking lots could be used for supportive housing. I dont think the numbers are a fair representation of the work Im doing, Blumenfield said, arguing that the pledge did not obligate him personally to create units. Homeless advocates say that building supportive housing all over Los Angeles will help people rebound in their own communities. Although the downtown area has the most homeless residents, including thousands on skid row, even the wealthiest and most suburban districts have hundreds of people who lack shelter, according to the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. Its not only disheartening its immoral that Englanders old district, does not have any HHH housing on the way, said Carlos Amador, a member of the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council who is running for the City Council seat in June. City leaders may not hear from community members who are homeless, but they exist in our district. A homeless encampment sits between large satellite dishes and a wash in Chatsworth on March 1, 2019. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A sculpture in a homeless encampment in Chatsworth on March 1, 2019. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) In Chatsworth, roughly a dozen people bed down nightly in a makeshift camp of tarps and tents parallel to the Metrolink tracks an area bounded by chain link fencing and a concrete wash that acts as a humble moat.Dogs bark gruffly from behind the wire. Most people call it the Compound, said Kimberly Wetter, who has been homeless for a few years. But she prefers to call it the Gated Community. When youre not homeless you think, God, look at those people, Wetter said. Then you get here. Living together feels safer than trying to survive alone, she said. Denizens of the camp watch out for strangers and warn one another when the police are near. As clouds gathered overhead one Friday afternoon, Dan Hacker known to Wetter and the others at the camp as Butch rolled up on his bicycle. READ MORE: Many people work hard to avoid the homeless. These volunteers embrace them Brought you something, Donna, he called to another resident, pulling a package of Nutter Butter cookies from his pocket. Hacker got into housing elsewhere in the San Fernando Valley in the past year, he said, but tries to visit the camp regularly. Its pretty nice having my own place, he said. But its a little lonely because I dont know people in that area. Wetter and several others said they didnt want to relocate to other parts of L.A. because they would feel lost. Brackett, the homeless man who was hauling his shopping carts down the sidewalk, said he knew Chatsworth like the back of his hand. Homeless people want to stay in the area theyre familiar with, said Mel Tillekeratne, an organizer with the #SheDoes movement, which advocates to provide shelter for homeless women. The retention rates [in housing] are only going to be high if we build housing where people are used to staying. Kimberly Wetter, 56, is one of roughly a dozen people who bed down nightly in a makeshift camp of tarps and tents next to Metrolink tracks (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Some residents remain skeptical of such efforts. Sean Dinse, an LAPD senior lead officer who is also running for the Englanders old seat, agreed more supportive housing is needed in the district, but added that housing is not going to solve this problem until we address the issues of mental illness and drug addiction. Neighbors need to be able to trust that these supportive housing units are not going to turn into a nuisance, Dinse said. In December, Councilman Curren Price put forward a motion calling for the city to find new ways to encourage developers to build homeless housing in wealthier areas. Price said in a written statement to The Times that the responsibility to fix the homeless crisis and the weight must be equally divided across the council districts. Under Prop. HHH, Los Angeles has started offering financial incentives to developers that build homeless housing on private property in neighborhoods with high land costs. Seven such projects have been proposed this fiscal year, including in Sherman Oaks and in the Fairfax neighborhood represented by Koretz. Housing advocates also point out that despite the ongoing imbalance of where homeless housing is built, there has been progress. Before the pledge, 44% of the existing units of supportive housing were in Huizars downtown-to-Eagle Rock district, according to figures from the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Out of the newly approved units, that number is 20%. And new units are headed for areas that had little homeless housing in the past. In a district that runs along the Pacific Coast, Councilman Mike Bonin has backed nearly 200 units so far a number that will quadruple the amount of homeless housing in that area, based on United Way figures. PHOTOS: Homeless people at almost every L.A. landmark illustrates the depth of the problem Bonins district includes some of the costliest land in the city, but he has sidestepped that problem by championing projects on sites owned by the city and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, winning praise from housing advocates. Some residents complain, however, that too many homeless projects are being slated for Venice rather than other parts of the district. But city property is not a panacea: City analysts found that only four out of 428 surplus parcels could be used for housing or homeless services, since many were too small, already in use, impractical to build on,or had other issues. L.A. officials have since turned their focus to parking lots owned by the city, which has yielded some possible sites on the Westside and in Blumenfields Valley district. Ben Winter, chief housing officer for Mayor Eric Garcetti, expressed hope that citywide initiatives meant to ease development including incentives to build affordable housing along transit corridors could help chip away, over time, at geographic inequity in housing for the poor. But such segregation has been decades in the making, Winter said. We wont break down all those barriers at once. Dan Hacker, known as Butch to his friends, lives in a homeless encampment in Chatsworth. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @AlpertReyes A San Diego County jail inmate died by suicide on Monday, the day before a scheduled hearing related to charges that he used a skateboard in an unprovoked attack on the son of a Congressional candidate last summer, authorities said Tuesday. Ivan Arturo Ortiz, 26, was facing trial to determine whether he was insane at the time of the June 6 assault on Nicholas Allman, who was left with permanent facial damage, Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco said. Allman is the son of Michael Allman, a former Sempra Energy executive who ran unsuccessfully in the June 5 Republican party primary election in the 52nd Congressional District. Democrat Scott Peters holds the seat. The Tuesday hearing was set before Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth so attorneys could exchange the names of doctors they expected to call during Ortizs trial, Greco said. Advertisement Deputy Public Defender Tatiana Kline told the court that according to sheriffs officials, Ortiz had committed suicide in the jail on Monday, Greco said. The Sheriffs Department issued a news release confirming Ortizs death after being found unresponsive in his Central Jail psychiatric observation cell, where he was housed alone. The statement said deputies on a security check found Ortiz at 3:48 p.m. and, with medical staff, performed life-saving measures until paramedics got there. Ortiz was taken to a hospital and died at 8:27 p.m., authorities said. An autopsy will be done to determine how he died. Greco said his office expects to receive a copy of Ortizs death certificate, then he will ask the judge to dismiss the case, at a hearing set for April 23 the day the insanity trial was to have opened. Ortiz was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, with prosecutors alleging he struck Allman on the head with a skateboard, attacked a friend of Allmans, then returned and stomped on Allmans head early on June 6. It was a horrible, vicious blow, Greco said out of court. In the trial, attorneys were expecting to argue whether Ortiz committed the crimes and whether he was insane at the time. Greco said about 2 a.m. on June 6, having just lost the Republican primary for the congressional seat, Michael Allman, his son and campaign workers were still celebrating a hard-fought campaign. They were at Basic Pizza in East Village, where Nicholas Allman was standing outside with two friends, waiting for an Uber ride, Greco said. San Diego police said a stranger on a skateboard came by, said, Youre in my way, and swung the skateboard into Allmans face. Greco said Ortiz was that skateboarder, who next attacked one of Allmans friends and chased both companions away. Then, the prosecutor said, Ortiz walked back to where Allman was lying on the ground and stomped on his head. The act was caught on security camera footage and shown at Ortizs preliminary hearing, Greco said. Allman suffered facial fractures and a broken nose, and still has bone shards in his sinus passages that remain life-threatening if he contracts a sinus infection, Greco said. He said Ortiz had previously used his skateboard to damage trolleys and buses. He had been charged with vandalism along with the assault and attempted murder charges. Ortiz had posted You Tube videos showing himself to be an accomplished skateboarder, Greco said. The sheriffs homicide unit investigates every county jail death. Lt. Michael Blevins, in charge of the unit, said Ortiz is the fourth inmate this year to died after being brought to a jail. pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @pdrepard Opening a yearbook onto the past From:Shanghai Daily | 2019-03-20 08:29 THE Shanghai Almanac for 1852, and Commercial Guide, the citys first yearbook, is set to be republished by the Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House in June. The yearbook, in English but due to have a Chinese translation, is the earliest compiled by foreigners on the Chinese mainland. It lists expats in five port cities Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Fuzhou as well as weather, trade, customs, tariffs and other information. It also contains a very detailed map of Shanghai which includes major creeks, roads, bridges and temples. The names of places are all marked in English and Chinese. The climate records for Shanghais ports from 1840 to 1850 and a summary of meteorological measurement records are the citys earliest continuous and systematic historical meteorological statistics. An author of the book also visited historic sites such as the former residence of Xu Guangqi, a famous Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) politician and scientist who Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci befriended. The book includes a number of local anecdotes and observations about traditional culture recorded by foreigners in Shanghai and cities nearby, providing an alternative view of history. In an essay, an author analyzes the development of Chinese mathematics and compares it with Western mathematics. Another journal tells what an author, who identified himself as C.T., saw and heard on his trip to Nanjing. The hunt to discover the yearbook was tough. Records show that the Shanghai Almanac has 10 volumes from 1852 to 1863 but only part of them have been found. Previously, the Shanghai Librarys Bibliotheca Zi-Ka-Wei kept a few but not the 1852 and 1853 versions. In 2016, the Shanghai Almanac for 1852, and Commercial Guide appeared at an auction in Beijing and the library purchased it. The library also authorized the Shanghai Chorography Office to copy it. Zhou Yumin, a professor at Shanghai Normal University, translated the book into Chinese. The Westerners, especially the missionaries, did very elaborate research on Chinas mathematics and astronomy and gave summaries, which is amazing to us, said Zhou. So during the translation, I had to follow their clues to find the original materials. They barely had prejudice when introducing Chinas scientific achievements, he added. The two articles about foreigners views on Chinas mathematics and astronomy should be milestones in related researches. The original book, which is stored at the Shanghai Library, is being restored. Huang Xiangong, director of the librarys historical documentation research center, said the book will be displayed at the release ceremony of the reprinted version. A digital edition of the yearbook will be available later on the librarys online platform. A prosecutor told a San Diego jury on Tuesday that a man``terrorized and robbed a mother-to-be in her Pacific Beach apartment, while a defense attorney said his client entered the unit by accident while in a drug and alcohol-fueled haze. James Lee Graham, 41, is charged with robbery, burglary, false imprisonment and resisting arrest in connection with the Dec. 14, 2017 intrusion. The victim was seven months pregnant at the time, according to the prosecution, in opening trial statements in San Diego Superior Court. Grahams alleged accomplice, Stephanie Majsterski, 26, pleaded guilty last year to burglary, false imprisonment and vehicle theft. She stole a San Diego police cruiser as a getaway car and drove it into Mission Bay at Fiesta Island. Advertisement Majsterski was caught trying to sneak off the island by hitching a ride. She was sentenced to five years in prison last September. Deputy District Attorney Lucy Yturralde said Graham and Majsterski entered the robbery victims third-story apartment about 9 p.m. after her husband left to do laundry on the first floor of the complex, leaving the apartment door shut, but unlocked. Graham, upon entering, asked the victim for money and her car, while gesturing with his hand inside his jacket sleeve as though concealing a knife, the prosecutor alleged. She said Majsterski blocked the door. The victim told Graham she did not have any money or a car, but he could take whatever he wanted from the apartment, according to Yturralde. Two laptops, a cell phone and a wallet, were found strewn along the area where Graham was eventually found and arrested, she said. More of the victims items were found in Grahams backpack, the prosecutor said. Grahams attorney, Denis Lainez, said his client and Majsterski went to the apartment complex to meet another third-floor tenant, but they wandered into the victims unit by mistake. Lainez said Graham was under the influence of methamphetamine and had consumed ``an entire bottle of vodka prior to arriving at the complex. Graham ``simply doesnt remember doing this due to his level of intoxication, his attorney said. Lainez conceded that once inside the apartment, Graham did take some property, but maintained that he never threatened or touched the woman. In addition to intoxication, Lainez said Graham suffered from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder and was homeless at the time. Yturralde said there was no indication that the defendant was under the influence. ``At the end of the trial, youll see that the only reason he did (the robbery) was because he wanted to,' she said. Graham, who has numerous robbery convictions dating back to 2008, was on parole at the time of the Pacific Beach robbery and faces more than 55 years to life in prison if convicted. pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @pdrepard A San Diego judge held a hearing behind closed doors Wednesday to decide what type of evidence will be admissible when attorneys argue whether a sexually violent predator is fit to be released to community supervision. The evidence and witness testimony involving Alvin Quarles dubbed the bolder-than-most rapist in the 1980s will be presented at another hearing tentatively set for May 16. Superior Court Judge David Gill said he was closing the Wednesday hearing because of the sensitive nature of the information being discussed. The judge ruled last fall that Quarles could be conditionally released from a state hospital to a home in Jacumba Hot Springs under strict supervision by Liberty Healthcare Corp. Advertisement Gill agreed two weeks ago to reconsider, at the request of prosecutors, based on a new psychiatric report that may question Quarles suitability for release. That report, and all courtroom discussions involving its contents and other evidence, were closed to the public at the request of Quarles deputy public defender, Amy Hoffman. Hoffman also objected to having the public and news reporters present while she argued to close the Wednesday hearing. Deputy District Attorney Jessica Coto argued unsuccessfully to keep the court proceedings open. Several women who gathered Wednesday in support of Quarles victims, and to oppose his release, said they were disappointed to be excluded from the hearing. Its extremely frustrating, said Terri Larson of Serra Mesa, a friend of one of the rape victims. Were the ones being affected by this, she said, adding that she believes victims have a right under state law to attend all proceedings involving their attacker. Quarles, 56, who pleaded guilty to raping 10 women in four years, served 25 years in prison and is currently locked up at Coalinga State Hospital in Fresno County, where he has undergone psychiatric treatment. To be designated a sexually violent predator, an offender must have been convicted of a sex crime against at least one victim and be diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes him likely to re-offend. In 2016, Quarles petitioned for conditional release from the hospital, to continue receiving treatment in supervised housing back in San Diego County. Prosecutors opposed the release, saying Quarles never finished his sexual predator treatment program at the hospital and that more than one doctor advised against his release. The judge found that psychiatric reports at that time supported Quarles release. pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @pdrepard With several patients in local hospitals struggling to recover, public health officials are warning San Diego doctors to be on the lookout for signs of a deadly infection linked to weight-loss surgeries performed in Tijuana. The county Health and Human Services Agency this week alerted the medical community that four patients have popped up in local hospitals with drug-resistant superbug infections of the same type that prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a travel advisory in early January. The CDC has continued to caution those who travel to Tijuana for surgery, as the number of cases have more than doubled. Most are connected to patients operated on at Grand View Hospital near the U.S.-Mexico border. To date, CDC officials said, a total of 25 cases of drug-resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa have been detected among U.S. citizens who crossed the border, usually for gastric sleeve surgery that significantly reduces the size of the stomach, accelerating the pace of weight loss. Advertisement Pseudomonas is listed among the CDCs top threats among microbes that can resist antibiotics. According to a 2013 report, the bug kills about 440 people per year in the United States and infects about 6,700. In January, CDC officials said that the subspecies detected among Tijuana weight-loss patients is particularly nasty due to its ability to destroy carbapenems, one of the most effective and broadly-acting classes of antibiotics available to modern medicine. Maroya Walters, a CDC epidemiologist with a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology, said Tuesday that while the worlds foremost public health agency saw its last Grand View case in late January, additional infections have continued to surface among patients who were operated on at other as-yet-unnamed Tijuana hospitals. The most recent case was detected on Feb. 12. The current rate of new cases, she said, has not reduced enough for the CDC to remove or change the travel advisory it issued in January. Right now, we dont have any assurance that the infection control issues have been addressed, Walters said. In San Diego, Dr. Eric McDonald, medical director of the county public health departments epidemiology and immunization services branch, said that his office became aware of two local cases, one in October and one in January, after his office issued a preliminary notice to doctors on Jan. 16. Neither of those cases, he said, is a San Diego County resident, with one residing elsewhere in California and another living out of state. He said two more patients, both who live in San Diego County but who had weight-loss surgeries at Tijuana hospitals other than Grand View, were admitted to area hospitals with pseudomonas infections in late February. Three of the four cases, he added, remain hospitalized today and are being treated under special protocols designed to keep infectious diseases from spreading. At this time, we have no evidence of secondary infections associated with these hospitalized cases, McDonald said Monday. He said that having four cases pop up in San Diego hospitals made it important for his office to let all local doctors know that they need to be proactive, asking about surgery in Mexico and responding with extra precaution, including patient isolation, where appropriate. We just wanted to reiterate that you shouldnt wait until after you know that a person has this organism to begin taking contact precautions, McDonald said. If you know someone is coming in with an infection, and you know theyve had surgery in Mexico, then you should take these precautions right away. Eighteen of the 25 cases 20 have been confirmed and five are suspected occurred in patients who were operated on at Grand View Hospital, according to CDC epidemic intelligence officer Ian Kracalik. He said Mexican health officials told the agency they detected lapses in the procedures used to sterilize medical devices used in weight-loss surgeries. Kracalik said additional information on exactly which devices were improperly handled was not made available by the Mexican health agency that conducted the Grand View investigation. Initially, he added, Mexicos La Comision Federal para la Proteccion contra Riesgos Sanitarios or federal commission for the protection against sanitary risks, told the CDC that it had shut down the surgical areas of Grand View on Dec. 19. But there were strong indications that the surgical center near the U.S. border remained open, with several new infections appearing after patients underwent surgeries at Grand View after Dec. 19. It is clear there was an ongoing risk during that period when the hospitals surgical area was not supposed to be operational, Kracalik said. Health authorities in Mexico said they were not available to discuss the developments Tuesday. Kracalik added that the CDC received word that Grand View shut down sometime after Jan. 31, which was the last date on which the CDC received a report of an infection case linked to the hospital. Most of the cases, the CDC representatives added, are associated with Dr. Mario Almanza, a surgeon whose website declares that he is the leading bariatric weight-loss surgeon in the world. Almanza received significant media attention in 2018 when he was named in a class-action lawsuit by former patients, including a lead plaintiff who said her procedure left her with complications including internal bleeding, according to coverage by Channel 10 News and others. Almanza, contacted through weightlossagents.com, the stateside travel agency whose phone number the doctor lists on his website, did not return a request for comment Tuesday. With Grand View apparently shut down, CDC officials said they noticed that Weight Loss Agents had begun referring weight-loss surgeries to another Tijuana hospital called the Obesity Goodbye Center. Reached through their promotional Facebook page Tuesday, the company said that while Almanza performed procedures for a couple of days at our facility always following our sanitation protocols, he is not affiliated with the hospital in any way. The center said its own sanitation practices exceed international standards. An attorney for Weight Loss Agents, Glenn Krinsky, said the company has done everything it can to cooperate with the CDC, including providing information on 700 patients it had referred to Grand View since August. The CDCs Walters said the agency is following up with those patients to better gauge the spread of pseudomonas or other surgical infections. 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 San Diego public utilities officials said Wednesday that they have implemented most recommendations made by the city auditor last year after thousands of customers were overbilled by faulty meter readers. Some key reforms still need to be implemented, the deputy chief operating officer told members of the city councils audit committee, and others have yet to be validated by the city auditor. Eighty percent of the recommendations we have completed, pending auditor review, which is a commitment we made back when the audit was released, said Johnnie Perkins, the deputy COO tapped by Mayor Kevin Faulconer to oversee reforms at the public utilities department. We developed standard operating procedures, which we did not have before, Perkins said. There wasnt coordination and oversight. Management and employees werent talking to each other. Theyre doing that now. Advertisement All told, about 2,750 ratepayers received incorrect bills, some amounting to four or five times a normal billing. For weeks in 2017, city officials rejected the idea that the billings were erroneous. Instead, they attributed the spike in billings to leaky toilets, broken sprinklers and rising water costs. But a performance audit released last summer uncovered sweeping errors across the water-billing process. The audit said 71 percent of the errors were made by just 10 of the citys 36 meter readers, including one worker who was responsible for 343 misreadings in two months. The city audit never placed a dollar figure on the amount of the overcharges, but an analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune last year pegged mistakes made for single-family homeowners alone at more than $2 million. The findings were based on records and data obtained by the city after the audit was released. The audit made 10 recommendations, which focused on improving the departments workflow, evaluating meter-readers routes to make them more efficient, holding regular reviews of so-called implausible readings and notifying customers in advance of any changes that might affect their bills. Members of the audit committee on Wednesday commended city officials for working to improve water department operating practices. You all have embraced the audit rather than run from it, said Councilman Scott Sherman, who serves as chairman of the audit committee. Once we get through this, everybody -- the ratepayers, the taxpayers, the employees -- is going to be better off for it. The ultimate goal is taking care of the customer, he added. And thats our job as elected officials. But not everyone was satisfied that the department is addressing all of its shortcomings. Rodney Fowler Sr., chief steward of the union that represents most public utilities employees, said he was grateful to participate in discussions about how to implement changes across the department. But he warned them not to change too much too fast. We dont want to see them implement something that in the long run is going to fail because it hasnt been fleshed out, Fowler said. If youre at the management level, you need to take some time every now and then to go out into the field and seeing whats going on. City officials said they expect all the recommendations to be implemented by June, although the auditors office said it would take longer to make sure changes were made correctly to prevent widespread errors in the future. Weve got some things we still need to do, Perkins said. Eighty percent is still not 100 percent. An 81-year-old woman was tied up and robbed early Wednesday by two masked men who forced their way into her home after she answered her doorbell, San Diego police said. Officers were investigating the home invasion robbery, which was reported around 4 a.m. on Oakhurst Drive near Gallery Court in Valencia Park. The woman told police she answered her doorbell and was confronted by two men wearing masks as she opened her front door, one of whom was armed with a gun. After taking the woman upstairs, the men demanded money and tied her up, police said. Advertisement The robbers took an undetermined amount of cash and property and then ran away. The victim was able to free herself and called police to report the crime. A police spokesman said she wasnt injured. Detailed descriptions of the suspects were not released. Twitter: @karenkucher (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com A mother pulling her 3-year-old daughter in a wagon during a Sunday afternoon walk in San Diegos Morena neighborhood fought off a man who tried to grab the girl, police said Tuesday. Investigators on Tuesday released a sketch of the suspect and sought help from the public to identify him. The incident happened about 4:30 p.m. Sunday as the mother pulled her daughter along the south sidewalk of Savannah Street near Buenos Avenue, according to San Diego police Lt. Daniel Meyer. The area is in a residential neighborhood just west of the University of San Diego. Advertisement According to police, the suspect parked an older model gray or silver Honda Civic on Savannah Street and left the car running as he got out, approached the mother and daughter from behind and attempted to grab and take the daughter out of the wagon. Hearing her daughter whine and struggle, the mother turned around and confronted the suspect, striking him numerous times in the face, Meyer said in a statement. The suspect released the child, ran to his vehicle and fled east of Savannah Street, Meyer said. The Honda sedan, which the mother said had Baja California license plates, was last seen heading south on Cushman Avenue and west on Morena Boulevard, police said. Authorities described the attacker as a roughly 5-foot-5-inch, 130-pound Hispanic man between 21 and 25 years old. He was wearing dark jeans, a white T-shirt with black print on the front and blue high-top sneakers. San Diego County Crime Stoppers offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information about the suspects identity or location was asked to call the San Diego Police Departments western division at (619) 692-4800, or Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. Twitter: @Alex_Riggins (619) 293-1710 alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com A 48-year-old man who was found dead in the Tijuana River near the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday has been identified as a Mexican citizen. The man was identified as Francisco Pulido-Amaro, said San Diego police Lt. Matt Dobbs. Pulido-Amaro has no known contacts in San Diego County. His body was found partially covered in water, mud and debris behind the Las Americas Premium Outlets on Thursday, Dobbs said. He appeared to have been there for some time. Efforts to locate his family members on either side of the border have so far been unsuccessful. Advertisement Based on the location and condition of the body, San Diego police believe the death occurred in Mexico and the mans body was washed into the U.S. by recent storm runoff. Traumatic injuries were discovered during an autopsy, but police are not disclosing the injuries the man suffered, Dobbs said. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call homicide investigators at (619) 531-2293 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Twitter: @karenkucher (619) 293-1350 karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com President Donald Trump on Wednesday escalated his feud with the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, calling him a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell! Trumps broadside on Twitter came after George Conway, a conservative lawyer and frequent critic of the president, publicly questioned the presidents mental health in recent days. George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wifes success & angry that I, with her help, didnt give him the job he so desperately wanted, Trump wrote. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell! George Conway responded less than 20 minutes later. Advertisement You seem determined to prove my point. Good for you! he wrote on Twitter, adding: "#NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder. In a subsequent tweet directed at Trump, he added: You. Are. Nuts. George Conway has pushed back on several assertions in Trumps tweet, including the notion that Trump decided not to give him a job. Conway said Tuesday that he opted against working in the Justice Department after Trump offered him a position heading the civil division because he watched Trump attack the departments leaders and then fire James Comey as FBI director in May 2017. On Wednesday, Conway shared a letter he wrote to Trump, dated May 31, 2017, in which he thanked Trump for selecting him for the job but said he was backing out. I have reluctantly concluded, however, that for me and my family, this is not the right time for me to leave the private sector and take on a new role in the federal government, Conway wrote. Kellyanne and I continue to support you and your Administration, and I look forward to doing so in whatever way I can from outside government. It was unclear what Trump meant by his assertion in his tweet that Kellyanne Conway had a role in denying her husband a job. Conway said Tuesdays interview that he has had a number of notable interactions with Trump over the past decade, often concerning legal representation and sensitive legal matters since Trump became president. Wednesday was the second consecutive day that Trump has used Twitter to attack George Conway. In a much shorter tweet Tuesday, he called him a loser. Kellyanne Conway did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but she said on Monday that she did not share her husbands concerns about Trumps mental health. George Conway has been a persistent critic of Trumps policies and actions, frequently going on Twitter to question whether the president is operating within the Constitution and other accepted boundaries. But the criticism recently has become more personal, and he has often attacked Trump just after his wife has defended the president on television. In tweets Monday, Conway included images from the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including pages with diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. In Tuesdays interview, Conway said his tweets questioning the presidents mental health were aimed in part at avoiding conflicts with his wife. Its so maddening to watch, Conway said. The mendacity, the incompetence, its just maddening to watch. The tweeting is just the way to get it out of the way, so I can get it off my chest and move on with my life that day. Thats basically it. Frankly, its so I dont end up screaming at her about it. In these early weeks of the presidential campaign, Democratic candidates have faced a battery of unusual questions, prompted partly by President Trumps dark warning in his State of the Union address against new calls to adopt socialism in our country. The first question Democrats got after that was easy: Are you a socialist? Bernie Sanders said yes; everyone else said no. The second was not so expected: Are you a capitalist? Elizabeth Warren had the quickest answer. I am a capitalist to my bones, she said. I believe in markets. What I dont believe in is theft. Advertisement Others agreed, declaring themselves capitalists just discontented ones. Im a capitalist, Beto ORourke declared. Having said that, it is clearly an imperfect, unfair, unjust and racist capitalist economy. One maverick, John Hickenlooper, rebelled. I think its kind of a silly question, he said. Whos running for president and whos not But once the candidates started explaining what they think about the economy, it wasnt silly after all. The future of capitalism whether its working for most Americans, why its benefits are so unequally shared, and how it can be fixed is one of the central political questions of our time. For Warren, a fierce critic of the financial system, the main defect of capitalism is lax rules. In her telling, deregulation of banks and Wall Street led to the crash of 2008 and produces unfair outcomes today. I love what markets can do, she told a TV interviewer. I love what functioning economies can do. They are what make us rich; they are what create opportunity. But only fair markets, markets with rules. Markets without rules is about the rich take it all, its about the powerful get all of it. And thats whats gone wrong in America. Kamala Harris and others have sounded similar populist themes. People who have worked hard and gained success. I applaud that, Harris said in New Hampshire last month. But we must all recognize that the rules arent applying equally to all people. Former Vice President Joe Biden, whos expected to announce his candidacy next month, has offered a softer version, calling on capitalists to assume moral responsibility for a lack of fairness in the economy. I dont begrudge anybody making a million or hundreds of millions of dollars, Biden told students at the University of Pennsylvania. But I do think theres some shared responsibility, and its not being shared fairly. What happened to a moral responsibility, to a moral capitalism? Meanwhile, in the democratic socialist camp, Sanders argues that its time to elevate economic rights to the level of traditional constitutional rights. We have political, freedom of religion, and all of that is enormously important. But you know what we dont have? We dont have guarantees regarding economic rights. No other candidate uses that kind of language. The candidates have issued a blizzard of proposals to illustrate what theyd do to make capitalism fairer. Sanders has proposed a guaranteed employment program that would create an estimated 15 million federally funded jobs; a government-run single-payer health insurance system, Medicare for All; and a long list of tax increases to pay for it all. Warren has called for changes in corporate governance, including an Accountable Capitalism Act that would require large firms to put employee representatives on their boards and consider the interests of workers and communities, not only shareholders, in their decisions. Cory Booker has proposed baby bonds that would create a $1,000 government-funded savings account for every newborn child and add more every year for low-income children a way to reduce the wealth gap between rich and poor. Harris main economic proposal would provide tax credits to low- and middle-income families up to $3,000 per person each year to as many as 80 million Americans in a direct redistribution of income. Theres more, of course but these are merely proposals. Few are likely to become law in their current form, no matter whos elected president next year. Their main function is to give voters a sense of where each candidates heart is. Whats most important is not the differences, but the common themes. They show almost every Democratic candidate focused on the same challenge: How to make capitalism deliver its benefits to more people, especially those left behind. And theyre relatively ambitious proposals, with larger goals than the incremental policies of the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama presidencies. There may be the rough outline of a new consensus here, Jared Bernstein, an economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former advisor to Biden, told me. We have a strong economy, but it isnt working for everybody, Bernstein said. We can craft policies to reconnect economic growth to the fortunes of ordinary working people, and we can do that without dampening growth at all. But with the exception of Sanders, these Democrats arent socialists, no matter what Trump says. Their avowed goal is to make capitalism work better just as Democrats have tried to do since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III appears close to turning in his final report after a historic investigation that initially sought to determine if President Trump or his advisors had illegal dealings with Russia during the 2016 campaign, but ultimately expanded far beyond that. Whether or not the report reveals new bombshells, the former FBI director already has produced an extraordinary public record of misdeeds, one that is sweeping in scope and momentous in its implications for American democracy. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing, but hundreds of pages of indictments, court filings and testimony have tarnished his administration and led to new investigations in Congress and in other jurisdictions that could lead to new charges. UPDATE: Robert Mueller submits report into whether the 2016 Trump campaign had illegal dealings with Russia Advertisement Since starting their work in May 2017, Mueller and his team have obtained indictments or charges against 34 individuals, including 25 Russians. Thats the most people charged in any special counsel investigation since the Watergate scandal that forced President Nixon from office in 1974. While no Americans have been charged with conspiring with the Russian effort to sway the 2016 election, several people in Trumps inner orbit have pleaded guilty to other crimes. They include Michael Flynn, his former national security advisor; Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman; Richard Gates, his deputy campaign chairman; and Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and a senior executive in the Trump Organization. Muellers public record is very impressive, said Christopher Ott, a former federal prosecutor on national security matters. These indictments are also a way to authoritatively make statements to the public about what the facts actually are. It is clear his team was objective, thorough and tenacious. Here are the findings so far: Russias social media campaign The special counsel traced the Russian operation to the start of the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy group bent on influencing American public opinion, in 2013. Working from an office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, and other sites, scores of cybertrolls conducted information warfare against the United States, according to an indictment. The Russian group spread distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general by discouraging African Americans from voting, by motivating conservatives wary of Trump, and other tactics. The operation was controlled and largely funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian tycoon with close ties to Putin and Russian intelligence services, U.S. officials said. In 2014, two high-ranking agency employees visited the United States to collect information that could be used to target specific groups of U.S. voters on social media. Two years later, Russian hackers were impersonating Americans to pump out divisive posts and misleading advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. RELATED: Everything you need to know about whos been charged in the Russia case By the time Trump accepted the Republican nomination in July 2016, more than 80 Russian bloggers were churning out daily social media posts that boosted Trump and denigrated his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Their posts contained hashtags familiar to many Americans: #Trump2016, #TrumpTrain and #MAGA. At one point, supervisors criticized an employee for running a Facebook group called Secured Borders that had a low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton and ordered him to intensify such critiques, the indictment alleged. Russian operatives even staged political rallies while posing as Americans. For one, they paid a U.S. citizen to build a cage on a truck as a prop to whip up Clinton opponents who wanted to lock her up and for another to portray Clinton in a prison uniform. To cover their tracks, the agency purchased space on U.S. computer servers, stole the identities of U.S. citizens and created hundreds of accounts under false identities that made the bloggers appear to be Americans. Hacking As the troll farm roiled the internet, Russian cyberspies took more extreme steps to help Trumps presidential campaign, according to Mueller. In March 2016, Russian military intelligence officers penetrated computer networks used by the Democratic National Committee and Clintons top campaign staffers with devastating effect. Hackers at the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (known as the GRU) in Moscow targeted more than 300 Democratic Party officials and campaign aides and infected dozens of servers with computer code that let them steal opposition research, operational plans and other internal documents. They also vacuumed up sensitive communications, including those of John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman. After Podesta fell for a ruse and inadvertently gave the hackers his Gmail password, they swiped 50,000 private emails from his account. FULL COVERAGE: Robert Mueller finishes his investigation into President Trumps 2016 campaign The GRU soon began posting the stolen data on a website it created, DCLeaks, and through a fake Romanian hacker known as Guccifer 2.0. That June, the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group reached out to Guccifer 2.0. Send any new material here for us to review and it will have a much higher impact than what you are doing, a WikiLeaks official wrote, asking for anything Hillary related. By mid-July, the GRU had transferred thousands of stolen emails and records, and WikiLeaks began releasing sensitive DNC emails and internal documents, disrupting the Democrats nominating convention. Another Trump advisor, Roger Stone,claimed to be in touch with WikiLeaks during that period, according to charges filed against the longtime political operative. He told one campaign official that the payload is still coming days before WikiLeaks posted a trove of stolen material. On Oct. 7, after the Washington Post reported that Trump had boasted about groping women on an Access Hollywood tape, Wikileaks began pushing out Podestas emails, drawing attention away from Trump. Stone was charged in January 2019 with several crimes including lying about his conversations involving WikiLeaks. He has pleaded not guilty. Russian contacts All that year, Trumps aides and associates met or communicated with Russian diplomats, officials and operatives, and expressed eagerness for their assistance. George Papadopoulos, a volunteer foreign policy advisor on the campaign, was one of the first. During a visit to Italy in March 2016, the low-level aide met Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor. They then met again in London with a Russian woman who claimed to be Putins niece, and discussed arranging a meeting between Trump and the Russian president during the campaign. In April, Mifsud told Papadopoulos that the Russians had dirt on Clinton. They have thousands of emails, Mifsud told him, Mueller later disclosed in court papers. That was before the Democratic National Committee and Podesta knew they had been hacked, and while GRU operatives were still ransacking Democratic Party servers. Papadopoulos bragged about his encounter to an Australian diplomat over drinks in London, and the envoy reported his concerns to the FBI. The tip sparked the FBIs initial counterintelligence investigation into Russias meddling in the campaign. Separately, Cohen, Trumps personal lawyer, reached out to one of Putins top aides in an effort to secure a hugely lucrative business deal, a Trump Tower in Moscow. The effort continued until June 2016, after Trump had effectively locked up the Republican nomination, court records show. Trump repeatedly denied ever having any business dealings with Russia, asserting that July, I have nothing to do with Russia. Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for making false statements to Congress about the negotiations for Trumps proposed Moscow project. Other Trump associates were also dealing with Russians. Manafort, Trumps campaign chairman, had long business ties with pro-Moscow politicians and Russian oligarchs. In June 2016, Manafort joined Donald Trump Jr., the presidents eldest son, and Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law, in a meeting on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan with a woman identified to them as a Russian government attorney. Before the meeting, when an intermediarys email said the lawyer would present dirt on Clinton as part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump, Trump Jr. quickly replied, If its what you say it is, I love it. No evidence has emerged to suggest those present reported the Russian offer to the FBI. Two months later, Manafort and Gates, the campaigns deputy campaign, met with Konstantin Kilimnik at a posh New York City cigar bar. Muellers prosecutors later disclosed in court papers that Kilimnik has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016. At some point, Manafort provided Kilimnik with polling data, though precisely what he handed over and why is not revealed in court records. Earlier this month, Manafort was sentenced to 7 years in prison for financial crimes, all connected to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine, prosecuted by Muellers team. The contacts with Russians and the lies about them didnt end with Trumps election. In December 2016, Flynn, the incoming national security advisor, spoke repeatedly with the Russian ambassador in Washington after President Obama had expelled suspected Russian spies and slapped sanctions on Moscow in response to its election meddling. Flynn wanted to stop Putins government from retaliating since Trump had campaigned on improving relations with the Kremlin. Shortly after the inauguration, Flynn lied to the FBI, which had monitored the ambassadors calls, by denying that they discussed sanctions. Sally Yates, then the acting U.S. attorney general, warned the White House that Flynn could be blackmailed by the Kremlin and he was forced out as national security advisor after less than a month in the job. The retired Army three-star general later pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. His sentencing was postponed in December after a federal judge told him arguably, you sold your country out and warned he could go to prison. Flynn is still cooperating with prosecutors in a related investigation. A federal appeals court seemed openly skeptical Tuesday that President Trump is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington, and that his financial gain comes at the expense of local competitors. The three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was reviewing a novel case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia involving anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution in the emoluments clauses. The once-obscure clauses were designed to prevent undue influence on government officials but have never before been applied in court to a sitting president. One judge, Dennis Shedd, suggested that the president may actually be driving up business at other local hotels because of numerous people drawn to Washington to protest Trumps policies, who would not choose to stay at the presidents namesake hotel. Advertisement Another, Paul Niemeyer, noted the president had already stepped back from day-to-day management of the Trump International Hotel. Forcing the president to give up his financial interest would not remove the Trump name from the business, the judge said, and foreign dignitaries would still book rooms and events at the venue. The judges repeatedly pressed the attorney representing D.C. Atty. Gen. Karl Racine and Maryland Atty. Gen. Brian Frosh, both Democrats, about the specific remedy the two jurisdictions are seeking and about their intentions. What solves the concerns you have? Shedd said, asking if divestment of a hotel or putting it into a blind trust might be an answer. You filed the lawsuit and you dont even know what real-world relief would satisfy, Niemeyer said, addressing Loren AliKhan, solicitor general for the District of Columbia. You seem to be ducking the question. AliKhan said Trump, in his role as president, is violating the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution by choosing to maintain his business interests. The official action is the accepting of emoluments, which is a violation of the Constitution, AliKhan told the court. Divestment, she said, might be an option. The third judge on the panel, Marvin Quattlebaum, is a recent Trump nominee to the court. Quattlebaum appeared concerned about a broad definition of emoluments. Would it mean, he asked, that presidents would have to give up Treasury bills and federally insured bank accounts? My view is it covers any profit, gain or advantage AliKhan said of an emolument, but stopped short of saying a Treasury bill or other passive investment would qualify. The Trump administration attorney told the court that Maryland and D.C. have no authority to sue the president in his official capacity over payments the presidents business accepts from state and foreign governments. The president is unique in our system of government, said Justice Department attorney Hashim Mooppan. Hes not just any old inferior officer. Thats why he gets absolute immunity. The panel specifically is considering whether the District and Maryland have legal grounds or standing to sue the president in the first place. And the appeals court will consider the presidents request to dismiss the case outright or to take the unusual step of ordering the lower-court judge to permit a midstream appeal. A federal judge in Maryland allowed the case over the Trump hotel to move forward and adopted a broad definition of the ban to include profit, gain, or advantage received directly or indirectly from foreign, federal or state governments. Trump and his lawyers appealed, saying in court filings that the president should be shielded from such liability and legal distractions. They also are trying to stop an order from U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte authorizing dozens of subpoenas to federal government agencies and Trumps private business entities. The subpoenas seek details on some of the most closely held secrets of Trumps business and finances: Which foreign governments have paid the Trump Organization money? How much? And for what? All of the documents including marketing materials targeted to foreign embassies, credit card receipts and restaurant reservation logs relate to Trumps Washington hotel. The complaint rests on a host of novel and fundamentally flawed constitutional premises, and litigating the claims would entail intrusive discovery into the presidents personal financial affairs and the official actions of his Administration, according to the Justice Departments filing. Despite this remarkable complaint, the district court treated this case as a run-of-the-mill commercial dispute, the filing continues. Not only did it deny the presidents motion to dismiss, but it refused even to certify for immediate appeal. The Richmond, Va.-based court, which takes appeals from Maryland, temporarily put the subpoenas on hold while the case is pending. Unlike past presidents, Trump has retained ownership of his private businesses, including the hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, a few blocks from the White House, that has attracted government clients. The Kuwaiti Embassy has held its National Day celebration there three years in a row. Lobbyists representing the Saudi government reserved blocks of rooms in December 2016. The former governor of Maine stayed at the hotel and dined at its restaurant in 2017. Mooppan said there was no evidence Maryland or the District had been harmed by the Maine governors trip, and that this case should be over. Despite the case and a separate emoluments suit brought by 198 Democrats in Congress the Trump Organization did more business with foreign governments in 2018 than it did the year before. The company said it received $191,000 in profits from large events and hotel bookings paid for by foreign governments last year, money it donated to the U.S. Treasury. The previous year the company reported about $150,000. In January, the inspector general for the General Services Administration said the agency had improperly ignored potential conflicts with the emoluments provision in leasing the Old Post Office building to the hotel. The watchdog agency did not recommend that the GSA modify the deal, but several House committees are now planning investigations into the project. In his initial ruling in March 2018, Messitte found that Maryland and the District had sufficiently shown that Trumps hotel has had and almost certainly will continue to have an unlawful effect on competition. He specifically noted the local governments financial interests in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, which offer venues that may compete for some events. The provisions being reviewed by the 4th Circuit have never before been tested at a federal appeals court. One bars federal officers from taking presents, or emoluments, from foreign governments. The other prohibits presidents from taking side payments from individual states. The Justice Department had urged Messitte to dismiss the case, arguing that the clauses were meant to stop officials from taking bribes but not to prevent them from doing business. The Office of Legal Counsel within the Justice Department has routinely addressed the meaning and implications of the provisions for presidents past. President Reagan requested guidance about whether he could accept the pension he earned as Californias governor. President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize only after the legal counsels office said he could do so without violating the emoluments clause. Ann E. Marimow and Jonathan OConnell write for the Washington Post. San Diego Unified Port District is suing California State Universitys board of trustees for failing to pay for more than $337,000 in damages to the Broadway Pier, according to federal court records. The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, says the damages to the north side of the pier were caused by a military training ship, owned and operated by the California State University (CSU) Maritime Academy. The Vallejo-based academy is one of 23 campuses under the CSU system and is one of seven degree-granting maritime academies in the country. According to the complaint, navigation officers and crew aboard the T/S Golden Bear were attempting in June to dock the ship on the north side of Broadway Pier, near Broadway and North Harbor Drive. Instead of aligning evenly with all three rubber fenders, the 500-foot training vessel struck one fender first, pushing the north side of the pier. Advertisement The ship hit with sufficient force the lawsuit said, that the pilings and wooden fenders, which were in good condition before the incident, are now broken or substantially damaged. The weather was clear and the water was calm at the time of the incident, the suit said. Monique Shay, assistant vice chancellor and chief counsel at CSU, called the lawsuit frivolous and said the university denies that it was negligent in any way. All witnesses confirm that the ship was traveling at a very slow, safe speed (less than one knot) while pulling in, Shay said in an email Tuesday. At no time did the ship make contact with the pier itself, only the Yokohama fenders, which are designed to be touched by a ship pulling up alongside the dock. The Golden Bear had just finished a journey from Hawaii when the incident took place, Shay said. According to San Diego Unified Port District tariffs, which are rules and regulations that govern all navigable waters, tidelands and submerged lands within the district, anyone who causes damage to port property is required to submit a written report describing the incident. No such report was submitted, the lawsuit said. The Port of San Diego filed a claim with the universitys risk management office seeking reimbursement for the damages in August, the lawsuit said. It was denied in September. Shay said CSU first learned of the issue when it received the ports claim. The university conducted its own investigation, which found marine growth in the breakage points and concluded the damage was present long before the Golden Bears June arrival. CSUs investigation revealed that the timber piles and wooden fender were 20 years old at the time the ship arrived, Shay said. They were well past their useful life, and in various stages of rot and decay, and already broken in several places. According to Shay, the university attempted to share its findings with the port and asked to view the ports evidence that the pier was in serviceable condition before the Golden Bear arrived. The port would not (or could not) produce that and instead chose to file this frivolous lawsuit, Shay said. The CSU plans to defend itself against this baseless claim. Brianne Page, a spokeswoman for the Port of San Diego, said a large ship such as the Golden Bear typically docks and makes contact with three fenders in order to spread out the force of a vessel that size, even at a slow speed. Witnesses report that, as the Golden Bear docked, it made contact with just one Yokohama fender and, as the vessel made contact with the fender, there were sounds of wood breaking and there was splintered wood in the water, Page said in an email Wednesday. In the weeks and months just prior to the Golden Bear incident, several cruise ships, many of which are larger than the Golden Bear, had docked at this side of Broadway Pier without causing such damage. The lawsuit accuses the academy of failing to adequately train the Golden Bear crew and failure to maintain a safe speed and avoid collision, among other things. In addition to the $337,500 in damages, the port is seeking prejudgment interest and court fees. Contact Lauryn Schroeder via Twitter or Email. Re Fox News Tucker Carlson faces backlash after vulgar audio recordings resurface (March 13): Tucker Carlson invites individuals with all perspectives to speak on his program. Media Matters for America works to destroy any conservative perspective in its research. Donald Trump Jr. is quoted in the article, The left is not going after Tucker Carlson for any reason other than hes effective at destroying their agenda. Thats what they do. The Union-Tribune could present their stories without the rhetoric and bias that so ubiquitously reflects the lefts agenda: One-sided journalism is as tiresome to read as propaganda. For example, there are no quotes from the Media Matters website, rather just innuendo as to what Carlson said. The story emphasizes the attack on Carlson rather than including the validity of his view, or right to free speech. As a critical reader of media, I would like to see more balanced articles in this local paper. Linda West Advertisement Rancho Bernardo Letters and commentary policy The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below. Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Global Agricultural Microbials Market: Snapshot The global agricultural microbials market is prophesied to witness strategic alliances and partnerships to take shape in an attempt to gain a competitive edge over other players in the industry. For instance, the BioAg Alliance was formed after Monsanto and Novozymes shook hands over one goal of leveraging microbial technologies to improve agricultural productivity while guaranteeing environmental safety. BioAg Alliance is considered as one of the world's largest programs for microbial field testing to examine potential agricultural microbes. The first microbial product incubated by the alliance is Acceleron B-300 SAT, which is set to be applied to new corn hybrid seeds sold by Monsanto in the U.S. Some of the crucial factors augmenting the growth of the global agricultural microbials market could be the rising adoption and popularity of organic farming across the world, acceptable government legislations and policies, and increase in the cost of agrochemicals besides the obvious factor of increasing food demand and security. However, features such as the telling target pest specificity of microbials and lazy adoption due to lack of awareness are projected to discourage the demand for agricultural microbials. Nevertheless, the mounting potential for microbial seed treatment solutions and heavy demand in emerging regions such as Latin America and Asia Pacific could lay a solid foundation of growth in the market. Request Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4294 Agricultural microbials could prove to be essential for holistically improving plant health and enhancing crop productivity through economical solutions while controlling disease outbreak, bettering soil health condition, and refining the nutrient transportation process. Global Agricultural Microbials Market: Overview With the increasing attempts to curtail the high frequency of crop diseases, the global demand for agricultural microbials is expected to follow a notable growth track. Agricultural microbials are being widely acknowledged as they are cost-effective and sustainable and enhance the productivity and fertility of crops. They are commonly used in the production of crops such as pulses, oilseeds, cereals and grains, vegetables, fruits, and poultry and dairy products. Some of the common types of these microbials are bacteria, virus, protozoa, and fungi. The research report encompasses all the important parameters of the global agricultural microbials market, including its dynamics, competitive landscape, and region-wise outlook. The statistics pertaining to the market at both global and regional levels are included in the report. The study profiles key players operating in the market along with their business strategies, latest developments, and contact information. Global Agricultural Microbials Market: Drivers and Restraints The ever-rising demand for food is playing a vital role in the growth of the global agricultural microbials market. Agricultural microbials are useful in enhancing the crop yield and also in improving human health. In addition, the rapidly growing global population is escalating the demand for food, thereby stoking the growth of the region. Moreover, the increasing emphasis on environment-friendly farming practices is translating into the greater uptake of agricultural microbials. Favorable regulatory policies and financial schemes by several governments across the world are also augmenting the market. Request for TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=4294 On the flip side, the shorter shelf life of microbes is limiting the widespread adoption of agricultural microbials. This is further compounded by the changing climatic conditions. However, the burgeoning use of agricultural microbials in emerging regions of Asia Pacific and Latin America are prompting market players to capitalize on these regions. Global Agricultural Microbials Market: Geographical Segmentation The key segments analyzed in the report on the basis of geography are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America and Europe will account for substantial cumulative shares in the global market. The growing demand for organic food is the primary factor driving the growth of these regions. In North America, the U.S. will be a major revenue contributor due to the enforcement of stringent environmental protection laws for agricultural practices. The spike in the consumption of fertilizers and pesticides in Canada is triggering the demand for agricultural microbials. Asia Pacific is expected to register a significant growth rate owing to the increasing production of tropical and sub-tropical vegetables and fruits. Countries such as India and China will be the sights of high growth rate in the region. The rapidly growing population of these countries is leading to the spiraling demand for food, which is stimulating the adoption of agricultural microbials. Global Agricultural Microbials Market: Competitive Landscape The global agricultural microbials market is highly fragmented in nature, with a large number of small players present especially in developing countries. Key players in the market are focusing towards generating innovative solutions such that they can better adapt and scale to suit the requirements of end users. These players are pouring hefty funds into research and development of novel microbial products in order to stay relevant. Several players are aiming at expanding their geographical outreach to enhance their visibility. The key companies operating in the global agricultural microbials market are Monsanto, Bayer CropScience AG, Syngenta AG, BASF SE, Arysta LifeScience Limited, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., and Novozymes. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- An aircraft catering vehicle is a type of ground support vehicle which is used to deliver in-flight catering services at airports. Aircraft catering vehicles come with body insulation and are equipped with systems that facilitate refrigeration or heating, as per the requirements. Generally, in aircraft catering vehicles, lifting and lowering of the van body is done using the hydraulic scissor mechanism, which ensures that the aircraft catering vehicle can cater to every type of airplane, be it small or large body aircrafts. Large international airlines, sometimes, do more than a thousand takeoffs and landings every day and catering services enhance passengers' comfort. Strict hygiene and safety demanded by the aviation industry is increasing the demand for aircraft catering vehicles for the efficient transportation of catering equipment and food supplies to and from the aircraft. This particular factor, in turn, is expected to drive the aircraft catering vehicle market's growth across the globe during the forecast period. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2490 Aircraft Catering Vehicle Market: Dynamics The aviation industry has always been under the scanner of regulating authorities and is required to adhere to various guidelines issued by them. Several regulations existing with regards to aircraft ground support equipment are the key factors driving the growth of the aircraft catering vehicle market. Growth in air passenger traffic across the globe is also one of the major factors propelling the demand for aircraft catering vehicles, which in turn, is expected to contribute to the global aircraft catering vehicle market in the coming years. However, one of the challenges restraining the growth of aircraft catering vehicles is the lack of trained professionals to operate specific aircraft ground support equipment. This can indirectly result into safety hazards as well as low production output. The ongoing developments in the aviation industry and upcoming projects for new as well as existing airports are expected to create significant opportunities for the growth of the aircraft catering vehicle manufacturers in the coming years. The ongoing trend gaining momentum in the aircraft catering vehicle market is shifting preference of airline companies and airport authorities towards renting of ground support equipment to minimize their maintenance and inventory costs. Aircraft Catering Vehicle Market Segmentation The global aircraft catering vehicle market can be segmented by platform height and payload capacity. On the basis of platform height, the global aircraft catering vehicles market can be segmented into: Less than 4 m 4 to 6 m More than 6 m On the basis of payload capacity, the global aircraft catering vehicle market can be segmented into: Low capacity (Less than 2000 kg) Medium capacity (2000 kg to 4000 kg) High capacity (More than 4000 Kg) Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2490 Aircraft Catering Vehicle Market: Regional Outlook Owing to increasing number of airports and modernization of the existing ones, the global market for aircraft catering vehicles is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The demand for aircraft catering vehicles in North America is expected to be lucrative due to the presence of a large number of airports in the region. More than 2000 airports are operating in the U.S. itself. Growing air passenger traffic in Mexico, Argentina and other countries of Latin America is expected to fuel the demand for aircraft catering vehicles in the region during the coming years. Large airports with strict safety norms governing hygiene in countries, such as Germany, U.K. and France, are anticipated to fuel the demand for aircraft catering vehicles in Europe. The Asia Pacific region is also expected to witness robust growth in the aviation industry owing to increasing tourism and trade as well as several government initiatives supporting manufacturing the region. This, in turn, is estimated to significantly contribute to the aircraft catering vehicle market in the coming years. Aircraft Catering Vehicle Market: Key Participants Examples of some of the market participants operating across the value chain of the global aircraft catering vehicle market are: Cartoo GSE Mallaghan GSE Smith Transportation Equipment Global Ground Support, LLC Shenzhen Techking Industry Co. Ltd Jiangsu tianyi Airport special equipment Co., Ltd EAGLE INDUSTRIES DWC-LLC. Doll Fahrzeugbau Gmbh Nandan GSE Pvt. Ltd. Miles Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2490 The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain Regional analysis includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordics) Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, CIS) Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel) The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2490/aircraft-catering-vehicle-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Alcohol Ethoxylate Market: Overview Alcohol Ethoxylate are the non-ionic surfactants which have broad applications in laundry detergents both industrial markets and domestic commercial markets. These are used as a cleaning and wetting agents in cosmetics, textile, agriculture, oil, paper, and various other material processing industries. These alcohol ethoxylate surfactants have a basic structure of hydrophobic and hydrophilic components which makes it a versatile surfactant in nature. The alcohol Ethoxylate has added the advantage of inhibiting dual immiscible oil and water phases. Besides, alcohol ethoxylate enhances solubilization of oil and water, and effectively bringing them close thoroughly. Alcohol ethoxylate is effective in lowering the interfacial energy associated with oil and water. With rapidly increasing industrial and commercial sectors, the demand for alcohol ethoxylate continues to witness a substantial growth during the forecast period. Factors pacing up the alcohol ethoxylate market The expanding processing industries for predominantly drives the global alcohol ethoxylate market. Also, this ever-increasing use of alcohol ethoxylate in cosmetics & personal care industries coupled with lucrative applications in oil & paper industry. Top players in the global alcohol ethoxylate are focusing on lucrative growth opportunities in developing economies as a consequence of recently acquired economic prosperity and trending use of surfactants in immiscible phase treatment applications in the market. To gain market penetration in emerging countries, prominent players are focusing on developing alcohol ethoxylate that are advantageously suitable for the cosmetics and personal care industries in these countries. With all these driving forces, the global market for alcohol ethoxylate is expected to have significant expansion during the forecast period. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=3003 Global Alcohol Ethoxylate Market: Segmentation The global market for alcohol ethoxylate is segmented by application and by region. On the basis of application, the global alcohol ethoxylate market is segmented by household & personal care, pharmaceuticals, oilfields, agrochemicals, and others. With the rapid growth in the material processing plants and rapidly growing industries across the world, the oilfield and pharmaceuticals segment is estimated to witness high growth over the forecast period. On the other hand, stringent government regulations on surfactants will aid in the expansion of the global alcohol ethoxylate market over the forecast period. Regional alcohol ethoxylate market overview The global alcohol ethoxylate market can be segmented with respect to the regions such as North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Oceania, and MEA (Middle East and Africa). The South Asia is expected to have a significant market for alcohol ethoxylate owing to the rising economic prosperity in India. The MEA and Latin America markets for alcohol ethoxylate also have considerable growth with the rapid economic growth in these regions over the past couple of years. Developed countries such as the U.S. and countries of Europe are substantial markets for alcohol ethoxylate due to the growing demand for surfactants in processing industries such as cosmetics, textile, agriculture, oil, paper, and various other material processing industries. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=3003 Lofty Players in the global alcohol ethoxylate market Prominent players in the global alcohol ethoxylate market are Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), DowDuPont (US), BASF SE (Germany), Stepan Company (Illinois), Clariant AG (Switzerland), Sasol Ltd (South Africa), India Glycols (India), Ineos Group (Switzerland), and others. The Global players are expected to strengthen their market positions by offering loyalty schemes and competitive prices. Several small-sized players also have a presence in the alcohol ethoxylate surfactants market globally. Race and pace in the global alcohol ethoxylate market The global market for alcohol ethoxylate is fragmented in nature owing to the presence of large number of players in the market. The global alcohol ethoxylate market has lucrative opportunities for new entrants, which will cater to competitiveness in the product offerings and also leads to the reduction in prices of the products. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the alcohol ethoxylate market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, and historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The alcohol ethoxylate market report provides analysis and information, according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3003 The Alcohol ethoxylate Market Report Covers Exhaustive Analysis On: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain The Alcohol ethoxylate Market Regional Analysis Includes: North America (US, Canada) Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, rest of Latin America) Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Spain, BENELUX, Russia, Rest of Europe) East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea) South Asia (India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Rest of South Asia) Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) MEA (GCC Countries, Turkey, Northern Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa) The Alcohol ethoxylate report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The Alcohol ethoxylate report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The Alcohol ethoxylate report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. The Alcohol ethoxylate Market Report Highlights: A Detailed overview of the parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/3003/alcohol-ethoxylate-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Introduction Automotive cabin insulation highly relies on noise, vibration and harness (NVH) design of an automobile. The overall automotive cabin insulation is precisely intended for making the ride quality smooth for the occupants of the automobile. The automotive cabin insulation and refinement is part of the NVH design quality. The automotive cabin can be made silent by close analysis of the NVH transfer paths. The cabin refinement and the engine capacity are the major design elements considered for automotive cabin insulation. Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Dynamics The key driving factor the global automotive cabin insulation market include constantly growing populations, which have resulted in increased demand for premium, as well as non-premium vehicles, and SUVs across all major developing economies. The macroeconomic factors, such as growing urbanization & industrial activities coupled with up gradation of living lifestyle and an increase in demand for luxury and comfort vehicles in many countries, is further augmenting the sales of automotive cabin insulation. The significant increase in sales of hybrid, as well as electric vehicle owing to the rise in the awareness, regarding carbon footprint reduction is highly anticipated to drive the global automotive cabin insulation market. Moreover, considerable growth in the Asian & European automotive sector and technological advancement in traditional automotive cabin insulation will create a significant opportunity for the global automotive cabin insulation market. Furthermore, the upsurge in the quality of insulation material utilized for the automobile is highly anticipated to boost the demand for automotive cabin insulation. As automotive cabin insulation is designed to minimize the noise & vibration and provide ideal comfort for the occupant, automotive cabin insulation is gaining huge recognition across all regions. All the above mentioned major influencing factors are highly anticipated to drive the global automotive cabin insulation market over the forecast period. The key restraining factor, such as high cost of insulation material may hinder the global automotive cabin insulation market growth over the forecast period. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2425 Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Segmentation The global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented on the basis of material, application, component, vehicle type and region. Based on the material, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented as: ABS Fiberglass Polypropylene Polyurethane PVC Textiles Other Based on the application, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented as: Exterior Interior Under Hood & Engine Bay Trunk Panel Based on the component, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented as: Bonnet Liner Cabin Rear Trim Door Trim Engine Top Cover Engine Encapsulation Fender Insulator Floor Insulator Headliner Inner Dash Insulator Outer Dash Insulator Parcel Tray Trunk Trim Wheel Arch Liner Based on the vehicle type, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented as: Passenger Cars LCV HCV Polyurethane automotive cabin insulation material is estimated to account for a significant market share over the forecast period. The prime advantages associated with polyurethane is high tensile strength, superior abrasion and bearing resistance, water and oil resistance, short production lead time, and noise captivation, making polyurethane an ideal choice for manufacturing automotive cabin insulation. On the other hand, among vehicle type segment, the passenger cars are anticipated to see rapid market growth over the forecast period, attributed to increasing vehicle production along with growing demand for premium vehicles. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2425 Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Regional Outlook Based on geographies, the global automotive cabin insulation market is segmented into seven regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, APEJ (the Asia Pacific excluding Japan) and MEA. Among the above-mentioned countries, APEJ is estimated to account for a significant market share due to increased production of passenger cars and electric vehicles in countries, such as China, India, Indonesia and Australia. Europe is anticipated to witness a high growth in the global automotive cabin insulation market owing to the presence of top automobile manufacturing companies. Moreover, Middle East & Africa is projected to showcase steady growth in the global automotive cabin insulation market due to the rise in the sale of premium cars along with a boost in the standard of living across the region. North America is one of the key maturing regions that will generate generous opportunity in the global automotive cabin insulation market over the forecast period due to the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles. Automotive Cabin Insulation Market: Prominent players Prominent players for the global automotive cabin insulation market are BASF SE, The Dow Chemical Company, 3M, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Covestro AG, DuPont, Toray Industries, Inc. Huntsman International LLC, Sika AG, LyondellBasell and other key market players. The automotive cabin insulation market consists of well-diversified global and regional players with the global vendors ruling the market. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the automotive cabin insulation market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The automotive cabin insulation market report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2425 Automotive Cabin Insulation Market Report Covers Exhaustive Analysis On: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain Automotive Cabin Insulation Market Regional Analysis Includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe) CIS and Russia Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel) The automotive cabin insulation report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The automotive cabin insulation report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The automotive cabin insulation report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Automotive Cabin Insulation Market Report Highlights: A Detailed overview of the parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2425/automotive-cabin-insulation-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- A/V Senders Market: Overview With infrared remote control operation and a wide range of video sender technologies, A/V senders have undergone significant changes, over the past few years. Furthermore, technological advancement and adoption of spread-spectrum technology in wireless A/V senders have encouraged consumers to operate television within the home without moving VCR or laser disc player and eliminate running inconvenient cables throughout the home. A/V senders system consist of a transmitter, receiver, and remote control relay. This A/V sender transmits audio & video signals wirelessly from one location to another and also offers an alternative to cable installations. This A/V sender is most widely used in the transmission of television audio and video signals from CCTV camera, and other source devices. A/V sender also increases the listening quality of the stereo receiver connected to any speaker in the home. The A/V senders come in a wide range of video sender technologies such as analog wireless, digital wireless, and power-line communication. Also, the digital A/V senders are the most widely used video sender solution that uses the system on chip to transmit the signal such as spread-spectrum, Wi-Fi, and ultra-wideband. Due to the change in connectivity standards in the television and audio & video markets, there is a change in the A/V sender market. Moreover, A/V sender vendors are currently advancing their offerings by integrating spread spectrum technologies in A/V senders and offers a wide range of A/V senders in order to compete in the A/V senders market. Request Free Sample Report@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1170 A/V Senders Market: Dynamics The low manufacturing cost of analog A/V senders as the audio & video signals are modulated on 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz range, and a clear line of sight from the transmitter are the primary factors expected to increase the growth of A/V senders market. Also, these A/V senders' features include effective power source adapter that offers a wide range of transmission to the source device. However, the high cost of A/V senders and change in wireless connectivity standards can hamper the growth of the A/V senders market. Global A/V Senders Market: Segmentation Segmentation Overview The A/V senders market can be segmented on the basis of component, type, application, and regions. On the basis of component, the A/V senders market can be segmented into transmitter, receiver, and remote control relay. On the basis of type, the A/V senders market can be segmented as digital A/V sender, analog A/V sender, and wireless A/V sender. On the basis of application, the A/V senders market can be segmented into satellite & cable receivers, camcorders/CCTV camera, stereo systems, televisions, and laser disc players & VCRs. By Component Transmitter Receiver Remote Control Relay By Type Digital A/V Sender Analog A/V Sender Wireless A/V Sender By Application Satellite And Cable Receivers Camcorders/CCTV Camera Stereo Systems Televisions Laser Disc Players & VCRs Global A/V Senders Market: Competition Landscape Examples of some of the key players in the global A/V senders market are Ambery, Crest, DivineXt, Tewtross, SainSonic, Tradico, SLB Works, Galexbit, Artek, Measy, Signstek, Gemgoo, Rishil World, SODIAL, iKKEGOL, Souq, etc. Request/View TOC@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1170 A/V Senders Market: Regional Outlook The A/V senders market is dominated by the Asia Pacific followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific is dominating the market due to the wide presence of key A/V sender providers in China. On the other hand, North America, Europe, and Japan are expected to grow significantly as compared to the other regions in the A/V senders market in the upcoming years. A primary growth factor is the introduction of spread spectrum technologies in A/V senders by the players operating in the A/V senders market. Latin America and MEA are expected to see a moderate growth rate in the A/V senders market. The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Global A/V Senders Market Segments Global A/V Senders Market Dynamics Historical Actual Market Size, 2013-2017 Global A/V Senders Market Size & Forecast 2017 to 2028 Supply & Demand Value Chain for A/V Senders Market Global A/V Senders Market Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved in A/V Senders Market A/V Senders Technology Value Chain of A/V Senders Global A/V Senders Market Drivers and Restraints Regional analysis of Global A/V Senders Market includes North America U.S. Canada Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Chile Peru Rest of Latin America Europe EU 4 (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) UK BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) NORDIC (Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden) Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic etc.) Rest of Europe CIS & Russia Japan APEJ Greater China India Korea ASEAN Countries Rest of APEJ Middle East & Africa GCC Countries Turkey Iran Israel South Africa Rest of MEA The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics of the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and product offerings Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective towards market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Report Analysis@ https://www.factmr.com/report/1170/a-v-senders-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us Rohit Bhisey Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Blog: https://factmrblog.com/ Read Industry News at - http://theguardiantribune.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- As castor oil is known for deeply hydrating and nourishing one's hair and scalp, it becomes very difficult for consumers to choose which castor oil is best for them to use. Castor such as Jamaican black castor oil and cold pressed castor oil, among others, offer as antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties, which are all vital for the hair follicles, ensuring better nutrition and blood circulation. With a wide variety of castor oil available in the market, consumers come in a position where they are not able to conclude whether they are purchasing the right product or not. To overcome this situation, consumers are now looking forward to e-Retailers. Online retailers, these days, are offering a wide variety of castor oil to their customers through detailed inventory, which covers global brands and private label products. Moreover, online stores offer castor oil products at very economical prices, along with other rewarding offers or coupons. All these benefits, combined, are predictable to act as positive factors, driving the growth of the global castor oil market over the forecast period. Request For Report Brochure For Latest Industry Insights @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=21047 Brazil a Booming Market for the Cosmetic Industry Historically, Brazil's cosmetic industry has been accelerating twice the speed of its national economy. But due to an economic downturn in 2015-16, the beauty industry also had to face sluggish growth. Now, when Brazil is fully recovering from its economic slowdown, obtaining positive GDP growth in 2017, it is anticipated that the improved economic outlook is likely to have a positive effect on the cosmetic industry of the country, supporting the growth of the castor oil market over the forecast period. Consumers in Brazil have become very sophisticated about their tastes, which is transforming the personal care and cosmetic industry significantly, and making it one of the fastest growing markets on the planet. As a result, castor oil is witnessing increasing demand in the market in Brazil. Stringent Regulations and Standards May Create Challenging Situations for Manufacturers Due to similar physical properties of petroleum oils, animal fats, and vegetable oils, which can have undesirable effects on the environment, oils and fats are regulated by most governments in the world. As various toxic products can be formed by using castor oil, which can torment the ecosystem, various governments impose regulations on processes involving the production, storage, and transportation of castor seeds and castor oil. Also, labeling requirements for food and procedures for gaining approvals for distribution of the product can prove to be difficult for manufacturers and distributors. Due to the imposition of standards and certification requirements that are difficult to meet, the market growth for castor oil can get hampered in the future. Higher Dependency on Imported Goods In general, the current rate of castor oil production in North America or Europe is not considered sufficient to cater to the increasing demand. The castor oil market is highly active in nature, as the supply and demand situation keeps on shifting from one hand to another. Castor oil and its derivatives are the key ingredients in the chemical, cosmetic, and personal care industries. Since castor oil is also used to cure sicknesses and stimulate well-being, many consumers from the Western world are demanding these products. However, due to less production of castor oil and absence of international players, consumers have to rely on imported good from countries such as India and Brazil, who produce these products on a very large scale. As of 2016, India alone produced almost around 92% of the world supply of castor oil. Obtain Report Details @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/castor-oil-market.html Global Castor Oil Market: Competition Dashboard TMR has profiled the most prominent companies that are active in the global castor oil market, such as Adani Wilmar Limited, The Chemical Company, Arvalli Castor Derivatives Pvt Ltd., Girnar Industries, Sunny Isle, Sree Rayalaseema Alkalies & Chemical Ltd., Adya Oils & Chemicals Ltd., R.P.K. Agrotech Exports Pvt. Ltd., Cockney Finestyle, LLC, Tongliao Tonghua Castor Chemical Co., Ltd., Purerzan Jamaica, BDI Enterprises, LLC, Thai Castor Oil Industries Company Limited, Jayant Agro-Organics Limited, Gokul Overseas, Itoh Oil Chemicals Co., Ltd., Hokoku Corporation, N K Proteins Pvt Ltd., Shavuot Farms and Amee Castor & Derivatives Ltd. among others. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Circular connectors refers to multi-pin connectors used for interfacing. A connector is a component which enables maximum connectivity of the electric or transmission signals. They are used for data transfer, electrical signal transmissions, or for supplying power to electrical devices. These connectors are designed to resists abnormal environment offering a secure connection for various applications. Moreover, they are used for medical and industrial applications such as car diagnostic systems and data cables for LCD screens among others. Circular connectors designed for industrial automation and control are very robustly built connectors. They generally have more screws affixing them to whatever surface they are mounted to and are designed to keep out contaminants. Some circular connectors are designed to project a bit from the surface to which they are mounted and others are designed to remain flush or be attached. Get Sample Copy of this report @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/7660 Due to varied specifications of circular connectors, they are widely used where small connectors and many contacts are required. Due to the change in analog to digital world, connectors are in high demand for better and secure connectivity. It ranges in sizes from small connectors to heavy-duty connectors. When used in arrays, there may be loss in panel space. All these factors tend to boost the market growth during the forecast period. The key challenge for any connector manufacturer is to deliver maximum technical performance in the smallest possible package. To overcome this problem, a new technology called as spring enabled technology has been developed. This solution joins the reliability features of hyperboloid technology with the mechanical advantages of a spring-loaded contact that results in connector with better capability, and high reliability. Another option to spring enabled technology is a connector which consists of a spring, plunger, and barrel. This spring probe can directly be mated on PCB, providing a high degree of flexibility with noteworthy space savings. Connectors are designed to fulfill the purpose or its any specific application in the best way taking into considerations of commercial and technical requirements, performance, reliability, need for high data speed. To meet these requirements connectors would be designed for multiple applications. The circular connectors market can be segmented on the basis of types, pins, gender, applications, and geography. The circular connectors market based on the type is segmented into Circular Metal Shell Connectors (CMSC), Circular plastic connectors (CPC), Din Connectors, RF Connectors, Power Connectors and others. Segmentation by pins are done on the basis of number of pins in the connectors. Further segmentation by gender is bifurcated into male and female. In terms of application the circular connectors is segmented into Mil-spec connectors, Din connectors, micro and nano connectors. On the basis of industry as the market is fragmented into Defense, Railways, Audio Equipments, Power Plants, Industrial and Consumer Electronics. Request For TOC Report @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/7660 The circular connectors market is segmented on the basis of geography into North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. United States and Europe has large number of leading manufacturers of circular connectors. However the Asia-Pacific region is expected to emerge as the one of the fastest growing market in coming years due to growing economies such as China, India and Japan. Few of the key manufacturers operating in circular connectors market with most significant development includes Amphelon Corporation, TE Connectivity Corporation, Molex Incorporated, Delphi Automotive LLP, Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, Franz Binder GmbH & Co, ITT Inc,, Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd, and Shenzhen Deren Electronics Co. Ltd. among others. MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources. The report provides the following information: - Tailwinds and headwinds molding the market's trajectory - Market segments based on products, technology, and applications - Prospects of each segment - Overall current and possible future size of the market - Growth pace of the market - Competitive landscape and key players' strategies View Complete Report at @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/it-and-telecommunication/7660/circular-connectors-global-industry-market-research-reports The main aim of the report is to: - Enable key stakeholder's in the market bet right on it - Understand the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting them - Assess the overall growth scope in the near term - Strategize effectively with respect to production and distribution MRR.BIZ is a leading provider of strategic market research. Our vast repository consists research reports, data books, company profiles, and regional market data sheets. We regularly update the data and analysis of a wide-ranging products and services around the world. As readers, you will have access to the latest information on almost 300 industries and their sub-segments. Both large Fortune 500 companies and SMEs have found those useful. This is because we customize our offerings keeping in mind the specific requirements of our clients. About MarketResearchReports.biz MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries. Contact Mr. Nachiket State Tower 90 Sate Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Website: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Maharashtra, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Digital Bottletop Dispensers Market The global Digital Bottletop Dispensers Market report look through various tendencies, obstructions, and challenges faced by the key competitors of Digital Bottletop Dispensers market. The report has been prepared in consideration of the major outcomes and consequences of the market. This report examines the Digital Bottletop Dispensers market status and the potential of global and major regions, from angles of players, product regions and end Application/industries; this report assesses the key players in global and major regions and classifies the Digital Bottletop Dispensers market by product and Application/end industries. Download Research Study With Latest Advancement Trends and Application https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request_sample/384467 Segmentation: This study considers the Digital Bottletop Dispensers value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments: Segmentation by product type: Automatic Semi-Automatic Segmentation by application: Industrial Use Laboratory Use Others The report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report: Thermo Fisher Scientific Eppendorf Sartorius BRAND Regions/Countries: North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.) Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iran etc.) Africa (Egypt, South Africa, etc.) Get Discount on this report @ https://www.reportsmonitor.com/check_discount/384467 Points Covered in The Report: The points that are talked over within the report are the major Digital Bottletop Dispensers market players that influence the market such as raw material suppliers, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, end users, traders, distributors etc. The all-inclusive profile of the companies is specified. The production, price, capacity, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, sales volume, sales revenue, consumption, growth rate, import, export, future strategies, supply, and the technological developments that they are creating are also incorporated within the report. Besides the historical data from 2012 to 2017 and forecast data from 2019 to 2024. The growth factors of the Digital Bottletop Dispensers market are deeply discussed while the different end users of the market are underlined. Data and information by manufacturer, by region, by type, by application and etc., and custom research can be added in line with the specific requirements. The report also considers the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report concludes with the opinions of the industry experts. Full Report Link @ https://www.reportsmonitor.com/report/384467/Digital-Bottletop-Dispensers-Market The global Digital Bottletop Dispensers Market provides an overall research conclusion and market feasibility of investing in a novel project is assessed. Global Digital Bottletop Dispensers Market is a beneficial and trustworthy source of guidance and mode for individuals and companies concerned with the sales of the market. Mention your Queries here to Get a Call from Our Industry Expert @ sales@reportsmonitor.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- A drug allergy occurs when a drug component interacts with the human immune system. It is also known as drug hypersensitivity reaction. Allergic reactions to drugs fall under the class of drug hypersensitivity reactions that are mediated by IgE. Recognized risk factors for drug hypersensitivity reactions include gender, age, illnesses, and previous hypersensitivity history to related drugs. Drug allergy is generally diagnosed clinically. Tests like skin tests is carried out in laboratories as it offers high specificity. Treatment is largely helpful and includes termination of the wrong medication, indicative treatment, and patient learning. For instance, patients with allergy from penicillin are advised to avoid any carbapenems and cephalosporins drugs for safer health. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/drug-allergy-market.html The global drug allergy market can be segmented based on diagnosis, type, treatment, and end-user. In terms of diagnosis, the market can be categorized into blood tests, skin tests, patch test, and others. Based on type, the global drug allergy market can be bifurcated into immunologic and non-immunologic. Immunologic is divided into type I, type II, type III, and type IV reactions. Non-immunologic allergy is divided into predictable and unpredictable allergies. Predictable allergy can be due to multiple reasons such as pharmacologic side effect, drug-drug interactions, secondary pharmacologic side effect, drug toxicity, and drug overdose. Unpredictable allergy can be due to intolerance, alterations in the metabolism, and idiosyncrasy reactions. In terms of treatment, the market can be segmented into corticosteroids, antihistamines, treatment of anaphylaxis, withdrawal of the drug, and others. Based on end-user, the global drug allergy market can be segmented into hospitals, medical research centers, clinics, academic institutes, and others. Introduction of novel treatment techniques, increase in awareness about various allergies, and rise in demand in emerging markets drive the global drug allergy market. Discovery of new products and rigorous ongoing research for the prevention of any type of drug allergies are major drivers for the market. The global drug allergy market is growing at a moderate pace and the trends is expected to continue during the forecast period. Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=39551 Geographically, the global drug allergy market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global drug allergy market. The U.S. is the largest market for drug allergy treatment in North America in terms of revenue. According to a study, around 10% of the population of the U.S. has allergies to different kinds of drugs. Europe is the second largest market for drug allergy treatment due to increasing cases of drug allergy and less stringent regulatory authorities in different regions. Countries in Western Europe such as Germany, the U.K., and France dominate the drug allergy market in Europe. Rise in drug allergy cases is one of the major factors driving the market in Europe. The market in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a rapid pace. Availability of more treatment options and increasing awareness about different types of allergies propel the market in the region. Japan accounts for major share of the market in Asia Pacific . The market in China is expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period. Improving health care practices and increase in patient involvement fuel the growth of the market in the region. The drug allergy market in Latin America is also growing considerably. Countries such as Brazil and Argentina account for major market share. The market in Middle East & Africa is expected to witness sluggish growth due to lack of awareness about diseases, and traditional health care practices. The Middle East region dominates over African market due to several reasons like developed healthcare facilities and government support to improve public health. Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=39545 Top players in the global drug allergy market are Bayer, HAL Allergy Group, Circassia, AstraZeneca, MAGNA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., and Stallergenes Greer plc. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact Us Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Maharashtra, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Electric Bicycle Motors Market An electric bicycle, also known as an e-bike, power bike or booster bike, is a bicycle with an integrated electric motor which can be used for propulsion. Rental and sharing services in big cities in North America is turning out to be a key trend. California and New York are getting more support from government authorities to use bicycles as an effective mode of transportation. Have Questions? Request a sample or make an Inquiry before buying this report by clicking the link below:-https://www.reportsmonitor.com/request_sample/385696 The scope of the Report: With the increase in rental and the sharing services, the demand for maintenance and replacement services is anticipated to rise in the coming years. This will subsequently increase the demand for electric bicycle motors, which is anticipated to create opportunities for enhancing the growth of the electric bicycle motors market in the coming years. Manufacturer, Distributor, Downstream Client Companies Data Analysis: Yamaha, Robert Bosch, Continental, Nidec, Panasonic, Brose Fahrzeugteile, DAPU Motors, BionX International, Bafang Electric (Suzhou), J.D. Components, TDCM Corporation, Suzhou Xiongda Electric Machine By the product type, the market is primarily split into Less Than 350W 350W-750W Above 750W By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments OEM Aftermarket Electric Bicycle Motors Market report also splits the market by region: North America (United States, Canada, Mexico) South America ( Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile) Asia Pacific (China, Japan, India, Korea) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy) Middle East Africa (Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran) And More. The report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Electric Bicycle Motors Market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares split, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources. Click here to Get customization & check discount for the report https://www.reportsmonitor.com/check_discount/385696 In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Electric Bicycle Motors are as follows: History Year: 2014-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025 Research objectives: Focuses on the key global Electric Bicycle Motors manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis, and development plans in the next few years. To analyze the Electric Bicycle Motors with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market. To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks). To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. Access Complete Copy of Electric Bicycle Motors Report @ https://www.reportsmonitor.com/report/385696/Electric-Bicycle-Motors-Market Key Points sheathed in the Electric Bicycle Motors Market Report Coverage: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Market share analysis of the top industry players Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financial and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements About Reports Monitor Reports Monitor.com is a market intelligence and consulting firm with extensive experience and knowledge of the Market Research industry. We work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- A new research document with title 'Indian eLiquids and eJuice Market (2016-2022)' covering detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis and important players/vendors such as Reynolds American, Japan Tobacco, Altria, Shenzhen Joyetech, etc. The report will help user gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period to 2022. Request a sample report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/630656-indian-eliquids-and-ejuice-market-1 Summary Overview: eLiquids can be categorized into eJuice, eCigarettes, eFluids, vaporizer cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS), and eCigs. The eCigarettes are considered as an alternative to real cigarettes with no tobacco and is powered by a battery device that emits a flavored fog (nicotine is required if the user prefers it) when inhaled. In India, eCigarette business is in initial stage as consumers are starting to switch from traditional cigarette to eCigarette, which are considered healthier hence eCigarette is becoming popular among the end-users. Additionally, eLiquids are 95% less harmful than a normal cigarette. Market Analysis: According to Infoholic Research, the "Indian eLiquid and eJuice Market" is estimated to witness a CAGR of 54.1% during the forecast period 2016-2022. The increasing young population, changing consumer lifestyle, changing demands, and spending activities have led the demand for eLiquid and eJuice in India. In addition, the development of innovative products with extra features helps to improve the customer satisfaction and increase the customer base as customers are demanding for various flavour products and they are ready to spend money. The Indian eLiquid and eJuice market is analyzed by types pre-filled eLiquid and bottled eLiquid; distribution channels online, offline (retail), and others; demography age group and sex; and location tier 1 cities, and tier 2 cities. Get customization & check discount for report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/request-discount/630656-indian-eliquids-and-ejuice-market-1 Product Analysis: Pre-filled eLiquid is expected to reach $1,095.3 million by 2022 due to the growing demand for pre-filled eLiquid products in the market. In addition, the users often prefer refillable or replaceable eLiquid. The tier 1 cities segment is expected to play a major role in the market growth. The smokers in the age group of 24-45 years are primarily targeted by the eCigarette players. Key Players: The eLiquid and eJuice market in India is expected to grow and value chain players are continuing to expand, bringing new innovative products, and rising M&A activities to gain the revenue in this market. Some of the players included in the report are ITC Limited, Japan Tobacco Inc., Altria Group Inc., Godfrey Philips India Ltd., Reynolds American Inc., and Foschia (R.R. Chemicals). Companies Mentioned in the Report ITC Limited, Japan Tobacco Inc, Altria Group Inc,Godfrey Philips India Ltd,Philip Morris International Management SA (PMI), Reynolds American Inc, Green Vapo,Litejoy International Pvt. Ltd,Pure Vapors,SPK Consumer Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Shenzhen Joyetech Co., Ltd, Foschia (R.R. Chemicals),Foschia (R.R. Chemicals). Benefits: The report provides complete details of industry trends about the eLiquid and eJuice market. The report provides business opportunities for various key stakeholders by providing an in-depth analysis of adoption and demand for eLiquid and eJuice. Some of the key points featured in the report aiming to help the industry participants are described below. The report provides complete details about major trends, drivers, restraints, and opportunities in each industry vertical. This business information helps the key stakeholders to understand the current and future market outlook to focus/expand/invest in various types and distribution channels and can target specific demography to offer the eLiquid and eJuice market. Further, this report provides the complete details about the tier 1 cities and tier 2 cities. Furthermore, the report aims to provide an opportunity for players to understand the latest trends, current market scenario, government initiatives, and technologies related to the market. In addition, helps the venture capitalist in understanding the companies better and take informed decisions. The report gives an opportunity to the players to improve their current business approach by providing strategic intelligence about the competition. The report also provides the competitive landscape of the leading players specific to eLiquid and eJuice market that helps them to understand about their competitor's landscape. The report can also be tailored as per the specific info required by the users. The customization of the report is available on the basis of distribution channels, vendor profiles, and tier cities. View Detailed Table of Content @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/630656-indian-eliquids-and-ejuice-market-1 Table of Contents 1 Industry Outlook 1.1 Industry Overview 1.2 Industry Trends 1.3 PEST Analysis 2 Report Outline 2.1 Report Scope 2.2 Report Summary 2.3 Research Methodology 2.4 Report Assumptions 3 Market Snapshot 3.1 Total Addressable Market (TAM) 3.2 Segmented Addressable Market (SAM) 3.3 Related Market 3.3.1 eHookah Market 4 Market Outlook 4.1 Overview 4.2 Market Definition Infoholic Research 4.3 Evolution 4.4 eCigarette Operation ....Continued Buy this report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=630656 Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- The aircraft brake system is a critical component of an aircraft and plays a vital role in aircraft handling operations such as takeoff, landing, and taxiing while the aircraft is on the ground. The brakes are not only useful in slowing down the aircraft and further stopping it, but also offer a reliable way of restraining the aircraft from gaining motion during engine run-ups. Moreover, the advanced aircraft braking systems, currently employed in civil and defense aircraft, also allow steering of the aircraft on the ground by means of differential braking. Aircraft brake systems are mostly deployed on the main wheels of an aircraft and on the rotor in case of helicopters. The modern aircraft brake system has evolved from merely an assembly of cables and mechanical links operated through a single lever as a braking system in older aircraft, to a system comprising multiple systems components, ranging from hydraulic pumps to master cylinders. Market Dynamics: Global Aircraft Brake System Market A major driver supporting the growth of the global aircraft brake system market is the increasing fleet size of commercial and defense aircraft. The aircraft industry is witnessing tremendous increase in the number of aircraft due to increased passenger movement across the globe. This is indirectly boosting the aircraft brake system market and is anticipated to further propel the market during the forecast period. Moreover, factors such as demand for lightweight aircraft, development of lightweight brake materials, and increased military spending are expected to fuel the global aircraft brake system market during the forecast period. Get Sample Copy of this report @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/7663 Market Segmentation: Global Aircraft Brake System Market Global aircraft brake system market is segmented based on components, brake type, end-use, and region. Based on components, the global aircraft brake system market has been segmented into wheels, brakes, and others (sensors & transducers, valves & actuators, and mechanical links). In terms of brake type, the aircraft brake system market is further segmented into carbon brakes, steel brakes and others. Based on end-use, the global aircraft brake system market is segregated into commercial aircraft and defense aircraft. The commercial aircraft segment is further sub-segmented into business or private aircraft, helicopters, and civil aviation aircrafts. The defense aircraft segment is further sub-segmented into fighter jets, cargo aircrafts, and helicopters. In terms of region, the global aircraft brake system market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America. Preliminary Analysis: North America is expected to be the largest contributor toward the global aircraft brake system market, in terms of revenue, due to the presence of prominent manufacturers of aircraft components such as brakes and wheels, in the region. Moreover, increased spending in research and development activities to develop and incorporate electrically actuated brakes systems in lightweight aircraft is estimated to further drive the aircraft brake system market in the region. The global aircraft brake system market in Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a prominent growth rate due to the increased passenger movement and rise in investments in defense infrastructures in developing countries such as the UAE, China, and India. Furthermore, the commercial aircraft segment is anticipated to hold a major share of the global aircraft brake system market during the forecast period. Request For TOC Report @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/7663 Prominent market players: Key players operating in the global aircraft brake system market include UNITED TECHNOLOGIES, Nasco Aircraft Brake, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Safran Landing Systems, Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation, PARKER HANNIFIN CORP, Crane Aerospace & Electronics, AAR, Beringer-aero, MATCO mfg, Lufthansa Technik, and Grove Aircraft Landing Gear Systems Inc. The report provides an in-depth analysis about the strategic business activities along with the market dynamics shaping the global aircraft brake system market over the period of study. MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources. The report provides the following information: - Tailwinds and headwinds molding the market's trajectory - Market segments based on products, technology, and applications - Prospects of each segment - Overall current and possible future size of the market - Growth pace of the market - Competitive landscape and key players' strategies The main aim of the report is to: - Enable key stakeholder's in the market bet right on it - Understand the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting them - Assess the overall growth scope in the near term - Strategize effectively with respect to production and distribution MRR.BIZ is a leading provider of strategic market research. Our vast repository consists research reports, data books, company profiles, and regional market data sheets. We regularly update the data and analysis of a wide-ranging products and services around the world. As readers, you will have access to the latest information on almost 300 industries and their sub-segments. Both large Fortune 500 companies and SMEs have found those useful. This is because we customize our offerings keeping in mind the specific requirements of our clients. View Complete Report at @ https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/it-and-telecommunication/7663/aircraft-brake-system-global-market-research-reports About MarketResearchReports.biz MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries. Contact Mr. Nachiket State Tower 90 Sate Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Website: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Mortar Fire Control Computer Market: Introduction The ability to fire rapidly and accurately and then shift to another position is critical in ensuring the efficiency as well as safety of the military troops. The new advanced mortar systems include traditional arms and ammunition with a range of weapons that vary from vehicle mounted 120mm to 60mm portable mortars and associated equipment namely, mortar ballistic computers, training devices, ammunition and fire control system. The Mortar Fire Control Systems (MFCS) is a device with improved mortar efficiency, flawlessly connecting mortar fires in the futuristic digital battleground. The mortar fire control Computer system offers an on-board MFCS that consists of a position navigation system, fire control computer and a gun pointing system. The advancement in the defense technology has enabled the military personal to launch mortars with ease and less complexity. Moreover, the accuracy and the precision of the fired shot is increased considerably with the assistance of the fire control computer and GPS navigation system. The mortar fire control computer assists the mortar crews to operate and fire in less than a minute, down from the previous eight minutes and the accuracy of the fired shot is increased five to four times. MFCS is well-suited with the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), increasing operational and situational awareness. Request For Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13279 The Lightweight Handheld Mortar Ballistic Computers (LHMBC) offers the crew members with handheld, lightweight mortar ballistic calculator, which is directly linked to the main fire control unit (it functions like a television remote). This LHMBC device is manufactured and loaded with specially designed software that can control the mortar fire control computer system. Mortar fire control computer market is expected to witness a significant CAGR in the upcoming years and increasing application in various defense activities globally. Mortar Fire Control Computer Market: Dynamics The research and development department has taken the mortar fire control computer market as of utmost importance and is coming up with new ideas and innovation so that the accuracy of this machine increases to a higher level. Many developers are trying to develop mortar fire control computer with more efficiency, in the meantime the safety of the mortar operating personnel is also considered while manufacturing such destructive weapons. The mortar fire control computer has been developing in the ammunitions market from the beginning of World War II and it has now become an influential weapon used by the ground military troops to destroy their enemy completely. The market for this mortar fire control computer is expected to expand at an increasing rate in the upcoming years and is estimated to see a positive growth in the defense sector globally. The increasing tension at the Line of Control (LOC) and the international border between various nations have led to the increasing use of such destructive weapons for the protection of their respective countries. Mortar Fire Control Computer Market: Segmentation Mortar Fire Control Computer can be segmented based on the type of sales channel and by application. By sales channel, Mortar Fire Control Computer Market can be segmented as: Original Equipment Manufacturer Aftermarket By application, Mortar Fire Control Computer Market can be segmented as: Aircraft based mortar fire control Land based mortar fire control Naval Based mortar fire control Mortar Fire Control Computer Market: Regional Outlook Mortar Fire Control Computer can be divided into seven specific geographical regions such as North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East & Africa. The North America and the European and APAC regions have greater army capacities and the technologies are advanced. Asian countries such as India and China, which are leaders in the APAC market are expected to exhibit a growth in the Mortar Fire Control Computer market. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC)@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13279 Mortar Fire Control Computer Market: Market Participants Examples of some of the market participants of global mortar fire control computer market are; MAS Zengrange Ltd ARDEC Picatinny SDT SUSTAV General Dynamics Mission Systems Denel Land Systems Safran Electronics & Defense Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Rolling stocks market witnessed sales of nearly 250 thousand units in 2018 and is expected to grow at a steady CAGR of 2.9% in 2019. Overall growth of the rolling stocks market can be attributed to, Industry titans acquiring big-ticket projects of rolling stocks Promotion of railway transport as a sustainable transportation mode Growing focus on increasing the average life of rolling stocks by predictive maintenance and remote monitoring in the services landscape Optimistic outlook of autonomous trains and ongoing development of compatible rolling stocks Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2798 The ongoing focus of governments to promote the railway as a sustainable mode of transportation has resulted in a growing number of tenders of new rolling stocks being procured by manufacturers. Further, with the construction of new railway roads to increase connectivity and promotion of autonomous railway, new trains are being introduced across the world's developing economies. Developments in designs of rolling stocks compatible to autonomous train are also underway. "Rolling stock landscape has witnessed a steady advancement with the introduction of technological advances in manufacturing as well as repair and maintenance space. While predictive maintenance significantly improved service space, ongoing efforts to develop rolling stocks for autonomous trains is likely to maintain a profitable growth trajectory in the coming years and generation of revenues worth over US$ 59 billion in 2019," says a senior analyst at Fact.MR. Freight Wagons Held Half the Sales in 2018, Passenger Rolling Stocks Growing Rapidly Fact.MR study finds that among different types of rolling stocks, freight wagons accounted for nearly half the rolling stocks sold in 2018. Freight wagons form an important connection between railway transportation and different logistics services. As railway freight transport is being embraced by national governments, efforts are underway to improve the efficiency of freight wagons. Browse Full Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2798/rolling-stocks-market The global rail market is witnessing larger tender procurements by manufacturers to supply new and efficient fright wagons. For instance, Russia's RM Rail signed an agreement with Iran's MSA Company for construction of 1000 freight wagons in June 2018. Indian Railways also set out a tender for 22,000 freight wagons in June 2018. Ukrainian Railways passed a US$ 260 million tender for purchase of gondola wagons, freight wagons and self-discharging cars in January 2018. The study reveals that sales of passenger rolling stocks are increasing at a rapid rate and expected to grow at 4.3% in 2019 over 2018. Passenger rolling stock designs have evolved significantly in a bid to accommodate evolving consumer demand for comfort and safety. In addition, introduction of new trains in the wake of promoting railway transport in emerging economies has led to a number of tenders of passenger rolling stocks. Speak To Research Analyst for Detailed Insights @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2798 Over 5 in 10 Rolling Stocks Found Utilization in Freight Application Based on application, rolling stock utilization in freight application remains higher as compared to passenger application. Fact.MR shows that over 5 in 10 rolling stocks were used in freight application in 2018. As freight application of rolling stocks significantly contributes to the enhancement of economic performance and meet logistic demands, the future status quo of freight application is expected to remain steady in the coming years. Fact.MR study finds that APEJ continues to spearhead the global rolling stock sales and registered over 36% of the global demand in 2018 and the status-quo is expected to continue in 2018 at the growth rate of 3.3%. Emerging economies in the region are actively engaged in the development of railway infrastructure, thereby presenting lucrative opportunities for manufacturers in the coming years. Owing to favorable price points of raw materials and lower manufacturing costs, in terms of revenue generation in APEJ follows Europe. Europe is actively engaged in promoting railway decarbonization and projected to sell over 75 thousand units of rolling stocks in 2019. The Fact.MR report tracks the rolling stocks market for the period 2019-2027. According to the report, the rolling stocks market is projected to grow at 3.3% CAGR through 2027. About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us Rohit Bhisey Fact.MR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ Read Industry News at - https://theswisstimes.com Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Global Lemonade Drinks Market Size, Status And Forecast 2019-2025 studies the latest industry trends, market development aspects, market gains, and industry scenario during the forecast period. The report provides the details related to fundamental overview, development status, latest advancements, market dominance and market dynamics. Lemonade drinks are the drinks manufactured using lemon or lemon concentrates as the major ingredient. These flavors are commonly found in soft drinks, juices, and others. Apart from lemon, lemonade drinks are also manufactured in different flavors like raspberry, strawberry, and others. Global Lemonade Drinks Market Analysis Report includes top manufacturers Britvic, Coca-Cola , Dr Pepper Snapple, PepsiCo, AriZona Beverages, Bisleri, Hydro One Beverages, The Kraft Heinz Company, Newman's Own, Old Orchard Brands, Parle Agro, Prairie Farms Dairy, Sunny Delight Beverages, Tampico Beverages, Turkey Hill Dairy, White Rock Beverages. along with their company profile, growth aspects, opportunities, and threats to the market development. This report presents the industry analysis for the forecast timescale. An up-to-date industry details related to industry events, import/export scenario, market share is covered in this report. Inquire for free sample copy at https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/01231062695/global-lemonade-drinks-market-insights-forecast-to-2025/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=03 Global Lemonade Drinks Market Categorised on basis of Types, Applications and Regions Global Lemonade Drinks Market: Type Segment Analysis Clear Lemonade Cloudy Lemonade Global Lemonade Drinks Market: Applications Segment Analysis Carbonated Drinks Alcoholic Beverages Juices and other drinks Global Lemonade Drinks Market by Regions North America China Europe Southeast Asia Japan India The report has 99 tables and figures browse the report description and TOC: https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/01231062695/global-lemonade-drinks-market-insights-forecast-to-2025?source=releasewire&Mode=03 We Offer 15% Customization on the Report covering additional 3 countries or 3 Companies in the report + We also offer FREE POST SALES SUPPORT FOR 6 MONTHS from the date of Purchase of the report The study is a source of reliable data on: Market segments and sub-segments Market trends and dynamics Supply and demand Market size Current trends/opportunities/challenges Competitive landscape Technological breakthroughs Value chain and stakeholder analysis Lemonade Drinks Market Scenario Intended Audience Convenience food manufacturers Barbecue sauce manufacturers Retailers, Wholesalers E-commerce Companies Traders, Importers and Exporters Key Findings Consumption of organic barbecue sauce will be growing at a higher rate during the forecast period owing to rising awareness about health benefits obtained from chemical-free food ingredients Top exporters of barbecue sauce include the U.S., Canada, China, Italy and Germany Segments Barbecue sauce has been segmented on the basis of form, which comprises of liquid, paste, others. Paste form of barbecue sauce is found to hold a major share owning to fine consistency and ease of application than other forms. Barbecue sauce has been segmented on the basis of flavor, which includes cultured sweet, sour, spicy, others, and others. Among these segments, spicy sauce segment dominates the global market based on high consumer based demand. Barbecue sauce has been segmented on the basis of specialty attributes, which includes organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, others. Among these segments, organic segment dominates the global market based on rising consumer's awareness and demand for natural food ingredients. Barbecue sauce has been segmented on the basis of distribution channel, which comprises store based (supermarkets/hypermarkets, specialty retailers, convenience stores, others), and non-store based (e- commerce). Sale through store based channels dominates the market due to convenient one-stop shopping experience of the consumers'. Connect to Our Sales Team at (sales@marketinsightsreports.com) About MarketInsightsReports MarketInsightsReports provides syndicated market research on industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. MarketInsightsReports provides global and regional market intelligence coverage, a 360-degree market view which includes statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations. Contact Us: Irfan Tamboli (Head of Sales) - Market Insights Reports Phone: + 1704 266 3234 | +91-750-707-8687 sales@marketinsightsreports.com | irfan@marketinsightsreports.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research titled 'LogisticsMarket Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018 2026, the global logistics market is expected to reach a value of US$ 16445.1 Bn by 2026. The market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. In terms of volume, the market is expected to reach over 93104.9 Million Tons at a CAGR of approximately 6.6% by 2026. The logistics market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. According to the report, the global logistics market is experiencing high-paced expansion in its size and valuation, due to the growth in the e-commerce retail market which is driving the logistics market at present and a similar trend is anticipated to be witnessed over the forecast period. One of the biggest drivers of the logistics market is investment in technological innovation. Request A Brochure - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=154 Logistics is a business to control, execute, and plan the movement of material, capital, and service. Logistics is a part of supply chain management that controls, implements, and plans the effective and efficient flow of goods, information, and services between the point of origin and point of consumption. The logistics market includes all the activities of the supply chain such as transportation, customer service, inventory management, flow of information, and order processing. Some other activities of the supply chain are warehousing, material handling, purchasing, packaging, information and maintenance, among others. Demand for logistics solutions is much higher in the B2B sector and is anticipated to continue rising over the next few years. The logistics market can be segmented based on type of transport, application, customer type, and logistics model. Based on type of transport, the market can be categorized into road, waterways, rail, and air. The waterwayssegment accounted for a prominent market share in 2017and is forecasted to continue its dominance in the coming year till 2026,as waterways being the cheapest mode of transportation between countries, is mostly used by businesses to deliver heavy and bulky goods to distant suppliers. In terms of application,the industrial and manufacturing segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of over 7.0% to reach over US$ 4,000 Bn in the near future. The segment is expected to be followed by the oil and gas and retail segment. For warehousing, in addition to increased demand resulting from rise in consumer spending and manufacturing output, the industry is experiencing increased demand from outsourcing by producers (manufacturers) seeking to cut costs and preserve profit margins.In terms of customer type, the market is largely dominated by the B2Bsegment, which is expected to expand at a steady pace as the foremost part of the total logistics market is linked to B2B transactions, which includes logistic service providers and transporters that also account for major portion of revenue. Based on logistics model, the market is currently dominated by second party logistics. However, in the near future,third party logistics sales are anticipated to rise at a fast pace due to technological advancements.Third party logistics provide additional services to boost the transportation capabilities, that have enabled service providers to increase their supply chain activities. In terms of geography, Asia Pacific dominated the global logistics market in 2017 with more than 25% market share and is expected to maintain its leading position during the forecast period, followed by North America. This is due to major contributions from countries such as China, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and Malaysia. China is the major contributor to the growth in this region due to the presence of a large manufacturing base. India is one of the most promising markets due to which both government and logistics players are making huge investments in the country. In addition, intra-regional trade in emerging markets is becoming important particularly in Asia Pacific and this is combined with the high GDP growth rates. Get Customize Report@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=154 Some of the leading players of the logistics market are Americold Logistics, LLC, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., Ceva Holdings LLC, DHL Supply Chain, Expeditors International of Washington Inc., FedEx Corp., J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Kuehne + Nagel Inc., Penske Logistics, Ryder Supply Chain, Solutions, SNCF Logistics, The Boeing Company, United Parcel Service, Inc., XPO Logistics Inc. and DSV A/S. These players are competing against each other to increase their market share. For example, in February 2016, UTi Worldwide Inc opened two multimodal hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to connect its logistics service with North America and Europe. Moreover, product development and innovation, business expansion, strategic partnerships, and opening new facilitiesare another key business strategiesadopted by logistics companies across different regions. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- The Top key vendors in Marble Flooring Market include are Burke Industries, Belim Marble, Johnson Tiles, Polycor, Forbo Flooring Systems, Mumal Marbles, PACO. Get Free PDF Sample Copy of Marble Flooring Market at https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/sample/19093 Apart from this, the valuable document weighs upon the performance of the industry on the basis of a product service, end-use, geography and end customer. The industry experts have left no stone unturned to identify the major factors influencing the development rate of the Marble Flooring industry including various opportunities and gaps. A thorough analysis of the micro markets with regards to the growth trends in each category makes the overall study interesting. When studying the micro markets the researchers also dig deep into their future prospect and contribution to the Marble Flooring industry. A high focus is maintained on factors such as demand and supply, production capacity, supply chain management, distribution channel, product application and performance across different countries. The report not only offers hard to find facts about the trends and innovation driving the current and future of Marble Flooring business, but also provides insights into competitive development such as acquisition and mergers, joint ventures, product launches and technology advancements. A quick look at the industry trends and opportunities: The researchers find out why sales of Marble Flooring are projected to surge in the coming years. The study covers the trends that will strongly favor the industry during the forecast period, 2019 to 2025. Besides this, the study uncovers important facts associated with lucrative growth and opportunities that lie ahead for the Marble Flooring industry. #If You Want to Purchase This Report Now Click here @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/checkout/19093 On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Dolomite - Magnesium - Calcite On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including - Residential - Commercial - Other Region wise performance of the Marble Flooring industry: This report studies the global Marble Flooring market status and forecast, categorizes the global Marble Flooring market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America). Key points from TOC: 7 Global Marble Flooring Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis: 7.1 Burke Industries 7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.1.2 Marble Flooring Product Category, Application and Specification 7.1.2.1 Product A 7.1.2.2 Product B 7.1.3 Burke Industries Marble Flooring Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) 7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview 7.2 Belim Marble 7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.2.2 Marble Flooring Product Category, Application and Specification 7.2.2.1 Product A 7.2.2.2 Product B 7.2.3 Belim Marble Marble Flooring Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) 7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview 7.3 Johnson Tiles 7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors 7.3.2 Marble Flooring Product Category, Application and Specification 7.3.2.1 Product A 7.3.2.2 Product B 7.3.3 Johnson Tiles Marble Flooring Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) 7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview Continue Browse Full RD with TOC of This Report @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/19093/marble-flooring-market This Marble Flooring market report holds answers to some important questions like: - What is the size of occupied by the prominent leaders for the forecast period, 2019 to 2025? What will be the share and the growth rate of the Marble Flooring market during the forecast period? - What are the future prospects for the Marble Flooring industry in the coming years? - Which trends are likely to contribute to the development rate of the industry during the forecast period, 2019 to 2025? - What are the future prospects of the Marble Flooring industry for the forecast period, 2019 to 2025? - Which countries are expected to grow at the fastest rate? - Which factors have attributed to an increased sale worldwide? - What is the present status of competitive development? People Also Viewed:- Marble Floor Grinding Machine Market Insights - Global Analysis and Forecast by 2025 Floor & Wall Marble Tiles Market Insights - Global Trends, Analysis and Forecast by 2025 About Market Growth Insight Market Growth Insight is a one stop solution for market research reports in various business categories. We are serving 100+ clients with 10000+ diverse industry reports and our reports are developed to simplify strategic decision making, on the basis of comprehensive and in-depth significant information, established through wide ranging analysis and latest industry trends. We are striving to provide the best customer friendly services and appropriate business information to accomplish your ideas. Contact 502, Sai Radhe, Kennedy Road, Behind Hotel Sheraton Grand, Near Pune Station, Pune 411 001, Maharashtra, India Contact No- + 91 8956 049 020 Sales@marketgrowthinsight.com Website- https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com Follow Us:- LinkedIn | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- The emergence of the live streaming trend and virtual reality technology is a great opportunity for major players to develop innovative offerings in the OTT content market. An increase in the adoption of high speed broadband, along with the increasing demand for smartphones and smart televisions is contributing to the growth of the OTT content market. Players in the market are continuously upgrading their product portfolios to meet the increasing demands in the competitive global OTT content market. Request Sample Pages Of This Premium Research Report: https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1869395 Easy access to high fidelity data network along with consistent speed enables a buffer-free experience to users, which is primarily responsible for driving adoption of OTT services. In 2017, household broadband penetration in the U.S. was approximately 82%. Other Western economies such as France, Germany, and the U.K. are expected to witness a similar penetration pattern, while most emerging economies are anticipated to reflect even stronger growth rates over the next decade. Taking these growth rates into consideration, OTT services are increasingly becoming a viable option for content delivery. North America will retain its reign in the coming years The U.S. and Canada are among the highest spenders on animated content creation, globally. One of the major factors encouraging animation content creation is the presence of The Fox Broadcasting Company, one of the largest creators of animation content for prime time television. Typical examples include series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Furthermore, the presence of animation content providers such as Nickelodeon, The Walt Disney Company, and Cartoon Network has fuelled the popularity of animated cartoons, series, and movies in the recent past. In order to monetize the increasing popularity of animation content, leading animation content providers are signing distribution deals with US-based OTT platforms. Owing to the proliferation in demand for streaming video services (offering diverse content), the market in the region has witnessed the introduction of a few third-party mobile applications offering innovative OTT content (VoD) features. Leading content providers in the region are focusing on expanding their customer base by offering content through various channels, i.e., through apps on smartphones and through dedicated VoD services. With the introduction of HBOs dedicated VoD services on Apple devices, iPhone or iPad users are now able to access great swaths of original HBO content for a nominal subscription fee. This strategic alliance enabled HBO, Inc. decrease its dependency on cable TV providers and increase its customer base. Western Europe and Japan are likely to face a neck on neck competition Western Europe comprises a highly competitive OTT services landscape. The protectionist framework of the region is creating a highly competitive environment for leading global OTT service providers to expand in the European region. A major challenge that persists in this region is the OTT/VoD window. Any negotiations pertaining to cutting short this window have been scrutinized by theatre exhibitors and TV channels, stating that, any type of alteration in the policies to benefit multi-territory platforms, such as Netflix, could lead to the downfall of the film financing system in the region. Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @ https://www.researchmoz.us/ott-content-market-north-america-to-stay-on-the-vanguard-japan-emerges-with-roll-out-of-5g-and-6g-networks-global-industry-analysis-2013-2017-and-opportunity-assessment-2018-2028-report.html/toc On the other hand, the launch of the 5G network in Japan across various circles is expected to improve the video streaming experience of Japanese users. Moreover, continuous development in the Internet service is expected to fuel the market through extended efforts in introducing 6G and 7G services in the country. While this scenario is likely to provide access to networks with ultra-high speeds, it will eventually encourage widespread adoption of VOD services in Japan, in near future. About ResearchMoz ResearchMoz is the world's fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMoz's service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators. Contact Us: Mr. Nachiket Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free) Email: sales@researchmoz.us For More Reports Visit @ http://marketresearchlatestreports.blogspot.com/ Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research titled 'Outdoor Clothing Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018 2026, the global outdoor clothing market is expected to reach US$ 19,639.0 Mn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2018 to 2026. In terms of volume, the market is expected to reach 325,873'000 units by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2018 to 2026. In terms of region, North America held the highest market share in the global outdoor clothing market in 2017.The market is segmented by regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and South America. In North America, the number of women buying outdoor clothing is more than men. North America has a favorable outdoor activities culture, which is increasing the participation of women in outdoor activities along with men.The men outdoor clothing market segment is growing at a faster rate than the women's segment. This trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. Request PDF Brochure - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=54528 Similar to North America, in Europe, the proportion of women buying outdoor clothing is more than men. Women's participation in outdoor activities is increasing in Europe due to cultural factors and tradition. In Europe, the market for men's outdoor clothing is growing at a faster rate due to increasing participation of men in outdoor activities. Going out for outdoor activities is part of European culture and this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period. As of July 2018, in Germany, the number of men (15-64+ years) and women (15-64+ years) are 34,194,533 and 35,939,222 respectively, holding 42.5% and 44.7% population share. In 2018, participation in outdoor activities in Germany is pegged at 15.2% which is expected to increase to 17.9% by 2023. Rising outdoor activities in Germany is increasing the demand for outdoor clothing products. Unlike the population trend in North America and Europe, in Asia Pacific the percentage of men as outdoor clothing consumers is more than women. Penetration of outdoor activities in Asia Pacific is low compared to developed countries due to culture and tradition. In this region, participation in outdoor activities means an escape to nature. Rising adoption of western lifestyle, increasing millennial population, and rising disposable income is increasing outdoor activity participation in Asia Pacific. The large population of youth and growing outdoor activity participation is increasing the demand for outdoor clothing in the region. In the Chinese outdoor clothing market, online sales have affected brick and mortar sales. Contrary to the fate of outdoor clothing department stores in the developed regions, Chinese department store sales are growing moderately. After the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, adoption of outdoor activities is increasing in China. Specialty outdoor clothing retailers such as Mountain Hardware and Lafuma have seen increase in sales. All these factors are increasing the demand for outdoor clothing products in China. In MEA, the men's outdoor clothing segment is bigger than the women's outdoor clothing segment and is expanding faster than the women's segment due to rising participation of men in outdoor activities. In MEA, participation in outdoor activities is expected to increase from 8.4% in 2018 to 10.8% in 2023. In South America, participation in outdoor activities is increasing both among men and women consumers. Rising adoption of western lifestyle, increase in the number of millennial, and rising disposable income are increasing the demand for outdoor clothing products in the region. In Brazil, participation in outdoor activities is expected to increase from 7.7% in 2018 to 9.4% in 2023. Thus, rising popularity of outdoor activities is increasing the demand for outdoor clothing in South America. Get Customize Report@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=54528 The study provides a conclusive view of the global outdoor clothing market by segmenting it in terms of product type, consumer group, and distribution channel. In terms of product type, the outdoor clothing market has been classified into top wear, bottom wear, and others. Top wear outdoor clothing products are further subcategorized into shirts & t-shirts and jackets & hoodies. Bottom wear outdoor clothing products are subcategorized into trousers, shorts, and leggings &tights. The others category includes hand wear, head wear, gloves, warmer, etc. Based on consumer group, the market is classified into men, women, and kids. Based on distribution channel, the market is segmented into online and offline. Offline outdoor clothing products distribution channel is further subcategorized into large format stores, specialty stores, and individual retailers. The report highlights major companies operating in the global outdoor clothing market including Adidas AG, Columbia Sportswear Company, Hanesbrands Inc., VF Corporation, Hugo Boss AG, Mizuno Corporation, Nike Inc., Puma SE, Under Armour Inc. and Patagonia, Inc. Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Perforating Gun Market: Introduction The oil and gas industry mainly involves the process of exploration, which includes several operations from searching of wells to drilling them. The well pressure is divided into two categories, i.e., low pressure & high pressure. Despite of development in the recent technology, regular equipment fail to bear extreme temperature and pressure conditions of the reservoir. Therefore, the perforation of the well requires special equipment that can sustain volatile environment of a reservoir. Perforating gun is a specialized device used to penetrate in the oil & gas wells and to connect the path between well & reservoir during the process of production. It is available in the market in several shapes & sizes and the diameter of the gun is decided by the limitation imposed by the surface equipment and the presence of wellbore restrictions. As the productivity of the well totally depends on being perforated right (correctly oriented, deep and clean), perforating guns are optimized for complex geometry, reservoir and wellbore environment. Perforating gun has the following characteristics high pressure & temperature rating, high charge performance, minimum causing damage, minimum debris formation and low market cost. Moreover, perforating gun is provided by the feature of multi-phasing, instant spot detection and variable shot densities, which can vary from 1 to 12 shots per foot. Manufacturers customize perforated guns according to the reservoir conditions using special materials. The stable growth in the global gross domestic product, stronger energy demand from the global consumers and the urge to stabilize oil & gas prices across the globe are the factors expected to drive the growth of the perforating gun market. Request For Sample @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1541 Perforating Gun Market: Dynamics Increasing exploration activities in turn is expected to augment the demand for perforating guns over the forecast period. Growing economies have been witnessing urbanization on a huge scale which will consequently result accelerate the demand for transportation, residential area, construction and energy resources. In order to fulfill the demand for petrochemical & energy, perforation of new oil & gas reserves has become mandatory. However, technological and environmental concerns related to the exploration activities such as remote, harsh and hostile locations accompanied by operational changes is the key challenge for the growth of the perforating gun market. On the other hand, increasing inclination towards renewable source of energy is also expected to hamper the growth of the perforating gun global market over the forecast period. Perforating Gun Market: Segmentation The perforating gun market can be segmented based on gun type, well pressure, well type and depth By gun type, the perforating gun market is segmented as: Through Tubing Strip Through Tubing Hollow Carrier Tubing conveyed Perforating Wireline Conveyed Casting By well pressure, the perforating gun market is segmented as: Low Pressure perforating gun High Pressure perforating gun By well type, the perforating gun market is segmented as: Horizontal perforating gun Vertical perforating gun By depth, the perforating gun market is segmented as: Up to 3,000 ft 3,000-8,000 ft Above 8,000 ft Perforating Gun Market: Regional Outlook Asia Pacific is expected to hold substantial share in the global perforating gun market and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. Moreover, increasing demand for energy in the growing economies, such as India and China, is expected to fuel the demand for perforating guns over the near future. North America followed by the Middle East is estimated to show significant growth in the global perforating gun market over the forecast period. Mexico, Canada and the U.S. are particularly investing in exploration of oil and gas reserves to achieve the path of self-sustainability. Request For Brochure @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1541 Perforating Gun Market: Key Participants Examples of some of the key participants in the global perforating gun market are: National Oilwell Varco, Inc. DYNAenergetics GmbH & Co KG Yellowjacket Oilfield Services, L.L.C. Schlumberger N.V. Hunting PLC Weatherford Zao Ntf Perfotech Tassaroli Baker Hughes Core Laboratories Shaanxi Fype Rigid Machinery Promperforator Oiltech Service Halliburton FHE USA The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. The report covers exhaust analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain Regional analysis includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe) CIS and Russia Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel) The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Analysis @ https://www.factmr.com/report/1541/perforating-gun-market Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Photonic Crystals Market Introduction Photonic crystals also known as photonic band gap materials are the periodic optical nanostructure affecting the motion of photons. It occurs in the nature in form of animal reflectors and structural coloration and in different forms with the range of applications. Photonic crystals can be used to control emission and propagation of light. One-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional photonic crystals are three types of photonic crystals used across various industries. Among these, one-dimensional photonic crystals are widely used in form of thin film optics with the application in low and high reflection coatings on the lenses and mirrors to color changing inks and paints. Meanwhile, two-dimensional photonic crystals are beginning to find commercial application. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=3097 Photonic Crystals Market: Notable Highlights Lumentum Holdings plans to sell certain optical transceiver product line provided by Oclaro Japan to the Cambridge Industries. The deal consists of the long-term supply agreement for photonic chips. The parties expect to conclude the transaction during Q2/2019. Optoscribe Ltd. has launched ultra-high speed, third-gen 3D photonic component manufacturing system and also expanded its facility in Scotland. NeoPhotonics Corporation announced the demonstration of its new technologies such as silicon photonics based 64 Gbaud COSA at Optical Fiber Communication Conference in San Diego. It also planned to showcase Pico Tunable Laser which is silicon photonics based ultra-narrow linewidth. Some of the key players in the photonic crystals market are Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd, NKT Photonics A/S, MKS INSTRUMENTS, INC, Lockheed Martin Corporation, GLOphotonics, GOOCH & HOUSEGO PLC, NeoPhotonics Corporation, IPG Photonics Corporation, and Corning Incorporated. Photonic Crystals Market Dynamics Improving Next-Gen QD-LED with Photonic Crystals Quantum Dots (QD) is one of the key materials in the next-gen displays. With high quantum efficiency and narrow full-width at half maximum, QD enables highly efficient display along with the wide color gamut as compared to other displays. In order to increase light extraction and material use of QD in display, photonic crystals with the preferred photonic stopband are used in the LEDs. Photonic crystals also helps to develop high intensity QD-LED with low QD use, thereby, reducing the cost and little amount of cadmium, while producing more eco-friendly and competitive QD-LED product. Thus, manufacturers are focusing on combining QD and photonic crystals to provide brighter and more efficient computer, tablet, and mobile phone displays, and also enhance LED lighting. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=3097 Rise in the R&D Activity and Use of 2D Photonic Crystals Photonic crystals have gained much interest in the research and development in recent years owing to the wavelength scale periodic nature allowing the manipulation of light in a way that is impossible with conventional materials. In recent years, the use of thermophotovoltaic systems has increased as the portable generators to power sensors, small robotic platforms, and portable communication and computational devices. This is driving the demand for 2D photonic crystals as the emitters for high performance thermophotovoltaic system as it offers spectral tailoring of the thermal radiation and wide range of incidence angles. Recently, scientists with the help of electronic microscopy have tracked defects in the surface of 2D photonic crystals. This new system can help to create microprocessors for optical computer. With the high quality X-ray, scientists have been able to observe structure of crystals and identify internal defects of the mesoscopic structures. Complex Manufacturing Process to Hamper Growth in Photonic Crystals Market Various complications in the manufacturing of photonic crystals are likely to hamper the growth of the photonic crystals market. For the high dimensional photonic crystals, the major challenge is the fabrication of these structure along with the sufficient precision to prevent scattering losses the blur properties of crystal. Another challenge in the fabrication of the high dimension photonic crystals is designing process that can significantly mass-produce the crystals. However, manufacturers in the photonic crystals market have various fabrication methods to produce photonic crystals. For instance, the shear-assembly technique is used to produce mass-scale 3D photonic films and fibers. Meanwhile, the photonic crystal slab is another method that can be used to develop 2D photonic crystals. It consists of a slab of materials such as silicon that can be patterned using some techniques from the semiconductor industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3097 Photonic Crystals Market Segmentation Based on the type, the photonic crystals market is segmented into One Dimensional Two Dimensional Three Dimensional On the basis of application, the photonic crystals market is segmented into Optical Fibers LEDs Displays Solar & PV Cells Discrete & Integrated Optical Components Lasers Image Sensors Others The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the photonic crystals market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, and historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to photonic crystals market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Photonic crystals market report covers exhaustive analysis on: Photonic Crystals Market Segments Photonic Crystals Market Dynamics Photonic Crystals Market Size Supply & Demand in the Photonic Crystals Market Current Trends/Issues/Challenges in the Photonic Crystals Market Competition & Companies involved in the Photonic Crystals Market Technology in the Photonic Crystals Market Value Chain in the Photonic Crystals Market Photonic crystals market regional analysis includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe) CIS and Russia Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel) The photonic crystals market report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with photonic crystals market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on photonic crystals market segments and geographies. Photonic Crystals Market Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing photonic crystals market dynamics in the industry In-depth photonic crystals market segmentation Historical, current and projected photonic crystals market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments in the photonic crystals market Competitive landscape in the photonic crystals market Strategies of key players and Products offered in the photonic crystals market Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth in the photonic crystals market A neutral perspective on photonic crystals market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint in the photonic crystals market globally Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/3097/photonic-crystals-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- The Pyrogen Testing Market report is a collection of pragmatic information, quantitative and qualitative estimation by industry experts, the contribution from industry connoisseurs and industry accomplices across the value chain. Pyrogen Testing Market Detail Analysis focusing on Key Players like ASSOCIATES OF CAPE COD, INC, CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC, ELLAB A/S, GENSCRIPT, HYGLOS GMBH, LONZA, MERCK KGAA, SANQUIN, THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC, INC and Other Furthermore, the report also provides the qualitative results of diverse market factors on its geographies and segments. The pyrogen testing market is expected to register a growth rate of nearly 12.5% during the forecast period, 2018 - 2023. Pyrogen testing refers to the process of determining microbes or their metabolites presence in drugs and intravenous solutions during their manufacture, which is expected to grow steadily primarily driven by increased demand for these products in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and rising investments in research and development. The presence of well-developed healthcare infrastructure, well-defined rules and regulations for pharmaceutical manufacturing process should help North America to dominate the market share in the forecast period. Get free sample copy of this report before purchase at: https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/01241065433/global-pyrogen-testing-market-segmented-by-test-type-application-end-user-and-geography-growth-trends-and-forecast-2018-2023/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=12 In addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks faced by key players and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development. Pyrogen Testing Global Market Report from Market Insights Reports covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market. The market size section gives the market revenues, covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. Drivers and restraints look at the external factors influencing the growth of the market. Market segmentations break down the key sub sectors which make up the market. The United States is expected to dominate the market share with well-established healthcare infrastructure, better regulatory framework, and government support and presence of many large biotechnological and biopharmaceutical firms, such as Roche, Merck, Amgen, and Celegene, among others. These companies have a high focus on new drug and biologics development with continuous support from the government in form of funding from several government bodies and investors, which fuel the growth of this market. Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the highest growth rate. The healthy CAGR is expected due to rising healthcare expenditure in countries, such as India, China and Japan. This is accompanied by lesser stringency in government regulations for drug development. Get full access to this report at: https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/01241065433/global-pyrogen-testing-market-segmented-by-test-type-application-end-user-and-geography-growth-trends-and-forecast-2018-2023?source=releasewire&Mode=12 Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in the last five years are identified.The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the market and suggests approaches. Following are major Table of Content of Pyrogen Testing Industry: - Pyrogen Testing Market Sales Overview. - Pyrogen Testing Market Sales Competition by Manufacturers. - Pyrogen Testing Market Sales Analysis by Region. - Pyrogen Testing Market Sales Analysis by Type. - Pyrogen Testing Market Analysis by Application. - Pyrogen Testing Market -Manufacturers Analysis. The research includes historic data from 2014 to 2018 and forecasts until 2023 which makes the reports an invaluable resource for industry executives, marketing, sales and product managers, consultants, analysts, and other people looking for key industry data in readily accessible documents with clearly presented tables and graphs. Avail a Good Discount at: https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/01241065433/global-pyrogen-testing-market-segmented-by-test-type-application-end-user-and-geography-growth-trends-and-forecast-2018-2023/discount?source=releasewire&Mode=12 Key Developments in the Market January 2018 - Bell Biosystems presented the results of their latest pre-clinical safety of intravascularly injected stem cells labeled for MRI tracking using a high dose of Bell's Magnelle(R) brand MRI contrast agent, as per the USP 151 pyrogenicity guidelines Contact US: Irfan Tamboli (Head of Sales) Market Insights Reports Phone: + 1704 266 3234 | Mob: +91-750-707-8687 sales@marketinsightsreports.com | irfan@marketinsightsreports.com Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market: Introduction Sodium Trimetaphosphate, abbreviated as STTP is a metaphosphate of sodium. Sodium Trimetaphosphate complies with the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) and finds applications is the food industry. Sodium Trimetaphosphate is produced by reacting sodium polyphosphate with an alkaline solution to form a white granular powder. Key applications of Sodium Trimetaphosphate in the food industry include its use as a starch modifier, water retention agent, and a stabilizing agent. Another key end-use industry for Sodium Trimetaphosphate is the building & construction industry. Adding sodium Trimetaphosphate to gypsum not only optimizes the setting time but also enhances the structural integrity of the wallboard used in the construction and home remodeling industry. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2936 Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market: Dynamics The key driving factor for the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is the growing industrialization, building & construction and food & beverages industry. Excellent gel and shear resistance properties of Sodium Trimetaphosphate can be leveraged in the cross-linking of cassava starch used in soups. The increasing population coupled with increasing disposable income and changing consumer perception towards ready to eat foods in emerging economies is pushing for demand growth of Sodium Trimetaphosphate. The global meat production has nearly tripled over the last few decades, with the industry registering an average double digit growth. The shift in consumer preference towards vegan products has seen some decline in meat consumption in the Western economies, which has been offset by the meat consumption in Asia. These demand fluctuations have to some extent impacted the demand for Sodium Trimetaphosphate in meat processing. Lastly, the demand for plasterboard due to the sustainability of gypsum has led to an increase in demand greatly in the United States which accounts for around 50% of the plasterboard demand. The construction industry witnessed a severe downturn during the 2008 financial crisis and has slowly recovered since then. The industry registered a healthy growth averaging 5% between 2014 and 2017. Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market: Segmentation The global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is segmented on the basis of grade, end-use industry and region. Based on the grade, the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is segmented as: Food Grade Industrial Grade Based on the End-use Industry, the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is segmented as: Food & beverages Construction Other Niche end-use industries Based on region, the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is segmented as: North America Latin America Europe East Asia South Asia Oceania MEA The application of Sodium Trimetaphosphate in food & beverages is estimated to account for around half of the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market over the forecast period owing to its versatility and wide scale applications in starch modification, meat processing, etc. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2936 Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market: Regional Outlook The use of Sodium Trimetaphosphate is diverse across the globe. Consumption in the US is evenly distributed between the food & beverage and construction industry, which is not the same globally. Based on region, the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market is segmented into seven regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Oceania and Middle East & Africa. US, Germany, France, China, India, Japan and GCC countries together account for a foremost percent of the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market. Europe, East Asia and South Asia are estimated to be the key growth driving countries in the Sodium Trimetaphosphate market. The regions are anticipated to register growth rates averaging in and around the global average on the back of India and China. Moreover, Europe is projected to showcase impressive growth in the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market in the mid-term forecast. Middle East & Africa and Latin America account for a mere single digit market share in terms of demand and are projected to witness a growth below than that of the global average. Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market: Prominent players Prominent players for the global Sodium Trimetaphosphate market Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co., Ltd, Innophos, ICL, Xuzhou Hengxing Chemical Co., Ltd., are some of the key stakeholders in the Sodium Trimetaphosphate market. The Sodium Trimetaphosphate market consists of well-diversified global and regional players with the global vendors are ruling the market. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the Sodium Trimetaphosphate market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The Sodium Trimetaphosphate market report provides analysis and information, according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2936 The Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market Report Covers Exhaustive Analysis On: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain The Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market Regional Analysis Includes: North America (US, Canada) Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, rest of Latin America) Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Spain, BENELUX, Russia, Rest of Europe) East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea) South Asia (India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Rest of South Asia) Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) MEA (GCC Countries, Turkey, Northern Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa) The Sodium Trimetaphosphate report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The Sodium Trimetaphosphate report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The Sodium Trimetaphosphate report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. The Sodium Trimetaphosphate Market Report Highlights: A Detailed overview of the parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2936/sodium-trimetaphosphate-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Tin Chemicals Market Insights Tin chemicals are either inorganic compounds or organotin compunds which contain at least one bond between carbon and tin, and are primarily used in electroplating industry to produce tin surfaces with particular decorative or functional properties. Usage of a range of tin chemical variants is significant in traditional markets of electroplating such as giftware, wires, and tinplate. Tin chemicals are also largely used in PVC stabilizers where they have specific technical advantages. In the recent years, tin chemicals have gained a number of industrial applications including surfaces treatment, plating, catalysts, reducing agents, glazes, and energy and electronic devices. Tin Chemicals Market Notable Developments Yunnan Tin Company Group Limited (YTC), Songxiang Chemical, DuPont and Dow, Mason Corporation, Westman Chemicals Pvt., TIB Chemicals, Showa America, Hubei Xinghuo, Lorad Chemical Corporation, PT. Timah Industri, William Blythe, BNT Chemicals GmbH (IBU-tech owned), and Keeling & Walker are among key players operating in tin chemicals market. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=3080 In July 2018, BNT Chemicals GmbH that manufacturers its own, mainly tin chemicals such as tin chlorides and tin-based catalysts was fully acquired by IBU-tec Group. TIB Chemicals, however, continues to be a strong partner of BNT Chemicals GmbH. In December 2017, PT. Timah Tbk, global tin mining company and a leading player of tin chemicals market, signed a joint venture with Topwide Ventures Ltd, Nigeria for the management of exploration, mining processing, purification, and transportation, sales & marketing of tin and derived minerals in Nigeria. According to the International Tin Association (ITA), lithium-ions batteries may represent a significant new tin use in the years to come, as it identified a strongly increasing interest in tin in energy materials and technologies. Further, ITA found nearly nine technological opportunities for tin in lithium-ion batteries. ITA also reported that tin chemicals have become the second largest use of tin after growing by 7% in 2014 from a year earlier. High price of tin has brought a gradual decline to tin chemicals market, but several specialist innovative applications may grow in the near future. Tin Chemicals Market Dynamics Advancements in Chemical Industry to Complement Market Growth Global demand for tin has been on the rise due to significant advances in chemical industry in recent years. In addition, there has been an increasing use of tin plating among various industries to ensure protection and safety of many products and systems. These are the important factors boosting growth of the tin chemicals market at global level. Further, growing use of tin chlorides such as stannous chloride dehydrate and stannous chloride anhydrous for applications in metalized glazing, electric components, and even in food industries for tin packed food, is expected to create potential growth prospects for market of tin chemicals. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=3080 Tin Chemicals Market to Witness Steady Growth in Asia Pacific In 2017, China was the largest producer and consumer of tin, with rapid growth in automotive sector and other industries. Rising demand for tin chloride in food, electronic, and glazing industries in the Asia Pacific region on the account of growing disposable along with rapid industrialization is likely to fuel the future expansion of tin chemicals market. A focus on installation of robust manufacturing facilities in developing countries such as China and India to meet the consistently rising local demand remains one of the key growth strategies for manufacturers of tin chemicals. Although tin chemicals market is expected to maintain a positive outlook, concerns about tin supply such as ethical sourcing regulation and similar regulatory pressures on catalysts market, especially in Europe, may impede the demand for tin chemicals. Tin Chemicals Market Segmentation On the basis of product type, tin chemicals market can be segmented into: Sodium stannate Stannous chloride anhydrous Stannous chloride dihydrate Stannous oxalate Stannic oxide On the basis of application, tin chemicals market can be segmented into: Plating Materials Chemical Catalysts Life Science Reagents Process Chemicals Pigment Precursors The study presents reliable qualitative and quantitative insights into: Tin chemicals market segments and sub-segments Tin chemicals market trends and dynamics Supply and demand chain of the tin chemicals market Tin chemicals market valuation (revenue and/or volume) Key trends/opportunities/challenges in tin chemicals market Forces defining present and estimated future state of the competitive landscape Technological developments in the market of tin chemicals Value chain and stakeholder analysis The regional analysis covers: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K., Spain) Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia) Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, S. Africa, Northern Africa) The vast market research data included in the study is the result of extensive primary and secondary research activities. Surveys, personal interviews, and inputs from industry experts form the crux of primary research activities and data collected from trade journals, industry databases, and reputable paid sources form the basis of secondary research. The tin chemicals market report also includes a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market, with the help of information collected from market participants operating across key sectors of the market value chain. A separate analysis of macro- and micro-economic aspects, regulations, and trends influencing the overall development of the market is also included in the report. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3080 Highlights of the report: A detailed analysis of key segments of the tin chemicals market Recent developments in the tin chemicals market's competitive landscape Detailed analysis of tin chemicals market segments up to second or third level of segmentation Historical, current, and projected future valuation of the tin chemicals market in terms of revenue and/or volume Key business strategies adopted by influential tin chemicals market vendors Outline of the regulatory framework surrounding and governing numerous aspects of the tin chemicals market Growth opportunities in emerging and established tin chemicals markets Recommendations to tin chemicals market players to stay ahead of the competition Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/3080/tin-chemicals-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- Global Undecylenic Acid Market Overview Undecylenic Acid, is an organic compound and unsaturated fatty acid belonging to a group of medicines. Due to its several benefits and advantages, Undecylenic acid have been extended by several end-users creating enormous growth opportunities during the forecast period. Use of Undecylenic acid in a rapidly growing cosmetic industry aims to deliver healthy growth for Undecylenic acid market. Owing to the increasing use of undecylenic acid in several applications like pharmaceutical, preservative etc. across the globe, the production of Undecylenic acid is also increasing globally with APEJ registering high growth for undecylenic acid market during the forecast period. Undecylenic acid market is creating an opportunity for key players of the market to penetrate a high market share during the forecast period. The global market for Undecylenic acid comprises several local and global vendors. Global Undecylenic Acid Market Scenario The global market for undecylenic acid is projected to witness higher single digit growth in developed, as well as developing countries, during the forecast period, according to the company's recent research study. Liquid form undecylenic acid is a widely used undecylenic acid across the globe. However, spray and powder undecylenic acid are also gaining high traction across various applications. Cosmetic industry reflects high adoption of undecylenic acids. Undecylenic acids are expected to witness high demand from the pharmaceutical industry in the years to follow. Undecylenic acid is expected to possess high growth during the forecast period. Higher demand for natural and renewable sources across the globe, increasing demand for personal care products, polymers and cosmetic coupled with rising concerns associated with environmental advantages have triggered the use of undecylenic acid on a regular basis, thus driving the growth of the global undecylenic acid market. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=3004 Global Undecylenic Acid Market Dynamics Established market in regions like North America and Europe are expected to dominate the undecylenic acid market in terms of volume, whereas developing regions like MEA is likely to multiply undecylenic acid market throughout the forecast period. Also, the global market for undecylenic acid is expected to witness growth factors increasing application within pharmaceutical, cosmetic industry coupled with health consciousness, increasing disposable income across different regions. Growing availability and usage of alternatives for undecylenic acid is likely to hamper the growth of undecylenic acid market. This trend can have a dampening effect over the growth of undecylenic acid market during the forecast period. Global Undecylenic Acid Market Segmentation The undecylenic acid market can be segmented on nature, form, application and sales channel. On the basis of nature, undecylenic acid market can be categorized into natural and synthetic. On the basis of form, the undecylenic acid market can be segmented into liquid, spray, powder, solution based and other forms. On the basis of application, the global market for undecylenic acid can be classified as medical & treatment, chemical production, pharmaceutical production, cosmetic biocide, inactive food ingredient, preservative, nylon production, fragrance ingredient and other applications. On the basis of sales channel, the global market for undecylenic acid can be classified as direct sales, modern trade channels, third-party online channels, online website, drug stores and other sales channel. Geographically, the global market for undecylenic acid can be segmented into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, APEJ, and Middle East & Africa. Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=3004 Global Undecylenic Acid Market Key Players The undecylenic acid manufacturers are primarily focusing on emerging countries to gain a huge operating revenue. Key vendors in the market are continuously introducing products having increased efficiency and high environment benefits. Some of the key market participants in the undecylenic acid market are Arkema, TCI Chemicals, Hokuku Corporation, Nikunj Chemical Limited etc. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the undecylenic acid market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, and historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to undecylenic acid market segments such as geographies, nature, form, application and sales channel. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=3004 The Undecylenic Acid market report covers exhaustive analysis on: Undecylenic Acid Market Segments Undecylenic Acid Market Dynamics Undecylenic Acid Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved in Undecylenic Acid Market Forecast Factors Regional analysis for Undecylenic Acid Market includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Rest of Latin America) Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordics, Eastern Europe, Rest of Europe) CIS and Russia Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, Rest of APEJ) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Rest of MEA) The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/3004/undecylenic-acid-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2019 -- UV ink is a type of digital printing ink that uses the ultra-violet light to dry or cure the inks as it printed. Based on the ink and drying property, there are mainly two types of inks available that are UV Cured Inks printing and conventional inks printing. The printing process of both UV Cured Inks printing and conventional inks printing is exactly the same, the only difference is in the ink and dry process associated with those ink. Most of the printers are now using UV Cured Inks printing, due to the many advantages over the conventional inks printing that includes conventional inks printers are mostly using solvent inks and the solvent inks are not the best option for the printing because these types of inks are easily evaporate into the air and releases VOCs. Conventional inks often require additional spray powder to dry the ink because conventional inks are easily absorbed by the paper, the color dilutes into the paper and reduces the brightness of the paper color. Conventional inks are absorbed by the substance they are printed, so we cannot use the conventional inks printer on the materials such as plastics, acrylics or foils. The UV Cured Inks are dry through the petrochemical process and the UV Cured Inks are exposes to the ultra violet as they are printed, immediately turned from liquid to solid with little evaporation of solvent and no absorption of ink stored in the paper. Due to the less absorption property, we can print easily whatever we want by using the UV Cured Inks. Since the UV Cured Inks dry immediately, they releases no VOCs into the environment. Thus, the UV ink printers are using green technology, for safe the environment and leaving an almost zero carbon footprint. UV Cured Inks are used in the various printing applications such as digital printing, screen printing, gravure printing, flexographic and offset printing. Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2532 UV Cured Inks Market: Dynamics The global UV Cured Inks market is projected to grow over the forecast period, due to the increase in the demand for UV Cured Inks in various industries such as automotive, medical, packaging, publication and commercial printing. The demand for UV Cured Inks is expected to increase in the automotive industry, due to the increase in the sales, repair and maintenance of vehicles. The growth of end-use industries such as medical, automotive, publication and commercial printing, building and construction in the developed and developing countries, such as the U.S., Germany, India, Japan and China is expected to be one of the major factors driving the growth of the global UV Cured Inks market. The demand for UV Cured Inks in North America and Asia is expected to increase due to the growth in the manufacturing, development, and new technology innovation in the coming years. The increase in raw material price can be the major restraints for the global UV Cured Inks market, due to the increase in raw material price the major global players can partnership with various companies and distributors to sell the products and to increase their footprint in the global UV Cured Inks market. However, due to the technological advancement, research and development activities are expected to create opportunities for the major players in the global UV Cured Inks market. Technological advancement and innovation to produce UV Cured Inks are 99.5% volatile organic compound and it is environment friendly products. UV Cured Inks are mostly used in the automotive, medical, packaging, publication and commercial printing. UV Cured Inks Market Segmentation: Based on type, the global UV Cured Inks market is segmented into: Arc Curing LED Curing Based on application, the global UV Cured Inks market is segmented into: Flexographic Gravure Printing Offset Printing Digital Printing Screen Printing Based on ink type, the global UV Cured Inks market is segmented into: Free radical Cationic Based on end use, the global UV Cured Inks market is segmented into: Automobile Consumer goods Medical Publications and commercial printing Packaging Others Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2532 UV Cured Inks Market: Regional Outlook North America prominently generate revenue in UV Cured Inks market in 2017, also anticipated to grow significantly due to the increasing demand for automotive, medical, packaging, publication and commercial printing industries. Europe is projected to be the prominent revenue generating region in the global UV Cured Inks market by 2028, owing to the growing demand from the medical, automotive, and packaging industries. Due to growing industry, increasing scope in packaging, labeling and printing applications. China and other parts of Asia Pacific, the UV Cured Inks market in these regions is expected to increase during the forecast period. Latin America, Africa, and Middle East are growing markets for UV Cured Inks. UV Cured Inks Market: Key Participants: Examples of some of the key players in the UV Cured Inks are: Eastern marking machine corp. APV engineered coatings Dartronics Inc. ITW trans tech Leibinger Inkjet Ruco USA Ricoh Company DIC Corporation Toyo Ink Co., Ltd T&K TOKA CO., LTD Flint Group INX International Ink Co FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. Request for TOC of this report visit: https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2532 The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value Chain Regional analysis includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru) Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe) CIS and Russia Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel) The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2532/uv-cured-inks-market About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports. Contact Us FactMR 11140 Rockville Pike Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United States Email: sales@factmr.com Web: www.factmr.com/ Read Industrial News : http://insiderstribune.com/ New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2019 -- Global vibrating feed conveyors market: Introduction Vibrating feed conveyors help in conveying materials from one place to another and their handling. This equipment is used for a wide range of material grades including, powdery, gravel, and coarse material. It is preferred for applications where sticky and delicate materials need to be moved. Vibrating feed conveyor is an effective way to convey material without causing any damage to content. Vibrating feed conveyors are able to separate materials using precise vibrations. For vibrations, electromechanical or electromagnetic power is used. They are also known as vibrating feeders or vibrating conveyors. Vibrating feed conveyors provide low maintenance solution for handling of materials, as parts are relatively cheaper and can be replaced easily because there are no moving parts in them, except for vibrating drive. Two designs are available for the vibrating feed conveyors, namely, single mass designs and two mass designs. These are generally used in almost all industries. The global vibrating feed conveyors market is anticipated to witness positive growth during the next decade. Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6223 Global vibrating feed conveyors market: Dynamics In almost every industry, there is a need to move, feed and convey products. Whether it is a simple packaging line or sophisticated food processing plant, a product and materials need to move from one place to the next. These factors are expected to drive the global feed conveyors market during the forecast period. In industries, vibrating feed conveyors are often used to control the process flow, and are used to frequently turn on and off, based on requirement. Vibrating feed conveyors are used in industries such as food, electrical and electronics, automotive and other industries. This is expected to drive the global vibrating feed conveyors market over the next decade. Vibrating feed conveyors can process various size of materials, whether it is fine, midsize or coarse. Consumers are given choices to choose among different designs of vibrating feed conveyors such as mechanical or electromagnetic. These systems are easy to operate and require low maintenance. These factors are expected to drive the global vibrating feed conveyors market during the forecast period. Also the cost of vibrating feed conveyors is not high. Overall, the outlook for the global feed conveyors market seems to be positive. Global vibrating feed conveyors market: Segmentation Global vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as follows: On the basis of design, the global vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as: One mass design Two mass design On the basis of type of material conveyed, the global vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as: Fine materials Mid-sized materials Coarse materials On the basis of type, the global vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as: Mechanical vibrating feed conveyors Electromagnetic vibrating feed conveyors On the basis of application, the vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as: Conveying Feeding On the basis of end use industry, the vibrating feed conveyors market has been segmented as: Food & beverage industry Electrical & electronics industry Automotive industry Transportation industry Others Global vibrating feed conveyors market: Regional Outlook Based on regions, the global vibrating feed conveyors market is divided into seven regions, namely: North America Western Europe Asia Pacific except Japan Eastern Europe Latin America Middle East and Africa Japan North America and Western Europe are expected to witness average growth in the vibrating feed conveyors market due to already established market in the regions. APEJ region is expected to witness lucrative growth in the vibrating feed conveyors market. It is attributed to the growing industrialization in the region, especially in countries such as China, India, and other Asian countries. The Latin American region is expected to witness low growth during the forecast period due to economic downturn in the region. Eastern Europe and MEA vibrating feed conveyors market is expected to witness healthy growth due to growing manufacturing units in the region. Japan vibrating feed conveyors market is expected to witness low growth during the forecast period. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-6223 Global vibrating feed conveyors market: Key Players Few of the key players operating in the global vibrating feed conveyors market are - Dempsco Inc., General Kinematics Corporation, Shanghai TRAK Company, Vibratory Feeder Manufacturers, TAD, S.L., CYRUS GmbH Schwingtechnik, Schenck Process Holding GmbH, JOST GmbH + Co. KG, ICM, Carrier Vibrating Equipment, Inc., Rhewum and among others. A team of professional and amateur archaeologists believe they may have discovered the monastery of Aebbe (615-683 CE), a powerful Anglo-Saxon woman who helped shape British history. Born a pagan princess, Aebbe (bbe of Coldingham) was the daughter of King Ethelfrith of Bernicia and Acha of Deira. Bernicia and Deira were Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. When her father was killed, Aebbe fled with her siblings to Dal Riata, a kingdom that extended across parts of western Scotland and north eastern Ireland. It was a hub of early Christianity, and the family quickly converted to Christianity. When her brother Oswald returned to Bernicia in 635 CE to reclaim the family throne, she joined him on a shared mission to convert the still largely pagan population. Aebbe would have been one of the most eligible brides in the kingdom, but she refused to marry. In fact, she is said to have prayed so hard not to be married to a particular prince who was pursuing her that water rose up and prevented him from reaching her for three whole days, by which time hed given up. Instead, she established the monastery that helped her brother maintain control over the northernmost parts of his kingdom, holding a community of pagans and Christians together. For decades, archaeologists have tried to locate the monastery, which was destroyed by Viking raiders in 870 CE. Now, excavations led by DigVentures, a social business that specializes in crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and digital methods to increase public participation in archaeological research, have found traces of a vast, but narrow circular ditch, which is likely to be the vallum, the boundary surrounding Aebbes religious settlement. The section of boundary ditch we found links up with two other ditch sections, and together they seem to encircle Coldingham Priory, meaning that the heart of Aebbes monastery is somewhere underneath it, said Dr. Manda Forster, program manager at DigVentures. In the area just outside the boundary, where small-scale industries like metalworking or pottery production would usually have taken place, the team also uncovered a huge pile of butchered animal bones which radiocarbon dating has just confirmed date to 660-860 CE. This is pretty much exactly when Aebbes monastery was in existence. Originally built around 640 CE, it is said to have burned down shortly after her death, but was then rebuilt and thrived until it was destroyed once again by Viking raiders 200 years later, Dr. Forster said. Previous attempts to find the monastery had followed traditional claims that it was probably on the headland, at a cliff-top location overlooking the sea, but no hard evidence consistent with an extensive, wealthy Anglo-Saxon monastery was ever found. This time, the archaeologists looked further inland, to where Coldingham Priory is now located. We based our search on a geophysical survey which revealed the outlines of several possible archaeological features, plus a series of individual finds including fragments of an Anglo Saxon belt fitting and sculpture, all of which seemed to centre on the later medieval priory in the heart of the village and it makes sense that the later Benedictine monastery was built on the site of its Anglo Saxon predecessor, Dr. Forster said. It wouldnt have been possible to dig the whole site, so the team drew up a shortlist and took the bold step of asking their followers to help narrow down the choices. In total, the scientists excavated four different trenches, balancing the publics choice with their own expertise. It is brilliant to finally be able to announce that weve found Aebbes monastery, and to confirm that part of it is probably underneath Coldingham Priory, Dr. Forster said. Aebbe is an extraordinary figure an example of a powerful Anglo Saxon woman who played a big part in establishing Christianity in the region during the 7th century CE. Now that weve got evidence to pinpoint exactly where her monastery was, we can help bring her story back to life. The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, also known as Clovis comet hypothesis, posits that the hemisphere-wide debris field of a large, disintegrating asteroid (or comet) struck North America, South America, Europe, and western Asia approximately 12,800 years ago. This event triggered extensive biomass burning, brief impact winter, climate change, and contributed to extinctions of late Pleistocene megafauna. Controversial from the time it was proposed, this hypothesis continues to be contested by those who prefer to attribute the end-Pleistocene reversal in warming entirely to terrestrial causes. Now, University of California, Santa Barbaras Professor James Kennett and co-authors present further geologic and paleontological evidence of the cosmic impact, this time far south of the equator. We have identified the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) layer at high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere at near 41 degrees south, close to the tip of South America. This is a major expansion of the extent of the YDB event, Professor James Kennett said. The vast majority of evidence to date has been found in the Northern Hemisphere. This discovery began several years ago when a group of Chilean scientists studying sediment layers at a well-known Quaternary paleontological and archaeological site, Pilauco Bajo, recognized changes known to be associated with YDB impact event. They included a black mat layer, 12,800 years in age, that coincided with the disappearance of South American Pleistocene megafauna fossils, an abrupt shift in regional vegetation and a disappearance of human artifacts. The analyses of the Pilauco sediments yielded the presence of microscopic spherules interpreted to have been formed by melting due to the extremely high temperatures associated with impact. The layer containing these spherules also show peak concentrations of platinum and gold, and native iron particles rarely found in nature. Among the most important spherules are those that are chromium-rich, Professor Kennett said. The spherules from the Pilauco site contain an unusual level of chromium, an element not found in Northern Hemisphere YDB impact spherules, but in South America. It turns out that volcanic rocks in the southern Andes can be rich in chromium, and these rocks provided a local source for this chromium. Thus, the cometary objects must have hit South America as well, Professor Kennett explained. Other evidence, which is consistent with previous and ongoing documentation of the region by Chilean scientists, pointed to a very large environmental disruption at about 40 degrees south. These included a large biomass burning event evidenced by, among other things, micro-charcoal and signs of burning in pollen samples collected at the impact layer. Furthermore, the burning coincides with the timing of major YDB-related burning events in North America and western Europe. The sedimentary layers at Pilauco contain a valuable record of pollen and seeds that show change in character of regional vegetation evidence of a shifting climate. However, in contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, where conditions became colder and wetter at the onset of the Younger Dryas, the opposite occurred in the Southern Hemisphere. The plant assemblages indicate that there was an abrupt and major shift in the vegetation from wet, cold conditions at Pilauco to warm, dry conditions. The atmospheric zonal climatic belts shifted like a seesaw, with a synergistic mechanism, bringing warming to the Southern Hemisphere even as the Northern Hemisphere experienced cooling and expanding sea ice. The rapidity within a few years with which the climate shifted is best attributed to impact-related shifts in atmospheric systems, rather than to the slower oceanic processes, Professor Kennett said. Meanwhile, the impact with its associated major environmental effects, including burning, is thought to have contributed to the extinction of local South American Pleistocene megafauna as well as the termination of the culture similar to the Clovis culture in the north. The amount of bones, artifacts and megafauna-associated fungi that were relatively abundant in the soil at the Pilauco site declined precipitously at the impact layer, indicating a major local disruption. The distance of the Pilauco site 3,728 miles (6,000 km) from the closest well-studied site in South America and its correlation with the many Northern Hemispheric sites greatly expands the extent of the YD impact event. The sedimentary and paleo-vegetative evidence gathered at the site is in line with previous, separate studies conducted by Chilean scientists that indicate a widespread burn and sudden major climate shifts in the region at about YDB onset. This new study further bolsters the hypothesis that a cosmic impact triggered the atmospheric and oceanic conditions of the Younger Dryas, Professor Kennett said. The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports. _____ Mario Pino et al. 2019. Sedimentary record from Patagonia, southern Chile supports cosmic-impact triggering of biomass burning, climate change, and megafaunal extinctions at 12.8 ka. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 4413; doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-38089-y Analyzing the data NASAs New Horizons spacecraft has been sending home since the flyby of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, the mission team is learning more about the development, geology and composition of this pristine planetesimal, a building block of the planets. Ultima Thule is the first unquestionably primordial contact binary ever explored. At 22 miles (35 km) long, the object consists of a large, flat lobe (nicknamed Ultima) connected to a smaller, rounder lobe (nicknamed Thule). This strange shape is the biggest surprise, so far, of the flyby. Weve never seen anything like this anywhere in the Solar System. It is sending the planetary science community back to the drawing board to understand how planetesimals form, said New Horizons principal investigator Dr. Alan Stern, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute. Because it is so well preserved, Ultima Thule is offering our clearest look back to the era of planetesimal accretion and the earliest stages of planetary formation. Apparently its two lobes once orbited each other, like many so-called binary worlds in the Kuiper Belt, until something brought them together in a gentle merger. This fits with general ideas of the beginning of our Solar System. Much of the orbital momentum of the Ultima Thule binary must have been drained away for them to come together like this. But we dont know yet what processes were most important in making that happen, said New Horizons co-investigator Dr. William McKinnon, of Washington University in St. Louis. That merger may have left its mark on the surface. The neck connecting Ultima and Thule is reworked, and could indicate shearing as the lobes combined, added New Horizons science team member Dr. Kirby Runyon, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The team is trying to understand Ultima Thules many surface features, from bright spots and patches, to hills and troughs, to craters and pits. The craters, while at first glance look like impact craters, could have other origins. Some may be pit craters, where material drains into underground cracks, or a result of sublimation, where ice went directly from solid to gas and left pits in its place. The largest depression, nicknamed Maryland crater, is about 5 miles (8 km) wide. It could be an impact crater, or it could have formed in one of the other above-mentioned ways. We have our work cut out to understand Ultima Thules geology, that is for sure, Dr. Runyon said. In color and composition, New Horizons data revealed that Ultima Thule resembles many other objects found in its region of the Kuiper Belt. Consistent with pre-flyby observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Ultima Thule is very red redder even than Pluto, which New Horizons flew past on the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt in 2015 and about the same color as many other so-called cold classical Kuiper Belt objects. This is the first time one of these ultra red objects has been explored, and our observations open all kinds of new questions, said New Horizons science team member Dr. Carly Howett, from the Southwest Research Institute. The color imaging even reveals subtle differences in coloration across the surface, and we really want to know why. The scientists also found evidence for methanol, water ice and organic molecules on the surface of Ultima Thule. The spectrum of Ultima Thule is similar to some of the most extreme objects weve seen in the outer Solar System, said New Horizons co-investigator Dr. Silvia Protopapa, also from the Southwest Research Institute. So New Horizons is giving us an incredible opportunity to study one of these bodies up close. The New Horizons science team presented the findings this week at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. The 2,490-passenger ship will join Voyager of the Seas, which will return to Sydney for her fifth season in 2020/21 and Ovation of the Seas. More capacity than ever MD Australia and New Zealand Susan Bonner said the four large cruise ships will offer more capacity and itineraries than ever before, with more than 80 sailings, ranging from two to 19 nights to destinations in the South Pacific, New Zealand and around Australia. The River Ems passage had been postponed by twelve hours at short notice on Tuesday due to the river's high-water level resulting from heavy rain-fall in the region. According to the amended schedule, the Royal Caribbean International newbuild left Papenburg on time shortly after 06:00 hrs (local time) on Wednesday. The ship is expected to arrive at the Gandersum Ems Barrier around 22:15 hrs this evening. A backward maneuver The ship is taking its usual course, heading backwards down the River Ems, assisted by two tugs. This mode has proven to be the best manoeuvre for the newly built ships due the narrowness of Ems River. The entire nautical crew handling the River Ems transit, including local pilots, were carefully trained on Tuesday for the operation in a simulator based in Wageningen (Netherlands), Meyer Werft said. The 169,300gt Spectrum of the Seas is scheduled to arrive at Eemshaven early on Thursday. Following some final preparations, she will embark on her North Sea trials from the Dutch port later completing these trials at Bremerhaven where final work will take place to prepare the Spectrum of the Seas for her handover. Record orderbook In addition, Saga Cruises' Spirit of Discovery and Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Encore are under construction at Papenburg and due for delivery later this year. In total, Meyer Werft's orderbook comprises 12 cruise vessels due for delivery through to the end of 2023. The yard says this orderbook is the largest one it ever had throughout its history. WABC-TV(WOODBRIDGE, N.J.) -- A boy with autism who called 911 to report that his beloved teddy bear was missing was connected with just the right officer to conduct a search and rescue response to recover the stuffed animal. Woodbridge Police officer Khari Manzini responded to the New Jersey home of 12-year-old Ryan Paul last week after Ryan placed a phone call to emergency dispatchers, telling them that Freddy, his handheld-sized friend, hadn't been seen in some time, ABC New York station WABC-TV reported. Ryan lost the brown bear while playing in his room, but decided that first responders would be a better option than his parents to help find him, News 12 New Jersey reported. Ryan's father, Robert Paul, told WABC-TV he was shocked at first to learn that his son had made the call. "I said, 'Ryan, did you call 911?'" Paul said, prompting his son to reply, "Teddy bear rescue." Manzini, who has received special training in autism recognition and response, found Freddy once he arrived to the Pauls' home. It is unclear exactly where the teddy bear was located. "We found the teddy bear, the teddy bear was OK," Manzini said. "He was in safe hands, no injuries, nothing like that." Cameras caught the moment Ryan hugged the officer, thanking him for saving his teddy bear. Manzini told News 12 that getting to know the residents and making them feel comfortable is a "major part" of his job. Paul took to Facebook to thank Manzini for his "kindness and understanding" as well as the emergency dispatcher who called the right officer to their home. "I'm glad that we have such a fine and caring police department," Paul wrote. The firefighter joked that he was "offended" that his own son didn't enlist his help in the rescue. Paul told News 12 that he's proud of his son for knowing what to do in an emergency, adding that they need to work on fine-tuning the skill to use in an actual emergency. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. RCL and Ocean Network Express (ONE) are revamping the Thailand Indonesia services RTI 1 and RTI 2 with larger vessels. For RTI 1 RCL will deploy the 2,800 teu Racha Bhum with a second vessel deployed by ONE. On the RTI 2 services the two companies plan to deploy a pair of 4,200 teu vessels. The higher capacity in both the RTI1 and RTI2 will help to meet growing traffic between Thailand and Indonesia going forward, RCL said. Both Indonesia and Thailand remain amongst ASEAN fastest growing economies and by providing direct shipments between the two countries and via its transhipment hub of Port Klang and Singapore, RCL can provide its customers access to a wealth of destinations within Asia. RCL will also be taking over operation of the Thailand Vietnam China service RBH from partner ONE deploying the 1,000 teu Danu Bhum in addition the 1,000 teu ALS Satsuki. A call in Nansha will also replace on Hong on the service with the new rotation being Bangkok Thai Sugar Terminal Haiphong Nansha Shekou Bangkok Thai Sugar Terminal. RCL is excited with the growing opportunities in Haiphong and our ability to expand our participation in this trade. The addition of Nansha call too will bring us closer to our customers and provide them the convenience of a direct call, said an RCL spokesperson. Meanwhile RCL and its partners ONE, Xpress Feeders and Cosco, will be merging its TCX and TSC services between Thailand and India called RMB with four 5,500 teu vessels deployed on the service Kattupalli will be added as port of call to the new service. An RCL spokesperson commented: The RMB will be the only direct service between Thailand and East Indian ports of Chennai and Kattupalli. Both importers and exporters in Andhra Pradesh will enjoy a choice of discharge and loading ports whichever is more convenient and cost advantageous to their businesses. Maersk said that its subsidiary Maersk Oil Trading and Investment had sold its 17,272,593 shares in Total to institutional investors for gross sale proceeds of EUR884m, equating to EUR51.18 per share. AP Moller Maersk became a shareholder in Total when it sold Maersk Oil for $7.45bn to the French oil company in March 2018. As part of the deal Maersk received a 3.75% stake in Total. The Danish shipping company sold off Maersk Oil as it restructuring to focus on container transport and logistics. Maersk has also sold Maersk Tankers to AP Moller Holding for $1.17bn, and is de-merging Maersk Drilling into a separate listed company, and is still searching for a long term solution for offshore vessel owning arm Maersk Supply Services. Read more: Maersk Drilling to be demerged from AP Moller - Maersk, listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen When the American Center for Mobility (ACM) moved into the Willow Run airport area in Ypsilanti Township in late 2017, roads in the area were reconfigured to accommodate expected traffic increases. But the changes have also prompted numerous resident concerns, which the West Willow Neighborhood Traffic Safety committee has been working to address in recent months. Before road reconfigurations went into effect, there were a number of public meetings so the Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) could get the word out about what those changes would look like. WCRC communications manager Emily Kizer says an increase in "cut-through" traffic was a concern, though traffic studies since then haven't shown a dramatic increase in cars cutting through side streets in the West Willow area. However, area residents had additional concerns, so WCRC suggested that the New West Willow Neighborhood Association (NWWNA) coordinate with Ypsilanti Township to form an ad hoc committee to study traffic and road safety issues in the neighborhood. The committee has been meeting roughly once a month since summer of 2018 and regularly reports back to the road commission and township officials. Of special concern is the area where the neighborhood meets Michigan Avenue and I-94 near Dorset Avenue. A teenage pedestrian was hit by a car while trying to cross Michigan Avenue in 2016, and the area has been the site of a number of serious car crashes in the last 18 months, including a three-car crash in September that left a victim hospitalized in critical condition. "That is an area that has to be addressed," says township trustee Monica Ross-Williams. "There's too much traffic, too many individuals. There's a lot going on at that corner." Currently, there is a pedestrian walkway and an island to help neighborhood residents cross over Michigan Avenue into other parts of the township along the Ford Road corridor. However, committee members reported that flexible cones are often knocked over and lying down, suggesting that cars are riding over parts of the island multiple times a week. The committee has suggested a few different ways to reroute pedestrians, including creating a traffic circle. However, any changes of that nature would have to be made through MDOT, as Michigan Avenue and the entrance ramp to I-94 are under MDOT jurisdiction. Committee members are also working on measures to encourage drivers to use the service drives around the neighborhood rather than cutting through low-speed-limit residential streets. Two committee members are collecting signatures to install speed humps on Nash Avenue north of Tyler Road, and the committee has also suggested lowering the speed limit on Tyler from 35 to 30 miles per hour to encourage drivers to go around the neighborhood rather than drive through it. Supplemental lighting at the corner of Onandaga Avenue and the service drive in the neighborhood has also been suggested. Traffic safety committee member Norma Gentile says that while there is a light at the signal on Michigan Avenue in that area, drivers turning off Michigan Avenue into the neighborhood at Onandaga are "crossing fast and blind" since the intersection is dark. She says she's nearly hit a bicycle in that area. Township officials in attendance at the traffic committee's last meeting on March 14 said they would bring the matter up with township engineers. Ypsilanti Township residents concerned with traffic safety in the West Willow neighborhood are welcome to attend future committee meetings. NWWNA president JoAnn McCollum says she will post a notice of future meetings on Nextdoor and the NWWNA Facebook page. For more information, contact McCollum at (734) 845-7362 or newwestwillow@gmail.com. Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She has served as innovation and jobs/development news writer for Concentrate since early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to Driven. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com. Photos by Sarah Rigg. Encouraging news is rare in Ann Arbor's ongoing affordable housing crisis, but Ann Arbor nonprofit Avalon Housing has recently made headway on the issue in multiple ways. Avalon, which develops and manages low-income housing, currently has an unprecedented three new developments underway, thanks in part to state-level changes to tax credits for supportive housing units. The three new developments are the 70-unit Hickory Way on South Maple Road in Ann Arbor, a solar-powered housing development with a mix of affordable and market-rate units called Veridian at County Farm on Platt Road in Ann Arbor, and a new, as yet unnamed 24-unit development in Dexter. Veridian at County Farm is a joint project between Avalon and THRIVE, an Ann Arbor design and building firm dedicated to sustainability. THRIVE will build 75 market-rate units, while Avalon will be in charge of 50 affordable and supportive housing units. "Avalon has not had this many (developments) in the pipeline at one time before, so that's exciting," says Avalon Housing executive director Aubrey Patino. "We are open to continuing to develop and grow, as long as there is a need for that in the community." State changes to tax credits for affordable housing Avalon's current momentum is due in part to the state's Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). Every two years, the QAP is rewritten to determine how tax credits for affordable housing are assigned. The QAP breaks out several categories, including supportive housing, which is the category Avalon applied under. Wendy Carty-Saxon, director of real estate development for Avalon, says the QAP was recently rewritten to align its tax credits for supportive housing with other statewide initiatives to address homelessness. "There was an increased emphasis on housing chronically homeless or those with the highest need by using points," she says. Under the old QAP, a 100-unit development could get into the supportive housing category if only 25 units were being used for supportive housing for people with special needs or the homeless. Applicants could get an additional five points on the application if the development specifically targeted the chronically homeless for at least 30 percent of those 25 units, or about eight units total. Under the rewrite, an applicant needs to have 35 percent of units designated as supportive housing to receive the allocated funds, and the incentive has been raised from five to 15 points if half of total units are targeted to households in the highest need as identified by local lists of those who are chronically homeless, Carty-Saxon says. Patino says some Michigan developers were leveraging tax credits but "not providing services up to par." "They were screening for easier populations to serve and not using the resources for the people who need it the most," she says. Under the QAP re-write, Patino says the highest scores are now going to developers willing to support people who need supportive housing the most. Avalon expects to build Hickory Way in two phases, starting this year. Residents should be able to move into about half the units some time in 2020. If all goes to plan, the Dexter development will be ready for residents in the second half of 2021, while Veridian at County Park should be ready for residents in the first quarter of 2022. Lessons for affordable housing advocates? Avalon's recent successes may hold a few lessons for Ann Arbor and its affordable housing problem. Avalon's three recent developments were aided by private landowners, Washtenaw County, the city of Dexter, and a Dexter-based nonprofit called Faith in Action (FIA). Two private landowners offered the Hickory Way property to Avalon after reading about the need for affordable housing in the area, while Washtenaw County sold Avalon the property for the Veridian project. The Dexter project will be built on property formerly owned by the city. The Dexter development in particular came together much more quickly than projects of this type typically do. "The (Dexter) deal was brought to my attention in October and unanimously passed the city council in the last (few) weeks," Patino says. "Our Platt Road development took us five years. I think it's noteworthy for other communities to look at that and ask themselves what led to such an expedient and barrier-free approval process." Patino says Avalon's reputation for creating housing that enhances neighborhoods rather than dragging down home values has been an asset. Similarly, she says FIA has a great deal of credibility in Dexter, and the organization's assistance helped ease the way. FIA executive director Nancy Paul says FIA became aware a few years ago that the city of Dexter had a piece of property it was considering using for a fire station. FIA approached the city council to suggest that the city consider offering the property up to be developed by Avalon for affordable housing if it was not used for that purpose, Paul says. "They were super supportive of work we're trying to do," Paul says. "Once the city of Dexter decided not to use that property for a fire station, it was a fairly easy ask at that point." Paul notes that because Avalon operates on grants, it can often take a long time to secure funding for a deal. That can be discouraging for private landowners who want to turn a deal around quickly, but the city of Dexter was willing to be patient. "That's where the city's cooperation has been really key to the success of this whole thing," Paul says. While affordable housing proposals in other areas of Washtenaw County have experienced pushback from area residents, Paul says the Dexter community as a whole has been positive about the planned housing development. "Nobody voiced any concerns to us," Paul says. "Maybe it has to do with the speed with which it happened, or maybe it was because FIA and the city were involved. FIA has a high trust factor in the community." Patino is excited about the new projects in the pipeline but says an emphasis on preserving existing affordable housing stock is important too. She cautions that these new developments can barely replace 700 Ann Arbor affordable housing units that are transitioning to be market-rate rentals. Ann Arbor has plans to add 3,000 units of affordable housing in the next 20 years, but at the current pace, Patino says it's "hard to see how we can meet that need." She says that statewide, communities could make progress on affordability by implementing changes to master plans and other measures. While not currently legal in Michigan, another option is inclusionary zoning, which encourages or requires developers to include some affordable housing units when they come into a community to build a new development. "There are aggressive things that can be done like updating the master plan with a common definition around affordable housing," Patino says. "There are basic steps that we need to take that other communities have done. We're having lots of good conversations, and there's momentum building, but we want to see that actually lead to development." Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She has served as innovation and jobs/development news writer for Concentrate since early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to Driven. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com. All photos by Doug Coombe. Press Release March 20, 2019 Angara: Enforce Law on Rain Water Collection in every barangay Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara called for the full implementation of a 30-year-old law mandating the establishment of rainwater harvesting system in all barangays nationwide in the wake of the water shortage that could go beyond Metro Manila and Rizal province. Angara was referring to Republic Act 6716, also known as the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Act of 1989, which requires the construction of rainwater collectors in every barangay to prevent flooding and ensure the continuous provision of clean water during dry seasons. "As early as 1989, we already have this law intended to help alleviate water scarcity and drought down to barangay level, and yet no one seems to be implementing it," Angara said. Rainwater harvesting offers a practical and immediate solution to the country's water supply problem, the lawmaker from Aurora said. "While we all wait for the construction of new dams, which may take years to complete, LGUs (local government units) should practice rainwater harvesting because it is a practical solution that will have direct impact on the grassroots," he pointed out. According to Angara, rainwater harvesting is done in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, and it has proven quite effective. "Why shouldn't we implement the same, especially since we get an abundance of rain?" RA 6716 provides for the construction by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of water wells, rainwater collectors, development of springs and rehabilitation of existing water wells in all barangays in the Philippines. The law also calls for the creation of a waterworks and sanitation association in every barangay to operate and maintain a rainwater collection facility, which components include catchment, treatment and distribution. Rainwater is collected in rooftops, then purified in a central treatment system to be pumped, finally, to various water lines. Angara noted that in 2012, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued a memorandum to all LGUs, DILG regional directors and field officers requiring them to promote the construction of rainwater collectors in barangays to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. In 2017, Angara said the DILG issued another memo circular which outlined the policies and guidelines for the construction of rainwater collectors. The circular provides that all government public infrastructures must construct rainwater collection systems (RWCS) and use collected rainwater for non-potable uses. It advises LGUs to seek the assistance of DPWH district offices in the construction of RWCS, following the agency's prototype designs. LGUs were also encouraged to pass ordinances integrating RWCS in their environmental laws and subsequently granting benefits and incentives that may take in the form of tax incentives to encourage compliance of establishments and structures, especially those who adopt the same, though not required to do so. Press Release March 20, 2019 De Lima to De la Rosa: Explain dismal performance instead of peddling rumors Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has lashed out at administration Senatorial candidate Ronald "Bato" de la Rosa for failing to stop convicted criminals from their illegal drug operations during his watch as then Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief. Instead of resorting to gimmickry during his campaign sorties, De Lima reminded De la Rosa to explain to the Filipino voters about his dismal performance at the BuCor, including his obvious failure to stop illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). "Being the former top investigator and law enforcer of the government as PNP Chief, Bato has revealed his most reliable investigation tool, 'tsismis," she said in her latest Dispatch from Crame No. 486. "Instead of telling the public about what he learned from gossiping with prisoners, Bato should be explaining what happened to his promise that he will make the lives of Bilibid drug lords miserable, when one year after making his promise he admits that they are still in control of the drug syndicates in the country," she added. De la Rosa, whom De Lima referred to as a "showman" and a "mascot" than a "public servant" and a "professional," recently admitted that drug convicts inside the NBP in Muntinlupa are still controlling drug syndicates outside the national penitentiary. Before he assumed the post as BuCor chief in April 2018, De la Rosa vowed to end Bilibid drug trade, saying that "I will succeed, mark my word. As to how I will do it, just [use] your wild imagination. Hindi ako magpapatalo sa mga drug lord na yan." A known ally of Duterte who served as BuCor chief from May to October 2018, De la Rosa, also former chief of Philippine National Police, claimed to have supposedly received rumors from inmates about De Lima's alleged links to drug trade. The lady Senator from Bicol said that De la Rosa's recent statement only proved that he "has nothing to show" for his roughly six-month stint as BuCor Chief when it comes to stopping Bilibid drug lords. She added that De la Rosa's only achievement as BuCor chief was his success in gathering hearsay stories against her from hardened convicted criminals during his so-called "casual conversations" with them. "Bato implies that the inmates could not have been lying to him about my supposed drug links because they were not coerced into the 'casual usapan,'" she said. "Bato has just confirmed what the Duterte government and its DOJ has against me in the fictional and fabricated drug cases they filed: Prison gossip. Intrigues. Lies. Tsismis na naman ang pinapangalandakang ebidensiya ni Bato laban sa akin," she added. Considered as a leading prisoner of conscience, De Lima is currently detained at the Custodial Center, in Camp Crame, Quezon City for bogus and absurd drug charges invented by the Duterte administration, borne out of Duterte's personal vendetta against her. Press Release March 20, 2019 Invest heavily in youth so we can get quality population - Gordon Senator Richard J. Gordon called on the government to invest in the country's youth to ensure a quality population and to address the growing number of children getting in conflict with the law. Gordon said the government should allot funding for measures that would ensure that children would be educated and well-guided so that the country will have a quality population. Such measures include: having truancy officers in every barangay; hiring more guidance counselors so that there would be at least one for every grade level; getting more social welfare officers; and implementing a feeding program in all public schools. "Magastos ito pero ito ay investment para magkaroon tayo ng quality population. Yung mga truancy officers, sisiguruhin nila na ang mga bata sa barangay nila ay pumapasok sa eskwela. Pagdating naman sa eskwela, dapat siguraduhin na may mga guidance counselors para magabayan ang mga bata. At dapat siguraduhin na may pagkain ang mga bata dahil isa yun sa mga dahilan kaya maraming mga batang hindi nakakapasok. Yung social welfare officers, aalamin nila kung may problema ang mga bata sa bahay, kung meron, maaari silang kupkupin ng DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development)," the chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights said. "Nung kamakailan may pinatay sa Cebu, ang pumatay 17-year old. Kaya dun sa aking bill, Senate Bill No. 2198, ang gusto ko ay holistic approach to strengthening our youth social welfare programs. Kung nasa eskwela ang mga bata, hindi yan makakapag-isip na gumawa ng krimen. Their time will be better occupied," he added. Gordon issued the statement in the wake of the gruesome murder of 16-year old Christine Lee Silawan in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. Her body was found skinned and mutilated in a vacant lot last March 11. She was stabbed several times on her neck and body, her skull was exposed and she was naked from the waist down. Last Saturday, the Philippine National Police arrested the victim's 17-year old former boyfriend for suspected involvement in the killing after he was found in a CCTV footage with the victim. He has since confessed that he killed his former girlfriend due to jealousy. Press Release March 20, 2019 Lacson: My 'Vendetta' is Against the Insatiably Greedy Politicians More at: https://pinglacson.net/2019/03/20/lacson-my-vendetta-is-against-the-insatiably-greedy-politicians/ My "vendetta" is against the insatiably greedy politicians, especially those who lust after pork barrel funds. This was Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson's reply to some House of Representatives members who continue to accuse him of "vendetta" in denouncing pork in the 2019 budget. "Sa mga konggresista na paulit ulit sa pagsasabi na 'vendetta' ang aking motibo sa pag atake sa pork barrel nila sa 2019 pambansang badyet - tama po kayo, sukdulang galit na vendetta ko nga 'yan sa mga katulad ninyong ganid at walang kabusugan sa pera ng mamamayang Pilipino (To the congressmen who continue to claim vendetta is my motive in attacking the pork in the 2019 budget, you are right. But my vendetta is against the insatiably greedy politicians)," Lacson said in a post on his Twitter account. Lacson reiterated his actions against pork barrel in the 2019 budget are not about any individual congressman or senator, but about his crusade against the pork barrel system and the national budget, which is the lifeblood of the country. He added he will criticize those who go against his advocacy of keeping the budget free of pork, which had been outlawed by the Supreme Court way back in 2013 but is still resurrected in different forms. Earlier, Lacson bared post-ratification manipulations by the House leadership on the budget bill after it was ratified last Feb. 8. He cited figures from the Senate's Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO) showed a net increase of P95.1 billion in the House of Representatives' realignments. This includes the slashing of P72.319 billion from the Department of Public Works and Highways' Major Final Output (MFO) 1 and 2. Also, the House rearranged or realigned P79.7 billion from several congressional districts to the other districts, and parked P70 billion in the DPWH central office after removing them from 87 District Engineering Offices (DEOs). "Parking the P70 billion in the DPWH's central office was meant to make it difficult for people - including myself - to trace where it will go. You could call it a veiled effort to conceal large 'pork insertions' of some congressmen," Lacson pointed out. Lacson also disclosed the post-ratification maneuvering of funds in the budget by the House leadership - a violation of the 1987 Constitution's Art. VI, Sec. 2, Paragraph 2: "Upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereto shall be allowed." The post-ratification tweaks by the House leadership included the Department of Health's Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) funds - where Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's allies got P25 million while those who did not vote for her got just P8 million. Lacson said he got his information from House members who noticed the discrepancy. Worse, the Duterte administration's "Build, Build, Build" legacy program was not spared, as the House slashed P72.319 billion from the DPWH's Major Final Output (MFO) 1 and 2. The DPWH projects affected by the slashing include those had already been planned and vetted for months, or even years. Statement of Senator Joel Villanueva on the recent drug bust conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at Ayala Alabang Congratulations to our antinarcotics agents from Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for its successful operation last night at Ayala Alabang. The operation prevented P1.1 billion worth of shabu from hitting the streets here and abroad where agents believe it will be shipped out. We hope that the PDEA keeps pressing on with their campaign to get rid of drugs in the country. Malamang ang mga dayuhang nahuli sa buy-bust operation ng PDEA ay walang karampatang permit na manatili o magtrabaho dito. Naniniwala po ako na mas mapapadali po ang trabaho ng ating mga antinarcotics agents kung sa point of entry pa lang, sinasala na ng maigi ang mga pumapasok sa ating bansa. Wala po dapat puwang sa ating bayan ang mga nagdadala ng iligal na droga, at hindi dapat pinapayagan na makatungtong, at lalong lalo na na magtrabaho, ang mga taong ito sa ating bayan. We have to do a better job at securing our borders, and preventing undesirable foreigners from entering our shores. That's why we look forward to the memorandum circular being drafted by the labor department which should address the growing problem of illegal foreign workers in the country. Secretary Bello mentioned that the interagency task force agreed to implement a process wherein a foreign national intending to work here in the country must secure a working permit and visa at the country of origin. Inaasahan natin na mababawasan ang mga iligal na banyagang manggagawa dito sa atin kapag nailatag na ang bagong panuntunan na ito. Senate Hearing on African Swine Fever The Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture held a hearing today to determine the steps that government agencies and industry players can take to prevent African Swine Fever (ASF) from piercing through the Philippine borders. While not a human health issue, as the disease only affects swine, the global ASF outbreak presents a looming threat to the local hog-raising industry. As the yet-incurable ASF affects nearby countries such as China and Vietnam, striking their swine populations down, the Senate has seen it fit to call for a public hearing with concerned agencies and stakeholders. Presiding over the hearing was Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri on behalf of Committee Chair Senator Cynthia Villar. In his opening statement, Zubiri sought to "determine the risks and vulnerability of the country to ASF especially since we have a high volume of imported pork and pork products." He expressed particular concern for the "most vulnerable of the local farmers." Small-scale backyard raisers make up 65 percent of the local hog-raising industry. The panel was comprised of representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Bureau of Customs, the Food and Drugs Administration, the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the National Meat Inspection Service, the Philippine Veterinary Medical Association, the National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc., Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, and the backyard-raising sector. Various concerns were raised, including swine importation, coastal border control, tariffication measures, stricter airport inspection, and recall of canned pork products. On the topic of swine importation, Zubiri championed the local industry and urged,"Buy Filipino pork first." Protein-nanoparticle assemblies Nanoparticles made up of aggregates of various metals are finding their way into numerous fields of study, including medical and therapeutic applications. In particular, gold nanoparticles are abundantly employed as biosensors and agents for phototherapy and molecular imaging while silver nanoparticles have strong antimicrobial properties and have been added to consumer products. A third type comprising platinum aggregates act as radical scavengers and have been proposed as therapeutic agents for treating conditions derived from oxidative stress. In all of these applications, humans become exposed to the nanoparticles and this has raised safety concerns about unwanted health effects. When nanoparticles enter the bloodstream, through inhalation and absorption, oral administration or iv injection, they attract proteins to their surfaces to form an enveloping corona. The proteins can be gently and reversibly bound in a so-called soft corona, or tightly bound to cover the whole nanoparticle irreversibly. Under these conditions, the properties of the proteins can become modified, which in turn changes their biological behaviour. This can alter the biocompatibility of the nanoparticles, rendering them toxic, while also bringing about changes to the immune system. In order to understand these effects better, scientists in Spain have investigated the compositions of three biocoronas that were formed on nanoparticles of different metals. Cristina Nunez and colleagues from the University Hospital Lucus Augusti (HULA), Lugo, the Hospital University Complex of Santiago (CHUS) and the University Hospital Complex of A Coruna (CHUAC) examined the serum proteins attracted to the nanoparticles using a proteomics approach. Gold, silver and platinum nanoparticles Gold, silver and platinum nanoparticles that were 10.02, 9.73 and 2.40 nm in size, respectively, were prepared by established methods. Serum collected from healthy individuals was depleted of the most abundant proteins and the remaining proteins present were reduced and alkylated to break and separate the disulphide bonds present. Nanoparticles and treated serum were mixed at a pH of 5.8 for up to 90 minutes. The pellets were then removed by centrifugation for separation by 1D gel electrophoresis. The resulting gel patterns displayed different protein intensity patterns, indicating that the protein compositions of the coronas varied across the three metal nanoparticles. To gain deeper knowledge, the proteins bands were cut from each gel to be prepared for analysis by LC/MS/MS, identifying the proteins by searching the human specific UniProt database. A large number of proteins were found to be attached to the nanoparticles: 215, 215 and 198 for the gold, silver and platinum species, respectively, with 170 common to all types. There were also a number of proteins that were unique to each nanoparticle, numbering 21, 17 and 14 for gold, silver and platinum, respectively. Hundreds of bound proteins The proteins were grouped according to their functions and the implications of their entrapment on the nanoparticles were discussed. For instance, 66 of the proteins were involved in the immune response, including complement C3 and complement factor C. This could have implications for metal nanoparticles that are used for drug delivery, since the complement system is used to label pathogens for removal. Binding of these proteins with the nanoparticles could prevent the correct drug action. A total of 29 bound proteins were involved with transport function. Thirty-two others were associated with protein structure, some of which are known markers of certain conditions such as renal disorders and multiple sclerosis. Removal from serum by nanoparticle binding will affect their diagnostic capabilities. Proteins involved in enzymatic processes, inflammatory response, antibiotic activity and signal transduction were also found bound to all three types of nanoparticles. However, some proteins were bound uniquely to different nanoparticles, providing individual modifications. These included some signal transduction proteins bound only to the gold particles, antibacterial proteins to the silver species and certain inflammatory response proteins exclusively to the platinum nanoparticles. The particular implications from these binding results will have to be examined in far more detail but is is clear that protein binding could alter the properties of both the nanoparticles and the proteins, with potentially serious effects. However, the research team pointed put that their experiments were carried out at a pH of 5.8, which gave optimum binding. The effects might vary in the body at physiological pH. Related Links Chantada-Vazquez, M.P., Lopez, A.C., Bravo, S.B., et al. (2019). Proteomic analysis of the bio-corona formed on the surface of (Au, Ag, Pt)-nanoparticles in human serum. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 177: 141-148. Read more about Steve and our other columnists >>> The views represented in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. Follow us on Twitter! < Author(s) Steve Down Pan Pac Forest Products has been cleared over its handling of damage to its wastewater outfall off the coast north of Napier. The company has spent six months trying to repair the 2.4 kilometre outfall, which began leaking near the shore in September. The waste water is treated prior to discharge but is not being mixed and diluted as quickly as would usually be the case. Hawkes Bay Regional Council chief executive James Palmer said the council closely considered its own enforcement policy, and the Solicitor-Generals guidelines on prosecution, before deciding not to prosecute the firm. He said Pan Pac has consistently and regularly monitored the condition of the pipe, and since 2001 has had it inspected by divers 75 times. Previous signs of wear have been quickly repaired. No evidence of negligence by Pan Pac in their maintenance or operation of the pipe was identified and the breakage could not have been reasonably foreseen, Palmer said in a statement. We acknowledge that the buried portion of the pipe has not been able to be inspected to date, but new technology means this is now possible and the regional council will be expecting Pan Pac to use that technology in the future to undertake regular inspections. This involves a robotic camera and sensors. Pan Pac, owned by Japans Oji Group, is one of Hawkes Bays biggest employers. It has operated at Whirinaki for more than 40 years and produces about 830 tonnes of wood pulp a day. The company is also the countrys biggest producer of appearance-grade timber and processes about 430,000 cubic metres annually from Whirinaki about 50,000 cubic metres at Milburn in Otago. In August, the company said the pipeline was operating normally after dive crews manually removed silt thrown up in storms in June. Almost a third of the outfalls ports were blocked. But a month later a leak was reported from a submerged part of the outfall about 70 metres from the road running along Whirinaki beach. Repairs were attempted in December and January. A third approach is underway while the firm considers long-term options for replacing the original pipe. The latest work has involved cutting two access points into the pipeline. The pipe will be cleaned internally, fibreglass patches installed over damaged areas, and a special imported liner installed. Palmer said the council will continue to monitor the work and is keen to see, in the near-future, Pan Pacs plans for a replacement. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: 10th December 2021 Morning Report Ebos Group Limited (NZX: EBO) EBOS Announces Successful Placement Pacific Edge Limited (NZX: PEB) PEB Announces Agreement with Northern Health in Australia AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited (NZX: AFT) AFT welcomes Australian Federal Court appeal success 9th December 2021 Morning Report Ebos Group Limited (NZX: EBO) Acquisition of LifeHealthcare, Equity Raising Livestock Improvement Corporation Limited (NZX: LIC) Special Dividend 8th December 2021 Morning Report New Zealand King Salmon Investments Limited (NZX: NZK) Market Update Scales Corporation Limited (NZX: SCL) Market update Fonterra Cooperative Group hasn't faced any issues getting its products into China, where its business hit some speed wobbles when the butter market slowed. The world's biggest dairy exporter counts China as one of its most important markets and has been a beneficiary of a burgeoning middle class in the world's most populous nation. Tensions have emerged between members of the Five Eyes intelligence partnership - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - and China over accusations that the Asian nation's 2017 national intelligence law heightens the risk that technology firms such as Huawei Technologies will be used for espionage in vital western infrastructure. Anecdotes about New Zealand firms having issues clearing customs and an Air New Zealand plane turning around en route to China over sloppy paperwork are being interpreted as signs of a cooling trading relationship. Fonterra is among New Zealand's biggest players in China and says it hasn't witnessed any issues. "We've not had any issues with trade between Fonterra and China," chief executive Miles Hurrell told a briefing in Auckland yesterday. China delivers Fonterra's highest margins in consumer and foodservices, where buyers are willing to pay a premium for high-quality food. Weaker butter prices made buyers put off their purchases during the six months through January, and Fonterra wound down its inventories. The New Zealand dairy processor expects the second half will improve, and said the underlying performance in China remained strong. Fonterra's consumer and foodservice businesses in Greater China reported earnings of $61 million in the six months ended Jan. 31, down from $92 million a year earlier. Sales fell 13 percent to $524 million. That was largely in the foodservice side where gross margins were squeezed by the butter pricing. The dairy company's two-farm hub in China with 31,000 cows reported losses of $17 million in the half, compared to a loss of $12 million a year earlier. Milk production was down 15 percent at 113 million litres, when measured on a liquid milk equivalent basis, although a higher domestic milk price meant sales fell 12 percent to $108 million. LME is a standard measure of milk allocated to each product based on the amount of fat and protein in the product relative to the amount of fat and protein in standardised raw milk. The farms faced higher costs due to more expensive effluent control and animal management, and also higher feed prices stemming from the US-China trade dispute. (BusinessDesk) Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: 10th December 2021 Morning Report Ebos Group Limited (NZX: EBO) EBOS Announces Successful Placement Pacific Edge Limited (NZX: PEB) PEB Announces Agreement with Northern Health in Australia AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited (NZX: AFT) AFT welcomes Australian Federal Court appeal success 9th December 2021 Morning Report Ebos Group Limited (NZX: EBO) Acquisition of LifeHealthcare, Equity Raising Livestock Improvement Corporation Limited (NZX: LIC) Special Dividend 8th December 2021 Morning Report New Zealand King Salmon Investments Limited (NZX: NZK) Market Update Scales Corporation Limited (NZX: SCL) Market update Sources said the government wants National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), where it owns 49 per cent stake and whose mandate is to invest in stalled and new infrastructure projects, to buy a stake in Jet to save the cash-strapped airline. New Delhi: The government is likely to turn to public sector banks to rescue Jet Airways in an apparent bid to avert thousands of job losses weeks before the general election. Saddled with more than Rs 8,000 crore of debt, Jet is struggling even to pay salaries as it defaulted on payments to banks and aircraft lessors some of whom have reportedly begun to terminate lease deals. The aviation sector employs close to 10 lakh people. The Finance Ministry has been in touch with banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) on Jet's financial health . If banks agree to government proposals, then state-run banks including SBI and Punjab National Bank (PNB) as well as NIIF would together may own at least a third of the airline until they find a new buyer. Currently, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways is Jet's largest shareholder with a 24 per cent stake. In a letter to the RBI on Wednesday, AIBEA's General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam conveyed the union's opposition to RBI's decision. Chennai: The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has demanded the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reconsider its decision to categorise IDBI Bank as a private entity. "IDBI and IDBI Bank have been created to be Banks under public sector. Due to huge bad loans to the corporates, the Bank has been facing problem of recovery and consequently its financial performance," Venkatachalam said. According to him, it is ironical that RBI instead of taking action against the private sector corporate borrowers it seeks to protect the bank from Right to Information Act (RTI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and others by recategorising IDBI bank. "Even though Government's stake has come below 51 per cent, LIC, which is the main share-holder is also a 100 per cent Government's corporation and hence, the re-categorisation is unwarranted and motivated against public interest," the letter notes. The RBI recently classified IDBI Bank as private sector bank. Ahead of the premiere ofdocumentary in India, actress Freida Pinto urged people to "focus on the planet before the effects of global warming become absolutely irreversible". The documentary highlights the issue of climate change with an emphasis on the unique and delicate habitats of India and Bangladesh and the region's rarest and most spectacular wildlife, read a statement. So being an ambassador of the Wild Edens: South Asia project, Freida said: "We all share a common vision that human kind has to be inspired to focus on the planet before the effects of global warming become absolutely irreversible. "Wild Edens... will devote an entire episode to my native country of India. With this, millions of people around the world will have the opportunity to see my country as an exotic mix of wild nature, rare animal life, unique wildlife sanctuaries and magnificent landscapes that are mesmerizing and are also under the threat of dangers of climate change." Maestro Ilaiyaraaja has been visiting various colleges in Tamil Nadu to interact with students and he also performs his classic songs. In one such recent interaction, the veteran composer recalled his touching story about his mom. When a student asked Raja to tell about his mom, the composer said: There cant be another person like my mom in the world. She sold the radio box for Rs 400 to send us to Chennai but she never kept a single penny for her. Later, after becoming a composer, I earned a lakhs of money but didnt buy anything for my mom. It was my wife who took care of her. . , . (). . - 35 ... Page Content During his intervention, Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Somersall reiterated St. Maartens support for continued cooperation with the UK Overseas Territories within OCTA to the extent possible, with regards to the future relationship between the UK and the EU. Moreover, Deputy Minister Somersall shared Sint Maartens outstanding concerns with regards to the proposed OCT financial instrument post 2020 and urged OCTs to work together to ensure that the future financial instrument takes into account the specificities and constraints of the OCTs. Following two consecutive terms as the President of the Executive Committee of OCTA on behalf of Sint Maarten, Mrs. Carol Voges, handed over the baton to Saint Pierre et Miquelon for the administrative year 2019. Noteworthy, Sint Maarten retains a position as member of the Executive Committee of OCTA. Photo L to R: Senior Policy Advisor Kingdom & Interior Affairs - Olivia Lake, Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary - Michael Somersall & Senior Adviser Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary Carol Voges. On Thursday, February 28, 2019, St. Maarten lead by the Deputy Minister of Plenipotentiary, the Honorable Michael Somersall, participated in the OCTA Ministerial Conference in French Polynesia. During the Ministerial Conference, Sint Maartens Deputy Minister of Plenipotentiary Michael Somersall signed the Political Declaration and Administrative Resolutions of OCTA on behalf of Sint Maarten. Page Content Repairs to homes owned and managed by the Sint Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) in the Belvedere Housing Complex are progressing. In total, repairs are being made to the roofs and ceilings of the homes of 117 families. Director Connor, along with Project Manager Paul Sijssens, was joined by SMHDF representatives on a tour to some of the repaired units. During the visit the Director spoke with residents to get their assessment of the ongoing works. This project, as with all trust fund projects, will be closely monitored by the Bureau to ensure that clients, in this case the homeowners, are truly satisfied with the work that is taking place, Director Connor explained. The Philipsburg Police Station and the Simpson Bay sub-station have also started with much needed repairs that will make both buildings better able to withstand future hurricanes. Works include the installation of aluminum shutters as well as electrical wiring, replacement of cabinets, light fixtures and ceiling tiles. During this visit Director Connor and Project Manager Sijssens were accompanied by the Chief of Police, Mr. Carl John, the contractor and the supervising company. At both visits we were able to confirm that the agreed system of verification is being adhered to. Indeed, it has taken longer than we had originally anticipated for. It is paramount that works are not just completed as fast as we would want, but they need to adhere to the strict quality standards. Connor concluded. The repairs to the Police stations and the Belvedere housing complex fall under the 55 million USD Emergency Recovery Project 1, which is supported by the Sint Maarten Recovery & Resilience Trust Fund, financed by the Netherlands and managed by the World Bank. Photo captions: photo a: Director Claret Connor, (3rd from left) and ERP1 Project Manager Paul Sijssens (2nd from left) along with Chief of Police, Carl John (3rd from right), along with representatives of the supervising agency and contractors at the Philipsburg Police Station The Director of the National Recovery Program Bureau, Claret Connor, recently completed supervisory visits to the Belvedere Housing Complex and the Philipsburg and Simpson Bay police stations that are currently undergoing repairs. Ensuring that works are performed at agreed standards is an important part of the due diligence responsibilities of the Bureau. System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe78d57c8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe780f348)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe78d57c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe780f348)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe78d12c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe780f348)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe780f348)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe6f3e628)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe7871960)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe7871960)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3feb6037b0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7974990)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3feb6037b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7974990)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3feb4899e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7974990)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7974990)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe6f3e868)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe7968d98)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe7968d98)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe747efb8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7332290)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe747efb8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7332290)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe749fbf8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7332290)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7332290)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe6f3e508)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe747f2a0)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe747f2a0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe78b4910)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7845ba0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe78b4910)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7845ba0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe7721290)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7845ba0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe7845ba0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe6f3e898)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe78d3dd8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe78d3dd8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 A CBC Marketplace investigation has found worrying levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on imported shrimp bought at major grocery stores across Canada. Global demand for shrimp has exploded in recent decades, worth an estimated $39 billion US and growing. Canada alone imports about $700 million in shrimp every year, with the majority of it coming from countries like India, Vietnam, China, and Thailand. But as our hunger for shrimp has grown, the way it is brought to our plates has greatly changed. Today, much of the world's shrimp is farmed, often grown in crowded, shallow ponds that can harbour diseaseUnlike chicken, pork or beef farming in Canada, where the use of antibiotics is permitted in limited circumstances, antibiotic use on shrimp is banned by the CFIA, reported CBC. Although the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) does not allow for the use of any antibiotics in shrimp farming, the overuse of antibiotics in Asian shrimp aquaculture has some researchers concerned about the potential for antibiotic-resistant bacteria landing in Canada through imported seafood. To test for the potential of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, CBC Marketplace bought 51 frozen shrimp products from major grocery stores in Calgary, Toronto, Saskatoon and Montreal, and sent them to a special lab at the University of Saskatchewan for analysis. Nine of the products or 17 per cent were found to be carrying bacteria, such as E. coli and staph aureus, that showed resistance to at least one antibiotic. Antibiotic resistance has been called one of the biggest threats to global health by the World Health Organization, with an estimated 700,000 people dying globally every year from antibiotic-resistant illnesses. A 2014 study by researchers in the U.K. further warned that, if left unchecked, the spread of antimicrobial resistance could lead to more deaths than cancer by 2050. Bacteria naturally develop resistance when they are exposed to antibiotics, but researchers say the misuse and overuse of the drugs in both health care and the food chain has accelerated the spread of resistance. By Catherine Sas, Q.C. Special to The Post BC recently launched its new Regional Entrepreneur Pilot program to promote economic development in the provinces smaller communities. The program builds upon the BC PNP Entrepreneur program but features lower investment thresholds and partners with smaller communities with populations of less than 75,000 who are actively seeking investment in specific economic sectors. The BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration stream is for experienced business people who are looking to settle in British Columbia and both invest in and actively manage a business in the province. Lets review the key features of BCs newest business immigration program. Community engagement is the key feature of the new Regional Entrepreneur Immigration Pilot program. Interested communities must register with the BC PNP program and identify three key economic sectors for which they are seeking investment and they must be actively involved with prospective entrepreneur immigrants. Prospective immigrants must connect with the community to arrange a visit to learn about not only investment opportunities but also local features and amenities of the area. For communities to participate in the BC PNP Regional Entrepreneur Pilot, they must have a population of less than 75,000 and be more than 30km distance beyond any municipality with a population of more than 75,000. After meeting with a prospective immigrant entrepreneur and determining that their proposed investment meets with their community criteria, the community makes a referral to the BC PNP office for an assessment of their application under the BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) Regional Pilot program. As indicated above, prospective entrepreneur immigrant must make at least one preliminary visit to the community in which they intend to both reside and invest and meet with local officials to discuss their proposed business venture. A Regional entrepreneur applicant must also be able to demonstrate a personal net worth of $300,000, be able to make a minimum investment of $100,000, have past business experience in either owning/managing their own business for at least 3 years or being a senior manager of a business for at least 4 years (or a combination of both of these) within the past 5 years and demonstrate English or French language proficiency at a basic level at a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 4. The EI Regional Pilot program requires entrepreneur applicants to establish a new business in the referring community, maintain a minimum of 51% ownership and to create at least one full time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Prospective business immigrants to BC who wish to purchase an existing business, must apply under the BC PNP EI Base program. After receiving a referral from the community, the entrepreneur immigrant submits an application to the BC PNP EI Regional Pilot program for assessment. If approved, the applicant will enter into a performance agreement with the BC PNP office and must establish and operate their new business for at least 12 months and demonstrate that they met their proposed investment thresholds and have created at least one job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Upon demonstrating to the BC PNP officers that they have satisfied all the terms of the performance agreement, an approved applicant will be issued a nomination certificate from the Province of BC which will be the basis for being able to apply for permanent residence to Canada. The BC PNP EI Regional Pilot is a unique opportunity for both smaller communities across the province and prospective immigrants willing to settle and establish a business in rural BC. The lower threshold for investment reflects the lower cost of living in BCs smaller communities yet encourages economic stimulus throughout the province. A total of 31 BC communities are currently participating in the EI Regional pilot. Prospective entrepreneur applicants to the BC PNP EI Regional Pilot program can find the new program details at the BC PNP website: https://www.welcomebc.ca/immigrate-to-b-c/b-c-provincial-nominee-program. Catherine Sas, Q.C. has over 25 years of legal experience. She provides a full range of immigration services and is a leading immigration practitioner (Lexpert, Whos Who Legal, Best Lawyers in Canada). Go to canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email [email protected]. 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 Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Bir Lehlu (SADR Liberated Territories), March 14, 2019 (SPS) - the President of the Republic, Brahim Gali, conveyed Tuesday his condolences to HE, Mr. Brahim Boubacar Keita, President of the Republic of Mali following the military victims of the terrorist attack on Diouram military base The Saharawi leader conveyed in the name of the People and the Government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and in his own, his sincere and deep condolences and his total solidarity with the Malian Government and people. "The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which feels and shares the pain of the Malian brothers, condemns with the greatest strength this despicable attack and joins the efforts of their country to wage an implacable struggle against these cowardly attacks that threaten peace and international security ", says the Saharawi Head of State to the Malian president. POLISARIOs SG also sent a message of solidarity to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern for terrorist attack last Friday at two mosques in the city of Christchurch with a balance of 50 fatalities.SPS 125/090/TRA Singapore questions Sri Lankan leader's allegation it is harbouring a fraudster wanted over a multimillion dollar trading scam Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena claims a former central bank chief accused of manipulating bond auctions is holed up in the city state Singapore on Wednesday rejected Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenas allegation that it was sheltering a former central bank chief wanted for fraud, saying Colombo failed to provide documents to support its extradition request. On Monday, Sirisena accused Singapore of sheltering Arjuna Mahendran, one of his countrys former central bank chiefs wanted in connection with a high-profile US$74 million insider trading scam. The Sri Lankan president said he had appealed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in January to return Mahendran, who is believed to be in Singapore, but claimed nothing had been done. Mahendran, a Singapore national of Sri Lankan origin, was accused in 2015 of passing sensitive information to his son-in-law, a bond dealer, to make millions. The pair are accused of manipulating bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over US$11 million to the state. Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs said authorities in the city state have been cooperating with their Sri Lankan counterparts on the case since January. However, it said in a statement that Sri Lankas request to return Mahendran lacked certain information required under Singapores extradition laws. To date, Singapore has not yet received the requested supporting information and documents, it said. We look forward to receiving the requested information from Sri Lanka, so that we can consider the request further in accordance with our laws. Singapore can extradite fugitives to declared Commonwealth countries, including Sri Lanka. Mahendran was named as a key suspect in the Sri Lanka multimillion dollar bond scam in February last year. He fled abroad, failing to appear in court to respond to charges. A damning presidential report into the scandal accused Mahendran of insider trading and recommended the state recover its losses from the former bank official and his son-in-law. Sri Lankas central bank also launched a forensic audit to ascertain the extent of insider trading during Mahendrans tenure at the bank. The fallout deepened acrimony between Sirisena and his coalition partner Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who hand-picked Mahendran to head the central bank in 2015. The pairs strained relationship collapsed entirely in late 2018, when Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe, plunging the country into political chaos as both men competed for power. Wickremesinghe was later reappointed after months of limbo when the Supreme Court intervened and ruled that Sirisena had acted outside the constitution by dismissing the prime minister and parliament. AFP English19/03/2019 MARCETA: MIGRANTS IN BiH AND SERB RETURNEES IN FBiH ARE IN SAME POSITION DRVAR, March 19 /SRNA/ - The status of migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serb returnees in the Federation of BiH is the same - both are in a bad position, they are roaming around, looking for a job and better life, Mile Marceta, head of the Steering Board of the umbrella association of Serbs in the FBiH, told Srna. Marceta believes neither the former nor the latter are welcome. "The life of the Serbs in the FBiH, who are majority population in Drvar, Bosansko Grahovo and Glamoc, is extremely hard. They are not hired by state institutions, there is no infrastructure, and not a single kilometre of roads has been paved. They do not have any mobile network coverage; there is no water supply, no power supply in some villages. This shows how Serbs are received in their pre-war towns and how welcome they are, just like the migrants in BiH, said Marceta. Not more than three percent of Serbs live in the Federation of BiH and that is a fact, he said. "Unofficial information that there are more migrants than Serbs in Krajina is upsetting. It is expected that a new wave of around 60,000 migrants will arrive in Krajina, warns Marceta. Marceta says BiH should not be a safe haven for migrants because it is an extremely poor country. There is no control over migrants anymore and returnee Serb municipalities in the FBiH are very poor and unable to help themselves, let alone migrants, Marceta said. Milan Bauk, a resident of the Serb village of Gornji Tiskovac which lies in the municipality of Bihac, told Srna they see migrants in the village every day, who are trying to get across to Croatia. The local residents report the migrants to the border police who, he said, do not go to check it out. "I personally am not afraid of migrants walking by our houses every day, but the village is populated by mostly the elderly who are afraid of them, said Bauk. There have been cases of break-ins too, he said. "There is some hay underneath my house, migrants sleep there. Houses in the village are mostly abandoned and owners who do not live here even put up bars on their windows to prevent migrants from breaking in, said Bauk. Spokesman of the Livno Canton Ministry of Internal Affairs Ivica Vrdoljak has told Srna the number of reports on migrants observed in the canton has lately dropped. "Between December and February, around 60 migrants were registered in the Livno Canton, Vrdoljak said and added that the migrants had been reported to the Foreigners Office and referred to admission centres. An employee of the BiH Border Police who wanted to remain anonymous told Srna that Croatias border police return migrants from the Sibenik-Knin County to the villages Gornji Tiskovac and Donji Tiskovac in BiH. BiH Border Police spokeswoman Sanela Dujkovic told Srna on an earlier occasion that the region Drvar-Bosansko Grahovo-Donji Tiskovac had not been listed as a common route of an illegal crossing of the border with Croatia. /end/ds English19/03/2019 CUBRILOVIC: HAGUE TRIBUNAL BIASED SO FAR BANJALUKA, March 19 /SRNA/ - Speaker of the National Assembly Nedeljko Cubrilovic says he cannot be an optimist about the pronouncement of an appeal judgement to the first president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic because the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia /ICTY/ has demonstrated partiality in investigating events of the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "However, there is certain hope that arguments of Karadzics defence team will reach those who are supposed to examine it and that the judgement will not be as drastic as the trial judgement, Cubrilovic told the press in Banjaluka. Karadzic will be pronounced the appeal judgement on Wednesday by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague. The judgement will be rendered after the defence and prosecution appeals to the trial judgement, whereby the ICTY sentenced Karadzic to 40 years in prison, were examined. /end/ds This competition offers young, aspiring shepherds and shepherdesses the opportunity to demonstrate their shepherding skills in five areas. Sponsored by Carrs Billington, each entrant will be battling it out to take home a share of the competitions 740 prize fund. During North Sheep, all competitors will be expected to carry out two compulsory tasks and a choice of three optional tasks from the list of five. The compulsory tasks are: Give correct examples of foot care techniques/handling, vaccinating and dosing. Answer questions on flock management and health issues. The choice from the optional task are: Shear two sheep entrant must have a BWMB Blue Seal, Certificate to be produced on the day. Compete in the EBLEX Lamb Selection Competition. Stock Judging Judge and place two pens of sheep in the correct order. ATV Handling complete a set course. Carrs Billington Feed Identification. The 1st prize winner will be awarded with the Ali Johnson Perpetual Trophy, a 300 cash prize and will be invited to represent the NSA Northern Region at the UK finals, held at NSA Sheep, Malvern on 28th July 2020. 2nd place will receive 200, 3rd will be given 100, 4th 50, 5th 30, 6th 20 and 7th to 10th place will receive 10 each. Commenting ahead of the competition, NSA Northern Regional Manager and Events Organiser, Heather Stoney-Grayshon, said: The future of NSA lies with the younger generation and we know that there are so many across the north of England who have a considerable amount of talent. The Next Generation Shepherd Competition has been created, to test the knowledge and skill of each candidate and to support our future sheep farmers. We are expecting an extremely exciting competition this year and there some excellent prizes to be won. To be eligible for this competition, competitors must be a maximum age of 26 (on 28th July 2020) and must reside within the Northern Region, including Cumbria, Northumberland, County Durham, Lancashire, Isle of Man, and North and West Yorkshire. Entries are now open and have a closing date of Monday 6th May 2019. A maximum of 20 entries can be accepted, and those successful 20 will be chosen based on the quality of their entry form and the information they have supplied. Would better access to the Mississippi River be advantageous to Ste. Genevieve? Yes! It would boost tourism and be awesome for locals. Not really. Anyone who really wants to see it can drive to the ferry landing. View Results Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. WARWICKSHIRE County Council's trading standards service successfully prosecuted the company following an undercover test purchase and investigation. The car service, carried out by Halfords Autocentre, located on Birmingham Road, Stratford cost 210, but garage staff failed to rectify or report 11 separate faults on the Volkswagen Passat, including: leaking front shock absorbers; a spilt drive shaft gaiter; an insecure battery and excessive play on the anti-roll bar. Staff also failed to notice a split wiper blade, didnt top up the brake fluid level from the minimum or increase the spare tyre pressure to the recommended level. In court, Halfords' barrister stated that technicians sometimes cut corners. The vehicle was also supposed to have been taken for a test drive, however, the mileage indicator showed it hadnt been driven anywhere. The service was signed off by a quality controller at the branch, despite some faults not being spotted and others which had been spotted by the technician not being notified to the customer or rectified. At Birmingham Magistrates Court on Friday 15th March 2019, Halfords was handed a 28,000 fine and ordered to pay costs of 11,700.97 and a victim surcharge of 170. Halfords had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. Warwickshire County Councillor Andy Crump, (Community Safety), said: Most of us are not vehicle experts and havent got the expertise to know if a car service has been carried out properly or not. We rely on garages to carry out services correctly so we can have confidence our vehicles are properly maintained and consequently safe to drive. Im delighted that Warwickshire Trading Standards is carrying out this important work to protect road users. Warwickshire trading standards regularly carries out undercover car servicing enforcement exercises. An expert vehicle examiner places faults on cars before they are submitted for services at garages across Warwickshire. On completion, the vehicle expert then examines the vehicles to see if the garages have carried out the services to an acceptable standard. William Hibbert, representing Halfords company stated that nationally, Halfords serviced 22,000 cars a month and relied upon their technicians and that sometimes they 'cut corners.' He said that the company accepted it could have done better and its systems failed, but in mitigation maintained that Halfords had cooperated with the investigation and took its legal responsibilities very seriously. A Halfords Autocentres spokesman said: "We are deeply sorry that in this incident occurring over two years ago at our Stratford-upon-Avon branch, our usual high standards fell short. As soon as Trading Standards brought the case to our attention, we launched our own internal investigation and have put robust measures in place to ensure it doesnt happen again. We asked the Retail Motor Industry Federation to carry out an independent review of our quality control procedures and it found our policies were at a robust level when compared to the market. We have also put a third party mystery shopping service in place to help ensure quality. We will continue to improve our quality checking processes and invest in training our technicians, so we can deliver the high standards of service our customers deserve. We welcome the District Judges comments that we are a company that puts quality at the heart of its business, this is really important to us and we will continue to invest in our processes. Andy Hickmott. WARWICKSHIRE Chief Fire Officer, Andy Hickmott will retire this month after 30 years in the Fire and Rescue Service. Andy began his career in Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 1989. After five years, he then transferred to London Fire Brigade where he quickly progressed through the ranks. In 2009, Andy took on the role of assistant commissioner for service delivery and community safety in London, where he was responsible for 53 fire stations and over 2,000 operational staff. He also held brigade-wide responsibility for all community safety work, overseeing policy development, arson prevention and youth engagement. In 2011, he furthered his career when he took on the role of assistant commissioner for technical services with responsibility for the brigades physical assets including fleet, equipment and property. In addition to his operational role, Andy is a qualified member of the Institution of Fire Engineers. He also has a Master of Science in Public Service Management and successfully completed the Fire Service Executive Leadership Programme at the Fire Service College in 2008. Reflecting on his career in the Fire and Rescue Service, Andy Hickmott said: The Fire and Rescue Service has given me a brilliant career and has taken me to a huge range of places and situations. I have worked with some superb people along the way and feel privileged to have worked in an organisation that is held in such high esteem by the public that we serve. Leading a fire service is not easy, but I hope that I leave Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service in a positive place for my successor. : - . . - , 2007- . ! 16 . , 1- 2007 . , , , , . , , , . , . , 90 . . , . , - -, -, -, -. , . , , , - , , , , . , . , 1 . , . , , - , -. , . . , 1 2007 . , , , . . , . , . . , . , , , , , . , , . , , ! , - . ! ! if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Asian students mainly from India and China are pouring into Canadian educational institutions in record numbers triggering double-digit growth in the number of study permit holders to Canada. According to government figures, there were 572, 415 study permit holders in Canada on December 31, 2018 a 16% jump from the previous year. India overtook China, with 172,625 study permit holders in the country, a 40% increase since 2017, compared to Chinas 142,985 and 2% growth. The country was already on a strong growth trajectory for the past 4 years and had been growing much faster than China. The new numbers clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of Canada as a study destination, said Clayton Purdy of the British Columbia-based Weal Careers Solutions. The Canadian institutions have been gearing up over the last few years to provide safe and diversified alternatives to traditional study destinations like the US and the UK, he said. Its bearing fruit now and we expect the numbers to grow, said Purdy, who also specializes in placing foreign students in about 15 American universities. We have agents across Asia but the most active markets are India and China for all of North America, he said. China and India accounted for more than double the number of students in Canada than all of the other top-10 countries put together. Vietnam and Iran also registered impressive growth rates for Canada, at 45% and 47% respectively. Indian media reported that a key factor driving Indian students to Canadian universities is the ability to access an open work permit once they graduate and Canadas simplified pathways to both permanent residence and citizenship. Other drivers that were mentioned included the quality of Canadas universities, its multicultural, diverse population and the fact an international education is cheaper in Canada than the U.S. thanks to the weaker Canadian dollar. The top 10 countries of origin for Canada in terms of foreign students are India, China, Korea, France, Vietnam, US, Brazil, Nigeria, Iran, and Japan. Where are foreign students heading to Canada? Tero Vesalainen/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- The head of the top U.S. environmental agency said on Wednesday that the Trump administration considers drinking water quality around the world a bigger crisis than climate change, despite the recent surge in debate around the proposed Green New Deal. In remarks in Washington to mark World Water Day, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler said safe drinking water, plastic pollution and other litter in the oceans, drought in western states, and water infrastructure are "the largest and most immediate environmental and public health issues affecting the world right now." Wheeler said the Trump administration wants to do more to address water issues that affect up to 2.5 billion people around the world, according to the United Nations, and infrastructure issues that could cost the U.S. up to $700 billion. He said many people will attribute the problems to climate change even though those impacts are decades away. "My frustration with the current dialogue around environmental issues is that water issues often take a backseat. Its time to change that," he said in his remarks. "We need to do something about the millions of people who die each year due to a lack of clean water and sanitation. We need to do something about marine debris. And I believe we can do this while still addressing other challenges that loom on the horizon," Wheeler added. Communities around the country are dealing with aging water infrastructure and contamination from sources like chemicals or lead. The crisis in Flint, Michigan is one of the most publicized examples but more cities like Baltimore and Newark, New Jersey have been dealing with lead-contaminated water. "We have one thousand children die every day worldwide because they don't have safe drinking water. That's a, that's a crisis that I think we can solve," Wheeler said in an interview with CBS News, citing United Nations statistics. "Most of the threats from climate change are 50 to 75 years out. What we need to do is make sure that the people who are dying today from lack of having drinking water in third world countries that problem is addressed," he said. The EPA's top enforcement issue recently told members of Congress one of the agency's biggest concerns is the number of drinking water systems that are violating safety requirements or using outdated infrastructure. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who inspired the global Youth Strike for Climate movement, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Thunberg was nominated days before the scheduled strike last Friday , in which 1.4 million people participated. Image Credit: MR Online In August of last year, Thunberg grew increasingly worried at the alarming state of climate affairs. Feeling that she could no longer remain inactive, she took her bicycle to the Swedish parliament, skipped school and protested solo, with a handmade banner reading skolstrejk for klimatet ("School strike for climate"). Less than a year on, her activism has inspired people in more than 128 countries to skip school to protest for policy change. The latest of these international protests took place on the 15th March. She was nominated for the Prize by three Norwegian politicians. The Guardian reported that Socialist Party MP Freddy Andre vstegard claimed that the basis of her nomination stemmed from her inspiration of a "mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace." He continued: If we do nothing to halt climate change it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees." Honoured and very grateful for this nomination https://t.co/axO4CAFXcz Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) March 14, 2019 The 16-year-old spoke last year at the UN Climate Summit in Katowice, addressing the world leaders in a powerful speech and declaring that, "You are never too small to make a difference." She said, "You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes". Her honest words and emblematic braids represent a voice that champions the younger generation. The videos of her speeches have received global attention and mobilised social media channels, catapulting her into the spotlight of environmental activism. The organic sincerity of her protests and the way she articulates the anguish of the youth, to whom it appears no one is listening, has struck a chord with children and adults alike. When travelling, she herself vows not to take planes, choosing 30-hour train journeys instead. Many politicians, including Merkel and Macron, support these school strikes for the climate. However Thunberg, speaking to the Guardian Environment Editor Jonathan Watts, says she does not understand why they do, when they are the people she is criticising. She does not want their appreciation, rather, she wants them to feel the same fear that she has felt and treat the climate issues as issues. Youth Strike for Climate movement is not without its criticism. The education minsters of both Australia and the UK have claimed that children striking from school is not to be encouraged and disrupts learning time. occupying Without open door access, these are the measures we are having to take to keep friends currently occupying fed & hydrated! @GoldsmithsUoL Open the doors!!!!!! #GoldOccupy #MyRacistCampus #OneGoldsmiths pic.twitter.com/yWrs284bkB n (@nishatseema) March 15, 2019 SMT are sending mass emails to students LITTERED with lies! Essential needs are having to be delivered to current occupiers using a pulley system, not via main entrance! Fire exits are also blocked without security guards present! #GoldOccupy Shame on you, @GoldsmithsUoL pic.twitter.com/PymxXDdTNI n (@nishatseema) March 16, 2019 Day 4 of occupation. They have shut down the WiFi, they are refusing to let in any clothes or sleeping bags, they are attempting to close our access to any windows and spare rooms and are now threatening us with legal and disciplinary action as well as the police. gold_anti_racism (@GoldAntiRacism) March 15, 2019 #Goldsmiths threatening #GoldOccupy w forcing their way into the room. They removed access to prayer/quiet space room we set up for ppl of faith & developmentally disabled occupiers. BME students protesting racism? wellbeing disregarded #GoldRacistCampus #ShabbatShaFuckYou pic.twitter.com/wkgU9kGGnw gold_anti_racism (@GoldAntiRacism) March 15, 2019 SMT lied once again, they stated that security were next to the fire exits in case of emergency. Instead there are padlocked fire exits but with no security members standing near. This puts the lives of student and security in danger. #onegoldsmiths @GoldsmithsSU @GoldsmithsUoL pic.twitter.com/3hr0CWseg3 gold_anti_racism (@GoldAntiRacism) March 15, 2019 Yesterday one of our occupiers who has autism was violently pushed by security as they attempted to get in through a door triggering a panic attack. They should not be touching us in the first place and management was well aware if their condition. gold_anti_racism (@GoldAntiRacism) March 16, 2019 Occupiers have been physically harmed and assaulted during our time here. Consistently we have practiced non-violence and friendliness yet we have had our hands crunched in doors, been barged in to walls with shoulder injuries and have been effectively under siege. gold_anti_racism (@GoldAntiRacism) March 16, 2019 Emergency Motion: Solidarity with the occupiers of Deptford Town Hall, Goldsmiths College Passes #NUSBlack19 NUS Black Students (@nusBSC) March 16, 2019 Love, solidarity & power to @GoldAntiRacism & everyone supporting the occupation who are campaigning against the racism students face on campus. Instead of addressing the institutional racism, @GoldsmithsUoL have stopped supplies of food & water to students. Wtf?! Shameful! Pictures circulating on social media show supplies being winched up to the occupiers via a pulley system.Goldsmiths students occupied the hall after a candidate had her campaign material vandalised. Hamna Imran, who ran for Education Officer, had her posters vandalised with 'Wote Hamna' mocking her accent. The incident was reported as a hate crime by the candidate herself. Protestors allege that the university initially did not take any action and delayed access to CCTV footage. However, Goldsmiths deny this saying that they responded to the complaint formally within five working days. Posts published by the occupiers show what appeared to be a siege, with students locked into the building and guards allegedly trying to force their way into occupied rooms.The NUS Black Students' Campaign, which represents students from African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean backgrounds across the UK, has also passed an emergency motion in support of the occupation.The Mayor of Sheffield, Magid Magid, also criticised Goldsmiths in a tweet for restricting access to food and water.We take the safety of all our students and staff very seriously and consulted with London Fire Brigade who were content with our evacuation arrangements while Deptford Town Hall remained closed. The building has re-opened this morning and protestors are free to come and go as they wish within usual opening hours. Food and non-alcoholic drink has been allowed in throughout the protest, and a number of drinking water taps are accessible to the protesters at all times. Goldsmiths respects the right to peaceful protest. Any allegations of violent behaviour should be reported with details to the College so that they can be investigated. Image Credit: Novembersierras Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page The Perspective Atlanta, Georgia March 20, 2019 Associate Justice Kabineh M. Janeh The two-top legal voices of Liberia had a chance to square off days ago about the impeachment saga of Associate Justice Kabineh Janeh. Speaking one after another, the Chief Justice of Liberia and Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, President of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) both gave their take on the issue. They stood at the extreme ends of the issues. The Chief Justice said he was just doing his job according to the constitution. Then he said, according to the Liberian Observer, that he is being crucified for doing so. Hardly the case like this, since he is speaking from the comfortable position of Supreme Judge. At the trial of Jesus, there was never any doubt about who was being crucified. The Chief Justice was responding to calls from many corners that the trial he was about to preside over was nothing but a sham, a political witch hunt. In a distorted way, one can agreed with him: he is being crucified by those who put him in that position, forcing him to sacrifice one of his colleagues for political expediencies, endangering Liberias fragile political process. If anything, Cllr. Gongloe put in layman term the whole saga. According to the President of the LNBA, the trial is based on false premises which cannot be justified through the cannons of Liberia jurisprudence. The bogus charges brought against Cllr Janeh by two members of the House of Representatives were based on 3 cases: in the first two cases, Associate Justice Janeh rendered judgment on behalf of the Supreme Court and the other case was brought in front of the full bench. The Chief Justice, as we understand now, signed on these cases. This bring another issue: how did the Supreme Court endorse the judgment of Cllr Janeh on all three cases and now turns around to impeach him on same cases? Did the Chief Justice learn new facts or he is just not up to the task? Indeed, if he is being forced to preside over this trial for whatever reason, he can rightly say he is being crucified, but not his critics. The Perspective Atlanta, Georgia March 20, 2019 The political tension between Kosovo and Serbia is creating a perfect environment wherein Turkey and Russia can lure the two countries into their respective spheres of influence. High-ranking US and EU envoys are trying to resolve the long-standing dispute, urging Serbia and Kosovo to normalize relations when in fact it is becoming increasingly more tense. Serbias refusal to recognize Kosovos borders, preventing it from joining international organizations such as Interpol and UNESCO, and reneging on a 2011 freedom of movement agreement prompted Kosovo to take direct action against Serbia by imposing a 100% tariff on goods from Serbia. False reports that the US threatened to withdraw its troops from Kosovo if the tax is not suspended were quickly propagated by Russias and Turkeys propaganda machines in an effort to take full advantage of the continuing discord between the two countries. Serbia and Kosovo are vulnerable to fake news online, generated by Russia and Turkey, and corrupt leaders in the Balkans continue to fall for it. The political elites, who are easily manipulated by Russia and Turkey, also use their own disinformation in order to influence the public. Both Russia and Turkey may well accelerate their disinformation campaign as the 20th anniversary of NATOs bombing of Yugoslavia approaches. Kosovars and Serbians are paying the price for the political squabbling that seems to benefit neither country, as they have become the feast feeding Russias and Turkeys hunger to control the Balkans. The discord between the two countries manifests itself through the lives of the citizens of both states. When I travel through Serbia, Im forced at the border to remove my car plates and pay a five-euro fee for just crossing through Serbia, and to pay for highway toll, they dont accept euros from us, just Serbian dinars, while the Serbians entering Kosovo do not face these difficulties! says Vilson Kacoli, from Kosovo. He, along with most Kosovars, strongly support their prime minister for his refusal to revoke the tax under any circumstances. Meanwhile, Putin and Erdogan have been working hard to strengthen their own ties with the Balkans and are continuing to invest in major national projects strategically calculated to have the greatest economic and political impact throughout the region. Trade between Turkey and the Western Balkans has dramatically increased, from $430 million in 2002 to $3 billion in 2016. Roughly one-third of this trade was with Serbia, while in Kosovo, Turkey is continuously investing in the most important sectors while privatizing Kosovos strategic assets. Turkish state development agency TIKA has renovated hundreds of historic monuments in Kosovo, financed local projects, and organized large events designed to reinforce bonds with Turkey. The total investments from Turkish businesses in Kosovo during 2007-2017 are 382.1 million euros, Esin Muzbeg, the general secretary of the Kosovo Turkey Chamber of Commerce, told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. Additionally, Serbias Energy Agency gave final approval for the construction of a branch of the Turkish Stream pipeline, which will deliver Russian natural gas into Turkey and southern Europe. Russia has geostrategic interests in the Western Balkans as well as in the Mediterranean countries. In the Balkan states, Russias interest rests on two considerations. First, the Western Balkans region has strategic importance as a transit route for Russias gas; second, Moscow wants to preserve Slavic roots and the Orthodox religion in the region, along with bilateral cultural and traditional values, particularly as long the relationship between the EU and Russia is tense and not likely to improve any time soon. According to Russian portal RT, the countrys sovereign wealth fund and partners are planning an increased investment in Serbia, likely adding $500 million to its current investments. Serbia has already attracted Russian investments in the Balkans which, according to various statistics, exceeds $4 billion. The energy sector continues to be a priority of the Russian investments. Moscow is aiming to make the Balkan countries dependent on Russian gas, just as in Europe, says Lavdim Hamidi, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Zeri in Kosovo, who recently investigated Russian and Turkish capital investments in the Balkans. Moreover, the Western Balkan states offer low-cost opportunities for Russia to undertake a combination of political and economic measures to undermine the EUs geostrategic interests. In 2016, for instance, Russia attempted to organize a coup in Montenegro aimed at the overthrow of then PM Milo Djukanovic in order to prevent his country from joining NATO. Last year, Putin tried to block the settlement of the conflict between Greece and Macedonia, knowing that the solution would result in the latters membership in NATO. While Serbia is trying to balance their bilateral relations between Russia and the EU, other countries like Kosovo and Macedonia are more transparent in seeking Europeanization. Russia has every intent of sowing discord to keep the Balkan states from becoming EU members. Artan Grubi, a parliamentarian in North Macedonia representing the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI, the largest Albanian political party), stated that North Macedonia triumphed in the geopolitical and geostrategic battle between Western and Eastern interests. Finally, with the signing of the protocol for NATO membership, citizens of this country may feel confident that they belong to Euro-American values and that eastern influences failed. Ismet Kryeziu, executive director of the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), says that the Balkan region except Serbia, which is known as pro-Russia despite the challenges in daily politics, is committed to walk alongside the policies and values of Western democracy led by the US and the EU states. Kosovo policy makers will make geo-strategic mistakes to turn the Republic of Kosovo into a black hole, which will expand the Russian and Turkish influence, says Kryeziu. Neither Russias nor Turkeys activities and intentions in the Balkans are hidden. Both countries are taking political steps to distance the Balkans from the West, be that for economic, strategic, or hegemonic reasons. They are relentless and brazen and will do everything in their power to entrench themselves into these countries, albeit it is only a question of time when Russias and Turkeys interests clash in the Balkans. Lulzim Peci, former Ambassador of Kosovo to Sweden and Executive Director of the Kosovo Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED), thinks that current strain of relations between the United States and Kosovo suits Russia more, as it serves its strategic interests, especially in the absence of a clearly defined position of the key Western countries toward Kosovo-Serbia relations, says Peci. Given the EUs strategic interests in, and the general orientation of the Balkan states toward the West, the EU should insist on democratic reforms and adherence to human rights, against which it would speed up its efforts to support the socio-economic conditions in these countries and accelerate the membership process. This will provide the Balkan states the confidence that their prospective membership is real by virtue of the EUs practical deeds and continuing political engagement, which will give the Balkan states diminishing incentives to accommodate either Turkeys or Russias ambition to lure them into their orbit. About the Authors: This article is co-written by Alon Ben-Meir and Arbana Xharra. Arbana Xharra authored a series of investigative reports on religious extremists and Turkeys Islamic agenda operating in the Balkans. She has won numerous awards for her reporting and was a 2015 recipient of the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department. Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. alon@alonben-meir.com Web: www.alonben-meir.com The Perspective Atlanta, Georgia March 20, 2019 Over the past year, I had the opportunity to speak to many Turkish scholars and former government officials, the majority of whom left your country because they feared for their lives and their loved ones. The one question that kept on surfacing is why a leader like youwho has achieved the pinnacle of power by undertaking the most significant social, political, and judiciary reforms, pursued economic development, and came close to establishing a model of Islamic democracyreversed gears and abandoned your most impressive achievements? From every angle I examined your behavior, I could not escape the conclusion that your reforms were nothing more than a vehicle by which you could solidify power to allow you to promote your political Islamic agenda. As far back as December 1997, you publicly equated Islam to a military crusade, citing a poem that states in part: The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the believers our soldiers. Your unruly ambition to become the leader of the Sunni Muslim world is the driving force behind your ceaseless efforts to implant a Turkish-oriented religious dogma in many countries in Europe and the Middle East. You have invested hundreds of millions of dollars, building mosques and religious educational institutions and appointing Turkish Imams to promote your brand of Islam. MP Alparslan Kavakloglu, a member of your AKP and head of the parliaments Security and Intelligence Commission, echoed your skewed sentiment, stating last year that Europe will be Muslim. We will be effective there, Allah willing. I am sure of that. In May 2018, you said that Jerusalem is not just a city. [It] is a symbol, a test, a qiblah. If we cant protect our first qiblah, we cant be confident about the future of [our] last qiblah. On a separate occasion, you told the crowd that the Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem would be Soon, God willing. The EU countries have caught on to your alarming scheme; Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria in June 2018 ordered the closing of seven mosques and scrutinized the right of dozens of Turkish imams to remain in the country, citing suspected violations of an Austrian law that bans political Islam or foreign financing of Muslim institutions. You have shattered the dreams and aspirations of your fellow countrymen by denying them their inherent human rights, and dismantled every pillar of genuine democracy. You have sought and were granted constitutional amendments providing you near-absolute power, which you grossly abuse to realize your pipedream of becoming the new Ataturk of Turkeys modern era. You have subordinated the judiciary and the rule of law to your whims, ensuring that courts pass judgments consistent with your own position on any alleged offenses, all in the name of social piety, national security, and solidarity. You have orchestrated a military coup that was planned to fail, calling it a gift from God that permits you to chase your enemies with vengeance. You accuse your arch enemy Fetullah Gulen of being behind it, but have produced no credible evidence to support your charges. You used the coup to enact emergency laws, seizing ever more power. Tens of thousands of suspected Gulen followers were incarcerated, including teachers, judges, law enforcement officers, human rights defenders, doctors, lawyers, political activists, and students, leaving behind their despondent and despairing families. You have imprisoned over 17,000 women with their children, wreaking havoc on a multitude of innocent civilians. You have hunted Turkish nationals whom you accuse of being affiliated with the Gulen movement and pressure many countries to expel such nationals. Fearing public accountability, you have targeted the press and labeled it as the enemy of the people. You have closed scores of media outlets, and imprisoned and tortured more than 200 journalists. In todays Turkey, freedom of the press is a thing from the past, as just about all existing licensed media outlets must dance to your tune and strongly support your political agenda to stay in business. In the same vein, you are prohibiting the right to assembly while stifling the academic community and think tanks, who are the forces of social, political, and economic advancement. Your Kurdishphobia seems to blind you. You have been fighting the PKK and accusing them of being terrorists, when in fact they represent the cause of their fellow Turkish Kurds. At least 40,000 have been killed on both sides over the past 50 years, and there is no end in sight as you vow to kill every last one standing, which is completely delusional. The PKK are freedom fighters fighting on behalf of their Kurdish community, who simply want to maintain their cultural heritage, keep their language alive, enjoy their folk music and dance, and have their basic human rights respected. Instead, you abruptly ended the peace negotiations in July 2017 and continue to persecute them indiscriminately, inflicting unbearable pain and suffering on your own fellow citizens yet demanding absolute loyalty. You have and continue to sternly object to the establishment of Kurdish autonomous rule in Syria, fearing that your own Kurdish community would follow suit. Under the pretext of fighting ISIS, you invaded Syria in order to actually wage merciless war against the Syrian Kurdish militiathe YPGwhom you falsely accused of being a terrorist organization allied with the PKK. On the top of your agenda in Syria, however, is the eventual establishment of a permanent presence there. You betrayed your alliance with the US-led coalition to fight ISIS by providing ISIS with logistical support, allowing volunteers to cross the border to join their ranks in Syria and Iraq, and trading oil for weapons, all while turning a blind eye to their reign of terror and unspeakable atrocities. You pretend to be a Western ally, but you cozy up to Russias Putinthe Wests staunchest enemy. You remain determined to purchase Russias S-400 air defense system, in defiance of the US and NATO. As a NATO member, you have violated every clause of the charter by committing horrifying human rights abuses at home and destroying every tenet of democracy. You are creating alliances with Islamic states and organizations, and drawing to your orbit countries with predominantly Muslim populations, including the Balkan countries, by investing in their infrastructure and providing them with military equipment and training. Your policy of zero problems with neighbors has failed; instead Turkey has problems with just about every neighboring state, including Syria, Iraq, Greece, Cyprus, and Armenia. Many world leaders know you are a conniving, power-thirsty dictator, but deal with you out of necessity only because of Turkeys geostrategic importance as a bridge between East and West and a hub of oil and gas. You have no shame about dispatching your thugs to foreign countries to do your bidding. Among many other egregious incidents, 15 members of your security detail physically attacked protestors outside the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC in 2017. In 2016, your security team fought with Kurdish protestors in Ecuador. In 2015, your bodyguards scuffled repeatedly with Belgian police, and in 2011 they fought UN security personnel. You are antisemitic to the core. Among many of your antisemitic statements, at a recent meeting of the Turkey Youth Foundation in Istanbul, you stated that the Jews in Israel kick men, but also women and children, when theyre on the ground. You also told the audience, Dont be like the Jews. More than 100 years have passed since the genocide of over one million Armenians by Ottoman soldiers in the wake of World War I. Even though history books have fully documented, and the international community recognizes, this horrifying event, you still havent mustered the courage to admit it. In fact, you vehemently criticize any country and condemn any individual that attributes the genocide to the Ottomans. Although it was the Ottomans and not the present Republic of Turkey that committed these atrocities, you do not want to malign the Ottomans as you have made no secret of your ambition to revive the power and influence of the Ottoman Empire under your leadership. The sad thing, Mr. Erdogan, is that we are living now in the 21st century; the days of conquest and undue influence over the fate of other countries are over. You had a historic opportunity to become a respected, benevolent leader, loved by your countrymen and admired by world leaders. But you have squandered it all because of your desire to become the new Sultan of a would-be empire that exists only in your wretched imagination. You, like any other mortal, will be gone. Perhaps it is a good time for you to reflect and ask yourself, what am I leaving behind? In your wake, Mr. Erdogan, you leave a shattered Turkish people, yearning to be free, free to think and believe, free to assemble, free to criticize, free to use their ingenuity and resourcefulness to create a free society. But you have sacrificed the welfare for the Turkish people for blind personal ambition, for which you will be remembered. About the Author: Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. alon@alonben-meir.com Web: www.alonben-meir.com For the last five years, the Digital Spring event in Montreal has showcased this citys emerging dominance within a variety of digital domains. Whether it be videogames or state-of-the art advancements in science and technology in the business world, Montreal is a beacon of technological progression on a global scale. Montreal is the fourth biggest hub in the world for VFX and animation and the fifth biggest hub in the world for video games and its growing a lot in the field of AI, says Marine Lelievre, who is on the Digital Spring board of directors. Of course, there are other cities around the world, which are also excelling in these brave new fields and so Montreal will be partnering with another tech hub this year for the first time. At the launch, we had the honour of welcoming the Belgium consulate because this year, in a couple of weeks, there will be a new initiative and the first ever Digital Spring will take place in Brussels from March 22 to March 24, says Lelievre. This is all new and inspired by recent royal missions to Canada. And the event will be free of charge and welcome to everyone in Brussels. Back on a local level, it was also revealed that, as part of our own Digital Spring series, there will be a brand new week-long event. We also announced the first edition of MTL Connect: Digital Week. This is a conference that will take place from May 25 to June 2. This is an international event that aims to look at the main role of digital development, focusing on economic, cultural and social impact in this area of activity. The Montreal digital week will address five specific topics related to the digital transformation: health, AI, architecture, creativity and mobility. Its going to be ten days of conferences, workshops, panels, pitching, networking events, tech demos and more. There will be a weekend open to the public and during the week it will be more business to business. We have five different venues. Its very creative in that way. For example, the day devoted to health will be at the CHUM. Of course, the Digital Spring series is full of events for everyone, many of which are free and accessible to families. And Lelievre promises more news to come. We have a lot more to announce, she says. For a full listing of events, visit https://www.printempsnumerique.ca/en/programming/all-events/ Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Occasional rain. High 8C. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.. Tonight Becoming partly cloudy after some evening rain. Windy at times. Low -1C. Winds WSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. While the REM project promises climate controlled stations equipped with elevators for users with reduced mobility, potential West Island users have found out that there will be drastically reduced parking available at several stations including Kirkland and Pointe Claire. While this was the boardwalk in Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue in May 2017, I dont anticipate too much of a problem for Lac St. Louis at this time but theres still a fair bit of weather to be had between now and when we would actually see the Ottawa river start to rise, said Rob Caldwell,The Canadian Secretary and Manager for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Regulation Office. 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. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Letter to the editor: Self-government will be lost with new North charter Bears begin season with victories The Burke County High School Bears started the season with a pair of wins. In their first game against Screven County, the Bears finished big with a 91-40 score. They were led by Kinte Gross and Edward Wimberly, 14 points each, Tykevian Hiers and Avian Allen, 12 each, and Dantavious... EBA boys basketball hits the court The Edmund Burke Spartans boys varsity basketball season got underway with three practices and two games last week. The majority of the team played in the semi-final football game on Friday and showed up for basketball practice on Monday. I don't know how they do it, said Coach Larry Keller.... Lady Spartans up record to 5-1 Edmund Burkes Lady Spartans (5-1) picked up two wins following a week that began with a disappointing loss. On Nov. 30, the girls fell to Bulloch Academy 68-25. We played a very good Bulloch Academy team and learned a lot about how far we have to go to reach our... Bears fall to Carver, end season with playoff exit Burke Countys season has ended with a loss in the quarterfinal round of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) playoffs. The Bears lost to the Region 5, number 2 seed, Carver- Atlanta Panthers, 46-14, last Friday in Atlanta. Carver will move on to face the defending class AAA champion Pierce... MBABANE Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries Bulunga wants E50 million for the Youth Empowerment Revolving Fund (YERF). The figure is almost close to the entire ministrys budget for the financial year 2019/20, which is at E55 million. The minister made these remarks yesterday during the Senate portfolio committee debate of the ministrys end of year report which was chaired by Senator Princess Tsandzisiwe. The minister informed the legislators that the E12 million allocation, although they appreciated it, was too little for the number of youth which the country had, as they made up almost 80 per cent of the population. He said they would ensure that the money was returned by all the beneficiaries because the future plan was that the fund should be self-sustaining instead of them returning to Parliament to ask for more funds on a yearly basis. Bulunga said an unemployed youth was a ticking time bomb and therefore, they needed to be taught skills because there was a danger that they could be influenced by negative elements if they remained idle. Goals He asked the senators to assist him with future budgets to help them secure more money because the current budget was very little for all the goals which the ministry needed to achieve. Bulunga informed the senators that already 49 people had accessed the youth fund, but that they were still going to undergo training in business administration before they were given the money. He said a sole trader according to regulations of the fund could benefit up to E50 000, while a company was given E100 000 and those in groups were given about E150 000. The minister assured the senators that due to the vigorous training they would undergo, the youth would know that the money was a loan and not a grant. Meanwhile, the minister ignored questions regarding the suspended Youth Director Bheki Thwala. MBABANE Recognise us as an important arm of government. This was directed to government by Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala yesterday when the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear governments appeal of the judgment declaring certain sections of the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act of 1938 and Suppression of Terrorism Act of 2008 unconstitutional. The matter could not proceed because there are not enough Supreme Court judges to constitute the bench. There are seven judges in the Supreme Court and a majority of them have dealt with the matter one way or the other. Parties This resulted in the case being postponed until sufficient judges were available to hear the matter and the representatives of the parties would be advised accordingly. Maphalala said the matter was important in that there were people who were arrested and given stringent bail conditions. He said he would have loved to proceed with the matter to finality but the JSC had, since 2015, been knocking at the doors of government to create and give posts to the Judiciary but those posts had not been created. The chief justice decried that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) cannot not create and advertise posts in the Judiciary. We have a situation where, unlike in other jurisdictions, commissions have the power to create posts and proceed to advertise those posts, but we have to go to the Ministry of Public Service and beg for posts. As the Judiciary, we consider ourselves to be one of the three arms of government and as such we should be in a position to enjoy that autonomy of being one of the branches of government, said the chief justice. He said it was unfortunate that the JSC still has to go to the executive to beg for posts. The CJ mentioned that the previous government never gave them posts and they had renewed their request with the present government. The CJ also highlighted that the terrorism case was one of many which were pending because the bench could not be constituted for one or more reasons. He noted that this defeated the purpose of a fast and speedy resolution of cases. This situation, according to Maphalala resulted in the appointment of acting judges. The CJ said this was not done out of an admiration for acting judges but because the backlog of cases was increasing. Maphalala said the Judiciary was not getting the support it should be getting in terms of being given judicial posts. MBABANE - A Ministry of Education and Training Investigating Officer, Knowledge Ngwenya, survived an attack when a retired teacher stormed the ministrys offices last week. Information gathered was that King Lokotfwako paid an authorised visit to the ministry and demanded that he be reinstated. It is said that the former teacher made the demand despite the fact that he retired from the teaching profession after applying for an early retirement due to his condition. Lokotfwako had one of his legs amputated after he was involved in a car accident some years ago. As a result, he walks with the aid of crutches. Upon his arrival at the ministry, he is said to have hurled insults, accusing the officials of discriminating against him. Attention While the official tried to give his attention to what was said by Lokotfwako, the former teacher is said to have pulled a stapler and threw it towards Ngwenya, who was hit at the back of his shoulder. He was subsequently arrested and charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Appearing before Mbabane Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi, Lokotfwako pleaded guilty to the charge. Asked why he assaulted Ngwenya, he claimed that he (Ngwenya) ordered him out of class without following the right procedures. He was cautioned and discharged for assaulting Ngwenya. Lokotfwako was also facing another charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, an offence which took place at the Mbabane Police Station. The charge sheet stated that Lokotfwako assaulted one Frank Mamba with his walking sticks several times on the left arm, causing him hurt and injuries. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Russia and the United States remain split on how to resolve the crisis in Venezuela, officials from both powers said Tuesday after talks in Rome. Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration\s special envoy to Venezuela, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to discuss the situation in the Latin American country. "We did not come to a meeting of the minds, but the talks were positive in the sense that I think both sides emerged with a better understanding of the other\s views," Abrams told reporters after the meeting at a luxury hotel in Rome. He said it\s "perfectly plausible" that the two sides meet again but no date was set. Russia backs Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has accused Washington of meddling in the country\s affairs by pressing him to step down and hand over power to opposition leader Juan Guaido. Speaking to Russian media, Ryabkov emphasized the need for dialogue with the U.S. but warned Washington against military intervention. President Donald Trump has said "all options are on the table" regarding Venezuela, which Russia interprets as a refusal to exclude military force, Ryabkov said. "We have warned the U.S. against that reckless approach," Ryabkov said in remarks that were carried by the state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies. Abrams insisted the U.S. will continue to keep its options open, but said it has chosen the path of putting political, financial and diplomatic pressure on Maduro\s regime. Earlier, Abrams met with government officials from Italy one of four European Union countries that have not backed Guaido as Venezuela\s interim president and paid a visit to the Vatican. He noted that the Catholic Church enjoys respect and credibility in Venezuela, but said it\s unclear what role if any the Vatican could play in its political crisis. Pope Francis has reportedly written to Maduro indicating conditions aren\t ripe for the Vatican to step in and help mediate. Also Tuesday, the U.S. added a Venezuelan state-owned mining company to a growing sanctions list as it seeks to increase pressure on Maduro. The new sanctions bar any U.S. citizen or entity from any financial transactions with the gold mining company known as Minerven and its president, Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata. The U.S. Treasury Department said the company is helping to prop up Maduro, who alleges that he is the target of a U.S. coup plot. SOURCE: AP Opposition delegates to talks on resolving Nicaragua\s political standoff said Tuesday they will not return to the table until the government shows "signs of goodwill" on demands such as the full release of hundreds considered political prisoners. Lawyer Azahalea Solis said opposition negotiators are ready to resume talking when conditions are right, but that\s not the case right now. She added that the opposition remains committed to finding a solution nearly a year after protests erupted demanding President Daniel Ortega\s exit from office. About 160 people have been released to house arrest in recent weeks, but government opponents say there are at least 700 political prisoners and they should all be freed with their cases dismissed. Authorities and the opposition traded mutual accusations of undermining the talks after protesters held a weekend anti-government rally and over 100 people were temporarily detained. Ortega officials have accused demonstrations of being tantamount to "terrorism" and an attempted coup d\etat, and the president has steadfastly refused to step down and allow early elections. Solis said the opposition Civic Alliance has presented a five-point agenda for the talks: freeing the prisoners; electoral reform establishing "early, free, fair, transparent and observed elections"; justice for victims; international guarantors to ensure compliance; and government action on 18 formal recommendations from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. "The Alliance counts with the pressure of the citizenry for there to be a civic solution here, because citizens decided they want to be free of this dictatorial government through peaceful struggle," Solis said. There was no immediate reaction from government officials. At least 325 people were killed last year amid a security crackdown on the protests, according to the Inter-American Commission. Thousands more were wounded, arrested or fled into exile. SOURCE: AP A humanitarian rescue ship carrying 48 migrants entered the port of Lampedusa, where they were being allowed to disembark Tuesday evening despite an earlier refusal by Italy\s hard-line interior minister. The boat was allowed to enter the port after Sicilian prosecutors ordered it seized, ending the latest standoff with Italy\s populist government, which has closed its ports to rescue ships. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini welcomed the seizure of the Mare Jonio, saying "now in Italy there is a government that defends the borders and ensures respect for the law, most of all for human traffickers. Whoever errs pays." As the boat approached the pier, the migrants on board, all males and mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, yelled "Freedom, freedom." The migrants, including a dozen minors, had been rescued Monday off the coast of Libya by the Italian aid group Mediterranea Saving Humans. The Mare Jonio had sailed earlier to Italy\s southernmost island Lampedusa, where it was flanked by Italian coast guard and finance police boats. The mayor of Lampedusa challenged Salvini\s assertion that Italian ports are closed. Toto Martello said that more than 3,000 migrants arrived in Lampedusa last year on smuggler\s boats. SOURCE: AP You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). In a major move, the Saudi government has clipped the wings of the Bin Laden family in the eponymous construction group, naming Saudi businessman Khalid Nahas as the chairman of the newly-established Binladin Group Global Holding Company. The new development comes following a massive restructuring, in a break from the family's exclusive control over its earlier company, Saudi Binladin Group (SBG). Binladin Group Global Holding Company is 36.22 per cent owned by Istidama, a finance ministry subsidiary, while the remaining 63.78 per cent is with Binladin Company for Development and Commercial Investment. In a move that is aimed at curbing the influence of the Bin Laden family only two brothers, Saad and Abdullah, are represented on the new nine-person board, reported Reuters, citing the document from the kingdom's commerce ministry. Other board members of the new entity include senior Saudi businessmen with experience at some of the kingdom's most successful companies such as state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries Corp, and property developer Jabal Omar Development Company. SBG, which for decades built Saudi Arabia's roads, mosques and palaces, is crucial to ambitious new plans for major tourism and infrastructure projects. It is not connected to Osama, one of the younger brothers in the family, it added. Following the shake-up, SBG's chief financial officer Klaus Froelich has resigned, stated the Reuters report citing sources. The former Morgan Stanley banker was hired in 2016 to help the firm overcome a crisis sparked by the collapse of a construction crane in Makkah's Grand Mosque, it added. German company GEA said it has won a 3 million ($3.4 million) contract from National Agricultural Development Company (Nadec) to build a giant olive oil mill in Saudi Arabia that will be the largest in Asia. Nadec is one of the largest agricultural and food-processing companies in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The project, led by GEA, accommodates the combined efforts of several Spanish machine manufacturers, which in the end will be configured as an integrated solution practically a "turnkey" olive oil mill. "We were able to offer Nadec a differentiated and integrated solution from the hands of a single supplier," explains Rafael Cardenas, head of the Center of Excellence for Olive Oil of GEA in Ubeda (Spain). Once the construction process is completed, this facility will be largest and most modern olive oil mill in Asia. As per the deal, GEA will build and supply the industrial equipment for a large olive oil mill located in the Al Jouf region, said a statement from the German company. It will also provide civil engineering, automation engineering, processes and all the necessary industrial equipment to manage the olive oil plant successfully. The scope of the project is expected to encompass 5 million olive trees from a single farm of 3,000 hectares, it added. "The cooperative relationship between Nadec and GEAs Olive Oil Center of Excellence began in 2014," remarked Alvaro Martinez, the regional head for Western Europe and Middle East and Africa. "This project is a very good example of GEA's ability to deliver large projects anywhere in the world and provide high added value to customers since not only the equipment but also the knowledge of the process is key," he noted. The signing of the new contract marks the culmination of work, a process in which the GEA office in Saudi Arabia and the company's Olive Oil Center of Excellence in Spain have collaborated very intensely, he added.-TradeArabia News Service DP World Constanta, a subsidiary of the Dubai-headquartered global trade enabler DP World, has renewed its concession agreement allowing it to operate in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for another 30 years, until 2049. DP World Group chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem signed the agreement with the Romanian Transport Minister Razvan Cuc in the presence of Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and Dr Ahmed Abdullah Al Matrooshi, UAE Ambassador to Romania, as well as a number of senior Romanian officials, reported Emirates news agency Wam. DP World won the tender for the long-term concession of the Constanta Container Terminal in November 2003 and started operating it in 2004. The Port Authority and Constanta Chamber of Commerce have recognised the DP World-run terminal as the best port operator in Constanta every year since its inception. The new agreement allows DP World Constanta to maintain, operate and further develop the Constanta South Terminal. The terminal serves both the Romanian domestic market and a wider hinterland spreading into parts of Central Europe, together with first-class feeder connections to the Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Moldova. The geographic location has also proved ideal as a reliable trans-shipment hub for the greater Black Sea region. The current capacity of the terminal is 1,000,000 TEU, and there is sufficient land area for phased expansion to cater for volumes greater than 4,500,000 TEU. The Quality Improvement Committee at Oman-based Al Mazunah Free Zone recently held a meeting discussing the challenges faced by the investors at the current phase and the significance of providing more job opportunities for the Omani cadres, said a report. Al Mazunah Free Zone is managed and operated by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn). The meeting was chaired by Said al Balushi, director general of Al Mazunah Free Zone and the committees chairman. The meeting was held in the presence of the CEOs of the companies and factories investing in Al Mazunah Free Zone, in addition to the services providers, added the Oman Daily Observer report. The committee also stressed the importance of giving opportunities for the small and medium enterprises and the Omani entrepreneurs. Al Balushi reviewed the projects that are being implemented by Madayn, which include the development of phase two of Al Mazunah Free Zone that has touched 35 per cent of completion rate. In addition to that, Al Balushi highlighted the proposal of establishing a facility complex in the free zone, which aims at bringing together the services and facilities required by the investment operations under one platform. A brief was also delivered on the new expansion that Madayn has got in the free zone of a total area of approximately 11 million sq m. Khalil Al Hashimi the pioneer in sculpture and the winner of the Merit Award at the first Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs Exhibition in Bahrain, is joining the artists at On the Wall 2019, a dedicated event to promote Bahrain Artists to a wider audience which is being held as part of this year's Interiors Expo. The biggest integrated business-to-business showcase for the interiors sector in the Northern Gulf region, Interiors Expo 2019 will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain from April 23 to 25 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, said the event organisers Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE). Al Hashimi holds a Master degree in Sculpture from the Academy of fine arts, Leningrad, Russia. His works have been exhibited internationally and across the Gulf region. His career spanning more than three decades has earned him several awards, leading to the GCC presenting him with a recognition award for his great contribution towards the visual arts, said the organisers. Al Hashimi's vision seems to transform the nonphysical into the physical, which often includes being able to reduce an idea to its bare elements. He is known for doing this with his iconic bird sculptures, transporting us from the material to the ethereal. The elegance of composition and superior craftsmanship make his works seem graceful and almost floating, despite being made of heavy materials like stone or metal, it stated. Along with Khalil Al Hashimi there will be 30 other artists from Bahrain and the GCC; who will be on display at On the Wall 2. The Art show will have artists displaying their talents across a variety of mediums, including painting, photography and sculpture. Some of the Artists will run a series of workshops on Calligraphy and Live Painting and Creativity sessions, said the HCE in its statement. Interiors Expo is strategically sponsored by Hempel Paints and Tamkeen serves as the supporting organisation for the event, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Batelco, a leading digital solutions provider in Bahrain, and Cisco, a worldwide leader in IT and networking, have partnered to be the Platinum sponsors of the ongoing Meet ICT conference in the kingdom. The summit concludes tomorrow (March 21) at the Gulf Convention Centre. A number of Batelco officials were in attendance at the opening ceremony including Batelco general manager Enterprise Division Abderrahmane Mounir, who addressed the gathering and gave an overview about Batelcos Tier III Data Centre. Mounir said that Batelco was very pleased to support the annual Meet ICT Conference, which has become a firmly established event due to the calibre of its content and the level of participants that it attracts to avail of the opportunity to share and exchange ideas and experiences. Through the sponsorship of this event, which promotes digititization and the advancement of technology, Batelco underscores its commitment towards providing its customers with the latest products and services, further highlighting Batelcos integral role in the telecommunication and ICT industry and its contribution towards supporting the growth of the economy and positioning the Kingdom as a regional hub for technology, he said. Meet ICT is an event which brings together the top businesses and ICT professionals in the Kingdom of Bahrain to create opportunities enabling attendees to share their knowledge and expertise while acquiring different insights as a result. The event, which showcases the Digital Transformation in the ICT Industry aims to strengthen the potential for innovation and empower the business technology sector to contribute diversified resolutions in the ICT industry. With eight Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts (CCIE) and a specialization in data centers, collaboration, wireless, security and service provider technologies, Batelco is a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. As part of its participation, Cisco will have a demo station showcasing its newest technologies as well as hosting Cisco technology breakout sessions. TradeArabia News Service The UAE will inaugurate three climate-resilient solar power projects in the Bahamas, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines this week under the $50 million UAE-Caribbean Renewable Energy Fund (UAE-CREF). The fund is a partnership between the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company). In total, the three projects, which broke ground in November 2018, will deliver 2.35 MW of solar and 637 kWh of battery storage capacity, while displacing more than 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Combined, they will also achieve diesel savings of more than 895,000 litres per year, worth about $1.1 million. The Bahamas, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines face some of the highest power costs in the world, due to their reliance on diesel. All three projects are designed to withstand up to 160 mile per hour winds and extreme weather, per a new requirement instituted in the UAE-CREF in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The projects will be inaugurated by HE Bader Almatrooshi, UAE Ambassador to Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica and Representative to the Association of Caribbean States. By funding renewable energy solutions globally, ADFD is enabling Small Island Developing States to tackle their development challenges, meet their outlined priorities, and optimise use of their natural resources, said Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director general of ADFD, the UAEs leading national entity for international development aid, which fully finances the UAE-CREF. The three projects all represent significant steps forward in realising the three countries renewable energy ambitions. In the Bahamas, which hopes to generate 30 per cent of its power needs from renewable sources by 2030, the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium 925kW Solar PV Carport Power Plant will displace 310,000 litres of diesel per year, saving the government US$350,000 and offsetting 856 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The project is the largest-ever solar plant to feed into the national grid and sets a critical regulatory precedent for future private development. The project was developed in partnership with the Bahamas Ministry of Environment and Housing, with initial concept work by the Rocky Mountain Institute. In addition to power generation, it also serves as a carport with 342 parking spaces, including two spaces that are equipped with fast-charging electric vehicle charging stations. In Barbados, the government aims to generate 100 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. As part of this target, the Bridgetown 350kW Solar PV Carport Power Plant and Bow Manston 500kW Solar PV Power Plant in Barbados are expected to save US$381,000 per year by displacing 265,000 litres of diesel fuel and 975 tonnes of carbon annually. Both projects were developed in partnership with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), providing power to its water treatment plant and the water pumping stations. The 350kW solar PV carport also provides 124 parking spaces, as well as six level 2 electric vehicle charging stations. In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the project with 600kW of solar PV and a 637 kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery is unprecedently able to supply 100 per cent of Union Islands daytime power requirements. The plant alone also meets over 30 per cent of Union Islands energy needs and will displace 320,000 litres of diesel fuel per year, saving the island US$368,000 and offsetting 825 tonnes of carbon annually. The hybrid plant was developed in partnership with St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC), again with initial concept support from the Rocky Mountain Institute. With its combination of solar PV and battery, the project also provides a model for high penetration of renewable energy on small outer islands, which can dramatically reduce their crippling power costs. The government has set a target to generate 60 per cent of the countrys energy from renewable sources by 2020. Masdar is pleased to leverage its global expertise and experience in renewables to support the Caribbeans sustainable energy transition, as well as its climate resilience, said Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi. These landmark solar projects will pave the way for further investments in clean energy across the countries. By delivering tailor-made solutions to address the specific energy needs of each country in partnership with their governments, Masdar is fulfilling its mandate to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ensure sustainable energy for all. The UAE-CREF was launched in 2017 on the sidelines of the annual assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), under the umbrella of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. The fund intends to deploy renewable energy projects in 16 Caribbean countries in three cycles to reduce energy costs, increase energy access, and enhance climate resilience. TradeArabia News Service The global market for nuclear power steam generators is projected to grow marginally to reach $1.02 billion in 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.5 per cent between 2019 and 2026, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The market for steam generators will be dominated by new installations; however replacements will witness higher growth over the forecast period, said the companys latest report titled Steam Generators for Nuclear Power, Update 2019. The report reveals that the market for new installations is expected to hold steady, whereas replacements will witness significant growth. With countries shifting towards low carbon power generation and resource diversification, nuclear will remain vital to the power sector development for many countries across the world. However, the push towards nuclear power adoption is not uniform worldwide, with anti-nuclear sentiments defining the pathway for nuclear power development in certain key markets. APAC is expected to dominate the market with $4.8 billion by 2026. The inclusion of nuclear power in China and India will drive the new installations market, whereas Japan and Republic of Korea will see their markets slowdown. Other countries within APAC such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan have strong projections for nuclear, driving the regional market for steam generators. Although second to APAC, Europe is likely to be the fastest growing market, with the market value expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4 per cent, supported by Russia and the UK. Nirushan Rajasekaram, power analyst for GlobalData said: Several factors such as increasing demand for electricity, especially in developing regions, low cost of power generation, high efficiency, and carbon emission concerns are prompting the utilization of nuclear power. Unlike renewable energy, nuclear provides low carbon electricity with a significantly high degree of reliability and is already supplying to power demand on a large scale. The Fukushima disaster in 2011 was the watershed moment for the nuclear power industry, following which anti-nuclear views grew and governments opted for measures that restricted nuclear power growth. Countries across the world such as Japan, Germany, France, and Republic of Korea proposed reducing the role of nuclear power. Operational safety took precedence contributing to a growth in the replacement markets of Americas and Europe. Moreover, the need to generate electricity from nuclear as securely and safely as possible will continue to drive the replacement market and support the development of nuclear power plants with the highest level of safety. Rajasekaram added: Currently, the industry faces concerns regarding project funding, processing of nuclear waste, safety issues, aging of nuclear facilities, and lack of skilled workforce and social acceptability. However with the industry striving for the highest standards and commitment to safety, upcoming nuclear power plants could sway opinions in an overwhelming favour for increased nuclear power adoption globally. TradeArabia News Service Hamad International Airport (HIA) is set to participate in the Passenger Terminal Expo 2019 (PTE), the worlds leading international airport conference and exhibition, taking place in London from March 26-28. PTE, the most highly-regarded airport conference in the world, attracts over 7,000 senior airport, airline, aviation authority, government and related business executives from all over the world to debate current issues, exchange ideas, and forge new business relationships across the airport and aviation industry. HIA delegates will be giving a series of addresses on airport planning and development, asset management, customer experience, and airport-airline sustainability collaboration. Commenting on HIAs contribution to PTE 2019, Engineer Badr Mohammed Al Meer, chief operating officer at Hamad International Airport, stated: We look forward to the Passenger Terminal Expo each year as it gathers the worlds best airport and aviation experts to discuss the many facets of our industries, several of which are rapidly changing and being disrupted. PTE, as A platform for knowledge-sharing and learning from best practices, has a foothold in shaping the future of the aviation sector by tackling the most pressing issues were facing today. HIA has, in a few short years, become recognised as a leading international airport for its operations, facilities, and passenger experience excellence. Part of what shapes our success is the willingness not only to learn from key players in the industry, but to offer our expertise and viewpoints to contribute to the success of the global airport industry. We are honoured to represent Qatar at PTE this year, and look forward to working with other participants, he added. During the first day of the event, Sujata Suri, HIAs vice president of Strategy and Development, will chair the panel discussion on customer service and passenger experience, offering insight into how the fast-changing needs of travellers impacts the airports business development strategy, strategic investments, and the overall passenger experience. On March 27, Ioannis Metsovitis, HIAs vice president of operations, along with Alberto Fernandez Lopez, associate director of Meinhardt Group, will jointly chair the session on Airport Design, Planning & Development Middle East & Asia. Metsovitis will discuss the next phase of HIAs expansion plan which will accommodate nearly double of HIAs current capacity. The prestigious annual Skytrax World Airport Awards will also take place during this years PTE, for which HIA is a candidate for Worlds Best Airport 2019. The Skytrax World Airport Awards is the most prestigious accolade for the airport industry, voted by customers in the largest annual global airport customer satisfaction survey. - TradeArabia News Service Corvil Insight Fuels Performance Buy-side firms are looking to use data to provide more granular analysis of the performance of an order across its life cycle in order to help boost returns as the industry faces increased competition and margin pressures. David Murray, chief marketing and business development officer at Corvil, told Traders Magazine's sister publication Markets Media: Legacy transaction cost analysis as an obligation has given way to greater sophistication and analysis. The buy-side is demanding more transparency and details on execution from the sell-side. Corvil provides data analytics for electronic trading by capturing and analysing all message and trade traffic with sub-microsecond level precision. The firm has developed transaction quality analysis capabilities, which cover and correlates both execution outcome and performance across the order life cycle. This insight enables market participants to improve execution quality. Optimal execution typically begins with timely and complete market data. You cannot put bad fuel into an engine and expect high performance, added Murray. Ensuring the quality and timeliness of market data is key to trade decisions as well as pricing, hedging and execution decisions. Understanding performance across the order lifecycle offers insight to optimize applications and infrastructure. Examining client and trader performance and outcomes allows firms to understand normal behaviors, inefficiencies, and risk to flow. The right analytics drive optimal execution and provide a performance advantage for our clients. Last year Corvil launched Intelligence Hub, which was developed over three years to provide analytics and visualisation that can be used easily in electronic trading. Corvil captures trade details such as the precise time of a transaction, how long it took, the counterparty response or outcome, etc. and then normalizes and enriches the information. Murray explained that investors are no longer satisfied with fill rates of orders to monitor execution, but now demand a breakdown by order type, or symbol or broker. In addition, as markets have become more fragmented and execution choices have increased, they want to be able to identify anomalies across venues. Corvil automatically correlates data from each trading venue in real time so clients can make the best routing decisions in response to market conditions or signs of performance degradation. We are increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify anomalies in real-time, rather than at the end of the day, which allows clients to take action much sooner, he added. For example, if the data shows that a venue is having issues executing a particular type of order, a broker or trading firm can modify an execution algo immediately to shift the rest of the order to other venues. MIFID II Artificial intelligence can also help firms meet the requirements of MiFID II, the regulations that went live in the European Union last year. For example, the regulation mandates that financial traders have to stay within designated order to trade limits, which can be difficult to monitor intra-day. However, machine learning can be used to predict if the ratio is likely to be breached and alerts can prompt traders to take corrective action. MiFID II expanded pre- and post-trade transparency and best execution requirements from equities into other asset classes including fixed income, derivatives and foreign exchange derivatives. Murray said there is increasing demand for FX transaction quality analysis, and it is growing in Rates as well. 1 2 next For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump again criticized the late Sen. John McCain Tuesday, pointing specifically to his vote against repealing Obamacare and saying was never a fan" and "never will be." I'm very unhappy that he didn't repeal and replace Obamacare, as you know. He campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare for years and then they got to a vote and he said thumbs down, Trump said. Plus there were other things. I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be. The president's comments came during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Brazil and after a series of weekend tweets in which Trump blasted the senator, who passed away battling brain cancer in last August. Trump accused him of spreading the fake and totally discredited dossier and of sending it to the FBI and the media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. But the presidents claim is not accurate. McCain wasnt made aware of the dossier until after the election when he passed it on to the FBI. The dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Along with other explosive allegations, it alleged that Russians held compromising information about Trump that could be used to blackmail him. On ABC's "The View" on Monday, McCain's daughter Meghan fired back at Trump, saying he "spends his weekend obsessing over great men" because "he will never be a great man" like her father. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Reinforcing judges' capabilities in investigating and prosecuting human trafficking and migrant smuggling cases Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 21 March 2019 - To assist Egypt to strengthen its criminal justice response to Trafficking in Persons ((TIP) and the Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) UNODC, under the framework of the Global Action to address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants ( GLO.ACT) and in collaboration with the National Coordinating Committee on Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling (NCCPIM-TIP) and the National Centre for Judicial Studies, organised a seminar for 20 judges from major governorates in Egypt in Sharm El Sheikh from 5 to 7 March 2019. The aim of the workshop was to strengthen the role of Egyptian senior judges to effectively prevent, investigate, prosecute and adjudicate cases of TIP and SOM. The training therefore included sessions on the national laws on TIP Law No. 64 of 2010 and Law 82 of 2016 on SOM and on international standards with regards to TIP and SOM. More specifically, during the workshop judges considered international legal frameworks for combating transnational organised crime, more specifically the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the protocols thereto. The changing patterns and trends with regards to TIP and SOM in Egypt were also discussed. The representative from the Court of Cassation, the supreme court of Egypt's common court system, spoke about the adoption of national legislation and how it strengthens work on TIP and SOM cases and associated crimes in Egypt. Discussions related to victim assistance and witness protection, especially in criminal proceedings resulted in a high level of engagement by the participants. UNODC experts also presented on the role social media can play in TIP and SOM cases and how this relates to actual investigations. The experts also provided the participants with tools to build a foundation in gathering information and evidence through open sources. The three-day workshop concluded with the judges studying important material on actual TIP and SOM cases and the exchange of information on the difference between the two crimes. A key outcome of this workshop is that it built the practical knowledge of the judges to enable them to better distinguish between TIP and SOM cases and to share this knowledge with junior judges in their respective provinces. The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms. For more information, please contact: Mr. Faisal Hegazy GLO.ACT National Project Officer Email: faisal.hegazy@unodc.org www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/ Email: glo.act@un.org Twitter: @glo_act Published: March 20, 2019 UTs MBA Program Placed In Top Tier by CEO Magazine; EMBA Program Ranked 34th The full-time/day program designed for accelerated completion with a group of peer students. The part-time/evening program designed for students who work full time jobs and need to complete the program at their own pace. The Professional MBA program designed to help professionals with at least five years of work experience take their career to the next level. The Executive MBA program designed for professionals with seven or more years of work experience. In a ranking of MBA programs that stressed fact based criteria, The University of Tampas Sykes College of Business was placed in the Tier One out of 144 schools in 25 countries worldwide. Additionally, UTs Executive MBA (EMBA) program was ranked 34th out of 91 schools in the Tier One of EMBA programs.The ranking was compiled byin an effort to cut through the noise and provide potential students with a performance benchmark for those schools under review. The factors (and percentage weighting) for rankings included quality of faculty (34.95), international diversity (9.71), class size (9.71), accreditation (8.74), faculty to student ratio (7.76), price (5.83), international exposure (4.85), work experience (4.85), professional development (4.85), gender parity (4.85) and delivery methods (3.8).UTs MBA program, within the Sykes College of Business, is one of the largest, most established and most exclusive in Florida. The MBA is offered in four formats:Students can take additional courses in nine concentrations, including business analytics, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, finance, information management systems, innovation management, international business, marketing and nonprofit management.Frank Ghannadian, dean of the Sykes College of Business, said the Sykes College of Business attracts students from around the globe and is renowned for graduating students who make immediate impact in the business community and within their countries.This ranking validates the increasing worldwide reputation and prestige of the Sykes College of Business and its MBA program, Ghannadian said. Our program is proven to help students develop the sophisticated strategic mind-set demonstrated by successful executives.Within an 80,000 sq.-ft. facility, the College of Business offers state-of-the-art resources such as the Huizenga Family Foundation Trading Center, the Center for Ethics, TECO Energy Center for Leadership, Naimoli Institute for Business Strategy and the award-winning Lowth Entrepreneurship Center.The Sykes College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and is one of the few business schools in the Southeast accredited at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.Other Florida universities in rankings include Florida International University, Jacksonville University and the University of South Florida. The University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management was listed as the number one EMBA school. (March 20, 2019) -- The UTSA Master of Architecture and the Master of Science in Architecture have been awarded a unique science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) designation by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. UTSA is now the only Texas institutionand one of few universities in the nationto have STEM CIP Code 04.0902 for its M. Arch. and M.S. in Architecture programs. The Classification of Instructional Programs or CIP Code is a government-developed designation for academic programs, according to the primary subject matter of the programs content. CIP Codes help students identify areas of study with particular curricular emphases as well as programs that offer added benefits such as funding and visa status. The new CIP Code will help UTSA recruit high-caliber students who want access to STEM-related architecture opportunities. It will also provide UTSA faculty members with the opportunity to compete for new types of research funding. Having both of our graduate programs recognized with the new STEM CIP Code will create a wide range of opportunities, said Sedef Doganer, professor and chair of the UTSA Department of Architecture. This new STEM designation positions UTSA Architecture at the forefront of the discipline and will allow us to break new ground in preparing students for success through architectural research, education and practice. The designation provides an additional 24 months of Optional Practice Training (OPT) for international students, with a total of 36 months of OPT employment after degree completion. This enhances opportunities for international students to secure work visas at the end of their educational journey. The UTSA Department of Architecture has historically included STEM-related content in its program offerings. Additionally, many architecture faculty at UTSA conduct STEM-related research. As a result, UTSAs M. Arch. and M.S. in Architecture graduates are prepared to develop design intentions and ideas with sound, research-based solutions. UTSA has always employed an applied STEM approach to both our architectural education and our professional practice, said John Murphy, dean of the UTSA College of Architecture, Construction and Planning. This new CIP Code is a validation of our efforts to differentiate our curriculum with a STEM emphasis. Research and development are crucial in improving and developing key concepts related to sustainability and problem solving for the user groups architects serve. In addition to applying advanced technologies and sustainable principles to building design and construction, architects lead multidisciplinary teams of designers, engineers and consultants to effectively integrate building systems and improve the public health and welfare. In July of 2018, the United States Congress passed the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technology Education (CTE) Act, making architecture an officially recognized STEM subject. The bi-partisan act will allow states to use federal funds to modernize the CTE curriculum, allowing for an increase in available funds for high-school-level architectural education. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) lobbied for the change for several years, in the meantime bringing design to K-12 students through special programs and activities. The bill formalizes these efforts. Gender and Sexuality Expert to Speak at UW, Casper College Jack Halbertstam Jack Halberstam, one of the worlds leading experts on theories of gender and sexuality, will visit Wyoming as part of the 2019 Bruce Richardson Lecture in the Humanities, speaking at both the University of Wyoming and Casper College. He will speak Thursday, March 28, at 4 p.m. in the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium and Friday, March 29, at 6 p.m. in the Wheeler Concert Hall on the Casper College campus. Both are free and open to the public. The Richardson series has offered us an amazing opportunity to bring some of the most compelling humanities research being produced at universities across the country to Wyoming, says Arielle Zibrak, UW assistant professor of English. Dr. Halberstams visit is no exception. His work has shifted the way we think of topics as disparate as masculinity, the cultural value of failure and the revolutionary politics of transsexuality to bear on the study of literature, the arts and society. Countless readers have been forever changed by these ideas and Im particularly looking forward to seeing how our students and community members benefit from the lectures and smaller group workshops we have planned. Halberstam is a professor of gender studies and English, and director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality at Columbia University. He is the author of six books, including Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters, Female Masculinity, In Queer Time and Place, The Queer Art of Failure, Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender and the End of Normal and, most recently, a short book titled Trans: A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variance. Halberstams awards include the 2018 Arcus/Places Prize from Places Journal for innovative public scholarship on the relationship between gender, sexuality and the built environment. Halberstam is currently working on several projects, including a book, titled Wild Thing: Queer Theory After Nature on queer anarchy, performance and protest culture, and the intersections between animality, the human and the environment. Halberstams visit is funded by the Bruce Richardson Fund, the Department of English, the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research and the Honors College. The Richardson Fund was established to bring innovative scholars and thinkers in the humanities to deliver public talks and engage in community outreach across the state. To donate to the Richardson Fund, click here and enter the appeal code AASEN19RL. For more information about Halberstams talk or the Richardson Fund, email Zibrak at azibrak@uwyo.edu. UWs Saturday University Lecture Series Returns to Cody March 30 Saturday University -- the University of Wyomings popular one-day lecture program -- returns to Cody with three diverse topics ranging from the popularity of three ancient structures, the discovery of an ancient civilization in the Andes Mountains, and the intersection of criminal law and museums. Those topics will be discussed during the program beginning at 9 a.m. at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. for coffee and doughnuts, followed by three lectures by four UW personnel. A roundtable discussion with the days speakers will follow the presentations. A free lunch will be provided. Participants may attend one, two or all three lectures. During the fall and spring semesters, Saturday University visits locations throughout Wyoming discussing todays most captivating topics, says Saturday University faculty Director Paul Flesher, a UW religious studies professor. In its 11th year, Saturday University is a collaborative program that connects popular UW and Wyoming community college professors with lifelong learners. Offered 10 times this year -- twice each in Jackson, Gillette and Sheridan, and once in Cody, Green River, Pinedale and Rock Springs -- Saturday University is sponsored by the university, Wyoming community colleges and local communities. The Cody program is sponsored by the UW Office of Engagement and Outreach, and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Listed below are program times, topic descriptions and professors lecturing: -- 9 a.m.: The Three Most Important Buildings in the World: The Parthenon, the Dome of the Rock and Hagia Sophia, Naomi Pitamber, UW Department of Visual and Literary Arts visiting assistant professor. The Parthenon in Athens, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the church/mosque of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul are three of the most highly visited buildings in the world, Pitamber says. She will share the intriguing and often contentious histories of the three works of architecture, including little known stories about the structures darker periods of history, roles in wartime and peacetime, and why they are important today. Pitamber has conducted field work in each of the three buildings in connection to her research as part of her new book project Conquering the Sacred East. -- 10:15 a.m.: Ritual and Political Structure in the Andes of Ancient Peru, Jason Toohey, UW Department of Anthropology associate professor, and director of UWs George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. Archaeological excavations by UW scientists in the Andes Mountains of Peru have unveiled a civilization older than the Incas -- the Cajamarca Culture. The recent discovery of a monumental circular plaza at the 600-acre site of Callacpuma is not only the first feature of its kind in northern Peru, but may constitute the earliest ritual and political architecture in the region, Toohey says. He will discuss the discovery, and the public and political organization of the Cajamarca Culture. -- 11:30 a.m.: Stealing Culture: The Intersection of Criminal Law and Museums, Darrell Jackson, UW College of Law professor and Nicole Crawford, UW Art Museum, chief curator. When we visit a museum, we rarely think about the role of the law with regard to the objects and art works we view, Jackson and Crawford say. But, perhaps we should. What happens when a museum finds artifacts in their collection that may result from theft or looting? They will approach that question from a legal angle: Who from the acquiring museum, if anyone, should be held accountable and, potentially, criminally charged? And also from a cultural angle: How does society place a value on these cultural objects, and how does that value change when the object is placed with a museum? In their discussion, Jackson and Crawford will focus on questions of law, ethics and culture relevant to museum collections. For more information about UWs Saturday University program in Cody, call Flesher at (307) 766-2616 or email pflesher@uwyo.edu. For more information about Saturday University, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/saturdayu/index.html. UWs Saturday University Program in Rock Springs March 28 A special edition of the University of Wyomings Saturday University -- a free one-day program featuring three lectures -- is Thursday, March 28, in Rock Springs. Thursday University is at 6 p.m. in Room 3650A at Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC), located at 2500 College Drive. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for a free light dinner and snacks, followed by three lectures by two UW professors and a WWCC professor. During the fall and spring terms, Saturday University visits locations throughout Wyoming discussing todays most captivating topics, says Saturday University faculty Director Paul Flesher, a UW religious studies professor. In its 11th year, Saturday University is a collaborative program that connects popular UW and Wyoming community college professors with lifelong learners. Offered 10 times this year -- twice each in Jackson, Gillette and Sheridan, and once in Cody, Green River, Pinedale and Rock Springs -- Saturday University is sponsored by the university, Wyoming community colleges and local communities. The Rock Springs program is sponsored by UWs Office of Engagement and Outreach, and WWCC. Listed below are program times, topic descriptions and professors lecturing: -- 6 p.m.: The Three Most Important Buildings in the World: The Parthenon, the Dome of the Rock and Hagia Sophia, Naomi Pitamber, UW Department of Visual and Literary Arts visiting assistant professor. The Parthenon in Athens, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the church/mosque of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul are three of the most highly visited buildings in the world, Pitamber says. She will share the intriguing and often contentious histories of the three works of architecture, including little known stories about the structures darker periods of history, roles in wartime and peacetime, and why they are important today. Pitamber has conducted field-work in each of the three buildings in connection to her research as part of her new book project Conquering the Sacred East. -- 6:50 p.m.: Dr. Feelgood or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the FDA, Randal Goff, WWCC chemistry associate professor. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays an important role in American health care and in the development of new ways combating disease, Goff says. But, the public often sees their activities as opaque and arcane. He will demystify the process of drug development and then gaining FDA approval. As part of the presentation, Goff will describe his experience in the field of drug discovery and the process of obtaining FDA approval for Mylotarg, an innovative anti-cancer drug. -- 7:40 p.m.: Ritual and Political Structure in the Andes of Ancient Peru, Jason Toohey, UW Department of Anthropology associate professor, and director of UWs George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. Archaeological excavations by UW scientists in the Andes Mountains of Peru have unveiled a civilization older than the Incas -- the Cajamarca Culture. The recent discovery of a monumental circular plaza at the 600-acre site of Callacpuma is not only the first feature of its kind in northern Peru, but may constitute the earliest ritual and political architecture in the region, Toohey says. He will discuss the discovery, and the public and political organization of the Cajamarca Culture. For more information about UWs Thursday University program in Rock Springs, call Flesher at (307) 766-2616 or email pflesher@uwyo.edu. For more information about Saturday University, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/saturdayu/index.html. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army has been pouring hundreds of billions of dollars each year into upgrading and expanding its forces. In the last few years, China has launched two aircraft carriers and has a third on the way. The communist state is also spending a fortune on spaceflight, and became the first country to land a probe on the far side of the Moon. The PLA has long relied on Russia for military imports, while buying or stealing Western technology in recent decades. But some of its most impressive new possessions came neither from negotiations with the Kremlin, nor by taking advantage of Chinas privileged trade status with democracies like the United States. Instead, China has found an eager supplier in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving behind a vast arsenal of advanced weapons, massive industrial complexes, and skilled researchers. Russia, being the biggest member and center of the former superpower, inherited most but not all of the Soviet Unions military strength. From Soviet to Ukrainian to Chinese With the end of the Soviet Union, Russias southwestern neighbor, Ukraine, received ownership of unique capabilities it could never have needed or wanted to develop on its own. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was home to the developers of Soviet space rockets and nuclear missiles, as well as the latest ships and naval centers. Both the rockets and the ships are now being sold to China, and even many of the engineers who built them have been recruited by Chinese companies serving the PLA. In the last years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union tried to match the U.S. Navy by building aircraft carriers. One of these was the half-finished Riga, renamed Varyag just a year before the Soviet Union collapsed. Because Varyag was in Ukrainian territory, it became a Ukrainian ship, rusting away because there was no need for it, much less funding to complete its construction and outfitting. As the countries of the former Soviet Union suffered political and economic hard times, China grew richer and more powerful. In 1999, a Hong Kong company bought Varyag for just US$20 million, a massive bargain considering the resources that went into the Soviet carrier program. Even though the sale attracted attention, it came with a promise from the buyer: Varyag would become a floating casino, not a military vessel. That promise was broken in 2005, when Varyag was towed from Hong Kong to Dalian, a major military port in Northeast China. Conveniently, Varyag came with 20 tons worth of technical documents representing 30 years of Soviet experiences in building aircraft carriers, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Named for Liaoning Province, where Dalian is located, the ship was launched in 2012 as Type 001 Liaoning. Liaoning was followed up by an improved version, the Type 001A, which was completed much faster and launched in 2017. A third aircraft carrier, Type 002, is being built. Exporting tech and experts Ukraines aid to Chinese carrier projects goes beyond the initial sale of Varyag. China acquired a prototype Soviet jet fighter, the Su-33, from a Ukrainian supplier, and reverse-engineered it to create the J-15, which the PLA Navy now uses on its carriers. In addition, according to The Epoch Times, key Ukrainian shipbuilding experts were hired by Chinese companies to help its naval development. One is the 78-year-old Valery Babich, who took part in the design and construction of all Soviet aircraft carrier projects. Apart from naval technology, Ukraine also inherited much of the Soviet Unions missile and space industry, and the Ukrainian government is deepening ties with Beijing in this field. On Jan. 18, Ukraines Channel 24 reported on cooperation between China and Ukrainian state-owned designer of satellites and rockets, the Yuzhnoye State Design Office. The report noted that U.S. officials expressed concern about the possibility of China landing on the Moon with the help of Soviet technology sold by Ukraine. Ukraine and China established in 2011 the Commission for Cooperation, with a special sub-commission to further space research and development. More recently, the two countries agreed to increase the number of joint projects to 80. Yuzhnoye, now Ukrainian, used to be the Soviet OKB-586, and was founded in 1954. It designed ballistic missiles and space equipment, including the LK lunar lander that the Soviets planned to use in their moon exploration project. In 2018, the Ukrainian company participated in Airshow China, held that year in Guangdong Province, and displayed its rocket and aviation engines. In the future, Ukrainians might assist the Chinese in organizing the production of the [Soviet lunar lander] technology in China, Popular Mechanics reported. China recently sent the Change 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover to the far side of the moon, the first such mission successfully carried out by a spacefaring power. Follow us on Twitter, subscribe to us on YouTube or sign up to our weekly email At the invitation of Mr. Benedetto Mineo, Director General of the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, and Mr. Giorgio Toschi, General Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited both agencies in Rome, Italy on 19 March 2019. Dr. Mikuriya was first briefed by Director General Mineo on the activities carried out by the Italian Customs Intelligence Center, such as the fight against under-invoicing using information technology and data analysis tools. The Centres findings are being shared within the European Union and serve as a basis for regional cooperation in tackling revenue fraud. Mr. Mineo shared his vision for addressing human resource shortages through the use of advanced technology and staff reorganization. He offered to share Italys experiences with neighbouring countries and beyond, with a view to further contributing to WCO activities. Afterwards, Secretary General Mikuriya went on to meet with General Commander Toschi at the Guardia di Finanza. The Guardia di Finanzas role was explained as being a militarized police force answerable to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with responsibility for tackling financial crime and smuggling, including illicit drug trafficking, as well as for safeguarding the States economic interests. Mr. Toschi also offered to further contribute to the WCOs work in a wide range of border enforcement areas, including efforts to combat smuggling of highly-taxed goods and money laundering. Dr. Mikuriya expressed his appreciation for Italys contribution to WCO operations and intelligence. From 4 to 8 February 2019 in Banjul (Gambia), the World Customs Organization (WCO) held a National Workshop to raise awareness of and prepare for the Time Release Study (TRS). This five-day Workshop was organized, with financial support from the German Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), for the benefit of managerial staff from the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) and the stakeholders. The Workshop was led by three Experts from the WCO Secretariat in Brussels and from the Customs Administrations of Cameroon and Mauritius. The Workshop benefited for the opening remarks from Mr. Yankuba DARBOE, the Commissioner General of GRA who, among others, thanked all the agencies that agreed to participate in the workshop, and emphasized the positive collaboration that has been enduring amongst the border agencies in Gambia. He then thanked the WCO and German Government for the strong support and urged the participants to actively contribute to and benefit from this important training, while hoping for fruitful and concrete outcomes. The Workshop also benefited from the contribution of the WCO West and Central Africa (WCA) Regional Office of Capacity Building (ROCB) through the active contribution of Mr. Tafili Ebenezer Gending (Director of the ROCB). The sessions of days one and two of the Workshop were dedicated to the sensitization of more than 50 Customs officials and representatives of the stakeholders involved in the goods clearance process and enabled them to have a clear understanding of the benefits of TRS as a performance measurement and trade facilitation tool. The rest of the five-day Workshop enabled a core group of 25 participants to develop an initial draft of the procedures for releasing goods. This major part of the Workshop included, among others, a presentation of the TRS methodology, following the version 2 & 3 of the WCOs Guide, and also gave participants the opportunity to work with the WCOs TRS software and draft an action plan. According to the draft action plan, it is expected that GRA and the stakeholders will conduct the TRS in the near future so as to establish a baseline for appreciation of trade facilitation in Gambia and for further recommendations towards the improvement of the business environment. It is important to mention that Gambia is working hard at the implementation of trade facilitation measures and provisions included in WCO instruments and tools. Therefore, carrying out its TRS will enable this Country to comply with the requirements of Article 7.6 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) for which WTO Members are encouraged to measure and publish their average release time of goods periodically and in a consistent manner, using tools such as, inter alia, the Time Release Study of the World Customs Organization (WCO). Gambia has acceded to the TFA in 11 July 2017. In his closing speech to the Workshop, the Commissioner General of GRA, stressed the importance of this activity, which will enable his Administration and the stakeholders to identify procedural bottlenecks affecting the release and clearance of goods and, above all, to work together on solutions to facilitate trade and improve the business climate. He again thanked the WCO and GIZ for the timely support within the framework of the implementation of the WTO TFA. Participants regarded the Workshop as a great success that significantly enhanced their understanding of the WCO TRS guide and methodology. The WCO looks forward to continuing to provide its support to GRA. The WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa, attended the 2019 Development Partners Coordination Meeting for the Americas and Caribbean region held in Washington, D.C., United States on 14 March 2019. The event was co-organized by the WCO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and hosted by the IDB. Representatives from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), World Bank, OEA, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Dominican Republic Customs Administration, in its capacity as regional Vice-Chair, also participated in the event. Mr. Fabrizio Opertti, Manager for Integration and Trade, IDB, opened the Meeting by greeting the participants, followed by the IMF Representative Ms. Katherine Baer, Chief of the Revenue Administration Division for Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, who welcomed the opportunity to meet and coordinate efforts within the region. During his address, Deputy Secretary General Trevino Chapa highlighted the importance of holding this Meeting annually as a way to capitalize on regional synergies, work closely with regional partners supporting capacity building, and address specific regional issues in a more relevant way. The Deputy Secretary General explained that the WCO was dedicating 2019 to the swift and smooth cross-border movement of goods, people and means of transport, with the slogan SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport. Through simplified, standardized and harmonized border procedures, and by securing borders, the WCO is encouraging its Members to look at how they can reengineer business processes while applying new technologies, and how they can work smartly to achieve an interconnected global value chain that fosters economic growth in an inclusive manner. As part of WCOs ongoing work to develop a new Strategic Plan for the years 2019 to 2022, six regional meetings were held and input was collected from Members. One of the new priorities highlighted is the need for the WCO to review and update its Capacity Building Strategy, taking into account the many changes having occurred in the Customs environment. The current WCO Capacity Building Strategy was first adopted by the WCO Council in June 2003 The participants of the Meeting were invited to attend the next session of the Capacity Building Committee in April 2019 at the WCO Headquarters in Belgium, where an initial draft of the new Strategy will be discussed. The new Strategy aims to reflect the views of the international Customs community and calls for a more targeted, coordinated and sufficiently well-resourced capacity building delivery approach in Customs. While in Washington, Deputy Secretary General Trevino Chapa held bilateral meetings with representatives from USAID, IDB and IMF as well as with U.S. CBPs Commissioner, Mr. Kevin McAleenan, to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between both Organizations. The discussions focused more specifically on issues regarding the comprehensive review of the revised International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, otherwise known as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), the WCO Strategic Plan 2019-2022 and the Framework of Standards on cross-border e-commerce. Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Cloudy skies. Morning high of 64F with temps falling to near 50. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy early, becoming mostly clear after midnight. Low 37F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | 09:34 PM | PADUCAH The Paducah City Commission and McCracken Fiscal Court met together Tuesday night at city hall to discuss issues related to the 911 Center, and also heard information about the 2020 Census. McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer led off the discussion of the current organizational structure and financial challenges of the E-911 Center which provides emergency and non-emergency services for the residents of the city and county. Judge Clymer said 911 provides protection for citizens, which is the first and highest priority of government. Paducah Police Chief Brian Laird and McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter together made a presentation about the current organizational structure and equipment needs. Laird said, Some of the key components in the 911 Center have become obsolete. The system was originally installed in 1994 and upgraded in 2008. Laird and Carter agreed that handheld portable radios and mobile radios in vehicles need to be upgraded, and antenna coverage needs to be increased. 911 Communications Services Manager Ed McManus explained that so far, $1.7 million has been invested in the 911 Center with upgrades in the telephone system, logging recorder, and CAD system (computer-aided dispatch). However, the radio infrastructure, radios, and antennas have not been upgraded. He said the estimated cost for that will be $13 million. Regarding 911 service, Paducah Mayor Brandi Harless said, We always want it to be there in case we need it. We know how strapped our budgets are with the pension issue. We need to get creative in how we fund this. Both bodies discussed the funding challenge due to declining revenue streams, since land line fees funding all of the operating costs 25 years ago, but now land lines fund less than 30 percent. Since cell phone fees only provide about 21 percent, local governments across the country are struggling to subsidize their 911 centers. The City of Paducah uses more than $600,000 of its General Fund to subsidize the 911 Center annually. Harless and Clymer proposed abolishing the landline fee by both the City and County, and creating a new fee that would appear on utility billing. The other revenue sources including grants, wireless fees, and user fees from non-city/county entities would continue. They also proposed a new organizational structure for E-911 by making it a City-County consolidated 911 agency with a seven-member board. It would include two Paducah Police appointees, two McCracken County Sheriff appointees, one Paducah Fire appointee, one McCracken Fire appointee, and one citizen-at-large appointed jointly by the Mayor and Judge Executive. Members of both boards acknowledged the importance of determining a funding source for 911 operations, and plan to continue their discussions and information gathering. Since 2016, 911 Communications Services has been structured under the City of Paducah with various user groups contracting for dispatching services. E-911 currently is a division of the Paducah Police Department with 23 authorized positions. The 911 Center receives more than 150,000 calls per year. Also at the meeting, Partnership Specialist Mark Wattier with the U.S. Census Bureau provided a brief presentation about the upcoming census and the importance of creating a Complete Count Committee (CCC). A CCC is comprised of government and community leaders from various organizations including education, business, and healthcare, to create an awareness campaign to encourage citizens to respond to the census questionnaire. Wattier said, The goal of the 2020 Census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place. He also discussed the importance of a complete and accurate count in determining congressional representation, the determination of legislative, school, and voting districts, and the appropriation of federal funding. So far more than 1,400 CCCs have been created across the United States. After the presentation, the Paducah Board of Commissioners and the McCracken Fiscal Court issued a joint proclamation in support of creating the Paducah McCracken County Complete Count Committee. McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer has asked Zana Renfro to chair the CCC. Wattier also said there are part-time jobs available with the Census Bureau. Online applications are accepted at https://2020census.gov/jobs. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2019 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2019 | 12:50 PM | PADUCAH Three people were arrested Tuesday following investigations at two local motels. The McCracken County Sheriff's Department says after getting complaints, undercover detectives responded to online advertisements and made arrangements to meet with the suspected prostitutes. Detectives say the first meeting took place at a Paducah motel, and 46-year-old LaWana F. Quertermous of Paducah was arrested. She also allegedly had crack cocaine and a smoking pipe in her possession. At the same motel, a detective learned that a woman in another room, 29-year-old Annie Yeager of Paducah, allegedly had methamphetamine, crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. She was on felony probation at the time of her arrest for previous drug crimes. Detectives say their other arranged meeting was at a different Paducah motel. After speaking with 26-year-old Aaron J. Kelley of Paducah, he was arrested. The Sheriff's Department says Kelley has now been arrested twice within the last two months on prostitution charges. He reportedly plead guilty to the first charge on January 29. Quertermous faces charges of prostitution, possession of a controlled substance 1st degree 1st offense - cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Yeager faces two charges of possession of a controlled substance 1st degree 3rd offense or greater - for methamphetamine and crack cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Kelley faces charges of prostitution and driving with a suspended license. All three people were taken to McCracken County Jail. By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | 04:04 PM | PADUCAH An investigation is underway into the possibility that former McCracken County Schools Superintendent Brian Harper may have used district funds for personal use.When Harper resigned on March 8, West Kentucky Star learned that an anonymous letter about Harper was sent to Kentucky State Police, but police said at that time there was no active investigation.When contacted again on Monday, Trooper Jay Thomas confirmed that there was an investigation underway, but couldn't name the suspect since there were not yet any pending charges.An open records request to McCracken County Schools confirmed that the anonymous letter mentions Harper, saying he used a school district vehicle and gas on a personal trip during spring break of 2018. The letter also claims district funds were used to pay for a condo and meals for Harper and his wife.In a response to the records request, attorney David T. Riley confirmed that his colleague, school district attorney Gorman "Butch" Bradley, received the anonymous letter on February 27 and forwarded it by email to members of the board of education and Harper the same day. Kentucky State Police also received the letter around that time.Board Chair Steve Shelby couldn't comment on the matter, since conversations took place during executive session at a board meeting. Personnel matters are protected by confidentiality under state law.Trooper Thomas said the State Police investigation started late last week, and have requested school district records that go back a couple of years. He said the district is cooperating, but examining the data and following leads, "could take some time." On the Net: Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. The next US shortage could be snowplow drivers By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | 11:40 AM | CAIRO to raze 278 housing units in the Elmwood and McBride public housing complexes in Cairo. The Alexander County Housing Authority awarded a $1.9 million demolition contract to RCRA Inc. (Earth Services) of Benton, Illinois Built in the 1940s, the Elmwood and McBride public housing developments are two-story structures that experienced years of deferred maintenance which ultimately rendered them unsafe and unhealthy for residents. HUD provided the 185 Elmwood and McBride families with tenant protection vouchers that allowed them to relocate anywhere within the nation. Company officials say the demolition will cost nearly $2 million. They anticipate the project will be completed by September of this year. "The electrical and plumbing systems are out of date, insulation is insufficient and the cost of repairing these developments to meet basic health and safety standards exceeds $7.5 million," explained Jereon Brown, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman. "In the end, the only responsible solution for these World War II-era buildings was to tear them down." Earth Services provides demolition services locally and nationwide. Generally, the firm will perform a pre-demolition assessment of each building, remove remaining hazardous materials such as asbestos and perform lead-based paint (LBP) mitigation, as needed. Following demolition, the company will remove all debris and material to appropriate disposal facilities. By The Associated Press Mar. 20, 2019 | 07:21 AM | FRANKFORT Kentucky's attorney general says his office is joining in an initiative that encourages bystanders to actively prevent violence. Attorney General Andy Beshear said Tuesday that employees in his office will take part in the training as part of the so-called "Green Dot" initiative. Its supporters say the strategy has spread to 42 states and five countries. It encourages bystanders to help prevent violence whether it's child abuse, elder abuse, bullying, stalking or sexual violence. It's an effort to prevent violence in communities and the workplace. Beshear's office says the Women's Crisis Center of Northern Kentucky is partnering with the AG's office to train more than 200 employees starting next month. The northern Kentucky center also helped Maysville, Kentucky, become one of the first "Green Dot" cities in the nation. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | PARIS By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 19, 2019 | 08:09 PM | PARIS The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that WK&T Telecommunications Cooperative has been awarded $2 million under its Broadband Accessibility Grant program. The cooperative will match these funds, investing a total of more than $4 million to build a fiber network in Henry County. This was a highly competitive grant process, and we are thrilled to have been chosen from among the many companies who applied, said Trevor Bonnstetter, CEO of WK&T, which serves customers in rural Tennessee and Kentucky. This grant will help us deliver broadband to an area of the state that desperately needs access. The project calls for building a fiber network in two areas of Henry County. One area lies east of Highway 79 and west of Kentucky Lake, while the second area is west of Highway 79 and northeast of Paris. WK&T applied last fall for what was the second round of Tennessees broadband grant program. Broadband internet is a vital piece of infrastructure which is highlighted with this announcement. This grant positions Henry County for other job-creating opportunities in the years to come, said Brent Greer, mayor of Henry County. Residents and businesses in rural Henry County deserve the same quality of internet service offered in metropolitan areas. We are grateful to WK&T and the governors grant program for bringing this world-class network to Henry County. Many residents in the affected communities submitted testimony to support the grant application, citing how a lack of reliable broadband negatively impacts their quality of life in areas such as education, business opportunities, health care, family and safety. When completed, the network will make high-speed broadband internet access available to 912 homes. Writers, poets and activists to be honoured by Wits The University of the Witwatersrand will bestow honorary doctorates on Brigalia Bam, Mandla Langa and Chris van Wyk during the March graduation season. The first cluster of the 2019 graduation season an exciting moment for graduands, is upon us. Sounds of cheer will fill the Great Hall as families, friends and academics share in the celebrations of the achievements of their loved ones. The University of the Witwatersrand will honour three exceptional individuals for their sterling service to society during its March graduation season, which starts tomorrow, 20 March 2019. Over 5200 graduands will be capped during this season, which concludes on 29 March 2019. Former Independent Electoral Commission chairperson and gender activist, Brigalia Bam and globally celebrated South African wordsmiths, Mandla Langa and the late Chris van Wyk, will be awarded honorary doctorates in recognition of their contribution to South Africa. During this season, the University will also award a University Gold Medal to Wits alumnus and distinguished architect, Mr Herbert Prins. He is renowned for his work in heritage objects conservation, a relatively new field, for which the modalities of practice are still being established. The medal recognises his noteworthy contribution to heritage, preservation and architecture. The honorary doctorates for Bam, Langa and Van Wyk will be conferred on 27 March 2019, in the Wits Great Hall as follows: Chris Van Wyk 09:30 Honorary Doctorate in Literature (posthumously) Brigalia Bam 13:30 Honorary Doctorate in Literature Mandla Langa 17:00 Honorary Doctorate in Literature Prins receives his medal on 28 March 2019 during the 13:30 graduation ceremony. About the honorary doctorate recipients Chris van Wyk Chris van Wyk was a prominent South African childrens book author, poet and political activist. His poetry and political activism alike were spurred by the Black Consciousness Movement. Van Wyks commitment to the intellectual liberation of black South Africans led him into a lifelong project - the production of childrens literature and educational materials. He has received several awards for his immense contribution to South Africas literature, publishing and education. He is the recipient of the Olive Schreiner Prize for poetry, the Maskew Miller Longman Award for childrens literature, the Sanlam Prize for short stories as well as the recipient of the South African Literary Award for translation. Brigalia Bam Brigalia Bam is a renowned leader, social activist and author. She has worked as a teacher, a social worker, a feminist and gender justice advocate, an Ecumenist and a Democrat who played a central role in the re-imagination and transition of South Africa from apartheid reign to post-apartheid democratic era. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, which recognise her role in women empowerment and her contribution to South Africa including the National Order of the Baobab in silver and the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. Bam has served as the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as well as of Walter Sisulu University and has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of South Africa and Fort Hare, as well as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Mandla Langa Mandla Langa is one of South Africas internationally acknowledged contemporary writers, cultural organisers and a veteran of the national liberation struggle. His biography reveals a complex intertwining between his life-long dedication to the struggles against inhumanity and for freedom, and his persistent courage to engage in critical self-reflection. His national and global stature is an acknowledgement of his immense literary significance and social contribution to South African society. Langa was bestowed South Africas National Order of Ikhamanga (silver) for his cultural, artistic and journalistic achievements in 2007 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from South African Literary Awards in 2010. Wits students create genetics app Wits science students have created an app to teach people the basics about genetics. The SCOP Genetics app was launched at the African Society of Human Genetics meeting in Kigali, Rwanda in September 2018. Click here to download the free SCOP Genetics app for Android developed by Mahtaab Hayat, Jorge da Rocha, Heather Seymour, and Natalie Smyth. These postgraduate students in the Wits Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) and the Division of Human Genetics in the School of Pathology run the Wits Human Genetics Community Outreach Programme (SCOP). Part of this student-developed and student-run initiative is to visit local schools and deliver presentations about how genetics works, how it is studied, how genetics can treat disease, identify individuals, and develop precision medicine. We visit schools and give presentations educating learners on the basics of genetics and genetics research in action. We found that the learners were intrigued. They asked many questions and definitely showed an interest in learning more. We thought [an app] would be a great interactive way that schoolchildren can learn in their own time and in a way thats easily accessible, says Hayat, also a PhD candidate in Human Genetics. Extract your own DNA at home The app is designed as a library containing simple explanations of genetic concepts. It is a beginners guide to the science of genetic concepts and provides information via SCOP video presentations. Concepts are described mainly with pictures and the language is simplified to enhance accessibility. The app is divided into Basics, Advanced, and Real World Examples: Basics explains the concepts of inheritance (getting DNA from our parents), what cells are and where the DNA is within them, and how genes work. Advanced provides more information about chromosome structure in humans, how differences in genes lead to different features, how we can design medicine to fit our genes, and a safe experiment to show you how to extract your own DNA at home. Real World Examples highlights major studies that form the foundation of genetics studies (including exciting African projects) to inspire learners by showing that they could do this incredible work too. Coding 101 to teach Genetics 101 The SCOP team designed and wrote the content for the app themselves after teaching themselves to code in HTML5 with some basic CSS. These languages are great to code cross-platform apps, so we hope to have our app available on iOS devices soon. We even have plans to get our app translated into other South African languages, says Da Rocha, also a PhD candidate in Human Genetics. Genetics is what makes individuals unique and knowing what you inherited from your parents, which traits you share with your siblings, and the diseases you are susceptible to is increasingly compelling to people. There are so many new ways in which people are learning more about these sorts of concepts. We hope the app will help high school learners better understand the topic of genetics in the Life Science syllabus and help the public understand the implications of inheritance of traits and disorders and thus help inform decision-making that involves genetics, says Hayat. Click here for info on the SCOP Genetics App on Android. Download the SCOP Genetics app for Android. Sun Ruihan (in costume) poses with her classmates after a Peking Opera performance at a school activity in September last year, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily] Harbin girl overcomes disability to show great talent in the performance art. Just two days after last month's Spring Festival holiday, 10-year-old Sun Ruihan returned to class at a Peking Opera training institution for young learners in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province. In the 100-square-meter training hall, she practiced the basic skills alongside her classmates. Her slightly crippled right leg made Sun, who was born with cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen, stand out from the others. "When the doctor told me the diagnosis and the unknown consequences, even though she was saved, I did nothing but cry," Sun's mother, Zhang Jing, said. "Soon after putting away our sadness, my husband and I decided to save her and bring her up at all cost." Timely treatment at birth prevented Ruihan from having brain damage. "We spent 200,000 yuan ($29,730) in the first two years after her birth, which was quite a large amount for our family, but I felt a little relieved when I knew that she could grow up with a normal level of intelligence," Zhang, 43, said. "But due to high muscular tension, she was not able to walk on her own until the age of three." To help the girl recover her motor functions, her parents insisted on giving her regular treatments, including traditional Chinese medicine massage and physical therapy. However, she still walked with a limp. "In the summer of 2015, a friend advised me to try the Peking Opera course, in which the physical training might help my daughter recover the use of her leg," Zhang said. "Furthermore, we thought it would be a good chance for her to develop a specialty, so we brought her to the Peking Opera training institution near our home." Sun said: "I was only 6 years old at that time and knew nothing about Peking Opera, but I was pretty enthralled by the stage photos of the actresses displayed at the institution, in which they seemed so beautiful, with delicate makeup and colorful costumes. Therefore, I really wanted to learn at the institution." At first, the principal of the institution, Wang Xichen, refused to admit her. "The little girl wasn't able to walk normally, so I didn't think she could learn Peking Opera, which involves lots of body movements," the 30-year-old Peking Opera actor said. But the persistence Sun and her parents displayed in several visits moved him deeply. "I promised to teach her, but also told them that they could quit at any time if she felt it difficult to follow," he said. In the following four years, the girl has not disappointed her teacher or her parents. The lessons are held three times a week and she has not missed a single one. "Some simple actions seem quite difficult for the little girl, such as a back somersault that needs help from two others," Wang said. "She practiced much harder than others to make up for her physical disability, without any complaints." The consistent physical training gradually improved the condition of her leg, even though she may never become a perfect actress on stage. And she has showed great talent in singing Peking Opera. "She has a good voice for Peking Opera," said her 71-year-old singing tutor, Xing Huizhu, a famous Peking Opera actress in the province. "More importantly, she always diligently practices and can quickly understand what I say." In May 2017, Sun won her first golden award at the provincial Peking Opera competition after nearly two years of learning, and she won several provincial awards in the following years. "The awards greatly boosted her confidence in life," her mother said. "She looks just like a shining pearl on stage, which I have never seen before." After several performances in school, she also became a star among her schoolmates. "During my first year in school, I seldom went out of the classroom due to my weak legs as well as concerns about being laughed at," she said. "But when my classmates scrambled to take photos with me after the performances, I felt quite proud." At Wang's suggestion, Ruihan began to learn playing the jinghu, a two-stringed fiddle used in Peking Opera, several months ago. "A jinghu player who can sing well will have an advantage on stage, and it may help to achieve her dream," Wang said. Sun said: "I hope I can remain on the Peking Opera stage in the future. I will continue to work hard." (Source: China Daily) U.S. mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck [Source: Andrea Kane/Institute for Advanced Study] U.S. mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck wins the Abel Prize for 2019 "for her pioneering achievements in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems," the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters said Tuesday. Uhlenbeck, a 76-year-old professor of the University of Texas at Austin, is the first woman to win the Abel Prize, which has been awarded annually since 2003 to one or more outstanding mathematicians in memory of the Norwegian mathematics genius Niels Henrik Abel. Uhlenbeck is a founder of modern geometric analysis, said the citation by the Abel Committee. "Her perspective has permeated the field and led to some of the most dramatic advances in mathematics in the last 40 years." She will receive the financial award of 6 million Norwegian kroner (704,000 U.S. dollars) from Norway's King Harald V at an award ceremony in Oslo on May 21. Uhlenbeck was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the United States, in August 1942. she received her B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1964 and later earned a M.A. (1966) and Ph.D. (1968) from Brandeis University. [Source: abelprize.no] (Source: ecns.cn) It is important retailers are aware of their responsibilities under the law One Wrexham store failed recent knife test purchase This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Mar 20th, 2019 A retailer in Wrexham will be visited and reminded of the law on the sale of knives after a failing a recent test purchase operation. Last week Wrexham.com reported that police cadets working alongside North Wales Police and Trading Standards had carried out a series of test purchases at retailers selling knives across the region. More than 60 stores were visited as part of Operation Spectre a national operation dedicated to tackling knife crime. It is illegal to sell a knife or similar bladed article to a person under the age of 18. Doing so is an offence that both the individual seller and business involved can be liable for, and can attract a penalty of imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Of the North Wales premises visited 48 passed. However the 14 stores which sold knives to the underage youngsters will now be visited by police and local authorities to be given further advice and reminded of their responsibilities to ensure they follow the law on the sale of knives. In Wrexham 16 stores were visited as part of Operation Spectre, with just one successful purchase the lowest number in North Wales. The premises concerned will now be visited and reminded of their responsibilities to ensure that the follow the law on the sale of knives. Cllr Hugh Jones, lead member for communities, partnerships, public protection and community safety, said: Concerns about knife crime have made the national news lately and whilst it is not a major issue in Wrexham it is one that should not be ignored and it is right we remain vigilant to ensure it remains that way. It is important retailers are aware of their responsibilities under the law so we can make sure that our young people cannot obtain them that way. As a local authority we are always committed to working in partnership with the police and other agencies to protect the people of Wrexham. Detective Inspector Tecwyn Green of North Wales Police said: The purpose of the operation which was the first time North Wales Police has conducted such a co-ordinated approach to tackling knife crime collaboratively, was to test local stores of their awareness of the law, their security measures and their own range of verification schemes. Retailers play a crucial role in ensuring our young people cant get hold of knives which could then be used to cause harm. Whilst we are pleased that 48 of the stores we visited refused to sell to our cadets for not having any identification, unfortunately a number of them did allow purchases to be made. The licensing team from the relevant local authority will now be working with them to discuss how to resolve. North Wales Police and all partner agencies are committed in doing everything they can to tackle knife crime. If you carry a knife, not only are you putting other lives at risk, but also your own. We will continue to work closely with retailers and further test purchasing operations will be carried out in the future to ensure all businesses are operating within the law. If you have information regarding knife crime or if you know of someone carrying a knife, please report it to North Wales Police on 101 or via the live webchat. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. In an emergency always dial 999. (Click for large) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-19 23:42:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SHANGHAI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Lord Mayor of City of London said Tuesday he is looking forward to strengthening ties with China in areas such as financial technology. Estlin said that as China's role in the world's economy is increasingly important, he expects closer ties in economy and trade between China and Britain. The Lord Mayor is in China to promote links with Britain in financial technology, green finance and the Belt and Road construction. He attended a forum on financial technology in Shanghai on Tuesday. Speaking ahead of his trip, Estlin said ties between China and Britain have gone from strength to strength, with bilateral trade now worth nearly 70 billion pounds (around 92 billion U.S. dollars). Wang Hua, deputy head of Shanghai's Pudong New Area, said the City of London has talents and an advanced environment for financial technology development and he hopes the two sides can strive toward more projects. The City of London is a part of Greater London geographically and is separately run by the City of London Corporation with lord mayor as its head. It is also a major business and financial center. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-19 23:47:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China announced Tuesday that it has phased out a total of 280,000 tonnes of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) scheduled in the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Guo Jing, a senior official from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said the country will continue to fulfill its promise and strengthen its supervision on the controlled substances to achieve its goal. "The Chinese government has no tolerance for any illegal production of ODS," said Guo, adding that China launched a special campaign nationwide to crack down on such offenses last year. In 2018, China destroyed two manufacturing spots that illegally produced CFC-11, an ODS commonly used for products such as air conditioners, and 10 companies were punished. China signed the protocol in 1991 and the country's reduction of ODS accounts for over half of the total reduction by developing countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 00:37:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday urged political parties to refrain from causing disunity among South Africans. As political parties embark on election campaigns, they should continue to observe democratic values defined by the Constitution, Ramaphosa said as he unveiled Parliamentary Inscriptions on the steps of Parliament. The inscriptions outline the democratic principles for political parties to observe. These include openness, fairness, reconciliation, unity, accountability, transparency and good governance. "They are the fundamental values of our democratic society, articulated in our Constitution and celebrated every day in millions of different ways," Ramaphosa said. It is significant that these principles are being inscribed on the steps of Parliament as South Africans celebrates 25 years of a free and democratic South Africa, said the president. South Africans will go to the polls on May 8. This will be the 6th election since the end of apartheid in 1994. As the election is drawing near, certain political parties have resorted to inflammatory political rhetoric against each other. The African National Congress (ANC) claimed that a smear campaign has also been launched against the ruling party. The upcoming election is expected to be the most contending since the end of apartheid, as the ANC's national support has been steadily eroded, while support for the opposition Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters has been on the rise. "Let us all campaign responsibly and do our part to ensure free, fair and credible elections," Ramaphosa said. "Despite our different political persuasions, these values bind us together and give us our common identity as South Africans," Ramaphosa said. He called on South Africans to do everything within their power to ensure that the will of the people prevails as they hold their 6th democratic elections. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 01:02:37|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Rescuers work at the site where an under-construction building collapsed in Dharwad, Karnataka state, India, March 19, 2019. Two persons have been killed and 28 others rescued and hospitalized after an under-construction building collapsed Tuesday in southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, according to the latest information from police. (Xinhua) NEW DELHI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Two persons have been killed and 28 others rescued and hospitalized after an under-construction building collapsed Tuesday in southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, according to the latest information from police. The building collapsed in Kumareshwar Nagar of Dharwad district, about 433 km northwest of Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka. Following the collapse, authorities rushed medical teams, disaster response force personnel and police to carry out rescue work. A police official in Dharwad had earlier said, "One person was killed in the incident and around 50 persons are feared trapped under the debris." Chief Minister of Karnataka H D Kumaraswamy expressed shock over the building collapse and directed senior officials to oversee rescue work. "The rescue operation is on and five people have been extricated so far from the debris. I have instructed the concerned officials to be on location," Kumaraswamy in a statement said. "Shocked to learn about the collapse of an under-construction building in Dharwad. I have instructed the Chief Secretary (CS) to supervise rescue operations. I have also directed the CS to send additional resources and expert rescuers by a special flight to Dharwad," Kumaraswamy said. Locals said hundreds of people have assembled at the spot. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 01:07:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LISBON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Portugal is available to help Mozambique following the passage of cyclone Idai in the city of Beira that caused dozens of deaths, according to a statement posted on the presidency's website on Tuesday. "Portugal will seek to contribute to the relief and reconstruction effort, either directly or through the European Union and the United Nations, expressing to the Mozambican people and to all those, particularly Portuguese, who have been affected by this great tragedy," said President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. He said that he had spoken with his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi to find out "more details about the effects of the cyclone in central Mozambique and particularly in the city of Beira, with the consequence much more tragic and dramatic than initially estimated, either in enormous loss of human life and injury, or in destruction and loss of property." The Portuguese head of state expressed condolences for the "tragic consequences" of the cyclone in a message sent to President Nyusi on Friday. "The President of the Republic expressed, on behalf of the Portuguese people and in his own name, condolences for the tragic consequences resulting from the violent natural calamities that affected the regions of Central and Northern Mozambique," said the message. On Monday, the Portuguese government announced that "until now there are no Portuguese citizens dead, injured or in danger" due to the passage of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, but "dozens have lost their homes and property." Cyclone Idai's passage into Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe has caused at least 222 deaths, according to provisional assessments released by the respective governments on Monday. More than 1.5 million people were affected by the storm in the three African countries. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said that the cyclone could have caused more than 1,000 deaths in Mozambique and 84 people have been confirmed dead. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 01:12:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ALGIERS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Tuesday decided to suspend the operation of all flights of Boeing 737 MAX over its airspace. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport said in a statement that the suspension was decided by the Algerian civil aviation authority "in accordance with the principle of precaution" following the crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines. On March 10, the Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 aboard. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 01:27:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday during the Global Solutions Summit that she is willing to fight "until the last second" of March 29 for an orderly Brexit. There would not be much time left, but a few days would still remain, Merkel said on Tuesday, 10 days prior to the scheduled date for the Brexit. The outcome of the next summit of the European Union on Thursday would be unpredictable because "far too much is in flow", the German Chancellor added. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to suggest to the European member states to postpone Great Britain's withdrawal from the EU. During the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, which was held for the third time, over 200 actors from politics, industry and science are delivering speeches on topics like climate change, trade and investment as well as social cohesion. Regarding current global trade conflicts Merkel stressed that "non-tariff trade barriers" were much bigger challenges than tariffs. "The big question of multilateralism will be non-tariff barriers" such as varying environmental, social or health standards in different countries, Merkel stressed. Referring to global trade conflicts, Merkel said one should not forget that the problems of international agreements would have already existed before the Trump government. During the presidency of former U.S. president Barack Obama, regulations of the World Trade Organization would have repeatedly led to disputes and bilateral trade agreements, according to Merkel. Such bilateral trade agreements would be good, but they would also be only the "second best solution" after global solutions, Chancellor Merkel added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 02:08:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close GENEVA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) official Tuesday described damage caused for 1.7 million people in the path of Tropical Cyclone Idai as the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's history. IFRC spokesperson Matthew Cochrane said at a UN press briefing here that rescuers are scrambling to pull people trapped on rooftops and in trees to safety in the port city of Beira with a population of more than half a million. He cited Jamie LeSueur, who is leading IFRC response efforts in Beira saying, "This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's history. It is a humanitarian catastrophe for the people of Central Mozambique." UN agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP) and the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, along with the IFRC appealed for immediate international funding to support those with no access to food or clean water in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Herve Verhoosel, senior spokesperson for the UN World Food Program (WFP) quoted Mozambique government estimates that 600,000 people have been affected by floods in the aftermath of Cyclone IDAI in the country's provinces of Sofala, Manica, Zambezia, Inhambane, and Tete. "Preliminary WFP satellite-derived projections indicate at-least 1.7 million people were in the direct path of the cyclone in Mozambique, and 920,000 people were affected in Malawi," said Verhoosel. "Thousands more are potentially impacted by events in Zimbabwe where assessments are ongoing." Lola Castro, WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa, said in a phone interview with reporters in Geneva, "People visible from the air may be the lucky ones, and the top priority now is to rescue as many as possible and ferry them to safety." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 02:18:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's acting Minister for Agrarian Policy and Food Olga Trofimtseva said her country is interested in increasing its cooperation with Iran in the agricultural sector, the ministry said on Tuesday. Speaking during a meeting with Iranian Ambassador to Ukraine Manuchehr Moradi, Trofimtseva said that the Ukrainian side has handed over to Iran for consideration three bilateral agreements on the partnership in the agricultural sector. The agreements include a memorandum of understanding between the agriculture ministries of the two countries and cooperation deals in such areas as veterinary and phytosanitary. In 2018, bilateral agricultural trade turnover between Ukraine and Iran amounted to 437.5 million U.S. dollars, with Ukrainian exports accounting for about 96.2 percent of the total trade. Ukraine mainly exports grain and vegetable oils to Iran. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 02:33:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close AMMAN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Tuesday offered a tender to transport crude oil from Iraq's Baiji oil refinery to Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said. Under the tender, more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil will be transported from Iraq to Jordan per day, the ministry said in a statement. The deadline for companies to submit bids is April 4, the ministry added. The tender followed the signing of an agreement between Jordan and Iraq in February under which Jordan will resume receiving crude oil from Iraq, Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati said in the statement. Jordan said that it will receive Iraqi oil with a discount of 16 U.S. dollars per barrel from the price of the Brent crude oil. Supply of Iraqi crude oil to Jordan was halted in 2014 because of instability in Iraq. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 03:08:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NICOSIA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Greece discussed coordinating their actions on Tuesday ahead of a regional meeting on Wednesday and talks between the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey on Thursday. Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos, paying his first overseas visit in Nicosia, had talks with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Christodoulides on issues, such as thorny aspects of the Cyprus problem, he will discuss in Ankara on Thursday with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. In remarks to reporters, Katrougalos said he would ask Cavusoglu how Turkey proposes to replace guarantee and intervention rights in Cyprus with a new security mechanism which "will not have any characteristics that are contrary to the international law". Invoking intervention rights, Turkey militarily intervened the eastern Mediterranean island in July 1974 in reaction to a coup staged by the military rulers of Greece at that time. United Nations-led negotiations since 1976 have failed to produce a solution to the problem. The UN is currently engaged in consultations with the sides involved to obtain their consent for the resumption of negotiations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 03:28:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MADRID, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Spain (BOE) said on Tuesday that if Britain leaves the European Union (EU) without a Brexit deal on March 29, it would have a significant negative effect on the Spanish economy. The BOE published its findings in a report entitled "Brexit, balance of the situation and perspectives," 10 days before Britain is due to leave the EU. British Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to win support from the British House of Commons to her Brexit plan, which means an uncertain scenario of Brexit and a real possibility of a delayed Brexit. The BOE calculates that a no-deal Brexit would take 0.82 percent off growth in Spain over the next five years. The bank explained that: "the results suggest that the cost for the Spanish economy of the eventual exit of Britain from the EU could be significant, depending on the final scenario in which it leaves, but, probably, not excessive." Britain is a major market for much Spanish agricultural produce, and the biggest source market for tourism in Spain, with around 17 million British people spending their holidays in the country in 2018. If a deal is finally agreed in the British Parliament, the BOE calculates, the effects will be much less important for Spain, with the economy only suffering a 0.2 percent reduction in growth. However, the BOE warns that with just 10 days until the scheduled Brexit day, "no consensus plan has emerged," adding that with no alternative plan, "a no-deal exit is -- excepting postponement -- the current default option." A laborer works in front of the destroyed al-Nuri mosque in the old city of Mosul, Iraq, March 7, 2019. (Xinhua) by Jamal Hashim BAGHDAD, March 19 (Xinhua) -- On a sunny spring day, al-Rabie thoroughfare in al-Jamia neighborhood in western Baghdad, was crowded with people jostling in front of shops on the sidewalk of the thoroughfare. It has been 16 years on since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, as the neighborhood had seen hundreds of bombings and clashes, particularly in the early years that followed the invasion, which toppled the former president Saddam Hussein in 2003. Hazim Yousif, 55, a shop owner at al-Rabie thoroughfare, told Xinhua that in recent years, residents here "haven't seen bombings and shootings in this street as in the past when it used to be a war zone. I think situations are getting much better after the defeat of Daesh (Islamic State group) in Iraq." "This time we have a good level of peace, we hope to continue like this because we need stability to rebuild our country," Yousif added. "In the early years after the invasion, my family and I rarely left our house because of the blind killing and bombings, but now we customarily go to restaurants, parks, coffee shops and other areas safely," Yousif said. At a coffee shop in the thoroughfare, a group of young men were sitting around a table laughing and chatting. One of them is Hassan Ibrahim, who blamed the Americans and many Iraqi politicians for the misery of Iraqis. "They brought corrupt politicians and empowered sectarian and ethnic parties to ignite bloody sectarian strife, and those who came with the Americans are the reason behind corruption, division and destruction of the country," Ibrahim said. "But at the end of the day, we have to look forward for better future because there are signs of improvement. We have to cling to this hope and not to let it go," Ibrahim added. Ibrahim believes that the better security after the defeat of IS group in late 2017 made foreign companies to return gradually to invest in Iraq, particularly in oil industry, which can bring prosperity to the oil-rich Iraq. Many people in Baghdad still bear the anguish caused by challenges of everyday life of the past years. Such horrific memories are impossible to be completely erased from their minds and hearts. Nevertheless, life in Baghdad is returning to some form of normality in which staying alive is not the only preoccupation the people. The improvement of security is one of major signs that inspire people for better future as IS suicide bombers are no longer getting through Baghdad after losing their old bases following the full liberation of Iraq in late 2017. "Suicide bombers have been trying for months to cross the Syrian border and make their way to Baghdad but they are being stopped there in the desert as Iraqi forces and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi brigades have spread near the borderline with Syria," Abdullah al-Temimi, a former police officer and a security expert told Xinhua. "The extremist IS group is weaker now and can be easily penetrated by informants, and even if one of their terrorists make a success and pass to Baghdad, there will be no return to the multiple attacks like in the past years," al-Temimi said. However, al-Temimi admitted that IS remnants are still capable of carrying out sporadic attacks against security forces and civilians from their hideouts in deserts and rugged areas in the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin, Nineveh and Anbar. Being confident that security is improving in Baghdad, the Iraqi government decided to remove all the concrete blast walls across the Iraqi capital within a plan implemented by Baghdad Operations Command. The walls, which were built during the sectarian strife in 2007, had turned Baghdad into dozens of replica Green Zones, dividing neighbor from neighbor and choking off normal commerce and communications. Recently, cranes lifting hundreds of giant concrete walls, formed of large concrete slabs of about 1.5 meters wide and three to four meters high, has become normal view to Baghdad residents. Hundreds of cement walls were also removed from the heavily fortified Green Zone, on the west bank of Tigris River, to be partially opened to public. On the bank of the other side of the river, which bisects the Iraqi capital, a new Central Bank of Iraq headquarters, designed by the late well-known Iraqi-born architecture Zaha Hadid, is currently at the early stages of construction. The building signals a new phase of construction in a growing and developing Baghdad. However, many Iraqi still have guarded sense of hope of better future as they have been repeatedly quashed by ramifications of chronic insecurity and the constant failure of subsequent post-invasion governments. As a matter of fact, Iraq is still facing massive challenges as the extremist IS militants are also trying to prevent IS militants from creeping back to Iraq as they are losing their last stronghold in eastern Syria. Iraq is also facing wide spread corruption, which is in most cases, the corrupt officials are well protected by some powerful and leading political parties, and are connected to networks of local and international companies and organizations. Iraq is also facing the problem of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who cannot return to their homes as many cities and towns are still in ruin. Baghdad itself, like many other cities and town, is suffering from deteriorated infrastructure, as well as unemployment and poverty. The profound division among Iraqi political parties has long been one of major reasons for failure of Iraqi governments. So far, nearly five months after Abdul Mahdi sworn in as prime minister, the government is unable to settle on candidates for the sensitive portfolios of Interior, Defense and Justice due to the political difference. Najib al-Jubouri, a political expert, told Xinhua, that Baghdad government apparently is not strong enough to impose its power on the ground, as armed militias linked to some political and regional parties are more powerful than the government. "The demand and hopes of the people do not fit with the power of the government. We have a feeling that we are asking too much from the government, because it is originally produced from the political parties that are widely accused of being involved in corruption," al-Jubouri said. "In my opinion, the government of Abdul Mahdi have to be more aggressive toward corruption and have to prioritize development, social services and a life of dignity if it really wants to avert other crises," he said. "The gradual return of normal life in Iraq can be accelerated, and Iraqis should not miss such an opportunity to get a prosperous future after tragedies that they have experienced," al-Jubouri concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 05:23:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BAGHDAD, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence have agreed to continue the two countries' cooperation against terrorism, Mahdi's office said Tuesday. Mahdi received a phone call from Pence, his office said in a statement, without saying when the call was made. During the call, the two sides pledged to support the partnership to promote the interests of the two peoples, and continue to support the efforts of the Iraqi government to eliminate the remnants of the terror group Islamic State (IS). Pence hailed Mahdi's support for the rights of religious minorities, follow up the affairs of Yazidis, and reconstruct the liberated areas in order to return all the displaced people to their homes, the statement added. In Washington, Pence's office said in a statement that the two leaders "discussed opportunities to advance the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Iraq, including continuing to work together to strengthen and professionalize Iraq's Security Forces and grow Iraq's economy." Mahdi updated Pence on the Iraqi government's efforts to exhume the mass graves of IS genocide against Yazidis in Sinjar, while pledging to personally investigate the security and economic impediments preventing the return of many of Iraq's religious components and other displaced persons, the statement added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 07:40:18|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close An anti-Brexit protester holds a European Union flag outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on March 19, 2019. Downing Street confirmed Tuesday that British Prime Minister Theresa May will write to European Council President Donald Tusk asking for Britain's departure from the bloc to be delayed. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 07:24:10|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close OTTAWA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Justice Committee of Canadian House of Commons said Tuesday it has ended investigation of alleged political interference in the corruption case of Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. The announcement came two hours after the liberal-majority committee met behind closed doors although opposition MPs were fighting for former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to testify before the committee for a second time for allegations that senior government officials inappropriately pressured her to allow Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to avoid criminal prosecution on bribery charges. On Monday night, the Liberals published a three-page letter laying out their plan to leave investigation of the issue to the ethics commissioner. The opposition parties accused the Liberals of shutting down the investigation into the SNC-Lavalin case. Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer said "this is an abuse of power. It is an affront to democracy and an attack on Parliament." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 07:29:11|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close PARIS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The departure of Britain from the European Union would affect the growth in France, even if the divorce scheduled for the end of March were amicable, the national statistics institute Insee said on Tuesday. It projected that an orderly Brexit would trim French economic activities by 0.3 percent over several quarters. If the EU and Britain failed to agree on a deal, "the increase in customs duties following this hard Brexit would weigh on the French economy," Insee said, estimating that the impact would be 0.6 percent. Insee data showed that France was much less affected compared with its neighbours. The growth in Germany, the leading one in the single currency bloc, would suffer a fall between 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent. In its quarterly economic outlook, Insee also saw limited impact of protests orchestrated by "Yellow Vest" movement in the first half of 2019 as "household confidence is recovering" and "the business climate remains above average." It maintained its first quarter estimate at 0.4 percent while it revised up that of the second three months by one percentage point to 0.4 percent. Over the first half of the year, French gross domestic product (GDP) would expand by 1.1 percent, Insee figures showed. Higher incomes would help consumer spending increase by 0.5 percent in the first quarter as a result of the measures to bolster purchasing power, Insee said. As to business investment, It saw 0.7 percent growth in the first three months, up from 0.6 percent previously forecast. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 07:48:27|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Local honey traders greet visitors at the entrance of the Thulatha Market in Abha, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia, on March 19, 2019. Thulatha, a famous traditional market in the city of Abha, sells fresh produce and local handicrafts, such as honey, dates, gold and silver Bedouin jewelry, women's embroidered dresses, and locally-made daggers. The Thulatha Market used to only operate on Tuesdays, and now is open seven days a week, attracting lots of shoppers and visitors. (Xinhua/Tu Yifan) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 08:49:23|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close TOKYO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks opened flat Wednesday as investors avoided making bold moves ahead of the conclusion later in the day of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting. As of 9:15 a.m. local time, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 24.88 points, or 0.12 percent, from Tuesday to 21,541.97. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, edged 1.24 points, or 0.08 percent lower, at 1,608.99. Miscellaneous product, securities house, and farm and fishery-linked issues comprised notable early decliners. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 09:34:30|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated that he may support Brazil to join in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). "We're going to look at that very, very strongly in terms of whether it's NATO or it's something having to do with alliance," Trump said at the White House when meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. The United States was reportedly to give Brazil a major non-NATO ally status, which will give Brazil preferential access to the purchase of U.S. military equipment and technology. Trump's verbal statement on Tuesday may indicate a step further than that. The U.S. president also said he supports Brazil to join the OECD. "Brazil and the United States have never been closer than we are right now," he told Bolsonaro. Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said that the nation has signed an agreement with Brazil to protect U.S. technology associated with U.S. participation in space launches in the South American country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 10:19:51|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close CANBERRA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has insisted that far-right groups are being treated as a "serious" terror threat following the Christchurch attacks. News Corp Australia on Wednesday reported that no far-right groups in Australia currently meet the criteria to be officially listed as a terrorist organization. Responding to that report on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio on Wednesday, Morrison said that intelligence agencies have been gathering "quite a bit" of intelligence regarding white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups for a long time. "I think it's serious and I think it always has been and that's why on a federal level our agencies have all taken it seriously," he told the ABC. "The work they've done over a long period of time I think has greatly assisted us, especially in recent days. "When it comes to our knowledge of white supremacists or separatists or other extreme groups like this, we have got quite a bit of intelligence in these areas and it does go back quite a way on these groups." The monitoring of right-wing extremism in Australia has become a major issue since Australian man Brenton Tarrant was charged with murder after the terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, which have so far left 50 people killed and 50 others injured. Morrison has launched an attack against the technology giants that allowed the distressing footage to be shared so widely and will make regulating the "ungoverned" platforms a key agenda item at June G20 meeting in Japan if he is still prime minister after May's general election. Mitch Fifield, the minister for communications, confirmed on Wednesday that he, Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter will meet with executives from Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter next Tuesday to discuss their response to the attacks. "In the wake of Christchurch ... the government has started looking at measures to address the ways digital platforms were used and abused," he told News Corp Australia on Wednesday. "The time has come for those who own and manage platforms to accept a greater responsibility for how they're used. "A best-endeavors approach is no longer good enough. It's clear that while social media companies have cooperated with authorities to remove some of that disgusting content, more needs to be done. If they won't act, we need to." According to data released by Facebook, more than 1.5 million videos of the attack was removed from its platform in the 24 hours after the incident, 1.2 million of which were identified and deleted before they were uploaded. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 10:39:19|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close People visit the exhibition titled "Tintoretto: Artist of Renaissance Venice" during a media preview at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 19, 2019. The exhibition will kick off at the gallery on March 24. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 10:34:55|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close SYDNEY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian surfer Soli Bailey has become the first person ever to wear the Aboriginal flag at a top level sporting competition, sporting the symbol of indigenous Australia alongside the country's traditional flag. The 23-year-old is currently competing at the World Surfing League (WSL) qualifiers at Sydney's Manly Beach alongside surfing greats like Kelly Slater, before turning his attention to the 2019 season opener in the state of Queensland. Bailey comes from the Yaegl people on his mother's side, who originally occupied a large part of the mid-east coast of Australia. "As much as I was super excited to represent Australia and what we stand for, it was also an opportunity for me to show some love, and show a bit of my culture," Bailey told Australian television. In the past, the WSL has allowed surfers from Hawaii to wear their state flag, as well as that of their country, and said that they wholeheartedly support Bailey in representing his culture. "We are really proud to see surfers honoring their heritage," said WSL regional manager Will Hayden-Smith. "I just think it's really cool for them to get behind me and doing what I love," Bailey responded. "I'm an indigenous Australian going to compete against the world." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 10:39:56|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with several leaders of the Caribbean region on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the state of Florida, the White House said on Tuesday. In a statement, the White House listed "leaders of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia." "Trump's meeting with the Caribbean leaders will reaffirm our strong friendship with and commitment to these countries, and signal the importance of the Caribbean to the hemisphere," the statement read. It added that Trump will discuss his vision for the diverse U.S. relationships in the Caribbean and the potential opportunities for energy investment, as well as security cooperation. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 10:39:56|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Boeing Company will remain committed to its core value of safety that it has upheld in the business of aviation for more than 100 years, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has said. In an open letter released Monday night to airlines, passengers and the aviation community, Muilenburg addressed the growing concern about aircraft safety following the deadly crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (ET302) that killed 157 passengers and crews aboard. The Ethiopian tragedy was the second air crash involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft after the Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610 (JT610) went down in October in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. Muilenburg said Boeing will go ahead with "relentless commitment to make safe airplanes even safer," and the company decides to release a software update and conduct pilot training for the 737 MAX that will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the JT610 accident. "We're united with our airline customers, international regulators and government authorities in our efforts to support the most recent investigation, understand the facts of what happened and help prevent future tragedies," he said. He voiced understanding and regret over challenges for "Boeing customers and the flying public" after many countries across the globe have grounded their 737 MAX aircraft out of concern about the safety of passengers and pilots. Muilenburg said Boeing has acted in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board on all issues relating to both Indonesian Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents since the Lion Air accident occurred in October last year. A few days ago, Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said that data retrieved from the flight data recorders on the ET302 aircraft showed similarities to the JT610 crash. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 11:10:00|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Chicago, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition is coming to Chicago for the first time and will open to the public at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History on Friday. Photos to be exhibited include the 2018 Grand Title Winner which presents two Qinling golden snub-nosed monkeys in Shaanxi province, China. The photo, titled the Golden Couple and taken by Marsel van Oosten from the Netherlands, captures a male and female monkeys resting on stones in their natural habitat. "Marsel considers the Qinling golden snub-nosed monkey to be the most beautiful of all the primates and has made four trips to China specifically to photograph them," said Clare Matterson, director of engagement for the National History Museum in London, at a media preview held on Tuesday. "An international panel of experts selected 100 images from over 45,000 entries in 95 countries," said Matterson who has just flown to Chicago for the opening of the exhibition. Photographers around the globe, both professional and amateur, enter for the annual competition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year since its inception in 1965. Winners of the competition in the past years came from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. The competition falls into 16 adult categories, ranging from behavior, animal portraits, underwater, landscape, urban wildlife and wildlife photojournalism; and three Young categories for people aged 17 or younger. There were 21 entrants from China in 2017 and 105 entrants in 2019, a sharp increase, Matterson said. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, initiated by London's Natural History Museum, showcases photos from the winners of the longest-running nature photography competition of its kind in the world. "The Field Museum is such an important natural history museum," said Matterson, adding that "we are very excited to be here." "These photos capture animals and plants in their natural environments," said Janet Hong, project manager at the Field Museum. "It's amazing how much narrative you can get from a frozen moment." The photos are all on display against backlit dark panels, and under each image there is a narrative explaining where and how the photo was captured. "Our core mission is to deepen the understanding of the natural world and preserve it," said Rick Ree, curator of flowering plants at the Field Museum. "These images bring the efforts of photographers and scientists together." Ree said that seeing these images on the large screen allows visitors to experience them in a way that is quite different from seeing them on paper. "They are so powerful on the large panel that you feel like you can almost step into them," added Ree. "It's very emotional and compelling." "I hope the exhibition will help people pay attention to plants and animals wherever they go, appreciate the beauty and diversity of nature and take photos," Hong added. The exhibition will run through Jan. 12, 2020. Bunches of flowers are presented near the site of the terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Huaiqian) SUVA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Concerns have been raised about hate speech posts on Fiji's social media following the Christchurch terror attack in New Zealand last Friday as the Fijian Police Force vowed on Tuesday to make investigation on the issue. Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho said Tuesday the Fiji police Force was going to take strict actions on those who put up hate speeches. Many people that are posting, commenting, sharing and supporting such hate posts showed they were not fully aware of what the consequences are, he said. He said he could not allow this type of hate speech and rhetoric to continue. Meanwhile, Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama is urging Fijians to speak up against hatred. Family members of the three Fijian nationals, who are among the 50 victims killed in the Christchurch attacks, have flown to New Zealand on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 12:15:12|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close VIENTIANE, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government has given a green light to debate and study the possibility of using marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Prime Minister's Office last week issued an announcement entrusting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other sectors to organize a seminar to discuss and study the medical use of marijuana, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday. Outcomes of the seminar discussion will be reported to the government as a reference for the next decision, the government spokesman Chaleun Yiapaoher told Vientiane Times on Tuesday. The government's permission to the discussion on medicinal marijuana came after the Ministry of Health submitted a proposal to build a hospital to treat cancer patients with the use of traditional medicines extracted from natural herbs and marijuana. Under Lao legislation, the cultivation, trade and use of marijuana are still prohibited for now. The government has told Lao relevant sectors to learn from many countries that allow use or research of marijuana for medical purposes. Deputy Director General of the Department of Healthcare and Rehabilitation under the Ministry of Health Bounnack Saysanasongkham said, there were news reports suggesting that some western countries legally use marijuana for treatment of some diseases. "The cultivation and use (of marijuana in those countries) have been strictly controlled," he said, adding that use for treatment has to be certified by medical doctors. Chaleun said the permission to start the debate over marijuana is still at the early stage, saying there is a need to carry out a thorough study before the government could make a decision. If the findings of the study were positive and the government decided to go ahead, approval would still need to be sought from the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Politburo and the National Assembly. Current legislation that prohibits the cultivation and use of marijuana has to be amended if Laos legalizes medicinal marijuana. While Laos is undertaking a study and the plant is still prohibited, the Prime Minister's Office told the Ministries of National Defence, Public Security and provinces to keep a close eye on preventing the cultivation and trade of marijuana. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:20:26|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close MANILA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine troops have killed three militants, including an alleged Abu Sayyaf sub-leader, in two separate clashes in the jungles of Jolo island in southern Philippine provinces of Sulu and Basilan, the military said on Wednesday. In a statement, the military said Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Angah Ajid and another militant, Sarih Edris, were killed during a firefight that broke out on Tuesday in a remote village of Talipao town. The military said the troops acted on a tip by villagers about a presence of Abu Sayyaf fighters in the area. "A 10-minute gun battle ensued, yielding to the deaths of sub-commander Ajid and another militant," the statement read. The military said Ajid was the last remaining Abu Sayyaf leader involved in the Sipadan kidnapping in 2000. The Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 people, including Europeans, from a Sipadan resort off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, and brought the hostages to Jolo area of the Sulu islands. The military said soldiers, during the operation, also seized a M14 rifle, a M16 rifle, a M203 grenade launcher and several rounds of ammunition. In the island province of Basilan, the military said another Abu Sayyaf militant, Adam Sayaff, was also killed during a firefight on Tuesday. Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo, the commander of the military's Joint Task Force Sulu, said villagers have been informing the troops of the presence of militants in the area, prompting the military to launch offensives against the fugitive bandits. Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of Western Mindanao Command, said tactical offensives will continue in the two provinces' known hideouts of Abu Sayyaf militants. "As community support amassed, military mounts its offensives to pressure and to defeat Abu Sayyaf militants in the area," he said. "We are committed to end terrorism and to bring internal security in Mindanao." Abu Sayyaf gained notice in southern Philippines in the early 1990s. It acquired a worldwide notoriety with a series of kidnappings and beheadings. The Duterte government has formed an army division to hunt down militants blamed for a series of kidnappings and bombings in the southern region, including the Jan. 27 twin bombings in a church in Jolo, Sulu, that killed 23 and injured more than 100. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:20:27|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close by Pankaj Yadav NEW DELHI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A couple of days ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Main Bhi Chowkidar (I am Watchman Too) campaign, calling all those fighting corruption, social evils and working hard for the progress of India as "watchmen". The Hindi word Chowkidar means watchman. Modi has been describing himself as the country's watchman, claiming to be guarding the country against all ills, mainly corruption. Ever since the launch of the campaign, Modi and all his cabinet ministers have prefixed the word Chowkidar with their names, especially on social media platform Twitter. Besides, prominent leaders of the main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including its president Amit Shah, have also followed the trend and started describing themselves as "watchmen" on various social media platforms. Over the past one year Indian politics has revolved around the word 'Chowkidar', especially after main opposition party Indian National Congress' (INC) president Rahul Gandhi began attacking Modi for "indulging in corruption" in the Rafale fighter jets deal (signed with France), often saying, "Watchman is the thief." Gandhi alleged that Modi only introduced leading businessman Anil Ambani to the deal, thereby ensuring huge amount of financial benefits to him. Rahul Gandhi has also been alleging that Modi only ensured the "safe exit" of a couple of top businessmen from the country, particularly Nirav Modi and Vijaya Mallaya, who owe huge amounts of debts to banks in India, running into millions of dollars. On Saturday, Modi tweeted, "Your Chowkidar is standing firm and serving the nation. But, I am not alone. Everyone who is fighting corruption, dirt, social evils is a Chowkidar. Everyone working hard for the progress of India is a Chowkidar. Today, every Indian is saying. 'Main Bhi Chowkidar'." With the tweet, Modi also shared a 3.45-minute video titled Take The Pledge, urging people to join Modi on March 31 for a video program titled Main Bhi Chowkidar. In the video, Modi called himself a watchman and said that he was not alone, in a counter to INC president Rahul Gandhi's "Watchman is the Thief" jibe. Reacting to Modi's political gimmick of playing around with the word Chowkidar, Rahul Gandhi quipped, "Initially PM Modi himself became the Watchman, now he wants to turn all countrymen into watchmen." "Modi actually acted as a watchman for businessmen like Nirav Modi and Vijaya Mallaya who escaped from the country without paying their debts to banks," said Gandhi. Meanwhile, sources in the BJP have revealed that the party plans to intensify the "I am Watchman Too" campaign in the next couple of days, by distributing T-shirts and caps among the public with the slogan ("I am Watchman Too") written on them. The party also plans to put up big hoardings with the slogan written in bold font. On Wednesday, Modi is also scheduled to address nearly 2.5 million watchmen on the eve of festival of colors "Holi". Then, on March 31, he is also slated to interact with people from as many as 500 locations who have pledged their support his "watchman" campaign. It is almost certain that Modi and his party the BJP has decided to play up the word "watchman" during the campaign in the run-up to the forthcoming general elections. In last elections, held in 2014, Modi had chosen to play up the word "Chaiwala" (Tea Seller) after one of the senior INC leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had mocked at Modi, saying, "Modi is only fit to distribute among Congressmen, he can never become India's prime minister." Modi and the BJP took the "Tea Seller" comment in their stride and made it the high-point of their campaign ahead of 2014 general elections. This resulted in projecting Modi as a poor man having a perfect connect with the common man in the country, which finally resulted in massive and unprecedented victory for Modi and his party. Perhaps taking a cue from its last election's campaign, the BJP and Modi wish to make "I am Watchman Too" the high-point of their campaign this time too, with the intent of winning their second consecutive election. Results of the seven-phase elections, beginning April 11, are to be announced on May 23. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:25:28|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close U.S. President Donald Trump attends a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro (not in the picture) at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 19, 2019. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated that he may support Brazil to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as the two nations expected to further their economic cooperation. (Xinhua/Ting Shen) WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated that he may support Brazil to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as the two nations expected to further their economic cooperation. Trump said at the White House while meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro that "we're going to look at that very, very strongly in terms of whether it's NATO or it's something having to do with alliance." The United States was reportedly to give Brazil a major non-NATO ally status, which will give Brazil preferential access to the purchase of U.S. military equipment and technology. Trump's verbal statement on Tuesday may indicate a step further than that. The U.S. president also said he supports Brazil to join the OECD. "Brazil and the United States have never been closer than we are right now," he told Bolsonaro. Later in a press briefing, Trump repeated his intention, saying that he would like to "to designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally - or ... maybe a NATO ally. I'll have to talk to a lot of people but maybe a NATO ally - which will greatly advance security and cooperation between our countries." He added that "President Bolsonaro and I are both committed to reducing trade barriers." However, a joint statement from Trump and Bolsonaro issued later by the White House confirmed that Trump announced the U.S. intent to designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally, and "noted his support for Brazil initiating the accession procedure to become a full member of the OECD." The two presidents also "agreed to deepen their partnership through the United States-Brazil Security Forum to combat terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, cybercrimes, and money laundering, and they welcomed two new arrangements to enhance border security," according to the statement. Bolsonaro announced Brazil's intent to exempt U.S. citizens from tourist visa requirements, and Trump agreed to take the steps necessary to "enable Brazil to participate in the Department of Homeland Security's Trusted Traveler Global Entry Program." Trump welcomed the earlier signing of a technology safeguards agreement that will enable U.S. companies to conduct commercial space launches from Brazil, as well as an agreement between the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Brazilian Space Agency to launch a jointly developed satellite in the near future, according to the agreement. The two leaders also agreed to build a Prosperity Partnership "to increase jobs and reduce barriers to trade and investment." To this end, they decided to enhance the work of the United States-Brazil Commission on Economic and Trade Relations, created under the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, "to explore new initiatives to facilitate trade investment and good regulatory practices." Regarding bilateral trade, Bolsonaro announced that Brazil will implement a tariff rate quota, allowing for the annual importation of 750,000 tons of American wheat at zero rate. In addition, the United States and Brazil agreed to "science-based conditions" to allow for the importation of U.S. pork. In order to allow for the resumption of Brazil's beef export, the United States agreed to expeditiously schedule a technical visit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service to audit Brazil's raw beef inspection system, as soon as "it is satisfied with Brazil's food safety documentation." The two presidents have instructed their teams to negotiate a Mutual Recognition Agreement concerning their Trusted Trader programs, which will reduce costs for American and Brazilian companies, the White House said. The two leaders also welcomed the creation of a 100-million-dollar Biodiversity Impact Investment Fund that will "catalyze sustainable investment in the Amazon region." Regarding energy cooperation, the two leaders agreed to establish a U.S.-Brazil Energy Forum to facilitate relevant trade and investment. Before their meeting, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted earlier on Tuesday that Bolsonaro's visit to the White House "is a potentially historic opportunity to redirect relations between our two countries," which will "have a profound impact not only in this hemisphere, but really around the world." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:35:35|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close NEW DELHI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Pilots of India's private airline "Jet Airways" have threatened to go on strike from April 1, if the cash-strapped airline does not share with them a proper roadmap by March 31 regarding paying their salaries. The private airline is learnt to be having a debt of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars and has been struggling for several months to make payments to its creditors. Its financial constraints have led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights, even as it fights intense competition from other low-cost airlines in the country, Indian rupee's depreciation and rising fuel costs. Over 40 planes of the airline have been grounded so far. "We have decided that either the management lets us know about the progress of the resolution plan and the future of the company by March 31, or we will refrain from flying duties," media reports quoted National Aviators Guild Vice-President Captain Asim Valiani as saying. The development came after the Indian government called an emergency meeting with the carrier on Tuesday over the grounding of flights. Meanwhile, according to the office of the country's Director General of Civil Aviation, the current fleet of Jet Airways is likely to operate only about 140 flights a day, down from an average of about 650 flights a day in March 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:35:37|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The special UN envoy for Yemen reported "significant progress" toward an agreement between warring parties to withdraw troops in the region of the key port of Hodeidah, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday. UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Yemen Martin Griffiths, following constructive discussions with both the government and the Houthi rebels, reported "significant progress towards an agreement to implement phase one of the redeployments of the Hodeidah agreement," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "Operational details will be presented to the parties in the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) for endorsement shortly," Haq told reporters at a regular briefing. The redeployment of troops from the city and port of Hodeidah and other two minor ports, Saleef and Ras Isa, is part of the Stockholm Agreement the two sides reached in December 2018 under UN auspices. The deal also includes a ceasefire across the Hodeidah governorate. In February, the two parties agreed on the first phase of the redeployment, which calls for withdrawal of forces from the three ports as well as the Red Sea mills, where enough grain is stored to feed 3.7 million people in the starving country. So far, the agreement has not been materialized. Farhan told Xinhua that possible violations of the shaky ceasefire may result in the accord not being implemented. Apparently, Griffiths is more confident of implementing the accord, the spokesman said. Humanitarian workers have not been able to get aid through the ports because of the fighting in surrounding areas. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 13:50:39|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close CANBERRA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has revealed its plan to address unsustainable population growth in major cities by boosting that of regional areas. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman, Minister for Education Dan Tehan, and Minister for Regional Services, Sport, Local Government and Decentralisation Bridget McKenzie announced the landmark plan on Wednesday, describing it as a "turning point" for the country. It includes cutting the nation's annual permanent migrant intake from 190,000 to 160,000, incentivizing new migrants to live outside major cities and investing 75 billion Australian dollars (53 billion U.S. dollars) in road, rail and air infrastructure across the country. In addition to the infrastructure funding, the government also plans to connect cities to major regional hubs. International students in Australia will also be offered 1,000 scholarships worth 15,000 Australian dollars (10,607 U.S. dollars) each year at regional universities to ease the strain on cities. They will also have access to an additional year in Australia on a post-study work visa studying at regional universities. "These changes are about easing population pressures in our biggest cities, while ensuring regional communities are given a much needed boost," the senior government members said in a media release. "Australia has thrived from a steady population growth and is the most successful immigration nation in the world and our plan will ensure our country continues to lead the way. "But over the last two decades, the infrastructure and services have not kept pace, causing congestion on our roads and public transport particularly in Melbourne, Sydney and South East Queensland. "At the same time, many of our smaller cities and regional areas are crying out for more people. Some regional areas simply cannot fill the jobs available. There are an estimated 47,000 job vacancies in regional Australia today." Two new classes of skilled migrant visas will require 23,000 skilled migrants allowed into the country each year to settle in regional areas for at least three years before being able to access permanent residence. Immigration is set to be one of the defining issues in May's general election and is one of the areas where the governing Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) is stronger than the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the voters' eyes according to some opinion polls. ALP leader Bill Shorten has welcomed the new migrant cap, saying it represented a 1 percent lower than last year when the intake reduced to about 163,000. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 14:20:45|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close MANILA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has hailed the "significant progress" made in the implementation of Philippine infrastructure projects funded with Official Development Assistance (ODA) from China, a statement said on Wednesday. In a recent visit to China, Dominguez provided updates on the "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure projects that are being implemented by the Duterte administration with funding support from China at a meeting with a senior Chinese official. Dominguez was referring to the two bridge projects that will help ease traffic in Metro Manila, the Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantaleon Bridges being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) of the Philippines with the grant of 63.13 million U.S. dollars from China. Dominguez also thanked China for providing concessional loan financing for the Chico River Pump Irrigation project and the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project. China has extended a 62.09-million-U.S. dollar loan for the Chico river irrigation project and a 211.21-million-U.S. dollar loan for the construction of the Kaliwa Dam. "We have been meeting with the Ministry of Commerce of China for the past two years, and we have made a lot of progress with our actual official development assistance relations with China," Dominguez said in the statement. Dominguez said the Philippines and China are also working towards the implementation of two rail projects, the Subic-Clark Railway project in the Philippine Luzon island and the Mindanao Railway project in southern Philippines. The Davao-Samal Bridge project in Mindanao and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge project in Western Visayas are also two other projects in the pipeline for possible Chinese financing, Dominguez added. "We want to assure you that the funds provided by the Chinese people through the Chinese government are going to be used to the benefit of the Filipino people," Dominguez said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 14:45:51|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close TOKYO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed slightly higher Wednesday as investors refrained from making bold moves ahead of the outcome later in the day of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 42.07 points, or 0.20 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 21,608.92. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 4.16 points, or 0.26 percent, to finish at 1,614.39. Pulp and paper, metal product and wholesale trade-oriented issues comprised those that gained the most by the close of play. An Israeli officer guards "David's Sling" missile launcher during the "Juniper Cobra 18" exercise at Hatzor Air Force base, Israel, on March 8, 2018. (Xinhua File photo) JERUSALEM, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's advanced missile defense system David's Sling successfully intercepted medium to long-range missiles in a joint exercise with the United States, Israeli Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry said that the drill was held with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA.) In a series of tests, the David's Sling missile defense system shoot down several ballistic missiles, simulating different scenarios in which Israel comes under attack. The ministry said the drill constitutes "an important milestone" for Israel's defense. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the drill, saying Israel has become "a world leader" in the development of anti-missile systems. The system is designed to intercept medium to long-range missiles reportedly owned by the Iran-backed Hezbollah organization in southern Lebanon. In its first real use, David's Sling, operational since 2015, intercepted two Syrian ORT-21 missiles above the Syrian soil in July 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 15:56:05|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan marked the 24th anniversary Wednesday of a deadly sarin nerve gas attack carried out by the AUM Shinrikyo cult on the Tokyo subway system that left 13 people dead and injured more than 6,000. A vigil was held at Kasumigaseki subway station where one of the deadly attacks took place, with station officials observing a moment of silence at 8 a.m. local time, which was around the time the attack took place 24 years ago. Families of the victims and station officials offered flowers at an altar set up inside Kasumigaseki Station, the surrounding area of which is dominated by government ministers and other government-related offices. Similar stands for flowers were set up at other stations where victims of the sarin attack also lost their lives. Shoko Asahara, the doomsday cult's leader, was arrested two months after the attack on the subway system. He was the mastermind behind the attack which used nerve gas and resulted in the killing of 13 people and left more than 6,000 others with severe injuries. Asahara, 63, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, and 12 of his disciples were executed in July last year for crimes committed including the Tokyo subway attack. Asahara was the first to be hanged among the cult members that were on death row in Japan at the time, for their roles in a number of fatal crimes carried out by the cult. The group was also held responsible for an earlier sarin attack on June 27, 1994, in a parking lot near housing for judges in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, which killed eight people. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games less than 500 days away from the opening, the government is concerned that fundamentalist groups could once again target Tokyo's busy subway system. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:01:07|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here Wednesday. Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, and that cooperation between the two countries not only brings benefits to the two peoples, but also contributes to regional stability and prosperity. Facing the complex and changing international and regional situations, the two sides should strengthen strategic communication and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, Yang said, adding that China was willing to maintain high-level exchanges with Pakistan, promote the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and strengthen communication and coordination on major international and regional issues. Qureshi said China is Pakistan's most trusted friend, and that the first strategic dialogue between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China has yielded fruitful results. Pakistan will continue to work with China to actively implement the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and promote the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:01:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SEOUL, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Two sailors were killed, and one injured, as fire broke out on an oil tanker Wednesday morning off the southern coast of South Korea, according to local media reports. The 494-ton oil tanker caught fire at about 5:38 a.m. local time in waters some 5 km off Odong islet in South Jeolla province. The two sailors were found dead from inside the pilothouse, while the chief engineer suffering burns was sent to a nearby hospital. Three others, including a captain, aboard the vessel were rescued safely. No leakage of oil happened from the ship carrying around 10,000 tons of bunker fuel C oil and heavy oil. The coast guard was investigating the exact cause of the incident. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:01:09|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ASTANA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president on Wednesday following the sudden resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev who had served as the country's president for nearly three decades. "I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," Tokayev said at a parliament meeting. Nazarbayev, who served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Tokayev had been the speaker of the upper house of Kazakhstan's parliament since September 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:06:10|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Afghan security force members carry the seized rockets in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, March 20, 2019. Afghan security forces have seized 40 rockets and arrested three suspected militants in eastern province of Nangarhar, a military source said Wednesday. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi) JALALABAD, Afghanistan, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces have seized 40 rockets and arrested three suspected militants in eastern province of Nangarhar, a military source said Wednesday. "Afghan Border Force personnel arrested three militants, who were carrying 40 rounds of small-range rockets in a mini truck, in Muhmand Dara district on Tuesday evening," Gen. Auob Houssainkhil, a senior border force official, told reporters here. The security forces also confiscated the vehicle and handed over the arrestees to the related department. The identity and linkages of the arrested militants are being investigated, the official added. The latest seizure came as Afghan security forces have beefed up security across the country ahead of Nowroz Festival celebration, falling on Thursday which marks the Afghan New Year. On Tuesday, one civilian was killed and six civilians were wounded after an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a tricycle parked at the side of a road was detonated in Herat city, capital of western province of Herat. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:11:13|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Aunt Deng, a 72-year-old Beijing resident, depends on a nasogastric tube for taking food, which has to be renewed on a monthly basis. An Internet-plus program has made the process of renewing the tube more convenient through a door-to-door nursing service, according to the China Internet Information Center. China is piloting the program from February to December, according to a notice by the National Health Commission to local health authorities. Under the program, approved medical institutions can send nurses who have at least five years of clinical nursing experience to communities or homes to serve patients who are too old or restricted by their diseases to move. Six provincial-level regions across the country -- Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong --have been chosen for the pilot program. Ding Shaolei, CEO of Goldnurse, a major online nursing platform, said the notice reflected China's support of the Internet-plus industry, and will protect and promote online nursing. Currently, injection, venous sampling and wound dressing are among services that have received most orders through online nursing platform. Need for home nursing care has rapidly increased in China. According to official figures, the population aged 60 or above in China has reached 250 million. Senior people with chronic diseases accounted for 65 percent of the total senior population. A woman surnamed Zhang also said she found it very challenging to drive her mother to hospital for a dressing change every day while taking care of her young child. "We hope online nursing service can help resolve home-based care for the aged people," Ding said. Hong Kong: 39 good citizens awarded Thirty-nine citizens who helped Police fight crime were commended at the Good Citizen Award Presentation Ceremony today. With the help of the awardees, Police were able to arrest 40 people for offences including trafficking in dangerous drugs, theft, rape and wounding. Won Wai-man, recipient of the Good Citizen of the Year Award, is a primary school teacher of General Studies. A student sent Mr won an anonymous note claiming to have been molested and the teacher swiftly identified the victim and reported the case, resulting in the culprit being convicted of rape and 15 years in jail. The youngest awardee was 15-year-old Ng Mo-pin who helped to intercept and subdue a man who had stolen from passengers on a Mass Transit Railway train. Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Police Director of Operations Siu Chak-yee commended the awardees for their courage, alertness and willingness to help. Each awardee receives a certificate and a cheque of $3,000. The Good Citizen of the Year Award recipient is also presented with a plaque and a cheque of $4,000. This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. SERGIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump and "the Trump of the Tropics," Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, met face to face at the White House on Tuesday. Bolsonaro -- a nationalist, Twitter-loving, "fake-news" decrying politician -- chose to make the first bilateral trip of his presidency to Washington, where he has found an important friend and ally in Trump. As part of a three-day visit in Washington, Bolsonaro will hold a press conference with Trump as he aims to strenghten economic ties and positioning with the U.S. as Brazil seeks an allied front in the Western Hemisphere. In a statement ahead of the visit, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the two leaders will discuss "opportunities for defense cooperation, pro-growth trade policies, combatting transnational crime and restoring democracy in Venezuela." A senior administration official, who requested anonymity, told reporters Bolsonaro's visit represented a "real opportunity to fundamentally remake our relationship with Brazil." "The U.S.-Brazil relationship has always been one of potential, but yet that potential has not always been met," the senior administration official said. "This time it is different. This is a historic remaking of the U.S.-Brazil relationship where there is truly going to be a North-South axis of the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere and a true partnership of the largest economies." At the start of their White House meetings, the president said he is considering NATO membership or some kind of similar alliance for Brazil. We are looking at it very strongly. We are very inclined to do that. The relationship that we have right now with Brazil has never been better. I think there was a lot of hostility with other presidents. There is zero hostility with me, Trump said. And we are going to look at that very strongly in terms of whether it is NATO or something having to do with alliance. The president said he and Bolsonaro will be talking about that at great length about strategy regarding Venezuela. We dont want to say exactly, I know exactly what I want to happen, but we will be talking about different things. All options are on the table. It's a shame what is happening in Venezuela. The death and the destruction and the hunger, it's hard to believe -- one of the wealthiest countries in one of the poorest and most impoverished countries, Trump said. Also on the agenda, is a Brazilian offer to grant the United States access to a rocket launch site, the removal of a visa requirement for Americans traveling to Brazil, and trade. Bolsonaro, who was accompanied on his trip to the United States by his son, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, visited CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Monday and addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Brazil is the second-largest economy in the Western Hemisphere, and the United States is Brazil's second-largest trading partner after China. "For the first time in a while, a pro-America Brazilian president arrives in D.C.," Bolsonaro tweeted upon arriving in Washington. "It's the beginning of a partnership focused on liberty and prosperity, something that all of us Brazilians have long wished for." Like Trump, Bolsonaro is a right-wing populist with a penchant for rocking the status quo and using Twitter to blast his message around the globe. Bolsonaro has been accused of making racist and homophobic remarks and recently has come under fire for a sexually explicit tweet during Brazils Carnival festival. Trump was one of the first world leaders to call and congratulate Bolsonaro after this landslide victory in October. Similar to Trump's election, Bolsonaro's win stunned the world and was part a wave of nationalist, right-wing leaders elected in Latin America. "His election, he broke all of the historic taboos of winning an election in Latin America. He was unabashedly, particularly in Brazil, pro America," a senior administration official said of Bolsonaro. "He ran on a campaign that he wanted to be the best friend of the United States that he wanted to have this close relationship with President Trump, and what that would mean for Brazil, for the region, for the world, I think that was very important." The official said the president took note of Bolsonaro's Trump-like rhetoric and social media presence, and called Bolsonaro to congratulate him within hours of his election. U.S. officials hope the visit will not only boost their economic relationship but align efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Venezuela. Brazil shares a border with Venezuela and, like the United States, has joined with dozens of other world leaders in pressuring socialist Nicholas Maduro to turn over power to opposition leader Juan Guaido. But while Trump has said "every option is on the table" in Venezuela, suggesting the use of military force, Brazil has pushed for diplomatic talks to lead to a change in power. A senior administration official said Brazil plays an important role as an "interlocutor" between the U.S. and Venezuela. "Brazil has allowed the United States to preposition humanitarian aid for Venezuela on Brazil's northern border and we are very grateful to that and we thank him for working tirelessly to provide aide to the Brazilian people and them opening their doors," the official said. "There's also an opportunity here where they can be very good interlocutors. The Brazilian Military has very good relationships with the Venezuelan military and clearly communicate with them as to what should be the role with the Venezuelan military in regards to civility and not repressing and not maintaining the usurpation of democracy Maduro seeks." The U.S. and Brazil hope to end the meetings with signed agreements, including an agreement that would allow the U.S. to launch satellites and rockets into space from Brazil. "You will see -- after the visit tomorrow, we will plan to announce a joint statement that will have a lot of deliverables, some which are currently, frankly, right now being signed and being finalized and being negotiated. And that's all extraordinarily positive," an official said Monday. "We think that we have, really, a historic opportunity to re-frame hemispheric relations with this North-South axis." Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:16:17|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close HANOI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam should make a strategic shift towards a more productivity and innovation-based economy, while making the most of the ongoing demographic dividend to sustain high quality growth over the next decade, the World Bank in Vietnam said here on Wednesday. This is among the main recommendations from the joint report between the World Bank and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences on the new economic model to help Vietnam achieve high-quality growth for the 2021-2030 period. The report, which is being prepared with support from the Australian government, proposes Vietnam's new economic model in 2021-2030 to center around three breakthroughs: innovation and entrepreneurship, human capital, and modern institutions. The report finds that the labor-intensive, export-led growth model Vietnam pursued during the 2011-2020 period has increasingly become obsolete against the context of Industrial Revolution 4.0, maturing global value chains, premature deindustrialization, and rising role of services. "We are living in the era of disruptive technologies that presents both challenges as well as opportunities. I would like to call it Doi Moi (renewal) 4.0," Ousmane Dione, country director for the World Bank in Vietnam, said at a workshop "Vietnam Economic Growth Model for 2021-2030, with a Vision to 2045" chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in Hanoi on Wednesday. "To mitigate these risks and seize the opportunities Vietnam needs to accelerate reforms that boost productivity and innovation as key drivers of growth in the coming decade, including steps to remove bottlenecks for private sector investment, enhance public sector institutions and invest in 21st century skills of the workforce," Dione said. To avoid the middle-income traps, experts contend that Vietnam will have to maintain a growth rate in the range of 7-7.5 percent for the 2021-30 period, higher than the average rate of 6.3 percent of the last 10 years. Vietnam achieved gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.08 percent in 2018, the highest rate over the past 10 years, up from the annualized target of 6.5-6.7 percent, according to its General Statistics Office. Vietnam's top legislature has set a target of attaining GDP growth of 6.6-6.8 percent in 2019. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:21:18|Editor: ZX Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China is a bridge to a more globalized and just world, said Arturo Oropeza, vice president of Mexico's Institute for Industrial Development and Economic Growth. Important progress has been achieved regarding the BRI, which goes beyond the economic and commercial realms and also focuses on institutional, environmental, cultural, and social dimensions, Oropeza said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "It's a new vision in which sharing is sought not only in the area of financial investment," but also in other areas such as technology, education, and science, allowing it to "break the paradigms of the 21st century." Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa through the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road. In Oropeza's opinion, China has reached out to the world to make the win-win offer a reality. "It's an idea of win-win. Each country contributes its strengths and tries to revolve its weaknesses, and it's a joint sum," said Oropeza, who is also a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The expert indicated that the initiative would grow in popularity and achieve "a more unified, more conjoined world." "The only future that exists is all together," said Oropeza. He stressed the need for Latin American countries to join the initiative, noting that they should consider it a "great opportunity" that allows for "better communication and greater closeness" with countries that are distant geographically. For Oropeza, infrastructure and communications must be promoted, as these sectors allow for the flow of more goods and services, such as tourism. Additionally, students residing in countries involved in this initiative have access to scholarship opportunities in diverse majors related to energy, communications, transport, oceanography, and finance, and also benefit from academic exchange, Oropeza said. Oropeza predicted that the upcoming Second Belt and Road Initiative Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in April would be "large-scale," because it would allow for analysis of the initiative's successes as well as the challenges it has resolved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:21:19|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visits to Italy, Monaco and France are expected to inject new impetus into China-EU relations, a senior official said Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Xi would pay state visits to the three European countries from March 21 to 26, at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco Albert II and French President Emmanuel Macron. Xi's visit to Europe will be the first overseas trip in 2019 by the Chinese head of state, also the top leader of the Communist Party of China, bearing historic significance for the development of relations between China and the three countries, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao told a press briefing. Noting that Italy is an important member country of the G20 and Europe Union, Wang said this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, and next year will mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. "Bilateral relations of the two countries are faced with important opportunities." Xi's visit to Italy will be of historic significance in building on the past and opening up the future for the bilateral relations, Wang said. During his visit to Italy, Xi will hold talks with President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, meet with presidents of the Senate of the Republic and the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and the two sides will exchange in-depth views on China-Italy, China-EU relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. "President Xi and Prime Minister Conte will jointly witness the signing of intergovernmental cooperation documents in fields of diplomacy, economy and trade, culture, as well as commercial agreements in infrastructure, machinery and finance," Wang said, adding that the two sides would strengthen Belt and Road cooperation. Xi will also visit Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily, Wang said. Noting that China and Monaco have set an example of friendly relations between countries of different sizes, Wang said Xi's visit to Monaco, the first-ever one by a Chinese president, will be of historic significance to bilateral relations. Xi will hold talks with Prince Albert II during his visit to Monaco and they will exchange views on issues such as politics, economy, humanities and environmental protection, and jointly open up a new era of China-Monaco relations, Wang said. Hailing that France was the first major Western country to establish official diplomatic ties with New China, Wang said current China-France relations have maintained sound, stable and high-level development and have distinct strategic, contemporary and global characteristics. The two countries have made steady progress in jointly building the Belt and Road and third-party market cooperation, as well as in cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, aerospace, agriculture, finance and sustainable development, Wang said. The two sides have also maintained close coordination in safeguarding multilateralism, improving global governance and dealing with climate change, and witnessed increasing people-to-people exchanges, he added. Wang said Xi's state visit to France, his second within five years, will coincide with the 55th anniversary of China-France diplomatic ties, and is of special significance to bilateral relations. During his visit, Xi will hold talks with President Macron, meet with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Speaker of the Senate and President of the National Assembly, according to Wang. The leaders of the two countries will exchange in-depth views on the China-France relations, China-EU relations, and international and regional issues of common interest, and witness the signing of cooperation agreements covering energy, transport, agriculture, finance, culture and technology. Wang said Xi's visits will bring the pragmatic cooperation between China and the three countries to a new height, inject new impetus into China-EU relations in the new era, and open up new space for jointly building the Belt and Road. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:31:30|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China has introduced a new regulation, requiring school officials from kindergartens to high schools to accompany students in each school meal as a way of ensuring food safety. The mechanism will be established in a bid to spot problems and safety hazards and address them in a timely manner, according to the regulation jointly issued by the Ministry of Education, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Health Commission. Under the new regulation, parents will also invited as supervisors to offer suggestions on food safety and nutrition improvement, to which schools must give timely replies. The regulation required schools to make public the food sources, suppliers and other information via public platforms. Schools were also encouraged to release student menus and the corresponding nutritional information on a weekly basis. The regulation said schools should foster healthy eating habits and intensify monitoring, assessment and intervention on malnutrition and obesity problems. In general, food stores are not allowed in kindergartens, primary schools and high schools, said the document, adding that licensed stores should not sell food high in salt, sugar or fat. The regulation will come into effect on April 1, and replace an earlier version introduced in 2002. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 16:51:39|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Wednesday that the country is seeking to hire a power ship from Turkey to tackle the ongoing electricity shortage. "Keo Ratanak, director-general of the Electricite du Cambodge, will fly to Turkey soon in order to bring a power ship, which is installed with about 200-megawatt power plant, to capital Phnom Penh if the negotiation on the electricity price is reached," he said during a visit to thousands of garment factory workers in Pursat province. A power ship is a special purpose-designed ship, on which a power plant is installed to serve as a power generation resource. Hun Sen said Turkey planned to sell the electricity to Cambodia at the price of 14 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, about three cents higher than that purchased from local hydropower plants. He said Cambodia will hire the Turkish power ship for several years until more power plants have been built to fill the shortage of electricity in the kingdom. Meanwhile, the prime minister assured that although the electricity tariff from the Turkish power ship is a bit expensive, the government will not increase the tariff for consumers. Cambodia is facing the electricity shortage of 400 megawatts during the ongoing dry season because that hydropower plants, the main electricity producers, could not generate electricity in full swing due to the shortage of waters, Hun Sen said. He added that power cuts will last until June. Hun Sen also asked for understanding from the people when there were power outages during this period and renewed calls on those who have generators to use them for their houses, hotels or workplaces in order to tackle this shortage. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, electricity supply in Cambodia was 2,650 megawatts in 2018, in which 1,329 megawatts, or 50 percent of the total power supply, were produced by hydroelectric dams. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 17:06:44|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close JAKARTA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- One policeman was shot dead and three others wounded in a clash with a rebel group in Indonesia's eastern Papua province on Wednesday, police said. The incident took place in Mugi of Nduga district where construction of 4,600 km Trans-Papua Highway project and 16 bridges are underway, the province's Police Chief Insp. Gen. Martuani Sormin said. The clash erupted when the personnel of mobile brigade police was securing a helicopter which was just about to land in Mugi for unloading logistics, the police chief said. The rebels who are called "criminal armed group" by police abruptly opened fire at the police personnel, triggering the exchange of fires, he said. "One police personnel died and three others suffered from wounds," he was quoted by local media as saying. Earlier this month, three Indonesian soldiers and 10 rebels were killed when 70 rebels ambushed 25 soldiers in Nduga district, in the wake of a massacre of 17 construction workers by the armed criminal group in December last year. The military has recently deployed a total of 600 soldiers, consisting of 150 combat engineers, to complete the construction, according to the military. Indonesian President Joko Widodo pledged to continue the construction of infrastructure projects in Papua province after the massacre. Civilians, soldiers and former U.S. subsidiary firm PT Freeport Indonesia have been targeted by armed groups in Papua. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 17:18:01|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Aerial photo taken on March 19, 2019 shows the area where Guanjing Village meets the desert at Dalad Qi in Ordos of north China's Inner Mongolia. Villagers have planted the trees to curb desertification since the 1990s at Guanjing Village of Dalad Qi in Ordos which is located at the border area of Kubuqi Desert. After years of planting, the salix area has reached to 123, 000 mu (8, 200 hectares), accounting for a large proportion of the 192,000-mu (12,800-hectares) forest area in the village. The salix saplings fostered here help to prevent lands from desertification and also enjoy great popularity in the market for its high-quality. Planting and selling salix saplings has become one way to raise the income for the villagers. (Xinhua/Zou Yu) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 17:11:44|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A grand exhibition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up concluded Wednesday, after receiving 4.2 million visits. On-site visitors wrote 3.2 million Chinese characters of comments during their visits, and a digital version of the exhibition received more than 400 million visits, according to the organizer. The exhibition, which opened at the National Museum in Beijing last November, used historical photos, text, video, miniature models and interactive activities to show China's achievements over the past 40 years. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 17:36:52|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close NAIROBI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. army on Wednesday said no civilians have been killed in its airstrikes in support of the international effort to defeat al-Shabab fighters and help alleviate security challenges in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which conducts U.S. military strikes in Somalia in coordination with the Somali government, said it takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously regardless of their origin. "AFRICOM complies with the law of armed conflict and takes all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties and other collateral damage," it said in a statement. The statement comes after 14 civilians were allegedly killed and eight others injured during five U.S. airstrikes in Somalia in the last two years. However, Africom denied the allegations, noting that no civilians have been killed in its strikes meant to secure the internationally-backed government. "We believe the report does not accurately reflect Africom's record in mitigating civilian casualties. In fact, Africom goes to extraordinary lengths to reduce the likelihood of civilian casualties, exercising restraint as a matter of policy," said the US army. Africom said it will use all effective and appropriate methods to protect the Somali people, including partnered military counter-terror operations with the Somali government, security forces and AMISOM. The U.S. military said it has conducted 110 airstrikes in Somalia since June 2017, eliminating more than 800 terrorists, stressing that the airstrikes are primarily conducted in secluded and low-populated areas. "We have processes in place to ensure the safety and protection of the local population remains a top priority. These procedures, combined with precision strike capabilities, safeguard civilians and infrastructure," Africom said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 18:47:18|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Xinhua) -- At least six security personnel were killed when unknown militants opened fire at a security check post in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Wednesday, local reports and officials said. Ziarat Deputy Commissioner Qadir Bakhsh Parkani said the attackers sprayed bullets indiscriminately on the security forces' check post in Ziarat, adding the terrorists fled the scene after carrying out the attack. Following the incident, heavy contingent of police and rescue teams reached the area and shifted the bodies to a nearby hospital for medico-legal formalities. Police cordoned off the area and kicked off a search operation to apprehend the on-the-run militants. No group or person has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 19:02:19|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday quizzed a Google LLC executive over the firm's data protection and other procedural protocols as the government sets about clamping down on regulations for global IT companies operating here. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling LDP will also question Facebook Inc. on Friday to gauge whether, along with the likes of Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., the company may be in breach of antitrust laws. "We need to compile transparent and fair rules to remove the negative impact while promoting technological innovation at the same time," LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida said at the start of the meeting with the executive from Google's U.S. headquarters. The government is concerned that the companies in question may be collecting customers' personal data without consent and concealing the ways in which they use the information. The LDP's Research Commission on Market Competitiveness Policy panel has already held talks with Apple and Amazon Japan officials and will make recommendations on the issue in April. A probe was launched in February by the Japan Fair Trade Commission to see if the IT companies are in breach of the antimonopoly law by, for example, exerting undue pressure on vendors to implement and finance their schemes without being able to negotiate terms. Amazon.com, to this point, allegedly forced all its vendors to adopt a customer loyalty scheme, with no opt-out option for sellers, with the vendors themselves having to pay for the strategy. Amazon Japan meanwhile is planning to introduce a cookie-cutter version of the scheme, but may find it breaching Japan's antimonopoly law by abusing its authority over a counterpart. A cross-ministry task force, with support from Japan's antitrust watchdog, is working towards establishing new rules to ensure better transparency in transactions tacking place between companies and the global IT behemoths. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 19:22:24|Editor: ZX Video Player Close HONG KONG, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Residents of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region can apply for mainland banking accounts easily here in Hong Kong, as a new service was launched by Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) on Wednesday. As the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area moves forward, regulatory approval has been granted by the mainland for the pilot mainland personal account opening attestation service in Hong Kong, in an effort to fulfill the demand for financial services among the Hong Kong residents who travel, work and live on the mainland. For the Hong Kong citizens looking to open an account, they only need to visit any BOCHK branch with their permanent Hong Kong ID card and Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents and fill in account opening documents. "It took about 15 minutes. Quite convenient," said a Hong Kong resident surnamed Lee, after he completed the application procedures at a BOCHK branch. Customers may link their mainland personal account to mainland mobile payment applications to enjoy the convenience of digital payments. Ann Kung, deputy chief executive of BOCHK, said "With the great support from both mainland and Hong Kong regulatory authorities, BOCHK cooperate closely with its parent bank Bank of China (BOC) and their institutions in the Greater Bay Area in introducing the mainland personal account opening service, which allows Hong Kong residents to open mainland banking accounts easily without setting foot outside Hong Kong." She said "BOCHK will continue to expedite the innovation of cross-border financial products and services in order to fulfill the demand for cross-border financial services among those Hong Kong people who work, live and travel in the Greater Bay Area." "The bank is set on making positive contributions to the development of the Greater Bay Area into a quality zone for living, working and travelling, as well as a vibrant world-class city cluster," she added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 19:27:25|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese authorities said on Wednesday that the number of refugees who have returned to their homeland from Lebanon had reached 172,046 by March 19. Lebanon "will continue working on the voluntary return of Syrian refugees in coordination with Syrian authorities ... including those who have entered Lebanon in an illegal way," the directorate of the Lebanese General Security said on its website. Meanwhile, Abbas Ibrahim, General Security chief, told the independent online newspaper Elnashra that the Syrian authorities have approved the list of Syrian refugees who wish to return. To facilitate the return of Syrian refugees, Russia drafted a strategy and presented it to the Lebanese authorities. The strategy, drafted by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came after a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump last year. The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 Syrian refugees from Lebanon. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 19:47:29|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SAN SALVADOR, March 19 (Xinhua) -- El Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren highlighted here on Tuesday the development of bilateral relations with China. At a handover ceremony of laptops which were donated by China to El Salvadoran public schools, the president stressed the significance and benefits of El Salvadora's relationship with the Asian country. "This donation is a sign of the genuine wish to drive projects of cooperation, that will always be of benefit to the people of the two countries, with transparency and without any political conditions," he said. The president also highlighted the decision to establish diplomatic relations with China in August 2018. "We established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China through a sovereign, transparent act, without political conditions and of mutual cooperation, with the benefit of pushing development and progress between the two peoples," the president said. China's ambassador to EL Salvador, Ou Jianhong, thanked the president and the attendees for the opportunity to share with the Salvadoran people the historic moment. "Despite the immense geographical distance between China and El Salvador, the Chinese people send their friendship and solidarity with the Salvadoran people and are ready to offer their sincere and selfless help," Ou said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:02:36|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Bin) BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin here on Wednesday. In his talks with Locsin, Wang said under the guidance of the leaders of China and the Philippines, the two sides continued to deepen political mutual trust and have seen fruitful results of pragmatic cooperation in the past three years. China and the Philippines have positively explored maritime cooperation, worked together to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, boosted security, development and people-to-people cooperation, and made steady progress in jointly building the Belt and Road, Wang said. Wang spoke highly of the Philippines playing the role of coordinator to enhance China-ASEAN ties and regional cooperation in East Asia. "China is willing to work together with the Philippines and other ASEAN countries to complete consultation of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea in three years," Wang said, adding that China is also striving to finish the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiation this year. Locsin said China and the Philippines have shared a long-time friendship and have never been rivals. China has never interfered in other countries' internal affairs and never used its strength or advantages to pressure neighboring countries, he said, adding that the Belt and Road Initiative has boosted common development of China and other countries. He said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is looking forward to attending the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing next month. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:02:36|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned the Hungarian envoy in protest over the opening of a representative commercial office in East Jerusalem. Amal Jado, assistant foreign minister on Europe affairs, met with Csaba Rada, head of mission of the office of Hungary, to express the Palestinian anger over the Hungarian diplomatic move, according to a ministry press statement. Jado considered the move "an assault against the Palestinian, Islamic and Arab entirety, and is a violation of international law and the position of the European Union toward Jerusalem." This move "jeopardizes the bilateral relations between the two countries and would have severe consequences on all levels," the statement said. The foreign ministry also said the Palestinian ambassador to Hungary has been recalled for consultation over the issue. Palestine will ask the Organisation of Islamic Countries to take measures against Hungary "since it has harmed the Palestinian sovereignty," the ministry statement said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:12:40|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Senior Indian woman politician Kumari Mayawati announced on Wednesday that she would not contest in the country's general elections due from April 11 to May 19. The 63-year-old Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief announced her decision at a press conference in Lucknow, the capital of northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati said she had decided not to contest keeping in mind the current political situation. "I have decided not to contest in the Lok Sabha (parliamentary) elections," Mayawati said. "I am confident that my party will completely understand my decision. Our coalition is doing well. I can vacate a seat and contest later if I wish." Her party has entered into a pre-poll alliance with another major party Samajwadi Party in the state to counter the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). The four-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and senior parliamentarian said it was more important for the alliance to win more seats rather than her own victory. Mayawati's BSP has support base in Uttar Pradesh which sends most number of legislators to Indian parliament. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:22:41|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian government on Wednesday called for international protection for the Palestinian people, after the killing of three Palestinians in the West Bank overnight. In a statement, Yousef Al-Mahmoud, government spokesman, accused Israel of deliberately using excessive force to cause tense ground situation all the time. An Israeli army force raided a house in West Bank the village of Abwein north of Ramallah on Tuesday night, killing a Palestinian man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting and stabbing attack, Israel Radio reported. A few hours later, two other Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces inside their car in the city of Nablus. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:37:44|Editor: ZX Video Player Close ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An upcoming state visit to Italy by President Xi Jinping will open up a new chapter in Sino-Italian relations, Chinese Ambassador to Italy Li Ruiyu has said. Xi's visit, starting Thursday, will be the first of its kind in a decade, Li said in a recent interview with Xinhua, noting that bilateral relations have been on the fast track since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1970, and especially since they forged a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2004. The China-Italy traditional friendship is growing ever deep, bilateral cooperation in various fields is booming, and high-level exchanges are witnessing sound momentum, added the ambassador. Meanwhile, the two sides have always understood and supported each other on issues of core interests and major concerns, continuously consolidating political mutual trust, Li said. As China and Italy celebrate the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership this year and the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations next year, Xi's upcoming visit is of great importance, stressed the ambassador. The state visit, he said, is set to steer forward the development of bilateral relations by drawing up a new blueprint for ties, creating new cooperation opportunities, and infusing new vigor into the long-running friendship between the two countries. China and Italy have highly complementary economic structures and broad shared interests, Li pointed out, noting that bilateral trade reached a record of 54.23 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 despite weak global trade. In addition, cooperation in such areas as port construction, 5G communications and third-party collaboration is gathering steam, the number of high-quality cultural exchange programs are growing, and people-to-people and subnational exchanges are on the rise, he added. The Chinese ambassador highlighted how thousands of opportunities in tech cooperation have been created through the nine editions of the China-Italy Science, Technology and Innovation Week. China and Italy, at the two ends of the ancient Silk Road, are important partners within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Li said, noting that Rome has responded positively to the initiative and deems it an important opportunity in bilateral relations. During his visit, Xi will exchange views with Italian leaders on deepening bilateral ties and BRI cooperation, and the two sides are expected to sign a series of important agreements, said the ambassador. "I am confident that the implementation of these cooperation agreements will surely inject new energy into the development of China-Italy relations in this new phase, open up a new space for jointly building the Belt and Road, and lift the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level," he said. On cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Li said the leaders of the two countries will further promote mutual learning and bilateral friendship during Xi's visit. He added that in order to help both countries to better understand each other, Rome will host a second plenary meeting of cultural cooperation between China and Italy, as well as multiple high-level exhibitions and artistic programs. On technological cooperation, the ambassador noted that the two sides share a strong willingness to deepen ties in science, technology and innovation. The two countries, he added, will continue to step up cooperation in such fields as aerospace, artificial intelligence, fundamental research, environmental protection, sustainable development and health care, to the benefit of both peoples. In the field of education, Li said bilateral exchanges have been expanding rapidly, with Italy now hosting about 24,000 Chinese students and China hosting 6,430 Italian students in 2017. As bilateral cooperation grows deeper within the BRI framework, more Italians are starting to familiarize themselves with the Chinese language and culture. Since 2006, 12 Confucius Institutes and nearly 40 Confucius Classrooms have been established in Italy, more than 100 Italian primary and secondary schools have opened Mandarin courses, and the Chinese language has become a major in more than 40 Italian universities. Xi's visit, said the ambassador, will add fuel to the "Mandarin fever" in Italy and help reinforce public support for further deepening political ties between the two countries. "Italy is a trustworthy good friend and good partner of China in the European Union (EU)," Li said. Through this visit, he added, China hopes to join hands with Italy to send a clear message to the world that China will work with Italy and the EU to advocate openness and win-win cooperation, while firmly safeguarding multilateralism and the rules-based free trade system. In so doing, said the ambassador, the two countries will bolster bilateral and China-EU relations, as well as to efforts to promote world peace, stability and prosperity. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:37:45|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. internet giant Google on Wednesday received a new fine ticket of 1.49 billion euros (1.69 billion U.S. dollars) from the European Union (EU) for breaching of anti-trust rules. The decision was made due to Google's "illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts," said European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, in a press release. The European Commission maintained that "Google has abused this market dominance by preventing rivals from competing in the online search advertising intermediation market." It said Google has provided search advertising to "the most commercially important publishers" via individually negotiated agreements, and the Commission has reviewed hundreds of such agreements. The findings concluded that Google first required exclusivity by prohibiting the publishers from placing its competitors' search adverts, then asked them to reserve "the most profitable space" for a minimum number of Google adverts. Google was also discovered to force the publishers to "seek written approval from Google before making changes to the way in which any rival adverts were displayed," meaning that Google "could control how attractive, and therefore clicked on, competing search adverts could be," said the Commission. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 20:42:48|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The 20th China Development Forum (CDF), an annual international event to discuss crucial topics, will be held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing from March 23 to 25. With "Greater Opening-up for Win-Win Cooperation" as its theme, this year's CDF will focus on key issues such as the supply-side structural reform, new measures of proactive fiscal policy, and the opening-up of the financial sector and financial stability. More than 50 officials from the Chinese central government's departments and over 150 overseas delegates will participate in the forum, including 96 executives from the world's leading companies and nearly 30 globally well-known scholars. Hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) and organized by the China Development Research Foundation, the CDF is committed to "Engaging with the World for Common Prosperity." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:07:57|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Forty-two state-owned enterprises (SOEs) administrated by central authorities and three central government agencies are the target of the latest round of routine disciplinary inspection to be carried out by the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, an official statement said Wednesday. Among the SOEs on the list are China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited, China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, China National Petroleum Corporation, State Grid Corporation of China, China Huaneng Group Co., LTD., China Telecommunications Corporation, and China National Aviation Corporation (Group) Limited. The three central government agencies targeted are the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the National Energy Administration, and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:07:58|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SRINAGAR, India-controlled Kashmir, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Normal life in the Muslim majority areas of the restive India-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday remained affected due to a strike on the custodial death of a school teacher. The call for strike was given by the region's separatist groups under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL). "People of Kashmir have borne tremendous hardships and suffering for the last three decades especially, all because they are asking for an end to the conflict through peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per the people's wishes but instead people are being crushed," a statement issued by JRL said. On Tuesday, 28-year-old Rizwan Pandit, a school teacher died in police custody at CARGO camp in Srinagar city, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir. Pandit was picked by police a few days back from his house at Awantipora town of Pulwama district, about 30 km south of Srinagar. His death triggered protests and clashes in his hometown, following which authorities suspended mobile internet service in Pulwama, Anantnag, Budgam and Srinagar districts. All shops, business establishments, educational institutions and private offices remained closed in Srinagar. Attendance in government offices and banks were also affected to a large extent in wake of the call. Similar reports were received from district headquarters and major towns. Public transport remained off the roads and streets wore a deserted look. However, some private vehicles were seen plying. Meanwhile, authorities imposed restrictions in sensitive areas. Hundreds of police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed in these areas to maintain law and order. "The situation across the region remained peaceful and no untoward incident has taken place," a police official said. Pandit's death has evoked widespread condemnation from the pro-India political parties and separatist groups. The local government has also ordered a magisterial inquiry into his death. A guerilla war challenging New Delhi's rule has been going on in India-controlled Kashmir since 1989. Kashmir, divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:13:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BRUSSELS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. internet giant Google on Wednesday received a new fine ticket of 1.49 billion euros (1.69 billion U.S. dollars) from the European Union (EU) for breaching anti-trust rules. The decision was made due to Google's "illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts," said European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, in a press release. The European Commission maintained that "Google has abused this market dominance by preventing rivals from competing in the online search advertising intermediation market." It said Google has provided search advertising to "the most commercially important publishers" via individually negotiated agreements, and the Commission has reviewed hundreds of such agreements. The findings concluded that Google first required exclusivity by prohibiting the publishers from placing its competitors' search adverts, then asked them to reserve "the most profitable space" for a minimum number of Google adverts. Google was also discovered to force the publishers to "seek written approval from Google before making changes to the way in which any rival adverts were displayed," meaning that Google "could control how attractive, and therefore clicked on, competing search adverts could be," said the Commission. In July 2016, the Commission sent a warning letter criticizing the company of hindering third party websites to display search advertisements from Google's competitors. The European Commission said Google "ceased the illegal practices a few months after" receiving the letter. The latest fine accounted for 1.29 percent of Google's turnover in 2018, and the Commission said it has taken account of the duration and gravity of the infringement. It has been the third round of heavy fines on Google by the EU. In June 2017, the Commission fined Google 2.42 billion euros for offering an illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service, and in July 2018 4.34 billion euros for illegally strengthening its search engine's dominance on Android mobile devices. Google has been the strongest player in online search advertising intermediation in the European Economic Area (EEA) for more than 12 years. Its market share was above 70 percent from 2006 to 2016, said the European Commission. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:13:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close HO CHI MINH CITY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese police on Wednesday raided a house in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, detaining five Vietnamese and foreign drug traffickers, and confiscating some 300 kg of crystal methamphetamine, local media reported. The drug, the biggest-ever amount seized in Ho Chi Minh City, was transported from Laos to the city via trails around Bo Y international border gate in Vietnam's central highlands Kon Tum province, online newspaper VnExpress quoted the municipal police as reporting. Vietnamese police also raided other houses in central highlands Dak Nong province and the two southern provinces of Binh Duong and Tay Ninh, which were suspected of storing drugs of the transnational drug trafficking ring. According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:13:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Wednesday she has written to the European Union seeking to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30. May announced during her weekly Prime Minister's Question Time that she had made the request in a letter sent Wednesday morning to Donald Tusk, President of the EU Council. May told MPs in the House of Commons that if the extension is agreed she plans to put her Brexit deal to MPs for a third vote. Describing her request as a short extension, May said she did not believe a longer extension would be in anyone's interest as it would mean Britain having to take part in EU elections this year. If the House of Commons rejects her deal it will be up to MPs to decide how to proceed. "I'm not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30," she said. People in Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, with a departure date set for March 29. May will travel to Brussels Thursday to meet EU member state leaders. Any delay to Brexit will need approval from all 27 EU member states. Opposition politicians in the House of Commons, including Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, accused May of plunging the country into a crisis. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:18:01|Editor: ZX Video Player Close By Xinhua Writers Tian Zijun, Shi Linjing and Lyu Qiuping ZHENGZHOU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Inside a dilapidated two-story bungalow, Chen Weiqi has been working on his latest novel by pressing his head to a keyboard in front of a flickering screen. Chen is an amateur science fiction novelist in Xuchang, central China's Henan Province, who suffers from a severe loss of motor function due to cerebral palsy. Over the years, the 35-year-old has mastered his own trick to work most efficiently on the computer. He would use the bulge formed by pressing the tip of his tongue against his lower lip to type, a manner that resembles a pigeon pecking at the breadcrumbs on the pavement. Under the pen-name Tianjianglongxia, or Lobster from the Sky, Chen has created many works over the past more than 10 years, including the 225,000-word "progression of life," which was published last year. It tells the story of a fight between human beings and monsters created by genetic technology in the year 2085. The novel not only provides a plausible assumption on the unchecked development of life science but also warns against the catastrophic consequences of the rampant abuse of genetic technology, San Feng, a renowned science fiction researcher and critic, said in the preface. "In the sci-fi world, I can roam freely in the realm of my untrammeled imagination, and redeem a piece of my soul from this irksome confinement I call reality," Chen said, struggling with his words and followed by a bout of involuntary tremors upon finishing each sentence. TRAPPED INSIDE Born in 1984, Chen suffered from a lack of oxygen at birth and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy eight months later. Before he was five years old, he could only lean in his parents' arms. "Unable to lift his chin, he often bumped into my cheek with his head," said Wang Xuemei, Chen's mother. Wang named him "Weiqi," meaning rise up, in the hope of seeing him stand up and walk, a skill he did not master until he was six. His father died in a car accident the same year. At the age of eight, Chen was finally admitted to a school after being turned down many times. In Chen's own words, his primary school years were when he most felt like an ordinary child, despite being occasionally mocked for his awkward, staggered style of walking. Despite the difficulty in holding a pen, Chen finished his homework on time every day. "When doing homework, he would sweat all over, even in winter," Wang recalled, adding that Chen was always among the top three students in his class. During his first year of junior high school, Chen had a high fever that lasted almost the entire summer vacation, forcing him to drop out of school as he was no longer able to get out of bed. He had nothing to do but read while bed-ridden for the next several years. "Reading helped me learn about the world. It made me feel better," he said. In 2001, when he realized he could sit up again, he asked his mother to buy a computer, a luxury for most families back then. "He seldom demanded anything. But once he decided, there was nothing that could stop him," Wang recalled, able to buy him a computer by borrowing money. For Chen, the computer opened a door to the world wide web, where he spent most of his waking hours reading, writing and visiting online forums. ROAMING IN IMAGINATION In 2003, "the life of fight," a short story Chen wrote about the war between human and aliens, was published on a literature site. "I didn't know what I wrote was called science fiction until the website editors categorized the work in the sci-fi column," he said. Chen has consistently drawn inspiration from a variety of subjects that interest him, from books, movies, mangas or video games. To translate his fanciful ideas into literary works as fast as he could, Chen started experimenting with different ways to type on the keyboard. He used to rely solely on his left pinkie to do all the typing, but it could only last for about two hours before his left arm became stiff and recoiled in pain. Plus, the posture of extending his left pinkie to the keyboard required Chen to forcibly attach his right arm on his back, thus placing an inordinate amount of pressure on his right lung and damaging its ability to function properly. After several failed attempts at employing other functioning body parts to do the trick, Chen decided on using the bulge formed by pressing the tip of his tongue against his lower lip to type. "If I was eager to type out my thoughts, I could type 3,000 characters a day at most, tripling my normal speed," said Chen. Over the past 10 years, Chen has pecked nearly one million words on the keyboard. His works also won him sci-fi prizes and some remunerations. Chen is particularly thrilled to see science fiction take off in China after Liu Cixin became the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for his novel The Three-Body Problem in 2015. His body is continuing to deteriorate, with his lower limbs already numb, but Chen said he would never give up writing. "Although I'm not able to leave my house, my mind can travel to the edge of the universe, and writing sci-fi has allowed me to do that," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:33:05|Editor: ZX Video Player Close TAIPEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An increasing number of companies in Taiwan consider the Chinese mainland the most important market for their growth in 2019, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday by PwC Taiwan. Three-quarters of surveyed CEOs of Taiwan enterprises said the Chinese mainland remains the most important market in 2019, up from 72 percent last year, revealed PwC Taiwan. As part of PwC's annual global CEO survey of 1,378 CEOs, the PwC Taiwan conducted interviews with 245 CEOs from sectors of technology, telecom, consumption, manufacturing, industrial, health, energy and public resources, and finance services during October-December 2018. Among the interviewed chief executives of Taiwan enterprises, 52 percent viewed the United States as the most important market for growth this year, down from 59 percent in 2018, while 23 percent, 18 percent and 14 percent of Taiwan CEOs considered Japan, Vietnam and Germany, respectively, as their most important market. When asked about the global economic outlook this year, Taiwan CEOs were the most pessimistic among their peers from major economies, as 47 percent of respondents in Taiwan predicted a decline in global economic growth, compared with 8 percent last year. The proportion marked the highest level since 2013 in Taiwan, well above the 29 percent shared among global CEOs. Only 27 percent of Taiwan CEOs projected higher global economic growth in 2019, compared with 42 percent globally. In terms of revenue growth for their own companies this year, only 19 percent of Taiwan CEOs said they are "very confident," compared with 35 percent of global CEOs. The proportion touched the lowest revenue confidence level since 2016, according to the PwC survey. "This sends a very bad signal," said PwC Taiwan CEO Chou Chien-hung, who led the survey. "For Taiwan CEOs, 2019 will be the most stressful year with the fiercest competition." According to the survey results, Taiwan CEOs viewed trade conflicts, geopolitical uncertainty and policy uncertainty as the potential threats they are most worried about, while other CEOs considered unstable exchange rates, protectionism and uncertainty in economic growth to be the most prominent threats. About 40 percent of the surveyed CEOs were from companies with an annual business turnover between 100 million U.S. dollars to 999 million U.S. dollars, while 39 percent represented those with annual revenues below 100 million U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:39:00|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Local people take part in a celebration of the Holi Festival in Yangon, Myanmar, March 20, 2019. Holi Festival, also known as the Festival of Colours, is celebrated to mark the beginning of Spring. (Xinhua/U Aung) Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:48:08|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close by Raimundo Urrechaga HAVANA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Despite a sharp setback in its domestic harvest due to lack of resources and inefficient planning, Cuba still fulfilled its sugar exports, one of the island's traditional products, to various markets worldwide. "The country's export plan to China and various nations in Europe hasn't been affected and we have complied so far. Also, domestic consumption is guaranteed," Lourdes Castellanos, international relations director for AzCuba, the island's state group for sugar production, told Xinhua. The current sugar harvest, which began last November, has only reached 82 percent of its plan through the end of February with only two months remaining in the harvest. The Caribbean nation expects to produce 1.5 million tons overall and export about 920,000 tons this year, a nearly 50 percent increase from 2018, said Cuban Economy and Planning Minister Alejandro Gil during a parliament meeting last December. Castellanos said AzCuba has not given up on the overall plan, as material resources recently arrived on the island which could increase production. "Among the difficulties are interruptions and broken generators and boilers in the industry as well as the late arrival of imported parts, rain in some areas of the country and efficiency problems," the AzCuba official added. Other products derived from the industry like rum, honey, biostimulants and alcohol are fulfilling the export plans, she said. The industry is also facing some first-hand challenges for next year's harvest due to financing and cash constraints to import spare parts for the aging mills, added Castellanos. During an industry meeting last week, AzCuba President Julio Andres Garcia said more than 35,000 hectares of sugar cane were not planted during this harvest, which represents about 1.5 million tons of raw material used to produce sugar. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the same meeting stressed the importance of sugar production for the Caribbean country. It is not only a key export item, but also helps generate jobs, electricity and animal feed, he said. "We have to face the difficulties confronted in this harvest and take advantage of the two months left by reprogramming mills, improve yields and increase efficiency," he said. Diaz-Canel said Cuba will continue to uphold its sugar production despite difficulties and it must be scaled according to appropriate outputs for exports and internal demands. The Cuban leader said the industry should work in two directions to increase efficiency and incomes. "We must improve results in the remainder of this sugar season and organize the future harvest, for which a working group should be created that comprehensively analyzes the problems and proposes solutions," he said. Sugar was long Cuba's most important industry and export item, whose output reached 8 million tons in 1991. It now ranks behind sectors such as medical services, tourism, biotechnology and premium cigars. Traditional markets of Cuban sugar include Indonesia, China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Asia, Russia and Belarus in Europe, Lebanon in the Middle East and Peru in Latin America. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 21:58:12|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Mongolian company Tenuun Gerel Construction LLC on Wednesday signed a loan agreement for 18.7 million U.S. dollars for a solar power plant project with a capacity of 15 megawatts. "The ADB has provided financial assistance to private sector projects of many countries. The loan agreement for the solar project is the ADB's first co-financing with the Leading Asia's Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP) in Mongolia's renewable energy sector," Yolanda Fernandez Lommen, ADB country director for Mongolia, said at the signing ceremony. The construction of the solar power plant called "Bukhug" began in May 2018 and was completed in December, according to Tenuun Gerel Construction. "I am very happy that our company became the first Mongolian private company which received funding from the ADB," Sukhbaatar Odbaatar, director of the company, told Xinhua. "Initially, our company built the plant with its own funding. Today, we replaced the money spent on the construction of the plant with the low interest loan from the ADB," Odbaatar said. The solar power plant started supplying electricity to Mongolia's central grid system since the beginning of this year and it can generate 29.3 million kwh of electricity per year to the country's national power grid, Odbaatar said. Mongolia currently has around 18 percent of its power generated from renewable energy, including solar and wind. It aims to make renewable energy use account for 20 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:03:13|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NAIROBI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday called for the urgent removal of all barriers that hinder coffee farmers from reaping maximum profits from the cash crop. Kenyatta, who held a meeting in Nairobi with visiting International Coffee Organization (ICO) Executive Director Jose Sette, said lack of proper regulations has given room for middlemen to benefit from coffee at the expense of hardworking farmers. This has led to a decline in the output of coffee, once one of Kenya's leading foreign exchange earners. "Coffee is one of Kenya's key cash crops, but unfortunately it has been facing challenges. There is need to streamline the sector so that farmers can benefit," he said. Sette briefed Kenyatta on the the forthcoming 124th Session of the International Coffee Council, which will be held in Nairobi on March 25-29, according to a statement issued by the presidency after the meeting. The session, which will be attended by delegates from both coffee producing and consuming countries, will provide an opportunity for Kenyan farmers to exchange ideas with their counterparts from other countries and experts in the search for solutions facing the sector, Sette said. He praised efforts by the Kenyan government to get coffee farming back on track for the benefit of farmers, including finding new markets for the crop, saying Kenya is globally renowned for its premium quality coffee. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:08:13|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close RIGA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Around 2,000 teachers gathered outside the Latvian parliament house in Riga on Wednesday morning to demand a pay increase promised to them by the Baltic county's previous government, local media reported. Although according to the original promise, the teachers' wages should be raised already this year, the center-right government of incumbent Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins did not include the wage hike in Latvia's 2019 budget, saying that first it was necessary to reform the inefficient education system and school network. Karins said that the teachers' wage issue would be addressed in the 2020 budget. In response to that decision, the teachers' union called a picket at the parliament building and warned that a strike would follow if the wage hike was not provided this year. Inga Vanaga, the leader of the teachers' union who met with representatives of the government and parliament on Wednesday, told reporters that the teachers succeeded in showing their "strength and unity" with their protest. In the talks, government representatives promised to provide the funding necessary for the pay rise by mid-May so the teachers' wages could be increased as of Sept. 1. "We agreed to cooperation," the union leader said, cautioning at the same tome that the teachers might still go ahead with their strike on March 27 if there are indications that the latest promises will not be kept. "We will be deciding on the strike to keep this pressure on. If the government and lawmakers do not provide the money by mid-May... there will be the teachers' strike," Vanaga said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:08:13|Editor: ZX Video Player Close SHANGHAI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of licensed social workers in Shanghai has increased by over 10,000 from the end of 2017 to reach 27,344, according to data released by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. As one of the first Chinese cities to pilot social work, Shanghai has witnessed healthy growth of professional social work organizations over the years, said Gu Donghui, president of the Shanghai Association of Social Workers. There are currently 603 such organizations in the eastern metropolis, and many are offering more innovative services, according to Gu. On Tuesday, Shanghai Children's Hospital released six cartoon figures each representing a social worker in the hospital to help child patients be more familiar with them. "Social workers in children's hospital used to wear the same white gown as doctors, making it difficult for them to connect with the children," said Niu Jun, head of the social work department of the hospital. The number of licensed social workers has exceeded 440,000 in China, while registered volunteers have surpassed 100 million, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:18:15|Editor: ZX Video Player Close HAIKOU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Southern China's island province of Hainan launched an arbitration center for tourism on Wednesday as its latest efforts to build itself into a popular international travel destination. The arbitration center mainly deals with tourism-related civil and commercial disputes in Hainan, including consumption, investment and project construction, local authorities said. The center was jointly established by the Hainan Court of International Arbitration and the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports. Ao Liyong, deputy head of the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports, said the establishment of the center will further improve the arbitration and resolution mechanism for tourism-related disputes, safeguard the legitimate rights of investors and consumers and boost the development of Hainan's tourism industry. China aims to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025, with plans to ease restrictions on its offshore duty-free policy and develop cross-border cruise tourism. Data from the province's tourism authority showed that more than 76 million domestic and overseas tourists visited the resort island in 2018, up 11.8 percent year on year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:28:18|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah attend a press conference in Kuwait City, capital of Kuwait, March 20, 2019. Foreign ministers of Kuwait and the United States vowed Wednesday to boost bilateral relations. (Xinhua/Asad) KUWAIT CITY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of Kuwait and the Untied States vowed Wednesday to boost bilateral relations. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah expressed his appreciation for the U.S. efforts to solve the Gulf crisis. "We appreciate the U.S. efforts and support to solve the Gulf crisis," Al-Sabah said during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the capital Kuwait City. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing Doha of backing terrorism. Qatar has repeatedly denied the accusations. "Kuwait has strategic relations with the U.S.," said the Kuwaiti minister. On Yemen, he said Kuwait agrees with the United States that "it is essential to solve the Yemeni crisis." "We believe in the U.S. friendship with several countries of the region which would lead to an accepted solution to the Palestinian issue," the Kuwaiti minister added. Pompeo said that the United States is prepared to enhance relations with Kuwait in various areas. "We have used strategic dialogue in its third round to support and enhance the various aspects of bilateral political, economic, cultural, educational, security and cybersecurity relations," Pompeo said. He noted that the relations between the two countries at the defense level are "distinct." Kuwait hosts thousands of U.S. troops on its territory, which reflects the strength of the military cooperation between the two countries, he said, stressing that Kuwait is a strategic partner of the United States in combating terrorism. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:28:19|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A court in Pakistan's Lahore has sentenced a Czech model for eight years and eight months in jail for attempting to smuggle drugs, local media reported Wednesday. Authorities at Lahore airport arrested the model in last January after recovering some nine kg of heroine from her luggage. The authorities said that Tereza Hluskova was attempting to smuggle the narcotics to Ireland. Television footage showed that the model broke down in court after hearing the verdict of her case. She was shifted to a woman jail by the police. After the model's arrest last year, her facilitator was also arrested who said that Hluskova teamed up with her brother's friend to smuggle drugs from Pakistan to foreign countries various times before getting caught by the airport authorities. The model, however, ruled out the accusations, saying in her defense that she was visiting Lahore for some modeling assignments and was unaware that someone put the drugs in her bag. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:33:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HANOI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- With profound values, Confucianism is still meaningful to the development of contemporary China and other countries, a well-known Chinese scholar said at an international workshop here on Wednesday. Confucianism helps contemporary China pursue not only prosperity, but also, more importantly, civilization, morality and world peace, professor of philosophy Chen Lai, dean of the Academy of Chinese Learning, Tsinghua University, said at the international workshop christened "The Moral Power of Confucianism" held at Vietnam's Graduate Academy of Social Sciences. According to Chen, Confucius' thought focused on worshiping morality, respecting kindness, honoring righteousness, keeping eclectic or not going extreme, and preferring harmony, which has affected China both in the past and at present. Chinese leaders have recently spoken highly of Confucianism, stressing that the moral standards passed on by forefathers should be inherited on the basis of making the past serve the present, Chen said, noting that for thousands of years, Confucius has been regarded as a symbol of China's traditional culture as well as the country's intellectuals. The key ideas of Confucius, including rule by virtue, self-discipline to appease others and harmony in diversity, have good impact on the Vietnamese people, Pham Van Duc, president of Vietnam's Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the workshop. "Chen Lai has just told me that South Korean companies have applied Confucianism successfully. So I think that Vietnamese enterprises can also apply Confucianism to improve the moral standards of employers and employees, as well as to enhance corporate social responsibility," Duc said. Confucius (551-479 BC) founded Confucianism, a school of thought that deeply influenced later generations. He was also the first Chinese person to set up private schools and enroll students from all walks of life. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 22:58:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street for the Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, Britain, March 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Ray Tang) LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Wednesday she has written to the European Union seeking to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30. May announced during her weekly Prime Minister's Question Time that she had made the request in a letter Wednesday morning to Donald Tusk, President of the EU Council. May told MPs in the House of Commons that if the extension is agreed she plans to put her Brexit deal to MPs for a third vote. Describing her request as a short extension, May said she did not believe a longer extension would be in anyone's interest as it would mean Britain having to take part in EU elections this year. If the House of Commons rejects her deal it will be up to MPs to decide how to proceed. "I'm not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30," she said. People in Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, with a departure date set for March 29. May will travel to Brussels Thursday to meet EU member state leaders. Any delay to Brexit will need approval from all 27 EU member states. Opposition politicians in the House of Commons, including Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, accused May of plunging the country into a crisis. May states in her letter to Tusk that a decision by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, had made it impossible for her to call a further vote on her Brexit deal ahead of Thursday's European Council meeting. Bercow rules she could not ask MPs to vote again on a same motion to the House of Commons. May said in the letter that it was her intention to bring the deal back to the House of Commons. She has asked the European Council to approve supplementary documents agreed in Strasbourg to enable her to have a third vote on her deal. May added that she is confident the British Parliament will proceed to ratify her deal constructively, but it will not be completed before the March 29 departure date. She asked for an extension until June 30 to take the necessary bill through the Houses of Parliament. The letter ended speculation that May might seek to extend the departure beyond June 30 if MPs reject her deal a third time. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:03:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that he is "very much worried" about Lebanon due to the big burden of Syrian refugees on the country's economy, Lebanon's presidency website reported. "Lebanon cannot take anymore the negative economic and social repercussions of the presence of a big number of Syrian refugees in the country," the president said during his meeting with United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen. Aoun emphasized the need to find serious solutions to help Syrian refugees return to the safe areas in their country. "A lot of areas have become safe and are capable of hosting its Syrian citizens," he said. Aoun said that a lot of countries have participated in the civil war in Syria and they want Lebanon to tolerate the negative repercussions of these clashes. Aoun also reiterated his call for donor countries and the international community to provide help and support to Syrians who are willing to return home. Meanwhile, Pedersen told Aoun that one of his responsibilities is to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria. "We have conducted negotiations with Syrian authorities in Damascus and the Syrian opposition in Riyadh for this purpose," he said. Pedersen also assured Aoun that the United Nations will continue supporting Lebanon at all levels facing the current challenges in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:03:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday that closer cooperation with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in line with Italy's national interests. "Our economic and trade focus (on the BRI) and on China is fully legitimate and justified in light of our national interests," Conte told lawmakers ahead of a European Union (EU) summit on March 21-22, whose agenda includes discussions on cooperation with China. "We will boost our exports toward an enormous market; our businesses will get the chance to participate directly in new and significant infrastructural investments," added the prime minister. In addition, "our peninsula, our ports and trade hubs, will not be bypassed ... but will enjoy the economic advantages" created by the BRI trade routes from China, he said. Conte confirmed that he will attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for April in Beijing. Attending the forum, he said, "will give me a chance to promote the Italian and European vision on the BRI, in a spirit of collaboration with Beijing." Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Italy on Thursday for the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to the European country in 10 years. During the visit, the two countries will, among others, strengthen practical cooperation in various areas within the BRI framework, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry prior to the trip, which comes amid growing anticipation that the two sides might ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on BRI cooperation. Conte said that the possible signing of a MoU is not a challenge to Italy's Western alliances. The MoU "is strictly concerned with economic and trade matters, and does not in any way call into question our Euro-Atlantic placement," Conte said. China has said that the Belt and Road Initiative is designed to promote common development and follows the "golden rule" of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:03:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with president of Harvard University Lawrence Bacow at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Tao) BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with president of Harvard University Lawrence Bacow in Beijing Wednesday and expressed the hope that Sino-U.S. cultural and people-to-people exchanges could produce more positive results. Noting that this is Bacow first overseas visit after taking office, Xi said the tour showcases the importance attached by Bacow to Sino-U.S. education exchanges. Xi said education exchanges and cooperation are an important part of Sino-U.S. relations and help enhance the public opinion of the bilateral friendship. China advocates mutual learning, encourages Chinese students to study abroad and supports education exchanges and cooperation with other countries. Xi said that he felt very happy that U.S. President Donald Trump also expressed support for bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in their meeting in Argentina at the end of last year. Xi stressed that over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's rapid development has also benefited from the improvement of education. China is committed to advancing the modernization of education and making its education system satisfying for its people. "We will expand the opening up of education, strengthen exchanges and experiences sharing with countries around the world, and jointly promote the development of education," said Xi, expressing the willingness to conduct more extensive exchanges and cooperation with U.S. educational and research institutions such as Harvard University. Bacow said he is visiting not only as the president of Harvard University but also as a representative of U.S. universities to promote education exchanges with China. He said maintaining and deepening exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' education and cultural institutions is crucial to promoting U.S.-China relations in the long run. Hailing the popularity of the Chinese language at Harvard, Bacow boasted that Harvard has a large number of Chinese students. Bacow said it is admirable that the Chinese government attaches great importance to higher education and makes huge efforts in this regard, noting that Harvard will continue to promote exchanges and cooperation with Chinese educational and scientific research institutions. Acting President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (R) shakes hands with his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev during a joint session of the houses of parliament in Astana, Kazakhstan on March 20, 2019. (Photo by Kazakh Presidential Press Service) MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on assuming office as Kazakhstan's president, the Kremlin said Wednesday. "I am confident that by joint efforts we will ensure further escalation of constructive Russian-Kazakhstan cooperation in all areas, as well as partnership cooperation in resolving topical issues on the international agenda," Putin said in a congratulatory telegram to Tokayev. Earlier in the day, Tokayev was inaugurated as Kazakhstan's interim president following the sudden resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had served as the country's president for nearly three decades. At a meeting with members of the Russian government, Putin said he hoped that Nazarbayev's successors would continue his policies. He praised Nazarbayev as one of the initiators of advanced integration between Kazakhstan and Russia and a founder of the Eurasian Economic Community, a project that was developing very successfully thanks to his direct support and participation. "For our part, we will do everything to support these processes," Putin said. Nazarbayev, who had served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday. He has named Tokayev, the speaker of the upper house of the Kazakh parliament, as interim president. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:18:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SHANGHAI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Police in Shanghai said Wednesday that they had arrested 32 members of a ring counterfeiting luxury brand products including LV, Kenzo and Loewe. Police seized over 4,000 bags, clothes, shoes and accessories and closed two assembly lines used to make the fake goods. The public security bureau of Shanghai's Qingpu District said they launched the investigation last year after being tipped off about sales of counterfeit LV bags on WeChat, China's mobile messaging app. Arrests were made in January in the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. Police found the gang produced the fake products at the cost of 200 yuan (29.8 U.S. dollars) each. An initial estimate suggested the gang had produced and sold 100,000 counterfeited luxury products worth 100 million yuan. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:28:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close NEW DELHI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A special court on Wednesday acquitted all four people in the 2007 Samjhauta (compromise) Express train blast case, officials said. The blast went off on the train heading to Pakistan's Lahore from India's New Delhi on Feb. 18, 2007, leaving 68 people, mostly Pakistani nationals, dead. "Today the court acquitted Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary in the Samjhauta train blast case. The court said prosecution has failed to prove involvement of the accused in the case," a local government official said. Aseemanand, the former right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist who was charged in three terror attacks a decade ago, was accused of providing logistic support to the persons who carried out the blast. RSS is considered as an ideological fountainhead of Bhartiya Janta Party. While Aseemanand was out on bail, the three others were in judicial custody. India's anti-terror agency -- the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which took over the probe in the case in 2010, said that the accused were upset with the terror attacks on several Hindu temples and conspired to trigger the blast in the Pakistan-bound train for vengeance. However, the special court ruled that the investigative agency failed to prove its charges. The Samjhauta Express is jointly run by the railways of India and Pakistan. The bi-weekly train service runs between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:28:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CHENGDU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A giant panda in southwest China's Sichuan Province had its testicle removed due to a tumor, authorities said. Fufu, a captive male panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, the provincial capital, is recovering from the operation and is in normal condition, according to the base. This was the first time that a panda had such an operation in Chengdu. According to the base authorities, in January, a vet found the panda's left testicle "bigger than usual." A B-ultrasound scan found something similar to a tumor in the testicle, which was later confirmed by a group of experts. To prevent the tumor from spreading, doctors decided to remove the testicle. On Feb. 22, Fufu went through an hour-long operation. The panda was able to walk 40 minutes after the operation, and it returned to normal after six hours. The panda tried to scratch its wound multiple times after waking up from the operation, so a team of experts looked after Fufu 24 hours a day to prevent any infection. Its enclosure was kept clean and dry. Samples were collected from the removed part, and a pathological diagnosis found the tumor to be seminoma. Authorities said they would conduct regular check-ups on the panda and observe any changes in its right testicle. Sichuan has the largest population of giant pandas in China. At the end of 2015, it had 1,387 wild pandas and 364 captive ones, accounting for 74 percent and 86 percent of the national total, respectively. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:28:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- British Education Secretary Damian Hinds on Wednesday has called on universities to consider "honor codes" in a campaign against cheating. The move, which would see students sign a pledge not to use essay writing services for their own assignment, aims to crack down on cheating students. Those suspected of cheating would face severe consequences, he warned. Hinds had also called on on-line giants such as PayPal to stop promoting and facilitating access to essay writing services, as the government signalled its intention to 'beat the cheats' at university. In the first of a series of interventions across the higher education sector, Hinds has challenged PayPal to stop processing payments for 'essay mills' as part of an accelerated drive to preserve and champion the quality of Britain's higher education system. Hinds said: "Sadly there have always been some people who opt for the easy way and the internet has seen a black market in essay writing services spring up. The fact that this is cheating, and students must understand it is unacceptable." "It is unethical for companies to profit from this dishonest business which is exploiting young people and it is time to stamp them out of our world-class higher education sector," he added. In 2016 the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) found there are approximately 17,000 instances of academic offences a year in Britain, however the number of students using essay writing services is thought to be much higher as plagiarised essays often go undetected. A study by Swansea University of students internationally, found one-in-seven students outside Britain admitted to paying for assignments. Hinds added: "When I was at university I was struck by American friends who talked about the honor code system. They wouldn't consider even low-level plagiarism because it broke this code - an agreement as they saw it between themselves and the university, and their peers." Douglas Blackstock, CEO of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) said: "Companies that try to entice students to buy so-called plagiarism free essays pose a real threat to the academic integrity of our higher education. These unscrupulous operators, increasingly and falsely marketing themselves as providing legitimate study aids, must be stopped in their tracks. "We have recently heard stories of essay companies attempting to blackmail students by threatening to expose them unless they hand over greater sums of money." Blackstock said hundreds of essay companies across the world use online platforms to promote or transact their services to students. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:43:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China will implement a slew of measures to cut the value-added tax (VAT) rates, making sure that tax burdens on all industries will only go down, not up, the State Council's executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday. The Government Work Report this year set out the plan for larger-scale tax cuts, including lowering the VAT rate in manufacturing and other industries from 16 to 13 percent, and the VAT rate in transportation, construction and other industries from 10 to 9 percent. A host of concrete measures were decided upon at the Wednesday meeting to achieve such targets, which will be enacted since April 1. Input VAT eligible for deduction will be expanded and will cover passenger transportation services. Tax payers will be able to get their input tax on real estate payments deducted in full on a one-time basis, instead of on two occasions in two years. Taxpayers whose main businesses are postal services, telecommunications, modern services and consumer services shall enjoy 10 percent additional input VAT deduction before the end of 2021. Increase in the overpaid VAT following this round of tax cuts will be refunded through due procedures. "The planned VAT cuts must be delivered in no time. Its implementation must be closely monitored to ensure that tax burdens are meaningfully reduced in the major industries and lowered to various extents in some industries. All industries will see their taxes go down, not up," Li said. "In case of increased tax burden due to inadequate deductions in certain individual industries, the government will work out targeted solutions," Li added. In the Government Work Report this year, Li said that the government's moves to cut tax on this occasion aim at an accommodative effect to strengthen the basis for sustained growth while also considering the need to ensure fiscal sustainability. It is also a major measure to lighten the burden on businesses and boost market dynamism, and is also the result of a major decision taken at the macro policy level in support of the efforts to ensure stable economic growth, employment, and structural adjustments. In 2018, taxes and fees levied on enterprises and individuals were reduced by around 1.3 trillion yuan as a result of multiple preferential tax policies introduced by the government. The Wednesday meeting also decided upon adjustments to the export tax rebate rates of certain goods and services and to the tax deduction rate of purchases of farm produce. It was also decided at the meeting to increase transfer payments to local governments, focusing on supporting the central and western regions and counties and prefectures in difficulty. "The share that goes to enterprises in the national income distribution needs to be increased to boost market vitality. This will help keep employment stable, expand tax sources and make public finance sustainable," Li said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:48:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JAKARTA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government will boycott European Union (EU)'s planes, vehicles and other products if it bars the country's crude palm oil (CPO) to be used as raw materials for bio-fuel, a senior minister said here on Wednesday. The move came after the European Commission passed delegated act classifying CPO as a product that is not sustainable, which leads to prohibition of the commodity as raw materials for bio-fuel. The act will be brought to the European Parliament which will decide within two months whether to enforce it or not. Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that should the delegated act take effect, it will be possible that products from Europe, including aircraft, vehicle and others, will be banned from entering the Indonesian market. Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution on Wednesday termed the EU's move as the hidden protectionism. "In the world's history, there is no reason to only target one commodity while there are many others in its group. (But) only palm oil is targeted. It is no doubt that it is a discrimination...," said Nasution. Indonesia's shipment of palm oil offshore grew eight percent to 34.4 million tons in 2018, according to data from the Indonesian palm oil association. The export comprised 32 million tons of palm oil and kernel oil. The remaining was oleochemical and bio-diesel fuel, it said. Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, logged a record output of palm oil of 42 million tons in 2018, according to the association. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-20 23:58:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Brunei will set up a National Cyber Security Centre to defend the country from cyber threats in line with the government's strategy to harness technology for economic gain. Brunei's Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Abdul Mutalib said during Wednesday's Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting that a cyber ecosystem that is safe and secure is required to elevate Brunei's status to a "smart nation". The country is making efforts to use technology to improve lives of constituents and create solutions. The establishment of the National Cyber Security Centre will allow the country to monitor and coordinate efforts at the national level to battle cyber security threats, he added. The minister also commented on the setting up of the Unified National Network Sdn Bhd (UNN) which he said supports the sultanate's National Broadband Policy. Brunei would consolidate the network infrastructure of all existing telecommunication operators in the country under the newly formed UNN. The move was in line with Brunei's push for the development of the ICT sector which is critical to creating an ecosystem that supports Brunei's long term digital transformation. "The objective of the establishment of the UNN is to ensure broadband access to all consumers, improve the quality and affordability of broadband services and usage in an optimum manner," said Abdul Mutalib during the LegCo meeting. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:03:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- German car manufacturer Opel has taken steps to reduce the size of its development center at its headquarters in Ruesselsheim by offering engineers the possibility to receive severance pay or transfer to French engineering firm Segula Technologies, the company announced on Wednesday. Opel management had reached an agreement with the company's works council on a procedure for the planned transfer of numerous Opel engineers to Segula. "We are really happy about today's announcement," Harald Hamprecht, Opel's vice president of communications and member of the executive committee, told Xinhua on Wednesday. "The R&D center in Ruesselsheim is and will stay at the heart of the Opel brand." The agreement between Opel management and its works council would help overcome the overcapacities in Ruesselsheim, "while preserving the core competences to support Opel's future," Hamprecht said. The Ruesselsheim development center, which currently employs around 6,400 people, was no longer used to capacity after a decline in orders from General Motors, the previous owner, according to Opel. In total, 2,000 jobs at Opel will be affected by the new agreement with Segula. New programs for early retirement and partial retirement are also part of the agreement, according to Opel. Speaking to Xinhua on Wednesday, Joerg Hofmann, the President of IG Metall, Germany's dominant metal workers' union, said that the union "welcomed the agreement" and that it was a positive sign "that the people concerned are given the opportunity to choose whether they want to switch to an external service provider". Hofmann added, however, that the agreement between Opel and Segula "was nevertheless a painful loss of jobs." Opel, which belongs to the PSA Group, underlined that Ruesselsheim will continue to be a core part of Opel's development network in the future. The development center would be responsible for the design and "competitive development" of all future Opel/Vauxhall models. The Ruesselsheim development center would also be responsible for global tasks within the PSA Group, such as the development of light commercial vehicles and a new engine family, according to Opel. Opel entered into a strategic partnership with Segula in November 2018 that included the transfer of "up to 2,000" employees. Parts of the Opel development center were also sold to the French service provider. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:14:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TEHRAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to address what it called Israeli threats against Iranian oil shipments, Press TV reported on Wednesday. Iran will not stay idle in the face of Israel's "provocative" policies concerning Iranian oil shipments, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic to the United Nations said in a letter to the UNSC on Tuesday. Iran will not hesitate to exercise its right to self-defense if Israel attempts to block Iran's oil cargoes, read the letter. On March 6, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that that Israeli naval forces will block oil cargoes that Iran was trying to "covertly" ship over maritime routes to "circumvent" U.S. sanctions on Iranian energy sector. Netanyahu's remarks amount to an open threat of using force in clear violation of the United Nations charter, the letter added. Iran would mount a swift response to defend itself against any hostile moves, a right enshrined by the UN charter, it said. Netanyahu was trying to imply that Iran's oil industry was subjected to a "universal" ban while no such sanctions ever existed against Tehran, the letter stressed. Last week, the Iranian defense minister warned against any attempt by Israel to attack Iran's oil tankers. Iran views any Israeli naval action against the country's oil shipments as "piracy" and will respond "firmly," said Hatami. The Iranian armed forces are ready to safeguard the security of the country's ships in international waterways, the minister vowed. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:14:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MADRID, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union will have an "important effect" on the Spanish economy if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, two economics professors from the prestigious IESE Business School, explained to Xinhua. The experts added their warnings just a day after the Bank of Spain (BOE) published a report saying a no-deal Brexit would take around 0.80 percent off Spain's GDP and cost the country around 9 billion euros (1 euro = 1.13 US dollars) over the next five years. The IESE professor, Juan Jose Toribio, agreed with the BOE, telling Xinhua that a no-deal Brexit would have an "important effect on Spain." "Spain has a trade surplus of around 10 billion euros with the UK, so obviously the interruption of commerce between the two countries would affect our economy," said Toribio. His companion Alfredo Pastor, another professor at IESE, agreed, saying "the uncertainty is such that we still don't know what is going to happen." That uncertainty was heightened on Wednesday when British Prime Minister Theresa May asked the EU to extend the deadline for Brexit from March 29th to June 30th, although the EU has yet to reply to her request. "Spain exports products worth around 20 billion euros a year to the UK and earns a further 20 billion euros from British tourists. So if that is interrupted, there will be a major effect on the Spanish economy," he confirmed. Professor Toribio also pointed out that a no-deal Brexit would affect some sectors of the Spanish economy more than others. "It would mainly affect tourism, the car industry, which is important in Spain, and the agricultural sector, because of all of the exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to the UK," he observed. "Around 20 percent of the tourists who come to Spain do so from the UK (17 million in 2018)... If that tourism was interrupted, it would be important for Spain," with "coastal provinces, the south and the cities of Madrid and Barcelona," the most affected said Toribio Professor Pastor was, however, optimistic that some of the worst effects of a no-deal Brexit could be avoided "I have no doubt that if the processes can be made easier; we have already seen guarantees for British people resident in Spain and Spanish nationals living in the UK," he said. "We hope the consequences won't be too hard. We will need to renegotiate all of the treaties and agree new tariffs, but there is no reason to believe it will totally paralyze trade," added Pastor. Meanwhile Toribio said that at the moment, "the most important thing we can do is to give ourselves time so that the consequences of whatever decision is finally taken over Brexit are diluted by time." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:24:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close THE HAGUE, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The appeals chamber at the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (UNIRMCT) sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to life in prison here on Wednesday. On March 24, 2016, the judges of the previous court, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, had sentenced Karadzic to 40-year imprisonment. He and the prosecution both decided to appeal and on Wednesday the now 73-year-old Karadzic heard his final judgment. Presiding judge Vagn Prusse Joensen of the UNIRMCT, which took over the remaining cases after the ICTY closed in 2017, dismissed almost all parts of Karadzic's appeal and decided to grant the appeal for a higher punishment by the prosecution. According to the appeals judgment, the trial chamber had made an error with the 40-year imprisonment and found life in prison more appropriate in light of the crimes committed. The former Bosnian Serb leader was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995, in which over 7,000 Muslim men were killed by Bosnian Serb forces. In addition, Karadzic was found guilty on five counts of crimes against humanity (persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts) and four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (murder, terror, unlawful attacks on civilians, taking of hostages). Karadzic was arrested in July 2008 and his trial started in October 2009. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:34:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LUSAKA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Zambians on Wednesday expressed grief and shock at the death of the country's envoy to Kenya, who succumbed to injuries after a car accident. Brenda Muntemba and her Botswana counterpart, Duke Lephoko, sustained injuries when a car they were traveling in collided head-on with a truck in eastern Kenyan three weeks ago. The 49-year-old envoy has been in intensive care in a hospital in Nairobi since then. Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji confirmed Muntemba's death in a press release. Kakoma Kanganja, inspector-general of the Zambia Police, said the police service was saddened with the death of the envoy, who served in various portfolios in the service, including as spokesperson and commissioner of police. The police chief said the envoy served with diligence when she was in the police service. Davies Mwila, secretary-general of the governing Patriotic Front (PF), expressed shock over her demise, especially that it has come barely a few days after the country lost its envoy to Ghana. Nevers Mumba, the country's former vice-president and now opposition leader, also expressed grief over the envoy's demise, saying she was a true citizen who was committed to serving the country. Muntemba was appointed as ambassador to Kenya by President Edgar Lungu in February 2015. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 00:34:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KABUL, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) has set Sept. 28 this year as a new date for the country's fourth presidential election, an IEC official said on Wednesday. "The new commissioners of IEC have decided to hold the upcoming presidential election on Sept. 28," newly elected IEC Chief Hawa Alam Nuristani told reporters. The presidential election was initially set for April 20 by former IEC officials and later they delayed it until July 20. She noted that the new date would give the IEC more time to hold a credible election and solve irregularities that occurred during the Oct. 20 parliamentary election. "The Afghan IEC will share a new election timetable with the media soon," the IEC chief said, adding the district council elections and parliamentary polls in Ghazni constituency will also be held on the same day on Sept. 20 this year. To ensure transparency in the coming election, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani approved in February an amendment to the electoral law aimed at bringing fundamental change to the electoral bodies that resulted in the immediate dismissal of the former Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC)'s members. Earlier this month, Ghani appointed new members for the two agencies while a top UN envoy for Afghanistan warned against the challenges to this year's election, saying holding the presidential election on schedule will be very challenging. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:24:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy in Libya Ghassan Salame said on Wednesday that the situation in Libya has reached a crucial juncture. "We are working to prevent recent developments and tensions on the ground from escalating, and instead to pivot to stability and a political compact which will enable an end to the crisis in the country," Salame, UN Secretary-General's special representative for Libya, told the Security Council. Whilst there were some minor incidents, the peaceful arrival of General Khalifa Haftar's forces at Sabha, an oasis city in southwestern Libya, on Jan. 13, "was generally perceived as a positive and stabilizing development," he said. Salame said that the Libya National Army has brought a large measure of security and stability to the South which enabled the parallel bank in the east to deliver bank notes to Sabha, but it is unclear how long the campaign can be sustained given the long resupply lines and the limited financial resources of the parallel government. Salame, who is also the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said that the mission has supported two rounds of preparatory talks between the advisors of Prime Minister Fayez Serraj and General Haftar. As a result of those talks, the two leaders met in Abu Dhabi and agreed to a number of principles: Libya shall be a civilian and democratically governed state that enjoys full civilian control of the military, and a peaceful transition of power, he said. The two parties also agreed on the need to unify Libya's long-divided institutions and for the scheduling of national elections before the end of the year, said Salame. Following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been suffering escalating violence and political division. Serraj heads Libya's internationally-recognized government in the capital Tripoli while Haftar leads the army, which is allied with the eastern-based government, as Libya is politically divided between two governments in the east and the west, both competing for legitimacy. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:24:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) almost captured the last Islamic State (IS)-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Syria, Kurdish activists said Wednesday. The SDF captured on Wednesday the town of Baghouz al-Saghyra in the southeastern countryside of Deir al-Zour following battles with IS while remnants of the terror-label group are still in the vicinity of the town, according to the activists. The Kurdish-led SDF with the backing of the U.S.-led coalition has launched a crushing offensive to eliminate the IS from the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Syria since September last year. The IS militants are now besieged in a small area in the farmlands of Baghouz. Tens of thousands of people have fled the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region since last December. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:39:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had talked over phone with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday regarding the situation in Yemen, human rights and regional issues, the State Department said here on Wednesday. Pompeo thanked Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud for Saudi Arabia's support in advancing the political process in Yemen, and they also agreed on the need for parties to adhere to the agreements made in Sweden, according to a statement issued by State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino. The U.S. secretary of state and the Saudi crown prince also discussed human rights issues and broader developments in the region, according to the brief statement. Pompeo is currently on his three-stop visit to the Middle East, The U.S. Senate voted last week to curtail U.S. military support for the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen. The House had earlier this year approved a very similar measure. Pompeo responded on March 15 that "the Trump administration fundamentally disagrees that curbing our assistance to the Saudi-led coalition is the way to achieve these goals." "If you truly care about Yemeni lives, you'd support the Saudi-led effort to prevent Yemen from turning into a puppet state of" Iran, Pompeo noted. "The way to alleviate the Yemeni people's suffering isn't to prolong the conflict by handicapping our partners in the fight, but by giving the Saudi-led coalition the support needed to defeat Iranian-backed rebels." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:44:27|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The special adviser to the UN secretary-general on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, welcomed Wednesday's appeal judgment on former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic -- from 40 years in prison to life imprisonment. This appeal judgment by The Hague branch of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals confirms that accountability rather than impunity will prevail, said Dieng in a statement. However, he said that justice alone will not bring genuine reconciliation to communities divided by violence, and it cannot be imposed from the outside. "Real change in society can only come from self-reflection, acceptance, consistent and collective effort to move forward. It takes hard work and perseverance. It also takes sustained commitment to reconciliation, trust-building and constructive and meaningful dialogue by political and social leaders and citizens." He urged leaders in the region to combat and counter negative and divisive rhetoric with words of compassion and empathy toward the pain and suffering of victims, not only of their own ethnic or religious community, but especially members of other ethnic or religious communities. Today, denial and revisionism are feeding regional instability and undermining neighborly relations, he said. "Some leaders and governing institutions in the region have not yet shown that they have the courage to support accountability for the crimes committed in the past nor to acknowledge those wrongdoings. More needs to be done to strengthen genuine reconciliation, trust-building and to promote constructive dialogue." Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment in March 2016 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Both the prosecution and the defense had appealed the 2016 verdict. Karadzic asked for an acquittal while the prosecution demanded harsher punishment. The appeal case was handled by the residual mechanism after the ICTY closed its doors at the end of 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:49:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close PARIS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- France would reject British Prime Minister Theresa May's request for a three -month Brexit delay unless she offered a credible plan over how London will quit the bloc, formally scheduled for March 29, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday. "We send a simple and clear message to the British... there are only two options to leave the European Union: ratify the agreement or an exit without accord," Le Drian told lawmakers. "In case of a favorable vote, we'll be obviously open to technical extension for several weeks to allow British institutions to finalize the text's ratification. On the other hand, in the absence of a vote, the main scenario is a leave without agreement and we are ready for that," he added. When questioned at the National Assembly, French top diplomat said the eurozone second key power, "will pay particular attention to the interests of the European Union," in considering an extension. He noted the delay should aim at finalizing the ratification of withdrawal agreement which should not be re-negotiated and that Britain would not participate in the European election in May. Le Drian also stressed that Paris would only agree to delay Brexit if London came with "sufficient guarantees to the European Council on her strategy's credibility." After her departure deal was twice-rejected by parliament, British PM May earlier on Wednesday demanded President of the EU Council Donald Tusk to postpone Brexit until June 30. She told MPs in the House of Commons that if the extension is agreed she plans to put her Brexit deal to MPs for a third vote. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 01:59:29|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Yemeni government's spokesman Rajeh Badi (R) and Russian Ambassador to Yemen Vladimir Dedushkin (C) attend a press conference in Aden, Yemen, on March 20, 2019. Yemen's government accused on Wednesday the Houthi rebels of pushing for a new escalation of armed confrontations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah despite the cease-fire brokered by the United Nations. (Xinhua) ADEN, Yemen, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's government accused on Wednesday the Houthi rebels of pushing for a new escalation of armed confrontations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah despite the cease-fire brokered by the United Nations. The government's spokesman, Rajeh Badi, announced during a press conference held in the southern port city of Aden that the Houthi rebels are continuing to dispatch military reinforcements into Hodeidah in an attempt to "spark the situation militarily again." "The Houthis exploited the halt of fighting in Hodeidah and considered it as an opportunity to spark military operations in different areas of the country," said the government's spokesman after a meeting with the Russian ambassador who arrived in Aden earlier in the day. He said that "the situation is very dangerous in Hodeidah as Houthi reinforcements are continuing to arrive till this moment, in addition to planting landmines and digging underground trenches in the city." Badi considered the dispatching of reinforcements into Hodeidah as an official Houthi abandonment of Stockholm Agreement that was signed between the two warring parties in December last year. The government's spokesman concluded his press conference by calling on the United Nations and the international community to strictly pressure Houthis and abort their preparations to resume fighting in Hodeidah. The government's statements came just several hours after the UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths reported a "significant progress" toward an agreement between warring parties to withdraw troops in the region of the key port of Hodeidah. Griffiths said that following constructive discussions with both the government and the Houthi rebels, reported "significant progress towards an agreement to implement phase one of the redeployments of the Hodeidah agreement." The redeployment of troops from the city and port of Hodeidah and other two minor ports, Saleef and Ras Isa, is part of the Stockholm Agreement the two sides reached in December 2018 under UN auspices. The deal also includes a cease-fire across the Hodeidah governorate. In February, the two parties agreed on the first phase of the redeployment, which calls for withdrawal of forces from the three ports as well as the Red Sea mills, where enough grain is stored to feed 3.7 million people in the starving Arab country. The warring forces have so far failed to withdraw from Hodeidah and its southern districts in accordance with the UN-sponsored Stockholm Peace Agreement. The deal aimed to avert an all-out offensive on the lifeline port city, which is the key entry of Yemen's most commercial imports and international aid. The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa and Hodeidah. The four-year civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others, and pushed the country to the brink of famine. File Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Jan. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/REUTERS) WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had talked over phone with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday regarding the situation in Yemen, human rights and regional issues, the State Department said here on Wednesday. Pompeo thanked Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud for Saudi Arabia's support in advancing the political process in Yemen, and they also agreed on the need for parties to adhere to the agreements made in Sweden, according to a statement issued by State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino. The U.S. secretary of state and the Saudi crown prince also discussed human rights issues and broader developments in the region, according to the brief statement. Pompeo is currently on his three-stop visit to the Middle East. The U.S. Senate voted last week to curtail U.S. military support for the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen. The House had earlier this year approved a very similar measure. Pompeo responded on March 15 that "the Trump administration fundamentally disagrees that curbing our assistance to the Saudi-led coalition is the way to achieve these goals." "If you truly care about Yemeni lives, you'd support the Saudi-led effort to prevent Yemen from turning into a puppet state of" Iran, Pompeo noted. "The way to alleviate the Yemeni people's suffering isn't to prolong the conflict by handicapping our partners in the fight, but by giving the Saudi-led coalition the support needed to defeat Iranian-backed rebels." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 02:29:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Jacques Sarraf, co-chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council, called upon the Russian government on Wednesday to remove all obstacles facing Lebanese-Russian economic cooperation. "We kindly ask the Russian government to remove all obstacles facing trade and investment exchange between the two countries," Sarraf was quoted as saying by a statement issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. Sarraf's remarks came during the fifth Lebanese-Russian forum held at the chamber to discuss ways of boosting ties between Russia and Lebanon. Sarraf said that it is time for Lebanon to boost its economic ties with Russia regardless of the international conflicts between Russia and the United States. He added that Lebanon's imports from Russia are valued at 570 million U.S. dollars in 2018, compared with only 5 million dollars of exports from Lebanon to Russia. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Lebanese-Russian Business Council Alexander Gogolev said that there are a lot of opportunities of cooperation between Lebanon and Russia in several areas including oil and gas, energy and industry. Lebanon has signed at the beginning of this year a deal with Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in the northern city of Tripoli. Also, Russia's Novatek will participate in Lebanon's offshore oil and gas exploration and production at energy blocks 4 and 9. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 02:34:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A fragment of a 2,500-year old pottery jar, decorated with a face of an Egyptian god, was discovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported on Wednesday. The fragment was discovered in excavations conducted by the IAA and Israel's Tel Aviv University in the ancient City of David in Jerusalem. The facial features survived are two wide open eyes, the nose, one ear, and a small section of the corner of the mouth. Jars of this type, called "Bes-Vessels," were very common during the Persian period in Egypt (starting at 525 BC) and in the Phoenician settlements along the shores of the Levant, in the eastern Mediterranean. Such vessels and amulets were also found in Persia itself, in Susa, Persepolis and other ancient cities, getting there by Egyptian craftsmen who operated there as part of international trade. In Egyptian mythology, Bes is the protector god of households, especially mothers, women giving birth and children. Over time, its character developed into a god that protects everything good, and thus is also connected with music and dancing. Bes figure adorned the walls of houses, pottery, mirrors and other objects, or worn as an amulet around the neck. Bes often appears as a kind of bearded dwarf with a large face, protruding eyes and tongue sticking out, while wearing a feather hat. This grotesque figure was probably meant to evoke joy and laughter and to throw out the evil spirits. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 02:34:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Dana Halawi BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The newly appointed Lebanese Economy Minister Mansour Bteish said on Wednesday that his ministry is looking forward to boosting ties with China in the near future, Bteish told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. "We look forward to increasing the volume of business between Lebanon and China in many areas," Bteish said. One way for Lebanon to achieve this is to try to create balance in trade between the two countries. "We have a lot of good products in Lebanon which we want to promote in huge foreign markets such as China," he said. Lebanon is well known for manufacturing certain products that are of interest for international markets such as the Lebanese wine, olive oil and chocolate. In 2017, the bilateral trade volume reached nearly 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, making China the second largest trade partner of Lebanon. Figures released by Lebanese customs showed that during 2013-2016, China remained Lebanon's largest trade partner and the largest source of imports. Lebanon's top imports from China include electrical machinery and equipment, plastics, furniture and vehicles, while Lebanon's exports to China mainly include copper, plastics, beverages and cocoa. According to Bteish, Lebanon can also be considered as a very important platform for investment for China in different sectors including the financial sector, industry and SMEs. "It is true that our country is small but it is full of opportunities for investment," he said. The economy minister noted that China should also consider Lebanon as an important platform for investment in Syria's reconstruction in the coming years. "We also look forward to receiving Chinese expertise to come and implement projects in Lebanon within CEDRE program," he said. The CEDRE is an international conference which pledged to release 11 billion dollars in loans and donations in support of Lebanon's development and reform, to revamp its ailing infrastructure and bolster its economy. Bteish added that he has already discussed with the Chinese ambassador to Lebanon the potential of cooperation between the two countries in trade, culture and tourism. Bteish noted that that his ministry is studying the opportunity of Lebanon's participation in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for April in Beijing. Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa through the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road. Meanwhile, the minister said that one of his main priorities is to reduce the trade deficit in Lebanon which exceeds 16 billion dollars. "We are importing with more than 20 billion dollars a year while we are exporting for less than 4 billion dollars," he said, adding that Lebanon must promote its products in foreign markets. "We will take measures to safeguard our production amid the competition caused by foreign markets. There is a special committee for that, but we won't increase custom fees on imported products for the time being," he said. Bteish added that Lebanon also aims at attracting investments to the country by modernizing the country's infrastructure such as roads and telecom services. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 03:24:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CHICAGO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Ford Motor will expand production of new battery-electric vehicles through 2023 and make its first autonomous vehicles (AV) in 2021, the U.S. auto maker announced on Wednesday. "We've taken a fresh look at the growth rates of electrified vehicles (EV) and know we need to protect additional production capacity given our accelerated plans for fully electric vehicles," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president in charge of global operations. Through 2023, Ford will invest more than 850 million U.S. dollars in its Flat Rock assembly plant in Michigan state to produce the next generation EV. These vehicles will follow the all-electric performance SUV coming in 2020 from Ford's plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico. Ford also announced it will produce its first autonomous vehicles at a new manufacturing center in Michigan. Production of the hybrid vehicles with self-driving technology and unique interiors will begin in 2021 for development in commercial services to move people and goods. "As we ramp up AV production, this plan allows us to adjust our investment spending to accommodate the pace of growth of this exciting new technology," said Hinrichs. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 03:29:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CAIRO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian public prosecution referred on Wednesday 11 defendants to criminal court over involvement in the assassination attempt of the former security chief of the northern seaside province of Alexandria. The defendants are accused of leading and joining Hasm militant group affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, according to a statement from the public prosecution. Two of the 11 defendants are in custody while the remaining are fugitives. They are facing charges of attempting to murder Alexandria's former security chief Mustafa al-Nemr and killing two of his guards, vandalizing public and private properties and making and possessing weapons. Hasm emerged in Egypt in late 2016 and is seen by the police as the armed wing of Morsi's Brotherhood, designated by Egyptian authorities as a terrorist organization. Hasm claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks that killed policemen in Egypt. Terror activities in Egypt have killed hundreds of policemen, army soldiers and civilians since the military toppled Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year controversial rule and his Brotherhood group. The Sinai-based branch of the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group claimed responsibility for most of the terror operations in Egypt over the past few years. Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's war on terror declared following Morsi's ouster. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 03:49:59|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended a summit with Israeli, Greek, and Cypriot heads of states in Jerusalem on Wednesday, discussing a natural gas pipeline. The meeting was attended by Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "The leaders discussed regional issues and deepening the cooperation between the countries," according to a statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. The four talked about plans to construct a natural gas pipeline, called the East-Med Pipeline, which will carry gas from Israel's natural gas reservoirs to Europe via Cyprus and Greece. Netanyahu said in a statement that the planned pipeline would "benefit our economies... and diversify Europe's source of energy." He added that Pompeo's participation in the meeting has "great importance" because it "symbolizes the U.S.' support to the regional effort." The meeting was part of a series of encounters by leaders from Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, in which they discussed regional cooperation. The recent meeting marked the sixth time the triangle meeting was held, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 04:00:01|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close AMMAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan said on Wednesday that his position on Jerusalem is "unwavering" and all the Jordanian people are with him. King Abdullah affirmed that his country's commitment to the holy city is clear, as Jordan has a historical duty towards Jerusalem as well as the Islamic and Christian holy sites there. "To me, Jerusalem is a red line, and all my people are with me," the Jordanian monarch said in a Royal Court statement. "No one can pressure Jordan on this matter, and the answer will be no. All Jordanians stand with me on Jerusalem. At the end of the day, Arabs and Muslims will stand with us as well," he said during his visit to Zarqa, north of Amman, where he met with representatives and key figures from the governorate. Commenting on reported attempts to make Jordan an alternative homeland for the Palestinians, the king said "to anyone who speaks about an alternative homeland, the answer is no." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 04:25:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ANKARA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks on New Zealand terror attack, were "taken out of context," Presidency said on Wednesday amid a diplomatic spat sparked between Ankara and Canberra. "President Erdogan's words were unfortunately taken out of context. He was responding to the so-called 'manifesto' of the terrorist who killed 50 innocent Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand," Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter. On his campaign trail for the local elections on Monday, Erdogan had warned that any Australians and New Zealanders travelling to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiment "would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers" at Gallipoli, where a blood-drenched WWI battle occurred. The Gallipoli battle, marked by heavy casualties on both sides, was a disastrous defeat for the allies against the then Ottoman Empire in 1915. On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison blasted the comments "reckless" and "highly offensive," and summoned Turkish ambassador Korhan Karakoc. Australia has also issued a travel advisory warning people visiting the Gallipoli battlefields for remembrance ceremonies during next month's anniversary of the campaign to "exercise caution." Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 04:25:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Kazakh Senate on Wednesday elected Dariga Nazarbayeva, former head of its committee on foreign relations, defense and security, as the speaker of the parliament's upper house, Russian media reported. A senate session was held and all the 44 senators present voted in Nazarbayeva's favor, according to Tass news agency. "I realize very well the role the parliament plays in the country's political and social life, particularly as we are at a turning point of our history... Our development strategy and legislative activities are primarily aimed at improving the people's lives and ensuring the country's prosperity for the sake of its people," she said. 55-year-old Nazarbyeva, the eldest daughter of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is widely expected to make a competitive candidate in Kazakhstan's presidential election in 2020. Nazarbayev, who had served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 04:55:13|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Mourners carry the body of the 26-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Manasrah during his funeral in Wad Fokin village near the West Bank City of Bethlehem, March 21, 2019. A Palestinian was shot dead on Wednesday night by Israeli army gunfire near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry reported. (Xinhua/Luay Sababa) RAMALLAH, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian was shot dead on Wednesday night by Israeli army gunfire near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry reported. It said in a short press statement that a Palestinian was shot in the chest and shoulder by Israeli soldiers as he was in a vehicle at an Israeli army roadblock at the entrance to Bethlehem. The Palestinian man was dead upon arrival at Beit Jala Hospital. On Tuesday night, the Israeli army killed three Palestinians in two separate shooting incidents. One was believed to be responsible for Sunday's stabbing and shooting attack near Salfit in the West Bank and the other two were killed near Nablus. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 04:55:15|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close A man prepares food in a charity kitchen in Sharqiya Province, Egypt, on Feb. 9, 2019. The Charity Kitchen is a youth initiative that started in January 2016 under the name of "Anti-Hunger Forces" with three volunteers and ended up with at least 35 volunteers providing from 300 to 500 fresh, healthy meals for poor and homeless people now for three days a week. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) by Mahmoud Fouly, Abdel-Maguid Kamal SHARQIYA, Egypt, March 20 (Xinhua) -- In a vast kitchen inside a ground-floor apartment in Sharqiya province north of the Egyptian capital Cairo, three women were busy preparing vegetables before sending them to a nearby chef who was cooking a large amount of rice in a huge cooking pot with a tall ladle in his hand. Two hours later, about 10 young people wearing gloves took the cooked food and the green salad, packed in disposable plastic and foam plates, organized them into separate one-person meals with an orange or any other fruit added to each meal, and put them on shelves to be ready for distribution. The activities are almost the daily work of a charity kitchen initiative that started in 2016 with three volunteers and ended up with at least 35 volunteers providing from 300 to 500 fresh, healthy meals for poor and homeless people now for three days a week. "The Charity Kitchen is a youth initiative that started in January 2016 under the name of 'Anti-Hunger Forces' and is now gaining more volunteers as a unique experience that provides fresh hot meals for the poor," Suzan el-Moslemany, founder of the initiative, told Xinhua at the Charity Kitchen in Zagazig city. Moslemany started the initiative by cooking at home. After the initiative gained more popularity, more and more volunteers joined and donations came, allowing her to rent a place to store food. She also established the "Zwad" charity to support the poor. Each meal consisted of rice, grilled fish, green salad and an orange. "Our activities are based on donations. We used to work every day, but now we provide our meals three days a week after the price hikes," said Moslemany, adding that the Charity Kitchen provides different healthy meals each day containing proteins, starches, vegetables and fruits. "We do not receive financial support from any institution and this is one of the obstacles we're facing. The door for volunteers and donations is open, for we're all partners of benevolence," she emphasized. The co-founders of the Charity Kitchen are currently preparing a bigger kitchen to cook 1,000 meals per day, particularly during the imminent Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to provide fast-breaking meals (iftar) for fasting poor people. "If we provide meals for all poor families, we need 2,500 meals every day, so we can distribute them in rotation to provide the poor and homeless of each neighborhood with meals once a week," Moslemany told Xinhua. The Charity Kitchen focuses on poor aged and lonely people, sick people and orphans, and it has a team whose mission is to find distressed families and deliver food to their homes. Sayyid Ahmed, 40, has been the Charity Kitchen's volunteer chef for more than a year and two months. "I saw the Charity Kitchen's Facebook page, I liked the idea and contacted the founders to join," Ahmed told Xinhua while stirring the rice in the cooking pot with a ladle, noting that he cooks a different meal each day. As for Ahmed Sherif, a 35-year-old computer engineer, his task is to promote the Charity Kitchen online through posting pictures of the meals and the charitable activities held by Zwad on Facebook. "Before I joined the Charity Kitchen, I could not imagine that poor people would go to bed in hunger at the end of the day, for being unable to buy dinner for themselves or their children," the volunteer told Xinhua. The target beneficiaries of the Charity Kitchen are those poor people who do not beg others for money in the streets, which is why the Zwad staff deliver them food mostly at their homes. "People here are motivated by love and benevolence, working 11 hours a day to serve people who cannot afford healthy food," said Mohamed Gamal, a 36-year-old lawyer who buys the necessary food ingredients from the marketplace. He noted that some storeowners give them a discount up to 50 percent to take part in their charitable activities, adding that he experiences many touching situations during his task. "I once gave a doorman a meal and he put it aside. When I asked him why he didn't eat, he said he would share it with his two children, so I gave him more for them," the man told Xinhua. Dariga Nazarbayeva, daughter of Kazakhstan's former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, attends celebrations to mark Kazakhstan People's Unity Day in Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 1, 2016. (REUTERS PHOTO) MOSCOW, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Kazakh Senate on Wednesday elected Dariga Nazarbayeva, former head of its committee on foreign relations, defense and security, as the speaker of the parliament's upper house, Russian media reported. A senate session was held and all the 44 senators present voted in Nazarbayeva's favor, according to Tass news agency. "I realize very well the role the parliament plays in the country's political and social life, particularly as we are at a turning point of our history... Our development strategy and legislative activities are primarily aimed at improving the people's lives and ensuring the country's prosperity for the sake of its people," she said. 55-year-old Nazarbyeva, the eldest daughter of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, is widely expected to make a competitive candidate in Kazakhstan's presidential election in 2020. Nazarbayev, who had served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 05:40:21|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close British Prime Minister Theresa May (Front) speaks during the Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons in London, Britain, on March 20, 2019. Theresa May confirmed Wednesday she has written to the European Union seeking to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30. (Xinhua/UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor) LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday said that the proposed Brexit delay is "a matter of great personal regret for me", adding that it is "high time" for MPs to make a decision on her Brexit deal. The prime minister, in a live televised speech from Downing Street after her Brexit delay request, told the British people nationwide that "I am on your side". "This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me. It is high time we made a decision" over Brexit, May said, passionately asking MPs to back her Brexit deal, which was rejected twice in the parliament since January. Meanwhile, the prime minister criticized hostile MPs for blocking the agreement on Brexit in the parliament, which leads to the Brexit delay. MPs have been "unable to agree on the way to implement the UK's withdrawal", she said. "As a result, we will now not leave (the EU) on time on the 29th of March." Earlier Wednesday, May wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk for a delay to the Brexit process to June 30, saying that she needs more time to get her withdrawal agreement passed by the House of Commons. In response, Tusk said that a short Brexit delay is possible only if MPs back May's Brexit deal. Britain hopes to get a short delay from the European Union (EU) while the regional bloc wishes London would agree to a longer extension of Article 50. The prime minister said that she was not prepared for the EU divorce beyond June 30. "I'm not prepared to delay Brexit any further," she said. Any Brexit delay requires a unanimous approval from remaining 27 EU countries. May will meet with EU leaders on Thursday when she is in Brussels for a summit. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 06:55:37|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close British Prime Minister Theresa May (Front) speaks during the Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons in London, Britain, on March 20, 2019. Theresa May confirmed Wednesday she has written to the European Union seeking to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30. (Xinhua/UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor) LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May announced Wednesday she will not delay Britain's departure from the European Union beyond June, ruling out a further extension if MPs reject her Brexit deal. Her message from 10 Downing Street to the British people came after another tense day in the House of Commons when she announced she has asked EU Council President Donald Tusk to delay Britain's exit from the bloc. Her forceful message was throwing down the gauntlet to MPs that if they reject her deal there will be no deal, paving the way for Britain leaving the EU after a membership of 46 years. Political commentators said the speech was a risky tactic for May because of the way she criticized MPs, the very politicians she needs to get her deal over the line. It was a change to her stance last week when she said she would seek a longer extension from Brussels if MPs rejected her deal. But its clear May was furious when this week the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that May could not present her Brexit bill a third time to MPs unless there were dramatic changes. May heads to the EU Council meeting Thursday hoping to gather some words to add to her deal to enable it to be put before the Commons, probably next week, a third time. It will be a risk factor for the Prime Minister because her deal has already been rejected twice, the first time by 230 votes, the highest ever defeat in British political history, and by 149 votes last week. By insisting she would not keep Britain in the EU beyond June, May is effectively giving squabbling MPs the chance to accept her deal or risk no deal. May started her statement by saying it was of great personal regret that Britain is not leaving on March 29, the departure date set in 2017 when the British government voted by a big margin to trigger the two-year countdown mechanism. "I am absolutely sure you the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting. You are tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows," May said. She added people were tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when there are real concerns about children's schools, the National Health Service, and knife crime. "It is now time for MPs to decide," she added, "do they want to leave the EU with a deal which delivers on the result of the referendum, or do they want to leave without a deal." May accused MPs of just being willing to say is what they do not want. "Some argue that I am making the wrong choice, and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond, to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward. That would mean asking you to vote in European Elections, nearly three years after our country decided to leave," she said in her message. Earlier Tusk Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, suggested that EU leaders will only approve May's request for a three month delay if MPs approve her Brexit deal next week. Tusk said in Brussels a short extension to Britain's exit would be possible, but it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. May said in her short speech she will work night and day to try and convince MPs from her own Conservative Party, as well as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP and others to back her deal. Warning that a delay beyond June would mean British people having to vote in EU parliament elections, May said it would be bitter and divisive at the time that the country needs to come back together. Reaction from MPs was swift with former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who backs a second referendum saying he will not be bullied by anybody in Government to support something he does not believe in. Liberal Democrat politician Ed Davey commented: "Theresa May has lost it. Threatening our country with a 'No Deal' Brexit is not leadership." Media reports in London said that at a private meeting with leaders of political parties ahead of her statement, she ruled out an option of calling a snap election. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 06:55:37|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close HELSINKI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The emergence of Finland for the second time as the "happiest country in the world" in a UN commissioned survey was not met with surprise in Finland. In random interviews by local media, ordinary citizens referred to the general social safety net, free education and public health care as justifications for the results. In the latest survey published on Wednesday, Finland had increased its lead over Denmark, Norway and Iceland who came next. Following the top four Nordics came Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada and Austria. The survey covered 156 countries and regions, as well as citizens' perceptions of themselves and their own life. Ilona Suojanen, a Finnish researcher of happiness in working life, reminded that the report reflects the legislation and circumstances of life. Suojanen told national broadcaster Yle the report does not tell about the personal happiness of an individual. "There is no scientific proof that well functioning society increases directly the feeling of personal happiness in an individual," she said. Nevertheless, Roope Penttila, a randomly selected young man in the Helsinki area, told Yle reporters on Wednesday he is happy to know that "a serious injury would not kill his economy and that he would get treatment". Natalie Schrey, a mother of two, cited as reason for happiness she would not have to "feel concerned about the safety of her children". Even though Finns acknowledge the high service level of the welfare system, there are indications that awareness in Finland has declined about the concrete difference between life conditions in welfare state countries like Finland and those industrialized countries that do not offer such a social safety net. "After nearly three generations as citizens of a welfare state, many Finns do not always have any grasp of what life would be just on their own," observers have noted. The image as the happiest country in the world has benefited Finland as general PR. Paavo Virkkunen, director of the national travel promotion agency Visit Finland, said on Wednesday the new program "Rent a Finn" is based on the interest aroused by the "happiest country" status. The program offers a visitor "immersion into Finnish life" or to try to function "as a local". In the program ordinary Finns work as guides about the country. However, the advertisements of the program focus so far primarily on the connection of Finns with nature, and not that much on social living conditions. Virkkunen reminded that in many industrialized countries city dwellers have practically lost their direct connection with natural surroundings. Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-21 07:05:39|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close By Eric J. Lyman ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Ratings agency Moody's announced this week that it would delay its newest report on the Italian economy, evidence of the fluid nature of the country's medium-term economic prospects. Moody's did not specify its reasons for the unusual delay. But Italian media said that it comes amid a swirl of developments that could have a significant impact on Italy one way or another. Analysts told Xinhua the government's decision-making is being driven by political concerns ahead of elections for European Parliament in May. The Italian Treasury is standing by its predictions that the country's economy will grow at least 0.6 percent this year, more optimistic than most rating agencies, investment banks, and multi-lateral groups. Italy is expected to submit its first draft proposal for the country's 2020 budget next month, including a decision about whether it will be necessary to raise the standard value-added tax next year or not. Not only do medium-term growth prospects depend on these kinds of developments, but so yields on government debt, which determine how much Italy will pay to borrow money. "It would be hard to blame any entity trying to follow developments in the Italian economy to want to wait until things settle down a little," Hildebrandt and Ferrar economist Javier Noriega, said in an interview. According to Marco Cecchi de'Rossi, a former managing director of the Italian division for Fitch, a major ratings agency, and now serving as non-executive director of the Cerved ratings agency, it is common for complex, industrialized economies like Italy's to go through periods of intense change. "The most important thing is for an agency to look at the best data available, find the relevant trends in the data, and to pay attention to the actions taken not to promises and propaganda," Cecchi de'Rossi told Xinhua. The outcome of ongoing negotiations on the 25-billion-euro (28.4-billion-U.S.-dollar) TAV high-speed rail project and the future of national air carrier Alitalia could result in significant new government expenditures while impacting the country's relations within the European Union. The elections for European Parliament are likely to have an impact on the balance of power within the government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, while growth prospects and the value-added tax will help determine budget deficit levels in 2020. According to Riccardo Puglisi, a professor of political economy in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Pavia, Moody's delay makes sense. "It's impossible for a ratings agency to respond to events in real time," Puglisi said in an interview. "They have to be cautious and avoid contributing volatility in markets." It is not clear whether Standard & Poor's and Fitch, the two other global ratings agencies, will follow suit or delay their reports on Italy. Both are tentatively scheduled for release before the end of April. Un depozit Amazon din Statele Unite plin cu muncitori s-a prabusit Un depozit Amazon din Statele Unite plin cu muncitori s-a prabusit dupa ce prin apropiere a trecut o tornada. Incidentul s-a petrecut in aceasta dimineata intr-o suburbie a orasului Saint Louis.In cladire erau intre 50 si 100 de oameni, care lucrau pe tura de noapte. [citeste mai departe] The annexation was not bloodless, as it was commonly believed Open source These are the green men (Russia's little green men, as the unmarked Russian soldiers were called, seized Crimea's local parliament in 2014, - ed.). Allegedly, the forces of self-defense of Crimea, which in the end turned out to be false. Open source And this is Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said that Russia in no way takes part in what is happening on the peninsula. As a result, in his own words, it turned out that it does take. This is current "head" of Crimea Sergey Aksionov. Back in 2012, he opposed the transition of the Crimea to Russia. Afterward, he has radically changed his position. Five years ago, on March 18, 2014, an agreement on the "inclusion" of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation was signed in Moscow. It was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and three key collaborators Sergey Aksionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Alexey Chaly. Thus, the annexation process has re-launched to a legal dimension. The annexation was not bloodless, as it was commonly believed. Who died during the annexation of Crimea? At least two people. On March 15, the body of Reshat Ametov was found; he was the first victim of the annexation. On March 3, 2014, he took part in a peaceful protest on Lenin Square in Simferopol. Later a video of his detention by members of the so-called "self-defense" of Crimea appeared on the Internet. Nothing has been known about the fate of Ametov for about two weeks. Then his mutilated body was found in the village of Zemlyanychi. Open source The second of the known victims was Serhiy Kokurin, warrant officer of the Ukrainian military unit in Crimea. He was killed by two shots (in the head and in the heart) from AK-47 during the storming of the 13th photogrammetric center in Simferopol. Key dates for annexation February 23, 2014 Rally with Russian flags in Sevastopol. The protest "against fascism in Ukraine" was held. At the rally, it was decided not to send taxes to Kyiv and create "self-defense units." February 24 -25, 2014 Blocking of entrances to Sevastopol by Russian armored personnel carriers. Involvement of the military of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. The Russian flag was hung in Simferopol on the building of the Verkhovna Rada. February 27, 2014 The seizure of the building of Crimean Verkhovna Rada and the Ministers office by unmarked armed people, the so-called "green men." The Presidium of the peninsulas parliament removed Anatoliy Mohyliov from his post, appointed Sergey Aksionov as the head of the Council of Ministers and scheduled a referendum on May 25. March 2-6, 2014 The date of the referendum was re-scheduled from May 25 to March 30. Then it was re-scheduled again; to March 16. The blocking of Ukrainian military bases began. March 11, 2014 Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol was adopted. March 16 - 17, 2014 Conducting an illegal referendum and the adoption of the decree "On Independence." March 18, 2014 The signing of the agreement "On the inclusion" of Crimea in the Russian Federation. Then there were mass blockings and seizures of Ukrainian ships in Crimea. And the gradual withdrawal of the Ukrainian forces from the peninsula. How have Putin's statements regarding the annexation changed? March 2014 Journalist: People who carried out blocking of Ukrainian units in Crimea wore uniforms very similar to the Russian form, were they Russian soldiers? Putin: Look at the post-Soviet space. There are many uniforms that look like that one, if you go to the store, you will buy any form. Journalist: So, these were Russian troops? Putin: These were self-defense forces. April 2014 The threats against the Russian-speaking population were absolutely concrete and tangible. It was this that prompted the Russian-speaking citizens who live there to think about their future and turn to Russia for help. Then Putin stressed that no operations were prepared. November 2014 We never hid it our armed forces, frankly, blocked the armed forces of Ukraine, located in Crimea. March 2015 I told all my colleagues, and there were four of them: the situation in Ukraine forces us to begin work on returning Crimea to Russia. Because we cannot abandon the territory and the people who live there, to the mercy of fate the nationalist rink. March 2018 Not so many people expected that we would act so quickly and decisively, if not to say boldly. Our opponents, our partners, have developed very correct tactics. And they tactically achieve their goals to a certain extent. But I think that in the long run we still win. Quote from Sergey Aksionov, March 16, 2019 None of this would have happened if our president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, personally, did not lead this operation... International reaction maps.yandex.com The world community did not recognize the act of annexation. USA Russias so-called referendum at the barrel of a gun in Crimea five years ago was a farce rightfully condemned by the international community. Crimea is Ukraine, said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino. Russias so-called referendum at the barrel of a gun in #Crimea five years ago was a farce rightfully condemned by the international community. #CrimeaisUkraine Robert Palladino (@StateDeputySPOX) 16 2019 . European Union "We have never recognized and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation," said EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. NATO Five years ago, Russia used force against Ukraine to illegally annex Crimea. This violation of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity is a serious violation of international law and a serious challenge to Euro-Atlantic security. We strongly condemn this act, which we did not recognize and would not do it," reads the statement of the Alliance. Analysts at Bloomberg Economics estimate that sanctions have knocked as much as 6 percent off Russias economy over the past five years. A study published by analyst Scott Johnson late last year found that the economy of the worlds biggest energy exporter is more than 10 percent (or $150 billion) smaller compared with what might have been expected at the end of 2013. Four percentage points of that come from the drop in oil prices, but sanctions and other factors are to blame for the rest. A lot of political prisoners are kept on the peninsula. Local Crimean Tatars declare about regular searches and harassment. The peninsula itself is heavily militarized. And Sergey Aksionov is happy that Sudan, Congo, and Niger called on the West to lift sanctions. Read the original text at 112.ua. Open source The Russian militants attacked the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas conflict zone 7 times today on March 20. The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) HQ reported this on Facebook. Since the beginning of the day, the enemy fired our positions seven times, five times they used the Minsk-banned weaponry, in particular, 39 shells of 120 mm and 82 mmThree our soldiers were wounded because of the attack, - the report said. Besides, it should be noted that, in the East operational group action zone, the enemy fired with: automatic easel grenade launchers and heavy machine guns near Lebedynske settlement, and with sniper weaponry near Mirinka town. In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions: twice with 120 mm and 82 mm mortar near Novoluhanske settlement, with 82 mortar near Pshchane and Sataryi Aidar villages, with 120 mm mortar and the infantry fighting vehicle BMP-1 near Troitske village. The attacked subdivisions stopped the fire by opening fire as well. The casualties among the Russian militias have been checking yet. The situation in the Joint Forces operation is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, - the report said. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Reuters As Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down as the President of Kazakhstan, the name of his successor became known almost immediately. According to TASS news agency, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev 'took the oath of office and assumed the post of Kazakhstans interim president on Wednesday'. "I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," Tokayev told a joint meeting of the parliaments houses, as quoted by the news agency. He will be staying in charge until the next regular presidential election, which is scheduled for April 2020. Nazarbayev chaired the country since 1990. In 2015, he was elected for the fifth consecutive term, which makes him the undisputed record holder in terms of the period of stay in power among other leaders of the post-Soviet countries. 'This year marks the 30th anniversary since I took the highest office. The people gave me this opportunity to be the first president of independent Kazakhstan', he said in his goodbye address to the Kazakh people. The ex-head of the state, Nazarbayev will still be chairing the National Security Council and Nur Otan, the pro-presidential party in the Kazakh parliament. In the sanctions list are the heads of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Open source The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the order 82/2019, which implements the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine from March 19, 2019, on implementation, cancellation and adding of amendments to the personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions). The sanctions are implemented against the heads of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation as well. The press service of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reports this. According to the report, upon the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Bank of Ukraine, the sanctions are implemented against 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, who: were involved in the construction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait; were involved in the armed attack and seizure of the Ukrainian military vessels and illegal detaining of the Ukrainian sailors; organize and encourage the conduction of the fake elections on the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk and on the Crimean peninsula; demonstratively violated the Ukrainian legislature on entry-exit of the temporarily occupied territories of the Ukrainian Crimea; spread the printed productions with anti-Ukrainian content; illegally obtained and use the museum heritage, which belongs to Ukraine. Besides, it should be noted that the sanctions are implemented against the heads of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has implemented restrictive measures against separate individuals and legal entities, against whom the EU, Canada, and the USA have implemented sanctions as well, - the report said. Besides, upon the request of the National Bank of Ukraine, the sanctions were imposed on the four banks of the aggressor state. At the same time, taking into account the achievement of the goal of imposing sanctions, upon the recommendation of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, restrictive measures on 8 legal entities, most of which their ceased economic activity, were lifted, - the report said. According to article 1 and 5 of the law on sanctions of Ukraine, the sanctions are imposed on legal entities, residents of Ukraine, only if they are involved in the terrorist activity. Hence, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to check involvement in the terrorist activities of the legal entities, a list of which is given in Appendix 1 of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada from October 4, 2018. That is why, the question concerning the imposing of sanctions, initiated by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, will be reviewed after such checks will be conducted, - the report added. According to the published on the website the order of the President of Ukraine, it comes into force from the day of its publication. Russia's golden age of integration of the elite "into the West" has come The President of Russia Vladimir Putin AFP One might get the impression that we still live in postmodernism. When there are no differences between opposites, between truth and dishonesty, fairness and unjustness, law and lawlessness. When it is not clear what is reality and what is imitation. There are no principles and rules. Everything turns into a mockery of logic and meaning. Here are some examples of Russian postmodernism: the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Calvey case; Putin's technological breakthrough during a confrontation with the West; state power under sanctions; public chambers and the Presidential Council on Human Rights as the framing of autocracy. President Putin recently spoke at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, saying that the government sees "important, effective, reliable partners in addressing key national development objectives in the representatives of the Russian business community." Meanwhile, over the past 5 years, more than 220 thousand people have been convicted under economic articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the number of initiated criminal cases reaches 900 thousand (however, the number of acquittals annually does not exceed 2%). However, the Western world has been eroding its ideology and norms for several decades. The irony is that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of alternatives have caused the liberal democracies to stop worrying about values. Russia's golden age of integration of the elite "into the West" has come, thus maintaining a system hostile to the West. The Russian "Londongrad" and Mikhail Fridman, as the richest resident of London, is a postmodern heritage. Our Crimea notion has destroyed the relativity that is comfortable for many - both here and there. Western sanctions are pushing us out of the zone of serenity, where it was possible to bypass the rules with the assistance of the lobbying machine created by the West itself. Bypass them with mutual satisfaction. Condemnation of Paul Manafort, king of lobbyists serving kleptocracy, means a blow to the world of laundrymate. Now the entire service sector of the world "laundrymates" would think about its future. The scandal with the Troika Dialog, which caused a drop in the shares of the largest Western banks, means not only that Russia has become toxic. This is a new warning that the players of the postmodern era, including Western financial regulators, will pay for their success at that time. And this price will include not only the resetting of former reputations but also the refusal of the world financial institutions to deal with Russia. It is time for the black and white landscape: "who is not with us, he is against us." And no shades of gray. Compromise-minded Europeans, of course, will try to preserve the vagueness of the rules. But they are unlikely to avoid pressure from the world policeman who wants to retire. But cannot do it. Right now we can see how the US is trying to force Europe and, above all, Germany, to abandon the Nord Stream 2 project. A new geopolitical era begins for Russia. The paradox is that the Kremlin has itself ended a glorious time when it was possible to tweak the tail of the West believing that a depressed civilization is not capable of responding. The error might enter the textbooks as an example of a grand political failure. Do not worry, calm us pro-Kremlin observers. Yes, Russia is alone now. But Russia can master a new mission it might become an intermediary between the West and the East. And who would agree to the mediation of a lonely power drifting in an incomprehensible direction? The West has no ideology, and it is ready for deals; this is what we need, optimists convince... But, firstly, the West had an idea unity against Russia. Secondly, what can we offer to the West as a deal without losing face? We are entering a multi-polar world, and Russia is ready to become one of its poles, the mainstream is not appeasing. But this world means a tough fight, and what are Russia's chances of winning it in terms of fleeing resources and the reluctance of the population to sacrifice the little that is left? And who is ready to become the Russian "galaxy," even if Lukashenka began to fray? A new era begins within the country. The power crawls out of the gray zone when it was possible to exist by juggling the rules and where it was so great to live! Fake institutes continue to exist, but rather as a comic bag without a handle. One could understand the position of the authorities: how else to govern the country in the situation of its confrontation with the West and the growing discontent of the people? We have to go back to the power pressure, including pushing the unleashed elite. We have to offer the people "national projects" as a mobilization idea. However, due to the folding of their social obligations. And what else could be done? Military patriotism requires a more serious impulse than just bored chatting about Ukraine on TV. The problem, however, is that the self-absorbed model of Russia can function only when the postmodern husk is dropped and return back to totalitarianism, personal dictatorship, like-mindedness, the introduction of unquestioned ideology, mass repressions, and unconditional submission. So and in no other way! But can the power, which has accustomed everyone to deceptions and has become the personification of fake itself, return to the repressive-command system? Im not asking if the latter can head Russias breakthrough to the best. And how to consolidate the people around the authorities in terms of the degradation of the mobilization mechanism? They have got stuck along the way! P.S. Who will prevent Russia from getting out of this impasse more: those who are trying to move to repressive governance, or those who have discredited the principles by participating in their imitation? The latter would try hard to maintain the reputation of "warm and fuzzy" ones, remaining in the role of a garland on the repressive vertical ... Read the original text on Facebook. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners. The only president of Crimea in 1994-1995, Meshkov spends 48 hours behind the bars for resisting a police officer Yuriy Meshkov, former president of Crimea Krym.Realii The Kremlin-controlled Central District Court of the occupied Simferopol arrested Yuriy Meshkov, the ex-president of Crimea. The man ended up behind the bars, as they detained him for 'resisting police workers'. Krym.Realii news agency reported that, quoting the self-styled leader of so-called 'Crimean Cossacks' Sergei Akimov. According to the 'official', Meshkov is detained for 48 hours. The actual detention took place on March 18, as an unknown person contacted the local law enforcers, stating that Meshkov was under the influence of some psychoactive substance. Thet took him in and examined him; according to Meshkov himself, no traces of alcohol or drugs were found in his blood. In late February, ex-president of Crimea Yuriy Meshkov criticized the incumbent pro-Kremlin government of Crimea for 'treachery' against Russia during the annexation of the peninsula in 2014. Meshkov, born in Dnipropetrovsk region, is a former Crimean politician and lawyer. In 1994-1995, he served as the first and the only president of Crimea, and also as the federal representative of the Council of Ministers of Crimea in 1994. Open source Facebook suspended all political advertising in Ukraine 11 days before the presidential elections, as Ukrainian News reported. Prohibition of the distribution of the advertisement concerns socio-political publishers and advertising agencies which deal with an advertisement of their materials in the social media. Those who are in Ukraine can post an advertisement to prevent interference in the election process. Yet, one has to send an ID to post an advertisement. However, the Ukrainian passport would be not enough, one needs to send a foreign passport or international driving license for that. The verification procedure will take 48 72 hours. The advertisement is paid by a card with its owners name. As it was reported, Facebook would reveal the names of the contractors of the political advertisement on the eve of the presidential elections. This information will be preserved in a public library within seven years. Therefore, one can find out who pays for the political advertisement, the amount of the expenses, the ways the advertisement was distributed, the demography and location of those who saw the agitation. Ukraine is not only defending itself, but also defending Europe, MEPs said before the event Film about Ukrainian political prisoners, screened at European Parliament Facebook/Ukraine's Mission in the EU A documentary dubbed 'Putin's hostages: Ukrainian political prisoners of the Kremlin' was aired in the session hall of the European Parliament. The premiere took place on March 19, Ukraine's delegation in the EU reported on Facebook. 'Opening the event, Head of Ukraines Mission to the EU Mykola Tochytskyi underscored: we have more than 70 political prisoners, 24 captured Ukrainian sailors, large-scale repressions in occupied Crimea and Kremlins ongoing political persecutions against Ukrainian citizens. We urge our partners to step political pressure and expand sanctions in order to release illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens and stop Russian aggression', reads the post on Facebook. Related: Russian court appoints debates in case of political prisoner Pavlo Gryb 'The screening of the documentary was followed by a discussion with human rights activists Alya Shandra and Maria Tomak, Igor Gryb (father of political prisoner Pavlo Gryb) and Viktor Soroka (father of Ukrainian Navy sailor POW Vasyl Soroka)', the post goes on. Moskalkova expects that the court will change the restrictive measure of Vyshynsky for house arrest or restricted residence Open source Russian ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova came to Kyiv for the participation in the court on the case of Kyrylo Vyshynsky, the CEO of RIA News. She thinks that it was necessary to hold the international examination of the articles as 112 Ukraine reported. Moskalkova arrived in Ukraine to see the state of health of Kyrylo Vyshynsky personally and check whether the Ukrainian side observed the international norms in the procedural form. The Russian ombudsman thinks that Vyshynsky carried out his professional duties. It is the unusual process because the journalist, the person, who carried out his professional duties, is under arrest. And my requests to the Council of Europe, UN commission, to Desir, who deals with the issues of mass media freedom all of them were responded that the journalists should be under the protection of the states during their work, Moskalkova said Moskalkova expects that the court will make a decision on the change of the restrictive measure of Vyshynsky for house arrest or restricted residence. I would very much like to hope that the court makes a decision on the change of the restrictive measure in the form of the detention for house arrest or restricted residence, considering his age and state of health, Moskalkova said. Besides, the Russian ombudswoman added that she will not visit the remand center, where Kyrylo Vyshynsky is kept today but she will control his case through the lawyer. As it was reported, the former RIA News Head Kyrylo Vyshynsky was transferred to Kyiv to the Lukyanivska prison. Andriy Domansky, the lawyer of Vyshynsky. Earlier, Kherson City Court extended detention for RIA News Head Kyrylo Vyshynsky to April 8. On May 15, the SBU considered the detention of the head of RIA News Ukraine agencys office. Kremlin has already responded to the incident and called the actions of the SBU outrageous. Besides, Russia promised to assume reciprocal measures. Then, the state sent a protest note over searches at the mass media office. The actions of Vyshynsky were preliminarily qualified as the state treason. The same day the SBU reported that Kyrylo Vyshynsky is now officially suspected of state treason. In addition to the fact that limousine travel is very glamorous, it is also the most comfortable trip you can... The members of the Senate and Mazhilis supported the decision on renaming almost unanimously The capital of Kazakhstan Nursultan (earlier Astana) Open source The Kazakh Parliament approved the renaming of the republics capital Astana into Nursultan, as it was announced at the joint session of the Government, a couple of hours after the new President of the country Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev proposed it, NUR.KZ reported. According to the Constitution of Kazakhstan on conduction of a national referendum to amend the Constitution on renaming Astana. The President decided to present this proposal for the Parliaments consideration without a referendum. The constitutional council of the republic provided a positive conclusion, Nurlan Nigmatulin, the Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. After the voting, the amendments to the Constitution were adopted. It is a historical decision, Nigmatulin said while the hall was applauding. The members of the Senate and Mazhilis supported the decision on renaming almost unanimously. The amendments will come into force after the President of Kazakhstan signs them. As we reported earlier, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev officially claimed that he gives up his authority as the head of the state. He made the statement on Tuesday, March 19, after 30 years in power. He will remain Chairman of the Security Council, the Nur Otan Democratic Peoples Party and a member of the Constitutional Council. Nazarbayev, born in 1940 in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, came to power in 1990, as the President of this Republic. After the breakdown of the USSR, he became the president of independent Kazakhstan. When they re-elected him as the President the fifth time, Nazarbayev collected almost 98 percent of votes. On March 20, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took the oath of office and assumed the post of Kazakhstans interim president on Wednesday after the nation's long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation. Tokayev, 65, has served as Speaker of Kazakhstans upper house of parliament, the Senate, since September 2017. Oleg Lyashko protested against the government's decision to extend the deal with the board of NJSC Naftogaz for another year Groysman, Lyashko during government session, March 20, 2019 Screenshot Head of the Radical Party of Ukraine Oleg Lyashko stormed into the hall of the Cabinet of Ministers, interrupting the session. The scandalous politician, surrounded by his comrades from the Radical Party demanded that the government cancel its decision to extend the deal with the board of directors of NJSC Naftogaz, the leading energy company for another year. Lyashko also insisted that the head of the board Andriy Kobolev return the funds that he and his associates 'withdrew to offshore zones', as he put it. Lyashko approached the microphone and began to shout into it. Groysman turned off the microphone and then the dispute took place between the prime minister and MP. On what basis did you extend the contract with the thief? Your security has just beaten an 84-year-old woman near the building of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Why did you do it? It is you, who turned the country into the circus; you who robbed the country; you paid $55,2 million of rewards to Kobolev and did not return this money. You pay million-dollar salary, million-dollar rewards. Our demand to the government is not to extend the contract with Head of Naftogaz Kobolev, Lyashko appealed to Groysman. The MP asked the government to adopt a law here and today, which allows the families to pay for public utility not more than 15% from the incomes. Zubko, do not laugh; you will finish badly. There will be no Petro in a month (Poroshenko, - 112 international); I will see where you are going to be. Do you see, it is so funny to them? Because they have huge salaries and they live normally. They have robbed country for five years; now they are imitating the fight against poverty in a month before the elections; they think people are so stupid that they will be elected again. Who will elect you? You will not be elected to a collective farm, Lyashko said. In his turn, Groysman called the MPs behavior super rude. First of all, its super rude breaking into the conference room, its completely rude, super barbaric, short-tempered and unethical. Well, I think, its not for you break in the room, come in and start screaming. Didnt I let you in? What are you saying? A little respect here, please. How do I know when you want to come here? Everyone follows his duties. The public guard department has its obligations. You break in here, you have immunity, dont you? You are such cool MPs. I dont hit people, I love people. Moreover, I love them sincerely, not just on TV. I walk on the ground and meet people just as you do. Probably a little less now, as you have huge audience now, you need to care about your election campaign, you want to become a president, Groysman responded. Lyashko replied interrogatively: Do you mind? and added that unlike the government, he has never increased gas prices, he never continued contacting the enemies and never lied to people. As of Wednesday noon, the government meeting was suspended. After the long-lasting verbal face-off, Lyashko left the hall and the session resumed. Statement by the Director General of 112 Ukraine TV channel Yehor Benkendorf: We regard the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, which instructs the Security Service of Ukraine to check the TV channels on alleged involvement in terrorist activities, as direct and gross political pressure on our television channels as an independent media. This is an attempt to intimidate us before the elections and I case of our refusal - to prepare the ground for closing the channel. We declare that we intend to continue to work regardless of the efforts of the authorities. We will appeal to the Ukrainian and international community for support in conditions of unprecedented pressure on our TV channels. We also demand that the authorities stop targeting TV channels, act within law and observe the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution." Earlier on March 20, the decision of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council to prepare for the introduction of sanctions against NewsOne and 112 Ukraine TV channels was put into effect. 112 Ukraine is an informational and analytical TV channel which broadcasts 18.5 hours per day on air and uses modern technologies to be the first channel to provide the unbiased information on important and interesting events going on in Ukraine and in the world. This is mentioned in the respective statement by Artem Marchevskyi, the Chief Producer, and Yehor Benkendorf, Director General of 112 Ukraine. NewsOne is an informational and analytical TV channel. The Chief Producer is Vasyl Holovanov. The Director General is Yuriy Budyak. The State Duma of Russia has created a special task group, which will estimate the loss supposedly inflicted to occupied Crimea by Ukraine as Interfax reported citing Spokesperson of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. He noted that First Vice-Speaker Ivan Melnikov headed the task group. Concerning the analysis of the damage and loss inflicted to Crimea and Sevastopol during 23 years of the annexation by Ukraine, we will discuss this issue today at council of the State Duma; we will proceed to the adoption of the particular solutions, within which, we will try to involve the economists, scientists, representatives of the regions, considering the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol, and proceed to the final document, Volodin stated. Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin commented this information on Facebook, calling it another crisis of genre. They have another crisis of genre in the State Duma; they have begun to count the debt of Ukraine during 23 years of the annexation of Crimea: they created the task group, they estimate the losses; it's serious. Why did nobody in Ukraine demand compensations for a few centuries of the Russian occupation of Ukraine? However., the minister wrote. Earlier Vyacheslav Volodin offered to demand the compensations from Ukraine for economic losses of Crimea when it was Ukrainian. Ukraine dealt with Crimea very dishonorable; the fundamental rights of the Crimean citizens were violated the right for language, right for education; it violated the economy of Crimea and Sevastopol, it was almost the annexation. We should call the things how they are. Within the parliamentary structures, Volodin stated. U.S. Congress House of Representatives approved the draft bill, which defines the non-recognition of the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea, its airspace or waters as the policy of the U.S. on March 12. Crimea was annexed by Russia after the illegal referendum held on the peninsula in March 2014. Earlier, the Russian military captured all strategic military objects and buildings of the key authoritative bodies. Neither Ukraine nor the rest of the civilized countries recognized the results of the referendum. A number of the European and the world countries, including Ukraine, imposed the economic sanctions against Russia. As we reported Google corporation began to show occupied Crimea as a part of Russia for Russian users. Naftogaz CEO Kobolev stated that is gas transit through Ukraine is suspended Ukraine will file another lawsuit to the arbitration court for $12 billion Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev RBK-Ukraine Russian Gazprom began to officially notify the countries on the suspension of gas transit through Ukraine, as Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev said in an interview for RBK-Ukraine. Gazprom has officially started to notify the countries which border Ukraine or depend on our transit that since 2020 this transit will be suspended, Kobolev said. According to him, Ukraine has prepared arguments for the relevant negotiations. To make the signing of the treaty possible, we have a very simple negotiation position: Either Gazprom signs the contract, and then the issue of depreciation of gas transportation systems automatically disappears from our list, or, sorry, but you will have to compensate it. In my working experience with Gazprom, I am convinced that the worst idea is to negotiate with them without a certain position, Naftogaz CEO added. Gazprom and its partners intended to begin the realization of the Nord Stream 2 project, which costs ten billion dollars. It is expected that the 1200 km gas pipeline will be laid through the Baltic Sea, and will connect Russia and Germany passing Ukraine, Poland, and Baltic countries. The capacity of the gas pipeline will be twice increased than the first Nord Stream. The construction is estimated to be completed by the end of 2019. Russian president Putin claimed that the Russian Federation was ready to save the gas transit through Ukraine after the launch of the Nord Stream 2. "I believe we should perpetuate the name of our great contemporary, first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the following way: our capital should be named after our president and be called Nursultan," Tokayev said Kazakhstan's new interim President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev Reuters Kazakhstan's new President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev has suggested perpetuating the name of the country's first President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the name of the capital. "We should perpetuate his great name. I believe we should perpetuate the name of our great contemporary, first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in the following way: our capital should be named after our president and be called Nursultan," Tokayev said as he was sworn in as president on Wednesday. As we reported earlier, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev officially claimed that he gives up his authority as the head of the state. He made the statement on Tuesday, March 19, after 30 years in power. He will remain Chairman of the Security Council, the Nur Otan Democratic Peoples Party and a member of the Constitutional Council. Nazarbayev, born in 1940 in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, came to power in 1990, as the President of this Republic. After the breakdown of the USSR, he became the president of independent Kazakhstan. When they re-elected him as the President the fifth time, Nazarbayev collected almost 98 percent of votes. On March 20, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took the oath of office and assumed the post of Kazakhstans interim president on Wednesday after the nation's long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation. Tokayev, 65, has served as Speaker of Kazakhstans upper house of parliament, the Senate, since September 2017. It was his mother that fell sick first; she infected both of her sons, one of which survived Open source A two-year-old boy deceased because of the complications caused by measles. The deadly case was obsered in Lviv, western Ukraine. Oleg Kogut, the deputy director of the Lab Centre of the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine said this as quoted by Zaxid.net. The report says that the boy got infected, as his mother fell sick first. He was not vaccinated against measles. 'Two children got infected through their mother. Measles was tough for both of them', Kogut explained. According to him, the boy sustained a number of complications that emerged due to the infection. The medics could not save him. "He suffered from encephalitis, damage to the central nervous system and breathing system, pneumonia, heavy hepatitis, myocarditis. The brain was not functioning', said Viktor Tokarev, the chief medical officer of intensive care unit at Lviv regional infectious hospital. Another boy, the older son of the same mother was treated in the same hospital unit. His life is beyond the danger now, so doctors discharged him. Recently, 112 International reported that a nine-year-old girl died from measles in Rivne region, northern Ukraine. The memorandum project was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Open source Ukraine plans to conclude a memorandum on the cooperation in the sphere of space research with Nigeria as Ukrainian News reported citing order #136-r of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The memorandum project has been already approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Pavlo Dehtyarenko, the Chairman of the State Space Agency of Ukraine is authorized to sign it. According to the document, Ukraine will begin the cooperation with Nigeria to hold the research of space, including astrophysical and planetary, remote sensing of the Earth, spheres of space meteorology, satellite navigation and space communication. Besides, it is planned to hold the joint development of the spacecraft. It is expected that the signing of the memorandum will facilitate the promotion of the Ukrainian space industry at the world markets and will attract foreign investments. As we reported Ukraines Ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly met with NASA Administrator James Bridenstine and discussed deepening of the cooperation between Ukraine and the U.S. in the space sector. The court has not found any mistakes in the text of the verdict Open source The lawyers of ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who was sentenced for 13 years in prison for the state treason, filed the appeal to correct the possible mistakes in the text of the verdict. However, Obolon District Court of Kyiv, which considered the case, did not find any mistakes as Ukrainian News reported. The court rejected the appeal of Yanukovychs lawyers. They asked to remove the phrase from the text of the verdict, which states that the former president committed the crime under the influence of the authority representatives of Russia. However, the court thinks that there is no mistake in this phrase and it will not correct or remove it. As we reported earlier, Yury Ryabovol, the state lawyer of Viktor Yanukovych has filed the appeal against the sentence of Obolon District Court on the state treason case of the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. On February 26, the court reported that five appeals were filed against the verdict for ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. On March 5, Kyiv Court of Appeal returned the case of the ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to Kyiv Obolon Court to correct the mistakes and explanation of the verdict. The court found Yanukovych guilty of addressing the Russian President Putin and asking him to deploy troops in Ukraine. Besides, the court sentenced ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to 13 years of the detention for the state treason and complicity in the holding of the aggressive war against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. Yanukovych was charged with state treason, assistance in deliberate actions against Ukraines state border, sovereignty and territorial integrity and assistance in leading the aggressive war against Ukraine. The Ministry believes that such actions of Ukraine will create preconditions for the implementation of similar restrictive measures by the EU and the USA Open source To the sanction list of Ukraine were added individuals and legal entities, who created real or potential threats to the national interests of Ukraine, violated the interests of the society and the state, led to property losses, created obstacles for the full realization of the rights and freedoms of citizens of Ukraine. The press service of the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs reported this. Besides, according to the Ministry: - 23 individuals, who were involved in conducting illegal archaeological search works on objects of cultural heritage or who participated in events aimed at legitimizing the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol; - the Russian enterprises and enterprises from European countries that support the activity of the LLC "Titanium investments" in the city of Armyansk in Crimea; - 14 legal entities involved in the supply of materials, equipment, and services for plants of the defense industry complex of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories; - legal entities involved in the organization of transportation through the ports of Temryuk, the Caucasus and the Kerch Ferry Terminal; - legal entities involved in the illegal construction of a transport passage through the Kerch Strait; - individuals who are the directors/founders of legal entities involved in the illegal construction of a transport passage through the Kerch Strait; - 30 individuals, citizens of foreign states who, as "international observers", participated in illegal elections of the President of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on March 18, 2018. The implementation of sanctions against all the involved individuals and legal entities make impossible further economic relations with Ukraine, create preconditions for the implementation of similar restrictive measures by the EU and the USA, and will contribute to the restoration of state sovereignty of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, - the report added. Earlier, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the order 82/2019, which implements the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine from March 19, 2019, on implementation, cancellation and adding of amendments to the personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions). The sanctions are implemented against the heads of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation as well. Besides, upon the request of the National Bank of Ukraine, the sanctions were imposed on the four banks of the aggressor state. The Director of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office stated this during the session of the anti-corruption parliamentary committee The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) will close the proceedings against Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan due to the recognition of the article on illicit enrichment the unconstitutional one. Nazar Kholodnytskyi, the Director of the SAPO, stated this during the session, broadcasted by 112 Ukraine. The half of the proceeding against Omelyan are appointed for April 3, taking into account the fact that the article is no longer valid, the prosecutor has no other choice, but to refuse from accusation on decriminalization of the crime, - Kholodnytskyi said. According to the Director of SAPO, the same decision will be accepted about three more cases on illicit enrichment, which were passed to the court, against the military prosecutor, the Head the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine and a judge of Luhansk region. Earlier, Ukraines Anti-Corruption Bureau informed Infrastructure Minister Omelyan of suspected illicit enrichment. NABU representatives stated that from January 1, 2000 to April, 26, 2018 Omelyan received $77,500 of official income. At least $123,214 were at his expenses within the period from 2008 till April 26, 2015. Later, NABU detectives claimed that the crimes of Omelyan are not grave so they will demand to choose the restrictive measure for the minister in the form of bail in the sum of almost $179,000. On September 19, Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv arrested the property of Volodymyr Omelyan. The court extended the detention of the defendant up to May 16, 2019 The court debates in the criminal proceeding on the accusation of Brazilian citizen Rafael Lusvarghi of participation in the terrorist organizations and armed formations not provided by the law took place at Pavlogradsky District Court of Dnipropetrovsk region on March 19 as Prosecutors Office of Kyiv reported. During the debates, the prosecutor supported the whole volume of the evidence listed in the court and asked the court to establish the punishment in the form of the arrest for 14 years with the confiscation of property for defendant, the message said. In his turn, Lusvarghi pleaded guilty in the participation in the armed formations not provided by the law during the debates; however, he denied the participation in the terrorist organizations. The court extended the detention of the defendant up to May 16, 2019 and appointed the delivering of the final statement on May 2, 2019. As it was reported earlier, SBU officers detained Lusvarghi in October 2016 when he was crossing Ukraines border in D terminal of the Boryspil airport. A couple of months later, in January of 2017, Kyiv Pechersky District Court found the Brazilian guilty of the formation of a terrorist organization and the creations of illegal armed formations. They sentenced him to 13 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property. He became the first non-Russia foreigner sentenced by Kyiv for the participation in Donbas war. Kyiv Court of Appeal canceled the sentence in August 2017 and returned the Lusvarghi case for a retrial. Later, the pre-trial restriction for Lusvarghi was changed. The militant will be released on personal commitment, according to which he cannot leave Kyiv and has to inform the court about the change of residence and appear in court on the first request. Igor Volk, the prosecutor on the case, initiated the change of the preventive measure. He applied to the court with this request on December 15. In around two weeks before the hostage exchange, when Ukraine passed 233 people, 73 prisoners came back to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. The far-right Ukrainian activists captured Lusvarghi and brought him to the SBU building in Kyiv on May 4. Yuriy Lutsenko is suspected in the disclosure of the pre-trial investigation details of Kateryna Hanzdiuks murder The State Investigation Bureau launched the criminal proceeding against the General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko on possible disclosing of the information about the investigation of the murder of activist Kateryna Hanzdiuk. The lawyer Masi Nayyem posted this on Facebook. Besides, the lawyer stated, that he himself filed to State Investigation Bureau against the General Prosecutor on committing a criminal offense under part 2 of the article 387 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the disclosure of the pre-trial investigation details, on December 27, 2018. However, no measures were undertaken, so the lawyer applied to the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv with a complaint on the inaction of authorized persons of the State Investigation Bureau. On February 28, 2019, the court ruled the Bureau to launch this criminal proceeding. We are still waiting on the answer to the question Who ordered Kateryna Hanzdiuks murder? However, do this in the framework of the Code of Criminal Procedure, please, - Masi Nayyem added. Earlier, Kateryna Handziuk was known for her activity in fighting corruption in the local government in Kherson. On November 4, it became known that she deceased at age of 34. She was doused with sulphuric acid in July 2018. According to preliminary information, her death was caused by blood clot's detachment, multiple organ failure, and chemical burns. In February, the investigation into Handziuk's death led to a possible organizer of the murder. The suspect is Vladyslav Manger, the head of Kherson regional council. On February 11, Manger was served with charge papers in Handziuks murder. In his turn, Manger said that he would not escape from the country due to suspicion of organizing the murder of Handziuk. [article_attached position="3" Andry Kobolev, the Head of Naftogaz-Ukraine RBK-Ukraine Ukraine needs to spare for three billion cubes of gas more than usual to secure itself in case of the complete stop of the gas transit through the Ukrainian gas-transporting system by Russia as RBK-Ukraine reported citing Head of Naftogaz-Ukraine Andry Kobolev. We conducted the evaluation of what we need to get through the toughest variant. To survive this winter, we need to pump the gas for three billion cubes more than we usually do to the underground storage sites (it means about 20 billion cubic meters). Then we will say: The Russians against the threat with the provocation but Ukraine is provided with gas, Kobolev said. He added that in case of the gas deficit in the neighboring countries, there is a risk that they will turn off the faucet and we should be prepared for it. We also work on a few additional options, but it is the confidential information, Kobolev added. Head of Naftogaz-Ukraine predicts that the decision on the extension or non-extension of the gas transit through Ukraine will be made by President of Russia Vladimir Putin. I hope that Nord Stream 2 will not be built until the beginning of the year and even the main stage of the construction will not be started. How does Putin usually achieve his goals? By carrot or stick. He gave a lot of carrot in this situation and it is time to get the stick. It means the complete stop of the gas transit through the territory of Ukraine. In other words, it means to repeat the 2003 situation and see what will happen, Kobolev said. Then, according to him, a lot of things will depend on the reaction of the EU states; they can pay attention to the supply of the liquefied gas from the U.S. or say it is all gone and provide the permission for the construction not only of the Nord Stream 2 but all interceptor gas pipelines necessary for its work. If a person in Russia, who will make the decision on the further transit through Ukraine, sees 20 billion cubic meters of gas in our underground storage sites and LNG-gas floating from the U.S. to Europe, then the high probability exists that he would not like to lose his reputation if he did not achieve the desired effect. In other words, pumping an extra three billion, we buy the insurance. The gas is the asset; it will not be lost but it should be stored, Kobolev concluded. He expressed the conviction that in case of the absence of such insurance Ukraine will face a great challenge. Gazprom and its partners intended to begin the realization of the Nord Stream 2 project, which costs ten billion dollars. It is expected that the 1200 km gas pipeline will be laid through the Baltic Sea, and will connect Russia and Germany passing Ukraine, Poland, and Baltic countries. The capacity of the gas pipeline will be twice increased than the first Nord Stream. The construction is estimated to be completed by the end of 2019. Russian president Putin claimed that the Russian Federation was ready to save the gas transit through Ukraine after the launch of the Nord Stream 2. Besides, Yuriy Vitrenko, Naftogaz Ukraine CEO said that if Ukraine does not sign a contract on Russian gas transit until 2020, it will lose around $3 million per year. Official Kyiv will demand that the exchange of prisoners is carried out in March The Ukrainian side will demand to set the date when Ukraine will pass 25 Russians convicted in Ukraine in exchange for the Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russian at the next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group, as Iryna Gerashchenko, First Vice Spokesperson of Ukraines Parliament, Ukraines representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, reported on Facebook. We had a brief meeting with Ukraines representative to the Trilateral Contact Group Yevhen Marchuk. We have prepared a statement to the OSCE representatives and Russian in the Trilateral Contact Group and humanitarian group demanding to bring to the fore the date of exchange of Russian and Ukrainian political prisoners at the session on March 27, she wrote. She also added that earlier, Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova said that she did not have an official mandate to deal with the question of exchange or release, it is within the competence of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk. According to Gerashchenko, Russian representatives refuse from discussing the release of Russians in exchange for Ukrainians under the formula 25/25 insisting that this is the issue of the Ombudsmen. Unfortunately, some OSCE representatives support this position trying to offload the responsibility onto the Ombudsmen. Along with Marchuk we have sent these public statements of Moskalkova and our immediate demands to set the date of the exchange to the Trilateral Contact Group. We propose to do this in March, she stressed. The Cabinet of Ministers will make this decision if the company implements three basic conditons March 20, Ukraines Government to decide on the prolongation of the contract with Naftogaz board for a year, as the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman stated at the session of the Cabinet of Ministers, broadcasted by 112 Ukraine. The board and the supervisory board of Naftogaz reached an agreement on contracts extension foe a year. As the PM noted, the company should consider some conditions for a new contract. First of all, it has to provide separate gas transportation system and its certification in compliance with the European legislation, to continue gas transit since January 2020 and achieve gas amount no less than 18 billion cubic metres per year, not like today, no more than 15 billion cubic metres per year. Besides, we will not pay super high wages to the management of the company, the PM stated. He added that under the new conditions of the contract, salary for the management of the company will be half the current amount. Earlier, Ukraines Government decided to announce a competition for the post of the Chairman of Naftogaz Board of Directors on March 23. As it was reported, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev urged the Government to liberalize gas supplies for all the consumers categories since April 2019, which will keep gas prices same in May. As it was reported, Naftogaz prolongs a two-million contract with Kobolyev. In addition, Hague Tribunal made a positive decision in the case Naftogaz against Russia for lost assets as a result of Crimeas annexation. Earlier, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said that the Government cannot reduce gas prices for Ukrainians despite all the campaign promises as its market price is one of the conditions of Ukraines cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. Kobolyev explained that despite the promises of the presidential candidates, they cannot lower gas prices, the President does not have such power. It will not happen even after the parliamentary elections, according to Naftogaz CEO. Thank's for the fish. -- Douglas Adams Come back again sometime. Thank you for visiting. A new class of crop inputs based on the soil microbiome have emerged in recent years. They have the potential to disrupt the agriculture industry by replacing traditional chemical inputs, which have created a number of serious environmental issues like herbicide-resistant weeds and pests, fertilizer runoff that chokes aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico, and poor soil health due to runoff and the loss of organic matter. For the most part, however, farmers have been skeptical about whether bio-based products can provide a viable alternative that gives them the same yields without eating into their margins. Some farmers are starting to dabble in the bio-based input world by using a combination of biologics and synthetics. For 3Bar Biologics founder and CEO Bruce Caldwell, cracking open the rapidly growing group of biologic products could be as simple as pushing a button. The big issue with this sector, and why it is not growing fast enough, is that the products need to perform better in the field. Consistency and in-field performance are the industrys Achilles Heel. The issue with living products like biologics is that our supply chain is designed for synthetic chemicals that can withstand long storage times and rapidly changing temperatures, Caldwell told AgFunderNews. One way to overcome this is with cold storage, but biologics would require cold storage all the way to the field, which just isnt cost effective or practical. To address this barrier to adoption, 3Bar has teamed up with microbial input startup Pivot Bio thats created a nitrogen-producing microbial product called PROVEN that fixates nitrogen from the atmosphere and secretes it at the corn crops root zone to be used when the plant needs it. Pivot Bio estimates that if farmers adopted PROVEN on 35% of US corn acres, it could reduce or prevent nearly 20,000 metric tons of nitrous oxide emissions. This is equivalent to taking roughly 1.5 million cars off the road by its account. It may also prevent up to 500,000 metric tons of nitrates from leaching into waterways. 3Bars technology is a delivery system that allows a farmer to cultivate a fresh batch of microbes right on the farm or at home. By pushing a button on the outside of the box, the farmer begins the fermentation process. Everything the microbes need to grow is located inside and the farmer does not have to perform any contamination protocols like sanitizing his or her hands before starting the process. Within 24-48 hours, the microbes are ready for use but they can be kept inside the box for up to three weeks. This is a key window for farmers who may have a sudden change of plans due to on-farm emergencies or a sudden unpredicted change in the weather. Pivot is currently selling the product direct to farmers and it can be mixed with many traditional inputs like herbicides and fertilizers without compromising its efficacy. 3Bar has also developed its own microbial product called BioYield that it is selling through traditional distribution channels like local coops. The boxes come in a range of sizes from a 3-liter package that covers 40 acres to a 10-liter package that covers 120 acres. The smaller size is perfect for farmers who want to conduct a trial run of a biologic product on their acreage. The product can be mixed with a number of other inputs like fertilizers, fungicides, and herbicides without compromising its efficacy. According to company trials, the cost comes out to roughly $5 per acre and results in a 7 to 8 bushel yield increase per acre, or $30. This is a relatively low priced input considering that it only takes 2 bushels for the product to pay for itself. What we have done is design a product that optimizes the performance of the microbe as opposed to trying to fit it within our current supply chain or forcing it into a seed coating as we have always done, he says. We need to treat living products in a different way and when we do that it will revolutionize agriculture. We will see living products like biologics displace synthetics in fertilization and other ranges of applications like pesticides. Caldwells background is in consumer packaged goods with over 30 years of experience at Proctor & Gamble followed by 7 years of experience as the head of R&D at Scotts Miracle-Gro. The company tried for several years to launch a living product but was mostly unsuccessful according to his account. The concept of growing microbes on the farm has been tried before; it has not been executed in a manageable way for the end user. This approach opens the door for numerous microbes that have been discovered but never successfully commercialized. When I founded the company four years ago, I found a library of microbes at Ohio State with a wide range of positive benefits for corn and soybeans, but they are a type of bacteria that cannot withstand drying out in high temperatures, which means they cant be a seed coating. Were pleased to work with 3Bar to deliver our inaugural product to farmers, said Karsten Temme, CEO & co-founder of Pivot Bio, in a statement announcing the partnership. Our product is now shipping to farmers across the Midwest who are looking for a reliable source of nitrogen that improves their bottom line and helps increase the sustainability of their operation. 3Bar, which raised a $2 million seed round in August 2017, has a few other partnerships in the works that Caldwell cannot disclose at this time. If the delivery mechanism is successful, it could open the floodgates to a host of bio-based inputs for a wide range of crops. Investors are pouring substantial funds into the ag biotech sector, which includes microbiome-based products like Pivot Bios PROVEN. The startup has raised nearly $90 million in venture funding to date, including a $70 million Series B round in October 2018 led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Other recently funded startups in the space include bio-based produce shelf-life extending product developer Apeel Sciences, Gates-backed plant microbiome research company AgBiome, computational biology and gene editing backed crop genomics platform creator Benson Hill Biosystems, recently IPOd gene editing startup Calyxt, and biological and plant nutrient inputs developer Concentric Ag Corporation (formerly Inocucor Technologies). In 2018, ag biotech startups secured the largest amount of investment at $1.5 billion, beating out precision ag and innovative foods like alternative proteins, according to AgFunders AgriFood Tech Funding Report 2018, which you can download here. AgFunder and StartUp Nation Central have released the Israel AgriFood Tech Investing Report 2014-2018. The report reveals $759 million of venture capital investments into Israels AgriFood tech sector over five years an ecosystem that includes nearly 700 startup companies. Compared to a global tally of $17 billion invested in AgriFood tech in 2018, the scale of these investments may seem modest for a nation with an emergent reputation as a prospective world leader in the agrifood tech innovation space. But considering Israels population of less than nine million, and its geographic size that is not much bigger than New Jersey, the report shows this small Mediterranean nation to be punching well above its weight. Upstream Prowess In 2017 alone, Israelis raised more investment for upstream technologies ($187m) than China, and nearly as much as India over five years two countries with populations of more than 150 times the size of Israels. Over the five-year period, $548 million of investment went to upstream startups. In Israeli terms, this is really high, says Ohad Zuckerman, an Israeli investor and a managing partner at Copia Agro & Food. Speaking to AgFunder News on the sidelines of the World AgriTech Innovation Summit in San Francisco, Zuckerman outlined how startups in Israel had often done well by keeping investor expectations grounded and not asking for too much funding before proving their concept and locking down intellectual property. My advice to companies I meet is you need to be more modest and you need to keep your money, he said, describing how he always warns companies against getting carried away by international hype and sky-high valuations in the US. Zuckerman said Israeli companies had also tended to flourish when they focused on solving specific problems rather than developing generic technologies. Any company in precision agriculture, he cautioned, may need to be patient as the local investor environment isnt ready. Further, he wants to see companies that are able to integrate data holistically enough to drive efficient decisions; something the industry is sorely lacking in his opinion. Israels growing population and arid climate have also geared up the innovation pressure on local farming communities many of which are still part of socially-conscious Kibbutzim. Meanwhile, wider regional geopolitical tensions mean that government support of food security via access to world-class science, research, military grade data, imaging and aerial tech capabilities is unlikely to waver in the years to come. Downstream Growth Investment to startups operating closer to the consumer grew over 80% between 2017 and 2018 which coincided with some significant exits downstream too. The sectors only Series D round over those five years was the downstream technology company Tapingo, which raised a $30 million deal in 2016 for its mobile ordering platform for groceries and food pickup. Their specific targeting of university campuses and their nearby food retailers drew investment from VCs Viola and Khosla, and the CVC arm of Qualcomm; at the D stage, newcomers included global PE firm TPG and Chinese VC Fosun. Tapingo went on to be acquired by Grubub in 2018 for $150m. According to the report, Israeli startups are also starting to lead the way in Innovative Food, particularly cultured meat and novel ingredients, a category that raised $32 million across 17 investments. Academic Strength and Government Support Also commenting on the report, Benjamin Belldegrun, a managing partner at Pontifax AgTech, tells AgFunderNews that much of Israels success has been driven by a bustling AgriFood tech ecosystem with ready access to hands-on government support: the Israel Innovation Authority has provided backing to a broad spread of investors including The Kitchen FoodTech Hub and the Trendlines Group. Israel has been a dominant force in biotech and high tech and is now a significant presence in food and agtech, he says, putting this all down to university-led technological advancements, agronomic necessity, governmental support through capital infusion and growing strategic corporate representation. Trendlines, founded in 2007, has been the most active investor investing across 19 deals. Israel Cleantech Ventures, which manages over $200m in three funds, was also very active, investing in Groundwork BioAg, Vayyar, Prospera, and Weissbeerger among others. The report highlights signs of bigger institutional players in Israel awakening to opportunities in the space. Viola Ventures, a high-tech investor across industries with $1.3bn in assets, marked its first upstream investment in November 2018 when it joined Taraniss $20m B round. Vertex Ventures (managing $900m) joined the same round, following on its participation in Taraniss 2017 A round. JVP (managing $1.34bn) in August 2018 added InnovoPro to its portfolio when it joined its $4m A round. Aleph ($334m) started investing in 2017 in downstream AgriFood tech, and has since helped sustain both CommonSense Robotics and Bringg in two rounds each. Even so, the country still relies on the support of foreign investors and some of AgriFood techs leading investors come from overseas. Foreign involvement is important as virtually all Israeli startups have international ambition some even forgoing local deployment altogether owing to the local markets extremely small size. Won't You Be My Neighbor: the Documentary of Mr.... 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!) Celebrate the achievements of women working in N.M.s technology arena, promoting the role of women in tech and science, and encouraging women to pursue careers in these fields. Join us on Thursday, March 28, 2019 for the Annual Women in Technology Celebration to recognize the achievements of women working in New Mexicos technology arena, promoting the role of women in tech and science, and encouraging women to pursue careers in these fields. NMTC will also recognize the female winners from the UNM and CNM Mobile App Contest. ABOUT UNM and CNMs MOBILE APP CONTEST The Office of the Chief Information Officer at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is sponsoring its sixth-annual Mobile App Contest, providing an opportunity for students from UNM and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) to develop and apply coding skills to make useful mobile applications for the community. The contest will also provide motivated students support to commercialize any market worthy apps that result. SCHOLARSHIPSIn recognition of the vital need for ongoing technology education and certification, NMTC and our sponsors will award a single scholarship to one of our members at its Annual Women in Technology Celebration. The scholarship may fund additional education, job re-training, or certification so that one of our own can switch to a career in technology or gain the skills needed to advance in her technology career.Application Now Open!SPONSORSHIPS Are you and/or your organization interested in helping support the Tech Councils efforts to promote the role of Women in Technology? Contact alan@nmtechcouncil.org for sponsorship information. More Details On The 2019 WIT Celebration Coming Soon Pricing Early Bird pricing ends March 8th at Midnight Late Registration pricing March 8th through March 21st at Midnight No refunds after 2/28/19 Eric Williams Photography Bernalillo may not be the first spot that springs to mind when considering your next bite to eat, but the Freight House could certainly change that. The sprawling yet inviting space is cozy with booths, lots of tables and even a large outdoor patio (weather permitting) that's as approachable as the menu. There are board games you can grab and play while you wait for your order, which we can call elevated pub-grub that leans heavily on its barbecued and smoked meats, while still delivering a few unexpected surprises. As so much of the menu seems built around the barbecued offerings at the heart of the restaurant (they do a bustling BBQ to go), the three-meat combo BBQ Platter ($16.99) seemed to be the right place to start. I took smoked turkey, smoked brisket and the 1/4 rack of ribs with Fr8 slaw and mashed potatoes (an additional $.99). I found each to be pretty solid, with the brisket probably taking the other proteins at the wire, and leaned slightly to the Fr8Train sauce because of the added spice from green chile. The portions were healthy, and the side dishes both worked well with the rest of the plate. As BBQ is the heart of the restaurant, it set a good baseline of expectation. The Smoked Turkey Cobb ($12.99) was a generous salad: loads of tomatoes, chopped hard-boiled egg, a grate of cheddar and avocado with the welcome surprise of scallions and corn. The crisped-up bacon cubes highlighted each bite with texture, while the smoked turkey played off the creamy blue cheese dressinga sturdy salad to share or make a meal of. But the first true delight of the menu was the Firebox Burger ($12.99). Granted, its pricey. But the combination of ground pork belly and beef does raise the bar on this beast. The ghost pepper cheese, fried jalapenos and jalapeno aioli bring just the right spice and heat, while the red chile kimchi delivers the knock-out blow of subtle vinegar with a cool, crisp crunch. Delight number two was the Fried Chicken + Waffle ($14.99). Call it a New Mexico take on a down south favorite, only instead of a waffle, it's more of a churro waffle dusted with cinnamon and sugar. The giant chicken breast was battered and fried to juicy perfection, and worked with the sweet of the waffle andagainwith the unexpected yet smooth calabacitas side. Green chile gravy and some garlic mashed potatoes finish the plate off, plenty to fill you up and certainly interesting enough to order again. Another dish that merits a re-order was the Brisket Tater Tots ($8.99). While pricey as a starter, it wasn't what I was expecting. And yet it didn't disappoint. Ground brisket shaped into "tots" and fried, served with two sauces for dipping, making for a rich, chewy bite with just enough crunch. If you catch them on a Tuesday evening, the five types of tacos on the menu are just $2and who doesn't have room for a $2 taco? I tried the Smoked Chicken Taco, which, for an inexpensive special, was massive. The chicken was juicy, with just a little smoke and spice in it, finished by the cool crunch of Fr8 slaw, some pico and a dusting of cotija. At a couple of bucks per, you could make a big meal out of just the taco Tuesday special. To wet our whistle, my dining companions and I dabbled in a local brew and one of their specialty drinksthe Pickled Mary ($6). Its a Bloody Mary with just a touch of heat, but brightened by a couple of Freight Houses delicious house-made pickles. For dessert, the chocolate cake ($5.99) was about what you'd expectwith the peanut butter mousse and chocolate sauce addition falling a touch short. The peanut brittle, on the other hand, was luxurious and sumptuous. But no worries: The portions being what they are on average, there might not be much room left for dessert. In terms of its restaurateur pedigree, the Freight House counts among her sister restaurants both the Range Cafe and Standard Diner. Theres plenty to suggest theyre worth a try. And the secret is out among the localswith the large space well-attended, even on historically sleepier dine-out nights like early weekdays. Throw in Freight Houses attention to local and regional brews and spirits, their bustling events, weekly specials and overall engagement with their community, and you've got all the makings of a go-to spot whenever you find yourself in the neighborhood. While prices may be a touch high, you'll certainly find more to like with a menu and a vibe that's easy-going yet inviting. In November, Fairway introduced a mobile app run by a New York-based company named FutureProof Retail, that allows customers to create an account and scan their own grocery items with their phones. The app is part of a slew of new cashierless check-out systems being rolled out by retailers to trim labor costs and speed up transactions for customers who want to avoid long lines. The Fairway app informs users that it employs a spot check system, in which shoppers are randomly selected to have their purchases reviewed against their online receipts. Last week, one Fairway shopper filled out a customer feedback survey in which he complained how the spot-check slowed his checkout, and received a disturbing response from a FutureProof customer service representative. The March 11 email attributes the random spot-check policy in part to New York City's diversity, which creates a society where people do not have the same values and respect for laws. Below is the full excerpt: It occurs randomly so there isn't any discrimination or implicit bias expressed toward shoppers, it is an unfortunate consequence of the amazing diversity here in NYC. With all the different backgrounds, and socioeconomic classes shopping at Fairway we can't operate it on the honor system like kiosks in homogeneous population centers in Norway and Finland, since people can't be expected to all have the same class structure, values and respect for laws. This aspect of building the app has been very educational. Lot's of applied psychology and learning about other cultures. I thought it was pretty shocking, said the shopper, who shared the correspondence with Gothamist but asked that his name be withheld. He declined to provide the name of the employee who sent the email. Last Friday, he posted the response on Reddit with the name of the FutureProof employee blacked out. Reactions on the forum were mixed, with several describing the employees justification as odd and others denouncing it as straight-up racism. The next day, William Hogben, FutureProofs CEO responded on Reddit with the following post: My name is William Hogben, I am the CEO. Thank you for bringing this to our attention so we could take action. Thank you especially for preserving the privacy of the customer service respondent. We have discussed the situation, communicated with the employee, and we made the decision to terminate their employment. Again I really appreciate you taking the time to let us know. Please contact me directly if you have any questions. Will Hogben The Fairway shopper said he found the CEOs response less than satisfying because it did not include a strong rebuke of racial discrimination. In short, I wanted the company to take responsibility, he told Gothamist. Instead the employee was made responsible. On Reddit, he pressed Hogben on the issue, writing, Would you like to comment on FutureProof's internal thinking about the challenges the employee depicted of implementing cashier-less checkout in this diverse city, and how what they expressed does or does not differ from the mission and views of the company? Hogben responded by writing on Reddit that the employee did not have the authority to speak to or express the company's positions and views, which are not in line with what was written, and, as such, as soon as we were alerted to their and your email exchange, their employment was terminated. In a phone interview with Gothamist on Monday, Hogben reiterated those statements. He said that the customer service employee was fired on Friday, the same day the Reddit post was brought to his attention. It does not reflect any internal thinking of the company, he said, adding that the response was very unusual. The company, which was started in 2014 and is based in New York, employs 10 people, he said. According to a press release from Future Proof, Fairway launched the checkout app in all of its stores, "reportedly making it the first grocer with such an option in the New York-area retailer's Tri-State region." Altogether, Fairway operates 15 stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In a story last month in the industry publication Chain Store Age, Michael Penner, director of retail applications and technology at Fairway, said the "technology has differentiated us from our competitors." He said an early roll-out of the program showed both a reduction in customer wait times and positive feedback. But the Red Hook shopper who used the app said that aside from the email, there were other features of the mobile check-out experience that bothered him, including privacy. The app requires shoppers to take a photo of themselves during the account set-up process. When shoppers finalize their purchases on the app, a screen at the check-out aisle displays their profile photos along with the amount of their purchase. You wouldnt expect that from an ATM, you wouldnt expect that from Costco or CVS. Those are systems that are setup in which there are no personally identifying information when you leave, he said. He said he also worried that the technology would allow the supermarket, which has over the years been committed to creating local union jobs, to eventually replace its legion of cashiers with software. According to a 2017 report by the World Economic Forum, 30 to 50 percent of the worlds retail jobs could be vulnerable to automated checkout. The whole thing left me with an ill feeling, he said. Once seen as the iconic family-owned New York grocer, Fairway has struggled from a rapid expansion under Sterling, a private equity firm that bought an 80 percent stake in the the supermarket chain in 2007, and increased competition from the likes of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. In 2016, the company filed for bankruptcy, only to emerge two months later with Blackstone Group, another private equity firm, as its new owner. Fairway did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Big retailers like Amazon, which has been the main driver behind the cashierless checkout system, with launches at its Amazon Go convenience stores in Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco, have said it does not expect the technology to result in employee reductions, but rather reassignment to other jobs that it says will better serve customers. Amazon's cashierless system is heavily reliant on tracking technology: customers scan an app-generated code on their phones and then video cameras and other devices track and charge customers as they pick up items. Not all retailers, however, are fully sold on the technology. After experimenting with a cashierless Scan & Go system in 125 stores, Walmart recently announced that it was canceling the program due to low participation as well too many errors in the process. But in a sign that the company is not giving up entirely on the program, Walmart said it would keep the "Scan & Go" system at its nearly 600 Sam's Club stores. John Karolefski, a grocery shopping analyst and founder of the blog Grocery Stories, observed that a spot-checking policy is a cheaper alternative to investing in the type of camera system that Amazon employs. But ultimately, he said most shoppers would come away feeling annoyed "because they are not stealing anything." "That's all fine in theory," he said, of the spot-checking policy. "In the real world, it doesnt go over that well." The threat of as many as 10,000 New York City nurses going on strike intensified Monday as members of the New York State Nurses Association rallied outside the Mount Sinai Hospital in East Harlem. The union announced that nurses at Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System, and New York-Presbyterian would strike starting at 6 a.m. on April 2nd if those hospital systems do not agree to hire enough staff to maintain minimum nurse-to-patient ratios that the union says are needed to ensure patient safety. After nearly 30 negotiation sessions, we still do not have a single item agreed upon, NYSNA wrote in an email to members Monday morning announcing the potential strike date. But it is managements continued refusal to engage in a conversation about minimum nurse to patient ratios that has led us to this moment. The NYC Hospital Alliance, which represents those hospital systems in their contract negotiations with the union, clapped back the same day by filing a charge against NYSNA with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the union is engaging in unfair labor practices by unlawfully seeking to get hospitals to adhere to mandatory staffing ratios. For years, NYSNA has been trying to get the state legislature to pass a bill requiring hospitals and nursing homes to maintain certain nurse-to-patient ratios, but has faced continuous pushback from hospital lobbyists who say that rigid staffing requirements would drive up costs without improving patient safety. The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act is still on the table in Albany and received vocal support from Governor Andrew Cuomo after it failed to pass during last years legislative session. In the meantime, the union has been trying to jump-start the process of increasing nurse staffing levels at city hospitals through its ongoing contract negotiations with the NYC Hospital Alliance. When NYSNA made a similar walkout threat during contract negotiations with the Alliance in 2015, a strike was avoided when the hospitals agreed to hire more nurses, even though they refused to agree to staffing ratios. In its NLRB complaint, the Alliance says that this go-round NYSNA has been preconditioning negotiations over nurse staffing issues on the Alliance's acceptance [of the] principle of mandatory staffing ratios. The current standard practice is that the nurse managers of individual hospital units assess staffing at the beginning of each shift to design tailored, flexible staffing plans to respond to patient needs, an NYC Hospital Alliance spokesperson explained. But some nurses who spoke to Gothamist said their hospital units are chronically understaffed, leading to unsafe conditions for patients. Most of the staffing really isnt safe on most of the units at the Childrens Hospital at Montefiore, said Naomi Cordova, who has been working as a nurse there for nearly 30 years. Cordova said she is usually responsible for five patients during her shifts, caring primarily for infants and small children with cardiological or gastrointestinal problems. Nurses say staffing needs vary from unit to unit; Cordova said she believes a safe staffing ratio on her unit would be three to one. She said being understaffed can prevent nurses from reporting childrens respiratory issues to doctors in a timely manner, among other dangers. You tend to prioritize when you have four to five patients, said Cordova. You say, Im going to concentrate on one kid, perhaps the sickest kid, and you tend to neglect the other patients. I feel horrible having to do something like that. Lori Crump, a nurse working in a transplant unit at Mount Sinai Hospital who attended the rally Monday, said she can often handle the five patients shes assigned on each shift without a problem. But on days when nurses on her unit call out sick or there are a lot of patients with acute needs, she said, she can be forced to make tough decisions about patient care. Administrators dont float us the nurses that we need [when we are short-staffed], said Crump, who has worked at the hospital for 12 years. You have to prioritize at that point, but even with prioritizing, patient care is jeopardized because you dont have enough manpower. Michelle Bernabe currently works per diem as a nurse at the psychiatric inpatient unit at Mount Sinai West as well as other behavioral health facilities. She said she stopped working full-time at Mount Sinai, in part, because she felt the staffing levels were unsafe. It just doesnt feel good to be a nurse and feel like its a Hail Mary when youre walking into work and have 10 patients and hope things turn out OK, she said. Currently, only California has a law requiring hospitals to maintain minimum nurse staffing ratios, although similar legislation has been introduced in other states and at the federal level. A 2010 study looking at the California case and other research on the subject found that lower nurse-to-patient ratios are associated with lower patient mortality rates and less burnout among nurses. "Rigid staffing ratios would lower patient care and drastically increase costs for not-for-profit hospitalsresulting in layoffs of other important members of patient care teams, a spokesperson for the NYC Hospital Alliance said in a statement. We cannot agree to a staffing approach that would override the professional judgment of nurses and healthcare experts." While all three hospital systems involved in negotiations through the Alliance are technically nonprofit, they tend to generate a lot more money than they spend on patient care. New York-Presbyterian reported an operating income after expenses of $404.5 million for 2017 (not counting massive gains on investments), while the operating surplus for Mount Sinai Hospital and its Queens campus was $205.2 million that year. Montefiore Health System brought in a more modest $55.3 million operating surplus in 2017. Hospitals are already in the process of working with temporary staffing agencies to recruit nurses to work in case of a strike, although its unclear whether there will be enough nurses available to fill all the positions. In an ad encouraging nurses of all specialties to apply, the U.S. Nursing Corporation offered a $500 bonus to anyone who refers another registered nurse to work during the strike, while Healthsource Global Staffing said $1,000 referral bonuses are available. When hundreds of nurses went on strike at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in 1989, the hospital responded by discharging or transferring some of its patients, as well as hiring temporary nurses and having doctors and management personnel perform some of the striking nurses' duties, according to the New York Times. Some medical units and clinics were closed and elective surgeries suspended. This strike could involve thousands, rather than hundreds, of nurses at multiple facilities, however. The two public meetings held to discuss the potential rezoning of SoHo and NoHo have been predictably tense and boisterous, with artist loft residents in particular worrying that they will be pushed out by landlords seeking higher rents. But alongside the city's public engagement process, the de Blasio administration has been holding a parallel set of talks: a series of closed-door meetings where local elected officials and large organizations are hashing out issues around a future plan. The private meetings have been held since early January, by an advisory group convened by city planning officials, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Margaret Chin. The group includes a range of organizations, including neighborhood associations, community and cultural organizations, as well as two controversial stakeholders with significant real estate interests in the neighborhood: New York University and the Real Estate Board of New York. To date, there have been roughly six of these private meetings, according to one source. Members of the advisory group were instructed not to discuss any of the meetings with the press. I dont know exactly what the group does or doesnt discuss or how much it will affect the outcome here, said Andrew Berman, the executive director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (also known as Village Preservation), who has closely followed the planning process. But Berman added, "I know a lot of people who participated in the public meetings that dont feel that process is really giving them a voice. In New York City, matters related to land use, especially any having to do with a possible rezoning, are often fraught with suspicion. In the case of SoHo and NoHo, residents and loft artists have from the beginning accused city officials of leading them on a ppreordained process that could lead to the first comprehensive rezoning of the neighborhood in decades. Property owners have complained that the industrial zoning rules in SoHo and NoHo permit few as-of-right uses, requiring those seeking new retail or residential uses to apply for costly and time-consuming special exemptions and one-off variances; residents say the variance process is useful because it provides more public oversight of retail uses and planned developments. This not the first time the city has tapped a closed-door advisory group to participate in a complicated land use process; most recently, a working group of stakeholders was assembled to help push through the 2017 rezoning of East Midtown. But the practice has set off alarms in a historic neighborhood with an old guard of residents and working artists who are highly sensitive to change, especially given how community groups in other neighborhoods such as Inwood have felt shut out of behind-the-scenes zoning negotiations. The advisory group, suggests Tom Agnotti, professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College, is most likely an attempt to head off any major disputes before the start of the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, the public review process for a rezoning. DCP believes that they can inspire confidence by talking to people and answering all potential questions, even if they wind up talking circles around the issues," says Angotti. "Its all about preventing a failed ULURP. It is not clear how the Department of City Planning selected the group's members. Village Preservation, which claims to be the largest membership group in the area that would be affected by a rezoning, asked to be on the advisory group but was denied. Berman, whose group has been a critic of rezoning efforts in the past, said the city never provided him with a reason. Its striking that REBNY and NYU are included as members and we are not, he said. It seems to betray some kind of prejudice. Reached for comment, the Department of City Planning, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilmember Margaret Chin issued a joint statement on Tuesday: "With about 90 applications for special permits, and another 60 variances filed with the Board of Standards and Appeals since 2000, the SoHo/NoHo neighborhood has obviously been the locus for development attention out of proportion to its size and as a result has become a patchwork of styles and exemptions. "The pre-planning working groups the Borough President has convened jointly with local council members and either EDC or DCP regarding the South Street Seaport, Midtown East, and the Garment Center have resulted in a holistic view of a neighborhood's future, and that's our goal here as well. "The advisory group is one part of a process that includes everything from one-on-one conversations and special presentations to larger public meetings. Its valuable to create a 'safe space' for stakeholders with competing interests to discuss their hopes as well as their fears for the future. All of this will inform a comprehensive public document that encompasses a 360-degree analysis and includes all points of view." Under state open meetings laws, the advisory group is legal because it does not constitute a public body, according to Robert Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government. However, under the Freedom of Information Act, correspondence from elected officials in the advisory group to its other members can be made public. Not all of the advisory group members are happy about the gag order, but they face expulsion if they break the rule. Chuck DeLaney, one of the founders of Lower Manhattan Loft Tenants, said not speaking to the press about the advisory group's meetings was presented as a preexisting term and condition of membership. Still, he said he disagrees with the policy. I believe sunshine is the best disinfectant, he said. The next official meeting on SoHo and NoHo planning process takes place tonight, starting at 6 p.m. at 1 Centre Street. It is open to the public. It appears that the East Village's venerable Moishe's Bake Shop may just be renovating, and not closing forever, despite clashing reports. In the interim, you can still get your fix for babka and other goodies, too. Reached over the phone Wednesday morning, Moishe Perl confirmed to Gothamist that the shop wasn't permanently closed. They're still baking (albeit in Brooklyn) while renovating the Second Avenue location. He wouldn't say how long the renovations were going on for, but he did say that phone orders could be fulfilled for now. "Whatever you want, you just call me one day before," he says. Earlier this month, news broke that the longtime establishment was suddenly closing for good. Eulogies poured out for the bakery, a stronghold in an ever-shifting neighborhood, as reports trickled out that the building had been leased to the investor Jay Schwimmer (with an option to buy). While the bakery's Grand Street outpost remained open, in the ensuing weeks, it's been difficult to know whether Moishe's on 2nd Avenue had really gone out of business. Last week, EV Grieve reported that a sign had been placed in the window of the shuttered shop, noting that the space had just temporarily closed for renovations. Perl told Patch that he intended to open the shop again later this spring, with an eye on making it a cafe. Then, an employee told Eater that Moishe's was in fact closing forever, and Perl told am New York the same thing. The bakery's windows have since been covered with brown paper. To add more confusion into the mix, the Yelp page has been marked as closed. Moishe's neighbors on the 2nd Avenue block, between East 7th and East 6th Street, weren't sure what the deal was, either. A server at a neighboring food establishment told Gothamist earlier this week that they were under the impression that they had closed, but didn't know much beyond that, adding that the bakery tended to keep to themselves. At the New Yorkers Foodmart, an employee said that Perl had sold the building, and that any renovations in question would likely be made by the new owner. And at Mighty Quinn's Barbecue, a manager said that they'd heard about the renovations, citing the handwritten note on the shop's window (as of Tuesday evening, the sign was no longer there). Even more mysterious was the fact that Moishe's seems to still be taking phone orders for baked goods. Howard Megdal, a New Jersey resident who says he always drives into the city to buy hamentaschen pastries from Moishe's for Purim every year, says that he called the bakery and got an unexpected response. Over email he tells Gothamist that they were "very clearly renovating, and willing to fill phone orders." Which is what Perl himself told us this morning. It's still unclear what the future is for the shop, as Perl somewhat mysteriously noted he'll have more to share soon. We'll update when he does... New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Mostly cloudy and windy in the morning becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 60F. Winds NNE at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 34F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Two-week-old mountain lion cubs are cared for at the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. In approximately 6 weeks the cubs will be on display in the nursery. Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years. Gurkha veterans serve July 1 deadline to address their demands Rejecting the pension hike announced by the UK government recently, the agitating Gurkha veterans on Tuesday set July 1 deadline for both Nepal and British governments to meet their demands of pay, pension and facilities at par with British nationals serving in the British Army. El presidente @MartinVizcarraC participo en el vuelo comercial inaugural Lima - Ilo, que permite ampliar la oferta de interconexion aerea en la region Moquegua. De esta manera, se dinamizara la demanda turistica e impulsaran los sectores pesqueros y mineros. pic.twitter.com/BJSOW1bCkd The meeting of the Russian-Finnish Commission on Maritime Shipping held in Helsinki covered aspects of bilateral cooperation in sea shipping in the Arctic region, Paivi Antikainen, Director of Unit at the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, told RIA Novosti on Monday. "We had a very constructive meeting and exchanged views on cooperation in maritime shipping in the Arctic as well as on marine conservation in the Baltic Sea," she said. The meeting participants also considered the joint project on harmonizing the implementation of the Polar Code, reducing NOx emissions from ships in the Baltic Sea, and regulating the sulfur content in ship fuel. The meeting was co-chaired by Yury Kostin, Director of the Russian Transport Ministry's Department of State Policy for Sea and Inland Water Transport. The Russian delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Transport, organizations subordinate to the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and the Russian Chamber of Shipping. Finland was represented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, as well as the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency. The next meeting of the Russian-Finnish Commission on Maritime Shipping will be held in the Russian Federation in 2020. YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of emergency situations informs that on March 20, as of 09:00, some roads are closed and difficult to pass in Armenia, reports Armenpress. Vardenyats Pass and Sotk-Karvachar highway are difficult to pass. Drivers are urged to use snow ties. The Georgian authorities inform that the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took the oath of office and assumed the post of Kazakhstans interim president on March 20 after the nations long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation on March 19, reports TASS. I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me, Tokayev told a joint meeting of the parliaments houses. Tokayev, 65, has served as Speaker of Kazakhstans upper house of parliament, the Senate, since September 2017. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation on March 19. I made a decision to resign as president. This year marks the 30th anniversary of my term in office. People provided me a chance to be the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev said in a TV address. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Austria Armen Papikyan on March 19 presented his credentials to Federal President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress. At the meeting the Austrian Federal President congratulated the Ambassador on appointment, wishing success during his diplomatic mission. Alexander Van der Bellen said Armenia and Austria have formed good friendly relations and highlighted ensuring its continuation. Ambassador Papikyan stated that he is ready to make more efforts to further deepen and expand the Armenian-Austrian cooperation. He conveyed the warm greetings and wishes of Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to the Austrian Federal President. Alexander Van der Bellen also conveyed his warm greetings to the Armenian President. The Ambassador said Armenia attaches importance to the inter-state relations with Austria and emphasized the necessity for organizing high-level mutual visits and meetings. Ambassador Papikyan also touched upon the recent democratic developments in Armenia, the ongoing reforms and regional issues. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijans commencement of large-scale offensive-type military drills without prior notification is a violation of international obligations envisaged by the OSCE tools. The drills do not whatsoever contribute to the strengthening of an atmosphere of trust in the region, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said at a press briefing on March 20 when asked to present a stance over the exercises. Our representation at the OSCE has also raised this issue in OSCE circles and demanded a relevant explanation from Azerbaijan, she said. Asked to comment on Azerbaijans deployment of a new military base at the border with Armenia, Naghdalyan emphasized that the move also does not contribute to strengthening an atmosphere of trust in the region. Both Artsakh and Armenia have resolve and capabilities to defend [themselves] and give a counter-blow. Let no one doubt this issue because it is through this resolve that we are committed to take steps to establish peace, she said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan Judicial Council forms panel to probe dubious release of gold smuggling suspects The Judicial Council has formed a committee to probe the dubious release of some of the major suspects in the 33 kg gold smuggling case by the Biratnagar High Court. YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. As part of cooperation between the Ministry of Healthcare and the World Health Organization (WHO) Armenia Office, a WHO expert mission has arrived in Armenia to assess the planning and development system of human potential in the healthcare sector. Deputy Healthcare Minister Lena Nanushyan and Deputy Healthcare Minister Arsen Davtyan received the WHO mission, the healthcare ministry said in a news release. In addition to the assessment, the WHO mission said they are ready to provide technical support for the development of a more efficient policy. Nanushyan presented the existing situation in the sector, the current regulations for continuous specialized development, post-graduate education of medical personnel and the new licensing system. During the five-day visit, the experts met with representatives of medical education institutions and specialized associations. Among others, they discussed the opportunities of creating a human potential registrar. The WHO mission is also planning to visit provinces across the country to assess the staffing issue. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijans ceasefire violations and destructive rhetoric do not contribute to strengthening peace and trust in the NK conflict settlement process, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said at a news conference today addressing the March 13 mortar fire ceasefire breach committed by Azerbaijan at the Artsakh line of contact (LoC). In this regard the foreign ministry expresses hope that the parties to the conflict will be committed to the agreements that have been reached during the meeting in Dushanbe, she said. On March 13, Azerbaijan fired a total of nine mortar shells at Artsakh positions. Artsakh did not suffer any losses. In September of 2018, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan, and reached an agreement on de-escalating the tension at the border and preventing incidents. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. The collections comprised of articles on Armenian Genocide published in the American press, in particular, The New York Times, touch upon the Hamidian, Adana massacres, as well as their consequences. They also include the articles of Turkish ambassadors, consuls, reports Armenpress. The volumes have been released recently by the Mkhitarist Publishing House and are titled The Armenian Genocide: Prelude and Aftermath. As reported in the U.S. Press - The New York Times. The volumes have been compiled and edited by Vahan Ohanyan, Father at the Mkhitarist Congregation, and Austrian-Armenian Ara Ketibian. Today the reporters had a chance to meet with them at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. There is also information in the book about the foreigners and Armenians who provided monetary and other support to Armenian orphans, schools taking care of their needs, and the notes of the Turkish ambassadors and consuls existing in various articles greatly contradict to the notes of those who survived the crime. The same policy: nothing has changed. They tried to justify themselves at that time, claiming that Armenians are the guilty ones. After the Holocaust, the issue of the Armenian Genocide is the most studied in the world. There are thousands of monographs about it, Ara Ketibian said, adding that the titles of the presented hundreds of articles explain that a really planned genocide has taken place. Father Vahan Ohanyan stated that he knows his colleague long ago. Ara encouraged me to start this work. Knowing his capacities and seriousness, readiness to study the past, I felt trust. I also met with Vigen Babkenyan who has dedicated many publications to the Armenian Genocide. I had a chance to visit this young man, and he showed me an entire collection of articles, he said, noting that collecting the articles was a very difficult job. We faced many difficulties, even had to buy some articles. We found all reports on Armenians with key words, he said. VivaCell MTS has assisted the publication of the book. Its founder and General Manager Ralph Yirikian said the book shows to the world that we have respective documents which are our witnesses and present what path we have passed, through which difficulties. By reading this book maybe the conscious person, the civilized world will understand that it is necessary to be cautious and not to allow such atrocities to happen to other nations, he said. Vahan Ohanyan and Ara Ketibian have been awarded with the Aurora Mardiganian Medal of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation for the great contribution to the preparation of these collections. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. The 12-year-old boy, who was found dead in an apartment in Moscow on March 19, was a citizen of Armenia, the Armenian Embassy in Russia said, reports Armenpress. The Russian law enforcement agencies told the Armenian Embassy that the cause of his death was acute heart failure. The boys mother found him in unconscious condition. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenias delegation led by Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan, while on an official visit in Germany, on March 20 met with Volker Perthes, Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and experts representing the Eastern Europe and Eurasia scientific-research group, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress. The scientific-research center is an independent research institute in Germany which provides consulting to the Bundestag and the German federal government on foreign and security policy. At the meeting the Speaker of Parliament introduced the recent political changes in Armenia, the developments following the snap parliamentary elections and the outlined priorities. The parliamentary delegation members and experts discussed issues relating to the Armenian foreign policy, economic reforms, regional security and visa liberalization. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian on March 20 received founder of the Global Citizen Forum Armand Arton, the Presidential Office told Armenpress. Armand Arton introduced the President on the preliminary program of the Global Citizen Forum to take place in Yerevan this year in October and stated that their goal is to increase awareness on Armenia in the world. Issues relating to the Forum were discussed during the meeting. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenias foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will travel to Rwanda to participate in a ceremony dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide on April 7th, foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said at a press briefing on March 20. She said that Armenia and Rwanda are closely cooperating in international organizations for the prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity. This visit is also important in terms of studying prospects of cooperation over digital agenda, she said. Naghdalyan also mentioned that on March 21 Peter Eriksson, Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden, will arrive in Armenia on a visit. Eriksson will have meetings with high-ranking government officials. Then, on March 26, PACE President Liliane Maury-Pasquier will visit Armenia. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, 20 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 March, USD exchange rate down by 0.36 drams to 485.91 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.60 drams to 551.46 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 7.55 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 3.05 drams to 642.42 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 17.70 drams to 20429.37 drams. Silver price up by 0.29 drams to 240.74 drams. Platinum price up by 287.20 drams to 13279.01 drams. YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the USA Robert Avetisyan met with Professor of the International Relations Department of the Clemson University of the State of South Carolina Vladimir Matich and a group of students on March 19. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Artsakh, during the meeting, Robert Avetisyan briefed on the history of Artsakh, the causes of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and the current stage of the settlement process, as well as the historical and legal bases of the independence of Artsakh. The Permanent Representative of Artsakh also answered the numerous questions of the students related to the position of the Republic of Artsakh on the conflict settlement, the role of the USA in the process as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair state, as well as the realities in Artsakh and the realization of their fundamental rights and freedoms by its citizens. During the meeting, archival documents of the U.S. Department of State dated to the early 20th century and remarkable publications by the foreign mass media on the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict were presented as well. Pregnant and new mothers deprived of government-announced incentives Thousands of women and their newborns are at risk as government-run health centres and hospitals across the country have stopped providing cash incentives for months due to lack of funds and coordination among government officials and ministries. I believe that humans have shared experiences that transcend time and space and when these are captured effectively in a simple poem or story with a simple message, the reader is able to relive those experiences, relate to the poetry and perhaps be inspired to create change. My poems are mostly about life, politics and justice, land and development, family and home, spirituality, and self and identity. In my poems, I mostly write about things or issues that I read, hear or see happening in the country or region. I am always in awe of Papua New Guinea and try to capture in my poems its social changes and challenges. This was when I started to jot down a few stanzas and lines. She was also growing really fast and, when she started talking about going school, I realised that I had to leave something for her to enable her to find her strength and remember me later on in life. My daughter exuded an inner strength and zest for life which inspired me. It was a poem about my daughter who was born in 2011 and it expressed the awe and wonder she brought into my life. DAGUA - I started writing poetry as a form of personal expression when I had my first piece published on PNG Attitude in September 2015. I am originally from the Dagua hinterlands of East Sepik and I'm the third born in a family of nine. I can trace my pre-colonial paternal ancestry to a warrior-mercenary ancestor during the 'taim blong spia' [time of the spear = territorial wars]. My grandfathers on both side were among the first few within their clans to leave their Prince Alexander mountain hamlets and travel by boat to Madang, Lae, Salamaua and Wau before World War II. My relatives never imagined I would one day create works of fiction like poetry and short stories and I'm the only one in my family who writes creative pieces read by a mass audience. My families have since been supportive and encouraging as they saw my writing find its place on PNG Attitude and get shared in social media. Some family members and extended relatives have commended me and told me they can relate to the messages of the poems I published last year in two collections. A few weeks back, I was invited to give a talk to Grade 7 and 8 students of a primary school. Their teacher wanted me to talk to them about myself as a teacher-writer and inspire them in their learning. I talked about what learning is, the importance of reading, having a good imagination and the magic of writing. The highest point of my life as a writer was having my poems, short stories and essays previously published on PNG Attitude republished in book form last year by Jordan Dean of JDT Publications. After a lifetime of holding other peoples books in my hands, I now held two small books of my own. As a teacher-writer who has been teaching for 10 years now in rural schools, my students proficiency and ability in English and English writing is a concern to me. Ray and the two collections of his writing published last year In my lessons on reading and writing, I use examples of my own writing to guide and motivate them. I tell them If I can do this, you can also. Personally, I find writing to be therapeutic and relaxing. The creative state of mind is like a reflective meditation that helps me to soothe my nerves after a challenging day or hectic week in the classroom. PNGs oral traditions should be recorded in writing. From my experience, many village-based students are losing touch with the traditional identity and culture captured in the ancient stories and songs. The intrusion of western knowledge has resulted in many of the old stories and songs being relegated to memory. I believe these tales and songs must be preserved in audio and in writing, although I know it would be a mammoth task to do this. I believe Papua New Guinean writers and poets have a traditional and national duty to preserve ancient oral traditions by capturing them in tales and poetry. Chinua Achebe uses ancient proverbs from his tribal region throughout his novel Things Fall Apart. That is what PNG writers and poets should be doing before our ancient oral traditions become lost. PNG at this time needs a national literature that must speak of the aspirations of the people after more than 40 years of independence. In the past, black writing and poetry ignited pro-independence sentiments. Now the writing of our time should speak of the years after independence, the changes since the turn of the century and the path to the future. Writers and poets must use their tools to record and capture aspects of the countrys history and culture, both old and contemporary. Writing and poetry can inspire change and set a direction for the country. PNGs shared culture, identity and history can be reflected within our writing giving our country and people a voice and purpose. Writing and poetry also serve as platforms for the people to participate and communicate with the world in this age of mass media and information technology. Finally, for International Poetry Day, heres a Tok Pisin poem I like. It was originally published on PNG Attitude as well as in my book Mirror on the Wall: Selected Poems, Short Stories & Essays. Wara Kalap Naispela wara kalap Long maunten antap Kol blong en i nais tru Harim em lap stap long yu Taim em i ron kam daun Na kalap paitim ston Naispela wara kalap Em ron yet na kalap stap Em yu yet lukim long ai Aninit long ol bus diwai Nogat narapela i olsem Ples wara kalap long en Dispela wara kalap Stap long naispela hap Em i ron na kalap i stap olsem Bipo yet long lapun tumbuna taim Kam taim blong papamama Na nau ol pikinini na yangpela tumbuna Dispela wara kalap Em kalap isi na i no rap Save kolim nek na tingting Na tu ol narapela samting Taim bikpela wara i rap na doti Em nogat tru, em klin na kalap isi Gutpela wara kalap Long taim blong pait na lap Em yet gat stori blong en Taim yu pait aninit long bik san Na yu sot win na nek i drai Kam kolim nek na lukluk long ai Gutpela wara kalap Long maunten antap Em ron yet na kalap stap Stap long naispela hap Em kalap isi na i no rap Long taim blong pait na lap Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned "reckless" and "highly offensive" comments made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, warning he would consider "all options" in reviewing ties. On the campaign trail, the Turkish leader has used video footage of the terror attack that killed 50 people and painted it as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam. He has also warned anti-Muslim Australians -- like the suspected gunman -- would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, which was the scene of a blood-drenched WWI battle. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces around the seaside town, a landmark moment in Australian history. "Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment," Morrison said after summoning the Turkish ambassador and dismissing the "excuses" offered. "I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn," Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. "I've asked for these comments, particularly their reporting of the misrepresented position of Australia on Turkish television, the state-sponsored broadcaster, to be taken down and I expect that to occur." He described claims about Australia and New Zealand's response to the white supremacist attack as "vile." New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern refused to be drawn on Erdogan's comments, but said her deputy would be going to Turkey to "set the record straight." Morrison said Australians travelling to Turkey should exercise common sense and cautioned that travel advice for Turkey was under review. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison said. In fiery remarks, Morrison accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk -- the father of the modern state and a revered figure in Turkey -- to forge peace between the two countries. A memorial at the battlefield carries Ataturk's words: "There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets... after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." "Ataturk sought to transform his country into a modern nation and, an embracing nation, and I think these comments are at odds with that spirit," Morrison said. - 'Totally unfair' - Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair". Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, live-streamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was a strike against Muslim "invaders". The manifesto references Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. "This is not an isolated event, it is something more organised," he said during a campaign event on Monday in Canakkale in western Turkey. "They are testing us with the message they are sending us from New Zealand, 16,500 km (10,250 miles) from here." Erdogan did not project the video at the Monday event. Peters said he had complained directly to visiting Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he found Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments about the New Zealand attack "very offensive" The search for a missing Perth man who called triple-0 to say he had been bitten by a snakehas come to a close after a body was found on Tuesday evening. Nathan Scattini had called St John Ambulance early on Monday morning when he told an operator he had been bitten by a snake at Bob Blackburn Reserve in Seville Grove, near Armadale south of Perth. But when paramedics arrived, the 41-year-old was nowhere to be seen. The search for Nathan Scattini, who went missing at Bob Blackburn Reserve claiming hed been bitten by a snake, has come to a close after police found a body on Tuesday night. Source: 7 News/ WA Police On Tuesday about 6pm police found a body believed to be that of Mr Scattini in a bush near Mustang Road, Champion Lakes. The body was found about 4km away from where Mr Scattini called for help. The discovery came just hours after Mr Scattinis family travelled from Kalgoorlie to Perth and made a desperate plea to find him. Nathan, if youre possibly watching this please know that we love you and we want you to come home, his mum Martine said. Police searching bushland in the Kelmscott area for a man who called ambos saying hed been bitten by a snake. Happened last night but he still hasnt been found. @7NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/FXw1OYS2YI Rob Scott (@Rob7Scott) March 18, 2019 There are a lot of people out there looking for you and we really appreciate their efforts or if theres anyone out there whos seen Nathan or knows of his whereabouts in the last couple of days can you please notify the police. The circumstances surrounding the death are not known at this stage. A report will be prepared for the coroner. Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here. The party of ailing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Wednesday it supports protesters' calls for change while backing his call for dialogue to overcome the country's political crisis. The National Liberation Front (FLN)'s statement comes after cracks emerged within two other pillars of Bouteflika's regime, key trade union the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) and the Business Leaders Forum. FLN chief Mouad Bouchareb said the government "was not in the hands of the party", in remarks seen as an attempt to distance the FLN from the Bouteflika regime. The FLN has been in power since Algeria won independence in 1962. Algeria has been gripped by unprecedented protests since February 22, following Bouteflika's announcement he was running for a fifth term as president despite concerns about his ability to run the country. The 82-year-old president, in office for two decades, uses a wheelchair and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. "FLN activists fully support the popular movement" by which "the people demand change through massive street marches," said Bouchareb. Bouteflika, who is honorary leader of the party, had "made it clear he was moving towards changing the system, towards a new Algeria", Bouchareb said. "The people spoke unequivocally and FLN activists... will work to achieve the expected goals following a clear plan," he said. "It is necessary to sit around a table for dialogue to attain a new Algeria." The FLN and its allies have for months supported Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term, with the party appointing him as its candidate for elections that had been scheduled for April 18. Both the UGTA and the Business Leaders Forum have been hit by dissent and resignations over their leadership's initial support of Bouteflika for another term as president. Analysts said the defections were a sign that Bouteflika's days in office could be numbered. "Bouteflika is losing touch and everybody is trying to salvage the situation," Rachid Grim, a political scientist at the Higher Institute of Management and Planning in Algiers, told AFP. The president has "no base any more, the people have let go, everybody has let go", he said. Mohamed Hennad, a former political sciences professor at Algiers University, said the cracks in pro-regime ranks were "a sign the system is falling apart and that change is near". Bouteflika said on February 10 that he intended to stand in the election, triggering weeks of protests. In a surprise announcement on March 11, he said he was pulling out of the race -- but postponed the poll. Protestors initially greeted the move with elation, but staged further mass demonstrations after they realised he still intended to remain in office. The veteran leader announced he was rolling out reforms through a "national conference", and confirmed on Monday that his plan would see him stay in power after his term ends on April 28 until a new president is elected. Algeria's National Liberation Front (FLN) party has expressed support for protests at incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term in office Hundreds of mourners gathered in a Christchurch cemetery for the first funerals of those killed in the twin mosque massacre as New Zealanders braced for days of emotional farewells following the mass slayings last Friday. A gunman shot and killed 50 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in a killing spree he broadcast live on social media. On Wednesday morning hundreds of mostly Muslim mourners gathered at a cemetery not far from Linwood Mosque, the second of the two places of worship targeted. Mourners gather for the first funerals of victims of the mosque shootings in Christchurch. Source AAP They hugged and embraced each other, milling under a large marquee next to rows of freshly dug graves. Among those in attendance was Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee who bravely confronted the gunman at Linwood Mosque. He was hugged by many mourners. Council officials did not release the names of who were being buried but some of those attending told AFP they had been informed two people were being laid to rest. After a short time for prayers, family and friends will carry the body to the grave site where it will be laid to rest, council official Jocelyn Ritchie told reporters. Delays in returning bodies to Muslim families Muslims whose loved ones were gunned down have had their grief compounded by the failure of authorities to return bodies to families in time for a speedy burial, as required under Islamic custom. Only six of the 50 victims have been returned to their families so far. The body of a victim of the mosque attacks is carried during the burial ceremony at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch. Source: Reuters/Jorge Silva Authorities say they are doing all they can to speed up autopsies and the formal identification of those killed. Confirming almost half of the 50 victims have now been formally identified, Police commissioner Mike Bush said the process had been slow because of the need to identify victims conclusively and to avoid hindering the prosecution. In a briefing on Wednesday, he said he hoped a further six bodies would be returned to families by midday. We are doing all we can to undertake this work as quickly as possible and return the victims to their loved ones, police said in a statement. Story continues While identification may seem straightforward the reality is much more complex, particularly in a situation like this. Some of the victims of the Christchurch massacre from top left clockwise are Husne Ara Parvin, Farhaj Ahsan, Mucad Ibrahim, Haroon Mahmood, Haji-Daoud Nabi, Naeem Rashid, Lilik Abdul Hamid and Sayyad Milne. Source: 7News Confirmed victims killed in the Masjid Al Noor Mosque Hati Mohemmed Daoud Nabi, age 71, New Zealand citizen Mohsen Mohammed al Harbi, age 63, New Zealand citizen Kamel Mohd Kamal Kamel Darwish, age 38, Jordanian citizen Junaid Ismail, age 36, New Zealand citizen Mucaad Ibrahim, age 3, New Zealand citizen (Source: NZ Police) Victims families gather at Christchurch from across the world Dozens of relatives of the deceased have begun arriving from around the world, some hoping to take bodies back with them. Of the six bodies released so far, four are expected to be repatriated overseas, council officials said. A mourner leaves a memento at a makeshift memorial near the Linwood mosque in Christchurch. Source: AAP Javed Dadabhai, who travelled from Auckland to help bury his cousin, said families and volunteers had been warned of a slow process. The majority of people still have not had the opportunity to see their family members, he told AFP. Following the mass shooting, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Ardern has promised to reform the countrys laws that allowed the gunman to legally purchase weapons used in the attack. New Zealanders have already begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons, including John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton. Hart said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted: on the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesnt outweigh the risk of misuse. We dont need these in our country. Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesnt outweigh the risk of misuse. We dont need these in our country. We have make sure its #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/crLCQrOuLc John Hart (@farmgeek) March 18, 2019 The tweet drew a barrage of derogatory messages to his Facebook account most apparently from the US, where the pro-gun lobby is powerful. Ardern has said details of the proposed reform will be announced by next week, but she indicated they could include gun buybacks and a ban on some semi-automatic rifles. Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will lose his senate majority after upstart anti-EU populists surged in provincial elections just two days after a suspected terror attack in Utrecht. Controversial eurosceptic Thierry Baudet's Forum for Democracy party came from nowhere to be the second biggest in parliament's upper house after Rutte's, an exit poll by leading broadcaster NOS said. The coalition led by Rutte's centre-right VVD party is set to collapse from 38 to 31 seats in the 75-seat senate, which passes legislation approved by the lower house. The blow for Rutte -- who painstakingly formed his ruling coalition to freeze out the far-right after general elections in 2017 -- will be closely watched abroad ahead of European Parliament elections in May. Self-proclaimed intellectual Baudet -- who faced criticism after failing to stop campaigning after Monday's shooting on a tram in Utrecht in which three people died -- slammed Rutte's record on immigration. "We are being destroyed by the people who are supposed to be protecting us," the telegenic 36-year-old told a crowd that chanted his name on Wednesday night. "Successive Rutte governments have left our borders wide open, letting in hundreds of thousands of people with cultures completely different to ours." Referring to the fact that the Turkish-born Utrecht suspect had only been released from jail two weeks ago, he added: "We have seen it in Utrecht on Monday, rapists and thieves go free. It's shameful." Baudet has previously called for a "Nexit", or exit from the EU by the Netherlands, but has recently backtracked on as the chaos over Britain's departure from the bloc escalates. The flamboyant former academic is known for controversial statements such as "women in general excel less in jobs and have less ambition". - 'Get to work' - After eight years in power, Rutte, meanwhile, is an influential figure in Europe including in its Brexit negotiations, but the result leaves him vulnerable at home and needing to rely on other parties to pass legislation. "We are going to have to get to work," Rutte told supporters. "We have to talk with other parties so we can continue to lead this country well." Rutte's VVD is set to drop from 13 to 12 but the other coalition partners took a hammering with the left-leaning progressive D66 falling from 10 to 7 and the Christian Democrat CDA from 12 to 8, although ChristenUnie rises from 3 to 4. Baudet led his party to win 10 seats. The anti-Islam Freedom Party led by far-right politician Geert Wilders is set to win six seats, down from nine, but could be influential if it teams up with Baudet. Long a standard bearer for the far right in the Netherlands and more widely across Europe, the bleach-blonde Wilders appeared to have lost seats to the newer figure of Baudet. Rutte could now be left to rely on opposition parties to pass legislation, including the leftist ecological party GroenLinks (Green Left) party led by Jesse Klaver, which had a good night and is set to double its seats from four to eight. Senate members will officially be decided in May by the 570 representatives elected to the country's 12 provinces in Wednesday's election. The head of the Dutch socialist party had called the vote a "Rutte referendum", although Rutte has insisted he would not step down if his coalition lost its majority. However after nearly a decade in power, Rutte has been widely tipped to take up a top EU post in Brussels when the current set-up led by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker steps down later this year. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte could now be left to rely on opposition parties to pass legislation after looking set to lose his senate majority Their battle against the last jihadists holding out in the besieged Syrian village of Baghouz hasn't quite ended but Kurdish-led fighters have already started celebrating. When they returned from the front on Tuesday, they put the lamb skewers on the grill and broke into dance as the radio of their battered truck sputtered a Kurdish tune. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) delivered the killer blow to the last vestige of the Islamic State group's "caliphate" this week and the end of the bruising six-month-old operation is now within touching distance. With backing from the US-led coalition's warplanes, they forced holdout jihadists from their main encampment and into a few hectares (couple of acres) of farmland by the Euphrates River. The prospect of an imminent victory announcement combined with early leave for the Kurds' Nowruz New Year holiday drew dozens of smiling fighters to a base on the edge of Baghouz. The front porch of a plush villa the SDF turned into a temporary military headquarters is littered with the duffle bags, ammo belts and body armour the fighters discarded to join the impromptu party. One fighter remained on the roof, on barbecue duty, while the others formed a circle to start a "dabke" folk dance. "It's a day of celebration, the nightmare is over," said Majid Hejjo, a 23-year-old SDF fighter still wearing his fatigues and a khaki cap. The young Kurdish soldier is originally from the northeastern province of Hasakeh but is stationed in Raqa, the former jihadist "capital" which the SDF seized in 2017. - 'Twice happy' - Since December, he has been regularly mobilised on two-week fighting missions to help wipe out the very last remnants of a jihadist proto-state that once covered territory larger than Britain. Now the young man wants to hang up his rocket-propelled grenade launcher and return to his pregnant wife. "We're doubly happy. We're going to see our families and we have vanquished IS," he said. Next to him, his younger half-brother Mohannad is checking he hasn't forgotten anything as he stuffs his belongings into his green wheeled suitcase, including the yellow tea mug he takes everywhere. An unknown number of diehard jihadists are still refusing to surrender and dodging SDF fire in their hideouts along the reedy banks of the Euphrates. Syrian and Iraqi government forces and their allies are deployed on the other side of the river and the border, making any escape impossible. Although IS has already started regrouping in some of its desert and mountain hideouts in the region, the fall of Baghouz will mark the end of the group's territorial control. His backpack already thrown over his shoulder, Mohammed Hallush doesn't plan to stay to witness the historic announcement and is heading back to his family in Hasakeh. "I've been here 11 days, the battle is over, the war is over," said the lanky 24-year-old with grey woolly hat and short trimmed beard. "This leave will not be like the previous ones. This time we're returning home from Baghouz." Fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces make victory signs as they return from the front after delivering a killer blow to the last vestige of the Islamic State group's caliphate For the jubilant fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the imminent fall of the Islamic State group's last redoubt marks the culmination of a bruising six-month operation in which they have taken heavy casualties Many of the Syrian Democratic Forces fighters are now returning home to their families to enjoy early leave for this week's Kurdish New Year holiday, their frontline duties over and their mission all but accomplished There is little desire among Syrian Democratic Forces fighters to wait around for the formal declaration of victory over the Islamic State group -- they have accomplished their missions and now they want to go home A paedophilia victims' group is calling for a Vatican cardinal to be stripped of his immunity so he can face prosecution over the cover-up of alleged sex abuse by a French priest, one of the victims said Wednesday The announcement comes a day after Pope Francis rejected the resignation of a French cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who was given a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report the allegations against the priest. The pope's decision drew sharp condemnation from victims of Bernard Preynat, the priest who is charged with abusing dozens of boy scouts in the southeastern Lyon area in the 1980s and 1990s. On Wednesday, Francois Devaux, head of an association of Preynat's victims, said the group was now pursuing efforts to bring Spanish cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, the head of the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to trial. Devaux said the association had sent a letter to the prosecutor's office in Lyon asking that the Vatican lift Ladaria's immunity for allegedly advising Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, not to report Preynat to the authorities. On Monday, Barbarin met the pope at the Vatican and offered his resignation, but the pontiff refused it pending the outcome of his appeal against conviction. Barbarin, 68, said that he would remain in Lyon pending the court appeal, but that he would step back from his job "for a little while". - Pope causes French dismay - Francis's response to the guilty finding against Barbarin caused an outcry in France, coming at a time when the Catholic Church is struggling to win trust in its efforts to fight child sexual abuse. The chairman of the Bishops' Conference of France, which represents top French Catholic clerics, expressed "surprise" on Tuesday at Pope Francis' decision not to let Barbarin resign. "I did not expect this scenario," Marseille archbishop Georges Pontier told AFP. Others joined him on Wednesday in expressing their incomprehension, or even opposition to the decision. Patric Terrace, chief editor of the Catholic weekly Golias, said he was "totally dismayed", especially as the pope had spoken of his "zero tolerance" for sexual abuse in the church. "We see that he has neither the political will nor the political vision to deal with these cases," Terrace said. The focus will now likely shift to how the Vatican deals with the request for Ladaria's immunity to be lifted. During Barbarin's trial in Lyon, the prosecution had wanted Ladaria to testify, but the Vatican refused, citing his immunity. He is the second Vatican official facing pressure to answer questions in France recently. Last week, the Paris prosecutor's office asked the Holy See to lift the diplomatic immunity of the Vatican's envoy to France, archbishop Luigi Ventura. Ventura, 74, a papal nuncio, is facing four complaints of sexual abuse in France, including an allegation he molested a junior official at the Paris city hall. French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, pictured March 7, 2019, was given a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report allegations of sexual abuse against a French priest Pope Francis (L, pictured March 18, 2019) rejected Barbarin's resignation, causing outcry in France, coming at a time when the Catholic Church is struggling to win trust in its effort to fight child sexual abuse Ex-chief of Kanchanpur police records statement at court Former chief of the Kanchanpur District Police Office SP Dilliraj Bista, who was dismissed on charge of tampering evidence and mishandling initial investigation into the rape and murder of Nirmala Pant, appeared at the Kanchanpur District Court on Tuesday. High potency cannabis, especially when used daily, is "strongly linked" to the risk of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and paranoia, scientists said Wednesday. In Amsterdam and London -- where high-THC marijuana has long been the rule rather than the exception -- 50 and 30 percent of new psychosis cases, respectively, were associated with potent forms of the drug. The findings, reported The Lancet, bolster a growing body of research connecting pot to a range of mental health disorders. With piecemeal legalisation and decriminalisation, consumption in North America and Europe has increased markedly over the last two decades, even as levels of the drug's mind-bending molecule, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), have risen four- or five-fold. "The use of cannabis with a high concentration of THC has more harmful effects on mental health than the use of weaker forms," said lead author Marta Di Forti, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. "Our findings also indicate for the first time how cannabis use affects the incidence of psychotic disorder at a population level." Across 11 European cities or regions, and a 12th in Brazil, one in five new cases of psychosis were associated to daily cannabis use, and one in ten to high potency pot, the study found. - Trainwreck, gorilla glue - If high-THC cannabis -- including strains such as "trainwreck", "gorilla glue", and "hindu kush" -- were no longer available, "12 percent of cases of first-episode psychosis could be prevented across Europe," the researchers calculated. In Amsterdam, the incidence of first-time psychosis would likely drop from 38 to 19 per 100,000 people per year, while in London, the number of cases would decline from 46 to 32 per 100,000 people. "As the legal status of cannabis changes in many countries and states, and as we consider the medicinal properties of some types of cannabis, it is of vital public health importance to consider the potential adverse effects that are associated with daily cannabis use, especially high potency varieties," said Di Forti. The researchers established a baseline by identifying -- in the cities and regions examined -- all individuals known to have experienced a first episode of psychosis from 2010 to 2015. They found 901 cases. These were then compared to 1,237 healthy adults to tease out the risk factors associated with psychosis. All participants provided information about how frequently they had used marijuana and other drugs over a period of years. The scientists also classified the potency of the cannabis consumed as either "high" (over 10 percent THC) or "low" (under 10 percent THC). In some locations, THC levels are 20 percent or higher, they noted. Nearly 30 percent of patients who had experienced a first episode of psychosis were daily cannabis users, compared with less than seven percent of those in the control group. For high potency pot, the corresponding figures were 37 and 19 percent. Adjusting for social factors and other drug use, the authors found that daily cannabis users were three times more likely to experience psychosis for the first time than people who had never used it. For daily use of high-potency cannabis, this increased to five times. While the correlation between marijuana use and mental disorders was strong, a cause-and-effect relationship can only be inferred, the authors cautioned. However the registrar at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Adrian James, said the findings were to be "taken seriously," and that his institution "is reviewing the mental health effect of cannabis use." David Nutt, head of the centre for neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said it was "important to realise that THC is well known to produce psychosis in healthy volunteers -- people without a predisposition to mental illness". With piecemeal legalisation in North America and Europe, consumptionof cannabis has increased markedly over the last two decades, even as concentrations of the drug's mind-bending molecule, THC, have risen four- or five-fold. The study's authors found that daily cannabis users were three times more likely to experience psychosis for the first time than people who had never used it Nearly four percent of adults around the world use cannabis, according to a 2009 study in The Lancet, citing fugures from the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes The Fidesz party of firebrand Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be hit with a temporary suspension from the European People's Party, EPP sources said Wednesday. Fidesz had faced expulsion after running a controversial billboard campaign that accused European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and liberal US billionaire George Soros, a bete-noir of Orban, of plotting to flood Europe with migrants. The campaign has since been dropped and Orban has apologised for insulting partners from the EPP -- the conservative group in the European Parliament -- though the party leadership had warned this was not enough. The EPP, which brings together the EU's main centre-right parties, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU or the Republicans in France, will decide on a temporary suspension of Orban's party, the Fidesz, a source close to EPP parliamentary leader Manfred Weber said. "The political assembly will vote on the proposal that Fidesz will lose the right to vote in all party meetings and the right to propose candidates for posts," the source told AFP. In addition, the source said monitoring of the case will be handled by former EU Council president Herman van Rompuy, who is also a former Belgian prime minister. The formal decision is expected in the late afternoon on Wednesday after a meeting in Brussels. In an interview on Wednesday, Juncker, who won the EU's top office for the EPP in 2014, once again called for the Fidesz to be excluded. "For years (Orban's party) has been moving away from Christian Democratic values," Juncker told German radio Deutschlandfunk. Therefore "his place is outside the EPP". Sanctioning Orban has split the EPP, amid concern that the Hungarian leader will team up with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League, to create a rival group in European Parliament. Faced with tough EU elections in May, some EPP members are also worried that punishing Orban will cost them support from anti-immigrant voters who back Orban's tough line. Juncker (R) has called for the Fidesz party of Orban (L) to be excluded from the EPP Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will spend the rest of his life in jail for the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of his crimes in the war that tore his country apart a quarter of a century ago, UN judges said on Wednesday. Grim-faced and silent, the 73-year-old stood in the dock as judges in The Hague said they had upheld his 2016 convictions for genocide in the Srebrenica massacre and war crimes throughout the 1990s. In one of the last remaining cases from the break-up of Yugoslavia, the tribunal also increased his original 40-year sentence, saying it did was too light for his role in the worst bloodshed in Europe since World War II. Bereaved family members stood up as one and applauded and cheered in the public gallery of the court after the verdict, which is final. Judges at the original trial "underestimated the extreme gravity of Karadzic's responsibility for the most grave crimes committed during the period of conflict, noted for their sheer scale and systematic cruelty", head judge Vagn Joensen said. "Karadzic's contention that he was a psychiatrist and poet with no military training ignores his extensive authority over Bosnian military forces." The panel of appeals judges therefore "imposes a sentence of life imprisonment", he said. Relatives of victims had called for a life sentence for the man who, along with his military right-hand man Ratko Mladic and late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, was one of the main architects of the carnage in the Balkans. "My soul now is satisfied," Emma Cekic, 62, whose husband Salih and many cousins were killed near Sarajevo, told reporters outside the court. - 'No meaning for him' - Around 100,000 people died and 2.2 million others left homeless in the three-year war, during which prosecutors said Karadzic wanted to "permanently remove Muslims and Croats" from territory claimed by Bosnian Serbs. Karadzic had appealed his convictions for orchestrating a brutal siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo in which more than 10,000 people died. He was also found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, where Bosnian Serb troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were meant to be under UN protection, and buried them in mass graves. In a sign of the fierce passions the case still raises, relatives chased and shouted down Karadzic's lawyer Peter Robinson outside the court. "Life is no different than 40 years because he would be 103 when he serves his 40 years' sentence. So it has no meaning for him," Robinson told reporters. Prosecutor Serge Brammetz however said the verdict should show even Karadzic's supporters in Bosnia -- where Bosnian Serbs have honoured him with a university dorm in his name -- that he is not a hero. "This trial has proven the opposite. Karadzic will be remembered by history as a war criminal responsible for horrific human suffering," Brammertz told reporters. - 'No hope of survival' - Karadzic was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade after nearly 13 years on the run during which he posed as a new age healer called Dragan Dabic. Bespectacled and with his trademark mane of white hair swept back from his face, Karadzic said nothing as the verdict was read out, but shortly afterwards looked to the public gallery and gave a small smile. Appeals judges repeatedly dismissed Karadzic's claims that he was not aware of orders by Bosnian Serb forces to eliminate Muslims in Srebrenica, and to indiscriminately target civilians in Sarajevo. Families of the victims of Srebrenica were watching the verdict at the Women of Srebrenica association building in the Bosnian town of Tuzla. At the centre, Hajrija Oric, 63, showed AFP photos of her son 17-year-old son Elvir and husband Sahin who were both killed in the massacre. Their remains were found years later and buried. "All I found was a handful of bones and head. I would give everything, I would give my eyes if I could bring them back but it cannot happen," she said. The EU and US both hailed the verdict as crucial for reconciliation in a region that Europe is trying to bring under its wing, and away from Russian influence. "The EU expects all leaders in the region to support the decisions of the international tribunals," the EU said. Ex-military chief Mladic, 76, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", is currently appealing a life sentence on similar charges in The Hague. Milosevic, Karadzic's long-time patron during the war, was on trial in The Hague until his death in 2006. burs-dk/pvh Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the bloodshed which ripped his country apart in the 1990s Street art on the wall of a tavern in Belgrade depicts former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic when he was on the run, posing as a New Age healer called Dragan Dabic Profile of former Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic whose prison sentence was extended to life on Wednesday after he appealed his 40-year-sentence. A far-right politician known for being outspoken against vaccination has been mocked online for revealing he was hospitalised after contracting chicken pox. Senior Italian politician Massimiliano Fedriga, who has been a vocal critic of the countrys recent mandatory vaccination rules, reportedly confessed on social media he spent four days in hospital last week being treated for the virus, The Independent reported. A far-right politician Massimiliano Fedriga, known for being outspoken against mandatory vaccination, has been mocked online for revealing he was hospitalised after contracting chicken pox. Source: Simona Granati Corbis/Getty Images Im fine, Im at home in convalescence, and I thank everyone, the regional secretary of Italys far-right League party reportedly announced. Fedrigas revelation he contracted the virus, which can be deadly in adults, was met with widespread ridicule on social media. Some called it karma for his public opposition to Italys compulsory vaccinations against 12 childhood diseases, including chicken pox. hey, @M_Fedriga , nice bit of karma, eh sweetheart? Make sure you don't scratch! https://t.co/MpT7MsbRrE Al Quint (@SuburbanVoice) March 19, 2019 @M_Fedriga is an Italian-opposer if vaccinations(including chickenpox) and just got chickenpox. I love it Lil Uzi Murf (@YourManMurf) March 19, 2019 Following a 2017 measles outbreak, the legislation was introduced to prevent unvaccinated children from attending Italian pre-schools. Parents of school-aged children who fail to immunise their kids now risk being slapped with hefty fines. While Mr Fedriga served as the Leagues head of the chamber of deputies in the Italian parliament, he openly argued parents should not be coerced into vaccinating their children, according to The Independent. Story continues He reportedly described the then-ruling Democratic Party as Stalinist for trying to impose the legislation on families. Mr Fedriga argued parents should not be coerced into vaccinating their children. Source: Getty, file Fedriga claims he is not an anti-vaxxer The politician later took to Facebook to deflect the backlash, denying he was a supporter of the anti-vax movement and accuse the media of reporting fake news. Im reading a series of celebratory comments on Twitter because Ive been hospitalised, he wrote on Facebook Saturday. I have always said that I am in favour of vaccines, but to achieve the result it is necessary to have an alliance with families not imposition. They even said I would get chicken pox from my children, not knowing that my children are vaccinated, as I have stated in interviews. Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here. Government moves indicate effort to centralise power in prime minister In March 2016, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli made an announcement at the Kathmandu University senate that he would work to revise legal provisions, which would make the countrys executive head the ex-officio chancellor of all the universities. Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to counter Iranian "aggression" as the two met in Jerusalem just weeks ahead of Israel's elections. Pompeo was on a regional tour focused largely on Iran, but the meeting and his warm words on Netanyahu's leadership will likely be seen as support from US President Donald Trump's administration amid the Israeli premier's re-election fight. Netanyahu, facing a stiff challenge from a centrist alliance in April 9 polls whilst under threat of indictment for corruption, will next week visit Washington, where he will meet twice with Trump. Pompeo's visit offered the right-wing premier an opportunity to burnish his security and diplomatic credentials -- both key planks of his re-election campaign. In comments after Pompeo's arrival, Netanyahu said Trump's pressure on Israel's main enemy Iran was already having an effect, referring to his withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and Washington's reimposition of sanctions. "We need to increase it, we need to expand it, and together the United States and Israel are working in close coordination to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world," he said. Pompeo noted a Middle East conference in Warsaw last month that included Arab nations as well as Israel, saying the discussions involved efforts "to stop Iran's regional rampage" among other issues. The US secretary of state also spoke of Iranian calls for Israel's destruction. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparallelled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," he said. Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria, where the Islamic republic backs President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes there against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action, and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions as we do them," Netanyahu said. - 'Arab NATO' - Pompeo's stay in Jerusalem also included a four-way meeting with Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday night. The discussions were to include plans to build a natural gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe. Pompeo, who later travels to Lebanon, kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He is pushing for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a US-sponsored Arab NATO-style bloc aimed at uniting Washington's Arab allies against Tehran. He urged Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both members of MESA, to bury the hatchet in a political dispute over regional policy that has placed the two powerful Gulf states at odds. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017, accusing Qatar of bankrolling Islamist fundamentalists and cosying up to Iran. Qatar denies the allegations and says the rival states aim to incite regime change in Doha. - 'Important relationship' - Pompeo said before his arrival that his trip to Israel had nothing to do with politics, saying the "relationship matters, no matter who the leaders are." No meetings with Netanyahu's opponents are scheduled, and the secretary of state will not meet with representatives of the Palestinian Authority. Trump's administration has taken a series of steps that the Palestinian Authority has deemed so hostile that it now refuses any contact with the US administration. They included cutting most US aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. President Donald Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli delighted Netanyahu's government. But it enraged Palestinians, who want to make the eastern, mainly Palestinian part of the city the capital of their future state. Pompeo's two-day visit to Jerusalem also includes a stop at the new US embassy, which was transferred from Tel Aviv on Trump's orders last year. A shift in semantics and policy has also marked the Trump term. The US has ceased to refer to the Golan Heights as "Israeli-occupied" and instead calls the territory seized from Syria "controlled" by Israel -- a change seen by some as a prelude to US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau. April 9 parliamentary elections in Israel will also start the countdown to the presentation of an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. It has been prepared by a small White House team, headed by the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, which analysts say is strongly pro-Israeli. It is expected to be released in the weeks after the election. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) is on the second leg of a regional tour also including Kuwait and Lebanon Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo launched his latest Middle East tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Pompeo talks to journalists on his plane as he flies to Kuwait Italy seized control Tuesday of an NGO ship it had prevented from landing nearly 50 migrants picked up off the Libyan coast, the interior ministry said. The authorities "are in the process of taking control of the Mare Jonio, escorting the boat into the (southern) port of Lampedusa," it said. "Questioning of the crew could following in the next few hours," it added. Hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the action showed "that from here on in Italy has a government which defends its borders and enforces respect of its laws, above all as regards human traffickers." Salvini had on Monday reiterated that Italy's ports were "closed" to new migrant arrivals, insisting his hardline approach to asylum seekers since last summer has effectively stopped departures from crisis-hit Libya. He said the Italian-flagged Mare Jonio had not carried out a rescue operation but instead "aided illegal immigration". "They can be cared for, nourished, clothed, whatever you like, but they won't get permission from me to step foot in Italy." As the debate raged over the ship's fate, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said another dinghy with an unknown number of migrants on board had sunk off Libya, leaving 15 survivors. The Mare Jonio, operated by the Mediterranea collective of aid groups, took shelter from bad weather off the island of Lampedusa early Tuesday, despite being ordered to maintain a distance from the coast and turn off its engine, according to its mission head and captain. "We have people on board who are sick, I have to take them to a place of safety and there are two-metre (six-foot) high waves. I'm not turning off the engine," Captain Pietro Marrone told the authorities, according to the Avvenire daily. - 'No other choice' - "The weather conditions were impossible. We had no other choice," mission head Luca Casarini said. "We are sailing under an Italian flag, they cannot forbid us to disembark," he added, according to AGI news agency. A 25-year old with suspected pneumonia was evacuated to Lampedusa for medical attention. Salvini, who heads up the far-right League, has repeatedly declared Italian ports closed to NGO rescue vessels, previously leaving several of them stranded at sea in a bid to force other European countries to take their share of asylum seekers. He issued a directive on Monday saying ships rescuing people in areas of the Mediterranean under Libyan responsibility, during operations not coordinated by the command centre in Rome, have no right to use Italy as a port of safety. Any infringement of international maritime or Italian law "can be read as a premeditated action to bring illegal immigrants to Italy and facilitate human trafficking", he said. On Tuesday, he said the ministry was creating a commission of "experts and police" to ensure his directive -- which lays down rules about rescues at sea -- was enacted. - 'Extremely concerned' - The Italian Refugee Council said it was "extremely concerned" over the directive, which "assumes that Libyan ports can be considered safe and that docking at Tunisian and Maltese ports is possible". "It takes no account of the dramatic reality," council director Mario Morcone said in a statement. "We act as if the countries with which we share the Mediterranean were the Netherlands, Germany or Sweden. But this is clearly not the case," he said. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio confirmed that the authorities were boarding the vessel which had refused an order to switch off its engine. He accused the ship's crew of "disobeying an order from the Libyan coast guard by taking on board the migrants". Since Italy's populist government came to power last year and began a crackdown on rescue vessels, "we have seen an exponential increase in the number of deaths compared to the number of migrants landing," the refugee council said. Some 152 people have died in 2019 so far, while 471 have reached land in the central Mediterranean. Some 152 people have died in 2019 so far, while 471 have reached land in the central Mediterranean Italy?s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini reiterated Italy's ports were "closed" to new migrant arrivals Senators called Wednesday for the United States to slap sanctions on Myanmar's army chief, saying more needed to be done to bring accountability over the campaign against the Rohingya. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the four senators said Myanmar has shown "no credible signs of progress" despite widespread international condemnation of the killings and sexual violence against members of the mostly Muslim minority. Senators including Dick Durbin, the number-two Democrat, said that sanctions against Myanmar's army chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, as well as other top officers would demonstrate "US intolerance for behavior that contravenes fundamental human rights." "The Trump administration has taken no action against these senior officials even though sanctions designations would send a strong message that the United States supports accountability for those perpetrating well-documented human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities," wrote the group that also included Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana, which has become a hub for refugees from Myanmar. The Treasury Department in August imposed sanctions on four commanders accused of orchestrating massacres, but the senators said the move was insufficient. They urged sanctions against Min Aung Hlaing under the Magnitsky Act, a US law named after a Russian accountant who died in prison that lays out the seizure of assets and a US travel ban for foreign officials who violate human rights. Around 740,000 Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 in a military campaign that the UN called ethnic cleansing. In a rare foreign media interview last month, Min Aung Hlaing told Japan's Asahi Shimbun that there was "no certain proof" the army had persecuted the Rohingya. The military shares power with a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a former heroine in the West when she was under house arrest who has been widely condemned for not speaking up on behalf of the Rohingya. Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, seen here inspecting a bridge in August 2018, is facing calls from US senators to face punishment over the campaign against the Rohingya minority The United Nations said Wednesday it will organise an all-party conference next month to draw up a "roadmap" to lead Libya toward elections and out of the chaos in which it has plunged since a 2011 revolution. The national conference aims to fix dates for legislative and presidential elections in the North African state, which has been torn apart by military, political and tribal feuds since the NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi. "We will invite all Libya's political categories, without exception," UN envoy Ghassan Salame told a news conference in Tripoli. He said between 120 and 150 delegates were expected to participate in the forum in the central city of Ghadames on April 14-16, which has been agreed following consultations and meetings in 57 towns across the country. The conference will also try to reach decisions on a new constitution and set target dates for legislative texts, which have been delayed by Libya's two rival administrations. The UN's Libya mission UNSMIL said the country's unity government leader Fayez al-Sarraj and military strongman Khalifa Haftar agreed at a meeting in Abu Dhabi last month to work toward organizing elections. Addressing the UN Security Council via video-conference from Tripoli, Salame insisted that the sides were now committed to resolving their power dispute through elections. "Many of these principles are not new," he said. "What is new is the sincerity to turn these words into the end of the transitional period through elections." - Up against powerful forces - Libya's rival leaders agreed last year to hold elections before December 10, 2018 under a French plan, but that vote never materialized. Sarraj's Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli, is rejected by a rival administration in the east of the country that is backed by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. Persistent instability, territorial disputes and political divisions in the oil-rich state have delayed the implementation of a past accord to hold elections and unify Libya's institutions. Salame told the council that the Libyan people wanted an end to divisions but that they were "up against powerful forces, which have materially profited from the country's chaos and division and are therefore loath to work towards a unification." The former academic and Lebanese culture minister who has been leading UN peace efforts since June 2017 stressed that Libya had reached "a critical juncture" after Haftar's forces gained ground in the south. If the planned national conference fails, "then we will be faced with only two possible options: prolonged stalemate or conflict," said Salame. The envoy called on world powers to pressure all sides in Libya to avoid re-igniting conflict and back elections. UN peace efforts in Libya have been complicated by outside backing for competing sides in the conflict. Ghassan Salame, UN special envoy for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), addresses journalists in the capital Tripoli Child sex abuse survivors Gary Greenberg and Erin Merryn are collaborating in an attempt to pass legislation bearing Merryn's name that would mandate sex abuse education in New York schools. Greenberg and Merryn held a press conference in Albany Monday and met with lawmakers to discuss Erin's Law. The bill would require age-appropriate education to help children learn the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching. The curriculum would also help students learn how to report sex abuse. When Merryn visited New York for the first time in 2011, two states had adopted Erin's Law. Eight years later, 35 states now have mandated sex abuse education in schools. "New York could've been the third," Merryn said in a phone interview Monday. "But here we are all these years later and 35 states have passed it and New York has not." Erin's Law received bipartisan support in the state Senate, where the chamber passed the bill on multiple occasions. But it faced hurdles in the state Assembly. Merryn blamed former Assembly Education Committee Chair Catherine Nolan for blocking the bill. While there was bipartisan support for the bill in the Assembly, it didn't receive a floor vote. State lawmakers are trying again this year. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, the longtime sponsor of Erin's Law, has reintroduced the bill. State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who revealed earlier this year that she was sexually abused as a child, is sponsoring the bill in her chamber. "There is no piece of legislation right now that is more urgent, more important and more transformative than passing Erin's Law," Biaggi, D-Bronx, said in a statement. "Had I had the language, and known who to speak to, I would not have suffered for the majority of my adult life." With Greenberg, Merryn has an important ally who has successfully advocated for legislation to combat child sexual abuse. A businessman, Greenberg launched Protect NY Kids and the Fighting For Children political action committee to build support for the Child Victims Act, which the state Legislature passed in January. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill last month. The Child Victims Act gives child sex abuse survivors until age 28 to pursue felony charges against their attackers. For civil cases, the statute of limitations was raised to age 55. The law also contains a one-year "look-back" provision that allows past victims to file lawsuits against their abusers. Greenberg believes Erin's Law would complement the Child Victims Act. "There is very little education and kids are being abused and threatened," he said by phone. "Erin's Law will be a tool to teach kids that if they are abused, they can report it and no one is going to hurt them. A lot of kids that are abused today don't realize it's abuse because no one teaches them." Erin's Law has been effective in other states where it's been adopted, according to Merryn. She mentioned cases in Illinois, Maryland and Oregon where children who participated in the educational sessions informed teachers they were sexually abused. In the Maryland case, Merryn said a fifth-grader listening to the lesson in her class shared that a teacher had been sexually abusing her. An investigation found the teacher sexually abused four girls over a 15-year period. He was convicted and sentenced to 48 years in prison. Merryn acknowledged one of the concerns about the bill is the time required for the lessons. She explained that they aren't requesting several weeks for the curriculum. It would take an hour or hour and a half of class time, she added. With Greenberg's support and the backing of several lawmakers, Merryn is hopeful that 2019 will be the year New York adopts Erin's Law. "I do feel much better than where we were eight years ago," she said. "I feel a lot more confident that we can make this a reality." Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Several upstate New York Republican legislators are calling for public forums to discuss the potential effects of a bill that would grant farmworkers the ability to unionize, overtime pay and other labor rights. The group of lawmakers, including state Sens. Bob Antonacci, Pam Helming and Jim Seward representing Cayuga County, want hearings in rural communities across the state. They believe the legislation will result in higher labor costs for farmers. State Sen. Rob Ortt, a Niagara County Republican, said in a statement there should be a "thorough round of public forums from Niagara County to Suffolk." "Owning and running a successful farm in New York has become more difficult than ever before," Ortt said. "In the last five years, approximately 20 percent of New York's dairy farms have been forced to close their doors, and legislation like this bill could be the final nail in the coffin for countless more family-owned farms across our state." An analysis conducted by Farm Credit East, which provides financial services to farms, found labor costs for farms will increase by $299 million if the overtime pay mandate is adopted. The study concluded that this would lead to a 23 percent decline in net farm income. There would be a greater impact on fruit and vegetable growers, who would see net farm income fall by 74 and 43 percent. Net income for dairy farms, which are already being affected by poor market conditions, would drop 101 percent. The New York Farm Bureau said the average farm wage is more than $14 an hour and farms provide benefits, including paid time off, free housing and transportation. The group claimed it's a "myth" that farms don't pay unemployment insurance or workers' compensation. Farms are required to have workers' compensation insurance for employees if the employer paid at least $1,200 in wages during the last calendar year, according to state labor law. The law also details when farmers become liable for unemployment insurance. The conditions include when employee wages reach $20,000 or more as of the first day of the calendar quarter or on the first day of the calendar year when they have at least 10 employees. David Fisher, president of the New York Farm Bureau, explained that the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act would have an adverse effect on farms. "It would be difficult for farms to compete in the marketplace when they can't control their prices and must take what the markets demand," he said. State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who sponsors the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act, believes the legislation is needed. During an interview with The Citizen last month, she said farm laborers are among the most overworked and underpaid workers in the state. The bill would grant farmworkers collective bargaining rights, an eight-hour workday and ensure they receive one day off each week. "If we're going to continue to grow our agriculture in this state, we must ensure that those who help create the wealth, at the very least, have basic rights," Ramos, D-Queens, said. The measure is receiving renewed attention because Democrats now control the state Senate. The state Assembly has passed the bill before, but it hasn't received a vote in the Senate. That could change this year. Ramos is the chair of the Senate Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction to review the bill. Once it clears the Senate Labor Committee, it will be considered by the Senate Finance Committee. A Senate floor vote may follow. Ramos plans to visit farms to collect feedback on the bill. She committed to touring at least two farms, including one in upstate. She also plans to join the farm bureau for tours. That doesn't mean she will reverse her position. She is a staunch supporter of the bill and told The Citizen many of its provisions aren't negotiable. "To me, this is about giving over 100,000 New Yorkers the rights that any other New Yorker would be given," she said. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would prevent the construction of trash incinerators in the Finger Lakes region. The legislation, which passed by a 62-0 vote, would prevent the state from granting permits for a trash incinerator project if its proposed site is within the Oswego River/Finger Lakes Watershed, if there is a minimum of one landfill within a 50-mile radius and if it would located within 10 miles of a priority waterbody designated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. A bipartisan coalition formed to prevent the construction of Circular enerG's proposed $365 million, 180-foot-tall incinerator at the former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, Seneca County. It would be the largest trash incinerator in New York state. Local elected officials, business owners and residents expressed concerns about the potential impact of the project. The garbage burning plant would be located between two Finger Lakes Cayuga and Seneca lakes and near the Romulus school district. There were also complaints about the possibility of more garbage truck traffic in the region. The Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca Falls already accepts trash from New York City and other municipalities outside the region. "A garbage incinerator would devastate the surrounding communities and negatively impact our health and our environment," said state Sen. Pam Helming, who represents Seneca County. Helming, R-Canandaigua, cosponsored the measure, which was introduced by state Sen. Rachel May, a Syracuse Democrat. Because she's a member of the majority, May carried the bill in the Senate. Lawmakers opted for this approach instead of addressing concerns with the Article X siting process. Circular enerG attempted to secure permits through the process used to site new power plants. The company sought approval from the state Public Service Commission because the incinerator would burn garbage to produce energy. The likelihood of the commission approving Circular enerG's request decreased when Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appoints the commission's members, announced his opposition to the proposed incinerator last year. He believed the project was "simply not appropriate." There was a bill introduced last year to block construction of the incinerator, but it didn't receive the state Legislature's approval before the end of session. This year, there was a renewed push to ban incinerators in the Finger Lakes region. The state Senate's approval Wednesday followed the state Assembly's passage of the bill last week. The Assembly, like the Senate, unanimously passed the bill 134-0. With final passage of the bill, lawmakers are hopeful Cuomo will sign the measure. Rich Azzopardi, senior advisor to the governor, said Cuomo's office will review the bill. He added that the governor "has been on record voicing concerns about its effect on the region's environment, public health and agricultural industry." State Sen. Tom O'Mara, whose district includes part of the Finger Lakes, highlighted the bill's importance to the entire region. "We want to be known for our wine and our tourism, not our landfills and not our garbage truck traffic," he said. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The first person to tell Julie Jordan DiPalma she was being inducted into the Auburn Alumni Hall of Distinction was the same person who gave her news that stuck with her decades ago. Jordan DiPalma, a personal injury lawyer, said she was informed of the honor by William Tenity, who picked her for the title role in the musical "Cinderella" when she was in sixth grade. She originally eyed a chorus role, but her mother, Sue Jordan, convinced her to go out for the lead. Snagging the spot at such a young age was monumental for her confidence at the time, she said. With obvious excitement in her voice, Jordan DiPalma said hearing about two important achievements from the same person has been special. She will be placed in the hall's ranks by the Auburn Education Foundation in May. Jordan DiPalma, who has operated her own firm, The Law Offices of Jordan DiPalma PLLC, in the Monroe County town of Pittsford for around two years, said she was thrilled by the news. One aspect of the induction the 1997 Auburn High School graduate is looking forward to is setting up contacts who can help her "be a resource to the foundation and the community." Her plans include getting involved with the foundation, creating a scholarship and mentoring Auburn students. "I'm thankful for the opportunity to even be in a place to be able to give back to the community, because that's what I believe people should be striving to do," Jordan DiPalma said. Jordan DiPalma, whose mother was a longtime Latin teacher in the district, praised the instructors she had, saying they encouraged her interest in music. That interest stayed with Jordan DiPalma after graduation, to the point that she almost majored in opera while she was at the University of Rochester from 1997 to 2001. She double majored in political science and health and society, before she opted to go into law. She went to the Syracuse University College of Law from 2001 to 2004, when she worked for the firm Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP in Rochester until 2010. After that, she was at the firm Faraci Lange Attorneys in Rochester until 2017, when she started her own practice. She recently took over a practice in Palmyra from an attorney who has retired, and she said she has enjoyed operating in two communities. Her previous experience included both advocating for people who received life-changing injuries and their families, along with defending corporations and other businesses, she said, but ultimately, "my heart is on the plaintiff side, always," she said. Jordan DiPalma said her goal is use to use the justice system to help clients get compensated and receive closure. Jordan DiPalma said she hopes upcoming Auburn graduates will "pause and be thankful" for their time there as they pursue their goals, and support Auburn students who come after them. She said she is grateful for the support of her husband, Jeff DiPalma, her children Josh DiPalma, 15, and Grace DiPalma, 7, and her mother. Marianne Berman, who taught English in the Auburn district for decades, said she nominated Jordan DiPalma for the honor. Berman said her room at the former West Middle School building was right next to Sue Jordan's room, and said she has known Jordan DiPalma since she was in preschool. Berman said she believes Jordan DiPalma does not actively seek out the limelight and always "gives 100 percent" in everything she takes on. "She does what she does as well as she does because that's who she is," Berman said. Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Voters weighed in Tuesday as Cayuga Countys villages as well as Jordan and Skaneateles in Onondaga County held elections, with races for mayor, trustee, and in one case, village justice. Out of the races, only two were contested, with many incumbents going unopposed or newcomers taking vacated seats without a challenge. Some results were not reported by press time. Village of Jordan The only village with a race for a justice position, Jordan voters elected Michael Weirs to the position with 36 votes. Mark Gustafson and Casey Brim were both elected to four-year term trustee positions with 39 and 41 votes, respectively. Village of Skaneateles In the race for two, four-year term trustee positions, incumbent Gregg Eriksen won re-election with 121 total votes, and Kathleen Zapata was elected with 118 total votes. There was one write-in vote for Steven Babbles. Incumbent Sue Dove did not seek re-election. Village of Union Springs All three incumbents in the races for mayor and two trustee positions ran unopposed, easily winning re-election. Mayor Francis Bud Shattuck received 26 votes. Trustees Bill Boyd Jr. and Marion Case both received 27 votes. The terms of all three positions last until April 2021. Village of Weedsport No candidates officially appeared on the ballot in Weedsport in the special election to fill the remaining three years of Chris Lukins' term after he resigned last December, so all votes received were write-ins. Chad Platten won with 63 votes, followed by John Clark with 48. Francis Gross and Robert Jorolemon both received one vote. One blank ballot was turned in. Village of Cato Two village trustees were elected to four-year terms, with incumbent Donald Thompson taking 17 votes and newcomer Nicole Moose 15. Incumbent Donald Hoyt, who was not seeking re-election, received two write-ins. Village of Cayuga Mayor William Sherman, running unopposed, received 88 votes for the two-year position. With three candidates vying for two two-year terms, Christopher Ryan won with 86 votes, as did incumbent Donald Wilson Jr. Incumbent Trustee Tara Fricano received 54 votes. Only a small number of write-in votes were received, with Helen Day receiving the most, seven, for mayor and four for Robin Richardson as trustee. Village of Port Byron Mayor Ron Wilson was re-elected with 69 votes, with write-in votes being cast for Jeffery Emerson (21), Michael Riley (10), Jeffrey Girvin (1) and Mickey Mouse (1). In a race for two trustee seats, Emerson was the top vote-getter with 79, incumbent Patrick Fenton won the second seat with 58 votes and incumbent John Bell received 54 votes. 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. Reshaping the dialogue Climate change is not a subject on its own. It needs to be considered by all sectors There's been a lot of attention being given to the newly opened Heritage Center and how it can be helpful to visitors coming to our area, who want to visit the many attractions we can offer. Certainly most local folks are aware that there is a lot to offer, including great fishing and hunting opportunities. We also offer a wealth of historical sites to see even a U.S. president (Millard Fillmore) was born right here in Cayuga County! Although I grew up in Auburn and left after graduating in 1952, I returned in 1970 and stayed for 10 years during which I worked as a real estate broker while raising my family. I also organized a parapsychology group, composed of several professional people in the area who volunteered their time and did programs for two consecutive years as a "fundraiser" for the YMCA. When I returned again in 1999, I volunteered to write articles for the local newspaper about artists and artisans. I also wrote several historical articles that included a few that were considered unusual but nevertheless true. For example, I wrote an article on "Why the Crows have come to Auburn" (https://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/why-the-crows-may-have-come-to-auburn-in-the/article_acdf0934-5e7c-11e1-8eb5-0019bb2963f4.html ) I also wrote an article about Spiritualism's beginnings here in Auburn. The fact that the first seances in the nation were held in the homes of Auburn's most prominent citizens was a well hidden fact, but after years of research I found the proof. Our local museum had an exhibit in 2002 that also documented it happening here! Mary Todd Lincoln's visit even resulted in Moravia becoming The Mecca of Spiritualism. To read the article, go to: https://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/smith-new-book-shows-possible-impossibilities-exist/article_cdb17afe-ffcc-5921-bac8-fbe76ae9456d.html. A year ago I wrote about the configuration of ley lines going through Fort Hill Cemetery. Go to: https://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/fort-hill-lies-on-earth-s-ley-lines/article_e0ba9aff-6d9e-5e8b-8d02-8cae4c876029.html to read the article. Be aware that although Sedona, Arizona is known the world over as a Spiritual Power Center, attracting generations of Native Americans, as well as alternative healers, one of the ley lines going through Fort Hill continues on to Sedona. (There are an equal number of ley lines going through Sedona as there are ley lines going through Fort Hill and so the potential for our own Fort Hill drawing people for "healing" is also a possibility!) The Citizen recently carried an article about my recent book: The Possible Impossibilities that provides even more information about the paranormal happenings in the area. Go to: https://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/smith-new-book-shows-possible-impossibilities-exist/article_cdb17afe-ffcc-5921-bac8-fbe76ae9456d.html. Joyce Hackett Smith-Moore Auburn Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Lots of Whales, Gooey Waves, Glowing Beaches, Glass Floats: Oregon Coast Spring Break 2019 Published 03/19/2019 at 8:13 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Oregon Coast) This spring break is chock full of action along the Oregon coast, with some gnarly monster waves starting things off, the SOLVE Oregon Beach Cleanup on Saturday, Whale Watch Week, and some other trippy things to look for. Its a week full of surprises awaiting the spring breaker. Oregon Coast Whales Report: Stellar weather means mucho whale sightings, and theres been plenty of that lately. Whale sightings have been high along the coastline, according to experts and the online reports of sightings have been abuzz. The beginning of the spring break wont be good for whales, however. Large waves roll in on Friday and Saturday, sometimes as high as nearly 20 feet. This hides them from view. Wave height and inclement weather backs off starting Sunday, which should mean good whale watching over the weekdays of spring break. Something to keep an eye out for is the presence of Orcas. Theyd been spotted a few times a little over a week ago, and the general consensus among scientists is that they were headed for the mouth of the Columbia River. They have not been spotted there yet, it seems. However, gray whale sightings around Astoria have been astounding lately. Glowing Sand. Last week there were lots of reports lately of extremely foamy waves on the coast, which is often a sign of enormous blooms of phytoplankton. If theres lots of phytoplankton, theres a good chance youll get the kind that glows too, creating a thing referred to as glowing sand. Locals in Rockaway Beach refer to it as star stompin. What youll see are tiny, bluish-green sparks in the wet sand when youre walking on it. Youll need an extremely dark beach with no light interference from lights or from the moon, and rub your feet backwards in the wet sand near the tideline. Much of the time its incredibly faint. It shows up maybe about a quarter of the time. All this comes from a form of phytoplankton called dinoflagellates part of the family of microscopic plants that form the bottom of the food chain for marine life. These dinoflagellates are bioluminescent, meaning they give off a glow when disturbed or bumped, just like fireflies. Its sometimes referred to as phosphorescence but that is not correct. Thats a purely chemical thing from inanimate objects: bioluminescence works inside living creatures and is biochemical. When a lot of brown waves or sea foam shows up, this is a signal they could well be around. Weird Brown Waves of Seaside. With lots of rain coming, this could well be spotted over spring break. It tends to alarm people, but the globby, brown and even sometimes sludgy-looking waves are just an excess of diatoms, another form of phytoplankton. Its actually a good thing a sign of a very healthy ocean. Its freaky-looking, but its cool when you know what it is. 300 Extra Glass Floats in Lincoln City. If you love a treasure hunt, Lincoln City has quite the challenge. For the spring break weeks from March 23 through April 7 they will be dropping 300 extra glass floats. These are hidden away in the early morning, usually closer to the vegetation line. See oregoncoast.org for more. For Lodging: Make your reservations now. Many hotels and rental agencies are already booked up. Oregon Coast Beach Connection will publish an availability report for the crossover weekend between the two spring breaks at the end of the month, which is the busiest weekend. Oregon Coast Lodgings for this event - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours Below: microscope view of a glowing dinoflagellate. More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Revellers mark Holi, the festival of colours (in photos) Phagu Purnima or Holi, the festival of colours, was celebrated with much fanfare in the Capital and other parts of the hilly region on Wednesday. Over the weekend, Democratic Fresh Face and socialist darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., spoke at the South by Southwest conference. While sitting amidst the enormous bounty provided by capitalism - top-notch electronic equipment, a massive crowd of paid ticket holders - AOC tore into capitalism. She called the system that has raised 80 percent of the globe from extreme poverty since 1980 "irredeemable." She railed against the injustice of people having to work jobs rather than write poetry - as though socialist countries are famous for ensuring that people work only the jobs they find spiritually rewarding.Finally, she settled on her most damning line of attack: America as it currently stands is "garbage," because in the United States, "if you don't have a job, you are left to die."That's an odd critique given the long history of death associated with socialism - some 45 million deaths under Mao, some 30 to 40 million under Stalin and some 2 million under Pol Pot, for starters. But it's an even odder critique given the fact that life expectancy has radically increased under capitalism: In 1850, the average European life expectancy was 36.3 years, while today, the average life expectancy across Europe stands at approximately 80. Furthermore, the United States currently boasts effective full employment. Our poor are in danger of dying of obesity , not starvation. And we spend, on a state and federal level, at least $1.1 trillion per year on means-tested welfare programs. By census data, that amounts to nearly $9,000 per household in the United States annually, or nearly $28,000 for every person living in poverty in the United States.But let's take Ocasio-Cortez's argument to the logical extreme. Presumably, she's in favor of these expensive government programs and thinks that in their absence, the poor would be left to die in the United States. Is that true?Absolutely not. Ocasio-Cortez makes the same mistake so many on the left do: She conflates government redistributionism with the social fabric itself. In her view, there is no social fabric absent government. What's more, nongovernmental social fabric is a threat to equality - as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., put it in 1981, "I don't believe in charities." The New York Times reported that Sanders questioned the "fundamental concepts on which charities are based," since government was the only entity positioned to help the impoverished.TOP ARTICLES1/6READ MORESupreme Court Balks At Appeal Of Christian Owner Found InViolation Of LGBT Anti-Discrimination LawThat's sheer nonsense. Before the rise of the massive welfare state, Americans gave massive amounts of charity. In 1926, religious congregations spent more than $150 million on projects other than church maintenance and upkeep, with state governments spending just $23 million and local governments spending $37 million, according to economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame. Americans have always given enormous sums to charity. And those charitable activities come along with something government redistributionism can't achieve: a feeling of social belonging and of membership in a social fabric.Free markets create prosperity. And government isn't the social fabric. Recognition of those two simple facts explains what made America thrive - and can help us thrive again, in spite of those who would prefer to tear down markets and social fabric and replace them with the heavy hand of centralized government. Wars are rarely kind to the wide-ranging pursuit of the truth. The same goes for culture wars, including the war over fraternities. Harvard University's recent decision to penalize students who join "final clubs" and other single-sex social organizations is one front in that war. In sober moments, opponents of all-male social organizations concede that they haveBut they demonize them anyway:says one Harvard committee,No time for nuance when one seeks to break and control the violence of frat boys.Similarly, defenders of fraternities acknowledge their deficiencies. But because Harvard and others have been so ham-fisted, so hostile to the freedom of association of their students, and so wedded to a hyper-partisan understanding ofit has been easy to dwell instead on the political correctness monster that seeks to crush fraternities' valuable aspects along with the harmful ones.I'm on record against Harvard's policy. But after we've rehearsed the arguments that colleges and universities are properly homes of free inquiry, that they shouldn't stifle the associational freedom of their students, and that they shouldn't practice doctrinaire gender politics, what's next?Those who care about colleges and universities can't be indifferent to the ideas of masculinity and femininity that prevail on their campuses. Consider that colleges are essentially Socratic institutions, in that the search for truth is their foundational principle. Socrates, who, unusually, swears by a female god and draws men away from public life toward the seemingly softer occupation of philosophizing, isn't a typical male. Even if being a "college man" means something as untraditional as being more like Socrates, colleges do seek to shape men. That entails shaping standards of praise and blame to win men over to the activities, and habits of mind and heart, that support the pursuit of the truth. That colleges also shape women does not leave them unconcerned with what one means byTo take a low but clear example, if students in large numbers think thattheir teachers have probably failed them.More broadly, masculinity and femininity, or manliness and womanliness, are proper objects of reflection at colleges and universities. That we find accounts ofandwanting as explanations of manliness shouldn't prevent us from wondering what the costs and benefits of our leading ways of thinking about manliness are. And although fraternities have gotten a lot of bad press, they remain leading interpreters of the meaning of manhood on campus. In her new book, Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men, journalist Alexandra Robbins reports thatfor fraternities inPrestigious colleges like Harvard, which has donors lining up to add to its $39 billion endowment and applicants ready to saw off a limb to get in, can afford to adopt misguided and unpopular measures to crush single-sex organizations. Elsewhere, for the foreseeable future, such organizations will shape how many students think about manhood.Fraternities probably aren't increasing in popularity because they throw great parties or help men shed their virginity. It has never been easier to get booze or have sex on campus. One hardly needs to subject oneself to hazing to get ample supplies of both. Although membership in a fraternity confers status on many campuses, there's no reason to think that this currency has increased in value recently. So status can't explain the increasing popularity of fraternities either.Robbins has a plausible-if not dispositive-explanation, drawn from her interviews with fraternity members and alums. It's easy to make fun of the idea that it's aBut it's harder to make fun of the idea that young men may be perplexedRobbins isn't naive. As we'll see, she paints a picture of fraternities that will drive parents to new achievements in hyperventilation. But she takes seriously the claims of those she interviews, many of whom look for and find in fraternitiesand a sense, in perplexing times, of how to be a man.However, Robbins' book conveys the impression that fraternities, on average, aren't doing a good job teaching manhood. Robbins closely follows the freshman year ofa bit of a nerd, who rushes a fraternity for innocuous reasons. His father was in a fraternity and speaks highly of the experience. And Jake, a bit of an introvert, is eager to form lasting friendships. Though the fraternity he joins is, by Robbins' account, average, it still subjects Jake to sleep deprivation and ritual humiliation. Jake and his pledge class are taught to be men by, among other things viewing and reporting on interracial porn, creating a skit about a gay student "making fun about how he likes to take it up the ass," drinking to the point of vomiting, and hooking up with equally drunk women. Older fraternity members are as sadistic as movie drill sergeants, but at least drill sergeants have noble aims. These young men aim only to ascend from the middle tier to the top tier of fraternities, a status achieved by throwing bigger parties attended by more desirable women-and conquering them sexually.By the end of the book, Jake is, with some reservations, duly trained. He participates in hazing and understands why he shouldn't bring dishonor on his fraternity by hooking up with(who are women not shaped like models). He thinks, as he is having sex with a woman reputed to have slept with 10 other members of his fraternity, how cool it is to get with his brother Andy'sJake, who enters the fraternity as a sort of gentleman, is at the end of year one, conflicted but, as the kids say, a douche.Those who, properly, defend the associational rights of students and decry narrow-minded ideological attacks on fraternities should have enough time left over to consider how the average fraternity can do better than this. That would entail thinking both about what idea or ideas of manhood are worth defending and how young men in charge of other young men can be initiated into them.Those who, properly, defend the associational rights of students and decry narrow-minded ideological attacks on fraternities should have enough time left over to consider how the average fraternity can do better than this.To this end, Robbins profilesHis fraternity largely holds itself aloof from the status game, which is less intense on Oliver's campus than it is on Jake's. Members proudly cultivate areputation. As Oliver puts it in his first speech as chapter president, they are togetherand to learnThey are known for walking women home who otherwise lack an escort. Of course, they also party, and one of Oliver's early leadership challenges is to deal with the consequences when a member pees off of the roof and nearly hits a police officer. But they also teach and enforce limits. When one pledge comes on aggressively to a woman too drunk to consent,though still learning the ropes,In Oliver's fraternity, and in others like it, initiates seem to learn to confide in and rely on each other, and to work together-not only at throwing safe parties but also at philanthropic work, at maintaining the house, and at educating and supporting members. Although Oliver's fraternity does not represent the dominant model, many of thesaid that their organizationsRobbins is a journalist, not a philosopher, and when she departs from reporting, she too often relies on whator on warmed-over gender theory. But her nuanced account of where fraternities are now is a useful starting point for people who wish to get beyond merely observing that Harvard shouldn't be out to destroy single-sex social organizations. Once that observation has been made, one has to get down to the task of teaching, in which fraternities sometimes play, and could more often play a constructive role. Supreme Court directs government to find ways to conserve Bagh Durbar The Supreme Court has issued a mandamus order to the government to initiate the process within 15 days to decide the method for conserving the historic Sundhara-based Bagh Durbar. Tendering process for remaining portion of Postal Highway starts The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has started the tendering process to build the remaining 544-km portion of the 1,792-km Postal Highway after the Finance Ministry agreed in principle to release the required funds. As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe', Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta said. Keeping these words in mind, St. Therese of the Child Jesus parish, Salmiya organised a Spiritual Lenten Retreat for the altar servers from class five to twelve on March 16, 2019, from 8 am to 1 pm themed, Come Back to Me Nearly 150 altar servers from the Latin and Syro Malabar rite were present for the retreat. In his introductory message, Father Blany Pinto, the parish priest emphasised that Lent is a time to return back to God if we have gone away from Him especially through our sinful habits. The main highlight of the programme was the Stations of the Cross enacted by the altar servers, their animators, and supported by the core team. It was gracefully executed creating a spiritual ambiance on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father Roswin Pires ofm cap, the assistant parish priest of Our Lady of Arabia parish, Ahmadi gave a talk on the three pillars of Lent. He explained to the altar servers how to fight evil and avoid temptation. He also involved them in one of the acts and showed them clippings on how starving children struggle for a meal even eat food thrown in the trash. The boys listened attentively. A short break was provided for interaction, after which the altar servers participated in various activities. They had to prepare a Lenten calendar; wherein they were told to write what they would like to do during the 40-day period. Craftwork was then provided on the topic Three Pillars: Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. Class five and six were given paper plates, spoons etc, and were asked what they would sacrifice and abstain from eating. Class seven and eight were told to write prayer requests on the Cross-shaped pictures provided. Class nine and above had to prepare a charity box for almsgiving. The boys enjoyed the activity sessions and said they would like to have such activities more often in the future. It was a very good idea to have activity and it went well. I look forward to the next one, Theodore Nathan, an altar server said. The retreat was animated by Pascal Fernandes and his team. Soon after the activity, there was an Adoration service conducted by one of the animators Ruth Miranda, followed by Holy Mass. Later, the top three altar servers who had accumulated maximum points by serving and participating at Holy Mass for the month of February were felicitated with trophies and gifts. The retreat ended around 1:15 pm and all the altar servers carried in their hearts the message given by the parish priest How to repent and forgive others reminding all of the words of Jesus, "That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:35). This resource is no longer available This resource is no longer available. Return to previous page. Brazil was rocked last week by a deadly shootout in a high school in Suzano, a suburb of Sao Paolo. Two former students armed with a gun, crossbows and axes killed nine people and then committed suicide. Immediately, the media began another campaign against Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, leading people to believe that the massacre had something to do with his pro-gun policies. There is, of course, an elementary problem of logic in this argument: Bolsonaro assumed the presidency 63 days ago and so far has not changed the gun control laws in which disrespects carrying of firearms. Moreover, the young killers used black-market weapons and, its worth remembering, this is not the first time that a mass shooting has occurred in Brazil. According to police investigators, the leader of this latest massacre was a 17-year-old named Guilherme Taucci Monteiro. In an interview his mother gave to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, we learned something of the family environment in which he was raised. Monteiros mother, Tatiana Taucci is an unemployed drug user whose four other children have different fathers. Monteiro was expelled from school because of his violent behavior. Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to watching TV, playing video games, and now we know plotting a mass murder. Although he and his mother lived in the same house, they practically did not speak to each other. Before going to live with his mother, Monteiro was raised by his grandparents and was clinically depressed after his grandmothers death a year ago. He was also the subject of constant Bullying practiced by his classmates. In an interview for Folha de Sao Paulo, the murderers mother made the following statement: He had everything, cable TV, internet. And the asse did it. Reading the rest of the interview, it is difficult to imagine that this young man had everything. And Im not just talking about material goods, but the most elemental of all things: family. In all, both the mastermind of the massacre as well as his accomplices appear to have suffered from a common disease in modern society. The destabilization of traditional social arrangements and the consequent social atomization are causing untold numbers of people all over the world to lose the ties that unite them to a community, anything that exists beyond them. The erosion of the sense of belonging is everywhere; from the young Muslims that live in the West and join terrorist groups to the murderers who invaded a school in Brazil and killed nine people with exquisite cruelty. In the Brazilian case, what is particularly disconcerting is the perverse aesthetic adopted by the two young people who believed that the meaning of life was in barbarism. To anyone who has watched the videos of the massacre, Columbine immediately comes to mind. Exactly 20 years after the horrors perpetrated by two young nihilists in a Colorado city, who profaned Gods name while killing eleven people, two Brazilians decided to repeat the shooting following the same macabre aesthetic. It must be said that this connection is definitely not the result of an associative projection on the part of our minds. They the killers made it clear. Beyond the slaughter in itself, there is an anthropological dimension that cannot be denied and must be understood. Every act of violence is linked to a conception of the sacred. The spiritual emptiness of our time opens the door to the horror of the denial of transcendence. Like a soul-destroying disease, our post-Christian society erases the image of Christ and invites the Book of Jobs accusing Devil to rule a world that no longer recognizes Jesus as king. Violence, therefore, becomes the instrument of intramundane justice. The French philosopher Rene Girard observed how violence develops and spreads due to the mimetic nature of human behavior. In this tendency of constant emulation of the behavior of the other; when times of crisis arise, violence is directed against a scapegoat who at the same time is guilty of the chaotic state of things and, once sacrificed, it becomes an object of veneration. Girard explains: This mode of functioning of society expresses Satans dominion over it, for until the advent of Jesus Christ it was Satan who cast out Satan. It was he, the accusatory spirit, who extirpated evil in the name of evil, who prevented the cataclysm with a minor, and wrote history myths taking the party of the accuser. The Christian religion assumes the victims party the Christ -, and affirms his innocence, emphasizing that it was not necessary to kill him. According to Girard, in offering himself as a sacrifice, Jesus Christ broke the mechanism of violence that had ruled the world since the dawn of time. By dying on the cross, even though everyone knew of his innocence according to the Biblical account Christ inaugurated a new anthropological reality in which sacrifice and death are only remembered as in the Catholic Mass without ever being put into practice. The scapegoat is abandoned in favor of the remembrance of the suffering, death, and resurrection of the one who promised salvation to all willing to accept the truth. By incarnating in history, Jesus drives the Devil out of history. Girard noted that the figure of the Devil who practices evil to ward off evil is getting stronger in our post-Christian society. What is interesting about this phenomenon is that it could only happen in a civilization that has already received the influence of Christianity. As the scapegoat mechanism has already been revealed, we do not return directly to it, that is, we do not directly accuse the victim of anything; we do not directly say that she is guilty. But the scapegoat mechanism continues to function differently: the politically correct movement accuses its opponents of scapegoating, accusing them of victimizing others. This is a kind of Christianity in reverse: they take what is left of the Christians influence, what remains of Christian language, but for opposing ends, to perpetuate the scapegoats sacrificial mechanism. In case you have not noticed, there is an undeniable anthropological connection between the nihilists involved in the Suzano massacre and militants who advocate abortion and euthanasia. All of them, in one way or another, seek through the murder of innocents to create an anti-Christian humanism. In an interview, Girard could not have been more clear. Protection of the child, protection of the newborn is essential in the Bible. Isaacs sacrifice marks the difference between the old God and the new God: it is the ancient God who asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, and when Abraham does so, the new God prevents the childs sacrifice and replaces it by the slaughter of an animal. The end of ritual infanticide is one of the hallmarks of our civilization, and we are losing it () I recently saw a book in which the author, whose name I do not remember, said that abortion was the childs sacrifice, and he took advantage of that sacrifice. This is the most horrible thing to do! The young assassins of Suzano return with the pre-Christian practices of sacralization of violence as an act of purging evil from society. In this Christianity in reverse, each dead person represents a tragic attempt to restore the inner order of their empty lives; every drop of spilled blood is a step further in the search for redemption. In our post-Christian culture, the macabre aesthetic seen in Columbine and repeated in Suzano indicates that the scapegoat mechanism has returned to claim this world. Homepage picture: Fyodor Bronnikov, The Damned Box. Place of Execution in ancient Rome. The Crucified Slaves, 1878. Now in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons A federal court of appeals recently upheld the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled unanimously that the sixty-five year old tax provision does not violate the First Amendment clause that prohibits government establishment of religion. The decision reversed a federal judges 2017 opinion that invalidated the allowance as a violation of the establishment clause. The court ruled the housing allowance is constitutional under two of the U.S. Supreme Courts church-state precedents. The allowance, the judges said, falls into the play between the joints of the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause: neither commanded by the former, nor proscribed by the latter. Aside from the question of constitutionality, the clergy exemption raises a question that many peoplewhether religious or notare likely to be wondering: Why exactly do ministers receive a tax exemption for their housing allowance? To answer the question we must first consider how taxation of church property, including clergy housing, has historically been considered. Since at least the time when Joseph served in Pharaohs Egypt, religious property has been exempt from certain forms of taxation. (Genesis 47:26) The practice continued in the Roman Empire and through medieval Europe and was part of the common law, which America adopted from England. The common law granted tax exemptions to established churches and, through the equity law tradition, to all churches. From the 15th century to the 19th century, most pastors lived in the parsonage, a house provided by the church. Housing was thus a form of non-cash payment that was exempt from taxation since the parsonage was church property. By the early twentieth century, though, both clergy housing and taxation had changed considerably. So in 1921, Congress passed the Revenue Act, which exempted from the gross income of ministers the rental value of any dwelling house and appurtenances thereof provided by a church as a part of clergy compensation. This parsonage exemption, however, applied only to ministers who lived on property owned by their church and disadvantaged ministers whose churches provided a housing allowance rather than a church-owned parsonage. In 1954, Congress amended the tax code to allow ministers to exempt a portion of their income to the extent used by the minister for housing. According to the Senate Report, the purpose of this addition was to eliminate the disparity in the tax code between ministers who lived in a church-owned parsonage and those who were given a stipend with which to secure housing. The clergy, of course, are not the only ones to receive such an exemption. Congress included several categories of tax-free housing allowances to demonstrate a willingness to give tax breaks to classes of taxpayers who have little choice about their personal living space, such as members of the military, members of the Peace Corps, members of the Foreign Service, etc. As Peter J. Reilly explains, Whether the employer provides a cash allowance or a home, each benefit serves the same purpose; that is, often the employers needs affect the living space needs of its employees. Many times, these classes of employees frequently relocate, thus preventing them from settling down and hindering long term close friendships. Further, the employers frequently require them to use their homes to conduct employer business. Additionally, the employees place of service may not be desirable. These employees must reside where their employer requires and must frequently use their residence for employer business. Some employees sacrifice amenities that most citizens take for granted, such as long term stability in one locale and privacy. The constitutionality of the parsonage exemption would be difficult to challenge since it has been encoded in statutory law for over almost a hundred years. That is why critics of clergy exemptions have focused on the housing allowance. The obvious counter might appear to be for churches to simply buy a parsonage and directly provide housing for their ministers. But this ignores the fact there may be theological reasons based on church polity for not providing a parsonage. As Justin Butterfield, Hiram Sasser, and Reed Smith explain in an article for The Texas Review of Law and Politics, a congregations choice to offer a housing allowance rather than allow the minister to live in a church-owned dwelling is not one of mere accounting or convenience, but rather one rich with theological and ecclesiastical underpinnings. The parsonage exemption, for instance, provides a preference for institutional churches whose ecclesiastical properties are owned by a central governing body (e.g., Roman Catholic). Smaller, independent, local churches often have less money to provide a parsonage. It also presents a bias in favor of wealthy, established churches over younger congregations and church startups. For instance, how could a congregation that cant even afford a church building afford to buy a parsonage? Because of this reality, the courts cannot allow the parsonage exemption and exclude the housing exemption without showing preference for certain religious groups over others. Both the parsonage and pastor housing exemption are part of a legal tradition that serve to prevent the entanglement of the state in ecclesiological concerns. Thats an ideal even atheists should support. The Acton Institute alumni network is now over 8,000 people strong. This group spans many disciplines and contains many of the most influential leaders from those disciplines. Margarita Mooney is one of those influential people. Margarita completed her undergraduate studies at Yale University and her doctorate at Princeton University. She is currently an Associate Professor of Practical Theological at Princeton Theological Seminary, and is an education entrepreneur. As the founder of Scala Foundation, she has built programming designed to strengthen classical liberal arts education and promote authentic human well being. Through this effort, Margarita works tirelessly to promote intellectual virtues such as thoroughness, intellectual courage, and creative thinking. This past fall, Margarita opened Actons annual dinner with a moving invocation. You can watch and listen to a portion of her stirring speech below. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Margarita about her upbringing, work at Scala Foundation, and her academic aspirations. (Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.) Oetting: What was the first Acton Institute event that you attended? Mooney: I went to Acton University when I was still a graduate student in sociology at Princeton University. Having studied psychology at Yale and then sociology at Princeton, I sensed that the underlying view of the human person was flawed in both fields. My mother fled Cuba when she was 20 years old and I was always bothered by the excuses made by many academics about how communism destroyed peoples freedom economic freedom, political freedom, and most importantly religious freedom. After my first of seven trips to Cuba in 1994, when I was 20 years old, I was persuaded that communism could not be the solution to poverty in Latin America. At Acton University, I learned a vocabulary to express what I was convinced of from my own experiences: we cant look at human freedom as a trade-off for health care or education certain goods really are intrinsic and non-exchangeable. What advanced degrees do you hold? How did you become interested in these academic disciplines? I grew up in Frederick, Maryland, the youngest of four children and the only girl in my family. The people I grew up around had many problems, but they also had a deep faith in God in the midst of suffering, injustice, and even the death of loved ones, there was a conviction that we are not alone in this world and that what we see here and now is not all there is. When I went to Yale as an undergraduate, I studied psychology, hoping to find a way to ameliorate some of the suffering I had seen growing up. After graduating from Yale, I worked for Oscar Arias, a former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Laureate. I traveled all around Central America working on projects that helped ex-combatants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala reintegrate into civilian life. I went on to study sociology at Princeton University for my PhD. Sociology seemed to provide the best toolkit for understanding the interwoven forces of large-scale cultural change, economic change, and political change. But I also questioned some gaps in my training. For example, most social theory seemed to imply that all evil in the world was due to a bad environment but never intentional acts of evil. Utopian ideals abounded about the human persons potential once freed from environmental constraints. Beyond my intellectual questions, it seemed that little about sociology could speak to me about my faith, hope, love, forgiveness, mercy those deep experiences we all have in some ways that, when the going gets rough, pulls us up out of our darkness and despair. Where do you teach and what is your current position? Where else have you taught? I am currently an associate professor of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. The seminary only has graduate students, but I also occasionally teach undergraduates at Princeton University. I have also been a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007-2013) and Yale University (2013-2016). What is Scala Foundation and what was the impetus behind starting Scala Foundation? Why do you think its important for students to engage with hard questions or ideas that they may disagree with their peers on? When I moved to Princeton Theological Seminary finally a tenured position! I decided to dedicate more of my time to integral student formation by founding Scala. Scala means ladder in Latin. I got the idea for the name Scala from the rule of St. Benedict. I love the image of a ladder! The two sides of a ladder symbolize the need for balance between body and soul. The steps of the ladder represent that we ascend to excellence while also descending in humility. A ladder also symbolizes that being well-rooted in community life holds us steady as we climb to contemplate eternal truths. Through Scala, I lead reading groups for Princeton University and Seminary students in my living room or dining room. I also invite faculty and successful professionals to lead dinner seminars at my home to speak about their research or careers. For the past two summers, Ive taken small groups of students from universities all across the U.S.-public and private, Christian and secular to Oxford University and Ampleforth Abbey. For two weeks, we read 26 authors and learn philosophical anthropology, the purpose of education, the crisis of modernity, and monastic approaches to learning. To balance out our intensive schedule of readings and seminars, I also arrange activities that try to bring students to shared experiences of contemplation of beauty going to art museums, going for walks in nature, and sharing experiences of faith in liturgy of the hours or attending religious services together. In 2019, Ill be hosting the seminar at Porstmouth Abbey and School in Rhode Island, which will allow me to invite members of Scalas growing alumni and faculty network to share how they live out a liberal arts approach to education in a variety of contexts. Where are past Scala Foundation students now? Most of the students who have participated in Scala events are still finishing degrees in law, English, economics, political theory, sociology, theology or another field at schools like Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Baylor, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One Scala alum recently accepted a tenure-track position teaching political theory at a liberal arts college, and I expect many other Scala alumni will become professors in higher education. Others aspire to become teachers in classical liberal arts high schools, including a few whose calling is to bring classical liberal arts education to students in areas one may not traditionally associate with liberal arts education, like low-income urban areas. Others will become professionals. All have a vocation to family and community, which are also places of education! How has Acton Institute impacted your work at Princeton Theological Seminary and Scala Foundation? Acton is valuable because it provides ongoing access to resources articles, people, events that help me build a better world based on a theistic, personalist view of the human person and the human good. Finally, what projects are you currently working on and how can those in the Acton network interested in your work collaborate with you? Im increasingly asked to write and speak about my educational approach, so that aspect of my work is growing. Many of my recent articles and talks are on my website: margaritamooney.com I post often on Twitter (@margaritamooney) about my teaching, guest lectures, and quotes from what Im reading or teaching. Acton alumni can collaborate with me by helping me built a network of students and faculty who embrace the transformational approach to education that Scala embodies. Editors Note: In addition to her work at Scala Foundation and teaching load at Princeton Theological Seminary, Margaritas current research on resilience and suffering has led her to write frequently. Please check out her blog for more of her thoughts on this important topic, and be sure to follow her on social media so you dont miss future talks and publications. You can view Margaritas full Annual Dinner invocation below. Are you interested in listening to Margarita live? Join us at Acton University this summer! Congress demands government to explain jana abhimat in its pact with CK Raut The opposition party, Nepali Congress, has demanded that the government explain its interpretation of the democratic process based on jana abhimat pertaining to the demands of the Madhesi community as mentioned in the agreement signed with free Madhes campaigner CK Raut two weeks ago. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, recommended Angelica Infante-Green, a veteran New York educator, expert on English-language learner communities, and first-generation immigrant to serve as the states next commissioner of education. If approved by the states board of education, she will replace Commissioner Ken Wagner, who has served as the state education chief since 2015. This is an important, exciting moment in Rhode Island education, Infante-Green said in a statement, according to local media reports. The foundation is in place, and we we must have the courage and collective will to act boldly on behalf of all of our students. Infante-Green, the daughter of Dominican immigrants, received her undergraduate degree in architecture but, after college, decided to switch careers after a Teach for America stint as a dual-language teacher in the South Bronx. She rose through the ranks in New York City schools, serving as a dual-language project director, the founder of a school for recent immigrant arrivals, and the associate commissioner for bilingual education and world languages. She currently serves as the deputy commissioner with the New York Education Departments office ofiInstructional support. She will start on April 29. Many in New York thought she should be the chancellor of New York City schools and she was a finalist earlier last year for Massachusetts commissioner. Rhode Island is in the middle of a wide-ranging debate over what it needs to do to improve its school system. Recent test results show that its students perform significantly worse than Massachusetts students do. This is our truth-telling moment, Ken Wagner, Rhode Islands superintendent said shortly after the release of the test scores, according to local media reports. Theres no surprise we have tons of work to do. Massachusetts students arent smarter than ours. Theyve just been doing the work for the past 25 years. Weve been doing pieces of it, but we havent stuck with it. We havent all been on the same page like Massachusetts has. Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. During the long years when Philippines strongman Rodrigo Duterte (previously) was mayor of Davao (circumventing term limits by periodically allowing his daughter to run for mayor and serving as her vice-mayor) the city was terrorized by death-squads who enjoyed total impunity as they assassinated police suspects and Duterte's political opponents, while Duterte cheered them on (Duterte has boasted about his participation in extrajudicial killings during this period, but has also denied participation in the death squads). In 2012, IBM signed a multi-million-dollar deal to supply high-tech surveillance gear to the Duterte regime, a program that IBM boasted of when attempting to sell surveillance gear to other cities. IBM also produced sales literature boasting of having sold its "Face Capture" facial recognition program to the city (the city's promotional material also features police using this tool), though now IBM claims it never supplied facial recognition tools to Davao. Davao's death-squads murdered scores of street children, petty criminals, and suspected gang members. Often, these victims would be slain shortly after being released from police custody. One police official, Antonio Boquiren, boasted that IBM's tools let them arrest people for the pettiest of crimes: "Whether it's criminality, smoking, or jaywalking, any violation of ordinance is a crime and a police is sent." IBM says it stopped supplying Davao in 2016. Today the city uses surveillance gear supplied by giant, Chinese firms like Huawei, paid for with loans from state-owned Chinese funds. IBM is notorious for supplying the Nazis with the tools needed to track the mass-slaughter of Jews, homosexuals, Catholics, communists and dissidents in the concentration camps, through an ongoing relationship that included servicing and supplying these systems throughout the camps' operation, directed from IBM's New York offices. Today, IBM claims that it is "committed to high standards of corporate responsibility." Despite reporting by Human Rights Watch and local papers, Shinde claimed that the human rights allegations against the Duterte regime were "not in the news at all during those days." There was "nothing said like that about him at that time," he continued, pointing out that IBM contracted with Sara Duterte, not her father, who, he said, "didn't have such a kind of record." Yet when IBM agreed to work with the Duterte family's administration in 2012, his regime's support of extrajudicial killings in Davao City had been well-established; as early as 2009, he had described criminals as "a legitimate target for assassination." In 2012, the year IBM signed the deal with Sara Duterte, local human rights activists claimed to have documented 61 death squad killings. According to IBM documents and law enforcement officials, the Philippine National Police also received information from the surveillance command center. Before the IBM deal was signed, the Philippine National Police had also been criticized for failing to investigate death squad killings, and since Duterte became president, it has played a role in the deadly national "war on drugs." "If they had the technology then, I have no doubt that they used it and continue to use it to locate the targets for elimination," said Picardal, formerly of the Coalition Against Summary Executions. "And not only drug users but human rights defenders, activists, and anyone they consider as enemies of the state." Inside the Video Surveillance Program IBM Built for Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte [George Joseph/The Intercept] Here are some "ordinary citizens" who have recently been featured in the press as people who are completely OK with the state of American healthcare and totally opposed to Medicare for All or any other project to reform America's worst-in-the-world health care system: "Mustafa Tameez, businessman, Texas" (Tameez is managing director at Texas-based Outreach Strategists, a public affairs and lobbying firm that reps Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, University of Texas Physicians, and St. Luke's Hospital). Another health care status quo enthusiast is "Jim Corson, Montana" (Corson was a 14 year veteran of the staff of Sen Max Baucus, the former Senate Finance Committee who killed ACA's public option). "James Rang" is just an ordinary dude who wrote a letter to the editor opposing single-payer because it was bad for the "free market" (Rang is vice president in the employee benefits department at the Friedman Group that is, he's a health-insurance salesman). Florida businessman "Carlos Carbonell" is one of the "influential leaders" cited in the Orlando Sentinel's piece on opposition to health-care reform (Carbonell is a Public Affairs Advisor" at Converge Strategies, a lobbyist that reps the health care industry). "Jack A. Roy," a proud son of Massachussetts, and he "[does] understand how this could work" (Roy is the former head of the Haverhill City Republican Committee.). In Des Moines, "Mark Havlicek" is a businessman who is adamant in his opposition to single-payer (Havlicek is a "political consultant" and "committed Republican activist" who was on Jeb Bush's Iowa leadership team). These examples were compiled by Splinter's Libby Watson, who learned about them through press-releases from the lobbying group Partnership for America's Health Care Future (PAHCF), whose members include Pharma, the pharmaceutical industry lobby group. In advocacy campaigns, there are grassrootsgenuine, broad-based political action by real people not employed in politics day to dayand grasstops, the practice of cultivating local leaders to influence their communities. And then there's astroturfing, the practice of trying to create a false impression of broad public support or outrage on an issue when there isn't any. Big, well-funded advocacy firms in DC spend quite a lot of their time doing these sorts of things. This is the advantage of "grassroots" activities: It lends a legitimacy that, say, quotes from the people who directly stand to profit from the continuation of a private healthcare system can never achieve. It is more convincing to hear arguments about what would happen to real people from those real people than just another politics wanker in DC. But when those voices are few and far between, sometimes you have to get a little bit creative about who counts as a regular American. Look at These Absolutely Ordinary Americans Who Hate Medicare for All [Libby Watson/Splinter] (via Naked Capitalism) Devin Nunes (previously) is a Trump-loyalist whose scandals have ranged from secretly moving his family farm to make it easier to hire undocumented workers to a bizarre obsession with the Steele Dossier; and like a lot of far-right types, he's big on "preventing frivolous lawsuits" (which is to say, he wants to make it harder for the public to sue companies that harm them, which is why he cosponsored last year's Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act. Another trait Nunes shares with a lot of far-right creeps is that he can dish it out, but he can't take it. Just as Trump is (not so) secretly doing all the things he accuses his opponents of doing, anyone who talks about "SJW snowflakes" is almost certainly a thin-skinned, insecure thumbsucker who can't bear to be mocked. That is how Nunes came to file a $250,000,000 lawsuit against Twitter and two parody accounts on the service, @DevinNunesMom and @DevinCow (AKA Devin Nunes's Cow) for hurting his feelings on the internet. Nunes is upset that he was called a "herp-face," and is really upset about a human centipede meme that depicted Nunes, Trump and Putin as generic, labeled stick-figures with their mouths grafted onto one-another's anuses. This tweet may just be the greatest exhibit ever filed in a lawsuit. Devin Nunes' Mom stated that Nunes had turned out worse than Jacob Wohl; falsely accused Nunes of being a racist, having "white supremist friends" and distributing "disturbing inflammatory racial propaganda"; falsely accused Nunes of putting up a "Fake News MAGA" sign outside a Texas Holocaust museum; falsely stated that Nunes would probably join the "Proud Boys", "if it weren't for that unfortunate 'no masturbating' rule"; disparagingly called him a "presidential fluffer and swamp rat"; falsely stated that Nunes had brought "shame" to his family; repeatedly accused Nunes of the crime of treason, compared him to Benedict Arnold, and called him a "traitor", "treasonous shitbag", a "treasonous Putin shill", working for the "Kremlin"; falsely stated that Nunes was "100% bought and sold. He has no interest remaining for his constituents"; falsely accused Nunes of being part of the President's "taint" team; falsely stated that Nunes was unfit to run the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; falsely accused Nunes of "secretly hat[ing] the people he's supposed to serve"; falsely accused Nunes of being a "lying piece of shit"; falsely stated that Nunes would lose custody of his children and was going to "the pen"; falsely accused Nunes of receiving pay for undermining "American Democracy"; falsely stated that Nunes was "the most despicably craven GOP public official" and that "Devin might be a unscrupulous, craven, back-stabbing, charlatan and traitor, but he's no Ted Cruz"; falsely stated that Nunes was "voted 'Most Likely to Commit Treason' in high school"; falsely stated that "The people of California's Central Valley are upright folk who work hard, look you square in the eye and give you a firm handshake. And then there is @DevinNunes"; falsely stated that Nunes is "not ALL about deceiving people. He's also about betraying his country and colluding with Russians"; stated "I don't know about Baby Hitler, but would sure-as-shit abort baby Devin"; falsely stated that "Alpha Omega wines taste like treason"; falsely stated that "@DevinNunes wanted me to tell everyone that he'll be releasing a pic soon to get ahead of that AMI thing, and that it only looks that way because of all the blow"; falsely suggested that Nunes might be willing to give the President a "blowjob"; falsely stated "@Devin Nunes look @SpeakerRyan is removing @Rep_Hunter from his committee seat because he's corrupt and incompetent. I wonder why he let you keep yours?"; falsely accused Nunes of "covering up Trump's conspiracy against the United States"; falsely accused Nunes of lying to Congress; falsely accused Nunes of suborning "perjury"; falsely stated that "@Devin Nunes is DEFINITELY a feckless c***" [and it keeps going] Devin Nunes Sues Twitter and 'Devin Nunes' Mom' for a Whopping $250 Million [Matt Naham/Law and Crime] (via JWZ) Last year, California was one of several states to introduce right to repair legislation that would force companies to end practices that discourage the independent repair sector, creating a requirement to sell replacement parts, provide documentation, and supply codes to bypass DRM systems that locked new parts out of devices until the company activated them. The bills were mostly defeated, thanks to coalitions led by Apple which subsequently warned its investors that its profits were threatened by customers' unwillingness to abandon their old devices and buy new ones. In California, the farm lobby did a deal with the devil, selling out to the ag-tech sector and throwing its weight behind Apple's push to kill the bill. But the California right-to-repair legislation is back in play, thanks to California State Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman [D-Stockton], whose Assembly Bill 1163 is substantively similar to last year's r-to-r bill. Depending on how you count, the repair sector is worth 1-4% of total US GDP, and most repair businesses are neighborhood-based small firms whose profits stay in your community. By contrast, Apple (and other Big Tech firms) are notorious tax avoiders who funnel their profits offshore and then direct them to their distant shareholders in the form of massive stock buybacks and other forms of financial engineering. "Companies love when we buy and toss, and buy new at the greatest possible speed, but it's expensive for consumers and the waste is piling up," said Emily Rusch, Executive Director for CALPIRG. "Electronic waste is now the fastest growing part of the waste stream. This bill will help California fix our way out of this mess." "In today's world, electronic devices are an essential part of our lives, but they can be expensive and almost impossible to easily repair. When a device stops working, you should be able to get it fixed by a servicer you choose, or fix it yourself," said Maureen Mahoney of Consumer Reports. "You shouldn't be forced to hand it over to the manufacturer and pay whatever it demands, or just throw it away and replace it. We commend Assemblymember Eggman for her leadership in ensuring consumers' right to repair, and look forward to working with her to improve consumer choice in the marketplace." Eggman Introduces Legislation Establishing the Right to Repair [Susan Talamantes Eggman] California reintroduces 'Right to Repair' bill after previous effort failed [Mikey Campbell/Apple Insider] (via Naked Capitalism) (Image: John Bumstead) Towards authoritarianism When all powers flow to the prime minister, it will undermine the achievements of democracy Staying Together for the Kids: Pros and Cons Staying Together for the Kids: Pros and Cons You may have heard that an estimated 33 percent of all marriages end in divorce before the 20-year mark, but for many couples with kids, the decision to stay or leave is more complicated. Studies show that spouses who are parents tend to be less happy in their marriages and, ironically, more likely than childless couples to remain married anyway. The question is: Do kids really benefit when miserable parents stay together? The old saying that children are like sponges could never be truer than when it comes to familial relationships. Whether youre aware of it or not (and whether you like it or not), those young eyes and ears are always concentrated on you, their parent. This is why kids tend to be tuned in to whatever drama may be unfolding in the household even if you dont realize it. Whats important to understand, though, is that when drama is constant and when your relationship is not exactly a healthy one, your child may not only be negatively impacted in the short term but in the long run, too. RELATED: 10 Traits of a Great Father To shed some more light on just how much kids are affected by parents who choose to stay in unhealthy relationships, a few experts chimed in with their takeaways on the situation. Kids Absorb Their Parents Unhappiness J. Ryan Fuller, a New York City-based clinical psychologist and executive director of New York Behavioral Health, says many of his unhappily married patients express a desire to tough it out until their kids are of college age. Unfortunately, feigning marital stability can backfire in unexpected ways. If the child perceives hostility in the parents relationship, the child is more likely to have negative self-esteem, hostility and aggression, emotional instability and emotional unresponsiveness, says Fuller. None of these characteristics bode well for future romantic relationships and can also be detrimental to achieving success at work, maintaining friendships, and being happy in general. Whats more, Fuller says depressive symptoms can interfere with effective parenting. I have seen with my psychotherapy clients how mental health issues negatively impact parenting," he adds. "And if the parents are unable to work to make the relationship healthy [but] stay regardless, the child may have an unhealthy idea or expectation about what relationships are, what they can expect from others, and may not learn when being assertive is healthy i.e., communicating what you want and/or leaving unhealthy situations. Kids Think Theyre Causing Your Fights When young kids sense conflict, theyre developmentally primed to place themselves at the center of it, says Laura L. Young, a New York City relationship therapist and licensed clinical social worker. As a small child, they must, for survival, view and experience the world literally as if the world revolves around me, explains Young. Therefore, any conflict, unhealthy patterns of parental communication, raising of voices, violence, crying, slamming of doors, etcetera, will almost always result with the child because they see themselves as the center of the universe believing that they are solely responsible for the problems between the parents. There are a few ways that parents who are working out issues can help their kids cope with conflict in the household. According to the American Psychological Association, some of these include open communication (such as simply asking, Whats on your mind?), creating an uncluttered environment at home to help teach children to focus on those things they can control when feeling stressed, and making sure you get adequate doses of nutrients, physical activity and sleep as a parent so that your stress levels are not so high. Your Relationship Might Still Be Salvageable If youre still unsure whether separation or divorce is best for your family, Fuller says it can be helpful to set some concrete goals for improving your relationship rather than taking a wait-and-see approach. If the parents can work to develop a healthy relationship and stay together, that could be ideal," he says. "Therefore, I ask [my clients] to set a time frame to work hard to improve the relationship and then assess at that point if it is improving, in which case staying together could make sense. There likely isnt a one-size-fits-all time frame that every couple should commit themselves to, but some specific approaches you can try to get back on the right track during that reparative period however long or short it might be could include recognizing negative patterns (e.g. one partner demands, the other withdraws), and being proactive about stopping the downward spiral before it begins by rediscovering physical touch, or regularly expressing gratitude. If you find you are able to hold non-argumentative conversations with your partner, that you are able to focus more on their positive qualities than their negative traits, and that physical contact begins to return, these could be signs that the relationship is on the upswing. Compassionate Coparenting Is Key If it appears things just arent going to work out, Fuller advises the split be in a respectful, civil way that values the childrens health first while also keeping your own happiness in mind. Making sure the relationship with your former partner going forward is manageable is also important if you decide it is indeed time to call it quits. This is where setting aside your problems with one another and focusing solely on whats best for the kids becomes imperative. To make that happen, follow some basic dos and donts of co-parenting: Be sure to keep lines of communication open, agree upon rules that should be followed regardless of which parent the kids are staying with, and refrain from speaking negatively about your ex. As things move forward, check in with your kid periodically to see how theyre feeling. Some find it helpful to process their experiences with a family therapist, someone who can serve as a neutral sounding board to get everything out in the open. Oftentimes a good family therapist can support the [child] to navigate, normalize, and validate both the challenges of the new situation and how there may be some potential benefits, says Young. Every situation is unique, and though it may seem like staying together for the kids is the right thing to do, you have to judge for yourself whether or not thats actually true. Sometimes, splitting up is the right thing for everyone involved. You Might Also Dig: Oil pipes in an oil field Im constantly amazed at how investor attitude about the energy market changed after the 2014 crash. The sector could do no wrong before 2014. Both speculators and more conservative investors held energy stocks, although in different forms. The speculators crowded into the tiny names, convinced theyd find the next tenbagger. Conventional investors, meanwhile, held the more mature oil operators, most of which paid generous dividends. Getting a 5-8% yield on an oil stock was not uncommon during the glory days of the sector. Much has changed in the last five years. When the price of oil collapsed, so did these producers underlying cash flow. This lead almost immediately to big dividend cuts, with many eventually running into balance sheet troubles. Investors left the sector in droves, moving their capital to other high-yield names. And even though crude has recovered significantly off its lows, theres just no interest in the sector today. This should be music to a value investors ears. There are dozens of incredibly cheap oil stocks out there names that have massive upside should the underlying commodity recover. Lets take a look at one of the cheapest of all, Crescent Point Energy (TSX:CPG)(NYSE:CPG). Why Crescent Point? Crescent Point is cheap on two major metrics. It owns assets that are being mispriced by the market based on both the value of these assets and potential cash flow generation ability. Lets start with valuing Crescent Points reserves. According to a recent investor presentation, at the end of 2018 the companys 2P reserves alone were worth more than $13 per share, net of debt and other liabilities. Shares trade at under $4 as I write this. That gives us more than 200% upside potential. Management valued these reserves at US$55 per barrel. The current price of crude oil is just under US$59 per barrel. This pushes the value of reserves into the $14 per share range today. Or, if you like a more traditional value calculation, the stock trades at just one-third of book value. Story continues Crescent Points reserves are world-class assets, too. The company has focused on loading up on acreage that offers two main advantages. First, it concentrates on light sweet crude, which gets the best prices when it comes time to sell. And management makes sure to buy assets that are cheap to take out of the ground. Crescent Point often posts some of the sectors highest netbacks because of these two underlying principles. If the price of crude improves even moderately, Crescent Point could post adjusted netbacks of $30/barrel in 2019. All of this translates into a company that trades at a low price-to-cash flow ratio, with the potential for this ratio to get even lower if crude recovers. Assuming crude stays in the US$60 range per barrel for the rest of 2019, I estimate the company could generate excess of $2 billion in cash flow. After capital expenditures of $1.2-1.3 billion, that leaves us with free cash flow in the range of $700-800 million. Crescent Points current market cap is $2.2 billion, putting shares at approximately three times 2019s potential free cash flow. You wont find many stocks cheaper than that. Yes, there are risks here. Theres no guarantee crude oil will cooperate, of course. Crescent Points balance sheet is still stretched, although the company plans to use much of its excess free cash flow to pay down debt. And management is even taking steps to help the stock price, announcing a plan to buy back up to 38.4 million undervalued shares. The bottom line If you believe oil has turned a corner and will remain at US$60 per barrel for the foreseeable future, the time to buy cheap oil shares like Crescent Point is now. Remember, this sub-$4 stock traded higher than $9 per share less than a year ago and flirted with $40 when the sector was really booming. The upside potential here is obvious. More reading Fool contributor Nelson Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019 A former Syrian refugee's dream to bring her parents and two brothers from Jordan to her new home in Saint John is one step closer to reality thanks to a crowdfunding campaign launched Tuesday. A group of community members working to help reunite Reham Abazid with her family through the federal sponsorship immigration program had already raised about $20,000, but another $10,000 is needed. "So many people know and like Reham and we just want to invite them to be part of this effort," said committee member Kate Wallace, referring to the GoFundMe campaign called One Family, Together Again. Abazid, who has mastered English since she arrived in Saint John in late 2015 and now works full time as a translator for the YMCA, helping other newcomers, searches for the words to express just how much it would mean to have her family with her. Scott Munn "I lost many things in my life, but when I arrived to Saint John I [found] everything I lost," she said. The only thing missing, says the married mother of two, is her extended family. "I miss them all the time." Abazid, one of the thousands of Syrians displaced by her war in Syria, lost a son and experienced much violence before landing in Saint John with her sister. Since then, she has been an active volunteer. Abazid and other Syrian women have cooked for the Outflow shelter, and she organized sales of Syrian food to support refugees in Jordan. In 2017, she was awarded the YMCA Peace Medal for her contributions. Abazid credits the kindness the community has shown and her gratitude with her drive to give back. "They helped me before they [knew] who I [was] and what religion I'm from. They supported me a lot. "It's magic for me." Her husband, Mohammed, works full time as a mechanic for Downey Ford. Her children, Haidar, 9, and Rous, 5, are thriving at Ecole Samuel-de-Champlain. Now, Abazid is eager to share her "forever" home with her father Mohammad Abazid, mother Amira Bajboj, and brothers Mustafa Abazid and Saad Abazid. Story continues Her father, who worked as a truck driver in Syria, cried and didn't sleep for two days when she told him about the sponsorship effort, she said. He and the others had their first interview at the embassy in Amman, and they're now waiting for a health assessment, Abazid said. Submitted by Reham Abazid Meanwhile, the fundraising is "in the home stretch," through the generosity of businesses and individuals alike, said Wallace. As of early Tuesday evening, the online campaign had raised more than $2,000. "Reham is one of the most inspiring people I've ever met," said Wallace. "After surviving the Syrian War, she has embraced her new life in Saint John. "Our city is so lucky to have her. We want to do everything we can to help her thrive here. And that means reuniting her with her family." Husky Energy has completed a delicate recovery mission in the White Rose oil field. The company sent a pair of remotely operated vehicles down into the sea Friday to pick up the faulty connector it says was behind the largest oil spill in Newfoundland and Labrador history. A spokesperson for Husky confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the connector had been successfully brought to the deck of the Skandi Vinland vessel, stationed nearby. In a release, Husky said the mission involved a team of more than 100 people. "Over the last five days, we disconnected the bolts and flanges around a damaged flowline connector at South White Rose Extension, removed the connector and plugged the open ends of the flowline," said Husky spokesperson Colleen McConnell. Trevor Pritchard, Husky Energy's senior vice-president of the Atlantic region, said earlier Tuesday the recovery operation was going well. CBC "We've achieved that plan with due diligence, care and consideration," he said in an interview with The St. John's Morning Show. Husky Energy Husky said about 50 litres of oil was spilled during the operation, which was in line with expectations. The company said the operation was monitored onshore and offshore by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Wildlife Service and Environment and Climate Change Canada. "In future, we will circulate the fluids from this and other flowlines back towards the SeaRose production vessel, displacing the flowlines with water to further reduce environmental risk," said McConnell. Husky Energy Pritchard said the component will be brought in for forensic investigation to determine the cause of the failure that led to the oil spill. That means Husky is one step closer to getting back to full operations in the White Rose oil field. He said the central drill centre is currently operational, and that he's hoping that by midway through the year, the southern drill centre will be up and running as well. Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a man to pay his elderly aunt a Holocaust survivor with dementia $235,000 after ruling he financially exploited her while he held power of attorney. In a decision earlier this month, the tribunal found Charles Finkelstein drained the bank accounts of his aunt, 95-year-old Iona Davidovitz, for his own benefit. The Quebec Human Rights Commission acted on Davidovitz's behalf at the tribunal after the abuse was flagged by one of her friends. "These cases are always heartbreaking, but since this was a Holocaust survivor, and she'd lost everything during the Second World War, let's just say that this one really broke everyone's heart here," the commission's chair, Philippe-Andre Tessier, told CBC Tuesday. Used Mercedes among nephew's purchases Court documents say Davidovitz, who was born in Romania and spent time in a concentration camp before eventually coming to Canada in 1955 and settling in Montreal. She had no children of her own and signed over power of attorney to Finkelstein in 2010, when her health began to deteriorate. In the fall of 2010, Davidovitz asked Finkelstein to come with her to Florida where she had a condominium, so he could help care for her. They stayed until May 2011. It was during this time that Finkelstein began using money from her bank accounts for his own personal needs. Court documents show Finkelstein used his aunt's money to buy himself a used Mercedes for $31,000. He claimed the car was used primarily for helping his aunt get around, but the tribunal ruled if that was the case, Finkelstein should have purchased the car in his aunt's name. A friend of Davidovitz's in Miami became suspicious after the car was purchased and notified police there. After lengthy court proceedings, Finkelstein's brother in Ontario gained power of attorney for his aunt's affairs, and Quebec's Human Rights Commission began investigating. Story continues Victim's dignity compromised Tessier said the fact that the alleged abuses happened in the U.S. and involved complicated financial transactions made the investigation difficult, but he said the final result means it was worthwhile. "Finkelstein took advantage of his position of strength to divert large sums of money against the interests of his aunt," the tribunal ruled. "Taking over his aunt's assets without her consent when she was vulnerable not only impoverished her, but compromised her dignity." Finkelstein has been ordered to reimburse his aunt $225,000 and an additional $10,000 in moral and punitive damages. Elder abuse on the rise Tessier said if someone suspects a friend or relative in Quebec is being exploited financially, the best thing to do is to call the government's elder abuse hotline at 1-888-489-2287. He said such cases are on the increase, with 230 complaints to the commission in 2018 compared with 164 in 2017. This case serves as a cautionary tale for families managing the money of elderly relatives, Tessier said. "Everything has to be out there in the open amongst family members. If there are important purchases to be made, make sure that these are known and explained to the other members of the family," he said. "Truthful, constant and clear communication among family members is always the best tool to prevent these kinds of situations." Nova Scotia taxpayers are handing out $8.5 million to renovate Bar Harbor's ferry terminal in Maine, running $3.5 million over cost estimates. Costs were estimated at up to $5 million earlier this year in documents Bay Ferries filed in preparation for moving the CAT ferry's port from Portland, Maine, to Bar Harbor. The money will go toward upgrading the facility which has sat empty for a decade fixing the dock and transferring a floating loading ramp from Portland. In February, Nova Scotia Transportation Minister Lloyd Hines said the province would pay for "at least some of that activity," but he couldn't say how much. The funding will come from the province's 2018-19 budget, the department said Wednesday in a news release. The renovation work began this year before a lease agreement to use Bar Harbor's terminal was in place. Brett Ruskin/CBC The work also includes demolition of some outer buildings as well as construction of spaces for the public and customs officials. Updated security equipment will also be installed, including monitors used to screen vehicles for radioactive substances, equipment to read licence plates, as well as the installation of ticket booths and security cameras. In January, engineering firm CES Inc., of Brewer, Maine, estimated the work would cost up to $3.75 million US. The province is budgeting an additional $13.8 million to subsidize the operation of the ferry this year. In the three years since Bay Ferries took over the service from Nova Star Cruises, Nova Scotia taxpayers have paid more than $37 million to subsidize operations and pay for capital upgrades. The new ferry route will begin operating in late June. MORE TOP STORIES Windsor-Essex politicians and political voices had a mixed reaction to Tuesday's federal budget, saying there are elements to look forward to, things missing and things they need more information on. Budget 2019 is the final budget before the fall election. Finance Minister Bill Morneau was scheduled to deliver his speech around 4 p.m., Tuesday, but was delayed due to a vote in the House of Commons regarding MP travel. Morneau tabled the budget anyway and left without giving his speech. University of Windsor political science professor Lydia Miljan said the budget is "effective," especially as an election budget for the governing Liberals. "Everything from high speed internet for rural Canadians, extra goodies for seniors, things for millennials. Even things for someone who wants to take time off work for a month to upgrade their skills," said Miljan. "[There's] something for everyone." Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press But Essex NDP MP Tracey Ramsey called it a "disappointing budget" for Canadians who need help to make ends meet. According to Ramsey, almost half of Canadians are living with less than $200 in their bank account. "If you're able to lobby and get in to see the Liberals, then you're going to get budget items that help you and your friends," said Ramsey. "If you're an average Canadian, there's not a lot here." 'Changing the channel' Miljan said releasing the budget when Morneau did was a "good move." "The Conservatives wanted today [Tuesday] to be about SNC Lavalin. They wanted to retaliate, delay the minister from presenting his budget. He did it anyway. It was a pretty good move by the Liberals." But Chris Lewis, the federal Conservative candidate for Essex, called the budget a "cover-up." "He's trying to bury the SNC-Lavalin scandal. It's the most expensive cover-up budget in history," said Lewis. "I'm not so sure it's what Canadians want." Story continues According to Miljan, the Liberal government has had a "terrible" last six weeks. CBC "Every time they've tried to change the channel, everyone has ignored them," said Lewis. "Talking about the budget gives them a 12-hour window where they might not talk about [SNC]." Lewis said the budget misses telling Canadians the "truth." "Tell [the people] the truth. Stop covering up the lies and the nonsense." New home ownership for millennials Ramsey said the budget isn't clear on what's being offered to millennials purchasing their first homes. "People who are in a position to purchase a new home, there's this talk about allowing a percentage of what a new home purchase is to be paid back upon the sale of that house .. it's a bit like a reverse mortgage," explained Ramsey. "What we don't know is the interest that will be charged." Ramsey said even though the budget contains lines about taking more money out of RRSPs for home purchases, she doesn't think first-time home buyers have that as an option. CBC Lewis also wasn't on board with the home ownership assistance planned in the budget. "As far as I'm concerned, with regards to the budget, Justin Trudeau is pushing the dream of home ownership further away because he's taxing, taxing, taxing us to death, quite frankly," said Lewis. "That needs to stop." Ramsey said we need to look more towards problems in the rental market and developing affordable housing before working on home ownership. Rural, reliable internet access "They actually put more money last year into this effort," said Ramsey about the budget promises of rural reliable internet by 2030. Lewis, who lives in Essex County and owns a business in northern Canada doesn't think the promise is realistic. "I would love to know how he plans to implement that," said Lewis about rural internet access. "I use a company which is satellite ... when you're literally 200 miles away from the closest city, I don't quite know [how that will work]." Ramsey said the 2030 goalpost is too far away. "Will [the companies] take that money and invest it? 2030 is a significant time away from now. People need these services now." What's not included in the budget A national pharmacare plan wasn't included in the budget announcement, but funding for a national drug agency was. Ramsey said it's not enough. "We need a national pharmacare that will cover everyone in Canada," said Ramsey. "Liberals have been promising this for 20-plus years. Now we know it will be another election year promise for them this year." Ramsey was also hoping the employment insurance sickness benefit would be expanded in the budget, but that was also not included. "Folks are still really struggling to get supports they've paid into," said Ramsey. "I don't believe this budget is even beginning to scratch the surface of what Canadians and the residents of Essex are really after," said Lewis. "They need to be told what's going to happen for them." HARWICH Sixteen-year-old Isabelle Santamauro, a Pony Club member and riding student at True North Farm in Harwich, recently competed as a member of the Central New England Region inthe Research Project Competition at the 2019 United States Pony Clubs Equine Symposium in Stamford, Conn. Santamauro was awarded second place nationally with her project, which involved the exploration of solubility and efficacy of antibiotic medicines for horses. Competitors were judged on their projects purpose, research methodology, results, and presentation skills. Judges were leaders in the equine community including veterinarians, academic researchers and past graduate A pony clubbers (the A certification is the highest riding certification available to Pony Club members). Santamauro, who goes by Izzy, is the daughter of David and Britta Santamauro of Mashpee. She is a C2 certified member of the United States Pony Clubs, Inc. The United States Pony Clubs, Inc., commonly known as Pony Club, was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit youth organization to teach horsemanship and riding through a formal educational program. Over 10,000 Pony Club members, ranging in age from 4 to 25, meet in over 600 clubs and riding centers across the country. Santamauro has been a member for nine years, and says she has found it educational and helpful in expanding her knowledge of horses. Not only is it knowledge-based but it is also emphasizes communication skills as well as team building, Santamauro said. When I was younger, I did Pony Club rallies where I had to work with a team to have all of the safe horse management equipment as well as speak to superiors with confidence and control. Santamauro moved to Cape Cod with her family two years ago. Upon her arrival, finding a local barn was a top priority. She discovered True North Farm in Harwich through the Pony Club, and fell in love with the place and its welcoming community of horse people at once. The Pony Club is great because you have some older Pony Clubbers able to help out the younger and more inexperienced clubbers, Santamauro explained. It's just an interconnecting place that has a great atmosphere for everyone to have fun. It is a really fun group. Kay Slater, the owner of True North Farm, is a great teacher and knows exactly how to say the right things to maximize my riding potential, and is a great horsewoman who takes very good care of the horses. Was Santamauro nervous about presenting her research project in front of the Pony Club judges at the 2019 United States Pony Clubs Equine Symposium? It was very nerve-racking, she admitted. Yes, I was very nervous to present. Every moment I had free I was practicing my speech. However, once I actually started talking, it was easy to settle in. I realized that these judges were actually enthusiastic to hear my talk and I was proud to tell them. It soon became fun for me just to tell them about this project that I like so much, and at the end I wasn't just reciting this nervous speech to them, I was talking to them about something that I was genuinely interested in. What does the future hold for Santamauro? For a while she was interested in a career in veterinary care. It was her dream to work with large animals and horses as well as continue her riding career. She soon realized, however, that in order to become a vet she would likely have to give up riding, since a large animal veterinary practice requires such long, grueling work days. It's still in the back of my mind, but currently I am also interested in ophthalmology, Santamauro said. In the short term, her plans are to achieve HB certification (a Pony Club certification that covers horse management knowledge and skills)and possibly her C3 (a certification that reflects a basis of competence in riding, ground schooling, and horse care) this summer. She hopes to continue with Pony Club, and since there are many younger riders at True North Farm there are lots of opportunities to be involved. In addition to spending time at the barn, Santamauro said that she is academically focused and tries to do her best in school. She enjoys community service and is involved with community service through her school, Falmouth Academy. Once a week a few students from my school and a teacher go to the Falmouth Service center (we bag food as supplements), to the Falmouth senior center (we teach the seniors about the use of their phones or computers in mini tech sessions), and Neighborhood Falmouth (we answer requests, such as cleaning their yard, going grocery shopping etc.), Santamauro explained. I really enjoy this type of meaningful work. Santamauro doesnt own a horse at the moment, but she recently started a full lease with an option to buy a special fellow from Florida (a 16.3h Hanoverian) named Pete. He is a super sweet guy, Santamauro said. Pete is wonderful but still needs to learn a couple things if I would want to event him in the summer. That being said, what I love about this sport is that it can be so rewarding. You might have a bad day or not the best ride, but then the next day you can have so many wonderful moments that make it all worth while. I also love eventing because you have all three disciplines: dressage, show jumping and cross-country. When you have a horse that loves galloping over the fields, it is the best feeling in the world. Upper Trishuli 3A slated to begin generation in April The Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project is slated to begin production next month, the Nepal Electricity Authority said on Tuesday. T Late last year I made the decision to change my course of job and while I was deeply entrenched into my career as a corporate team builder I found that there was deep seated unrest that was in my heart and mind. It was a feeling I could not shake and so at the end of 2018 I made the decision to head back to university and revive an old dream that was birthed in me as a 10 year old. My question was, Was I supposed to let that dream go or there something greater behind that buried dream? A childhood dream forgotten. My best friend and I, in primary school, were on a path to a life of art and drawing. We were avid drawers and loved spending our time creating characters, comics and just spending as much time with pencils in hand creating and imagining new worlds onto blank pages. At the time I was certain I was on that path and heading to a career doing art, but only as time passed and the future would be written would determine whether this childhood dream would or would not become a reality. My childhood dream had life breathed into it again in 1998 when two things happened in my life. One was the most important one of my life was coming to accept Jesus as my LORD and saviour and the second was the release of the animated feature Prince of Egypt which depicted the life and exploits of the person of Moses and it being told through drawings and amazing animation. I love this movie and the way it visually told one the greatest stories from the Bible. I also remember being absolutely drawn to the extras on the DVD which dived into the behind scenes looks of the many artists that created the characters, scenes and story lines. After seeing the movie I was really moved and felt a desire in me to be part of one of those animating teams one day. Two decades on and the dream begins to spark inside again Fast forward to the end of 2018, now a 37 year old that has nearly 20 years work life under my belt in a variety of industries I found myself connecting with that childhood dream again and wondering if it was just a childhood dream or it was something more. As I wrote the application and put forward my portfolio last year to get into my prestigious and highly sought after course in university I found myself reminiscing about that moment in time when I said to myself I want to be part of telling great stories of the faith in an animated or least art-based form. I had made the decision and summoned the courage to believe that this dream was at least worth exploring once more. The challenges and the truth that sets us free So you might be thinking it's too late, the time clock is ticking and you have reached the point that your dream has expired. You might be thinking you're just too old and you start believing that you missed your window to fulfil and to live out that dream. This was me and has probably been me over this past 20 years since that time watching the Prince of Egypt in 1998. This has only increased every year that I have aged in my 30s. I have let every excuse get in the way. I have believed every lie about age and that time has expired on my dreams. At times have been despondent and depressed thinking there must be more for me to do, yet Im stuck. Then I remembered the truth that the only one that determines time is God. He is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. He constantly shows us that your age is not a number to restrict us, but rather is a gift of time that you have been given to live the best life you can for his good works. It is an opportunity so that you can grow into the creation God dreamed of before you were even in your mothers womb. God reminds us that he has given us every tool needed to fulfil that dream and he gives us an untapped flow of grace when we become a little distracted and off the course he intended for us to follow. God reminds us those dreams and talents are there for a reason When Gods truth sets us free we realise the talents or dreams we have buried were not there to remain underground, but were put in us for a reason. Our role in this process is to trust the God that has put those dreams in your heart and the talents he wants you to grow and develop them for a purpose (see Matthew chapter 25, verses 14-30 for the parable of the talents). God always reminds you of your dreams. Sometimes through other people, sometimes through his word or a great preach. For me people always were saying to me your talented, your creative; wow your art is amazing. Even my coffee cup would remind me in the morning with the word creative emblazoned on it. It was then up to me to believe the truth and answer the question, So what was I doing with my dreams and talents? Was I just the servant that decided the best course of action was to bury his talent rather than seeing it being used and allowing God to show you why he put it in you in the first place? Its a real challenge, and I am just on the beginning of the journey as I have just finished my first week of my University course in 2D, 3D animation and Illustration. I am once again breathing life into that dream and believing the truth and trusting a God that says it is never too late to chase after it because I put it there for a reason. Justin Monaghan is currently launching as a professional prophetic artist under the label JR Faith Creations and works as corporate team builder all over Australia. He is married to Liana and lives at the beautiful beach of Port Willunga. They journey with the creatives in their lives to see them rise up to their full potential for the Kingdom of God. TopLine Exhibits CCGA Solutions at NEPCON China Shanghai 2019 April 24 - 26 Published: 20 March 2019 by Chelsey Drysdale by Chelsey Drysdale Irvine California, USA TopLine will exhibit a range of CCGA PCBA assembly solutions at NEPCON China Shanghai, in Stand #1F04, April 24 26. This will be TopLines 6th straight year at NEPCON China Shanghai. Featured products will include CCGA - Column Grid Arrays and Daisy Chain BGA test vehicles. TopLines CCGA Column Grid Array IC packages are made with non-collapsible solder columns for surface mount soldering on printed circuit boards (PCBs) and provide more compliancy than solder balls (Ball Grid Arrays or BGAs) to absorb stress and increase solder joint reliability under harsh operating conditions. Many people are still unaware of the benefits that solder columns provide to reduce stress caused by CTE mismatch when interconnecting area array packages and the PC board, states Martin Hart, TopLine CEO. For more information, and a quick chart of TopLine CCGA products, visit http://www.topline.tv/CCGA.html. NEPCON China Shanghai 2019 will be held April 24 26 at the Shanghai World EXPO Exhibition & Convention Center. NEPCON China is a prestigious professional trade platform and exhibition on SMT (surface mount technology) and EMA (electronics manufacturing automation). It brings together more than 500 renowned brands and 30,000 local and international visitors. TopLine has been active in promoting its products in the China market for more than 20 years. For more information visit https://www.nepconchina.com/en/. About TopLine TopLine manufactures a wide range of Daisy Chain test components, Column Grid Arrays, Particle Impact Vibration Dampers and engineering evaluation kits for process development, experimentation, machine evaluation, solder training, and SMT assembly practice. TopLine products provide hands-on learning for engineers. Contact TopLine Corporation, Tel (+1) 800-776-9888; Email: info@TopLine.tv; or visit web site, www.TopLine.tv. REDAS urges Singapore govt for reprieve on Additional Buyers Stamp Duty rates The Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (REDAS) has asked the Singaporean government for a reprieve on the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates. The president of REDAS Chia Ngiang Hong said this at a Chinese New Year event where Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat was present as the guest of honour. Singaporean government took various property cooling measures in July 2018 whereby property developers have had to pay 30 per cent ABSD on acquired land, up from 15 per cent previously. Out of the 30 per cent, 5 per cent is non-remittable. In addition to this, the time frame to deliver and sell the developed property was capped at five years. Singaporean government took various property cooling measures in July 2018 whereby property developers have had to pay 30 per cent ABSD on acquired land. Photo courtesy: REDAS The surprise cooling measures rattled the Singapore financial market and property stocks were severely punished. With a subdued outlook for the market and a 15 (percentage point) hike in ABSD to 30 per cent for land acquisition, developers' appetite for land in Singapore is likely to be severely curtailed as evidenced by recent en bloc tenders where many closed without any bids, said Chia. This policy has pushed all developers to exhaust their inventory at around the same time and could partly account for the land price escalation in 2017 and 2018 because everyone basically ran out of inventory at the same time, he added. Chia also advocated for discouragement of excessive land-banking. Urging for the review of the ABSD rates, he said, If the ABSD is not reviewed, we can expect a repeat of the 2017 to 2018 land grab situation in four to five years time. When the price of the raw material goes up, we can expect the price of the end product to increase as well. REDAS has also urged the Singapore government to review the loan-to-value limits for first-time property buyers. These refer to loans where buyers borrow against the value of their properties. Notably, loan-to-value limits were tightened by 5 percentage points at the same time as the higher ABSD rates were announced in July. I strongly believe that it is the intention of the Government to assist to fulfill the aspirations of many young Singaporeans to own a private home. Hence, it may be timely to review and tweak some existing policies and measures to help Singaporeans, particularly first-timers, to achieve their objective, said Chia. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall during the night of March 14 and 15 in the Sofala province of Mozambique. The storm continued inland, causing flooding across Mozambique and parts of Zimbabwe and Malawi. The port city of Beira, Mozambiques fourth largest city, has been flattened and the humanitarian crisis is acute, according to news reports. President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique said in a televised address that the death toll could be over 1,000. As the scale of the damage is becoming apparent, CPJ is aware that a number of regional and international journalists are trying to gain access to the affected areas, and to Beira in particular. Journalists traveling or planning to travel to the affected regions need to: Be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least five days; Bring enough food, water, and supplies to survive without external support; Know that logistics and hygiene will be serious challenges. Satellite communications are a must, as mobile communications were seriously affected. Due to a lack of accommodation, it is advisable that journalists bring sleeping bags and tents. For more information on how to operate in disaster zones, journalists should consult CPJs Safety Note on Natural Disasters and Extreme Weather. There are severe access constraints to the region affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai due to the flooding and devastation. The World Food Programme has released this map highlighting the road and air access points as of March 20. Roads have been washed out through the region; however, Beiras airport has resumed operations on March 17, according to a report from the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). The ETCa network of organizations that provides communications services during a humanitarian crisisalso reported that the Mozambique Aviation Authority is guaranteeing minimum safety conditions with regards to Beira Airport, with the runway unaffected. However, weather and radio communications have been damaged. HP Risk Management, which supports CPJ and a number of news organizations, has been told by journalists that there are some flights to Beira from Johannesburg and that the UN Humanitarian Air Service is trying to establish an operations center at Chimio. According to the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Beira has been extensively damaged, with major hospitals sustaining significant damage. This part of Mozambique already relies on support from international aid agencies, and some water purification and food supplies have been lost. Beira has no electricity and communications are recovering but are not reliable, according to the ETC. Beira airport has a connectivity hub for humanitarian services. Satellite communications are also unreliable. The Mozambican National Institute of Metrology is predicting ongoing thunderstorms in the Beira and Chimio localities. On March 17, OCHA reported that Eastern Zimbabwe has also been affected, with flash flooding in the provinces of Chimanimani and Chipinge districts with roads and bridges severely damaged. Rain continues to fall in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces of Zimbabwe. Malawi had already been affected by flooding before the cyclone hit. The Assessment Capacities Project, a nonprofit that supports NGOs with information during disasters, is reporting that in the last seven days, the number of people affected has increased by nearly 450,000. Fourteen districts across the south and center of the country have been affected by flooding during the last week. Journalists requiring assistance should contact CPJ via emergencies@cpj.org. CPJs online Safety Kit provides journalists and newsrooms with basic safety information on physical, digital, and psychological safety resources and tools. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Mexico City, March 19, 2019The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged Mexican authorities to thoroughly investigate the murder of radio journalist Santiago Barroso and bring the perpetrators to justice. The reporter was shot dead at his home in San Luis Rio Colorado, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, on March 15, according to news reports. Barroso, 47, hosted the morning news show Buenos Dias San Luis (Good Morning San Luis) on Rio Digital 91.1 FM, a privately owned radio broadcaster. He was also a columnist for the local weekly Semanario Contrasena and a journalism teacher at the Technological University of San Luis Colorado. Barroso previously reported for the local newspapers El Imparcial and the now defunct La Prensa. Preliminary findings that the state attorney-generals office shared with CPJ via WhatsApp said that two unidentified individuals approached the journalists home at approximately 9 p.m. One of them knocked on the door and shot Barroso at least three times when he opened the door. The other individual acted as the getaway driver, according to the initial findings. Barroso managed to call an ambulance, but he died in the hospital at approximately 11 p.m. according to the attorney-generals office. Sonora states attorney-general, Claudia Indira Contreras Cordova, told local and national media yesterday that Barrosos journalism was considered the principal motive. Contreras referred to a broadcast of Buenos Dias San Luis earlier on the day he was killed in which Barroso commented on organized crime in the San Luis Rio Colorado area, specifically drug and human trafficking. She added that her office had not discarded other possible motives, and she did not elaborate on the suspected mastermind. Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists in the western hemisphere, according to CPJ research. CPJ not recorded a single conviction at federal level in the cases of at least 28 journalists murdered in retaliation for their work there in the past 10 years. CPJ is investigating over 40 additional cases in that period to determine if journalism was a motive. The murder of Santiago Barroso underscores the urgent need for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors administration and the recently appointed federal attorney-general, Alejandro Gertz Maner, to take immediate action to protect the Mexican press, said CPJ Mexico Representative Jan-Albert Hootsen. A swift and thorough investigation with credible results and a successful prosecution is the only way to begin the reversal of entrenched impunity in Mexico. As well as covering organized crime in his radio show, Barroso wrote about drug trafficking in his weekly column in Semanario Contrasenas February 15 edition. In the column, which has been reviewed by CPJ, the reporter wrote about the important role San Luis Rio Colorado played as a drug trafficking hub for the Sinaloa Cartel of former drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, who has been convicted of a range of crimes by a U.S. federal court. Humberto Melgoza, the editor of Semanario Contrasena and a friend and colleague of Barrosos, told CPJ yesterday that he was unaware of any threats against the reporters life. He was a very quiet person, easy to get along with and well-liked by his colleagues, he said. We are looking into his recent work, but we have not found anything yet that might have compromised him. Salvador Raul Gonzalez, the rector of the university where Barroso taught, told CPJ in a telephone conversation today that he had no knowledge of any threats against the journalist. He was quiet and reserved, but I spoke with him often, he said. There was no sign whatsoever that he had any problem. A spokesperson for the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, which provides federal protective measures to journalists at risk, told CPJ on March 16 that Barroso was not incorporated in a protection scheme and had not reported any threats to the institution. The spokesperson asked to remain anonymous to be able to speak about the matter. Ricardi Sanchez Perez del Pozo, who heads the office of the Federal Special Prosecutor for Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression, told CPJ on March 16 that his office has opened an investigation. He said he was unable to provide further details while the investigation was in its initial phase. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Mexico City, March 20, 2019Griselda Triana, the widow of slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas, was targeted by spyware identified as Pegasus in 2017 in an apparent spying attempt, according to a new report released today by Canadian research group Citizen Lab. According to the reportreleased in collaboration with freedom of expression group Article 19 and Mexican digital rights group R3DTriana received text messages on May 25 and May 26, 2017, containing links that, when followed, would have installed software on her mobile phone without her knowledge. That software would have allowed a third party to have access to, and even control, most functions of the phone. The spyware attack occurred 10 days after Valdeza 2011 recipient of CPJs International Press Freedom Awardwas shot dead in Culiacan, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. Mexican media first reported in June 2017 that spyware known as Pegasus was purchased by the Mexican federal government from Israeli security firm NSO Group. Citizen Lab said that although it is thus far impossible to determine the exact source of the spyware attacks, its investigation points to a group linked to the Mexican government. The Mexican government of then-President Enrique Pena Nieto repeatedly denied the allegations that it spied on journalists, activists or human rights defenders. The Mexican government cannot plead ignorance or incapacity in this particularly outrageous scenario of the grieving widow of a murdered reporter targeted by spyware the federal government itself purchased, said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJs Mexico representative. Although this occurred under his predecessor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador must immediately and credibly investigate accusations of spying by government agencies, lest his promises to improve the dire environment for Mexican journalists ring hollow. The attempt to surveil Griselda Triana is the 25th known case of third parties attempting to install spyware on the mobile phones of journalists, activists, laywers, and other Mexican citizens, according to the Citizen Lab report. CPJ has reported on the use of NSO spyware to intercept the communications of journalists around the world, including the way that it may have been used to spy on slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In October, CPJ issued a safety advisory for journalists on how to protect themselves and sources against Pegasus spyware. 1. Yes. The Schlueter Group has extensive experience and contacts. Its a good investment. 2. Yes. The firms namesake has a background as a legislator and knows Killeen well. 3. No. The expenditure is a waste of money. Our lawmakers should be doing that work. 4. No. The contract should be shorter, incentivized and based on performance benchmarks. 5. Unsure. Its not always easy to quantify the outcomes of lobbying efforts. Vote View Results Australia's Coalition government may be more circumspect in how it plays the immigration and boarder security cards in light of the awful events in Christchurch, but it will show no such inhibition on its climate and energy scare campaign.This week it is going full throttle on the supposed costs of Labor's 50 per cent emissions reduction target, and 45 per cent renewables target, promoting a report from economist Brian Fisher from BAEconomics that claims outrageous and quite nonsensical costs from such action.This carbon apocalypse modelling makes claims that Labor's target would create a $472 billion hit to the economy, and up to $1.2 trillion without using Kyoto carryover credits; would slash real wages by $24,000 below where they would otherwise be; and cause the loss of 580,000 jobs.The report is now peer reviewed, the government tells us, by a professor John Weyant, the director of the Energy Modeling Forum and Deputy Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University.And it seems perversely ironic and fitting that given the other major event of last Friday, the student strike on climate action,that the reviewer for the modelling the government has embraced should be a key witness in the Trump administration's fight against a landmark climate lawsuit brought by children.That lawsuit from Our Children's Trust asserts that the government has violated the youths' rights by allowing activities that harmed the climate, and seeks to compel the government to adopt methods for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It echoes so much of what was expressed on the streets of hundreds of cities last Friday.Weyant says he is getting paid $US650 an hour ($A916/hour to testify for the US government,(see page 2 of his deposition), and his role is to support the Trump administration's claim that the transition from fossil fuels is not possible, and to defend the lack of action from Washington.Weyant's particular evidence has been to attack the modelling of leading US climate scientist Kevin Trenberth, and others, and to reject the climate change impact claims cited by various of the plaintiffs.Armed with such a ringing endorsement, the Coalition government in Australia is taking no heed of what the students had to say on Friday, nor indeed the warnings from the Reserve Bank of Australia,and before them other central banks and financial regulatory authorities, and all major scientific organisations.We have got very credible modelling it's been peer reviewed by a Stanford academic . we see that those costs are extreme and we can't afford them, energy minister Angus Taylor said on ABC Radio.The modelling is, however, in the word of Labor and climate experts, complete garbage, which shouldn't be surprising because Fisher himself has made much money since leaving his post at ABARE doing reports on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, and the Minerals Council of Australia in particular.He was included in a list called the dirty dozen put together by researcher Guy Pearse and Clive Hamilton,and has worked for a variety of groups paid by the fossil fuel and mining industry to paint grim pictures of the economic consequences from government efforts to reduce carbon emissions.Fisher, however, insists he did this report with no funding. (See below).Still, little of the detailed assumptions underlying his conclusions have been revealed by Fisher in his latest update, apart from his assumptions on storage and back-up, which he puts at around $200/MWh.These assumptions are important because his critics say he is grossly inflating the cost of abatement.His estimates on the cost of storage are about three times more than the cost of firming revealed by Snowy Hydro and ignores reports from the CSIRO, the Australian Council of Learned Academies, the Australian Energy Market Operator, the Energy Networks Australia and any number of other researchers that show the level of storage needed up to 50 per cent renewables is minimal.As Matthew Stocks, also from the ANU, told RenewEconomy, there is no additional balancing costs required to reach 50 per cent renewable electricity from wind and solar.Our peer reviewed work has shown the cost of storage, transmission and curtailment to balance a 100 per cent renewable electricity system is only an extra $25 per MWh while the cost of wind and solar today is already being installed at less than $50/MWh. 100% renewable electricity costs are expected to be lower than the average wholesale prices today.'Fisher also makes absurd claims about the loss of coal generation even under the current government's policy settings; some heroic understand about the role of gas in any other scenarios (tip, it's bloody expensive and won't be built to anywhere near the levels modelled in any of your scenarios); and appears to completely misunderstand energy storage.When challenged about the storage costs on ABC Radio National, Taylor sought to downplay those concerns saying that electricity is just a small part of the equation (around 30 per cent of emissions), but Fisher's own report says the costs of green technologies have a strong influence on intertemporal abatement costs, particularly in electricity and transport.The ANU's Frank Jotzo, a professor of policy and economics in climate change and energy, described the cost assumptions as absurd. An abatement cost curve like this would have looked very high 20 years ago, now it's simply ridiculous, Jotzo said on Twitter.He also said: The Fisher piece depicts an imaginary economy that is extremely inflexible and where clean tech comes at wildly higher costs than in reality. These shadow carbon prices are many times higher than even expensive backstop technologies, let alone the coal-renewables switch point.Warwick McKibbin, the economist who provided another significant report on behalf of Tony Abbott, and found there was little impact, tweeted that Fisher's emission costs were a factor of 10 higher than his own.Still, the report won front headlines in The Australian, and front page headlines and near blanket, uncritical coverage in the Australian Financial Review, including by two columnists who should know better - page 2's Jennifer Hewett and political editor Phillip Coorey, neither of whom mention Fisher's track record or bothered to check out the credentials of the peer reviewer.Jotzo suggested that before featuring this research on the front page of the national newspaper, it would be useful to know that the assumptions don't make sense.The Fisher modelling was condemned by legions of other climate and energy experts, such as Tim Baxter, who compared it with other modelling and abatement curves.This is the foundation of everything in his work. Every talking point comes back to this curve. And it is very, very wrong. Not even close to reality. Every talking point, every sound bite that comes from it can be ignored. This doesn't even approximate serious workCompare this to a pretty conservative MAC curve from @energetics_auSource: https://t.co/KZJtlui8XXpic.twitter.com/7btj5KZOQN Tim Baxter (@timinmitcham) March 18, 2019First, Fisher outright ignores the huge amount of cost negative abatement opportunities we have in Australia. This is well-documented stuff. We have huge unrealised potential to save money *and* reduce emissions. There is upwards of 100Mt/year. Tim Baxter (@timinmitcham) March 18, 2019Second where is the detail? For Reputex and Energetics, you can get at the detail, though some of it is paywalled. You can test every sum.Also, note the shape of the curve. It isn't smooth and regular because *of course* it isn't. Tim Baxter (@timinmitcham) March 18, 2019This is the foundation of everything in his work. Every talking point comes back to this curve. And it is very, very wrong. Not even close to reality. Every talking point, every sound bite that comes from it can be ignored. This doesn't even approximate serious work. Tim Baxter (@timinmitcham) March 18, 2019Oliver Yates, the former head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and now challenging former energy minister and now deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong, said the modelling was a joke.This report models +$100 a tonne, but caps renewables at 50 per cent. No wonder the costs blow out. You would have to be having a laugh to suggest that renewables would only be at 50% by 2030 with a $100 carbon price.Note: The Fisher report is being actively promoted by the right-wing Menzies Research Centre, headed by the former editor of the Weekend Australian and climate skeptic Nick Cater.We asked Fisher, the Menzies centre and Taylor's office where the funding for the report came from.Fisher replied:Hi, I have done the modelling myself with no support from anyone else.The reason I've done it is that I think is it is time that we had a transparent debate about policies and costs and among other things I am trying to make the point that a market based instrument such as an emissions trading scheme is a lot cheaper way to achieve a given target than regulation for example.This point has been made hundreds of times in the economic literature but is lost in the political debate.Giles ParkinsonGiles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Gridand founder/editor of The Driven. Giles has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. Forget base-load. That seems to be the message from all the major utilities as they prepare for the accelerating shift to renewable energy and dispatchable generation.In this latest episode of the Energy Insiders podcast, EnergyAustralia's energy chief Mark Collette explains why wind and solar will replace coal as the 'bedrock' of Australia's electricity grid.That does not mean that there will be no room for coal. The company's Mt Piper coal plant has the ability to flex down to 150MW, which it will likely do during periods of high wind and solar output, and will flex back up to near its 600MW capacity during times of peak demand.The outlook for brown coal is less good, as it does not have the same flexibility. And Collette says his company just cannot see how a new coal generator could be viable, given that any new investment would rely heavily on very high 'capacity factors', which would not be available in a high renewables grid.Collette also talks about the company's renewable investments, the two battery storage plants it has contracted in Victoria, and its enthusiasm for the sea-water based pumped hydro facility at Cultana in South Australia, which he reveals has undergone some design changes.Collette also talks about the implications of the proposed new South-Australia transmission link, Snowy 2.0 and energy politics.You can find this and other interviews - including with the other big three energy utilities - in our podcast section on this siteand on your favourite podcast platform, along with episodes from Solar Insiders and our EV-focused podcast, The Driven He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media. For many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates. Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications. A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission. He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame. He received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. The Award is the Section's highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups. Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association. He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's weekly videocast and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV. Maharashtra: Bombay HC pulls up Maharashtra govt, BMC on coastal road project March 20,2019 | Source: The Times of India The Bombay high court on Tuesday questioned the state authorities on how could they begin work on a coastal road project without determining whether it was going to adversely affect fishing communities and breeding ground for fish along the proposed road. A bench of chief justice Naresh Patil and justice N M Jamdar said while development was essential, it could not come at the cost of citizens. The court also took strong exception to apparent "lack of coordination" among the agencies involved in the project. It noted that while the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claimed to have all requisite data on issues like the number of people being affected and breeding ground for fish along the proposed area, the state fisheries department and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest did not have any information on the same. BMC counsel Anil Sakhre told the court while a survey had been conducted in the Worli area to identify people and livelihoods that would be affected by a portion of the coastal road project, a survey along the entire stretch of around 19 kilometres was yet to be conducted by the state fisheries department. The department, however, told the bench that it was inept to identify the breeding ground for fish along the above stretch and would need help from expert agencies under the central government. At this, the bench remarked that such a lack of coordination represented an extremely sorry state of affairs. It said ideally, the agencies should have conducted such a survey before beginning work on the project. The court also said the state must have a uniform policy to assist and rehabilitate any person affected by the coastal road project. "Development should not come at the cost of the people," the bench said. "Your (parties in the case) submissions also reflect a very sorry state of affairs. Can't you coordinate without the court's intervention? Why don't you get together, hold a meeting, take all stakeholders into confidence? Is it the court's job to get all of you together and send you into a meeting room for discussion on your own project?" the bench said. The bench was hearing a petition filed by members of two fishing societies, Worli Koliwada Nakhwa and Worli Machimmar Sarvodaya Sahakari Society, opposing the coastal road project that proposes to connect the Marine Drive area in the city to Kandivali. The petitioners claimed the BMC and state authorities had not conducted any public hearing, or consultations with the fisher folk from the city before starting on the proposed project. They said in their plea that the construction and reclamation work will destroy fish breeding grounds and that the road once constructed, will take away their livelihood. The BMC, however, submitted that the project was not going to have any adverse impact on the fishing community in the city. The court said the BMC will need to submit "scientific data" to prove its arguments. The court has now directed the civic body to submit details of the fishing areas and breeding ground that fall along the proposed stretch, and the number of people likely to be affected by the project. Sri Lanka: Ministry to establish a special raid unit to prevent illegal fishing practices March 20,2019 | Source: Daily News LK State Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development has decided to establish a special raid unit in order to prevent illegal fishing practices related to inland fishing industry of the country, Ministry sources said. The State Minister has already instructed the Director General of National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) to take necessary measures to establish this special unit. According to the statistics of the Ministry, Sri Lanka is endowed with more than 12,000 inland reservoirs and around 40,000 persons currently engage in inland fishing industry related these reservoirs. The NAQDA annually releases millions of fish in to these reservoirs. Around 110 million fish released to these reservoirs in 2018 and yield a harvest of 86,000 metric tons. The State Minister charged that the, the fish harvest has been reduced due to the usage of illegal fishing practices and this has been threat to the inland fishing industry. The State Minister has also instructed the Director General to get the assistance of Sri Lanka police or the Special Task force for the establishment of this special raid unit and take strict legal action against those of found guilty for coming any illegal activity related to inland fisheries industry. Capital punishment expert Robert Dunham said Monday that California Gov. Gavin Newsoms (D) decision to suspend the death penalty marks a growing trend in states across the country. Dunham, executive director of Death Penalty Information Center, said even though there has been a long-term decline in the use of capital punishment in the U.S. both in terms of perception and policy, he said the trend is also picking up steam in states like Colorado and Oregon. I think its part of this momentum that were seeing, especially in the Western United States, away from the death penalty, Dunham told Hill.TVs Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on Rising. Colorado looks like its moving to abolish, the Washington Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional last year and the legislature is trying to take it off of the books this year, he continued. The advocate added that Oregon legislators are also pushing for a bill that would redefine aggravated murder crimes under state law so it would only apply to acts of terrorism in which multiple victims were killed. The bill, which was introduced by state Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D), is currently under committee review. Dunhams comments come after Newsom last week to placed a moratorium on executions for California death row inmates, arguing the policy overwhelmingly discriminated against racial minorities and the poor. California has not executed an inmate since 2006. Under Newsoms latest executive order, individuals will be spared from executions but will remain incarcerated. The governors action affects more than 700 inmates on death row. The states death row population, meanwhile, continues to grow, boasting the largest number of inmates in the nation. However, not everyone is on board with Newsom's decision. President Trump, who has long feuded with Newsom over various issues in the state, voiced opposition to the death penalty moratorium, saying he was "not thrilled" with the news. Dunham added that Newsoms moratorium will nevertheless last for at least as long as he is governor and predicted that there will be some movement in the state toward commuting for some of those on death row. I think the legislature will have a chance to sit back and see, Do we want to provide the funding that is necessary to have a system that works? he said, referring to the death penalty costs. Or what are we going to do with the $5 billion dollars that the system has cost California so far. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said he is ready to sign off on restoring the death penalty in the country, should the countrys parliament pass it, independent news site Diken reported. We made a mistake, we abolished the death penalty, Erdogan said during a campaign rally for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the northern province of Zonguldak ahead of the March 31 local elections. I have always said it and I will say it again. If our parliament decides on this matter, I will approve it, the Turkish president added. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004,one year after Erdogan came into power as prime minister, though no executions have taken place since 1984. The Turkish president has repeatedly said that he would approve, without hesitation the death penalty, if parliament voted to restore it a move that would effectively end the countrys decades-long bid to join the EU. Erdogan on Tuesday also urged New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two mosques on Friday, warning that Turkey would make the attacker pay for his action if New Zealand failed to do so. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde But PM says legislation not promising and we dont determine the punishment; relatives of Achiad Ettinger accuse IDF soldiers of failing to open fire at terrorist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday paid a condolence call to the family of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, who was killed in a combined shooting and stabbing terror attack in the northern West Bank on Sunday. During the visit in the central West Bank settlement of Eli, Netanyahu told the bereaved family he would attempt to legislate the death penalty for terrorists in Israel. Its not promising, its not promising, he added, according to footage from the visit. Ettinger, a 47-year-old father of 12, succumbed to his injuries on Monday, a day after the attack that began at Ariel Junction, in which IDF soldier Gal Keidan, 19, was also killed. According to Israeli authorities, after fatally stabbing Keidan, the suspect, who has been named as Omar Abu Laila, 18, grabbed his gun and opened fire at passing vehicles, hitting Ettinger. He then stole a vehicle and drove to the nearby Gitai junction, where he opened fire again, wounding IDF soldier Alexander Dvorsky. The terrorist remains at large. Efrat Ettinger, the victims daughter, told Netanyahu that terrorists who carry out deadly attacks should not be allowed to live. I think that a person who makes a decision to take such action it must be clear that he will die, she said. A monster like this cannot continue to walk among us. In response, Netanyahu emphasized his governments attempts to advance the death penalty for convicted terrorists. Although the death penalty formally exists in Israeli law, it has only ever been used once in 1962 in the case of Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust. It is technically allowed in cases of high treason, as well as in certain circumstances under the martial law that applies within the IDF and in the West Bank, but currently requires a unanimous decision from a panel of three judges, and has never been implemented. Weve identified the three-judge restriction that exists [in the law], Netanyahu told Efrat Ettinger. We dont determine the punishment. We will try to reduce the need for three judges. Its not promising, Its not promising, he added, apparently in the first public acknowledgement that legislation faces significant obstacles. Legislation that would have expanded the use of the death penalty in terror cases failed to advance late last year amid political wrangling after Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, who had been pushing the bill, left the coalition. Netanyahu, who as defense minister oversees the military prosecution, backed the death penalty bill in November. He also called for the death penalty after a 2017 terror attack in which several members of a family were knifed to death inside their home in the West Bank settlement of Halamish. However, the legislation has been opposed by security officials, including Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman who called it unhelpful when testifying before the Knesset panel in November. During the visit, Netanyahu was also confronted by relatives of Achiad Ettinger over IDF soldiers alleged hesitation to respond at the scene of the terror attack, after reports emerged that several servicemen failed to open fire. The army said it was investigating. I want soldiers to act properly, not as the media says, said Rachel Ettinger, the sister of the slain rabbi. How they reacted in the terror attack this is the result of hesitation. Netanyahu replied by expressing hope that assessment was no longer true, adding that there is something very important in your words. Relatives told reporters Sunday that Ettinger turned his car around after being shot and managed to fire four bullets in the direction of the Palestinian terrorist, causing him to flee the scene rather than target others. The IDF has been unable to corroborate the account, which was not picked up by security cameras at the scene. Also Tuesday, Netanyahu visited the nearby ancient Shilo national site, along with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. I am very excited to be here. I came here for the first time in 1967, right after the Six Day War, as a young soldier. I remember that during navigational exercises, I went to Tel Shilo to see ancient Shilo, the capital of Israel, said Netanyahu. This is exciting. It attests to our link with the Land of Israel and to the great wonder of the revival of Israel. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde MALAYSIA will try to save Michael Garing as many believe the death penalty is excessive, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad. We hope other countries (Singapore) feel the same way. For instance, Australia will not return a convicted offender (Sirul Azhar Umar) because there is the death penalty here, the prime minister told reporters at the Parliament lobby today. De facto law minister Liew Vui Keong said the government will appeal to the Singapore president to commute Michaels death sentence, which is due to be carried out on Friday. We will continue to send our representation and protest on this issue as we have done before, said Liew yesterday. Sirul, a former bodyguard of Najib Razak who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, is currently in Australia under a political asylum. Australia has declined to deport Sirul on account of Malaysias capital punishment system. Meanwhile, Malaysia will stop buying European products if the European Union persists in banning the import of palm oil from Malaysia, said Dr Mahathir. I believe we will stop buying European products. This is the one thing we can do, said the 93-year-old. Spare sons life, parents make last-minute appeal to Singapore president PETALING JAYA: The parents of Michael Anak Garing, whose execution is scheduled at Singapores Changi Prison on Friday, have sent an urgent clemency petition to the president of the island state. The petition, dated yesterday, was hand-delivered by Michaels brother and other family members to the istana this morning. According to Lawyers for Liberty adviser N Surendran, Singapore law does not prevent a fresh petition of clemency from being lodged with the president. In the petition, Michaels parents, Ensiring anak Garman and Garing anak Kanyan, asked for their sons life to be spared. We humbly ask the president of Singapore for mercy and compassion to spare the life of our son Michael, the petition read. The parents also apologised to the family of the victim of the crime. We do not want to excuse our sons offence but we ask for mercy. Please commute his sentence to life imprisonment, they said. Michael, 30, was reported to be part of a gang that went on a slashing spree while robbing people, killing a man and severely injuring three, in Kallang, Singapore. in 2010. Surendran said Lawyers for Liberty appreciated the announcement by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that efforts were being made for the commutation of the death sentence. We hope the president of Singapore and the Singapore government will give serious consideration to the parents clemency petition on behalf of Michael, and the appeal of Tun Mahathir and our government, he said in a statement. Pending consideration of these matters, we respectfully ask that the Singapore authorities stay the execution planned for Friday. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde The Singaporean authorities must halt the imminent execution of Micheal Anak Garing, a Malaysian national, Amnesty International said today. Garing and another man, both from Sarawak, Malaysia, were convicted of murder by the High Court of Singapore in 2014 for killing a man during an armed robbery that took place in 2010. Garing was sentenced to death. His family was recently informed that his execution is scheduled to take place on Friday 22 March. RELATED | Lawyer calls on Singapore to halt Malaysian's Friday execution Once again, Singapore threatens to inflict the kind of cruelty it claims to oppose. No matter how heinous the crime, the death penalty is a degrading and inhuman punishment. We denounce its use in all circumstances, said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Singapore Researcher at Amnesty International. The Singaporean authorities must immediately halt their plans to carry out this callous execution. This would be the first execution to take place in Singapore this year that Amnesty International is aware of. The Singaporean authorities carried out 13 executions in 2018, but details of the executions are not publicly available. The number of executions in Singapore surged into double digits last year, for the first time since 2003, said Rachel Chhoa-Howard. This is a deeply concerning escalation. We urge the authorities to change course and re-establish the moratorium on executions, as a first step towards their abolition. Background When Micheal Anak Garing and his co-defendant were charged, a conviction of murder carried the mandatory death penalty. Following amendments to Singapores Penal Code that came into effect in 2013, murder without an explicit intention to kill became punishable by life imprisonment and caning, or, at the judges discretion, by the imposition of a sentence of death. At the co-defendants sentencing in April 2015, Garing was sentenced to death, having been identified as the one who inflicted lethal wounds on the victim - a fact that he later contested in his appeal to the Court of Appeal, which was rejected in 2017. His co-defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime, the guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. As of today, 106 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and 142 in total are abolitionist in law or practice. In 2017 the death penalty was imposed or implemented for drug-related crime in 15 countries, against international law and standards. Amnesty International recorded executions for drug-related offences in only four countries: China (which classifies figures as a state secret), Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Singapore retains the mandatory death penalty, in certain circumstances, for murder and drug trafficking, contrary to international safeguards and restrictions on the use of the death penalty. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue... 5 weeks ago I am a retired newspaperman. I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 44 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com The woman in the video is Disney heiress, Abigail Disney, a member of Patriotic Millionaires, which released the video yesterday to advocate for the inclusion of an ultra-millionaires tax in the New York state budget (which is going to be wrapped up in 2 weeks... and the villains here are Governor Cuomo and Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, of course + The Long Island 6: Todd Kaminsky, Monica Martinez, Kevin Thomas, James Gaughran, John Brooks and Anna Kaplan). The tax only affects individuals with annual income over $5 million. It's meant to help bail out cash-strapped public schools that are facing further budget cuts, and the long-neglected subway system which just continues to decline. I'm glad New York is trying to solve these problems on a local level. As for addressing these kinds of problems across the country-- on the national level-- obviously nothing's going to happen while Trump and McConnell have a choke-hold on the political system. But a transformative presidency would. Not a Status Quo Joe bullshit presidency or that of any other pick-me, pick-me candidate with nothing to offer the American people-- but a really transformative presidency, the likes of which we haven't seen since FDR passed away. I guess I gave it away, right? Bernie You've probably noticed that many of his once-shocking policy ideas have lately moved from the fringe to the mainstream of the Democratic Party-- from Medicare-For-All and the Green New Deal to putting working families interests before Wall Street's interests. Most of the potential nominees-- despite their own histories and records-- are now trying to offer some version of Bernie's populist economic message. Faiz Shakir, Bernie campaign manager, reminds the media that all Trump offered to woo working class voters was a ripped-off, hollow version of what Bernie has been advocating for decades-- almost making himself sound like what Shakir calls a "faux-Bernie Sanders." Yesterday the AP reported that the case for Bernie being able to beat Trump is now front-and-center in discussions of the Democratic nomination. Motorbikes are just one of the vehicles that will be restricted in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Son Hanoi is considering limiting the registration of new motorbikes in the downtown area from next year to reduce traffic jams. It will start with the districts of Hoan Kiem, Hai Ba Trung, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, and Tay Ho, and will expand to the districts of Cau Giay, Hoang Mai, Long Bien, Thanh Xuan, Gia Lam, and Dong Anh in 2025. The city said that a motorbike ban during rush hour would be trialed on a stretch of Nguyen Trai Street in Thanh Xuan District this year or next year. The stretch runs about 2.2 kilometers from the Nguyen Trai Third Ring Road intersection to the Nguyen Trai Lang intersection. A similar ban will take effect on Xuan Thuy Street in Cau Giay District when the metro starts operating after 2020. Other roads the city is considering are Giai Phong, Nguyen Van Cu, Le Van Luong, Tran Duy Hung, and Nguyen Chi Thanh Streets. In 2021-2025 Hanoi plans to ban motorbikes on Friday nights and during weekends on six streets near Hoan Kiem Lake: Hang Dau, Tran Nhat Duat, Tran Quang Khai, Tran Hung Dao, Le Duan, and Phung Hung. In the 2026-2030 the city will limit motorbikes in the area enclosed by the first ring road, an area of 26 square kilometers with a population of 700,000. From 2030 it will ban motorbikes in most districts and has promised public transport will meet 70 percent of the publics needs. There will be 180 bus routes with 2,700 buses, nine metro lines, 30,000 taxis, 30,000 contracted vehicles and 10,000 public bicycles available at that time, it has added. The city will offer to buy used motorbikes less than 10 years old, said the plan, which was issued at a recent meeting. Vu Van Vien, director of the city Department of Transport, said Hanoi has been dealing with traffic jams by limiting cars in some areas since 2013, and the city has recently restricted taxis and technology taxis (such as Grab) on certain streets. "Motorbikes are just one of the vehicles that will be restricted. Our plan limits and manages all vehicles. We do not want to cause trouble to residents and seek to discuss before implementing." The city is still studying the proposal and would consult other authorities, and wherever the ban applies, public transport should be available to meet the publics needs, he said, adding that the city will seek public opinion on the plan. In 2017 the city Peoples Committee approved a plan to ban motorbikes in downtown districts by 2030 and restrict the use of all private vehicles in areas well served by public transport. The city said it polled 15,000 respondents in 30 districts at that time and 90 percent supported the ban. The city tried in 2003 to stop the registration of new motorbikes in the districts of Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Dong Da, and Hai Ba Trung, and expanded it to Thanh Xuan, Tay Ho and Cau Giay in 2005. However, it later scrapped the ban since it was not effective. Hanois plan to ban motorbike has met with opposition from transport experts, who said public transport is inadequate. The capital, with a population of 7.5 million, has 5.6 million motorbikes and around 550,000 cars, besides some 1.2 million bikes brought in from elsewhere, according to police figures. Vietnam electricity prices go up after two years Vietnam raises its electricity prices by 8.36 percent on March 20, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen Vietnams power prices went up 8.36 percent Wednesday after remaining unchanged for two years. A senior official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade told VnExpress that prices have gone up from VND1,720 (7.4 cents) per kWh to VND1,864 (8 cents), exclusive of VAT. The ministry had said earlier this month that the Prime Minister had approved an increase in power prices. Vietnams power consumption has been increasing by about 10 percent each year, but generation has not kept pace. The hike could lower Vietnams GDP this year by 0.22 percent and increase its consumer price index (CPI) by 0.29 percent, the ministry said. Vietnam's CPI increased 3.54 percent in 2018. Vietnams electricity prices have almost doubled in the last decade, but the last time they were raised was in 2017. According to Vietnam Electricity (EVN), its overall production costs rose by VND5.48 trillion ($235.46 million) year-on-year in 2018 mainly due to exchange rate differences in electricity purchase contracts and gas price increases. The utility expects costs to rise by VND15.25 trillion ($655.34 million) in 2019. This is not to mention other expected increases in costs of production, as well as coal and electricity imports, EVN said. Hoang Quoc Vuong, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, had noted earlier that Vietnam's electricity prices were 8.1 percent lower than that of China and India, 18 percent lower than Laos and 26.5 percent lower than Indonesia. Even with the latest increase, the prices would only be on par with China and India, he said. "The fact that Vietnam's electricity prices are lower than other countries is also why foreign investors are not interested in investing in electricity projects here," he said. Vietnam, one of Asias fastest-growing economies, has been struggling to develop its energy industry. World Bank country director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione said at a recent forum that Vietnam would need to raise up to $150 billion by 2030 to develop its energy sector. Dione added that electricity demand in the country is set to grow by about 8 percent a year for the next decade. The Airports Corporation of Vietnam will be the investor for the third terminal at HCMCs Tan Son Nhat airport. ACV chairman Lai Xuan Thanh said Tuesday that the corporation will also invest in parking lots and relating constructions for the new terminal at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The airport's new runways will be invested in by the state, Thanh said, adding that this was a concern as delays in arranging capital could prolong construction time. An airport construction should ideally be invested in entirely by one main company, he said. The state has already struggled to find the budget to repair two damaged runways at the Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports, he added. In Vietnam, runways are managed by the state, while terminals and parking lots are managed by ACV. ACV, which manages 23 airports, has calculated that the planned increase in capacity to 50 million passengers a year by 2025 means there will be 300,000-330,000 takeoffs and landings each year at the airport, requiring new runways. Thanh affirmed that ACV has enough financial capability to invest in the runways. The company has VND87 trillion ($3.75 billion) to spare until 2025, and costs for the airport upgrade is estimated at about VND62 trillion ($2.67 billion). The rest of the money will be used to invest in the Long Thanh International Airport, Thanh said. Long Thanh, whose construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, is set to be the largest airport in the country with 100 million passengers a year by 2050. "We can invest in the airport instead of the state, but we need permission and a mechanism to recover our investment," Thanh added. Jonathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPPG), which is interested in joining hands with ACV in investing in the terminal of Tan Son Nhat, said that policy obstacles should be removed, given that ACV has the money. If IPPG were to join, the upgrade of Tan Son Nhat would take three years, he added. His company was an investor in the Cam Ranh International Airport in the central Nha Trang Town. Deputy Transport Minister Le Dinh Tho said the ministry is studying plans to use private funding instead of the state budget for the project and will present a plan to the government next month. The ministry is proposing a change in regulations so that a company can invest in an airport project entirely, just as the Van Don airport has been built by a private company. ACV had in January submitted a pre-feasibility report for the T3 terminal and related constructions at the Tan Son Nhat airport. It estimated total investment at VND11.43 trillion (492.47 million), which it would fund on its own. The transport ministry last year approved that the Tan Son Nhat airport incrases its capacity to 50 million in 2025, with 20 million from the third terminal and 30 million from the upgrade of two existing terminals. Tan Son Nhat served 38 million passengers last year, up 6.4 percent from 2017, way above its designed capacity of 25 million passengers. The CAAV said in a recent survey that because of the overload, the airports service quality remains the lowest among six largest airports in Vietnam. The photographers claim of having stumbled upon a moment unplanned has failed to stand up to scrutiny. The photo, titled Mothers Hope, taken by Malaysian Edwin Ong Wee Kee, won Grand Prize at the Hamdan International Photography Award (HIPA) this year. But controversy erupted after the result was announced, with evidence surfacing that the photo might have been staged. Another photographer, Ab Rashid, shared on his Facebook page a behind-the-scenes photo with the same characters in the photo, the ethnic minority mother and her two children. Rashids photo showed many lensmen taking pictures at the same time. Kee took the photo, which captures a HMong mother with a speech disorder holding her children, during a recent trip to Vietnam's northern Yen Bai Province. The behind-the-scenes photo, showing many photographers taking multiple shots of the ethnic minority mother and her children. Photo courstesy of Ab Rashid. Photography websites Petapixel and Picofacia also weighed in on the award, both commenting on Rashid's exposure. "As you can see, a crowd of photographers was apparently gathered around the mother at the same time as Kee, meaning his photo was just one of a large number of nearly identical photos that emerged from the portrait session," Petapixel noted. Picsofasia was scathing in its criticism. "Another classic photo of a photography tour group gathered around one subject, shooting the same image from almost the same angle. The woman seems to pose for them, probably an organized staged model for the photographers who dont want to have to work very hard for their pictures," it wrote. HIPA regulations were not broken in this situation since it was general photography contest. But one of many similar photos winning a lot of money has angered many photographers, critics noted. With the annual total prize money of $450,000, HIPA offers the largest prize money among photography awards in the world. It is also one of the most inclusive photography awards, charging no fees and having no entry barriers including age, photographic status, gender and nationality. Where ginseng keeps ethnic minority people in rude financial health From paying for house construction to everyday needs the Xe Dang people in south-central Vietnam use this medicinal root as cash. Early in 2019 Ho Van Diu in Quang Nam Provinces Nam Tra My District, five hours south of Da Nang, was busy supervising a group of workers building his three-storey wooden house on an area of nearly 100 square meters. Diu said it would cost him around VND700 million ($30,345) for the house to have modern amenities, wooden ceilings, granite floors, hot water, etc. In 1997 he started working at the Ngoc Linh Ginseng and Quang Nam Medicinal Development Center. Years of work there allowed him to learn to grow ginseng, and he began to cultivate the herb himself. He, his wife and five sons went up the 2,000m Ngoc Linh Mountain and built a home there and planted thousands of ginseng plants under the canopy of the primeval forest. Twenty years later the government developed transport infrastructure on the mountain, and Dius family came down from the mountain and built a house next to the then newly built road. What makes Dius story unusual is that the building contractors agrees to take payment in Ngoc Linh ginseng. The ginseng is grown by the Xe Dang ethnic minority atop the highest mountain in south-central Vietnam for medicinal and commercial purposes. If the house he is building is around 100 square meters, Diu goes to his ginseng field on the mountain and harvests 5 kg of the root to give the contractor. "10 Ngoc Linh ginseng type 1, each weighs about one kilogram, and a kilo is worth VND120-150 million ($5,180 - 6,480)," he explained. Not only has he built his houses with the ginseng, he has also booked a car with it. "I deposited money to buy a car in Da Nang for more than VND1 billion ($43,200). Im waiting for them to send me the car and Ill pay with 10 kilograms of ginseng," he said. In Tra Linh Commune, beside Dius family, dozens of other Xe Dang households have also upgraded their homes and bought cars with ginseng in recent years. According to the 2009 census, there were 169,501 ethnic Xe Dang people. Visitors to Tak Lang village in Tra Linh Commune will be surprised to see how many buildings there are on top of the mountain. Among them is Ho Van Hinhs, the biggest in the place. Hinh invested in this construction that has an area of nearly 100 meters for parking space, for a rice milling machine to be placed, a warehouse, a kitchen, a two-storey 100 square-meter and a smaller house equipped with air-conditioned rooms. Below the construction is five-meter embankment to prevent landslides. Ho Van Hinhs property. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh. "The cost of my family's house was over VND10 billion ($432,000), with the embankment costing VND2.4 billion ($103,700)." He paid with 100 kg of ginseng. "The cost of construction in mountainous areas is five to 10 times higher than in lowlands due to the difficulty in transporting materials," Hinh said. Hinh said: "When we need something in exchange, we go up and pluck old [ginseng]. Before Tet [the Lunar New Year] I swapped more than 10 kg of ginseng for a car." Ho Van The, chairman of Tra Linh Commune, locals rarely pay in cash whether for building houses or buying everyday items and use ginseng instead. The said: "In the near future there will a bigger road leading to the village, and there will be a lot more cars and big houses. People often call it billionaire village, which is not wrong after all." Dozens of Xe Dang households have upgraded their homes and bought cars with ginseng in recent years. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh According to statistics from the Nam Tra My Social Policy Bank, as of the end of 2018 the ethnic Xe Dang people in Tra Linh Commune had saved nearly VND200 billion ($8.6 million). Many households have savings of VND2-5 billion ($86,000-214,960). In 2015 the government approved a 15-year national project for Ngoc Linh ginseng that seeks to expand the farming area to 30,000 hectares in seven communes in Nam Tra My District, Quang Nam Province, at a cost of over VND9 trillion ($38.9 million). In June 2017 Ngoc Linh ginseng became a national product and since has been commonly referred to as Vietnamese ginseng. Nam Tra My District currently has 1,300 ha of land under the ginseng and more than 1,500 households in seven communes have registered to plant 2,500 ha more, while seven enterprises have registered to plant nearly 300 ha. Le Minh The stands trial in Can Tho City on Wednesday for publishing Facebook videos libeling the government. Photo by VnExpress/Cuu Long A Can Tho court sentenced a man to two years in jail on Tuesday for distorting the party and governments policies on social media. Le Minh The, 56, was indicted for "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens." Prosecutors said between March and August last year he broadcast seven live videos on Facebook that showed his extremist attitude and libeled the party and the government. He called on people to protest and riot to overthrow the government, they said. The pleaded guilty to all the charges. The judges said his behavior had been intentional, professional and well-prepared and severely endangered security and social safety. Under Vietnam's Penal Code, "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens" is a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison. On Monday, a HCMC appeals court upheld jail terms of between eight and 15 years for five people found guilty of trying to "overthrow the peoples administration." Hundreds of police officers raided a warehouse in Binh Tan District Wednesday and seized over 300 kilograms of meth. The raid was carried out by officers from the Ministry of Public Security's Drug Crime Investigation Department in coordination with the Southern Border Guard's Special Forces, Ho Chi Minh City police and police from the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong. Dozens of armed mobile police officers, plainclothes policemen and border guards raided a mansion in Binh Tan District's Binh Hung Hoa B residential area. The mansion was being used as a hideout and warehouse by the drug trafficking gang. Police register largest ever meth bust in HCMC Police register largest ever meth bust in HCMC At least 11 people of Lao, Chinese and Vietnamese nationalities were detained and a pickup truck transporting about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of methamphetamine was seized. The drug haul, said to be the largest ever in Ho Chi Minh City, is believed to have originated from Laos and smuggled into Vietnam through roads around the Bo Y Border Gate in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. About 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of methamphetamine was seized. Photo by VnExpress/Q.T Police said they were also raiding other suspect warehouses Ho Chi Minh City, Dak Nong and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Tay Ninh. Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine could face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. Mine detectors donated by South Korea to Quang Binh Province are presented at a ceremony on Tuesday. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Tao A South Korean development agency has donated 200 mines detectors to Quang Binh Province in central Vietnam. The Vietnam National Mine Action Center (VNMAC) received the devices from the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the United Nations Development Programme at a ceremony in the province on Tuesday. Speaking at the ceremony, VNMAC deputy general director Nguyen Hanh Phuc said the devices with their modern features would help accurately pinpoint the locations of bombs, mines and UXO still buried in the ground. Using these data, the center would set up a database on polluted and cleared areas, which is among key land management data for the province. The donation of the devices was made under the framework of a Vietnam-South Korea cooperation project to mitigate the losses caused by war-era bombs and mines launched in March last year. The project has received $20 million from South Korea to clear UXO in an area of around 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) in Quang Binh and Binh Dinh Provinces. Some 224,000 ha of land in Quang Binh, or 30 percent of its total area, is contaminated by UXO. In the first year of the project VNMAC surveyed 4,600 ha in Quang Binh and Binh Dinh and found many places contaminated by UXO, training 230 officials from the Ministry of Defense on UXO survey and detection. The project has also helped raise awareness of prevention of UXO-related accidents among residents in 14 communes in five districts. According to statistics from the Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal, all 159 of Quang Binh Province's communes, wards and towns are contaminated by UXO, which is spread over an area of over 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) or 28.2 percent of the province's total area. Since 1975 UXO-related accidents in the province have killed over 2,930 people and injured another 3,820. Three people received death sentences for drug trafficking in Hanoi Monday while a fourth got a life sentence because she has a child. Vu Thi Thu Hoai, 47, Vu Thi Hai Yen, 24, and Le Trung Thanh, 40, received the death sentences for illegally trafficking drugs, heard the Hanoi Peoples Court. Pham Thi Hop, 42, received a life sentence on the same charge instead as she was raising a small child, media reports said. Yen and Hoai were busted trafficking drugs at the Noi Bai International Airport in June 2017. Police found over 2.6 kilograms of drugs in pill and crystal forms with them, hidden in bags and empty dragonfruits. Hop and Thanh were busted when the duo was delivering drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam through the Moc Bai border post in the southern province of Tay Ninh in November 2017. An investigation revealed that Hop also bought 1,300 drug pills and about 500 grams of meth from an unknown person, before hiring Yen to deliver 800 pills and about five grams of said drugs to a man named Tuan, whose identity is unknown, in April 2017. Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine could face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. China needs to pay compensation for sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat earlier this month, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said Monday. On March 6, Chinese vessel numbered 44101 rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat while the latter was fishing in the Da Loi (Discovery) Reef off the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, according to the National Committee for Incident, Natural Disaster Response and Search and Rescue. The boat, from the central province of Quang Ngai, sank with only its bow remaining above the water and the five fishermen on board clung on to it until they were rescued by another Vietnamese fishing boat. The fishermen, coming back to shore on Sunday, said the Chinese vessel chased after them, sprayed water cannons and forced their ship into a reef. They estimated to suffer damage worth VND3 billion ($129,200) from the incident. In a document issued to the Government Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other governmental institutions, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said that Chinas action "was inhumane and endangered the lives and properties of Vietnamese fishermen." It asked authorities to vehemently object and demand that China stop impeding, attacking and sinking fishing vessels operating in waters under Vietnams sovereignty, to devise methods against Chinas "contrarious, irrational" actions, and to ask China to compensate for damage caused to Vietnamese fishermen. Authorities should heighten patrolling at sea to support and safeguard Vietnamese fishermens lives and properties in time, and to put a stop to similar actions targeting Vietnamese fishermen, it added. The society and local authorities also advised fishing vessels to go in groups and warn each other of any attack by Chinese vessels. Nguyen Viet Thang, President of Vietnam Fisheries Society, said that China has been initiating similar collisions in Vietnam's traditional fishing grounds in recent years, especially around the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Islands. "When Chinese boats find Vietnamese boats fishing near the islands, they would sink the boats without issuing warnings as they did before," Thang said. "Every time a Vietnamese fishing boat is sunk or damaged, we would send messages to the Chinese embassy, and via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ask Chinese authorities to compensate. But we have never received any response," he said. China seized the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam by force in 1974, and has since been illegally occupying them. In 2012 it built the so-called "Sansha City" with Woody Island as its seat, and has since built a runway capable of handling military aircraft and other supporting structures. The so-called city also extends to a number of reefs in Vietnam's Spratly (Truong Sa) Islands that China seized by force in 1988 as well as the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by the Philippines. On May 1, 2014 China brought an oil rig, Haiyang Shiyou 981, and installed it in the waters off the Paracels, changing the status quo in the waters. Days after that, Chinese ships had chased after, fired water cannons at and rammed many Vietnamese fishing vessels near the islands. Vietnamese who live in Japan celebrate Vietnamese New Year at a Catholic Church in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Japan, February 10, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Issei Kato Japanese authorities are investigating the disappearance of 700 foreign students at a local university since last year. The Tokyo University of Social Welfare recently announced that its 700 foreign students, including those from Vietnam, China and Nepal have stopped attending classes and lost contact with the school since last April, the Japan Times reported Monday. Many of them have overstayed their visas and been staying in Japan illegally, prompting the Japanese government to open an investigation to track them down. The group of missing students enrolled in the university as researchers for the current academic year, which ends later this month. They have been removed from the universitys student profile. In 2017, the Justice Ministry said dozens of foreign students registered with the university were found to be illegally staying in Japan even after their visas had expired. According to Japans Immigration Department, Vietnam has surpassed China to become the largest group of technical intern trainees in the country, with around 127,000 in 2017. But Vietnamese nationals also accounted for almost half of the foreign residents whose residency rights were revoked in Japan in 2017, according to the report from the Japans Justice Ministry in October last year. Many of them were found illegally staying in Japan after graduation. A Vietnamese woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison after appealing a death sentence for drug trafficking in Cambodia. Photo by Shutterstock/DedMityay A Vietnamese woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison after appealing a death sentence for drug trafficking in Cambodia. Vietnamese citizen Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen and Cambodian Kong Rin had been sentenced to death in May 2016 by the Sibu High Court after they were caught trafficking drugs at an airport in 2013, the Borneo Post reported. Nguyen was convicted of trafficking 2.15 kilograms of meth, and Kong 2.22 kilograms. But a Federal Court accepted their appeal over their drug trafficking conviction on Tuesday, saying the trial judge of the Sibu High Court had "misdirected himself on the usage of presumption under Section 37 of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952." Both Nguyen and Kong should be imprisoned for 20 years instead, the court ruled. An area in northern Vietnam is disinfected with lime powder and chemicals following detection of swine fever. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday advised Vietnam to declare a rapidly spreading outbreak of African Swine Fever as a national emergency. The virus was first detected in the Southeast Asian country a month ago at three farms in two northern provinces and has spread to 17 provinces in northern Vietnam with 239 outbreaks confirmed, the FAO said in a statement. Pork accounts for three quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million people where most of its 30 million farm-raised pigs are consumed domestically. "The loss of pigs due to ASF infection and control measures leads to a heavy economic burden to many rural families," Albert T. Lieberg, the FAO representative in Vietnam, said following meetings last week with Vietnamese authorities. Vietnam has been implementing strict movement control of pigs and pig products and culled more than 25,000, but the FAO said small farms with low biosecurity will allow ASFs spread. The disease, which is incurable in pigs but harmless to humans, has also spread rapidly across neighboring China. Last week, Beijing banned the import of pigs, wild boars and related products from Vietnam. The U.S. Department of States Rewards for Justice Program is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided in the execution of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack. From November 26 to 29, 2008 ten individuals associated with the terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba carried out a series of coordinated assaults against multiple targets in Mumbai, India. The attack resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six Americans. The United States is committed to working with our international partners to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attack. The Department of States November 26, 2018 announcement marked the third Rewards For Justice reward offer seeking information on the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack. In April 2012, the Department of State announced reward offers for information that brings to justice Lashkar e-Tayyiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, another senior Lashkar e-Tayyiba leader. In December 2001, the Department of State designated Lashkar e-Tayyiba as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended. Foreign Terrorist Organization designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business. In May 2005, the United Nations (UN) 1267 Sanctions Committee added Lashkar e-Tayyiba to the Consolidated UN Security Council Sanctions List. The U.S. guarantees that all reports will be investigated, and the identity of all informants will be kept confidential. On a case-by-case basis, the U.S. government may determine to relocate informant and their family as appropriate. If you have information on the 2008 Mumbai attack, submit a tip at www.rewardsforjustice.net or e-mail information to info@rewardsforjustice.net. In North America, call 1-800-877-3927. Salih al-Aruri is a deputy of the political bureau of the Hamas terrorist organization and one of the founders of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He is currently living freely in Lebanon where he is reportedly working with Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. Aruri funded and directed Hamas military operations in the West Bank and has been linked to several terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings. In 2014, al-Aruri announced Hamass responsibility for the June 12, 2014 terrorist attack that kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers, including Naftali Frankel, a dual U.S. Israeli citizen. Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb is a close adviser to Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist group and has served as the groups chief military liaison to Iran and to Palestinian terrorist organizations. He has commanded and supervised Lebanese Hizballah military operations in the Palestinian territories and several Middle East countries. Haytham Ali Tabatabai is a key Hizballah military leader who has commanded Hizballahs special forces in both Syria and Yemen. Tabatabais actions in Syria and Yemen are part of a larger Hizaballah effort to provide training, material, and personnel in support of its destabilizing regional activities. Hamas and Hizballah receive weapons, training, and funding from Iran, which the U.S. Secretary of State has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Department of State designated both Hamas and Hizballah as foreign terrorist organizations in 1997 and again in 2001. For information leading to the identification or location of these fugitives, all of whom have been designated as global terrorists by the U.S. Department of State, the Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is offering rewards of up to $5 million each. The U.S. guarantees that all reports will be investigated, and the identity of all informants will be kept confidential. On a case-by-case basis, the U.S. government will determine if relocation of informants and their family is appropriate. If you have information on these fugitives, submit a tip at www.rewardsforjustice.net or e-mail information to info@rewardsforjustice.net. In North America, call 1-800-877-3927. 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. AMS announced today (3/19) that its virtual power plant (VPP) project in Southern California delivered over 2 GWh of grid services to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in its first year of operation. The VPP, designed and operated by AMS and owned by Macquarie Capital, is part of a massive grid modernization project for Southern California Edison (SCE). The award-winning VPP is the largest of its kind operating in the world today, using battery storage to control and reduce peak demand at large commercial and industrial customer facilities in the Los Angeles Basin. In 2014 SCE was the first utility in the world to launch a major initiative to deploy distributed energy and battery storage instead of fossil fuel resources to provide local capacity to the electric grid. As part of that project SCE awarded an unprecedented 262 MW of contracts to five companies to build a combination of energy storage projects both behind-the-meter and at SCE substations. AMS was awarded a contract to reduce peak demand in the LA Basin by installing battery storage systems behind-the-meter at SCE's commercial industrial customer sites. The first phase of the project (11 MW / 60 MWh) became operational in 2018 and in its first full year of operation delivered more than 2 GWh of capacity services to the grid - shattering records for distributed energy storage anywhere in the world today. "SCE is proving that distributed energy, properly harnessed, can provide flexibility to the grid while reducing energy costs for customers," said Susan Kennedy, CEO of AMS. "By using batteries to replace fossil fuels for peak demand in a region like Los Angeles, California is proving that 100% clean energy policies can be achieved anywhere in the world." AMS designed the project with its Armada software platform. The Armada platform identifies the most cost-effective technology design for three-dimensional financial performance - guaranteed customer savings, dispatchable capacity for contracted grid services, and investment-grade project-level returns. The project is owned by Macquarie Capital and AMS manages the assets using the Armada platform to optimize and dispatch the battery systems to meet all three financial obligations for Macquarie. The project's industry-first financing of energy storage was recognized as 2017 North American Energy Storage Deal of the Year by IJGlobal. The project is the largest battery storage VPP operating in the world today and when completed in 2019 will encompass 62 MW / 352 MWh. The first phase of the AMS project, which became fully operational in 2018, includes a fleet of 21 state-of-the-art Hybrid Electric Buildings owned by the Irvine Company. The fleet is available to reduce peak demand by up to 10 MW within minutes of an automated signal from the grid operator. During the winter the fleet was dispatched 64 business days in a row with no impact to building operations - an industry record for demand response programs. In addition to providing grid services, the project also generated more than $1 million in total energy cost savings to SCE customers. To learn more about Irvine Company's Hybrid Electric Collection you can view further information here or watch the Hybrid Electric Collection video here. ABOUT AMS | AMS is a SaaS company with an A.I. software platform that uses deep learning algorithms to enable optimized dispatch and trading of complex energy assets in energy markets. AMS's business is powered by its industry-leading transactive energy management platform, which AMS and its partners utilize to offer compelling and innovative energy management services to customers, utilities, and project developers. To learn more, visit www.advmicrogrid.com and follow us on twitter: @advmicrogrid. ABOUT MACQUARIE GROUP | Macquarie Group (Macquarie) is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs over 14,800 people and has assets under management of more than $397.2 billion (as of September 30, 2018). For more information, visit www.macquarie.com. ABOUT MACQUARIE CAPITAL | Macquarie Capital, part of Macquarie Group, combines grounded thinking with innovative approaches to develop transformative ideas and realize greater possibilities for our clients - our partners. We look beyond convention to connect our clients with ideas and opportunities others don't see, while our global platform, specialized expertise and comprehensive services allow us to deliver what others can't. Our capabilities encompass corporate advisory and a full spectrum of capital solutions, including capital raising services from equity, debt and private capital markets and principal investments from Macquarie's own balance sheet. These offerings are reinforced through our deep sector expertise in aerospace, defense and government services, consumer, gaming and leisure, financial institutions, infrastructure and energy, real estate, resources, services, telecommunications, media and technology sectors across the US. www.macquarie.com/us/corporate/advisory-and-capital-markets/lookbeyond. The United States and Brazil announced their intent to establish the U.S.-Brazil Energy Forum (USBEF), a new bilateral government-to-government energy cooperative framework. The Forum will be driven by effective interagency coordination on both sides and informed by industry and private sector representatives from the United States and Brazil. The Forum will be chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Energy and Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy and include representatives from other government agencies. Under the USBEF, the United States and Brazil will identify technical, regulatory, and policy issues of mutual interest and develop actionable plans to achieve concrete goals that address each issue in a mutually-beneficial manner. Designed to be flexible and agile, the Forum will also help the United States and Brazil identify critical barriers to bilateral energy trade and investment. The USBEF represents a whole-of-government, public/private approach that is committed to addressing the energy security challenges facing the two countries and our allies and partners around the world. Secretary Perry and Minister Bento Albuquerque met on March 11th in Houston, TX, and agreed to meet later this year to formally launch and convene the first meeting under the USBEF. News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940 Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today (3/19) that its joint venture with TechnipFMC has successfully completed its engineering, procurement and construction management services scope of work on Sasol's world-scale petrochemical complex in Westlake, Louisiana. The joint venture will continue to provide assistance to the Sasol team with remaining activities by working with Sasol in parallel on transition plans for each unit and system. The joint venture team will also assist in performance testing for the complex. A 1.5-million-ton-per-year ethane cracker is at the heart of the complex, which also includes six downstream chemical units and associated utilities, infrastructure and offsites. "This milestone is the culmination of nearly seven years of hard work by Fluor's project team and we are proud to have successfully delivered our scope," said Mark Fields, president of Fluor's Energy & Chemicals business in the Americas. "We brought our extensive U.S. Gulf Coast construction and megaproject expertise using our integrated solutions approach, and we are proud of the lasting positive impact this project will have on Southwest Louisiana." Beginning in November 2018, Fluor's joint venture began incremental transitions of assets from the joint venture to Sasol upon completion of each unit or system. All units have been transitioned to Sasol except for the low-density polyethylene unit, which will be handed over by the end of March 2019. The project achieved first steam in August 2018. Utilities to support the early process units were fully operational by the end of November 2018 and the linear low-density polyethylene unit achieved beneficial operations in February 2019. More than 6,000 staff and craft were on site at peak to build the complex, which use the ethylene produced by the cracker to manufacture high-value chemicals that are used in everyday consumer products. The project team strengthened and widened more than two miles of roadway in the community to support the completion of more than 500 heavy haul transports to the project site. The Fluor joint venture integrated a team of 30 main construction contractors and worked in collaboration with Sasol to strengthen the local economy, with more than $4 billion committed to Louisiana businesses. AMECO, Fluor's equipment division, provided construction equipment to various subcontractors onsite. The joint venture also invested in the local community by contributing more than $185,000 to local schools and charitable organizations throughout the project. About Fluor Corporation Founded in 1912, Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is a global engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction and maintenance company that transforms the world by building prosperity and empowering progress. Fluor serves its clients by designing, building and maintaining safe, well executed, capital-efficient projects around the world. With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Fluor ranks 153 on the Fortune 500 list with revenue of $19.2 billion in 2018 and has more than 53,000 employees worldwide. For more information, please visit www.fluor.com or follow Fluor on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. A public school in Barcelona. Albert Garcia Catalonia has become the first Spanish region to embark on an institutional effort to curb school segregation by socioeconomic status. Starting the next school year, authorities will review the admission fees charged by private schools that receive public funding (known as concertados) to ensure that financial criteria are not used to select children from wealthier families. Officials also want schools to accept an equitable share of students who enroll outside regular admission periods, instead of always allocating them to the same centers. There is no choice but to move students around, even if it is not the familys first choice Antoni Morante, Balearics government official In recent years, regional governments across Spain have admitted that there is a socioeconomic segregation problem in the school system, but all attempts at changing the situation have been little more than stopgap solutions. In 2016 the Catalan ombudsman, Rafael Ribo, issued a tough report that talked about the existence of ghetto schools in the region. The study found that at around 100 schools representing 4.35% of all education centers more than half the student population was foreign-born. Together with the Balearic Islands, Catalonia is the Spanish region with the highest rate of foreign students, at 13.2%. The Pact Against Student Segregation, signed on Monday by politicians, unions and educational leaders, contains 189 measures aimed at reducing segregation at schools. The deal also calls for the creation of an oversight committee to ensure that the guidelines are observed. The document was backed by Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), Catalan Republican Left (ERC), the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and Catalunya en Comu. It was rejected by the conservative Popular Party (PP), center-right Ciudadanos (Citizens) and the small far-left group CUP. Nearly every municipality with a population of over 10,000 also backed the effort, as did the two main labor unions CC OO and UGT, and several groups from the education community. A schoolroom in Barcelona. A. Garcia In recent years, Spain has been asked by the European Commission and the United Nations to address the issue of student segregation, which affects 46.8% of education centers in a country where nine out of every 10 schools are public. A 2018 report by researchers at Madrids Autonomous University, entitled Magnitude of student segregation by socioeconomic status, found that the Balearics and Galicia show low segregation similar to Sweden or Finland, which have the lowest rates in the EU while it is very high in Madrid, on a par with Hungary and Romania. While the causes of segregation are complex, experts agree that the root lies in the education policies developed by regional governments. Despite existing evidence of problems with segregation, which brings down the achievement level at those centers, some regions would rather not admit that there is a problem, says Alvaro Ferrer, co-author of the study From socioeconomic segregation to inclusive education. Spain has been asked by the European Commission and the United Nations to address the issue of student segregation The government of the Balearic Islands was a pioneer, launching a set of measures in 2015. We are one of the regions with the highest rate of foreign students and we realized that it was necessary to get local authorities involved, says Antoni Morante, director general of planning at the Balearics government. Regional authorities reached deals with 11 municipalities that had high segregation levels. Specialized committees made up of government members, educators and families now organize enrollment so that students with special needs and those from low-income families are evenly shared out between public and concertado schools. There is no choice but to move students around, even if it is not the familys first choice, says Morante. The system also blends higher-income and lower-income neighborhoods for a more diverse mix of students. In the Basque Country, where 7.5% of students are foreign-born, the government released a report in November showing that most of these students are enrolled in public schools. To change this imbalance, policymakers have launched a tool to determine the rate of students with special needs at each school, which in turn means more or less public funding for that center. The move mirrors existing policies in the Netherlands, which grants more funds to centers that accept lower-income children. English version by Susana Urra. Angel Castro at home with David and Elena. ULY MARTIN When Elena Arcos went back to work six weeks after giving birth to her first child, she was confronted by the question: How can you leave such a young child alone with his father? The question sums up all the prejudices faced by couples who decide to reject traditional roles and let the man take advantage of the childcare leave offered by Spanish legislation. The father in question is Angel Castro, a 43-year-old computer scientist who used up his wifes remaining 10 weeks of maternity leave, which she transferred to him, then tacked on his own two weeks of paternity leave. He did this when David was born nine years ago, then again when Elena was born five years ago, although this time the mother stayed home for nine weeks. I wanted to spend more time with them as babies, which is a period of their lives that you normally miss out on, and one of the nicest ones, says Castro. The father figure as a provider who imposed his authority and handed out punishment was a decidedly unlikeable character Constanza Tobio, sociologist Ive always liked my job a lot, and when he suggested it, I thought it was a great idea, recalls Arcos, who is now head of human resources at a company with 80 employees.. For the last six years, Castro has also been putting in 90 fewer minutes every working day, which ends at 4pm for him. When he leaves the French multinational Orange, he still gets home in time to pick up the kids from the school bus drop-off point 45 minutes later. Then comes the second part of the day: fixing snacks, taking the children to afternoon activities and putting in some playtime. Their mother comes home at around 6.30pm and helps David with his homework. Both parents help with dinner and baths before putting the children to bed. Although it is increasingly normal to see men taking care of their children, Castros case is still exceptional. The number of men in Spain who request a reduction of working hours to care for children or dependent adults is on the rise, jumping from 6,100 in late 2008 to 16,400 in 2018, according to the workforce survey Encuesta de Poblacion Activa (EPA). But that is still less than 5% of the total. Raul Perez, 46, is the only man with a reduction of working hours at the General Council of Economists in Madrid. When his sons Victor and Hector, now 13 and 11, were still little, he used to come home at 8pm. When you get home, even though you try to help, youre out of the loop because youve been out of the house all day, he admits. Fernando Nuno Santana at home with his kids. Gabriela Lopez Escalante Perez says that his relationship with his partner was taking a hit from all the daily stress. I could see that she never stopped [doing work at home], that she had no life. For a year now, this computer scientist has only been working one afternoon out of the week. The children have reached the age where they need role models, not just caregivers or seeing their mother as some kind of taxi driver taking them from one activity to the next, he says. Weve all noticed the difference: we laugh more, we sleep better. Even if we earn less money, our lives are better. His wife Cristina Peraleda, a government worker, confirms it. We split up the tasks and we have more time to be together. Ive also had to get used to having time for myself again. But even though experts agree that men want to get more involved in child rearing, this desire does not mean that they are using the work-family balance options at their disposal the way that mothers are, says Jose Andres Fernandez Cornejo, a professor of applied economics at Madrids Complutense University. Usue Medinaveitia in her home in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez While social pressure pushes women to use up their maternity leave or risk being judged as bad mothers, when it comes to men the prevailing fear is that they might be seen as less ambitious or less committed to their work. The introduction of a paternity leave that is not transferable has been a decisive step in overcoming this pressure and building the notion that childcare is also a mans job, says the sociologist Constanza Tobio. Originally established at 13 days in 2007, paternity leave is now five weeks, and will be raised to eight on April 1. And if Congress greenlights a recent government decree, by 2021 both men and women will have 16 weeks of leave each. Visibility is key to male empowerment when it comes to caregiving, says Usue Madinaveitia, founder of the projects #mamiconcilia and #papiconcilia, which collect testimonies from workers who came up against their employers opposition when they attempted to reconcile work and family life, and who were fired in some cases. Fernando Nuno Santana and Berta Ausin share out the housework in an equal way, without role differentiation, says Nuno, a 50-year-old self-employed worker. I didnt want to be an absent father, and at that time my job involved constant travel, so I decided to quit and reorganize my career to make it compatible with the value I placed on fatherhood. Data shows that in 2018, a vast majority of fathers (255,531) used their paternity leave, a number that exceeded the number of maternity leaves (252,706). This is due to the fact that there are more men in the workforce. Visibility is key to male empowerment when it comes to caregiving Usue Madinaveitia, founder of #mamiconcilia It also shows that men want to take care of their children. They are realizing that they are not like their own fathers. The father figure as a provider who imposed his authority and handed out punishment was a decidedly unlikeable character. And men are finding out that childcare can be very satisfying, says Tobio. Sergio Simarro, 41, is planning to give it a try next year. A self-employed internet consultant, he is about to have his first child, and he is planning to apply for paternity leave, which in his case will mean 900 a month as he is paying the lowest rate into the Social Security system. After that, he will juggle working from home with childcare when the mother, Marian, goes back to work in the tourism industry. The decision to stay home and take care of the baby was not based on financial reasons, but because I have more flexibility, he said. Simarro, who lives in Alicante, figures that his income will go down by at least 50% the first few months, based on his colleagues own experiences. It will depend on how I handle the incoming projects. Its a matter of getting organized, of playing with my schedule to find a balance between caring for the baby and getting the work done. Fernandez Cornejo, co-author of the study Mother-father gap in the use of work-family balance measures and its effect on mothers careers, explains that the figure of a man involved in childcare has replaced the provider as societys concept of a good father. The study, which interviewed 1,785 couples with small children in the Madrid region, found that mothers whose partners are more involved in childcare felt less penalized in their own careers for having children. English version by Susana Urra. Pedro Sanchez at the Ateneo in Madrid. Julian Rojas Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday asked the United Kingdom to stop going around in circles, and to clarify whether and why it wants to delay its exit from the European Union. We know what they dont want, but not what they want, said Sanchez at a talk about the future of Europe at Madrids Ateneo center, where he took a break from the national issues monopolizing the political agenda ahead of the snap general election of April 28. We know what they dont want, but not what they want Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez The Socialist Party (PSOE) leader has cancelled many of his international engagements to focus on the campaign race. Spain will also be holding local, regional and European elections on May 26. In his nine months in power, Sanchez has emerged as Spains most internationally oriented leader, and he has set a record for travel by a Spanish head of government. This week, Sanchez will not be missing out on his global appointments. There is an important European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday where Brexit will be discussed, although at this point the Spanish government is unclear about the position that British PM Theresa May will bring to the table. There is a chance that she will ask for an extension to the March 30 deadline to withdraw from the EU, but Sanchez and other European leaders are worried about the absence of a clearly defined strategy. A social Europe is the force that will relegitimize the European project from the bottom up Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez Speaking at the Ateneo, a historical building in Madrid that was once a hub of political culture, particularly during the Second Republic in the 1930s, Sanchez delivered a speech against Brexit, populism and politicians who play with feelings. He said that there is only one way left to fight the enemies of Europe, those who want to destroy it, and that is to go back to the social origins of the European Union. A social Europe is the force that will relegitimize the European project from the bottom up. Regarding Brexit, he described the referendum as a completely erroneous mechanism to solve complex dilemmas, and said that what was being asked of voters was an emotional yes; a feeling, rather than a vote. Now the British are finding out that, by voting themselves out, they voted for less wealth, more seclusion, less influence and a greater loss of real and tangible benefits. The cost to Spain Antonio Maqueda A disorderly no-deal Brexit could cost the Spanish economy more than 9 billion over the course of the next five years, or 0.82% of GDP, according to Bank of Spain calculations based on the Bank of England's own 2018 projections. An orderly no-deal withdrawal would bring the cost down to approximately 6 billion, or 0.5% of GDP. This second scenario supposes that contingency plans will work and that both sides will strive to keep problems down to a minimum. On the other hand, a Brexit that came with a deal would have a very small impact on the Spanish economy, in the range of 200 million or 0.02% of GDP, since a stronger pound would compensate many of the losses, according to a Bank of Spain report released on Tuesday. Most of these losses are attributable to the change in trade relations. The Spanish government has not made any public forecast about the cost of Brexit. The German executive, by contrast, has estimated that its own economy could lose up to two percentage points of GDP. English version by Susana Urra. Fernando Paz during a press conference in 2013. Far-right political party Vox has enlisted a negationist and homophobic pseudo-historian to run for Congress in the upcoming general election of April 28. Fernando Paz is at the top of the party ticket for Albacete in Spains Castilla-La Mancha region, which gives him a chance at a seat in the lower house. Vox first gained parliamentary representation in December, when it won 12 seats in the Andalusian regional government. The party is now hoping to replicate this success elsewhere in Spain, which is also holding local, regional and European elections on May 26. According to Paz, most Jewish people were murdered by local populations in Eastern Europe Paz has written a book questioning the legitimacy and impartiality of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals after World War II. At a talk in 2016 at the headquarters of the fascist party Falange, Paz said that the trials occasionally had the air of a farce. Regarding the Holocaust, he has said that although it is undeniable that there were organized killings of Jews [] what really happened is far from having been established with precision. According to him, most Jewish people were murdered by local populations in Eastern Europe, although some were also killed by German troops for military and ideological reasons. In his opinion, the identification of Jews with Communists was a simplification, but there was a substantial element of truth in it. Despite the evidence of the gas chambers, Paz holds that most Jews were killed by gunfire. In 2013, Paz was involved in a televised debate with Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the leftist Podemos party, during which he claimed that the 1937 bombing of Gernika, in the Basque region, was a myth crafted in England by The Times to justify the British rearmament program. Vox leader Santiago Abascal hopes to replicate his success in Andalusia. VOX (Europa Press) That same year, Paz expressed his views on homosexuality on a television program called El gato al agua : If my son told me he was gay, I would try to help him. There are therapies to treat this psychology, he said. And after Ireland legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, Paz tweeted: Even Ireland approves gay marriage. With the firmness of a sleepwalker, the West is hurling itself into the abyss. Vox has also confirmed that an anti-abortion campaigner named Lourdes Mendez will head its party list for Murcia. Mendez presides an association called Family and Human Dignity, and she is part of One of Us, an international ultra-Catholic umbrella group. In November, she joined Vox leader Santiago Abascal at a party rally in Murcia where she said that Vox is the only party with a clear narrative against gender-based ideology and in favor of families based on natural marriage. Mendez served as a member of the regional government of Murcia between 2002 and 2004, and she was a deputy for the Popular Party (PP) between 2004 and 2016. Vox has also attracted another former PP member to its ranks: Ignacio Gil Lazaro, a historical PP figure in the Valencia region, will run with Vox at the national election. The defections illustrate how the PP and Vox are competing for right-of-center votes. Both parties are making use of the popular smartphone application WhatsApp to spread their message, which in the PPs case involves convincing sympathizers that a vote for Vox is wasted because of Spains proportional representation voting system. English version by Susana Urra. Nasalyk: foreign companies interested in development of hydrocarbon fields in Ukraine on PSA terms Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk has stated that foreign companies are interested in developing hydrocarbon sites in Ukraine under the terms of product sharing agreements (PSA). "I can say beforehand: there is interest from American, British, Norwegian and Canadian firms," he told reporters after a government meeting. As reported, Ukraine announced 12 tenders for signing production sharing agreements for the development of hydrocarbon deposits. The following deposits are put up for auction: Hrunivsky, Varvynsky, Rusanivsky, Okhtyrsky, Buzivsky, Zenkivsky, Ivanivsky, Ichniansky, Balakleisky, Sofiyevsky, Berestiansky, and Uhnivsky. The fields are located in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions. The term of PSAs is 50 years. Applications for participation in the tenders are accepted within three months from the date of publication of the announcement of their conduct. It is assumed that the state's share in profitable products should be at least 11% of its total volume, the maximum investor's share is 70% of total production (until full reimbursement for investor expenses). Head of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko Artur Herasymov has said lobbyists for Batkivschyna Party leader and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko attempted to break ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko's settlement agreement with U.S. justice officials. "Over the past few months, Tymoshenko's lawyers and lobbyists have done everything to thwart Lazarenko's settlement with U.S. Justice Department officials and delay the return of those millions of dollars to Ukraine," he told reporters in Ukraine's parliament in Kyiv on Tuesday. Herasymov refuted the statement of Tymoshenko that Ukrainian law enforcement authorities are trying to compromise her in case against Lazarenko. "I think many of you have already read Tymoshenko's statements about attempts to find compromising material on her from Lazarenko's entourage. I would like to say that there is no need to extort compromising evidence from Lazarenko about Tymoshenko. Most of the corrupt funds frozen and arrested by U.S. officials are either bribes which Tymoshenko paid Lazarenko or the result of the corrupt business activities of Tymoshenko and Lazrenko," he said. "For example, $86 million was received from the company Somali Enterprises, which at that time Tymoshenko owned. This accounts for more than a third of all funds arrested by American law enforcement officers. "Ukraine's law enforcement system did everything to ensure that this money is returned to Ukraine as soon as possible and used for the needs of the Ukrainian army, assistance to pensioners and low-income people," Herasymov said. Earlier, Tymoshenko in an interview with U.S.-government funded Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe network said Ukrainian prosecutors are trying to find compromising materials against involving Lazarenko. "Through [Ukraine's] Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), which is headed by the incumbent Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief's godfather, they are now trying to break down these cases there ... in the United States. They are trying to break the people around Lazarenko, break the people who are involved in these matters to get some compromising information about me," she said. Lazarenko was accused of laundering money obtained by illegal means and transferred to foreign accounts in 1994-1999. In August 2006, he was sentenced by a California court to nine years in prison for money laundering and other crimes. Lazarenko was released from prison on November 1, 2012 after spending 10 years in jail. Ukrainian prosecutors have said he will be arrested if he returns to Ukraine. Lawyers for the ex-prime minister say he has been charged in Ukraine for dozens of alleged crimes, including bribery, misappropriation of funds, abuse of office, etc. Representatives of separate Russia-occupied districts of Luhansk region on Wednesday handed over 60 convicts to continue serving their sentences on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has said. "Today, in the town of Shchastia, we took custody of 60 convicts, who are serving their sentences in penitentiary institutions in certain areas of Russia-occupied areas of Luhansk region. They will continue to serve their sentences on the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government," Denisova said on Facebook. The individuals were handed over in the area of the town of Shchastia, controlled by Ukraine, in the presence of officials from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC). In December 2018, the LPR handed over 42 prisoners who said they wanted to serve their terms on Ukrainian territory. Another 33 people were handed over on February 7. The trial of Esmaeil Bakhshi, Ali Nejati and other defendants arrested amid protests and strikes at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane industrial complex in the city of Shush, southwest Iran, has been referred to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The Revolutionary Courts, set up after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, are tasked with trying those suspected of crimes like espionage, blasphemy, smuggling, attempting to overthrow the government, and other national security crimes. However, critics say the revolutionary courts are often used when authorities want a harsher sentence and more secrecy than could be achieved in regular penal courts. Farzaneh Zilabi, the attorney representing several workers of the sugar mill plant, has bitterly criticized the decision on social media. "A member of the Haft Tapeh workers union, Esmaeil Bakhshi, and a member of the board of directors of the same trade union, are behind bars merely for going on strike and attending protest rallies, she wrote on Telegram. Hundreds of activists and international human rights defenders have demanded the unconditional and immediate release of workers and labor leaders arrested during strikes and protests at the plant. Workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane complex have repeatedly gone on strike over the last several months, demanding overdue wages and the return of their plant's ownership to the public sector. Meanwhile, Zilabi noted that the Justice Department has not responded to Bakhshis complaint against the ultraconservative daily Kayhan and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-run Fars news agency. Bakhshi filed a lawsuit against the two conservative media two months ago. Last January, Fars news agency and Kayhan reported that Bakhshi was arrested while trying to escape. However, Bakhshi insists he was arrested while sleeping in his bedroom. Bakhshi is the spokesperson of the Haft Tapeh sugar mill workers. He was arrested first in November, and after his release claimed he was tortured. Days later, on January 20 he was arrested again, and there was scant news about his situation. A civil rights activist who had attested to Bakhshis torture was also arrested on the same day. Bakhshis family and his attorney say they have been denied access to him in prison. Meanwhile, several retired plant workers assembled at the factory's compound again March 19 demanding their overdue wages. Following the assembly, the Haft Tapeh Workers Syndicate reported that production lines at the industrial complex came to a halt, and all workers stopped working. Current plant workers say they have not received their bonuses and wages for months. Furthermore, since the insurance subsidy of the workers has also not been paid, the Social Security Organization has not renewed the workers social insurance coverage. Tehran, March 19, 2019 (AFP) - Iran's Mahan Air has been forced to cancel its Paris flights over "sanctions", its customer services team said Tuesday weeks after Germany banned the airline. "We have been told that (flights to France) have been cancelled... as of the first of April," an operator at the airline's office in Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport told AFP. The Paris schedule will be scrapped "because of sanctions" by the French, the source said by phone without elaborating. Two of the airline's French customers in Iran were notified by email that their flights booked for next month were cancelled. Mahan, the Islamic republic's second-largest carrier after Iran Air, flies up to four services a week between Tehran and Paris. Germany imposed a ban on Mahan in January, which the foreign ministry said was necessary to protect Berlin's "foreign and security policy interests". That decision came amid broader sanctions adopted by the European Union against Tehran over attacks on opponents in the bloc. Iran has denied any involvement in the alleged plots and described Germany's move as "hasty and unjustifiable." Mahan Air was blacklisted by the US in 2011, as Washington said the carrier was providing technical and material support to an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards known as the Quds Force. A right-wing student group in Iran has called on the country's new Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeesi (Raeisi) to indict his predecessor and another senior politician for being involved in a "land grab" case in the lavish Lavasan area north of Tehran. The group has asked the Judiciary to hand Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani and former Parliament Speaker and ex-Chief Inspector of Khamenei's office, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, maximum sentence in case they are convicted. This adds yet another twist to a host of corruption disclosures and trials in recent months, after decades of public outcry about powerful people misusing their positions in the Islamic Republic establishment. The area in question, some 1,000,000 square meters, is a gated community nicknamed Beverly Hills of Iran where 62 luxury residential complexes have been built on the slopes overlooking Lake Latian. It is not clear if the lands were all private property or partly owned by religious endowments. But at least some of the land belonged to Nateq Nouri's relatives and the zoning was changed from "farmland" to "residential", in what is seen as intervention by the two powerful ayatollahs. The project started in 2003 but was soon stopped due to opposition by local authorities and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was concerned about water pollution in the lake, which partly supplies Tehran's drinking water. Amoli Larijani later authorized construction in the area as Judiciary Chief earlier this decade, and Nateq Nouri told local authorities not to protest the decision. However, during the past year following intervention by a Khamenei top aide several local officials were arrested. A documentary video on Iran-based Internet TV channel Ava Net TV, recently disclosed the case and claimed that Nateq Nouri is a relative of the owners of the project. The student group, the Justice Seekers, which has called for legal action against the two top clerics, is known for supporting former ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has never concealed his dislike of Amoli Larijani and Nateq Nouri and has complained against their disregard for laws in letters to Khamenei during the past two years. In recent days, investigative journalists Yashar Soltani, and conservative filmmaker Milad Goudarzi have "amplified" the case on social media. Goudarzi told the state TV's Tehran Channel that the township is still being developed "in spite of clear opposition expressed by Khamenei." The state TV has identified Goudarzi as the editor-in-chief of the Internet-based Ava Net TV. In his documentary, Goudarzi accuses the two top clerics of "playing with the prestige of the Islamic Republic," and "circumventing the Supreme Leader's order." Goudarzi also accused the local municipality of agreeing to convert farmlands into a residential area after the owners ceded half of the lands in dispute to the municipality free of charge. The documentary says the construction project continued because Amoli-Larijani and Nateq Nouri used their "influence." In recent days, the media reported that the heads of the Natural Endowments Organizations of two local areas were arrested for "financial corruption" and "land-grabbing" and the head of the Intelligence Department of Lavasan was removed from his post because of his involvement in the case. Meanwhile, a local news website, Asr-e Lavasan, asked why the Friday Prayer Leader of Lavasan remained silent about the case during the past four years although he knew about it. A wave of protests against Amoli Larijani started on Twitter after the case was disclosed. Pro-Ahmadinejad users such as "Aminolraya" have called on the new Judiciary Chief to start investigating the case. Well-known journalist Sadra Mohaqeq wrote that the residential areas have been developed in spite of opposition by the Environmental Agency, Ministry of Energy, the High Council of Urban Development and other organizations, because Amoli Larijani supported the project. Twitter User Vahid Ashtari has called for the "open trial" of the clerics who have used their influence to further the project. Vahid Heroabadi, a cleric, expressed hope that Amoli Larijani would be removed from all of his posts if convicted. A very well-known hardline influencer on Twitter, Zahra Tabbakhi, characterized the case as "character assassination" and wrote "no official has remained immune" to this kind of assassination. However, she has warned that "too many news reports about embezzlement and corruption within only two months could lead to a public mutiny." Under the pressure of economic crisis, the Islamic Republic has launched a campaign against corruption and market speculation, putting on trial dozens of former officials and businessmen. In such an atmosphere, various political factions start mutual accusations and those who have the opportunity, initiate indictments against opponents. The interesting question is why Khameneis office permits the disclosure of so many corruption cases. One answer might be the regimes quest to show the public that it is vigilant, trying to root out economic disruptors in the midst of a serious economic crisis. Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20 Trend: The number of tours from Russia to Azerbaijan in 2018 increased by two percent, the Analytical Agency TurStat told Trend. According to the report, the number of tours increased to 748 thousand. According to the rating of countries visited by Russian tourists in 2018, presented by the agency, Azerbaijan ranked 17th among foreign countries. Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 29 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 20, Trend reports. The Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. By Ruth Anderah. Eight people accused of participating in the murder of AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi have been released on bail by International Crimes Division of the High Court. The eight have been released by Justice Lydia Mugambe who also ordered them to sign a non cash bail of 150 million shillings and their sureties each bonded in the sum of 250million shillings not cash to ensure that they report to court for trial. They also ordered to deposit all their travel and identification documents to court. Justice Mugambe ruled that the eight presented substantial sureties and that its unlawful to continue detaining them in prison without trial. They are suspected to have killed the former AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his body guard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Wambewa. They are said to have conspired to shot dead the three deceased on the morning of March 17th 2017 at Kulambiro in Nakawa Division within Kampala City. Related Stories.. Seven Kaweesi murder suspects granted bail Two kaweesi suspects stranded at Luzira prison Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of Novruz. The letter reads: "Dear fellow countrymen! I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of Novruz and wish you all a spring mood, good health and happiness on these festive days. Novruz, which has since ancient times penetrated into the deepest layers of our spiritual life and occupies an exceptional place in the formation of national and cultural values, is an invaluable gift of our ancestors to current generations. The colorful ceremonies of Novruz preserve ideas of the unity of nature and man and epitomize the whole philosophy of the life of our people and their rich inner world. In Azerbaijani soil, Novruz has always been protected from alien influences. Not a single force was allowed the opportunity to squeeze it out of the soul of our people. Thanks to its great spiritual strength, we have managed to maintain optimism and confidence in the future even in the most adverse periods of our past. The fact that this spring holiday has now become a truly national celebration is one of the achievements of our state independence. The arrival of spring in our region is solemnly marked in accordance with the ceremonies that left a mark on history. At a time when the wave of globalization has gained momentum and traditional values undergo continuous change, Novruz has become an expression of our attachment to our historical and cultural heritage. Each one of us is proud that this holiday, which embodies the highest values inherent in humankind, has been included in the UNESCO list of masterpieces of human heritage. Azerbaijan, which has achieved significant successes on the path of sustainable development, is embarking on a new stage of reforms, which, harmoniously combined with the renewing spirit of spring, increases our desire for creation. The various projects implemented in the same vein with the trends of continuous modernization in different areas of our life are intended to further improve the welfare of the citizens of our country. May this holiday bring a good mood, a lot of joy and abundance to every home and household. Happy Novruz!" Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20 Trend: Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov held several meetings at the National Congress of Chile on the sidelines of his official visit to Chile, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. At the meetings with Jaime Quintana, the President of the Senate of Chile, Jose Miguel Insulza, the President of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, Francisco Chahuan, head of the Chile-Azerbaijan Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group and with the other members of the Group, the development of the friendship relations between Azerbaijan and Chile and the activity of the mutual diplomatic representations were highlighted. The existence of great potential for development of relations in economic, trade, energy, agriculture, investment, transport, humanitarian-cultural, education and other spheres was noted and the importance of inter-parliamentary friendship groups for strengthening of ties between our nations was underlined. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan and Chile actively cooperate within international organizations and the positions over many issues of international agenda coincide. In this context, the membership of both countries to the Non-Aligned Movement was stressed and the invitation of Chile to the summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement to be held this October in Baku was highlighted. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also participated at the daily session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and met with the chair of the Chamber of Deputies, vice-chair of the Chile-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Pablo Vidal and other members of the Group. Presenting wide information on Azerbaijan at the meeting, Foreign Minister went through all aspects of bilateral relations and noted the existence of enough potential for developing the cooperation. Also, he spoke about cooperation of Azerbaijan and Chile within international organizations, including the Non-Aligned Movement and noted in this regard the capital Baku to host the XVIII summit meeting of the Movement. At the meeting Foreign Minister gave information on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and continuing occupation policy of Armenia against Azerbaijan, which is a serious threat to security in the South Caucasus region, emphasized the necessity of the settlement of the conflict based on the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan and return of the internally displaced persons to their homelands in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov expressed his gratitude to the Chamber of Deputies of Chile for its support to the just position, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the relevant UN SC resolutions with regard to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 20 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: Azerbaijan and Iran intend to establish a joint international trade company, Farhad Dejpasand, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, told Trend. According to him, Iran and Azerbaijan intend to establish both joint investment companies and joint investment funds. Azerbaijani and Iranian businessmen will thus be able to work together more easily, the Iranian minister added. "Necessary and essential resources will be provided by the two countries. These companies will then start operating," he said. Commenting on the Rasht-Astara railway project, Dejpasand added that there is a small technical problem with the railway project, and preliminary discussions were held on this issue in Baku. "I will soon hold necessary discussions on the issue with the Iranian side and this technical problem will soon be resolved," he said. Dejpasand said that the Rasht-Astara railroad is to be commissioned within the next 2 years. The 13th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Iran State Committee for Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Affairs was held on March 15, 2019. Baku, Azerbaijan, March 20 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: The volume of bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Malaysia increased almost fourfold compared with 2017 and amounted to $478 million in 2018, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. Exports from Kazakhstan reached $351.7 million, while imports from Malaysia reached $126.1 million. Diplomatic relations between countries were established 27 years ago. In 2014, the countries reached an agreement on the promotion of bilateral relations to the level of "all-round partnership". In 1996, Kazakhstan and Malaysia opened their embassies in Kuala Lumpur and Almaty, respectively. The president of Kazakhstan visited Malaysia three times (in 1996, 2006, 2012), and Malaysian top management visited Kazakhstan four times (in 1996, 2003, 2011 and 2014). The countries cooperate in the fields of oil and gas industry and oil and gas services, Islamic finance, housing and infrastructure construction, agriculture, halal industry, e-commerce, tourism and cyber security. Kazakhstan, alongside with Malaysian companies and investors, implement long-term projects in the oil and gas, agricultural and construction sectors for a total amount of over $1 billion. About 1,000 Kazakhstan students study in Malaysian universities. --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Two children were killed when militants opened sniper fire on a school bus in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, the head of the Russian reconciliation center in Syria, Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin, told reporters, Trend reported citing TASS. "At 16:50 local time on March 19, 2019, a school bus transporting children in the northwestern Aleppo suburb of Al Zahraa came under sniper fire from the terrorist-controlled territory in the Leramun district," he said. "As a result, a twelve-year-old boy was killed, while an eight-year-old girl and a female teacher who accompanied the children were gravely injured. The girl later died in hospital," Kupchishin continued. According to the Russian official, the attack was aimed at destabilizing situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone and disrupting the demilitarized zone agreement. "Moreover, in order to spark a massive public outcry, the militants resorted to brutal terrorist attacks and started killing children in a cynical and deliberate manner," Kupchishin said. According to the Russian general, in the past 24 hours militant fire was reported in the following Syrian cities and towns: Safsafa (thrice), Qalaat Marza (twice) and Nasheebba (twice) in the Latakia governorate; Niha and al-Salihiya in the Idlib governorate; Tal Bazzam (twice), Masasna and Hreshi in the Aleppo governorate. Besides, the outskirts of the Aleppo city came under attack twice in the reported period. Eleven Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday set up the first Arab space organization, whose first project will be developing a satellite to monitor environmental and climate changes, Trend reported citing Xinhua. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai, attended the ceremony of signing the charter for the Arab Group for Space Collaboration, held on the opening day of Global Space Congress in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mohammed said the group's first project would be developing a satellite named as 813, the year the House of Wisdom in Baghdad reached the height of its reputation. The satellite will be developed in the UAE. He noted that the House brought together scientists and translated books of knowledge, and became a place for the region to unleash its scientific energy. The Global Space Congress, held on March 19-21, is one of the key events bringing together space sector leaders of the Middle East and North Africa region. The UAE cabinet on March 11 adopted the National Space Strategy 2030, which includes 36 objectives and 119 initiatives benefiting more than 85 entities in the UAE. The strategy is seen as the general framework for UAE's space industry and activities until 2030. A total of three terrorists were killed in the Jebal Salloum, a military zone in Kasserine Governorate in west-central Tunisia, Trend reports citing Xinhua. The three killed in a preventive operation launched on Tuesday night "were involved in beheading a civilian called Mohamed Lakhdar Makhloufi in Mount Mhgila on Feb. 21, 2019," Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) said. "All security units participating in this military operation are safe and sound," it added. According to the National Guard units, the number of terrorists killed is likely to rise. Saudi Arabia is targeting up to $20 billion of investments through 2035 for a planned landmark tourism destination and will hold a global investor roadshow before the end of the year, the head of the project told Reuters, Trend reports. Al-Ula, the site of an ancient civilization in a remote northwestern corner of the country, is part of plans by the worlds top crude exporter to diversify its economy away from oil and open up after decades of reclusion. Amr Madani, chief executive of the Royal Commission for al-Ula, said in an interview this week he expects targeted investments to eventually generate 35,000 jobs and contribute a combined 120 billion riyals ($32 billion) to gross domestic product over the next 17 years. The bulk of that in the beginning will be construction-led but at steady state it will be tourism-led, he said. This would be alongside secondary industries like sustainable agriculture, heritage preservation and film production. The government, along with a French cultural partnership, has already begun financing infrastructure at al-Ula, which features majestic rock-hewn tombs and 2,000-year-old stone carvings by the Nabateans, the pre-Islamic Arab people that also built Petra in neighboring Jordan. Wed rather inject zero from public money, but the reality is we need to kickstart the investment. So we dont know what that number is but were committed to keep investing until we get to the right conditions where funds jump in, Madani said. Various investment vehicles will be considered, including joint ventures and long leases, he added. The number of people killed in a powerful cyclone and flooding in Mozambique has risen above 200, more than doubling the countrys death toll from a storm that could rank as one of the worst weather-related disasters in the southern hemisphere, Trend reported citing Reuters. Mozambiques President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised statement following a cabinet meeting on the disaster on Tuesday that the death toll after Cylone Idai now stood at more than 200, up from 84. Winds of up to 170 kph (105 mph) and flooding swept across southeastern Africa, including Zimbabwe and Mozambique, affecting more than 2.6 million people, United Nations officials said on Tuesday. Rescue crews were still struggling to reach victims five days later, while aid groups said many survivors were trapped in remote areas, surrounded by wrecked roads, flattened buildings and submerged villages. The Red Cross said at least 400,000 people had been made homeless in central Mozambique alone. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambiques history, said Jamie LeSueur, who is leading rescue efforts in Beira for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The organization said large areas to the west of the port city of Beira were severely flooded, and in places close to the Buzi and Pungwe rivers flood waters are meters deep, completely submerging homes, telephone poles and trees. LeSueur had said earlier on Tuesday, when the death toll was 84, that the full human impact of the disaster remained unclear, and that the figure was likely to rise. While the official count has increased, it remains well below the 1,000 deaths Nyusi had estimated after flying over some of the worst-hit zones, witnessing submerged villages and bodies floating in the water. The cyclone hit land near Beira on Thursday and moved inland throughout the weekend, leaving heavy rains in its trail on Tuesday. More rural areas remained unaccessible. Studies of satellite images suggested 1.7 million people were in the path of the cyclone in Mozambique and another 920,000 affected in Malawi, said Herve Verhoosel, senior spokesman at the U.N World Food Programme. He gave no figures for Zimbabwe. In Maputo, Mozambiques capital, people worried about missing relatives. Telma fa Gloria, a street vendor, said she had not heard from her mother, who she usually speaks to every day, or her siblings, for days. Her mothers neighborhood was in one of the worst-hit areas. Im stitched up, with nothing to do, she said, adding she was thinking of going to Beira to find out what had happened. I dont have the strength to get the news I dont want to hear, and I dont wish anyone to hear. WORST FEARS Heavy rains preceded the cyclone, compounding the problems. If the worst fears are realized ... then we can say that it is one of the worst weather-related disasters, tropical-cyclone-related disasters in the southern hemisphere, said Clare Nullis of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. Droughts are classed as climate-related not weather-related. In Beira, a low-lying coastal city of 500,000 people, Nullis said the water had nowhere to drain. This is not going to go away quickly, she said. Mark Ellul, a 31-year-old British doctor from Manchester who was working at the Beira hospital when the storm hit the city on Thursday, was trapped in a hotel room. He said the hospital suffered significant damage. It was pretty terrifying during the storm, extremely noisy, frightening and you can hear the flying debris outside, Ellul said. It felt like the windows were going to break, like the storm was going to come into the room. Beira is also home to Mozambiques second largest port, which serves as a gateway to landlocked countries in the region. The control room of a pipeline that runs from Beira to Zimbabwe and supplies the majority of that countrys fuel has been damaged, Zimbabwes Energy Minister Jorum Gumbo told state-owned Herald newspaper on Tuesday. We, however, have enough stocks in the country and I am told the repairs at Beira may take a week, he was quoted as saying. AID ON THE WAY The European Union announced on Tuesday an initial emergency aid package of 3.5 million euros ($3.97 million) to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe for logistical support to reach affected people, emergency shelters, hygiene, sanitation and health care. Britain has pledged up to 6 million pounds ($7.96 million) in aid. Citizens in Zimbabwe are mobilizing donations, including cash, food and clothes to help thousands of families whose homes were wrecked by the cyclone. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who visited Chimanimani on Tuesday, told reporters that Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates were also sending donations while neighbors, including South Africa, Botswana and Angola, would also help. Turkish presidetn Recep Tayyip Erdogan penned an opinion piece to Washington Post, in which he rejected efforts to associate Christianity with terrorism and reiterated that the Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant and Daesh are "cut from the same cloth," Trend reported citing Daily Sabah. "The Christchurch massacre's alleged perpetrator attempted to legitimize his twisted views by distorting world history and the Christian faith. He sought to plant seeds of hate among fellow humans," he said, adding that he categorically rejects "any attempt to associate last week's terrorist attacks with the teachings, morals or maxims of Christianity" in a piece published in the paper late Tuesday. "If anything, what happened in New Zealand was the toxic product of ignorance and hate." Slamming Daesh terrorist group for its massacres against Muslims, he said that Tarrant did the same thing in the heinous attack. "Viewing history through the lens of its radical ideology, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, a terrorist organization that has killed thousands of predominantly Muslim civilians in recent years, called for the "reconquest" of Istanbul much like the Christchurch attacker, who pledged in his manifesto to make the city "rightfully christian owned once more." The Islamic State similarly vowed to destroy the Republic of Turkey one of the reasons Turkish troops cracked down so hard on the terror group in Syria," he added, pointing to Turkey's anti-terror campaigns in Northern Syria. "The number of times he mentioned both Turkey and myself was both curious and worth deeper consideration," he further added, pointing to the terrorist's enmity against the country. Repeating his famous criticism of the West, he said "Unfortunately, Islamophobia and xenophobia, among other practices incompatible with liberal values, were met with silence in Europe and other parts of the Western world." "In the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre, the West has certain responsibilities. Western societies and governments must reject the normalization of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, which has been on the rise in recent years," he added. "It is crucial to establish that such twisted ideologies, such as anti-Semitism, amount to crimes against humanity. Moreover, we must shed light on all aspects of what happened and fully understand how the terrorist became radicalized and his links to terrorist groups to prevent future tragedies." The President also praised New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her exemplary attitude in the aftermath of the terror attack. "Finally, all Western leaders must learn from the courage, leadership and sincerity of New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to embrace Muslims living in their respective countries," he concluded. By Moses Kyeyune. A section of MPs both from the opposition and the ruling party have criticized President Museveni for rejecting the Sugar Bill that was recently passed by Parliament. The MPs allege that the president is siding with sugar conglomerate, Madhvani of Kakira limited, Ugandas leading sugar manufacturer. Addressing a press conference at Parliament today, the lawmakers including Bugabula South MP Maurice Kibalya, Butambala Countys Muhammed Muwanga Kivumbi and Bujumbura County MP Fred Tiryamuhweza say that the presidents reaction is on purely personal grounds. They have vowed to maintain their position on the bill, which outlawed the zoning of sugar cane markets. The President communicated his decision not to assent to the bill at a retreat of NRM Parliamentary Caucus n Kyankwanzi on Friday. Turyamuhweza, is the shadow minister for Trade and Industry. Pradeep, who joined the Air Force in 2004, had been involved in the rescue operations during the floods in 2018 that caused massive destruction throughout Kerala. " " Flickr (CC By 2.0) Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech, 1st Marquis of Dali de Pubol, also known as Salvador Dali, died in 1989, but will be resurrected by The Dali Museum in April 2019. When "Dali Lives" opens in the spring of 2019, it will be "an unconventional experience of this very unconventional artist," according to Kathy Greif, the chief operating officer of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Wouldn't Dali have loved to be there for this one-of-a-kind exhibition? Maybe in some way he will be. As he once wrote, "If someday I may die, though it is unlikely, I hope the people in the cafes will say, 'Dali has died, but not entirely.'" Courtesy of the 21st century and massive leaps in artificial intelligence (AI), Dali's wish is coming true in a big way. Advertisement The Changing Museum Experience The first museums were private collections of exotic objects known as cabinets of curiosities or wonder rooms. Only guests of the wealthy owners were admitted to view the items. Now works of art and wonders of science are available to everyone online anytime, without ever leaving home. But you should leave home, especially now that museums are offering immersive experiences to engage you with artists and artifacts as never before. In the last decade or so, smart museums have acknowledged that smartphones are collaborative tools and not just competition for eyeballs. Mobile tech is embedded in many, if not most, museum experiences, and apps abound. Some apps provide real-time answers to visitor questions, some let you create a customized tour by selecting "really big" or "really old," for example. Augmented reality apps re-animate 3D dinosaurs to great effect and bring to life historical figures who virtually guide you through exhibits. The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida is no stranger to delivering digital experiences. Its latest is even stranger and more wonderful than previous tech-inspired offerings. "Dali Lives: Where Art Meets Artificial Intelligence", opening in April 2019, presents a kind of rebirth of Salvador Dali decades after his death. Throughout the exhibit, visitors will be invited to connect with an AI resurrection of Dali. Click a button, and a life-size image of the larger-than-life artist appears on one of many screens throughout the exhibit. Visitors gain insight into the work by interacting with AI Dali as they wander the museum's more than 2,000 paintings, illustrations, sculptures and photographs. "This Dali speaks directly to guests about his work and his world, and about our current world," explains Greif. "Visitors won't be guided directly through the galleries. They'll experience the work as they engage with the person who knew Dali best the artist himself." Advertisement Enter Goodby Silverstein & Partners To create AI Dali, museum staff amassed archival footage and hundreds of interviews and quotes and shared them with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the design agency that created the museum's earlier digital experiences. GS&P found an actor who matched Dali's physical proportions and then trained an AI algorithm to learn Dali's face and integrate his likeness with the actor's face and expressions. New footage was created of the actor performing monologues based on Dali's quotes and writings but with a present-day twist. "Along with his original thoughts, AI Dali might comment on the current weather or time of day for an authentic, conversational experience," says Greif. Authenticity that is delivered, paradoxically, by AI. The museum's AI experience was inspired by Salvador Dali himself. Throughout his long career, the artist combined technical expertise with dreamlike symbolism to create work that fascinates as it disquiets. Distorted objects on meticulously painted landscapes, elephants with impossibly long legs, melting timepieces. All part of the world of Dali, which thanks to this exhibit is now more accessible than ever. "This is one of the pillars of our digital strategy using cutting-edge technology to preserve Dali's remarkable legacy," Greif says. "The museum industry has become very adaptive; we're proud to be part of this new wave." Before "Dali Lives", The Dali Museum collaborated with GS&P in a 2014 exhibit that turned visitor selfies into replicas of a Dali painting. The two organizations then co-created "Dreams of Dali" in 2016, a virtual reality experience where viewers immerse themselves in the surrealism of a Dali painting. "Dreams" garnered international attention and continues to be a popular attraction. The museum also has another, yet to be revealed digital project in the works. Now That's Interesting Dali was exhumed in 2017 for DNA paternity testing (which proved he wasn't the dad in question). The embalmer was surprised and delighted that Dali's signature 'stache was still perfectly intact, not a whisker out of place. Neuropsychiatric illnesses are common and highly impairing conditions that arise from abnormal functioning of the brain. These conditions - impulsivity, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among others - can greatly impair the health of those affected by them and impact their ability to learn, work, and emotionally cope. With a focus on enhancing research to shed light on these disorders and their potential future health implications, Butler Hospital has been awarded a $12 million, five-year Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This creates key infrastructure and support a core group of interdisciplinary investigators to build a self-sustaining center of excellence in clinical-translational brain research. The overall goal of The COBRE Center for Neuromodulation (CCN) at Butler Hospital will be to address the pressing need for novel treatments for people struggling with neuropsychiatric disease, by understanding and testing methods to change the functioning of brain circuits underlying such illnesses. "This grant establishes Butler Hospital and The COBRE Center for Neuromodulation as a national leader in this field of translational medicine, expanding both research and clinical application of non-invasive brain stimulation across disorders of brain and behavior," said Benjamin Greenberg MD PhD, principal investigator on the grant, director of the OCD Research Program at Butler Hospital, and professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. "It will unify an interdisciplinary community in clinical-translational research on neuropsychiatric illnesses such as impulsivity, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), all focused on ultimately helping patients by developing new treatments." "This new NIH COBRE grant will advance understanding of neuropsychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and lead to research breakthroughs in mental and behavioral health," said Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee who noted that this federal grant compliments a $12 million COBRE grant for Brown University's Center for Central Nervous System Function, part of the Carney Institute for Brain Science, that was awarded in December. "This federal funding will also help boost the state's growing biomedical research and innovation capacity, helping to bolster mentorship, advance the careers of young researchers, and support numerous jobs in the biomedical research industry." "There is so much we still don't know about managing relatively common conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder," said U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. "With this federal funding, Butler Hospital will lead pioneering brain science research to help patients whose lives are deeply affected by these conditions." "With this new federal funding, Butler Hospital will continue to enhance its life-changing research to help people suffering from neuropsychiatric conditions," said Congressman James Langevin. "I congratulate Butler Hospital for winning this competitive award, and I will continue to fight for increased investment to support important biomedical research." "As Rhode Island's oldest psychiatric hospital, Butler Hospital has always been a leader in treating and researching psychiatric illnesses and substance abuse. The awarding of this $12 million COBRE grant will allow the hospital to expand its critical work to include helping people throughout our state and New England who suffer from neuropsychiatric conditions," said Congressman David N. Cicilline. "The many achievements of Butler Hospital and top mental hospitals around the country highlight the importance of fully funding the NIH's many vital programs, and I'm proud of the work that our Congressional Delegation has done to make sure we can continue to create opportunities to bring valuable federal funds home to Rhode Island." Importantly, The COBRE Center for Neuromodulation will nurture the careers of exceptional young researchers in Rhode Island by providing them the infrastructure and expertise to administer brain stimulation and assess its effects on both the brain and behavior. The CCN, co-directed by Linda Carpenter, MD, a nationally recognized leader in brain stimulation therapies and research based at Butler Hospital, will provide the platform these exceptional Project Leaders and other early-career researchers need to make important discoveries and transform them into better treatments for patients with neuropsychiatric illnesses. The stimulation methods to be tested are noninvasive, meaning they affect the brain when applied on the scalp (transcranial magnetic and transcranial electrical stimulation); stimulation effects will be assessed with neuroimaging (MRI) and other methods. The first group of Project Leaders supported by the COBRE CCN will focus on impulsive behavior (a problem across multiple illnesses), PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They will be supported in several critical ways, including in research administration and logistics, by experienced, highly skilled mentors and by new research infrastructure to aid them in the design and analysis of experiments and the practical use of stimulation and neuroimaging methods. This, plus a pilot grant program, will advance the careers of talented young researchers in Rhode Island towards making important independent contributions to science and health. ### About Butler Hospital Butler Hospital, a member of Care New England, is the only private, nonprofit psychiatric and substance abuse hospital serving adults, seniors and adolescents in Rhode Island and southeastern New England. Founded in 1844, it was the first hospital in Rhode Island and has earned a reputation as the leading provider of innovative psychiatric treatments in the region. The Major Affiliated Teaching Hospital for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in conducting cutting-edge research. For more information, visit butler.org. OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 20, 2019 - Direct observations of the structure and catalytic mechanism of a prototypical kinase enzyme--protein kinase A or PKA--will provide researchers and drug developers with significantly enhanced abilities to understand and treat fatal diseases and neurological disorders such as cancer, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis. The discovery was made by an international team of researchers using macromolecular neutron crystallography at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France. Building on a decade-long investigation, the combined efforts revealed previously unknown characteristics of the archetypal protein kinase, including a complete map of the atomic structure and the underpinnings of the enzyme's chemistry used in cellular signaling. The details are published in the journal Science Advances. Kinases are a large group of hundreds of enzymes responsible for initiating and regulating myriad cellular processes. Kinases send signals to proteins by way of phosphorylation--adding a reactive chemical group consisting of phosphorus and oxygen to a specific location on a substrate protein to activate its specific biological function. Problems arise when gene mutations cause kinases to work improperly, which in turn leads to disease. A malfunctioning kinase, or one that can't be deactivated, could be responsible for the overexpression of proteins that lead to the uncontrollable propagation of cancer cells. The opposite is also true in neurological disorders in which a malfunctioning kinase simply causes cells to die. "Creating drugs that target specific kinases is extremely important," said co-author Andrey Kovalevsky. "This detailed understanding of the PKA structure and its dynamics will tell us more about other kinds of kinases and should help drug developers design new drugs with better specificity, which would ultimately translate to more precise therapeutics with fewer side effects." Changes in the protein structure due to mutations can be difficult to detect even though the effects of mutations on the protein dynamical behavior can be quite profound. However, these dynamical behaviors become more apparent by examining the overall hydrogen bonding network throughout the protein. Neutrons are uniquely sensitive to light elements such as hydrogen. Because approximately 50 percent of all atoms in proteins are hydrogen, and most of the chemical reactions that enzymes catalyze involve hydrogen, neutrons are an ideal and unsurpassed probe for detecting the positions of hydrogen atoms within the protein structure and tracking their movement during catalysis. Neutron diffraction using the IMAGINE diffractometer at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and the LADI-III diffractometer at ILL enabled researchers to see the exact positions of hydrogen atoms to reveal the complete kinase structure as well as the protonation states of all amino acids in PKA and the ligands bound to its active site, many of which were previously unknown. "Neutrons enabled us to validate x-ray predictions of hydrogen atom positions, as well as determining the protonation states of chemical groups that were not known, or in places where we didn't expect to find them. This major chemical advance paves the way for more sophisticated molecular modeling and simulation studies of protein kinase structure and function," said corresponding author Susan Taylor. "Neutrons offer an unprecedented view of the hydrogen bond network surrounding and within the active site of PKA and give crucial insights on how allosteric transmission of information through the protein structure occurs," added co-author Gianluigi Veglia. "Combining neutron crystallography with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy will provide a comprehensive understanding of how enzymes work." ### The paper's co-authors include lead author Oksana Gerlits, Bredesen Center of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Kevin L. Weiss and Andrey Kovalevsky, ORNL; Matthew P. Blakeley, Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France; Gianluigi Veglia, University of Minnesota; and corresponding author Susan S. Taylor, University of California-San Diego, who initiated this effort through a joint project funded by the University of California and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The research at ORNL was supported by DOE's Office of Science. UT-Battelle LLC manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/. Women contemplating abortion say they would like more support from the health care community Almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned. In 2017, 12 733 abortions were carried out in Norway. The number of live births the same year was 56 600. In her doctoral work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Alesund, Assistant Professor Marianne Kjelsvik interviewed 13 women between 18 and 36 who came to the hospital for an abortion, but who were so unsure about their choice that they went home again to think about it more. Between 10 and 20 per cent of women are still uncertain about whether they should have an abortion when they come in for the procedure. "The women said that they'd been very careful about whom they talked to about abortion. Some of them hadn't brought it up with the man they'd become pregnant by. They searched online to find stories about women who had been in the same situation. When I asked if there was anyone they would have like to talk to but were hesitant to, several said 'my mother,'" says Kjelsvik, who works in NTNU's Department of Health Sciences. Taboo over generations Among the women who had talked with their mothers, several mothers opened up and admitted that they'd had an abortion themselves. "When this is kept secret, even from the people you're closest to, it says something about how alone a woman can feel," says Kjelsvik. The PhD candidate is a trained nurse and has extensive experience as a supervisor with the counselling service Amathea, an independent health service whose goal is for women to be able to live well with the decision that they've had time to think through. The voice we don't hear Kjelsvik finds that the abortion debate lacks the voices of women who have faced the choice between terminating or completing their pregnancy. "Ideally, a woman who wants to have an abortion should be sure of her choice, but many women aren't. They find themselves in a situation that isn't conducive to having a child, and at the same time they find it difficult to go through with an abortion. Then they end up making the final decision at the hospital." "Healthcare workers have busy schedules, and several mentioned that they hadn't received training on how to help women who were in doubt." Religion often enters into the abortion debate. However, the women in this study did not bring up religion when they talked about their values. "Women have their own values, and the women in the study were concerned with the fact that their decision involved a life. They considered the possibility of life with a child. Everyone has an opinion about abortion, but for the women who were in this situation, figuring out right and wrong became a complex question," says Kjelsvik. Difficult for health care workers The 13 women in the study were recruited from six different hospitals around the country. The women felt well received at the hospital when they came for the abortion. They felt respected. But at the same time, they wished that staff could have dealt better with their doubts. Not necessarily by giving advice, but by listening to them. The women really needed someone to talk to. Someone who could tell the women how difficult it had been for them. The health care workers, on the other hand, were very careful not to be judgmental or to influence the women in any way. "Health care workers have busy schedules, and several staff mentioned that they hadn't received training on how to help women who were in doubt. If several conflicted women come in on the same day, it can mess up the schedule completely," says Kjelsvik. She thinks more time should be allotted for these appointments and that it shouldn't be solely up to the individual nurse to help. "Everyone benefits when a woman is confident that she's made the right choice. For health care workers to avoid appearing judgmental or influencing the decision, I'd suggest an open introductory question like, 'What has it been like for you to make your decision about this abortion?' That kind of question signals caring rather than judgment," says Kjelsvik. Lingering doubt Even after the women in the study had made their final decision, they still had lingering doubts. Kjelsvik did follow-up interviews four weeks and twelve weeks after the women had made their decisions. Everyone was relieved to have come through a difficult time, but at the same time some women were still unsure about whether they had done the right thing. Those who had chosen to carry their pregnancies to term had mixed feelings. Some were troubled because they didn't enjoy being pregnant and worried whether they would be able to love the child. The reason they had considered abortion had not disappeared. Some of those who chose to get an abortion later thought that they could actually have gone through with the pregnancy. Taboos shrinking Berge Solberg, professor of medical ethics at NTNU, believes the scepticism towards involving the outside world in the question of abortion has many causes. "We're seeing a demystifying and 'de-tabooing' of abortion. More and more people are coming forward and talking about having had an abortion. But even though we're having these big social debates, the issue is perceived as very private for the person who finds herself in this situation. Even people who regard abortion as unproblematic and not ethically difficult know that people can have strong opinions in the opposite direction. So, you become cautious about bringing up the topic," says Solberg. He is the deputy chair of the Norwegian National Committee for Medicine and Health Research Ethics. Fully human at birth Norway's Abortion Act came after a long historical battle for women's rights. Norwegian abortion law is based on the idea that a woman has the right to control her own body, which applies without restriction until the end of the twelfth week of pregnancy. After twelve weeks, a panel makes the final decision and weighs the woman's interests against the foetus' right to life. This may result in a conflict of interest. The panels are required to pay close attention to the woman's point of view, and in most cases her choice is honoured. The requirements for granting abortion becomes increasingly strict as the women gets closer and closer to term. Norway does not give the foetus legal status before birth, but recognizes an individual's "full human dignity" at birth. "But even if the law were to be interpreted that the foetus has full moral status as a person before birth, it doesn't mean that abortion wouldn't be allowed. The woman's rights over her own body can trump the foetus's right to life," says Solberg. Temporary freeze The debate on foetal reduction - aborting one foetus when a woman is carrying twins - became a hot topic after Norway's Ministry of Justice and Public Security interpreted the abortion law to mean that full self-determination also applied in these cases. The government's Granavolden platform, consisting of the Conservatives (H), the Progress party (Frp), the Liberals (V) and the Christian Democratic party (KrF), agreed to remove the possibility of self-determined foetal reduction and to temporarily freeze the Abortion Act and the Biotechnology Act. Professor Solberg believes that proposals to liberalize these two acts will be made when this period is over. "It's more likely that the Abortion and Biotechnology Acts will be liberalized than tightened. However, the support for today's Abortion Act is strong, and fights over it can contribute to sharper divisions," Solberg says. Abortion rate the same regardless of law According to the ethics professor, the number of abortions in practice is pretty consistent from country to country, even though legislation differs. Ireland had a ban on abortion until recently, but the consequence of the ban was that Irish women travelled to England get abortions. "We find that the legislation on the issue doesn't affect the choice of action. The consequence of a ban or very strict laws against abortion isn't fewer abortions, but far more dangerous abortions, and a lot of suffering. Unsafe abortions are a major global health problem," says Solberg. ### Reference: Kjelsvik, M., Sekse, R. J. T., Moi, A. L., Aasen, E. M., Nortvedt, P. & Gjengedal, E. (2019). Beyond autonomy and care: experiences of ambivalent abortion seekers. Nursing Ethics, doi: 10.1177/0969733018819128 An array of underwater listening lines that detect passing giant Atlantic bluefin tuna previously caught and tagged by scientists has created a new system to monitor these enormous, fast, powerful and lucrative fish in the open ocean. A 10-year research project using the technology sheds light on the species' natural mortality as well as migration, important information for sustainable management of their populations. Results of the study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports (at https://go.nature.com/2W6gpEu) demonstrates that giant Atlantic bluefin gather in hot spots for 3 to 4 months a year to feast on their favourite snack foods -- herring and mackerel. Based on this behaviour, an international team of scientists predicted they might be able to take advantage of their homing behaviour to monitor the bluefin's coming and goings with Canada's Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) -- an array of underwater receivers on North America's east coast, including across the Cabot Strait and the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada. Additional receivers along the North American coastline logged visitation of the bluefin from Canada to the Bahamas, and as far east as Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Much like an electronic EasyPass collection system on tolled highways, the large bluefin "check in" as they pass across these acoustic "gates," providing an opportunity to monitor their behaviour in consecutive years. "Atlantic Bluefin are big animals and it took a team of fishers to catch each one individually and pull it up on the deck of their boats so scientists could electronically tag them. By carefully handling the animals, the team was able to tag each tuna with a long-term wearable device, and then record the return of mature and sub-adult Atlantic bluefin tuna for 1-5 years. "The project utilized the OTN underwater receiver technology that was deployed in strategic locations to capture the coming and goings of multiple species of fish in Canadian waters" said Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University, the leader of the project. Each tag emits a unique, coded "ping" which can be detected as an individual ID number, and stored by an array of underwater receivers - allowing them to identify the passage of an individual tagged tuna. One such receiver "gate" lies across the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence across the Cabot Straight, and a second line has been installed on the continental shelf off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Once a year, data collected on these receivers is downloaded by scientists from Canada's OTN. The data enabled the team to create a quantitative model of their natural survivorship -- a parameter difficult to directly measure empirically that provides information on how long bluefin tuna of the age class tagged (on average ~14 years old) survive in the wild. "It was a high risk project. No one was completely sure they'd come back with this precision as you have to be relatively close to the receiver to get the data," Block said. "By putting the acoustic tags out year after year in small numbers for almost a decade, and securing the tags tightly to the fish, we have been able to literally count the experimental fish coming into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in summer and detect their exit in the fall." Starting in 2009, scientists tagged 128 individual Atlantic bluefin tuna with acoustic tags. The first tags were placed on giant bluefin just as the receiver gate was constructed across the Cabot Strait, and this effort has continued ever since, with tags being deployed on approximately 4-25 fish per year and detections continuing to the present for more recent cohorts of tagged fish. Some of these fish were very large- including one whose length measurements on the deck of the vessel put it over 1,350 lbs (614 kg). Over 31,000 detections were picked up by receivers from Canada to the Bahamas, and all the way to Gibraltar. "Atlantic Bluefin have an uncanny ability to return with precision to the same ocean areas they were in the year before," said Dr. Mike Stokesbury of Acadia University. "We had observed this fidelity previously with satellite tags. We utilized acoustic tag technology created by Vemco, of Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada, to track the fish as they passed above the receiver gates." The study results provide a novel way to monitor the adult bluefin tuna populations as fisheries quotas rise. These are the fish that primarily go to spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, and contribute to the next generation of bluefin tuna. A spatially-structured Bayesian mark recapture model was applied to the acoustic detection data for Atlantic bluefin tuna electronically tagged in the GSL to estimate the rate of instantaneous annual natural mortality. This analysis showed that tagged bluefin tuna had over 90% natural survivorship one year post tagging and the technique potentially has the capacity to keep track of an individual for 5-10 years. "Not many things are eating a giant bluefin" remarked Mike Stokesbury. He adds that the experiment demonstrates that acoustic tags can provide vital fisheries independent estimates for life history parameters critical for improving stock assessment models. Atlantic bluefin tuna are fished by over 50 nations, and are currently managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Current total allowable catches (TACs) are 28,200 tonnes in the eastern Atlantic and 2,350 tonnes in the West Atlantic. Significant increases in TACs are projected in the next few years, particularly in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea where quotas are on target for 36,000 tonnes by 2020. Despite their economic importance, little is known about the natural survival of bluefin populations, a key parameter for building population models that predict their future numbers in the Atlantic Ocean. Natural survival has so far proven difficult to estimate, but this research provides a new way to refine this estimate. "The fidelity of these fish to the same spots combined with this large array of underwater receivers makes for a unique opportunity to learn about the survival of these fish under natural conditions, which is important for managing their populations sustainably" says Dr. Whitlock of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The scientists consider the project a "proof-of-concept" effort that demonstrates the strength of the technology and the novel capacity for building quantitative models that inform fisheries managers about the status of the populations. The team hopes to continue the study this coming year (dependent upon funding) and encourage an increased use of the electronic tag technology to improve modeling of tuna populations. Bluefin live a long time (~40 years) for a tuna species, and understanding the fate of the adults is important to understanding their life history. "Bluefin tuna are full of surprises, and I am fascinated with how each individual tends to have preferred routes no different than you or I. Bluefin tuna have favourite fast food hot spots where they like to go, and Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence attracts fish from both the North American and European population of tunas" Block explains. The scientists emphasize that the work would not have been possible without the enormous cooperation of a small group of commercial fishers around Murphy's pond, in Port Hood, Ca. The scientists dedicated the paper to Captain Steve McGinnis, a major participant in the study, who tragically lost his life last summer in an accident unrelated to the study, when out at sea catching Atlantic bluefin tuna with charter clients in the same area. "Stevie was an amazing fisherman and his contributions made this project the success that it has been, it's a great loss for this fishing community," Dr. Block remarked. ### Scientists participating in the study were from Stanford, Duke and Acadia University, The Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences of Sweden, and the TAG A Giant project of The Ocean Foundation, in the USA. The project also included Drs. Andre Boustany, Steve Wilson, Mr. Robert Schallert and Mike Castleton. The project was funded by a consortium of government and private funders. Fishers included Captain Dennis Cameron and Bernie Chisolm and their crews. To view the data, go to: https://www.stanfordblocklab.org/pacific-predator-tracks, click animal detectors, and pick a buoy in the Cabot Strait. A University of Adelaide researcher, alongside members of an international team, has won an AU$16 million ERC Synergy Grant to use plasma energy to produce fertilisers which provides the opportunity for new business models and could even lead to crops on Mars. "The SCOPE project (Surface-COnfined fast-modulated Plasma for process and Energy intensification in small molecules conversion) will investigate how new kinds of plasma and their symbiotic interaction with proprietary catalysts can be harnessed to transform the production of fertilisers," says Professor Volker Hessel, Deputy Dean-Research from the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences and Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering. "If the project, which has a six-year lifespan, is successful it could mean that fertilisers could be 'tailored' to individual environmental conditions. "My research will focus on how ammonia and other nitrogen-containing molecules are made more efficiently by virtue of targeted creation of unstable molecules or atoms during reactions between plasma and proprietary catalysts. "These chemical reactions are fundamental to the efficient production of fertilisers so are the focus of the project." This research could transform the chemical, energy and agriculture industries as ammonia has a key role for the world economy as an energy storage fuel and an essential component of fertilisers. Ammonia is the second-most abundant chemical on Earth and 180 million tonnes are produced each year by global industry. "The technology aims to enable small fertiliser production plants, which may be even carried on the back of a truck, to produce fertilisers on a small-scale (for example collectives of 20 farms requiring up to 50,000 tonnes of fertiliser per year) tailored for local environmental conditions. Existing production plants produce fertilisers on a large-scale so cannot achieve this flexibility," says Professor Hessel. "Development of plasma plants that can be used in the manufacture of fertiliser began five years ago in collaboration with German speciality chemicals leader Evonik. Results from the SCOPE project will improve the efficiency of this technology." This is the first time an Australian university has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant which is part of the European Union's research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. "Only 5% of applications to the ERC Synergy Grant, the most distinguished grant in Europe, are successful which reflects the cutting-edge nature of the research. Only researchers with the highest track record and the perfect team formation, or synergy, are successful in receiving funding from this very competitive scheme," says Professor Hessel. Professor Hessel will work with principal investigators from Italy, Belgium, and UK who will bring together different skills and resources to tackle this ambitious research project. To ensure the European integration of his research, Professor Hessel will collaborate with catalyst expert and entrepreneur Professor Evgeny Rebrov at the University of Warwick, UK. Professor Rebrov will take a reciprocal role at the University of Adelaide. "Similar work in another EU pilot project with Uganda is underway to implement precision farming 'e-agriculture' techniques by manufacturing fertilisers at the rural farm level. The plasma-made fertilisers are planned to be applied to crops in a flexible manner using local weather data from information and communication technologies such as mobile phone apps," says Professor Hessel. "In a more far-fetched scenario, the technology could be used to successfully grow food on Mars, as it is compact, uses green energy from the sun, and only requires nitrogen and water." Work on the SCOPE project is planned to begin in April 2019. ### Study co-authored by UCLA astronomer provides close look at what might be happening in other, more energetic galaxies The center of our galaxy is a frenzy of activity. A behemoth black hole -- 4 million times as massive as the sun -- blasts out energy as it chows down on interstellar detritus while neighboring stars burst to life and subsequently explode. Now, an international team of astronomers has discovered two exhaust channels -- dubbed "galactic center chimneys" -- that appear to funnel matter and energy away from the cosmic fireworks in the Milky Way's center, about 28,000 light-years from Earth. Mark Morris, a UCLA professor of astronomy and astrophysics, contributed to the research, which will be published March 21 in the journal Nature. "We hypothesize that these chimneys are exhaust vents for all the energy released at the center of the galaxy," Morris said. All galaxies are giant star-forming factories, but their productivity can vary widely -- from one galaxy to the next and even over the course of each galaxy's lifetime. One mechanism for throttling the rate of star production is the fountain of matter and energy whipped up by the heavyweight black hole that lurks at a galaxy's center. "Star formation determines the character of a galaxy," Morris said. "And that's something we care about because stars produce the heavy elements out of which planets -- and life -- are made." To better understand what becomes of that outflow of energy, Morris and his colleagues pointed the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite, which detects cosmic X-rays, toward the center of the Milky Way. Because X-rays are emitted by extremely hot gas, they are especially useful for mapping energetic environments in space. In images they collected from 2016 to 2018 and in 2012, the researchers found two plumes of X-rays -- the galactic center chimneys -- stretching in opposite directions from the central hub of the galaxy. Each plume originates within about 160 light-years of the supermassive black hole and spans over 500 light-years. The chimneys hook up to two gargantuan structures known as the Fermi bubbles, cavities carved out of the gas that envelops the galaxy. The bubbles, which are filled with high-speed particles, straddle the center of the galaxy and stretch for 25,000 light-years in either direction. Some astronomers suspect that the Fermi bubbles are relics of massive eruptions from the supermassive black hole, while others think the bubbles are blown out by hordes of newly born stars. Either way, the chimneys could be the conduits through which high-speed particles get there. Understanding how energy makes its way from a galaxy's center to its outer limits could provide insights into why some galaxies are bursting with star formation whereas others are dormant. "In extreme cases, that fountain of energy can either trigger or shut off star formation in the galaxy," Morris said. Our galaxy isn't quite that extreme -- other galaxies have fountains powered by central black holes weighing a thousand times more than ours -- but the Milky Way's center provides an up-close look at what might be happening in galaxies that are more energetic. "We know that outflows and winds of material and energy emanating from a galaxy are crucial in sculpting and altering that galaxy's shape over time -- they're key players in how galaxies, and other structures, form and evolve throughout the cosmos," said lead author Gabriele Ponti of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany. "Luckily, our galaxy gives us a nearby laboratory to explore this in detail, and probe how material flows out into the space around us." Morris said the centers of the nearest galaxies are hundreds to thousands of times farther away than our own. "The amount of energy coming out of the center of our galaxy is limited, but it's a really good example of a galactic center that we can observe and try to understand," he said. ### Nine authors from five countries contributed to the study. The research was funded by NASA, the French National Center for Space Studies, the French National Agency for Research, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the German Aerospace Center and the Max Planck Society. RESEARCHERS from the University of Huddersfield, with colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the University of Minho in Braga, have been using a genetic approach to tackle one of the most intractable questions of all - how and when we became truly human. Modern Homo sapiens first arose in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, but there is great controversy amongst scholars about whether the earliest such people would have been 'just like us' in their mental capacities - in the sense that, if they were brought up in a family from Yorkshire today, for example, would they be indistinguishable from the rest of the population? Nevertheless, archaeologists believe that people very like us were living in small communities in an Ice Age refuge on the South African coast by at least 100,000 years ago. Between around 100,000 and 70,000 years ago, these people left plentiful evidence that they were thinking and behaving like modern humans - evidence for symbolism, such as the use of pigments (probably for body painting), drawings and engravings, shell beads, and tiny stone tools called microliths that might have been part of bows and arrows. Some of this evidence for what some archaeologists call "modern human behaviour" goes back even further, to more than 150,000 years. But if these achievements somehow made these people special, suggesting a direct line to the people of today, the genetics of their modern "Khoi-San" descendants in southern Africa doesn't seem to bear this out. Our genomes imply that almost all modern non-Africans from all over the world - and indeed most Africans too - are derived from a small group of people living not in South Africa but in East Africa, around 60,000-70,000 years ago. There's been no sign so far that southern Africans contributed to the huge expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa and across the world that took place around that time. That is, until now. The Huddersfield-Minho team of geneticists, led by Professor Martin Richards at Huddersfield and Dr Pedro Soares in Braga, along with the eminent Cambridge archaeologist Professor Sir Paul Mellars, have studied the maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA from Africans in unprecedented detail, and have identified a clear signal of a small-scale migration from South Africa to East Africa that took place at just that time, around 65,000 years ago. The signal is only evident today in the mitochondrial DNA. In the rest of the genome, it seems to have been eroded away to nothing by recombination - the reshuffling of chromosomal genes between parents every generation, which doesn't affect the mitochondrial DNA - in the intervening millennia. The migration signal makes good sense in terms of climate. For most of the last few hundred years, different parts of Africa have been out of step with each other in terms of the aridity of the climate. Only for a brief period at 60,000-70,000 years ago was there a window during which the continent as a whole experienced sufficient moisture to open up a corridor between the south and the east. And intriguingly, it was around 65,000 years ago that some of the signs of symbolism and technological complexity seen earlier in South Africa start to appear in the east. The identification of this signal opens up the possibility that a migration of a small group of people from South Africa towards the east around 65,000 years ago transmitted aspects of their sophisticated modern human culture to people in East Africa. Those East African people were biologically little different from the South Africans - they were all modern Homo sapiens, their brains were just as advanced and they were undoubtedly cognitively ready to receive the benefits of the new ideas and upgrade. But the way it happened might not have been so very different from a modern isolated stone-age culture encountering and embracing western civilization today. In any case, it looks as if something happened when the groups from the South encountered the East, with the upshot being the greatest diaspora of Homo sapiens ever known - both throughout Africa and out of Africa to settle much of Eurasia and as far as Australia within the space of only a few thousand years. Professor Mellars commented: "This work shows that the combination of genetics and archaeology working together can lead to significant advances in our understanding of the origins of Homo sapiens." ### * The article, A dispersal of Homo sapiens from southern to eastern Africa immediately preceded the out-of-Africa migration, can be found online in Scientific Reports. Research led by the University of Southampton (UK) suggests that 'rogue' waves are occurring less often, but becoming more extreme. Scientists have, for the first time, used long-term data from a wide expanse of ocean to investigate how these rare, unexpected and hazardous ocean phenomena behave. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Waves are classed as 'rogue' when they are over twice the height of the average sea state around them. From trough to peak, past observations have put some at over 30 metres high. The fiercest are capable of damaging or sinking ships, can wound or kill crew members and on occasions have swept people off the shoreline and out to sea. A team of engineers and oceanographers from the University of Southampton, together with researchers from The National Oceanography Centre (NOC), examined over 20 years of information (sourced between 1994-2016) from 15 buoys which provide surface data along the US western seaboard - stretching from Seattle in the north, to San Diego in the south. The data showed instances of rogue waves vary greatly, depending on the area of sea and time period focused on. On average though, the team found instances of rogue waves (across the two decade window) fell slightly, but that rogue wave size, relative to the background sea, increased. The scientists showed rogue waves are more prevalent and of greater severity in the winter months and, intriguingly, are happening with increasing frequency within calmer background seas. Lead researcher Alex Cattrell, from the University of Southampton, said: "The occurrence of rogue waves is difficult to predict, but simply understanding when and how these rare events occur is extremely important for mariners, both in terms of ship safety and economics." Rogue waves along the western shoreline of the USA have fatally swept people out to sea at Point Reyes, Maverick's beach and Arcata, in California and Depoe Bay, Oregon. In the year 2000, the NOAA research vessel R/V Ballena capsized off Point Conception, California, and in 2006, M/V Westwood Pomona encountered a rogue wave off Port of Coos Bay, injuring one person and damaging the vessel. Research supervisor, Professor Meric Srokosz, from NOC, adds: "Ports along the west coast of America handle almost half of the country's container trade and, together with shipping connected to the Californian oil industry, there is a high volume of tanker, cargo, fishing and passenger vessel activity in the region. "Our research can help inform these industries and suggests that if data on rogue waves is to prove useful - geographical, seasonal and year-on-year variations need to be taken into account, rather than just relying on a single value for an entire region, for all time." Around the world, rogue waves occur many times each day and are a major issue globally for the shipping industry. For example, a study in 2004 (ESA MaxWave), with a three week window, identified more than ten individual giant waves above 25 metres in height. The scientists behind this latest Southampton study now hope more work can be done using their research method in other parts of the world, adding to existing research sources, to better understand how and predict when these destructive forces may strike. ### Notes to Editors 1) The paper Seasonal intensification and trends of rogue wave events on the US western seaboard is published in the journal Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41099-z) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41099-z 2) For interviews with lead researcher Alex Cattrell, contact Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Tel: ++44 23 8059 5457. Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk 3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2019). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 24,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www.southampton.ac.uk 4) More information about the University of Southampton's schools of Engineering and Ocean and Earth Science can be found at: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/index.page https://www.southampton.ac.uk/oes/index.page 5) For more information about The National Oceanography Centre , please visit: https://www.noc.ac.uk/ Holly Peacock, Senior Communications Officer, National Oceanography Centre Tel: +44 (0)23 80596388 or 07798926034 Email: holly.peacock@noc.ac.uk For further information contact: Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Tel: ++44 23 8059 5457 Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/contact-press-team.page Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/unisouthampton Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unisouthampton Description With live music offered six nights a week, K.J. Farrell's is a must-visit for music fans in Nassau County. The venue has a full menu of appetizers, pizzas, tacos, sliders, and more to snack on during each show. Wonderous Stories performs most Wednesday evenings. (Corrects last paragraph in March 19 story to say Panasonic Avionics is headquartered in the United States and is a unit of Japan's Panasonic Corp) * Consortium offers $7.21 per share for Inmarsat * Offer at premium of 24 pct to Inmarsat' Tuesday close * Inmarsat says not certain discussions will lead to formal offer March 19 (Reuters) - Inmarsat Plc said on Tuesday it has received a cash takeover offer from a private equity-led consortium, a deal that would value the British satellite company at about $3.3 billion and take it private. The consortium, which includes UK-based Apax Partners, U.S.-based Warburg Pincus and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), offered $7.21 per share on Jan. 31 and the proposal remains under discussion, Inmarsat said in a statement. The $7.21 (543 pence) per share offer is at a premium of about 24 percent to Inmarsat's Tuesday close of 437.8 pence on the London Stock Exchange. The offer price represented a premium of about 47 percent when the proposal was made on Jan. 31. The company said it is not certain the discussions will lead to a formal offer. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board would also be supporting the proposal as part of the consortium, Inmarsat said. The group is required to make a formal offer by April 16, the FTSE 250 company said. The offer values Inmarsat at $3.3 billion, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. An external representative for Warburg Pincus declined to comment. Apax and CPPIB did not respond to requests for comment. Last year U.S. satellite group EchoStar Corp walked away from discussions to buy Inmarsat after it rejected a $3.25 billion cash and stock offer. A takeover of the company could be closely scrutinised by the British government because of the British satellite company's position as a strategic asset. Founded in 1979, Inmarsat was set up by the International Maritime Organization as a way for ships to stay in communication with shore and make emergency calls. The company sees a growing opportunity to supply in-flight broadband services to commercial aircraft, having partnered with U.S.-headquartered Panasonic Avionics, a unit of Japan's Panasonic Corp, in September last year. ($1 = 0.7537 pounds) (Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru Editing by David Goodman and Matthew Lewis) DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Major Depressive Disorder on average affects over 16.1 million adults over the age of 18. If you are someone who feels lost, alone, or aimless, chances are the person next to you at work or in the grocery store feels the exact same way. Major companies like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Allergan (AGN) devote tens of million of research and development dollars to trying to fight this epidemic. Many people often believe that a diploma or a relatively secure job will solve most of their problems, however, people like Jordan Paris know that this is simply not the case. When Paris found himself in a pit of despair, he struggled with the idea of what his life meant. His struggle yielded a mind frame where he claimed, "I got caught up in the flow of life, letting the current take me wherever it wanted to go. This meant fitting in and getting good grades so that I could get a job for 50 years before retiring." Between the ages of 18 and 20, he climbed a ladder which he designed to elevate his spirits and his career. At age 20, Paris produced his first book, Growth Mindset University. From start to finish the process took him less than 2 months and in his Growth Mindset University podcast he hosts the brightest business minds, world-class athletes, and influential thought leaders like David Meltzer to teach people the lessons they should have learned in school but didn't. Growth Mindset University focuses on jumping into life while holding on to curiosity, joy, and love, the things that drive all of our actions. His book empowers principles and notions to bring one's self into a realm of success, satisfaction, and fulfillment through learning. Those who are feeling lost or without skill to create the success they want will find hope in Jordan's statement from his website. He supports all growth by stating that seeds of greatness aren't inherently in us, therefore we must plant the seeds and water them continually through development. Story continues Jordan Paris turned his blog platform into a resource for all who feel as though they are wandering through the motions. His podcast covers a wide array of topics and features inspiring stories and valuable lessons by influential leaders, which covers everything from health and psychology to communication and entrepreneurship. Now the 21-year-old entrepreneur is expanding his own fulfillment by serving as a resource space for people who want to turn their lost hope into vivacious dedication to satisfaction. Through his blog, book, and podcast, many perspectives are highlighted and each anecdote comes with a valuable lesson from someone who created their success with their own hands. To find out more about Jordan Paris, his journey, and resources available to you, visit https://jordanparis.com/ Empower Yourself with Minimal Guesswork: Growth Mindset University Finding yourself not satisfied where you are and overcome with a dark sense of aimlessness can often times trigger an intense desire to reap the fruits of joy, success, and fulfillment. Jordan Paris took his despair as he left school and began to transform his outlook on life and focused on curiosity, joy, and love. This down and out teen was able to develop a new sense of vitality over the next two years of his life. At age 20, Paris sat down to write his first book, Growth Mindset University. He completed the 184-page book in exactly 29 days. To any and all who don't know where to start or how to build the blocks from dumps to castles, Paris invigorates his readers with a need to find their unique truths and creatively design the lives which they desire. His book lays out the principles and thought patterns to bring one's self into a realm of success, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Through learning how to do work that matters for people who care, taking full responsibility of results, and growing to give, his invigorating manifesto brings meaning to 'growing through the motions of life.' He discusses the growth mindset which is the basic empowering tool which one can possess. This is the knowledge that anything we don't know or are not good at CAN be mastered. He teaches how to feed the mind, develop unique inspiration, and invest in yourself. Several of the topics covered bring to light how and why we do what we do to create success, something that we must understand in order to put our ideas into actions. Aside from his book, Paris started the Growth Mindset University podcast where he hosts the brightest business minds, world-class athletes, and influential thought leaders like David Meltzer to teach people the lessons they should have learned in school but didn't. His podcast serves to put the pen in his audiences' hands that they can use to write their own story, to creatively design the masterpiece of art that is their lives. What was once a blog platform for Paris, has become an all-encompassing resource for people who find themselves wanting to take control of their lives. To find out more about Jordan Paris, his journey, and the content available to you, visit https://jordanparis.com/. SOURCE: SV Advisory Group View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539482/Adopt-The-Growth-Mindset-To-Kickstart-Your-Success A contract worth over 150 million Alstom will supply 41 Coradia Lint regional trains to Bavaria, Germany 20 March 2019 - Alstom has signed a contract to supply 41 Coradia Lint regional trains to Transdev for operation in German region of Bavaria. The trains will be operated by Transdev subsidiary Bayerische Regiobahn GmbH (BRB) on the lines from Augsburg to Weilheim, Schongau, Ingolstadt, Eichstatt and Langenneufnach. The contract is worth over 150 million. The trains will be built at Alstom`s site in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, with delivery planned by September 2022. Thanks to this new contract, Alstom will be able to celebrate the production and delivery of the 1,000th Coradia Lint regional train - unquestionably the most successful diesel multiple unit (DMU) in Europe. "This order by Transdev is another great milestone in the history of our proven and popular Coradia Lint. It is symbolic that the 1,000th Coradia Lint will be operated by the very same transport company that operated the first Coradia Lint back in November 2000. This fortunate coincidence illustrates the train`s past and current performance and how the product meets the expectations of our customers and their passengers," says Jorg Nikutta, Managing Director for Alstom in Germany and Austria. The modern and environmentally friendly vehicles are powered by two 390 kW engines and reach a maximum operating speed of 140 km/h. The two-car trains can seat a total of 125 passengers and include a spacious area for the easy storage of bicycles. The trains boast an even higher level of comfort compared than the currently used trains and, by addressing the needs of people with limited mobility, the ability to offer all passengers travel with a minimum of constraints. Alstom`s Coradia Lint trains have been operating in more than 30 networks in Germany, Europe and Canada since the year 2000. Thanks to continuous improvements, they offer the highest standard of safety, noise reduction and low emissions and can boast very high availability. The trains belong to Alstom`s Coradia range of modular trains, which benefits from over 30 years of expertise and proven technical solutions and includes the world`s first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint. More than 2,800 Coradia trains have been sold so far and around 2,300 are currently in service. Story continues About Alstom As a promoter of sustainable mobility, Alstom develops and markets systems, equipment and services for the transport sector. Alstom offers a complete range of solutions (from high-speed trains to metros, tramways and e-buses), passenger solutions, customised services (maintenance, modernisation), infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. Alstom is a world leader in integrated transport systems. The company recorded sales of 7.3 billion and booked 7.2 billion of orders in the 2017/18 fiscal year. Headquartered in France, Alstom is present in over 60 countries and employs 34,500 people. www.alstom.com Press contacts Samuel Miller - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 67 74 samuel.miller@alstomgroup.com Justine Rohee - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 18 81 justine.rohee@alstomgroup.com Tanja Kampa (Germany) Tel.: +49 5341 9007690 tanja.kampa@alstomgroup.com Investor relations Julie Morel - Tel. + 33 6 67 61 88 58 julie.morel@alstomgroup.com Julien Minot - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 64 84 julien.minot@alstomgroup.com PR_41_Coradia_Lint_Bavaria_local This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: ALSTOM SA via GlobeNewswire HUG#2239088 MONCLOVA, COAHUILA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. and Subsidiaries (''AHMSA'' or ''the Company'') (BMV: AHMSA) today launched its new Investor Relations (IR) website in English and Spanish. It will be available under the Investor Relations tab on the homepage http://www.ahmsa.com. The new IR website features immediate postings of the Company's earnings releases, investor presentations, news, annual reports and other information pertinent to the capital markets. This is part of the Company's effort to continue strengthening its relationship with the market and raise the level of disclosure and transparency. The Company welcomes any comments or suggestions in order to improve the website. *** About AHMSA AHMSA is the largest steel producer in Mexico with the largest plant located in Northern Mexico. AHMSA was founded in 1942 and began operations in 1944. In December 1991, the company was privatized and Grupo Acerero del Norte, S.A. de C.V. (GAN) assumed control. In December 1995, GAN incorporated into AHMSA the iron ore and coal mines to convert AHMSA into an integrated steel producer in Mexico with a nominal capacity of 3.8 million MT of liquid steel per year. Since 2007, it has managed the Fenix Project, the most ambitious investment program in the Company's history aimed at increasing installed capacity by at least 40% and enabling AHMSA to surpass 5 million MT of liquid steel per year following the incorporation of its new electric arc furnace. With this new equipment, AHMSA also expanded its ranges of steel and increased specifications, which allows the Company to enter new market niches. In 2016, AHMSA held 14% share of the domestic steel market, 23% of the domestic market for flat products and 18% of exports from Mexico of finished steel products. The corporate headquarters and steel mills have an area of approximately 1,200 hectares and are located in Monclova, Coahuila de Zaragoza, 248 km from the U.S. border. Story continues IR Contacts: In Mexico Luis Guillermo Valdes Portales Director of Financial Planning Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. Tel: 52 (866) 649-3366 | plan_financiera@gan.com.mx In New York Maria Barona / Rafael Borja i-advize Corporate Communications, Inc. Tel: (212) 406-3691/3693 mbarona@i-advize.com / rborja@i-advize.com SOURCE: ALTOS HORNOS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539692/ALTOS-HORNOS-DE-MEXICO-SA-DE-CV-Launches-New-Investor-Relations-Website By Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik OSLO (Reuters) - Norsk Hydro, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, battled on Tuesday to contain a cyber attack which halted parts of its production, the latest example of the damage hackers can cause to business and industry. The company shut several metal extrusion and rolled products plants, which transform aluminum ingots into components for car makers, builders and other industries, while its giant smelters in Norway were largely operating on a manual basis. "This is a classic ransomware attack," Chief Financial Officer Eivind Kallevik told a news conference, adding that the company had not identified the hackers. "The situation is quite severe." The Norwegian National Security Authority (NNSA), the state agency in charge of cybersecurity, said the attack used a virus known as LockerGoga, a relatively new strain of so-called ransomware which encrypts computer files and demands payment to unlock them. Kallevik, who could not turn on his desktop computer or access files, would not say whether a specific sum had been asked for. However, when asked if the company planned to pay to unlock its systems, he said the intention was to restore them from backup servers. "We have good back-up systems and we have plans on how to restore it," he said. The attack began in the United States on Monday evening and escalated overnight, hitting IT systems across most of the company's activities and forcing staff to issue updates via social media. "It is too early to indicate the operational and financial impact, as well as timing to resolve the situation," Hydro said in a regulatory filing via the Oslo Stock Exchange. However, Kallevik said the financial impact was limited so far. "It is mostly direct labor: some of the activities that we use computers to do, today we use manual labor. We have to add some more people," he told Reuters. News of Hydro's plant outages pushed aluminum prices to a three-month high on the London Metal Exchange. The company's shares fell as much 3.4 percent before recovering to trade 0.8 percent lower by 1438 GMT. The LockerGoga malware is not widely used by cyber crime groups, cyber security researchers said, but has been linked to an attack on French engineering consultancy Altran Technologies in January. Haakon Bergsjoe, head of NNSA's National Cyber Security Centre, said there were no reports of other companies affected on Tuesday. All major Norwegian companies had been warned in the wake of the attack on Hydro, he told Reuters. The last publicly acknowledged cyber attack in Norway was on software firm Visma, when hackers allegedly working on behalf of Chinese intelligence breached its network to steal secrets from its clients. PLANT CLOSURES Companies and governments have become increasingly concerned about the damage hackers can cause to industrial systems and critical national infrastructure following a number of high-profile cyber attacks. In 2017, hackers later accused by the United States of working for the North Korean government unleashed billions of dollars worth of damage with the Wannacry ransomware virus, which crippled hospital, banks and other companies worldwide. Pyongyang has denied the allegations. Other cyber attacks have downed electricity grids and transport systems in recent years, and an attack on Italian oil services firm Saipem late last year destroyed more than 300 of the company's computers. Hydro makes products across the aluminum value chain, from the refinement of alumina raw material via metal ingots to bespoke components used in cars and construction. The company's hydroelectric power plants were running as normal on isolated IT systems unaffected by the outage, as was the alumina operation and smelters located outside Norway, including in Qatar and Brazil, Hydro said. Hydro, which has 36,000 employees in 40 countries, made a net profit of 4.3 billion Norwegian crowns ($505 million) last year on sales of 159.4 billion. At its headquarters in the suburbs of Oslo, signs at the entrances warned employees not to log on to the IT system. (Refiles to remove repeated word in paragraph 1.) (Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, with Jack Stubbs and Barbara Lewis in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes) (Bloomberg) -- Doctor-appointment booking app Doctolib has been valued at more than a billion dollars after raising new funding, adding to the surge of interest in health-care startups. Founded in 2013, Doctolib operates a doctors appointment-booking app and related management software, and has been growing services of video-based consultations and digital prescriptions, similar to Britains Babylon Healthcare Services Ltd., and Doctor On Demand Inc. in the U.S. Doctolibs 150 million-euro ($170 million) round announced Wednesday was led by U.S.-based growth equity investor General Atlantic, the startup said in a statement. In France, Paris-based Doctolib is the latest unicorn technology upstart in a club that includes cloud storage supplier OVH Groupe SAS, car-sharing app Blablacar, and music streaming service Deezer SA. The latest round is Doctolibs third in just over two years, after the company acquired Lagarderes online medical platforms in France and expanded to Germany. Fewer small businesses raised money in the EU last year compared to 2017, but the size of the average round got bigger, according to a data compiled by Tech.eu, which tracks VC activity. There were 2,975 funding rounds, for a total amount of 24.7 billion euros, the data showed. Doctolib said it receives 30 million online visits from patients every month and has partnered with doctors and hospitals in France and Germany. Existing shareholders Eurazeo SA and French state-backed fund Bpifrance participated in the new raise, Doctolib said in its statement. The company will use part of the money raised to expand to new countries. To contact the reporter on this story: Marie Mawad in Paris at mmawad1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. By Kirsti Knolle VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian chipmaker AMS AG has agreed a joint venture for its environmental sensor business with private equity fund Wise Road Capital, effectively offloading the unit as part of its plan to focus on other business segments. AMS has suffered from slow demand for Apple's latest iPhones, which it supplies with face recognition technology sensors, resulting in a nearly 60 percent drop in fourth-quarter core profit. Wise Road Capital will hold a "small majority" in the new entity, according to an AMS spokesman, while AMS shifts its focus to optical, image and audio sensors. The private equity fund buys into European and North American high-tech companies and helps them grow in China, according to its website. It was part of the consortium that bought NXP Semiconductors' Nexperia business in 2016 before selling it in the largest buyout-backed exit outside of the U.S. market in 2018. "Wise Road Capital sees immense potential in marketing the excellent technology and products developed by AMS," said Michael Zhang, Managing Partner at Wise Road Capital. Environmental sensors detect temperature or moisture and can be used in autos, buildings and air quality monitoring applications. AMS's units for ultrasound-based flow sensors -- used in smart metering solutions for utilities -- and pressure sensors for identifying fluid and gas flows will also be transferred to the joint venture, it said. Investments in the new entity, which is valued at approximately $120 million, will be made according to the shareholding, the AMS spokesman said. "This new JV will...(focus) on further advancing and developing AMS' award-winning environmental, flow and pressure sensor solutions, for which we see the largest market opportunity in China," said Chris Feige, Executive Vice President at AMS AG. Stefan Raible, currently general manager of AMS's environmental sensors business, will head the JV. The staff will continue to work in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where the JV will also be headquartered, according to the spokesman. Story continues Asked how many employees were affected, he said "more like 100 than 1,000". Shares in Swiss-listed AMS gained as much as 2.3 percent to 29.26 Swiss francs, while the European tech index was flat. AMS shares traded at around 115 Swiss francs a year ago. (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Editing by Louise Heavens and Kirsten Donovan) Agreement provides renewable energy intended to offset higher priced market purchases and fossil-fuel generation SPOKANE, Wash., March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avista, through a request for proposal issued in June 2018, has selected to purchase power generated by the proposed Rattlesnake Flat Wind project in Adams County, Washington. Rattlesnake Flat Wind, a wind energy facility permitted and being developed by renewable energy developer Clearway Energy Group (Clearway), will provide Avista with approximately 50 average megawatts of renewable energy, or as much as 144 megawatts of nameplate wind capacity, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with deliveries beginning in 2020. The PPA provides Avista with additional renewable energy, capacity and environmental attributes, which will offset higher priced market purchases. The PPA aligns with Avistas 2017 Integrated Resource Plan which identifies that the utility will consider acquiring additional resources if such resources have lower long-term cost than electric market alternatives. Avista expects to recover the cost of the power purchased through its retail rates. Recent market changes, including reductions in the cost of wind power facilities and tax incentives that remain in effect, have combined to make this an excellent time to acquire long-term output from a cost-effective wind resource, which has the added benefit of being located in our service territory, said Jason Thackston, Senior Vice President of Energy Resources for Avista. Rattlesnake Flat will help Avista meet its goal of providing reliable energy to our customers at a reasonable cost, while bringing even more renewable energy to our region, now and in the future. Weve been closely working with key stakeholders in Adams County, developing partnerships with landowners, businesses and local government to enable this project, and entering into this long term partnership with Avista is a very exciting next step, said Benjamin Fairbanks, Senior Director of Wind Development at Clearway. Were proud that Rattlesnake Flat will be a source of home-grown renewable energy for the state of Washington and for Avistas customers for many years to come. Story continues The wind farm will be the largest renewable energy facility in Adams County with the capacity to generate enough clean, renewable energy to power about 37,600 of Avistas customers homes. Situated on 20,000 privately owned acres near Lind, WA, Rattlesnake Flat will tie into Avistas electric system via Avistas Lind/Washtucna transmission line. About Avista Corp. Avista Corp. is an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Avista Utilities is our operating division that provides electric service to 388,000 customers and natural gas to 355,000 customers. Its service territory covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.6 million. Alaska Energy and Resources Company is an Avista subsidiary that provides retail electric service in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska, through its subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company . Avista stock is traded under the ticker symbol "AVA." For more information about Avista, please visit investor.avistacorp.com . This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the companys current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the companys control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018. SOURCE: Avista Corporation About Clearway Energy Group Clearway Energy Group is accelerating the world's transformation to a clean energy future. Built for 21st century energy markets and focused on providing customers with the power they need and the customer experience they deserve, Clearway was created and staffed with functions specific to renewable energy generation and distribution. With assets across 28 states, more than 500 employees and the capacity to power about 2.7 million homes, Clearway is bringing reliable and clean power to market from day one. The Company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in Carlsbad, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; Houston, TX; and New York, NY. For more information, visit www.clearwayenergygroup.com . To unsubscribe from Avistas news release distribution, send reply message to lena.funston@avistacorp.com Contact: Avista: Mary Tyrie mary.tyrie@avistacorp.com Avista 24/7 Media Access (509) 495-4174 Clearway Energy Group: Raymond G. Long media@clearwayenergy.com Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The Journal said the former vice president hopes to make a splash when announcing the 2020 run by touting "a large fundraising number." According to the report, Joe Biden is concerned he may not have the same immediate success in raising money online as some other Democrats, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Congressman Beto O'Rourke of Texas. Biden, 76, has been contemplating a White House run for some time and continues to lead in polls among Democrats as a favorite to take on President Donald Trump. Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden contacted a group of his supporters Tuesday to ask for help in raising several million dollars from major donors, making it known he's planning to enter the 2020 presidential election, the Wall Street Journal reported . Biden, 76, has been contemplating a White House run for some time and continues to lead in polls among Democrats as a favorite to take on President Donald Trump . He would enter a crowded field of close to 20 presidential candidates that have already declared, or are expected to announce, they will be entering the 2020 race. The Journal, citing a person familiar with the situation, said Biden asked at least a half-dozen supporters for help in lining up major donors. He also reportedly expressed concern he may not have the same immediate success in raising political funds online as some other Democrats, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Congressman Beto O'Rourke of Texas. According to the Journal, Biden is hoping to make a splash with an announcement of his 2020 run by also touting "a large fundraising number." O'Rourke, who formally entered the 2020 race Thursday , raised more than $6 million in the first 24 hours, the El Paso native's campaign announced Monday. That trounced the $5.9 million Sanders raised in the first 24 hours. A day before the Journal report, Trump criticized Biden's indecision about running for president, calling him "another low I.Q. individual!" Story continues Trump TWEET: Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual! A CNN Poll released Tuesday shows Biden enjoys 28 percent support among the crowded field of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Sanders comes in second with 20 percent support followed by California's Sen. Kamala Harris, who is third with 12 percent. The telephone poll, conducted Mar. 14 to 17, shows O'Rouke with 11 percent support. Meantime, an unnamed senior Democratic lawmaker told The Hill on Tuesday they had spoken briefly to Biden in a phone call and the former vice president made a comment they interpreted as a sign he's running in 2020. "I'm giving it a shot," the source quoted Biden as saying, according to The Hill. The outlet said the lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter and believed Biden's remark was confirmation he would enter the 2020 competition. CNBC reached out to Biden's spokesperson for comment. Read The Wall Street Journal's full report on Biden here. More From CNBC Boise, Idaho, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For Immediate Release Boise Cascade reaches agreement to acquire American Lumber Distributors BOISE, Idaho Boise Cascade Company (Boise Cascade) (BCC) announced today an agreement to acquire American Lumber Distributors and Brokers, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. American Lumber is a wholesale distributor of top quality lumber as well as plywood, oriented strand board, James Hardie Siding and engineered wood products. American Lumber is an exceptional supplier of many building products, said Nick Stokes, executive vice president, Boise Cascade. With their experienced and knowledgeable team, they will be a great addition to our nationwide distribution network and will enhance our service capacity in the Southeast. Boise Cascade has been a valued supplier to American Lumber for 32 years, said Walter Russell, president of American Lumber. This is an ideal strategic fit that will allow the combined organization to grow and provide enhanced value to our customers. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2019. About Boise Cascade Boise Cascade is one of the largest producers of engineered wood products and plywood in North America and a leading U.S. wholesale distributor of building products. For more information, please visit our website at www.bc.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes statements about our expectations of future operational and financial performance that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements preceded or followed by, or that otherwise include, the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "project," "estimates," "plans," "forecast," "is likely to," and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "would," "should," and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The accuracy of such statements is subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected, including, but not limited to, prices for building products, commodity input costs, the effect of general economic conditions, mortgage rates and availability, housing demand, housing vacancy rates, governmental regulations, unforeseen production disruptions, as well as natural disasters. These and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to revise them in light of new information. Finally, we undertake no obligation to review or confirm analyst expectations or estimates that might be derived from this release. Media Contact: Lisa Chapman, 208-384-6552 Investor Contact: Wayne Rancourt, 208-384-6073 By Gram Slattery RIO DE JANEIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian independent oil company PetroReconcavo has entered direct negotiations with state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA to purchase a cluster of 34 oilfields in the nation's northeast, two oil industry sources told Reuters. Petrobras, as the state-owned company is known, entered talks with the unlisted Salvador, Brazil-based company after upstart 3R Petroleum failed to receive financing for its $453 million purchase of the fields, which was announced in late November, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal matters. The sources said the $453 million bid was considered aggressive, and PetroReconcavo will probably offer less for the fields in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, collectively known as Riacho da Forquilha. Petrobras did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Ricardo Savini, a partner at 3R Petroleum. Marcelo Magalhaes, chief executive of PetroReconcavo, declined to comment. Petrobras, Brazil's largest company by market capitalization, is aggressively selling off non-core assets to reduce its hefty debt load and focus on deepwater exploration and production. While much attention is geared toward items such as its TAG pipeline unit, expected to fetch several billion dollars, the company is also pushing ahead with divesting dozens of shallow-water and onshore oil and gas fields. Still, such asset disposals often face bumpy paths. In January, Reuters reported that Petrobras walked away from an offer by an EIG Energy Partners-backed firm to purchase two shallow-water oilfields. The PetroReconcavo talks were first reported by Upstream Online. The trade publication also reported that Petrobras had entered into exclusive talks with Brazilian independent oil firm Petro Rio SA regarding the sale of its Bauna shallow-water oilfield. In January, Reuters reported that Petro Rio and Australia's Karoon Energy Ltd were among the firms to bid on the field. Karavan Oil and Gas, a Brazilian upstart with a close working relationship with Schlumberger NV, also bid for the field, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Petro Rio did not respond to a request for comment. Story continues When Petrobras announced in late November that it had reached a deal with 3R Petroleum to sell Riacho da Forquilha, it aroused suspicions among industry groups and labor unions, who were concerned about the firm's upstart status and lack of a clear financing structure. In an internal document from late last year, PetroReconcavo said it planned to bid for multiple Petrobras onshore oilfields, and had already submitted a binding offer for a gas-heavy cluster of fields known as Miranga. Relatively small Riacho da Forquilha was producing 8,748 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 332,000 cubic meters per day of gas as of late 2016, according to the latest public figures by Petrobras. Still, it is among the larger production assets currently on the block. (Reporting by Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Carolina Mandl in Sao Paulo; Editing by David Gregorio) HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Legal cannabis cultivation in the U.S. consumes an estimated 1.1 terawatt-hours of electricity a year, according to the 2018 Cannabis Energy Report, published by Scale Microgrid Solutions along with New Frontier Data and the Resource Innovation Institute. With this amount of energy being expended, cleaner and more efficient options are being sought after by cannabis producers. Indoor growers are looking to cut spiraling electricity consumption with custom-built microgrids in U.S. states where cannabis cultivation is legal. While several microgrid companies are working towards a solution, there is one company that already has it. CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK) has developed a custom power solution and mPulse software for cannabis producers that cuts the monthly electricity bill of indoor grow-houses by up to 82%. Their latest press release stated, "(The company) is currently focusing our marketing efforts on the largest users in the cannabis market, the agricultural (grow) facilities." CEO S. Matthew Schultz also stated, "opportunity in the cannabis market is unprecedented due to the high energy usage of these facilities in both the US and Canada. In many cases our solution is capable of virtually eliminating the demand charges that can account for almost 50% of the utility charges for such a facility. The cannabis market continues to grow at a rapid rate, and as a result the significant and growing energy demands of the industry also continue to increase. We are currently focusing our marketing efforts on the largest users in the cannabis market, the agricultural (grow) facilities. In addition to cost savings, the loss of power can be extremely detrimental to an agricultural (grow) facility's production and an extended outage can even cause a full loss, especially when the facility is growing a medically-certified crop. Energy resiliency is critical for these operations. We believe our solution will find a strong foothold in the market as many solutions currently available to the market provide either resiliency or energy savings but very few provide both." Story continues Today we are highlighting: CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK), Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CURLF), Aphria, Inc. (APHA), Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH), and Covanta Holding Corporation, Inc. (CVA). CleanSpark, Inc. (CLSK) (Market Cap: $147.291M; Share Price: $3.63) just dropped a major update, giving shareholders guidance on several initiatives. Highlights from CLSK's latest update include: Closing a $5 million round of funding Engaging a firm to navigate the company's up listing Announced the near completion of a $900k contract to install a CLSK microgrid at a U.S. Marine Corps Base Continued progress on their $18.3 million deal with NYSE company MAC Closing of an acquisition adding $3.6 million in gross sales to CLSK's bottom line during early 2019 alone Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CURLF) (Market Cap: $2.313B; Share Price: $6.63) announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Acres Cannabis for $70 million in a cash and stock transaction. Curaleaf is paying $25 million in cash and $45 million in stock and will make further payments if certain financial goals are exceeded. Currently, Acres operates 269,000 square feet of cultivation facilities and a cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas, Nevada. Aphria, Inc. (APHA) (Market Cap: $2.608B; Share Price: $10.41) announced that Health Canada has granted the company its license amendment, permitting Aphria to commence production in an additional 800,000 square feet of facilities at its Aphria One location, as part of the company's completed Part IV and Part V expansions. Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) (Market Cap: $998.384M; Share Price: $9.20) makes solar energy management systems for the residential and commercial markets in the U.S. and Canada. It recently announced that the new Panasonic AC Series Photovoltaic (PV) HIT N330E AC Module with integrated Enphase IQ 7X Microinverter will be available for solar installation companies in late March. Covanta Holding Corporation, Inc. (CVA) (Market Cap: $2.255B; Share Price: $17.30) is a world leader in providing sustainable waste and energy solutions. It recently announced that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on April 5, 2019 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 29, 2019. Signed by Priyanka Goel, CFA Legal Disclaimer: This article was written by Regal Consulting, LLC (Regal Consulting). Regal Consulting has agreed to a three-month term consulting agreement with CLSK dated 9/12/18. The agreement calls for $10,000 in cash, and 30,000 restricted 144 shares of CLSK per month. Regal and CLSK have signed an amendment to extend the contract for twelve months starting 10/10/18, and increased the cash component to $20,000 per month. CLSK has paid an additional $12,000 for services provided in November. CLSK has paid an additional $88,000 for services provided in December. CLSK has paid an additional $100,000 for services for January. CLSK has paid an additional $80,000 for services for February. Regal was paid an additional $55,000 for March services and possibly compensated more for March services in the future, at which time Regal will update this disclaimer. All payments were made directly by Clean Spark, Inc. to Regal Consulting, LLC. to provide investor relations services, of which this article is a part of. Regal Consulting also paid one thousand dollars cash to microcapspeculators.com to distribute this article. Regal Consulting may have a position in the securities mentioned in this article at the time of publication, and may increase or decrease its position without notice. This article is based on public information and the opinions of Regal Consulting. CLSK was given an opportunity to edit this article. This article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any results predicted herein. Regal Consulting is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide or claim to provide investment advice. http://www.regalconsultingllc.com/full legal disclaimer/ Full Legal Disclaimer Click Here. Contact Information: Company Name: ACR Communication LLC. 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The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ The Facebook login screen is seen in this photo illustration on March 13, 2019 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Jaap Arriens / Sipa USA) No one reported the video of the Christchurch shootings while it was being streamed live, Facebook has revealed. It was 29 minutes after the video had started and 12 minutes after it had ended before the first user flagged up the footage, the social media giant said. The company earlier revealed that it had removed 1.5 million videos of the attack worldwide in the 24 hours after the shootings, 1.2 million of which were blocked at upload. Facebook and other social media firms have come under fire over the rapid spread of the footage across the networks and around the world. Fifty pairs of painted white shoes, are laid out at All Souls Church, in memory of the victims of Fridays shooting, in Christchurch, New Zealand (Picture: Reuters) In a blog post on Tuesday, Chris Sonderby, vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook, said the video was viewed fewer than 200 times during its live broadcast. No users reported the video during the live broadcast, he said. Including the views during the live broadcast, the video was viewed about 4,000 times in total before being removed from Facebook. The first user report on the original video came in 29 minutes after the video started, and 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended. Before we were alerted to the video, a user on 8chan posted a link to a copy of the video on a file-sharing site. Read more Police hunt for killers of Shetland pony that was found tied up and beaten in Yeovil Theresa May tells MPs back my Brexit deal or we will not leave EU for months, if ever Archaeologists slam Cadbury treasure hunt that could see prosecutions for trespassing Mr Sonderby said Facebook was working around the clock to prevent the video from appearing on its site. Meanwhile, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, formed by tech giants Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube in 2017 to tackle the spread of terrorism online, said more than 800 different versions of the video have been added to a shared database. The group said the digital fingerprints of visually-distinct videos were included, in a bid to uncover and remove edited videos that aim to get around existing detection technology. Story continues This incident highlights the importance of industry co-operation regarding the range of terrorists and violent extremists operating online, it said. New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has called on social media companies to take responsibility for ensuring that such content cannot be distributed or viewed on their platforms, saying they are the publisher, not just the postman. She told the countrys parliament: There is no question that ideas and language of division and hate have existed for decades, but their form of distribution, the tools of organisation, they are new. Mourners stand in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand (Picture: AP) We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published. They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility. In the UK, Home Secretary Sajid Javid told social media companies enough is enough in the wake of last Fridays shootings. A mourner prays near the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand (Picture: AP) Reacting to a tweet from YouTube claiming that the video-sharing service was working to remove the footage, he said: You really need to do more @YouTube @Google @facebook @Twitter to stop violent extremism being promoted on your platforms. Take some ownership. Enough is enough. Damian Collins, Tory chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, called for a review into how the footage was shared and why more effective action wasnt taken to remove them. And Downing Street said social media companies needed to act more quickly to remove terrorist content. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to the CEOs of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft requesting a briefing next week on the spread of violent content on their platforms. Thompson's request follows Friday's mosque shootings in New Zealand, where a suspected shooter livestreamed a video of one of the attacks, which was later shared repeatedly on tech platforms. Thompson said tech companies must display the same transparency around how they handle all forms of violent extremism, not just that of ISIS and Al-Qaeda. The House Homeland Security Committee chairman called on tech leaders Tuesday to explain how a violent video of Friday's New Zealand mosque shooting spread on their platforms . Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, wrote to the CEOs of Facebook FB , Twitter TWTR , Microsoft MSFT and Google's GOOGL YouTube to request a briefing in front of the committee on March 27. Thompson asked the leaders to explain how they handled the video's spread, which appeared to depict one of two mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday that killed at least 50 people. Following the attacks, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others scrambled to remove copied versions of the alleged shooter's video that kept popping up on their platforms. Some users were able to override automatic screens by altering the video, forcing YouTube to take unprecedented steps to reduce the video's spread, including suspending the ability to filter results by upload date. In the 24 hours after the suspect livestreamed the attack on Facebook, the company said it removed 1.5 million videos of the event, 1.2 million of which were blocked before they were even live on the site. But even so, the company later shared that the video of the attack was viewed over 4,000 times before it was removed. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft formed the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) in 2017 to invest in solutions to reduce the spread of online terrorist content. While Microsoft was not implicated in the spread of the New Zealand mosque shooting video, Thompson seems to have called on its leader because of its role in GIFCT. Story continues Thompson called out what he perceived as a disparity between how the tech companies have handled the removal of terrorist content related to ISIS and Al-Qaeda compared to that of "other violent extremists, including far-right violent extremists." The congressman points to a stat on the GIFCT website that says, "99% of ISIS and Al Qaeda-related terror content that is removed from Facebook is content that is detected before anyone in its community has flagged it." He argues the public should be granted the same transparency around content distributed by other violent extremists. "Studies have shown that mass killings inspire copycats and you must do everything within your power to ensure that the notoriety garnered by a viral video on your platforms does not inspire the next act of violence," Thompson wrote. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the company "will brief the committee soon." Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter did not immediately return CNBC's requests for comment on the letter. "Your companies must prioritize responding to these toxic and violent ideologies with resources and attention," Thompson wrote. "If you are unwilling to do so, Congress must consider policies to ensure that terrorist content is not distributed on your platformsincluding by studying the examples being set by other countries." Here's Thompson's full letter: Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch: Rep. Thompson summons tech giants to DC over New Zealand response More From CNBC (Adds detail, chairman's comment from shareholder meeting held on Monday) COPENHAGEN, March 19 (Reuters) - Two U.S. law firms have filed a lawsuit against Danske Bank on behalf of institutional investors over a 200 billion euro ($227 billion) money laundering scandal. Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. and DRRT filed the lawsuit in Copenhagen on behalf of investors from 19 countries, asserting "fraud claims stemming from a massive Russian money-laundering scheme and multi-year cover-up by Denmark's largest bank and its senior leadership." The bank's share price halved in 2018 as the scandal unravelled and it replaced both its CEO and chairman. At a shareholder meeting on Monday in Copenhagen, several shareholders voiced concern about potential lawsuits from investor groups. "It is our fundamental position that the bank has lived up to its information obligation," Danske's new chairman Karsten Dybvad told shareholders. "As such we don't find any basis for lawsuits or for a settlement." Danske Bank was not immediately able to comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday. The investors are seeking $475 million in damages, Grant & Eisenhofer said in a statement dated March 18. Danske and four former top executives are already facing a lawsuit in New York filed in January by a U.S. pension fund. That accuses the bank of defrauding investors and inflating its share price by hiding and failing to stop widespread money laundering. Authorities in Denmark, Estonia, France, Great Britain and the United States are investigating the payments, including in a criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice. Danske has said it has been cooperating with authorities. ($1 = 0.8809 euros) (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, additional reporting by Jacob Grnholt-Pedersen, editing by Louise Heavens and Kirsten Donovan) PLANO and HOUSTON, Texas, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) (Denbury) and Penn Virginia Corporation (PVAC) (Penn Virginia) jointly announced today that, in connection with Denburys pending acquisition of Penn Virginia, April 16, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time is the election deadline for record holders of shares of Penn Virginias common stock to elect the form of merger consideration they wish to receive in connection with the transaction. An election will be valid only if a properly completed and signed election form and letter of transmittal, together with all required documents and materials set forth in the election form and letter of transmittal and the instructions thereto, is received by Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc., the exchange agent for the transaction (Broadridge), by the election deadline. Penn Virginia shareholders who hold their shares through a bank, broker or other nominee may be subject to an earlier deadline and should carefully read the instructions from their bank, broker or nominee regarding making elections for their shares. Shareholders with questions should contact Broadridge toll-free at (855) 449-0977, or Penn Virginias proxy solicitor, Okapi Partners LLC toll-free at (855) 305-0856 or, for brokers and banks, collect at (212) 297-0720. The election deadline does not impact the deadline for Penn Virginia common shareholders to vote on the proposal to approve the merger agreement being considered at the special meeting of Penn Virginia shareholders to be held on April 17, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Central Time. Penn Virginia shareholders are encouraged to vote their shares if they have not already done so. As previously announced, under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, shareholders of Penn Virginia will receive, subject to proration, a combination of 12.4 shares of Denbury common stock and $25.86 of cash for each share of Penn Virginia common stock. Penn Virginia shareholders will have the option to receive all stock or all cash, subject to proration such that the overall mix of consideration does not result in more or less than $400 million in cash being paid. Shareholders who fail to make an election will receive whichever form of consideration is undersubscribed. Story continues The transaction is subject to the approval of Penn Virginia shareholders and is subject to approval by Denburys stockholders of the issuance of common stock and an amendment to Denburys charter to increase its authorized shares. The transaction is also subject to customary closing conditions. ADVISORS Guggenheim Securities, LLC is lead financial advisor to Denbury. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is providing financial advice to Denbury with respect to capital structure and financial aspects of the transaction and provided a financing commitment letter for a new $1.2 billion bank revolving credit facility and a $400 million senior secured second lien bridge loan. Jefferies LLC is financial advisor to Penn Virginia. Vinson & Elkins LLP is legal counsel to Denbury. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP are legal counsel to Penn Virginia. DENBURY RESOURCES INC. Denbury is an independent oil and natural gas company with operations focused in two key operating areas: the Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain regions. Denburys goal is to increase the value of its properties through a combination of exploitation, drilling and proven engineering extraction practices, with the most significant emphasis relating to CO2 enhanced oil recovery operations. For more information about Denbury, please visit www.denbury.com. The information on Denburys website is not part of this release. PENN VIRGINIA CORPORATION Penn Virginia is a pure-play independent oil and gas company engaged in the development and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas, with operations in the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas. For more information about Penn Virginia, please visit www.pennvirginia.com. The information on Penn Virginias website is not part of this release. NO OFFER OR SOLICITATION This communication relates to the proposed business combination transaction (the Transaction) between Denbury and Penn Virginia. This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, in any jurisdiction, pursuant to the Transaction or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance, exchange or transfer of the securities referred to in this document in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act, as amended (the Securities Act). ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT In connection with the proposed Transaction, Denbury filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-228935) that was originally filed on December 21, 2018 and amended on January 16, 2019, which includes a joint proxy statement of Denbury and Penn Virginia and a prospectus of Denbury. The registration statement became effective as of the close of business on February 4, 2019. Denbury and Penn Virginia have filed and may also file other documents with the SEC regarding the Transaction. The Transaction will be submitted to Denburys stockholders and Penn Virginias shareholders for their consideration. A definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus was sent to the stockholders of Denbury and shareholders of Penn Virginia on or about March 4, 2019. This document is not a substitute for the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC or any other documents that Denbury or Penn Virginia may file with the SEC or send to stockholders of Denbury or shareholders of Penn Virginia in connection with the Transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF DENBURY AND PENN VIRGINIA ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE TRANSACTION AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE FILED OR WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the registration statement and the joint proxy statement/prospectus and all other documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC by Denbury or Penn Virginia through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of documents filed with the SEC by Denbury will be made available free of charge on Denburys website at www.denbury.com or by directing a request to John Mayer, Director of Investor Relations, Denbury Resources Inc., 5320 Legacy Drive, Plano, Texas 75024, Tel. No. (972) 673-2000. Copies of documents filed with the SEC by Penn Virginia will be made available free of charge on Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com, under the heading SEC Filings, or by directing a request to Investor Relations, Penn Virginia Corporation, 16285 Park Ten Place, Houston, Texas 77084, Suite 500, Tel. No. (713) 722-6500. PARTICIPANTS IN SOLICITATION Denbury, Penn Virginia and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect to the Transaction. Information regarding Denburys directors and executive officers is contained in the proxy statement for Denburys 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders filed with the SEC on April 12, 2018, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. You can obtain free copies of these documents at the SECs website at www.sec.gov or by accessing Denburys website at www.denbury.com. Information regarding Penn Virginias executive officers and directors is contained in the proxy statement for Penn Virginias 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders filed with the SEC on March 28, 2018, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. You can obtain free copies of these documents at the SECs website at www.sec.gov or by accessing Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com. Investors may obtain additional information regarding the interests of those persons and other persons who may be deemed participants in the Transaction by reading the joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the Transaction. You may obtain free copies of this document as described above. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS The foregoing contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this communication that address activities, events or developments that Denbury or Penn Virginia expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Words such as estimate, project, predict, believe, expect, anticipate, potential, create, intend, could, may, foresee, plan, will, guidance, look, outlook, goal, future, assume, forecast, build, focus, work, continue or the negative of such terms or other variations thereof and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future plans, actions, or events identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Transaction, pro forma descriptions of the combined company and its operations, integration and transition plans, synergies, opportunities and anticipated future performance. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements included in this communication. These include the expected timing and likelihood of completion of the Transaction, including the ability to successfully integrate the businesses, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, the possibility that stockholders of Denbury may not approve the issuance of new shares of common stock in the Transaction or the amendment of Denburys charter or that shareholders of Penn Virginia may not approve the merger, the risk that the parties may not be able to satisfy the conditions to the Transaction in a timely manner or at all, the risk that any announcements relating to the Transaction could have adverse effects on the market price of Denburys common stock or Penn Virginias common stock, the risk that the Transaction and its announcement could have an adverse effect on the ability of Denbury and Penn Virginia to retain customers and retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with their suppliers and customers and on their operating results and businesses generally, the risk the pending Transaction could distract management of both entities from ongoing business operations or cause them to incur substantial costs, the risk that problems may arise in successfully integrating the businesses of the companies, which may result in the combined company not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected, the risk that the combined company may be unable to achieve synergies or it may take longer than expected to achieve those synergies and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. All such factors are difficult to predict and are beyond Denburys or Penn Virginias control, including those detailed in Denburys annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that are available on its website at www.denbury.com and on the SECs website at www.sec.gov, and those detailed in Penn Virginias annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that are available on Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com and on the SECs website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Denbury or Penn Virginia believe to be reasonable but that may not prove to be accurate. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and Denbury and Penn Virginia undertake no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof. DENBURY CONTACTS: Mark C. Allen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 972.673.2000 John Mayer, Director of Investor Relations, 972.673.2383 PENN VIRGINIA CONTACTS: Steve Hartman, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 713.722.6500 Clay Jeansonne, Investor Relations, 713.722.6540 By Aaron Maasho, Leigh Thomas and Maggie Fick ADDIS ABABA/PARIS (Reuters) - The hunt for the cause of an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed all 157 people on board gathered pace on Saturday when investigators successfully downloaded the cockpit voice recorder and fresh details emerged of the final seconds of the flight. While experts say it is too soon to know what brought down the Boeing 737 MAX 8 on March 10, aviation authorities worldwide have grounded Boeing's 737 MAXs, as concerns over the plane caused the company's share price to tumble. In Addis Ababa, a source who has listened to the air traffic control recording of the plane's communications said flight 302 had an unusually high speed after take-off before the plane reported problems and asked permission to climb quickly. A voice from the cockpit of the Boeing BA.N 737 MAX requested to climb to 14,000 feet above sea level - about 6,400 feet above the airport - before urgently asking to return, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the recording is part of an ongoing investigation. The plane vanished from radar at 10,800 feet. "He said he had a flight control problem. That is why he wanted to climb," the source said, adding there were no further details given of the exact problem and the voice sounded nervous. Experts say pilots typically ask to climb when experiencing problems near the ground in order to gain margin for manoeuvre and avoid any difficult terrain. Addis Ababa is surrounded by hills and, immediately to the north, the Entoto Mountains. In Paris, France's BEA air accident investigation agency said data from the jet's cockpit voice recorder has been successfully downloaded. The French agency said in a tweet it had not listened to the audio files and that the data had been transferred to Ethiopian investigators. The BEA also issued a photo showing the recorder intact but dented by the impact of the plane's crash into a field minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa. "We are waiting for the results. We are making all the necessary efforts to identify the cause of the accident," Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges told reporters in Addis Ababa. Story continues "This kind of investigation needs considerable amount of time to reach concrete conclusions". The Ethiopian carrier said DNA testing of the remains of the people on board flight 302 may take up to six months, and it offered bereaved families charred earth from the plane crash site to bury. Passengers from more than 30 nations were aboard. Dagmawit said temporary death certificate had been given, and a final one would be issued in two weeks time. Collection of DNA samples from relatives had begun. Victim identification would be done to scientific international standards, and internationally-recognised organisations such as Interpol were going to be involved in the process, she said. As families await results from the investigation, the airline is planning to hold a service on Sunday in Addis Ababa, at the Kidist Selassie, or Holy Trinity Cathedral, where many of Ethiopia's past rulers are buried under its pink stone spires. EARTH FROM THE CRASH SITE "We were told by the company that we will be given a kilo (of earth) each for burial at Selassie Church for a funeral they will organise," said one family member who asked not to be named. The return of remains - most of which are charred and fragmented - would take up to six months, the papers said, but in the meantime earth from the crash site would be given. Around 100 relatives, including the brother and father of pilot Yared Getachew, gathered at a memorial for the victims at the Kenyan embassy. "His dream was to be a pilot," said Meno Getachew Tessema, 39, Yared's brother. "He was diligent, hardworking, he had a consistent work ethic. I would like to emphasize his record and that he was a rising star at Ethiopian Airlines." Flight data has already indicated some similarities with a crash by the same model of plane during a Lion Air flight in October. All 189 people onboard were killed. Both planes crashed within minutes of take off after pilots reported problems. The grounding of the 737 MAX jets has had no immediate financial impact on airlines using the planes, but it will get painful for the industry the longer they do not fly, companies and analysts said on Friday. Boeing plans to release upgraded software for the 737 MAX in a week to 10 days, sources familiar with the matter said. The U.S. planemaker has been working on a software upgrade for an anti-stall system and pilot displays on its fastest-selling jetliner in the wake of the deadly Lion Air crash. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fick; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Alexander Smith and Mark Potter, William Maclean) (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators have once again demanded Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google do more to fight disinformation on the internet and help regulators check the effectiveness of the actions taken. The European Commission requires more systematic information from platforms to check the placement of advertisements and to better understand the effectiveness of the actions taken against bots and fake accounts, it said in a statement on Wednesday. We encourage online platforms to work with researchers and fact-checkers on access to live information on public pages, streams and other services, as well as on data on inauthentic accounts they have identified and removed, EU Commissioners Julian King, Vera Jourova, Mariya Gabriel, and Andrus Ansip said in a joint statement. Twitter, along with Facebook and Alphabet Inc.s Google, signed a code of conduct in September pledging to fight disinformation online in Europe. Google and Facebook have also started to deploy transparency tools for political ads in Europe after an initial roll-out in the U.S., including disclaimers under the ads and requiring ID checks from advertisers. Executives from Facebook have been touring Europe, with stops in Berlin, Brussels and Paris, to detail how the company is ramping up its anti-fake news efforts and upgrading ads policies ahead of the regions May elections. In the lead up to elections around the world, and particularly the EU elections, were doing a lot of work on reducing the distribution of fake news, cracking down on fake accounts, making advertising more transparent, disrupting bad actors and supporting an informed electorate, Katie Harbath, Facebooks public policy director for global elections, said in a briefing with reporters in Paris on Wednesday. Facebook will vet political advertisers in Europe starting later this month, following rollouts in the U.S. and U.K. Starting in May, Facebook will publish weekly reports about political ads in each European country, including a list of advertisers and how much theyve spent, Harbath said. Story continues We usually see the bulk of fake news activity in the one or two weeks before an election, Harbath said. Facebook is preparing by intensifying coordination between local teams and its taskforce of about 30,000 people dedicated to safety and security. The European Commission, the European Unions executive body, has threatened to propose legislation in the area if the platforms efforts on misinformation are unsatisfactory. (Updated with Facebook briefing in Paris, in fifth paragraph.) To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Brussels at sbodoni@bloomberg.net;Marie Mawad in Paris at mmawad1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Giles Turner, Nate Lanxon For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Champagne in an ice bucket Photo: Steve Cukrov/Fotolia The European Union announced on Wednesday that it is signing on to an international agreement covering the protection of food and drink products whose names derive from a particular region with certain characteristics. The decision to accede to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement covering so-called geographical indications means that all 28 countries that are members of the E.U. will abide by the act's obligations to protect registered products that come from any of the E.U.s member nations. Geographical indications denote that products are from a certain place and have been produced in a traditional way. These include such products as Parma ham, feta and champagne. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, a treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), expands the scope of the Lisbon Agreement to cover not only appellations of origin, but also geographical indications and allows international organisations (such as the E.U.) to become party to the Lisbon Union established under the Lisbon Agreement. Appellations of origin indicate that a product has been produced using ingredients local to the region and using traditional techniques. Geographical indications denote that products are from a certain place and have been produced in a traditional way but without necessarily using locally sourced ingredients. Until now, only seven E.U. countries were contracting parties to the Lisbon agreement: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. Three E.U. member states (Greece, Romania and Spain) have signed but not ratified the agreement. The E.U. is the biggest user of geographical indications (GIs) for its farm and food products and insists that its trading partners respect them in negotiations on trade agreements. The U.S. and other large agricultural producing and exporting countries, such as Australia, Brazil and New Zealand, are not parties to the Lisbon agreement. But the E.U. has put pressure on its trading partners to stop using terms such as champagne, Parma ham and feta for their locally produced foodstuffs. France has registered 500 products under the Lisbon agreement, while Italy has 100 products registered. Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and TOTAL SA TOT have reached an agreement related to increased gas exports from Papua New Guinea (PNG). Per the plan, the capacity of ExxonMobil-operated PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant will be increased to around 16 million tons per annum (mtpa) from its current capacity of 6.9 mtpa. According to analysts, the move will enable the company to compete with Australias biggest LNG projects. The cost of the expansion is valued at about $13 billion, lower than the initial cost projection of $19.5 billion. The cost per ton is less than 50% from Chevron Corps CVX Gorgon LNG plant in Australia. The Gorgon LNG plant is slightly smaller than the expected PNG LNG facility post expansion. Another major LNG plant in Australia is the Woodside-operated North West Shelf, which has annual production of about 16 mtpa. The expansion will include addition of three new LNG trains with a capacity of 2.7 mtpa each on the existing PNG LNG plant site.Two of these trains will be supported by gas from the Elk-Antelope fields, which is managed by TOTAL. The other train will be underpinned by existing fields and the new Pnyang field, operated by ExxonMobil. The partners intend to commence production from the new trains by around 2023 or 2024, when the LNG market is anticipated to need new supply due to growing demand in Asia and a lack of other projects. The partners expect to reach a final investment decision in 2019. The parties intend to begin engineering and design work in the second half of 2019. Prior to these, the partners are required to agree on terms with the PNG government. The terms include domestic gas supply requirements, local content and landowner agreements. It is mandatory for the companies to agree on cost sharing and phasing the timing of their gas field developments. ExxonMobil holds a stake of 33.2% in the LNG project. Other partners include Oil Search,Santos, National Petroleum Company of PNG, JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration Company and Mineral Resources Development holding 29%, 13.5%, 16.8%, 4.7% and 2.8%, respectively. Zacks Rank & Key Picks Currently, ExxonMobil carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 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Click here to see these breakthrough stocks now >> 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 Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report TOTAL S.A. (TOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Antero Resources Corporation (AR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Username: Password: or Register Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average 1 2 3 4 5 Page: 1 2 3 4 Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque SevenThunders Registered User User ID: 389315 03-20-2019 01:55 AM Posts: 3,762 Post: #1 Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque Advertisement https://www.rt.com/news/454158-new-zeala...-shooting/ This was of course the intent of the terrorist. He wanted to create a culture war and wants civil rights removed. He self identifies as a left wing fascist, ie a socialist and a white supremacist. New Zealand is following the terrorists agenda at this point, which is quite sad. They are using sympathy for Muslims as well to further the invasion and eventual destruction of Western civilization. This is also sad. Quote: This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will eventually result in a civil war that will Balkanize the U.S. along political, cultural, and most importantly racial lines. Elsewhere in the manifesto, the shooter predicts that his attack will lead to calls for the removal of gun rights from whites in the United States that is the plan all along. https://www.breitbart.com/national-secur...thank-god/ The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? New Zealand unilaterally blocked 4chan, 8chan, and ZeroHedge among others after the attack, because apparently they can not stand uncensored discussion of Muslim terrorism and the recent cointelpro attack on a mosque in Christchurch.This was of course the intent of the terrorist. He wanted to create a culture war and wants civil rights removed. He self identifies as a left wing fascist, ie a socialist and a white supremacist.New Zealand is following the terrorists agenda at this point, which is quite sad. They are using sympathy for Muslims as well to further the invasion and eventual destruction of Western civilization. This is also sad.The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number,and mighty is the army that obeys his command.The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494033 03-20-2019 01:58 AM Post: #2 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque Just saying, the CFR, openly supported Al-Qaeda. So, which sort of people do you find at the CFR? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494033 03-20-2019 01:58 AM Post: #3 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque Nice try though, mr patriot. SevenThunders Registered User User ID: 389315 03-20-2019 02:00 AM Posts: 3,762 Post: #4 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 01:58 AM) Just saying, the CFR, openly supported Al-Qaeda. So, which sort of people do you find at the CFR? Interesting. I don't doubt that the CFR as an organ of the deep state supported Al-Qaeda, but openly supporting them? Please provide any links that support your assertion. That would be interesting indeed. Interesting. I don't doubt that the CFR as an organ of the deep state supported Al-Qaeda, but openly supporting them? Please provide any links that support your assertion. That would be interesting indeed. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494057 03-20-2019 02:07 AM Post: #5 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016330885.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016342147.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016354252.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016045332.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016319661.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553018174965.jpg They're blocking these sites and the video because it was a really sloppy staged event. They saw the web chatter that nobody was buying it so they blocked it. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494058 03-20-2019 02:11 AM Post: #6 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque SevenThunders Wrote: (03-20-2019 01:55 AM) New Zealand unilaterally blocked 4chan, 8chan, and ZeroHedge among others after the attack, because apparently they can not stand uncensored discussion of Muslim terrorism and the recent cointelpro attack on a mosque in Christchurch. https://www.rt.com/news/454158-new-zeala...-shooting/ This was of course the intent of the terrorist. He wanted to create a culture war and wants civil rights removed. He self identifies as a left wing fascist, ie a socialist and a white supremacist. New Zealand is following the terrorists agenda at this point, which is quite sad. They are using sympathy for Muslims as well to further the invasion and eventual destruction of Western civilization. This is also sad. Quote: This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will eventually result in a civil war that will Balkanize the U.S. along political, cultural, and most importantly racial lines. Elsewhere in the manifesto, the shooter predicts that his attack will lead to calls for the removal of gun rights from whites in the United States that is the plan all along. https://www.breitbart.com/national-secur...thank-god/ People in NZ are talking to each other without electronic means about this event. The news is spreading like wildfire. Don't expect the NZ govt to be in power by the end of next week. Most are going to have to fall on their swords to save the rest. The NZ govt supported and assisted in the attack. The CIA conducted the attack and Turkey has confirmed the shooter is a known CIA asset. Muslim are demanding more attacks on NZ as revenge for the NZ govt assisting the attacks and cover-up. NZ'er are being blocked from this knowledge by ICCAN who control Internet censorship for the western world. People in NZ are talking to each other without electronic means about this event.The news is spreading like wildfire. Don't expect the NZ govt to be in power by the end of next week. Most are going to have to fall on their swords to save the rest.The CIA conducted the attack and Turkey has confirmed the shooter is a known CIA asset.Muslim are demanding more attacks on NZ as revenge for the NZ govt assisting the attacks and cover-up.NZ'er are being blocked from this knowledge by ICCAN who control Internet censorship for the western world. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 358903 03-20-2019 02:14 AM Post: #7 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque "Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque" = Standard FF protection routine. Why do we see videos of airplanes hitting the towers of 9/11, yet the military confiscated all videos of the Pentagon being hit by an airplane. Why? Start asking the Government these simple questions. = Standard FF protection routine.Why do we see videos of airplanes hitting the towers of 9/11, yet the military confiscated all videos of the Pentagon being hit by an airplane. Why?Start asking the Government these simple questions. SevenThunders Registered User User ID: 389315 03-20-2019 02:40 AM Posts: 3,762 Post: #8 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:07 AM) They're blocking these sites and the video because it was a really sloppy staged event. They saw the web chatter that nobody was buying it so they blocked it. http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016330885.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016342147.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016354252.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016045332.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016319661.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553018174965.jpg Damn, my mind is blown. I had no idea. Of course theoretically these videos could have been modified after downloading to support a false narrative. Damn, my mind is blown. I had no idea. Of course theoretically these videos could have been modified after downloading to support a false narrative. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 489472 03-20-2019 02:59 AM Post: #9 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque They're all blocked in australia too. SevenThunders Registered User User ID: 389315 03-20-2019 03:01 AM Posts: 3,762 Post: #10 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:11 AM) SevenThunders Wrote: (03-20-2019 01:55 AM) New Zealand unilaterally blocked 4chan, 8chan, and ZeroHedge among others after the attack, because apparently they can not stand uncensored discussion of Muslim terrorism and the recent cointelpro attack on a mosque in Christchurch. https://www.rt.com/news/454158-new-zeala...-shooting/ This was of course the intent of the terrorist. He wanted to create a culture war and wants civil rights removed. He self identifies as a left wing fascist, ie a socialist and a white supremacist. New Zealand is following the terrorists agenda at this point, which is quite sad. They are using sympathy for Muslims as well to further the invasion and eventual destruction of Western civilization. This is also sad. https://www.breitbart.com/national-secur...thank-god/ People in NZ are talking to each other without electronic means about this event. The news is spreading like wildfire. Don't expect the NZ govt to be in power by the end of next week. Most are going to have to fall on their swords to save the rest. The NZ govt supported and assisted in the attack. The CIA conducted the attack and Turkey has confirmed the shooter is a known CIA asset. Muslim are demanding more attacks on NZ as revenge for the NZ govt assisting the attacks and cover-up. NZ'er are being blocked from this knowledge by ICCAN who control Internet censorship for the western world. I hope you are right, but are you able to see those 4chan links at all or the zero hedge article? It's kind of disturbing how easy it is for them to lock down the narrative. I hope you are right, but are you able to see those 4chan links at all or the zero hedge article? It's kind of disturbing how easy it is for them to lock down the narrative. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? SevenThunders Registered User User ID: 389315 03-20-2019 03:02 AM Posts: 3,762 Post: #11 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:59 AM) They're all blocked in australia too. Can you see any of the links posted in this thread? Maybe you'll have to use a proxy to do it. Can you see any of the links posted in this thread? Maybe you'll have to use a proxy to do it. The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? udis Philosopher User ID: 462966 03-20-2019 03:05 AM Posts: 32,855 Post: #12 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LIBERALS NPC's Blocking Anything Not NPC! By Blocking the opposition they feel good. All the NPC's Will Move in LOCKSTEP Now! Please Note Lock Step is a Replacement word For GOOSE STEP! Deplorables is a replacement word for UNDESIRABLEs. This Claim Is Disputed Pending Fact Checkers. udis The Ministry Of Thought Crime. Does Not Approve Of Your Thoughts! LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494065 03-20-2019 03:06 AM Post: #13 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque SevenThunders Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:40 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:07 AM) They're blocking these sites and the video because it was a really sloppy staged event. They saw the web chatter that nobody was buying it so they blocked it. http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016330885.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016342147.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016354252.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016045332.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553016319661.webm http://i.4cdn.org/pol/1553018174965.jpg Damn, my mind is blown. I had no idea. Of course theoretically these videos could have been modified after downloading to support a false narrative. Go to bit torrent and download the original. Watch the whole thing. These are unedited. Go to bit torrent and download the original. Watch the whole thing.These are unedited. LoP Guest lop guest User ID: 494065 03-20-2019 03:12 AM Post: #14 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque LoP Guest Wrote: (03-20-2019 03:06 AM) SevenThunders Wrote: (03-20-2019 02:40 AM) Damn, my mind is blown. I had no idea. Of course theoretically these videos could have been modified after downloading to support a false narrative. Go to bit torrent and download the original. Watch the whole thing. These are unedited. You can also use a VPN. You can also use a VPN. ~blessed~ lop guest User ID: 489469 03-20-2019 03:20 AM Post: #15 RE: Terrorist Wins: New Zealand Blocking Open Discussion of Attack on Mosque Please read and share it with everyone who cares for humanity. To the killer who attacked Muslims in New Zealand I appreciate that you made the effort to find out the timing of our noon prayer. Appreciate that you learnt more about our religion to know that Fridays are the days the men go to the Mosques for their congregational prayers. But I guess there were some things you, rather unfortunately, didnt get to learn. Perhaps you didnt know that what you did made them Martyrs. And how you have single-handedly raised the statuses of our brothers and sisters in the eyes of their beloved Creator with your actions. And how, through your actions, they will be raised as the most righteous and pious of Muslims. Perhaps you didnt know that doing what you did, at the time and place you chose, it actually meant that the last words that escaped their lips were probably words of remembrance and praise of Allah. Which is a noble end many Muslims could only dream of. And perhaps you didnt know, but what you did would almost guarantee them paradise. Appreciate that you showed the world how Muslims welcome, with open arms, even people like yourself into our Mosques, which is our second home. Appreciate you for showing that our mosques have no locks or gates, and are unguarded because everyone and anyone is welcome to be with us. Appreciate you for allowing the world to see the powerful image of a man you injured, lying on back on the stretcher with his index finger raised high, as a declaration of his faith and complete trust in Allah. Appreciate how you brought the Churches and communities together to stand with us Muslims. Appreciate that you made countless New Zealanders come out of their homes to visit the mosques nearest to them with flowers with beautiful messages of peace and love. You have broken many many hearts and you have made the world weep. You have left a huge void. But what you also have done has brought us closer together. And it has strengthened our faith and resolve. In the coming weeks, more people will turn up in the Mosques, a place you hate so much, fortified by the strength in their faith, and inspired by their fallen brothers and sisters. In the coming weeks, more non Muslims will turn up at the gates of mosques with fresh flowers and beautifully handwritten notes. They may not have known where the mosques in their area were. But now, they do. All because of you. You may have achieved your aim of intended destruction, but I guess you failed to incite hatred, fear and despair in all of us. And while I understand that it may have been your objective, I hate to say that after all of that elaborate planning, and the perverse and wretched efforts on your part, you still failed to drive a divide among the Muslims and non-Muslims in the world. For that, I cant say that Im sorry. (A Radiant Muslim) C/O https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/03/19...-a-killer/ To the killer who attacked Muslims in New ZealandI appreciate that you made the effort to find out the timing of our noon prayer.Appreciate that you learnt more about our religion to know that Fridays are the days the men go to the Mosques for their congregational prayers.But I guess there were some things you, rather unfortunately, didnt get to learn.Perhaps you didnt know that what you did made them Martyrs.And how you have single-handedly raised the statuses of our brothers and sisters in the eyes of their beloved Creator with your actions. And how, through your actions, they will be raised as the most righteous and pious of Muslims.Perhaps you didnt know that doing what you did, at the time and place you chose, it actually meant that the last words that escaped their lips were probably words of remembrance and praise of Allah. Which is a noble end many Muslims could only dream of.And perhaps you didnt know, but what you did would almost guarantee them paradise.Appreciate that you showed the world how Muslims welcome, with open arms, even people like yourself into our Mosques, which is our second home.Appreciate you for showing that our mosques have no locks or gates, and are unguarded because everyone and anyone is welcome to be with us.Appreciate you for allowing the world to see the powerful image of a man you injured, lying on back on the stretcher with his index finger raised high, as a declaration of his faith and complete trust in Allah.Appreciate how you brought the Churches and communities together to stand with us Muslims.Appreciate that you made countless New Zealanders come out of their homes to visit the mosques nearest to them with flowers with beautiful messages of peace and love.You have broken many many hearts and you have made the world weep. You have left a huge void.But what you also have done has brought us closer together. And it has strengthened our faith and resolve.In the coming weeks, more people will turn up in the Mosques, a place you hate so much, fortified by the strength in their faith, and inspired by their fallen brothers and sisters.In the coming weeks, more non Muslims will turn up at the gates of mosques with fresh flowers and beautifully handwritten notes. They may not have known where the mosques in their area were. But now, they do. All because of you.You may have achieved your aim of intended destruction, but I guess you failed to incite hatred, fear and despair in all of us.And while I understand that it may have been your objective, I hate to say that after all of that elaborate planning, and the perverse and wretched efforts on your part, you still failed to drive a divide among the Muslims and non-Muslims in the world.For that, I cant say that Im sorry.(A Radiant Muslim)C/O Advertisement Back to Forum Reply to This post Post New Thread * Exxon, Sonatrach met in Houston to discuss Ahnet field * Exxon opted to suspend process due to violence in Algeria * Discussions part of tightening ties between companies (Adds details, background) By Lamine Chikhi, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ron Bousso ALGIERS/LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Talks between Exxon Mobil and Algeria to develop a natural gas field in the North African country have stalled because of unrest, industry sources said, the first economic fallout from the almost month-long anti-government protests. Irving, Texas-based Exxon entered talks with Algeria's national oil company Sonatrach several months ago to develop a field in the southwestern Ahnet basin, the sources close to the discussions said. The talks were part of a deepening of ties between the two companies that followed Sonatrach's acquisition last May of Exxon's Augusta refinery in Sicily, Italy. Last week, officials from the two sides held talks in Houston, Texas to hammer out details but Exxon opted to suspend the discussions, temporarily at least, due to the wave of protests in Algeria over President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's 20-year rule, the sources said. Exxon and Sonatrach declined to comment. The refinery acquisition and increased cooperation between the two companies were seen as key for Sonatrach's efforts to modernise its business and reduce reliance on fuel imports under Chief Executive Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour. The collapse of the talks follows years of attempts by Sonatrach to attract foreign companies to develop its vast oil and natural gas resources. Bouteflika had appointed Kaddour in March 2017 to turn around a state company hit by fraud scandals, lethargy and red tape. He has since then managed to rebuild ties with oil majors, some of which had shunned Algeria previously due to tough terms and bureaucracy. But Kaddour's fate is tied to Bouteflika, who has been facing increasing pressure to step down from street protests, energy and political sources say. Kaddour was previously jailed in a murky power struggle typical for Algeria before being rehabilitated by Bouteflika. Story continues "The minute Bouteflika would leave power, Ould Kaddour would be sacked," a reliable source familiar with the matter told Reuters last month. Sonatrach hopes to tap foreign experience in fracking, a drilling technique that led to the rapid expansion of U.S. oil and gas production, to develop its own shale reserves, estimated at 22 trillion cubic metres, the world's third largest. Algeria is a leading gas supplier to Europe but exports have suffered from delays to several projects and a steep rise in the use of subsidised gas at home as the population has grown. To make Algeria attractive for investors, Kaddour, a U.S.-trained engineer, has also resolved a series of disputes with oil majors including Frances Total, Italys ENI and Spains Repsol that had blocked investments. He has also been pushing the government to finalise energy legislation that has been in the works for years to offer better terms for investors. (Additional reporting by Florence Tan and Jennifer Hiller in Houston; Writing by Ron Bousso and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Dale Hudson) Facebook headquarters sign with people posing for pictures. Headquarters for social networking company Facebook Inc. in Menlo Park, California. (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM) In a settlement with civil rights and labor groups, Facebook Inc. announced sweeping changes to its ad platform Tuesday to resolve claims that advertisers for housing, employment and credit opportunities targeted the websites audiences in a discriminatory basis. The social media giant announced the settlement Tuesday, rolling out changes to how it manages housing, employment and credit ads on its website. The settlement, which will prohibit advertisers from excluding users on a discriminatory basis, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Facebook reached the settlement after it faced mounting legal pressure from a coalition of civil rights and labor groups and plaintiffs firms. Facebook agreed to work with the groups to monitor implementation of the changes. The settlement came together after months of negotiations, which began in the spring of 2017 and will resolve at least five lawsuits filed by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Communications Workers of America, and the National Fair Housing Alliance. Todays changes mark an important step in our broader effort to prevent discrimination and promote fairness and inclusion on Facebook. But our work is far from over, said Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in a statement. Facebooks key structural change will be creating a separate portal for advertisers hoping to publish housing, employment, credit advertisements, or HEC, on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger. The tech giant will significantly limit those advertisers targeting options, eliminating their ability to select audiences based on gender, age, race, religion and sexual orientation. Advertisers will be barred from targeting other groups who are protected under federal, state or local laws. The platform has also agreed to eliminate ZIP code targeting and will establish a minimum geographic radius of 15 miles from a specific address or the center of a city. The targeting options will go down from tens of thousands to just a few hundred, Galen Sherwin, an ACLU attorney, said during a press call. Under these changes, advertisers will be asked at the outset to self-certify whether theyre HEC ad creators. If they are, then they will work through the HEC portal, which will limit their set of targeting options. If Facebook detects an HEC advertiser has tried to evade that portal, then the platform will block the advertisement and re-route them to the HEC portal. Facebook also will begin requiring advertisers to certify their compliance with anti-discrimination laws and Facebooks own anti-discrimination policies, Sherwin said. The National Fair Housing Alliance is represented by New York-based civil rights firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady. The Communication Workers of America and several individual job-seekers are represented by Outten & Golden and the ACLU. As part of the deal, Facebook will pay nearly $3 million to CWA to reimburse its legal fees and costs and to the individual who alleged they were denied opportunities on Facebooks ad platform. Facebook also agreed to pay the NFHA up to $1,950,000, in damages and attorneys fees. Story continues 'Wonderful Settlement' Facebook has faced scrutiny over its ads since ProPublica first published a story in October 2016 that detailed how the company had allowed advertisers to target users based on race. ProPublica showed that it was possible to purchase housing-related advertisements and target them for certain races, excluding Facebook users with certain ethnic affinities. Facebook was subsequently hit with at least five discrimination lawsuits or charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission between 2016 and 2018. Attorneys at the Aqua Terra Aeris Law Group and the Law Office of William Most led the way with a lawsuit in the Northern District of California in 2016, representing plaintiffs who said Facebook had allowed ad-purchasers to discriminate against racial minorities. Outten Golden was brought onto the suit later in 2016 and it began asserting claims on a classwide basis. Facebook initially filed a motion to dismiss, which Outten Golden opposed. Settlement talks began in spring 2017, said Jahan Sagafi, a civil rights attorney at Outten Golden. Those talks have continued through this week and ultimately culminated in the wonderful settlement, Sagafi said. He described it as a global settlement that resolves the California case, as well as four other cases related to gender, age, and the housing discrimination claims. David Berman, an Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady attorney, said the firm began settlement talks with Facebook in September. He said that, given the way advertising has evolved, settlements like this were important for ensuring that laws protecting certain groups are "updated to fit the new age." In the elegant quiet of the cafe at the Church of Sweden, a narrow Gothic-style building in Midtown Manhattan, Daniel Cohen is taking a break from explaining genetics. He moves toward the creaky piano positioned near the front door, sits down, and plays a flowing, flawless rendition of Over the Rainbow. If human biology is the scientific equivalent of a complicated score, Cohen has learned how to navigate it like a virtuoso. Cohen was the driving force behind Genethon, the French laboratory that in December 1993 produced the first-ever map of the human genome. He essentially introduced Big Data and automation to the study of genomics, as he and his team demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to use super-fast computing to speed up the processing of DNA samples. Scientists worldwide have built on Cohens insights, and Cohen himself, an MD with a Ph.D. in immunology, has gone on to success as a researcher and pharma executive. But a quarter-century later, genomics has yielded few of the kinds of paradigm-changing medical breakthroughs that many of its early innovators hoped for. Today, as chief executive and founder of Paris-based drug startup Pharnext, Cohen is striving to understand why that rainbow hasnt led to a pot of gold. Any protein in the body has many different functions, not only one, he says, returning from the piano to talk with me, just as you are a person who has many functions in the population, not just one. The phenomenon Cohen is describing is pleiotropy, the capacity of a single gene to have multiple, seemingly unrelated effects. It is one of the complexities of disease that has repeatedly frustrated medical researchers in their quest for therapies for the most stubborn illnesses. Cohen not only appreciates pleiotropys significance: He believes that Pharnext and other drugmakers may soon exploit itwith a powerful boost from artificial intelligence. By embracing the bodys complexity, and by using A.I. to more methodically analyze and map the way the chain reactions of disease sweep through the body, he hopes to develop combinations of drugs tuned to attack a plethora of medical conditions. Story continues In theory, with repurposing you dont need to design new drugs, says Cohen. With 50 drugs, we can treat everything. Cohen and his team are also applying A.I. to search for therapies that leverage repurposingcombining existing drugs in ways that give them therapeutic powers that each lacks in isolation. Their long-term goal is a drug pipeline that is far more efficient than Big Pharmas notoriously slow R&D departmentsstreamlined by machine learning. Cohens sleepy gaze widens with enthusiasm when he describes how its all coming along. Tres bien, he says. Tres economique. Running in the same race as Pharnext are companies ranging from giants like Google and IBM to startups such as Insilico Medicine, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, and BenevolentAI. All are deeply invested in the tools of A.I., using them to analyze millions of examples of drug and patient data and tease out patterns of significance. But Pharnext, founded in 2007, predates most of those competitors by several yearsand has a longer head start when one factors in Cohens decades of earlier research in genomics and pleiotropy. And perhaps most important, Pharnexts application of A.I. to medical problems over the course of more than a decade has finally reached a critical inflection point. In October, Pharnext reported positive results for a Phase III trial in humans of one of its drug combinations. The compound is PXT3003, a treatment for a neurodegenerative condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), a rare disorder for which no cure has been found. The primary cause of CMT is duplication of a single gene, but a whole cascade of bad things ensues downstream from that mutation. Schwann cells, which protect nerves, regress into stem cells that dont do their job. Axons in the nerves begin to die off. Muscles cant be controlled, and they shrink as a consequence. According to Pharnext, its Phase III results (which have not yet been peer-reviewed) showed CMT not merely stabilizing under PXT3003 but also being reversed, as cells began regenerating. Previous treatments, Cohen says, had managed only to slow patients decline. Under PXT3003, patients showed statistically significant improvement on two measures of disability. Based on those results, in February the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Pharnext fast track status for that therapyan accelerated review process, awarded only when the agency thinks a drug demonstrates superior effectiveness in treating a serious disease. PATHWAYS: To help find therapies, A.I.-driven startups build maps that show how genes, proteins, and the body interact as diseases progress. This illustration depicts Pharnexts map for CMT, a neurodegenerative condition. It is, to be sure, only one hopeful step against one rare ailment. Still, technology has shortened Pharnexts path in ways with promising long-term implications, shaving years off the drug-design timeline. Preclinical testing and clinical trials generally take eight to 10 years, and developing a novel drug completely from scratch can add seven years to the process, sometimes much more. In the case of PXT3003, in contrast, A.I. helped Pharnext select three existing drugs to repurpose: baclofen, a muscle relaxant; naltrexone, used to treat opioid dependence; and sorbitol, a glucose reduction used as a laxative. Because the drugs were already in use, Pharnext could skip the Phase I trials normally required to ensure their safetyand eliminate the build from scratch stage. FDA fast-tracking increases the odds that PXT3003 could be on the market as soon as 2020and its only one of Pharnexts many projects. The company will soon begin a second Phase II trial of a drug with indications for Alzheimers and a first Phase II trial for an ALS therapy, in both cases using a similar repurposed combination. Just as important: If these experiments succeed, copycats with deeper pockets could follow suit. Kathleen Sebelius, a secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration who is now a consultant and board member for several health care companies, sees the efforts as part of a growing trend to repurpose. That all leads to the possibility of a lot shorter investment cycle, and potentially a very different pricing point, and lots of possibilities for rare diseases where there just hasnt been enough of a financial incentive, she says. And that has lots of appeal. Eric Kandel of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University, a winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine who is an adviser to Pharnext, says that the startup is at the leading edge of the trend, calling its methodology both original and powerful. As for whether that approach will catch on widely, Kandel adds, We should know soon. At the dawn of modern genetic research, almost no one anticipated the enormous complexity in the biology of disease. Many researchers thought the genome would be a kind of instruction manual for the body. Pioneers such as Celera Genomics Craig Venter and Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health were celebrated as gene hunters, a term that evoked crusaders scouring the globe for that one silver bullet gene that would explainand facilitate a cure fora given disease. To some extent, these researchers found real treasure. Geneticist Nancy Wexler, for example, spent years in Venezuela compiling family trees of those affected by Huntingtons disease, a rare, inherited condition. Her work led to the discovery of the mutation in a single gene that predicts whether an individual will contract the condition. But scientists soon realized that genetic maps were less like an instruction manual and more like the parts catalog you get with Ikea furniture. Whats more, researchers discovered other catalogs that added complex variables to the relationships between genes and diseasefor example, the proteome, the proteins encoded by DNA, and the transcriptome, all the nucleic acids that convert DNA into proteins. The morning-after disappointment has proved wrenching, as researchers learned that complex diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimers, didnt yield to a single gene. (Even Huntingtons, its gene identified, has remained untreatable.) Today, Cohen and others see a link between the obsession with simplicity and a decline in drug discovery. That decline shows itself in the 1-in-10 success rate for FDA approval of new therapies; in spiraling costs for drug development (what a Tufts study recently identified as the $2.6 billion pill); and in the soaring prices of the few treatments that break new ground, such as the $475,000 cost of a course of treatment with Novartiss leukemia drug Kymriah. More recently, researchers have begun to grapple with biological complexity with the help of the science of networks. That sciences chief evangelist is Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a professor at Northeastern University whose 2014 book Linked popularized the notion that network theory can explain numerous fields, from fashion trends to sexual relations to disease. Barabasi and others realized that disease is like a bad signal that moves through a network of connections from genes to proteins to cells to tissues, until all these perturbations manifest as the familiar symptoms of disease. Ads posted in the Paris Metro as part of a public-awareness campaign about CMT. CMT advocates say the disease affects about 1 person in 2,500 worldwide. Complicated diseases are confluences of numerous effects, because pleiotropy means that any given protein can act at different points in the body. Startups like Pharnext assume that drugs can also be pleiotropic, acting on more than one protein and more than one interaction in the body at the same time. To find a drug combination capable of tackling complexity, the enormous power of machine learning, with its ability to spot patterns in data, must be wedded to a sense of the structure by which disease operates. This, in turn, has required an evolution in the relationship between computer scientists and biologists. Newer machine-learning approaches ingest vastly more data and can assemble hierarchies of information that let them go beyond correlation. Still, harnessing these deep learning neural networks into a structure that has any predictive power requires some elegant algorithm-building. Colin Hill, CEO and founder of GNS Healthcare, is one of the builders. His company, based in Cambridge, Mass., has spent 18 years developing a computer system called REFS, which stands for reverse engineering, forward simulation. GNS has raised a total of $38 million over the yearsfrom Amgen Ventures, the venture capital arm of the drug giant, along with Celgene and a variety of other investorsto build and fine-tune its models of disease. And in a recent series of trials, first published in 2017 in the medical journal The Lancet, GNS has detailed REFSs potential when applied to a disease such as Parkinsonsan ailment in which pleiotropic factors render existing treatments wildly hit-or-miss in their effectiveness. With Parkinsons, the network of interactions set in motion by defective genes has a particular shape to it, and the breakdown of motor functioning is the most reliable indication of its progression. Feeding the genetic data of Parkinsons sufferers and a control group into REFS helped GNS generate over 100 computer models depicting what might be going on as motor function deteriorates. The models can uncover previously unknown genetic mutations that may contribute to the speedup of deterioration. But thats just the first part. GNS has used those findings to create 5,000 different computer simulations of randomized control trials, each aiming to predict how fast the disease would progress with varying approaches to treatment. Such speed-testing can be vastly more economical than seeking the same result through controlled human trials. And GNS, in partnership with other drugmakers, is now applying similar approaches to treatments for diabetes, ALS, multiple myeloma, and breast cancer, among other diseases. We now have the ability to create and construct, on the computer, representations of human patients and their diseases such that we can now probe, drug by drug, care management intervention by care management intervention, and say what treatments work for which patient, says Colin Hill, CEO of GNS. The simulation, in other words, is not just finding correlations: It is answering What if questions. What if we had given drug A instead of drug B to patient X? That ability to simulate and answer counterfactuals is a recent arrival in the practice of A.I. It owes its growing importance in large part to GNSs technology adviser, Judea Pearl, a longtime A.I. researcher and professor of computer science at UCLA. In a popular volume published last year called The Book of Why, Pearl describes how true intelligence ascends from merely noticing patterns, which machine learning does in spades, to being able to express counterfactual reasoning about what would have happened, based on those patterns. Data alone, disconnected from any idea of a mechanism, doesnt provide real insight. Data is profoundly dumb about causality, claims Pearl. Hill puts it more bluntly: Deep learning is not that deep. Daniel Cohen, now 67, spent his childhood in Tunisias heterogeneous society of Jews, Christians, Muslims, living all together in a very elegant and pacific way. He credits that experience for his taste for things that are not complicated, but complex. When he was 9, Cohens family immigrated to Paris, where he pursued the piano avidly. He switched to medicine once he realized he might have a greater impact as a scientist than a musician, but the passion has not left him. He has been a guest conductor at the Royal Philharmonic in London and dreams of leading that ensemble in Tchaikovskys Symphony Pathetique. The predisposition to orchestra conductor, CEO, and scientist are all controlled by the same genes, he jokes. Parlaying genomics and technology into pharmaceutical success is something Cohen has done before. He was a cofounder of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. oncology-drug maker that helped develop the multiple-myeloma treatment Velcade. Cohen is bullish that Pharnext can be successful with A.I., but he is also aware of the technologys limitations. Googles AlphaZero, an A.I. program, was able to beat the worlds human masters at the Chinese strategy game Go, without using any prior human knowledge. But as Cohen points out, Go has a finite set of rules, which AlphaZero knew completely. In biology, thanks in part to pleiotropy, the rules are not fully knownand may never be. But thoughtfully designed A.I. has enabled Pharnext to build models around the rules that are known and make choices accordingly. Out of the universe of 10,000 known drugs, the companys discovery model takes in an assortment of 2,000 that are both out of patent and marketedthat is, already judged both therapeutically effective and safe enough to be sold to the public. To develop its CMT drug, Pharnext first spent about a year assembling its network model for the diseasea framework comparable to GNSs Parkinsons map, showing how nervous and muscular problems cascade from the relevant gene mutation. Based on this mechanism, the computer model arrived at a short list of 57 candidate drugs that addressed various points in the cascade. Pharnext tested those drugs one by one in vitro, generating a shorter list of 22 to be tested in mice, which finally yielded the three-drug combination that went to human clinical trials. The recent positive Phase III results confirmed that the PXT3003 cocktail is acting at various points in the cascade. Without the A.I. model, many more years of preclinical testing would have been required beyond the three years it took Pharnext, says Cohen. With 2,000 drugs [to start with], I could produce all possible combinations, a billion possibilities to test in vitro. Thats a recipe for countless false positives and dead endsyears of frustration, for now forestalled. Pharnexts shares, which trade on the Paris stock exchange, have more than doubled since Octobers Phase III results announcement. The company has spent about 120 million euros ($135 million) over the past decade on research and developmenta very modest figure by pharma standards. It has never made a profit, but analysts estimate that if PXT3003 reaches the market, revenue9 million euros in 2018could soar starting in 2020. (GNS Healthcare is privately held and does not disclose spending or revenue.) Beyond possible victories for investors, the advances at Pharnext and GNS point the way to A.I.s growing upand pharmacology along with it. The ability to reason about causality, and to explore counterfactual questions, is a threshold that users of artificial intelligence have long sought to cross. The computer models at these startups are making a foray in that direction as they manage and tame a bewildering number of variables. Even the underlying definition of disease may evolve. As scientists are learning, these definitions have been overly simplistic. A study in the journal Bioinformatics last year noted that attempts to treat tumors are hampered by the fact that genetic mutations in cancer are fundamentally heterogeneous: What appears as one disease, or class of disease, in fact contains few commonalities and many differences from patient to patient. As it becomes clear that whats happening in any body differs sharply from the on/off model of one gene turning on a set of symptoms, technology can help drug developers wrestle with the complexity. Last, but hardly least, these A.I.-driven efforts offer a glimmer of economic hope. In an era in which the cost of drug development is a daunting obstacle, smart algorithms may someday enable medical stakeholders to derive more value from the trillions of dollars that have already been spent on drug research. In theory, with repurposing, you dont need to design [new] drugs, Cohen avers. My feeling is that with 50 drugs, we can treat everything. That would mean changing yet another definition: the meaning of discovery. A version of this article appears in the April 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline Finding New Cures in Old Drugs. By Ben Klayman DETROIT, March 20 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday it is adding production of a fully electric vehicle at a second North American plant as part of its $11 billion investment plan set last year. The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it is investing about $900 million in southeast Michigan and creating 900 jobs through 2023 as part of its electric vehicle push. That includes a plan to invest more than $850 million to expand production capacity at its Flat Rock, Michigan, plant to build EVs. "When we were taking a look at our $11 billion investment in electrification, it became obvious to us that we were going to need a second plant in the not-too-distant future to add capacity for our battery electric vehicles," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, said in a telephone interview. Ford is negotiating an alliance with Germany's Volkswagen AG to work together on electric and autonomous vehicles. Hinrichs said those talks have been positive, but that there was nothing to announce. Ford in January 2018 said it would increase its planned investments in electric vehicles to $11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup. That investment figure was up from the previous target of $4.5 billion by 2020. Automakers have been boosting investment in the development of EVs in part because of pressure from regulators in China, Europe and California to slash carbon emissions from fossil fuels. They also are being pushed by electric carmakers like Tesla Inc. Of the 40 vehicles, Ford said at the time that 16 would be fully electric and the rest would be plug-in hybrids. The Flat Rock plant, which currently employs 3,400 people, builds the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental cars. The plant investment includes adding a second shift and funding to build the next-generation Mustang. Ford already was planning an all-electric sport utility vehicle in 2020 that will be built at its Cuautitlan, Mexico, plant. Story continues The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker also said on Wednesday that it will build its first self-driving vehicles for use by commercial customers at a new manufacturing center in southeast Michigan starting in 2021, and will build its next-generation North American Transit Connect commercial and passenger van in Mexico starting that same year. The next-generation Transit Connect small van will be built at Ford's Hermosillo, Mexico, plant and increases U.S. and Canadian vehicle content consistent with the proposed new North American trade agreement, the company said. The vehicle is now built in Spain. Hinrichs said he is optimistic Congress will approve the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit Editing by Susan Thomas) By Richard Lough and Aaron Maasho PARIS/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX jets after the crash in Ethiopia has had no immediate financial impact on airlines using the planes, but it will get painful for the industry the longer they do not fly, companies and analysts said on Friday. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa last weekend, killing 157 people, the second such calamity involving Boeing's flagship new model after a jet came down off Indonesia in October with 189 people on board. Investigators in France on Friday examined the black boxes of the jet that crashed in Ethiopia as the global airline industry waited to see if the cause was similar to a disaster in Indonesia months before. Regulators have grounded the 737 MAX around the world, and the U.S. planemaker has halted deliveries of the several thousand planes on order for a model intended to be the future industry workhorse. Air Canada and United Airlines on Friday became the first major carriers in North America to warn of negative financial implications to business as a consequence of the grounding of the Boeing planes. Canada's biggest carrier Air Canada suspended its 2019 financial forecasts, while United Airlines, the No. 3 U.S. carrier, said it would see an adverse effect on its operations if the jets remained grounded heading into the peak summer travel season. U.S. bank Citi said it expected the grounding to eat into the profits of Southwest Airlines, which operates the world's biggest 737 MAX fleet, leaving the carrier facing a plane shortage and likely passenger compensation costs. For airlines that over-ordered the 737 MAX, the grounding could provide an excuse to delay or cancel purchases, analysts said, though others are scrambling to adjust business plans that bet heavily on the fuel-efficient, longer-range jets. In the two crashes, pilots asked to return minutes into flight. "It looks like the Lion Air, because the flight only lasted for six minutes," Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam told state Chinese state news agency Xinhua on Friday. "There is clear similarity between our crash and the Lion Air crash." Story continues Reuters was not able to reach Gebremariam for comment. A link between the two accidents makes blame more likely to lie with Boeing and less likely with the airline. Parallels between the twin disasters have frightened travellers worldwide and wiped billions of dollars off Boeing stock. U.S. authorities say information from the wreckage in Ethiopia and data on its flight path show some similarities. Two sources said investigators retrieved a piece of a stabiliser, which moves the nose up and down, set in an unusual position - similar to that of the Lion Air plane that crashed in Indonesia. Pilots were waiting anxiously for results of the investigation. "Looking at the crash site photos, the aircraft appears to have nose-dived," Paul Gichinga, former head of the Kenya Airline Pilots Association, told Reuters. "The pilot must have gotten some sort of indication that maybe the airspeed was unreliable or something and decided, instead of climbing and going to sort out the problem up there, the best thing was to return to have it sorted." U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by telephone on Friday with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about the crash, according to the White House. "The president reiterated his sorrow over the loss of life and underscored America's commitment to work with the government of Ethiopia a longstanding partner and friend of the United States and international civil aviation authorities to determine the cause of the crash," the White House said in a statement. BOEING PLANS NEW SOFTWARE Boeing, the world's biggest planemaker, has said the 737 MAX is safe, though it plans to roll out a software upgrade in coming weeks. Despite pausing shipments, it continued to produce at full speed at its factory near Seattle. French authorities have the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, though Ethiopia is formally leading the investigation and U.S. experts are in Paris and Addis Ababa too. First conclusions could take several days. The New York Times said the captain, Yared Getachew, initially reported a "flight control" problem in a calm voice before asking to return in panicked tones three minutes into the flight. "Break break, request back to home," he told controllers, the newspaper reported. The jet initially flew below the minimum safe height for its climb, then once at higher altitude was oscillating up and down by hundreds of feet, all at abnormally fast speed, the Times said. It then disappeared from radar over a military zone and lost contact with controllers five minutes after take-off. In Ethiopia, relatives have been visiting the charred and debris-strewn field to pay last respects. The victims came from 35 nations. Diplomats fear trucks and excavators at the site could be destroying vital evidence, while some policemen have been taking selfies inside the security cordon. FAMILIES 'STUCK AND EMOTIONAL' Israeli Ilan Matsliah came quickly to Ethiopia thinking it would be quick to find the remains of his brother for burial in accordance with Jewish tradition. "More than 24 hours is a problem for us. But I have been here for more than 96 hours," the 46-year-old told Reuters. "We are now stuck in the same place, the same as Monday. We are very emotional." With heightened global scrutiny, the head of Indonesia's transport safety committee said a report into the Lion Air crash would be speeded up for release in July or August. A preliminary report focussed on maintenance, training and an anti-stall system. Elsewhere, a potential new Chinese order for more than 100 jets worth well over $10 billion was put in doubt. Legal experts said even non-U.S. families of the Ethiopia victims may be able to sue Chicago-based Boeing in the United States - where payouts are larger - as eight of the dead were American and plaintiffs may argue liability hinges on system design and safety decisions made by executives. (Reporting by Richard Lough, Tim Hepher in Paris; Duncan Miriri and Aaron Masho in Addis Ababa; Omar Mohammed, Katharine Houreld and Maggie Fick in Nairobi; David Shephardson and Jeff Mason in Washington; Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Rishika Chatterjee, Rachit Vats, Savio D'Souza and Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Jamie Freed in Singapore; Josephine Mason in London; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ben Klayman;Editing by Angus MacSwan, Nick Zieminski and Tom Brown) (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg tracks the fortunes of some 2,800 billionaires. Of those, 145 are worth at least $10 billion, making them decabillionaires. Now, the world contains two centibillionaires simultaneously. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, once the worlds richest person, has again eclipsed the $100 billion threshold, joining Amazon.com Inc.s Jeff Bezos in the exclusive club, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gatess fortune, now $100 billion on the nose, hasnt reached such heights since the dot-com boom, when Bezos was only beginning his march up the worlds wealth rankings. The Amazon founder is now worth $145.6 billion, having added $20.7 billion this year alone, while Gates has gained $9.5 billion. These two fortunes underscore a widening wealth gap in the U.S., where those with the most capital are accumulating riches the fastest. Its also a worldwide trend. Frances Bernard Arnault has an $86.2 billion fortune, equal to about 3 percent of his countrys economy. The net worth of Spains Amancio Ortega represents 5 percent of that nations gross domestic product. And then theres Bidzina Ivanishvili, whos worth about a third of Georgias GDP. The Gates and Bezos mega-fortunes may not last long. Gates has donated more than $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and said he intends to give away at least half of his wealth. Bezos, meanwhile, may be about to cede some of his fortune for a different reason: he and his wife Mackenzie are divorcing. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the worlds 500 wealthiest people. The combined net worth of the group has surged $505.8 billion this year to $5.3 trillion. (Updates with aggregate net worth of index members in last paragraph. An earlier version of this story was corrected to remove an erroneous reference to 2018.) --With assistance from Jack Witzig. Story continues To contact the reporters on this story: Devon Pendleton in New York at dpendleton@bloomberg.net;Tom Metcalf in London at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum, Steven Crabill For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Adds reaction from Luerssen shipyard) BERLIN, March 19 (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) want to extend a freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia imposed after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, party sources said, setting the stage for a row with their conservative coalition partners. Under pressure from European allies, many of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives want to end the ban to avoid hurting Germany's commercial reputation and undermining its ambitions to develop a common European defence policy. The moratorium runs until the end of March. Extending it by six months would harm an array of German companies that have been holding off on delivering goods to Saudi Arabia since late last year, industry officials said. Two party sources told Reuters on Tuesday that the parliamentary party had backed SPD leader Andrea Nahles in her call for an extension until October. "It should be agreed with our European partners that equipment that is dependent on German supplies will not be allowed to be used in the Yemen war," said one participant in the meeting. Germany's BDI Federation of German Industry warned that extending the unilateral ban would hit France and Britain particularly hard, putting at risk projects such as development of a new Franco-German combat jet and other arms deals. The SPD's stance "endangers joint projects & common European #defence policy. With embargo and proposed 2020 budget, #Berlin is increasingly isolated among its closest allies," BDI defence expert Matthias Wachter said in a Twitter posting. Germany is also under fire by the United States and other NATO allies for failing to include funding in its latest budget plan to raise the percentage of defence spending to a NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product. The SPD, languishing in opinion polls before four regional elections this year, is keen to woo traditional voters sceptical about arms sales and worried about Saudi involvement in Yemen's war. The freeze has put a question mark over billions of euros of military orders, including a 10 billion pound ($13.27 billion) deal to sell 48 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Riyadh that would be led by Britain's BAE Systems. Story continues BAE declined to comment on the SPD's push to extend the export ban. A spokeswoman for Luerssen Werft, a privately-held German shipyard that was building patrol boats for Saudi Arabia, said extending the embargo would "have an onerous impact on employment at the shipyard and at its suppliers, as well as affecting planned revenues and sales." Among countries opposed to the German government policy are key allies Britain and France. ($1 = 0.7536 pounds) (Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Andrea Shalal, Writing by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Michelle Martin, William Maclean) MONTREAL, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL:TSX and NYSE) announced today that Rhodri J. Harries, Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer will participate in an interactive discussion at each of the following institutional investor conferences: Desjardins Industrials, TMT & Consumer Conference held in Montreal, Quebec, on Wednesday, March 20 th , 2019 at 3:00 PM ET. This session will not be webcast. The CIBC 22nd Annual Retail & Consumer Conference held in Toronto, Ontario, on Wednesday, March 27th, 2019 at 1:45 PM ET. The live audio webcast of the interactive discussion can be accessed at http://www.gildancorp.com/events and will be available for 30 days subsequent to the conference at the same link. About Gildan Gildan is a leading manufacturer of everyday basic apparel which markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, under a diversified portfolio of Company-owned brands, including Gildan, American Apparel, Comfort Colors, Gildan Hammer, Gold Toe, Anvil, Alstyle, Secret, Silks, Kushyfoot, Secret Silky, Therapy Plus, Peds and MediPeds, and under the Under Armour brand through a sock licensing agreement providing exclusive distribution rights in the United States and Canada. Our product offering includes activewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and legwear products sold to a broad range of customers, including wholesale distributors, screenprinters or embellishers, as well as to retailers that sell to consumers through their physical stores and/or e-commerce platforms. In addition, we sell directly to consumers through our own direct-to-consumer platforms. Gildan owns and operates vertically integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean Basin, North America, and Bangladesh. With over 50,000 employees worldwide Gildan operates with a strong commitment to industry-leading labour and environmental practices throughout its supply chain in accordance with its comprehensive Genuine Responsibility program embedded in the Company's long-term business strategy. More information about the Company and its corporate citizenship practices and initiatives can be found at www.gildancorp.com and www.genuineresponsibility.com, respectively. HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Thanks to high gold prices and industry consolidation, 2019 looks like a big year for gold. Gold prices started to rally in late 2018 as economic and geopolitical concerns sent shock waves through global stock markets. One gold stock you should look at right away is Inception Mining, Inc. (IMII). It owns and operates a producing mine with the capacity to produce 1000 tons per day. IMII could be a breakout once the street learns their story. Start your research today. Today we are highlighting: Inception Mining, Inc. (IMII), Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM), Goldcorp, Inc. (GG), Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD), and Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC). Inception Mining, Inc. (IMII) (Market Cap: $11.824M; Share Price: $0.19) is a producing gold mining company engaged in the identification, exploration, acquisition and development of mineral properties. IMII owns and operates the Clavo Rico mine. This producing gold mine is located on the 200-hectare Clavo Rico Concession, located in southern Honduras. The area has been explored and proven to be a profitable source of gold reserves since the 16th century, originally by the Spanish and more recently by the local residents. The current operation has the capacity to process up to 1,000 tons of material per day with low recovery costs. Initial focus has been directed towards precious metals, after recognizing the current state of the industry and the multiple opportunities that have surfaced due to the economic upheaval in the sector. Inception plans to capitalize on the availability of a surplus of resources in all segments, including geological, mining, equipment, and processing. While others are suffering, Inception may realize a significant advantage due to high mined material values, coupled with tight cost control measures and availability of mining resources. Besides their producing mine, the company also has a few potential producing properties in U.P. & BURLINGTON and their NEVADA EXPLORATION project. Story continues Now's a good time to start your research on IMII. _______ Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM) (Market Cap: $17.727B; Share Price: $33.28) announced that in connection with the anticipated combination of Newmont and GoldCorp Inc., it has commenced offers to exchange any and all outstanding notes issued by Goldcorp, Inc. (GG) (Market Cap: $9.423B; Share Price: $10.85) for (1) up to $2,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of new notes to be issued by Newmont and (2) cash, in each case, depending on the Exchange Consideration, the Early Tender Premium and the Total Exchange Consideration for each series of Existing Goldcorp Notes. _______ Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD) (Market Cap: $22.6B; Share Price: $12.84) signed an implementation agreement to create the world's single largest gold producer at the Nevada complex, on completion of the joint venture. The JV operations produced approximately 4.1 million ounces in 2018, more than three times the next largest gold operation. _______ Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) (Market Cap: $4.152B; Share Price: $3.32) reported a fourth-quarter loss of $27.7 million after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier. For the year, the Toronto-based company reported a loss of $23.6 million, or 2 cents per share, swinging to a loss in the period. Revenue was reported as $3.21 billion. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 1 cent per share. Signed by Priyanka Goel, CFA Legal Disclaimer: This article was written by Regal Consulting, LLC ("Regal Consulting"). Regal Consulting has agreed to a three-month term consulting agreement with IMII signed 02/12/2019. The agreement calls for $25,000 in cash and 10,000 restricted shares of IMII per month. All payments were made directly by Inception Mining, Inc. to Regal Consulting, LLC to provide investor relations services, of which this article is a part of. Regal Consulting also paid one thousand dollars cash to microcapspeculators.com to distribute this article. Regal Consulting may have a position in the securities mentioned in this article at the time of publication, and may increase or decrease its position without notice. This article is based on public information and the opinions of Regal Consulting. IMII was given an opportunity to edit this article. This article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any results predicted herein. Regal Consulting is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide or claim to provide investment advice. http://www.regalconsultingllc.com/full legal disclaimer/ Full Legal Disclaimer Click Here. Contact Information: Company Name: ACR Communication LLC. Contact Person: Media Manager Email: info@microcapspeculators.com Phone: 1-702-720-6310 Country: United States SOURCE: ACR Communication LLC. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539612/Gold-Stocks-to-Watch (Bloomberg) -- When Apple Inc. showcases its much-anticipated pivot into new services next week, Goldman Sachss chief executive officer will be on hand -- a sign of how the powerhouses of finance and technology see their futures intertwining. David Solomon, who became the investment banks CEO in October, has been invited and plans to show up in Cupertino, California, for Apples services launch on March 25, according to people familiar with the matter. He isnt currently slated to take the stage, the people said, but his appearance indicates the companies could publicly discuss their partnership. Spokesmen for Apple and Goldman declined to comment. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s work with the maker of mobile phones and laptops on a co-branded credit card emerged last year as they push deeper into the financial lives of consumers. Apple plans to release a revised Wallet app for Apple Pay coming in its next iPhone software update. That will lay the groundwork for the card. Reporters who cover the payments industry have been invited to attend as well. The credit card is code-named Project Cookie inside the New York-based bank, according to a person with knowledge of its work. David Stark, who became a Goldman Sachs partner last year, is overseeing it, the person said. The firm has dozens of people working on the deal, while the Apple side is being managed by the Apple Pay group, people familiar with the matter said. The co-branded cards may help both companies entrench themselves in the rapidly changing financial ecosystem used by both consumers and retailers. Goldman Sachs, long known for catering to big investors, corporations and the wealthy, is trying to broaden that customer base. The push includes a new unit, called Marcus, which offers deposit accounts and loans online. Apple is looking to expand, too, planning to introduce a video streaming service to rival Netflix and a premium magazine subscription bundle, people with knowledge of its plans have said. Apple could theoretically share in the fees collected by Goldman, contributing to services revenue that the technology company anticipates will hit $50 billion a year by 2021. Story continues To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Gurman in San Francisco at mgurman1@bloomberg.net;Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, David Scheer, Dan Reichl For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.s Google was fined 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) by the European Union for thwarting advertising rivals, a penalty that may be EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestagers third and final attack on the U.S. tech giant. It brings the total Google has been ordered to pay to 8.2 billion euros in EU antitrust probes that have run for nearly a decade and taken aim at the companys popular software for Android phones and searches related to shopping. Wednesdays case focuses on Googles role as an ad broker for websites, targeting exclusivity agreements for online ads with its AdSense for Search product. That service places text advertising on websites. The problematic contracts were all dropped by 2016, when the EU escalated the investigation. Google is by far the biggest internet advertising broker, setting up searches on customers websites, Vestager said, and that allows it to control how most consumers start shopping. Its an entry point, Vestager said at a press conference. By gaining a foothold in advertising brokering, competitors could grow their business and then challenge Google in general search advertising. The advertising revenues that fuel profits for Google and Facebook Inc. are increasingly coming under antitrust scrutiny, often prompted by complaints from media companies as advertising spend shifts to the web. Frances competition authority has flagged the scale of Googles ad business as a potential concern. Germany started an inquiry in February and Dutch regulators have been looking at how media companies generate ad revenue. The U.K. recently signaled it plans to start its own inquiry. Google Changes Google has "already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the commissions concerns," the companys senior vice president for global affairs, Kent Walker, said in an emailed statement. "Over the next few months, well be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe." Story continues The EU last July fined the company 4.3 billion euros and demanded that it change the way it puts search and web-browser apps onto Android mobile devices. A year earlier, Google received a then-record 2.4 billion-euro penalty after regulators accused it of skewing results to thwart smaller shopping search services. On Wednesday, however, Vestager gave the company hope it could avoid fresh fines by saying she didnt see "a non-compliance issue" over how Google is obeying antitrust orders related to Android and shopping searches. The company is making efforts to tackle criticism linked to two older cases and is trying to stop potential new investigations into local and job search services. "When I cite the numbers that we have now and the intentions from Google in the Android decision, we dont have a non-compliance issue as of now," she told a press conference. Shopping search rivals are becoming more visible in Googles results, she said, and Googles plans to prompt users to pick alternative search and browser apps had "the potential to give users a real choice," she told a press conference. Google has been scathing about the EU probes, claiming they lack evidence. The AdSense case cites "just a few complaints to justify broad legal claims," one of the companys top lawyers said in a 2016 blog post. The Danish EU commissioner has rejected claims shes singling out U.S. tech giants for special treatment, despite a series of high-profile decisions targeting American companies, including Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Alphabet shares rose less than 1 percent at 9:41 a.m. in New York. (Updates with trading.) --With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni. To contact the reporter on this story: Aoife White in Brussels at awhite62@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. As scrutiny over unfair Chinese business practices intensifies amid drawn out U.S.-China trade discussions, investors are debating another contentious issue: minority American shareholders squeezed out by U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The companies all follow the same playbook: After tapping into U.S. capital through a public listing, management turns around and takes the company private at a significantly cheaper valuation. That same management then relists the company back home in China, at a much higher valuation, leaving executives with a big windfall and average retail investors with the biggest losses. Theyre just trying to squeeze every last drop of blood out of U.S. shareholders and then go on and relist and do a new IPO in Chinese markets for three times or five times the transaction price in the U.S, Peter Halesworth, manager for Heng Ren Partners, who has invested in some of these companies and wrote a white paper on the privatization trend, told Yahoo Finance. Its the ultimate insult at the end of the process. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images) More than 60 U.S.-listed Chinese companies have gone private since 2013. "While it's 'America First' when it comes to trade with China, Americans' rights are not the priority in the stock markets, Halesworth said. Here foreign issuers have unusual privileges, and many Chinese companies have abused these privileges and disadvantaged and damaged American shareholders' wealth and retirement funds." Consider internet security firm Qihoo 360 Technology. In July 2016, the company announced a privatization offer that valued shares held by U.S. investors at $77, reflecting a valuation of $9.3 billion. Two years later, it relisted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange for a $62 billion valuation, a return of more than 550%. Medical Device company Mindray Medical listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange three years after going private at $3.3 billion in the U.S., a significant discount to its IPO valuation. Its market cap in China within three months? More than $22 billion. In December 2015, Wuxi PharmaTech was taken private at an equity value of $3.3 billion. The company has since relisted as 2 separate entities one in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai with a combined market cap of $21.6 billion. Story continues Wuxi and Qihoo both now face separate class action lawsuits filed by U.S. investors, claiming the companies provided misleading statements to undervalue the companies. A sign advertising the Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd is hung with the U.S. and Chinese flags outside of the New York Stock Exchange before the company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) in New York in this March 30, 2011 file photo. (Reuters) Minority shareholders Corporations have done that, in part by exploiting a cross-border legal loophole. While the companies are listed in the U.S., they are classified as Foreign Private Insurers (FPIs), subject to regulation by their home countrys exchange. FPIs are also exempt from corporate governance practices by which most publicly listed domestic firms must comply, including a requirement to host annual shareholder meetings. Further complicating the issue is the controlling share structure of the companies, which allows founders to retain voting control. Minority investors, who own less than a 50% stake in the company, have little say in the direction of the company and are left powerless to contest a low-ball buyout offer. While that itself is not unique to Chinese firms, they have largely escaped shareholder repercussions because they are domiciled in the Cayman Islands, where minority investors have less protection than in Delaware, where most U.S. companies are registered, according to Harvard Law Professor Jesse Fried. The problem from the perspective of minority shareholders is the fact that all the defendants, the assets, the records, are all in the Peoples Republic of China, which makes them unavailable, Fried says. It also drives up the cost of litigation. 2018 saw a spike in Chinese companies going public in the U.S. Class-action lawsuits Still, investors are fighting back. Just last month, U.S. shareholders for Wuxi PharmaTech filed a class action lawsuit seeking damages in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs allege company executives violated federal securities laws, when they issued false and misleading statements aimed to undervalue the company and lied about its intentions to spinoff the companys assets and relist shares in China. Tony Heaver-Wren, a partner at offshore law firm Appleby, says minority shareholders have successfully found recourse by using a provision in the Cayman Islands legal code that entitles them to seek appraisals and claim the fair value of their holdings. One case, which involves Chinas Shanda Games and Hong Kong hedge fund Maso Capital Investments, led to a payout to shareholders that was 80% higher than the initial price accepted, according to the Wall Street Journal. Maso has now appealed that ruling to a top U.K. court, seeking a higher premium, a decision that Heaver-Wren says will likely have wide implications for similar cases that are pending. But Heaver-Wren says an overwhelming majority of the disputes have ended in settlement. Out of 25 lawsuits that have been filed in Cayman courts, only four have gone to trial. The reality is that these companies capitulate. They dont believe in their story so much that they see it through and win, Heaver-Wren says, adding that dissenting shareholders have won every case that has gone to trial, with the Court ruling that fair value payout be higher than that advocated by the company. US President Donald Trump pauses as he speaks during the 2019 White House business session with governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 25, 2019. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) The environment of the trade war is encouraging this The political winds may be shifting too. Last December, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued a joint statement, that singled China out for limiting the access of U.S. regulators, investigating the financial reporting of companies traded on U.S. exchanges. Since then, Congressman Mike Conaway (R - TX, 11th District) has introduced a bill that would delist for three years any U.S.-traded Chinese companies that dont disclose their auditors. Senator Marco Rubio (R - FLA) has publicly pushed for more scrutiny as well. I think, in part, the environment of the trade war is encouraging this, says Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University, who testified before Congress last month. I have also learned that these things just seem to take a long time to gain traction. The pressure has yet to deter Chinese companies from listing on American exchanges. Thirty-three went public in the U.S. last year double the number from the previous year. And in 2018, Chinese companies accounted for 17% of all U.S. IPOs. NOTE: A version of this story was first published on March 18, 2019. Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @AkikoFujita More from Akiko: Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit. spo snouou Vocem sine nomine audivit! User ID: 350320 03-20-2019 11:19 AM Posts: 67,593 Post: #1 Muellers Case for Collusion: A Preview Advertisement The cause of this incredulity, I have come to suspect, lies in the vast distance the mind must travel between the normal patterns of American politics and the fantastical crimes being alleged. The Russia scandal seems to hint at a reality of fiction or paranoia, a baroque conspiracy in which the leader of the free world has been compromised by a mafiocracy with an economy smaller than South Koreas. The flaw lies in the assumption about what constitutes normal. In this case, the baseline should not be previous American elections, but other foreign elections in which Russia has intervened. There are several, and they follow a pattern. Moscow has cultivated right-wing parties overseas through a combination of covert payments to their leaders (often disguised as legitimate business transactions), illegal campaign donations, and propaganda support through traditional and social media. Russian election corruption scandals pop up in Europe all the time. Russia secretly and illegally funded Ukraines Party of Regions; Frances National Front party got a secret 2014 election loan from a Russian bank; the Brexit vote benefited from a huge donation from a British businessman who has secretly met with Russian officials dangling lucrative business deals. Just last month, Italian journalists discovered the leader of a right-wing party had negotiated a lucrative secret transaction with a Russian firm. When you bear these events in mind, it no longer seems strange to believe that Vladimir Putin formed a corrupt alliance with Trump. Given all the outward signs of their relationship, it would be curious if he didnt. The fact that the same person who managed the campaign for the pro-Russian candidate in Ukraine next turned up (after a brief disappearance) to run the campaign of the pro-Russian candidate in the United States is merely one of an overwhelmingly long list of clues placing Trump in the pattern. Trumps defenders have invested enormous energy into parsing the term collusion, which they note is not the name for a discrete crime. So lets say instead that Trump, like many other right-wing politicians, has been corruptly influenced by Russia and elected knowingly with its aid. Some of the clues establishing this pattern lie in the carefully redacted indictments that Mueller has already filed; others sit before us in plain sight. more: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/r...uilty.html A great many intelligent people who hold no brief for Trump have nonetheless refused to believe that he is hiding some deep, dark secrets regarding Russia. As more and more evidence has appeared over the last two and a half years, that spam of skeptics has melted away but failed to disappear completely.The cause of this incredulity, I have come to suspect, lies in the vast distance the mind must travel between the normal patterns of American politics and the fantastical crimes being alleged. The Russia scandal seems to hint at a reality of fiction or paranoia, a baroque conspiracy in which the leader of the free world has been compromised by a mafiocracy with an economy smaller than South Koreas.The flaw lies in the assumption about what constitutes normal. In this case, the baseline should not be previous American elections, but other foreign elections in which Russia has intervened. There are several, and they follow a pattern. Moscow has cultivated right-wing parties overseas through a combination of covert payments to their leaders (often disguised as legitimate business transactions), illegal campaign donations, and propaganda support through traditional and social media. Russian election corruption scandals pop up in Europe all the time. Russia secretly and illegally funded Ukraines Party of Regions; Frances National Front party got a secret 2014 election loan from a Russian bank; the Brexit vote benefited from a huge donation from a British businessman who has secretly met with Russian officials dangling lucrative business deals. Just last month, Italian journalists discovered the leader of a right-wing party had negotiated a lucrative secret transaction with a Russian firm.When you bear these events in mind, it no longer seems strange to believe that Vladimir Putin formed a corrupt alliance with Trump. Given all the outward signs of their relationship, it would be curious if he didnt.The fact that the same person who managed the campaign for the pro-Russian candidate in Ukraine next turned up (after a brief disappearance) to run the campaign of the pro-Russian candidate in the United States is merely one of an overwhelmingly long list of clues placing Trump in the pattern. Trumps defenders have invested enormous energy into parsing the term collusion, which they note is not the name for a discrete crime. So lets say instead that Trump, like many other right-wing politicians, has been corruptly influenced by Russia and elected knowingly with its aid. Some of the clues establishing this pattern lie in the carefully redacted indictments that Mueller has already filed; others sit before us in plain sight.more: (Bloomberg) -- A Hyundai Motor Group unit and Russias biggest technology company Yandex NV will jointly develop autonomous vehicles based the South Korean automotive giants cars. Carmakers and tech companies are racing to rollout self-driving cars. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW have set aside traditional rivalries, while Volvo Cars and Baidu Inc. have joined forces to develop robotaxis in China. The first stage of the joint venture between Yandex and Hyundai Mobis Co., the de-facto holding company of the Korean group, will see the two companies working on developing a prototype driverless car, the Russian technology firm said in a statement Tuesday. The deal will also build an autonomous control system to be marketed to rival car manufacturers and car-sharing startups. Yandex, Russias largest search engine that successfully expanded to online taxi and swallowed Uber Technologies Inc. operations in the country, started testing self-driving cars in 2017. Last year, it started first robotaxi in a standalone Russian city and announced testing in Israel and Las Vegas. Euisun Chung, the son of Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo, has brought in a dozen executives from German auto brands to Hyundai and is in a rush to transform the Korean auto group into a technology-oriented automaker with new deals and partnerships. The Korean groups units include Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., which said in January said they plan start to selling autonomous vehicles in various smart cities from 2021 with a goal of launching fully autonomous vehicles by 2030. Last year Yandex was also in talks with Renault SA to explore adding autonomous driving features to the French carmakers locally-made vehicles. A spokesperson for Yandex said the company is still in talks with a number of carmakers and autoparts makers, but declined to comment on the status of these discussions. To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@bloomberg.net Story continues To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Elisabeth Behrmann For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. FILE PHOTO: Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are parked at a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo (Reuters) - India is grounding U.S. planemaker Boeing Co's 737 MAX aircraft immediately, the ministry of civil aviation said late on Tuesday, following the fatal crash of a plane of the same type in Ethiopia on Sunday. "These planes will be grounded till appropriate modifications and safety measures are undertaken to ensure their safe operations," the ministry said in a Twitter post https://twitter.com/MoCA_GoI/status/1105527436345860101. Jet Airways Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd, two top Indian airlines, operate Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The European Union's aviation safety regulator earlier on Tuesday suspended all flights in the bloc by Boeing 737 MAX planes, joining a wave of suspensions of the aircraft across the globe. (Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar) Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has returned from his first-ever trip to Iraq with a raft of agreements for expanded trade and cooperation with Baghdad. Leaders of both countries embraced strengthening ties something Washington has been watching closely. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has returned from his first-ever trip to Iraq with a raft of agreements for expanded trade, cross-border infrastructure, and pledges of greater cooperation with Baghdad. Leaders of both countries embraced strengthening ties something Washington has been watching closely. Iran is upping its game in Iraq as U.S. influence recedes, deepening ties with its war-weary neighbor and betting on bilateral economic activity to help offset tough sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Iraq is "another channel for Iran to bypass America's unjust sanctions ... this trip will provide opportunities for Iran's economy," a senior Iranian official on the trip was quoted as telling Reuters last week. The Trump administration reinstated sanctions on Iran last year for what it deemed "destabilizing and malign activities around the world," and the country's economy has since been in a tailspin. With a massive shared border and religious and cultural ties and the major role of Iranian-backed paramilitaries in Iraq's defeat of the Islamic State the Islamic Republic's influence in Iraq is entrenched. Rouhani and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi signed memorandums of understanding across sectors including trade, oil, health, mining, visa-free travel, and perhaps most significantly a railway that would connect Iraq's southern oil-rich city of Basra to Iran's border. U.S. officials see Iran's growing inroads into Iraq, and they don't like it. "Iran's actions are aimed at subverting Iraqi sovereignty and making Iraq dependent on Iran," a senior State Department official told CNBC on Monday. He echoed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent charge that Tehran wanted to turn Iraq into a "vassal state." Story continues In turn, Rouhani has seized on the opportunity to scold the U.S., telling Iranian media last week that his country's ties with Iraq "cannot be compared to Iraq's relations with an occupying country like America, which is hated in the region." Iraqi President Barham Salih praised Iran's leadership, saying, "Iraq is lucky to be a neighbor with Iran," and describing good relations with Iran as "a fundamental interest for Iraq." Baghdad has sought to balance its ties with the U.S., Iran and the Gulf Arab states to avoid being a victim of the rivals' turf wars. While sanctions have hit hard at key parts of Iran's economy, many Iranian companies doing business in Iraq don't need U.S. banks or resources to be successful, one senior U.S. congressional adviser told CNBC, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the topic. "The Trump administration is grappling with the extent and limit of U.S. sanctions and power to counter Iran in a country like Iraq with such deep social, economic and cultural ties to Iran," the adviser said. Iraq: Iran's gateway to the Mediterranean "All the agreements enable an increased Iranian physical presence on Iraqi soil," Jessica Leyland, a Middle East analyst at risk consultancy firm AKE International, told CNBC. "There are two sides to this: the genuine need and desire for areas of cooperation on both side versus Iran's ability to use Iraq to connect its sphere of influences." The planned railway between the two countries is the most obvious example of this, Leyland said. "The train line will firstly extend to Basra, this will give Iran influence in Iraq's strategic port of Umm Qasr and expand influence in the neck of the Gulf. It is likely that it will in the near future extend through Iraq to Syria, a stated intention of Iran's, which will then give Iran access to the Mediterranean." The business promises made between the two countries show how much has changed since the brutal Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, which killed more than a million people. Ever since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iran has sought to deepen its influence in Iraq and take advantage of its links to the country's now-ruling Shia majority. Harming Iraqi interests? Iran-Iraq trade currently stands at an estimated $12 billion annually and both governments have pledged to expand this to $20 billion. Iran is Iraq's third-biggest trading partner, but the relationship is lopsided: it's mostly Iranian exports to Iraq, to the tune of more than $9 billion. "Hassan Rouhani's recent visit to Iraq is a historic achievement for Iran the treaties signed, however, harm Iraq's interests in a clear demonstration of Iran's growing influence in Iraq," said Muhanad Seloom, a research fellow at Exeter University's Arab and Islamic Studies Institute and a former Iraqi government adviser. Seloom described last week's trade treaty between the two as "almost exclusively in Iran's interest," calling the planned expansion of Iranian imports to Iraq as harmful to local businesses and producers, and criticized a new treaty concerning shared oil wells. "Most of these shared oil wells are located inside Iraq," Seloom said, citing a major oil well, al-Fakkah, as 95 percent inside Iraqi territory. "Yet, Iran under the new treaty claims a 50 percent share of its production." "Iran is cashing in its investment in Iraq to consolidate its grip on Iraq and subvert U.S. sanctions." Meanwhile Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the most revered religious leader for both Shia-majority countries, welcomed the visit from Iran and "any steps to strengthen Iraq's relations with its neighbors," a statement from his office said. But, perhaps echoing the concerns of some Iraqis, he added that this should be "based on respect for the sovereignty of the countries and no interference in domestic affairs." More From CNBC ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government plans to extend its special powers on strategic interests to 5G technologies in a bid to ease U.S. concerns over a planned accord on infrastructure Rome plans to sign with China this week, the ruling League party said on Wednesday. Under the new rules, Italy will require private and public companies to notify the government of any purchase of 5G technology from non-European providers, a League spokeswoman added. A cabinet meeting is expected to approve later on Wednesday a decree extending the government's so-called "golden share" powers. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will sign a memorandum of understanding when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits this week on the 'Belt and Road' infrastructure initiative. The League said that Italy shares the growing concerns raised by United States, G7 partners and EU commission over cybersecurity. (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by Francesca Piscioneri, editing by) TOKYO, March 20 (Reuters) - Japan will extend unilateral sanctions against North Korea by two years, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday. Japan will extend a trade embargo on North Korea and a ban on North Korean ships entering Japanese ports by two years, according to the report. The government is expected to approve the extension at a cabinet meeting early next month, NHK said. The decision would come after a second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month collapsed over differences on U.S. demands for Pyongyang's denuclearisation and North Korea's demand for sanctions relief. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko Editing by Chang-Ran Kim) Your everyday jeans manufacturer will list on the New York Stock Exchange this week under the ticker LEVI. Heres what you should know about Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE: LEVI) and its $674.7 million offering. The Offering Levi Strauss on Thursday will issue nearly 36.7 million Class A shares between $14 and $16 on the New York Stock Exchange. Following the offering, investors will have access to both Class A and Class B common stock. Underwriters are represented by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Securities, according to the company S1 filing. See Also: IPO Outlook For The Week: Levi's, Fintech, Business Solutions The Company Levi Strauss began in 1853 as a wholesale dry goods business. Two decades later, it invented blue jeans, and it eventually expanded in both scope and client base with the Dockers portfolio and low-cost brands for the likes of Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT). Last year, 74 percent of revenue came from bottoms, 20 percent from tops and 6 percent from footwear and accessories. The firm sells its products through big-box, specialty and online retailers, as well as branded franchise locations, outlet stores, shop-in-shop stores and an e-commerce site. By the end of November 2018, it sold in more than 50,000 retail locations, ran 824 stores, and operated 500 shop-in-shops. These sites support three market divisions spanning 110 countries. Last year, the Americas contributed 55 percent of net revenue, Europe 29 percent, and Asia, which includes Africa and the Middle East, 16 percent. The latter two expanded their contributions from a combined 39 percent in 2015. The Finances Over the last seven years, Levi Strauss has reported 2.3-percent compound annual revenue growth. Net revenue expanded from $4.8 billion in 2011 to $5.6 billion last year. Over the same period, net income rose from $135 million to $285 million, representing 11.3-percent compound annual growth. When our current management team joined our company starting in 2011, they implemented new revenue and profit growth strategies that remain in place today, according to the S1 filing. ...We are seeing the positive results of these growth strategies and managements disciplined approach. Story continues The Growth Strategy Levi Strauss catalyzed its growth with intensive marketing, including an ad campaign that claimed one of the top 10 most-watched ads on YouTube in 2017. It also owns the naming rights to the San Francisco 49ers Levis Stadium, and it collaborates with influencers like Justin Timberlake and brands like Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE)s Air Jordan. Management also prioritizes geographical and channel diversification. See more from Benzinga 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. (Bloomberg) -- German food wholesaler Metro AGs Chinese business has attracted potential bidders including internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. and domestic buyout firm Citic Private Equity, people with knowledge of the matter said. Metro kicked off its sale of a controlling stake in the Chinese unit this month and first-round offers are expected to be submitted in April, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The business, which could fetch at least $1.5 billion, has also drawn interest from local supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores Co., the people said. The German retailer is willing to sell as much as 80 percent of the Chinese business while retaining a significant minority if an attractive offer is made, Bloomberg News reported last month. Deliberations about a potential deal are at an early stage, and theres no certainty the potential bidders will proceed to submit offers, the people said. Metros Cash & Carry business in China spans 95 stores and reported revenue of 2.7 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in the 2017-2018 financial year, according to its website. The company picked Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to run a review of its Chinese business, people with knowledge of the matter said last year. Metro is in talks to potential partners about opportunities for the future of its China business and is exchanging information with them, the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The company said it wont comment on the status of the process. Yonghui Superstores has held preliminary talks with Metro but made no agreement on the potential purchase, it said in a filing to Shanghai stock exchange. A spokeswoman for Tencent declined to comment. Calls to Citic Private Equitys Hong Kong and Beijing offices werent answered. Reuters reported Tuesday that Metro had kicked off the sale, citing unidentified people. Metro joins other multinational consumer groups in rejigging its China business. McDonalds Corp. sold control of its China and Hong Kong operations to an investor group including state-backed conglomerate Citic Ltd. for about $1.7 billion in 2017. Yum! Brands Inc., the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants, carved out its Chinese operations into a separately-listed company in 2016. Story continues Yonghui, partially owned by Tencent, operates close to 900 supermarkets in China, according to its website. Tencent last year invested in Carrefour SAs China unit, following rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.s attempts to uproot traditional stores with technology. (Updates with Yonghui statement in sixth paragraph.) --With assistance from Lulu Yilun Chen, Rachel Chang, Carol Zhong, Cathy Chan, Richard Weiss and Simon Lee. To contact the reporters on this story: Vinicy Chan in Hong Kong at vchan91@bloomberg.net;Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fion Li at fli59@bloomberg.net, Ben Scent, Ryan Lovdahl For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. (Morning News Call - India edition will not be published on Thursday, March 21, as markets are closed for Holi) To access a PDF version of this newsletter, please click here http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/Indiamorning/MNC_IN_03202019.pdf If you would like to receive this newsletter via email, please register at: http://financial-risk-solutions.thomsonreuters.info/india-morning FACTORS TO WATCH No major events are scheduled. LIVECHAT - BREXIT SPECIAL SERIES Jim O'Neill, British economist; Former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and former UK Treasury Minister, discusses various Brexit scenarios at 3.30 pm IST. To join the conversation, click on the link: https://financial-risk-solutions.thomsonreuters.info/india-morning INDIA TOP NEWS Economists raise concerns over India's slowdown with RBI chief - sources Economists raised concerns over a sharp slowdown in Indian economy and pitched for a monetary policy boost to support growth at a meeting with the nation's central bank chief on Tuesday, according to three participants. Jet Airways crisis worsens as Indian government steps in, pilots threaten strike A crisis at Jet Airways deepened on Tuesday as an increasingly worried Indian government called for an emergency meeting, angry passengers demanded refunds and pilots threatened to go on strike over unpaid salaries. Mindtree management rejects L&T's hostile takeover bid Mindtree on Tuesday rejected conglomerate Larsen & Toubro's hostile takeover bid, saying L&T's plan to acquire a controlling stake will not create value for the IT services firm or its shareholders. Goldman Sachs upgrades India to 'overweight' amid pre-election rally Goldman Sachs upgraded its view on India to "overweight" as the country catches up with pre-election rally amid expectations of another majority win for the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party. Indian traders burn Chinese goods in protest over blacklisting veto, trade Hundreds of Indian traders burned Chinese goods on Tuesday and urged the government to raise import taxes on them to protest against China's trade and foreign policies. Story continues Indian-Omani group strikes $3.85 bln deal to build Sri Lanka oil refinery India's Accord Group and Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas have signed a $3.85 billion deal to build an oil refinery in Sri Lanka, the biggest single pledge of foreign direct investment ever made in the country. Hyundai Motor, Kia to invest $300 million in India's Ola Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will together invest $300 million in Indian ride-hailing platform Ola, playing catch-up in the global race to invest in mobility firms. GLOBAL TOP NEWS Top U.S. trade officials head to China next week for new trade talks U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to China next week for another round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a Trump administration official said on Tuesday. BOJ policymakers disagree on next policy move as risks mount Bank of Japan policymakers disagreed on how quickly the central bank should ramp up monetary stimulus, minutes of their January rate review showed on Wednesday, as heightening overseas risks threatened to derail the country's fragile economic recovery. May seeks Brexit delay after third vote on her deal is derailed Prime Minister Theresa May will ask the European Union to delay Brexit by at least three months after her plan to hold a third vote on her fraught divorce deal was thrown into disarray by a surprise intervention from the speaker of parliament. LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) SGX Nifty nearest-month futures were trading down 0.1 percent at 11,564.50, from its previous close. The Indian rupee is expected to decline against the U.S. currency amid trimming of dollar short positions after yesterdays turnaround. Indian government bonds are likely to edge lower in early trade tracking the local currency and as investors await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserves policy review. The yield on the benchmark 7.17 percent bond maturing in 2028 is likely to trade in a 7.52 percent-7.57 percent band today. GLOBAL MARKETS The benchmark S&P 500 index ended little changed on Tuesday as investor optimism regarding the Federal Reserve's expected affirmation of its dovish policy stance was offset by reports of fault lines emerging in ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations. Asian shares got off to a cautious start, holding close to six-month highs on hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will stick to a dovish stance and unveil a plan to stop cutting bond holdings later this year. The dollar rose against most of its peers as reports of renewed tension in U.S.-China trade negotiations supported safe-haven bids, although the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later due in the day limited the greenback's gains. U.S. Treasury yields were modestly higher in afternoon trade on Tuesday, as investors await insight on the Federal Reserve's policy path when the U.S. central bank ends its two-day meeting on Wednesday, amid broad expectations that it will hold rates steady. Oil prices dipped, retreating from a four-month high as economic growth concerns dampened the outlook for fuel consumption. Gold prices snapped three consecutive sessions of gains as the dollar firmed, while investors awaited the results of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the day. CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT PNDF spot 68.96/68.99 March 20 $308.92 mln $325.79 mln 10-yr bond yield 7.53 pct Month-to-date $3.30 bln $1.62 bln Year-to-date $5.38 bln -$554.48 mln For additional data: India govt bond market volumes Stock market reports Non-deliverable forwards data Corporate debt stories [IN CORPD] Local market closing/intraday levels [IN SNAPSHOT] Monthly inflows [INFLOWS RTRS TABLE IN] ($1 = 69.0140 Indian rupees) (Compiled by Yoganand KN in Bengaluru) Historic floods have devastated parts of the Midwest, in particular, the state of Nebraska. At least 74 cities and 65 counties in the Cornhusker State have declared emergencies over the flooding. What we're seeing is just widespread destruction to public infrastructure, to homes, to businesses. This really is the biggest disaster, as far as damage, we've ever faced in our state, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts (R) told F OX Business' Stuart Varney on Wednesday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue said more than a million calves have been lost from the flood damage. Just from an agricultural standpoint, we think we've got at least $400 million in livestock losses, $440 million in crop losses, we think the public infrastructure damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars as well, Gov. Ricketts said. The state filed paperwork for federal disaster relief funds. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APPWhen asked about the lack of media coverage, Ricketts said, We're very independent here in Nebraska and what we want to do is make sure we're keeping people safe. He added, Certainly we want people to know that we've got a very serious situation here in Nebraska, but we're used to that pioneer spirit of getting things done. Related Articles FILE PHOTO: An oil pumpjack and a tank with the corporate logo of state oil company PDVSA are seen in an oil facility in Lagunillas, Venezuela January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia/File Photo By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices held close to four-month highs on Tuesday on expectations that OPEC would continue production cuts through the end of the year and ahead of official weekly U.S. crude inventory data. Brent crude oil futures settled 7 cents higher at $67.61 a barrel, the global benchmark's highest settlement since November 2018. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures touched its highest since November at $59.57 a barrel but finished at $59.03 a barrel, falling 6 cents. Prices inched up in post-settlement trade after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, showed a surprise draw-down on crude inventories. Crude stocks fell by 2.1 million barrels in the week to March 15, to 446.8 million, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 309,000 barrels, the data showed. [API/S] Official Energy Information Administration (EIA) figures are expected on Wednesday. [EIA/S] Oil prices have rallied more than 20 percent since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies began to curb supplies at the start of the year. After a short gathering in Azerbaijan, the producer group on Monday scrapped its planned meeting in April and will decide instead whether to extend output cuts in June, once the market has assessed the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran and the crisis in Venezuela. Some analysts expressed concern that the cancellation was related to tension between Saudi Arabia, the de facto head of OPEC, and Russia, the largest producing non-member of the group that agreed to production cuts last year. The move to cancel the meeting favoured Russia over Saudi Arabia, which originally wanted to use the meeting to extend output curbs until the end of the year, Commerzbank said in a note. OPEC will next meet in June. "However, I think OPEC and non-OPEC producers are determined to get the supply and demand dynamics better into balance," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. Story continues Both benchmarks weakened after Bloomberg reported U.S. officials were concerned Beijing was pushing back against Washington's demands during trade talks, lowering hopes for a resolution to the tariff war that has threatened global oil demand. "That kind of tanked the market a little bit," said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New York. "Now we're basically at the mercy of the API and the EIA." Due to a tighter supply outlook for the coming months, the Brent forward curve has gone into backwardation since the start of the year, meaning prices for immediate delivery are more expensive than barrels for delivery in the future. GRAPHIC: Brent crude oil forward curves (https://tmsnrt.rs/2FlM7YZ) Graphic: Brent forward curve in backwardation (https://tmsnrt.rs/2FmG9XK) (Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler) Employees perform quality inspections on top of a tank at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPC) Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 11, 2018. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo COLOMBO/DUBAI (Reuters) - Oman's oil ministry on Wednesday denied being part of a $3.85 billion plan to build an oil refinery in Sri Lanka, a day after the government in Colombo announced the Arab country's participation. Sri Lankan officials told a news conference on Tuesday that a joint venture between the Oman oil ministry and a Singapore investment vehicle owned by India's Accord Group had agreed to build the 200,000 barrel per day refinery near Chinese-controlled Hambantota port on the island's south coast. The ministry was to take a 30 percent stake, the officials said, representing what would be Sri Lanka's biggest single foreign direct investment. "No one on this side of the panel is aware of this investment in Sri Lanka," Salim al-Aufi, undersecretary of Oman's ministry of oil and gas, told a news conference on Wednesday. "It came as news to me, I don't know who is signing the cheque for $3.8 billion." An industry source familiar with the discussions said that there had been talks concerning the project that involved Oman but that they were at an early stage. The Director General of Sri Lanka's state-run Board of Investment, Champika Malalgoda, said after the Oman government denial that as far as she was concerned the deal announced on Tuesday was still going ahead. "We approved the project for a joint venture of Singapore company and Oman," she said, with the Oman taking a 30 percent stake in the refinery venture. Any big deal in Sri Lanka involving Indian investment will pose a challenge to China, which had until recently been on track to be the dominant foreign investor on the island. India has become concerned in recent years about China muscling into Sri Lanka and other countries in a region where India is the traditional power. China is the biggest buyer of Omani oil, importing about 80 percent of the Middle Eastern nations overall crude exports in January, according to an Oman government website. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez in COLOMBO and Rania El Gamal in DUBAI, Writing by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Kirsten Donovan) PostQCX regs.jpg As anxiety grows around every new twist and turn in the ongoing QuadrigaCX drama, along with extensive QuadrigaCX media coverage, Canadas mainstream media has been calling on the government to bring in better oversight and regulation of cryptocurrency businesses, especially cryptocurrency exchanges. In response to these calls for more regulation and calls from some crypto businesses for more regulatory clarity, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) released a discussion paper on March 14, 2019, with a New Proposed Platform Framework that would aim to specifically tailor regulations to the special risks posed by cryptocurrency exchanges. The CSA consultation paper, which can be viewed here, asks 22 questions and requests comments from crypto/fintech companies, market participants/investors and other crypto stakeholders about what regulations would best fit in the unique new cryptocurrency marketplace. When Is a Crypto Exchange a Securities or Derivatives Dealer? As a number of observers have commented, this round of consultations is mainly about how to define the new business of cryptocurrency exchanges and how far to go in imposing old regulatory models on a new economic system. Calgary-based securities and cryptocurrency lawyer Matt Burgoyne commented on Twitter: There is a lot to unpack in the new CSA consultation paper on cryptocurrency exchanges. Exchanges must consider whether their interactions with users create a derivative contract or futures contract. He added, Non-security tokens trading on Canadian exchanges may be derivatives and still subject to regulation this is a really detailed set of consultation questions, comments from industry due May 15. Lawyer Evan Thomas, who headed up a legal team at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP to produce a summary of the CSA consultation paper, told Bitcoin Magazine: A big issue with this proposal is that it is not clear as a legal matter that Canadian securities regulators have jurisdiction to regulate platforms for trading bitcoin and other crypto-assets that are not securities. Story continues One of the goals stated in the Osler paper is: To ensure that the CSA does not exceed its jurisdiction over the cryptoasset industry, we are hopeful that Platform regulation will provide further clarity regarding types of cryptoassets and related services that are not subject to securities regulation, such as tokens that are not investment contracts or derivatives and non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets. Third Time Lucky? The Canadian government has conducted two previous consultation rounds with the cryptocurrency industry (in 2014 and 2018) but Thomas, who is cautiously optimistic, notes that this new initiative is a more direct response to cases like that of QuadrigaCX. Earlier regulation was directed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing. This proposed framework is motivated by investor protection concerns; that is, trying to protect crypto users who use custodial exchanges from risks like hacking, embezzlement and market manipulation, Thomas explained. The ghost of QuadrigaCX can be seen in the current discussion paper which asks: What operational requirements should be put in place to prevent a collapse like that of QuadrigaCX? What measures can affect market integrity, fair pricing, disclosure of conflict of interest and business continuity planning? Would the Proposed Regulations Have Prevented the QuadrigaCX Collapse? Its an interesting question whether the proposed regulations in the discussion paper would have prevented what happened at QuadrigaCX and the answer is likely no. Amber D. Scott, CEO of Outlier Canada, a cryptocurrency compliance consulting company, told Bitcoin Magazine that without adequate enforcement resources, its unlikely the new rules would have affected the outcome. Background checks for beneficial owners and executives are useful if they are sufficiently in-depth and acted upon. The QuadrigaCX story is interesting because they were registered with FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) at one point (though it's not clear whether they were up front in their application about the beneficial owners). Similarly, proposed audits are useful tools, but I expect that fooling auditors would be possible, especially given that there will be very few experienced auditors that also understand crypto assets at this stage. She added that, in many cases, the impact is likely to be a greater cost of compliance burden for companies that choose to operate within these frameworks, and very little for those that do not. In my estimation, some of the most important (and lacking) resources are those needed to investigate and prosecute bad actors. Fraud is already illegal. Clear Regulations Are Good for Crypto Business Despite this, a number of Canadian crypto exchanges, including Coinsquare and Coinberry, have said they would welcome clear, fair regulations that make it easier to be compliant and will help bring them into the financial mainstream. The Osler paper highlights the positive benefits of regulation including better relationships with the banking sector: By establishing a regulatory regime for Platforms, the Framework may make it easier for Platforms to obtain and maintain commercial relationships with banks and other financial institutions, which remains an ongoing challenge for certain Platforms. In addition, clear regulations that apply to crypto asset securities dealers would be an opening for businesses that are currently flying under the radar. The Framework potentially opens the door for Platforms that transact in cryptoassets that are securities or derivatives to operate within Canada in a compliant manner. Examples may include Platforms dealing in security tokens or tokenized assets, decentralized prediction markets or other so-called decentralized finance (DeFi) activities. The proposed regulations will apply to crypto platforms located in Canada, as well as foreign platforms with Canadian participants, which might be eligible for exemptions if they are appropriately regulated in their home jurisdiction. The CSA is a federal government agency coordinating financial regulations for Canadian capital markets and IIROC is the industrys self-regulatory organization that oversees investment dealers in Canadas debt and equity markets. Comments are due by May 15, 2019. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine. Restaurant Brands International, Explained Skift Table Brand Explainers break down restaurant groups by their individual brands in order to better understand their respective parts as well as opportunities for groups to expand or consolidate. Restaurant Brands International, as an entity, has only existed for roughly the past five years. The company was formed after Burger King merged with Tim Hortons in 2014, and then in 2017, RBI bought Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen for $1.8 billion to build out the three brands that it encompasses today. Not one to go long without surprises, RBI then announced that founding CEO Daniel Schwartz would be stepping away from his role at the beginning of 2019. Jose Cil, a 19-year veteran of Burger King and most recently the president of that brand, was named the new CEO of RBI. Schwartz will still have a presence at RBI as executive chairman, but will also spend more time in his role as partner at 3G Capital, a major shareholder at RBI. (The firm is desperate need of the added attention, as outlined in a Wall Street Journal report describing its recent shortfalls.) Essentially, Cil was put in place to replicate the success of Burger King, by far RBIs biggest brand in the U.S. and internationally in both sales and footprint, with the companys two much smaller chains, Popeyes and Tim Hortons. Thats going to come from success in two major areas: Securing the right franchise partners to grow these brands globally (Cil was instrumental in growing Burger Kings international footprint to the 10,466 units that it is today), and doubling down on smart technology investments, from delivery integrations to in-store ordering kiosks to digital loyalty programs. Three years ago, we were nowhere [on technology], Cil said at Bank of Americas 2019 Consumer & Retail Technology Conference in March. I think we were nowhere and falling behind. 18 months ago, we recognized that we had to do something more drastic on the digital front in terms of talent, investment, and focus as a company. [] And our dream, our aspiration from a digital standpoint is to be best in class for all three brands, both in terms of quality of the digital experience and the percentage of sales driven by that digital experience. Story continues If all goes according to plan, RBI could be positioning itself to make another acquisition in the future. The company stated that part of Schwartzs role moving forward will be assessing merger and acquisition opportunities for RBI. Were always exploring ways that we can use our capital in the most efficient way, and Im going to continue to be spending time thinking about that, Schwartz said on a call with analysts announcing the CEO change in January. RBI has scheduled its first-ever investor day in May 2019 to lay out the companys future plans in more detail. Until then, Cil has his hands full managing results across all three brands, which weve further outlined below. Burger King Dining Sector: Quick-service dining Percentage of Franchised Stores: 100 percent Global Footprint: There are 7,330 Burger King restaurants operating in the U.S. and 10,466 units in the rest of the world as of December 31, 2018. RBI Take: Burger King restaurants are quick service restaurants that feature flame-grilled hamburgers, chicken and other specialty sandwiches, french fries, soft drinks and other affordably-priced food items. Skift Take: Burger King has excelled in going toe-to-toe with McDonalds with attention-grabbing marketing exploits that have performed well for the brand. But its not operating on the same level as its main competitors when it comes to the forward-looking technology integrations that leadership has admittedly dragged its feet on. Burger King launched delivery capabilities with various third-party systems at the beginning of 2018, and now has 3,000 units set up on delivery platforms. Comparatively, McDonalds has over 9,000 restaurants in the U.S. currently offering delivery, and Wendys expects 80 percent of its North American restaurants to offer delivery by the end of the year. Well be expecting to see accelerated growth in digital innovations from the brand this year, as Cil has outlined. Plus, that $5 coffee subscription. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Dining Sector: Quick-service dining Percentage of Franchised Stores: 100 percent Global Footprint: There are 2,347 Popeyes restaurants operating in the U.S. and 755 restaurants in the rest of the world as of December 31, 2018. RBI Take: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurants are quick service restaurants that distinguish themselves with a unique Louisiana style menu featuring spicy chicken, chicken tenders, fried shrimp and other seafood, red beans and rice and other regional items. Skift Take: The Popeyes acquisition was largely applauded by investors when it was first announced in 2017, but since then, the brand has yet to truly jumpstart growth. Cil acknowledged that theres a lot of room for improvement on Popeyes yet, but first there was simply a lot of operational cleaning up that demanded immediate attention. The Popeyes restaurants were previously operating on more than 40 different point-of-sale systems, for example, which made streamlined data collection on day-to-day business operations nearly impossible. There was also the need for a change in executive leadership, which RBI announced a week ago. Once a clear operational backbone is in place, Cil promises future growth through both consumer-facing technology (app upgrades, more delivery coverage) and back-end simplification (more efficient labor and production management). It just cant come fast enough for this brand, currently the smallest in RBIs portfolio. Tim Hortons Dining Sector: Quick-service dining Percentage of Franchised Stores: 100 percent Global Footprint: There are 3,955 Tim Hortons restaurants operating in Canada and 891 locations in the rest of the world as of December 31, 2018. RBI Take: Tim Hortons restaurants are quick service restaurants with a menu that includes premium blend coffee, tea, espresso-based hot and cold specialty drinks, fresh baked goods, including donuts, Timbits, bagels, muffins, cookies and pastries, grilled paninis, classic sandwiches, wraps, soups and more. Skift Take: Tim Hortons has a deep brand affinity with customers in its home base of Canada (7 out of every 10 cups of coffee sold in the country are from Tim Hortons, according to Cil), and leadership is now looking to the U.S. as a huge growth opportunity for the coffee company. However, its crowded here: Starbucks is a best-in-class chain, not just in the coffee sector, but in the industry overall, and Dunkin has poured millions into revamping its look to better compete for future generations. On the operations side, it doesnt help that the overall impression of Tim Hortons has been clogged by months of Canadian franchisee unrest. Cil has been pushing hard on the importance of franchisee profitability every time hes spoken publicly about RBI, which is the right way to get operators backing their brands. If the majority of people on the frontlines of daily operations arent making money, it grinds positive movement to a halt extremely quickly. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Wednesday heads of the world's top oil traders Glencore and Vitol, as well as BP's chief executive, among others, promising favourable conditions for business. The meeting, attended by BP CEO Robert Dudley, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg and Vitol's Chairman Ian Taylor, among others, is a rare gathering in the Kremlin of some of the world's most influential energy players. Russia, one of the world's top oil producers and exporters, has been under Western sanctions since 2014, which include restrictions on some financial instruments and development of some types of energy resources by foreign firms. Putin, in opening remarks before the meeting was closed to reporters, said that Russia "is doing all (that's) necessary so that foreign investors, our partners, friends feel themselves as comfortable as possible on the Russian market". He did not elaborate. Dudley, once the head of TNK-BP, a Russia-British joint venture bought by Rosneft in 2013 for $55 billion (41.6 billion pounds), last met Putin in February. BP now holds a 19.75 stake in Rosneft, whose CEO Igor Sechin was also present on Wednesday. Glasenberg and Taylor are rare visitors to the Kremlin, though they usually attend the economic forum in St Petersburg. Glencore has a wide range of interests in Russia from oil trading to aluminium and power assets, while Vitol is active in oil trading as well. Putin has invited all the company bosses to take part in an economic forum in St Petersburg, a 'Russian Davos', in June. The Kremlin meeting comes amid talk that U.S.companies could boycott Moscow's showcase forum in June following Russia's arrest of prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey on embezzlement charges. Calvey denies the charges. The Kremlin called Wednesday's gathering a 'meeting with representatives of the UK business circles'. Russia-UK relations also turned frosty after Britain accused Moscow of the poisoning of a former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal - accusations Moscow denies. "As a group here we are grateful for the opportunity to participate in the effort in restoring trust and mutually beneficial relationships between our two countries," Dudley said in his opening remarks. Remarks by Glasenberg and Taylor were not made public. (Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya, Maria Vasilyeva and Tom Balmforth; Writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) By Teis Jensen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Compliance and anti-money laundering staff are in hot demand in the Nordic financial sector following tougher regulations and a string of scandals involving the region's top banks Danske Bank, Nordea and Swedbank. Compliance officers ensure banks meet industry regulations that have mushroomed since the financial crisis a decade ago, and most global financial hubs have been through a hiring boom. The recruitment drive in the Nordic region, however, has been given extra impetus by a money laundering scandal at Denmark's Danske Bank, which has spread to some other lenders in Sweden and Finland. "We've become the new 'business rock stars'," a Copenhagen-based compliance professional told Reuters. He saw a 50 percent jump in wages the last time he changed job to almost 1.2 million Danish crowns ($182,000) per year and is regularly contacted by headhunters. "Money-laundering was the buzzword of the year last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if compliance officer became the buzzword this year," he said. The highest paid 10 percent compliance managers in Copenhagen's financial sector now earn more than 1.2 million crowns per year, almost twice the average for law and economy graduates, figures from trade union DJOF show. Danske Bank said last month it would take on an extra 600 compliance and anti-money laundering staff this year. It has already quadrupled the number since 2015 to 1,200. "There is great competition for the skilled employees, and we can feel that," said Ole Bech-Petersen, head of Joining & Leaving at Danske, adding it would be impossible for the bank to find enough trained staff in Denmark. The bank is expanding its search to include new graduates from many different fields of study, experienced customer-oriented bankers, and compliance experts who could be recruited outside Scandinavia, he said. BROAD DEMAND Compliance professionals are also in demand in other industries, such as drugmaking, software development, law and manufacturing, as regulations proliferate and companies seek to reduce legal risks. "The perception has been that we can just get someone from outside the financial sector. But they're not there. Many companies need these people," said Michael Budolfsen, president of Nordic Financial Unions, a labor group for financial staff. Story continues Jobindex, a major Danish job site, posted almost 1,500 job adverts containing the word "compliance" last quarter, up from less than 200 per quarter a decade ago. "Many companies are interested in these employees, so the recruitment process often happens very fast, especially for young, well-educated people," said Soren Billeschou Christiansen, partner at Proselection, a large recruitment specialist within accounting and finance. Finland-based Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordics, said it had invested more than 730 million euros ($825 million) in the last three years in areas such as fighting financial crime and compliance, and now has over 1,500 staff in such fields. Because of local skills shortages and rising wages, Nordic banks are looking at alternative ways to manage risks. Sweden's Handelsbanken, for example, said that as well as hiring more people banks could develop IT systems and use artificial intelligence in areas such as fraud prevention. The largest Nordic banks have in recent years also increasingly moved administrative and service tasks to Baltic countries, where wages are generally lower. Danske's Bech-Petersen said most of its 600 new jobs would be in either Denmark or Lithuania, where the bank set up a service center in 2012 that has more than 2,300 employees. But such steps have so far done little to temper demand for local compliance specialists, as some of the region's financial regulators can testify. "Ironically, when we ask the banks to bolster anti-money laundering we know that they start looking at our personnel," said Erik Thedeen, head of Sweden's Financial Supervisory Authority "This has been a major problem ... We are a state agency, we can't pay the kind of wages they pay in the private sector. (Additional reporting by Johan Ahlander in Stockholm, Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Mark Potter) NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Astec Industries, Inc. ("Astec" or the "Company") (ASTE). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Astec and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On October 23, 2018, Astec announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. Astec reported a 1.2% decrease in domestic sales and a 20.2% decrease in the Company's backlog, with the domestic backlog contracting by 28.1%, dragged down by Astec's pellet business. For 2018, Astec cut its core revenue growth forecast to 1% to 3%, down substantially from 7% to 12%. Astec also reported EPS of $0.30 for the quarter, widely missing the consensus estimate of $0.59. Astec also reported $256.6 million in revenue for the quarter, below analysts' expectations of $276.8 million. Following this news, Astec's stock price fell $11.76 per share, or 24.88%, to close at $35.51 on October 23, 2018. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539564/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-Pomerantz-Law-Firm-Investigates-Claims-On-Behalf-of-Investors-of-Astec-Industries-Inc-ASTE Press Release Cambodia's leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) for enterprise enters residential market with fiber to the home (FTTH) services Nokia solution delivers greater speeds per user, and up to 50% savings in operating costs 19 March, 2019 Phnom Penh, Cambodia - SINET, Cambodia's leading ISP for enterprise businesses has chosen Nokia to launch new, high-speed broadband services in the country. Selected for its quality and technical expertise, Nokia will help SINET roll out a nationwide access network that will start in major residential and gated communities, locally known as borey and housing apartments in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. SINET will deliver broadband services targeted residents living in newly-built gated borey and housing apartments with the Nokia Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (GPON) Mini Optical Line Terminal (OLT). Providing customers with high-speed, high-quality internet access, Nokia's GPON solution will form the foundation for a suite of future smart-home services SINET will provide including video streaming and home-security systems. Meta Sy, CEO of SINET, said: "The Cambodia market is crowded with low-quality residential broadband services available at low prices using many off-the-shelf access equipment with little consideration to long term quality and reliabilty. When we decided to deploy GPON in borey and housing apartments, we wanted a quality-based and future-proof offering that would set us apart from the competitions. That means the service has to be on-par with international broadband standard in terms of speed, reliability, efficiency and ease of troubleshooting which are key criteria why we selected Nokia." Sebastien Laurent, head of Thailand and Cambodia at Nokia, said: "We offered SINET the best option for their specific deployment needs. Our Mini OLT is very efficient for delivering high-speed broadband services to low-density gated communities and in-building deployments and, at the same time, helps save space and thus OPEX. With Nokia GPON technology, the country's first such deployment will address the growing customer demand for affordable ultra-broadband services at home." Story continues About the solution: Nokia 7362 Intelligent Service Access Manager (ISAM) Dense Fiber (DF) -16GW gives new flexibility in fiber deployments and helps optimize the fiber business case Nokia Mini OLT supports up to 8x 10GigE uplinks and 16-port GPON or 4-port XGS-PON/TWDM-PON downlinks and is capable of boosting the speeds of fiber networks Nokia 7368 ISAM ONT G-010G-Q provides a GPON interface to the subscriber and paves the way to deliver premium triple-play services in a FTTH environment Resources: About SINET SINET is a specialist Dedicated Internet and Telecom Service Provider with strong focuses on engineering excellence and reliable support since 2009. SINET is one of the leaders in Internet and ICT services for businesses and entreprises and is the key pioneer in the new ICT advancement, latest network technologies, and security best practices in Cambodia. We are driven by our endearing love of communication technologies and by using them to facilitate business and human connections. About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. We develop and deliver the industry's only end-to-end portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing that is available globally. Our customers include communications service providers whose combined networks support 5.7 billion subscriptions, as well as enterprises in the private and public sector that use our network portfolio to increase productivity and enrich lives. Through our research teams, including the world-renowned Nokia Bell Labs, we are leading the world to adopt end-to-end 5G networks that are faster, more secure and capable of revolutionizing lives, economies and societies. Nokia adheres to the highest ethical business standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. nokia.com Media Inquiries: Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com Starbucks is holding its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday. The company announced it will start updating stores in New York City this summer. The coffee giant also announced a $100 million anchor investment in a venture capital fund with Valor Equity Partners. Ahead of its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, Starbucks SBUX said it will target two areas to boost future growth: start-ups and improving its in-store experience. Starbucks announced a $100 million investment in a new venture fund with Valor Equity Partners, which has previously invested in Tesla TSLA and SpaceX. The fund will give the coffee giant the first look at food and retail start-ups. Valor Siren Ventures Fund marks the first time that Starbucks has made this kind of investment, but it follows CEO Kevin Johnson tech-heavy focus for the company. In his roughly two years as chief executive, he has pushed the company into delivery and increased its digital engagement with customers. Prior to joining Starbucks, Johnson served as CEO of tech company Juniper Networks JNPR and as an executive at Microsoft MSFT . Investing in start-ups has become increasingly popular in the last few years among other food companies adjusting to changing consumer tastes, an issue that Starbucks is trying to address as less customers sip its calorie-heavy Frappucinos. Struggling food giant Kraft Heinz KHC launched its own fund in October, following the example of Big Food rivals Campbell Soup, CPB Kellogg K and General Mills GIS . The fund plans to raise an additional $300 million from outside investors in the coming months. The Seattle-based company also announced plans to update its stores starting with New York City locations this summer. It teased the changes at its investor day in December. Starbucks has long branded its stores as "the third place," a social spot between home and the office. "I don't want anyone to walk away today thinking this is about furniture or a new renovation strategy," COO Roz Brewer said in a statement. "Reimagining the third place is about listening to our customers so we can better position our business now and for the future." Story continues Starbucks did not share how it plans to refresh the cafes nor how it will finance those plans. Brewer said the changes will focus on convenience, comfort and connection. While the company did not said it would involve renovating stores, the concept goes beyond that to include technology and new products. It also said that it plans to seek customer input as it revamps the stores. The announcement comes as Starbucks has been working to expand delivery through Uber Eats to nearly a quarter of its U.S. locations. Other restaurant companies have been remodeling their locations to account for how delivery and digital pick-up orders change foot traffic. Chipotle CMG , for example, is testing drive-thru lanes called Chipotlanes for digital orders only, while McDonald's MCD is pushing franchisees to remodel their stores with high tech updates. Starbucks also announced Wednesday that it plans to test recyclable and compostable cups in several of its markets later this year as it looks to reduce waste. More From CNBC Starbucks (SBUX) made its first-ever private equity investment as the coffee behemoth bets on the changing retail landscape. The Seattle-headquartered global coffee behemoth committed $100 million to Valor Siren Ventures I L.P., a new fund that aims to "identify and invest in companies that are developing technologies, products, and solutions relating to food or retail." "We believe that innovative ideas are fuel for the future, and we continue to build on this heritage inside our company across beverage, experiential retail, and our digital flywheel," CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement. "At the same time, and with an eye toward accelerating our innovation agenda, we are inspired by, and want to support the creative, entrepreneurial businesses of tomorrow with whom we may explore commercial relationships down the road." The fund, which is expected to raise another $300 million from investors, is led by Chicago-based private equity firm Valor Equity, a well-known investor in food technology. Valor's investment approach utilizes the firms operational and technical expertise to accelerate growth. Some of the companies Valor has worked with include goPuff, Fooda, and Sizzling Platter. Starbucks, which opened its 30,000th store this week, hosted its largest-ever Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday. Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter. LUXEMBOURG / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Ternium S.A. (TX) announced today that its annual general meeting of shareholders will be held on Monday May 6, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. (Central European Time) at the Company's registered office, located at 29, avenue de la Porte-Neuve, L-2227, Luxembourg. Each holder of Ternium ADRs as of March 29, 2019, are entitled to instruct The Bank of New York Mellon, as depositary bank, as to the exercise of the voting rights in respect of the Company's shares underlying such holder's ADRs. The Notice and Agenda for the Meeting, the Shareholder Meeting Brochure and Proxy Statement, the Company's 2018 annual report and other documents for the meeting, are available to shareholders on the Investor Center's section of the Company's website at www.ternium.com . The 2018 annual report includes the Company's consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 and for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, together with the board of directors' and the independent auditors' reports thereon, and the Company's annual accounts as of December 31, 2018, together with the independent auditors' reports thereon. Copies of all such documents may also be requested, free of charge, at the Company's registered office, between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Central European Time). In addition, shareholders registered in the Company's share register may obtain electronic copies of such documents, free of charge, by sending an e-mail request to ir@ternium.com . About Ternium Ternium is Latin America's leading flat steel producer, with operating facilities in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the southern United States and Central America. The company offers a broad range of high value-added steel products for customers active in the automotive, home appliances, construction, capital goods, container, food and energy industries through its manufacturing facilities, service center and distribution networks, and advanced customer integration systems. More information about Ternium is available at www.ternium.com. Story continues Sebastian Marti Ternium - Investor Relations +1 (866) 890 0443 +54 (11) 4018 8389 www.ternium.com SOURCE: Ternium S.A. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539424/Ternium-Announces-Annual-General-Meeting-of-Shareholders (Bloomberg) -- Last summer, the Trump administration started a campaign to convince its European allies to bar Chinas Huawei Technologies Co. from their telecom networks. Bolstered by the success of similar efforts in Australia and New Zealand, the White House sent envoys to European capitals with warnings that Huaweis gear would open a backdoor for Chinese spies. The U.S. even threatened to cut off intelligence sharing if Europe ignored its advice. So far, not a single European country has banned Huawei. There are two things I dont believe in, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a conference Tuesday in Berlin. First, to discuss these very sensitive security questions publicly, and second, to exclude a company simply because its from a certain country. Europe, caught in the middle of the U.S.-China trade war, has sought to balance concerns about growing Chinese influence with a desire to increase business with the regions second-biggest trading partner. With no ban in the works, Huawei is in the running for contracts to build 5G phone networks, the ultra-fast wireless technology Europes leaders hope will fuel the growth of a data-based economy. The U.K.s spy chief has indicated that a ban on Huawei is unlikely, citing a lack of viable alternatives to upgrade British telecom networks. Italys government has dismissed the U.S. warnings as it seeks to boost trade with China. In Germany, which is selling 5G airwaves in an auction expected to raise as much as 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion), authorities have proposed tighter security rules for data networks rather than outlawing Huawei. France is doing the same after initially flirting with the idea of restrictions on the company. The 5G rollout is one of the most complex and expensive technology projects ever undertaken, said Paul Triolo, an analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy. The challenge for Europe is to find a way that minimizes the security risks linked to Chinese suppliers but not delay 5G, which is so important to the region. Story continues Governments listened to phone companies such as Vodafone Group Plc, Deutsche Telekom AG, and Orange SA, who warned that sidelining Huawei would delay the implementation of 5G by years and add billions of euros in cost. Weve not seen any evidence of backdoors into the network, said Helen Lamprell, Vodafones top lawyer and chief lobbyist in the U.K. If the Americans have evidence, please put it out on the table. The pressure has been building for months. The U.S. in February dispatched representatives to MWC Barcelona, the industrys top annual trade show, who urged executives and politicians to avoid Huawei and its Chinese peers. And this month, the U.S. ambassador in Berlin wrote a letter to the German government saying it should drop Huawei or risk throttling U.S. intelligence sharing. While carriers can also buy equipment from the likes of Ericsson AB, Nokia Oyj, and Samsung Electronics Co., industry consultants say Huaweis quality is high, and the company last year filed 5,405 global patents, more than double the filings by Ericsson and Nokia combined. And some European lawmakers have been wary of Cisco Systems Inc., Huaweis American rival, since Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing the National Security Agencys use of U.S.-made telecom equipment for spying. Huawei isnt necessarily safe. In Germany, hard-liners in the intelligence community say the company isnt trustworthy, and updated security rules the government is drafting could make it harder for Huawei to win contracts. Denmarks biggest phone company, TDC A/S, declined to renew a contract with Huawei and instead picked Ericsson as strategic partner to develop its 5G network. Across Europe, the Shenzhen-based company is under pressure to allow greater scrutiny of its technology and increase assurances its equipment cant be accessed by Chinese spies. Huawei has placed cyber security and user privacy protection at the very top of its priorities, a company representative said by email. Safeguarding networks is the joint responsibility of vendors, telecom companies, and regulators, he said. So far, theres little evidence to suggest Europe will shun Huawei. National railway companies in Germany and Austria have bought the companys equipment, and carriers such as Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica are running 5G test projects with its products. Huaweis global revenue growth accelerated in the first two months of the year, climbing by more than a third, founder Ren Zhengfei said last week. And the company says sales of its smartphones doubled in Germany during the same period. We dont know what the U.S.s next move is, so its not over yet, said Bengt Nordstrom, CEO of telecom consultancy Northstream. But whatever market share Huawei may lose in Europe, theyll win back in China. (Updates with details on 5G auction in fourth paragraph.) --With assistance from Thomas Seal, Helene Fouquet, Nick Wadhams, Daniele Lepido and Kitty Donaldson. To contact the reporter on this story: Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, David Rocks For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. The Trump administration is granting Iraq a renewed 90-day waiver exempting it from U.S. sanctions on Iran, a State Department official told CNBC on Tuesday. Years of war and lack of investment have left Iraq dependent on Iranian natural gas plants for up to 45 percent of its electricity. DUBAI The Trump administration is granting Iraq a renewed 90-day waiver exempting it from U.S. sanctions on Iran, a State Department official told CNBC on Tuesday. The waiver, last issued in December and which expired on the morning of March 19, will allow Iraq to continue buying electricity from its neighbor even as the White House pledges a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. "While this waiver is intended to help Iraq mitigate energy shortages, we continue to discuss our Iran-related sanctions with our partners in Iraq," the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Despite being OPEC's second-largest producer of oil, years of war and lack of investment have left Iraq dependent on Iranian natural gas plants for up to 45 percent of its electricity. The Trump administration reinstated sanctions on Iran last year after withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , which lifted economic restrictions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program. The White House is carrying out a "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic Republic in an effort to counter what it deems its "malign and destabilizing activity" around the world. Iraq is a special case, putting the administration in an awkward position as putting too much pressure on Iran Baghdad's third-largest trading partner could lead to destabilization in Iraq. Iraq imports some 28 million cubic meters of Iranian natural gas daily, which powers up to 1 million Iraqi homes, but the country still faces severe power shortages thanks to its outdated power infrastructure and frequent failure to pay its bills. Story continues Without continued sanctions exemptions, Iraq could lose more than a third of its power overnight, energy analysts say. Already burdened by failing infrastructure, pockets of ISIS activity and poor public service provision, the scenario makes Iraq a "ticking time bomb," according to Michael Stephens, a regional expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Last summer, Iraq failed to pay its electricity bill to Iran on time. This prompted Tehran to cut the power off and triggered widespread protests in the country's south , particularly in poverty-stricken Basra, where government buildings and the consulates of Iran and the U.S. were attacked. US pushes energy independence to diminish Iran The U.S. government is encouraging greater Iraqi energy independence as a more sustainable means of blunting Iran's clout in Iraq, which extends from energy provision to trade, security and politics. This has so far come in the form of deals with American energy companies like GE to upgrade the Iraqi grid and generate electricity from gas flare capturing . "We are continuing to work with Iraq to end its dependence on Iranian natural gas and electricity and increase its energy independence," the State Department official said. "Expanding the use of Iraq's own natural resources and diversifying energy imports away from Iran will strengthen Iraq's economy and development as well as encourage a united, democratic, and prosperous Iraq free from malign Iranian influence." Still, experts say achieving energy self-sufficiency for Iraq will likely take years , and that continued sanctions waivers may be the reality for the foreseeable future. The U.S. decision comes just a week after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's first official visit to Iraq, which saw more than a dozen treaties signed to expand trade and infrastructure ties between the two countries. More From CNBC U.S. President Trump visits the Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP) in Lima, Ohio U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to workers at the Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP) Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, the country's only remaining tank manufacturing plant, in Lima, Ohio, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States may leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a "substantial period" to ensure that Beijing complies with any trade agreement. The stance could complicate U.S.-China trade talks set to resume next week, as Chinese officials have been pressing for a full lifting of U.S. tariffs as part of any deal, people familiar with the talks have said. Trump said his top negotiators, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would leave for Beijing this weekend, confirming plans for talks next week disclosed on Tuesday by an administration official. The face-to-face talks will be the first since Trump delayed a March 1 deadline to avert a rise in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from the current 10 percent. "The deal is coming along nicely," Trump said to reporters at the White House, adding that the China trip was intended "to further the deal." But when asked about lifting U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump said: "Were not talking about removing them. We're talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time because we have to make sure that if we do the deal, China lives by it." Trump did not elaborate on his plans for the tariffs. His negotiators have demanded that China agree to an enforcement mechanism to ensure that Beijing follows through on any reform pledges in any deal. Washington is demanding that China end practices it says force the transfer of American technology to Chinese companies, improve access for American companies to China's markets and curb industrial subsidies. Since July 2018, the United States has imposed duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, including $50 billion in technology and industrial goods at 25 percent and $200 billion in other products including furniture and construction materials, at 10 percent. China has hit back with tariffs on about $110 billion worth of U.S. goods, including soybeans and other commodities. The eight-month trade war between the world's two largest economies has raised costs, roiled financial markets, shrunk U.S. farm exports and disrupted manufacturing supply chains. Story continues Later on Wednesday, during a speech in Lima, Ohio, Trump emphasized again that he wanted the United States to reach a "great" trade deal with China. "We're so far down, it's got to be a great deal. If it's not a great deal, you never catch up," Trump said in remarks at a military tank manufacturing plant. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Lima, Ohio, and David Lawder in Washington; Writing by David Lawder, Doina Chiacu and Makini Brice; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney) WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected nominate former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as early as Tuesday, two people briefed on the matter said. Reuters reported on March 8 that Trump was expected to soon nominate Dickson, who retired after 27 years at Delta BA.N in October as senior vice president of global flight operations, to run the 45,000-employee agency that oversees U.S. airspace. The FAA is facing questions over its certification of the Boeing 737 MAX that has been involved in two fatal crashes since October. Last year, Reuters and other outlets reported that Trump was considering his longtime personal pilot, John Dunkin, to lead the FAA. (Reporting by David Shepardson and Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler) By Barani Krishnan Investing.com - OPEC ought to be mighty pleased with itself. New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude finally broke through the $60 per barrel mark for the first time in four months. The catalyst for oil bulls was the Energy Information Administration's announcement of a stunning drawdown of nearly 10 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories last week. Analysts had expected a 300,000-barrel build. Coming after the previous week's equally surprising crude stockpile drop of nearly 4 million barrels, the latest EIA weekly report was a further confirmation of OPEC's aggressive production cuts this year that have severely crimped crude exports, particularly by Saudi Arabia, to the U.S. It puts more octane in the tank of long-oil hedge funds and other speculators charging toward their next target -- $70 a barrel for Brent, the U.K.-traded global benchmark for crude. The May contract for WTI settled up 94 cents, or 1.6%, at $60.23 per barrel, hitting a session high of $60.28. The last time the U.S. crude benchmark traded above $60 was on Nov. 9 at $60.19. That was just before the market tanked on a combination of surging shale crude supply and surprisingly generous sanction waivers on Iranian oil by the Trump administration that forced OPEC into production cuts. Brent was still more than $1 away from the $70 per barrel mark, trading 79 cents, or 1.2%, higher at $68.40 by 3:08 PM ET (19:08 GMT), after a four-month peak at $68.57. "The across-the-board inventory declines in crude oil and refined products highlights the tightening mark" of supplies from OPEC cuts and ramping U.S. crude exports, which remained near record highs at 3.4 million barrels last week, said John Kilduff, founding partner of New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. The EIA report also showed U.S. gasoline inventories fell by 4.59 million barrels, nearly twice the expected draw of 2.41 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles dropped by 4.13 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a decline of 1.09 million. Story continues Gasoline, this year's energy market star with a gain of nearly 45%, traded at above $1.90 per gallon, aiming for the key $2 resistance mark. To date, crude futures are up more than 30% on the year, with WTI showing a 5% gain for March and Brent 3%. Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at SaxoBank, also cited the Trump administration's ongoing sanctions on Venezuelan oil as one of formidable opponents to any potential bear out there in crude. More than 8 million barrels of last week's crude draws were in the PADD 3 region in the U.S. Gulf of Coast of Mexico, where refineries were starved of heavier Venezuelan and Middle East crude needed for turning out diesel. Despite Wednesday's rally, some analysts pointed to the protracted U.S.-China trade war and how that could land the world's largest oil consumer with its worst growth in 30 years. For about an hour after the bullish weekly dataset released by the EIA on Wednesday, gains in WTI and Brent remained subdued, on worries about China, before breaking out. Others fear all may not be well at the 24-member OPEC+ alliance. The Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and Russian counterpart Alexander Novak, who head the group, appeared to band together in canceling an April meeting in favor of a more sensible decision when the end of the current pact arrives in June. But there were also signs that the cancellation may be to silence any objections to deeper production cuts, especially when some of those countries in the pact could do more with exports at these prices. "I still think the same thing, which is that there are more sellers than buyers in oil, and the recent run on prices has been generated by WTI spreads strength and gasoline strength, but at the end of the day, investors are still not buying," said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker at ICAP (LON:NXGN) in Durham, N.C. Related Articles Gold Rises, Stays Solidy Above $1,300 Level on Recession Talk Oil Barely Moves on Talk of Likely U.S. Recession Canadians question ratification of new North American trade deal: Ottawa Investing.com - U.S. crude oil inventories fell at their fastest rate since July 2018 last week, adding to evidence that the global oil market is responding to supply cuts led by OPEC and Russia. The Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Wednesday that crude oil inventories declined by 9.59 million barrels in the week to March 15, adding to a drop of 3.86 million barrels in the previous week. Analysts had expected a modest stockpile build of 0.31 million barrels. The EIA report also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 4.59 million barrels, nearly twice the expected draw of 2.41 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 4.13 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a decline of 1.09 million. This is a huge decrease across the board that should have OPEC very pleased with its production-cutting strategy, Investing.com analyst Barani Krishnan commented on the report. U.S. crude prices traded higher after the data release, gaining 0.5% at $59.59 a barrel by 10:37 AM ET (14:37 GMT), compared to $59.15 prior to the publication. London-traded Brent crude futures traded up 0.5% to $68.00 a barrel, compared to $67.60 ahead of the release. The crude stockpile draw of nearly 10 million barrels, especially, compared to market expectations for a 300,000-barrels build, is testimony of the steady pace in refining versus imports which are still lower than normal levels despite a pick-up last week," Krishnan said. "Added to that, you have 4 million barrel draws in both gasoline and distillates." "On paper, this certainly puts octane in the tank of the bulls in their charge toward $60 WTI, though in reality, you have a market struggling today to balance oils fundamentals versus growing world economic worries. U.S. crude ended lower at the close on Tuesday as bulls ran out of steam. Bloomberg laid the blame at the door of concerns over U.S.-China trade negotiations, reporting that Beijing was pushing back against Washingtons demands. Bloomberg said Chinese officials are objecting to the lack of U.S. assurances that tariffs will be lifted when the deal goes through. Story continues While sources from Reuters pointed to high-level talks scheduled in Beijing for the week of March 25, the risk is still that friction between the worlds two largest economies will cloud the outlook for the global economy, damaging demand for oil. Even so, WTI oil is still up more than 2.5% this month and has skyrocketed around 30% in 2019, supported by risk appetite through the link to rising stocks and fundamentally by OPEC/Russia (production) cuts and Trump sanctions (on Iran and Venezuela), Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at SaxoBank, said. All (are) formidable opponents to any potential bear out there, he added. Aggressive production cuts carried out by OPEC, headed by Saudi Arabia, and another 10 allies of the oil-producing club, led by Russia, were in the spotlight this week as both the kingdom and Moscow stressed their plans to increase compliance with the output reduction. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and Russian counterpart Alexander Novak appeared to band together in canceling an April meeting in favor of a more sensible decision when the end of the current pact arrives in June. But Krishnan warned that the cancelled meeting may in fact be a Saudi strategy to silence any objections. The Saudis can silence much dissent within OPEC with their position as the cartels de-facto leader, he said. Yet Falih seemed to be taking no chances in risking any mixed or muddled messaging coming out of the group a month from now, when global demand for oil is expected to remain subdued with major economies on the decline, and any lack of adherence to cuts on OPECs part could immediately hurt crude prices. Related Articles Oil Prices Slip as Global Growth Concerns Linger Oil prices hit by worries of sharp economic slowdown South Africa's 2019 maize crop seen down 16 percent on drought conditions: Reuters poll Philippine Airlines said it is temporarily suspending the launch of the Manila-New Delhi service amid the tension in the region. We are constrained to take this step as news of India-Pakistan border tensions has prompted many travelers to cancel bookings and defer their travel plans, PAL said. The airline announced earlier it would start four times weekly nonstop flights between Manila and New Delhi next month, using brand-new Airbus A321neo aircraft. We seek the understanding of our passengers who have already booked flights or purchased tickets on the Delhi service, the airline said. PAL said ticket holders of flights between Manila and New Delhi could reroute their tickets to any regional destination within 30 days from their original ticket or refund the cost of their tickets. Philippine Airlines apologizes to all affected passengers. We assure the traveling public that we will make the appropriate announcement once a new start date is finalized, the airline said.PAL earlier said its return to the Indian market would boost the tourism industries of both the Philippines and India. The airline previously operated the Manila-Delhi route from 2011 to 2013, with most flights making costly stopovers in Bangkok because of the limited range of the Airbus A320 aircraft which was then in use. PAL announced in January that it was expanding operations in Asia by launching new routes to Hanoi (Vietnam) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia) from its Manila hub. The latest expansion by PAL creates the first direct air link between the Philippines and the capital of Cambodia, expands PALs existing Vietnam network and re-establishes a historic link to India with immense potential for tourism development. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Washington, D.C. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Washington, D.C./Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM A federal lawsuit has accused the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of abridging the constitutional rights and protections of a South Florida immigrant rights activist being threatened with deportation. The suit by University of Miami School of Law professor Rebecca Sharpless, filed in the Southern District of Florida, accuses ICE of breaking the law by detaining Claudio Rojas, a Miramar resident and advocate for immigrants in the U.S. ICE apprehended Rojas, who's resided in the U.S. since emigrating from Argentina in 2000, on Feb. 27 during a routine appointment with the immigration agency. Sharpless, who serves as the director of UM's Immigration Clinic, alleges in the complaint that Rojas' apprehension was prompted by his high-profile activism. The filing singles out his participation in "The Infiltrators" a 2019 documentary chronicling conditions at the Broward Transitional Center immigrant detention facility as a reason ICE targeted him. "Mr. Rojass detention and imminent removal comes at a time when immigrant activists have become increasingly targeted for detention and deportation following high profile advocacy," the complaint said. "Whistleblowers and journalists have uncovered reports of ICE and other immigration agencies keeping tabs and files on immigrant activists and peaceful gatherings." ICE spokesman Nestor Yglesias told the Daily Business Review the department "cannot comment on this case. Read the complaint: According to Rojas' legal counsel, Miami attorney Sandy Pineda, he is slated to be deported around March 30. "Right now Claudios future is very unclear," Pineda said. "The only answers we have received from ICE are that they cant really comment on the case, and they're investigating the pleading that we have filed." The plaintiff's emergency request for a temporary stay and release order are pending. The filing notes Rojas has been detained before. "The Infiltrators" partly documents the seven months he spent at the Broward Transitional Center in 2012. "During his detentions, Mr. Rojas organized detainees in peaceful demonstrations and shared information about abuses in detention with the National Immigrant Youth Alliance and other activist groups, hoping to spur changes in the immigration system," the complaint said. The suit also contends ICE has not legally justified Rojas' present detainment in light of his pending application for U.S. citizenship. "To date, ICE has offered no other explanation of why it has summarily revoked Mr. Rojass order of supervision and taken him into custody," the complaint said. "Nor has ICE explained why it has denied Mr. Rojass request for a stay of removal and is attempting to deport Mr. Rojas despite his pending T and U Visa Applications." Pineda and Sharpless have argued the emergency motion before Senior U.S. District Judge James L. King. Story continues University of Miami School of Law Professor and Immigration Clinic Director Rebecca Sharpless University of Miami School of Law Professor and Immigration Clinic Director Rebecca Sharpless. Courtesy photo ICEs power is not limitless, Sharpless said in a statement on the litigation. When ICE rushes to deport someone without following the law, courts must act. The stakes are just too high. The nine-count complaint accuses ICE of violating Rojas' due process protections by threatening him with deportation while he awaits his T and U visas. "As physical presence in the United States is a condition of eligibility, Rojas' T Nonimmigrant status cannot be granted once he is removed," according to the complaint. "Similarly, if Mr. Rojas is removed before his application for U visa status is adjudicated, or his removal case is reopened, he will be deprived of access to 'deferred action.' If granted 'deferred action,' Mr. Rojas will be allowed to remain and work in the country and await a U visa (along with other relief)." The suit also charges ICE with undermining the First Amendment by retaliating against Rojas for his activism, in addition to violating the Fourth Amendment by arresting him without judicial probable cause. Pineda said her client is being housed with approximately 120 other immigrant detainees in an 80-person capacity room at the Krome Detention Center in Miami. She noted Rojas has gotten sick since he was brought to Krome. "To this day were unsure if Claudio's seen a doctor," Pineda said, adding he is being visited on Wednesday for a check on his well-being. She maintained ICE officials still "have not given any reason why they have detained him." She said, "Its a very terrible situation for the family." Related stories: Somalis Alleging Abuses by ICE Personnel Seek More Time in US Lawsuit Accuses Monroe Sheriff of Illegally Detaining US Citizen for ICE $1M Bond Posted in Miami for Ecuadorian Brothers Accused of Embezzlement (Bloomberg) -- A union organizing Amazon.com Inc. employees in New York has filed a complaint accusing the company of illegally firing one of the labor groups most prominent supporters. The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union submitted a complaint Wednesday to the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the retailer violated federal law when it terminated Staten Island fulfillment center employee Rashad Long. In December, Long joined a rally at City Hall protesting Amazons proposed expansion in Queens. During the protest, a participant read out a statement from Long criticizing Amazon for what he deemed disrespectful management, unfair discipline, inadequate security and poor health and safety. A video of the event was posted on the unions public Facebook page. Rather than dealing with legitimate issues which he and many other workers at the facility across the country and across the world have exposed, Amazon prefers to shut him down and fire him, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said in an interview. Given the size of Amazon and the way its transforming industries, everybody needs to be worried about what this portends for the future of work. Federal labor law prohibits companies from retaliating against employees for organizing. But the government is not allowed to assess punitive damages, and even in cases where employees prevail, winning reinstatement can take months or years, during which terminated workers may go without pay and their co-workers may be deterred from organizing. Mr. Longs allegations are false, an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. His employment was terminated for violating a serious safety policy. All employees, including Mr. Long, are trained from day one on the importance of safety and their role in maintaining a safe workplace. Long disputes Amazons account. "The incident that Amazon cites as the reason for my firing is bogus," he said in a statement passed on by RWDSU. He told the New York Times he picked up the wrong item from a robotic pod and reached back out to return it, which Amazon discourages because of the risk of injury. He said other workers returned items to a pod without serious consequences, the paper reported. Story continues The union, an affiliate of the United Food & Commercial Workers union, announced in December that it was working with employees seeking to unionize the Staten Island facility. At the time, Appelbaum said Amazons plans to build a major new campus in New York gave labor activists unprecedented leverage to force the company to eschew union-busting there. Amid opposition to Amazons expansion plans, company officials met with union leaders and, according to Appelbaum, agreed in principle to a deal that would restrict anti-union tactics. The next day, Amazon said it was abandoning plans to employ some 25,000 people in New York and would place planned hires in other satellite offices in the U.S. and Canada instead. "New York City is a union town and no company should be able to trample on the rights of workers," Jane Meyer, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said on Wednesday. "If true, these allegations are unacceptable and we implore the National Labor Relations Board to hold Amazon accountable." Appelbaum said his union continues to hear from and talk to Amazon workers at facilities including the Staten Island location, but declined to say more about the status of the unionization effort there now that Amazon has dropped its expansion plan. We would hope that elected officials, regardless of what they felt about the headquarters, would express their outrage at the way that Amazon is treating its employees, he said. Amazon has been the subject of more than 50 unfair labor practice cases, according to NLRB records, with most of the complaints brought by workers being withdrawn or dismissed, according to the NLRB. An employee at an Amazon warehouse in Hebron, Kentucky, in December complained to the agency about an unjust termination and that case is being investigated. In 2014, Amazon agreed to change some of its warehouse workplace rules to settle a NLRB investigation into allegations it unfairly punished workers who spoke out about working conditions. The company agreed to rescind a verbal warning given to a staff member at a Phoenix warehouse who voiced concerns about security in the parking lot following thefts from vehicles. The night before the December protest, Long told Bloomberg he made $18.60 an hour and spent four hours a day commuting to and from the warehouse. They talk to you like youre nothing -- all they care about is their numbers, he said. They talk to you like youre a robot. (Updates with statements from Long, Mayors office starting in seventh paragraph.) --With assistance from Matt Day and Spencer Soper. To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Eidelson in Washington at jeidelson@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Robin Ajello, Molly Schuetz For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast welcomed US Nuclear Corp. (OTC PINK: UCLE) ("the Company"), a company that designs, manufactures, and markets branded, full line radiation and chemical detection and specialized advanced tritium technology for the nuclear energy industry and for emerging technological processes such as Thorium and Molten Salt (MSR) reactor technologies both domestically and internationally. CEO, Bob Goldstein, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly. Jolly began the interview by asking why medical isotopes for diagnostic cancer scans and treatments are being withheld. Goldstein explained that there is a 40%-50% shortage of medical isotopes, which make many of the necessary cancer related scans possible. This is preventing patients from getting the care that they need, as doctors are forced to utilize less effective methods. Consequently, the government has awarded 60 million dollars to eight companies in an effort to produce new sources for medical isotopes. One of those companies is MIFTEC, which the Company has 10% ownership of, as well as exclusive manufacturing rights for their isotope generators. Jolly then asked how the Company got involved with MIFTEC. Goldstein explained that MIFTEC utilizes more advanced and even safer technology than its competitors. MIFTEC is also unique in the fact that they are developing a modular system, which means it is a smaller solution that can be more easily installed. Goldstein added that the technology from MIFTEC is scalable, making it more efficient in solving the current medical isotope shortage. Jolly then asked about the Company's outlook for 2019. Goldstein stated, "We did just under $4 million in revenues this year and next year we're projecting $5.5 million in shipments. We're finding that our products are catching on very well.". He added that the Company offers many advanced instruments that are in high demand. To close the interview, Goldstein shared that the Company is strong and growing. He also shared that given the stock's undervalued price, it is an excellent time for shareholders to consider investing. Story continues To hear Bob Goldstein's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-ceo-robert-goldstein-of-us-nuclear-corp-otcpink-ucle-7/ Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/ About US Nuclear Corp. US Nuclear Corp is a fully reporting, publicly traded company on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board, traded under the ticker symbol UCLE. The Company's operations are principally engaged through its subsidiaries, operating two leading nuclear radiation detection companies, Overhoff Technology Corp. and Optron Scientific Company Inc. The Company designs, manufactures and markets branded, full line radiation detection and specialized advanced tritium technology for the nuclear energy industry and for emerging technological processes such as Thorium and Molten Salt (MSR) reactor technologies both domestically and internationally to customers such as United States Government Agencies, the U.S. Military, Homeland Security, Scientific Laboratories, Universities, Hospitals, nuclear reactor facilities in the United States, China, Canada, South Korea, Argentina, Russia and others. Safe Harbor Act This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Investors may find additional information by visiting US Nuclear Corp . and the SEC website. CONTACT: US Nuclear Corp. (UCLE) Robert I. Goldstein, President, CEO, and Chairman (818) 883 7043 - Email: info@usnuclearcorp.com www.usnuclearcorp.com About Uptick Newswire and the "Stock Day" Podcast Founded in 2013, Uptick Newswire is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Uptick provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. Uptick is the sole producer of its "Stock Day" Podcast, which is the number one radio show of its kind in America. The Uptick Network "Stock Day" Podcast is an extension of Uptick Newswire, which recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona. Uptick Newswire 602-441-3474 https://upticknewswire.com/ SOURCE: Uptick Newswire View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/539448/Uptick-Newswire-Hosts-US-Nuclear-Corp-on-the-Stock-Day-Podcast-to-Address-Solving-the-Medical-Isotope-Shortage EVANSVILLE, Ind., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana South (Vectren), a CenterPoint Energy company, announced it has received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to build a 50-megawatt (MW) universal solar array in eastern Spencer County as part of Vectrens long-term electric generation transition plan. The solar farm will be located near Troy, Ind., on approximately 300 acres and will consist of about 150,000 solar panels. Todays approval marks the next step toward Vectrens carbon reduction plan of lowering carbon emissions by 60% over 2005 levels by 2024. We are pleased to receive authorization from the IURC as the final step in the process to adding more solar electric generation to our portfolio, said Lynnae Wilson, chief business officer, Indiana electric. This significant renewable resource, a key piece of Vectrens Smart Energy Future vision, will be among the largest single-sited solar farms in the state and will serve Vectren customers for decades to come. Vectrens 4 MW of solar generation already in service and this planned facility, which should be fully operational in the fall of 2020, are expected to generate enough power to meet the needs of more than 12,000 households per year. When including Vectrens 80 MW of wind power purchased through contracts with the Benton County and Fowler Ridge wind farms and its 3.2-MW landfill gas facility in Pike County, there will be enough renewable energy in Vectrens portfolio to power more than 35,000 homes. In October, Vectren reached an agreement with the Indiana Offices of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) and the Citizens Action Coalition to create a customer-friendly rate mechanism that maximizes the available tax incentives associated with solar projects and spreads all costs evenly over a 35-year period. Construction to support the solar farm is expected to begin later this year. First Solar, a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) solar systems, will build the solar farm. Vectren worked with Orion Renewable Power Resources LLC, a joint venture between Orion Renewable Energy Group and MAP Renewable Energy, to select, secure and develop the property. Story continues This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news release regarding future events, such as CenterPoint Energys expected decreases in carbon emissions and the timing of such decreases, the anticipated timing of completion of the project and any other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release speaks only as of the date of this release. Factors that could affect actual results include timing and impact of future regulatory and legislative decisions, weather variations, changes in business plans and other factors discussed in CenterPoint Energys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About CenterPoint Energy Headquartered in Houston, Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is an energy delivery company with regulated utility businesses in eight states and a competitive energy businesses footprint in nearly 40 states. Through its electric transmission & distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution businesses, the company serves more than 7 million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. CenterPoint Energys competitive energy businesses include natural gas marketing and energy-related services; energy efficiency, sustainability and infrastructure modernization solutions; and construction and repair services for pipeline systems, primarily natural gas. The company also owns 54.0 percent of the common units representing limited partner interests in Enable Midstream Partners, LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops strategically located natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With approximately 14,000 employees and nearly $29 billion in assets, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com. (Recasts, Adds European Commission and Vodafone declining to comment) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - Vodafone will receive a warning from EU regulators about possible anti-competitive effects from its $22 billion deal to buy Liberty Global's German and eastern European assets, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The warning, via a statement of objections setting out the European Commission's concerns, is expected to be conveyed to the companies shortly, the sources said, ahead of a June 3 deadline for the EU executive's regulatory approval. The world's second-largest mobile operator and U.S. cable pioneer John Malone's Liberty announced the deal in May last year in a move that would help Vodafone to compete with rival Deutsche Telekom in its home market. Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso and Vodafone declined to comment. The EU antitrust enforcer opened a full-scale investigation in December last year, saying that the deal could hurt competition in Germany and the Czech Republic. Vodafone is expected to offer concessions to address EU concerns about the deal. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee Additional reporting by Paul Sandle in London Editing by David Goodman) FILE PHOTO: Logos of 5G technology and telecommunications company Vodafone at the company's 5G Mobility Lab in Aldenhoven, Germany, November 27, 2018. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen/File Photo By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Vodafone will receive a warning from EU regulators about possible anti-competitive effects from its $22 billion deal to buy Liberty Global's German and eastern European assets, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The warning, via a statement of objections setting out the European Commission's concerns, is expected to be conveyed to the companies shortly, the sources said, ahead of a June 3 deadline for the EU executive's regulatory approval. The world's second-largest mobile operator and U.S. cable pioneer John Malone's Liberty announced the deal in May last year in a move that would help Vodafone to compete with rival Deutsche Telekom in its home market. Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso and Vodafone declined to comment. The EU antitrust enforcer opened a full-scale investigation in December last year, saying that the deal could hurt competition in Germany and the Czech Republic. Vodafone is expected to offer concessions to address EU concerns about the deal. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Additional reporting by Paul Sandle in London; Editing by David Goodman) Asian Terminals Inc. on Wednesday said net income rose 15.8 percent to P2.9 billion in 2018 from P2.5 billion in 2017, on the back of record cargo volumes handled by its gateway ports in Manila and Batangas following the resilient Philippine economy. The companys revenues last year climbed 16 percent to P12.3 billion from P10.6 billion in 2017, driven by higher volumes of international containerized cargoes. International gateway ports Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal handled a combined container throughput of over 1.4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), the highest thus far for the listed port operator. International boxed cargoes handled at Manila South Harbor in 2018 reached over 1.3 million TEUs, an increase of over 6 percent from 2017. The rapidly growing Batangas Container Terminal handled nearly 250,000 TEUs, up 25 percent from the previous year. Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal have effectively supported governments drive for inclusive growth within and outside Metro Manila by opening direct market connectivity and delivering competitive port services to shippers based in the countrys national capital and southern Luzon regions.Batangas Port has contributed to decongesting Metro Manila roads. Last years cargo volume meant taking out over 125,000 truck trips along metro roads, with more Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) shippers preferring to route consignments through BCT. ATI earlier announced that major expansion projects were underway in both Manila and Batangas ports in support of future cargo growth. The company has allotted about P14.7 billion in capital expenditures from 2019 to 2020 to develop more berths and storage spaces in Manila and Batangas ports and additional container yards outside the port zones, acquire more cargo handling equipment and invest in innovations, which will redound to greater efficiencies and safer port environment for stakeholders. By the second quarter, the expansion of Batangas Container Terminal will be fully completed, bringing its capacity from 350,000 teus to over 450,000 teus, annually. The terminal is now equipped with four quay cranes, eight rubber-tired gantry cranes and additional mobile container handling equipment. FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 18, 2018. Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - The breakdown at last month's U.S.-North Korea summit has left South Korean President Moon Jae-in with little room to manoeuvre and exacerbated divisions within his government over how to break the impasse, three sources familiar with the issue said. The weeks since the Hanoi summit have revealed how difficult it may now be for Moon to play his desired role as a mediator, as Pyongyang and Washington have hardened their stances, threatening to make his focus on engagement seem implausible. Some U.S. officials were frustrated when Moon, during a call with President Donald Trump just a week before the summit, offered to "ease the burden" by reopening inter-Korean economic projects as a concession to the North, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. At the time, negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program were "hardly making progress," one source said. That offer also landed with a thud among some of Moon's own administration, who said it made him appear desperate for North Korean sanctions relief. "You don't want to look desperate, especially when their talks are going nowhere and time is ticking," said the source, who like the others spoke on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. Moon is eager to restart the joint projects, key to an initiative that he sees as a boost for a moribund economy and the worst job market in a decade. WEEKS OF CONTROVERSY Moon's approval ratings have fallen to their lowest levels since taking office in May 2017, pollster Realmeter said on Monday, citing recent missile activity in North Korea and the stalemate in nuclear talks. Since the summit, work at North Korea's Sohae rocket test facility has been detected, while a senior Pyongyang official said last week that Kim may suspend talks with the United States and rethink its freeze on weapons tests. Senior North Korean negotiators have not showed up for weekly talks with the South at their liaison office since the summit broke down, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry. But there were "no problems" communicating with the North, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. Story continues Meanwhile, a recent U.S. State Department human rights paper criticised Seoul for pressuring North Korean defectors not to denounce Pyongyang. A separate U.N. report noted Seoul's failure to declare its transfer of petroleum products used in the North, and published a photo of Moon and Kim riding in an "illicitly obtained" limousine in Pyongyang. This week, the debate over whether Moon is too committed to engagement with North Korea boiled over in a controversy about a Bloomberg news report that called him a "top spokesman" for Kim Jong Un last year. Moon's office faced criticism from foreign media associations after ruling party officials used the racially charged term "black-haired foreigner" to personally single out the author of the Bloomberg story - who is South Korean - for being "almost treasonous." After days of pressure, the party apologised on Tuesday for using "black-haired foreigner," while Moon's office said it would take action if the reporter were "under real threat." CHANGING ROLES Moon has vowed to act as a mediator between Trump and Kim, but that plan is in doubt in the wake of the summit's collapse. There was criticism in Washington that Seoul might have over-sold Kim's denuclearisation commitment and gone too far in pushing for sanctions relief, according to another source who recently met with U.S. officials and academics. On the other side, North Korea's vice foreign minister told a news conference in Pyongyang last week that South Korea is only "a player, not an arbiter" because it is a U.S. ally, according to the Associated Press. U.S. officials have said no sanctions will be lifted in exchange for partial steps toward denuclearisation, rejecting the incremental approach Pyongyang has sought. But a senior aide to Moon on Sunday called for a small, step-by-step deal as a "realistic alternative" that would at least move toward dismantling the North's nuclear facilities in return for sanctions relief. "We need to reconsider the all-or-nothing strategy," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. A U.S. State Department representative said that the United States remains prepared for a "constructive negotiation" but that North Korea was not yet ready. The three sources say U.S. officials still think Moon's administration can play a role in resuming talks the North, but they want it to focus more on pushing North Korea to denuclearise rather than advocating for sanctions relief. "They do think South Korea could be a catalyst that helps the negotiations go in the right direction, but in a way that brings Kim's commitments that deserve U.S. rewards," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Josh Smith and Gerry Doyle) Welcome toMoney Diaries , where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking millennials how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period and we're tracking every last dollar. Today: a program specialist working at a university who makes $55,000 per year ($156,000 when combined with her husband) and spends some of her money this week on Cosrx acne patches. Occupation: Program Specialist Industry: University Age: 34 Location: North Carolina Salary: $55,000 My Husband's Salary: $101,000 + bonus My Paycheck Amount (Monthly): $3,077.70 My Husband's Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $2,239.72 Monthly Expenses Mortgage: $1,500 (I own a four-bedroom house that I share with my husband, daughter, and two dogs.) Student Loans: $0 (Paid off.) Health/Dental/Vision Insurance: Coverage for my daughter and me is taken out of my paycheck, and my husband is on his company's plan. FSA: I contribute $80 a month for health expenses, taken from my paycheck Parking: $29 to park at work, taken from my paycheck Daycare: $1,491 Utilities: ~$200 Internet: $50 Netflix/Hulu/HBO/Amazon Music: $46 Car Insurance: $104 Cell Phone: $120 Retirement: I contribute 6% of my paycheck to my employer's system. I'll be vested next year. My husband has a 401(k). Savings: I save about $1,000 a month. My husband puts in a variable amount. We have about $14,000 in savings now. Annual Expenses Amazon Prime: $119 Day One 5:30 a.m. I wake up and hear my daughter, S., coughing in the other room. She's got a bit of a cold, and she had RSV last year, so every cold hits her extra hard. She probably didn't sleep well, poor thing. One of my dogs gets in bed with me for cuddles...and then throws up. I jump out of bed, turn on the light, and see that it's definitely bits of something that used to be alive. He's not a hunter type, so I'm assuming he found it. It looks awful. It smells awful. This has never happened before and I am beyond disgusted. This is a great start to the week. I dispose of the disgustingness and immediately throw the comforter in the wash. I'll wash it again when I get home. Story continues 6:45 a.m. I get S. up. She's very fussy. She definitely doesn't feel well, but no fever. I debate staying home with her but between her and me, I've already had to take 3.5 sick days this year and it's only February. I don't have much of an appetite after this morning's activities, so I eat a little cereal, and S. eats some of a cereal bar. I take my coffee to go, drop S. off at daycare, and head to work. 9:30 a.m. I get a notification that a Poshmark offer I made for a set of Static Nails pop-ons was accepted. Yay! I'm struggling with biting my nails, so I've been wanting to try these. $18.79 11:15 a.m. I'm still having flashbacks of this morning. My brain doesn't want lunch, but my stomach does. Thankfully it's leftover broccoli pesto and a couscous dish.While I eat, I pay an invoice from my counselor for yesterday's online appointment. I do counseling every other week ($25, paid with my FSA card). 2:45 p.m. I browse internal jobs. I applied to one over two weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything back. I don't find anything for me, but I see one that might be good for a friend, so I pass it along. I also change my federal tax withholding, adding an additional $80. We did our taxes yesterday and where we got about $5,000 back last year, this year we owe $1,800. 4:15 p.m. I pick up S. and go home. I accompany the dogs to the backyard to see if I can find the rest of that animal. The offending dog makes a beeline to the area behind the shed. I shoo him away and sure enough, there's a dead rabbit back there. I text my husband, E., who thankfully is almost home. He takes care of it. 6 p.m. I make dinner (snapper with glazed carrots and rice) while E. deals with a very fussy S. The recipe doesn't come out the way I want and then S. dumps her plate on the table, which doesn't put anybody in a good mood. After she goes down, I check the comforter after its second wash...and it's still slightly stained with rabbit guts, so I wash it again. 8:30 p.m. We watch Last Week Tonight, and Jon Oliver talks about the controversy surrounding NC's ninth congressional district. Oh North Carolina...I like it here, but we're never in the news for anything good. I check the comforter after the third wash. It seems clean, but even if I'm wrong, I've done all I can at this point, so I put it in the dryer. I grab an extra comforter from the guest room, read, and go to bed. Daily Total: $18.79 Day Two 6 a.m. My alarm goes off, and a few minutes later I hop in the shower. While I'm putting my makeup on, S. wakes up and starts crying. I quickly finish and go in to get her ready. She still doesn't feel well and mostly whines, cries, and screams at me. When she constantly makes noise like that, it really sets me on edge and I start to lose my cool. I actually leave her in her high chair and go upstairs for a few minutes where I can't hear her. I'm not proud of this, but it's something I'm working on. When I come downstairs, she's suddenly in a much better mood, and we both eat breakfast. 11:30 a.m. After a meeting with my boss, I heat up leftovers from last night for lunch, microwaving everything except the fish because I'm not a monster. 1:15 p.m. I get a text from E. S.'s daycare called and said that her eyes are goopy. Another child got sent home with possible pink eye, so they're going to check her again when she wakes up from her nap. I noticed her eyes were goopy, but I thought it was just related to her cold. 2:30 p.m. Daycare calls and says that they can't diagnose her with pink eye, but they need her to be out for 24 hours after she starts eye drops. I try to call her pediatrician to get her in for an appointment, but they transfer me over to the nurse advice line, a.k.a. the person whose job it is to convince you not to bring your child in. I leave a voicemail explaining that I do actually need to see someone. I was also supposed to go tour another daycare this afternoon because S.'s is closing soon, so I call to cancel that appointment and then pick up S. 3:45 p.m. I clarify the pink eye policy with daycare, straighten things out with the doctor's office, talk to E. about who can possibly stay home with S. tomorrow, and then straighten out a completely unrelated issue with the pharmacy regarding S.'s inhaler. I take S. to the doctor on the off chance they say it's not pink eye and she can go to daycare tomorrow. 4:45 p.m. Not only is it pink eye, but her cough/wheezing is worse so they want to do a round of steroids. It's a good thing I brought her in ($10 on my FSA card). I go to the pharmacy to get her inhaler and to wait for her steroids and eye drops. The eye drops aren't in stock, so I ask E. to go to the other pharmacy while I wait here. He says he'll pick up dinner as well since he won't be able to cook. I pick up her two prescriptions and head home ($32.87 on my FSA card). I start to get a stress headache. I knew my dog puking in the bed was a bad sign for the rest of the week... 6 p.m. S. and I get home, and E. follows shortly with Mexican food ($19.98) and S.'s eye drops ($5 that I'll get reimbursed from the FSA). $19.98 7:45 p.m. After S. gets to bed, we're both wiped. We finish season three of Stan Against Evil. Well, I do. E. falls asleep on the couch. I get ready for bed around 9, read, and go to sleep. Daily Total: $19.98 Day Three 6 a.m. My alarm goes off and E. is still sleeping. He usually gets up at 5, but he's staying home with S. today. When he gets up, he says that he thinks he's catching S.'s cold. This is unusual, as it's usually me that gets sick. As I'm finishing up my cereal, S. wakes up and starts crying. I get her dressed, and she's in a horrible mood. E. and I manage to get her to the breakfast table, but she doesn't want to eat. I wish E. good luck and head out with my coffee. 10 a.m. I submit a claim to my FSA for the $5 that E. paid for S.'s eye drops yesterday. I really over-budgeted my FSA last year and had to scramble at the end of the year to spend it all (anyone need some Chapstick? I've got a ton!), so I want to make sure I'm on top of it. 11:15 a.m. I'm going to an event at noon, but I'm not sure if there will be food, so I eat some leftover couscous before going just in case they don't have anything. 11:45 a.m. I drive to the event. I miss a good parking spot because a guy in a huge pickup truck is tailgating me. I eventually find one. They do have some snacks at the event, so I have some artichoke dip and a mini cupcake. 2 p.m. The event was good an all-women panel, which is unusual in academia. I got permission from my boss to work from home this afternoon, and I got all of my really essential stuff done this morning, so I head home.When I get there, S. is awake, which is surprising because it's usually prime nap time. E. said she woke up after 45 minutes and wouldn't go back to sleep. I say I'll watch her for a bit so he can go take a nap. While I try to work, S. keeps wanting to get in my lap, which is fine except she won't stop touching the computer. 3:30 p.m. E. comes down and makes the two of us some tea. After extreme protest, S. takes a very short nap. 7 p.m. I make dinner (eggplant and pasta), bathe S., and put her to bed...or try to, but she keeps fussing. I go check on her and she's peed through her PJs and needs water. I know it's the steroids, so we oblige and put her back down. Eventually she calms and falls asleep. 8 p.m. I try on some clothes I just got in the mail from Shein. They had an awesome t-shirt with a naked banana that I NEEDED to own. I added some stuff to get free shipping and then went a little overboard because everything was so cheap...out of eight items, I'm returning four. But the naked banana shirt fits! I also decide to return a pair of boots I got from Thredup last week. They're exactly what I was looking for...except they're too small. I'll get about $82 back after those returns are processed. I pack up the returns, read, and go to bed. Daily Total: $0 Day Four 6 a.m. I get up and shower. S. is awake and crying by the time I finish getting ready. She proceeds to scream at me pretty much until we leave the house, pausing briefly to eat breakfast. 8 a.m. It's payday! I pay my credit card bills and move $1,200 into savings. 10 a.m. I got a few emails about the whole daycare situation. Long story short: my employer is closing it suddenly, with no alternative plan in place. I'm lucky because I think I've found S. a good spot not far from our house. I send an angry email suggesting that they give parents the ability to visit other day facilities without using their leave time, because I know some parents are already struggling. Literally the least they could do. 11 a.m. There are a bunch of food trucks on campus today, so I walk over and get some beef sliders with provolone and chimichurri sauce. Very tasty! $10.72 1 p.m. I am agonizing about whether to follow up on that internal job I applied to. I know I shouldn't, but it's been three weeks and, according to the application page, my materials aren't even under review yet. I write a short polite email but don't send it. 4 p.m. I go to daycare to pick up S. E. is home when we get there. He's still not feeling well, so he worked from home in the afternoon. S. wants me to read her ALL THE BOOKS. 6:30 p.m. We head out to a casual restaurant to meet some friends for dinner. E. and I both get local beers, I get a personal pizza, and E. gets a chicken sandwich. S. gets a kids mac and cheese and applesauce, but the waitress accidentally puts her food on our friends' check. E. offers to pay them back, but they say not to worry about it. $34.27 7:30 p.m. S. goes down for bed without a fight, which I hope is a sign she's on the mend. E. and I watch Ken Jeong's Netflix special and head to bed around 9. Daily Total: $44.99 Day Five 6 a.m. My alarm goes off and I hear S. awake already, so I get in the shower. She's still making noise when I get out, so I quickly get dressed and blow dry my hair (she's afraid of the blow dryer). She is yet again extremely fussy and whiny. I'm prepared for it this morning, though, so I don't lose my cool. She loves looking at pictures on our cell phones, so while she's crying at the breakfast table, I pull up Timehop and show her some old pictures. She immediately smiles, starts pointing people out, and eats breakfast. She even asks for more food. Magic. I wish I'd thought of this on Monday. We're out of cereal, so we both have cereal bars for breakfast.We go back upstairs so I can put on my makeup, which can be hard to do while wrangling a toddler. 8 a.m. I'm in the office. HR said they got approval to let us tour alternative daycare facilities without using our leave time. I forgot that a new Hellboy trailer dropped overnight. I AM HYPED. Hellboy is my favorite comic and this trailer is much better than the first one. I cannot wait. 10 a.m. I get an email from Ulta about 7x points on select products, so I get a Beauty Blender and Urban Decay's setting spray. I also decide to try some Dermablend setting powder and COSRX acne patches. $93.91 11:20 a.m. My blood sugar drops suddenly, and I feel like I'm going to be ill if I don't eat something immediately. This is why I eat lunch so early! I heat up leftover eggplant pasta from the other day. 1 p.m. STOP THE PRESSES. I sent out my weekly email to a list I manage and someone actually thanked me, saying that my list is very useful to them. Thanks of any kind are extremely rare, and I take a moment to appreciate it. 4:15 p.m. I leave to get S. Traffic is bad because it's raining and she spends the entire ride back crying for her daddy. I text while E. at a red light and jokingly warn him that he better be home soon. 6:30 p.m. Friends come over, bringing takeout Mexican food. (E. ordered and they picked up and paid him for their portion.) After we eat, E. puts S. to bed. We chat for a while and play Mario Party. At the end, Bowser was far ahead with seven stars, and then got both bonus stars, bringing the total to nine. And by Bowser, I mean me! Woo! They leave around 10 and we go to sleep. $20 Daily Total: $113.91 Day Six 6:45 a.m. S. is awake and making noise. E. feels really congested, so he jumps in the shower. I let the dogs out, feed them, and then get S. up. She's in a better mood than she's been in the rest of the week. E. takes over with S. and gives her breakfast so I can get ready. We're up a bit earlier than usual, so I take advantage of the time and do a chemical peel and a face mask. While I'm waiting for the mask to dry, I wash the pile of makeup brushes I've accumulated on the bathroom counter. 8:30 a.m. We go out to a coffee shop for breakfast (second breakfast in S.'s case). Between the three of us, we get two flavored lattes, a slice of crumb cake, a chia pudding, yogurt, and a banana. We also get some coffee beans to take home. I take point with S. because E.'s not feeling well. She's pretty well behaved. $38.79 10 a.m. We go to Target. My skin is always oily, but lately it's been extremely oily and extra breakout prone, so I get two packs of oil absorbing sheets and a Differin retinol cream. We also get two jugs of laundry detergent and a coloring book for S. I pay with a RedCARD so I save 5%. $73.59 11:30 a.m. We eat the last of the leftover eggplant pasta for lunch and put S. down for a nap. While she naps, I get some chores done. 4 p.m. We go out to a nearby shopping center with a park to meet some friends and their daughter, whose a bit younger than S. They're awkward toddlers, but I think they have fun. Then we shift over to a Greek restaurant for dinner. We get an appetizer, a kids meal, two sandwiches, and a glass of wine for me. We forgot to repack the diaper bag with S.'s bib and placemat. Oops! We use a napkin as a bib and she manages to not make much of a mess. $47.83 6:30 p.m. When we get home, I give S. a bath and put her down for bed. This is her last dose of steroids, so she should be more manageable in a few days. E. still doesn't feel well, so he wants to watch a movie we've already seen in case he falls asleep. I pick Spy, and he falls asleep like 10 minutes in. At 9:30 I wake him up so he can go to bed upstairs. I read a bit and then go to bed, too. Daily Total: $160.21 Day Seven 7 a.m. S. wakes us up. E. goes downstairs to heat up some waffles for breakfast. I get S. up and ready, and she is in a terrible mood, especially when she realizes she needs to wait for breakfast. Constant screaming. Then when we get to the breakfast table, she doesn't even want to eat. Ugh. 8:15 a.m. I dye my hair a new fun color to try. After I rinse, it looks pretty much like a normal red, so I'm a bit disappointed. At least it doesn't look bad, though! 9 p.m. After planning our meals for the week, we head out to the grocery store. We spend about half the time wrangling S., but we usually go about the same time every week, so she's very popular there. We buy cereal, milk, and everything we need to make dinner for the next four nights (spaghetti with sausage, catfish and green beans, rice bowls, and charred Brussels sprout salad) $101.88 11:30 a.m. We eat leftover Mexican/Greek food and put S. down for a nap. While she sleeps, we watch Workin' Moms on Netflix and I put on my Static Nails. I think I may have gone a size too big on my middle fingers, but I don't think anyone will notice or care. I forget how my fingers are supposed to work for a while. 2 p.m. S. wakes up a bit early from her nap and is all over the place. Since it's raining, we can't take her to the park or anything. E. says he's feeling a bit better, so he takes S. to the mall just to get her out of the house and let her run around. I really don't want to do more chores...but I should. So I set an alarm for 20 minutes from now, and once that goes off I get up and vacuum. 4:30 p.m. E. says she was fine at the mall, but soon after they come home, S. is showing the telltale signs of not feeling well. Her temperature is 103.7! Poor baby! We give her some medicine and I hold her while we watch Sesame Street until dinner is ready. 7:30 p.m. After we eat dinner (spaghetti with meat sauce) and put S. to bed, we discuss our plans for tomorrow. Unfortunately, E. and I both really need to be at work, but S. obviously can't go to daycare and the doctor had said to call if she developed a high fever. We work it out. As the evening goes on, I start to feel some congestion in my nose...so now I think all three of us are sick. Joy. I go to bed around 9 and wait for sickness to take me. Daily Total: $101.88 Money Diaries are meant to reflect individual women's experiences and do not necessarily reflect Refinery29's point of view. Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity or harmful behavior. The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend to try on your own, check out our guide to managing your money every day. For more money diaries, click here. Have questions about how to submit or our publishing process? Read our Money Diaries FAQ doc here: r29.co/mdfaqs Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? Want To Invest On Your Phone? Here Are 4 Awesome Stock Apps A Week In Orange County, CA, On $30 Per Hour Glossier Is Now Valued At $1 Billion ARLINGTON, Va., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Willis Towers Watson (WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, has announced its program for the upcoming RIMS 2019 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts, April 28 to May 1. The annual RIMS conference brings together thousands of risk management professionals and property & casualty insurance experts for educational networking and business opportunities. We are delighted to demonstrate the breadth and depth of our analytical expertise and connect with the wider risk management community and business partners at RIMS 2019, said Mike Liss, head of Corporate Risk and Broking, North America. Willis Towers Watsons theme for this years conference is The Intelligent Frontier, and we are showcasing some of our latest developments across the risk spectrum. Organizations demand better data and tools to help them plan for the future. Willis Towers Watsons suite of applications and technologies revolutionize the way clients look at risk, helping risk managers make better decisions about their risk transfer and corporate strategy with more clarity and confidence, he added. Featured solutions: Connected Risk Intelligence: Launching at RIMS, a risk advisory solution that delivers the power of Willis Towers Watson's proprietary risk decision-making technology. This offering provides visibility into a client's complete portfolio of risks through engagement in a single risk finance language. Risk Intelligence Central: A unique platform that provides clients with direct access to tools that enable them to make smarter decisions about their risk management programs and placements while at the same time, helping them stay better connected with their Willis Towers Watson teams. Educational sessions: We are once again sponsoring the RIMS Innovation Hub and will have a number of key events including: A New Breed of Analytics: Holistic Risk Management Decision Making Ben Fidlow, global head of Core Analytics will explore a portfolio approach to risk quantification and optimization. Digitizing the Client Broker Relationship Rob de Jonge, COO, Risk and Analytics, will launch an innovative digital offering for understanding insurable and non-insurable risk -- examining future advances in data access and modeling, and the technologys potential to create new access to traditional insurance, InsurTech and alternative capital sources. Preparing for Climate Resilience Michael Balmer, EVP, Corporate Risk and Broking will explore proactive strategies for climate adaption, resilience planning, supply chain risk management and disaster preparedness, which can help prepare for the consequences of disasters and extreme weather across the globe. Self- Help for Cyber Security Susan Malhotra, vice president, FINEX North America, will help clients connect two key elements of cyber resilience and embed into corporate culture. Answers for the Board on Cyber and Privacy Risk Management - Joe DePaul, head of FINEX Cyber/E&O, North America Global Supply Chain Complexities: by Land, by Sea, by Contract - Charlie McCammon, director of Claims Management Overseas Regulation and Exposure Ryan Poet, head of Mid-Atlantic Region, FINEX Commercial Crowd-Sourcing Inclusion and Diversity event Willis Towers Watson will demonstrate its commitment to embracing inclusion and diversity with an industry-leading event on Tuesday, April 30: 3.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m., hosted by Imran Qureshi, Midwest Region leader and chair of the North American Inclusion and Diversity Council at Willis Towers Watson. This highly interactive session will use an innovative format to explore how we can continue to build a more inclusive and diverse workforce to create a more sustainable tomorrow with tangible takeaways of what we can do to further support inclusion and diversity across our industry. Story continues Willis Towers Watson venues: Willis Towers Watson Hub: Convention Floor C, Boston Convention Center Willis Towers Watson booth: #777 Visitors can follow Willis Towers Watsons participation and coverage of RIMS 2019 via Twitter @WTWRisk, #WTWRIMS and LinkedIn. For more information, visit https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en/events/RIMS/overview About Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 45,000 employees serving more than 140 countries and markets. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com. Media contact Sarah Booker +44 7917 722040 sarah.booker@willistowerswatson.com MOSCOW and SEOUL, South Korea, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yandex (YNDX), a technology company that builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning, and Hyundai Mobis, one of the worlds largest manufacturers of automotive components, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The companies plan to jointly develop control systems for Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous vehicles, combining Yandexs established self-driving technologies with Hyundai Mobis extensive experience in the automotive industry. The agreement also provides that the companies may expand into other areas of cooperation such as developing joint products that integrate Yandex technologies including speech, navigation, and mapping among others. The first stage of this collaboration between Yandex and Hyundai Mobis is set to focus on developing a driverless prototype vehicle based on standard Hyundai or Kia production model cars. In the future, the companies plan to build a new autonomous driving control system as an out-of-the-box solution intended for car manufacturers, car sharing services and taxi fleets. "Our self-driving technologies are unique and have already proven their scalability. Yandex's self-driving cars have been successfully driving on the streets of Moscow, Tel Aviv and Las Vegas, which means that the fleet can be expanded to drive anywhere. It took us just two years to go from the first basic tests to a full-fledged public robotaxi service. Now, thanks to our agreement with Hyundai Mobis, we will be able to move even faster," says Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex. Yandex first began testing self-driving prototypes in the Spring of 2017, by mid-2018 Yandex launched Europes first fully autonomous taxi service. The robotaxi service operates in Russias tech hubs of Innopolis and Skolkovo throughout winter weather conditions with just a safety engineer in the passenger seat. Yandex has also expanded its self-driving internationally, with testing in Israel and demonstrations at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Story continues Hyundai Mobis is one of the ten largest automotive component manufacturers in the world. The company focuses on new technologies and is developing its own driverless vehicle, M. BILLY. Hyundai Mobis is an affiliate of the Hyundai Motor Group, one of the worlds top five car manufacturers and the maker of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis cars. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These include statements regarding future collaboration with Hyundai Mobis. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted or implied by such statements, and our reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted or implied by such statements include, among others, the risk of failure of our collaboration or potential products; macroeconomic and geopolitical developments affecting the Russian economy; competitive pressures, changes in user preferences, changes in the political, legal and/or regulatory environment, technological developments, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Operating and Financial Review and Prospects" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is available on our investor relations website at http://ir.yandex.com/sec.cfm and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov . All information in this release is as of March 19, 2019, and Yandex undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law. Contacts: Media Relations Ilya Grabovskiy Phone: +7 495 739-70-00 E-mail: pr@yandex-team.ru Clark is top electronics exporter in C. Luzon posted March 20, 2019 at 08:35 pm by Othel V. Campos March 20, 2019 at 08:35 pm The Trade Department recognized Clark Freeport Zone as the top exporter in Central Luzon. A report by the Trade Department showed that the presence of the electronics manufacturing corporations inside the freeport contributed to making the electronics industry the top performing export industry in the region. Trade regional director Judith Angeles said electronic firms in Clark boosted Pampangas total exports. Pampanga generated export receipts of $4.9 billion or 60 percent of the total export volume of Central Luzon.Pampanga remained the top source of exports for Central Luzon due to the presence of electronics manufacturing companies in the Clark Freeport Zone, Angeles said. Among the top exporters in Clark are SFA Semiconductor Philippines, L&T International Group Philippines, Texas Instruments, Nanox Philippines, Yokohama Tire and Philippines Inc., SMK Industries Inc. and HLD Clark Steel Pipe Co. Inc. COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section. New Zealand is exerting pressure on Facebook fb following the live-streaming of Fridays deadly mosque shootings in Christchurch. We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and what is said is not the responsibility of the place where they are published, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility. Speaking to New Zealands parliament Tuesday as part of a tribute to the victims, Ardern said she had been in communication with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, according to ABC. The prime minister also implored people to speak of the victims, not of the perpetrator. He sought many things from his act of terror, but one of those was notoriety, Ardern said. That is why you will never hear me mention his name. A total of 50 people died in the attacks in Christchurch, which were documented in a 17-minute Facebook Live video from the shooter. New Zealand police have charged 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant with murder, while an unnamed 18-year-old man has been charged with inciting violence by distributing footage of the attack. Tarrant has been banned from accessing any media newspapers, TV or radio so that he cannot consume coverage of the attacks while in jail, the New Zealand Herald reports. He has also been moved from Christchurch to a maximum security prison in Auckland, where he is under 24-hour supervision. Meanwhile, Facebook has released further details about how far the live-streamed video of the attack spread and what steps the company is taking to prevent more harm. We have been working directly with the New Zealand Police to respond to the attack and support their investigation, said Facebook VP and Deputy General Counsel Chris Sonderby, noting that some information cannot be released amid the active investigation. Among the new revelations: The 17-minute shooting video was viewed fewer than 200 times during the live broadcast. No users reported the video during this time. The video was viewed about 4,000 times in total before being removed from Facebook. The first user report on the original video came in 29 minutes after the video started, and 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended. Before Facebook was alerted to the video by police, a user on 8chan posted a link to a copy of the video on a filesharing site. Facebook has identified more than 800 visually distinct videos related to the attack and shared the fingerprints via the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism including Google, Twitter and Microsoft to better combat the spread of screen recordings or edited versions of the video. Facebook reported Sunday that it had removed 1.5 million videos of the mosque shooting from its servers in the 24 hours following the attack, many of those at the upload stage. Despite this multiple New Zealand businesses said they would be pulling their ad dollars from Facebook, accusing the social network of not doing enough to combat hate. No record of ASF in PH experts posted March 20, 2019 at 10:50 pm by Macon Ramos-Araneta March 20, 2019 at 10:50 pm There is still no recorded case of African Swine Fever in the Philippines amid the countrys importation ban on 15 countries affected by ASF including Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Moldova, South Africa, Zambia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, Romania, China, Mongolia and Vietnam. This was revealed during yesterdays Senate committee on agriculture and food hearing to inquire into the state in the country of ASF and the measures being done by the government to ensure the protection of local hog raisers. Dr. Ronnie Domingo of the DA-Bureau of Animal Industry told the Senate panel presided by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri that they had installed foot bath and dinefecriin in the countrys airport. He said they will also add 40 sniffing dogs and additional 100 personnel to check on pork importation.He also said pork coming from 15 countries, including China and Russia, which are affected by swine flu, were being confiscafed. There was also a recommendatiin from the DA to impose a P50,000 fine to those who would attempt to smuggle pork into the country. COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section. KABUL -- A female Afghan lawmaker who slapped and cursed a police officer during a Kabul traffic stop is defending her actions, telling RFE/RL the officer first struck her with his fist, pushed her, insulted her, and smashed the butt of his rifle against her car in an attempt to provoke her. Afghanistans acting interior minister, Masud Andarabi, has praised the officer for showing patience and not retaliating when he was slapped in the face on March 17 by parliamentary deputy Parwin Durrani. The officer, identified by the authorities as Yassin from the Interior Ministrys 01 Unit in Kabul, has also been praised on social media by many Afghans after video showing part of the altercation was circulated online: And many Afghans, angered by what was captured on the video, are now calling for Durrani to be put on trial for attacking a uniformed police officer. As that video clip begins, Durrani can be heard shouting damn your father in Dari as she confronts the officer from a close distance at a Kabul roundabout near the U.S. Embassy. The police officer responds by forcefully shoving Durrani backwards against her car and she nearly loses her balance. Durrani approaches him again and continues to insult him with profanities as she tries to slap him, but he blocks the blow and scolds her, saying, You are a member of parliament. She replies: I am a member of parliament. There will be consequences. The officer then asks Durrani to show him a special Interior Ministry permit required in Kabul for her bulletproof car. She tells him she doesnt have the card. When the officer tells Durrani, You should be ashamed of your behavior, she slaps his face and continues to curse him. 'It Was A Setup' Durrani tells RFE/RL she thinks the incident was set up by officials in Afghanistans central government who want to defame her and prevent her from taking up a seat when the next Afghan parliament convenes. She says shed been stopped at the same traffic circle, Masud Circle, three days earlier because of the tinted, bulletproof windows on her car. On March 17, she says, cameramen were already posted at the roundabout when her car was stopped in the same place. Durrani says her own video footage of the March 17 incident captured the voice of the officer she slapped telling a cameraman to film it, quickly. That means it was a setup, and I think it was meant to destroy my reputation, Durrani said. Durrani won more than 4,000 votes from Kabul in October in her bid to be reelected as a representative for the nomadic Kochi in Afghanistans lower chamber of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga. But in February, all votes cast in Kabul Province were invalidated over fraud allegations -- effectively stalling the official release of results and preventing the new parliament from convening. As of March 19, only 123 of the 250 Wolesi Jirga seats have been certified. If the results for the remaining seats are canceled, Durrani would have to run again in a new ballot. They tried to provoke me to make me angry and they insulted me, Durrani told RFE/RLs Radio Free Afghanistan about the police who stopped her on March 17, adding that the officer she slapped started to hit her car before she got out of the vehicle. I was scared to open the door of the car. I was afraid they would attack me, Durrani said in a video she made for social media on March 18 to explain her version of the altercation: I was afraid I would be another Farkhunda, Durrani said, referring to Farkhunda Malikzada -- an Afghan woman who was brutally beaten to death by an angry mob in Kabul in March 2015. Durrani told RFE/RL she decided to get out of her car to film the officer she later slapped because he was beating my car with his gun. Then he started hitting me with his fist and he pushed me, and I have footage to prove it, she said. Thats why I retaliated and slapped the guy and insulted him. They didnt have any reason to do that to me, Durrani said. I didnt have any bodyguards. I didnt cause any problems. I didnt have weapons. I was beaten and I retaliated courageously, she told RFE/RL. I could not tolerate that he assaulted me and insulted me. I am a female diplomat and a politician. If he had insulted his own mother and sisters, they would have responded in the same way. I will leave it to God to be the judge. 'Evident' Crime Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi said the online video of Durrani slapping the officer proves that crime is completely evident in the case. Rahimi said the ministrys Kabul Police Command has been ordered to take legal actions under a special constitutional provision regarding parliamentary deputies. That provision, Article 102, allows authorities to summon an accused lawmaker for questioning without the permission of the house of which the accused is a member in cases of an evident crime. It says holding an Afghan lawmaker in detention requires approval of their parliamentary chamber. If parliament is in recess, as it is now, the constitution says permission for detention of an accused lawmaker shall be obtained from the administrative board of their chamber and the issue shall be referred to the first session after the chamber reconvenes. Durrani tells RFE/RL she was summoned to the Interior Ministry on March 19 and instructed that she must report to the Kabul Police Command. I cannot escape from the law, and I will not try to do so, she said. Written by Ron Synovitz in Prague based on reporting from Kabul by Khan Mohammad Seend Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has been sworn in as Kazakhstans acting president, ending the nearly 30-year rule of Nursultan Nazarbaev, who has resigned but is still expected to maintain powerful influence in the country. Toqaev, 65, a Moscow-educated former prime minister and foreign minister and the current speaker of the Kazakh Senate, assumes the presidency through what would have been the end of the 78-year-old Nazarbaevs term in 2020. After taking the oath of office at a joint session of both parliament chambers, the Mazhilis and the Senate, Toqaev said that Nazarbaev's "respected opinions" will be key in the Central Asian government's "strategic decisions" and proposed that the country's capital, Astana, be renamed after him. "It is necessary to immortalize the name of our great contemporary -- the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbaev -- in the following way: Our capital must carry the name of our president and be called Nursultan," Toqaev said. "Nursultan Nazarbaev remains the only father of the nation for life." Toqaev also proposed raising a monument honoring Nazarbaev in the capital and naming all central streets in every town and city in the country after him. In announcing Toqaev as interim president, Nazarbaev said he "can be trusted to lead Kazakhstan." Toqaev also served as a UN diplomat in Geneva and is fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English, and Chinese. The U.S. State Department on March 19 expressed confidence that its strong relationship with Kazakhstan will continue after Nazarbaevs resignation. Washington looks forward to "continuing our work with Kazakhstan on a wide variety of issues," the spokesperson said. "The United States and Kazakhstan enjoy a strong bilateral relationship, as demonstrated by President [Donald] Trump's historic meeting with President Nazarbaev last year, and we expect this momentum to continue," the spokesperson added. Nazarbaev visted the White House in January 2018 for talks with Trump that focused on regional security, economic issues, and bilateral relations. Kazakhstan received praise from Washington by voluntarily giving up its nuclear weapons following the fall of the Soviet Union and for providing logistical support to the U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan. Even as he resigned, Nazarbaev pointed out that he has been granted the status of "elbasy," or leader of the nation, a title bestowed upon him by the loyal parliament in 2010. "I remain chairman of the Security Council, which has been granted serious authority," he said, adding that he is also staying on as chairman of the Nur Otan party and as a member of the Constitutional Council. "So I am staying with you," Nazarbaev said. "The concerns of the country and the people remain my concerns." The roles he is keeping could allow Nazarbaev to retain a great deal of power. A spokeswoman for the European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, praised Nazarbaev for driving forward modernization reforms, including constitutional reforms, and for playing an important role in promoting cooperation both regionally and globally, with a particular emphasis on promoting peace, stability, and security. We look forward to a smooth transition in accordance with the constitution of Kazakhstan, said the spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic. Kazakhstan's presidential press service said that Nazarbaev had discussed his decision to step down as president in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that the two leaders "agreed to continue regular contacts in the future. As president, Nazarbaev has maintained close relations with Russia while courting investment from Europe, the United States, Asia, and other regions to develop Kazakhstan's plentiful oil and natural-gas resources. An official of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, told Russian state-run TASS news agency that Russian space cooperation would continue with Kazakhstan following Nazarbaevs resignation. Russia has been leasing the Baikonur Cosmodrome from Kazakhstan since 1994, with a contract that runs until 2050. Russia pays $115 million annually for leasing the launch facility. Rights activists and critics have said that Nazarbaev has persistently suppressed dissent, prolonged his time in office through undemocratic votes or referendums, and used the levers of power to neutralize potential opponents. With reporting by Merhat Sharipzhan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, Current Time, RFE/RL correspondent Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, Reuters, Interfax, and TASS Iran's missile program is destabilizing the Middle East and raising the risk of a "regional arms race," a senior U.S. arms control official has said. "Irans missile program is a key contributor to increased tensions and destabilization in the region, increasing the risk of a regional arms race," Yleem Poblete, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification, and compliance, told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on March 20. She added that "Iran must immediately cease activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, and halt the proliferation of missiles and missile technology to terror groups and other nonstate actors." Poblete specifically cited Iran's support for Huthi rebels in Yemen and the Hizballah militant group in Lebanon. The United States has urged the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran over its recent ballistic-missile test and launches of two satellites, saying they violate the world body's resolutions. Acting U.S. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen on March 7 condemned "Iran's destabilizing activities" in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called on Tehran "to cease immediately all activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." The statement cited a 2015 UN resolution that called upon Iran to refrain for up to eight years from tests of ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. The United States has reimposed sanctions against Iran after withdrawing from a landmark 2015 agreement under which Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. President Donald Trump said that Tehran was not living up to the spirit of the accord because of its support of militants in the region and for continuing to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Tehran has denied it supports terrorist activity and says its missile and nuclear programs are strictly for civilian purposes. Poblete said Iran has provided ballistic missiles to the Huthis, who on several occasions fired them into Saudi Arabia. "We are committed to aggressively countering Iran's regional proliferation of ballistic missiles and its unlawful arms transfers," she added. Iran has denied it supplied the missiles to the rebels despite evidence presented by Washington and Riyadh indicating it had. With reporting by AP and Arab News The author and academic Barnett Rubin advised a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2009 to 2013. He says he believes that Afghanistan and the United States will weather this current low in relations after disagreements over how to talk with the Taliban insurgents. RFE/RL: What does it mean in practice for the United States to be ending contact with the Afghan national security adviser? Barnett Rubin: Real business was conducted over [Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah] Mohibs head. But this decision puts pressure on [Afghan President] Ashraf Ghani to either remove or defend him. So far, he has done neither, which makes him look weak. RFE/RL: Do you see any efforts to salvage the relationship between the Afghan government and the current U.S. administration after Washington retaliated against Kabuls attempt to torpedo talks between Washington and the Taliban by publicly criticizing Afghan-born envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and questioning the talks? Rubin: The relationship between the two governments is too deep and complex to be destroyed so easily. I am sure that some Americans sympathize with Mohib, and some Afghans support the U.S. decision to boycott him. I think it strains relations with Ghani more than with Afghanistan as a whole. This is important because of decisions that may be coming up about the elections and peace process. After this incident, I imagine that the U.S. will be less concerned about Ghanis sensitivities. RFE/RL: Do you see the Afghan government finding another regional or global power as its main backer if Washington concludes an agreement with the Taliban without its involvement? Rubin: Washington cannot conclude an agreement with the Taliban without the Afghan government, and the Afghan government has no one else to provide the kind of support it is getting from the U.S. Even if the U.S. and [the] Taliban agree in Doha, that is not a complete peace agreement but only a component, which also requires an agreement among Afghans about the future of their country. The talks in Doha are just the first stage of the negotiations. The agreement will also have to include a cease-fire and intra-Afghan dialogue, according to Khalilzad, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump could destroy it all with one tweet, but that is not the policy. RFE/RL: Ghanis administration is upset over being left out by the U.S.-Taliban talks, but a broad coalition of Afghan political figures apparently led by former President Hamid Karzai supports the talks and are likely to meet with Taliban representatives soon. Do you see such divisions among Afghan elites affecting the process? Rubin: In Afghanistan, as in every other country in the world, people have different opinions. I dont expect that to change. RFE/RL: You recently wrote that Washington and Moscow are now quietly cooperating on talks with the Taliban. Do you see this transforming into long-term cooperation for restoring lasting peace to Afghanistan? Rubin: It is a very important contribution to peace, if it lasts. Russia has contacts with Iran and China that the U.S. does not have. It has also grown closer to Pakistan. But it is not enough. RFE/RL: You advocated regional cooperation as an important component of peace in Afghanistan. But given the involvement of near and far neighbors in the Afghan war, dont you think that satisfying their diverse and divergent interests might mean giving up some Afghan sovereignty and might not ultimately achieve the goal of peace and stability in the country? Rubin: Every country in the world gives up some sovereignty in order to reach agreements in its own interest. Poor, landlocked countries are even more dependent on others. RFE/RL: Given its rivalries with the United States and its allies among Gulf Arab monarchies, do you see Iran primarily as a spoiler or a neighbor capable of helping with restoring lasting peace to Afghanistan? Rubin: Iran can be a spoiler, but if it is a spoiler there will be no peace. No peace is possible against the wishes of Iran. The Gulf Arab monarchies are much less important to Afghanistan. RFE/RL: Apart from their rivalries with Iran, do you see the Gulf Arab monarchies having any other interest in helping with the Afghan peace process? Rubin: No. They are too preoccupied with Syria, Yemen, Lebanon. RFE/RL: Is India ready to replace the United States as the principal provider of security assistance to Kabul in the case of a precipitous American withdrawal from Afghanistan? Rubin: No. India is not capable of that, even if it tries. RFE/RL: How much influence does Pakistan really have over the Afghan Taliban given that many Afghans still see the hard-line movement as Islamabads proxies? Do you think the Taliban want to signal their independence from Pakistans powerful military? Rubin: The question is not whether Pakistan has influence. It does, but how much? The question is what kind of influence Pakistan does have. Pakistan can hire Taliban as contractors to carry out specific operations; Pakistan can punish Taliban if they are in Pakistan to prevent them from doing things against Pakistans interest. But they cannot force them to make peace. As a saying in Pashto goes, pa zor kaliy na kegi -- meaning you cannot force people to make peace or something like that. RFE/RL: Can its security interests align China with Afghanistan to the extent that its presses Islamabad into a lasting settlement with Kabul? Rubin: China does not have the power to make the Pakistan military do something it thinks is against its interests. It can nudge them, but how hard will depend on its relations with the U.S. Yes, I found a better job Yes, but I'm still looking for a new job Yes, I retired Yes, I started my own business No, I like my current job No, but I'm currently looking for a new job Vote View Results Mel Johnson, a geography teacher, is pictured at her desk at Coronado High School. As a trip leader for Global Leadership, shes planning a trip for local students to Guatemala as part of the organizations leadership training program. The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado offers a new customer rating system as free benefit to accredited businesses. File photo Zebulon Pike Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution hosted its Annual Good Citizens Recognition Tea Feb. 23 to honor area high school seniors. Pictured are Zebulon Pike members Lynn Baldvins, Membership Committee Chairman; Leslie Brinkley, Regent; and Sherry Helmer, Good Citizens Committee Chairman; and the winners of the NSDAR Good Citizens award, representing 20 local high schools. A paved raceway with bright yellow stripes and road signs is nearing completion for young tricyclists at the Community Partnership of Child Development Head Start program at Evans Elementary School, thanks to local and state contractors. The new race track will combine play with learning as children develop social, motor and language skills, officials said Wednesday. The kids love riding trikes, which are great for gross motor skills, said Jeanette Givens, CPCD facility manager. The $50,000 project, which nearly doubles the size of the existing playground with an additional 20 feet, is the result of an all-volunteer effort coordinated by the Womens Foundation of Colorado and undertaken by the Colorado Emerging Leaders Council of the Colorado Contractors Association and the Association of General Contractors of Americas charity arm. Tricycles were donated to CPCD, but there was no place for the kids to ride them, explained Betsy Wagner, project coordinator for Colorado Contractors Associations Emerging Leaders Council. She is affiliated with Wagner Equipment Co., where she is the sales division manager. Since we build roads, we thought we might as well make a fun race track for the kids, Wagner said. Several dozen Colorado-based firms have helped the idea unfold. This has been a really fun project, said Josh Krueger, vice president of A-One Chipseal and project manager. Seven members of his team were on-site Wednesday at Evans Elementary, in School District 49. Its been a fun process working with different contractors statewide since some of us are competitors, Krueger said. Its been good to work together on this. Creating the track, although small, was not without challenges, he said. We wanted to make this visually appealing, while ensuring that it meets safety specs. We had a lot to learn when it comes to playground safety. The CPCD facility at Evans serves 66 3 to 5 year olds, all from the neighborhood. Playgrounds for young kids are the first place for them to develop social and problem solving skills, said Claire Sanderson, CPCD development officer. Krueger noted that Martin Marietta in Colorado Springs donated materials for the asphalt and base. This is part of the ELC community service program and its been good to expose the community to the good things our industry does, Krueger added. At one point, 25 ELC volunteers were on hand. Weve been wanting to this for quite some time , Givens said. This is a wonderful thing for us as a nonprofit. The project is set to open Friday. Navy, US ship hold maritime activity posted March 20, 2019 at 10:55 pm by PNA March 20, 2019 at 10:55 pm The visit of 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) to the country concluded with a maritime cooperative activity or PASSEX with BRP Ramon Alcaraz (FF-16) off Mariveles, Bataan Tuesday afternoon. This maritime cooperative activity concluded the visit of the USS Blue Ridge in the country, which was highlighted by its port visit in Manila and the conduct of the annual PN-US 7th Fleet Staff to Staff Talks. The latter activity provided a venue to discuss matters of mutual concern focusing on interoperability between the two navies and regional security issues, Philippine Navy spokesperson Captain Jonathan Zata said. In a statement Wednesday, Zata said the maneuvers were conducted around 1 p.m. PASSEX is short for passing exercise which is a series of drills done to ensure synchonization of communication and cooperation between two participating navies.The American ship arrived in the Philippines last March 13. The events highlights the PNs ability to perform its distinct role, in terms of naval diplomacy, by engaging with other navies in the region in order to further strengthen, not only its ties, but also enhance its capabilities in performing its missions in a combined environment. COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section. Just this once, snowboarder Austin Gavlak is hoping against snow in his home of Vail. At least for the weekend, he says. Then it can start snowing again. Spoken like a true outdoor event organizer. The event is Powabunga, the first of what Gavlak and a friend and fellow producer hope is an annual music festival in the iconic ski town. Its kicking off Friday and Saturday, with electronic-influenced acts set to take the Ford Park stage each evening. We wanted something more modern than the bluegrass that comes through all the time, Gavlak says. If You Go Powabunga Music Festival, with performances at Vail's Ford Park starting at 4 p.m. and continuing through night Friday and Saturday; afterparties at 10 p.m. at the Ale House; day tickets starting at $59, https://powabungafest.com/tickets Something else: Costume party 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday in Vail Village at Fall Line The scenic amphitheater hosts the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, a celebration of classical music, every summer. The village also holds the Vail Jazz Festival and Bonfire Block Party. But as far as Gavlak is concerned, This is like Vails only real music festival. Along with Bob Moses, Zhu, De Lux, Boombox and Justin Jays Fantastic Voyage, among others, Gavlak and partner Alex Ballesteros aim to capture Colorados vibrant mountain culture with large pop-up art installations and a costume party Saturday. They expect 3,000 to 4,000 people each day. People that love to be active and love to party, Gavlak says. He moved to the Vail Valley about 10 years ago. Growing up in Texas, you didnt know you could live this way. I would say Vail was kind of a cool opportunity to have that ski lifestyle and also the opportunity to pursue bigger dreams. A dream such as, say, a music festival in your own backyard. Gavlak says village leaders heard his pitch last fall and agreed to provide start-up capital. He and Ballesteros, both with years of experience in the festival industry, figured out the rest. Its an attempt to affect Vail culture, to create a kind of paradigm shift, Gavlak says. I feel like Vail just needs something fresh. I would say thats the easiest way to put it. I think Vails a great place, but its gotten a little corporate lately, and were trying to fix that. SETH BOSTER, The Gazette, SETH.BOSTER@GAZETTE.COM A ban on conversion therapy with anyone under 18 appears poised to pass through the Colorado Legislature and be signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay governor elected in the U.S. The Human Rights Campaign reports such therapy seeks to convert a homosexual or bisexual into being heterosexual through psychological or spiritual interventions or both. They say its dangerous, as it can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness and suicide, especially among minors. It also has been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades, the HRC says. House Bill 1129 would ban licensed mental health therapists from providing such treatment to youths. The bill was approved by the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on a 3-2 vote Monday and sent to the full Senate for whats expected to be its final vote and a trip to Polis office. Former Attorney General Cynthia Coffman testified that Colorado youth have a high suicide rate, noting that in February alone, the Safe to Tell program took 345 calls about suicide and suicidal ideation among school children statewide. Youth whatever their sexual orientation, express a fear of being who they are, and they are growing up in a culture of harsher judgment, belittling and lack of acceptance, Coffman said. Its not often as leaders we have an opportunity to do something for children who have guilt, shame and confusion about who they are, but todays bill presents that opportunity. Lindsay Callahan, a mental health therapist with the Family Resource Network in Colorado Springs, said she needed real therapy after going through conversion therapy. Im one of the lucky ones who survived conversion therapy, she said, as 63 percent of youths who undergo it attempt suicide. But Dr. Mark Barnes said same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria are not inborn. People can be healed from these conditions, Barnes said, but the bill interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. Stephen Black of the Truth & Liberty Coalition, which promotes Christianity, said he was gay for eight years but has been free of LGBT chaos for 35 years. No one is born gay. They can change and be free of sexual sin, said Black, of Colorado Springs. Brad Bergford called the bill a blatant usurpation of parental rights. Bergford is with the National Lawyers Association, which was founded in 1993 in response to the American Bar Associations official support of abortion rights. Parents, not the state, have the right to decide on their childrens therapy, he said. This does not tell parents what they have to do, said Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg of Boulder. Its just making sure that licensed practitioners are not offering conversion therapy to young people. Owen Ziegler, of the Colorado LGBT Bar Association, said his thesis addressed Exodus International, which was allied with Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family. The Exodus president renounced conversion therapy in 2012 and apologized for it, Ziegler said, and Exodus closed in 2013. A former Exodus and Focus on the Family employee, Brad Ruebendale, said conversion therapy drove him to the brink of suicide. Instead, he came out as gay and was excommunicated from his church and alienated from his family. Ban conversion therapy so that youth can stop killing themselves in the name of therapy, Ruebendale said. What a difference this might have made for me as a young LGBTQ person subjected to conversion therapy in Colorado Springs, said a tweet by Carl Charles, an attorney working in New York City for Lambda Legal, which defends civil rights of LGBTQ people. At age 15, he said, he was taken to conversion therapy at an evangelical church in Colorado Springs once a week for eight months. I would walk down a dark staircase I remember counting my steps down those stairs, desperately trying to figure out a way to escape looking at windows to crawl out of, considering turning around and making a run for it, past my dads idling car and into the nearby neighborhood. The therapist told him, You are not gay! You will burn in hell! Jesus died so that you can repent from your sins! Eventually, I just sat there, listened to him yell at me, and tried to block him out. I am not broken. LGBT youth are not broken. We were all #BornPerfect. The Department of Justice on Wednesday said it is ready to provide protection for possible witnesses in the gruesome killing of 16-year-old Christine Silawan in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra assured that the witnesses can be placed under the DOJs Witness Protection Program. Any potential witness who will surface to shed light in the murder of Christine can be covered by our WPP, if necessary, he said, in a text message. A P2-million reward was earlier offered by government offices as well as private individuals and groups for the arrest of perpetrators of the brutal killing of Silawan. The National Bureau of Investigation, which was tapped by Guevarra to conduct fact-finding probe on the incident, arrested a 17-year-old suspect who was the last companion of the victim before her body was found in a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal last March 11. The minor was tagged in the crime after closed-circuit television camera footage showed him together with the victim.Probers also found out that he was communicating with the victim through chat and text messages and said that the killing could be a case of crime of passion driven by jealousy. However, Guevarra said that while a suspect was already nabbed, the case is not yet closed as authorities continue to hunt down two other suspects. With the arrest of the suspect, police investigators have dropped another arrested person - Jonas Bueno - as a suspect in Silawans murder. Bueno was arrested in Davao City last week due to the murder of a farmer in Danao City in January. Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper will appear at a televised CNN town hall Wednesday night in Atlanta. The hour-long question-and-answer session in front of a live audience will be the former Colorado governor's biggest chance yet to make an extended impression on the national stage since launching his 2020 run two weeks ago. Dana Bash, CNN's chief political correspondent, will moderate the town hall, which airs on the cable news network at 8 p.m. MDT. Cord-cutting viewers and those away from their TVs will be able to stream the town hall without charge and with no log-in required on CNN's website, the network has said. The 67-year-old geologist-turned-brewpub owner, who served two terms as mayor of Denver before his two terms as governor, has been pitching his conciliatory approach to getting things done in a primary field overflowing with senators perhaps better known for their fiery rhetoric. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, another Democratic presidential candidate, made news Monday at her CNN town hall when she called for eliminating the Electoral College and appeared to connect on a personal level with the audience in Jackson, Mississippi. Last week, Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, reported raising more than $600,000 in the 24 hours after his CNN town hall, which dramatically raised the 37-year-old longshot's profile in the crowded primary field. Hickenlooper supporters are staging more than two dozen town hall watch parties around the country, including get-togethers in Denver, Colorado Springs, Las Vegas and Houston. According to his campaign, Hickenlooper plans to call in to all the volunteer-organized watch parties as soon as he finishes the town hall. " " An airplane flies over a high-rise apartment building in Hong Kong. Patrick Foto/Getty Images Living in a home within easy reach of an airport could lead to high blood pressure, heart flutters and, in some cases, stroke, according to new research. Before everyone within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius of a major airport puts a for-sale sign in the front yard, researchers caution that the field of study is small and new, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions about cause and effect. Other factors, such as air pollution, could be involved. Advertisement " " An airplane approaches the Heathrow airport in London, England, flying near residential housing. Charles Bowman/Getty Images As it turns out, long-term life under frequent flight paths seems to be far more serious than just annoying noise levels especially when that noise is experienced at night. A new study published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine used data from 420 people who live near the international airport in Athens, Greece, roughly 600 airplanes land and depart daily, to link long-term exposure to aircraft noise to a disturbing trifecta of health issues. The new study built upon a similar data-gathering mission that looked at the health impacts of aircraft noise on six groups of people living new six major European airports from 2004 to 2006. The current study analyzed from 2006, the date the previous study ended, to that collected in 2013. About half of the 420 participants had been regularly exposed to more than 55 decibels of daytime aircraft noise and about one-third experienced more than 45 dB of nighttime aircraft noise. For comparison, a rock concert or leaf blower both reach about 115 dB. Once researchers had a handle on noise levels, they explored changes in the group's health. Between 2006 and 2013, 71 people (17 percent of the group) received first-time diagnoses of high blood pressure, and 44 (10.5 percent)were discovered to have a heart-fluttering cardiac arrhythmia. These elevated noise levels were linked to all other existing cases of high blood pressure, too. And 18 people (4 percent) involved in the study had heart attacks, which researchers connected to the daily exposure to aircraft noise. And the louder the aircraft noise, the more damaging it was to participants' health, particularly at night. For every additional 10 dB of nighttime aircraft noise over the typical 45 dB, researchers observed a 69 percent higher risk for developing high blood pressure. In some cases, the risk was more than double with every additional 10 dB of aircraft noise. Nighttime aircraft noise doubled the risk of cardiac arrhythmia for the entire group. There also appeared to be a greater risk of stroke (often associated with high blood pressure), but it was not statistically significant in this size of group, said researchers. Now That's Interesting Sounds of less than 75 dB are unlikely to cause hearing loss, but repeated exposure to sounds above 85 dB, like the humming of heavy city traffic or MP3 players at full volume, can make people hard of hearing. House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has called on the mining industry to help President Rodrigo Duterte achieve his economic and environmental agenda by working closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to make sure that laws on sustainable and responsible mining are carried out. We should help the sector and help the DENR. Because when the industry players and the DENR work together, your sector can contribute greatly to government revenues, exports, economic growth, job creation and the progress and development to the local communities that host mining, Arroyo told mining industry leaders at the Philippine Nickel Industry Association Nickel Initiatives Forum at Shangri-La Towers in Bonifacio Global Center Tuesday. Arroyo said the mining industry should endeavor to work closely with the DENR in order for it to grow even with the strict stance of President Duterte on mining. I have said earlier that even under my successor who was very strict about mining, the sector even grew compared to my time, and thus what we want to do now. Even in todays policy and regulatory environment, we want to have the sector grow and contribute to sustainable national development, she said. Arroyo said the nickel mining industry can contribute largely to President Dutertes economic policies particularly on his on his Build, Build, Build program and tax reform. It is so important for the Philippines because the Philippines is the 2nd largest supplier of nickel in the whole world. So hopefully, if we end up on the same page with government in mining and we were able to revitalize the manufacturing industry, because President Dutertes economic policies on Build, Build, Build and tax reform, are truly revitalizing our economy, then nickel ore production will increase in the coming years, she said. Arroyo also said that the DENR should view itself not just a regulator but also as a promoter of responsible, world-class, efficient and mining businesses. Traditionally, Speaker Arroyo said mining was always a major sector of the Philippine economy. However, after EDSA I, in the mid-1980s, mining was virtually banned. Then during my presidency, I revived the mining industry. In January 2004, I issued EO 270, declaring the policy to promote responsible mineral resources operation, development and utilization in a manner that is conducive to sustainable development and with due regard to justice and equity, and sensitivity to the culture of the Filipino people, and respect for Philippine sovereignty. That is what my EO 270 did as it provided for the guideline for reviving the mining industry, said Arroyo.In December 2004, the Speaker said they were able to reverse a Supreme Court ruling that was adverse earlier. The high court ruled favorably on the issue of foreign participation in mining. I think those two acts in 2004 were what led to the present modern day mining boom in the Philippines, said Arroyo. My successor was against mining and apparently wanted to ban it but his Executive Secretary, I was told, has pointed out that there was no legal basis for a ban on mining. So what he did was to only ban new permits, Arroyo added. Despite his stance against mining, the industry grew under the time of her successor because bigger operations were carried out, she said. But note, he did not ban any old existing operations through EO 79. Thus, 20 new operations were initiated in my successors time. Even under EO 79 using only existing permits and expansions. So, despite the fact that there was a ban on new permits, actually mining output during my successors tenure was bigger than during my tenure, said Arroyo. Last April 2017, the DENR issued Order No. 10, banning the open pit mining for copper, gold, silver and complex ores in the country. But even then, according to Speaker Arroyo, the Secretary of mining was very quick to point out that the ban on open pit mining did not include nickel mines. There were report at the time, urban legend the Secretary of the Environment closed 20 mining companies. But I think you know the facts. Actually none of them were closed. However, in that negative mindset regarding mining, the industrys output went back to the levels of my time. And this worried you, the business community and inspired your industry to become more militant. The Chamber of Mines became meore unified and the sector even began considering legal action. But when I became Speaker I discouraged legal action, she said. Arroyo said Congress should not have an adversarial stance towards mining. Instead, Congress should help the mining sector and the DENR because when the industry players and the DENR work together, mining sector can contribute greatly to government revenues, exports, economic growth, job creation and the progress and development to the local communities that host mining. I have said earlier that even under my successor who was very strict about mining, the sector even grew compared to my time, and thus what we want to do now. In the remaining years of his administration we should help the DENR focus on harvesting the fruits of those good seeds within President Dutertes term, Arroyo said. Bato, Southern LeyteDespite coming from Mindanao, Hugpong ng Pagbabago campaign manager and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio admitted they do not expect a landslide vote for their senatorial candidates in the May midterm elections. We dont have that expectations because even in our surveys now in Davao, we cannot come up with full support for 12 HNP senators, because we are looking where we will campaign. We are getting in the Davao region survey backing only 8 of our senators, she said. The presidential daughter also admitted that she cannot consider the Visayas region as HNPs bailwick, saying it has a different kind of politics. She noted that usually in Mindanao, voters in the island will go for another Mindanaoan. In Mindanao, we bond together because they grew up in MIndanao. We know the place, culture, she said. But in VIsayas, she said this is not the case since its island to island. Some of them speak Visayas, some Warays. In Panay, its also different. Their politics is also different. Maybe, in Cebu, it seems Cebuanos are hard core, said Duterte-Carpio, who founded HNP, a regional party that gathered senatorial candidates that would help the administration of the President. She hopes that their choices of local partners can help them win votes for the HNP- endorsed senatoriables even if they leave the group. So yan yun expectations naming na yung local partners and alliances can produce for the senators and convince people to vote for HNP, she added. In an earlier interview in Tacloban City, the Davao City mayor expressed optimism of getting majority of the seats for senators in the Winning Circle. Asked if they are aiming to get the No. 1 and No. 2 spots among the senatoriables, Duterte-Carpio said they are not after any ranking. What we want is for majority of our senatorial bets to win. Pressed if eight senators would be okay, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago campaign manager said majority is 7. We are praying for just 7. Eight would be lucky. Nine or 10, God really loves us so much, she said following the HNP campaign caravan in this city. Duterte-Carpio also expressed happiness with the apparent peoples trust and confidence on their senatorial candidates. And as I said, we hope that they will remain supportive of our senators until election day, he said.Asked about HNPs str.ategy on being able to draw massive public support for their candidates, Duterte-Carpio said she does not know about any strategy that would work. What I know is to sell [our senatoriables]. We keep on pushing and pushing them to the people so that the people will consider them as candidates, he said. We are happy with the performance of a lot of our senators in the surveys and masyado ng suntok sa buwan if we ask for more. So we just hope that we get the majority of 12, she said. According to the latest Pulse Asia survey, eight of the senatorial candidates being endorsed by HNP continue to perform well. For instance, if not at No. 1, reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar has consistently landed on the No. 2 spot in almost all pre-election surveys. She has been described by Duterte-Carpio as the perfect example of Sipag at Tiyaga, citing the huge crowd she draws nationwide. But some HNPs senatorial bets who did not make it in the Magic 12 of the recent Pulse Asia survey on Tuesday gave different reactions with regards to their poor performance. Former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad and former presidential adviser on political affairs Francis Tolentino both vowed to work harder to catch up in pre-election surveys top 12. Manicad, however, welcomed his 10-point increase in awareness and double-digit conversion rating at 11 percent, but admitted that his limited resources is making his fight more difficult than it already is. Marami na ring naikot, marami ring tao sa areas na napupuntahan ng Hugpong, pero yung sa traditional media, wala pa, he said. Manicad, who ranked 20th in the Pulse Asia survey, said his target to have a TV commercial since the message would be there. But the problem, he said, is how to come out with it. So now, I am just like a soldier. I move like a sniper. I want to make the best shot possible, he said. Tolentino, for his part, vowed to work harder. Trabaho pa rin. Mas popular yung iba, kaya sipag lang, Tolentino said, who ranked 14th in the Pulse Asia survey with 32.1 percent rating. READ: Drug money flowing into PDEA The Hope College Great Performance Series will present the award-winning quartet Russian Renaissance on Saturday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts. After emerging with the $100,000 Grand Prize at the 2017 M-Prize Competition, the largest prize for chamber music in the world, Russian Renaissance has established itself as one of the most sought after ensembles in the field. Through performances of everything from tango and folk to classical and jazz, the musicians of Russian Renaissance are redefining the possibilities of their traditional Russian folk instruments (balalaika, domra/domra alto, button accordion and balalaika contrabasso). Their use of folk instruments and fast-paced performances appeal to a wide range of ages and backgrounds. One of the finest displays of musicianship in the world said Arts at Michigan. In addition to its success at the M-Prize Competition, Russian Renaissance also received first prize at the 69th Coupe Mondiale in Russia in 2016 and was named Musical Americas New Artist of the Month in March 2018. Individual tickets for the concert are $23 for regular admission, $17 for senior citizens and Hope faculty and staff, and $6 for students 18 and under. Tickets are available as well as at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at 616-395-7890. More information about the Great Performance Series can be found online. The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets. Brief Encounter (1945) is considered one of the best British films ever by those of a certain age. It is based on the play Still Life (1936) by Noel Co... 20 hours ago IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them. They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country. However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia. "Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination. Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia. They should be lovingly helped. Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948. To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts: While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 : Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell. The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites. A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught. The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers. Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites." Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers. There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks. This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work. It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter. In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam. In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir. " The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life." An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir . In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance). Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed). Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance). Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam. It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way. A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah. Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs). Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life". Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology. Islam is a supremacist ideology. Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism. Islam is a civilization. Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization. Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life. It has a say about every conceivable human act . Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam. The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic. Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111). A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44) Muhammad himself said: I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30) Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ READ: Water shortage probe begins READ: El Nino threatens food security, senator warns READ: Arroyo seeks to penalize erring water companies President Rodrigo Duterte berated officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the two private concessionaires at a meeting in the Palace Tuesday night, threatening to fire regulators for failing to anticipate and do something about the water supply problem in Metro Manila. Duterte was supposed tofrom the MWSS, Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services, but the meeting turned out to be a presidential monologue, as the President told them he was not going to listen to their explanations or excuses, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Wednesday. Water officials knew of the problem leading to the service interruptions, but did nothing to prevent it from happening, Panelo said. They simply did not do their job. All they care about is [getting] profit from the water, Panelo said. For the last two weeks, some 1.2 million households in the east zone of Metro Manila serviced by Manila Water have suffered service interruptions that the company blamed on low water levels at the La Mesa Dam as a result of the El Nino phenomenon. Customers of Maynilad in the west zone, however, experienced no interruptions. Panelo said the President, who did not even look at the officials, was obviously outraged at having to rush to Manila from Davao before they moved to end the service interruptions. He told them to shape up or ship out, Panelo said, threatening to fire the MWSS officials and to terminate the concessionaires contracts. Duterte ended the meeting abruptly after 40 minutes and ordered the officials to submit a report on the water shortage before April 7, after which he will decide whether heads will roll or whether the contracts of the concessionaires will be terminated. Both chambers of the. On the third straight day of hearings into the shortage, Manila Water president and CEO Ferdinand dela Cruz asked for forgiveness from his companys customers before a House panel. Dela Cruz made a similar apology before the Senate committee on public services on Tuesday. But Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said being sorry was not enough and urged Dela Cruz to resign. You have failed as a management man, as a marketing man, as a distributor of our prime commodity which is water. We cannot take your sorry, Atienza said. If my resignation today will not only erase our supply deficit but also resolve to a united front to urgently build new water sources, then I would be extremely happy to resign at this very moment, Dela Cruz replied. While he apologized in Congress, his company announced more nine-hour service interruptions, this time in parts of Marikina City and San Mateo, Rizal on March 20 and 21, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Manila Water also announced that its Cardona Water Treatment Plant began operations on March 14, and is now providing water in several towns in Rizal, to about 800,000 people. The plant, which draws water from Laguna Lake, was designed to augment Manila Waters main source, Angat Dam. Also on Wednesday, the MWSS said the construction of the China-funded Kaliwa Dam project would ease water crisis in Metro Manila and would be cheaper than an alternative Japanese proposal.At a press briefing in the Palace, MWSS administrator Reynaldo Velasco said the construction of the Kaliwa Dam would cost $248 million or P12.2 billion, compared to the Osaka-based Global Utility Development Corp. Ltd.s proposed $410-million Kaliwa Intake Weir project. The Kaliwa Dam project in Quezon, or the New Centennial Water Supply Project, will be funded by the official development assistance from China and is expected to provide 600 million liters per day to Metro Manila and nearby areas. He said the bidding was already completed and there is already a winner. He denied reports that the project would cost $800 million. The proposed Kaliwa Dam could provide water storage during the rainy season, unlike the weir, a low dam that cannot store water, he said, noting that the reserve could be used during the dry season. In the Senate, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara called for the full implementation of a 30-year-old law mandating the establishment of rainwater harvesting systems in all barangays nationwide. He said the move was important in the wake of the water shortage that could spread beyond Metro Manila and Rizal province. Angara was referring to Republic Act 6716, also known as the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Act of 1989, which requires the construction of rainwater collectors in every barangay to prevent flooding and ensure the continuous provision of clean water during dry seasons. As early as 1989, we already had this law intended to help alleviate water scarcity and drought down to barangay level, and yet no one seems to be implementing it, Angara said. Rainwater harvesting offers a practical and immediate solution to the countrys water supply problem, he said. While we all wait for the construction of new dams, which may take years to complete, LGUs [local government units] should practice rainwater harvesting because it is a practical solution that will have direct impact on the grassroots, he said. Rainwater harvesting is done in India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, and it has proven quite effective, Angara said. Why shouldnt we implement the same, especially since we get an abundance of rain? From left to right: Bello, Arellano, Sarmiento, and Trinidad READ: Resumption of peace talks with Reds slimLorenzana Yesterday, the Italian Supreme Court issued two key decisions concerning the liability of intermediaries for third-party IPR infringements. The Yahoo!'s videosharing service decision is particularly important in that it: clarifies at what conditions a hosting provider would be eligible (and ineligible) for the safe harbour under Italian law (where the divide passive/active host has been subject to extensive discussions in case law and scholarly literature alike); holds that a notice-and-takedown request does not necessarily have to indicate the URLs at which infringing content is to be found (this being yet another contentious issue under Italian law); and finds that a notice-and-takedown request imposes on the provider at which it is addressed a stay-down obligation (also this is a major point, both under Italian law and the law of other EU Member States). Lets see more in detail how the Court reasoned. Yahoo!s videosharing service decision In 2011 the Milan Court of First Instance found Yahoo! liable for hosting user-uploaded unlicensed audiovisual content owned by Radio Televisive Italiane (RTI) on its videosharing portal. E-commerce Directive. In 2015 the Milan Court of Appeal reversed the first instance decision and held that Yahoo! would qualify as a hosting provider eligible for the safe harbour protection under the relevant national provision corresponding to Article 14 of the RTI appealed to the Supreme Court (it should be noted that an appeal to this court is only possible insofar as the lower court has erred in its application of legal provisions: in this sense, the Italian Supreme Court is not a court on the merits), claiming - among other things - that Yahoo! could not qualify for protection under the safe harbour, it being an active host. SNB-REACT [commented on The IPKat here and the decision in Ziggo The Pirate Bay case, commented case, commented here , in which the CJEU acknowledged the possibility for a provider to be directly liable for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court reviewed relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), including the most recent decision on Article 14 of the E-commerce Directive that is and the decision in, in which the CJEU acknowledged the possibility for a provider to be directly liable for copyright infringement. Communication from the Commission on Illegal Content Online, in which the Commission noted that - as per Recital 42 in the preamble to the E-commerce Directive, as well as the CJEU decision in Google France and L'Oreal - the safe harbour only applies to hosting providers that do not play an active role The Italian court also recalled the fairly recent, in which the Commission noted that - as per Recital 42 in the preamble to the E-commerce Directive, as well as the CJEU decision inand- the safe harbour only applies to hosting providers that do not play an active role . of such a kind as to give them knowledge of, or control over, unlawful information proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market [Katposts here , notably the attempted codification [the language actually employed omitted to mention that the CJEU held that the active role must be such as to give the provider knowledge of or control over the infringing content] made by the Commission concerning safe harbour eligibility in the original version of Recital 38. Interestingly, the Supreme Court also mentioned the initial, notably the attempted codificationmade by the Commission concerning safe harbour eligibility in the original version of Recital 38. Having somewhat criticized EU law for lacking sufficient theoretical strength (tendenziale sottoteorizzazione), the Supreme Court said that there is a need to ensure the certainty of the law and bring also EU-derived norms within an effective conceptual system. When does a provider lose the safe harbour? Following this rant these considerations, the Supreme Court held that a provider would be active and, therefore, ineligible for the safe harbour, when it would perform activities like, eg: Filtering Selection Indexing Organization Classification Aggregation Evaluation Use Modification Extraction, or Promotion of content as performed through an entrepreneurial management of the service and the adoption of tools aimed at evaluating user behaviour to enhance the retention thereof. As such, any refusal in abstracto to consider Yahoo! as a hosting provider would be incorrect. The Milan Court of Appeal performed a well-reasoned assessment of why Yahoo! would qualify as a passive host. The provider would become liable only when, upon becoming aware of the users' infringing activity, it would fail to act expeditiously to bring the infringing activity to an end. How to write a notice-and-takedown request? How should the notice and take-down request be made and what should it contain? The Supreme Court held that, for a provider to become aware, it is not required that the rightholder send a formal cease-and-desist letter: a simple communication suffices. The Court also tackled an issue that in Italy has been contentious for a long time: what should the notice include? [see, eg, here and here [see, eg, here . While some courts have required the indication of the relevant URLs, other courts notably those in Rome have considered the indication of the mere title of the work sufficient The Supreme Court found that this is something for a judge on the merits to determine (and this was something that, according to the Court, the lower court had failed to do). However, it did not exclude that simple indication of the title of the work could be enough, especially for those works whose title consists of words combined in an original way, so that they can be distinguished from common language. A URL is required only when "indispensable" to identify the infringing content. Is a notice-and-takedown enough to trigger a notice-and-stay-down obligation? The Court also tackled the issue whether a notice-and-takedown request imposes on the relevant provider an obligation of stay-down, ie an obligation to prevent the re-uploading of the same infringing content. The Supreme Court answered: YES. UPC Telekabel and LOreal. An obligation to prevent the re-uploading of the same infringing content has nothing to do with imposing a general monitoring obligation (which would be contrary to Article 15 of the E-commerce Directive). The Supreme Court found that this conclusion would be also in line with CJEU case law, notably the decisions inand In conclusion, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Milan Court of Appeal for it to re-assess whether, at the time when the infringing activity occurred, it was possible for Yahoo! to identify the infringing videos through mere indications of the titles of the works. Yahoo!s search engine decision In 2014, the Milan Court of First Instance considered RTIs claim that Yahoo! would have failed to comply with the injunction granted in the 2011 decision mentioned above, for allowing the re-posting of infringing content. Also, by providing hyperlinks and embedded links to said infringing content, also made discoverable through suggest search, Yahoo! would have directly infringed RTIs copyrights. The Milan court dismissed the action, and found that Yahoo! would qualify as a caching provider and would be eligible for the safe harbour as available under Article 13 of the E-commerce Directive and the corresponding provision under Italian law. RTI appealed, but with no success. So, it lodged a further appeal to the Supreme Court, claiming wrongful application of law provisions by the Milan Court of Appeal. A study by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy declared, The Afghan government outlawed the group and worked to suppress it, largely in order to avoid further sectarian strife and proxy warfare in the war-ravaged country. It added that recruitment by the Revolutionary Guards has continued, but it had gone underground. The Fatemiyoun Brigade was set up by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 2014 to send Shia Afghan immigrants and refugees in Iran to fight in the Syrian civil war on the side of Bashar al-Assads government. Guards officials have confirmed this fact. Zahir Mojahed, spokesperson for the Fatemiyoun Brigade, claimed in January 2018, that more than 2,000 members of the Afghan militia had been killed in Syria and more than 8,000 had been injured. According to Afghan officials, the IRGC lures Afghan immigrants with promises such as fixed salaries and residency permits for their families. Interviews with the family members of those killed in action and the survivors confirm this. Religious loyalties of the potential recruits are also used, as they are made to believe that they will be defending Shia holy shrines in Syria. The US Department of Treasury accused Iran of recruiting, training, and deploying child soldiers, which is a war crime, in October 2018. Recruitment of Afghan nationals to fight in Syria may amount to a violation of their human rights under both international law and the laws of both countries. In fact, recruiting Afghan nationals violates Article 145 of the Iranian constitution, which says, No foreigner will be accepted into the army or security forces of the country. There are also documented cases of the Guards recruiting Afghan children to fight in Syria. In October 2017 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported, Afghan children as young as 14 have fought in the Fatemiyoun division. Allegedly, when Human Rights Watch researchers reviewed photographs of tombstones in Iranian cemeteries where the authorities buried combatants killed in Syria, they identified eight Afghan children. As well, a 15-year-old Afghan boy said in an interview in January 2019 that he was tricked into fighting in Syria by the false promise that he would be given a job in a holy shrine. According to Article 2 of the National Conscription Law, only individuals over 18 can be conscripted to serve in the military. Recruitment of children under 18 is also banned under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or the Statute of the International Criminal Court. Iran is a signatory to both. Abdulvahid Farzei, vice president of the Afghan Bar Association, says that the Islamic Republics actions violate international conventions and laws because Article 7 of the Afghan constitution states that the government shall observe the United Nations Charter, inter-state agreements, as well as international treaties to which Afghanistan has joined, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The state shall prevent all kinds of terrorist activities, cultivation and smuggling of narcotics, and production and use of intoxicants. Farzei says that since both Iran and Afghanistan have signed up to this declaration and other human rights conventions, they must follow and observe them. Iran has violated the rights of young Afgans, and sacrificed them for its own interests, according to Farzei. One must turn to international law, he emphasizes, to stop Tehran because Afghanistan is mired in a deep crisis and dealing with a range of serious problems including challenges to national security. the government is weak and, as a result, nothing in this regard has been done, he said. Irans conduct is wrong on multiple levels, Najla Rahal, a lawyer based in the Afghan capital of Kabul, insists. Sending Afghan immigrants to the war not only violates Iranian laws, but it also exploits the destitute by deceiving them, she says. This is not only unacceptable from a legal point of view, it is also morally wrong. She adds that Afghan nationals have gone to live in Iran seeking refuge from the Taliban, the war in Afghanistan, insecurities, and unemployment. Legally, the Islamic Republic has no right to exploit these refugees situation, and Kabul is by law allowed to take action to put an end to this. Rahal also believes that because Afghans were used to fight ISIS in Syria, ISIS has launched terrorist attacks in Afghanistan in revenge. Former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and pork-barrel-scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles are set to seek the dismissal of their cases at the Sandiganbayan. This developed as the anti-graft court approved the separate petitions for leave of court to file demurrer to evidence. A plea of demurrer to evidence is a motion for the court to decide on a case based on the evidence submitted by the accuserin these cases the Ombudsmanwhile a petition for leave of court is a request to the court to file the motion for demurrer to evidence. Without an approved leave of court, the accused will not be provided with a chance to prove his guilt should the court determine that he is guilty based on the evidence at hand. Estradas and Napoless motions were approved in separate resolutions dated March 13 by the anti-graft courts Fifth Division. After a meticulous examination of the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution, the court resolves to grant the present motion of the accused, the Sandiganbayan said. In his motion, Estrada said the Ombudsman failed to prove that he misappropriated his P183-million Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, to the fake non-government organizations of Napoles. He said the prosecution had no evidence that he was the mastermind behind the scheme, nor was there proof he acted in conspiracy with Napoles and his former deputy chief of staff Pauline Labayen.Napoles, on the other hand, said the prosecution had no proof the crime of plunder even existed. She said, the lack of a main plunderer deprived her the chance to properly defend herself. Ombudsman prosecutors, however, claimed that the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council alone showed Estradas receipt of P70.7 million worth of kickbacks. The prosecutors said the Sandiganbayan itself found Estrada received P55.8 million. Estrada, the prosecutors said, cannot claim there was no main plunderer in the scheme, saying his endorsement of the Napoles-led foundations shows he was part of the misappropriation of public funds. The demurrers of Estrada and Napoles will give the court the chance to evaluate whether the prosecution evidence is sufficient enough to warrant the conviction of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the resolutions read. The camps of Estrada and Napoles were given 10 days to file their demurrers, while the prosecution was given the same period to submit its comment. The Fifth Division chairman, Associate Justice Rafael Lagos, and Associate Justices Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann Corpus-Manalac signed the resolution. Three Abu Sayyaf members, including the one who took part in the kidnapping of 21 European and Malaysian tourists in the Sipadan hostage crisis in 2000, were killed by Army Special Forces after they overran an Abu Sayyaf camp in Basilan on Tuesday. The Armys Office of Public Affairs said Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Angah Adjih, who snatched the tourists in the resort island of Sipadan, Malaysia, on April 23, 2000 was killed in the encounter with army soldiers in Talipao, Sulu. Also killed was another Abu Sayyaf member identified as Sarih Edris. The troops recovered M14 and M16 rifles, a grenade launcher, several magazines and ammunition. The military claimed that Adjih was the last Abu Sayyaf sub-leader who snatched the 21 hostages from a motor boat from Sipadan and brought them to Jolo. The long arm of the law has finally caught up with these terrorists and criminals. We assure the people that we will do everything to keep Sulu safe and secure, said Col. Antonio Nafarrete, 1101st Infantry Brigade commander. Brig. Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said the series of encounters were the result of the growing support to the military of the civilian population who were tired of the atrocities committed by the Abu Sayyaf.The Joint Task Force Sulu, together with the local populace, remain steadfast with our mandate of bringing lasting peace in this part of the country, Pabayo said. Army chief Lt. Gen. Macairog Alberto thanked the people for their trust and confidence in them. The Army will go after those who would want to harm our people and distract us from bringing peace and development to our countrymen in Sulu and in other parts of the country, he said. On March 5, another Abu Sayyaf member, Maldimar Mahmor, who the military said was involved in the Sipadan hostage incident, was arrested at his hideout in Zamboanga Sibugay. The relentless hunt against the terrorists resulted in the capture of an Abu Sayyaf lair and the killing of a bandit in the aftermath of the fierce fighting in Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan. Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, identified the slain Abu Sayyf member as Adam Asarakil alias Abu Malik, a follower of Abu Sayyf leader Furidji Indama. Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has failed to get immediate relief from the Court of Appeals to stop his trial for rebellion, a case earlier revived by the Makati City Regional Trial Court. In a three-page resolution, the appellate courts Ninth Division ruled that to grant Trillanes plea for the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction would be tantamount to deciding on the merit of the petition, which seeks the reversal of the trial courts order issued on Sept. 25, 2018, which granted the Department of Justices motion to reopen the rebellion case and to order Trillanes immediate arrest. Trillanes trial before a Makati Court will proceed as the Court of Appeals has turned down his plea to stop his indictment for rebellion. In a resolution dated March 18, the courts Ninth Division denied the application for a temporary restraining order filed by Trillanes counsel. Trillanes on Wednesday was thankful that the Court of Appeals had reportedly acted on his petition for certiorari by requiring Makati RTC Branch 150 to comment on it. Trillanes filed a motion for reconsideration of the trial courts ruling, but the Makati City RTC Branch 150 denied it. Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda also set the resumption of Trillanes trial on March 20 with the presentation of prosecution witnesses. That prompted Trillanes to elevate the case before the appellate court, branding the trial courts decision as a whimsical and arbitrary act of ignoring established jurisprudence.But the appellate court took note of the Supreme Courts action on a similar petition filed by Trillanes, in which it denied his prayer for ancillary relief to prevent the enforcement of Proclamation 572 on the ground that the issue of whether or not the senator availed of Amnesty Proclamation 75 was for the trial courts to determine. Given the foregoing facts, the ancillary remedies applied for may not be granted at this time without running afoul with the principle that provisional reliefs may not be granted in advance of the main action where the provisional relief is the very remedy prayed for the complaint or petition, the appellate court said. The court gave the Justice department 10 days to comment on Trillanes petition. Trillanes rebellion case was dismissed by the Makati Court on Sept. 7, 2011, after then-President Benigno Aquino III granted Trillanes amnesty. However, the amnesty was revoked by virtue of Proclamation 572 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on the ground that the senator failed to comply with the requirements to qualify for an amnesty. Specifically, the Justice department claimed that Trillanes failed to file an application form with an admission of his guilt. Meanwhile, the Makati RTC has rescheduled the resumption of his trial on May 27. The rebellion case arose from Trillanes participation in the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007 to topple the Arroyo administration. - Fumiya Sankai and Yamyam Gucong had an emotional conversation inside the Pinoy Big Brother house - This happened after they lost to Star Dreamers during the Big Jump challenge - Fumiya said that he wants to help his spiritual brother in achieving his dream PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Yamyam Gucong and Fumiya Sankai made a lot of netizens cry after having a heart-to-heart conversation inside the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) house. KAMI learned that the dramatic moment happened after the two jolly personalities lost in the Big Jump challenge which reduced their chance of getting the first slot in the Big 4. Because of the defeat, one of them becomes nominated for eviction this week and the tandem evidently had a hard time making their decision. Yamyam initially expressed that he and his spiritual brother need to part ways even if it is difficult for them to accept it. The gentleman from Bohol also stated that he always wants the two of them to enter the Big 4 and reach for their dreams together. Fumiya then aired his side and explained that he also cares about his bestfriends dream since he learned a lot from him when he entered the prominent house. PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data! The Japanese heartthrob even emphasized that Yamyam is his brother and he wants to support him in achieving what he desires. Before, I dont have friends in the Philippines. Pero I came here, I met many housemates especially you the foreigner housemate quipped. If I can do something, I want to help you. This is one of my dreams also. Youre my brother. I really support you So my decision is, Im [up for] nomination he added. As of the time of writing, the video of the emotional conversation of "FumiYam" already has more than 1.2 million views and 29 thousand shares on Facebook. Here is the video: In a previous article by , Fumiya and Yamyam talked to Lou and Andre regarding their recent actions in PBB. Fumiya Sankai and Yamyam Gucong are two of the most favorite housemates in Pinoy Big Brother Otso. Their tandem, which is called FumiYam, has captured the hearts of many netizens. POPULAR: Read more news about PBB Otso! PAY ATTENTION: 20 Funny Wedding Memes That Describe Almost Any Wedding Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Tricky Questions: What Is The English Of "Sinok? We have included one of the trickiest questions and interesting challenges in this channel. Do you enjoy watching street interviews and listening to different opinions? on HumanMeter! Source: Kami.com.ph - The Sandiganbayan allowed Jinggoy Estrada and Janet Lim-Napoles to seek dismissal of their plunder case - The anti-graft court granted Estrada and Napoles to file a demurrer to evidence - This will give an opportunity to both of them to give their testimonials and present evidence PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Senatorial candidate Jinggoy Estrada and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles were allowed by the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court to seek dismissal of their plunder case with regard to the alleged pork barrel scam. KAMI learned that Estrada and Napoles were granted by the court to file a demurrer to evidence in their plunder case that seeks to dismiss the case due to lack of evidence. In a report by ABS-CBN News (author Adrian Ayalin), Estrada and Napoles will be given the opportunity to give their own testimonials and present their evidence if the demurrer will be denied. PAY ATTENTION: Forbes Top 10 Wealthiest Celebrities In 2018 According to a report by the CNN Philippines (author AC Nicholls), Estrada was temporarily set free after posting P1 million bail. He was accused of kickbacking P183 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Meanwhile, Napoles was accused of kickbacking P10 billion funds by putting it into fake non-government organizations. Aside from Estrada and Napoles, Senate reelectionists Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon "Bong" Revilla were accused of taking money from their PDAF for their personal benefit. 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! KAMI reported before that according to the Office of the Ombudsman, Estrada was facing enough evidence to be guilty of plunder based on the bank inquiry made by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Tricky Questions: What Is The English Of "Sinok"? What is your favourite tricky question in this episode? Maybe about the province of smiles? Or the acronym? Or maybe about sinok? Check out all of our exciting videos on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - The prestigious Mikimoto crown got broken here in the Philippines - This was revealed by Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray in a video - She said that the unfortunate incident happened during her homecoming parade PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray confessed that the estimated P12.5-million worth Mikimoto crown got broken under her care. KAMI learned of this information when the Miss Universe Organization uploaded a video of the Pinay beauty queen while addressing the problem. Catriona expressed that the unfortunate incident happened during her homecoming parade in the Philippines on February 21. She explained that she got carried away by the music that the live band produced so she danced her heart out during the occasion. Because of this, one of the feathers of the Mikimoto crown got detached and the Bicolana beauty queen apologized for it. In a report published by The Filipino Times, it was explained that the crown is made of 18 carats of diamonds and 120 white South Sea and Akoya pearls. 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! Here is the video of Catrionas confession: In a previous article by , Catrionas answer to the same question thrown to Margie Moran in 1973 went viral online. Catriona Gray is a Filipina-Australian beauty queen and commercial actress who was hailed as the fourth Miss Universe from the Philippines. Her advocacy is centered on producing quality education to the underprivileged children. POPULAR: Read more news about Catriona Gray! PAY ATTENTION: 15 Rare But Remarkable Images Of The Royal Family Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Tricky Questions: What Is The English Of "Sinok? We have included one of the trickiest questions and interesting challenges in this channel. Do you enjoy watching street interviews and listening to different opinions? on HumanMeter! Source: Kami.com.ph Working through my ignorance with your help. President Donald Trump has struggled to convince lawmakers the US needs a wall along its southern border. But in New York, police heeded his advice to catch a pro-Trump graffiti artist: Yes, they built a wall. Transit Chief Edward Delatorre told journalists Tuesday that officers put up the fake wall to catch the tagger spraying #LoveTrump in a subway station in the citys Brooklyn borough. The recurring message emblazoned on beams in the mezzanine of the station had sparked a slew of complaints since January from both passengers and transportation employees at the station, Delatorre said.Officers plotted with New Yorks transit authority to put up a plywood wall with a door, which officers hid in for a plainclothes operation starting on March 12. Three days later, the vandal took the bait. Police identified him as Jamie Montemarano, 43, and charged him for graffiti and criminal mischief. The House of Representatives through its Office of Secretary-General on Wednesday physically retrieved the books containing the items that congressmen had sent to the senators in a bid to put an end to the budget impasse. This is in line with the Speakers instruction to allow a last-ditch effort to break the budget impasse, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya, Jr., appropriations committee chairman, said. This developed as Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, leader of the House independent bloc, defended the 2019 general appropriations bill that was submitted to the Senate as completely constitutional and legal. I will not support any House action or measure which violates the Constitution and relevant statutes, and the House version is free from any constitutional or legal infirmities, Lagman, former chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said in a statement. Acting House Secretary General Dante Roberto went to the Senate Wednesday afternoon to get the budget documents upon instruction from the House leadership. Andaya said Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has also instructed leaders to form a three-man House team that will meet with their Senate counterparts to address contentious issues on the 2019 general appropriations bill. We are giving ourselves five days to complete this task, Andaya said. But Andaya said retrieving does not mean that House has withdrawn the 2019 general appropriations bill. We want to make it clear, though. We are not withdrawing or backtracking from our earlier position. We maintain that the House did nothing unconstitutional, illegal or irregular when we approved and ratified the 2019 GAB in plenary session, Andaya said. We hope that the contingents from the Senate and the House can agree to a common venue for a formal discussion on the issues and not debate on the merits of their position through the media, Andaya added. This developed as Lagman said the House version of the money measure is entirely compliant with the ratified bicameral conference committee report. As a former chairman of the committee on appropriations, I know that traditionally and invariably what the bicameral conference committee approves are the respective expenditure ceilings of the departments and agencies, but the Senate and the House are authorized separately to complete the details within the ceilings, Lagman said. The House version did not breach the approved ceilings, he added. House Majority Floor Leader and Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro said he hoped Lagmans support would convince the senators that the House was standing on firm constitutional and legal grounds. Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, denied allegations that his expose on pork insertions in the 2019 budget was triggered by his vendetta against Arroyo, whose administration had ordered his arrest in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. Lacson went into hiding and returned to the country only after the end of the Arroyo administration. Lacson said his actions against pork barrel in the 2019 budget are not about any individual congressman or senator, but about his crusade against the pork barrel system in the national budget, which is the lifeblood of the country. Lacson accused the House of inserting changes into the budget after the bicameral conference committee approved it, but House leaders said they merely itemized the use of lump sum funds.They added that leaving a lump sum fund in the budget would violate the Supreme Court ruling on pork barrel. House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez on Wednesday said that majority of senators led by Senate committee on finance chairperson Loren Legarda are supportive of giving President Rodrigo Duterte a new national expenditure program (NEP) instead of having the government operate under a re-enacted budget. At a news conference, Suarez said Legarda relayed to him that many senators from the the so-called silent majority bloc objected to the desire of Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Lacson not to itemize allocations in the budget. I talked to Sen. Loren two days ago, as a matter of fact I am going to see her tomorrow (Thursday). She assured me that she would want the enrolled budget measure to reach the President as this is the common sentiment of the majority of senators, Suarez said. Deputy Minority Leader and Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin said Sottos duty as Senate president to sign the national budget is only ministerial. Both Houses of Congress have ratified the national budget so it is only ministerial on their [Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Sotto] part to sign the enroll bill and transmit it to the President, Garbin said. Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said he could not think of any cogent reason why Lacson has been pushing a lump sum budget when this was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Atienza also said it is unfair to accuse the House of any irregularities. If the Senate allocates funds, they [senators] called it an institutional amendment. But if the House is the one which allocates money for a specific project, they call it pork barrel, Atienza said. Arroyo earlier said the House has done its part to push for a constitutionally sound budget and that it was up to the senate to act if they want the budget bill signed into law by President Duterte. Arroyo maintained the House ratified a legal and valid national budget by itemizing the lump sum funds. Arroyo also said the House has not withdrawn its version of the 2019 budget, reiterating that the lump sum appropriations favored by senators are unconstitutional. The former president said she will meet with San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and other House members later in the day to discuss the issue. Zamora was tasked by the House to negotiate with the Senate to break the budget impasse that has forced the government to operate under a reenacted budget for three months now. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe In the wake of the cheating scandal that is still rocking USC, the editorial board of the school's student-run newspaper, the Daily Trojan, published a scathing article that takes the university to task for its many, many scandals. The editorial accuses USC, among other things, of "roll[ing] over and act[ing] helpless after it has turned a blind eye toward the systematic abuse of power happening under its own roof." The article went live on Monday, and calls out USC administrators for perpetuating an official culture that has little to no oversight, leaving the door open for corruption. In the opening paragraph, the writers state that it is "hardly surprising that USC is at the epicenter of a national investigation into college admissions fraud." In addition to the recent cheating scandal, the editors' fury with their university stems from the sexual misconduct allegedly committed by USC's former campus gynecologist George Tyndall, as well as former Keck School of Medicine dean Carmen Puliafito's alleged use of methamphetamines while seeing patients (Puliafito was also accused of mishandling a 21-year-old woman's drug overdose while allegedly partying with the woman in a Pasadena hotel room, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.) All of these abuses of power combined, the editors note, add up to a "gross, unforgivable negligence." In an email, the Daily Trojan's managing editor Eileen Toh told LAist that she believes the editorial gives voice to what many students on campus are feeling and thinking. "The Daily Trojan is an independent, entirely student-run newspaper," she said, "so we believe that the sentiments expressed in our editorial board are representative of not only our editorial board members, but also the student body." In the article, the editors call for USC to conduct routine internal reviews, and to ensure that "no one person or body is responsible for making major decisions." Until that time, they write, "we can only look upon our University with disgust and outrage." The editorial's publication coincided with a statement from USC officials on Monday, which said that students involved in the cheating scandal will not be able to register for classes or access their transcripts while their cases are under review. According to the statement, the students in question may have their admission revoked, or face expulsion. Meanwhile, USC low-key announced on Monday that it's hiking undergraduate tuition by 3.5 percent, bringing the cost of attending the university for the 2019-2020 school year to $57,256. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe President Trump wants to carve out a cool $3.6 billion from the the Pentagon's military construction budget to pay for his long-promised border wall. And this week Congress got its first look at the upgrades that could be delayed on bases to free up those billions of dollars. The 21-page list set elected officials' hands wringing across the country. Big ticket items that may now be put on hold include: airplane hangars, hospitals, waste treatment facilities, and fire stations. POSSIBLE SOCAL CUTS Here in Southern California, a unit often called upon to help fight wildfires awaits the fate of flight simulator critical for training pilots. The Air National Guard Station at Channel Islands is home to the 146th Airlift Wing. The 146th has been expecting a new $8 million C-130J flight simulator. But that funding is now in doubt. It comes down to timing. The contract for the flight simulator is due to be awarded after a self-imposed Pentagon cutoff date -- and that makes the project vulnerable. In a statement accompanying the list, the DoD said it will pull funding only from projects with award dates after Sept. 30, 2019. The 146th's flight simulator project isn't due to be funded until July 2020. California pilots now have to travel to the East Coast to train on a C-130J simulator, said Lt. Col. Tom Keegan, public affairs officer for the California National Guard. That's why a simulator is needed out West. "Having a simulator on the West Coast would allow these folks to do emergency procedure training that wouldn't have to be done in the jets themselves," Keegan said. "It would reduce costs and would allow for much more repetition of training exercises." The pilots of the 146th use C-130J aircraft specially outfitted to fight fires. The planes are equipped to drop thousands of gallons of bright-red Phos-Chek fire retardant onto hotspots. "[The C-130J simulator] definitely helps with readiness. We look forward to it coming," Keegan said. "If it's delayed, that would be too bad. But we're hopeful." The 146th Airlift Wing activated in November to help CalFire contain the Woolsey Fire. WHAT APPEARS ON TRACK White House and defense officials have said projects that have funding diverted to the wall will not be canceled, just pushed back. It's not clear if they will be first in line for the next round of appropriations. There are many more Southern California projects on the Pentagon's list, but most are expected to move forward because they're far enough along in the construction pipeline to avoid the border wall carve-out. Such projects that appear to be on track include training and medical facilities at the Marine Corp's Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, and landing pad and security upgrades at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The Navy is prepping for a lot of construction on Coronado Island, and expecting funding to replace a pier in San Diego to the tune of $49 million dollars. These are projects Congress has already approved, but the Department of Defense has yet to award the contracts. Closer to L.A., there are a couple upgrades planned for the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. The biggest is a new causeway, boat channel and turning basin for $118 million bucks. Naval Air Station Pt. Mugu is making plans for a new energy systems lab with a $22 million price tag. In northern San Bernardino County, in the Mojave Desert, new construction is expected at the Army's Fort Irwin, home to the National Training Center for all the armed forces. Fort Irwin is in line for a $29 million "Multipurpose Range Complex" and land acquisition. It's notable that the Pentagon has exempted military barracks, family housing, and dormitory construction from cuts. Newsroom investigations, a survey, and Congressional hearings recently exposed substandard and sometimes dangerous living conditions for military families on base. Mold, rats, bad wiring and terrible plumbing were just some of the complaints. DoD made clear in its release this week that no funding for housing upgrades will go to the President's border wall. The House Armed Services Committee plans to hold hearings on how military readiness will be impacted when funding is diverted away from base facility upgrades to the border wall construction. A BATTLE ROYALE Conflict over border wall funding led to the longest partial federal government shutdown in history, starting in December. President Trump later backed off the budget showdown with Congress, and instead declared a state of emergency. The White House argues the move allows Trump to pull funding from military construction to pay for the wall. But Trump's emergency declaration has faced sharp critics. Two members of the House committee shared their assessment with KPCC/LAist, following the Pentagon's announcement. "The President is using his fake emergency in order to circumvent the Constitution and Congress to illegally fund his pet project border wall," said Orange County congressman Gil Cisneros, a Democrat and Navy veteran. "Department of Defense officials have testified to me that the President's plan of action would negatively affect military readiness, our bases, and our service members and their families." Fellow Democratic Katie Hill, who is also in her first term, called the President's maneuver, "outrageous." "Any pull of military funding from California that has already been authorized and appropriated -- like Camp Pendleton and Fort Irwin -- is a hit to us all," said Hill, who represents areas in north L.A. County, including Santa Clarita and Palmdale. Rep. Paul Cook, a Marine Corps veteran and Republican member of the Armed Services Committee, did not respond to a request for comment. His district includes Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County. The House and Senate will have another chance to vote on the state of emergency next week. It's unlikely they will meet the two-thirds threshold to override a presidential veto. One thing to keep in mind: Many members of Congress are now facing the loss of big chunks of military construction money. That includes many Republicans, opening the door for more GOP votes against the president. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe When it's raining, LA's roads are slick. So naturally there'd be more accidents when the roads are full, right? Wrong. Researchers from USC's data journalism project Crosstown recently crunched traffic and weather data and found some weird patterns. Breaking down L.A. county into 236 separate grids of 16 square miles, they tracked road accidents and weather for each hour of the day between 2016 and 2018. On dry days, they found that accidents tend to peak during rush hour, when there are more fender benders. But on rainy days, the researchers discovered most accidents happen during the middle of the day -- when there's less traffic. How many more accidents are there in LA when it rains? Depends on the hour of the day. Take a look. https://t.co/fyxTVc1919@TotalTrafficLA @LATraffic24 @LAPDSouthTraff @trafficla pic.twitter.com/OFNtuz5F9w Crosstown LA (@CrosstownLA) March 20, 2019 It's counter-intuitive, but there's a good reason. "Anything that allows you to travel at a normal speed when it's wet is going to dramatically increase the likelihood of an accident," said Gabriel Kahn, one of the researchers on the project. He explained that drivers go too fast in the rain on an open road -- and don't hit the brakes early enough. The most dangerous hour to drive during wet weather? Between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.. A Crosstown graph shows a much greater number of accidents when it rains compared to dry weather (Crosstown) Crosstown researchers also found that drivers are 80 percent more likely to have accidents when it rains. California Highway Patrol information officer Juan Galvan said on a normal day, during peak driving hours, his office might get 30 to 40 calls -- but when it rains, that number can shoot up to 150. "It all comes down to speed," he said. "Sometimes the safe speed will probably be 40 miles per hour -- but people are doing 50, 60, thinking they're still under the speed limit." Drivers often don't realize that they're going too fast for the wet conditions. Crosstown data researcher Mingxuan Yue said it's generally hard to compare traffic against weather in L.A. County because weather can both vary over the region and change quickly. He said just calculating the rainy and sunny days in a year doesn't work. "Rain can happen at any hour of day and can disappear -- or it can happen to a specific area and not to other areas in L.A. County," Yue said. That's why the team decided to break down the city into grids and monitor weather and traffic conditions per hour to pinpoint the data. So what's the safest hour to drive on a rainy day? Crosstown researchers say it's during "the thick of the evening commute" -- between 6PM and 7PM, when traffic is already bumper-to-bumper. Kahn said there are also other variables besides weather to consider when evaluating accidents. As people move farther out from the center of L.A. County in search of more affordable housing, that means more people are commuting to work, which increases their chances of getting into an accident. And then there's the issue of drivers and technology. "They're increasingly distracted with phones, with other devices," Kahn said, adding that he has to put his own phone in the trunk of his car when he drives. But researchers say the best way to avoid accidents is pretty simple -- just slow down. 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18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) ChristchurchA Syrian refugee and his son were buried in New Zealand on Wednesday in the first funerals of those killed in the twin mosque massacre as Kiwis braced for days of emotional farewells following the mass killings. An Australian white supremacist is accused of gunning down 50 Muslim worshipers and wounding many more at two mosques in the southern city of Christchurch last Friday in a killing spree that he live-streamed. Alleged gunman Brenton Tarrants use of social media has put the spotlight on extremists use of such platforms, and New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called on Wednesday for a global united front on the issue. Hundreds of mostly Muslim mourners gathered in the morning at a cemetery near Linwood Mosque, one of two places of worship targeted, to lay Khalid Mustafa and his son Hamza to rest. The family arrived last year as refugees from the Syrian maelstrom only to find tragedy in a land where they had sought sanctuary. Khalid, 44, and Hamza, 15, were shot dead at the Al Noor Mosque, the first attack site. Khalid leaves behind a wife, daughter and son Zaid, 13, who was wounded in the shootings. In a powerful scene, Zaid sat in a wheelchair, his hands held aloft as he prayed alongside rows of mourners. Jamil El-Biza, who came from the Sydney area to attend the funerals, told AFP that Zaid said at the graves of his brother and father: I shouldnt be standing in front of you. I should be lying beside you. Also attending was Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee who confronted the gunman at Linwood Mosque. He was embraced by many mourners. In a sign of lingering tensions, the PA system at the funeral announced evacuation procedures from the venue in the event of an emergency, mourners said. A total of six burials were expected on Wednesday. Speaking of the Mustafa family, Ardern said: I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that a family came here for safety and for refuge, and they should have been safe here. Ardern, who has vowed to toughen New Zealands lax gun-ownership laws following the killings, also said Wednesday the world needs to confront the dangers posed by social media. There is an argument there to be made for us to take a united front on what is a global issue, she said at a press conference in Christchurch. This is not just an issue for New Zealand, the fact that social media platforms have been used to spread violence [and] material that incites violence.She had called on New Zealanders on Tuesday to deprive Tarrant of the publicity he craved by never uttering his name. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless, she said. The 28-year-old was arrested after the shootings and is expected to spend his life in prison as New Zealand has no death penalty. Dozens of relatives of the deceased have begun arriving from around the world, some hoping to take bodies back with them. The start of funerals should help ease pressure from Muslim families who have complained that investigations have delayed the handover of victim bodies, preventing the speedy burials prescribed under Islam. New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said authorities needed to identify victims conclusively to avoid hindering the prosecution, but added that the majority of remains were to be given to families on Wednesday. In a rambling manifesto, Tarrant had said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke religious conflict between Islam and the West. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday condemned what he called highly offensive comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warning that he would consider all options in reviewing bilateral relations. Erdogan, while campaigning for local elections, presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, a blood-drenched World War I battle. Morrison said he had asked for the comments to be withdrawn. Philip Arps on Wednesday became the second person charged in New Zealand with sharing the gruesome livestream video of the deadly attack. Arps, 44, who was arrested the day before, was charged with two counts of distributing objectionable material under the Films Act and was remanded in custody after appearing in Christchurch District Court. A teenager appeared in court earlier this week on the same charge. Following the shooting, New Zealanders have begun answering government appeals to hand in their weapons. John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton, said it was an easy decision, tweeting: We dont need these in our country. December Fri 10: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. 22.00. Xmas lunch. Tel: 0191 691 7090. Fri 10: Zoe Gilby Trio @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Fri 10: Secret Night Gang @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Fri 10: Jack Logan (replacement for Alter Ego) @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Sat 11: Paul Skerritt @ Newcastle Central Station. 11:00am. On the concourse. Sat 11: Life Drawing & Live Jazz @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Lindsay Hannon & Martin Douglas. Book via: www.cobaltstudios.co.uk. Sat 11: Boys of Brass @ Branding Villa, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Sun 12 Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. Sun 12: Musicians Unlimited @ South Durham Social Club, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Sun 12: Hot Club du Nord @ Hurworth Grange. 2:30pm. Festive Special! SOLD OUT! Sun 12: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Stockton Globe. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co. Sun 12: Foundry Jazz Ensemble @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm. Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Sun 12: Sue Ferris Quintet (Musicians Unlimiteds Xmas Party) @ South Durham Social Club, Hartlepool. 4:00pm. Tickets: 6.00. Sun 12: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Sun 12: Vieux Carre Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 7:00pm. Sun 12: Larrys Brass Band @ The Vigilant Inn, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. Brass band playing Xmas tunes! Sun 12: corto.alto @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Sun 12: Under the Surface @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 10.00 adv., 12.00. door. Mon 13: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Mon 13: 6th Street Swing w Calvert & the Old Fools @ St Thomas Aquinas Church, Darlington. 7:00pm. 5.00. Swing dance (social dancing) night. Mon 13: Stuart Fowler Quintet plays Art Blakeys album Moanin + jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm. 5.00. Tue 14: Harry Keeble & Friends @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm. Keeble (tenor sax); Dean Stockdale (keyboards); Paul Grainger (bass); John Bradford (drums). Wed 15: Vieux Carre Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Wed 15: Paul Skerritt @ Stack, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. From 5:00pm. Wed 15: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00-9:30pm. In the bar. Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Thu 16: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. 22.00. Xmas lunch. Tel: 0191 691 7090. SOLD OUT! Thu 16: Maine Street Jazzmen @ Sunniside Social Club, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Thu 16: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm. The annual Templeton Prize, which recognizes outstanding contributions to "affirming life's spiritual dimension," was awarded Tuesday to Brazilian Marcelo Gleisera theoretical physicist dedicated to demonstrating science and religion are not enemies. A physics and astronomy professor whose specializations include cosmology, 60-year-old Gleiser was born in Rio de Janeiro, and has been in the United States since 1986. An agnostic, he doesn't believe in Godbut refuses to write off the possibility of God's existence completely. "Atheism is inconsistent with the scientific method," Gleiser told AFP Monday from Dartmouth College, the New Hampshire university where he has taught since 1991. "Atheism is a belief in non-belief. So you categorically deny something you have no evidence against." "I'll keep an open mind because I understand that human knowledge is limited," he added. The prize is funded by the John Templeton Foundationa philanthropic organization named after the American Presbyterian who made his fortune on Wall Street, and who set on "seeking proofs of divine agency in every branch of science," as The Economist put it. Gleiser joins Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and dissident Soviet author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as recipients of the prize, first awarded in 1973. At 1.1 million ($1.5 million), the prize money well surpasses that of the Nobels. The physicist focuses on at making complex subjects accessible. He has written on climate change, Einstein, hurricanes, black holes, the human consciencetracing the links between the sciences and the humanities, including philosophy. The author of five English-language books and hundreds of blog and press articles in the US and Brazil, Gleiser has also explored in depth how science and religion both try to respond to questions on the origins of life and the universe. "The first thing you see in the Bible is a story of creation," he said. Whatever your religion, "everybody wants to know how the world came to be." This fundamental curiosity unites science and religion, though each provides very different answers: Science has a methodology, where hypotheses are eliminated. "Science can give answers to certain questions, up to a point," Gleiser pointed out."This has been known for a very long time in philosophy, it's called the problem of the first cause: We get stuck," the physicist, a father of five, said. "We should have the humility to accept that there's mystery around us."So, what does he think of people who believe that the Earth was created in seven days? "They position science as the enemy ... because they have a very antiquated way of thinking about science and religion in which all scientists try to kill God," he said.On the other hand, he accuses the "new atheists" of doing a disservice to science by making an enemy out of religion: notably British scientist Richard Dawkins -- who called for the arrest of Pope Benedict XVI over pedophilia in the Catholic Church -- and the late journalist Christopher Hitchens, who criticized Mother Theresa. For Gleiser, who grew up in Rio's Jewish community, religion is not just about believing in God: it provides a sense of identity and community "At least half of the world population is that way," he said. "It's extremely arrogant from scientists to come down from the ivory towers and make these declarations without understanding the social importance of belief systems." "When you hear very famous scientists making pronouncements like ... cosmology has explained the origin of the universe and the whole, and we don't need God anymore. That's complete nonsense," he added. "Because we have not explained the origin of the universe at all." Wednesday, March 20, 2019 The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Tri-County Hearing Panel imposed a 48-month suspension of an attorney convicted of criminal offenses. 62CBS Detroit reported A Huntington Woods attorney has pleaded guilty to fraud charges in what investigators say was a scheme involving a medical marijuana business. The U.S. Attorneys office says 48-year-old Robert Gross told investors that the $2 million they would give him were going to be used for a medical marijuana business and equipment. However, Gross used the money to gamble in Las Vegas. The investors involved in this incident included several clients of his law practice. Gross also admitted to creating fraudulent documents as part of the scheme that included falsely-notarized documents and a false net worth statement that he understood would be used in an attempt to secure additional funds from investors. As with all financial scams, the victims in this case received promises of hefty profits, but they were the ones who ended up paying the price, Steve Francis, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations Detroit, said in a statement. As todays plea agreement clearly demonstrates, HSI special agents and our partners are committed to holding perpetrators of financial crime accountable and making every effort to ensure victims receive justice. As part of the plea, Gross will have to pay back more than $3.5 million in restitution to the victims. (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2019/03/the-michigan-attorney-discipline-board-imposed-a-48-month-suspension-of-an-attorney-convicted-of-criminal-offenses-62cbs-re.html Brazilian physicist and astronomer Marcelo Gleiser has won the 2019 Templeton Prize, worth $1.4 million. He is being recognized for combining science and spirituality in his work. Gleiser, 60, is the first person from Latin America to win the Templeton prize. The award honors a living person who has done much to uphold or affirm lifes spiritual dimension, the John Templeton Foundation said on Tuesday. The group is based in the United States. Gleiser is a professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He has written best-selling books and appeared on numerous television and radio shows. He often talks about science as a spiritual quest to understand the creation of the universe and life on Earth. Gleiser writes that science is a human creation that comes from the desire to learn that people have had for thousands of years. To Gleiser, science expresses our desire to make sense of the world and to know our place in the big scheme of things. Sadly, he says, people do not often see science in that way. Gleiser says that when science attempts to find out the nature of reality, it joins religion and philosophy as one of the three pillars of human existential questioning. The Templeton was started in 1972 by the famous investor John Templeton. People who won it in the past include the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. In 2018, King Abdullah II of Jordan won the prize. On learning he had won, Gleiser said in a statement, I will work harder than ever to spread my message of global unity and planetary awareness to a wider audience. Gleisers family was influential in Rio de Janeiro, where he was born. He went to school in Brazil and Britain. He joined Dartmouth Colleges physics and astronomy department in 1991, the college said. It added that Gleiser studies the relationships between what he calls the physics of the very large and the physics of the very small to learn about the beginning of the universe. As well as looking into the beginning of life on Earth, he also is interested in the possibility of life beyond Earth, the college said. Im Jill Robbins. Andrew Hay reported on this story for Reuters. Jill Robbins adapted this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story affirm v.say something is true in a confident way dimension - n. a part of something quest n. a long and difficult effort to find or do something scheme of things n.the way things are organized or happen in a particular situation, or the way someone wants them to be organized pillar n. a solid support for a structure existential n. concerned with existence, especially human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism awareness n. concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development What do you think about the purpose of science? Do you feel it helps you to understand your life? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. American company Boeing, the worlds biggest manufacturer of airplanes, hopes its best-selling Boeing 737 MAX will soon return to the skies. That hope seems unlikely. Airline companies and flight safety officials around the world ordered the 737 MAX grounded after two of the planes crashed. On Wednesday, new information was released about the minutes leading up to the crash of a Lion Air passenger jet last October. The jet came down in the Java Sea shortly after leaving Jakarta, Indonesias capital. The Reuters news agency says the new information appears to show the plane had a serious flaw. Experts believe the planes automated system may have forced the nose of the aircraft downward. They said this appears to have caused both the Lion Air crash and the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on March 10. The two crashes killed 346 people. The automated system attempts to prevent the plane from stalling on takeoff. Flight safety experts say neither crash investigation is complete. They add that actions of crew members and their training will also be looked at closely. At Boeings headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, officials have promised to quickly release a new version of computer software for the 737 MAX. However, officials in Europe and Canada will want to test it themselves, instead of depending only on U.S. approval. Investigators continue to examine the black box data recorder from the most recent crash. Reuters has learned that the black box on the Lion Air flight showed the captain tried to get information from a 737 MAX handbook as he lost control of the plane. For nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down, the report showed. The captain fought to climb, but the automated system continued to push the nose down. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash want to know how and why a computer ordered the plane to dive. They believe it was because of a sensor that did not work correctly. They also want to know if pilots had enough training to control the jet. It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75, said someone with knowledge of the cockpit recording. So you panic. U.S. credibility damaged Boeing has said there is a documented way for dealing with the problem. It also said the pilot and co-pilot are supposed to understand the process. A different crew on the same plane the night before had the same problem, but solved it after running through three checklists. Bloomberg reported that the crew members got help from an off-duty pilot, who was on the same flight. The crew members apparently did not explain the problem or its solution to the next crew, investigators found. Those findings were released in November. Boeing must wait for several investigations before the 737 MAX can return to the sky. In the past, Europe and Canada would have accepted the findings of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Now they will seek their own answers. Our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged, wrote Chesley Sullenberger. He is the American pilot who became famous 10 years ago after landing a jet on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people on the plane. Aviation officials want to be sure of Boeings new automated control system. They also need to know that pilots are fully trained and prepared to deal with problems. The FAA said its robust processes and its cooperation with the aviation community were important to safety worldwide. Voice recordings In Ethiopia, experts were examining the in-flight recording of the captain and first officer of the Ethiopian Airlines flight . As with the Indonesia flight, they radioed control problems shortly after takeoff and asked to turn back. They struggled to get their plane up before it hit the ground. However, experts say every accident is a mix of human and technical events. For now, more than 350 MAX aircraft are grounded worldwide. Boeings plans to sell nearly 5,000 others are on hold. The 737 MAX entered service in 2017. I'm Jonathan Evans. And I'm Ashley Thompson. The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ____________________________________________________________ Words in this Story flaw n. a small weakness or problem stall v. to stop suddenly because of a problem panic n. a state or feeling of extreme fear that makes someone unable to act or think normally checklist n. a list of things to be done credibility n. the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest aviation n. the business of flying airplanes or helicopters robust adj. strong and healthy As climate change becomes more widely taught in American classrooms, some politicians are fighting for lessons to include information outside of usual scientific theories. A lawmaker from Connecticut wants to remove climate change from state science lessons. A legislator in Virginia worries that teachers are passing on their opinions, not facts, on global warming to their students. And an Oklahoma state senator wants educators to be able to put forward other differing ideas on climate change without fearing job loss. Such efforts are becoming more and more common. The California-based nonprofit National Center for Science Education says more than 10 such bills have been proposed so far this year. That is more than the organization usually sees in a full year. It says the bills threaten the quality of science education in America. Many of the measures proposed so far in 2019 were designed by two advocacy groups: the Discovery Institute and the Heartland Institute. David Bullard, a Republican state senator from Oklahoma, is a former high school teacher. He proposed a bill based on suggested legislation from the Discovery Institute. Science teachers objected, however, and the bill did not move forward. Bullard told the Associated Press, You have to present two sides of the argument and allow the kids to deliberate. Scientists and science education organizations, however, reject the idea that there are two sides to the issue. You cant talk about two sides when the other side doesnt have a foot in reality, said University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles. More than 90 percent of the peer-reviewed studies and the scientists who write them say climate change is a human-caused problem. An international group of Nobel-winning scientists has repeatedly published reports describing the science behind climate change. The scientists explain how the world is likely to pass a level of warming that an international agreement calls dangerous. Last year, the U.S. government issued a detailed report saying that climate-related threats to Americans physical, social and economic well-being are rising. Classroom teachings on global warming differ widely from state to state. However, climate change and the ways humans are changing the planet are central subjects in the Next Generation Science Standards. Nineteen American states and the District of Columbia use the standards. Twenty-one other states use some of the materials. Some people who reject widely accepted climate science have called the debate an issue of academic freedom. James Taylor is with Heartland, a group that dismisses climate change. He said Heartland supports inclusive classroom discussions on the issue. In 2017, the group sent thousands of science teachers copies of a book called Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming. Now, Heartland is more directly targeting its message to students. It is planning to publish a guide this year that says arguments linking climate change to extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes are not correct. Taylor said, Were very concerned the global warming propaganda efforts have encouraged students to not engage in research and critical thinking. The Discovery Institute has offered model legislation. It says teachers should be permitted to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of evidence connected to global warming as well as evolution. Some states have passed similarly written measures in the past, including Tennessee in 2012 and Louisiana in 2008. In other states, Discovery has urged legislators to consider unofficial resolutions in support of giving teachers freedom to show support for critical thinking on dividing issues. Lawmakers in Alabama and Indiana passed such resolutions in 2017. Discovery officials did not answer a request for comment from the Associated Press. Florida state senator Dennis Baxley, a Republican, is supporting legislation that would permit schools to teach alternatives to disputed theories. There is really no established science on most things, youll find, Baxley said. Although many details about climate science are hotly debated among scientists, it is well established that global warming is real, human-caused and a problem, said scientist Chris Field. He is director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Field said, When people say we ought to present two sides, theyre saying we ought to present a side thats totally been disproven along with a side that has been fundamentally supported by the evidence. I'm Caty Weaver. And I'm Ashley Thompson. The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. Quiz: School Science Lessons Targeted by Climate Change Doubters Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story allow - v. to permit deliberate - v. done or said in a way that is planned or intended : done or said on purpose peer review - n. a process by which a scholarly work (such as a paper or a research proposal) is checked by a group of experts in the same field to make sure it meets the necessary standards before it is published or accepted academic - adj. of or relating to schools and education engage in - phrasal verb. to do (something) encourage - v. to make (someone) more likely to do something evolution - n. a theory that the differences between modern plants and animals are because of changes that happened by a natural process over a very long time fundamentally - adv. at the most basic level alternative - n. not usual or traditional The leaders of the Western Hemisphere's two largest economies are promising to create closer trade and military ties. American President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spoke to the press after they met at the White House. Trump promised American support for Brazil to join the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD). The 36-member group includes most of the worlds highly developed economies. Trump also suggested that Brazil join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO). Trump said for that to happen, however, he would "have to talk to a lot of people." One reporter on Tuesday asked Trump if a United States military intervention in Venezuela is possible. "All options are open," Trump answered. He said that the United States has yet to order the most extreme restrictions on Venezuela. In the oil-rich country, there is no food, water or air-conditioning, Trump said. Bolsonaro added, "People are starving to death "We need to put an end to this," he said. Earlier Tuesday, the United States and Brazil signed an agreement to support American space launches from Brazil. The U.S. State Department says the deal will ensure the right treatment of sensitive technology in line with U.S. policies and laws. The two countries have never had especially close relations. Brazil has traditionally been concerned about American influence in Latin America. But now the leaders of both countries are linked by shared concerns. These include the crisis in Venezuela, Cuba's involvement there and the possible threat from China's rising influence on politics in South and Central America. Im Caty Weaver. Steve Herman reported this story for VOA News. Caty Weaver adapted his report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story option - n. the opportunity or ability to choose something or to choose between two or more things For years the Italian city of Venice has been struggling with a few concerns. Piazza San Marco, also known as Saint Marks Square, is often flooded. Venices waterways require repairs. But, by far, the biggest problem is the growing number of visitors to the city. So city officials have decided to require all visitors to pay a fee to enter Venice. The money will help to pay for cleaning and other services that help to keep the city beautiful. Overnight tourists already pay a tax that is added to the cost of their hotel stay. The new fee will be required of tourists who come to the city for a few hours or for one day. Venices Mayor Luigi Brugnaro explained the decision to international media during a visit to Rome last week. The mayor said that officials want to defend the city for those who live there. Venice is a marvel of the world and only in this way can it be saved, he added. Brugnaro added that the fee process will be experimental at first. A one-day visit will cost about $7. City officials have yet to decide when the fee collection will begin. The money will be collected by transport companies that bring the tourists to Venice. The city will set up cameras for individuals arriving in private cars. And there will be fines for those who do not pay the fee. Students, some workers and children under the age of six will not have to pay. Naturally, anyone born or living in Venice is exempt. In January 2020, the cost of the visitation fee will not be fixed. It will instead be based on how many tourists are visiting Venice on a given day. City fathers hope this will prevent the overcrowding that often comes with large numbers of tourists. Some people living in Venice say they do not believe the fee plan will work. Lawyer Roberta Pierabon said it will be impossible to collect the money from everyone who visits the city. Visitors arrive from all sides, she said. She noted that Venice is an island and you reach it on water. She does not believe tourists can be controlled and added that she disapproved of the plan. Other Venetians like the idea. They say it will make tourism less aggressive. Michele Tessari often works with tourists on transport. He said Venetians would like a more sophisticated form of tourism. They want fewer people who come into the city for "eat-and-run" tourism and the entrance fee will help. Tessari says locals no longer want to see tourists eating on the bridges of Venice. Venetians love their city and know it will never stop appealing to visitors. Venice is so special, they say, that it belongs to the whole of humanity. Im Jill Robbins. VOAs Sabina Castelfranco reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. The editor was George Grow. Have you visited Venice? Would you pay a fee to visit there? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story marvel adj. wonder fee n. a cost to do something exempt adj. not required to do something that others must do sophisticated adj. having or showing a lot of experience and knowledge about the world and about culture, "There seems to be hope, after all." The May 13, 2019 elections are being widely seen as typical of the substandard electoral exercises to which this country has become accustomed. Candidates cavorting on stage, debateless campaigns, recycled and over-the-hill figures and assorted other second-rate personalities are, during this campaign season, filling the electoral landscape, as they have done over the years. To the frustrated Filipino voter there seems to be no saving grace. But there is one. That saving grace is the presence in the list of candidates for the top national and local positionSenators, Representatives and governorsof young men and women of very high quality. Imbued with a desire to make Philippine democracy work better and to raise the level of governance in this country, they have dared to enter the election ring and challenge the political status quo. In the 2019 elections these intrepid young men and women are numerous, but I have chosen to throw the spotlight on three. They are Juan Fidel Nograles, who is running for Representative of the Second District of Rizal; Jessica Jane Villanueva, who is running for governor of Negros Oriental; and Vico Sotto, who is running for mayor of Pasig City. These three magnificent young Filipinos are all in their thirties. Fidel Nograles has come to the voters of the Second District of Rizal with excellent professional credentials. He was Rizals assistant provincial administrator until the time that he filed for his certificate of candidacy. Prior to that, Fidel Nograles was an assistant secretary in the Office of the President of the Philippines and a court attorney in the office of Supreme Court Justice Martin Villarama Jr. In addition, he has been a professor at a number of leading law schools and has been a legal practitioner. Fidel Nograles has a Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo Law School and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University.Fidel Nograles has written articles on a broad range of legal subjects. These have included illegal searches and seizures, ASEANs responsibility for the protection of sovereignty over natural resources, cost recovery mechanisms, determination of the nationality of a corporation sole, Executive legislation and defining capital under the Constitution. At Ateneo he headed a project for the Teehankee Center for the Rule of Law, and at Harvard University he was the editor of the International Law Journal. Jessica Ikay Villanueva, is not without politics in her DNA: she is the great-granddaughter of pre-Commonwealth Senator Hermenegildo Villanueva. Ikay Villanueva was a member of the Provincial Board of Negros Oriental, representing the First District at the time she decided to throw her hat into the gubernatorial ring. Prior to that, Ikay Villanueva was a member of the staff of First District Representative Josy Limkaichong and a three-term municipal councilor. Young Ms. Villanueva has thrown the gauntlet at the re-electionist governor, who got to his present post upon the deaths, in quick succession, of the then-governor and the then-vice governor. Apart from her intelligence, industry and forceful personality, Jessica Villanueva has in her favor the fact that her opponent is facing a graft charge in the Office of the Ombudsman. A decision from that office before May 13, 2019 would enormously help Jessica Villanuevas candidacy. The third young candidate I have chosen to feature in this column is Vico Sotto of Pasig City. The son of show business parentscomedian Vic Sotto and actress Coney Reyesthis young man has a tough fight on his hands. He is running against re-electionist mayor Bobby Eusebio, a member of a family that has held the Pasig City mayorship for the last 27 years. Vico Sotto was a city councilor until he filed his certificate of candidacy. Is Vico Sotto daunted by the fact that he is taking on someone surnamed Eusebio? If he is, he does not show it. Indeed, he is quite sanguine about his chances. He thinks that this time around the people of Rizals former capital will finally say Enough is enough and elect someone who is not a Eusebio. Who knowsVic Sottos son might just be the man who will put a non-Eusebio in the Pasig City mayors office. Fidel Nograles, Jessica Villanueva and Vico Sottothree young Filipinos who, together with other worthy young candidates in this coming elections, hopefully are the future of Philippine politics. "It's no surprise that Metro Manila's water requirements have grown to oceanic proportions." The present water shortage, the worst to hit Metro Manila in many years, directly affects an estimated six million people in the east zone. In a television interview last Thursday, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Chief Regulator Patrick Ty said that blame for the crisis could be laid at governments door. Its our fault, he said. Its the government because the Kaliwa Dam, Laiban Dam has been proposed since the Marcos time and due to lot of oppositions and accommodations for the IPs [indigenous people], from the informal settlers, from this leftist group, church group, these projects keep on getting moved. He also admitted that concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad have been clamoring for other water sources since 2007. In November last year, the two water suppliers were quoted in media as advocating for the construction of the New Centennial Water Source Project or Kaliwa Dam in Quezon Province, which can supply 600 mld. According to some sources, the project will cost P12.1 billion, with 85 percent to be funded by a loan from China and 15 percent to be shouldered by MWSS. Information on the MWSS website puts the project cost at P18.724 billion. Its clear the two water companies have been aware of the water source problem for at least 12 years, but politics and other related factors have gotten in the way of constructing the proposed projects that could have forestalled the current water shortage. Its sickening that millions are going without the baths and washing so dear to Filipinos, a cleanly people, all because past government administrations were indecisive or incompetent. Its laudable that this current administration is finally proceeding with the stalled project, but it is galling to be beholden to China yet again, given its militaristic stance in the West Philippine Sea. In any case, work on Kaliwa Dam will not be completed until 2023. Thats rather too long for people to wait for a steady and reliable water supply.San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang recently offered to share the companys untapped water allocation of 140 million mld from Angat Dam via SMCs Bulacan Bulk Water Treatment Plant. He said the water can be delivered in tanker trucks to refilling stations in affected areas. This tactic can be used until the end of the El Nino, around four months or so. But the logistics to carry out this plan will be a nightmare, involving 14,000 truck trips per day using 10-kiloliter (kl) tankers, or 7,000 trips per day using 20-kl tankers according to Inquirer.net. Should the government approve this scheme, expect the already bad traffic to worsen on the routes to be taken by these trucks. Its no surprise that Metro Manilas water requirements have grown to oceanic proportions. Condominiums and smaller residential buildings are sprouting like mushrooms, many with the capacity to house thousands of people. All put together, they could house millions. Looking into the near future, congestion in the metro will grow much worse. Along with finding alternate sources of water to end this shortage, government and businesses should also look into moving out of the metro and into the outlying southern and northern provinces that are already bedroom communities for employees working in Manila. Smaller companies, particularly those owned and run by millenials, are disrupting the traditional patterns by locating outside of Manila or adopting work-from-home. For instance, Kezar Innovations, a profitable technology startup, is based in Tanauan, Batangas, for its affordable rent and light traffic, and because most of its team members live in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon. Meanwhile, a content development company based in Las Pinas operates totally online. The writers and other creatives they hire work from home or a nearby coffee shop or internet shop, sending in their assignments via email. Whether based in Cavite or Bulacan or even Jolo, they can work, as long as they have a stable Internet connection. It might be that the employers and employees will never meet each otherbut the work gets done and people make a living. If the water shortage werent bad enough, word is that there could be cuts in the electricity supply as well. With summer upon us, water and power shortages will lead to ill health among the population, as well as tremendous losses for businesses and disruptions in service of hospitals, fire stations, and the like. Construction and other activities will be delayed or impeded. If this administration wants to leave a legacy of accomplishments, it had better address these issues immediately, perhaps by appointing a czar as was done back in the day, someone who would devote all their time and attention, and governments resources, to solving a specific problem. Meanwhile, best of luck to everyone working to bring water back to the east zone. May those in the waterless areas soon enjoy regular baths again. * * * *stands at podium* I would like to thank rubbing alcohol, wet wipes, and micellar water for keeping me fresh and clean during this totally preventable water crisis. / Particularly during my sojourns in South Africa, it may not be possible for me to perform the moderation function speedily. I regret the necessity of moderation but it has been rendered inevitable by the behaviour of a particular commentator whose contributions will always and without exception be rejected. No correspondence will be entered into regarding moderation decisions. Readers are invited to comment on blog posts. All comments require to be pre-moderated by me, and I shall reject all (a) that are not related to the Lockerbie disaster or (b) that fail to meet my -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- standards of courtesy towards other contributors. Comments will not be rejected simply because I disagree with them or because I, or other contributors, find them irritating. But comments will be rejected if they distort or misrepresent the evidence; are defamatory; or if they risk embroiling me, as publisher, in defamation proceedings. I am perfectly relaxed about being sued in respect of material which I personally have posted -- but not in respect of material that others wish to post as comments and which, in any case, I often strongly disagree with. Since the implementation of the Non-mandatory Central Provident Fund System on January 1, 2018, 136 employers have joined the joint provident fund scheme. Of this number, social service organizations account for approximately 70 percent, and the rest include public entities, gaming, hotels, restaurants, education, finance, retail, medical and other commercial organizations. A total of approximately 40,000 residents have participated in the individual provident fund scheme. Last week, the Macau government extended gaming concessions for MGM China and SJM Holdings until 2022. SJM Holdings submitted its application to join the non-mandatory central provident system, which has already been approved, the Social Security Fund (FSS) said yesterday. For the extension of the concessions, the two gaming operators are required to join the citys non-mandatory central provident fund system and to establish what is termed a labor creditors rights protection fund which is encouraged among the citys employers under local legislation passed in 2015 within three months from the date of the signing of new contracts. Regarding the number of employees who benefit from SJM joining the fund, FSS said that it is still not the deadline to submit the number of employees as employees are still deciding whether or not join the fund. MGM has also submitted the application form but is preparing more documents for FSSs approval. According to FSS, other gaming operators have expressed their willingness to join the fund. The second-tier Non- mandatory Central Provident Fund System, which came into force on January 1, 2018, aims to strengthen the social protection for the residents of the Macau SAR in their old age and to complement the existing social security system. Vice-president of FSS Administration Council Chan Pou Wan said that in the fourth year of the implementation of the second-tier, the government will review the fund and will consider whether it needs to be upgraded to a mandatory fund. Delicacy of Japanese techniques matches with the exotic flavors of Peru to wow discerning diners this season at MGM Cotais Aji. In the world of Nikkei cuisine, where Japanese concepts of gastronomy influence Peruvian cuisine, Mitsuharu Tsumura is one of the most well-known chefs who has brought his own ideas and passions from his country and introduced them to the world. To me, Peruvian cuisine is heavy metal music and Japanese cuisine is classical music. The two need to harmonize well together in a perfect combination. It is important that we understand the DNA of both cuisines, explains Perus star chef of the restaurant Maido in Lima, a Nikkei concept which ranked seventh in the San Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2018. For the new menu at MGM Cotais signature Nikkei restaurant, Aji, Tsumura, widely known as Chef Micha, works with his team, led by Chef Edwin Guzman Navarro and Manager Alexandre Santos. Their goal is to elevate the original menu to another level and feature their best efforts and creativity. Additional ingredients from Peru are imported to make the taste profile more complex. The result is an explosion of well-balanced flavors and aesthetics that surprises the senses. Umami takes center stage for creations like Causa: mashed potato filled with yellow chilli, king crab, and salmon roe layered on a bed of black rice cracker. For lovers of beef tartar, Ajis version of the raw beef delight is enhanced with sea urchin, quail egg, and truffle chapla. Mushroom fanatics will be thrilled by mushroom, shiitake, enoki and king oyster mushroom in broth. Lastly, the Rocoto, a dessert filled with coconut, cinnamon foam, chocolate praline and peanut ice cream, sweetens the palate with its diverse textures, making it the perfect conclusion to a rich meal characterized by sophisticated combinations and innovative artistry. After the tasting, the Times sat down with the Nikkei chefs for a conversation. Macau Daily Times (MDT) How do you work with Chef Edwin? Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura (MT) I communicate constantly with Edwin. For the first few months of the first year, I was more involved creatively. Now I give ideas, but I would say that 80 or 90 percent of the job is done by [Chefs] Edwin and Aldo. Actually, they come up with ideas and they ask me, what do you think about this? And we take the ideas from there. Edwin and Aldo know what kind of flavors I like. I also give him ideas. So its team work, but its mostly executed by Aldo and Edwin. MDT You talk through Facetime? MT No. We like to see each other, but not that much. Once a week is enough. [Laughs] Edwin has always been a very talented and creative chef. He worked with me in Maido. He won the best young chef [award] in Peru, the contest. Edwin has really developed a good relationship with everybody in the hotel, with the team, and outside the hotel. Also in Hong Kong. He is very easy going. When I came this time, I was surprised because everybody knows him and he knows everybody. I feel proud and very happy because before coming here, it was a challenge, but I think he has done very well and engaged with the people. MDT Can you talk about your experience in Macau? Chef Edwin Guzman Navarro (EGN) It was a challenge when Mitsuharu made the decision to choose myself and Aldo to come to Macau and develop the concept here in China. It was a challenge looking for products similar to the Peruvian ones and starting to cook with people who dont know anything about your cuisine and your flavors. But I can say the first year was very good also. We were tired but enjoyed the work. MDT How do you overcome the problem of importing products? EGN When the Hong Kong- Macau-Zhuhai Bridge was finished, we were thinking maybe the problem can be fixed because half of the products [can be found] in Hong Kong, but delivery is not easy. We have some ingredients flown directly from Peru, but its very expensive. Peruvian cuisine is developing in Asia, more in Hong Kong than in Macau, and the products are going to Hong Kong first and then sent to other places. We are still trying to find new suppliers. MDT And ingredients from Japan? EGN I went with Mitsuharu to Japan and tried the food there. I saw the ingredients, but was not very familiar with all of them. Actually, we always ask Mitsuharu how we should cook with those products that we never saw in our life. MDT What about the kitchen, is it to your liking? MT Its a dream kitchen. I said when I open this restaurant in Macau, it has to be the kitchen of my dreams. [MGM] hired a designer and everything, but I want to design it myself. So, I went back to Peru and I drew it there. I want this station here, pastry there, etc. Plunger here, walks here. So, its not a typical kitchen, it has many stations. Its like a fish bowl. MDT Is the new menu an elevation of the previous menu? MT We try to make something special for our guests. Engawa, for example, is top quality and a precious part of the fish, but most people dont know what it is. When I first went to Japan I didnt know about it because in Peru, we dont use it; we throw it away because its hard [to cook with]. But now theyre using it. Some 17 years ago or so, my boss in Japan said, Okay cut the fish. I cut the fish and left the Engawa and he got mad because I threw it away. Wheres the Engawa? Why not use that? That is the most expensive part of the fish. Thats worth the same amount as the whole fish, he added. Im never going to forget that. If you dont go very well into the bone of the fish, you can lose half of the Engawa. These tough parts of the fish are the best parts for cooking because theyre very hard when they are raw, but they are very tender when they are cooked. MDT Who are the clients? Alexandre Santos (AS) Expat and local Chinese community. They accept the food but it is very new for them. You need to really take an effort to explain what the dish is. After opening up the menu, we try our best to go to the table and start to explain. MT I was happy to hear that 80 percent or more of the customers of Aji are locals. AS In the beginning it was like the curiosity stage of the whole hotel. It was the first Peruvian and then Nikkei Restaurant in Macau and it was challenging then. [] I got a chance to go to Peru almost a year and a half ago. Chef Micha took me out to many different places, like even fish markets, a French market and different restaurants with different types of cuisine and this overcame a lot of basic challenges, for example, how we can explain the dishes to the guests. MDT Chef Micha, what is your goal for the future? MT I take life day-by-day. I dont like to plan, but I have to plan sometimes because thats the way my work is. Many people think Im very organized, but I am not. When I wake up every day, I try to make my day perfect. But when I plan something too much, it doesnt work. That has happened to me. So the best things in my life have happened without planning. So, I really dont know what Im going to do. One of the things I know Im going to do is that Im going to close my restaurant in Lima. Maido is going to close in approximately three or four more years. My concept in Chile and China are basically the only two concepts that are this elaborate. What I open in the future will be very casual. I am not looking to be in a ranking, just [to make] good food at a good price. I want to make my food more democratic. I want to open more concepts where everybody can go. That is happiness. We can make tasty food without it being so expensive. The future of food is informality. Do whatever you want. If you want to eat with your hands, eat with your hands. No dress code. Theres no better way to eat than the way you feel comfortable. I never wear suits, for example. If you tell me I have to dress up to go to a restaurant, I dont go. I never wear a shirt, thats the way I am. MDT When did you first hear the word Macau? MT The first time I heard the word Macau was when I was in college because I had two friends from Macau. That was 20 years ago. I said, Where are you from? Macau. Wheres Macau? Macau was not like [it is] now 20 years ago, so he talked about gambling. He said, We have casinos there and the Portuguese influence and this is Macau. So, from that time I always remembered Macau in that way and said, someday Im going to go. Text & review by Irene Sam Interview by Paulo Coutinho & Irene Sam The Court of First Instance said that it has received a total of 15 domestic violence cases since October 2016, and that eight of these cases have already been concluded, while the rest have had a trial date confirmed. The court said that four of the seen cases resulted in conviction and that the defendants were sentenced to between one and three years imprisonment. In two of the convicted cases, perpetrators were forbidden from contact with, harassing or tracking the victim. Three cases saw defendants convicted of ordinary wounding, with suspects sentenced to between 10 months to one year in prison. 45 greyhounds awaiting foster homes About 45 greyhounds are still living in the Canidrome awaiting foster homes, according to Jose Tavares, President of the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM). The IAM will provide temporary assistance to foster families, including the issuance of a temporary license. The IAM president also said that the Coloane animal specimen museum is preparing for public tender and is expected to open by the end of this year. Lawmaker asks about street market renovation Lawmaker Wong Kit Cheng questioned the government over the upgrading and renovation of street markets. Wong asked whether the government has a renovation plan for other markets besides the Taipa street market and the Red Market. The lawmaker pointed out that many vendors have complained about the dilapidation, inadequate facilities, and environmental hygiene problems of street markets. Wong urged the government to increase market cleansing works and to eliminate odors. She wants the government to renovate the surrounding areas of street markets to revitalize the community economy. Hong Kong shares the title of the worlds most expensive cities along with Singapore and Paris for the first time, according to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Hong Kong moved three places up from last year, joining the Lion City, which has been the worlds most expensive place to live for the last five years. The trio of cities sharing the top spot are 7 percent more expensive to live in than New York, according to the EIU, which compiles its list from a survey of 160 products and services across 93 countries. As cited in the report, the top 10 is largely split between Asia and Europe, with Singapore the only city in the top 10 that maintained its ranking from the previous year. In the rest of Asia, Osaka in Japan and Seoul in South Korea join Singapore and Hong Kong in the top 10. The Japanese city has moved up six places since last year, and now shares fifth place with Geneva, Switzerland. New York and Los Angeles reclaimed spots in the top 10 ranking in seventh and 10th respectively after slipping to 13th and 14th last year thanks to a weakening U.S dollar. The Japanese port city of Osaka was another re-entry, moving up six spots to number five. Seoul (joint seventh place), Copenhagen (also seventh) and Tel Aviv (10th) round out the top 10 which actually consists of 11 cities thanks to tied places. Weaker local currencies have pushed all five Australian and two New Zealand cities surveyed down in the ranking, the EIU said, accounting for Sydneys absence after it scraped into 10th position in last years report. Outside the top 10, the EIU said the cost of living in Chinese cities remains relatively stable, while Southeast Asian locations were moving up the ranks. One of the factors behind Asias strong showing at the top of the ranking is that some Asian cities are among the worlds priciest locations for general grocery shopping, according to the EIU. But while parts of Asia remain the most expensive places on Earth, the continent also makes several appearances at the bottom of the list. Within Asia, the best value for money has traditionally been offered by South Asian cities, particularly those in India and Pakistan, the EIU said. To an extent this remains true, and Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi and Karachi feature among the 10 cheapest locations surveyed. LV/Bloomberg "It's cruel, unnatural and grisly." The gruesome murder of church worker Christine Silawan is cruel, unnatural, and grisly in the extreme. This is perhaps the most terrible killing of an individual that has occurred in the Philippines, a country that has seen its share of reprehensible crimes, among them the RCA axe murder of five security guards in 1963 and the still unsolved Lucila Lalu murder and dismemberment case of 1967. Silawans murder is probably the first that exhibits relentless maniacal fury. Her body bore 30 stab wounds, likely inflicted in a frenzy. Most horrifying was the adept removal of some body parts, recalling the Jack the Ripper serial murders of 1888. A one million peso reward has been put up for the capture of Silawans murderer. The police say they have suspects in mind. The public is eager for a speedy solution to the case, but is also sharing the crime scene photos and making memes, a macabre activity. Focus must be on obtaining justice for Silawan and peace of mind for her family. Some people are calling for the resurrection of the death penalty, abolished during the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when in June 2006 she signed Republic Act No. 9346. The laws Section 1 is clear and unequivocal: The imposition of the penalty of death is hereby prohibited. In lieu of the death penalty, RA 9346 imposes the penalties of reclusion perpetua and life imprisonment. The law repealed all death-penalty related laws including RA 8177, the Act Designating Death by Lethal Injection that was passed in 1996 during the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, and implemented during the administration of Joseph Estrada in 1999, starting with the execution of rapist Leo Echegaray. In September 2006, Arroyo signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which commits members to the abolition of the death penalty within their borders. When President Rodrigo Duterte was campaigning in 2016, he proposed the revival of the death penalty. In December 2016 the House of Representatives approved a draft capital punishment bill.This prompted a rebuke from United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Raad Al Hussien, who wrote an open letter to both the House and the Senate saying "International law does not permit a State that has ratified or acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to denounce it or withdraw from it. He added that because there is no denunciation clause in the protocol, this [guarantees] the permanent non-reintroduction of the death penalty by States that ratified the Protocol. In short, given these laws, how can the death penalty be brought back, unless the government withdraws from the Second Optional Protocol and lawmakers repeal RA 9346? The latter could be unlikely because Arroyo, who as president was against the death penalty, is now the Speaker of the House. I conducted an informal poll and 90 percent of my respondents were all for death for Silawans killers and those who commit similar heinous crimes. They were enraged. An eye for an eye!tortureHowever, all my respondents expressed skepticism about how the punishment would be imposed. Foremost among their concerns was selective justice.applyone said.Said another,A lawyer remarked, The problem is the enforcement of the law because our justice system is flawed.because an execution is something that cannot be reversed. The police are already carrying out their own kind of death sentencewithout the benefit of due process. With the restoration of a death penalty law under the current social and political climate, miscarriages of justice are guaranteed to occur, with blame for a crime laid haphazardly in order to deliver results, with the poor being the obvious scapegoats. Moreover, capital punishment has not successfully deterred heinous crimes. There will always be someone wicked and evil enough to perpetrate ghastly and disturbing outrages against their fellow humans. **** The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, revealed that an agreement between the SAR and Portugal on the surrender of fugitives wanted by one of the two jurisdictions is expected to be signed this year. The government started negotiations with the Portuguese government regarding an agreement on the surrender of fugitives back in February and a consensus was achieved, with an agreement initiated. Last month, a local delegation headed by Chan negotiated the signing of the agreements for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with the Directorate-General of Justice Administration of Portugal. As cited in a statement issued by the Government Information Bureau, each side is currently working internally on procedures required for the official signing of the agreement. According to the secretary, the government will strive to expedite the process and anticipates the agreement could be signed this year. Chan previously clarified that the agreement will follow international directives that exclude extradition when the wanted person is in the territory where he or she is a national. With such directives, fugitives with Portuguese nationality who are wanted by Macau authorities in Portugal will not be surrendered and vice-versa. Meanwhile, issues regarding the surrender of sentenced persons from Macau to mainland China and from mainland China to Macau are still being negotiated. Extradition agreements with Macaus major political and economic partners, Hong Kong and Beijing, have long been a personal goal of Chan. Chan said that more time was required to prepare the initial negotiations for a China-wide agreement. Last month Chan was in Beijing to discuss such transfer agreements with her mainland counterparts following a suggestion from Hong Kong authorities that would allow extraditions to Macau, Taiwan and mainland China on a case-by-case basis. According to a statement issued by the Secretarys office, the visit was successful and achieved the results that both parties were hoping for. The two parties are set to study the different legal regimes and have said to have already created a contact mechanism for checking on progress. The Macau SAR currently has agreements for the transfer of convicted criminals with regions including Hong Kong, Mongolia and Nigeria, while plans are already in place to develop similar agreements with Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. LV Taiwan and the U.S. will hold talks later this year as part of upgraded efforts to counter Beijings growing pressure on the island for political unification. The talks planned for September in Taipei will include a senior official from Washington, de facto U.S. ambassador to Taipei William Brent Christensen said yesterday. Christensen didnt say whether the consultations are meant to provoke China or push it to make changes. The U.S. has formal diplomatic relations with China but maintains strong ties with Taiwan though the American Institute in Taiwan, its de facto embassy in Taipei, which has recently undergone a major upgrade in facilities. We believe its possible to have a good relationship with Taiwan and a good relationship with China at the same time, Christensen said at a news conference. Things we do with Taiwan should not be regarded as things that we are doing because we are seeking to provoke China or vice versa. President Donald Trump has elevated 40 years of informal ties with Taiwan through more open contacts and planned arms deals. Meanwhile, China and the U.S. are enmeshed in a dispute over trade, copyrights and tariffs, raising economic and political frictions to their highest level in a decade. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the Indo-Pacific Democratic Governance Consultations as the dialogue is termed would allow the two sides to grow closer and more direct in their cooperation [] to protect regional freedom and legal order. Taiwan has been democratically ruled for about 30 years. It allows freedom of expression and religion in contrast to Chinas tight restrictions under authoritarian Communist Party rule, and remains a close U.S. ally in the Asia-Pacific region. While China insists that Taiwan is its territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary, more than 70 percent of Taiwanese oppose Chinas goal of unification, the governments Mainland Affairs Council spokesman said in January. Many fear Beijing would eliminate Taiwans democratic institutions. While there was no immediate word from Beijing, China will most definitely protest the consultations, said Shane Lee, a political scientist at Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. China has used military flybys, aircraft carrier movements and diplomatic pressure as warnings to Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen took office there in 2016. Tsais party embraces greater Taiwanese independence from China, resulting in a strong backlash from China. Beijing has cut all formal ties with Tsais government, blockaded the islands participation in international forums and persuaded five countries to cut diplomatic ties with it. Washington switched its official recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. But Taiwan still counts the United States as its staunchest informal ally, particularly as a source of advanced weapons systems. Last year Trump signed a bill encouraging more high-level exchanges between the two governments, inflaming China. In another sign of stronger U.S.-Taiwan ties, Tsai is expected to stop over in U.S. territory once or twice during a trip starting tomorrow to visit diplomatic allies in the South Pacific. China has protested to the United States against her previous stopovers.Ralph Jennings, Taipei, AP Former Comoros President Azali Assoumani said leisure companies including Club Med may invest in the Indian Ocean archipelago, as he vowed to boost the tourism industry if he wins this weekends election. The luxury-resort operator and French hotel group Accor SA both plan to send prospecting missions to the country, Assoumani told reporters Monday in the capital, Moroni. Club Med and Accor didnt immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Assoumani, 60, stepped down last month to take part in the election after overseeing average economic growth of 2.4 percent, International Monetary Fund data shows. In addition to spending on the tourism industry, Assoumani said he plans to invest in agriculture if he wins the March 24 ballot to help raise the growth rate to 4 percent. Comoros is one of the worlds biggest producers of ylang ylang, an essence used in perfumes, which together with cloves and vanilla account for more than 70 percent of its exports. The former army colonel, who previously ruled from 1999 to 2002 and again for four years until 2006, is seeking another mandate after he won a disputed referendum in July that allowed him to alter the constitution. The changes extended presidential term limits and modified the system of rotating power between the archipelagos three main islands to every 10 years instead of five. It is most likely that I will be elected in the first round, said Assoumani, who first rose to power in a bloodless coup in 1999. Comoros Supreme Court has barred some of the main opposition candidates from participating in the vote, citing invalid paperwork. A country of about 820,000 people, Comoros has had more than 20 coups or attempts at seizing power since it gained independence from France in 1975. Faiza Soule Youssouf & Kamlesh Bhuckory, Bloomberg Top Democrats are urging the FBI to investigate a Trump campaign donor who is the founder and onetime owner of a spa that has been implicated in a human-trafficking ring. In a letter to the FBI, Democrats on the House and Senate judiciary and intelligence panels wrote that reports about Li Yang raise serious counterintelligence concerns. Yangs company claimed it could provide Chinese clients with a chance to mingle and take photos with President Donald Trump, along with access to his private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The Democrats said China has frequently used non-traditional intelligence collectors and businesspersons to compromise targets and asked for investigations into potential human trafficking, unlawful lobbying or campaign finance violations. Although Ms. Yangs activities may only be those of an unscrupulous actor allegedly selling access to politicians for profit, her activities also could permit adversary governments or their agents access to these same politicians to acquire potential material for blackmail or even more nefarious purposes, the Democrats wrote. The Democrats asked the FBI to investigate whether authorities were previously aware of Yangs activities, to what extent she has interacted with Trump and how she was invited to a Super Bowl party at his West Palm Beach country club, among other matters. Signing on to the letter were House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrats on the Senate intelligence and Judiciary panels. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York endorsed the request for an investigation in a joint statement, saying the facts in this situation are very concerning. An FBI spokesperson said the agency has no comment on the letter. The Miami Herald last week published a photo of Yang with Trump at the Super Bowl party and reported on the link between Yang and the spa where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution. Kraft was charged in late February and has pleaded not guilty. Yang, a former owner of the spa, wasnt charged in a multiagency anti-human-trafficking operation that resulted in 25 arrests, including Krafts, and shut down 10 Asian day spas in South Florida last month. None of the spas is registered to Yang or her family. A company Yang registered in 2017, GY US Investments LLC, provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace, according to a translation of the companys now-defunct website, which is mostly in Chinese. That has included, the website claims, access to presidential dinners and roundtables, White House events, photo opportunities and VIP activities including the opportunity to interact with the president, the Minister of Commerce and other political figures. The site also featured numerous photographs, including a picture of Trumps Mar-a-Lago club and photographs of Yang with Trump. Yang is described on the website as the companys Founder CEO, as well as a member of a Presidential Fundraising Committee and a Presidential club member. The FBI request comes as House Democrats have launched investigations into all aspects of Trumps White House, businesses and foreign financial dealings. Also Monday, a deadline passed for 81 people, businesses and organizations to respond to a broad document request issued by Nadlers Judiciary panel earlier this month. Without naming names, Nadler said in a statement that the committee has already received tens of thousands of documents from a large number of recipients. He said some have requested a subpoena before they are comfortable complying. It is my hope that we will receive cooperation from the remainder of the list, and will be working to find an appropriate accommodation with any individual who may be reluctant to cooperate with our investigation, Nadler said. Mary Clare Jalonick, Washington, AP "Less than four decades ago, Vietnam was ravaged by war." In a recent meeting of the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center where I represent the Philippines in the board, Dr. Kuo Ching Lin, who heads the Asia-Pacific Region, informed us that Vietnam is now the worlds largest producer and exporter of dragon fruit, known as pitaya in most Asian countries. Some 50,000 hectares in Vietnam have been successfully cultivated to the fruit in less than two decades. The fruit which is known to have anti-oxidant and other medicinal properties, is exported to 42 countries in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific regions. Taiwan has some 7,000 hectares devoted to dragon fruit, and almost all of that is locally consumed. Much as farmers would want to plant more and export the cash crop, there is a scarcity of land. I didnt realize until then that the demand for the fruit has become that big. It was only at the turn of the century that I first tasted the fruit, bland as it was then, in the breakfast buffet of a Hong Kong hotel. Todays dragon fruit peddled in Taipei markets are sweeter, juicier and reddish, rather than white, the result of constant technology upgrading. In our North, in Cagayan and La Union, some farmers have started planting dragon fruit and I am told, with very good results. I wonder: With tobacco a sunset industry as more and more are convinced of the deleterious effects of smoking on health, and taxes making the weed more and more expensive, how about a shift to dragon fruit? Or even bitter gourdwhich also has medicinal properties and can be exported after processing? Malunggay as well. And so many more non-traditional but high-value crops. Likewise, Vietnam is now the worlds second-largest coffee producer. And yet, less than four decades ago, the country was ravaged by war, which consumed the entire peoples energies. In 1975, just before the war ended, the countrys total production of coffee was just about 6,000 metric tons, consumed locally. Now Vietnam produces 1,650,000 metric tons of coffee, second to Brazil, which has been planting coffee since 1870. The South American giant harvests 2.6 million tons of coffee per year. That is a quantum leap of 275 times!Our neighbor to the south, Indonesia, produces some 660,000 metric tons, making it the worlds fourth largest producer, after Colombia and above that of Ethiopia where the coffee bean was first cultivated, and from where the habit was exported to the Arab countries, then Europe and eventually the whole world. While Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia and some African countries which produce smaller quantities of coffee are known for high-quality (for coffee aficionados, the right blend of bitterness and acidity, coupled with strong, nice aroma), Vietnam exports robusta, similar to our baraco, which is not as favored as the highland arabica, but has a greater market volume. It is also the type best preferred by instant coffee makers. Many of us think of Vietnams agriculture in terms of rice, which it exports to us by hundreds of thousands of tons each year. Vietnam is blessed with the existence of the great Mekong River, which flows from the Tibetan China highlands through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and empties into the China Sea, where it gets so wide and brings not only voluminous water but organically- fertilized topsoil to irrigate and enrich southern Vietnams paddies. But Vietnam through all the years of peace after the terrible North-South war where they fought no less than the mightiest armed force in the world, the US of A, has been single-mindedly diversifying its agriculture from mono-crop to many high-value crops such as coffee, rubber, tea, and yesdragon fruit. There is a lesson to be learned here for Philippine agriculture, which has been pursuing the quixotic dream of becoming self-sufficient in rice and devoting most of the budget towards it, but failed miserably in the process. We have parallelisms: The population of Vietnam is 96 million, ours is 106 million. Vietnam is slightly bigger in land area, 33 million hectares in all. But that is basically one contiguous whole that spans the entire eastern Indo-China, as against our 30 million hectares spread out through several thousand big and small islands. We have a bigger GDP than theirs, but they are fast catching up. In ASEAN circles, there used to be a category called the VMLC, referring to Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as the economies still catching up with the rest. But as foreign investments continue flooding Vietnam which has a purposive and almost single-minded obsession to catch up, the fear is that the V might soon be replaced by a P. And worry about Myanmar and Cambodia, which are also flexing economic muscles. In a small but significant effort to give our high-value crop cultivation a boost, Taiwans Council of Agriculture through the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, launched last Friday a demonstration button mushroom project in Baguio City, along with our Bureau of Plant Industry. The project aims to assist the Philippines with its button mushroom cultivation, local demand being quite high, as we continue to import the commodity which is highly prized, especially by the restaurant industry. The joint project, initiated last year through bilateral cooperation of MECO and TECO, will assist local farmers to generate more revenues from small plots of land and help create job opportunities because button mushrooms require a lot of manpower during harvest. Dr. Chen Junne-jih, who heads the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute himself attended the launch, along with DA Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan and BPI officials and TECOs Representative Michael Hsu with TECO Vice Chairman Gilbert Lauengco. Hopefully, the cooperation will bloom into other agricultural products, as well as in aquaculture, which should be a natural for our 7,107 islands. "Disunity derails progress and development." One of the worst traits of Filipinos is their lack of unity. This is often seen during elections, and when they are abroad. While immigrants from Asia to the United States or elsewhere have their own local districtsChinatown, for instance, or Little ItalyFilipinos have never had a Filipino town. This is the lament of every Filipino ambassador to the US. They try their best to unite Filipinos but they often fail. Sure, Filipinos get together with their own kind: Ilocanos, Kapampangans, Tagalogs, Bicolanos. In Los Angeles, for instance, where there are many Filipinos, there are no less than 162 organizations. I could not believe it, so I went to the consulate to verify. Believe it or not, there are even associations for almost every professionslawyers, doctors, engineers, dentists, plumbers, construction workers. Every year, there is a Miss Philippines in San Francisco, New York, LA, Chicago, and even in Houston! This is the reflection of a fragmented nation. Statistics show that Filipinos are now the biggest immigrants in the United States next to the Mexicans. They congregate mainly in Californiathe LA district. Here in the Philippines, this upcoming midterm elections can only show how disunited we are. Candidates for senator, for instance, rely mostly on their own bailiwicks like the Solid North for former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Gov.Imee Marcos. Mindanaoans will go for Bong Go and Bato dela Rosa. Even after elections, since Filipino candidates do not accept defeat, there will be protests galore. In this country, after all, there are only two kinds of candidatesthose who won, and those who were cheated. This disunity could be traced back to our tribal beginnings. History tells us that the United States considered the Philippines a problem because the Spaniards could not unite it. This is tragicit derails progress and development. This is why I am hopeful about the unification of Muslims under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Santa Banana, how can any president ever unite the Maranaos and the Maguindanaoans and the Tausugs?A united Philippines under a Federal system of government? Forget it.After listening to the congressional inquiry into the water shortage that hit the eastern zone of Metro Manila, I concluded that there was no real water crisis even after Angat Dams water level neared critical phases. The crisis was short-lived, even artificial. The fault and accountability did not only lie with the Ayala-led concessionaire Manila Water, but with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System that oversees the adequate supply of water. Manila Water has already accepted the blame and apologized. But this should not be enough. A provision for penalties for failure should be emphasized by Congress The accountability of MWSS officers is clear. It failed to do its job in regulating the duopoly of water concessionaires. The MWSS should be revamped for this failure. When the water crisis erupted, I said the government only seemed to act after the fact. Then again, what is new?President Duterte must be very happy these days. His favorite candidates Bong Go and Bato dela Rosa are already in the winning circle. Go, according to Pulse Asia, has overtaken some of the Senate reelectionists. I never doubted they would advance to this level, given how Duterte is campaigning for them. What worries me as a voter and a Filipino is that we do not need lackeys. We need independent senators to provide check and balance. My concern is that the President will continue to have the Senate under his thumb.Insiders at the Supreme Court say that the justices are equally divided on the unresolved petition against the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law. Petitioners say that the Constitution only recognizes two autonomous regions. But the BOL has already been ratified. Can the Supreme Court still do anything? "What will the President do if prosecutors come?" At 91, I cannot help reminiscing the chapters of my life. I recall that after obtaining my Bachelor of Arts in 1950 from the old Ateneo de Manila at the Padre Faura ruins, our teacher Jesuit priest Fr. James OShaughnessy asked me and my classmates to a meeting. It must be something important, I said to myself, thinking I was lucky to be included. Fr. James told us he knew of a woman who had visions of the Virgin Mary, and he would like us to see her. The woman, whose husband was serving a life sentence, said the Virgin told her to form cells composed of young graduates of exclusive schools to fight the growing threat of communism. At that time, the Hukbalahap was being infiltrated by the Mao Tse Tung type of communism under Luis Taruc. There were students from La Salle, St. Theresas, Assumption, Santa Escolastica and even the University of the Philippines. I had my doubts but I joined anyway because I truly believed fighting communism was a great cause. We formed what was called the Paco Club. It was at that time I entertained the idea of being a Jesuit missionary. Every product of the old Ateneo wanted to be one. As members of the Paco Club, we took a vow of celibacy and obedience. We had our early morning prayers, went to Mass every day, and said our night prayers too. It felt like we were getting ready for the priesthood despite the presence of beautifularound us. This in fact was the reason I volunteered to help with the Oblates publication The Mindanao Cross in Cotabato City. I recall that one of my missions was to promote awareness of the communist threat in the country. I took the occasion to meet with parish priests to organize youth movements against the Red Terror. In fact, during my first year in Cotabato City, I tried to organize a group similar to The Paco Club. But then, I met my future wife. She was an 18-year-old student of Philippine Womens University. I must have forgotten about my vow of celibacy because from then on, I wanted to get to know her better! After seeing her often during Mass, I mustered enough courage to approach her. May I walk with you? I asked.Suit yourself. Its a free country, was her reply. She was truly mature for her age. My visits were a good occasion to know her better. Unfortunately, Miss Trinidad Kapunan Capistrano had to leave for Manila to pursue her studies. She said she would transfer to UP. That ended my dream of being a priest. I could not stop thinking about Miss Capistrano. It was also my last year at Mindanao Cross because I was told I would teach at Ateneo High School. That at least gave me hope that I would see her again because Loyola Heights was near UP. After five years, she accepted my proposal of marriage. And what of Paco Club, you say? It died a natural death after Fr. James O Shaughnessy was transferred.If we were to believe the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia, only one opposition member will win the Senate raceformer Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. Not even reelectionist Bam Aquino will make it. The reasons are multi-faceted. I should know. I have been a journalist for almost 70 years. The Otso Diretso team is seen as a company of neophytes because their names are alien to the voting population. Indeed, elections have become popularity contests. That is why movie stars win. Another reason is that voters associate the opposition with the lackluster performance of the Aquino administration. This was partly why a lowly mayor from Davao rose to the presidency three years ago. I was hoping some of the opposition candidates I know would win. The Senate should be independent. We dont need lackeys of the Executive there.The Philippines has withdrawn from the International Criminal Court. President Duterte could not stomach being scrutinized by the international community for his war on drugs. ICC prosecutpr Fatou Bensouda said the ICC could still proceed with preliminary investigations into the killings. The Court, he said, retains its jurisdiction over these crimes. So the problem of Duterte is that he cannot stop the ICC from assuming jurisdiction. Will Duterte really barr ICC prosecutors from coming here to investigate? Whatever the President does might be a big problem for the country. Introducing The Main Index There are now over 43,000 individual posts here on A Light In The Darkness. They have all been individually added into Main Index categories. To get the full experience out of A Light In The Darkness and its very extensive library of items, covering virtually all things paranormal, supernatural etc ... we recommend that you flick down the Main Index, which runs down the right hand side of the blog page ... to find the indexed category in which the subject matter you seek is located. Alternatively, why not use long search bar you will find towards the top of the blog page ... ENJOY Mine-site Marcopper (Sta. Cruz, Marinduque). Photo: arkimx The House Committee on Natural Resources has endorsed for plenary approval a bill declaring the province of Marinduque a mining-free zone. Under Committee Report 1188, the panel, chaired by Cebu Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa endorsed the passage of House Bill 9019, a consolidation of two measures. The bill was principally authored by Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and his sister, MATA partylist Rep. Tricia Velasco-Catera. The Marcopper Mining Disaster has caused irreparable damage to the people and the province. The effects of the incident were so devastating that a United Nations assessment mission declared it to be a major environmental disaster, Velasco, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, said. He asked his colleagues to immediately pass the bill in order to protect and preserve the natural environment of Marinduque. Raising anew public concerns over the integrity of the decades-old mining facility. Partylist Representative Tricia Velasco-Catera For her part, Velasco-Catera said that justice remained elusive for the victims of the 1996 Marcopper mining disaster, when 1.6 million cubic meters of tailings were released along Makulapnit-Boac river system. Not a single centavo had been paid as compensation for what was tagged as the countrys worst mining disaster. Negotiations are still ongoing at present with Barrick Gold on the compensation of damages to the province and its people, but an acceptable deal for the victims still does not appear on the immediate horizon, she said. In 2005, the provincial government filed a $100-million class suit against Marcopper and the parent company Barrick Gold Corp. but the Nevada State District Court threw out the case a decade later. Velasco-Catera expressed concern that in early 2017, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) detected leaks in one of the abandoned dams of Marcopper Mining Corp., raising anew public concerns over the integrity of the decades-old mining facility. The constitutional right of the victims of the Marcopper mining disaster had been and is continuously being violated. It will be a rubbing salt in the wound if mining would be allowed to flourish once more in the province even before proper redress had been provided, she said. House Bill 9019 seeks to prohibit all forms of mining operations and activity, whether large scale or small scale, in Marinduque. The proposed law covers all mining operations and activities, including quarrying, within the territorial jurisdiction of the province of Marinduque. Violators will be penalized with six to 12 years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from P1 million to P10 million. The bill tasks the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) , in consultation with the provincial and municipal governments to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed Act. Source: Manila Bulletin/Charissa Luci-Atienza Also read: Credit: CC0 Public Domain A Baltimore-based research institute that focuses on brain disorders has partnered with a prominent local African-American clergy group to establish the nation's first research outfit aimed at closing long-standing racial disparities in research and in treatment, the groups announced recently. The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, an independent nonprofit institute in Baltimore, is working with the African-American Clergy Medical Research Initiative, which advocates for equitable funding and representation in research. Their African-American Neuroscience Research Initiative seeks to tackle a long-standing gap in brain research and research generallyminority groups are woefully underrepresented in basic research and trials involving humans, officials said. For brain disorders specifically, groups including African Americans make up less than 5 percent of research subjects. This is despite some genetic differences based on race and ethnicity and research that shows higher rates of serious mental health problems and diseases including Alzheimer's among African-Americans than those of European ancestry, officials said. "So far, personalized medicine has not really been for everyone," said Dr. Daniel R. Weinberger, director and CEO of the Lieber Institute, in a statement. "Through this initiative, we hope to build data sets about the brain that can be used by researchers globally, with the ultimate goal to develop new treatments for people of African ancestry." Weinberger said the research will ultimately help all people, not just African Americans, because understanding genetic diversity will help scientists devise more customized therapies and improve the effectiveness of treatments. Rev. Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway Sr., principal of the African-American Clergy Medical Research Initiative, said diversity in research was overdue. "My clergy colleagues and I have been studying the emerging science behind precision medicine and believe that this technology has potential for finding cures and treatments for diseases that uniquely affect African-Americans," said Hathaway, the senior pastor at Union Baptist Church in West Baltimore. "This revolution in medicine has largely left behind ethnic minority groups like African-Americans, and it is time to change this." Explore further Researchers find genetic clues to high rates of asthma in those of African ancestry 2019 The Baltimore Sun Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. "When crisis comes, nobody is to blame." The worst water shortage to hit Metro Manila in 500 years began on March 6, 2019 when the water level at the La Mesa Dam in leafy Quezon City hit the critical level of 69 meters (it was 68.62m on March 18, 2019). At that level, the Ayala-owned Manila Water, the concessionaire for the East Zone or the towns and cities east of EDSA, could no longer draw water from La Mesa, at the rate of 150 million liters per day. That meant water supply for the East Zone would be short by 150 MLD. It could supply only 1,600 MLD, the volume it was getting daily from Angat Dam which has plenty of water. Initially, Manila Water blamed El Nino weather phenomenon for the drop in water level at La Mesa. It was a lie. Angat Dam, which should also be affected by El Nino, is brimming with water. Water demand in the East Zone is 1,750 MLD. Manila Water gets 1,600 MLD from Angat and 150 MLD from La Mesa. But then La Mesa seems to be drying up, probably from too much extraction. Manila Water has been rationing water to the East Zone for two weeks since March 6. The rationing meant no water for thousands of households, from six hours to 20 hours. In some places like Mandaluyong and Pasig, households did not have a drop of water for several days, from four days to eight days. Affected people: At least 1.2 million. The severe rationing will last most of summer (June 21, 2019 to Sept. 23, 2019). Tropical humans die without water for three days. You can live without food for three weeks, and probably forever, without electricity, money, and politicians. But not water. It is 60 percent of your body. There is no substitute for drinking water. So you could imagine what happened to humans during those days, since March 6, when Manila Water could not render what it is bound to do, under its concession agreement with the government since 1997water pressure of 21 pounds per square inch, 24/7. So what is causing the water shortage in the East Zone? The Heavens [or El Nino] cannot be blamed for it, asserts Marikina Rep. Bayani Fernando, a civil engineer and himself a former chair of the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System in concurrent capacity as former secretary of public works. Fernando thinks the problem is technical and Manila Water is to blame. The company does not have pressure-regulated valves that can regulate the flow of water from its pipes, say from La Mesa to Marikina, La Mesa to Pasig, La Mesa to Quezon City and so forth, he explains. Such pressure-regulated valves are installed in LPG tanks with which one can regulate the flow of gas. Fernando uses a radio metaphor. Manila Water only has an on-and-off button but not a button to control the sound volume. Such lack is crucial. Fernando says that with pressure valves, Manila Water could have reduced water psi from 20 to 17 or even 16. Every one-point drop in psi is equivalent to 3 percent cut in water consumption; so a drop of three points (from 20 to 17) is 9 percentexactly the amount of water shortage, the Marikina solon says. At 16 psi, water can flow only up to the second floor, but not to the third floor but everybody will still have water.The issue then becomes one of incompetence and or mismanagement. As early as August 2018, Manila Water foresaw a water shortage, by 2020, at the earliest. But the company was delayed in constructing the Cardona reverse osmosis water treatment plant which would have produced 100 MLD of treated water coming from Laguna Lake (whose water is very difficult to clean). Manila Water began charging its subscribers for the Cardona plant in May 2016 even though it became operational, and only partly at that (at 24 MLD capacity) only in December 2018. Consumers were charged for a service that was not being delivered. Its highway robbery! exclaimed Sen. Panfilo Lacson at the Senate hearing on water Tuesday (yesterday). He demanded that Manila Water refund the money. Manila Water also wanted to revive 1,000 ancient wells to produce 100 MLD and secure 50 MLD of cross border water from Maynilada total of 150 MLD. Those efforts have yet to deliver water. At the House hearing on Monday (March 18), congressmen took turns demanding that Manila Water refund consumers for undelivered water. The MW contract is for water, at 20 psi, 24/7. In many places, no such water was available. Manila Water makes about P400 million a month in profits. The crisis has lasted for two weeks. So at least P200 million must be refunded consumers. This is just for undelivered water. What about for man hours lost while queuing up for non-existent water, for not coming to work for failure to take a bath, and for businesses shut down for lack of water? Or the precious spent on overpriced pails and plastic drums (their prices rose 50 percent)? Or treatment like dialysis for patients for whom such service is a matter of life and death? There is supposed to be a Kaliwa Dam to deliver 500 MLD, after five years. But the Chinese and the Japanese are still fighting over it and the government cannot make up its mind. To his credit, Manila Water president Ferdinand dela Cruz, a veteran marketing man, apologized for the supply deficit. He offered to resign but his priority, he said, is solve the water deficit. He may never resign. Over the next five years, according to World Bank studies, the water shortage is not only in Metro Manila, but nationwideunless $838 million (P43.5 billion) is invested annually in water supply. So far, nobody knows, where and how to get the money. Why? There are too many water bodies or agencies with no single agency in charge of anything integrated. So when crisis comes, nobody is to blame. Experiments with mice suggest that treatment with atorvastatin can attenuate adipose tissue remodeling, leading to rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy. Credit: Miguel Luiz Batista Junior / Scientific Reports Brazilian researchers have discovered that a drug regularly prescribed to control cholesterol can also be used to treat cachexia, or wasting syndrome, a condition characterized by rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy associated with extreme physical weakness. This condition is common among patients with chronic diseases such as cancer, heart failure and AIDS. The study has been published in Scientific Reports. "Our goal is to understand more comprehensively how cachexia develops and to explore the activity of drugs capable of slowing the process down," said Miguel Luiz Batista Jr., a professor at the University of Mogi das Cruzes (UMC) in Brazil and the principal investigator for the study. According to Batista, previous research has shown that a process of adipose tissue remodeling known as browning occurs in patients with cachexia and that browning significantly contributes to the rapid loss of weight and fat. Through experiments with mice, researchers at the Adipose Tissue Biology Laboratory of UMC identified a key protein in this process and showed that atorvastatin can attenuate its effects. The study was conducted in collaboration with scientists at Federal University of Minas Gerais and University of Maringa in Brazil and University of Massachusetts and Boston University in the United States. Funding was awarded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil (CNPq, an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications), Serrapilheira Institute, as well as FAPESP. Batista explained that white adipose tissue stores fat when surplus energy is available, while the main function of brown adipose tissue is thermoregulation and insulation. For this reason, in winter, it is important to eat more food or choose meals with a higher calorie content because brown adipose cells turn fat into body heat and regulate body temperature. Brown adipose cells are not the only cell type that can burn fat for thermoregulation. At times of intense cold, beige adipose cells may also go into action via the browning of white adipose tissue. The structure and function of the cells change during this process. They continue to store excess energy but prioritize fat burning to assist in thermoregulation. "In patients with cachexia, white adipose cells are transformed into beige cells. This is curious, since, in theory, the organism of a debilitated individual doesn't benefit from a reduction in fat reserves," Batista said. The physiological role and consequences of the browning process induced by cachexia are unknown. "This is one of our study's two major contributions," Batista said. TLR4 Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a protein that plays a key role in pathogen recognition, innate immunity activation and inflammatory responses. Because obesity, similar to cachexia, is associated with systemic inflammation, the authors of the study suspected that TLR4 might be linked to adipose tissue remodeling. "We set out to associate the action of TLR4 with cachexia," Batista said. In a mouse model, the researchers used both genetic ablation and pharmacological inhibition of a receptor similar to human TLR4. They next induced lung cancer in genetically modified mice (without TLR4) and in control wild-type mice (with TLR4). "We found that 28 days after the inoculation of cancer cells in their lungs, the wild-type mice with TLR4 had lost 12 percent of their body weight, a classic sign of cachexia," Batista said. Cachexia was less severe in mice without TLR4. "These animals lost less weight and muscle mass. They also lived longer, even though tumor growth was the same as in the control group. It's also important to note that no lung metastasis was detected among the genetically modified mice," Batista said. An analysis of adipose cells from the two groups showed that browning had occurred in the control mice with TLR4. This process likely led to accelerated weight loss."Adipose tissue was less altered in the genetically modified mice without TLR4. In other words, lack of the receptor significantly blocked the adipose tissue browning effect," Batista said. Atorvastatin Atorvastatin is an inexpensive drug widely used to control cholesterol. Research performed in recent years has described the anti-inflammatory effects of atorvastatin, including the downregulation of TLR4 gene expression. The authors of the study decided to use a preclinical model to determine whether atorvastatin affects the development of cachexia in wild-type mice with TLR4 in a similar manner to its effect on genetically modified mice without TLR4. They induced lung cancer in two groups of wild-type mice. In the group not treated with atorvastatin, tumors developed, and symptoms of cachexia were observed. In mice treated with atorvastatin, the result was even better than that in genetically modified mice without TLR4. "Treatment with atorvastatin proved effective in extending survival, attenuating adipose tissue remodeling and reducing tumor growth [by 49.7 percent] in comparison with a control group not treated with the drug. We showed that atorvastatin had a direct effect on the action of TLR4, which inhibited adipose tissue browning and reduced tumor growth," Batista said. "With regard to the prospects for treatment of cachexia, the results of the genetic and preclinical models were highly promising. We expect these results to encourage researchers to test the clinical use of atorvastatin in patients with cancer." In a vast majority of cases, cachexia is associated with the terminal stage of chronic diseases. In 20 percent of these terminal patients, cachexia is the cause of death. Among patients with pancreatic, lung and gastrointestinal tumors, cachexia is observed in 60 percent-80 percent of cases. "Cachexia is irreversible once established. In cancer patients, the development of cachexia usually shows that death is approaching. The patient's extreme debilitation almost always obliges the medical team to reduce medication or even to suspend radiation therapy or chemotherapy," Batista said. "The cancer doctor's priority isn't to treat cachexia but to attack the tumor. However, knowing the causes of this severe metabolic syndrome can help us discover drugs that attenuate its effects and mitigate its tendency to prevent the continuity of oncological treatment." Explore further Brown fat found to be at the root of cancer-related wasting syndrome More information: Felipe Henriques et al, Toll-Like Receptor-4 Disruption Suppresses Adipose Tissue Remodeling and Increases Survival in Cancer Cachexia Syndrome, Scientific Reports (2018). Journal information: Scientific Reports Felipe Henriques et al, Toll-Like Receptor-4 Disruption Suppresses Adipose Tissue Remodeling and Increases Survival in Cancer Cachexia Syndrome,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-36626-3 ames and Tara Fussell adopted three children from China, each with a unique heart condition. James and Tara Fussell were on a Caribbean cruise celebrating their 10th anniversary when they decided to give their son and two daughters another sibling. The girls were adopted from China, and by the time the couple stepped off the ship, they already had the adoption file for the boy who would soon join their family. While many American families adopt children from China, even multiple children, there's more to the Fussell family. Each of the three children they adopted had a heart condition. "These kids might have been born with a broken heart, but they are strong, and there's a light in them," Tara said. James, a firefighter in Orlando, Fla., and Tara, a podiatrist, had discussed adoption long before they even married. They often browsed the profiles of children on waiting lists. They'd been married for five years when their biological son, Jackson, arrived. Three years later, Tara saw online the profile of the girl who'd become their next child, Juliet. Juliet was extremely thin and tired easily. The cause was a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of her heart, which is known as a ventricular septal defect. A pediatric cardiologist told them it could be surgically repaired. Within a month of Juliet's arrival in the United States, it was. "We had a boy and a girl 10 months apart in age who got along fantastically," Tara said. "We thought we were done." A year later, Tara began browsing through adoption files. Once again, a little girl caught her attention. This child was very weak, and her skin had a distinctly bluish tint. She had tetralogy of Fallot, which affects blood flow through the heart and to the lungs, causing oxygen-poor blood to be pumped to the body. Unlike Juliet's condition, which proved relatively easy to correct, this condition would require multiple challenging operations. Tara sent the girl's file to James at work. He prayed about it all day. That night, he texted Tara: "What are we going to name her?" They chose Jade. "You could see the want in her eyes," James said. "When I looked at her, I could tell that she needed to be part of our family." Over 18 months, Jade endured two open-heart surgeries and numerous cardiac catheterization procedures. While she's doing much better and enjoys her kindergarten class, she struggles with speech and hearing. That hasn't impacted her spirit. "Jade wouldn't let us put her down from the moment we picked her up," James said. "She can meet anybody and immediately be their best friend." When James and Tara met Jett, they were struck by his small stature and distended belly. Those were the result of a swollen liver and spleen caused by a mutation of his red blood cells. The condition also caused chronic anemia, which ultimately enlarged his heart. The file noted he would need regular blood transfusions. Then Tara saw Jett's blood type: A positive. The entire family shares that, which she considered a sign that he was meant to join their family. "I have given him blood, so I would say that we are blood-related," Tara said. As it turned out, Jett had hereditary spherocytosis, a double mutation in his red blood cell membranes that caused his spleen and heart to become enlarged. After removing Jett's spleen and gall bladder, his jaundiced skin returned to normal almost immediately. "If my kids had stayed in China, they might have died from something that's very treatable or curable in the U.S.," Tara said. "That blows my mind." Life is busy in the Fussell household. There's always a test to be scheduled, doctors to be seen or school meetings to attend, but the children are happy and doing well. The couple recently made a video for the American Heart Association's Orlando Heart Ball, and they also have participated in a charity walk with the Little Hearts group. James and Tara have not ruled out adopting another child. They continue to feel especially drawn to children with heart conditions. "They came into a family they knew nothing about, and they are so loving and accepting," James said. "Kids can teach you how to act sometimes." Explore further NASA finds Tropical Storm Tara affecting Western Mexico American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org. Credit: Shutterstock More than a quarter of high school students have experienced symptoms of clinical depression and other psychiatric conditions, but most are not accessing support from mental health professionals, a UNSW-led survey reveals. More than a quarter of high school students have experienced signs of clinical depression and other psychiatric conditions, with the type of mood disorder influencing students' risk of suicide and self-harm. The UNSW study published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease offers a concerning insight into the lack of mental health support adolescents are accessing, with only 20 to 25 percent of students with a suggested psychiatric condition saying they had sought help from a general practitioner or a mental health professional. The anonymous survey, led by UNSW Scientia Psychiatry Professor and Black Dog Institute Founder Gordon Parker AO, asked over 1500 year 11 and 12 Sydney private school students questions relating to mood and anxiety in recent periods and over their lifetime, and collected details about their history of self-harm behaviours, thoughts of suicide and history of being bullied. Professor Parker says the study was conducted in response to community concerns about a number of upper North Shore students committing suicide in previous years. "There is predictably considerable concern about the risk of suicide in adolescents," Professor Parker says. "Based on the survey answers, we wanted to assess whether there were certain psychiatric conditions that put students at an increased risk of suicide and self-harm." The anonymous survey was carried out with the consent of parents, school counsellors and principals. Questions were based on a set of guidelines used by psychiatrists and mental health professionals for psychiatric diagnoses, including detailed criteria for major depressive disorder, social anxiety, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder, while eating disorders were also assessed. "We quantified that 26.8 percent of students met the criteria for major (clinical) depression, 21.5 percent for social anxiety disorders, and 1.0 percent for a bipolar disorder," Professor Parker says. "We also found that thoughts of suicide and previous self-harm were distinctly highest in those with a melancholic depression or bipolar disorder, in comparison to students with the other disorders or no condition at all." Among students who had experienced major (clinical) depression, 29 percent had a history of self-harm and 59 percent had felt suicidal over their lifetime, and of those with a melancholic depression, 50 percent had self-harmed and 60 percent had felt suicidal. Among students with responses that fit the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, 57 percent had self-harmed and 90 percent had felt suicidal. The survey also found that there was a higher rate of suicide and self-harm history in female students: 6.5 percent of the boys and 19.1 percent of the girls had self-harmed or taken an overdose of medication, while 26.5 percent of male students and 33.8 percent of female students had thought of suicide over their lifetime. "The study also highlights the grave extent to which bullying occurs and the effects of such vicious personal attacks on vulnerable young people experiencing depression," Professor Parker says. 17.8 percent of the boys and 8.5 percent of girls had experienced bullying about their depression, with higher rates in those with a melancholic depression or a bipolar disorder. Explore further Study finds high rates of stress events, suicidality among college students More information: Gordon Parker et al. The Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm in Adolescents Is Influenced by the "Type" of Mood Disorder, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (2018). Gordon Parker et al. The Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm in Adolescents Is Influenced by the "Type" of Mood Disorder,(2018). DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000917 More than one-third of healthcare workers were contaminated with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) after caring for patients colonized or infected with the bacteria, according to a study published today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that 39 percent of workers made errors in removing personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns and gloves, increasing the incidence of contamination. "Based on these findings, we should reevaluate strategies for removing personal protective equipment, as well as how often healthcare workers are trained on these methods," said Koh Okamoto, MD, MS, a lead author of the study. "An intervention as simple as education about appropriate doffing of personal protective equipment may reduce healthcare worker contamination with multi-drug resistant organisms." Researchers at Rush University Medical Center monitored 125 healthcare workers in four adult intensive care units who were caring for patients colonized or infected with a MDRO, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Researchers took more than 6,000 samples from healthcare workers' hands, gloves, PPE, and other equipment, such as stethoscopes and mobile phones, taking cultures before and after patient interaction. Additionally, trained observers monitored the technique each worker used to put on and remove their PPE and tracked errors based on guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC suggests two removal methods for PPEa gloves-first strategy, and an approach that removes gown and gloves together. Researchers also tracked a third method of removing the gown first. A significant majority of the healthcare workers had received training on appropriate methods for putting on and removing PPE within the past five years. After patient contact, 36 percent of healthcare workers were contaminated with a MDRO. Contamination of healthcare workers' PPE was more common in settings of higher patient and environmental contamination. After removing their PPE, 10.4 percent were contaminated on their hands, clothes, or equipment. Healthcare workers who made multiple errors when removing their PPE were more likely to be contaminated after a patient encounter, however the rate of making errors depended on the PPE removal method, with 72 percent of workers who used a glove-first removal making multiple errors. Examples of errors included touching the inside of the gown or glove with a gloved hand, touching the outside of the gown or glove with bare hands, and not unfastening the gown at the neck. Given the high rate of hand contamination of those who used the gloves-first strategy, the authors recommend further research and possible reconsideration of this technique, as well as research to examine the impact of improved education for putting on and taking off PPE. Additionally, the authors note several limitations to their work, including the influence of observers on healthcare workers' practices and the potential that not all contamination was detected. Explore further High rates of MRSA transmission found between nursing home residents, healthcare workers More information: Koh Okamoto et al, Impact of doffing errors on healthcare worker self-contamination when caring for patients on contact precautions, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology (2019). Journal information: Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology Koh Okamoto et al, Impact of doffing errors on healthcare worker self-contamination when caring for patients on contact precautions,(2019). DOI: 10.1017/ice.2019.33 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Efforts by the Labour government to reduce inequalities between the most deprived areas of England and the rest of the country had a positive impact on infant mortality rates, suggests research by the Universities of Newcastle, Leeds, York, and Liverpool published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. However, the authors warn that the current Conservative government's austerity policies may have undermined these gains because the trend in decreasing inequalities has not continued perhaps due to austerity measures. When Tony Blair's New Labour government came to power in 1997, it attempted to use policy levers to reduce geographical health inequalities in England. There was a focus on early years, education, supporting families, engaging communities in tackling deprivation, improving prevention, increasing access to healthcare and tackling the underlying social determinants of health (e.g. via tax credits and introducing the minimum wage). A range of social programmes such as SureStart were funded and there were large funding increases for the NHS and other public services. However, when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took control in 2010 this strategy was replaced with austerity measures intended to reduce the national deficit. For this study the authors examined what impact New Labour's policies had on health inequalities by measuring inequalities in the infant mortality rate between the most deprived local authorities and the rest of England before, during and after its health inequalities strategy was put in place. They found that before New Labour's health inequalities strategy (1983-1998), the gap in the infant mortality between the most deprived local authorities and the rest of England increased at a rate of 3 infant deaths per 100,000 births per year. During the strategy period (1999-2010), the gap narrowed by 12 infant deaths per 100,000 births per year and after the strategy period ended (2011-2017) the gap began increasing again at a rate of 4 deaths per 100,000 births per year. There was also a marginal decrease in relative inequalities during the strategy period. This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish causality. The authors also highlight that their results may have differed if they had used infant survival rather than infant mortality as an outcome measure, or occupational class rather than geographical area as a measure of deprivation. The observed decrease in inequalities in the infant mortality rate may also have been impacted by broader government strategies rather than the health inequalities strategy alone, they add. Nevertheless, they say: "The multifaceted English health inequalities strategy, implemented between 1999 and 2010, was associated with a decrease in geographical inequalities in the infant mortality rate between the most and less deprived English local authorities." "These results imply that government policies specifically introduced to decrease inequalities in health may be beneficial, and that their discontinuation as a result of austerity may see inequalities increasing again." They add that the findings have important implications for current and future health policy. "Our analysis suggests that it is increases in public spending on healthcare and welfare that are associated with decreases in inequalities in the infant mortality rate, and this is something that should be learnt from by current and future governments. "Current government policies are arguably going in the wrong direction and may squander some of the gains made in the health inequalities strategy period," they conclude. Explore further Concerns that austerity policies reversing gains to reduce health inequalities in England More information: The impact of New Labour's English health inequalities strategy on geographical inequalities in infant mortality: a time-trend analysis, The impact of New Labour's English health inequalities strategy on geographical inequalities in infant mortality: a time-trend analysis, DOI: 10.1136/jech-2018-211679 Scientists at the University of Cambridge have suggested that subtle changes to the drugs administered to mothers threatened with preterm birth or to premature babies could further improve clinical treatment and help increase their safety. While the current practice of using glucocorticoid therapy shows life-saving benefits for the preterm infant, the researchers say that combining them with antioxidants would overcome potential safety concerns associated with existing treatment. One in ten babies is born prematurely and up to three-quarters of these are at significant risk of death or long-term illness because premature babies are born with immature lungs and hence are at risk of dying from respiratory problems. The clinical use of glucocorticoids both in mothers at risk of premature labour and in premature babies has become common practice in the last 40 years. The treatment is based on research which discovered the important role played by glucocorticoids in fetal development and that giving premature babies synthetic glucocorticoids could accelerate the development of their lungs and respiratory system. Now, every mother at risk of preterm birth gets this treatment worldwide in developed societies. It is regarded as one of the best examples of successfully translating basic experimental science into efficient human clinical practice and it has saved millions of preterm children every year. However, despite the very clear life-saving effects of antenatal and postnatal glucocorticoid therapy to accelerate lung maturation in the infant, new research has identified some potential adverse side effects on the offspring's growth, central nervous and cardiovascular systems. Some of these effects will not be seen until the child is fully grown and is in adulthood. "The evidence supporting the life-saving benefits of glucocorticoid treatment for premature babies is overwhelming. Without it, preterm babies would mostly die or suffer significantly from conditions associated with prematurity, leaving them with significant disability," says Professor Dino Giussani from the Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. "Unfortunately, there can be subtle adverse effects from the therapy that suggest we need to fine-tune current clinical therapy to maintain its beneficial effects but weed out any potential negative adverse effects later in life." In a review published online in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, Professor Giussani and Ph.D. student Tessa Garrud propose that in future, combined therapy of glucocorticoids with specific antioxidants may be safer for the treatment of the premature baby. In their article, the researchers argue that while much is known about the physiological mechanisms via which glucocorticoids have a beneficial effect, far less is understood about those mechanisms by which the treatment can cause subtle negative effects. In part this is because it is difficult to ascertain which long term health problems are as a result of glucocorticoid treatment and which are due to the detrimental effects of preterm birth. Professor Giussani and Ms Garrud point to research that suggests one likely culprit mechanism is the capacity of synthetic glucocorticoids to induce what is so-called 'oxidative stress', caused by an imbalance in the body of unstable atoms known as free radicals. While the body needs a certain number of free radicals for cell signalling or to stimulate repair, an overabundance can cause damage. Oxidative stress has been shown to lead to restricted blood flow and can damage the cardiovascular system in the long-term. "When we bring together the research out there on this issue, we find strong evidence to suggest that combined antioxidant and glucocorticoid therapy may be safer than glucocorticoid therapy alone for the treatment of preterm birth," says Ms Garrud. Professor Giussani adds: "We believe it is time to study these further potential benefits in clinical trials. Glucocorticoid therapy is clearly a life-saver and is here to stay, but we support that treatment could be improved even further to maintain benefits while improving safety." Explore further Steroid treatment for premature babies linked to low birth weight More information: Tessa A.C. Garrud et al, Combined Antioxidant and Glucocorticoid Therapy for Safer Treatment of Preterm Birth, Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism (2019). Journal information: Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism Tessa A.C. Garrud et al, Combined Antioxidant and Glucocorticoid Therapy for Safer Treatment of Preterm Birth,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.tem.2019.02.003 A ball of prostate cells expressing a potential new marker (red) for aggressive prostate cancer. Credit: Dr Esther Baena, CRUK Manchester Institute. Scientists are constantly looking for new ways to improve cancer treatment, particularly for aggressive tumours. But spotting which cancers are aggressive when they're first diagnosed can be tough, particularly in prostate cancer. "One of the biggest challenges so far in prostate cancer has been how to stratify patients," says Dr. Esther Baena, who studies prostate cancer biology at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute. According to Baena, 1 in 5 men with prostate cancer are at higher risk of their cancer spreading to other parts of the body despite treatment. And she thinks this could be in part due to a hardy group of prostate cancer cells that are resistant to available therapies. But while scientists know these cells exist, they're not that easy to find. Until now. Baena and her team have uncovered a new marker on the surface of these resistant cells, called LY6D. Publishing their work in Cell Reports, the team show that prostate cancer cells in mice that carry the marker are resistant to hormone treatment. And they think it could also be linked with early progression of prostate cancer in people. "It's going to allow us to identify aggressive tumours that have cells that express this marker very early on. And it will help us to isolate them and understand why they are unique and why they are resistant," says Baena. Baena hopes that this work will one day help to identify men whose cancer might not respond completely to current treatments. "If we can identify men who have these cells from the time of diagnosis that could allow us to intervene early on," she says. Hunting for resistant cells Cancer cells that resist treatment aren't a new phenomenon; or one that's unique to prostate cancer. But according to Baena, these cells are usually the ones responsible for cancers coming back. "We know these resistant cells exist in prostate cancer, but what we're lacking are markers that allow us to isolate them." The hunt began in mice. First, the team looked for normal prostate cells that could survive treatment and then tried to find a way to distinguish them from other cells. What struck Baena during these experiments was how diverse cells in the prostate were. Cells lining the prostate have always been thought to be like one another, but that's not what showed up under the microscope. Human prostate cancer cells showing the LY6D marker in pink. A blue dye shows the DNA inside each cell and a green dye stains specialised cells called epithelial cells. Credit: Dr Esther Baena, CRUK Manchester Institute A small group of these cells produced a molecule on their surface called LY6D. And the cells it popped up on seemed to be the ones that were resistant to current treatments. LY6D, the mystery marker "We know it's found on the surface of the cell, but apart from that it's a bit of a mystery," says Baena. LY6D has been found on other cells in the body, including a type of cell found in the immune system. And similar markers have been found in other tumour types like breast and colon cancer. "Other members of the LYD family have been linked to cells dividing and interacting with the immune system or in promoting cancer cell spread," adds Baena. "But LY6D is not well characterised so we're currently studying it further." What they do know is that cells that produce the LY6D marker are more resistant to a common hormone treatment for prostate cancer, called androgen deprivation. "When you grow these cells in the absence of androgen they actually have an advantage," says Baena. "Most of the other cells don't grow because they need this hormone to divide. But the cells with LY6D keep growing and survive." Baena's team looked at the marker in mice genetically engineered to develop cancer. And they found that mice who had the marker present developed more aggressive tumours. Lifting the LY6D on prostate cancer So far, the team have looked at LY6D mainly in mice and cells in a dish. But based on these promising results, they started to look for any links between LY6D and aggressive prostate cancer in patient samples too. Using large, publicly available genetic databases, they found that high levels of LY6D was linked to a lower overall survival in men with prostate cancer. Baena wants to dig deeper into this data. "What we are trying to evaluate further is do patients who have these cells before treatment have a worse response to therapy?" And they're planning learn a lot more about the mysterious LY6D molecule, including what it does and if they can use it to target these aggressive prostate cancer cells. Explore further Marker for aggressive prostate cancer doubles up as a drug target More information: Joao D. Barros-Silva et al. Single-Cell Analysis Identifies LY6D as a Marker Linking Castration-Resistant Prostate Luminal Cells to Prostate Progenitors and Cancer, Cell Reports (2018). Journal information: Cell Reports Joao D. Barros-Silva et al. Single-Cell Analysis Identifies LY6D as a Marker Linking Castration-Resistant Prostate Luminal Cells to Prostate Progenitors and Cancer,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.11.069 Scientists at the University of Surrey and University College London have revealed an innovative in vitro method that can help to develop easy to swallow medicine for children and older people. In an article published by the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, scientists compared traditional sensory tests and the new in vitro method that was able to explain why smaller multiparticulates eased the travel of medicine from the mouth into the throat and body, reducing mouth residue. The new test let scientists easily screen different compositions of the carrier liquid and concentration of the particulates, in order to make swallowing as easy as possible. Dr. Marco Ramaioli, Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey and co-author of the study, said: "Many young children and older people find conventional tablets hard to swallowmaking it difficult for them to complete drug therapy. We hope that this in vitro method, together with sensory tests, will help to develop novel medicines that could improve the lives of many people across the world." Professor Catherine Tuleu from UCL School of Pharmacy commented: "It is exciting to see advancements in age appropriate medicine design such as multiparticulate systems but successful therapeutic outcomes rely on the development of appropriate administration vehicles." Dr. Mine Orlu, also from UCL School of Pharmacy, added: "The availability of predictive models to characterise the promising formulation platforms early during medicine development is key to producing medicines that are easier to take for patients with different swallowing capabilities." Explore further Aging can be tough to swallow More information: Marco Marconati et al, In vitro and sensory tests to design easy-to-swallow multi-particulate formulations, European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2019). Marco Marconati et al, In vitro and sensory tests to design easy-to-swallow multi-particulate formulations,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2019.02.026 Biomedical engineering doctoral student Kandace Donaldson (right), who works on tissue-level aspects of the project, examines imaging results from several lab experiments. Credit: Virginia Tech Is it normal to pee a little when you laugh? It's a simple question many women ask, and as a symptom of pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary incontinence in women is surprisingly common. However, it can also accompany a related and more debilitating disorder known as pelvic organ prolapse (POP), a condition characterized by the abnormal descent of the female pelvic organs. Though not life-threatening, pelvic organ prolapse affects half of all women over the age of 50 and is notoriously difficult to treat; surgery is often the only viable option, but success rates are low, with 30 percent of women requiring additional procedures. Many of these pelvic reconstructive surgeries also utilize surgical mesh, a controversial material that comes with its own set of problems. With a new grant from the National Science Foundation, Virginia Tech researcher Raffaella De Vita hopes to address those problemsand improve overall treatment approaches and outcomes for pelvic organ prolapse. An associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics within the College of Engineering, De Vita will use animal models to study both the passive and active properties of the uterosacral ligaments, a group of tissues and structures that are predominantly responsible for supporting a woman's uterus, cervix, and vagina. Yizheng Zhu, an assistant professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will also serve a key role on the grant by developing imaging systems to quantify ligament cell and tissue deformation under various load conditions. "Before we can address issues with current pelvic organ prolapse treatments, we first need to take a closer look at healthy uterosacral ligament tissue," said De Vita. "What are the mechanical properties of these tissues when they're functioning normally within the body?" That knowledge will help researchers develop new tissue models that can dramatically transform prolapse prevention and treatment, leading to the development of new stretching routines (known as Kegel exercises), surgical reconstruction guidelines, and even responsive mesh grafts that can be used in POP repair. The team also hopes to raise awareness about the need for further research on the disorderand ease lingering public stigma associated with the condition. "Pelvic organ prolapse is extremely overlooked," said Alyssa Huntington, an engineering mechanics doctoral student who studies cellular-level aspects of the project. "The proportion of the population that's affected by it versus the proportion of research being conducted on it is vastly different." In women who suffer from pelvic organ prolapse, damaged uterosacral ligament tissues and structures cause the reproductive organs to fall out of place. In severe cases, this descent can even cause the vagina or uterus to protrude outside of the body. Daily symptoms include discomfort and heaviness in the vagina, pain during sexual intercourse, difficulty using the restroom, and the onset of other symptoms associated with pelvic floor dysfunction (such as urinary and fecal incontinence). And that's just the half of it. "Pelvic organ prolapse carries a lot of physical considerations, but it's more debilitating psychologically," said De Vita. "It comes with a lot of anxiety and this idea of not feeling good about your body, and many women suffering from this condition also experience depression. It diminishes a woman's overall quality of life." Physicians and researchers don't know exactly what causes pelvic organ prolapse, but they can point to a set of risk factors. Older women and those who have given birth to three or more children tend to experience POP at higher rates, and smoking, obesity, and heavy weightlifting can also increase the risk. However, researchers can't quite explain why some women develop pelvic organ prolapse and others don't. "We hope our research can produce objective criteria that rely on evidence," said De Vita. "Can we say that based on what we know about mechanical properties of healthy ligaments, certain women are more likely to develop prolapse, and then give appropriate recommendations for prevention?" One important focus of De Vita's research will be the development of surgical mesh that can be used effectively in pelvic reconstructive surgeries. Because traditional mesh grafts don't expand and contract alongside organs and tissue, they often cause serious problems within the body, including pain, infection, and even organ perforation. Eventually, the team would like to create an active mesh for pelvic organ prolapse that's patient-specific, one that not only moves along with internal tissues but could also accommodate different mechanical properties depending on the needs of different women. It's that real-world impact and the avoidance of a one-size-fits-all approach that first attracted biomedical engineering doctoral student Kandace Donaldson to the projectand to Virginia Tech. "I'm definitely passionate about this area, and when I was looking at graduate schools and labs I wanted to work with, I was focused on social impact," said Donaldson, who works on tissue-level aspects of the project. "The proportion of the population that stands to be helped by this research is just huge," she said. Explore further Surgical mesh itself not tied to increased complications With 7,641 islands, its really fun to explore the Philippines and its famous tourists spots plus hidden gems. There are numerous activities to do and places to explore for all types of travelers. Check out and make sure to add these hot local destinations right now to your 2019 bucket list! According to Traveloka, Southeast Asias leading online booking platform for hotels, flights as well as activities and attractions, the places on this list have seen a 74% increase in tourist arrivals from 2018 to 2019.More local airlines are offering flights to Batanes - making ticket prices more competitive, and even cheaper than before! If flying from Manila, itll take two hours to get to Basco, the provincial capital. Known as the New Zealand of the Philippines because of all the greenery, Batanes is home to the Vayang Rolling Hills, Mount Iraya, and to Valugan Boulder Beach. Travelers are drawn to the overall relaxing feel the island gives.December to FebruaryShanedel's Inn, DDD Habitat Lodging House, Nathaniel's LodgeTouted as the City of Fun and Adventure, Legazpi City is one of the best places for adrenaline junkies and history buffs. Some of the famous attractions include Albay Park And Wildlife, Cagsawa Ruins Park, and Daraga Church. Meanwhile, the Legazpi City government announced its latest tourism ventures: a four-kilometer Walk Meter at the Legazpi Port District for joggers and visitors, and the Bay and Marine Park Information Center. The latter is for visitors whod like to know more about the Albay Gulf and Polique Cove.March to JuneMayon Backpackers Hostel, F2M Tower, The Oriental LegazpiWhen in General Santos, visitors can now enjoy a more refreshing time at the improved Plaza Heneral Santos. The place has been planted with more trees, making it ideal for joggers and nature-lovers. Dont forget to try their famous tuna and to explore more of this city down south.March to MayRSG Microhotel, Hotel Giorgio, Dayo SuitesThe local government of Laoag was recently dubbed top performer in the 2018 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) for Infrastructure in Region 1. This means travelers can expect better roads, bridges, and buildings when they visit the city. Its time to try their drool-worthy empanadas and visit the famous Malacanang of the North.May to JuneWest Gate Hotel, Fort Ilocandia Resort Hotel, UKL Ever Resort HotelSince its very accessible and has several attractions for travelers of all ages including Zoobic Safari, Ocean Adventure Park, and Inflatable Island, its no surprise that Subic Bay remains a favorite among locals and tourists alike. If you want a thrilling overnight stay, then why not book a night at Zoobic Safaris GlampZ. Putting their own spin on glamping, Zoobic Safari has several container vans that have been converted into comfortable overnight stays with a full days meals, a day tour, train ride and a visit from the zoos smaller and friendlier animals.November to MayCamayan Beach Resort and Hotel, Best Western Plus Hotel Subic, Subic Bay Peninsular HotelPreviously more associated with surfing, Siargao has made a name for itself as a great destination for beach and nature lovers because of its breathtaking scenery, beautiful sand, and crystal clear waters. Thanks to more airline opening flights to Siargao, its now easier and faster to reach the island and its awesome landmarks including the Magpupungko tidal pools and lagoons as well as the Sohoton cave.March to October; August to NovemberPatrick's on the Beach Resort, Ocean 101 Beach Resort, Viento del MarWith several attractions, such as Deca Wake Park and Zoocobia Fun Zoo, and new businesses opening up shop in San Fernando and its surrounding areas, it isn't hard to see why Pampanga is quickly transitioning from a fairly sleepy province (albeit the infamous Walking Street) to the bustling metropolis it is becoming. Moreover, going to Angeles City is now easier than ever! Take the new P2P bus from Robinsons Galleria to SM Clark Pampanga.January to FebruaryDM Residente Hotel, Eurotel Angeles, Red Planet Angeles CityNamed as the Best Place to Retire in the Philippines last August 2018 by the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), Dumaguete City garnered an average of 87.48% and won over more popular cities such as Cebu, Davao, and Bacolod. Factors that were taken into consideration include cost of living, the warmth of the community, climate, health care provisions, as well as peace and unity.June to AugustThe Flying Fish Boutique Hostel, Gabby's Bed and Breakfast, Go Hotels DumagueteNewly constructed, the 56-foot statue of Christ the Savior on top of Pilgrimage Island in Alaminos City is definitely a sight to behold. Tourists have to climb up 263 steps from the beach to get to the top and to enjoy breathtaking views of the sea and the nearby islets. Alaminos City is the gateway to the famed Hundred Islands National Park and is one of the main reasons why people flock to the area - after all, you can go camping, snorkeling, kayaking, or beach bumming.November to AprilVilla Antolin Hotel, Asia Novo Boutique Hotel - Alaminos, Islandia HotelAre you a night market lover? Visitors of CDO can now enjoy haggling various goods at the Divisoria Night Cafe and Night Market. Whether youre there to snack on a variety of street food or to buy clothes at a steal, theres something for everyone to buy!March to JuneRed Planet Cagayan De Oro, St Nicolas Inn, GV Hotel Cagayan de OroIf you love thrill and adventure, make sure to visit Nagas Adventure Park, Mount Isarog National Park, Caramoan Beach, and Malabsay Falls. Don't forget to skip Bicol's newest culinary destination, Que Pasa. This Spanish restaurant in Naga has an attractive setting, making it IG-worthy as well. Of course, the food is heavenly with a capital H.May to JuneEurotel Naga, CBD Plaza Hotel, Villa Caceres HotelTacloban has come a long way since it was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda - with life slowly going back to normal, one of the best ways to bring money back into the city is by supporting local tourism. And why not? Often used as a jump off point for Samar and Leyte, guests can visit nearby Sohoton Caves and Natural Bridge Park, the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park, and Tulaan Falls. Other things to try out is the local cuisine, specifically chocolate moron, binagol, and food at Ocho Seafood Grill.February to March, May to JulyZpad Residences, Go Hotels Tacloban, Hotel Estrella Samsung has listed its official recommended prices for screen replacements on its Galaxy S10 range. A support page on the Taiwanese version of the Samsung website lists the recommended price for screen repairs in the country and the Galaxy S10 is notably more expensive than previous devices. For example, the Galaxy S10e screen costs more to replace than the Galaxy S9+ display. Below are the prices of a screen replacement for the new smartphones: Samsung Galaxy S10e 5,350 NT$ (R2,517) Samsung Galaxy S10 6,450 NT$ (R3,035) Samsung Galaxy S10+ 7,100 NT$ (R3,340) It is unclear whether this increased cost is due to the punch-hole design or Dynamic OLED panel. Theres nothing better than getting away with your friends. If youre looking for an excuse to take an adventure but dont have a serious budget, thats okay too. You dont have to sacrifice a vacation, creating new memories and exploring more of the world because its just too expensive. Its something I hear time and time again but there really are so many great ways to get the most out of a weekend trip and make it budget friendly. After our trip to Cashiers, North Carolina with Toyota I was inspired to take more affordable weekend trips like this. We took the Toyota Tacoma, the most comfortable driving truck and has all the fun bells and whistles I love with these Toyotas, about 3 hours Northeast of Atlanta. Ive never been to Cashiers, but as soon as I told people where I was headed, they assured me it was an incredible place. Based on the time of year we went we SHOULD have seen more foliage. But we had a very warm fall in the south this year and we didnt get fall foliage until much much later. The trip was ideal since we could pack a bunch of our things in the back, bring snacks for the road and catch up on Podcasts on the drive. When we arrived, the resort had everything we needed for a weekend getaway. A spa, hikes, dahlia picking and more. It was a great way to spend a weekend and not having to spend a ton of money since the resort was packed with activities. How To Take An Affordable Weekend Trip Drive, Dont Fly Sure you can find cheap flights (you can read my tips on doing that here) but it still usually ends up being more expensive than just driving. When you fly, you have to think about your car; do you park, do you take an Uber, and then you end up buying food at the airport and then dealing with ANOTHER Uber to your final destination. If youre within driving distance (my limit is 6 hours) then just drive! Embrace the road trip mindset and have some fun with it. A few great perks of a roadtrip that make for a cheap vacation is splitting the gas and bringing your own snacks and meals for travel days. This can save you quite a bit of money instead of flying. Plus, this allows you to explore your destination in a whole new way. Explore national parks, and do some sightseeing and hikes instead of spending money at fancy restaurants and experiences. Find Hotels That Offer Activities This obviously depends on the type of destination youre looking at. If youre heading to a city to explore, hotels typically dont offer any sort of activities but maybe offering free breakfast (which will add up so take advantage!). But if youre heading to the mountains or somewhere more nature and activity-focused, many hotels and bed and breakfasts will offer some extra perks. They often at least offer services/rentals at a discount if youre staying there. Keep an eye out for perks and take advantage! Plan this out ahead of time as well so you know where to make the most of your money and weekend. These photos in todays post are from a great little bed and breakfast in the North Carolina mountains. They had tons of great free activities from kayaking to picking dahlias from their farm to take home. Such a great way to spend an afternoon and they didnt cost us a dime! Go During The Off Season Figuring out when the offseason is can be a complete game-changer that wont break the bank. Hotel prices are much lower and so is AirBNBs. You can easily figure out off-season by just Googling your destination and then off-season. You may even find some interesting ideas for itineraries as well. And yes, it may not be AS amazing as going during peak season but guess what? It usually means things are less crowded and youll feel more like a local. Sometimes peak season really just means better weather. So just be sure to check the weather and pack accordingly. Explore National Parks Checking out national parks, historic sites and state parks can be a much more affordable way to spend your day. Pack a lunch and some water and check out all the affordable attractions. Spend time getting lost in parks and taking in the fresh air and scenery. This is the perfect way to spend a good part of your day on an affordable weekend trip. Find Fun Free Activities To Do One of my favorite things to do when I visit new places is simply walking around and getting lost in a city. But many major cities have plenty of free activities to experience the culture and people. Take even just Atlanta for example. We have an incredible park in the middle of the city that you can take a walk through and easily spend a few hours in. Pack a picnic and explore. Or there are several free festivals that happen in many neighborhoods where you can walk around and explore art, food and free live music. Dont be afraid of FREE activities. They can be a great way to see a city like a local with neighborhood festivals, farmers markets, parks and more. Just Google your destination and free activities. You may even plan your trip around a fun festival when you see whats offered. PS You can check out my Atlanta guide here that features a ton of great restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and more. Plus a few getaways within driving distance as well! How To Plan For A Cheap Weekend Getaway If you try to go into a cheap weekend getaway with zero plan you may find yourself not only wasting your time but money too. Plan accordingly and prioritize what you want to see. If theres something like an exhibit or outdoor adventure youve been wanting to take thats expensive, you may want to prioritize that and then choose less expensive things to do on the other days. Or if youre big into exhibits and museums, look into whats feasible to accomplish and possibly purchase a museum pass if it makes sense financially. Going in with a plan is helpful for not only your itinerary but also your budget. Heres how to plan for a more affordable weekend getaway. Research Your Restaurants I can be a BIG restaurant snob when it comes to traveling (okay or all the time). I just really enjoy good quality food and not getting stuck in a tourist trap. Im totally down for casual too, big fancy meals arent my thing. Ill never forget my first trip to Charleston ever and I fell for the biggest tourist trap, Hymans Seafood. The food is NOT GOOD and its super overpriced for crappy fried seafood. But it shows up #1 on Yelp. Its a dangerous trap and such a scam in my opinion. But by taking some time to read reviews, search Instagram (just use # the city youre going to and food and a slew of spots will pop up!) or ask your friends will result in better food experiences and sometimes really great local affordable finds. PS If you DO want to take a weekend trip to Charleston you HAVE to check out my Charleston guide here. There are tons of great affordable spots to try and since its a walking or biking city, youll likely never have to spend money on an Uber. Also, dont be afraid of casual grab-and-go spots too. Theyre honestly some of my favorites. I really dont enjoy a big fussy dinner. Grabbing a quick sandwich at a local joint will not only be cheaper but likely more delicious. I typically ask waiters or boutique salespeople where they like to go. Dont bother asking the concierge at the hotel as they typically get a kickback from big restaurants and are always pushing the more expensive places. Ask the young locals when you grab a coffee in the morning. They usually have ALL the good info! A few of my favorite meals in places like San Francisco and New York City have also been at really easy farmers markets, or street food and even the small neighborhood bodegas. These can be a great way to check out the local food scene and its super affordable. Ill never forget the most epic breakfast sandwich I had at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. It was affordable, from a local farm, and was super casual. I still think about that meal over the big fancy ones we had during that weekend trip. Seek Out Happy Hours My last tip on restaurants is to also seek out happy hours. This can be a really amazing way to check out a nicer restaurant on a budget. Not all cities do happy hours, but when they do I always take advantage. You can typically fill up on less expensive food and drinks and then maybe share a meal at dinner a couple of hours later. Its not only more affordable but a wonderful way to experience more restaurants while on a budget. Utilize Public Transportation When exploring major cities, always see what public transportation looks like. In some cities, its ideal to take it like NYC, SF, Washington DC or Chicago. It can mean huge savings in Uber and sometimes its actually faster. For other cities that dont have great public transportation (eh-hem talking to you Atlanta) maybe try using Uber Pool. However, keep in mind your schedule. If its a short trip you also dont want to waste your time in an Uber Pool. Sometimes it makes more sense to spend the few extra dollars to get to your destination more quickly. And if the city is bike and walking friendly, embrace it. Its a great way to see a city and youll probably stumble onto some little fun gems that you wouldnt have otherwise in a taxi. Find Out About Parking If you are driving to your weekend getaway, always find out about parking. Call and ask if the hotel charges for parking. And if its a lot, find out if theres somewhere more affordable to park nearby. It may be best too to drive to your activities if theres free parking so you arent spending money on Ubers. Moral of the story The moral of the story is, do your research so your wallet will thank you later! Spending a few hours planning your trip ahead of time will definitely be worth it if youre looking to save some money on your next weekend getaway. And for more tips on planning a trip, check out this great post with some of my best travel planning tips complete with packing downloads and more! YouTube said it was banning anti-vaccination videos from running online advertisements. Facebook announced it was hiding certain content and turning away ads that contain misinformation about vaccines, and Pinterest said it was blocking polluted search terms, memes and pins from particular sites prompting anti-vaccine propaganda, according to news reports. Amazon has now joined other companies navigating the line between doing business and censoring it, in an age when, experts say, misleading claims about health and science have a real impact on public health. NBC News recently reported that Amazon was pulling books touting false information about autism cures and vaccines. The e-commerce giant confirmed Monday to The Washington Post that several books are no longer available but would not release more specific information. Experts say these companies are being tasked with new and challenging responsibilities. Art Caplan, a professor of bioethics and head of the division of medical ethics at New York University School of Medicine, said companies cannot allow themselves to be vehicles for misinformation contagion. You can certainly post things that oppose vaccinationindividuals can speak their minds. But when you have websites that are presenting false information, debunked information or, similarly, books that tout phony cures, I think there is a role for somebody in censorship, said Caplan, who co-authored a 2017 paper on The overlooked dangers of anti-vaccination groups social media presence. Caplan said that it is important for companies to censor such misinformation because the power of social media, particularly in the vaccine space, is so strong that its leading to fear of vaccines, which is leading to epidemics, which is putting people at risk. The anti-vaccine movement has been sustained, in part, by fraudulent research from 1998 that purported to show a link between a preservative used in vaccines and autismdespite numerous studies that have provided conclusive evidence that vaccinations do not cause autism. False anti-vaccine claims continue to sweep the internet, prompting concern from public health experts, lawmakers and from parents who are not able to get their children vaccinated because of medical conditions and rely on others to do so. In fact, the World Health Organization has named vaccine hesitancy as one of the Ten threats to global health in 2019: The reasons why people choose not to vaccinate are complex; a vaccines advisory group to WHO identified complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines, and lack of confidence are key reasons underlying hesitancy. Health workers, especially those in communities, remain the most trusted advisor and influencer of vaccination decisions, and they must be supported to provide trusted, credible information on vaccines. Joe Holt, a business ethics professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the problem with businesses being forced to play a censorship role is that most of them, if not all of them, probably never intended to do that. But now, he said, theres more and more external pressure for them to do more censoring. Over the past couple months, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has been calling on companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to address anti-vaccine claims on their respective platforms. Schiff announced March 1 that he had sent a letter to Jeffrey Bezos, Amazons chief executive and owner of The Washington Post, to express concern that the company is surfacing and recommending products and content that discourage parents from vaccinating their children, a direct threat to public health, and reversing progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases. As the largest online marketplace in the world, Amazon is in a unique position to shape consumption, he said he wrote to Bezos. The algorithms which power social media platforms and Amazons recommendations are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information and, as a result, harmful anti-vaccine messages have been able to thrive and spread. The consequences are particularly troubling for public health issues. Im pleased that all three companies are taking this issue seriously and acknowledged their responsibility to provide quality health information to their users, Schiff said in a statement March 7. The responses from Google and Facebook describe the steps they are taking to address the issue of harmful public health misinformation on their platforms. Amazon has informed me they will also be responding to my letter in the coming days. The crucial test will be whether the steps outlined by Google and Facebook do in fact reduce the spread of anti-vaccine content on their platforms, thereby making it less likely to reach users who are simply seeking quality, fact-based health information for their children and families. I plan to continue working with the companies on the issue of misinformation on their platforms and monitoring the effectiveness of the changes they are making because our health, and particularly the health of our children, is at stake. Its unclear whether the companies recent actions are connected to the congressmans call to action. Holt, with the University of Notre Dame, said the idea that companies should assume that censorship role prompts several interesting questions, including what is driving their decision to do it. When a company like Amazon does this, does it do it because it thinks its the right thing to do, or does it do it because it has to has to do it as a result of external pressure? he said. In the vast majority of cases, it seems to me its the latter and, morally speaking, thats an important difference. But, Holt added, perhaps the toughest question is where does a companys responsibility to do so end? The challenge, to me, is to determine how far your responsibility extends your bottom line and then to have a clear set of values and principles that guide your decisions to meet that responsibility, he said. Salvatierra served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Vietnam and worked as a physician in Pomona, California, before beginning a postdoctoral fellowship in transplant surgery at the University of California-San Francisco in 1972. The first successful kidney transplant had been performed in 1954, and by 1972, the year that Medicare coverage was expanded to include renal dialysis and kidney transplantation, the value of these transplants was widely recognized. Salvatierra was chief of the UCSF transplant service from 1974 to 1991, when he moved to Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center, now known as California Pacific Medical Center. He was part of a group of surgeons and staff who came from the center to Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford to establish the hospitals pediatric liver and kidney transplantation programs in 1994. He was a gifted clinician and one of the best doctors I have ever known, said Steven Alexander, MD, professor of pediatrics and division chief of pediatric nephrology at Packard Childrens. He was much loved by his patients and their families, and the kidney transplant program he founded at Packard Childrens Hospital has grown to be one of the largest and most successful in the world. At Stanford, Salvatierra pushed for better and safer kidney transplants. He conducted magnetic resonance imaging studies of blood flow in small children who had received kidneys from adults, determining that about 20 percent of such transplants were failing because the childs smaller blood volumes left the transplanted organs vulnerable to blood clots. He worked hard to understand how the small heart and major blood vessels of a 12- to 18-month-old infant could be brought to support the much greater perfusion requirements of a kidney from an adult donor, Alexander said. A new fluid-management protocol Salvatierra developed raised the success of such transplants to nearly 100 percent. Salvatierra also questioned the need for corticosteroid medications for immune suppression. The drugs had been considered essential to prevent rejection of kidney transplants, but had serious side effects in children, causing growth suppression, high blood pressure, acne, vision problems and weight gain. In the early 2000s, Salvatierra conducted clinical trials of an immune-suppressing antibody called daclizumab, demonstrating that the steroid-free regimen not only prevented rejection but also did less damage to the transplanted kidneys than steroids. Imagine: Steroids had been the cornerstone of immune suppression, and he took the cornerstone out and said Were going to be OK, Concepcion said. It was a 180-degree turn. The steroid-free protocol has now been adopted by most kidney transplant programs across the country and the world, he added. A compassionate mentor and physician Salvatierra helped many other physicians develop their careers, often serving as a mentor and role model. When I was just beginning my surgical training, I happened to see his name listed from UCSF as their kidney transplant surgeon, said Carlos Esquivel, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and of surgery and chief of the division of abdominal transplantation at Stanford. It was the early 1980s, a time when few surgeons came from minority backgrounds. I thought, Here is somebody with a Spanish last name, and he is at a prestigious university and already has an excellent reputation. This is who Im going to emulate. He was truly dedicated to his patients very compassionate, with a great bedside manner, added Esquivel, who led the team that moved with Salvatierra from Pacific Presbyterian to Stanford. And he was a very deliberate and skillful surgeon. Children who need kidney transplants are quite ill, and Salvatierra became known for his ability to connect with young patients and help calm their parents fears. During their years of collaboration, Esquivel learned that one of his own sons needed surgery for a kidney problem. I chose Oscar to do his surgery, Esquivel said, adding that the decision felt especially weighty because of his own professional knowledge. For a surgeon, to pick someone to do an operation on your own child means you think that surgeon is the best person in the world. And I did. Salvatierra retired from his clinical responsibilities in 2006, becoming associate dean for medical students at the School of Medicine, a position he held until 2015. He received many major awards during his career, including knighthood by the Republic of Italy, the presidential medal from the president of Argentina, a special commendation resolution by the California State Legislature, the UCSF Chancellors Award for Public Service, a special recognition award by the UCSF Chancellor, Stanfords Rambar-Mark Award for Excellence in Patient Care and Stanfords Franklin Ebaugh Award for Outstanding Medical Student Advising. In 2019, the International Pediatric Transplant Association recognized him with a lifetime achievementaward. Salvatierra is survived by his wife of 25 years, Pam; son Mark Salvatierra of San Jose, Calif.; daughter Lisa Rudloff of Centerport, New York; grandchildren Josephine, Boden, Luke and Jake; siblings Yrma, Hector, Julieta, Maria Christina and Mario; and many nieces and nephews. A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. March 21 at St. Raymonds Catholic Church, 1100 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, followed by a burial at the nearby Holy Cross Cemetery. There will be a reception from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Left Bank restaurant, 635 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Dr. Oscar Salvatierra Emergency Fund, PTA1191484-100HEUT, which Salvatierra helped establish to provide emergency funds for medical students who experience financial crises. Donations to the fund can be directed to Development Services, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20466, Stanford, CA, 94309-0466. It was his wine connections, developed over a 45-year career, that helped Southern California photographer and former wine retailer Gary Fishman find a gallery for his first photography show. Fishman will host his photo exhibit, Sites & Insights, Fishman Photography, The Ego has Landed, in the gallery at Rutherfords St. Supery Winery, 8440 St. Helena Highway. The exhibit will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24. Admission is free and Fishman said hell be onsite both days to discuss both wine and his photography. Fishman retired from selling wine last September. In his career, Fishman worked in key retail outlets in Southern California, including Duke of Bourbon, 1976-1980; Irvine Ranch Farmers Markets, 1981-1989 and Wallys Wine & Spirits from 1990-2018. Along with selling wine, Fishman said photography has been part of his life for the last 19 years. In 2000, he took his $100 Nikon film camera on a two-week trip to Spain. Id had that camera for many, many years and I took phenomenal photographs. I came back and showed my friend, Lori Griffin of Griffin Wine Marketing. I went to her house for dinner, because I was going to debrief her on my trip and I brought my photographs. With Fishman, no story is short and sweet. The bottom line, though, is that Griffin loved his photos and told him she had just invested in an art gallery in Venice, California. She also told him shed love for him to pick out 30 or 40 photographs and do a weekend show. So, he picked out the photos, had them enlarged and made a journal of his trip to accompany the images on the wall. He served wines and foods from Spain to go with the photographs and the show was very successful as far as I was concerned, Fishman said. After Fishman retired, he thought hed develop a fine art photography business. Id never done it before, but I always had a pretty good eye for photography. Even when I was 8, 9 and 10 years old, Id be the one to take the photographs, he added. Fishman and his wife, Judy, also put together a photo collection, starting with 20 photos that he had enlarged and hung on walls at Wallys Wine & Spirits offices in Southern California. Hes added a dozen more photos, so there will be about 30 pieces in the Rutherford show. I figured my first show was going to be in Los Angeles, but after asking about L.A. locations and finding none, Fishman thought about Northern California and his friends and connections in Napa and Sonoma counties. Maybe Napa is the way to go, he said. Lets open in Napa and Ill do the L.A. show later. He approached several of his friends but struck out until he reached Paula Kornell, whose late father served as a witness at Fishmans 1978 wedding at Domaine Chandon. Paula Kornell asked if he had checked out St. Supery and then gave him an email introduction to Emma Swain, who is the chief operating officer of St. Supery. Fishman said Swain wanted to see some photographs, so he sent five or six and a few weeks later, the show was set for March 23-24. I came up here in December, Fishman said, to check out the gallery and he was thrilled at what he calls a dream gallery 80 feet long, with professional hanging materials, seating in the middle of two adjoining salons and a bar with a reception area. His framed pieces run from $1,500 to $15,000. The show includes one piece thats a photo of a sunrise, put on very fine-grain canvas. It is four feet by five feet, it will be my signature piece and it will be 15 grand. His subjects are whatever appeals to him, whether it is a beautiful sunrise or sunset or a corroded silo that I came across in New Zealand. The colors of rust and corrosion drew me to it, he said. One of his best photos was taken during his first trip to New Orleans. I got out of a cab, looked down at the sidewalk, which was cracked with weeds growing through it. The patterns of cracks and everything was very interesting, Fishman said. In his 45-year career in the wine industry in Southern California, Fishman figures hes circumnavigated the globe twice driving up I-5 to the Napa Valley and back. Its an 800-mile round trip and theres always a couple hundred miles driving to wineries, so its a thousand miles a trip and Ive been coming up for 45 years. Just do the math, Fishman said. Besides, he added, thats what you do when you drive up the I-5. The distance around the Earth at the equator is calculated at 24,900 miles. Pop the cork on Napa Valley wine! Discover the hidden stories of Napa Valley wine and the people behind it -- plus expert analysis from our columnists and more with our weekly email newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Last week, Joe McGrath submitted a guest commentary (I cannot remain quiet any longer, March 14) outlining the many problems hes had with his development project. Unfortunately for Mr. McGrath, the troubles with his project are due to him and his enablers at the City. And none of it has anything to do with any resistance to development. The problem with McGraths project isnt that it was approved as a market-rate, multi-family housing project. The problem is the unfair procedural process used to approve the project, which left the city council, planning commission and residents without any say on the important land use, policy and environmental decisions made by the unelected planning staff and the unelected city attorney. In this case, the planning department and city attorney made sure their decisions were unreviewable by anyone, including our elected officials. This was accomplished by creating a staff report consisting of hundreds of pages discussing dozens of non-design issues. The same planning staff and city attorney then told the planning commission and the city council they legally couldnt discuss most of the issues in the staff report because their discretion was limited solely to what the project would look like, in other words, only design issues. Neither the staff nor city attorney ever explained why they themselves could discuss and decide these other issues, but no one else could. They went so far as to tell the planning commissioners to ignore all public comments not involving the appearance of the project, even though the staff report discussed dozens of other issues. The public lost its right to be heard. To make things worse, McGrath purchased a challenging parcel for his market-rate project. His parcel is on a rural dead-end street, where the city already allowed a 10-unit multi-family housing project to be built. At the same time the city approved the McGrath project, it also approved the Brenkle Court project to be constructed simultaneously with McGraths. The three-block neighborhood was going from 40 residents to 120 with no discussion allowed by any elected city decision-maker as to the impact on traffic, noise, water quality, air quality, toxic contamination, public infrastructure, parking, cumulative impacts or even if the project complied with the policies in the General Plan. Those decisions were all made by the planning staff. By severely restricting what could be discussed, city decision-makers were left to decide such weighty issues as the color of the paint. The CEQA exemption used to exclude the project from any environmental review required the decision-makers to attest it wouldnt result in any significant effects on traffic, noise, air quality or water quality. The resolution, which was written by the staff and city attorney before the public hearings, said the decision-makers discussed and concurred with the staff decisions that there were no environmental problems, when in fact, the city attorney wouldnt allow them to discuss or decide any of those issues. Thats not only unfair, it created a false written record which was then used in court. The issues in the lawsuit are simple. Its to ensure: (1) staff never makes decisions that are unreviewable by elected officials; (2) the process requires all public comments to be considered by the city decision-makers; (3) decision-makers cant say one thing orally on the record and then issue a written resolution saying they discussed, considered and approved the very things they said they couldnt even discuss, let alone decide, thereby creating a false record; and (4) all residents and decision-makers are allowed to challenge any issue in any staff report. This ensures the process is fair and transparent for everyone. As to McGraths allegations that Ive mounted a scorched earth effort against him, this isnt the first time hes made such assertions. Hes done so numerous times before the City Council. Ive tried multiple times to respond to these untrue accusations, but to no avail. So let me try one final time. Ive made no complaint nor have I contacted any state or local agency to initiate anything against McGrath or his project. Ill elaborate to show where the real problem is. The Planning Commission approved his project and then issued a resolution containing the conditions of approval. One such condition was that the project had to be designed by a licensed architect because of the unique characteristics of the site. The planning director acknowledged a licensed architect was required and McGrath was the architect of record. I told him McGrath wasnt a licensed architect. Anyone can check that on the state website without contacting anyone. Actually, I was surprised the staff hadnt checked. The staffs solution to McGrath being an unlicensed architect was to delete that requirement from the documents going to the City Council on appeal. While anyone else would have had to have a licensed architect for a multi-family project on a site with unique characteristics, apparently someone in the city thought McGrath was special enough to be excused from that requirement. McGrath bought a parcel contaminated with toxic chemicals. McGrath was the one who initiated the toxic contamination reports prior to his purchasing the property. He entered into a voluntary remediation agreement with Napa County, which would oversee the removal of the toxic soil. The presence of Chromium 6 (the same as in the Erin Brockovich saga) and other toxins were found on his property. It was Napa County alone who transferred the project to the Bay Area Water Quality Control Board, as they felt the problems were beyond their expertise. As to McGraths assertion that I lodged complaints to the Contractor State Licensing Board and the California Air Resources Board, I didnt know there were project problems involving these two state agencies. But if complaints were made by others, then there are more problems on his project than any of us know about. His assertion I complained to the Department of Industrial Relations is also untrue. Until McGraths commentary, the Department had no way of knowing I was involved in any way. More importantly, the inquiry to the Department came from the city, not me. The city had to raise the issue, because McGrath asked the taxpayers to pay his legal fees, which could be considered a gift of public funds and/or a subsidy since he had a contractual obligation to make those payments. Had the city not raised the question and it was later found to be a problem, it could create significant financial liability for the city. The city was prudent in seeking a determination from the Department to ensure it didnt inadvertently create financial problems for the taxpayers. McGrath himself triggered this issue by asking the taxpayers to pay his contractually obligated legal expenses. But his most absurd accusation is that I somehow influenced the Supreme Court to take our petition for review. That assertion isnt only ludicrous, its defamatory. I have no influence over the Supreme Court other than being a concerned citizen with a lawsuit in the public interest. Apparently, they found our concerns worth considering. Whatever problems McGrath has with state and local agencies, are problems of his own making. And, personally, his constant stream of spurious allegations is getting tiresome. Continually making allegations he knows or should know are untrue can have other consequences. Its little wonder why residents belonging to the organizations in this lawsuit dont want their names disclosed (nor is there a legal requirement to do so). McGrath has a history of intimidating and bullying the neighbors on McCorkle Avenue. The members all assume he wants their names so he can try to intimidate them as well. McGraths guest commentary proves that point. These same procedural unfairness and due process problems have occurred on at least one other project and its unrelated to housing. But there will be more such cases. I dont think anyone believes its OK for the staff to make important decisions that are unreviewable by at least the City Council. While some may believe the ends justify the means that can be a very dangerous road to go down. Victoria Bradshaw is a St. Helena resident. This letter is in response to Joe McGraths recent letter to the star regarding his project on McCorkle Avenue. My wife Elizabeth and I live directly across the street from the McGrath project on McCorkle Avenue. The lawsuit and subsequent appeals that Mr. McGrath mentions in his article are not about housing. We already have three multifamily housing sites on our two block rural dead-end street (much of which is owned by the residents of the street and not the city). These sites include a 10-unit apartment complex two doors down from the McGrath project, and the eight-unit Brenkle Court affordable housing project three doors down the street from the McGrath project, which we and the entire neighborhood supported. The lawsuit is about the unfair process the city used to approve this project. In this situation, the only opinions that counted were not those of the elected or appointed city decision-makers, or even the opinions of residents of St. Helena. The only individuals who were allowed to discuss, consider and approve any issues other than what the project looked like were the unelected planning department staff and the city attorney. We are opposed to non-elected staff making the decisions on such important items such as traffic issues, parking, water and air quality, public infrastructure needs, noise, toxic contamination, etc. without input from local residents and experts. In addition, the elected City Council was told by the city attorney they can legally only discuss the color of the paint of a project. That is exactly what happened with the McGrath project. While Mr. McGrath paints himself as a Robin Hood of affordable housing and states that the entire City of Saint Helena screams for affordable housing, in reality, the McGrath project was ram-rodded through a process that did not allow affected residents any significant input except for the color the paint and other limited design aspects of the project, resulting in a number of significant deficiencies noted below. All other aspects were simply ignored because of the non-stop desire to place more and more affordable housing on the east side of town. Here are a few of the deficiencies. - Significant contamination was discovered on the property from the prior owner. While Mr. McGrath inherited this issue, it took a lot of time to get Mr. McGraths attention on this issue, which the local residents, one of whom has a Ph.D. in soil chemistry and is considered an expert in this area, still believe have not been adequately remediated. But no big deal. - The current 10-unit complex two doors down the street has 25-plus cars parked regularly by its residents (2.5 per unit). These cars already routinely park directly in front of our house. The statement by Mr. McGrath that the parking (is) not visible from the street is accurate, as there is very little available parking on the property itself. Certainly not enough for 20 cars to be expected within this complex. - No room for kids to play on the McGrath property, necessitating kids playing in the street within and around the parked cars, as numerous cars drive up and down the street. McCorkle Avenue is clearly sub-standard and cannot adequately handle existing traffic let alone the increased traffic from both the McGrath and Brenkle Court projects. This issue continues to be ignored by the city despite this issue being raised numerous times over the last several years. The article notes that Joe McGrath is an Orinda resident. We are St. Helena residents, and dont want the city to continue to ram-rod projects like this through a non-inclusive feedback and approval process. Without the expertise of Vickie Bradshaw and her husband David, this process would continue to be the normal mode of operation within the city, residents be damned. If legal action is the only way to get our voices heard, so be it. And if outside developers now think twice about simply ram-rodding other future sub-standard projects into St. Helena, all the better. Thank you Vickie! Glenn and Elizabeth Goelz St. Helena It takes more than a classroom, a teacher and a pen and pencil to produce a well-rounded education. Thats why we support Give Big St. Helena, the annual fundraiser put on by the St. Helena Public Schools Foundation and the parent groups for the four public schools. You can donate online at givebigsthelena.com. The month-long fundraiser culminates this weekend, starting Friday, March 21, when students will be collecting donations in front of their schools. Youll also find them in front of Sunshine Foods Friday through Sunday. On Friday, March 29, students will celebrate the end of Give Big with Run Big, a color run starting in front of the high school at 11:15 a.m. and continuing to RLS, the elementary school, and the primary school. Runners will be covered in colorful powder as they reach each school. Thanks to local property values, the St. Helena Unified School District is one of the most well-funded districts in the state. So why should we give even more money to the schools? We posed that question to three of Give Bigs organizers: Anna Chouteau, Cecilia Raffo and Jeanmarie Wolf. Their answers were thoughtful, multifaceted and convincing. First, remember that the districts sizable budget covers all the basics: salaries, benefits, school supplies, etc. It keeps the lights on and gives students access to well-trained teachers and clean, safe campuses. Give Big funds the extras: Field trips, guest speakers, arts and drama programs, student clubs, special projects all the enhancements that make learning fun, interactive and meaningful to students. For example, its one thing to read a textbook or watch a video about the role of the aquatic habitat in our ecosystem. The district has that covered. But its quite another thing to hike through Bothe-Napa Valley State Park while a naturalist points out the flora and fauna and helps you identify that bug you found skipping along the surface of Ritchie Creek. That experience of applying book learning to the world around you thats where Give Big comes in. A second reason to support Give Big relates to equality. At a lot of public schools, educational enhancements come at a price. Parents are asked to kick in a few dollars for field trips, camps, or materials for woodshop or photography classes. Even in well-to-do places like Mill Valley, parents are asked to donate to support core educational expenses like Spanish education and instructional aides. St. Helena schools have set aside more subsidies for field trips and programs in recent years, but Give Big ensures that all students get the same high-quality education, regardless of how wealthy their families are. A third reason to donate to Give Big involves school spirit and student participation. Unlike the wine auctions of yore, Give Big engages students in the fundraising process and incentivizes them to get involved. If the primary school meets its fundraising goal, Principal Tamara Sanguinetti will dress up as Mrs. Penguinetti. High school Principal Ben Scinto will parade around campus in a tutu. What student wouldnt want to see their principal in a tutu? Theres also the high schools penny jar war, pitting the four classes against one another. Friendly competitions like that appeal a lot more to students than a fancy wine auction. (They also happen to be a lot cheaper and easier to organize.) As of early this week, Spottswoode had given the top donation of $10,000. But Give Bigs give what you can format lets everybody participate. Even the first-grader whos been saving up loose change can feel like shes investing in some fun activity for the next school year. That brings us to the last reason to support Give Big: the uniqueness of the experiences. A lot of kids might never visit a state park if it werent for trips to Bothe and Yosemite. Bagels and Buddies at the primary school might be the only time they get to read a book with Dad. A trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco might give them their first glimpse of the ocean. The book they get for their birthday might be one of the only ones in the house. A visit from Cafeteria Kids Theater might finally give a shy kid the self-confidence to step onstage and sing a song. An author visit might inspire a child to become a bigger reader or even an author. Those are the moments that inspire joy, curiosity and a lifelong love of learning. Our kids deserve as many of those inspiring moments as we can give them. So lets all Give Big. The Star editorial board consists of editors David Stoneberg and Sean Scully and community volunteers Norma Ferriz, Christopher Hill, Shannon Kuleto, Bonnie Long, Peter McCrea, Gail Showley and Dave Yewell. Bingo! The Winning Musical, with audience-participation bingo games, opens on March 22 at Lucky Penny and runs through April 7. The story centers on best friends and bingo-playing pals Vern, Honey and Patsy, who brave a terrible storm and a blackout to play their game. The story includes flashbacks, disguises, a song from a completely different (made-up) musical, and several rounds of real bingo played by the audience for prizes. A few years ago, I started playing bingo at a bar when my family visits Lake Tahoe, said Lucky Penny artistic director Taylor Bartolucci. I became a little passionate about it, and I learned why bingo players are so fanatical. So when I discovered this musical I knew we had to produce it. Written by Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid and David Holcenberg, Bingo! The Winning Musical had a successful Off-Broadway run and won a Drama League Award. It has been produced throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan. The Napa production is directed by Bartolucci, with music direction by Craig Burdette, and choreography by Bartolucci and Staci Arriaga. The cast includes Daniela Innocenti Beem and Tim Setzer, joined by stage veterans Shannon Rider, Karen Pinomaki, Pilar Gonzalez, Sarah Lundstrom and Jennifer Brookman. The Lucky Penny Community Arts Center is at 1758 Industrial Way, Napa. Tickets can be purchased at luckypennynapa.com or by calling 707-266-6305. A discount of 10 percent is available for groups of 10 or more. Darms Lane winery won Napa County Planning Commission approval, but only after a discussion about balancing winery visitation requests with traffic concerns of residents who live along the narrow, dead-end road. Thats become an increasingly common conversation in recent years when proposed wineries are not on county thoroughfares designed to handle more vehicles. Wine industry officials say that visitation is an important element in selling wine. I agree that a winery makes sense on this parcel, Commissioner Anne Cottrell said at Wednesdays meeting. Its a large parcel. It is well placed on the parcel. But she expressed concerned about added traffic on a rural road that residents consider to be quiet, where people walk and children play on scooters. The road has a couple dozen homes over about a half-mile. Commissioners required the winery to create a transportation management plan prior to opening that could include such things as having the winery warn its by-appointment-only guests to be careful when driving on Darms Lane. The winery is to use a shuttle for its largest marketing events. What we want to see is a winery being able to work with the neighbors to figure out how people are going to be safe and work together on this road, Cottrell said. Commission chairperson Joelle Gallagher provided the opposition in the 4-1 vote. Im still a little hung up on the number of daily visitors, she said. Its still high for the daily visits. Larry Bump and his daughter, Tricia Bump Davis, want to build a 30,000-gallon-a-year winery at 1150 Darms Lane, a road between the city of Napa and Yountville that extends westward from Solano Avenue. They came to the meeting asking to have tasting room guests and marketing event guests totaling 9,214 annually, then reduced this to an amount calculated by county staff at about 7,000 guests annually. The winery would be built at the base of a hill on a 47-acre property. It would consist of a 5,583-square-foot, two-story production building and 3,303-square-foot, two-story hospitality/administration building with a commercial kitchen. An 11,743-square-foot winery cave would be created. Nine trees, eight of them oaks, would be removed and 26 trees planted to help screen the winery. Part of the development would be on slopes of 15 percent or greater, which triggered the countys viewshed rules since the site is visible from Highway 29. As a reminder, this is a large parcel in the heart of the ag preserve, said consultant Donna Oldford on behalf of the applicants. This is what we do here. Bump and Davis explained how the family got involved with the property in 1991 and gained full ownership in 2003 to grow wine grapes in a vineyard of about 13 acres. They talked about thoughtful growth and asked to take the next step of having a winery. We feel this is the highest and best use of our pretty large parcel that is tucked in the back, Davis said. The proposal received a mixed reaction among neighbors who sent in letters both for and against Darms Lane winery as envisioned. Commissioners heard more of the same during public comments. Kathrine Borsetto said traffic generated by the winery would jeopardize safety for walkers and bikers on a narrow road with no sidewalks. When I moved to the lane, I accepted that agricultural activities were part of life there, she wrote. But how in the world are wine tasting and events with 125 people and running commercial kitchens aka a restaurant agriculture? Oldford said the winery wont be a restaurant. The reality is if you so much as serve cheese and crackers and you dont have a commercial kitchen, youre out of compliance with the state regulations, Oldford said. Thomas and Claudia Johnson have a direct view of the winery site, yet have no objection to the project. We have never known the Bump family to be anything but conscientious stewards of the land, they wrote. We believe the Bump family is concerned with maintaining the rural agricultural character of Darms Lane and see the winery design and use consistent with this. Morgan Morgan lives on nearby West Oak Knoll Avenue. I realize many of the neighbors of Darms Lane winery like and respect the winery owners and want to support them, she wrote. Bravo but lets reduce the size to fit the environment. Charlotte Williams, president of Napa Vision 2050, asked that the winery hold more talks with neighbors to come up with a project that everyone can live with. Individuals in the industry continue to run roughshod over their neighbors, she wrote. Similar to a juggernaut bent on destruction for the sake of profit, it disrupts whole neighborhoods so that a dream can be made real. A dream for some becomes a nightmare for many others. 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. An overturned tanker Tuesday shut down a rural highway in northern Sonoma County for more than four hours and prompted an evacuation after propane leaked. Authorities ordered residents within a mile radius to evacuate shortly after the 10:30 a.m. crash on Highway 128 in Knights Valley. They lifted the order and opened the highway about 3 p.m., once the leak was repaired and the truck was moved. The truck driver, James Pittman, 53, of Rohnert Park, drifted off the roadway and caught a tire on the asphalt edge, causing him to lose control on a curve, CHP Officer David deRutte said. The tanker rolled onto its side, knocking open a valve and causing a long, slow leak, said Kelly Bradley, assistant fire chief for Wilmar Volunteer Company. Propane can be highly volatile; an explosion caused by a suspected propane leak recently demolished a Ukiah home. Tuesdays leak forced the evacuation of about 20 households, including off Foss Hill Road. Sonoma County sheriffs deputies and firefighters went door to door, ordering the few residents at home to leave the area. Officials also issued social media and emergency alerts to Sonoma and Napa county residents. Picturesque Knights Valley sits in a remote pocket of northern Sonoma County and connects to Geyserville and Calistoga via Highway 128. The highway, a main thoroughfare, was closed on either side of the crash. Cloverdale Fire Battalion Chief Rick Blackmon, who knocked on doors to alert residents of the evacuation, said they took all of the proper safety measures. We do have a big safety perimeter, trying to keep people away from the gas, he said Tuesday. The highway closure and evacuation were expected to last into the evening, as firefighters waited for leaking gas to run out. But the fix came sooner when a propane company worker arrived and determined the gas was unlikely to ignite and the problem could quickly be remedied, Bradley said. Pittman wasnt injured, and climbed out of the truck on his own, officials said. In addition to the Sheriffs Office and CHP, multiple fire agencies responded to the crash, including Cloverdale, Geyserville, Calistoga, Mountain, Knights Valley and Cal Fire. Caltrans and Sonoma Countys Hazardous Materials Response Team also assisted. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. ST. HELENA More than 40 years ago, Mike Nieman and Tom Harding learned about Harley-Davidson motorcycles while they attended William Bowers classes at St. Helena High School. He was the machine shop teacher. We started rebuilding Harleys and building them from the ground up, with engines that were in crates, said Nieman, who is the owner of Niemans Motorcycle Rentals in St. Helena. The two members of the SHHS Class of 1973 have been friends since then. Last fall, Nieman said, We got to thinking that (building motorcycles) was so much fun back then, lets get together and build one this winter time and see how much fun we have. And it turned out to be a blast. The two friends are still assembling the motorcycle in Mike and Jodie Niemans shop at 1132 Main St. It sits on a hydraulic frame, so it can be raised and lowered. Its chrome is gleaming and it looks like it just needs a few more adjustments before it is totally put together, but looks are deceiving. When could the 125 horsepower RevTech engine be started? We could have it fired up within a week, if we wanted to, Harding said. We have a lot of little stuff to do. Well take our time. Nieman also had an answer: I want to make it (the process of building the motorcycle) last a little bit, I dont want it to end, because were having so much fun. Im going to drag the process out, because once were done, then what? Harding answered: We could sell this and do another one. Nieman added, I have to weld that, weld some stuff to the tank. We have a ways to go (before its finished). What is on the stand is just a mock-up of the finished motorcycle. When building a motorcycle from the ground up, he said, You put it all together, then you take it apart and start using Loctite, to make sure the nuts and bolts dont loosen. Parts and pieces They bought a lot of parts from eBay suppliers, including the South Korean RevTech engine, six-speed Ultima transmission, all-American chrome wheels and tires and various other chromed parts. The tig-welded steel frame and steel, springer forks both came from Paughco, a Nevada company that sells custom parts and accessories for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The two point out the workmanship on the steel frame and have decided to leave it unpainted. Nieman said, This is going to be a theme bike for all the welders, because of all these beautiful welds, which is part of the art of the bike. Harding added, We decided instead of painting the frame and the tank, we would leave it natural, with a patina. Well put a clear coat on it, so it wont rust, but we like the look of the steel metal. It shows all the welds and everything. We thought this looked pretty good. By now, the two were getting warmed up, describing their creation. This bike will be sitting indoors somewhere, not in the rain, Harding said. Nieman added, Everything here is top-of-the-line manufacturing. Harding chimed in, Everything on it is the best of quality. Triple chrome. We could have cut a lot of cost and made it cheaper, but we said no, if we cant build it right The two then talked about their vision for this gleaming, unfinished motorcycle. This is what you call a bar hopper, you go from one bar to another, in the valley, Nieman said. Its not made for long distance. Harding disagreed: Yes it can. Originally, all Harleys had rigid frames before they started making swing arms (suspension). Its a rider, too. Somebody could ride it its just not as comfortable as one with shocks. Nieman chimed in, Years ago, people used to wear kidney belts, to keep everything in, because there were no shocks. Again, Harding, We used to ride rigid frames as kids. For a little more suspension, wed let a little air out of the tires. 1970s bobber look These two men are having a good time. Harding, who lives in Napa, often comes to Niemans shop in St. Helena and they enjoy being together, reliving the old days and working on the bike. Harding points out that the exhaust pipes that are on the bike arent the final ones they plan to use. Nieman said, Well have upswept pipes. Were going for the 70s bobber look, with old-school narrow-treaded tires on chrome wheels and a small fender up front and a bobbed fender on the rear. The spring saddle, too, too, is old school, using two springs for suspension. It sits nearly on the frame, right behind a large, steel, also unpainted gas tank. We could have made this in the style of a Frisco chopper as its called, Harding said. In a Frisco chopper, the tank would sit up real high on the frame, but were not going to do that. He added, Its got a lot of Frisco chopper to it, except how were going to position the tank. A Frisco chopper was created in San Francisco. Just think Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. Theres a framed photo of Fonda from the movie on the wall of the shop. Its clear Nieman and Harding have spent hours and hours discussing their dream build. Were trying to bring back the 70s look, when we were in high school. This is how we used to build them, Nieman said. In his shop, there are eight Harleys on kickstands, including a white one from 1972 that Nieman built as a chopper and later rebuilt as a cruiser. There are photos of the chopper on the wall. All eight Harleys are for rent, but Nieman said, Not this one, its just a work of art. The two of them own the motorcycle together and have thousands of dollars tied up in it. How are they going to decide who rides it, for example, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Harding said that decision is easy. I dont ride anymore. My reflexes arent as good as they used to be. Then he reconsidered and added, The day he fires it up, I may take it down Main Street and back, once, but that would be about it. If I was younger, I would (ride it), but Im too old. I dont want to jeopardize my retirement. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A couple of months ago, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hobnobbed among the billionaires and global cognoscenti gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She extolled the fight against climate change alongside Britain's Prince William and championed her government's plans to prioritize the societal - not just economic - "well-being" of her country. In a polite rebuke of President Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians, Ardern said she hoped world leaders would recognize the virtue of "more compassionate" domestic policies that would obviate "the false promise of protectionism and isolation." Then she partied with Google. Ardern, whose personal magnetism drove her Labour Party to electoral victory in 2017, has appeared in a Vogue photo spread and on American late-night television. When she gave birth to a baby in office - and then brought her 3-month-old daughter to the United Nations General Assembly last year - the unusual precedent only burnished her image as a global feminist icon. There even was a term for her celebrity: "Jacindamania." But not all at Davos were impressed with the charismatic, liberal and young - Adern is just 38 - world leader. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to Today's WorldView, one Western fund manager with dealings in the Asia-Pacific region scoffed that Ardern "was just a less annoying Justin Trudeau with an easier country to run" - a jab both at her and the Canadian prime minister, another darling of the center left who critics argue has traded too long on his rosy image rather than actual policy achievements. As my Washington Post colleague Anna Fifield wrote Monday, Ardern has "had plenty of political trials and tribulations." Fifield explained: "Her handling of the economy has been criticized, and her efforts to introduce more affordable housing have been plagued by embarrassing bureaucratic blunders. Detractors said she was all style and no substance." And, then, the terrorist attack in Christchurch happened. Since a self-proclaimed white supremacist burst into two mosques in the South Island city Friday, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens more, Ardern has become the face of her nation's sorrow and grief, and its resolve. Observers hailed the calm and compassion she has shown in the wake of the worst mass killing in her country's modern history. She led a multiparty delegation from the country's capital, Wellington, to Christchurch, donning a black headscarf and mourning with relatives and friends of the victims. She also promised to cover the funeral costs of all those slain. A photographer who covered her visit marveled at the prime minister's composure and empathy. "Ardern's performance has been extraordinary - and I believe she will be strongly lauded for it both domestically and internationally," political commentator Bryce Edwards of Victoria University in Wellington told Reuters. Ardern has also followed through in rhetoric and action. She immediately decried the white-nationalist ideology that fueled the massacre and spoke firmly for what she believed were her country's values. The death toll itself was a catalogue of New Zealand's budding diversity. "Among the dead were worshipers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Somalia and Afghanistan," my colleagues noted. "The youngest was a 3-year-old boy born in New Zealand to refugee parents from Somalia." "We represent diversity, kindness, compassion," Ardern said Friday. "A home for those who share our values. Refuge for those who need it. And those values will not and cannot be shaken by this attack." She insisted that the victims "are us" and the "perpetrator is not." Addressing the suspected shooter, an Australian national now in police custody, she warned: "You may have chosen us - we utterly reject and condemn you." Now, Ardern says she will pursue changing New Zealand's gun laws. She said that her government will announce plans "within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism" that she believes will make "our community safer." My colleagues reported that the "measures could include restricting the military-style semiautomatic weapons that were used in the attacks." Ardern has discussed full bans on these semiautomatic weapons as well as potentially requiring licenses for individual guns. American advocates for gun control can only look on wistfully at the pace with which Ardern can act. Both the United States and New Zealand "are among the only nations without universal gun registration rules, and both have strong gun lobbies that have stalled previous attempts to rein in gun owners' liberties," noted my colleague Rick Noack. But he added that Ardern has less to fear politically in her country than a liberal American leader, who would have to contend with the outsize influence of the National Rifle Association and a political system that gives disproportionate weight to rural, conservative parts of the country. For good measure, Ardern also gently spoke out against Trump, rejecting his attempts to play down the rising threat of white-supremacist terrorism and urging him to show his solidarity with "all Muslim communities." Such a message of support has yet to come from the White House. With her reputation burnished in the aftermath of national tragedy, Ardern finds herself in a situation similar to that of former Norwegian prime minister (and now NATO secretary general) Jens Stoltenberg, who won plaudits for his compassion and poise after another white-nationalist terrorist, Anders Breivik, murdered 77 people in 2011. In a speech, he famously vowed to combat "hatred with love." But Stoltenberg's aura soon faded, especially after a 2012 inquiry found that his government could have thwarted the attack. He was voted out of office in 2013. For now, Arden's political prospects are more robust. While Trump goes on a weekly Twitter meltdown and British Prime Minister Theresa May fumbles over Brexit, Ardern's decisiveness and conviction have laid down a marker. "Was there any substance to her? That question is asked of all women leaders," wrote Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore. "What is underneath? Where is the steel? Now, in the most horrific of circumstances, we have seen the steel." Ishaan Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York. To Beto, or not to Beto, seems to be the question among all of us who want to support the best candidate, or team of candidates, to beat Trump, flip the Senate to the Democrats, and put humanity and the environment back to the top of this countrys agenda. My son, Matt Villano, and I met Beto last May at a fundraiser in Santa Rosa when he was running against Lyin Ted Cruz to represent Texas in the Senate. We wanted to meet ORourke because we admired his courage to buck the odds, and take on such a despicable symbol of hypocrisy in a heavily red state. We werent disappointed. Much like hes doing now in Iowa, Beto came to a small local restaurant and addressed a few dozen of us about why he was running for Senate. He was smart, personable, and well-informed on the issues, and when I asked him what he was going to do about the cages for children that the Trump administration constructed on the Texas/Mexico border, near ORourkes former congressional district, he didnt shy away from giving an impassioned, detailed and impressive answer. As an El Paso native and representative, he knew and cared about the issue of immigration more than any other public official of our time. Betos charisma and passion for those without the privilege he knew he was fortunate to have, reminded me of Robert F. Kennedy. I told Robert Francis ORourke that I had campaigned for Bobby Kennedy in 1964, when he was running for the Senate from New York against an entrenched GOP senator. Now, more than 50 years later, in the presence of my 43-year old son, I felt we were experiencing another of those unique presences in American political life. Having worked with Mario Cuomo for eight years, I knew them when I saw them. But it was easy to be for Beto when he ran against the creepy Cruz. It was the quintessential battle of good vs. evil, Don Quixote vs. windmills, and a young, caring and charismatic public official struggling uphill to unseat a shrivel-souled, cynical, hollowed-out man. Beto for President is not such an easy, nor binary, choice not just yet. We have many miles to go before we vote. Like many other sensible humans who care about the future of our world, I worked hard in 2016 to defeat Donald Trump, and I will again do all I can to defeat Trump in 2020, keep the House Democratic and flip control of the Senate. How do we best achieve that? Who is the best Democrat and the best team of people to accomplish those imperatives? If we dont bust up the Trump Criminal Enterprise, knock out the GOP from the White House and the Senate, the future of this democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in this country is tenuous, at best, and the future of this planet, environmentally, is lost. Ive given early money to the presidential campaigns of Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, the Senate campaign of Mark Kelly in Arizona, and the yet-to-be-announced Senate campaign of Amy McGrath of Kentucky against Mitch McConnell. I have resisted giving to Betos campaign just yet. I want to allow a few more flowers to bloom. The truth is, like many Democrats and independents, Im not sure who the strongest candidate would be yet, to beat Trump and the GOP. I love the depth and breadth of the Democratic field of candidates As someone who grew up in an ethnic, working-class family and whose older brothers detested the privilege of the Kennedys, I was affronted by Betos beautiful Vanity Fair all-too-posed cover photo by Annie Leibovitz, and by ORourkes Obama-like arrogance that he was born to be in it. Please spare us the hubris, especially after being bathed in maniacally false pride by Trump for three years. Beto, more than anyone in the Democratic field, has to be meticulously careful to avoid becoming the kind of celebrity candidate that working-families grow to resent, and vote against. Yet, as a writer and media professional who worked with the eloquent Mario Cuomo, I recognize the power and great risk of becoming a media darling, and the potency and danger of skateboarding atop social media, especially when confronting a sick, symbiotic relationship between television, Twitter, and a twisted antagonist like Trump. Betos test, far bigger than the one he faced in Texas, will be to find just the right balance of riding the tiger of media and popular adoration without ending up inside, and taming it to come to this countrys rescue. If he can do that, ORourke will not only have earned the Democratic nomination, but the Presidency as well. Steve Villano is a Napa-based blogger. He was a director of Gov. Mario M. Cuomos New York City press office, and is the author of Tightrope: Balancing a Life Between Mario Cuomo and My Brother. This is an abridged version of an essay that originally appeared on his blog. Hong Kong: CE meets telecommunication chief Chief Executive Carrie Lam met visiting Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Zhao Houlin at Government House today. Welcoming Mr Zhao's visit to Hong Kong, Mrs Lam congratulated him on his re-election with overwhelming support as the Secretary-General of the ITU. She said she hopes Mr Zhao's visit to Hong Kong over the coming days will enhance his understanding of Hong Kong's telecommunications industry and strengthen ties and co-operation between Hong Kong and the ITU in the future. Mrs Lam said Hong Kong has a first-class telecommunications network, with Internet and mobile penetration rates among the highest in the world. She added the city will continue to enhance its telecommunications infrastructure to lay a solid foundation for development as a smart city. Mrs Lam also pointed out Hong Kong, with excellent city management and professional services, will actively participate in the Belt & Road Initiative, particularly in boosting people-to-people bonds. She said the city is willing to share its experiences and provide training to developing regions and countries to strengthen their capacity. This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. 49 people killed in Christchurch, New Zealand in a terrorist attack By Levan Abramishvili On March 15, in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, Muslims gathered for Friday prayers, the busiest time for many mosques around the world. This was when a white nationalist extremist carried out a terrorist attack on Al Noor Mosque in the center of the city. Australian man called Brenton Tarrant, a self-proclaimed fascist, posted a hate-filled 87-page manifesto that contained anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas online and streamed a live video of him killing people gathered in Mosque with a camera attached to his body.Social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been scrambling to remove a 17-minute video of the attack.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns office received an email with the aforementioned manifesto from the shooter minutes before the attack.This is and will be one of New Zealands darkest days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference on Friday.Christchurch was the home of these victims, she said. For many this may not have been the place they were born. For many, New Zealand was their choice, the place that they chose to come to and committed themselves to, the place they chose to raise their families.It was a mere 74 years ago, when the concentration camps in Germany were liberated by the allied forces and the world thought that it would bring an end to fascism, a destructive ideology that led to such brutalities as the Holocaust. But the ideology has experienced a sudden resurgence all over the world, with the help of social media.This is not the first instance of a far-right extremist committing such atrocity. From the beginning of the century, toleration and normalization of Islamophobia has led to violent shootings like this, which serves as a palpable reminder that the threat that the far-right ideology poses is hauntingly real.According to a recent study from the Center on Extremism, Almost all of the 2018 extremist-related murders in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists.Yet, President Trump fails to recognize white nationalism as a growing threat across the globe. "I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess." He was quoted saying.He was still a candidate when Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the United States, and as President he succeeded in using executive power to ban travel to the US by citizens of seven nations, five of them mainly Muslim.Hateful rhetoric that the President Trump has been spreading since before coming into power directly results into such violent terrorist acts. Despite these alarming trends, the leaders of the world are turning a blind eye to the far-right extremism.Meanwhile, the terrorist mentions in the manifesto that he supports Trump as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.This terrorist attack serves as a wake-up call that the rise of white supremacist ideology online and the power of social media in spreading that message cant be ignored.The attack was organized with a social media in mind. The radicalization of right-leaning young people are to be blamed on social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Reddit that do little to nothing to stop such hateful rhetoric from spreading.The terrorist was well aware of the power of social media. The manifesto is loaded with sarcastic language and allusions to online meme culture, suggesting an social media-driven evolution of nationalist hatred. Especially vulnerable to the hateful extremism are young people.Whilst we may use edgy humour and memes in the vanguard stage, and to attract a young audience, eventually we will need to show the reality of our thoughts and our more serious intents and wishes for the future. the attacker says in the manifesto. Memes have done more for the ethno-nationalist movement than any manifesto. States the terrorist.Before the shooting began, the gunman made a reference to an internet meme, telling viewers to subscribe to PewDiePie, a reference to the Swedish YouTube star Felix Kjellberg, who has been criticized for anti-Semitism over skits that he called satirical.Social media has become weaponized and vulnerable communities are under attack. The leaders of the world need to adopt policies that combat a rising threat with the same urgency that we saw after 9/11 happened. All of the tools at disposal must be used to prevent this already significant threat from getting worse.After offering condolences, Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden, a possible White House candidate in 2020, tweeted Whether it is antisemitism in Pittsburgh, racism in Charlottesville, or the xenophobia and Islamophobia today in Christchurch, violent hate is on the march at home and abroad. We cannot stand by as mosques are turned into murder scenes. "Silence is complicity," he added. "Our children are listening. The time to speak out is now."Meanwhile, a far-right Australian senator, Fraser Anning, blamed New Zealand attack on Muslim immigrants. Words he chose to respond to the shooting were oddly reminiscent of the ideas expressed in the manifesto the terrorist. He was internationally criticized for his comments.On Saturday, during a press conference in Melbourne, the senator was smacked across the back of his head with an egg by a teen protester. A shocked Sen. Fraser Anning then smacked the teen in his face in response.The internet was quick to dub the teenager an #EggBoy. His social media was flooded with praise for standing up to Anning's Islamophobia and racism.Along with the hateful manifesto that the terrorist published, he had names of various figures written across the guns that he used during the attack. Names of modern day extremists and historical figures. Two of them were Georgian king and Georgian consort from the 12th century - King David IV (The Builder) and David Soslan, respectively.King David IV is celebrated as one of the greatest Georgian kings of all time. In 1121, At the Battle of Didgori, the Georgian army led by the King David IV defeated considerably larger Seljuk forces.The second name was David Soslan, who was a consort of the Queen Tamar (referred as King Tamar by Georgians). He played a role in defeating Islamic forces at Shamkor and Basian battles. He is not nearly as celebrated as David The Builder in Georgia.The intentions of the terrorist are immediately clear he put the names of people that he considered anti-Muslim. But these two historical figures do not belong with the other names on the terrorists rifles.According to an Arab historian and traveler, Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn al-Azraq al-Fariqi, after taking back Tbilisi (Tiflis at the time), King David issued a command that Muslim religion would be untouchable. Moreover, he gave them some privileges. For example, in the parts of the city where Muslims lived, no one was to own or kill a pig. He gave them a permission for free Azan (calling for a prayer) and prayer. During King Davids rule, Muslims also paid less taxes. According to other sources, the king often attended Friday prayers with his son and upon leaving donated lots of money to the Mosque.The aforementioned sources prove that King David IV does not belong on the list of the Islamophobes. His imagery is also often abused by the far-right groups in Georgia. The most notorious of them all, Georgian March, has gone so far to use the flag of David IV as their symbol. Maybe next time they march through the streets and spread their hateful ideas while holding the icon of King David (hes sainted by the Orthodox Georgian church), they should keep in mind the fact that the king was famous for his admiration and support of Muslim communities in Georgia.The world mourns and offers condolences to the Muslim communities around the globe for the innocent lives lost in the attack. In the wake of the tragedy one thing remains clear as much as social media can be used for the good, it also can be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands.As 9/11 became a turning point in fighting Islamist extremism, this tragedy should also act as a catalyst to influence leaders to take the right-wing extremism more seriously. All the stakeholders should use their influence to combat the extensive violence that is being spread online to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Gauhati University and Oil India Limited (OIL) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Gauhati University on Tuesday to extend the facility of Technology Incubation Centre at Gauhati University as part of the flagship national programme of Start Up India. Gauhati University has already constituted a Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) which is working towards fostering industry-academia linkages and formulating an ecosystem for startups and incubator. The registrar of Gauhati University, Prof Nani Gopal Mahanta was the signatory on behalf of Gauhati University while executive director, Corporate Affairs, OIL, Dr Rahul Dasgupta, signed on behalf of Oil India Limited. The MoU signing event was attended by Dr Mridul Hazarika, vice chancellor of Gauhati University, deans, director GUIST, coordinator, IQAC, Prof Parag Phukan, Prof K K Sarma, coordinator, GUTIC etc. M C Nihalini, CGM R & amp; D D R Banerjee, CGM & amp; Asset Manager-W, N Mathur, CGM CoEES, S Yamdo, GM Resv CoEES, R Goswami CGM-PHQ, S Goswami, general manager (Operations) PHQ were among other who attended the event. The MoU has been an outcome of the Industry Academia Interaction Programme held at Gauhati University in April last year with the initiative of Utpal Bora, CMD-OIL and Dr Mridul Hazarika, vice chancellor of Gauhati University. Psaki: US seeks diplomacy in context of situation between Russia and Ukraine 290 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Biden believes leaders of all other countries would like to be in his place Armenia PM: Internal patriots do not calm down because their foreign partners do not consider the mission over Peskov: Russia concerned about NATO military equipment transfer via Greece port Esplanade of Armenia opens in Paris Armenia soldier dies, 2 others wounded Newspaper: Bill that pampers Armenia banks to have very serious consequences Newspaper: What to expect from Armenia parliament special session next week? Boris Johnson threatened with resignation due to parties during pandemic Kopirkin: Russia is ready to make all efforts to contribute to normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations Armenia MFA: '3+3' platform needs to refrain from duplicating formats with mandate to settle conflicts RT: US may build facilities in Georgia and Armenia to support its 'defense activities' Armenia 2nd President: We will continue the struggle, all the phony cases will be crushed MFA: Armenia calls on Azerbaijan to refrain from provocative rhetoric Hero of 44-day Karabakh war Garik Hovakimyan's sister Mariam is born Republican Party of Armenia Executive Body holds session chaired by Serzh Sargsyan Iranian Embassy: Iran supports '3+3' platform during meeting held in Moscow Armenia ex-defense minister on Prosecutor General's Office imposing attachment on his assets Alen Simonyan: Armenia is in one of the most crucial stages in its history, and opposition is demanding my resignation PM: Armenia is committed to contributing to global mission of strengthening democracy, and we hope we're not alone Armenia MOD: Soldier who was injured from gunshot fired by fellow serviceman has regained consciousness Armenia Deputy PM: Omicron variant is not sufficiently explored First meeting within scope of '3+3' regional platform held in Moscow NEWS.am daily digest: 10.12.21 Armenia soldier killed while resisting Azerbaijanis' attack, 8 are injured, 6 of whom are in severe condition Armenia PM introduces new Head of State Supervision Service Romanos Petrosyan Armenia human rights activists: There were cases when POWs were brought to territory under Azerbaijan's control The book Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman was translated and published on the initiative of Ardshinbank Armenia regional governor, IFRC Secretary General discuss return of Armenian POWs originally from Shirak Province Armenia human rights activist: Number of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan is 80 more than the confirmed one Pashinyan: Environmental sphere is of strategic importance for Armenia Armenia President: We must understand that we are entering completely different era for humanity Dollar goes up somewhat in Armenia Armenia State Revenue Committee chief meets with French Development Agency Regional Director Opposition 'Armenia' faction MPs Artur Sargsyan and Mkhitar Zakaryan released from penitentiary institution Head of Armenia's Norabak village: Azerbaijan has military post that is 2 km from us Armenia finance minister receives France Ambassador and French Development Agency Regional Director Armenia opposition MP Ishkhan Zakaryan leaving 'With Honor' faction Russian and Armenian Deputy FMs meet in Moscow Armenia PM highlights importance of speedy conclusion of full-format agreement between Iran and EEU Armenia opposition MPs Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan to be released without court decision today Armenian opposition MP Armen Charchyan is released Armenia MOD: Armenian side has one casualty, few soldiers are injured, exchange of fire is over Armenias Pashinyan: High-tech component development also important in Eurasian integration context Armenia Deputy PM dismisses his two assistants Nazarbayev says Azerbaijan can become observer country in Eurasian Economic Union Head of Armenia village: The Azerbaijanis tried to advance in direction of Sotk, but our soldiers didn't let them Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan attacked in eastern direction of border Special court hearing underway on case of Armenia opposition lawmaker behind bars Artsakh officials visit Stepanakert memorial 2 more die of coronavirus in Karabakh Vardenis protesters dismiss Armenia MOD statement on obstructing car taking wounded soldier to Yerevan Armenia FM briefs Francophonie chief on regional security issues (PHOTOS) Armenia Police: 13 people apprehended near MFA building Armenia protesting residents reopen Martuni-Vardenis motorway due to border tension Armenia parliament passes changes to some laws Armenia MOD: Deputy commander was told in Vardenis that car taking wounded soldier to Yerevan would be obstructed 347 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Armenia opposition movement staging protest inside MFA building Armenia has new environment minister Artsakh MFA: Referendum on independence is solid legal basis for statehood Special court session to be held on case of imprisoned Armenia opposition MP Biden promises Zelenskyy to punish Russia in case of invasion of Ukraine Newspaper: Armenia parliament recent fight case to have former ones fate Newspaper: What is reason for recent long visit to Armenia by ex-commander of Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh? Petition to arrest one of accused Armenia soldiers returned from Azerbaijan captivity is granted Russian Aerospace Forces consider practice of reconnaissance and strike UAVs during Karabakh conflict Investigative Committee: Motion filed for arrest of 5 of 10 POWs returned to Armenia on Dec. 4 Armenia State Revenue Committee chief hosts Iran Customs Administration head Armenia Shirak Province ex-deputy governor Boris Aleksanov dies Constitutional Court announces decision on release of arrested MPs of opposition 'Armenia' parliamentary faction Iran, Azerbaijan discuss cooperation in petrol and natural gas sectors Lavrov: We understand the complexity of the situation in Armenia, but it's not right to speculate Russia's role Cem Ozdemir who initiated adoption of Armenian Genocide resolution is Germany's first minister with migration history Armenia FM, France Secretary of State sign 'Roadmap for Armenian-French Economic Cooperation' Armenia PM scheduled to deliver speech at Summit for Democracy on Dec. 10 Zakharova says news about recall of Russia's Ambassador to Armenia is misinformation Opposition 'Armenia' Alliance: 3 deputies of parliamentary faction will be released Attorney: MP Armen Charchyan needs to be released immediately by virtue of Armenia Constitutional Court decision Introducing a single currency within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is possible in future, but its member states are not ready yet, Assistant Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Fedor Chernitsyn said, Russian News Agency TASS reported. The use of national currencies in mutual transactions has been on the rise, the official told the annual conference on the development of business contacts with EAEU at the Russian Cultural Center in Washington. The EEC and national governments are not supposed to put pressure on anyone in that regard, so they dont. As far as the single currency is concerned, there are no such plans so far, he went on. This is being discussed at the level of experts, at the theoretical level. A transition to a single currency is currently possible, but we are not ready for it yet. We need to increase the use of national currencies. Officially, introducing a single currency is out of question so far, we have just began taking steps in this direction, Chernitsyn said. We plan to create the EAEU mega-regulator, an institution that will be responsible for common financial policy of the union, on the territory of Kazakhstan in 2025. Right now it is too early to speak of a single currency. The Eurasian Economic Commission is the executive body of the Eurasian Economic Union which comprises Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Psaki: US seeks diplomacy in context of situation between Russia and Ukraine 290 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Biden believes leaders of all other countries would like to be in his place Armenia PM: Internal patriots do not calm down because their foreign partners do not consider the mission over Peskov: Russia concerned about NATO military equipment transfer via Greece port Esplanade of Armenia opens in Paris Armenia soldier dies, 2 others wounded Newspaper: Bill that pampers Armenia banks to have very serious consequences Newspaper: What to expect from Armenia parliament special session next week? Boris Johnson threatened with resignation due to parties during pandemic Kopirkin: Russia is ready to make all efforts to contribute to normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations Armenia MFA: '3+3' platform needs to refrain from duplicating formats with mandate to settle conflicts RT: US may build facilities in Georgia and Armenia to support its 'defense activities' Armenia 2nd President: We will continue the struggle, all the phony cases will be crushed MFA: Armenia calls on Azerbaijan to refrain from provocative rhetoric Hero of 44-day Karabakh war Garik Hovakimyan's sister Mariam is born Republican Party of Armenia Executive Body holds session chaired by Serzh Sargsyan Iranian Embassy: Iran supports '3+3' platform during meeting held in Moscow Armenia ex-defense minister on Prosecutor General's Office imposing attachment on his assets Alen Simonyan: Armenia is in one of the most crucial stages in its history, and opposition is demanding my resignation PM: Armenia is committed to contributing to global mission of strengthening democracy, and we hope we're not alone Armenia MOD: Soldier who was injured from gunshot fired by fellow serviceman has regained consciousness Armenia Deputy PM: Omicron variant is not sufficiently explored First meeting within scope of '3+3' regional platform held in Moscow NEWS.am daily digest: 10.12.21 Armenia soldier killed while resisting Azerbaijanis' attack, 8 are injured, 6 of whom are in severe condition Armenia PM introduces new Head of State Supervision Service Romanos Petrosyan Armenia human rights activists: There were cases when POWs were brought to territory under Azerbaijan's control The book Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman was translated and published on the initiative of Ardshinbank Armenia regional governor, IFRC Secretary General discuss return of Armenian POWs originally from Shirak Province Armenia human rights activist: Number of Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan is 80 more than the confirmed one Pashinyan: Environmental sphere is of strategic importance for Armenia Armenia President: We must understand that we are entering completely different era for humanity Dollar goes up somewhat in Armenia Armenia State Revenue Committee chief meets with French Development Agency Regional Director Opposition 'Armenia' faction MPs Artur Sargsyan and Mkhitar Zakaryan released from penitentiary institution Head of Armenia's Norabak village: Azerbaijan has military post that is 2 km from us Armenia finance minister receives France Ambassador and French Development Agency Regional Director Armenia opposition MP Ishkhan Zakaryan leaving 'With Honor' faction Russian and Armenian Deputy FMs meet in Moscow Armenia PM highlights importance of speedy conclusion of full-format agreement between Iran and EEU Armenia opposition MPs Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan to be released without court decision today Armenian opposition MP Armen Charchyan is released Armenia MOD: Armenian side has one casualty, few soldiers are injured, exchange of fire is over Armenias Pashinyan: High-tech component development also important in Eurasian integration context Armenia Deputy PM dismisses his two assistants Nazarbayev says Azerbaijan can become observer country in Eurasian Economic Union Head of Armenia village: The Azerbaijanis tried to advance in direction of Sotk, but our soldiers didn't let them Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan attacked in eastern direction of border Special court hearing underway on case of Armenia opposition lawmaker behind bars Artsakh officials visit Stepanakert memorial 2 more die of coronavirus in Karabakh Vardenis protesters dismiss Armenia MOD statement on obstructing car taking wounded soldier to Yerevan Armenia FM briefs Francophonie chief on regional security issues (PHOTOS) Armenia Police: 13 people apprehended near MFA building Armenia protesting residents reopen Martuni-Vardenis motorway due to border tension Armenia parliament passes changes to some laws Armenia MOD: Deputy commander was told in Vardenis that car taking wounded soldier to Yerevan would be obstructed 347 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Armenia opposition movement staging protest inside MFA building Armenia has new environment minister Artsakh MFA: Referendum on independence is solid legal basis for statehood Special court session to be held on case of imprisoned Armenia opposition MP Biden promises Zelenskyy to punish Russia in case of invasion of Ukraine Newspaper: Armenia parliament recent fight case to have former ones fate Newspaper: What is reason for recent long visit to Armenia by ex-commander of Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh? Petition to arrest one of accused Armenia soldiers returned from Azerbaijan captivity is granted Russian Aerospace Forces consider practice of reconnaissance and strike UAVs during Karabakh conflict Investigative Committee: Motion filed for arrest of 5 of 10 POWs returned to Armenia on Dec. 4 Armenia State Revenue Committee chief hosts Iran Customs Administration head Armenia Shirak Province ex-deputy governor Boris Aleksanov dies Constitutional Court announces decision on release of arrested MPs of opposition 'Armenia' parliamentary faction Iran, Azerbaijan discuss cooperation in petrol and natural gas sectors Lavrov: We understand the complexity of the situation in Armenia, but it's not right to speculate Russia's role Cem Ozdemir who initiated adoption of Armenian Genocide resolution is Germany's first minister with migration history Armenia FM, France Secretary of State sign 'Roadmap for Armenian-French Economic Cooperation' Armenia PM scheduled to deliver speech at Summit for Democracy on Dec. 10 Zakharova says news about recall of Russia's Ambassador to Armenia is misinformation Opposition 'Armenia' Alliance: 3 deputies of parliamentary faction will be released Attorney: MP Armen Charchyan needs to be released immediately by virtue of Armenia Constitutional Court decision Armenia ex-environment minister Romanos Petrosyan appointed Head of State Supervision Service Armenia MOD: 2 Armenian soldiers receive slight firearm injuries as a result of Azerbaijanis' provocation NEWS.am daily digest: 09.12.21 Zakharova: Moscow hopes Armenia and Azerbaijan leaders reaffirm commitment to implementing agreements Zakharova on Aliyev's statement and murders of Armenian peaceful civilians Ex-chief advisor to Armenia PM Hakob Simidyan appointed Minister of Environment Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy kicks off, Armenia PM is also participating Armenia environment minister sacked Residents of Armenia's Vardenis shut down Martuni-Vardenis road in support of opposition alliance's leader (PHOTOS) Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan opened intense fire toward Gegharkunik Province military positions Armenia President meets with Emir of Qatar Azerbaijan opened fire on Artsakh village tractor operator, says Machkalashen mayor Parliament ruling majority obstructs decriminalizing severe insult in Armenia Armenia deputy defense minister: No group has come from Moscow for demarcation Armenia parliament approves several amendments to laws in first reading Ambassador: American Studies center at YSU will play important role in deepening relations with Armenia Armenia Parliament Speaker receives IFRC Secretary General-led delegation Armenia PM receives IFRC Secretary General Dollar still gaining more value in Armenia Armenia Parliament Speaker sues opposition MP Aregnaz Manukyan for previous allegations Barclays Bank has issued a statement after officers from the Flying Squad on Tuesday intercepted fake Ksh2 billion in a safe inside one of the banks branches in Nairobi. The counterfeit 20 million US dollars in 100 dollar denominations were found inside a customers safe deposit box at the Queensway branch in Nairobi. According to the lender, the money had been hidden by their client against the banks rules and regulations. Barclays bank can confirm that police have taken in the customer for further questioning. The customer had concealed fake currency in his personal safe deposit box against the banks rules and regulations which include restrictions of items which can be held in the safe deposit box, said Barclays Bank. Barclays management further explained that they are never aware of what customers store in their personal safe boxes, indicating that holders of the safe deposit boxes are at liberty to deposit whatever valuable they wish. The contents of personal safe boxes are not part of the banks deposits and are only known to the client, said the lender. The bank noted that it is fully cooperating and assisting the authorities with the investigation. Six suspects were arrested Tuesday at the Barclays branch in Nairobis Mama Ngina street. They are:- Dr. Erick Adede(Owner of the Box), Mr. Ahmed Shah(Fake Investor) Ms. Elizabeth Muthoni, Ms. Irene Wairimu Kimani, Mr. Boaz Ochich(Bank official) and Mr. Charles Manzi(Bank official). Also held for statement recording is a witness who would have otherwise been conned. Police are pursuing more leads to crack a suspected fake currency syndicate in the Nairobi and environs. The suspects are said to use the fake currency to con unsuspecting business people. A search for two minors who went missing on Saturday has ended after they were found at a residential house in Ngata Estate, Nakuru. The two sisters, aged 14 and 15, were found on Monday night. They had been locked in a house believed to belong to an untrained teacher who is an alumnus of Uhuru Secondary School where the younger sister schools. The girls mother says her daughters left home on Saturday morning to attend a wedding at a local church. They left home at around 11 am and headed to church. I also went to work and on coming back in the evening they were yet to return. I looked for them at their friends homes in vain, said Naomi. On Sunday, she called a phone number that one of her daughters had previously used to call her when she was late after attending a science congress. The number belonged to a teacher who was assisting the students with their science projects at school. I recalled my daughter calling me with a teachers phone asking to be picked up at school after they were late from the Congress. I called the number and the teacher promised to assist in my search for the children, said Naomi. On Monday evening, a group of over ten students accompanied by area residents embarked on a door to door search for the girls. The girls were found in a house belonging to the science congress assistant who was in contact with the family promising to assist them in the search. It was around 9 pm when one of the students called me saying that they had a lead to where my children were. The man who had been assisting them with science congress projects had escaped after he saw them[students] approach his house, said George, the father of the girls. The girls were then taken to Rhonda Police Station where they spent the night before being taken to hospital for medical assessment. They couldnt understand anything at the time they were found and as we took them to the police station. They had recovered by Tuesday morning but couldnt recall what had happened to them, said George. Amos Gamba, the School principal, that the suspect was a teacher at the school. We only have government teachers in the school. The suspect is a former student and not as alleged. We are cooperating with the police on the matter, said Mr Gamba. Nakuru Deputy OCPD Daniel Kitavi said police are working closely with the school administration to identify and arrest the suspect. The matter has been brought to our attention. We are yet to establish the identity of the suspect but through Uhuru Secondary School where he was reportedly working, we shall soon bring him to book. The girls are undergoing medical assessment at a Nakuru hospital, said Kitavi. Controversial man of God James Nganga has been charged with threatening to kill Linus Kaikai. Pastor Nganga, founder of Neno Evangelism Centre, was also charged with incitement to violence and disobedience of the law. According to the charge sheet, Pastor Nganga is facing two counts: 1) uttering words that constituted as threats to kill Linus Kaikai and 2) while referring to himself as the Chief General Commander, using words that indicated or implied that it was or might be desirable to bring death or physical injury to the Citizen TV journalist. Appearing before Resident Magistrate Justus Kituku at the Kiambu Law Courts on Tuesday, Nganga denied the charges. The magistrate ordered his release on a cash bail of Sh200,000 pending a pre-trial conference on April 3. Ngangas arrest by Detectives from the DCI on Sunday came after Linus Kaikai filed a complaint with the police over the viral video where the pastor warned the journalist to steer clear of church matters. In the clip, Nganga says in part: Funga mdomo yako. If you dont stop I promise you will face the consequencessina haja ya kusoma na nikipelekwa shule kilazima sitasoma. I am telling you like a Chief General Commander, you have to stop that if you dont stop you will face the consequences The historically strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel has come under renewed scrutiny recently, based partly on the controversial comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who suggested that U.S. supporters of Israel could have "allegiance to a foreign country." Reacting in the aftermath of those comments, the House of Representatives passed a broadly worded resolution on March 7 condemning bigotry, including anti-Semitism. Rep. Omar is a Democrat, and recent Gallup analysis shows that Democrats are in fact less sympathetic toward Israel than Republicans, although support for Israel among Democrats still outweighs support for the Palestinians. There are a number of reasons for Democrats' lower level of sympathy toward Israel, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strong connection with Republican leaders in the U.S. in recent years, and President Donald Trump's strong defense of Israel. But one underpinning of the partisan differences in views of Israel is religion. I reviewed Gallup data on this issue five years ago, in a story with the headline: "Religion Plays Large Role in Americans' Support for Israelis." I've updated that analysis for 2019 and find little substantive change in the relationship between religiosity and support for Israel. Highly religious Americans continue to be much more sympathetic toward Israel than those who are less religious. The data are based on responses to the question, "In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" The 2014 analysis used an aggregate of 2001-2014 Gallup data, which showed that 66% of those who attended religious services weekly or almost weekly said their sympathies were with Israel rather than the Palestinians. That compared with 46% who were sympathetic to Israel among those who never attended services. (Support for Israel outweighed support for the Palestinians in each group, given significant numbers of respondents who said they had no opinion or who volunteered that they were sympathetic to both or neither.) The basic impact of religiosity on these attitudes remains intact. In the current analysis of data from 2015-2019, 71% of those who frequently attend religious services are sympathetic to Israel, compared with 49% of those who never attend. The relationship is therefore essentially the same as it was between 2001 and 2014. Republicans thus remain more positive than Democrats about Israel in part because they are more religious, given that religious people are themselves the most positive about Israel. But religiosity is by no means the full explanation. Although religion is related to views of Israel among both political groups, even the least religious Republicans are significantly more positive about Israel than the most religious Democrats. The impact of religiosity is swamped by the power of partisanship. Looked at differently, if we take the group of Americans who attend religious services very frequently and separate them by politics, we find a yawning chasm: 85% of these highly religious Republicans are more sympathetic to Israel, compared with 55% of highly religious Democrats. Clearly, Americans' political identity is a dominant correlate of their attitudes toward Israel. These relationships are quite similar to what we found in the analysis of the 2001-2014 data. Both partisanship and religiosity affect sympathy for Israel, but political identity is the more important of these two variables. Jews and Protestants Remain Very Sympathetic to Israel Jewish Americans are more than three times as likely to identify as Democrats as Republicans, and, as noted previously, Democrats are much less sympathetic than Republicans are to Israel. But Jews' views of Israel provide an exception to the typical Democratic pattern. The overwhelming majority of Jews were more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians in 2001-2014, and I see no signs that this relationship has changed in a meaningful way in recent years. We need to be cautious in drawing conclusions about Jewish attitudes, because Jews make up only about 2% of the overall American population and are thus a small proportion of standard national adult samples. Using the 2015-2019 aggregate, which combines five surveys, we end up with only 128 Jewish respondents. Even taking into account the large margin of error around this small sample, I think it's safe to conclude that the basic attitudes of Jews toward Israel have remained roughly the same. The 86% of Jews who are sympathetic to Israel in the 2015-2019 sample is not meaningfully different from the 93% we found in the 2001-2014 sample. (The change from 93% to 86% is suggestive of a slight drop, marginally significant, but not of analytical significance. The proportion of Jews who are sympathetic to the Palestinians was 2% in the earlier sample and is 7% in the more recent sample.) Protestants, like Jews, also have above-average sympathy for Israel, with 70% saying they are sympathetic to Israel and 13% to the Palestinians. Catholics' sympathy for Israel -- 60% -- is at about the sample average, while those with no religious identity are significantly below average in sympathy to Israel, at 43%. As was the case for American Jews, there has been little change in these attitudes among Protestants, Catholics and those with no religious identity since the 2001-2014 analysis. We don't have a direct measure of "evangelicals" in our sample, but we can obtain an approximation of this group by isolating white, highly religious Protestants. The results show that 87% of this group are sympathetic to the Israelis -- essentially the same as Jews, meaning that on this one issue, there is a remarkable similarity between the views of Jews and evangelical Protestants. Trump's decision last year to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem may have been partly influenced by the support it would receive from the evangelical component of his political base. Blacks' Sympathy for Israel at About the Democratic Average Black Americans are overwhelmingly Protestant and highly religious, both characteristics -- as we have seen -- that are associated with higher-than-average sympathy for Israel. But black Americans are also highly likely to be Democrats, who are well below average in their support for Israel. The results of these cross-pressures? Party identification seems to be the most important factor in determining blacks' attitudes toward Israel. Less than half of blacks -- 48% -- are sympathetic to Israel, and 27% are sympathetic to the Palestinians. That is similar to the overall 43% sympathy rating for Israel among all Democrats, and sharply lower than the 68% sympathy among non-Hispanic whites. Partisan Identity Appears to Trump Religion When It Comes to Israel The analysis of Americans' views of Israel is significant, given the importance of Israel to the U.S. Middle East strategy (with $38 billion in U.S. military aid going to Israel over the past 10 years) and the importance of Israel to many Christian and Jewish Americans, for whom the country is a part of their religious heritage. While religiosity and partisanship do play a part in how Americans view each side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is important to note that support for Israel is greater than for the Palestinians in every political and religious group we analyze. And other results show Americans view Israel as a nation much more favorably than unfavorably, by more than a 2-to-1 ratio. But the relative differences in these support levels across religious and political groups are large enough to help explain why disagreements on the level and type of U.S. support for Israel can remain contentious in contemporary discourse. Some commentators have recently suggested that there is significant change going on in terms of some groups of Americans' views of Israel. Trump, for example, picked up on a broadcast report and tweeted that "Jewish people are leaving the Democratic Party." Although we don't yet have sufficient data compiled in 2019 to examine recent trends, the stability of Jewish support for the Democratic Party over the past decade suggests that such a shift in allegiance is unlikely. Ethan Cheng said the work he does is incredibly rewarding. As co-chair of the Alternative Breaks Program at the University of Miami, he connects students with spring break trips that, to some, are life changing. Having been on Alternative Breaks before as a site leader, I know how impactful these trips can be, so being part of the team that allows other students to have a similar experience is amazing, said Cheng, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry. The Alternative Breaks Program (UMAB) is a student-run undergraduate program sponsored by the Butler Center for Service and Leadership. This spring break 44 students traveled to six cities to participate in programs focused on social issues that included: children and adults with disabilities; homelessness and food insecurity; domestic violence; disaster relief; immigration; and urban agriculture and youth empowerment. Students apply for the program and choose a topic that most interests them. Several students shared insights from their experience last week. International Rescue Committee, Abilene, Texas. (Social issue: immigration) My name is Sofia Mohammad, and Im the site leader for this trip. Originally from Pembroke Pines, Florida, Im a sophomore majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with minors in Public Health and Chemistry. I am a passionate social justice advocate, and I feel strongly about issues pertaining to displaced populations, particularly with mental health issues that impact children who are from displaced and oppressed demographics, as well as issues pertaining to gender equality in different aspects of our society. Our UMAB trip was working with the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The IRC was the first of its kind in a small town, as opposed to a refugee resource center in a big city such as New York or Boston. Based on my interest in issues pertaining to children who are displaced due to conflict in their home countries, I felt it was only fitting to apply to be a part of the spring break trip with the IRC. The organization is devoted to the following goals: to provide opportunities for refugees, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, survivors of torture, and other immigrants, an opportunity to thrive in America. Each year, thousands of people, forced to flee violence and persecution, are welcomed by the people of the United States into the safety and freedom of America. These individuals have survived against incredible odds. The IRC works with government bodies, civil society actors, and local volunteers to help them translate their past experiences into assets that are valuable to their new communities. Theirmission truly inspired me, especially in light of our recent political climate in which immigrants and refugees are misrepresented and denied the opportunity to rebuild their lives and families in another country while their former home is ravaged by conflict. For the past six years, the IRC in Abilene has been receiving an influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, and people from places as widespread as Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya were present at that center. Based on their own experiences living in a low resource environment with limited access to the formal healthcare system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they explained the importance of sustainable interventions such as long term impact and infrastructure sustainability rather than just treating current cases and temporarily remedying an issue. It was really eye opening for me to learn about this from middle school age children. I now have a better understanding of working to achieve sustainable change as opposed to short-term progress on an issue that is extremely complex in nature. In terms of my personal goals, I was changed by the kids and volunteers I met on the trip and I hope to devote time towards maintaining the relationship I developed with them by working with the IRC office from Miami. I hope to help with mentoring some high school students in regards to biology and math tutoring to help them navigate the American education system. I would recommend UMAB to anyone who is passionate about giving back to communities in need and about using their position of privilege in our society to help improve the circumstances of people who have come to face adversity in terms of social, political, and economic contexts. Youth Service Opportunities Project, Washington, D.C. (Social issue: homelessness and food insecurity) Expectations: Im Nathaniel Furman and Im from Louisville, Kentucky. Really Prospect, Ky., but no one knows where that is. Im majoring in electrical and physics for a number of reasons. Ive heard great things about the program and have finally had an opportunity to participate. From the IMPACT leadership retreat over fall break to pep band trips over spring break, my breaks have been filled before. A combination of others stories and experiences along with personal growth and interest helped me decide. Homelessness and food insecurity makes the rest of life near impossible. How can someone focus on an education when they dont know when theyll eat next? There are many facets of this organization, but our focus is more on homelessness and food insecurity. We will be helping the D.C. community as YSOP assigns us. A personal aspiration is to gain experience and knowledge that will help my personal growth in a variety of ways. This involves growth in knowledge of the issues affecting others and the struggles they are going through daily. This will help me better empathize with others in more daily interactions. Additionally, growth in the interpersonal relationships of others on this trip. This is an opportunity to really get to know my peers beyond the surface superficial level and understand who they are as a person. I hope the connections I make here will last and develop into a significant part of my life. Already, one fellow participant will be a First Year Fellow with me next year so Im grateful to be able to build a foundation now. As for many of the other participants, I believe they share some of the same goals and want to make a difference in both the Miami and D.C. communities. Impact: My expectations have definitely changed a little. I realized the organization, YSOP, is not focused as much on young people in need, but helps youth serve in various communities. They work with many groups that serve a wide range of people. The hours we were serving varied daily. Some days it was much longer than others, and this did not include the travel time to some of the farther sites. The first day was particularly early, but after that most days started at 8:00 a.m. At night, we had a reflection at YSOP, explored the city a bit, and then travelled back to the hotel for dinner. After making food, playing cards, and our reflection, the nights usually ended around 11:00 p.m. or midnight. This experience was great. Both exploring D.C. with people I have only recently met and doing service for the D.C. community have further shaped me as an individual. Personally, I gained connections and experiences to help make connections in the future. I also have gained more insight into myself. I better understand my natural reactions in various situations and have a better idea of the space I take up in my roles. In tandem with personal gains, I have gained professionally from this experience. I have connected with a speaker at UMass Boston along with another electrical engineer who is changing his career focus to more social work in higher education. I also connected with a senior from Ithaca College in New York. Shes doing much of the same work I am at her university and is trying to make the world a better place. I plan to keep that connection professionally as well. Not only did I gain experience, I gained knowledge. Based on the interactions throughout this past week, I am now more confident in my ability to learn from most anyone. I spoke with old black men without a home, kids not older than 10 whose parents are struggling at home, and close in age peers who have incredibly unique life stories. I learned about the problems D.C. is experiencing in housing and how that directly applies to Miami. As people move in to the city, prices that havent moved for years are increasing, causing many to move. This is very applicable to Wynwood in Miami and similar areas. On top of all this, I learned more about the daily/weekly/monthly/life struggles of those experiencing homelessness. Anyone can find themselves in their situation someday. Everyone has their story and it is so important to treat people as humans first rather than making assumptions. This is key in all interactions, especially in Miami and in daily life. Childrens Association for Maximum Potential (CAMP), San Antonio, Texas. (Social issue: children and adults with disabilities) Im Carson Pinker, a sophomore majoring in exercise physiology. The Alternative Breaks Program has interested me ever since I started school at UM. I have always had the passion to help others, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do my part around the community. I didnt know that it would have such a profound impact on my life. This year, I chose to go to San Antonio, Texas and volunteer as a camp counselor for a camp that serves individuals with special needs. My time at camp as a child helped grow me into the person that I am today. The experiences that I had and the friends that I made shaped my life in such impactful ways, but many people dont have those opportunities. Camp CAMP, or Childrens Association for Maximum Potential, was founded to give people of all ages the traditional camp experience. Campers have a wide variety of disabilities, but Camp CAMP doesnt turn away anybody, despite the severity of their disability. They are paired up one camper to one counselor to ensure that everyone is getting the special attention that they require. Some campers need assistance with things such as showering, using the restroom, eating, and so much more, but everything is done to make sure they have the best possible time and make the most incredible memories. We worked with a large group of volunteers, both returners and first timers, who were so passionate about the work that they do. Despite the physically and emotionally draining days, everyone came out a different person at the end of it. Personally, I started to see the world in a different way. Rarely are we reminded about how much of a gift it is to be able to walk, eat on your own, communicate your desires, or simply go to the bathroom without help, but each of these campers were so brave and open to the new experiences and help that they were receiving. The only thing that mattered to them for that week was to have fun and make memories, and I think we can all learn a lot from their joy. Choosing to be a part of this program is one of the best decisions that I have made in my entire life. My outlook on the world has shifted, my gratitude has become more pronounced, and my life goals have gotten bigger. I can see Camp CAMP being a part of who I am for the rest of my life, and I would never have gotten this experience without UMAB. This is an opportunity that I highly recommend to anyone who has even an inkling of interest in alternative breaks. You never know what event can shape your life like camp did for me. Each spring break, the University of Miami chapter of MEDLIFE participates in week-long trips to two different locations where students volunteer and shadow doctors who operate in low-income areas. This years locations were Cusco, Peru, and Tena, Ecuador, where sophomore Aloki Patel spent the week. MEDLIFE is a nonprofit with student chapters on many college campuses and stands for Medicine, Education and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere. Patel described some of her experiences in Tena, about a four-hour drive southeast of the capital of Quito. She went on the trip with 12 other UM students. We arrived in Tena late Saturday night, and spent Sunday sightseeing, grocery shopping, and getting acclimated to the altitude. Tena is a beautiful city situated in the middle of a mountainous rainforest with waterfalls and rivers cutting through roads. We took advantage of the natural beauty by hiking through the Jumandi Caves and white water rafting on a tributary of the Amazon River. The next morning, our true mission began. We spent most of the week aboard a mobile clinic, where we were volunteering in villages and rural areas about an hour from the city of Tena. We consulted patients with various conditions and identified those that needed urgent medical consultations in Tena. One patient was a woman about 70 years old, who walked into our clinic suffering from a severe stage of Parkinsons disease. She was nearly immobile. After examining her, a MEDLIFE doctor found a lump in her lower abdomen. One of the MEDLIFE nurses then took the patient to a Tena hospital to conduct necessary testing, and she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. MEDLIFE would now be able to follow up with the patient to get treatments for her cancer and arrange transportation to and from downtown Tena. Another patient was a 7-year-old boy who had broken both his arms while playing at school. He had been in unbearable pain for weeks, with low mobility because no one had diagnosed him properly or set him in casts. MEDLIFE was now able to follow up with the boy to make sure he got the arm casts. Otherwise, the child would have lived his life with intolerable pain and low hand mobility, simply due to lack of access to nearby health care. Despite these cases, the majority of the patients that we consulted in the mobile clinic had parasitic illnesses. This was not unusual because people in this area live in tropical rainforest terrain with unpurified water resources and inadequate health care systems. Yet, the treatment of parasites for kids is one tablet of Albendazole for a day, and for adults it is two tablets of Tinidazole every 8 hours for three days. Thats all they needed just a couple of tablets to live a normal, healthy life. Unfortunately, instead of that, many of these people live in constant pain with a low appetite, which negatively affects their physical function. On our very last day, known as project day, we helped build and renovate the house of a family. We replaced plastic tarps with wood to protect them from frequent rainfalls and to prevent mosquitoes and bugs from entering their living space. We also provided them with bed frames and mattresses, so the family no longer had to sleep on leaky wood floors. This trip gave me a new perspective on the world and helped me to appreciate the little things. Little things that I have, but until this experience, did not recognize their importance, such as clean water to drink, nutritious food on my plate, immediate access to a health care system, as well as first aid supplies and basic pain medications. Its astonishing that a cast can help a little boy play volleyball with his friends again, how a few tablets of Tinidazole can help cure a mother with parasites in her stomach, or even how a simple Band-Aid can help prevent a cut from becoming an infectious wound. These are the things we take for granted in the United States, but they are life-changing resources for impoverished families in remote areas. This experience solidified my intention to become a doctor one day and to help break down the widespread inequalities present in the health care system. Now a junior congresswoman from South Florida, former University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala returned to campus Tuesday to share her agenda for the 116th U.S. Congressbut she began by answering the question shes so often asked: Why, after such a long and storied career, did she bother running for the seat that longtime U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen vacated? It was the most irrational decision Ive ever made in my whole life, Shalala said, explaining that she was motivated by anger at both Democrats and Republicans in Washington who were focused on partisanship, not policy. They were acting like teenagers in high school as opposed to people who were supposed to be making the country better. So, Shalala said, she decided to gamble, a gamble she won with her focus on the issues that mattered most to her and to voters, and her devotion to the lost culture of bipartisanship the Democrat mastered during years of government service, including eight as the nations longest-serving secretary of health and human services, and nearly three decades at the helm of three universities, including 14 years at UM. I took a chance that voters would see me as someone who would bridge the gap and walk across the aisle and try to build support, bipartisan support, for a number of policies, which is what I did when I was in government, Shalala told the audience, which included her successor, UM President Julio Frenk. Almost every major policy, whether it was doubling the NIH budget, or passing the Childrens Health Insurance Plan, or dealing with immunization, or expanding health care for those with disabilities, or global health, particularly AIDSall of them had bipartisan support, she said, recounting her many successes on President Bill Clintons cabinet. The vast experience that Shalala, who now serves on the House Education and Labor and Rules committees, and Frenk, who as Mexicos minister of health brought health insurance to millions of uninsured Mexicans in his homeland, share did not go unnoticed by Merike Blofield, associate professor of political science and director of Gender and Sexuality Studies, who long ago invited Shalala to speak at UM during Womens History Month. My dream would be to have President Frenk and Congresswoman Shalala bring their expertise together and get a broad political mandate to come up with a solution to Americas health care crisis, Blofield said in the student center named after Shalala. In this room, we have the brainpower to come up with solutions, and the biggest obstacles are, unsurprisingly, political. Health care, particularly shoring up the Affordable Care Act and closing the gap on universal coverage, was among the top three issues Shalala said she ran on, and remains focused on in Congress. Noting that Miami has the largest number of people100,000enrolled in the Affordable Care Act, Shalala said shoring it up, and making sure that it survives, as opposed to this repeal and replace that the president wants us to go through again, is extremely important to this community. Her other two major issues, Shalala said, are equally important to her and South Florida: immigration and the environment. Recounting how both sets of her grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon, Shalala said her own story resonated with Miamis ethnically diverse voters because, in a sense, it is their story, too. She noted that her maternal grandmother remained undocumented for decades because, after being turned away from Ellis Island for an eye problem, she slipped into the U.S. from Mexico. I believe that people who have been here for a long period of time, including those who are undocumented, we should find a pathway to citizenship for, Shalala said. Im not into legal status. They need a chance to become citizens because they are doing everything citizens do except vote. On the environment, Shalala said she supports Everglades restoration, and big, evidenced-based ideas on tackling climate change and sea-level rise. I am looking for a big bill that takes a giant step because I agree with the proponents of the Green New Deal, with their goals, that we cannot take small steps with the environment. We need to take giant steps, she said. What that strategy is hasnt been discussed or translated into much legislation. Sara Soto, a senior who transferred to UM from Colombia two years ago, was as intrigued by the invitation to attend Shalalas talkwhich was open to all studentsas she was excited to meet the freshly minted congresswoman. I had this view that people like that dont talk to people like us, said Soto, who is majoring in sociology and psychology. So as soon as I saw the invite, I knew I had to go. I have been hearing about Donna Shalala since I got here and I wanted to see why. Now I know why: Shes aware, she listens, and shes focused on getting things done. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Michael McNerney wins 2019 SIU Delta Award from SIUs Friends of Morris Library by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. Michael J. McNerney, retired archaeologist and author is the winner of the 2019 Delta Award from the Friends of Morris Library at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. McNerney will receive his award at a presentation and reception at 5 p.m. on April 17 at Morris Library. The event is free and open to the public. Award honors McNerneys work The Friends of Morris are presenting the Delta Award to McNerney in recognition of his extensive archaeological efforts and his writings about it. He has been active not only in researching and documenting significant archaeological sites, but also in helping preserve cultural resources. The Carbondale man is a past president of the Illinois State Historical Society and served as staff archaeologist at the SIU Museum before becoming a consulting archaeologist and founder of American Resources Group in 1979. He holds degrees from the University of South Dakota and University of Nebraska. Learn more about gravemarkers and their history The evening begins with a presentation by McNerney in the John C. Guyon Auditorium. He will show a PowerPoint and discuss A Shape in Time and Space: The Migration of the Necked Discoid Gravemarker The Illinois Sample. Thats also the title of a 2017 McNerney book, published by Borgo Publishing. The necked discoid in the title refers to a stone or wooden grave marker which has a top featuring a discoid (circular) head and a neck on top of a rectangular body. The effigy-shaped monuments, which mark human remains, originated in Europe and later moved with early settlers to the Carolinas, then the Appalachians and on to Southern Illinois by the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The migration continued to Oklahoma. Numerous examples are found on the Coastal Plain and in areas of the Piedmont and North Carolina mountains. You can find examples of the unique stones in 15 Golconda/Pope County cemeteries alone. Decades of research contribute to McNerneys speech McNerneys earlier research appeared in Early Pioneer Gravestones of Pope County, Illinois, a pamphlet published by American Kestrel Books in 1994 in conjunction with Herb Meyer. The company is a division of American Resources Group, McNerneys Carbondale archaeological company that was created to disseminate the results of our historical and archaeological research projects to the general public. As McNerney tracked the gravestone style from the southeastern U.S. to Oklahoma, he documented about 485 markers, including 333 with inscribed death dates and surnames. They are located within 14 states, 79 counties and 185 cemeteries. The Shape in Time and Space book highlights 41 cemeteries and 81 markers in a dozen Southern Illinois counties. These are part of the overall project involving 22 years of research that extended to four countries abroad, including Ireland and Spain. The large U.S. sample provides a unique historical, cultural, economic, technological and migratory context for nearly 300 years of growth and westward expansion. Book signing and reception Following McNerneys presentation, he will sign copies of his recently published book. The evening wraps up with a reception and light refreshments in the first-floor rotunda about 6 p.m. Simonds lecture to compare property rights in U.S., the world by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. Concerns over government use of eminent domain to seize private property for public use is the focus of a lecture next week at the SIU School of Law. The issue has recently been in the news as landowners along the southern U.S. border object to President Donald Trump building a border wall on their land. Shruti Rajagopalan will present the law schools 2019 Gene and Katy Simonds Lectureship in Democracy on March 27. Rajagopalans lecture, Property Rights and Property Wrongs: A Comparative Perspective, begins at 5 p.m. in the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Auditorium at SIU Carbondale. The lecture is free, and the public is invited. A Q-and-A and reception will follow. While on campus Rajagopalan will also meet with law students and faculty. Media Advisory Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to attend the Simonds Lectureship in Democracy with Shruti Rajagopalan at 5 p.m., March 27, in the SIU School of Law Auditorium. For more information or to arrange interviews, contact Michele Mekel, the law schools director of external relations, at mmekel@siu.edu or 618/453-8768. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision is an example of eminent domain issues Rajagopalan is an assistant professor of economics at State University of New York, Purchase College, and a Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU School of Law. George Mocsary, assistant professor in the School of Law, said Rajagopalans lecture is timely and relevant to the ongoing conversation about eminent domain that was kicked to the fore by a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a proposed economic development project in New London, Connecticut. In that case, the city proposed to seize 15 commercial and residential private properties and transfer the land to sell to private developers for the purpose of economic development and job creation. The plaintiffs argued the use of eminent domain to sell private property to private developers was not part of the public use clause under the Fifth Amendment. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city taking the private property and selling it for private development in hopes of economic development. Those attending the lecture will get a sense of what this country should avoid in terms of eminent domain power and a sense of what is going on in other places in the world, Mocsary said. He noted that the private developer was unable to continue with the project and that the land remains vacant. The property owners fight was developed into a 2017 movie Little Pink House, referencing a home that belonged to the lead plaintiff, Susette Kelo. Speech includes economic analysis of comparative legal and political systems Rajagopalans research interests include law and economics, public choice theory, and constitutional economics and her research is in peer-reviewed journals, law reviews and books. Rajagopalan holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University, with a bachelors degree and bachelor of laws degree from University of Delhi, and a master of laws degree from the European masters in law and economics program at the University of Hamburg, Ghent University and the University of Bologna. Rajagopalan has published opinion editorials on Indian political economy in publications including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and she has a fortnightly column The Impartial Spectator in Mint. The present border wall situation seems to grow more complex by the week. It has certainly been a headliner almost from the time that Trump decided to run for the presidency. No matter whether a voter is for or against this President they are not likely to forget those chants build that wall. It is a promise that the President ran on and there are no indications that the White House is going to be swayed or go down in defeat. But, more importantly, the country is divided on whether he actually should or not. Where the Wall is At and What Led Up To This? Trying to keep up with the status of building the wall can be a bit of a challenge because the situation changes so quickly. The way it stands right now is that the President has issued the first veto of his presidency. He has vetoed the resolution passed by Congress. The Resolution In an attempt to block the President from going ahead with his declaration of the wall being a national emergency. The resolution passed 59 to 41. Meaning that a few Republicans had to buck their leader but not necessarily because they dont believe the wall is a necessity. For some, their main reason for giving a vote of no was because they believe they would be giving future Presidents too much power to do likewise on other issues. The National Emergency The latest contention over the wall stems from the fact that the President declared the need for the wall as a national emergency, which would mean he could take funds from other government-funded programs. The Democrats are not supporting this. But for the public to decide who is right about this they need to understand where both sides are coming from, and what would be the repercussions of this. The Government Shut Down There is a lot of controversy over whether the shutting down of the government was a good move for support of Mr. Trump or not. Those that were directly affected by it were none too pleased about it. But, Mr. Trumps base was supportive of it believing that the reason they voted this President in was being supported by his actions. The answer to this question will be much clearer after the next vote. The Presidents View It all began with the Presidents stance that a border wall was needed to keep out the large influx of illegal immigrants entering the country and the large amounts of drugs that are being smuggled in. At the time of his campaigning, the solution was a simple one. Simply build the wall and get Mexico to build it. This stance that Trump was taking raised two important questions. Was Mr. Trump made the promise because the base he was building was a pro wall? Or, did he truly make this campaign promise because it is what he really believed was necessary? What each person believes is the answer to these questions determines whether they are prepared to back Mr. Trump in his fight for the wall or not. The Republicans View Overall the majority of the Republicans appear to be standing behind the President based on what they feel are his true reasons for wanting the wall. Which is that Trump does believe that the wall is a necessity. There are rumors that behind closed doors that some Republicans may feel differently, but are afraid to speak out because they fear public rebuke by the president. The real problem may be that each Republican has to act upon how their constituents feel. With the Democrats gaining power this has become even more of a challenge for those Republicans that are going to be up for re-election. The Democrats There is no question as to how the Democrats feel about the wall. They are determined not to give the President any substantial money at all for the expansion of the wall. But, this brings to question their motives raising the questions: Do democrats not want to give any money simply because the Trump that is asking for it? Or do they truly believe that a wall is not necessary and would not serve any useful purpose? Whats Next for The Mexican Border Wall? The next step will be because of the veto the resolution will have to be sent back to Congress. A vote to over ride the veto will be taken, but all indicators are that there will not be enough votes in favor of this, which means that the National Emergency Declaration will stand. It will then be up to the house and congress to fight this in the courts, which could mean many months or years before a decision is reached. However, dont forget in Mr. Trumps new budget proposal he has asked for a large chunk of money, so it would appear that he has no intentions of giving up. With The election coming up next year, the wall is sure to remain as an issue of contention between the Republicans, Trump and the Democrats with everybody jockeying for the perfect stance that will sway the majority. Trump is sure to hold many rallies where his fans will come out in force with their Trump 2020 Hats,Shirts and Accessories to support the president who will be the overwhelming favourite to win the 2020 presidential race. Detectives have recovered two firearms and hundreds of bullets from the house of embattled Nairobi lawyer Assa Nyakundi who shot dead his son under unclear circumstances in Muthaiga on Sunday. In addition to the reported murder weapon a Glock pistol -, police have seized a shotgun, a handgun, and 471 rounds of ammunition. The pistol and the bullets of different calibre were found inside a safe in the master bedroom while the shotgun was recovered from a shoe-rack in an adjacent room used as a library. The firearm certificate and the civilian firearm certificate have been forwarded to firearms licensing board for verification, police said on Tuesday. Investigators have also subjected Nyakundia Toyota Axio to a ballistic examination. Police recovered one spent cartridge under the mat of the front passenger seat and a bullet head of the same calibre was found inside the boot. There are bloodstains on the upper left side of the back seat, with a bullet hole visible about six inches from the blood stain on the backrest of the seat. The car was also dusted for fingerprints and samples collected for forensic examination. According to detectives, Nyakundis Glock pistol which was recovered from him after the accidental shooting has been confirmed to be loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition and not 14 as earlier stated. The same has been taken for ballistic examination at the DCI headquarters. 60-year-old Assa Nyakundi is still recuperating at the Nairobi Hospital under police guard after suffering blood pressure complications while in police custody. The body of his 29-year-old son Joseph Nyakundi is at the Aga Khan Hospital mortuary awaiting post mortem. Meanwhile, a Facebook believed to have been posted by Nyakundis second-born son indicated that Joseph had been murdered in cold blood. The post has since been pulled down. Goodbye, my one and only brother, the post on Mr. Onsomu Nyakundis Facebook page read, before an eerie summary: Brutal, cold-blooded murder. (Adds latest flooding forecast, comment from emergency managers) By Humeyra Pamuk VALLEY, Neb., March 20 (Reuters) - A string of small Missouri towns prepared for the next deluge along the raging Missouri River on Wednesday after flooding wreaked nearly $1.5 billion in damage in Nebraska, killing at least four people and leaving another man missing. High water unleashed by last week's late-winter storm and melting snow has already inundated a large swath of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa along the Missouri River, North America's longest river. States of emergency have been declared in all or parts of the three Midwestern farm states. The Missouri River's next major flood crest was forecast to hit St. Joseph, Missouri, at 6 a.m. on Friday and Kansas City, Missouri, 55 miles (88 km) to the south, about 24 hours later, said Mike Glasch of the Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Homeowners and businesses across Leavenworth County, Missouri, where 81,000 people were under a flood warning on Wednesday, were placing sandbags around property as they have watched the river rise over the last few days, Kim Buchanan, the countys deputy director of emergency management, told Reuters. "We have moderate flooding at this time," she said, noting that the forecast shows the river cresting seven feet above flood stage on Thursday or Friday. "Anybody with river interest has already instigated their flood plans and have taken their defensive actions. FOUR DEAD The floods killed four people in Nebraska and Iowa since last week, and officials warned the damage toll would rise as receding waters revealed more devastated roadways, bridges and homes. A fifth man has been missing since the collapse of the Spencer Dam along the Niobrara River last. He was identified by the Omaha World-Herald newspaper as Kenny Angel. Authorities said they had rescued nearly 300 people in Nebraska alone. A levee break prompted the evacuation of the small community of Craig, Missouri. Real estate agent Jamie Barnes said everyone in town had time to get out before it was flooded, and water was now flowing south through farmland toward communities such as Forest City, Forbes and St Joseph. Story continues "There's just water as far as the eye can see, from bluff to bluff. In some places its five miles, in some 15," Barnes said by phone. Several other communities in that area of northwest Missouri have also been evacuated, the Army Corps of Engineers said at a briefing. "Much of the levee system remains compromised, and as of noon Wednesday there are more than 30 total breaches across the system," in the three states experiencing flooding, Lieutenant Colonel James Startzell, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District told the briefing. AIR FORCE BASE FLOODED "I was driving out to get one more load of corn from the bins when the levee broke, and there was a wall of water coming at me," said Howard Geib, 54, whose farm is near Craig. "I was on the phone with my son-in-law, who was driving out to help, telling him, 'Stop! Stop! Turn around!'" The flooding killed livestock, destroyed grains in storage and cut off access to farms because of road and rail damage. Across the Missouri from Craig, the village of Rulo, Nebraska, drew a small crowd of onlookers to see the deluge, said Kelly Klepper, owner of Wild Bills Bar & Grill. "We're kind of a tourist attraction right now," Klepper said by phone. Missouri emergency managers said they may be spared the worst of the flooding because of breaches further north. "Its really sad that we had a couple levies fail upstream, but thats helped everyone downstream, said Steven Bean of Kansas Citys emergency management agency. But Bean said the kind of flooding hitting the Midwest is typically seen in June and July, after the final snow-melt and the spring rains. This is March, and we havent had the final snow melt, he said. We havent had the spring rains. The reservoir is full. They have got to get it empty. More than 2,400 Nebraska homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged, with 200 miles (322 km) of roads unusable and 11 bridges wiped out, Governor Pete Ricketts said on Wednesday. Ricketts estimated the floods caused at least $439 million in damage to public infrastructure and other assets, and $85 million to privately owned assets. He put flood damage for the state's agricultural sector at nearly $1 billion. Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, which houses the U.S. Strategic Command, remained heavily flooded, though base officials said on Twitter the facility was still "mission-capable." In Valley, Nebraska, outside Omaha, Pete Smock, 42, worked to clear deep mud surrounding his home and construction business. "Devastation is everywhere. I haven't seen anything like this in my lifetime," Smock said. He had rented heavy equipment to fill deep holes cut by the floods with gravel and repair driveways leading to his office and garage. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia, P.J. Huffstutter and Mark Weinraub in Chicago, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Andrew Hay in Taos, N.M. and Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb Editing by Bill Tarrant and Alistair Bell) The 30 Best New York City Landmarks to Visit Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, the Shed is a $475 million arts center. This structure is a 200,000-square-foot cultural space, that's an amorphous building, with an outer shell that sits on a set of wheels connected to a short track. Once activated, the shell moves away from the main frame of the building, in effect creating an entire new building thats part of the original one. The technology used to move the structure is actually old fashioned, says Diller. To open and close the Shed takes the same horsepower of one [Toyota] Prius engine, making it very economical. (For reference, the 2019 Toyota Prius runs on 121 horsepower.) By Tracy Rucinski and Allison Lampert CHICAGO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - U.S. and Canadian airlines that fly the roughly 175-seat aircraft face a logistical challenge: which flights to cancel and which to cover with other planes following the global grounding of Boeing Co's 737 MAX jets. Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, the two largest MAX operators in the United States, said they have bolstered their reservation and operations teams to figure out how to spread flight cancellations across their networks, not just on MAX flights. American Airlines, for example, had most of its 24 MAX jets flying in and out of Miami, where load factors have been full during the Spring Break season. "We can't just cancel all of those flights, so the goal is to spread out the cancellations across our entire system to impact the least amount of customers," American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said. This means that an American Airlines flight from Miami to the Caribbean initially scheduled on a 737 MAX may now fly on a 737-800 with a similar seat configuration, while that 737-800 flight is canceled. "It's a challenge to explain to customers who weren't previously booked on a MAX why their flight is canceled," Feinstein said. The 737 MAX jets were grounded last week following two fatal crashes in the past five months, the causes of which are under investigation. Southwest, the largest MAX operator in the world with 34 jets representing about 5 percent of its total fleet, is cancelling about 150 flights per day due to the grounding, but not all on MAX routes. Southwest shares were down 2.3 percent on Wednesday and American shares fell 2.1 percent. Steve West, Senior Director of Southwest's Operations Control, said the company is trying to cancel flights five days in advance, while looking at issues such as weather that could free up jets, like last week's snowstorm in Colorado. Southwest and American were already grappling with a larger than normal number of out-of-service aircraft, further straining their fleets. Story continues So far United Airlines, with 14 MAX aircraft, has not canceled any flights due to the grounding, but has had to put smaller aircraft on some routes and fly the larger 777 to places like Hawaii. It is unclear how long the grounding will last. Deliveries are also on hold, meaning an additional hit to airlines due to receive more of the jets this year. Boeing has over 5,000 orders for the MAX, which sold fast thanks to its higher fuel-efficiency and longer range. Now airlines face a dent to 2019 profits. Calgary-based WestJet said it took steps prior to the MAX grounding to start protecting trans-border flights to sunny destinations that were previously scheduled to fly with the carrier's 13 MAX planes. Meanwhile, Air Canada said on Tuesday it would remove its 24 737 MAX aircraft from its schedule until at least July 1, 2019. "It is easier to put the aircraft back in the schedule than to pull it out," said a source familiar with the carrier's thinking, who is not allowed to publicly discuss its strategy. (GRAPHIC-Boeing 737 MAX deliveries in question link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hv2btC). (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Nick Zieminski) WASHINGTON Chicago-based Boeing spent more than $753,000 on candidates and both Democratic and Republican organizations last month, underscoring the defense contractor's role as a hefty political donor. The company, facing renewed scrutiny after two catastrophic crashes of its 737 Max 8 aircraft, gave heavily to organizations helping to elect members of the House as well as governors, according to its latest Federal Election Commission report. The company's political action committee also contributed directly to nearly 100 congressional candidates in February. Among the beneficiaries: Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee; Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee; and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Several House members who received money from Boeing in February sit on the Appropriations or Armed Services panels, including Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The February report, made public on Wednesday, covers a period before last week's crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight and after the crash in October of a Lion Air Flight off the coast of Indonesia. Boeing, the second-largest U.S. government contractor, will see its clout tested amid congressional investigations. Lawmakers want to know how the plane was approved, what caused the crashes in Ethiopia and off the coast of the Indonesia and why the FAA delayed its order to ground the planes. In 2017, the federal government spent $23 billion with Boeing, a U.S. General Services Administration report shows. Lockheed Martin Corp. was the No. 1 federal contractor, receiving more than $50 billion for its services in the same year. Boeing's political action committee, which receives the bulk of its money from employee contributions, files monthly reports of its political spending. Maryland-based Lockheed reported spending $364,000 during the same period and Virginia-based Northrop Grumman, another major defense contractor, spent $171,790. Story continues More: As Boeing faces scrutiny over 737 Max 8, it can draw on high-flying influence Boeing's spending in February was not inconsistent with past months. In the run up to the 2018 midterm election, Boeing's PAC regularly spent several million dollars each month on candidates and political organizations, a USA TODAY analysis shows. The report also does not include millions more spent directly by Boeing employees. Like other large U.S. employers and defense contractors, Boeing spends heavily every year on lobbying and campaign contributions, generally spreading that money between Democrats and Republicans. Boeing spent $15 million lobbying in 2018, according to disclosure reports, making it among the largest players in Washington. A spokesman for Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 737 Max maker Boeing spent more than $753,000 on candidates, political organizations last month: FEC report KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's presidential election has been postponed by two months to Sept. 28, as authorities try to iron out problems with the voting process, the election board said on Wednesday. The election was pushed back for the second time to allow time for reforms to the voting system, Independent Election Commission spokesman Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi said. It was originally scheduled for April but was delayed to July 20 due to concerns about winter conditions and security. Afghanistan's parliamentary election took place in autumn after months of wrangling and delay. That vote was marred by accusations of widespread fraud including ballot-stuffing, technical problems with biometric registration equipment, and attacks by Taliban insurgents. President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and former national security adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar are among the declared candidates for the presidential election. It is unclear how recurring peace talks between U.S. officials and the Taliban may affect the election. The Taliban has so far refused to talk with the Ghani government, which it considers illegitimate. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul; Writing by Rod Nickel; Editing by Catherine Evans and Andrew Cawthorne) ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) The acting head of Algeria's governing party says it is throwing its support behind protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Critics viewed the move Wednesday as an effort to save the reputation of the FLN party, or National Liberation Front, amid increasing disillusionment with Algeria's power structure. FLN interim leader Moab Bouchareb told a meeting of party leaders that the party "supports the popular movement." But he also appeared to support Bouteflika's "roadmap" for political reforms. Bouchareb himself has been criticized as representing a leadership considered corrupt and out of touch with Algeria's struggling youth. The FLN is Bouteflika's party. On Wednesday, foreign affairs minister Ramtane Lamamra said the Algerian government is "ready for dialogue" with demonstrators. "As I see it, the demonstrations have only grown more numerous, and there will be no solution except through dialogue," he said in a press conference in Berlin. "The Algerian government is ready for dialogue, and beyond that, they are prepared to welcome the representatives of the opposition and civil society in the new government which is currently being formed." Algerian Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui has been struggling to form a new government as candidates sought to keep their distance from Bouteflika. Bedoui, who was appointed last week, had promised to create a new cabinet within days to respond to the demands of Algeria's demonstrating youth. Separately, the Protestant Church of Algeria issued a statement supporting the protests. The Church, whose exact number of members is not precisely known in the largely Muslim country, said it "fully shares the aspirations and legitimate claims of the Algerian people." Algeria's union for imams and the Islamic High Council, a consultative body, had previously expressed their support for the protests. Story continues Protesters want the ailing Bouteflika to step down after 20 years in power. Bouteflika responded by abandoning plans for a fifth term and promising reforms, but also delayed presidential elections indefinitely. Demonstrators have demanded the government quit at the technical end of its mandate in April, along with the president who has rarely been seen since a 2013 stroke. ___ Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to the story. (Corrects time and day when the air strike was carried out in paras 3 and 5) By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An air strike near the Somali town of Afgoye killed four people, a relative of one of the victims said on Tuesday. The United States frequently carries out such attacks that target Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa country. The attacks have helped bolster Somalia's U.N.-backed central government against al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab insurgents. Abdiqadir Nur, an employee of telecoms firm Hormuud Telecom, and three others died at 1330 GMT while driving through Laanta Buuro village in the southwestern Lower Shabelle region, 45 km (28 miles) from the capital Mogadishu, relatives said. "Nur and three others died on the spot. His brother Mahad Nur is totally burnt," Nur's cousin Abdullahi Ali said. In an email to Reuters, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said it carried out the air strike on Monday and that three militants had died in the attack. "We are aware of reports alleging civilian casualties resulting from this air strike...The U.S. Africa Command will review any information it has about the incident, including any relevant information provided by third parties," it said. Al Shabaab was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011, but retains a strong presence in southern and central parts of Somalia. Al Shabaab, which wants to impose strict Islamic law in Somalia, says relatives of jihadists killed in air strikes are often motivated to join its ranks. (Additional reporting by Feisal Omar; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Mark Heinrich) Schools and businesses shut across Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday as protests grew over the death in police custody of a young school teacher that sparked outrage across the restive territory. Police bundled Rizwan Asad Pandit from his home in a late-night raid Sunday to a detention centre in the main city of Srinagar, where he died in the early hours of Tuesday. No official explanation has been offered for his death. Police say Pandit -- who spent his 29th birthday in custody -- was taken "in pursuance of a terror case investigation". He was a campaigner for Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest religious political group in Kashmir, which was outlawed by New Delhi this month. Authorities launched a sweeping crackdown that has seen hundreds arrested since. But his family said Pandit had no links to militancy and was murdered. "He has been murdered in cold blood, and now they are telling lies about his death. How could that be? He has been tortured to death," Pandit's brother Zulqarnain Pandit told local newspaper Kashmir Reader. News of his death spread quickly in Kashmir, where popular anger against Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region often erupts into violent clashes between civilians and government forces. Local authorities have ordered an inquiry into Pandit's death but police have not registered an official investigation yet. Shops and schools were shut in Srinagar and large parts of Kashmir in protest after three major separatist groups in the region called for a strike. Rights groups, including the UN rights office, have accused Indian forces of acting with "virtual immunity" in Kashmir, protected by laws that shield soldiers from prosecution. There have been more than 100 official inquiries into civilian deaths in Kashmir since 2008 but none has resulted in convictions, said Khurram Parvez, a high-profile local activist. "This absolute impunity completely scuttles justice," he said. Story continues At the height of major demonstrations against Indian rule in 2016, another teacher died in military custody, fuelling popular anger. The soldiers accused of murdering the man were never prosecuted. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their freedom from British rule in 1947. The rivals have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory. Militant groups have waged an insurgency against Indian rule for 30 years, some seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of supporting armed groups inside its portion of Kashmir, an allegation Islamabad denies. Photo via Pexels.com With its diverse culture, Nashville is fast becoming one of the most sought after locations in the U.S. According to reports from Trulia, the median home sales increased by $14,900 (5%) over the past year, along with the cost per square footage. While Nashville is often seen as the home for musicians and creatives alike, there is also a strong business vein that courses along the Cumberland. If its not the tunes nor local industry that gets you all excited, perhaps the culinary trails will thanks to the delicious concoction of influences that stem from all those who call Tennessee home. Uber Cool Neighborhoods And Famous Faces Nashville is an unforgettable stop on anyones itinerary and its hardly surprising that once visited, those who have rested their feet here temporarily will want to do it again. Hillsboro Village stands out as one of the hottest neighborhoods with its vibey stores and coffee shops. Nestled between Vanderbilt University and Belmont University, this is the go-to neighborhood in Nashville for tourists and students. Those who want to settle down in an area that could potentially see them brushing shoulders with some famous faces should consider Green Hills for their next abode. Investment Potential Thanks To Diverse Properties A diversity of renters awaits property investors who settle on Nashville as the recipient of their large chunk of cash. Those who need a steady and traditional tenant should look towards areas such as Croley Wood and Sylvan Heights. Investors who prefer a little more flexibility than that will find that Cleveland Park and West End Park are ideal for Airbnb rentals. These investments could quickly convert into a forever home and those who may require some extra cash, wont need to sell as these properties build up equity fast if the current figures are anything to go by. Equity finance provides cash at low cost, as the property mitigates some of the risk for institutions. Lifestyle Options That Rival The Greats Nashville is a city for families and professionals alike, thanks to a diverse range of activities both day and night. It ranks at number 60 in the Best Cities for Young Professionals category, and the nightlife is a good contributor of that. Bistros, honky tonks, and clubs offer variety and a thriving music scene that is only bested by the fine gastronomical fare on offer too. Local artisanal beers, gins, and wines make for a good night out. While property prices climb and make for some steady competition on the real estate front, Nashville is fast becoming a go-to destination for those who wish to settle down. Keen To Learn More About Property Investment In Nashville: Apartment prices across London are falling. Photo: Andy Butterton/PA Archive/PA Images Apartment prices are plummeting in London as the slowdown continues in the capitals property market, but rental costs are rising as more and more Londoners looking for rented homes. Official figures released today show the cost of a flat has fallen across England by 0.6% over the past year. A steeper fall of 2.6% in the capital amounts to a drop of more than 10,000 in a year. But the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also shows the cost of renting in the capital has begun to tick upwards. The average rented home is now up 0.2% on a year ago when it was up just 0.1% last month, and was 1.1% higher across the UK. Some property industry experts believe rents could soon start rising faster, bringing to an end a period of slower growth since 2016. More tenants hunting for homes Rising prices are likely to reflect rising demand. Recent figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), both show increased demand from potential renters since the start of 2019. Officials say such changes can take time to filter through into statistics for rental prices overall, which means more price hikes in Londons rental market could be on the way. Allan Fuller, of Allan Fuller Estate Agents in Putney, said: It is noticeable that younger tenants have little or no interest in buying even though mortgage payments would often be less than rents. READ MORE: Booze, food and tobacco push UK inflation to 1.9% Demand is outstripping supply in the lower price ranges, he told the RICS in its latest survey. James Gubbins, of Dauntons estate agents in Pimlico, added: Tenant demand is high and rents are starting to increase. Landlords are selling up, reducing stock levels. Landlords leaving the market ARLA figures show a rise in tenants facing rent hikes nationwide in January, with the highest number of letting agents reporting increases since September 2018. Story continues The association says rent increases also reflect a less favourable climate for landlords, which is hitting the number of rental properties available on the market. A new law is set to come into effect in June banning letting fees and capping several other charges, but letting agents warn costs may still be passed on in higher rents. David Cox, chief executive of ARLA, said in its latest report: With demand increasing by 46% from December, and rents starting to rise in response to all of the cost increases landlords have experienced over the last few years, tenants are in for a rough ride. READ MORE: The surprising best city for first-time buyers Last month, there were three landlords selling their buy-to-let properties per branch, and as landlords continue to exit the market, rent prices will only continue to rise. Ownership out of reach for many Apartment prices may have dropped in the capital, but the average flat still sold for 415,000 in January. Daniel Tomlinson, an analyst at the Resolution Foundation think tank, suggested house prices in London were still so high that recent falls may not significantly help the average buyer. He tweeted: House price growth has slowed recently but increases in house prices have still substantially outpaced increases in earnings since 2011. This yawning gap between house prices and earnings is largest in London, and has only closed very slightly recently as house price growth in the capital has stalled. WASHINGTON Republican Sen. Mitt Romney criticized President Donald Trump for a series of attacks he made against the late Sen. John McCain, who Romney called an "honorable" and "courageous" man. Romney, in a tweet Tuesday evening, hailed McCain, a longtime senator, veteran and former prisoner of war, and questioned the reasoning behind Trump's attacks, which continued on Tuesday months after McCain's August death after a battle with brain cancer. "I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God," Romney wrote on Twitter. Start the day smarter: Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox Earlier Tuesday, Trump defended his ongoing attacks McCain and said he never liked the Arizona senator due to differences on health care and Russia. "I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be, Trump told reporters at the White House, answering a question before a meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. It's far from the first time Romney, who was elected last year, has criticized the president. Just before being sworn into office in January, Romney wrote in an opinion piece that Trump had "not risen to the mantle of the office." Donald Trump: 'I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be' Romney on Trump: He hasn't 'risen to the mantle of the office' "With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable, the Utah Republican and 2012 presidential nominee wrote in a Washington Post op-ed posted online Tuesday night. And it is in this province where the incumbents shortfall has been most glaring. Before the 2016 election, Romney called Trump a "fraud" and opposed his nomination. The two later made peace but it appears that goodwill was not long lasting. Story continues Supporters of McCain said they don't understand why Trump would continually criticize a dead man, especially one who represented Republicans as their 2008 presidential nominee. During a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump hit McCain for his handling of a dossier compiled by a former British spy on Trump's relationship with Russia leading up to the 2016 election. "So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) 'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!" Trump also blamed McCain for casting a key vote against a Republican health care plan. McCain supporters pointed out that Trump was incorrect about the late senator's class standing he finished fifth from the bottom at the Naval Academy, something he joked about frequently. They also called the attacks disrespectful to the longtime senator, veteran and former prisoner of war. "Your life is spent on your weekends not with your family, not with your friends, but obsessing, obsessing over great men you could never live up to," daughter Meghan McCain said of her father on her television program, "The View." The Trump-McCain feud goes back to the summer of 2015, when Trump kindled it by mocking McCain's experience as a POW in Vietnam. "He's not a war hero," Trump said then. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured." Contributing: David Jackson This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I cant understand why': Mitt Romney criticizes Trump for attacks on the late John McCain HELSINKI, March 20 (Reuters) - The Arctic region's co-operation in the battle against global warming by reducing black carbon emissions is being hampered by the United States and Russia, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is an atmospheric pollutant that is particularly problematic in the Arctic region, where it darkens snow and ice, making them retain more warmth and melt faster. "The United States has pulled out from joint reduction targets and Russia has not submitted its national calculations on black carbon emissions," the Finnish foreign ministry said ahead of the Arctic Council's meeting in Finland over May 6-7, which U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to attend. Finland holds the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which also includes Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. The council coordinates Arctic policy and is gaining clout as sea ice thaws and opens up new trade routes, intensifying competition for its oil, gas and mineral resources while also putting its fragile ecosystem at risk. "About one third of warming in the Arctic is caused by black carbon emissions of the Arctic Council members," the Finnish foreign ministry's statement said, adding that the majority of its member states had lowered their black carbon emissions. Two years ago at the council's previous ministerial meeting in Alaska, the member countries agreed to cut their black carbon emissions to 25-33 percent below 2013 levels by 2025. Pompeo is expected to attend the May meeting in Finland in a show of Washington's commitment to the region amid growing U.S. concern about China's interests there. China became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013 and last year outlined its ambitions to extend President Xi Jinpings signature Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki and Anne Kauranen Editing by David Goodman) Ariana Grande's career didn't happen overnight, the pop star has been has been a performer since she could walk and talk. At 8 years old, Grande made her first TV appearance singing The Star-Spangled Banner for the Florida Panthers. She then made her way to Broadway playing a supporting role in the musical 13 in 2008. This role led to her being cast in multiple Nickelodeon television shows like Victorious and Sam & Cat. In 2013, Grande released her first studio album, Yours Truly, and since then she has been topping the charts. Her albums, My Everything, Dangerous Woman, Sweetener, and thank u, next have all lead to her winning her first Grammy for best pop vocal album in 2019. Damascus (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Russia's defence minister Tuesday, stressing the importance of coordination between the two countries in the fight against "terrorism", state media said. The meeting came one day after the military chiefs of staff of Syria, Iraq and Iran met in Damascus to discuss coordination between their forces. It also came as US-backed forces in eastern Syria cornered holdout Islamic State group fighters in a tiny patch of land near the Euphrates River in the village of Baghouz. During the meeting, Assad said coordination between Moscow and Damascus was a key factor behind victories over IS and Al-Qaeda-linked groups, the official SANA news agency reported. For his part, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his country would continue to support efforts to regain the Syrian government's control of all the country, SANA added. Russia has been a key player in the Syrian conflict since launching a military intervention in 2015 in support of Assad's regime. Eight years into a war that has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions, Syrian government forces control almost two-thirds of the country. Just two areas remain beyond their control: the jihadist-held northwestern region of Idlib, and the third of the country under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Assad and Shoigu discussed the situation in areas east of the Euphrates River, where the SDF is battling IS, as well as Idlib, the news agency said. They agreed on the need to restore stability and counter foreign influence in the two areas, it added. Earlier on Monday, Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub said both Idlib and areas controlled by the SDF would be recaptured by the government. The Idlib region borders Turkey and is dominated by an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. It has been protected from a massive regime offensive since September, thanks to a buffer zone deal agreed by Damascus's ally Russia and rebel-backer Turkey. But it has been hit by sporadic government shelling. Syria's regime has insisted the buffer zone deal is temporary and that Idlib will eventually revert to government control. AT&T (T) CEO Randall L. Stephenson was interrupted Wednesday afternoon by a robocall while on stage at an event at the Economic Club of Washington, DC. Im getting a robocall, he said. Its literally a robocall. The timing couldnt have been better. On the same day, AT&T announced that it and Comcast (CMCSA), two of the largest telecom companies in the U.S., have exchanged dozens of calls with a new technology designed to be as robocall-proof as possible, something the companies are calling an industry first. The new technology is a system called SHAKEN/STIR, which is being implemented across the U.S., prompted by the FCC. Unwanted robocalls are the biggest complaint the agency receives, and it has prioritized eradicating robocalls. The technology works by the callers network signing or authenticating a call that goes out, adding a digital signature like a quality-control mark. On the other side, the network that receives the call can verify this signature. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson gets a robocall while onstage at @TheEconomicClub. pic.twitter.com/i5llHj6hz2 CSPAN (@cspan) March 20, 2019 Most robocalls use a fake caller ID a process called spoofing and they do it so often that blocking numbers is futile. Often, they momentarily hijack a real number and never use it again. But with SHAKEN/STIR technology, spoofed calls would not be verified, and thus would be easy to label or block. Its not foolproof, as calls that are not spam may not always be signed, as not every carrier may use the technology. (The system will say a call is legit, but it wont say a call is NOT legit.) The announcement Wednesday represented only a test the system is expected to roll out this year and next a central repository for authentication certificates has not been established. Story continues AT&Ts implementation of this technology appears to be ahead of schedule. In November 2018, the company sent the FCC its plans for the future and indicated the second quarter of 2019 as when it would exchange signed calls with Comcast, a good sign for the annoyed public. But more needs to be done before the system makes a difference, including more field testing and the ability to function with many different types of calls. Thought this is auspicious in the fight against robocalls, dont expect them to stop just yet. - Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance focusing on consumer issues, personal finance, retail, airlines, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Its an arms race: Inside the war on robocalls Sydney (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned "reckless" and "highly offensive" comments made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, warning he would consider "all options" in reviewing ties. On the campaign trail, the Turkish leader has used video footage of the terror attack that killed 50 people and painted it as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam. He has also warned anti-Muslim Australians -- like the suspected gunman -- would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, which was the scene of a blood-drenched WWI battle. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces around the seaside town, a landmark moment in Australian history. "Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment," Morrison said after summoning the Turkish ambassador and dismissing the "excuses" offered. "I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn," Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. "I've asked for these comments, particularly their reporting of the misrepresented position of Australia on Turkish television, the state-sponsored broadcaster, to be taken down and I expect that to occur." He described claims about Australia and New Zealand's response to the white supremacist attack as "vile." New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern refused to be drawn on Erdogan's comments, but said her deputy would be going to Turkey to "set the record straight." Morrison said Australians travelling to Turkey should exercise common sense and cautioned that travel advice for Turkey was under review. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison said. Story continues In fiery remarks, Morrison accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk -- the father of the modern state and a revered figure in Turkey -- to forge peace between the two countries. A memorial at the battlefield carries Ataturk's words: "There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets... after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." "Ataturk sought to transform his country into a modern nation and, an embracing nation, and I think these comments are at odds with that spirit," Morrison said. - 'Totally unfair' - Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair". Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, live-streamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was a strike against Muslim "invaders". The manifesto references Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. "This is not an isolated event, it is something more organised," he said during a campaign event on Monday in Canakkale in western Turkey. "They are testing us with the message they are sending us from New Zealand, 16,500 km (10,250 miles) from here." Erdogan did not project the video at the Monday event. Peters said he had complained directly to visiting Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The overhauled Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier of Project 11435 is to be handed over to the Navy in 2021, but a three-four month delay is possible, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) CEO Alexey Rakhmanov said. The overhauled Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier of Project 11435 is to be handed over to the Navy in 2021, but a three-four month delay is possible, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) CEO Alexey Rakhmanov said. The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier (Picture source : Lev Fedoseev/TASS) "A delay of three-four months is possible, but the warship will be handed to the Navy in 2021 as scheduled," he said. The aircraft carrier will dock at the 35th shipyard in Murmansk where dry docks will be upgraded. The USC will also upgrade landing ships of Project 11711 according to Navy remarks. "We shall take into account all drawbacks exposed by the Navy in the construction of the next pair of landing ships," Rakhmanov said. They will have improved maneuverability, ergonomics and living conditions. The corporation has not yet begun to build the first pair of frigates of Project 11356 ordered by India. "We have to begin the construction of the first pair of warships and prepare to do the same work in India," he said. Russia and India signed contracts for the supply of four frigates in November 2018. Two warships have to be built by Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea and another two by Goa Shipyard Limited in India. Rakhmanov also said the USC had not yet decided what to do with the third frigate hull built by Yantar for the Russian Navy. "I cannot exactly say what will happen to it. We shall be pragmatic," he said. Either will the hull be completed, or a new one will be built from scratch. In the former case the hull will have to be transported to India for completion. Copyright 2019 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Cravings, vitamins, and baby books are among the most common pregnancy costs. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Archive/PA Images Soon-to-be parents in the UK spend just over 700 on pregnancy-related expenses, according to statistics released Wednesday. A survey of over 2,000 adults by credit card company American Express revealed that Brits spend an average of 701 while waiting for the arrival of their child and baby showers are the biggest cost. Brits who have had a child within the past three years spent an average of 91 on a baby shower, according to the research. Whats more, almost three quarters (73%) of new parents now throw events to celebrate their babies before theyre born. Over a third (38%) said they held a baby shower, while another 12% said they adopted the newer trend of throwing a gender reveal party. READ MORE: This pregnancy device takes the guesswork out of going into labor Parents arent the only ones forking out on these pre-birth celebrations either, as family and friends are often expected to give generous gifts. British adults said they spend an average of 61 each on gifts when attending a gender reveal party, as well as 39 at baby showers. In fact, American Express found that Brits have spent an average total of 261 at their friends and family members various pre-baby celebrations over the past two years. For parents-to-be, the cost of a baby shower just surpasses the cost of maternity clothes, as well as private scans and appointments, which cost an average total of 81 each. READ MORE: This song was scientifically designed to make babies happy Other expenses include antenatal classes (86%), which help parents prepare for labour, birth, and parenthood; cravings (77); pregnancy massages (70); pregnancy pillows (60); pregnancy lotions and creams (50); vitamins (48); and baby books (39). The impending arrival of a first baby is an exciting time for soon-to-be-parents as well as friends and family. During this time it can be easy to get swept up in the joy of the occasion and spend lots of money on treats for the baby bump, Stephen Steinhardt, director at American Express, said. As a result its a good idea to put your purchases on a card that gives you rewards, cashback, or points for spending, so you can redeem these on the items youll need once the baby arrives. WASHINGTON Sen. Bernie Sanders' latest addition to his 2020 presidential campaign is drawing criticism after a report alleged the new staffer, an investigative reporter, had been for months secretly advising the campaign while bashing other Democrats running for the White House a charge Sanders' campaign denies. The report in The Atlantic notes David Sirota, an investigative reporter focused on politics and money, had been working for months for Sanders' campaign before his role was officially announced on Tuesday. Sanders' campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, told USA TODAY that Sirota started in an unofficial capacity on Feb. 20, less than one month ago. Sirota was brought on as a speechwriter and senior adviser but had been working in the role for a period before that, according to The Atlantic. The publication noted while helping Sanders' campaign, Sirota had blasted other Democrats vying for the White House. Most of the examples cited by the publication were before Sirota started secretly advising Sanders' campaign. After being contacted by The Atlantic, the publication notes more than 20,000 of Sirota's tweets were deleted. Several tweets in January and early February to his account, which has about 125,000 followers, berated Sen. Kamala Harris for "retreating for Medicare for All" and said Sen. Cory Booker had "attacked the Obama campaign & voted with the GOP" on a bill regarding the price of medicine. Both are also running for president. The Atlantic also pointed out Sirota, who worked for Sanders years ago when Sanders was a member of the House, authored several pieces in The Guardian that were critical of Beto O'Rourke, who had not yet entered the presidential race. The Guardian said in a statement to the Washington Post that Sirota stopped writing for the publication after being approached by the Sanders campaign and his last story was authored in December 2018. Story continues One of his pieces in The Guardian examined votes taken by O'Rourke when he served in Congress, finding that O'Rourke, who entered the race last week, had frequently voted in support for Republican-led legislation. A second piece was an opinion column titled "Beto O'Rourke is the new Obama. And that's the last thing we need." "Now, he is Washingtons version of Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan, only the screaming teeny-boppers are Beltway politicos: one rainmaker touted him as 'Obama, but white,' a Wall Street-funded group called Third Way declared that 'we are big Beto fans' and a former Obama aide penned an entire love letter touting ORourke 2020, without even once mentioning where the Texas congressman stands on a single legislative issue," the piece reads. Shakir, Sanders campaign manager, told The Atlantic that Sirota had been helping the campaign in an advisory role before being brought on officially Tuesday. Shakir said it was a trial period to try out Sirota since Sanders prefers to write his own speeches. Sirota told The Atlantic that his Twitter purge was the result of an "autodeleter that periodically and automatically deletes tweets." He said he started "doing this many months ago." On Facebook, Sirota told his nearly 10,000 followers that he was taking a role within Sanders' campaign and said it was an opportunity he could not pass up. "I believe journalism is an extremely important and necessary line of work, and I will miss it (and one day in the future, it is possible I may return to it)," Sirota wrote on Facebook. "When Bernie asked me to join his campaign, I felt I could not turn that request down, because I genuinely believe that the future of our country, our planet and our children are at stake in this election." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bernie Sanders hires former reporter who secretly advised campaign, deleted 20K tweets: report Last week, Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that the U.S. Department of Education will stop enforcing a provision in federal law that has long barred religious organizations from contracting with private schools to provide federally funded equitable services, such as tutoring and professional development. In a letter to Congress, DeVos explained that she was acting in accordance with the Supreme Courts 2017 verdict in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. In Trinity Lutheran, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Missouri had engaged in unconstitutional discrimination by denying a church-run preschool access to a publicly funded program for playground improvement. Under the Constitutions free-exercise clause, the Court found, otherwise eligible entities cannot be disqualified from a public benefit based solely on their religious status. In a press release accompanying her announcement, DeVos declared that, Those seeking to provide high-quality educational services to students and teachers should not be discriminated against simply based on the religious character of their organization. This is not a theoretical problem. To take but one example, up to now, parochial-school teachers could not attend a federally funded workshop at Catholic University. In that sense, DeVoss policy change is long overdue. Indeed, the prohibition on religious providers was not some recent move by the Obama administration. Since its inception, the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was held to require that school districts must provide comparable services to educationally disadvantaged private-school students and educationally disadvantaged public-school students. Washington determined that those dollars could not flow directly to private schools, however, meaning that local districts had to provide the services or find a contractor to offer them. As implemented, federal law dictated that religious organizations were summarily barred from working as contractors with private schools even when well suited for the work. Story continues But the ban on providers was remarkably inconsistent. Bizarrely, under the law, religious organizations have been permitted to provide services such as after-school tutoring to public-school students, even as theyve been barred from providing the same services to private-school students. The secretarys decision corrects the governments puzzling policy of intermittent religious discrimination. Predictably, some portrayed DeVoss modest step to obey Supreme Court jurisprudence as part of a shadowy effort to entangle church and state. (DeVos Moves to Ease Church-State Rules in Education, one New York Times headline blared.) But the Departments decision seems more aptly described as an effort to correct a kind of reflexive, anti-faith discrimination that had been in place for decades, under Democratic and Republican administrations alike. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his decision for the 72 majority in Trinity Lutheran, There is no question that Trinity Lutheran was denied a grant simply because of what it isa church. DeVos is applying the same logic, consistently. Theres no need to overcomplicate this. If the prohibitions in question were being applied to religious organizations that had spent funds inappropriately or engaged in proselytizing while on the federal dime, that would be one thing. But the issue here is wholesale, categorical discrimination against organizations of faith, simply because theyre organizations of faith, when it comes to non-religious programs such as English tutoring and professional development for math instruction. Discrimination of that sort has no place in the American system, and DeVos was right in moving to stamp it out. The new policy has the potential to immediately benefit many of the millions of educationally disadvantaged students who attend private schools, and its significance will only grow if efforts to expand private-school choice continue to flourish. It didnt spark the commentary or contention that have greeted so many of DeVoss other actions, but its a sensible, overdue act of good stewardship and we ought not overlook it. Frederick M. Hess is the director of education-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Brendan Bell is the education-policy program manager at AEI. More from National Review The global forum 2019 highlights four significant topics: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, StartUps and Mining. More than 3000 people including industry top speakers, funds and investors, blockchain startups and world companies, crypto traders, developers and miners are all going to join Blockchain Life 2019 to discuss the latest trends and ways of earning money in the crypto market. Find out more information and get tickets here: http://blockchain-life.com Among the participating companies: Listing.Help, CoinMarketCap, KuCoin, Cointelegraph, BitForex, Neo, Nem, BitBlock Capital, IvoryBay Capital, Gravitas Holding, InfiniVision, Jets Capital and other famous enterprises from all over the world. The list of speakers is constantly growing, check it here: http://blockchain-life.com The previous Blockchain Life forum in November 2018 attracted over 4500 guests and became one of the largest world events in the industry. In 2019, the famous hotel Marina Bay Sands welcomes 3000 participants from 70 countries around the globe in Singapore. Join world blockchain and crypto community now: http://blockchain-life.com The global forum is organized by the world listing agency Listing.Help. The general partner of Blockchain Life 2019 is ELVN a new, convenient and safe crypto messenger, that pays its users for activity. The post Blockchain Life 2019- 23-24 April, Marina Bay, Singapore appeared first on Coin Rivet. Washington (AFP) - Boeing's ill-fated 737 MAX and federal regulators next week will face the first public grilling by Congress over the two fatal plane crashes in recent months. Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, called for a hearing of the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, for March 27, with three transportation officials, notably the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration. Cruz intends to hold a second hearing to question Boeing officials as well as pilots and others in the industry, according to the statement. More than 300 people perished in the two crashes of 737 MAX 8s that occurred shortly after takeoff in Indonesia in October and in Ethiopia earlier this month. Boeing and the FAA are under investigation by the Transportation Department for how the rollout of the jet was handled, especially the a new flight system, the MCAS stall-prevention system, which was implicated in the Lion Air crash in October. Pilots have complained they were not informed about the new system, which can force the nose of the plane down if it gets an erroneous reading from a sensor making it appear the plane is at risk of stalling. The committee will hear next week from FAA acting chief Daniel Elwell, as well as the Transportation Department's chief investigator, Calvin Scovel, and National Transportation Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt. The FAA said Wednesday it will review the information from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the Ethiopian Airlines accident as it becomes available. "Understanding the circumstances that contributed to this accident is critical in developing further actions and returning aircraft to service," the FAA said. By Eric M. Johnson SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co's commercial airplane division, facing its biggest crisis in years following deadly crashes of its flagship 737 MAX aircraft, has brought in a new vice president of engineering while dedicating another top executive to the aircraft investigations, a company email showed on Tuesday. The management reshuffle comes as Europe and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of Boeing's 737 MAX, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying worldwide after they were grounded in the wake of crashes that killed more than 300 people. John Hamilton, formerly both vice president and chief engineer in Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division, will focus solely on the role of chief engineer, the unit's Chief Executive Officer Kevin McAllister told employees on Tuesday in an email seen by Reuters. "This will allow him to fully dedicate his attention to the ongoing accident investigations," McAllister said, adding that the staffing changes were needed as "we prioritize and bring on additional resources for the ongoing accident investigations." Lynne Hopper - who previously led Test & Evaluation in Boeing's Engineering, Test & Technology group - has been named vice president of Engineering, McAllister said. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment but confirmed the authenticity of the email. The shakeup showed how the world's largest planemaker was freeing up engineering resources as it faces scrutiny during crash investigations while also maintaining production of its money-spinning 737 single-aisle aircrafts. Previously, Hamilton served as the vice president of engineering for Boeing Commercial Airplanes from April 2016 through March 2019, according to a biography on Boeing's website. From July 2013 through March 2016, Hamilton served as the vice president of Safety, Security and Compliance and oversaw the Commercial Airplanes Organization Designation Authorization - a program that takes on specific safety certification duties on behalf of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Story continues Lawmakers and safety experts are questioning how thoroughly regulators vetted the MAX model and how well pilots were trained on new features. For now, global regulators have grounded the existing fleet of more than 300 MAX aircraft, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more - worth well over $500 billion - are on hold. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hv2btC) Boeing shares rose 0.3 percent on Tuesday, to close at $373.43. They are still down more than 11 percent since the crash in Ethiopia, wiping out over $25 billion off its market share. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) By Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle WASHINGTON/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro won glowing praise and conditional promises from U.S. President Donald Trump on his visit to the White House this week, yet Brazilian negotiators came away grumbling about their hosts driving a hard bargain. Diplomats and other officials said Brazil got few immediate concessions in return for granting a unilateral visa waiver for U.S. visitors, a tariff-free quota for wheat imports and easier access for U.S. space launches from Brazil. Bolsonaro, an outspoken Trump admirer who seemed eager to please at their first meeting, failed to win more room for Brazil's sugar exports or overturn a U.S. ban on fresh Brazilian beef - both major objectives of the country's farm sector. "If this is the way forward, we might as well stay put," said a Brazilian official directly involved in the negotiations, who requested anonymity to speak freely. "They asked for everything, but didn't want to cede on anything." Reactions among Brazilians focused largely on the symbolism of the visit, with Bolsonaro supporters calling it a vindication for the iconoclastic leader and critics cringing to see him so cozy with Trump. Yet the frustration of the Brazilian delegation reflects the deeper difficulty of overcoming trade barriers and agribusiness competition between the two countries, even as their presidents find common ground in their brash style and conservative views. Bolsonaro celebrated his visit as the start of a new era of U.S.-Brazil friendship, playing up his admiration of Trump and their shared disdain for political correctness and "fake news," as they often call unfavorable press coverage. The presidents also found common ground in condemning Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and cooperating on public security and military development. Designating Brazil a "major non-NATO ally" will ease U.S. arms sales to the Brazilian armed forces, while a new technology safeguard agreement will help U.S. companies to conduct commercial space launches in Brazil. However, in more transactional areas such as trade, the Brazilians' goodwill offerings, such as an annual import quota of 750,000 tonnes of tariff-free wheat, were not met in kind. "If this reciprocity does not occur, Bolsonaro's preference for the U.S. will look naive in the future," said Welber Barral, a former Brazilian foreign trade secretary. Brazil's new openness to wheat imports will mainly benefit U.S. exporters and was a slap in the face to neighboring Argentina, another major trade partner, Barral said. He also warned that Brazil stands to face more setbacks on trade if it gives up the benefits of "developing country" status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) the U.S. condition for supporting Brazil's bid to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a policy forum for wealthier nations. That conditional endorsement concrete WTO concessions in return for symbolic OECD membership left Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes visibly annoyed after his meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. "That's no exchange. He's making that demand," he told journalists. Addressing an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Guedes also gave a hint of the sticking points that stood in the way of broader trade agreements. "You want to sell pork? Okay, buy my beef. You want to sell ethanol? Buy my sugar. Beef for pork, ethanol for sugar, wheat for auto parts. They're little things," he said. None of the exchanges he suggested were formalized in talks. Guedes reminded the audience that China, Brazil's top trading partner, would be ready to pick up the slack if the United States did not engage. "They are moving in, trying to invest," Guedes warned. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) By Rodrigo Viga and Gabriel Stargardter RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Two former police officers were arrested on Tuesday on charges they killed a local councilwoman and her driver, Rio de Janeiro prosecutors said, claiming a breakthrough in a crime that sent shock waves through Brazil, a country numbed by rising violence. The arrests came just days before the first anniversary of the deaths of Marielle Franco, a black, openly gay and progressive councilwoman born in a poor Rio neighborhood, and her driver, Anderson Gomes. Franco was a vocal critic of Rio police for their often-deadly gang-busting operations in the city's slums, and took stands against paramilitary militias, made up of current and former police, who are de-facto bosses across wide swaths of the city. "Two police officers were arrested with a direct and effective participation in the crime," said Marcus Vinicius Braga, Rio de Janeiro state police secretary. "With these arrests, we are getting close to solving the crime." Despite the claims of a breakthrough, some were skeptical. "The case is not yet over," said one local prosecutor, who asked for anonymity to comment about a case in which he was not involved. "They still need to know the motive of the crime and who ordered it." "I don't like how politicized the case has become ... we need to be very cautious," the prosecutor added. The suspects were identified as Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz, a policeman who was expelled from the force. Lawyers for both men said they did not commit the crime. Flavio Bolsonaro, a son of the Brazilian president, has been accused of having ties to Rio's militias while he was a Rio state lawmaker. Lessa lives in the same wealthy, beachside community where President Jair Bolsonaro has a home. Investigators said they have no reason to think that any of the Bolsonaros are linked to Franco's killing. However, Giniton Lages, head of the Rio police homicide division, confirmed during a news conference that one of President Bolsonaro's sons had dated a daughter of the suspect Lessa. He did not say which son dated the woman, nor when. The press team in the president's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on details about that relationship. Additionally, shortly after the suspects were arrested, a photo of Queiroz circulated on social media, wearing a police T-shirt, with his arm around Jair Bolsonaro. Local news outlets reported the photo was taken from Queiroz's Facebook profile. Reuters was unable to locate the profile or verify the authenticity of the photo. Bolsonaro told reporters on Tuesday that he had taken photos with thousands of police officers in the past year as he pursued and won the presidency. He also said that he hoped police discovered if somebody contracted and ordered Franco's murder. 'SUMMARILY EXECUTED' Investigators said Lessa fired the shots that killed Franco and Gomes on March 14, 2018, while Queiroz drove the car that ambushed them. Simone Sibilio, the lead Rio state prosecutor on the case, said that Lessa and Queiroz were both arrested around 4 a.m. at their homes. She added that Lessa told police he had been tipped off about their raid. Franco, a human rights and women's rights activist, was a rising star in the Socialism and Liberty Party. Her press secretary, Fernanda Chaves, who was traveling in the same vehicle, suffered minor injuries. Thousands took to the streets in protest across Brazil after the killings, which drew international condemnation from rights groups. According to the document detailing the charges, "it is undisputed that Marielle Francisco da Silva was summarily executed because of the political causes that she defended." It remained to be seen if there are any repercussions for the president, who is in the midst of negotiating with Congress on pension reform. Economists say the reform is key to steadying the country's rickety public finances. Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator, is being investigated for money laundering during his time as a Rio state lawmaker, and is under pressure to explain how family members of one of the city's most powerful militia leaders ended up on his legislative payroll at the time. (Reporting by Rodrigo Viga in Rio de Janeiro and Gabriel Stargardter in Brasilia; additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo; editing by Daniel Flynn and Jeffrey Benkoe) About This Page This "Under Construction" page is an automatically generated placeholder Web page for a domain that is not yet attached to an active Web site. This page replaces the "Not Found" error pages and notifies visitors that a Web site is coming soon. How Do I Replace This Page? Publishing your Web site, updating the name servers, or forwarding to another domain name will automatically replace this default page. If you do not have an existing Web site hosting package or web forwarding, further information to get your Web site online can be found by clicking the following links. If your Web site is not ready to be published and you would like to replace this page, you may do so by configuring your under construction page. RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella was under fire Wednesday after accusing local police of corruption and calling the city he runs "a complete mess." Crivella's comments were recorded during a meeting with public servants and published in Wednesday's edition of Brazil's O Globo newspaper. The former evangelical pastor said Rio policemen want to be as rich as corrupt politicians and accept hush money from drug dealers. "When the politician steals and gets rich, the commander of the (police) battalion wants to get rich too. The colonel wants to get rich. The lieutenant, the sergeant want to get rich. Then they climb the hills to get bribes," Crivella said, linking those bribes to drug dealing. The mayor also described the tram system built for the 2016 Olympic Games as "that piece of junk." Rio police said in a statement that Crivella's comments offend 45,000 policemen. "It is regrettable and unbelievable that the mayor of a city with so many serious problems to solve is capable of giving such absurd statements," the Rio police statement said. Rio Gov. Wilson Witzel said in a video that "the police deserve respect," without naming Crivella. Crivella said his statements were taken out of context. "There has not been a single attack to the institution of police, but to a minority of bad professionals that stained the image" of the force, he said. Crivella is expected to run for re-election next year. RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Armed men shot at members of a convoy transporting uranium to one of Brazil's two working nuclear power plants on a coastal road in Rio de Janeiro state on Tuesday, police and the company managing the plant said. They said the truck carrying the nuclear fuel and its police escort came under attack when it was passing by the town of Frade, about 30 km (19 miles) from Angra dos Reis, where the reactor is located. Policemen guarding the convoy returned the attackers' fire, police said. They said there were no injuries or arrests and the armed men fled. Eletronuclear, the Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA subsidiary that manages the Angra nuclear plants, said in a statement that the uranium being transported was not dangerous and that the shipment was not delayed by the attack. It said the incident occurred when police escorting the truck fanned out alongside the road as a precautionary measure after hearing nearby gunshots. The armed men then started firing on some of the heavily armed "shock battalion" accompanying the shipment, Eletronuclear said. The nuclear fuel used in the two reactors in Brazil, Angra 1 and Angra 2, is produced in a government installation in Resende, a city in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state located 130 km (80.78 miles) from Angra dos Reis. Brazil only processes uranium to be used as fuel for power plants, under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. (Reporting by Marta Nogueira, Marcelo Teixeira; editing by Grant McCool) PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) - Britain's request for a Brexit delay would be turned down by the EU if Prime Minister Theresa May cannot provide sufficient guarantees that the British parliament will approve the negotiated divorce, France said on Wednesday. French Foreign Miniser Jean-Yves Le Drian told France's parliament May would need to make her case at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday. "A situation in which Mrs May would not be able to present to the European Council sufficient garanties about the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit," Le Drian told lawmakers. All remaining EU 27 members must agree on any extension. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Lough) PARIS (Reuters) - Britain's request for a delay to Brexit will be rejected by the EU if Prime Minister Theresa May cannot provide sufficient guarantees that her parliament will approve the divorce deal she negotiated, France's foreign minister said on Wednesday. The French stance was markedly tougher in tone than the public rhetoric out of Berlin, where Germany's foreign minister said only that an orderly British departure from the European Union would solve the Brexit turmoil. May asked for a three-month delay to Brexit on Wednesday to buy time to get her twice-rejected departure deal through parliament. Her request came just nine days before Britain is formally due to leave the EU, the latest twist in more than two years of negotiations that have left British politics in chaos. "A situation in which Mrs May was not able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees of the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit," Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French National Assembly. A senior official in President Emmanuel Macron's office said May had requested a "technical extension". This suggested that approval would be conditional on the British parliament ratifying the withdrawal agreement negotiated by May. Any extension has to be approved by all 27 EU members remaining in the bloc. In recent weeks, Germany has appeared to adopt a more conciliatory stance. Paris and Berlin are discussing their response to May's delay request, a source familiar with the diplomatic effort said, with Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel due to meet on Thursday in Brussels, on the sidelines of an EU summit. Speaking in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said he expected EU leaders to make a decision on how to proceed with May's request at that summit. "We'd like to know where it leads," Maas told a news conference in Berlin. "We've always said that if the (European) Council has to decide on a deadline extension for Britain, then we'd like to know why and what for." (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Lough and Kevin Liffey) Brussels (AFP) - A dogged but isolated Prime Minister Theresa May headed back to Brussels on Thursday to beg for more time to deliver her Brexit plan, but EU leaders are likely to refuse her request for a three-month postponement. Instead, as the 28 heads of government meet for their spring summit, they will tell her that if she can win over British lawmakers to back her withdrawal agreement next week, she can have until May 22 to get Britain's house in order. And if the withdrawal agreement is rejected again, an emergency summit could be called next week to agree a longer extension until at least the end of 2019 -- otherwise Britain's four-decade-year-old European adventure will come to an abrupt end on March 29. Time is tight, but there will be no final decision on a Brexit date in Brussels on Thursday, and May seemed only to have hurt her own efforts to persuade more MPs to back the withdrawal agreement when she blamed them for the impasse in an eve-of-summit speech. "All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want," she complained, in a televised address that sought to reach over the heads of parliament to the British people and infuriated lawmakers on both sides of the House of Commons. "I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I've negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable," she said. The deal could be brought back to parliament as early as Tuesday. May wrote to EU Council president and summit host Donald Tusk on Wednesday to ask for a three-month delay of Brexit until June 30. But EU diplomats said the consensus was that Britain would either have to leave before the May 23 European election or take part in the vote and stay in the bloc until at least the end of the year. "Reports that most are for a short extension up to the elections are not wrong," an European diplomat said as the leaders gathered in the city. "A large majority assembled around May 22 to 23, because it is the cleanest (option) legally." Story continues Another diplomat said that the May date was not set in stone, but that "a majority of member states said 'no' to June 30." Any delay to Brexit day would need to be approved unanimously. May has insisted that she will not oversee a long delay, which would increase pressure at home for a general election or for a second Brexit referendum that might reverse the decision to leave. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with this. I agree. I am on your side," May told voters, blaming MPs opposed to her Brexit plan. She insisted she was requesting a delay until June 30 with "great personal regret". - 'Brexit fatigue' - Tusk, meanwhile, admitted that European leaders are suffering "Brexit fatigue". He said he feared his hopes for an orderly Brexit agreement with the agreed plan in place to prevent economic and political chaos may prove "frail, even illusory." British lawmakers have twice resoundingly rejected May's agreement, and a third vote the premier hoped to hold this week was cancelled by the House of Commons speaker on procedural grounds. Nevertheless, Tusk was clear that Europe wants May to try again. "In the light of the consultations I have conducted over the past days, I believe a short extension will be possible but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons," Tusk told reporters. May is hoping a third vote could be admitted despite the speaker's decision, if she can formalise some guarantees that EU officials attached to the agreement last week. The British parliament has been deadlocked for months over Brexit, with MPs unable to decide how to implement the referendum result, and voters themselves are also sharply divided. Britain faces the potentially catastrophic prospect of leaving its biggest trading partner with no arrangements in place. May's team tried to engage senior members of the opposition, hoping to bring enough members on side to pull her deal through. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will also be in Brussels on Thursday for talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier. burs-dc/rlp There is no hard and fast rule that lucrative returns can only come from risky securities. Many strategies show that investing in low-risk portfolios end up giving you handsome returns. Since risky stocks underperform market amid a bearish business scenario, it could be a good idea to consider some key parameters to create a portfolio of low-beta stocks. Beta Understanding Beta measures the volatility or risks to a security relative to the market (we are considering the S&P 500 here). That is, beta measures the extent to which the price of a stock moves with respect to the market. If the beta is equal to 1 it means that the stock is as volatile as the market. So, a stock is relatively more volatile if it has beta greater than 1 and less volatile if beta is less than 1. For example, if the beta is 1.8 then the stock will witness 80% more movement than the market. Hence, we can say that if the market goes up, the stock will outperform by 80%. Conversely, if the market plunges, the stock will lose much more value than the market. Building a Low-Risk Portfolio In order to find stocks with lower-than-market volatility, we added beta between 0 and 0.6 as our main criterion for screening. However, we need to keep in mind that low beta is not the only metric to be considered for choosing stocks in a volatile market. Hence to reach the winning strategy, we have considered a few additional criteria. Percentage Change in Price in the last 4 Weeks: We considered those stocks that saw positive price movement over the last month. Average 20 Day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that the stocks are easily tradable. Price greater than or equal to $5: They must all be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher. Zacks Rank equal to 1: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks indicate that they will significantly outperform the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months. Story continues Here are five of the nine stocks that fit the bill: Headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Unilever NV UN is leading consumer good company selling products across the world. The company is likely to see earnings growth of 2.2% through 2019. Rent-A-Center, Inc. RCII headquartered in Plano, TX helps its customers own computers, appliances, consumer electronics etc. under flexible rental purchase deals. The company is likely to see earnings growth of 77.4% and 8.2% through 2019 and 2020, respectively. Headquartered in New Albany, OH, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF is a specialty retailer. The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the prior four quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 88.3%. For fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the stock is likely to see earnings growth of 21% and 2%, respectively. Based in Haifa Bay, Israel, Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd TARO is a leading pharmaceutical firm, providing premium healthcare products. The company has an average positive earnings surprise for the last four quarters of 5.5%. For the year ended Mar 31, 2019, the company is expected record earnings growth of almost 29%. PCTEL, Inc. PCTI, headquartered in Bloomingdale, IL, is a manufacturer and designer of precision antennae. The company posted an average positive earnings surprise of 25% for the prior four quarters. The stock is also likely to witness earnings growth of 300% and 37.5% through 2019 and 2020, respectively. You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today. Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance. 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 PC-Tel, Inc. (PCTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Rent-A-Center, Inc. (RCII) : Free Stock Analysis Report Unilever NV (UN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TARO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Abercrombie & Fitch Company (ANF) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By David Ljunggren and Fergal Smith OTTAWA/TORONTO, March 20 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remained under pressure over a corruption scandal on Wednesday as a legislator quit his party's caucus and a pre-election budget aimed at swaying key voters appeared to offer too little to stem the tide of negative news. The budget - the last before federal elections in October - lavished new spending on middle-class voters but ignored corporations. It also provided a little for key groups such as millennial voters who backed Trudeau in droves in Canada's 2015 election. The decision by a legislator, who had defended a former minister at the center of a political scandal, to quit the ruling Liberal Party and sit as an independent dealt a fresh blow to Trudeau's embattled government. Trudeau has been on the defensive since Feb. 7 over allegations top officials working for him leaned on the then justice minister to ensure construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoided a corruption trial. The political crisis threatens the government's chances of re-election. Polls have shown that Trudeau's Liberals could lose the vote as the damage from the scandal spreads. The latest defection overshadowed Tuesday's budget which divided money between a large number of new initiatives and left few Canadians satisfied. "It's just too broad," said Norman Levine, managing director at Portfolio Management Corporation. "They wanted to please lots of people and ... when you try to please everybody you end up pleasing nobody, because you spread it too thin." Rob Edel, chief investment officer at Nicola Wealth Management, noted the government did not commit to reducing a budget deficit that is much larger than the Liberals promised. This was "a political rather than an economic decision," he said. The Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada as well as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce complained about the lack of tax reform. But the center-left Liberals may not care too much as their core supporters are progressive thinkers, women and younger voters. Story continues Finance Minister Bill Morneau stressed budget measures to help first-time home buyers, including allowing people to withdraw up to C$35,000 from a retirement savings account. But asked on Wednesday how many younger first-time buyers actually had that much money available, he replied "that will help some people in the middle income range ... not everyone, for sure." The main opposition Conservative Party has relentlessly attacked Trudeau over the SNC-Lavalin affair and described the budget as a bribe. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has continuously demanded Trudeau's resignation, which some Conservatives privately worry is the wrong approach. Two strategists with deep ties to the party said given the complexity of the affair, and former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's statement that no one involved had broken any laws, Canadians would not necessarily agree that Trudeau should quit now. Conservative over-confidence or missteps could be the Liberals' best hope for reversing their slumping poll numbers, pollster Nick Nanos said. On Tuesday, opposition lawmakers delayed Morneau's budget presentation for an hour. Conservatives initially drowned out his speech in the House of Commons with shouts and jeers and then walked out en masse, a tactic that did not sit well with some Canadians on social media. (Writing by David Ljunggren, editing by Amran Abocar and Nick Carey) Quebec's financial regulator has frozen the assets of a blockchain company and called for investors to contact them to help with the investigation. Canadian regulators have frozen the assets and activities of a blockchain firm and instructed investors to step forward. The AMF (Autorite des marches financiers) issued a statement described as a call to investors regarding the company in question, Laboratoire Blockchain Inc, as well as three affiliated individuals. Following the recent announcement that the Canadian federal government is auditing dozens of Bitcoin users, Quebec province is cracking down on activity in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. Laboratoire Blockchain Inc The French-Canadian blockchain firm stands accused of violating securities laws. Three men are named in the injunctions: Jonathan Forte, Benjamin Forte, and Nicolas Barbasch-Bouchard. The three defendants are prohibited from promoting and transacting in securities as per the initial court injunctions and are also unable to legally sell off or exchange any existing cryptocurrency funds, mining hardware, or related equipment or assets. The equivalent of an asset freezing, the move indicates potentially heavy penalties. The Financial Markets further ordered the company to remove all online promotional materials advertising the company on Facebook and other social media platforms and websites to prevent further investment activity. Investors Issued April 1st Deadline The AMF notes that it is currently conducting an investigation into this case. The regulator asks all people who invested money in Laboratoire Blockchain Inc or by using the services of any of the defendants to contact Sarah Abi-Khalil via 1 877 525-0337, 2644, not later than April 1, 2019. The AMF asked investors to contact them by April 1st, but it is unclear what the exact goal of this is. First and foremost, its likely that the regulator simply wants to collect information in the firm being investigated. Read the full story on CCN.com. Gemma Chan (Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni) British actress Gemma Chan has said that she should have every right to play white characters in movies, following her role as Bess of Hardwick in the forthcoming Mary Queen of Scots movie. Chan plays Hardwick, a shrewd businesswoman, and key player in Elizabethan society, opposite Saoirse Ronans Mary Stuart and Margot Robbies Elizabeth I. The Humans and Captain Marvel star, who grew up in Kent with parents from China and Hong Kong, was being interviewed by Allure magazine, when she was asked: Why are actors of colour, who have fewer opportunities anyway, only allowed to play their own race? Gemma Chan as Elizabeth Hardwick (Credit: Universal) She replied pointedly: And sometimes theyre not even allowed to play their own race. Read more: The Disney-Fox deal will change superhero movies forever In the past, the role would be given to a white actor who would tape up their eyes and do the role in yellowface. John Wayne played Genghis Khan. If John Wayne can play Genghis Khan, I can play Bess of Hardwick. In the movie, Adrian Lester plays Lord Thomas Randolph, casting she says could only have been made possible by projects like Broadway stage sensation Hamilton. I feel like Hamilton opened minds a lot. We have a black man playing George Washington. They describe it as America then, told by America now. And I think our art should reflect life now, Chan added. Brie Larson and Gemma Chan in Captain Marvel (Credit: Marvel) The star of Crazy Rich Asians star also speaks about a documentary project she worked on last year about the Chinese Labour Corps, a force of 140,000 Chinese labourers who were recruited to join the Allied Forces on the western front during World War I. I studied the First World War three times at school. And I never heard that there were 140,000 Chinese in the Allied effort, she said. We would not have won the war without them. Read more: Captain Marvel surging towards $1 billion If people understood that, my parents [might not] have been told, Go home, go back to where you came from multiple times. If we portray a pure white past, people start to believe thats how it was, and thats not how it was. Story continues Chan comments come after a string of recent white-washed roles in Hollywood, from Scarlett Johanssons starring role in Ghost In The Shell, via Tilda Swintons Ancient One in Doctor Strange, to Netflix sci-fi horror Annihilation, in which Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh played roles described in the book it was based on as being Asian and half Native American. But the issue stretches far back into Hollywood history, from Yul Brinners Oscar-winning role as the King of Siam in The King and I, and, in one of the ugliest instances, Mickey Rooney as Holly Golightlys Japanese landlord in Breakfast At Tiffanys. "There should be no retreat until a complete victory is won," Chinese President Xi Jinping recently pledged, calling for perseverance in the fight against poverty as there are only two years left for the country to wipe out poverty by 2020. He also warned of undesirable practices found in the poverty relief process, including window dressing, red tape and fraud. How far is China away from meeting the goal? What are the major barriers? How to ensure a sustained victory in fight against poverty? Peoples Daily app (PD app) reporter interviewed Li Xiaoyun (Li), professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies at China Agricultural University and member of Advisory Committee of the State Council for Poverty Reduction, on these issues. Li Xiaoyun (right) offers his guidance at a construction site in Heibian, a poor Yao ethnic village in Mengla county in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Li has led a team to help relieve the village from extreme poverty by turning it into a forest holiday resort. PD app: When deliberating with deputies from Gansu Province at the ongoing session of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature, Xi noted the fight against poverty must be carried out substantially through the end. How do you view Xis call? Li: The fight is an uphill struggle as those still in poverty are the worst hit. Its becoming much harder to lift these people out of poverty. When the deadline draws near, the pressure gets heavier, and digital poverty-elimination or eradicating poverty in numbers, not in reality, will easily emerge. Thus, Xi stressed that the task must be fulfilled substantially. PD app: In the remarks, Xi offered criteria of getting rid of poverty: they should no longer need to worry about food and clothing while enjoying access to compulsory education, basic medical care and safe housing. What does this criteria mean to the poverty alleviation efforts? Li: The criteria is very specific. Its not only a target, but also a concrete requirement. It offers a specific standard to evaluate the poverty relief performance and a guide to help enforce the policies. To ensure a complete victory by 2020, the criteria is very significant. Li explains the house reconstruction plan to the Hebian villagers. PD app: The poverty line of the minimum annual income per capita has increased to 3,000 yuan ($446) in 2016 from 2,300 yuan in 2010. Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, announced at the ongoing two sessions that it will be raised to 4,000 yuan by 2020. How far away do you think China is from meeting the goal? Li: Chinas poverty reduction achievements are substantial. Since 2012, the country has lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty. Now there are over 10 million people remaining poor. If we follow the pace we have achieved in the past six years, poverty elimination in two years is of great certainty. Meanwhile, besides meeting the target of the income rise, the criteria given by Xi should also be guaranteed. Generally speaking, I think both targets can be met on time. PD app: China has dispatched more than 2.8 million cadres to work in the rural areas to fight against poverty, including nearly 200,000 first Party secretaries. How do you view the move? Li: In the tough battle against poverty and rural revitalization, the prominent problem is the insufficient reserve of talents on the frontlines. Thus, its quite essential to send talents to those areas. The first Party secretary is an institutional innovation in the poverty relief process. Meanwhile, these officials learn more and get their ability sharpened to handle public complaints. Li talks with Hebian villagers. PD app: Xi also warned of undesirable practices during the poverty relief process, such as going through the motions, red tape and fraud. Which problems do you think are hampering the fight? Li: Poverty elimination is also a great political task. The crackdown on corruption on the sector has been tight. Strictly speaking, graft is not apparent in poverty relief. The prominent problem is window dressing and red tape. Some officials solve the problems on paper and walls but not in reality. In some places, poor people have been defined as a target of criticism and the slogans are discriminatory. When the jobs get tougher and the upper level organs require more and focus more on formalities, going through the motions and inaction emerge. PD app: How to maintain a sustained victory in poverty eradication? Li: After the fight against poverty closes, there are two issues to be solved: prevent people falling under the poverty line again and avoid the appearance of new poor. So that officials need to adapt to a new normal and build a long-term mechanism of poverty control. Li imparts planting techniques in Tanzania in July 2015. In addition to involvement in poverty reduction in rural areas across China in past two decades, he has also expanded his reach to Africa. (Photos: Courtesy of Mengla Xiaoyun Poverty Alleviation Center Li founded in Yunnan Province) People's Daily app pulished on March 11, 2019 CHICAGO Nearly 400 Catholic clergy members in Illinois have been accused of sexual misconduct, but church officials have only informed congregants of a fraction of those who have faced allegations, according to attorneys who represented clergy sex abuse victims across the USA. A 182-page report, published Wednesday by the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, includes the names, background information, photos and assignment histories of each accused clergy member. The danger of sexual abuse in Illinois is clearly a problem of today, not just the past, the report concludes. This will continue to be a danger until the identities and histories of sexually abusive clerics, religious employees and seminarians are made public. Anderson said he hopes the report will push church leaders to publicly identify hundreds more clergy who faced allegations. The men named in the report worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the dioceses of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield. Dioceses' officials pushed back on the report's findings. The Archdiocese of Chicago, which serves about 2.1 million Catholics, said it "does not "police itself." "It reports all allegations to the civil authorities, regardless of the date of the alleged abuse, whether the priest is a diocesan priest or religious order priest, and whether the priest is alive or dead," the archdiocese said in a statement. Andrew Hansen, a spokesman for the Springfield Diocese, dismissed the report as "an impressive professional marketing brochure." He noted one of the priests listed in the report, Rev. Frank Martinez, had spent about six weeks in 1985 working as a hospital chaplain in the central Illinois diocese before resigning his position. The following year Martinez, who was assigned to a parish in Buffalo, Iowa, was accused of propositioning a 15-year-old boy in an Iowa motel room. Martinez was removed from the ministry in 2004. In 2008, he was included on a list by the Davenport Diocese of 24 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse. Story continues "(The report) does not represent, as Mr. Anderson suggests, a thorough and diligent review of the publicly available facts, and it is highly misleading and irresponsible," Hansen said. The Rockford Diocese said in a statement it has not disclosed allegations against many of the clergy on Anderson's list "because the accusations either have not been substantiated or are completely without merit."Joliet Diocese officials also said that allegations against some named on Anderson's list have not been substantiated. "The list includes a number of priests, living and deceased who, at one time or another provided some ministry within the Diocese of Joliet at some point during their priesthood, but are not priests of the Diocese of Joliet," the Joliet Diocese said in a statement. Rockford Diocese officials said they were unaware that one former priest named on the list, Rev. Ivan Rovira, had been found to have committed sexual abuse of a child after he left Northern Illinois in the early 1970s. The Brownsville, Texas Diocese earlier this year placed Rovira on its list of "clergy with credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. Rovira admitted to Brownsville Diocese officials in 2002 that he had sexually abused a boy during his time working in Texas. He was forced to leave the ministry, and later fled to Mexico, according to the Anderson report. "Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this list, and the list covers the time frame of 1908, when this diocese was established, to the present," the Rockford Diocese said in its statement. "An allegation against a priest who had an assignment in this diocese but belongs to a religious order or other diocese is referred to the religious order or other diocese to which the priest belongs and is under its jurisdiction." Keep the faith?: Sex abuse scandals prompt more to personally question ties to Church, poll finds Pope weighs in: Francis vows to address scandal, says priests must be guided by 'holy fear of God' Attorneys culled the names of the clergy named in the report from legal settlements and news reports detailing claims of child sexual abuse. Although lawsuits were filed involving many of the alleged perpetrators, the majority of the claims against the individuals were settled, according to the report. "We've chosen to reveal this information, because the Catholic bishops and religious orders who are in charge and have this information . . . have chosen to conceal it," Anderson said. The six Catholic dioceses of Illinois released the names of 185 clergy members who church officials determined were credibly accused of sexual abuse. The Anderson list includes those who were identified by the Illinois dioceses and more than 200 additional priests and deacons. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who left office in January, issued a preliminary report in December that found there are at least 500 clergy from Illinois dioceses who have faced allegations of abuse. The church has not publicly acknowledged or thoroughly investigated those claims, Madigan's report found. She did not name those accused of misconduct. Madigan launched her investigation in August after a landmark Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed claims against more than 300 predator priests who had abused at least 1,000 victims over roughly six decades. The former Illinois attorney general said her office was flooded with hundreds of emails and calls from people alleging they were victims of abuse by clergy in Illinois in the aftermath of the Pennsylvania report. Clergy abuse investigation: Illinois Catholic Church allegedly failed to investigate 500 priest sex abuse allegations Predator priests: States ask for assistance to pursue Catholic Church for documents on abuse by priests, Pennsylvania attorney general says Madigan is one of at least 14 state attorney generals who have confirmed investigations or reviews after the Pennsylvania report. Madigans successor, Kwame Raoul, said before he took office in January that he was committed to continuing the investigation. By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois, Madigan said. Weeks after Madigan released her report, Anderson, along with other attorneys and clergy sex abuse survivors, launched the Fight for 500 initiative calling on the Illinois dioceses to release the names of clergy. The list published Wednesday includes priests and deacons whose affiliations in some cases date back decades. Many of the accused have died. The report notes the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled a civil lawsuit in 2007 alleging the Rev. Robert Boley accosted a young girl in the 1980s. Boley moved to a Chicago parish in 1989 and also served at parishes in Darien, Ill., Englewood, N.J., and Louisville, Ky. As of 2007, it was believed that Fr. Boley was residing at the Carmelite House in Joliet, Illinois, and working in their archives, the report says. Fr. Boleys current whereabouts, status as a priest, and whether he has access to children are unknown. In another case, the report says David Stalzer, an ordained priest in the Joliet diocese, faced a civil lawsuit in 1993, in which he was accused of child sexual abuse while he was working at a diocese parish. It is believed that Fr. Stalzer returned to active duty later that year under supervision and purportedly with limited contact with children, according to the report. The suit was dismissed in 1994 after the accuser dropped out of sight, according to the Joliet Herald-News. Stalzer died in 2001. The list includes one priest who is in active ministry, Anderson said. The priest, who is assigned to a parish on Chicagos North Side, was temporarily removed from his position in December 2013 after the archdiocese received reports of him molesting a child at another Chicago-area parish where he worked 20 years earlier. The Chicago Archdiocese reinstated the priest into active ministry months later, after law enforcement found insufficient evidence to prosecute him. Days after he was reinstated, another man came forward and said he saw the same priest molest a teenage boy at a suburban fitness center. The Cook County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation, but the claim was never substantiated no charges were filed. Anderson defended putting the priest on the list even though authorities had not corroborated the allegations. (He) may be innocent, but given the fact that are two public allegations that have been made against him, we feel and believe that it needs to be publicly disclosed as somebody who has been publicly accused and not adjudicated, Anderson said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Catholic Church scandal: 395 Illinois priests, deacons accused of sexual misconduct Caroline Farrow has claimed she is being investigated by police after she called a transgender woman a man (Twitter) A Catholic journalist claims she is being investigated by police for calling a transgender woman a man on Twitter. Mum-of-five Caroline Farrow said she has been told by Surrey Police that they want to conduct a taped interview under caution because of posts she made on social media in September. The comments were made after she appeared on ITVs Good Morning Britain alongside Susie Green, whose daughter Jackie Green is transgender, to discuss the Girl Guides decision to let children who have changed their gender join. The polices decision to launch an investigation is an outrage, she tweeted on Tuesday, adding: I cant sleep I am so furious. Heres the GMB interview the police referred to. From what I understand this wasnt illegal but some follow-up tweets were. https://t.co/suOELE7aSK Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 18, 2019 She said: I dont even remember said tweets! I probably said he or son or something. All I have been told is that following an appearance on Good Morning Britain I made some tweets misgendering Susie Greens child and that I need to attend a taped interview. I have pointed out to police that I am a Catholic journalist/commentator and it is my religious belief that a person cannot change sex. Read more from Yahoo News UK: More Birmingham schools refuse to teach LGBT lessons Tony Blair says there is no point praying to God to solve Brexit Man shot by armed police in Hackney Ms Green, founder of trans charity Mermaids, defended reporting Ms Farrow to the police, saying it was not because her daughter had been misgendered. She told the Victoria Derbyshire show this morning: A journalist with a public platform used that to send very deliberate, malicious messages. Its not just the misgendering, its actually the context she puts it into she calls me a child abuser. Story continues However Ms Farrow disputed those claims, tweeting: Whatever Susie Green claims on @vicderbyshire all I have been told is that I misgendered her daughter. I am under police investigation. I cannot comment. All I know is that the police want to conduct a taped interview under caution because of tweets I sent misgendering Susie Greens daughter following a GMB interview. Thats all I have been told. I know I havent ever tweeted Jackie Green directly or directed any abuse at them. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 19, 2019 Thing is, I try really hard not to misgender people. So if I did so it was inadvertent and Freudian. I cant help think of a teenager who is having their penis and testicles removed, as male. Mea maxima culpa. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 19, 2019 Ms Farrow added that she would happily do jail time for her right to say that people cannot change sex. Ms Farrow said she had been overwhelmed by the support she had received over the incident, adding: Thank you. She argued that she had done nothing wrong and the mistake was inadvertent and Freudian as she tries really hard not to misgender people. A police spokesman said: A thorough investigation is being carried out to establish whether any criminal offences have taken place. She sent very deliberately malicious and nasty messages Founder of trans charity Mermaids- Susie Green on tweets journalist Caroline Farrow sent about her daughter, who transitioned as a teen. She explains why she reported the tweets to the police. pic.twitter.com/mB4QWzJCF1 Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) March 20, 2019 Whatever Susie Green claims on @vicderbyshire all I have been told is that I misgendered her daughter. I am under police investigation. I cannot comment. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 20, 2019 This is a public witch-hunt. Whether or not I am in breach of the Malicious Communications Act or have broken the law needs to be investigated by the police & a court of law. Not the @vicderbyshire show. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 20, 2019 We received an allegation on October 25 2018 in relation to a number of tweets which were posted in October 2018. A 44-year-old woman has been asked to attend a voluntary interview in relation to the allegation as part of our ongoing investigation. We have been made aware that a number of allegations have since been made on Twitter and we will be making contact with the person concerned in relation to these posts. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said in November that forces should focus their resources on tackling violence over other types of crime. A massive fire that engulfed a petrochemical storage facility outside Houston over the weekend is still burning, sending large plumes of smoke into the air. But officials say there is no immediate threat to public health as firefighters struggle to stop the blaze from growing. The fire began Sunday at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. facility in Deer Park, Texas, about 15 miles outside of Houston. As of Tuesday, eight tanks containing a variety of chemicals related to the energy industry have caught fire, sending a tower of smoke more than 4,000 feet into the air. But any harmful chemicals in the air are high enough that they arent impacting human health, officials said. Its understandable why people would be scared, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said during a press conference, per The Washington Post. Were sharing information with the public so that everybody knows what we know, what were doing and where were headed. Golfers practice at the Battleground Golf Course driving range as a chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company continues to send dark smoke over Deer Park, Texas, on, March 19, 2019. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS) The storage tanks that are on fire were holding gasoline, xylene, pyrolysis gasoline and naptha, among other chemicals. Fire crews have pumped more than 137,000 gallons of foam over the flames, but they were unable to say when it might be out, according to The Associated Press. The county has been posting updated air quality results online, which show a small risk to the general population and a moderate risk to those with sensitivities to air quality, including children, the elderly and anyone with a respiratory issue. The Houston Chronicle notes that weather patterns have kept chemicals above the ground, but fog predicted for Wednesday morning could pull some of the particles toward land. Based on current air monitoring reports, there continues to be a low risk to the community because the smoke is several thousand feet above the ground, the county said earlier Tuesday. However, since this is an evolving situation, Harris County Public Health recommends that any individuals who feel they are experiencing symptoms should contact their healthcare provider. Story continues Houstons mayor, Sylvester Turner, moved to minimize fears of the smoke plume, which some reports say could be seen more than 30 miles away. Firefighters battle a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company on March 18, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS) I know the cloud of dark smoke seems ominous as it spreads over parts of the city of Houston, but we want to assure that the air quality is being monitored around the clock, Turner said at a news briefing, according to the Chronicle. Despite the assurances, at least six school districts in the area cancelled classes for Wednesday, worried that a change in weather could pose health concerns. A spokeswoman for International Terminals said the company was working our hardest to get this current incident under control, saying the facility was very sorry. This isnt an event we wanted, the spokeswoman, Alice Richardson, said at a news conference. The Chronicle notes that the ITC facility had a history of violations of clean air and water rules since 2009, including a bevy of fines that have totaled more than $65,000. The storage company was found to have violated the Clean Water Act in nine of the last 12 quarters, according to the outlets investigation of Environmental Protection Agency data. Texas has a fraught history with environmental regulation and has moved to tighten chemical disclosure laws in recent years, saying the efforts were meant to combat terrorism. The Obama administration tried to pass federal chemical safety laws that would give emergency responders and the EPA more oversight over chemical facilities, but the industry has routinely fought such proposals, according to The New York Times. Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt delayed the proposal, called the Chemical Disaster Rule, but a federal appeals court forced it to go into effect in August. Also on HuffPost Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Scientists in southwest China's Yunnan province have cloned what they called the "Sherlock Holmes of police dogs" in a program they hope will help cut training times and costs for police dogs, state media reported on Wednesday. The dog, named Kunxun, was cloned from a police sniffer dog by the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University, with support from the Ministry of Public Security, the state-owned tabloid Global Times reported. Sinogene is hoping to make it possible to achieve "volume production" of cloned police dogs in order to significantly reduce training times, the company's deputy general manager Zhao Jianping told the Global Times, but he added that cloning costs remain a major obstacle. Kunxun, now three months old, will undergo extensive training in drug detection, crowd control and searching for evidence, and will become a fully fledged police dog when it is about 10 months old, the official China Daily said. Training usually takes about five years and costs as much as 500,000 yuan, with no guarantee of success, the paper said, citing an animal expert at the Yunnan Agricultural University. The paper did not say how much a cloned dog would cost. South Korean scientists created the world's first cloned dog in 2005, and two years later the country began employing cloned Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs for the customs service, China Daily said. (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Michael Perry) Citigroups C banking subsidiary, Citibank, has been slapped a $25-million penalty by The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for violating the Fair Housing Act, while providing mortgage loans under its Relationship Loan Pricing (RLP) program. Under the program, Citi offered reduced pricing for mortgage borrowers that kept assets upto a certain level with the bank, referring it to as relationship pricing. OCC accused the Wall Street biggie of lacking proper control measures, due to which some eligible borrowers were denied benefits they otherwise deserved. Per the regulator, borrowers have been affected on the basis of their race, color, national origin, or sex. The matter was self-reported by Citi in 2017, when in a review of internal controls, it found problems in "relationship pricing". The bank had told the regulator that the faults were not deliberate and remedial steps were taken. OCC said that Citi has already been working on the remedial process and almost completed reimbursement to nearly 24,000 customers who did not receive appropriate RLP benefit. Also, it is undertaking steps to ensure that no violations are committed in the future. In February 2018, Citi along with six other big banks such as Bank of America BAC, Goldman Sachs GS and Wells Fargo WFC were sued by the city of Philadelphia for colluding to rig the price of floating rate bonds that led to extra interest payments for the city. The matter is currently being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Though Citigroup has undertaken special measures to combat the rise in expenses, persistent litigation issues will be a headwind for the company. Also, muted fee income growth, owing to dismal performance of investment banking revenues, keeps the top line under pressure. Over the past six months, the stock has lost 11.5% compared with 7% decline recorded by the industry. Currently, Citigroup carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Story continues You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 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Zacks Investment Research Have you been paying attention to shares of Cree (CREE)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 12.6% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $57.72 in the previous session. Cree has gained 33.9% since the start of the year compared to the 17.7% move for the Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the 25.6% return for the Zacks Semiconductor - Discretes industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has an impressive record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on January 30, 2019, Cree reported EPS of $0.23 versus consensus estimate of $0.17 while it beat the consensus revenue estimate by 0.92%. For the current fiscal year, Cree is expected to post earnings of $0.78 per share on $1.38 billion in revenues. This represents a 310.53% change in EPS on a -7.28% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $1.29 per share on $1.61 billion in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 65.17% and 16.54%, respectively. Valuation Metrics Cree may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. Cree has a Value Score of D. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and A, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B. In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 73.4X current fiscal year EPS estimates. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 14.7X versus its peer group's average of 11.1X. Additionally, the stock has a PEG ratio of 3.67. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective. Story continues Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, Cree currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to rising earnings estimates. Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if Cree passes the test. Thus, it seems as though Cree shares could have potential in the weeks and months to come. 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 Cree, Inc. (CREE) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. James Radecki, the three-piece suit wearing Wall Street veteran, is leaving Cumberland Trading, the cryptocurrency OTC shop run by Chicago-based DRW, the firm said in a statement to its counter-party clients this week. Radecki, who joined Cumberland over a year ago following his retirement from Goldman Sachs, was hired as global head of business development. Cumberland is one of the best-known market making firms in the nascent bitcoin trading world. "Jim Radecki has made the decision to step down from his position at Cumberland at the end of the month to pursue new interests," the firm said in the emailed statement. "We are actively seeking a new Global Head of Business Development, but in the interim, Bobby Cho will oversee relationship management and Justin Chow will oversee business development." Recently, Cumberland rolled-out a new electronic trading platform, dubbed Marea, to interact with its trading counter-parties. It was move that followed its Chicago cross-town rival Jump Trading and other market makers in crypto that have modernized their marketplaces. Still, even as such firms strove to take the market to the next level they have struggled to keep their Wall Street talent on the payroll as the bear market continues its grip. CMT Digital, a Chicago-based firm, laid off more than 10 people from its OTC team, as The Block previously reported. Kenetic Capital, another firm, shut their advisory and over-the-counter trading business. It's not clear where Radecki, who was a big presence in the crypto conference circuit, is heading. He did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Radecki previously spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs in hedge fund sales and prime brokerage. Prior to that he spent four years at ING in risk management. A powerful tropical cyclone that lashed the northeast coast of Australia, closing ports and causing power outages, is expected to strengthen further Wednesday. Tropical Cyclone Trevor was a category 3 system -- with winds gusting at 165 kilometres (100 miles) per hour -- when it made landfall on the Cape York peninsula Tuesday evening, hitting small isolated communities. The Bureau of Meteorology said it is now tracking slowly west out to the Gulf of Carpentaria and will intensify to a category 4 system by the weekend before making landfall again. Queensland energy provider Ergon Energy say they are ready to fly crews in to help restore power with all residents in Lockhart River and Coen now in darkness following the event. Spokesperson Emma Oliveri told AFP local police have reported multiple lines are down across the region. "A total of 460 people have lost power and while those numbers may not seem high, every person in the communities of Lockhart River, Coen and close to half of Aurukun are in darkness," she said. CEO of the Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire, Dave Clarke, said nobody anticipated how severe Trevor would be. "Everyone needs to stay in their homes because we don't have a designated cyclone shelter and assessments need to be made across our town," he said. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said drones have been used for reconnaissance in remote affected areas. "We've deployed them a number of times to compare before and after of natural disasters and used the intelligence to assess the damage quickly," he said. Far North police Chief Supt Brian Huxley told AFP getting help to some locations would be difficult. "The next difficulty will be getting crews into the airport because crucial equipment has been knocked out, but low-lying cloud cover is making it hard to get crews in to assist with the cleanup and get power restored." By Kate and Kelland LONDON, (Reuters) - People who use cannabis every day run a significantly higher risk of developing the serious mental illness psychosis, especially if they use more potent forms of the drug, such as skunk, scientists said. Presenting results of a large international study conducted in one in site Brazil and across 11 sites in Europe including in Amsterdam, London and Paris the researchers found that people who used cannabis daily were three times more likely to have an episode of psychosis than people who had never used it. Potent cannabis types with more than 10 percent of the psychoactive ingredient THC were linked to a five times greater risk. Skunk contains more THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, than regular cannabis, and THC can induce psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and paranoia. The study found the link between cannabis and psychosis was strongest in London and Amsterdam, where high potency skunk is commonly available. Researchers said the study - published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal - is the first to show the impact of cannabis use on population rates of psychosis, and should highlight the potential public health impact of changes to drugs laws. Many countries - including most recently Canada - have legalized or decriminalized cannabis use, leading to some concerns about increased use and its potential harm. "As the legal status of cannabis changes in many countries and states, and as we consider the medicinal properties of some types of cannabis, it is of vital public health importance that we also consider the potential adverse effects," said Marta di Forti, who co-led the work at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). She said an estimated one in five new cases of psychosis across the sites studied could be linked to daily cannabis use, and more than one in 10 linked to use of high-potency cannabis. This would mean that if high potency cannabis were no longer available, the incidence of psychosis in Amsterdam, for example, would be expected to drop to 18.8 from 37.9 per 100,000 people a year, and in London to 31.9 from 45.7 per 100,000 people a year. Robin Murray, a professor at the IoPPN who also worked on the study, said it should be noted by all policymakers and any potential cannabis users. "Fifteen years ago, nobody thought that cannabis thought increased the risk of psychosis," he said. "But now the evidence is pretty clear." (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Alison Williams) Civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis will be the speaker for the 174th Commencement exercises of Emorys Oxford College, set for May 11. Lewis also delivered Emory Universitys Commencement address in 2014, where he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. Emory Photo/Video U.S. Rep. John R. Lewis, who represents Georgias 5th Congressional District, will be the speaker for the 174th Commencement exercises of Emory Universitys Oxford College. The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 11, at 10 a.m. on the Oxford College Quad. What an honor and privilege it is for Oxford College to welcome this great statesman and icon of the American civil rights movement to address our 2019 graduates and all those in attendance at the closing ceremony of our academic year, says Doug Hicks, Oxfords dean and William R. Kenan Professor of Religion. We look forward to the inspiring words that this American hero and exemplar of justice and public service will share with the Oxford College community. Born the son of sharecroppers in Alabama, Lewis began a life of non-violent activism as a student at American Baptist College and as a participant in sit-in demonstrations at Nashvilles segregated lunch counters. In 1961 he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides throughout the South to test a decision of the Supreme Court from 1963 to 1966, where he endured several arrests and beatings. At the age of 23, he became chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and was a keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington. In 1965, he co-led a group of 600 peaceful protesters on a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, organized to demonstrate the need for voting rights in Alabama. The non-violent marchers were attacked by armed state troopers as they crossed Selmas Edmund Pettus Bridge, an event that has become known as Bloody Sunday. After years of work in support of voting rights and as leader of the federal volunteer agency ACTION during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, Lewis entered politics in 1981 as a member of the Atlanta City Council. He was elected to Congress in 1986. In the more than 30 years since then, his moral stature and dedication to protecting human rights and securing civil liberties have earned him widespread respect and admiration. This is Lewiss second time to address Oxford College. He last appeared on the Oxford campus in March 2002, when he delivered the Mills Peace Lecture. In addition, Lewis served as the Emory University Commencement speaker and received an honorary degree from the university in 2014. Emory University offers two starting points for first-year students: They may apply to Emory College of Arts and Sciences on the Atlanta campus or study for their first two years at Oxford College on Emorys original campus in Oxford, Georgia. After the sophomore year, all students choose to complete their undergraduate degree on the Atlanta campus through Emory College, the Goizueta Business School or the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Senator Elizabeth Warren has joined a growing chorus within the Democratic party in calling for the abolition of the Electoral College. Speaking at a forum in Mississippi on Monday night, Warren said that she hoped to ensure that every vote matters and proposed that the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College. Warrens lofty rhetoric notwithstanding, a large portion of the Democratic partys present animosity toward the Electoral College is rooted in rank partisanship. Since they watched their supposed blue wall evaporate in the small hours of the 2016 presidential election, many Democrats have felt sufficient anger with the system to seek to remake it. This habit has by no means been limited to the Electoral College. Indeed, no sooner has the Democratic party lost control of an institution that it had assumed it would retain in perpetuity than that institution has been denounced as retrograde and unfair. In the past year alone, this impulse has led to calls for the abolition or reinvention of the Senate, the Supreme Court, and more. Insofar as there does exist a serious argument against the Electoral College, it is increasingly indistinguishable from the broader argument against the role that the states play within the American constitutional order, and thus from the argument against federalism itself. President Reagan liked to remind Americans that, far from serving as regional administrative areas of the nation-state, the states are the essential building blocks of Americas political, legal, and civic life. In our era of viciously divisive politics, the states are arguably more necessary than they have ever been. Critics of the Electoral College bristle at the insistence that it prevents New York and California from imposing their will on the rest of the country. But the Electoral College guarantees that candidates who seek the only nationally elected office in America must attempt to appeal to as broad a geographic constituency as possible large states and small, populous and rural rather than retreating to their preferred pockets and running up the score. The alternative to this arrangement is not less political contention or a reduction in anger; it is more of both. Story continues In addition to protecting the political diversity for which the United States is famous, the Electoral College brings with it a number of practical advantages that are crucial to good government. Under the current system, the result of presidential elections tends to be clear almost immediately there is no need, for example, to wait three weeks for California to process its ballots; it is nigh-on impossible for voters to return a tie or disputed outcome; and, because presidential elections are, in effect, fifty-one separate elections, accusations of voting fraud and abuse hold less purchase than they would if all franchisees were melted into a single, homogenous blob. The freak occurrence that was Bush v. Gore is often raised as an objection against the status quo. Less attention is paid to the obvious question: What if that recount had been national? Impressively, Elizabeth Warrens plan for straight abolition is not the worst reform being touted at the moment. Impatient at the lack of progress that the #Resistance has made in pulling the wiring out of Americas constitutional engine, a handful of states have adopted the National Popular Vote plan, which binds their electors to cast their ballots for the candidate who wins a majority of votes nationwide. Until enough states have signed on to tip the balance past 270 and, indeed, until the inevitable litigation has been concluded adoption of the NPV will remain purely symbolic. Should it be put into action, however, it would achieve the remarkable feat of removing all of the benefits that the Electoral College provides while preventing the electors of each state from voting for the presidential candidate whom a majority in that state had picked. Who knew that the outsourcing craze would extend to democracy? The U.S. Constitution is a complex document that, as Whitman might have put it, contains multitudes. At once, it boasts guarantees of democracy and protections against it; hosts an outline for national action, and a blueprint for localism; and serves as a vehicle for the majority, while including guarantees that the most significant decisions must be broadly agreed upon. The Electoral College is one of the many finely tuned institutions within the charter that have ensured stability and continuity in America for more than two centuries. To destroy it in a hail of platitudes, civic ignorance, and old-fashioned political pique would be a disastrous mistake. More from National Review Devin Nunes has sued Twitter and several of its users, among them a parody account of his mother and a cow. The Republican congressman is seeking $250m (188m) in damages for abusive, hateful and defamatory content allegedly hosted on Twitter, which the suit claims was intended to interfere with the investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election. The complaint, filed in a Virginia state court on Monday, refers specifically to the accounts Devin Nunes Mom (@DevinNunesMom) and Devin Nunes cow (@DevinCow), as well as Republican communications consultant and critic of Mr Nunes, Liz Mair. The content referred to in the complaint includes a human centipede-style diagram of waste passing from Russian president Vladimir Putin to US president Donald Trump, before passing to Mr Nunes. The caption of the diagram, posted by the Devin Nunes Mom account, stated: Heres a helpful diagram to explain their relationship. The lawsuit accuses the @DevinNunesCow account of making defamatory remarks about the Republican to its 1,204 Twitter followers. At the time of writing, the account is still active and now has more than 66,000 followers. Some Twitter users have attributed this rapid follower growth to a phenomenon known as the Streisand effect, whereby an attempt to remove or censor a piece of information instead serves to publicise it more widely. According to the lawsuit, the @DevinNunesMom account was suspended following a complaint by Mr Nunes real mother. A legal representative for Mr Nunes could not be reached for comment but in an appearance on Fox News on Monday Night, the Congressman said: This is the first of many lawsuits that are coming... Our First Amendment rights are at stake here. It is not the first time a US politician has accused Twitter of targeting them because of their political views, with Mr Trump consistently accusing the social media platform of bias against conservatives. Social media is totally discriminating against Republican/ Conservative voices, he tweeted in August 2018. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others. Story continues Social media companies are protected from defamation liability, however the complaint alleges Twitter wilfully facilitated defamation on its platform by completely ignoring lawful complaints about offensive content and by allowing that content to remain accessible to the public. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. WASHINGTON We live in a weird time. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., filed a $250 million lawsuit earlier this week against Twitter and a number of parody accounts that poked fun at the congressman, a fierce defender of President Donald Trump. The lawsuit named several of the spoof accounts and well, yeah, things turned out just about the way one would think. Twitter users started immediately following the accounts listed in the lawsuit, notably one account dedicated to Nunes' cow. Two days after the lawsuit was filed Monday, @DevinCow, which had less than 2,000 followers, now boasts a following of nearly half a million on Twitter. The massive follower count, which stood at 454,000 as of Wednesday afternoon, even surpassed Nunes' account and its 395,000 followers. More: Rep. Devin Nunes sues Twitter, spoof accounts for $250 million The account, unsurprisingly, makes a lot of cow jokes and puns. Its timeline is filled with cow emojis and, thanks to the lawsuit, a lot of celebrities who wanted to be part of the "mooovement." The cow reference appears to mock Nunes' family's dairy farm, which the congressman has made a central part of his identity in politics. The account's newfound attention spurred a herd of other accounts dedicated to poking fun at Nunes. The lawsuit accuses Twitter of "shadow-banning conservatives" including Nunes, while profiting from abusive behavior and language allegedly perpetrated by liberal and left-wing Twitter accounts, including @DevinCow and @DevinNunesMom, both of which are listed as defendants. Shadow banning is the act of suppressing or burying online content so that it is effectively inaccessible to the public, without actually blocking or suspending a user's account. Many Republicans, including President Trump, have accused social media sites of having a bias against conservatives and has alleged shadow banning was to blame. Story continues In the lawsuit, Nunes included tweets from the parody accounts, including one from the @DevinNunesMom account that made fun of the congressman's work as then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "@DevinNunes your district is looking for you? Are you trying to obstruct a federal investigation again? You come home right this instant or no more Minecraft!" the tweet read, according to the lawsuit. The account @DevinNunesMom has since been suspended by Twitter. Liz Mair, a political analyst with the left-leaning advocacy group Swamp Accountability Project, is the only person named in the lawsuit. She told the Visalia Times-Delta that she had not been notified of any pending legal action against her and declined to comment further. Typically, social media websites are exempt from defamation liability. Nunes' legal team argues, however, that Twitter is complicit in the defamation by "knowingly hosting and monetizing" abusive content on its service. Last November, Nunes faced the toughest political battle of his 16-year career against Democratic upstart Andrew Janz. While Nunes defeated Janz by a five-point margin, it was the closest any challenger had come to toppling the congressman since his first 2002 campaign. Nunes' lawsuit now attributes the close race to Twitter, as well. "Nunes endured an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life, it reads. Unlike prior elections, where Nunes won by sweeping majorities, Nunes won on November 6, 2018 by a much narrower margin, receiving 52.7 percent of the 222,379 votes. Despite Nunes' apparent anger with Twitter, he is a frequent user. His recent tweets about California barring full-service restaurants from handing out plastic straws unless a diner requests one drew thousands of comments and retweets. Contributing: Joshua Yeager, Visalia Times-Delta This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Devin Nunes sued a Twitter account dedicated to a cow. Now it has more followers than he does By Toby Sterling and Bart H. Meijer AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Voting in provincial elections began in the Netherlands on Wednesday, just two days after a Turkish-born man was arrested over a shooting attack in the city of Utrecht, boosting Dutch populist parties. Pre-election polls had already showed Prime Minister Mark Rutte's center-right coalition was likely to lose its majority in the Senate. But the attack in Utrecht - which killed three people - was expected to lead to the strongest-ever showing by two populist parties. "It's 100 percent clear that the coalition will book major losses," pollster Maurice de Hond said in an election preview. A snap poll conducted after Monday's shooting showed that determination had grown among populists to turn out and vote, while support for traditional parties remained lackluster. Drawing on the historical comparison to 2002, when populist Pim Fortuyn was assassinated just before national elections, he forecast a combined showing of up to 25 percent for populists. "It will be a close call as to whether the coalition plus even just one other opposition party" will be able to command a majority after the new Senate is seated in May. A victory for Dutch populists would worry traditional European parties, who breathed a collective sigh of relief after Rutte defeated the right wing in 2017 general elections. But the Dutch right wing, dominated for a decade by the Freedom party of Geert Wilders, has been transformed in the past two years by the rapid growth of a second populist party. The Forum for Democracy, following the lead of U.S. President Donald Trump, emphasizes "Dutch first" cultural and economic themes. Its leader, Thierry Baudet, shocked establishment parties this week by blaming the government for the Utrecht attack on the same day it occurred. Others had suspended campaigning. The motive of the 37-year-old man arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack on a tram is not yet known. Prosecutors have not ruled out terrorism. "You can tell what's going on anyway," Baudet told supporters at a rally. "This is a combination of an honor killing and a half-terrorist motive." The suspect is due to appear before a judge by Thursday. De Hond said that the two populist parties will have their best-ever combined showing, with Forum for Democracy possibly winning more votes than Prime Minister Rutte's conservative VVD. The Dutch economy has been one of Europe's best performers under successive Rutte-led governments, but resentment over early 2010s austerity programs linger. Recent debate has focused on funding the government's plans to meet international goals on climate change, and the likely cost to taxpayers. The usual supporters of the conservative parties in Rutte's coalition are skeptical of spending on climate change. Many left-leaning voters feel not enough is being done and have defected to the pro-environment Green Left party, which is also expected to book big gains on Wednesday. Ironically, the immediate result of a victory for populists, who oppose environmental spending, would be to force Rutte's coalition to work more closely with Green Left to pass legislation. Polls in the provincial elections close at 2000GMT. The first projection of results by national broadcaster NOS is expected shortly afterwards. (Reporting by Toby Sterling, editing by Larry King) The Hague (AFP) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will lose his senate majority after upstart anti-EU populists surged in provincial elections just two days after a suspected terror attack in Utrecht. Controversial eurosceptic Thierry Baudet's Forum for Democracy party came from nowhere to be the second biggest in parliament's upper house after Rutte's, an exit poll by leading broadcaster NOS said. The coalition led by Rutte's centre-right VVD party is set to collapse from 38 to 31 seats in the 75-seat senate, which passes legislation approved by the lower house. The blow for Rutte -- who painstakingly formed his ruling coalition to freeze out the far-right after general elections in 2017 -- will be closely watched abroad ahead of European Parliament elections in May. Self-proclaimed intellectual Baudet -- who faced criticism after failing to stop campaigning after Monday's shooting on a tram in Utrecht in which three people died -- slammed Rutte's record on immigration. "We are being destroyed by the people who are supposed to be protecting us," the telegenic 36-year-old told a crowd that chanted his name on Wednesday night. "Successive Rutte governments have left our borders wide open, letting in hundreds of thousands of people with cultures completely different to ours." Referring to the fact that the Turkish-born Utrecht suspect had only been released from jail two weeks ago, he added: "We have seen it in Utrecht on Monday, rapists and thieves go free. It's shameful." Baudet has previously called for a "Nexit", or exit from the EU by the Netherlands, but has recently backtracked on as the chaos over Britain's departure from the bloc escalates. The flamboyant former academic is known for controversial statements such as "women in general excel less in jobs and have less ambition". - 'Get to work' - After eight years in power, Rutte, meanwhile, is an influential figure in Europe including in its Brexit negotiations, but the result leaves him vulnerable at home and needing to rely on other parties to pass legislation. Story continues "We are going to have to get to work," Rutte told supporters. "We have to talk with other parties so we can continue to lead this country well." Rutte's VVD is set to drop from 13 to 12 but the other coalition partners took a hammering with the left-leaning progressive D66 falling from 10 to 7 and the Christian Democrat CDA from 12 to 8, although ChristenUnie rises from 3 to 4. Baudet led his party to win 10 seats. The anti-Islam Freedom Party led by far-right politician Geert Wilders is set to win six seats, down from nine, but could be influential if it teams up with Baudet. Long a standard bearer for the far right in the Netherlands and more widely across Europe, the bleach-blonde Wilders appeared to have lost seats to the newer figure of Baudet. Rutte could now be left to rely on opposition parties to pass legislation, including the leftist ecological party GroenLinks (Green Left) party led by Jesse Klaver, which had a good night and is set to double its seats from four to eight. Senate members will officially be decided in May by the 570 representatives elected to the country's 12 provinces in Wednesday's election. The head of the Dutch socialist party had called the vote a "Rutte referendum", although Rutte has insisted he would not step down if his coalition lost its majority. However after nearly a decade in power, Rutte has been widely tipped to take up a top EU post in Brussels when the current set-up led by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker steps down later this year. By Ginger Gibson HEMINGWAY, S.C. (Reuters) - In the most polarized political environment in decades, Democratic voters want to know how their eventual nominee will match up against President Donald Trump in the November 2020 general election. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president. On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trump's hotels in New York City, taking her "vision of restoring Americas moral integrity straight to President Trumps doorstep," her campaign said. The backdrop for her speech underscores a defining theme of the Democratic nominating contest. Trump is present at every campaign stop - not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him. Candidates are trying to convince voters in early primary states that they would provide the best Trump opposition. And in a large field with few variations on policy so far, each contender is using different tactics to make their case. "Voters need to believe that a candidate can stand on stage, take a rhetoric punch from Trump and still look strong and viable," said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race. Potential and declared candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders "have likely already passed that litmus test with voters," Payne added. "Others who are less known to the public probably still have some proving to do." A February poll by Emerson College found every Democratic hopeful out-performed Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup, except when a third-party candidacy was added to the equation. At campaign events in rural South Carolina this month, Senator Kamala Harris used a simple refrain to begin answers about complicated policy questions: "We need a new president." Harris, a former prosecutor, is seeking to convince voters that her courtroom experience prepared her to be able to successfully "prosecute" Trump on the debate stage, a campaign aide said. But Harris does not plan to make her case using any demeaning nicknames for Trump, something the president did during the 2016 campaign to deride his opponents. "They don't want someone who is going to mimic his tactics," the aide said of Democratic voters. "Democrats want someone who can confront from him." VOTERS FOCUSED ON ELECTABILITY A February poll by Monmouth University found that 56 percent of Democrats would prefer a nominee who has a good shot at defeating Trump even if they do not agree on policy positions. The poll found women voters - who turned out in droves during the 2018 midterm elections to help send a historic number of women to Congress - were even more inclined to prioritize electability over ideology with 61 percent putting their positions aside in favor of a candidate who can defeat the president, compared to 45 percent of men. The high level of Democrats citing electability over "kitchen table" issues like jobs and the economy was surprising to Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa. But Hagle thinks it could be a product of the large field of Democrats, with voters looking for ways to whittle it down. Once the field narrows, policy issues such as immigration and jobs could again emerge as top concerns, he said. "What is different this time is the intensity about wanting to defeat Trump," Hagle said. Even candidates who are inclined not to tussle with Trump directly still talk about him a lot. In Mount Vernon, Iowa on Friday, Beto ORourke largely spoke of Trump in the context of using his campaign to try and bring people together. He criticized Trump - not using his name - for how the president talks about immigrants and Muslims. "We've never been as divided as we are right now. And we've never seen the kind of rhetoric employed by this president in our history," said O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman. "This is absolutely wrong. And theres a consequence to this rhetoric and the policies employed by the president. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic hopeful, insists Trump can be defeated by a candidate who offers a calmer tone instead of attacks. "I know there's some 'fight fire with fire' people out there, and God bless 'em, if they become the nominee, I'm behind them," Booker told a group of voters at a New Hampshire pub last week. "But I'm willing to die on this hill, because I believe that when we as Americans extend grace to one another, we're not weaker, but stronger. "My mom taught Sunday school, and she taught me to love my enemies," Booker said. "I'm not going to let anybody drag me so low as to contort my soul and make me hate them." (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New Hampshire and James Oliphant in Iowa; Editing by Alistair Bell) Geneva (AFP) - The UN human rights chief warned Wednesday that children in Yemen continued to be killed and maimed at an alarming rate, despite a three-month-old truce in a vital port. "Since the Stockholm agreement on December 13, it is estimated that eight children have been killed or injured in Yemen every day," Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Yemen's beleaguered Saudi-backed government and Iranian-linked Huthi rebels agreed in Sweden on a truce that included a ceasefire in Hodeida, the lifeline port on the Red Sea. But Bachelet said children were currently living in 31 active conflict zones across the country, and witnessing "heavy, war-related violence", including in Taez, Hajjah and Saada. The Norwegian Refugee Council said earlier this week that 348 civilians had been killed in Hajjah and Taez alone since the Stockholm accord was signed. The UN rights chief voiced particular concern at the recent escalation in the northern province of Hajjah, where 22 people -- 12 children and 10 women -- were killed, and another 30, nearly half of them children, were hurt in strikes earlier this month. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- with the logistical and political backing of the United States -- unleashed air power against the Huthi rebels. Rights groups say the death toll could be far higher. Save the Children has estimated that 85,000 Yemenis under five years old may have died of starvation. Bachelet said it was unclear how many children had starved to death in Yemen but warned that "Yemeni civilians, including children, are now more vulnerable and hungrier than at any time since March 2015". She said more than two million children were suffering from acute malnutrition, including 360,000 with severe, acute malnutrition, meaning they are wasting away and risk starvation. Bachelet also voiced deep concern at reports that both the government-backed forces and the Huthis were continuing to enlist children as fighters. "In most cases, the children are between 11 and 17 years old, but there have been consistent reports of the recruitment or use of children as young as eight," she said. By John Irish ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia and France agreed their first military cooperation accord on Tuesday, a deal that includes helping the landlocked nation build a navy, as Paris seeks to boost economic ties in Africa's second-most populous country. On a four-day visit to the Horn of Africa, President Emmanuel Macron is looking to break from France's colonial history on the continent and nurture relationships in a region where it has lagged behind in recent years. Macron wants to leverage a mixture of Paris' soft power in culture and education and its military know-how to give it a foothold at a time when Ethiopia is opening up. "This unprecedented defense cooperation agreement provides a framework... and notably opens the way for France to assist in establishing an Ethiopian naval component," Macron told a news conference alongside Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The accord also provides for air cooperation, joint operations and opportunities for training and equipment purchases. Abiy, who took over as premier in April last year, has presided over major political and economic changes that have included the pardoning of exiled rebel groups and reconciliation with longtime neighboring foe Eritrea. The country disbanded its navy in 1991 after its then-province Eritrea, which is on the Red Sea, seceded following a three-decade war for independence. "We are here in a friendly country where we want to strengthen and build a new page in our common history," Macron said. "Since you became prime minister our vision (of Ethiopia) has profoundly changed." He and Abiy also agreed deals to develop Ethiopia's cultural heritage, including preserving churches and opening an archaeological dig at a 12th century village. Paris will provide 100 million euros to help the country's economic transition. Macron was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen, including the chief executive of telecommunications group Orange, Stephane Richard, who is looking to position the company ahead of Ethiopia's privatisation of the sector. Shipper CMA-CGM and family-owned agri-food group Soufflet are among firms signing deals on Wednesday. A 50-strong French business delegation is due in Addis on Friday. France's history in Ethiopia dates back to the start of the 20th century. Its largest embassy compound in the world by size - 43 hectares (106 acres) - was given to it by Emperor Menelik II in 1907. In 1917 it built the rail link between former colony Djibouti and Addis. But these days its influence and business deals fail to rival the likes of China. "The railway between Djibouti and France is 100 years old and the work that we now want to complete with President Macron is for the long-term. Perhaps in 100 years we'll talk about it again," Abiy said. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Frances Kerry) By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission opposes extending British membership of the European Union to June 30 as Prime Minister Theresa May proposed on Wednesday, according to a document seen by Reuters. In a Wednesday note, Commission officials said EU leaders meeting May at a summit on Thursday faced a "binary" choice of a short Brexit delay from March 29 to May 23, or a long lag to at least the end of this year, with Britain obliged to hold European Parliament elections in May. "Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections," the document said. "This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions." EU states due to receive additional legislative seats after Brexit would need to know by mid- to late-April if they would be denied those seats because Britain was staying. The note also said in any extended membership, Britain should, "in a spirit of loyal cooperation", commit to "constructive abstention" on key issues, such as the EU's long-term budget and filling top EU posts after the May election. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned May in a call on Wednesday against requesting a delay beyond May 23, unless the United Kingdom takes part in the European vote, an EU spokeswoman said. Most EU states vote on Sundays and will vote on May 26 but Britain votes on Thursdays, and so would vote on May 23. LEGAL UNCERTAINTY "President Juncker has formally warned the PM against including a date for the extension that is after the EP elections," a Commission spokeswoman said. "That's why he repeated to her his advice ... that the withdrawal has to be complete before 23 May - otherwise we face institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty. European Parliament elections have to be held (in the UK) if the extension date is after 23 May," she said. Story continues The EU is wary of undermining the legitimacy of the new European Parliament - which convenes on July 2 - should Britain eschew the vote in May but remain a member of the bloc for longer, denying its citizens the right for parliamentary representation picked in a direct vote. Any legal doubts over the new parliament would risk poisoning its next decisions, including on the appointment of a new European Commission later this year or on the EU's budget. "Every decision would be open to legal challenge," the Commission said in its note. The Commission, which may hold a stricter view on the matter than some of the 27 EU national leaders who would make any final decision, also said a long Brexit delay could last until the end of this year or longer and could be cut short if a solution were found earlier. "Under all circumstances... the European Council should envisage a single extension, rather than a series of extensions, which would keep the European Union in limbo for an extended period," it said. It insisted any leniency could be granted to Britain only on condition that it would not seek to use the extra time to renegotiate the stalled divorce deal. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Janet Lawrence) BRUSSELS (AP) Europe's antitrust regulators slapped Google with a big fine Wednesday for the third time in less than two years, ordering the tech giant to pay 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed against Google by the European Union. And it comes at a time when big tech companies around the world are facing increasing regulatory pressure and fierce political attacks over privacy violations, online misinformation, hate speech and other abuses. Still, the latest penalty isn't likely to have much effect on Google's business. It involves practices the company says it already ended, and the sum is just a fraction of the $31 billion in profit that its parent, Alphabet, made last year. Alphabet stock rose 2 percent on Wall Street on Wednesday. The EU ruling applies to a narrow portion of Google's ad business: when Google sells ads next to Google search results on third-party websites. Investigators found that Google inserted exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google's rivals. As a result, advertisers and website owners "had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers," said the EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager. Anyone who suffered from Google's behavior can seek compensation through national courts, she said. EU regulators opened their investigation in 2016 seven years after Microsoft filed a complaint though by that time, Google had already made some changes to give customers more freedom to show competing ads. For that reason, regulators did not require a specific remedy to restore competition. But Vestager said it appeared rivals haven't been able to catch up, and some are "quite small." By contrast, the EU said, Google has more than 70 percent of the European market for selling ads that run alongside search results on third-party websites. Story continues Google did not say whether it would appeal. "We've already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the commission's concerns," Google's senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a statement. "Over the next few months, we'll be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe." E-marketing analyst Bill Fisher noted a "growing wave of sentiment" toward curbing the influence of Big Tech and said that even if the EU's rulings apply only to Google's European operations, Google should "begin to open up, become more transparent and possibly look to alter some of its business practices" worldwide. Earlier this month, a British expert panel recommended the government curb the dominance of giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google. In the U.S., Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up the biggest American tech companies, accusing them of wielding too much power. This week, as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other activists, Facebook agreed to overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads. The EU has led the way in promoting tougher regulation of big tech companies. Besides cracking down on antitrust breaches by Microsoft and Intel, it has enforced stricter data privacy rules that affect Facebook and other social media companies. U.S. regulators haven't been as tough, though the Federal Trade Commission recently created a task force focused on anti-competitive behavior in the industry. Last year, Vestager fined Google a record 4.34 billion euros ($5 billion at the time) for forcing cellphone makers using the company's Android operating system to install Google search and browser apps. In 2017, she penalized Google 2.42 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for manipulating online shopping search results and directing visitors to its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping, at the expense of its rivals. Google, which is appealing those two earlier fines, has said it has since made adjustments to its shopping results and will start asking European users of Android phones if they want to use other search or browser apps. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of technology at https://apnews.com/apf-technology and of social platforms at https://apnews.com/Socialplatforms ___ Chan reported from London. Tali Arbel in New York contributed to this report. By Thomas Escritt and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union governments are exasperated by British dithering over quitting the bloc but have little appetite for pushing it out on schedule next week without a divorce deal, senior figures said on Tuesday. EU ministers in Brussels to prepare a summit with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday voiced frustration after the speaker of parliament threw up a new obstacle for her plan to get her Brexit deal ratified before the March 29 deadline. "Our patience as the European Union is being sorely tested at the moment," German Europe minister Michael Roth told reporters. "Dear friends in London, please deliver. The clock is ticking." But Roth also echoed comments in Berlin by Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's pre-eminent leader, who said she would "fight to the last minute" until midnight (2300 GMT) on March 29 to ensure an orderly exit for the EU's second-ranked economy. He said Germany's main aim was to avoid a no-deal Brexit, which would disrupt business across the continent. However, after two defeats for the Withdrawal Agreement that May negotiated with the EU, and her difficulty in trying to get it through parliament on a third vote even before the speaker ruled that it must be substantially changed, it is not clear how May can avert this without asking fellow leaders for more time. ALL DEPENDS ON MAY Leaders expect to discuss such an extension at the two-day summit starting on Thursday afternoon. But if May has yet to make a concrete proposal on her next move then, then the summit can do little more than outline possible steps -- such as a readiness to give her a couple of months, or maybe longer. "If there is no move from London, the leaders can also decide to wait," said Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders. "It really depends on what May will say at the summit." Diplomats said member states were still discussing options for extension -- possibly only for two to three months, if May persuades them she can clinch a deal at home, or for much longer if May accepts that radical reworking is needed. But these would come with conditions and might not be agreed until next week. Merkel said there was "far too much in flux" to forecast the outcome of the summit, but her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, told reporters in Finland: "If more time is needed, it's always better to do another round than a no-deal Brexit." EU diplomats say it is highly probable that leaders will unanimously support some sort of extension rather than see Britain lurch out of the bloc in 10 days' time -- even though some governments are starting to argue for ending the uncertainty and trusting to arrangements already put in place to mitigate the effects of a sudden, immediate exit. Aides to French President Emmanuel Macron, a powerful voice on the Council alongside Merkel, say the onus is on Britain to say what it would do with more time. "This uncertainty is unacceptable," his EU affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said in Brussels on Tuesday. "Grant an extension? What for? Time is not a solution, it's a method -- if there's an objective and a strategy. And it has to come from London." (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; Editing by Kevin Liffey) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will coordinate their positions on Thursday evening on a number of issues they intend to raise with China at an April 9 summit, including tight cooperation on WTO reform and cyber-security concerns, a senior EU official said. While there will be no written conclusions of the discussion, the leaders of the 28-nation bloc will also discuss how Europe should position itself in the trade conflict between the United States and China, the official said. "We are ready to offer China very comprehensive cooperation in many areas," the official, who is involved in the preparation of the EU leaders' meeting, said. He said EU leaders were ready to conclude in 2020 an "ambitious" EU-China investment agreement and that leaders of EU institutions would directly engage in the talks, to speed up the process which has so far been slow. By mid-year, the EU would like to agree with China on a list of access barriers to priority markets so they can be eliminated and ensure that companies on both sides are not discriminated against. The official said the EU was also ready to conclude as soon as possible an EU-China agreement on the protection of geographical indications and to work closely with Beijing to deeply reform the World Trade Organisation. He said the reforms should include new rules on industrial subsidies, on eliminating forced technological transfers and getting to work the WTO appellate body, now paralyzed by the lack of appointed judges. "We also want to work with China within the G20 framework to tackle the problem of over-capacity in the steel and aluminum sectors and also to prevent the problem of over-capacity in other sectors like in high tech," the official said. "We also want to work with China on new, transparent rules for export credit. We are ready to promote, together with China, connectivity between Europe and Asia, but in a way that ensures fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability," he said. The EU will also want to discuss with China its concerns linked to cyber security, including cyber theft of intellectual property, the official said. "I think this discussion will also give a chance for a collective reflection on how the EU should position itself vis-a-vis China and the U.S.," he added. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Catherine Evans) Transport secretary Chris Grayling visits HS2 construction site in Birmingham. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire/PA Images London will enjoy around 40% of the benefits of the UKs high-speed rail 2 line (HS2), according to an analysis of the projects own figures. A think tank warns today that the 56bn ($74bn) infrastructure project is the antithesis of economic rebalancing, worsening economic inequalities between London and the rest of the UK. The New Economic Foundation (NEF), a left-wing think tank, says there is a risk HS2 merely reduces commuting times to London and expands the zone from which people commute into the capital, rather than benefiting other cities. A new NEF report released today argues that any such enormous, government-backed investment should partially aim to tackle issues like unreliable, overcrowded and slow services on key commuter lines across the rest of the country. It questions the justification for current HS2 plans, which are projected to see 40% of the passenger benefits accrue to London when the capital makes up only 23% of the UK economy, in terms of gross value added (GVA). The report says the north will see less than one-third of the benefits, largely divided between the six cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, York, and Hull. The rail project will only have a marginal impact on commuters between these northern cities, despite them suffering major crunch points during peak hours and enduring years of under-investment compared to the capital. READ MORE: Where to live for the fewest Tube delays The report also sounds the alarm about whether starting construction in London and capping costs could risk the second phase of the construction in the north not being completed. The first phase links London to Birmingham, and the second links the high-speed line to the west and east coast main lines via Crewe, Manchester and Leeds. It warns: If Phase 1 costs overrun, as already seems likely, and no further money is available, what will this mean for Phase 2? At best, there will be an awkward decision awaiting a future government. At worst, the line could stop short, not even connecting core northern cities. Story continues Not only are we building a very expensive new line that addresses few of todays network-wide capacity problems, but we are also missing an opportunity to boost the capacity of the network as a whole by offering passengers more opportunities to come on and off the new network and interconnect. Labour mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/PA Images But a department for transport spokesperson told the Guardian: It is utterly false to say HS2 will increase the north-south divide. HS2 is a massive investment in the north and Midlands that will deliver much-needed capacity and more frequent services on the regions existing rail lines, improving connections and unlocking opportunities for economic growth. The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham also backed the project today, saying HS2 combined with better east-to-west services was vital for the so-called Northern Powerhouse. HS2, linked with Northern Powerhouse Rail, can act as a catalyst for local growth and supporting UK plc. Together, both could support a doubling of the economic output of Greater Manchester to around 132bn by 2050, contributing at least 40,000 new jobs and 13,000 new homes to the local economy. The North needs to come to the front of the queue for transport investment and HS2 would be the catalyst for making that happen over the coming decades. By Nathan Layne (Reuters) - Preet Bharara, the ex-U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, has a piece of unsolicited advice for President Donald Trump: don't meddle with investigations being pursued by his former office, especially one involving the Trump business or a family member. Any such attempt, Bharara predicted, would likely prompt Democrats in Congress to start the impeachment process. Bharara, who was fired as head of the office soon after Trump became president, wrote a book, "Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law," that goes on sale Tuesday. A recurring theme in the book is the reputation of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office formally known as the Southern District of New York for political neutrality and independence. The office's willingness to pursue high-profile cases was confirmed with its prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance crimes which prosecutors say he carried out at the direction of Trump. The office's work is considered by many legal experts to be a bigger threat to Trump than Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, which is believed to be nearing its conclusion. Reuters asked Bharara what would happen if Trump ordered the Southern District to halt a probe, a prospect that may not be far-fetched given that Trump last year asked then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if Geoffrey Berman, Bharara's Trump-appointed successor, could be tapped to oversee the Cohen investigation, according to the New York Times. Berman is recused from the matter for undisclosed reasons. Bharara said if he were still U.S. attorney and received such an order he would resign and buy "a one-way ticket for the shuttle to D.C." to testify before a congressional committee. "And then, I think you set the timer on impeachment," he said. "So I don't think it would be a wise thing to do." Trump has repeatedly criticized Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt" pushed by Democrats who want to impeach him. He has called Cohen a "rat," accusing him of lying to prosecutors to try and reduce his sentence of three years in prison due to start in May Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, did not respond to requests for comment. Unlike the special counsel, the Southern District has wide latitude to pursue cases with some connection to New York. In addition to Cohen, it is looking at Trump's inaugural committee and the business practices at Trump's real estate firm. Bharara's book is not about Trump but he acknowledges the president "infuses the book like he infuses everyone's life at the moment" even if he is not cited frequently by name. The book instead centers on a variety of both high-profile and lesser known cases to illustrate his views on how the justice system should work and when it falls short. He addressed a frequent criticism of his tenure - that his and other agencies failed to prosecute bankers for the financial crisis. He wrote that holding people accountable was difficult because "much of what happened in 2008 was not the product of a few people with clear, provable intent." He pushed back at the notion that politics, bias or other considerations blunted his response to the crisis, noting that the Southern District prosecuted hedge fund executives and New York politicians from both major parties during his time there. "I'm more than willing to accept credible criticism on behalf of the law enforcement community, but the idea that self-interest or politics or fear was a factor is a silly criticism, at least at SDNY," he wrote. (Reporting by Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell) By Cindy Silviana, Jamie Freed and Tim Hepher JAKARTA/SINGAPORE/PARIS (Reuters) - The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX scrambled through a handbook to understand why the jet was lurching downwards in the final minutes before it hit the water killing all 189 people on board, three people with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder contents said. The investigation into the crash last October has taken on new relevance as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the model last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors. Following the second fatal accident, U.S. authorities are reviewing whether enough was done to ensure the plane was safe to fly, while attention has also focused on the training of the Lion Air crew and whether aeroplane manuals are clear enough. It is the first time the voice recorder contents from the Lion Air flight have been made public. The three sources discussed them on condition of anonymity. Reuters did not have access to the recording or transcript. A Lion Air spokesman said all data and information had been given to investigators and declined to comment further. "FLIGHT CONTROL PROBLEM" The captain was at the controls of Lion Air flight JT610 when the nearly new jet took off from Jakarta, and the first officer was handling the radio, according to a preliminary report issued in November. Just two minutes into the flight, the first officer reported a "flight control problem" to air traffic control and said the pilots intended to maintain an altitude of 5,000 feet, the November report said. The first officer did not specify the problem, but one source said airspeed was mentioned on the cockpit voice recording, and a second source said an indicator showed a problem on the captain's display but not the first officer's. The captain asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source said. For the next nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response, the report showed. A stall is when the airflow over a plane's wings is too weak to generate lift and keep it flying. The captain fought to climb, but the computer, still incorrectly sensing a stall, continued to push the nose down using the plane's trim system. Normally, trim adjusts an aircraft's control surfaces to ensure it flies straight and level. "They didn't seem to know the trim was moving down," the third source said. "They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about." Boeing Co declined to comment on Wednesday because the investigation was ongoing. REGULATORY SCRUTINY The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector-general now plans to audit the FAA's certification of the Boeing 737 MAX, while European and Canadian regulators say they want to make up their own minds whether a promised software upgrade is adequate. The manufacturer has said that to handle the situation there is a documented procedure that must be memorized. A different crew on the same plane the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists, according to the November report. But they did not pass on all of the information about the problems they encountered to the next crew, the report said. The pilots of JT610 remained calm for most of the flight, the three sources said. Near the end, the captain asked the first officer to fly while he checked the manual for a solution. About one minute before the plane disappeared from radar, the captain asked air traffic control to clear other traffic below 3,000 feet and requested an altitude of "five thou", or 5,000 feet, which was approved, the preliminary report said. As the 31-year-old captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, the 41-year-old first officer was unable to control the plane, two of the sources said. The flight data recorder shows the final control column inputs from the first officer were weaker than the ones made earlier by the captain. "It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75," the third source said. "So you panic. It is a time-out condition." The Indian-born captain was silent at the end, all three sources said, while the Indonesian first officer said "Allahu Akbar", or "God is greatest", a common Arabic phrase in the majority-Muslim country that can be used to express excitement, shock, praise or distress. The plane then hit the water, killing everyone on board. CHANGES MADE French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash that killed 157 people showed "clear similarities" to the Lion Air disaster. Since the Lion Air crash, Boeing has been pursuing a software upgrade to change how much authority is given to the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, a new anti-stall system developed for the 737 MAX. Some U.S. pilots have complained they were unaware of the new system, which is mentioned in the index of the aircraft's full manual but not the text, according to a version seen by Reuters. Airlines have some discretion to customize the manuals. The cause of the Lion Air crash has not been determined, but the preliminary report mentioned the Boeing system, a faulty, recently replaced sensor and the airline's maintenance and training. On the same aircraft the evening before the crash, a captain at Lion Air's full-service sister carrier, Batik Air, was riding along in the cockpit and solved the similar flight control problems, two of the sources said. His presence on that flight, first reported by Bloomberg, was not disclosed in the preliminary report. The report also did not include data from the cockpit voice recorder, which was not recovered from the ocean floor until January. Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesian investigation agency KNKT, said last week the report could be released in July or August as authorities attempted to speed up the inquiry in the wake of the Ethiopian crash. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the cockpit voice recorder contents, saying they had not been made public. (Reporting by Cindy Silviana in Jakarta, Jamie Freed in Singapore and Tim Hepher in Paris; writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Gerry Doyle/Keith Weir) By Roslan Khasawneh, Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Elumami SINGAPORE/BAGHDAD/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - At least two tankers have ferried Iranian fuel oil to Asia in recent months despite U.S. sanctions against such shipments, according to a Reuters analysis of ship-tracking data and port information, as well as interviews with brokers and traders. The shipments were loaded onto tankers with documents showing the fuel oil was Iraqi. But three Iraqi oil industry sources and Prakash Vakkayil, a manager at United Arab Emirates (UAE) shipping services firm Yacht International Co, said the papers were forged. The people said they did not know who forged the documents, nor when. The transfers show at least some Iranian fuel oil is being traded despite the reimposition of sanctions in November 2018, as Washington seeks to pressure Iran into abandoning nuclear and missile programs. They also show how some traders have revived tactics that were used to skirt sanctions against Iran between 2012 and 2016. (https://reut.rs/2NF1fTK) "Some buyers...will want Iranian oil regardless of U.S. strategic objectives to deny Tehran oil revenue, and Iran will find a way to keep some volumes flowing," said Peter Kiernan, lead energy analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. While the United States has granted eight countries temporary waivers allowing limited purchases of Iranian crude oil, these exemptions do not cover products refined from crude, including fuel oil, mainly used to power the engines of large ships. NO RECORD AT BASRA Documents forwarded to Reuters by ship owners say a 300,000 tonne-supertanker, the Grace 1, took on fuel oil at Basra, Iraq, between Dec. 10 and 12, 2018. But Basra port loading schedules reviewed by Reuters do not list the Grace 1 as being in port during those dates. One Iraqi industry source with knowledge of the port's operations confirmed there were no records of the Grace 1 at Basra during this period. Reuters examined data from four ship-tracking information providers - Refinitiv, Kpler, IHS Markit and Vessel Finder - to locate the Grace 1 during that time. All four showed that the Grace 1 had its Automatic Identification System (AIS), or transponder, switched off between Nov. 30 and Dec. 14, 2018, meaning its location could not be tracked. Story continues The Grace 1 then re-appeared in waters near Iran's port of Bandar Assaluyeh, fully loaded, data showed. The cargo was transferred onto two smaller ships in UAE waters in January, from where one ship delivered fuel oil to Singapore in February. Shipping documents showed about 284,000 tonnes of fuel oil were transferred in the cargoes tracked by Reuters, worth about $120 million at current prices. Officials at Iran's oil ministry declined to comment. Singapore customs did not respond to requests for comment. The Grace 1, a Panamanian-flagged tanker, is managed by Singapore-based shipping services firm IShips Management Pte Ltd, according to data. IShips did not respond to several requests for comment via email or phone. A Reuters reporter visited the office listed on IShips' website but was told by the current tenant that the company had moved out two years earlier. (MAP: Grace 1 tanker movement between Iraq, Iran and the UAE - https://tmsnrt.rs/2FkRjMK) SHIP-TO-SHIP TRANSFERS The ship-tracking data analyzed by Reuters showed the Grace 1 emerged from the period when it did not transmit its location almost 500 kilometers south of Iraq. It was close to the Iranian coast with its draught - how deep a vessel sits in water - near maximum, indicating its cargo tanks were filled. The Grace 1 transferred its cargo to two smaller tankers between Jan. 16 and 22 in waters offshore Fujairah in the UAE, data showed. One of those vessels, the 130,000 tonne-capacity Kriti Island, offloaded fuel oil into a storage terminal in Singapore around Feb. 5 to 7. Reuters was unable to determine who purchased the fuel oil for storage in Singapore. The Kriti Island is managed by Greece's Avin International SA. The tanker was chartered by Singapore-based Blutide Pte Ltd for its voyage to Singapore, Avin International's Chief Executive Officer George Mylonas told Reuters. Mylonas confirmed the Kriti Island took on fuel oil from the Grace 1. There is no indication that Avin International knowingly shipped Iranian fuel oil. Mylonas said his firm had conducted all necessary due diligence to ensure the cargo's legitimate origin. CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN Mylonas emailed Reuters a copy of a Certificate of Origin (COO) that he said was provided by the charterers referring to Blutide - showing the Grace 1 loaded fuel oil at Basra on Dec. 10 and 12, 2018. "The Certificate of Origin and all the information obtained did not reveal any connection with Iran, let alone that the cargo of fuel oil originated" from there, Mylonas wrote. Mylonas said the Grace 1's owners, managers, shippers, receivers and charterers were screened by Avin International. "There were not circumstances that would make the COO of dubious origin," he said via email. He said he had been told by the charterers that the Grace 1 only stopped in waters off Iran in late December and early January for "repairs of damaged diesel generators" before sailing to Fujairah. The document provided by Mylonas says Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO certified the Grace 1 in December loaded a total of 284,261 tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil. Reuters shared the document with a SOMO official in Iraq who said it was "faked" and "completely wrong". The official declined to be identified by name, citing the marketer's communications policy. Two other Iraqi oil industry sources with direct knowledge of Basra port and oil industry operations also said the documentation was forged. The two sources said the document bore the signature of a manager who was not working at Basra port on the stated dates. The document also bears contradictory dates: It indicates a loading period of Dec. 10 and 12, 2018 but a sign-off date for the transaction of Jan. 12, 2018. 'CONSIDER TO BE FORGED' Data showed the second tanker into which the Grace 1 transferred cargo was the Marshal Z, also a 130,000-tonne vessel. It was bound for Singapore in the first half of February but changed course on Feb. 15, parking off western Malaysia. Reuters was unable to determine who owns the Marshal Z, nor who chartered it. Around Feb. 25, the Marshal Z transferred its cargo to another vessel called the Libya, owned and managed by Tripoli-based General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC). A GNMTC spokesman said the Libya was chartered by Blutide, the same Singapore firm that chartered the Kriti Island. Blutide registered as a company in Singapore on May 14, 2018. Its sole listed shareholder and only director, Singaporean Basheer Sayeed, said by telephone on Feb. 7 he was retired and not in a position to comment on the company's activity. The Libya's owner GNMTC "was not aware, at any stage that the cargo is linked in any way to Iran," the company's spokesman said via email. GNMTC provided Reuters with a copy of a COO that it said was issued by shipping services company Yacht International, based in Fujairah, showing the Marshal Z loaded Iraqi-origin fuel oil during a ship-to-ship transfer in UAE waters on Jan. 23. However, Yacht International shipping manager Prakash Vakkayil said in an email his firm did not issue the certificate and "considers it to be forged". The GNMTC spokesman did not respond to follow-up questions from Reuters. As of March 20, data showed the Libya was located alongside the Marshal Z offshore western Malaysia, the position vessels typically adopt for ship-to-ship transfers. Reuters could not immediately determine whether the fuel oil cargo the Libya had been carrying was still aboard the ship. (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh in SINGAPORE, Ahmed Rasheed in BAGHDAD and Ahmed Elumami in TRIPOLI; Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in LONDON and Parisa Hafezi in DUBAI; Editing by Henning Gloystein, Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell) The FBI has joined the widening criminal probe into how Boeing's 737 Max 8 jets were deemed as safe in the months before two of them crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, leading to a worldwide grounding of the vaunted planes amid scrutiny of U.S. certification standards. A person familiar with the inquiry told USA TODAY on Wednesday that the FBI is assisting federal transportation authorities in their investigation into the jet's certification process, which has come under criticism for possible cozy relationships between Boeing and FAA inspectors. An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 taxis out for departure from Miami International Airport in February 2019. The two crashes killed more than 300 people since October. Transportation Department officials are leading the investigation into the Federal Aviation Administration approval of the passenger jet, while the FBI is providing needed resources, said the person, who is not authorized to comment publicly. The FBIs role in the inquiry was first reported by the Seattle Times. It's the latest revelation in the Boeing case, with a federal grand jury also looking into safety approvals for the planes and a key congressional panel scheduled next Wednesday to delve into the Max 8 and aviation safety in general. In light of the recent tragedy in Ethiopia and the subsequent grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, this hearing will examine challenges to the state of commercial aviation safety, including any specific concerns highlighted by recent accidents, according to a statement from the committee, to be chaired by Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. The committee will hear from a panel of government witnesses on ways to improve the safety of the commercial air transportation system News of the FBI's involvement also comes after Wednesday's decision by Europe and Canada to break with U.S. air-safety regulators. The Europeans and Canadians vow to conduct their own reviews of Boeings changes to a key flight-control system, not to simply take the Federal Aviation Administrations word that the alterations are safe. Story continues Those reviews scramble an ambitious schedule set by Boeing and could undercut the FAAs reputation around the world. It could also mean a likely delay in the resumption of Max 8 flights around the globe. Hundreds of Max 8s are grounded and production of more than 4,000 others have been halted amid safety concerns. Boeing hopes by Monday to finish its update to critical software that can automatically point the nose of the plane sharply downward in some circumstances to avoid an aerodynamic stall, according to two people briefed on FAA presentations to congressional committees. The FAA expects to certify Boeings modifications and plans for pilot training in April or May, one of the people told the Associated Press. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the briefings. But there are doubts about meeting that timetable. Air Canada plans to remove the Boeing 737 Max from its schedule at least through July 1 and suspend some routes that it flew with the plane before it was grounded around the world last week. American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, which are slightly less dependent on the Max than Air Canada, are juggling their fleets to fill in for grounded planes, but have still canceled some flights. By international agreement, planes must be certified in the country where they are built. Regulators around the world have almost always accepted that countrys decision. As a result, European airlines have flown Boeing jets with little independent review by the European Aviation Safety Agency, and U.S. airlines operate Airbus jets without a separate, lengthy certification process by the FAA. That practice is being frayed, however, in the face of growing questions about the FAAs certification of the Max. Critics question whether the FAA relied too much on Boeing to vouch for critical safety matters and whether it understood the significance of a new automated flight-control system on the Max. CONTRIBUTING: Ledyard King, USA TODAY; Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI joins criminal probe into Boeing 737 Max 8 safety certification in wake of crashes A radical pro-abortion advocacy group, Aid Access, has taken the practice of telemedicine to a new level, prescribing the medical-abortion drug RU-486 via an Internet connection to an overseas doctor, who then directs the shipment of the two-pill induced-abortion drug to women in America and elsewhere. But the practice is totally illegal in the United States. Now, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has moved to shut down Aid Accesss operations here. After reviewing Aid Accesss website, the agency issued a warning letter to the group this past Tuesday, directing it to immediately cease introducing misbranded and unapproved new drugs into the market in violation of federal law. Aid Accesss website declares: Aid Access supports women who are not able to access local services. If you are healthy and less than 9 weeks pregnant, you can do the online consultation. The abortion pills mifepristone and misprostol will be delivered to you by mail. For Aid Access, this is a matter of justice: Aid Access supports women who cannot otherwise access an abortion and protects their human rights. For the FDA, on the other hand, its a matter of womens health and safety. The knockoff versions of the RU-486 drug from overseas that Aid Access sends women have not been approved as safe and effective, as all drugs sold in the U.S. must be. In its letter to Aid Access, FDA warned: The sale of misbranded and unapproved new drugs poses an inherent risk to consumers who purchase those products. . . . Drugs that have circumvented regulatory safeguards may be contaminated; counterfeit, contain varying amounts of active ingredients, or contain different ingredients altogether. . . . Sourcing drugs from outside of the legitimate U.S. drug supply chain can pose serious risks to patients who may receive medications that are adulterated and are not shipped and/or stored properly. The FDA has approved the RU-486 drug Mifeprex for abortions up to ten weeks gestation. But Aid Accesss substitution of an unapproved abortion drug, the agency underscored, poses significant health risks to U.S. consumers because the overseas drug is not subject to the special black box warning that cautions women of the abortion drugs risk of serious or even life-threatening adverse effects, including serious and sometimes fatal infections and prolonged heavy bleeding. Story continues Nor, unlike Mifreprex, is Aid Accesss drug subject to the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy program, which seeks to mitigate the risk of serious complications by requiring provider certification for prescribing and dispensing Mifeprex and informing patients about Mifeprexs serious risks. For this reason, the agency added, Mifeprex is not sold through retail pharmacies or over the internet. The FDA also may have considered Aid Accesss apparently lackadaisical approach to the very real threat of a dangerous ectopic pregnancy, which affects one or two in a hundred pregnancies. You can make sure that your pregnancy is inside the womb by having an ultrasound, Aid Accesss website suggests. If you use Mifepristone and Misoprostol to end a pregnancy and you do not do an ultrasound first, there is always a chance that you could have an undetected ectopic pregnancy. But Aid Access doesnt require an ultrasound before the abortion, as the standard of medical care dictates. The FDA accordingly warned Aid Access that since its overseas drug is intended for a condition that is not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by a layperson, adequate directions cannot be written such that a layperson can use the product safely for its intended use. And in spite of Aid Accesss recognition that no woman should have a drug-induced abortion unless she is within 60 minutes of an emergency facility, the group has no procedures in place to ensure that its customers are within that range of access to emergency care for the approximately one in ten cases that require surgical completion of an abortion begun by drugs. The FDA requires provider certification to ensure the prescriber has the ability to assess the gestational age of the pregnancy and diagnose ectopic pregnancies, and provide for surgical intervention in cases of incomplete abortion or severe bleeding all risks that Aid Access seems to shrug off. The career bureaucrats at the FDA expanded the use of RU-486 at the abortion industrys behest just two years ago, so theyre certainly not catering to pro-life advocates here. In fact, the FDAs website cautions women, You should not buy Mifeprex over the Internet because you will bypass important safeguards designed to protect your health (and the health of others). The agencys warning letter concludes by threatening regulatory action, including seizure or injunction, without further notice. Given that, one might expect Aid Access to reconsider its position, if not its entire raison detre. The FDA has given Aid Access 15 days to respond, but dont hold your breath. Pro-abortion activist groups such as Aid Access are rarely dissuaded from their extreme, dangerous positions by facts, even those documenting a real threat. Continued bluster, misinformation, and probable litigation are to be expected, all at a risk to womens lives. Lets hope the FDA makes good on its threat soon and moves to shut down Aid Accesss reckless advocacy. Congress, also, should move quickly to exercise appropriate oversight and ensure that the FDA and the Postal Service do their jobs to protect Americans from shoddy oversees drug suppliers. More from National Review A Syrian refugee and his son who fled the chaos of their homeland only to meet tragedy in New Zealand were buried on Wednesday in the first funerals of those killed in the mosque massacres. Hundreds of mostly Muslim mourners gathered at a cemetery in the southern city of Christchurch to lay to rest Khalid Mustafa and his 15-year-old son Hamza, who were among 50 people slaughtered at two mosques by an Australian white supremacist. The pair had fled to New Zealand seeking sanctuary from the Syrian maelstrom but died in last Friday's hail of bullets, a bitter irony that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called "gutting". "I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that a family came here for safety and for refuge, and they should have been safe here," Ardern said at a press conference in Christchurch after the funeral. Khalid, 44, and Hamza were shot dead at the Al Noor Mosque, the first site to be attacked, but not before Hamza called his mother in a panic. "After that I heard shooting and he screamed and after that I didn't hear him," she told New Zealand media this week. - Powerful scenes - Their younger son Zaid, 13, was also wounded in the attack and attended the funeral in a wheelchair. In a powerful scene, he held his hands aloft as he prayed alongside rows of mourners. "I shouldn't be standing in front of you. I should be lying beside you," Zaid said at the graves of his brother and father, according to Jamil El-Biza, who travelled from Australia for the funerals. Also attending was Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee who confronted the gunman at Linwood Mosque. He was embraced by many mourners. A total of six burials took place on Wednesday and more were expected in the days ahead after police on Tuesday began releasing victims' remains for burial. The scale of the attack has caused global revulsion, including alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant's use of social media to livestream the carnage in real-time. Story continues - 'United front' - Ardern, who has vowed to tighten New Zealand's lax gun ownership laws, said Wednesday the horrific events in Christchurch showed the need for a global approach to confront the dangers posed by extremists' use of social media. "There is an argument there to be made for us to take a united front on what is a global issue," she said. "This is not just an issue for New Zealand, the fact that social media platforms have been used to spread violence (and) material that incites violence." New Zealand on Wednesday charged a second person with sharing the gruesome livestream video of the deadly attack. Philip Arps, 44, who was arrested the day before, was charged with two counts of distributing objectionable material under the Films Act and was remanded in custody after appearing in Christchurch District Court. A teenager appeared in court earlier this week on the same charge. - Turkey tension - The 28-year-old gunman was arrested after the shootings and is expected to spend his life in prison as New Zealand has no death penalty. In a rambling "manifesto", Tarrant had said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke religious conflict between Islam and the West. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday condemned what he called "highly offensive" comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warning that he would consider "all options" in reviewing bilateral relations. Erdogan had said the attack was part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, a blood-drenched World War I battle. - 'We're together in this' - In the latest display of cross cultural solidarity in New Zealand, as Muslims prayed and prostrated before Al Noor mosque dozens of locals silently stood behind them, their arms interlinked. Moments earlier hundreds of people thumped their chests, stomped their feet and stuck out their tongues for a haka performance, their cries echoing across the park. Nuha Asad, who lost her husband Ali Elmadani in the massacre, watched from the sidelines, visibly moved. "The New Zealand community really cares for us and we're really together in this," she told AFP. "It made us a little happier in the grief". The traditional haka is used in Maori culture in a variety of ways -- to intimidate rivals, to celebrate weddings but also to mourn, melding both hostility and beauty into a powerful outpouring of emotion. - 'Completely changed' - The start of funerals should ease pressure from Muslim families, many of whom have travelled long distances to claim loved ones' remains and complained that police investigations have delayed the return of bodies and prevented the speedy burials prescribed under Islam. New Zealand authorities are yet to release an official list of the dead, making it difficult to assess the full histories of victims. But few are likely to present a narrative as poignant and tragic as the Mustafa family. The New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz this week ran a picture of Hamza smiling on a boat as he showed off a freshly caught fish. His mother said that after their phone connection was cut during the shootings, she tried repeatedly to reach him again. "After that someone picked up the phone and told me your son can't breathe, I think he's dead," the website said quoted her saying. Salwa described her son and husband as both "very caring" people, adding that "our lives have completely changed." "God will punish him (the gunman), my son and my husband are in heaven now and we're going after them, we're going to follow them to the heavens." With all eyes trained on Tesla(TSLA) last Thursday awaiting its highly anticipated unveil of its Model Y crossover, Ford(F) quietly teased the prospect of an electric version of its iconic Mustang "Pony car." With its big V-8 engine and retro-tinged design, the Shelby GT500 is a throwback to another era, the most powerful muscle car Ford has ever produced, borrowing a name first introduced decades ago. But the Shelby is just one of several versions of the Mustang coupe that Ford is working on and the one the automaker teased on social media last week hints at a very different future. "Hold your horses," Ford said in a tweet not so coincidentally released at 11:02 p.m. ET, minutes after Tesla's scheduled webcast unveiling of its newest entry, the Model Y battery-electric sport utility vehicle. The post, which featured a blue version of the classic Mustang logo on a black background, was a clear reference to a terse announcement Ford made 14 months earlier when at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit it said it was working on a project codenamed Mach 1. Ford declined to comment on the tweet, but an executive who asked not to be named because the plans aren't public yet said they timed it with the Tesla launch to hint at big things coming in their own electric car program in the coming months. Indeed it does have some big things in the works. President of Global Operations Joe Hinrichs told CNBC that the company is moving quickly toward producing what it previously described as a "Mustang-inspired" all-electric SUV that will be in showrooms next year, about the same time Tesla begins to deliver the first Model Y battery SUV. Ford was one of the first automakers to start electrifying its lineup, with a mix of hybrids, plug-ins and all-electric vehicles. But the original wave of battery-based models had mixed success. The plug-in and pure battery-electric vehicles, in particular, generated relatively modest demand, critics pointing to their limited range and designs that sacrificed cargo and passenger space to make room for their batteries. Story continues The Mustang-based SUV will mark a major shift for Ford, the automaker migrating to the same sort of skateboard-like platform that Tesla, General Motors(GM) and several other manufacturers have adopted. This approach places the batteries, motors and other key drivetrain components below the load floor. That not only lowers a vehicle's center of gravity and enhances handling, but it means the engine compartment can be radically shrunk in size, increasing space for passengers and cargo. The production version of the Mach 1 will be a crossover, rather than a coupe. The decision to go with a sport utility vehicle body, instead of another battery-powered sedan, such as the current Ford Focus Electric, reflects the broader shift in the market from sedans and coupes to SUVs and CUVs. Ford is by no means alone. The all-electric Jaguar I-Pace is one of the brand's three utility vehicles. The upcoming battery-electric Audi and Mercedes-Benz models will also be SUVs. Critically, Ford's upcoming battery-electric vehicle, or BEV, will be its first long-range model. But the fact that it's being so closely linked to the Mustang reveals that the automaker will be putting as much emphasis on performance as it will on the vehicle's environmental benefits. "Selling electrification on just fuel efficiency is not going to pay out when gas is going for $2.50 a gallon," Ford Executive Vice President Hau Thai-Tang said during a briefing at Detroit's Cobo Center convention facility last year. While the first generation of battery cars tended to be slow and often ponderous when it comes to driving dynamics, manufacturers have begun putting more of a premium on performance. That's because electric motors, given enough current, produce gobs of instant, wheel-spinning torque. The Tesla Model S with optional Ludicrous Mode can hit 60 mph in a mere 2.3 seconds and the planned performance version of the Model Y will get there in just 3.5 seconds about 40 percent faster than a similarly sized Porsche Macan SUV. Ford is widely expected to target similar numbers. After attempting to take an early lead in electrification, Ford is now something of an also-ran. But it hopes to make up for lost time. "Electrification is a really important part of our future," Hinrichs told CNBC, and the automaker has announced plans to invest about $11 billion in battery-based propulsion. Part of that will go to the creation of a new engineering complex in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood that will also serve as headquarters for its autonomous vehicle efforts. Ford has been vague about its long-term electrification plans, beyond saying that the Mach 1 project will just be the first of many BEVs. There's a wide disparity within the industry, each automaker carving out a unique strategy. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, has said the cross-town rival is on a "path" to an all-electric future. While Ford will offer all-electric versions of models as diverse as the Mach 1 and even its F-Series pickup, it plans to continue offering a mix of other powertrain options. That includes fuel-stingy turbocharged Ecoboost engines, ultra-high-performance engines in models like the Shelby GT500, and conventional and plug-in hybrids. The Mustang, in fact, will cover pretty much all those bases. A hybrid model is expected to debut about the same time as the Mach 1. While that model could use the technology simply as a way to boost mileage, much as Ford has done with other models, company executives hint the Mustang Hybrid also will put a premium on performance. That's a path a number of automakers are taking, including high-line brands like Aston Martin which showed off a hybrid-supercar, the AM RB 003, at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month. Ferrari is also developing high-performance hybrids and Daimler(DAI-DE)'s Mercedes-AMG unit is moving in a similar direction. "Getting the timing right" is one of the critical challenges for Ford as it prepares to launch its second-wave electrification strategy, said Hinrichs. So is coming up with the right sort of product, and Ford is betting that using the Mustang as its foundation will help it plug into the emerging market. Correction: Joe Hinrichs is Ford's president of global operations. An earlier version misstated his title. Fox News' newest pundit is one CNN rejected after she colluded with Hillary Clinton's campaign before campaign events in 2016. Fox said on Monday that it has hired Donna Brazile, the former interim Democratic National Committee chair and a long-time CNN commentator before she became embroiled in controversy in 2016. CNN forced Ms Brazile to resign as an on-air contributor in October 2016 after emails revealed that she had tipped off Ms Clinton's aides about questions likely to be asked by CNN moderators during the debates and town hall meetings carried by CNN. At the time, Ms Brazile was highly supportive of Ms Clinton's candidacy. The network said the leaking of the question was a break of its ethics and undermined the impartiality of its campaign coverage. Fox said Ms Brazile would comment on the upcoming presidential campaign on Fox News and Fox Business Network. In announcing Ms Brazile's hiring, it made no mention of the issues surrounding her in 2016. The DNC, which Ms Brazile led on an interim basis during 2016, decided earlier this month to exclude Fox News from televising any of its candidate events. The organisation's chair, Tom Perez, said Fox was too closely aligned with President Donald Trump, leading him to conclude the network could not host "a fair and neutral debate for our candidates." In a statement released on Monday, Ms Brazile said: "I know I'm going to get criticised from my friends in the progressive movement for being on Fox News. My response is that, if we've learned anything from the 2016 election, it is that we can't have a country where we don't talk to those who disagree with our political views. There's an audience on Fox News that doesn't hear enough from Democrats. We have to engage that audience and show Americans of every stripe what we stand for rather than retreat into our 'safe spaces' where we simply agree with each other." Story continues People at Fox said Ms Brazile would have no role in commenting on any debates or town hall meetings it covers, though Fox will probably have very few of those given the DNC's decision to remove it from consideration in televising Democratic events. Ms Brazile's role in channelling questions to Ms Clinton came to light in emails released by WikiLeaks during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. The emails came from a hack of the DNC's servers by Russian operatives. CNN said at the time that it was "completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about (Ms Brazile's) interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor." Ms Brazile apparently got her information from conversations with TV One host Roland Martin, who was a guest moderator for one of the CNN debates. She said she learned that one of the questions during a televised town hall meeting in March of that year would involve the death penalty. Another question before a debate with Ms Clinton's chief Democratic primary challenger, senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, in Flint, Michigan, concerned the city's ongoing water crisis, although it seems questionable that such a tip was helpful, given that the issue was bound to come up considering the event's location. Ms Brazile said at the time that she offered her resignation when the WikiLeaks emails surfaced showing her telling a senior Clinton adviser, "From time to time, I get the questions in advance." Ms Brazile was scheduled to make her first appearance on Fox on Monday afternoon. The Washington Post Seoul (AFP) - A rare earthquake in South Korea was triggered by the country's first experimental geothermal power plant, a team of government-commissioned experts said Wednesday. The southeastern port city of Pohang was rattled by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake in November 2017 -- the second-most powerful tremor ever in the normally seismically stable South. Dozens of people were injured and more than 1,500 left homeless -- while a nationwide college entrance exam was postponed in an unprecedented move as authorities scrambled with recovery efforts. A year-long government-commissioned study pointed to the geothermal power plant as the cause. The plant works by injecting high-pressure water deep underground to tap heat from the Earth's crust, but the process had produced micro-sized seismic activity as a result, said Lee Kang-kun, who led the research. "And as time passed, this triggered the earthquake in Pohang," he added. "We concluded that the Pohang earthquake was a 'triggered quake'. It wasn't a natural earthquake." Pohang residents filed a lawsuit against the government after the quake, and following the assessment Seoul expressed its "deep regret". The geothermal plant -- which was temporarily suspended during the study -- will be "permanently shuttered", the trade, industry and energy ministry said in a statement. It cost around 80 billion won ($71 million) to build and test operations began in 2016. Unlike neighbouring Japan, the Korean peninsula rarely experiences significant quakes but seismic activity is closely monitored as a spike can be the first indication that North Korea has staged a nuclear test. The country's most powerful quake to date was a 5.8-magnitude tremor that struck Gyeongju, also in the southeast, in September 2016. By Andreas Rinke BERLIN (Reuters) - German conservative leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Wednesday that suspending Hungary's Fidesz party from the EU's centre-right political group would be a good option until trust was rebuilt with Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The European People's Party (EPP) meet on Wednesday to decide what action to take against Orban's Fidesz after a row between the mainstream group which accuses the populist, anti-immigrant Orban of flouting the rule of law. Some delegates want to exclude Fidesz altogether. "As long as Fidesz does not fully restore trust there cannot be normal full membership," Kramp-Karrenbauer, a confidante of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told Reuters on Wednesday. A membership "freeze" would be an option, the leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) said. Fidesz angered the EPP by distributing posters of European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker depicted as a puppet manipulated by billionaire George Soros into backing uncontrolled immigration into Hungary. Orban has also campaigned against the private Central European University in Budapest founded by Soros. Earlier this month, Orban apologised for offensive language but some EPP leaders said was not enough. Kramp-Karrenbauer said Orban had taken some first steps to show that it made sense to continue a dialogue. "But it is not enough to put doubts to rest about whether Fidesz shares an understanding of the common values of the EPP that would enable a future cooperation based on trust," she said. Juncker told German radio on Wednesday that he advised the centre-right EPP bloc to kick out Fidesz. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Thomas Seythal and Madeline Chambers; Editing by Michelle Martin) Adding milk to your tea or coffee lowers cancer risk. [Photo: Getty] Adding milk to your tea or coffee could help to protect you from throat cancer. Thats according to research conducted by scientists from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, who have discovered a link between drinking boiling hot water and the development of cancer of the oesophagus. The study of over 500,000 people found those who drink tea at 60C or more were almost twice as likely to develop the condition. According to the research, this is because scalding water damages the lining of the mouth and throat, increasing the risk of cancer. Whats more, those who drink their hot drinks at 75C are as much as 2.4 times more likely to develop the cancer, the research found. However, adding cold or warm milk will reduce the temperature, making them safer to drink. READ MORE: The reason youre either team coffee or team tea Dr. Farhad Islami, the studys lead oncologist, alternatively recommends hot drink lovers wait until their drinks cool before they drink them. Traditionally, in Iran where the study was conducted and countries such as China, Turkey and South America, tea is often drunk without milk and at a hotter temperature of 70C. READ MORE: Mum shocked after toddler given tea However, this is less often the case in the UK, where tea is typically served below 60C. Georgina Hill, a health information officer at Cancer Research UK commented on the study, saying: This study adds to the evidence that having drinks hotter than 60C may increase the risk of oesophageal (food pipe) cancer, but most people in the UK dont drink their tea at such high temperatures. As long youre letting your tea cool down a bit before you drink it, or adding cold milk, youre unlikely to be raising your cancer risk and not smoking, keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol will do much more to stack the odds in your favour. What temperature should you drink tea and coffee at? The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRAC), which is part of the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends people drink tea at a temperature of 65 degrees or less, to avoid health risks. Story continues As for the optimum temperature to enjoy teas flavour, researchers at the University of Northumbria found 60 degrees is best but anywhere above 45 degrees is fine to enjoy the sensory experience. Meanwhile, coffee experts recommend the drink should be enjoyed at between 48C and 60C. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google will prompt Android users to choose their preferred browsers and search apps, a senior Google executive said on Tuesday, as the company seeks to allay EU antitrust concerns and ward off fresh sanctions. The European Commission last year handed Google a record 4.34 billion euro ($4.9 billion) fine for using the market power of its mobile software to block rivals in areas such as internet browsing. By pre-installing its Chrome browser and Google search app on Android devices, Google had an unfair advantage over its rivals, EU enforcers said. Google will now try to ensure that Android users are aware of browsers and search engines other than its own services, Kent Walker, senior vice-president of global affairs, said in a blog. "In the coming months, via the Play Store, we'll start asking users of existing and new Android devices in Europe which browser and search apps they would like to use," he wrote without providing details. The company, which introduced a licensing fee for device makers to access its app marketplace after the EU sanction, does not plan to scrap the charge. Google could be fined up to 5 percent of Alphabet's average daily worldwide turnover if it fails to comply with the EU order to stop anti-competitive practices. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Goodman) WASHINGTON (AP) Casting aside rare censure from Republican lawmakers, President Donald Trump aimed new blasts of invective at the late John McCain Wednesday, even claiming credit for the senator's moving Washington funeral and complaining he was never properly thanked. By the time the president began his anti-McCain tirade in Ohio, several leading Republicans had signaled a new willingness to defy Trump by defending the Vietnam War veteran as a hero seven months after he died of brain cancer. One GOP senator called Trump's remarks "deplorable." Trump then launched a lengthy rant in which he claimed without citing evidence that McCain had pushed for a war and failed America's veterans. "I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted," Trump told reporters at a campaign-style rally in Lima, Ohio. "I didn't get (a) thank you but that's OK." In fact, McCain's family made clear that Trump was not welcome during the week-long, cross-country ceremonies that the senator had planned himself. Instead, McCain invited former Presidents George W. Bush, who defeated McCain during the 2000 GOP nomination fight, and Barack Obama, who defeated him in 2008, to deliver eulogies on the value of pursuing goals greater than oneself. Trump signed off on the military transport of McCain's body, went golfing and was uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter during the Washington events. Trump's publicly nursed grudge against McCain has not appeared to alienate core supporters, some of whom had soured on the senator by the time of his death. Aware of this, GOP lawmakers until now have stayed subdued or silent though Trump sometimes infuriated them with his comments on their late colleague. McCain's allies suggested it was time for that to change. "I hope (Trump's) indecency to John's memory and to the McCain family will convince more officeholders that they can't ignore the damage Trump is doing to politics and to the country's well-being or remain silent despite their concerns," said Mark Salter, McCain's biographer. "They must speak up." Story continues Trump has said for years that he doesn't think McCain is a hero because the senator was captured in Vietnam. McCain was tortured and held prisoner for more than five years. The president has never served in the military and obtained a series of deferments to avoid going to Vietnam, including one attained with a physician's letter stating that he suffered from bone spurs in his feet. One McCain Senate vote in particular is the thumbs-down Trump can't seem to forget. The Arizona senator in 2017 sank the GOP effort to repeal Obama's health care law. Trump was furious, and it showed even in the days after McCain's death last August. The administration lowered the American flag over the White House to half-staff when McCain died on a Saturday, but then raised it by Monday. After public outcry, the White House flags were again lowered. This week, Trump unloaded a new series of anti-McCain tweets in which he said he never had been "a fan" and never would be. His relentless new targeting of the deceased senator seemed to cross a boundary for several Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain "a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate." McConnell tweeted, "His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes." The Kentucky Republican, who is up for re-election next year, never mentioned Trump, but others weren't so shy. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia said not only the McCain family but the nation "deserves better" than Trump's disparagement. "I don't care if he's president of the United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world," Isakson told The Bulwark, a conservative news and opinion website. Later, Isakson called Trump's remarks "deplorable." "It will (be) deplorable seven months from now if he says it again," Isakson continued in remarks on Georgia Public Broadcasting's Political Rewind radio show, "and I will continue to speak out." Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee whom Trump briefly considered nominating as secretary of state, tweeted praise for McCain on Tuesday and criticism of Trump. "I can't understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God," Romney wrote. Pushback also came from Sen. Martha McSally, a Republican Air Force veteran appointed to McCain's seat from Arizona. "John McCain is an American hero and I am thankful for his life of service and legacy to our country and Arizona," she tweeted Wednesday. "Everyone should give him and his family the respect, admiration, and peace they deserve." That McSally declined to criticize Trump directly reflected the broader wariness among Republicans to cross a president famous for mobilizing his followers against GOP lawmakers he deems disloyal. But this week, Trump seemed to inspire a new determination among some to draw a line, however delicately. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who wept openly on the Senate floor after McCain died but has allied himself strongly with Trump, said, "I think the president's comments about Sen. McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Sen. McCain." "A lot of people are coming to John's defense now. ... I don't like it when he says things about my friend John McCain." Democratic leaders, meanwhile, were eager to jump into the uproar. "I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Senate Russell Building after American hero, Senator John McCain," tweeted Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York. ___ Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Lisa Mascaro and Catherine Lucey in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta. ___ Follow Kellman on twitter at http://www.twitter.com//APLaurieKellman This is the moment a 104-year-old gran was arrested by police after she said it was her greatest wish to be nicked because shed never fallen foul of the law. Anne Brokenbrow who has never committed a crime grinned as local officers arrested and bundled her into a waiting police car. Mrs Brokenbrow had told staff at her care home in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, her desire to be arrested as part of a charity scheme where residents write down what they want most. Anne said shed enjoyed being on the wrong side of the law for a change. Anne Brokenbrow, 104, was arrested after telling nursing home staff in all of her years she had never fallen foul of the law. (SWNS) Anne Brokenbrow, 104, pictured in her youth (SWNS) She said: I had a lovely day it was interesting. Nothing like that ever happened to me before. They put the handcuffs on, I had the lot. What did it feel like being a criminal? Well it will make me much more careful of what I say and do. But the police were very nice throughout. Anne, who worked at the Robertsons jam factory has dementia, has been at the home for 10 months, where she is regularly visited by her granddaughter Sasha who she raised. Anne Brokenbrow, 104, was arrested after telling nursing home staff in all of her years she had never fallen foul of the law. (SWNS) Anne Brokenbrow, 104, was arrested after telling nursing home staff in all of her years she had never fallen foul of the law. (SWNS) Read more from Yahoo News UK: Rescued orangutan shot 74 times Man spends 660 on Brexit stockpile shopping trip Police forces put blades surrendered in knife amnesty on show PCSO Kelly Foyle helped in the arrest. She said: She did come quietly, and she wanted to be handcuffed so we very gently applied the handcuffs and escorted her down to the police car. Care home manager Alex said Anne was their first resident to be arrested by police. She said: Anne has been a resident here over 10 months, shes definitely a character shes got a beautiful and a great sense of humour. She usually brings a smile to the carers faces. We were a little bit surprised when she came up with her wish, who would expect from a 104 to want to be arrested. But its been great. By Mariya Gordeyeva ALMATY (Reuters) - When Nursultan Nazarbayev announced he was stepping down as president of Kazakhstan, many people in the ex-Soviet state, where more than half the population have known no other leader, did not know how to process the news. "Grandpa Nazarbayev has quit!" wept a little girl in a video that has gone viral among Kazakh internet users since Nazarbayev made his surprise announcement on Tuesday on state television. An adult could be heard explaining to the sobbing girl: "He has retired, he has got old after all". Nazarbayev's announcement he planned to hand the presidency to a lieutenant came out of the blue, even though there has been speculation about when he would step down for years. Kazakhs tuning in to his televised address were expecting a routine message of congratulations on the eve of Nowruz, a major holiday across Central Asia and parts of the Middle East. Nazarbayev, a 78-year-old former steel worker and Communist party apparatchik, had run Kazakhstan since 1989, first as a Communist boss and then as a routinely re-elected president. A personality cult has gradually flourished around him - streets, schools and an airport are named in his honour - with an attendant sense he is irreplaceable. "I feel uneasy," said a 38-year-old Kazakh housewife who asked not to be named, when asked what she made of Nazarbayev's announcement. "He has done so much for our people, it's a shock of course," said 16-year-old student Nariman. "It will be unusual to have another person at the helm." Some people's knee-jerk reaction was to buy dollars - queues formed at night at some bureaux de change and the cash exchange rates briefly jumped, prompting the central bank to warn cash traders against "speculation" in the morning. But there was also a sense of relief that the worst-case scenario - in which Nazarbayev died while still in office, prompting conflict between rival elite factions - has been averted. Story continues "I think this was a timely decision. You know, one needs to make an exit in a proper manner and at the right time," said Gennady, a 67-year-old trade union official. Some Kazakhs joked that the veteran leaders of Kazakhstan's fellow ex-Soviet states, Russia and Belarus, could take a leaf out Nazarbayev's book and bow out. "I challenge my friends Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko to do the same," read a humorous caption to Nazarbayev's final photo behind the presidential desk in an image shared by many Kazakhs on social networks. (Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Frances Kerry) A Sugar Daddy website promotes directly to university students, promising a debt free route through education. [Photo: Seeking Arrangement] The University of Arts London, University of Manchester and University College London are the fastest-growing sugar baby educational institutes in the UK, with hundreds of new sign-ups in the past year. Thats according to data from American dating site Seeking Arrangement, which helps so-called sugar babies and sugar daddies connect. Some 475,320 UK students are signed up to the website currently with 218 students from the University of the Arts registering in the past 12 months alone. At the University of Manchester, there have been 180 new sign-ups and a further 169 at University College London. Sugar Daddy website Seeking Arrangement has published a list of sign-up growth by university. [Photo: Seeking Arrangement] Students from plenty of other red-brick institutions, including the University of Leeds, Cardiff University and Oxford University have signed up. Its unclear how many of those registered actually seek to match up with a sugar daddy. Jake Butler, operations director at student finance advisory site Save The Student suggests the number of students actively sugar dating is closer to 75,000. He predicts with many other students simply signing up out of intrigue. Every year we run a national student money survey and around 4% of students admit to being involved in adult work as a way to make money and fund university. Within this many have told us that they are involved in sugar dating, he tells Yahoo UK. Save The Students is actively taking steps to prevent students becoming involved with sugar dating. Whilst some see this as a legitimate line of work, as an organisation our worry is that students are being forced into seeking ways of making money that they perhaps wouldnt have if they were financially comfortable, says Butler. We dont offer support directly but are constantly campaigning for the government to increase the student maintenance loan so that students arent left short at the end of each month. I would advise and student to speak to their university about available funding and support before considering signing up to something they may not feel comfortable with. Story continues Why the increase in students signing up? Seeking Arrangement offers free premium membership to students who sign up with their university email, a company representative confirmed to Yahoo UK. This could, perhaps, explains the recent rise in subscriptions. But the financial incentives are likely more appealing particularly at a time when university tuition fees are through the roof. The subscribed students employed in such an arrangement are said to receive, on average, a monthly allowance of 2,910 from their sugar daddies. Being a super baby might not appeal to many, but such a sum is enough to pay off the average university tuition fees in mere months. READ MORE: Is this the worst Tinder profile ever? How does the sugar baby/daddy relationship work? A sugar daddy usually male is someone who enters into a romantic relationship with a sugar baby usually younger and female where companionship and often sex is exchanged for financial security, including cash, gifts and holidays. Sugar Babies set their own boundaries, facilitate their own dates, and make their own decisions, a representative for Seeking Arrangement told Yahoo UK. A lot of them do genuinely like dating older men, and while in uni are often offered mentorship and unique life experiences by doing so. READ MORE: First cousins petition to legalise marriage While many may conflate sugar dating with prostitution, the representative stressed this is not the case. The relationships found on Seeking Arrangement are not transactional in any way, and prostitution and escorting are not allowed on our site, although that is a common misconception, said the representative. People come looking for honest and open relationships, and bad actors looking to abuse our community are not allowed. Therefore, these relationships are absolutely legal in the UK. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Gaza has seen regular protests along the Israeli border for the past year, but new demonstrations in recent days have been much less to the liking of the strip's rulers Hamas. Over the course of several days beginning last week, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in multiple locations in protests against rising prices but also in opposition to the Islamist group, which has controlled Gaza since 2007. Hamas security forces cracked down harshly, beating protesters and arresting hundreds, rights groups say. Demonstrations have since petered out, though organisers have called for fresh rallies in the coming days. United Nations envoy Nickolay Mladenov on Sunday condemned a "campaign of arrests and violence" by Hamas security forces. "The long-suffering people of Gaza were protesting the dire economic situation and demanded an improvement in the quality of life in the Gaza Strip," said Mladenov, envoy to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The protests are a rare internal challenge to Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Small numbers gathered in various spots from Thursday to Sunday, calling for Hamas authorities to reduce taxes and improve the economic situation. Youth unemployment in Gaza is 70 percent, according to the World Bank, which says the main cause is the Israeli blockade of the strip along with Egypt's border having been largely closed in recent years. Israel says the blockade is necessary to restrict Hamas, but rights groups argue the measures amount to collective punishment of the roughly two million residents. - 'Chaos and sabotage' - Facing financial shortfalls, Hamas has increased taxes on cigarettes and other imported goods. Tomatoes have up to trebled in price, while many other basic goods have spiked. In response to the protests, hundreds of people have been at least temporarily detained, according to rights groups, while a number have talked of arbitrary beatings at the hands of Hamas forces. Story continues More than 1,000 people have been questioned or detained, according to the Independent Commission for Human Rights, founded by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which Hamas chased from Gaza in 2007. Osama Kahlout, a journalist based in Deir Balah in central Gaza, was broadcasting the protests live on Facebook as they occurred outside his house. He said a group of men stormed his house and beat him for 10 to 15 minutes, which he said left his back covered in bruises. A senior member of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, Hamas's rivals, was badly beaten near his home Monday evening. Fatah accused Hamas gangs of being behind the attack on Atef Abu Seif, though Hamas denied it and pledged to investigate. Demonstrators insist the protests are not primarily political, but instead economic. The rallies have been watched closely in Israel, including by those hoping to draw further attention to them. Fatah has also expressed support for protesters, and Hamas accuses outside hands of stirring trouble. Iyad al-Bozum, spokesman for Hamas's interior ministry, said the authorities were "not against demonstrations protesting the difficult conditions of our people in Gaza because of the blockade". "But we will not allow them to be exploited in order to provoke chaos and sabotage," he said, adding Hamas believed calm had been restored. He did not respond to questions about violence by the security forces. - Worst hours - Hind Khoudary, Amnesty International's researcher in Gaza, said she was called in by Hamas security Monday morning for what she was told would be a basic five-minute meeting. Once inside she was grilled about Facebook posts highlighting the protests, she said. She said she could hear "people screaming" and what sounded like "people being hit" in nearby rooms and feared it was her fiance, who was being questioned separately. After several hours of questioning she was released on condition she removed some Facebook posts. "Those three hours were some of the worst in my life." "I would prefer them physically beating me, rather than this psychological abuse," said Khoudary, whose fiance was also released physically unharmed. "To be honest I removed the Facebook posts because I don't want to go to that place. I don't want to feel the same again, to give them an excuse to humiliate me again." Khoudary pointed out she had documented alleged Israeli violations at the protests and clashes along the border fence throughout the year. The anniversary of those marches -- in which more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire -- will occur on March 30. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period. Israel says its actions are necessary to defend the border and accuses Hamas of orchestrating violence there. Large demonstrations had been expected for the one-year anniversary, but the regular Friday protest was unexpectedly cancelled last week after a flare-up with Israel. The Jewish state is also facing elections on April 9 and is hoping to avoid an increase in tensions on its borders. Matt Hancock said it was an Matt Hancock has been accused of an astonishing level of ignorance after revealing that tests had found he is at increased risk of prostate cancer. One leading geneticist said the Health Secretary had massively misinterpreted his results, and would be wasting NHS resources by booking an appointment to discuss the matter with his GP. Mr Hancock revealed the results of his genetic tests as he called for the health service to roll out gene tests more widely. But scientists today criticised the drive, with Mr Hancock accused of making frankly ridiculous claims, in his speech to The Royal Society. Meanwhile GPs said encouraging people to routinely be tested for common diseases would uncover too many unimportant findings which would leave patients needlessly distressed, while heaping pressure on surgeries. Mr Hancock said the tests found he has a 15 per cent chance of suffering prostate cancer by the age of 75 - around 50 per cent higher than average. The Health Secretary, 40, said the news had left him worried, saying he would now be seeking a blood test from his GP, and ensuring he did not miss any screening appointments. He also said he would make sure he did not miss any screening appointments. The NHS normally only provides PSA blood tests - which can show an increased risk of prostate cancer - from the age of 50, if requested, or from the age of 45 when there is a family history of disease. There is no NHS screening programme for prostate cancer. Today Professor David Curtis, UCL Genetics Institute & Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said the Health Secretary had massively misinterpreted the meaning of the score he has been given. He said Mr Hancocks score would not be considered high risk, and that the difference between it and average risk could come down to a margin of error. Prof Curtis said the Health Secretary would waste scarce resources by booking a completely unnecessary appointment with his GP to discuss a course of action to address a problem which essentially does not exist. Story continues And he said other comments by Mr Hancock displayed a quite astonishing level of ignorance about the NHS. He says he is going to make certain that he does not miss any screening appointments. That should be easy, because there is no such thing as a screening appointment for prostate cancer. We dont do them because they dont work, theyre a waste of time and money, they cause unnecessary anxiety to patients and unnecessary work for health professionals. In a lengthy tirade, the geneticist said: His claim that this test may have saved his life is frankly ridiculous. It really demonstrates an astonishing and worrying degree of innumeracy and lack of comprehension of health issues. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, urged ministers to be cautious in the rollout of gene testing. She said: Genomic research will have an increasingly important place in shaping the care we are able to provide to patients in the NHS and advances in medical research must be properly evaluated to ensure that they do benefit patients. But we also need to ensure that genomic data is used responsibly, ethically, and in a way that does not increase pressure on the NHS without the appropriate mitigating measures in place to cope with it. Many things that will be picked up by genetic testing will be unimportant or of dubious value, and these could leave people unnecessarily confused and distressed. This will undoubtedly lead to an increased number of worried people wanting to visit their GP to discuss their borderline results, at a time when general practice is already struggling to cope with intense demand and millions of patients are already waiting too long for an appointment, he said. In the speech today, Mr Hancock said too much data was locked away in research labs, as a result of bureaucratic obstacles and scientists refusing to share it. Currently the NHS offers limited gene testing, when patients are thought to be at higher risk because of a family history of disease. The Government has set out an ambition to sequence 5 million genomes over the next five years to build a diagnostic, predictive, preventive and personalised health and care service. So far 100,000 genomes have been sequenced, allowing one in four participants with rare diseases receiving a diagnosis for the first time. Vivienne Parry, head of engagement at Genomics England, said: Our current focus is those with rare disease or cancer and we are only just beginning to think about risk scoring for healthy people which will need a great deal of work before it is ready for widespread NHS use. " Professor Anneke Lucassen, professor of clinical genetics, University of Southampton and Chairman of the British Society for Genetic Medicine, said suggestions that Mr Hancocks life might have been saved by the test were over egging the pudding. Prof Ewan Birney, director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, said: Matt Hancock talked at the Royal Society on the use of his own polygenic risk score for prostrate cancer, indicating the difference from rare disease genetics, which often has a clear cut diagnosis to this more complex change in risk which, for example, might alter his screening profile for prostate cancer. "He also emphasised the need to understand this information with the help of a trained medical professional." Using genetic risk scores to inform public health screening strategies and provide more detailed information to patients has been an area of active research for over five years worldwide. This research is now close to the first health practice trials, but many aspects need to be tested carefully." A Whitehall source said: Theres never any progress that hasnt been opposed by someone, somewhere. Genomics has the potential to transform our lives for the better so it is vital we embrace the potential of this new technology for the benefit of all. HOUSTON (Reuters) - A petrochemical fire at a storage facility outside Houston spread on Tuesday to engulf eight giant tanks containing liquid fuels, officials of Intercontinental Terminals Co said on Tuesday afternoon. The fire started Sunday at the Mitsui & Co subsidiary along the Houston Ship Channel and has spread despite efforts to contain the blaze, which is fed by tanks holding 80,000 barrels each of liquids used in gasoline. It would be another day before firefighters would know how much longer the inferno would last, said Ray Russell, a spokesman for Channel Industries Mutual Aid, which coordinates firefighting efforts among area energy plants. No injuries have been reported. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by James Dalgleish) Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's all-powerful premier Viktor Orban is the self-styled defender of Christian Europe against the "poison" of immigration, an admirer of "illiberal democracy" and a thorn in the European Union's side. In his latest term in office, Orban has clashed repeatedly with the EU and his centre-right allies in the European Parliament, recently calling them "useful idiots" playing into the hands of the group's leftwing and liberal opponents. He has since apologised for that remark but Orban's Fidesz party could be suspended or expelled from the European People's Party (EPP), which is to discuss its future on Wednesday in a possible shake-up before May European Parliament elections. Orban himself has already said Fidesz could seek to join up with Poland's ruling right-wing PiS party, currently a member of the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists group. "We are preparing for another kind of future... Together (with Poland) we are preparing a spectacular renaissance of Central Europe," the 55-year-old politician said during a national day speech last week attended by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. While his disdain for the "globalist elite" has made Orban a poster boy for "patriots" everywhere, detractors see him as a xenophobic demagogue aping Russian President Vladimir Putin by eroding democracy in the EU member state, allowing corruption to flourish and public services to rot. - Soviets go home - At 26 as a law student in Budapest in 1989, the country boy became a household name in the dying days of communism with a stirring speech demanding democracy and that Soviet troops go home. Co-founding the Alliance of Young Democrats party (Fidesz), Orban was one of "new" Europe's brightest stars, becoming an MP in newly democratic and optimistic Hungary in 1990. Soon, however, he shed his image as a radical youth and began moulding Fidesz into a new force of the centre-right keen on family and Christian values. Story continues It paid off handsomely, and with Orban developing a rare knack for connecting with ordinary voters, he duly became prime minister in 1998 at just 35. - Tearing it up - His first period in office was rocky, however, and Orban lost to the Socialists in 2002 and again in 2006 before bouncing back in 2010 with a vengeance. This time, armed with a two-thirds majority in parliament, Orban implemented a root-and-branch reform of Hungarian state institutions and introduced a new constitution steeped in conservative values. Critics at home and abroad worried that the sweeping changes undermined the independence of the judiciary, muzzled the press and rigged the electoral system. Orban maintains that he was repairing years of left-wing mess, while his unorthodox economic policies like special "crisis" taxes on foreign companies helped Hungary balance the books. He was re-elected in 2014, again with a super-majority. - Border fence - Europe's migrant crisis the following year saw Orban morph into a lightning rod for opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open-door" refugee policy. As hundreds of thousands of people streamed toward western Europe, and with Budapest train stations resembling squalid refugee camps, Orban erected a fence on Hungary's border with Serbia that he said "stopped the migrant invasion". Orban's strident stance has turned Hungary, along with Poland's like-minded government which has also raised concerns with its own reforms, into a headache for Brussels and the rest of the EU. But Orban is now also the darling of nationalists, from France's Marine Le Pen to Geert Wilders of the Netherlands. White supremacists say they want to settle in "racially pure" Hungary. He won a fourth term in office last year with Fidesz scoring its third consecutive two-thirds majority, granting it legislative carte blanche to amend the constitution and fast-track new laws. - Soros in his sights - One of Orban's targets meanwhile is George Soros, the Jewish, Hungarian-born US financier and philanthropist who helped Fidesz get off the ground and whose scholarship funded Orban's time at Oxford in 1989. In December, the Central European University (CEU), founded by the liberal billionaire, announced it was moving most of its programmes out of Budapest to Vienna after it said it was targeted by government legislation steamrolled through parliament in 2017. Manfred Weber -- who is the EPP's lead candidate to replace European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker later this year -- has asked Fidesz to clarify "pending legal issues" over the CEU. Adding to the strain with Brussels and the EPP was a nationwide poster campaign in Hungary targeting Juncker, also of the EPP, accusing him and Soros of backing illegal migration. The posters disappeared this week, replaced by messages on Orban's family policy. Can Indias Leela Hotel Brand Be the Same Under Asset Manager Brookfield? One of Indias storied hotel brands, Leela, is going to the house of Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, along with four of five Leela hotels owned by insolvent Hotel Leelaventure. The deal was disclosed by Hotel Leelaventure in a stock exchange filing earlier this week. A Brookfield-sponsored private real estate fund will pay $576.4 million for the four Leela hotels in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and Udaipur, as well as another Hotel Leelaventure property in Agra, and for the brand. All hotel management contracts currently in operation and contracts for hotels under development are also part of the deal. Known in full as The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, the brand has nine hotels in operation and four forthcoming launches in Jaipur, Agra, Bengaluru, and Kerala. The sale has been in the making since last year. As Skift reported, the Mumbai-based company has been struggling with debt for nearly a decade, a period when the luxury hotel sector in India was battling a glut and the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Reports tipped that Brookfield was close to buying a majority of the Indian chains hotel assets for a higher price, $646 million. This however included a large land parcel. The confirmed deal of $576.4 million will still be able to cover Hotel Leelaventures debt of $550 million (3,800 crore), a sum disclosed in its annual report 2017-2018. The transaction is expected to be completed within six months. Crown Jewels The hospitality business is Leelaventures cash cow, accounting for 88 percent of the companys total net worth. The four hotels sold to Brookfield are its crown jewels, generating 80 percent of the companys total income of $10.8 million (743 crore) in 2017-2018 financial year. The fifth hotel it owns, Leela Mumbai, which isnt being sold to Brookfield, was the first Leela to open 33 years ago. It will continue to operate as Leela under a license agreement with Brookfield. The name Leela is held in the same esteem as Indias other legacy brands such as Taj and Oberoi. But the question is will it shine or wither under an asset management company? Story continues The acquisition is Brookfields first in Indias hospitality sector, although it invests heavily in the country in other sectors. It is also Brookfields first multiple-asset luxury hotel brand, and the company is also more known for acquiring assets at a significant discount then turning them around, than as a brand manager. Vivek Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Hotel Leelaventure, was quoted in The Economic Times of India as saying he is confident that the brand will receive a boost and be further strengthened and continue to be known for its world-class services. Hotel experts in Asia-Pacific arent so sure. One group believes it will be a boost for the brand, another is less sanguine. Theres always the chance theyll ruin the brand, but certainly that wouldnt be the typical plan, said Robert Hecker, managing director of Pacific Asia for Horwath HTL. Typically, they are buying the brand for the reputation/value it has amassed up to that point and would then be planning to leverage greater value from it. This could be any combination of providing capital for reinvestment and expansion, instituting cost discipline/cutting, implementing better systems, using the brand for other things, et cetera. The intention of buying the brand in the first place would be to unlock greater value in it. Its different from the classic investment banker scenario of buying a company simply to sell off its individual assets that are worth more that way than under the current company ownership. When its really the brand they are buying, its typically about using and growing the brand for greater value/profit. But Robert Williams, a partner and head of hotels & hospitality for Asia-Pacific at Withersworldwide, is less sanguine. This looks primarily like a real estate play. Brookfield is mostly a real estate investor. It may sell off the assets individually, or could look to refurbish and reposition to maximize their potential, then divest. We should expect them to sell the brand and management platform. They will look hard for the best angle, said Williams. Brand businesses are rarely the same after being bought, he added. Sometimes they get better, sharper access to cash, distribution and human resources can unlock their potential. Sometimes they lose it swallowed by a group that does not understand their positioning and denies them oxygen. Integration after any M&A is notoriously challenging. Culture clashes, strategy execution and unlocking synergies that have been touted to investors/shareholders are always huge challenges. Apart from Brookfield, a consortium of investors that included BlackRock, SSG Capital, and RB Capital, and another led by Minor International and Trinity White City Ventures, were suitors of the hotel chain. The latter backed out as it was not willing to pay that sort of price. Its bid was $350 million. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. Dubai (AFP) - Thousands of tonnes of food aid near Yemen's flashpoint port city of Hodeida is infested with insects and must be fumigated to feed millions of people, the UN said Wednesday. Last month, a team from the UN's World Food Programme visited the Red Sea Mills warehouse for the first time since September, when they became inaccessible due to the conflict between pro-government forces and the Huthi rebels. "WFP carried out a full assessment of the condition of the wheat and laboratory tests confirmed it was infested with insects which has resulted in some hollow grains," said spokesman Herve Verhoosel. "The wheat needs to be fumigated before it can be milled into flour." Before the UN lost access in September the Red Sea Mills held 51,000 tonnes of grain, which was enough to feed more than 3.7 million people for a month. However, Verhoosel said the WFP anticipates the flour yield will be "slightly lower" than normal because of the damage caused by insects. "At this stage we cannot confirm how much flour we will be able to get from the wheat at the Red Sea Mills," he said. "WFP is awaiting final clearance from the local authorities for a follow-up operation to the Red Sea Mills in order to begin the fumigation and to restart milling operations." The mission follows an agreement struck in Sweden in February, in which Yemeni rivals agreed to redeploy their fighters outside the ports and away from areas that are key to the humanitarian relief effort. The ports are in the rebel-held west of the country, and the agreement especially set out free access to the grain warehouses at Red Sea Mills, under control of the Saudi-backed government forces. Yemen's war escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, and a Saudi-backed coalition intervened against the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels. Since then, the conflict has killed around 10,000 people -- most of them civilians -- and has left more than 60,000 wounded, according to the World Health Organization. Summit Ascent Holdings Limited (HKG:102), which is in the hospitality business, and is based in Hong Kong, saw significant share price movement during recent months on the SEHK, rising to highs of HK$1.03 and falling to the lows of HK$0.90. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Summit Ascent Holdingss current trading price of HK$0.96 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Summit Ascent Holdingss outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. View our latest analysis for Summit Ascent Holdings Whats the opportunity in Summit Ascent Holdings? Great news for investors Summit Ascent Holdings is still trading at a fairly cheap price. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is HK$1.83, but it is currently trading at HK$0.96 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. Another thing to keep in mind is that Summit Ascent Holdingss share price may be quite stable relative to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. This means that if you believe the current share price should move towards its intrinsic value over time, a low beta could suggest it is not likely to reach that level anytime soon, and once its there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range again. What does the future of Summit Ascent Holdings look like? SEHK:102 Past and Future Earnings, March 19th 2019 Future outlook is an important aspect when youre looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so lets also take a look at the companys future expectations. Summit Ascent Holdingss earnings over the next few years are expected to double, indicating a very optimistic future ahead. This should lead to stronger cash flows, feeding into a higher share value. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? Since 102 is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to accumulate more of your holdings in the stock. With a positive outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation. Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on 102 for a while, now might be the time to enter the stock. Its buoyant future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy 102. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the track record of its management team, in order to make a well-informed investment decision. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on Summit Ascent Holdings. You can find everything you need to know about Summit Ascent Holdings in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Summit Ascent Holdings, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Oil is one of the world's largest industries. The global economy consumed more than 99 million barrels of crude per day during 2018. An average price around $70 a barrel that year puts the global oil market at more than $2.5 trillion. To put that in perspective, the global economy spent more money on oil than it did on all other commodities, such as gold, iron ore, and coal, combined. Given its sheer size, and importance to the global economy, many investors desire some exposure to the oil market in their portfolio. However, it can be very challenging to pick the right oil stocks because of the sector's complexity and volatility. Oil prices can go on wild swings that seemingly come from out of nowhere. From 2014 through 2018, for example, crude prices suddenly crashed twice by more than 40%. Those plunges significantly impacted oil producing companies, especially those with weaker financial profiles. If an investor chose the wrong oil stock, they could have lost everything. One way investors can avoid picking the wrong oil stock by investing in an exchange-traded fund focused on the oil industry. This guide will help investors better understand how they could benefit from this investment strategy. A long row of pumpjacks under the setting sun with snow in the foreground. Image source: Getty Images. What is an exchange-traded fund? An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a stock-like security that tracks a certain segment of the market or index and is easily accessible to investors because it trades on a major stock exchange. ETFs share similarities to both stocks and mutual funds: They're tradeable like stocks but hold a large basket of equities, bonds, or commodities like a mutual fund. Some ETFs hold hundreds and even thousands of stocks, providing comprehensive exposure to the entire stock market. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF, for example, tracks the S&P 500 index, a broad market index of 500 stocks. Thus, buying the SPDR S&P 500 ETF enables investors to own a stake in all 500 of those companies. Story continues Other ETFs, meanwhile, will track an index that focuses on a certain segment of the market. Oil ETFs follow the performance of different sets of oil stocks or the price of a barrel of oil. Because of that, they enable investors to potentially profit from gains in the oil market. Risks of investing in oil stocks The challenge for investors lies in finding businesses that can profitably navigate the oil market. That can be difficult because of a range of factors, including: Oil price volatility Rising costs Project management issues Equipment availability Access to capital Government regulations These issues have impacted the ability of some oil companies to make money even during periods of higher oil prices. As a result, some investors have been correct in the view that the oil industry would continue expanding, but have still lost money because they bought the wrong oil stock, which underperformed its peers due to some company-specific issue. Why buy an oil ETF? That's where oil ETFs can step into an investor's portfolio. They take out the guesswork of finding the right oil stock because these entities own shares of several oil companies. That diversification helps mitigate the company-specific risks of investing in a mismanaged oil company that loses money when all its peers are prospering. So, oil ETFs enable investors to express a broad market thesis -- for example, that oil stocks will rise in the coming years -- without having to pick the correct oil stock to profit from that view. That optimistic view of the oil market isn't farfetched. Despite increasing worries about climate change, the world still depends on oil, which isn't expected to end anytime soon. Oil companies will need to produce as much as an additional 7.5 million BPD from 2017's level by 2025, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Not only will the sector need to meet that growing demand, but it must do so as production from legacy fields continues declining. In the IEA's view, oil companies need to bridge a 35 million BPD gap in the coming years. For perspective, that's more than the current production of the world's top three producers -- the U.S. Russia, and Saudi Arabia -- combined. That outlook suggests that oil prices need to be high enough in the future to incentivize oil companies to continue exploring for and developing new sources of oil, which should benefit oil stocks as a whole. Types of oil ETFs Investors can group oil ETFs into three basic categories: Oil price ETFs Broad market ETFs Targeted sector-specific ETFs Oil price ETFs Oil price ETFs attempt to track the price of oil, enabling investors to profit from its rise or fall. The United States Oil Fund LP is one example of an oil price ETF, with it aiming to track the price of oil produced in the U.S. We'll drill down a bit deeper into this ETF later. Broad market ETFs A broad market ETF, on the other hand, invests in a large basket of energy stocks, including upstream, midstream, and downstream companies, as well as integrated oil companies that operate across the sector. Broad market oil ETFs typically hold more than 100 oil stocks across the industry, which allows investors to benefit from the anticipated growth in all segments of the oil market. Targeted sector-specific ETFs The final type of oil ETF targets one of the three main segments of the oil industry: upstream, midstream, and downstream. The upstream segment focuses on exploring for, drilling, and producing oil. Companies in this sector include exploration and production (E&P) companies -- which drill for and produce oil and gas -- as well as the oil-field service and equipment companies that provide producers with the tools and expertise needed to find and produce oil. Several ETFs, including the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF, focus on E&P companies, while others such as VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF will only hold the stocks of oilfield service and equipment companies. The oil and gas midstream sector, in the meantime, focuses on transporting, processing, storing, and marketing hydrocarbons, which include oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel. The Alerian Energy Infrastructure ETF is one fund that zeroes in on this sector. Finally, the downstream segment focuses on transforming oil, natural gas, and NGLs into higher-valued products like gasoline as well as the building blocks for petrochemicals. The VanEck Vectors Oil Refiners ETF is one of a few ETFs focused on this segment of the oil market. Sector-specific ETFs allow investors to target an investment that should be profitable if a particular thesis plays out. For example, if an investor believes that higher oil prices will drive a rebound in drilling activities -- and therefore fuel higher profits for oil-field service companies, pushing up their stocks up in the process -- then they can express this view by investing in an ETF focused on this oil-field service stocks. That targeted yet broad-based approach will avoid a situation where the thesis plays out as anticipated with most oil-field service stocks rising, except for an investor's chosen company, which underperforms its peers because of some unexpected issue. How to choose the right oil ETF With so many oil ETFs out there, investors face a daunting task in picking the best one for their portfolio. One way to narrow the field is by looking for the following three criteria: A low expense ratio: Investors pay ETF managers a fee to manage the fund. The lower these fees, the better, because they will eat into an investor's return over the long term. At least several hundred million dollars in assets under management: Trading liquidity can be a problem with smaller ETFs, which is why it's better to choose a larger fund, so that this doesn't become an issue during periods of market turbulence. A solid history of tracking its benchmark: Most ETFs track a benchmark, whether that's the price of oil or a market index. Look for ETFs that have closely mirrored theirs over the past several years. The top 10 oil ETFs Dozens of ETFs hold oil stocks, giving investors a wide variety of options. The largest by assets under management are on the following table: Oil ETF Assets Under Management Expense Ratio Number of Holdings What It Tracks Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEMKT: XLE) $13.4 billion 0.13% 30 Energy stocks in the S&P 500 index Vanguard Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: VDE) $3.5 billion 0.10% 141 The performance of the U.S. energy sector SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEMKT: XOP) $2.1 billion 0.35% 69 Oil and gas E&P companies in the U.S. United States Oil Fund LP (NYSEMKT: USO) $1.6 billion 0.76% 1 The U.S. oil price benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) iShares Global Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: IXC) $1.3 billion 0.47% 70 Companies that produce and distribute oil and gas globally VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) $1.1 billion 0.35% 25 U.S.-listed companies that provide oil-field services iShares U.S. Energy ETF (NYSEMKT: IYE) $861 million 0.43% 69 U.S. companies that produce and distribute oil and gas iShares North American Natural Resources (NYSEMKT: IGE) $788 million 0.47% 128 North American natural resources companies, including oil, and gas, mining, and forestry companies Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (NYSEMKT: FENY) $467 million 0.08% 134 The performance of the U.S. energy sector iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEMKT: IEO) $347 million 0.43% 66 U.S. companies that produce and distribute oil and gas Data source: Company websites. Note: Assets under management as of Jan. 27, 2019. To give investors a flavor of the differences between these funds, we'll drill down into the four largest. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund: Concentrated at the top The Energy Select Sector SPDR fund is a broad market oil ETF with a twist: It only holds energy companies included in the S&P 500, which totaled 30 in early 2019. Furthermore, it is a market cap-weighted ETF, meaning that the largest companies by stock market value make up the greatest percentage of its holdings. This allocation strategy differs from an equal-weight ETF, which invests roughly the same portion of its funds into each stock. Because of this focus and weighting, integrated oil giant ExxonMobil was this ETF's largest holding at more than 20% in early 2019. Meanwhile, its 10th largest holding at the time, midstream giant Kinder Morgan, only had a 3% allocation. So while this ETF provides investors with broad diversification across the oil sector, it does so via the largest oil and gas companies. That leaves it highly concentrated toward the top end. In early 2019, for example, this ETF's 10 largest holdings made up 73.3% of its total assets. While that percentage will fluctuate along with the stock prices of its largest holdings, this ETF, like others weighted by market cap, means investors will have much more exposure to the largest stocks. One positive benefit of this concentration is that larger oil companies are less volatile than smaller ones, which can help cushion the blow when crude prices fall, as they did in late 2018. On the downside, if one of its largest holdings underperformed, it would be a significant drag on this fund's returns compared to a similar equal-weighted oil ETF. Vanguard Energy ETF: Low-cost broad market exposure The Vanguard Energy ETF is also a broad market oil ETF, holding not only the 30 energy stocks in the S&P 500 but more than 100 other oil and gas stocks. However, it's also a market cap-weighted ETF, meaning the largest percentage of its assets are in the biggest energy companies by market cap. As a result, ExxonMobil was also this fund's largest holding at more than 20% in early 2019, while its top 10 holdings equaled more than 67.5% of its total net assets. Aside from offering a bit more diversification across the sector, another thing setting this ETF apart from most others is its ultra-low expense ratio. That makes it a bit cheaper than the Energy Select SPDR ETF and even less expensive than most targeted oil ETFs. Fees are noteworthy because they eat into returns over time. That's why investors should seek out lower-cost funds like the Vanguard Energy ETF, which should enable them to earn a better total return than a similar ETF with higher fees. SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF: An equal focus on E&Ps The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas E&P ETF holds U.S. companies engaged in the exploration, production, and distribution of oil and gas, which means the ETF not only owned E&Ps, but also integrated oil and gas companies, as well as refiners, holding around 70 stocks overall as of early 2019. Another thing that sets it apart from other ETFs focused on E&Ps is that it's an equal-weight ETF. That means it held about the same percentage of its assets (around 2%) in oil giant ExxonMobil as it does in smaller E&P companies. This ETF is an ideal option for investors who want to target the fast-growing U.S. oil industry. Because it's not concentrated on the largest oil producers, which tend to grow at a slower rate, investors have more upside potential with this ETF. However, with that greater reward comes a higher risk level since this ETF will likely be much more volatile than others, which could hurt returns when oil prices slump. United States Oil Fund: A short-term vehicle to profit from a big move in oil prices The United States Oil Fund is a different kind of ETF. Instead of investing in oil stocks, this fund buys oil futures contracts (specifically on the U.S. oil benchmark WTI), which are agreements to purchase 1,000 barrels of crude oil for a specified price and at a future date. These contracts set the market price for oil. So, when an investor reads that oil closed at $50 a barrel today, this actually means that the price of a futures contract to buy 1,000 barrels a month from now closed the trading day at $50. Because it invests in oil futures contracts, the United States Oil Fund enables investors to track the daily movements of the price of oil. So, it allows investors who believe that oil will go higher in the near term to potentially profit from that view without having to open a commodity futures account. However, while the ETF does a good job of tracking oil prices in the near term, it has significantly underperformed crude over longer periods: USO Chart USO data by YCharts. Several factors caused this drag. First of all, the fund has a much higher expense ratio than most other ETFs, which eats into returns over time. Second, oil futures expire every month, which adds trading costs since the fund needs to continue rolling its contracts forward by selling them just before expiration and buying new ones that expire at a later date. Third, those front-month contracts it's selling tend to trade at a lower price than those expiring in future months (a situation known as contango), which often forces this ETF to pay up to roll contracts forward. Because of these factors, investors shouldn't use the United States Oil Fund as a long-term investment on the price of oil but instead to make short-term wagers on movements in the market. Those bets can either be bullish by buying the ETF or bearish by shorting it, which an investor can do by borrowing shares of the fund from a broker and selling them in hopes of buying them back later at a lower price after crude prices fall. How have oil ETFs performed over the long term? The price of oil has a significant impact on the performance of oil ETFs. During periods of rising crude prices, oil ETFs can significantly outperform the S&P 500. That was the case for the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF, for example, from early 2009 through mid-2014: USO Chart USO data by YCharts. Oil ETFs, however, significantly underperformed the market -- as well as many top-tier oil stocks -- over the next five years because of subsequent oil price crashes in late 2014 and late 2018. Thus, investors do need to pick the right time to buy, so that they get the most out of an oil ETF. Usually, the ideal time comes right as crude starts stabilizing following a market crash. That would theoretically position an investor to profit from the subsequent recovery. Benefits of oil ETFs vs. oil stocks While oil ETFs come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and focal points, investors can best view them as a way to target an investment on the oil sector without needing to pick the right oil stock because they hold a basket of them, spreading out risk. This approach reduces the probability that an investor will have the right thesis (i.e., oil stocks are going higher), but the wrong vehicle, since an unexpected company-specific issue such as mismanagement, poor well performance, or balance-sheet problems could cause an oil stock to significantly underperform its peers, even if the thesis plays out as anticipated. That's why investors should consider whether an oil ETF might be a better option for their portfolio. More From The Motley Fool Matthew DiLallo and The Motley Fool both own shares of Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) made his first statement in almost six months Monday, in which he dismissed claims that ISIS has been defeated and called for revenge for last weeks deadly mosque shootings in New Zealand. The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion, he said, according to the New York Times. At least 50 people died when a 28-year-old Australian man opened fire during prayers at two Christchurch mosques last Friday. Read More: A Christchurch Gun Shop Sold Firearms Online to Accused New Zealand Mosque Shooter The spokesman, whose identity is not known but is often referred to as Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, released the 44-minute recording via the Telegram mobile messaging app, reports the Times. In addition to linking the New Zealand shootings to ISIS, al-Muhajir also claimed that the groups leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is often rumored to be dead, is still alive. Al-Muhajir refuted claims made by President Donald Trump late last year that ISIS has largely been defeated, according the the Times. The spokesman, who rarely makes statements, has never been seen in video or photograph. According to the Times, his detailed knowledge of current events raises questions about his whereabouts and how he is receiving information. By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - The Italian parliament on Wednesday blocked prosecutors from pursuing an investigation into Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini for abuse of power and kidnapping migrants. Salvini, who is interior minister and leader of the right-wing League party, has declared Italy's ports closed to illegal migrants and asylum seekers since he formed a ruling coalition last year with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. In August, he blocked an Italian coastguard ship with 150 migrants aboard for almost a week off the coast of Sicily before finally letting it dock after Albania, Ireland and Italy's Catholic Church agreed to house them. Magistrates subsequently put him under investigation and asked parliament to strip him of his immunity from prosecution, but on Wednesday the upper house, the Senate, threw out the request and said he had been acting in the national interest. "I hope no one in this chamber ... has any difficulty in understanding the concept of nation and national sovereignty," Salvini told lawmakers ahead of the vote. "This is why Italians pay my salary: to defend our borders and to maintain the security of our country." With voting still under way, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, who heads the panel charged with considering Salvini's case, said it was already clear that a large majority had voted in his favor. The issue has sown division within the government and particularly within 5-Star, which has in the past criticized parliamentary maneuvering to halt judicial proceedings against lawmakers. 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio held an online ballot last month among members, who voted 59-41 percent to protect Salvini. However, two 5-Star senators said they would ignore that ballot and vote against their coalition ally. These are expected to be expelled from the movement, which would reduce the government's already slim Senate majority. An Italian-led push to disrupt smuggling networks and boost Libyan coastguard interceptions helped to reduce the number of migrants who successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Italy by around 80 percent last year, to about 23,000, according to the International Organization for Migration. Some 1,300 died in the attempt. In the latest of a series of stand-offs involving charity rescue ships, an Italian vessel carrying 49 African migrants was escorted into the port of Lampedusa by police on Tuesday, with Salvini calling for the crew to be arrested. Prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the ship to be seized and opened an investigation into the captain on suspicion of aiding and abetting human trafficking. (Editing by Kevin Liffey) Rome (AFP) - Italy's Senate voted Wednesday to block the trial of far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini for allegedly illegally confining migrants rescued at sea by an Italian coastguard ship last year. Senators voted 237 to 61 in favour of the immunity commission's recommendation that Salvini, who heads the anti-immigrant League party, should not face trial. The case relates to the rescue in August of 190 people by Italy's Diciotti coast guard ship, who were left stuck at sea for five days without permission to dock. Thirteen migrants with health problems were eventually disembarked on Lampedusa island off Italy's southern tip. The ship then headed to Catania in Sicily, but was blocked for another five days before the remaining 177 migrants were allowed off. The permission came only once the interior minister had been assured that other European countries would take them in. A Catania prosecutor opened an investigation into the case but in November decided not to press charges. However, a ministers' tribunal, made up of three judges chosen at random, asked the Senate for permission to go ahead with a trial. Italy's constitution says that parliament can block proceedings if lawmakers agree the minister was doing their job in the interests of the State. - "Abuse of power" - The League's coalition partner, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), voted last month against Salvini being put on trial for abuse of power and illegal confinement. Nearly 60 percent of M5S members voted online that Salvini should not be stripped of his immunity from prosecution. M5S prides itself on its honesty and has long railed against lawmakers who use their parliamentary privilege to avoid trials. In a bid to stave off a political tsunami, both Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, an M5S sympathiser, and the movement's leader Luigi Di Maio have said Salvini was acting with their full support and they would stand trial alongside him if necessary. Story continues Nevertheless, several M5S senators on Wednesday refused to follow the party line and voted for Salvini to face trial. Salvini, whose League party has soared ahead of the M5S in popularity since last March's election, said his hard line against migrants had saved thousands of lives by deterring people from leaving North Africa for Europe. - "Defend my country" - He said that one migrant had died at sea in 2019. The International Organisation for Migration says that 152 migrants are missing or dead in the central Mediterranean so far this year. "I thank God and Italians for the honour of being able to defend my country and my children," Salvini told the Senate to cheers and jeers. In the latest chapter in Salvini's battle against aid groups rescuing migrants, the authorities on Tuesday seized the Mare Jonio vessel which landed in Lampedusa with 49 migrants on board after they were rescued off the Libyan coast. Prosecutors are investigating the ship's captain for allegedly aiding illegal migration. "We don't have any immunity but we're sure we were within the law and are happy to have brought 49 people to safety," the Mediterranea aid group collective which chartered the boat said on Wednesday. A federal judge in Washington ruled Tuesday evening that the Interior Department violated the law by opening up federal land in Wyoming to oil drilling without studying how the move would contribute to the countrys overall carbon footprint. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras argued that the Department of the Interiors Bureau of Land Management did not sufficiently consider climate change before auctioning off some 300,000 acres of federal land to drilling companies in 2015 and 2016, the Washington Post reported. While Contreras did not void the leases, he did temporarily suspend the onset of drilling while the administration examines how it would impact Americas carbon footprint. Given the national, cumulative nature of climate change, considering each individual drilling project in a vacuum deprives the agency and the public of the context necessary to evaluate oil and gas drilling on federal land before irretrievably committing to that drilling, he wrote. Western Energy Alliance president Kathleen Sgamma, whose group is one defendant in the case, told the Post that the analyses conducted were in keeping with precedent and said Contrerass ruling would be nearly impossible to comply with. This judge has ignored decades of legal precedent in this ruling, she said. The judge is basically asking BLM to take a wild guess on how many wells will be developed on leases, prematurely. The ruling, if upheld, will likely jeopardize Trumps energy agenda, which relies on ramping up U.S. fossil-fuel production in order to increase independence from foreign energy markets. In its latter years, the Obama administration began analyzing the impact of domestic oil production but Trump administration officials have largely ignored such data in favor of reenergizing the fossil-fuel industry. More from National Review Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Kazakhstan's new president was sworn in Wednesday following the shock resignation of the country's long-time ruler and in his first official act renamed the capital after his predecessor. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office in a pomp-filled ceremony less than 24 hours after Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan had ever known, suddenly announced he was stepping down. Tokayev immediately proposed changing the name of the Central Asian nation's capital from Astana to Nursultan, or "Sultan of Light" in Kazakh, and parliament approved the change within hours. The senate also appointed Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva as speaker, setting her up as a potential contender to succeed her father. Tokayev, 65, will serve out the rest of Nazarbayev's mandate until elections due in April next year, though the former president retains significant powers in the country he ruled for nearly three decades. Tokayev told lawmakers that Nazarbayev had "shown wisdom" by deciding to step down, a rare move in ex-Soviet Central Asia where other leaders have hung on to power until death. "Yesterday the world witnessed a historic event," Tokayev said, hailing Nazarbayev as a visionary reformer. "The results of an independent Kazakhstan are there for all to see," he added. - Futuristic capital - Nazarbayev changed the capital from Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty to Astana in 1997, transforming it from a minor provincial town into a futuristic city of skyscrapers rising from the steppes. Its name meant "capital" in Kazakh and there had long been speculation of a renaming after the leader who shaped it. The city is central to government propaganda highlighting the achievements of Nazarbayev's reign and his journey to build it was recently the subject of a state-funded film, "Leader's Path: Astana". Nazarbayev, 78, ruled Kazakhstan since before it gained independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Story continues He steered the country through a major transformation, developing huge energy reserves and boosting its international influence, but was accused of cracking down on dissent and tolerating little opposition. Nazarbayev will continue to enjoy significant powers thanks to his constitutional status as "Leader of the Nation", life-time position as chief of the security council and head of the ruling Nur Otan party. Tokayev appeared to be in pole position to take over in the long term until senators voted shortly after his swearing-in to name Dariga Nazarbayeva, 55, as their new chief. She is the most politically prominent of Nazarbayev's three children and has long been mooted as a potential successor. Kazakhstan's deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2016, Nazarbayeva has significant influence over the media. Analysts said it was too early to declare a clear frontrunner to become the next elected president, with the recently named prime minister, 53-year-old Askar Mamin, another possible contender. - 'Safe pair of hands' - Tokayev, the interim president, has a strong diplomatic record dating back to the Soviet period and has twice been foreign minister. This should go some way to reassuring Kazakhstan's major partners including China, the European Union, Russia and the United States that the move will not threaten key relationships. Tokayev "is a safe pair of hands, he is a loyal presidential lieutenant," said Kate Mallinson, a Russia and Eurasia expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank. Kazakhstan-based analyst Dosym Satpayev described Tokayev as a "heavyweight" but said he lacked popular appeal. As for Kazakh society's reaction to Dariga Nazarbayeva, it "would be mixed to say the least," Satpayev said. "A candidate from the family would be controversial and Dariga does not speak the state language, Kazakh, as well as her father," he said. Satpayev also pointed to another Nazarbayev relative -- nephew Samat Abish, a high-ranking security official who rarely appears in public -- as a potential contender from inside the family circle. "This would be something like a Putin scenario, wherein a connected figure appears from the shadows at the last moment," Satpayev said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's sudden emergence following Boris Yeltsin's sudden retirement in 1999. The new leader will need to tackle growing discontent over falling living standards after Kazakhstan's economy was hit by the 2014 drop in oil prices and western sanctions against Russia, a key trading partner. Kentucky governor Matt Bevin on Tuesday signed a bill that bans abortions chosen on the basis of an unborn childs sex, race, or disability. A court filing in the U.S. District Court in Louisville indicated that the governor has signed the bill, which included an emergency clause stipulating that it would go into effect immediately. Physicians must now certify in writing that the patient did not request the abortion for a reason related to the babys sex, race, or disabilities. Flouting the new law puts doctors at risk of losing their medical license or being prosecuted for a felony, although the mother of the unborn child would not be targeted. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the bill in federal court as an unconstitutional restriction on a womans right to abortion. Instituting laws that instantly affect critical patient care should not be a cat-and-mouse game, the group said, asking that it be notified when the bill is signed. Another new law that bans abortions after about six weeks or when a heartbeat can be detected forced Kentuckys sole abortion clinic, EMW Womens Surgical Center in Louisville, to cancel some appointments on Friday until a federal judge intervened. EMW and its abortionists have responded with a novel claim: Women have a constitutional right to undergo race-based abortions, gender-based abortions, and disability-based abortions. In plaintiffs view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendments penumbra lies a protection for eugenics, the governors lawyer M. Stephen Pitt wrote in defending the ban on eugenics-based abortions. This is a perverse distortion of Roe v. Wade. More from National Review Wellington Drive Technologies Limited (NZSE:WDT) is a small-cap stock with a market capitalization of NZ$57m. While investors primarily focus on the growth potential and competitive landscape of the small-cap companies, they end up ignoring a key aspect, which could be the biggest threat to its existence: its financial health. Why is it important? Since WDT is loss-making right now, its vital to understand the current state of its operations and pathway to profitability. The following basic checks can help you get a picture of the companys balance sheet strength. However, these checks dont give you a full picture, so Id encourage you to dig deeper yourself into WDT here. WDTs Debt (And Cash Flows) WDT has built up its total debt levels in the last twelve months, from NZ$2.6m to NZ$5.6m , which accounts for long term debt. With this rise in debt, the current cash and short-term investment levels stands at NZ$933k to keep the business going. Moreover, WDT has generated NZ$1.8m in operating cash flow during the same period of time, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 33%, indicating that WDTs operating cash is sufficient to cover its debt. Can WDT meet its short-term obligations with the cash in hand? At the current liabilities level of NZ$25m, it appears that the company may not be able to easily meet these obligations given the level of current assets of NZ$24m, with a current ratio of 0.94x. The current ratio is the number you get when you divide current assets by current liabilities. NZSE:WDT Historical Debt, March 19th 2019 Can WDT service its debt comfortably? WDT is a relatively highly levered company with a debt-to-equity of 89%. This is a bit unusual for a small-cap stock, since they generally have a harder time borrowing than large more established companies. But since WDT is presently loss-making, theres a question of sustainability of its current operations. Running high debt, while not yet making money, can be risky in unexpected downturns as liquidity may dry up, making it hard to operate. Story continues Next Steps: Although WDTs debt level is towards the higher end of the spectrum, its cash flow coverage seems adequate to meet debt obligations which means its debt is being efficiently utilised. However, its low liquidity raises concerns over whether current asset management practices are properly implemented for the small-cap. Keep in mind I havent considered other factors such as how WDT has been performing in the past. You should continue to research Wellington Drive Technologies to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: Historical Performance: What has WDTs returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. The Kroger Co. KR has inked a deal with an affiliate of Peak Rock Capital for the sale of its Turkey Hill business. Prior to this, the company announced plans to divest Turkey Hill in August 2018. The financial details of the deal, which is expected to close during the first quarter of fiscal 2019, remain undisclosed. Per the deal, Turkey Hill will continue to operate from its Conestoga, PA, facility, under its own brand name. Also, the division will retain its employees of about 800 full-time, part-time and seasonal associates. Further, the net proceeds from the deal will be utilized to reduce Krogers debt level. Turkey Hill, which is part of Krogers Our Brands (owned brands), is one of the companys popular ice-cream brands. Apart from ice creams, Turkey Hill produces a complete line of popular iced teas, fruit drinks, milk and other frozen desserts. This move is in sync with the companys plans to narrow its non-grocery footprint and make investments to expand its grocery offerings and e-commerce presence. In this regard, the company divested its convenience stores to U.K.-based EG Group in April 2018. The company is aggressively working toward enriching customers shopping experience via innovations and enhancement of e-commerce capabilities. Keeping in these lines, Kroger partnered with British online grocery delivery company, Ocado and expanded its Home Chef Express meal kits nationwide. Apart from these, the company started using Nuros fully autonomous, driverless vehicles for grocery delivery services. Additionally, it recently launched Kroger Pay, a mobile payment app. The company also partnered with Microsoft to use Azure, its most preferred cloud platform, for Retail as a Service (RaaS) a Kroger solution. These above-mentioned strategies are in response to stiff competition from the companys rivals, Walmart WMT, Target TGT and Amazon AMZN that are ramping up in the grocery delivery space. We believe that such initiatives will help provide cushion to this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock that has declined 11.2% in the past three months against the industrys growth of 12.4%. The stock came under pressure following the companys fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 results, wherein the bottom line not only missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate but also declined year over year. Although total sales topped the consensus mark, it dropped from the year-ago quarters figure. Management also provided muted earnings view for fiscal 2019. (Read: Kroger's Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, FY19 View Soft). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Story continues This Could Be the Fastest Way to Grow Wealth in 2019 Research indicates one sector is poised to deliver a crop of the best-performing stocks you'll find anywhere in the market. Breaking news in this space frequently creates quick double- and triple-digit profit opportunities. These companies are changing the world and owning their stocks could transform your portfolio in 2019 and beyond. Recent trades from this sector have generated +98%, +119% and +164% gains in as little as 1 month. Click here to see these breakthrough stocks now >> 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 Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Kroger Co. (KR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research New York (AFP) - Lawsuits can provide big payoffs. And betting on the outcome of a lawsuit is becoming a hot new way for Wall Street investors to cash in. Investment companies specializing in financing legal proceedings are moving in to capitalize on the new business line, allowing one side to finance the costs of litigation -- lawyers and expert witnesses -- in exchange for a percentage of the award either after the trial concludes or from any settlement between the parties. This practice began in Australia about 20 years ago but has recently gained momentum in the United States. The simplest way for private investors to get in on the action is to buy shares of the companies that specialize in litigation finance, like heavyweight Burford Capital, which is worth 4 billion pounds on the London Stock Exchange, or Bentham IMF on the Australian Securities Exchange. But more and more institutional investors, hedge funds and pension funds are buying into the investment vehicles created by these firms that specialize in finding lawsuits with potential for big payouts. "It's really difficult for a small business to fight a big company," said Ralph Sutton, a veteran of the industry who raised $250 million to launch his own company, Validity Finance, last June. Litigation funding can "improve their ability to access the legal system more effectively," because it "helps level the playing field and permits cases to be adjudicated on merits and not on money plaintiffs or defendants may have," he said. - In a few clicks - On the LexShares internet platform, created in 2014, accredited investors can choose the case they want to bet on, from patent infringement, to breach of contract or theft of trade secrets. Companies that are filing the lawsuit can, in just a few clicks, raise funds from the site. But the platform also actively searches for cases that would make attractive investments. "We created a piece of software that mines in the raw text when cases are filed," said LexShares founder Jay Greenberg. Story continues Using an algorithm with 17 parameters the cases are given a ranking, after which a team of lawyers assesses the merits of the case, the abilities of the lawyers, and verifies that the defendant will be able to pay any compensation. Of the 80 cases funded by LexShares so far, involving amounts ranging from $35,000 to $4 million, there have been 20 victories in the 24 completed cases. While an investor can also lose his investment if the ruling goes the wrong way, on average, the return on investment is 65 percent each year, Greenberg said. And many people want to try their luck. "Investor demand is very high, we sell out within hours." - Frivolous lawsuits - It is difficult to measure the size of this industry since the litigation finance companies are discreet about their business. But America's very litigious society could offer a wealth of opportunities. Bentham IMF estimates legal services expenditures total $357.6 billion a year in the United States, far ahead of the United Kingdom ($54.9 billion), Canada ($25.72 billion) or Australia ($19.7 billion). But the company is starting cautiously: Bentham IMF funded only four US cases in the second half of 2018. But the firm raised another $500 million in December for a fund geared at new cases. Some observers cringe at this new type of investment, fearing the influx of money could fuels a profusion of frivolous lawsuits. The American Chamber of Commerce in particular wants to require that plaintiffs disclose if they are using this kind of financing for their cases. Maya Steinitz, a professor at Harvard University's law school, said giving the plaintiffs the means they need to seek justice is beneficial. But she acknowledged that the market is "mostly unregulated." Investors are not subject to the same ethical obligations as lawyers, for example, so they potentially could force a plaintiff to refuse or agree to a financial settlement of the case. "Finance is a utility which can be used or abused," she said. Catherine Blaiklock has quit as leader of the new Brexit Party over anti-Islamic comments she posted on Twitter (Getty) The brand new Brexit Party has already hit its first scandal after the leader quit after anti-Islamic tweets were unearthed. Catherine Blaiklock resigned on Wednesday, just two months after she set up the party with Nigel Farage, who went on to represent the group in the European Parliament. The former Ukip economics spokeswoman had claimed in Twitter posts that Islam was a threat to most of society, was incompatible with liberal democracy and a submission mostly to raping men. It is understood she took the decision to stand down in response to journalists discovering the comments online. In a resignation statement, Ms Blaiklock said her role had been successful in working with Nigel Farage to set the party up and register it with the Electoral Commission. The Brexit Party has the backing of former Ukip leader Nigel Farage (Getty) The out-of-character comments that I made on social media some time ago were unacceptable in tone and content, she continued. After speaking to Nigel Farage, I realise that my comments fall well short of what is expected in any walk of life. I have accordingly tendered my resignation as party leader. Read more from Yahoo News UK Identity of hunter who shot sleeping lion revealed Helpful mouse filmed tidying up pensioners garden shed Tony Blair says there is no point praying to God to solve Brexit Anti-racism campaigners Hope Not Hate, who helped unearth the since-deleted posts, celebrated her resignation. Blaiklocks abhorrent racist social media posts reveal the true nature of Nigel Farages Brexit Party: new branding, same old nasty underbelly, campaign director Matthew McGregor said. One tweet in June 2017 read: Islam = submission mostly to raping men it seems. #ukip. Mr Farage said he wanted to attract Leave voters from across the traditional political spectrum to the new party (Getty) And, in December that year, another said: Islam Threat to women, gays, whites, non-Muslims, Blacks, Indians, Chinese aggression to everyone but themselves. She also retweeted a post which spoke of a white genocide, a term favoured by the far-right and found in the manifesto of the man suspected of the Christchurch mosque murders. Story continues The Brexit Party was registered on February 5 and eight days later Mr Farage tweeted that he was representing the organisation in Brussels. Mr Farage said he wanted to attract Leave voters from across the traditional political spectrum, adding: I genuinely believe people would be very surprised at the support it would attract. The former Ukip leader quit the party in December stating he was uncomfortable with its direction under Gerard Batten. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Republican senators Joni Ernst of Iowa and Mike Lee of Utah recently introduced the Child Rearing and Development Leave Empowerment (CRADLE) Act, the latest conservative effort to develop a paid-leave policy that enables parents to stay home with their newborns. The budget-neutral plan borrows from a policy paper by Kristin Shapiro of the Independent Womens Forum and mirrors a similar bill that Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) proposed last Congress, with the backing of Ivanka Trump. It would amend the Social Security Act to allow parents to take up to three months off from work by drawing on their retirement benefits early in exchange for delaying their benefits after retiring. Both natural and adoptive parents could choose to collect benefits while taking time off from work for either one, two, or three months after a childs birth. Every month taken off would add a two-month delay to activation of Social Security benefits once they reached retirement age, meaning theyd receive their benefits two, four, or six months later than they otherwise would upon retirement. To opt into the program, parents could fill out a form notifying the Social Security Administration (SSA) of their choice to take paid leave, and the SSA would begin sending benefit payments two weeks after the parents applied for their childs Social Security number. Benefit levels would be calculated using the formula that determines Social Security disability payments, taking parents income level into account; the payments would be highest for parents least likely to receive employer-sponsored paid-leave benefits. To be eligible, parents would have to meet work requirements. The United States is the only country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) an intergovernmental economic alliance of 36 member countries that doesnt have a national paid-leave program. Some American conservatives oppose family-leave proposals wholesale, on the grounds that they entrench . . . learned helplessness, cementing the notion that there is no good and worthwhile thing anywhere that the American middle class could possibly be expected to do for themselves, as Robert Tracinski put it in a piece last January. Other conservative economists have resisted these types of programs on the grounds that they increase the scope of the government and arent in fact budget neutral. Story continues Left-wing commentators, meanwhile, have criticized the Lee-Ernst and Rubio proposals as insufficiently helpful to parents, arguing instead for a new welfare program that would offer a separate set of benefits to parents. Washington Post columnist Elizabeth Bruenig, for instance, suggested last year that Rubios bill would in fact punish those who choose to have kids and penalize bigger families more than smaller ones. The latter critique is much less compelling than the former, even for those who stress the value to society of encouraging family formation and growth. No voluntary program can rightly be characterized as penalizing anyone at worst, the CRADLE Act would offer parents one more option to use if they wish. No one would be compelled to opt into the program, and making benefits available earlier would give families greater financial flexibility than they currently have. The conservative argument against the proposal is intriguing as a matter of principle, but it is worth noting that the Republican politicians offering these paid-family-leave bills in recent years are also some of the most conservative policymakers in the Senate. Leaders such as Rubio, Lee, and Ernst care deeply about limited, constitutional government that prioritizes personal responsibility and strong local communities over an enhanced welfare state. They also believe that encouraging family formation and stability and increasing upward mobility should be a priority of any flourishing society. This new proposal is an effort not to expand the government but to protect and cultivate family life, which ought to be the chief goal of any country that cares about its future. No conservative politician aims to instantiate a sprawling welfare state, but using an existing welfare program to encourage child-bearing can hardly be said to drastically undermine the conservative agenda. Families are the bedrock of our society. If young people cant afford to marry and start a family, then the American dream literally has no future, Lee said after unveiling the CRADLE Act last week. We need to make sure our existing social-insurance programs are doing all they can to work for working families. Its past time we modernize our family-leave policies to reflect the evolving needs of todays workforce and to reduce the barriers that pose challenges for parents balancing family and work, Ernst added. Especially as the Right grapples with populist arguments for greater government prioritization of the needs of working-class Americans negatively affected by globalization, conservatives should embrace efforts to incentivize family growth and offer parents more flexibility in caring for their newborns. More from National Review Chicago (AFP) - Waters began to recede Tuesday in the US Midwest after historic flooding that claimed at least three lives and caused losses estimated at more than $1 billion. The flooding across a predominantly rural part of the country was caused by a big storm last week and rapid snow melt that swelled streams and rivers in large swaths of the middle of the United States, and sent gushing water over levees. Hundreds of homes and businesses were inundated, roadways damaged, and bridges washed away in several states, with much of Nebraska and parts of Iowa hardest hit. Officials also were concerned about crop and livestock losses at farms. "This past week will forever be remembered for the historic, devastating flooding our state experienced," Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts said in a statement. "In scope of reach, we believe it is the most widespread natural disaster in our state's history." Vice President Mike Pence headed to Nebraska on Tuesday to survey the damage, where nine shelters remained open for displaced residents. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she and Ricketts would be seeking expedited federal funds to repair roads and other infrastructure. Reynolds has declared 41 Iowa counties disaster areas. "We're continuing to work with local officials to assess the flood damage," she told a news conference. While waters were receding in some areas, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasted flooding would persist in parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. "Major to historic and catastrophic flooding will continue across parts of the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins," the NWS said in an advisory. Nebraska officials estimated that damage to public and private property topped $600 million. The Nebraska Farm Bureau, a group representing farmers, expected crop and livestock losses around $1 billion. "We won't know of course for a little while what the losses are, but I would not be surprised to see the losses to go over a billion dollars for agriculture in Nebraska," the group's president Steve Nelson told The Weather Channel. Story continues Dozens of cities and counties in Nebraska had declared states of emergency. Some residents in small towns and rural areas were surrounded by waters and cut off, while others evacuated to shelters. Reynolds said two-thirds of the small town of Hamburg, with a population of approximately 1,000, was destroyed. Two people were killed in Nebraska last week due to the raging flood waters, while a motorist died in Iowa after his vehicle was swept away. A third of Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska was overcome with floodwaters, and was not expected to be dry again until Thursday. Between restless nights with his three-week old newborn, Alex Saunders is preparing his pitch to the Australian Treasury. In the coming months, he is hoping a series of meetings with top officials will be enough to soothe the government's increasingly sceptical attitude towards crypto, and help them meticulously distinguish between the good, the bad, and the ugly. Still, it's been a trying month for Aussie crypto firms. A crypto fund manager is in court for misplacing millions of dollars of a client's funds, and two exchanges have been suspended for drug trafficking links. It's part of a wider wave of harsher scrutiny being placed on the murkier corners of crypto, and according to Saunders, it's heading towards indiscriminate shutdowns. "First, banks cracked down on crypto exchanges. Then there was a real crackdown on KYC. Now, they're cracking down on businesses," Saunders told The Block, pointing to the Australian Stock Exchange's shutting down of Bitcoin Group's attempt to list. "[Small crypto] businesses are also worried about being overtaxed." The country already hosts an astounding number of crypto exchanges for a buzzing community of enthusiasts (and gung-ho investors), alongside globally-recognised ICO companies relying on Saunders - now a local celebrity - to showcase their talent. The mission Saunders - a pharmacist-turned-crypto veteran - has a plan. He wants to become a government partner to provide the regulatory framework for crypto. In doing so, he can help provide a "tick" of approval for legitimate crypto businesses (including exchanges) complete with audits and transparency checks. "The [government] doesn't understand it all. For them, BitConnect [a renowned scam] is the same as every other ICO." Saunders also wants to show the government his large database of the country's crypto startups, distinguishing between the "dodgy" and the legitimate based on his team's due diligence efforts. Story continues His plan also involves convincing the government to implement a sandbox period, trialing Saunders' proposal of relaxed regulation. "We've got a lot of trust and power from the community from what we've done." It's important for Saunders personally too, as he gears up to help launch Australia's first security token platform alongside running his blockchain education firm. Prospects It's a tough gig, but spectators are optimistic that the government will be receptive given its leader's enthusiasm for blockchain technology. "[Australian Prime Minister Scott] Morrison is very close to fintech, he's connecting industry to tech," said John Ryan, Senior consultant at the Nomura Research Institute, who says the country is already a hub of "innovation." But while Morrison is bullish on blockchain, clear cynicism remains around crypto amid an already "very conservative" approach towards financial regulation under the AUSTRAC laws. The worst case scenario is if they say all ICOs are securities," says Saunders. Doing so could put everything from crypto YouTubers to PowerLedger in legal breach. Anthony Sassono, who runs information site EthHub from Melbourne, added: "I think that the government needs to strike the right balance between regulation and letting teams innovate in the highly experimental cryptocurrency space," he said. "If they create a situation where companies/startups feel like they're being choked by unfair regulation then Australia may lose this business to more regulation-friendly countries." The stakes are high. Australia could become the next Malta - a breeding ground for the next wave of technology with regulatory open arms. Or, Saunders says, "there could be a crackdown on everything." By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The widow and daughter of John McCain on Wednesday criticized President Donald Trump and his online supporters for repeated attacks on the former U.S. senator, Republican presidential nominee and Vietnam War hero who was tortured during five and a half years spent as a prisoner of war. Speaking on Wednesday to an employee at an Ohio factory that makes military tanks, Trump again hammered McCain. So I have to be honest, Ive never liked him much, Trump said. I really probably never will. But there are certain reasons for it. Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late senator, spent the last few days defending her father and politely criticizing Trump. On Wednesday she said the president had reached "a new, bizarre low - attacking someone who is not here is a new low." She also said, "If I had told my dad ... he would think it is so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death." Barely six months after McCain's death, Trump started the latest exchange between himself and the McCain clan on Sunday in a blast of Tweets, including one that attacked "'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain." A spokeswoman for Meghan McCain said she was not immediately available for further comment. Cindy McCain, the senator's widow, sarcastically urged her Twitter followers to "see how kind and loving a stranger can be" and shared with them an online message from someone who described John McCain as a "traitorous piece of warmongering shit and I'm glad he's dead." On Tuesday, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office while sitting next the president of Brazil, Trump added: I never was a fan of John McCain, and I never will be. The tweets and soundbites triggered a swirl of anti-McCain attacks and pro-McCain appeals on social media, like the one Cindy McCain shared, and cable TV discussion. Without rebuking Trump, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a Tweet: "Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate." Republican Senator Johnny Isakson was more critical. In an interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting on Wednesday, he called Trump's remarks about McCain "deplorable." The White House had no comment on Trump's latest attacks. Trump on Wednesday expressed concern about McCain's role in the handling of a "dossier," compiled before the 2016 U.S. presidential election by a former British spy and paid for by lawyers for the Democratic Party and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. The dossier alleged Russian financial dealings with Trump and included salacious personal details that remain unconfirmed. After the election, a copy of the dossier was given to McCain, who gave it to the FBI, according to court documents that were made public last week. Trump and his supporters have aggressively attacked the document ever since its contents became public. John McCain received a fake and phony dossier ... He got it, and what did he do? He didnt call me, Trump said during his visit to the Ohio factory. "He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put me in jeopardy and thats not the nicest thing to do." (Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Dan Grebler and Nick Carey) McDonalds lovers in the Philippines can now nab themselves a free burger by signing up to the Loyalcoin crypto-rewards system. Loyalcoin is a blockchain-based customer loyalty program that rewards users in crypto for being loyal to brands registered with the service. Users are able to use Loyalcoins to redeem rewards from affiliated brands and can convert them to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and XEM through Loyalcoins partner institutions. According to a Facebook post by Loyalcoin, the company has now partnered with fast-food giant McDonalds in the Philippines. Users who download the Loyalcoin wallet app on their mobile phones can even receive a free McDo burger. To get the free burger, users will need to download the app, complete two-factor authentication, and have 10 Philippine pesos worth of Lcredits (Loyalcoin credits) on the app. Finally, upon approval, users can claim the free McDo burger. The promotion period began on March 18th and will end on April 30th 2019. The redemption period will end on June 30th 2019. This isnt the first time McDonalds has ventured into the crypto space. In 2017, McDonalds Thailand partnered with Omise. Omise is building an Ethereum-based Proof-of-Stake (PoS) platform with the aim of decentralising payment networks and creating an open, public financial system. The partnership with Omise meant McDonalds Thailand could enhance its online payment channels by leveraging the payment technology offered by Omise. It remains to be seen how much impact the partnership with Loyalcoin will have, but it should help bring more adoption and awareness to the crypto space. Interested in reading more about global companies getting involved in crypto? Discover more about the rumours that Starbucks could soon be accepting crypto payments. The post McDonalds in the Philippines has partnered with Loyalcoin appeared first on Coin Rivet. WASHINGTON Federal authorities began investigating President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in mid-2017 and suggested their inquiry into crimes he said were ordered by the president remains incomplete, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday. In hundreds of pages of search warrant applications, the Justice Department said it began examining Cohen's emails in July 2017 as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. That means federal agents were scrutinizing one of Trump's closest associates far earlier than they had disclosed. In 2018, agents obtained a raft of court orders authorizing them to search Cohen's hotel room, office and electronics for evidence of tax and bank fraud, as well as information about what prosecutors said were illegal payments during Trump's campaign to silence two women who claimed to have had sex with him. Prosecutors said they were investigating a possible conspiracy but didn't elaborate. The warrant materials released Tuesday offer the clearest window yet into the early stages of a wide-ranging investigation of one of Trump's closest aides, his personal attorney and problem solver. In one justification for the searches, authorities said they were searching for evidence of false bank statements, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal campaign contributions and conspiracy as it pertains to the other subject offenses. Equally revealing were the details prosecutors and a court agreed could remain secret: In one document, laying out details of what prosecutors called "the illegal campaign contribution scheme," authorities blacked out 18 pages of detail, an indicator that the investigation remains incomplete. Prosecutors had said they opposed making all of the warrant materials public because doing so would jeopardize an ongoing investigation and prejudice the privacy rights of uncharged third parties. Story continues Cohen, a longtime Trump loyalist who once declared he would "take a bullet" for the president, said Trump directed him to set up the hush-money payments, and in testimony before Congress, he accused the president of participating in a criminal conspiracy. Cohen told lawmakers he has been in "constant contact" with federal prosecutors in New York about unspecified cases. He has cooperated with the authorities in the Russia investigation and in the separate inquiry into the payments to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. Trump and congressional Republicans questioned Cohen's credibility. Trump has dismissed the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt" and called the congressional investigations "presidential harassment." In outlining their requests for information, prosecutors noted the need to keep the inquiry secret, asserting that premature public disclosure of this affidavit or the requested warrants could alert (Cohen) causing him to destroy evidence, flee from prosecution or otherwise seriously jeopardize the investigation. Prosecutors urged a federal judge to direct targets of the warrants information service providers and others not to disclose the existence of the warrants for at least 180 days. Cohen's testimony: 'I am not protecting Mr. Trump anymore.' Michael Cohen ties the president to criminal inquiries More investigations: Michael Cohen's testimony prompts a new question: In web of Trump investigations, is anyone safe? Sentenced: Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, is sentenced to three years in prison for 'dirty deeds' The FBI obtained a search warrant for Cohen's Gmail account July 18, 2017, and weeks later obtained another for his Apple iCloud account. The searches, conducted as part of the Russia investigation, sought documents dating to 2015. Mueller's office turned part of its investigation of Cohen over to federal prosecutors in early 2018. Months later, the FBI raided his hotel room and office, seizing troves of documents. As that inquiry went forward, Mueller examined Cohen over statements he made to Congress about a lucrative real estate development in Moscow that would have required the approval of the Russian government. Cohen acknowledged that he lied to lawmakers to hide the fact that Trump's business pursued the deal until he had effectively secured the Republican nomination. In the months before the raid in April 2018, Muellers investigators obtained court orders authorizing them to record communication flowing through the Trump attorneys email accounts, as part of its wide-ranging inquiry. Monday, U.S. District Judge William Pauley ordered redacted versions of the documents to be released after nine news organizations, including ABC and CBS News, The Associated Press, CNN and The Wall Street Journal, sought to unseal them, citing public interest and a right to access. Cohens lawyer Lanny Davis said in a statement Monday that the release of the documents furthers Cohens interest in continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump organization to law enforcement and Congress. Cohen pleaded guilty last year to federal bank and tax fraud charges and to two campaign finance violations for orchestrating the payments to two women. He separately pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's business dealings in Russia. Cohen is scheduled to begin a three-year prison term May 6. From January to August 2017, Cohen received more than $580,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment management firm controlled by Renova Group, a Switzerland holding company controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, the government said in a court filing. Columbus Nova said the company is not and has never been owned by foreign entities, including Vekselberg or Renova Group. The company said Columbus Nova hired Cohen as a business consultant after Trump's inauguration, and it has managed assets on behalf of Renova Group companies and other clients. Vekselberg, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is one of several oligarchs the Trump administration sanctioned in 2018. Throughout 2017, Cohen received millions of dollars from several more foreign entities, including a South Korea company that makes and sells aircraft to the Department of Defense, documents say. The searches were conducted at his residence, an apartment at 502 Park Ave.; his office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza; his safe-deposit box at a bank in his apartment building; and Room 1628 of the Loews Regency Hotel. More about Michael Cohen's testimony about President Trump, and his case: Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, ends 3 days of 'excruciating' testimony with another scheduled Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, gets 2-month delay to start prison term This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: From Russia to hush money: Court records offer new details on inquiries of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen Authorities said a 40-year-old Mexican man died in U.S. Border Patrol custody at a Texas hospital on Monday, making it the fourth death in as many months. The man was treated at the Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso after medical staff diagnosed him with flu-like symptoms, liver failure and renal failure. He died later that day, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. Telemundo has identified the man as Rene Pablo Perez Gordillo of Maltrata, Veracruz, citing the Consulate General of Mexico. Sandra Perez places a photo of her late brother, Rene Pablo Perez, at an altar in her home in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Tuesday. (Photo: Jose Luis Gonzalez / Reuters) According to the CBP, the migrant had twice crossed the border illegally just 24 hours earlier. During his second detainment, medical personnel at the Border Patrols processing facility evaluated him near El Pasos Paso Del Norte Port of Entry and then transported him to the medical center. Andrew Meehan, CBPs assistant commissioner for public affairs, expressed condolences to the mans family and loved ones. CBP remains committed to ensuring the safe, humane and dignified treatment of those within the care of our custody, he said in a statement. Consistent with CBP policy, CBPs Office of Professional Responsibility has initiated a review. The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General and the Government of Mexico has been notified. A woman in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, embraces the daughter of Perez, a Mexican migrant who died at a Texas hospital on Monday. (Photo: Jose Luis Gonzalez / Reuters) The mans death follows several others within the last few months. On Dec. 8, a 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died from what authorities said was dehydration and shock while in U.S. Border Patrol custody. Weeks later, on Dec. 24, an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody. Initial results from an autopsy determined that he died from the flu. Most recently, on Feb. 3, a 45-year-old Mexican man in Border Patrol custody died at another Texas hospital after staff diagnosed him with cirrhosis of the liver and congestive heart failure. New bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing is seen in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Four migrants have died while in Border Patrol custody since December. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters) Prior to the deaths in December, no child had died in CBP custody for more than a decade, according to CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. McAleenan earlier this month described the border patrol system as well beyond capacity and at the breaking point. Story continues He said approximately 2,200 people arrive at the border, sometimes by the busload, every day. The current processing centers are filled to capacity and beyond overwhelmed. This is clearly both a border security and a humanitarian crisis, he said. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. Related Coverage Record-Breaking Family Migration Overwhelming Resources, Border Officials Say Homeland Security Chief Faults Parents, 'Open Border' Supporters In Migrant Kids' Deaths 7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration In Border Patrol Custody Father Of Guatemalan Boy Who Died In U.S. Custody Heard Rumors They Could Cross Border Trump Blames Democrats For Deaths Of 2 Children In Border Patrol Custody This article originally appeared on HuffPost. SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Executives at Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, quashed efforts by Brazilian authorities to audit one of the company's mining dams months before it collapsed and killed over 300 people, a state prosecutor was quoted as saying by news website G1 on Wednesday. William Garcia, a prosecutor in Minas Gerais where the January disaster occurred, told G1 his office had filed subpoenas with Vale last June to review safety documents regarding Vale's dam. But Vale's lawyers responded in November arguing they had received positive reviews of the dam by an auditor the firm had hired, the German firm Tuv Sud, Garcia said. Tuv Sud "was used to make it more difficult for prosecutors to investigate and hide from public view the state of that dam, which was so critical that less than two months later it broke," Garcia said at an anti-corruption event in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. In a statement, Vale said it had asked for the prosecutor's inquiries to be dismissed because it "fully trusted" that Tuv Sud's reports and the company's broader safety measures "proved the stability of the dam in accordance with the law." Tuv Sud declined to comment. Garcia did not respond to a request for comment. Investigators have been scrutinizing the relationship between Vale and Tuv Sud, which had certified the dam as safe, including allegations made by prosecutors that the auditor was hired after another firm declined to certify the structures as safe. The tailings dam at Vale's Corrego do Feijao iron ore mine burst on Jan. 25, releasing a torrent of mining waste that buried workers and local residents in the nearby town of Brumadinho. Vale has set up a three-person committee to carry out its own investigation into what caused the dam to break. On Wednesday, the company said it had appointed Manuel Martins to the committee to replace Jean-Pierre Remy, who was previously a consultant to prosecutors who investigated an earlier collapse of a Vale dam in 2015. Vale also said on Wednesday that an investment fund controlled by U.S.-based Capital Group had increased its stake to 5 percent of the company's common shares. Shares in Vale closed 2.58 percent lower in Sao Paulo on Wednesday. (Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Rosalba O'Brien) By Karen Dillon PERU, Neb. (Reuters) - When Jim and Rose Downing heard forecasts last week for dangerously high water in their Nebraska hometown on the Missouri River, they were nonplussed since their house had not flooded in 100 years. Rose is the third generation of her family to reside in the brick home in the Gunnysack Flats neighborhood near downtown Peru, Nebraska, and 2 miles west of a levee that townspeople said never faltered in the past. This time was different, as the fewer than 1,000 residents of Peru discovered on Saturday when numerous Missouri River levees were breached due to heavy rainfall and snow melt. This included the earthen barrier near Peru, about 60 miles south of Omaha, the Army Corps of Engineers said. We had only about 40 minutes" to evacuate, Rose, 57, recalled. They scrambled when water began to infiltrate about an eighth of a mile from the house. My husband was saying, Get out of here, get out of here. As we were backing out of the driveway, the water was coming up the driveway, she said. In the scramble, the Downings managed to grab their cat, Gunk, as well as a few clothes, a television set, a curio cabinet, bedding and their medicines. But their most of their furniture and appliances remain in the house, surrounded by water. Parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri have been inundated since late last week with floods that followed a powerful winter hurricane that slammed into Americas Farm Belt. The deluge has killed livestock, destroyed grains and soybeans in storage and cut off access to farms due to road and rail damage. At least four people have been killed in the region as a result of the flooding. Brett Adams, 39, a soybean and corn farmer who has a couple thousand acres on both sides of the river - which forms Nebraska's border with Missouri - said he wasnt too worried by the initial forecasts, either. The prediction that high water was coming wasnt too concerning, Adams said. Weve never had water go over the levee. But two days later, we learned the river was going to rise 15 feet and it was full panic attack." Story continues Adams began moving his farm machinery to higher ground. But the Downings still felt their own house was safe. Instead of making preparations, they said they helped Adams and other neighbors who lived closer to the levee move their possessions. We were helping everybody else because we didnt think it was going to get us, said Rose, who works at the local Caseys convenience store. Her husband works in a truck stop across the river in Missouri. Adams, a fourth-generation farmer, wont have any crops this season. The Downings are now staying with friends in an apartment near Peru State College. They did not have flood insurance. Im mentally, physically, running off adrenaline, said Rose, as tears pooled in her eyes. Its hard. Its hard to start over at this age. (Writing By Frank McGurty; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) The mother of a nine-year-old girl whose body was found stuffed into a duffel bag and dumped on a horse trail has been charged with murder. Californian prosecutors said Taquesta Graham, 28, was charged with murdering Trinity Love Jones whose body was found by a park worker on March 5. Grahams boyfriend, Emiel Hunt was charged with murder on March 13 and papers filed at Los Angeles County Superior Court reveal detectives believe the girl was killed on, or around, March 1. Trinity was found more than two weeks ago at the bottom of an embankment in the suburb of Hacienda Heights. Emiel Hunt has been charged with killing of Trinity Love Jones, a nine-year-old girl whose body was found in a duffel bag along a suburban horse trail. (AP) A park worker discovered Trinity after he spotted part of her upper body sticking out of a black duffel bag at the bottom of an embankment in Hacienda Heights, just southeast of Los Angeles. Friends and family members described her as a joyful and talented girl who did well in school. Read more from Yahoo News UK: More Birmingham schools refuse to teach LGBT lessons Tony Blair says there is no point praying to God to solve Brexit Man shot by armed police in Hackney A memorial near where her body was found featured stuffed animals, heart-shaped balloons, dozens of votive candles and notes expressing love for Trinity and one that said Rest in heaven, Princess. There were no obvious signs of trauma on her body. Trinity Love Jones, who was found dead in a duffel bag along a suburban Los Angeles equestrian trail on March 5, 2019. (Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office via AP, File) Authorities have not revealed a cause of death or motive. Hunt, who has a record of felony child abuse, was arrested on March 9 after police found him sleeping in his vehicle near San Diego International Airport. Antonio Jones, the father of the victim, said the girl had been living with her mother, Taquesta Graham, and she hadnt let him see the girl. He and other family members were in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona as Hunt made a brief appearance but did not enter a plea. I felt like a monster. I wanted to do to him what he did to her, Barbara Jones, the girls grandmother, told reporters outside court. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Natalie Portman is heading to space in her latest movie Lucy in the Sky. The Oscar-winning actress plays astronaut Lucy Cola, who after returning to Earth after a transcendent experience during a mission to space begins to lose touch with reality in a world that now seems too small. She begins an affair with fellow astronaut Mark Goodwin (John Hamm) and soon her life begins to spiral out of control. Read more: The Disney-Fox deal will change superhero movies forever Natalie Portman plays an astronaut in her new movie The film is loosely based on Lisa Nowak, the US astronaut caught up in a criminal scandal which revolved around her romantic involvement with fellow astronaut William Oefelein. She was arrested for attempted kidnapping of US Air Force pilot Colleen Shipman, Oefeleins girlfriend, at Houston airport in 2007. Read more John David Washington cast in Nolans next film The film is loosely based on the life of US astronaut Lisa Nowalk Nowalk was selected by NASA in 1996 to join the space program and in July 2006 she flew in the Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-121 mission to be in charge of operating the robotic arm of the shuttle and International Space Station. Lucy in the Sky is the feature directorial debut of Noah Hawley who has earned critical acclaim for his X-Men spin-off show Legion. It stars Dan Stevens and the British actor also appears in the movie. Deadpools Zazie Beetz and Ellen Burstyn also star in the drama co-written by Hawley, Brian C. Brown, John-Henry Butterworth and, Elliott DiGuiseppi. Lucy in the Sky is set for release later this year. Canada remains the only country with universal healthcare but no national drug plan. (Getty) The federal government is setting the foundation for a national prescription drug plan by pledging $35 million towards the inaugural agency. The plan, which was unveiled as part of Tuesdays budget announcement, would determine what essential drugs should be accessible to all Canadians. The Liberals also committed $1 billion to help with the often-exorbitant price of medicine for rare illnesses. While the feds have set the wheels in motion for a national pharmacare plan, many of the crucial details remain unknown. Its unclear if the program will be funded through a single-payer plan, similar to how most Canadians pay for doctors and hospitals, or go by a fill-in-the-gaps approach, as they do in Quebec, where both public and private insurance is used. Danyaal Raza, chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, calls the announcement an important building block. It allows us to make evidence-based decisions on the prescription medications that we want to include in a pharmacare plan, he told Yahoo Canada. It also brings together some of the different public payers the provinces to do joint negotiations to pay better prices than what we pay right now for prescription drugs. Raza says there are already agencies within the country that have built the infrastructure for such a program. The Canadian Agency for Drug and Technology Health Assessment (CADTH), for example, has an expert committee that assesses whether recently introduced medications on the market are both more effective and accessible. Theres also the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (PCPA), which pools resources and, for a small number of generic medications, bulk buy and jointly negotiate with drug companies to drive down the costs. Raza predicts that the Canadian drug agency will take the work that CADTH and PCPA have done and bring it under one national agency, align the work and amplify it. These are important pre-conditions for a national pharmacare plan, but its not a national pharmacare plan, he says. Theres been no money announcedwere still waiting to hear where the government will land on that. Story continues Its likely these questions will be answered in the October election, where each party will have an opportunity to reveal where they stand on the issue. Canada is the only high-income country with universal health care that doesnt include a universal drug plan. Canadians also pay some of the highest costs for prescription drugs in the world. Prescription medicine spending in Canada jumped from $2.6 billion in 1985 to $33.7 billion in 2018. Raza says this is why the conversation needs to move forward and he suspects that there will be lots of pressure from all sides when it comes to funding the program. The evidence shows that doing it with a universal public plan is far more effective than doing it with a fill-in-the-gap approach, he says. The benefits for the average Canadian will not be immediate. In the medium-term, we will hopefully see drug prices come down, but only for those drugs covered by a public plan, Raza says. The greatest benefit will only come, if the creation of this agency is followed by a commitment from the government to a universal public drug plan. The National Portrait Gallery is housed in the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London. Photo: Getty The National Portrait Gallery dropped a 1m ($1.3m) donation from the controversial Sackler family over its role in the US opioid crisis. The London gallery said it has jointly agreed with the family not to proceed with a donation from its charity, the Sackler Trust, which was offered in 2016. The family owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, accused of fuelling the deadly opioid epidemic across America by misleading doctors and patients about the dangers of the highly-addictive narcotic. READ MORE: How doctors in the US prescribe opioids four charts Almost 50,000 drug overdose deaths were attributed to opioids in the US in 2017. Purdue Pharma has been named in dozens of lawsuits across the country. It is reportedly exploring bankruptcy amid litigation. The National Portrait Gallery has been reviewing the pledge for over a year as part of standard procedure, it said. On Tuesday, it announced the donation would not go ahead. This makes the National Portrait Gallery the first major art institution to reject a grant from the trust. The charity has reportedly made donations to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Theatre, Shakespeares Globe, the Tate Modern and The Serpentine gallery. READ MORE: One thing is clear: FDA opioids adviser bashes Big Pharma and FDA over ongoing crisis The decision follows campaigning from various activists and artists who have argued accepting the money would make the gallery complicit in the harm Purdue Pharma has been accused of causing. The Sackler family has vigorously denied any allegations against it, a representative for the trust said. However, it will not to proceed at this time with the donation, to avoid being a distraction for the gallery. The giving philosophy of the family has always been to actively support institutions while never getting in the way of their mission, the trust said in a statement. VIDEO: Huge transition from opioids to cannabis in Florida It has become evident that recent reporting of allegations made against Sackler family members may cause this new donation to deflect the National Portrait Gallery from its important work. Story continues UPDATED: A spokesperson for the Sackler Trust contacted Yahoo Finance UK with the following statement: The Sackler Trust has supported institutions playing crucial roles in health, education, science and the arts for almost half a century and we were pleased to have the opportunity to offer a new gift to support the National Portrait Gallery. The giving philosophy of the family has always been to actively support institutions while never getting in the way of their mission. It has become evident that recent reporting of allegations made against Sackler family members may cause this new donation to deflect the National Portrait Gallery from its important work. The allegations against family members are vigorously denied, but to avoid being a distraction for the NPG, we have decided not to proceed at this time with the donation. We continue to believe strongly in the gallery and the wonderful work it does. Photo: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg The in-house lawyers at Wells Fargo & Co. and New York City-based Goldman Sachs have successfully fought off climate-related proxy resolutions sought by activist investors. The proposed resolutions asked the banks to work to reduce the full carbon footprint of their loan and investment portfolios in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming. But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently granted the banks' motions to exclude the resolutions from shareholder consideration. A number of other banks in the world have already committed to decrease the climate impact of their loans in accord with the Paris goals. But since the U.S. does not accept the Paris agreement, most U.S. banks have committed to lowering their own operations footprints but not to reducing loans or investments in fossil fuel companies. For example, Wells Fargo has promised $200 billion in financing through 2030 to businesses that support the transition to a low-carbon economy, including $100 billion toward clean technology and renewable energy projects. Goldman has committed to financing and investing in clean energy with an expanded target of $150 billion by 2025. Attorney Danielle Fugere, president of the nonprofit group As You Sow, which promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility, said Tuesday she was disappointed in the SECs decision and in the banks. Investing in clean technology is not enough, she said. What we have found with these banks is they are reducing their own carbon footprints, but are ignoring the impact of their investments in fossil fuels, Fugere explained. Every dollar invested in fossil fuel infrastructure lives on for many years. Wells Fargo declined to comment Tuesday, and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to messages. Fugere said the group picked just two of the largest U.S. banks to test the waters with resolutions, because last year the SEC surprisingly ruled against a climate change proxy proposal. So we were not surprised this year, but it is very disappointing and of significant concern. From a legal position, she said she does not agree with the recent rulings. We believe the commission has said in the past it is important for shareholders to raise important issues to be discussed as long as they are not micromanaging the company. We think the SEC staff is not interpreting the commissions directive appropriately. The two resolutions were similar in asking the banks to measure the carbon content of their portfolios and decrease the climate impact of their loans. They cited over a dozen banks that have adopted policies to end or significantly reduce financing for Arctic oil or tar sands projects. In addition, BNP Paribas in Paris also phased out business with companies tied to shale development and coal energy. And the World Bank has committed to end upstream oil and gas financing for exploration and production. In contrast, the resolution said Wells Fargo has increased investments in the dirtiest fuels in each of the past three years, including tar sands, Arctic oil and coal. The Goldman resolution said between 2015 and 2017 that the bank invested nearly $9 billion into financing of tar sands, Arctic oil, and coal; and last year it added coal loans to its portfolio. The SECs letter rejecting the Goldman resolution was sent March 12 to Beverly OToole, the banks associate general counsel for corporate governance. It said, In our view, the proposal would require the company to manage its lending and investment activities in alignment with the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement of maintaining global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. The Division of Corporation Finance decision said that by imposing this overarching requirement, the proposal would micromanage the company by seeking to impose specific methods for implementing complex policies in place of the ongoing judgments of management as overseen by its board of directors. The decision was signed by special counsel Courtney Haseley. The Wells Fargo rejection letter was sent March 5 to Elizabeth Ising, a securities partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who works closely with Willie White, senior counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Wells Fargo. The Wells Fargo decision carried essentially the same wording. It was signed by special counsel Kasey Robinson. Fugere said shareholders can see the problem with the risk of global warming impacting their holdings, but the SEC is saying no, you may not raise these important issues. She cited the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. wildfires in California, and the companys subsequent bankruptcy. If the planet is to meet its global warming goals and avoid more climate catastrophes, Fugere said, then it is critical that banks be a part of the solution. (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to "confront" comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. Erdogan - who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections - said on Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification. "Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey," Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. "He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face." Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times during public gatherings in recent days. Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker's "manifesto", which was posted online by the attacker and later taken down. "Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors," Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. "As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present." During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back "in caskets" anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul. Story continues Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad. Despite Peters' intervention, an extract from Tarrant's alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan's rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkey's ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogan's comments be removed from Turkey's state broadcaster. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Australia's ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of Erdogan's government on Wednesday, Morrison said. Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey. Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services. Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. Visitors come to the area to honour their nations fallen on ANZAC Day every April 25. (Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry) The Open University was forced to cancel a conference on prison reform following threats from the transgender lobby, it has emerged. The Open University was forced to cancel a conference on prison reform following threats from the transgender lobby, it has emerged. Over 100 delegates had already bought tickets for the two-day event in May, which was co-organised by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS). But earlier this month, attendees and speakers were notified that the conference had been called off, the Telegraph reports. The CCJS, an educational charity, has been accused of transphobia for its stance that transgender female prisoners should be incarcerated separately from female prisoners. The Open University says the focus of the event had changed so it has been cancelled. Stock image. The Open University faced quite significant pressure from transgender activists. They received a number of emails where some of the language was extraordinarily overheated, a source told The Telegraph. They were effectively being threatened with demonstrations and disruptive activity, possibly in the conference hall itself, and some kind of picket line or protest outside the conference. After the conference was announced, it is understood that activists who had targeted CCJS turned their gaze to Open University by threatening to disrupt the event. The CCJS said in a statement: We are saddened to announce that the conference, Prison Abolition in the UK, planned for 23 and 24 May, has been cancelled. Read more from Yahoo News UK: More Birmingham schools refuse to teach LGBT lessons Tony Blair says there is no point praying to God to solve Brexit Man shot by armed police in Hackney Unfortunately, one of our conference partners has, in recent weeks, been subjected to concerted pressure by those intent on disrupting the conference. In the circumstances, they felt they had no option but to pull out. Meanwhile a spokesman for The Open University said it cancelled the conference due to concerns that discussion was moving away from its main, originally intended, focus to debate the past, present and future of prison abolition. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK By Julie Carriat PARIS (Reuters) - Opposition leaders accused French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, an ally of President Emmanuel Macron, of incompetence after he said on Tuesday he was unaware of policing decisions made during rioting on the Champs Elysees. After another flare-up of violence in Saturday's yellow vest protest, which left the landmark Paris avenue looking like a battleground, calls for heads to roll have grown in France, despite its traditional tolerance for street protests. Rioters set fire to a bank and ransacked stores. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe sacked Paris police chief Michel Delpuech on Monday and two other officials, his chief of staff Pierre Gaudin and Frederic Dupuch of the local police force, a police source said on Tuesday. But politicians piled pressure on Castaner who has been in the job for five months. He was booed in parliament on Tuesday, before an expected grilling from lawmakers. "The Paris police chief is only a fall guy supposed to cover for Castaner's blatant incompetence," Jordan Bardella, far-right Marine Le Pen's candidate for European elections said on Twitter. Castaner faced criticism from opposition politicians after a video of him dancing in a trendy Paris nightclub on the night of the violence surfaced in French media. Castaner told French radio a tougher police approach, decided after rioters looted shops on the Champs Elysees in early December, had not been applied on March 16 as he had ordered. He said he was only made aware that senior police officials had instructed their teams on the ground to hold back on using flash-balls when he visited a police station near the Champs Elysees on Sunday. France has long taken a tolerant approach to protests, farmers have poured manure in front of ministries and trade unions have held creative demonstrations. But the violent, balaclava-clad protesters among the yellow vest demonstrators for such a sustained period has forced the government to introduce increasingly tough policing tactics. This month, United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called for an investigation into the possible excessive use of force by police during the protests, adding to criticism from the European Parliament and national human rights bodies. This criticism had contributed to "inhibiting" police ranks, Castaner suggested. "There was a form of inhibition. Some officials in the hierarchy, some police officers have doubts. Such doubt is not acceptable when you're faced with ultra-violent behavior," Castaner said. Macron's office and Castaner denied French media reports that the president had threatened to fire his minister. What began as a movement against a since-scrapped fuel tax hike and the high cost of living, the yellow vest protests have become a broader movement against Macron, his reforms and elitism. Even before Saturday's destruction, insurance companies had registered 170 million euros of damage since the start of the yellow vest weekly marches in mid-November. (Additionnal reporting by Sarah White, Emmanuel Jarry, Marine Pennetier and Simon Carraud, Editing by Michel Rose and Janet Lawrence) By Asif Shahzad ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Reuters) - The leader of one of Pakistan's main opposition parties, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, accused the government on Wednesday of deliberately targeting political opponents after an anti-graft agency summoned him and his father for questioning. Hundreds of angry supporters of Bhutto's liberal, secular Pakistan People's Party (PPP) thronged the office of the anti-graft agency. Some of them clashed with police, chanting "Down with Imran Khan!" Khan is Pakistan's prime minister. "This isn't a system of accountability. This is a system of political engineering. This is a system of the politics of revenge," Bhutto told a news conference after being questioned at the headquarters of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The NAB said in a statement an investigative team had quizzed Bhutto and his father Asif Ali Zardari for around two hours about three cases. It gave no details on the cases, but said both men had been given questionnaires to be handed back within 10 days. Officials have previously told Pakistan's Supreme Court that the cases were related to corruption and money laundering. The family denies all accusations of corruption and says the cases have been fabricated for political reasons. Bhutto, son of assassinated two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said one of the cases he had been questioned about dated back to when he was a newly born baby. The transfer of the cases to the city of Rawalpindi from Karachi, where his party governs, showed bad intentions, he added. FAMILY WOES Bhutto's party rules Pakistan's southern Sindh province and came third in last July's general election, which Khan's Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf) won. Bhutto's mother Benazir was assassinated in a gun and suicide attack in December 2007. His father Zardari spent 11 years in jail before his release in 2004 on corruption and murder charges, which were never proved. Story continues "These things aren't new to me. I have seen this all as a little boy along with my mother visiting these accountability offices and these jails," Bhutto said. Bhutto says the latest corruption campaign against him and his fellow party leaders is intended to reverse provincial autonomy and divert regional funds to the federal government. Opposition parties say Khan won power with the backing of Pakistan's powerful military, which he and the army deny. (Writing by Asif Shahzad Editing by Gareth Jones) Reportedly, Petrobras PBR is set to receive around $10 billion from the Brazilian government to settle the transfer-of-rights dispute. The dispute basically relates to the oil-producing zone offshore Brazil (known as the transfer-of-rights area) and dates back to 2010. Notably, in 2010, the government granted Petrobras the right to explore 5 billion barrels of oil and gas off the Brazilian coast, in return of additional shares in the company. The governments move was seen as an effort to maintain control in the state-owned energy giant. It was estimated thereafter that the transfer-of-rights area held recoverable resources comprising around 15 billion barrels of oil and gas, which was in excess of what Petrobras was entitled to produce under the 2010 deal. The cash-strapped Brazilian government is thus seeking auction rights for the extraction of the excess oil from the area. However, before auctioning, it is important for both the parties (Petrobras and the Brazilian government) to resolve their disputes over the area. Notably, in January, there were reports that the Brazilian government has agreed to pay $14 billion to the company to end the long-running dispute. However, the Brazilian Economy Ministry denied the reports. Nonetheless, Brazils mines and energy minister Bento Albuquerque acknowledged Petrobras as the creditor in the dispute and expected the conflict to get resolved within 100 days. Per latest updates, both the parties are close to reaching a final agreement, wherein Petrobras is likely to receive a compensation of around $10 billion from the government. Further, the Brazilian oil giant is likely to receive payments from third-party bidders who are seeking to partner with it to develop deepwater oil projects. Hence, the companies bidding for the exploration of the area have to compensate Petrobras to the extent to which the latter has already invested in those blocs. Bloomberg projects Petrobras to receive an additional $9 billion from the companies, in addition to the payment it will be receiving from the government. Story continues As it is, with Brazil boasting large oil and gas resources in its pre-salt zone area, the nation is gradually becoming a hotspot for the Big Oil companies. Petrobras is entering into various strategic partnerships with foreign oil giants to drive exploration momentum. In this regard, the company has inked deals with major players like TOTAL S.A. TOT, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A and Equinor ASA EQNR. The settlement of this transfer-of-rights dispute will make the country an even more attractive destination for oil supermajors. Apart from putting an end to the dispute, the payments of around $19 billion ($10 billion from the government and the rest from bidding companies) would help the company trim its debt levels to a considerable extent. Notably, while the companys net debt of $100 billion peaked in 2015, concentrated efforts to lower leverage, and boost liquidity through operational efficiency and divestment of non-core assets have helped Petrobras to deleverage to a considerable extent. Its net debt declined to $69.4 billion in 2018, decreasing from $84.9 billion a year ago and $96.4 billion in 2016. As we know, Branco, Petrobras CEO, aims to divest around $10 billion of assets by April 2019, signaling the divestment of TAG assets worth $8 billion, which had been stalled by the court earlier. Apart from this, Petrobras is also in talks with PetroReconcavo to jettison 34 oilfields in northeast Brazil. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is focused on vending its non-core assets to drive exploration momentum in core areas and strengthen its financials. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 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By Dominique Patton BAODING, China (Reuters) - When pigs on the Xinda Husbandry Co. Ltd breeding farm in northern China began dying in growing numbers in early January, it looked increasingly likely that the farm had been struck by the much feared African swine fever, an incurable disease that has spread rapidly across the country since last year. But after taking samples from some pigs, local officials in the Xushui district of Baoding city, about an hour's drive from Beijing, said their tests came back negative, said Sun Dawu, chairman of Hebei Dawu Agriculture Group, the farm owner. As hundreds of pigs began dying daily on the 20,000-head farm, the company obtained a test kit that showed some positive results for the virus. But after further lobbying by Xinda, officials just offered the company subsidies for farm buildings and other investments, said Sun. Sun's account of events and pictures taken by farm staff of dead pigs lying in rows and a pile outside the farm could not be independently verified. Xushui district said in a faxed response to Reuters on Tuesday that it was opening an investigation into the case, adding that it had found some "discrepancies" with the reported version of events. "If there is illegal behavior, relevant departments will handle it according to the law," added the statement from the local government's investigative committee. Farmers and other industry insiders told Reuters that China's African swine fever epidemic is far more extensive than official reports suggest, making the disease harder to contain, potentially causing pork shortages and increasing the likelihood that it will spread beyond China's borders. "Our full expectation is that the number of cases is under-reported," said Paul Sundberg, executive director at the Swine Health Information Center in Ames, Iowa, which is funded by American pork producers. "And if there's so much of that virus in the environment in China, then we are at increased risk of importing it." China does not permit the commercial sale of African swine fever test kits, though many are now available. Official confirmation must come from a state-approved laboratory. "Public confirmation of disease is the government's job," Sun told Reuters at his company headquarters in Xushui in late February. Frustrated by the lack of action and mounting losses from the disease, Sun eventually published details of the suspected outbreak on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo on Feb. 22. Two days later, it became the first African swine fever case in Hebei province, one of the north's top pig producing regions, to be reported by China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, about seven weeks after the company says it had alerted local authorities. By then, more than 15,000 pigs on the Xinda farm had already died, said Sun, and the company even sold on thousands of pigs - potentially spreading the disease further. Sun said officials did not explain why their first test had been negative, though he suggested it may have been because they took samples from live pigs on the farm and did not test the dead ones. China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not reply to a faxed request for comment on the case. The agriculture ministry has warned against covering up outbreaks of the disease, and in January highlighted two large farms that had tried to conceal outbreaks. UNCONFIRMED OUTBREAKS Detailed accounts of unconfirmed outbreaks shared with Reuters by two other farm company managers suggest Sun's experience is not unique. In one case in northern China last year, local officials declined to even carry out a test. In another case in Shandong province, official test results came back negative, despite clinical symptoms that strongly pointed to African swine fever and a positive test result obtained by the company itself. Neither manager was willing to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Once an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) is confirmed, all pigs on the farm, as well as any within a 3-km (1.8-mile) radius, must be culled and disposed of, according to Chinese law, and farmers should be paid 1,200 yuan ($180) per pig culled. For some cash-strapped county governments, avoiding compensation payments could be an incentive not to report disease, said a senior official with a major pig producer. When the disease hit one of the company's 6,000-head sow farms in the northeast in November, local authorities did nothing, the official said. "It was never tested by the government. We couldn't do the test because we didn't have the capability. But there's no question it was ASF, based on the symptoms and lesions," he told Reuters, declining to be identified because of company policy. A county official in northeastern Liaoning province told Reuters in January that the local government had poured so much money and resources into preventing and controlling African swine fever that it risked bankrupting the county. But wealthy Shandong province, northern China's biggest producer of hogs, has only confirmed one case of the disease, on Feb. 20. Insiders at one company said four of its farms in the province had suffered swine fever infections, however, suggesting more unconfirmed outbreaks may have occurred. After the company's first outbreak in early January the local government tested and the results came back negative, said an executive, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. Shandong province's animal husbandry bureau did not respond to a fax seeking comment on unreported cases. 'SPATIAL RANDOMNESS' There is no cure or vaccine for African swine fever and it kills about 90 percent of infected pigs. Analysts forecast pig production in China, which eats about half of the world's pork, will fall more than during the 2006 'blue ear' epidemic, one of the worst disease outbreaks in recent years, with some expecting a decline of around 30 percent in 2019. That would send meat prices soaring and trigger huge demand for imports. The agriculture ministry said last week the pig herd in February had dropped 16.6 percent year-on-year, and sow stocks were down more than 19 percent. China also has a patchy record of reporting disease. Details of the blue ear outbreak, which infected more than 2 million hogs, did not emerge until months after the damage had already been done, and the number of pigs that died is still disputed. Like blue ear, African swine fever does not harm people. But it is classified a reportable disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), a global body that promotes transparency, and member country China is obliged to report each outbreak. "You need to move faster than the virus, it's a very simple equation of how to control disease," said Trevor Drew, director of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory at the national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. "If you don't know where the virus is, you can't stop it." Since August 2018, Beijing has reported 112 outbreaks in 28 provinces and regions. The increase has slowed considerably in 2019 and the agriculture ministry said earlier this month the situation was "gradually improving". But some suspect the disease is worse than the official data suggest. "I am very much hoping that I am wrong, but if I consider the epidemiological characteristics of this virus disease, I would have to be extremely skeptical," said Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of veterinary epidemiology at the City University of Hong Kong. He pointed to the "spatial randomness" of the reported outbreaks, unusual for an infectious disease, which normally develops in clusters. The high rate of detection of the virus in food products carried from China to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia, as well as domestically, also indicated a much higher presence of the virus in Chinese pigs than reported, said Pfeiffer and others. LARGE FARMS, LARGE LOSSES With extremely high density of pigs, raised largely on low-biosecurity farms, tackling disease is widely recognized as a major challenge for China. But the disease has hit both small farms and large producers, say industry insiders, despite better hygiene and training at factory farms. "The large producers have not been spared," said a manager with a company that supplies several of China's top pig producers. "Everyone is trying really hard on biosecurity, but they're still getting outbreaks, and they're frustrated and losing hope." He said he knew of eight large breeding farms that had experienced outbreaks, including two on very large, 10,000-head sow farms. None were officially reported. He declined to be named or to reveal the names of the producers because of client confidentiality. Beijing has not officially reported any swine fever on the farms of large listed producers, whose shares are trading at record levels as investors bet the big producers will benefit from tighter supplies. Qin Yinglin, chairman of China's No.2 producer, Muyuan Foods Co Ltd, which raised 11 million pigs for slaughter last year, said most large companies were likely to be infected. "If you checked carefully, testing one-by-one, then for sure everyone has it," he told Reuters in an interview. "This is a high probability event." He said it was "not yet known" if his firm had been hit. (For a graphic on 'African swine fever in China' click https://tmsnrt.rs/2QMhmzL) (Reporting by Dominique Patton and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Tony Munroe and Alex Richardson) A New Jersey police officer came to the rescue after a heartbroken child with autism called 911 for help finding his lost toy. Ryan Paul, a 12-year-old from Woodbridge Township, N.J., became distressed after he lost his small teddy bear Freddy in his bedroom, his family told WABC. The young boy then did what he had been previously instructed to do during "emergency" situations he called 911, and spoke briefly to a dispatcher about a "rescue" before hanging up the phone. The call came much to the shock of his parents. "I said Ryan, did you call 911?" Ryan's father, Robert Paul, told WABC. "And he said 'yes', and I said why? And he said, 'Teddy bear rescue.'" Paul then called the Woodbridge Police Department to inform them there wasn't a real emergency, but according to the township's policy, an officer must be sent out to all 911 hang up calls. Officer Khari Manzini quickly responded to the family's home, but once he understood the situation, he said the special training he underwent via the nonprofit POAC Autism Services kicked in. The policeman proceeded to help Ryan locate his beloved toy and then stayed to take photos with the boy and make sure he felt safe. "We found the teddy bear, the teddy bear was OK," Officer Manzini said. "He was in safe hands, no injuries, nothing like that." Ryan's father later took to Facebook to express his gratitude for how the officer handled the situation and the kindness he showed his son. "I'd like to thank the officer who responded for his kindness and understanding, even posing for a picture with the "offender", as well as the 9-1-1 operator who called back to make sure everything was ok," Paul wrote. "I'm glad that we have such a fine and caring police department." "I'm a little offended my son didn't get me (a firefighter) to help with the rescue," he also joked. Story continues POAC Autism Services is a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey that provides training for parents, educators, police officers and first responders to better serve children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families. The group aims to support the growing needs of the state's autism population, which it says is the highest in the country. To learn more or donate, click here. Jerusalem (AFP) - Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to counter Iranian "aggression" as the two met in Jerusalem just weeks ahead of Israel's elections. Pompeo was on a regional tour focused largely on Iran, but the meeting and his warm words on Netanyahu's leadership will likely be seen as support from US President Donald Trump's administration amid the Israeli premier's re-election fight. Netanyahu, facing a stiff challenge from a centrist alliance in April 9 polls whilst under threat of indictment for corruption, will next week visit Washington, where he will meet twice with Trump. Pompeo's visit offered the right-wing premier an opportunity to burnish his security and diplomatic credentials -- both key planks of his re-election campaign. In comments after Pompeo's arrival, Netanyahu said Trump's pressure on Israel's main enemy Iran was already having an effect, referring to his withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and Washington's reimposition of sanctions. "We need to increase it, we need to expand it, and together the United States and Israel are working in close coordination to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world," he said. Pompeo noted a Middle East conference in Warsaw last month that included Arab nations as well as Israel, saying the discussions involved efforts "to stop Iran's regional rampage" among other issues. The US secretary of state also spoke of Iranian calls for Israel's destruction. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparallelled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," he said. Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria, where the Islamic republic backs President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Story continues Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes there against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action, and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions as we do them," Netanyahu said. - 'Arab NATO' - Pompeo's stay in Jerusalem also included a four-way meeting with Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday night. The discussions were to include plans to build a natural gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe. Pompeo, who later travels to Lebanon, kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. He is pushing for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a US-sponsored Arab NATO-style bloc aimed at uniting Washington's Arab allies against Tehran. He urged Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both members of MESA, to bury the hatchet in a political dispute over regional policy that has placed the two powerful Gulf states at odds. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017, accusing Qatar of bankrolling Islamist fundamentalists and cosying up to Iran. Qatar denies the allegations and says the rival states aim to incite regime change in Doha. - 'Important relationship' - Pompeo said before his arrival that his trip to Israel had nothing to do with politics, saying the "relationship matters, no matter who the leaders are." No meetings with Netanyahu's opponents are scheduled, and the secretary of state will not meet with representatives of the Palestinian Authority. Trump's administration has taken a series of steps that the Palestinian Authority has deemed so hostile that it now refuses any contact with the US administration. They included cutting most US aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. President Donald Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli delighted Netanyahu's government. But it enraged Palestinians, who want to make the eastern, mainly Palestinian part of the city the capital of their future state. Pompeo's two-day visit to Jerusalem also includes a stop at the new US embassy, which was transferred from Tel Aviv on Trump's orders last year. A shift in semantics and policy has also marked the Trump term. The US has ceased to refer to the Golan Heights as "Israeli-occupied" and instead calls the territory seized from Syria "controlled" by Israel -- a change seen by some as a prelude to US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau. April 9 parliamentary elections in Israel will also start the countdown to the presentation of an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. It has been prepared by a small White House team, headed by the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, which analysts say is strongly pro-Israeli. It is expected to be released in the weeks after the election. By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his close relationship with the Trump administration on Wednesday, hosting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo three weeks before an Israeli election. Washington's announcement that President Donald Trump, a popular figure among Israelis, had invited Netanyahu to the White House for talks and a dinner two weeks ahead of the April 9 vote was also widely seen in Israel as a boost for the right-wing Likud party chief. Following a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where both men hailed U.S.-Israeli ties under Trump, a leader whom the prime minister has featured on election billboards. "We also know that our alliance in recent years has never been stronger," Netanyahu said in comments to reporters, with Pompeo at his side. Netanyahu is battling for his political survival against both a strong challenger in centrist candidate Benny Gantz and against plans by Israel's attorney-general to indict the prime minister, now in his fourth term, in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself in the election race as a leader with a wealth of international diplomatic experience that Gantz, a former armed forces chief and novice politician, cannot match. "I look forward to my visit next week to Washington, where I will meet with President Trump, and I believe we can carry this relationship even stronger," Netanyahu said. "It's getting stronger and stronger and stronger." Angering Palestinians and drawing international concern, Trump broke with decades of U.S. Middle East policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy, which Pompeo will visit on Thursday, to the city last May. Pompeo, in his remarks, said the Israeli people should have confidence that Trump - who is due to present a peace plan after the Israeli ballot - will maintain a "close bond" with Israel. "I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship," Pompeo said, addressing Netanyahu. "He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here." Netanyahu said he and Pompeo, at the start of their discussions, examined how to "roll back Iranian aggression" in the region. Pressure on Iran, Netanyahu said, must be intensified now that the United States has reimposed sanctions on Tehran following Washington's withdrawal from a 2015 deal with world powers to limit the Iranian nuclear program. Pompeo and Netanyahu later attended a meeting in Jerusalem with leaders from Cyprus and Greece on the construction of a 2,000 km (1,243 mile) gas pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe through those countries and Italy at a cost of $7 billion. Lebanon - Pompeo's next stop - has warned its Mediterranean neighbors that the planned EastMed pipeline must not be allowed to violate its maritime borders. (This story has been refiled to remove inadvertently repeated clause in paragraph three.) (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Hugh Lawson) WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has chosen a retired executive for Delta Air Lines to head the Federal Aviation Administration. The White House said Tuesday Trump will nominate Steve Dickson, who until recently served as Deltas senior vice president for flight operations, to serve a five-year term as the FAA administrator. Dicksons nomination requires Senate confirmation. The announcement comes less than a week after the FAA and the Trump administration faced considerable scrutiny from members of Congress and outside groups for delaying the decision to ground the 737 Max 8, even as every other nation that flies the planes banned them. The FAA initially said it had no evidence to support a grounding but later explained its reversal by saying it had reviewed new flight tracking data and new information from the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month. Federal investigators and prosecutors appear to be raising questions about the process that led to the certification of Boeing's 737 Max jetliners in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Airlines crash and a Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October. President Donald Trump Like many other agencies in the Trump administration, the FAA hasnt been working at full capacity. Daniel Elwell, a former Air Force lieutenant general and American Airlines pilot, has been serving as the agency's acting administrator for more than year. Trump last year floated the idea of nominating John Dunkin, his personal pilot, for the top FAA job, but backed down following resistance from lawmakers. More: As Boeing faces scrutiny over the 737 Max 8, it can draw on high-flying influence campaign Dickson, who lives in Atlanta, retired last year after a 27-year career with Delta Airlines, where he flew five different passenger jets for the company before rising to become a senior vice president of flight operations. A former Air Force officer and F-15 pilot, Dickson graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1979. Story continues The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a group that became a leading voice during the recent historic partial government shutdown, supported Dicksons nomination. Related: Aviation industry to Trump and Congress: End shutdown or risk more travel troubles This is a well-deserved appointment, the groups president, Paul Rinaldi, said in a statement. During the 35-day government shutdown that ended in January, Rinaldi had implored the White House and congressional leaders to not put flight attendants, other aviation workers, and the traveling public at risk any longer. Also: These are the best and worst airlines in the U.S., according to new ranking\ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Trump chooses retired Delta executive to lead the Federal Aviation Administration President Donald Trump ramped up his attack on late Sen. John McCain Tuesday, bluntly escalating his unexpected feud with the maverick politician and prisoner of war who died seven months ago of brain cancer. I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be, Trump said in response to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office while sitting next to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The president kicked off his latest round of attacks against the former Arizona senator on Saturday, when he tweeted about McCains alleged role in advancing the so-called Steele dossier, a document from British intelligence office Christopher Steele, that includes allegations of ties between Trump and the Russian government prior to the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly and emphatically dismissed the report as fake news, as he did again in Saturdays tweet. Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain. Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse stains than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2019 On Sunday, Trump went after McCain again, accusing him of sending the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) last in his class (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019 (Contrary to Trumps assertion, McCain did not receive the dossier until after the election, in December of 2017, according to the New York Times.) Story continues Although Trump has sparred with McCain before memorably disputing the former Navy officers status as a war hero, and noting that I prefer people who werent captured this weekends tweets mark the first time Trump explicitly connected McCain to the controversial dossier. The Presidents tweets prompted a swift reaction from McCains daughter Meghan McCain, who responded on Twitter that no one will ever love you the way they loved my father. No one will ever love you the way they loved my father.... I wish I had been given more Saturdays with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine? https://t.co/q7ezwmHiQ4 Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 16, 2019 The View co-host reiterated that opinion on the daytime talk show Monday, stating that Trump will never be a great man. The President did not mention the Steele document specifically on Tuesday when he was asked why he was attacking McCain seven months after his death. Instead, Trump primarily criticized the late senator for not supporting his efforts to abolish Obamacare. Im very unhappy that he didnt repeal and replace Obamacare, as you know, he replied in part, before conspicuously noting. Plus, there are other things. Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic) (AFP) - Once the butt of jokes, Czech-made Skoda cars have won over Brits, but the UK's looming exit from the European Union could deal a heavy blow to the brand and the entire Czech economy. Britain is the fifth largest export market for the Czech Republic, an EU member of 10.6 million people heavily dependent on overseas shipments, especially cars. British lawmakers voted to postpone Brexit from March 29 to at least June, but a no-deal hard Brexit that would slap high tariffs on imports like cars is still possible. Controlled by Volkswagen since 1991, Skoda exports some 80,000 cars to Britain a year, almost 10 percent of its annual output. In an e-mailed statement, Skoda told AFP it was "worried and getting ready for all scenarios" and called for a "solution acceptable for all parties", but declined to elaborate. Radek Spicar, vice-president of the Czech Confederation of Industry, went further, warning that the company might suffer a heavy blow. "A hard Brexit would mean 10-percent import duties slapped on cars, and that would hurt," he told AFP. "It would stifle demand for cars. Companies like Skoda wouldn't collapse, but they would lose part of an important market," Spicar added. "Besides, Britain is a symbolic market for Skoda -- it has come a long way from being the butt of jokes to one of the most respected makes." - No joke anymore - "How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill the tank with petrol," went a popular joke about Skoda's clunky models produced in the 1980s when Czechoslovakia -- the predecessor of the Czech Republic and Slovakia -- was still communist. "Do you know why Skoda has heated rear windows? So when you're pushing it home in the winter, your hands stay warm," said another. But Britons gradually melted -- Skoda's Fabia model was named the car of the year by What Car? magazine in 2000, while the Skoda Yeti became the best car to own in a 2013 poll of 46,000 British drivers conducted by the Auto Express magazine. Story continues "Nobody is ashamed of driving a Skoda now, Jeremy Clarkson praised it in Top Gear, it is driven by taxi drivers," said Spicar. "Britain is simply a symbolic, important market, and Brexit would be terribly unpleasant for the make." A hard Brexit would "slash Czech exports to the UK by 20 percent, Czech GDP growth by 1.1 points, and employment by 40,000 staff", analysts at the Ceska sporitelna bank, a Czech unit of Austria's Erste Bank, have warned. Czech companies sell goods worth 210 billion koruna (8.2 billion euros, $9.2 billion) to Britain a year, with auto exports making up more than half of the total, according to Ceska. Accounting for more than 20 percent of Czech industrial output, the car industry "is the most threatened by Brexit because of its size within the economy", David Marek, chief economist at Deloitte Czech Republic, told AFP. Three global carmakers with Czech plants turned out more than 1.4 million cars in 2018, a new record, with Skoda making up over 60 percent of that. South Korea's Hyundai, and TPCA, a joint-venture of Japan's Toyota and France's Peugeot-Citroen, also have Czech factories. - 'Hard Brexit would be unpleasant' - A thriving auto sector has been a major contributor to economic growth lasting since 2013, with 3.0 percent expansion last year following 4.5 percent in 2017. Czech producers of electronics, nuclear plant components, sweets, photo equipment and others are also worried. "We generate turnover of some 10 million euros in Britain, which is about four percent of our total turnover," says Tomas Kolar, chief executive of Linet, a producer of hospital beds and mattresses. "A hard Brexit would be unpleasant but not critical," he added. For Linet, just like for car makers and other companies, Brexit will most probably mean their products will have to get a fresh certificate for sales in the British market. "This is a non-tariff trade barrier, independent regulation present in all non-EU countries. It may take time before we get the certificates," said Kolar. Stocking up is a way to avoid problems, but Linet could not do that as its products are tailor-made for each hospital or clinic. Instead, it has stocked up on welded mattress parts from a British supplier. "We didn't want to end up empty-handed, it would hit us globally because we sell mattresses worldwide," said Kolar, who expects Britain to impose a 6.5 percent duty on special mattresses made by Linet should a hard Brexit occur. "It's tough. I still hope they will find some common sense," he said. NEW YORK (AP) Hundreds of pages of court records made public Tuesday revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller quickly zeroed in on Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, in the early stages of his Russia probe. The heavily blacked-out records, released by a judge at the request of news organizations, show that Mueller was investigating Cohen by July 2017 much earlier than previously known. That was two months after Mueller was appointed to investigate Moscow's election interference and practically a year before an FBI raid on Cohen's home and office. The full scope of Mueller's interest in Cohen is not clear from the documents, which include search warrant applications and other records. More extensive files from the special counsel investigation remain under seal in Washington. But the documents made public Tuesday show that Mueller's investigators early on began looking into possible misrepresentations Cohen made to banks to shore up his financially troubled taxi business. They were also initially interested in money that was flowing into Cohen's bank accounts from consulting contracts he signed after Trump got elected. Prosecutors were looking into whether Cohen failed to register as a foreign agent. Some of the payments he received were from companies with strong foreign ties, including a Korean aerospace company, a bank in Kazakhstan and an investment firm affiliated with a Russian billionaire. By February 2018, though, the records show Mueller had handed off portions of his investigation to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. And by the spring of 2018, those prosecutors had expanded their investigation to include payments Cohen made to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy centerfold, both of whom claimed to have had affairs with Trump. The newly released documents indicate authorities continue to probe campaign violations connected to those hush money payments. Nearly 20 pages related to the matter were blacked out at the direction of a judge who said he wanted to protect an ongoing investigation by New York prosecutors. Story continues Where that investigation is headed is unclear. But prosecutors have said Trump himself directed Cohen to arrange the hush money. The president has denied any wrongdoing. Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over those payments. He also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to banks and lying to Congress about Trump's plans to build a skyscraper in Moscow. He was not charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. He is scheduled to begin serving a three-year prison sentence in May. Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said Tuesday that the release of the search warrants "furthers his interest in continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump Organization to law enforcement and Congress." The FBI raided Cohen's Manhattan home and office last April the first public sign of a criminal investigation that has proved an embarrassment for Trump. The newly released records show that several months earlier, in July 2017, Mueller's office got a judge to grant him authority to read 18 months' worth of Cohen's emails. In their investigation, Mueller's prosecutors also obtained Cohen's telephone records and went so far as to use a high-tech tool known as a Stingray or Triggerfish to pinpoint the location of his cellphones. FBI agents also scoured Cohen's hotel room and safe deposit box and seized more than 4 million electronic and paper files, more than a dozen mobile devices and iPads, 20 external hard drives, flash drives and laptops. Both Cohen and Trump cried foul at the time over the raids, with Cohen's attorney calling them "completely inappropriate and unnecessary" and the president taking to Twitter to declare that "Attorney-client privilege is dead!" A court-ordered review ultimately found only a fraction of the seized material to be privileged. Tuesday's release of documents came nearly six weeks after U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III partially granted a request by several media organizations, including The Associated Press, that the search warrant be made public because of the high public interest in the case. But he ordered certain material withheld, acknowledging prosecutors' concerns that a wholesale release of the documents "would jeopardize an ongoing investigation and prejudice the privacy rights of uncharged third parties." "The unsealed records provide significant insight into the investigations of Michael Cohen and serve as an important safeguard for public accountability," AP's director of media relations, Lauren Easton, said Tuesday. David E. McCraw, vice president and deputy general counsel for The New York Times, which initiated the request for the documents, said he is hopeful Pauley will approve the release of additional materials in May after the government updates the judge on its investigation. ___ For more in-depth information, follow AP coverage at https://apnews.com/TrumpInvestigations The Republican chairman of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee was slated to deliver a major rebuke of Donald Trump after his repeated attacks against the late war hero and former Senator John McCain. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican who heads the veterans committee in the US Senate, told journalist AB Stoddard he would deliver a whipping towards Mr Trump after he attacked Mr McCain in a series of misleading tweets over the weekend. Mr Trump capped off his criticisms of the late senator by saying during a televised meeting in the White House, I never was a fan of John McCain and I never will be. Mr Isakson, who has previously described Mr Trumps attacks against Mr McCain as unthinkable, told the journalist he wanted to elevate John with a speech scheduled on Wednesday. America deserves better, the people deserve better, and nobody regardless of their position is above common decency and respect for people that risk their life for your life, the senator said in an interview published in The Bulwark on Wednesday. When the president is saying that that he doesnt respect John McCain and hes never going to respect John McCain and all these kids are out there listening to the president of the United States talk that way about the most decorated senator in history who is dead it just sets the worst tone possible. Mr Isaksons speech will likely take these criticisms a step further, delivering one of the first major rebukes against the presidents Twitter attacks on Mr McCain from a sitting senator. While other Republicans have spoken out against Mr Trumps tweets towards Mr McCain, their comments have also remained almost exclusively on the social media platform, rather than in public condemnations like the one Mr Isakson has prepared for Wednesday. Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain. Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse stains than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2019 Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who maintained a close friendship to Mr McCain, tweeted about the late senator following the presidents attacks, writing, [McCain] stepped forward to risk his life for his country, served honourably under difficult circumstances, and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body. Story continues Senator Mitt Romney echoed those praises, writing on Tuesday, I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honourable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God. Mr Trump accused Mr McCain of releasing a dossier filled with investigative information about Mr Trump to the media. Mr McCain has denied sending the document to media, and court filings do not indicate he had any involvement in transmitting it to the press. I just want to lay it on the line, that the country deserves better, Mr Isakson said. The McCain family deserves better, I dont care if hes president of United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world. He added, Nothing is more important than the integrity of the country and those who fought and risked their lives for all of us. Brussels (AFP) - Frustrated EU officials may insist London cannot postpone Brexit indefinitely without a plan, but they are resigned to Britain taking part in the European election in May and are making preparations. Prime Minister Theresa May will likely come to Thursday's summit in Brussels to plead for more time for her parliament to agree the terms of an orderly divorce. After some grumbling, EU leaders will probably agree, and then -- in what European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker calls an "irony of history" -- election planning begins. British leaders say they still intend to leave the bloc, but if they haven't set a firm date for this by the time EU voters head to the polls from May 23 they will have to take part. And then another batch of British members, perhaps the last such cohort, will take their seats in Strasbourg when the next European Parliament opens in the first week of July. Legal advice prepared for member states last week, seen by AFP, confirms that Britain would be in breach of EU law if it failed to hold the vote. And the European Union executive, any member state or even any European citizen who objects to this state of affairs could lodge a complaint. Whatever their views on Brexit, EU officials and politicians do not want the legal foundation of the new parliament to be in doubt, so they have a back-up plan. They had planned to replace the 73 British seats by redistributing 27 of them to countries with growing populations, and holding 46 in reserve for future new members. But, at a summit in June last year, EU leaders agreed that if Britain postpones its planned March 29 departure then the redistribution will be put on hold. Countries like France and Spain that were expecting five new MEPs each will have to elect them in May and then hold them as "stand-bys", an EU diplomat told AFP. If and when London finally gets round to leaving the European Union institutions in a legal sense, the British MEPs will lose their places and the stand-bys step in. Story continues So the legal plan is in place, but the political picture remains complex. Allowing Britain to take part, analysts Larissa Brunner and Fabian Zuleeg say, could lead to a new influx of Eurosceptic members opposed to their own parliament. - 'Quasi-referendum' - This, they wrote for the European Policy centre, could "have adverse consequences for the balance of power" in the Strasbourg assembly, and in the UK system itself. Conservatives hoping to dominate appointments to the next EU Commission worry that British Labour members could temporarily swell the ranks of the centre-left SD bloc. Eurosceptic British Conservatives and populists such as Nigel Farage's new group and his former UKIP party, could also seize on a delay to demand a faster Brexit. "Leave supporters would worry about the UK not leaving after all... Remainers hope of reversing Brexit could be rekindled," the think tankers wrote. As a result, the May election could become a "quasi-referendum" or de facto re-run of Britain's Brexit vote -- with the moderate centre squeezed out. And with Britain in political and constitutional chaos, what would happen if May's government doesn't even try to organise a European vote? Some in Brussels had been fearful the new parliament might not be seen as legitimate, and legislation with nothing to do with Brexit be challenged. The parliament's own legal service dismisses this, arguing in a note that the next session would still be legally constituted. But lawyers at the European Council, which represents member states, are not so relaxed, arguing in their own note to ambassadors that the Union would no longer be on clear legal ground. The leaders gathering on Thursday are expected to insist that if Britain wants to remain a member beyond July 1, it must clearly pledge to organise voting. NEW YORK (AP) Put a handle on it. If you don't know what that means, you might not call elders by "Mr.," ''Miss" or "Mrs.," insist that your children do the same or demand it for yourself. If you've heard the term, you're likely familiar with the history of the politics of respectability and what that means to some African-Americans, pro and con. Are you from the North or the South? A small town or big city native? From a religious, school or immigrant community that uses elder honorifics? Perhaps you're Professor, Doctor or Judge. All of the above were widely debated on social media last week, focused on an old talk-show clip of the late Maya Angelou sharply chiding a young woman for addressing her as Maya rather than Miss Angelou before asking the poet and memoirist for her views on interracial marriage. "I'm not 'Maya.' I'm 62 years old. I have lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, you have no license to come up to me and call me by my first name. That's first," she said to claps from the audience. "Also, because at the same time, I am your mother, I am your auntie, I'm your teacher, I'm your professor. You see?" Angelou, who was black, apologized later in the show to her questioner, also black. Pierre Phipps, who tweeted the snippet, has heard from all sides since then and said opinions are varied and plentiful. After his March 14 tweet sent Angelou's name trending on Twitter, Phipps said the Kim in the clip reached out. Turns out she's Kim Watts, 49, an educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Watts told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday that she doesn't have a Twitter account but friends and family alerted her to the hub-bub. She said she was a 20-year-old college student in 1989 when she went on a class trip to San Francisco to sit in the audience for a taping with Angelou of the talk show "People are Talking." Story continues "Her response threw me off. It was a little awkward for me, but at the same time it was like, oh my God this is Maya Angelou," Watts said. "I remember feeling like, oh my gosh I insulted one of my icons, a person I look up to." Watts said she got a kick out of people new the clip thinking she was still a teen. The 29-year-old Phipps, whose Twitter handle is @PrinceCharmingP, can't remember where he found the vintage exchange when he tweeted it out with: "I can't wait to turn 30 so I can read one of yall for calling me by my first name like this:" He told the AP in an interview that he was surprised at the attention the tweet has received, especially among young people who disagreed with Angelou. She died in 2014 at age 86, and also favored the title Dr. in light of her numerous honorary doctorates. "They think Miss Angelou's response was very elitist. They were really, really pissed about it," said Phipps, who lives in Los Angeles and writes for television. "We're living in progressive times and a lot of people said once they turn 18, they feel like they have an even platform no matter how old you are. History is no longer playing a part in how we go about our everyday lives. History is becoming history." Phipps grew up in Chicago, but he has plenty of older female relatives from the South, including Mississippi and Alabama. "It's an unwritten rule on respect for elders in which a lot of us were born and raised to 'put a handle on it,'" he said. "Me personally, coming from a strong black Southern family, I didn't see anything wrong with her response. Everyone is raised differently." Watts, who was adopted as a child by white parents, said she was not raised with the courtesy title tradition or practice for elders in her life. "I wasn't thinking about that in the moment," she said of her encounter with Angelou. "I like that this conversation, though, is focused on respect. Given my age now, I can see both sides of it." Carrie Salow is a 55-year-old mother of two girls in Phoenix, where she moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she was 15. "I absolutely expect my teen daughters to call their friends' parents Mr. and Mrs., and I expect the same," said Salow, who is white. "The kids who live across the street from us are now young adults, in and out of college. They still call me Mrs. Salow and I feel it is appropriate." Valencia Bey, 49, was born and raised in Chicago and now lives in nearby Oak Park, Illinois. She spent most of her summers in Shelby, Mississippi, with her maternal grandparents and extended family. "You just did NOT call elders by their first name," said Bey, who is black. "I was taught by folks who felt the way Ms. Angelou did. Addressing someone as Mr. or Miss was a sign of respect, especially those who came from the Jim Crow South, where calling a grown black person by their first name was a sign of disrespect. White people would purposely not call them Mr. or Mrs. or Miss to reinforce that they were considered inferior." Against the backdrop of African-American history, such honorifics are heavy indeed. "Like Angelou, our elders have lived lives some of us can only imagine, especially if they grew up in a society that was founded on white supremacy," wrote Britni Danielle, in a piece about the tweet at Essence online. "Often times, they weren't given the respect they were due by the outside world, which regularly sought to humiliate and dehumanize them at every turn. Those who did dare speak up and demand their propers did so knowing the price could be steep," she wrote. The 55-year-old Lucy O'Donnell, with a nearly 18-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son in Los Angeles, was raised in Arlington, Virginia. "Two of my daughter's friends initially addressed me as Mrs., and I have to say I hadn't even given it a thought until then. I told them that they were welcome to call me by my first name but that if it was important in their households to address adults more formally that was fine, too," said O'Donnell, who is white. "Both switched to Lucy pretty quickly. The only tradition I can't abide is Mrs. and a husband's first and last name." Danielle acknowledged young blacks responding to Phipps' tweet who thought Angelou was out of line, writing: "We live in a time where some people don't really value the things and people who came before them. That's how we get shirts declaring, 'I'm not my ancestors,' or people looking to cancel dead Black writers like Angelou because they do not like an answer they'd given decades ago without understanding the context of the times." Rogers Communications logos are seen above a booth during the media day at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI-B.TO) has entered into an agreement to sell its print media brands to Toronto-based St. Joseph Communications (SJC). The deal includes well-known publications like Macleans, English and French versions of Chatelaine, Todays Parent, HELLO! Canada, and digital-only publications FLARE and Canadian Business. Financial terms of the deal expected to close in April have not been disclosed. All current Rogers Media Publishing employees will be offered employment, the companies said. It was a difficult decision, but one we believe is right as we accelerate our strategic vision and reposition our media business for the future, said Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media, in a news release on Wednesday. It was vitally important to us to find a good home for our employees and these storied brands so that the publications live on and flourish in a well-established company dedicated to publishing. SJC is Canada's largest privately owned communications company. Its roster of publications includes Toronto Life, FASHION Magazine, Weddingbells, Mariage Quebec, Where, Ottawa Magazine and Quill & Quire. Bringing together two talented teams and many of Canada's most celebrated magazine brands is an important opportunity for SJC, the media industry and our country, Tony Gagliano, executive chairman & CEO of SJC said in the release. Rogers slashed about one-third of its struggling digital content and publishing team in June, eliminating 75 full-time jobs, bringing the teams headcount down to 150. The company cited headwinds facing the industry as it grapples with declining advertising revenue and changing reader habits. The Globe and Mail first reported that the Toronto-based telecommunications and media company wanted to exit the publishing business last August. In December, The Globe reported a group of Rogers Media employees crafted a proposal to buy five of the companys remaining print magazines in a bid to save jobs, following the failure of a deal with Roustan Media Ltd., publisher of The Hockey News. Story continues Rogers sold its MoneySense personal finance website to Ratehub Inc. for an undisclosed amount last November. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. A jury has found one of the worlds most widely-used weed killers to have been a substantial factor in causing a mans cancer. The unanimous decision, made after five days of deliberations in San Franciscos federal court, found that Roundup, Bayer AGs weed killer, was responsible for California resident Edwin Hardemans non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But the jurys decision is not yet a finding of liability against Bayer AG. It instead allows the trial to proceed to a second phase, which will determine the companys potential liability and damages. Roundup is made with glyphosate. The highly controversial chemical was declared probably carcinogenic to humans in 2015 by the World Health Organisations International Agency for Research on Cancer. Mr Hardemans case is a so-called bellwether trial, which is intended to help determine the range of damages and settlement options for the more than 760 Roundup cases consolidated in San Franciscos federal court. The case is only the second of some 11,200 Roundup lawsuits pending in the US. In August another California resident was awarded $289m (247m) after a state court jury found Roundup caused his cancer, sending Bayer AGs shares plunging at the time. That award was later reduced to $78m (66.7m) and is being appealed. Bayer AG denies allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause cancer. The company says decades of studies and regulatory evaluations, primarily of real-world human exposure data, have shown the weed killer to be safe for human use. On Tuesday a spokesperson for Bayer AG said it was disappointed with the jurys initial decision. We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsantos conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr Hardemans cancer, the spokesperson said. Bayer AG acquired Monsanto, the company which makes Roundup, in 2018. During the second phase of the trial Mr Hardemans lawyers will be allowed to present evidence allegedly showing the companys efforts to influence scientists, regulators and the public about the safety of its products. Story continues Now we can focus on the evidence that Monsanto has not taken a responsible, objective approach to the safety of Roundup, the legal team said in a statement. The lawyers were barred from doing this in the trials initial phase. The trial continues. Additional reporting by agencies The boy was arrested last night and charged earlier today. (Stock picture: Getty) A teenage boy has been charged after trying to slash another pupils face with a meat cleaver. The 14-year-old was taken into custody after the dispute, which took place yesterday in a school in Harrow. He has now been bailed to appear at Willesden Magistrates Court on Thursday, 18 April. A 14yo boy has been charged with common assault & threatening a person with a bladed/ pointed weapon in a public place or school premises. He has been bailed to appear at #Willesden Magistrates' Court on 18 April. It follows an incident at a school in Harrow on 19 March. Brent MPS (@MPSBrent) March 20, 2019 At least 40 people have been stabbed to death in the UK since the start of the year, with several of the victims being teenagers. The rise in knife crime has coincided with falling funds and numbers of officers, which have decreased by almost 20,000 since 2010. The Ministry of Justice announced that knife and weapon offences are at a nine-year high, with nearly 21,500 crimes being dealt with by the criminal justice system in 2018. Last week, after coming under intense pressure to boost police resources, the chancellor announced an extra 100m emergency funding package to allow police to mount more operations against violent crime. However, John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, told Sky News that this amount was nowhere near enough to end the crisis. He said: This is a drop in the ocean when it comes to money thats not only been stripped from policing, but other budgets, the social services budget, the education budget, and this is dealing with a crisis so yes, its going to help a little bit, but its not enough. Recently a Tory MP was ridiculed after suggesting that all knives in the UK should be fitted with GPS trackers. Senator Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that he plans to reintroduce a bill that would rename the Russell Senate Office Building after the late senator John McCain, amid a rekindled public feud between President Trump and the McCain family. I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Russell Senate Building after American hero, Senator John McCain, the Senate minority leader wrote in a tweet Wednesday. Schumers announcement came after Trump said Tuesday at the White House that, I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be. McCain passed away from brain cancer at 81 years of age last August. The Arizona Republicans daughter, Meghan McCain, has vehemently defended her father from Trumps attacks, saying Monday that the presidents focus on her father is a sign of his pathetic life. Trumps beef with McCain, who lost the presidential election to Barack Obama in 2008, stretches back to the 2016 campaign season, when he criticized McCain for being captured and suffering for more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Hes not a war hero, Trump said at the time of McCain. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Trumps frustration with McCain was aggravated by the senators dramatic eleventh-hour vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act in July 2017. The senator told us hours before that he was going to repeal and replace, Trump said Tuesday. And then for some reason I think I understand the reason he ended up voting against. Well be talking about the best way to honor Sen. McCain, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said of Schumers proposal. More from National Review Singapore (AFP) - Singapore rejected Wednesday Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's allegation it was sheltering a former central bank chief wanted for fraud, saying Colombo failed to provide documents to support its extradition request. Sirisena on Monday accused Singapore of sheltering Arjuna Mahendran, one of his country's former central bank chiefs wanted in connection with a high-profile $74 million insider trading scam. Sirisena said he appealed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in January to return Mahendran, who is believed to be in Singapore, but claimed nothing had been done. Mahendran, a Singapore national of Sri Lankan origin, was accused in 2015 of passing sensitive information to his bond-dealer son-in-law to make millions. The pair are accused of manipulating bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over $11 million to the state. A spokesperson for Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said authorities in the city-state have been cooperating with their Sri Lankan counterparts on the case since January. However, Sri Lanka's request to return Mahendran "lacked certain information required under Singapores extradition laws" and the city-state has requested Colombo to provide them, the spokesperson told AFP. "To date, Singapore has not yet received the requested supporting information and documents," the spokesperson said. "We look forward to receiving the requested information from Sri Lanka, so that we can consider the request further in accordance with our laws." Singapore can extradite fugitives to declared Commonwealth countries, which include Sri Lanka. In February last year, Mahendran was named a key suspect in the multi-million dollar bond scam in Sri Lanka. He fled abroad, failing to appear in court to respond to charges. A damning presidential report into the scandal accused Mahendran of insider trading and recommended the state recover its losses from Mahendran and his son-in-law. Story continues Sri Lanka's central bank also launched a forensic audit to ascertain the extent of insider trading during Mahendran's tenure at the bank. The fallout deepened acrimony between Sirisena and his coalition partner Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who handpicked Mahendran to head the central bank in 2015. The pair's strained relationship collapsed entirely in late 2018, when Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe, plunging the country into political chaos as both men competed for power. Wickremesinghe was reappointed after months of limbo when the Supreme Court intervened and ruled that Sirisena had acted outside the constitution by dismissing the prime minister and parliament. Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (AFP) - Relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre applauded Wednesday's decision to hand a life sentence to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide and war crimes during the 1990s. A panel of appeals judges in The Hague increased Karadzic's original 40-year sentence for the atrocities during Bosnia's inter-ethnic war to life in prison. He was also found guilty over his role in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. It was the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II and deemed genocide by international justice. The three-year war that ended in 1995 between Bosnia's Croats, Muslims and Serbs left 100,000 people dead. "Thank God for this, since another verdict would have killed us," said Bida Osmanovic, whose 22-year-old son Faruk was killed in the massacre. She was among about 50 Srebrenica mothers, sisters and widows as well as some male survivors of the atrocity, who watched the verdict at a memorial in Potocari, just outside the ill-fated town. - 'My soul regained serenity' - Nura Alispahic came from Sarajevo where she lives to join them. "My soul regained serenity now ... my pain is a bit soothed," the 74-year-old woman told AFP. Her husband and a 15-year-old son were killed in Srebrenica. Another son was also killed during the war. The families gathered next to the cemetery and before listening to the verdict visited the graves where the remains of their loved ones are buried. "We will visit our children," one woman said heading towards white tombstones. Ahead of the verdict, the survivors said they were hoping for such an outcome. "My hope and my only thought is that (Karadzic) is sentenced to life," Hajrija Oric, 63, told AFP. Her 17-year-old son Elvir and husband Sahin were both killed in the massacre. Their remains were found years later and buried. Story continues "All I found was a handful of bones and a head. I would give everything, I would give my eyes, if I could bring them back but it cannot happen." - Serbs' denial - Nedzad Avdic, a massacre survivor whose father was killed then, stressed the importance of the verdict as most ethnic Serbs, including their political leaders, still downplay the scale of the Srebrenica crime. "This verdict comes very late, but for us this is a very important day due to a growing denial" that it was a genocide, he said. It will "shut the mouth of all those ... denying what has happened here," Avdic, 40, said. Oric agreed. "No one can tell us that is not the truth," she said. Many Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia proper see Karadzic as a hero who protected his people. Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik, who now chairs Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said on the eve of the verdict he was convinced that Karadzic never decided to attack civilians. "I don't trust the legitimacy of this (Hague-based UN) tribunal. "It did not fulfil its task which was to build with its verdicts the basis for reconciliation" in the former Yugoslavia, Dodik said. Wednesday's ruling was one of the last remaining cases from the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and was handed down by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. The body deals with cases left over from now-defunct courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Karadzic's wartime military chief Ratko Mladic, dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", is currently appealing a life sentence on similar charges. [March 20, 2019] New Analysis From Apptio Finds U.S. Federal Agencies Spending $858 Million On Cloud, Less Than 2 Percent Of All Tech Spending BELLEVUE, Wash., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Apptio, software that fuels digital transformation, introduces Apptio Federal Insights, a free application designed to help federal agency leaders align IT resources, reduce risk and drive value to maximize mission objectives. Apptio analyzed publicly available IT spending data from approximately 90 federal agencies totaling more than $74 billion in fiscal year 2018, finding less than two percent ($858 million) was dedicated to the cloud. This level of spending is a sharp contrast to private sector organizations who are allocating up to 30 percent of their budget to cloud computing. In the move to modernize, many agencies are embracing cloud infrastructure and SaaS solutions to quickly provide valuable technology services to their mission constituents. Shifting from legacy, on-premises applications and storage is changing the way federal agencies are investing. According to Apptio's analysis, key trends in federal technology spending include: Federal agency cloud spending is well below private-sector averages: According to the 2018 IDG Cloud Computing study, private sector companies allocated 30 percent of IT budgets to the cloud in 2018. Based on Apptio's analysis, spending in federal agencies falls far below that at average, representing two percent of all costs. The Small Business Administration is the highest agency spender on cloud at 7% of their budget, while the Department of Energy and Labor are coming in at only 0.1% of spend. According to the 2018 IDG Cloud Computing study, private sector companies allocated 30 percent of IT budgets to the cloud in 2018. Based on Apptio's analysis, spending in federal agencies falls far below that at average, representing two percent of all costs. The Small Business Administration is the highest agency spender on cloud at 7% of their budget, while the Department of Energy and Labor are coming in at only 0.1% of spend. Vendors are driving technology spending: The Apptio analysis also reveals that more than $2.5 billion of the technology spend is tied to specific IT vendors. The highest vendor contract in 2018 was awarded to Insight Public Sector, totaling more than $624 million across 35 agencies with services provided by multiple vendors, including: The Apptio analysis also reveals that more than of the technology spend is tied to specific IT vendors. The highest vendor contract in 2018 was awarded to Insight Public Sector, totaling more than across 35 agencies with services provided by multiple vendors, including: $425.1 million to Microsoft to Microsoft $1.8 million to Adobe to Adobe $1.6 million to Apple to Apple Additionally, Microsoft alone accounts for almost $1.3 billion across all contracts, with $113 million dedicated to Adobe. Designed specifically for IT and finance leaders at federal agencies, Apptio Federal Insights applies machine-learning to publicly available data sets including the Federal Procurement Data System sourced through USASpending.Gov, FedScope and the Federal IT Dashboard. Apptio's analysis delivers a 360-degree financial view of an agency's historic technology spending. With this insight, agency leaders are armed with: Increased visibility: A unified view of consolidated vendor spend, including cloud providers and applications, or shadow IT spend along with benchmarks across different, disparate federal agencies. A unified view of consolidated vendor spend, including cloud providers and applications, or shadow IT spend along with benchmarks across different, disparate federal agencies. Data-driven decisions: Uncover defensible insights to understand where IT dollars are truly being spent. With these insights, federal agencies can then retire applications and reallocate spend to other investments like cloud. Uncover defensible insights to understand where IT dollars are truly being spent. With these insights, federal agencies can then retire applications and reallocate spend to other investments like cloud. Automated solutions: Realize the value of an automated Technology Business Management (TBM) solution backed by the industry's only standard taxonomy. Users can also simplify compliance with the Office of Management and Budget's request for TBM adoption by 2019. Realize the value of an automated Technology Business Management (TBM) solution backed by the industry's only standard taxonomy. Users can also simplify compliance with the Office of Management and Budget's request for TBM adoption by 2019. Mission success: Avoid the risk of duplication and waste by aligning resources to mission goals and modernize the approach to IT so the agency can deliver services to citizens and organizations more efficiently and cost-effectively. "Apptio's decision to build a readily accessible free application, using publicly available data, will give federal agencies tremendous insight into where their IT dollars are being spent," said Adam Mcllwain, Senior Manager of SIE Consulting Group. "As a strong proponent of the TBM taxonomy, SIE Consulting Group has consistently fought to help our federal customers modernize their technology infrastructures. Using sophisticated machine learning capabilities, Apptio's investment in this analytics tool will kickstart agencies pursing TBM implementation and accelerate the tremendous benefits of achieving robust cost transparency." "Because many agencies are using tools and processes that are not purpose-built to manage the complexity of IT, there is an excessive amount of unvalidated data throughout federal agencies," said Bob Carter, VP of Public Sector and Operations at Apptio. "That is why it is crucial for agencies to apply a set of foundational rules through TBM and Apptio to gain insights, validate data and support their digital transformation journey while making strategic business decisions." Apptio is the leading provider of Technology Business Management (TBM) software that automates the collection and analysis of technology spending data across the public and private sector. Powered by machine-learning, Apptio's software provides visibility and actionable insights so that federal finance and technology professionals can make informed decisions about key strategic investments. Apptio Federal Insights is now available as a free application for employees of federal agencies through select partners. For more information, please visit: https://info.apptio.com/Federalinsights About Apptio: Apptio fuels digital business transformation. Technology leaders use Apptio's machine learning to analyze and plan their technology spend so they can invest in products that increase the speed of business and deliver innovation. With Apptio, they translate raw costs, utilization, and billing data into business-centric views that help their organization optimize spending, plan strategically, and drive digital strategy that funds growth of the business. Technology leaders can gather instant recommendations that result in up to 30% saving on cloud services. For more information, please visit www.Apptio.com. 2019 Apptio, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners. Media Contact: Sarah Bergstrom-Leach Apptio Pr@apptio.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-analysis-from-apptio-finds-us-federal-agencies-spending-858-million-on-cloud-less-than-2-percent-of-all-tech-spending-300815396.html SOURCE Apptio [ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ] A bottled of Doby washing up liquid found by a walker on Burnham-on-Sea beach, in Somerset. It is thought to date back to the mid 1950s and has shown little sign of wear and tear. (Google Maps/SWNS) A 60-year-old plastic washing-up liquid bottle has been found washed up on the beach. Stephen Fox was dismayed to find the weathered Doby bottle washed up on Brean beach near Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset. The bottle dates back to the mid-1950s but it is not known how long it has been in the sea. Stephen said: I was doing a beach clean and I was dismayed by how much plastic there was on Brean beach. I found this bottle. I thought it may be old and a quick Google search confirms its from the 50s or 60s. A walker was stunned to find this 60-year-old washing up bottle on a beach in Somerset, almost perfectly preserved. Campaigners have warned the amount of plastic in our oceans is killing wildlife. (SWNS) Read more from Yahoo News UK: Rescued orangutan shot 74 times Man spends 660 on Brexit stockpile shopping trip Police forces put blades surrendered in knife amnesty on show The worn-out bottle has the words: Doby washing up liquid, with a Royal crest at the top. The Museum of Plastic Design at the University of Bournemouth has a bottle in its collection dating back to the mid-1950s. The discovery comes after a 47-year-old washing-up bottle was found washed up on the same beach in October 2018. Regular beach cleans are held in Burnham-On-Sea, Brean and Berrow to remove large amounts of plastic rubbish being washed up. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider Virginia's plea to reinstate the life-without-parole sentence of a man who as a teenager participated in sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002. The justices said they will take up the state's appeal in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad fatally shot 10 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. Malvo was sentenced to life-without-parole terms in Virginia and in Maryland. Muhammad, who was 41 at the time of the shootings, was sentenced to death and was executed in 2009. Malvo was sentenced to four life terms for crimes he committed in Virginia. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled last year that while Malvo's life-without-parole sentences were legal when they were imposed, Supreme Court decisions that followed altered sentencing requirements for juvenile offenders. The appeals court judges said a resentencing would determine whether Malvo qualifies as "one of the rare juvenile offenders" who can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because his "crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility." They said if his crimes instead "reflect the transient immaturity of youth," he is entitled to a sentence short of life without parole. The Supreme Court will review that decision. As is typical, the justices did not make any comment in agreeing to hear the case, which will be argued in the fall. Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, it is unlikely that Malvo would get out of prison anytime soon. He isn't currently getting a new sentencing hearing in Maryland, where he struck a plea deal and was sentenced to six life-without-parole prison terms for shootings that took place in that state. A judge previously ruled that Malvo would not get new sentencing hearings in Maryland. Malvo, who has been serving his sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Pound, Virginia, has appealed. Story continues For people in the Washington area, the shooting spree is remembered as particularly frightening because of the randomness of the attacks. Over three weeks, Muhammad and Malvo shot people as they went about everyday activities. An FBI analyst was killed as she stood in the parking lot of a Home Depot. A bus driver was fatally shot on his bus as he readied for his route. Two victims were fatally shot at gas stations. Many people were fearful every time they went outdoors. Among those injured was a teenager wounded after being shot outside his school. Schools canceled outdoor activities from recess to sporting events. Virginia's appeal was among four criminal cases the court added to its docket for the term that begins in October. In the others: Kansas, backed by the Trump administration and 10 other states, wants to be able to prosecute immigrants for identity theft and other crimes when they use other people's Social Security numbers to work in the United States. Kansas' top court ruled that the state couldn't prosecute the immigrants because the case relied on information that is on a required federal work authorization form, the I-9 information that immigration law says may only be used for enforcement of federal crimes. The justices will decide whether convictions by non-unanimous juries in criminal cases violate the Constitution. Louisiana and Oregon are the only states that allow divided juries on some criminal charges, although Louisiana voters recently amended the state constitution to prohibit non-unanimous verdicts for crimes committed after Jan. 1. The court has held that the Sixth Amendment requires unanimous verdicts in federal criminal cases. But unlike with most rights guaranteed by the first 10 amendments, states have not been compelled to follow suit and require unanimous juries in all state cases. A Kansas death row inmate is challenging whether states can eliminate the so-called insanity defense for criminal defendants without violating the Constitution. The inmate has been sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife, their two daughters and the wife's grandmother, but the jury was not allowed to consider evidence that he was criminally insane at the time of the killings. ___ Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed to this report. ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko Alice Cutter is alleged to have won the competition after taking on the nickname Buchenwald Princess. (PA) A neo-Nazi terror suspect entered a Miss Hitler beauty contest in a bid to attract new members to a far-right extremist group, a court has heard. Alice Cutter is alleged to have won the competition organised by National Action after taking on the nickname Buchenwald Princess in reference to the Nazi death camp. The 22-year-old is standing trial at Birmingham Crown Court alongside her partner Mark Jones, who is accused of posing for a photograph while giving a Nazi salute in Buchenwalds execution room. Jones, 24, and Cutter, both of Mulhalls Mill, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, deny being members of National Action between December 2016 and September 2017. Alice Cutter is alleged to have won the competition after taking on the nickname Buchenwald Princess. The Crown also alleges that Garry Jack, 23, from Heathland Avenue, Shard End, Birmingham, and 18-year-old Connor Scothern, of Bagnall Avenue, Nottingham, are guilty of belonging to the banned organisation between the same dates. Opening the case against the four defendants, prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC said Jones flew to Germany in 2016 to visit Buchenwald. After showing the jury a picture featuring two men standing in the camps execution room holding a National Action flag, Mr Jameson told the jury: Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp that stood out, even by the standards of Nazi concentration camps, for its depravity. Like Auschwitz, Buchenwald is a permanent museum to honour the victims and remind the world of the horrors perpetrated in the name of Nazism. Connor Scothern arriving at Birmingham Crown Court. (PA) He said Cutter entered the National Action-organised beauty contest in June 2016 days after the murder of MP Jo Cox. The prosecutor told the jury of seven men and five women: On 24 June 2016 National Action staged, if you can believe this, a beauty contest titled Miss Hitler 2016. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Rescued orangutan shot 74 times Man spends 660 on Brexit stockpile shopping trip Police forces put blades surrendered in knife amnesty on show This was, no doubt, a publicity stunt to raise the groups profile and attract more members. Story continues One of those who entered and, I think, in fact, won the competition, was Alice Cutter. Alice Cutter arriving at Birmingham Crown Court. (PA) Mr Jameson told the jury the defendants were seeking to spread terror from an ideology so warped, so extreme and so twisted, its continued existence will be shocking to many of you, if not all. The jury was shown a picture alleged to show Cutter wearing a National Action mask, which was posted online. In an interview accompanying the photo, the competition entrant said: It is important to me that theres a balance of feminine to masculine in the movement without feminine involvement, what would a movement be? A sad sausage fest with no appeal? We need to step up, be the lionesses we ought to be and rip apart the hyenas laughing at us as we get raped, beaten, brainwashed and de-feminised en masse. Hyenas have no part in our pride and never will. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Baghouz (Syria) (AFP) - Kurdish-led fighters advanced in the Islamic State group's last bastion in eastern Syria, confining holdout jihadists to a tiny pocket on the edge of Baghouz village, the force said Tuesday. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said those IS fighters who had not yet surrendered had been forced out of their main encampment and cornered into a very small area on the banks of the Euphrates River. "SDF is in control of the Daesh encampment area in Baghouz," spokesman Mustefa Bali said on Twitter in English, using the Arabic acronym for the jihadist group. But SDF fighters have not taken up positions in the so-called encampment, a jumble of mangled vehicles, makeshift berms and tents on the edge of Baghouz village. "This is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight against Daesh," Bali said. After another night of fighting and the surrender of yet another batch of jihadist fighters, the few acres of land controlled by IS shrank further. It is unclear how long the unknown number of holdout jihadists could last but Bali said some of them were still fighting back. "Clashes are continuing as a group of ISIS terrorists who are confined into a tiny area still fight back," Bali said in English, using an alternative acronym for IS. AFP reporters in Baghouz saw IS jihadists moving across the edges of the now mostly deserted encampment, and fighting taking place in an area closer to the river. Backed by warplanes from the US-led coalition, the SDF launched their final assault on Baghouz on February 9. The offensive, the last phase of a broad operation launched more than six months ago to wipe out the remnants of a "caliphate" declared in 2014, has been slowed by the presence inside the IS redoubt of a large number of civilians. Tens of thousands of people -- jihadist fighters, their relatives and other civilians -- have poured out of the IS pocket in recent weeks. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Inc Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said Wednesday that Chinas Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is making it very difficult for European carriers to drop the company from its supply chain for next-generation 5G wireless service. "If you have deployed Huawei as your 4G network, Huawei is not allowing interoperability to 5G -- meaning if you are 4G, you are stuck with Huawei for 5G," said Stephenson at a speech in Washington. "When the Europeans say we got a problem -- that's their problem. They really don't have an option to go to somebody else." The United States has been pressuring other countries to drop Huawei from their networks. Stephenson said the U.S. government could do a better job explaining the security risks of Huawei. "The biggest risk is not that the Chinese government might listen in on our conversations or mine our data if we use their equipment," Stephenson said. Within a decade, 5G will drive all U.S. factories, utilities, refineries, traffic management and help underpin autonomous vehicles. "If that much of infrastructure will be attached to this kind of technology do we want to be cautious about who is the underlying company behind that technology. We damn well better be," Stephenson said. Huawei did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The United States warns that next-generation 5G equipment, which some telecoms experts see as more vulnerable to attack than previous technology, could be exploited by the Chinese government for spying if supplied by Huawei. Huawei has grown rapidly to become the worlds biggest maker of telecoms equipment and is embedded in the mobile networks and 5G plans of many European operators. It denies that its technology represents a security risk. In the United States, 5G networks will largely be built by Nordic equipment makers Ericsson and Nokia , and Strayer said there were safer alternatives to Huawei. The United States has also alleged Huawei violated its sanctions on Iran and stole intellectual property. No evidence of spying has been presented publicly even as scrutiny on Huawei has intensified, and several Western countries have restricted the firms access to their markets. Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday Germany was not planning to exclude any one company from its 5G auction per se, but rather wanted bidders in the mobile spectrum auction to meet certain requirements. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen will make a stopover in the United States on her way back from visiting three Pacific nations this month in a move sure to irk Beijing, sources said Wednesday. Tsai will leave for Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands on Thursday in a trip to shore up ties amid growing concerns about China's increasing clout in the region. She is scheduled to transit through Hawaii on March 27 on her way back to Taipei, the sources said without elaborating. Taiwan is typically low-key in announcing its leader's specific itineraries, fearing China will use its power to disrupt. Tsai's last state visit was to Paraguay and Belize in August with US transits that prompted an official protest from Beijing after she gave a speech in Los Angeles -- the first time in 15 years that a Taiwanese leader spoke publicly on American soil. Beijing also protested when Tsai transitted through Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during her first official visit to the Pacific in 2017. Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has remained Taiwan's most powerful unofficial ally and biggest arms supplier. China, which sees the self-ruling island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, bristles at any moves by countries that might lend Taiwan diplomatic support or legitimacy. Beijing has stepped up diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai took office in 2016, as she has refused to acknowledge its "one China" policy. Five countries have switched official recognition to Beijing since Tsai became president, leaving Taipei with only 17 diplomatic allies including six in the Pacific. Beijing has also made progress with the Vatican, Taiwan's most powerful official ally and its only one in Europe, by signing a landmark agreement with the Holy See on the appointment of bishops last year. Have you been paying attention to shares of Telenav (TNAV)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 16.9% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $6.75 in the previous session. Telenav has gained 63.8% since the start of the year compared to the 17.7% move for the Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the 6.6% return for the Zacks Wireless National industry. What's Driving the Outperformance? The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on February 7, 2019, Telenav reported EPS of $-0.06 versus consensus estimate of $-0.12. For the current fiscal year, Telenav is expected to post earnings of $-0.43 per share on $214.17 million in revenues. This represents a 75.84% change in EPS on a 101.7% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $-0.28 per share on $236.01 million in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 34.88% and 10.2%, respectively. Valuation Metrics Telenav may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself. On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as they provide investors with an additional way to sort through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style. Telenav has a Value Score of D. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are A and C, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B. Zacks Rank We also need to look at the Zacks Rank for the stock, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, Telenav currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to rising earnings estimates. Story continues Since we recommend that investors select stocks carrying Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and Style Scores of A or B, it looks as if Telenav passes the test. Thus, it seems as though Telenav shares could have a bit more room to run in the near term. How Does Telenav Stack Up to the Competition? Shares of Telenav have been soaring, and the company still appears to be a decent choice, but what about the rest of the industry? Some of its industry peers are also impressive, including Gogo (GOGO), CenturyLink (CTL), and China Mobile (Hong Kong) (CHL), all of which currently have a Zacks Rank of at least #2 and a VGM Score of at least B, making them well-rounded choices. However, it is worth noting that the Zacks Industry Rank for this group is in the bottom half of the ranking, so it isn't all good news for Telenav. Still, the fundamentals for Telenav are promising, and it still has potential despite being at a 52-week high. 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 Telenav, Inc. (TNAV) : Free Stock Analysis Report CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Gogo Inc. (GOGO) : Free Stock Analysis Report China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Theresa May has told the nation that the Brexit delay is a matter of personal regret as she urged MPs and the country to get behind her withdrawal deal. Speaking inside Downing Street, the PM dismissed calls to extend the delay past June 30 and put pressure on MPs to vote for her deal or face uncertainty over what happened next. Mrs May said the public wanted politicians to get on with it and finished by saying: That is what I am determined to do. She blamed MPs for failing to agree a means to implement the result of the 2016 referendum and said she believes voters just want this stage of the Brexit process to be over. And she told voters: I am on your side. Mrs May said: Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, youre tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our childrens schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide. Theresa May said she regretted the delay to Brexit in a speech to the nation (PA) European Council president Donald Tusk earlier said a short extension to Article 50 should be possible conditional upon a positive vote in the UK Parliament. Mr Tusk was responding to a request from Mrs May for a three-month delay to Brexit, postponing the UKs departure from the European Union from March 29 to June 30. The PM made the request in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU. Mr Tusk, speaking in Brussels, said: In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension. Story continues Theresa May is set to ask the EU for a short delay to Brexit (Getty) The letter Mrs May sent asking for a short delay to Brexit Mrs May sparked speculation that she may step down if either MPs or Europe demand a longer extension to the Article 50 negotiation process, declaring: As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. After Mr Tusk approved, in principle, the delay at a summit on Thursday, Mrs May is now expected to rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the date March 29 from Brexit laws. Mr Tusk added: At this time, I do not foresee an extraordinary European Council. If the leaders approve my recommendations and there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week, we can finalise and formalise the decision on extension in the written procedure. However, if there is such a need, I will not hesitate to invite the members of the European Council for a meeting to Brussels next week. The Prime Minister announced on Wednesday afternoon she is seeking the short delay to leaving the EU to ensure Britain does not take part in the upcoming European elections. In the letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, Mrs May wrote: I had intended to bring the vote back to the House of Commons this week. The Speaker of the House of Commons said on Monday that in order for a further meaningful vote to be brought back to the House of Commons, the agreement would have to be fundamentally different-not different in terms of wording, but different in terms of substance. Mrs May told MPs on Wednesday that she still intended to bring her much-derided divorce deal back to Parliament for a third time following to heavy defeats. But, she said, as Prime Minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. The key dates in the Article 50 extension (PA) EU responds If Mrs May was hoping for a sympathetic hearing from EU leaders, she will have been bitterly disappointed. Within minutes of the announcement, a French government spokesperson said the PM needed to provide clear reasons for the delay, which would not be automatically guaranteed. Elsewhere, a senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkels conservatives said Mrs Mays request lacked meaning without the support of parliament and the EU should not decide on it before this becomes clear. Read more from Yahoo News UK Lewis Hamilton asks NASA astronaut if moon landings faked NZ gunmans live stream not reported until after it ended Liam Fox mocked over his no-deal Brexit trade agreement May just asked #EU for short #Brexit extension. But without backing by cabinet and parliament her request is meaningless, German conservative Norbert Roettgen, said on Twitter on Wednesday. And to emphasis how complicated a short delay will be to push through, Reuters news agency has obtained a leaked document which reveals Brussels are only prepared to consider an extension until May 22. If not, Brexit must be delayed at least until the end of the year. All this follows comments by the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday in which warned that Brussels will want a good reason to grant a long delay to Brexit, saying a lengthy extension needs to be linked to something new a new event or a new political process. MPs outraged The PMs move comes after tempers flared between Brexit and Remain ministers during a heated Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. And it was no better in Parliament with many MPs outraged at the request. Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone warned Theresa May she will be betraying the public if she continues to seek to delay Brexit. If you continue to apply for an extension to Article 50 you will be betraying the British people. If you dont, you will be honouring their instruction, he told her during PMQs. Prime Minister, it is entirely down to you. History will judge you at this moment. Prime Minister, which is it to be? Senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: Truly shocking. This is a Prime Minister in the worst state of denial, refusing to listen to anyone, just still doing the same thing again and again, no plan B, heading stubbornly towards the cliff edge. Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron claimed Parliament is dancing to the tune of extremists rather than listening to ordinary people. What next? The ball is also now in the EUs court to agree to any extension. Any request for extra time is subject to unanimous approval by leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. If the EU agrees an extension, MPs and peers will have to pass a statutory instrument within days to remove the date of March 29 from Brexit legislation. The PM said she shared the frustrations of voters (Getty)European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested an agreement on any extension to Article 50 might not be reached at this weeks European Council summit, and that EU leaders might have to meet again next week to finalise it. The development comes exactly 1,000 days after the referendum of June 23 2016, which delivered a 52%-48% majority for leaving the EU. It will dismay hardline Leavers still hoping for a no-deal clean Brexit next Friday. Talks are expected to continue with the DUP ahead of any vote in the hope of overturning its defeat by a margin of 149 last week. Mrs Mays EU deal has been voted down by MPs twice already (Getty) But it is understood that the Government is still far from any agreement with the Northern Irish party that would allow its 10 MPs to back the PMs deal. Jeremy Corbyn indicated that he sees Monday as the point for Labour to mount a challenge to the Governments approach. Speaking after talks with other opposition parties and Labour backbenchers on the way forward, Mr Corbyn said: The reality is that this Government has lost its authority, doesnt enjoy the confidence of the House, cant get anything through. Surely that is the time to step aside and let the people decide in a peoples vote thats called a general election. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau was in Toronto on Wednesday to stand up for measures announced in yesterdays budget, including the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Morneau joked about the mostly business crowd, hosted by Toronto Region Board of Trade, Canadian Club of Toronto, and Empire Club of Canada, being much quieter than the House of Commons yesterday. Measures to ease housing affordability for first-time buyers include CMHC chipping in up to 10 per cent of the purchase price of a home, interest-free. Anyone lucky enough to have significant savings in an RRSP will be able to withdraw $35,0000 dollars to buy a home, up from the current $25,000. These measures will work, Morneau told Yahoo Finance Canada. Some argue the incentives will backfire because they will drive up demand and push prices higher, but Morneau disagrees. When you think about the overall homebuyer market we have roughly half a million home purchases a year, 100,000 of them are first-time homebuyers, said Morneau. When were talking about maybe 20,000, maybe 30,000, maybe 40,000 thousand new families, which is really important for those families, but weve done the modelling to show theres not an issue around changing demand dynamics. Morneau also reiterated Ottawas commitment to cracking down on illegal activity in the housing market. We are putting together teams to look at any sort of money laundering issues in the housing market, said Morneau. These are important in getting at people who are actually creating the demand inappropriately. He also touted measures to increase supply, including affordable rentals. Morneau says the mortgage stress test will stay in place as long as OSFI thinks it should. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions will continue to look at those stress tests to make sure they are appropriate and continuing to have the impact we are hoping they have, said Morneau. We continue to be concerned about overall household debt This is an important issue for showing that Canadians are resilient enough to face up to any changes in the economy. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. For example, the China YuHua Education Corporation Limited (HKG:6169) share price is down 24% in the last year. That contrasts poorly with the market return of -6.6%. China YuHua Education hasnt been listed for long, so although were wary of recent listings that perform poorly, it may still prove itself with time. See our latest analysis for China YuHua Education To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term its a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. During the unfortunate twelve months during which the China YuHua Education share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 37%. It could be that the share price was previously over-hyped. Its fair to say that the share price does not seem to be reflecting the EPS growth. But we might find some different metrics explain the share price movements better. China YuHua Educations revenue is actually up 41% over the last year. Since we cant easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock. Depicted in the graphic below, youll see revenue and earnings over time. If you want more detail, you can click on the chart itself. SEHK:6169 Income Statement, March 19th 2019 China YuHua Education is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. If you are thinking of buying or selling China YuHua Education stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits. What About Dividends? As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising. Its fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for China YuHua Education the TSR over the last year was -22%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. Story continues A Different Perspective China YuHua Education shareholders are down 22% for the year (even including dividends), even worse than the market loss of 6.6%. Theres no doubt thats a disappointment, but the stock may well have fared better in a stronger market. Its great to see a nice little 5.5% rebound in the last three months. This could just be a bounce because the selling was too aggressive, but fingers crossed its the start of a new trend. Before forming an opinion on China YuHua Education you might want to consider the cold hard cash it pays as a dividend. This free chart tracks its dividend over time. We will like China YuHua Education better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Tensions are running high and the outcome of the vote is uncertain. The division in the right opens a window of opportunity for the coalition led by former general Gantz. Whilst the incumbent prime minister has stressed the Iranian threat and Hezbollah, a corruption investigation overshadows his campaign. The Druze are unhappy, and Christians are politically irrelevant, as is the Palestinian question. Jerusalem (AsiaNews) Tensions are running high in Israel as uncertainty continues to hover over the outcome of next months election, this according to Sobhy Makhoul, of the Maronite Church of Jerusalem and director of the Christian Media Center. The incumbent, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is stressing security to get a new mandate by playing up the Iranian and Hezbollah danger, Makhoul told AsiaNews. When Israelis go to the polls to elect a new Knesset on 9 April, they will decide Netanyahus political fate. Meanwhile, he faces a trial for corruption and fraud on charges he describes as a witch hunt, all the while boasting that he is ready to prove his innocence in a court of law. His party, the Likud, is closely monitoring the rise of its main rival, the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) alliance, led by former general Benny Gantz, against a backdrop that includes the Palestinian question and growing social problems. In a recent move, Israels Supreme Court rejected the candidacy of Michael Ben-Ari, leader of the radical right-wing Otzma Yehudit party because of its anti-Arab ideology. Conversely, it allowed Ofer Cassif and the Arab-led list Balad-Raam to run. According to some polls, the ruling Likud is lagging behind its main rival, which are trying to end Netanyahus ten-year right-wing rule. Surveys by Channel 12 and 13 indicate that the block formed by centrist Yesh Atid and Israel Resilience party could win 36 seats (out of a total of 120) whilst the Likud would take 26 to 30. To form a government, 61 seats are needed. "Against Netanyahu, the Blue and White alliance brings together different groups from the centre and the centre-left, said Makhoul. For his part, the incumbent prime minister has to deal with the loss of two ministers, including the Justice minister, who accuse him of being too "soft" towards the Palestinians. Divisions within the right could "play in favour" of Gantz who can benefit from "the support of all moderates", but the "race is still open and the outcome uncertain". Netanyahu "has responded forcefully, brushing off the allegations of corruption. He has tried to defend his position, stating that the charges are not true." A possible corruption trial "is one of the topics of the electoral campaign", but "it will not be decisive" since he will be questioned only after the vote. "As he keeps repeating: He is under investigation, but has not been indicted". The matter will come out fully "only later. This is why it is an element, among many, but not a decisive factor. Netanyahu also faces the hostility of Israeli Arabs, in particular the Druze, who, "despite 70 years of loyalty to the country, have been relegated to second-class status by a new law that defines Israel as a nation-state of the Jewish people. That is why, he "is playing the external danger card, stressing the threat represented by Iran and the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. In reality the situation at the border is fairly quiet, but he tries to provoke, to further the perception of danger and fear." According to the Christian leader, the Palestinian question has dropped below the radar. No one is "talking about it" and "Gaza is a marginal issue. The economic situation is "on the whole positive. Israel is doing well thanks to high employment, tourism and pilgrimages, and this could work in favour of the incumbent prime minister." However, the scale could be tipped by "the religious camp, which appears to be oriented towards Netanyahu, whilst the Arab front, to which Christians look, is split into two by internal divisions and rivalries". This was one unique Airbnb. You opened the front door and were greeted by a 5-foot-tall gorilla statue sitting quietly on a bench in the entry way. Then you walked into the living room that had a tree in the corner with branches and paper leaves that stretched across the ceiling. Two giraffe Linette Grzelak was at the beach near Murray Mouth at Coorong recently when she and her partner came across an enormous sunfish. Source: Facebook/ Linette Grzelak A woman has shared an impressive find she came across on a beach in Australia. Linette Grzelak was at the beach near Murray Mouth at Coorong, South Australia, when she and her partner came across an enormous sunfish. Ms Grzelak shared a picture of the fish on Facebook on Monday. I thought it was fake, she wrote. She later clarified the fish was dead and people were astonished by its sheer size with the picture shared more than 1000 times. Wow, that was swimming out there? No wonder I dont swim in the sea, one woman wrote. Bet that would give you a good run, one man added. South Australian Museum fish collection manager Ralph Foster told the ABC the sunfish was a rare find and while he estimated it was 1.8 metres long he said they can get a lot bigger. Its probably an average-sized one, they can get nearly twice as big as that, Mr Foster told the ABC. The fish can reach a length of 3.3 metres and can weigh up to 2.7 tonnes, according to Fishes of Australias website. A huge sunfish miles off coast of San Diego, California. Source: Getty Images (file pic) Also known as Mola mola, the fish pose no harm to humans despite their large size. However, a four-year-old boy fishing off the west coast of Wales with his family in 2004 was knocked over by a 30kg sunfish after it landed on top of him. Luckily, little Byron Grey was fine and he and his family continued finishing. Last month, thousands of cuttlefish washed up at a popular resort in Chile much to the confusion of locals. In October last year, residents of South Carolina were left baffled after a large cylindrical object washed up on a beach. It weighed about 90kg. Operation Sceptre which ran from March 11 to 17 has seen hundreds of weapons handed in to police. Thousands of knives have been surrendered across the country as part of a national amnesty. Operation Sceptre takes place every year and sees police forces across the UK place bins across their community for knives to be destroyed. This year the operation seems more timely, coming as Britain is in the grip of a knife crime epidemic with the latest murder coming on Saturday when 29-year-old Nathaniel Armstrong killed in Fulham. Last year there were 135 homicides in London, many of which were knife related and so far this year 26 people have been killed in the capital. This years amnesty saw 680 knives collected in Humberside alone, while elsewhere there were hundreds more dumped. Knives surrendered to South Wales Police in Cardiff Meat cleavers, kitchen knives and flick blades were handed in to Suffolk police. A huge leap in knife crime which saw Spanish national David Martinez, become the 14th stabbing fatality in 16 days earlier this month, after 17 year olds Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki, were killed in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is calling for more money to tackle knife crime, while Theresa May and Met Commissioner Cressida Dick recently clashed over whether a reduction in officer numbers had fuelled the problem. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Catholic mum investigated by police after misgendering trans child Man spends 660 on Brexit stockpile shopping trip Tony Blair thinks no point in praying to solve Brexit The killings have prompted warnings of a national emergency and sparked intense scrutiny of reductions in the size of the police workforce. The number of officers in the 43 territorial forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 24,000 since 2009, and numbers of PCSOs have falled more than 5,000 in the same period. Operation Sceptre which ran from March 11 to 17 has seen hundreds of weapons handed in to police. Knives seized by Lowestoft police in Suffolk. Just a selection of the knives surrendered to Welsh police Mrs May, who was home secretary from 2010 to 2016, argued at the beginning of March there was no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers. But a string of senior figures in policing including Met Commissioner Cressida Dick lined up to dispute her claims. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK The Left is working on various plans for packing the Supreme Court. These plans would neutralize or reverse the current conservative majority on the Court by adding a number of new associate justices to be named by a future Democratic president. The likelihood that a Democratic president will be able to pack the Supreme Court is slim to none, but the real purpose is to influence the current Court, not install a new one. Court-packing was first tried by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937, after the Supreme Court had struck down two New Deal initiatives because they unconstitutionally delegated legislative authority to the president. The Constitution separates legislative and executive power: Only Congress can make a law; the executive branch limited to the laws administration and enforcement. Roosevelts plan was not popular with the American people, and it did not pass Congress. But it appeared to cow the Court. Not only did the Court begin to modify its views of New Deal legislation, but it never again declared a law to be unconstitutional because it delegated legislative power to the executive branch. As a result, the power of the federal governments administrative agencies the administrative state has grown rapidly since the New Deal. Much of this administrative authority seems to be legislative in character, but without the Supreme Court deciding what constitutes a delegation of legislative authority, there is no way to impose limits on this growth. In general, the Left is pleased with the policies of the administrative state. The ever-multiplying rules and regulations both expand on the laws made by Congress and are issued by a bureaucracy in and around Washington, D.C., that largely shares the priorities of the Left including its desire to more rigorously control of the economy. The wellspring of the movement for another Court-packing plan is concern on the Left that the new conservative and constitutionalist majority on the Court will limit the power of the bureaucracy by reviving the idea called the nondelegation doctrine that will limit the ability of Congress to delegate legislative authority to the executive branch. The Court has already heard argument on a case, Gundy v. United States, that raises just this issue. Story continues The interesting question is why Court-packing has been proposed and is receiving media coverage now, before the conservative and constitutionalist majority on the Court has done anything to arouse anger on the Left. The answer is that the plans current sponsors have another objective in view a chance to influence the vote of Chief Justice John Roberts on a decision in Gundy that will revive the nondelegation doctrine. In two cases arising under Obamacare, Roberts showed that he is reluctant to have the Court take controversial positions on major public issues. In both cases, he sided with the four liberals on the Court, upholding the law against strong conservative challenges. Now, apparently, the sponsors of the new Court-packing plan hope that this threat will again persuade the chief justice to lead the Court away from another major confrontation. Is this strategy likely to succeed? There is good reason for doubt. Chief Justice Roberts is a constitutionalist, like four of his fellow justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh. For constitutionalists, there is nothing more important than protecting, and if necessary restoring, the separation of powers as the central structural element of the Constitution. Indeed, as recently as 2013, in City of Arlington v. FCC, Roberts himself formulated a statement of the Courts responsibility that echoes the Framers view of the judiciarys responsibility to protect the separation of powers: the obligation of the Judiciary [is] not only to confine itself to its proper role, but to ensure that the other branches do so as well. In other words, if Congress is unconstitutionally delegating its legislative authority to the executive branch, the judiciary has an obligation step in. The threat of a future Court-packing plan is not likely to deter someone who sees this as the Supreme Courts historic duty. More from National Review Tom Hanks (Credit: AP Photo/Michel Euler) Birthdays are already pretty good, but birthdays with Tom Hanks involved? Well, theyre just better arent they. The Forrest Gump legend is currently in Albuquerque filming the new post-apocalypse drama BIOS, and was spotted having a steak at Ruths Chris Steak House. Read more: Forrest Gumps son was to have AIDS in sequel Samantha Aragon was at the next table celebrating her birthday with friends, and it clearly caught the attention of Hanks, who is, frankly, always a delight when it comes to meeting fans. Aragon told KRQE: I said, Can he just sing happy birthday to me too? I think he probably heard that. And so over Hanks came to the table. He said, Well, wheres your dessert? We wouldve sang to you. I said, Well, we havent gotten it yet. He said, Ill sing to you anyways, Aragon said, recording the brief serenade online. Describing the experience of being sung to by Hanks as probably the best 12 seconds of my life, she added: He was tremendous. Hes just the nicest person. Read more: You could win a cameo in Toy Story 4 Restaurants in the far-flung corners of the United States appear to be the best place to catch Hanks in the wild. A few years back, he joined a group of students at a pizza restaurant in North Dakota, featuring in a series of faux-drunken pictures they then posted on Reddit of Hanks mocking them. (Credit: Reddit) BIOS, meanwhile, is being helmed by British director Miguel Sapochnik (who was behind the camera for key Game of Thrones episodes including Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards). It finds Hanks as an inventor, the last man on Earth, who builds an android to keep him and his dog company. The movie, which is also shooting in Vancouver, is due for release in October, 2020. Tony Blair says theres no point praying to God to solve Brexit (Getty) As voters look to politicians to solve the current Brexit chaos, it seems that Tony Blair thinks even God cant help. Speaking to BBC2s Newsnight, the former Prime Minister was asked whether his prayers asked for help in the current impasse. He said: You can be as religious as you like but the thing about praying to God is he doesnt tell you what the level of minimum wage is. I dont know what Gods view of Brexit is and I dont think its a sensible enquiry to have. These MPs, theyre a disgrace, theyre just squabbling amongst themselves. Theyre not! Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says he believes MPs owe their constituents their own judgement and Mays deal resolves nothing Full interview at 22:30 @maitlis | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/SWvY8MRaHi BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 19, 2019 Mr Blair denied that he had been undermining negotiations by urging European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron to stand firm on Brexit in the hope of the UK giving up on it. Denying the accusation, Mr Blair said: How am i undermining it [Brexit]? Im saying the country should come to a view in Parliament and if Parliament cant make up its mind or decides it wants to you put it back to the people. What Im saying to people privately in Europe is what Im saying publicly. Read more: Theresa May to ask for short delay to Brexit Theresa May admits country in crisis over Brexit Liam Fox mocked over his no-deal Brexit trade agreement Mr Blair said Theresa May should use any extension to EU withdrawal talks to allow Parliament the chance to decide what kind of Brexit it wants. However, he said that a no-deal Brexit was no longer an option and that the question of a second referendum was for a later time. Story continues He called for a delay of nine to 12 months to give Parliament to decide whether it wants soft Brexit, hard Brexit or no Brexit, with or without a second referendum. The former PM said he was not undermining Brexit negotiations (PA) Mr Blair said that any extension should be used to come to a clear set of decisions about Brexit which weve avoided up to now and which weve got to do. No deal is not our challenge, said Mr Blair. Our challenge is whatever you have by way of extension, make it count and make it count by having a plan for it that allows Parliament to reach a conclusive opinion on the central Brexit question soft or hard? Describing the Conservative Government as being in a state of dysfunction, Mr Blair added: Theresa May has taken this kind of extraordinary narrow view of this situation and just said Right, here is my deal. Mr Blair described the Conservative Government as being in a state of dysfunction (Getty) If you dont accept it then youre basically defying the will of the people, youre being unpatriotic. Instead what she should be saying is OK, here is what Brexit really does mean. It can mean this if you go for a soft option, it could mean that if you go for a hard option. What do you want? Defending MPs for continuously blocking Brexit, Mr Blair added: People say to me MPs are a disgrace. Theyre not. Theyre doing their day job, theyre doing what theyre supposed to do. Theresa Mays deal resolves nothing and what the MPs are doing is actually what they should do. Theyre looking at the detail and theyre saying Northern Ireland is a mess and the future relationship is a mystery and why on earth are we going to push the country down this path? Its not in the countrys interest. Mr Blair wants a Peoples Vote on the Brexit deal (Getty) MPs owe their constituents their own judgement. They shouldnt just say, tell us what you want and well do it. On the topic of a second referendum, Mr Blair said that in discussions with EU leaders he has received a pretty good reception for his message that: If Britain thinks again Europe should think again. He suggested that if the UK decided to stay in the EU, it would be possible to agree reform that puts freedom of movement in its proper context and understands that, for example, you shouldnt have influxes of labour that then undercut the wages of local workers. Toyota on Wednesday said it will build a new hybrid car in Britain for Japanese peer Suzuki -- a welcome boost for the UK auto sector which has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. "Seeking to produce additional volume for other customers is one example of all the efforts we are making to keep our UK manufacturing operations as competitive as they can be" in the face of Brexit, said Toyota's head of UK operations, Marvin Cooke. Toyota expects production to start in late 2020 at its Welsh plant in Deeside and its factory in Burnaston, central England. Just two weeks ago, Toyota Europe's CEO warned the firm could end production in Britain by 2023 should the country exit the European Union without a deal. Cooke repeated Toyota concerns in Wednesday's statement. "We have consistently said for the medium to longer term, continued free and frictionless trade and common automotive technical standards will be essential to support the international competitiveness of the UK automotive sector." But he added that Wednesday's announcement by the Japanese car giant, which employs more than 3,200 people across its two plants in Britain, "demonstrates Toyota's trust" in the local workforce. Toyota said it would supply hybrid electric vehicles to Suzuki based on the Toyota Corolla Wagon. The news is in contrast to Japanese rival Nissan, which recently said it would stop production of Infiniti cars at its factory in Sunderland, northeast England, and cancel the plant's plans for the X-Trail SUV. Japanese peer Honda has also curbed investment in Britain, and plans to close its UK car plant in southwest England in 2022 with 3,500 job losses. In case of a no-deal Brexit, the British government last week said UK-based carmakers reliant on EU supply chains would not face tariffs for imported vehicle parts. However, UK car industry body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, responded that a no-deal would spark disruption and job losses in a sector already plagued by collapsing demand for high-polluting diesel vehicles. Story continues Britain has asked EU leaders to delay Brexit until June 30, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, the eve of an EU summit in Brussels. The UK had been scheduled to depart on March 29 but the British parliament twice rejected a divorce deal agreed between May's Conservative government and Brussels. Wednesday's announcement by Toyota and Suzuki meanwhile builds on a memorandum of understanding between the pair in 2017 to work closely together on projects, while maintaining their independence and competitiveness. "Toyota and Suzuki, in addition to bringing together Toyota's strength in electrification technologies and Suzuki's strength in technologies for compact vehicles, intend to grow in new fields, such as joint collaboration in production and in the widespread popularisation of electrified vehicles," the two companies said in a joint statement. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's capital plans to invest 571 trillion rupiah ($40.27 billion) to upgrade its transportation and other infrastructure in the next 10 years, its governor was reported by media as saying on Wednesday. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said he has submitted a list of proposals to President Joko Widodo including plans to expand the city's new mass rapid transit (MRT) system and build a 120 km-long light transit railway. Other projects include investments in a clean water pipeline and waste management projects. "We will extend the MRT. It's now 16 km (9.9 miles), but later 231 km more will be built," he said, as reported by media. The projects will be funded mostly through debt, Baswedan said. Next week, the traffic-clogged city will open to public its $3 billion MRT system, running from south to central Jakarta along its main thoroughfares. The project, funded by a loan from the Japanese government, is a centre-piece of an infrastructure boom under Widodo. Widodo is vying for re-election on April 17 against opposition candidate, retired general Prabowo Subianto. Delayed for more than 20 years, the MRT was finally launched in 2013, with the first line originally scheduled to open in 2018. The national government will explore creative financing options to fund the newly proposed projects alongside the Jakarta administration, Luky Alfirman, director general of budget financing at the finance ministry, said. ($1 = 14,180.0000 rupiah) (Reporting by Maikel Jefriando; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Kim Coghill) Travellers who set up an illegal encampment on a green were given a nasty surprise when the army showed up to turf them out. Kent Police arrived to find caravans and cars parked up on a green, but was soon joined by soldiers, because the land they were parked on belonged to the Ministry of Defence. It is understood the land claimed by travellers on Tuesday in Folkstone, Kent is owned by the MoD. A Kent Police spokesperson said: Assisting our colleagues the British Army and MoD Police in the removal of an Unauthorised Encampment in Queens Ave, Folkestone. Travellers were surprised when the army arrived to move them on from land in Folkestone, Kent, on Tuesday. (SWNS) Travellers were surprised when the army arrived to move them on from land in Folkestone, Kent, on Tuesday. (SWNS) Working closely with partners in your community. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Mother of nine-year-old girl dumped in a duffle bag charged with murder A British Army spokesman confirmed there was no Explosive Ordnance Disposal activity in the area, and their presence was part of the work to move on travellers. Folkestone and Hythe District Council have also been contacted for comment. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Donald Trump has accused major technology firms such as Facebook and Google of radical left bias even as he is spending millions of dollars in political adverts on the platforms. In a post on Twitter which he also included in his accusation the president repeated a claim he and many on the right have made before, namely that big tech companies reduce or minimise access to conservative content. Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats. But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before, said Mr Trump. Later, appearing with right-wing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro at the White House, he doubled down on his allegation, saying Twitter was different than it used to be. He said certain voices were not getting through. It seems to be if theyre conservative, if theyre Republicans, if theyre in a certain group theres discrimination, and big discrimination, he said. We have to do something about it. His accusation came as Republican congressman Devin Nunes sued Twitter for $250m, claiming the site was guilty of defamation and negligence. He also alleged it had engaged in so-called shadow banning, in which Twitter users are able to post but no one else sees their messages. Twitter has denied doing this. Despite Mr Trumps attacks on the big tech companies, new data shows he is already utilising the same firms in a major way as he prepares his reelection campaign, much as he did in 2016 when spent heavily on Facebook and Google. Both platforms, along with Twitter, were targetted by fake news and accounts that US prosecutors have alleged originated in Russia. The messages were designed to boost Mr Trumps chances of winning, and hurt those of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, On Tuesday, as Mr Trump was tweeting about the evils of big tech, data collated by the analytics and communications firm Bully Pulpit Interactive, showed the presidents 2020 campaign had spent almost nearly twice as much as the entire field of potential Democratic rivals combined. Story continues Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats. But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2019 The data showed Mr Trump had spent at least $13m in digital media since May 2018, and more than $4.5m in the first three months of 2019. This is an unprecedented level of investment this early, and especially from an incumbent president, Mike Schneider, a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, told Axios. Trumps digital sophistication was one of the most over-reported stories of the 2016 election cycle. Trumps digital head start in the 2020 cycle is one of the most under-reported stories. In 2017, Facebook admitted that hundreds of fake accounts run from what was termed a Russian troll farm had spent about $100,000 on adverts during the 2016, seeking to stir up divisive issues such as race relations and gun control. Though were committed to doing everything we can to reduce the spread of false news to as close to zero as possible, we also need to make sure we take steps to address the problem when people do encounter hoaxes, wrote Adam Mosseri, a Facebook vice president. To that end, were exploring ways to give people more context about stories so they can make more informed decisions about what to read, trust and share and ways to give people access to more perspectives about the topics that theyre reading. At least 470 accounts appeared to come from the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a St Petersburg-based organisation known for promoting pro-Russian government positions via fake accounts. In February of 2018, 13 Russian individuals and 3 entered among them IRA were indicted by Robert Mueller as part of his special counsel investigation into alleged Russian interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Facebook has turned over its findings to Mr Muellers office, which is continuing its investigation. President Trump on Monday welcomed former Vice President Joe Biden as a potential opponent in 2020 by anointing him with one of his favorite epithets, low IQ. Trump, who has described himself as a very stable genius and likes to boast about an uncle who was a professor at MIT, on Monday called Biden another low I.Q. individual after the former vice president stumbled over his not-quite-announcement of his candidacy for president. Joe Biden got tongue tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President, Trump tweeted. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual! This attack comes days after Trump mocked Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourkes hand gestures, asking if the former Texas congressman was crazy or is that just the way he acts? Biden, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988 and 2008, hasnt announced yet but came very close to doing so this past weekend. During his keynote speech at a fundraising dinner for Delaware Democrats, Biden said, I have the most progressive record of anybody running for the United--. He quickly corrected himself: Of anybody who would run. I didnt mean it! Of anybody who would run. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden (Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, Getty Images) Trump has said Biden would be his dream opponent. In a 2018 interview on CBS Evening News, anchor Jeff Glor asked Trump, Who do you think your Democratic opponent will be? Joe Biden says hell make a decision by January. Well, I dream, I dream about Biden, said Trump. That's a dream. He went on to say President Obama took him out of the garbage heap to be his running mate 2008. Trump has also described Biden as crazy. After Biden said hed take [Trump] behind the gym and beat the hell out of him if he heard him making lewd comments about women, Trump tweeted that Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically Biden joins a long list of individuals Trump has deemed low IQ, including Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., actor Robert De Niro, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whom the president challenged to an IQ test, and even his former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, with whom he offered to to compare IQ. Story continues Defending his own intellectual abilities in 2013, Trump tweeted, Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure, it's not your fault. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson waves goodbye after speaking at the State Department in Washington, March 13, 2018. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Biden himself has tried to claim the intellectual high ground during a presidential run. At a campaign appearance in New Hampshire in 1987, he snapped at a questioner who questioned his law school record. I think I have a much higher IQ than you do, responded Biden. He went on to falsely state that he graduated in the top half of his class at Syracuse College of Law and graduated with three degrees from college. Biden, graduated with a BA from the University of Delaware (he was a double major in history and political science) and earned a law degree from Syracuse, where he ranked 76th in a class of 85, according to the New York Times. He later admitted his memory was faulty. While Bidens academic records have been made transparent, Trump made sure his were concealed, according to his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Calling Trump a conman during a House Oversight Committee hearing, Cohen said his former boss directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores. Last fall, when talking about his performance on standardized tests, Biden at a D.C. conference sarcastically mocked Trump saying, Im clearly not as smart as Trump, the smartest man in the world. But I have a relatively high IQ. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: The Trump administration is committing "an unprecedented level of stonewalling, delay and obstruction" in response to congressional requests for documents and witnesses, the chair of the House oversight committee has said. Elijah Cummings, Democratic congressman for Maryland, said he had sent 12 letters to the White House on a range of topics from the "routine" to "relating to our core national security interests". In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Mr Cummings said the subjects included White House security clearances, Donald Trump's alleged hush money payments, and the use of taxpayer funds for lavish private planes. The Trump administration "has not turned over a single piece of paper to our committee or made a single official available for testimony," Mr Cummings wrote. The administration has also ignored requests by three inquiries into the administration by the House judiciary committee, which has impeachment jurisdiction. The White House considers the requests by newly empowered Democrats- who took the House in November - as illegitimate, too expansive or infringing on presidential privilege, the Post reported. Administration sources told the newspaper it planned to challenge the majority of document requests. But Democrats say the White House is trying to thwart Congress's fundamental oversight role of the executive. "Trump's actions violate our Constitution's fundamental principle of checks and balances," Mr Cummings wrote. The Trump administration is expected to draft an official response over its failure to comply with the request some time in the next week. If it continues to refuse, Democrats could sue the administration and ultimately take officials to court, where it could get caught up in litigation for years. The House judiciary committee is probing whether Mr Trump abused his power as president, obstructed justice, or engaged in corruption, while the oversight committee is looking into issues including the president's hush money payments to two women and his handling of security clearances. Additional reporting by AP Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday slapped down ambitious proposals being circulated by some Democratic White House candidates to expand the number of justices on the US Supreme Court, dismissing it as election sour grapes. Trump said Democrats were seeking to rebalance the nine-member court or draw it once again to a more liberal lean after the high court shifted to the right with the president managing to place two of his nominees -- Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh -- on the bench. "So if they can't catch up through the ballot box by winning an election, they want to try doing it in a different way," Trump said at a White House press event with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. "We would have no interest in that whatsoever, it'll never happen. I guarantee it won't happen for six years," Trump added, referring to his remaining time in office should he win re-election in 2020. The remarks come as several Democratic 2020 hopefuls said they might seek to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if they were elected president, as the party looks to reclaim ground in the judiciary gained by Trump's Republican Party. Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand told Politico they would not rule out dramatic changes to the Supreme Court, including adding seats or instituting term limits. Two others, former congressman Beto O'Rourke and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have openly floated the idea of five justices selected by Democrats, five by Republicans, and another five chosen by the other 10 justices. "I think that's an idea we should explore," O'Rourke said last week at a campaign stop in Iowa. Democrats were furious with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's refusal in 2016 to hold hearings or a confirmation vote for then-president Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland. Trump won that year's election, and filled the vacant seat with the conservative Gorsuch. It would be a steep uphill climb for Democrats' proposed reforms to gain political support, with critics warning that a packing of the Supreme Court when a Democrat is president would be met with tit-for-tat responses by Republicans when they return to power. As the details of the Trump administrations budget request trickle out in the coming weeks, President Trump is likely to tout it as a fulfillment of his promise to rebuild the military. And, on the surface, its easy to see why. The $750 billion top-line military-spending request represents the real 3 to 5 percent growth most defense experts believe is necessary to recover from the damaging effects of sequestration and meet the challenges outlined in the National Defense Strategy. But as much as the administrations top-line defense number matters, its also important to look beneath the surface at how it proposes to spend all that money. And viewed that way, the budgets flaws become much more apparent. The administrations request relies on a number of work-arounds to reach the $750 billion that will allow President Trump and Pentagon leaders to make good on their commitment to rebuilding the military. The most obvious and egregious is an inflated budget for Overseas Contingency Operations, or OCO, which is intended to fund warfighting needs. The presidents budget includes $174 billion for OCO, including $9 billion to cover shortfalls in military-construction funding created when President Trump declared a national emergency to fund the border wall. The presidents request for the Fiscal Year 2020 base national-defense budget (essentially regular funding for the Pentagon and a few other agencies) is $576 billion. This request adheres to the sequestration cap imposed by the Budget Control Act, or BCA, which nearly every defense leader on both sides of the aisle agrees is far too low to ensure our national security. Heres why all of this budget math matters. First, the presidents reliance on OCO misreads the politics of the budget process. Since the Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse, the administrations budget request is essentially a messaging document and the message this budget sends is not strong enough. Simply put, the president cannot claim to support rebuilding the military and submit a budget request that complies with the BCA sequestration caps. For all the grief Republicans gave the last administration over inadequate defense spending, even President Obama never submitted a budget request at sequestration levels. Story continues Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree that they will have to come to a bipartisan compromise that raises the BCA sequestration caps on both defense and non-defense discretionary spending. This is especially true now that Democrats have the House majority. In those negotiations, strong leadership from the White House is critical to providing a solid starting point for negotiations, and this budget doesnt cut it. Pretending to adhere to sequestration while stuffing $174 billion into the BCA-exempt OCO account harms Republicans negotiating position and only ensures that the presidents budget request will be dead on arrival on Capitol Hill. That leads to the second way in which the presidents defense-budget request misses the mark: procedurally. While the OCO account has an important budgeting function, it has become a convenient but irresponsible way to skirt the constraints of the BCA sequestration caps for defense. Everyone from anti-war liberal Democrats to conservative Republican fiscal hawks has decried the reliance on OCO in the era of sequestration. And the administrations FY2020 budget more than doubles the OCO request from recent years. The administration itself even admits that a full 60 percent of its OCO request almost $100 billion is actually for base Pentagon spending. The problem is not just that OCO is widely regarded as having become a budget gimmick and an emblem of fiscal irresponsibility. Inflating the OCO account has real-world implications for our military: It limits flexibility and planning two priorities that are integral to the way the Pentagon operates. What our military needs are adequate, stable, and sustainable resources and that cannot be achieved by pumping up the OCO budget. Finally, the presidents defense-budget request sends the wrong message on policy. The right way to do defense budgeting is to first assess the threats to our national security and then determine what is needed to meet those threats. To the administrations credit, it started that process with the National Defense Strategy, or NDS, released last year. But this budget request does not line up with the policy priorities outlined in that document. The NDS makes a clear prioritization of the threats we face. Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security, it says. The Pentagons top priority is now preparing for competition with China and Russia not focusing on the Middle East. President Trump has been an advocate for this approach and gone much further, railing against endless wars in the Middle East and calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and potentially Afghanistan. Yet his budget request uses what is essentially a Middle East warfighting account (OCO used to be called the Global War on Terrorism account) to shelter nearly $100 billion of base defense spending. That just doesnt square with the administrations stated policy priorities. If the administration actually believed that $174 billion belonged in the OCO account if the president believed preparing for strategic competition with China and Russia was so important that it deserved wartime, emergency funding it would be wise to say so and make an affirmative case for its position. But that is not how this budget is being presented. Rather, the OCO gimmick is being presented as no more or less than what it is. This was not a decision based on defense strategy; it seems more the work of the Office of Management and Budget than the National Security Council. Yet these realities remain: Strategic competition is our top national-security concern, and China is our pacing threat. Last week, it was announced that China plans to increase its defense spending by 7.5 percent this year as part of a long military buildup. In the face of rising threats from strategic competitors, the United States must invest in reorienting our military and developing new capabilities. We would like to offer unequivocal support for the administrations effort to boost the U.S. defense budget by the required 3 to 5 percent to help further that important goal but the increase has to happen in the right way. Lets hope Congress, which will dispose of the presidents budget request, does better. Rachel Hoff is the policy director of the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington, D.C. Roger I. Zakheim is the Institutes director and a former member of the National Defense Strategy Commission. More from National Review The Supreme Court has given Donald Trump an important victory by endorsing the US governments authority to detain immigrants waiting to be deported at any time, even years after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions. The 5-4 ruling saw the courts conservative justices overcoming liberal dissent, and essentially allowing US immigration enforcement to detain such immigrants indefinitely and at any time. In writing the majority ruling, justice Samuel Alito left open the possibility individual immigrants could challenge the law on constitutional grounds should they be detained long after serving their criminal sentence. He wrote that the ruling was not intended for extreme situations in which immigrants had left prison many years before and gone on to lead productive and law-abiding lives. But, mirroring concerns expressed by conservative justices during oral arguments that detention manpower and resources can be limited when an individual is released, he said it was ridiculous to expect Department of Homeland Security officials to turn into pumpkins just because an ex-con immigrant is released. Justice Stephen Breyer, in his dissent, questioned whether Congress meant to allow the government to apprehend persons years after their release from prison and hold them indefinitely without a bail hearing when writing the law in question. Mr Breyer continued, warning from the bench that the majoritys decision gives too much power to the federal government. It is a power to detain persons who committed a minor crime many years before, he said. And it is a power to hold those persons, perhaps for many months, without any opportunity to obtain bail. The Trump administration had argued a lower court ruling that immigrants would undermine the US governments ability to deport immigrants who had committed crimes, The case involved two legal US residents who filed separate lawsuits in 2013, a Cambodian immigrant and a Palestinian. Story continues The Cambodian immigrant, Mony Preap, had been convicted previously for marijuana possession. The Palestinian immigrant, Bassam Yusuf Khoury, was previously convicted of attempting to manufacture a controlled substance. The US law in question allows the government to detain immigrants indefinitely during their deportation proceedings, and without a bond hearing, after completing prison sentences. During oral arguments, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Cecillia Wang said the law requires immigrants to be detained immediately after their release. But conservative justices baulked at the idea, but acknowledged some grey areas exist. Its not reasonable if they dont have enough people to do it, chief justice John Roberts said. I dont know whats reasonable in this situation. A month? WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will meet at his Florida resort on Friday with the leaders of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia to discuss Chinese "predatory economic practices" and the Venezuela situation, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Trump and the Caribbean leaders will also discuss security cooperation and the potential opportunities for energy investment, the White House said. "The President looks forward to working with countries in the region to strengthen our security cooperation and counter Chinas predatory economic practices," the White House statement said. Washington has warned countries in the region about accepting Chinese investment. In October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Mexico City that "when China comes calling it's not always to the good of your citizens." When they show up with deals that seem to be too good to be true its often the case that they, in fact, are, Pompeo said. On Venezuela, the United States has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency in January, saying President Nicolas Maduro's re-election was not legitimate. Most Western countries have backed Guaido as head of state. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by David Alexander and Peter Cooney) The House Intelligence Committee will shift its focus into probing whether Donald Trump or any of his associates are under the influence of foreign powers, the chairman of the committee has revealed. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who leads the House investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said in a new interview that he is worried about whether Special Counsel Robert Muellers office has thoroughly probed the presidents financial ties to Russia. From what we can see either publicly or otherwise, it's very much an open question whether this is something the special counsel has looked at, Mr Schiff told NBC News in a report published on Wednesday. The chairman said those ties could be creating potential conflicts of interest in the White House, pointing to revelations about a secretive real estate project in Moscow the presidents former fixer and longtime attorney Michael Cohen made during a public testimony earlier this year. I certainly agree that the counterintelligence investigation may be more important than the criminal investigation because it goes to a present threat to our national security whether the president and anybody around him are compromised by a foreign power, Mr Schiff said. He added, That's not necessarily an issue that can be covered in indictments. Mr Trumps Russia connections have stirred controversy ever since he assumed the Oval Office in 2017. That year, his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort who is scheduled to begin his nearly seven year prison sentence over foreign lobbying and witness tampering charges was forced to register as a foreign agent for his work with a pro-Russian Ukranian political party. His son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's Russian connections and foreign debts have also been a subject of scrutiny by House investigators, following his failure to include nearly 100 contacts with Russians on a security clearance application. Story continues It was later reported the president stepped in and requested Mr Kushner be granted a clearance against the advice of experts involved in handling clearance applications. So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2019 Mr Trump has condemned Mr Schiff repeatedly on Twitter along with the House Intelligence investigation. In February, the president wrote, So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! He added, Unlimited Presidential Harassment." WASHINGTON Undeterred by growing Republican criticism, President Donald Trump delivered an extended attack Wednesday on the late Sen. John McCain over longstanding disputes between the two men ranging from health care to foreign policy. "I have to be honest, I never liked him much," Trump said during a speech at a military tank plant in Lima, Ohio, that was focused on the economy. "I probably never will." The crowd, which included members of the military, remained largely silent during the remarks. Trump has ratcheted up his criticism of the Republican Arizona senator and Vietnam veteran and POW several times this week, but his remarks in Ohio brought up a litany of grievances from Trump that included the ceremonies to honor McCain after he died last year at 81. "I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve," Trump said. "I don't care about this, I didnt get 'thank you.' Thats OK." The president, speaking on the McCain family last year, told Bloomberg News he did "everything that they requested." Trump allowed one of the planes used as Air Force Two to carry McCain's body to Washington for services. Trump did not attend McCain's funeral at the family's request. Trump began hitting McCain on Sunday over the senator's decision to turn a Russian dossier over to the FBI. Trump said Wednesday that he continued to speak about the senator because the news media kept asking him about it. "Not my kind of guy," Trump said, "But some people like him, and I think that's great." Before Trump's latest riff, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., criticized Trump for scorning McCain some seven months after the death of the senator the Republicans nominated for president in 2008. McCain, a Navy pilot, spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam before his release in 1973. Story continues McCain died in August after battling brain cancer. Its deplorable what he said, it will be deplorable if he says it again, Isakson told the Georgia Public Radio program Political Rewind. Wednesday's trip was the first of two trips Trump is making this month to Midwestern battleground states. The president, who is scheduled to hold a rally in Michigan next week, spent most of his Ohio address touting the nation's economy and low unemployment. As Trump talked up success seen in some quarters of the nation's economy, he continued to face questions about the iconic General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, which the automaker announced last fall would close this month. Trump launched a Twitter feud with GM this week, calling on the company to reopen the facility. During his remarks Wednesday, Trump drew a distinction between union leaders and rank-and-file labor members whose support he may need to get re-elected. Trump told the crowd he likes union workers, but not their leaders. The heads of the union are not honest people, the president said. They are not honest. And they ought to lower your dues, he added. Youre paying too much dues. Trump tailored much of his 2016 message to blue-collar manufacturing workers in the Rust Belt, helping him to flip states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin from blue to red. Though there have been some gains in manufacturing in his first term, Trump also has faced a number of high-profile setbacks such as Lordstown. U.S. manufacturing jobs have been steadily increasing since 2010 but are still well below the peak reached in the 1970s. There were 12.8 million U.S. manufacturing jobs in February, according to Department of Labor data, up from 11.4 million in 2010. There were more than 19.5 million manufacturing jobs in 1979. Ohio bound: Trump drops into Ohio amid feud over iconic GM plant in Lordstown After touring the tank plant in Lima, Trump said he thought about getting in one of the tanks but decided against it when he remembered what happened to Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee. Dukakis, then the governor of Massachusetts, was ridiculed mercilessly when he put on a helmet and rode in a tank at an event in Michigan. The photo op was intended to demonstrate Dukakis could be a worthy commander in chief but backfired so badly that many politicians ever since have refused to don headgear of any kind. He tanked when he got into the tank, said Trump, who regularly sports a baseball cap with his Make America Great Again campaign slogan. The helmet was bigger than he was. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in February during an event in the White House Rose Garden. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump escalates attacks on John McCain, says never got a 'thank you' for approving late senator's funeral Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report on his campaign's possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 election should be made public. But Trump again questioned the grounds for the nearly two-year-old investigation, which is also examining whether the president himself criminally obstructed the probe. With expectations rising that Mueller will wrap up his operation within weeks after having already charged six Trump associates and over two dozen Russians, Trump said that the secret report to be submitted to the Attorney General Bill Barr should be revealed to the public. "If you want to let them see it, let them see it," Trump told reporters. Trump questioned how Mueller -- a man "out of the blue" who "never got a vote" can be investigating him, given his victory in the 2016 election. "I'm saying to myself, wait a minute, I just won one of the greatest elections of all time in the history of this country ... and I have somebody writing the report who never got a vote, called the Mueller report. Explain that," Trump said. "Because my voters don't get it. And I don't get it. At the same time, let it come out. Let people see it." - 'Confidential report' - Even so, that could be difficult. Under the rules of his May 2017 appointment, Mueller, a former director of the FBI, is to submit to Barr "a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions." That report, experts say, is unlikely to be revealed in the raw -- it could have confidential data on people not charged, as well as top secret information on sources. But Barr is also compelled to submit to Congress his own summary of the investigation, a report which could be made public. Barr, who was a critic of Mueller before Trump appointed him attorney general in February, would not have to be as detailed as Mueller is. Story continues He could possibly leave out information that might be damaging to individuals like Trump, according to legal experts. On the other hand, if Mueller finds criminal behavior by Trump and believes the evidence strong enough to support an impeachment motion by Congress, he could, with Barr's permission, write a separate report making that case. An important question then is whether Barr would permit that, and allow that report to be released. Trump has repeatedly branded the Mueller investigation an "illegal witch hunt" over the past two years and labelled his team of investigators politically biased. While Mueller has revealed little about how he views Trump and his family as possible targets of the investigation, the president and the White House have stepped up their political campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the investigation. "No collusion, no collusion," Trump declared Wednesday. "I had the greatest electoral victory in the history of our country, one of them," he said. "Tremendous success. Tens of millions of voters. Now somebody's going to write a report, who never got a vote." "We will see what the report says. Let's see if it's fair." 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. By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States may leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a "substantial period" to ensure that Beijing complies with any trade agreement. The stance could complicate U.S.-China trade talks set to resume next week, as Chinese officials have been pressing for a full lifting of U.S. tariffs as part of any deal, people familiar with the talks have said. Trump said his top negotiators, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would leave for Beijing this weekend, confirming plans for talks next week disclosed on Tuesday by an administration official. The face-to-face talks will be the first since Trump delayed a March 1 deadline to avert a rise in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from the current 10 percent. "The deal is coming along nicely," Trump said to reporters at the White House, adding that the China trip was intended "to further the deal." But when asked about lifting U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump said: "Were not talking about removing them. We're talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time because we have to make sure that if we do the deal, China lives by it." Trump did not elaborate on his plans for the tariffs. His negotiators have demanded that China agree to an enforcement mechanism to ensure that Beijing follows through on any reform pledges in any deal. Washington is demanding that China end practices it says force the transfer of American technology to Chinese companies, improve access for American companies to China's markets and curb industrial subsidies. Since July 2018, the United States has imposed duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, including $50 billion in technology and industrial goods at 25 percent and $200 billion in other products including furniture and construction materials, at 10 percent. China has hit back with tariffs on about $110 billion worth of U.S. goods, including soybeans and other commodities. Story continues The eight-month trade war between the world's two largest economies has raised costs, roiled financial markets, shrunk U.S. farm exports and disrupted manufacturing supply chains. Later on Wednesday, during a speech in Lima, Ohio, Trump emphasized again that he wanted the United States to reach a "great" trade deal with China. "We're so far down, it's got to be a great deal. If it's not a great deal, you never catch up," Trump said in remarks at a military tank manufacturing plant. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Lima, Ohio, and David Lawder in Washington; Writing by David Lawder, Doina Chiacu and Makini Brice; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Cooney) Washington (AFP) - Who really gets under Donald Trump's skin? A man who has been dead since last year and another whom the president says he hardly knows. At least that's the bizarre picture painted by Trump this week in angry rants at the late senator John McCain and a Washington lawyer called George Conway. Trump lashed out yet again Wednesday at the broadly popular McCain, saying "I've never liked him much. I really probably never will." This followed a series of tweets and other statements in the last few days raging at the former senator's politics, role in the Russia collusion probe, and personal intelligence. As for Conway, "he's a whack job," Trump told journalists Wednesday. "A stone cold LOSER," he wrote on Twitter a few hours earlier. The venom of the attacks was not unusual for a president who revels in put-downs. The targets of his ire, though, raised eyebrows. McCain is widely remembered by Americans as a hero for his courage during six years of often brutal captivity in Hanoi during the Vietnam war. More to the point, he died in August at 81. While he fell out over policy several times with his fellow Republican Trump, he's been buried for seven months. No less curious is the Conway obsession. A prominent lawyer in Washington circles but a nobody to ordinary Americans, Conway burst into the public eye because he is married to a senior White House aide and has begun loudly questioning Trump's mental stability on Twitter. In both cases, Trump could have avoided controversy. McCain, after all, can never clash with him again and Conway poses no real threat -- other than, perhaps, to the stability of his marriage to senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway. Even Trump says, "I barely know him." Backing off from a fight, however, wouldn't be Trump: his entire presidency is based on being combative. Or, as Kellyanne Conway, told Politico: "he's a counter-puncher." Story continues "His base sees this as classic Trump behavior," said Rich Hanley, who teaches on politics and the media at Quinnipiac University. "They expect Trump to swing at everybody, even ghosts." - Thriving on toxic Twitter - Trump enjoys landing pithy, sometimes humorous, sometimes what many would call poor taste verbal blows. And Twitter, where he has more than 59 million followers, is his principal weapon. The Twitter president has largely dispensed with formal news briefings, finding that a tweet alone can get everyone talking -- without giving them much chance for questioning. Trump defended this method of communication on Wednesday as an antidote to what he calls the "corrupt" and "fake" media. By that, he means most standard news organizations. "It's a way that I can get honesty out," he said. It's a way where Trump typically gets to punch first and punch hard, thereby dominating the news agenda. George Conway, however, has broken the mold. Leveraging his position as husband to a Trump aide and posting outrage-seeking tweets that claim to diagnose personality disorders, he effectively out-trolled the troller in chief. Trump's "not used to that. He's used to being the aggressor, the bully, the one who controls," Hanley said. "Now he's finding that there are characters like Conway... who are more aggressive than he is and he doesn't know how to handle it." In a different sense, the same applies to McCain. He's gone, but memory of the maverick senator, who was not afraid to break with Republican ranks or to hide his dislike for a president who ridiculed his capture in Vietnam yet never served himself, remains fresh. Clearly much too fresh for Trump, who has talked so much this week about his disagreements with McCain that it sounds as if they had been locking horns only hours ago. Trump just can't let go. "My dad... would think it was so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death," McCain's daughter Meghan said on ABC television Wednesday, demonstrating some put-down skills of her own. With Trump soon starting his 2020 reelection campaign and Democrats launching their own nomination battle, the ugly back and forth is set to intensify. But Mark Rom, a politics professor at Georgetown University, predicted that Democratic candidates will get surrogates to do the dirty work while they try to keep above it all. Their mantra, he said, will be modelled on the icily dismissive approach taken by the House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi: "I'll just ignore that little man." The world can eradicate tuberculosis by 2045 if the fight against the killer disease is properly funded, an international team of experts said Wednesday. Warning of the immense economic and social costs of inaction, they said that better screening, treatments and public awareness were needed to reduce the more than 10 million cases recorded every year. A chronic lung disease which is preventable and largely treatable if caught in time, tuberculosis is the top infectious killer of our time, causing over 1.6 million deaths each year. "That is huge and the economic burden of that to both developing and developed nations is staggering," Eric Goosby, the United Nations' special envoy for the disease, told AFP. "It's not rocket science, it's really common sense. We need to initiate a new prevention strategy." Tuberculosis has existed for millenia and is latent in around a quarter of the world's population. Despite killing nearly as many people each year as HIV/AIDS and malaria combined, there has not been a new, commercially available tuberculosis vaccine in a century. The disease currently receives only around 10 percent of the research funding allocated for AIDS. A team of experts from 13 nations, writing in The Lancet, said that funding for research and development would need to quadruple to around $3 billion per year if the disease is to be properly tackled. In India alone, where one in three global tuberculosis deaths occur, providing better access to treatment and targeting at-risk communities for screening could cut deaths by nearly a third with an annually outlay of $290 million. That compares to the $32 billion each year in economic losses -- including treatment costs and lost productivity -- attributed to tuberculosis. "The real key is that we are going to need much more new research and new tools," said Paula Fujiwara, scientific director at The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Story continues "Even if we use the tools we have today it's not going to be enough. The goal is to end tuberculosis but the current decline is only 1.5-2.0 percent a year," she told AFP. The Lancet study says that even if currently available treatments were given to 90 percent of tuberculosis sufferers, 800,000 people would still die given their inefficacy and the gaps in diagnosis. - TB battle turns - A series of breakthroughs in recent months have provided some hope to patients. In October, a new treatment for drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis cured 80 percent of sufferers in Belarus. The treatment has since been repeated in other high-incidence nations, with similar results. A month earlier drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline unveiled a study showing that a new vaccine was effective in 54 percent of trial participants. In parallel, doctors say a new testing method could help reduce the 240,000 deaths of children under five that tuberculosis causes each year. Goosby said trials needed to continue to drive a production line of new treatments against the disease. "The inevitability is that we will need new drugs as the disease evolves," he said. "We should -- as a global health response -- anticipate and expect (drug) resistance and continue the work." The Lancet study said reducing tuberculosis deaths to less than 200,000 a year would cost around $10 billion annually. PRAGUE (AP) Turkey has condemned Czech President Milos Zeman's suggestion that it is an ally of the Islamic State group. Zeman made those remarks in a debate with the public during his trip to a Czech region when answering a question about why the Turkish armed forces attack the Kurds who are fighting the Islamic militants. The Czech president said Turkey mediated help for IS to be able to export oil. Zeman, who is known for his strong anti-Muslim rhetoric, has been critical of Turkey in the past. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis whose government is in charge of foreign policy declined to comment. In a message to Czech media Wednesday, Turkey's ambassador to Prague, Ahmet Necati Bigali, called Zeman's accusation "unfortunate, unacceptable and based on unfounded accusations." Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of Two Harbors Investments (TWO), but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of TWO and the rest of the Finance group's stocks. Two Harbors Investments is a member of our Finance group, which includes 849 different companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. TWO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TWO's full-year earnings has moved 1.58% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger. Based on the latest available data, TWO has gained about 8.64% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 11.58% on average. This means that Two Harbors Investments is outperforming the sector as a whole this year. Breaking things down more, TWO is a member of the REIT and Equity Trust industry, which includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 8.72% so far this year, so TWO is slightly underperforming its industry in this area. Investors in the Finance sector will want to keep a close eye on TWO as it attempts to continue its solid performance. 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 Two Harbors Investments Corp (TWO) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Fahim Iqbal and Naveed Akhtar hid drugs in a court toilet during their trial (West Yorkshire Police) Two men on trial for grooming and abusing girls were caught trying to smuggle drugs into prison by hiding them in court toilets during their trial. Naveed Akhtar, 44, hid a parcel of mini mobile phones and opioid tablets inside a toilet at Bradford Crown Court so that Fahim Iqbal, 28, could collect them and take them to HMP Leeds. However, their plan was rumbled when a dock officer discovered the package tucked inside a toilet roll dispenser. Akhtar, who was on bail at the time, asked to go to the toilet during the trial and Iqbal asked to go after him which resulted in a search being carried out by the suspicious dock officer. The grooming trial was temporarily halted as police investigated two packages containing cannabis, opioid tablets and miniature mobile phones. The pair were on trial at Bradford Crown Court for grooming and abusing girls (Wikipedia) A second package was found under a chair situated in the dock. Andrew Dallas, defending Iqbal, said it was widely known that Iqbal was being transported to court every day and he had been promised cannabis in return for smuggling the drugs to inmates. Sentencing at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told the pair they had executed the plan with remarkable stupidity, and quite possibly some degree of pressure, under the noses of dock officers and myself. He added: How on earth you thought you could get this into [HMP Leeds] I do not know. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Leader of Brexit Party quits over anti-Islam tweets Identity of hunter who shot sleeping lion revealed Man shot by armed police in Hackney It was an irritating, vexing and seriously stupid matter and, as counsel has said, it was doomed to failure. The pair previously admitted two counts of drugs offences and a single count relating to their attempt to smuggle mobile phones. Iqbal, of no fixed address, is serving seven years for aiding and abetting rape and Akhtar, of Newport Place, Bradford, 17 years for rape following a trial in February. The pair were both sentenced to a further five months in prison for the drugs offence. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed forces have captured Islamic State fighters tied to a January suicide bombing in Syria that killed four Americans, U.S. officials say, generating concrete leads for Washington about the deadliest attack to date there against U.S. personnel. The bombing killed Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon Kent and Scott Wirtz from the Defense Intelligence Agency. It also killed Ghadir Taher, a naturalized U.S. citizen working as a civilian interpreter for a U.S. contractor. One of the officials told Reuters the number of people detained was in the "single digits." A second official said there were several "initial detentions" made in February, without offering a specific number. The detentions have not been previously reported. "Those initial detentions have provided some leads and opportunities that we are continuing to exploit," the second official said, speaking on condition of anonymity and declining to offer additional details. "The investigation is ongoing as are efforts to bring all of those terrorists responsible to justice." The attack was the worst single incident involving U.S. personnel in Syria since they deployed on the ground there in 2015 and took place at a cafe in the town of Manbij, which was controlled by a militia allied to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. The bombing occurred nearly a month after President Donald Trump confounded his own national security team and allies with a surprise decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring Islamic State had been defeated there. Critics seized on the killings as clear evidence that the Islamic State still posed a threat. Trump backtracked in February, agreeing to leave a small U.S. presence to help keep pressure on Islamic State during what the U.S. military believes will be a critical stabilization phase in Syria. The United States is seeking contributions from allies including Britain and France to remain in Syria. INSURGENCY THREAT The U.S. military has warned that Islamic State may still count tens of thousands of fighters, dispersed throughout Iraq and Syria, with enough leaders and resources to present a menacing insurgency in the months ahead. The Pentagon's own internal watchdog released a report last month saying Islamic State remained an active insurgent group and was regenerating functions and capabilities more quickly in Iraq than in Syria. "Absent sustained (counterterrorism) pressure, ISIS could likely resurge in Syria within six to 12 months and regain limited territory," the report from the Pentagon's inspector general said. The report, citing information from U.S. Central Command, said Islamic State would portray the withdrawal as a "victory" and conduct attacks on American personnel during the pullout process. A report by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Islamic State has transformed into a covert network, but is still a threat with centralized leadership, up to $300 million at its disposal and thousands of fighters. It said the group was interested in attacking aviation and using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and that there were up to 18,000 Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including up to 3,000 foreign fighters. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Tom Brown) (This Feb 26 story corrects data in paragraph 11 that was provided by Kent International comparing wages in China to the United States. Fixes typos in Kent chief executive's name in paragraph 24.) By Rajesh Kumar Singh (Reuters) - U.S.-based bicycle manufacturer Kent International has found a way around President Donald Trump's tariffs - by shifting production out of China. Like almost all U.S. bike makers, Kent has long relied on low-cost Chinese labor and parts, but Trump's tariffs have so far inflated its costs by about $20 million annually. "We have no choice but to - as rapidly as possible - look to move production away from China," said Arnold Kamler, chief executive and majority owner of the Parsippany, N.J.-based bike company. But Kent and other bike makers don't have to move their manufacturing operations to the United States to avoid tariffs - nor do they have to stop using Chinese parts. The company now plans to make bike frames in Cambodia while continuing to buy about half the components it will attach to those frames from producers in China. The resulting bicycles can enter the United States tariff-free because of U.S. rules that generally allow products to be designated as made-in-Cambodia as long as 35 percent of their costs for parts and labor are derived from that country. Gaming the so-called rules of origin is a legal tariff-avoidance strategy being adopted by other major U.S. bike builders and explored across the industry, along with other manufacturing sectors, according to bike executives and supply chain consultants. The shift in the $6 billion bike industry underscores how such rules allow manufacturers, despite tariffs, to continue sourcing large portions of their parts from China, undermining the Trump administration goal of boosting U.S. manufacturing employment. It further shows how quickly light manufacturers with less capital-intensive operations can move to Southeast Asia, which has seen a blitz of new investment since Trump launched his first tariffs last spring. Story continues The bike industry plays a small role in what experts call the biggest shake-up in cross-border supply chains since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Companies in an array of industries - furniture, electronics, apparel, tires, vacuum cleaners, to name a few - are moving operations to Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries, often while continuing to use some suppliers in China. "This is a mid- to long-term issue that is not going to blow over in a year," said Brett Weaver, a supply-chain consultant at KPMG. "More and more companies are beginning to take that perspective." The Trump administration's office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) did not respond to requests for comment. RISING CHINA LABOR COSTS For many companies, tariffs proved the deciding factor in moves already under consideration because of rising labor costs in China. Three decades ago, when Kamler first offshored Kent's production, the firm's labor costs in China were a tenth of those in the United States, he said. Now, workers in China make about a quarter of their U.S. counterparts. Kent currently sources nearly 90 percent of the 3 million bicycles it sells to Target, Walmart and other U.S. retailers from China. But sales took a hit after it raised prices in response to tariffs last September. Kent's new factory in Cambodia is estimated to cost $20 million - an amount equivalent to one year of Kent's increased costs from Trump's 10 percent tariffs, which were added to existing duties. Trump's tariffs were set to rise to 25 percent on March 2, but on Sunday he delayed the increase, citing progress in trade talks with China. Another major brand, Specialized Bicycle Components, has moved production from China to Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan, expanding its existing Southeast Asia operations, said Bob Margevicius, a vice president of the Morgan Hill, California-based bike maker. Smaller producer Pure Bicycles, based in Los Angeles, is preparing a move to Vietnam, said Michael Fishman, president of the Los Angeles-based firm. Industry officials and supply chain consultants say all American bike-makers are considering similar moves to shield their low-margin businesses from tariffs. "Their supply chains are disrupted," said Morgan Lommele, a director at PeopleForBikes, an industry association. "They are looking at other countries." 'A WAKE-UP CALL' All manufacturers face challenges in moving their operations to Southeast Asia, including constraints on port capacity and labor. And no country can easily supplant China's scale and production volumes for bicycles after three decades of the industry migrating there from the United States. In the 1970s, U.S.-based firms made more than 15 million bicycles annually, compared to fewer than 500,000 now, according to the data presented by the industry to the USTR last year. And 94 percent of U.S. bike imports currently come from China, U.S. Census data shows. (GRAPHIC: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ElEW2d) China also provides more than 300 million components such as tires, tubes, seats and handlebars - accounting for about 60 percent total component imports. Specialized finished moving all its production out of China by December but, like Kent, will continue to buy components from there. Trump's tariffs provided a "wake-up call for the industry," said Margevicius, who also serves on the board of an industry trade group, the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association. CHINA FIGHTS BACK Chinese authorities are keen to protect manufacturing jobs, too. To cushion the impact of tariffs, China has increased export tax rebates and quickened tax refunds to exporters, Margevicius said. It is also offering companies cheap loans. A more than 5 percent decline in the value of the Chinese Yuan last year, along with forecasts of further depreciation this year, are also helping blunt the impact of higher U.S. duties. Kent is, nonetheless, moving ahead with plans to start manufacturing in Cambodia in September, and Kamler said it will shift the bulk of its production there over the long term. Lower labor costs were a major deciding factor in addition to tariffs, said Kamler, who remains skeptical that Beijing will sustain its tax incentives to lower-end manufacturers as its economy shifts toward services, consumption and high-tech production. South East Asian countries are also wooing firms exploring options outside China. Cambodia has allowed Kent to bring in short-term workers from China. Thailand is promoting itself as a regional manufacturing hub, offering incentives such as an exemption of up to eight years on corporate income tax for certain industries and exemptions on import duties for some raw materials. Vietnam has finalized 16 free trade agreements including with the European Union and is a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, offering companies almost duty-free access to big bike markets from Germany to Australia. LOGISTICAL HURDLES Specialized's Margevicius advises companies considering a move to look carefully at whether locations outside China have the required infrastructure to meet their needs. Each of the two biggest ports in Vietnam, for instance, has only a sixth of the capacity of the port of Shanghai, and Cambodia lacks a deep-water port to accommodate larger vessels. The rush of manufacturers moving operations to Southeast Asia will also bring new competition to hire and train workers from a labor force far smaller than that of China. Kamler is not deterred. Kent's Chinese partner has already bought a plot for the Cambodian factory, five miles from downtown Phnom Penh. Construction is scheduled to start next month and finish by June. The company will initially hire and train up to 300 workers to start the production. It will also bring in 100 robots from its Chinese facilities for welding work. "We have a big business in the United States," Kamler said. "My priority 1,2,3 and 4 is to rescue my USA business." (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by Joseph White and Brian Thevenot) By Humeyra Pamuk, P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek WINSLOW, Neb./CHICAGO (Reuters) - Midwestern farmers have been gambling they could ride out the U.S.-China trade war by storing their corn and soybeans anywhere they could - in bins, plastic tubes, in barns or even outside. Now, the unthinkable has happened. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt across Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and several other states. Early estimates of lost crops and livestock are approaching $1 billion in Nebraska alone. With more flooding expected, damages are expected to climb much higher for the region. As river levels rose, spilling over levees and swallowing up townships, farmers watched helplessly as the waters consumed not only their fields, but their stockpiles of grain, the one thing that can stand between them and financial ruin. "Ive never seen anything like this in my life," said Tom Geisler, a farmer in Winslow, Nebraska, who said he lost two full storage bins of corn. "We had been depending on the income from our livestock, but now all of our feed is gone, so that is going to be even more difficult. We havent been making any money from our grain farming because of trade issues and low prices." The pain does not end there. As the waters began to recede in parts of Nebraska, the damage to the rural roads, bridges and rail lines was just beginning to emerge. This infrastructure is critical for the U.S. agricultural sector to move products from farms to processing plants and shipping hubs. The damage to roads means it will be harder for trucks to deliver seed to farmers for the coming planting season, but in some areas, the flooding on fields will render them all-but-impossible to use. The deluge is the latest blow for the Farm Belt, which has faced several crises in the last five years, as farm incomes have fallen by more than 50 percent due to a global grain glut. President Donald Trump's trade policies cut off exports of soybeans and other products, making the situation worse. Story continues Soybeans were the single most valuable U.S. agricultural export crop and until the trade war, China bought $12 billion worth a year from American farmers. But Chinese tariffs have almost halted the trade, leaving farmers with crops they are struggling to sell for a profit. CORN AND SOYBEANS DESTROYED As prices plummeted last year amid the ongoing trade fight, growers, faced with selling crops at a loss, stuffed a historic volume of grain into winding plastic tubes and steel bins. Some cash-strapped families piled crops inside their barns or outside on the ground. Farmers say they are now finding storage bags torn and bins burst open, grain washed away or contaminated. Jeff Jorgenson, a farmer and regional director for the Iowa Soybean Association, said he has seen at least a dozen bins that burst after grains swelled when they became wet. Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy, flood-soaked grain is considered adulterated and must be destroyed, according to Iowa State University. Some farmers had been waiting for corn prices to rise just 10 cents a bushel more before making sales, which would earn them a few extra thousand dollars, Jorgenson said. "That's the toughest pill to swallow," Jorgenson said. "This could end their career of farming and the legacy of the family farm." As of Dec. 1, producers in states with flooding - including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois - had 6.75 billion bushels of corn, soybeans and wheat stored on their farms - 38 percent of the total U.S. supplies available at that time, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Iowa suffered at least $150 million in damage to agricultural buildings and machinery, and 100,000 acres of farm land are under water, said Keely Coppess, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Jorgenson surveyed more than two dozen local farmers to assess the damage and tallied about 1.25 million bushels of corn and 390,000 bushels of soybeans lost just in Fremont County, Iowa, worth an estimated $7.3 million. EXTENT OF DAMAGE UNCLEAR The record flooding has killed at least four people in the Midwest and left one person missing. The extent of damage is unknown as meteorologists expect more flooding in coming weeks. Early estimates put flood damage at $400 million in losses for Nebraska's cow-calf industry and another $440 million in crop losses, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts told a news conference on Wednesday. "The water came so fast," said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union. "We know our farmers didn't have enough time to move all the cattle or empty all their grain bins." Multiple washouts and high water on BNSF Railway Cos main lines have caused major disruption across parts of the Midwest, the company warned on its website. The flooding also has disrupted part of Hormel Foods Corp's supply chain, the company told Reuters. The roads are so bad that Nebraska's National Guard on Wednesday will push hay out of a military helicopter to feed cattle in Colfax County stranded by floodwaters, Major General Daryl Bohac said. It is the first time in at least half a century that such an air drop has been conducted, he said. Cattle carcasses have been found tangled in debris or rotting in trees, while tractors and other expensive machinery are stuck in mud, unable to be moved. At Geisler's farm in Winslow, Nebraska, two trucks and a tractor were seen buried in mud in wooden barns where water pooled. "We should have been getting into planting for next season, but now all of our equipment is flooded and its going to take at least three to four weeks to bring back that equipment into shape," said Geisler. (Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek in Chicago and Humeyra Pamuk in Winslow, Nebraska; Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen and Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains concerned about India-Pakistan tensions as the nuclear-armed countries' militaries remain on alert nearly three weeks after their most dangerous confrontation in decades, a senior U.S. administration official said on Wednesday. The official also indicated that the Trump administration does not think Pakistan has adequately cracked down on the Islamist extremists who claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Indian security forces that triggered last month's crisis. "If there is an additional terrorist attack without Pakistan having made a sustained sincere effort against these groups, it will be extremely problematic for Pakistan and it would cause a re-escalation in tensions," the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The official's comments underscored the Trump administration's view that Pakistan's harbouring of extremist groups lies at the heart of the latest upsurge in tensions. The crisis erupted with a Feb. 14 suicide bombing on India's side of the disputed Kashmir region that killed 40 paramilitary officers and was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group that U.S. officials charge is harboured by Pakistan. Islamabad denies the allegation. On Feb. 26, India launched its first-ever airstrikes on an alleged extremist training camp in Pakistan. The following day, Pakistani aircraft retaliated against targets inside India-controlled Kashmir, triggering a dogfight. In their first such clash since a 1971 war, Pakistan downed an Indian plane and captured its pilot after he ejected. The Trump administration, backed by other powers, pressed the sides to avert further violence amid fears of an all-out war that could go nuclear. While the sides have taken steps to de-escalate tensions, including Pakistan's return of the Indian pilot, the U.S. official said that Washington remains concerned. "We do still see the militaries on alert and so we realize if there, God forbid, would be another terrorist attack, then you could quickly see escalation in the situation once again," the official said. "We are making clear that any additional military action by either side runs an unacceptably high risk for both countries and for the region." Story continues Pakistan says it arrested dozens of extremists and seized their assets. But the official indicated that Washington does not believe the crackdown has been sufficient. "I think we will need to see irreversible sustained action. It's early to make a full assessment," the official said. Competing claims to Kashmir by India and Pakistan make the area one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker) PayPal is under fire. Photo: Jaap Arriens/SIPA USA/PA Images The UK government has launched an extraordinary attack on PayPal (PYPL) over student essay writing services, warning the firm not to profit from this dishonest business. A government minister said it was unethical for the US payment giant to process transactions for so-called essay mills, which help students cheat by writing their essays. Tens of thousands of students are thought to use such services to boost their grades, but the government admits the real number is not known as many plagiarised essays are never detected. The government has not announced any new measures targeting PayPal or other payment firms, but officials hope todays warning may be enough to pressure the firm to avoid working with essay companies and student customers. The department for education said in a press release that a previous appeal to technology giants had proved successful, with Google and YouTube removing hundreds of ads for essay services from their sites. Officials also urged universities to crack down on plagiarism and adopt an honour code system, making clear to students from their first day that such essay services are unacceptable and could see them thrown off their courses. READ MORE: UK generated over 94 trillion in cashless payments last year The department for education is currently drafting an education technology strategy, which will encourage tech firms to develop anti-cheating software when it is published in the next few months. It is simply unethical for these companies to profit from this dishonest business which is exploiting young people and it is time to stamp them out of our world-class higher education sector, said education secretary Damian Hinds. I am determined to beat the cheats who threaten the integrity of our system and am calling on online giants, such as PayPal, to block payments or end the advertisement of these services it is their moral duty to do so. PayPal has been approached for comment. READ MORE: Student accommodation firms under fire over rats and no running water Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis is an advisor to the government on artificial intelligence ethics. Photo: Jung Yeon-je /AFP/Getty Images The UK government is launching an inquiry into whether algorithms used in areas such as criminal justice, recruitment, and finance are biased against people based on gender or race. The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) announced the new inquiry on Wednesday. It will be led by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, an independent watchdog set up by the department in 2018 to come up with best practice policy on how to police artificial intelligence. The Cabinet Offices Race Disparity Unit, which highlights discrimination in public services, will also work on the new review. The inquiry comes amid the rapid development of artificial intelligence. The technologies surrounding AI have provided big advances, but also thrown up challenges around the fairness and transparency of decision making. Tech giants such as Amazon (AMZN) have already run into issues of algorithmic bias in recruitment and Google (GOOGL) established a team last year to review the ethics of its AI. Technology is a force for good and continues to improve peoples lives, but we must make sure it is developed in a safe and secure way, digital secretary Jeremy Wright said in a statement. Highlighting examples of potential pitfalls, DCMS said algorithms used to scan CVs and shortlist candidates could discriminate against certain groups of people due to the unconscious, or conscious, bias of programmers who wrote the code. It also warned that the growing use of algorithms in finance could lead to a lack of transparency when applied to loans. READ MORE: Boss of Googles new hiring tool says UK very, very attractive market despite Brexit Amazon ran into trouble with an AI-powered recruiting tool that discriminated against women. The algorithm was trained using thousands of CVs from past hires, but the male dominance of the tech industry meant that the algorithm came to favour men over women, reinforcing the gender imbalance. Google announced a set of AI principles last year to help guide the ethical development of the technology and introduced a formal review structure to oversea AI development across the company. Demis Hassabis, the cofounder of AI division Google DeepMind, is already an advisor to the UK government on AI ethics through the Office for Artificial Intelligence. Story continues Im pleased [the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation]s team of experts is undertaking an investigation into the potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making in areas including crime, justice, and financial services, Wright said. I look forward to seeing the centres future recommendations to help make sure we maximise the benefits of these powerful technologies for society. These are complex issues and we will need to take advantage of the expertise that exists across the UK and beyond. If we get this right, the UK can be the global leader in responsible innovation, Roger Taylor, who chairs the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, is expected to say in a speech Wednesday. We want to work with organisations so they can maximise the benefits of data driven technology and use it to ensure the decisions they make are fair. As a first step we will be exploring the potential for bias in key sectors where the decisions made by algorithms can have a big impact on peoples lives. Tripoli (AFP) - The United Nations said Wednesday it will organise an all-party conference next month to draw up a "roadmap" to lead Libya toward elections and out of the chaos in which it has plunged since a 2011 revolution. The national conference aims to fix dates for legislative and presidential elections in the North African state, which has been torn apart by military, political and tribal feuds since the NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi. "We will invite all Libya's political categories, without exception," UN envoy Ghassan Salame told a news conference in Tripoli. He said between 120 and 150 delegates were expected to participate in the forum in the central city of Ghadames on April 14-16, which has been agreed following consultations and meetings in 57 towns across the country. The conference will also try to reach decisions on a new constitution and set target dates for legislative texts, which have been delayed by Libya's two rival administrations. The UN's Libya mission UNSMIL said the country's unity government leader Fayez al-Sarraj and military strongman Khalifa Haftar agreed at a meeting in Abu Dhabi last month to work toward organizing elections. Addressing the UN Security Council via video-conference from Tripoli, Salame insisted that the sides were now committed to resolving their power dispute through elections. "Many of these principles are not new," he said. "What is new is the sincerity to turn these words into the end of the transitional period through elections." - Up against powerful forces - Libya's rival leaders agreed last year to hold elections before December 10, 2018 under a French plan, but that vote never materialized. Sarraj's Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli, is rejected by a rival administration in the east of the country that is backed by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army. Story continues Persistent instability, territorial disputes and political divisions in the oil-rich state have delayed the implementation of a past accord to hold elections and unify Libya's institutions. Salame told the council that the Libyan people wanted an end to divisions but that they were "up against powerful forces, which have materially profited from the country's chaos and division and are therefore loath to work towards a unification." The former academic and Lebanese culture minister who has been leading UN peace efforts since June 2017 stressed that Libya had reached "a critical juncture" after Haftar's forces gained ground in the south. If the planned national conference fails, "then we will be faced with only two possible options: prolonged stalemate or conflict," said Salame. The envoy called on world powers to pressure all sides in Libya to avoid re-igniting conflict and back elections. UN peace efforts in Libya have been complicated by outside backing for competing sides in the conflict. Geneva (AFP) - The UN human rights chief on Wednesday stepped up her criticism of US sanctions against Venezuela's government, a day after President Donald Trump warned Washington could still impose "tougher" measures. Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also renewed her tough criticism of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, accusing it of a violent crackdown on dissent. But a day after the US announced new sanctions on a Venezuelan state mining company and Trump said he was ready "to go a lot tougher," Bachelet cautioned that Washington's moves could hurt ordinary Venezuelans. "I am concerned that the recent sanctions on financial transfers related to the sale of Venezuelan oil within the United States may contribute to aggravating the economic crisis, with possible repercussions on people's basic rights and wellbeing," she told the Human Rights Council. Bachelet had previously warned that sanctions have "exacerbated" the crisis. In addition to the measures announced Tuesday against mining company Minerven, the US has cut Maduro's regime off from the revenue generated by its state oil company, which counts on the US as a key market through operator Citgo. Speaking in Geneva as the Minerven sanctions were being announced, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Carrie Filipetti told reporters that the US was not trying to harm Venezuela's population. "We have tried to target our sanctions as much as possible so that it can affect the regime but leave the individual Venezuelans as untouched as possible," she said. The US and more than 50 other countries recognise Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as the country's rightful president. - Reprisals? - A rights office team is currently in Venezuela to assess the crisis. Civil society groups have said that doctors are coming under pressure from Maduro's government for trying to alert the UN mission about the severe lack of hospital medicine and equipment. Story continues "It is important that the team have completely unhindered access, with no reprisals against any person who has met, or sought to meet, with them," Bachelet told the rights council. It was not immediately clear if she was referring to the reported pressure facing her staff. Nearly three million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and about 5,000 are leaving each day amid a devastating political crisis and economic collapse. Universal Health Services, Inc. UHS is well-placed for growth on the back of solid acute care and behavioral platforms, leading to a steady top line. Strategic buyouts also poise the company well for growth. The companys revenues have been growing consistently since 2010. This uptrend was driven by a solid inorganic growth profile and a strong performance from both its segments, namely Acute Care and Behavioral Health. The top line has witnessed a CAGR of 10.35% from 2010 to 2018. Universal Healths revenue growth is expected to continue with strong performances at both its segments. Its acute care platform, which is a branch of secondary healthcare wherein a patient receives short-term treatment for urgent medical conditions, has been witnessing a rising number of licensed beds since 2012, thereby driving overall revenues. In fact, global market sentiments for acute care treatments are quite upbeat with North America accounting for the largest share in the space. The companys Behavioral Platform is also witnessing growth on the back of increasing average licensed beds. Behavioral facility acquisitions help Universal Health win market shares in the fast-growing addiction and mental health disorder market. Moreover, buyouts played a key role in building Universal Healths growth trajectory. During 2016, the company acquired the adult services division of Cambian Group, which significantly expanded its market presence in the U.K. During 2018, Universal Health spent $110 million on purchasing The Danshell Group and a 109-bed behavioral health care facility in Gulfport, MS. However, the company has been suffering high-debt levels since 2013. Although the metric dipped in 2017, the same rose 12.6% in 2018 year over year. Also, interest expenses have been mounting on average of 11% since 2015, which is a nagging concern for the company. Steep escalation in operating expenses has also been a major woe for the company since 2013. In 2016, the company witnessed a 9% year-over-year increase in operating expenses to $8.5 billion, accounting for 86.9% of the net revenues. Continuing with this trend, operating expenses recorded 87.7% and 87.4% of the total revenues, both in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Rising expenses are likely to drain the company's margin going forward. Stocks to Consider Investors interested in the medical sector can consider stocks like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated UNH, Centene Corporation CNC and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. WCG. UnitedHealth operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. In the last four quarters, the company delivered average beat of 3.39%. Centene operates as a diversified and multi-national healthcare enterprise in the United States. It came up with average earnings surprise of 4.99% in the trailing four quarters. WellCare Health offers managed care services to government-sponsored health care programs. The company pulled off average positive surprise of 15.43% in the preceding four quarters. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019 In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year? From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012 2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%. This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs. See Stocks Today >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WCG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Centene Corporation (CNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Washington (AFP) - Frustrated in the Trump era, several Democratic presidential hopefuls are proposing dramatic reforms that would shake up US institutions and their centuries-old traditions, including abolishing the Electoral College and adding justices to the Supreme Court. The changes are not typically debated in the country's presidential campaigns, and remain largely out of reach for the moment, given the paralysis in a divided Congress and certain opposition by Republicans. But they represent some of the new ideological litmus tests being proposed by a left-leaning party still smarting from Donald Trump's 2016 victory and desperate to oust him in 2020. On Monday, US Senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren offered concrete support for scrapping the election system that has endured fierce demonization by Democrats because it allowed two Republicans to recently win the presidency despite losing the popular vote: Trump in 2016 and George W. Bush in 2000. "My view is that every vote matters," Warren told a townhall meeting in Mississippi, arguing that the southern state along with several populous ones like California rarely receive presidential candidates because they aren't considered battlegrounds. "I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote," she said. "We can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College." Other Democrats have warmed to the idea, including potential presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana who said ending the system would encourage greater voter participation at the national level. Another proxy debate for Democrats as they weigh who will be their standardbearer: whether to expand the Supreme Court beyond its current nine members. Warren and two other candidates, Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, told Politico they want to address the issue. Two 2020 hopefuls, Buttigieg and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, have floated the idea of expanding to 15 justices: five nominated by Democrats, five by Republicans and the remaining five picked by the other 10. Story continues Trump rejected the suggestions Tuesday, saying Democrats were seeking to return the court to a liberal lean after it shifted to the right with the president placing conservative nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the bench. "It'll never happen. I guarantee it won't happen for six years," Trump said, referring to his remaining time in office should he win re-election. Democrats are potentially seeking retribution for what they see as grievous political injustices. Several Democratic lawmakers say Republican leaders' refusal to consider Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, is tantamount to stealing a Supreme Court seat, and liberal activists have pushed for rebalance through expansion of the court. Constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at University of California, Berkeley Law School, says it's "premature" for Democrats to talk about packing the court. "There are difficult issues and it only matters if the Democrats win the presidency and both houses of Congress," Chemerinsky told AFP. - Ignoring 'rural' America? - Achieving another Democratic goal, abolishing the Electoral College, would also be difficult. It would require lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment -- no easy feat in a paralyzed Congress -- and then ratification by 38 out of the 50 states. The current system consists of 538 electors -- the total number of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, plus three electors for the capital Washington -- who vote in favor of the candidate who gets the most votes in a state. Securing 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. In nearly all states, it's a winner-take-all proposition, even if the winner does not secure a majority, such as when third-party candidates are on the ballot. Trump, for example, won swing state Pennsylvania with just 48.2 percent of the vote, but earned all 20 of its electoral votes. Only Maine and Nebraska allot electoral votes according to who wins the states' congressional districts. The system is a step closer to elections decided by a nationwide popular vote. Another option is gaining momentum. A handful of Democrat-leaning states including California, Illinois and New York have joined a compact aiming to elect presidents based on who wins the popular vote. On Friday, Colorado became the first swing state to join the group. Critics argue that the Electoral College minimizes the role of millions of voters in several populous states because the results there are rarely in doubt. The system is lauded by Republicans because it forces candidates to earn votes from various parts of country, not just the big cities. "The desire to abolish the Electoral College is driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically," tweeted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelan doctors have come under pressure from President Nicolas Maduro's government for trying to alert a visiting UN mission about the severe lack of hospital medicine and equipment, NGOs say. Venezuelan authorities say that US sanctions freezing $30 billion in assets have blocked imports of basic items including medicine. But they have roughly stomped down on dissenting voices saying much of the resulting medical emergency is the fault of mismanagement, the NGOs allege. "They forcibly booted out the head of a medical school in Maracay (west of Caracas) and since then we haven't heard from her," said Jaime Lorenzo, executive director of one association called Medicos Unidos (Doctors United). "She protested against the repression of medical staff," he said. An opposition lawmaker, Jose Manuel Olivares, who is also an oncologist and radiotherapist, on Twitter said she was "the third doctor in two weeks to be persecuted for having denounced the situation in the hospitals." On Sunday a clash erupted when a pro-regime crowd threw stones at hospital staff in the northwest city of Barquisimeto as they waited for the arrival of representatives of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. According to Medicos Unidos, the repression has worsened over the past two weeks. "We have drawn attention to our patients dying for lack of supplies and equipment. Doctors have been arrested without any reason at all," Lorenzo said. - 'Precarious situation' - On Saturday, a young doctor in the state of Carabobo, Ronnie Villasmil, tweeted that he was leaving Venezuela after being summoned by police for having contacted the UN mission. "Now I have to flee like a criminal and my mother is crying over it," he wrote. "They want to deprive me of liberty. My only crime is wanting to raise the alarm over the precarious situation in Carabobo's hospitals," he said. Story continues The visiting five-member UN team has declined all contact with media. It is officially in the country on a "preliminary technical mission" to prepare for a possible visit by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who was formally invited by Maduro's government in November. The team was finally able to visit the hospital in Barquisimeto when doctors and local officials provided an escort. A doctor who spoke with the visitors said she told them of all that was missing at the hospital. "I told them that patients we operated on can't get chemotherapy here and those unable to buy it abroad die. And when I told them how much we earn, their jaws dropped," she told AFP on condition of anonymity. In crisis-hit Venezuela, a doctor earns between 18,000 and 30,000 bolivars per month -- the equivalent of $6 to $10. The non-governmental organizations also said authorities had gone to length to try to cover up the extent of the problems by hastily slapping fresh paint down and hauling in last-minute deliveries. "In Valencia (in Carabobo state) and Barquisimeto we saw two trucks delivering medicine and equipment to hospitals the mission was going to visit," Lorenzo said. - Exodus of doctors - A human rights NGO critical of the government, Provea, slammed "these camouflage operations before the UN mission's arrival," saying the sudden appearance of supplies was "testimony to the government's negligence and cruelty." In Venezuela's public hospitals, 90 percent of medical items are missing and nearly all the state laboratories are closed, according to a survey by another NGO, Doctors for Health, with the opposition-ruled National Assembly. Maduro's government has released no official figures on the state of public hospitals for three years. The situation in the impoverished yet oil-rich South American country has been worsened by an exodus of doctors, tens of thousands of whom have left, according to Lorenzo. According to the UN, 3.4 million Venezuelans have abandoned their country, with more than three-quarters of them -- 2.7 million -- leaving since 2015. Matters were made worse when a weeklong, nationwide blackout early this month paralyzed the country and knocked out power to hospitals, many of which did not have working generators. A Vietnamese activist was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison for "abusing democratic freedoms" in the conservative communist state that has seen an uptick in dissident detentions under a hardline leadership. Le Minh The was convicted for a series of Facebook posts following a half-day trial in southern Can Tho province, state media reported. He "deliberately posted and distributed reactionary propaganda information online, inciting, instigating and instructing others to protest and riot to overthrow the authorities", according to Cong An Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of the Public Security Ministry. He also livestreamed content that "defamed the party and the state (and) aimed to undermine the unity of the people", the news site added. He was sentenced to two years in jail for "abusing democratic freedoms". The's Facebook posts had protested against a controversial cybersecurity law that would require internet companies to hand over user data and remove content if requested by the government. He had also criticised a draft law to grant foreign investors 99-year leases in special economic zones, a bill that sparked rare, nationwide protests last year. Amnesty International slammed Wednesday's verdict and called for all political prisoners to be released. "This is yet another sham trial of a peaceful activist in Vietnam," a spokesman said. Vietnam jailed nearly 60 dissidents last year, several of whom received sentences of up to 20 years in prison, according to an AFP review. Observers say the crackdown is being waged by a conservative leadership in charge since 2016, which has also led a parallel anti-corruption campaign that has seen dozens of bankers, businessmen and former officials put behind bars. Vietnam has consistently defended its rights record, even as it has come under fire by rights groups and foreign allies -- including the US, the European Union and United Nations -- over hefty sentences and high-profile arrests. By Esha Vaish GOTHENBURG (Reuters) - Volvo Cars expects its margins on electric cars to match those of vehicles with combustion engines by 2025, the head of the Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker told Reuters. Global automakers are planning a $300 billion surge in spending on electric vehicle technology over the next five to 10 years but have admitted that higher component costs and limited take-up in initial years will hit margins. Volvo is investing about 5 percent of its annual revenue, equating to a little more than $1 billion a year, in building driverless and electric cars and has promised to deliver five fully electric cars to market in the next few years. It showcased the first less than a month ago, made by its luxury performance brand Polestar to rival to Tesla's Model 3. It also plans to launch a Volvo-branded electric compact SUV this year in the company's push to derive 50 percent of its sales from fully electric cars by 2025. "It's very difficult to say if we're going to have the same margins in 2025 as we had in 2015 ... because electric cars are very expensive," Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told Reuters on the sidelines of a safety showcase by the company in Gothenburg. "But I would be absolute sure we will have the same margins with electric cars as we will with conventional combustion cars in 2025." Samuelsson said the convergence would be helped by reducing costs for components such as batteries and declining margins on conventional cars. (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Gothenburg; Editing by David Goodman) Click the photo to write a caption and have a chance to win a free subscription to the Norfolk Daily News. Why Ebix Wants to Buy Indias Corporate Travel Player Yatra for $336 Million Ebix, a seller of software to insurance companies for four decades, has recently been expanding its presence in the travel sector, particularly in India. Yatra a corporate travel services provider and Indias second largest online travel agency after MakeMyTrip Group said Tuesday it had begun doing due diligence to consider an offer from Ebix to take it private by mid-May for about $336 million. Ebix, a public company based in Johns Creek, Georgia, provides software to many sectors. Ebix sees Gurgaon-based Yatra as the largest of several companies it has recently acquired to build a group that cross-sells travel services like foreign exchange to corporate clients and consumers. Ebix aims to spin that travel subsidiary out. A New IPO? For full-year 2018, Ebix generated $497.8 million in revenue a 37 percent rise year-over-year. However, its biggest segment is its foreign exchange unit. Ebix offers currency exchange through its subsidiary EbixCash, one of Southeast Asias travel money exchanges, with more than 110,000 distribution outlets and 8,000 corporate clients. The company forecasts the unit will generate about $350 million in revenue in 2019 on a stand-alone basis. Ebix said in a statement that it might merge Yatra with EbixCash, which already has 9,000-plus employees. We see India as a multibillion-dollar opportunity, possibly in the short term depending on how we execute, Robin Raina, chairman and CEO of Ebix, said during a March earnings call with investors before publicizing an acquisition bid for Yatra. We are seriously contemplating the possibility of a public IPO for our Indian operations in 2019 or early 2020, and are in active discussions with a few private equity players to see if we can set up a pre-valuation benchmark, Raina said. The company was unable to provide clarity via an executive interview by publication time. A Travel Services Roll-up In October 2017, Ebix tip-toed into the travel sector by buying Indian online travel company Via for $75 million. The online travel agency Via claims to have tens of thousands of home-based travel agents as resellers in India, too. Story continues In April 2018, Ebix by acquiring foreign exchange service and Centrum Direct. In January 2019, it purchased Weizmann Forex, SL Forex, and Essel Forex. Today Ebix claims about three-quarters market share of foreign exchange sales at Indias 32 international airports. It has benefited from India having a controlled currency. When traveling abroad, Indians must file paperwork about the amount of money theyre taking out of the country, and the sales of foreign currency exchange services are more popular in India than in some other countries as a result. In August 2018, Ebix bought a controlling share in two travel agencies Mercury Travels and Leisure Corp. for a combined sum of $14.2 million. Leisure Corp.s flagship service was corporate meetings and conferences, and Mercury Travel had a mix of corporate and adventure travel sales. Ebix created a travel division called Mercury based on the components. It later added Pearl International Tours & Travel, Lawson Travel & Tours, and Business Travels. Ebix intends to package all of these travel units into its EbixCash subsidiary, with more than 2,200 employees and more than 9,800 corporate clients before adding Yatra. An Exit for Yatra Home-grown travel company Yatra, which listed on the stock exchange in 2016, continues to claim to have the largest domestic Indian hotel supply of online players, with more than 100,000 listings. In the past half-year, Agoda, the Booking Holdings brand based in Asia, has been sourcing Indian properties from it. However, Yatra has had to fight hard since MakeMyTrip merged with rival Ibibo in 2016 and MakeMyTrip raised $330 million from Ctrip and Naspers in 2017. Yatras share of consumer hotel bookings has shrunk to less than 10 percent, while MakeMyTrip brands account for about 70 percent and Booking.com holds 20 percent share. In early 2018, Yatra racked up losses. However, in the last three months of 2018, it eked out a profit of $2 million on revenue of $31.7 million, after laying off about 10 percent of its workforce, closing its handful of bricks-and-mortar retail shops and outsourcing its call center. Yatras consumer audience may offer a new market for Ebix to cross-sell its services. More interestingly for Ebix, though, is that Yatra has invested heavily in cracking the corporate travel market, too. Ebix may see corporate customers as a more lucrative and reliable set of customers. In a telling detail, its public statements about Yatra describe it as a corporate services company rather than a travel agency. In 2017, Yatra acquired Air Travel Bureau, a corporate bookings company that served more than 400 large and medium-sized businesses across India. That helped Yatra claim to be the largest independent provider of self-booking tools to corporations for booking flights, hotels, and insurance as measured by gross booking volume. In February 2019, Ebix took an 80 percent controlling stake in India-based Zillious, that provides software to corporate travel agencies. Last year Zillious processed more than 8 million travel bookings. Ebix seems likely to pair Yatras corporate travel services with Zilliouss somewhat overlapping ones to offer branded business travel software services in India. It may also white-label the services and allow various international travel aggregators to sell them to their corporate clients. Paydays on Two Continents Yatra faces an offer from Ebix it probably cant refuse. Ebixs generous takeover bid offers an 84 percent premium on Yatras market valuation as of the day of its bid. In 2016, Yatra went public through a reverse merger with the U.S. special purpose acquisition company Terrapin 3, raising $92.5 million. For its part, most of Ebixs investments in India are in the form of loans granted to its Indian subsidiaries. So the goal of an initial public offering for EbixCash would be to recoup that cash to repay its loans and to expand its software business based in the U.S. Foreign exchange, including EbixCash operations, continued to be Ebixs largest segment, accounting for 80 percent of the companys full-year 2018 revenue. The overall Indian economy is growing at about 7 percent, but domestic business travel is growing at about 12 percent and is also ripe for the adoption of more efficient technology, said Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO of Yatra in an interview for Januarys What India Reveals About the Future of Online Travel: A Skift Deep Dive. Ebix and Yatras corporate travel aspirations have focused on the domestic business market. However, Indias outbound travel spending is expected to grow rapidly. Skift Research subscribers can learn more in the The State of India Outbound Travel 2018 report. Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness. CHICAGO (AP) A woman who's been dubbed a serial stowaway was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to sneaking past Chicago airport security last year, boarding a plane and flying to London without a ticket. As part of her plea deal, Marilyn Hartman, 67, can't go to Chicago's O'Hare or Midway airports without a ticket. She entered the plea to a criminal trespassing charge but had originally faced counts of felony theft, burglary and other charges. "I do apologize for the airport and ... causing problems for them," Hartman told Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas. The plea is the latest chapter in a story that's played ou t over the past decade in Chicago, Hawaii, San Francisco, Florida and elsewhere. Hartman has been nabbed in and near airports dozens of times and made it onto planes maybe a half-dozen times. Authorities have said she boarded the flight to London by walking past two British Airlines ticket agents who were checking other passengers. Hartman darted into a small room off to the side and walked quickly past customs and a Border Patrol agent who was looking at passports of people entering the ramp. Hartman was arrested after her London trip and free on bond in January 2018 when she was again discovered wandering at O'Hare. This time, a judge ordered her held without bond and she was later found unfit for trial. Hartman spent time at a state mental institution and in July she was moved to a halfway-house style mental health center in Chicago called A Safe Haven. The judge Tuesday praised Hartman for receiving a glowing progress report from the center's staff. "A Safe Haven has been your safe haven, and I am really proud of the progress you have made," Chiampas told Hartman. The facility has agreed to help Hartman find permanent housing. - AAP A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners on Wednesday. The funerals of Khalid Mustafa, 44, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, came five days after a white supremacist methodically gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch - a massacre that he broadcast live on Facebook. Hamzas high school principal described the student as compassionate and hardworking, and said he was an excellent horse rider who aspired to be a veterinarian. Those present included Hamzas younger brother, 13-year-old Zaed, who was wounded in an arm and a leg during the attack. The boy tried to stand during the ceremony but had to sit back in his wheelchair, one mourner said. "We tried to not shake his hand, and not touch his hand or his foot, but he refused, he wanted to shake everybodys hand, he wanted to show everyone that he appreciated them. And thats amazing," said Jamil El-Biza, who travelled from Australia to attend the funeral. Female mourners attend the funeral of two victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack at Memorial Park Cemetery Credit: Getty The Mustafas had moved to New Zealand last year, after spending six years as refugees in Jordan. Mustafas wife, Salwa, told Radio New Zealand that when the family asked about New Zealand they were told "its the safest country in the world, the most wonderful country you can go ... you will start a very wonderful life there." She added, "But it wasnt." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the family should have been safe. "I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that a family came here for safety and for refuge," she said. Families of those killed had been anxiously awaiting word on when they could bury their loved ones. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police have now formally identified and released the remains of 21 of those killed. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. The burials began soon after Ms Ardern renewed her call for people to speak of the victims rather than the man who killed them. Story continues New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern receives a hug from a student during her visit to Cashmere High School which lost two students during a mass shooting Also on Wednesday, a man accused of sharing video footage of Fridays massacre was jailed by a judge until his next court appearance in mid-April. And Mr Bush said he believes police officers stopped the gunman on his way to a third attack. Ms Arderns plea against giving the accused gunman notoriety followed his move to represent himself in court, raising concerns he would attempt to use the trial as a platform for airing his racist views. During a visit on Wednesday to the high school Hamza and another victim attended, Ms Ardern revisited that thought and asked students not to say the attackers name or dwell on him. "Look after one another, but also let New Zealand be a place where there is no tolerance for racism," she told students at Cashmere High School. "Thats something we can all do." Another Cashmere student, 14-year-old Sayyad Milne, also died in the attack. About 30 people wounded in the attacks remained in hospital as of Tuesday evening. About 10 of them were in critical condition, including a four-year-old girl. Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man, has been charged with murder and is next scheduled to appear in court on April 5. Police have said they are certain Tarrant was the only gunman but are still investigating whether he had support from others. Ardern previously has said reforms of New Zealands gun laws would be announced next week and she said an inquiry would be convened to look into the intelligence and security services failures to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. New Zealands international spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, confirmed it had not received any relevant information or intelligence before the shootings. Sheik Taj El-Din Hilaly, of Sydney, travelled to Christchurch to attend or lead some of the funerals. Through a translator, he said he felt compelled to support the grieving. A nationwide lockdown on mosques was imposed until Monday, which Hilaly said had upset Muslims whom he had visited in Auckland. Police continue to guard mosques across the country. Philip Arps, 44, appeared in a Christchurch court on Wednesday on two charges of distributing the killers livestream video of the attack on the Al Noor mosque, the first mosque that was attacked, a violation of the countrys objectionable publications law. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Arps, heavily tattooed and dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants, hasnt entered a plea. He remained expressionless during the hearing, his hands clasped behind his back. Judge Stephen ODriscoll denied him bail. Charging documents accuse Arps of distributing the video on Saturday, one day after the massacre. Bush said they believe they know where the gunman was going for a third attack when officers rammed his car off the road but wont say more because its an active investigation. In a 74-page manifesto he released before the attack, Tarrant said he was going to attack two mosques in Christchurch and then one in the town of Ashburton if he made it that far. According to the hospital, on its Twitter handle, the odds of having sextuplets are estimated to be one in 4.7 billion. The hospital said the six babies were made up of four boys and two girls. The hospital went on to reveal that the babies were born between 4:50 a.m. and 4:59 a.m. The babies were born at weights ranging from 1 pound (0.4kg), 12 ounces (0.3kg) to 2 pounds (0.9kg), and 14 ounces (0.39kg). They are in stable condition and will continue to receive care in the hospitals advanced neonatal intensive care unit, according to the release. Already the new mum has named her daughters, Zina and Zuriel while still thinking of the names for the four boys. See tweet: TheWomansHospTX (@TheWomansHospTX) March 15, 2019 KINDLY DROP A COMMENT BELOW Home | News | General | Anybody wishing to disrupt Kano's peace will not go scot-free - Ganduje talks tough ahead of supplementary election - Governor Ganduje of Kano state issued a strong warning ahead of the supplementary election in the state - Ganduje said he will not tolerate breach of peace under whatever guise - The Kano governor said as chief security officer of the state he cannot sleep if any drop of blood is wasted Ahead of the supplementary elections in Kano on Saturday, March 23, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state says that his government will not tolerate any breach of peace by any group or person in the state. Ganduje gave the warning on Tuesday, March 19, in Kano when an amalgam of 320 associations, called Kano Peace Ambassadors, paid him a solidarity visit. We will not tolerate breach of peace under whatever guise, and the government will not fold its arms and watch people instigating instability in the state. READ ALSO: Breaking: Atiku files 5-ground petition against President Buhari, brings up certificate saga As a governor of Kano state and the Chief Security Officer of the state, I cannot sleep if any drop of blood is wasted. I am not speaking as a gubernatorial candidate, but as the executive governor of Kano state and the chief security officer of the state. Anybody wishing to disrupt the peace of the state will not go scot-free, he said. The Kano Peace Ambassadors assured Ganduje of their resolve to promote peaceful co-existence before, during and after the re-run election. Abubakar Muhammad who led the groups commended Ganduje for making statements that were peaceful in all intent and purposes. We are monitoring speeches that are being made by political leaders in the state. We find out that, many out there are only triggering instability. We are indeed commending your political statements, that prove to be in line with peaceful engagements, he said. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Kano chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) alerted security agencies to hold Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso responsible in any case of reported violence throughout the rerun election in the state. The Kano APC in a statement signed by the state's commissioner for information, youth and culture, Malam Muhammad Garba, expressed shock over why the senator was yet to be cautioned after some alleged inciting comments made by him. The statement read in part: It is no longer secret that Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has seen the March 23 supplementary election as a war he is not ready to lose. His recent utterances indicate his ability to incite and cause violence in the state before, during and after the elections. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! 2019 elections: Do you still trust INEC to conduct fair elections? - Nigerians speak| Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Man narrates how he was sentenced to life imprisonment after daughter lied that he abused her Julius Wambua Musyoki, a father and a husband, broke into tears when he saw his daughter walk into the visiting area of Kamiti Maximum Prison. The inconsolable man accused his little girl of turning against him and landing him in jail, where he is serving a life sentence. Speaking to Citizen TV, Julius painfully gave details of how his estranged first wife instructed his daughter to lie he had defiled her. "In 2007 I broke up with my first wife because she wanted me to sell my piece of land and split the money with her. I sold the land, gave her half the money after which she left me. After three days, she came for the kids. I tried to get her back but she refused to return," Julius opened up. READ ALSO: Olakunle Churchill speaks on failed marriage with Tonto Dikeh, says he met her at a night club Julius Wambua Musyoki, a father and a husband, broke into tears when he saw his daughter walk into the visiting area of Kamiti Maximum Prison. Photo: CitizenTV However, things were not always this bad. At some point, the pair loved each other and even lived in harmony. According to Julius, what made him and his wife part ways was the necessary evil popularly known as money. "I started building and married another wife. My first wife then decided to bring back my kids out of the blues. She then later asked me to allow the girls to visit her in Nairobi. I agreed but asked her to let them return after two days because I had already paid for their holiday tuition," the father recalled. When the pair parted ways, the chap decided to move on and get a second wife but this did not sit well with his ex-wife. She was annoyed and completely jealous. So, she concocted a fool proof plan that would see her gain financially and get rid of Julius once and for all. READ ALSO: Childlike South African actor Themba weds the love of his life at beautiful ceremony "Her timing was perfect. I had just finished building. One day, while I was buying veggies at the market, someone approached me and said he had been looking for me. He asked what my name was and further revealed the police were looking for me," he said. Julius' first wife forced his daughter to lie the man r*ped her and even claimed she had the necessary documents to prove the heinous act happened. First, she asked Julius to let their daughters visit her in Nairobi for a few days. "The documents said I had r*ped my daughter. She even testified against me saying I r*ped her but she could not look me straight in the eye. I asked the judge to perform a DNA test to prove I did not hurt my child but my request was denied," he continued. Whatever happened next, Julius only came to know eight years after he was locked up in Kamiti Prison. His daughter, Dorcas, finally decided to open up on what really led to his incarceration and the details were painful! "My mother wanted me to say you touched me and r*ped me. She wanted to inherit your property and to also get rid of your second wife.She wanted you to get arrested and die in Shimo La Tewa. She told me I would be arrested if I did not comply," a tearful dorcas narrated. PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Did you know? NAIJ.com (naija.ng) is now-> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app 'My daughter's husband used her for money rituals' - Nigeria Street Gist on Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Nigerians react as Atiku files 5-ground petition against President Buhari Nigerians have reacted to the petition filed against President Muhammadu Buhari by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded presidential election. In the five ground petition, Atiku had claimed that: The 2nd respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election. The election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices. The election of the 2nd Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). READ ALSO: Nigerias 2019 election is bad news for democracy - Ex-US ambassador The 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election. The 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election. While many took to social media to support the move by Atiku, others condemned him, claiming that he supported the president in 2015 against Goodluck Jonathan. In his reaction on Facebook, Ernesto Sylvester claimed that Nigerians prefer Buhari even without a certificate. According to him, 15 million people who voted for the president voted for the candidate they trusted. "But at the same time, don't also forget the fact that in 2015 that you supported him, he was still without the same basic qualifications and you didn't challenge him in court," he added. "Was Atiku not aware of Buhari's qualification when they ganged up against GEJ in 2015. If he has forgotten everything, everything is still fresh in our memories. Go and get a life Atiku," Usman Lafiagi on his part said. However, Daniel Inyang urged Nigerian not to insult the former vice president: "It seems all of you are scared about Buhari being sacked by Atiku. You should not waste your energy abusing Atiku for exercising his right. The tribunal should be allowed to decide the matter. And don't also forget that 9 days are for the thief but one day for the owner of the house." "Atiku is so crafty, he used Buhari to send Good luck away so that it will be an easy ride to push or throw Buhari to the dust. Trust him, he has what it takes to defeat BMB at the tribunal," Danlami Ibi, in his reaction said. Recall that Legit.ng had reported that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar filed a five-ground petition against President Muhammadu Buhari challenging his victory in the presidential election. The 141-page petition cited on Tuesday, March 19, contained five grounds. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app He said based on reports from situation rooms, the election was a step back from the 2015 own. Do you still trust INEC to conduct fair elections? - Nigerians speak| Legit TV. [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Election tribunal: 5 things Atiku said about Buhari, 2019 presidential election in his petition Few weeks ago, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially declared President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with over three million votes. President Buhari garnered 15,191,847 votes as against Atiku's 11,262,978 votes. However, the PDP presidential candidate expressed his dissatisfaction with the result and vowed to challenge it in court. In the early hours of Tuesday, March 19, Atiku eventually filed a petition against President Buhari, the All Progressives Congress and INEC. Legit.ng in this piece highlights the major points Atiku made against President Buhari and the 2019 presidential election in his petition. 1. WAEC certificate saga In the petition, Atiku resuscitated the allegation that Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the president on the grounds that he did not have the constitutionally recognised minimum qualification of a school certificate. The 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election, the petition reads. During the buildup to the 2019 presidential election, President Buhari's certificate issue raised controversy, a repeat of what happened before the 2015 elections. The controversy reared itself again after INEC disclosed that the president in an affidavit stated that his certificates were still with the military board. When the controversy refused to die down, the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) eventually presented an attestation certificate to President Buhari, confirming that he indeed sat for WAEC exams and obtained certificate. However, Atiku seemed not to be satisfied with the WAEC's confirmation as he brought up the certificate saga again in its petition. 2. President Buhari not qualified to contest the presidential election Apart from citing the certificate saga, Atiku also claimed "was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election". Details of the reason why Atiku said the president was not qualified, apart from the certificate issue, are yet to be revealed. 3. Majority of lawful votes President Buhari garnered 15,191,847 votes as against Atiku's 11,262,978 votes, winning with a margin close to four million. However, Atiku insisted in his petition that President Buhari did not "was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election". 4. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 The PDP presidential candidate also challenged the presidential election that produced Buhari as the winner. The election of the 2nd Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended)," the petition reads in part. 5. Corrupt practices Atiku also claimed that the victory of President Buhari in the 2019 presidential election"is invalid by reason of corrupt practices." PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that former president Olusegun Obasanjo explained why he would not comment on the outcome of the February 23 presidential election, adding that speaking about the election would be subjudice. Obasanjo said this on Tuesday, March 19, at the Shehu Musa Yaradua Centre Abuja, at the launch of a book written by Abdullahi Shehu, titled Election in Nigeria: The Long Road To Democracy. Speaking further about why he has not spoken about the outcome of the election, Obasanjo said: "I think talking about it would become subjudicive, because it has been taken to court." NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. 2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Zoning Senate presidency to southeast will end Biafra agitation - APC chieftain - Austin Meregini advised the APC to zone the Senate presidency to the southeast - The APC chieftain said this would pacify the region - According to Meregini, this move will stop all agitation for Biafra A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia, Austin Meregini, a.ka Ugolee, says it will be bad if the south-easterners are denied the position of Senate president in the 9th National Assembly. Meregini, the APC candidate for Umuahia East Constituency seat in the Abia state House of Assembly in the last general elections, made the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos. READ ALSO: Atiku files 5-ground petition against President Buhari, brings up certificate saga It is natural justice to cede the position to the South-East to douse all complaints about marginalisation by the people of the region. For the 9th Senate, it is obvious that there is a common consensus and informal agreement among Nigerians that the South-East is properly positioned to produce the Senate President. And it will be bad if south-easterners are denied this position. As we have it now, obviously, it is only the South-South and South-East that are left out in the equation. For the South-South, President Muhammadu Buhari took over from South-South; the South-East has never played or occupied any major role within the power configuration of the country," he said. The APC Chieftain added: It will be natural justice to have a south-easterner assume this position and it will be no other person than Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, the Abia North senator-elect for the ninth assembly. And from all indications without mincing words, no other person is more positioned or more qualified than Chief Orji Uzor Kalu." According to him, Kalu though a first term senator in the Senate possesses the requisite leadership and legislative experience to lead the red chamber. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda He said that Kalu, as a former member of the House of Representatives in 1991 and two-term governor of Abia, had the love of the country at heart and cares so must about the south-easterners. So, in terms of leadership and what it takes to project the interest of the country at the Senate, as well as what it takes to represent the south-easterners, Kalu is more qualified and properly positioned to assume this position. By ceding the Senate Presidency to the South-East, it will go a long way to pacify the region, and give them a sense of belonging in the Nigeria equation." According to him, if the office is zoned to the region, it will bring natural peace and harmonious coexistence in the country and end all Biafra agitations as well as secession quests. Meregini said that southeast being brought to the mainstream of Nigeria politics will douse tensions and cries of marginalisation. The candidate, who alleged that he was rigged out during the election, urged his supporters to remain calm as the mandate would be regained at the tribunal. NAN reports that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) secured majority seats in the just-concluded National Assembly election, and the party has yet to state the geo-political zone to produce the ninth National Assembly Senate President. Meanwhile, the deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, advised the ruling party's leaders to roll-out zoning arrangements for the leadership positions in the incoming 9th National Assembly. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news updates Nabena urged the APC leaders to carry out the action while speaking to journalists on Tuesday, March 19 in Abuja. He also alleged that there are plots by opposition party members to hijack the leadership of the 9th National Assembly NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! 2019 elections: Do you still trust INEC to conduct fair elections? - Nigerians speak| Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Moroccos central bank has efficient and effective regulatory control of the banking sector contrary to what Fitch rating claimed in a recent report, said head of the bank Abdellatif Jouahri. The central bank governor, who was speaking to reporters, said Fitch was wrong in its conclusions that run contrary to what other international rating agencies and financial institutions such as IMF and the World Bank say about the solid financial structures of the Moroccan banking sector. Jouahri added that he sent a letter to Fitch responding one by one to all its false claims. Fitch had warned against the risks it claimed were looming on Moroccan banks notably low capitalization, weak asset quality and a higher ratio of impaired loans. The Moroccan banking sector is concentrated, with the seven largest banks accounting for approximately 90% of total sector deposits. Attijariwafa bank and Banque Populaire BCP are dominant lenders, each controlling market shares of about 25% while foreign-owned banks represent around 20% of the market. Home | News | General | INEC challenges court order stopping collation of results in Bauchi The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has challenged the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja, ordering it to stop the collation of the governorship election results in Bauchi state. Festus Okoye, INECs National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education said the commission has filed a motion on notice`, challenging the jurisdiction of the court in granting the order. "The motion has not been taken. Until that motion is taken, the court order barring us from collating the result of Tafawa Balewa area subsists, he said. READ ALSO: Nigerias 2019 election is bad news for democracy - Ex-US ambassador Although Okoye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, that the commission has stopped the collation of the governorship result, he said the collation process would continue in the state assembly elections in the affected areas. On Tuesday, March 19, a Federal High Court in Abuja barred INEC from resuming the collation and announcement of governorship election result in Bauchi. Justice Inyang Ekwo issued the order following an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Bauchi state governor, Mohammed Abubakar. The commission has already taken a decision. The order is from a properly constituted court of law, so we complied. We have fully complied with the court order in relation to collation of the governorship election for Tafawa Balewa local government area, he said. He said the commission would conduct supplementary elections in areas not affected by the order of the Federal High Court. INEC initially declared the governorship election in Bauchi, along with the elections in Benue, Plateau, Sokoto, Kano and inconclusive. READ ALSO: Bandits in Zamfara better equipped than the state's security command - Yari speaks after meeting Buhari It also announced that supplementary elections would take place on 23 March. But in a sudden twist, INEC said it would no longer hold supplementary elections in the contentious Tafawa Balewa Local Government, where it said the result of the poll on March 9 was torn by an armed gang. INEC also said it has appointed a new returning officer for the council and that collation would resume on Tuesday. INEC said a fact-finding committee headed by Okoye recommended that the results of polling units in the council should be upheld and then cancelled the planned election in the council. INECs volte-face angered the All Progressives Congress candidate and the incumbent governor, Muhammed Abubakar and his party. There were accusations about denial of fair hearing by the Okoye committee and that the committee was compromised because Okoye has some relationship with some PDP leaders, such as Speaker Yakubu Dogara. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that INEC had announced the suspension of collation of the governorship election result from Tafawa Balewa local government area of Bauchi state. This follows a high court order which stopped the collation of results from the local government area on Friday, March 19. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The electoral umpire said it will only continue with the collation of the House of Assembly result from the local government since the court did not rule concerning it. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Bauchi state, Ibrahim Abdullahi, explained that the electoral umpire will decide on the next step of action. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. 2019 elections: Do you still trust INEC to conduct fair elections? - Nigerians speak| Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Unrest: Oyetola shuts colleges of technology By Gbenga Olarinoye OsogboFollowing the wanton destruction of public property by irate members of the public in Ilesa, Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola has ordered the closure of three higher institutions of learning in the state. Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola Both social and economic activities of the ancient town were on Monday paralysed following a violent protest by the youths of the town over the disconnection of the town from the national grid by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC,which alleged attack by the youths of the town on the staff of the company. According to a statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Adeniyi Adesina, the affected institutions are: Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, the Osun State College of Health Technology, Ilesa and the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke. Oyetola condemned the violence as uncalled for. Going to war: A Reporters diary of Nigerias 2019 Presidential Election He warned that the government would not hesitate to take further drastic action, should the need arise, in order to protect lives and properties. The governor also frowned at the attack on journalists on legitimate assignment whose equipment were also destroyed by protesters. He assured citizens of the state that the government is on top of the security situation in Ilesa and in all parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Osun State Council has condemned the attack on its members at Olomilagbala, Bolorunduro, Ilesa East Local Government, on Monday in totality, describing it as uncivilised and barbaric. Five journalists, namely: Shitu Abdulfatai of Channels TV, his camera man, Kadri Kabir, Rafiu Hammed of TV Continental, (TVC) and his Camera man, Taiwo Adu were among those attacked by suspected thugs in the melee. The newsmen were in Ilesa in the early hours of Monday to cover the protest embarked upon by irate youths over power outage in Ijesa land. The union, in a statement by the State Chairman, Comrade Kehinde Ayantunji further described the attackers as crude characters, adding that the union would do everything possible to make sure that the perpetrators face the wrath of the law. We are shocked and seriously disturbed by the ruthless attack on four of our members today in Ilesa. We consider such attack as bestial, barbaric and uncivilised; and a declaration of war against journalists performing their constitutional responsibility. The attack was so brutal to the extent that Taiwo Adu of TVC and Kadir Kabir of Channels could not stand on their feet as at the time of issuing this release, they were callously hit with bottle and various dangerous objects and held captive for about an hour with serious humiliation. They are currently on admission at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospitals, Osogbo. Their cameras and other gadgets worth million of Naira were completely destroyed. We are calling on security agencies to swiftly swing into action and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book without delay, the statement read CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Reps to probe deployment of military men during polls, Kajuru killings By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJAHouse of Representatives, yesterday, resolved to investigate the involvement of the military in the just concluded 2019 general election. House of Representatives The House also decided to probe incessant killings by armed bandits in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The resolutions followed two separate motions sponsored by Pat Asodu from Enugu State and Yakubu Barde from Kaduna State. Moving his motion, Asodu told the House that it was against the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution to involve the Nigerian Army in elections. He also cited various court judgments, which he said outlawed the deployment of the military personnel during elections without recourse to the National Assembly. To this end, the lawmaker asked the House to set up a high powered adhoc committee to carry out a holistic, detailed, comprehensive and far-reaching investigation of the deployment, uses, misuses and abuses of the soldiers in the 2019 elections and other elections. He said among others: The House is convinced that the National Assembly had at no time been consulted for or approved any instrument whatsoever with respect to the deployment of soldiers of Nigerian Anny for the 2019 general elections or for any elections for that matter. Adopting the motion, the House charged the ad-hoc committee, which is yet to be set up, to make adequate recommendations on the completion of its assignment on the matter and report back to it within four weeks. Kajuru killings Similarly, the House also mandated its relevant committees to carry out a thorough investigation into Kajuru crisis with a view to unraveling the fundamental issues responsible for the unrests and proffer solutions for lasting peace in the local government area. It also mandated security agents to intensify efforts in stemming the tide of these attacks and killings and ensuring that peace and normalcy return to the area while urging National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, to quickly move to the communities with relief materials to alleviate the sufferings of the displaced families. The directives followed the motion by Barde who represents Chikun/Kajuru federal constituency of Kaduna State. He told the House in his motion that many lives had been lost due to incessant killings, adding that despite the outcry of the people, no signincant efforts have been made to bring the situation under control as pockets of killings are still going on in the area. It will surprise you to know that up to this moment as I speak no arrest of these killers have been made by the security agents, rather over 50 armless youths and opinion ieaders of Adara extraction are being reminded in prison without due process of the law for over a month now, Barde who is also the minority whip of the House said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Petition: My case against Buhari, by Atiku Adds: Evidence coming from statisticians, fingerprint experts, forensic examiners Credible allegations of rigging marred Nigerias polls, says Campbell, ex-US envoy Presidents spokesman, Adesina, declines comment By Clifford Ndujihe & Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had at various stages of the February 23 presidential election, unlawfully allocated votes to President Muhammadu Buhari. President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Atiku in the petition he lodged before the petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, said he would adduce oral and documentary evidence to show that results of the election as announced by INEC, especially the votes credited to President Buhari, did not represent the lawful valid votes cast. He alleged that in some states, INEC, deducted lawful votes that accrued to him, in its bid to ensure that Buhari was returned back to office. Protests, commendations trail court decision on Bauchi election Both Atiku and the PDP said they would call evidence of statisticians, forensic examiners and finger-print experts at the hearing of the petition to establish that the scores credited to Buhari were not the product of actual votes validly cast at the polling units. Atiku and PDP are the petitioners, while INEC, Buhari and All Progressives Congress, APC, are respondents in the petition. Nigerias elections, bad news for democracy ex-US envoy Meanwile, a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, has thumbed down the 2019 presidential election in the country, describing the election as bad news for democracy and feared that its outcome could affect other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, given Nigerias influence in the region. In a 701-word election post-mortem for the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, Campbell also said that the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar may not win at the tribunal because Buharis margin of victory, some four million votes is so large that it is unlikely courts will overturn the result. Presidency declines comment Contacted over Mr Campbells remarks, President Buharis spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina declined comments. I cant comment now because I have not seen the article, he said. Atiku, PDPs petition The petitioners plead and shall rely on electronic video recordings, newspaper reports, photographs and photographic images of several infractions of the electoral process by the respondents, they added. Specifically, the petitioners serialised results recorded from each state of the federation in order to prove that the alleged fraudulent allocation of votes to Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, took place at the polling units, the ward collating centres, local government collating centres and the state collating centres. Atiku contended that proper collation and summation of the presidential election results would show that contrary to what INEC declared, he garnered a total of 18,356,732 votes, ahead of Buhari who he said got a total of 16,741,430 votes. The petitioners shall rely on the evidence of statisticians, forensic examiners and other experts, detailing the data analysis on the votes at all levels of collation, from the polling units to the final return. The petitioners state that Smart Card Readers deployed by the 1st respondent, in addition to accreditation, equally transmitted electronically the results of voting from polling units directly to the server of the 1st respondent. The Presiding Officers of the 1st respondent directly inputted the results from the polling units at the end of voting and transmitted directly to the server, in addition to manually taking the Form EC8As to the Wards for collation. The 1st respondent is hereby given notice to produce the records of results from each polling unit uploaded and transmitted electronically by officials of the 1st respondent through smart card readers to the 1st respondents servers. The petitioners plead and rely on the 1st respondents Manual Technologies 2019, and notice is hereby given to the 1st Respondent to produce same at the trial. The 1st Respondents agents at the polling units used the Smart Card Reader for electronic collation and transmission of results. The Petitioners plead and shall rely on and play at the trial, the video demonstration by the 1st Respondent of the deployment of Smart Card Reader for authentication of accreditation and for transmission of data. The petitioners hereby plead and rely upon the extract of data as contained on the 1st Respondents servers as at 25th February 2019, notice to produce whereof is hereby given to the 1st Respondent. The Petitioners also will rely on the data on the 1st Respondents central server between 25th February 2019 and 8th March 2019 and hereby also give notice to produce same before this Honourable Court. The petitioners hereby plead the electronic data on the servers of the 1st respondent and shall at the trial give evidence of the source of the data analysis and data material, including the website: www.factsdontlieng.com. The 1st respondent had on the day of election published the total number of registered voters in the entire country as 84,004,084. Subsequently, the same 1st respondent published a different figure of 82,344,107 as registered voters, leading to an unexplained difference of 1,659,977 registered voters. The 1st Respondent equally published the number of permanent voters cards (PVC) collected for the purpose of the presidential election as 72,775,502. The petitioners state that whereas the actual number of voters accredited at the election was 35,098,162, the 1st respondent wrongly suppressed and/or reduced the number of accredited voters to 29,394,209 to the detriment of the petitioners. The 1st respondent had by its Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2019 made pursuant to the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) provided for the mandatory use of card readers for the said election. The 1st respondent by its press release on smart card readers issued in February 2019 and signed by its National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, emphasised and reiterated that The use of the Smart Card Reader is not only mandatory but its deliberate non-use attracts the sanction of possible prosecution of erring officials in accordance with the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of elections. This is in addition to the voiding of any result emanating from such units or areas as was done in the Presidential and National Assembly elections of February 23, 2019. By this stated position of the 1st respondent, all accreditation not done by smart card reader in the presidential election was and remain void. The petitioners state and contend that the 2nd respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election; and that from the data on each State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in the 1str respondents server, the 1st petitioner, as opposed to the 2nd respondent, scored majority of lawful votes cast at the election. Wherefore, the petitioners pray jointly and severally against the respondents as follows:- That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the said election and therefore the declaration and return of the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent as the President of Nigeria is unlawful, undue, null, void and of no effect. That it may be determined that the 1st petitioner (Atiku) was duly and validly elected and ought to be returned as President of Nigeria, having polled the highest number of lawful votes cast at the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held on 23rd February 2019 and having satisfied the constitutional requirements for the said election. An order directing the 1st respondent to issue Certificate of Return to the 1st petitioner as the duly elected President of Nigeria. That it may be determined that the 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election. That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent submitted to the commission affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election. In the alternative, he prayed: That the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held on February 23, 2019 be nullified and a fresh election ordered. Credible allegations of rigging marred Nigerias polls Campbell Campbell, who also served as US Department of State foreign service officer from 1975 to 2007, said the election was marred by historically low turnout and credible allegations of rigging, adding that from Situation Rooms report, the election fell below the 2015 presidential election standards. The article read in part: Nigerias latest presidential election cycle has been bad news for democracy in Africas most populous country and across the continent. Though President Buhari won the election, it was marred by historically low turnout and credible allegations of rigging. Buhari and his main challenger, former Vice President Abubakar, both Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group in the countrys North, are part of the political class that has dominated Nigeria since independence in 1960. Their contest meant there would be no generational leadership change in a country where the average age is 18 and half of registered voters are under 35. Buhari and Abubakar are the standard-bearers for two political parties descended from the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida: the APC and PDP, respectively. Both parties are undemocratic in spirit and function primarily to contest elections rather than to promote legislation or policy. During their campaigns, the candidates and their parties offered little that was new to address security breakdowns caused by Boko Haram in the countrys Northeast; conflict over land use, ethnicity, and religion in the Middle Belt; and the division of oil revenue in the Delta. Moreover, they were mute on climate change, urbanization, and a population boom that is expected to push Nigeria past 450 million people by the middle of the century. The Situation Room, an umbrella organisation of Nigerian civil society groups, wrote that the vote marked a step back from the 2015 general election and actions should be taken to identify what has gone wrong and what can be corrected. Nigerias influence across sub-Saharan Africa is out-sized. Its population and economy are Africas largest; its cultural influence, symbolized by the Nollywood film industry, is far-reaching; and its traditional diplomatic activism, through participation in peace-keeping missions and the regional economic bloc ECOWAS, is consequential. When Nigeria transitioned from military to civilian rule in 1999, the effects on West Africa were palpable: coups lost their legitimacy, and the region has pursued a positive democratic trajectory ever since. But the latest presidential election is far from an example for those African countries consolidating their democracies or emerging from quasi-authoritarian regimes to emulate. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | 10 injured, as youths disrupt crusade in Niger By Wole Mosadomi MinnaTHERE was pandemonium on Monday night in Tegina,Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, leaving no fewer than 10 persons with various degrees of injuries after some youths disrupted a Christian crusade organised by a man from a royal family who recently converted to Christianity. The man identified as Prophet Shuaibu Bashir, said to have been born again is said to be from an unnamed royal family in Sokoto State, and was said to have been organising series of crusades and converting many people to Christianity in the local government and its environs in the last few months. His activities were said not to have gone down well with some Muslim individuals and youths in the area which prompted the attack on crusaders. It was gathered that the crusade had gone viral because of the wonders and powers including healing of long time and chronic sicknesses among others, which has been attracting many people from far and near irrespective of their religion and thus propagating and projecting Christ in the area to the people. Vanguard learned that just as the latest crusade was about to take off in Tegina town with a large crowd in attendance, some irate youths, whose identities are yet to be ascertained, stormed the venue and beat up the worshippers, thus forcefully dispersing them and thus ending the crusade abruptly. Besides those that sustained degrees of injuries, all the vehicles numbering up to eight that conveyed the worshipper to the crusade were seriously damaged, while some motorcycles brought to the crusade by worshippers were stolen by the invaders. An impeccable source told Vanguard that the organisers obtained permission from the Police in the area, while the Emirate Council was also officially informed before the commencement of the Assembly and wondered why the religious event should be violently disrupted. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | PDP South-west elders fault 2019 general elections By Gabriel Olawale LagosPeoples Democratic Party, PDP, elders, in the South West, yesterday described the recently conducted 2019 general elections as a flop characterized with deliberate sabotage, treachery and outright banditry. INEC The elders, who expressed their displeasure at a state of the nation meeting in Lagos, said that the present electoral processes wherein result sheets are physically carried across the nation are absolutely primitive and apparently susceptible to all kinds of distortions. The elders, which comprises of Former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PPD, Chief Bode George; former deputy governor in Lagos State, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele; Captain Tunji Shelle; Ebenezer Babatope; Chief Okanlawon Soboyede; Dr. Adegbola Dominic; Engr Tony Ojesina; Dare Adeleje among others. Speaking on behalf of the caucus, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu, explained that the apparent distortions in Yobe, Borno, Rivers, Lagos, Adamawa, Kano and several other states diminished the purity of a fledgling democratic state. All people of goodwill across our land should speak out with holy courage and boldly about the perceived wrongs and the glaring imbalances in our polity. The Nigerian union deserves peace, harmony, equity and a strengthened bond of brotherhood that will galvanize our nation to greater development and prosperity. The Senate Nigerians desire, going forward Surely, we do not pray for the collapse of our democracy. But we urge for vigilance and constant monitoring of the affairs of the state. We submit that the Nigerian union has crossed a crucial threshold in the continuous struggle for a summative identity and national wholeness. We insist that the recent general elections were fraught with screaming flaws, deliberate sabotage, treachery and outright banditry. It is our resolve that the present electoral processes wherein result sheets are physically carried across the nation are absolutely primitive and apparently susceptible to all kinds of distortions. The elders also expressed support for PDP Presidential candiadate, Atiku Abubaker to seek justice in Court. We support wholeheartedly the decision of our party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar to seek justice in the court of law rather than withdrawing into a shell of cowardice. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Ugwuanyi inaugurates Abor erosion reclamation work By Dennis Agbo GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has handed over to a contractor, the Umuavulu-Abor deep erosion gully for reclamation, channelling and remediation work. Ugwuanyi Inaugurating the project at the site in Abor, Udi Local Government Area of the state, Governor Ugwuanyi said the project was cleared by the World Bank which he said was a veritable partnering agency. By challenging election fraud, we have decided to deepen democracy Peter Obi He stated that the procurement processes for the project crystallised to the inauguration, adding that the project has not only brought smiles to various households in the affected community but has also inserted mitigation measures to the environmental challenge. Represented by the state Commissioner for Works, Engr. Greg Nnaji, Governor Ugwuanyi disclosed that the project had, last year, carried out Resettlement Action Plan to percieved affected persons. This effort, I was reliably informed, had various households receiving some monetary compensation, Ugwuanyi said. Ugwuanyi, political ecumenism and the substance of politics State coordinator for the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, NEWMAP, Mr Vincent Obetta noted that prior to the project inauguration, series of sensitisation, workshops and training were conducted for the family stakeholders to ensure its smooth running and sustainability. Obetta stated that the project would not have been possible without the counterpart funding of the state government released last year to compensate the project affected persons. President-General of the community, Mr Netchy Mbaeze expressed the gratitude of the community for the bold step of the state government and the World Bank for the rescue project. This dreadful natural disaster had continued to eat up our land from all flanks and to threaten our very existence, Mbaeze said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | NEPAD moves to curb unemployment among Nigerian youths Trains 500 women, youths in Awka By Vincent Ujumadu The New Partnership for Africas Development, NEPAD, an economic development programme of the African Union, AU, adopted at the 37th Session of the assembly of the heads of state and governments in July 2001in Lusaka, Zambia, has begun a training programme aimed at curbing unemployment among youths and women in the South-East geopolitical zone. Dr. Ini Irua, African Finance Corporation; Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, President, African Business Roundtable and Chairman NEPAD Business Group Africa; Mr. Goodie Ibru, Chairman, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria and Chief (Dr) Nike Akade, Director at the NEPAD Business Group Nigeria Capacity Building Retreat held in Lagos The two-week training programme, which kicked off in Awka, Anambra State with about 500 participants, was part of the Zonal Intervention for Constituency Programme being sponsored by the Federal Government through NEPAD. How prison helped us become coy owners Kirikiri ex-inmates National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD, Princess Gloria Akobundu, who spoke through the Director in charge of Programmes Development and Implementation, Mr. Emmanuel Abang told the participants that the greatest gift one could have in life is skill/knowledge and urged them to take the training seriously. According to him, the participants, who were carefully selected from all the political wards in the zone, were being trained in bead-making, hat-making, catering, confectionaries, shoe and bag- making, as well as tie and dye. Abang said the problem of youth unemployment in Nigeria was one in which available statistics revealed that it could only be addressed through a well thought out programme of skills acquisition, adding that it was to ameliorate the situation that made NEPAD design a training programme to equip young Nigerians with skills that would help them create wealth and become self-reliant. Only 25% of Nigerians know much about TB The Federal Government has made it a priority to empower youths and women and government, therefore, expects the trainees to take the programme seriously. This is because no matter how rich your parents or husbands are, you need to contribute towards the sustenance of your families, Abang said. He advised that after acquiring the skills, the trainees should form cooperative societies to enable them access loans from various financial institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Bank of Industry, BoI, and Nigeria Agricultural Bank. He added that with resource persons drawn from the various fields, the trainees were on the right path to becoming their own masters and take their destinies in their hands. Abang added: NEPAD is basically economic empowerment created under the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to essentially reduce poverty in the country through the training and empowerment of youths and women with interest in skills acquisitions. After offering skills training in various areas, NEPAD gives starter packs to its participants and do a follow-up with data available to ensure the success of the programme. Apart from the starter packs given to participants at the end of their training, NEPAD also encourages them to go into cooperatives in other to have easy access to loans from the banks. NEPAD is a socio-economic flagship programme of the African Union, which Nigerian government is not playing with at all because of its economic usefulness to the people of the country. With the four primary objectives of NEPAD, which are to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable growth and development, integrate Africa in the world economy and accelerate the empowerment of the women and youths, the expectation is that unemployment in Nigeria will soon become a thing of the past. Mr. Valentine Ekpunobi, who learnt how to make shoes, believed that he had become well equipped to produce bags in commercial quantities, adding, however, that his only drawback was the capital to start with. Another trainee, Mrs. Amaka Ndianaefo went into jubilation when she was told that opportunities abound for her to secure loans from financial institutions to enable her to grow her business, having acquired the necessary skill on how to make beads and bags. Dont jettison teaching of art subjects Educationist urges schools Mr. Favour Nnaemeka, 17, said his grandmother encouraged him to go for the skills acquisition programme after his secondary school education, adding that he would put all that he learnt into use to help himself since his family does not have the resources to enable him further his education. Mr. Arinze Orike, 28, said he was happy learning bead- making and promised to source for the fund to start his own business at the end of the training. Miss Ijeoma Ameli, 21, said she is no longer interested in sitting for JAMB, adding that she would concentrate on acquiring various skills that would enable her to take care of her family. Ameli, who explained that she had always had a passion for skills, appreciated NEPAD for introducing the programme and assured that with the starter pack which was promised them, she is set to go into full-time business. The programme training coordinator, Mr Victor Eze expressed joy that the trainees were able to learn fast, adding that it showed the enthusiasm among Nigerians to make a living through handwork if encouraged. The trainees went into wild jubilation when Senator Uche Ekwunife, who recently collected her certificate of return to represent Anambra Central in the 9th Senate, said her office would prepare a database for all the trained women and youths because they would be given start-up capital that would enable them to finance their businesses. While urging them to take the training seriously, she observed that no matter the type of certificate acquired by any individual, such a certificate would be meaningless if it was not backed by any skill, hence the emphasis on skills acquisition by the Federal Government. Miss Chidimma Akpata, chief officer of Adimma Concept, who was one of the resource persons described the objectives of NEPAD as laudable and enjoined other persons yet to embrace the programme, to do so without further delay. According to Akpata, the era of brandishing certificates had gone because white collar jobs are hard to come by, noting that the in thing is for people to acquire skills that would make them live independent lives. Explaining that every home needs to have someone with a skill to boost the familys daily income, no matter the educational certificate acquired, Akpata said she was impressed at the number of participants who had shown reasonable interest to learn various skills. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Bauchi: Why Gov. Abubakar is battling By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor Yesterdays court decision stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC from going ahead with the further collation of the results of the Bauchi State governorship election of March 9 was a last-ditch effort by the incumbent governor to hold on to power. It also showed to limit to which the Muhammadu Buhari phenomenon could go in holding someone in power. Gov. Mohammed Abubakar Last Monday, a day before the court action, Governor Abubakar who was the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate in the election visited President Buhari apparently to brief him and seek his encouragement in his travails. Governor Abubakar at the point the collation was suspended last week was trailing his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP rival, Senator Bala Mohammed with 4,059 votes, having scored 465,453 votes against the PDP candidates 469,512 votes. The election was initially declared inconclusive on the claim that the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area had been mutilated. The mutilation apparently came after political party thugs invaded the collation centre and grabbed the results from the Mrs. Dominion Anosike, the Local Government Area collation returning officer. Mrs. Anosike was, however, able to generate the results in a replacement form but because she did not seek the permission of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC of the state as required the result she submitted was rejected. At that point also, the number of cancelled votes in Ningi Local Government Area was also mutilated by the addition of one Zero to the final figure of 2,533 which raised the number to 25,330. That also raised the total number of cancelled votes in the state to 45,312. Bauchi supplementary election: Dont tamper with already declared results, PDP Warns INEC It was upon that claim that INEC initially decided that there would be a runoff as the final number of cancelled votes was more than the difference between Bala Mohammed and Abubakar Mohammed. However, things worked against the governor after a committee from INEC headed by Festus Okoye discovered the mutilation in Ningi and scaled back the number of cancelled votes from 25,330 to 2,533 by removing the ZERO that had been added to it. Even more, the committee also proved that the regenerated result sheets from Tafawa Balewa were correct upon which the commission last Friday, resolved to go ahead with the collation. Remarkably, various interests in the state led by Speaker Yakubu Dogara had paid special interest in the case, and Dogara especially so. Dogara represents Tafawa Balewa in the House of Representatives and had been at odds with Governor Abubakar for more than three years. The governor had vowed to crush Dogara who had won back to back elections on different political platforms from the constituency in four straight terms. Inconclusive Polls : I am pursuing the legal angle Bauchi Governo At the collation of the figures for Tafawa Balewa before the invasion of the thugs, Bala Mohammed was leading Governor Abubakar by 40,010 votes against the APCs 29,862 votes. Allowing the integration of Tafewa Balewa would have extended the lead to more than 14,000 votes and put the election beyond the governor who in that case would then become the first incumbent governor of the state to have been thrown out. Reasons, why the governor came to be embattled in one of the safest Buhari territories, have flowed from claims of superciliousness to allegations that he is not from the state. It could also be imagined that had the governor spectacularly performed that he could well have used his performance to wave off the human indiscretions put against him. Besides the Bauchi leaders led by Speaker Dogara, the governor also has as his challenger, Senator Bala Mohammed, the former journalist turned politician who is believed to have scripted the pathway that helped to remove the political roots of Governor Adamu Muazu, unarguably, the best performing governor the state has seen in the Fourth Republic. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | DELTA APC CRISIS: Emerhor, Omo-Agege at loggerheads over Senate Seat Omo-Agege built his candidature on nothing EMERHOR The ruling is of no consequence OMO-AGEGE By Perez Brisibe Factional leaders of the All Progressives Congress Olorogun Otega Emerhor and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, yesterday fully resumed their acrimony following the court judgment that again put control of the Delta State chapter of the party into contention. Emerhor I got two jobs immediately after I graduated The resumption of hostilities followed the Federal High Court judgment that upheld the Chief Cyril Ogodo-led executive as the legitimate executive of the party in the state. The court judgment also affirmed that those aligned with Ogodo were the right candidates that represented the party in all elections, a judgment that could make Emerhor appropriate Omo-Ageges election as a senator to represent Delta Central in the Ninth Assembly. Emerhor emerged as Delta Central candidate in the Ogodo led executive while Omo-Agege was the candidate in the Prophet Jones Erue led tendency that was supposedly delegitimised by the court judgment. Despite peace moves by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the rift between both factions continued into the 2019 National Assembly elections with Omo-Agege losing out substantially at Evwreni Ward 8 where Emerhor and the Executive Director, Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Sam Adjogbe voted. With a total of 2, 259 votes, Omo-Agege got 526 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Evelyn Oboro scored 1, 646 votes as against President Muhammadu Buharis 1, 915 while Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the PDP got 390 out of a total of 2, 321 valid votes. Though Emerhor through his Mainstream Delta APC pledged to work and support candidates of the party produced from the Erue-led executive, the party performed poorly during the elections winning only two local council areas in the state out of 25 with Omo-Agege, Revd Francis Waive both winning their positions for Delta Central senatorial district and Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu constituency respectively. Delta Central : Senatorial aspirant raises alarm over missing original result sheet Speaking on the ruling, Omo-Agege described the ruling as of no consequence, insisting that the Asaba High Court lacks the jurisdiction to sit as an appellant court over a consent judgement delivered by a court of coordinate jurisdiction and that he is not party to the suit. Omo-Agege through his senior special adviser communications and strategy, Godwin Anuaghe, explained that though the judgement by Justice Adegoke may give some joy to the plaintiffs and their supporters, but that it cannot alter the status quo. He further deposed that his election and that of the member-elect representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu constituency, Rev Francis Ejiroghene Waive remains valid. He said: The electoral college that elected Senator Omo-Agege and Rev. Waive as APC candidates in the just concluded 2019 General Election came into being by virtue of a consent judgement that has not been set aside. The court in its wisdom held that the consent judgement is not binding on Cyril Ogodo and co because they were not parties to that suit, it becomes trite that the judgement also cannot bind on Senator Omo-Agege and Rev. Waive because they were also not joined as parties to this present suit. Also reacting, the Erue-led executive in a statement, while citing an earlier consent judgement, explained that that the Federal High Court, Abuja and Federal High Court, Asaba, are courts of coordinate jurisdiction, hence in law, the judgement of federal high court, Asaba, cannot override the valid judgement of the federal high court, Abuja, which remains un-appealed till date. Omo-Agege faults Oboro over alleged threat to life However, Emerhor who had been silent since the poor performance of the party in the state, roared out yesterday accusing Omo-Agege of building his candidature on nothing and applauded the court for restoring the legal executive of the party into its proper position. He said: The mainstream of the APC in Delta State which I lead produced the Ogbodo led executive. The mainstream accommodates over 70 percent of the leaders and members of the party in the state and during the contest for the General Elections, it boasted of over five governorship aspirants. The Ogbodo Exco produced by the mainstream has always been the authentic Exco. We only had a period when an illegal executive was foisted on the party. What the court did in its Monday ruling was just to restore the legal executive into its proper position. It is a victory for Delta state APC, the rule of law and due process. The APC is better off for it. On his candidature as the Delta Central candidate for the Ogodo-led executive, Emerhor said: I emerged as the Delta Central senatorial candidate against Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who emerged from the Jones Erue Exco which the court has now declared illegal. Legally and physically, you cant build anything on nothing! Omo-Agege built his candidature on nothing and it has given way and has collapsed. But this is beyond just me and Omo-Agege. So, legally and in reality, Omo-Agege was at no time the candidate nor was he at any time the Senator-elect. Same for the other positions were APC won in Delta State. Not until the court ruling on Monday can anyone legally claim to be the Senator-elect or any other position in Delta APC. So, it is correct for my supporters to congratulate me as the Senator-elect of Delta Central of Delta State. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Morocco reiterated its calls for freeing the African Union of the useless debates that are disconnected from the reality in the Sahara. Speaking at a joint press conference Tuesday in Rabat with Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the African Union should be cleaned of debates on the Sahara issue that he described as sterile, useless and disconnected from reality. He praised the Rwandan role within the African Union as constructive in advocating a realistic solution to dealing with the Sahara issue. Sezibera said his country backs Moroccos efforts to reach a fair solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, adding that the two countries also work together to push forward the AUs reform agenda. Rabat also hosted Tuesday the first session of the Moroccan-Rwandan High Joint Committee, meant to open new horizons for the development of bilateral cooperation, through the involvement of the private and public sectors and to consecrate a mutually beneficial partnership in the frame of South-South cooperation. During this session, Morocco and Rwanda signed twelve cooperation agreements covering the areas of trade, industry, environment and sustainable development, mutual legal assistance and judicial extradition, tourism and the training of young diplomats. The two countries also signed an agreement aimed at creating a framework for cooperation in the field of education and the granting of scholarships to Rwandan students through the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation (AMCI). King Mohammed VI visited Rwanda in October 2016 following a visit by President Paul Kagame to Morocco in July the same year. The two countries signed 19 agreements during the royal visit setting the stage for cooperation in vital sectors such as agriculture, housing, vocational training, finances, taxes, banking, new technologies, air transport, tourism and renewable energies. Home | News | General | Paroll service: Account general issues fresh warninig to ministries, agencies - The accountant general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, has issued a fresh waning to ministries, departments and agencies - The AGF said ministries, departments and agencies should move their payroll to Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System - AGF Idris also warned that agencies or departments that failed to comply mst be ready to face consequence of action The ministries, departments and agencies under the federal government have been mandated to move their payroll to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) or face the immediate consequences. The order was given by the accountant general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, in a statement signed by the head of press and public relations to the AGF, Oise D. Johnson, Daily Independent reports. Johnson said the AGF gave the order when he hosted the acting inspector-general of police, Abubakar Adamu. Legit.ng gathers that the AIG paid a courtesy visit to the office of the AGF to seek a very strategic partnership in the business of policing the nation READ ALSO: I cannot dabble into Kano governorship election - Tinubu declares He said: MDAs yet to comply with presidents directive to move their payroll to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), should do so or be ready for the consequences of their action, as the Treasury House will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that Mr Presidents directive is fully complied with. ''I want to place on record that the Nigeria Police have fully been integrated into the IPPIS platform and their successful enrollment has paved way for the enrollment of the Nigerian military, which has further demonstrated the robustness of the platform and our avowed commitment to a transparent, accountable and efficient management of the nations funds in line with global best practices.'' PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government on Thursday, January 17, said up to five million new jobs would be created in a fresh $1.1bn agricultural loan project with the Brazilian government. Nigeria-Brazil bilateral project Green Imperative was the reason the federal government was seeking to borrow the funds. The project was launched at the Presidential Villa by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Nigerians slam university student who faked her kidnap to go and visit boyfriend The power of social media cannot be overemphasised and people on the internet are often willing to help in case of a disaster or tragic news. However the empathy of people on social media seems to be the undoing of a young girl identified as @damilolaajayi_ on Twitter. Damilola was declared missing and people on social media tried to discover her whereabouts. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria It was added that she had left home for work but did not show up at the office. Her office also called home to report that she was not around the previous day. Damilola who is a student of Covenant University was later found and it was discovered that she had travelled from Lagos to Ibadan to spend time with her boyfriend. It was also gathered that she had claimed to be kidnapped and molested, but the truth of her whereabouts was later found out. READ ALSO: Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Other Celebrities Who Have Crashed Normal People's Weddings After the circumstances of her absence was discovered, a number of Nigerians took to social media to bash her and also make mockery of the situation. See some reactions below: READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (formerly NAIJ.com) Nawa o. Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that a Nigerian lady recently took to social media to search for her beautiful friend who went missing. The lady identified as @starryeyezdiva revealed that her friend, Temi, who is 25-year-old. @starryeyezdiva narrated that her friend had left Lagos Island on Sunday night, March 17, to go back to her home in Ipaja. On the Twitter post, the young lady noted that she was last seen wearing blue jeans and white tee-shirt and face cap. HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better. Nigerians speak angrily about alleged kidnappers caught in Lagos | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Lawmaker hails Buhari's decision not to interfere in rerun elections - The lawmaker representing Dustima/Kurfi federal constituency at the House of Representatives have commended the president from staying away from rerun elections - Kurfi said rerun election is an opportunity for governors to showcase how they have served their people - According to him, President Buhari has done well by clearly stating that himself or his office would not interfere with rerun elections across six states in Nigeria A federal lawmaker has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his good leadership virtues especially before, during and after the general election. Danlami Kurfi, a member of the House of Representatives, representing, Dustima/Kurfi federal constituency said President Buhari has done well by clearly stating that himself or his office would not interfere with rerun elections across six states in Nigeria. Speaking on Wednesday, March 20, Kurfi said the rerun election is an opportunity for governors in various states especially those contesting for second term to showcase how they have served their people. Kurfi said: "The decision the president has taken is the best for our democracy. Look at what is happening in Kano, Bauchi and the rest of them." "This is an opportunity for the state governors especially those of them contesting for a second tenure to show Nigerians that they have worked in the previous administrations. "It is also an opportunity for these governors, especially we politicians to that if you want the peoples vote you must work for it. READ ALSO: After leaving PDP, Gbenga Daniel opens up on his plans for Atiku The good thing is that Nigerians are wiser now, the people know what they what, so it is good that the President has assured that he will not interfere with what INEC is doing in these states. Let these governor and we politicians show how much they we connected to the people and their needs in the states and localities," Kurfi concluded. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Presidency had assured Nigerians that President Buhari will not interfere in the rerun elections slated for Saturday, March 23 across the country by the INEC. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app The presidency, in a statement issued by presidential spokesman Garba Shehu on Sunday, March 17 warned against hate speeches and incitement to violence through comments by political leaders. The presidency also knocked members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who are criticizing Buhari's refusal to use federal might to sway results in their favour. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better Angry Nigerian says he needs Atiku to become president and sell the country - on Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | OAP Toolz reveals her husband has a crush on Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde (photo) Nigerian OAP, Toolz Oniru-Demuren, recently took to social media to share a lovely photo with Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde. The beautiful mother of one was pretty excited to meet with the prolific actress, so much that she revealed that her husband, Tunde Demuren now has a crush on the actress. Sharing the cute photo, she wrote: "When one of our favourite actresses stopped by! Chairman has a crush now too!" READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (former NAIJ.com) PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News App While the media personality is comfortable posing for a photo with her husband's crush, some women are pretty strict when it comes to protecting territories. This is seen in the case of a Facebook user identified as Cynthia Valerian Raphaels, who shared a message she got from the wife of a Facebook friend she wished a happy birthday. Apparently the wife wasn't comfortable with her referring to her husband as 'dear' and so she requested the message be deleted. HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better Omoni Oboli Interview: About the Nigerian Movie Industry | Star Chat | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Oyo APC tells Makinde to prepare for governance instead of attacking Ajimobi - The governor-elect of Oyo state, Seyi Makinde, has been advised to prepare for art of governance and stop chasing shadows - The advice was given on Tuesday, March 19, by the Oyo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress - According to APC, Makinde should focus more on how to manage the state from May 29, after the completion of the second term of Governor Abiola Ajimobi The Oyo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has charged Seyi Makinde, the state governor-elect, to prepare for art of governance and stop chasing shadows. The partys publicity secretary, Dr Abdul-Azeez Olatunde, stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Ibadan. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ruling APC in the state had in the March 9 governorship election lost to Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Legit.ng gathers that the APC urged Makinde to focus more on how to manage the state from May 29, after the completion of the second term of Governor Abiola Ajimobi. READ ALSO: World Happiness Day: Nigerians remain happy in spite of economic, security challenges It said that Makinde by now was expected to be brainstorming on how to further raise the bar of governance and deliver on his electoral promises. The statement read in part: By now, the governor-elect should be brainstorming on how to further raise the bar of governance instead of raising unfounded, malicious and mischievous allegations against the incumbent. Like the allegation that the incumbent is emptying the state treasury released by his spokesperson, Prince Dotun Oyelade." The party said that Ajimobis mandate as governor would lapse on May 28, and he still has responsibilities to perform till his tenure lapses. It urged Makinde to wait for his turn to govern the state, at which time he would be at liberty to scrutinise the finances of the state. The party said it would have ignored the comments of Makindes spokesperson but for the sake of the general public who could be misled. It said that opposition should be based on facts and issues, and not mudslinging and character assassination". APC said: The vituperations credited to Makinde clearly show that the incoming team lacks a good grasp of core governance issues, especially a simple one as the commencement and expiration of an administration." The party advised the incoming governor to devote more time to focusing on learning the art of governance. It said: We are surprised that the governor-elect did not deem it fit to visit the Sogoye area of Ibadan, the venue of the collapsed building at the weekend. If such an incident occurred before the elections, he would have been one of the early callers to the site. This is a demonstration of the true nature of the party and its candidate." The APC emphasised that the action was a pointer to things to come in the state, wondering if the romance between the people and Makinde had suddenly ended with his electoral victory. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state, Waheed Ajadi, advised the governor-elect, Seyi Makinde, to learn from the political blunders of Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his predecessor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala. While speaking in Okeho, Kajola local government area of the state on the emergence of Makinde as the new governor, Ajadi, advised the governor-elect to learn from the factors that led to the outright rejection of Ajimobi and Alao-Akala by the people of the state at the polls. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better Protect your vote to make it count - PDP Guber Candidate | - on Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, has explained that the ADC to Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello barricaded the Abuja to Lokoja road with over 200 armed thugs to stop prominent citizens of the state from participating in elections. Dino said the ADC on the orders of his principal were on the road a day to the general elections, stopping and disarming Police orderliness of prominent Kogi citizens and turning them back to Abuja from Kotonkarfe. The lawmaker, speaking while presenting a motion, Militarization of the Nigeria Electoral Process and the inconsistent application of electoral laws by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said, he entered his constituency through celestial means.. In his narrative, he said, the former governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris was turned back by the armed thugs on the instructions of Bellos ADC. Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, it will interest you to know that the former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris was turned back by armed thugs after disarming his Police orderly. Many prominent Kogi citizens were turned back by over 200 thugs who were personally led by the ADC to governor Yahaya Bello, but I have to enter my constituency through celestial means. He further explained that the general elections in Kogi State was massively rigged and votes bought, stating that the election was the worst in history. He recalled how election in Rivers State turned out the ugly way, wondering how the APC led government in connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission killed a lecturer who decided to serve his nation. KINDLY DROP A COMMENT BELOW Home | News | General | 2018 country reports: Coalition faults US verdict on corruption, insecurity in Nigeria The Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) on Wednesday, March 20, faulted a recent report by the United States of Americas 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which claimed that impunity remains widespread at all levels of government in Nigeria. The report, which was published on the website of the US Department of State, said several acts of gross human rights abuse were committed by both government and non-government actors within Nigeria in the year under review, many of which were not investigated. However, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement in its report said the attack on Nigeria as a country and its leadership for daring to work for what is in the interest of citizens was provocative. Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Gabriel Kifasi, the national convener of the group called on the Nigerian government to reject wrong conclusions drawn in the report. The group said Nigerians as a people expect nothing less of their government READ ALSO: Claim of 1.6m votes shows Atiku, PDP have slipped into depression - APC Kifasi said: "To the extent that the United States has failed to put its own house in order, a natural reaction to this most recent outrage would have been to completely ignore the junk document. But we reason that part of the misplaced importance the US arrogates to itself is because citizens of other countries often neglect to challenge the lies emanating from the devils worldly capital, hence the misplaced aura of infallibility that makes this country continue to ply the world with its garbage." "If we do nothing to call attention to the lies built into the latest 49-paged fiction by the State Departments Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, there is then the risk that the fallacies will be committed to history as the true state of affairs in Nigeria," he noted. "Since the report is publicly available, we shall not belabor efforts in recounting the details as this will only further help perpetrate the lies told in it while amplifying them. "What we will do here is to point out a few things that point to the true intentions of the United States through its periodic publication of the vexatious lies. "This is in the hope that Nigerians will be better guided in how they perceive the report and what interventions they make on its basis. The rest of the world would also benefit since they will have alternate views to the wrong impressions being created about Nigeria," Kifasi said. READ ALSO: Atiku meets south south leaders, vows to recover stolen mandate Alleging that the US is using the report as a pretext to demonize the military, undermine the anti-terrorism war, erode the fight against corruption, the group said the government is also trying present Nigeria as unserious country. "The US must also know that any political party that promises to reintroduce same-sex marriage will continue to lose elections until it aligns with what the people want," the group said. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a former US ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, has described the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria as bad news for democracy. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app In his perspective for the election for the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, Campbell claimed the election was marred by historically low turnout and credible allegations of rigging. The former ambassador also said Atiku was not likely to win at the tribunal court due to President Muhammadu Buharis margin of victory. He said based on reports from situation rooms, the election was a step back from the 2015 own. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. 2019 elections: Do you still trust INEC to conduct fair elections? - Nigerians speak| Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Atiku has slipped into post-election depression - APC - The All Progressives Congress called on security agencies to stop Atiku from engaging in evil act - The party said the PDP presidential candidate if suffering from depression - Atiku Abubakar has claimed he won the presidential election The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to the Peoples Democratic Partys claim that they won the presidential election by 1.6 million votes. The APC in a statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Wednesday, March 20 said the claim by the PDP showed the party and its casndidate, Atiku Abubakar, have slipped into post-election depression. READ ALSO: Atiku meets south south leaders, vows to recover stolen mandate The APC also expressed concern over the PDPs claim to have access to the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission saying this showed the opposition party is bend of destroying INECs database. The party called on security operatives to stop Atiku and his party from carrying out their evil plans. Following the outcome of the Presidential Election, during which a vast majority of Nigerians reaffirmed their unshaken belief in President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to steer the affairs of the country for another four years, we have watched in disbelief and utter amusement how the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have engaged in series of circus shows to cheer up their crestfallen and disillusioned members. While the APC is not oblivious of the PDPs antics to discredit the credible presidential electoral process, acknowledged by local and international observers, we sympathise with Atiku for the crushing defeat handed him by President Buhari through the votes of Nigerians. Judging by Atiku and PDPs recent utterances and actions, it is now clear that they have slipped into severe depression and post-defeat hallucination that have left many Nigerians questioning their current state of mind. After weeks of dilly-dallying, the PDP has woken up to the stark reality of its electoral defeat and decided to follow the constitutional path of filing a petition at the Election Tribunal. However, of all the prayers of Atiku before the Election Tribunal, which are at best hollow, the most ridiculous is his claim that the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated he 'won' the Presidential Election by 1.6million votes. A few questions would suffice: Is this phantom figure of 1.6million votes Dubai-invented? Was the result sold to Atiku by his numerous marabouts, who we understand, had assured him that the last election was a done deal for him? Most importantly, we note Atikus consistent reference to the "INEC server" as if he is the custodian of that platform. Indeed, Atikus constant reference to the INEC server should raise concerns as it is becoming apparent that he and the PDP are up for some dastard activities that are targeted at jeopardizing the INEC database and internal storage system. We recall the widespread reported cases of several programmed card readers that were retrieved from some PDP agents and their failed attempt to hack the INEC database in the leadup to the then postponed presidential election. We remind the Atiku and PDP that Nigerians saw through the devious schemes aimed at thwarting their will. Consequently, majority of the voters handed them a harsh verdict -- that verdict remains sacrosanct. We call on the INEC and the security agencies to be on red alert to ensure that Atiku and the other desperate characters in the PDP are not able to execute their evil plans. Meanwhile, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has summoned an emergency meeting ahead of the supplementary governorship elections scheduled for Saturday, March 23. Vanguard reports that the party summoned the meeting on Wednesday, March 20, to discuss issues relating to the Saturday elections. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Nigerians set 2nd term agenda for President Buhari | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | No more market visitations as Osinbajo 'suspends' TraderMoni tour - VP Yemi Osinbajo has halted his visits to markets across the country to promote the TraderMoni scheme - Osinbajo began his tour in Osun in September 2018, barely three weeks to the states governorship election, and would go on to tour more states in the countdown to the 2019 elections - The exercise had been described as voter inducement by members of the opposition, as well as Transparency International Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Nigerias vice president, has halted his visits to markets across the country to promote the TraderMoni scheme. In the last one month, Osinbajo has not toured any state to promote the scheme, Independent reports. READ ALSO: My wife frequently beats me - Divorce-seeking Ibadan man tells court Legit.ng notes that the TraderMoni scheme is an initiative of the federal government to fund micro business in the country through soft loans beginning from N10, 000. Following its launch in August 2018, Osinbajo began his tour a month later in Osun; barely three weeks to the states governorship election. As a result of the timing, the exercise was immediately branded as voter inducement. Osinbajo would later tour over 20 states in the countdown to the 2019 elections. The vice president combined his market tour with door-to-door campaigns on some occasions, where he asked people to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC). The exercise had been described as voter inducement by members of the opposition, as well as Transparency International. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo again dismissed repeated insinuations suggesting the TraderMoni scheme was a form of vote buying. Osinbajo said this through Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, in response to a statement by Odilim Enweagbara, an economist and entrepreneur, that the scheme was to curry support from Nigerians for the APC, towards the 2019 general elections. The vice president noted that the scheme was geared towards empowering over 30 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with interest-free, collateral-free loans. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! VP Osinbajo at the Business Forum in Abuja: APC-PDP stand-off gets even more heated - on Legit TV: [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Home | News | General | Obasanjo speaks on report of receiving salary as NOUN facilitator - Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said he has not received any salary from NOUN - The former president described the claim that he receives payment as embarrassing - Obasanjo demanded apology from the vice chancellor of the institution Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has denied report that he receives an annual payment as facilitator of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Premium Times reports that the former president in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Wednesday, March 20 reacted to the claim made by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Abdalla Adamu who had said Obasanjo receives N40,000 annually as an allowance for being a facilitator of the university. READ ALSO: I cannot dabble into Kano governorship election - Tinubu declares Akinyemi in the statement said: Ordinarily, this will have been unnecessary exercise, if it has been the usual shenanigans of the media to sell their newspapers. But, the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdalla Adam, on the headline made this clarification imperative and to set the records straight on His Excellencys engagement with the University In putting the records in right perspective, His Excellency wishes to draw the attention of the Vice-Chancellor to his letter dated 12 April 2018, which was written to the University Registrar, Mr. Felix Edoka, when the Council offered him a Part-Time appointment as an Instructional/Tutorial Facilitator and Project Supervisor in the Faculty of Arts at the Abeokuta Study Centre. Obasanjo noted that in his letter, he noted that:: I will gladly undertake any of the functions mentioned in paragraph two of your letter pro bono and I hope that the functions will be flexible enough to accommodate my rather tight schedule. The former president said the statement attributed to the vice chancellor was embarrassing to him having generated mixed reactions across the globe, hence, the need for the Vice-Chancellor to retract the statement and tender an apology. The publication, which has generated mixed reactions from the general public and calls from far and near on the Elder statesman expressing concern, is, to say the least, embarrassing, uncharitable, mischievous and in bad taste, with immediate demand for a retraction and apology from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Legit.ng had reported that Professor Abdalla Adamu, the vice chancellor of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abeokuta study centre, revealed how much former President Olusegun Obasanjo earned annually as a supervisor at the university. The Vice Chancellor (VC) made this known on Tuesday, March 20, at a press briefing in Abuja, where he said that Obasanjo had two students in Theological Studies he supervised. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) --> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! Consider rest - Obasanjo to Buhari | Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General Iran did not attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recently held in Rabat due to a disregard for rules, said Moroccos Parliament speaker Habib El Malki. Iran did not respect the rules in force in order to take part in the session, which was held on March 10-14, he said, adding that It is difficult to accept a delegation of 30 or 40 people. El Malki said he had asked the OIC general secretariat to intercede with member countries to reduce the number of their delegations and Iran was the only country that didnt observe the rules. Rabat cut off ties with Tehran in 2009, and only renewed them in December 2016. The Kingdom cut relations off once again on May 1, 2018, in protest against the military support provided by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group to the Polisario separatists, armed, funded and sheltered by the Algerian regime. Home | News | General | Atiku meets south south leaders, vows to recover stolen mandate - Atiku Abubakar vowed again to get his mandate back - The PDP presidential candidate sought the support of south south leaders - Edwin Clark promised Atiku adequate support in his struggle The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to reclaim his stolen mandate. The former vice president has approached the electoral tribunal to challenge the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the election. READ ALSO: Obasanjo speaks on report of receiving salary as NOUN facilitator The Nation reports that Atiku spoke on Wednesday, March 20 when he met with the leaders of the Southern and Middle Belt regions. He said he needed their support in order to be able to reclaim his mandate. Meanwhile, the South-Sourh leader, Chief Edwin Clark, assured Atiku of the support of the group in his struggle. Meanwhile, an Enugu-based prophet, Anthony Nwoko, advised the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to withdraw the case he instituted against the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the just concluded election. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app Legit.ng regional reporter in Enugu, Chinedu Ikpechukwu, reports that Prophet Nwoko said that the chapter of the opposition PDP has been closed from the heaven. He also told the leaders of IPOB, MASSOB, BIM and other pro-Biafran agitators that they do not have the mandate of God to lead the struggle for the real freedom of the people. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better. INEC announces Buhari as 2019 election winner, Nigerians react | - on Legit TV [embedded content] CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General US forces have "dramatically increased" the number of air strikes in Somalia with several civilians killed by the powerful missiles, Amnesty International said Wednesday, reports denied by the military. Amnesty calculates that there have been more than 100 strikes by US drones and manned aircraft in the past two years, more than the number of US airstrikes in Yemen and Libya combined during the same period. Researchers who investigated five airstrikes in detail reported at least 14 civilians had been killed -- raising fears the total dead in the scores of attacks may be far higher -- even though the US military insists there have been no civilian deaths. "The attacks appear to have violated international humanitarian law, and some may amount to war crimes," Amnesty said in the report, titled "The Hidden US War in Somalia". The study is based on 150 interviews including witnesses, family members of those killed and security experts. Their reports were corroborated by satellite imagery, photographs of the deep craters of the explosions, as well as munition fragments collected from the sites. US strikes, which included missiles fired by manned aircraft as well as drones, targeted Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked insurgents, Al-Shabaab. The US military said it had carried out 110 airstrikes in Somalia since June 2017, killing 800 people. But it insisted they had all been legitimate targets as members of Al-Shabaab, and that the Amnesty report was incorrect. "Since June 2017, AFRICOM conducted 110 airstrikes in Somalia, eliminating more than 800 terrorists," US Africa Command said in a statement, adding that "our assessments found that no AFRICOM airstrike resulted in any civilian casualty or injury." AFRICOM added that it was "in the interest of the terrorist group al-Shabaab to untruthfully claim civilian casualties." Amnesty said it had carried out detailed investigations into five attacks, where they found that at least 14 civilians were killed. "The civilian death toll we've uncovered in just a handful of strikes suggests the shroud of secrecy surrounding the US role in Somalia's war is actually a smokescreen for impunity," said Brian Castner, Amnesty's military expert. "Our findings directly contradict the US military's mantra of zero civilian casualties in Somalia." The findings were shown to AFRICOM but the US military denied civilians had been killed, Amnesty said. US strikes in Somalia surged in April 2017, after President Donald Trump declared southern Somalia an "area of active hostilities", Amnesty said. According to Amnesty, US forces carried out 34 strikes in 2017 following Trump's declaration, more than in all the previous five years since 2012 combined. In 2018, the number of strikes rose to 47 while there have been 24 already in the first two months of 2019 alone. The Shabaab have been waging an insurgency against Somalia's foreign-backed government for over a decade, and while it has lost ground, continues to stage deadly attacks in the country as well as neighbouring nations such as Kenya. US strikes, which included missiles fired by manned aircraft as well as drones, targeted Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked insurgents, Al-Shabaab Mars Pathfinder arrived in 1997 (NASA) In the distant past, Mars was a very different place from the cold, dry world we see now and NASAs very first Mars mission may have found startling evidence of this. The Pathfinder lander may have stumbled on evidence of an ancient sea in 1997 and it could prove that Mars was once able to support life. The Pathfinder carried NASAs very first Mars rover, the Sojourner, which captured images of the Martian surface. But for years, scientists debated whether Sojourner captured evidence of catastrophic floods on the surface. New imagery shows that the area could not have formed except win a huge flood, creating the scenery seen by Pathfinder. Mosaic image of Sojourner on the surface (NASA) Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Alexis Rodriguez says, Our paper shows a basin, with roughly the surface area of California, that separates most of the gigantic Martian channels from the Pathfinder landing site. Debris or lava flows would have filled the basin before reaching the Pathfinder landing site. The very existence of the basin requires cataclysmic floods as the channels primary formational mechanism. Read more Police hunt for killers of Shetland pony that was found tied up and beaten in Yeovil Theresa May tells MPs back my Brexit deal or we will not leave EU for months, if ever Archaeologists slam Cadbury treasure hunt that could see prosecutions for trespassing The basin is covered by sedimentary deposits with a distribution that precisely matches the inferred extent of inundation from potential catastrophic floods, which would have formed an inland sea. This sea is approximately 250 kilometers upstream from the Pathfinder landing site, an observation that reframes its paleo-geographic setting as part of a marine spillway, which formed a land barrier separating the inland sea and a northern ocean. Our simulation shows that the presence of the sea would have attenuated cataclysmic floods, leading to shallow spillovers that reached the Pathfinder landing site and produced the bedforms detected by the spacecraft. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK The United States Tuesday promised to prop up the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli with $500,000, earmarked to improve security in the oil-rich country that has descended into lawlessness. The US pledge was made by US ambassador to Libya Peter Bodde and AFRICOM Commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser during meetings with GNA leader Faiez Serraj, Minister of Interior Fathi Bashaga and other senior GNA officials. The support comes in rapid-response non-lethal assistance in support of the Ministry of Interior efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Tripoli Security Directorate, help implement international standards at key airports, and improve Libyas border security management capability, the US ambassador to Tripoli said in a statement. This new assistance complements the United States $30 million in ongoing security assistance in support of the GNA priorities, the diplomat said, adding these priorities also include clear unexploded ordinance in Sirte, bolster security sector reform, and build coordination between relevant actors ahead of elections. During the meetings, the US officials reiterated Washingtons support for Libya as a unified, secure, and prosperous state under a government that can serve the Libyan people. They also stressed the importance of swiftly implementing comprehensive economic reforms, further stabilizing oil production and ensuring greater fiscal transparency of Libyas economic institutions, including the Central Bank of Libya, underlining that the US will not tolerate spoilers to the political process. While these initiatives are critical to bolster security and address current threats, the only lasting solution for Libya is to overcome its political impasse, the ambassador said, renewing Washingtons commitment to political reconciliation in the country and its strong support of United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General Dr. Ghassan Salame as he works to facilitate dialogue, improve governance, and help Libyans prepare for credible and secure elections. The GNA, installed in December 2015 under the Skhirat deal signed in Morocco, has failed to provide security to Libyans as it struggles to impose its authorities across the country. Terror and gang groups have taken advantage of the vacuum left by the removal of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi by a NATO-backed revolution in 2011. The GNA is also competing with a rival government based in the east of the country. The Beida administration is supported by so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) led by former Gaddafis military aide Khalifa Haftar. It has been receiving support from several foreign countries including the UAE, Egypt and Russia. AFRICOM has backed the GNA by carrying out several air raids against terror groups including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. i still have yet to try it. Reply Thread Link Tried it years ago in high school - youre not missing out tbh Reply Parent Thread Link It's nothing special Reply Parent Thread Link Its good, but the buns get soft and soggy quickly. The breading isnt that crunchy either. Reply Parent Thread Link I want to try so many things but I'm not in the US :( We only have McDonalds, KFC and Burger King. Although, to be fair, I should check out what's new in what we have. Reply Parent Thread Link Unless you like really salty breaded chicken, you're not missing out. Reply Parent Thread Link Same Reply Parent Thread Link I havent either Reply Parent Thread Link It's in the same boat as in n out to me. I find both to be overrated and just okay. Reply Parent Thread Link It's really nothing special. It's good but meh. Reply Parent Thread Link Its nothing special (3) like, its edible yeah. Ive only ever eaten it when it was brought as lunch for my company or someone else bought it for me, never sought it out myself or ever felt the need to Every time Ive eaten it Ive always wondered why anyone chooses to eat it out of everything else they could be eating Reply Parent Thread Link their honey mustard sauce is really good, that's about it. Reply Parent Thread Link Same and I like it that way. Reply Parent Thread Link same. and hearing about how they donate to anti-lgbtq organizations killed my desire to. there are plenty of fast food places out there Reply Parent Thread Link same Reply Parent Thread Link Try the nuggets with the chick fil a sauce. Reply Parent Thread Link Not surprised. Never going there. Waffles fries--gross. Reply Thread Link But their sauce! Reply Thread Link It's easy to make. Mayo, ketchup, bbq sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Reply Parent Thread Link Are those really the ingredients lol I havent been in there in years but when I did go thats what I loved about it Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I thought it was honey mustard bbq sauce and some lime Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I hate their signature sauce, their honey mustard is so fucking good though. Reply Parent Thread Link They sell an imitation of it at Walmart. It's called like chicken dipping sauce or something. Reply Parent Thread Link poor ONTD, their friends are still gonna drag them to eat there against their will Reply Thread Link They already have to deal with their family holding a gun to their head to see a whitewashed movie. :'( Reply Parent Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link But you dont understand, theyll die without seeing them! Reply Parent Thread Link If they don't watch a white Chris save the world, their family will disown them. It's a tragedy really. Reply Parent Thread Link They've opened close by but I haven't gone and won't. I didn't go even when I used to work close by to one. Reply Thread Link Everyone knows and nobody cares. It's so frustrating mainly bc it's such an easy choice not to make. You can literally pick any other fast food place to go to. Even some of my gay friends still eat there and I say something every time. They get so annoyed but idgaf because supporting homophobia is more annoying sorry :) Reply Thread Link Same with coachella, sooo many people dont care, and still go. Or in n out. Capitalism thrives on a mob mentality. Reply Parent Thread Link Chick FIl A was a rude awakening for me. Like, how many people in my life knew and smugly ate there even more after the controversy broke...like, damn, ok, I wish I had known before how you feel about us gays and not bothered caring about you in any way. Reply Parent Thread Link They doesnt love themselves Reply Parent Thread Link ...but what's wrong with that grammar? "us" would be the direct object so...there's nothing grammatically wrong with, "They still hate us LGBTQ people" Reply Thread Link I didn't want the discourse of "but are Trans people REALLY in the community?" I say yes Reply Parent Thread Link I've heard it quipped before that "LGBTQ" is really just "G", and cis and white and bougie G at that. Hmmm... Bou-G? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link SO many white gays I know, still going there. Reply Thread Link Um, yeah. I will never give them money (although I did pitch in for a nugget tray at work because it was for our team and that's what they wanted and sometimes you have to pick your battles because I have bills to pay, not like I have to explain shit to anyone here). Reply Thread Link I made a point to avoid it when I visited the USA, and looks like I still will. Even when I ate meat I recognized there were enough chicken alternatives that I could avoid a blatantly evil company (at least most places are more subtle in their commitment to darkness). Reply Thread Link If I want homophobic chicken I'll eat at my grandmother's house. Reply Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link More like parents house lol Reply Parent Thread Link lol too real Reply Parent Thread Link That sucks but... lolllllllll. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link omg Reply Parent Thread Link LMAO NNN I mean, where is the lie tho.. Reply Parent Thread Link lmaoo Reply Parent Thread Link LMAO Reply Parent Thread Link Hahahaha omg Reply Parent Thread Link sksksksksskk Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao Reply Parent Thread Link CACKLING Reply Parent Thread Link LMAO Reply Parent Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link Comment WIN Reply Parent Thread Link lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Ive never eaten there and never had a desire too tbh, especially after this shit came out. If I want a greasy yet delicious chicken sandwich my ass is going to Arby's, because curly fries >>>>> gross ass waffle fries Reply Thread Link I may have gotten their fries once upon a time, and I don't remember being blown away by them. But I've never been fond of fried chicken and I'm hella picky about fries - I like to make them at home with bougie herbs and olive oil. And I heard rumors about them being homophobic and they're true so this is an absurdly easy choice for me to make, to boycott them. Reply Thread Link I'm so glad I haven't eaten there in more than 10 years. I can make better, non-soggy chicken sandwiches at home thank you. Reply Thread Link When Washington announced the return of economic sanctions against Iran, the main idea was pretty clear: cut exports of vital oil to zero to paralyze the economy and prompt a change in government. Waivers followed, however, as well as reports that, despite the sanctions, Iran was shipping more oil abroad than the amounts allowed under the waivers. Oil data provider TankerTrackers.com first reported last year that Iranian tankers were turning off their transponders to hide the destination of their journeys. At the time, most tanker tracking data came precisely from transponders and port authorities, which made most Iranian tanker movement reports unreliable. This, in turn, contributed to the October-December oil price drop when it emerged that Iran was shipping more crude abroad than previously believed. No wonder, then, that the United States is now targeting vessels transporting Iranian crude oil in violation of sanctions, a senior State Department official told VOA this week. "We are closely tracking ship-to-ship transfers of [Iranian] oil to evade our oil sanctions," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions David Peyman. "And we're working closely with foreign governments to ensure they are monitoring ship-to-ship transfers off their coasts." Peyman also said everyone involved in the transport and ship-to-ship transfer of Iranian oil in defiance of sanctions will be held accountable by Washington. "If you are engaged in evasive action, which is really the worst kind of violation when it comes to U.S. sanctions, we will hold you accountable," the official said. Related: Markets Brace For U.S. Decision On Iran Sanction Waivers In fact, oil and fuel traders are resorting to measures that they already used during the previous term of Iranian sanctions when those were enforced by not just one country but the United Nations. Reuters reports, quoting industry sources from Asia, that since the sanction waivers do not extend to oil products, even countries granted waivers may be buying products such as fuel oil from Iran. Some buyers...will want Iranian oil regardless of U.S. strategic objectives to deny Tehran oil revenue, and Iran will find a way to keep some volumes flowing, the agency quoted Economist Intelligence Unit analyst Peter Kiernan as saying. VOA quoted TankerTrackers co-founder Samir Madani as saying the service had detected two such transfers in February alone, with one taking as long as three months to complete and the other a month. In both cases, Madani told VOA, the transferred fuel was then moved to a third vessel that shipped it to a port. As for Washingtons call to foreign governments to join the effort of cutting access to Iranian oil to markets, for now only Panama has responded. VOA reports that the country took away the right of 59 tankers linked to Iran to fly the Panamanian flag. "Panama really led the way for other countries to follow suit by pulling their own flags and for other countries to commit to the U.S. that they will not reflag those ships that the Panamanians withdrew their flag from, Peyman commented to VOA. Yet tackling these sanction evasion moves might prove to be tricky as other nations may not be as willing to follow Panamas example. According to TankerTrackers Madani, Given that these are unilateral sanctions (not by the UN), I dont see much of a willingness by other countries to intervene in order to prevent such activity in their waters, especially if the other party is not Iranian. The easiest and safest way would be to deal with it after the fact via phone calls and/or fines. Nobody wants an incident out at sea involving 2 million barrels. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The oil industry has done its best to play down the oil market effect of the impending IMO 2020 rule. Executive after executive has tried to reassure politicians and policy makers that no substantial impact will occur. As always, though, oil executives have been parsimonious with the facts. In my experience, these individuals do not lie; they just say as little as possible. Things are changing, however. The opinions of some in the industry have now been revealed via a new group called the Coalition for American Energy Security (CAES). As the CAES About Us webpage explains, The Coalition for American Energy Security (CAES) is a diverse and broad coalition of American manufacturing workers, integrated energy companies, refiners, industry associations, shipping companies and other groups that play a crucial role in the maritime fuel supply chain. We believe the United States should adhere to the scheduled implementation of the International Maritime Organizations (IMO) standards, which will reduce sulfur emissions from nautical fuel by 80 percent when they take effect in January 2020.[1] This PR effort should not surprise anyone. Oil refining is a capital-intensive, low-return business. Profits tend to be depressed during periods of stable demand and supply, unchanged government regulations, and high crude prices. Profits rise when crude prices fall, when operations at facilities are disrupted, or when consumption increases unexpectedly. The real opportunity for profit, though, occurs when environmental regulations change in a way that makes it more difficult to produce specific products. This occurred from 2004 to 2008, a time labeled the Golden Age of Refining. In 2004, gasoline prices and US refiner profits surged when the US Environmental Protection Agency tightened rules on motor fuel sulfur content. A Wall Street Journal article noted that imports from traditional sources dropped because foreign refiners could not make lower-sulfur products. Prices and US refiner profits surged, as WSJ reported: Independent refiners, in particular, are enjoying an unusually strong run. Take Valero Energy Corp. VLO 0.16%, which has grown from one refinery 20 years ago to 15 today. The San Antonio company earned more profit in the second quarter of 2004$633 millionthan it did all of last year. Valeros share price has soared nearly 50% since the beginning of the year and more than 250%, or more than tripled, since December 1998.[2] Related: After Libya And Venezuela, Is This The Next OPEC Wildcard? In the first months following the implementation of the new low-sulfur rules, refining margins rose by almost $5 per barrel. If one adjusts for taxes and retail distribution costs, these margins may have doubled. Today as in 2004, the members of CAES have no interest in the consumer or common good. The companies that have joined the organization understand that the IMO 2020 regulation offers an opportunity to make record profits if President Trump does not intervene. Platts Meghan Gordon explained that trade groups created the CAES weeks after The Wall Street Journal published an article describing the ways in which the Trump administration was considering delaying the IMO 2020 implementation. After observing that the White House wants to push back the sulfur rule deadline of January 1, 2020, authors Timothy Puko and Benoit Faucon noted the following: The White House says the administration is focused on the damage rising fuel costs might have on the economy, but some administration officials concede the timing of the implementation could have political implications in an election year. Few things terrify an American president more than a spike in fuel prices, said Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to then-President George W. Bush. If President Trump learns that IMO 2020 risks a big fuel oil-price spike in the winter of a presidential election, he is going to object.[3] In her article, Platts Gordon suggested that Trump is powerless in this regard beyond his tweeting: So if US pump prices or oil benchmarks spike ahead of implementation day, what can the White House do to delay IMO 2020? Not much at allshort of building a majority coalition supporting delay ahead of the IMOs Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in May. That looks very unlikely, though, after the panel in October already rejected a proposal for a soft rollout of the standards. Trump does hold a few tools that he could use for domestic messaging purposes if prices spike: releasing fuel from the 1 million barrel Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve or ordering an emergency crude oil drawdown from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. If Gordon is correct, one should ask why oil refiners and others are putting money into the CAES? Why suddenly is the IMO 2020 issue receiving such attention from firms like Valero? The answer is simple. Trump has access to two tools that Gordon ignored. One is the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Another is the National Emergencies Act, which is almost one hundred years old. Either could be used to constrain the activity of US refiners.[4] The most likely restriction would involve imposing limits on exports of diesel fuel and gasoline. The US is a net exporter of both fuels, although some regions are net importers. The CAES members are undoubtedly worried that the president might invoke his executive powers to cut these exportsand perhaps those of other petroleum productsshould US refiners not act to ensure that the fuel supplies needed to keep prices at current levels are made available to US consumers. As Bloombergs Liam Denning and Elaine He noted prior to the 2018 midterms, higher gasoline and diesel prices hit red-state voters hardest: It is 110 days to the midterms, and you will likely visit the gas station many times between now and then. Related: Oil Slips As Alberta Relaxes Oil Production Cuts Hence theres an all-hands effort to keep a lid on pump prices. Pushed by the tweeter-in-chief, Saudi Arabia has executed a supertanker-size U-turn, pushing barrels back onto the market. Congress, meanwhile, threatens new legislation allowing lawsuits against OPEC (not for the first time). And there is now open debate about President Donald Trump dipping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a little relief (something we warned about here last month).[5] Denning and He concluded that it is the curse of U.S. presidents that whoever sits in the Oval Office gets blamed for high oil prices despite having little control over them. At the time they wrote, President Trump had not yet declared a national emergency. He now has. As a result, $6.5 billion in defense spending will be reallocated to build a border wall despite the objection of the US Congress. Does anyone doubt he would act in a similar fashion if the IMO 2020 implementation leads to higher gasoline and diesel prices? Should prices rise, Trump could declare another national emergency, and his action will crush the independence of the US refining sector. If necessary, the president will take steps to avoid the negative political fallout from higher fuel prices. The CAES clearly fears this outcome, but it is powerless to stop the presidents intervention, thus its preemptive campaign casting the IMO 2020 rule as essential for Americas energy security and job growth. The members know that if Trump acted to lower US gasoline and diesel prices, he would be cheered by almost every voter. There would be no effort to block his move. The oil industry has few supporters in Congress and even fewer among the general population. [1] See About CAES: Who We Are [https://tinyurl.com/y2uemx76]. [2] Thaddeus Harrick, Independent Refiners Are Enjoying Strong Run, The Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2004 [https://tinyurl.com/y5qsdvcu]. [3] Timothy Puko and Benoit Faucon, U.S. Seeks More Time for Ships to Switch to Cleaner Fuels, The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2018 [https://tinyurl.com/yaz9d9xw]. [4] See Harold C. Relyea, National Emergency Powers, Congressional Research Service, February 27, 2019, update by Elaine Halchin [https://tinyurl.com/y3mvekk3]. [5] Liam Denning and Elaine He, 60 Reasons Trump Worries about Pump Prices, Bloomberg, July 19, 2019 [https://tinyurl.com/y37lbjjy]. By Philip Verleger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The discovery of the giant gas field Tamar of the coast of Israel in 2009 was the beginning of a new period for the Eastern Mediterranean as an energy hot spot. More recently Exxon and Qatar Gas have discovered another giant gas field off the coast of Cyprus, and Italys Eni found more energy deposits off the coast of Egypt. To put the numbers into perspective, the Eastern Mediterranean contains approximately 2,100 billion cubic meters of gas compared to the EUs consumption in 2017 which was 410 bcm. It shows that the recoverable reserves are more than sufficient to supply the entire EU for a couple of years. Despite the significant discoveries, technical difficulties and geopolitical tensions could raise barriers for infrastructure projects that would connect producers with customers. Furthermore, several alternatives are being considered by the littoral states Egypt, Cyprus and Israel to transport the energy to markets in Europe. One of two competing options will likely materialize: the relatively expensive and technologically tricky EastMed pipeline or Egypts LNG facilities including a subsea pipeline. (Click to enlarge) Israel is pushing for the EastMed pipeline to reap maximum political and economic dividend by having a physical connection with mainland Europe. For this purpose, Israel, Cyprus, and Greece agreed in December to conduct a multimillion feasibility study concerning the subsea pipeline with financial support from the EU. The project would require more than $7 billion to accomplish and presents technical challenges due to the involved depth. Egypts energy and mineral resources minister Tarek el-Molla has been quick to respond and promote an alternative plan with Egypts LNG industry at its centre. The Minister said that the study would take up to two years which in itself is a luxury the region cant afford any more. Egyptian companies have already struck a $15 billion deal for the import of Israeli natural gas. Cairo's intends to attract additional resources such as Cypriot gas to become the energy and LNG hub of the region. Related: Oilfield Services Might Not Fully Recover Till 2025 Cyprus geographic location offers flexibility concerning the island nations participation in either Israeli or Egyptian leg initiatives which suggests an advantage and creates risks. In this context, Tel Aviv and Cairo have been courting Nicosia to participate in the EastMed project or the construction of a subsea pipeline to liquefication plants on Egypts coast. Furthermore, Cyprus has tense relations with its large northern Turkish neighbour due to obvious historical reasons. More recently the Turkish navy has disturbed exploration activities in areas which it claims are contested. It could have influenced Nicosia's decision to cooperate with other regional and international players to offset the threat coming from its much larger Turkish neighbour. Israel, primarily, has been focussed on Cyprus' participation in the EastMed pipeline because of the increased economic viability of the infrastructure due to combined Israeli and Cypriot gas resources. Tel Aviv is aware of the competing and more favourable Egyptian offer compared to its relatively expensive and technically challenging proposal. Therefore, high-level talks between Cyprus and Egypt on gas exports create anxiety in Israel. Despite ongoing negotiations with Cairo, Nicosia is also continuing its cooperation with Tel Aviv and Athens on what could become the EastMed pipeline. The countries are expected to sign an intergovernmental agreement concerning the project in Tel Aviv on Wednesday 20 March in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Cyprus could be spreading its chances when it comes to finding the best alternative for transporting its gas to customers. Another explanation could be the American support which strengthens Nicosias position when it comes to dealing with its Turkish neighbour. Washington has on several occasions warned Turkey against further destabilizing the region and disturbing exploration work. The U.S. is in favour of the EastMed pipeline as it would provide an alternative source of energy to the EU where Russias gas giant Gazprom dominates the market. This would weaken Moscows influence in countries with high levels of dependency such as eastern Europe. Nevertheless, the road to new energy infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterraneans is long and arduous. And despite the difficulties and risks, the rewards are too big for the involved parties to ignore. By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The United States military launched nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress bombers over the heavily disputed South China Sea last week, where they conducted routine training. In these contested waters, the Chinese government has claimed ownership over reserves containing trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas. The South China Sea is one of the most heavily trafficked maritime routes in the entire world. However, the conditions that make it so valuable--its location on the coasts of a considerable number of Asian countries--have also led to major regional tensions over ownership. Vast, overlapping swaths of this valuable body of water are currently being claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. China, which has staked the largest claims to the South China Sea and has been the most aggressive in its position with an ever-expanding military presence on the waters, has stirred up a large amount of political discontent in the region. While China has been bolstering its military presence in and around the South China Sea, its positioning doesnt come close to competing with the vast military presence of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region, where the Pentagon already holds an estimated and unrivalled 279 bases. The U.S. hasnt been keeping idly by, either. This latest B-52 flyover is just one more military exercise of many, all of which are in open defiance of Chinese policy and warnings to the international community. In a statement to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, a spokesperson for the Pacific Air Force said that "two B-52H Stratofortress bombers took off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and conducted routine training in the vicinity of the South China Sea on March 13, before returning to base." In the same statement the spokesperson added that the launch was nothing out of the ordinary and that, "U.S. aircraft regularly operate in the South China Sea in support of allies, partners and a free and open Indo-Pacific." Concurrently with the flyover of the B-52s on Wednesday, the Seventh Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge amphibious command ship sailed directly through the South China Seas contested waters before anchoring in the Philippines. Related: Trumps Last Chance To Subdue Gasoline Prices This display of U.S. military might came just one day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo decried Beijing for what he said was "illegal island-building in international waterways" with the purpose of cutting off rival claimants to the South China Sea "from accessing more than $2.5 trillion in recoverable energy reserves." In response to these comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang shot back on Wednesday that "it serves the interests of regional countries that those countries can manage and handle differences in their own way, and jointly uphold regional peace, stability, development and prosperity," adding an additional jab that "Meanwhile, some non-regional country has repeatedly stirred up troubles in an attempt to ruin the harmony. Such attempts are irresponsible to regional countries." The military exercise came also just about a week after a separate pair of U.S. B-52s flew over South China Sea islands claimed by China as a part of the COPE North 2019 exercise. COPE is a long-standing exercise...designed to enhance multilateral air operations among the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) and Royal Australian air force (RAAF). When it comes to the South China Sea, the one thing that the U.S. and the Chinese definitely agree upon is its massive geopolitical value. According to a February 2013 report by the U.S. Environmental Information Agency, "the South China Sea contains approximately 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in proved and probable reserves." Meanwhile, according to the same 2013 report, the official Chinese National Offshore Oil Company "estimated the area holds around 125 billion barrels of oil and 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered resources." With these numbers, its safe to say that the South China Sea wont be fading from the headlines any time soon. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: BP is planning to start powering some of its operations in the United States with electricity produced by solar farms, Bloomberg reports, quoting the chief executive of an affiliate, Lightsource BP. The UK-based supermajor bought a 43-percent stake in Lightsource two years ago, committing to spend US$200 million on the company over a period of three years. Its a no brainer for them to play in solar, Lightsources chief executive Katherine Ryzhaya told Bloomberg. Theyre doing it for financial reasons. Indeed, solar power is becoming increasingly competitive as production costs fall and efficiency rates rise, the former faster than the latter. Also, there is the reputation management element that supermajors are no doubt pursuing by turning to renewables to power their oil and gas business. Last year, even Exxon, which is notorious for its conservative attitude to renewables, sealed a deal with Danish renewable energy company Orsted to buy 500 MW of electricity produced by solar and wind farms to power its oil production in the Permian. Although the terms of the contract remained undisclosed, it was the largest such contract featuring an oil company as a party as of 2018. Like Exxon, BP has been the target of a lot of criticismand lawsuitsregarding its attitude to climate change and renewable energy use, not to mention the fallout of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Lightsource move, therefore, makes sense for the supermajor in more than one way. It is also in tune with a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint from earlier this year, while continuing to increase production. Earlier this month, BP also announced it had struck a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund to work together on reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas industry globally. The collaboration will focus on methane reduction and management technology, the company said at the time. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Moroccan embassy in Italy has lambasted charges by a former Italian MP who finger-pointed the embassy in the death of Imane Fadil, a Moroccan-Italian key witness in trials involving Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Imane Fadil, 34, an important prosecution witness in the sex scandal involving Berlusconi and Ruby that the former Italian leader paid for love intercourse several times during his bunga bunga parties, died March 1 near Milan after falling sick in January. The late model in her agony told her family and lawyer she feared she had been poisoned. Reports with police sources suggested that post mortem toxicology tests revealed the presence of radioactive substance in her body. According to the embassy, former Italian lawmaker of Moroccan origin, Souad Sbai, from PDL (Il Popolo della liberta, Berlusconis former party) suggested to the Italian police, which launched a probe into Imane Fadils death, to look at the Moroccan diplomatic mission adding that the former model had paid several visit to the embassy like all other beautiful women. The embassy, in a statement published by Repubblica, has turned down the accusations as baseless and premature as they come prior to an autopsy on Fadils body. The diplomatic mission also said it lodged a lawsuit against the former lawmaker and journalist adding that it trusts the Italian legal system for a fair trial. Berlusconi in 2015 narrowly escaped prison after he was accused of having love affairs with Moroccan Karima El Mahroug, known as Ruby, who was 17 during the scandal. Judges cleared the former Italian leader and media magnet noting that he was not aware the Morocco-born sex worker was a minor. Berlusconi also denied knowing Imane Fadil who had said in her last public comments in January that she has suffered from the former Premier and his entourage who tried several times to bribe her. She was about to publish a book, probably revealing some disturbing facts. Japanese refiners are unlikely to continue buying Iranian crude from April onwards, the president of the Petroleum Association of Japan said as quoted by Reuters. However, Takashi Tsukuoka added they would continue importing Iranian crude if Tokyo agreed on a sanction waiver extension, which it was currently negotiating with Washington. This makes Japan the second country to try and negotiate a waiver extension, after India entered identical talks earlier this month. Washington has signaled it would probably agree to some form of an extension as long as the importing countries agree to reduce their intake of Iranian crude. Japan has been very strict in following Washingtons lead in the sanction department, but it has also indicated that finding an alternative to Iranian crude might be tough. Japan has told the U.S. that the sanctions should not negatively affect Japans stable supply of energy and Japanese companies operations, one government official in Tokyo said, commenting on the waiver negotiations to Reuters. Japanese refiners stopped buying Iranian crude ahead of the November 4, 2018, deadline set by Washington to all countries doing business with Iran before economic sanctions returned. A month later, Tsukuoka told media local refiners would restart buying Iranian crude in January, adding "We aim to lift as much as possible over January-March to keep our hope for the next [period]." Before the U.S. sanctions snapped back, Iran accounted for 5 percent of Japans crude oil intake, and as Tsukioka said last September, Tokyo was going to try to maintain a good relationship with Tehran despite the sanctions. This will be difficult to accomplish in light of Washingtons plans to gradually press Iranian oil exports as low as they can get without plunging the oil market into a panic that would cause prices to shoot up. Japanlike Irans other major imports including China, India, and South Koreais highly dependent on imported fuels. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan of 30 years and the last Soviet-era leader in power in a former Soviet republic, unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday, but is widely expected to retain power over the countrys politics and policies. Nazarbayev, viewed as an autocrat as many of the other rulers of Central Asian nations, noted in his resignation speech that during his three-decade tenure since 1989 Kazakhstan managed to attract foreign investment in its commodities industries and set up a sovereign wealth fund thanks to oil and gas revenues. Kazakhstan has tripled its oil production over the past 30 years and is currently taking part in the OPEC/non-OPEC deal to reduce output. Kazakhstans production cap under the agreement is 1.86 million bpd, down by 40,000 bpd from its November production level. I have made a difficult decision for myself - to resign from the powers of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev said in an address on Tuesday, but noted that he would remain the Chairman of the Security Council, which is vested with serious powers. That is to say, I am staying with you, said Nazarbayev in what analysts see as a prepared political transition that would still give the now former president considerable power over Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev, who was the only president of independent Kazakhstan until yesterday, handed over the presidential power to the Chairman of the Senate, Kassym-Jomart Kemelovich Tokayev, until the end of the presidential term in office, April 2020. Kazakhstan is slated to hold presidential and general elections next year. In order to comply with the OPEC+ deal, Kazakhstan will shut down most of the production at its giant Kashagan fieldone of the worlds largest offshore oil fieldsby nearly 200,000 bpd in April and May, before ramping up again in June, Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said just a few days ago. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: OPEC and its non-OPEC allies could sign in June a pact to make their oil market-managing policies formal, Suhail Al Mazrouei, the energy minister of one of OPECs largest producers, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said on Wednesday. When we meet in June hopefully we are going to be finalising [the charter], Al Mazrouei said in Abu Dhabi today, as carried by The National. The draft is almost finished for us here in the UAE. All of the countries have provided their comments. The draft is almost ready, the UAE minister noted. The charter is ready and has been sent to different countries to look at it, Al Mazrouei said, adding that questions remain regarding when and where it could be signed and who would actually be signing it. OPEC has sought for months to institutionalize its partnership with the Russia-led alliance of non-OPEC producers with which it has been managing oil supply since January 2017. In June last year, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said at a joint OPEC/no-OPEC panel meeting that in order to deal with the challenges and complexities of the oil market balances, we need to build upon our successful cooperation model and institutionalize its success through a broader and more permanent strategically focused framework. The December OPEC+ meeting in Vienna also committed to build on the success achieved thus far, through further institutionalizing the framework for regular and lasting cooperation under the draft Charter of Cooperation between Oil Producing Countries, which was endorsed in principle and to be finalized and ratified by the participating countries. Russia, however, signaled at the end of 2018 that formalizing the alliance may not be such a good idea. OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers are highly unlikely to create some kind of a formal joint organization for managing the oil market due to the additional bureaucracy and to the risk of falling prey to a proposed U.S. legislation that could open the cartel and allies to antitrust lawsuits, Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the end of December. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Jamas nos callaran Fisica y culturalmente Nec plus ultra, nec variatur Precio del Brent To get the BRENT oil price, please enable Javascript. Precio del WTI To get the oil price, please enable Javascript. Paginas vistas en total Dolar USA Vs Euro Sin ellas, no seremos Deja vu Nada que celebrar Hasta cuando? Colombia Hoy Para nunca olvidar 'Parasite' painted on a statue of Queen, Elizabeth in Kent, England Sin palabras La UE le apunta a la paz Cada vez mas solo Precio del Oro To get the gold price, please enable Javascript. LULA y su Pueblo Bye Bye Homenaje al genial Quino Fueron ellos Una imagen que resume Tan bajo ha caido que se deja tocar el trasero? Porky y el Nene (archiconocido narcotraficante) Ladrones al poder Asi mira el perrito a su amo Crazy Clamor popular La nueva inquisicion Bolivia Chile Hoy Eso es todo amigos! Piensalo! 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Por culpa de Chavez Cerveza Polar Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar Translate LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares? Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano... Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos: Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias. Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera. No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje. En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio. Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida. Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella. Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal. Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista. Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen. Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che? Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio. Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora. Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo. Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo. Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania. No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar. Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga. Alguna duda? Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia. OZ1 OZ2 OZ3 OZ4 Homenaje a Jason Galarraga La Victoria de Samotracia Odalisca Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008 La Sierra Nevada de Merida Nuestro precioso Churum Meru Homenaje a Picasso Autoretrato Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola? La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar. Mi profesion? Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos. Sal en la Coca Cola? A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar. De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla: Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido) azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa) Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas Mucha Cafeina Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja. Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos. Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja. En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero). Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma. La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate. Bebidas Light? Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal. Publicado por loretahur En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina: 1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias. 2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina. 3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard. 4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos. 5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla. 6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos. Ahora... sobre la margarina: 1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) . 2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias. 3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno). 4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer. 5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna. 6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo. 7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina. Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas: * No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo). * No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!! No a la guerra, Si a la Paz Misterios de la ciencia... Los costos de la guerra medicos y capitalismo... Capitalismo... medicos (2) Quien educa a nuestros hijos? Los Medios... Sin Palabras... Chistes feministas - Cual es el problema, Eva? - Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas. - Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas... - Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti. - Que es un hombre? - Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente. - Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente. - Cual es el truco?. - Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion. - Cual? - Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer. Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas? Porque todos son unos cerdos Ellas... Ellas (2)... Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1 Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije: -Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro. Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria. Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre? -Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa! VENGANZA NUMERO 2 Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris. A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita: - Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!! Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta. La mujer paso quince dias en Francia. El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla. Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es: - Y amor me trajiste mi francesita?? - Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina. VENGANZA NUMERO 3 El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion. - No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo. - Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz. Te quiero confesar algo. - Esta bien, esta bien. Habla! - He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga. - Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!! machismo y cibernetica Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston. -Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?. El simio hace la sena de OK. -Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide. -Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!. .Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos. Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco. Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas Gol !!!! Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso! Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy! " " A baby holds a flag at Harbin Railway Station. That baby and the caregiver will represent just two of the 3 billion trips scheduled to occur during the 2020 Chunyun travel rush. Tao Zhang/Getty Images Do you think your commute is bad? Try being part of the largest human migration on the planet. Each year, in celebration of Lunar New Year, billions of people in China make the trek home to visit family and bring gifts. For some, this could mean thousands of miles of travel by plane, train, bus, automobile, boat or even motorbike. Called Chunyun, or Spring Festival in English, this annual travel rush lasts 40 days. In 2020, Chunyun occurs from Jan. 10 until Feb. 18, and will see an expected 3 billion trips to honor the Year of the Rat, which officially begins on Jan. 25. Advertisement With the massive movement of people, Chunyun travelers often share a common crowded experience. Consider that the Chinese national railway network expects more than 440 million passengers in 2020, up from 406 million in 2019. Wendy Zhou, a doctoral student in Atlanta, remembers traveling from Dongying to her maternal grandmother's home in the Zhangqiu district as a child. In a vehicle, the trip might have taken three hours, but because the family did not have a car, they boarded a low-speed "green train," which added an hour or two to the journey, not including the taxi to the station and the bus to the village. "On the train, it was always packed," Zhou recalls. "Everybody was standing and holding some kind of instant noodles, so it was very smelly." But China's transportation system has developed significantly since Zhou's childhood, and the country has been preparing for this year's Chunyun travel rush with the launch of 10 new railways at the end of 2018 and a plan to increase flights by 10 percent in 2018, too, according to XinhuaNet. The Spring Festival rush also offers China the opportunity to display its technological savvy with ultra-modern travel features like bullet trains, train tickets purchased by the swipe of a smartphone, airport and railway robots, and security via facial recognition. " " Jan. 20, 2018: China Railway High-speed trains stand at the ready for the many travelers who will soon board them in Wuhan, China. Wang He/Getty Images And while the tradition of bringing gifts home has remained, it has taken a modern turn, too. Some travelers are foregoing the in-hand approach and shipping gifts and taking advantage of e-commerce platforms like Taobao. "Now I don't want to bring many things other than a backpack back home," says Xiao Han, who is traveling from Beijing to Laiwu, Shandong province for the Chinese New Year. "I send my gifts through China's fast mailing services." Wherever you are and however you get there, be sure to celebrate the Year of the Rat. Now That's Interesting In 2019, AAA predicted that more than 55 million Americans would travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more for Thanksgiving, the second highest volume since 2005. Advertisement Originally Published: Feb 5, 2019 by Bernardo Cervellera The Jesuit missionary from Macerata inaugurated an era that lasted for centuries and helped China to modernize and emerge from isolation. The 800 missionaries - including those from PIME - brought Western medicine, hospitals, girls schools, new agricultural crops, universities to China. Why Xi is not going to the Vatican. During the Cultural Revolution, the left-wing Italian parties praised Mao, hiding his massacres and failures. The fragility of Xi Jinping, opposed in China by the "leftist" fringes. Rome (AsiaNews) - In an interview given today to the Corriere della Sera, on the eve of his journey that will take him to Rome, Monaco and France, President Xi Jinpings words are a true love song for Italy. Yet what is really amazing about this long ode to relations between our nation and the Middle Empire is his silence on Matteo Ricci and the Cultural Revolution. Xi lists the relations between the two "ancient civilizations" citing Virgil, Gan Ying, Marco Polo's Million, ... However, he remains completely silent about the Italian Jesuit from Macerata who at the end of the sixteenth century, armed only with his humanistic and religious culture, succeeded in presenting himself before the emperor and getting himself hired as a court astronomer. He inaugurated an era lasting centuries in which the Jesuits - many of them Italians like Giulio Aleni, Martino Martini, Giuseppe Castiglione - helped China to reposition itself in the world of that time after the isolation sought by the Ming dynasty, helping the empire to modernize in science, agriculture and even the art of war. The Italian missionaries of the nineteenth century - including those of the PIME - who have brought Western medicine, hospitals, schools for girls, new crops to satisfy the hunger of the Chinese as well as universities are absent. It is true: the green light for evangelization came from the impositions of Western powers with unequal treaties. But it is also true that the missionaries did not stay around to dabble in foreign territorial concessions, but reached the most abandoned and inaccessible places of the empire to bring aid, culture, solidarity together with faith. The love of missionaries towards the Chinese, more than towards their homelands, is evident in Msgr. Simeone Volonteri (1873-1904) from PIME, who along with other Italian missionaries refused the "protectorate" of Italy. After the Boxer nationalist uprising, they also refused the "war booty" guaranteed to them by Italy's victory, asking it be used for charity work for the benefit of the Chinese[i]. For his clear testimony, Msgr. Volonteri received the title of "Great Mandarin of the Chinese Empire" from the emperor. Xi Jinping's silence on these facts shows a lack of historical knowledge or - more likely - an ideological vision of history. From Mao onwards, religion and Catholicism in particular have been branded as "servants of imperialism" in China, only to mimic the Soviet Union that had engaged in a furious war against religions. This ideological vision - the religion that is the source of all possible evils - is still present in China, supported by the most radical wing of the Party, which lurks in the United Front and in the State Administration for Religious Affairs. This more radical wing is the enemy of the agreement signed by the Vatican and China and continues to oppress bishops, priests and faithful with its ideology of an "independent Church", even if the agreement admits that the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church in China. If Xi Jinping, coming to Italy, does not visit the Vatican - as is the case for all heads of state in the world - it is only because he does not want to be "overtaken on the left" by this ideological fringe, which uses religion also in its battle against the president. The same can be said for the silence on the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). At that time, Italy and the Italian communist party became the greatest defenders of the Chinese experiment in Marxist extremism. Politicians, groups, demonstrations in Italy hailed China and its revolution as "the workers' paradise", the "place of justice", and Mao Zedong as the benevolent god who offers his pearls of wisdom to nurture the new world. Instead, with the civil war he incited, Mao tried to hide the failures of the Great Leap Forward (which caused about 50 million deaths, almost all of them from hunger), by eliminating his personal enemies. In this case the historical myopia was above all on the part of Italy and of the leftwing parties, which paraded around with luminous images of the revolution, sweeping blood and dust of the Chinese themselves under the carpet. And they never acknowledged a "mea culpa". However in China, even now - and at the behest of Xi Jinping - this period of "great chaos" cannot be studied or judged: "perestroika" is forbidden for fear that it will lead to the same result as the USSR: the fall of the Chinese Party communist. Perhaps the prohibition is also due to the fact that too many things in China - media control, dissidence, religions, foreign trade - have an air of Cultural revolution. As in all violin solos the silences further enhance the fullness of the melody. In Xi's article, these silences tell instead of the weakness of his position, halfway between a "siren song" - to push Italy into a partnership with Beijing, without the European Union - and a cry for help to support his image, dangerously threatened at home by the "leftist" enemy fringes. [i] See GHEDDO P., Pime, 150 years of mission (1850-2000), Bologna, 2000, pagg. 609-ff. Three terrorists, affiliated to the Jund al-Khilafah, were killed in an operation launched Tuesday night by Tunisian National Guard units in the closed military zone of Mount Salloum, governorate of Kasserine, near the Algerian border, according to a preliminary toll announced by a local security source. The terrorist group holed up in Mount Salloum whom the security units had ambushed for several days, the security source told TAP. The number of terrorists killed could be revised upwards, the same source said, adding that all security units on the ground are safe and sound and that combing operations are still underway. Arms and ammunition were seized in the operation. Spokesperson for the National Guard Houssem Eddine Jebabli told TAP that three firearms and ammunition were seized, in addition to several detonators, grenades and explosive belts. Mobile phones and infrared binoculars were also seized, he added. On Monday, border guard units at Magel Bel Abbes and Feriana in the Kasserine governorate seized 3,850 shotgun cartridges near the border area of Skhirat, Houssem Eddine Jebabli also said. Two smugglers concealed 12-millimeter and 16-millimeter cartridges in a car, in an attempt to smuggle these ammunition rounds into Algeria. The two smugglers refused to obey orders to stop by the border guards and fled the scene, leaving behind their vehicle. The mountains situated near the border with Algeria have been safe haven for terror groups including the Islamic State group. TAP had reported earlier that two people were arrested Sunday in Bizerte over membership of a terrorist organization. The first, 26, was apprehended over alleged ties with a terrorist organization, while the second, 31, is wanted on terrorism charges, TAP said. The North African country has been grappling with a surge in terrorism since the removal of autocratic leader Zine Abidine Ben Ali in 2001. Three major bloody attacks in 2015 killed over 70 people, mostly foreign tourists. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. " " Despite their good intentions, businesses looking to encourage voting with discounts or offers are actually violating a law that aims to prevent corruption and vote-buying. bubaone/Getty Images The more people who vote, the better and more representative a democracy is, right? So does that mean that we individuals and businesses alike should do everything within our power to encourage voting? Well, within the law, sure, but within our power? Not necessarily. Though their intentions may be well placed, that local coffee shop offering a free cup of coffee to anyone who voted, the bakery giving away a cookie to anyone wearing an "I Voted" sticker, and any other business offering something of value as a reward or incentive for voting is violating federal law. And that's not all anyone who accepts something of value is likewise breaking the law. Advertisement "Each state has its own law on this issue and presumably each county or town may also but federal law clearly prohibits giving anything of value in exchange for voting," says Thomas J. Simeone, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, via email. The law goes back to days when there was more overt political corruption in the American political system. "It is supposed to keep people from literally buying or selling votes, and from interfering with the outcomes of elections," Abigail Salisbury, a Pittsburgh lawyer who works primarily with nonprofits and small businesses, and has advised clients on the matter, says in an email. "At one time, giving voters monetary incentives was a common enough practice that it warranted legislation against it." Want to get to the nitty-gritty? Here's what the relevant federal law, 18 USC 597, actually says: Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." So does that mean that your Facebook friends who are offering to buy a drink for anyone voting for their preferred candidate is technically violating federal law? It looks like that could be the case. "What makes this interesting is that the line between 'paying' someone to vote and encouraging or assisting someone to vote or thanking or congratulating them for voting is not always clear," says Simeone. Businesses aiming to encourage civic duty need not pack up shop and erase any mention of the election nobody lives in a vacuum, right? If a coffee shop wanted to reward people wearing voting stickers, they'd have to extend the offer to all people wearing stickers, for instance. Stores could institute a broadly applied Election Day discount available to anyone, regardless of whether they voted or were planning to. And Salisbury says that businesses could offer something of no monetary value ringing a bell when a customer tells them they voted, for instance. "The expenditure element is noteworthy," says Salisbury, "so businesses could theoretically try looking at perks without any monetary value to keep the spirit of the voting reward without violating the law. I haven't heard of anyone trying nonfinancial perks like preferred seating, but there could be options based on the type of business." Simeone agrees that despite the letter of the law, it's the intent to prevent corruption that's the thing, and you and your favorite neighborhood restaurant offering anyone with an "I Voted" sticker a dessert are likely in the clear. And the law's so obscure that even national chains with presumably strong legal departments Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Ben & Jerry's, for instance have had to change their promotions to comply with the technicality. "This is therefore a case where the spirit of the law differs from the letter of the law," says Simeone. "That is likely why the law has not been enforced strictly and, I believe, no one has been imprisoned for receiving a free cup of coffee." Now That's Interesting Those little election stickers saying "I Voted" can add up, costing states millions of dollars to print. " " Dolly Parton reads her book 'Coat of Many Colors' at the February 2018 Library of Congress event honoring her 100 millionth book donation. Shawn Miller/Library of Congress Since 1995, beloved country and western superstar Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has been sending free books to children in areas where her program is offered. Kids get the books every month from birth until they reach the age of 5. The program, which originally distributed books to kids living in Parton's hometown of Sevier County, now sends them to children around the globe. That's a lot of books 100 million in total as of Feb. 27, 2018 to be exact. And what book could be more fitting to commemorate the Imagination Library's 100 millionth than one written by Parton herself. "Coat of Many Colors" is a picture book featuring the lyrics of Parton's song of the same name with illustrations by Brooke Boynton-Hughes. To celebrate this huge achievement for childhood literacy, Parton's book was enshrined in the Library of Congress this week. Its addition to the collection in Washington, D.C., also kicked off a partnership between the Library of Congress and the Imagination Library. Going forward on the last Friday of every month from March until August, readings will be livestreamed to local libraries across the United States. "Dolly Parton's work through her Imagination Library is awe-inspiring," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a press statement. "...There is no way to truly quantify the impact this program has had on developing young readers across America and in other parts of the world." Advertisement The Book Lady Thanks to her efforts to bring books to kids, Parton has become known among the smaller set as "the book lady" a title the star never expected. "The painted lady, yes. The overexaggerated, overdressed lady, yes," she said with a laugh during the Feb. 27 ceremony at the Library of Congress, which was livestreamed. Parton started the Imagination Library program more than 20 years ago to honor her father, Lee Parton, who never learned to read or write himself, but was "the smartest person I've ever known," Parton said. Her mother, who was literate, often read stories from the Bible to Parton and her 11 siblings, including, of course, the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors. Even with her tour schedule and philanthropic work, Parton told audience members at the Library of Congress event that she still manages to read about a book a week herself. Advertisement A Library in Your Mailbox The Imagination Library uses a network of what it calls "local champions" to bring books to kids at no cost to their families. These local champions whether a school, a neighborhood association or even an individual are responsible for enrolling the kids in their communities. The local champions also cover the costs of buying the books at wholesale prices and shipping them, which amounts to about $2 per child per month. The books arrive in the mail with the children's names on them. Parton and the Imagination Library know the importance a sense of ownership these books give the kids. "It's not care of mom and dad," Parton said. Parton's father did live long enough to see the program grow beyond the boundaries of Sevier County. It now has outlets in the Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. "He was prouder of that than anything," Parton said. Now That's Sweet Dolly Parton has been singing about her coat of many colors since 1971, when the song first appeared on her album of the same name. Parton grew up poor, and her mother had to sew her a winter coat out of scraps of fabric. When little Dolly wore it to school, the other kids made fun of her. But Parton's mom made sure she felt loved and had pride in herself, no matter what she wore or how much money she had. Now, Parton says, her book "Coat of Many Colors" is used in classrooms to talk about bullying. " " Rideshare company Lyft is committed to getting voters to the polls on Nov. 6 and will provide free and steeply discounted rides all day. Jeff Swensen/Stringer/Getty Images Don't let a lack of transportation keep you from the voting booth this November. California-based rideshare company Lyft has partnered with several groups to offer half-price or even free rides to your local polling place on Nov. 6, 2018. According to a blog post on Lyft's site, transportation issues kept more than 15 million registered voters from their polling places in 2016. To help remedy that situation, Lyft is offering 50 percent promo codes nationwide via partner groups like Vote.org, Nonprofit Vote and TurboVote. In underserved neighborhoods, Lyft rides will be free, thanks to partnerships with nonprofits like Vote Latino, local affiliates of the Urban League and the National Federation of the Blind. Advertisement So that's how you can get to your polling place. But what if you don't even know where your polling place is? Lyft has your back there, too. It's integrating polling locations into the Lyft app to help you get to the ballot box so you can make your voice heard. And if you're already a Lyft user, you'll start getting push notifications about voter registration deadlines, which are coming up fast. But it's not just riders Lyft is helping; it's helping drivers, too. They'll be able to register to vote in their local Lyft offices, and Hub locations across the country will have voter registration handouts and voter information. Lyft is in all 50 states, and the company says that about 95 percent of the population will be able to take advantage of these voter promotions. Midterm elections tend to have low turnout, so these efforts are important to increase the percentage of registered voters who turn in a ballot. Only about 80,000 votes in three states decided the 2016 elections, so every vote counts. NOW THAT'S COOL You don't have to drive for Lyft or even be a passenger to help increase voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections. You can participate in National Voter Registration Day events on Sept. 25. Since the first event in 2012, volunteers and organizations have hoofed it to create awareness and get nonvoters registered. In 2016, 750,000 voters registered during the event. " " Punctuation matters, especially in legal documents. Paul Bradbury/Getty Images For all the Facebook posts that fail to use correct punctuation, and for all the grammar geeks who insist on pointing out the errors: there's compelling new evidence that, well, the geeks are right. A labor dispute in Maine was just decided based entirely on the lack of an Oxford comma. Before we delve into the case, though, let's examine the Oxford comma. Also known as the serial comma, this punctuation mark is the final comma in a list of things. For example, in the phrase "This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God," the missing comma before "and" gives the author a legendary set of parents, indicating the writer is the offspring of those two individuals. It's easy to see how an Oxford comma can separate specific items in a list. Advertisement The comma is called the Oxford comma because it is required by the Oxford University Press style guidelines. There are other, equally respected and used style guides, like the Associated Press style guide, which prohibit the use of a serial comma. Examples of both exist in media, with news sources preferring AP style and other publications relying on the Oxford comma. There's also plenty of passionate debate about the merits of each style, elevating the comma to celebrity status among grammarians and the like. Recently, the comma was the center of a labor dispute between drivers and the company for whom they worked. While the drivers insisted they deserved overtime pay for delivering dairy products, the company disagreed, pointing instead to a state law that spelled out work activities that did not lead to overtime pay: The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distributionof: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods. The answer, the judge determined, existed in the first sentence (emphasis added). Without an Oxford comma before the word "or," it could be interpreted to mean that, because the drivers weren't packing items intended either for shipment or distribution, then they could be paid overtime. But with the comma? Then the sentence would have contained separate activities: "packing for shipment" would have been its own distinct activity, as would "distribution" have been. With packing and distribution listed as two separate things that didn't warrant overtime, the dairy drivers' case would have been lost. But, because of the lack of a comma, it wasn't. When labor laws are unclear, the justice system is designed to benefit the laborers, said the judge, who ruled in favor of the dairy drivers. "For want of a comma, we have this case," the judge wrote in a statement. Now That's Interesting Although some ambiguous iterations of the comma existed prior to the 7th century, it was Isidore of Seville, an archbishop who later became a saint, who first ascribed to the comma the meaning we know today. China on Wednesday welcomed the new president of Kazakhstan as an "old friend" after the sudden resignation of veteran strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan has ever known, shocked the nation on Tuesday with his resignation after nearly three decades in power. "China understands and supports President Nazarbayev's decision," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. "Since we established diplomatic ties 27 years ago President Nazarbayev has been committed to friendly relations," Geng told reporters, noting the oil-rich nation will achieve new progress under the acting president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Observers widely expect Nazarbayev, 78, to retain control from behind the scenes. He came to power when Kazakhstan was still a Soviet republic. He passed the presidency to the chairman of the senate, loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, a former prime minister and career diplomat who was sworn in on Wednesday. "The acting President Tokayev is an old friend and good friend of the Chinese people," Geng said. Kazakhstan, which shares a border with China's restive Xinjiang region, has been on diplomatic tiptoes since its major trading partner began to send ethnic Kazakhs to internment camps under its anti-extremism policy. Earlier this month authorities in Kazakhstan arrested a Xinjiang rights activist, who had campaigned for victims of China's security crackdown in the region, and charged him with inciting inter-ethnic hatred. THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their MORO National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari has threatened to launch a war if the government fails to shift to federalism, President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Wednesday, March 20. Duterte gave the latest update, after he once again met with Misuari at Malacanan Palace on Tuesday night, March 19. "Kagabi, nag-usap kami. Sabi ko, 'Let us talk sa iyo.' Sabi niya, 'Oh, sige. Pero ito ang gusto ko -- federalism,' (Last night, we talked... I said, 'Let us talk.' He said, 'Fine, but I want federalism)," the President said during the campaign rally of his political party in Marikina City. "Sabi ni Misuari kagabi (Misuari said last night), 'If you do not give it to me, let me be very honest, I will go to war,'" he added. Prior to their latest meeting, Duterte and Misuari had a "short talk" at Malacanan Palace on February 25 following the ratification of landmark Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) which creates a new Bangsamoro region in place of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Misuari is on trial before the Sandiganbayan Third Division for two counts each of graft and malversation due to alleged anomalous purchase of P77 million worth of educational material when he was governor of then ARMM. A day after the Moro leader's meeting with the President, Misuari was allowed by the Sandiganbayan Third Division to travel abroad for pan-Islamic council summits. Misuari, upon his return to the country, fulfilled his promise to the President to have another round of dialogue that is aimed at pursuing peace and order in Mindanao. During their latest meeting, Duterte said he vowed to Misuari that he would continue pushing for a shift to a federal form of government. "Sabi ko, 'Kung wala ng iba, 'yung federalism, huwag nating kalimutan, passed by Congress (O said, 'If we have no choice, we can urge Congress to pass the federalism),'" he said. Story continues "I understand Nur. So ganito na lang gawin natin, let's form a panel because you have to inform the people. We cannot negotiate secretly here. Sabi ko, para day-to-day, they will be briefed kung ano ang outcome -- how gusto mong ma-aaply 'yang federal system sa gusto mo, kagaya 'yung BOL o a different type," he added. (I understand Nur. So this is what we can do, Let's form a panel because you have to inform the people. We cannot negotiate secretly here. Sabi ko, para day-to-day, they will be briefed about the outcome -- how he wants to apply the federal system, if it will be the same as the BOL or a different type.) Despite the ratification of the BOL, Duterte has sought to forge a separate deal with Misuari to attain long-lasting peace in Mindanao. On January 18, Duterte said he was still bent on pushing for a shift from a unitary to a federal state,but hinted that the constitutional revisions should be limited to the economic provisions. (SunStar Philippines) PIQUED by the ongoing water crisis, President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to axe officials of water regulator Metro Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and terminate the contracts of water PIQUED by the ongoing water crisis, President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to axe officials of water regulator Metro Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and terminate the contracts of water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad Water Services. Duterte issued the stern warning during his meeting with officials of MWSS, Manila Water, and Maynilad at Malacanan Palace on Tuesday night, March 19. In a statement released on Wednesday, March 20, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo described the meeting as a "presidential monologue" that lasted for about 40 minutes and ended abruptly. The infuriated President ordered Metro Manila's water regulator and water concessionaires to submit a report on the water shortage before April 7 so he can decide on their fate, Panelo said. "After which, he (Duterte) will decide whether heads will roll or whether the contracts of the concessionaires will be terminated," the Palace official said. "The Chief Executive told them he was not going to listen to their explanation as to why there was a water shortage as such would be just plain excuses. They simply did not do their job," he added. Duterte and Malacanang have raised concern over the interrupted water services being experienced by some parts of Metro Manila and other nearby provinces since March 7. In an effort to end the water crisis, Duterte on March 15 ordered the MWSS to direct Manila Water and Maynilad to release water from Angat Dam enough to supply affected customers for "150 days." The President expressed his displeasure to MWSS, Manila Water, and Maynilad, as he stressed that water crisis was "not just a matter of common sense," Panelo said. Panelo added that Duterte slammed the water regulator and private water concessionaires in Metro Manila because they "knew of the problem leading to the stoppage of the flow of water but they did not resolve to prevent it from happening." Story continues "'All they care about is get profit from the water of the people' and to their sufferance as well. The President told them they could have simply anticipated such shortage and could have done something about it," he said. "They had to wait for him to threaten them with personally rushing to Manila from Davao to grapple with the crisis before they moved to end it," Panelo added. Panelo said the Chief Executive bluntly told them to "shape up or ship out." "The President reiterated that he is constitutionally tasked to serve and protect the citizenry, and he will not equivocate to take swift and drastic actions to secure the people from discomfort and shield them from suffering, regardless of the dire consequences to the players of the water industry," the Palace official said. (SunStar Philippines) File photo: President Rodrigo Duterte presenting the so-called narcolist MANILA, Philippines Several mayors in Laguna and Batangas are denying involvement in illegal drugs after President Rodrigo Duterte released a narcolist tagging their names. Los Banos, Laguna mayor, Caesar Perez calls on the president not to believe reports against him. Sa mahal nating pangulo, ang masasabi ko lang, hindi po totoo ito. Gawa gawa lamang, (To our beloved president, all I can say is, the reports are not true) he said. Bay, Laguna Mayor Bruno Ramos was among the officials who lost their police power after his name was included on the 2017 narcolist. His name was again included on the recent narcolist and he wishes his name to be removed even if he is no longer running this election. Unang-una, ako 76 years old na at ako po ay naatake pa sa puso. Akoy nawalan na ng sigla na manungkulan sa bayan dahil nga po sa paratang sa akin na akoy protektor ng droga, (First of all, I am already 76 years old and I already had a heart attack. I lost the drive to serve in office because of the accusations that I am a drug protector) he said. San Pablo city mayor Loreto Amante is waiting for his case to be filed in order for him to answer the accusations in the proper forum. Ako po taas noong humaharap sa inyo mata sa mata na kailanman hindi po natin ginawa iyan (I am facing all of you to say that I did not do such things), Amante said. His father, former San Pablo mayor Vicente Amante and current city administrator, was also included on the narcolist of the president in 2017. Lemery, Batangas mayor Eulalio Alilio also denies his involvement in illegal drugs. Awardee ako nitong National Anti-drug Abuse Council sa performance award 95 percent tapos ang aming barangay anti-drug abuse council almost finish na kami sa drug clearing kami at may certification ang PDEA, [I am an awardee of National Anti-drug Abuse Council in performance award. Our barangay is 95% finished in drug clearing and there is a certification from PDEA] according to Alilio. He also said his city has reported zero crimes for more than four months.Aileen Cerrudo The post Laguna and Batangas narcolist mayors deny drug links appeared first on UNTV News. A festival featuring 10 right-wing Malay power bands scheduled to take place in the northern Malaysian city of Ipoh next month has been cancelled amid protests. The Rebellion Fest was due to feature bands from the countrys notorious Malay power scene with names such as Xenophobia, Spiderwar and Total Distrust. The Malay power movement is made up of neo-Nazi bands who want to rid Malaysia of everyone who is not ethnically Malay and stop immigration to the country. But this week, anti-fascist activists in Ipoh said that after applying pressure on Ladyboss Studio, where the Rebellion Fest was due to be held on April 13, the event was cancelled. One of the activists told the Hong Kong-based Unite Asia punk and hardcore music website: I explained to [the venue] the connection between their racist ideologies and the vile human being who attacked the mosques in New Zealand last week. [The owner] said he never knew about any of this and if I didnt tell him then he would never have found out. He agreed to cancel the show and return the deposit. On Wednesday, posters appeared online for another Malay power festival titled Death to Antifa, supposedly to be held at the Black Box venue in Kuala Lumpur on April 6. But a spokesman for developer UEM Sunrise, which operates the shopping mall where Black Box is located, denied the event was taking place. No authorisation has been given for such an event to take place. UEM Sunrise wishes to dismiss any association with Death to Antifa as well as all performers related to the said event, and will not hesitate to initiate legal action against individuals or groups who organise events using [our] brand without authorisation, the spokesman told the South China Morning Post. Boot Axe, one of the most prominent Malay power bands, were due to perform at the Ipoh event. In an interview with pop culture website Vice, a band member named Slay said the Malay power movement was concerned about keeping a pure Malay community all over the Malay Archipelago. Story continues Malaysia is home to people from China, India, and foreign immigrants from Bangladesh, Africa, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Burma [Myanmar], Slay told Vice. The government cant control the entry of immigrants, and we get so many of them. There are so many protests against the government about this issue, but they havent done anything tangible to improve the situation. Malays fall prey to criminals who come from abroad and sell drugs and commit murder, rape, robbery, and so on. The lesson that we can learn from Nazism is that we can take extreme racist action if the position of the Malays is affected by these factors. Asked how Asians could identify with an ideology that promoted white supremacy, Slay said: Most worldwide organisations say that Nazism is just for whites. And yes, we are not members of the blue-eyed, blond-haired Aryan race our community is brown-skinned, brown-eyed, and dark-haired. Weve just adopted the spirit associated with Nazism as a symbol for the Malay races response if its threatened by racial issues. Additional reporting by Tashny Sukumaran More from South China Morning Post: This article Malay power neo-Nazi band festival cancelled in Malaysias Ipoh city first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. Nicaragua's opposition alliance said Tuesday that talks with President Daniel Ortega's government cannot resume until "political prisoners" are released and the repression of anti-regime protesters ends. "There aren't the conditions to continue negotiating" with the government, opposition lawyer Azahalea Solis told reporters. On Monday, the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy (ACJD) suspended peace talks with the government aimed at breaking the deadlock over a political crisis that has lasted 11 months. And although the ACJD turned up at the venue in Managua where talks have been hosted by the Central American Institute of Business Administration, the delegation did not meet with government negotiators. Instead, the opposition asked mediators Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, the Vatican envoy, and Organization of American States (OAS) special envoy Luis Angel Rosadilla to push the government "to show willingness" to reach an agreement, Solis said. The talks were suspended on Monday in protest over the "violence and repression" of demonstrators. Riot police had used tear gas to stop an opposition protest on Saturday while temporarily detaining 100 people, including two opposition leaders. The opposition is also angry that 150 prisoners released since the talks started on February 27 have been confined to house arrest, and is demanding their total liberation. The government made no comment about the latest impasse in negotiations. - 'Government lacks political will' - The alliance, which also suspended the talks for three days last week until the government gave in to a demand to release prisoners, "energetically condemned" the weekend crackdown on dissent. In a statement, it said the government "is holding more than 700 political prisoners simply for defending their citizens' rights." More than 700 people were arrested between April and October last year during protests that also left 325 dead after a brutal crackdown by security services. The union of business leaders (COSEP) that forms part of the opposition alliance said Ortega's government "lacks the political will" to find a solution. COSEP said the government crackdown proved the regime doesn't want "to create the basic conditions for the national dialogue to show its viability and to reply to the people's legitimate demands." The union said Saturday's crackdown showed that "we're faced with a police state that doesn't allow the expression of the fundamental constitutional rights of all Nicaraguans." It said the police acted in "a disproportionate manner with excessive violence." OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro wrote on Twitter that "to continue in good faith, in Nicaragua all political prisoners... must be freed." Nicaragua has been mired in political crisis since April last year, when a protest initially against a now-scrapped pension reform snowballed into opposition to Ortega's rule. The 73-year-old former left-wing guerrilla leader has been in power for more than 11 years but alongside his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo, he's been accused of ruling with an iron fist and rights abuses. Ortega has rejected out of hand another key opposition demand that he steps down and brings forward elections slated for 2021. He has offered to implement electoral reform and release prisoners -- some of whom have been charged with terrorism for taking part in protests against Ortega -- that have yet to be tried. Japan carmaker Nissan has received initial approval to produce 100,000 car units per year in Egypt, which targets car export to revive its vehicle production industry. Nissan will manufacture the car, jointly with state-owned carmaker El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing, Minister of Public enterprise, Hesham Tawfik told media. Majority of cars produced will be exported. Egypt looks to occupy a spot in global car exports market. El Nasr, currently on hold, used to make local version of Fiat until 2011, the year of the revolution that removed autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. A final deal for the production of the 100,000 cars is expected in three months. Tawfik however did not disclose the date of operations kick-start. Vietnamese citizens were outraged after a man was fined $8 for forcibly kissing a woman in an elevator, a rare public outburst in a country where sexual assault is scarcely spoken about openly. The #MeToo movement never took off in Vietnam, a conservative communist country where gender-based violence is widespread but remains a taboo topic. Citizens took to social media this week after a man was fined 200,000 dong, or $8.61, for forcibly kissing a woman in an elevator in her Hanoi apartment building. CCTV footage showed the man chatting to the woman before cornering her and suddenly jumping on her before she scrambles out of the elevator as he grabbed her arm. The footage quickly went viral, stoking public anger. "The fine... was a mockery and humiliation against the dignity of Vietnamese women," said Facebook user Duong Dai Trieu Lam on Wednesday. Office worker Nguyen Trang told AFP: "It's ridiculous, I can't accept this... I'm worried for my kids and myself". Unlike rape, sexual assault is not a criminal offence in Vietnam, but is considered an administrative violation falling under the category of "indecent speech and behaviour". The maximum fine for sexual assault is $13. An online petition calling for an amendment to the law gathered steam Wednesday. Official data on sexual harassment is not routinely published in Vietnam, though 87 percent of women and girls experienced sexual harassment in public, according to a 2014 survey of 2,000 women by the NGO ActionAid. The last comprehensive survey on gender violence in 2010 published by the World Health Organization and the Vietnamese government said 34 percent of women reported regular abuse by their spouses. Many are too scared to report the abuse, said Khuat Thu Hong, director of the Institute for Social Development Studies, who welcomed the public outcry following the elevator attack. "The reaction is a good sign, society has shown its support to those who are courageous to speak out," Hong told AFP. This is not the first time tales of sexual harassment in Vietnam have gone public. In 2017 model and actress Vu Thu Phuong said she was harassed by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, but her story failed to spark a wider #MeToo movement seen elsewhere in Asia, including in China and South Korea. Last year an intern at a major newspaper said she had attempted suicide after she was allegedly raped by her editor, which he denied. The case was reported to the police but no charges have been laid. PRIVATE individuals and civil society groups have started an initiative to clean Cebu and rid its bodies of water of waste, and will tap the private sectors and local government units resources for PRIVATE individuals and civil society groups have started an initiative to clean Cebu and rid its bodies of water of waste, and will tap the private sectors and local government units resources for the project. The Protect Cebu project involves providing toilets to households along riverbanks, compelling hotels, offices, schools and large business establishments to have waste water treatment facilities, and educating the public on waste segregation. Protect Cebu is the local version of the Save Manila Bay initiative of the Rotary clubs of Manila. It aims to address Cebus environmental problems, particularly the water pollution to ensure the provinces tourism industry. Cebu is thriving on tourism, and if all of a sudden the human waste is there on our beaches, what will happen? River cleanups are already being done. What we have to address is the source of all these wastes, honorary consul of Latvia and founder of the Network of Independent Tour Agencies Robert Joseph said. This initiative will be spearheaded by the Rotary Club of Metro Cebu in collaboration with the different government agencies. What happened in Manila, we would like to see 1,000-plus Rotary clubs leading a program for the environment. What they will do today will be the model of the other provinces in the future, Joseph said. He said the project will be for the entire Cebu province, where they will tap the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to have strategic meetings and help them identify the projects priority areas. DENR Regional Executive Director Gilbert Gonzales expressed his support for the project. There is really a need for some action. DENR can only do so much, so all the other sectors must lend a helping hand, he said. Joseph also asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to map a program on how they can reduce the number of and consequently transfer illegal settlers in waterways. All of these informal settlers are there; we have to collaborate with every agency to support. I would like to see that there will be putting up of toilets for the underprivileged people, he added. Story continues Likewise, the DILG representative for environmental matters Ginabelle Ijoc welcomed this suggestion. Our regional director is always open to collaboration. Kinsa may magtinabangay (Who else will help each other) but we, fellow people? she said. According to Joseph, they intend to allocate around P5 million per beneficiary barangay for the project. We would also like the DENR to advise us how much an STP (sewage treatment plant) costs. Plus there will be provided garbage bins to separate dry from wet wastes for compost, he said. Joseph said the fund for this project will be sourced from both government and non-government benefactors. It will be the local government who will initiate in also providing the funds. The DILG, DENR and DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), these are the government agencies that will come to help. We will also involve the Aboitiz Foundation. We can also request the Chinese government to take part in the project, he said. The Rotary Club of Metro Cebu will also coordinate with various corporations for funding. However, for the commercial establishments, he clarified that it will be the private entities who will shoulder the expenses for putting up their own wastewater facility. They have to do it because there are laws by the DENR. If they will not do it, they will be suspended. But our approach is very friendly, bayanihan (cooperative endeavor). The heroes are all of us for the bayan (country), he said. Singapore's trade minister said Wednesday he was hopeful that an Asia-wide trade pact, which is backed by China and excludes the United States, could be sealed by the end of the year. On a visit to Washington, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said that a clearer picture would emerge on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in May after elections in four countries that are part of it -- India, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. "I think the gaps are narrowing and I think we have a fair chance to get it done this year," Chan told the US-ASEAN Business Council. He said that RCEP, which would be the world's largest trading pact, had both economic and geostrategic benefits as it would mark a strong statement that "we all continue to believe in a rule-based, open trading system." Singapore, as chairman last year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, had pushed hard for the conclusion of RCEP which linking nearly half the world's population including China, India, Japan and Southeast Asia. But China pushed back the timeline for the 16-member pact to this year amid sticking points over market access and particular resistance in India to opening its borders to a raft of duty-free Chinese goods. China has championed RCEP amid its prolonged trade showdown with US President Donald Trump, a protectionist who has imposed billions of dollars' worth of tariffs as he accuses China of scamming the United States. RCEP gathered steam after Trump on taking office pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact advocated by his predecessor Barack Obama that did not include China and, unlike RCEP, established labor and environmental standards. The trade minister of Singapore -- a major commercial hub that is a longtime US ally -- appealed for the United States to maintain a strong leadership role in the world. "What makes America great is not just a set of trade numbers. What makes America great is the innovation that is present in this economy, fueled by the free flow of talent and ideas," Chan said. Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has found that people living in the United States tend to set their thermostats to temperatures that mimic natural environmental conditions in parts of Africa. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes their study, which involved installing sensors in homes across the U.S., and what they found. In their paper, the researchers note that they did not start out looking to match indoor air indoor environments with natural environmental conditionsthat came later. Their original intent was to learn more about the creatures that exist in homes along with peoplemicrobes, insects, rodents, etc. They wanted to know if their numbers varied depending on the indoor climate. To find out, they asked people living in 37 homes across the U.S. to set up a sensing device in their house. The devices took temperature and humidity readings every hour for a yearat the end of the year, the sensors were sent back to the researchers who analyzed the data they recorded. The researchers found that the lowest average temperatures came to 8 degrees C (generally at night, when people turn down thermostats) and the highest mean maximum was 36 degrees C. The researchers then split up Earth into cells half a degree longitude and latitude in size, and plugged in actual average temperatures for each cell. They compared the averages for homes in the U.S. with their cell data and found that people in the U.S. set the environmental conditions inside their homes in a way that very nearly matches environmental conditions in western Kenya and other parts of eastern Africa. They noted that conditions in Kenya also tend to be quite dry, similar to the U.S. They further noted that Kenya and nearby areas are believed to be the places where modern humans first appeared on the planet. They conclude by suggesting that modern humans are setting their thermostats to give them roughly the same climate they were exposed to during the period when they had no control over the weather. It is apparently the climate in which we are still most comfortable. Explore further Turning up the temperature on indoor comfort More information: Michael G. Just et al. Human indoor climate preferences approximate specific geographies, Royal Society Open Science (2019). Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Michael G. Just et al. Human indoor climate preferences approximate specific geographies,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180695 2019 Science X Network In certain ant species, queens invade the colonies of other species, kill the host queen or queens and lay their eggs in the host nest. After this, the host workers tend to the offspring of the parasitic queen as if their own, just as a bird hatching an egg laid by a cuckoo. "It's a disaster for the host nest, since without a queen production of its own offspring ceases. This is why defending the host nest from parasites is extremely important," says Unni Pulliainen, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Researchers have recently found that the larvae of the host species are far from passive bystanders; rather, they may actually be active parties in such situations. "The larvae of the host ants eat the eggs of the parasitic queen. In other words, they may contribute to defending the nest against parasitic ants that threaten the future of the entire nest." Six ant species from the Formica genus were selected for the study, with Formica fusca, a common parasite host in Finland, ending up as the host species. The researchers collected queens of several species from nature, growing their eggs and larvae in laboratory conditions. The experiments focused on finding out which eggs the host larvae had an appetite for, the size of the eggs and the gender of the larvae eating the eggs. "We also wanted to find out what the eggs smell like, as this specific characteristic is most likely what larvae use to distinguish the origin of the eggs. However, we are still looking for an answer to the biggest question of all: how do larvae smell anything in the first place? Adult ants smell with their antennae, which larvae don't have. This is a good question for further research," Pulliainen states. Explore further Study shows how beetle larvae adapt to different bee hosts More information: Unni Pulliainen et al. The possible role of ant larvae in the defence against social parasites, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Unni Pulliainen et al. The possible role of ant larvae in the defence against social parasites,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2867 One of the earliest models, a Boeing 737-200, when it was in service with Ryanair. Credit: Guy Brian Gratton The Boeing 737 is the most produced commercial aeroplane in history: over 10,000 have been built since it first flew in 1967, with thousands more on order. Even the UK's Royal Air Force is to put them into service as the P8a Poseidon. An aeroplane which flies that much will have accidents. The 737 has had over 200 that have led to the loss of the aeroplane, resulting in over 5,000 fatalities over its 51 years. But statistically, this nonetheless is a very safe aeroplane. In the newer "Next Generation" 737, you'd have to take about a million flights to reach a 25% chance of being present at a "hull loss" accident ("hull loss" doesn't even mean fatalities, just that the aeroplane is beyond economic repair). By comparison, the British annual average for road traffic fatalities is 13 per million inhabitants. In Britain, which has some of the world's safest roads, your chance of dying as a car passenger per year are about four times greater than being in a serious accident if you fly in a Boeing 737 every month. Evolution Unsurprisingly, the Boeing 737, which has been with us for nearly half the time powered flight has existed, has seen many upgrades. The first model the 737-100 arrived in 1967, while the 737 MAX series entered service in 2016. So far, nearly 400 of the MAX aircraft have been delivered and over 5,000 ordered. Over its lifetime, the 737 has stretched from 29 metres to 44 metres long, fuel capacity has risen from 14.7 tonnes to 21.3 tonnes, and passenger seats have increased from 118 to 230. With these developments have come demands for greater safety, reduced noise, particulate and greenhouse gas emissions, and lower running costs. So while all 737s are certified as a single aeroplane type, the changes have been massive. Most recently, the big push has been to reduce fuel consumption. For both economic and environmental reasons, this led to the latest 737 MAX 8 models along with the competitor Airbus A320 Neo being fitted with new, larger and more efficient CFM Leap engines. These must be mounted higher and further forward than previously, creating a handling problem that wasn't unique to this aeroplane, but had to be addressed. One of the newer Boeing 737s, a 737-800 Next Gen model ironically showing off a much older heritage livery for Dutch Airline KLM. Credit: Guy Brian Gratton Safety Angle of attack is the angle between the wing chord (an imaginary line between the leading and trailing edges of the wing) and the airflow. To generate lift, this is typically around two degrees in cruising flight. But to create lift at low airspeeds during take-off, landing and some manoeuvres, it must be much higher often more than ten degrees. If the angle of attack is too great, the aeroplane loses control or "stalls". This has nothing to do with stalling an engine and will usually cause a sudden descent. The larger, repositioned engines initially created a handling problem at a high angle of attack, particularly at low speeds, which could pitch the aeroplane nose-up into an even greater angle of attack, potentially worsening the loss of control. Boeing addressed this by introducing an automated system called Manoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). This automatically forces the nose down from high angles of attack, removing the aeroplane from the stall condition. It does this by rotating the tailplane, effectively changing the shape of the aeroplane. This was necessary stalling under these circumstances has been a serious, even fatal, problem in some previous airliners. So far so good. But then we hit a problem which is alleged to have contributed to the October 2018 Lion Air 737 MAX 8 crash in Indonesia. While this aircraft had the MCAS system, the pilots allegedly didn't know about it. It has been said a decision had been made not to include the system in pilot training, in particular that if the system received incorrect signals from the aeroplane's angle of attack sensors the aeroplane could pitch steeply nose-down into a potentially unrecoverable dive. All pilots train to recognise and deal with a wide range of instrument and equipment failures. On my own commercial pilots licence test, I had several real and simulated instrument failures, and was expected to deal with them while continuing the flight; all commercial pilots are reassessed on this regularly. But pilots can best deal with failures they've been trained for. We don't yet have full reports on the Lion Air crash, nor on the more recent Ethiopian Airlines crash of another 737 MAX. But there is growing evidence that the crew didn't fully understand the MCAS system, and that the system could malfunction when a single instrument feeding it information fails. The aeroplane could allegedly put itself into a steep dive due to an instrument failure, and the pilots perhaps weren't fully trained to recognise and correct for that. American budget airline giant Southwest has built its business model around the Boeing 737, currently operating 750 of them. The FAA has grounded their 35 737 MAX aeroplanes. Credit: Guy Brian Gratton What next? In a very new aircraft type, 339 people have died in two, apparently similar, accidents this is intolerable. Fortunately, the aviation industry, that's mindset often goes back to the 1950s Comet disasters, is extremely prompt in dealing with serious safety issues. Around the world, aeroplanes of this type were grounded within a few days, and will remain so until Boeing and its stakeholders find and certify solutions to both the aircraft control software and the pilot training issues. These events show the aviation industry at both its best, and worst. It's right that manufacturers and airlines should be seeking more efficient, safer aircraft. But making progress at an acceptable cost could potentially risk corners being cut. In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been accused in the past of delegating too much oversight of their own work to Boeing, and those of us in this community are concerned that when governments seek to reduce budgets, aviation authorities may not be well enough resourced to adequately do their jobs. Additionally, any aviation company may necessarily suffer conflict between engineers and pilots, whose objective is to create the best and safest product, and business managers, who must ensure profitability. So what now? The 737 MAX will remain grounded while Boeing develops a "software fix" that eliminates this potential problem, and then works with the FAA and international authorities to certify it. There should also be new MCAS training that all 737 MAX pilots around the world will receive before they fly the aeroplane again. Indeed, this will hopefully also lead to a broader debate about the level of training provided to airline pilots. After these two tragedies there will likely be a number of court cases. The families will rightly want closure. But we also need to ensure that similar disasters don't happen in the future and this involves aviation professionals working to find new safety solutions. Focusing too much on legal outcomes could potentially prevent the best safety outcomes from being pursued. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Model of the propagation of seismic waves across the South Island of New Zealand 1 min after the onset of the Kaikoura earthquake. Credit: Ulrich/Gabriel, LMU The Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand in 2016 caused widespread damage. LMU researchers have now dissected its mechanisms revealing surprising insights on earthquake physics with the aid of simulations carried out on the supercomputer SuperMUC. The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake (magnitude 7.8) on the South Island of New Zealand is among the most intriguing and best-documented seismic events anywhere in the world and one of the most complex. The earthquake exhibited a number of unusual features, and the underlying geophysical processes have since been the subject of controversy. LMU geophysicists Thomas Ulrich and Dr. Alice-Agnes Gabriel, in cooperation with researchers based at the Universite Cote d'Azur in Valbonne and at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, have now simulated the course of the earthquake with an unprecedented degree of realism. Their model, which was run on the Bavarian Academy of Science's supercomputer SuperMUC at the Leibniz Computing Center (LRZ) in Munich, elucidates dynamic reasons for such uncommon multi-segment earthquake. This is an important step towards improving the accuracy of earthquake hazard assessments in other parts of the world. Their findings appear in the online journal Nature Communications. According to the paper's authors the Kaikoura earthquake is the most complicated ever recorded and raises a number of important questions. One of its most striking features was that it resulted in the successive rupture of more than 20 segments of a fault network. "Looking at the pattern of surface faults affected by the quake, one finds large gaps of more than 15 km in between them. Up to now, analyses of seismic hazard have been based on the assumption that faults that are more than 5 km apart will not be broken in a single event," says Gabriel. A second unusual observation was that, although the earthquake began on land, it also resulted in the largest tsunami recorded in the region since 1947. This indicates that the subsurface ruptures ultimately triggered local displacements of the seafloor. Simulation of fault ruptures during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand. Seismic waves, ground motions and rupture propagation along a complex network of faults are simultaneously captured. Rupture began on land and propagated in a zig-zag manner over large distances, also triggering fault failures offshore. Credit: Ulrich/Gabriel, LMU The insights provided by the simulations have now yielded a better understanding of the causes of the sequence of fault ruptures that characterized the earthquake. "This was made possible by the realistic nature of our model, which incorporates the essential geophysical characteristics of fault failure, and realistically reproduces how subsurface rocks fracture and generate seismic waves," says Gabriel. The model confirmed that the Kaikoura earthquake involved a complex cascade of fault ruptures, which propagated in a zig-zag fashion. Propagation velocities along the individual fault systems were not unusually slow, but the complex geometry of the fault network and delays at the transitions between fault segments led to a tortuous rupture path. While a large amount of tectonic forces accumulating over decades may seem intuitively required to steer an earthquake throughout such complex fault networks, the authors suggest that the required forcing was on the contrary quite weak. "The rupture of such a weakly loaded fault was boosted by very gradual slippage or creep below the faults, where the crust is more ductile and low levels of frictional resistance, promoted by the presence of fluids", Gabriel explains. "In addition, high rupture velocities generally result in the rapid dissipation of frictional resistance." The researchers state that their model could contribute to improving estimates of earthquake hazard in certain areas. Current hazard assessments require careful mapping of the fault systems in the region concerned, and their susceptibility to rupture under seismic stress is then estimated. "Earthquake modeling is now becoming an important part of the rapid earthquake response toolset and for improving long-term building codes in earthquake prone areas by delivering physics-driven interpretations that can be integrated synergistically with established data-driven efforts", says the first author of the study, Ph.D. student Thomas Ulrich. More information: Thomas Ulrich et al. Dynamic viability of the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake cascade on weak crustal faults, Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications Thomas Ulrich et al. Dynamic viability of the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake cascade on weak crustal faults,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09125-w Credit: CC0 Public Domain A proposed Northern Serengeti all-weather tarmac road that will bisect Serengeti National Park, a World Heritage site, has sparked considerable debate. Opponents say that the road could disrupt the migration of approximately 1.5 million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles between Serengeti National Park and Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, and increase already high levels of poaching. Proponents, on the other hand, argue that the road will facilitate national and local economic growth, which in turn will reduce poverty and improve the local quality of life, which is expected to lower pressure on ecosystems. Research instead of 'Build firstworry later' The pros and cons of road projects proposed for remote areas with high biodiversity conservation value are rarely examined before they are built in the explosion of road expansion projects that are currently underway in many developing countries. Researchers from University of Copenhagen have used a method called a discrete choice experiment to determine how road development would affect local peoples livelihood activity choices in the Serengeti area. A discrete choice experiment allows researchers to use hypothetical scenarios to measure the strength of preferences and trade-offs for local people regarding different livelihood options. The study is published in PLOS ONE. Contradictory outcomes Solomon Zenas Walelign, one of the authors of the study and postdoc at University of Copenhagen, says construction of the road could result in one of two contrasting outcomes. "One possible outcome is that increased market integration will allow intensification of existing crop and livestock production, and the development of non-farm micro, small and medium enterprises, both of which will reduce environmental resource extraction. However, a contrasting outcome predicts that people will expand existing production, which will lead to land conversion and overgrazing and commercialisation of hunting to meet urban market demands," Solomon Zenas Walelign says. Informed policy making "The effect of roads on livelihood activity choices can typically only be observed after the implementation, which prevents the design of timely mitigating policies and strategies. We used the discrete choice experiment to see how people expect to change their livelihoods," said Jette Brehdal Jacobsen, professor at University of Copenhagen. The study helps shed light on how local communities in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem expect to adjust their livelihoods in response to road improvement. This information is urgently needed to enable informed predictions about emerging and changing environmental pressures that result from land use change, overgrazing and the bushmeat trade. People prefer more of the known The study found that people did not expect to increase effort hunting bushmeatbut they did not plan to reduce the number of household members engaged in bushmeat hunting either. However, the clearest result was a strong preference for traditional livelihood activities, adding more agricultural land and more livestock, as travel time to markets was reduced through road improvements. "The results indicate that if new roads are constructed or old ones upgraded, people will prefer to expand their traditional activities by converting more land to cropland and increasing the number of cattle in the region. Together, these changes will likely increase illegal grazing pressure in the protected areas, which is already a major conservation concern in Serengeti National Park," says Associate Professor Martin Reinhardt Nielsen, who is one of the leaders of the AfricanBioServices project, which financed the study. Another path for the impact of road building The authors of the study suggest that land use planning and control of land use conversion and illegal grazing is critical when constructing and upgrading roads in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem. This should be combined with education programmes and strategic efforts to encourage the development of local non-farm micro, small and medium enterprises that are alligned with conservation goals and take advantage of the large tourism income potential in the ecosystem. Facts Assuming that land was available, the study predicted an average increase of 1.54 acres of cultivated land and 1.43 cattle per household. The study did not find any evidence that local people would take up new wage-earning opportunities or engage in business development as travel time to markets was reduced. Low-interest loans and extension services could help modify the preference for extra land, but only to a limited extent, the researchers found. More information: Solomon Zena Walelign et al, Roads and livelihood activity choices in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania, PLOS ONE (2019). Journal information: PLoS ONE Solomon Zena Walelign et al, Roads and livelihood activity choices in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania,(2019). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213089 Credit: CC0 Public Domain A state court said Monday afternoon that an order affirming an oil drilling proposal for the Everglades had been "issued in error." Earlier Monday, the First District Court of Appeal posted an order that appeared to hand a major legal victory to Kanter Real Estate LLC, which had proposed an exploratory well in the Everglades of western Broward County. The court order refused a request by the state of Florida to rehear the case, allowing to stand its order that the state issue a permit for the well. "Motion for rehearing en banc filed by the appellee, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, on February 20, 2019, is denied," the court said. But later that afternoon, the court posted an announcement that said, "The Court's order dated March 18, 2019, is withdrawn as issued in error." Kanter Real Estate LLC, which owns about 20,000 acres in the Everglades, plans to drill an exploratory well about six miles west of Miramar. Although the Florida Department of Environmental Protection refused to issue a permit, the company challenged the denial and won a series of court victories. A three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal found in favor of the company last month, ordering the state to issue a permit. Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state had asked the full court to rehear the case, arguing that it was of high public importance. The company, which represents the family of real estate pioneer Joseph Kanter, proposed a single exploratory well about five miles west of U.S. 27 and 10 miles south of Alligator Alley. A company oil expert has testified in court that there was a 23 percent chance of finding oil, considered high by industry standards, and if oil were found, it could be possible to extract 180,000 to 10 million barrels. The decision does not exhaust the state's options, which could include an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Explore further Supreme Court rejects net neutrality appeal 2019 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. In these C. elegans embryos, only chromosomes inherited from the egg are stained green. All chromosomes are stained red for DNA. By distinguishing between egg- and sperm-inherited chromosomes, researchers were able to track the effects of epigenetic marks carried by the sperm chromosomes. Credit: K. Kaneshiro As an organism grows and responds to its environment, genes in its cells are constantly turning on and off, with different patterns of gene expression in different cells. But can changes in gene expression be passed on from parents to their children and subsequent generations? Although indirect evidence for this phenomenon, called "transgenerational epigenetic inheritance," is growing, it remains controversial because the mechanisms behind it are so mysterious. Now researchers at UC Santa Cruz have demonstrated that epigenetic information carried by parental sperm chromosomes can cause changes in gene expression and development in the offspring. Their study, published March 20 in Nature Communications, involved a series of clever experiments using the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Epigenetic changes do not alter the DNA sequences of genes, but instead involve chemical modifications to either the DNA itself or to the histone proteins with which DNA is packaged in the chromosomes. These modifications or "marks" change gene expression, turning genes on or off. In their experiments with C. elegans, researchers in Susan Strome's lab at UC Santa Cruz have focused on histone marks, modifications to specific amino acids in the tails of histone proteins. Strome, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, said the new study addressed a central question in the field of epigenetics. "It's a very direct question: Does inheriting sperm chromosomes with altered histone packaging of the DNA affect gene expression in the offspring? And the answer is yes," she said. First author Kiyomi Kaneshiro, a graduate student in Strome's lab who led the study, said C. elegans is a good model for studying this question because histone packaging is fully retained in the worm's sperm chromosomes. In humans and other mammals, histone packaging is only partially retained in sperm. "There is debate over how much histone packaging is retained in humans, but we know it is retained in some developmentally important regions of the genome," Kaneshiro said. Researchers have focused on epigenetic inheritance in the paternal line because the sperm contributes little more than its chromosomes to the embryo. The egg contains many other components that may influence the development of the embryo, making it harder to tease out epigenetic effects in the maternal line. In her experiments, Kaneshiro selectively removed a specific histone mark from sperm chromosomes, then fertilized eggs with the modified sperm and studied the resulting offspring. A crucial innovation was to use sperm and eggs from two different strains of C. elegans, which enabled Kaneshiro to distinguish between the chromosomes inherited from the sperm and those inherited from the egg. She chose worm strains from Britain and Hawaii that had evolved separately long enough to accumulate many small genetic differences (called single nucleotide polymorphisms). "The dads were British and the moms were Hawaiian, and there are enough differences between them that we could distinguish between the two parental genomes in the cells of their offspring," Kaneshiro said. "Through this hybrid system, we were able to see differences in gene expression that were a direct result of the changes in histone marks on the sperm chromosomes." Furthermore, those changes in gene expression had developmental consequences. With removal of the histone marks, the sperm chromosomes lost a repressive signal that normally keeps certain genes from being active in the offspring's germline (the cells that give rise to eggs and sperm). Kaneshiro observed that the offspring's germline cells turned on neuronal genes and began developing into neurons. The particular histone mark removed in these experiments is a widely studied epigenetic mark found in animals ranging from worms to fruit flies to humans. "This mark is found on the histones that are retained on sperm chromosomes in humans," Kaneshiro said. The new findings show that inherited epigenetic marks affect gene expression and development. But the study involved artificially changing the marks on the sperm chromosomes. What remains to be understood is how environmental effects on an adult organism could alter epigenetic marks in its germline cells, making it possible for those environmental effects to be transmitted to subsequent generations. "Our findings raise the possibility that histone marks are carriers for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance," Kaneshiro said. "We know that the environment an organism experiences can change gene expression patterns in somatic cells [non-germline body cells]. If it changes gene expression patterns in the germline, we expect that those changes can be inherited, but we haven't shown that yet." Explore further Study documents paternal transmission of epigenetic memory via sperm China has agreed to provide Morocco an economic and technical assistance worth over $14.5 million destined to finance public projects to be decided by the two partner countries. An agreement was signed in this regard Tuesday in Rabat by Moroccan minister of economy and finance Mohamed Benchaaboun and Chinese ambassador in Rabat LI L. Speaking on this occasion, Benchaaboun thanked the Chinese government for its interest in the economic and social development of Morocco. He also commended the quality of the projects carried out in the country with the financial support of China, praising the growing Chinese investment in the North Africa Kingdom and the increasing number of Chinese tourists visiting Morocco. For his part, ambassador Li said this financial contribution will enable the two countries implement jointly in the near future pilot projects in key sectors such as information & communication technology and education. Chinese investments in Morocco have soared following King Mohammed VIs visit to China in 2016 during which the two countries agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership. Last year, Morocco and China had agreed to set up an academic institute, which will conduct studies on the Belt and Road initiative. Morocco was the first African nation to join the initiative in 2013, seeking to connect Asian, European and African countries more closely. Thanks to its modern infrastructures, close ties with African economies and its advanced ports and free zones, Morocco offers a strategic export hub for Chinese businesses willing to expand in Africa. Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of researchers at Universite Paris Diderot has found evidence that suggests humans are able to detect via smell which partners are genetically preferable. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes their study of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in people, and the ability to detect it via smell. Prior research has shown that animals, including humans, are more successful from a genetic perspective when they mate with a partner that is genetically dissimilar in key ways. One of those differences is the makeup of their MHCa cluster of genes that plays an important role in immune function. When two people with dissimilar clusters mate, their offspring gain the benefits of both parents. In recent years, medical researchers have suspected that people are able to "sense" the makeup of a potential mate's MHC, and that people tend to find those with dissimilarities more attractive. It was assumed that if this were the case, that the olfactory system was responsible. The researchers with this new effort note that several studies have been conducted that were designed to determine if such theories were correct, but the results have varied widely. To find out once and for all, they conducted a larger, more thorough study. The work involved analyzing data from the Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes managed by NIH. The researchers report that they were able to use genome-wide data from over 800 couples living in Europe and the Middle East (Israel)more specifically, they were able to see how similar their MHCs were. The researchers report that on average, the MHCs between couples in Europe were dissimilarmore so than could be accounted for by randomness. They also noted that such differences were the most pronounced in couples living in the Netherlands. But they also report that they found no such degree of dissimilarity for couples living in Israel. The researchers suggest their findings provide strong evidence of a human ability to smell MHC in other humans and to prefer mates with dissimilarities. They suggest such a preference can be overridden by cultural practices, however, such as those found in Israel, where mate choice is limited due to social standing or family practices. Explore further Opposites attract -- how genetics influences humans to choose their mates More information: Claire Dandine-Roulland et al. Genomic evidence for MHC disassortative mating in humans, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Claire Dandine-Roulland et al. Genomic evidence for MHC disassortative mating in humans,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2664 2019 Science X Network A new social work study is examining the extent of homelessness on campus. Research suggests up to 70,000 post-secondary students in Canada could experience homelessness. Credit: Ewan Nicholson, for the University of Calgary We've all heard stories about them. They couch-surf, find warm classrooms to sleep in, and stay awake half the night to avoid security. They're the student homeless. A new cross-Canada SSHRC-funded social work study is seeking to discover how big an issue student homelessness is. "For all of the talk about stresses students face completing their education," says Faculty of Social Work professor Dr. Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff, PhD, "We don't know the extent to which they're willing to sacrifice security." Schiff says anecdotal evidence from the U.S. suggests students experiencing homelessness is a bigger issue than most people realize. She adds that while most people tend to conceptualize the homeless as somehow "apart" from mainstream society, it's more difficult to ignore this population. "With student homelessness," says Waegemakers Schiff, "we're looking at people who are trying their best to get the educational qualifications that will help them to move on in life. They're obviously hugely impacted in a negative way when they don't know where they're going to live or where are they going to find their next meal." Short survey could lead to real change The researchers are hoping all UCalgary students will take a moment to complete a short, anonymous, survey. The study is being led by Dr. Eric Weissman, PhD from the University of New Brunswick, with data coming from several campuses across Canada. "The survey is short enough that it won't take long for students to complete," says Waegemakers Schiff, "but it will let us know about not only housing insecurity, but also food insecurity and whether there are any other mental health or other stressors that students are facing." The researchers say that besides capturing the extent of the post-secondary homeless issue, the survey will also provide data to agencies such as campus food banks, showing the real need, and to university leadership who might better understand interventions to help students experiencing homelessness. Explore further AMA adopts new policy on housing for homeless Nature Index 2019 Japan. Credit: Springer Nature Japan's contribution to high-quality scientific research fell by 19.9 per cent between January 2012 and October 2018 according to the Nature Index. But efforts to increase international collaboration, seen as one way to address this trend, are paying off. Since 2014, the proportion of articles from journals tracked by the Index with international co-authors originating from Japanese institutions has increased from 46 to 56 per cent. This supplement, published today, discusses the role that international collaboration has in boosting high-quality research output from Japan and also outlines the major changes needed for Japan to become an attractive research destination for international scientists. An overview article outlines how Japan is seeking to boost its scientific research performance by transforming its universities to better accommodate international collaboration. Then, six scientists with exceptionally strong research links outside Japan describe how they are bringing global research to Japan and taking Japanese research to the world. David Swinbanks, Founder of the Nature Index, said: "For decades Japanese academics and government science policymakers have talked of the need to internationalize Japan's science and it is encouraging to see some significant steps forward on this front in recent years, albeit against a backdrop of an ongoing decline in high-quality research output." Further features in the supplement include an interview with two leading female Japanese researchers who call for more women to seize opportunities to become leaders and principal investigators. Finally, an article on academia-industry partnerships discusses the barriers to getting the two sectors to work more closely together in Japan. The Nature Index 2019 Japan is based on data from natureindex.com, covering articles published during the period 1 January 2012 to 31 October 2018. All references to the year 2018 in tables and graphs include data for the 12 months preceding 31 October. The Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The index tracks contributions to research articles published in 82 high-quality natural science journals, chosen by an independent group of researchers. The Nature Index provides absolute and fractional counts of article publication at the institutional and national level and, as such, is an indicator of global high-quality research output and collaboration. Data in the Nature Index are updated regularly, with the most recent 12 months made available under a Creative Commons licence at natureindex.com. The database is compiled by Springer Nature. The Nature Index metrics The Nature Index provides several metrics to track research output and collaboration. These include article count (AC), fractional count (FC), and multilateral and bilateral collaboration scores. A country/region or an institution is given an AC of 1 for each article that has at least one author from that country/region or institution. This is the case regardless of the number of authors an article has, and it means that the same article can contribute to the AC of multiple countries/regions or institutions. FC takes into account the relative contribution of each author to an article. The maximum FC per paper is 1, and this is shared between all authors under the assumption that each contributed equally. For instance, each author on a paper with 10 authors would receive a FC of 0.1. The multilateral collaboration score (MCS) is an indicator of collaboration between multiple institutions and can be calculated for an individual institution or a group of institutions. MCS takes account of the number of collaborating institutions on a given article, so it can be added across multiple institutions, always resulting in a total FC of 1 for each article. The bilateral collaboration score (CS) between two institutions A+B is the sum of each of their FCs on the papers to which both have contributed. A bilateral collaboration can be between any two institutions or countries/regions co-authoring at least one article in the journals tracked by the Nature Index. "I hope the new intra-American Slave Voyages database inspires more educational institutions to focus on the interconnectedness of slave trading across Atlantic empires," says Alex Borucki, UCI associate professor of history and co-principal investigator. " It adds to the scholarship on the slave trade and provides new insights into how people experienced their captivity." Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI Blending the power of big data and history, an expanded and redesigned version of Slave Voyages one of the most utilized resources in the digital humanities is now available. Housing both trans-Atlantic and intra-American slave trade databases, the Slave Voyages website illuminates the ubiquity of the slave trade from the 16th century to the 19th century. A research team co-led by the University of California, Irvine focused on the intra-American database, adding 11,400 records on slave voyages within the Americas stretching from Boston to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and involving both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. "Arrival on the Atlantic coast didn't mark the end of the crossing for at least 20 percent of captives, who soon boarded ships for distribution throughout trade routes within the Americas," said Alex Borucki, a UCI associate professor of history who co-led the expansion of the intra-American database. Funded initially by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2016, Borucki and co-principal investigator Gregory O'Malley, associate professor of history at UC Santa Cruz, set out to broaden the scope of the open-access Slave Voyages website to promote scholarly and public awareness of how the traffic of enslaved Africans and their descendants shaped several regions of North, Central and South America. Borucki contributed much of the data from his own research, including nearly 750 entries on voyages from Brazil to Argentina and Uruguay from journal articles and his book From Shipmates to Soldiers: Emerging Black Identities in the Rio de la Plata (University of New Mexico Press, 2015), as well as an additional 250 entries on forced journeys from the Caribbean to Venezuela from his planned book Slaves, Silver & Atlantic Empires: The Slave Trade to Spanish South America, 1680-1810. "This project encouraged me to contact scholars who study the slave trade in Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico," Borucki said. "This is truly a collective endeavor involving scholars from Latin America, Europe and the United States, and the number of database entries will continue to increase as additional researchers and the public contribute." For the more than 1,000 scholars and interested individuals who visit Slave Voyages daily, the enhanced website brings history to life with new features including videos, maps and 3-D animation. "I hope the new intra-American Slave Voyages database inspires more educational institutions to focus on the interconnectedness of slave trading across Atlantic empires," Borucki said, "given that the website now offers full translations in Spanish and Portuguese that will increase usage in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Africa." A cross-UCI and -UC system collaboration, expansion of the intra-American database also involved UCI history graduate students Katherine Cosby, Shoshanna Lande and Max Speare; and UCI economics graduate student Fabrizio Marodin. They played a vital role in information gathering, data curation and translating into Spanish and Portuguese essays introducing the improved database. The Slave Voyages website was founded 10 years ago by Emory University, which continues to host it. Explore further A digital archive of slave voyages details the largest forced migration in history Female mountain lion, P-19, taken in February 2015. Credit: National Park Service Two isolated mountain lion populations in southern California's Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains are at risk of local extinction, perhaps as soon as within 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. The study showed the extinction risk is due to low genetic diversity and mortality that affects the stability of the population. Mountain lion mortality is often caused by humans, but can also result from changes in the environment, such as wildfire and fluctuations in prey density. The two mountain lion populations in the human-dominated landscape of southern California are isolated by freeways and development. For the study, lead author John Benson of the University of Nebraska and co-authors at UCLA, the University of California, Davis, the National Park Service, the University of Washington, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Wyoming used population viability modeling to predict the possibilities of extinction from genetic and demographic risk factors. "It's easy to read our paper as yet another pessimistic story about wildlife threatened by human actionsand in a sense that is true," said Benson. "However, there is also a more optimistic message in that our model predicted that these populations can persist with relatively modest increases in landscape connectivity. If we can maintain healthy populations of mountain lionsa species that roams widely and requires such large spaceshere in greater Los Angeles, that bodes well for our ability to conserve large carnivores anywhere." Mountain lion cubs P-52 (left) and P-50 were born in June 2016 and were among two litters of kittens found by National Park Service researchers in the eastern Santa Susana Mountains. Credit: National Park Service Inbreeding a concern Both mountain lion populations have very low genetic diversity as a result of inbreeding, which is inevitable given the lack of connectivity between the mountain ranges and surrounding areas. Genetic diversity in these two populations is expected to rapidly decline over the next 50 years, which raises concern about inbreeding depressiona phenomenon in which survival and reproduction of animals decline due to low genetic diversity. When the researchers simulated the effects of inbreeding depression in the two populations, the model predicted that rapid extinction was almost certain. Mountain lions in Southern California are isolated from each other due largely to urban sprawl and freeways that disconnect their populations. Credit: Johanna Turner The model predicted generally similar dynamics in the two populations, but the research also revealed differences driven by greater population size and higher mortality in the Santa Ana Mountains. Efforts underway, more needed "Our research has shown that the mountain lions in the coastal Santa Ana Mountain Range are primarily put at risk by restriction of their movement across Interstate 15, and their high mortality rates from vehicle collisions and being killed after they have killed unprotected pets or livestock," said T. Winston Vickers, report co-author and associate veterinarian at the University of California, Davis' Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center. "Efforts are underway with highway engineers to improve wildlife crossing structures or build new ones on both the I-15 and 101 freeways to enhance movement into and out of both mountain ranges." The research highlighted that conservation of large carnivores, including mountain lions, is achievable within urbanized landscapes. But this requires effort. Land protection, connection between the lands and strategies to promote coexistence with humans are necessary to prevent the extinction of these top predators. "It was interesting to see the differences between the two populations, such as the higher mortality rates in the Santa Anas, and sobering to see the fast rates of extinction predicted for both populations if serious inbreeding depression sets in," said co-author and National Park Service Wildlife Ecologist Seth Riley, who has been studying mountain lions in the Santa Monica mountains since 2002. "However, it's also really heartening to see how much of a difference increasing connectivity can make for these isolated populations." Explore further Freeways as fences, trapping the mountain lions of Los Angeles The role that social media played in the lead-up and execution of a deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand is being scrutinized closely by law enforcement officials, elected leaders, and scholars alike. But what about the role of the news media? That deserves equal attention, says John Wihbey, who is an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University. The nonstop, global coverage of every facet of the attack in New Zealand that left 50 people dead has created a media narrative that only serves to reinforce the conditions that lead to such violence, by making the issue seem more widespread than it is, says Wihbey, whose research focuses on the intersection of news and social media. Exclusively covering conflict and negativity creates a narrative that conflict and negativity are the norm, when in actuality they may not be, Wihbey says. "You have this relentless drumbeat of 'religious conflict,' 'internet polarization,' and the general sense that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, when the empirical facts don't bear that out," Wihbey says. In the days since the March 15 attack, major U.S. news outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Reuters, as well as international news outlets such as the BBC and Aljazeera have reported daily on the events. And while careful, in-depth reporting is necessary following a "worrisome and terrible" event like that in New Zealand, Wihbey says news media have a responsibility to ensure their coverage of broader issues, such as religious conflict, is proportional to how those issues bear out in the world. "What happened in New Zealand is a terrible situationthere's no doubt about that," Wihbey says. "But when you think about how many persons of different religions on that same day across the world had neutral or positive interactions with one another, the question becomes: How do we proportionately cover stuff like this?" In his forthcoming book, The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World, Wihbey makes the case that there have been moments throughout the last few decades when U.S. news media have fueled social issues by creating "false narratives" about them. He posits that mass incarceration prompted by a crime wave in the 1980s is one such issue. "We can find examples of the news media creating big cultural narratives that have huge consequences," Wihbey says. Breathless coverage of violent crime in the 1980s, combined with a failure by news outlets to report on a drop in crime in the 1990s, prompted lawmakers to introduce policy, such as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, that led to mass incarceration, he says. "The media has the power to create broad cultural understandings that shape the public discourse," he says. "It means that we may need to rethink the way we cover violence like this, to consider proportionality in reporting." Negative media portrayals of Muslim Americans can have adverse effects on how they view themselves as citizens and their trust in the U.S. government. In fact, these effects may be stronger than the impact caused by personal discrimination, according to a new University of Michigan study published in the Journal of Communication. "There has been an increasing concern regarding the extent to which racial and ethnic minorities in the United States identify as Americans and support American values," the U-M researchers wrote. "Although many of these concerns are targeted towards immigrants, even non-immigrant minorities face criticisms of being unpatriotic and disloyal to their American national identity." The researchers examined how young Muslim Americans' identification with their American and Muslim identities change over time as a function of discrimination and exposure to negative media coverage of their group. The sample involved 237 participants, many of whom identified as Arab and South Asian, and their answers were recorded in three waves collected before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Respondents replied to questions of being personally discriminated against, perceptions of news media coverage of Muslims, their strength of American and Muslim identification, and their trust in the U.S. government. Discrimination did not affect how respondents identified themselvesa finding that surprised researchers who initially thought this negative action would lower American identification over time. "One reason for this could be due to the increased media coverage of negative remarks made by several U.S. presidential candidates during the 2016 election," said study lead author Muniba Saleem, assistant professor of communication studies and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research. "This can increase the salience of media in people's minds as well as increase perceptions of group discrimination." Negative news about Muslims, however, significantly reduced the strength of respondents identifying as Americans and weakened their trust in the U.S. government. But neither discrimination nor negative news coverage influenced the respondents' strength of identification as a Muslim, the study showed. The researchers point to some limitations of their study, including not knowing how older adults would respond to identity threats (their research focused on younger adults), and uncertainty about how Muslim Americans who do not strongly identify as an American are likely to consider some news coverage as negative and biased when it is, in fact, neutral. The bottom line, which isn't surprising, according to the researchers: showing Muslims as terrorists and radical extremists in mainstream media can distance Muslims from successfully integrating within American society and further trusting in its political institutions. Explore further Negative news about Muslims fuels public policy support against them More information: Muniba Saleem et al, Social Identity Threats: How Media and Discrimination Affect Muslim Americans' Identification as Americans and Trust in the U.S. Government, Journal of Communication (2019). Journal information: Journal of Communication Muniba Saleem et al, Social Identity Threats: How Media and Discrimination Affect Muslim Americans' Identification as Americans and Trust in the U.S. Government,(2019). DOI: 10.1093/joc/jqz001 Credit: Wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock The school climate strikes show that young people want to fight climate change, but their enthusiasm for collective action is largely untapped. A volunteer conservation army could mobilise their talent and passion by channeling it into work to restore ecosystems. The Green New Deal endorsed by US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and numerous presidential candidates is a plan to eliminate carbon emissions in ten years, provide full employment in building clean energy infrastructure and redistribute wealth to tackle inequality. The Green New Deal has encouraged people to embrace radical solutions to climate change by sharing its name and ethos with the New Deal of the 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a transformation of America's economy which put thousands to work in manufacturing and redistributed wealth to help the country recover from the Depression. One of the first and most popular programmes of the New Deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) a public work relief programme that enlisted millions of young men in conservation work throughout the natural environment of the US. Reviving the scheme could prove a popular and effective way for countries to mobilise the climate strike generation in environmentally beneficial work. Historic success During the 1930s dust storms devastated the ecology of the Southern Plains in the US. Severe drought and a failure to apply shallow plowing to prevent wind erosion created the Dust Bowl, which forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families to abandon their farms, unable to pay mortgages or grow crops. Farm machinery buried in dust drifts, South Dakota, 1936. Credit: Sloan/Wikipedia Doing "the kind of public work that is self-sustaining" in the president's words, CCC members planted more than 2 billion trees on more than 40 million farm acres between 1933 and 1942. These trees acted as wind breaks and helped bind moisture in the soil halting the erosion that caused the Dust Bowl. Members also built flood barriers, fought forest fires and maintained forest roads and trails. By enlisting three million men aged between 18 and 25, the CCC helped restore and repair ecosystems throughout the US with hundreds of projects in forestry and conservation. The CCC made many Americans mindful of the sustainability of timber, soil and water for the first time and introduced them to the efforts needed to ensure their preservation. Today, most people are aware of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Through the internet, promoting awareness is certainly easier than in Roosevelt's era. But the environmental problems themselves are more serious and will require radical changes in society and the economy to overcome. Leaving behind the programme's legacy of racial segregation, a modern CCC could mobilise any young person who wants to get their hands dirty fighting climate change. Modern environmental repair A modern volunteer army of conservationists could get to work in every country, adjusting their efforts according to the environmental needs of each setting. The first task set could be in environmental monitoring collecting data on pollution and wildlife abundance. These surveys would provide invaluable information about the health of ecosystems and how they are changing. Ecosystems could then benefit from projects which reintroduce species and restore habitats. Mass tree planting could absorb atmospheric carbon and provide new habitat for returning wildlife. Wetlands coastal ecosystems which protect against sea level rise could be expanded with vegetation which would also create sanctuaries for migratory birds. Reintroduced beavers and other ecosystem engineers could act as animal recruits who create new habitats, such as dams and lakes, which allow even more species to thrive. Major tree planting areas on the Great Plains region of the USA, 1933-1942. Credit: U.S. Forest Service Planting trees around river banks in particular provides a food source for aquatic organisms and provides nutrient input to the system. Volunteers could build fencing around freshwater environments to prevent livestock entering the water and transferring organic material and fertiliser from the surrounding fields into the water. This can cause eutrophication which strips oxygen from the water, eventually causing mass dead zones in coastal waters where nutrient-loaded water is discharged. Legions of litter pickers in parks and on beaches could significantly reduce the amount of plastic pollution which reaches the ocean too. Volunteers could be trained to test water quality and take an active role in monitoring pollution and local sea life. In rural areas, building drystone walls without mortar encourages mosses and lichens to grow and provides nooks and crannies for birds, toads, newts and insects to set up home. For every tonne of cement manufactured and used in a traditional wall, approximately a tonne of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Building new infrastructure which uses as little as possible or entirely different materials could be another task for volunteers. Planting hedgerows could create corridors of vegetation which link wildlife to wooded habitat and provide food and shelter. Volunteers could also construct habitat highways corridors of vegetation which provide safe passage for wildlife under or over major road networks, allowing reproduction between populations to continue. As well as being rewarding and educational, young people taking part in the scheme would develop transferable skills. Working in nature has a positive impact on wellbeing and participants would also benefit from a healthy dose of exercise. The New Deal of the 1930s sought to tackle an environmental crisis while reorienting the American economy to delivering social justice. Today's Green New Deal could harness the same ethos, but to more ambitious ends, with a socially inclusive CCC that restores ecosystems and fights climate change. A new Purdue University process uses activated charcoal foam and subjects it to solar light to produce heat and purify produced water. Credit: Purdue University/Ashreet Mishra About 2.5 billion gallons of produced water, a byproduct from the oil refinery and extraction process, is generated each day in the United States. Handling that water is a major challenge in the oil refinery industry, particularly because it is deemed unusable for household and commercial use by the Environmental Protection Agency because of remaining contaminants. Several commercial treatments are available, but they are expensive, do not remove all traces of contaminants from water and can be energy-intensive. Now, Purdue University researchers have developed a process to remove nearly all traces of oil in produced water. The process uses activated charcoal foam and subjects it to solar light to produce heat and purify the water. The foam absorbs the oil contaminants from the water. The Purdue process was presented during the annual conference for the Produced Water Society in February. "This is a simple, clean and inexpensive treatment process," said Ashreet Mishra, a graduate research assistant at the Purdue University Northwest Water Institute. "I have seen in my home country of India how people suffer for the want of pure water, and we as researchers need to do as much as we can to help." The Purdue's team process also meets all EPA standards for clean water from industrial sources and had a total organic carbon of 7.5 milligrams per liter. Mishra said another advantage is that the oil absorbed by the foam can be recovered efficiently. The Purdue researchers were able to recover up to 95 percent of the oil that was absorbed. "This is the first-of-its kind method to do this purification in a single step simultaneously via a perforated foam," Mishra said. "Our process is able to address the cost and energy aspects of the problem." Mishra said the Purdue process could be integrated with existing disposal systems to purify a large amount of water and reduce the current stress on water grids. Researchers are working with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent the innovation, and they are looking for partners to continue developing it. Explore further Economical technique removes pharmaceuticals, chemical contaminants from public water systems Juan Tapiador from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez from IMDEA Networks Institute and the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) , are co-authors of this study together with other three researchers, one of which is from Stony Brook University of New York (USA). Credit: IMDEA Networks Institute Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the IMDEA Networks Institute, in collaboration with the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) at Berkeley (USA) and Stony Brook University of New York (USA), have carried out a study that encompasses 82,000 pre-installed apps in more than 1,700 devices manufactured by 214 brands, revealing the existence of a complex ecosystem of manufacturers, mobile operators, app developers and providers, with a wide network of relationships between them. This includes specialized organizations in user monitoring and tracking and in providing Internet advertising. Many of the pre-installed apps facilitate access to privileged data and resources, without the average user being aware of their presence or being able to uninstall them. The study shows, on the one hand, that the permission model on the Android operating system and its apps allow a large number of actors to track and obtain personal user information. At the same time, it reveals that the end user is not aware of these actors in the Android terminals or of the implications that this practice could have on their privacy. Furthermore, the presence of this privileged software in the system makes it difficult to eliminate it if one is not an expert user. These results are detailed out in an article that will be made public on April 1 and which will be presented at one of the main cybersecurity and privacy conferences worldwide, the 41st IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, California (USA) under the title An Analysis of Pre-installed Android Software. The Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos- AEPD (Spanish Data Protection Agency), which has contributed to the dissemination of this study because of the massive impact of the results on citizen privacy, will present the results before the European Commission for Data Protection. Other findings In addition to the standard permissions defined in Android and that can be controlled by the user, the researchers have identified more than 4,845 owner or personalized permissions by different actors in the manufacture and distribution of the terminals. This type of permission allows the apps advertised on Google Play to evade Android's permission model to access user data without requiring their consent upon installation of a new app. As for pre-installed apps on devices, 1,200 developers have been identified behind the pre-installed software, as well as the presence of more than 11,000 third party libraries (SDKs) included in the same. An important part of the libraries is related to advertising services and online tracking for commercial purposes. These pre-installed apps are executed with privileged permission and without being able, in the majority of cases, to be uninstalled from the system. An exhaustive analysis of the behavior of 50% of the identified apps reveal that many of them display potentially dangerous or undesired behavior. In relation to the information offered upon logging into a new terminal, the lack of the apps transparency and of the Android operating system itself is brought to light, upon showing the user a list of permissions different from the real ones, thereby limiting capacity for decision-making regarding personal data management. AEPD course of action In accordance with a press release from the AEPD, this national agency will present this study and its conclusions to the working subgroups of the European Commission for Data Protection (ECDP), a European Union entity that forms a part of the Agency, together with other European data protection authorities and the European Supervisor. Among the functions of the ECDP is the fostering of cooperation among data protection agencies. The Agency includes in the second central axis of its Strategic Plan (Innovation and Data Protection) the establishment of channels of collaboration with research groups, industry, and developers, with the objective of fomenting confidence in the digital economy in line with what is set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the Spanish Data Protection Agency, this study contributes to enabling manufacturers, developers and distributors to apply the principles of Privacy by Default and Design established in the GDPR and aimed at safeguarding the rights and freedom of individuals. Dissemination of the study undertaken by IMDEA Networks and UC3M forms part of these actions, independent of possible actions that may result from the powers and the coherent framework established by the GDPR. Explore further Free tools empower public in bid for online privacy More information: Julien Gamba et al. An Analysis of Pre-installed Android Software. To appear in the 41st IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P 2020) Julien Gamba et al. An Analysis of Pre-installed Android Software. haystack.mobi/papers/preinstal droidSW_preprint.pdf To appear in the 41st IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (IEEE S&P 2020) The first meeting of the Morocco-Rwanda High Joint Committee, which was crowned Tuesday with the signing in Rabat of twelve cooperation agreements, lays out a successful model of South-South cooperation, said Rwandas Foreign Minister Dr. Richard Sezibera. The relations between the two African countries are gaining momentum day after day and set the example of a successful South-South cooperation thanks to the far-sighted vision of the Heads of state of the two countries, stressed Mr. Sezibera who co-chaired the first meeting of the High Joint Committee with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita. The 12 agreements sealed on this occasion aim to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, industry, environment, sustainable development, justice, tourism, education and training of young diplomats. In press statements made during his trip to Rabat, Rwandas top diplomat lauded the return of Morocco to the African Union, saying that the Pan-African organization has become more dynamic since the North African Kingdom rejoined its African institutional family. King Mohammed VI and President Paul Kagame share a common vision for the development of the continent, and for building a strong, dignified and confident Africa. Relations between Morocco and Rwanda witnessed a turning point after the visits by President Paul Kagame to Morocco in June 2016 and by King Mohammed VI to Rwanda in October of the same year. The two leaders have not only set the course for bilateral relations, but also laid down an approach based on rigor, results and fulfillment of commitments. The Sangre de Cristo Range in the southern Rocky Mountains was formed as tectonic plates shoved their way inland from the coast between 50 million and 80 million years ago, according to new research. Credit: Jolante van Wijk, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology A new model built in part by a University of Alberta geophysicist contradicts a long-held idea about how the southern and central central Rocky Mountains were formed. Claire Currie was part of a team that developed a model of the flat-slab subduction process to illustrate the unique Laramide orogeny, a series of mountain-building events that occurred between 50 million and 80 million years ago. The team found that tectonic plates shoved their way inland from the coast, and that mountain building was caused by the increase in stresses at the edge of the continent. Previously, scientists had thought the flattening was marked by an eastward migration of volcanic activity, and that this caused deformation to occur in the continental interior by stresses on the bottom of the continent. "Our models show that the flattening caused the lowermost part of the continent to be 'bulldozed' and pushed inland," said Currie. "This resulted in the termination of volcanism above the subduction zone and triggered the mountain-building event by increasing the stresses at the continental edge." The model used robust information from various sources, including records of volcanic activity in the region, seismic images of Earth's interior and geological data about the timing and location of deformation. A visualization of the flat-slab subduction process that formed the southern and central Rocky Mountains, according to a new study. Credit: Claire Currie Currie and her colleagues then developed computer models to understand the dynamic processes behind the Laramide event, with the aim of improving understanding of similar processes elsewhere in the present-day world. "We believe similar processes occur elsewhere today, such as below Peru, Chile, Mexico and perhaps eastern Alaska," said Currie. "As a result, our work provides insight into the origin of deformation, earthquakes and volcanism in modern areas. We hope this will encourage new studies to test and refine the models." Currie explained these types of models can be valuable to governments and communities for creating emergency preparedness policies and procedures, and for understanding the geological setting for natural resources, such as hydrocarbon and mineral deposits. The research was conducted with Gary Axen and Jolante van Wijk from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The study, "Basal Continental Mantle Lithosphere Displaced by Flat-Slab Subduction," was published in Nature Geoscience. Explore further South American example illustrates Rocky Mountain formation More information: Gary J. Axen et al. Basal continental mantle lithosphere displaced by flat-slab subduction, Nature Geoscience (2018). Journal information: Nature Geoscience Gary J. Axen et al. Basal continental mantle lithosphere displaced by flat-slab subduction,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-018-0263-9 Scientists measure a giant bluefin prior to tagging In the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Credit: Hopkins Marine Station An array of underwater listening lines that detect passing giant Atlantic bluefin tuna previously caught and tagged by scientists has created a new system to monitor these enormous, fast, powerful and lucrative fish in the open ocean. A 10-year research project using the technology sheds light on the species' natural mortality as well as migration, important information for sustainable management of their populations. Results of the study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports demonstrates that giant Atlantic bluefin gather in hot spots for 3 to 4 months a year to feast on their favourite snack foodsherring and mackerel. Based on this behaviour, an international team of scientists predicted they might be able to take advantage of their homing behaviour to monitor the bluefin's coming and goings with Canada's Ocean Tracking Network (OTN)an array of underwater receivers on North America's east coast, including across the Cabot Strait and the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada. Additional receivers along the North American coastline logged visitation of the bluefin from Canada to the Bahamas, and as far east as Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Much like an electronic EasyPass collection system on tolled highways, the large bluefin "check in" as they pass across these acoustic "gates," providing an opportunity to monitor their behaviour in consecutive years. "Atlantic Bluefin are big animals and it took a team of fishers to catch each one individually and pull it up on the deck of their boats so scientists could electronically tag them. By carefully handling the animals, the team was able to tag each tuna with a long-term wearable device, and then record the return of mature and sub-adult Atlantic bluefin tuna for 1-5 years. "The project utilized the OTN underwater receiver technology that was deployed in strategic locations to capture the coming and goings of multiple species of fish in Canadian waters" said Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University, the leader of the project. Each tag emits a unique, coded "ping" which can be detected as an individual ID number, and stored by an array of underwater receiversallowing them to identify the passage of an individual tagged tuna. One such receiver "gate" lies across the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence across the Cabot Straight, and a second line has been installed on the continental shelf off Halifax, Nova Scotia. A 10-year research project using tags and listening lines in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence sheds light on the species' natural mortality as well as migration, important information for sustainable management of their populations. Credit: Hopkins Marine Station Once a year, data collected on these receivers is downloaded by scientists from Canada's OTN. The data enabled the team to create a quantitative model of their natural survivorshipa parameter difficult to directly measure empirically that provides information on how long bluefin tuna of the age class tagged (on average ~14 years old) survive in the wild. "It was a high risk project. No one was completely sure they'd come back with this precision as you have to be relatively close to the receiver to get the data," Block said. "By putting the acoustic tags out year after year in small numbers for almost a decade, and securing the tags tightly to the fish, we have been able to literally count the experimental fish coming into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in summer and detect their exit in the fall." Starting in 2009, scientists tagged 128 individual Atlantic bluefin tuna with acoustic tags. The first tags were placed on giant bluefin just as the receiver gate was constructed across the Cabot Strait, and this effort has continued ever since, with tags being deployed on approximately 4-25 fish per year and detections continuing to the present for more recent cohorts of tagged fish. Some of these fish were very large- including one whose length measurements on the deck of the vessel put it over 1,350 lbs (614 kg). Over 31,000 detections were picked up by receivers from Canada to the Bahamas, and all the way to Gibraltar. "Atlantic Bluefin have an uncanny ability to return with precision to the same ocean areas they were in the year before," said Dr. Mike Stokesbury of Acadia University. "We had observed this fidelity previously with satellite tags. We utilized acoustic tag technology created by Vemco, of Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada, to track the fish as they passed above the receiver gates." The study results provide a novel way to monitor the adult bluefin tuna populations as fisheries quotas rise. These are the fish that primarily go to spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, and contribute to the next generation of bluefin tuna. A spatially-structured Bayesian mark recapture model was applied to the acoustic detection data for Atlantic bluefin tuna electronically tagged in the GSL to estimate the rate of instantaneous annual natural mortality. This analysis showed that tagged bluefin tuna had over 90% natural survivorship one year post tagging and the technique potentially has the capacity to keep track of an individual for 5-10 years. Canada's Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), which includes listening lines across the Cabot Strait and the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, forms part of an array of underwater receivers on North America's east coast. Additional receivers along the North American coastline let scientists log visitation of the bluefin from Canada to the Bahamas, and as far east as Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: Barbara Block et al "Not many things are eating a giant bluefin" remarked Mike Stokebury. He adds that the experiment demonstrates that acoustic tags can provide vital fisheries independent estimates for life history parameters critical for improving stock assessment models. Atlantic bluefin tuna are fished by over 50 nations, and are currently managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Current total allowable catches (TACs) are 28,200 tonnes in the eastern Atlantic and 2,350 tonnes in the West Atlantic. Significant increases in TACs are projected in the next few years, particularly in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea where quotas are on target for 36,000 tonnes by 2020. Despite their economic importance, little is known about the natural survival of bluefin populations, a key parameter for building population models that predict their future numbers in the Atlantic Ocean. Natural survival has so far proven difficult to estimate, but this research provides a new way to refine this estimate. "The fidelity of these fish to the same spots combined with this large array of underwater receivers makes for a unique opportunity to learn about the survival of these fish under natural conditions, which is important for managing their populations sustainably" says Dr. Whitlock of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The scientists consider the project a "proof-of-concept" effort that demonstrates the strength of the technology and the novel capacity for building quantitative models that inform fisheries managers about the status of the populations. The team hopes to continue the study this coming year (dependent upon funding) and encourage an increased use of the electronic tag technology to improve modeling of tuna populations. Bluefin live a long time (~40 years) for a tuna species, and understanding the fate of the adults is important to understanding their life history. "Bluefin tuna are full of surprises, and I am fascinated with how each individual tends to have preferred routes no different than you or I. Bluefin tuna have favourite fast food hot spots where they like to go, and Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence attracts fish from both the North American and European population of tunas" Block explains. The scientists emphasize that the work would not have been possible without the enormous cooperation of a small group of commercial fishers around Murphy's pond, in Port Hood, Ca. The scientists dedicated the paper to Captain Steve McGinnis, a major participant in the study, who tragically lost his life last summer in an accident unrelated to the study, when out at sea catching Atlantic bluefin tuna with charter clients in the same area. "Stevie was an amazing fisherman and his contributions made this project the success that it has been, it's a great loss for this fishing community," Dr. Block remarked. Explore further Bluefin tuna are back around the UK and a new study explains why More information: Barbara A. Block et al. Estimating Natural Mortality of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Using Acoustic Telemetry, Scientific Reports (2019). Journal information: Scientific Reports Barbara A. Block et al. Estimating Natural Mortality of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Using Acoustic Telemetry,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40065-z How can large carnivores co-exist with human communities? By studying tigers and leopards in Nepal, Babu Ram Lamichhane argues that co-existence is possible if wildlife sites are well conserved while their impacts on humans are minimal and socially acceptable. Ph.D. defense 9 April. In our human-dominated world, wildlife habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented while protected areas are not sufficient to support viable populations of large carnivores. More and more large carnivores and humans have to share the same landscape. Lamichhane's research focused on the bio-physical and sociological aspects that allowed tigers, leopards and human communities to co-exist in Chitwan National Park (CNP) which is surrounded by highly inhabited villages. Reducing human-wildlife conflicts According to Lamichhane's study, the majority of tigers (>95%) who have their territory in or near the park avoid any conflict with humans. The remaining <5% of tigers who are involved in a conflict were mostly rebellious young tigers, outcasted and/or injured animals. "If such tigers can be timely identified and properly managed, human-tiger conflicts can even be more reduced", he argues. His research findings also show that large herbivores, such as elephants and rhinos, likewise attacked human communities in CNP. Yet, wildlife caused a substantial impact in terms of safety threats and economic losses, but an increase in the wildlife population did not cause a respective rise in incidents. Biological needs of carnivores "In order to create a co-existent situation in practice, the biological needs of carnivores should be considered." He explains: "It's important to manage the habitat mosaics which facilitates the diverse prey species and to ensure the connectivity between protected areas to ease dispersal. Large carnivores in fringe areas have to be regularly monitored, and possible conflict-causing individuals have to be identified and managed in order to reduce conflicts." Enhancing social tolerance of local communities Lamichhane further stressed that the tolerance of local communities can be enhanced by ensuring that people benefit from the conservation of large carnivores. "You can, for example, allocate a buffer zone around the parks/reserves where large carnivores get refuge habitats and communities are (quickly) compensated for wildlife impacts. Integrating the local community's livelihood into carnivore conservation also facilitates the desired coexistence. And community education and awareness programs are necessary for enhancing society's understanding of the value of wildlife." Based on his research in Nepal, he concludes that human-carnivore coexistence in a human-dominated landscape is possible if both the humancarnivore and the humanhuman interactions are well managed. Toyota said build a new hybrid car at its Welsh plant in Deeside and its factory in Burnaston, central England Toyota on Wednesday said it will build a new hybrid car in Britain for Japanese peer Suzukia welcome boost for the UK auto sector which has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. "Seeking to produce additional volume for other customers is one example of all the efforts we are making to keep our UK manufacturing operations as competitive as they can be" in the face of Brexit, said Toyota's head of UK operations, Marvin Cooke. Toyota expects production to start in late 2020 at its Welsh plant in Deeside and its factory in Burnaston, central England. Just two weeks ago, Toyota Europe's CEO warned the firm could end production in Britain by 2023 should the country exit the European Union without a deal. Cooke repeated Toyota concerns in Wednesday's statement. "We have consistently said for the medium to longer term, continued free and frictionless trade and common automotive technical standards will be essential to support the international competitiveness of the UK automotive sector." But he added that Wednesday's announcement by the Japanese car giant, which employs more than 3,200 people across its two plants in Britain, "demonstrates Toyota's trust" in the local workforce. Toyota said it would supply hybrid electric vehicles to Suzuki based on the Toyota Corolla Wagon. The news is in contrast to Japanese rival Nissan, which recently said it would stop production of Infiniti cars at its factory in Sunderland, northeast England, and cancel the plant's plans for the X-Trail SUV. Japanese peer Honda has also curbed investment in Britain, and plans to close its UK car plant in southwest England in 2022 with 3,500 job losses. In case of a no-deal Brexit, the British government last week said UK-based carmakers reliant on EU supply chains would not face tariffs for imported vehicle parts. However, UK car industry body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, responded that a no-deal would spark disruption and job losses in a sector already plagued by collapsing demand for high-polluting diesel vehicles. Britain has asked EU leaders to delay Brexit until June 30, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, the eve of an EU summit in Brussels. The UK had been scheduled to depart on March 29 but the British parliament twice rejected a divorce deal agreed between May's Conservative government and Brussels. Wednesday's announcement by Toyota and Suzuki meanwhile builds on a memorandum of understanding between the pair in 2017 to work closely together on projects, while maintaining their independence and competitiveness. "Toyota and Suzuki, in addition to bringing together Toyota's strength in electrification technologies and Suzuki's strength in technologies for compact vehicles, intend to grow in new fields, such as joint collaboration in production and in the widespread popularisation of electrified vehicles," the two companies said in a joint statement. 2019 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain A new study reveals that young hen harriers in England suffer abnormally high mortality compared to populations in Orkney and mainland Scotland and provides compelling evidence that the most likely cause is illegal killing in areas associated with grouse moor management. Published today in Nature Communications, this paper represents the culmination of a 10-year Natural England study involving 58 satellite tagged hen harriers. The analyses have been led by the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cape Town with the provision of land use data by the RSPB. The study showed the likelihood of hen harriers dying, or disappearing, was ten times higher within areas predominantly covered by grouse moor, compared to areas with no grouse moor. The study revealed that 72 percent of tagged harriers were either confirmed or considered very likely to have been illegally killed. The hen harrier, sometimes called the 'skydancer' because of its amazing acrobatic display in the breeding season, is one of England's rarest birds and is legally protected. Illegal killing of hen harriers has long been thought to limit their population size, but identifying the scale of these crimes and their impact on harrier populations has been difficult because they occur in remote areas and evidence is likely to be destroyed, thus successful prosecutions are rare. This long-term study has enabled patterns of disappearances to be assessed across a large number of birds. This provides overwhelming evidence that illegal killing is occurring on some grouse moors, where some gamekeepers view hen harriers as a threat to their grouse stocks. Stephen Murphy from Natural England led the data collection. He said: "Natural England welcomes the publication of this study, which demonstrates the value of tagging as a legitimate conservation tool. These analyses are a significant step in understanding the fate of tagged hen harriers, and confirm what has long been suspected that illegal persecution is having a major impact on the conservation status of this bird." Professor Steve Redpath, Chair in Conservation Science at the University of Aberdeen, added: "The illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors has long been discussed, but is an issue that has proven challenging to quantify. Now, new technologies are allowing us to get better insights into what is going on. Our analysis points the finger at continued illegal killing on grouse moors across the north of England. These findings increase the pressure on grouse moor managers, conservation organisations and government agencies to find a solution that ends this illegal activity." Natural England will continue its satellite tracking work to further improve understanding of hen harrier movements and behaviour, and continues to work with landowners and partners to change perceptions and find ways of enabling hen harrier populations to increase. Explore further Hen harriers and red grouse: Finding common ground in a persistent conflict More information: Patterns of satellite tagged hen harrier disappearances suggest widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors. Nature Communications doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09044-w Journal information: Nature Communications Patterns of satellite tagged hen harrier disappearances suggest widespread illegal killing on British grouse moors. The Moroccan delegation heads to Geneva this Wednesday to participate in a second roundtable on the Sahara, organized by the UN Secretary Generals Personal Envoy Horst Kohler, March 21-22. Besides the Moroccan delegation, led by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, delegations from Algeria, the Polisario, and Mauritania, will take part in the meeting. This second roundtable is held in accordance with the provisions of the latest Security Council resolution (2440), adopted on October 31, 2018. In the resolution, the Security Council called upon the parties to demonstrate political will in order to advance the negotiations, emphasizing the importance of an enduring political solution based on compromise. The council encouraged all participants in the roundtable, namely Morocco, Algeria, the Polisario, and Mauritania, to cooperate more fully with the United Nations and with each other, to strengthen their involvement in the political process and to achieve progress towards a political solution. In that regard, they expressed support for the Personal Envoy and called on the parties to engage constructively with him. The Moroccan delegation to the Geneva II roundtable will include the same members that took part in Geneva I last December. These are Foreign Minister Bourita; Moroccos Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Omar Hilale; President of the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region, Sidi Hamdi Ould Errachid; President of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, Yenja El Khattat; and member of the City Council of Smara and community activist Fatima El Adli. The Algerian delegation to Geneva II will be led by newly appointed Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, well known for his hostility towards Morocco. As Algeria is in turmoil with huge daily popular protests calling on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down and for a regime change, analysts were doubting the participation in the second roundtable on the Sahara of Lamamra who has been called to the rescue of a presidential clan that is falling apart. Yet, as put by one analyst, this participation speaks volumes about the place occupied by the Sahara issue on the Algerian regimes agenda as this issue seemingly comes way before the legitimate claims of the Algerians, who are not concerned by the Sahara but by their own internal political, economic and social problems. 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 Federal investigators at the site in Houston where an Atlas Air 767 crashed in February. Photo: NTSB A few weeks ago a Boeing jet was maneuvering near an airport when it abruptly nosedived and plowed into the ground at tremendous speed, killing everyone aboard. This was not the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 that has transfixed the world, however. It was an American plane, a 767, and its destruction in a muddy bay near Houston remains even more mysterious and, consequently, potentially more disturbing in its long-term implications. At 12:30 p.m. on February 3, Atlas Air Flight 3591 was near the end of a flight from Miami to Houstons George Bush Intercontinental Airport, carrying cargo for Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service. Two pilots were at the controls and another was riding as a passenger. A band of stormy weather lay across the route, and as the plane was descending from 8,500 feet, air traffic control advised the pilots to turn left from a northerly heading, in order to get around a band of precipitation. A different controller then said that theyd be given vectors to clear skies. One of the pilots replied, Okay. A few seconds later, the plane hit a patch of rough air. For reasons that are unknown, the flight crew throttled the engines up to full thrust, and then after the plane pitched slightly up, pushed the controls sharply forward until the plane was descending at a 49-degree angle about what youd encounter on the steepest of ski runs. The plane kept diving, even as cockpit warning systems called for the pilots to pull up. Security-cam footage shows the plane plummeting from 6,000 feet: Eighteen seconds after the trouble started, the plane smashed into the muddy waters of Trinity Bay, killing everyone aboard. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board on the incident caused a stir when it cited control input as the cause for the steep dive. Was this a case of pilot suicide, like the Germanwings pilot who programmed his Airbus A320 to fly into the side of a mountain in 2015? But its hard to imagine that, in the midst of trying to maneuver through and around bad weather, a pilot suddenly decided to commit suicide. A revised version of the NTSB report changed the language to a nose-down elevator deflection, which seemed to move responsibility away from the human pilots and raised the possibility that a malfunction, perhaps of the autopilot, could have been responsible. But there are no known autopilot modes that would behave like this. In online pilot discussion forums, a third idea has been gaining adherents: that the pilots succumbed to a phenomenon called somatogravic illusion, in which lateral acceleration due to engine thrust creates the sensation that one is tipping backward in ones seat. The effect is particularly strong when a plane is lightly loaded, as it would be at the end of a long flight when the fuel tanks are mostly empty, and in conditions of poor visibility, as Atlas Air 3591 was as it worked its way through bands of bad weather. The idea is that perhaps one of the pilots accidentally or in response to wind shear set the engines to full power, and then believed that the plane had become dangerously nose-high and so pushed forward on the controls. This would cause a low-g sensation that might have been so disorienting that by the time the plane came barreling out of the bottom of the clouds there wasnt enough time to pull out of the dive. It has been speculated that this might have been the cause of another bizarre and officially unsolved accident from three years ago: Flydubai Flight 981, which crashed 2016 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. That plane had been returning Russian vacationers from Dubai when it encountered bad weather and was unable to land. After circling for an hour and a half, the pilots attempted to land, then aborted the attempt, came around again for another attempt, and then aborted again. After climbing sharply, the plane pitched forward into a steep dive and smashed into the edge of the runway, killing all 62 people aboard. The crash of two 737 Max airplanes Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610 in quick succession is horrific, but in a way, this kind of disaster shows how the system is supposed to work: a mishap occurs, officials determine what happened, and then the problem is fixed so that future air travel will be safer. While its still too early to draw any kind of conclusions about Atlas Air 3591, the possibility exists that a firm conclusion will never be drawn and if it is, the cause could turn out not to be a design flaw or software malfunction that can be rectified, but a basic shortcoming in human perception and psychology that cannot be fixed as long as humans are entrusted with the control of airplanes. Republican lawmakers want to dissolve the people and elect another. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Earlier this week, Elizabeth Warren argued that the United States should abandon the Electoral College and elect its presidents by national popular vote instead. South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lambasted her proposal, arguing that it constituted nothing less than an attempt to make rural America go away politically. Many other conservatives echoed this charge. Abolishing the Electoral College would be devastating to a state like North Dakota. This is exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted to prevent when they wrote the Constitution. https://t.co/25Lhd87mZ3 Sen. Kevin Cramer (@SenKevinCramer) March 19, 2019 Also, popular vote means removing rural America from the political table. Not just diminishing then. Removing them. pic.twitter.com/AI4hZM4fIG Matt (@HYImp) March 19, 2019 Of course, abolishing the Electoral College would not actually disenfranchise rural-dwelling Americans. Establishing a national popular vote would (arguably) diminish the influence of such voters, since the Electoral College provides small rural states with a disproportionate share of electoral votes. But under such a system, rural Americans would still be overrepresented in the House and Senate while their voters would be of equal value to all others in presidential contests. Thus, Grahams ostensible position is that enacting any reform that leaves rural Americans with disproportionate influence over only one branch of the federal government instead of all of them is tantamount to targeted disenfranchisement, and an expression of the Democratic Partys contempt for voters who disagree with their policies. Meanwhile, in Florida: Floridas Republican-controlled Legislature is moving to roll back parts of a historic November constitutional amendment that reinstated voting rights for convicted felons, drawing sharp opposition from Democrats in a key 2020 presidential battleground The House bill that advanced Tuesday defines what crimes would disqualify someone from being allowed to vote. It also requires ex-prisoners to pay any court costs, fines or fees before their sentence can be considered complete and their rights are restored. The Florida GOPs latest machinations are even more nefarious than this excerpt from Politico makes them sound. For more than a century, Floridas constitution forbade ex-felons from casting ballots. In recent decades, this provision has effectively disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Floridians (were it not for the states felon-disenfranchisement law, Al Gore would almost certainly have prevailed in the 2000 election). In 2007, then-governor Charlie Crist signed a law that allowed former felons to regain the franchise, so long as their re-enfranchisement was approved by the states Parole Commission. He assumed that this would lead to the automatic re-enfranchisement all ex-offenders, save for those convicted of murder or violent sexual crimes. And under his leadership, 150,000 ex-felons regained voting rights. But when Republican Rick Scott came to office in 2011, he all but froze the policy in his eight years as governor, fewer than 3,000 formerly incarcerated Floridians regained the right to vote. Had Crists vision been fully implemented, more than 1 million additional Floridians would have been eligible to vote last November. Instead, on the day that Rick Scott won election to the Senate, and Republican Ron DeSantis won the governors mansion both by razor-thin margins roughly one-in-five African-American adults in Florida did not have the right to cast a ballot. (Extraordinarily, Marco Rubio and his Republican allies have subsequently claimed that Democrats tried to steal Floridas elections, citing minor irregularities in Broward Countys election administration, while ignoring the fact that their own Senate candidate directly barred hundreds of thousands of people from voting). Nevertheless, on that same Election Day, 65 percent of Florida voters approved an amendment restoring the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation. Starting in January, former felons in the Sunshine State began registering to vote. Many cast ballots in local elections last month. But now, Republicans in the Florida statehouse are pushing a bill that would throw some of these voters back off of the rolls. As noted above, the key provision in their legislation requires ex-convicts to pay off all court fees and fines before regaining the franchise. Republicans argue that ex-felons who have not repaid their literal debts have not completed all terms of their sentence a deeply counterintuitive reading of the ballot measures wording. Whats more, the bill makes no exception for ex-felons who are gradually paying off their debts through court-approved payment plans. If an ex-felon has enough wealth or income to pay off their debts in one lump-sum payment, then she will have the right to vote in Florida. If she is poor and thus, can only pay off her fines in monthly installments she will not. The term for a rule that restricts the franchise on the basis of a persons financial means is poll tax. As of this writing, Lindsey Graham has issued no statement condemning the House bill. Which is odd. After all, if Graham believes that it is wrong for Democrats to push election reforms that diminish rural Americans political influence even when doing so merely leaves them with equal influence to other kinds of voters how could he condone Republicans pushing laws that literally make Democratic-leaning voters go away politically? Otherwise, he would have to believe that rural Americans are entitled to disproportionate influence over every part of our government, but poor black people with criminal records are not even entitled to voting rights. And a high-ranking senator from one of our nations two (equally normal and legitimate) political parties couldnt possibly believe something so forthrightly racist and anti-democratic, right? Kirsten Gillibrand, New York senator and presidential hopeful, has got jokes. Shes not just a regular candidate, shes a cool candidate. On Wednesday, she posted a video on Twitter of her working out in Iowa in what appears to be a hotel gym. (Were going to overlook the fact that Gillibrand, apparently, has guns I think could crush me like an ant and suddenly Im feeling very self-conscious about how tired my noodle arms get carrying a bag of groceries home on the subway.) The joke here is her shirt. It reads, JUST TRYING TO GET SOME RANCH. Why is this funny? Well, I guess its funny in that ranch, the dressing, is funny? A salty liquid is funny. Whatever. Ranch! Ranch! Raaaaaaanch! HAHAHAHA! Dressing! Good to be back in Iowa. Do you like my new workout shirt? pic.twitter.com/0YVX0zZCvj Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) March 20, 2019 Its also funny in that the last time she was in Iowa, Gillibrand had something of a viral ranch moment when a video circulated of a young woman trying to make her way around Gillibrand, who was campaigning in a bar, the Airliner, announcing that she was attempting to get to the ranch dressing. I really was just trying to get to the ranch, Hanna Kinney, the woman in the video, told Intelligencer at the time. People were looking at me weird, which was when I said, Im just trying to get to the ranch. It was all the way in the back of the restaurant. I finally got through and when I came back holding a squirt ranch bottle I said something like, I got my ranch. People were literally yelling, Yes, queen, and, She got her ranch! I was just like, Thank you, Im going to go back upstairs now. And here's video of the woman "just trying to get some ranch," while Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaks to supporters in Iowa City. pic.twitter.com/6PRCVbbIQW DJ Judd (@DJJudd) February 19, 2019 See. Now you get why Gillibrands shirt is so funny and definitely not at all an attempt to shoehorn in another joke capitalizing on a previously, actually funny moment. Funny! Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it neither confirms nor denies possessing atomic weapons. Closing sentence from a Huffington Post article last year on Benjamin Netanyahu disparaging the Iran Nuclear Agreement . Closing sentence from aarticle last year on Benjamin Netanyahu disparaging the Iran Nuclear Agreement Is there something hypocritical about the world tolerating Israels nuclear arsenal, which the country does not officially acknowledge but has been publicly known for decades, and yet punishing Iran with severe economic sanctions just for its suspected steps toward a weapons program? Even Saudi Arabia, which sees Iran as its implacable enemy and made its accommodations with Israel long ago, often joins Tehrans calls for a nuclear-free region. And anyone not closely versed in Middle East issues might naturally wonder why the United States would accept Israeli warheads but not an Iranian program. From an article by Max Fisher for The Washington Post, December 2, 2013 Israels special bargain with the bomb, centered on amimut [nuclear opacity or nuclear ambiguity], is a microcosm of the larger Israeli predicament. The close relationship between the two, the Israeli condition and the bomb, can be seen in the metaphor that Israeli essayist Ari Shavit suggested, seeing the Israeli bomb as a glass greenhouse shield encapsulating and shielding Israels existence. As long as Israel exists in a hostile, conflict-ridden environment [which itself helped create and sustain if not exacerbate: so we have here something on the order of both a self-fulfilling prophecy and self-fulfilling sufficient condition], it needs a shield. But this shieldthis greenhouseis not a substitute for normalcy. The bomb is not a substitute for peace with and recognition by neighbors. In fact, the bomb is a manifestation of this abnormal situation. Israels bargain with the bomb reflects one of the great achievements of the Zionist enterprise. Avner Cohen * * * Its a known fact that Israel possesses quite a number of nuclear weapons (150-200; although a U.S. report in 2013 claimed Israel had 80 nuclear warheads, with enough fissile material for an additional 115 to 190 warheads) and believes itself to be entitled, alone in the Middle East, to possess such weapons. Israelalongside India and Pakistanhas never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and alone among nuclear-weapons states, it has never publicly acknowledged its nuclear arsenal nor openly demonstrated its nuclear capability. As Avner Cohen writes in The Worst-Kept Secret: Israels Bargain with the Bomb (2010), In Israel, to this day, the gap between nuclear conduct and basic democratic norms of open debate, the publics right to know, public accountability, oversight, and transparency remains vast. Furthermore, Israels possession of nuclear weapons has not led to a viable or successful deterrence strategy and policy. For example, it has not deter[red] Arabs from attacking it; nor is there evidence that it imposed limitations on Arab operational planning. (In fact, Arab states in the region have never had anything remotely close to a coordinated strategy and policy with regard to Israel, whatever the historical pan-Arab rhetoric of annihilation.) Among the adverse side effects of its nuclear weapons arsenal and related policy, Zeev Maoz notes that it was a major factor in accelerating a conventional arms race and in igniting a nonconventional arms race in the Middle East. While Israel was developing its nuclear potential (1957-67), inter-Arab relations were characterized by political and military discord, its decision to develop nuclear weapons coming at a time when the actual investment in military manpower and hardware by the key Arab states was marginal, to say the least. Maoz convincingly argues that each time Israel actually invoked its nuclear policy in a context of international crisis or war, its implied or explicit threats failed to achieve their intended aim. In short, the logic of last-resort deterrence that served as the strategic foundation of the nuclear project is logically self-defeating, because it renders incredible the threat of nuclear retaliation in any other circumstances. Perhaps implausibly, however, Maoz detects a silver lining: Israels nuclear policy could serve as a bargaining chip in bringing about a weapons of mass destruction free zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East, in the context of a comprehensive regional security regime. References and Further Reading Athanasopulos, Haralambos. Nuclear Disarmament in International Law . Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2000. Bernstein, Jeremy. Nuclear Weapons : What You Need to Know . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Blair, Bruce G. The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War . Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1993. Blix, Hans. Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. Bracken, Paul. The Second Nuclear Age : Strategy, Danger, and the New Power Politics . New York: Times Books, 2012. Busch, Nathan E. and Daniel H. Joyner, eds. Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction : The Future of International Nonproliferation Policy . Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2009. Cirincione, Joseph. Nuclear Nightmares : Securing the World Before It Is Too Late . New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Cohen, Avner. Israel and the Bomb . New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Cohen, Avner. The Worst-Kept Secret : Israels Bargain with the Bomb . New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. Cohen, Yoel. The Whistleblower of Dimona : Israel, Vanunu and the Bomb . Homes & Meier, 2003. Daley, Ted. Apocalypse Never : Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2010. Falk, Richard and David Krieger. The Path to Zero : Dialogues on Nuclear Dangers . Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2012. Gerson, Jospeh. Empire and the Bomb : How the US Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World . London: Pluto Press, in association with American Friends Service Committee, New England Regional Office, 2007. Green, Robert. Security Without Nuclear Deterrence . Christchurch, New Zealand: Astron Media and Disarmament and Security Centre, 2010. Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option : Israels Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy . New York: Random House, 1991. Jervis, Robert, Richard Ned Lebow, and Janice Gross Stein. Psychology and Deterrence . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Joyner, Daniel H. International Law and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Joyner, Daniel H., ed. Non-Proliferation Export Controls : Origins, Challenges, and Proposals for Strengthening . Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006. Joyner, Daniel H. and Marco Roscini, eds. Non-Proliferation Law as a Special Regime : A Contribution to Fragmentation Theory in International Law . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Karpin, Michael. The Bomb in the Basement : How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World . New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. Kavka, Gregory S. Moral Paradoxes of Nuclear Deterrence . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Lifton, Robert Jay and Richard Falk. Indefensible Weapons : The Political and Psychological Case against Nuclear Weapons . New York: Basic Books, 1982. Maoz, Zeev. Defending the Holy Land : A Critical Analysis of Israels Security and Foreign Policy . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2006. Ruggerio, Greg and Stuart Sahulka, eds. Critical Mass : Voices for a Nuclear-Free Future . Westfield, NJ: Open Media and Campaign for Peace and Democracy, 1996. Schell, Jonathan. The Seventh Decade : The New Shape of Nuclear Danger . New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007. Shue, Henry, ed. Nuclear Deterrence and Moral Restraint . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Wills, Garry. Bomb Power : The Modern Presidency and the National Security State . New York: Penguin Press, 2010. Wilson, Ward. Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Wittner, Lawrence S. The Struggle Against the Bomb , Vol. 1: One World or None : A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement through 1953 . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993. Wittner, Lawrence S. The Struggle Against the Bomb , Vol. 2: Resisting the Bomb : A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, 1954-1970 . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. Wittner, Lawrence S. The Struggle Against the Bomb, Vol. 3: Toward Nuclear Abolition: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, 1971 to the Present. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. Related Bibliographies Image: Germany is helping Israel to develop its military nuclear capabilities, SPIEGEL has learned. According to extensive research carried out by the magazine, Israel is equipping submarines that were built in the northern German city of Kiel and largely paid for by the German government with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The missiles can be launched using a previously secret hydraulic ejection system. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told SPIEGEL that Germans should be proud (It is increasingly obvious that social networks and cyber tools are making efficient autocrats, like China, even more efficient. But they seem to be making soft authoritarians, like Jordan, more fragile, and they are making Western democracies increasingly ungovernable.) Finally, men could dominate women through formal and informal religious, cultural and legal norms. But the recent high-profile cases of young women fleeing male control in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. spoke for many Arab women who are no longer so willing to submit to male guardianship. This is especially true because women in many countries, Jordan, for instance, are now out-graduating men in both high school and universities. However, without a change in the laws of marriage, inheritance, divorce and child custody all of which favor men all the women doing well in school will never be able to realize their full potential in the work force, where they are still badly underrepresented. Something has to give. Meanwhile, its hard for men to marry without a job. Having lots of men who have never held power, held a job or held a girls hand is a prescription for social unrest especially when theyre all on Twitter. Welcome to the new Middle East! Where does this go? Leaders across the region are learning that they cant rely on 20th-century tools to keep the populations quiet any longer, remarked Marwan Muasher , the former foreign minister of Jordan, who now oversees research on the Middle East at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 broke the fear taboo in many Arab countries, and the collapse in oil prices since 2014 has broken the money bargain. Citizens now declare: If you cant guarantee me a government job, I get to say whatever I want. Does that mean Jordan, for example, should change overnight to democracy? I asked Muasher . No, he said, but there has to be a process of greater power-sharing between the governments and the people and civil society institutions. You cant keep asking people to sacrifice, to give up government jobs and subsidies, to accept higher taxes, but still not have a real voice in their own governance. So, is all the new news bad news? Actually not at least in Jordan. King Abdullah has been slow to share power, but he remains a decent leader, trying to develop a decent country of 10 million that now hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees. His most important initiative may be his push seven years ago to launch a tech/start-up hub in Jordan that is also a new factor in the region. For the first time here you have hundreds of private-sector start-ups independent of the government working on social problems as business opportunities. Mike Gravel reading the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record in 1971, a characteristic act of showboating defiance. Photo: Screenshot via YouTube Andrew Yang isnt the only potential 2020 presidential candidate with notable support from the very young. Theres a very old politician (88 to be precise) who is the unlikely subject of a teen-led draft effort that has operated (with his consent) through his once-neglected Twitter account. I am considering running in the 2020 Democratic primary. The goal will not be to win, but to bring a critique of American imperialism to the Democratic debate stage. The website (https://t.co/j5qZdJoH7S) is under construction. Official announcement will be in the coming days. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019 Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. Splinter explained how this all happened: [David] Oks, a high school senior who has previously run for mayor of his small New York town, told Splinter that he and several friends are avid listeners of the Chapo Trap House podcast, which mentioned Gravel in a recent episode. About a week ago, he and a couple friends reached out to Gravel and asked if he would consider making another run for president. Their pitch was clear. My friends and I were encouraging him to consider running for president with the idea being that he would not try to contest any primaries, he would just try to get into the Democratic debates, he said. Oks and his friends were clearly inspired by Gravels performance in the 2008 debates, where he delivered a searing indictment of the vast majority of his fellow candidates for their support of the Iraq war and their continued commitment to American interventionism in the Middle East. Indeed, most everyone outside Alaska (which he represented in the U.S. Senate from 1969 until 1981) who has heard of Gravel probably remembers his virtually unfunded 2008 Democratic presidential candidacy, which, thanks to his Senate background, succeeded in getting him into early debates where he served as a bit of an antiwar gadfly. His hostility to U.S. interventionism, however, dated back to a much earlier moment of national notoriety, in 1971, when, as Dan Froomkin explained, Gravel entered 4,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record just before the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction on publishing them in the press. The papers, a collection of internal DoD memos and other materials documenting the planning and execution of the Vietnam War, offered a searing indictment of U.S. foreign policy, which is why the Nixon administration battled unsuccessfully to keep them secret. The dramatics of Gravels maneuver were typical of his Senate career, which showed considerable courage but also generated charges of showboating and insufficient attention to routine duties. His hostility to U.S. interventionism abroad has been his most consistent position (his own edition of the Pentagon Papers was edited and annotated by lefty anti-imperialist stalwarts Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn), but he annoyed progressives in Alaska by his steady support for development interests. In the end, his Senate career was perfectly bookended: He first won statewide office in 1968 by narrowly defeating Alaska icon Ernest Gruening (best known nationally as one of just two senators who voted against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution used by LBJ as authorization for the Vietnam War) in a primary campaign that was about generational change rather than issues, and then lost a 1980 primary to Gruenings grandson. He was ultimately replaced in the Senate by Frank Murkowski, father of current Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski). So theres a lot of ancient history associated with Gravels career, and a lot of what is generally called eccentricity. After his 2008 Democratic campaign sputtered to an end, he switched parties and unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian presidential nomination. Back in 1972, he drew attention to himself by openly campaigning to become his partys vice-presidential nominee (which might not have been a bad idea given George McGoverns disastrous choice of Thomas Eagleton, later forced from the ticket for undisclosed drunk driving charges and mental health treatments). In the broad context of this mans career, being drafted by teenagers into what sounds like an extended flame war against Democratic candidates for insufficient anti-imperialism fits right in. Rolling Stone records some early heat from the Gravel twitter account: The account has also fired off several scathing attacks of Gravels prospective opponents, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who kept innocent men on death row; Joe Biden, who voted for the Iraq War; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who likes to abuse American workers; and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who invented a drug dealer friend (and voted with Big Pharma). The account also attacked Bookers melodramatic performance during Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearing last year while touting Gravel reading the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record in 1971. Meanwhile, the account seems to favor Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), candidates it wants push toward more sensible views on political reform and foreign policy through the debate. Gravels apparent goal of recapitulating his 2008 debate performances could run into the clear objective requirements the DNC has set out for the first 2020 debate, limiting total participation to 20 candidates and setting minimum thresholds for poll showings or national fundraising ability. So his teen legions had better get a move on if they want to develop enough of a cult following to trump the Democratic fields septuagenarians with a debater who will turn 90 in 2020. 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According to the figures published Sunday, March 17, by the Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) at the Prowein show in Dusseldorf, Germany, champagne bottles sold globally declined by 1.8 percent to 302 million in 2018, though revenue moved higher by .3 percent to a record $5.6 billion as per bottle prices were inflated. "The fall in volume is becoming a bit worrying, with the slowdown in France and Britain not compensated by higher sales outside the European Union," CIVC co-president Jean-Marie Barillere told Reuters.France and Britain are about 60 percent of total sales by volume. French sales dropped 4.2 percent to 147 million bottles, with more bottles exported than consumed in France for the first time in a century. In Britain, sales dropped to $460 million, compared with $470 million a year earlier. Barillere said yellow vest protests had crushed tourism in Paris, and an economic slowdown in the country is hurting demand. "In view of Brexit's uncertainties, houses have exported more than the needs of the market generating stocks. In France, the effect 'yellow vests' end of the year has occurred in a more global climate of uncertainties," Barillere explained. Related: Global Banks Lay Groundwork To Re-Inflate Asset Prices Total French Champagne export sales moved up .6 percent to 155 million bottles, while total export revenue increased by 1.8 percent to $3.3 billion as big-name champagne companies, such as LVMH's Moet & Chandon and Pernod Ricard's Mumm, were hot sellers in Asia and the United States.In Britain, sales declined for the third consecutive year, mainly due to uncertainties surrounding the country's planned exit from the European Union. Volumes fell 3.6 percent to 26.8 million bottles with a total revenue of $460 million. Volumes had already collapsed by 11 percent in 2017 and 9 percent in 2016. Sales to the United States increased by 2.7 percent to 23.7 million bottles with revenues of $654 million. Sales to Japan were up 5.5 percent to 13.6 million bottles, while sales to Hong Kong and China, each accounting for 2 million bottles, were up 12 percent and 10.1 percent respectively. The most significant sales increase was seen in South Africa, where volume was up more than 38 percent to 1.1 million bottles. CIVC warned that Italian prosecco, which is three to four times cheaper, has been a strong competitor to champagne. While Brexit and yellow vest protestors have caused many economic uncertainties across the Eurozone, the champagne crisis in France and Britain is just another example of how the regional economy is headed for disaster. By Zerohedge.com More Top Reads From Safehaven.com: Valued at a mouthwatering $31 billion, Airbnb is now hinting that it might not IPO this year after allbut sometimes its better to wait to iron out a few kinds when youre a startup that is responsible for nothing short of revolutionizing travel. "We have already said that we are taking the steps to be ready to go public in 2019. That doesn't mean we will go public in 2019," Nathan Blecharczyk, an Airbnb cofounder, told Business Insider in an email interview. Just like Uber has been plagued with stories of rape, murder, theft and the like, Airbnb has its share of unfortunate events. There are always problems in the evolutionary chain, and in this case, expanding your travel options means sacrificing a layer of security, safety and accountability that would have with a hotel. The most recent upset was the publicity around the confession of the murder this week of a guest by an Airbnb host in Melbourne, Australia in 2017, when the host realized he was short $149 to pay his bill. the host, 42-year-old Jason Colton, has been sentenced to prison for 11 years after copping to manslaughter and testifying that he hadnt meant to kill his guest; rather, he had sought to render him unconscious. The guest, 36-year-old Ramis Jonuzi, was attacked in the home by Colton and two others who beat and strangled him to death. Airbnb has over five million listings on offer, and its not feasible to do security-related background checks on every property owner, especially when those listings span the globe. All you can rely on for accountability is user reviews. Its an evolutionary leap of faithand one that we really should be able to take. Still, the stories of murder and mayhem dont help when a startup is so close to going public. In December 2018, a security guard at an Airbnb villa in Costa Rica was arrested for the murder of a Florida woman who had been staying there. Her body was found in the woods near the villa, with evidence that the cause of death was blunt force trauma. The month before, a couple vacationing in Mexico died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their Airbnb rental thanks to a faulty heater. This latter incident is less likely to happen in the U.S. because Airbnb hands out free carbon monoxide detectors to anyone who asks for them, and the laws in the U.S. require all homes to have these detectors, so Airbnb requires all property owners to have them in order to be listed. Related: Tesla Looks To Jump Into Indian Market In the meantime, investors are growing increasingly anxious at the prospects of an Airbnb IPO, and many are likely still holding out for that to happen this year. But Airbnb still has a few things it wants to do, apparently, before going public. This year already, Airbnb has acquired Gaest and HotelTonight. The HotelTonight acquisition will give Airbnb another chance to increase growth and diversity because it adds an app for selling last-minute, unused inventory at boutique and independent hotels. Valued at $463 million in March 2017, HotelTonight is believed to be worth far more now. Whats up next? Possibly an investment in India. Reports have emerged this week that it may be planning to back an Indian hotel startup called Oyo to the tune of up to $200 million. The Indian startup is tearing it up latelyits even backed by SoftBanks Vision Fund. So, what about the IPO? Airbnb clearly has more acquisitions in mind to bolster its position before going public, so the overriding sentiment is that itll wait until 2020. By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com More Top Reads From Safehaven.com: Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China issued a guideline on March 19 to promote the application of methanol-fueled cars, diversify automobile fuels and ensure energy safety. Government will encourage a wider application of the M100 methanol-fueled vehicles in provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Gansu, where fuel resources are rich and methanol-fueled cars have been previously piloted, according to the document jointly issued by 8 governmental departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Public Security. Besides, China will also support the usage of methanol-fueled vehicles in such areas as official business, taxi, passenger transport for short haul and specific logistics transportation line. Meanwhile, local governments should actively create sound conditions for methanol-fueled car application, releasing preferential policies in purchase and operation for vehicles that meet the Stage 6 Emission Standard and relevant emission limit standards. The document also says relevant automakers and auto parts producers are encouraged to develop methanol-fueled PVs, CVs and non-road shop trucks and other power machineries to speed up the construction of manufacturing system. Additionally, government will encourage and support companies to research and develop methanol-fueled hybrid vehicles, range-extended EVs and batteries. Moreover, the file stated that relevant parties should make full use of inferior-quality coal, coal-bed gas and coke oven gas to produce methanol fuel and explore the technology of converting carbon dioxide into methanol fuel. Randi Weingarten, presidnet of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), speaking during the Los Angeles school teachers strike on January 15, 2019. Photo: Al Seib/LA Times via Getty Images The nations second-largest teachers union is getting ready for 2020. On Tuesday evening, the American Federation of Teachers rolled out its candidate endorsement process to approximately 30,000 members in a teletown hall, its first major foray into the nascent Democratic-primary race. As outlined on a new website, the process for this presidential cycle will differ in some respects to the unions previous approach. This years approach, which is more transparent and emphasizes internal democracy, indicates that the union intends to take its time before endorsing a candidate. Thats a change from 2015, when the AFT endorsed Hillary Clinton nearly a year before the Democratic National Convention officially crowned her the nominee. The move angered many on the left, who viewed it as a premature display of support for a candidate who ran to the right of her challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton, for example, has long supported the charter-school movement, which the union says it opposes. Sanderss views were murkier during his first primary run, but hes since emerged as a consistently vocal supporter of the teachers walkout wave, which was spurred, in part, by the proliferation of charter schools. With a plethora of Democrats running in this years primary race, AFTs rank-and-file members are even likelier to split their support among the available options, and the union seems to anticipate that possibility. Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, told New York on Tuesday evening that the unions endorsement would unfold as a four-step process, partly in response to earlier controversies; she spoke of trust issues, which arose from the unions handling of its 2015 endorsement. Some of it may be Russian bots, some of it may be from the Bernie camp, because our endorsement was earlier than what is typical, she speculated. This year, an official summary states, the first step will be to seek input from members, via polling and town halls. Candidates will then interact directly with members. Members get engaged and get involved. We ensure that people see the candidate and have a candidate who will walk in the life of members and answer questions, Weingarten explained. Step No. 3, she added, is different. Let members get engaged in different campaigns. Let them play for different candidates, she said. Let us have a lot of people on the floor of that Democratic convention. Thats spelled out explicitly in the AFTs revamped endorsement process, which encourages members to engage directly with the campaign of their choice before an official endorsement occurs. In addition, the union will require presidential candidates to engage directly and consistently with AFT members before its executive council votes in favor of any endorsement. The union is prepared to host national town halls, and hopes to increase member engagement digitally as well; a summary of the endorsement process floats Facebook Live and Twitter as possible platforms. It goes on to set out specific requirements for presidential candidates. The AFT will require candidates to engage directly with members in a live event if they wish to be considered for the AFTs endorsement, the summary states. Candidates can do that through town halls, or through a new initiative the union also announced on Tuesday evening. A spokesperson for the union said its first-ever Walk a Day campaign would give candidates an opportunity to join AFT members in the workplace possibly by helping to teach a class. The union says candidates will need to do more than show up to meet members or hand out worksheets to students. Theyll also have to adhere to certain policy standards, the union says, including but not limited to issues raised in a 2018 convention resolution. That resolution expresses support for universal health care, whether single-payer healthcare or Medicare for All, in addition to free tuition at public colleges, universal cost-free child care, and that taxation of the rich fully fund IDEA, Title I and state allocations to public colleges and universities. These commitments may become a stumbling block for the centrists in the race and rank-and-file educators, who have won a series of major recent labor victories, have no reason to compromise at the moment. In any year, the AFTs endorsement is a prize Democratic candidates are eager to claim. The union represents around 1.7 million members, and is a reliable ally to the Democratic Party. But candidates may have to work especially hard to win over the AFTs members this year. Energized by the Trump presidency and by their participation in the nations ongoing wave of educator walkouts, educators are likely to view candidates like Senator Cory Booker, a dedicated proponent of the charter-school movement, with pronounced skepticism. I want candidates to be talking to not just our leadership but our members. I want them to be able to answer questions. And they will reveal themselves, Weingarten said. She maintains, though, that theres a possibility candidates will evolve. Beto ORourke, she noted, has evolved on the Affordable Care Act. Maybe Cory Booker has evolved on the issue of charters. So well see, she added. The endorsement process does not specify that a candidate in search of the unions backing must adhere to its policy resolutions in every respect. Further, the unions executive council could theoretically endorse someone against the majoritarian wishes of its rank and file, and the union has not traditionally demonstrated itself to be a stickler for ideological purity. While its unlikely that affiliates will all agree on a potential endorsement, it also doesnt make a great deal of sense for the AFT to risk widespread member ire, especially with a mobilized base and so many candidates in the race. Its far likelier that the union will wait to endorse anyone until a clear front-runner emerges in the weeks before the convention, or that it may even wait until the convention ends with an official nominee in place. The real test of the AFTs new process, then, will likely come months from now, after members have had a chance to hold declared candidates and union leadership to account. An equine team consisting of four registered quarter horses and six patrolmen helps protect the nearly 99,600 acres that make up Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is the third-largest Air Force base in the U.S. and is home to a wide variety of plants, wildlife and terrain. 031919 VAFB horse patrol 02.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 01.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 03.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 04.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 05.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 06.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 07.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 08.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 09.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 10.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 11.jpg 031919 VAFB horse patrol 12.jpg Sandy Banks is a former Los Angeles Times reporter, editor and columnist. She is a senior fellow with the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus. FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district. FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy FRL - Free and reduced lunch. FTE - Full Time Equivalent FY - Fiscal Year Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities). HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law IA - Instructional Assistant IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program. IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education IEP - Individual Educational Plan, a federal requirement for students with disabilities (special education) JSCEE - John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence (see headquarters) MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes. MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8 NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration OSPI - Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction PCP - Planning, Conference and Preparation PD - Professional Development PG & E - Professional Growth and Evaluation, the teacher (and principal) evaluation procedure RIF - Reduction in Force RttT - Race to the Top, see Arne Duncan RIT - Rasch Unit - scoring used in MAP testing RTI - Response to Intervention, the old name for MTSS SBE - State Board of Education (or BOE) SEA - Seattle Education Association (Seattle Teachers' union) SEAC - Special Education Advisory Committee SIT - School Intervention Team STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. TIF - Teacher Incentive Fund WASL - Washington Assessment of Student Learning (former state test) WSF - Weighted Student Formula, the old method of determining school funding WSS - Weighted Staffing Standards, the current method of determining school funding MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support- No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration- Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction- Planning, Conference and Preparation- Professional Development - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.- Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy- Free and reduced lunch.- Full Time Equivalent- Fiscal YearHighly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).- High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation- Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law- Instructional Assistant- International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education- Individual Educational Plan, a federal requirement for students with disabilities (special education)- John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence (see headquarters)- Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.- Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8 Note: not a complete list. Here's a link to the district's list. - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.- Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program- Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.- Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.- Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.- Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).- Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.- Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.- Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.- Career and Technical Education (formerly Voc Ed)- Essential Academic Learning Requirement- Everyday Math, the board-adopted instructional materials for elementary math- English Language Learners- End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduation " " China's unmanned submersible Qianlong III returns from its first dive back to the research vessel Dayang Yihao (Ocean No. 1), on April 20, 2018. The vehicle is 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long, 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) high and weighs 1.5 tons. Xinhua OK, with its flat, curvilinear bright yellow and white-striped exterior, orange fins, and what look like a big mouth and a pair of eyes, the Qianlong III might seem like a character in "Finding Nemo." But rest assured that China's newest unmanned submersible the latest in the Qianlong line of autonomous underwater vehicles isn't designed just to be cute. The new AUV is designed to go farther and deeper underwater and maneuver more deftly than its predecessors, which will allow researchers to gather data for underwater mining, among other uses, according to China Daily. Advertisement The Qianlong III successfully completed its first test dive in the South China Sea in April. It stayed underwater for nine hours and reached a depth of nearly 12,800 feet (3,900 meters). It's designed to go even deeper, down to nearly 14,800 feet (4,500 meters), China Daily reports. The AUV's resemblance to a clown fish is no accident, as it turns out, according to a news release on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, whose Shenyang Institute of Automation developed the Qianlong line of vehicles. The Qianlong III's stripes enable researchers to spot and retrieve it more easily from the depths, and the mouth holds a sonar system that enables the craft to navigate and avoid obstacles. The holes that appear to be eyes actually house propellers that enable the craft to maneuver. And the ersatz tail fins actually contain sensing equipment that detects changes in the mineral content of seawater. The craft can stay underwater for up to 30 hours, and it's designed to be quieter and more energy-efficient than its predecessors. "Qianlong III's high-performance will improve our country's deep sea investigation capabilities and efficiency, and more original scientific results are expected to be gained in this area," Cai Wei, the chief scientist for the recent expedition, said in an article on China.org.cn., an official government website. Now That's Interesting China also is interested in building the deep-sea equivalent of a space station, according to this 2017 South China Morning Post article. On the brink of a new century, Jake is living it up in New York City. An immigrant from Russia, Jake (Steven Keats) has spent several years happily assimilating into his new country in the late 1890s. He lives in a Jewish community, separate from Gentiles, but otherwise acts like a young American: boozing, dancing, and making love to a beautiful dancer named Mamie (Dorrie Kavanaugh). One night, however, Jake receives news that his father has died. In one fell swoop, he loses his (presumably beloved) father, and also gains back his (maybe not so beloved) wife and young son. Reluctantly shouldering the obligations of a family that he didn't think much about during the previous few years, he sends for Gitl (Carol Kane) and their son, who comes to be called Joey (Paul Freedman). From that point onward, Hester Street belongs to Gitl. Meek and mild, Gitl is not warmly welcomed to America by her husband, formerly known as Yekl. He is brusque and distracted and obviously bothered by her mere presence. And their son! Jake has no idea how to be a father, nor does he really want to be one. He has tasted the fruit of cultural freedom and has no desire to return to eating the vegetables of his old life. Jake keeps running back to Mamie, for whom he developed strong feelings. (He never bothered to inform her that he was already married with a son of his own.) For her part, Mamie remains enraptured by Jake, wondering how he could ever have loved the very traditional and very quiet Gitl. Initially, Gitl has no idea that Jake is spending his evenings illicitly with Mamie. Either too shy -- or, more likely, thoroughly cowed by Jake -- to take any independent actions whatsoever, she mopes around the tiny apartment that they share with Bernstein (Mel Howard), a fellow worker at a factory where they are employed. The gentle and scholarly Bernstein spends his evenings in deep study of the Torah, reluctantly lying to cover up what Jake is doing. Even when he does come home, Jake is often abusive toward Gitl in his speech and in his actions. He doesn't hesitate to hit her whenever he feels like it. He never extends a hand to help her adapt to America, although he continually insists that she adapt quickly. How is Gitl supposed to change? Jake never tells her what to do, instead pushing her to stop doing things he doesn't like or that make him feel uncomfortable. First published in 1896, the novel Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto was written by Abraham Cahan, himself a Russian Jew who emigrated to New York in 1882. Cahan learned English, began teaching the language to newer immigrants, joined the Socialist Labor Party of America, and became a newspaper reporter. A short time later, he became an editor and then helped to found the Jewish Daily Forward, serving as editor and publisher of the influential newspaper for more than 40 years. Born in Nebraska in 1935 to Russian Jewish parents, Joan Micklin Silver graduated from college, married, and bore three children. She "taught music and wrote plays, five of which were performed" in Cleveland, where the family was living at the time. The family moved to New York City in 1967, and Silver began writing for companies that produced educational films, including a 30-minute program that was eventually directed by Barbara Loden in 1975. (See my review of Criterion's new Wanda Blu-ray, which includes that film.) For the same company, Silver directed a 30-minute short titled The Long Long Journey (1972), which followed a family of Polish immigrants having a difficult time adjusting to life in America, and then she helmed two more short films. She also wrote an original script for Limbo (1972), a drama revolving around a group of women whose husbands were M.I.A. in Vietnam. Clashing with director Mark Robson, she reportedly refused to make changes to the script to "soften" a character, and so was rewritten by James Bridges. Deciding to make her own film, Silver enlisted the assistance of her husband, who raised the financing needed and served as producer. Silver told American Film Magazine that she decided she would "make one that will count for my family. My parents were Russian Jewish, and my father was no longer living, but I cared a lot about the ties I had to that world. So that was how Hester Street started." Hollywood was not interested, so Silver and her husband formed their own distribution company and gained an audience that spread far beyond what she might have expected. Hester Street is a film that feels instantly authentic to the period of its setting, while also contemporary in its perspective on the story and characters. Much of the dialogue is presented in Yiddish with English subtitles, but what struck me was the production design, which looks amazing for an independent production in the 1970s. (Favorable comparisons could easily be made with The Godfather Part II, a studio production of the same era.) What really grabs, though, is Silver's sense of narrative style, which keeps pushing the story forward, even as it allows time to get a clear understanding of the personalities and motivations of the small cast of primary players. It's elegant and easy to watch, without calling attention to its straightforward nature. All these years later, it feels fresh on first viewing, and I imagine that its comfortable bearing will continue to wear well. Just 22 or 23, Kane earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance (Louise Fletcher won for One Fly Over the the Cuckoo's Nest). She had earlier appeared in Carnal Knowledge and The Last Detail (discussed in detail here) and thereafter appeared in Dog Day Afternoon, Harry and Walter Go to New York (covered here), Annie Hall, The World's Greatest Lover and the bizarre and deranged The Mafu Cage. After a remarkable decade, Kane probably became best known for her sweet supporting bits on TV's Taxi (opposite Andy Kaufman), yet she has remained busy to this day in films and television. Joan Micklin Silver went on to make two more significant films of the 1970s, Between the Lines (1977) and Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979). Her daughter, Marisa Silver, wrote and made her directorial debut on Old Enough (1984), a sterling drama centering on two teenage girls. Selected in 2011 to be preserved in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, Hester Street is today available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The disc has no additional features, but this is a case where the quality of the film by itself justifies the cost of purchase. Hester Street is a rare, quality drama that is affecting, touching and wryly funny without being overly sentimental or harsh toward its characters. I respect how the story is told and love how the film ends. 70s Rewind is a weekly feature that empowers the writer to ruminate on his favorite movie decade. White supremacist protesters, including members of Identity Evropa, at the Unite the Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Photo: AP/REX/Shutterstock The historical ties between American law-enforcement agencies and white supremacist groups are well documented. Southern sheriffs abetted Ku Klux Klansmen under Jim Crow. The FBI posted a bulletin in 2006 warning about white nationalists and skinheads infiltrating police entities, citing cases in Ohio, Illinois, Texas, and California, including the formation of a neo-Nazi gang by officials within the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The armed forces have been implicated as well. Federal agents in February arrested a 49-year-old Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist who had amassed 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition while planning a massacre of innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country, according to court documents. Most of the accused are united as much by their bigoted beliefs as their ability to fortify them in private while maintaining a veneer of public respectability. But as has been true throughout history, the most recent reported case proves these impulses are not at odds. On the contrary, they are intimately connected, and often make one another possible. The Daily Beasts Kelly Weill reported this week that Daniel Morley, a 31-year-old school resource officer employed by L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield, Virginia, is also an organizer for Identity Evropa, a white nationalist group also known as the American Identity Movement. His involvement was first exposed on Monday by Virginia anti-fascists, according to the report, who leaked the groups online chat messages. (Morley has since been suspended, pending a departmental investigation). The exchanges they uncovered suggest that Morley holds an esteemed and valuable position within the organization: coordinating new recruits. His particular focus is on helping members hide their bigotry and racist aims from the public by employing misleading language. According to Weill, this role is an extension of Morleys activities going back a decade, to his days as a commenter on the white supremacist website Stormfront. A good strategy would be to steer the definition of racism towards racial hatred, he reportedly counseled one Identity Evropa member last year. We dont hate other races, so were not racists. After all, the word isnt going away. May as well control it. In order to be successful, this brand of subterfuge requires a public that is either too ignorant or in willful denial of racisms machinations to look past the surface. Fortunately for Morley, he lives in the United States, where questions of racism are often litigated in terms of whats in a persons heart, or what they are willing to admit publicly. Such myopia permitted Representative Steve King of Iowa to espouse white nationalism for more than a decade, with the only rebuke from his fellow Republicans coming in January when he inquired (on the record, in a New York Times profile), White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive? It is how U.S. senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker can respond to the question, Do you believe that Donald Trump is a racist? with, I dont know the heart of anybody. Ill leave that to the Lord. Absent divine insight or X-ray vision, the rest of us will have to do better on our own. To this end, historical evidence is valuable: The impulse to obscure or deny ones bigoted intentions is not new, nor is it limited to avowed white supremacists. It was being deployed in national politics decades before Donald Trump tried his hand at campaigning, as illuminated when Richard Nixons campaign consultant, Lee Atwater, explained the strategy behind his candidates efforts to woo southern whites away from the Democratic Party: By 1968 you cant say nigger that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states rights, and all that stuff, and youre getting so abstract. Indeed, such behavior has become more useful in the postcivil-rights era, as open bigotry has become more taboo in polite company and the explicit racism of Jim Crowera laws and sumptuary codes ran afoul of federal law, requiring evasive action among its adherents. This is where cries of reverse racism enter the discourse, where claims like Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robertss 2007 insistence that the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race captures the ethos of pols seeking to override civil-rights gains through fealty to a theoretical but not actual equality. Other manifestations have been less mannered. Morley can find perhaps his most famous modern analogue in former KKK grand wizard David Duke, who has spent decades preoccupied with taking his brand of white nationalism mainstream. He has been remarkably successful. Duke, in 1989, was elected to a seat in Louisianas House of Representatives, where he served until 1992. These days, he can be found defending other bigots in public using canards and false equivalences. [In] this country, if you simply defend the heritage of European-American people, then youre automatically a racist, he told NPRs Morning Edition in 2016, defending Trump against charges of racism. Theres massive racist racial discrimination against European-Americans. And thats the reality. These examples point to a shared, and perhaps obvious, conclusion: It is an easy and frequently successful pursuit to obscure racism by dressing it up in nice clothes. This can be accomplished literally or metaphorically. Dapper white nationalist Richard Spencer utilized the former en route to written profiles seemingly enthralled by his choice to wear a three-piece suit rather than a white hood. The latter is more Morleys wheelhouse moving goalposts and redefining terms, such that racism becomes harder to recognize and easier to hang on others while downplaying ones own. That this could be accomplished so easily by an American police officer working alongside children a man whose literal side job is to help bigots convince other people that they are not should put to rest once and for all the notion that we must see into a persons heart to know if they are a bigot. Obfuscation, clearly, is an important part of their game. At this point, continuing to be fooled is a choice. Another notable Ponzi schemer up for federal sentencing this week | Main | "[M]ost law reviews are simply a waste of trees" June 7, 2010 Will sixth time be the charm in capital trial(s) of Curtis Flowers? Curtis Flowers has stood before five juries in the past 13 years on capital murder charges, accused of killing four people in a Mississippi furniture store. This week, prosecutors are hoping his sixth trial will be the last. Flowers, 40, is believed to be the only person in recent U.S. history to be tried six times on the same capital murder charges. Bertha Tardy, the owner of Tardy's Furniture in downtown Winona, and three employees were shot execution-style in the head the morning of July 16, 1996, inside the store, court records say. The shootings rattled the sleepy central Mississippi town, with a population of about 5,500 that has declined in the 14 years since then.... After months of interviews and a $30,000 reward for information, Flowers was arrested in January 1997 on four counts of capital murder. He has been in custody ever since. Flowers has been convicted three times and sentenced to death twice, but the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed those verdicts and ordered a new trial each time. His two most recent trials ended in hung juries, leading his supporters to question why the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office continues to seek a conviction. The prosecution's case is based largely on circumstantial evidence. There is no DNA, the alleged murder weapon has not been found and eyewitnesses who say they saw Flowers the day of the shooting have provided conflicting accounts. Still, Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans says it's a straightforward case of a disgruntled worker taking out his anger against his former employer. Others, who believe Flowers is innocent, say the case has turned into a crusade and suggest that race has played a major role in the prosecution and convictions of Flowers. "The fact they're trying this case for the sixth time suggests to me there's some racial motivation here, because there's no way in the world I can see a white guy accused of doing the same thing being tried six times to procure a conviction," said Jackson City Councilman Chokwe Lumumba, who represented Flowers in his second trial in 1999. Flowers' supporters say it is a classic example of a case built upon weak circumstantial evidence and shaky eyewitness testimony intended to blame an easy target: a poor black man. "What does it say about the prosecution that they have chosen to ignore two jury verdicts?" said Alan Bean, executive director of Friends of Justice, a nonprofit organization that monitors due process violations in the criminal justice system. "I really think the only way to save Winona from this nightmare is to force the Montgomery County district attorney to step aside and appoint the attorney general's office. If you did that, I am convinced you wouldn't see the prosecution of Curtis Flowers, because the evidence just isn't there." To Evans, though, Flowers' prosecution is about seeking justice for the victims and bringing closure to the community. "Any time that we feel there is evidence to prove a case, we're going to pursue it," said Evans, who tried the five previous cases and will lead the prosecution this time. CNN has this interesting report on what appears to be a record-setting capital trial scheduled to start this week in Mississippi. Here is how the piece gets started: June 7, 2010 at 08:39 AM | Permalink TrackBack TrackBack URL for this entry: https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e20133f03eaa36970b Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Will sixth time be the charm in capital trial(s) of Curtis Flowers?: Comments This case is "straightforward" just like Louisiana vs. Kyles. Posted by: Stanley Feldman | Jun 7, 2010 8:47:52 AM At what point does the Fifth Amendment guarantee that the def may not be put in jeopardy again for the same offense? I understand that there is no problem trying him after the two successful appeals, but what concerns me is that this is the third trial after the state has failed to persuade the previous two juries of guilt. I am aware of Perez and all that, but it just seems strange to me that the State can keep trying someone until they find a jury that will convict. My understanding is that the original intent of the Fifth Amendment was that a person is not to be put in JEOPARDY twice. Jeopardy attaches when the jury is sworn in. So, this will be the third jury sworn in and , therefore it seems to me, the third time he is put in jeopardy. I also understand the "manifest injustice" exception, like a trial breaking down because someone gets sick, a snowstorm shuts down the court house, the defendant's family contacts the jury, and so forth. But, I would be interested in what folks say about how many times the State can try someone when what has happened is that simply the previous juries did not believe that the state carried its burden of proof. I am getting ready to litigate this issue in several cases and would appreciate anybody's thoughts. thanks, bruce Posted by: bruce cunningham | Jun 7, 2010 8:58:25 AM bruce -- "But, I would be interested in what folks say about how many times the State can try someone when what has happened is that simply the previous juries did not believe that the state carried its burden of proof." You may already be aware that the Court has rejected that argument as a basis for ending jeopardy, Richardson v. United States, 468 U.S. 317 (1984). You are also going to have trouble with one of my contributions in the Fourth Circuit, United States v. Ndame, 87 F.3d 114 (4th Cir. 1996), which allowed a third trial after two hung juries. Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 7, 2010 10:13:38 AM "I am getting ready to litigate this issue in several cases and would appreciate anybody's thoughts." State v. Abbati, 493 A.2d 513 (N.J. 1985) is an interesting decision. Posted by: JC | Jun 7, 2010 2:57:50 PM it's CRIMINAL stupidity like this that makes me want to hang a few judges and politicians. Sorry multiple trials on the SAME CHARGES are unconstutional. this is nothing more than golorified forum shopping. Hoping the following judge and jury will be SICK of doing the same trial over and over and let you win just to be done with it. i hope the man break's out and removes a few judges from this life on the way. Posted by: rodsmith | Jun 7, 2010 6:12:37 PM Bruce, From a policy position, I believe a hung jury should be an acquittal. I would be willing to trade some at the edges, such as 11 to 1 for conviction being enough. I might go for 10-2 (which SCOTUS has already ruled okay for state courts) but no lower. I believe the current requirement that acquittal be unanimous to end jeopardy violates the burdens of proof at the heart of a U.S. trial. If the government can't convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is in fact guilty that should be the end of it. I might allow exceptions such as those you mentioned above, and some other circumstances might simply give rise to new crimes of which the old element are part. I got a response from Laurence Tribe on this issue a few years ago, his answer was that hung juries exist because it's just the way it's always been done. Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Jun 7, 2010 8:04:14 PM I agree with you, Soronel. How many times can the state make a def "run the gauntlet" before he has been tried enough? Can you send me your email address to me at btcunningham@earthlink.net? I would like to send you the article I wrote for the Federal Sentencing Reporter on the question we were discussing last fall about misdemeanors kicked up to felonies due to recidivism. Doug published it about two months ago and I would love to hear your take on it. bruce Posted by: bruce cunningham | Jun 7, 2010 10:30:50 PM Post a comment Important new empirical work on expungement realities in Michigan | Main | Rounding-up some news and commentary as SCOTUS hears argument on latest round of capital insanity The Prison Policy Initiative has today posted the latest, greatest version of its remarkable incarceration "pie" graphic and associated report on the particulars of who and how people are incarcerated in the United States. The extraordinary pies produced by PPI impart more information in one image than just about any single resource I can think of. Here is part of the report's introductory text and the concluding discussion on my favorite law-nerd version of pie day: Can it really be true that most people in jail are being held before trial? And how much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs? These questions are harder to answer than you might think, because our countrys systems of confinement are so fragmented. The various government agencies involved in the justice system collect a lot of critical data, but it is not designed to help policymakers or the public understand whats going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build, however, its more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture. This report offers some much needed clarity by piecing together this countrys disparate systems of confinement. The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories. This report provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration. This big-picture view allows us to focus on the most important drivers of mass incarceration and identify important, but often ignored, systems of confinement. The detailed views bring these overlooked systems to light, from immigration detention to civil commitment and youth confinement. In particular, local jails often receive short shrift in larger discussions about criminal justice, but they play a critical role as incarcerations front door and have a far greater impact than the daily population suggests. While this pie chart provides a comprehensive snapshot of our correctional system, the graphic does not capture the enormous churn in and out of our correctional facilities, nor the far larger universe of people whose lives are affected by the criminal justice system. Every year, over 600,000 people enter prison gates, but people go to jail 10.6 million times each year. Jail churn is particularly high because most people in jails have not been convicted. Some have just been arrested and will make bail within hours or days, while many others are too poor to make bail and remain behind bars until their trial. Only a small number (less than 150,000 on any given day) have been convicted, and are generally serving misdemeanors sentences under a year.... Now that we can see the big picture of how many people are locked up in the United States in the various types of facilities, we can see that something needs to change. Looking at the big picture requires us to ask if it really makes sense to lock up 2.3 million people on any given day, giving this nation the dubious distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the world. Both policymakers and the public have the responsibility to carefully consider each individual slice in turn to ask whether legitimate social goals are served by putting each group behind bars, and whether any benefit really outweighs the social and fiscal costs. Even narrow policy changes, like reforms to money bail, can meaningfully reduce our societys use of incarceration. At the same time, we should be wary of proposed reforms that seem promising but will have only minimal effect, because they simply transfer people from one slice of the correctional pie to another. Keeping the big picture in mind is critical if we hope to develop strategies that actually shrink the whole pie. This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world. TIRANA, March 20 (Reuters) - The Albanian government has signed a 35-year concession with two domestic companies to overhaul and operate an airport at the northernmost town of Kukes, an official said on Wednesday. Transport Minister Belinda Balluku said the government had approved the contract with Global Technical Mechanics and Bami, requiring them to invest 8 million euros ($9.1 million) to upgrade the airport and to start flights at Kukes in 24 months. She said preliminary studies forecast 300,000 passengers would fly out of Kukes initially and low-cost carriers such as Wizz Air, easyJet, Ryanair and Turkey's Pegasus had shown interest. The small airport was built with a gift of $20 million dollars from the United Arab Emirates in recognition of Albania's hospitality to refugees who sought safety from war-torn Kosovo at Kukes in 1999. Since its completion in 2006 the airport has not been used because Tirana International Airport (TIA) had exclusive rights to international flights. Operated by China Everbright since October 2016, TIA waived that exclusivity in April that year. ($1 = 0.8810 euros) (Reporting by Benet Koleka Editing by David Goodman) SINGAPORE (Mar 20): OCBC Investment Research is maintaining its buy call on Netlink NBN Trust (NLT NBN) with an unchanged fair value estimate of 90 cents. In a Wednesday report, analyst Joseph Ng says, There were a number of topics from the recent Committee of Supply (COS) debate in Parliament that, in our opinion, serve to reiterate the longer term growth opportunities for NLT NBN. During the debate, Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned about Paya Lebars future, which will see about 800 hectares of land freed up for public and private housing, following the relocation of the existing airbase. The Greater Southern Waterfront is also expected to undergo future redevelopment. The analyst reckons that these developments would provide longer term opportunities for the trust to grow residential fibre connections. Meanwhile, Minister S Iswaran also touched on the topic of 5G network being slated to roll out by 2020. While we note the possible pushback from telcos in our recent sector report, the introduction of 5G would undeniably have to come at some point, says Ng. According to StarHub, the analyst notes that with 5G, three to four more base stations would be needed for every existing one. These base stations will likely require a fibre backhaul connection, increasing the demand for NLT NBNs fibre network infrastructure. In addition, there has been speculations that Singtel might be paring down or divesting its stake in NLT NBN. This speculation has been further fuelled by the US$525 million cash outlay Singtel is slated to make a part of its participation in Bharti Airtels rights issuance, in line with its 15% direct stake. But management did note that the cash outlay should be funded through existing cash and debt, so there is no immediate reason to divest off any non-core assets. Singtel has also said that it views its SingPost and NLT NBN stakes as its (more sizeable) non-core assets, and would explore divesting if a good opportunity arises. Conceivably, a divestment of NLT could put some pressure on the share price, but we would take it as an opportunity to accumulate, barring any other extraneous factors, says Ng. As at 12.30pm, units in NLT NBN are trading at 80 cents or 45.8 times FY19 earnings with a DPU yield of 5.8%. War-torn Afghanistan has delayed its presidential election until September 28, officials announced Wednesday, the second time the ballot has been put back and five months later than it was originally scheduled to be held. The announcement by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) comes after speculation that the vote would be postponed to create space for US-led efforts to end the 17-year war with the Taliban. The presidential ballot was originally scheduled for April 20, then delayed to July 20. Many observers had considered both dates unrealistic given the Independent Election Commission (IEC) is still finalising results of October's shambolic parliamentary elections. The IEC said in a statement Wednesday that the vote had faced "numerous problems and challenges ... therefore holding the elections based on the timelines previously announced is not possible". "In order to better implement the rule of election law, ensure transparency as well as voter registration, the presidential election, provincial council election as well as the parliamentary election of Ghazni province will be held on September 28," the statement said. The election should go ahead, it added, "provided all relevant sides, especially the government and the international community, provide the IEC with the required budget on time". A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, who plans to seek re-election, said the government respects the decision and is "fully prepared to cooperate with the IEC". The statement did not mention the ongoing talks between the US and the Taliban, which have caused unease in Kabul as Washington seeks a way out of its longest war. - Taliban talks - Afghan officials have voiced frustration at being sidelined in the process, complaining it undermines the legitimacy of the government in Kabul, which the Taliban dismisses as a puppet regime. Earlier this month a close Ghani aide sparked a diplomatic spat with Washington by criticising the talks. "We don't know what's going on. We don't have the kind of transparency that we should have," Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's national security advisor, told media during a visit to Washington. "The last people to find out are us." US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the talks for Washington, said after the latest round ended in Doha earlier this month that "real strides" had been made but no agreement was reached on a timetable for a troop withdrawal. He spoke of an agreement "in draft" on the issues of counter-terrorism, assurances from the Taliban and troop withdrawal, and suggested the next phases would be intra-Afghan dialogue and a ceasefire, but stressed that nothing was finalised. Many Afghans are worried that Ghani's fragile unity government would collapse if US troops pulled out, enabling the Taliban to return to power and potentially sparking another bloody civil war. There also are concerns the presidential election, which will now be held nearer the Taliban's traditional fighting season, could unleash a wave of deadly violence as militants seek to disrupt the vote. Civil society activist Jolovan Wham (left) and Singapore Democratic Party vice-chairman John Tan. (PHOTOS: Facebook / Jolovan Wham, Facebook / John L Tan) The Attorney-Generals Chambers (AGC) is seeking a fine and jail term respectively in its case against civil activist Jolovan Wham and opposition politician John Tan. At the Supreme Court on Wednesday (20 March), the AGCs state counsel Senthilkumaran Sabapathy sought a $10,000 to $15,000 fine for Wham and a 15-day jail term for Tan, who is the vice-chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party. Both defendants had earlier been found guilty of contempt of court by scandalising the judiciary in separate Facebook posts. Theirs is the first case to be dealt with under the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act, which came into effect in October 2017. Meanwhile, the pairs lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam asked for a fine of $4,000 to $6,000 for Wham and seven days jail for Tan, as a fine of more than $2,000 may have implications on whether (Tan) who is a politician can participate in the next election. Under Singapores Constitution, an individual who is convicted of an offence in a Singapore court and fined of more than $2,000 or sentenced to a jail term of more than a year, would be disqualified from being a member of Parliament. Neither party was sentenced on Wednesday as Justice Woo Bih Li reserved judgement on the case. Offending posts not removed Wham, 39, had made a Facebook post on 27 April last year stating that Malaysias judges were more independent than Singapores for cases with political implications. Wham had posted a link to an article entitled Malaysiakini mounts constitutional challenge against Anti-Fake News Act when he made the comment. On 6 May last year, Tan posted on Facebook that by charging Jolovan for scandalising the judiciary, the AGC (Attorney-Generals Chambers) only confirms what he said was true. In court on Wednesday, Senthilkumaran said that neither Tan nor Wham had removed their offending Facebook posts as of Wednesday morning. He described their actions as displaying an utter lack of regard for authority of courts in general, and blatant disrespect for the finding of the court that they are in contempt of court. Story continues The state counsel also noted that Whams post had been published online for a total of 10 months and 21 days, while Tans post has been online for 10 months and 14 days. However, Justice Woo pointed out that the length of time the posts had been online did not matter as the bottom line was that Wham and Tan had refused to take down the posts. Senthilkumaran said that neither Tan nor Wham had apologised and had not displayed any intention to do so, showing a lack of remorse. He also pointed out that Tan had a previous brush with the law in 2008 when he was found guilty of contempt of court after he wore a shirt with a kangaroo dressed in judges robes to the Supreme Court. Tan had also posted online a photo of himself and others wearing the same shirt while standing at the Supreme Courts entrance. Tan was jailed 15 days for the offence. In our submissions, it does not make sense to receive a more lenient sentence despite him being a repeat offender, said Senthilkumaran. The AGC is also asking Wham and Tan to remove the offending posts and its republications in whole or part. It will also request that Tan and Wham publish an apology notice, and for the notice to remain online for the same length the offending posts were. No intention of scandalising judiciary: lawyer Thuraisingam urged the court to consider that neither of his clients had the intention of scandalising the judiciary. He said that Tan had meant to criticise the Attorney-General while Wham was simply trying to make the point that there may be a better outcome for one judiciary as compared with another in a certain type of case. Referring to Thuraisingams concerns over Tans political career, Justice Woo asked, But if he were concerned then shouldnt he have taken certain steps when he knew already that certain proceedings are being commenced against him? With regard to the offending Facebook posts, Thuraisingam said Tan would be taking down his on Wednesday, while Wham would not be removing the post until his appeal is heard. In finding both guilty of contempt of court in October last year, Justice Woo said that from the point of view of an average person, Whams post posed a risk of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice. He also noted that Tans criticism of the Attorney-General for taking action against Wham represented an additional attack on Singapores court system. For contempt of court, Wham and Tan could be jailed up to three years or fined up to $100,000. Related story: Activist Jolovan Wham, SDPs John Tan guilty of contempt of court The AI service provider for advertising, HR, and influencer marketing raises an additional US$8 million finalising Series B at US$21.4 million Singapore-based AnyMind Group, AI-based adtech and marketing tech, has announced its Series B Plus fundraising round closure with the additional US$8 million from Thai VGI Global Media Plc (VGI) and Japanese financial service company Tokyo Century Corporation. The total funding raised by the company is at US$21.4 million. Also Read: The Philippines rejects Go-Jeks appeal for ride-hailing licence Following the funding, VGI and AnyMind Group has joined together to establish a venture that will focus on digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising technology to VGI-owned out-of-home advertising spaces in Thailand. The purpose of the partnership itself is to create more connected, dynamic and interactive advertising experiences. Aside from DOOH expansion, the funds will also be used for potential strategic acquisitions in the advertising, influencer marketing and human resource industries, as well as acceleration of talent and product growth. VGI Global Media Plc (VGI) is claimed to be Thailands leading offline-to-online solutions provider across advertising, payment, and logistics platforms. Said that it has covered a potential daily media reach of 40 million people, the digital advertising spaces of VGI include digital signage on train platforms, transportation, buildings, streets, and digital billboards, along with future out-of-home advertising inventory partnerships. Mounted cameras are placed together with digital signage, allowing viewers to be able to view more personalized advertising based on gender, age group, and location, allowing for advertisements and content to be matched, optimised, and shown to its targeted audience. I believe were now in a strong position to build a DOOH advertising marketplace across Asia, bringing a future where advertising across all mediums is connected ultimately providing the most relevant and personalised advertising to everyone, on any platform, said Kosuke Sogo, CEO, and co-founder of AnyMind Group. Story continues Nelson Leung, CEO of VGI shared that the JV will offer a fully integrated solution through the sales & marketing funnel. Were excited for the future opportunities to partner up with AnyMind Group and its advertising technology, said Leung. AnyMind Groups track records include 11 countries expansion in just three years of its active operation. Its now grown into 400 staffs, catered to two new industries, and acquired FourM in Japan, and Acqua Media in Hong Kong. Also Read: Singapore payments startup InstaReM closes Series C at US$41 million AnyMind Group has three brands, which are advertising solutions AdAsia Holdings, an influencer marketing business and platform CastingAsia, and a recruitment and talent management platform TalentMind. Image Credit: AnyMind Group The post AnyMind Group closes Series B funding at a total of US$21.4M appeared first on e27. Give em hell, Liz. Photo: CNN Human beings evolved to deceive themselves, so as to better deceive each other. This is because we are social animals who spent our formative years living in tight-knit, tribal communities in which our prospects for survival were maximized by maintaining the approval of the collective while advancing our own individual (and/or factional) interests. And one handy way to reconcile those competing objectives was to develop a talent for inventing ostensibly neutral rules that would, in practice, give you or your crew some distinct advantage in intragroup conflicts along with arguments for why said rules were ethically necessary, irrespective of their substantive implications. Over time, however, natural selection weeded out our most gullible ancestors. The surviving homo sapiens had a gift for recognizing the telltale signs of deceit. Soon, they could see that Short Garys left eyebrow twitched every time he explained that fairness required giving the tribes shortest member the largest slice of fish (as this was what the Founding Fishers had intended). Thus, the Short Garys of the world were killed and eaten. And eventually, their successors developed a more optimal means of camouflaging their own interests in arguments about procedural fairness: They became adept at convincing themselves that justice required whatever arbitrary principle would get them the biggest slice of fish and thus, betrayed no signs of deceit when trying to convince others. And this is how a bunch of supernaturally self-deluded apes came to inherit the Earth. Or so my foggy memory of evolutionary psychology would suggest. And after sifting through a variety of conservative defenses of the Electoral College, its hard not to conclude that this account is basically right. At a CNN town hall Monday night, Elizabeth Warren argued that America should elect presidents by a national popular vote. We need to make sure that every vote counts. And you know, I want to push that right here in Mississippi. Because I think this is an important point, the Democratic presidential candidate told a crowd in Jackson. My view is that every vote matters. And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College. An overwhelming majority of the American public agree. And yet, an overwhelming majority of GOP operatives, public intellectuals, and politicians do not. The simplest explanation for this discrepancy is that professional Republicans believe (consciously or otherwise) that the existing election rules benefit their party. After all, the GOP has lost the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections. And since the Electoral College gives disproportionate influence to whiter, more rural states and the GOP is becoming increasingly reliant on white, rural voters the existing conservative coalition is poised to continue deriving a benefit from the status quo rules for cycles to come. This puts conservative pontificators in the unenviable position of having to defend an archaic, undemocratic system that does not work as its authors intended, or as the American public desires, on the grounds that it is a uniquely fair and rational way of electing the nations most powerful officeholder. Terrible arguments ensue. And these awful products of motivated reasoning are joined by the awful products of status quo bias (which leads some small number of liberals to defend the Electoral College) in a noxious stew of nonsensical arguments against allowing popular democracy to determine control of at least one branch of our government. Fortunately, I (and everyone who agrees with me on this subject) have escaped the shackles of subjectivity, and know the objective truth about the Electoral College. And so, I can provide you, dear reader, with a rundown of some of the most prominent arguments for preserving that vile institution and why all of them are wrong. Defenses of the Electoral College tend to fall into one of three broad categories, and so well examine each genre in turn. 1. The Electoral College currently exists, therefore it is good. (A) The founders thought superhard about this, and so we should defer to their judgement. From Allen Guelzo and James Hulmes Washington Post op-ed, In Defense of the Electoral College: The Founders who sat in the 1787 Constitutional Convention lavished an extraordinary amount of argument on the electoral college, and it was by no means one-sided The Founders also designed the operation of the electoral college with unusual care. The portion of Article 2, Section 1, describing the electoral college is longer and descends to more detail than any other single issue the Constitution addresses. More than the federal judiciary more than the war powers more than taxation and representation. This isnt the op-eds only argument. But the authors devote a solid 350 words of their short column to saying, essentially, Look, our finest slaveholders already debated all this only a couple decades before the advent of the steam engine, so why reopen this can of worms? And they are hardly alone in presenting the founders said so as a trump card. The trouble with this argument is twofold. First, the founders were (mostly) a collection of land speculators who built their fortunes by ethnically cleansing Native Americans, and slavers who built theirs by participating in one of the greatest atrocities in world history. Most did not believe in popular democracy (as the vast majority of Americans do today). As political theorists, these dudes were so foresighted, they assumed that America would never have political parties. None of this means that some of them werent brilliant, or that they didnt build some institutions that are worth preserving. But it does mean were talking about incredibly flawed, extremely dead human beings, not philosopher kings appointed by God. Thus, there is no reason to reflexively defer to their judgement which was itself the product of compromise between disparate interests, not Socratic dialogue on the ideal form of the state. Some founders favored the popular vote; others wanted to leverage their chattel into disproportionate political power. Understandably, Hulme and Guelzo are eager to deny these grubby origins, writing: Above all, the electoral college had nothing to do with slavery. Some historians have branded the electoral college this way because each states electoral votes are based on that whole Number of Senators and Representatives from each State, and in 1787 the number of those representatives was calculated on the basis of the infamous 3/5ths clause. But the electoral college merely reflected the numbers, not any bias about slavery (and in any case, the 3/5ths clause was not quite as proslavery a compromise as it seems, since Southern slaveholders wanted their slaves counted as 5/5ths for determining representation in Congress, and had to settle for a whittled-down fraction). [Emphasis mine.] There are multiple issues with this defense. For one thing, some southern framers were quite forthright about the nature of their concerns. As Jamelle Bouie notes: Hugh Williamson of North Carolina made this point explicit in his objection: Because there wont always be distinguished characters with national recognition who could win a majority of votes, the people will be sure to vote for some man in their own State, and the largest State will be sure to succeed. But this will not be Virginia, since her slaves will have no suffrage. And even if this hadnt been the case, Hulme and Guelzos argument would be nonsensical. If the framers had adopted a popular-vote system, then only the enfranchised would have influenced presidential elections and thus, slavers wouldnt have been able to leverage their human property into outsized political influence. This is not complicated. Furthermore, what, precisely, is in any case, the 3/5ths compromise wasnt that pro-slavery since the plantation owners wanted it to be 5/5ths supposed to prove? But the most fundamental problem with the idea that we should defer to framers judgement is this: Almost immediately after writing the rules for presidential elections into the Constitution, the leaders of our republic realized theyd made a mistake (which is why the 12th Amendment exists). Among other things, making the Electoral College runner-up the vice-president proved to be deeply problematic the moment political parties took hold. If we were actually committed to honoring the founders intentions, then Hillary Clinton would be Donald Trumps vice-president today. This would surely make for a fine sitcom premise, but few would describe it as a rational way to run a White House. (B) It would put us on a slippery slope to abolishing the Senate. From Red Jahnckes column in The Hill, Think We Should Do Away With the Electoral College? Think Again. We are both a democracy and a federation of states. The Electoral College was designed specifically to prevent the tyranny of big states over small states, as was the U.S. Senate, which affords all states, large and small, equal representation. If we do away with the Electoral College, we might as well do away with the Senate. Guelzo offers similar sentiments in another proElectoral College piece for National Affairs: Abolishing the Electoral College now might satisfy an irritated yearning for direct democracy, but it would also mean dismantling federalism. After that, there would be no sense in having a Senate (which, after all, represents the interests of the states), and eventually, no sense in even having states, except as administrative departments of the central government. The biggest problem with this slippery-slope argument is that its implausible: There is strong majoritarian support for abolishing the Electoral College, and a way to effectively nullify it without changing the Constitution (the National Popular Vote interstate compact). This is not the case for abolishing the Senate. Strictly speaking you don't even need to abolish the Electoral College -- a national popular vote is just a few states away from becoming a reality. https://t.co/Zx70p9G3PQ pic.twitter.com/Pe2qgEwmHO Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 20, 2019 But the more basic problem with this species of Electoral College defense is that it boils down to federalism exists, therefore it ought to. Why states shouldnt exist as mere administrative departments of a central government (with some measure of local autonomy) goes largely unexamined. It is not as though our state lines were drawn for the purpose of giving centuries-old, indigenous ethnic groups the opportunity to exercise a modicum of self-determination. Rather, most state lines dont even have a geological basis, and merely reflect the political interests of those in power when they were drawn. It is not as though Wyomings white majority has an ancient connection to its land, and a distinct culture that fundamentally divides them from the other peoples of the Mountain West. There is no reason to treat it as a semi-sovereign entity that must be indulged, lest it break from the union. We are not an infant republic anymore. A secession crisis is very low on our list of tail risks. There may be some virtue in decentralizing power and creating opportunities for policy experimentation on the subnational level. But that does not require inflating Wyomings influence over presidential elections or congressional legislation. By contrast, the case for not requiring all legislation to pass through an upper chamber that is wildly malapportioned such that Wyoming residents get 66 times more say in the Senate than Californians do is quite simple: In a democracy, individual citizens should have roughly equal representation in their governing institutions. Achieving perfect equality in this respect is impossible; but designing a more representative legislature than the U.S. Senate is not. In fact, every U.S. state has already done so. If abolishing the Electoral College will eventually destroy the Senate, that only makes the case for Warrens proposal more compelling. 2. Abolishing the Electoral College would definitely have this bad effect, for reasons so logically sound I dont need to provide evidence for them (even though other defenders of the Electoral College insist it would have the opposite effect, which would also be bad). (A) It would give too little political power to white people. Earlier this year, former Maine governor Paul LePage argued that under a national popular vote, white people will not have anything to say. Its only going to be the minorities that would elect. It would be California, Texas, Florida. It is unclear how a national popular vote would result in only Californians, Texans, and Floridians having a say in presidential elections. Regardless, more than 70 percent of the residents of California, Texas, and Florida identify as white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (B) It would give too much political power to white people. Political scientist Amel Ahmed, meanwhile, argued in the American Prospect in 2016 that abolishing the Electoral College would be unfair to nonwhite people: Its widely recognized that without the Electoral College, one could win the presidency with a few key states. Even more troubling, though, is that without the Electoral College one could win by just appealing to white voters. Since white voters constitute a majority of the electorate, at least for now, that might actually be the easiest road to the presidency for some candidates. The Electoral College is designed to protect minority interests in a variety of forms, whether economic, ideological, or racial. Black and Latino voters draw considerable attention because, in several states, their votes are pivotal. That affords minorities a seat at the table that they might not otherwise enjoy. This is an odd claim. Small states are overrepresented in the Electoral College (since they all automatically get at least three electoral votes, no matter the size of their population). And since small states are whiter, on average, than large ones, nonwhite voters are underrepresented in the Electoral College, as the sociologist Sean Darling-Hammond has shown: Furthermore, it is unclear why candidates would lose all incentive to court the votes of racial minorities in a popular-vote context. The dividing lines of American politics could eventually change. But for the foreseeable future, it is hard to fathom how a Democratic nominee could win a national majority while appealing exclusively to white people. And yet, as is so often the case with proElectoral College arguments, Ahmed feels no need to back up her intuition with data of any kind. In fact, mere paragraphs later, she undermines her own claim: Trump managed to reach across a broader set of economic and geographic constituencies than any other candidate: Rust Belt voters and rural ones; blue-collar and white-collar voters; economic nationalists and fiscal conservatives. The Electoral College forced the winning candidate to appeal to a wide variety of different kinds of white people. Therefore, abolishing it would reduce the influence that African-Americans and Hispanics enjoy over our political system? (C) It would give large states too much power. This might be the single most popular argument against abolishing the Electoral College. Here is one representative example, from Michael Barone of the American Enterprise Institute: The case against abolition is one suggested by the Framers fears that voters in one large but highly atypical state could impose their will on a contrary-minded nation. That largest state in 1787 was Virginia, home of four of the first five presidents. New York and California, by remaining closely in line with national opinion up through 1996, made the issue moot. Californias 21st century veer to the left makes it a live issue again. In a popular vote system, the voters of this geographically distant and culturally distinct state, whose contempt for heartland Christians resembles imperial Londons disdain for the lesser breeds it governed, could impose something like colonial rule over the rest of the nation. Sounds exactly like what the Framers strove to prevent. Barone does not explain how a national popular vote would enable the 12 percent of Americans who live in California to impose something like colonial rule over the rest of the country. Nor does he address the fact that the Golden State is still home to millions of rural-dwelling Republicans, who currently enjoy no effective say in presidential elections. It is difficult to discern any coherent ideologically (or racially) neutral principle that would explain Barones outrage at the thought of individual Californians having the same influence in elections as their countrymen in smaller states (by which he ostensibly means white rural ones, and not, say, residents of the District of Columbia). This is a good comment because think about it: in what way would things change for North Dakota (so small and red it gets no attention now, likely no attention with popular vote elections)... except Republicans might be less likely to win without the popular vote https://t.co/KGl6TNh2vV Will Jordan (@williamjordann) March 20, 2019 More broadly, the counting votes equally would give voters in populous states too much power is just a long-winded way of saying that one does not believe in democracy. Why shouldnt national candidates campaign in the places where most people live? Congress already guarantees that every region will have some say over policy-making and that, within the Legislative branch, small states will actually have disproportionate say. What is it, exactly, about people who live in big cities that make them so undeserving of democratic equality? (D) It would give small states too much power. In 2012, then-federal judge Richard Posner argued that abolishing the Electoral College would be unfair to large states: The Electoral College restores some of the weight in the political balance that large states (by population) lose by virtue of the mal-apportionment of the Senate decreed in the Constitution. This may seem paradoxical, given that electoral votes are weighted in favor of less populous states But winner-take-all makes a slight increase in the popular vote have a much bigger electoral-vote payoff in a large state than in a small one. The popular vote was very close in Florida; nevertheless Obama, who won that vote, got 29 electoral votes. A victory by the same margin in Wyoming would net the winner only 3 electoral votes. So, other things being equal, a large state gets more attention from presidential candidates in a campaign than a small states does. It is certainly true that our winner take all system can, in some circumstances, give slim majorities in large states wildly disproportionate influence in elections. And that fact should probably give second thoughts to any Electoral College defender who sincerely values to disempowering large states, for ideologically neutral reasons. But the fact that the Electoral College may one day give the residents of a large state like Texas profound clout in presidential elections in no way ameliorates the underrepresentation of New Yorkers, Californians, or residents of other populous, deep blue states. 3. Abolishing the Electoral College would plunge our republic into a nightmarish political system identical to the one we currently live under. (A) Candidates would not campaign much in rural areas. This argument is too ubiquitous to require an example, even though it is dumb on a variety of levels. First, the state of Texas elects its senators by popular vote, and yet, this did not cause Beto ORourke to campaign exclusively in Dallas, Houston, and Austin last year. In statewide races even in large states candidates still put in some appearances outside major metro areas, and theres no reason to think this wouldnt hold true for national elections held by popular vote. Second, while presidential candidates do currently make some token appearances in rural areas and would likely continue to, even without the Electoral College they already focus overwhelmingly on urban ones, because very few voters live in low-density areas, by definition. As political scientist Robert Speel observes: Presidential candidates dont campaign in rural areas no matter what system is used, simply because there are not a lot of votes to be gained in those areas. Data from the 2016 campaign indicate that 53 percent of campaign events for Trump, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine in the two months before the November election were in only four states: Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. During that time, 87 percent of campaign visits by the four candidates were in 12 battleground states, and none of the four candidates ever went to 27 states, which includes almost all of rural America. Even in the swing states where they do campaign, the candidates focus on urban areas where most voters live. In Pennsylvania, for example, 72 percent of Pennsylvania campaign visits by Clinton and Trump in the final two months of their campaigns were to the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. In Michigan, all eight campaign visits by Clinton and Trump in the final two months of their campaigns were to the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas, with neither candidate visiting the rural parts of the state. Finally, its worth noting that, contrary to Lindsey Grahams ostensible belief, one doesnt need to wait in line to shake hands with a politician to get involved in politics. It seems likely that, under a national popular-vote system, presidential nominees would continue to campaign mostly near major population centers. But, unlike in our present system, the God-fearing conservatives of upstate New York, eastern Maryland, rural California and every other bastion of Real Americanism within a blue-state Gomorrah would actually have a reason to get involved in presidential elections. Waving a sign at a presidential rally might be fun. But knocking on doors, registering your friends to vote, and organizing a mini turnout operation are more significant forms of political participation. And you dont need a candidate to visit your region to engage in such activity but you probably do need to know that your vote will really count. Thus, a national popular vote would give rural Americans more opportunities to engage meaningfully in politics, not less. To believe otherwise, youd have to think that small-town folks are incapable of any political action beyond attending a candidates speech. Which is to say: Youd have to have contempt for heartland Christians. (B) Third-party candidates would sometimes act as spoilers. Heres Guelzo again: A final unforeseen benefit of the Electoral College is that it reduces the likelihood that third-party candidates will garner enough votes to make it onto the electoral scoreboard. Without the Electoral College, there would be no effective brake on the number of viable presidential candidates. Abolish it, and it would not be difficult to imagine a scenario in which, in a field of dozens of micro-candidates, the winner would need only 10% of the vote, and would represent less than 5% of the electorate. Setting aside the question of whether this (unsubstantiated) prediction is plausible: The problem identified here is not inherent to a national popular vote, but rather, to a winner-take-all system. Implementing ranked choice voting and/or runoff elections would solve the spoiler issue (that already exists). (C) It could lead to a situation where American politics is defined by polarization, and high levels of social animosity. The author Garett Jones argued in 2012 that the Electoral College was indispensable, as it is a great tool for reducing social conflict in American politics: We rarely hear too much about regional issues in the U.S. other than farmers vs. everyone else. But if the presidency was decided by majority rule, Im sure wed hear a lot more about regional differences. Could a presidential candidate get 75% of the votes in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida by promising broad-based Gulf Coast subsidies and a few other goodies? Could a candidate get 85% of Californias and New Yorks votes partly by offering housing subsidies for people facing high housing costs? I dont know: But if we got rid of the electoral college and had a popularly elected president wed sure have a chance to find out. As it stands, presidential candidates are trying to appeal to the median voter in each state across a large number of states. Thats how you get to be president. This reduces regional tensions because candidates are never trying to get 90% of the votes in a state. When youre pitting 90% of one region of the country against 90% of another region of the country, youre substantially raising the probability of social conflict. Too many civil wars are based on regional differences for this to be no big deal. This is, of course, yet another argument rooted in pure, unsubstantiated conjecture. But even if Jones is right that a national popular-vote system would increase the salience of regional divisions in American politics, that would likely reduce social conflict in the U.S. If were not careful, we could end up in a world where our politics centers on the dangerously divisive question of how much the federal government should subsidize the Gulf Coast, instead of innocuous matters like whether Central American migrants are invading our country in a bid to violently change its culture is an awfully strange sentiment! And yet, Jones believes his argument holds up in the Trump era, as he (and some center-right thinkers) promoted it on social media just this week. In reality, the most explosive divides in American politics today lie on questions of race, pluralism, and national identity. These divisions do map onto our nations geography. But the split isnt between regions or states; its between city and country. Our republic would be in much better shape if its defining conflict was how to balance disparate regions economic interests. New York wants more federal housing subsidies, while Arkansas wants more rural development block grants, is a disagreement that can be resolved through compromise. Urban cosmopolitans believe we are a nation of immigrants and diversity is our strength, while rural nationalists insist that we are a white Christian nation that cant sustain its civilization with other peoples babies is not. Of course, there is no reason to believe that a national popular vote would increase the salience of regional conflict in American politics. The primary reason major-party standard-bearers must evince some concern for the interests of disparate regions of the country is not the Electoral College, but the U.S. Congress. An economic program that aided major coastal population centers at great expense to all regions in between would not make it through the House, let alone the Senate. (D) It would create a political system in which an unqualified media personality could win the presidency. Finally, the aforementioned Jahncke explains that, in a popular-vote system, candidates would campaign in big media markets, and this would favor media personalities and celluloid campaigns. In other words: If it werent for the Electoral College, America would face a serious risk of electing some random celebrity to the highest office in the land. Perhaps Ive just deceived myself so as to better deceive you. But I just dont think that is a very good argument. MANILA, Philippines Trial will proceed against opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV after the Court of Appeals (CA) turned down his plea to stop his indictment for rebellion. CAs Ninth Division Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr. in a resolution dated March 18, denied Trillanes application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) at the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150. In the three-page resolution, the CA ruled that they may not temporarily restrain or preliminarily enjoin the prosecution of the criminal action for rebellion at this stage because to do so would be to grant the principal prayer for certiorari without the benefit of hearing. The rebellion charges against Trillanes was reopened after President Rodrigo Duterte revoked the amnesty granted to him in 2010 through Proclamation 572. The trial was supposed to proceed on Wednesday (March 20) but Judge Elmo Alameda deferred the hearing to May 27. Marje Pelayo (with reports from Mai Bermudez) The post CA denies Trillanes motion; trial on rebellion raps to proceed appeared first on UNTV News. MANILA, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday (March 19) scolded the executives of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the two water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad for not doing their job that resulted in a metro-wide water shortage. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Chief Executive vented out his anger on concerned officials and told them to shape up or ship out! In a stern message delivered without even once looking at the officials, the obviously outraged President threatened to fire the MWSS officials and terminate the concessionaires contracts, Panelo said. The meeting, which Panelo described as a presidential monologue, lasted for 40 minutes. The President ended his tirade by ordering the officials to submit a report on the water shortage before April 7. After which he will decide whether heads will roll or whether the contracts of the concessionaires will be terminated, Panelo concluded. For more than a week, residents of Metro Manila and Rizal suffered water shortage prompting the administration to direct water authorities to release 150 days-worth of water from Angat Dam to supply affected areas. The Upper and Lower Houses of Congress conducted their respective hearings on the matter which called for penalties against Manila Water for violating the concession agreement and the resignation of concerned officials over mismanagement, incompetence and negligence. Marje Pelayo (with details from Rosalie Coz) The post Duterte tells MWSS, water concessionaires: Shape up or ship out! appeared first on UNTV News. Reymark Cavesirano, 13, leaves before dawn each weekend day on a perilous trip out into Manila Bay to make enough to feed his family, one of millions of deeply poor Filipinos who face a daily struggle for survival. Aboard a raft pieced together from discarded wood and sheets of styrofoam, he uses his bare hands as paddles for the hour-long journey to the fishing boats where he works. About one in five of the Philippines' 106 million people live in extreme poverty, getting by on less than $2 per day. Many, including children, work long hours as street vendors or labourers to make enough to feed themselves. Cavesirano, along with men at least twice his age, helps fishermen clean their nets by removing fish stuck in the gear. He keeps the fish as payment, paddles back to land and then sells them to buy food and medicine for his family. "My back usually aches from paddling but I cannot stop. I have to continue because we need to eat," Cavesirano told AFP. The boy, who attends elementary school during the week, lives with his grandparents in a shelter pieced together from bamboo and plastic sheeting in a squatter community on the shore of Manila Bay. He is estranged from his mother. Cavesirano's grandmother Remedios Santos said she was against her grandson working because of the risks he faces on the water but he was persistent. "I told him it is dangerous. But he said 'Mama, other people won't help us in life. So I will help you'," said the 55-year old Santos, who still works as a scavenger. On a good day, Cavesirano can bring home a kilo of rice, which is enough to feed his family for the day, and 300-400 pesos ($6-$8). The money helps pay for his grandfather's tuberculosis medicine and cover his school allowance for the coming week. The boy, who started working on the boats at the age of 10 after his brother taught him how to swim, dreams of finishing school and providing a better life for his family. "I want to reciprocate my grandparents' kindness. I want them to have a three-storey house made from concrete," Cavesirano said. By Marton Dunai BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament's main centre-right grouping voted on Wednesday to suspend Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz Party until further notice amid concerns that it has violated EU principles on the rule of law. The decision by the European People's Party (EPP) came after calls both from allies, political opponents and rights groups for Orban's party to be disciplined over its anti-immigration campaigns and controversial changes to the judicial system. The group agreed to appoint three elder statesmen to examine whether Hungary infringed the EPP's democratic standards. The three will report after May's European Parliament elections, meaning that the fractious EPP should be able to present a united front while campaigning. "Fidesz will have no say any more on the EPP's political approach," said Manfred Weber, the party's lead candidate in the elections, of the deal reached between Fidesz and the EPP's other member parties under which Fidesz will not attend party meetings, vote or propose candidates. Orban, a nationalist who has often clashed with the European Union over his anti-immigration campaigns and judicial reforms, cast the suspension as a victory, saying he had beaten back an "attack" by the 13, mainly northern European conservative parties that had called for his expulsion. "We voluntarily agreed to suspend our participation" until the committee reports, Orban told a news conference after the decision. "I sat through the meeting with the departure letter in my right hand. I'd have walked over and handed it over if we'd been excluded." For Orban, membership in the group gives him mainstream respectability and influence that other European populists lack. He had threatened earlier in the day to quit the EPP if Fidesz were suspended. The suspension was not enough for critics of the EPP, who say it stood by as Orban dismantled democratic norms and the rule of law in Hungary. Story continues "This is a suspension for three months just to wait out the European elections in two months time after nine years of breaking down democracy and the rule of law," said Dutch Green Judith Sargentini, the European Parliament's point person on Hungary. Weber is looking to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the European Commission after the elections. If Fidesz had been expelled his chances would have been reduced since he would not have the votes of the Hungarian party's European lawmakers - who currently number 12. Orban said there had been no discussion of the substance of policies that many in the EPP have criticised, including Fidesz's anti-immigration stance and attacks on Juncker. Juncker was the target of a Hungarian government poster campaign depicting him as a proponent of mass immigration into Europe and as a puppet manipulated by Hungarian-American billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Earlier on Wednesday, Juncker repeated his call for Fidesz to be kicked out of the EPP, telling German radio "I think that Mr Orban is a long way from basic Christian Democratic values". (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers and Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Gergely Szakacs in Budapest; Writing by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Gareth Jones and Frances Kerry) Kaliwa River in Tanay , Rizal | Photo credit: MWSS MANILA, Philippines The Duterte government is contemplating a review of the loan agreement between the Philippines and China on the much-talked-about Kaliwa Dam project. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the administration might scrap the project if it proves that the agreement will be more burdensome than beneficial to the government. If the advance is so clear, if its true that the Chinese proposal is onerous, I think we should look into it, Panelo said. I think that should be thoroughly studied if the claim of the Japanese is true or not (because) we dont know exactly, he added. The Kaliwa Dam project made headlines amid the metro-wide water shortage that started early this month. It became controversial when reports surfaced that a Japanese firm offered a much cheaper deal for the dams construction than pursuing the agreement with China. Panelo said he would discuss the matter with concerned government agencies specifically the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). Marje Pelayo The post Govt mulls review of China-funded Kaliwa Dam project appeared first on UNTV News. Hong Kong to consider dropping certain white-collar crimes from extradition agreement with Taiwan, Macau and the mainland The Hong Kong government will consider removing several white-collar crimes from the citys plan to start handing over fugitives to Taiwan, Macau and the mainland, according to the head of a local business group. Dennis Ng Wang-pun, president of the Chinese Manufacturers Association, said on Wednesday that his organisation raised concerns with Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu about 15 white-collar crimes listed in the government plan. Mr Lee told us he would study with relevant government departments whether several relatively minor white-collar crimes, which the business sector is concerned about, could be removed from the list covered by the government proposal, Ng said. Ng did not reveal what crimes were mentioned by Lee during the meeting but hinted that crimes related to patents or trademarks were among them. Speaking after a Legislative Council meeting, Lee said he was still listening to views and did not comment on the possibility of a revised proposal that excluded certain corporate crimes. Last month, the Security Bureau proposed an amendment to the existing extradition laws to allow the surrender of fugitives to jurisdictions where the city has no extradition deal, including Macau, Taiwan and the mainland. Officials said the bill was meant to close extradition loopholes exposed by a homicide case last year in which Taiwanese authorities were unable to prosecute a Hongkonger accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Taipei before fleeing back home. As it stands, suspects can be surrendered to one of the 20 countries with which Hong Kong has an extradition deal. The 46 offences that suspects can be handed over for include murder, hacking, smuggling and tax evasion. Among these are 15 corporate crimes, such as fraud, corruption and money laundering. Claudia Mo Man-ching, the convenor for the citys pro-democracy camp, cited a source from the business sector who had met with Lee recently as saying that the government was thinking about significantly watering down the bill and taking out over half of the offences covered by the extradition agreement. Story continues Additional reporting by Kanis Leung Their latest understanding is that Lee was willing to consider out of 46 types of extraditable offences, the government would not legislate economic crimes and left only a dozen offences [in the bill], Mo said. The bill would basically only apply to the likes of murder. Mo warned, however, that the democrats could not accept the proposal even revised, unless the bill becomes more narrowly tailored. You cant compartmentalise the rule of law and judicial system as such, Mo said. And how are you going to be answerable to countries and jurisdictions which Hong Kong already signed extradition treaties? Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor hinted on Tuesday that the government might soften its stance on the proposal. Ronny Tong Ka-wah, an adviser to the chief executive and a member of the Executive Council, said the exclusion of economic crimes could be done without major redrafting of the bill. He cited the 46 extraditable offences already included in the schedule of the ordinance, and said a new clause could be added to spell out which offence from the schedule would apply, and which would not apply. Tam Yiu-chung, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress, said during a RTHK programme on Wednesday that he thought Beijing government did not have a particular view on removing white-collar crimes from the extradition proposal. Robert Grieves, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said on Wednesday the chamber had made a submission to the Hong Kong government and it was up to them to decide. The chambers president, Tara Joseph, said AmCham officials had met with Lee. We had very good discussion. We always have very good and open dialogue with the government, she said. The AmCham warned in its submission that the new extradition law would damage the citys reputation as a secure haven for international business. This article Hong Kong to consider dropping certain white-collar crimes from extradition agreement with Taiwan, Macau and the mainland first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. A group of unmarried couples were whipped in Indonesia's Aceh province on Thursday after they were caught behaving amorously -- a crime under the conservative region's Islamic law. Flogging is common for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol and having gay sex. It is the only province in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country that imposes Islamic law. The five couples flogged Thursday received between four and 22 strokes from a rattan cane outside a mosque in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, after they served several months in prison. Religious police caught the amorous couples cuddling and holding hands or, in some cases, having sex. Hundreds of spectators, including children, watched as a masked sharia officer lashed the offenders as they winced in pain. "We hope in the future there will be no more cases like this -- it's embarrassing," said religious officer Safriadi, who goes by one name. In December, two men caught having sex with underage girls were whipped 100 times each in Aceh. Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end, but the practice has wide support among Aceh's population. Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will not appeal a 12-year prison sentence imposed on her last week for "encouraging corruption and debauchery", her husband said on Sunday. "She said she wouldn't want to appeal, and the reason is that the judicial process is unfair and such protests will do no good," Reza Khandan told AFP over telephone. "She does not want to undertake any judicial action since she does not agree with the judicial process. Nothing will be done along these lines," he added. Khandan said the new sentence against his wife, who is currently in prison for a five-year term on espionage charges, was for 12 years after she was found guilty of "encouraging corruption and debauchery". The maximum time to be served for this offence is 10 years, Khandan said, adding however that in cases with more than three charges the judge can increase the sentence, "and he made it 12". Khandan told AFP on Tuesday that Sotoudeh had been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison over a case with seven charges, but she is to only serve the longest sentence which is for 12 years. Sotoudeh has also been sentenced to a total of 148 lashes for appearing in court without the hijab Islamic head covering and for another offence. According to him, Sotoudeh has refrained from choosing a lawyer as attorneys on her previous cases have faced prosecution for representing her. "She was not ready to sacrifice any lawyers again and create a situation that lawyers would be prosecuted because of her," Khandan said, following a conversation they had in prison. She had been found guilty of "colluding against the system, propaganda against the system... disrupting public order" and several other counts. Before her arrest, Sotoudeh, 55, had taken on the cases of several women arrested for appearing in public without headscarves in protest at the mandatory dress code in force in Iran. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009 against the disputed re-election of ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Kazakhstan's new president was sworn in Wednesday following the shock resignation of the country's long-time ruler and in his first official act renamed the capital after his predecessor. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office in a pomp-filled ceremony less than 24 hours after Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan had ever known, suddenly announced he was stepping down. Tokayev immediately proposed changing the name of the Central Asian nation's capital from Astana to Nursultan, or "Sultan of Light" in Kazakh, and parliament approved the change within hours. The senate also appointed Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva as speaker, setting her up as a potential contender to succeed her father. Tokayev, 65, will serve out the rest of Nazarbayev's mandate until elections due in April next year, though the former president retains significant powers in the country he ruled for nearly three decades. Tokayev told lawmakers that Nazarbayev had "shown wisdom" by deciding to step down, a rare move in ex-Soviet Central Asia where other leaders have hung on to power until death. "Yesterday the world witnessed a historic event," Tokayev said, hailing Nazarbayev as a visionary reformer. "The results of an independent Kazakhstan are there for all to see," he added. - Futuristic capital - Nazarbayev changed the capital from Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty to Astana in 1997, transforming it from a minor provincial town into a futuristic city of skyscrapers rising from the steppes. Its name meant "capital" in Kazakh and there had long been speculation of a renaming after the leader who shaped it. The city is central to government propaganda highlighting the achievements of Nazarbayev's reign and his journey to build it was recently the subject of a state-funded film, "Leader's Path: Astana". Nazarbayev, 78, ruled Kazakhstan since before it gained independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. He steered the country through a major transformation, developing huge energy reserves and boosting its international influence, but was accused of cracking down on dissent and tolerating little opposition. Nazarbayev will continue to enjoy significant powers thanks to his constitutional status as "Leader of the Nation", life-time position as chief of the security council and head of the ruling Nur Otan party. Tokayev appeared to be in pole position to take over in the long term until senators voted shortly after his swearing-in to name Dariga Nazarbayeva, 55, as their new chief. She is the most politically prominent of Nazarbayev's three children and has long been mooted as a potential successor. Kazakhstan's deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2016, Nazarbayeva has significant influence over the media. Analysts said it was too early to declare a clear frontrunner to become the next elected president, with the recently named prime minister, 53-year-old Askar Mamin, another possible contender. - 'Safe pair of hands' - Tokayev, the interim president, has a strong diplomatic record dating back to the Soviet period and has twice been foreign minister. This should go some way to reassuring Kazakhstan's major partners including China, the European Union, Russia and the United States that the move will not threaten key relationships. Tokayev "is a safe pair of hands, he is a loyal presidential lieutenant," said Kate Mallinson, a Russia and Eurasia expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank. Kazakhstan-based analyst Dosym Satpayev described Tokayev as a "heavyweight" but said he lacked popular appeal. As for Kazakh society's reaction to Dariga Nazarbayeva, it "would be mixed to say the least," Satpayev said. "A candidate from the family would be controversial and Dariga does not speak the state language, Kazakh, as well as her father," he said. Satpayev also pointed to another Nazarbayev relative -- nephew Samat Abish, a high-ranking security official who rarely appears in public -- as a potential contender from inside the family circle. "This would be something like a Putin scenario, wherein a connected figure appears from the shadows at the last moment," Satpayev said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's sudden emergence following Boris Yeltsin's sudden retirement in 1999. The new leader will need to tackle growing discontent over falling living standards after Kazakhstan's economy was hit by the 2014 drop in oil prices and western sanctions against Russia, a key trading partner. A Bernie Sanders supporter at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Bernie Sanders has tried to assure Democrats he does not intend to run a factional splinter campaign in 2020. To that end, he has promised to endorse the nominee, and pledged he will not run a negative campaign, and to date has followed through on the latter promise. But then yesterday, his campaign announced two high-profile hires: speechwriter David Sirota and press secretary Briahna Joy Gray. Sirota and Gray, both very smart left-wing journalists, share a commitment to exactly the sort of left-wing factionalism that frightens Democrats. Sirota has savaged mainstream Democrats as tools of big-money interests, often in what appear to be intentionally misleading ways. In 2016, Gray dismissed reports that Russia hacked Democratic emails which fervent Sanders supporters believed distracted from the scandals the emails revealed and wound up voting for Jill Stein. Like Sirota, she has remained alienated from the party. The schism reflected in their politics does not really map onto the Democratic Partys electorate as a whole. The Democratic Party is divided between moderates and liberals. But support for Sanders among voters is not especially ideological. A significant minority of his 2016 vote came from the most conservative voters in the primary (who had supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 for the same reason). Liberal and moderate voters support Sanders and Joe Biden in roughly equal measure: Among the intelligentsia, it is a completely different story. Progressive intellectuals are divided not between moderates and liberals but between liberals and leftists. And leftists themselves are divided between those who fundamentally differentiate the Democratic Party from the Republican Party and those who see the Democratic Party as essentially corrupt, capitalist, and generally unworthy of support. For the latter faction, Sanders stands completely apart from every other candidate. He comes out of hard-core socialist politics and still uses at least vaguely Marxian concepts (describing most issues as being driven by an economic divide between the people and the billionaire class). The split that interests them is not the one between Republicans and Democrats (or conservatives and progressives) but socialists versus capitalists (or neoliberals). A brief tour through the campaign coverage in the socialist magazine Jacobin provides a window into how different the Democratic contest looks to the factional left than to the average Democratic voter. Biden? Extremely bad. ORourke? Real bad. Booker? Bad, bad, bad. Harris? Bad. Gillibrand? Bad. Castro? Surprisingly good! (By any standards, a towering figure.) Sorry, wait that was Fidel Castro. Julian Castro is also bad. Even Elizabeth Warren rates at best a meh, especially in comparison with you know who. Warren is a regulator at heart who believes that capitalism works well as long as fair competition exists; Sanders is a class-conscious tribune who sees capitalism as fundamentally unjust. Warren frames her most ambitious reforms as bids to make capitalism accountable, explains a recent essay. Warren seeks a harmonious accord between workers and employers; Sanders encourages workers to fight back. The main question surrounding Sanders is whether he can overcome the diabolical machinations of the party Establishment. If he were to make it through a crowded Democratic Party primary field, successfully dodging attacks from party elites who recognize hes not their ally, theres no question that he could win the presidency in 2020. He is in almost every other respect nearly ideal: Bernie Sanders is the best candidate the only candidate who could be considered anything even close to socialist, and the one to beat Trump. A President Sanders isnt some idealist fantasy, he is our best bet by a mile. He has consistently polled as the most popular politician in America since the primaries. From the outside, the fanatical commitment of Bernies hard-core support smacks of an irrational cult. But it is a serious worldview that arises out of profound ideological differences with mainstream liberalism. The schismatic Bernie diehards see the Democratic Party as having value only insofar as it is a potential vehicle for Bernie to win the presidency and carry out his political revolution. From their standpoint, viewing the primary contest as a question of which Democrat can beat Trump completely misses the historical stakes. Sanders doesnt actually need to court the die-hard socialist vote. There probably arent more than a few thousand of them in the entire country the Democratic Socialists of America have 50,000 members, which is approximately the same as the population of cities like Sheboygan, Wisconsin, or Pocatello, Idaho and, anyway, they have nowhere else to go. And so whether he wants to fashion himself as a partisan Democrat, or as a schismatic leftist using the Democratic Party, is a choice he can make. For the moment, Sanderss decision has yet to be revealed. The head of Kazakhstan's senate was sworn in as interim president in a pomp-filled ceremony Wednesday, and immediately proposed renaming the country's capital after his predecessor. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only leader an independent Kazakhstan has ever known, shocked the nation on Tuesday with his resignation after nearly three decades in power. Senate chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, was Kazakhstan's second in command and is set to serve as president until fresh elections in April next year. But Nazarbayev, 78, will retain significant influence thanks to his constitutional status as "Leader of the Nation" and lifelong position as chief of the country's security council. In his first announcement after his swearing in before the upper and lower houses of parliament, Tokayev said the capital Astana should be renamed after Nazarbayev. In the broadcast ceremony, Tokayev told deputies that Nazarbayev had "demonstrated wisdom" in deciding to resign. "Yesterday the world witnessed a historic event," Tokayev said, hailing Nazarbayev as a visionary "reformer". "The results of independent Kazakhstan are there for all to see," Tokayev added. "I propose... naming the country's capital Astana in honour of the first president," Tokayev said, suggesting the new name be "Nursultan". "The opinion of (Nazarbayev) will be of special, one can say priority, importance in the development and adoption of strategic decisions," the new leader added. Nazarbayev, also present, was applauded for several minutes by assembled lawmakers as he took a seat at the head of the session. Astana replaced Almaty as the capital in 1997 and boomed from a minor provincial steppe town into a futuristic city. The name literally means "capital" in Kazakh and there has long been speculation it could at some point be renamed after the leader who shaped it. Nazarbayev's decades at the helm transformed Kazakhstan into an energy powerhouse but he governed with little tolerance for opposition. On Tuesday he surprised Kazakhs with a televised address saying he had made the "difficult decision" to resign. Tokayev has a strong diplomatic track record dating back to the Soviet period, serving twice as Kazakhstan's foreign minister. Nazarbayev's resignation is not expected to fundamentally alter Kazakhstan's authoritarian system, which rights groups say leaves little space for political competition, civil society, and free media. Singapore state courts (Yahoo News Singapore file photo) The domestic helper working for the family of Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong was found guilty of stealing items worth more than $30,000 from his household on Wednesday (20 March). Parti Liyani, a 45-year-old Indonesian, had been working for Liews household from March 2007 until October 2016, when she left Singapore. She had been paid $600 monthly towards the end of her employment. In a trial in the State Courts which began last year, the maid contested four charges of theft for stealing valuables from Liew, his son Karl Liew Kai Ling, his wife Heather Lim Mei Ern and his sister May Liew Cheng. The stolen items included a DVD player valued at $1,000, two Longchamp bags worth $400, a Gerald Genta watch worth $10,000, two white iPhone 4 smartphones with accessories valued at $2,056, 115 pieces of clothing valued at $150 each, and a $500 blanket. Karl had testified that his father tasked him to let Parti go on 28 October 2016. After conveying the instructions to the maid, she had packed three sealed boxes and insisted on having Karl ship them to Indonesia for her. Karl initially agreed but later opened the boxes with other family members and found items that belonged to the family. Liew later made a police report and Parti was arrested upon her return to Singapore on 2 December 2016. According to Karl, his father had suspected Parti of stealing from the family for some two to three years before deciding to send her home. Partis lawyer, Anil Balchandani, had argued during the trial that the items Parti had allegedly stolen had been given to her or purchased by her, or that she had taken discarded items, or that some items found in the boxes were not packed by her. The defence claimed that the Liew family conspired to bring the allegations against Parti in order to prevent her from returning to Singapore to file a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower as Parti had been deployed to work outside of the household. In finding Parti guilty, District Judge Olivia Low said she found no reason why the Liew family or the familys driver would conspire to frame Parti for theft, especially after having employed her for a number of years. Story continues They had in fact compensated her for the termination and was even willing to pay for rate shipping to get her items back to Indonesia, said DJ Low. Partis modus operandi had been to take various items from different family members thinking that they would go unnoticed. I further note that despite having returned to Indonesia for more than a month, (Parti) never showed interest in finding out why she had not received the three jumbo boxes yet if those items in the boxes were truly hers, the judge added. The judge amended one of the four charges, specifically on the items stolen from Karl: lowering the number of stolen items to 115 from 120, and the value of a watch to $10,000 from $25,000, and removing two wallets from the list of stolen items. She explained that there was some reasonable doubt whether Karl owned five of the items or were in his possession. Parti is expected to be sentenced on 25 March. Related stories Maid tried to ship familys belongings to Indonesia, says son of Changi Airport Group chairman Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong testifies against his maid in theft trial Part of a gang of four Sarawak natives who carried out a series of violent armed robberies in Kallang back in 2010, 28-year-old Michael Anak Garing is due for the gallows this Friday at Changi Prison. The Malaysian national had been sentenced to death in 2015 after being convicted of murder by the High Court of Singapore. Now, his family, human rights activists, lawyers, and even the Malaysian government are calling for Singapore to spare him from execution. They are asking for his sentence to be amended to life in prison instead. Malaysias Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Liew Vui Keong that the government will appeal to Singapore to grant clemency to Michael, The Sun Daily reported. But it would appear to be futile, as Singapore executed Malaysian drug trafficker Prabu Pathmanathan last year despite Malaysias protest on the issue. Activists and lawyers are taking issue with the short notice that Singapore gave to Michaels family about his impending execution. Michaels family, who are from Kapit in Sarawak, were only given eight days notice of the imminent execution. They were asked by letter to make the necessary funeral arrangements, Malaysian rights lawyer N. Surendran told The Malaysian Insight. This extremely short notice is disturbing and a cause for concern. It gives the family scant time to spend with Micheal in his final days and to make preparations. Michaels uncle, Adriel Abit, told Free Malaysia Today that they had been trying for the past eight years to appeal for Michaels sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment. Non-governmental organization Amnesty International has also condemned Singapore for putting Michael on death row and called for the immediate halt to the execution. Once again, Singapore threatens to inflict the kind of cruelty it claims to oppose. No matter how heinous the crime, the death penalty is a degrading and inhuman punishment. We denounce its use in all circumstances, said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Singapore Researcher at Amnesty International. She urged the authorities to re-establish the moratorium on executions as a first step towards their abolition. Story continues The Kallang robberies Michael Anak Garing. Photo: Singapore Police Forrce The robbery spree that Michael and his three compatriots went on back in 2010 left one dead and three others severely injured. The four Sarawak natives carried out the violent robberies in Kallang from the late night of May 29, 2010, till the wee hours of the next morning. A 24-year-old construction worker and a 19-year-old full-time national serviceman were kicked, punched and slashed with a machete. A 43-year-old Indian national had both his arms hacked so badly that the cuts went all the way down to the bone. Another Indian national was knocked off his bicycle, and was slashed repeatedly. Among other serious injuries, he sustained a fractured skull and a severed jugular vein. The man died from his injuries. Michael was found guilty of murder as the court concluded that he wielded the parang during the fatal attack. His three other companions were spared the gallows but were given hefty sentences nonetheless. One was jailed for life with 24 strokes of the cane, while the other two were each given 33 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane. In court, Michaels lawyer tried to appeal against the conviction and sentence by arguing that he was not the one who dealt the killing blow. This article, Malaysia and Amnesty International urge Singapore to spare Sarawak murderer from gallows, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A student stabbed a college professor to death on Wednesday in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, apparently because he felt that a planned party that women were going to be involved with would be un-Islamic, a police official said. Khalid Hameed, an English professor at the Government Sadiq Egerton College in Bahawalpur, was preparing for the farewell party when one of his students attacked him with a dagger, police said. "Apparently, the accused has no link to any religious group but we are investigating about his past and the reasons behind his mindset," local police official Farhan Hussain said. He added that the motive given by the alleged attacker was Hameed's decision to hold the party. The student, Khateeb Hussain, was in policy custody and was being charged with murder, police said. The attacker was wrestled to the ground by students present at the party rehearsal but they could not save Hameed, who died of his wounds after being taken to a local hospital, college principal Wali Muhammad told Reuters. Egerton College is one of few institutions in Pakistan with a majority female student population, with 4,000 women attending alongside 2,000 male students, Muhammad said. The dead professor had been due to retire in four months. Religion and gender are sensitive topics in Pakistan, where women's rights are often described as un-Islamic by right-wing religious groups. Last year, a school principal was shot and killed after reprimanding a student for missing classes to attend a protest organised by an ultra-right wing Islamist group. The student equated the teacher's words with blasphemy, police said. This month, a women's march was condemned by the country's religious right and its organisers were threatened with rape and death for publicly demonstrating against taboo topics such as sexual harassment and the demonisation of divorce, and for calling out men for not doing housework. A Thomson Reuters Foundation poll found Pakistan to be the sixth most dangerous country for women in 2018. (Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Frances Kerry) Swedish authorities said on Wednesday that the countrys ambassador to China was under criminal investigation for breaching national security, after she was called back to Stockholm amid reports of her role in arranging unauthorised meetings about the case of detained bookseller Gui Minhai. Deputy Chief Prosecutor Hans Ihrman confirmed Swedish media reports that Anna Lindstedt was under ongoing investigation for the relevant national security crimes without further elaboration, the Swedish Prosecution Authority told the South China Morning Post in an email reply. It was reported earlier that Lindstedt had been recalled from Beijing to meet with Swedish foreign ministry officials, and Stockholm later said it was conducting an internal investigation over her incorrect action connected to events occurring at the end of January. Lindstedt was embroiled in a political storm after Angela Gui, the daughter of Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai, wrote in a public post on Medium on February 13 that the Swedish ambassador was involved in arranging an unauthorised meeting between her and unidentified Chinese businessmen. In the post, Gui said that Lindstedt had asked her to come to Stockholm on January 24 for a new approach to her fathers case, but ended up in a meeting with unnamed Chinese businessmen who offered to help secure her fathers release. She said they threatened her to stop engaging with the media or it would damage Lindstedts career, and that she had to trust them or she would never see her father again. When Gui later contacted Swedish foreign affairs officials, they told her that they were not aware of the meeting. Im not going to be quiet in exchange for a visa and an arbitrary promise that my father might be released, Gui wrote in her public post, calling the meeting a government officials rogue operation. Threats, verbal abuse, bribes, or flattery wont change that, she wrote. The Swedish embassy in Beijing declined to comment on Lindstedts case on Wednesday, saying that the investigation was active. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Swedish Police Authority also declined to comment. Story continues Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born naturalised Swedish citizen, was one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers who disappeared in late 2015 but resurfaced later in mainland China. The affair saw the associates, all from the Causeway Bay Bookstore and Mighty Current Publishing House which published salacious books about the lives of past and current Chinese leaders vanish from Thailand, Hong Kong and mainland China. It was later revealed that all five were investigated for their alleged illegal business of selling banned books through underground channels to buyers on the mainland. Gui, owner of the bookstore and publishing house, was released in October 2017 after serving a two-year sentence for a drink-driving offence from 2003. He was arrested again three months later on a train to Beijing, when he was accompanied by two Swedish diplomats, on charges of leaking state secrets abroad. China denies it met daughter of detained bookseller Gui Minhai Sweden has condemned the way Beijing has handled Guis case, and demanded that the bookseller be released and reunited with his family immediately. China, however, has insisted that it has handled the case in accordance with the law. More from South China Morning Post: This article Swedish ambassador to China investigated for security breaches in Gui Minhai case first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019. Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in clashes near a flashpoint religious site in the occupied West Bank overnight Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said. The health ministry said Raid Hamdan, 21, and Zaid Nouri, 20, died after being shot late Tuesday by Israeli troops near the Joseph's Tomb religious site close to the Palestinian city of Nablus. The Israeli army said in a statement explosives were hurled from a vehicle as Jewish worshippers visited the site late Tuesday. "Troops responded with live fire towards the vehicle." There were no reports of injuries on the Israeli side. The site has long been a source of tension in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Jews believe the site contains the remains of the biblical patriarch Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Palestinian Muslims believe an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yusser (Joseph) Dweikat, was buried there two centuries ago. It is located near a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, the territory occupied by Israel for more than 50 years. The Israeli army regularly escorts groups of Jewish pilgrims to the site, often sparking clashes. Decrease Font Size Font Size Increase Font Size Article body Nobel Laureate in Chemistry George P. Smith will visit Auburn University and the College of Veterinary Medicine April 10-11. Professor Smith will present a public lecture, Chemical Evolution with Phage Display, at 2 p.m. April 10 in The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center auditorium, which will be followed by a reception. On April 11, he will be available to meet with faculty and students at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Smiths visit follows Auburns April 9 Student Research Symposium in which nearly 600 students will present their research and creative scholarship projects. Smith, the MU Curators Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biological Science at the University of Missouri, won the 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry for development of bacteriophage display technology, which is the method that can be used to evolve new proteins and develop new pharmaceuticals. The award was shared with Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology and Sir Gregory Winter of the University of Cambridge for their revolutionary methods of solving modern medical issues. Auburn Professor Valery Petrenko, of the College of Veterinary Medicine, worked closely with Smith for several years at the University of Missouri and continued collaborating after Petrenko came to Auburn in 2000. Phage display is a new way of thinking, a new paradigm in research. I am very happy that Dr. Smith and the phage display invention and its translation to phage nanobiotechnology, protein and material engineering received the highest scientific and public recognition over the world, Petrenko said. Smith obtained his doctorate in bacteriology and immunology in 1970 at Harvard University. He spent most of his career, 1975-2018, at the University of Missouri in Columbia, as well as time at Duke University in 19831984, where he began his Nobel Prize-awarded work. His visit to Auburn University is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the College of Veterinary Medicines Joy Goodwin Lecture Series. The lecture series was established in 1984 by donor Joy Goodwin to bring in visiting scholars in support of research and teaching interests of the faculty and students. To date, this endowed program has sponsored over 130 seminars covering a wide range of topics. The speakers are chosen because of their documented leadership in a particular discipline of interest to the college. The College of Veterinary Medicine is honored to welcome Dr. George P. Smith, 2018 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, to the Auburn University campus as a Distinguished Joy Goodwin Lecturer, said Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Frank Skip Bartol. We welcome the university community to this lecture and look forward to his visit to our college. More information is available about the lecture series online (https://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/research/joy-goodwin-lecture-series/) or by contacting Bartol at bartoff@auburn.edu. Family members not allowed to meet Nawaz Sharif: Shehbaz Sharif Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday lamented that he as well as other family members were not being allowed to meet former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. Despite repeated requests, I was barred from inquiring after Mian Sahib today too, he said in a tweet. My family and I used to meet Nawaz Sharif two to three times in a week so that we stay aware of his medical condition but now our meetings with him have been reduced to Thursdays only, he said. Slamming the government, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president said, Depriving a mother, sister, brother and daughter of this right is utter injustice. Meanwhile, Punjab Information Minister Samsam Bukhari said that no one has stopped Maryam and Shehbaz Sharif from meeting Nawaz at prison. Nawazs health issues should have been resolved way earlier, but he said that he wants to have his treatment abroad, he said. A day earlier, Maryam Nawaz had said that it had been five days that she could not have any access to her father. She had said in a tweet that her father was unwell, adding that not even his personal physician had not been allowed to see him. Govt to refund 2.5 billion to Sui gas consumers: Fawad Chaudhry Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry Tuesday said the government has decided to refund an amount of Rs 2.5 billion charged extra from the Sui gas consumers in the shape of inflated bills. Briefing media persons after the federal cabinet meeting here, the minister said over 3.2 million Sui gas consumers were affected by overbilling. The committee constituted to probe the matter has found that the gas consumers are being overbilled since the fiscal year 2016-17. He said the inquiry is still underway and startling revelations are expected on its completion. The minister said the federal cabinet strongly condemned the Christchurch terror attack, sympathized with the bereaved families and offered fateha for the martyred. It noted that hatred against Muslims is being spread in the West in a systemic way and stressed the need to initiate dialogue among civilizations to counter the menace. Fawad said international leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, visited Pakistan after assuming of the office by Prime Minister Imran Khan while Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad is scheduled to attend the Pakistan Day Parade. He said the government will pay special attention to the development of agriculture. Former minister Jehangir Khan Tareen has given a detailed briefing to the cabinet in this regard. The government, he said, has decided to spend Rs 290 billion on agricultural development and launch 18 schemes in the next five years. He said imports of agricultural products has reached $4 billion, including edible oil costing $2 billion. The government has planned to launch a campaign for reducing the consumption of cooking oil to save precious foreign exchange, he added. The government, he said, is also taking measures for the production of oil seeds, besides developing livestock and fisheries, which will help strengthen the economy of the country and increase per capita income. The minister said the cabinet has decided to devise a uniform system for the appointment of heads of regulatory bodies, corporations and attached departments of ministries on merit. A committee headed by the respective minister will oversee the process and shortlist the names of potential candidates. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has been stressing on adopting austerity measures as the country is facing economic crunch. An intriguing slice of modern Hollywoodnamely, the nonpareil star constellation of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Quentin Tarantinomeets hippie Hollywood 1969 in the first trailer for Tarantinos upcoming feature, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The movie centers around Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), a washed-up Western TV actor who, with his stunt double and compadre Cliff Booth (Pitt) by his side, hopes to break out of the small-screen biz and onto the silver one. The pair also happens to live next door to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), whose murder at the hands of the Manson family cult is bound to shake up the neighborhood. Advertisement Get Slate Culture in Your Inbox We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Tarantino is known for his use of pastichebest on display in his 1994 classic Pulp Fictionand the rollicking first trailer for Once Upon a Time suggests that the movie will follow along similar lines. Late-60s Los Angeles counterculture is on full display, with shots of the Cinerama Dome, a Pussycat Theater, dancing playboy bunnies, and an untold number of aviator sunglasses. Much of the movie was shot on location at restored versions of Hollywood landmarks. Also included in the films notable cast are Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Lena Dunham, Luke Perry, Emile Hirsch, and tons more. Tarantino is reportedly attempting to finish a cut of the film to premiere it at Cannes in May, and it will be in theaters this July. The first few days of Beto ORourkes official presidential campaign seemed to be pretty rough. Last Wednesday, Vanity Fair dropped a cover-story profile that portrayed the not-quite candidate driving around El Paso, Texas, and ruminating about a potential run; it was roundly mocked. He announced his campaign the next dayand was mocked again. After his first campaign stop in Iowa, he had to apologize for a joke about how his wife was raising their three children sometimes with my help. A few days later, he vowed to stop cursing so much. Meanwhile, as Slates Josh Voorhees summed it up, he was entering the race as a man without a clear political ideology, a signature legislative achievement, a major policy issue, or a concrete agenda for the country. To media observers, it looked like ORourke had tripped over his shoelaces on the starting line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Liberals loved ORourke when he ran against the reviled Sen. Ted Cruz last year, but that was Ted Cruz. And ORourke lost! By the time the still-just-a-congressman from El Paso entered the presidential race, he had become a punchline and a punching bag for media elites. Every quote that comes out of his mouth sounds like an Instagram caption, Tom Scocca wrote at Hmm Daily. A reporter for the Columbia Journalism Review wrote a stream-of-consciousness reaction to the Vanity Fair profile that called him a raging narcissist and concluded that she wanted to pour bleach in her eyes. Maybe ORourke had only seemed charming when he was running against the least charming man in America. Advertisement Then came the money. Within 24 hours of announcing his candidacy, his campaign reported, ORourke raised $6.1 million online. That impressive total bested Bernie Sanders one-day total by $200,000 and dwarfed Kamala Harriss $1.5 millionand both of them are riding higher in early polls than ORourke. As Vanity Fairs follow-up put it, Beto Crushes the Skeptics Beneath a Giant Pile of Cash. The impressive haul felt like a rebuke to the grousing in elite circles about ORourkes candidacy. Why was his wife forced to silently gaze at him in his announcement video, skeptics wondered. Whats with his habit of hopping on restaurant tables and bars? Wouldnt it be better for Democrats if he ran for Senate in Texas again instead of joining an already crowded presidential field? His past is full of cringe-inducing details, too: He has been arrested twice, including once for a DWI at age 26, and revealed in an interview recently that he belonged to a notorious group of computer hackers as a teenager. He live-streamed his visit to the dentist in January and blogged his way through a soul-searching road trip across the southwest in a style that has been compared to Kerouac and Knausgaard. His Gen-X cultural references and Obama-style fetish for the rhetoric of consensus make him singularly easy to mock. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If the generic White Man seems unpopular in Democratic circles right now, specific white men are doing just fine. Beto, you may have noticed, is a white guy. And seeming to register that as a hindrance, he has tried very hard to confront the fact with self-awareness. The government at all levels is overly represented by white men, he dutifully acknowledged to Vanity Fair. Thats part of the problem, and Im a white man. He said it was reasonable for people to want a change from Americas near-perfect record of white men in the White Houseand to vote for someone else on that basis. His solution is to make sure those who would comprise my team looked like this country. On Meet the Press last weekend, he spoke comfortably about his privileges and rejected the suggestion that being a white man was a disadvantage in the primary. Advertisement Advertisement Conventional wisdom has it that 2020 is not going to be a white mans year for Democrats. The Vanity Fair profile referred to ORourkes whiteness and maleness as a vulnerability. How Does a Straight White Male Democrat Run for President? Politico asked in February. (The answer: Very carefully.) Can white men jump in, or is this post-#MeToo era the time when Democratic and independent women will demand a woman at the top of the ticket? Maureen Dowd wondered last weekend in the New York Times. Democratic primary voters are the most diverse electorate in history, CNN reported, and racial and gender justice issues are important to them. Surely this cohort doesnt want to elect Americas 45th white guy to the presidency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if the generic White Man seems unpopular in Democratic circles right now, specific white men are doing just fine. Joe Biden has topped polls of Democratic primary voters for months. Sanders is close behind him. Together, recent surveys suggest, these two seventysomethings have won the allegiance of more than half of Democratic primary voters. Early polling and early fundraising totals are not terribly predictive. But for right now, theyre what we haveand they do not suggest that being a white male is exactly a burden on the ballot. Advertisement Other white men are doing just fine, too. ORourke, after all, has the best one-day fundraising total. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is low on buzz but polling above Julian Castro and Kirsten Gillibrand. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is polling around 1 percent but received a round of positive publicity after a strong CNN town hall performance last week, raising $600,000 in one day and clearing a hurdle to the Democratic National Committees first official debate. Just months after Americans elected a record number of women to Congress, polls suggests that all the female presidential candidates put together have captured less than one-quarter of Democratic votes. All that online Beto-bashing appears to be a red herringevidence of the cultural tendency to underestimate the electability of white men even as they remain perfectly viable candidates, coasting on Teflon charm and vague likability. The loudest, most prominent voices may not have fallen for the lanky, ruminative congressman from El Paso. But somehow, many liberals still keep forgetting that these voices arent the only ones in the room. The police department of Columbus, Ohio, has disbanded its vice unitthe unit dedicated to moral crimesafter a series of investigations into allegations that an officer forced women to have sex with him to avoid arrest. According to the Associated Press, the FBI began investigating recent allegations against Columbus vice squad officer Andrew Mitchell, who is accused of holding two women against their will and forcing them to have sex with him under the threat of arrest. On March 11, he was charged in federal court with witness tampering, obstruction of justice, making a false statement to federal investigators, and deprivation of rights under color of law. Mitchell, who joined the unit in 2017 after three decades in the force and who retired just after he was charged, faces life in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Separately, according to NBC News, state authorities investigated Mitchell after he fatally shot a 23-year-old woman three times in August. The woman had stabbed him in the hand while sitting in his unmarked police car and was likely working at the time as a sex worker. Her family expressed outrage that she had been killed while already detained in his car. No charges have been filed yet from that investigation. Interim Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan announced the news of the units disbandment Tuesday night on Twitter, promising to move toward a community approach to crimes related to sex work, alcohol, and gambling. He said he had suspended three officers and assigned the seven remaining officers to other departments. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the units lieutenant, two sergeants, and seven other officers had already voluntarily transferred to other assignments. The city also announced Tuesday it planned to dismiss the 18 pending sex work charges against women who were arrested by Mitchell, according to the AP. Advertisement Advertisement According to the Dispatch, two other vice unit officers were suspended last year in connection to an FBI Public Corruption Task Force investigation. Neither of those officers has yet been charged with a crime. Advertisement Columbus vice unit had already come under scrutiny in July after three of its members participated in the arrest of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has said she had an affair with President Donald Trump. An internal investigation concluded that the arrest was improper but found no direct evidence of political motivation. Daniels has sued the officers for $2 million over civil rights violations. The city has already paid out a total of $150,000 in a settlement to two other dancers at the strip club who were also arrested that night, according to the Dispatch. The two women alleged that they were arrested because of the police efforts to punish Daniels. In September, thenPolice Chief Kim Jacobs, who retired in February, suspended the units street-level duties. She also requested that the FBI take over the investigation into the unit after recent high profile incidents brought forward a variety of allegations against the Vice Section via social media postings and other sources, according to the AP. Since the Supreme Court decided Gideon v.Wainwright in 1963, states have been required to provide a government-paid lawyer to criminal defendants who cannot afford one, and for nearly six decades Gideon has been a celebrated part of this countrys constitutional bedrock. But last month, Justice Clarence Thomas took a narrow case about the right to appeal criminal convictions and turned it into an attack on the entire Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Thomas effort to undo a central criminal justice system safeguard speaks to a sad truth about our courts: Too few judges have any experience representing indigent criminal defendants, and without more public defenders on the bench, the rights of criminal defendants can never be fully secured. This is hardly a new problem but it has been exacerbated by Trump, who has yet to appoint a single public defender to the federal bench. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The parties in Garza v. Idaho, the Supreme Court case decided last month, did not question Gideon, and they did not question that defendants have the right not just to any lawyer, but one that is competent and effective. All of that was assumed. But Thomas didnt care. His dissent, joined in full by Justice Neil Gorsuch, argued that Gideon was wrongly decided because it exceeds the original meaning of the Sixth Amendment. According to Thomas and Gorsuch, the Constitution does not actually provide the right to a lawyer at all; it protects only the right to hire a lawyer if you want one. In other words: The Sixth Amendment only protects the rights of rich people. As Andrew Cohen wrote for the Brennan Center, the dissent calls for reversion to a system that generated even more wrongful convictions than are generated now and to a time when indigent defendants had no hope of being fairly represented. Thomas and Gorsuch claim that state and federal governments would fill the gap left without the constitutional right to counsel. But in the real world, even Gideon hasnt ensured adequate resources to protect the legal rights of defendants; today, a typical public defender already has two to five times as many cases as she can reasonably handle, a crisis in our justice system that would only deepen if the views of Thomas and Gorsuch prevail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawyers who best understand the importance of these sorts of basic protections, of course, are public defenders. And the Supreme Court hasnt had a justice with significant experience representing indigent criminal defendants since Thurgood Marshall, who founded the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, retired in 1991. Two current justicesSamuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor worked as prosecutors. The rest have no hands-on experience with the criminal justice system, creating what Washington Post columnist Radley Balko has called a massive blind spot in the courts decision-making. Advertisement Advertisement This absence of experience extends beyond the Supreme Court to the entire federal judiciary. Former public defenders are woefully underrepresented on both the trial-level district courts and the circuit courts of appeal, while experience as a prosecutor remains a common and largely unquestioned career path to the federal bench. Advertisement This absence of experience extends beyond the Supreme Court to the entire federal judiciary. The issue is cross-partisan and deeply systemic. Much like how the policies that created Americas mass incarceration crisis were bipartisanwith Republicans and Democrats competing to appear most tough on crimeso too has been the impulse to tap prosecutors over public defenders as federal judges. According to the advocacy group Alliance for Justice, more than 40 percent of President Barack Obamas judicial nominees were prosecutors, outnumbering public defenders by three to one. Advertisement Advertisement The problem has only worsened under President Donald Trump. Trumps judicial appointees lack diversity along any metric. They are 91 percent white and 76 percent male. Just one of his 91 confirmed judges is black. Still, the lack of criminal defense experience is extreme. By reviewing the Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaires for all of Trumps 143 confirmed or pending judicial nominees who have submitted one (a handful of recent nominees have not), I learned that not one has worked full-time as a state or federal public defender. One, Clifton Corker, a pending nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, reports one year as a volunteer federal defender. Thats it. Advertisement Advertisement By contrast, more than one-third of Trumps nominees have worked as prosecutors, including 38.3 percent of his district court nominees and 33.3 percent of his circuit court nominees. And thats with a narrow definition of prosecutor that excludes lawyers, like Gorsuch, who served in high-level executive branch positions but did not personally prosecute cases. Advertisement This one-sided approach affects both far-reaching policy questions and the day-to-day operations of the criminal justice system. Here are just a few examples of ways in which a skewed judiciary has had an outsize impact on local criminal justice systems: It is nearly impossible to sue police for civil rights violations because of the judge-made doctrine of qualified immunity. It is even harder to sue prosecutors. Federal judges also set policing standards that govern searches, interrogations, and the use of force. And in federal court, judges decide daily whether to detain someone before trial, sign search warrants, exclude evidence, and what sentences to impose. Advertisement Advertisement Today these decisions often reflect a bias for prosecutors and aggressive policing while the lawyers who best know whats at stake, who know how these critical decisions impact real people, are excluded. Obamas penchant for choosing prosecutors culminated in the nomination of Merrick Garland, a former prosecutor, over Jane Kelly, a former public defender, to the Supreme Court in 2016. Once Kelly, a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was reported to be a finalist, conservative groups used her public defense experience to launch a smear campaign and paint her as a threat to law and order; an especially offensive tactic given that Kelly was herself the victim of a violent assault. Yet it also betrayed an important truth: While Gideons promise of robust public defense is both celebrated and stigmatized, the stigma is baked into traditional notions of the ideal, critique-proof judicial nominee. Prosecutors have faced no such hurdle. Advertisement For progressives, the Trump era has ignited perhaps unprecedented interest in the courts and judicial nominations. On issues from immigration to the environment to voting rights, just to name a few, the federal courts have been the primary check on the Trump administrations often cruel and discriminatory policies. And Trumps nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, along with a flock of far-right and in many cases grossly incompetent nominees to the lower courts, sparked outrage that has echoed through the halls of Congress and beyond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But what is the flip side of that outrage? What kind of judicial nominees should progressives demand? Part of the answer is obvious: more public defenders. Indeed, a pledge to appoint at least as many public defenders as prosecutors to the federal bench is a tangible way for presidential candidates to show commitment to dismantling mass incarceration while at the same time charting a path forward for the courts. There is now real opportunity to start a new narrative around judicial selection, one that rejects the stigma attached to public defenders and the mythical neutrality of prosecutors. The right to counsel itself could depend on it. Heres Elizabeth Warren answering a question about slavery at a CNN town hall on Monday night in Jackson, Mississippi. America was founded on principles of liberty and freedom and on the backs of slave labor. This is a stain on America. And were not going to fix that, were not going to change that, until we address it head-on, directly. And its not just the original founding. Its whats happened generation after generation. The impact of discrimination handed down from one to the next means that today in America because of housing discrimination, because of employment discrimination, if the average white family has $100, the average black family has about $5. So I believe its time to start the national full-blown conversation about reparations in this country. And that means I support the bill in the House to appoint a congressional panel of experts, of people who are studying this, who talk about different ways we may be able to do it, and to make a report back to Congress so that we can as a nation do whats right and begin to heal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Warren noted that one way to discuss reparations is within the frame of an apology, the frame of national recognition. Here, meanwhile, is Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a new interview with Eric Levitz at New York magazine, discussing the way he thinks the argument outlined in his 2014 Atlantic article The Case for Reparations could fit practically into the current political discourse: In terms of political candidates, and how this should be talked about, and how this should be dealt with, it seems like it would be to support HR 40. Thats the bill that says you form a commission. You study what damage was done from slavery, and the legacy of slavery, and then you try to figure out the best ways to remedy it. Its pretty simple. I think thats Nancy Pelosis position at this point. Theres a whole line of thinking that says the recommendation for a study is somehow like a cop-out or weak. I dont really understand why that would be the case. Look, if you have a sickness, you have an illness, you probably start with diagnosis. The first step is to get some idea of what actually happened. Weve never really done that. Youre talking about an epic crime that literally has its origins before there was a United States of America, and carries all the way up to this very day You need time. You need people to actually put some resources behind an actual study If were going to do it, then lets do it. Lets put it all out there. Lets tell folks how we imagine this new America being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Levitz asked Coates about polling results that show the idea of reparations to be broadly unpopular. In response, Coates argues that part of the reason such poll results exist is because mainstream political figures have always treated reparations as too radical an idea to touchin his words, the people who have the megaphone not taking it seriously at all. Well, Warren seems to be. Advertisement Advertisement Other 2020 candidates, most prominently Kamala Harris, have also endorsed the broad idea of reparations (and its true that Pelosi has said shed back HR 40). But where Harris has argued that facially race-neutral programs that happen to disproportionately benefit black Americans would count as reparations, Warren is more directly adopting a Coates-like framing of the issue. Later in the town hall, for example, when Warren talked about her housing affordability plan, she noted that into the 1960s in America, the federal government was subsidizing the purchase of homes for white families and discriminating against black families. Thats redlining. The history of redlining was a crucial part of Coates argument in the Atlantic, conveying the way that even white Americans who might say their ancestors werent responsible for slavery benefited (and continue to benefit) from its legacy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It should be noted that, from Warrens perspective, supporting HR 40 does mean somewhat conveniently that she doesnt have to describe the specifics of a program that would redistribute wealth to black Americans. Still, by talking about redlining and the ongoing benefits that white Americans derive from segregation, Warren is endorsing (broadly speaking) a worldview that was on the radical edge of the media-politics ideas ecosphere just five years ago. Its the kind of envelope-pushing position that you might expect from a younger candidate hoping simply to shift the terms of national debateor to benefit from the national exposure of a presidential run. But Warren is 69, and shes already a senator and nationally known figure. She gets little out of this campaign if she doesnt win, and her position is an electoral risk, especially given that roughly 90 percent of the Democrats who participate in the Iowa caucus are white. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On that front, Warren furthermore said at the Jackson town hall that she thinks Confederate monuments should be removed from public spaces, which is another position thats generally unpopular among white people, and that the Electoral College should be abolished in favor of a national popular vote for president, which would reduce the political influence of the disproportionately white, rural population in states like Iowa and New Hampshire. As a member of a party that has long lived in fear of the white moderate, especially on racial issues, Warren is running her primary campaign into uncharted territory. Its exciting! Margaret Thatcher became famously associated with the phrase There is no alternative in arguments for the necessity of free-market reforms. An update of the phrase for Thatchers successor, Theresa May, might go something like There is no alternative (unless this doesnt work out, in which case well come up with something else.) Last week, Parliament voted for May to ask the EU for an extension of the Article 50 process under which Britain is currently due to leave the European Union on March 29, whether or not it has a deal for future economic relations with the bloc. Mays government had previously said the deadline could not be extended but reversed itself after Parliament twice rejected the deal she had negotiated with EU leaders then also rejected a no-deal Brexit. But May attached conditions to the extension motion: She would put up her controversial deal for a third vote this week. If it was approved this time, she would ask for just a short three-month extension to finalize the details. If it wasnt, she would ask for a longer delay. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Except that isnt what happened at all. On Monday, the speaker of Parliament, John Bercow, refused to allow a third vote on Mays deal unless substantial changes were made to it, citing a precedent dating back to the 17th century that a defeated motion cant be brought back for a vote in the same parliamentary session. (The second motion was apparently different enough from the first to satisfy him.) Given this setback, you might suspect that May would ask for a long extensionwhich is what she said shed do if her deal was not approvedbut instead she asked for only a three-month delay, blaming Bercow for the fact that the deal wasnt approved this week and expressing confidence that she can get it done next week. European Council President Donald Tusk announced Wednesday that an extension was possible, but the EU would approve it only after Parliament approves Mays withdrawal agreement. So essentially, the prime minister and the EU are working together to strongarm Parliament into approving their deal, hoping the looming threat of a no-deal Brexit (the deadline is next Friday!) can bring enough MPs around. Advertisement Advertisement It might. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leading Brexiteer in Mays Conservative Party, has suggested he might back her deal on a third vote. The deadline will also put some pressure on Mays coalition partners in the Democratic Union Party. The Northern Irish DUP hates Mays deal, which would leave Britain in a customs union with Europe for the time being, but the party really doesnt want a no-deal Brexit that, its feared, could lead to the imposition of a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. Then again, is it really just Mays deal or no deal? May and Tusk clearly want MPs to think so, but Tusks statement did not definitively rule out a longer-than-three-month extension, as the Spectators James Forsyth notes. Tusk also suggested he might call an emergency meeting of the European Council next week if the deal fails in Parliament. This makes it difficult for MPs to know what exactly will happen if they dont approve Mays deal next week. There might be an alternative, we just dont know what it is. In November, a supermajority of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to former felons whove completed their sentences. On Tuesday, Florida Republicans advanced a bill that will strip hundreds of thousands of these individuals of the franchise once again. That measure, which GOP lawmakers voted out of committee along party lines, is a direct assault on Amendment 4, which altered the state constitution to reinstate felons right to vote. It is an astonishing rejection of Floridians overwhelming support for the amendment and a flagrant power-grab designed to suppress potential Democratic votes. And because the Florida Legislature, governorship, and Supreme Court are dominated by Republicans, the bill stands an excellent chance of becoming law, reversing the biggest voting rights victory of the 21st century so far. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly after the 2018 election, it became clear that Republican lawmakers would attempt to undermine Amendment 4. By its own terms, the law is self-executing; it requires no implementation by the Legislature. Floridians who have completed a sentence for a felony conviction should now be permitted to vote, so long as they did not commit homicide or a sex offense. Yet GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis (who opposed the amendment) and his allies in the Legislature quickly asserted that it is not self-executing and requires implementing language. Thats not true, but it allowed Republicans to curtail the amendments impact under the guise of implementing it. Since November, the key question was how brazenly GOP lawmakers would seek to subvert the amendment: Would they tinker around the edges, or gut the law entirely? Advertisement Advertisement We learned the answer on Tuesday, when the House of Representatives Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed a bill designed to sabotage Amendment 4. The amendment unambiguously declares that voting rights shall be restored upon completion of all terms of sentence including parole or probation. But the new bill adds a new hurdle: Felons may not register to vote until theyve paid all court costs, fines, and fees associated with their sentences. Advertisement To understand why this provision is a poison pill, its important to understand the system of cash-register justice practiced by Florida and many other states. To finance its criminal justice system, Florida imposes both fines and user fees on defendants upon conviction. Individuals may be fined up to $500,000 for their crime, then saddled with a mind-boggling array of administrative fees. Defendants must pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to fund court costs, crime prevention programs, and local jails. They must pay a fee to apply for a public defender, to receive medical treatment in prison, to reinstate a suspended drivers license, and to participate in drug abuse treatment. Those who receive probation must pay surcharges to fund their supervision or room-and-board at a halfway house, as well as electronic monitoring and urinalysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Florida calls some of these fines restitution, but theyre a far cry from the standard definition of that concept. Typically, restitution requires defendants to compensate their victims and constitutes part of their criminal sentence. But Florida stretches restitution to encompass fines paid to the state to subsidize courts, county governments, police departments, and investigators. Meanwhile, the Florida Constitution compels county clerks of the court to finance their offices through user fees. These assessments are separate from a defendants criminal sentencetheyre a budgetary mandate, a tax on defendants to keep the courts running. Advertisement Advertisement Heres the unspoken but well-documented truth about these fines and fees: Almost no one ever pays them in full. Former felons already struggle to find employment upon completion of their prison terms, and few can afford to tithe a large portion of their salary to the state. According to WLRN, Florida courts levied $1 billion in felony fines between 2013 and 2018; each year, only 19 percent of that money was paid back. The Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers (FCCC), an association that releases annual summaries of assessments, labeled 83 percent of court fines levied between 2014 and 2018 as having minimal collections expectations. That indicates that there is little chance that the money will ever be paid. Advertisement Advertisement Even as the state acknowledges that indigent defendants cannot pay these costs, it continues to assess and track eye-popping fines. Even as the state acknowledges that indigent defendants cannot pay these costs, it continues to assess and track eye-popping fines. In Miami-Dade County, there are more than $278 million in outstanding court fines; that number is $195.8 million in Palm Beach County, which charges interest on court debt. Florida law permits private debt collectors to recover this money from defendantsand secure a commission of 25 to 40 percent of the fine. These collection agencies spend large sums of money lobbying the Legislature to maintain the current system and keep former felons permanently indebted. Advertisement Advertisement If Republicans subversion of Amendment 4 becomes lawwhich seems likely given the GOPs stranglehold on powerhow many felons will suddenly lose their voting rights again? Right now, roughly 1.4 million Floridians should be enfranchised under Amendment 4. Once the GOP bill passes, that number will drop precipitously. If the bill only affected individuals with unpaid fines that the state calls restitution, then it would disenfranchise roughly 540,000 people. But the measure goes much farther, encompassing any financial obligation arising from a felony conviction, including user fees. In 2018, the FCCC reported that the collection rate for fines and fees in circuit criminal courts, where most felony cases take place, was a dismal 20.55 percent. If as many as 79.45 percent of felons still owe these debts, the Republican bill could disenfranchise 1,112,300 people. Advertisement Florida Democrats have condemned the GOP measure as an unconstitutional poll tax, which is descriptively accurate. But theres little hope that the federal courts will strike it down, since the U.S. Supreme Court has tolerated other measures that impose heavy burdens and costs on voters. The most straightforward challenge would arise under Amendment 4 itself, since lawmakers are violating its plain text by denying voting rights to felons whove completed their sentence. But Desantis appointed three justices to the Florida Supreme Court during his first weeks in office, creating a 61 conservative majority that is probably unwilling to enforce the new amendment vigorously. Former felons are boxed in by a governor, Legislature, and judiciary that all appear hostile to their constitutional rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats happening in Florida right now may be appalling, but it is not surprising. Time and time again, Republicans have suppressed votes to depress turnout among Democrats. They obviously fear that former felons, who are disproportionately racial minorities, will swing left. (Former GOP Gov. Rick Scott, now a senator, refused to restore most felons voting rightsand favored whites when he did.) In November, Florida voters attempted to put a permanent end to this injustice. It took years for civil rights advocates to pass Amendment 4 and remove the stain of Jim Crow from Floridas constitution. Just four months later, Republicans are poised to cut the heart out of the signal voting rights triumph of the century so far. Listen to Slates The Gist: Get More of The Gist Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to The Gist Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page. Get The Gist in Your Inbox We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Listen to The Gist via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. On The Gist, it wouldnt just be morally right for Trump to finally denounce white nationalism. It would be politically smart. In the interview, Jill Abramsons Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts was released to glowing reviewsbut valid accusations of plagiarism and factual errors took some of that shine off. As Mike asks Abramson (a former executive editor of the New York Times), were the negative headlines so grabby that theyve damned the books valuable insights? And would that in itself prove many of her worries about journalism in the 21st century? In the Spiel, the New York Times, biased? You dont say. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/gistplus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Email: thegist@slate.com Twitter: @slategist Podcast production by Danielle Hewitt, Pierre Bienaime, and Daniel Schroeder. Imran Khan sends Holi greetings to Hindu community ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan sends Holi greetings to Hindu community in Pakistan on Tuesday. PM Khan tweeted Wishing our Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours. Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also wished a happy Holi to the Hindu community. In his tweet Bilawal stated Happy Holi to all my Hindu brothers & sisters, On the happy occasion of Holi, let us spread the wonderful message of peace and happiness, he added. Holi is a spring festival celebrated on 20-21 March by the Hindi community across the world. It is a celebration to welcome spring. Holi is also known as festivals of colours. Heres what we know about Joe Bidens meeting with Stacey Abrams in Washington last Thursday: It happened. It was at Bidens request. And thats about it. That, however, didnt prevent speculation that maybe their get-together was step one in Bidens vetting of Abrams as a potential vice presidential candidate. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the meeting, put it last week, Biden would seem likely to select a running mate who brings gender, geographic and racial balance to the ticket. CNN then amped up the speculation this week, reporting that a hot topic among the former veeps inner circle has been the early selection of a running mate. Advertisement I wouldnt slap a Biden-Abrams bumper sticker on my car just yet. Not only has Biden not yet officially entered the 2020 fray, Abrams hasnt ruled out running herself. And while Abrams thinks over her options, shes also been meeting with a number of Democrats who are already running for president: Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand, the last of whom Abrams had breakfast with the morning of her more widely covered meeting with Biden. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But as silly as it is to play matchmaker 16 months out from the Democratic convention, the general idea is still worth considering. Four years ago, there was a similar swirl of speculation that Biden would get deeply creative with his could-be campaign, including an early commitment to a running mate with progressive appeal. Biden had far more incentive to make a splash in 2015 when he was a dark horse than he does in 2019 when he is a favorite, but the right running mate could help him address a number of his biggest liabilities. It seems plausible that he really is considering it this time around. Advertisement Advertisement I hope Biden does announce his pick early in the nominating processnot on the opening day of his campaign nor when its too late to matter a la Ted Cruz, but rather sometime before the nominating contests officially get underway early next year. I also hope the rest of the field considers doing the same. A primary rich with running mates would offer voters important insights into how each presidential candidate is plotting his or her path to the White Housesomething of particular concern to the partys rank and file this yearand what their top priorities would be should they actually make it there. Candidates make countless choices, from where to appear to what to propose and in what order, but theyd only get one VP pick. There would be no playing it safe, since playing it safe would be a revealing move on its own. Advertisement Advertisement Picking a primary running mate would also offer an avenue for candidates to more directly address the issues of race and gender that have already emerged as central themes in a field that is simultaneously the most diverse in history and one in which the early polling, fundraising, and media coverage have been dominated by a trio of white men. Today, those general conversations can veer too easily toward tokenism, but in a partner primary they could get specific. Advertisement Advertisement Consider how this could play out if Biden really did convince Abrams to join him. One of the biggest knocks against the former veep is his past positions and posture on issues of race, illustrated by both his opposition to school integration in the 1970s and his turn as a death penaltyloving drug warrior in the 1990s. But if Biden were to pick Abramssomeone who has foregrounded her lived experience as a black woman in her progressive politics and who speaks forcefully about the disenfranchisement of black Americans and compassionately about the dangers of mass incarcerationit would be a powerful signal that Biden is ready to reckon with his problematic record. Abrams presence wouldnt erase Bidens past, but it would add sincerity to his efforts to repent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alternatively, Biden could decide that his path to the White House runs through the Midwest and instead go all-in on his brand as the bipartisan whisperer of the white working class by selecting a running mate like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown or Montana Gov. Steve Bullockor even Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, if her presidential bid doesnt last through the fall. Democrats of all stripes would benefit from knowing what theyd get from General Election Joe while they still have a chance to change their minds. Biden wouldnt be the only candidate who could better define himself by adding a running mate early. Harris, Booker, and Gillibrand, for instance, have all tacked left since getting in the race, but many progressives remain suspicious that theyll tack back if they win the nomination. What better way to prove their sincerity than by teaming up with someone like Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the author of a Medicare for all bill that arguably goes beyond Bernie Sanders, or Sen. Jeff Merkley, who has been one of the most vocal critics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Alternatively, they could stake their own claim to Obama world by looking to a more moderate candidate with ties to the former president, like former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick or former Attorney General Eric Holder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I grant that a partner primary would not be perfect. My chief concern is the implicit pressure the practice would put on women and candidates of color to sign on as a No. 2. That, however, is already the case with our current system. Exhibit A: Beto ORourke and Abrams both lost high-profile statewide races in dark red states in 2018, but while the former was almost immediately seen as a top-tier presidential contender, the latter was largely reduced to a prospective running mate until very recently. A world in which candidates pick a partner early wont fix this problem, but it wouldnt make the problem worse. The partner primary would also force those male candidates who talk openly about the need for a woman on the ticket to get specific. I dont know if its in the vice presidents position or the presidents position, Cory Booker recently told voters in New Hampshire, but if I have my way, there will be a woman on the ticket. Translation: If Booker has his way, hell be atop the ticket. But picking early would give him the chance to prove he actually means the other half of that pledge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Likewise, the other drawbacks of a partner primary would nonetheless be slight improvements to our current system. Sure, up-and-coming-but-not-quite-there candidates might drop out earlier than normal to secure a spot as someone elses running mate, but the reality is that with a deep field getting deeper by the week, not everyone is going to still be standing when the first primary votes are cast in February 2020. Take Pete Buttigieg: The South Bend mayor has gotten rave reviews from those who have seen him, but hes having a hard time getting noticed at the moment. Mayor Pete still has plenty of time to break throughkeep an eye out for him on the debate stage this summerbut if he cant, the partner primary would offer a unique opportunity. Three months as the running mate of a better-known and better-funded candidate who ultimately drops out would leave him better positioned for the future than three extra weeks running on his own at the back of the field. For the partys other rising stars who are not running for president, the benefits would be even more pronounced. Prolonged exposure to the Democratic base and the grassroots left during the primary would be a great way to set yourself up for a future run. Todays VP field could be tomorrows incoming Senate class. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its true that, as Matthew Yglesias argues at Vox, picking early could produce a situation in which the eventual Democratic nominee finds herself with a running mate who wouldnt have been her ideal choice. The pool of possible VPs, after all, will be smaller at the start of the primary than at the end, once all the other contenders have dropped out. So this approach could shut out an exciting prospect like Harris or ORourke. But its hardly a given that the veep nominee will come from the primary field. More often than not in recent years, it has not. Of the eight nonincumbent Democratic and GOP nominees since 2000, only two selected primary rivals as running mates: John Kerry picked John Edwards in 2004, and Barack Obama tapped Biden in 2008. And while its too much to expect that someone like ORourke would willingly take a back seat, a world where primary running mates are the norm would at least give him the option of staying on the national stage while using his particular skill set in support of someone else. Advertisement Contenders who select a running mate early would also likely have a tougher time finding someone to broaden their intraparty coalition. A progressive like Rep. Ro Khanna, for example, might be willing to join Biden or Harris next summer, but its hard to imagine Khanna leaving his current second job as co-chairman of Sanders campaign before then. But the flip side of that is the partner primary would make any intraparty alliance that much more powerful. By agreeing to run with Biden before he has the nomination, for instance, Abrams would be saying that she believes Biden isnt just better than Donald Trump, but that Bidens better than the rest of the Democratic field. Furthermore, history suggests that we tend to overstate how much a VP pick matters to the general electorate. Presidential elections are decided by and large at the top of the ticket, and that reality will be no different in 2020 with Donald Trump up for a second term. Why, then, shouldnt Democrats select running mates as a way to define themselves in the primary when it would matter more, as opposed to in the general election when it almost certainly wont? Thats a question all the Democratic candidates should ask themselves between now and Iowa. The National Portrait Gallery in London announced Tuesday a $1.3 million donation from the Sackler family trust will be cancelled amidst growing criticism of the familys ownership of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, which is at the heart of the opioid crisis in the U.S. The gallery becomes the first major art institution to give up a Sackler grant, a move that reveals increasing wariness of the philanthropic largesse of one of the worlds wealthiest families. The decision follows sustained legal and activist challenges to the Sackler family for its involvement in allegedly helping fuel the opioid crisis by portraying the pain drug OxyContin as non-addictive despite knowing otherwise. Advertisement The Sackler Trust and the National Portrait Gallery have jointly agreed not to proceed at this time with a 1m gift from the Sackler Trust, the National Portrait Gallery said in a statement Tuesday. The giving philosophy of the family has always been to actively support institutions while never getting in the way of their mission, the Sackler Trust said in a statement. It has become evident that recent reporting of allegations made against Sackler family members may cause this new donation to deflect the National Portrait Gallery from its important work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While both parties insisted that the decision was mutual, it will be seen as a major blow to the familys status as leading philanthropists and evidence that a campaign against the Sacklers, led by the American artist Nan Goldin, has been effective, the Guardian notes. The NPG is one of many British cultural institutions in line for substantial donations from members of the family, but it faced severe pressure from artists and campaigners who argued that accepting funding from the owners of the company that makes OxyContin would make the NPG complicit in its harms. Advertisement Advertisement The gallery has reportedly mulled the donation for over a year, as the opioid controversy engulfed the Sackler family, which financially benefits from the pharmaceutical company built by the late brothers Mortimer and Raymond Sackler. The Sackler Trust is one of a number of Sackler family trusts and foundations which have made gifts to some of the UKs most prominent cultural institutions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Theatre, Shakespeares Globe, Tate Modern and The Serpentine gallery, as well as scientific and educational bodies, the Financial Times reports. There was an interesting report in Politico on Wednesday morning about Mayor Pete (i.e., South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a long-shot presidential contender whos been getting some good press lately): ABOUT BUTTIGIEGS PHISH FANDOM South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has a secret history on Twitter: Hes a Phish fan. In 2017, he thanked a fan on Twitter for liking Tweezer Reprise, the kind of deep cut you would only know if you know. Lis Smith, Buttigiegs top adviser, helped us fill in the details. Buttigiegs favorite Phish album is Picture of Nectar and his favorite song is Tweezer. He went to a show around 2000 in the Indianapolis area. Advertisement You can see the tweet in question, in which Buttigieg responds to a user whose avatar refers to the Phish song Tweezer, here. The Politico item, and the tweet, has inspired some lively online discussion about what a Phish fan candidacy or presidency might mean, e.g.: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think anyone who has the patience to listen to one of Phishs signature 19-minute jams is going to be able to work with a divided Congress and make progress." https://t.co/6Qhvi6RoDW Brian Ries (@moneyries) March 19, 2019 Advertisement Advertisement Id like to throw some cold water on this burgeoning meme, though, without disrespecting the investigative work that Politicos Jake Sherman did in tracking down the details on Buttigieg and Phish. By which I mean its important to note that while it sounds like Mayor Pete is certainly a Phish fan in the normal conception of the term fan, i.e., he likes some of their songs and once went to one of the bands shows, thats not quite the same as being a Phish fan as a cultural identity. Phish fans, as commonly understood by other hardcore Phish fans, are people who go to multiple shows a year, often on consecutive nights at the same venue, and listen to recordings of entire concerts, for fun. Sherman appears to be fairly knowledgeable about Phish himself, so he probably knows this; Im just putting it out there as a matter of clarification for the general public. Advertisement Advertisement As far as where this limited fandom puts Mayor Pete culturally, Id argue that its another reminder that he is a characteristic member of Generation Catalanotoo young to really be Gen X, too old to really be a millennial. People from this age group who went to college did so during the file-sharing era, when you could get almost any song you wanted for free (illegally) but still had to keep it on your own computer to hear it, which meant that a lot of people ended up with one or two random songs by a ton of different bands. (There is still a pirated copy of Tonics If You Could Only See on a hard drive somewhere in my apartment.) A few of those random songs that seemingly everyone ended up having were Phish songs, especially Bouncing Around the Room. It would not surprise me based on the description above if, in 2000, Mayor Pete had Bouncing Around the Room and Tweezer or Tweezer Reprise on the hard drive of his comically large Inspiron desktop computer, and so when some of his buds were like, Hey man, hey Pete, you want to come to Deer Creek with us?, he was like, Sure, sure dude, that would be off the hook. For the record, if Phishs 2020 summer tour is scheduled for roughly the same dates and venues as its 2019 summer tour, which would not be surprising, the bands shows at the Alpine Valley venue in Wisconsin could very well overlap with the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, which is 40 miles away. Phish for president! ISIS is on the run. It has lost its territory, and until this week, its spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, had been silent for months. But on Monday, the group popped up again, invigorated by a horrific terrorist attack on Muslims in New Zealand. In an audio message, al-Muhajir declared that the massacre at two New Zealand mosques, committed on Friday by a white nationalist, should wake up Muslims and incite them to avenge their religion. This is how white nationalists and Islamic terrorists work together. They dont conspire directly, as far as we know, but every attack on Muslims feeds the narrative of jihadis, and every attack by jihadis feeds the narrative of white nationalists. Fridays mass murder will inspire new recruits to ISIS, and the next mass murder by ISIS will inspire more white extremists. Together, theyre targeting the rest of usworshippers in New Zealand, concertgoers in Francein a bloody campaign to destroy pluralism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brenton Tarrant, the alleged New Zealand killer, says he gunned down Muslims to save his fellow whites. But his manifesto also lays out a political strategy that posits retaliation by Muslims. Tarrant writes that one aim of his violence is to agitate the political enemies of my people into action, to cause them to overextend their own hand and experience the eventual and inevitable backlash as a result. Ultimately, his goal is to incite violence, retaliation and further divide between the European people and the invaders currently occupying European soil. Throughout his treatise, Tarrant talks about promoting extremists on the other side in order to polarize society. Canvas public areas in support of radical positions, even if they are not your own, he writes. A vote for a radical candidate that opposes your values and incites agitation or anxiety in your own people works far more in your favour than a vote for a milquetoast political candidate. Tarrant says he chose firearms as his weapons in part to provoke calls for the removal of gun rights from Whites in the United states, which he thinks will spur them to racial solidarity and action. Advertisement Advertisement Tarrants account echoes the writings of his hero, the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. The European Islamic Ummah is our most potent weapon in our fight against the establishment, Breivik told his fellow white terrorists in a 2011 manifesto. Our objective [is] to manipulate this force by contributing to radicalise Muslim individuals. This can be achieved by provoking and inciting them to choose the path of Jihad. Breivik called for rapes and mass murders of Muslims, especially on religious holidays, to incite them to engage in violent riots and other blood vengeance, which in turn would radicalise more Europeans. Muslims are our absolutely best recruitment tools, Breivik wrote. The success of the anti-Muslim movement, he argued, was directly linked to the development of Jihadi movements. Its a symbiotic relationship. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Breivik even counseled his confederates to consider buying weapons from Islamic terrorists. An alliance with the Jihadists might prove beneficial to both parties, he noted. We both share one common goal. They want control over their own countries in the Middle East and we want control of our own countries in Western Europe. The mass deportation of Muslims from Europe, he reasoned, would give Islamists the necessary momentum to retake power in the Arab world. And an Islamic Caliphate, in turn, would be a useful enemy to all Europeans as it will ensure European unity under Christian cultural conservative leadership. Islamic terrorists havent spoken as bluntly as Breivik did about a direct alliance. But theyve preached the same strategy of polarization through provocation. Osama Bin Laden has long spoken of attacks on the West as a way to drive Muslims into the arms of Islamic theocracy. In 1996, he said he wanted to goad the United States into sending troops to the Muslim world. His attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 prompted President George W. Bush to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, Bin Laden boasted that it had proved easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several al-Qaida strategists spoke of Bush as an unwitting ally. One said al-Qaidas goal was to increase the jihadi expansion by drawing U.S. troops into a state of war with the masses. Another said one aim of the 9/11 attacks was to prompt the Americans to launch direct military action within the Islamic world and thereby help the [Islamic] nation to wake from its slumber. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist who led the underground war against American forces in Iraq, called Bushs assault on that country a blessed invasion. Anders Breivik even counseled his confederates to consider buying weapons from Islamic terrorists. Zarqawi, a Sunni Muslim, viciously baited the rival Shiites. In a 2004 letter to Bin Laden, he proposed to attack Shiites to provoke them to show the Sunnis their rabies. Zarqawi wrote, If we succeed in dragging them into the arena of sectarian war, it will become possible to awaken the inattentive Sunnis as they feel imminent danger. In 2006, Zarqawis forces destroyed a holy Shiite mosque, triggering violent retaliation and unleashing civil war. Zarqawi died, but Sunnis rallied to his organization, and it became ISIS. Advertisement Advertisement As ISIS gained territory and power, it applied the same strategy to the West. It rationalized its terror attacks in Europe as calculated provocations. A 2015 article in the official ISIS journal, Dabiq, predicted that such attacks would bring division to the world and destroy the gray zone of secure Muslim life in pluralist societies. By goading Western citizens and governments to increase persecution against Muslims living in Western lands, the article proposed to make these countries destroy the gray zone themselves. This, in turn, would force Muslims to flee to the Islamic State. Advertisement The provocation strategy succeeded in France, where Islamophobes won regional elections after a bloody ISIS attack in Paris. It also succeeded in America. Shortly after the Paris attack, Donald Trumpat that point considered an unelectable presidential candidatecalled for a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Trump went on to win the election, and in January 2017, he ordered a ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. Jihadis celebrated Trumps attack on their religion. One called Trumps policy a blessed ban. Another welcomed him as the best caller to Islam. A third said Trump could be used to recruit new terrorists: If he keeps it up like this I think he will revive the jihad. Trump doesnt get it, or he doesnt care. In the wake of the New Zealand attackcommitted by a man who praised Trump as a symbol of renewed white identitythe president has refused to send Muslims even a message of condolence. On Friday, Trump was asked whether he saw white nationalism as a rising threat. He replied, I dont really. By dismissing anti-Islamic violence, Trump helps white extremists foment jihadism and undermine pluralism. You cant fight one kind of terror if you wont fight the other. President Donald Trump has been pushing to wind down military operations in Syria and Afghanistan. Congress has belatedly been scrutinizing the American role in Yemen. But at the same time, the Trump administration has been dramatically escalating its military operations in Somalia, with little public scrutiny or debate about the operations goals or consequences. Just weeks after taking office, Trump issued an order designating parts of Somalia an area of active hostilities, which substantially relaxed restrictions on the targets and potential civilian casualties of air- and ground strikes. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of the U.S. Africa Command, has declined to characterize the U.S. as at war in Somalia in congressional testimony, but the area of active hostilities designation and the corresponding uptick in strikes suggest the military is effectively treating the country as a war zone. According to data from New America, including drone strikes, manned strikes, and ground raids, the U.S. carried out 37 strikes in 2017, all but one after Trump took office and almost three times as many as in the last full year of the Obama administration. Last year it was 43. In 2019, the U.S. is on pace to triple that number. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These strikes have likely killed more than 900 people, but remarkably, according to Africom, these have all been militants from the jihadi group al-Shabab. Not a single civilian casualty in Somalia from U.S. operations has been reported under the Trump administration (or, for that matter, the Obama administration). While hard to believe, this claim has been difficult to disprove, given the lack of independent reporting in the parts of Somalia where these strikes occur. (Al-Shabab regularly claims civilian casualties in these strikes but has its own motivations for doing so.) But a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International investigates five U.S. airstrikes in 2017 and 2018 in the Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia, finding, based on interviews with witnesses and survivors, that 14 civilians were killed and eight injured. Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration has not given a legal justification for its operations. Nor has it disclosed new standards for targeting and avoiding civilian casualties. Africom has always said there were zero civilian casualties, but that suggests they dont seem to know who theyre killing, Daphne Eviatar, director of Amnestys Security With Human Rights program, told me. Africom has denied the allegations in the report, saying civilian casualties do not appear likely based on contradictory intelligence that cannot be disclosed because of operational security limitations. But the report, along with some recent higher-level media attention, may be a sign that Americas least-noticed war is getting some long-overdue attention. Advertisement Conflict has plagued Somalia since 1991, when the government of dictator Siad Barre collapsed, and America has been involved for almost that long. President George H.W. Bush deployed U.S. troops in Somalia in 1992 as part of what started as a U.N. humanitarian relief mission but quickly shifted to active combat, culminating in the Black Hawk Down incident in October 1993, which led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The first recorded post-9/11 U.S. operation in Somalia was a raid to capture an al-Qaida suspect in 2003. The U.S. role grew significantly after 2006, when an Islamist group known as the Islamic Courts Union took over the capital, Mogadishu. The U.S. backed an Ethiopian intervention to oust the ICU, some members of which formed al-Shabab, an extremist group that imposes strict sharia in the areas it controls and has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab has been pushed out of Somalias major cities by an African Union peacekeeping force known as AMISOM, but it is still active in a significant portion of southern Somalia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Al-Shabab is undoubtedly brutal and dangerous. A 2017 bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500 people was one of the single deadliest terrorist attacks since 9/11. It has also targeted neighboring countries, most recently an attack in January on a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 21. Advertisement Advertisement Nonetheless, its far from clear that al-Shabab poses a threat to the U.S. that would necessitate a military operation on this scale. For all the yammering in Washington about al-Shabab being an al-Qaida proxy, they have never launched a direct strike on U.S. interests, Bronwyn Bruton, deputy director of the Atlantic Councils Africa Center, told me in an interview. The only times theyve launched strikes outside Somalia have been in retaliation to U.S. efforts to build a government, or the presence of forces from foreign governments. The George W. Bush administrations initial covert operations in Somalia were ordered under the authority of the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force against the perpetrators of 9/11, but al-Shababs operational ties to al-Qaida today are minimal. According to Amnestys Eviatar, the Trump administration has not given a legal justification for its operations. Advertisement Advertisement Nor has it disclosed the new standards for targeting and avoiding civilian casualties under Trumps new active hostilities directive. According to one senior military commander interviewed for Amnestys report, individuals are now considered targetable based on age, gender, location, and geographical proximity to al-Shabab, meaning all military-aged males in particular locations. The criteria are reminiscent of controversial standards that were reportedly used for drone strikes under the Obama administration (though never confirmed). Advertisement Theres also an open question of whether the military is the only U.S. entity carrying out strikes in Somalia. Four of the five strikes investigated in Amnestys report were claimed by Africom; a fifth was not. A recent investigation by the Nation found evidence of yet more unclaimed strikes, suggesting that perhaps the CIA or another U.S. government agency is involved. Unlike the Pentagon, the CIA does not report estimates of civilian casualties in any of its operations, a practice affirmed by an executive order from Trump earlier this month. Advertisement Advertisement All this raises the question of why the U.S. is suddenly so much more engaged in Somalia, which has after all been unstable for decades. Bruton suspects that its a sense of desperation. Theres an awareness that the strategy of Somaliato empower the government and build a national governmenthas failed entirely. While AMISOMs mission has been extended multiple times, the countries involved in the missionUganda, Kenya, Burundi, and others, which have borne the brunt of the fighting as well as al-Shababs terrorist backlashare anxious to wind down the operations and withdraw the remaining 22,000 troops from the country. Many experts believe the Somali state would collapse after this happens. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration doesnt want to do the kind of partner military capacity building that the Obama administration was doing, said Bruton. Theyre looking for a lighter footprint, which means they have to do whatever they can to inflict whatever damage on Shabab in the time they have left. Unfortunately, its not always clear that these operations are really inflicting damage on al-Shabab. Somali society is divided into dozens of clans and subclans, and conflict in the country is more often driven by clan rivalry than allegiance to al-Shabab or the government. These dynamics are not always easy for outsiders to parse. Bruton said, The Somali government often uses the al-Shabab charge to wipe out people either to get the land they want or out of clan rivalry. The U.S. military can find itself unwittingly drawn into these fights between clans. An investigation by Christina Goldbaum of the Daily Beast suggests this is exactly what led to a U.S. ground operation that killed 10 civilians in 2017. (Africom denied the reports of civilian casualties.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the particular dynamics of Somalias conflict are unique, the overall state of affairsthe U.S. propping up an unpopular central government and finding itself enmeshed in complex local conflicts while trying to fight a global war on terrorismis certainly familiar from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere. All of which makes it puzzling that the escalation of U.S. involvement in Somalia hasnt attracted the kind of attention that those other conflicts have. Perhaps its the lack of U.S. casualties (although a U.S. special operations soldier was killed in an al-Shabab attack last June) or the lack of media reporting from much of Somalia, or simply public indifference. But now, America may finally be starting to notice and ask questions about just why were fighting a war in Somalia. In recent months, a group of self-proclaimed constitutional sheriffs in Washington state has announced that they will not enforce the states new gun law, which tightens background checks and bans people under 21 years old from buying semi-automatic weapons. Asserting that the Second Amendment prohibits laws involving registration of personal firearms under any circumstances, members of the constitutional sheriffs movement declare that they have the right, even the duty, to refuse to enforce gun laws. Their refusal raises a thorny question: Should government officials ever refuse to enforce laws they personally believe are invalid? Advertisement The constitutional sheriffs movement likes to portray itself as a new incarnation of the civil rights movement, which follows Martin Luther Kings belief in a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. But, as I have argued, the movement owes more to the Ku Klux Klan than to Kings philosophy of civil disobedience. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Richard Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and leading spokesman for the constitutional sheriffs movement, has frequently claimed that if sheriffs in the South had recognized their authority to disregard unconstitutional laws, they would not have arrested Rosa Parks when she refused to move to the back of the bus. In contrast with Macks fantasies, the reality of police abuses during the Jim Crow era reveals the dangers that arise when law enforcement officials disregard laws they believe are unconstitutional. Throughout the civil rights era, government officials across the South did assert authority not to follow unconstitutional laws. But the laws they considered invalid were not the state laws imposing segregation but instead were the federal laws and court orders that required states to dismantle segregation. In 1956, nearly every Southern member of Congress signed the Southern Manifesto, which described Brown v. Board as a clear abuse of judicial power and called on state governments to resist desegregation by any lawful means. In what has become known as massive resistance, state and local officials enthusiastically heeded that call. Eight states adopted interposition resolutions that proclaimed federal desegregation orders unconstitutional. Declaring, Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever, Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama to personally block the enforcement of desegregation orders that he believed violated the rights of whites to choose segregation. In the face of Southern defiance, Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy ordered federal troops to enforce desegregation orders and allow black students to attend previously all-white schools. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The constitutional sheriffs movement is, in fact, a direct descendent of the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1960s, the Klan criticized Southern police for not protecting the white population from what the Klan considered unconstitutional civil rights laws and federal court orders. In the following decade, Klan members formed the Posse Comitatus movement, which transformed this idea into national action. The Posse movement argued that not only were federal civil rights laws unconstitutional, but so were federal tax laws, environmental laws, and gun laws, to name a few. It proclaimed that the county sheriff is the only legitimate law enforcement agent and declared that the sheriff has a duty to prevent federal agents from enforcing oppressive laws. If sheriffs refused to do their duty, the group declared, the people should create citizen posses, or militias, to resist federal tyranny by force. The Posse movements founder stated, The law is that your citizensa possewill hang an official who violated the law and the Constitution. A wave of anti-government violence followed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The constitutional sheriffs movement is, in fact, a direct descendent of the Ku Klux Klan. Although the Posse Comitatus movement faded in the 1980s after several leaders were killed in police shootouts and others were imprisoned, the Posse philosophy has now been resurrected in the constitutional sheriffs movement. Mack himself has long espoused views literally straight out of the Posse handbook. In a 2009 interview, Mack said, I pray for the day that a sheriff in this country will arrest an IRS agent. He also has continued to spout the cryptoanti-Semitism favored by the Posse. There is one person who I believe can stop this New World Order. His name is your county sheriff, Mack told Alex Jones in 2009. There is no question your sheriff has the responsibility to protect you from tyranny and international bankers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The chaos and violence threatened by the constitutional sheriffs movement, meanwhile, was on full display in the 2014 confrontation between the federal Bureau of Land Management and rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy called for armed resistance to support his refusal to pay more than $1 million in overdue grazing fees, and Mack and several other constitutional sheriffs joined the mob of roughly 1,000 armed protesters. Expressing his idiosyncratic understanding of the civil rights movement, Mack called Bundy a new Rosa Parks. As this history reveals, time and again the principle that law enforcement officers should refuse to enforce laws they consider unconstitutional has been advanced by those on the wrong side of constitutional history. That principle has frequently been advanced to support extremist constitutional views far outside the mainstream, such as the Posses view that federal agents have no authority to enforce tax laws, or Cliven Bundys view that the federal government lacks authority to own and maintain public lands. Advertisement But even if the idea werent being pushed by extremists, it would still be deeply troubling because ordinary political disagreements can easily be expressed as disagreements over the Constitution. Empowering sheriffs to refuse to enforce laws they deem unconstitutional gives them authority to disregard laws simply because they disagree with them. Advertisement Advertisement Mack likes to say that the outcome of the Nuremberg tribunals justifies sheriffs refusal to enforce gun laws. The officers at Nuremberg said the same thing, We were just following orders. Well the court determined that following orders when youre committing a crime, or genocide, doesnt cut it, Mack told the Washington Post in 2016. We say the same thing. Do not say, Im just following orders. Do whats right. Advertisement In reality, the Nuremberg tribunals established a much more limited principle than the proposition that government agents should disregard laws they dont like and just do whats right. Indeed, under U.S. military law, which incorporates the Nuremberg principle, soldiers may only refuse orders that are clearly invalid: In the words of Army regulations, the duty applies only when a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the orders to be unlawful. Pursuant to that standard, soldiers can be prosecuted when they refuse to follow orders based on their own beliefs about what orders are invalid, as military courts ruled in court-martial proceedings. The United States Department of Justice in 1994 adopted a similar position on its authority to refuse to enforce or defend unconstitutional laws: It would exercise that authority only when a laws unconstitutionality was clearly established. (Occasionally, the government has appeared to depart from that policy. Last year, for instance, the DOJ declined to defend in court key portions of the Affordable Care Act in a move the New York Times described as highly unusual.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stripped of its constitutional and patriotic rhetoric, the constitutional sheriffs movement should be seen for what it is: an extremist movement comprised of sheriffs willing to abuse their power as law enforcement agents to thwart even modest gun laws. Far from following the Constitution, the movement expresses contempt for the American constitutional system, which has long established a system of checks and balances that gives the people power through their elected officials to enact the laws they want, subject to review by courts that can determine whether laws comply with the Constitution. In this system, we can expect criminals to defy the laws, but we should all be concerned when the lawman goes rogue. The EUs General Data Protection Regulation went into effect on May 25, 2018, but online privacy experts are already scrutinizing the policys effects. Last week in London, the International Association of Privacy Professionals hosted a retrospective panel on the GDPRs first year, which French regulator Mathias Moulin emphasized should be considered a transition year. Transition year or not, early numbers for the GDPR make clear that the policy has been a success as a breach notification law, but largely a failure when it comes to imposing fines on companies that fail to adequately protect their customers data. At the panel discussion, Stephen Eckersley, the head of enforcement at the U.K. Information Commissioners Office, said the U.K. had seen a massive increase in reports of data breaches since the GDPRs implementation. In June 2018, companies self-reported 1,700 data breaches, and Eckersley estimated that the total will be around 36,000 breaches reported in 2019, a significant increase from the previous annual reporting rate of between 18,000 and 20,000 breaches. Across Europe, nearly 60,000 breaches were reported during just the first eight months of the GDPR, according to a survey released last month by law firm DLA Piper. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Doubling the number of annually reported breaches is not an insignificant feat. Thats valuable information for consumers whose information may have been stolen, for regulators and technology designers trying to understand and mitigate the root causes underlying breaches, and for researchers working on examining the impacts and costs of these breaches. Europes success at ramping up breach notification is instructive for the United States and other countries that have struggled to implement a unified breach-notification policy framework. Prior to the GDPR, there was no single breach-notification regulation for the European Union. Instead, the EUs 1995 Data Protection Directive (which the GDPR replaced) allowed individual member nations to write and pass their own breach-notification laws. Some countries, such as Austria, Germany, and Norway, mandated breach notification. But their approaches differed: In Austria, for instance, companies were required to notify individuals whose data had been accessed, while in Norway only the data protection authority had to be notified; but in Germany, notification of both affected individuals and the state authority was required. There were differences, too, in what kind of data was considered personal and what types of information about the breach had to be reported. Other countries, including Ireland, Italy, and the U.K., put in place voluntary reporting schemes. Advertisement Advertisement The vast majority of companies are still not being fined for failing to protect their customers data. The GDPR swept away all these different statutes. It requires organizations to report data breaches to both the affected individuals and the appropriate regulatory authorities within 72 hours of being discovered. It also established a common, broader definition of personal data. The DPD defined personal data as names, photos, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and personal identification numbers, while the GDPR widened that category to include IP addresses, biometric data, mobile device identifiers, and other types of data that could potentially be used to identify an individual. By expanding the definition of what constitutes personal dataand by extension, what constitutes a breach of personal dataand applying a standardized notification requirement to the entire EU, the GDPR appears to have generated a much larger data set of reported incidents and thereby significantly widened our window into what types of breaches are occurring. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its an important lesson for the United States that a unified framework for breach notification can be a more effective tool than the patchwork of state laws that we currently have. Critics of a federal data breach-notification law have wondered whether such an approach in the United States might actually weaken breach reporting because it would likely be less stringent than the strictest state laws, such as Californias. But the success of the GDPR suggests that there may be more to be gained than lost in having a single countrywide policy around how and when breaches have to be reported. Advertisement Advertisement While the GDPR seems to be a positive model for breach notification policy, it appears to have done less well at its most discussed purpose: allowing regulators to fine companies for mishandling personal data. One of the most controversialand in some circles, most celebratedelements of the GDPR was that it granted European data authorities the ability to levy truly significant fines against companies for violating the law. Those penalties could reach up to 4 percent of a companys annual global revenue under the GDPR, vastly more than the token fines that had previously been levied against tech companies in Europe and the United States. Advertisement Advertisement During the first nine months that the GDPR was in effect, the total penalties imposed under the statute added up to 55,955,871 euros, according to a report published in late February by the European Data Protection Board. That sounds impressive until you rememberas Refinitiv chief privacy officer Vivienne Artz pointed out at the retrospective panel in Londonthat a single 50 million euro fine levied against Google in January accounts for nearly 90 percent of that sum. The vast majority of companies are still not being fined for failing to protect their customers data, and the vast majority of fines are still too small to register with the companies that are being penalized. (Arguably, even 50 million euros is a fairly trivial sum to Google, which brought in $136.8 billion in revenue in 2018. For comparison, 50 million euros is equivalent to roughly $57 million, or 0.04 percent of Googles 2018 revenue.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As we come up on the one-year mark of the GDPR in May, it makes sense to take stock of what seems to be working welland what may be working less well. The breach notification plank of the regulation has clearly had a significant impact, while the fining authority has been less obviously valuable in the GDPRs first year of implementation. The EU may yet adjust to correct some of these problems: For instance, Eckersley said at the panel that several EU countries are working to define a matrix for calculating fines under the GDPR that may help the various countries data protection authorities harmonize their penalties, so that one company is not hit with nearly 90 percent of the total fines for an entire year. But in the meantime, other countries should take note of the GDPRs successes and failures, and consider seriously how they can adopt some of its more effective elements while avoiding its most problematic features. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. Company Brose Prievidza invested millions into modernisation of the airport. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Two aircraft from Germany landed during the reopening of Prievidza Airport. (Source: Igor Rosko) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The international airport with irregular operations in Prievidza (Trencin Region) has recently reopened after a make-over, which started last August. The reconstruction was financed by the local company Brose Prievidza. The modernisation project of the runway, paid with new asphalt, amounted to 3.1 million. It is a very big success for the region and for us as it makes our life easier, said Axel Mallener, general manager of Brose Prievidza, as quoted by the Sme daily. It will also help our infrastructure a lot. Read also: Read also: Bratislava airport handled record number of passengers in 2018 Read more The airport is expected to attract more tourists as well as investors to the region of Horna Nitra, of which Prievidza is the centre. It is an imaginary gate to the region, said Frantisek Zlocha, president of Aeroclub Prievidza, as quoted by Sme. It will now be possible to fly anywhere in the world from Prievidza and to Prievidza. More investors The airport wants to focus on private aviation traffic and business flights, said Lubos Janosik, manager of the Prievidza airport. Read also: Read also: A private investor will rent Bratislava airport for 30 years Read more Trencin Region Governor Jaroslav Baska is convinced the modernised airport is a big opportunity for the region to attract new guests, including new foreign firms, which will be closer to the region like this, Sme wrote. Prievidza Mayor Katarina Machackova also appreciated the fact that the private sector helped reconstruct the airport and has hopes for the more progressive development of the region. It is a rare and exceptional example of a businessman or investor who comes to our region and invests in it, she said, as quoted by Sme. Airport will help Brose After the reconstruction, heavier aircraft can land at the airport, which was not possible in the past. This will also help Brose. When 10 people from Germany drive here, it takes five hours, Mallener claimed, as quoted by Sme. When we use our own plane, it takes 45 minutes. It was Aeroclub Prievidza that provided for the modernisation of the airport since the runway, 1,081 metres long and 23 metres wide, is situated on plots owned by the club, Sme wrote. India-Pakistan officials met to finalise Kartarpur Corridor Technical experts from India and Pakistan met on Tuesday at the proposed zero points to discuss and finalise the development of the Kartarpur Corridor, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office. The meeting between technical experts of Pakistan and India was held at the Zero Point of the Kartarpur Corridor. The meeting was held in a positive and constructive environment, the statement issued by the FO read. Both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the Zero Point and discussed the technical details, including finished road level, high flood level, etc, it continued. The two sides agreed on some technical aspects and details and expressed the hope to finalize the other modalities at the earliest, it concluded. Talks were held between the delegations of Pakistan and India at Attari Complex, Amritsar, earlier this month which gave the two sides an opportunity to sort out modalities for the opening of the corridor between Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan and Gurdwara Baba Nanak in India for the upcoming 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in December this year. Director General South Asia and SAARC Dr Faisal had led the Pakistani delegation, comprising high officials of Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Communications, National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Indian side was headed by Joint Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs SCL Das. The next meeting between officials from the two countries is scheduled to be held at Wagah on April 2. This time an Indian delegation will visit Pakistan for the meeting. Environmental innovation will be needed more than ever in the years to come. News: Receive favorite authors articles by email. Try the new feature and turn on the subscription. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Only one-third of companies in Slovakia can be described as innovative, according to Eurostat data, which analysed how innovative the companies in the EU 28 are. This included patents and new methods of production and operation, said Lenka Buchlakova, analyst with the Slovenska Sporitelna bank. A half of European companies came up with more efficient models of production in 2016, the data suggests. On the other hand, Slovakia markedly lags behind, partly due to legislation and weak support from the state. Read also: Read also: Slovakia makes innovation progress in IT sector Read more Slovakia has made progress in the IT sector. By contrast, Ireland has invested in small and medium-sized companies, Luxembourg supports research and Belgium has launched a number of innovative projects, Buchlakova explained. Focus on the environment Eurostat focused on the companies that invest more in innovation to protect the environment. By 2040, the world will need 30 percent more energy than it currently has. New methods of energy production and distribution are required. Many European firms have publicly proclaimed that they have made steps to seek new and innovative methods of production, said Buchlakova, as quoted in a press release. Recycled and compostable packages should thus enter the market in the years to come. To withstand the competition, innovation is the only way to succeed, she added. Currently, only a quarter of 25 million tonnes of the plastic waste get recycled in the EU. Read also: Read also: What ecological measures will supermarkets implement? Read more EU to support recyclable plastic The European Commission has also decided to help firms by allocating 100 million for the development of recyclable plastic materials. Furthermore, most disposable products are said to disappear by 2025 in the EU. The EC study has confirmed that if the circular economy was implemented in all economic sectors by 2030 in five countries, such as France, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, carbon emissions in the air would drop by two thirds, firms would save on the costs, and 1.2 million of new jobs would be created, Buchlakova said. A mysterious photo from China recently appeared on the Internet showing what appeared to be a mock-up of a Russian T-90 tank built on the chassis of a heavy truck. The photo came from a Chinese army weapons testing facility and while the mock-up seems to accurately replicate the key elements of a T-90 chassis, from the ground you dont have to be too close to see the truck wheels beneath the tank. It was unclear what this mock-up was for until you consider that while Russia is a Chinese ally, the largest user of T-90s in the world is India, not Russia. It is known that China is building new fire control systems which make their helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers more effective when using guided missiles and smart bombs against armored vehicles. Then consider the fact that the T-90, like most current Chinese tanks, are also based on the T-72 design and that China provides Pakistan (another enemy of India) with most of its modern tanks as well as air-to-ground missiles, smart bombs and fire control systems to make these aircraft weapons work. From the air, the Chinese mock-up wheels will often not show up at all but the details of the shape of a T-90 can be quickly distinguished from similar looking Chinese tanks that are also based on the T-72. The new fire control system contains an electronic library of enemy vehicles (including all sorts of armored vehicles and even small warships). These shape recognition libraries are also used in targeting pods which China is also introducing. With a targeting pod, a pilot can confirm that the tanks up ahead are hostile, and not Chinese. At that point, the pilot can launch missiles or smart bombs that can also confirm that they are hitting the right target (and self-destruct if they dont find a suitable target). The electronic shape recognition systems have been increasingly common and are often used in fire and forget missiles. The shape recognition systems have no problem identifying a potential target vehicle from the air after capturing an image and comparing it to its library of images. For the gunship or fighter-bomber pilot, this identification would be near instantaneous and would avoid friendly fire (hitting friendly tanks) incidents. Such systems would also ensure that the most valuable targets (modern tanks) are hit and not some lesser armored vehicle carrying supplies. The Chinese have a unique problem though, most of the tanks their pilots will encounter in wartime will be variants of the T-72 and difficult to distinguish from each other, especially if you are far above and speeding by. All these Russian and Chinese tank designs are based on the older T-72 have a lot of small differences which ground troops have more time to notice and act on. Even modern tank fire control systems benefit from this vehicle recognition system because in combat units, or individual tanks and IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles) often get intermingled and at night there is often little to see and not much time to see it. So quick, accurate identification systems for tank fire control systems is also useful, but for air-to-ground weapons it is essential. That raises the question of why so many late model Russian and Chinese tanks are based on the T-72? The answer is simple, the 1970s era T-72 was the most effective, popular and widely used post-World War II Russian tank design and proved a good basis for more modern designs. What makes these many T-72 variants different is the quality of the components used and for missile guidance or aircraft fire control systems the many small differences in these T-72 based tanks make it easy to sort them all out. The T-72 was the most successful Russian post-World War II tank design and the basic model was pretty solid and reliable. The T-72 also proved to be a good platform for variants that added new (or more) armor, better electronics and improved engines that resulted in some impressive tank models. The most outstanding of these has been the Russian 46 ton T-72B3. As proof consider that most of the new tanks the Russian army has received since 2000 have been refurbished and much upgraded T-72B3s. Currently, the Russian Army has about 3,000 tanks in service and most (65 percent) are T-72B3s, which you hear little about. The new breakthrough design, the T-14, has fewer than a hundred in service and cuts in production (which began in 2015) were recently announced with only 10-20 a year being built. The T-14 is mostly about publicity and is one new Russian tank designs that looks nothing like a T-72 variant. The T-90 has been produced in large quantities, but not for Russia. The T-90 was a 1980s project that was to incorporate T-80 features into many upgrades of the T-72. Originally it was designated the T-72BU but when Russia finally began production in 1993 it was renamed the T-90 to make it easier to export. During the 1990s the Russian military could not afford to buy much of anything. The new name and the many new features of the T-72BU/T-90 succeeded in making the tank an export success and most (over 80 percent) of those produced were for export. In fact, India and Algeria each have more T-90s in service than Russia. That is worse than it sounds because Russia quietly put over a third of its newly purchased 550 T-90s into reserve. While the T-90 was loudly proclaimed to be the next big thing built the Russian army preferred the refurbished T-72s in the form of the T-72B3. These proved to be more reliable, something that got little publicity. While all the upgrades (new engine, gun, fire control and protection) made it nearly as expensive as the T-90 it was preferred by the troops and the older officers quietly agreed that it was a better tank than the new T-90s. China produced a similar tank in the Type 99, which is 25 percent heavier than the T-72B3 and even more expensive to build. Thats because the Type 99 has better armor protection and electronics. The Chinese can afford this while the Russians cannot, its as simple as that. Chinese manufacturing capabilities are, on average, superior to what the Russians had when the Cold War ended and for tank design and production that makes a big difference. India and Pakistan have not been able to match Russian or Chinese production standards or development capabilities. This is largely due to corruption and government regulations that make it difficult to innovate and excel. Most of the best South Asian (India and Pakistan) design and production talent moves to the West. A glance at the design and development stars in the West, especially the United States, shows a lot of these South Asians playing leading roles. China managed to keep more of this talent at home and even attracted some that had settled in the West to return. In the end, high-tech, like everything else, is about the people creating it. Pakistan tried to produce its own tanks (another T-72 variant) but recently decided to get out of the tank design, development, manufacturing business, at least for now. Instead, the Pakistani army placed an order for a hundred Chinese made 52 ton VT4/MBT-3000 tanks. This is an updated version of the 330 46 ton VT1/MBT-2000/Al Khalid tanks Pakistan already has. The Al Khalid was a joint China-Pakistan project to create a Pakistani tank that would be built in Pakistan. But basically the Al Khalid was a variant of the Chinese VT1 (also known as the MBT2000). The VT1 was the export version of the Chinese Type 90 tank. Actually, the Type 90 (an improved T-72) was not accepted by the Chinese army which instead went with the 54 ton Type 99, a superior T-72 variant that entered service in 2001 and underwent a major upgrade (the 58 ton Type 99A) in 2011 and is still in production. The rest of Pakistans 2,000 tanks are based on much older (1950s) Russian models, with some upgrades. Pakistan also looked at the latest Ukraine had to offer but decided to go with China, which has access to more advanced tech than Ukraine and was willing to be competitive when it came to price. This confidence in China was based on how the Al Khalid co-development agreement worked out. The Pakistanis learned the hard (but convincingly) way that they could not, even with Chinese help, produce a competitive T-72 variant. For the Al Khalid deal, Pakistan and China also agreed to jointly market the Al Khalid tank but had limited success. That was because there were a lot of improved T-72s on the market, including the Chinese MBT-2000. Al Khalid was more expensive to develop as Pakistan began the project in 1991 and made a lot of mistakes. The Al Khalid ended up costing ten percent more than the MBT-2000 and Pakistan was unable to keep its costs under control so that when it came time to develop and a major upgrade for Al Khalid, it was pointed out that China already had what Pakistan wanted in the VT4. In the end the Al Khalid demonstrated why Pakistan has never been a major player in the arms export business and this deal with China was more for show than anything else. For Chinese fire control systems it is important to be able to tell Al Khalids and several other T-72 variants, both friendly and hostile, apart. It has been a rough six months for the 13,700 peacekeepers in Mali, with 18 dead and 77 wounded in that period. Islamic terrorist attacks are on the rise; from 183 in 2016 to 226 in 2017 and 237 in 2018. In some areas, where the fighting has been near an international border, Mali civilians have fled the country. This is most common in the northeast where about 10,000 Mali civilians are currently living, and often barely surviving, across the border in Niger. Islamic terrorist violence is up in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger where a prominent target for the religious fanatics is Western education. Over 2,000 schools in these three nations have been forced to close leaving 400,000 children without an education. Islamic terrorism has disrupted economic activity and rural transportation along the few roads available. The continued presence of Islamic terrorists in Mali and neighboring countries, despite increased counter-terrorism activity, is mainly due to two external developments; more cocaine and fewer places for Islamic terrorists to operate in. The cocaine pipeline from South America to Guinea Bissau (via air or ship) and thence via nearby landlocked Mali north has long (since the 1990s) been dominated by Islamic terrorists driven out of North Africa at first and later from major defeats in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere. Mali was, compared to other places Islamic terrorists operated in, relatively safe. Smuggling and kidnapping enabled Islamic terrorists to survive, if not exactly thrive. The impact of drug gangs cannot be underestimated. In Mali and neighboring countries, local officials are easy to bribe and are not keen on wiping out the source of all their new-found wealth. This has led to resistance to Western (or any outside) intervention in northern Mali and nearby areas. Many local leaders blame the United States and the West for this mess. The reasoning is twisted, but it involves Western counter-terrorism efforts in Africa and the usual Western imperialism. No mention of corruption among African politicians. This is one of the causes of a military coup in Mali in early 2012. The troops wanted their political leaders to spend less time stealing and more time dealing with the growing unrest in the north. Then there are ethnic rivalries. There are Arabs and Tuareg tribes in the north. In central Mali, you have the Fulani, who are feared throughout the region (as far east as Nigeria). The nomadic Fulani clash with local tribes wherever they are and were attracted to Islamic terrorism because it gave them another excuse to attack anyone they encountered. These ethnic differences are complicated by Tuareg participation in smuggling cocaine and hashish north, through Algeria, to Europe. The drug smuggling is actually handled by Arab gangsters that are not terrorists. Various Islamic terrorist factions (especially Al Qaeda) get paid lots of money to provide security for the drugs as they make the long run through central African forests, then the Sahara. The Tuareg provide local knowledge of the terrain, and people, at least in the far north of Mali and southern Algeria. The Algerian government has long feared that the Tuareg would be tempted, by a big payday, to provide sanctuary for al Qaeda, as well as providing new recruits for Islamic terrorist operations (especially those that raise a lot of cash, like kidnapping Westerners.) While the Tuareg are not fond of Islamic terrorism, young Tuareg are allowed to work with al Qaeda as hired guns and guides. The pay is good, and the work is generally not too dangerous. But the young Tuareg picked up some radical ideas from their al Qaeda bosses, and that caused some tension with tribal leaders. The mere fact that Tuareg are working for al Qaeda in southern Algeria angered Algerian officials. Most of the 1.5 million Tuareg in the region are living in nations bordering Algeria (Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Niger). Mali has faced rebellious Tuareg for a long time and made peace with most of them in 2007. By 2012 Tuareg rebels insisted that they had no connection with al Qaeda or any similar group but some Tuaregs did. By 2013 a French led counter-terrorism operation in northern Mali drove out most Islamic terrorists out and the Tuareg tribes demonstrated their inherent hostility to Islamic terrorists by helping. But the Tuareg were still willing to work with smugglers (of anything) as they had for centuries. When it came to money the smugglers left religion, radical or otherwise, out of it. The smugglers soon resumed operations and with that came their hired guns, a profession dominated by Islamic terrorists. The drug shipments quietly passed through Fulani territory in part because the Fulani had more important problems to deal with. The growing tribal violence is largely caused by the Fulani herders of central Mali. Fulani tribesmen, in general, are also the biggest supporters of the current JNIM (Jamaah Nusrah al Islam wal Muslimin, or Group for the support of Islam and Moslems) coalition. This organization was formed in early 2017 to consolidate the many separate Islamic terror groups in Mali. In part this was a reaction to the growing threat from ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) which is hostile to everyone who is not ISIL and will attack or recruit from the JNIM members like AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), Ansar Dine, FLM and al Mourabitoun (an al Qaeda splinter group). Another reason for the merger was to make it easier to pool resources (including information and advice) and coordinate with other Islamic terror groups in the region. This reduces friction and destructive feuding. Making a coalition like this work is always difficult, especially considering the importance of ethnic differences. The FLM is Fulani while the other groups are largely Tuareg and Arab, plus some have a lot of foreigners. Note that JNIM did not absorb all of AQIM or al Mourabitoun, just local groups that had long been identified with al Qaeda. Al Mourabitoun is believed to have largely rejoined al Qaeda but some small Al Mourabitoun factions remain independent. The income from the drug trade kept a lot of these factions in business while the Islamic terrorists knew that business and religious fanaticism did not mix, and kept it that way. Those groups that did not went broke and withered to nothing. Internal politics for Islamic terror groups is a lot messier than these religious zealots like to admit. Thats mainly because each group believes they are uniquely qualified to be the supreme leader of all Islam. Coping with this aspect of Islamic radicalism has proved burdensome and ultimately becomes a major reason for Islamic terror movements failing and fading away (via desertion and other forms of self-destruction). The new JNIM is more heavily influenced by its Fulani component and that is another reason for more attacks in central Mali, which has long been the scene of conflict involving Fulanis. Largely because of the Fulani and JNIM, there has been more Islamic terrorist activity since 2017 which has impeded reconstruction and foreign aid efforts. Add to that the existing culture of corruption, especially in southern Mali and you have an atmosphere that is hostile to good government, national unity and economic growth. The French support is important because the government is still crippled by corruption and the growing popularity of conservative Islam by the Mali Moslem majority (90 percent). The senior Islamic clerics in Mali are opposed to Islamic terrorism but are heavily influenced by the conservative Saudi Arabian Wahhabi form of Islam. Mali, like most African nations with large Moslem populations, has accepted Saudi offers of cash to build mosques and religious schools. The Saudis also offer Islamic clerics and teachers trained in Saudi Arabia. A growing number of these Saudi trained clerics and teachers received scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia. Sub-Saharan Moslems have not been very receptive to the idea of living according to Sharia (Islamic) law, which is what Wahhabism demands. But Islamic clerics who regularly criticize corrupt behavior are respected if not always obeyed. The local governments want the Western foreign aid and technical assistance and they are under constant pressure to clean up the corruption if they want more aid, or want to avoid losing what they are already receiving. The corruption is a larger, and more ancient, problem than religious zealotry but the Islamic terrorists are considered more newsworthy than dirty politicians and drug gangs. March 17, 2019: In central Mali (Mopti), Islamic terrorists attacked the Dioura army base near the Mauritania border before dawn. Much damage was done to the base and 23 soldiers were killed. March 12, 2019: In central Mali (Mopti), seven soldiers were killed when Islamic terrorists attacked it with a roadside bomb. March 10, 2019: In the northeast (Menaka), near the Niger border French troops clashed with Islamic terrorists and four French soldiers were wounded. March 1, 2019: In central Mali (Mopti), Islamic terrorists a roadside bomb killed nine Mali G5 soldiers near the Burkina Faso border. February 26, 2019: In central Mali (Mopti), Islamic terrorists rigged a corpse with explosives so that it detonated when moved. Local civilians sought to move it and the explosion killed 17 civilians and wounded another 15. Islamic terrorists in neighboring Burkina Faso had used a similar tactic a month earlier. University of Southern California The University of Southern California in Los Angeles has an Executive MBA program that allows students to earn their degree in 22 months. The program is for mid-career professionals and senior managers and offers courses on Fridays and Saturdays twice a month. The curriculum is designed to cover 10 different themes, with 5 themes discussed each year. Through these themes, students cover topics in market performance, information systems management, strategic planning, environmental analysis and more. University of California-Los Angeles The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) provides an Executive MBA program that can be completed in 22 months. The program follows a cohort model and places students on teams, called 'mini boards,' with students of various industries and working backgrounds for collaboration. Students take classes on Fridays and Saturdays and can choose from a biweekly or monthly option. The program also includes an international residency experience that is 1 week long. Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University, also in Los Angeles, offers an Executive MBA program that can be finished in 20 months. The program begins with a 4-day Executive Leadership Retreat and then offers courses on Saturdays. The curriculum consists of 4 modules and an innovation and entrepreneurship trip during the first summer that allows students to work with executives and companies in Sacramento and Silicon Valley. The 4th and final module is an international capstone experience where students conduct research for their final project during a 10-day trip overseas. California State University Stanislaus California State University Stanislaus in Turlock has an Executive MBA program that can be completed in 15 months. The program holds classes on Saturdays, follows a cohort model and offers small class sizes. Students complete 36 units of coursework that consists of core, concentration and elective courses and a culminating experience in the form of an individual project. The concentration courses cover topics in leadership and management, while the electives allow students to choose from topics in ethics, leadership and more. Pepperdine University Pepperdine University in Malibu offers an Executive MBA program at their Malibu location, as well as in West Los Angeles and Irvine. The program can be completed in 19 months and totals 45 units. The program follows a cohort model and students meet for 2-day course sessions about every 3 weeks. For hands-on learning experience, students choose a company and then complete an applied strategic research project. California State University Long Beach The MFA in Dance offered by California State University Long Beach is a graduate degree program that many students could want to pursue. In this program, students are expected to complete 60 total credit hours over two academic years. The curriculum is organized into different categories, including theory, production and performance, and choreography and prepares graduates for careers in these areas as well as teaching. A six-credit final thesis/project is also a part of the curriculum as well as several elective choices. Candidates with teaching experience can apply for teaching assistant positions within the program to earn extra money. Scholarships or merit-based aid assistance programs are also common. Saint Mary's College of California Students may also want to consider the two MFA in Dance programs at Saint Mary's College of California. The MFA in Dance Design and Production option is intended for students who are interested in working in the areas of production, design, and digital media as related to dance. The MFA in Dance: Creative Practice is for candidates who would like to pursue choreography as well as more advanced training on their own behalf. Both programs require the completion of 60 credit hours. They are also scheduled as low-residency, meaning that enrolled students could potentially continue working while also pursuing this degree. Mills College Mills College offers an MFA in Dance that consists of 45 credit hours. The core curriculum is split into several areas covering choreography, theory, and technique, and students can exercise some choice in their course selection depending on the type of movement they are interested in. Students can further personalize their degree by the elective courses they select. The program also emphasizes professional development, as the required courses in pedagogy entail spending time teaching dance at area public schools. Students have the opportunity to teach at the college level as well through graduate and teaching assistantships. University of California Los Angeles The University of California Los Angeles MFA in Dance program requires that students complete a total of 72 credit hours over three years and has an emphasis on choreography. The courses are split into the categories of theoretical studies, creative process, and production, in addition to a fourth elective course category that includes areas like education, movement practices, field work, and dance/science movement studies. In order to complete the degree, students must write a research paper (over 20 pages) as well as plan and present a Capstone Project. The research paper must be finished before students begin the project, and the project consists of preparing a concert or a series of concerts. California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts offers an MFA in Choreography that may be of interest to dance students as well. This program is intended for those who have experience as dancers and are interested in working as professional choreographers. The curriculum can be completed over a span of two years and covers topics in theory, composition, production, and dance film. There is a strong emphasis on creation in this program, as students are expected to plan and present three pieces during the first year of the program, in addition to a culminating Thesis Concert during the final semester of the program. The University of Chicago One option for students seeking part-time MBA programs in Chicago is the program at the University of Chicago. This program offers a number of different scheduling options, depending on the needs of the students. Students can choose to take evening classes or weekend classes, both options allow students to continue working full-time while pursuing the MBA degree. The curriculum of both options is highly flexible and requires the completion of 20 courses, some of which students select from predetermined lists to cover foundational areas and others that students can choose as elective courses according to concentration areas. Concentration area options include entrepreneurship, international business, and economics. Additionally, students who enroll in the part-time program can choose to participate in two- or three-week international trips in order to gain global business experience. Students also have the opportunity to spend an entire semester abroad at any of the University of Chicago's 33 partner schools. DePaul University DePaul University offers both an evening and a weekend MBA program that students can complete on a part-time basis. Both of these programs can be completed in two to three years. Students enrolled in the evening program can attend courses on weekday evenings, while weekend program students can attend bimonthly Saturday courses. Students in both programs also can complete coursework online. In addition to completing the required core curriculum, students in these programs can also select from 14 concentrations that allow them to customize their degree according to their interests. Some of these options include applied economics, hospitality leadership, marketing, and strategy, execution and valuation. Northwestern University Another option for students is the program at Northwestern University, which students can complete at the school's downtown Chicago campus location. This program is also offered in two formats - weekend or evening. Students who enroll in either program are required to complete nine core curriculum courses, which cover topics in business analytics, leadership, finance, and microeconomics, among others. Students can then further personalize their degree according to their career field and interests through elective course selection. Additionally, students have a number of opportunities to gain international experience while enrolled in this program through the International Growth Lab, the intensive Global Initiatives in Management course, and study abroad programs, among other possibilities. Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago offers a part-time MBA program that students can complete by attending courses on evening weekdays. Students in this program are required to complete between three and seven core courses, depending on their previous academic background in business. Additionally, students must select courses from predetermined options that cover the topics of ethics, analytics, and global perspectives. Students also are able to pursue a concentration in this program, with some options including risk management, entrepreneurship, business ethics, and supply chain management. This school also offers an Executive MBA program that students can complete on weekends while they continue working, which may be appealing to prospective students who already have significant work experience. University of Illinois Chicago Students who enroll in the MBA program at the University of Illinois Chicago can also complete this program on a part-time basis, either by enrolling in the Weekend MBA program or in the Flexible MBA program. Students in the weekend program will complete the program in two years by attending courses on Saturdays. The Flexible program allows students to complete the curriculum entirely at their own pace and offers online, evening, and Saturday course options. This allows students to complete the program in as few as 18 months, though other students may take longer depending on the pace they set for themselves. In addition to completing the core curriculum, students in these programs can pursue concentrations in areas like finance, operations and supply chain management, real estate, and international business. New York University The Tisch School of Arts at New York University offers a three-year course of study leading to the MFA in Acting for just 16 students per cohort. The first year of the program focuses on acting behaviors and classroom-based performances, including an African dance and ensemble project, while the second year may include American Naturalist and a Cabaret performance in university performing spaces. The third year of study includes a season of performances drawing from a wide range of acting possibilities. A public theater collaboration introduces students to the process of developing new plays as an actor. All students also consider acting in film. Long Island University Students at Long Island University can earn an MFA in Theater. The two-year program offers courses in stage combat, directing, and post-modern theater. The Suzuki technique is featured in coursework. All students participate in a first year show. The program culminates in a group thesis of a company theater production in New York City, team-taught by faculty with a range of theater specialties. Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College, in Bronxville, offers an MFA in Theater with courses taught by faculty who are working actors and theater professionals. Students are encouraged to draw components from the music and dance program, as well as acting. Specific coursework may include Alexander technique, comedic improvisation, and theater outreach. Students are encouraged to participate in internships in professional theater companies. The program is typically completed in two years. Julliard School At the Julliard School in NYC, students can earn an MFA in Drama in four years. Each year of study, students hone their craft through a courses in dramatic interpretation and techniques. Other classes may include Shakespeare and American theater landscape. A fourth-year course entitled Bridging the Profession revolves around entering the professional acting career through units including casting, auditioning, and contracting. Third and fourth year performance projects are an element of the curriculum as well. Only 8-10 students are typically admitted to the program each year. Pace University Pace University presents the opportunity to earn an MFA through its actors studio drama school. The program requires three years to complete and is based upon the Stanislavski system. During the first year, students prepare with a range of classes, while in the second year they focus upon building character and in the third creating a role for production. The highlight of the third year is the professionally-produced repertory season, with individual scenes and full-length plays that are written, directed, and performed by Pace students. Khawaja Asif-Syed Naveed Qamar to record their statements in Nandipur corruption reference ISLAMABAD: The accountability court of Islamabad on Tuesday summoned former federal ministers Khawaja Mohammad Asif and Syed Naveed Qamar for recording their statements in the Nandipur corruption reference on March 21. The reference is about inordinate delay in legally vetting the Nandipur power project which led to an increase in the project cost by several billions rupees. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has nominated former law minister and senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Dr Babar Awan, former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and officials of the ministries of law and justice and water and power as accused in the case. During Tuesdays proceeding, Mr Awan, accompanied by dozens of lawyers, appeared before accountability court judge Mohammad Arshad Malik. Some of the lawyers harassed NAB prosecutor Usman Masood before the judge. Mr Masood complained about the behaviour of Mr Awans supporters and requested the judge to take action against them. The judge, however, condoned the complaint. Former law secretary Masood Chishti and consultant of the law ministry Shamila Mehmood also appeared before the court, but former PM Ashraf, former secretary of water and power Shahid Rafi and other accused remained absent. The prosecution witness Mohammad Naeem, a section officer of the energy ministry, requested the court to grant him some time since he had to obtain relevant record from Muzaffargarh. Mr Awan said that it was not the record of a flood-affected area and it was supposed to be in custody of the prosecution witness as the court had already given him six days for preparation of testimony. When Mr Awan told the court that the prosecution witness had nothing concrete against him, the witness told him, Sir, I am not testifying against you. My job is to produce relevant record before the court since I am the custodian of that record. Later, talking to media, Mr Awan said that the prosecutor had made a strange request before the court for summoning what he called political witnesses. He said that a witness against him was a representative of former PM Nawaz Sharif and another witness belonged to an opposition party that had recently formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. It is the first time in the history that an institution (NAB) is insisting on summoning political witnesses, he said. The Nandipur project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Dec 27, 2007, at a cost of $329 million. Following the approval, a contract was signed on Jan 28, 2008 between the Northern Power Generation Company Limited and the Dong Fang Electric Corporation, China, and two consortiums Coface for 68.967m euros and Sinosure for $150.151m were set up for financing the project. The water and power ministry sought legal opinion on the project from the law ministry in accordance with the schedule of the agreement in July 2009, but the accused repeatedly refused to provide it, according to NAB. The water and power ministry also failed to take any concrete steps to resolve the issue and the matter remained pending. According to NAB, the legal opinion was issued in November 2011 after Mr Awan was removed from the post of law minister. During the course of investigation, NAB says, it has established that the accused committed the offences of corruption and corrupt practice. A blog published by Susan Eisen that has columns on all the latest jewelry fashions, news, and store information. The US State Department recently gave the White Helmet five million dollars in funding, which Syria has described as a violation of the UN charter and international law writes Syria has strongly condemned the US administrations support for terrorist organizations in Syria, affirming that this support will not affect Syrias firm stance in combating terrorism and the foreign occupation until they have liberated every last inch of its territory. The US continues its flagrant support for terrorism to which Syria is exposed, in a flagrant and continued violation of the UN charter and international law as well as all relevant resolutions, an official spokesman at Foreign and Expatriates Ministry told SANA in a statement. The US State Department has recently announced support worth five million dollars to the so-called White Helmets, an arm of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, and responsible for fabricating lies, scenarios and videos about chemical attacks in Syria. The spokesman added that this desperate US step, which followed a similar one by Qatar, stresses that the US still relies on terrorism to achieve their special agendas in Syria and the region, in service of the Israeli occupation. He concluded by saying that the Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns the acts of the US administration in offering secret and declared support to terrorist organizations, including the so-called White Helmets. The spokesman called on the US administration to respect the UN Security Councils resolutions regarding combating terrorism and halting the financing of Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, also discussed the formation of the Constitutional Committee with the head of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change reports Asharq al-Awsat. On Tuesday, the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, held talks in Damascus with the head of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, Hassan Abdel Azim. Discussions focused on the work plan that Pedersen and his team were forming to overcome the obstacles that are impeding the negotiations over the political process, said a statement by the committee. As part of confidence-building efforts, both sides stressed the need to release all detainees and abducted people. The fate of missing people must also be revealed, such as Raja Nasser, Abdulaziz al-Kheir, Iyas Ayyash and Maher al-Tahhan, who were arrested by the regime for demanding a political solution to the crisis. Pedersen arrived in the Syrian capital on Sunday where he held talks with Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem. Speaking to reporters from the Foreign Ministry, he vowed to continue to exert efforts to see the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2254 that calls for a ceasefire and political settlement to Syrias crisis. Last month the envoy said in Geneva that he saw a constitutional committee as, the potential door-opener for the political process. The committee would be tasked with drawing up a post-war constitution. Pedersen faces the same difficulties as his predecessor, Staffan de Mistura, in reviving negotiations to resolve the crisis. Before departing his post last year, Mistura focused his efforts on forming the Constitutional Committee that was proposed by Damascus allies, Russia and Iran, and opposition-backer Turkey. The 150-member committee is intended to represent the regime, the opposition and civil society and is seen by the UN as key to holding free elections and ending the war in Syria, which entered its ninth year this week. Objections over the potential candidates submitted by concerned powers have, however, stalled its formation. Damascus has been particularly vocal over the latest list of candidates presented by the UN. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The agreement, which is believed to be the third of its kind, is thought to be worth 100 million yuan and will be used to fund humanitarian needs in Syria writes The Syria Times. On Monday, Syria and China signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement according to which China will grant the Syrian government 100 million yuan (17 million dollars) to fund humanitarian requirements that are to be specified and agreed upon at a later stage. The agreement was signed at the headquarters of the Planning and International Cooperation Commission by the Commissions head, Imad Sabouni, and the Chinese Ambassador in Damascus, Feng Biao. This is the third grant to be provided by China to the Syrian government since 2016, said Sabouni following the signing ceremony. The first was estimated at 110 million yuan while the second was estimated to be 200 million yuan and both aimed at meeting the needs of several sectors, including electricity, customs and transport, he added. Sabouni went on to say that China has also provided a grant for the Syrian higher education sector and another one for enhancing food security in Syria. He pointed out that Syria and China held talks on developing and enhancing abilities within the framework of Syrias reconstruction efforts, which hope to benefit from Chinese experience in this regard, noting that a training course on this topic will be held within the coming few months. For his part, Biao hailed the Syrian-Chinese long-term strategic relations, pointing out that Chinas assistance to Syria expresses the Chinese peoples support for the Syrian people. He stressed that his country will continue this support until Syria has fully recovered. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The Turkish patrol was welcomed in the Sahel al-Ghab area by residents, who have been subjected to regime bombardments reports Al-Modon. Since Mar. 8, 2019, the Turkish army has been running observation patrols in the demilitarized zone of Idleb and the countrysides of Hama, Aleppo and Lattakia, in accordance with the Sochi agreement signed with Russia in September 2018. The Turkish army patrols have resumed over the last few days after stopping for more than a week due to a dispute between Faylaq al-Rahman and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham regarding the right to accompany and secure the patrols. Al-Modons sources said that the Turkish army had deliberately ignored Tahrir al-Sham and limited coordination with Faylaq al-Rahman, which annoyed Tahrir al-Sham and pushed them to take control over Faylaqs checkpoints and positions in the buffer zone east of Idleb. According to Al-Modons sources, some of the points and positions they seized were near Turkish observation points. Tahrir al-Shams pressure succeeded in getting them involved in accompanying the Turkish patrols and its members participating indirectly alongside the Faylaq fighters who are officially undertaking the task, according to Al-Modon sources. Although four Turkish army patrols are active in the buffer zone, they have not included all areas falling between Turkish observation points in the Idleb environs. The patrols have also not succeeded in stopping artillery and rockets bombardments by the regimes militias. Over the past two days, the Sahel al-Ghab area in the northwestern Hama countryside has seen a heavy bombardment after the third Turkish army patrolled passed, which included the areas between the observation points in Eshtabraq and Sheer Maghar. The al-Huwayz municipality declared an emergency after more than 300 artillery shells and rockets fell in record time. The third patrol of the Turkish army was welcomed by residents in the Sahel al-Ghab area and the western Jisr al-Shaghour countryside in Idleb. Residents waved Turkish flags, and a number of them accompanied the Turkish military vehicles on their motorcycles while they patrolled the area. Members of Tahrir al-Sham fired into the air to clear those who gathered and keep them back and there were clashes between residents and fighters in multiple locations. The Turkish patrol and the way it was welcomed by the residents of the towns and villages in the buffer zone caused controversy among supporters of the Salafi groups. Members of the Heras al-Deen group said that the warm reception of the Turkish patrols was a natural result of the Russian and Turkish plans in Idleb and that, the heavy bombardment pushes people to attach themselves to the secular apostate army and then pull the rug out from under the mujahideen with the approval and accompaniment of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Mazen al-Tarazi has donated large amounts of money to the Assad regime and has taken part in protests in support of Syria reports Al-Qabas. Sources have revealed that Kuwaiti security forces arrested Mazen al-Tarazia Syrian businessman living in Kuwaitand four of his assistants at the al-Hadaf magazine. The sources said that a raid on the magazine by detectives lasted three hours, and that during this time the magazines computers, cameras and the personal phones of Tarazi were confiscated, before the man who is known as Bashar al-Assads man was handcuffed. It is reported that the charges on which Tarazi was arrested are related to money laundering for foreign parties as well as printing without a license. According to the sources, Mazen al-Tarazis secretary was arrested as well as his Lebanese assistants, on charges of being affiliated with Hezbollah and spying for the organization. Tarazi is one of the main Syrian businessmen backing the Bashar al-Assad regime. He has always been keen to donate to it and the so-called Martyrs Schools for children of regime forces, while also participating in protests in the United States in front of the White House in support of the Syrian regime. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. ...the view from the sidewalks of Minneapolis and Saint Paul... SC to announce verdict on Nawaz Sharif bail plea The Supreme Court will announce a verdict on former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs bail plea on medical grounds on March 26. During hearing of the petition on Tuesday, the apex court issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) directing it to ensure that all relevant documents are in place at the next hearing fixed for March 26. Nawaz Sharifs counsel, Khawaja Haris, who had moved the apex court for early hearing of the application, presented his arguments before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. He contended that his client had already filed a petition in the IHC against the judgement given by an accountability court and shared details and findings of the medical boards constituted by the government that had examined Sharif. The chief justice, while citing Nawaz Sharifs medical reports, observed that the former prime minister was suffering from a kidney stone, hepatitis, diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure. He said the reports are being reviewed to ascertain how long the former prime minister has been suffering from the ailments. Five of Nawazs medical reports were presented before the bench, to which the chief justice remarked that the court would need to read all of the former prime ministers medical reports. We are aware that Nawazs treatment was conducted in London, Chief Justice Khosa observed, when told by Khawaja Haris that the former prime ministers doctor David Lawrence is based in London. The chief justice further remarked that the reports from London were not provided to the doctors in Pakistan, and that the court will examine the reports of tests conducted at PIMS in Islamabad. Did Nawaz Sharif face these [medical issues] earlier as well? If Nawaz Sharifs condition deteriorated in prison, then the situation will be different, the top judge stated, and pointed out that despite the ailments, Nawaz Sharif had been participating in elections, rallies and conventions during the 2018 campaign, in addition to his numerous court appearances. Chief Justice Khosa also inquired about a precedent where a convict had travelled abroad for treatment after getting bail. Obviously, Nawaz has heart ailment which cannot be treated in jail. The angiography cannot be performed in a prison, he observed. The Islamabad High Court on February 25 had dismissed Nawazs petition seeking bail and suspension of his seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia reference on medical grounds. The former prime minister is imprisoned at Kot Lakhpat jail since December 2018 following his conviction in a corruption reference in line with the Supreme Courts July 2017 verdict. Meanwhile, a joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe the 2014 Model Town tragedy will record the statement of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the Kot Lakhpat jail on Wednesday (today). The Punjab home department has allowed the JIT to record Nawaz Sharifs statement at the prison and has also issued a notification in this regard. On Monday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif had appeared before the JIT. The investigation team is headed by Inspector General (IG) Motorways AD Khawaja, and comprises Lt Colonel Attique-uz-Zaman from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lt Colonel Irfan Mirza from the Military Intelligence (MI). Ahmed Kamal, deputy director general of Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Qamar Raza, deputy inspector general (DIG) Police Headquarters Gilgit-Baltistan, are also part of the JIT. Credit: Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory If you look at this pick and place robot you promptly see why it is a big dealnot so much for dexterity and fine movement, although the robot scores in both, but just because it is so clever. It is quite obvious from the news stories pouring out of university labs that robotic arms and hands designed for picking and sorting are a frequent topic; ambitious researchers try to score higher for efficient solutions. As MIT CSAIL put it, "for all the progress we've made with robots, they still barely have the skills of a two-year-old. Factory robots can pick up the same object over and over again, and some can even make some basic distinctions between objects, but they generally have trouble understanding a wide range of object shapes and sizes, or being able to move said objects into different poses or locations." This week's buzz is all about this robot, with its featured "keypoints" style for achieving a more advanced level of coordination. They have explored a new way to identify and move entire classes of objects, representing them as groups of 3-D keypoints. The Engineer quoted MIT professor Russ Tedrake, senior author of the paper describing their work and up on arXiv. "Robots can pick almost anything up, but if it's an object they haven't seen before, they can't actually put it down in any meaningful way." The Engineer gave its nod to an approach that sounded like "a type of visual roadmap that allows more nuanced manipulation." You can see the robot in action in a kPAM preview video, "Precise robot manipulation with never before seen objects." What is kpam? That stands for Keypoint Affordances for Robotic Level Manipulation. The robot gets all the information it needs to pick up, move and place objects. "Understanding just a little bit more about the object the location of a few key points is enough to enable a wide range of useful manipulation tasks," said MIT professor Russ Tedrake. A paper describing their work, which is up on arXiv, is titled "kPAM: KeyPoint Affordances for Category-Level Robotic Manipulation," by Lucas Manuelli, Wei Gao, Peter Florence and Russ Tedrake. They are with CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here is what the paper's authors had to say about how their approach is a step off existing "manipulation pipelines." The latter typically specify the desired configuration as a target 6-DOF pose, which has its limitations. Representing an object "with a parameterized transformation defined on a fixed template cannot capture large intra-category shape variation, and specifying a target pose at a category level can be physically infeasible or fail to accomplish the task." Knowing the pose and size of a coffee mug relative to some canonical mug is ok, but it is not sufficient to hang it on a rack by its handle. Their approach is using "semantic 3-D keypoints as the object representation." What were the results of their exploration? Their method was able to handle "large intra-category variations without any instance-wise tuning or specification." The team reported that "Extensive hardware experiments demonstrate our method can reliably accomplish tasks with never-before seen objects in a category, such as placing shoes and mugs with significant shape variation into category level target configurations." Explore further Robot can pick up any object after inspecting it More information: kPAM: KeyPoint Affordances for Category-Level Robotic Manipulation, arXiv:1903.06684 [cs.RO] kPAM: KeyPoint Affordances for Category-Level Robotic Manipulation, arXiv:1903.06684 [cs.RO] arxiv.org/abs/1903.06684 2019 Science X Network The Founder and Leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana, Kofi Akpaloo, has called for the legalization of illicit substance, Marijuana popularly known as wee in Ghana. According to him, the legalization is necessary because it will help boost the countrys economy. It is good in the drug market, it is good for hair creams, good for body creams . . . the USA that legalized it is making lots of money out of it, he told Peacefmonline.com in an interview. Kofi Akpaloo however argued that marijuana has a lot of medical advantages which could benefit the country if legalized. When you go to some of the western countries, it [Marijuana] has been legalised for health purposes and we can also do same. If alcohol and cigarettes are legal in Ghana, why not marijuana? he questioned. He advised that the abuse of the drug could be controlled if the authorities research to put up structures and measures to prevent the drug from being abused. Canada legalized marijuana in October 2018 and put up measures to prevent people from abusing the drug. We can also do same here, he said. Mr Akpaloo assured that if voted into power in the 2020 election, his government will do whatever it takes to legalize the use of marijuana in Ghana. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007 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 "Now we will also do more to ensure that Android phone owners know about the wide choice of browsers and search engines available to download to their phones," the company says. "This will involve asking users of existing and new Android devices in Europe which browser and search apps they would like to use." Play Store, Maps, Gmail, and YouTube without Chrome, and Search Everything, including Chrome, and Search Google announced some major changes for its Android mobile operating system in October after the European Commission hit the company with a record $5 billion antitrust fine for pre-installing its own apps and services on third-party Android phones.The European Commission accused Google of forcing Android phone manufacturers to "illegally" tie its proprietary apps and servicesspecifically, Chrome and Google Search as the default browsersto Android, unfairly blocking competitors from reaching consumers.This rule led Google to change the way it licenses the Google mobile application suite to Android smartphone makers. Now, Google is further making some changes related to browser and search engine choice.In a blog post published Tuesday, Google announced that the company would prompt Android phone owners in Europe (new and existing ones) in the coming months to choose from a variety of web browsers and search engines for their devices as their default apps.Although Google did not specify, the prompt will likely appear during the phone setup phase.The move comes a few months after Google revealed its new paid licensing agreements for Google apps on third-party Android smartphones.The new licensing scheme applied only to Android devices in the European Economic Area (comprises the 28 EU countries along with Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and required phone makers to obtain separate, paid licenses if they want to include:This change allowed smartphone makers in Europe to install any app they want to serve as alternatives to Google apps without being forced to bundle Google Search and Chrome.Google also said Android users have always been free to download any browser and search engine apps they want, "irrespective of what came pre-installed on the phone," noting that "a typical Android phone user will usually install around 50 additional apps on their phone."The company has likely come up with these latest changes to show the European Union its "continued commitment to operating in an open and principled way."Not just for Google's mobile operating system, but the European Union also fined Google $2.7 billion in June 2017 over abusing the way it prioritizes its own shopping results at the top of its search results at the expense of its rival products.In the latest blog post, the tech giant also announced some changes to Google Shopping, which includes providing "direct links to comparison shopping sites, alongside specific product offers from merchants." The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is willing to corporate with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to disband vigilante groups associated with them. The NPP in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo officially invited the major opposition party to a round table to jaw-jaw on the way to deal with the issue of vigilantism in the country. The letter signed by the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu expressed delight to officially invite you (the NDC) to a meeting to discuss the menace of political vigilantism, which has gained notoriety in the country, and explore ways of permanently disbanding the various vigilante groups associated with Ghanas two major political parties. "The NPP proposes that this crucial meeting comes off during this week at a venue convenient to you and, so, we entreat you to, as soon as possible, get in touch with the party when you find a suitable venue for this meeting, the statement added. Joshua Akamba, the National Organiser of the NDC speaking to this in an interview on Citi Eyewitness news welcomed the content of the letter and added that his party will respond accordingly. "As a political party, we have come out clearly to show the way and that we are so happy with the call from the President and that we are ready for any kind of meeting to take place . . . we will respond to the General Secretary of the NPP appropriately . . . " he indicated. According to him, "the NDC is so committed to the peace of this country; so if the NPP is ready now to disband, I can assure you that we will corporate; and we will sit down as a political party and see how far we can go". Confidence-building letter Also adding his voice to this on the same platform, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, the NPP Director of Communications described the letter as a 'confidence building letter'. He said the party does not want to impose anything on the NDC and that was why 'we are asking them to give the venue and the time'. "The letter from the General Secretary is a confidence-building letter . . . we are asking them to propose a venue and a time which means its confidence building. We are willing to bend backward to trust the NDC to fix the venue and the time. It demonstrates that we are not about to impose anything on the NDC, but we want it to happen that is why we said within a week they should give us a venue," he said. Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to Asiedu Nketia in an interview on Okay FM. The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia says reports that he has been slapped with a cost of GHc600 in the GHc15 million cedi defamation case by the Board Chairman of the Audit Service, Professor Edward Dua-Agyeman is false. The defamatory suit is in connection with Mr Asiedu Nketiahs comments made during a radio interview which Prof Dua-Agyeman said was intended to damage his reputation. Mr Asiedu Nketiah accused Prof Dua Agyeman who is a former Auditor General of churning out 'fake' audit reports based on which he was sacked by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana) (ICAG). According to Mr Dua-Agyeman, without basis or probable cause, Asiedu Nketiah ostensibly sought to impugn the integrity, dignity and reputation of the plaintiff and to ridicule him in the eyes of right-thinking members of society. The plaintiff averred that Asiedu Nketia on October 2, 2018 made some unsubstantiated and disparaging statements on Accra-based radio station, Neat FM, accusing him of producing fake audit accounts in 1983 while he was at the Audit Service. Appearing in Court Tuesday, lawyers for the plaintiff demanded a GHc 10, 000 fine against the NDC General Secretary but the Judge awarded a minimal cost of GHc600. Speaking in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie, General Mosquito as affectionately called in politics said he is not aware of such charges as been speculated. Who slapped me with GHC600? This is not true, he told host Mac Jerry Osei Agyeman. The NDCs Chief Scribe did not give much details about the ruling but said there is no iota of truth in the publication. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success." Luxembourg counts about 3,200 Chinese residents. Now, increasing numbers of Chinese tourists are discovering the beauty of the Grand Duchy. The increasing numbers of Chinese tourists will be welcomed with open arms by the shops in Luxembourg City, who have identified the tourists as big spenders. But what is it about Luxembourg that is so attractive to Chinese tourists? And what is being done to make them feel welcome here? Yong Zhang, who moved to Luxembourg from China with his family when he was 10 years old, offers some insight. In the 80s, Yong's parents opened a restaurant in Remich, and over 10 years ago, Yong opened his own travel agency. Together with his brother Xiang, he organises trips from Luxembourg to China and Asia, but also trips for Chinese people who want to discover Luxembourg. For most package holiday tourists Luxembourg is just a quick stop on a wider Europe trip: the stay is limited to a few hours, maybe an overnight stay. Yong wants to change this. He focuses on individual tourists, who usually travel in smaller groups, and encourages them to spend two or three nights in Luxembourg. Through Luxembourg-themed evenings, he tries to provide his customers with an authentic experience. Between 2008 and 2017, the number of overnight stays by Chinese tourists has more than doubled, reaching roughly 42,000 nights per year in 2017. Luxembourg also increased its popularity as a tourist destination through the World Expo in Shanghai (in 2010), where Luxembourg had a pavilion. In China, Luxembourg is best known for its finance sector, as a number of big Chinese banks have built their European headquarters in Luxembourg. But in Luxembourg, you can't just make money, you can also spend it. And that's what the Chinese like doing, especially in luxury boutiques, says Anne Darin from the Luxembourg City Commercial Union. Cosmetics an handbags are also very popular. The average spend of a Chinese tourist in Luxembourg is 1,780. In order to make it easier for these customers to spend their money, the Union has published brochures and a website in Chinese, which provides information about Luxembourg and many shopping tips. The Union also offers training on how to best interact with Chinese customers for local businesses. Jerome Lenertz has participated in said training. He works in a shop in Luxembourg City and wanted to learn more about Chinese culture, their shopping behaviour, as well as adapted sales strategies. There are many things to pay attention to says Jerome. Some colours or numbers don't sell because they have a particular meaning in their culture. For example, the number 4 is associated with death. He does add that communication, whether verbal or non-verbal, is the hardest part. Among the places that Chinese tourists like to visit here are the Golden Lady (Gelle Fra), the Casemates, the old part of Luxembourg City and the Grand Ducal Palace. While talking to some of them, we found out that they find Luxembourg beautiful because it's small and clean. One of the main arguments is also the feeling of security when you are in the country. On Monday, the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published seven peer review reports assessing compliance, including on Luxembourg. Whilst Luxembourg is renowned for being a tax haven, the OECD's Global Forum has deemed that the Grand Duchy is "largely compliant" in tax transparency, a move celebrated by the Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna. Gramegna praised the government's efforts towards tax transparency following this international recognition. Luxembourg was reviewed alongside Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Spain, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, all of whom were praised for having "demonstrated their progress on the deficiencies identified in the first round of reviews, including improving access to information, developing broader EOI [exchange of information] agreement networks, monitoring the handling of increasing incoming EOI requests." Luxembourg improved its deficiencies outlined in 2015. Now, Luxembourg is classified at the same level of compliancy in tax transparency as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Whilst the Ministry of the Environment has confirmed that the army will put up a fence along the Belgian border over the next few days, Luxembourg's hunters federation has slammed the government for its reactions to the spread of the African swine fever. On Tuesday, the Ministry of the Environment confirmed that the army will be setting up a 20 kilometre fence along the Belgian border over the next few days due to African swine fever. The fence building is in collaboration with the bridges and roads authority. The aim is to create an additional barrier to the one existing several kilometres over the border in Belgium. Domingos Oliveira The ministry hopes to prevent infected wild boars travelling to Luxembourg and infecting animals in the Grand Duchy. The fence will be completely set up in the next few weeks. However, hunters from the St Hubert federation (FSHCL) have slammed the government concerning how secure such a barrier is. After criticism aired by farmers, the hunters' federation invited two experts to an information meeting on Tuesday evening. The experts described the situation in Belgium and France, and went through the Luxembourgish authorities' policy at the meeting. The French expert, Eugene Mertz, was so incensed by the Luxembourgish government's actions that he was nearly out of breath. He claimed the ministry was "sleeping" instead of acting on the issue. He criticised the lack of discussion and communication, instead comparing the instant reactions of the French departments of Ardennes, Meuse, and Meurthe et Moselle to the lack of action in Luxembourg. He described the Luxembourgish government as acting completely irresponsibly, and highlighted the urgency of the catastrophe that could occur. In Germany and France the authorities feared that the African swine fever could affect exports, leading to losses of billions of euros. His Belgian counterpart explained that Wallonia's first measure had been to massively reduce the wild boar population alongside building fences. The vet, hunter, and University of Namur professor Jean-Marie Giffroy believed the Luxembourgish authorities should have culled the wild boar population as well. The only politician present at the meeting was the head of the CSV in the Chamber of Deputies Martine Hansen, who agreed that the Luxembourgish government lacked specific measures and transparency. She believed the ministry should have organised an information meeting with farmers and hunters. The hunters, for their part, laid out their demands, which included hunting wild boars throughout the year, a fence from the surveillance zone until the German border, and further support to legalise hunting wild boars. Nicaragua's opposition alliance suspended its participation in peace talks with Daniel Ortega's government Monday in protest over the regime's "violence and repression" of demonstrators. Riot police used tear gas against opposition demonstrators and reporters on Saturday while temporarily detaining more than 100 people after they attempted to protest for the release of political prisoners. The government accused the opposition of staging a "provocation." The United States condemned Ortega's government over the detentions. "We call on the Ortega regime to release immediately and unconditionally all arbitrarily detained persons, respect Nicaraguans' freedom of assembly and expression and commit to electoral reforms and to holding free and fair elections early," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said. The local Civic Alliance for Justice rights group "energetically condemned" the government crackdown on dissent. In a statement, it said the government "is holding more than 700 political prisoners simply for defending their citizens' rights." "It has in its hands the power to free them, (to grant them) the absolute respect of their rights and the end to repression," the group added. "What happened on Saturday adds to the desperation felt by hundreds of homes that continue to see family members unfairly detained, and to the pain we all feel for the dead and disappeared." The alliance said that peace talks had so far failed to produce hoped for "legitimate results." Early elections, currently slated for 2021, is one demand Ortega has steadfastly refused to contemplate. A previous round of peace talks broke down in June over his refusal to countenance such a move. "Now is the time for swift, just solutions and proof of good faith," said Palladino. "Nicaraguans deserve to have a government that listens to their voices and respects their human rights and fundamental freedoms." - Brutal crackdown - Talks between the two sides began on February 27 but were suspended for three days last week until the government gave in to an opposition demand to release prisoners. Around 50 prisoners were released to house arrest Thursday on top of 100 released under the same conditions on the day talks began. More than 700 people were arrested between April and October last year during protests that also left 325 dead after a brutal crack down by security services. The government acknowledges 199 deaths but says most of those were members and supporters of the security services. The protests initially erupted in opposition to a since scrapped pension reform before morphing into general dissatisfaction with Ortega's 12-year rule. The former left-wing guerrilla leader and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo have been accused of rights abuses and authoritarian rule. Two members of the opposition alliance were detained on Saturday, but all those arrested were released a few hours later following mediation from Vatican envoy Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag. The government said the opposition's participation in a demonstration was "inconceivable, contradictory and unusual," describing it as "a provocation and disturbance of public order." Managua disputes the opposition's figures for detained political prisoners and has ordered a report by the penitentiary system on the number of such detainees. Wonder Caves: Ideal Spot for Hikers and Cave Explorers A Communications team member of the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC], Dela Edem, has described President Akufo-Addo and his government as incompetent even in telling lies. Speaking on UTVs late news, the NDC Communicator counselled the ruling party NPP to cease accusing the previous administration of bequeathing them (NDC) with huge debts to pay "as if they (NPP) have never borrowed whiles in government. The NPP under President Akufo-Addo should stop blaming us for leaving behind mountains of debt for them to pay . . . In any case, they knew all these through the periodic thesis of their present Vice-President before they promised to make Ghana better than it was, when voted into power, he said. According to him, he is highly disappointed in the President for stating he is upset and anxious about the cedi depreciation when his (President's) job is to fix it and not to complain. Its just like a father telling his children that he is upset and anxious because they are hungry, when it is his duty to provide them with food, he illustrated. Dela Edem cited that Vice-President Mahamadu Bawumia has now become an albatross around the neck of NPP because his uptitude in government does not match his comments made some years ago. Mahamadu Bawumia claimed every government that borrows for development projects is not a suitable government as if they will never borrow when in government. What do we see today, they have already borrowed 53.6 billion Ghana cedis in 2 years whiles the NDC in 4years borrowed 40.1 billion Ghana cedis for developmental projects that every citizen can testify to because they (projects) are visible, he said. Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, has expressed worry about the poor security of Parliament. He says though the house is accessible to the public, it poses a lot of security risk to Members of Parliament. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that unlike other parliaments across the world where they share their premises alone, Ghana's parliament shares its premises with the department of State Protocol, it makes parliament more accessible to the public and thus endanger the life of parliamentarians. "You have various activities taking place even during working hours of parliament, though there is security parliament will have to work to improve the security of members," he said. "We started discussing the security situation with successive Presidents but we were unsuccessful, however, we have started discussions with the President, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. "The situation is very worrying but discussions are underway to have the security improved in order to safe guard the security of our parliamentarians," he added. He said the legislature, as an arm of government needs to be protected and secured at all times. "The sub-region admittedly is experiencing some turbulence, and we should be pro-active, hence the discussion to give effect to that security that parliament as an institution wants to provide, first to the Rt. Hon Speaker, Hon. Members, the Staff, guest to the house, and property, he said. Source: Isaac kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Popular Nigerian gay man, Jide Macualay, will be ordained an Anglican Priest in the Church of England in June this year. Jide who left in Nigeria many years ago after his attempt to set up a gay-based Church, House of Rainbow, failed in Nigeria. The 53-year-old shared an invitation card to his ordination on his social media handle and wrote ''It is a delight to share this news, I am to be ordained Anglican Priest in the Church of England in June 2019. Wait on the Lord, be of Good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait I say, on the Lord Psalm 27:14 Source: LIB Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A Vietnamese college student who ranked first in the 2018 International Biology Olympia has revealed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper her ambition and how to maintain a balanced life for more productive study hours. As a biology student of the honors program at the Hanoi University of Science one of Vietnams leading higher-education institutions Nguyen Phuong Thao is known for her shining performance at the International Biology Olympia held in Iran last year. The 19-year-old brought home a gold after she scored 98.13/100, the best result recorded at the competition. When my name was called at the same time with pictures of me and the Vietnamese flag being displayed on the screen, I felt both happy and proud as I was able to do something for my motherland, although it was just a minor contribution, Thao said, referring to the large screen inside the result-announcing hall of the contest. Nguyen Phuong Thao (third from left) poses for a picture with the Vietnamese contingency for the 2018 International Biology Olympia in Iran, in this photo she provided. She has long nurtured a love for biology and said memories about the physical agony from cancer her late grandmother had suffered for five years spurred her on to make greater academic efforts. Its impossible for me to forget it, she said. I thought of her sufferings as a motivation when I felt discouraged and weary. She is learning more about cancer in the hope of finding an effective alternative treatment to cancer. I dont expect to achieve something great to win a Nobel Prize, which is a thing of the future, she said. But studying cancer can at least enable me to help my family and other people. Nguyen Phuong Thao by a table. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre She said the current cancer treatments include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery but several types of cancer such as leukemia are not amenable to the last treatment. She described chemotherapy and radiotherapy metaphorically as a catch-and-run solution in which cancerous cells have evolved, or run a long distance, well before people can contain, or catch them. A new approach I like is immunotherapy, she said. Its like training cells of the immune system to work more effectively and influence cancer-causing cells. Believing this should be a breakthrough in cancer treatment, she has figured out a plan to study it and is hoping to find like-minded people. Thao often arrives at the university in the morning to attend classes and read biological research papers. She may stay in the library or meet a guitar club and do gymnastics during the rest of the day. Nguyen Phuong Thao poses with her potted Mexican snowballs at her dorm room in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre She leads a balanced lifestyle by enjoying music, playing the guitar or watch Facebook newsfeed after every two hours of learning by the table; and taking a walk or do something she likes from 10:00 to 11:00 pm every night. She values self-study and group learning, saying that in the latter members can complement each other for a fruitful discussion. On her learning table at the dormitory are potted dainty cacti and Mexican snow balls, which she intends to be given together with books as birthday gifts to friends and relatives. Growing the plants is very simple. But when it becomes a present, both the giver and recipient are happy, she said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A photo shot in Vietnam showing an ethnic Hmong woman carrying her sons that won the top prize of the prestigious Hamdan International Photography Award (HIPA) is now at the center of a controversy among the global photography community as it appears to be staged. Malaysian photographer Edwin Ong Wee Kee last week won the US$120,000 grand prize at the HIPA with a stunning portrait of the Hmong woman carrying two children, which he claimed to be able to luckily capture during a trip in northeastern Vietnam. On the written congratulations to Ong, the HIPA said his award-winning photo documented an intense humanitarian moment. The feelings of a Vietnamese mother whose speech disorder did not prevent her from feeling hopeful and evoking a sense of strength for her children. But one week after the award winner was named, Ong now faces controversy as his photo appears to be at least a little more planned or posed than being the result of an unexpected and unplanned moment as he described. A behind-the-scenes snap of the international prize-winning picture has revealed that the photograph was apparently staged. The photo, first posted by photographer Ab Rashid, founder of Street Photo BD Magazine, purportedly shows a crowd of photographers gathered around the very mother and children that appear in Ongs shot. Rashid alleges that a number of photos taken during this portrait session would look identical to the one that earned Ong the HIPA prize. Etienne Bossot, a photography teacher and founder of Pics of Asia, a provider of small group photographic tours across Asia and especially Southeast Asia, then re-posted the behind-the-scene photo on the companys website, headlining the post, Are you doing it for photography or for fame? Another classic photo of a photography tour group gathered around one subject, shooting the same image from almost the same angle, he wrote in the post. The woman seems to pose for them, probably a staged model for the photographers who dont want to have to work very hard for their pictures. A crowd of photographers apparently gather around the mother and her children at the same time as Ong in a behind-the-scenes photo uploaded on Pics of Asia. Boring trend Responding to an email from Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Bossot criticized the trend where so many people travel to Vietnam and take close up photos of children and old women. This is something everyone is doing, and so, in the end, we always see the same photos, he underlined. It has been 40 strong years that people come to Asia to take portraits of old ladies, and it becomes boring. According to Bossot, these types of situation are mostly seen with groups of Asian photographers. It is very trendy nowadays for photographers to travel on tours that only stage images, he said. This guarantees that the guests go home with pretty images that they can submit to competitions. Most of them only want to feel pride by winning competitions. They are not interested in creativity, originality or telling the stories of the people they meet. They want pretty pictures for themselves, Bossot criticized. Not only international photographers like Bossot, insiders and experts in Vietnams photography industry have also taken to the Internet to express their disapproval and disappointment about the issue. Edwin Ong Wee Kee and his controversial photo are like fuel added to the fire of the long-discussed controversy among professional photographers and photography enthusiasts over staged pictures being awarded big money. However, it should be noted that Edwin Ong Wee Kees photo may not be deemed violation of the HIPA, given the fact that it is an international photography award, not a press photo contest, which often requires submissions of unplanned moment. Founded in 2011, HIPA boasts the largest monetary prize among photography awards in the world. When contacted by Malaysian online newspaper The Star, Ong refuted Bossot's claims that the winning photo was staged and said that the photo was taken spontaneously. Ong said, "In this trip to Vietnam, we [the photographers] went to the rice field and there was a mother [who had her children with her] that passed by. "We then asked her whether we could take her photo of which she willingly sat down and allowed us to take her photo. "We never told her to stand up or sit down. Even after taking photos, she was still there and didn't move until we left," he said. Ong also said that he submitted both the raw and edited files of the winning photo for the competition. "This is a very big competition where they [the judges] look at the original and edited photos. Only then a prize is given." Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Eight teams from Asia, Europe and South America promise to show their best colors at the 2019 Da Nang International Fireworks Festival (DIFF 2019), to be held in the namesake city in central Vietnam this summer. Running from June to July, DIFF 2019 is the tenth edition of the competition held annually in Da Nang since 2008. At a press conference on Tuesday, the Da Nang administration announced that this years competition would last for a month and promised to give spectators a more dazzling display with larger LED screens and more advanced techniques as well as visual effects. DIFF 2019 will kick off with Vietnam competing against Russia, followed by the Brazil - Belgium show on June 8. Last years champions Italy will face Finland on June 15, and the preliminary round will end with England competing against China on June 22. The best two teams from the preliminary round will face off for the title of DIFF 2019 champions in the finale on July 7. Le Trung Chinh, vice chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang, announces the hosting of the 2019 Da Nang International Fireworks Festival at a press conference on March 19, 2019. Photo: Tan Luc / Tuoi Tre The main theme of this five-night festival is called Stories by the Rivers, during which many stories about the cultural history as well as the flow that connects all senses of life will be conveyed through spectacular fireworks performances in music of each team. Le Trung Chinh, director of Da Nang International Fireworks Festival, said he expects DIFF 2019 to maintain the success of previous years festivals. Chinh, who is also vice chairman of the Da Nang administration, hoped the festival would help Da Nang remain one of the most attractive tourist and festive destinations in Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! "The PM says he wants the truth. Well, here are some facts." @hamishnews responds to the PM. #TheProjectTV *Correction: The first report was in 2011, the Shadow Cabinet meeting was in 2010. pic.twitter.com/r49JRKApK4 The Project (@theprojecttv) March 20, 2019 Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled plans to appear on The Project on Monday after hearing Waleed Alys editorial last Friday on events in NZ. Calling Alys comments defamatory, Morrison denies he ever urged his party to exploit concerns about Muslims in Australia for votes in a 2010 shadow cabinet meeting. The claims were first reported by journalist Lenore Taylor in the Sydney Morning Herald. With Aly in NZ interviewing PM Jacinda Ardern, it was left to Hamish Macdonald to respond on his behalf. We offered Mr Morrison the opportunity to respond live on this desk when he was due to appear on this program on Monday, Macdonald said. Not only did he decline but his media team pulled him out of the scheduled appearance altogether. Obviously, two months out from an election, this is being dragged into an ugly political fight. Macdonald said journalist Lenore Taylor stood by her original story and the programme has an open invitation for Morrison to appear. 10 has been contacted for comment. Private cars are the result of a society built upon individualism. Consumerism is almost a religion nowadays and the majority of us are reluctant to share. But, if you think of it, sharing is the most intelligent way to have access to something without having to work excessively to do so. In our modern feverish society, there is almost no time for leisure, but our free time is, in fact, directly proportional to our life quality. More time at home also means better education for our children, which implies a better future society. One area to consider sharing and the environment is electric car sharing. Colorado Politics website notes, "Electric-powered cars do not burn gasoline and have no tailpipes. Theyre far cleaner than their gas counterparts and are getting cleaner every year as utilities transition toward using more renewable energy sources that ultimately power these cars." Electric vehicles versus internal combustion vehicles At present, there are numerous companies working hard to produce both affordable and attractive electric vehicles. Many people may think petrol engines are more efficient than their electric competitors, but data shows that the contrary is actually true. Petrol-engine cars waste almost 80 percent of the energy contained in the fuel they consume, and that happens because of the many heavy parts moving within it in order to convert the vertical movement of pistons into the rotational one needed to make a car move on wheels. On the other hand, electric vehicles waste on average only 20 percent of the energy they consume, meaning that even if you were to produce electricity by burning gasoline, it would still be greener and more efficient than using petrol engines. Increasing fuel costs and developing charging station infrastructure Due to constantly increasing fuel costs, a growing number of people are switching to car sharing services instead of using their private cars, and the charging station infrastructure both in Europe and the UK is growing in order to fulfill the needs of an entire population using electric cars. Many people owning electric vehicles also decided to install a private charger at home in order to be independent, but not everybody possesses a garage and laying an electric cable across the pavement to recharge your private car might be considered illegal. So, what's the future for electric vehicles and car sharing? EV technology is now sufficiently developed to allow us to use it as a main means of transport and we surely need to invest as much as possible in infrastructure to make it a widespread reality. In Canada, Elektrek reports they "offer incentives to encourage more Canadians to buy zero-emission vehicles." But in the UK, the most viable way to use electric vehicles efficiently could probably be by facilitating the creation of a highly efficient electric car and scooter sharing net all over the country and Europe. That would be a great way to employ a large number of people and a big step towards a new technologically advanced and freer society. Yong Suk Lee is leaving the CIA to work for Google. (Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, C-Span, Getty Images) A senior official at the CIAs Korea Mission Center is leaving the agency to work for Google in Asia, according to two sources directly familiar with the matter, marking the second high-ranking employee to leave the division amid high-level talks between U.S. and North Korean officials on denuclearization. Yong Suk Lee, the deputy assistant director of the Korea Mission Center, is highly respected within the Korea-watchers community as well as the intelligence community. Lee is an institution and his departure will be a huge loss, said one former CIA officer familiar with his work. There was no indication Lee was leaving because of any tensions or problems with ongoing negotiations. But the former official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said Lee is the latest in a string of departures from the agency toward technology companies. Yong is excited to move to Singapore to work for Google Asia, said a second person familiar with his new role. Andy Kim, the former director of the center, retired in November and recently joined Stanford University as a visiting scholar. Kim declined an interview request, according to Stanford. John Fleming, a career CIA officer, has taken over as head of the Korea Mission Center, according to the CIA. John Fleming has nearly three decades of CIA experience and shaped the Korea Mission Center working with Andy Kim since its inception in 2017, wrote CIA spokesperson Tim Barrett in an email to Yahoo News. In addition to his years on the North Korea issue, he also worked on CIAs support to previous high-stakes negotiations in other regions. Google declined to comment. Since the CIA established the Korea Mission Center in May 2017 to focus on addressing the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea, it has been supplying frequent intelligence updates to President Trump who has vacillated between fire and fury and love toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the most recent summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Trump left early after negotiations stalled. Story continues North Koreas isolation, geography and lack of internet connectivity has made it one of intelligence communitys most difficult targets. The United States does not have an official diplomatic presence in Pyongyang, making the CIA even more critical in assessing the regimes intentions. Lee, famous at the agency for his bow ties, appeared in public to provide remarks in October 2017 at George Washington Universitys annual Ethos and Profession of Intelligence conference. Lee, the current deputy assistant director of the Korea Mission Center and a top analyst, told the audience that the CIA does not believe Kim is a madman and rather has a clarity of purpose in his behavior. President Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February before a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) The last person who wants conflict in the region is actually Kim Jong Un, said Lee, who has studied North Korea for more than 25 years. The intelligence community has for several years now had to compete with tech giants, which offer significantly higher salaries than the government and the chance to step out of the shadows. Increasingly, private companies are able to compete with the government in satellite imagery analysis and threat intelligence work in ways previously considered impossible due to resource constraints and availability of advanced technology. The former official familiar with Lees departure suggested its possible the departing agency official was eager to work with a former colleague who is already at Google: Deborah Wituski, the former director of analytic resources in the CIAs Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis. Top intelligence officials in recent years have stressed the importance of technology companies working closely with the intelligence community, and allowing a flow of talent between the two sectors. Sue Gordon, the principal deputy director of national intelligence and the person who came up with the idea for In-Q-Tel, the CIAs venture capital arm, has spoken about the topic frequently. Kim, the former head of the center, was often seen on the sidelines of talks with North Korean officials, traveling with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. While the intelligence community is typically further in the background for high-level diplomatic talks, the decision to more openly include them at the table is not unprecedented. As CIA director, George Tenet was deeply engaged in the security side of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during his tenure, for example, according to his account of events in his book, At the Center of the Storm. A second former agency official told Yahoo News that Lees departure was likely a matter of time. Reaching that level of policy involvement is usually an indicator youre about done, the official said. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Highly sophisticated criminal gangs in Asia are making it more difficult for African authorities to combat rhino horn trafficking. Seven Chinese nationals are facing trial in the northern resort town of Hwange, in Zimbabwe. They are charged with money laundering and unlawful possession of rhino horn.They were arrested in December with more than 20 kg of horn pieces worth nearly 1 million US dollars.Acting on a tip-off, police detectives found the rhino horn stashed in a mattress, plastic bags and in boxes at a house in the town of Victoria Falls.TRAFFIC a conservation organisation specialising in wildlife trade issues based in Cambridge, UK says three rhinos are poached every day just in South-Africa, home to nearly 80 percent of African rhinos.Despite a ban since 1977 on the international trade of rhinoceros horn regulated by CITES, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species the illegal trade of rhino horn is booming.But there is tiny glimmer of hope, says Dr Richard Thomas, a spokesman for TRAFFIC, as South Africa announced in February that the number of rhinos killed in 2018 dropped to 769 from 1,028 killed in 2017.We shouldnt be complacent about this, remarks Dr Thomas. One reason that fewer animals were poached last year is presumably the result of there being actually fewer animals to poach. So were far from being out of the woods yet.Asian marketsAsian demand for rhino horn drives the poaching crisis. Vietnam and China are the top consumer markets for the product. However, Dr Thomas says the dynamics of rhino horn trade is changing.One worrying development is that we are seeing more engagement and interest in rhino horn from Chinese consumers with Chinese nationals behind criminal gangs. On the other hand, the demand in Vietnam is beginning to wane, he explains.TRAFFIC uncovered evidence of rhino horn being transformed in South Africa into objects such as beads and bracelets to be smuggled to China. These products make it even harder for customs and other law enforcements agencies in Africa to detect the smuggled rhino horn.In Vietnam, however, consumers tend to use it for different purposes. Wealthy businessmen, according to TRAFFIC, will use rhino horn as a means to cure hangovers, to detoxify and for other unfounded medicinal properties.Really it is a way of showing off their wealth, that they can afford this fabulously expensive product, says Thomas.He says that campaigns to change the behavior of consumers of illegal wildlife products are beginning to show encouraging results.Basically, [it means] persuading people that using rhino horn is not a cool thing to do. There is some indication that it is having an impact in Vietnam but its a long process. Its ingrained in peoples mind and culture. Youre simply not going to get a shift overnight. It will take years, he declares.Sophisticated criminal networksRhino horn trade is a very lucrative business as the horn can fetch up to $60,000 dollars per kilogram.Organised criminal gangs have skillfully exploited this market with highly adaptive criminal networks extending from Asia to Africa.They are extremely well organised. They have sophisticated procurement and distribution method to ensure they get horn from Africa to Asia," says Dr Thomas. The other major factor is that wildlife crime is often perceived as a high reward/low risk crime. If they are caught, they may get a small slap on the wrist.According to TRAFFIC, the organised criminal gangs are directed by kingpins based in Asia with African nationals carrying out local operations such as poaching.More effective measuresIn 2018, South Africa allowed local sale of rhino horn in order to better protect its rhino population from poaching.Dr Thomas doubts whether this measure actually worked.Its never been disclosed how much was actually sold domestically but indications show it is not a lot, declares Thomas.He believes that better equipped enforcement agencies to improve patrolling on the ground are among the measures needed to better fight rhino horn poaching.We need to improve the collection of crime scene data, explains Dr Thomas. Forensics have been stepped up. A data base has been established with rhino genetics so that we know where animals are poached.He also believes that the judiciary should be strengthened. Money laundering is a downstream activity of the trafficking because it generates large sums of money.Theres been a big move to follow the money and pursue the criminal elements by looking at financial flows and tracking them down that way, says Dr Thomas. Follow TRAFFIC on Twitter @TRAFFIC_WLTradeFollow Zeenat Hansrod on Twitter @zxnt Highly sophisticated criminal gangs in Asia are making it more difficult for African authorities to combat rhino horn trafficking. Seven Chinese nationals are facing trial in the northern resort town of Hwange, in Zimbabwe. They are charged with money laundering and unlawful possession of rhino horn. They were arrested in December with more than 20 kg of horn pieces worth nearly 1 million US dollars. Acting on a tip-off, police detectives found the rhino horn stashed in a mattress, plastic bags and in boxes at a house in the town of Victoria Falls. TRAFFIC a conservation organisation specialising in wildlife trade issues based in Cambridge, UK says three rhinos are poached every day just in South-Africa, home to nearly 80 percent of African rhinos. Despite a ban since 1977 on the international trade of rhinoceros horn regulated by CITES, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species the illegal trade of rhino horn is booming. But there is tiny glimmer of hope, says Dr Richard Thomas, a spokesman for TRAFFIC, as South Africa announced in February that the number of rhinos killed in 2018 dropped to 769 from 1,028 killed in 2017. We shouldnt be complacent about this, remarks Dr Thomas. One reason that fewer animals were poached last year is presumably the result of there being actually fewer animals to poach. So were far from being out of the woods yet. Asian markets Asian demand for rhino horn drives the poaching crisis. Vietnam and China are the top consumer markets for the product. However, Dr Thomas says the dynamics of rhino horn trade is changing. One worrying development is that we are seeing more engagement and interest in rhino horn from Chinese consumers with Chinese nationals behind criminal gangs. On the other hand, the demand in Vietnam is beginning to wane, he explains. TRAFFIC uncovered evidence of rhino horn being transformed in South Africa into objects such as beads and bracelets to be smuggled to China. These products make it even harder for customs and other law enforcements agencies in Africa to detect the smuggled rhino horn. Story continues In Vietnam, however, consumers tend to use it for different purposes. Wealthy businessmen, according to TRAFFIC, will use rhino horn as a means to cure hangovers, to detoxify and for other unfounded medicinal properties. Really it is a way of showing off their wealth, that they can afford this fabulously expensive product, says Thomas. He says that campaigns to change the behavior of consumers of illegal wildlife products are beginning to show encouraging results. Basically, [it means] persuading people that using rhino horn is not a cool thing to do. There is some indication that it is having an impact in Vietnam but its a long process. Its ingrained in peoples mind and culture. Youre simply not going to get a shift overnight. It will take years, he declares. Sophisticated criminal networks Rhino horn trade is a very lucrative business as the horn can fetch up to $60,000 dollars per kilogram. Organised criminal gangs have skillfully exploited this market with highly adaptive criminal networks extending from Asia to Africa. They are extremely well organised. They have sophisticated procurement and distribution method to ensure they get horn from Africa to Asia," says Dr Thomas. The other major factor is that wildlife crime is often perceived as a high reward/low risk crime. If they are caught, they may get a small slap on the wrist. According to TRAFFIC, the organised criminal gangs are directed by kingpins based in Asia with African nationals carrying out local operations such as poaching. More effective measures In 2018, South Africa allowed local sale of rhino horn in order to better protect its rhino population from poaching. Dr Thomas doubts whether this measure actually worked. Its never been disclosed how much was actually sold domestically but indications show it is not a lot, declares Thomas. He believes that better equipped enforcement agencies to improve patrolling on the ground are among the measures needed to better fight rhino horn poaching. We need to improve the collection of crime scene data, explains Dr Thomas. Forensics have been stepped up. A data base has been established with rhino genetics so that we know where animals are poached. He also believes that the judiciary should be strengthened. Money laundering is a downstream activity of the trafficking because it generates large sums of money. Theres been a big move to follow the money and pursue the criminal elements by looking at financial flows and tracking them down that way, says Dr Thomas. Follow TRAFFIC on Twitter @TRAFFIC_WLTrade Follow Zeenat Hansrod on Twitter @zxnt The Nebraska National Guard was called out to provide additional security along parts of the Elkhorn River after flooding hit the area, the Omaha Police Department said. The floods, which came in the aftermath of a bomb cyclone the previous week, broke records across the state. The impact of the flooding was captured here by Brent Derby on March 19. Credit: Brent Derby via Storyful MILAN (AP) A bus driver in northern Italy abducted 51 children and their school chaperones Wednesday, threatening the hostages' lives for 40 minutes and setting the bus on fire at a Carabinieri blockade. Officers from the national police force broke windows at the back of the bus to reach the passengers and got all of them out without serious injuries before flames destroyed the vehicle, authorities said. The driver was apprehended and treated for burns. Prosecutors described him as a 47-year-old Italian citizen of Senegalese origin and said he told authorities he wanted to vindicate Europe-bound migrants who have died in the Mediterranean Sea but did not plan to hurt anyone. However, prosecutors said the suspect, identified as Ousseynou Sy, made preparations that showed his actions were premediated, such as buying a canister of gasoline and restraints on Tuesday. He also sent a video to friends in Italy and Senegal indicating plans for a bold action and with the message, "Africa, Rise up," they said. Sy was being investigated on suspicion of kidnapping, intention to commit a massacre, arson and resisting law enforcement, with terrorism as an aggravating circumstance since the event caused panic. Prosecutors said they have found no evidence of Islamic radicalization or ties to extremists, saying it appeared the bus driver acted alone. Chief prosecutor Francesco Greco praised the Carabinieri for moving swiftly to block the bus and remove the children. "They carried out an operation that we see in films with special agents," Greco said. "Thank goodness, because by then the intent to massacre had ignited, and the man was starting to set fire to the bus, as he did," he said. Milan's provincial Carabinieri commander, Luca De Marchis, told broadcaster Sky TG24 that the bus was ferrying two middle-school classes between school and a nearby gym in Cremona province, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Milan. Story continues The driver threatened the passengers, telling them "no one would survive today" as he commandeered the bus, De Marchis said. Italian news agency ANSA quoted one of the students as saying the driver everyone's phones and ordered the chaperones to bind the students' hands with cable ties, threatening to spill gas and set the bus ablaze. ANSA said the chaperones only loosely bound several students' hands with the zip ties, not everyone's. One of the middle school students described his terror in an interview with La Repubblica TV, his face obscured due to his age. His name was not given. "We were all very afraid because the driver had emptied the gas canister onto the floor (of the bus.) He tied us up and took all the telephones so we could not call the police," the student said. "One of the telephones, belonging to a classmate, fell to the ground, so I pulled off the handcuffs, hurting myself a bit, and went and picked it up. We called the Carabinieri and the police." Authorities said that an adult called an emergency operator, while one of the students called a parent, and they alerted authorities, who set up roadblocks. The bus was intercepted on the outskirts of Milan by three Carabinieri vehicles, which were able to force it into the guardrail, De Marchis said. "While two officers kept the driver busy he took a lighter and threatened to set fire to the vehicle with a gasoline canister on board the others forced open the back door, breaking two windows," De Marchis said. While the evacuation was still underway, the driver started the blaze. De Marchis credited the officers' "swiftness and courage," for getting out all the children and their teachers "with no tragic consequences." Some of the passengers were treated at a hospital, mostly for cuts and scratches related to the evacuation, he said. Prosecutors confirmed that Sy, who became an Italian citizen in 2004, had been convicted in 2007 and 2011 of drunken driving and sexual molestation of a minor. Sky TG24 said that the driver had worked for the bus company for 15 years without any employment-related issues. "Investigators must clarify how the transport company permitted such a delinquent ... to drive a bus, especially one carrying children," said Riccardo De Corato, a Milan provincial official for security. Video showed firefighters dousing the bus that had been completely gutted by flames, leaving only the charred metal frame. MOSCOW (AP) The eldest daughter of Kazakhstan's outgoing long-time leader was appointed speaker of parliament on Wednesday, fueling speculation that she may succeed her father as president after next year's election. Her appointment comes a day after her father, 78-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev, surprised many by announcing he was resigning after nearly 30 years in office or all of Kazakhstan's time as an independent nation. Nazarbayev said it was time for a new generation to rule. Though Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper chamber of parliament, was officially sworn in as interim president on Wednesday, Nazarbayev will likely continue to wield considerable influence in the oil-rich country as he remains chairman of the security council and leader of the ruling party. The question who will succeed him is, however, still open. Tokayev's suggestion at his swearing-in ceremony that the country's capital Astana be renamed Nursultan to honor the country's first and only president indicates that Nazarbayev will retain an unrivaled position as the national leader even after his resignation. The parliament promptly approved the name change. That was further evidenced in the fact that the Kazakh Senate then voted to appoint Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, as the new speaker, making her the second most senior official in the country. Lawmaker Byrganym Aytimova, in comments on the Tengri News website, credited her for "an impeccable attitude to the law, democratization of our country and access to information." Rumors about the resignation of Nazarbayev, who holds the honorary title of "Leader of the Nation," and a possible plan for succession have been swirling for years. Speculation was rife that the president might be grooming his daughter, who has served as deputy prime minister. Nazarbayev, however, has not indicated that he has a successor in mind. The surprise vote to name 55-year-old Nazarbayeva, who kept a low profile after she left the government in 2016, speaker has led many to believe she is going to be a leading contender in the 2020 presidential election. Story continues Independent Central Asia analyst Arkady Dubnov told The Associated Press that Nazarbayev "is sending everyone a message that his daughter is getting ready to run." The eldest of Nazarbayev's three daughters, Dariga has faced several corruption scandals and a divorce, which is something that may raise eyebrows in traditionally minded Kazakhstan during a presidential campaign. Her father took the helm in Kazakhstan in 1989 when he became the Communist Party chief of what was then a republic of the Soviet Union. He was first elected its president weeks before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union that created a host of successor countries, including Russia and Ukraine. He has been widely praised for maintaining stability and ethnic peace in Kazakhstan. Even though he has faced criticism for sidelining the political opposition and creating what is effectively a one-party state, the political regime that Nazarbayev has built is more liberal than the de-facto dictatorships in neighboring Central Asian countries. Yet, Kazakhstan does not have a genuinely popular opposition movement, and whoever is nominated by the ruling party is likely to win. Analyst Dubnov also suggested that the decision to promote his daughter can be seen as an attempt by Nazarbayev to secure the personal safety and business interests of his family. Changes are already taking place across the central Asian country of Kazakhstan, a day after longtime president Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation.Tuesday's surprise announcement saw the departure of Nazarbayev who has ruled Kazakhstan since before the fall of the Soviet Union.In less than 24 hours since his resignation, changes have already begun to take place.Nazarbayev named 65-year-old Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the man who would take over the remainder of his mandate until presidential elections, due to be held in March 2020.Tokayev was officially sworn in on Wednesday as the new interim president.During the ceremony, the incoming leader asked that parliament honour the former president by renaming the capital Astana to Nursultan, his first name, which means Sultan of Light.The parliament passed the change within hours.Later, the Kazakh Senate voted to appoint Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, as the new speaker of parliament.Figurative headIn a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, the former president lamented having made a difficult decision to resign as president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, after nearly 30 years.But he added that he sees his future task as ensuring the coming to power of a new generation of leaders who will continue the transformations being carried out in the country.The 78-year-old former president will not vanish from the political scene.He will continue to enjoy powers thanks to his constitutional status as Leader of the Nation and lifelong position as chief of the countrys security council. Changes are already taking place across the central Asian country of Kazakhstan, a day after longtime president Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation. Tuesday's surprise announcement saw the departure of Nazarbayev who has ruled Kazakhstan since before the fall of the Soviet Union. In less than 24 hours since his resignation, changes have already begun to take place. Nazarbayev named 65-year-old Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the man who would take over the remainder of his mandate until presidential elections, due to be held in March 2020. Tokayev was officially sworn in on Wednesday as the new interim president. During the ceremony, the incoming leader asked that parliament honour the former president by renaming the capital Astana to Nursultan, his first name, which means Sultan of Light. The parliament passed the change within hours. Later, the Kazakh Senate voted to appoint Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, as the new speaker of parliament. Figurative head In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, the former president lamented having made a difficult decision to resign as president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, after nearly 30 years. But he added that he sees his future task as ensuring the coming to power of a new generation of leaders who will continue the transformations being carried out in the country. The 78-year-old former president will not vanish from the political scene. He will continue to enjoy powers thanks to his constitutional status as Leader of the Nation and lifelong position as chief of the countrys security council. Sonar from navy ships can affect the behaviour of beaked whales from a longer distance than first thought, research has suggested. Professors from St Andrews and Iceland universities found the whales would swim away or go into a deep dive upon hearing the military sounds. Using animal-attached sensors and deep-ocean acoustic listening devices, the whales were also shown to have stopped feeding. Tests were conducted on 12 northern bottlenose whales near Jan Mayen, an island north of Iceland, in an area of the Arctic which still has relatively little noise pollution. Professor Patrick Miller of the University of St Andrews said: All tagged whales stopped feeding, and individuals started swimming away from the exposure site for several hours when a certain sound level was reached, regardless of their proximity to the source up to 28 kilometres away. One of the whales immediately responded by diving to a depth of 1.6 kilometres that lasted 130 minutes, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the longest dive recorded for this species of whale. The data from the listening device indicated a large-scale response by animals in the exposed area. We used a sound source that is smaller than a typical operational naval sonar, so the concern is that the distances at which animals respond in the wild to real navy sonars may be significantly greater. The large research team discovered the creatures consistently reacted at low amplitudes of sonar compared to other cetaceans, regardless of their distance to the sound source. Beaked whales inhabit areas frequently used by navies for sonar training and testing and are the second largest family of cetaceans in terms of the number of species. Beaked whales inhabit areas frequently used for sonar training and testing (Chris Ison/PA) Dr Paul Wensveen from the University of Iceland said: Within the context of what is known about beaked whales, our results suggest that the relative pristineness of the environment might be an important factor in how these sensitive animals respond to sonar sounds. Story continues A lack of frequent or predictable exposures might mean fewer opportunities for the animals to learn that sonar signals pose lower risk when they come from far away. A Royal Navy spokesman said: We will take this research into account when we review our marine life safety checks for underwater tasks. We continue to support other complementary research by Professor Miller into this issue. The new study is published on Wednesday in biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. ASTANA (Reuters) - Kazakhstan took a step closer to a carefully choreographed dynastic succession on Wednesday as the daughter of its long-serving ruler was named to a post that put her in line for the presidency a day after her father stepped down. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only ruler Kazakhstan has known since the Soviet era, resigned as president on Tuesday, automatically making his loyalist parliament speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev president in his place. But Nazarbayev kept other senior decision-making posts. And as his first act in office, new President Tokayev nominated the 78-year-old leader's 55-year-old daughter Dariga as speaker of the senate, meaning she would automatically become president if Tokayev were to leave office before an election next year. Her nomination was then unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Nazarbayev was the last Soviet-era communist boss still in power in a former Soviet state until his decision to step down this week. If his daughter eventually follows him into power, it would be only the second successful dynastic succession in an ex-Soviet state, after Ilham Aliyev followed his father Heydar into power in Azerbaijan. In an inauguration speech, the new president made clear he intended to continue to serve Nazarbayev, who retains posts including those of head of the powerful security council and leader of the ruling party. The capital Astana is to be renamed Nursultan in Nazarbayev's honour, Tokayev said. Nazarbayev's "opinion will have special, one might say priority, importance in developing and making strategic decisions". Tokayev, a 65-year-old career diplomat fluent in Russian, English and Chinese, now has a mandate to serve out the final year of Nazarbayev's term. The more permanent successor is then expected to be the candidate Nazarbayev selects to represent his Nur Otan party in an election in April next year. "The real contest will be fought inside the corridors of power rather in public," said Chris Weafer, senior partner the Moscow-based Macro-Advisory Ltd consultancy. Story continues "The candidate supported by the Nur Otan party and, presumably, endorsed by Nazarbayev, will win the election. There is no realistic possibility for surprise given the political structures in Kazakhstan." Nazarbayev praised Tokayev on Tuesday as "a man who can be trusted to lead Kazakhstan". Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Tokayev on Wednesday, praising his "big personal contribution to the strengthening of the ties of strategic partnership and alliance between our countries". KEY CANDIDATES Nazarbayev has been a close ally of Putin, while also maintaining warm relations with China and successful business ties with Western companies that have helped Kazakhstan exploit huge oil and gas resources, making it one of the most prosperous former Soviet states in terms of output per capita. While his rule has been firm and political opposition all but negligible, Kazakhstan has not faced the same degree of criticism over human rights as neighbours Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, or unrest that plagued Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. But critics say he should have done more to create a stable political system less dependent on the rule of a single man. His daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva has in the past led Kazakhstan's main television station and served as a deputy prime minister, while also devoting time to a passion for opera, which she has performed publicly. She made no mention of the upcoming elections in her brief speech on Wednesday accepting the speaker's post. While her elevation appears to increase the odds she will take over one day, she is not the only potential heir. Another extended family member, Nazarbayev's nephew Samat Abish, is also regarded as a candidate after his meteoric rise through the ranks of state security, where he has held the No. 2 post since 2015. Abish, however, keeps a low public profile. The head of state security, Karim Masimov, although not a family member, is also close to Nazarbayev, having served as chief of staff and twice as prime minister. The present prime minister, Askar Mamin, was Masimov's school classmate. Some analysts believe there could be a collective succession, a troika- or politburo-style arrangement, after Kazakhstan amended its constitution in 2017 to reduce presidential powers in favour of lawmakers and the cabinet. "What we expect to see in coming years and decades is a gradual transformation towards a system that is less reliant on one strong figurehead," said Charles Robertson, global chief economist at Renaissance Capital. But there are doubts whether such a structure would be stable, given recent examples in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan where new leaders moved quickly to eliminate other key players. In any case, major concerns for investors will be uncertainty and a shift from long-term structural reforms towards populist policies, which began last year when the government unexpectedly froze utility tariffs, putting companies' long-term investment plans at risk. Last month, Nazarbayev ordered the cabinet to tap a rainy-day fund for $3.6 billion to boost public sector salaries and social aid payouts, and build homes and infrastructure. "There is obviously pressure on the regime to improve living standards... and to a certain extent they have some resources to do that," said Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist at emerging market investment bank Exotix. (Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Peter Graff, Tom Balmforth and Catherine Evans) United Nations appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment Wednesday that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman will spend the rest of his life behind bars.Karadzic had appealed his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his country's devastating 1992-95 war Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.The former leader is one of the most senior figures tried by the Hague war crimes court. His case is considered as key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left over 100,000 people dead and millions homeless.Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence given what he called the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of Karadzic's crimes.Applause broke out in the public gallery as Joensen passed the new sentence.Families of victims who traveled to the Hague welcomed the verdict. Mothers of victims, some elderly and walking with canes, wept with apparent relief after watching the ruling read on a screen in Srebrenica.Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic was also awaiting an appeal judgment of his genocide and war crimes conviction, which earned him a life sentence.Both men were convicted of genocide for their roles in the slaughter by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnia's eastern Srebrenica region in July 1995.Prosecutors had appealed Karadzic's acquittal on a second count of genocide, which saw Serb forces drive out Muslims and Croats from Serb-controlled villages in a 1992 campaign. Judges on Wednesday rejected that appeal.At an appeals hearing last year, prosecution lawyer Katrina Gustafson told a five-judge panel that Karadzic "abused his immense power to spill the blood of countless victims. Justice requires that he receive the highest possible sentence a life sentence."Karadzic has always argued that the Bosnian Serb campaigns during the war, which included the bloody siege of the capital, Sarajevo, were aimed at defending Serbs.After his indictment by the tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic remained at large for years before he was arrested in Serbia in 2008 disguised as a new-age therapist.(AP) United Nations appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment Wednesday that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Karadzic had appealed his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his country's devastating 1992-95 war Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II. The former leader is one of the most senior figures tried by the Hague war crimes court. His case is considered as key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left over 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence given what he called the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of Karadzic's crimes. Applause broke out in the public gallery as Joensen passed the new sentence. Families of victims who traveled to the Hague welcomed the verdict. Mothers of victims, some elderly and walking with canes, wept with apparent relief after watching the ruling read on a screen in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic was also awaiting an appeal judgment of his genocide and war crimes conviction, which earned him a life sentence. Both men were convicted of genocide for their roles in the slaughter by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnia's eastern Srebrenica region in July 1995. Prosecutors had appealed Karadzic's acquittal on a second count of genocide, which saw Serb forces drive out Muslims and Croats from Serb-controlled villages in a 1992 campaign. Judges on Wednesday rejected that appeal. At an appeals hearing last year, prosecution lawyer Katrina Gustafson told a five-judge panel that Karadzic "abused his immense power to spill the blood of countless victims. Justice requires that he receive the highest possible sentence a life sentence." Story continues Karadzic has always argued that the Bosnian Serb campaigns during the war, which included the bloody siege of the capital, Sarajevo, were aimed at defending Serbs. After his indictment by the tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic remained at large for years before he was arrested in Serbia in 2008 disguised as a new-age therapist. (AP) It is 9am on a chilly March morning. Delegates from across the world have assembled for an emergency meeting of the North Atlantic Council, NATOs main decision-making body. The main item on the agenda: an update from the Supreme Allied Commander Europe on Russian escalations in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, to determine NATOs response. No one doubts the gravity of the situation. Russian forces are moving west to occupy parts of Ukraine beyond the Donbas region and the Crimea. There have also been severe Russian cyber attacks on German infrastructure, while Vladimir Putin has threatened to invade Estonia. NATOs secretary general has asked one of his predecessors, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, to join the meeting and share advice. Do not adjust your set: this meeting took place, but it was a simulation set in a very near future in which the Ukraine has joined NATO and the UK has left the EU. These kinds of exercise are conducted regularly by NATO and national armies to anticipate what might happen in the fog of war. Standing in for the NATO headquarters in Brussels on this occasion was the University of Stirling in central Scotland. The delegates were students on the universitys masters programme in international conflict and cooperation, and the doctorate in diplomacy. Lord Robertson was the only person playing himself. He briefed delegates under Chatham House rules on his time chairing NATO, including the historic decision on September 12, 2001 to invoke collective defensive action under Article 5 of the founding treaty. Immersed in NATOs engine room, our delegates had to strike a balance during two days of negotiations between countries advocating conflict resolution and those inclined to deterrence if not pre-emptive action. As well as informing the students learning, it produced the following insights for the real world. 1. Russian capabilities Delegates had to assess Russian defensive capabilities using real-life data. They concluded that while Russia looks strong on a country-by-country comparison, its armed forces remain stretched and are sometimes poorly equipped. Russia would probably not be able to sustain a war with NATO troops over several months, and would likely be challenged by fighting on two fronts. Story continues Having said that, the countrys forces have recently modernised, making them more effective than a few years ago. Russia is also closer than most NATO powers to Ukraine and the Baltics, so could mobilise more quickly and potentially gain strategic advantages. NATO action in Ukraine would be complicated by a low bridge that Russia has opened connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland. This makes it difficult for larger ships to move between Ukraines Black Sea ports and the Mediterranean. Russian expertise in cyber attacks and creating confusion by spreading fake news could also create disunity among NATO members. Takeaway: the Russian bear is frail but can still bite. 2. Expect complexity Countries in our simulation negotiated according to national interests. The multilateral negotiation splintered into smaller discussions as mini-alliances emerged. For example, Turkey with its improving relations with Russia and exposure to potential refugees was so conciliatory to Moscow that its NATO membership became questionable. On the other side of the spectrum, Ukraine and also Romania, which feels threatened by Russian aggression in the Black Sea region, sought immediate offensive action. Alliances like these werent always visible to the outside world. They complicated negotiations, especially when such countries had essentially non-negotiable aims. Takeaway: things are not always what they seem, even within a negotiation. Try and stay flexible, and dont rely on media reports about counterparts interests. 3. Events, events, events Just like in real life, our delegates had to keep monitoring an internal news feed. In one announcement, Russia began mobilising after hard-line statements from certain NATO members leaked to the media on day one of the negotiation. Several times, discussions had to start from scratch as delegations changed priorities and strategies. Takeaway: constantly ask yourself how events affect your own position and those of your counterparts. 4. Clarity under pressure With full military intervention and occupation of Ukraine by Russia on the cards by the middle of day two, NATO allies had to deploy ground troops or risk ceding ground to Moscow. Issues agonised over the day before became less relevant as delegations were forced to compromise in the interests of collective action. Takeaway: time pressure can make decision-making hot-headed, but can lead to clarity of purpose. Negotiators who understand this can use it to their advantage. 5. EU security As EU members of our fictional North Atlantic Council discussed issues among themselves, we witnessed how the EU has become a geopolitical actor with state-like qualities. Before committing to security actions through NATO, EU members negotiated with each other and sought a coherent position. One important dimension in the real world is the EUs Russia sanctions, which are slightly different to US sanctions. With Ukraine now also party to an EU Association Agreement, the EU is demonstrating its capability to project power abroad. Takeaway: the EU is developing its own geopolitical and security role in Europe, with potential consequences for NATO. 6. The UK squeeze Within NATO, the UK has generally mediated between the US and usually softer EU positions. Our simulation showed that after Brexit, despite its important role as a nuclear-armed NATO member, the UK will likely feel squeezed between the US and EU. Takeaway: the implications of Brexit for the UK in NATO deserve more attention. 7. Refugee risks In our simulation NATO members closer to Russia, such as Poland and Hungary, were particularly worried that military action in Ukraine would lead to a large number of refugees with potentially serious domestic political consequences. Takeaway: we dont always take enough account of the linkages between military and human security. 8. Take positive decisions When the BBC war-gamed a similar scenario several years ago, the UK got drawn into a nuclear war. Our fictional delegates managed to avoid such awful outcomes by using what deterrent power they had. They combined mobilisation with the offer of talks in such a way that Russia backed off. Despite some hawkish pressure, the situation was mostly defused by dominant countries such as the US as well as conciliatory EU voices. Takeaway: On March 18, on the fifth anniversary of annexation, NATO reiterated its view that Crimea is Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, hostilities continue in Donbas. The apparent stalemate in Ukraine could change overnight not least with the presidential election at the end of March. If so, NATO members will have to make a choice, despite the fact that Ukraine is not currently a member of the alliance. As became clear to our participants, the one thing you cant do in a moment of international crisis is to refuse to act if your interests are at stake. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The Conversation Holger Nehring does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment. Both authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of former British ambassador Francois Gordon and former British military commander Roger Lane in devising the simulation, as well as Lord Robertson of Port Ellen for his kind participation. Megan Dee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment. SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ Wex Inc. (WEX) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $21.3 million. The South Portland, Maine-based company said it had net income of 49 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $2.11 per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.09 per share. The provider of fuel payment processing for fleet vehicles posted revenue of $381.2 million in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $373.5 million. For the year, the company reported profit of $168.3 million, or $3.86 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.49 billion. For the current quarter ending in April, Wex expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.64 to $1.70. The company said it expects revenue in the range of $375 million to $380 million for the fiscal first quarter. Wex expects full-year earnings in the range of $8.80 to $9.20 per share, with revenue ranging from $1.68 billion to $1.72 billion. Wex shares have increased 32 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $184.87, an increase of 16 percent in the last 12 months. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WEX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WEX By Maggie Fick ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The dreams of the two young men soared as high as the Ethiopian Airlines planes they proudly flew. Handsome, cosmopolitan Yared Getachew was to marry another plane captain this year. Studious, serious Ahmednur Mohammed rented his first apartment with his maiden paycheck in February. Their lives, along with 155 others, ended when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 plunged into a field moments after take-off in a still unexplained disaster. Yared, 29, was captain; Ahmednur, 25, his first officer. Yared was a popular and brilliant student who became the airline's youngest ever captain at 27, said his father Getachew Tessema, a retired plastic surgeon and dentist. He spoke to Reuters after a ceremony at the Kenyan embassy in Addis Ababa to honour the 32 Kenyan victims from the crash. Yared's mother was Kenyan, making him a citizen of two nations. "I'm very bitter," 80-year-old Getachew said, sitting hunched with his head in his hand as he reflected on Yared's shattered marriage plans. "At least if he had had a child," he trailed off painfully as friends nodded in understanding. Yared's brother Meno Getachew Tessema, 39, sat next to his father, sometimes putting an arm around him as the ceremony progressed. Yared visited Meno's family in Toronto when the young pilot came to train on flight simulators in Miami twice in the past two years. By the time of the crash, Yared had amassed 8,100 hours of flying experience, the airline said, unusual at his age but no surprise to the family. They remembered him as a committed student who shone at school as a child in his mother's native Kenya and as a teenager in his father's home country Ethiopia. He went straight into Ethiopian Airlines' Aviation Academy after high school. "His dream was to be a pilot," said Meno, a corporate lawyer. "He was diligent, hardworking, he had a consistent work ethic ... he was a rising star of Ethiopian Airlines." Story continues ARCHITECT TURNED PILOT Sitting next to Yared in the cockpit on March 10 was Ahmednur Mohammed. While the pair's professionalism has been lauded, air safety experts fear they - and pilots in a similar crash in Indonesia in October - may not have been sufficiently versed in a new automated anti-stall system in the Boeing 737 MAX series. The middle of three sons of a small business owner, friends from the sleepy eastern city of Dire Dawa remember Ahmednur as unusually driven to study when others would spend afternoons relaxing in the shade, chewing the narcotic leaf qat. He spent five years at college studying his first love - architecture - where he earned the nickname 5-10 for his legendary 17-hour library stints, and received gentle ribbing for the neatness of his room. Even as a student, Ahmednur's skill earned him some small interior design commissions, friends said. But the dutiful son feared he would not be able to make enough money as an architect to help his family, said his father Mohammed Omar, a white-haired 60-year-old in a carefully pressed worn suit. So he switched to aviation school and completed two years of training. After school hours, he would visit a friend whose brother was a pilot and sit in the living room, running through cockpit checklists and motions on the couch, the friend said. He graduated with a commercial pilot's license, the airline said. "He would call me every three days. He would talk about his plans, he said that he was going to help his family," his father told Reuters after Islamic prayers in Ahmednur's memory at a relative's house on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Last Friday, mosques in both the capital and Dire Dawa held prayers for Ahmednur, the family said. After a few months rest, he began working for Ethiopian Airlines, visiting other nations -- Israel, South Africa, Burkina Faso -- and earning his first salary. He adored it, said his brother Menur Mohammed. Ahmednur amassed 350 flying hours and had just started living alone for the first time when the family heard his plane had gone down. "It took us long to believe he was dead," his cousin Imran Mohammed, 30, told Reuters. "He was so excited to live on his own." The family wants the airline or government to build a bridge or a school, something tangible to commemorate Ahmednur: pilot, architect, son. "We want to see something in his name, to remember him," his father said softly. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next. The loss of precious, irreplaceable lives in the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash is sad; it brings a flood of heart-rending human stories to the surface. All of them were tragic, but some stand out more than others. For example, there were three Kenyan women who specialized in the care of children with cancer, Forbes reported. On Sunday, March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after taking off from Addis Abba, killing all 157 people aboard, including the cabin crew. What caused widespread concern was that previously another deadly crash involving another airline. The Lion Air crash occurred five months ago off the Indonesian sea, killing all 189 people on that plane. The two tragedies resulted in the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes globally. Maneuvering characteristics augmenting (MCA) system Investigating the similarities between the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, aviation experts suspect that the newly designed MCA System may be responsible for the two tragedies. Boeing had introduced the new system to its 737 Max 8 and 737 Max 9 fleet which, in 2017, were the newest planes in the aircraft maker's stock. In fact, the MCA system (a suite of software) was expected to increase the safety of the 737 Max 8 and 9 jets, but there is every possibility that the software has been compromised. The pilot of the Lion Air plane had complained of receiving faulty readings from the plane's sensors in its last four flights before the unfortunate crash. CBS notes that the MCA System is an automated anti-stall software. It automatically points the nose of the plane downwards when it notices that the aircraft is experiencing stalling or could lose its lift. Discuss this news on Eunomia It is believed that the two pilots in the crashed planes might have struggled to retain the control of their aircraft from the overbearing MCA System, but they had ultimately failed to achieve that. The human side of the tragedy It is sometimes necessary that we explore the human side of tragedies if we really want to prevent them from occurring every now and then. The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 had, unfortunately, claimed the lives of people that would remain irreplaceable to their families, nations, friends, and colleagues. These include: Pius Adesanmi: A prolific Nigerian-Canadian columnist, social commentator, and a professor of English at the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada, who strongly believed in using his skills to make the world a better place. A prolific Nigerian-Canadian columnist, social commentator, and a professor of English at the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada, who strongly believed in using his skills to make the world a better place. Melvin and Bennett Riffel: Two American brothers from Redding, California, heading to Nairobi on vacation. Two American brothers from Redding, California, heading to Nairobi on vacation. Sam Pegram: A 25-year-old British man working for the Norwegian Refugee Council. A 25-year-old British man working for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Shikha Garg: A United Nations consultant from India. A United Nations consultant from India. Jayne Kamau, Bella Jaboma, and Dr. Grace Kariuki: Three Kenyan women who specialized in the care of children with cancer Plus there are still another 149 victims with their unfortunate stories. The bottom line If we are aware of the irreparable impacts our actions could have on people, maybe we could approach things with more caution. We could desist from releasing dangerous vaccines, medications, software, devices, and other sensitive products that aren't ready for commercialization yet. Maybe we would make every effort to avoid endangering the lives of others in a circumstance or situation that is practically preventable. Fixing whatever bugs in the MCA System and training pilots on how to handle such emergencies before now could have saved souls that shouldn't have been lost in the first place. 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 Seguin, TX (78155) Today Mostly cloudy and windy in the morning becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 60F. Winds NNE at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Clear skies. Low near 35F. Winds light and variable. The Brexit mess threatens to get even worse. By James DiGeorgia Prime Minister Theresa May informed House of Commons that she had requested the European Union (EU) to grant an extension to the Brexit deadline till June 30. This increases the chances the United Kingdom could either crash out of the European Union or come to the decision to stay in and hold another vote, this time a binding vote to whether Brexit should take place. European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker received Mays request by letter just before May announced her request for the three-month delay to Brexit. Some pro- European Union-United Kingdom ministers want a longer delay, fearing that when June arrives their country will just face a new cliff-edge. Juncker has suggested extending the deadline for Brexit to May 23, a deadline that reflects the European Commissions position as guardian of the European Union treaties in strictest legal terms of all the European Union governing bodies. The European Union President holds the opinion that any country still in the block at the time of European elections held this coming May 23-26 would be in breach of European Union law. This refers to the United Kingdom. Prime Minister May believes that the EU will grant the delay to June 30. May believes the EU governments that make up the Union will decide whether to allow her request. Their decision to do so or deny the request will be based on the political implications, rather than a straight forward legal decision. However, U.K. political analysts warn that the European Union could decide to play hardball and insist on the May 23 deadline. Special: Imagine an options trading service that has delivered over 4,872% in winning trade recommendations over 11 years. That's 442% a year in winning trade recommendations. Check it out! Just $49 for the first 60 days! May will be attending an European Union summit on March 21 and hopes to pave the way to her requested extension but with the Brexit chaos taking place in the U.K May could be facing opposition on all sides. Pro-Brexit and pro-EU flanks her Conservative Party, from the Northern Irish party that props up her government and from most of the opposition Labour Party, which wants to keep close trading ties to the EU to protect jobs and their countrys economy. Meanwhile, the main objection to Mays proposed Brexit deal is from Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party. Her political adversaries want guarantees it includes a physical border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the EU. Critics say this so-called backstop provision risks binding the U.K. to EU rules forever and could force the U.K. to hold another vote on whether Brexit should take place, given all the challenges and risk. Right now U.K. political observers do not believe theres a majority in Parliament in favor of a second and binding referendum. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a determined political foe of Prime Minister May and her coalition favor of a second and binding referendum, but with caveats. May, however, insists that a second referendum would undermine U.K citizens faith in democracy and only further tear their country apart. In any case, its not clear what the result would be. Polls indicate that support among voters is now more strongly in favor of remaining in the EU than leaving. Before the last referendum the polls suggested that the majority wanted to stay in the EU but when the votes were counted, 52% of those who voted, were in favor of Brexit. China has proposed spending hundreds of billions of dollars on U.S. products, agriculture, technology, and services to offset the U.S. Chinese trade deficit. By dangling the possibility of excluding Boeings 737 Max from their shopping list, the Chinese are creating another important trade bartering chip that will allow them to bring the trade war to an end. By James DiGeorgia The grounding of Boeings 737 Max around the world is a stealth gift to the Chinese. The 737 Max is a technological marvel that legitimately has both a software and pilot training issue. The grounding of these jets has prompted the Chinese to leak the possibility that they intend to remove Boeing companys troubled 737 Max Jets from a list of American exports it would buy as part of a trade deal to end its ongoing trade war with the United States. According to numerous press reports, these 737 Jets were on a draft list of American products China would buy to reduce its pare its $300-billion-plus annual goods trade surplus with the U.S. over the next six years. Because these Jets are such big-ticket items, the acquisition of these Jets was likely to be a key component of any commitment by China to buy more American goods, along with soybeans, meat, and natural gas. We at Wall Street Rebel believe the Chinese will make the most of the possibility of walking away from buying Boeings 737 Max Jets and for that will feint retreat on earlier trade concessions to force President Trump to accept a settlement of his trade war. The truth is with the right training, and a software Boeings 737 Max Jets are safe and reliable. Chinese airlines already make up 20% of 737 Max deliveries worldwide through January 2019, according to Boeings press releases. The Boeing 737, first entered service in the late 1960s and is the aviation industrys best-selling model, and Boeings top revenue and profit center. The new 737 Max models have taken over 5,000 orders, representing more than $600 billion in Boeing sales; including those that have already been delivered. The Boeing 737 Max competes with rival Airbus SEs A320neo family for sales around the world. By threatening to stop buying the Boeing aircraft China is playing hardball. No other country is a bigger buyer of aircraft. China is estimated to buy 7,690 new jets worth $1.2 trillion in the 20 years through 2037, according to Boeings latest forecast. The prospect of an official announcement that they will not be buying these Boeing Aircraft is more than President Trump can handle given all the problems he is facing as he begins his campaign for re-election. The Chinese will end up buying these aircraft, but by doing so, theyll get a much better trade deal from President Trump. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. 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29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on March 20, 2019 2019/03/21 Q: Yesterday President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan resigned. As a close neighbor of Kazakhstan, how does China see this news? Will this affect China-Kazakhstan relations? What is your opinion about Nazarbayev's role in developing the relationship between the two countries? A: President Nazarbayev, founder of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a state leader highly esteemed and deeply loved by his fellow countrymen. China understands his decision. Since diplomatic ties were established between China and Kazakhstan 27 years ago, President Nazaybayev has dedicated himself to nurturing the friendship between the two countries and promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership. He has supported and actively participated in the Belt and Road cooperation. China highly commends what he has done. President Tokayev who has just sworn in is an old friend and good friend that the Chinese people are familiar with. China hopes and believes that Kazakhstan will continue to make new achievements in its national development. As a friend, China wishes Kazakhstan greater prosperity. As neighbors, China and Kazakhstan are important to each other. Our bilateral relations are delivering high-quality performance. Deepening the all-round cooperation serves the common interests of both countries and is the consensus of people from all walks of life. China has every confidence in the prospects of our relationship and cooperation. Q: Do you have any information on when US-China trade talks will start next week? A: I would like to refer you to the Ministry of Commerce for this question. What I can tell you is that the recent consultations between the economic and trade teams of China and the US have made substantive progress. We believe that the two teams will follow the instructions of the two heads of state and reach a mutually beneficial agreement on the basis of mutual respect. Q: US Assistant Secretary of State Poblete said on March 19 that China and Russia are stepping up efforts to develop ground-launch anti-satellite weapons, which raises the risk of conflict in space and makes it's hard to believe that the two countries are serious about preventing an arms race in outer space. How could you comment this? A: Outer space belongs to all mankind and it is the shared responsibility of the international community to uphold outer space security. China has remained committed to the peaceful use of outer space and advocated the prevention of placement of weapons and an arms race in outer space. We have been promoting the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT) along with Russia at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva over the years. china has never participated and will never participate in any form of arms race in outer space, and this position remains unchanged. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the US has described outer space as a new war-fighting domain and established the Space Command. It is building a space force and planning to deploy laser weapons in outer space. It's so evident who is exacerbating the risk of weaponizing the outer space, turning it into a battlefield and posing threats to outer space security. While going ahead with its military buildup in outer space, the US is cooking up the so-called threat from China and Russia in outer space, trying to seek pretexts to pursue unilateral military advantage and develop advanced weapons. The false accusations against China by the US are entirely untenable and China will not accept them. If the US side truly cares about the security of outer space, it should work with China and Russia and actively participate in the arms control process of outer space instead of doing the opposite. Q: Regarding the resignation of Kazakhstan's president, does China fear that other leaders in this country could affect the bilateral and economic ties between the two countries, especially when it concerns the Belt and Road Initiative? A: As I said earlier, China highly commends President Nazaybayev's efforts to promote our comprehensive strategic partnership. The newly sworn-in President Tokayev is an old friend and good friend of the Chinese people. China hopes and believes that Kazakhstan will continue to make new achievements in its national development. As a friend, China wishes Kazakhstan greater prosperity. Our bilateral relations are delivering high-level performance. Kazakhstan is a staunch supporter and active participant in the Belt and Road Initiative. Bilateral cooperation under this framework has yielded fruitful results. We have every confidence in the prospects of our relationship and cooperation, including the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Q: We noted that some Western countries have voiced misgivings about China-Africa cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. For instance, some argue that China is investing in Djibouti under the BRI to expand its global influence and that such practices will harm the economy of Djibouti. Some claim that the Mombasa-Nairobi railway built with Chinese investment in Kenya will incur debt burdens to the country. How would you respond to these opinions? A: When answering a similar question on Monday, I stated clearly that such accusations are based on anything but facts and will find no audience at all in Africa. It is the African people who are in the best position to judge the effects of cooperation projects between China and Africa. Since you mentioned Djibouti and Kenya, I would like to share some latest information on these two countries. According to recent reports, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Djibouti, said he was satisfied with the progress of strategic partnership with China, and appreciated China's long-term friendly help. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said that in recent years, Kenya and China share an even closer relationship, with tighter cooperation across a whole range of areas from industry to infrastructure. The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, one of the region's most ambitious infrastructure projects, has brought enormous changes to Kenyan people's lives. China appreciates such fair judgments by the leaders of Djibouti, Kenya and many other countries and people of insight in Africa. As an old Chinese saying goes, "When there's no trouble, some worry about troubles of their own imagining." Some people seem to be worrying sick about China-Africa cooperation. Won't they get exhausted? Let me stress again, whatever these people may say or think, the deep mutual trust, time-tested solid friendship and fruitful cooperation between China and Africa are simply plain facts. Guided by the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests, China will continue to enhance practical cooperation with Africa in various fields under the BRI and earnestly advance implementation of the outcomes reached at the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit and the consensus of our leaders, to move forward the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. We hope more countries will truly care for Africa, attach importance and increase input to this continent, and join hands with China to contribute to its peace, stability, development and prosperity. When you think of the character traits of Jesus, what word or words come to mind? Two words describing Jesus character came to me as I read our Gospel lesson for today. See what words come to your mind as I read from Luke 13:31-35 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. He said to them, Go and tell that fox for me, Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when Downtown Sonoma, once the birthplace of the California flag that marked the state's independence from Mexican rule, lures visitors with the charm of its heritage along with all the modern trappings of Wine Country life. Go for the wine tastings, quirky speciality shops and restaurants du jour. Where to Taste Wine (and a Little Beer) in Downtown Sonoma See on Instagram Three Sticks The Vallejo-Castanada adobethe longest-occupied residence remaining from California's Mexican Period (1822-1846)got the magic treatment from San Francisco interior designer Ken Fulk, who transformed the historic interior into an enchanting space for tasting Three Sticks' primo chardonnay and pinot noir, sourced from some of the top vineyards in Sonoma County. // 143 West Spain St., threestickswines.com Abbot's Passage Supply Co. The brainchild of Katie Bundschu, sixth-generation vintner of Sonoma's iconic Gundlach Bundschu family, the cozy Abbot's Passage is a wine tasting room up top and a boutique shop on the bottom. Sip distinctive field blends and then browse apparel, decor, adventure gear, and jewelry. They also offer unique workshops from time-to-time; learn how to shuck oysters or re-wax worn out travel accessories before your next backpacking trip. // 27 East Napa St., abbotspassage.com Sojourn Cellars Want a taste of the best pinot noir in all of California? Wine Spectator awarded Sojourn Cellars' 2014 Gap's Crown Vineyard Pinot Noir top honors in 2016. It's not too surprising, as Sojourn has a reputation for producing stellar, single vineyard pinots, which can be sipped side-by-side in an intimate tasting (by appointment). They also pour excellent Sonoma County chardonnay and even some Napa cab in a recently renovated, country-chic cottage. // 141 East Napa St., soujourncellars.com Sigh Sonoma Sonoma's only bubbly bar, Sigh feels like a New Year's Eve party all year long. The luxe location off Sonoma Plaza pours local sparkling wines, but the real treat is the chance to try Champagnes and bubblies from around the world. Pair with fancy cheeses and caviar. // 120 West Napa St., sighsonoma.com Kamen Kamen Wines represents the second career of screenwriter/producer Robert Mark Kamen, who brought us The Karate Kid. Back in 1980, Kamen bought property in Sonoma and began to grow mountain cabernet sauvignon, eventually starting his own wine label. The only decoration in his sleek, minimalistic tasting room is a series of quotes from his famous films above the bar. Wax on, wax off, drink up. // 111B East Napa St., kamenwines.com Walt Wines Taste your way through California at Walt, which makes chardonnay and pinot noir sourced from vineyards that span 1,000 miles of California coast, making for a diverse portfolio of wines that showcase the terroir of each region along with their distinct flavor characteristics. Walt is the sister winery to Napa Valley's Hall Wines, but the vibe here is considerably toned down. More fitting for Sonoma, Walt tastings go down in a charming country house where the best seats are on the patio. // 380 First St. West, waltwines.com Corner 103 Named simply for its address, Corner 103, the only African Americanowned winery in Sonoma Valley, strips down the oft-intimidating tasting experience into something more relaxing, fun, and educational. Owner Lloyd Davis, formerly of the much larger Viansa Winery, wanted to do something different, without the crowds. Here you'll find no bar (all tastings are done comfortably seated), and there are no stupid questions. Get a crash course in Wine 101 and opt for the Sonoma Cheese Experience, a pairing of seven wines with six cheeses from nearby Vela Cheese Company. // 103 W. Napa St., corner103.com Pangloss Cellars With 4,000 square feet to work with, Pangloss has a tasting experience to match every mood. Saddle up to the bar for a classic tasting, sip wines with light bites in the cozy lounge, or head to the cellar for a fully immersive 90-minute journey through Pangloss' portfolio. Not too long ago, Pangloss completed a painstaking restoration of their gorgeous, 1902 building featuring the original redwood and stone walls. // 35 East Napa St., panglosscellars.com HopMonk Tavern When you've had enough wine, you can drink all the beer at HopMonk Tavern. The 15-beer tap list includes a mix of HopMonk's own brews, as well as some from the West's top brewhousesLagunitas, Dogfish, and Drake's to name a few. Head there for "hoppy hour" or a nightcap in the massive beer garden complete with a fire pit and live music on Fridays and Saturdays. // 691 Broadway, hopmonk.com Downtown Sonoma's Best Restaurants See on Instagram Oso You'll want to make a reservation at OSO, an intimate alcove that's great for date night. Chef/owner David Bush gets creative with flavor combos in everything from shareable plates (Dungeness crab deviled eggs; mole-braised pork shoulder tacos; steamed mussels in a coconut-tamari and lime broth) to cocktailstry the Abuelita (Han Soju fire whiskey, cold brew coffee, and coco powder). // 9 East Napa St., ososonoma.com Girl & the Fig It's not a proper trip to Sonoma without a meal at this Wine Country institution, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017. The restaurant was a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement and still grows much of its own produce and cures all meats in house. Cal-French plates include plenty of namesake figs: Order the starter of duck liver mousse with fig jam on toasted brioche; chocolate-dipped dried figs for dessert; or a Fig Kiss cocktail (Figcello di Sonoma, St-Germain liqueur, and cranberry). // 110 West Spain St., thegirlandthefig.com El Dorado Kitchen The seafood paella is a local favorite at El Dorado Kitchen, but you can't go wrong with the housemade fettuccine carbonara or the not-so-plain Petaluma chicken served with tasty and seasonal fixin's. Choose to dine inside the historic 1843 adobe or al fresco beneath the fig trees. // 405 First Street West, eldoradosonoma.com The Red Grape The owners of this casual, family-run pizza joint created their recipe for crispy thin crust pies 15 years ago and have been charming foodies ever since. Order up a side of truffled onion rings and then choose from more than 20 offerings including the Four on Four (four cheeses, four meats) and Pears and Gorgonzola, one of 10 purely delightful spins on the tomato-less white pizza. // 529 First Street West, theredgrape.com Sunflower Caffe For a quick bite between tastings, grab a table at the casual Sunflower Caffe, inside the original home of Captain Salvador Vallejo (brother of General Vallejo, Sonoma's founder), who reportedly lost the house in a poker game. Now the old place serves seasonal dishesthink smoked duck or avocado pepper jack sandwichesmade with local ingredients. Whatever you order, we're certain it'll pair well with the farmer-approved Bloody Mary, made with organic beet, tomato, and cucumber juices. Craving something sweet? Look for waffles in fun, rotating flavors like apple pie and bananas foster. // 421 First Street West, sonomasunflower.com Things to Do in Sonoma: Hikes, Cooking Classes, Tours + More See on Instagram For History Buffs Sonoma State Historic Park Today Sonoma is best known for its world-class wines, but the town has a rich history dating back to the early 1800s when it played a pivotal role in California's declaration of freedom from Mexican rule. Get the full story at Sonoma State Historic Park, where admission ($3) gets you access to six historical sites including the Mission San Francisco Solano. // 20 East Spain St., parks.sonoma.net For Foodies Sonoma Food Tour Food makes everything, even history class, better. That's why we love the idea of discovering Sonoma's heritage while hopping around its local eateries, specialty shops, and tasting rooms. Book the Original Sonoma Food, Wine & History Tour ($89) for a delicious three-hour stroll around town. sonomafoodtour.com Ramekins Culinary School Roll up your sleeves and learn how to make anything from hearty Italian risottos to wasabi pancakes to macarons at this beloved local cooking school. They'll even give you a discount on the classes if you book one of the six comfy rooms at the on-site inn. // 450 West Spain St., ramekins.com Figone's Olive Oil Company Olive oil is the new wine at Figone's, where you can taste an array of EVOOs in sundry flavors including white truffle mushroom, sun-dried tomato and blood orange, as well as aged balsamic vinegars. Figone's olive mill is located a bit outside of town, but it's worth the trip for a tour of one of the few mills that opens to the public during crush time. // 483 First St. West, figoneoliveoil.com Vella Cheese Company The Vella family has been making cheese, including their signature high-moisture jack, behind the stone walls of their downtown Sonoma factory since 1931. Sadly they don't do public tours, but you can stop by to sample Italian-style cheeses, cheddars and salami. // 315 Second St. East, vellacheese.com For Weekend Warriors Sonoma Adventures Meet up with Sonoma Adventures for a half- or full-day guided bike tour through Wine Country including stops at wineries, a picnic lunch and, for full-day tourists, a tasting at Vella Cheese Company. You can also rent bikes for a choose-your-own adventure. // sonoma-adventures.com Sonoma Overlook Trail A trip to Sonoma can mean maximum food and wine, and very little exercise. If it's balance you seek, find the trailhead at Mountain Cemetery, just a few blocks from the Plaza, and explore old Native American hunting grounds. The leisurely, three-mile Overlook Trail hike is beloved for its accessibility and panoramic views of Sonoma Valley; look for longer and more rigorous trails at the adjacent Montini Open Space Preserve. // First Street West and Mountain Overlook Trail, overlookmontini.org Sonomas Specialty Shops See on Instagram Sonoma Roadside On your way out of downtown, pull over at Sonoma Roadside, a welcoming collective of businesses. Shop quirky locally crafted gifts (need a bonnet for your cat?), snarky greeting cards, soaps, and preserves at Fat Pilgrim General Store and then head next doorthese stores are connected like Marshalls and Home Goods often areto Harvest Home, the San Francisco design shop known for Wine Countrychic furniture and antiques. // 20820 Broadway (Sonoma), sonomaroadside.com Tiddle E. Winks Vintage 5 & Dime Like a real-life vintage Etsy shop full of fun, classic items that'll add a pop of color, humor, and nostalgia to your home. But don't be fooled by the name. This is still California's Wine Country, where nothing is 10 cents, but your new Crazy Cat Lady dinner tray will be worth every penny. //115 East Napa St., tiddleewinks.com Bram Cookware If the kitchen is your happy place, watch your wallet at Bram, a unique cookware shop that specializes in the age old art of clay cooking. Forget the basic, modern-day crockpot and shop for gorgeously designed, slow-cooking tagines, tians, and brams from all over the world. They not only make great conversation pieces, they'll also give your beans, soups, and rice recipes new life. // 493 First St. West, bramcookware.com Global Heart Fair Trade You can feel good spending your money at Global Heart, which sells fairly traded goodsthink colorful scarves, home decor, and trinketsmade by artisans from all over the world. The vibrant downtown store places a focus on global outreach and awareness too; sales of their handmade cards help victims of sex trafficking and landmines. BYO reusable bag and they'll reward you with a chocolaty treat at checkout. // 423 First St. West, globalheartfairtrade.com The Candlestick California's largest specialty candle store has been making homes smell wicked amazing for more than 60 years. Browse this whimsical shop and stock up on candles of all kinds for every season. // 38 West Spain St. En espanol | With the cost of prescription drugs skyrocketing, at least 20 percent of Americans are making some effort to pay less, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey. The survey, which focused on adults ages 18 to 64 whod been prescribed medication in the preceding year, found that 1 in 5 people had either asked their doctor for lower-cost medication, did not take their medication as prescribed, or used alternative therapies to reduce their drug costs. People who were uninsured were far more likely to use such strategies than those with private insurance or Medicaid: Nearly 40 percent of uninsured adults reported having asked their doctors about less expensive drug options, compared to 18 percent with private health insurance and 15 percent of those covered by Medicaid. And women (22 percent) were more likely than men (16.4 percent) to ask their doctors about cheaper medications. Beto ORourke jumped into the U.S. presidential campaign last week, releasing a video alongside his wife, Amy. The video, with the ORourkes seated on a couch inside their El Paso, Texas home, was a little over three minutes with Beto doing all the talking. At this moment of maximum peril and maximum potential lets show ourselves and those who will succeed us in this great country just who we are and what we can do, ORourke said. The video was lampooned by late night comedians and President Donald Trump for Betos aggressive and frequent use of hand and arm gestures. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democratic Senator, piled on, telling NBC News moderator Chuck Todd, she differed with ORourkes declaration that he was born to run. ORourke, 46, gave up his U.S. Congressional seat to campaign against U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the 2018 elections. His campaign garnered national attention and 48 percent of the vote against Cruz, a Republican, who had previously sought the Republican partys nomination for President. This is a defining moment of truth for this country and every single one of us, ORourke said in his campaign announcement video. The inter-connected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate have never been greater and they will either consume us or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America. Meanwhile, Trump welcomed Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Varadkar, a gay man, said his story is possible because Ireland is a country where freedom and liberty are cherished. Varadkar and his domestic partner, Matthew Barrett, were hosted by Vice President Mike Pence at the Naval Observatory. We are all Gods children, Varadkar remarked. Elsewhere, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (pronouncedBuddha Judge) announced he had reached the threshold of 65,000 donors required to be invited to the Democratic party debates. Buttigieg, 37, is a Harvard educated, Naval reservist and former food analyst for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. On March 13, Buttigieg released the following statement concerning the Equality Act, a legislative effort to provide federal protections for LGBT Americans in matters of housing, employment and public accommodations: "Fifty years ago, courageous gay and transgender people stood up at Stonewall for the right to be recognized as equal Americans. It's time to finally implement a federal Equality Act that extends civil rights protections to all Americans, regardless of their gender identity and sexual orientation. This bill is commonsense, bipartisan, and will ensure that LGBTQ+ Americans in the thirty states like Indiana where discrimination is effectively legal will have the same rights and protections as the rest of America. In this country, you should not be discriminated against because of who you are or who you love, Buttigieg said. There are now more than 15 major Democratic candidates campaigning for Presidential consideration. Former Vice President Joe Biden is also teasing a third run. The Democratic party announced last week that Milwaukee, Wisconsin would host its 2020 convention. LGBT Field Notes Ron Gunzburger ended his role with the Broward Sheriffs Office last week. Gunzburger served as general counsel to former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel. He has accepted an offer to work full-time as senior advisor to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. Some have urged Hogan to challenge Donald Trump in the Republican primary. Gunzburger posted on Facebook that he and his spouse Dana have purchased a home in Annapolis, Md. My time at BSO was an incredible ride and I truly enjoyed it and the amazing people I worked with. I am fortunate to leave BSO with high hopes, in great spirit, and with very much gratefulness in my heart for having had this opportunity. To those I served with: I will always be appreciative of your friendship and support. You will always have a fond place in my thoughts ... and may your best days always be ahead, Gunzburger posted March 15. iStock/Getty Images Plus En espanol | Felicia Mullaney remembers trying to help the widow of a veteran who had died at a young age of cancer. The widow was attempting to claim a state property tax break that was designed to help veterans and their survivors, but there was a problem. To qualify, she needed proof that her husband had been totally disabled, but her husband had never applied to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for a total disability rating before he died. As a result, the widow could not get the benefit. Were seeing a lot of people not aware of what they need to do to claim benefits, says Mullaney, director of veteran benefits for Vietnam Veterans of America. Its a pretty common problem. Jim Marszalek, national service director for Disabled American Veterans, is familiar with the problem. He says that even though the VA conducts classes for service members before they leave the military to acquaint them with benefits, many service members are focused on immediate concerns, not on benefits that might help them and their families in the future. When you get out, its stressful. You want to look for a job and move on, he says. Plus, Marszalek says, many benefits hinge on having a condition that the VA labels a disability, and theres a stigma associated with disability. Such feelings, combined with the complicated rules involved in qualifying for benefit programs, often mean that survivors of veterans end up like the widow whom Mullaney was trying to help, missing out on benefits they deserve, experts say. Some of the most important benefits that survivors should explore include: Compensation for survivors Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is one of the most valuable benefits available to veterans survivors. People who meet the criteria for DIC can get tens of thousands of dollars a year in tax-free payments. DIC payment rates are adjusted annually. In 2022, surviving spouses of veterans who have died since Jan. 1, 1993 will receive about $1,440 a month, with supplementary payments possible if the veteran was disabled or if the spouse is disabled or caring for minor children. (The VA uses a different scale for veterans who died before 1993, with DIC rates ranging from about $1,440 to $3,290, plus supplements, depending on the deceaseds pay grade.) Dependent children may also qualify for DIC payments, and some parents of deceased veterans can get benefits if their income is low. DIC payments are not automatic and not everyone is eligible. Survivors must apply for the benefit, and the sooner they do it, the better. If they apply more than 12 months after the service members death, payments are retroactive only to the date they applied, not the date the veteran died. In most cases, surviving spouses lose eligibility if they remarry. The program is designed to compensate survivors when service members die during their service, or as a result of a service-connected disability. It also compensates survivors in cases where veterans die from a cause unrelated to their service but were rated by the VA as being totally disabled from a service-connected disability for a certain amount of time immediately before their death. Experts cite the program as one of the reasons veterans should apply for total disability ratings as soon as they are eligible. If you dont have permanent and total, try to get it, says Mullaney. Dont wait until you think you are dying. Health care Another valuable benefit available to eligible survivors is comprehensive health coverage from the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). Under this program, the VA shares the cost of most health care services and medical supplies that it considers necessary for eligible surviving spouses and children. In most cases, eligibility for the coverage depends on the degree of a veterans service-connected disability. Comprehensive health coverage is also available under the VAs Spina Bifida Health Care Benefits Program to children of Vietnam veterans and certain Korean War veterans who have been diagnosed with spina bifida. More limited health coverage is available in specific situations. For example, service members spouses and children who lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between August 1953 and the end of 1987 can get reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket health care costs because of contaminated drinking water there. The benefit applies to treatment of 15 specific illnesses and medical conditions, including several forms of cancer, infertility and miscarriage. Another targeted health benefit applies to children with certain birth defects other than spina bifida who were born to female Vietnam veterans. The Children of Women Vietnam Veterans Health Care Benefits Program (CWVV) covers services necessary for treatment of the covered birth defect and associated medical conditions. En espanol | Throwing a frisbee, casting a fishing line or running a marathon can seem like harmless, healthy fun. But physical activity could lead to headaches if youre applying for Social Security disability benefits and your activity shows up on Facebook or Instagram. It could also lead to denial of disability benefits. Is it fair for the government to comb through your social media? On the other hand, is it fair that youre applying for benefits if you can do these activities? And where does your privacy begin and end as you share your life online? These are all questions the Social Security Administration is weighing, as Acting Social Security Commissioner Nancy A. Berryhill has told Congress in written explanations over the last week. The disclosures were included in the agencys description of its budget request and plans for next year. Facebook and other social media feeds are already reviewed selectively if agency investigators suspect someone is fraudulently collecting benefits and they are looking for corroboration, the agency said in the documents it gave to lawmakers. But the Social Security Administration is still deciding on reviewing applicants social media feeds more regularly or routinely. The agency is evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimants case file, Berryhill said in the submission to Congress. En espanol | Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from AARP Foundation. Employers will no longer be able to use Facebook to show job ads only to younger candidates, the company said Tuesday, announcing it has reached a settlement in several discrimination lawsuits based on which advertisements it shows to whom. The agreement is a victory for older workers, who never might have known that technology was being used to discriminate against them. The social media giant was facing multiple lawsuits alleging that it was permitting advertisers on its website to direct ads only to people who fit certain characteristics, a practice known as microtargeting. For example, if an employer only wanted to hire candidates under age 40, Facebook would only show that job posting to its members whose profiles showed they were in that age range. Jobseekers ages 40 and older would never know the ad existed. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects people ages 40 and older from discrimination in employment. As the internet and platforms like Facebook play an increasing role in connecting us all to information related to economic opportunities, its crucial that microtargeting not be used to exclude groups that already face discrimination, said Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups involved in the lawsuits. We are pleased Facebook has agreed to take meaningful steps to ensure that discriminatory advertising practices are not given new life in the digital era, and we expect other tech companies to follow Facebooks lead. Facebook said it will build a new section on its site for companies that want to advertise for jobs, housing and credit. In this section, companies will be prohibited from targeting ads by age, race, gender or any other legally protected characteristic. Facebook also agreed to permit the ACLU to monitor the site for three years to make sure that it fully implements the changes in the settlement. The investigative journalism website ProPublica, which was instrumental in revealing Facebooks advertising practices, is reporting that the tech company also will pay the plaintiffs $5 million, which largely will be used to pay legal fees. Todays changes mark an important step in our broader effort to prevent discrimination and promote fairness and inclusion on Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, the companys CEO, said about the settlement. But our work is far from over. Were committed to doing more, and we look forward to engaging in serious consultation and work with key civil rights groups, experts and policymakers to help us find the right path forward. Last September, the ACLU and the civil rights law firm Outten & Golden, representing the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and several individual job seekers, filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Facebook and a number of employers, alleging they had unlawfully discriminated based on age. This settlement takes away digital tools that advertisers can use to deny equal opportunity, said Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney at Outten & Golden. We will continue our efforts to hold employers accountable for using Facebooks platform to discriminate. All workers deserve a fair chance to get a good job, said Sara Steffens, secretary-treasurer of CWA. Ending unlawful ad targeting is critical to ensuring equal opportunity in the digital age, says William Rivera, senior vice president of AARP Foundation Litigation. AARP and AARP Foundation will continue to oppose recruiting, hiring, and other practices that discriminate against older adults. Pauline Ngarmpring, a 49 year-old transgender woman, is running for Thai prime minister, three years after she transitioned. Ngarmpring is not expected to be a front runner in the race, according to Openly News, but the LGBT community is hoping her run will help focus attention on the challenges they go through. Ngarmpring hopes her campaign will inspire young women and LGBT people. "Her candidacy is significant because she is challenging the traditional norms of gender and sexuality," Anjana Suvarnanda of the Anjaree Group, an LGBT+ rights organization told Reuters. "While we have had LGBT people in Thai politics before, no one has asserted their LGBT identity in such a public manner, and there has been no public discussion with such a positive approach." Boys basketball: Central wins season opener, Roncalli drops to Deuel Both Aberdeen Central and Roncalli were in action on Friday. See how both teams fared. SANTA FE The family of a young man who was killed in an accident during the construction of a new Santa Fe hospital last year has filed a wrongful death suit against the Albuquerque company contracted to do the electrical work. Aiden McQuillan, 22, died in February 2018 after he was crushed between two large spools of electric wiring at the Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center building site. McQuillan was working for National Electric Supply, which was a supplier to DKD Electric for the project, according to a lawsuit filed in Santa Fe District Court this week. McQuillan was delivering large rolls of copper wire for DKD around 8 a.m. Feb. 8, 2018. The lawsuit says a forklift was used in past deliveries to the site because the wire spools frequently weighed in excess of a ton and were difficult to handle without the assistance of industrial machinery such as a forklift. Once McQuillan got to the site, a supervisor told McQuillan that workers would attempt to lift the spools manually from the flatbed truck instead of using a forklift, the suit says. During the course of unloading, Mr. McQuillan became caught between two large rolls of electric wire crushing him resulting in his death, the lawsuit states. The suit says DKD deviated from well-recognized construction practices and standards while unloading of the copper wires and did not properly train its employees to unload wire spools without injuring themselves or other workers. A woman who answered the phone at DKD Tuesday said the company has no comment and that CEO Dee Dennis III was out of town. The New Mexico Environment Departments Occupational Health and Safety Bureau started an investigation after McQuillan died and eventually cited National Electric Supply $2,000 for a serious violation, according to NMED documents. McQuillans father, Dennis McQuillan is the NMEDs chief scientist. Santa Fe lawyer and New Mexico Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth is Aiden McQuillans personal representative. The family is asking a jury to award punitive damages. SANTA FE Santa Fes STOP program is starting up again. The Santa Fe Traffic Operations Program, or STOP, is the use of unmanned speed vans that take pictures to record traffic data and issue speeding tickets to drivers exceeding the speed limit. The program was discontinued after the city allowed its four-year contract with Redflex to expire in 2014 at a time when the companys vice president was accused of offering bribes to government officials in 12 states. The speed vans actually SUVs werent popular among many city residents either, some believing the automatic cameras were obtrusive and unfair. One nightgown-clad man was famously caught on camera shooting a gun at a van parked alongside Bishops Lodge Road in 2012. But in 2017, the City Council voted 5-4 to bring the program back, citing traffic data that showed an increased number of accidents after the program was discontinued. A request to approve a contract with Verra Mobility Corporation, formerly American Traffic Solutions, made its first stop in the committee process on Tuesday before the citys advisory Public Safety Committee. Verra was the choice of the selection panel over the other bidder Redflex. Asked what set Verra apart, Police Chief Andrew Padilla said Verra offered an option for hand-held devices that officers could use and that officers also could utilize a speed vans cameras to monitor activity in real time from another location. But Padilla said the department would ease into the program using two speed vans that would be parked in areas where speed enforcement is most needed, excluding state roads like St. Francis Drive, St. Michaels Drive and Cerrillos Road. He also said the department would allow for a 90-day grace period during which no citations would be issued. Instead of receiving a ticket in the mail, they would get a warning, he said. According to a memo from Deputy Police Chief Robert Vasquez, the department recommends the city enter into an agreement with Verra that would pay the city $40 for each $100 speeding ticket. Vasquez said the main purpose of the program is to promote safety on our streets by targeting areas shown to be areas of concern, or are subject to reports of speeding and high traffic incidents. In addition, this program allows officers the ability to be utilized in other crimes around the city, including burglaries, crashes, fatalities, and other incidents that might otherwise suffer a delayed response time. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the transition of the Right Reverend Grant Lynn Ford from this experience of life to the next. We will miss our friend, and as he would want, we also rejoice in the knowledge that his journey is not over but continues on another plane. He will undoubtedly keep us in his prayers in realms beyond, and we will remember him in ours. Grant would have been 80 next month. My last moment with him was sacramental. It was on Ash Wednesday when I imposed Glitter Ashes on his brow and performed the Sacramental Rite of Anointing. It was preceded by an hour of chatting and joking, which was always requisite with Grant. Grant occupied multiple sacred spaces: Pentecostal, Sacramental, and New Thought. He blended them with joy and offered his hybrid spirituality freely to all who might benefit. Even in his rehab facility, he was offering prayer and pastoral guidance to the staff even as he tickled them with one liners and mirthful zingers. He continued to be proud of Sunshine Cathedral. He was the pastor of the Cathedral for 22 years and after moving to Northern Florida and then Texas, he returned home to Fort Lauderdale and began his ministry as the Senior Minister Emeritus. As such, he reminded me of successes of the past, celebrated with me the successes of the present, and encouraged me for the road leading ahead. My primary task in this moment is to share with the multitudes who loved Grant that his body no longer houses his essence. Let us grieve each in our own way, but let us in our grieving also remember happy times. Laughter always blessed our dear friend, and will do so still. We wish comfort and strength for Grant's daughter, Terri, and for all his family and friends, near and far. Goodbye, dear one. Rest in peace; Rise in glory. Amen. Rest in Peace Rev. Ford Kevin KonkleHe was the first LGBT minister I ever communicated with... Via a brand new thing called the Internet, many years ago. I was a scared Pentecostal married pastor, finally realizing I was gay. He made a difference for me. Well done. Gail Tapscott His like will not be seen again. He was a great Interfaith colleague and a valued friend. I participated in his big Christmas Eve services at the Broward Center for many years. A giant of ministry for sure. Brendan Y. Boone Oh No. I am so sorry to hear this! Thank you Grant Lynn Ford for being Love and Light to so many of us through the years. May the witness of your life, work and ministry find a way to continue to live through us all. You will be missed! Our loss is certainly heaven's gain! George Rick StoferI don't think Grant really realized how many lives he touched. I certainly was one. I don't think I could have made it through the AIDS Pandemic without his strong and loving guidance. I would say, "Rest in Peace, but I'm sure he is already busy in the next world. Thank you for your pastoral care to all of us who attended the Sunshine Cathedral! Wayne BesenIm sorry to hear this sad news. Grant was an extraordinary pastor. It was my great honor to work with him on a few LGBT advocacy projects. He was always a wise statesman for our community and touched many souls. Ill never forget this amazing man. Noah Kitty He was a tremendous leader, and a blessing to all. May his name be for a blessing. Bill Collins Sad news - he was the staple to our church back in the day. Gosh he will be missed. Peter MengI am terribly saddened by the passing of this loving and caring man of God. He was amazingly inspirational and humorous at the same time. He will be truly missed by all that met him. Celebration of Life Services Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. Sunshine Cathedral 1480 SW 9th Ave. University of New Mexico officials have asked that a petition to form a faculty union be dismissed because, in part, it includes so many different types of professors within the university. It was the first official response from the university to an effort by faculty to form a union at the states flagship university. University officials said the faculty proposed an insufficient community of interest that is full of conflicts of interest and also includes some positions that are excluded from inclusion in a bargaining unit under state laws, UNM Chief Legal Counsel Loretta Martinez wrote in the universitys position, which was filed Monday with UNMs Labor Management Relations Board. An attorney representing the faculty union said the makeup of the proposed union is similar to faculty unions at other universities around the country. Some of UNMs faculty last month moved to create a new bargaining unit, which would be comprised of more than 1,600 full- and part-time faculty on UNMs main campus in Albuquerque as well as its campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos and Los Lunas. It would be the United Academics of the University of New Mexico, according to a website created by organizers. There are significant issues of unit scope and inclusion as presented in the petitioned-for bargaining unit, Martinez wrote in the universitys filing. The university asked the board to order faculty to find supporters from each bargaining unit, such as tenured and non-tenured professors and those who work on main and branch campuses. We believe (the professors) have an appropriate community of interest and the petition is appropriate, said Shane Youtz, an attorney representing the union. We read it pretty clearly as an attempt to delay the process. Martinez or other university officials could not be reached for comment on the universitys position on Tuesday. On Monday, Interim Provost Richard Wood sent a letter to faculty about the unionization effort. The letter didnt say that the university was taking a position to dismiss the facultys position. It does say the university created a web page with documents related to the unionization effort and it welcomed future communication and forums between faculty and university officials. The university has hired the law firm Jackson Lewis to advise the university during the union effort. The contract is for up to $60,000, according to university documents. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal New Mexicos largest school districts are seeing slight upticks in their graduation rates in line with an upward trend the state reported as a whole, according to state Public Education Department data released Tuesday. For instance, Albuquerque Public Schools graduation rate increased to 69.6 percent in 2018, compared with 67.9 percent the previous year. APS noted in a news release that this is the third straight year the districts graduation rate has gone up. However, that rate, which includes district charter schools, lags behind the statewide rate of 73.9 percent, which was a jump from 2017s rate of 71.1 percent. APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy wrote in a statement that shes happy to see APS climb steadily. Our goal, of course, is to see all of our students graduate with the skills and characteristics they need for postsecondary education, careers, and life in an ever-changing world, the statement said. APS 13 traditional high schools had varied shifts in 2018 graduation rates, with six schools improving and five falling. Two remained the same. Rio Rancho Public Schools, which has been consistently ahead of the state average for years, improved further in 2018, with a graduation rate of 85.4 percent up 3.4 percentage points from 2017. RRPS spokeswoman Beth Pendergrass said the district is proud of the growth and will continue to look for ways to improve. Santa Fe Public Schools reported a 4.1 percentage point increase from 68.9 percent in 2017 to 73 percent in 2018, just below the state average. For the first time, the PED reported graduation data for students who are homeless, finding that just 52.5 percent of homeless students statewide graduated. In the spring, the state agency is planning to roll out graduation rates for students who are in foster care. In December, then-Gov. Susana Martinez touted the states 73.9 percent graduation rate for the school year that ended in mid-2018 as an all-time high and pointed to a 10 percentage point jump in the rate since 2011, when she took office. And on Tuesday, newly appointed Secretary of Education Karen Trujillo applauded the teachers, families and students for that success. However, even at 73.9 percent, New Mexico remains significantly below the national average. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the nations graduation rate for the 2016-17 school year was about 85 percent. Trujillo said national comparisons can be tricky, because each state has different requirements. When we are comparing apples to oranges, its kind of difficult to make that direct comparison, she said. Regardless of national numbers, the PEDs aim is to increase graduation rates in New Mexico by making a diploma more appealing and attainable to all students, Trujillo said. She said students as young as 13 years old will be at risk of not graduating if they dont see how graduating from high school will benefit their lives. She aims to change this thought process and pitch graduation as valuable to all students, whether they go to college or into a career. Trujillo said she would like to get the state average to 80 percent in the next four years. Our goal would be a 100, but our goal is to see a steady increase, she said. To do this, she said, the PED will identify strategies that work and encourage districts to adopt them from one another. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel. Its a matter of being able to identify what those best practices are and to have opportunities for the (PED) to be the conduit from one district to another, she said. Although the new secretary of education gave a nod to the previous administration for putting a focus on graduation rates, she also said there were some policies that would have hindered graduation rates, pointing to one that was going to require students to meet a certain benchmark on the PARCC assessment to graduate. Trujillo said the PED will research what will benefit students in setting up new standards. As we look at what the requirements are and as we replace our assessment system we look at students coming out of high school (and ask), what are the skills they need to have? she said, adding that input from colleges and employers will help determine what will be needed to graduate. It never fails. Each year as our legislative sessions come to a close, we read desperate appeals similar to the Journals March 8 editorial, NM needs guardianship reforms across finish line. Year in and year out, too many desperately needed bills fail to make it to the governors desk for signature into law. This isnt surprising considering 500-600 bills are introduced into each chamber annually and our Legislature has only 30-60 days to move these through committee, then conference, before reaching the governors desk. Its fine and good, to a point, to take pride in our quaint and rustic citizens legislature. Unfortunately, the states current problems are anything but quaint and rustic. The breadth and complexity of New Mexicos problems match those of any other state. Embracing our past is a luxury we can no longer afford. New Mexicos limited legislative sessions are a relic that impedes our states rightful ascendancy to prosperity and a hopeful future. No wonder we seem trapped in a cycle of (poor rankings) in child poverty, per capita income, new business investment and percentage population on Medicaid! By keeping legislative sessions short, we are trapping our state senators and representatives in an impossible situation. Its all some sort of sinister and twisted game: Lets see how manic and crazy things can become as we put our legislators through hell in a pressure cooker. I dont know too many legislators who come out of it in one piece and without a bad taste in their mouth for all the important work left undone! Lets extend our legislative sessions to make them commensurate to the tasks at hand, and to make them respectful of the noble ideals of our legislators. If we lengthen legislative sessions to the 6-7 months common to state legislatures nationally, it is only fair that we begin paying legislators a salary. What other professions do you know of that pay only per diem expenses? Would you trust your health to physicians who have never been paid for their work? The health of New Mexico is no less important! Furthermore, paying legislators a salary is ultimately more democratic. Even with our current 30- or 60-day sessions, many highly capable citizens cannot afford to leave their jobs and hold office. How can the very wealthiest among us be counted on to re-build our middle class and bridge the widening gap between the haves and have nots? Its time to get real. Achieving New Mexicos full potential is a full-time job. Lets give our Legislature the basic tools it needs to address New Mexicos pressing problems! WASHINGTON Sen. Mark Warner is all for defense modernization. But just dont touch those aircraft carriers, six of which are based in Norfolk. The Virginia Democrat had said a year ago year that rather than investing in 20th-century military technology, he wanted to discuss a reallocation of some of those resources to deal with the 21st-century challenge of cyber threats. But when the Navy this week proposed to retire the carrier Harry S. Truman, to save money for modernization, Warner urged it to reassess the decision. This battle between past and future is the hidden drama within the gargantuan $700 billion-plus fiscal 2020 defense budget proposal. Nearly everyone favors high-tech weapons to combat great-power adversaries in the new millennium, in principle. But meanwhile, the military-industrial-congressional complex, as the late Sen. John McCain termed it, keeps pumping vast sums to sustain legacy weapons systems. The 2020 budget, shaped by acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, does propose some important changes. Spending for space programs will increase about 15 percent, and for cyber programs will rise 10 percent. Yes, the Navy wants to add two new carriers while dropping the Truman, but it also proposes to build two big drone warships and some unmanned subs. The Army plans to cut or reduce 93 outmoded programs for vehicles, weapons and helicopters to make room for modernization. Overall, I think its moving in the right direction, says Christian Brose, former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The emphasis on modernization is clear and welcome. But Brose offers some caveats about how the process will play out. The budget proposes $104 billion for research, development, testing and evaluation, the biggest R&D request since the 1940s. But Brose says some of this will be old wine in new bottles, like spending for the wildly expensive F-35 fighter program, rather than disruptive new technology. Some high-tech spending involves classic Pentagon log-rolling among the military services. Take, for example, hypersonic weapons, the bright, shiny objects literally and figuratively that will be streaking across Pentagon skies. The 2020 budget proposes to increase spending on hypersonic weapons to $2.6 billion from $2.4 billion good, but gives the Army, Navy and Air Force their own hypersonic systems crazy. The argument is that America will want air, land and sea versions, but why? When theres new technology around, every service wants a piece of the action. Pentagon old-timers recall the battle in the 1950s between Army and Air Force generals about whether missiles were munitions or air weapons. A deeper worry is whether some of the modernization spending in the 2020 budget will be thrown overboard to preserve legacy systems when Congress starts cutting the Trump administration request, as Democrats will demand. The final figure will probably be many tens of billions less, and powerful members of Congress will fight to preserve the aircraft carrier and F-35 procurements that protect jobs in their states and districts. Often, its the future that ends up without a chair when the music stops, says Brose. He now works for a startup company called Anduril Industries that wants to be a disrupter. It has built a system that uses artificial intelligence to fuse sensors and drones to solve defense problems, such as perimeter security at military bases or along the border, more effectively and cheaply than conventional systems. The Pentagon seems interested, but Congress will have the final say. Military leaders are working to adapt old platforms to meet new challenges, and thats both good and bad. Adm. John Richardson, the chief of Naval Operations and a consistent advocate of innovation, says the Navy has made aircraft carriers stealthier, using electronic warfare and other measures, and by the end of this year will start arming carriers with lasers that can shoot down attacking missiles and planes. The aircraft carrier is less vulnerable than its been since World War II, Richardson told me in an interview last week. He argues that in combating Chinese military power in Asia the aircraft carrier is the most sustainable airfield in the theater. Certainly, America needs aircraft carriers. But does it need 10 of them, as the 2020 budget contemplates or 11, if Congress preserves the Harry S. Truman, as seems likely? We need F-35s, too, but is the massive buy in the 2020 budget needed? The Pentagon cant have everything it wants, and the danger is that when its time to start cutting, the military-industrial-congressional complex will jettison the new weapons we need to keep the old ones we dont. Email davidignatius@washpost.com. 2019, Washington Post Writers Group. WASHINGTON Sen. Mark Warner is all for defense modernization. But just dont touch those aircraft carriers, six of which are based in Norfolk. The Virginia Democrat had said a year ago year that rather than investing in 20th-century military technology, he wanted to discuss a reallocation of some of those resources to deal with the 21st-century challenge of cyber threats. But when the Navy this week proposed to retire the carrier Harry S. Truman, to save money for modernization, Warner urged it to reassess the decision. This battle between past and future is the hidden drama within the gargantuan $750 billion fiscal 2020 defense budget proposal. Nearly everyone favors high-tech weapons to combat great-power adversaries in the new millennium, in principle. But meanwhile, the military-industrial-congressional complex, as the late Sen. John McCain termed it, keeps pumping vast sums to sustain legacy weapons systems. The 2020 budget, shaped by acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, does propose some important changes. Spending for space programs will increase about 15 percent, and cyber programs will rise 10 percent. Yes, the Navy wants to add two new carriers while dropping the Truman, but it also proposes to build two big drone warships and some unmanned subs. The Army plans to cut or reduce 93 outmoded programs for vehicles, weapons and helicopters to make room for modernization. Overall, I think its moving in the right direction, says Christian Brose, former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The emphasis on modernization is clear and welcome. But Brose offers some caveats about how the process will play out. The budget proposes $104 billion for research, development, testing and evaluation, the biggest R&D request since the 1940s. But Brose says some of this will be old wine in new bottles, like spending for the wildly expensive F-35 fighter program, rather than disruptive new technology. Some high-tech spending involves classic Pentagon log-rolling among the military services. Take, for example, hypersonic weapons, the bright, shiny objects literally and figuratively that will be streaking across Pentagon skies. The 2020 budget proposes to increase spending on hypersonic weapons to $2.6 billion from $2.4 billion good, but gives the Army, Navy and Air Force their own hypersonic systems crazy. The argument is that America will want air, land and sea versions, but why? When theres new technology around, every service wants a piece of the action. Pentagon old-timers recall the battle in the 1950s between Army and Air Force generals about whether missiles were munitions or air weapons. A deeper worry is whether some of the modernization spending in the 2020 budget will be thrown overboard to preserve legacy systems when Congress starts cutting the $750 billion Trump administration request, as Democrats will demand. The final figure will probably be many tens of billions less, and powerful members of Congress will fight to preserve the aircraft carrier and F-35 procurements that protect jobs in their states and districts. Often, its the future that ends up without a chair when the music stops, says Brose. He now works for a startup company called Anduril Industries that wants to be a disrupter. It has built a system that uses artificial intelligence to fuse sensors and drones to solve defense problems, such as perimeter security at military bases or along the border, more effectively and cheaply than conventional systems. The Pentagon seems interested, but Congress will have the final say. Military leaders are working to adapt old platforms to meet new challenges, and thats both good and bad. Adm. John Richardson, the chief of Naval Operations and a consistent advocate of innovation, says the Navy has made aircraft carriers stealthier, using electronic warfare and other measures, and by the end of this year will start arming carriers with lasers that can shoot down attacking missiles and planes. The aircraft carrier is less vulnerable than its been since World War II, Richardson told me in an interview last week. He argues that in combating Chinese military power in Asia the aircraft carrier is the most sustainable airfield in the theater. Certainly, America needs aircraft carriers. But does it need 10 of them, as the 2020 budget contemplates or 11, if Congress preserves the Harry S. Truman, as seems likely? We need F-35s, too, but is the massive buy in the 2020 budget needed? The Pentagon cant have everything it wants, and the danger is that when its time to start cutting, the military-industrial-congressional complex will jettison the new weapons we need to keep the old ones we dont. E-mail davidignatius@washpost.com. 2019, Washington Post Writers Group. Russia is the popular bogeyman of the hour especially given the bellicose threats of Vladimir Putin, Russian meddling in U.S. elections and allegations of Russia colluding with the Trump campaign. But to the surprise of many, the proposed $718 billion Pentagon budget for 2020 isnt aimed at Russia. Instead, it is shaped by national security threats that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan summarized in three words: China, China, China. Its a realistic recognition of a growing threat. China is aggressively modernizing its military, systematically stealing science and technology and seeking military advantage through a strategy of military-civil fusion, he wrote in prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Hes right. China has a plan, and there is no good news in it for the United States. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recognized this threat, going so far as to rename the Pacific Command the Indo-Pacific Command to emphasize the importance of making India a key ally in coming years to hedge against Chinas growing regional ambition. Former President Obama acknowledged as much with his pivot to Asia. In addition to cyber espionage, the Chinese have ramped up military spending across the board in a buildup that has rattled neighbors. Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at U.S. think tank Rand Corporation, says Chinas military budget will be aimed at increasing the capability of Chinas military to challenge U.S. power in Asia. So what this will mean in practice is, youre going to have a Chinese military with more lethal weaponry, greater ability to operate as a joint force and greater reach. In next years Pentagon budget, there is $25 billion proposed for nuclear weapons meant in part to stay ahead of Chinas growing nuclear arsenal. Shanahan rattled off a list of other Chinese advances hypersonic missiles against which the U.S. has limited defenses, space launches and other efforts that could enable it to fight wars in space, systematically stealing U.S. and allied technology and militarizing land features in the South China Sea, where it is creating man-made islands to stake claim to disputed ocean. And about that election meddling by Russia? Well, there has been a bit of meddling by China in the past, including big donations to Bill Clintons re-election campaign that preceded the administrations decision to lift controls and allow the export of satellites that could be launched on Chinese rockets. One of those Bejing-tied bagmen who funneled money to the Clinton administration turned up again in 2015, busted in New York with a suitcase stuffed with $400,000 in cash. Making it even more worrisome, one thing that sets China apart from Russia is economic strength. China is, in fact, an economic superpower with a gross domestic product expected to pass ours in a few years. Russia? Its a fraction of that and roughly on par with Spain. None of this is to say that the U.S. shouldnt want and seek to have good relations with China, and we can hold out hope that the current trade dispute will be successfully resolved. But make no mistake, China has huge ambitions and sees military power as a path to achieving them. The proposed Pentagon budget is a nod to this reality and to the principle of peace through strength. Congress should be willing to view it as such. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. Elements of the newly created Space Development Agency will be calling New Mexico home if members of the states congressional delegation get their wish. U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Lujan, Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small urged acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in a letter to consider New Mexico as a host for the SDA headquarters and to fully utilize the states existing core research and development space assets. Lujan said the fact that New Mexico is home to some of the nations top scientists and engineers would make the state a good fit for the SDA. He said the state was a leader in national security and advancing groundbreaking new technologies. Lujan said finding solutions to the most challenging global problems would be further expanded if the state was selected as a co-host for the Space Development Agency headquarters. Shanahan recently noted that the Department of Defense must make changes to its research, development, and acquisition processes to protect U.S. vital interests in space. Key among these changes is the establishment of the SDA. The SDA will be responsible for the development of next-generation military space capabilities that reside within the Defense Department. New Mexico is home to many of the nations core space assets and is the center of excellence for space research and development, Heinrich said on Twitter in urging the DOD to consider New Mexico as a host for the headquarters. Heinrich, who is the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned Shanahan about the SDAs mission during a hearing last week on the DOD budget. In its letter, the Democratic delegation outlined New Mexicos significant space and research community and critical assets. The assets included the Los Alamos and Sandia national labs, Air Force Research Laboratorys Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range, Spaceport America and the private space industries in the state. The letter highlighted that White Sands had the largest overland testing facility in the U.S., and that Spaceport America was a Federal Aviation Administration licensed spaceport with inland launch and potential point-to-point transportation from orbit. As you stand up the SDA, we urge you and other senior leaders to look to the state of New Mexico as a host for co-locating the agency headquarters and to be your lead entities for implementing the space R&D policies you directed, wrote the lawmakers. Specifically, we urge you to retain and strengthen each of our nations existing core R&D assets and, most importantly, to ensure that the DOD is not reinventing the wheel nor unnecessarily moving pieces around at the expense of limited taxpayer dollars, the lawmakers said. According to SpaceNews, outgoing Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recommended in a September 2018 memo to Shanahan that the SDA be co-located with the Space Rapid Capabilities Office at Kirtland Air Force Base. Shanahan and Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin rejected the recommendation. They preferred to keep the headquarters in the Pentagon. Wilson is a former U.S. representative from New Mexico. The SDA is under Griffins direction. The office will be under the direction of Fred Kennedy, the director of the Tactical Technology Office. They were both sent copies of the letter. Make-A-Wish New Mexico has partnered with seven Jersey Mikes Subs throughout Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Los Lunas areas for the restaurants ninth annual Month of Giving campaign during March to support local charities. Customers can make a donation at participating eateries, and the campaign will wrap with Jersey Mikes Day of Giving on March 27, when local restaurants will donate 100 percent of the days sales to Make-A-Wish. New Mexico Jersey Mikes raised more than $20,000 during last years campaign for the cause. Nationwide, the submarine sandwich chain raised more than $6 million for charities and hopes to beat the number this year, Peter Cancro, Jersey Mikes founder and CEO, said in a statement. For more information about Jersey Mikes Month of Giving, visit www.jerseymikes.com/mog. We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com. Two high-profile inmates, an accused cop killer and a convicted murderer, are suspected of joining forces Tuesday night to stab another prisoner for disrespecting one of them in a linen dispute at the county jail. Now Davon Lymon, 36, and Yoan Santiesteban, 33, both face charges of possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner and tampering with evidence. Santiesteban is also charged with aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm. Another inmate, Larry Daugherty, 47, is charged with possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner and tampering with evidence because he allegedly flushed the weapon down the toilet after the crime was committed. Deputies say Santiesteban stabbed Aaron Clark, 27, repeatedly then slyly gave the weapon to Lymon who slid it under a cell door where it was flushed by Daugherty. Clark was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital to be treated for multiple stab wounds across his arms, back and head as well as a dislocated shoulder. He was in the jail infirmary Wednesday night. Both Lymon and Santiesteban are expected to go to trial for their previous cases next week. Lymon is charged with murder. Police say he shot and killed Albuquerque police officer Daniel Webster during a traffic stop in 2015. And Santiesteban will be tried for murder in the death of 44-year-old Samir Al-Abboudy, one of three people he is accused of killing during a May 2017 crime spree. Santiestebans first trial for the shooting death of Celina Arrelanes, 27 ended in a hung jury. He was convicted during his second trial for the death of 25-year-old Matthew Severinghaus. The pairs most recent troubles with the law began when Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies responded to a stabbing at the Metropolitan Detention Center around 10 p.m. Tuesday. At the hospital, Clark told detectives he was preparing for lockdown and the lights were off when he was attacked. He didnt know how it happened, nor did he know who did it, a criminal complaint states. Additionally he didnt want to pursue criminal charges Santiesteban told detectives he attacked Clark after the two men got into an argument over linen and he felt disrespected. Deputies say Santiesteban told them it was a fistfight and no weapon was used, however surveillance video contradicts this. According to the complaint, surveillance video showed Santiesteban bumping into Lymon outside the cell after the fight and slyly handing him an object. Then Lymon walks toward cell 8 and slides the object underneath the door, a detective wrote. Lymon denied any involvement in the incident. However, deputies say, this was also contradicted by the surveillance camera footage. Clark has been in the county jail since June. According to online court records he was being held without bail after being charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and shooting at or from a motor vehicle. SANTA FE Bandelier National Monument would become New Mexicos second national park under legislation that U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich plans to put before Congress. Heinrich, D-NM, made the announcement at Bandelier Wednesday afternoon with the support of tribal leaders and other officials from around northern New Mexico. When I talk to people about what makes New Mexico so unique, it always comes back to our breathtaking scenery, our deep and complex history, and our unique cultures, Heinrich said. Bandelier National Monument encapsulates each of these in unrivaled ways. The centerpiece of the current monuments 33,000 acres is Frijoles Canyon, featuring cliff dwellings and ceremonial kivas built by Ancestral Pueblo people. Santa Clara Pueblo Gov. Michael Chavarria said Bandelier is a place of ongoing spiritual significance and activities for our people. We are especially appreciative that in its current form, the legislation addresses certain important tribal interests and we look forward to working with the senator and other members of the New Mexico congressional delegation on further refinements to the language as this critical legislation progresses through the Congress, said Chavarria. The proposal would break off 4,000 acres of the monuments far northwest section as Bandelier National Preserve, which would be opened up to hunting. The preserve would be operated consistent with the national park with the exception of its wild game animals, which would be managed under the hunting program at the adjacent Valles Caldera National Preserve, National monuments are created by presidential decree Woodrow Wilson designated Bandelier in 1916 while Congress alone has authority to designate national parks. Carlsbad Caverns is the only other national park in New Mexico. Heinrichs written announcement noted that President Donald Trump two years ago signed an executive order to reduce the size of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, opening up prospects for oil and gas drilling and mining. Heinrichs legislation would permanently prohibit drilling and other mineral and geothermal development within park boundaries. A president cant unilaterally change the boundaries of a national park. Heinrichs bill also would establish a tribal advisory commission, require that traditional knowledge' be integrated into land management planning and permanently safeguard tribes religious rights and practices in Bandelier. A recent study by Montana-based Headwaters Economics found that redesignating Bandelier as a national park result in between $2.1 million and $2.5 million in new spending in the area, 29 to 36 new jobs, and between $917,000 and $1.1 million in labor income. BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said that officers involved in a fatal shooting from November of 2018 face no criminal liability. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said it did appear that GD Hendrix, 48, of Berry Creek, imitated an armed attack on officers, which can be seen in the video. Ramsey released dash cam footage of the Nov. 15, 2018, shooting on Nov. 20, 2018. The video was shot after officers pursued Hendrix in a high-speed chase down Highway 70, near an area burned by the Camp Fire. Ramsey also said that Hendrix was a prime suspect in a December 2015 double-homicide of a Plumas County couple who were visiting their son in the Berry Creek area. He was taken into custody but then released. Then in June of 2018, Hendrix cut off his GPS tracker and was on the loose. After the pursuit with officers in November of 2018, he was asked to step out of the car with his hands up. Hendrix is seen on the tape without his hands up and his body turned away from officers. Ramsey said Hendrix formed a gunman stance while holding an object that looked like a gun, which they later discovered was a pipe. Five officers shot 29 bullets, killing Hendrix. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea was also at the press conference and told Action News Now that officers have to make split-second decisions. Considering Hendrix's stance and the position he was holding the pipe, Honea said that the shooting was reasonable under that circumstance. WARNING: THE VIDEO BELOW CAPTURES A DEADLY SHOOTING. VIEWERS MAY FIND THE FOOTAGE GRAPHIC. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK. To view Ramsey's preliminary report for this case, CLICK HERE. This article will be updated with the detailed report and findings once the document is released. BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - A representative from PG&E said at Tuesday night's Chico city council meeting that the company is ramping up inspections of transmission and power lines as a result of the Camp Fire. They said the company is building 1,300 new weather stations and including 600 cameras to monitor powerlines by 2020. There is no word yet on where the stations and cameras will be placed. The company is now currently in bankruptcy proceedings. GARBERVILLE, Calif. -The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and the Humboldt District Attorney's Office plan to oppose the state-proposed placement of a sexually violent predator in Garberville. The California Department of State Hospitals is proposing to place Joshua Cooley at a home on the 2800 block of Alderpoint Road in Garberville. Cooley was convicted in 2004 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14-years-old. The sheriff's office and district attorney are encouraging the public to attend the public hearing at the Humboldt County Superior Court on Friday, April 12, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. Several Garberville residents have been sending letters to the district attorney about their opposition. The Humboldt County Superior Court has asked that all letters go only to the district attorney's office located at 825 5th St, Eureka. Letters can also be emailed to districtattorney@co.humboldt.ca.us. REDDING Calif. - Hundreds of people and dozens of faiths gathered Tuesday in Redding at the Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ to mourn and pray for the 50 lives lost at a mosque in New Zealand. The community vigil was organized by the Shasta County Interfaith Forum. The group said that their goal was to to honor those murdered and injured at the mosques in New Zealand and to affirm support for our Muslim brothers and sisters and all faith traditions. While remembering and praying for those victims was at the heart of the vigil, many also offered their prayers and wisdom to all victims of recent mass casualties across the globe. Hate crimes against our Jewish brothers and sisters are on the rise. As are attacks against African American, Sikh, Muslim LGBT folks. What once would have been unthinkable horrendous deeds are happening on a regular basis, said one of the speakers. Many of the speakers talked about how important it was for so many faiths to come together. I think when we are exposed to other ways of praying to other faith traditions we see we have more in common than separates us, said Geri Copitch, a representative from Temple Beth Israel in Redding. To close the ceremony a prayer was given by candlelight and a bell was rung in remembrance of those lives lost. In total 50 people were killed in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand when a gunman opened fire inside two mosques last week. California National Guard to be redirected to wildfire prevention Officials are moving 110 state National Guard troops from the southern border and are dispersing them to communities statewide to work on wildfire prevention. Next month, they will undergo 11 days of forest management training. Action News Now is working to learn if any troops will be placed locally. Authorities searching for suspect who dumped car off of Feather River Canyon The California Highway Patrol is searching for the person who dumped a stolen car off a cliff in the Feather River Canyon. The Honda Accord was found Tuesday night off of Highway 70. No one was inside the car. Crime increases in Chico post-Camp Fire Crime has gone up in the city of Chico since the Camp Fire, according to Police Chief Mike O'Brien. He cited 400 calls for service since the deadly fire. O'Brien said in Tuesday night's city council meeting that he wants to increase the number of dispatchers available to help with the workload. PG&E ramps up inspections after Camp Fire PG&E said the company is ramping up transmission and powerline inspections after the Camp Fire. The utility also said it will build 1,300 weather stations and install 600 cameras to monitor those lines by 2020. There is no word yet on where those stations and cameras will be. Garberville Community speaks out against violent sex offender The Garberville community is speaking out against the state-proposed placement of violent sex offender Joshua Cooley. The state is proposing that he be placed at a home on Alderpoint Road in Garberville. Cooley was convicted in 2004 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14-years-old. The district attorney and sheriff's office plan to oppose the proposal at a public hearing in April. Anderson K-9 officer receives medal of valor Anderson k-9 officer Chance received a medal of valor after duty. The department now has a special stuffed animal that looks like Chance. The dolls are being sold to raise money for K-9 training. Olive company announces new contracts to growers Olive growers across the state are breathing a sigh of relief after central California company Musco Family Olive announced it will offer new contracts to growers. The new contracts came after processor Bell Carter announced it would cut those contracts with its own company. According to the Chrome News Track data for the Week 11 of 2019, the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections the most Aired News this week, followed by news about Terrorist Masood Azhar. The news about Mumbai CST Station Bridge Collapse stood at the third spot, the Fugitive Nirav Modi is next in the list and news about Terror Attack inside Mosques in Christchurch New Zealand managed to take the fourth & fifth spots, respectively. Chrome News Track, from Chrome Data Analytics and Media, conducts study on news content aired across India by choosing the "Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed News of the Week". The survey conducted is an outcome of the data collected from 34,000 Chrome DM panel homes across India. It analyses the effectiveness of the News aired on television every week and categorises it through three broad segments namely Most Aired, Most Watched and Most Discussed. Most Watched News in Week 11: The survey also unveils that 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is the most watched news for the week, grabbing maximum eyeballs; followed by Mumbai CST Station Bridge Collapse. The news about Terrorist Masood Azhar, Fugitive Nirav Modi and Terror Attack inside Mosques in Christchurch New Zealand also generated interests amongst viewers and are placed at 3rd, 4th and 5th spots, respectively, in the list. Most Discussed News in Week 11: Taking a closer view of the Most Discussed News category of the survey, the news about 2019 Lok Sabha Elections has been the talk of the nation, making it the most discussed news, whereas the news about Terrorist Masood Azhar was the second most discussed news as per the survey. Mumbai CST Station Bridge Collapse became the 3rd discussed most news among masses. Terror Attack inside Mosques in Christchurch New Zealand and Fugitive Nirav Modi are placed at 4th and 5th positions, respectively, in the list. Eighty-two sophomore pacers have been nominated to the 36th edition of Woodbine Mohawk Parks North America Cup. Some of those charges are slowly but surely starting to come out of the woodwork one in particular, a $6,500 yearling purchase, will be looking to punch above his weight in hopes of scoring a knockout. The thrifty yearling buy in question is Aflame Hanover, who is currently the fastest son of Russell Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere Rich N Elegant Direct Scooter). The gelded bay didnt face the gauntlet last year during his inaugural season on the track, as he made starts on the Pennsylvania fair circuit and did see some action in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. Aflame Hanover compiled a 6-2-3 record from 15 juvenile starts and banked just over $80,000 in purses. He set a track record at one of the Pennsylvania fairs, but later came on to post a gate-to-wire win in 1:52.2 in a division of the Simpson Stakes at Harrahs Philadelphia. One week later, which would be his last start of 2018, Aflame Hanover travelled to the Meadows where he recorded another wire-to-wire win, this time by more than seven lengths in a career-best 1:51.4. Aflame Hanover surfaced Wednesday (March 20) during qualifying action at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Pennsylvania, and pilot Tony Schadel was at the geldings lines as per usual for conditioner Linda Schadel. Competing over a fast track during the Pocono qualifier, Aflame Hanover got away fourth from Post 2 and held his position as the opening fractions were clicked off in :29 and :57.2, respectively. Schadel had Aflame Hanover out and pacing first up in the third quarter as the three-quarters timer flashed to life in 1:25.3. The gelding came on in the final quarter and got up to post a one-length victory in 1:54.3. Linda and Tony Schadel own Aflame Hanover. The Pepsi North America Cup is Canadas richest harness race. This years edition is scheduled for Saturday, June 15 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The eliminations for the $1 million final will take place a week prior on Saturday, June 8. To view the list of 82 pacers that were nominated to the 2019 Pepsi North America Cup, which features a purse of $1 million, click here. Radio City, Indias leading radio network, completed yet another power packed season of Dilli vs Crime, a campaign which aims to create awareness amongst Delhiites about rising crimes in the city. After a great response to the first season, Season 2 took up issues of cybercrime and human trafficking, which have been plaguing the capital city for quite some time. UNICEF India provided technical support to the campaign. The association is in line with UNICEF Indias #ENDViolence campaign, which creates awareness on of violence against children. In the two-week long campaign, Radio Citys RJs Ginnie, Divya, Yuvi, Aadi and Manav discussed cases of cybercrime and human trafficking with experts and Delhi authorities. They made the listeners aware about the modus operandi of criminals and how to prevent falling into the trap, and steps one should take in case they feel they have fallen prey. Mr. Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City, said, As per the report released by Delhi Police, the crime rate in Delhi witnessed an upsurge of 6.01 percent by end of 2018 as compared to 2017. To combat the increasing rate of crime in the city, Radio City with this initiative, Dilli Vs Crime, Season 2 is proud to be a catalyst of change to free the society from various horrendous issues like human trafficking and cybercrime. Associating with an influential body like the UNICEF India undoubtedly took our initiative a notch higher, yet again making it a successful campaign for two years. Radio Citys RJ Ginnie said, While India is turning digital, there is a surge in the cases of cybercrime. Season 2 of Dilli vs Crime offered Radio Citys listeners solutions and precautions to tackle this problem. From understanding how frauds are done, how we can stay protected and the banks liability against these crimes our experts went through the whole spectrum on-air. We also spoke about information being hacked on social media, phones, laptops, etc. and actually had hackers discussing this on-air. Simultaneously, we also dealt with revenge porn, blackmail and picture morphing to generate awareness and precaution for our listeners with real life case stories and expert opinions. The RJs and the experts took up the issues of three prominent types of cybercrime, including net banking frauds with elderly, revenge crimes with women, and cybercrime against children in the first week of the campaign. They also talked about the dos and donts on social media. In the second week, issues pertaining to human trafficking were brought to the fore by featuring nerve-wracking case studies, survivor stories and taking an account of increasing human trafficking cases in the city. Trafficking is a violation of childrens rights and poverty alone does not lead to the same but also factors like social marginalization, dysfunctional family background, neglect, abuse and domestic violence combined with economic strife make children particularly vulnerable to trafficking. As a part of the digital plan, various awareness generating videos were amplified across Radio Citys social media handle. A video with popular ethical hacker, Sanket Modi and RJ Ginnie, showcasing how a phone can be hacked in just 20 seconds, garnered an overwhelming response. Radio City has always been a forerunner in ensuring the safety of its city and citizens. Dilli vs Crime, first season won many accolades at the Golden Mikes and New York Radio Festival awards 2018. With campaigns like Dilli vs Crime, Radio City will continue to leverage the power of radio to address issues and bring about a positive change in the society. Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) announces the appointment of Asheesh Chatterjee in the role of Chief Business Officer, in addition to his current responsibility of serving as Chief Financial Officer of the company. During the last year, Asheesh has been instrumental in bringing together his rich experience and understanding of the media industry to guide the Revenue and Business support teams across the company apart from his usual role of managing Finance, Legal, IT & Digital Transformation. With his deep knowledge of the business since the past 8 years, Asheesh has been contributing in developing practices to help both the radio networks external as well as internal stakeholders to increase business efficiency, manage costs effectively and deliver great services to clients. Commenting on taking on an additional role, Asheesh Chatterjee said, Its a pleasure to be taking on the additional position of Chief Business Officer at the company with which I have been associated for 8 years. In keeping with BIG FMs core ethos, I intend to give it my best in taking the company into its next phase of development. Speaking about Asheeshs appointment in his new role, Abraham Thomas RBNL CEO said, Since his appointment in 2011, Asheesh has been an asset to the company, significantly contributing towards developing practices that enhances business efficiency, manage costs effectively and deliver great value to clients. Over the last year, he has driven the Revenue, Finance and Business support teams to meet the companys objectives. Continuing marching on the path of putting the citizens and their interests first for the sake of national interest and in their dogged pursuit of the truth, with OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD, REPUBLIC BHARAT has directly brought to the electorate hard investigative journalism that empowers them with the truth ahead of a crucial vote. On Tuesday at 11 am, REPUBLIC BHARATs Special Investigative Team (SIT) broke the biggest political investigation that proved that there are politicians elected into Parliament who are up for sale across parties and ideological lines. To amplify the buzz and magnify the awareness of the investigative stories, the channel has partnered with FTA channels like Enterr10, Dangal, Bhojpuri Cinema, Fakt Marathi, 9xm, 9XM Jalwa, Tashan, Jhakaas and Masti. This unique partnership has enabled Republic Bharat to engage with the vibrant Hindi speaking audiences in the Hindi heartland which target both urban and rural audiences. To strengthen the reach and presence, cross promoting on FTA channels forms a key facet of the brand strategy. The collaboration aims on tapping the potential of the rural-urban population in the HSM through aggressive strategy on content and with its pace of innovation in breaking the news. Republic Bharat has already created a storm by becoming Top 2 in the Hindi news genre with 138 million reach. OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD was a breaking news in itself and was promoted rigorously on these FTA platforms, to empower people with truth ahead of the elections. Republic Bharat Rashtra ke Naam, true to its name, is committed to bring hard hard-hitting news, deep investigation, impact-driven and people-focused journalism to the millions of Hindi-speakers across India. Bharat has penetrated deep into the interiors of India through aggressive distribution strategy. Republic Bharat is available across all platforms and have a presence on Cable and DTH networks. In approximation, the channel is available on 4000 networks and reaching over 7000 towns. We have invested in boot up screens, EPGS assets on Airtel, Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon and also on other cable networks such as Den, Citi Cable and Hathway. While there have been murmurs of the dirty ongoings and rot within the system for decades, no Indian news channel has dared to conduct a series of sting operations of the scale on sitting Members of Parliament to bring to the electorate the reality of those they elect into the Lok Sabha. REPUBLIC BHARATs deep investigation pulled out a series of clinchers through multiple sting operations and stitched the overall story of how, in the biggest betrayal of the people of India, some Indian Parliamentarians are up on sale in return for favours. The 3 stung Members of Parliament in the REPUBLIC BHARAT STING are Ram Kumar Sharma who is the sitting RLSP MP from Sitamarhi constituency, Santokh Singh Chaudhary a Congress MP from Jalandhar and Harinarayan Rajbhar, a BJP MP from Ghosi, U.P. Coming just 23 days ahead of the first phase of polling during which 91 crucial Lok Sabha constituencies across 20 states in the country go to vote, REPUBLIC BHARATs investigation, OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD, brought to the electorate 3 Members of Parliament from 3 different parties (RLSP, Congress, BJP) in 3 different states (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab) with one common takeaway: admissions on hidden camera about a hefty price list for favours and votes in election season. In the 3-part investigative series captured on hidden camera, Members of Parliament openly discussed cash, contracts, hundi, hawala, trading offers and price tags that run into crores in exchange for favours both inside and outside Parliament. OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD exposed not only the questionable dealings, the favours for dirty cash, the murky nexus of unaccounted funds but also unmasked to the electorate at a critical time the ease with which Members of Parliament openly solicit illegal election funding. Moments after the part-by-part investigation was broadcast on-air, Republic Bharats team was ready on-ground to confront those who were stung as part of OPERATION BIKAU SANSAD. While some hurled abuses, others tried to wriggle out with denials, but irrespective of their defences, their role and disclosures were already captured as eternal proof on camera. In terms of impact, the RLSP Chief and the BJP had summoned their respective stung MPs and sought explanation. Meanwhile, the Congress came on-record to demand an investigation based on the Republic Bharat tapes. While Republic Bharats investigative report disrupted and set the news agenda on Tuesday, the channel has pledged to take the tapes to the Election Commission to ensure that the sanctity of Indian democracy continues to be of paramount importance and that the faith of the Indian electorate is restored. SBI Life Insurance, one of Indias largest private life insurers, has launched Thanks A Dot, an innovative breast cancer awareness initiative that is supported by the Womens Cancer Initiative -Tata Memorial Hospital. The programme intends to empower the women of India by educating them about early lump detection through simple self-examination techniques. An easy-to-use self-training module to detect the early signs of lump formation can be ordered free of cost through SBI Lifes corporate website. Website Link: https://www.sbilife.co.in/thanksadot To take this initiative forward and ensure maximum reach, the communication and promotions online will be handled and executed by SBI Lifes digital and social media partner, WATConsult, the digital and social media agency from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network. According to the Union Health Ministry, Breast Cancer ranks as the number one cancer disease among Indian females. Around 20% of breast cancers are detected by physical examination but unfortunately, only 38% of women regularly undergo self-breast examination. Further, studies indicate that 1 in 28 women are likely to develop breast cancer during her lifetime making it even more essential for women to self-examine. While treatment costs can range between INR 2.5 lakhs to 20 lakhs, there is an alarming need for financial preparedness for the treatment, if diagnosed. Devieka Bhojwani, a Breast Cancer survivor and Vice President of Womens Cancer Initiative-Tata Memorial Hospital said, The Womens Cancer Initiative, has been constantly working towards making a difference, by spreading awareness about the importance of early detection in Breast Cancer. India is seeing a steady rise in the cases of Breast Cancer, with as many as 1,00,000 new cases being detected every year. Early detection is vital and can improve cure rates in about 80% of the cases. Many Indian women and their families rarely understand the importance of this issue and fail to undergo regular check-ups. SBI Lifes Thanks-A-Dot tool allows you to learn and understand what a lump would feel like. It is your way to start familiarising yourself. Thanks A Dot self-detection tool has been designed using real breast cancer mammograms to re-create breast cancer lumps using a special algorithm and 3D printing. The breast cancer lump shapes are put on a learning card in the form of a language inspired by Braille. Users solve puzzles and quizzes using the special language (present on the learning card), thus capturing a positive feeling of carrying out early detection examination and promoting regular self-checks. 'Thanks A Dot' helps improve tactile (touch) capacity in women to detect early signs of lump formation. Ravindra Sharma, Chief of Brand & Corporate Communications, SBI Life Insurance said, Cancer in India has more than doubled over the last 26 years. The impact can be devastating on families both emotionally and financially. Though breast cancer is most common among Indian women both in terms of occurrence as well as mortality, it continues to remain a taboo in India. Moreover, women who are aware of the concept of self-examination are unsure of what a lump feels like. Thanks-A-Dot is a path-breaking initiative. While improving tactile capacity in women it also simultaneously fosters positive conversations around self-breast examination, thereby breaking social barriers that have plagued our society for long. As a responsible life insurer, we believe that we have an important role to play in educating and empowering women by increasing awareness about breast cancer and its financial implications. We hope that Thanks A Dot can make a meaningful difference by helping women in being prepared for the uncertainties of life, Sharma added. SBI Life has leveraged multiple digital platforms to launch the Thanks a Dot awareness initiative; the campaign has rolled out with the launch of a video that highlights the significance of the power of touch and showcases the benefits of self-breast examination through this tool. The video urges every woman to take a step further and inculcate a habit of self-breast examination regularly and confidently. Rajiv Dingra, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, WATConsult said, Early detection is the key to breast cancer survival and even though many women are aware of this, most are unsure of the feel of a lump formation. Thus, taking an inspiration from the Braille language and Power of Touch and to inculcate a habit of self-examination at an earlier stage, we created an innovative product - "Thanks A Dot", an easy-to-use self-training puzzle card to bring the power detection to your fingertips and enabling women to take necessary actions sooner rather than later. The first phase of the initiative kick-started on International Womens Day, featuring the Real Life Real Story video of Mrs. SujayaWalia, a breast cancer survivor and activist. In the video, Mrs. Walia is seen talking about her journey fighting cancer, how family and financial preparedness holds key and urges more women to come forward and discuss such issues openly. Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading global communications and marketing solutions firms, today announced the appointment of Nikhil Dey as vice chair of the firms India operations. Dey will focus on shaping the firms employee experience, strengthening existing client relationships and creating opportunities for global clients in India. Dey will be part of the firms India leadership board, working with senior leadership across the Asia Pacific region including Valerie Pinto, CEO of Weber Shandwick India to build synergies and service outcomes. With Nikhils depth of knowledge and experience, we aim to significantly grow our talent base, revenue streams and continue to lead with a client-first approach to deliver stronger and higher value to our clients, said Baxter Jolly, CEO of Weber Shandwick Asia Pacific. We are also tremendously proud of our achievements in India under Valeries leadership and are extremely bullish on our potential in the India market. We believe this combination of strengths will be unbeatable in the market and will enable us to grow significantly in India. Pinto also commented, Building Weber Shandwick as a strong employer brand with a work environment that attracts the best talent to our profession is an integral part of our growth strategy in India. Our people are an essential part of the firm, and creativity is the foundation of everything we do. Nikhil, with his unmatched knowledge and expertise will help us further build our culture of creativity and collaboration. Along with this, he will help the agency to continue to provide our clients with unique solutions and a forward-thinking approach to their communications challenges. Doug Mills, a staff photographer for The New York Times, has been covering the White House since 1983. He recently spoke with The Timess James Estrin about photographing President Donald Trump after he returned from covering the Hanoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. With previous administrations, going back to Reagan, you were in a cabinet room for maybe two or three or four minutes. With Trump you can be in there up to 90 minutes, says Mills. He adds that Trump is very camera-conscious. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. In an announcement made on Tuesday (March 19) by the Hon. Heath MacDonald, Minister of Finance for Prince Edward Island, the harness racing industry in P.E.I. will receive a large purse funding increase from the province's government. The announcement stated that an additional $1.4 million will be added to the existing purse pool of $2.3 million. "By supporting the harness racing sector we are preserving agricultural land and improving rural PEI, maintaining PEI's heritage and tradition, drawing off-Island visitors year-round and supporting other business operations," said the Hon. Heath MacDonald, the Minister responsible for harness racing in PEI. "For those reasons and more I am very pleased that the provincial government will invest an additional $1.4 million toward the purse pool. "Higher purse pools provide incentive to horse ownership, will lead to higher demand for horses and ultimately leads to higher breeding activity, the core of the industry." The news was greeted with enthusiasm by local participants, on-hand for the announcement. "It's important as we can stay in it as young people," said horseman Corey MacPherson. "It was kind of a business before where people would say 'oh, you're in harness racing. How do you do that...there's no money in that.' So it really helps me, having a young family, to keep at it." "I think now with the way things are going, the help from [government] and the support we have from harness racing, I think we're stronger now than we've ever been," said trainer-driver Adam Merner. By adding to its support for the harness racing industry, MacDonald also noted this purse increase should strengthen the harness racing industry. "I think we have something pretty special here in PEI and I think this is going to contribute to making it more sustainable." continued MacDonald. President Donald Trump's latest budget request heralds the administration's continued desire to mothball the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility and pursue another avenue of weapons-grade plutonium disposition. His fiscal year 2020 budget pitch released last week, and the finer details are being rolled out now includes $220 million for the "orderly and safe closure" of MOX, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's lengthy budget justification. The request also includes $79 million to support dilute-and-dispose, the MOX alternative. A summary portion of Trump's budget states dilute-and-dispose will be "aggressively" backed. The potential funding falls under the umbrella of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous DOE agency. The presidential request includes roughly $16.5 billion total for the NNSA. That figure is heavily dominated by the "weapons activities" account. Trump's FY19 budget request included $220 million for MOX shutdown and $59 million for dilute-and-dispose. Trump's 2020 budget pitch includes multimillion-dollar boost for SRS cleanup The budget blueprint, a far cry from actual appropriation, allocates about $1.6 billion to U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental M The NNSA terminated the MOX project, located at the Savannah River Site, on Oct. 10, 2018, five months after U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told congressional defense committees he would ax the undertaking. MOX more than a decade in the making and marred by both cost and schedule overruns was designed to turn surplus defense plutonium into nuclear fuel. Dilute-and-dispose involves mixing plutonium with inert material for longterm burial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Both Perry and NNSA chief Lisa Gordon-Hagerty have said dilute-and-dispose trumps MOX. For one, it's approximately half the lifecycle cost, $19.9 billion compared to $49.4 billion, Perry has certified. U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., on March 12 said he appreciates the president's specific mention and support of dilute-and-dispose. Wilson represents South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. Since Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh as head of its political bureau in May 2017, he has paid Egypt long visits in September 2017, February 2018, May 2018 and February 2019, during which he discussed ways to alleviate the siege on the Gaza Strip, achieve reconciliation and improve bilateral relations. Haniyehs latest visit to Egypt lasted more than three weeks, from Feb. 3 until Feb. 27. He was accompanied by members of Hamas political bureau Khalil al-Hayya and Rouhi Mushtaha, and media adviser Taher al-Nounou. Upon his return to the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh met with Palestinian journalists and told them about his visit to Cairo. He said that he discussed various issues with Egyptian officials, including strategic threats to the Palestinian cause such as "the deal of the century," the US Embassy's move to Jerusalem, Israeli settlement expansion, Egyptian efforts to restore national unity and the sanctions on Gaza imposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). He announced that the relations between Hamas and Egypt have entered the phase of strategic dialogue. On March 3, Haniyeh informed the Palestinian factional leaders of the outcome of his visit to Cairo during a closed meeting in his office in Gaza. Hayya announced during a press conference following the meeting that Haniyeh highlighted to Egyptian officials the risks surrounding the Palestinian cause, ending the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, the bilateral relations with Egypt and the importance of ending the Palestinian division. Hayya told Al-Monitor, The visit achieved positive outcomes and we are satisfied with it. Our relations with Egypt are advanced and strategic, and we are proud of them because they evolve day by day. Hamas wants Egypt to enjoy long-term safety, and it wants the same stability and security for Gaza, which will not be a burden or threat to Egypts national security. Egypt understands our stance toward achieving reconciliation and refuses the blockade on Gaza. Haniyehs schedule in Cairo was packed. On Feb. 25, he met with deputy head of Hamas political bureau abroad Mohammad Nazzal. On Feb. 12, he visited the headquarters of Al-Masry Al-Youm and met with its editor-in-chief. On Feb. 7, Haniyeh met with Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb. On Feb. 5, Haniyeh held a long meeting with the leaders of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, mainly Maj. Gen. Abbas Kamel. Haniyeh stressed the importance of protecting Egypts security, and he elaborated on Hamas' security measures in Gaza along its borders. Kamel thanked him for these efforts, which include Hamas bolstering its security presence in Gaza along the borders with the Sinai Peninsula and boosting its security coordination with the Egyptian army to control the situation in the border region. On Feb. 5, Haniyeh and the Hamas delegation visited Palestinians who were wounded due to Israeli army fire during their participation in the marches of return on the Gaza borders, and who are receiving treatment in hospitals in Egypt. The same day, Haniyeh met with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, for the first time since Nakhalah was elected as leader of the movement on Sept. 28, 2018. Nakhalah, who resides in Beirut, arrived in Cairo at the same time as Haniyeh to discuss the stances of Hamas and Islamic Jihad concerning the deal of the century, and ways to foil it. Haniyeh started his visit to Cairo by meeting Hamas leaders who came from abroad, including Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas leader abroad Maher Salah and members of Hamas political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk, Izzat al-Rishq and Husam Badran. Hussam al-Dajani, an expert on Hamas affairs and professor of political science at Gazas Al-Ummah University, told Al-Monitor, Haniyehs visit brought Hamas and Egypt closer, after Cairos role in Gaza started dwindling at the expense of Qatar and Turkey. Egypt seeks to use Hamas to serve its interests and hopes to boost Hamas role in the truce, an exchange deal with Israel and reconciliation with Fatah. Dajani added, Hamas hopes Egypt will make efforts to remove the movement from European and American terrorism lists. I believe Egypt might also open a hospital, a bank and diplomatic representation office in Gaza in order to increase its influence in the enclave, although it did not explicitly inform Haniyeh of such plans. The most direct and main outcome of Haniyehs visit to Cairo was the release of four Hamas members who were abducted by unknown men in August 2015 upon their entry to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. Osama Amer, a Palestinian author who lives in Egypt, told Al-Monitor, The main outcome of Haniyehs visit was the release of the abducted Hamas members and his meeting with an Al-Azhar imam who is considered the highest authority in the Islamic world. Haniyeh was also supposed to visit Pope Tawadros of the Coptic Orthodox Church, but he was outside Egypt. Amer added, The visit of Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit was arranged, but he [could not meet with Haniyeh] due to his busy schedule to attend the African Union Summit in Ethiopia on Feb. 10 and the Arab-European Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on Feb. 25. Haniyehs visit to Cairo in February was set to be followed by a tour of Arab, regional and international capitals. On Nov. 22, 2018, Hamas sources spoke about a tour that would include Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Algeria, in addition to Lebanon, Kuwait, Mauritania, Malaysia, Indonesia and Morocco. But the visits did not materialize. Haniyehs last visits abroad before he became Hamas leader, between September 2016 and January 2017, included Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Meanwhile, the Iranian Tasnim News Agency claimed Nov. 20 that Egypt banned Haniyeh from visiting Tehran. Hamas did not justify the delayed visits and did not accuse anyone of preventing them to avoid fueling tensions. Hamas wants to mend its regional connections, and it has been favoring silent diplomacy to facilitate Haniyehs tours that have been delayed repeatedly. Basem Naim, head of the Council of International Relations in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, Many reasons prevented Haniyehs tour, including the occasional Israeli escalation against Gaza and his inclination to remain here [in Gaza] to follow up on the security developments. Add to this the security situation in Sinai and inability to ensure his departure from Gaza to Egypt, as well as the domestic situation in some countries, which postponed the visits rather than canceled them. Hamas spoke at great length about Haniyehs accomplishments, but there are pending issues with Egypt, mainly the permanent opening of the Rafah border crossing and the removal of some names of Palestinians who were placed on Egypts travel ban list based on their political affiliations. There is also the issue of the money Hamas leaders collected from Arab and Islamic countries after winning the legislative elections in 2006, which they took to Gaza through the Rafah crossing. But the Egyptian authorities seized the amount, which was estimated at $25 million to $30 million, without justification. However, Hayya said Feb. 28 that Egypt is not holding any Hamas money. Hamas still hopes Egypt will pressure Israel to lift the siege off the Gaza Strip rather than alleviate it and use its leverage with the PA to ratify comprehensive reconciliation. Abdul Sattar Qassem, professor of political sciences at An-Najah National University in Nablus, told Al-Monitor, Hamas-Egypt relations are short-lived flirtations. Egypt is part of the US-Israeli axis and cannot take its relations with Hamas too far. It might, however, lure Hamas into the deal of the century, although I doubt Hamas would oblige. Hamas seems bullish about the outcome of Haniyehs visit to Egypt in terms of bilateral relations. But it hopes this optimism will materialize with Egyptian measures felt by the Palestinians in Gaza, rather than just promises. The Iraqi security forces have expanded their operations to track down members of the Islamic State (IS) in the vast Western Desert. The security forces, however, have yet to reach an integrated strategy to confront IS in these lands, which stretch along Iraqs borders with three countries and are located near key Sunni and Shiite cities. The sub-governor of the city of al-Ratba in west Anbar, Emad al-Dulaimi, confirmed March 13 that an IS member killed a resident who was kidnapped while picking truffles more than two weeks ago in the desert. IS has terrorized the citizens of the provinces bordering the Western Desert, who headed to this area looking for sources of livelihood. IS kidnapped and executed many truffle collectors. Desert truffles are a kind of mushroom found in abundance this season in these areas and sold in the local markets. According to intelligence reports, IS members infiltrated the Western Desert bordering several Iraqi provinces, including Anbar, Karbala and Najaf. They fled the intensified crackdown on their last stronghold in eastern Syria. Hisham al-Hashimi, a researcher specializing in armed groups, confirmed these reports. These groups have been infiltrating the area since September 2018, he told Al-Monitor. According to the intelligence agencies, up to a thousand IS members arrived to Iraq in the form of small units. Some were carrying amounts of up to $25,000. This represents a total of more than $200 million. However, Hashimi does not believe this infiltration is the reason behind the recent increase in IS operations in Iraq. These members need time to be trained," he said. "They have to get identity documents to be able to move freely. The Iraqi security forces are aware of the seriousness of these movements. Therefore, the forces increased their operations in the vast desert areas of western Iraq. In this context, joint Iraqi military divisions and the local tribal regiments are conducting a security sweep in the Western Desert of Anbar. Commenting on the security sweep, the commander of the Upper Euphrates regiment, Col. Mousi Said al-Karbouli, said March 11, IS has been attempting to reorganize its ranks in the desert areas near Wadi Hauran and other areas. Its fighters are using the ground elevations and trenches in the desert and disguising themselves as shepherds. But our forces are local trained forces and are well acquainted with the desert area. We are now conducting proactive operations to prevent IS from resurging. On March 4, Iraq security forces declared large parts of the Western Desert as military zones. Iraqi military helicopters dropped flyers demanding all shepherds in the desert leave the area immediately, toward al-Ratba-Nukhayb-Kilo 160 (the name of an eastern Anbar region). The area is a military operation zone with no access to civilians, the flyers said. An Iraqi military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the New Arab newspaper, Large areas of the Anbar desert have become a military zone. Shepherds, nomads, hunters and truffle collectors have been warned to leave the area and not to enter its valleys, otherwise they would be a military target for the army troops and air force. These military operations are not limited to the areas adjacent to Sunni provinces like Anbar. On Feb. 25, al-Abbas Combat Division announced the completion of ground duties in Operation Vengeance for the Martyrs. The division added that it cleared more than 1,000 square kilometers of the Western Desert adjacent to the Shiite province of Karbala. This operation came in response to the kidnappings and killings of truffle hunters, including citizens from Karbala province. Al-Abbas Combat Division is a formation of volunteer forces close to supreme religious authority Ali al-Sistani. It was formed upon a fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Sistani in 2014, demanding Iraqis take up arms to fight IS. Contrary to other intelligence reports and noting IS inability to destabilize the security situation, al-Abbas Combat Division said in a press statement that IS has no significant presence deep in the desert. The Operation Vengeance for the Martyrs, backed by the Iraqi air force, was carried out quickly. In this context, the commander of al-Abbas Combat Division, Maitham al-Zaidi, told Al-Monitor, The operation had important objectives, including access to an area that for a long time was seen as an imminent danger to the holy areas [in Karbala and Najaf]. It has always been portrayed as an area prohibited to military forces. He added, Thanks to the combing operation, we were able to determine the roads used by the enemy. For his part, Hashimi said this type of operation is merely a reaction to the movements of IS and cannot eliminate the danger in the desert and the adjacent provinces. These operations are not based on proactive intelligence," he said. "They are mostly routine sweep operations with minor outcomes despite great efforts and considerable spending." Hashimi believes the radical solution to this security dilemma lies in resorting to intelligence, as well as surveillance aircraft, unmanned drones and landing operations of special forces. Pointing out new progress in dealing with IS, Zaidi said, We have moved from lengthy routine approvals to immediate urgent approvals. This gives us high flexibility. We have the element of surprise against the enemy. He also noted, We have prepared a plan for fast landing operations against hostile targets at various times. The Iraqi security forces appear to be more active against the IS presence in the Western Desert. But these efforts remain intermittent and incomplete, which gives IS an opportunity to destabilize security in these areas from time to time. It turns out that while I was ordering a break-in at Irans nuclear archives, Iran was breaking into Benny Gantzs cellphone. It is ironic for two reasons: Gantz was chair of a cybersecurity company that went bankrupt. He was supposed to protect his phone. That is his personal failure. If Gantz cant protect his phone, how will he protect the country? This monologue was delivered March 18 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an election rally of his Likud Party. He was referring to reports that surfaced March 14 saying Iran had hacked the phone of Israel's former military chief, Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, who is the head of the Blue and White Party. Netanyahu appears to enjoy cynically bashing his main rival, harnessing what appears to be a national security lapse for his campaign. Netanyahu is waging a war for survival ahead of the April 9 elections, and as his associates say, He takes no prisoners and doesn't see anyone, as the saying goes in Hebrew. These expressions in slang mean that he considers all means legitimate in order to achieve victory. However, this time he went a step too far in his no-holds-barred campaign (even compared with his own, limitless standards). If anyone should be providing answers in this affair, it is Netanyahu. Not because of the leak to Channel 12 News, where political analyst Amit Segal broke the story. Netanyahu and his associates were probably not Segals source. And even if he were involved, Netanyahu is too smart to leave any clues. So why should Netanyahu provide answers? The prime minister is in fact the person officially in charge of the National Cyber Directorate, the body tasked with protecting Israel from attacks. Some six months ago, the cellphone and computer of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak were also hacked. Both Barak and Gantz headed the Israel Defense Forces in the past, but the Shin Bet security agency, which informed them of the breach, confirmed to both of them that nothing on their hacked appliances was a threat to state security. Nonetheless, it is discomfiting to hear that Iranian intelligence, which is reportedly behind the hackings, is targeting senior Israeli defense officials and a former minister of defense (Barak). The mobile phones likely contained contacts and WhatsApp chats that could lead the Iranians to other information and direct them to others who may be worth hacking. Gantzs phone reportedly contained compromising information of a personal nature, a claim he vehemently denied. But beyond this titillating aspect of the story and the political scandal, this is a security and intelligence issue under the purview of the National Cyber Directorate to which Netanyahu holds the keys [the prime minister is the official head of the agency, and he is the one appointing its director]. It is worth recalling that Netanyahu was the one who identified the potential cyberthreat against Israel eight years ago. In May 2011, two years after his return to power, he announced with great fanfare the allocation of a special budget for a five-year plan that would position Israel at the forefront of global cybertechnology and protect the country from attack by hostile states. We are gearing up in a very systematic way to deal with current threats and especially those of the future, which can be neutralized if we prepare in advance. Todays threats are already emerging, he said at the time. It is hardly fitting for a prime minister in charge of national cybersecurity to be making political hay of a cyberattack against his leading rival during an election campaign. The use of classified intelligence information for political ends is very grave. I regard it as an attack on the democratic process, former Mossad spy agency chief Tamir Pardo said March 18. If Iran is really behind the hacking of Gantzs telephone, it is completely clear why it was kept secret, he added. As details of this affair unfold, the warning issued at the beginning of January by Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman that a foreign power was trying to meddle in Israels elections is becoming clearer. All signs point to the fact that he was referring to Iran, too (he did not mention country names at the time, so the Israeli media assumed he was referring to Russia). The Israeli media are now recalling the hacking of Hillary Clintons emails during her presidential election campaign in 2016, with suspicion pointing to Russian attempts to interfere in the US elections. The leak about the Gantz phone hack set off a storm at the campaign headquarters of the Blue and White Party. Knowing that personal information about his life was in foreign hands and could be exposed at any moment also presented Gantz with a personal challenge. Although he faced the cameras and declared he was not vulnerable to blackmail, and made it clear in internal meetings that there were no embarrassing video clips on his phone, one does not have to be a body language expert to see the extent of his embarrassment and distress. His party leaders accused Netanyahu of orchestrating the leak. So far, as mentioned, there is no evidence to support the accusation. The party also asked the attorney general to investigate who was behind the leak, hinting that a certain office in Jerusalem [Netanyahus] was to blame. Nonetheless, the leak is not the main issue. There have always been and will always be leaks, especially during an election season. Segal, who came in for attack after his report as though he had acted in Netanyahus service, was forced to react. Given the unusual circumstances and various outlandish conspiracy theories, I state here clearly what I have already hinted at. The source of the story about Benny Gantz was not the prime minister, his close associates or anyone around him, Segal tweeted. Rather than looking for the source of the leak, Blue and White should be pointing its arrows at the ease with which the Iranians can hack the phones of former senior defense officials, and at the man who should have prevented the breach. Netanyahu, for his part, should have resisted temptation and acted circumspectly. Although he probably did not leak the story, he and his associates, as well as senior Likud officials, made sure it did not die, embellishing it with ugly and hurtful innuendo about the information found on Gantzs phone. They forgot that they, too, are vulnerable to such attacks. Israel and Ukraine seem to have excellent diplomatic relations. Ukraine is one of the countries most visited by Israelis, who go on heritage tours and visit the tombs of saints there, like the burial place of the founder of Bratslav Hasidim, Rabbi Nahman, in the city of Uman. But since February, Israel and Ukraine have been waging a vengeful and ruthless war on the backs of tourists from both countries, who are intentionally detained at border crossings, harassed for hours and sometimes even deported back to their countries. The peak of the crisis occurred March 7, when top municipal officials from Kiev were detained at Ben Gurion Airport. Like in any diplomatic battle, there is a gap between the official reasons and the real reasons of a crisis. Officially, Ukraine explains that it is on the eve of an election and is trying to prevent foreign agents especially from Russia from entering its territory at this sensitive time. Since there are more than a million Russian speakers in Israel, Israelis with Russian backgrounds are considered a risk for Kiev. But the real reason has to do with a battle between the two states regarding illegal migration to Israel and asylum requests from Ukrainian citizens, and Ukrainian claims of unfair treatment of their citizens at the Israeli border. In recent years, Israel has dealt with a wave of migrant workers from Ukraine who settled illegally. The phenomenon started in 2010, when under pressure from Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman the government canceled the requirement for entry visas for Ukrainian citizens. After the civil war broke out in Ukraine in 2014 many Ukrainians started submitting asylum requests. According to statistics of the Israeli Immigration and Population Authority, 6,680 Ukrainian citizens submitted asylum requests in 2016. In the same year, 5,700 Ukrainian citizens were suspected of being migrant workers and deported back to their country. In 2017, 7,700 asylum requests were submitted by Ukrainian citizens and 8,453 Ukrainians who arrived at Ben Gurion Airport were returned home. Last year, 1,765 asylum applications were submitted by Ukrainian citizens, and 7,730 Ukrainian citizens were returned to their country. According to estimates by the authorities, about 15,000 migrant workers from Ukraine currently reside in Israel illegally. Many submitted applications for refugee status, which enables them to work in Israel. Not one of the thousands who submitted applications for refugee status is truly a refugee, Attorney Alex Cohen, who has family in Ukraine, told Al-Monitor. "In Ukraine there are regions that are very far from any battles and there is no mortal danger, and one can move there. All of this is an excuse to get residency status in Israel. He said, The whole story is based on dealmakers and human resource companies that find candidates, prepare the asylum applications for them, coordinate their arrival and make a fat buck $1,000 to $2,000 as a broker. A senior official in Israels foreign affairs system told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, There are unpleasant consequences due to the visa waiver for Ukrainian citizens. Aside from migrant labor, we have exposed quite a few sex trafficking networks in recent years. Thus, we have had to deport thousands of people back to their country. The Ukrainians dont like it and they are now taking revenge. The people paying the price are random Israeli tourists. The crisis is still raging and as of now the two sides are sticking to their positions. Anna, an illegal resident from Ukraine, told Al-Monitor about the circumstances of her arrival in Israel. The economic situation in Ukraine is very bad, she said. I lived in Khmelnytskyi province and earned about a dollar an hour there. In Israel I earn $15 an hour cleaning. I left my five-year-old daughter in Ukraine. My husband and I are working very hard here and intend to return to Ukraine in six months and open a yacht rental business in Odessa. To the question of why they chose to work in Israel rather than one of the European Union nations, which also do not require a visa, Anna responded, There are many Russian speakers in Israel and there is a relatively established Russian culture here. On weekends we meet up with friends. There is an experience beyond work. In the Netherlands, for instance, I would be totally lost. Besides the claims of entry restrictions, the two nations accuse each other of mutual humiliation. Israelis who were detained on entry to Ukraine in February claimed that local police humiliated them and they had soldiers shadow them. Ukrainian citizens detained at Ben Gurion Airport two days later claimed they were put in a basement and not given any food. In the local media in Ukraine there is no discussion of the extent of illegal migration to Israel, since it is understood to be an insult to the country. The reports here are that Ukrainian tourists are humiliated in Israel, Rabbi Hillel Cohen, chairman of the Ihud Hatzalah organization in Ukraine, told Al-Monitor. This crisis gives us work 24 hours a day. We established a special help line and we provide kosher food to whoever is stuck at the airport [in Ukraine]. We offer translation and other aid. Cohen noted, The treatment of foreigners in Israel is disgusting. It doesnt matter what, one must not treat a person like an enemy. All of these interrogations and the aggressive manner in which they are carried out its criminal. There is a large population of Ukrainian-born citizens in Israel whose families come to visit them. The whole way [from Ukraine to Israel] they are scared of what officers would do to them at the border. Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Yoel Leon told Al-Monitor, This week I participated in an important meeting with the Ukrainian deputy interior minister, and we are looking into concrete solutions. They also understand that the issue of migration and sex trafficking is a grave problem and I am sure that by talking we could overcome it. I explain to them that our border agents are doing their job and that they are indeed thorough and tough. Thats the way they work with anyone suspected of being a migrant worker. They dont always understand. Al-Monitor has learned that a plan is now being examined by which a representative of the Israeli immigration authority would question those intending to fly to Israel at the airport in Ukraine, like the model in place between the United States and Canada. The only problem is legally authorizing it. The Ukrainian authorities are hesitant about the idea for now for fear of negative local opinion. Israeli sources believe that the ball is now in Ukraines court. As long as they do not comprehend that sex trafficking and migrant labor are not something we would ever tolerate, this crisis will not be resolved, an Israeli source working on this issue told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. ISTANBUL Turkeys diplomatic row with Australia and New Zealand over the deadly shootings at two mosques in Christchurch worsened on Wednesday as Australia summoned the Turkish ambassador over President Recep Tayyip Erdogans remarks about the attack and New Zealand dispatched its foreign minister to confront him. At campaign rallies this week, Erdogan has shown footage filmed by the Australian-born gunman who killed 50 worshippers at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Center on March 15. Separately, the president warned on Monday that Turkey would fend off any hostile Antipodean visitors, some in coffins, like it did their forebears in World War I, if they threatened Turkey. On Wednesday, Erdogans spokesman said those comments were misconstrued. Australia, which sends thousands of tourists each year to visit the battlefields on the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey, issued a travel advisory, warning its citizens to exercise caution in Turkey. Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Erdogans comments reckless and vile and told Ambassador Korhan Karakoc that if Erdogan didn't take back what he said, all options were on the table. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters is traveling to Istanbul on Friday to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul, and Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said he would set the record straight face to face amid worries that Erdogans rhetoric could put New Zealanders in danger. Erdogan will speak at the meeting, but it was not clear whether he or his representatives would meet Peters. The sparring comes as grief-stricken New Zealand begins burying the victims of the worst mass shooting in its history. The rampage shocked much of the world and has focused attention on the global rise of white supremacy and hatred in the West toward Muslims. While Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has received plaudits from around the world for her empathetic handling of the aftermath and her emphasis on reconciliation, Erdogan has suggested her government is not doing enough. If New Zealand fails to hold responsible the groups Erdogan suspects are behind the shooting, he said, then he would, and called on Arderns government to reinstate the death penalty. Erdogan has thrust himself into the discussion surrounding the attack in part because the killers rambling 87-page manifesto posted online included threats on the Turkish leaders life, described Turks as an enemy force and called for re-Christianizing Istanbul. Three Turkish nationals were among the 50 wounded survivors of the attack. The suspected gunman, Brenton Tarrant, traveled multiple times to Turkey, where he spent an extended period of time, a senior Turkish official told Al-Monitor and other reporters after the shooting. Turkish authorities are investigating his movements and contacts here, he said. Erdogans comments about fending off hostile Australians and New Zealanders, made during commemorations at Gallipoli on Monday, were taken out of context, Fahrettin Altun, the presidents communications director, tweeted late on Wednesday. The terrorists manifesto not only targeted Erdogan himself but also the Turkish state. As [Erdogan] was giving the speech at the Cannakale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present, Altun said. In an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Wednesday, Erdogan struck a conciliatory tone, rejecting any attempt to associate last weeks terrorist attacks with the teachings, morals or maxims of Christianity and compared the killers distortion of historical facts with the ideology of the Islamic State. Erdogan has amplified foreign policy disputes in previous campaigns, tapping into deep nationalist sentiment among Turks who nurture historical and current grievances toward countries they believe target their nation. Ahead of a 2017 constitutional referendum that vastly expanded the powers of Erdogans office, he accused Germany and the Netherlands of Nazism for refusing to let his party to campaign among diaspora Turks. Now Erdogan is campaigning for mayoral candidates from his ruling Justice and Development Party in a March 31 nationwide poll and has cast the vote as a matter of Turkeys existential survival in the face of shadowy foreign forces bent on destroying the country. It shows the extent foreign policy is an instrument of domestic politics for Erdogan, who fears that his party might be severely challenged in the coming election, said Soner Cagaptay, the director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Even though Erdogan isnt standing in the election, Cagaptay told Al-Monitor, He has cast the election as a referendum on his popularity. He is running on his image as Turkeys strongman president. The central theme of the election for Erdogans campaign has been the word beka, or existence, this idea that Tukey and Muslims are under threat. This narrative fits nicely into this rhetoric that the terrorist in New Zealand targeted Turkey and Muslims, and Turkey will come to their rescue. Auckland is particularly outraged about Erdogans repeated use of the shooters video at public rallies. It has urged social media platforms to remove the footage from their sites to prevent giving the killer the prominence he sought. Facebook, where the gunman streamed the shooting live, has removed more than 1.5 million videos related to the attack. YouTube has said it has removed tens of thousands of videos and took other steps to stop its spread. Erdogan seems prepared to countenance New Zealands ire, showing the video at a half-dozen of his campaign rallies, even though Turkey has strict censorship rules on media coverage of terrorist attacks on its own soil, Cagaptay noted. He might allow Turkish relations with Australia and New Zealand to crash and just plan to pick them up a year or two down the road, he said. He has decided that nothing is sacred at this point, that whatever helps him win elections, he will do. In the hours after the attack, Erdogan phoned New Zealands Governor-General Patsy Reddy to express his condolences and condemn the attacks in the name of all Muslims. In a video of the phone call posted to Altuns Twitter account, Erdogan urged her to accept the advice of his vice president and foreign minister, who traveled to New Zealand in the wake of the shooting, to ensure that no shadow was cast over New Zealand, the land of freedoms. To date, Turkey has enjoyed warm relations with Australia and New Zealand, and on Monday Erdogan described on how fallen soldiers from opposing sides of the Gallipoli conflict lay side by side beneath Turkish soil. Erdogan often refers to the spirit of the 1915 battle in which an Islamic army beat back invading forces in a final victory in a war the Ottoman Empire would eventually lose. Visitors from New Zealand and Australia, whose ANZAC forces fought here under their own nations flags for the first time since independence, undertake pilgrimages to the battlefields every April to honor the young men who fell there thousands of miles from home. The Atlantic Standardbred Breeders Association has announced the appointment of its new executive director. Debbie Francis was the successful candidate in an extensive search to fill the position and she will assume her new role at the end of April. Debbie comes to us with over 20 years experience in the harness racing industry as an owner and a breeder, said ASBA President Wayne MacRae. The ASBA Board of Directors believes her experience and skill set will be a great asset to the ASBA and the Atlantic Sires Stakes program, MacRae added. Francis graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and she is currently a Councilor for the Municipality of West Hants. Francis is also the newly elected vice president of the Truro Harness Horse Owners Association. Francis resides in Sweets Corner, NS, with her husband Peter and son Gregory, who also shares a passion for the harness racing industry. Over the past 20 years I have followed my dad's lifelong passion for this industry and I am looking forward to working with the Board of Directors and members of the ASBA as I take on this new role in the industry my family has always enjoyed so much, says Francis. Francis will assume the role of executive director at the ASBAs annual general meeting on April 28. The AGM will take place in the Red Shores at Charlottetown Driving Park grandstand at 1 p.m. Francis will take over from outgoing executive director Lynne MacLennan who held the position for the past 11 years. MacLennan has moved on to another position in Cape Breton. The ASBA administers the Atlantic Sires Stakes program, which was formed over 50 years ago to promote the Standardbred horse industry in Atlantic Canada. Today the program showcases the best young horses in the region and offers participants and spectators the finest in harness racing action. (ASBA) The Donald Trump administration has missed another congressional deadline to lay out the US strategy in Yemen, Al-Monitor has learned. The US strategy in the four-year conflict has never been publicly articulated even as the Barack Obama and Trump administrations provided refueling and intelligence support. A reporting requirement was set out in last years defense authorization bill, which called on the Pentagon to detail specific US diplomatic and national security objectives and the costs of American involvement, including the controversial refueling mission terminated in November. The Department of Defense is working with Congress to provide the report," Pentagon spokesperson Rebecca Rebarich told Al-Monitor. The failure to respond on time is likely to frustrate lawmakers in the wake of another legislative rebuke to US involvement. Last week, the Senate voted to curtail US war powers in Yemen, a move that would cut off American intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition. After the United States stopped refueling coalition aircraft in November, the Pentagon has focused on providing intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition and assisting with no-strike lists. A senior Pentagon official had pledged to deliver the strategy report at the beginning of March after failing to meet a Feb. 1 deadline mandated by law. In recent months, the Trump administration has disregarded several certification requirements from Congress. In February, the State Department refused to say whether the Saudi-led force had reduced civilian casualties in the Yemeni conflict. And the White House failed to respond to lawmakers query about whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administrations failure to check the king-in-waitings war in Yemen and Riyadhs increasingly ambitious foreign policy has led Congress and experts to call for the White House to re-evaluate ties with Saudi Arabia. We know who this guy is, we know what hes capable of, and treating him like hes an ally or a reliable partner is totally untenable, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former US Agency for International Development director during the Obama administration. In the absence of a formal declaration of strategy, US policy on Yemen remains unclear. State Department officials including special representative for Iran Brian Hook have focused on Iranian support for the Houthis while showcasing weapons seized in Yemen that were allegedly smuggled into the country by Iran. Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis instead called for the United States to step up the pressure on Islamist groups and press for the UN-led effort to end the war. Just days before leaving office in December, Mattis made a whirlwind round of calls to the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help clinch a cease-fire deal in Stockholm to stave off famine. Since then, the Pentagon has continued to insist that the counterterrorism fight against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State is the top US priority in the conflict. As you know, our top national security interest in Yemen is defeating al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS-Yemen, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Kathryn Wheelbarger wrote in a letter sent to Senate Armed Services chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. But the Pentagons decision to pass up the strategy deadline also highlights turnover at the highest levels of Middle East policy-making. The Pentagons top policy official, John Rood, now in charge of Yemen talks for the department, has spent his career focused on missile defense. On Capitol Hill, new Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, defended the Trump administration after it ignored the Khashoggi reporting requirement. Former US officials told Al-Monitor in January that Mattis departure risked a void in US policy on Yemen. And staffing issues across the Defense and State Departments have left experts concerned that there arent enough knowledgeable officials left to manage the complex conflict. Were completely handicapped, said Dave Harden, a former assistant administrator for the US Agency for International Development. If you have a serious team thats highly empowered and sufficiently capable, you can shape issues that come in below the [secretary] level that contribute to a positive or negative trajectory." With the Pentagon barred from resuming refueling to the Saudi-led coalition after failing to provide a report on civilian casualties, experts say US strategy needs to expand beyond the military component. The US intelligence communitys latest annual Worldwide Threat Assessment released in January determined that neither the Saudi-led coalition nor the Iran-backed Houthis seems prepared for the kind of compromise needed to end the fighting. The evaluation suggested that the humanitarian crisis will only get worse in Yemen, where nearly 16 million people already face food insecurity. I think Iran views the Yemen conflict much the way that the US viewed the Afghanistan conflict for the Soviets. Its a way to keep their adversary bogged down and bleeding, Konyndyk said. They can keep the Saudis tied up in an unwinnable war thats doing immense damage to their reputation at a limited cost. Meanwhile, the Pentagon still has to convince lawmakers that it will get US taxpayer money back from the terminated refueling mission. Testifying in Congress earlier this month, departing US Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel took responsibility for bypassing the Pentagons well-developed protocols and procedures to recoup $331 million in refueling and flying hour costs. He said he expects the Saudi-led coalition to begin payments later this year. Russia celebrated on March 18 the fifth anniversary of what Moscow considers the return of Crimea to the fatherland and what most other nations see as annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine. Over its five years under Russian rule, Crimea has come to play an important role for Russian foreign activities, including as a hosting venue for international events. One such event, the fifth Yalta International Economic Forum, is scheduled for April 17-21. The program of the forum initially featured none other than Bashar al-Assad himself a rare occasion of foreign travel by the Syrian president being announced months ahead of time. Later, however, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said that Assad would likely be unable to attend the forum. Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Vershinin commented that Syrian partners have already taken a major, substantial part in the last event, and the level at which the country will be represented again is still up to the president of Syria personally. Considering Russia's soft tone, Assads decision would have drawn hardly any attention if it hadnt been for months of PR activity in the Russian media and blogosphere. Back in October, Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov, leading the regions delegation in Damascus, had personally invitated the Syrian president to the forum. Three months later, Dmitry Belik, the representative of Sevastopol in the Russian legislature who had been a member of that delegation, announced that Assad had expressed his wish to visit Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. According to Dmitry Sablin, the coordinator of the committee on Russian-Syrian parliamentary relations, while hosting the delegation from Crimea, Assad remarked that in 2017 his children had spent a vacation in Artek, an international childrens summer camp in Crimea. They found new friends in Russia and are still keeping in touch with them. Moreover, I would also like to visit Crimea, he told the delegation. In mid-February, Andrey Nazarov, co-chairman of the Business Russia forum, a public organization bringing together large and medium-sized companies, and co-chair of the organizing committee of the Yalta Forum assured the press that the list of distinguished participants would include both a Syrian delegation led by Assad and a French delegation led by politician Marine Le Pen. Sergei Aksenov had invited him during our visit to Syria and received a confirmation, said Nazarov several days before the Syrian ambassador expressed his doubts about the trip. According to French Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Le Pen also refused to take part in the forum as a distinguished guest, presumably due to reluctance to debate Crimeas territorial status in advance of the European Parliament elections scheduled for May. Local and federal authorities promote the Yalta International Economic Forum as an annual world business event. Founded in 2015, it is included among Russia's major economic venues together with the Saint Petersburg, Eastern Economic Forums and the Russian Investments Forum in Sochi. The summit is overseen by the presidential administration of Russia. Its growing every year, due an increasing participation of Russians and internationals. Foreign newcomers usually include right-wing European populists and Asian and African delegations. The last forum was quite productive in regard to Syrian issues. The 2018 venue dedicated a session to discussing the post-conflict economic reconstruction in the Arab country that produced more than 70 agreements and memorandums amounting to $2.4 billion, including $948 million as a sum involved in Crimean-Syrian cooperation. However, upon close examination, the deals seem to lack practical value. Disregarding blatantly nonviable Syrian investment projects in Crimea (such as building a hotel there), as this destination will obviously be unable to successfully compete in the medium term with Russias Sochi area and Turkish resorts, significant topics included logistical partnership between the Russian and Syrian port cities of Sevastopol and Tartus. The parties also discussed the future of a joint shipping company that is supposed to assist in commodity transportation: Sevastopol ships construction materials, grain and vehicles to Syria, while Tartus sends fruits and vegetables to Russia. However, this cooperation faces many challenges that require real efforts by both sides and will persist as long as the visits of certain politicians and activists continue to be used as a way to demonstrate substantial international support for lifting "illegal sanctions" off Russia. Al-Monitor has already reported on several cases where the fruit supplied to Russia was overripe and unfit for retail sale due to mistakes in storage and transportation made by the Syrian staff. Losing arable land in the course of the civil war, Syria, previously an exporter of grain (around 1.5 million tons a year before the conflict), became an importer. However, the history of cooperation with Russia in this field is shadowy. Previously, Syria had canceled a deal to buy 1 million tons of Russian wheat, though later, the sides successfully concluded a contract for a supply of three million tons in the next three years. Payment terms were not disclosed. The Russian Kommersant newspaper reported that in 2017, 105.6 tons of grain were exported from Crimea to Syria. Since 2018, the trade has amounted to 68.9 tons, meaning that the commodities are transported from other Russian ports. The suppliers are secretive about the details in an effort to avoid sanctions. As far as the shipping company is concerned, Morskaya Direktsiya (Sea Management Ltd), which used to operate the Kerch ferry service, eyed filling the niche. Yet now that the Kerch Bridge services the freight and passenger routes, the company has turned its attention to other services. Hence it is difficult to understand whether Assads announcement of an intended visit to Crimea was made for valid reasons or a populist gesture by regional authorities and an effort by the Syrian president to be polite. As Assad is basically barred from foreign trips, a tight schedule and security concerns are not valid excuses. Undoubtedly, his participation in the Yalta Forum would have been merely symbolic, considering the lack of practical benefits. Moreover, he would have been obliged to sign new framework agreements while older ones are not yet fully implemented. However, attending the first official summit, even in the territory Syria considers Russian, would have allowed the government to rebuke allegations that Assad only pays confidential visits to Russia and Iran. As a result, the refusal has stirred political suspicions about the politician who failed to preserve his countrys sovereignty avoiding visiting the territory absorbed with the assistance of little green men as well as controversy between Russia and Iran. AL-OMAR OIL FIELD, Syria After a bloody and protracted five-year war, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US-led coalition are on the verge of declaring victory against the Islamic State after the fall of its last crumbs of territory in Baghuz. With Islamic State cells continuing to operate to deadly effect in Syria and neighboring Iraq, it's too early to say "mission accomplished," cautioned Mazlum Kobane, the commander in chief of the SDF, in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor March 10 at a heavily guarded complex near al-Omar oil field in eastern Syria. The charismatic 50-year-old Syrian Kurd, whom coalition officials address as general, is seen as one of the chief architects of the battle against the jihadis. US diplomats and officers of all ranks who have worked with him for the past four and a half years are full of praise for Kobane, whose nom de guerre was Sahin Cilo when he was a militant in the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for Kurdish independence, and now autonomy, since 1984, is on the US State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Turkey likes to remind Washington of this irony, and it's the reason why Kobane is unlikely to be rewarded for his prowess on US soil anytime soon. His real name is Ferhat Abdi Sahin and he is on Turkey's list of most wanted terrorists. Kobane is from the Syrian border town of Kobani, where imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan fled to from Turkey in 1979. Ocalan was Kobane's early mentor, and a photo posted online of the pair, bathing together in the Euphrates River, is viewed as proof of their closeness. Erect and unflappable, Kobane surrounds himself with fellow natives of Kobani. It's not surprising. He survived several assassination attempts, including, Syrian Kurdish officials claim, a Turkish airstrike on Mount Karachok that allegedly targeted him. While Kobane denies being part of the PKK, there is little doubt he is an adherent of the broader Ocalan-inspired Kurdish political network. Yet his four years at the helm of the SDF, in alliance with Arab tribes and rubbing shoulders with the Americans, places him in a unique position one that does not sit easy with his movements culture of punishing prominence so that Ocalan, alone, shines. Washington is not making Kobanes life any easier by demanding he appease Turkey with no long-term commitment in return. At the same time, the United States has warned the SDF against its best alternate plan, that is, negotiating with the Bashar al-Assad regime. Striking an uncharacteristically defiant tone at times, Kobane touched upon all of these issues in an hourlong interview in Turkish. The following is a transcript of the interview, edited for clarity. Al-Monitor: During our first interview in September 2017, you made a very interesting observation. You said that after the United States intervened here, your relations with Turkey went downhill. Kobane: Yes, thats true. Al-Monitor: Your relations with Turkey have deteriorated even further since then. The Turkish army has occupied Afrin. Kobane: True. Al-Monitor: At the same time, you made a second very interesting observation. You said that "America told us that at the end of the day, you are a part of Syria and you need to strike a deal with the regime.'" That was former US presidential envoy Brett McGurks policy, correct? Kobane: That is true, too. Al-Monitor: But as of now, the Trump administration is advocating the exact opposite. It is telling you not to deal with the regime. Kobane: Indeed, that is their current policy. Thats what American diplomats tell us. They do not view talks with the regime as a priority and want us to not rush. But we are ultimately part of Syria. We do not wish to separate from Syria. If there is to be a lasting solution for this region it needs to be with Damascus. Negotiations with the regime are inevitable. And these need to happen. Al-Monitor: And it looks like the regime is here to stay? Kobane: The United States is not interested in regime change. They say change needs to come through the electoral process. We, too, want governments in Syria to be democratically elected. We will respect whichever government is democratically elected to lead Syria because we are a part of Syria. This may seem far-fetched for now, but sooner or later it will come to pass. Al-Monitor: When the United States tells you not to hurry talks with the regime, what justification do they present for this? Kobane: To be fair, some of their concerns are justified. We need to evaluate the situation from a broader perspective. They are opposed to any changes that would affect the military balance in the areas that are currently under our authority together with the US-led coalition. Because if any such changes were to happen [the deployment of regime troops into the said areas] this will affect them adversely. And we share their view. We are telling Russians and Damascus that before any military changes in this area, there needs to be a political settlement first. We are telling them that once we have a political deal in place then some changes can be effected on the ground. But there cannot be any changes in the field until such time. Al-Monitor: The Trump administrations other concern is Irans influence. They say they will maintain a military presence in Syria until all Iranian forces withdraw. Do you find this policy realistic? Are you prepared to help the United States in this regard? Kobane: We have a unique position. We control various territories. We are part of Syria. We desire a solution. We are opposed to any foreign intervention. And that includes Iran. We have always been opposed to Irans intervention in our territories. They made several attempts to intervene even before the Americans came and we prevented them. If they try to intervene again we will prevent them from doing so yet again. Al-Monitor: The United States keeps flip-flopping, saying it will remain indefinitely in Syria only for President Trump to say he is withdrawing all US forces and then back again to saying US forces will remain, albeit in smaller numbers, 400 troops, they say. Dont you find this confusing? Does it not erode your faith in the Americans? Kobane: We ultimately rely on our own strength. Before the United States came to Syria we were fending for ourselves. We were fighting. And in the long term that is how things will be. Us fending for ourselves. But of course, the United States' decision to fully withdraw was premature and of a kind that would have upended balances in Syria. But it seems as if they are staying now. Al-Monitor: Do you really believe they will? Kobane: Lets say we would like to believe so. In the end, the United States will act in line with its own interests. But an ill-planned withdrawal would harm its interests. So, it seems that they are staying at the present. Al-Monitor: Theres also a lot of talk of establishing a safe zone. The United States was hoping its European allies would commit forces to a safe zone. But they have displayed little interest in this. Kobane: That is true. Before the United States came to Syria we were fending for ourselves. We were fighting. And in the long term that is how things will be. Us fending for ourselves. Al-Monitor: At the same time, there is the Turkey factor. We hear that the State Department and especially the new Syria envoy, Jim Jeffrey, and his team are piling a lot of pressure on you to take steps that would appease Turkey, particularly concerning Manbij. Yet, while making multiple demands of you on behalf of Turkey, what are the Americans promising you in return? How are they supposed to guarantee your security with 400 troops? What is more, they refuse to establish political ties with the Syrian Kurdish-led administration. Isnt this a worry? Kobane: The 400 figure is certainly insufficient for the coalition to fulfill its mission here. We told them so. I believe the Pentagon shares our view on this. They need to increase the numbers. As for Turkey, it is not in our interest to go to war with Turkey. We do not wish to fight Turkey. That has been our position from the outset. Turkey has been the aggressive party and remains so. They attacked us in Afrin. They continually harass us. We ask that Turkey end its aggressive stance. If the United States current efforts in its dialogue with Turkey help secure this outcome, and prevent Turkish attacks and convince Turkey to end these attacks, then that would obviously be good for us. We support such efforts. Al-Monitor: Are you saying that Turkey no longer attacking you is a satisfactory outcome in and of itself? How sustainable is your current status, with the United States refusing to engage with you politically and shrinking its military presence? Do you believe that the United States will remain in Syria indefinitely solely to protect the Kurds? After all, however much it values relations with the SDF, it also places a high premium on its relations with its NATO ally Turkey, despite all the tensions between them. Kobane: I agree. And if all these efforts, this process, fails to deliver a positive outcome, a diplomatic deal, this would obviously not be satisfactory from our point of view. It will amount to a quick fix, stopgap approach. Thats for the Turkey part. Then theres the matter of reaching a political settlement with the regime. The international community is trying to find a solution. The United Nations-led Geneva peace talks, the Sochi talks and the Astana process. But until the present, due to Turkeys veto, we are being excluded from all these talks. This is wrong and the United States bears responsibility toward us in this respect. If the United States really wanted to, it could bring pressure to bear and get us included in the talks. Turkey and [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan have their own style of balancing relations. In truth they are imitating us by maintaining relations with the Americans on the one hand while dealing with the Russians on the other. Al-Monitor: What is happening with the Manbij road map? Do you believe Turkey will ease pressure on this issue after the March 31 municipal elections? Kobane: Manbij is a very complex issue. Before its liberation from the Islamic State, there was an agreement between all the sides, between the coalition, Ankara, the Manbij Military Council and the SDF. We came together and made a deal. We did not create facts on the ground in Manbij. As the SDF, we believe we have fulfilled all of our pledges. We had some advisers there still. We pulled them out as well. During the past two weeks there were ongoing negotiations between the United States and Turkey regarding the composition of the Manbij Military Council. Turkey was presented with a list of 171 vetted names from the Manbij Military Council and the Manbij Legislative Council. The last I heard, Turkey had rejected 10 names from that list on the grounds that they did not meet their criteria. So they, too, were removed from the list. Al-Monitor: What are the criteria? Kobane: There was nothing wrong with those names in our view. Turkey is constantly coming up with new demands, new excuses. Their criteria are that council members must be born in Manbij. We accepted this demand. There is nothing left for us to do. Al-Monitor: In any case, it seems Turkey would like to move its forces and its Free Syria Army allies into Manbij and only then will it feel secure. Kobane: Not only Manbij, its no cakewalk coming into the lands east of the Euphrates. Any such intervention would unleash a big war. In fact, it would unleash the second great war in Syria. That is what we say and believe. And we have prepared for one. Its not easy. This isnt Afrin. Its a large area and there are many forces. And the intersection of international interests is different here. In Afrin, Turkey did a deal with the Russians. The Americans sat on their hands. Everyone is interested in this region. There are Russians in part of Manbij, in Arima. If Turkey intervenes, everyone will intervene. The situation will get extremely complicated. Turkey failed to get the green light from anybody to intervene here so far and will fail to do so in the future. But as I told you earlier, we are not in favor of any war with Turkey. After eight years of war in Syria, we want peace. Any such [Turkish] intervention would unleash a big war. In fact, it would unleash the second great war in Syria. That is what we say and believe. And we have prepared for one. Al-Monitor: From an outsiders perspective it seems almost impossible for you to juggle all these competing forces and interests. You are physically with the Americans. You cooperate, coordinate with them on a daily basis. You have made it clear that you want the Americans to stay on. For some, you have come to be identified with the Americans. At the same time you have distinguished yourself, won individual prominence with your success against the Islamic State. It is said that this has a created some level of discomfort within certain circles. Indeed, there is talk of your being assigned to a new post once Baghuz falls and victory against the Islamic State is declared. Would you care to comment on any of this? Can we say that your primary loyalty is to, and your primary identification is with the Abdullah Ocalan-led Kurdish political movement? Kobane: What matters to us is as follows. Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan] is a part of Kurdistan. But our work here as part of the SDF forces is being carried out in an area that exceeds the boundaries of Rojava. We have Arab allies. A third of Syrian territory is under our control. This area has its own distinct identity with Arabs, Kurds and Circassians, etc. As the SDF, half of our forces are Arab, the other half are Kurdish. The administration is the same [half Arab, half Kurdish]. Abdullah Ocalan is the leader of the Kurdish freedom movement and he lived for 20 years in Rojava. The Kurds here and even the Arabs came to know him then. They worked together. He has contributed to this area. In other words, he is a well-known figure here. And there is tremendous attachment to him on the part of the people. Especially from the Kurds, but you can be sure from certain Arabs as well. This attachment to Ocalan continues till this day. Al-Monitor: Does yours? Kobane: Yes, everybodys does. All of the Kurds does. There is no problem here. But what we find malicious is Turkeys claim that everything here is being run by the PKK. This is not true. If Turkey continues to attack this area it is because of its inability to deal with the Kurdish movement in Turkey, because of its failure to address the Kurdish reality. It's 100% because of this. Turkish hostility has nothing to do, as it claims, with our alleged links to another group. Turkey does not wish to solve the Kurdish problem. It wants to eliminate the Kurds. It says so openly. The biggest part of the Kurdish movement is inside Turkey. But Turkey is not just opposed to the Kurdish movement within Turkey and here. It opposed the 2017 referendum on Kurdish independence in Iraqi Kurdistan. As for your other claims [a possible reassignment and unease with his alleged pro-American stance] they are baseless. Perhaps someone is spreading such rumors on purpose. I dont know. Al-Monitor: What if Ocalans isolation by Turkish authorities were to end and he was allowed to resume communication with the outside world and told you to end your alliance with the Americans because the cost had begun to outstrip the benefits? Would you obey him? Kobane: I dont believe he would ever say that. It would be wrong to speculate on something he would never say. Al-Monitor: In the published minutes of the meeting between Ocalan and Kurdish lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party at his island prison, when the peace process between the state and the PKK was still ongoing, it is mentioned that you personally met with Turkish officials here in Syria. Is that true? Kobane: Yes, when the peace process was still ongoing in 2013, 2014 and in 2015, we had meetings. Al-Monitor: With whom? Kobane: With members of [Turkeys National Intelligence Organization] MIT. We mainly focused on border security issues. Al-Monitor: Do you mean protecting your common borders against the Islamic State? Kobane: No. Turkeys relations with the Islamic State were always good. In fact, during one of our meetings, the Turkish officials told us that [the Islamic State] had complained to them that Turkey had not done enough to undermine and block the YPG [People's Protection Units] during their siege of Kobani. You can write this. Al-Monitor: Did you discuss the operation to move Suleiman Shahs tomb to Esme at all? Kobane: No, the Turkish officers met with our comrades in Kobani. Not with me. They coordinated. We provided their convoy with escorts. Turkish forces came and relocated Suleiman Shahs remains. Al-Monitor: Getting back to the Americans, it really sounds like you want them to stay. Kobane: Yes, sustaining our relationship with the Americans is to our benefit and that of the people. But naturally we continue to criticize the United States for failing to establish political relations with us. And it's not doing enough to pressure Turkey on this point. If it wanted to, the United States could include the territory east of the Euphrates as part of any political settlement [with the regime] in the course of the Geneva talks. But also, let's not forget, the battle on the ground against the Islamic State is continuing. The battle will be won, but the war against the Islamic State will continue. In that respect, its to our advantage that coalition forces remain here. Al-Monitor: What exactly are you demanding of the Americans? Kobane: We have four concrete demands. One is that the coalitions support in the war against the Islamic State continues until the Islamic State is 100% destroyed and eliminated. And its clearly in our interest that coalition forces remain until we reach a settlement with the regime. And again the same applies for Turkey. They need to remain here until we fix our problems with Turkey. And we must take part in the UN-led negotiations for a comprehensive peace settlement in Syria. We dont solely seek the United States support for this, but all of the coalition members support. Al-Monitor: But a growing number of Arab tribes are urging you to make a deal with the regime, saying you must do so now and to ignore the Americans. They say they themselves are ready to shake hands with Assad. If the Arab tribes you are allied with all cut their separate deals with the regime, and several already have, wont you be isolated? Kobane: We need to make a deal with the regime, for sure. But it needs to be in alliance with the Arabs within the framework of a united Syria. The regime now talks about reconciliation. First of all, we did not go to war with the regime. The regime pulled out of these territories and was unable to defend them. So we defended them. Given that there is no enmity between the regime and ourselves, there is no need for us to reconcile with the regime. What needs to be agreed between the regime and us is the matter of our legitimate demands. Al-Monitor: What are your demands? Kobane: We have two principal demands. One is that our autonomous administrations here be preserved and accorded legal status. The second is that the SDF be preserved. The security of the territory east of the Euphrates River should be left to the SDF. These are our red lines. We are willing to engage in all kinds of negotiations with the regime on this basis. Al-Monitor: Given that the Americans refuse all contact with the regime, it would appear that you need the Russians as guarantors of any such arrangement. Kobane: It goes without saying that Russia has a critical role to play in resolving the Syrian crisis. Without Russia, no lasting solution can be reached. Russia can pressure the Syrian regime to solve the Kurdish problem. And our talks with Russia are continuing on this score. But the Russians played an adverse role in Afrin. Russia opened Syrian airspace over Afrin to the Turkish air force and withdrew its own forces from Afrin. This led to a breach of confidence with the Kurdish people. Russia needs to redress its mistake in Afrin if the wounds are to be healed. Al-Monitor: Are you personally in touch with the regime? Kobane: No, I am not, but our comrades are. Our political delegations are meeting. We always were in dialogue with the regime. In fact, actual negotiations started but they are now deadlocked. We are very clear. We presented them with a road map. And if they refuse to accept our demands, even if we are left on our own, even if the coalition withdraws, we will fight. We will fight to the death for our rights. TAL AFAR, Iraq Along a strategic road linking Mosul to Syria and near Sinjar in northern Iraq, the predominantly Turkmen city of Tal Afar has seen relatively few of its inhabitants return over a year and a half after liberation from the Islamic State (IS). The former Ottoman stronghold with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000 and near both a vast desert and mountains containing IS tunnels upon which airstrikes continue to be conducted has for years been a source of tension between Iran and Turkey. Turkey was staunchly against any involvement in the city of the Shiite-led Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) during the anti-IS campaign, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning, "Tal Afar is a very sensitive issue for us." Many of the PMU have close ties to Iran. When it became clear that the PMU would, in fact, be the main forces involved in retaking the city in mid-2017, some Turkish media claimed the city would become a corridor for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkey has recently said Iran will collaborate in joint operations against the PKK. Whether Iran, which has also conducted operations against a PKK affiliate in its northwest, will actually do so has been questioned. Similar announcements have been made several times in previous years. On March 17, the Iraqi military reportedly suffered casualties and clashed with PKK fighters after refusing to let them through a checkpoint without security clearances near Sinjar, where there are local armed groups trained by the PKK. The PKK is also closely allied with the People's Protection Units, which leads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on the other side of the border. Tal Afar was an al-Qaeda stronghold in the post-2003 period and is the native area of many IS fighters and judges. The city had a Sunni Turkmen majority prior to 2014 but a significant number of Shiite Turkmens as well, with Turkmens being the primary language of both. Tal Afar enjoys "very good security" now, Mayor Qassem Mohammed al-Sayyid Wahab told Al-Monitor in an interview at his office Feb. 20. But only about "22% of the approximately 300,000 inhabitants have returned," he noted, for "various reasons." Al-Monitor was required to get express permission from the Ninevah Operations Command, contact a PMU in the city and spend a significant amount of time at an army checkpoint while waiting for additional permissions before being allowed to enter the city. Sheikh Mohammad Nasser al-Bayati, a Tal Afar native working with al-Abbas Combat Division of the PMU, stridently railed against "external meddling" in the region in an interview in Tal Afar with Al-Monitor on Feb. 20. "We need support, not outside interference," he repeatedly stressed. On a major joint anti-IS operation in nearby mountains two days before that included coalition airstrikes and ground troops, Bayati said they were part of "ongoing operations." He added, "We are keeping our activities out of the media. It's better. The media doesn't help against IS." Bayati said that in addition to in Tal Afar, al-Abbas Combat Division had forces in Nukhaib, Samarra, Karbala, Diyala, Bashir and Sinjar. He had been studying in a Shiite seminary in the south when Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued the 2014 fatwa calling on citizens to fight IS. At that point, he joined al-Abbas Combat Division, he said. Roughly a month and a half after Mosul was retaken by Iraqi forces, the PMU which had meanwhile surrounded IS-held Tal Afar were at the forefront of liberating it on Aug. 31 after only a few days of fighting. They have remained in and around the city ever since. They claim their bases are outside the center with only the police bearing responsibility for security inside it. Offices with PMU logos can be seen throughout the city, however. PMU flags, posters extolling the "martyrs" of the Shiite-led PMU and "Ya Hussein" banners adorn the entrance to Tal Afar. The relatively limited destruction wrought by the fighting has been credited to an escape corridor reportedly planned by the military so as to allow IS fighters to flee to the desert. Peshmerga forces later arrested hundreds. Damage seen in the city is mostly from IS, locals noted, such as an enormous destroyed minaret of a Shiite mosque that lies on the ground now being climbed over by children going to the market and a small cemetery of a Shiite-majority tribe that had headstones knocked over and blown up. Down the road is a damaged Sunni mosque that is closed now, Bayati told Al-Monitor, with a black flag flying from its soaring minaret. It has been padlocked and bears a large hole in it from the fighting. Mayor Sayyid Wahab, a Shiite Turkmen, told Al-Monitor he had been an officer under Saddam Hussein until 1992. Then he turned his energies toward other pursuits until the post-2003 period, when initially he was part of the anti-US resistance which was a "duty at that time for everyone" until he saw that ''targeting US vehicles ended up resulting in civilian deaths." The anti-US resistance shortly thereafter became a part of al-Qaeda in Iraq, he noted. Bayati, the mayor and other locals spoke about the importance of rebuilding the city's citadel, which was "the pride of the city," as well as repairing the road to Mosul, which was damaged by the fighting. Meanwhile, the mayor said that officials have gone to camps occupied by internally displaced persons to encourage Tal Afar natives to return to their homes. Bayati warned, however, that it was "better if IS relatives don't return." He claimed that there was an agreement with the central government that the "fathers, brothers and sons of IS members cannot return." "If we let [male relatives] come back," he said angrily, ''they will get instructions from Turkey [implying that IS members are hiding in Turkey] to plant bombs and [other improvised explosive devices], and they will be "threatened if they don't" due to strong family ties. In the lead-up to its liberation from IS, many analysts warned that Tal Afar could be at significant risk of sectarian violence in the post-war period. For the time being, this does not seem to have ensued. But it does remain a strategically located city with a checkered past and with less than a quarter of its population back home. The Christchurch attack in New Zealand that killed 50 people has provided fresh ammunition to Recep Tayyip Erdogans campaign trail to lash out at Islamophobia days before the March 31 local elections, which Erdogan portrays as a matter of survival." But it has also stirred tensions between Turkey and a grieving New Zealand that is trying to handle the situation sensibly. The attacker an Australian citizen livestreamed the attacks with a head-mounted camera. Social media companies have been working diligently to remove the footage of the terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan played the videos over and over during his televised rallies. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that dissemination of the video could endanger his country and that he had shared his concerns with the Turkish delegation. At a Gaziantep rally, Erdogan asked the audience if they had watched the live feed of the attack. This murderer published a manifesto where he targets all Muslims, along with our country and myself. He says we should not cross to the west side of the Bosporus, or he would come and kill us all and remove the minarets of the Hagia Sophia. Erdogan told the crowd three Turkish citizens were wounded in the attack and that he had spoken to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Erdogan used several slangs to ridicule the shooter, and then he asked his audience to stand in solidarity against the enemies of Turkey and Islam. Thereafter, all pro-government channels used the subtitle "Islam and Turkeys Enemy Terrorist" when reporting the news about the New Zealand mosque shootings. Within hours first on social media and then on television images of the assailants guns and magazines appeared. The writings on these were analyzed promptly and in detail by Sabah daily and discussed angrily on television shows. Turkofagos a Greek word literally translated in English as Turk Eater, a nickname used for Greek revolutionary Nikitaras during the Greek Revolution and 1821 War of Independence garnered much attention. The attacker's words on Hagia Sophia and Erdogans name on the to be killed list hit a nerve in Turkey. Yet the Erdogan campaign's way of handling it all has been rather bizarre and dangerous. The attack happened 15 days before local elections in Turkey. Erdogans campaign has been built on survival and desperate attempts for public displays of infatuation with the president. Different candidates have also made ridiculed attempts at invoking Islamic values, even going to the extreme to promise voters a place in heaven if they vote for the AKP. Yet not even senior AKP bureaucrats imagined that Erdogan would use the attacker's own footage of the atrocity for his campaign. Erdogan told his audience, Brothers, now I want to take you to New Zealand. Lets look at the screen. It is beneficial for us to watch these. Then he started showing the edited version of the shooters video to garner support from his Islamist and nationalist base. His audience both at the rallies and at home watching television included minors. How can such acts of violence be displayed by the president in a country where even wine glasses and cigarettes are blurred onscreen to protect the morals and the minors through the vigilant screening of Turkeys official broadcasting watchdog, RTUK? But the gruesome mosque attacks in New Zealand recorded by the terrorist to help spread his message can be repeatedly shown to crowds by the president? The repeated words of leaders frequently have consequences. This election has seen intensified demonization of members of all opposition parties as well as different social groups such as Kurds, leftists and secularists, which contributes to further political polarization and inspires violent acts. All terror groups feed on this polarization, and they act to worsen it. By turning the terrorists propaganda images into its own election material, the Erdogan campaign may help ignite further hatred and anger among masses; it also normalizes violence while advocating revenge. Erdogan played the footage with blurred images of the attack at several rallies March 15-17; he also added an edited video of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party. Erdogans words put Kilicdaroglu on the same level with Fraser Anning, a controversial Australian senator who is blaming Muslim immigration for the New Zealand mosque attacks. Erdogan lashed out at Kilicdaroglu, asking, What different are you from that Australian senator? After an angry rant when the audience was booing Kilicdaroglus image on the screen at Erdogans rally Erdogan repeated that Kilicdaroglu was working with the terrorists. Erdogan has been struggling to make any credible promises during Turkey's recessionary economy, yet he has continued to rally based on fear-mongering and attacking opponents for not being patriotic or Muslim enough. This has become another tool for Erdogan to stir up popular feeling and play brave defender of the country. Erdogan not only directed his anger toward the opposition but also against the non-Muslim world. Explaining the variety of terrorist attacks all around the world, he said, If the assailant is Muslim, then the attack is labeled as Islamic terror. If the attacker is from another religion, the event will not pass the level of criminal incident and will be taken out of public view. Up until now, did you ever hear of Christian terror, Jewish terror, Buddhist terror or atheist terror? Erdogan also mentioned that the terrorist had spent several weeks in Turkey, and the Turkish National Intelligence Agency and the police were investigating where he had been and what he had done. Sources close to the Palace told Al-Monitor to expect sensational leaks to the press before the election. The attention on this matter has to be kept alive because it finally gave the AKP base the boost it needed for the ballot box. Erdogan has built his divisive rhetoric on identity, which by definition is exclusionary. A Turkish diplomat with over a decade of service in EU countries told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity, Since 2007, the AKP has expanded connections with the Turkish diaspora in Europe. Diyanet [the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate], student groups or gangs all have become useful tools for the AKPs expanding voter base here over the years for elections. The diplomat added, There is a way to form a healthy diaspora that is well-integrated into the host society so that, by the second or third generation, they help form better relations between their new and old countries. Yes, anti-immigrant and white supremacist movements are on the rise, but reacting to them with the same identity argument is not the best way." Turkey, which is badly pressed to fulfill the commitments it made to Russia during the Sochi negotiations on Syria, and to the local opposition to the Syrian regime, which it promised to protect at Idlib, is now trying to find a way to extricate itself from being stuck between Russia and the Syrian rebels. When Turkeys campaign to create a buffer zone east of the Euphrates River did not work out, Russia succeeded in dragging Turkey back to the Idlib agenda. On March 3-4, Russia and Turkey signed a new accord to follow up on the issues discussed during the Iran, Russia and Turkey summit Feb. 14 in Sochi. The new text introduced some interesting points. On March 8, Russian forces patrolled on one side of the buffer boundary as Turkish troops patrolled the other. Turkish troops accompanied by militants of the Muslim Brotherhood-associated Failaq al-Sham patrolled at Kfar Lusin and Dana, north of Idlib; Atarib, west of Aleppo; and Kammari, Karater and Al Iss, southwest of Aleppo. When Turkish troops were deployed south of Aleppo to work on reopening the Aleppo-Damascus highway, it attracted attention. Of course, one swift move was not enough to open the road. Russia reported that the air base in Khmeimim, Syria, where its aerial assets are stationed, was attacked by drones and said it counterattacked the arms arsenals of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on March 13 in coordination with Turkey. Turkish military sources, however, denied any collaboration. The alleged green light by Turkey upset the local pro-Turkey opposition as well as supporters of the Syria revolution in Turkey. A joint communique issued by 67 organizations in Syria called on Russia and Turkey to respect the cease-fire. It said 90 civilians were killed and 300 were wounded last month alone, and asked for support for a political solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The steps Russia has taken so far show that Turkey probably will not be able to avoid fulfilling its commitments, but the situation also raises the question of whether Turkey is actually subscribing to the Russian operational plan that will put Idlib under the control of the Syrian regime army. The accord signed Sept. 17 in Sochi tasked Turkey with an impossible mission: establish a demilitarized zone of 15-20 kilometers (10-13 miles) to separate regime forces from armed groups; force all radical terrorist groups to withdraw from the demilitarized zone by Oct. 15; have all heavy weapons such as tanks, multiple-rocket launchers, artillery and mortars removed from the area; and secure and open the M4 Aleppo-Latakia and M5 Aleppo-Hama highways. Although Turkey managed to get some heavy weapons removed from the demilitarized zone to save face, other conditions weren't implemented. To the contrary, HTS was able to crush the Turkey-supported groups. This is why the partners in the Astana peace process, which were hoping to eliminate HTS as a terror organization, ended up watching HTS take control of 90% of Idlib and sideline Turkey in early January. Russia kept up some pressure with facile statements that Turkey is working on it, but the accord has not been fully implemented. Nevertheless, Russia opted not to disrupt its ties with Ankara for a variety of reasons. Meanwhile, Turkey was engaged in efforts to get HTS removed from the terror organization list and link it to the National Liberation Front (NLF), a coalition Turkey had formed in May. Toward that end, a meeting called the Syrian Revolution General Conference was organized Feb. 11 in Idlib to replace the Syrian Salvation Government with a new civilian administration. The conference also heard proposals to form an executive council and a joint command center to unite military wings. No action was taken on the proposals. A meeting scheduled for March 14 in Hatay, Turkey, was scrapped at the last moment, but would have brought together the Free Syrian Army, which was trained and equipped by Turkey; the Syrian High Negotiations Committee, which represented the opposition at Astana; the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces; and the Syrian Islamic Council. This meeting was supposed to ensure unity between the Syrian Interim Government working under Turkeys support and the Syrian Salvation Government. Such efforts are likely to continue. Also at the February meeting, a proposal for a military coordination body bringing together groups such as HTS and Tanzim Huras al-Din (an HTS offshoot) with NLF units was debated. The intention was that with a joint structure it would be easier to minimize attacks from Idlib on Russian and Syrian regime units, and enable Turkey to boast that terror organizations had been eliminated and so the cease-fire should be preserved until a political solution is reached. But there are no guarantees these objectives can be achieved under current conditions, with the groups ignoring the Sochi accord and attacking the regime forces at Hama, Latakia and rural Aleppo. Even the groups supposedly under Turkeys tutelage have discarded the de-escalation efforts. For example, on March 9, the group that attacked the regime position in the Christian village of Sukaylabiye was Jaish al-Ahrar, a part of the Turkey-backed NLF. That attack took place only one day after Turkey initiated its patrolling operation. As tension mounts around Idlib, leaders of armed groups are threatening to escalate the situation with guerrilla tactics. All these complex schemes have generated a debate among the opposition groups over whether the Astana peace process for Syria has collapsed. Although the optimism that Astana would forever guarantee that Turkey would remain a shield for the opposition has been dissipating, nobody is yet ready to declare the death of the Astana process, as Turkey and Russia continue joint operations in the field. Moreover, it is too early still to conclude that the Syrian regime and Russia are about to launch their long-discussed combined sweeping military operations against the enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Preservation of the status quo at Idlib seems essential to the future of Russian-Turkish relations. If Turkey were to give the go-ahead for a Russia-Syria sweep, the entire gamut of relations Turkey has formed with opposition groups would be threatened. If Turkey withdraws, the opposition groups that Ankara currently supports could see it as a betrayal, and might target Turkey. Also, the US reaction to such an operation should not be overlooked just because Washington has said it plans to withdraw from Syria. To summarize the latest situation in Idlib: Although unwillingly adhering to Russia's operations plan, Turkey still hopes HTS will be freed from the terrorist label, so a new "terror-free" structure can take over control of Idlib and preserve the status quo until a political solution is reached. Russia still hopes Turkey will contribute to the Syrian regime's takeover of the region. Russia is paying much attention to keeping Turkey on its side while trying to sort out the Idlib mess. The United States welcomes Iraqs desire to be a bridge to its neighbors but will not accept malign Iranian influence that undermines Iraqi sovereignty, two top State Department officials told Al-Monitor. In a joint interview Wednesday at the State Department, Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations Denise Natali and Deputy Assistant for Iraq and Iran Andrew Peek emphasized the primacy of Iraqi sovereignty in US policy and a desire to work with Baghdad to address Iranian-backed militias that operate outside the control of Baghdad. The pair encouraged balanced state-to-state relations between Iraq and all of its neighbors after returning from a delegation to Iraq earlier this month that was led by Natali and also attended by Peek. There has been a proliferation of undisciplined armed actors that are not under the control of the state, Natali said. That, to me, has become one of the biggest impediments to stabilization assistance moving forward, in addition to the lack of security or the lack of services. These actors, she said, have evolved from a security threat to a major drag on Iraqs ability to rebuild in places like Mosul. This is moving from a security issue to an economic issue, she said. They are now operating like economic cartels, like mafia groups, in different parts of the country. That proliferation of militias outside the control of Baghdad is already having a detrimental effect on efforts to rebuild places like Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city which was ravaged by the war against the Islamic State. The principles of our stabilization is we have local, legitimate partners that we hold accountable, and if our local partners can't get some of these undisciplined armed actors [under control], there is a risk that the stabilization may not continue in the way that it is. And that's an important risk that we have to put out there. Iraqs partners cant build desalination plants [if they] don't know if they're going to get blown up the next day, added Peek. Peek said the United States is not seeking to prevent Iraqi relations with its powerful neighbor to the east per se. We know that Iraqis are going to meet with Iranians. We know theyre going to trade with Iranians, said Peek. What we want is for them to do that without being dominated by Iran. The nature of Irans economic system, however, greatly complicates matters. US sanctions aim to weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Central Bank of Iran, which the United States accuses of using their dominant role in the economy to sponsor malign activities across the region. We need to make sure they get as few dollars as possible, Peek said. The goal is zero. Below is the full transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity. Al-Monitor: You both just returned from Iraq, where you attended the American University of Iraq Sulaimanis Suli Forum and met with top officials. What are your impressions of the new Iraqi government formed in the wake of the May 2018 elections? Peek: I think there is tremendous potential in the new Iraqi government. You know, there were a lot of first-time things about the election. Obviously, there was a breakdown of [voting by] sectarian bloc. The voters were voting according to policy. They've voting according to ideas. Particularly, it was noticeable in the Shiite blocs. Candidates were vying for policy programs. I think overall what that reflected was a desire for normalcy. People wanted services. They wanted jobs. They did not necessarily want national security crises to be the issue of the day, and I think that reflected a desire of not just normalcy, but some of the political choices for new leadership, for leadership that had never been had. And, of course, [cleric Muqtada al]-Sadr was the lead Shiite vote-getter, Sadr's party Saroun. So I think there's a hunger for normalcy. That's the demand signal, and this government is working to get there. Not doing it as quickly as I think Iraqis would like, particularly in the South, but they're trying. Natali: I would say, to pick up on what [Deputy Assistant Secretary] Peek indicated, this is another sign of Iraq moving away from, if it was ever truly there, the notion that it is comprised of three homogenous blocs. That there is not just a Sunni-Shia-Kurd component of Iraq, and we really need to stop using that language and talk about Iraq in terms of geographies, territories and different cross-sectarian groups of people. There are two cross-sectarian main blocs in the Iraqi government, and that's a better way of understanding contemporary Iraqi politics today. The other downside of that is there still is going to be some political entropy, given the fact that consensus is going to be needed, and the new prime minister [Adel Abdul Mahdi] is focusing on consensus. So we may not have the speed in decision-making that we would like. There still are positions unfilled, but it is [a government] that is crossing sectarian lines. Al-Monitor: The reconstruction of Iraqs second-largest city has been described in the media as a tale of two cities, with the more ravaged eastern part of Mosul largely abandoned while the western half across the Tigris river is basically back up and running following the defeat of the Islamic State [also known as Daesh or ISIS] in July 2017. Is that an accurate view of the reality on the ground? How do you see progress toward reconstruction in Mosul? Are you comfortable with the pace of progress there? What more needs to be done from the Iraqi government, and how can the US help? Natali: The United States so far has provided over $2.5 billion in humanitarian stabilization assistance to Iraq. That includes de-mining. There's also $300 million for minorities in the north. There has been an enormous amount of United States government support for humanitarian assistance and stabilization. I use the word "stabilization," not reconstruction. One of the requisites and one of the issues that we're having in stabilization, however, is that there also needs to be able and accountable local partners on the ground that we can work with. There also has to be burden-sharing and partnerships in the presence of security. Where you don't have those requisites, we're not having successful stabilization. So I will go back to some of the hindrances to where stabilization has not been able to get through is because we haven't had the presence of security, and we haven't had the presence of capable local partners on the ground. There are about 1.8 million internally displaced people who still have not gone back to their homes, and in those areas, it is because of those elements. Peek: I don't think there's any difference in our approach or in the UN's approach to West Mosul versus East Mosul. West Mosul was just so devastated by the final battle. I mean, we haven't really, in our experience of fighting wars in the last two decades, seen a city like that, that kind of Stalingrad-esque combat. So it's just starting from a much lower place. I was there about 10 months ago, and I was shocked by how devastated it was. We're also working to get our partners in the region to be engaged in this, and they have. The United Arab Emirates, I think, have put $50 million into rehabilitating, stabilization in Mosul and that's tremendously valuable because it lets the people there know that they are not alone. Al-Monitor: What are we doing to address this lack of security? Is that an issue with the Iraqi forces are there just too few of them? Is it a training issue? Natali: Let's start by saying we are appreciative, the United States, of the valiant efforts and the courageous efforts of the Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Hashd al-Shabi [also known as Popular Mobilization Forces] in pushing back and defeating Daesh or pushing Daesh back in these areas. With that said, there has been a proliferation of undisciplined armed actors that are not under the control of the state. That does not mean all Popular Mobilization Forces. They have officially been incorporated into the Iraqi government in 2016. I am talking about those armed actors that are not. I think it is important to differentiate between the disciplined and the undisciplined. That has been a useful way that Iraqis themselves can refer to this problem and then target the problem. But where there are undisciplined armed actors not under the control of the state, that has become one of the biggest impediments to stabilization assistance moving forward, in addition to the lack of security or the lack of services. So that security component is added to the need for and the calls for local security forces, local police. They say they are there to guard against or protect against ISIS, and there's been discussions at different levels about having different components of local populations securing, forming a local police or a local guard for their own areas. That has not come about yet, but that is a possible solution to replacing some of these undisciplined groups. Peek: That really needs to be a priority for the Iraqi government - ensuring that funding [for] local security [forces]. Like in our country, police that talk like them, that pray like them, that they feel are accountable to their communities, because those are security forces who will act with restraint and act responsibly. Natali: This is a big endeavor because it requires training. It requires a plan. Across the board, people in Iraq have identified this issue of the undisciplined groups becoming one of the biggest obstacles to move forward. And I say that because, again, I emphasize we have to be clear about making that differentiation. We can't clump them all into one group and then think that this is a similar problem across the entire country. It's in certain pockets of the country by certain specific individuals and groups. Al-Monitor: When you use these carefully chosen words, your Iraqi counterparts know who you're talking about? Natali: They should. Al-Monitor: And these are some of the groups we've been sanctioning? Natali: Correct. I want to make another point about the Iran malign activities or the activities of these undisciplined actors. This is now moving from a security issue to an economic issue. They are now operating like economic cartels, like mafia groups in different parts of the country. This has gone from groups coming in to maintain control of checkpoints to controlling revenues at checkpoints, bribing. It's gone into a whole different arena right now, and this type of activity, again, is going beyond the security element. I am concerned, very concerned, that those people working to continue with stabilization in the north can only go so long and be impeded for so long. I don't know how long that will continue if these undisciplined armed actors are not controlled. This is not going to go on forever. We can't want this more than the Iraqis. So, at the end of the day, it's the responsibility of the Iraqi government. The principles of our stabilization is we have local, legitimate partners that we hold accountable, and if our local partners can't get some of these undisciplined armed actors [under control], there is a risk that the stabilization may not continue in the way that it is. And that's an important risk that we have to put out there. Peek: [You cant] build desalination plants [if] you don't know if they're going to get blown up the next day. Natali: Or they're going to have to pay so much bribes to undisciplined armed actors at checkpoints that they can't get their relief products through. So this is something that's serious, and we hope that it can be addressed so that we can continue, which we want to do, to engage and support stabilization efforts in Iraq to enhance Iraqi sovereignty. Al-Monitor: The actors on the ground often get lumped together under terms like Shiite militias. Whats wrong with that approach? Natali: It's a term that Iraqis don't like. I understand that it's used, and we know what you're saying. But it's not as an effective speaking point. If you want to get to the goal that we want to get, using that term was not going to help us get there as effectively as other terms can. Peek: There's Shiite militias that respond to Baghdad and those that respond to Tehran. Natali: There's also Sunni-Arab militias that respond to Iran, and there's also Sunni-Arab militias that respond to Baghdad. Over 60 percent of Iraq are comprised of Shia. If we're going to start getting into grouping people, we have to be more nuanced because we're not going to make our point. Al-Monitor: Moving on to Iraqs relations with Iran, lets talk about Tuesdays decision to renew the waiver allowing Baghdad to import electricity from Tehran for another 90 days. Blackouts have sparked protests in Basra. What is the US doing to help Iraq wean itself off of Iranian imports, without destabilizing the country? Peek: Iraqis need electricity, point one. I think they've run at a dearth of about 4,500 megawatts for air conditioning to be able to run full-time. We have no repeat no desire to make the lives of Iraqis harder. They are hard enough, particularly in places like Basra, particularly in the summer. That is why we engage with our partners the Saudis, Kuwaitis like last summer when the Kuwaitis delivered diesel fuel and generators to make sure that those citizens in times of blackout or water crises had the services they need and also engaged private industry to come to Iraq. Like in December, under the aegis of the chamber of commerce, to make sure that our companies are talking about the opportunities to help Iraqis. Point two: Iraq should not be reliant on Iran for its electricity and natural gas. Iraq is one of the most energy-rich countries in the world. They are losing money by importing these items from Iran. In fact, they should be exporting. So that is something very much to keep in mind. Point three: The Central Bank of Iran is deeply involved in financing all manner of Iran's malign activities, including terrorism, including proxies. We need to make sure they get as few dollars as possible. The goal is zero, but as few as possible to make sure that they cannot then give those abroad, such that it is in our national security interest as well as the Iraqis, by the way, not for Iran to have that hard currency to be able to sponsor malign activities around the region. Al-Monitor: Iraq, as you know, has said it wants a normal relationship with Iran, which presumably includes trade, buying good and services, both ways. Is that acceptable for the United States? Natali: The United States policy toward Iraq hasn't changed. We support a unified, federal, democratic Iraq that is a sovereign Iraqi state. The United States understands that Iraq will trade and have relationships with its neighbors, but malign Iranian influence in the country that undermines the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, that undermines the sovereignty is problematic, and there is the issue here. Iraq can be a bridge to all of these countries in the region the Gulf, the Levant, Iran as a neighbor. But there are negative, very negative malign influences, and this is the point that I think that the United States is targeting. Peek: I think that was excellently said. Natali: Thank you, Andrew. If we can enhance the sovereignty of the Iraqi state, then we can get at Iraq's relations with sub-state actors and any entity coming in and undermining that sovereignty. Al-Monitor: More broadly, taking a step back, do you consider the Iranian president's visit to Iraq, in particular his meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [the Shiite spiritual leader in Najaf] as a positive or a negative step? Peek: I'm far more concerned about the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] officers running all over Iraq than I am about [Rouhanis] meeting with the prime minister. Natali: Right. This goes back to our understanding that Iraq is going to have relationships with its neighbors. But it's those activities that undermine the sovereignty of the Iraqi state through the sub-state malign actors [that concern us]. Peek: A perfect example of this is the fact that [IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem] Soleimani can travel to Iraq without getting his passport stamped, without going through customs like every US official, like every other official in every other country. That is not a normal thing, and that is a result of Iran's malign behavior, its intimidation, and subterfuge. Al-Monitor: You've told the government in Baghdad that they need to shut that down. What's been the reception? Peek: Iraqis are even more aware than we are of Iran's malign behavior, and they want a sovereign republic. Al-Monitor: You're talking about reining in Iranian malign activity, while allowing Iraq to have normal relations with its neighbors. But how does that work in the context of an Iranian economy dominated by state actors, including the IRGC. You mentioned aiming to get transfers to the central Bank of Iran [CBI] down to zero. Peek: That was perhaps a glib exaggeration. Our position is not a trade embargo. Certain categories are sanctionable. CBI itself isn't sanctioned. The only caveat to this is that there are not just the sectoral sanctions, but the IRGC is in so many of Iran's industries that people need to be very careful, the Iraqis included, about who they do business with. If they are doing business with an IRGC business, they are liable for sanctions. So while we want a normal relationship, this is something that in terms of legally that they just have to keep in mind. Natali: The United States has not said, "Iraq, you are prevented from having visitors at high levels to go to you are not allowed to go to Iran." However, it goes back to the kind of activity that is going on at the level of these sub-state malign actors. So it's very clear: When we've sanctioned these groups for doing these types of activities, these terrorist activities, then those are the types of activities, the relationships that we condemn. Al-Monitor: Iraq has been trying to turn into this policy focused on good neighborly ties, economic integration with the region. We saw that with the new trade deal with Jordan, with visits from Saudi officials and others from the region, with this weeks announcement that border crossings with Syria are being reopened. What is the US response to this trend in Iraqi policy. Is that something you wholeheartedly approve of, or are there any concerns there? Peek: Every day, there are a lot of indicators coming out of Iraq. I would suspect there was a discussion in Iran about [the fact that Baghdad] just invited a large delegation of US officials headed by an Assistant Secretary to the Suli Forum. I don't want to get too caught up on one indicator or the other. I think the whole picture is more important. As Denise said, we want Iraq to have a normal relationship with its neighbors as a sovereign state. So they will conduct political meetings. They will conduct military meetings. I don't think there's a trend one way or other. [Iraq] has a number of issues going on at the same time, but we continue to build its capacity for normalcy Natali: And normalcy also means having important balance relationships with the [Arab] Gulf states, with Jordan. The Iraqis have said, "We are neutral. We want to be the neutral force in the region." Iraqis have told me it could be very important and very helpful for them in addressing some of their own domestic issues, trade, economics. So that's a positive thing, and I would say that US efforts in trying to enhance those relationships have been well received. Al-Monitor: We all know about US concerns with regards to Iran. Are there any other countries or groups that you feel are not playing as constructive a role in Iraq as they could be? Natali: Yes. Any group that is not under the authority of the Iraqi government and that is undermining the sovereignty of the state. So another one is the presence of PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] elements in the north of Iraq. That has been said by the Kurdistan regional government, by other groups, because it's bringing in external issues inside the Iraqi borders [editors note: The PKK is a US-designated terrorist group originally from Turkey]. This is another one of those issues of, what are you going to do with these external actors that are carrying out some of their political issues inside the Iraqi state and preventing people from going back to their homes? You've got that issue coming in with the efforts to return the IDPs [internally displaced people]. Peek: You saw the [State Departments] designation of Harakat al-Nujaba [as a terrorist group] on March 5th. When groups show no willingness to, in that case, respond to Baghdad versus Tehran, if they're fully in Tehran's pocket and if they are unwilling in other cases to become part of the political system, the US will take action on that. Al-Monitor: Lets talk about the military component to US policy. Has the backlash from certain members of parliament against President Donald Trumps comments about leaving troops in Iraq to watch Iran died down? Some had threatened to pass legislation to kick out US soldiers. Peek: I think responsible Iraqi actors know the international coalition is critical to the future of Iraq. It represents security and stability. Political grandstanding of one kind or another does not. That may result in the removal of that entire coalition. It is too big a risk for Iraq to take as it moves towards normalcy. Natali: And removal does not mean just one part of the country. It would mean the entire country. So that is not in the interest of any Iraqi, including the Kurds in the north. I think people are aware of the stakes. As Andrew indicated, there are great stakes if that were to happen. Al-Monitor: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told Al-Monitor earlier this month that relations between Baghdad and Erbil are far better than theyve been for a long time. You both were in the Kurdistan region for the Suli Forum and met top officials there. How do you see Erbil-Baghdad relations following the backlash against the Kurdish referendum in September 2017? Peek: I think we are in so much of a better place than we were back in October, November, December 2017, and this has been a steady progression of things. You have the referendum and the fighting in October, and then Baghdad, after months of intense US engagement, Baghdad agrees to pay some of the civil service salaries, a huge development, brave move by [former] Prime Minister [Haider al-] Abadi. He didn't have to do that. So that goes a long way toward alleviating some of the economic crunch. Shortly thereafter, the airport restrictions get lifted, first for international flights, first on Erbil and then Sulaimaniyah, a tremendous step. Again, Abadi did not have to do that. And then you come to November when the government agrees to restart oil exports from Kirkuk up through KRG to [the port of] Ceyhan [in Turkey], tremendously positive step. That provided benefits to both Iraqis and the KRG, Arabs and Kurds, and was followed almost immediately by the visit of former president of KRG, Masoud Barzani, to Baghdad [for the first time] since the referendum. And so these kind of four increments were just an increasing cascade of positive deepening relations. So I think we're in a very, very good position on that. Natali: I agree with Andrew. Just to add, you have also leadership on both ends in the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the leadership in the Kurdistan regional government, two personalities that are consensus-based individuals, so it's easier to really go down and make those visits that are necessary. One other point, you've got important Kurdish leadership in Baghdad with not only the president of the country [Barham Salih], but also the minister of finance [Fuad Mohammed Hussein], and they have been able to move forward in a very pragmatic way. The referendum frankly set the Kurds back in some ways, but they are being very pragmatic in knowing that their future and their relationship in a federal Iraqi state is working positively with Baghdad. The budget was very good for the Kurds. The civil service salaries are continuing to be paid, which is a very big and important boon for the Kurdistan region, given what happened after those years of not getting consistent salaries. There is one issue still, though, that needs to be resolved in full. My understanding is 250,000 barrels of Kurdish oil has to be sent, and it is sent to SOMO [the State Organization for Marketing of Oil in Baghdad]. So we will see how that is able to work out as they move forward. An Atlanta brewery wants to open a brewpub in Birmingham, but its waiting to see what the Alabama Legislature does with a pending piece of legislation. Monday Night Brewing is eyeing a brewpub as part of the Denham Building development by Atlantas Third and Urban, which will include more than 86,000 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space. In addition, 72 urban-style loft apartments will be constructed as part of the larger project. The product of three friends love of beer and conversation, Monday Night Brewing began after founders Jonathan Baker, Jeff Heck, and Joel Iverson met in a Bible study group through Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church. On Monday nights, they would brew beer in Hecks backyard as a way to get to know each other better. By 2011 they were introducing their own brand. They now have two locations in Atlanta - their original brewery and taproom, and a barrel-aging and souring facility. Its about providing a place for meaningful conversations and relationships to develop over really great beer, he said. The beer began appearing in Alabama in 2014, and is also sold in Tennessee. The brand offers a distinctively-named portfolio of beers, such as Im On a Boat Golden Ale, Dr. Robot Blackberry Lemon Sour, Han Brolo Pale Ale, Slap Fight IPA, Blind Pirate Blood Orange IPA and Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale, with additional seasonal and limited release series. Monday Night Brewing began as a way for its three founders to bond after they met in an Atlanta Bible study. Alabama was the first state we expanded to outside of Georgia, Heck, the CEO, said. Its been a great market. Its close to Atlanta, and weve had a lot of people from Alabama visiting our taprooms. We think its a city where theres a lot of great revitalization going on. Its a population that loves craft beer, so we want to continue our investment in a cool, dynamic city in the southeast. The legislation the company is watching is HB 151, orBrewery Modernization 2.0 as supporters are calling it. It calls for several tweaks to existing craft beer and brewery regulations, and the Alabama Brewers Guild says it would make it easier to attract expansion projects from out-of-state companies. Specifically, the bill would, among other measures, allow brewery owners to own brewpubs. The bill is currently in the House committee on Economic Development and Tourism. Sponsor of the legislation is Becky Nordgren, R-Gadsden, who chairs that committee. Obviously, its not going to be possible to do it unless this legislation gets passed, Heck said. We know (Third and Urban) from Atlanta, and this looks like a great fit for what we do. This is a really cool, compelling physical space in the city, and we have the framework of a deal in place. Heck said Monday Night Brewing would take about six to nine months to get up and going in Birmingham, if the bill becomes law. The Birmingham project would be different because of the food component, Heck said, but the location would also be focused on the brands core portfolio. Peggy Allen Towns seems destined to have become a historian. When she was a little girl growing up in on Church Street in Decatur, her mother would march her and her six siblings to the library, where they were each allowed to check out two books: One that they chose, and another that she chose. And the books Myrtle Lyle Allen chose for her children were always about history. After they read their books, they had to write a page-long report. If you dont know where youve been, youll never know where youre going, she told her children. Peggy was a product of segregation and integration, she says. I went though both. She attended Lakeside High School, then had to go to the predominantly white Decatur High after Lakeside closed in 1969. Her grandmother, Bertha Polk Lyle, was a trailblazer, the first woman minister in the Decatur area. After her mother an only child died in 2000, Peggy wanted to write down some of the family stories shed heard for years. But even though she thought she knew the stories backwards and forwards, she realized when she started writing them down that many of them were full of holes. She returned to the library, the archives and the Internet in her search to fill those holes. She was the spark, she says of her mom. Even when she passed. Peggy Allen Towns tells the stories of African Americans, particularly, in her native Decatur. Researching her mothers family history led her to look into her fathers, as well. Thats when she came across George Allen, a Civil War soldier, on his side. That put me on a whole different path, she says. I was so excited to find that right here! Allen was one of 576 United States Colored Troops who had been captured during the Civil War and sent to Mobile to help with fortifications. She found his name on a list of prisoners of war in a Mobile newspaper from 1864. I felt it was imperative to know something about Civil War soldiers, she says. She believes the existence of soldiers like her ancestor is Decaturs best-kept secret. Decatur is one of only two Alabama towns to raise a USCT regiment, she says. The other was Selma. Civil War experts she contacted told her there were no black POWs, but she had found evidence to the contrary in a picture record and in black and white, on the list with the name of his owner. While still working as a Congressional aide a job she held for 20 years until retiring in 2011 Peggy ended up writing a book based on her research. Duty Driven: The Plight of North Alabamas African Americans During the Civil War was published in 2012. In the books introduction, she explains how her research led her deeper and deeper into her subject. Each document I uncovered was like a giant quilt piece, (which) when stitched together gives us a clearer view of our history and how the contributions of blacks shaped a New South. Meanwhile, in 2009, Peggy was asked to serve on the states Big Read committee, encouraging Alabamians to read Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird. The conflict at the heart of the novel, of course, is lawyer Atticus Finchs defense of a black man, Tom Robinson, falsely accused of raping a white woman. Peggy was reminded of the landmark Scottsboro Boys case that was tried in her own hometown in 1933. Her research into the details of that story in which nine teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 19 were pulled off a train and accused of raping two white women led to another book, Scottsboro Unmasked: Decaturs Story, in 2018. I call them martyrs, she says. The trials and retrials led to the U.S. Supreme Court twice overturning the boys guilty verdicts. Those decisions help us all, Peggy says Powell v. Alabama, in 1932, set a precedent for adequate legal representation, and Norris V. Alabama, in 1935, would help integrate future juries. I like to tell people that even though my stories are primarily about African Americans, what I want to do is make it inclusive, she says. I like finding the little forgotten tidbits and making people aware of our history. Peggy spent about five years researching each of her books. She joined Ancestry.com in the early 2000s, and she enjoys doing research at the local archives as well as the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery. Sometimes she brings history to life, literally, by dressing as Emily Frazier, one of the real people whose story is told in Duty Driven. Its an attention-getter, she says, and an effective tool for teaching children the importance of learning about history. I want history to be a bridge from the past to the present to our future, she says. I want children to see their perseverance and their strength. Shes now working on her third book, a novel that she calls a departure from her first two books. But, like the others, it concerns Decaturs past. Its been an amazing journey finding little snippets of our history, she says. Its so important for us to tell their stories, to be their voices. She encourages everyone to tell their story. Every story is a piece of the quilt, she says. Were just stitching it so we have a bigger picture of who we are as people. A new beer is set to debut at Birminghams Good People Brewing Company near the end of the month. On March 30, a fudge brownie milk stout will be available on draft. The stout is a limited-edition collaboration between the brewing company and Ralph Marion, who runs the brand Beered Black Man and bartends at Hop City Craft Beer & Wine. Chocolate is the main player in the fudge brownie stout. Good Peoples head brewer Adam Klein says the process took three different angles to get the perfect balance: chocolate malt, cocoa nibs and cocoa extract. We added lactose to make it a milk stout so it has sort of a creamy texture, said Klein. We added 20 pounds of cocoa nibs from Olive and Sinclair in Nashville. And then we added pure cocoa for that extra big punch of chocolate on the nose. While chocolatey, the 8.5 ABV stout wont be overly sweet. Marion says while crafting the recipe, he and Klein included some characteristics of the intense, deeper roast of an imperial stout, but rounded out the flavor for a smoother feel. Good People's head brewer Adam Klein pours two snifters of the fudge brownie milk stout (Shauna Stuart for Al.com) Slightly sweet with a light bitterness, the stout will pair well with savory and sweet dishes, and both Marion and Klein suggest foods that can hold up to the decadence of the beer, including desserts, burgers, steaks, and strongly flavored cheeses. Those ready to taste the stout will have a chance to put those pairings to the test on Saturday, March 30th during the launch party at Good People, featuring food from the Hollywood Grill food truck. After Saturday, the stout will also be available on tap at Jack Browns Burger and Beer Joint in Lakeview and possibly some other local restaurants and retailers in the future. From family tradition to brewery For Marion, the creation of the fudge brownie milk stout combines his love of craft beer with a family tradition. The Birmingham native has worked behind the bar at Red Hills Brewery where he assisted with social media management and event planning. He was also a draft manger for the J. Clyde. Both of those experiences led him to build his brand, Beered Black Man, a site dedicated to his love of craft beer and his efforts to diversify the craft beer industry. Marions first experience with beer was actually a funny childhood mishap. While visiting relatives in Selma when he was young, he accidentally took a swig of Budweiser, mistaking the red can for a can of Coca-Cola. From that day on, says Marion, he hated the taste of beer. That all changed in 2008, when he started going to the J. Clyde with friends. Hed always just go to the bar to hang out and eat, but one night, he decided to try one of the Alabama beer specials. That beer was Good Peoples Pale Brown Ale. That was the first craft beer I ever had. And I never looked back after that point, said Marion. From then on, Marions love for darker and maltier beers grew, and he developed a fondness for stouts. So when he first thought of creating his own beer, he knew it would be a stout. Marion also knew he wanted to dedicate the beer to his great-grandmother and his memories of helping her bake brownies in the kitchen. Ralph Marion shows a photo of his great-grandmother. "I've always kept a picture of her on my phone." (Credit: Tim Majors) Thats pretty much how the whole concept of the fudge brownie came about. When I was younger, we always made fudge brownies. And my great-grandmother was always a big part of who I am today, so I wanted to find a way to honor her, said Marion. We would always do at least two batches a month. It was just something we always did and I loved it. Last December, Marion reached out to Good People, who immediately jumped at the chance to work with him as the third anniversary of Beered Black Man approached. Ralph has a pretty good following and we thought it was a fun opportunity to stay involved with the local community, said Klein. He brought up the idea to make a fudge brownie stout based on his grandmothers recipe. And we tried to take elements of his history and childhood memories and turned it into a beer. And I think we did a pretty good job with it. The first craft beer Marion ever tried was brewed by Good People. So, for Marion, working with the brewery to develop his first beer was a full circle moment. Good people has always been, in my sense, my home brewery. I always come here with friends. If its beer related and its not Hop City, its going to be here, said Marion. Sometimes I feel bad, said the Birmingham native, laughing a little. Because I feel like I dont give everybody else love. Theyve been like a second or third family for me. Beered Black Man For years, Marion has been vocal about diversity in the craft beer world, and he created Beered Black Man to highlight the projects that he and other people of color were doing in the craft beer space. The image of craft beer is this stereotypical white guy, you know, in their late 20s or early 30s. Kind of a hipster persona. Thats what has been portrayed in craft beer for so long, said Marion. I want to show that there are people out there that look like me doing this kind of stuff, and not just as a collaboration. As a career. There are black brewers out there. There are women brewers. There are people in the LGBTQ plus community that are in brewing. Theres Hispanics brewers. There are Asians. There are Native Americans. Theres so many different groups of people doing this kind of stuff that arent getting shown. The 32-year-old bartender says one of his longtime mentors has been Teo Hunter, the co-creator of Crowns & Hops, a black-owned craft beer brand and brewery based in California. Ralph Marion in Good People Brewing Co. (Credit: Tim Majors) Because even though we all know that craft beer is for everybody, how often do we see those images? said Marion. I mean, hell if I'm here at Good People, or if I'm not working at Hop City, I might be the only black person that's been through those doors during those hours. So hopefully with what I'm doing with the brand and this beer it can bring up more conversations about those kind of things. The creation of the fudge milk stout is a check mark on an already eventful year for Marion. Beered Black Man, which has over 2,000 followers on Instagram, has also caught the eye of Grammy-nominated rap group Nappy Roots, who have been working in the craft beer scene for more than two years and have a home brewery venture called Atlantucky Brewing. In 2017, Nappy Roots released two limited-edition beers at Atlantas Monday Night Brewing which nodded to their Georgia and Kentucky roots and last May, they expanded the opportunity and launched two more craft beers. They are also developing a craft beer reality show and travel series. Last month, the group debuted Kentucky Mud, their one-day limited-edition brand of chocolate milk stout. In February, the group paid Marion a visit at Hop City on their way through Birmingham from Tuscaloosa. After a round of beers and conversation, the group started talking about plans to return to the Magic City to learn about its rapidly growing craft beer scene. And Marion is looking forward to being an ambassador to showcase his city, aptly nicknamed Beermingham, when they return. I actually met artists I listened to in middle school and high school. And it was cool just to sit down and talk with them. And talk about making things better in the craft beer industry, said Marion. I was just smiling from ear to ear. Its cool to be able to have that moment in my life. Ralph Marion holds a snifter of fudge brownie milk stout (Credit: Shauna Stuart for Al.com) And as Beered Black Man enters its third year, Marion is looking forward to keeping the momentum. Its just a blessing on its own. Ive put in a lot of work and lost lots of sleep. Ive sampled a lot of beer. I think my kidneys and liver are probably screaming at me to stop, he joked. But Im excited about what Im doing and hopefully this journey doesnt stop. Ralph Marion and Good People Brewing will host a launch party for the fudge brownie stout starting at 12:00 p.m on Saturday, March 30th. For more information, visit Beered Black Man and Good People Brewing on Instagram. Even as a Missouri town was ordered to evacuate Wednesday, officials are already beginning to tally up the damage from the historic flooding that has devastated the Midwest, which could be in the billions when all is said and done. Historic flooding hits midwest in March 2019. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts told reporters the preliminary and initial damage losses from the flooding in the state are estimated to be more than $1.3 billion, including $439 million in infrastructure losses, $85 million in private homes and business losses, $400 million in livestock and $440 million in crop losses. Ricketts said these initial estimates are included in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to initialize a federal emergency declaration. Ricketts noted that 2,067 homes were damaged and 341 business were damaged or lost statewide. Parts of the Midwest crippled by days of historic flooding are bracing for even more rain. At least 15 states are under flood watches and warnings this morning and 3 deaths are blamed on the flooding. @DonDahlerCBS has the latest: pic.twitter.com/fYxgVPkzDM CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 20, 2019 In Iowa, farmer Jeff Jorgenson estimates that in Fremont County alone more than a million bushels of corn and nearly half a million bushels of soybeans have been lost in flooded grain bins. For the 28 farmers in the immediate area, thats a $7 million loss in grain. The economy in agriculture is not very good right now. It will end some of these folks farming, family legacies, family farms, Jorgenson told AP. There will be farmers that will be dealing with so much of a negative they wont be able to tolerate it. The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency says private and public losses from the flooding is currently reported at more than $640 million. More than 8 million Americans are under flood warnings in the Midwest and at least 4 people have died. Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have all declared states of emergency. pic.twitter.com/Z8GSwBcbBQ AJ+ (@ajplus) March 19, 2019 In Glenwood, Iowa, Mayor Ron Kohn said farms west of the city are likely done for the year. Thats all going to be gone until next year, Im sure, he told the Register. Rice is about all they could grow out there now. The story is the same in communities along nearly every river in the Midwest. Meanwhile, a levee breach Wednesday morning triggered evacuations for the town of Craig, Missouri, home to 240 people, KMBC reported. However, residents were permitted to remain in town if they went to city hall to register their names in case they needed to be rescued later. Missouri 111 on the south side of Craig, Missouri, in Holt County. Water being held back by a man made berm. pic.twitter.com/NGbi0Ne5Zt MSHP Troop H (@MSHPTrooperH) March 20, 2019 The tiny town of Lewis and Clark Village, home to about 130 residents, have also left for higher ground as the swollen Missouri River rises. On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence surveyed the region and promised to expedite action on presidential disaster declarations for Iowa, where 41 of the states 99 counties are under a state disaster declaration, and Nebraska, where 70 of that states 99 counties are also under emergency declarations. President Trump asked me to be here in Nebraska and here in the region today with a very simple message, Pence said. To all the families that have seen their homes flooded, their livestock lost, who have had their lives, their communities upset by these extraordinary floods and severe weather, our message is this: Were with you. Only 14 out of 700 hogs survived the floods in this farm. Water several feet deep engulfed entire Farm. https://t.co/nLCQjrQrX0 NYFarmer (@NYFarmer) March 20, 2019 Meanwhile, rivers continued to rise Wednesday in some locations, continuing the days-long siege of flooding that has inundated thousands of homes, forced countless evacuations, washed out countless bridges and caused levee breaches in at least a dozen locations. The city of Valley is inundated with floodwaters Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Valley, Nebraska.(Jeff Bundy/Omaha World-Herald via AP) The extensive flooding that has reached historic levels in 42 locations and killed three people is the result of heavy rain and snowmelt in the region. Two people from Columbus, Nebraska, died last week: a woman trapped in her home by floodwaters and a farmer attempting a rescue in high water. A Norfolk, Nebraska, man died and two others were injured when they drove around a flood barrier in Fremont County, Iowa, on Friday and were swept away. Two other men are missing and presumed dead in Nebraska. Jaw-dropping scenes of catastrophic floods in the Plains & Midwest. High waters have trapped cattle & devastated homes changing countless lives forever. Full video: https://t.co/nhufCDa25Y pic.twitter.com/8bmDblR8YA WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) March 15, 2019 Health officials in Missouri are warning that the floodwaters could contain untreated sewage and hazardous chemicals and debris. It is vital that everyone working near floodwaters realizes the risks that exist, Randall Williams, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services director, told the Kansas City Star on Monday. Just as driving in moving or standing water is dangerous, wading in floodwaters or exposure while recovering from a flood can pose health risks. Follow us on FACEBOOK and TWITTER. Share your thoughts in our DISCUSSION FORUMS. Donate through Paypal. Please and thank you [Nema, KansasCity, The Weather Network] Hopeful patrons of Red Hills Brewing Company received some bad news yesterday evening: the Homewood brewery will shutter permanently. The brewery posted the news around 6:00pm Tuesday evening on their social media pages. The posts read: To our loyal supporters of Red Hills Brewing Company: Thank you for your patronage and support these past two years. Your loyalty and passion for our beer has made us proud. It is with great sadness that we inform you of our closing. We have enjoyed being a part of the Homewood community and look forward to our next chapter. With Gratitude, Red Hills Brewing Company To our loyal supporters of Red Hills Brewing Company: Thank you for your patronage and support these past two years. ... Posted by Red Hills Brewing Company on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 In the comments, past customers left thank yous," fond memories, and words of encouragement. The announcement is disappointment to those who hoped the brewery would have a grand reopening last month. Last December, Red Hills announced they were going dark for a few weeks and working on something big. Red Hills opened in Homewood in 2016 next to Steel City Pops and was the first brewery in the Birmingham area to open over the mountain in the suburbs. A nod to Alabamas state amphibian, the red hills salamander, the brewery started off brewing four beers. Original owner Joe Pilleteri and brewer Eric Baumann, met as homebrewers. Last year, the brewery started canning its own beer. THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED. Karla Swindle has a saying: Angels walk among us. Sometimes they are unseen and have wings, and sometimes they pant and lick our faces. Its something shes repeated often over the past 12 days as shes watched two of her pets which she considers family form the sweetest of bonds. Her rescue dog, Zip, has taken on the role of father and protector of a 12-day-old newborn horse (foal) who was orphaned shortly after birth. Its a friendship or more that has brought Swindle to tears more than once, and one that has warmed the hearts of people following the story on Facebook. They are attached at the hip, said Swindle, who owns S & K Quarter Horses in Fayette. The foal - whose name hasnt yet been decided was born 12 days ago. The birth went fine, Swindle said. I was there the whole time. I watched the foal stand and all of that. When he was about seven days old, his mother, a 22-year-old mare named Sandy, started experiencing health issues. She broke out into a heavy sweat and obviously wasnt herself. She rallied, but two days later quickly deteriorated. She would get up and there was nothing that could be done, Swindle said. It was about that time, Swindle said, that Zip stepped up and stepped in. The night I knew this mare was not going to make it, Zip was laying there with the foal, she said. He was laying there by his neck and the dog was whining, like crying. It just broke my heart, she said. I just started crying. The mare had to be euthanized. And at that moment, Zip seemingly had a new purpose. Though he is used to the horses at the stable and has previously perked up when a foal is born, Swindle said shes never experienced anything like the attachment Zip has to the orphaned foal. This is the first time he has ever just licked on one, nudged one, laid on one, she said. I think hes adopted it as his baby. Hes letting him know, Youre not alone. Swindle used a milk replacement to nurse the foal with a bottle, but he is now learning to feed himself from a bucket. Still, she is with the foal every couple of hours and so is Zip. He beats me out there every time, she said. He would stay out there if I would let him. He just lays in the stall with the foal. The story of Zip and the foal has touched everyone who has followed the tale. Swindle posts daily updates and videos of the foals progress and his relationship with Zip. Everybody is telling me to keep the updates coming, that Im making their day, that they cant get enough of them, she said. People send me messages and tell me how much that video has brightened their day. Zip has just taken this baby under his wing, she said. Its just crazy. Alabama Arise, a coalition of churches, organizations and individuals that advocates for low-income families, showed up in force at the Alabama State House today to renew its call for Medicaid expansion and tax reform. Alabama Arise Executive Director Robyn Hyden said about 300 Arise members attended todays legislative day at the Alabama State House. They filled the State Houses largest committee room for a news conference about ways to pay for the states share of expanding Medicaid. Alabama is one of 14 states that have taken no action to expand Medicaid, a central part of the Affordable Care Act intended to help low-income working families. Citing numbers from a study released in January by David Becker, a professor at the UAB School of Public Health, Arise said the net state cost of expansion would be $168 million in 2020 and would drop to about $25 million a year after that. Expansion would provide Medicaid coverage to 340,000 Alabamians earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty limit. One idea for paying the state share is removing the state income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid, which would raise $719 million a year, while partly offsetting that by removing the state sales tax on groceries, which would save taxpayers about $400 million a year, Arise said. Repeal of the state income tax deduction for federal taxes paid would require a constitutional amendment approved by voters. In addition to covering the states cost for Medicaid expansion, the change would secure long-term funding for the states Childrens Health Insurance Program, called ALL Kids, Arise said. Another suggestion to cover the cost of Medicaid expansion was to repeal Alabamas state income tax deduction for FICA taxes, which go to Medicare and Social Security. Removing the FICA tax deduction would raise an estimated $261 million a year, Arise said. Other proposals included raising property taxes and closing corporate tax loopholes. Hyden said other possibilities are regressive taxes that would have public health benefits. They include raising the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack, taxing vape products and taxing sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks. Theres no shortage of ways to pay for things our state needs, Hyden said. We are all here today, hundreds of people, and hundreds more across our state, making phone calls to ask every representative and every senator to look over our options. Were so grateful to have this opportunity to discuss this important issue and we want to talk. Arise has proposed many of the same ideas for years. They have received little support in the Legislature previously. The possibility of Medicaid expansion has received more attention in Alabama recently because of rural hospitals closing and advocacy by the Alabama Hospital Association. Democratic lawmakers have pressed the issue. Gov. Kay Ivey has said she is willing to listen to their ideas and look at the facts but has made no commitment to supporting expansion. Alabama Arise Policy Director Jim Carnes said he believes proposals the organization has pushed for years have a better chance. Weve been arguing for a number of those revenue proposals on principal because they are sound government, Carnes said. But this year, the opportunity to harness those to the issue of Medicaid expansion we think changes the conversation. Because we think that by, particularly on the recommendation for ending the federal income tax deduction, we have an opportunity use Medicaid expansion as a wedge to accomplish so much more to benefit Alabamians. Business leaders across the state announced their opposition to repealing Common Core standards for public schools, banding together to send letters to state senators to stop the proposed change. The chambers of commerce in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa as well as the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama joined on the letter. In the letter, business leaders feared "dumbing down" the state's schools if Common Core is repealed and it would be a "disservice" to students and teachers. Read the full letter below. A bill rescinding the Common Core standards, sponsored by Senate leader Del Marsh, got approval from the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, which could set it up for a vote by the full Senate on Thursday. "Our organizations would encourage you to reject any legislative proposal that harms Alabamas standards or usurps the authority of the Alabama State Board of Education," the letter from the chambers of commerce said. Challenging education requirements should be embraced in Alabama schools, the letter said. "The voices of business and industry for the State of Alabama have united in support of rigorous education standards that will ensure that our students are college and career ready when they graduate from high school," the letter said. "The Alabama standards are the cornerstone of the states Plan 2020 to increase graduation rates, reduce college remediation and raise student achievement." State Superintendent Eric Mackey has also asked the Senate to reconsider, saying that the state school board is already addressing curriculum changes. Marsh has described the state school board as "dysfunctional." In the letter, business leaders voiced support for the school board. "Repealing these standards would damage our schools, our teachers and our students that are already well into implementation of our standards, and it would certainly damage our economic development efforts in attracting companies who value an educated workforce," the letter said. "Our children need to be among the best educated in the world to compete for admission into the best colleges and to secure good-paying jobs. We feel strongly that this is a matter best left to the Alabama State Board of Education, a body created and empowered by Alabamas constitution to handle these issues. The Alabama Senate Education Committee this morning approved a bill to repeal the use of Common Core standards in Alabama schools, setting it up for a possible vote in the Senate on Thursday. The legislation has raised concerns for some school officials. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, unveiled the bill in a social media video on Tuesday. In a statement, State Superintendent Eric Mackey said Marshs bill would result in unintended consequences and disrupt ongoing efforts to revise standards. Mackey said the state Department of Education and state Board of Education have already deliberated for months on changing math and reading curriculum standards. Leaders of groups representing local school boards and local superintendents said the legislation would cause problems. Marsh said hes frustrated with the education community and called the state Board of Education "dysfunctional." Marsh said Alabama schools have continued to perform poorly on national assessments since the adoption of Common Core standards in reading and in math. Marsh noted that he had previously opposed legislators efforts to repeal the Common Core standards but said the persistently low scores indicate its time to make a change. Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said she was concerned about hasty action to repeal the standards. Figures said she wanted to hear opinions from representatives of education groups at the meeting. Sen. David Burkette, D-Montgomery, a retired teacher and coach, echoed Figures concerns. I would like to hear the pros and the cons of the entire thing, Burkette said. Lisa Woodard, governmental affairs director for School Superintendents of Alabama, said the organization did not learn about the bill until Tuesday night. She said there was not time to call for a public hearing on the bill. Woodard said she was concerned that the bill could cause problems because it was more extensive than repealing Common Core. This is going above and beyond repealing Common Core, Woodard said. Sally Smith, executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, said the association opposes Marshs bill. Smith noted that the bill appeared to have strong support in the Senate, with 22 co-sponsors. In all candor, we do oppose this legislation, Smith said. But we are willing to work with the senator to make this legislation more workable. I think theres more to our challenges in education, which are duly noted, than just the standards. But if youre going to repeal the Common Core -- and I can count, I look at the votes, we see that there is a desire for the Senate to do so with the number of co-sponsors -- lets not cause a disruption and chaos. Marsh said he was open to discussing possible changes to the bill. Marsh said he wanted to get the bill through the Senate this week. That would move the bill to the House after lawmakers take next week off for spring break. Figures said she intended to work with Marsh on the legislation before it is considered by the full Senate. Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement in response to questions about Marshs bill. The governor, who is president of the state Board of Education by virtue of her office, said she supported Marshs efforts but didnt specifically say she supported repealing Common Core. Alabama has some of the greatest teachers anywhere, they do a fantastic job each and every day laying a strong educational foundation for the children of Alabama," Ivey said. "I have supported our teachers by proposing pay raises each of the last two years and expanding programs that have proven successful. As a former educator and president of the Alabama State Board of Education, I know how important it is to have good course materials to teach. Efforts like this should not be taken lightly, and I believe we should be deliberate in determining a course of study for our state. I support Senator Marshs efforts to ensure that headlines about Alabama ranking last or close to last in education become things of the past. Marsh, who said he has been meeting with education officials for months trying to put together a comprehensive plan to improve education, was asked why he didnt let education officials know the bill to repeal Common Core was coming. Marsh said the education community has not demonstrated it can implement policies to improve schools. For example, he said the state was slow to set up school report cards mandated by the Legislature. Im frustrated with the education community," Marsh said. "We passed standards to put the A through F grade standards out for parents to understand how their children were doing, how the schools were doing. It took them five years to implement that standard, to put it out there. Marsh said theres been ample time to show positive results from the Common Core but it hasnt happened. I think the Board of Education now is dysfunctional, Marsh said. I think that weve got to work to push more local control back to the local schools. And thats the direction that I want to go in. Mackey said he agrees with the goal of improving academic results but cautioned against disrupting ongoing efforts. Marshs bill would reinstate standards that were in place in 2011 for math and in 2012 for English while new standards are developed. Changing teaching standards requires a lot of expert work by dedicated education professionals, Mackey said in a statement. It will not happen overnight. The Department of Education and State Board have been deliberating for months over revisions to Alabamas current Math and Reading curriculum standards and as well as new assessment practices that follow behind those standards. We understand and agree with the desire to realize greater academic success. However, reverting back to Alabama Course of Study standards adopted in the late 1990s and early 2000s would be a huge undertaking for standards that will only be used for a short period of time. Marsh said he plans to have the bill on the Senate floor on Thursday. The state of Alabama has got to be competitive going forward and weve got to give our children every chance we can to have a better life, Marsh said. And youre not going to do that if youve got the vast majority at those low grade levels. We just cant have that. Weve got to figure out whats going wrong in math and reading and the first step is to abolish what were using now and find something new to see if it solves the problem. AL.com reporter Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this report. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, filed a bill on Tuesday to eliminate Common Core in Alabamas schools, telling AL.com that time is up for the controversial set of learning standards in math and English in K-12 public schools. This is a shot over the bow, Marsh said. Its not working. Its failing our children. Marsh posted a video on social media to announce the filing of the bill. Today I filed a bill to repeal common core in Alabama. Our kids deserve better. #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/l8CuqHoEf4 Del Marsh (@SenatorDelMarsh) March 19, 2019 Marsh said he expects the bill to have broad support in both chambers of the legislature. Twenty-two out of 35 state senators have co-sponsored the bill. Under Marshs proposal, the courses of study for math and English would revert to transition standards, rolling back to standards that were in place in 2011 for math and in 2012 for English. The bill requires the state board of education to adopt new math and English standards and implement them not later than the 2020-21 school year. In an email response to AL.com, state Superintendent Eric Mackey wrote that he spoke with Marsh Tuesday evening. We set a plan to discuss in the coming days, Mackey wrote. We are looking into implications should it eventually become law. Math standards have been under review since 2018, but state Superintendent Eric Mackey postponed a planned March 14 vote to adopt the new standards after Gov. Kay Ivey, as president of the board, asked Mackey to take additional time to review other states' math standards. Marsh said that postponing the vote showed that the board isn't taking action quickly enough. "We can't wait any longer," he said. Marsh acknowledged that in the past, he believed in letting the state board of education be in charge of setting education policy. The lack of improvement is what has changed his mind, he said. "We've got a big problem in this state," Marsh said. "We can't sit back year after year and see these [test] scores and not take action." The bill also prohibits the state board from adopting any national standards in any subject, including history, science, social studies and sexuality. Marsh said the state department of education is "dysfunctional," and he plans to advocate for more local control. "The state agency is not getting the job done." Our state is going to be frowned on by the economic development community, Marsh said, with our kids not being proficient in math and reading. Weve got to do something. Marsh said the use of Common Core standards, first adopted in 2010, has not worked to improve test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. The NAEP is considered the gold standard in testing and is increasingly used to compare student achievement among states. Alabamas students have historically performed well below other states on the NAEP. In the video posted on social media, Marsh said, "After 10 years, the state of Alabama is 49th in math and 46th in reading. We can't keep going in that direction." We want to do bold things in education in Alabama, and [Common Core] is in the way. So, this is step one, to clean the slate, to allow us to bring legislation to deal with reform in education. Updated 9:20 p.m. with response from Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey. Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought her message of advocating for ordinary Americans to Birmingham on Tuesday, where a crowd of 500 people filled a room in the Boutwell Auditorium to both hear her vision and question the Democratic presidential candidate. The 6 p.m. event was one of two the Massachusetts senator held Tuesday in Alabama after stopping by Selma earlier in the day. Warren, a former special needs teacher and law school professor, told the crowd her life experience mimicked the millions of working families across the country. She recalled how her family was riddled with economic anxiety after her father had a debilitating heart attack when she was 12 years old. It just turned us upside down. We lost our family station wagon, and at night Id hear my mama and my daddy talking and thats when I learned words like mortgage and foreclosure, Warren said. Warrens mother, the familys longtime caretaker, decided to get a minimum wage job at Sears to save the family home. She said her family was fortunate that the job was able to keep her family afloat while her father recovered, but she said the stagnant wages of today are holding families down. When I was a kid and my mama would walk to Sears for a minimum wage job, a minimum wage job would support a family of three. It would pay the mortgage, it would pay utilities and it would put food on the table, she said to cheers. Today, a minimum wage job in America will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty. What changed between the 1960s and today? Corruption of the political system, Warren contended. Its not an accident. It didnt just happen. It was on purpose. Our government has shifted, she said. Washington it works great for giant drug companies. It just doesnt work for people trying to get a prescription filled. It works great for giant financial institutions and for payday lenders. It just doesnt work for paycheck to paycheck families that are trying to make it through the night. It works great for giant oil companies that want to drill everywhere. It just doesnt work great for those for us who see climate change bearing down upon the earth. When you see a government that works great for those with money and connections and isnt working for anyone else, thats corruption, pure and simple. On policy, Warren advocated for doing away with the electoral college, a position that was met with cheers in a deep red state that becomes a ghost town for presidential candidate visits. We get to hold an election for the highest office in this land and no presidential candidate comes to Alabama or to Mississippi, Warren said, adding that the same is true for blue states like Massachusetts Theyre not coming because were not the states that are in play. In this most important decision in this democracy, your vote just doesnt count and that is just wrong. The Massachusetts senator received pushback from the crowd when she urged the attendees to implore state lawmakers to pass legislation giving Alabamas nine electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the popular vote to sidestep the electoral college. Amid groans from the crowd, one man said, were gerrymandered, suggesting that such a move would be a lost cause in Alabama. But Warren argued that a law, which was already been adopted in states with a collective 172 electoral votes, would not be to the advantage of one particular party. Dont laugh, she said. This is not red vs. blue. If enough states signed on, by 2020 the person who gets most votes could actually be president. The proposal was slammed by Alabama Republican Party Chairwoman Terry Lathan, who said the plan goes against the wishes of the countrys founders. She wants to 'get rid of the Electoral College', so that big cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago can pick our president, Lathan said in a statement earlier Tuesday. She apparently thinks she knows better than our Founding Fathers, who in their infinite wisdom wove a perfect system. The Electoral College provides all Americans, even those living in smaller states like Alabama, a voice in the presidential process. Addressing the media after the event, Warren said she believed the proposal has bipartisan support and suggested that entrenched Republicans benefit from the status quo. I get it that there are some folks who are very comfortable working for the rich and the powerful and thats a big part of those making their name through the Republican Party, she said. "I think there are a lot of folks who are Democrats, independents and Republicans who are sick of a government that works for the wealthy and the well-connected, and theyre ready to fight for a government that works for all of us. As for the crowds apathy to lobbying legislators on national popular vote legislation, Warren said: My view is you got to work on it all around the country. You dont get what you dont fight for. Warren also highlighted her so-called wealth tax that would levy a 2 percent penalty on every dollar of an individuals wealth over $50 million. If this sounds like an unusual idea its unusual in that we dont do it, she said. If we do that, we can start making investments in everybody else in America. A group of Fairfield residents last week filed a civil action lawsuit seeking to remove former city council president Eddie Penny from the mayors office, prevent him from acting as mayor and name Edward May II the rightful mayor of Fairfield. The lawsuit is filed by a group of Fairfield residents known as the Fairfield Citizen Coalition. May, elected mayor in 2016, has long been at odds with the City Council. That discord came to a head when the council, in a 6 to 1 vote, decided in late January to remove May as mayor. On Feb. 12, the Fairfield City Council removed May from office, claiming his failure to attend City Council meetings for 90 days rendered him removed from office. The council then swore in Eddie Penny as the Mayor of Fairfield. The council used Alabama Code 11-40-25 to remove May from office. That law says, Any elected municipal official who misses all regular and special called council or commission meetings for 90 consecutive days, beginning on the date of any absence, shall be removed from office by operation of law. Edward May II However, May claimed that law does not apply because of Fairfields mayor-council form of government. Based on statutory, legislative, and case law - the Mayor of Fairfield is not a member of the City Council and therefore not subject to 11-40-25 code of Alabama, May said. The lawsuit also claims city employees broke into his office and packed up his belongings sometime before Feb. 12. It said May arrived at his office the next day to find all his belongings packed and ready to be moved. The lawsuit also asks for two other council members, District 1 councilor Barakus Taylor and District 5 councilor Harman Carnes, to be removed on the claim neither has a legal residence in Fairfield. The complaint asks for an expedited hearing on the case. Vice President Mike Pence will chair the next meeting of the National Space Council at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville on Tuesday, the White House says. The council includes leaders of various executive agencies and departments including Defense, State, Commerce, Homeland Security, national intelligence and NASA. It was originally founded by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, disbanded in 1993 and reactivated by President Trump in 2017. The meeting in Huntsville, which opens at noon CDT, will be the councils fifth since being reactivated. Its focus will be the administrations plans to send Americans back to the moon and then to Mars. The meeting comes two weeks after NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine electrified the nations aerospace community by telling Congress that NASA is considering commercial rockets instead of the agencys own Space Launch System (SLS) for launching an Orion space capsule on a planned test flight around the moon in 2020. The flight is called Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), and the NASA center leading development of SLS is the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. I think we as an agency need to stick to our commitments.," Bridenstine told a Senate panel. If we tell you and others that were going to launch in June of 2020 around the moon, which is what EM-1 is, I think we should launch around the moon in June of 2020. And I think it can be done. We as an agency need to consider all options to accomplish that objective. During the meeting, Pence and the council will hear from two panels on human space exploration. The vice president will also lead a public discussion and discuss space policy recommendations for the president. Bridenstine is expected to attend, but the other council members who will be there have not been released. The first panel Ready to Fly includes Gen. Les Lyles, USAF (ret.), former vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Col. Eileen Collins, USAF (ret.), former Space Shuttle commander; and Dr. Sandy Magnus, former shuttle astronaut. The second panel Ready to Explore includes Dan Dumbacher of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dr. Jack Burns of the University of Colorado at Boulder and independent consultant Wanda Sigur. The meeting will be held in the Saturn V Hall of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, home to Space Camp, Space Camp Robotics, Aviation Challenge and U.S. Cyber Camp. The hall also displays the Apollo 16 moon mission capsule and the National Historic Landmark Saturn V rocket. It is the official visitor center for NASA Marshall and also displays national defense technologies developed at the U.S. Armys Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Remington Arms has failed to meet hiring and payroll targets at its Huntsville plant, costing the beleaguered gunmaker $3 million in incentives from the state of Alabama. Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, in an email Tuesday to AL.com, spelled out the canceling of the final $3 million cash incentive payment to Remington. Its the latest turn for the company that is still obligated to hire almost 2,000 workers in Huntsville by 2023. But last year, the company filed for bankruptcy and the city of Huntsville restructured its incentive package with Remington in an effort to allow it to recover from that bankruptcy. And earlier this month, a report from New York said that Remington was planning layoffs at three locations, including Huntsville. A Remington spokesman declined to comment on the possibility of cutting jobs. Despite the problems, Canfield told AL.com that the Commerce department has confidence in the companys intent to rebound from their current market conditions. We will be pursuing discussions to better understand Remingtons business plan and current market conditions. When Remington announced plans to come to Huntsville in 2014, it promised about 2,000 full-time jobs at a time when the gun industry was flourishing. Gun sales have more recently been in decline and Remington's anticipated prosperity in Huntsville has stalled. The company was supposed to have 680 employees on payroll by the end of 2017 as part of its gradual build-up to reaching 1,868 employees. City officials said the actual number of workers was around 500 and that number had dipped to about 450 near the end of 2018. In November, the Huntsville city council agreed to relieve Remington of its obligation to gradually increase its workforce as outlined in the incentive agreement with the city. Instead, the council approved a proposal that Remington maintain at least 415 employees with the stipulation that it hit its promised goal of 1,868 in 2023. Otherwise, Huntsville and other local government entities will recoup the combined $12.5 million in incentives used to lure the company to north Alabama. The state of Alabama promised more than $38 million in incentives to Remington. The state incentives also included $15.9 million in recruiting and training by AIDT, the state's worker training agency. The numbers for the reduction in AIDT training and recruitment services has not yet been tallied, but will be as part of the review, Canfield said in the email. Remington has returned about $500,000 in incentive money to the governments of Limestone County and Madison County, according to AL.com news partner WHNT. This is an opinion column. For the Alabama Supreme Court, it was a new issue, but if Ive seen it once, Ive seen it hundreds of times. The grossest example I can remember has to be last year at the Alabama Ethics Commission public officials meeting in secret. Brent Beal, a lawyer for Secretary of State John Merrill, and John Bennett, Merrill's deputy chief of staff, were settling into their seats at an Alabama Ethics Commission meeting when something screwy happened. Beal and Bennett were at the meeting because their boss had reported dozens of Alabama elected officials for not filing their campaign finance reports on time, potentially a crime. But before that meeting started, a lawyer for the Commission stuck her head out a side door and motioned for the men to join her and four commissioners in another sort of meeting, this one not public, but behind closed doors. In a room behind the Commissions chambers, Ethics Commissioner Charlie Price informed Beal that he was going to waive fines the Secretary of States office had imposed on 31 candidates and political action committees for filing late campaign finance reports. The other commissioners in this back room didnt seem surprised by what Price was saying, Beal and Bennett told me. Beal and Price had some back and forth about the legal issues, particularly the laws definition of election cycle. Bennett said two of the other commissioners interjected in the discussion. Beal said he heard those commissioners talking but didnt make out what they had said. The important point here is that a quorum of a public body was having a meeting behind closed doors, potentially in violation of Alabamas Open Meetings Act. The key to whether that meeting was illegal was whether or not the commissioners were deliberating. Under Alabamas Open Meetings Act, deliberation is supposed to happen in the open, where you and I can see it. There are exceptions good name and character, for instance. But the law lays out how thats supposed to happen: First a meeting, properly noticed, is called to order, and then the member may go behind closed doors after they publicly announce the open meeting exemption theyre traveling under. But sometimes heck, all the time theres a meeting before the meeting. As I said, Ive seen it hundreds of times. Before a Water Works Board meeting, or a BJCC board meeting, or a city council meeting theres a light lunch, or coffee and donuts, or little group huddles around the corner. The things these meetings have in common is that they happen out of public view. Unless someone like Beal or Bennett speaks up, its a black box. And its got to stop. Fortunately, the Alabama Supreme Court is on the publics side, for once. Earlier this month, the court ruled in a similar case and it ruled for openness. In that case, the Public Education Employees Health Insurance Program board called its pre-meeting meeting a training session, and like the Ethics Commission it discussed with state employees matters up for consideration in a public meeting later that day. The short version of the courts ruling: Dont blow smoke up our robes. PEEHIPs training session didnt cover training from its paid staff, the court ruled. Further, asking questions in secret was still deliberation in secret. In that case, the court ruled that the PEEHIP boards vote later was invalidated because its deliberation had not been done legally. For PEEHIP, it was a costly mistake $130 million, give or take, which it must now refund to state employees. Compared to that, a bunch of fines for a handful of politicians may seem like piddly business. But its the publics business and its the commissions responsibility and every city council, ever county commission, every state and local board or agencys responsibility to conduct your business the right way. Because its still the law. Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group. Want access to the best analysis and in-depth reporting about Alabama each week? Sign up for the weekly Reckon Report newsletter and follow Reckon on Facebook and Twitter. Follow Whitmire on Twitter and Facebook, too. And Instagram. Alabama has a mental health provider problem. Thats what a recent analysis by 24/7 Wall Street found when it examine data to determine the worst statistic in each state. The issues in each state ranged from obvious ones lowest income, highest violent crime rate or highest rate of obesity. Others were less obvious, such as the lack of early educational opportunities or highest per capita credit card debt. The analysis found Alabamas worst statistic had to do with access to mental health care. Alabama has fewer than 85 mental health providers per 100,000 people, the least of any state and well below the national average of 212.8 mental health providers per 100,000 people. Heres what the analysis showed for the other states Alaska Highest annual unemployment Arizona Highest incarceration rate among Hispanics Arkansas Quality of adult health California Greatest number of wildfires Colorado Fewest percentage of Hispanics earning a college degree Connecticut Highest bank-issued credit card debt among lower 48 states Delaware Lowest percentage of energy from renewable sources Florida Highest number of hurricanes Georgia High number of hate groups Hawaii Highest cost of living Idaho Lowest percentage of 3 and 4 year olds enrolled in preschool Illinois High levels of state debt Indiana Low home values Iowa Large increase in homicides Kansas Large increase in larceny and theft Kentucky Highest percentage of preventable hospitalizations Louisiana High violent and non violent crime rates Maine Oldest median age Maryland Longest commute Massachusetts Lowest percentage of pet owners Michigan Declining population Minnesota Cold temperatures Mississippi Highest poverty rate in the country Missouri Highest number of meth lab busts Montana Highest suicide rate Nebraska High level of tornadoes Nevada Highest rate of divorce New Hampshire High rate of opioid overdose deaths New Jersey High ozone/air pollution New Mexico Highest level of property crimes New York Worst income inequality North Carolina Greatest susceptibility to sea rise North Dakota Highest level of driving deaths attributed to alcohol Ohio Highest concentration of air pollutants Oklahoma Smallest improvement in life expectancy Oregon Highest share of people who abuse pain killers Pennsylvania Highest gas tax Rhode Island Greatest number of roads in poor condition South Carolina Smallest percentage of residents who have access to physical activity South Dakota Lowest per capita state spending on healthcare Tennessee Highest percentage of adults with cardiovascular disease Texas Highest rate of uninsured residents Utah Fewest number of social support networks (fitness centers, religious organizations, etc.) Vermont Highest share of adults who report using drugs Virginia Highest total credit card balance Washington Greatest number of rainy days West Virginia Highest obesity rate Wisconsin Highest percent of adults who drink excessively Wyoming Greatest decline in employment A Tennessee woman is suing Vanderbilt University Medical Center alleging the hospital operated on the wrong kidney during her surgery. Carla Miller of Jackson, Tennessee said doctors were supposed to implant a small tube from her left kidney through her urinary system to her bladder during a November 2017 operation, The Tennessean reported. Instead, doctors implanted the tube in her wrong kidney and ran it through the other side of her body, her suit alleges. The suit claims Millers urinary system was damaged and she now must undergo dialysis for life. She was also forced to undergo a second surgery to correct the tubes placement. The suit asks for $5.5 million in compensatory damages and another $15 million in punitive damages. Vanderbilt has not commented on the suit. The alleged error is the third serious medical incident at the medical center between April and December 2017, according to The Tennessean. A new bill introduced in the Alabama House this week would make several changes to laws governing the states craft beer industry. State Rep. Becky Nordgren (R-Gadsden) introduced a bill supporters are calling Brewery Modernization 2.0, or HB 151. As Dan Roberts, executive director of the Alabama Brewers Guild described, the bills purpose is to update the 2011 act that legalized tasting rooms in Alabama. He said the new legislation will reduce red tape, spur growth for breweries and distilleries, and make it easier to attract expansion projects from out-of-state companies. Among the changes proposed are: Simplifying the excise taxes on beer and spirits sold at the tasting room. For example, the bill would create a new, volume-based tax on liquor sold at a tasting room of $4 per liter. This would replace the often confusing tax structure based on the wholesale cost of liquor. It would clarify that taxes on beer at a tasting room or brewpub are assessed by the keg, not by each individual pint. Allowing limited transfers of product between locations under common ownership. Under the new bill, the receiver would not transfer in more beer than what is manufactured during a calendar year. Allowing brewery and distillery owners to fully participate in non-profits. Allowing brewery owners to own brewpub locations. An Atlanta brewery is looking to locate a brewpub in Birmingham. The bill would also clear up vague language from previous state acts. For example, it would clarify that breweries and brewpubs can serve beer from serving tanks. It would also define a small manufacturer as a company producing less than 250,000 barrels of beer, 100,000 gallons of table wine or 50,000 proof gallons of spirits. In addition, the bill would change the off-premise limit on beer to 1,984 ounces and the off-premise limit on spirits to 4.5 liters. Alabama Brewers Guild President Derrell Winowich, who owns Phenix Citys Chattahoochee Brewing Co,, said about two years of work have gone into the bill following a comprehensive review of needed tweaks. As Roberts explained, past legislative proposals for craft beer had narrow focuses. Free the Hops legalized beer with an alcohol by volume content above 6 percent in 2009. Large-format bottles of up to 25.4 ounces were legalized in 2012. Homebrewing was legalized in 2013. The Growler Bill, legalizing beer to go, passed in 2016. This industry is an economic engine, Roberts said. This bill is good for craft beer, good for jobs, and good for the consumer. Would you drive into another state to buy a lottery ticket? Thats exactly what hundreds of Alabamians did on Wednesday. Dozens of people waited in line at the Robinson convenience store across the Alabama-Georgia state line to buy tickets for the Powerball lottery, which is now up to $550 million. More than half of those in line said they were from Alabama. Six people purchasing their lottery tickets told AL.com they wish Alabama had a lottery, so their money could be going to their home state rather than a neighboring one. This week, state Sen. Jim McClendon of Springville announced he was introducing legislation to set up an Alabama lottery. The people of Alabama have convinced me, the people in my district, that they would like to be able to buy a lottery ticket without having to drive to another state, McClendon said. Theyd like to be able to buy a lottery ticket just like folks in 45 states across our nation can do. Carl Ogle, from Leeds, spent $40 on tickets he said he would rather spend in Alabama. Two other men, one from Tuscaloosa County and one from Gadsden, said they often drive into Georgia to play the lottery and each man was buying enough Powerball tickets to last eight draws. J.P. Hollingsworth, of Warrior, spent over $100 on lottery tickets at the convenience store and said he wishes that money was going to fund public schools in Alabama, like the ones his grandchildren attend. I would rather spend my money in Alabama, he said. Id like to enhance our schools and our highways...Im going to vote for it, if we get an opportunity to vote. A cashier at a truck stop near Robinson said she has sold hundreds of lottery tickets to Alabamians, adding that today wasnt the first time she had seen a surge in out-of-state buyers. The drawing is Wednesday night, and the estimated cash value of the Powerball is $335 million. When asked what they would spend their winnings on if they hit the jackpot, ticket buyers in Georgia said they would pay off their houses and take care of their families. One man said he would pay off his beach house, too. Another said he would have a heart attack and not even have a chance to spend his winnings. On social media, people said they would give money to charities and scholarship funds and buy new houses. Pay off all my familys debts, get my parents the house they dreamed of, go to my dream art school and make sure my brothers go to their dream schools too Daisy (@seoksoonjoon) March 20, 2019 The key witness in the murder of a young Birmingham father who was killed when he was caught in crossfire has disappeared and authorities said without the witness, they may not be able to move forward with prosecution. The witness, Marvin Leon Washington, is the father of one of the young suspects and was the original target in the 2017 shooting, Birmingham police and Crime Stoppers officials said Wednesday. Though Washington initially spoke with police, they now believe he has possibly left the state and his disappearance led to the December 2018 dismissal of capital murder charges against XZavier McWillie, now 18, and DeMarcus Daniels, now 20. Washington, McWillies father, is now being sought. He is not charged with any crime, but Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000 to find him so that they can move forward with the case against McWillie and Daniels. Crime Stoppers Sgt. John Pennington said it is a rare move for the agency to offer a reward for locating a witness but said its vital to public safety and the victims familys peace of mind - that the suspects pay for their alleged crimes. Right now, theres a lot in the news about the level of violence in the city of Birmingham. Were having more of these senseless shootings where sometimes innocent people lose their life, Pennington said. We talk about, What can be done? Well, this is one of those moments. This is what can be done. Unfortunately, if youre a witness to a crime, its your civic duty, its the right thing to do, to come forward and participate in the process of holding those responsible accountable for what theyve done. We need to find him, and someone out there in the community knows where he is and how we can get in touch with him, Pennington said. A Jefferson County grand jury in January 2018 indicted McWillie and Daniels in the June 30, 2017 shooting death of 20-year-old Antonio Brooks, who was killed with a bullet meant for McWillies father. In a bizarre series of events that night, the suspects were involved in a crash that seriously injured two Birmingham police officers and one of the suspects streamed the chase on Facebook Live. The incident began just before 9 p.m. that Friday night when police say one of the teens McWillie - reportedly stole a credit card from his grandmother to go buy an iPhone. His father -Washington - went looking for him, spotted him on Jefferson Avenue and began to follow his son. That's when someone inside the teens' vehicle fired shots. When the shots were fired, McWillie's father turned off Jefferson Avenue and the teens went to a gas station, a Birmingham police detective testified in a preliminary hearing last year. When the teens left the gas station, police spotted them and a high-speed pursuit began while McWillie video-streamed the chase on Facebook Live. The chase ended with the teens crashing into a Birmingham police car and injuring two on-duty officers. Those officers suffered serious neck and back injuries but survived. Daniels and McWillie were taken into custody and questioned at police headquarters after the crash. McWillie immediately invoked his right to an attorney, the detective said, but Daniels agreed to be questioned by police. Daniels told police he and McWillie were in his car and McWillie got into a fight with his dad. Daniels said McWillie shot at his dad, but was not aware that an innocent bystander had been shot and killed. Two handguns were recovered from Daniels' car. One was a pink-colored .380, and the other a Glock. Officers found a third gun, a Taurus, inside the victim's vehicle. The detective said the three guns have been tested and the department's ballistics expert ruled the bullet that killed Brooks could not have been fired from either the pink .380 or the Taurus, but it could have come from the Glock. Authorities quickly learned that one of the teens streamed the entire crash on Facebook Live. According to that video, obtained by AL.com, the suspect was driving through the area and remarking on all the flashing blue police lights. At one point during the video, he is heard saying, Damn, free me man. The charges against the suspects were dismissed in December 2018 when prosecutors said they were unable to find Washington. Daniels and McWillie were free to go and released from all conditions of bond and monitoring. Antonio Brooks graduated from Huffman High School in 2015, and then went to work. He left behind two young daughters whom he cherished, his sister Anysia Brooks said in a previous interview. "He loved to enjoy life. He loved to laugh. He loved music. He loved his kids,'' she said. "The only bad thing he did was being in that wrong place at that wrong time." Birmingham homicide Det. Steven Fisher said without Washingtons testimony, there may be no justice for Brooks. We have spoken with him previously, Fisher said, but at this time, were thinking hes somewhere out of state so were asking the community to help. It is a situation we face, he said. A lot of times theyre (witnesses) afraid because something may happen to them or their family. Its a sad situation. Anysia Brooks said her family was devastated when they learned the charges were dropped. Its been very hurtful, she said. Its been hard dealing with it. She said they met with Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr, who promised to help. He does really care, she said, and he wants to help us get justice for my brother. A lot of people think the police are against us, but a lot of people dont want to help them, Anysia Brooks said. How can they help bring justice when people dont want to talk and cooperate with them? I dont want my brothers case swept under the rug or forgotten, she said. We hope they do locate the dad. He should be willing to holding his son responsible for taking someones life. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Tipsters to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and are eligible for up to $5,000 in reward money. A predawn raid at a Selma mobile home led to the citys first heroin arrest in more than a decade. A man and a woman were taken into custody following the 5:30 a.m. raid Tuesday. An elderly woman, two toddlers and infant were in the home at the time. Police sought care for the elderly woman and the Dallas County Department of Human Resources took custody of the three small children. The possession and distribution of heroin in our community worries me and its my sincere hope its an anomaly, said Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier. However, thats probably wishful thinking. Unfortunately, it appears heroin, which is often laced with deadly fentanyl, has emerged as the new threatening drug. The operation was carried out by the Selma Police Departments Fugitive Apprehension and Special Tactics Team at 804 Utah Street in Selma. The warrant was the culmination of an ongoing investigation by the department criminal and narcotics investigators into a drug distribution that was launched by an observant patrol officer, Collier said. The team used a dynamic entry a no-knock, forced entry - into the residence after intelligence indicated the possibility of the suspects being armed. That intelligence included a social media photo of someone inside the home posing with a cache of weapons, and also a glass of wine. Once inside, investigators detained Timothy Brown, 34, and Inez Woods, 36, for officer safety. They also found the elderly woman and the children. Collier said Woods was the target of the investigation but while searching the home, investigators discovered Brown was also in possession of a variety of drugs. The ongoing investigation indicated that Woods was distributing a variety of drugs, including synthetic narcotics strips. After a thorough search, investigators found marijuana, two different types of Schedule II amphetamines and heroin and scales in the couples bedroom, which the chief described as an alarming discovery. Heroin has returned as a dangerous drug of abuse throughout the United States over the past several years, leading to numerous overdoses across the country, Collier said. In Alabama, heroin has plagued the northern part of the state, particularly Jefferson County and counties north of I-20. Fortunately, until today, the Selma community has been spared the scourge of heroin that has destroyed so many lives in Alabama and the United States, he said. Todays discovery of heroin appears to be the first heroin arrest in Selma in over a decade. Woods is charged with distribution of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, endangerment of a child by chemical substance and second-degree possession of marijuana. She is being held without bond in the Dallas County Jail. Brown is charged with distribution of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, endangerment of a child by chemical substance and first-degree possession of marijuana. He, too, is being held without bond. Collier said the investigation indicated the elderly female was not involved in any of the crimes. Investigators called for an ambulance to her health, and DHR responded and removed the children from the home. The chief accompanied the team on the search and served as incident commander. Fugitive Apprehension and Special Tactics Team commander Sgt. Mike Kiser assumed tactical command. Collier praised the officers. The genesis of this ongoing investigation is solely attributable to a new Selma patrol officer, Officer Marquis Moorer, he said. The ability to look beyond the traffic stop is vital to being a good officer. Some law enforcement officers are naturals at this job and Officer Moorer has proven that in a short time. I am very proud of him. The chief also praised Dallas County DHR and Selma Special Victims Investigator Beauty Benjamin for taking the lead in ensuring the safety of the children and the elderly female. And, he also lauded the work of Investigator Matt Till in the case. Matt is a natural narcotics investigator, he said. His instinct and skill are as keen as any I have seen in my career. Collier pointed out recent criticism in public and on social media of Selma Police Department training and use of tactical operations to combat gun violence and eradicate drugs in the community. Its easy for one to sit safely in their home and embolden themselves behind a computer screen when their sole purpose is to criticize my decision as chief to ensure that our operators receive the best tactical training and the equipment they need to ensure they come home every night, he said. I know the anti-government, borderline Sovereign Citizen rhetoric being spewed by a few is not the sentiment of the overwhelming majority of our community, he said. My advice to this vocal few is stay behind the computer and further their self-described law enforcement and tactical expertise by playing Tom Clancy games and leave the tactical operations to the brave men and women of the Selma Police Department. Two lawmen in Tuscaloosa County have filed a libel lawsuit against Buzzfeed News, claiming false and libelous articles surrounding the death of former University of Alabama student Megan Rondini. Tuscaloosa police Officer Adam Jones and Tuscaloosa County sheriffs Deputy Joshua Hastings filed the federal lawsuit earlier this month in the Northern District of Alabamas Western Division. The suit contends that BuzzFeed and the author Katie Baker knowingly and falsely portrayed the officers and their actions during the investigation as corrupt. Matt Mittenthal, spokesperson for BuzzFeed News, told AL.com We stand fully behind the story and its author, Katie Baker, who raised serious questions about how law enforcement handled this incident, its treatment and questioning of the victim, and her eventual suicide. Megan Rondini was a UA student from Texas when she reported to police she was raped by a prominent Tuscaloosa man in 2015. Rondini's story became public in a June 2017 BuzzFeed story, as told by her parents, family and friends. They claimed the 20-year-old was mistreated by Tuscaloosa County investigators, the university and DCH Regional Medical Center. Rondini left Tuscaloosa and took her own life in February 2016. In an earlier lawsuit filed on behalf of parents Michael and Cynthia Rondini, the documents identified T.J. Bunn, the Tuscaloosa man implicated in the alleged sexual assault of Rodini, as being part of a family that is well connected and powerful in the Tuscaloosa community, and were major financial supporters of UA. The family settled with UA on the second anniversary of their daughters death. Bunn works at ST Bunn Construction Company, which is across the street from the Innisfree Pub, where Rondini reportedly became drunk, or was drugged, before being raped for 30 minutes in July 2015. Buzzfeed on June 22, 2017 published an in-depth articled titled, subtitled and captioned A College Student Accused a Powerful Man of Rape. Then She Became a Suspect and How accusing a powerful man of rape drove a college student to suicide and When an Alabama college student told police she was sexually assaulted, she did everything she thought she was supposed to do. She ended up killing herself. Bunn was never charged with any crime and a grand jury that heard the evidence declined to indict him. That article, according to the officers lawsuit, reports that Jones and Hastings intentionally covered up the rape of Rondini. The article depicts both Hastings and Jones as corrupt law enforcement officers whose sub-standard and illegal investigative conduct eventually played a significant role in Ms. Rondini committing suicide, the suit reads. These allegations were contrived, baseless and false. The author Katie J.M. Baker as well as editors and Buzzfeed, knew the libelous and malicious content, implications, and insinuations about Hastings and Jones were false, according to the suit. Nevertheless, the defendants published the libelous material with the motive of furthering the defendants goal and agenda to sensationalize the alleged elite college campus rape culture scenario that has long been BuzzFeed/Bakers target topic. A second BuzzFeed article was published July 3, 2017, titled The parents of a college student who killed herself after reporting she was raped have filed a wrongful death suit. This article confirmed and repeated BuzzFeeds first articles untrue narrative that Investigators Hastings and Jones incompetently and corruptly investigated Ms. Rondinis rape allegations and wrongfully treated Rondini as a criminal suspect, with derision, and without cause, to induce her not to prosecute her alleged rapist. BuzzFeed was admittedly in possession and aware of factual information showing the reported facts about the plaintiffs were most likely false. Jones and Hastings acted during the investigation of the Rondini/Bunn situation as honorable law enforcement officers, the lawsuit states, who diligently and competently investigated the case with absolute honesty and integrity. Meghan Mahowald, known professionally as MEGG, said she hopes to make the event an annual tradition, with proceeds going to a different local foundation every year. In 2016 I took a trip organized by WIRSPA (West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers' Association Inc.) and their quality marque system ACR for Authentic Caribbean Rum. As this was a few years ago, this blog post is somewhat of a photo-and-data dump for you to enjoy photos and for me to refer to as notes for the future. I would start this write-up with "I visited a very special distillery in Jamaica" but I visited 6 of them and they were all very unique and amazing! At this one, however, there was a working sugar refinery. You might know Worthy Park for their Rum Bar brand, probably the main competitor to the ever-present Wray and Nephew on the island. Driving to Worthy Park is quite an experience - there are tons of hills and mountains in Jamaica, and you come over one of them and before you is a giant valley filled with growing sugar cane and the refinery in the middle. The plantation was planted in 1670 and there used to be 5 sugar factories in the valley, while now there is only one. They have made rum on site since 1741, but not continuously. In 1960 they stopped distilling for a time, only to restart in 2005. They were exporting their rum in bulk until 2007 when they launched the 100% pot distilled Rum Bar brand. At Worthy Park they're able to use all of their own molasses from their refinery, and sell some of it to other distilleries. Worthy Park is the mopst efficient cane farm in the country they claim. It takes 9 tons of cane to make 1 ton of sugar here, while less efficient facilities take 11 tons for the same amount. Their cane is harvested both by machine and manually. Cane Sugar Production Sugar cane is burned before hand-harvesting, but machine-harvested cane is not burnt first. Sugar cane is washed, shredded and juiced in a 5-stage mill. The bagasse (solid bits) leftover are used to heat the boilers on-site, right after juice extraction. The leftovers are piled up in huge pile to be used later. The sugar cane juice is mixed with lime (assuming they meant calcium, not like.. limes) to assist with clarification. It then goes to he evaporator to remove 75% of the water, with the resulting juice at about 62 brix. The thick juice is then centrifuged to make crystallized sugar - there is a screen to which the crystals stick and the molasses passes through. Rum Production Over in the distillery, the molasses is pumped underground from the sugar plant. The molasses is acid-adjusted before fermentation. They say their molasses has the least amount of residual sugar in it (on the island) because they're sugar production is so efficient. Here they don't use dunder in the process at all (though they do add some cane juice in fermentation). The highest ester rum they make is 900 ppm (while Hampden Estate goes all the way up to 1600) Fermentation takes 2-3 weeks for their highest ester rums. The resulting beer is 8.5 - 9% ABV for light pot still rum, lower for heavier rum. (We learned on this trip that after regular fermentation happens, the additional fermentation actually eats up alcohol and lowers the ABV. So there may be good flavor reasons for long fermentations, but it's bad for yield.) It is distilled in a Forsyth still- they had just one at the time of my visit. They did not have a column still. The distillation time is about 1.5 to 1.75 hours in the actual rum extraction, but the total distillation time is 5-6 hours. The rest of the time is making the high and low wines that get redistilled. The rum comes out of the pot stills at 85-87%. The stillage at the end of the process is used as fertilizer for the cane fields. Most of the barrels they age in are ex-Jack Daniel's. They have a 4-6% annual angel's share. The rum is diluted to 70% ABV before barrel aging. The rum is bottled at the distillery. They do carbon and paper filtration depending on the product. More Pictures, Just for Fun Y'all know I can't resist a warning sign picture. Tibetans sought refuge in India from the Chinese invasion 60 years ago, but face economic uncertainty and mistreatment. Mumbai, India For many years, 34-year-old Kunsang Tenzing has been thinking about leaving India. His family did years ago. Most of his closest friends have also moved. Over the last seven years, the Tibetan refugee community in India has dropped by 44 percent, from around 150,000 in 2011 to 85,000, according to Indian government data. Tibetan authorities say most are going to countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and Switzerland. Some are returning to Tibet. Across 40 countries, the Tibetan diaspora stands at 150,000, Tibetan authorities say. This month, the community celebrates 60 years in India after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in March, 1959. If the emigration continues, what will remain of the community in India, the country where its spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sought refuge and made his home? Kunsang Tenzing is documenting the lives of Tibetans in India in what one academic says will enhance the understanding of the ordinary Tibetan [Courtesy: Kunsang Tenzing] It is very difficult to make money here. There are barely any jobs here, Tenzing says. Tibetans are not officially recognised as refugees in India. Instead, on paper, they are designated as foreigners. India has refused to sign the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees. As a result, Tibetans are not allowed government jobs. Sometimes, even universities dont admit Tibetan students, says Sonam Norbu Dagpo, the spokesman for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile, which is based in Dharamshala, India. Dakpo says the number of incoming Tibetans fleeing Chinese rule has plummeted, from around 3,000 annually to about 100 last year. Economic concerns are central; many Tibetans say that buying property and accessing bank credit are difficult, leaving them with few options. In addition, Indias dithering over its support to the Tibetan cause makes people nervous. Last year, the government issued a directive prohibiting bureaucrats and leaders from attending events organised by the CTA marking 60 years in India. The directive came on the eve of an informal summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping. An embarrassed CTA was forced to cancel eventsfeaturing the Dalai Lama and hold them outside New Delhi. I Yangzom Tsering, Tibetan in India In the streets of McLeod Ganj, a small hill town in northern India which is the de-facto capital of the Tibetan community and the home of the Dalai Lama, almost everyone has a story of painful separation. Yangzom Tsering, 29, was smuggled to India from Tibet by her relatives soon after her birth. Both her parents passed away soon after. Tsering has always yearned to go back to Tibet to see her siblings who still live there. My brother kept telling me that I should come back home. I checked out all the options but it [going back to Tibet] was very difficult. Last year, his brother passed away. Guilt-ridden, he now feels the need to take more responsibility for his family and plans to migrate to Canada. But it isnt easy to go anywhere, being a refugee. No country wants us. An identity beyond politics Tenzing is trying to capture the stories of people like him refugees from Tibet escaping Chinese occupation, seeking a new life in India while trying to not lose hope. Stories of Tibetans (SoT), a recent social media initiative, has managed to reach about 16,000 followers across several platforms. SoT was designed to explore Tibetan identity away from the political struggle. There is so much more about us our everyday lives, struggles, and joys and the ways in which the struggle has shaped us, says Tenzing. We are changing very rapidly as a society and there is an urgent need to chronicle our current existence before it becomes extinct. Tenzin Chokyi is featured on Stories of Tibetans, a social media initiative, and shared her story of dealing with cancer with her community [Courtesy: Tenzin Chokyi] One of the characters featured on the feed is 23-year-old Tenzin Chokyis, a cancer survivor. Cancer is seldom discussed among Tibetans. Chokyi only discovered her father had passed away due to cancer a month after he died in 2012. I wanted to change that, says Chokyi. Her post has been viewed more than 45,000 times. People wrote in saying they didnt know cancer had entered the Tibetan community too. Tenzing recently highlighted the story of a 24-year-old anonymous Tibetan who walked alone to India because of an abusive father. Another post focuses on a man who gets nostalgic about his friends who have emigrated, each time he sees the hope tattoo they had all got together. Yeshi Choedon, a professor at New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, believes that the initiative might serve as a vital collection of oral histories. Hardly anything about the Tibetan refugee community has been documented so far, he says. Most times, the focus is only on the political struggle. An initiative like this will enhance the understanding of the ordinary Tibetan, in exile. SoT is now branching into documentaries. Its latest is the story of two Tibetan brothers who were reunited after a decade. They were separated when one brother managed to escape from Tibet to come to India, while the other was arrested in Tibet twice while attempting the journey. Tenzing says his work in the community helps overcome his own loneliness. I need to give back to my community, he says, at least for a few more years. But after that, I might migrate too. Why would someone confess to a crime they did not commit? We look at six cases of coerced confessions in the US. Why would someone confess to a crime they did not commit? While the idea may seem inconceivable to many, more than 12 percent of all overturned wrongful convictions in the United States in the past 30 years have involved a false confession, according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations. Psychologists have been researching this issue for decades, and some say that common interrogation tactics used by police can be a contributing factor. The Reid Technique, introduced in 1962 by polygraph expert John Reid and law professor Fred Inbau, is a confrontational tactic that involves accusing the suspect of a crime. It claims to have an 85 to 90 percent success rate. It is one of the most widely used methods in law enforcement, and also one of the most widely criticised for producing false confessions, although its developer John E Reid and Associates says the technique has checks in place to prevent false confessions. It is legal in the US for police to lie about evidence and coercive interrogation techniques are often used, sometimes subjecting suspects to hours of verbal abuse, intimidation or conditions that are mentally and physically exhausting, resulting in the suspect seeing a confession as their only way out of the situation. Advocates say false confessions can be curbed through simple measures like recording interrogations or warning a jury that a suspect may have been coerced. Some states have taken preventive steps; almost half of US states require recording certain custodial interrogations, and in 2017 a major police consulting firm announced it would no longer teach the Reid Technique. Still, the problem persists. Here is a look at six cases in which police coerced confessions from suspects whether they were guilty or not. The Central Park Five Kevin Richardson, one of the wrongly convicted Central Park Five, gets emotional during a news conference to announce the payout for the case at City Hall in New York on June 27, 2014 [Carlo Allegri /Reuters] One of the most famous examples of coerced confessions involved a group of five black and Hispanic teenagers who were interrogated for the beating and rape of a white woman who was jogging in New York Citys Central Park in 1989. The boys were between 14 and 16 years old and were being held as suspects for another series of attacks that took place that night. All five confessed to the crime after being interrogated for hours without lawyers, and according to them deprived of food and sleep. They were convicted despite giving accounts that were inconsistent with each other and the crime scene and no supporting DNA evidence. Four of the teenagers Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray and Raymond Santana each spent about seven years in prison while the fifth, Korey Wise, spent 13 years behind bars. In 2002, a man who was serving a life sentence for raping several women and murdering one, came forward confessing to the crime and DNA evidence was later matched to his. The five men were exonerated and in 2014 they reached a $41m settlement with the city. Andrew and Jackie Wilson Chicago is considered the false confessions capital of the US. More than 30 percent of exonerations involving false confessions have come from Illinois state, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Andrew and Jackie Wilson were interrogated by police commander Jon Burge and his team for the shooting of two police officers in Chicago in 1982. Andrew said he was beaten, suffocated, burned against a radiator, and electrocuted on his face and genitals. They confessed and the two Wilson brothers were found guilty in court. Andrew died in prison, while Jackie was released in 2018 after spending 36 years in jail when a judge ruled that his confession was coerced. The injuries Andrew sustained later reported by a medical official helped expose Burges operations. Burge was accused of torturing more than 100 people, most of whom were black, between 1972 and 1991, using techniques that included suffocating suspects with plastic bags and holding individuals at gunpoint. Tens of millions of dollars were eventually paid in settlements to Burge survivors. In 2015, the city of Chicago paid reparations and required public schools to teach students about the Burge cases. About 20 people tortured by Burge and his team are still in prison, according to Chicago Torture Justice Memorials. US police are allowed to lie to and manipulate suspects into confessing to a crime [Jawahir al-Naimi/Al Jazeera] Nga Truong In 2008, 16-year-old Nga Truong confessed to killing her 13-months-old son in Massachusetts. The American-Vietnamese teenager had phoned emergency services after her baby had stopped breathing, and one-and-a-half hours later a doctor pronounced him dead. The policemen who questioned Truong in a confined room made accusatory statements, lied about evidence and offered false promises. In a video of the confession, obtained by American public radio station WBUR, the police said that Truong would be given a more lenient punishment if she confessed, and that her and her brothers could be put into a better living situation. At the time she lived in an apartment with her boyfriend, mother, and siblings. The police also referenced an incident when Truong was eight years old and her mother had left her to look after her baby brother, who died from sudden infant death syndrome under her watch. A judge watched the tape and ruled that the confession was coerced and Truong was released after almost three years in jail. Henry McCollum and Leon Brown 2014123095854441428 Henry McCollum and his half-brother, Leon Brown, were convicted in 1984 for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina after both teenagers confessed to the crime. They were 19 and 15 at the time and both had intellectual disabilities. Both soon recanted, saying they were coerced, but to no avail. Brown was eventually sentenced to life in prison, while McCollum spent 30 years on death row. They were exonerated on DNA evidence in 2014 and later given pardons of innocence. The state of North Carolina paid $750,000 compensation to both of them in 2015. About 70 percent of people who falsely confessed and were exonerated have mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. One US Supreme Court justice cited the McCollum case to argue against the death penalty, saying it is unconstitutional because wrongful convictions are inevitable. In the past 25-plus years, there have been 248 recorded exonerations involving false confessions, according to data from The National Registry of Exonerations [Jawahir al-Naimi/Al Jazeera] The Norfolk Four Four sailors aged between 20 and 27 were accused of the 1997 rape and murder of an 18-year-old woman in Norfolk, Virginia. They were subjected to hours of questioning and were threatened with the death penalty. Their DNA did not match with crime scene evidence, and the mens confessions contradicted the details of the crime and each others accounts. Around the time of their conviction, a DNA analysis found a match with a man serving time in prison for other crimes, and in 2000 he pleaded guilty. Still, all four sailors were convicted and spent years in prison. In 2009, three of them Danial Williams, Derek Tice, and Joseph Dick Jr were given conditional pardons that left them still registered as sex offenders, and were released. The fourth, Eric Wilson, who had only been convicted for rape, had already served his full sentence. The following years the men were each exonerated and in 2017 they were fully pardoned by the state. Renay Lynch Renay Lynch has spent more than 20 years in prison for a crime she says she didnt commit [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] False confessions can take years to prove, leaving many to argue for their innocence from behind bars. In 1995, Renay Lynch confessed to being an accomplice in the murder of her landlord in Amherst, New York, but later said the confession was false. Her lawyers stated she was addicted to drugs at the time and was coerced by police. A jailhouse informant or prisoner that testifies against someone for perceived benefit or reward also said that she had been an accomplice. In 1998, she was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison where she remains until now. I believe her confession is kind of nonsense. Theres inconsistencies between the physical evidence and what she says If they [the police] knew that Kareem Walker was in Florida at the time of the crime, then Renays confession cant possibly be true, because shes confessing to going to rob the landlord with Kareem. Had the defence been able to put that on, her confession would have made no sense. But the defence was never told, says defence attorney Jane Fisher-Byrialsen. Our goal is to get Renay out of prison, but that can take a really long time. Last year, a judge permitted the retesting of DNA evidence from the crime scene which attorneys say could help prove her innocence. She has been in prison for more than 20 years. UK PM seeks a short delay on the Brexit deadline, but all 27 EU members have to agree to any extension proposal. London, United Kingdom On Thursday, the final European Union summit before the United Kingdom leaves the EU is taking place and tensions are at boiling point. British Prime Minister Theresa May will ask the EUs 27 members for a short extension on the original Brexit deadline of March 29 to June 30, because politicians have so far rejected her withdrawal agreement proposals. But the EU on Wednesday raised the stakes in the UKs political crisis. Donald Tusk, European Council president, told British MPs to either back withdrawal plans negotiated by May with the EU or leave without a deal something economists say would be disastrous. His intervention came after May was forced to formally seek an extension of the Article 50 process that set the UKs original departure date as she prepared for the crunch meeting at the EU summit, held by the European Council. European leaders will demand to know how May intends to use the extension to find a way out of the Brexit impasse. France has indicated that it will block Mays request if she is unable to offer a credible way forward. However, analysts suggest that far from increasing the prospect of a no-deal exit, Tusks ultimatum could strengthen Mays hand as well as that of campaigners demanding a second referendum which they hope will reverse Brexit. A large march planned in London on Saturday by the Peoples Vote campaign that has been lobbying for a plebiscite will pile pressure on MPs who have so far rejected Mays departure deal twice but are watching public opinion closely. Request for short delay Tusks comments came after May formally wrote to him requesting a short delay to the Brexit departure date. She has failed twice to gain support for a deal she negotiated with Brussels about the terms of Britains departure and future relationship with the EU, not least because of fierce opposition to it within her own Conservative Party but still has a week to put this to MPs a third time. On Wednesday evening, she addressed the nation and reiterated her position. We have to question her primary motive here: it seems to be securing Brexit while at the same time holding her own party together. David Phinnemore, professor of European politics at Queen's University Belfast While May wants an extension until the end of June, EU leaders do not want the delay to go beyond May 23 if the UK is to avoid having to participate in forthcoming European Parliament elections. Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University London, said that while Tusks move appears to indicate a binary choice now facing MPs to either back Mays deal in order to secure an Article 50 extension or risk a no deal Brexit, it could help her in the arduous task of building support for her deal. It will concentrate minds, said Bale. Many MPs on both sides of the house are very worried about no deal even if in reality something could be done to prevent that. So I would have thought that many MPs who have so far resisted will come into line. 190320130144947 I think it has always been the likeliest outcome that she will be able to squeeze Tory Eurosceptic and some Labour leavers into voting for her deal. It might be a close run thing but it is perfectly possible despite the very heavy defeats she has already suffered that she could squeeze this through. If, however, MPs were to reject Mays deal on the third attempt in the face of Tusks ultimatum, it is likely that an emergency EU summit will be called. Under that scenario, Brussels insiders believe the UK government would then request a long extension something champions of Brexit want to avoid at all costs to allow time for cross-party talks on a soft Brexit that can gain a consensus in parliament or a general election. Second referendum Moreover, Tusks comments could also empower campaigners seeking another referendum. A proposal by Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson appears to achieve the rare feat of potentially satisfying all sides in this divisive debate by ensuring backing for Mays deal on condition that a referendum is then held. I think that Kyle-Wilson amendment may well now be brought forward officially by the Labour Party, said Bale, which in some ways would allow her deal to go through quite easily, but there would then have to be a confirmatory referendum on it. The EU would be likely to respond by then offering a more lengthy Article 50 extension that would accommodate a referendum with some polls now appearing to suggest that a small majority could vote to halt Brexit entirely. Bale noted that while there has been much discussion about plans for a referendum taking a prohibitive length of time to organise, it could be achieved in a relatively short period. If parliament and the government wanted to, they could certainly hold a referendum in a few weeks. Speculation has also grown that May may also use a threat to resign almost certainly triggering a general election to bring recalcitrant Conservative MPs into line in the third vote on her withdrawal deal. She has been heavily criticised by opposition MPs for choosing to seek a short extension of the Article 50 timetable in order to placate Brexit hardliners in her own party. David Phinnemore, professor of European politics at Queens University Belfast, said that Mays decision reflected the pressure she has come under from Conservative MPs. She has obviously had to swallow earlier statements that she has repeatedly made that the UK will leave on March 30 this year, he said. But obviously she has equally been committed to ensure that the UK leaves with a deal and so I think she has just had to face reality and go for the extension, albeit very reluctantly. We have to question her primary motive here: it seems to be securing Brexit while at the same time holding her own party together. No, it wasnt because of WMDs, democracy or Iraqi oil. The real reason is much more sinister than that. Sixteen years after the United States invaded Iraq and left a trail of destruction and chaos in the country and the region, one aspect of the war remains criminally underexamined: why was it fought in the first place? What did the Bush administration hope to get out of the war? The official, and widely-accepted, story remains that Washington was motivated by Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programme. His nuclear capabilities, especially, were deemed sufficiently alarming to incite the war. As then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, We do not want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. Despite Saddam not having an active WMD programme, this explanation has found support among some International Relations scholars, who say that while the Bush administration was wrong about Saddams WMD capabilities, it was sincerely wrong. Intelligence is a complicated, murky enterprise, the argument goes, and given the foreboding shadow of the 9/11 attacks, the US government reasonably, if tragically, misread the evidence on the dangers Saddam posed. There is a major problem with this thesis: there is no evidence for it, beyond the words of the Bush officials themselves. And since we know the administration was engaged in a widespread campaign of deception and propaganda in the run-up to the Iraq war, there is little reason to believe them. My investigation into the causes of the war finds that it had little to do with fear of WMDs or other purported goals, such as a desire to spread democracy or satisfy the oil or Israel lobbies. Rather, the Bush administration invaded Iraq for its demonstration effect. A quick and decisive victory in the heart of the Arab world would send a message to all countries, especially to recalcitrant regimes such as Syria, Libya, Iran, or North Korea, that American hegemony was here to stay. Put simply, the Iraq war was motivated by a desire to (re)establish American standing as the worlds leading power. Indeed, even before 9/11, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld saw Iraq through the prism of status and reputation, variously arguing in February and July 2001 that ousting Saddam would enhance US credibility and influence throughout the region and demonstrate what US policy is all about. These hypotheticals were catalysed into reality by September 11, when symbols of American military and economic dominance were destroyed. Driven by humiliation, the Bush administration felt that the US needed to reassert its position as an unchallengeable hegemon. The only way to send a message so menacing was a swashbuckling victory in war. Crucially, however, Afghanistan was not enough: it was simply too weak a state. As prison bullies know, a fearsome reputation is not acquired by beating up the weakest in the yard. Or as Rumsfeld put it on the evening of 9/11, We need to bomb something else to prove that were, you know, big and strong and not going to be pushed around by these kinds of attacks. Moreover, Afghanistan was a fair war, a tit-for-tat response to the Talibans provision of sanctuary to al-Qaedas leadership. Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith considered restricting retaliation to Afghanistan dangerously limited, meager, and narrow. Doing so, they alleged, may be perceived as a sign of weakness rather than strength and prove to embolden rather than discourage regimes opposed to the US. They knew that sending a message of unbridled hegemony entailed a disproportionate response to 9/11, one that had to extend beyond Afghanistan. Iraq fit the bill both because it was more powerful than Afghanistan and because it had been in neoconservative crosshairs since George HW Bush declined to press on to Baghdad in 1991. A regime remaining defiant despite a military defeat was barely tolerable before 9/11. Afterwards, however, it became untenable. That Iraq was attacked for its demonstration effect is attested to by several sources, not least the principals themselves in private. A senior administration official told a reporter, off the record, that Iraq is not just about Iraq, rather it was of a type, including Iran, Syria, and North Korea. In a memo issued on September 30, 2001, Rumsfeld advised Bush that the USG [US government] should envision a goal along these lines: New regimes in Afghanistan and another key State [or two] that supports terrorism [to strengthen political and military efforts to change policies elsewhere]. Feith wrote to Rumsfeld in October 2001 that action against Iraq would make it easier to confront politically, militarily, or otherwise Libya and Syria. As for then-Vice President Dick Cheney, one close adviser revealed that his thinking behind the war was to show: We are able and willing to strike at someone. That sends a very powerful message. In a 2002 column, Jonah Goldberg coined the Ledeen Doctrine, named after neoconservative historian Michael Ledeen. The doctrine states: Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business. It may be discomfiting to Americans to say nothing of millions of Iraqis that the Bush administration spent their blood and treasure for a war inspired by the Ledeen Doctrine. Did the US really start a war one that cost trillions of dollars, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, destabilised the region, and helped create the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) just to prove a point? More uncomfortable still is that the Bush administration used WMDs as a cover, with equal parts fearmongering and strategic misrepresentation lying to exact the desired political effect. Indeed, some US economists consider the notion that the Bush administration deliberately misled the country and the globe into war in Iraq to be a conspiracy theory, on par with beliefs that President Barack Obama was born outside the US or that the Holocaust did not occur. But this, sadly, is no conspiracy theory. Even Bush officials have sometimes dropped their guard. Feith confessed in 2006 that the rationale for the war didnt hinge on the details of this intelligence even though the details of the intelligence at times became elements of the public presentation. That the administration used the fear of WMDs and terrorism to fight a war for hegemony should be acknowledged by an American political establishment eager to rehabilitate George W Bush amid the rule of Donald Trump, not least because John Bolton, Trumps national security adviser, seems eager to employ similar methods to similar ends in Iran. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Sahar Ghumkhor is an academic based in Australia. Her research focuses on political violence, psychoanalysis, law and the politics of difference. In response to what has been described as New Zealands biggest terrorist attack, in which 50 people were shot and killed in two mosques in the city of Christchurch, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern declared: We were not a target because we are a safe harbour for those who hate. We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are an enclave for extremism. We were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things. As a Muslim who grew up in New Zealand, this statement didnt sit well with me. Over the years, Ive heard it repeated by Kiwis in a ritualistic fashion, always praising the values of multicultural society. I also hear similar self-congratulatory statements in Australia, where Im now based. This same narcissistic self-view has often prompted New Zealanders and Australians to declare that I must be glad to be in their respective countries. After all, they see Afghanistan, where I come from, as the land of burqas, intolerance and fundamentalist violence. In our post-colonial reality, racism still determines who we are and who they must be. It is what produces statements like this is not us that seek to absolve and reject responsibility and shame, and replace them with fragile innocence and even pride. It is what preserves the comforting conviction that extremism and violence are only features of backward societies; our civilised societies in New Zealand, Australia and the West do not espouse such barbarism and the few of us who do, do not represent us and are not a product of our cultures. What struck me about Arderns statement and the many others like it praising diversity, the welcoming nature of Kiwis, and the provincial shire with a small tight-knit community is how dishonest it is. While Muslims were made part of her collective we, this recent inclusion only emphasised their status as the other. Although Islam has a century-long presence in the country, Muslims continue to be portrayed and treated as immigrant and refugees ie inherently foreign. They are either welcomed or told to go back to where they came from with both sentiments demonstrating that they are not really seen by the majority as an integral part of New Zealands society. The hashtag #theyareus, which was started to show solidarity with the victims of the Christchurch attack, is an ironic admission of this pervasive perception that Muslims are permanent outsiders. This oscillation of they (the barbarian) and us (the fully civilised human) reveals the precarious nature of a Muslims life and its place in the nation. Colonial governance has historically relied on exactly the same distinction of human/non-human, us/them in order to legitimise its mission to civilise and provide a rationale for the violent strategies it uses to manage native populations . New Zealand has a relatively low profile regarding terrorism and Islamophobia, which allows politicians like Prime Minister Ardern to present the country to the world as a peaceful one that values diversity. Yet, the reality on the ground shows this is not always the case. The Muslim community has been the main target of intensified mass surveillance and security measures undertaken by the state. Islamophobia within the society has also been on the rise, with Muslims facing attacks and countless public microaggressions on a daily basis. A 2017 study of 16,000 people showed a strong correlation between high media consumption and having hostile and prejudiced views of Muslims. Members of my family who are visibly Muslim have experienced the real-life consequences of these Islamophobic attitudes. Cars have sped up towards them as they have tried to cross the street; in public spaces, they have been called terrorists or have been asked to take off the veil. Then every time something involving a Muslim has occurred somewhere in the West, the collective we has always felt the need to test the loyalties of the suspect Muslim community. Back in 2017, then MP and now current Foreign Minister Winston Peters commented on the London Bridge attack, saying: What is happening is that families, friends, and confidants are choosing to turn the other cheek, choosing silence, rather than turn these monsters in. That may be the culture of Damascus, but it is not ours. It may be acceptable in Tripoli, but it most certainly is not acceptable in New Zealand. While the Islamic community must clean house by turning these monsters in, it starts with their own families. In neighbouring Australia, the situation is no better. In 2015, then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott demanded that Muslim leaders declare Islam a religion of peace more often and really mean it. His successor, Scott Morrison, expressed concerns about Muslim immigrants and their inability to integrate. Right-wing politicians like Pauline Hanson, Fraser Anning, Cory Bernardi and Jacqui Lambie, have repeatedly attacked the Muslim community and incessantly talked about the threatening spread of Islam. The left has been equally preoccupied with imagined Muslim threats. In 2017, when Muslim leaders suggested that safe spaces should be set up for young Muslims in Victoria to discuss freely their grievances, Labor Premier Daniel Andrews objected to the project, saying he was very troubled about the prospect of Muslim youth railing against the values we hold dear. In both Australia and New Zealand, rampant Islamophobia in the political scene has been amplified by equally racist media which have systematically portrayed Muslims as inherently violent and backward and Islam as an ideology justifying violence and the subjugation of women. In both countries, the political discourse has been strangled by the banality of centrism, its depoliticising pull reducing urgent issues to hollow statements of interfaith dialogue, social cohesion, multiculturalism, and community resilience. This has resulted in a dishonest conversation and a public who now see political emotions as truth. Meanwhile, Muslims and other minorities bearing the brunt of public racism have been systematically silenced, forced into a non-conversation. This has had devastating effects on the Muslim discourse which has been stripped of any political power, reduced to respectability politics and a crisis of leadership. The depoliticisation of the Muslim community has alienated the younger generations and has led to many of its members internalising Islamophobic stereotypes and engaging in self-surveillance. That this environment of hate and othering spawned someone like Brenton Tarrant, nurturing his Islamophobia and aggression to the point that he deemed it his duty to raid two mosques and kill 50 innocent worshippers is by no means surprising. Tarrant is not an aberration, hes not an exception; he is an integral part of the collective we in New Zealand, Australia, and the West just like the followers of Trumpism are part and parcel of modern-day America. To argue the opposite is plain denialism and a cowardly flight into the white liberal sanctuary of the third way from the discomfort of reality. Arderns words were uttered at a moment of vulnerability as an exaltation of what New Zealand is not and will never be. They signal that the majority is refusing and rejecting shame, the experience of which is key in the pursuit of restorative justice. Unlike pride and hate, the feeling of shame involves self-judgement; embracing it shows a willingness to be transformed by it. In the wake of the Christchurch attack, however, we have not seen the willingness or courage required to confront Islamophobia as an everyday practice and political policy. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Despite the end of ISILs territorial rule, the armed group is likely to remain a force in the region, experts say. This article was first published on March 20, 2019. It has since been updated to reflect the SDF's victory over ISIL territory in Syria. Samer recalls the gruesome shock of seeing his friends headless corpse strung up above Raqqas main square. Its this memory, from a hot summer day in 2015, that defines his time living under ISILs rule in Syria. No one was allowed to touch it, nor bring it down for a proper burial, Samer says of the body of his friend, an English literature graduate in his mid-20s who was killed for his activism. I cant describe what I saw, simply because there are no words to describe it, adds Samer, who uses a pseudonym to protect his identity. I fainted in the middle of the crowd and was immediately taken away. Public executions were a regular occurrence in ISILs former self-proclaimed capital a brutal tactic aimed at silencing dissent and striking fear into the population. At its peak in January 2015, ISIL covered an area across Syria and Iraq roughly equivalent to the size of the UK and attracted 40,000 foreign fighters to its cause. On Saturday, US-backed fighters in Syrias east have declared their final victory over ISIL, ending a four-year battle against the groups territory. An official of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the groups defeat in Baghouz, a town in Syrias Deir Az Zor province that represented ISILs final holdout. Yet the fall of Baghouz will likely not mark the end of ISIL as a force in the region, analysts say. According to Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, hit-and-run attacks executed by ISIL sleeper cells are going to persist in both Iraq and Syria. As such, ISIL is far from being destroyed as a terrorist organisation, Landis adds. Emerging in Iraq, sprawling into Syria ISIL began as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which in 2006 became known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). The movement, led by key al-Qaeda figures, played a major role in driving the sectarian conflict that followed the US invasion in 2003. ISI carried out deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, during this period, targeting Western-allied tribal leaders and US army posts before eventually being pushed out. Undeterred, it soon pitched up in Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, which it then used as a hub to continue its attacks. In 2010, the groups current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named ISI chief. Two years later, he mandated ISI affiliates to set up an offshoot in Syria a country that had been forced to contend with its own civil war. ISIL fighters celebrating the declaration of the so-called caliphate in Raqqa province in June 2014 [File: Reuters] Members of that offshoot, first known as Jabhat al-Nusra, were then integrated into ISIL after a number of defections. ISIL quickly began to establish its presence over drained, vulnerable, war-torn areas in Syria and Iraq, making it easy for the group to gain both influence and military power. Meanwhile in Raqqa, ISIL worked on weakening the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which opposed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It eventually ejected the two largest FSA factions at the start of 2014. ISIL creeped up on us, Mostafa, a former FSA fighter who lived under ISILs rule, told Al Jazeera. The 27-year-old, whose last name has been concelaed for security reasons, is among a group of activists who cover developments in eastern Syria for a blog known as al-Sharqiya 24. They worked in secret and relied on spies to weaken the FSA who were busy fighting the regime, Mostafa, who remained in Raqqa until the summer of 2015, said. Not a utopia At its onset, ISIL began asserting its power aggressively, Mostafa, who had discreetly surrendered to the group following the FSAs removal, says. He recalls how he quickly felt like a stranger in Raqqa. The faces of foreigners, mostly Europeans, Chechens and North Africans, soon flooded the streets while all signs of the Syrian revolution which Mostafa refers to as the golden era were painted over and erased. The self-proclaimed caliphate promised its supporters a utopia while human rights violations by Assads government and FSA factions continued to mount. Mostafa says that some chose to support the group in its early stages because they were seeking justice and freedom from the war and from Assads shackles. In addition to political exclusion and rights abuses, poor economic conditions and unemployment also contributed to the rise of ISIL. This is why ISIL has been a great success as a protest movement, Landis, the professor, noted. It has been able to mobilise hundreds of thousands, win the sympathies of even more and become a movement that is feared the world over. Over the years, several armed groups outside the Middle East, including in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, have pledged allegiance to ISIL, claiming attacks on both civilians and security personnel. The United Nations in 2016 revealed that at least 34 groups from around the world had pledged allegiance to the so-called caliphate. Individual attacks have also taken place in the name of ISIL, including incidents of mass shootings in the United States and Europe. Yet, in the middle of a turbulent war, ISILs attempts to create its own society have proven unsuccessful. They (ISIL supporters) thought they were getting a clean, non-corrupt entity to replace the central government, Bessma Momani, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, told Al Jazeera. But they soon learned this was a medieval-style organisation that ruled by way of fear, she says. This was no liberation, and it was not a utopia. This is not Islam The groups infamous tactics left many with no option but to conform as a means of escaping harassment, arrest and death. While men were prohibited from shaving off their facial hair, ISILs religious police, the Hisbah, forced women to cover their faces. The Hisbah would especially harass women if they werent wearing the right clothing, says Samer, who wrote The Raqqa Diaries, a first-hand account depicting his experiences living under ISIL. Life under the group also meant limited contact with the outside world. Internet cafes were monitored, television sets were banned, and owning a mobile phone suggested conspiring with foreign agents. It was as if the walls had ears, Samer says, describing life under scrutiny. As the situation deteriorated, both Mostafa and Samer felt compelled to do something. We had to wake people up and show them that this was not right, this is not Islam, says Samer, who fled to Turkey in 2017. While Samer wrote witness accounts, Mostafa managed to smuggle a small, button-sized camera lens into Raqqa to secretly document daily life under ISIL rule some of the footage he captured, which included public executions, was later used in international media reports. The two men recall how the groups targets had always been helpless civilians, as Samer puts it. Whenever they felt like they were about to lose territory, theyd tighten their grip and project onto civilians, he says. This was the case when a US-led coalition began battling ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Only months after Baghdadi declared the establishment of the self-proclaimed cross-border caliphate in Mosul in 2014, the group was being targeted by coalition air raids. ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi making what would have been his first public appearance in 2014, at a mosque in the centre of Iraqs second largest city of Mosul [File: Reuters] Yet it continued to spread further into Kurdish controlled territory in northern Iraq, where they enslaved minorities, including members of the Yazidi community. Relentless aerial bombardment, coupled with ground incursions by coalition allies, eventually led to the demise of ISIL as a self-proclaimed caliphate but it came at a huge cost. According to Airwars, a UK-based group tracking allegations of civilian casualties, coalition air raids amounted to at least 6,000 civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria because of fighting in densely populated urban areas. The monitoring group told Al Jazeera the total number of coalition air and artillery strikes between August 8, 2014, and February 23, 2019, amounted to 33,961 attacks. Most of those raids were in Syria, largely because of the campaign to capture Raqqa. Whats next for ISIL? Despite being defeated in terms of territory, analysts say ISILs ideology will live on. Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Markit, says ISIL is already reorganising to establish safe havens in near-inaccessible areas in Iraqs Sunni heartland by rebuilding networks of support in surrounding sympathetic Sunni Arab communities. This will likely be the case in neighbouring Syria as well, where the US has said it is preparing to withdraw its troops from the countrys northeastern region. Analysts, including Momani, the professor at the University of Waterloo, believe that a return of foreign ISIL fighters to their home countries is key to the prevention of a future resurgence. Hundreds who have surrendered to the Kurdish-led SDF in Baghouz over the last few weeks are foreign fighters, a spokesperson for the Kurdish militia previously told Al Jazeera. But there appears to be a reticence for originating countries to take back citizens who left to fight for ISIL. Last month, US President Donald Trump demanded his European allies take back over 800 ISIS fighters we captured in Syria and put them on trial a call rejected by countries, including France and the UK. With such risks still in place, people like Samer, who lost his father to a coalition air raid, say they have no other choice than to remain in exile. He says ISILs takeover was a stab in the back, and through his diaries, wanted to show the world that ISIL and Assads government are two sides of the same coin. When Assads forces were pushed out, we lived a golden era, he said, reminiscing about the early days of the Syrian uprising. The feeling of freedom was indescribable its what I miss the most. Several asylum seekers tell US judge theyre afraid to wait in Mexico while their cases are heard in the United States. Several asylum seekers who are being forced to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through United States immigration court told a judge on Tuesday that they are afraid to return to Mexico as they await their next hearing a development that introduces a new wrinkle to a major US policy shift. The seven cases being heard in a downtown San Diego courtroom are among the first to advance under the Trump administration policy that calls for people seeking asylum in the US to be held in Mexico. The initial appearances came three days before a federal judge in San Francisco is set to hear arguments by advocacy groups aiming to halt the policy. Robyn Barnard, a staff lawyer for Human Rights First, requested access at least by telephone to any interviews conducted with her Honduran client with US officials. She asked to be apprised about whether his fears of returning to Mexico are well founded. Jason Aguilar, a lawyer for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not object but deferred the request to other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. US Customs and Border Protection said it would not comment due to pending litigation, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services had no immediate comment. The developments raised more questions about the administrations new approach to handling the claims of people who say they fear that returning to their homelands because of danger related to race, religion, political beliefs, nationality or membership in particular social groups. 190303094412827 The administration hopes that making asylum seekers wait in Mexico will discourage some claims and help reduce an immigration court backlog of more than 800,000 cases. Currently, families are typically released in the US with notices to appear in court. They are allowed to stay until their cases are resolved, which can take years. Critics say asylum seekers are forced to wait in unsafe environments and will struggle to find legal advice while in Mexico. Tijuana, a Mexican city directly across the border from San Diego, had more than 2,500 homicides last year. Policy shift The policy shift was introduced as families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador arrive at the US border to seek asylum. 180706123429562 Five of the seven people who were scheduled to appear Tuesday were represented by attorneys. Six were Honduran; one was Guatemalan. Gerson Alonzo Beltrand of Honduras, who had Barnard speak on his behalf, expressed fear of returning to Tijuana. But the government lawyers response left unclear whether Homeland Security would grant his request. A judge scheduled an August 6 hearing on the merits of his asylum claim. Sir, we made significant progress in your case this afternoon, Rico Bartolomei, the chief immigration judge in San Diego, told Beltrand. The Associated Press witnessed one of the seven cases in the small courtroom before security guards cleared the aisles due to overcrowding. A man who only gave his first name as Ariel, of Honduras, hugs a lawyer before crossing into the United States to begin his asylum case after being returned to Mexico [Gregory Bull/AP Photo] Lisa Knox, a lawyer from Centro Legal de la Raza who represented two Honduran men, was in the courtroom and said three asylum seekers had expressed fear of returning to Mexico. Knox said the judge postponed her cases until early May to give her more time to prepare. One man failed to appear because he was in US custody in another part of the country. 190309195344787 The policy change, which followed months of high-level talks with Mexico, has been introduced slowly with an average of 40 people a week being returned to Tijuana in the first six weeks. Mexico agreed to accept up to 120 people a week. US officials began returning immigrants to Mexicali, Mexico, from Calexico, California, last week and say they intend to sharply expand such activity across the entire border. Mexicans and children travelling alone are exempt from the policy. US and Mexican officials characterize the policy change as a unilateral move by the Trump administration. Mexico has said it will allow asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for humanitarian reasons. Turkeys leader told a rally anti-Muslim Australians would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers in WWI. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday condemned reckless and highly offensive comments made by Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the Christchurch mass shooting. Erdogan, while campaigning for local elections, presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers at Gallipoli a blood-drenched WWI battle. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces at Gallipoli, which has a prominent place in Australias collective memory. Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment, Morrison said after summoning the Turkish ambassador and dismissing the excuses offered. I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn I expect that to occur, said Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. Turkish ambassador Korhan Karakoc said he had a frank conversation with Morrison when the envoy was summoned to Parliament House on Wednesday. Erdogan, meanwhile, again called on Western nations to tackle Islamophobia in their countries and ensure the safety of Muslim communities in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. All options Morrison said Australians travelling to Turkey should exercise common sense and cautioned that travel advice for Turkey was under review. I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table, Morrison said. In fiery remarks, Morrison accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the father of modern state and a revered figure in Turkey to forge peace between the two countries. A memorial at the battlefield carries Ataturks words: There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well. Morrison said: Ataturk sought to transform his country into a modern nation and an embracing nation, and I think these [Erdogans] comments are at odds with that spirit. Set the record straight Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is travelling to Turkey this week to raise concerns about Erdogans recent comments, New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday, side-stepping questions from reporters about the controversy. I do not accept that well see a long-term change in our relationship, it is so deeply entrenched, she said, adding Peters will set the record straight. We have for decades gone to Gallipoli to acknowledge that we want to be a world free of war, hatred and violence, said Ardern. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, live streamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was an attack against Muslim invaders. The manifesto references Turkey and the minarets of Istanbuls famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. Stand against racism In the Washington Post op-ed, Erdogan urged Western nations to stand against racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia after the Christchurch attack. He said all Western leaders must learn from the courage, leadership and sincerity of Ardern and embrace Muslims living in their countries. We must shed light on all aspects of what happened and fully understand how the terrorist became radicalised and his links to terrorist groups to prevent future tragedies, said Erdogan. He compared the attack to those carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS). We must establish that there is absolutely no difference between the murderer who killed innocent people in New Zealand and those who have carried out terrorist acts in Turkey, France, Indonesia and elsewhere, said Erdogan. After attacks by the Islamic State, there was no shortage of Western politicians and commentators blaming the most deplorable acts of terrorism on Islam and Muslims. As a leader who has repeatedly stressed that terrorism has no religion, language or race, I categorically reject any attempt to associate last weeks terrorist attacks with the teachings, morals or maxims of Christianity, he wrote. Six days after Cyclone Idai, rescuers scramble to save hundreds stranded by floodwaters amid fears death toll will rise. Rescue workers in Mozambique are racing against time to save hundreds of people clinging onto roofs and trees around the devastated city of Beira. These efforts come days after a powerful cyclone triggered flash floods, submerging entire villages and wiping out communities across southeastern Africa. Aid workers on Wednesday spoke of women trapped in trees throwing their babies onto rescue boats. They talked of plucking people from head-deep water, only to strand them in patches of land where the water reached their ankles. Cyclone Idai hit Beira with winds of up to 170 kilometres per hour last Thursday, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, killing hundreds and putting the lives of millions at risk. United Nations officials say this could be the worst ever weather-related disaster to have struck the southern hemisphere. Authorities say at least 217 people have died in Mozambique, 139 in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi, but the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers continue to find bodies. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, who has declared a national emergency and three days of mourning starting on Wednesday, has warned that the eventual number of those killed in the cyclone and flooding could rise to more than 1,000. Its just water, you cant see any land According to earlier estimates by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 90 percent of Beira and its surrounding areas appear to be completely destroyed. Josias Elias, found clinging to a tree almost submerged in water, said his entire village near Beira was flooded. Theres no more reason to go back. All of our houses have been destroyed, he told Al Jazeera. On Tuesday, rescuers saved 167 people around Beira with the help of South African Air Force helicopters. On Thursday, Mozambiques minister of land and environment said 3,000 people have been saved across the country, while 15,000 still needed to be rescued. The devastation is vast. As far as the eye can see, its just water, you cant see any land, Travis Trower, of the group Rescue South Africa, told Al Jazeera in Beira. Paddling through water, and seeing [survivors] in the trees was absolutely devastating. Recounting one rescue operation in the area on Friday, he said: The women were throwing their babies from the trees into our paddle boats. We only managed to get only 20 children before we had to call off the operation. Unfortunately, when we went back to that place in the morning, those people were no longer there. Major humanitarian emergency Six days after the cyclone made landfall, rescuers are still in the life-saving phase, said Pedro Matos, emergency coordinator for the UNs World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique. We are now at the point of taking people who have water up to their heads and taking them by helicopter or boat to places where they are stranded up to their ankles, he told Al Jazeera in Beira. We are not even at a phase where we can do medical assessments because they have been out there for many days drinking stale water with bodies and animals. The full extent of the devastation will only be known once floodwaters from torrential rains recede. It will be days before Mozambiques inundated plains drain towards the Indian Ocean, and aid groups have warned the waters are still rising. Al Jazeeras Fahmida Miller, reporting from Beira, said the citys residents were scrambling for food, fuel and medicine. Speaking from a school where hundreds had taken shelter, Miller said: There are several families crammed into one classroom. They may have found shelter, and some water has been delivered, but there is little in the way of food. Dimo Marquez, a resident of Manica Province along the border of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, told Al Jazeera he had lost communication with his aunt and three cousins in Beira, as cyclone winds had knocked down communication lines in and around the area and as floodwaters had washed away roads to the city. The city is virtually non-existent now. I just want to see all of them alive again, Marquez said from Manica. People gather on the roof of a house submerged by floods in Buzi on Wednesday [Adrien Barbier/ AFP] Meanwhile, the UNs humanitarian office said the central area of Buzi, populated by some 200,000 people, was at risk of becoming at least partially submerged. The WFP said the cyclone and flooding have affected at least 2.6 million people in the region, causing a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour. The agency said analysis of satellite imagery suggested that up to 1.7 million people in the country had been in Idais path. Another 920,000 were affected in Malawi. Everyone is doubling, tripling, quadrupling whatever they were planning in terms of aid, said Caroline Haga of the Red Cross in Beira. Its much larger than anyone could ever anticipate. The European Union released $3.9m in emergency aid, and Britain pledged up to $7.9m. The chairman of the African Union Commission said it would provide $350,000 in immediate support to the countries. The United Arab Emirates pledged $4.9m to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, the Emirates News Agency reported, citing the Emirates Red Crescent. Norway said it was providing $700,000. Tanzanias military has sent 238 tonnes of food and medicine, and three Indian naval ships have been diverted to Beira to help with evacuations and other efforts. Enock Muchingo contributed in this report from Manica Province in Mozambique. The UK is currently due to leave the bloc on March 29, but MPs have twice rejected the PMs divorce deal with the EU. UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she is determined to get on with Brexit following an emergency parliamentary debate over her request to delay the UKs departure from the European Union by three months. The UK is currently due to leave on March 29, but the British parliament has twice rejected Mays divorce deal with the EU, prompting concerns that the UK could exit the bloc without a deal. Wednesdays emergency debate came hours after May wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk to request an extension. Addressing parliament, May said the UK will not leave the EU on March 29 as planned, and once again urged MPs to back her deal with Brussels to avoid a no-deal scenario. On Monday, Speaker of the House John Bercow made a surprise decision to not allow a third meaningful vote on Mays Brexit plan, forcing the prime minister to seek an extension to allow time to revamp the deal. 190320082254043 In a televised statement from 10 Downing St, May said she shared the frustration felt by many Britons who have had enough of endless Brexit debates and infighting though she did not accept a role in causing it. Instead, she blamed Parliament for the deadlock, and warned that if MPs did not back her deal it would cause irreparable damage to public trust. I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal Ive negotiated with the EU deal that delivers on the result of the referendum, and is the very best deal negotiable But Im not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June, said the beleaguered prime minister. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Henry Newman, the director of the think tank Open Europe, described Mays speech as an attempt to get the public behind her deal. But will it actually persuade any MPs? he asked, before adding: Shes quite clear that shes not going to accept a long extension. Thats raising the stakes for the EU. David Phinnemore, a European politics professor at Queens University in Belfast, said May was trying to ensure Brexit goes through by putting pressure on MPs. Asked about the prime minister saying she did not want to ask for a long extension, Phinnemore commented: Mays position could change if she is defeated again next week. If she is defeated, the only option she has with the European Council is to seek a lengthier extension. Pound falls Earlier on Wednesday, May told MPs she did not want a long extension that would potentially involve the UK taking part in elections to the European Parliament in late May, as doing so would fail to honour the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum. 190315193327916 In her letter to Tusk, May said she would seek to delay the UKs departure until June 30. Last week, British MPs voted in favour of a short extension to the deadline. May wrote that she remained confident that British MPs would ratify the Brexit deal she negotiated with the bloc. But this clearly will not be completed before March 29, she added. May blamed Bercow and Parliament for failing to agree on a deal, saying Parliament had indulged itself enough on Brexit. Al Jazeeras Jonah Hull, reporting from outside the UK parliament in London, said Mays decision to seek a shorter delay also followed heavy pressure from pro-Brexit MPs in her party. If shed gone to the EU and asked for a long extension, as indeed shed said she was going to, she faced multiple resignations from her own cabinet, Hull said. The pound fell following Mays announcement, losing nearly one percent of its value on the day. Mixed reaction in Europe Tusk made a short statement on Wednesday in which he said any extension to the Brexit deadline would be conditional on UK MPs backing the governments Brexit deal. 190314195805297 In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension will be possible but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons, he said, adding that the length of any deadline is yet to be determined. Earlier on Wednesday, the European Commission warned in an internal briefing note that delaying Brexit to June 30 would bring serious legal and political risks. Speaking before Mays announcement, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed the difficulty of the EU making further concessions without a guarantee of UK parliamentary approval. As long as we dont know what Britain could say yes to, no decision can be taken on our side either, he told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations, no additional guarantees in addition to those already given. We have intensively moved towards Britain; there can be no more, Juncker said. 190318000011664 French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said May needs to provide clear reasons for any delay to Brexit, which cannot be automatically guaranteed. Frances position is simple: the British prime minister must explain to us for how long and what for, and offer us guarantees, Griveaux told reporters. However, Spains foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told the Reuters news agency shortly before Mays announcement that Madrid was ready to give more time to the UK, saying its possible that a deadline could be granted next week. You know in Europe we always get a solution at the last minute, Borrell said. Maybe tomorrow is not going to be enough and we have to jump over to just before the deadline. All 27 EU member states excluding the UK must agree on the length of any extension offered. Additional reporting by Ylenia Gostoli Alaa al-Aswany says he faces lawsuit for insulting Egypts President Adel Fattah el-Sisi, armed forces and judiciary. A prominent Egyptian novelist has said he is being sued by military prosecutors in Cairo for insulting the president, the armed forces and judicial institutions. Alaa al-Aswany, the author of The Yacoubian Building, said the lawsuit is related to columns he wrote for German media network Deutsche Welle and his latest book, The Republic, As If. The novel is set against the backdrop of Egypts 2011 popular uprising and discusses the militarys role in the administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who toppled democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in 2013. The book, which was published last year, is banned in Egypt. In a column for Deutsche Welle on Tuesday, al-Aswany, who lives in the United States, called the case a clear violation of Egypts constitution, which enshrines the right to freedom of thought and opinion. My only crime is being an author, expressing my opinion, and criticising those who deserve it, even if its el-Sisi, the award-winning author said. Speaking to Les Nouveaux Dissidents, a French organisation dedicated to supporting dissident writers and artists, al-Aswany said he was being prosecuted because of his writings. I am being pursued because I bear witness to what I saw and what I lived, and because of my writings, he said. For having said what I think, for having expressed myself and for giving my opinion. I am a writer, and what I write displeases the regime. Egypt Today, an independent daily newspaper, reported last week that the lawsuit related to a March 13 Deutsche Welle Arabic article titled, Why dont we understand what the world understands? In the article, al-Aswany argues that Sisi ordered the construction of various ambitious economic projects without feasibility studies. He also criticises the appointments of military generals to civic positions. An Egyptian military official, speaking to The Associated Press news agency on the condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that there were routine complaints against celebrities in Egypt and that prosecutors would make a statement regarding Aswanys case when they decided to raise charges. A controversial voice One of Egypts bestselling novelists, al-Aswany has sold more than one million books worldwide and has seen his work translated into 35 languages. However, his representations of a post-uprising Egypt have frequently chafed authorities. 190319180632151 In 2014, he was forced to stop writing his weekly column for an Egyptian daily newspaper and banned from appearing on state-run media. The following year, he was prevented from holding a public seminar in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Al-Aswany told Les Nouveaux Dissidents that he had not been allowed to publish a line in Egypt for five years. The writer, who is also a practising dentist, took an active role in the 2011 uprising and was in Tahrir Square for the 18 days of protest that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. He is also one of the founders of Kefaya, or the Egyptian Movement for Change, a political coalition formed in 2004 to protest against Mubaraks presidency. Even before Sisi came to power, al-Aswany was banned from attending the premiere of the film adaptation of The Yacoubian Building. Human Rights Watch has suggested that at least 60,000 political prisoners have been arrested or charged since 2013 in a widespread crackdown on dissent in Egypt. As part of the suspension, Fidesz will lose all membership privileges including voting rights with immediate effect. The European Parliaments centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP) has indefinitely suspended Hungarys nationalist Fidesz party, in a blow to Prime Minister Viktor Orban just months before European Parliament elections. The move on Wednesday, which followed more than three hours of heated debate during an assembly in Brussels, saw EEP members vote 190-3 in favour of the measure. As part of the suspension, Fidesz will lose all membership privileges, including voting rights, effective immediately, EEP President Joseph Daul said in a tweet. Fidesz will be suspended with immediate effect until further notice following todays vote of EEP members, he wrote. 180429155628966 With the EPP originally expected to vote on whether or not to expel Fidesz from the party, conservative leaders put forward the suspension as a compromise one aimed at defusing deepening divisions within the party. Orban, who was in attendance, said he supported the measure and was satisfied with the result. We decided that we will not exercise any rights in the EPP and the voters will decide on Fideszs place on the political map of Europe, he told reporters after the vote. #Fidesz will be suspended with immediate effect and until further notice following todays vote of EPP members (190 in favour, 3 against). The suspension entails: No attendance at any party meeting No voting rights No right to propose candidates for posts Joseph Daul (@JosephDaul) March 20, 2019 Comments from the leader of Hungary came hours after his chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said any suspension would result in Fidesz withdrawing from the EPP. Currently, Fidesz makes up a small but important part of the group and is expected to pick up more seats in the May election. At odds with Brussels Since taking power in 2010, Orban has been a source of angst for Brussels both for his vocal criticism of the European Union (EU) leadership and his increasingly autocratic policies at home. Since winning a parliamentary supermajority, he has used an anti-migrant platform to bolster an aggressive campaign against independent media, while heavily restricting the role of civil society groups. 180408180025785 As a result of Orbans actions, the United States-based nonprofit Freedom House last month downgraded Hungarys status as a free nation to partly free. Rights groups said Wednesdays decision was nothing more than a politically motivated half-measure. Suspend[ing] Fidesz is an admission that something is deeply wrong in its rule-of-law accord, but its also a window-dressing compromise, Philippe Dam, advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera. In reality, Viktor Orban has stopped adhering to EPP democratic principles for years. Its time for the EPP to clarify its stance on EU values and exclude Fidesz. Immigration has become a flashpoint in tense EU-Hungarian relations [File: Eric Vidal/Reuters] While the EPP has often expressed dismay with Orbans tactics, a recent media campaign attacking European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker appears to have been the final straw. Plastered throughout Hungary were government-funded posters depicting Juncker as a puppet of George Soros, a US-Hungarian billionaire philanthropist. The banners accused the pair of launching experimental immigration projects with African countries, including mandatory settlement quotas and reduced financial assistance for countries opposed to migration. 190219160120434 As part of the conditions for restoring Fideszs membership status, the EPP is demanding the removal of those posters and other material associated with what it calls a fake news campaign, according to a draft of the emergency resolution. This is a very hard step backwards for Orban and [his participation in] the EU seems to be something very important for him, said Gabor Polyak, director of the Budapest-based Mertek Media Monitor. He did not want this. The penalty brings the tech giants total tab with the European bloc to $9.31bn in less than two years. European Union regulators have fined Google $1.69bn for blocking rival online search advertisers, hitting the US-based tech giant with a third penalty in two years. The punishment on Wednesday brought Googles total tab with the bloc $9.31bn, which amounts to far less than the maximum fine of 10 percent of the companys annual turnover. 180926191947898 In the latest ruling, Google and parent company Alphabet were found to have breached EU rules by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used its AdSense advertising business. Those clauses prevented competitors from placing their ads on such sites, forcing the websites to reserve the most profitable space on their search results pages for Googles adverts and a requirement to seek written approval from the internet giant before making changes to the way in which any rival adverts were displayed. Google abused its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than the AdSense platform, Margrethe Vestager, the EUs competition commissioner, said on Wednesday. The AdSense advertising case was triggered by a complaint from Microsoft in 2010. Both companies subsequently dropped complaints against each other in 2016. According to Adrian Mars, a technology journalist, this latest fine was a big hit for the Silicon Valley giant. Alphabet Google made $30.7bn pre-tax profits last year, so theyve lost a third of that so far in fines, Mars said. They will have to pay it eventually, if they dont win appeals. I suspect this will be subject to appeal after appeal and drag out for as long as possible, he added. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites. It prevented rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites We fine Google 1.49 billion for breaching #EUantitrust rules. @vestager https://t.co/b7apNlzT4w European Commission (@EU_Commission) March 20, 2019 Wide range of changes Google and the EU have been at loggerheads about the monopoly of the former over internet search in Europe. In July 2018, Google was ordered to pay a record $4.92bn for abusing the dominant position of Android, its smartphone operating system, to help assure the supremacy of its search engine. A year earlier, it was hit with a $2.75bn penalty for abusing its dominant position by favouring its Google Shopping price-comparison service in search results. Google has appealed both decisions to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Mars expects amendments to take place soon. I think Google will make some amends, to some extent They said they were grateful for the feedback the European Commission [gave], Mars told Al Jazeera. [But, so far] there isnt anything apart from fines; the next step is governments start making noises about breaking the company up, bringing in European legislation that further limit what they can do, but these things take a long time, and so far the evolution of tech company behaviour happens faster than legislator legislates, and that has been the case for at least the last 20 years, he added. Google on Tuesday unveiled a series of tweaks to its European search engine results that would allow certain rivals a more prominent position on results pages. The change would apply to shopping aggregators, as well as tourist and travel advice sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. Authorities in Australia have begun evacuations for the 1,600 residents of Groote Eylandt, an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, as Tropical Cyclone Trevor approaches. The severe storm spent most of Wednesday crossing Cape York, having made landfall on Tuesday evening near Lockhart River on the east coast. It brought down trees, electricity poles and fences, registering wind gusts of up to 133 kilometres per hour and a rainfall collection of 333mm. Trevors wind strength was the equivalent of a Category-2 hurricane at first landfall. It left the Cape York Peninsula as a much-weakened storm, but near the town of Aurukun it met the warm feed waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria and started strengthening again. Todd Smith, the BoMs Northern Territory manager, said the weather system would be severe and residents needed to be prepared. Trevor is expected to make land again on Saturday, somewhere between Groote Eylandt and Borroloola. The cyclone is expected to strengthen to a catastrophic Category 4 as it passes Groote Eylandt, registering winds of a steady 210km/h, with gusts to 260km/h. Ross McDonald, an environmental officer at Anindilyakwa Land Council, said cyclones were not uncommon in the area but had never seen Groote Eylandt evacuated. Ive been here for 15 years and we have a lot of cyclones but this is definitely the one weve had the most concern about, he said. And that being the case a lot of the properties arent built for Category-4 cyclones. Even as a young storm in the Coral Sea, Trevor generated four-metre waves. With three days winding up over the Gulf of Carpentaria, it could generate much larger waves and a significant storm surge a general rising of the sea level in advance of the cyclone. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas security adviser accused of using state security to abduct three men in business dispute. The most senior security and defence figure in Bangladesh has been accused of using military intelligence agents to abduct and interrogate people to settle a business dispute involving his wife. The allegations have been made against Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas security adviser who has effective control over the countrys armed forces and intelligence agencies. General Siddique is considered one of the most influential members of Sheikh Hasinas Awami League government and a very close personal ally; his brother is married to the Prime Ministers sister, Sheikh Rehana. His niece is the UK Labour member of parliament, Tulip Siddique. The claims against General Siddique are being made by a former army officer and one-time business associate, Colonel Shahid Uddin Khan who is currently living in self-exile in the United Kingdom. Khan claims that three employees of his business in the capital city Dhaka were abducted by what appeared to be state security officers in January. Khan is currently living in self-exile in the UK [Al Jazeera] The families of the missing men have all confirmed to Al Jazeera that they have not been seen or heard from since they were first taken, over twelve weeks ago. Al Jazeera has also obtained documents that appear to confirm Khans allegations. Khan alleges that nine months earlier, the same three men along with another employee were picked up from his Dhaka offices and secretly held at the military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). That incident happened one day after Khan wound up a company jointly owned by the security chiefs wife, Shaheen Siddique, who was its chairperson. The firm, Prochhya Ltd, had been trading since 2009 and was involved in several profitable land deals. Prochhyas company registration reveals that not only was General Siddiques wife a director but so was his brother, Zamal Shafi (until 2012) and his two daughters Noorin Tasmia and Bushra, both of whom live in the UK. Company formation papers [Al Jazeera] Khan was the companys chief executive officer and his wife and two children were directors. [Siddique] did not want to keep any evidence that she was in business with us, Khan alleges. They thought that this government may change, and if the government changes, I would put her in a problem. Bangladeshs national security head is said to have intervened personally in June 2017 when he flew to the UK and met Khan to press him to urgently close the company. Khan claims that during that meeting the spy chief warned him that his wife was furious, saying: Please do it [close the company] as soon as possible. Khan and sworn statements from the three missing men [Al Jazeera] Khan duly closed the company but he claims that events then took a more serious turn. His staff gave sworn statements of how in April 2018, a day after Prochhaya was wound up, Siddiques wife had warned them that she would visit their offices. Shaheen Siddique never arrived, they claim, but a dozen men under the command of two retired army officers entered the offices and took hard drives and financial files relating to Prochhya as well as documents relating to Khans other businesses. The mens testimony describes how the offices were scoured by the group, who broke cabinet locks, carried away 27 boxes of material and removed recordings from the office CCTV system. All four said they were driven to General Siddiques official government house where the boxes of seized material were unloaded. They say they were then driven to DGFI headquarters where they were held, blindfolded, and interrogated about Khans businesses. Two of the men say their lives were threatened. They were all released after 48 hours. The missing men: Sayed Akidul Ali, left, Johirul Haque Khandaker, centre, and Korshed Alam Patwari [Al Jazeera] Now three of the men who were abducted last April, Johirul Haque Khandaker, Korshed Alam Patwari, and Sayed Akidul Ali, have once again disappeared. Witnesses have told Al Jazeera that in the early evening of January 13, Korshed and Akidul were taken from Akiduls house by about 20 men, many armed and wearing the black uniform commonly worn by the paramilitary organisation, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Johirul was seen in one of the abductors cars parked nearby. Efforts by the families to discover their whereabouts have failed and they fear for their own lives too. Khan believes that his family and staff are the subjects of a campaign of harassment and intimidation. Days after this second abduction, the police raided Khans house in Bangladesh claiming that he was a suspect in anti-state and anti-government activities and filed a criminal case alleging that Khan, his wife and his three disappeared staff are all involved in terrorism. He says all the charges are false. The recent raids, abductions and criminal cases took place just weeks after UK lawyers filed a complaint on behalf of Khan threatening legal action against General Siddique, his wife, and Bangladeshs intelligence agency. In a statement to Al Jazeera, the DGFI strongly denied the claims made by Khan and said it was not involved in the alleged incidents. The DGFI accused the former colonel of directing his employees to hide themselves so that investigating authorities cannot interview them. The security agency also claims that Khan has been involved in controversial activities, which are detrimental to military environment and security, including the embezzlement of properties. Khan has denied all of these allegations. General Siddique and his wife have not responded to requests for comment from Al Jazeeras Investigative Unit. Bangladesh has been criticised by human rights groups for failing to stop the rising number of illegal, secret detentions, many involving opposition figures who never reappear. In a report published in 2017, Human Rights Watch found that at least 90 people were abducted in 2016 by law enforcement agencies in the South Asian nation. The bodies of 21 of the missing were later found. Human rights researchers accuse the DGFI of being one of the state agencies responsible for enforced disappearances. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has dismissed calls by human rights groups for action on state abductions and she has remained loyal to General Siddique, who controls the countrys intelligence agencies. India had asked Britain to extradite Modi, one of the main suspects charged in the $2bn loan fraud. Fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi had been arrested in London on behalf of the Indian authorities, British police said on Wednesday. India had asked Britain in August to extradite Modi, one of the main suspects charged in the two-billion-dollar loan fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB), Indias biggest banking fraud. Police said Modi, 48, had been arrested in the Holborn area of central London on Tuesday and was due to appear at Londons Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Interpol had issued a red notice for the arrest of the celebrated diamond jeweller last July. PNB, Indias second-largest state-run bank, in 2018 said that two jewellery groups headed by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded it by raising credit from other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff. Modi, a third-generation diamond trader who has dressed stars including actors Kate Winslet, Dakota Johnson and Priyanka Chopra, was part of a CEO-meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is worth $1.73bn according to Forbes, placing him 85th on Indias wealthiest citizen list. Modi and Choksi, who have both denied wrongdoing, left India before the details of the fraud became public. In December, a British court agreed that another high-profile Indian businessman, aviation tycoon Vijay Mallya, could be extradited to his homeland to face fraud charges. Mallya is currently appealing the decision. Gazas We Want to Live protests face a crackdown. Al Jazeera looks at who is clamping down on the demonstrations. Young Palestinians have launched a new movement with the slogan: We want to live. They are protesting against the worsening economic situation in the Gaza Strip. But they are accusing Hamas of a violent crackdown. Al Jazeeras Imran Khan reports from Gaza. US secretary of states planned visit is expected to focus on Hezbollah and Iranian influence in Lebanon. Beirut, Lebanon In January, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went on a diplomatic mission to scuttle Syrias readmission to the Arab League. On Thursday, he is expected in Lebanon, where he is set to target another one of Irans allies, Hezbollah. Pompeo is scheduled to hold talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and is expected to ask him to make greater efforts to shield Lebanese policies from Iranian influence while knowing that that may be hard to achieve since Hezbollah has three appointees in Hariris cabinet and, along with its allies, controls 70 of the 128 seats in parliament. Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut (AUB), described Hariri as a lame duck and said that neither the US nor its ally Saudi Arabia should expect him to deliver, even as they continue to back him as a Sunni counterbalance to Shia Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been vying for hegemony over the Muslim world since Irans 1979 revolution. Lebanon, home to both Shia and Sunnis, became an extended theatre for this rivalry. 161031053924273 Pompeos visit comes soon after Irans foreign ministers. He simply wants to say the US is not abandoning Lebanon just because Hezbollah is mighty strong, Khashan told Al Jazeera. Hezbollah has supporters across Lebanon and has become a part of the social fabric of the country since its establishment in the 1980s. It is also the strongest military faction in Lebanon. In Syria, it supported the Syrian government in its fight against opposition forces and expanded its own and Irans influence in the region. While the US, Israel and Gulf nations have banned Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, the European Union with the exception of the United Kingdom has designated only its military wing, not its political arm. A major part of Pompeos visit will be devoted to warning Hezbollah. Local media reported that he is coming with a list of conditions that Lebanon must deliver on to curtail Hezbollah and, by association, Irans influence, if it wants to continue to receive US support. Hanin Ghaddar, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the clues to Pompeos intentions in Lebanon could be gleaned from last weeks visit by David Satterfield; the acting US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs. Satterfield did not meet President Michel Aoun, Hezbollahs Christian ally in Lebanon. Even as local media quoted sources in the US embassy citing lack of time, it insinuated that the oversight carried a political message. Ghaddar, an expert on Lebanese-US relations, said: The visit is to let Hezbollahs allies know that the US can also sanction them. It is time to start warning them and letting them know that an alliance with Hezbollah has a price. As Lebanons economy crumbles, Lebanon must want America on its side. Fresh sanctions? A few days before the visit, Hezbollahs chief Hassan Nasrallah called on the groups supporters to donate money to support their activities, saying that Western sanctions and terror lists are a form of warfare against the group. Experts said that pointed to the effectiveness of the sanctions imposed on Iran and Hezbollah. Sami Nader, a political analyst, said that Pompeo might announce future plans to sanction more entities linked to Hezbollah. In February 2018, shortly before his predecessor Rex Tillerson visited Lebanon, the US sanctioned six individuals and seven businesses connected to the group. 181110115350461 The idea behind the sanctions was to target Hezbollahs financial network at the same time as Iran was under increasingly debilitating sanctions. The double whammy was intended to hit funding for the groups activities. I can see Pompeo threatening more sanctions on his visit because we are witnessing an increase in sanctions by the US in general, Nader said. Ghaddar said that the US government sees its active sanctions policy as working to its benefit. The sanctions are working for the United Statess interests in the region and we can expect more to be imposed on Hezbollah. But we do not know when that is going to happen. I suspect a threat could be made during Pompeos visit, she told Al Jazeera. However, according to AUBs Khashan, Hezbollah has numerous sources of income and the sanctions do not hurt the group as much. Hezbollah is not part of the international monetary system. At the most, they might not have received as much cash from Iran because of the pressure of sanctions on Iran, he said. General Elias Farhat, a former officer with the Lebanese Army, agreed with Khashan. The only way to contain Hezbollah is by talking to them, he said. A brief thaw The US sees Hezbollah as an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in the region. However, under the administration of former President Barack Obama, the US engaged with Iran and, experts said, also with Hezbollah. Nader said that as part of Obamas vision for the region, US officials met Hezbollah in Cyprus. However, he added, in the current atmosphere, talking to Hezbollah is not on the table for the US. US policy in the Middle East was reversed under President Donald Trump, whose administration is pursuing a harsh anti-Iran agenda, more in line with the wishes of the USs traditional regional allies in Riyadh and Tel Aviv. Lebanons armed forces receive aid from the US, among others [File: Hassan Abdallah/Reuters] Ghaddar said that there was a debate raging within the US as to whether Washington should stop providing aid to Lebanons military. The US has given the Lebanese army $2bn since 2005 as well as providing training and cooperation worth millions more. It is expected to give an additional $350m this year. However, Ghaddar pointed out that this aid gives the US some leverage in a country otherwise under Irans sway. The US must continue to provide aid to the Lebanese armed forces while putting in place monitoring mechanisms to check that the money is not syphoned away by Hezbollah, Ghaddar told Al Jazeera. General Farhat disputed this argument, saying that the aid is used only by the army. But acknowledged that the army has worked alongside Hezbollah on some operations. The US must give aid to fight terrorism. [The] Lebanese Army and Hezbollah together fought back ISIS [ISIL] and al-Qaeda affiliates in Arsal on Lebanons border with Syria. What else are they expected to do? Farhat said. Most analysts agree that the US has few options to counter the group, least of all inside Lebanon. If challenged, Hezbollah has proven that it can bring the country to a halt in a matter of hours. In 2008, as the government ordered the shutdown of Hezbollahs telecommunications network and sought to remove Beirut Airports security chief over alleged ties to the group, Hezbollah fighters seized parts of Beirut and forced the government to reverse its decision. However, the US seems determined to fight Hezbollah by imposing its own pressure on the Lebanese government and the groups domestic allies by threatening sanctions and making it clear that its support does not come for free. Latest survey shows Joko Widodos support may be shrinking among mature Millennials as well as Baby Boomers. A new Indonesian election survey shows that President Joko Widodos big lead over his challenger, retired General Prabowo Subianto, is narrowing just weeks ahead of next months vote in the worlds third-largest democracy. The April 17 election will be a rerun of the 2014 race, in which Widodo won against Prabowo by almost six percentage points. A survey by pollster Litbang Kompas, which is part of Indonesias biggest newspaper Kompas, shows Widodo likely to win 49.2 percent of the vote, surpassing 37.4 percent for Prabowo. Although still a double-digit lead, the electability gap in the survey between February 22 and March 5 was narrower than the Kompas survey in October that gave Widodo a 19.9-percentage point lead over his rival. Opinion polls in January by other pollsters, including Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting and Australian-based Roy Morgan, put Widodo at an advantage of about 20 percentage points over Prabowo. The presidents campaign team is confident he will still win by a big margin, spokeswoman Meutya Hafid said in a statement. Theres a number of indications why votes for Jokowi will be higher than in 2014, she said, referring to the president by a popular nickname. Jokowi will be able to grab votes from places that are normally the stronghold of candidate number two [Prabowo], such as West Java, Hafid said, referring to Indonesias most populous province. Big blows The latest Kompas survey showed Widodos support may be shrinking among mature Millennials aged between 31 and 40, as well as Baby Boomers. After a slow beginning, the six-month campaign has picked up the pace with televised debates between the candidates and rallies held across the archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Some analysts say the debates were a missed opportunity for Prabowo, who has struggled to land any big blows against Widodo, while the president has appeared workman-like in projecting his achievements in areas such as infrastructure while in office. But the challengers running mate, private equity tycoon Sandiaga Uno, has appeared to generate a buzz on the campaign trail while proving popular online, especially with women and young voters. Uno attacked Widodos track record on education and healthcare last weekend, saying his government would be able to solve Indonesias problems in education and large deficits in health insurance. Last week, the anti-corruption agency named a prominent politician, backing Widodos re-election campaign, as a suspect in a bribery case, which could further dent his campaign. Israeli army kills Palestinian suspected of killing two Israelis on Sunday, and two more near West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents on Tuesday night, Palestinian health ministry and emergency services said. Omar Abu Leila, 19, was suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing-and-shooting attack in the occupied West Bank two days earlier. Abu Leila, who was on the run, was found in a house in the village of Abwein, north of Ramallah. He was killed after he opened fire at Israeli forces who had come to arrest him, the Israeli Shin Bet security service said. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed a person had been killed in the clash, but provided no further details. Protests in the village then broke out between Palestinian youth and the army. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, nine men were injured, including two with live ammunition. In a separate incident, the Palestinian health ministry said two more Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. Raed Hamdan, 21, and Zaid Nouri, 20, died after being shot late Tuesday by Israeli troops near the Joseph Tombs religious site close to the Palestinian city of Nablus, it said. According to the spokesperson for the Red Crescent, Ahmad Jibril, Israeli forces prevented emergency services from reaching the site, and fired on an ambulance. The Israeli army said in a statement explosives were hurled from a vehicle as Jewish worshippers visited the site late on Tuesday and troops responded with live fire towards the vehicle. The bodies of Hamdan and Nouri were detained by Israeli forces overnight before they were handed over to the Palestinian Authority coordination body in the morning. Josephs Tomb has long been a source of tension in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. According to Palestinian security sources, more than 1,000 Jewish settlers were bused to the site, under heavy Israeli army protection. Fatal stabbing On Sunday, Abu Leila from the West Bank town town of az-Zawiya, fatally stabbed a soldier at an intersection on a busy West Bank highway outside the illegal settlement of Ariel and opened fire at the scene using the conscripts rifle, killing an Israeli rabbi and wounding a second soldier. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the attack on Monday and pledged tough action, including the demolition of the assailants home. These terrorists will not uproot us from here, he said. International rights groups have long criticised Israel for demolishing homes of suspected Palestinian attackers, saying it amounts to collective punishment. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the army had arrested some of Abu Lailas relatives on Monday. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised the West Bank attack as a natural response to crimes committed by the Israeli occupation. The attack came after two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces last week in separate West Bank incidents. On Thursday, two rockets from Gaza were fired towards Tel Aviv in a rare attack into the heart of Israel that looked to set the sides into another round of escalation. Hamas denied Israels accusation it was behind the rocket fire. However, Israel went on to target several sites belonging to Hamas military wing in Gaza with about 100 missiles. Palestinians many without links to armed groups carried out a wave of attacks in the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016 but the frequency of such incidents has since decreased. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinian Authority seek to establish a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014. Government asks banks to rescue cash-strapped airline as PM Modi seeks to avert job losses weeks before elections. Indias government has called for an emergency meeting as cash-strapped Jet Airways plunged into deeper crisis with angry passengers demanding refunds and pilots threatening to go on strike over unpaid salaries. Indias Civil Aviation minister, Suresh Prabhu, asked his officials to call for a meeting to discuss the grounding of flights, advance bookings, cancellations, refunds, and any potential safety issues regarding Indias oldest private airline. Saddled with debt of more than $1bn, Jet is struggling to stay aloft. It has delayed payments to banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors some of whom have started cancelling their lease agreements with the airline. Jet, which employs more than 20,000 people, has now been forced to ground a total of 78 of its 119 aircraft after failing to pay lenders and aircraft lessors. Pilots will stop flying jet planes from 1st April 2019 if the company does not disburse due salaries and take concrete decisions A spokesperson for the pilots union In a statement released late on Tuesday announcing its latest grounding, the firm said it was actively engaging with lenders to secure fresh liquidity and wanted to minimise disruption. The firm is also facing pressure from its many pilots who have not been paid on time, with unions threatening that they will walk off the job if salaries do not arrive soon. Pilots will stop flying jet planes from 1st April 2019 if the company does not disburse due salaries and take concrete decisions, a spokesperson for the National Aviators Guild, a pilots union, told AFP. Flights cancelled The problems with Indias number-two carrier come as other airlines struggle to turn a profit despite the sector rapidly expanding in the country in recent years. The groundings have forced Jet to cancel hundreds of flights, some at the last minute, leaving passengers stranded. Many have taken to social media to voice their anger. Jets social media accounts have been flooded with often suddenly stranded passengers demanding information, new flight tickets and refunds. @jetairways We book our flights in advance so that we save on travel cost and you are sending cancellation [message] now?, read one irate tweet on Wednesday. I have sent a DM [direct message] regarding my ticket details. Please respond!, said Sachin Deshpande on twitter.. Another, Ankit Maloo, wrote: Received an email for all together cancellation of flight days before departure without any prior intimation or communication over phone! Indias aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Tuesday warned Jet Airways to ensure that pilots under stress are not forced to operate flights. The 25-year-old airline is in talks with its lenders state-run banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) and its biggest shareholder, Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad, to secure a rescue deal. But talks have dragged on and it is struggling to finalise a plan. While on the surface Jets future still hangs in the balance, there has been behind-the-scenes support from the government indicating that a bailout is likely, Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday. The Indian government has asked state-run banks to rescue the privately held airline without pushing it into bankruptcy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to avert thousands of job losses weeks before a general election, sources have said. The DGCA said with the current fleet Jet is likely to operate only about 985 flights a week or 140 flights a day down from an average of about 650 flights a day in March 2018. Prabhu, in a separate statement on Tuesday, asked officials to continuously monitor the situation at Jet and ensure that public interest and safety are given top priority. Ruling comes as a panel of UN judges rejects Karadzics appeal against his original 2016 conviction. United Nations judges have ordered former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to spend the rest of his life in prison for genocide and war crimes, increasing his original sentence of 40 years. Karadzic, 73, was convicted in 2016 for the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. He was also found guilty of leading a campaign of ethnic cleansing that drove Croats and Muslims out of Serb-claimed areas of Bosnia. A panel of appeals judges in The Hague imposes a sentence of life imprisonment after rejecting Karadzics appeal against his original 2016 conviction, head judge Vagn Joensen said on Wednesday. Judges at the original trial underestimated the extreme gravity of Karadzics responsibility for the gravest crimes committed during the period of conflict, noted for their sheer scale and systematic cruelty, Vagn Joensen said. There were 8,372 victims in Srebrenica [Dado Ruvic/Reuters] The ruling brings to a close one of the highest-profile trials stemming from the series of wars in the 1990s that saw the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia and death of at least 100,000 Bosnians. Al Jazeeras Sonia Gallego, reporting from The Hague, said that this was the end of the road for Karadzic, who cannot appeal the decision. It draws a line to what was one of the most important cases, it was a monumental case when looking at the crimes that have taken place, Gallego said. Untold suffering A psychiatrist by vocation, Karadzic emerged as the Bosnian Serb political leader shortly before Yugoslavia began disintegrating in a series of wars in 1991. In hiding for nearly a decade, Karadzic was arrested and handed over to the court in July 2008. Wednesdays decision was welcomed by families of the victims, who had long called for a life sentence. Families of the victims had long called for a life sentence [Dado Ruvic/Reuters] For the relatives, this has been years of untold suffering, Gallego said. What families of the victims were most worried about was that he would not be getting the life imprisonment as they had seen with some other cases before, she said. Before the verdict, Munira Subasic, of the Mothers of Srebrenica victims association, told reporters: If he (Karadzic) is not given a life sentence, the tribunal will have committed genocide against justice. There were 8,372 victims in Srebrenica. Karadzic had long been accused of orchestrating the 1995 slaughter after Serb forces seized the UNs Srebrenica safe area in eastern Bosnia. With Nursultan Nazarbayev giving up some of his powers, questions are arising as to who will succeed him. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the last Soviet-era political heavyweight who was elected president of oil-rich Kazakhstan five times in widely criticised votes, voluntarily stepped down after almost 30 years in power. I decided to end my duties as president, the 78-year-old autocrat, whose nation of 18 million borders Russia and China, said in televised remarks before signing a decree announcing his resignation on Tuesday. He added he would still head the ruling Nur Otan (Light of the Motherland) political party and serve as lifelong head of Kazakhstans Security Council thus retaining key positions in the halls of power that already lack political opposition critical of his increasingly authoritarian rule. 160211175726278 It is an interesting Oriental move, Dosym Satpayev, a political analyst based in Almaty, Kazakhstans financial capital, told Al Jazeera. A political spectacle took place formally Nazarbayev is not president, but in reality he is at the helm. Nazarbayev said senate speaker and former prime minister Kassym-Jomart Tokayev would be acting president before the next presidential vote. Nazarbayevs fifth term expires in April 2019 and he made no announcement about a snap vote. Another Central Asia analyst said Tokayev, a former diplomat and expert on China who served as prime minister in 1999- 2002, is the preferred successor. There is no one who can rule Kazakhstan better than Tokayev, Daniilk Kislov, a Moscow-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera. He is an experienced diplomat, administrator. Tokayev comes from the Elder Zhuz, a large tribal confederation in southern Kazakhstan, where nomadic traditions and affiliations immensely influence politics and daily life, Kislov said. Question of succession Nazarbayev struck an elegiac note during the unexpected televised address that resembled the 1999 resignation of ailing Russian president Boris Yeltsin. It is the people that gave me an opportunity to be the first president of independent Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev said solemnly. However, his opponents and international observers have for years lambasted Nazarbayevs reelections. He won his last one in 2015 with almost 98 percent of the vote. Rumours have swirled for years about who would replace Nazarbayev [File: Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters] Just like Yeltsins successor, Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB spy, the new Kazakh leader might well be a former security officer. For years, observers and insiders alleged Nazarbayevs nephew, Kairat Satybaldy, may replace him. Satybaldy, 48, is one of the leaders of the Nur Otan party and deputy head of the Committee for National Security, the main KGB successor agency. He has degrees in law, economy and oil engineering and is a practicing Muslim a rare sight among politicians in Kazakhstan, where most people are only nominally Muslim. 201333121521250111 He is an influential figure that resembles Putin, Satpayev said. It is hard to say whether he will become a public figure that will take part in the presidential election. But he is very likely to remain a figure who will play a role during the transit of power. A Russian security expert said Putin approved Satybaldys candidacy. Nazarbayev showed him to Putin and got his ok, the analyst told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. New great game Nazarbayev is hailed for maintaining good relations with Russia, China and the West [File: Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters] The question of succession has dogged Nazarbayev for years as his political opponents ended up in exile, political oblivion, jail or a graveyard. In 2006, opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbayuly was shot dead execution-style along with his bodyguard and driver. Earlier that year, Zamanbek Nurqadilov, another opposition figure critical of Nazarbayev, was found at home with two bullets in his chest and one in his head. 201211671135674728 Years later, Kazakh authorities said Sarsenbayevs murder was ordered by Rakhat Aliev, Nazarbayevs former son-in-law. Aliev, a top security official and husband of Nazarbayevs eldest daughter Dariga, was widely seen as his successor. But in 2007, he fell out with his presidential father-in-law and fled to Austria and was eventually arrested on murder and kidnapping charges. He was found hanged in a prison cell in Vienna in 2015. Austrian authorities ruled his death was a suicide but some Kazakh observers alleged he was killed. Kazakhstans immense hydrocarbon resources and location at the heart of Eurasia have already triggered political rivalries between Russia, China and the West something observers dubbed the new Great Game in reference to the geopolitical competition between czarist Russia and the British Empire over Central Asia. Nazarbayev managed to show loyalty to Moscow and Beijing, getting preferences and investments from both sides. Analysts say under the new leader, the course will not swerve while Nazarbayev is alive. But after his death Beijing and Moscow will be very worried, Satpayev said. Very much. President Filipe Nyusi said the deadly cyclone has killed more than 200 people and damaged buildings and roads. Mozambique has declared three days of national mourning after powerful cyclone winds and flooding killed more than 200 people and left a massive trail of destruction across swaths of southeast Africa. Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambiques port city of Beira on Thursday before moving inland, brought winds of up to 170 kilometres per hour, which flattened buildings and put the lives of millions of people at risk. Mozambiques President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised statement on Tuesday that the cyclone had killed more than 200 people but that more bodies were still being discovered. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, the official death count stands at 98 but is likely to grow as hundreds are still missing. More than 2.6 million people across southeast Africa have been affected in one of the worst weather-related disasters recorded in the southern hemisphere. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambiques recent history, said Jamie LeSueur, who is leading rescue efforts in the hard-hit city of Beira for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Rescue crews are still struggling to reach victims, while aid groups say many survivors are trapped in remote areas, surrounded by wrecked roads and submerged villages. Challenges remain in terms of the search and rescue of thousands of people, including children, UNICEF said. It estimated that 260,000 children were at risk in Mozambique. The Red Cross has said at least 400,000 people have been made homeless in central Mozambique alone. Beira, a low-lying coastal city of 500,000 people, is home to Mozambiques second-largest port and serves as a gateway to landlocked countries in the region. 190319144748268 The UN said Cyclone Idai could be one of the worst weather disasters to hit the southern hemisphere. We are at a point where are taking people that have water up to their heads and taking them by helicopter or by boat to places where water are up to their ankles. We are in the life-saving phase. We are not at the point where we can do medical assessments because health is our second-most important thing, Pedro Matos, emergency coordinator for the World Food Programme, told Al Jazeera. Local media reported that there were food and fuel shortages in central Mozambique because Beira was cut off by road. In eastern Zimbabwe, grieving families are rushing to bury their dead because the cyclone has knocked out power supplies and stopped mortuaries from functioning. I lost two children Chipo Dhliwayo, a survivor in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, told Al Jazeera that she lost two children to the cyclone. My husband and uncle said the water was in the house. They were trying to pull out one of my children from under the rubble. He wasnt breathing. Then the kitchen collapsed. Thats where my other child was killed, she said. Al Jazeeras Haru Mutasa, reporting from Chimanimani in Zimbabwe, said that rescue efforts were carried out in hard conditions due to bad weather. It means helicopters cant take off. Some of the people here have been waiting for days to hear news about their loved ones. They dont know whether they are alive or dead, she said. Zimbabwes Grain Millers Association said 100 trucks carrying wheat destined for Zimbabwe were stuck in Beira. The European Union announced on Tuesday an initial emergency aid package of $3.97m to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe for emergency shelters, hygiene, sanitation and healthcare. More than half of the newly elected members of parliament have no previous legislative experience. Nigerias general election may have ended weeks ago but the outcome has left many wondering if the countrys democracy is growing at all. More than half of the newly elected members of parliament have no previous legislative experience. That has left many Nigerians worried about their performance ability. Al Jazeeras Ahmed Idris reports from Maiduguri. US secretary of state vows to counter Iran, hails outstanding ties between Trump and Netanyahu in pre-election visit. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have hailed strong ties between the two countries and vowed to counter Iranian aggression as the pair met in Jerusalem, weeks before Israels election. Pompeos visit on Wednesday and warm words on Netanyahus leadership was widely seen as a boost for the Likud chief at the height of a tight re-election campaign. The Israeli prime minister, who is facing a tough election challenge from a popular former military chief and reeling from a series of corruption allegations, has repeatedly sought to focus attention on his foreign policy record and ties with US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu will visit Washington next week, where is set to meet Trump twice. Speaking at a press conference, Pompeo and Netanyahu made no mention of the heated Israeli election campaign. Pompeo touted last months Middle East conference in Poland, where he said dozens of countries discussed ways to stop Irans regional rampage. He accused Iranian leaders of seeking the annihilation and destruction of Israel and pledged continued American support for the country. With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparalleled commitment to Israels security and firmly support your right to defend yourself, said Pompeo. The Israeli people should have confidence that Trump, who is due to present a peace plan after the Israeli vote, will maintain a close bond with Israel, he said. I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship, Pompeo said, addressing Netanyahu. He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here. For his part, Netanyahu thanked Pompeo for the Trump administrations strong stance against Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat. The Israeli leader said he was working closely with the US to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world. He also welcomed the USs withdrawal from an international nuclear deal with Iran last year, as well as the tough sanctions Washington re-imposed on Tehran. This pressure is working, he said. We need to increase it. We need to expand it. 190114195115637 Netanyahu is one of Trumps strongest backers on the global stage. Since taking office, Trump has upended US policy and taken a series of steps welcomed by Israel, most notably by recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. The controversial step prompted Palestinian leaders to sever ties with the White House, and reject the US as a broker in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Pompeo arrived in Jerusalem after a stop in Kuwait, where he renewed calls for a resolution to the ongoing Gulf crisis between Qatar and four other Arab nations. Kuwait has been attempting to mediate an end to the crisis. Pompeo said the dispute that has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years is hindering efforts to combat regional threats, including Iran. US secretary of state started his tour in Kuwait City where he attended the third Kuwait-US strategic dialogue session. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for unity in the Gulf region, as he kicked off his Middle East tour with a stop in Kuwait City for the third US-Kuwait strategic dialogue session. Pompeo will seek to strengthen cooperation on defence, cybersecurity and trade, during his stop in Kuwait, his spokesperson Robert Palladino said. Al Jazeeras Jamal Elshayyal said the US top diplomat would also focus on creating a breakthrough in finding a resolution to the GCC crisis describing Pompeos visit to Kuwait as the most challenging part of his trip. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt imposed an ongoing land, sea and air blockade on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorists. Qatar has vehemently denied these claims. The fact that these countries are not seeing eye to eye is stifling any sort of plans or policies the US wants to implement in the region, Elshayyal said. US President Donald Trump initially backed the blockade on Qatar, but it has since transpired that that was not only detrimental to the US interests in the region but more so to the peoples interests here in the region and the stability of the GCC, Elshayyal explained. Kuwait has been at the forefront of trying to find a resolution to this crisis and mediate between the other Arab Gulf countries, which remains in deadlock. Kuwaits foreign minister said that a long-awaited US peace proposal for the Middle East should factor in regional considerations and all stakeholders. We hope the plan will take into account the situation in the region and all the relevant parties, Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah told a joint press conference with Pompeo. Pompeo took time to pose for photographs with US embassy personnel and their families and met with members of the US Chamber of Commerce, as well as with US and Kuwaiti business leaders. He also met recent Kuwaiti graduates of US universities and exchange programmes. Iran threat On the flight from the United States, Pompeo told reporters that he would discuss strategic dialogue and the need to combat the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran with leaders in the region. He will also push for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance, a US-sponsored Arab NATO aimed at uniting Washingtons Arab allies against Tehran. After Kuwait, Pompeo will fly to Israel where an election campaign is in its final weeks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu locked in a close battle with centrist rivals. While Washington insists it is not interfering in Israeli politics, his visit is seen as a sign of support for Netanyahu, who is struggling to keep his grip on power as he faces allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust ahead of the April 9 polls. After his stop in Israel, Pompeo will head to Lebanon, where he is expected to focus on Hezbollahs role in the region. In a letter to the IAEA, Qatar urges the Vienna-based organisation to create a framework for regional nuclear security. Qatar has said a nuclear plant under construction in the UAE poses a serious threat to regional stability and the environment. In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by the Reuters news agency on Wednesday, Qatar also called the Vienna-based organisation to create a framework for nuclear security in the Gulf. Relations between Qatar and its neighbour are already strained after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with the government in Doha in June 2017. The breach came over allegations that Qatar supports terrorism, a charge the country denies. 181105192827938 In its letter, Qatar said that a radioactive plume from an accidental discharge could reach its capital in five to 13 hours and a radiation leak would have a devastating effect on the regions water supply because of its reliance on desalination plants. The contested Barakah nuclear power plant is located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Qatar believes that the lack of any international cooperation with neighbouring states regarding disaster planning, health and safety and the protection of the environment pose a serious threat to the stability of the region and its environment, said the letter from Qatars foreign affairs ministry to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. Qatar also said that the technology is relatively untested as there is only one other commercial reactor of this type in operation, in South Korea. The UAE said on Wednesday that its nuclear energy programme conforms to IAEA standards and international best practices. The United Arab Emirates adheres to its commitment to the highest standards of nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation, Hamad al-Kaabi, the UAEs permanent representative to the IAEA, said in a statement to Reuters. He added that the Barakah plant, which was originally set to come online in 2017, was now expected to begin operations by 2020. Qatar said regional concerns about nuclear safety will be amplified when the Saudi Arabian civil nuclear programme is launched. The kingdom is considering building 17.6 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of about 17 reactors, making it one of the biggest projects globally. There was no immediate comment by the IAEA. Karadzic was convicted in 2016 for the Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Serb forces. United Nations appeals judges on Wednesday will hand down a final verdict in the case of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, a key figure in the Balkan wars who is serving a 40-year prison sentence for genocide. The ruling will likely bring to a close one of the highest-profile trials stemming from the series of wars in the 1990s that saw the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia and death of at least 100,000 Bosnians. Karadzic, 73, was convicted in 2016 for the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. He was also found guilty of leading a campaign of ethnic cleansing that drove Croats and Muslims out of Serb-claimed areas of Bosnia. On appeal, prosecutors are seeking a life sentence and a second genocide conviction for his alleged role in that policy of targeting non-Serbs across several Bosnian towns in the early years of the war. Karadzic, meanwhile, is appealing against his conviction and wants a retrial. The ruling, which is final and cannot be challenged on appeal, will have huge resonance in the former Yugoslavia, especially in Bosnia, where ethnic communities remain divided and Karadzic is still seen as a hero by many Bosnian Serbs. The judgment will be read out at 2pm local time (13:00 GMT) in The Hague at a UN court handling cases left over when the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia closed its doors in 2017. A delegation of the association of Mothers of Srebrenica will be in the Netherlands for the judgment. If Karadzic does not get what he deserves, then this will mean that there is no justice in this world, Munira Subasic, president of the group who lost 22 close relatives in the killings, told AFP news agency ahead of the verdict. Genocide Karadzic is the highest-ranking person to face a reckoning before the UN tribunal. 160327093504907 A psychiatrist by vocation, Karadzic emerged as the Bosnian Serb political leader shortly before Yugoslavia began disintegrating in a series of wars in 1991. In hiding for nearly a decade, Karadzic was arrested and handed over to the court in July 2008. Karadzic used a campaign of sniping and shelling, targeting the capital Sarajevos civilians as a way of furthering his political goals during the 1992-95 war, a judge ruled. There were 8,372 victims in Srebrenica. Karadzic had long been accused of orchestrating the 1995 slaughter after Serb forces seized the UNs Srebrenica safe area in eastern Bosnia. New Zealand PM Ardern says 30 victims now identified and available to families for burial as first services begin. Christchurch, New Zealand Five days after the worst mass shooting in New Zealands modern history, the coroners office has begun releasing bodies, allowing the families of some of the victims to lay their loved ones to rest. At least five victims were laid to rest on Wednesday at the Memorial Park Cemetery, following the release of the bodies a day earlier. Among those buried were a 15-year-old Syrian refugee Hamza Mustafa and his father, Khalid, 44. They had just arrived in New Zealand six months before they were killed. Hamzas younger brother Zaid, 13, suffered gunshot wounds to the leg in the attack. He was seen being pushed around in a wheelchair during the ceremony. Junaid Ismail, 36, and Ashraf Ali, 58, were buried in seperate ceremonies later on Wednesday. The fifth buried victims name could not be reported. Zaid Mustafa suffered gunshot wounds to the leg [Hassan Ghani/Al Jazeera] Many mourners lined up to help fill the graves with soil by hand as the bodies were laid to rest, with people asked to refrain from using shovels in order to ensure all those wishing to take part could do so. The burials come after police earlier named five of the victims of Fridays attack on the Al Noor and Linwood mosques. Three-year-old Muccad Ibrahim was among those confirmed killed in the massacre, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has branded a well-planned terrorist attack. An incomplete life Mourners described the emotional anguish experienced by all those at Wednesdays ceremony. Everybody is grieving in a way that we cant explain, Gulshad Ali, who travelled from Auckland to attend the burial, told Al Jazeera. I feel devastated, I am emotionally disturbed seeing the bodies laid down. Were here, this is our home and were staying. Waleed Wahsh talks to Al Jazeera about the loss of 3 close friends during the New Zealand mosque attacks. pic.twitter.com/8Pnoar6qX6 Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 18, 2019 Mohamed Aljibaly, an imam at the Australian Islamic Centre who travelled to attend, noted how the family fled the horrific eight-year war in Syria only to be killed in New Zealand one of the worlds most peaceful nations. These were a father and a son. He was a Syrian brother and he escaped what is happening in Syria every day, and the massacres that are happening there nearly daily, to pass away in New Zealand, the place that he thought to be his new home because he was a refugee, said Aljibaly. Mustafa Ibrahim said he had never before attended such a solemn event. It just feels like we have put to rest incomplete life, Ibrahim told Al Jazeera, citing the killing of the Syrian teen Hamza. I am a father, I also have a son. Its so hard to come here and pray and bury two people. But we will come here again until all of them [the victims] are buried. Hundreds gather in Christchurchs Memorial Park Cemetery to bury two of those killed in Fridays attack on two mosques. #ChristchurchMosqueShooting #NewZealand pic.twitter.com/gd74NyzrzX David Child (@DavidChild90) March 19, 2019 Prime Minister Ardern said she was devastated by the news that the Mustafas from Syria had been killed when being briefed on the atrocious events as they unfolded on Friday. I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that the family came here for safety and for refuge, and they should have been safe here This was their home, Ardern told Al Jazeera during a press conference at Christchurch Central police station. The New Zealand leader earlier visited Christchurchs Cashmere High School, where Hamza had studied. I need to hear the grief, [and] I feel the grief, she said. Anguish over return of bodies Police said in a statement the bodies of 27 victims would be identified by midday on Wednesday and would be available to their families for burial. Ardern said at the press conference later on Wednesday that 30 victims bodies had been approved for release. Theres been growing anguish over a lack of progress by officials tasked with identifying the dead. Muslims customarily bury the deceased within 24 hours of death. Before their burial, the bodies are washed and wrapped in a white shroud so that funeral prayers can be conducted. However, authorities say they need to be 100 percent certain of the identification process so the wrong body isnt returned to a victims family, and evidence can be used in court against the murder suspect. It would be unforgivable to return the wrong body to a family, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said in a statement on Wednesday. I want to again reassure you that we are working relentlessly, doing everything in our power, to complete the formal identification processes as quickly as possible. Ardern, meanwhile, said she understood the frustration of families still waiting to bury their relatives, adding there were lessons to learn from how authorities had dealt with the issue so far. Many processes we have are based on circumstances very different to this one In the aftermath I will want to reflect on this and want to improve, she said at the press conference. We must work on behalf of the Coroner to ensure we have the correct identification. It would be unforgivable to return the wrong body to a family. Secondly correct identification is required as part of the investigation and is necessary to prove a charge of murder. New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 19, 2019 Critical condition Christchurch Hospital said 29 people wounded in the attacks were still receiving medical treatment. Eight remain in critical condition. A four-year-old girl being treated in the Starship Hospital in Auckland also remains in critical condition, the statement added. We are gearing all available theatres to follow-up acute surgery, which means we will be continuing to postpone planned surgeries, said David Meates, chief executive of Canterbury District Health Board. People injured in the mosque attacks are still our priority for surgery. Australian Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist, is accused of carrying out the massacre with modified semi-automatic weapons. He will appear in a Christchurch court on April 5. Bush said on Wednesday that police officers had rammed Tarrants vehicle and apprehended him 21 minutes after the first emergency calls were received. Previously, police had said it took 36 minutes. Ardern has promised to amend New Zealands gun laws in the wake of Fridays attack. Al Jazeeras Hassan Ghani contributed to this report Michelle Bachelet renews tough criticism of Maduros govt. She also warns US sanctions could hurt Venezuelan citizens. The UN human rights chief on Wednesday stepped up her criticism of US sanctions against Venezuelas government, a day after US President Donald Trump warned Washington could still impose tougher measures. Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also renewed her tough criticism of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government, accusing it of a violent crackdown on dissent. Venezuelan security forces, backed by pro-government armed groups, have quashed peaceful protests with excessive use of force, killings and torture, the UN human rights chief said on Wednesday. Bachelet, addressing the Human Rights Council, cited allegations that the National Polices Special Actions Force (FAES) had executed 37 people in January in Caracas in illegal house raids in poor areas supporting the opposition. Criticising US sanctions, Bachelet cautioned that Washingtons moves could hurt Venezuelan citizens. I am concerned that the recent sanctions on financial transfers related to the sale of Venezuelan oil within the United States may contribute to aggravating the economic crisis, with possible repercussions on peoples basic rights and wellbeing, she told the Human Rights Council. Bachelet had previously warned that sanctions have exacerbated the crisis. In addition to the punitive measures announced on Tuesday against mining company Minerven, the US has cut Maduros regime off from the revenue generated by its state oil company, which counts on the US as a key market through operator Citgo. In January, Trump imposed sanctions on the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the stiffest economic measure against Maduro and Venezuela to date. The US is among countries that have recognised opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate head of state. Speaking in Geneva as the Minerven sanctions were being announced, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Carrie Filipetti told reporters that the US was not trying to harm Venezuelas population. We have tried to target our sanctions as much as possible so that it can affect the regime but leave the individual Venezuelans as untouched as possible, she said. Doctors under pressure A rights office team is currently in Venezuela to assess the crisis. Civil society groups have said that doctors are coming under pressure from Maduros government for trying to alert the UN mission about the severe lack of hospital medicine and equipment. It is important that the team have completely unhindered access, with no reprisals against any person who has met, or sought to meet, with them, Bachelet told the rights council. It was not immediately clear if she was referring to the reported pressure facing her staff. Nearly three million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and about 5,000 are leaving each day amid a devastating political crisis and economic collapse. Pakistan describes ruling as a travesty of justice after Indian court acquits four men accused of 2007 train bombing. A special court in India has acquitted four men accused of bombing a train linking India and Pakistan 12 years ago, in an attack that killed 68 people. The victims in the February 2007 blast at the Samjhauta Express train included 43 Pakistani citizens and 10 Indians. The identities of the remaining 15 could not be established. The ruling on Wednesday cited the lack of evidence for the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand, Kamal Chauhan, Rajinder Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma who were charged by the NIA. Prosecution has failed to prove the case so the court acquitted all of them, defence lawyer Mukesh Garg told reporters outside the court in the northern state of Haryana on Wednesday. According to Indias National Investigation Agency (NIA), which probed the case, the attack was carried out by a Hindu far-right group to avenge similar attacks allegedly carried out by Muslim groups with the aim of threatening the unity and integrity of India. Swami Aseemanand, alias Naba Kumar Das, a former member of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had been described as the alleged mastermind in the conspiracy. The NIAs chargesheet said that the men met at different locations across India to plot bombings targetting Muslims. This is the second major setback for the NIA in a terror case allegedly involving Hindu groups. In April last year, the NIA court had acquitted all the 11 men charged by the investigating agency in the Mecca Masjid blast case where six people were killed in the southern city of Hyderabad. Travesty of justice Pakistan summoned Indias ambassador to protest against the acquittal. In a statement, Pakistan called it a travesty of justice that reflected an Indian state policy of promoting and protecting Hindu terrorists. The Samjhauta express, also called the Friendship Express, was started in 1994 as a goodwill measure to help families separated by the 1947 India-Pakistan partition. Many of the 299 witnesses listed by the NIA in the case turned hostile during the course of the protracted trial, which was presided over by eight judges. Thirteen witnesses were Pakistani citizens who never responded to a summons to appear before the trial court, citing security concerns. The Samjhauta Express bombing was part of a string of similar attacks in 2006 and 2007 where the targets were ostensibly Muslims and investigations by the NIA pointed to the role of Hindu groups. The first was in September 2006 when a string of explosions was set off at a Muslim cemetery in Malegaon, a town in Maharashtra state, which killed at least 40 people. In May 2007, a blast in the 400-year-old Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad city killed six people and five more died when the police opened fire on people who launched a spontaneous agitation at the site. At least two people were killed when a bomb went off at the Ajmer Dargah in the northern state of Rajasthan in 2007. Swami Aseemanand, who featured prominently in the course of the investigations, had said in a taped interview in 2014 to Indian magazine The Caravan that some of the worst attacks in the country were sanctioned by the then-RSS top leadership. Group of Uighur Muslim scholars accuses Beijing of engaging in systematic human rights violations of ethnic compatriots. Doha, Qatar A group of visiting Uighur Muslim scholars originally from Chinas Xinjiang province has urged Muslim-majority countries to press China to end its cultural war against their ethnic compatriots. According to a United Nations panel, more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims are held in what rights groups and activists call mass detention centres in the remote western region a charge denied by Beijing. During a visit to Qatars capital, Doha, leaders from the Turkey-based Society of the Muslim Scholars of East Turkistan (SMSET) accused Beijing of engaging in systematic human rights violations of Uighurs in a bid to erase their cultural and religious heritage. The Chinese government is waging a cultural war against our people by trying to force us to abandon our Muslim faith and our heritage to become atheists and communists like the majority Chinese society, the SMSETs Abdel Khaleq Uighur said on Tuesday. In January, China passed a new law that sought to Sinicise Islam within the next five years, the latest move by Beijing to rewrite how the religion is practised. Sinification is a process of melting non-Chinese communities into the majority Han Chinese culture. China conquered East Turkistan in 1949 and renamed it Xinjiang province which means the new territories in Chinese. No major Muslim country has publicly condemned China for the alleged mass incarceration of Uighurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities except Turkey, which has called on China to shut the camps. Beijing calls the camps reeducation centres. Ancient Silk Road The Uighurs, whose homeland is in the heart of the ancient Silk Road, say Beijing sees their presence as an obstacle to its economic development and westward expansion through its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Launched in 2013, the massive investment drive aims to finance and build infrastructure in some 80 countries around the world, including in the Middle East and parts of Eurasia. With high-speed rail and other upgraded land transport developments, China strives to promote land and maritime trade simultaneously between China and the Middle East, Wang Jian, a professor of history and international political economy at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in a paper published in 2017. Mohamad Mahmoud, of the SMET, argued that Chinas promises of vast wealth and economic development from its BRI projects have prevented Muslim-majority countries from addressing the crackdown on Uighurs. I hope that Muslim countries can overcome their fears of China and address its gross human rights abuses against our community, he said. Uighurs speak a Turkic language distinct from the countrys overwhelming Han majority. According to a 2018 Amnesty report, open or even private displays of religious and cultural affiliation, including growing a beard, wearing a veil or headscarf, regular prayer, fasting or avoidance of alcohol, or possessing books or articles about Islam or Uighur culture can be considered extremist under the regulation. Last week, the Chinese government published a lengthy policy paper outlining and defending its policy against the Uighurs as deradicalisation measures. The paper admitted the arrest of 13,000 Muslim Uighurs since 2014. Responding to government claims of terrorism and radicalism in the region, Mahmoud said the Chinese government claims are not true. Mahmoud said his countrymen inside East Turkistan have no political or military organisation to seek independence or separation from China. despite that the Chinese government accuse our people of terrorism and mass arrest them. The only terrorism in the region comes from the Chinese government itself, added Mahmoud. Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports Trump says he doesnt mind if public sees Special Counsel Robert Muellers report on Russian meddling in 2016 election. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he does not mind if the public is allowed to see the report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing about his investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any possible links to the Trump campaign. Let it come out, let people see it, Trump said. Lets see whether or not its legit, he added. Mueller is preparing to submit a report to US Attorney General William Barr on his findings, including Russias role in the election and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction, calling the investigation a witch-hunt. Russia has denied interfering in the election. Barr, a Trump appointee, is already coming under pressure from politicians to make the entire document public quickly, though he has wide latitude in what to release. The US House of Representatives voted 420-0 last week on a nonbinding resolution calling for Muellers report to be released both to Congress and to the public, but it is not clear how the measure will fare in the Senate. Answering questions from journalists at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he had no idea when the report would be released, adding, no collusion, no collusion and well see if its fair. Asked if the public should be allowed to see the report, Trump said: I dont mind. I think its ridiculous, but I want to see the report, he added. {articleGUID} Questioning Muellers legitimacy Trump has been investigated for almost two years, following suspicions that he or his team had improper ties to Moscow. In anticipation of the reports release, Trump intensified his long-running campaign to question the legitimacy of Mueller, who is widely respected, and to undermine confidence in the report itself. Trump referred to his 2016 election win as one of the greatest in the history of this country and said by contrast that Mueller had no popular support. Mueller is a man out of the blue and writing a report that never got a vote, Trump told journalists at the White House. Mueller was appointed in May 2017 with widespread bipartisan backing in Congress, four months into Trumps turbulent presidency. Mueller has previously held several senior positions in the Justice Department, including FBI director. Mexico City Griselda Triana, the widow of slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, was targeted by government-owned spyware less than two weeks after the prominent reporter was killed, according to Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based internet watchdog group. The group said on Wednesday that Triana was sent bait messages 10 days after her husband, who covered drug trafficking, was killed in May 2017 on the streets of Culiacan, Sinaloas capital. Valdezs laptop and mobile phone were removed from the crime scene and are still missing from the investigations, according to official reports. Trianas case comes after previous investigations by Citizen Lab revealed that journalists covering corruption, human rights lawyers leading high-profile cases involving the government, anti-corruption activists, opposition politicians and others have been targeted in recent years with carefully tailored bait SMS messages containing links to install Pegasus the spyware on their phones without any legal grounds for these actions. I felt desecrated, Triana told Al Jazeera. I would have done anything to help the authorities find whoever murdered my husband, so why would they do this without my consent? she added. Protesters call for justice after attacks on journalists in Mexico [Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA] Triana told Al Jazeera she didnt know the messages were baits until she read in November how Valdezs colleagues had been targeted with Pegasus a couple of days after his death, and prompted her to reach out to NGOs to figure out whether she had been a target. I cant think of any legitimate reason as to why Griselda was targeted, especially since she fully cooperated with the authorities, said Luis Fernando Garcia, a lawyer who is head of the digital rights organisation R3D. When a journalist is killed in Mexico, its not unusual authorities try blaming the victims instead of trying to solve the case, he told Al Jazeera. Garcia is part of an international team of lawyers representing the Pegasus victims who filed an ongoing lawsuit in Israel against NSO Group in 2018. NSO Group is an Israeli company that develops and sells Pegasus. 170517055203033 NSO licenses technology to governments and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of fighting terrorism and crime to save lives, an NSO spokesperson told Al Jazeera in an emailed statement. While we cannot discuss whether a particular government or agency has licensed our technology for these purposes, anything that falls outside of preventing or investigating crime and terror is considered a misuse and will be investigated. The company takes misuse seriously and has the right to shut down the system if necessary, the statement continues. Since Pegasus is allegedly only sold to governments, and there are official records of the Mexican government purchasing Pegasus in 2014, as well as extensive publicly available research and media coverage pointing to 24 cases of misuse in the country since 2017, Al Jazeera specifically asked NSO what measures it took to prevent the Mexican government from misusing the software or cutting its access and also asked whether there were any inaccuracies in the reported research. NSO declined to comment arguing it had no knowledge of the new case of alleged misuse. A cover-up effort? Its clear that the previous administration had no interest in solving the case and actually everything points to an active effort to cover up the perpetrators tracks, said Leopoldo Maldonado, a lawyer working with the victims and in charge of the legal programme of Mexicos Article 19, a UK-based press freedom group. 180325122711817 Documents show Mexicos federal prosecution agency (known as PGR under the former government of Enrique Pena Nieto), purchased at least 500 Pegasus software licenses in 2014 and paid for upgrades in 2016 and 2017, spending at least over $40m in the software. But when the federal transparency agency (INAI) required it to reveal the documents in October 2018, PGR declared they did buy the software but never used it. It doesnt make any sense they would spend that exorbitant amount of money on the software and then never use it, said Garcia. It just doesnt make any sense. The software can be used with a court order, but no government agency has produced a court order to back up the investigations. PGR was one of three government agencies accused of using Pegasus illegally and was the same agency in charge of investigating the case. Last month, PGR reported to INAI it had uninstalled the software from its computers, ruling out the possibility of finding evidence of its use. The problem is not only that the government used the software wrongfully, but also that it tried to cover it up, Maldonado told Al Jazeera. 180424183056571 According to Garcia, it still might be possible to find evidence of its use through witnesses, including the people that were trained to use the software, and with NSO cooperation. The current government, which took office in December 2018, has told Article 19 and R3D that it will fully investigate the cases of alleged misuse. In a statement to Al Jazeera, the prosecutors office (known as FGR under the current government) said it is attentive to Trianas complaint. It added that because investigation are ongoing, it is legally not possible reveal details about the acts that have been carried out and that continue to be carried out. A spy in your pocket Once a mobile phone is infected with the software, it enables the operators to gain full control of the device, allowing unrestricted access to its camera, microphone, photos, videos, files, encrypted messages, emails, calendar, and even managing the phones settings and planting files on it. A phone infected with Pegasus becomes a spy in the victims pocket, said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Torontos Munk School who identified the links in Trianas and the other targets in Mexico as links to install Pegasus. Everything is available to the spyware operator, he told Al Jazeera. Although the 25 the victims in Mexico were allegedly targeted using a malicious SMS message containing a link to install the software, the PGR acquisition documents reveal that is only one of the multiple ways available for installing the software; it is also possible to install it by pushing into the phone using an invisible message without the users knowledge or interaction. 180525084831993 Scott-Railton added that even though investigations so far reveal that only 500 licences were purchased, that number only translates into a number of concurrent targets, meaning there may be more than 500 victims. Triana told Al Jazeera that while she didnt remember clicking on the malicious links she received, she passed on her phone to a loved one that might have clicked on the links and activated the software. Griseldas case is disturbing, said Scott Railton. She is one of many who demanded justice for the victims of cartel-linked killings, but got infection attempts with Pegasus instead. Maldonado added Article 19 is aware of at least four other Pegasus targets that havent gone public yet, but that also involve people like journalists, activists and politicians. We think there must be many more. This is just the tip of the iceberg, he said. Richwood, TX (77531) Today Cloudy and windy with periods of rain ending in the afternoon. Morning high of 69F with temps falling to near 55. Winds N at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 43F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Turkeys leader tells an election rally that his country will make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand does not. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday that her foreign minister will travel to Turkey to confront comments made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Christchurch mosque shootings that killed 50 people. Erdogan, while campaigning for March 31 local elections, said on Tuesday that Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. He presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would be sent back in coffins like their grandfathers at Gallipoli a blood-drenched World War I battle. More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces at Gallipoli, which has a prominent place in Australias collective memory. Erdogans comments included video footage of the shootings which the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. The Australian gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, live streamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was an attack against Muslim invaders. The manifesto referenced Turkey and the minarets of Istanbuls famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. Ardern said Foreign Minister Winston Peters would seek urgent clarification over the remarks during his visit. Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey, Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. He is going there to set the record straight, face to face. Tough reaction from Australia Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday summoned the Turkish ambassador over Erdogans speech but dismissed the excuses offered. Remarks have been made by Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment, Morrison said. I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn I expect that to occur, said Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. In fiery remarks, Morrison accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the father of modern state and a revered figure in Turkey to forge peace between the two countries. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the attacks that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city on Friday. How is it, considering the economic nonsense she spouts, that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could graduate cum laude from Boston University, with a degree in international relations and economics? Worse, how is it that her generation could embrace the very economic system that destroyed Eastern Europe and collapsed Venezuela, which sixty years ago was one of the top three economies in the world? In Finland, which is still a capitalist country, the government resigned over being unable to push through free-market reforms vital to the survival of its health care system, which is projected to collapse without them. Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece teeter on the verge of economic breakdown because of unsustainable social programs. Denmark has very high taxes and high social benefits. It also has the largest household debt relative to income of any of the industrial countries. Automobiles carry 180% tax and sales tax is 25%. Many young Danes emigrate for economic opportunities. The idea that the Nordic economic model is the panacea that will save America is mythical. Nordic countries are small, relatively homogeneous societies that possess the philosophical bond, which originated in Lutheranism, of community sharing. America is a multicultural society with vastly different ideas about sharing, taxation, and the role of government. To understand the attraction of American capitalism, you might want to attend an expat party in Silicon Valley. There are, for example, 142,000 Frenchmen and women living in the United States. About a quarter of them are estimated to live in and around Silicon Valley. I asked one young woman who ran a software company why she didnt create her company in France. She laughed that it would take forever to get a business license and even with Californias convoluted attitude toward business, she was up and running in less than a year. So why does a generation of millennials want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg? Welcome to the changing values movement in higher education. The most cited and influential educational philosopher of the twentieth century was John Dewey. Known largely for his bringing the real world of pragmatism to educational philosophy, Dewey is less known for his democratic socialism and progressive economic theories. Schools of education adopted not only Deweys pragmatic approach but also his zeal for collectivism and statism. In the late 1950s, Philip E. Jacob authored Changing Values in College, a book that was seized upon in colleges of education to show that value-based outcomes could be the desired goal of education. For the most part, these ideas were confined to colleges of education, but they received strong reinforcement when Paul A. Samuelsons Keynesian economic theories increasingly took hold in departments of economics. But the most dramatic impact of progressivism, however, came from the expansion of the higher education bureaucracy as it responded to the twin demands of multiculturalism and affirmative action in the late 1960s. The implementation of quotas masquerading as goals required the expansion of the bureaucracy to oversee programs, implement coercive requirements, and placate government bureaucrats who conducted audits of diversity achievements. Colleges of education responded to these demands by increasing their programs in higher education administration. Those who survived the rigorous intellectual demands of such programs could sit on an administrative perch and control budgets and personnel decisions of faculty that viewed them as the ignorant children of a lesser god. This resulted in a new class of professional administrators drawn both from colleges of education and from faculty who no longer possessed a desire for scholarship as much as a desire to implement a progressive agenda. The new class behaviors could find parallels in the writings of Yugoslav philosopher and critic of communism Milovan Djilas. Academic administrators became a class unto themselves with their own ideology and interests that increasingly departed from the historic purposes of higher education. This new class was nurtured on the philosophy prevalent in colleges of education that higher education was about taking the progeny of the great unwashed and reeducating them to become committed progressives. College was about changing values and educating students to embrace the leftist view of social responsibility and social justice. Such shibboleths as diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice became mechanisms for implementing revisionist history, substituting activism for scholarship, and indoctrinating a captive audience of naive young adults into the glories of progressive solutions to complex economic and social problems. The captive audience of the classroom was, nonetheless, insufficient to satisfy the new class quest to remake the university into a hothouse for progressive ideology. Like all bureaucrats seeking a proliferation of new offices, they quickly discovered the untapped resources of the college dormitories and orientation programs, what has been described as the shadow university, could provide additional venues for coerced political indoctrination. Many of these programs were fashioned on the theories and approaches of Lawrence Kohlberg, whose Just Community outcomes, like John Deweys, were inspired by collectivism. It is no accident that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spouts socialist banalities. This is what colleges teach. As progressive ideologies and political correctness became woven into the cultural fabric of higher education, people who did not share those values did not look upon higher education as a career -- unless they gravitated toward the sciences and technical fields. Political correctness produced the activist scholar, who, in the true Marxist sense of the word praxis, demands to use university resources for tribal leftist political activism while arguing that activism be considered a glorified substitute for scholarship. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the product of the modern university. We might find her naivete and ignorance laughable, but the joke is on us because she is but a symptom of her generation, and we have subsidized the making of that ignorance. Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science who has spent 35 years in academia at major research universities. He was a Bradley Fellow with the Heritage Foundation and is currently a distinguished Fellow with Hyam Salomon Center. Pamela Geller recently reported on the murders of 120 Christians in Nigeria since February of this year. This is the tip of the iceberg of attacks on churches and Christians throughout the world by Islamists who are crying for the blood of Christian martyrs. Many leftwing atheists then call those who vigorously protest this bloodshed Islamophobes. In effect, they are allowing and even encouraging the militant Islamists to continue their violent acting out. The sympathy with Islamic jihadists is the necessary perverse outcome of a deep mental illness which I diagnose and call Islamophilia. This is the exaggerated love of Islam and of followers of Islam based upon a desire to bring death and destruction to Christians, Jews, and even those secularists who remain loyal to Judeo-Christian morality. It is an overidentification with the mindset that wishes to destroy Anglo/American liberty based on natural rights, and with the deep, Western attachment to personal autonomy and private property. The natural [and inalienable] rights of our Anglo-American civilization are, according to our Declaration of Independence, endowed by our Creator. These rights are Biblical rights found in Scripture, and moved forward by Gods holy providence into the natural realm of human governance. In short, the leftist brigades of our culture are sublimating their vendetta of hate for natural rights and for Christian faith (deeply tied to Old Testament teachings and faith) through vicarious identification with the violent Islamic jihadist machinations against non-Islamic societies, cultural subgroups, and governments. Islamophilia, not Islamophobia, is the greatest threat to the peace and tranquility of western civilization. Like many of the other -philias, it is a deeply irrational disturbance which functions by exaggerating the merits of a class of beings (Islam) in order to distract from a realistic assessment of that class or aggregate. Pedophilia, for example, is an irrational and perverse sexual attraction of adults to children. Pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder involving adult sexual fantasies and activities with children. Another more detailed definition states that pedophilia is legally defined as sexual child abuse. Therefore, we can say that disorder, deviance, and abuse are the defining characteristics of the term Islamophilia that is being advanced in this article. Another perverse -philia is necrophilia. Necrophilia is defined as A morbid fondness for being in the presence of dead bodies. [and] The impulse to have sexual contact, or the act of such contact, with a dead body, usually of men with female corpses. Sex in these cases means that there is no reciprocal passion. The necrophiliac expresses erotic desires toward the dead, and the dead, being dead, express nothing back. They are, well, dead Now we have five working concepts for understanding Islamophilia: disorder, deviance, abuse, morbidity, and perversity. Douglas Murray, Deputy Editor of the Spectator in the United Kingdom, has coined the term Islamophilia. But he uses criteria to define the term which treats the Islamophiles of the press and of the left as though they were only expressing a form of wrongheadedness, but does not draw us into this -philia as being a neurotic manifestation of some deep pathologies. For example, he states that Islamophilia is a disproportionate adoration of Islam. In making this statement, he fails to call the readers attention to the perversity of this disproportion. After 1400 years of attacks on the West, both Europe and the USA, as well as attacks on non-Islamics in many other Christian and non-Christian countries, we see that enjoyment of worship of Allah is not uppermost in their minds. Rather, religious/political conquest of all other peoples is the driving motive of Islam and wedded to their beliefs. All other world religions make some significant peace claims, but Islam fails to do so. Failure to acknowledge this historical reality means that the Islamophiles defensive response in support of Islam is not only disproportionate, but is deviant and disordered. Its main goal is to harass the Christians and to disabuse the West of the idea that its Christian and Jewish foundation is valid. Experiencing Christianity as a form of cultural abuse, they wish, in turn, to abuse Christians. Islam is intended as the instrument of that abuse by the non-Islamic Islamophiles. Murray also states, But when it comes to Christianity, it appears that you cannot uphold its doctrines without immediately being accused of obscurantism or bigotry. This results from a profound disdain in intellectual circles towards the religions underpinning the West, and a corresponding exaggerated respect for what are presumed to be the cultures of the underdeveloped world. This observation is certainly true, as the negative response to Christianity in all its manifestations (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) produces an adoration of Islam not founded on respect for its principles, but on antipathy towards Christian faith and the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth and all that resides therein. Christ is hated by Islamophiles. Thus, the Islamophile is perverse insofar as his or her attraction to Islam is a pseudo-attraction based more upon hatred of Christianity than love and respect for the Islamics. Additionally, Murray notes, The media could never broadcast, or print an article explaining from the Christian -- or any other -- point of view why Islams founding story simply doesnt stack up Let any scholar loose on the materials and they could do it. Biblical or Torah scholars using the tools of criticism could use them on the Koran and have a wonderful and fascinating time of it. Thus, he rightly sees the unwillingness of the MSM to run in the public square critiques of Islam from the point of view of other religions to thereby help the public see the issues. In fact, writers like Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Raymond Ibrahim, Daniel Pipes, Jamie Glazov, Daniel Greenfield, David Horowitz, Martin Sherman, Mordecai Kedar, and Steve Emerson are marginalized to the highest degree possible. The Islamophiles thus want to remain in ignorance of both Christianity and of Islam. In so doing, they are promoting their own ignorance along with public ignorance. They are thereby encouraging morbid thoughts of hatred founded not on knowledge but upon continuing ignorance. Islamophiles have been using the term Islamophobia to slander those who want to defend our culture from the false, non-Christian religion of Islam bent on conquest of the West and of all other cultures. From now on, those using the term Islamophobia must immediately be addressed as neurotic Islamophiles. Public use of terminology to indict false positions is essential in the culture wars. The left often has been successful in stigmatizing the views of patriots who oppose them. New initiatives need to be taken so the left will experience the shoe on the other foot. Conservatives must not only express opposition, but create opposition. Just as the left hopes to stigmatize those with whom they disagree by using the term Islamophobia, they should be stigmatized by use of the term Islamophilia. In the 1800s, adulterated milk was common. Milk produced by swill herds, as muckraking journalist Robert Hartley wrote in 1842, was "very thin, and of a pale bluish color," the kind nobody in his right mind would buy. So distillers added flour, starch, chalk, plaster of Paris, or anything else they could get away with to make the milk look healthy. This adulteration only increased the bacteria in milk that we today would consider undrinkable. The common theme in adulteration is that you pay for A, but they give you B. It's not what you want. Additionally, it's likely to be dangerous to your financial health, your physical health, and your mental health. In recent decades, the adulteration of olive oil was such a scandal that 60 Minutes presented an expose. The Sicilian Mafia figured out a way to reach across the Atlantic and steal from the wealthiest Americans, people who wanted only the best virgin olive oil. Food fraud has been common through the centuries. The worst cases involve maple syrup, vanilla, apple juice, coffee, orange juice, and honey. Mix in something really cheap, and you've got a winner. Fake medicines, according to Interpol, are killing people. It's a worldwide problem. In some cases, these counterfeits have been found to contain highly toxic substances such as rat poison. The most spectacular 21st-century commercial crime may be Chinese drywall. The U.S. imported enough phony drywall for 60,000 homes. It looked like ordinary drywall, but deadly problems appeared months after the new owners moved in. Sulfurous fumes from bad drywall rot electric wires, turning copper to powder. Air conditioner coils and silver jewelry are affected. Emissions, which smell like rotten eggs, worsen as temperature and humidity rise. Homeowners report a great variety of horrific health problems, including difficulty breathing, headaches, and sinus issues. It is a long, drawn out nightmare for the victims. Often, the homes cannot be saved. At the least, you have rebuilding expenses and probably legal expenses. Whole Word, a theory that children can learn to read by memorizing sight-words, is a lot like living with Chinese drywall. You get headaches and respiratory problems. Your health is shot from worry and failure. After years of going to school, the victims still have nothing to show for all that work and expense. Memorizing sight-words is difficult to do and counterproductive. Once you have these designs in your brain, you can rarely be a fluent reader. More than 40,000,000 people, known as functional illiterates, are victims of this peculiar adulteration. Reading is promised but not delivered. Here's one obvious irony. In terms of food and most products, we have been advancing steadily. Everything is healthier. Whatever it says on the label is probably what it is. Adults in general are well informed and often obsessed with making sure they're eating healthy foods. A deadly or even dangerous food could ruin a company's reputation forever. But not much of this progress is apparent in public schools. Adults in general are not sufficiently well informed about adulteration in public education. Arguably, almost everything in K12 is the equivalent of milk laced with "flour, starch, chalk, plaster of Paris, or anything else they could get away with to make the milk look healthy." Kids can't teach themselves. And most parents are apparently too distracted to find out what's going on. Bottom line: We need to get the parents up to speed. Hello, Mr. and Mrs. America your kids are being abused right in front of you. During the last hundred years, Progressive education systematically tried to eliminate traditional ideas, which were by and large wholesome, like milk itself. Progressive educators don't seem to care about wholesome. They want their intellectual junk food if that can help their social engineering schemes. Arguably, New Math, Reform Math, and Common Core Math are fake math programs. They create a lot of cognitive confusion. It's hard for the parents and the community to understand what's actually happening in the classroom. We see a lot of negative coverage of these pretenders kids are crying, parents are unhappy yet the Education Establishment is so arrogant that it goes right on dumbing down its own country. A second obvious irony is that our government helped us defeat adulterated foods, but it's our government that is the primary force behind adulterated education. That is, public schools brag about wonderful new reforms that somehow end up being destructive. The Education Establishment is the fountainhead of fake pedagogy. You can't go in a drugstore and get this stuff. No, it is bestowed on you by your local pushers. Discredit, dilute, and discard that seems to be the formula for K12. Everything is slowly turned into a Lite version of itself. All of these changes are best understood as adulteration. You start with milk and end up with blue swill. Students may go to school for 12 years and not know how to find Alaska on a map. They may waste months learning cumbersome Common Core methods but never use them. After years of effort, you may memorize 500 sight-words more or less automatically but never actually read a book in your life. That's a common destiny these days. Our Education Establishment has adulterated literacy right out of people's lives. A big percentage of public school students will learn only one thing for sure: in every situation, you should guess. Problem is, you can't stop guessing. Instead of reading, young adults guess. The problems and perversities in K12 are so obvious that we have to wonder where our political and intellectual leaders are. Think of all the energy that the NeverTrumps expended in the last several years. I didn't see George Will writing about fixing up the schools. I would like to. Two years ago, Jeb Bush came out swinging on behalf of Common Core. What a silly performance. I guessed that his campaign was effectively over at that moment. But why support a flop like Common Core? The best way that heavy hitters can show their seriousness is to promote the best ideas for improving public schools. Bruce Deitrick Price's new book is Saving K12: What happened to our public schools? How do we fix them? He deconstructs educational theories and methods at Improve-Education.org. Back in the 1940s, Robert A. Heinlein, the "Dean of American science fiction writers," put together an outline of American history for the next two hundred years. It was basically a framework on which to hang a number of related short stories and novels utilizing the same background. This "Future History" series, after being completed, was published in a single volume a quarter-century later as The Past through Tomorrow. A number of commentators, beginning with the critic Algis Budrys, have noted some remarkable congruences with actual events. From the vantage point of 1940, Heinlein predicted a social upheaval during the '60s (which he called the "Crazy Years"), the rise of the religious right a few years later, and the effective abandonment of the space program, with private entrepreneurs taking over leadership in manned space travel in the 21st century, just to mention just a few points. But there was one minor point that seemed really unlikely. In one of the volumes (I believe in the opening pages of the novel Methuselah's Children), Heinlein made an offhand reference to dirt-eating becoming a fad. This was easy to shrug off. While a lot of crazy things have come and gone, dirt-eating was not one of them. I mean, people just aren't that silly, are they? Well, it appears that Beto O'Rourke has brought this prophecy to life. Breitbart reports that, after being defeated by Ted Cruz, Beto made his way to New Mexico, where he ate a portion of some kind of magic dirt supposedly possessing "regenerative powers." It appears that he also took some home for the family. Now, we can be sure, Beto, being a public figure and the (or make that "a") Great White Hope of the Democrats for 2020, will find a number of imitators following his lead as regards the holy dirt. We can only hope the supply holds out, so that all the leftists and Beto acolytes will not end up being disappointed. We can only conclude that Robert Heinlein was a much more accurate and profound prophet than anyone ever guessed. Who else, in a relatively sane era, would have projected that an adult male running for president could make a meal of dirt? And that, as somebody recently said, is America in 2019. A new Morning Consult poll shows former vice president Joe Biden widening his lead over Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The Hill: The poll found that Biden leads Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 8 percentage points with 35 percent of the Democratic primary voters polled supporting him. The 35 percent figure marks a 4 point increase from last week, according to the outlet. Sanders's approval remained unchanged from the week before, according to Morning Consult. Support for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) dropped 2 percentage points this week to 8 percent support among those who say they may vote in the Democratic primary. She is tied for third in the poll with former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), who announced his presidential bid on Thursday. Biden maintains an even greater lead among respondents in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. The former vice president and possible presidential hopeful received support from 39 percent of respondents from those states, an 11 point lead over Sanders, according to the poll. The results of the poll show the advantages of staying out of the race for as long as possible. Biden hasn't formally declared his candidacy, although he is expected to make the leap in a matter of days. As long as he's on the sidelines, he's much less of a target than other declared candidates. Sanders, Harris, and O'Rourke have all had their problems in the last ten days, while Biden basks in his status as frontrunner. In truth, he doesn't have to exert much energy. He's in the enviable position of letting the other candidates criticize each other while he stays above the fray. That will change soon, but Biden's real problem is the lack of enthusiasm for him on the radical left. The former vice president has not endorsed Medicaid for all, the Green New Deal, packing the Supreme Court, or slavery reparations. Those issues are emerging as litmus tests for the various 2020 candidates, who are falling all over themselves in the race to the fringe. The Hill: Indeed, many Democrats see Biden as the best hope for reclaiming the Rust Belt. "I've seen the polling, and it's pretty darn impressive," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a close Biden friend for nearly 40 years, said in a statement emailed to The Hill. "Joe runs well among Democrats traditional Democrats, people on the left, people in the middle, people on the more conservative side. He is strong with independents. And there's a surprising number of Republicans who like him, and, as we know, will vote for him." But the energy is on the left, and Biden's more liberal rivals including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) are embracing issues that are firing up the progressive base. It's those voters who will play a big role in picking the Democratic nominee next year. That dynamic creates a number of difficult decisions for the 76-year-old Biden, who would enter the primary as the front-runner but who also faces a long, hard slog to the nomination. "It won't be easy," one Democratic strategist said. "He's going to have to find a way to appeal to a progressive base that just isn't feeling centrist values right now. They don't want someone who works with Republicans. They want the exact opposite." Biden is likely to pay lip service to those issues, acknowledging their importance but stopping short of endorsing them. It's a high wire act as he tries to balance radical leftists on one side with general election voters on the other. Trump, of course, is licking his chops at running against any Democrat, given the high profile their socialist ideas have received. Most of the radicals, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are doubling down and, rather than moderating their tone, are instead defending their extremist ideas. It will make it fairly easy to tie Biden to the crazies especially after a Democratic convention that will remind most Americans of a Communist Party Congress. If Biden is going to have any chance at all of winning in November 2020, he is going to have to denounce most of those radical ideas as too extreme. But if he does that, he probably won't get the nomination from Democrats. How Biden finesses this issue will determine whether or not he gets the nomination and has a chance to beat Trump. Am I the only one who thinks our presidential elections go on a bit too long? We seem to have a perfect storm of crazy ideas floating around. This is the latest from Andrew Yang: The Democratic candidate revealed in a little-noticed tweet last week that he was against the ritualized practice of cutting a newborn's foreskin. But in an interview with The Daily Beast, he said that if he were elected he would incorporate that view into public policy, mainly by pushing initiatives meant to inform parents that they don't need to have their infants circumcised for health reasons. Yes, it is true, and more insanity coming the Left. First, are U.S. parents forced to circumcise? I am not aware of that. I thought it was a personal decision. Second, how exactly is a President Yang going to enforce this? My guess is that even the 9th Circuit would find this one a bit crazy. What's going on? Our campaigns are too long. Someone should propose forbidding anyone to campaign for president until the election year. The left is not serious, period. This is not a topic for government to get into. In other words, the same people who get in your face about a woman's choice now want to take away her choice to circumcise her son. Go figure! How did we get to the point where running for president is a joke? Last, but not least, how will President Yang address this issue with gender-neutral baby activists in his party? P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. A letter to the editor in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week chastised the GOP for "bounty-hunting" blackface photos of Virginias attorney general, Mark Herring. The author immediately lapsed into name-calling, typecasting Republican delegates as racist who lack any moral high ground for their opposition to eliminating voter ID laws and other safeguards when there is little evidence of voter fraud. Most people know that voter fraud has existed since the founding, but few get caught and fewer prosecuted. My late father shared his Depression-era story of when he and his brother earned some pocket money by participating in a Dem vote-buying scheme in his rural Florida district. Dad said the scheme worked, and no one got caught, but the experience forever soured him on politics. The Heritage Foundation records over a thousand successfully prosecuted cases of voter fraud in the U.S. Not included in their records is a recent example near me. It was a vote-harvesting scheme using absentee ballots perpetrated by the previous mayor of Waverly, a small town about an hour from the Va. capitol. It was not listed because Richmonds infamous attorney, Joe Morrissey, traveled to the sticks to get a fellow Democrat acquitted. Moving it up a notch, and just in time for the 2018 midterm elections, the California legislature legalized a similar vote-harvesting scheme and much more. The rules changes worked so well that on election night, GOP shoe-in seats in the few remaining solidly Republican areas like Orange County evaporated. Per Townhall, anyone can "walk into an elections office and hand over truckloads of vote-by-mail envelopes with ballots inside no questions asked, no verified records kept." Democrat operatives cased nursing homes, low-income neighborhoods, illegal alien work sites, etc. to "help" people vote or to pick up and deliver their ballots. Californias newly relaxed voting laws enabled cheating on an industrial scale that will perpetuate Democrat control. Seeing Californias success, the new majority-Dem U.S. House of Representatives went the state one better and, on March 8, passed H.R. 1, a near copycat "For the People Act," by a party-line 234-193 vote. Like Californias new rules, this seemingly virtuous bill would force early voting, automatic voter registration, same-day registration, online voter registration, and no-fault absentee balloting in all 50 states and similarly skew national election results heavily toward Democrats. It may not pass the current Senate, but this bill clearly reveals which party is pursuing absolute power by any means necessary while disingenuously claiming the moral high ground. Hint its not the GOP or even Russia. New York governor Andrew Cuomo recently bemoaned the $2.3-billion revenue shortfall for the State of New York. "Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich. We did that. God forbid they leave." In New York, the top 1% fund 46% of the state's income taxes. In 2016, New York lost 186,000 residents, with the vast majority of people moving to no-income-tax Florida. In California, another leading outmigration state, a net one million people left over the last 10 years (130,000 in 2017 alone), with the vast majority moving to no-income-tax Texas. The top 1% fund 48% of California's income taxes. Here in Illinois, the top 1% fund 23% of income tax revenue due to our flat income tax rate. According to United Van Lines (January 2019), 43% of those leaving Illinois earn over $150,000 per year. In case you didn't know it, Illinois is second to New Jersey in outmigration on a per thousand basis. Do we really believe that moving to a progressive tax structure is going to encourage those who overwhelmingly fund Illinois to stay when 114,000 people left Illinois in 2017? Is a business going to start up in Illinois when other states will give it a competitive advantage in our interconnected world? The driving force behind Illinois's fiscal nightmare is the pension nightmare. We created this fiscal nightmare by electing politicians who sell fear and envy. It can be dealt with in two ways. The first is having all new hires placed on a defined contribution plan. (Wouldn't you rather have ownership of your fully funded defined contribution plan that has participated in an exploding stock market for the last ten years than a 37% funded defined benefit plan?) The second is honoring our commitment to all state employees and paying their retirement benefits. We must cap the pension problem. When are we going to learn that there is a relationship among outmigration, taxes, and freedom? When are we going to learn that politicians sowing fear and envy are corrupting our society? In a time of abundance, isn't this the best time to right-size the Illinois budget? When are we going to learn from the mistakes of New York and California? President Trump held his first joint press conference with Brazil's awesome new conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, and threw out the bombshell idea of making Brazil a full member of NATO. It was a head-turner, because up until now, the functionality of the U.S.-Brazil relationship has always revolved around assorted trade spats, and now the disintegration of Venezuela, which is situated between the two giants. Now there's Trump's talk of making Brazil a NATO member and it didn't sound like mere associate membership, as Colombia won in 2018, that he had in mind. It sounded like membership-membership, as Whoopi Goldberg would say. Was that a proposal for a realignment we just heard? Was that a message to Germany? Bringing Brazil in would certainly represent a change in NATO's size and focus, and Brazil throwing its weight around in the alliance would be a game-changer, rendering Germany and other NATO deadbeats kind of irrelevant. Trump did suggest he would discuss it with the other NATO allies in the presser here, so it wasn't entirely a fox-in-the-European-henhouse type of remark, but everyone knows that Trump is no big fan of NATO, so instead of breaking it up, he's going to override it. Was Trump leaning on Europe to let it know that if it didn't want to support NATO, there were other nations that could be brought in? The presser was full of cordial words and many compliments, but it was halting, and I didn't see much chemistry or warmth or any smiles or even much eye contact until around the 21st minute. President Trump was clearly reading from a paper script, not engaging in his normal freewheeling, impromptu style. So he's obviously being careful about something. Bolsonaro was pretty much the same way, giving a non-answer to a question from a reporter about the establishment of U.S. military bases on Brazil's northern border, something that even the most conservative of us aren't exactly bucking for, but maybe a necessity on a NATO plan, and at the same time something that could rankle Brazil if Bolsonaro said "yes." So he, too, was being careful, and his remarks were just as scripted. Most of the media questions were pretty serious and topic-focused. Nobody disgraced himself much on that front. With Brazil in NATO, the borders of what's known as the "west" would expand significantly, and the junk influence from China and Russia in the region would become less important. Brazil could even earn its entry by hosing out Venezuela, bringing some global respect for the worth of its fighting troops if it is successful. What's more, the aircraft manufacturers, such as Embraer and Boeing, which have become linked, could become a military-technology powerhouse. Brazil isn't a charity case it actually brings stuff to the table. Besides technology, as a NATO member, Brazil might actually bring money and commitment. So more specifically, was Trump's proposal a message to Germany? Notice the state of U.S. relations with NATO's anchor partner, whose security has always been the main NATO focus. According to DW, the German news agency: Wolfgang Kubicki, the deputy chairman of the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), said Richard Grenell's repeated interference in German sovereignty should prompt Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to immediately declare Grenell persona non grata. "Any US diplomat who acts like a high commissioner of an occupying power must learn that our tolerance also knows its limits," said Kubicki, who is also one of five deputy speakers of Germany's Bundestag parliament. Grenell had on Tuesday criticized Germany's military spending plans within NATO as insufficient, prompting Kubicki to accuse the envoy of "interfering" repeatedly in political issues of a sovereign country. Grenell's criticism of Germany's defense spending came weeks after he demanded that Berlin halt Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline being laid across the Baltic Sea to deliver gas from Russia to Germany, and threatened firms involved in the project with sanctions. Breitbart has a much more detailed story showing the extent of Germany's failure to live up to its NATO commitments, making its petulant defensiveness look even worse. The Trump-Bolsonaro meeting seems to have signaled a big realignment of some kind that NATO proposition was definitely a bolt out of the blue, and quite possibly a message to Germany to shape up or get dwarfed. At a minimum, the meeting signaled that the U.S. has suddenly gotten a bigfoot new ally, one of the vaunted BRICs, actually, blowing apart the establishment-lefty view that the BRICs are striking out on their own and rising together. (In the past, we'd see pictures like this to demonstrate the hype). Actually, Brazil has much more to gain in a tag-team relationship with the U.S. than it does hanging around with messed-up countries such as Russia, or nasty, economically battered tyrannies such as China. The only thing such giants have in common with Brazil is size, and, well, the U.S. has lots of size, too. Why should Brazil bother with those places just because euro-focused Goldman Sachs thinks they belong together? Throw Brazil into NATO instead, and watch things change. The Pentagon has identified $12.8 billion in military construction spending that could be used to fund the building of a wall on the southern border. The money has already been appropriated but not spent and is targeted for various stateside military facilities. It's unclear which projects would be affected. Washington Examiner: Some states that have been allocated big chunks of money that haven't been spent could see a hit. California, for example, was identified as having more than $700 million in unused Army and Navy military construction that could be used. Hawaii has more than $400 million that could be used. More than $200 million in similar funding allocated for Hawaii, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Guam, Germany, Guam [sic], and Guantanamo Bay Cuba are also on the list. Reed warned in his tweet that "military bases in your state could be negatively impacted" by Trump's border emergency. Trump Admin finally releases its list of at-risk #milcon projects that could be put on the chopping block in order to divert billions to pay for Trumps ineffective #borderwall. Take a look - military bases in your state could be negatively impacted. https://t.co/xJyDzjSITS Senator Jack Reed (@SenJackReed) March 18, 2019 Reed's framing the issue as a local economic issue is clever, but hardly relevant. It's a question of priorities. Should building a new PX at a Georgia military base be given a higher priority than building a wall? That's the Pentagon's reasoning, and, given the president's declaration of a national emergency, it's not a hard call. Not all the projects will be scrapped. Some may be delayed; other long-term projects could see reduced funding on a year-to-year basis. The allocation of money is somewhat at the discretion of the secretary. The point is, the money is there whenever Trump wants to use it. There will no doubt be temporary court injunctions to prevent any construction immediately, but with the emergency declaration, the delay is not likely to be a long one. A lot of questions have been asked about the implementation of any scheme to pay descendants of slaves for the enslavement of their ancestors. Last night on Tucker Carlson's show, Carlson spoke with Jason Nichols, who suggested that it was a federal government debt rather than a take-from-the-whites-and-give-to-blacks issue. Carlson asked a question that wasn't answered, about whether the payment of reparations would heal the racial divide. I assert that it would only make that divide worse. Who were the slaves? The ones brought from Africa were originally enslaved there, by a tribe that had beaten their own tribe in some battle. These survivors of the losing side would have been abused as the property the victors considered them to be. Eventually, they were sold to Europeans, who brought them to the American continent. If plantation-owners here had not bought them, who knows what might have happened to them, but it could have involved being tossed overboard to make room for cargo that was easier to sell. Note that the slaves on the ship preferred life as a slave to death, a choice I probably would have made the same way. Slavery was legal, and not just in the United States. The laws for treatment of slaves were like those for treatment of livestock and allowed physical abuse and even killing them. There have been many laws we now find appalling, but no crime was committed. Our justice system does not prescribe morality, only legal and illegal actions. We decry the WWII detention of Americans of Japanese descent in camps because they were citizens who were imprisoned in spite of having committed no crime. Owning slaves was not a crime at the time, so why should reparations be paid? If slavery is a moral wrong and laws don't legislate morality, then I have to ask why anyone thinks forgiveness for this old sin can be bought. Is this our atonement? If the bloodshed by Northern soldiers in the Civil War does not wash away this sin, then nothing will. God may forgive the actual slave-owners, all dead now, though the Bible mentions slavery, and not as a sin. So if slavery is a sin, against whom was it committed, and why is that individual or group being treated as a deity? Reparations also cheapen the lives of the original slaves. Who among the potential beneficiaries is going to say, no matter how much reparations might be specifically paid to them, "OK, that's enough, it's okay that you abused my ancestors, beat them and raped them, and worked them in inhumane conditions. We're good now." Wouldn't that restore his dead ancestors to being slaves, agreeing that a life can be bought, but the price has to be adequate? If human lives are of infinite value, then reparations have to go on forever. But if that happens, then the citizens providing the tax dollars are turned into slaves. We might hypothetically pay off our $20T-plus national debt, but how do you pay off the history of slavery without bringing slavery back for the payers or the original slaves? Will the African nations that originally enslaved these ancestors also be sent bills for reparations due? What will be their share of this debt? What about American Indian tribes that essentially did the same thing to each other? Shall they be paying each other reparations as well? Those who demand reparations are apparently not against slavery, so long as they are the ones benefiting. But no amount of reparations is justifiable. Angela Merkel apparently went behind NATO's back to make a deal with Russia for the natural gas pipeline Nord Stream II, paying for which will drive Germany's contribution to NATO defense spending below the 2% of GDP that was agreed on in 2014. Germany, with one of the world's wealthiest economies, is far in arrears on her NATO obligations, has been for years, and has no acceptable excuse for it. America has been open for years now to selling liquid natural gas (LNG) to Europe at rates below those the Russians can provide with a pipeline. It actually looks as if Merkel just prefers to do business with the thuggish Eastern oligarchs than with the putatively like-minded free markets of the West. Germany evidently isn't as like-minded as we might have imagined. Merkel casts it as a choice between foreign aid and an obligation of lesser importance. After all, why would Germany worry about Eastern military adventurism when she's buying Russian LNG? It isn't a clash of priorities, but stubborn refusal to meet a commitment. As if Germany didn't owe America some consideration for the years we rebuilt her shattered WWII economy and then stood by her through decades of Russian bullying and threats. Now Merkel makes nice with those same Russians while thumbing her nose at America. It remains to be seen how President Trump will respond, but one hopes tariffs on German goods go through the ceiling and that the American market for anything Deutsch screeches to a halt. Ingratitude is among the more infuriating human failings, and Angela Merkel has many of us on this side of the pond good and riled. Germans may want to think about shunting this old girl aside. We who have shouldered their defense load for seventy years rightly consider her duplicitous. That thought should be sobering in view of whom they've chosen to partner with instead. In the fall of 1943, as German soldiers began rounding up Jews in Italy and deporting them by the thousands to concentration camps, a mysterious and deadly disease called Syndrome K swept through the city of Rome causing dozens of patients to be admitted to the Fatebenefratelli Hospital located in the middle of the boat-shaped island on Tiber river. The details of the disease are sketchy, but the symptoms include persistent coughing, paralysis and death. The disease was said to be highly contagious. The 16th-century Fatebenefratelli Hospital has a history of infectious diseases. In the 17th century, it was used to quarantine plague patients, and when there was a cholera outbreak in Rome in 1832, Fatebenefratelliby virtue of its isolationbecame a natural shelter for the infected. Fatebenefratelli Hospital on the Tiber river Island, Rome. Photo credit: 4thebirds/Shutterstock.com But Syndrome K was different. There was no mention of it in medical textbooks, and outside of the staff at Fatebenefratelli, nobody had heard of it before. It sounded similar to Koch Syndrome, which was tuberculosis, a terribly frightening disease at that time. When the German soldiers went to raid the Fatebenefratelli, the doctors explained the disease to the men and what lay behind the closed doors. None of them dared to go in. And thats how at least a hundred Jews who were taking refugee at the hospital escaped death. Syndrome K was a made up disease. The disease was created by Giovanni Borromeo, the hospitals head physician, with the assistance of other doctors to save those Jews and anti-fascists who sought refuge there. Borromeo began providing Jews a safe haven in the hospital from 1938, the year Italy introduced antisemitic laws. One of the refugees was Vittorio Sacerdoti, a young Jewish doctor, for whom Borromeo prepared false papers and gave him a position in the hospital. Another psychiatrist, Adriano Ossicini, was an antifascist who had been imprisoned several times before he found work under Borromeo. Ossicini, along with many other doctors, ran a semi-clandestine resistance base at the Fatebenefratelli. On October 1943, the Nazis raided a Jewish ghetto in Rome, and many Jews fled to Fatebenefratelli, where Borromeo admitted them as patients. The refugees were given a new fatal diseaseSyndrome Kin order to identify them from the actual patients. The letter K was chosen after German officer Albert Kesselring, who led the troops in Rome. K was also the initial of the last name of a Nazi officer in Rome, Herbert Kappler. Fatebenefratelli Hospital. Photo credit: ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com "Syndrome K" was purported to be a neurological illness whose symptoms included convulsions, dementia, paralysis, and, ultimately, death from asphyxiation. Just what it might be was left for interpretation. When the Nazis came to visit, patients were instructed to cough a lot whenever soldiers passed by their door. The ruse worked. The Nazis thought it was cancer or tuberculosis, and they fled like rabbits, said Dr Vittorio Sacerdoti during an interview with BBC in 2004, sixty years after the event. In 2016, the 96-year-old Ossicini spoke to the Italian newspaper La Stampa about the invention of the disease: Syndrome K was put on patient papers to indicate that the sick person wasnt sick at all, but Jewish. We created those papers for Jewish people as if they were ordinary patients, and in the moment when we had to say what disease they suffered? It was Syndrome K, meaning I am admitting a Jew, as if he or she were ill, but they were all healthy. The idea to call it Syndrome K, like Kesserling or Kappler, was mine. How many lives Syndrome K actually saved is hard to tell, but accounts vary from two dozens to over a hundred. After the war, Borromeo was honored by the Italian government by awarding the Order of Merit and the Silver Medal of Valor. He died in 1961 at his own hospital. He was posthumously recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government. The hospital itself was recognized as a "House of Life" by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, which advocates on behalf of Holocaust saviors. Aerial view of Fatebenefratelli Hospital. Photo credit: Aerial-motion/Shutterstock.com AT&T has now released a statement explaining the issue with Viacom from its perspective while at the same time promising to fight for its customers. This week Viacom publicly outed AT&T as the reason for a stall in contract negotiations between the two. The announcement from Viacom also made it clear that if a resolution was not found, there was a high chance AT&T customers would encounter a Viacom channel blackout across the DIRECTV (including DIRECTV NOW) and U-verse platforms. Viacom, in no uncertain terms, stated the issue was not that common ground could not be found, but AT&T was actively seeking to oust Viacom from its channel lineup so it could continue to focus on its own channels and content. Advertisement In todays statement, AT&T says this is not true. Instead, AT&T says the facts are that several of Viacoms channels are no longer popular. Further drawing on that point, AT&T explains that over the past six years Viacoms channels have lost about 40% of their audience. The statement goes on to say that Viacom is a repeat offender and has repeatedly used these tactics with other distributors in the past when trying to negotiate a deal. In other words, AT&T is directly blaming Viacom for the stall in talks and also for the reason as to why a channel blackout may occur. AT&T seems to be well aware that issues like this could led to some consumers switching to another provider and has looked to circumvent that from happening by arguing that switching itself will not protect consumers from Viacom channel blackouts either now or in the future. Advertisement While AT&T seems to clearly be pointed the finger at Viacom for the breakdown in talks, there are some indications that AT&T is not telling the whole truth here. For example, Viacom argues that AT&T is looking to cut back on as much third-party channels and content as possible in a bid to ensure its services primarily promote its content. This is exactly what was seen last week when AT&T launched its new-look DIRECTV NOW plans. Previously, Viacom was a major contributor to the DIRECTV NOW package lineup but that changed with the new plans with AT&T becoming the single largest provider of content via its WarnerMedia-owned channels. Advertisement AT&T did not simply cut down on the number of Viacom channels it offered, but instead completely wiped Viacom from DIRECTV NOWs two major plans. AT&T has also now said that Viacom employs these tactics, including temporary blackouts, as a means to boost the fees providers must pay just to get that content back. However, Viacom had previously said that as a means to broker a deal it had offered AT&T the ability to pay less tomorrow for Viacom channels than they pay today, enabling them to pass these savings on to subscribers and lower their bills. Reading between the lines, what might be happening here is AT&T only wants to establish new terms for some of the Viacom channels (the ones it considers popular) and take a hard pass on the rest. This is something that is usually unfavored by channel owners who prefer to bulk package their channels to providers. Advertisement In either cases both companies have publicly declared they want to keep Viacom channels on the DIRECTV platform so in theory it could be assumed no major change in that respect will take place. However, the reality is far less certain at the moment. The current contract between the two is due to expire on Friday which is when the blackout will likely begin if no agreement has been made before then. Chrome 73 arrived in March, bearing new under-the-hood optimizations, a split to security and privacy settings, and hints of better support for accessibility features. The upcoming software also suggested that system-wide dark mode is slowly but surely making its way across all of Googles ecosystems and associated hardware. But that wont necessarily arrive in the update for Chrome OS just yet and Google does seem to be slowing down its own hardware efforts. In fact, Google reportedly made several cuts to its own hardware division, apparently cutting back on efforts amid growing competition in the premium end of that space. That competition, at least for March, didnt include any major hardware announcements, leaving our top ten mostly unchanged for the time being. Thats not to say there has been no new hardware at all. The education sector of the market continues to grow at a steady pace. AMD components seem to be leading a new charge on that front and that will seep into the consumer end of the market at some point. Qualcomm is still expected to bring the Snapdragon processor over to the OS at some point in the near future as well. Advertisement For now, these are the Android Headlines picks for the top ten Chromebooks available to buy. 10. ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 Advertisement The ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 is on the verge of being supplanted by a brand new entry in the Flip series but that hasnt happened just yet and that doesnt mean 2018s Chromebook Flip is any less a contender. Packing 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage with an Intel Pentium 4405Y, Core m3, or Core m5 starting at $474, this gadget is still plenty powerful and easy to recommend. All of that is packed into an all-metal 2-in-1 frame, as its name suggests, allowing for either a tablet, tent, stand, or clamshell configuration via the standard 12.5-inch 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass display. The body of the gadget itself weighs in at a respectable 2.5lbs with a thickness of just 1.5-inches. Battery life is rated at up to 10-hours depending on usage with this gadget too. Thats charged up via either of two display out-capable USB Type-C ports. Advertisement Taken alongside constantly improving Chrome OS software with support for Linux or Android apps and PWAs, in addition to cloud-based web tools and coupled with expandable storage, the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 is one of the most popular mid-range Chromebooks available. Thats bound to continue with the incoming predecessor as well and is not without good reason. 9. Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro & Plus LTE Advertisement Another 2-in-1 thats well worth considering, particularly if access to an S-Pen for creating artwork or productivity sounds appealing, is the Samsung Chromebook Plus or Chromebook Pro. While these are technically two different series of devices, Samsung has taken a simplified approach to its Chrome OS offerings by releasing two very similar products under different branding. The Chromebook Plus is the less powerful variant with either a $499 or $599 price point, depending on whether or not users need a 4G LTE connection. The latter of those is only currently capable of operating on Verizons network, so that would need to be factored in but otherwise both devices are identical. Samsungs Plus variant ships with an Intel Celeron 3965Y processor backed up by 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Thats backed behind a 12.2-inch 1920 x 1200 touchscreen on a 360-degree hinge in an all-aluminum body. The S-Pen stylus mentioned above is garaged just as it is for the Chromebook Pro. Just above the keyboard, Samsung also includes an outward facing camera when in tablet configuration that sets it apart from its Pro counterpart. Advertisement The Samsung Chromebook Plus can also be bought with an Intel Core m3 instead and double the storage at a slightly higher cost. Conversely, thats the same chip the Samsung Chromebook Pro starts with at $499, although another version with a backlit keyboard is available for just $100 more and that chip is clocked slightly higher. The display of the larger 12.3-inch Samsung Chromebook Pro is notably better too, set at 2400 x 1600. RAM remains at 4GB but storage is boosted out-of-the-box to 64GB. Both versions of the gadget serve different needs but thanks to the plethora of apps and web apps available on Chrome OS as well as the S-Pen, both Samsung Chromebooks are heavily weighted toward productivity. Advertisement 8. Acer Chromebook 514 The newest gadget to grace the Android Headlines top ten Chromebooks list is Acers Chromebook 514. We recently had the opportunity to take this device for an extended test drive and although it is only a clamshell-style gadget rather than a 2-in-1, it is very impressive. Advertisement The best aspect, however, may be its best feature since even using the device for work tasks netted a battery life well over seven to eight hours. Its not surprising that its claimed 12-hour battery life wasnt met since thats effectively the maximum, indicating life from a much more light user. Battery life isnt the only aspect that makes the Chromebook 514 shine either. All variations on the design, ranging in cost from $349 to $499 feature a 14-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen with bezels measuring in at just 6mm. The lay flat design is accented by smooth curves with a sleek modern aesthetic, a Gorilla Glass touchpad, and a backlit keyboard. That measures just 0.7-inches thin. The whole package also includes a greater number of ports than most competitors for better diversity in use, spread equally across each edge. There are two USB standard ports, two USB Type-C ports, a Noble lock slot, 3.5mm jack, and a microSD card reader here. On the underside of the standard backlit keyboard, two stereo speakers round out the package with balanced sound. Including the 3,920mAh battery, the entire package weighs just 3.3lbs despite its larger form factor. Where the models differ is in the powerhouse driving Chrome OS, with all the latest features that entails intact. At the top end is an Intel Pentium N4200 backed by 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. The more budget-friendly models kick that down to either a dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 or quad-core Celeron N3450 processor. The more powerful of those features 64GB storage compared to the somewhat lesser models 32GB but both feature 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. Any of those models go a long way to living up too and surpassing Acers previous highly-lauded Chromebook 14. 7. Google Pixelbook Googles Pixelbook is a great device that isnt necessarily well priced in terms of value. It fills the niche as the most expensive Chromebook available across several variations, with design and specs to match but the overwhelming majority of users will never need something quite as powerful as whats on offer here. Weighing in at just 2.5lbs and with a thickness of just under 0.4-inches, the Google Pixelbook is, in fact, the current pinnacle of design for Chrome OS. Those who are looking for an all-metal chassis that fits that description need look no further. The internal specs are equally impressive but, as mentioned above, that comes at a cost. The bottom of the barrel for the Pixelbook starts out at $999 and nets users a last-generation Intel i5 chip with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. For $200 extra, buyers can double up on storage. The offerings only go up from there, ending with a seventh-gen Intel i7 processor with 16GB RAM and 512GB of NVMe storage at $1,649. Each variant is rated at up to 10-hours of battery life from a single charge. Regardless of which product is chosen, the build is set around a 12.3-inch display panel with a resolution of 2400 x 1600 pixels on a 2-in-1 hinge. Thats also EMR stylus enabled for maximum productivity although it will cost an extra hundred dollars for the Pixel Pen stylus itself. Other inclusions in the frame include two high-end speakers, four noise-canceling microphones, and two USB Type-C ports. With Chrome OSs continuing growth toward a platform that can do pretty much anything except gaming and that may be coming soon enough too the Google Pixelbook does make some sense for those who will need the extra oomph. Thats going to mostly apply to those who are creating software or applications, for example. For everybody else, this may simply be too much machine for now. 6. Google Pixel Slate Just ahead of the Google Pixel and released much more recently is Googles latest hardware creation, the Google Pixel Slate. As its name suggests, the Pixel Slate is a tablet format Chrome OS device and thats going to bring caveats of its own. Not least of all is the fact that buyers will need to factor in an additional $199 for the magnetically attached keyboard that Google has released in a matching color configuration. As with the Pixelbook, an addition $99 will be required for the matching EMR stylus as well. For $159, for a similar keyboard offering from Brydge that operates on Bluetooth instead can be purchased. Software optimization for tablets has improved significantly over the past few Chrome OS updates, so theres no longer a problem there but the other caveat with the Google Pixel Slate is its starting price. Things start out at $599 for a gadget including 4GB memory and 32GB storage, coupled with a fairly basic eighth-generation Intel Celeron processor. As with every other variant, that comes in a matte midnight blue coloration. The display panel on each configuration of the device is a 12.3-inch molecular display panel set at a resolution of 3000 x 2000. Two 8-megapixel cameras are included on both the front and back of this tablet while two USB Type-C ports with 4K output capabilities and a fingerprint scanner in the power button are included in the frame. From that starting point, users can tack on an extra $100 and get 8GB RAM and double the storage. Bumping up to $799 takes the processor from the Celeron chip to an Intel Core m3 while adding on an additional $200 doubles up on storage and moves things to the eighth-gen Intel Core i5. Finally, at $1,599, buyers can pick up a Google Pixel Slate with an eight-generation Intel Core i7, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage onboard. 5. HP Chromebook x2 While Googles Pixel Slate is still going to really feel like overkill and brings issues with extra costs for accessories, HP has perhaps surprisingly stepped up with a genuine challenger. Whats more, it did so in advance of the actual release of the Google Pixel Slate by several months with its HP Chromebook x2. With a price-point set at just $539 to start and shipping with both a magnetically attached keyboard and full-size EMR stylus stored in a premium keyboard loop . So the HP Chromebook x2 really represents a perfect middle-ground for those who need performance and productivity without overspending. Its also very good looking with a ceramic white lid and oxford blue keyboard, both of which are comprised almost entirely of metal. The 1.62lb frame also only measures in at 0.3-inches, around 0.09-inches slimmer than the Pixelbook. Despite that, HP has packed in Intel Core m3 processor alongside 4GB RAM and 32GB storage behind a 12.3-inch 2400 x 1600 multi-touch panel. The bezels here are quite a bit larger than some others but those also accommodate two well-tuned Bang and Olufsen speakers. Attaching the keyboard allows for 2-in-1 usage or complete detachment is possible for a real tablet feel. Behind all of that, the company includes a 12.5-hour rated battery which wont quite last that long but should get the overwhelming majority of users through a full day. An SD storage slot, two USB-C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack complete the smooth-edged design. 4. Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14 As with our number five entry, Dells Inspiron Chromebook 14 brings quite a lot to the table, including a full-size stylus and a backlit keyboard all built into an all-aluminum frame to capture the essence of its namesake Windows counterparts. The most important spec here may actually be its 15-hour rated battery life, however, since that should keep up with just about any task this Intel Core i3-packing Chrome OS 2-in-1 is capable of. Beside the larger-than-average 14-inch 1080p touch- and EMR stylus-enabled display panel, Dell also packs a punch in terms of its 4GB DDR4 RAM and 128GB storage backing up the 3.4GHz chip. Its frame includes two standard USB ports on top of its USB Type-C plugs too. All of that links up for a classically styled in urban grey laptop thats set to compete with both Inspiron-branded Windows machines and others on this list without missing a beat. Dells warranties and service are hard to beat in the computing world as well and starting at just $599, this device really does represent great value on top of hardware. The Inspiron Chromebook 14 will serve the needs of just about any user looking to get the most out of their Chromebook. Thats without consideration for the above-mentioned standard backlit keyboard and stylus combination. 3. Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 Lenovo is yet another brand that has stayed mostly in the budget end of the pool with regard to Chrome OS gadgets but the Yoga Chromebook C630 breaks those molds handily and without looking back. Built on the same great platform as other Yoga-branded laptops, the Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 is a powerhouse of a gadget that starts out at just $539.99 for an Intel Core i3-8130U chip. Thats coupled with 4GB DDR4 RAM and 64GB on the storage side. For a few hundred dollars more, that can all be bumped up in intensity with 8GB of DDR 2400MHz RAM and 128GB on the storage side backing up an Intel i5-8250U processor clocked at 1.6GHz for battery efficiency. Either of Lenovos latest premium Chromebooks can last up to ten-hours on a single charge but the chip in the more pricey variant can boost up to 3.4GHz for more intensive tasks. A third variant does exist that fits neatly between those two but both of the more expensive versions come with an upgraded from the usual 15.6-inch 1080p IPS touch panel 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) display. Thats set on a 360-degree 2-in-1 hinge regardless of which version is chosen. Weight could become an issue for some, especially if this device is used in tablet mode at 4.2lbs. Portability shouldnt present too much of a problem though since, in spite of its weight, the body itself is only around 0.7-inches thick. Thin bezels and the inclusion of just about every port one could ask for make this extremely well valued even at the more expensive end of the range. At the upper reaches, this Chromebook can accomplish just about any task Chrome OS can and will over its lifetime but at a price thats well below gadgets such as Googles Pixel-branded devices. 2. HP Chromebook x360 14 HPs Chromebook x360 14 is, for all intents and purposes and minus the stylus, a revision of the Chromebook x2 found earlier in this list. Taking a 2-in-1 fully-attached format instead, it even features the same stylish ceramic white on a dark mist blue aesthetic with similar bezels surrounding a larger 14-inch display. The multi-touch display isnt quite as strong here, built around a 1920 x 1080 resolution but that doesnt necessarily equate to a worse device. That does, in fact, help to fuel the 13.5-hour rating for battery life found in this gadget and display output via either included USB Type-C charging ports can be scaled up to 4K via the built-in Intel UHD Graphics 620 chip. Two further standard USB 3.1 ports are included in the mix as well, which are missing from that other HP gadget. For $599, buyers are also gaining 8GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM and 64GB of storage coupled with an Intel Core i3-8130U processor from that companys eighth-generation of chips. Thats got a max clock of 4GHz to get serious work done at a fraction of the cost of competing devices. The base clock is comparatively high too at 2.2GHz. Underneath the standard backlit keyboard, HP has included two Bang & Olufsen speakers in the all-metal frame. The entire package tips the scales at a weight thats short of 4lbs and enables an experience thats much closer to a Pixelbook than many contemporary devices. Thats for a price that if one compares directly to Googles device effectively cuts things back enough that two HP Chromebook x360 14 devices could be bought instead of one Pixelbook. 1. Acer Chromebook Spin 13 Acers Chromebook Spin 13 is something that was very obviously meant to be a business-class device when it initially launched but somehow found its way into the general consumer market. Like Googles Pixelbook, it isnt the least expensive gadget on the market but it does make up for that in ways that place it well above that other gadget. To begin with, the price doesnt begin to approach the Pixelbooks starting point, with the Chromebook Spin 13 starting out at just $895 around $100 less. Despite that discrepancy, buyers can pick the laptop up with an eighth-gen Intel Core i5-8250U compared to Googles seventh-gen inclusion. Thats backed by 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, while a payment closer to that other devices base level nets users double the RAM. Moving away from that gadget, a standard backlit keyboard is coupled with a Gorilla Glass touchpad that neatly aligns with the glass found on the Chromebook Spin 13s 13.5-inch display for better durability and a smooth premium feel. The display is rated at 2256 x 1504 in resolution and is placed on a 360-degree hinge as well. That means it can be used in tent, tablet, or stand modes as well as the standard clamshell configuration. A garaged Wacom EMR stylus is included on both available models, tucked cleanly into the solidly-built all-metal frame, along with two USB Type-C charging ports. Each of those is rated for data transfers or display out capabilities. One further standard USB-A 3.0 port and a micro SD card slot are part of the build too. Behind all of the software Chrome OS brings with it and all of the hardware Acer has pieced together in its top-tier offering, the company has also included a 10-hour rated battery that can get reasonably close to matching that claimed life. So regardless of how this gadget is used, buyers can expect a great experience that lasts all day long. Inbox by Gmail users may be on the verge of having at least one more option to choose from when making the switch away from the email client, following a recently spotted Tweet indicating that Spark will soon be on Android. The popular iOS and macOS email management tool responded to users on the social network on a thread related to Inbox to say that it should be arriving right around the time when Google is killing off the service. Spark effectively acts as an email client for mobile and Mac computers but hasnt been available on any other platforms prior to the companys decision to port over to Android. That also means users wont be able to utilize Spark on Windows or Linux if and when it lands but it should be available on Chrome OS or other platforms via Android app and emulation on desktop platforms. Another dead Google platform Advertisement Inbox by Gmail was first launched by Google back in late 2014 in an invite-only beta before rolling out widely in early 2015. It operates similarly to the companys Gmail offering but goes much further to introduce organization- and productivity-focused features that, at the time of introduction, were completely absent from that other service. The entire purpose, in fact, seemed to center around offering of features on Inbox before porting them to Gmail. The experimental client quickly became popular among a subset of users but apparently either didnt gain enough traction to remain in service or was never intended to be a long-term service, to begin with. As a result, Google announced that it would be shuttering Inbox, with an official end date now scheduled for April 2. Many of the features found in Inbox or added over its lifespan, including the ability to snooze notifications or nudge them back to the top of the pile and smart replies have already made their way over to Gmail. Advertisement Notable exceptions to that include several of Inboxs organizational tools such as email bundling, have made their way over to Gmail since the closure of Inbox was announced, users who have become accustomed to Inbox are left stranded. Those features are planned to be added to Gmail at some point but arent currently available and theres no schedule in place for its arrival. No timeline The caveats for using Spark on desktops or laptops outside of Apples ecosystem will mean that its not a perfect replacement for some users but it does offer many of the same features as Inbox. That includes smart notifications and the ability to schedule sending emails via a number of email services, in addition to Gmail. Users can set reminders, organize their mail via smart tools, share drafts with a team, utilize smart replies, and more. Advertisement Although theres no exact timeline for the launch of Spark, that all means it should quickly become one of only a handful of email apps that can replace the functionality of Inbox by Gmail. Google received yet another antitrust fine from the European Union, its third one within the last year, this time over its abuse of the dominant position of its advertising platform. In a release published Wednesday, the political bloc confirmed it sanctioned Google with another 1.49 billion, which amounts to approximately $1.7 billion, clearly stating Alphabets subsidiary violated the EUs antitrust rules with the manner wherein it operated its online advertising platform. Verdict: guilty For over a decade, the terms of use attached to Googles AdSense mandated the companys clients dont experiment with rival solutions. This not only killed most competitors in their infancy but consequently prevented innovation in the segment. Advertisement Google first introduced that illegal policy in 2006 and while it eased those restrictions in 2009, it continued enforcing AdSense platform requirements within the spirit of the original terms until 2016. Coincidentally, the firm dropped that strategy within days of the EU announcing the beginning of an official probe into Googles AdSense dealings. Business model: monopoly The latest development puts Googles antitrust bill with the European Union at the equivalent of some $9.3 billion and marks the end of the first phase of the blocs efforts to curb the Mountain View, California-based tech giant. Advertisement EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager has no more open investigations into Google but continues to look at other aspects of its business as well. Google appealed the last two fines, both of which were broke the record of the largest monetary sanction ever issued in the EU based on competition laws, and will almost certainly be mounting a lengthy pushback against the newly announced one. Google status: laughing all the way to the bank As was the case with the last two fines Google received for breaking the EUs strict-but-rather-straightforward competition rulebook, this sanction is coming many years too late to change anything. Even assuming Google pays the fine, which might only happen a decade from now after all of its legal options are exhausted, the total sum is a but a drop in the ocean of money the company already earned from its monopolistic actions. Advertisement Its a classic case of too little, too late; Google already established a monopoly and no amount of money will make it give up on it now. The company is well-aware of that fact and continues to operate with the same M.O. In fact, it was just yesterday that it announced yet another project thats fundamentally inclined to strive toward a monopoly. Called Stadia, the new platform is a hybrid of a game and video streaming service seeking to replace the very concept of traditional gaming hardware such as consoles and high-powered PCs. Google outright said its aiming to have developers target Stadia instead of other platforms in the future because Stadia can technically stream games to anything with a screen and a suitable Internet connection. Naturally, console makers were nowhere near its Tuesday announcement as most of them are working on streaming services of their own but that wont stop Google from growing its ecosystem by any means necessary. Theres now the very real possibility that DIRECTV customers are about to experience a total Viacom channel blackout. Viacom confirmed as much today stating that ongoing talks with AT&T have failed and pointed to AT&T as the problem. In the announcement, Viacom says that in spite of it making various offers to AT&T, the DIRECTV owner is abusing its new market position by favoring its own content. Advertisement In fact, Viacom has now gone extremely public on the matter considering it has updated its website with a ton of information surrounding the issue and clearly pointing the finger squarely at AT&T and its insistence to further its own content ahead of consumer choice. For example, Viacom says that during the contract negotiations it had offered to lower the price AT&T pays meaning it would pay less going forward for those channels than it does today but AT&T was still not interested. Even more accusatory, Viacom says rather than work on their customers behalf, AT&T-DIRECTV continues to raise prices while taking away channels. In even more elevated language, Viacom said AT&T-DirecTV cares about their bottom line NOT about consumers. This last point echoes neatly with sentiments that have been voiced over recent days. Last week AT&T announced significant changes to its DIRECTV NOW plans that saw the price increase for everyone, including new customers and this was in addition to those new customers getting less channels than existing subscribers. Advertisement When taking a closer look at the new channel lineup versus the old channel lineup, it became clear that Viacom was one of the big misses with AT&T effectively axing all of Viacoms channels from its new setup. However, AT&T was still offering access to Viacom channels through its DIRECTV service, as well as to existing DIRECTV NOW customers who opted to stay locked into their existing plan. Now, it could be the case those customers might be about to face the prospect of encountering a price rise and still losing access to the channels. If that is the case, then this will be a significant change for existing customers. Advertisement For example, a Viacom blackout will mean those customers lose access to up to a total of 23 channels. These include MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, BET, Paramount Network, Nick Jr., CMT, TV Land, Logo, MTV2, Nicktoons, TeenNick, MTV Classic, NickMusic, MTV Live, BET Her, CMT Music, BET Jams, Tr3s, BET Soul, BET Gospel and MTVU. At present, it remains to be seen how consumers will take this news as following any blackout they will in effect be receiving a product that is now much closer to the reduced product currently offered to new DIRECTV NOW customers, with the notable exception that the existing customers do not get HBO included for free. In spite of the very vocal outing of the situation by Viacom, the company does seem to be making this move as a last-ditch attempt to ensure the blackout doesnt happen and that its channels remain accessible to AT&Ts DIRECTV customers. Advertisement However, the points Viacom seems to be highlighting might suggest that is unlikely to happen as the overwhelming argument Viacom seems to be making is this is AT&Ts goal as it continues to downsize on third-party content and channels in a bid to maximize profits. This is not the first time a blackout has occurred recently involving AT&T as a similar situation erupted with DISH Network over access to HBO, and on that occasion DISH also made claims that were very similar to those now being made by Viacom. Posted on: March 20, 2019 8:21 AM A new inland ocean has been created in Mozambique as a result of Cyclone Idai, which has been described as the worst weather-related disaster to hit southern Africa. President Filipe Nyusi has warned that more than 1,000 people are likely to have been killed in Mozambique alone by the cyclone, which also caused death and destruction in Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe an area served by three Anglican provinces: Central Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. The Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which includes Mozambique and South Africa, the Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, said: I offer our deepest condolences and express our heartfelt pain at the loss of life and property caused by the destructive effects of Cyclone Idai across southern Africa. We want to assure the affected Dioceses in Mozambique the Diocese of Lebombo led by Bishop Carlos Matsinhe and the Diocese of Niassa led by Bishop Vicente Msosa of our prayers. Please pray also for the Dioceses in Malawi and Zimbabwe in our neighbouring Province of Central Africa which were affected. In his message, Archbishop Thabo has urged Anglicans in Southern Africa to donate to the Provinces Disaster Relief Fund. There has been a lot of destruction of all sorts of buildings. Many people have been left with no shelter and no food, the bishop of Lebombo, Carlos Matsinhe, said. Consequently health conditions of the people will deteriorate soon. And because this storm has damaged power lines there is no communication so we know very little of the details of destruction. The bishop called for prayers, particularly for the Pungue Archdeacony, which is the area most affected. Pray for the 11 parishes / pastoral zones and their parish priests and lay ministers as the seek wisdom to minister and comfort with Gods word and presence, he said. The Bishop of Harare, Chad Gandiya, who was preparing to launch a campaign for improved healthcare provision in Zimbabwe before Cyclone Idai struck, said that many people have been left homeless as a result of the disaster. After visiting a couple of hospitals, he described the situation as desperate. I am a member and chairperson of the newly formed organisation called Save Our Hospitals initiative in Zimbabwe set up to help source for whats urgently required in our hospitals, he said. With the help of the clinical directors who are also members of this new organisation, a list of the urgently required medicines and sundries has been produced for each of the major government hospitals. . . We are trying to negotiate with airlines to fly in some of the donations free. We are thus appealing to friends and well-wishers to assist in securing these supplies which are desperately needed. In a statement, the Save Our Hospitals initiative said that We have a double crisis on our hands and as we always do, our people are on the forefront doing the best they can to help citizens who are in trouble due to the Cyclone or needing help in our hospitals. The campaign has arranged for two UK-based freight companies to fly donated supplies to Zimbabwe. The Anglican Alliance, the official agency which helps the various national and regional Anglican development agencies work in a coordinated way, has reached out to the bishops in affected dioceses in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe to offer solidarity and prayer at this time. It is inspiring to hear how the local dioceses and Mothers Union are already mobilising support for the communities impacted by this devastating cyclone, Executive Director Rachel Carnegie said. The Anglican Alliance stands ready to liaise with the dioceses on the ground and the wider Anglican Communion in their response to this disaster. The current death toll from the disaster is 432: 268 in Mozambique, 98 in Zimbabwe, 56 in Malawi, seven in South Africa, and three in Madagascar. More than 2.5 million people are said to be affected. Posted on: March 20, 2019 11:02 AM A new educational resource to help Anglican theological colleges, seminaries and training programmes teach about just relationships between males and females is being developed by the International Anglican Womens Network (IAWN). An international theological working group, drawing members from across the Communion, met in Limuru, Kenya, last week, to work on the study materials, Gods Justice: Just relationships between women and men, girls and boys. The group had been convened by the IAWN when it was recognised that the training, formation and equipping of church leaders and ministers in aspects of gender justice are essential as they prepare to show and tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Sacrament and Word and in the lives they live, the IAWN said in a communique following the meeting. The materials will be offered as a component or module which can stand-alone or be incorporated into existing curricula and training schemes for women and men who are preparing for ministry, lay or ordained, or who are continuing to develop their ministerial education, the communique said. Contributions to the study materials have been made by theologians from different contexts in the Communion. Their reflections invite critique and conversation in the context of engaged and respectful theological communities. The theological working group finalised a draft of the study materials, which will be presented to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-17) when it meets in Hong Kong next month. 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. Marysville, CA (95901) Today A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. High 54F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 46F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. The partnership will see batches of AAA cadets undertake the three months core flying phase of their MPL training at Airways Aviations Australia campus each year, where they will train to the highest possible standards before returning to the UAE to commence the Advance Flight Simulator training phases. The core flying phase involves cadets undertaking 70 hours of flight training in a single-engine aircraft, where they learn how to effectively handle and fly the aircraft in preparation for a career with Air Arabia, the Middle Easts leading low-cost airline. To date over 360 AAA graduates have gone on to fly for Air Arabia. AAA has partnered with Airways Aviation given their proven track record in successfully training cadets to the highest standards across Europe and Australia, from entry-level theory right through to the Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL). The partnership between AAA and Airways Aviation has been signed by Captain Nadhem AlHamad, General Manager of AAA and Mr. Ted Kabbout, CEO of Airways Aviation Australia, with the first batch of AAA cadets to start their training in Australia in late March 2019. AAA have established a number of other partnerships over the past year, including with Etihad Aviation Training in July 2018, and with AAAs sister academy in Philippines (Alpha Aviation Group) in January 2019. AAAs continued drive to get more pilots into the skies comes as the aviation industry predicts that close to 800,000 more commercial pilots will be required over the next 15 to 20 years to meet growing industry demand. Ted Kabbout, Airways Aviations CEO, said: Over the past decade Alpha Aviation Academy has emerged as the Middle Easts pre-eminent pilot training provider, and we look forward to working with them helping train their next generation of ambitious cadets. Captain Nadhem AlHamad, Alpha Aviation Academys general manager, said: Our partnership with Airways Aviation is the next phase in the expansion of our international core flying training providers. We are committed to ensuring our ambitious cadets receive the worlds best training, and all the skills needed for a successful career in the skies. Having heard Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice, expound on Tintorettos values during yesterdays livestream of the National Gallery of Arts press preview for the Venetian artists first full-scale retrospective in America (Mar. 24-July 7), Im convinced that museums need to lay down some content guidelines (especially for non-museum professionals) to discourage pronouncements that are inappropriate for exhibition openings. Screenshot of Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro speaking today at National Gallery of Art (NGA director Kaywin Feldman, on left) I had cringed at last Junes press preview for Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, when Timothy Cardinal Dolan preached to the Metropolitan Museums journalistic congregation: In the Catholic imagination, the true, the good and the beautiful are so personal, are so real, that they have a name: Jesus Christ [emphasis added]. That excluded me (and others) who were not in the flock. But that was nothing compared to what was said yesterday at the NGA (beginning at 12:08): I am going to speak in Italian so I dont make any mistakes, declared Mayor Brugnaro, before making a whopper. Through a translator (who discreetly omitted the inflammatory part of his comments, in italics below, until he overruled her), he said this: This exhibition is a testimony to the valuesto the Western values, to Christianity. Then he added: This value of Christianity is a value that Venice has always defended, even though Venice has expanded its relationships around the world. While its true that much of the art in the National Gallery concerns Christianity and that its holdings are Western, Im sure Kaywin Feldman would be the first to say that her museum must be a place of welcome and inclusion for people of all faiths and nationalities. Screenshot: Kaywin Feldman at the press briefing Perhaps unbeknownst to Feldman, Brugnaros reputation for intolerance had preceded him: He reportedly had declared that there will never be a Gay Pride [parade] in my city and had also reportedly vowed that anyone shouting Allahu Akbar [God is great in Arabic] in Venices main square would be summarily shot: Well send them straight to Allah before they can do any damage. On second thought, providing him with speakers guidelines might not have deterred him. In her own introductory remarks, read somewhat haltingly from a prepared script, Feldman seemed ill at ease for someone with almost 20 years of directorial experience. Given more time in the national spotlight, she may become more comfortable in her new gig. HELPFUL HINT: At this writing, the audio for yesterdays livestream [UPDATED LINK HERE] above doesnt kick in until 1:19 in the video. I heard the full audio when I accessed the livestream earlier today, but that version began with about 20 minutes of people filing into the room before the remarks began. It seems that in editing out that extraneous early footage, they also deleted the first minute or so of Feldmans audio. [THE UPDATED LINK CORRECTS THIS, PROVIDING THE FULL AUDIO.] I think it would have been gracious of Feldman to have generously acknowledged not only the NGAs staff, whom she praised for their work on the exhibition, but also her predecessor, the NGAs recently retired 25-year director, Earl Rusty Powell III, under whose auspices this landmark 500th-anniversary celebration of Tintorettos birth was brought to fruition after a five-year gestation. Earl (Rusty) Powell III, speaking at the Sept. 27, 2016 preview for the renovation & expansion of the East Building Photo by Lee Rosenbaum Beginning at 15:32 in the press previews livestream, we can unreservedly take pleasure in the scholarly insights and articulateness that weve come to expect at the National Gallery, as Robert Echols, independent scholar, and Frederick Ilchman, chair of the Art of Europe and curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, describe their close collaboration in organizing the show: Screenshot, L to R: Kaywin Feldman, Frederick Ilchman & Robert Echols Were not quite John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but working as a team is fundamental to our approach, Ilchman noted. We write most of our publications on Tintoretto together and we sign them jointly. Echols noted that Tintorettos paintings are not well represented in American museums, with the notable exception of the National Gallery of Art, which was able to furnish four major paintings to the exhibition (which was previously seen at the Palazzo Ducale, Venice). Heres one of them: Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Family Before the Madonna and Child, c. 1575, National Gallery of Art Those who are hungry for more after enjoying the scholars and curators remarks from yesterdays livestream can hear them lecture on Tintoretto in greater depth this Sunday at 2 p.m., in another NGA livestream. (Feldman said it would air on nga.gov, but I assume it will be posted on the museums YouTube channel, as was yesterdays event.) After that, you may feel as sorely tempted as I do to plan a trip to Washington. Do it yourself if you can We accept in principle that private equity can deliver (somewhat) excess returns over most other asset classes. But there are a lot of qualifications attached to that, and most of them are very relevant to whether and how pension funds should invest in private equity. The 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. 7 Most Beautiful Valleys in USA You Must Visit The United States is a vast landmass of beauty. Travelers can find nearly every natural landscape and climate within the country. One of the countrys most underrated natural experiences are the many valleys that cover it. Thanks to the numerous mountains and ranges in the 50 states, lush valleys have been formed. Travelers shouldnt miss the opportunity explore these valleys on their next vacation to get in touch with nature. Affiliate links may be used in this post. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you use my affiliate link. For years, Talison recovered tantalum for GAM through a tantalum-recovery circuit as part of the extraction process of lithium from the ore body. As part of the settlement, the process will include a new tantalum-recovery circuit in the new chemical-grade lithium processing plant that is under construction. G+T said that while the terms of the settlement remain confidential, the settlement will not impact Talisons plans to expand the production at the mine. G+T advised on the litigation and the strategic aspects of the dispute, as well as negotiated and drafted the revised commercial arrangements that were part of the settlement. The expansion of the mine will ensure enough spodumene, the ore from which lithium is extracted, is available for the lithium-hydroxide plants being constructed in Western Australia by Talisons shareholders, Tianqi Lithium and Albemarle. The companies, which hold a 51% and 49% stake in Talison, respectively, have reportedly committed about $1.7bn to the lithium-hydroxide facilities in the state. The G+T team was headed by energy and resources partner Justin Little and disputes and investigations partner Marshall McKenna. They were supported by senior associates Patrick Tydde and Guy Greer, and lawyers Arabella Tole, Pearl Martin, Jamie Ammendolea, and Amelia Arndt. While we were always confident in our assessment of Talisons legal position, there was a lot riding on it for both the expansion of the Greenbushes mine and the development of the downstream hydroxide plants here in Western Australia. Ultimately, its a great outcome for Talison, its shareholders and all other stakeholders in the project, Little said. In a LinkedIn post, Vario says Dougan has been hired to lead our expansion into Hong Kong and Asia. Pinsent Masons launched Vario in Australia in 2017 and currently has three offices in the country; and expanded to Singapore in August 2018. It also has several UK locations. Matthew Kay, Varios managing director is keen to hear from lawyers who may be interested in joining the growing Asia team. Record promotions round for HFW HFW will have 9 new partners and 3 new legal directors across its global industry groups from April in the firms largest-ever promotions round. Law firms in the UK added a net of 307 partners last year, more than in the previous year despite uncertainty because of Brexit. Firms appointed a total of 4,594 partners in fiscal year 2017-18, according to a recently released report by Hazlewoods, a chartered-accountants firm that specialises in the legal profession. The report said that 4,287 partners stepped down. The growth is significant when compared to net partner gain for all firms of just 17 in 2016-17, when the Brexit referendum was still fresh. The other day, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled the death of Sarah Wilson a suicide, WRIC informs. The conclusion has reignited the original outrage that followed the news of Wilsons death, as the incident occurred on July 25, 2018.Once you hear the conclusion of the OCME, you will understand why the outrage: apparently, Wilson died by suicide, from an intra-oral gunshot wound. The CPD maintains that she was in the backseat of a car with her hands cuffed behind her back and that she contorted herself so she could put the gun into her mouth.There is footage of the traffic stop and Wilsons death because one of the officers was wearing a bodycam. However, conveniently, the camera malfunctioned at the exact moment she managed to pull this amazing feat that eventually ended her life.At the time of the stop, Wilson was a passenger in a 1996 Lexus driven by her boyfriend, 27-year-old Holden Medlin. Cops noticed that Medlin swallowed something they believed to be a bag of narcotics, and they proceeded to approach the two separately. Medlin made a run for it, but Wilson complied and was handcuffed.The officers performed a search of the vehicle and retrieved drugs and drug paraphernalia, a rifle and ammunition, but somehow missed a gun hidden under the backseat. While Medlin was still fighting the officer, Wilson supposedly reached under the seat with her handcuffed hands (behind her back, take note), put the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.Medlin was later charged with possession of oxycodone, possession of suboxone, possession of paraphernalia, possession of a firearm with a schedule I or II drug, fleeing from a law enforcement officer, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, WRIC says.After Wilsons death, the CPD launched an internal investigation that concluded at the end of the year. Its conclusion was never made public. Cassie Barkers daughter died on September 30, 2016, when she was left alone, strapped in her carseat in her mothers patrol car. Barker was gone for more than 4 hours, having fallen asleep in the house of her supervisor, after they had sex.Barker was initially charged with second-degree murder, but she accepted a lesser charge in exchange for pleading guilty. She will be sentenced on April 1.According to court documents obtained by the Post, Barker drove with her daughter to her supervisors home. She turned the AC on and went inside, and ended up sleeping with her boss. Then, she fell asleep.Though shed left the AC on in the car, it was not blowing cold air. By the time she remembered she had left her child outside in the car, the girl was unresponsive. Doctors told the court that when she arrived at the hospital, her body had reached the temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.6 degrees Celsius).Barker herself was hospitalized briefly after the childs death. She was diagnosed with PTSD from childhood trauma and the recent tragedy, but was deemed fit to stand trial.I dont know what I could ever do to you that could be worse than what youve already experienced, Harrison County Circuit Judge Larry Bourgeois told Barker in court. You will forever be entombed in a prison of your own mind.Prosecutors are recommending a 20-year prison sentence.As a reminder, vehicular hypertermia (or hot car death) remains the number one cause of vehicular death in under-14 children, with an average of 37 children dying annually in the U.S. alone. Leaving a child unsupervised in a locked car in hot weather (regardless if its sunny or not) for only a few minutes can have fatal consequences, with the body of the car acting like an oven. One of them is BMW, and they have just released a 3 Series that not only comes with over 250 PS, but can also deliver up to 59 km/l. It's called the 330e, and it's one of the latest plug-in hybrids to come out of Bavaria. It's nice to have a powerful car, but that usually comes at the price of fuel economy. It's also nice to have a fuel efficient car, but it won't exactly have performance in mind. And then, potent turbodiesels came into the picture about a decade ago. These days however, automakers seems to be turning to hybrid power to balance power and economy. Let's start with technical specs. The 330e uses a turbocharged 2.0-liter mill, just like the regular 330i. It is then assisted by a powerful battery which can momentarily give the a boost of up to 41 PS. The result is a 0 to 100 km/h time of 6.0 seconds. Not only that, it has full EV capabilities to go along with it, allowing users to drive it without assistance from the engine for up to 60 kilometers, further extending fuel range. With an estimated consumption figure of 59 kilometers per liter, it has a projected range of over 2,000 kilometers on a single filling. As for its looks, it's almost indistinguishable from a standard 3 Series. The only notable differences are the 330e badge on the trunk (which can be deleted), and a port on the fender to recharge the batteries. BMW adds that the 330e can be optioned in various appearance packages, which includes Sport, Luxury, and M Sport. Aside from the new plug-in hybrid model, BMW has also released a new entry-level engine for the 3 Series. Dubbed with the familiar 320i name, it is essentially a detuned version of the same engine found in the 330i. That means it uses a 2.0-liter turbo engine, much like most of BMW's four-cylinder range. It makes 184 PS and 300 Nm of torque, giving it a respectable 0 to 100 km/h time of 7.1 seconds. Given BMW Philippines' mostly diesel range in the country, what we are likely to get is the 320d. That one makes 190 PS and 400 Nm of torque. At the moment, it is yet to be determined when the all-new 3 Series will land in the Philippines. By AzernewsOrigins of tourists visiting Azerbaijan named Azerbaijan is among the fastest-growing destinations for tourists. The country enjoys a great potential for the development of tourism. Nature, climate, historical monuments, cuisine, rich culture of the people and other factors lay the foundation for the development of many areas of tourism. There are wide opportunities for Azerbaijan to be recognized as a tourist destination in the world. Some 364,200 foreigners and stateless persons from 152 countries came to Azerbaijan in January-February 2019, which is 3.3 percent more compared to the same period last year, Trend reports referring to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan (SSC). In particular, 29.8 percent of visitors were citizens of Georgia, while 27.6 percent were from Russia, 12 percent from Turkey, 5.8 percent from Iran, 3.6 percent from the UAE, 1.8 percent from Ukraine, 1.7 percent from India, 1.5 percent from Pakistan, 1.4 percent from Iraq, 14.7 percent from other countries, and 0.1 percent were stateless persons. Among them, 72 percent were male, and 28 percent were female. The largest increase in the number of visitors during the aforementioned period was registered among the citizens of Egypt (2.8 times), India and Pakistan (1.8 times), Turkmenistan (1.6 times), Hungary (47.7 percent), China (32.7 percent), Japan (32.3 percent), Oman (24.4 percent), South Korea (23.8 percent), Georgia (23.7 percent) and Poland (21.3 percent). In January-February 2019, the number of people arriving from EU member states increased by 1.6 percent, reaching 11,500 people, while the number of those who came from the CIS states decreased by 0.9 percent, making up 121,900 people. As many as 63.9 percent of foreigners and stateless persons who arrived in Azerbaijan used railways and road transport, while 35.2 percent used airways and 0.9 percent used water transport. Generally, in recent years, the development of the tourism industry has received the closest attention of the leadership of Azerbaijan. In the cities of country, in resort areas, in the mountains and on the Caspian coast, dozens of international-class hotels were built, worldwide networks opened their hotels, water parks and extensive recreation areas were created. Successful holding of events of international significance in Azerbaijan has a positive impact on the number of tourists arriving in the country. As an example, by 2023, it is planned to increase the incoming tourist flow to Azerbaijan to four million people thanks to the "Grand Prix of Azerbaijan" races of the Formula 1 series which to be held in Baku on 26-28 April 2019 and attracts greater interest rather than previous ones. So, Azerbaijan is among the developing countries in the field of tourism, occupying the 39th place among 148 countries in terms of global competitiveness in tourism. The successful holding of such great events has turned Azerbaijan into a country recognizable by everyone in the world, and a country that many foreigners wish to visit as soon as possible. Moreover, simplification of visa regime also plays a major role in the development of tourism in Azerbaijan. Currently, citizens of a number of countries get visas right at the Azerbaijani airports, while other tourists can visit the country by getting online tourist visas. In 2018, 2,849,600 tourists from 196 countries arrived in Azerbaijan, showing a 5.7 percent increase compared to 2017. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has asked the DOTs Inspector General to audit the FAAs approval of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. This closely follows a detailed investigative piece by the Seattle Times revealing mischaracterizations of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), preliminarily thought to be a component of the two fatal crashes of 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The Ethiopian transport minister, who had been presented with preliminary data from Ethiopian Flight 302, said there are clear similarities to data from the Lion Air crash last October. Secretary Chao told IG Calvin Scovel, To help inform the Departments decision making and the publics understanding, and to assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively, this is to confirm my request that the Office of Inspector General proceed with an audit to compile an objective and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircraft. Boeing requested an amended type certification for the MAX 8 and 9 aircraft in 2012, and received approval in March 2017. Other countries are seeking their own answers. Reuters is reporting that Canadian and European Union aviation authorities have signaled they will not rubber stamp the FAAs conclusions or Boeings fixes. Transport Canada has indicated that it will conduct an exhaustive review of the 737s MCAS before clearing the airplane. The Times report revealed that the MCAS had far more authority over stabilizer trim than was originally thought and could create yoke forces of more than 100 pounds for pilots trying to regain control of the aircraft. Boeing had previously stated that software fixes were in progress; reports are that the MCAS will be connected to both angle-of-attack sensors (not just one, as currently configured) and be limited to the number of times it can move the stabilizer should it sense an impending stall. The Boeing 737 MAX series remains grounded worldwide. James Baker famously called it the worst ^%$&ing job in government. He was referring to the job of White House chief of staff but he may as well have been talking about being FAA administrator. If its not the second-worst job in government, its surely in the top five. Now comes Steve Dickson, late of Delta Air Lines, to line up for the corner office at 800 Independence Ave. Nothing confirmed yet, but hes the leading contender. First of all, as simply a measure of character, the fact that he hasnt yet withdrawn his name and run screaming into the night shows hes made of sterner stuff than, say, a tattooed ultimate fighter or a Navy SEAL, occupations that are the mere equivalent of Girl Scout troop leader compared to running the FAA. When I was scanning his resume, dj vu swept over me and I thought Dave Hinson! Yup, full circle in a little over 20 years. Hinson, you may recall, was FAA administrator for 39 months from 1993 to 1996, during the Clinton administration. You may also recall that it was an eventful three years. AVweb launched in the middle of that period and I wore my fingers to nubs writing about the ValuJet crash. Ultimately, the FAA got dinged for poor maintenance oversight. The agencys mahogany row took some casualties on that one. More opprobrium came Hinsons way when seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff died in the crash of a Cardinal in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in April 1996, attempting to set the record as the youngest transcontinental pilot. What started out as one of those feel-good GA stories we all love and cherish metastasized into the Child Pilot Safety Act. Personally, I can hardly think of the act or the tragedy that inspired it without agita and embarrassment. It came at Hinson not from left field, but from Mars. As the Karmic wheel creaks past 360, here we go again. Then there was Roselawn. You forgot about that one, right? Oct. 31, 1994: An American Eagle ATR 72 holding for OHare in severe icing rolled inverted into an Indiana soybean field. The NTSB found that the ailerons were subject to reversal because of ice damming that got past the boots in super-cooled drizzle drop conditions. The NTSBand here, Im going to italics because its the writers way of turning on an echo effectsaid it questioned the FAAs ability to oversee aircraft certification. If you cant see where this is going, Google MAX 8. Veering from the shoulder back to the center lane of my narrative, Hinsons background was as a military pilot, an airline pilot and an airline executive, specifically Midway Airlines, which he started. Hinson also operated an FBO and flew GA airplanes, so that drew an endorsement from AOPA. Steve Dickson has a similar background. Air Force Academy grad, F-15 pilot, line pilot and airline executive at Delta, from which he recently retired. Does this make him the ideal qualified candidate? Mark Baker at AOPA thinks so; click the check box for general aviation endorsement. Ive never bought the argument that the administrator ought to be a pilot. Maybe thats important, maybe it isnt. The critical job skill is to manage a giant, bloated, intransigent bureaucracy thats constantly buffeted by domestic and international political winds and which congress bats around like a cat with a rubber mouse. Its more of a Survivor type show than, say, Shark Tank. Interestingly, although he was excoriated for not being able to see ValuJet, the Dubroff crash and Roselawn coming, in retrospect, Hinson was captive to both events and an entrenched federal edifice resistant to change. If Dickson takes the job, hell at least have the benefit of knowing what ^%$#storms hell have to navigate: the aftermath of the Boeing MAX 8 certification fiasco, unmanned drones in the civil airspace, urban air taxi, the implementation of NexGen, the fight over ATC privatizationwhich he is said to opposethe post-Brexit wreckage, a new emerging supersonic age, space tourism and a constant battle over reauthorization funding. Then, on his second day on the job, Im sure something else will come up. But compared to everything else, the MAX certification lapse by the FAA will be all consuming. Its already a raging, black hole soon to suck in everything in the known air transport universe and thats before congress gets seriously involved. In the best of timesIm having trouble coming up with an example of thatthe administrators job is like flying turns around a point by pivoting a hand out the window. Positive control is elusive at best, non-existent at worst. In the popular press, the rising sentiment seems to be that in the MAX fiasco, the FAA and by extension, the U.S., has ceded something the country has always been said to own: World leadership in aerospace technology, with an emphasis on safety. If I were a lawyer, I wouldnt argue that case, but the new guy at the FAA will have to. Heres hoping for one of those Bull Halsey no-great-men-just-great-challenges moments. The bright spot is that Mr. Dickson will be starting at rock bottom, making up the only direction left. Note to Readers:No, its not something you said. Because of persistent denial of service attacks against AVweb, were moving the site to another platform. The commenting section will be unavailable for a time. I apologize for the inconvenience, but the site will be better for it in a week or two. In the meantime, if you have a comment, e-mail me and Ill append it to the blog. I sure hope Mr.Baker of AOPA is correct about Mr. Dickson. The last time AOPA sent praises for an Adminstrator candidate, that individual (Huerta) showed to be nothing but a bureaucrat, fighting the 3rd class medical changes along with other GA issues. I myself have doubts. Matthew Wagner If it takes as long to confirm his appointment as it has for a lot of other agency positions, it will be in the next administration before it happens.John McNamee Certainly some things must change within the FAA (though Im not certain that more oversight would have caught the [alleged] MAX issue. In the software biz, wed say works as designed, even if that design wasnt particularly astute.) The entire medical system needs to be overhauled (as in ditching it entirely for piloting small, low, and slow planes), transient parking space needs to be provided at federally funded GA airports (dont wanna buy seven dollar gas to avoid a $75 ramp fee), and the unleaded gas initiative needs more initiative, from the GA perspective. (OK, from MY GA perspective!) Good luck to the new guy; he will certainly need that, to go with his skills. Richard Phillips The new guy to be confirmed will be up to his eyeballs in alligators known as part of the Federal swamp. Gee, I thought the swamp supposed to be drained? Promisespromises. I have no sympathy for the next FAA head. It takes a narcissist to want to run for any leadership position in our non-republic today. Any attention, good or bad, is the fuel these people crave. The new NexGen FAA is a perfect place for scads and scads of attention but with the option to lay blame in all sorts of directions except themselves, when the attention becomes a bit uncomfortable. Sadly, 350+ people died in a macabre game of airliner Lawn Darts with the past and current reign of swamp drainers, who allowed a mysterious behind the scenes safety enhancement to be certified and installed without telling the purchasers, the maintenance departments, and the flight crews. And then the FAA and Boeing had the unmitigated gall to say those purchasers, the passengers, the maintenance and flight crews and now the families of the deceasedthey had no need to know. And when they finally did, it was through a customer service bulletin. And Boeing still has not finished an appropriate fix to MCAS, but it is coming soon, they have promised. This tells me the solution is not an easy upgrade, and it will be at best, a rushed one with no guarantee this solution is any improvement over the original problem. The current NexGen FAA is no different today than when the 737MAX 8-9 were certified. The certification process for the MCAS improvement is no different. So, I see no real gain in safetyjust the appearance of safety, because the 737 MAX must fly again. It is more than just a change in the thrust line of the engines that required the incorporation of MCAS. This airplane is now fundamentally different than the 737 predecessors. So, Boeing has no choice but somehow make MCAS work. And to save any kind of face, the same FAA who allowed the original certification of MCAS, is the same FAA who will approve the fix. I am sure that will come quickly. But will it solve a problem or create new ones?--Jim Holdeman After we published our story last week on the booming prospects for American oil exploration in the next decade, Anas Alhajji, an oil industry adviser and longtime investor, directed Axios to an op-ed he'd written for the Financial Times arguing the converse. Why it matters: Alhajji asserts that demand is growing substantially for heavy crude while supply is growing substantially for light crude from U.S. shale, creating a mismatch of supply and demand. The imbalance will choke off the growth of shale and the broader market, leading to an "energy crisis." "We have two problems here," Alhajji tells Axios in a phone conversation. "If you look at U.S. shale forecasts, where will all this light, sweet crude go? We dont have enough refining capacity worldwide to handle it." "Secondly, we have a mismatch between the quality of oil produced and the products we get out of it." What's happening: The demand for heavy crude is coming from diesel, Alhajji argues, as emerging countries grow their economies and need more fuel for trucks and heavy machinery. That demand will continue to grow. Further, he says, refiners in these countries (and in the U.S.) have invested heavily in refineries that use heavy crude. What's also growing is U.S. shale production, which is expected to eclipse Russia in the next 5 years. But the demand for specialty products made from light crude such as plastics, including straws and bags, is falling. That will keep the demand for shale from keeping pace with the supply, Alhajji says. New Zealand Police believe the Christchurch terrorist attack suspect was on his way to another target when they stopped him, according to Mike Bush, the commissioner of police. What he's saying: "We strongly believe we stopped him on the way to a further attack, so lives were saved," he said Wednesday morning local time. The latest: The first funerals of the attack victims began taking place in Christchurch around lunchtime Wednesday local time. Khalid Mustafa, 44, and his 15-year-old son, Hamza Mustafa, who arrived as refugees from Syria in 2018, were the first to be buried. A total of 6 funerals had taken place by the end of the day. Others are planned for Friday. Post-mortems have been completed on all 50 victims the remains of 30 were being released to families Wednesday. Canterbury District Health Board said 29 people were still being treated in Christchurch Hospital 8 were in critical conditions. A girl, 4, was in a critical condition in an Auckland children's hospital and her father remained in a stable condition in another hospital in the North Island city. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said a 2-minute silence would be held Friday, marking one week since the attacks on two Christchurch mosques. Ardern was welcomed at a local school that lost two students in the attacks with a haka pohiri a ceremonial dance. It's just after 3 am in Kashmir, where fresh escalations in the 70-year conflict between Pakistan and India have the 2 nuclear powers on the brink of war. Why it matters: Do you remember the existential concerns from the Cold War? This is like that, on a subcontinent with more than a billion people. The latest crisis dates to Feb. 14, when a suicide bomb from a Pakistani militant group killed 40 Indian military personnel in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Early yesterday, India entered Pakistan's airspace to attack militant camps it said are linked to the group. India says they killed 300. Pakistan says they attacked an empty forest. Early today, Pakistan shot down an Indian jet, capturing the pilot. Video on Pakistani TV featured the pilot bloody and blindfolded, the Washington Post reports. Airspaces were closed today in northern Pakistan and in parts of India, the New York Times reports. As of early 2017, India had 130 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan had 140, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (WashPost) The big picture: Both Pakistan's and India's leaders have incentives to act tough instead of cooling things down, GZERO Media's Gabe Lipton writes. In India, Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi is about to set a date for the country's next election. In Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has only been in office since August 2018. The bottom line: "With the weapons you have and the weapons we have, can we really afford such a miscalculation?" Khan today, in a question directed at India Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in Mississippi Monday night she would support a plan to replace the Electoral College system with a national popular vote. What she's saying: I believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and makes sure that vote gets counted," she told a CNN town hall in Jackson noting presidential candidates didn't tend to campaign in states like Mississippi, which are not Electoral College battlegrounds. "And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College." Go deeper: Elizabeth Warren: Everything you need to know about the 2020 candidate The New Zealand government will confront Turkey over comments the Turkish president made on the Christchurch attacks which Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday condemned as "reckless" and "highly offensive." What he's saying: Your grandparents came, some of them returned in coffins," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, referring to a World War I campaign in Turkey in which thousands of Australians and New Zealanders died. "If New Zealand fails to hold the attacker accountable, one way or another we will hold him to account." The details: Morrison said at a press conference Wednesday he had summoned Turkey's ambassador to Australia and told him "all options are now on the table" after Erdogan made the remarks at a rally. Morrison warned Australians traveling to Turkey for annual commemorations for the Battle of Gallipoli next month to exercise caution. Between the lines: Erdogan made the comments at a local election campaign. He has also been playing videos at rallies of the New Zealand mosque attacks, which were live-streamed on Facebook, to fuel nationalist and religious sentiment before local elections on March 31, according to SBS. The big picture: New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern said her deputy prime minister would confront Turkish officials about Erdogan's remarks during an upcoming visit to Turkey. He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face, she said, adding she didn't the two countries' relationship would be damaged. Employers often turn to brokers to help them find the right health care plan for their workers. But there's a catch: Brokers have several layers of incentives to steer companies toward plans with higher premiums. How it works: For starters, brokers' commission is a percentage of the plan's total annual premium. Higher premium, higher commission. But there's more, as ProPublica reports. Insurers offer brokers big bonuses to the agents and brokers who rake in the most business, including cash (up to $100,000 per employer) and trips to the Bahamas. Those bonuses are built into the insurance plans' premiums, but the costs aren't disclosed to employers unless they ask. "It's a classic conflict of interest," Eric Campbell, a University of Colorado bioethicist, told ProPublica. Some brokers are trying to do better, switching to flat fees instead of commissions, hoping to draw a sharper contrast with agents who may not have the employer's bottom line in mind. But even efforts to work around this incentive structure can go awry. Morris County, New Jersey paid its broker directly, in an effort to make the broker unbiased about which plans it recommended. The broker collected that fee and also a $235,000 commission from Cigna, according to the lawsuit. It also accuses the broker of hiding the costs of switching to a Cigna plan, including $800,000 in administrative fees. Go deeper: The unclear benefits of drug price coalitions President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen will testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 27, after postponing his appearance for health reasons. The big picture: Cohen, whose request to push back the start of his prison term by 60 days was approved on Wednesday, is not expected to answer questions about the ongoing Russia investigation. He will, however, appear the following day in closed session before the House Intelligence Committee. Cohen's dual testimonies will come on the same days that Trump is scheduled to be in Hanoi, Vietnam, for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong un. The scope of the hearing, per Rep. Cummings: Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 29 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 20, Trend reports. The Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. President Trump's team believes Robert Mueller will submit his report "imminently," but is unsure exactly what that means, two sources familiar with the situation tell Jonathan Swan. The big picture: These sources say the Mueller team hasnt had a substantive or consequential conversation with Trumps lawyers in weeks. That, coupled with an inactive grand jury and members of Muellers team returning to their old jobs, has led Trumps team to anticipate that Mueller could be done any day now. The bottom line: We've seen no evidence that there's any sense of panic or great urgency inside the White House even as the end of the probe appears imminent. CNN reported Wednesday that the Mueller probe could end as soon as next week, with the special counsel submitting his findings to the new attorney general, Bill Barr. Trump's second North Korea summit, in Hanoi, is next Wednesday and Thursday. North Korea summit, in Hanoi, is next Wednesday and Thursday. "I dont think theyd put it out while the President is in Vietnam," a source close to Trump told Axios. But, hey: They put out something major while he was in Helsinki [with Putin last year], so who knows?" What's next: Barr will be responsible for deciding how much of Muellers work to make public. Democrats in Congress will apply tremendous pressure for a comprehensive release. Go deeper: Every big move in the Mueller investigation New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will send her foreign minister to "confront" Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after he showed footage from the Christchurch shooting at a campaign rally and said that if New Zealand doesn't properly punish the attacker, Turkey will make him "pay one way or another," reports Reuters. Between the lines: Erdogan wants New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the Australian shooter, Brenton Tarran, with these comments coming as part of Erdogans efforts to build support for his Islamist political party ahead of local elections on March 31. In a Washington Post op-ed, Erdogan said "there is absolutely no difference" between the attacks in New Zealand and those carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS). Vice Premier Liu He, China's economy czar, is heading to Washington for talks Thursday and Friday aimed at ending a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions ahead of a deadline for a massive U.S. tariff hike, AP reports. Why it matters: Without an agreement, a 10% tariff increase imposed in July on $200 billion of Chinese goods is due to rise to 25% on March 2. What's new: Business groups and economists saw the surprise announcement of further talks this week as a sign of progress. Both governments have expressed optimism but have given no details. Be smart: Bill Bishop writes in his Sinocism newsletter that the U.S. side, "perhaps with the exception of President Trump, is not happy with what the negotiators view as very limited concessions from China." Bill Bishop writes in his Sinocism newsletter that the U.S. side, "perhaps with the exception of President Trump, is not happy with what the negotiators view as very limited concessions from China." "While some sort of a framework deal and extension of the talks is likely by March 1 to avoid new and increased tariffs is still likely, I do think the Chinese and the markets may have gotten too confident that it is a done deal." Go deeper: Grading the impact of Trump's China tariffs President Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday and host him for dinner the following night, the White House has announced. Why it matters: Netanyahu will arrive at the White House two weeks before Israel's April 9 elections. Netanyahu wants to use the meeting with Trump in his election campaign in order to stress their close ties and the fact that his chief opponent, Benny Gantz, lacks foreign policy experience. The White House statement said Trump and Netanyahu "will discuss their countries shared interests and actions in the Middle East." Netanyahu also met today in Jerusalem with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will not meet any other political leaders during the visit. Pompeo and Netanyahu will visit the Western Wall together tomorrow, providing another important photo op for Netanyahu's election campaign. In a briefing to reporters on Tuesday, Pompeo pushed back on claims that his visit to Israel is intended to interfere in the Israeli elections in Netanyahu's favor. Behind the scenes: Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer urged the White House to put on a state dinner for Netanyahu. In the end, the White House settled on a working dinner with Trump, Pence and several members of the Cabinet. The big picture: This has been an extremely bitter election campaign in Israel with Netanyahu, who is facing corruption and fraud charges, desperate to hold on to power. Tensions were running high on Saturday as protesters committed arson and looted luxury stores on the streets of Paris, in the 18th weekend of "yellow vest" demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron, the AP reports. Why now: On the 4-month anniversary of the yellow vest movement, the action turned aggressive and destructive in a key moment, "marking the end of the great debate." Protesters say Macron is full of "hot air," failing French people as living standards decline, wages are sluggish and unemployment continues to increase. Buzz: In response to the chaotic events, Trump tweeted Saturday asking: "How is the Paris Environmental Accord working out for France?" Armenias proposal for Nagorno-Karabakhs full engagement in negotiations with Azerbaijan is no challenge, but an invitation to dialogue, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Tuesday, stressing that Yerevan is ready to listen attentively to Bakus counterarguments. At a press conference in Yerevan, Pashinian repeated what he already told senior Armenian and Karabakh security aides in Stepanakert a week ago that Nagorno-Karabakhs becoming a full party to the peace talks is not a whim or a precondition on the part of Armenia, but a necessity for an effective settlement process. Azerbaijan has opposed Nagorno-Karabakhs participation in the talks as a separate party, insisting that the region is occupied by Armenia and negotiations should be held only directly with official Yerevan. Last week, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev rejected the latest Armenian proposal on the change in the format of the talks by way of involving Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the process. It is unacceptable, and it is an attempt to block the negotiations process, Aliyev said at a forum in Baku on March 14, again calling on Armenia to withdraw its forces from the region. Pashinian today insisted that his statements on the need for Stepanakerts engagement in the talks that he has repeatedly made since being first elected prime minister in May 2018 are not a challenge, but an invitation to dialogue. He further argued that he had already raised the issue during his informal meetings with Aliyev on the sidelines of different international events during the past months. Earlier this month the American, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, an international format set up to mediate a solution to the conflict, announced that Pashinian and Aliyev had agreed to have their first formal talks soon under the umbrella of the international mediators. No date and venue of such possible talks have been announced yet. Ahead of his possible talks with the Azerbaijani president Pashinian said: We will continue discussions on this subject with our partners and will try to continue this discussion in the field of arguments, because negotiations are negotiations only when we listen to each other. At least Armenia has shown its ability to listen to its opponent, try to understand the other side, and we expect the same from them. Where our partners consider that our position can be viewed as excessively tough, we can soften this position, but we would expect the same from our partners, because otherwise no conversation will take place. The Armenian leader said that we do not imagine a regime when one of the parties to the talks says that it refuses to have a dialogue. It will not be a logical approach. Naturally, we will not refuse to have a dialogue and during this dialogue we will put on the table our arguments and will attentively listen to the counterarguments of our partners. I think that a constructive and effective solution or continuation should be within the framework of this logic, Pashinian said. Asked whether a possible exchange of prisoners between Armenia and Azerbaijan could be discussed at his upcoming meeting with Aliyev, Pashinian said: The Armenian side is ready to exchange Azerbaijani citizens who strayed into Armenian territory with Armenians who strayed into Azerbaijani territory. The Armenian leader stressed, however, that such an exchange cannot concern Azerbaijanis who penetrated into Armenian or Karabakh territory and committed murders. Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has again rejected an Armenian proposal on the inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh as a full party to internationally mediated negotiations for the settlement of the protracted conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reiterated the proposal at a press conference in Yerevan on March 19, insisting that it will not constitute a change of the current format of talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes Minsk Group, but rather will be the restoration of the format that existed for several years after 1994 when Nagorno-Karabakh was a separate party to the ceasefire agreement that put a halt to active military operations in the region. Aliyev, meanwhile, again referred to Armenias proposal as a change in the negotiations format, which he said is unacceptable. Azerbaijan cannot agree to that. And envoys of the Minsk Group co-chair countries made a serious statement, saying that the format of the negotiations should remain unchanged. Similar statements were also made by high-ranking EU officials. It is definitely a serious message to Armenia, and it also proves that Azerbaijans position is getting more and more support, Aliyev said on Wednesday. Speaking at yesterdays press conference, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian emphasized that his statements on the need for Nagorno-Karabakhs engagement in the talks was not a challenge, but rather an invitation to dialogue in which Armenia was ready to listen to Azerbaijans counterarguments. We will continue discussions on this subject with our partners and will try to continue this discussion in the field of arguments, because negotiations are negotiations only when we listen to each other. At least Armenia has shown its ability to listen to its opponent, try to understand the other side, and we expect the same from them. Where our partners consider that our position can be viewed as excessively tough, we can soften this position, but we would expect the same from our partners, because otherwise no conversation will take place, the Armenian leader said, in particular. Meanwhile, at a press briefing in Yerevan today Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalian said that the expected meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders will not be negotiations around the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement issue proper, but an endeavor to elaborate appropriate interpretations regarding the principles and elements of the settlement process. There are different interpretations of the three principles and six elements included in the document. Azerbaijan interprets them its own way, the Armenian side also makes its own interpretation Therefore, there is a need for a meeting just to work out an appropriate interpretation for all three principles and six elements, and only then understand how to move forward, said Naghdalian. There is a growing wave of social discontent in Armenia and it is dangerous if the prime minister is not aware of it, an opposition lawmaker said on Wednesday, commenting on the statement that Nikol Pashinian amde at a press conference yesterday. Pashinian, in particular, said: There is no growing wave of discontent in Armenia and I am saying this for the record. In the next five years we will see if there is a growing wave of discontent in Armenia. Countering this statement, Gevork Gorgisian, secretary of the opposition Bright Armenia faction in parliament, referred to a number of recent protests staged by workers in different sectors of the economy. Now we are discussing the new tax legislation and there are lots of complaints about it. Right now the National Assembly is discussing amendments to the law on pawnshops, in which connection there are also different complaints in society. We get complaints every day, we meet with citizens who represent different sectors and have different issues while dealing mostly with government institutions. And all this must be handled and something must be done about it, Gorgisian said. The oppositionist claimed that daily contacts that he and his colleagues have with citizens show that people yet do not feel the real changes after the revolution. Very high expectations have been formed and now it is very dangerous that if the society does not see at least some of the expectations being met, we will face the risk of a very serious depression, Gorgisian said. According to the opposition lawmaker, the Pashinian government has also failed to fight against systemic corruption. On the contrary, Pashinian and other members of his government have repeatedly stated that government corruption has been uprooted in Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday congratulated Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his assuming the office of Kazakhstans interim president following yesterdays resignation of the Central Asian nations longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev. In his message published on the prime ministers official website Pashinian, in particular, said: I cordially congratulate you on assuming the office of [interim] president of the Republic of Kazakhstan. I am convinced that your rich experience and knowledge will serve the best Kazakhstans further development and progress. The warm friendship and mutual respect between our peoples are a solid basis for the continuous strengthening of our inter-state relations. I express my readiness to cooperate closely with you in bilateral and multilateral formats for the further expansion and deepening of the Armenian-Kazakhstani relations. After announcing his resignation on March 19, Kazakhstans longtime ruler Nazarbayev, among other foreign leaders, also had a telephone conversation with Pashinian. Armenia and Kazakhstan are both members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization. Trend: Hydrometallurgical Plant JSC, a fertilizer producer in Russias Stavropol Krai, will start supplying water soluble fertilizers to Azerbaijan at the end of March this year, Trendreports with reference to Interfax-Russia. Arrangements on deliveries were reached at the conference Argus Mineral Fertilizers 2019. Production and Logistics in the Caspian-Black Sea Region held in Baku March 14-15, the message said. As part of the conference, representatives of the Hydrometallurgical Plant JSC and the Cashmere Capital trading house signed a number of agreements on the supply of monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate and monopotassium phosphate. The first deliveries of water soluble fertilizers should begin at the end of March 2019. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova Spring has recently left colorful footprints across the world. This wonderful season paints a magnificent picture on the earths canvas in the form of vibrant blooms. For many artists, writers, poets, spring has been a great source of inspiration. No wonder, some of the most beautiful poems were written in spring. The nature is waking up and people all over the world spend more and more time outside. The Land of Fire comes alive in March with the arrival of spring marked by the annual Novruz festival. Scientific researches relate the Novruz Holiday with the prophet Zardush that dates 3500-5000 years back. Spring officially arrives in Azerbaijan on March 20-21, awakening nature and all of its beauty. Four pre-holiday Tuesdays of Novruz are Su Chershenbesi (Water Tuesday), Od Chershenbesi (Fire Tuesday) Hava Chershenbesi (Wind Tuesday) and Torpaq Chershenbesi (Earth or Last Tuesday), and each them is dedicated to the awakening of one of the natures elements. The Last Tuesday is believed to be very special as just a few days separate people from the great feast. On this day, Azerbaijani people pay tribute to mother earth and its riches. Since ancient times, people depict Earth as a loving mother because it is the place we live on. The idea that women and Earth are inherently linked has a long history. Expressions such as "mother earth" and "motherland" probably resulted from these beliefs. People also refer to Wind Tuesday as Fathers Tuesday, Ancestors Tuesday or Black Tuesday. During this evening everyone should visit the graves of their relatives and loved ones. The Last Tuesday of Novruz, is celebrated by making a bonfire. Everyone should jump over the blessed fire at least seven times. Everyone must celebrate the Earth Tuesday at home otherwise they will celebrate Novruz away from home for 7 years. The spring festival is also the time of fortune telling. A young girls' favorite tradition on this Tuesday is a "gulag faly" - a divination. You have to make a wish in the evening, and then eavesdrop at someone's door or window, and listen to what the owners are talking about. If you hear good words, it means your dream will come true. Therefore, they say that a lot of nice and pleasant things should be said on this day. The smells of Novruz surround people everywhere- mouthwatering pastries, walnuts, dried fruits are put on the table. On the eve of the spring holiday, people tidy up their houses, cook the main Novruz sweets shekerbura and pakhlava. A few weeks before Novruz, women take wheat seeds, water them and sing the traditional song "Samani, protect me, and I will grow you every year." The decoration of the festive table is khoncha, a big tray with "samani" - freshly sprouted wheat. Samani is a symbol of hope for an abundant harvest in the coming year. It is essential on this day to have seven dishes the names of which begin with the letter "s". For example sumakh(a kind of spice), sirke(vinegar), sud(milk), samani(grown wheat), sebzi(fried meat with greens), etc. There should be also a mirror, a candle and a painted egg on the table. During the holiday, people usually give each other a holiday portion called "Novruz payi". Traditional sweets, samani and candles are put on a tray and given to the neighbors and friends. In the evening on March 21, all family members gather at home for dinner to eat pilaf (rice) and celebrate the spring arrival. A series of events are being held across the country. Spectacular shows are performed in public squares. Tightrope walkers demonstrate their skills, wrestlers test their strength while beloved Novruz characters - Kechel, Kosa ,Bahar gizi (Spring girl), as well as Dede Gorgud welcome and congratulate Azerbaijanis on this day. Khidir Ilyas and Kos-Kosa are among the most popular traditional Novruz games. In Papaqatd?, young people knock at the door, throw their hats down and hide. The homeowner finds the hat, fills it with sweets gifts and places it back outside the door. Novruz is celebrated by millions of people throughout the world including Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries. The holiday was given the status of an official holiday in Azerbaijan by a presidential decree dated 13 March 1990. In 2009, Novruz was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and since then, March 21 was declared the International Day of Novruz. By Laman Ismayilova Spring has recently left colorful footprints across the world. This wonderful season paints a magnificent picture on the earths canvas in the form of vibrant blooms. For many artists, writers, poets, spring has been a great source of inspiration. No wonder, some of the most beautiful poems were written in spring. The nature is waking up and people all over the world spend more and more time outside. The Land of Fire comes alive in March with the arrival of spring marked by the annual Novruz festival. Scientific researches relate the Novruz Holiday with the prophet Zardush that dates 3500-5000 years back. Spring officially arrives in Azerbaijan on March 20-21, awakening nature and all of its beauty. Four pre-holiday Tuesdays of Novruz are Su Chershenbesi (Water Tuesday), Od Chershenbesi (Fire Tuesday) Hava Chershenbesi (Wind Tuesday) and Torpaq Chershenbesi (Earth or Last Tuesday), and each them is dedicated to the awakening of one of the natures elements. The Last Tuesday is believed to be very special as just a few days separate people from the great feast. On this day, Azerbaijani people pay tribute to mother earth and its riches. Since ancient times, people depict Earth as a loving mother because it is the place we live on. The idea that women and Earth are inherently linked has a long history. Expressions such as "mother earth" and "motherland" probably resulted from these beliefs. People also refer to Wind Tuesday as Fathers Tuesday, Ancestors Tuesday or Black Tuesday. During this evening everyone should visit the graves of their relatives and loved ones. The Last Tuesday of Novruz, is celebrated by making a bonfire. Everyone should jump over the blessed fire at least seven times. Everyone must celebrate the Earth Tuesday at home otherwise they will celebrate Novruz away from home for 7 years. The spring festival is also the time of fortune telling. A young girls' favorite tradition on this Tuesday is a "gulag faly" - a divination. You have to make a wish in the evening, and then eavesdrop at someone's door or window, and listen to what the owners are talking about. If you hear good words, it means your dream will come true. Therefore, they say that a lot of nice and pleasant things should be said on this day. The smells of Novruz surround people everywhere- mouthwatering pastries, walnuts, dried fruits are put on the table. On the eve of the spring holiday, people tidy up their houses, cook the main Novruz sweets shekerbura and pakhlava. A few weeks before Novruz, women take wheat seeds, water them and sing the traditional song "Samani, protect me, and I will grow you every year." The decoration of the festive table is khoncha, a big tray with "samani" - freshly sprouted wheat. Samani is a symbol of hope for an abundant harvest in the coming year. It is essential on this day to have seven dishes the names of which begin with the letter "s". For example sumakh(a kind of spice), sirke(vinegar), sud(milk), samani(grown wheat), sebzi(fried meat with greens), etc. There should be also a mirror, a candle and a painted egg on the table. During the holiday, people usually give each other a holiday portion called "Novruz payi". Traditional sweets, samani and candles are put on a tray and given to the neighbors and friends. In the evening on March 21, all family members gather at home for dinner to eat pilaf (rice) and celebrate the spring arrival. A series of events are being held across the country. Spectacular shows are performed in public squares. Tightrope walkers demonstrate their skills, wrestlers test their strength while beloved Novruz characters - Kechel, Kosa ,Bahar gizi (Spring girl), as well as Dede Gorgud welcome and congratulate Azerbaijanis on this day. Khidir Ilyas and Kos-Kosa are among the most popular traditional Novruz games. In Papaqatd, young people knock at the door, throw their hats down and hide. The homeowner finds the hat, fills it with sweets gifts and places it back outside the door. Novruz is celebrated by millions of people throughout the world including Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries. The holiday was given the status of an official holiday in Azerbaijan by a presidential decree dated 13 March 1990. In 2009, Novruz was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and since then, March 21 was declared the International Day of Novruz. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Trend: Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations and Inter-Parliamentary Ties Samad Seyidov, MPs Sahiba Gafarova and Asim Mollazade will visit Washington on March 23, Trend reports with reference to the Parliament. The MPs will take part in a number of meetings in the US Congress, discussions will be held on the development of inter-parliamentary relations, other issues, they will exchange experience in the field of lawmaking. The visit will end March 30. Trend: The number of Azerbaijani citizens who went abroad in January-February 2019 increased by 25.5 percent (compared to the same period last year), reaching 731,600 people, Trend reports referring to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan (SSC). As such, 36.5 percent of Azerbaijani citizens traveled to Iran, 26.2 percent to Georgia, 18.4 percent to Russia, 9.8 percent to Turkey, 1.1 percent to Ukraine, 1 percent to the UAE, and 7 percent to other countries. Among those who left the country, 67.7 percent were male, and 32.3 percent were female. There was an 83.8-percent increase in the number of Azerbaijani citizens visiting Iran during this period, along with an increase in the number of Azerbaijanis visiting Russia by 7.3 percent, Georgia by 7 percent, and Turkey by 1.9 percent. During this period, 83 percent of Azerbaijani citizens used railways and road transport, while 16.1 percent used airways and 0.9 percent used water transport. SAFFRON WALDEN, UK, and BASEL, Switzerland, March 20, 2019 / B3C newswire / -- Domainex Ltd, an integrated provider of drug discovery services that has established a world-leading position in fragment-based drug discovery and SpiroChem AG, a premium chemical and services companies specialized in the design and synthesis of proprietary collections of sp3-rich molecular fragments and associated synthetic capabilities, have established a strategic fragment drug discovery collaboration that they will co-promote globally. Under the terms of the agreement, Domainex will enrich its existing fragment collection with a diverse set of SpiroChem fragments that it will screen with its highly efficient and cost-effective FragmentBuilder platform. The SpiroChem-sourced fragments will provide unique chemical diversity, particularly in terms of three-dimensional chemotypes. The companies will work together to offer hit expansion services on the resulting fragment hits to their clients in a seamless manner, leveraging the combined expertise of their respective chemistry teams, supported as required with biophysical and biochemical assays and structural biology. Domainex Chief Operating Officer, Tom Mander commented Since our investment in automated microscale thermophoresis instrumentation from Nanotemper Technologies back in 2016, we have seen a strong uptake of our integrated FragmentBuilder services and have initiated numerous fragment drug discovery partnerships with organisations across the world. We are delighted to be announcing this new partnership with SpiroChem, an organisation that also has a strong reputation for innovation and delivery. The additional diversity that their fragments bring to our existing collection will further strengthen and differentiate our world-leading position in fragment-based drug discovery. It will give our clients a truly unique approach to identify well-characterised and attractive chemical starting points for subsequent optimisation into drug candidates. SpiroChem Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Fessard added Fragment-based lead discovery has demonstrated its strength in delivering new leads for drug targets over the past few years and we have seen a booming demand for our fragment collections. Our carefully designed libraries stand out of commercial flat-land libraries and add this 3D-character that medicinal chemists are looking for. Obviously, with higher structural complexity, fragment evolution capabilities require special synthetic skills that SpiroChem is mastering, thereby allowing for efficient fragment evolution and exploration of their chemical space. We are thrilled to collaborate with Domainex, and be able to offer a comprehensive discovery proposal, from library design and screening to efficient downstream medicinal chemistry services, all the way to candidate selection. About Domainex Established in 2001, Domainex Ltd is a privately-owned, high quality, integrated drug discovery service company delivering proteins, assays, X-ray structures, hits, leads and pre-clinical drug candidates for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic and patient foundations globally. We serve an ever-growing list of pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients including UCB, FORMA Therapeutics, Macrophage Pharma, Imperial College and The Institute of Cancer Research. Our co-located and multi-disciplinary scientists - molecular biologists; assay biologists; medicinal, computational and analytical chemists (over 70% of whom are PhD qualified) have on average over 10 years of industrial drug discovery experience. They have been co-authors on numerous publications and been named on over 50 patent applications with our clients, supporting them transition projects successfully into pre-clinical and clinical development. We have broad therapeutic area and target class expertise, including immune-inflammatory diseases, oncology, cardiovascular conditions and diseases of the central nervous system. Our target class expertise encompasses kinases, protein-protein interactions, GPCRs, proteases and epigenetic targets, especially the lysine methyltransferases. We have established a number of unique enabling technology platforms proven to deliver novel drug discovery outcomes including: FragmentBuilder , an integrated suite of technologies for fragment-based drug design that has at its core microscale thermophoresis, the most efficient biophysical technique for fragment screening. Utilising less than 1mg of protein, in a matter of a few days a diverse collection of fragments can be screened, which are now complemented with unique 3D fragments from SpiroChem. Fragment hits can be further characterised for affinity and mode of binding and be transitioned seamlessly into structural elucidation by X-ray to provide the information needed for medicinal chemistry optimisation of drug properties. , an integrated suite of technologies for fragment-based drug design that has at its core microscale thermophoresis, the most efficient biophysical technique for fragment screening. Utilising less than 1mg of protein, in a matter of a few days a diverse collection of fragments can be screened, which are now complemented with unique 3D fragments from SpiroChem. Fragment hits can be further characterised for affinity and mode of binding and be transitioned seamlessly into structural elucidation by X-ray to provide the information needed for medicinal chemistry optimisation of drug properties. Combinatorial Domain Hunting for the screening of 100,000 or more constructs in a matter of a few months to identify novel domains of targets/antigens. for the screening of 100,000 or more constructs in a matter of a few months to identify novel domains of targets/antigens. LeadBuilder for the efficient virtual screening of targets against a carefully selected collection of ~2 million compounds. About SpiroChem SpiroChem AG is a privately-held, premium fine chemistry company based in Basel, Switzerland. SpiroChem operates on a dual business model, offering products that have been crafted for medicinal chemistry applications (a catalogue of building blocks, proprietary fragment libraries and a collection of unique scaffolds for DEL technology) and accompanying synthetic and medicinal chemistry services to help our customers worldwide accelerate their discovery R&D projects. Our elite team of synthetic and medicinal chemists was trained in world-leading institutions and combines years of industrial experience in pharma, biotechs and CRO companies. With a higher than average PhD-trained composition, our team has demonstrated since its inception in 2011 that Chemistry is the solution, not the problem. We have delivered on highly complex discovery projects where our chemical capabilities were central to success. Our challenge-minded attitude means that we do not shy away from complexity, even when natural products, carbohydrates and nucleoside are involved. Our unique set of chemical expertise is a strong component of our offering and supports fragment evolution on our fragment library and downstream medicinal chemistry efforts in a seamless manner. Contact Tom Mander Chief Operating Officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Published by B3C newswire and shared through Newronic Saudi-based Alandalus Property said its revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31 hit SR165 million ($44 million), up 12 per cent compared to SR147 million ($39 milion) for the same period the previous year. A major player involved in the investment, development and operation of income-generating commercial properties across the kingdom, Alandalus Property has been upgrading its existing assets across its diverse set of property sectors, primarily retail via super-regional malls and strip malls across Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. The company also diversified into the hospitality sector with the development of Staybridge Suites in Jeddah which opened in June 2017 and is operated by Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). This enables the company to capitalise on the demographics of the catchment area which includes shoppers in addition to business and religious visitors, thereby increasing revenues across different sectors, said the statement. Within the healthcare sector, which the company entered to further diversify its activities, Alandalus Property is developing a new hospital called West Jeddah Hospital near its flagship Alandalus Mall - in a joint venture with the well-known regional Dr Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group - and due to open in Q2 2022. On the results, chairman Abdulsalam Al Aqeel said: "This is a very exciting time for Alandalus Property. Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, we put in a robust financial and operational performance in 2018. We have a yielding portfolio consisting of well-located high-quality properties with high footfall and occupancy rates that provide steady, consistent financial returns." The company is well-diversified not only by sector but also by geography and tenant mix, noted Al Aqeel. "Being the first mall developer to be listed on the Tadawul, we take seriously our commitment to the highest standards of corporate governance and ethical business practices. I am confident that our board, leadership team and strong partnership network will continue to help drive the company to new heights," he added.-TradeArabia News Service The Southeast Texas Food Bank on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to build a new facility behind its current location on South Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. Executive director Dan Maher said the plans, still in the design phase, had not been given final approval by the board of directors. The new facility could include meeting places for volunteer groups and fundraisers along with improved storage facilities. A lot of our volunteers come in groups or are from businesses, but there isnt anywhere for them to interact together right now, Maher said. We think this will help with our community outreach and our ability to earn revenue. The food bank did not say how much the building might cost. Final design and construction would require fundraising. The new building would take over acres of greenspace and a storage building on the north end of the food banks property currently being rented by Lamar University. The food bank bought the land from Lamar last June after receiving national grants from Feeding America in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. Its been a good partnership between one of our neighbors here, and were grateful for the relationship with Lamar and its president, Kenneth Evans, Maher said. The food bank occupies a former industrial bakery site and a nearby warehouse purchased soon after Tropical Storm Harvey. The new facility would feature up to eight loading bays at its dock, compared to the two bays currently, an upgrade that Maher said would greatly improve efficiency. The Southeast Texas Food Bank serves an eight-county territory of more than 600,000 people and relies on partnerships with local retailers and volunteers. The proposed expansion was among the topics Maher covered with Rep. Randy Weber, R-Friendswood, during a tour of the facility on Tuesday. Weber also discussed the importance of monitoring nutritional-benefit programs for fraud while making sure places like the Southeast Texas Food Bank are still able to serve their populations. You want to make sure help goes to the ones who need it, and that means a system that makes sure the people who need it most are recognized, Weber said. Thats why I love that this a local program with community members and volunteers that serving their neighbors. The U.S. Farm Bill, an omnibus set of programs and legislative directives set every five years, largely controls not only what kind of benefits individuals can expect from programs like SNAP, but also what resources are available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for food banks. Nearly 1 in 4 Jefferson County residents and 27 percent of its children are considered to have a food need. Maher said the food bank works with benefits offices to make sure its clients who are eligible for programs sign up, reducing some of the burden the food bank has in feeding its population. It also uses USDA programs to help supply food to seniors who might not be able to receive assistance elsewhere. An earlier proposed version of the Farm Bill would have set work requirements for SNAP and made some cuts to nutritional benefits programs. The final version did not include work requirements and greatly scaled back some of the proposed funding cuts. Im grateful he came to hear us out and so what we are doing, Maher said. We want to be the voice for the underprivileged and the underserved that are so often left voiceless. jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/jdickjournalism Dubai Science Park (DSP), a science-focused business community dedicated to the development of the local healthcare sector, has welcomed Medisana, a leading specialist in home healthcare and wellness, to its fold of business partners. The German company aims to supply the Mena region with cutting-edge products that support better health. Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, managing director of Dubai Science Park and chairing member of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment Taskforce of the Dubai Industrial Strategy 2030, said: The region is witnessing a stronger focus on health and wellness, motivating reputed international companies such as Medisana to establish their presence here. With its business-friendly ecosystem and access to a vast talent pool, Dubai has emerged as a regional hub for the wellness industry a strategic sector for Dubai Science Park. Walid Luka, country manager for the Mena Region at Medisana, said: Dubai has a dynamic healthcare sector that stands to benefit from the increasing personalisation that technology offers. The opening of our regional office will enhance our capabilities in providing the end users with cutting edge technologies that will enable them to take control of their health and wellbeing. We will be able to provide an even better service to our customers. Under the motto Innovation Based on Tradition, Medisana develops, markets and sells mobile health, health control, wellness, sports, therapy, healthy home and personal care products for health-conscious consumers worldwide. The company won the German Brand Award 2018 for Industry Excellence in Branding in the Health & Pharmaceuticals category. Through Medisanas interconnected smart wellness product ecosystem, users can monitor health parameters such as Body Mass Index (BMI), muscle mass, water percentage and glucose levels, using the same app across multiple product lines. Moreover, these solutions are accessible remotely, allowing for simultaneous tracking of family members regardless of their location. This offers customers a sense of comfort, as they can reduce the number of doctor visits and use of high-performance equipment, a statement said. Currently home to over 350 business partners, DSP supports leading international companies within the science and healthcare sector in expanding their operations in the region. TradeArabia News Service A woman arrested Tuesday is accused of setting fire to her fathers East Side house while he was asleep earlier this month. Shumika Renee Jones, 25, is charged with arson, according to court records. Her bail was set at $5,000. The father had been arguing with Jones on March 9 in his home in the 200 block of Ferris Avenue because she was supposed to be his caretaker but had been absent for a week, according to Jones arrest warrant affidavit. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox The man told investigators that he fell asleep after the argument and woke up to a loud noise and the smell of smoke in the house at about 9 p.m. Jones father said he saw two fires burning in two bedrooms. As he tried to put one out, Jones is alleged to have pushed him to the ground and said I wont have to worry about you no more, the affidavit states. RELATED: SAPD: 2 armed suspects at large following robbery spree, shooting on NW side She ran out of the house and drove away, investigators said. Her father, who uses a walker and cannot get around very well, was left inside the home to escape on his own, according to the affidavit. Investigators noted that rubbing alcohol and a lighter was used to set fires to a bed and a pile of clothes. Raysut Cement Company, a leading producer of cement in Oman, recently organised a high-level workshop for its employees on change management and business re-engineering. The workshop titled, Change Management and Business Process Re-engineering Programme, was aimed at updating its employees on the modern techniques and business processes that will support growth and development, said a company statement. It was conducted by Vic Williams from the London-based The Audacious Company who began by introducing the concept of change and the importance of it in the context of Raysut. Raysut is Omans largest cement manufacturer with significant and emerging interests in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The company has also recently announced its intention to aggressively expand in East and Central Africa as part of its strategic growth ambitions The workshop put spotlight on the importance of future planning at department level to the field to reflect the changes as envisioned by the company in its quest for excellence and inclusive growth. The workshop also highlighted the mechanisms and techniques of change and engaged the participants in scientific and practical discussions on the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their suitability and compatibility with Raysuts strategic objectives. Group CEO Joey Ghose said: "We are in a rapid, meaningful expansion and investment phase and employees are key to the success of organisational changes since they will be responsible at the execution end of it." The workshop has been held in this context of upgrading the perception of employees on what an organisation goes through during times of change, he added.-TradeArabia News Service People who live near the chemical plant fire in Deer Park are being told that their health is not endangered because the toxic fumes are traveling high into the air and being blown away by winds. That may be better than other alternatives, but its hardly reassuring. The fact remains that the plume of hazardous black smoke emanating from the facility almost certainly contains substances and particles that no one should breathe, nearby or downwind. Worse yet are reports that the fire, which began Sunday, could linger before it burns itself out. Thats a long time for something that nearby residents wanted extinguished in a few hours. The response to this disaster also raised questions about how well local and state officials are prepared to get timely information to the public. The advocacy group Public Citizen said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality didnt post any information about the fire on its website or social media accounts until Monday afternoon at the earliest, nearly a day after it began. Thats one of the first places people and journalists will consult in trying to figure out what is going on and whether any special precautions should be taken. These incidents also serve as a reminder about why state and federal regulations are needed for petrochemical production. The work involves inherent dangers, and most large companies try to do it as safely as they can. But all it takes is one oversight or slipup for something bad to happen. A 2016 investigation by the Houston Chronicle also revealed that chemical incidents like this occur about once every six weeks in the Houston area. That seems high for fires or explosions that could happen at any petrochemical plant like the dozens in Southeast Texas. Texans understand that a certain number of incidents may happen at any large industrial site. But when something like this does occur, people who live nearby want facts, and as soon as possible. They also want to have confidence that adequate rules to protect them were in place beforehand. The Trump administration has been cutting the budgets of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Chemical Safety Board, as well as the regulations they operate under. Its also scaling back the 2017 Risk Management Plan amendments, which are designed to bring greater safety to places like Deer Park that are surrounded by petrochemical facilities. No one likes unnecessary red tape, but some regulations protect workers and save lives. This blaze must be thoroughly investigated to determine why it happened and whether it could have been prevented. Watching clouds of black smoke and hoping youre OK is just not acceptable. Jeff Julien, CFO of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based brokerage firm Raymond James Financial, is stepping down after becoming the nation's longest-serving CFO, according to The Wall Street Journal. His time as CFO at Raymond James Financial a role he started in 1987 marks the longest tenure of any CFO of America's 673 biggest companies. Those companies include all firms in the S&P 500 and Fortune 500, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited data from executive recruitment firm Crist Kolder Associates. The average CFO holds his or her position for about 5.1 years, according to Crist Kolder Associates' Volatility Report for 2018. Not Mr. Julien, who weathered decades of changes at Raymond James Financial. He joined the company in 1983 after serving as a certified public accountant for Price Waterhouse. He went on to lead the firm through the rise and fall of the dot-com era, the Asian financial crisis and the Great Recession. Over those years, the role of CFO shifted. For hospital CFOs as well, what was historically a more behind-the-scenes role for executive accountants evolved into a position marked with strategizing, planning decisions and evaluating transactions. Of Mr. Julien's tenure, Devin Ryan, an analyst at capital market firm JMP Securities, noted Mr. Julien's ability to change the perception of CFOs. "He's not just a behind-the-scenes, numbers CFO," Mr. Ryan told The Wall Street Journal. "He's publicly facing, he's involved in strategy and in a number of different areas of operations of the firm and also communicating with investors." While Democrats' "Medicare for All" proposals target for-profit healthcare, the director of health policy at conservative think tank the Empire Center argued in a The Wall Street Journal op-ed that profit, "when properly harnessed," can improve health and cut costs. In February, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., unveiled a bill aimed at replacing existing private and public coverage with a Medicare option that covers medical services, vision and dental without premiums, copays or deductibles. Democratic cosponsors of the bill, which states that there is "a moral imperative ... to eliminate profit from the provision of healthcare," total 106. In the March 18 op-ed, Bill Hammond argues the bill would upend a for-profit model used by most private physicians, 28 percent of hospitals, 70 percent of nursing homes and scores of other providers. "The bill doesn't detail an enforcement mechanism, but it seems to mean that thousands of providers would either have to reorganize as nonprofits or shut down," he writes. "Eliminating profit from an entire sector of the national economy would be unprecedented." He pointed to New York state's health system as an example of what a completely nonprofit health system could look like. Mr. Hammond said despite the lack of for-profit providers, healthcare spending remains 18 percent higher in New York than the national average, and its average quality ratings are among some of the nation's lowest. "The House bill's supporters seem totally ignorant of the power of the profit motive, when properly harnessed, to drive health improvements and cut costs. If they ever get their way, patients will pay a steep price," he said. Insurance companies may start looking to an individual's social media accounts to determine an applicant's risk for life, car and property insurance, The Wall Street Journal reports. Three things to know: 1. Within the next few years, insurance underwriters may use automated reports based on an individual's social media usage and posted content to assess potential customers. "We're going through a period now where most life insurers are exploring using all types of data, not just data they get directly from the customer proactively, but other external sources of data social media being a big one," Ari Libarikian, a senior partner at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., told The Wall Street Journal. 2. To avoid high insurance premiums, social media users should post content that highlights healthy activities rather than risk-like behaviors. "Paragliding, ice-climbing, riding a motorcycle while drinking a beer: They are a little over the top, but honestly, I've been surprised at what people post," Mike Vogt, executive director of data and analytics at insurance consulting firm SPR, told The Wall Street Journal. "That history never goes away, even if you remove the post a few hours later." 3. Technology that analyzes individuals' social media accounts to apply to underwriting decisions is still underdeveloped, and insurers are not confident that it is "better" than current sources, such as application questions and blood and urine samples, according to the report. To access the full report, click here. Two more board members have resigned from the Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical System one day after Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned from her role on UMMS' board of directors following public scrutiny of a $500,000 business deal with the health system, according to The Baltimore Sun. Five things to know: 1. UMMS Board Chairman Stephen Burch said March 19 he accepted the resignations of board members John Dillon and Robert Pevenstein. Both individuals personally profited off of business deals with the health system while serving on its board. "I take very seriously the concerns raised regarding board members that have business relationships with UMMS. Addressing this issue is of the highest priority for me and the organization. There is nothing more important than the trust of those who depend on our leadership," Mr. Burch said. 2. Mr. Dillion reported that his healthcare consulting firm made more than $150,000 per year through a capital and strategic planning contract with the health system in 2017 and 2018. Mr. Pevenstein reported that his technology companies amassed more than $150,000 in contracts with UMMS in 2017, including more than $108,000 in profits for himself. He also reported his son made more than $100,000 from UMMS. 3. Mr. Dillon and Mr. Pevenstein's resignations come one day after Ms. Pugh stepped down from her role on the board after she failed to disclose a $500,000 deal with UMMS. 4. Mr. Burch said he has also asked any members who have business relationships with UMMS to take a voluntary leave of absence while the health system conducts a "comprehensive review" of its business dealings, according to the report. Four individuals have opted to take a leave of absence. The Baltimore Sun reports that nine board members in total have reported business dealings with the health system while sitting on its board. 5. UMMS President and CEO Robert Chrencik has said some of the business deals in question were secured through a competitive business process, while others were not. The health system declined to release a list of deals that were part of a bidding process to The Baltimore Sun. To access the full report, click here. Saudi Arabia-based Sabic, a global leader in the chemical industry, has announced the launch of AMS31F filament, the companys breakaway support material for fused deposition modelling. The new filament maintains rigidity during printing and provides exceptional pliability during post processing to enable easier removal of scaffolding at room temperature, which can help reduce the time required to produce finished parts. The new AMS31F filament is for use with Sabics ULTEM AM9085F filament, a high-performance polyetherimide (PEI) material that provides high heat resistance and mechanical strength which are optimal properties for potential aerospace applications, as well as for automotive, oil and gas and tooling applications. Using structural supports to print parts with complex geometries is essential, but it can also be quite challenging, said Keith Cox, senior business manager, Additive Manufacturing, Sabic. Removing traditional supports from the finished part often involves time-consuming processes that can negatively impact productivity and quality. By offering a complementary support material for our ULTEM AM9085F filament, Sabic is providing a complete material solution that helps customers save time and effort. Additionally, the ease of support material removal provides part designers greater flexibility in defining print orientation to optimize part performance. Faster, easier removal Sabics new AMS31F filament helps part producers increase their productivity by helping to reduce the time required to remove structural supports. Sabics patent pending material formulation was developed for use with ULTEM AM9085F filament to balance excellent adhesion during printing with the ability to easily remove the scaffolding during post processing. Unlike competitive support materials that often require reheating to facilitate removal, Sabics AMS31F filament easily separates at room temperature, reducing post-production time. The filaments white colour provides a sharp contrast to the amber colour of ULTEM filament, which allows operators to more quickly identify the structures to be removed. Sabic is providing service bureaus with a complete material solution that effectively combines the high performance of ULTEM filament with their efficient AMS31F support filament, said Tracy Albers, president of Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC (RP+M), an additive manufacturing company in Avon Lake, Ohio. The ease of support material removal simplifies our secondary operations process and provides a higher quality part for our customers. The adhesion between the ULTEM AM9085F filament and Sabics new AMS31F support filament is excellent at high temperatures and detaches easily at room temperature, eliminating the need to reheat parts, said Davide Ardizzoia, chief executive officer of 3ntr, an additive manufacturing system company in Oleggio, Italy. Greater design flexibility Often the print direction chosen by operators is aimed at reducing structural support to minimize post- processing time and may not be optimal for the mechanical performance of the part. The ease of removing the AMS31F support filament gives the operator greater latitude in defining part orientation that is better suited to optimize printing efficiency and part performance. Complete Package: ULTEM Filament and Breakaway Support Filament By expanding design freedom and accelerating the support material removal process, Sabics new AMS31F filament adds to the value of using ULTEM AM9085F filament in demanding applications. High-performance ULTEM filament is made from Sabics proprietary ULTEM resin (PEI) technology. It provides high heat resistance and mechanical strength, is UL 94 V-0 compliant at 1.5- and 3.0-mm thicknesses and meets FAR 25.853 and OSU 55/55 requirements with low flame, smoke and toxicity evolution. ULTEM AM9085F filament offers excellent diameter consistency to help meet customers dimensional specifications. Sabics filaments are continuously monitored with a laser micrometer to help ensure adherence to stringent specifications for diameter consistency. Used together, the new breakaway support filament and ULTEM AM9085F filament are compatible with Stratasys Fortus Classic printers and a variety of open architecture industrial printers. TradeArabia News Service Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a 2020 presidential candidate, will make an appearance as University of California workers strike March 20, according to a union news release. Mr. Sanders is expected to attend a union rally at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The strike involves university professional and technical employees represented by the UPTE-CWA 9119 union, who are walking off the job over what they argue is income inequality. Members of the AFSCME Local 3299 union, which represents the university's service and patient care technical workers, will also strike in sympathy. "For over a year, the University of California has continued to ignore the well-founded concerns of the workers that make this the finest research institution in the world," said UPTE-CWA 9119 President Jamie McDole in the news release. "By shortchanging the front-line workers who make UC run every day, administrators are showing a profound lack of commitment to the students, patients and taxpayers that this institution is supposed to serve." Claire Doan, director of media relations with the university's office of the president, expressed disappointment about the strike plans and called them "unfortunate." "The university feels the way to a deal is at the bargaining table not on the picket lines and should not come at the expense of patients, students, the university and our communities," she told Becker's in a statement. She added that the university is "disappointed with UPTE leadership" regarding demands for "unreasonable double-digit raises (up to 26 percent over the life of the agreement) that are far beyond those given to other UC employees." She also noted that AFSCME leaders announced their intent to strike in sympathy with UPTE at the same time their negotiators were at the bargaining table with the university. Pickets are scheduled March 20 at UCLA Medical Center, San Francisco-based UCSF Medical Center, San Diego-based UCSD Medical Center, Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Medical Center, and Orange, Calif.-based UC Irvine Medical Center. More articles on human capital and risk: NYC hospital alliance files labor charge against union after strike announced Munson Medical Center, union reach tentative labor deal New York City workers from 3 health systems to strike April 2 An antitrust lawsuit filed by the Washington state attorney general against CHI Franciscan will not go to trial, according to the Kitsap Sun. Five things to know: 1. The lawsuit, filed in 2017, alleged Tacoma, Wash.-based CHI Franciscan's affiliation with two physician groups in Kitsap County raised healthcare prices and decreased competition. 2. "Both transactions also enabled CHI Franciscan to capture more patient referrals and shift services to its wholly owned hospital, Harrison Medical Center, the only civilian acute care hospital in Kitsap County," states an August 2017 press release from the Washington state attorney general's office. "The transactions have hobbled CHI Franciscan's competitors while allowing it to reap the benefit of more expensive, hospital-based rates." 3. A trial in the case was slated to begin March 19 but was called off March 15 after the parties notified the court that the matter was resolved. 4. Specifics about the settlement have not been released. The parties have until April 29 to file documents outlining the settlement and requesting the case be dismissed, according to the Kitsap Sun. 5. A CHI Franciscan spokesperson told the Kitsap Sun that the settlement will ensure the health system's affiliations with the two physician groups remain in place. "This is good for patients and doctors on the peninsula, keeps our highly skilled doctors in our community, and ensures everyone has access to great care close to home," the spokesperson said. Access the full Kitsap Sun article here. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: Ex-CEO of Louisiana hospital's fundraising arm allegedly embezzled $810K 10 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Former Texas hospital CEO pleads guilty to defrauding 3 major insurers Wheeling (W.Va.) Hospital announced March 18 it has filed a federal lawsuit against its former executive vice president, claiming he breached his fiduciary duty, among other allegations. Four things to know: 1. Wheeling Hospital's complaint alleges that Louis Longo filed "baseless" false claims litigation against the hospital and that Mr. Longo allegedly hoped "to obtain a quick and plentiful settlement." "As a Catholic hospital, we expect every member of our staff, as well as our partners, to conduct themselves with honor and integrity. We are pursuing action against Mr. Longo for his purported dishonest conduct, and we will vigorously defend our hospital and physicians against the fraudulent claims he filed against us," the hospital's general counsel said in a statement. 2. Mr. Longo began working with the hospital while he was a partner and director at Deloitte and was responsible for finding and reporting fraud to the hospital's board, according to The Intelligencer. Wheeling Hospital hired him as an executive vice president in 2011. 3. Mr. Longo's lawsuit alleged that the hospital improperly paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to physicians and overcompensated certain staff to gain referrals, The Intelligencer reports. The allegations made by Mr. Longo resulted in a whistle-blower lawsuit against the hospital, which the federal government joined in January. 4. However, Wheeling Hospital alleges that "at no time did [Mr. Longo] ever express to Wheeling Hospital that Deloitte's audit activities had identified fraud or the risk of fraud with respect to Wheeling Hospital's physician contracts," according to a copy of Wheeling Hospital's lawsuit obtained by The Intelligencer. Here are 10 articles recently published by Becker's Hospital Review on national and state news concerning Medicaid. 1. CMS approves Maryland's Medicaid waiver: 3 things to know CMS gave Maryland the OK to amend its Medicaid program beginning March 18 through Dec. 31, 2021. 2. Republican-led states pursue Medicaid changes: 7 things to know Republican-led states are ramping up their efforts alongside President Donald Trump's administration to implement Medicaid changes including work requirements, block grants and drug testing. 3. Arizona Medicaid alerts 3,100 enrollees of privacy breach Officials within Arizona's Medicaid program reportedly sent personal health information of 3,146 patients to incorrect home addresses. 4. MACPAC seeks more gradual phase in of Medicaid DSH cuts The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's March report to Congress recommends phasing in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts more gradually over a longer period. 5. Missouri weighs Medicaid overhaul as spending climbs Medicaid spending in Missouri accounted for 17 percent of the state's revenue in 2009. In 2018, the state's Medicaid spending grew to 24 percent, and it's on track to equal 26 percent of revenue by 2023 if left untouched. 6. HHS, states discuss instituting Medicaid block grants without Congress HHS Secretary Alex Azar said his department and some states are in ongoing discussions about transforming Medicaid into a block grant program without the approval of federal lawmakers. 7. Trump officials, Kentucky governor defend Medicaid work requirements Federal and Kentucky officials are throwing support behind a Medicaid proposal that would enact work requirements for beneficiaries. 8. CHIP, other child health programs see enrollment fall nearly 600,000 Enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program and child-focused Medicaid programs declined almost 600,000 in the first 11 months of 2018. 9. Hospitals in 15 states could take financial hit from Medicaid work requirements Hospitals in states that mandate work requirements as a condition of Medicaid coverage could see reduced revenues, increased uncompensated care costs and smaller operating margins. 10. New York governor adjusts Medicaid reduction plans amid federal budget proposal New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is adjusting his Medicaid funding proposal after additional cuts were made in President Donald Trump's budget plan for fiscal year 2020. Christus Health hospitals in Texas and Louisiana are no longer in Cigna's provider network, the Irving, Texas-based health system said on its website. Texas-based Christus Mother Frances Hospitals at Tyler, South Tyler, Jacksonville and Winnsboro were no longer contracting with Cigna as of Feb. 1. Tyler-based Christus Trinity Clinic went out of network with the payer Feb. 20, and Christus Good Shepherd Health System in Longview, Texas, followed on March 1. On March 15, remaining Christus hospitals in Texas and Louisiana went out of network with Cigna. On its website, Christus said, "As a not-for-profit health system, we've asked Cigna only for a minimal increase in our rates, while they are asking us to take a substantial decrease, which isn't sustainable. We haven't had an increase in rates from Cigna in more than two years and in some cases almost 10 years and just like you, we are faced with rising costs for supplies, pharmaceuticals and other resources." In an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review, Cigna said it is "open to continuing negotiations with Christus Health to reach a new agreement. Cigna's goal remains the same to keep healthcare affordable for our employer clients, our customers and their families, while enabling hospital systems to continue to invest in care, quality and innovation." Editor's note: This article was updated March 20 at 1:37 p.m. CT to include an updated quote from Cigna. More articles on payer: CMS to revise fines on Medicare Advantage plans Aetna to close prescription delivery hub in Florida, cut 106 jobs Republican-led states pursue Medicaid changes: 7 things to know A judge granted Aetna Life Insurance's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the insurer after it denied a former Boeing employee's disability claims, according to the St. Louis Record. Judge John Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri concluded Aetna's denial of plaintiff Tiffany Ausler's short-term and long-term disability benefits is time barred, and Ms. Ausler failed to exhaust her claim. Aetna, Boeing's administrator for the benefits plan, denied Ms. Ausler's claim in December 2014, stating that she failed to provide information that aligned with Aetna's definition of disability. Ms. Ausler appealed the decision in February 2015, and after that was denied, she sued the insurer. While Ms. Ausler's lawsuit argued Aetna's language in its plan brochure "is ambiguous," Aetna claimed Ms. Ausler didn't follow the insurer's 180-day deadline to dispute the denial. Mr. Ross sided with Aetna, finding "multiple instances in which the plan brochure's plain language unambiguously shows the 180-day deadline is not limited to eligibility claims," according to the ruling, cited by the St. Louis Record. More articles on payer: CMS to revise fines on Medicare Advantage plans Aetna to close prescription delivery hub in Florida, cut 106 jobs Republican-led states pursue Medicaid changes: 7 things to know Individuals who didn't know they had HIV or knew but were not receiving care accounted for 81 percent of HIV transmissions in 2016, according to CDC data released March 18. Three takeaways: 1. Of the 1.1 million HIV-positive people living in the U.S. in 2016, 15 percent were unaware of their diagnosis. These individuals accounted for 38 percent of new transmissions. Another 23 percent knew they had HIV but were not receiving care and accounted for 43 percent of new transmissions. 2. Fifty-one percent of people with HIV were taking medication and virally suppressed in 2016. They accounted for no new transmissions. 3. CDC released the data in conjunction with the National HIV Prevention Conference, which began March 18 in Atlanta. At the conference, both HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, discussed the Trump administration's plan to cut HIV infections in the U.S. by 90 percent in 10 years. The government's HIV strategy will focus on four pillars: Early HIV diagnosis Rapid treatment and sustained viral suppression Increased protection for people at risk for HIV Heightened response to growing HIV clusters "A goal that once seemed impossible is within reach. We can put an end to the HIV epidemic in the United States," Dr. Redfield said in a press release. "We have developed the most powerful HIV prevention and treatment tools in history. Now is the time to focus on getting these tools in the hands of the people who need them most." Many physicians face online harassment when posting about vaccines on their practices' social media pages, which can often scare them into silence, reports the Los Angeles Times. Since late 2017, anti-vaccine groups have coordinated more than 50 online campaigns against providers who advocate for vaccines, according to Chad Hermann, communications director for Pittsburgh-based Kids Plus Pediatrics. Mr. Hermann has tracked the online harassment campaigns by anti-vaccine groups since his practice was targeted in 2017. In the online campaigns, vaccine supporters flood physicians' social media pages with negative comments and reviews. Some campaigns have even escalated to threats of harm, prompting 911 calls, according to Mr. Hermann. "When pediatric practices are being terrorized into silence, it's going to create a void in the discourse," he told the Los Angeles Times. "And we all know who's going to fill that: the anti-vax folks." Mr. Hermann and Todd Wolynn, MD, CEO of Kids Plus Pediatrics, are encouraging physicians to stand up to online attacks. They are working on a pro bono project called "Shots Heard Round the World," that offers tips and resources to help physicians fight the attacks and promote pro-vaccine messages. To view the full report, click here. A Tennessee woman filed a lawsuit against Nashville-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center March 19, claiming surgeons operated on her wrong kidney, reports The Tennessean. Carla Miller sought care at the hospital in November 2017. The suit claims surgeons implanted a 22-centimeter stent in her right kidney instead of the left and ran it up the wrong side of her body. Ms. Miller's attorney, Afsoon Hagh, said the medical error damaged her urinary system and now requires her to receive dialysis for life. "For a wrong-site surgery to occur, there has to be a significant series of breakdowns and errors by multiple healthcare providers," Ms. Hagh said in a statement to The Tennessean. "The fact that such a chain of missteps occurred here is very concerning." The lawsuit is seeking $25.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. A Vanderbilt spokesperson told Becker's the hospital does not comment on pending litigation. Ms. Miller's lawsuit comes nearly two months after a Vanderbilt nurse was indicted on a reckless homicide charge over a fatal medication error made in December 2017. Barbara A. Binzak Blumenfeld, PhD, is a shareholder at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. She focuses her practice on the regulation of biologic research, and recently spoke with Beckers Spine Review about where regenerative medicine is headed. Question: What is the FDAs current regulatory framework for regenerative medicine products? Dr. Barbara A. Binzak Blumenfeld: First, it is important to clarify the use of the term regenerative medicine as it can mean a variety of things. In some cases, it describes cell therapies generally or stem cell therapies in particular. Other times it can also include gene therapies or ex vivo genetically modified cell therapies. I am using regenerative medicine here to refer to cell and stem cell therapies. The FDAs current regulatory approach for regenerative medicine was only formalized about 20 years ago. The roots of this regulation are based in the Public Health Service Act, which addresses the transmission of communicable diseases. As a result, the FDA regulates cellular therapies based upon the level of risk they pose for transmitting a communicable disease when removed from a donor and implanted into a recipient. The FDA has essentially created a three-tiered regulatory system for these cellular products, more formally referred to in FDA regulations as human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products, or HCT/Ps. First, in several narrow instances, the transplantation of HCT/Ps is not subject to FDA oversight. One such case is the same surgical procedure exemption. In this situation, if HCT/Ps are removed from an individual and such HCT/Ps are re-implanted into the same individual during the same surgical procedure, then the FDA does not regulate the HCT/Ps. The FDA has clarified that this is a narrow exemption and has given a very specific meaning to the phrase such HCT/Ps. The applicability of this exemption has historically caused confusion for practitioners. Second, HCT/Ps that pose a moderate level of risk and are subject to some regulation but not FDA pre-approval are known as 361 HCT/Ps (based upon Section 361 of the PHSA). HCT/Ps must meet a number of criteria to fall within this category. Among other things, they must only be minimally manipulated, and they must be intended for homologous use. By limiting what happens to the cells when they are outside of the body, for example, the cells are not considered to have been manufactured into a brand-new product. Twenty years ago, these terms lacked a fully developed and clear meaning. Since that time, FDA has issued guidance documents to better explain its interpretation of these regulatory provisions. Finally, HCT/Ps that pose a relatively high level of risk that are more than minimally manipulated or that are not for homologous use, for example require FDA pre-approval before they may be marketed. These are known as 351 HCT/Ps (based upon Section 351 of the PHSA). If cells are grown in culture and the growth media contains drugs or other growth factors, then these cells are almost certainly going to require FDA approval, usually in the form of an approved biologics license application. In this case, the cells are considered a new product that requires FDA regulation. These regulatory subtleties have led to confusion among regenerative medicine stakeholders. Unless these stakeholders are aware of and understand these distinctions, they may find that they have inadvertently subjected their HCT/Ps to FDAs regulatory authorities. Q: What does the FDA's promise to crack down on unregulated stem cell treatments mean for the regenerative medicine industry? BBB: The FDAs renewed focus on regenerative medicine enforcement means that all impacted stakeholders will need to become more aware of how their activities or practices could be impacted. This includes physicians, medical institutions and clinics, universities and companies. Each entity should understand what steps they can and cannot take without HCT/P pre-approval. In November 2017, the FDA announced its regenerative medicine comprehensive policy framework. This framework was comprised of two final guidance documents that discussed the scope of the same surgical procedure exemption, as well as the meaning of minimal manipulation and homologous use. The framework also included two draft guidance documents regarding devices used in conjunction with regenerative medicine products, as well as the implementation of the Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation for certain therapies that was established by the 21st Century Cures Act. Significantly, the FDAs framework included an announcement that it will exercise enforcement discretion for 36 months following the November 2017 announcement. This means that the FDA will generally allow time for stakeholders whose products require FDA pre-approval to seek that approval and come into legal compliance. However, the FDA can still take enforcement action against products posing a higher level of patient risk, such as those used for serious or life-threatening diseases. The FDA has recently reminded stakeholders about this 36 month period, encouraging them to begin discussions with the FDA well in advance of the end of that period. Importantly, in May 2018 FDA filed two lawsuits (one in California and one in Florida) seeking permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that FDA asserted had ongoing compliance problems more specifically, that their cell products did not have the required FDA pre-approval. The outcomes of these cases will provide additional legal guideposts for the regenerative medicine industry to follow. In October 2018, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had settled an action brought against a California physician and two related medical groups for deceptive advertising of amniotic stem cell therapy. The FTC Act prohibits the dissemination of false advertisements for the purpose of inducing a consumer to purchase a particular drug or service. Here, the FTC called out website statements and videos, having determined that the physician and clinics were making unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of their therapies. Clearly, the FDA has become much more attuned to the state of the regenerative medicine industry than it had been in the past. I believe that the FDAs and FTCs actions should resonate with stakeholders and serve as examples of what can happen if they do not comply with the regenerative medicine legal and regulatory frameworks. However, I also think that the agencies will face challenges to keep up with the proliferation of new clinics that are advertising cell therapies. I do not believe that the FDA is out to quash this industry. To the contrary, I believe that the FDA recognizes its importance and wants to apply its regulatory framework in a way that may have been missing for some years. Industry and practitioners should not abandon the field but should realize and appreciate the need to work within a legal framework. The goal for all stakeholders should be patient safety. Significantly, the impending departure of FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb raises some questions about how the FDA will continue to regulate regenerative medicine therapies. A new FDA commissioner may have different priorities, though I find it difficult to believe that the FDA would revert to its pre-November 2017 framework or would abandon its enforcement efforts in this area. However, only time will tell how a new FDA Commissioner may impact this initiative. Q: How do you think the regulatory landscape for orthobiologics will shape up in the near future? For spinal biologics? BBB: I do not see any unique regulatory issues that the orthobiologics or spinal biologics communities will face. To date, FDAs enforcement actions have been agnostic to the specific medical disease or condition targeted by a particular regenerative medicine therapy. However, to the extent that FDA will focus its actions during the 36 month enforcement discretion period on cases where there is a higher risk to patient health, then I think that practitioners and companies focusing on treatments in these medical areas should be especially prepared to understand and comply with the HCT/P framework. A regenerative medicine therapy that is intended for bone or spinal uses is likely to be viewed as a more risky treatment overall than other less-invasive conditions, for example. Q: What should surgeons who use biologic products know about the FDA's regulatory process? BBB: Surgeons, as well as their medical groups or university medical centers, should understand several things. First, FDA has stated that the same surgical procedure provision that exempts an HCT/P from regulation is intended to be narrow. Therefore, if a surgeon removes cells from a patient and then mixes them with a drug before reimplanting them (even into the same patient), the resulting mixture will likely be considered an unapproved product subject to FDA regulation. Such actions are not within the physicians practice of medicine. Second, the practice of medicine argument has not, so far, been a successful defense in regenerative medicine enforcement actions. FDA (and at least one court) has rejected arguments that the specific actions and products involved constituted the practice of medicine. It is true that FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine. However, FDA does regulate the drugs, biologics, and medical devices that practitioners use in their practices. This is an important distinction. If a physician or surgeon takes steps that FDA considers to be manufacturing, then the cells have become an unapproved product that is now subject to FDAs oversight. All of this does not mean that patients have no access to regenerative medicine therapies. However, physicians and surgeons must be aware of the legal means to do so. For example, in certain cases a practitioners actions may meet the requirements for the same surgical procedure exemption, and the HCT/Ps would not be regulated by FDA. Alternatively, a practitioner can use a 361 HCT/P if the practitioner complies with the appropriate regulations, or they can use an approved therapy. Individuals can enroll in a clinical trial that is studying an experimental therapy. There are also options through FDAs regulations on expanded access to investigational new drugs when the patient has a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition. Finally, the new Right to Try legislation may offer an opportunity for access to an investigational new drug in particular circumstances as well. The key is that physicians and surgeons must be aware of the various opportunities for legal patient access to regenerative medicine therapies. Q: How will biologics companies respond to stricter regulations? BBB: First, it is important to note that FDAs HCT/P regulations themselves have not recently changed and therefore are not stricter than they have been in the recent past. Rather, FDA has issued more guidance documents to explain its regulations and how they are applied. FDA is also taking more enforcement actions against regenerative medicine products and entities than it historically has done. I think that different segments of the regenerative medicine industry not only biologics companies have different levels of awareness and understanding of FDAs requirements. For example, biologics companies are highly likely to understand that there are FDA requirements and regulations pertaining to regenerative medicine products with which they must comply. Even within that industry segment, however, larger companies are more likely to have the resources necessary to be aware of and to keep up with changes in this field. Similarly, large academic medical centers and universities are likely to have the appropriate infrastructure, such as technology transfer and legal departments, to be able to comply with these evolving requirements. My sense is that the larger entities across each of these segments are generally going to be the most risk-averse. In my opinion, small or solo physician practices may not be aware of the existing FDA regenerative medicine regulatory structure, much less with how FDA has been increasing its enforcement efforts. I think that small or solo practices need to understand that this regulatory infrastructure exists, as well as how FDA interprets its regulations. This knowledge will help these stakeholders to understand which regenerative medicine practices and therapies may fall outside of the practice of medicine and within the sphere of unapproved product manufacturing. Q: What are the long-term legal implications for making dubious claims about stem cell treatments? BBB: Dubious claims and the resulting enforcement actions of some entities may provide a taint to the entire industry. Negative stories get more press coverage, and this could result in a chilling effect for research and innovation in the regenerative medicine industry. We have already seen that FTC, which regulates truth in consumer advertising, is willing to take action in cases involving claims for regenerative medicine therapies. FTC focuses on consumer protection and requires claim substantiation. In the case of regenerative medicine, some patients may be particularly vulnerable depending upon their illness or condition. So all segments of this industry, including physicians and surgeons, should beware of making claims about the success of a treatment without supporting data. From a non-FDA and non-FTC perspective, all regenerative medicine stakeholders should be working towards the achievement of the best possible outcomes for patients. For the medical community in particular, that means helping patients make informed choices about their treatment options. Regenerative medicine therapies should not be taken off of the table, but they should be appropriately presented and should follow the legal frameworks that have been put in place. Emirates Steel, a leading steel plant in the UAE and a subsidiary of the General Holding Corporation (Senaat), held an event for its employees at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, celebrating the International Day of Happiness. The activities are the result of Emirates Steels commitment to ensuring a safe, productive and inspiring workplace environment for all those who work for the company, said a statement. Close to 1,000 employees participated in games and a wide range of activities, in addition to enjoying various selections of food trucks stationed in celebration of the International Day of Happiness, which occurs annually on March 20. Additionally, and within the activities of the day, several employees took part in raffle draws that included prizes, vouchers, and one night stays in world renowned hotels. Emirates Steels chief executive officer Engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi said: We pride ourselves on our safe, efficient and welcoming workplace culture at Emirates Steel, and we believe that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Celebrating the International Day of Happiness falls in line with our mission to inspire our staff to excel as well as our vision of being a world-class steel manufacturer, he added. TradeArabia News Service Little Rock-based Arkansas Neuroscience Institute Co-founder and Director Ali Krisht, MD, received the 2019 Herbert Olivecrona Award for his neurosurgery work, Arkansas Money & Politics reports. What you should know: 1. Dr. Krisht earned the honor sometimes known as the Nobel Prize for neurosurgery for his cerebrovascular, pituitary and skull base tumor surgery work. 2. He will receive the honor at the Scandinavian Neurosurgical Society meeting, May 19-20 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he will also deliver the conference's Olivecrona lecture. 3. Dr. Krisht is a renowned neurosurgeon. He earned his medical degree from Beirut, Lebanon-based American University of Beirut and completed a residency at Atlanta-based Emory University. 4. He is Contemporary Neurosurgery's chief editor and served as Pituitary Disorders: Comprehensive Management's main editor. 5. Dr. Krisht has written 20 book chapters and 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He has delivered more than 170 lectures and has directed more than 40 workshops and hands-on courses. Forecourt retailer Applegreen, which has six sites in Northern Ireland, is reviewing its newly-acquired hotel operation in the UK with all options on the table for the business Forecourt retailer Applegreen, which has six sites in Northern Ireland, is reviewing its newly-acquired hotel operation in the UK with all options on the table for the business. It's also involved in initial discussions in the United States that could see it further expand its footprint there. Applegreen has three motorway service stations in Northern Ireland, along with three smaller petrol stations. Applegreen acquired 29 hotel premises in Great Britain when it bought just over a 55% stake in UK motorway service operator Welcome Break last year in a 440m (377m) deal. Applegreen has an option to lift its stake to 70% within six years. But the hotels, operated under the Ramada and Days Inn brands, are outside Applegreen's core competencies. "It's not a sector we know a whole lot about," said chief executive Bob Etchingham. "We are learning, and we do anticipate coming to some conclusions on that before the year is out." Mr Etchingham said that it's "a little bit early" to speculate on the likely outcome of the review. "The first phase of this work is for the management team to get to know the sector and it isn't a business that we've been involved in at all," he said. "The second stage will be starting to look at the options. We're at the very beginning of the process. I don't want to pre-judge anything. You can imagine the full range of potential outcomes here, and I genuinely don't know where it's going to end up." Applegreen chief operating officer Joe Barrett also confirmed that the group is in initial talks with US-based CrossAmerica following a deal the American firm did late last year to acquire 192 forecourts from Circle-K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard in an asset swap. Applegreen has done previous deals in the US with CrossAmerica. Most recently, it signed a deal with CrossAmerica to lease 43 filling stations in Florida, expanding the Irish group's US presence. Applegreen currently has 121 outlets along the eastern seaboard in the United States, in South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York's Long Island. CrossAmerica indicated last year that it was already in talks with unnamed operators in relation to the 192 forecourts it will acquire over the next two years from Couche-Tard. "We're in discussions, but these things, they take time," Mr Barrett said. Mr Etchingham added: "It could happen, but then again it may not happen." The number of jobs in Northern Ireland has reached a record level of 773,750 with growth driven by the private sector, according to official figures. And the separate labour force survey, also published yesterday, said the local unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5% at the end of last year. The findings bring some "positivity" amid the gloom of Brexit uncertainty, Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said. But he warned that future data may be less cheerful after companies reported a slowdown in January. According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra), new jobs were being created in the services, manufacturing and construction industries. Jobs in manufacturing were at their highest level since 2004. However, while the local jobless rate was below the UK rate of 3.9%, the rate of long-term unemployment (those on the dole for more than a year) was 46.9%, compared to the UK's rate of 26.7%. The employment rate of 70.9% was another record high, while the economic inactivity rate was also down by 1.6 percentage points to 26.4%. However, that was still well above the UK's rate of 20.7%. During February 14 people were made redundant. That was the lowest monthly total since August of 13 years ago. But confirmed redundancies over the last year at 2,354 were up 30% than the previous 12 months. There were 565,480 private sector jobs, an increase over the quarter and over the year. And total employee jobs were 773,750, also a record level. Mr Ramsey said the labour market was a source of positivity amid Brexit gloom as robust jobs growth continued throughout 2018. And private companies had been the driver of jobs growth, adding 90,000 jobs in total since the nadir in employment in 2012. Services jobs, which count roles in everything from estate agents to restaurants, hit a new record high of 628,730, he said, while manufacturing added 2,110 jobs over the year. But he said the level of job creation concealed a deeper problem. "Northern Ireland's job creation performance has been encouraging from a numbers perspective. "However, it is worth remembering that despite an additional 53,100 private sector jobs (between quarter two 2008 and quarter four 2018), private sector output (as of Q3 2018) is still 3% below where it was over a decade ago. This highlights the issue of job quality and poor productivity." And he said that data for the first quarter of 2019 may tell a different story. "Conditions within the private sector have deteriorated markedly in Q1 2019. "This has been highlighted in the Ulster Bank Northern Ireland purchasing managers index (PMI). "Indeed, private sector firms reported their first fall in employment in four years in January. "In the past, the PMI has been a useful and accurate indicator of the direction of travel for the Northern Ireland economy. "Recent surveys point to a marked slowdown/stagnation in private sector growth." In the never-ending coverage of doom and gloom, there has emerged one positive retail story. Last week, Inditex, the Spanish retail giant which owns Zara announced profit growth of 3%. Now 10 years ago this would hardly make headline news, but in 2019, when retailers are crashing at an alarming rate, it prompts pause for thought. Inditex owns Pull & Bear, Bershka and Massimo Dutti, but the undoubted jewel in its crown is Zara. Its attainability has long been at the core of its long-standing dominance in the cut-throat retail market and its styles transfer universally, attracting shoppers from royals like Kate Middleton and Spain's Queen Letizia to the girl next door. As Instagram tightens its grip on the youth market, which expects teenagers and younger women in particular to embrace a copycat culture, Zara is using this practice to its advantage. Last year, the brand, whose Belfast store is due to reopen soon following the blaze in the adjacent Primark shop, significantly overhauled its digital department. It put more of a focus on online sales, while simultaneously investing heavily in its brick-and-mortar stores. In 210 of its biggest selling stores, mostly in the US and Europe, it launched augmented reality experiences allowing customers to see models wearing the clothes they've chosen via sensors. It was a dream marriage of the appealing ease of online shopping with a modernised in-store experience. Shopping patterns are changing - as we see with the near-monthly announcement of former retail behemoths being forced into administration - but Zara is a business which places the customer at its core. Its products are appealing, yes, but it is no better or worse than competitors like H&M, Marks & Spencer or Mango. So how is it so good at standing out from the crowd? Mainly by offering a fast, quantity-rich response to trends dictated by the big fashion houses. Last year, Zara released tan leather sandals for 25.99 in a style similar to a pair made by high-end brand Hermes, which sold for 490. The sandals sold out almost instantly and generated enough buzz for Zara to repeat the style again this spring/summer. Unsurprisingly, there's already a waiting list for the next delivery. It is particularly adept at its marketing strategy, carefully choosing which hero pieces are inspired by runway shows during Fashion Week (like the feather embellished robe first seen at Prada last summer) instead of adopting a one-trend-fits-all model and rolling out duplicate after duplicate. While fast-fashion brands like Boohoo and Missguided react to Kim Kardashian-inspired looks within a few days, Zara will roll out their looks a full season later, like a real designer. Its customers are part of the experience, and building brand loyalty through these tactics is a key to its endurance as a market leader. And unlike smaller designers like Issa, which crumbled under the weight of trying to cope with global demand after Kate Middleton wore its royal blue wrap dress announcing her engagement in 2011, Zara thrives in this type of reactive environment. On social media, bloggers and fashion influencers are also taking a step back to evaluate their #OOTD strategy. On the one hand, they want to showcase their frugality with on-trend high-street buys, but on the other hand they require cheaper clothing in order to allow their black Givenchy Antigona tote to be the focal point of a picture. Both of these are opportunities for Zara to shine. A bargain in Zara is one which is shouted from the rooftops and its response to sell-out stock in the form of waiting lists and email sign-ups allows the pattern to continue. It doesn't have quite the same effect as, "Thanks hun, Primark", but it's not far off. It retains its identity as a mid-scale store with designer look-a-likes aplenty mixed with respectable basics for reasonable prices. These days, simple, solid colour tops are hard to come by. Today, labels prefer signature designs, fabrics and styles to stand out on social media and in real life, but Zara understands that no day is the same for any woman, who requires an arsenal of clothing hanging in her wardrobe. It sells two collections: TRF, its low-priced basics line, which is aimed at younger women, while the more expensive Women's range is for when you've 'grown up', thus allowing a built-in customer experience to last years. It also has men's, children's and a homewares range. Last year, I was on holiday in Istanbul and I was wearing a black floral bomber jacket I bought in Zara in 2016. As I walked past a restaurant, a man asked confidently, 'Zara?' He said he used to work as a designer there and seemed genuinely thrilled to see it in real life, two years after it was on the market. That same jacket is one I joined two different waiting lists to get my hands on after seeing someone share it on Instagram. Such is the cult of Zara, that more than one colleague of mine owns it as well and we have been to known to double up on it in the office. So, what's the secret to its success? The effective model it has built over the last 44 years. It's just that now the rest of the world is noticing. Glen O'Rorke, from Bangor, with his Paramedic of the Year Award. Credit: NIAS A Bangor man has won the UK Paramedic of the Year Award. Glen O'Rorke picked up the prize at the Ambulance Leadership Forum Conference in Warwick on Tuesday evening. He is currently the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) operation lead for the HEMS (Air Ambulance) project for Northern Ireland, which is delivered with the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland charity. I felt very proud and privileged to be nominated as UK Paramedic of the Year," he said. "It came as a huge surprise, knowing how many paramedics are out there delivering a gold standard of care particular in NIAS. Mr O'Rorke shared the credit for the award, referencing the tragic events at the Greenvale Hotel on Sunday where three young people lost their lives. "This award is a reflection of the contribution to patient care of all the teams I have worked with throughout my career ACAs, EMTs, Control, Paramedics and more recently the HEMS team in NI," he said. "The ambulance service is a huge family and I pay tribute to each and every one of them and I consider it an honour to work alongside them on a daily basis. "I would like to give a special thanks to the NIAS and Air Ambulance Northern Ireland who have given me the opportunity, and absolute privilege, to do what I love doing working with, and for, patients. Dr Nigel Ruddell, NIAS medical director, said: I think Glenn absolutely epitomises all the best qualities of the paramedic profession. In terms of providing care for patients, he has been uncompromising in his standards. "Recently he has worked really hard to develop a team of paramedics and doctors who work alongside him on the HEMS service and, in doing so, he has raised standards for the care of serious trauma patients, right across Northern Ireland. Michael Bloomfield, NIAS chief executive, said: I congratulate Glenn on this well deserved national award. It is recognition of his exceptional contribution to the establishment and delivery of the HEMS service and also reflects the high standard of care provided by everyone, every day in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. An east Belfast man is to stand trial for allegedly subjecting his step daughter to a nine-year campaign of sexual abuse, a judge ordered today. The 55-year-old appeared before the city's Magistrates Court to face five charges of gross indecency with a child. He is further accused of indecently assaulting a second female. The alleged offences were committed on dates between January 1990 and January 1998. The man cannot be named to protect the identities of both complainants. During a preliminary enquiry he confirmed that he understood the charges. He declined to give evidence or call witnesses during the brief hearing. Defence counsel Sean O'Hare did not contest prosecution submissions that his client has a case to answer. On that basis District Judge Fiona Bagnall granted an application to have the accused returned for Crown Court trial. He was released on continuing bail until those proceedings get underway on a date to be fixed. Attempts are being made to have two barristers certified to represent him at trial due to the complexities of the case. Mr O'Hare set out how the accused faced historical allegations involving substantial issues of law. A decision on whether to allow legal aid for two counsel will be made later. A woman in her 70's was left badly shaken after two masked men broke into her home in south Belfast. The PSNI received a report of a burglary at a house in the Castlecoole Park area on Tuesday evening. Detective Sergeant McCallum said: Shortly after 8:20pm, it was reported that two masked men entered a house in the area and into an upstairs bedroom. "A woman in her 70s was in the bedroom at the time of the incident, as the males demanded money from her. The males then left the house empty handed and the female resident was left badly shaken, but not injured. The males are described as being around 510 and wearing dark coloured clothing and gloves. We are appealing to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference number 1390 19/3/19. Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime. Swiss International Air Lines (Swiss) plans to further strengthen its positioning as a premium air carrier by introducing a new Premium Economy Class on its long-haul aircraft fleet. The additional class of travel will supplement the three existing classes First, Business and Economy from spring 2021. The new product will initially be available on the companys Boeing 777-300ERs, with each aircraft offering 24 Premium Economy seats. In the medium term, the new product should be extended to the entire Swiss long-haul fleet. Swiss will embark on the cabin conversion work required in winter 2020/21, and the new Premium Economy Class product will be available from spring 2021. SWISS will be investing a total of some CHF40 million ($40 million) in installing the new seating class on its Boeing 777 fleet. For Economy Class travellers seeking more inflight comfort, Premium Economy will offer a totally new air travel experience. The new class of travel will feature a newly developed seat providing extensive legroom and movement. All in all, our Premium Economy Class travellers will enjoy a substantially stronger sense of personal space, said Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Swiss chief commercial officer. By introducing the new class of travel, Swiss is responding to a growing demand for an air travel product between Economy and Business Class. The decision to offer the new seating class has also been encouraged by the positive experiences with such a product at Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, Swiss sister companies within the Lufthansa Group. - TradeArabia News Service Pushing ahead with Brexit knowing that public opinion has swung towards Remain would be a tragedy, MPs have been told. Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee that the different context facing the electorate three years on from the 2016 referendum justified another vote. Mr Farry said that while there was no guarantee that Remain would win a so-called Peoples Vote, opinion polls consistently demonstrated there was now a majority in favour of staying in the EU. However, Ulster Unionist Assembly member Steve Aiken warned against a second vote, telling committee members it would be divisive. The people of the UK did vote in a certain way in June 2016. The context today in 2019 is very differentStephen Farry The politicians were giving evidence to the committee as part of its examination of the contentious border backstop mechanism in the Brexit withdrawal treaty. Mr Farry warned that a hard border would be next to impossible to manage. He accused leaders of the Leave campaign of 2016 of engaging in lies and misrepresentation and making promises that were utterly incapable of being fulfilled. He said an opportunity for another vote should be taken but accepted that window may have closed in light of developments at Westminster and the prospect of a short Brexit extension that would not provide sufficient time for a referendum. Let's be fundamentally clear, a second referendum would be the most divisive thing possibleSteve Aiken The people of the UK did vote in a certain way in June 2016. The context today in 2019 is very different, he said. We now know a lot more and events have conspired in certain ways and perhaps forced a different range of choices on the country as a whole. We have a situation where, perhaps, some people have changed their minds, and I think it would be a tragedy if the UK was to be dragged out of the European Union, particularly if theres now any chance that theres a majority opinion across the UK as a whole to remain. He said 1.5 million more young people are eligible to vote since the 2016 poll, adding: Their views are very important to take into account as well. He said there was a consensus among economists that leaving the EU would have a negative impact on the UK. The optimal economic outcome is staying in the EU, he added. He rejected a claim from DUP committee member Ian Paisley that he was a bad loser. Mr Aiken cautioned against a second vote. Expand Close Steve Aiken (Liam McBurney/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Steve Aiken (Liam McBurney/PA) Lets be fundamentally clear, a second referendum would be the most divisive thing possible, and I think to even bring the concept of a second referendum at the moment would fundamentally undermine what we are trying to do and get any semblance of normality going ahead in Northern Ireland, he said. I think its not just an issue for Northern Ireland, its an issue for Scotland. And I think any people who are advocating for a second referendum at the moment need to very seriously consider their motivations. Mr Aiken also expressed surprise at how the border backstop, which could put Northern Ireland under different rules to the rest of the UK if triggered, was allowed into the withdrawal deal. He questioned the DUPs influence on the minority UK Government and asked whether the party had been asleep at the wheel when the mechanism was inserted into the text. Mr Aiken also said the Irish Government had been unhelpful in the Brexit debate, accusing premier Leo Varadkar and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney of ramping up tensions unnecessarily. Former Stormont justice minister Claire Sugden also appeared before the committee. Expand Close Claire Sugden (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Claire Sugden (Brian Lawless/PA) The independent unionist MLA said she could not see a return of devolved government at Stormont until Brexit had been resolved. She suggested that if Brexit was extended, the powersharing impasse would also be prolonged. The opportunities for the (Stormont) executive to be formed are impacted by Brexit, so if Brexit is pushed back then I do think, potentially, the executive being formed could be pushed back as well, she said. Ms Sugden also criticised Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley for refusing to meet her since she took office, accusing her of disrespecting her constituents in East Londonderry. The owner of the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after three teenagers died in the queue for a St Patrick's night disco. Michael McElhatton and a member of the door staff at the hotel were in police custody last night. Detectives from the PSNI's Major Investigations Team said the men, aged 52 and 40, were arrested yesterday. Read More Lauren Bullock (17) from Donaghmore, and Morgan Barnard (17) and Connor Currie (16), both from Dungannon, died following the crush at the hotel door as crowds of young people waited to gain entry. Addressing the media yesterday, head of the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said that officers had already spoken to more than 160 witnesses. They believe that as many as 400 people could have been at the scene. He also said it was remarkable police were dealing with just three deaths. Expand Close Connor Currie PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Connor Currie "I think we are fortunate, if that's the right word to use in these circumstances, that we are looking at three deaths. We could easily have been looking at many more," he said. Mr Murray said several parents had expressed concern that their children, who may be under age, were trying to enter a licensed premises. "That is not going to be an issue," he added. "I have spoken to the Public Prosecution Service. That should not be an inhibition to any young person coming forward to tell us what they know. Expand Close Lauren Bullock Photopress / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lauren Bullock "Our aim is to establish the absolute facts, to find out how three teenagers came to die at what should have been a celebratory event. That is our absolute focus." In the course of just over one working day Mr Murray revealed police had already contacted more than 160 witnesses and plan to speak to a large number of them in the next few days. "There are a large number of witnesses," he said. "We would ask people to be patient. The investigation has to be given time. "We have some initial indications as to what has happened. It's obvious there was a crush situation at the door and this appeared to go on for quite a period of time. "To parents, please talk to your children and support them as we know you will, to come forward and tell their story. That is absolutely critical to us getting an accurate picture of what has happened. We owe that to Connor, Morgan and Lauren to establish the facts." Expand Close Morgan Barnard PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Morgan Barnard There was also praise for those who helped rescue people at the scene. "We have seen people working hard in the crowd at the door to get other people back on their feet and all credit to them for that," said DCI Murray. "There are a lot of people who had a very lucky escape that night. This was an event that should have been a celebration and it turned into every parent's worst nightmare." Books of condolence have been opened in Cookstown, Dungannon and Magherafelt, from where many of those attending the hotel disco hail. Among those leaving messages of sympathy at the Burnavon Arts Centre in Cookstown, council chairman Sean McPeake said there had been "an outpouring of grief in the local community". "This is a mechanism for local people to show their respect and feelings for the families of the three young people who lost their lives so tragically last weekend," he said. Other books of condolence are available at Ranfurly House in Dungannon and the Bridewell in Magherafelt. A steady stream of people turned up throughout yesterday to give their condolences. The Education Authority said it had a critical incident team working in five schools across Mid Ulster following the tragedy. Chairwoman Sharon O'Connor said: "The EA Youth Service has also opened its facilities at Ogras Youth Club in Coalisland, Dungannon Youth Resource Centre and Cookstown Youth Resource Centre and we encourage any young person affected by this tragedy to engage with our youth workers." Last night the council, health organisations, police, education and community partners met to share information and discuss the co-ordination of support services for young people and their families impacted by the tragedy. The multi-agency partnership has shared advice for parents, care givers and teachers supporting children and young people after major trauma which families in the immediate aftermath of the events have found beneficial at http://bit.ly/GreenvaleAdviceForParents The owner of a hotel in Cookstown has been released on police bail after three teenagers died at his premises on St Patrick's Day. Michael McElhatton (52) was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Tuesday following the deaths of the teenagers at the Greenvale Hotel. Police confirmed he had been released on bail to return for further questioning at a later date. On Wednesday police said they had seized suspected Class A drugs following a search at a house in Moneymore on Tuesday. But Mr McElhatton was de-arrested following fast-track forensic examination of the white powder substance and tin foil found during the search. Read More In a statement Mr McElhatton said that he had "nothing whatsoever" to do with drugs. "While I wished to respect the ongoing investigation by the police into the tragic deaths of the three young people at the Greenvale Hotel on St Patrick's night, I have no choice but to make it completely clear that I have nothing whatsoever to do with drugs," the statement read. "I can assure everyone that whatever any suspicions the police have raised about me in relation to anything to do with drugs is totally without any basis." Mr McElhatton said the powdery substance was taken by police from the laundry. "I am shocked and horrified that the powdery substance taken by police from the laundry in my house could be drugs," he said. Expand Close Morgan Barnard, Lauren Bullock and Connor Currie. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Morgan Barnard, Lauren Bullock and Connor Currie. Following the "de-arrest" police released a clarification confirming that there was "no suspicion of any crime relating to misuse of drugs on behalf of the person who still remains in custody". Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said that the action taken by police was in "good faith and in line with procedure". "We will continue to carry out a rigorous investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these three young people and we are deeply grateful for the huge assistance we are receiving from the community and we hope that people will continue to come forward and assist us with this enquiry, he said. A spokesperson for Mr McElhatton had confirmed on Tuesday evening that he had been arrested in connection with the manslaughter charge. A 40-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Tuesday. He remains in police custody. Lauren Bullock (17) from Donaghmore, and Morgan Barnard (17) and Connor Currie (16), both from Dungannon, died following a crush at the hotel door as crowds of young people waited to gain entry. Their funerals will take place on Friday. Around 400 people were trying to get into the venue after being dropped off by buses on Sunday night. Police said a crush at the door resulted in some people falling. Officers said people struggled to get off the ground and there was confusion in the immediate aftermath between 9pm and 10pm. A major police investigation into the deaths was launched on Monday. A memorial service is held at Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown yesterday to pay tribute to Lauren Bullock, Morgan Barnard and Connor Currie A memorial service is held at Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown yesterday to pay tribute to Lauren Bullock, Morgan Barnard and Connor Currie A memorial service is held at Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown yesterday to pay tribute to Lauren Bullock, Morgan Barnard and Connor Currie A memorial service is held at Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown yesterday to pay tribute to Lauren Bullock, Morgan Barnard and Connor Currie A memorial service is held at Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown yesterday to pay tribute to Lauren Bullock, Morgan Barnard and Connor Currie A principal whose pupils were caught up in the Greenvale Hotel tragedy has said it has left the community in a state of numbness, shock and disbelief. Mrs Isabel Russell, head teacher of Holy Trinity College in Cookstown was speaking to hundreds of her pupils who had gathered at a special church service in the town yesterday. Read More The students were joined by pupils from Cookstown High and St Mary's Grammar School in Magherafelt. The service was held in Holy Trinity Church less than 24 hours after students from two Dungannon schools gathered in prayer for their three friends who died in the crush outside a hotel disco on Sunday evening. Expand Close Connor Currie PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Connor Currie Morgan Barnard (17) and 16-year-old Connor Currie both attended St Patrick's Academy in Dungannon, while Lauren Bullock (17), was a pupil at sister school St Patrick's College. At Holy Trinity yesterday, students gathered in solidarity with the Dungannon community. On behalf of staff and students, Mrs Russell extended their heartfelt sympathies to the teenagers' families. She said what should have been a evening of enjoyment for young people had descended into unimaginable loss. "It should have been a night of enjoyment as we celebrated our national saint, St Patrick," she explained. "But instead it was a night of disbelief, shock and numbness as we learned of the deaths of the three students." Expand Close Lauren Bullock Photopress / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lauren Bullock The principal continued: "They probably didn't have a care in the world and looking forward to a night out with their friends. "I am sure there are so many questions that everyone would like answered. Why did this happen? "Why did God allow three young people to taken away so tragically? But we don't have the answers." She then revealed that a number of her own students who were there as the horrifying events on Sunday night unfolded were still struggling to come to terms with the tragic event. "Some of them relayed their experiences to us yesterday afternoon," revealed Mrs Russell. "We listened, we gave them time to talk. We allowed them time to discuss their thoughts and feelings. "And we will continue to support them in the days ahead." Expand Close Morgan Barnard PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Morgan Barnard Urging prayers for the emergency services personnel who tended to the injured, she said former students who left the college a year ago, had also helped at the hotel. "I am very proud that some past pupils were there to assist and do whatever was possible," she said. She then pleaded with the young people to take care of themselves on nights out, particularly in large groups. "Take care of each other," she urged. Mrs Russell then directly addressed pupils who had been directly affected to come forward and seek help. "If you need to speak to anyone let us know," she added. "We won't have all the answers but we will do our best to support you." In a poignant moment three white candles were lit by students - each one representing the devastating loss of their peers. Students, may of whom were tearful throughout the service, bowed their heads for a moment's silence. Fr Laurence Boyle told the students that they had "united in grief" for the service. He also welcomed staff members of Greenvale Hotel and community leaders to the service. "We are united through this tragedy," he added. "This is a time of great shock and grief for our community, the families of those teenagers who lost their lives." He said on St Patrick's night "tragedy came to Cookstown" which had brought "panic, and then a silence" which had fallen over the town. "Yesterday, silence befell the whole community," he said. "No words but silence, no words we can use. "Today at Cookstown, where this tragedy happened, we too have fallen into silence." The priest stressed, however, that silence is also prayer, and he urged the young people to think of Morgan, Lauren and Connor in their own prayers. He added the community would continue to grapple with what had happened. "We pray for those who have died, the families and those who have suffered loss and for this tragic event," he added. Dee Stitt said a major Stormont-funded project which he led was all about improving young peoples chances of education (Michael McHugh/PA) Dee Stitt has said a major Stormont-funded project which he led was all about improving young peoples chances of education. The loyalist ex-prisoner resigned as chief executive of Charter NI last year following negative media attention. The East Belfast-based group received funding worth 1.7 million from the former Stormont Executive. Mr Stitt said: That was making a positive difference in our area and community, that is what we did for 10 or so years and that is why we are here today. .@COPNI Eddie Lynch addresses ex prisoners at todays @OpenDoorsEPFC seminar in Antrim. @eastside2020, Tom Roberts from EPIC, Seamus McHenry from Teach Na Failte and Leo Foy from The Plough have spoken on the challenges facing former combatants https://t.co/4tHEIJfNJl pic.twitter.com/6bwfsgWjbo Co-operation Ireland (@cooperationirl) March 20, 2019 He said the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) grant was about filling the gaps within his community. He addressed a seminar in Co Antrim on Wednesday as part of an Open Doors Project with former paramilitary inmates. He said: We are all working together in the Open Door Project and building positive relations between former enemy groups, that is what we are doing, and I think we have made a real positive difference. SIF was getting involved in projects that were there to create employment opportunities for our people that were educated.Dee Stitt Charter NI is a community-based organisation in east Belfast, set up in 2000, which aims to provide people with training and employment opportunities. Mr Stitt stepped aside as chief executive in September. On Wednesday, he said: SIF was getting involved in projects that were there to create employment opportunities for our people that were educated. So we were lobbying for projects at a Government level that was going to fill the gaps within our community, that was going to educate and give people the opportunities to get into employment. Furthermore, it was going to give our ex-prisoners and combatants the opportunity of getting into employment. So that was the strategy that we implemented within Charter NI and that took us to that level. Staff attending the @UrbanVillagesNI Community Stakeholder Engagement event Great to hear some of the great initiatives including our very own tourism project & Getting ready for our #DiamondProject fitness hub Capital build going live in the next couple of weeks#ThrivingPlaces pic.twitter.com/jx4FcNNFDr Charter NI (@CharterNI) March 11, 2019 Mr Stitt recalled his release from prison more than 20 years ago. He said: When I got out of prison in 1997 there was nothing there for me when I got out. Former military leaders in the areas were educating themselves. Before, they had skills but they put those skills to other uses during the conflict.Dee Stitt He faced the barriers to employment confronted by all who had engaged in politically-motivated violence. Ex-prisoners and ex-combatants were taking the lead in taking a role in education within their own immediate areas. Former military leaders in the areas were educating themselves. Before, they had skills but they put those skills to other uses during the conflict. They transferred those skills into that education field. Members of the community saw the former combatants educating themselves, Mr Stitt said. That was giving our young people the inspiration to get involved in those processes themselves whenever education was not valued within loyalist communities at that particular time. That was giving our people the confidence to get into the employment sector. DUP leader Arlene Foster has signed a book of condolence in Cookstown for the victims of the Greenvale Hotel tragedy. Three teenagers died during a St Patrick's Day disco at the hotel in what police believe was a "crushing" incident. Tributes to Lauren Bullock (17), Morgan Barnard (17) and Connor Currie (16) have poured in from across Northern Ireland since the news broke on Sunday night. Read More Writing in a book of condolence in the Burnavon Arts Centre, Mrs Foster said: "As a mother of two teenage children I cannot begin to comprehend the pain and anguish the families are enduring. Expand Close Message of condolence from Arlene Foster / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Message of condolence from Arlene Foster Expand Close Morgan Barnard PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Morgan Barnard "May god give you strength to deal with the days, weeks and months to come. "Mathew 5 v4: Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted." Expand Close Connor Currie PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Connor Currie Speaking following her visit to Cookstown, the DUP leader said: "The tragic loss of life has been felt across the entire area of Cookstown, Dungannon and beyond. "There are many homes in Northern Ireland who have been devastated by tragedy over the bank holiday weekend. I want to pass on my condolences to the families involved and I pray God will strengthen them all in the days ahead." At a service at the Holy Trinity Church in Cookstown on Tuesday, which was attended by many classmates of the victims, Fr Laurence Boyle said the students were "united in grief". Expand Close Lauren Bullock Photopress / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lauren Bullock "We are united through this tragedy. This is a time of great shock and grief for our community, the families of those teenagers who lost their lives," he said. Councillor Sean McPeake, chairman of Mid Ulster District Council, said there had been an outpouring of grief in the local community. "The loss is quite simply unimaginable and my heartfelt sympathies go to the families and friends who are grieving," he said. "There is a widespread outpouring of grief among local people and to help the community express their sympathies with the families at such a terrible time." Dr Andrew Murrison has urged the Government to legislate to help victims of institutional abuse in Northern Ireland as soon as possible (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA) A senior MP has urged the Government to legislate to help victims of institutional abuse in Northern Ireland as soon as possible. Committee chair Dr Andrew Murrison said he had seen no indication devolution was about to be restored any time soon. Retired judge Sir Anthony Hart recommended compensation be paid to the victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse while they were in the care of religious orders in residential homes. His recommendations have not been implemented due to the collapse of powersharing. Dr Murrison said: One MLA recently told us that she had no hope of an Executive being restored being restored this year. This is, of course, hugely disappointing but there must be a degree of realism about this in your department. The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee chairman wrote to Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley. He added: If there is no Northern Ireland Assembly or Executive in place, then legislation necessary to implement those recommendations should be taken through Westminster as soon as possible. Northern Irelands Civil Service has completed draft legislation. The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry had been tasked with investigating allegations of abuse and neglect in childrens residential homes, run by religious, charitable and state organisations. Its remit covered a 73-year-period from 1922 to 1995. The Hart inquiry recommended a payment should be made to all survivors of institutional child abuse, with sums ranging from 7,500 to 100,000. The survivors solicitor, Kevin Winters, said: There is no foreseeable end to the intransigence which prevents Stormont from operating by way of political consensus and therefore, on behalf of the victims of institutional abuse in Northern Ireland, whether by the church or the state, a redress scheme must be bought forward as soon as possible. This has been achieved in Scotland and if it needs to be done from Westminster then such action must be taken by the Secretary of State to meet the demands of victims. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley will not make any attempt to restore power-sharing institutions until after May's local elections, Sinn Fein has claimed. Party vice president Michelle O'Neill said Mrs Bradley had also confirmed her intention to activate a five-month extension to her legal obligation to call a fresh Assembly election. Under legislation introduced last year, Mrs Bradley is theoretically under a legal duty to call an election if devolved ministers are not in place by the end of March. But the laws, which also included measures to make it easier for civil servants to make decisions in the absence of ministers, incorporated an option to extend that deadline by five months. Mrs O'Neill claimed the DUP was the "single biggest impediment" to the restoration of the Stormont Executive. I spoke to the British Secretary of State by phone today and she confirmed that her government will not be making any attempt to restore the power-sharing institutions prior to the local government elections on May 2nd," she said. She also confirmed that she intends to extend by five months the legislation she introduced last year as her supposed plan to restore the institutions. Since then, her government has done absolutely nothing to resolve the issues at the heart of the impasse. "Can we expect the same for the next five months?" Expand Close Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley (Stefan Rousseau/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mrs O'Neill said the British Government refuses to act on issues like marriage equality, an Irish Language Act, legacy bodies and compensation for victims of institutional abuse. She added: Karen Bradleys government is wholly reliant on the DUP in order to cling to power, and this toxic relationship, alongside Brexit, has become the biggest impediment to restoring the power-sharing institutions on the basis of genuine equality and respect. The DUP are at complete odds with the cross-community majority of MLAs and public here who oppose their reckless Brexit agenda and their ongoing refusal to treat all citizens equally. Power-sharing can and should be restored but that will require Karen Bradleys government finally confronting the DUPs discriminatory agenda and upholding their own responsibilities to citizens and the equality of treatment. East Antrim DUP MLA Gordon Lyons said that his party would be willing to return to Stormont "immediately". "Will Michelle ONeill join us? Sinn Fein continue to veto the restoration of devolution but complain about a lack of movement on issues which are the direct responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly," Mr Lyons said. "Sinn Fein continue to veto the operation of an Assembly in which no single party has enough MLAs to trigger the Petition of Concern. "Events of the last few days have also shone a light on Sinn Feins approach towards equality and respect. Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill appear seem to care far more about proving their green credentials to the republican backwoods than about working with unionists to deliver on health, education and the issues that actually matter to all of the people we represent. Stormont crashed in January 2017 when the last DUP/Sinn Fein led coalition imploded amid a row about a botched green energy scheme. That dispute later widened to take in issues such as the Irish language, LGBT rights and the legacy of the Troubles. A number of efforts to negotiate a resolution to the long-running logjam have ended in failure. The man is currently in police custody A man has been charged with possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances and fraudulently using a vehicle registration mark after police searches in west Belfast. The 37-year-old man was detained following an operation at a house in the Andersonstown area on Tuesday night, which police said was in relation to organised crime. He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday. As is normal procedure the charges will be reviewed by the PPS. Flag carrier Royal Jordanian (RJ) is celebrating Mother's Day this year with a special discount of 21 per cent of its airfares. The offer will be valid for 24 hours on March 21, and available through RJs online channels. This sales promotion applies to round-trip fares for all RJs global destinations (excluding travel originating from the US and Canada) in Economy and Business classes, for travel between May 1 and December 15. Those taking advantage of this sales promo can enjoy a maximum stay of 30 days and a minimum stay of three days at their destinations. - TradeArabia News Service Theresa May is seeking a short Brexit delay amid suggestions of a Tory backlash if the Government requested a longer extension of EU membership. In a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk on Wednesday, the Prime Minister is believed to be asking for a three-month extension to June 30 in the hope of securing approval from MPs for her Withdrawal Agreement. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) A Number 10 source said: PM wont be asking for a long extension. There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward, but the people of this country have been waiting nearly three years now. They are fed up with Parliaments failure to take a decision and the PM shares their frustration. Mrs Mays move comes exactly 1,000 days after the referendum of June 23 2016, which delivered a 52%-48% majority for leaving the EU. It will dismay hardline Leavers still hoping for a no-deal clean Brexit on the scheduled withdrawal date of March 29. Tory tensions came to the fore at a fractious Cabinet discussion of the planned letter on Tuesday. Any request for extra time is subject to unanimous approval by leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. As long as we don't know what Great Britain will say Yes to, we can't come to a resolutionJean-Claude Juncker European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he had not received Mrs Mays letter, but was hoping for clarity from the UK on the way forward. He suggested that agreement on an extension to Article 50 might not be reached at this weeks European Council summit, and that EU leaders might have to meet again next week to finalise it. Speaking to German radio station DRF, Mr Juncker said: We will probably have to meet again next week, because Mrs May has not got agreement for anything either in her Cabinet or her Parliament. As long as we dont know what Great Britain will say Yes to, we cant come to a resolution. If that doesn't happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God. And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patienceJean-Claude Juncker Mr Juncker said the EU had already moved a long way to accommodate the UKs demands, and there would be no more negotiations. I am ready for any movement, but we have already moved intensively towards Britain, he said, adding: There isnt any more. Asked about indications from Downing Street that Mrs May will request a short extension, Mr Juncker told DRF: Those months would have to produce, as an end result, an agreement from the British Parliament to the (Agreement) text which is before them. If that doesnt happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God. And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience. Asked if the EU would then rule out any further compromise, Mr Juncker said: We are not in a state of war with the UK, but a state of negotiation. But the negotiations are finished. Expand Close Andrea Leadsom (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Andrea Leadsom (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said the PM is extremely frustrated but remains determined to take us out of the EU and hopes to do so without participating in EU elections. She told LBC: Its absolutely essential were out of the EU before the European elections. It would be extraordinary for the people who voted to leave the EU to find us fielding candidates for these next elections. Shes absolutely working her socks off to get to that point so, in seeking a short extension, she and her Cabinet will be determined to get further progress on the meaningful vote so we can get her deal voted through in Parliament. Mrs Leadsom is understood to have told fellow ministers on Tuesday: This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now, from what Im hearing, its not. Education Secretary Damian Hinds said a short extension was the right choice. Expand Close Education Secretary Damian Hinds (Stefan Rousseau/PA PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Education Secretary Damian Hinds (Stefan Rousseau/PA He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I dont see how a long delay gives certainty, actually, weve had a long time already. Unless and until a deal is finalised, there remains the prospect, the risk, of no deal. In terms of timing there has already been two-plus years to do this and I think people are a bit tired of waiting for Parliament to get our act together and get the deal passed. Labours Alison McGovern will call for an emergency debate in the Commons on Brexit on Wednesday. Theresa May has blamed MPs for failing to implement the result of the 2016 EU referendum, and told voters who want Brexit to be over: I am on your side. In a televised address from Downing Street, Mrs May said that it was a matter of great personal regret for her to have to ask for a three-month delay to Britains withdrawal from the EU, which was due to take place on March 29. She will go to Brussels on Thursday to make a formal request to the other 27 EU leaders for an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process. Earlier, European Council president Donald Tusk said he believed a short delay would be possible after he spoke to the Prime Minister by phone. Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough.Theresa May But he said that the extension which must be agreed unanimously by the EU27 was likely to be conditional on Mrs May succeeding in forcing her twice-rejected Brexit deal through Parliament. The PM made the request in a letter to Mr Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU. Speaking behind a lectern in 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said that MPs who rejected her deal by 230 votes in January and 149 last week had been unable to agree on a way to implement the UKs withdrawal. And in a message directed at voters, she added: Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, youre tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our childrens schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. Expand Close Donald Tusk said a short delay to Brexit should be possible if MPs approve Mrs Mays deal (Frank Augstein/AP/PA) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Tusk said a short delay to Brexit should be possible if MPs approve Mrs Mays deal (Frank Augstein/AP/PA) You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide. The Prime Minister said MPs had so far done everything possible to avoid making a decision on the way forward. She warned that an extended delay mean staging bitter and divisive elections to the European Parliament at a time the country needed bringing back together. I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I have negotiated with the EU. I will continue to work night and day to secure the support of my colleagues, the DUP and others for this deal. But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. In his statement, Mr Tusk said it should be possible for EU leaders meeting in Brussels to approve an extension to Article 50, although the question remains open as to the duration. Even if the hope for final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking - until the very last moment - a positive solution. #euco Charles Michel (@eucopresident) March 20, 2019 He said it should then be possible to finalise the deal through the written procedure without the need for another summit provided it secured the backing of MPs. But after the tumultuous events of recent weeks he appeared to acknowledge the difficulties facing the Prime Minister, describing the hopes of success as frail, even illusory. Although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution, he said. We have reacted with patience and goodwill to numerous turns of events and I am confident that also now we will not lack the same patience and goodwill at this most critical point in this process. If the delay is approved by the EU leaders, Mrs May will rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the March 29 leaving date from Brexit laws. Expand Close Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after making a statement about Brexit in Downing Street PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after making a statement about Brexit in Downing Street At a stormy session of Prime Ministers Questions she told MPs she intended to table her Withdrawal Agreement for a third time in the Commons, in the hope of overturning massive defeats inflicted on it in January and March. Aides declined to name a date for the third meaningful vote known in Westminster as MV3 but said it would happen as soon as possible. Earlier, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned the PM that Brexit would have to be complete before May 23 or the UK would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn was criticised after pulling out of talks with other opposition party leaders and the Prime Minister after members of the breakaway Independent Group turned up to the meeting. Chuka Umunna, the Independent Group spokesman, said it was extraordinary behaviour in a national crisis by the Labour leader. A Labour spokesman said it was not the meeting that had been agreed and that they were in discussions with No 10 about a separate bilateral meeting between Mr Corbyn and Mrs May. A threatened Lords revolt over huge cuts to renewable energy subsidies in Northern Ireland has been avoided after assurances from the Government. Ministers have hinted at financial aid for those who will suffer genuine hardship as a result of reduced payments, although details remain sketchy. The Government moved to allay peers' concerns in the face of a potential defeat in the House of Lords of the Northern Ireland (Regional Rates and Energy) (No 2) Bill. It contains changes to the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, with annual returns for the most common RHI boilers being reduced from 13,000 to 2,000 from April 1. The scheme was closed to new entrants in 2016 after claims the tariffs were overly generous, and the controversy around how it was handled at Stormont led in part to the collapse of the Assembly. The Government has argued the subsidies need to be cut to comply with state aid rules. Failure to do so would mean the RHI scheme having to close completely, as it would be in breach of EU law. Former Ulster Unionist leader Lord Empey called for the changes to not come into force until the Northern Ireland Affairs committee had completed its investigation into the initiative to ensure "fairness". Northern Ireland Minister Lord Duncan of Springbank said the scheme had been "flawed in almost every possible way, to the extent in which we can almost describe its construction as a good old fashioned scandal". The Tory frontbencher told peers that he wanted the Department for the Economy to set up an internal unit under independent chairmanship which would examine individual claims of hardship by RHI participants. "That each element of their case is considered in detail, thoroughly and with their participation to understand exactly what that hardship looks like." Along with the parliamentary inquiry, it would "help inform" the voluntary buyout option for those who do not want to stay in the scheme. Promising to put the assurances in writing, Lord Duncan said: "We need to be in a situation where the compensation element of this is adequate and informed by these elements." He added: "Appropriate funds must be set aside to address these issues." The Bill later received an unopposed third reading. A former senior police officer from Northern Ireland is applying for a parliamentary petition to sanction Boris Johnson for recent comments he made about investment in historic child abuse investigations. Jim Gamble, from Co Down, is the former chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. Mr Johnson claimed during an interview with LBC last week that police funding was being "spaffed up the wall" investigating historical child abuse cases. The former foreign secretary said "an awful lot of police time" was spent looking at "historic offences and all this malarkey". Mr Gamble, who was the senior child protection officer in the UK's first investigation into the disappearance of Madeline McCann, said on social media that he needed five UK citizens to support his suggested petition. Im applying for a parliamentary petition to sanction #BorisJohnson for his inappropriate comments abt the investment in historic #childabuse investigations. First hurdle I need 5 people (UK citizens) to support my suggested petition. DM me if u r willing to be one of the 5. Jim Gamble (@JimGamble_INEQE) March 20, 2019 Mr Gamble said Mr Johnson's comments were "inappropriate and hurtful". He added: "They're not 'malarkey' nor is the money being 'spaffed' up a wall". This is the link to my application for a parliamentary petition to sanction #BorisJohnson for his inappropriate & hurtful comments abt the investment in historic #ChildAbuse investigations. Theyre not Malarkey nor is the money being spaffed up a wall. https://t.co/vFTIeWTooE Jim Gamble (@JimGamble_INEQE) March 20, 2019 Alliance MLA's Naomi Long and Paula Bradshaw have both signed the petition. I was more than happy to sign this. Mr Johnson may play the clown but his motives are selfish, sinister and damaging and he is unfit for public office. https://t.co/G48MiMYSGh Paula Bradshaw MLA (@PaulaJaneB) March 20, 2019 If a petition gets 10,000 signatures, the government will respond. If it gets 100,000, it will be be considered for debate in Parliament. The devastated fiance of tragic young mum Ruth Maguire has paid tribute to his "soul mate". Ruth was due to marry her partner of 12 years James Griffin in August. The mother-of-three's body was found in Carlingford Lough on Monday after disappearing from a friend's hen party on Saturday. Read More Mr Griffin wrote on Facebook: "I would like to say a big thank you to Kilkeel coastguards, the emergency services, Garda and the local people from Carlingford for everything they have done to find Ruth. "I would also like to say thank you for all the kind messages I'm getting regarding Ruth's passing. "Ruth will be missed more than she will ever know by myself and our three children and families. "Ruth wasn't just my partner, she was my soul mate." Expand Close Ruth and James with children Tyler (10), Lydia (7) and Oliver (5) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruth and James with children Tyler (10), Lydia (7) and Oliver (5) The 30-year-old nurse assistant, from Newcastle, went missing after 11.30pm on Saturday, March 16, after a hen night with more than 30 friends at a bar in Carlingford, Co Louth. Her body was recovered in the water between Carlingford and Greenore by divers on Monday following an extensive search and rescue operation. Expand Close The search in Carlingford, Co Louth Newraypics.com / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The search in Carlingford, Co Louth In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, her older sister Rachel Wilkinson said Ruth had been preparing to get married on August 8. "I was going to be maid of honour. All the children - hers, mine and Ryan's (eldest brother) little girl Nyla (8) - were going to be flower boys and girls. There were 180 guests." She added: "We are going to let her wear her wedding dress in the coffin." Ruth's funeral will be held at St Vincent de Paul Church in Belfast at 9am on Saturday. The father of one of the teenagers who died at a St Patrick's night party in Co Tyrone said the loss of his son has left his family devastated and broken. James Bradley's boy Morgan Barnard (17) was one of three to die tragically last Sunday night while queuing for a disco at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown. Read More "I'm not sure how we'll get through, hour by hour, day by day," said Mr Bradley. "(My partner) Maria, me, the family, we're devastated, broken." Speaking outside the family home at Springdale in Dungannon, Mr Bradley also revealed Morgan's mother Maria Barnard, who is 17 weeks' pregnant, is struggling to come to terms with her loss. "She has chosen not to believe it at the moment," he said. "The first we knew something was wrong was when we got a phone call from his cousin saying there had been a terrible accident at the Greenvale Hotel. "We made our way to the hospital and we knew by the reaction of the police there was someone dead in there. We knew there was something terribly wrong. "I can't really say anything more right now. Everyone knows we've lost a son and there are no more words we can find." Expand Close Lauren Bullock Photopress / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lauren Bullock Morgan's immediate family, including siblings Calvin, Robyn, Regan and Elyssa, are being supported by relatives who also live in the estate. Morgan and another victim, Connor Currie (16), attended St Patrick's Academy in the town. The school said it was a time of "profound sadness". Morgan was an "ambitious, charismatic" young person with an abundance of potential, studying mathematics, digital technology, business studies and his "absolute passion" of Irish. "He lifted the mood everywhere he went; everyone benefited from Morgan's energetic, positive zest for life. It was contagious," the school said. "His smile was bright and when Morgan was around, fun and laughter always followed." Connor, from Edendork, was a "kind-hearted, loyal friend" who was always willing to help others and was "courteous, mannerly and compassionate", teachers said. "He had a great sense of team spirit and his warm, caring nature endeared him to all and earned him much deserved respect." Expand Close Connor Currie PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Connor Currie The third victim, Lauren Bullock (17), was described as a "ray of sunshine, a bright and bubbly cheerleader who lit up the lives of her friends" by close friend Alice Lambert, also 17 and from nearby Coalisland. "I feel gutted for her about it," Alice said. "She was such a nice person; she was like a ray of sunshine. "She made you happy - you saw her on a night out and she would have made you happy." Alice wrote a personal message in the memorial book at the Burnavon Arts and Cultural Centre in Cookstown. "The moment I found out I was completely broken down," she said. "Greenvale was a complete shock to everybody and came out of nowhere and it really hurt me and for one of my friends to be affected by it, it just kills you." She added: "She was really fun, really bright. She was a lovely person, a really nice person, it is really bad that she is gone," she said. Lauren was a pupil at St Patrick's College in Dungannon. Principal Catherine McHugh described her as a "shining light". Six children have potentially been saved from sex slavery in Northern Ireland last year. Six children were saved from potential sex slavery last year, it has been revealed. The BBC reports the children were among 52 potential victims of human trafficking in Northern Ireland, a 68% increase on 2017. The victims comprised of 32 women, 20 men and 17 minors. The six children reported for possible sexual exploitation were all female. In all, 20 referrals came about as a result of claims of sexual exploitation. These 20 people represented 17 different nationalities, with seven coming from the UK. There were also seven referrals of Chinese and Romanian nationals. The figures are from referrals to the National Crime Agency's National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which is a government system to identify and support victims. Suspected victims are given 45 days to recovered while the Home Office investigates their case. The decision could affect their immigration status. Sinn Fein MLA Raymond McCartney said: Human trafficking involves horrific abuses of human rights, but they are largely hidden crimes which makes it difficult to assess the scale of the problem. Worryingly, these six children were among 52 potential victims of human trafficking, including potential victims of sexual exploitation. Sinn Fein made a series of recommendations in its response to the Department of Justice consultation on its Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Strategy last year. These recommendations sought to raise awareness of trafficking, train people to recognise and report signs of trafficking, and ultimately to protect victims and potential victims. It is imperative that there is quick progress on this strategy, and I encourage anyone who has suspicions or has spotted signs of tracking to report it immediately, because as these figures show, you could help save someone from a life of horrific human rights abuse. Hendrikje Eliasberg from Killylea, Co Armagh, who is undergoing cancer treatment, and her mother Thirza are urging people to join charity campaign A mother whose teenage daughter is undergoing cancer treatment is encouraging people to grab their mixing bowls to help raise vital funds for research. Hendrikje Eliasberg (15) was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in January 2018 and spent five weeks in hospital. The teen, from the Netherlands, who lives in Killylea, is now well enough to be back at Integrated College Dungannon, where she is studying for her GCSEs. However she is still taking oral chemotherapy drugs each day. For the next year she will need fortnightly visits to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children to receive intravenous chemo and quarterly lumbar punctures. The young girl's cancer was detected when she became unwell after last Christmas. Mum Thirza said: "We thought she had flu but after three weeks of no improvement, once we were back in Northern Ireland, the GP did some blood tests. "The next day she was urgently admitted to hospital for further tests and that's when she was diagnosed. We were shocked, sad and scared, and sick with uncertainty. "Hendrikje went through various stages of chemo and other medication at home and in hospital. Her treatment will continue until well into 2020. "Thankfully, she was able to start her GCSEs at school in mid-September and is keeping up really well. "We now hope she will be able to continue her normal routines without many side effects. "Hendrikje has been so brave throughout all of this. She inspires me to keep going and stay positive." After Hendrikje's diagnosis last year, Thirza decided that she would organise a community fundraiser as part of The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off, raising more than 2,500. Thirza said that organising the fundraiser was a welcome distraction at such a worrying time. "Hendrikje's leukaemia has a very high recovery rate, and that is all thanks to continuing research into cancer treatment. I was keen to do some fundraising to try and help make sure that research can continue," she said. "Many around me declared me crazy to organise a fundraiser while Hendrikje was still quite poorly, and in and out of hospital, but it helped me to have something to focus on. "I chose to organise a tea and coffee morning alongside a bake sale to try to get as many people interested and to raise as much money as possible, and the support was overwhelming." Now Thirza is calling on local people to whip up their own signature bakes - just like the stars taking part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer - and host their own baking fundraisers. Hendrikje said: "When I heard mum raised over 2,500 to fund research into new treatments to help people like me, I felt really proud and couldn't stop smiling. "I hope that others will also think about organising events to help make a difference to the lives of patients with cancer." You can get your free fundraising pack at standuptocancer.org.uk/bake-off Teen cancer patient in Bake Off charity plea Theresa May will write to the European Union on Wednesday to ask for a delay to Brexit beyond the scheduled date of March 29. In a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister is thought likely to suggest a three-month extension to June 30 in the hope of securing parliamentary approval for her Withdrawal Agreement by that time. But with Downing Street refusing to reveal details, there was also speculation that she could ask for a longer delay of nine months or a year, with the option of an early break if a deal is done before Mays European elections. The development comes exactly 1,000 days after the referendum of June 23 2016, which delivered a 52%-48% majority for leaving the EU. This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now, from what I'm hearing, it's notLeader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom It will dismay hardline Leavers still hoping for a no-deal clean Brexit next Friday. In a fractious Cabinet discussion of the planned letter on Tuesday, Leave-backing Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom is understood to have said: This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now, from what Im hearing, its not. And US President Donald Trumps son said Mrs May should honour her promise to take Britain out of the EU next Friday. In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Donald Trump Jr accused Mrs May of ignoring his fathers advice and claimed that elites control London from Brussels and democracy in the UK is all but dead. The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Tuesday warned that Brussels will want a good reason to grant a long delay to Brexit. In an apparent reference to options like a second referendum, general election or cross-party consensus, he said that a lengthy extension needs to be linked to something new a new event or a new political process. Expand Close Michel Barnier said European leaders would need to be sure that a delay to Brexit would be useful (AP Photo/Francisco Seco/PA Images) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Michel Barnier said European leaders would need to be sure that a delay to Brexit would be useful (AP Photo/Francisco Seco/PA Images) Any request for extra time is subject to unanimous approval by leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. And senior MEP Sophie int Veld, deputy to European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, warned that any extension will come with conditions attached. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Mr Barnier said: It is our duty to ask whether this extension would be useful because an extension will be something which would extend uncertainty and uncertainty costs. Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told reporters: If there is going to be a request for a long extension of Article 50 by the UK then there will need to be a very persuasive plan to go with that to explain why thats needed and how they will use the time to conclude the outstanding issues that havent been able to be agreed in London in the context of the Brexit process. If the EU agrees an extension, MPs and peers will have to pass a statutory instrument within days to remove the date of March 29 from Brexit legislation. MPs will be given an opportunity in the House of Commons on Monday to debate how the process should go forward. And Mrs May is expected to seek a way of staging a third meaningful vote on her Withdrawal Agreement next week, despite Speaker John Bercows ruling that it must be substantially changed before being put before MPs again. Downing Street sources dismissed reports that the vote, known in Westminster as MV3, is slated to take place on the eve of Brexit on March 28, insisting that no date has been decided. Talks are expected to continue with the DUP ahead of any vote in the hope of overturning its defeat by a margin of 149 last week. But it is understood that the Government is still far from any agreement with the Northern Irish party that would allow its 10 MPs to back the PMs deal. Jeremy Corbyn indicated that he sees Monday as the point for Labour to mount a challenge to the Governments approach. Speaking after talks with other opposition parties and Labour backbenchers on the way forward, Mr Corbyn said: If the Government cant get a majority for its way on Monday, then I think thats the time to challenge this Government. The reality is that this Government has lost its authority, doesnt enjoy the confidence of the House, cant get anything through. Surely that is the time to step aside and let the people decide in a peoples vote thats called a general election. He added: I hope that on Monday the House will come together and support some sensible alternatives that can be negotiated during an extension period with the EU. By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent The trial of the Panayikkulam Independence Day seminar case finaly begun in the Kerala High Court on march 18. The appeal was moved in the HC against the NIA Courts judgement which convicted two of the five accused to rigorous imprisonment of 14 years and the other three to 12 years. The five convicted in the case are Shaduli, a software engineer; Razik A Raheem, a teacher and journalist; Shammas, an education consultant; Ansar Nadwi; and Nizamudheen a social activist. Shaduli and Razik were sentenced for 14 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 60,000, while the other three for 12 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 55000 by Judge KM Balachandran of the NIA Court. All except Shaduli are presently at the Viyyur Central Prison in Thrissur in Kerala. Shaduli is lodged in the Bhopal jail as he is accused in some other cases too. Support TwoCircles In the High Court, Adv VT Raghunath argued for the first and third accused. Lawyers TG Rajendran, KP Muhammed Shareef, S Shanavas and VS Saleem also argued for the accused. Senior counsel Raman Pilla was present for the second accused Razik. The trial is continuing before the Double Bench comprising of Judges Ashok Menon and KA Shafeeq. The incident related to the case took place on Independence Day in 2006. A group of young men organised a seminar on the role of Muslims in the Indian Freedom Struggle at the Happy Auditorium at Panayikkulam near Aluva town in Ernakulam. The programme was reportedly held in public with its own posters and notices distributed beforehand. The police who were standing near the auditorium came in after the seminar began, and took 18 people who were there into custody, though later 11 were set free. Five persons were arrested accusing them of holding a secret meeting and were released on bail by the Kerala High Court after two months. It has been reported that the police had merely questioned the young men at the police station and were about to set them free when some BJP-RSS activists marched to the station with visual media coverage, which gave it a totally different angle. And one person who had attended the seminar got ready to be an approver for the police. Soon, stories began to come up in the various news media about the SIMI connection and terrorist links of the meeting and those who attended the seminar was accused to be a secret meeting of the banned SIMI. The investigation was carried out by the team under CI Babu Kumar, and charge sheet was filed in two years. When rumours came up in some newspapers that the then Aluva SP Abdul Wahab had helped the accused, the case was handed over to a Special Investigation Team led by Sasidharan, DySP, in September 2008 by the state Home Department. Thirteen more persons were arrested and charged. Rasheed Moulavi, imam at a Salafi masjid at Ottappalam, became an approver in favour of the police case. Sedition has been charged against Razik and Ansar, while the other three have been booked under UAPA. The case registered by the Kerala police had only a charge of holding a meeting. No weapons or explosives were found, no act of violence was reported. Yet this was the first case that the NIA took up after it began functioning in Kerala in 2009. The NIA submitted its charge sheet in 2011. The trial began in the Kochi NIA court in 2014 July and took around one and half years to complete the nearly 100 trial days. A team of 8 lawyers led by former judge VT Raghunath advocated for the accused. The transformation of Rasheed Moulavi from accused to approver was confusing. The harsh punishment does not consider the high educational status and the absence of any criminal background of the accused as well as their real-life situations demanding their presence (at home), and this makes one lose hope in the judicial system, writes AM Nadwi, secretary of the Minority Rights Watch which provides legal and other help to the accused, in a recent article. The human rights prioritised by the law are violated. (This will be) an alibi to cruelly hunt the thoughts and ideas the government is not interested in. This judgement clearly acknowledges the fears being raised about the UAPA, the article adds about the NIA court judgement. Prime Minister Theresa May has said it is now time for MPs to decide the way forward on Brexit. In a forthright speech at Downing Street on Wednesday evening Mrs May said that she believed the public "have had enough" of Brexit and that she believed a short extension to June 30 was the way forward. She said that she did not believe a longer extension was the right path as she did not want the UK to be voting in another round of EU Parliament elections, saying the election campaign would be "bitter and divisive". Earlier on Thursday European Council President Donald Tusk said that the EU would be willing to grant a short Brexit extension if Mrs May can get her withdrawal deal through Parliament next week. Read More In her short address the Prime Minister said that he still believed her deal was the "best possible" and that she "passionately hoped" MPs would find a way to back it. Mrs May also said that she did not believe a second referendum was the way forward as it could "irreparably damage" confidence in UK politics. She now looks set to try and bring her deal back for a third meaningful vote next week, despite a ruling by Speaker John Bercow that it must be changed before it can be voted on again. Mrs May will travel to Brussels on Thursday to make a formal request to the other 27 EU leaders for an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process. The Prime Minister said that it was a matter of "deep personal regret" that the UK would not leave the EU on time with a deal on March 29. "Of this I am sure, you the public have had enough, you are tired of the infighting, tired of political games and arcane political rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns," Mrs May said. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with and I agree, I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide." "Today I have written to European Council President Donald Tusk to request a short extension to Article 50 to give MPs time to make a final choice. Do they want to leave the EU with a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum? Do they want to leave without a deal or do they not want to leave at all, potentially causing irreparable damage to public trust?" Mrs May said that Parliament had failed to be decisive throughout the Brexit process. "It is high time we made a decision. So far Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. All MPs have been willing to say is what they don't want," she said. The Prime Minister said that she would work "day and night" to try and convince her own party, the DUP, and others to support her deal but was "not willing to delay (Brexit) later than June 30". Speaking after talking to Mrs May on Wednesday evening, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said a new Brexit strategy was needed. "The Prime Minister has shown tonight she is in complete denial about the scale of the crisis we are facing and unable to offer the leadership the country needs," he said. "To continue to bring back her damaging and twice rejected deal without significant changes, while threatening a no deal outcome ruled out by MPs, is unacceptable and reckless. "I made clear to the Prime Minister tonight that we must move immediately to agree a compromise alternative that supports jobs and living standards, can win the support of parliament, be negotiated with the EU and bring the country together." A Co Down woman had a knife held against her face during a burlgary on Tuesday evening. The incident took place at the Moray Crescent area of Newtownards on March 19. Detective Sergeant Miskelly said: Shortly before 7:15pm, it was reported that two men entered a house in the area, one of whom was armed with a knife. A woman in her 50s had the knife held against her face during the incident, as the men demanded money. They pushed the woman against the stairs and ransacked the bedroom of the property. The men made off with a sum of money and a quantity of jewellery including some antique medals." The man armed with the knife is described as being around 58, medium build, aged in his 20-30s and spoke in a local accent. He was wearing a dark jacket, dark trousers and gloves. The second is described as being around 5ft 11 in height, slim build and wearing dark coloured clothing. Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference number 1288 19/3/19. Young people from across Northern Ireland will gather at Stormont tonight for the Edgar Graham Memorial Public Speaking Competition. The event, named after the law lecturer and UUP man murdered in an IRA shooting at the age of 29 in 1983, has been organised by the Ulster Women's Unionist Council (UWUC). Irene Kerns, the then-Secretary of the UWUC, set up the competition to encourage boys to develop their public speaking abilities. A few years ago it was opened to girls. Organisers say it is not intended as a unionist event and the rules exclude speeches on Northern Ireland politics. Daniel Hannan used Ireland to make a point about the EU in a comment article (PA) British MEP Daniel Hannan has inspired a new hashtag as Twitter users reacted to claims he had got his facts wrong about Irish history. #HannanIrishHistory was trending after pro-Brexit Tory Mr Hannan used Ireland to make a point about the EU in a comment article. In particular, he suggested Fianna Fail had won every Irish election between 1932 and 2008, when in fact the liberal-conservative party Fine Gael was in power on six occasions during the period. When the accuracy of his article was questioned, Mr Hannan said historians necessarily have different takes on the same event, adding: Please try to accept that yours is not the only interpretation. Twitter users were quick to mock the Tory MEP with their own humorous takes on Irish history. Derek Mooney, an Irish public affairs specialist, referenced Mr Hannans Fianna Fail claim directly, joking: Though @fiannafailparty had won every Irish election since 1392, it was dumped by voters after its 2010 #Eurovision entry failed to make the final, this sparked a run on the Euro and the banishment of Louis Walsh to ITV #HannanIrishHistory Though @fiannafailparty had won every Irish election since 1392, it was dumped by voters after its 2010 #Eurovision entry failed to make the final, this sparked a run on the Euro and the banishment of Louis Walsh to ITV #HannanIrishHistory Derek Mooney (@dsmooney) March 19, 2019 Steve Peers, a lecturer in international law at Essex University, tweeted: The statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Parliament commemorates the Nobel peace prize which Cromwell won for ending the Irish Civil war #HannanIrishHistory The statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Parliament commemorates the Nobel peace prize which Cromwell won for ending the Irish Civil war #HannanIrishHistory pic.twitter.com/oKh3ylnXt4 Steve Peers (@StevePeers) March 19, 2019 Writer Dean Van Nguyen wrote: Fionn mac Cumhaill burned his finger on the Salmon of Knowledge because of EU regulations on food labelling #HannanIrishHistory. Fionn mac Cumhaill burned his finger on the Salmon of Knowledge because of EU regulations on food labelling #HannanIrishHistory Dean Van Nguyen (@deanvannguyen) March 19, 2019 Another Twitter user told a longer tale, joking: Michael Collins faked his own death in 1922 in what was then Irelands largest insurance scam. Collins would later flee to America and flew the Apollo 11 mission. He would be immortalised in the song In the air tonight written by his brother Phil #HannanIrishHistory. Mr Hannan who did not respond to requests for comment. Ciara Quinn, daughter of Sean Quinn (right), after her wedding to solicitor Niall McPartland The children of former Fermanagh billionaire Sean Quinn used the Quinn Group as "their personal bank" and took 1.95bn out of the company, the High Court in Dublin has heard. The cash was used to cover significant losses from share speculation, property purchases and lifestyle expenses, a lawyer for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has claimed. Paul Gallagher SC said while the children drew modest salaries and portrayed themselves as living modest lifestyles, the reality was "very different". He said one example of this was the 1m spent on Ciara Quinn's wedding at the then Quinn-owned Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan. The money was never repaid after the hotel was taken over by IBRC. The barrister said that of 1.95bn taken out of the company some 1.6bn alone came out in 2007. The children were the shareholders at the time. Mr Gallagher also alleged the children engaged in "a sophisticated and devious fraud" by taking assets out of the family's international property group at a time when such assets were part of the security for massive borrowings. Counsel for IBRC also claimed significant transactions in the Quinn Group accounts were falsified with the intention of misleading banks and bondholders about the solvency of the group. His comments came as IBRC opened its defence of an action by the five Quinn siblings, Sean Jr, Ciara, Colette, Brenda and Aoife, against IBRC, and its liquidator Kieran Wallace. The siblings say they should not be held liable for 2.34bn in loans advanced by Anglo in 2007 and 2008 to fund losses stemming from their father's disastrous speculation on shares. They also claim the security on the loans is invalid and unenforceable. A key plank of their case is that they were unduly influenced by their father, even though it was they who held the shares in Quinn Group. They allege Anglo behaved in a "morally reprehensible" manner towards them when they signed guarantees for loans. The children say they were never informed of the perilous state the bank was in and were never advised by the bank to take independent legal advice. Sean Quinn Snr began investing in contracts for difference (CFDs) in September 2005. These are financial instruments which allow someone to bet on the performance of a share without actually owning it. Mr Quinn soon concentrated almost exclusively on Anglo shares, but when the bank's share price collapsed he suffered massive losses. Large sums of money were loaned by the bank to companies owned by the Quinn children to fund "margin calls" as the share price dropped. The loans were also intended to prop up Anglo's share price. Mr Gallagher told Mr Justice Garrett Simons the case being brought was "extraordinary". He said the plaintiffs had many opportunities to complain the loans were invalid. Mr Gallagher said they had sought to portray themselves as "naive and unsophisticated", when the opposite was true. He said they "knew what they were signing" and "had expert help", when they signed various guarantees related to the loans. "They had the most experienced and capable people who knew about all of these documents. It beggars belief that these would have been signed without the siblings knowing what they were about," he said. The case continues. Prime Minister Theresa May has requested a three-month delay to Brexit, postponing the UKs departure from the European Union from March 29 to June 30. The PM made the request in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU. And she sparked speculation that she may step down if either MPs or Europe demand a longer extension to the Article 50 negotiation process, declaring: As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. If the delay is approved at a Brussels summit on Thursday, Mrs May will rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the date March 29 from Brexit laws. And she told MPs she intends to table her Withdrawal Agreement for a third time in the Commons, in the hope of overturning massive defeats inflicted on it in January and March. Aides declined to name a date for the third meaningful vote known in Westminster as MV3 but said it would happen as soon as possible. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned the PM in a phone call shortly before her announcement that Brexit would have to be complete before May 23 or the UK would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament beginning that day. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Mrs May said involvement in the elections would be unacceptable, but appears to regard the July 1 date when new MEPs will take their seats as the effective deadline. She told MPs at Prime Ministers Questions: The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable. It would be a failure to deliver on the referendum decision this House said it would deliver. Aides said Mrs May will passionately make her case for a three-month delay on Thursday to the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states, whose unanimous approval is required for any extension. But an unconfirmed report in French news magazine Le Point suggested that President Emmanuel Macron will argue against any postponement beyond March 29. And Mr Juncker said that there will probably have to be another summit next week to finalise the decision if Mrs May is unable to show on Thursday that she has the support of Parliament for her plans. .@JunckerEU thinks it is good that @theresa_may sets out her thoughts ahead of #EUCO; warned her in phone call against including a date for the extension that is after #EUelections2019. #Brexit has to be complete before 23 May - otherwise #EUelections2019 have to be held in UK. Mina Andreeva (@Mina_Andreeva) March 20, 2019 He told German radio that a short extension would give the UK Parliament time to agree to the existing Withdrawal Agreement text, but insisted there would be no more negotiations. If that doesnt happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God, said Mr Juncker. And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience. Only six days ago, Mrs Mays effective deputy David Lidington warned that a short delay would be downright reckless. And a motion tabled by the Government last week appeared to keep a longer extension of nine months to a year on the table. But Leave-backing ministers are understood to have piled on pressure at Tuesdays Cabinet meeting to keep any delay short. Expand Close The letter Theresa May sent to Donald Tusk (Downing Street/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter Theresa May sent to Donald Tusk (Downing Street/PA) Downing Street aides said the final form of Mrs Mays letter to Mr Tusk was not decided until Wednesday morning. Asked if the decision had the backing of Cabinet, a Number 10 source would say only: There was a long discussion on Brexit at Cabinet yesterday. In her letter to Mr Tusk, Mrs May said it remains the Governments policy to take the UK out of the EU in an orderly manner on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed in November and supplemented by documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week. The agreement was rejected by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Monday he would not allow the same motion to be brought again during this session of Parliament, unless it was substantially changed. But Mrs May told the Commons: The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. If that vote is passed, the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed. But as Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. Under EU rules, participation in the European Parliament elections must be confirmed by April 11, creating a hard deadline beyond which a longer extension would become impossible. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Mrs May of running down the clock on Brexit. Expand Close Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Ministers Questions (House of Commons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Ministers Questions (House of Commons/PA) He told the Commons: This Government has led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division. We are still legally due to leave the European Union in nine days time. Months of running down the clock and a concerted campaign of blackmail, bullying and bribery has failed to convince the House or the country that her deal is anything but a damaging national failure and should be rejected. If the Prime Minister cannot get changes to her deal, will she give the people a chance to reject the deal and change the government? Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone warned Mrs May she will be betraying the public if she continues to seek to delay Brexit. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) If you continue to apply for an extension to Article 50 you will be betraying the British people. If you dont, you will be honouring their instruction, he told her during PMQs. Prime Minister, it is entirely down to you. History will judge you at this moment. Prime Minister, which is it to be? In her letter to Mr Tusk, Mrs May said Mr Bercows demand for a fundamental change to her motion had made it impossible to hold a third meaningful vote ahead of Thursdays summit. But she indicated she believes it is possible to satisfy the Speakers requirements by ensuring the European Council formally approves the documents agreed last week with Mr Juncker in Strasbourg. She said she is also intending to bring forward domestic proposals to confirm previous commitments to protect the UKs internal market, in response to concerns that the controversial backstop might drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and Britain. Donald Tusk has expressed EU solidarity with Ireland amid Brexit talks in Dublin. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed the European Council president in front of the media, but neither of the men made any reply when questioned by journalists. When asked if Monday's Westminster news posed a problem, Mr Tusk did not reply but shrugged. Read More The Dublin meeting was to consider any requests from the UK to delay Brexit, and other issues on the EU agenda, ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels later this week. A joint statement after the meeting said they discussed the current state of play regarding Brexit. "President Tusk expressed the strong and ongoing solidarity with Ireland of the European Council and European leaders," the statement read. "They agreed that we must now see what proposals emerge from London in advance of the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday. Meanwhile, preparations continue in Ireland and across the European Union for a no-deal scenario, which would have serious consequences for all concerned." Amid the brinksmanship that is now in play as the clock ticks down to March 29 one of the EU's most influential leaders, Germany's Angela Merkel, pledged she would fight until the "last minute" to secure an orderly Brexit. Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney held a series of meetings in Brussels with key figures, including his UK counterpart David Lidington. Mr Coveney said that there was a "willingness" to grant an extension on the part of the EU but insisted there must be persuasive detail and a plan from London in order to secure it. "What I can tell you from an EU perspective - there is a lot of a concern amongst EU member states and partners about a long extension of Article 50," he said. There are "risks" associated with a lengthy delay that means people will need to be convinced to allow the "disruptive effect" of Brexit to continue for another nine months or longer, he added. EU leaders will need to be convinced that a substantial push back to the day Britain is due to exit would see the current impasse end. He said a "detailed plan of action" is needed to help shore up European support for a long delay. "The EU do not want to grant a request for the UK that brings us back to the same point that we are at today in three months, six months, nine months time, having wasted a lot more time," he said. People walk through floodwater in Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai (Red Cross/PA) Britain has pledged a further 12 million in aid to help survivors amid the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai across parts of Africa. The support package includes food, water and shelter and brings the Governments total donation in the aftermath of the cyclone to 18 million. Authorities in Mozambique fear the death toll could be more than 1,000, while tens of thousands of people were said to have lost their homes there, as well as in nearby Malawi and Zimbabwe. The United Nations (UN) described victims trapped on rooftops and clinging to trees awaiting rescue, and said roads, bridges and crops have been washed away. More than 200 have been confirmed dead in Mozambique, more than 100 in Zimbabwe, and around 60 in Malawi, the UN said, adding that hundreds were injured and many more were unaccounted for. #Mozambique is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Red Cross teams are supporting search & rescue efforts, and providing much-needed aid to communities affected by #CycloneIdai https://t.co/lTkBhoWcXK pic.twitter.com/Mbqd1vNmdZ British Red Cross (@BritishRedCross) March 20, 2019 In response to the destruction, Britain announced on Wednesday a further 12 million in aid, adding to 6 million pledged on Monday. Major broadcasters will air appeals on Thursday in support of fundraising by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) aid agencies coalition. International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said it was one of the biggest natural disasters to ever hit the region. The UNs Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated 20 million dollars on Wednesday to deal with the disaster. The British Red Cross has made an urgent appeal for donations to deal with the severe humanitarian emergency, while a charity worker with Concern said there was a real risk of the spread of water-borne diseases. It is feared the situation could become even more challenging, with heavy rain predicted in the coming days, British Red Cross said. Ben Webster, head of emergencies at the charity, said: Cyclone Idai has wreaked devastation across a vast area. People living in the path of the storm have seen family members lost in the floods, theyve seen their homes and livelihoods washed away. This is a severe humanitarian emergency. Right now the primary focus is to save lives, but the after-effects of this crisis will be felt for some time to come. He said the developing picture made clear this disaster will require a huge international response. The charity has provided 2,000 tarpaulins, 3,000 mosquito nets and 3,000 blankets from its regional warehouse in Harare to the Zimbabwe Red Cross and has released some emergency funds through its community resilience programme in Zimbabwe. This is, undoubtedly, one of the biggest natural disasters to ever hit the regionInternational Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt Local Red Cross volunteers were helping with search and rescue operations, the distribution of aid and facilities for temporary camps. Concerns Yousaf Jogezai said nearly one million people were affected in Malawi alone, where nearly 600 have been injured and more than 50 people have been killed. Many of the survivors, whose homes have been destroyed or submerged in floodwater, were now taking shelter in overcrowded schools and churches, where it was feared disease could spread. Mr Jogezai said: In some places they have hundreds of people. They dont have enough facilities such as water or latrines. So it is posing a very serious risk, which may spread water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea, so thats a big risk. He said crops which had been just one month from harvest have been completely destroyed, meaning basic necessities were urgently needed. Noting that some communities had already been devastated by serious floods last year, he added: They urgently need support from the international community and international organisations such as Concern to come forward and provide this lifesaving assistance. Concerns were raised earlier on Wednesday that the response to the cyclone, which hit the region last Thursday, was slower than it should have been. Conservative former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said the search and rescue response to the natural disaster was much slower than in the crisis following a previous cyclone in 2000, and said Cyclone Idai was heading towards being the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere. DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said delays are caused because the extent of the devastation is unknown while authorities and aid workers on the ground are overwhelmed. When the scale becomes evident, as it has become now, its clear that the DEC needs to activate, he said. Ms Mordaunt heralded the UK as one of the first countries to respond to this disaster. She added: Ive been extremely moved by the images Ive seen of this devastating cyclone which has caused misery for millions of people across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. This is, undoubtedly, one of the biggest natural disasters to ever hit the region, and our thoughts remain firmly with the victims of this cyclone. Todays UK aid package is a sign of the UKs commitment to do all we can to make sure those in desperate need of humanitarian relief have access to life-saving essentials, including food, water and shelter. Tents and thousands of shelter kits were sent to the country on Tuesday and further help will include ensuring families have access to clean water and providing food and food vouchers to those affected. To donate to the DEC appeal, visit www.dec.org.uk or call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 610. Prime Minister Theresa May has been given 24 hours to come up with a plan to pull the UK out of the current political crisis or face a no-deal Brexit. European leaders, including Tanaiste Simon Coveney, last night ramped up pressure on Mrs May to come up with a "detailed plan of action" on how the UK can end the Brexit turmoil that has paralysed Westminster. Read More While the EU has repeatedly insisted it does not want to see Britain leave without a deal, Mr Coveney warned: "People would be very foolish to assume this is some kind of political game and that an extension will automatically be facilitated." Another senior Irish Government source said "there is growing frustration in Europe across the EU capitals, nobody wants another year of this". With the possibility of another meaningful vote on the divorce deal still unclear due to historic parliamentary rules that have been invoked in Westminster, Mrs May is expected to write to EU leaders in Brussels outlining what type of Brexit extension she wants. The DUP - which is seen as crucial in winning the support of enough Tory MPs to finally pass the withdrawal agreement - has said a deal with the UK Government is still not close to being finalised. Nigel Dodds told the BBC yesterday that his party had "good discussions" with the Government but "there were still, and are still, big gaps". "We have always been very clear about the conditions under which we would back any withdrawal agreement," he said. "And that is about the treatment of Northern Ireland in terms of single market and customs union compared to the rest of the United Kingdom." The EU has said a request for an extension would need to be made ahead of tomorrow's summit to allow the EU 27 to consider it. Downing Street was last night considering its options ahead of a key 48 hours for Brexit, but as turmoil persists the Prime Minister had branded the current stalemate a "political crisis", a spokesman said. A short extension is almost certain to be sought by Mrs May until the end of June, which would give her breathing space to try and revive her divorce deal, which has already been rejected twice by MPs in the Commons. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier set out the test that Europe expects Mrs May to meet if it is to grant an extension, warning: "We cannot prolong uncertainty without having a good reason for it." He also cautioned that a long extension would need a reset of Britain's Brexit approach. He said: "A longer extension needs to be linked to something new; there needs to be a new event, a new political process." Bloomberg reported it was likely an ultimatum would be issued to Mrs May tomorrow telling her that she has only a matter of weeks to decide if she feels she can get the deal through Parliament. If she can't get the deal through she will be told that she must decide between delaying Brexit until next year or leave in three months with a no-deal. Mr Barnier also moved to increase pressure on the UK over the threat of a no-deal Brexit, telling reporters: "Voting against no-deal does not prevent it from happening. "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for no-deal scenario. On the EU side, we are prepared." The readiness of the bloc to cope with a cliff-edge Brexit was also made clear in Dublin following a meeting between EU council president Donald Tusk and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Afterwards an Irish Government spokesman said: "Preparations continue in Ireland and across the European Union for a no-deal scenario, which would have serious consequences for all concerned." Google has been fined 1.27bn for breaching EU competition laws between 2006 and 2016 (Nick Ansell/PA) Google has been fined 1.49 billion euros (1.27 billion) by the European Commission for alleged illegal practices in search advertising. The company is accused of breaching EU competition laws between 2006 and 2016, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said in Brussels on Wednesday morning. Google allegedly abused its market dominance in the advertising sector by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites, prohibiting publishers from placing any search adverts from competitors on their search results pages. The third @Google case: @Google is fined 1,49bn for illegal practices in search advertising brokering to cement its dominant market position. They shouldnt do that - it denied consumers choice, innovative products and fair prices. Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) March 20, 2019 In 2009, it is claimed the company began replacing these clauses with new requirements for publishers to reserve the most profitable space on their search results pages for Googles adverts. Googles business model is largely reliant on selling adverts, which generated revenue of 32.6 billion dollars (28.7 billion) in its last quarterly results. Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euros for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts, Ms Vestager said. Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate and consumers the benefits of competition. Googles senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, responded, saying: Weve always agreed that healthy, thriving markets are in everyones interest. Weve already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the Commissions concerns. Over the next few months, well be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe. The fine is the third competition breach penalty the tech giant has been issued with by the European Commission. Last year it was fined a record 3.9 billion fine over restrictions placed on mobile phone manufacturers using Android to drive internet traffic to Googles own search engine. In response, Google said it would begin asking Android users in Europe about their preferred search engine and web browser apps. In 2017, Google was also ordered to pay more than 2 billion over competition breaches linked to the firms online shopping comparison service. Fire crews were called to Crossford on Wednesday lunchtime (Rui Vieira/PA) A 93-year-old man has died following a fire at a property in Fife. Emergency services were called to the blaze in Miller Avenue in Crossford at around 12.15pm on Wednesday. The pensioner was taken to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, where he died a short time later. Police in Fife, who confirmed the fatality on their social media pages, said they are working with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to investigate the circumstances surrounding the blaze. A spokesman said: The fire is currently being treated as unexplained and inquiries are ongoing. European Council President Donald Tusk has said that MPs must back Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement if the Brexit process is to be extended. Mr Tusk was speaking in Brussels after receiving a letter from Mrs May formally requesting an extension to the Article 50 process until June 30. Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons the Prime Minister said she will also be bringing forward proposals for a third "meaningful vote" on her Brexit deal, days after Speaker John Bercow ruled out such a vote unless her deal has "substantial changes". She said: "The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote, if that vote is passed, the extension will give parliament time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, if not we will have to decide how to proceed." Read More As Prime Minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30th. Theresa May Mrs May said she will not seek a longer extension as it would involve the UK to run candidates for the European Parliament elections, which would be an "unacceptable failure to deliver on the referendum decision". European Council president Donald Tusk has said a "short" delay to Brexit will be possible provided Parliament votes for Theresa May's deal. Mr Tusk said he had spoken to the Prime Minister after receiving her formal request for an extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process to the end of June. The former Polish prime minister told a press conference in Brussels: "In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. "But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. "The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was "downright reckless" for Mrs May to pursue a deal that has already been rejected by MPs. "We are not in the midst of a full scale crisis, incompetence, intransigence and failure from the PM and her gov have brought us to this point." Mr Corbyn said he has met with opposition MPs to find a compromise and will meet with EU leaders and officials on Thursday to discuss options for a way forward. The move comes after Mrs May won the backing of MPs in the Commons last week to ask the EU for an extension, just days after her withdrawal agreement was defeated for a second time. Now the Prime Minister's request will be subject to unanimous approval by leaders of the remaining 27 EU states at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. Speaking earlier European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was was hoping for clarity from the UK on the way forward. He suggested that agreement on an extension to Article 50 might not be reached at this weeks European Council summit, and that EU leaders might have to meet again next week to finalise it. We will probably have to meet again next week, because Mrs May has not got agreement for anything either in her Cabinet or her Parliament. As long as we dont know what Great Britain will say yes to, we cant come to a resolution. Devastation at the scene of the fatal IRA bomb blast at the Mulberry Bush pub in Birmingham on November 21, 1974. Ten of the 21 people who died in the notorious pub bombings were at this venue A pistol was allegedly found by a police officer dumped under a bench just yards from one of the 1974 IRA Birmingham pub bomb blasts, an inquest jury has heard. The semi-automatic gun - described as being in "pristine" condition - was located minutes after the first of two bombs had gone off in the city centre. Retired West Midlands Police Constable Adrian Howles told inquests into the bombings yesterday that he then handed the gun to an inspector at the scene. He told jurors he had no idea what then happened to it. Revealing the find, Mr Howles was asked if he had confused the weapon's recovery with a similar set of circumstances, following an earlier IRA bomb in Coventry. But the ex-beat officer, with 14 years' service, told the inquest: "Last time I went to Coventry my parents took me - I was eight years old, so no." The blasts at the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town in nearby New Street killed 21 people and injured 220 more. Fresh inquests are now in their fourth week. Mr Howles recalled how he rushed to the scene of the Mulberry Bush after hearing the bomb go off, and helped another officer load one casualty into a taxi heading for hospital. Turning to how he discovered the gun, he said: "I was at the front of the Mulberry Bush and there were two youths about 30 yards away just the other side of Worcester Street, trying to attract somebody's attention. "They beckoned me to go over. "They were shouting, but I couldn't make out what they were saying until I got closer. "They said 'There's something suspicious under the bench.' "I knelt down, had a look, and there was a gun." He added: "I gingerly picked it up by the handle, placed it in my coat pocket and, as soon as I could get rid of it, I did, to an inspector." Mr Howles, who was wearing gloves, said the importance of assisting with the aftermath of the bomb meant he just put the gun in his uniform pocket. He admitted guns "frightened the life out of me", and handed it to Inspector Roderick Richards as soon as he could. Peter Skelton, counsel for the inquest coroner, asked: "Did it occur to you it could have been dropped by a perpetrator of the bombings?" Mr Howles replied: "At that particular time, no - though I have thought that since." Asked if he ever found out what happened to the gun, the former officer replied: "No." In a statement to the inquest, Inspector Richards said then PC Howles "did not" hand him a firearm. The inquests continue. President Donald Trump has escalated his attacks on the late Senator John McCain, saying that he gave the long-time politician the kind of funeral he wanted and adding: I didnt get a thank you. Mr Trump went on a lengthy diatribe against the Vietnam war veteran, Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday. At an event in Ohio, Mr Trump repeated his complaint that Mr McCain voted against his legislation to repeal President Barack Obamas health care law and argued that Mr McCain was not supportive of military veterans. Mr Trump said Ive never liked him much, adding that he probably never will. Mr McCain died last year of brain cancer. Mr Trump has spent days attacking him on Twitter and in his public comments. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Mr McCain a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. Mr McConnell tweeted, His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes. Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes. Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) March 20, 2019 Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia said not only the McCain family but the nation deserves better than Mr Trumps disparagement. I dont care if hes president of the United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world, Mr Isakson told The Bulwark, a conservative news and opinion website. Later, Mr Isakson called Mr Trumps remarks deplorable. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican 2012 presidential nominee whom Mr Trump briefly considered nominating as secretary of state, tweeted praise for Mr McCain on Tuesday and criticism of Mr Trump. I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God, Mr Romney wrote. Pushback also came from Senator Martha McSally, a Republican Air Force veteran appointed to Mr McCains seat from Arizona. I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God. Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 19, 2019 John McCain is an American hero and I am thankful for his life of service and legacy to our country and Arizona. Everyone should give him and his family the respect, admiration, and peace they deserve. Martha McSally (@MarthaMcSally) March 20, 2019 John McCain is an American hero and I am thankful for his life of service and legacy to our country and Arizona, she tweeted Wednesday. Everyone should give him and his family the respect, admiration, and peace they deserve. Senator Lindsey Graham, who wept openly on the Senate floor after Mr McCain died but has allied himself strongly with Mr Trump, said, I think the presidents comments about Senator McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Senator McCain. A lot of people are coming to Johns defence now. I dont like it when he says things about my friend John McCain. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, were eager to jump into the uproar. I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Senate Russell Building after American hero, Senator John McCain, tweeted Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer. A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for the safest country in the world were buried on Wednesday, the first two funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand. The funerals of Khalid Mustafa, 44, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, came five days after a white supremacist methodically gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch a massacre that he broadcast live on Facebook. The teenagers principal described the student as compassionate and hard-working, and said he was an excellent horse rider who aspired to be a veterinarian. Expand Close Mourners wait in queue for a burial of a victim of the mosque shootings (Mark Baker/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mourners wait in queue for a burial of a victim of the mosque shootings (Mark Baker/AP) Those present included Hamzas younger brother, 13-year-old Zaed, whose arm and leg was injured in the attack. The boy tried to stand during the ceremony but had to sit back into his wheelchair, one mourner said. We tried to not shake his hand, and not touch his hand or his foot but he refused, he wanted to shake everybodys hand, he wanted to show everyone that he appreciated them. And thats amazing, said Jamil El-Biza, who travelled from Australia to attend the funeral. Expand Close Zaed Mustafa, brother of Hamza and son of Khalid Mustafa, attended the funerals (Mark Baker/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Zaed Mustafa, brother of Hamza and son of Khalid Mustafa, attended the funerals (Mark Baker/AP) The Mustafas had moved to New Zealand last year, after spending six years as refugees in Jordan. Mustafas wife Salwa told Radio New Zealand that when the family asked about New Zealand they were told its the safest country in the world, the most wonderful country you can go you will start a very wonderful life there. She added: But it wasnt. Families of those killed had been anxiously awaiting word on when they could bury their loved ones. Firstly I expect to be able to return the majority of the bodies to the families by this evening. As of last night 21 victims have been identified and are available for release to their families. We expect 27 to have been identified by midday New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 19, 2019 New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police have now formally identified and released the remains of 21 of those killed. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. The burials got under way shortly after the countrys prime minister renewed her call to remember the victims rather than the Australian gunman accused of slaughtering them. Expand Close Where the mosque shootings took place (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Where the mosque shootings took place (PA Graphics) New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns plea not to give any notoriety to the accused 28-year-old white supremacist first came in a speech to Parliament prompted by the accused gunmans decision to dismiss his lawyer and represent himself. The move had raised concerns he would use the trial as a platform for his racist views. During a visit to Hamzas high school on Wednesday, Ms Ardern revisited that thought and asked students not to say the attackers name or dwell on him. Look after one another but also let New Zealand be a place where there is no tolerance for racism, she told students at Cashmere High School. Thats something we can all do. Another Cashmere student, 14-year-old Sayyad Milne, also died in the attack. The shooters desire for attention was made clear in a manifesto sent to Ms Arderns office and others minutes before Fridays massacre and by his live-streamed footage of his attack on the Al Noor mosque. The video prompted widespread revulsion and condemnation and Facebook said it removed 1.5 million versions of the video during the first 24 hours. They have given us updates on their efforts to have it removed, but as I say, it's our view that it cannot should not be distributed, available, able to be viewed But Ms Ardern expressed frustration that the footage remained online, four days later. We have been in contact with Facebook; they have given us updates on their efforts to have it removed, but as I say, its our view that it cannot should not be distributed, available, able to be viewed, she said. It is horrendous and while theyve given us those assurances, ultimately the responsibility does sit with them. Lawyer Richard Peters, who was assigned to represent Brenton Harrison Tarrant at his initial court appearance on Saturday, told the New Zealand Herald that Tarrant dismissed him that day. A judge ordered Tarrant to return to New Zealands High Court on April 5 for his next hearing on one count of murder, though he is expected to face additional charges. The 28-year-old Australian is being held in isolation in a Christchurch jail. He seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behaviour, Mr Peters told the newspaper. He didnt appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views. Expand Close A man pays respects at the Al Noor mosque at a park in Christchurch, New Zealand (Vincent Yu/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A man pays respects at the Al Noor mosque at a park in Christchurch, New Zealand (Vincent Yu/AP) Ms Ardern previously has said her Cabinet had agreed in principle to tighten gun restrictions in New Zealand and those reforms would be announced next week. She also had announced an inquiry into the intelligence and security services failures to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. There have been concerns intelligence agencies were overly focused on the Muslim community in detecting and preventing security risks. New Zealands international spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, confirmed it had not received any relevant information or intelligence before the shootings. As of Tuesday evening, 30 people were still being treated at the hospital, nine of them in critical condition, medical officials said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked a diplomatic spat with New Zealand and Australia by portraying the Christchurch mosque shooting and a First World War battle as targeting Islam. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison summoned Turkeys ambassador and demanded Mr Erdogan take back comments suggesting that Australians and New Zealanders had sent troops to fight Turkey in the First World War Gallipoli campaign motivated by an opposition to Islam. In more inflammatory comments made as he campaigns for votes in local elections this month, Mr Erdogan also said Australians and New Zealanders travelling to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would be sent back in coffins, like their grandfathers were in the Gallipoli campaign. Expand Close Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the graves of fallen Turkish soldiers in Canakkale on Monday (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the graves of fallen Turkish soldiers in Canakkale on Monday (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) Mr Morrisons government issued a travel advisory warning people visiting the Gallipoli battlefields for remembrance ceremonies during the anniversary of the campaign next month to exercise caution. Mr Morrison said all options are on the table if Mr Erdogan does not withdraw his comments. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu later held a telephone conversation with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said. Ignoring widespread criticism, Mr Erdogan has been screening at his campaign rallies excerpts of a video taken by the gunman who killed 50 people in mosques in Christchurch, to denounce what he calls rising hatred and prejudice against Islam. He has also been showing parts of a manifesto said to have been left by the gunman in which he threatens Turks and Mr Erdogan himself. On Wednesday, Mr Erdogan inaugurating a theme park in Ankara as part of his campaign for the March 31 elections called for votes for his ruling party candidates as a response to occupiers who attempt to threaten our nation from tens of thousands of kilometres away. Rarely a day goes by without the DUP being centre stage in the Brexit debate. Its 10 MPs have surely secured power and publicity beyond their wildest dreams. They evidently relish it but, with Prime Minister Theresa May attempting to secure a third meaningful vote on her Withdrawal Agreement, the rumour mill is in full swing and the DUP seems uncomfortable with what's being said. Read More The party has been offered a string of incentives to back Mrs May's deal, according to media reports. Among the concessions put on the table by the Government is a proposal to scrap air passenger duty for fights from local airports and so make Belfast more competitive with Dublin, according to one story yesterday. Extra money for Northern Ireland in some shape or form generally tops the list of alleged inducements being dangled before DUP eyes. But the party is adamant this is not so. Sources say the DUP will drive a hard bargain on these matters in negotiations to reach a new confidence and supply deal with the Government - the current one expires in June. But the Brexit talks are purely about Brexit and protecting the "constitutional integrity" of Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the EU. Nothing else features on the agenda, they insist. "The suggestion that we would sell out the Union for money is highly offensive," a senior DUP source said last night. "Just think of Nigel Dodds and Arlene Foster and what they have both personally been through. "Nigel suffered an attempt on his life as he visited his son in hospital. Arlene survived a bomb exploding under her school bus and her father was the target of an IRA murder attempt. "The discussions with the Government are not about cash. They are about delivering Brexit for the whole of the UK and ensuring Northern Ireland's place in the UK is safeguarded as we leave the EU." The DUP's main day-to-day negotiators have been Nigel Dodds, Emma Little Pengelly and Jeffrey Donaldson. Arlene Foster's absence from Westminster yesterday was a sure sign that a deal wasn't close as the DUP leader is likely to join the talks only if agreement appears imminent. The Government negotiators are Chancellor Philip Hammond, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Mrs May's deputy David Lidington, and Tory chief whip Julian Smith. DUP sources say there is "no chance" of a Brexit deal this week. Mr Dodds yesterday said that with Speaker John Bercow having "thrown a spanner in the works", the Government is now more intensely focused on securing a third vote than on talks with the party. While describing the discussions as constructive, he said there were "still big gaps" between the two sides. With Mrs May asking Brussels for a two-month technical extension of Article 50, the DUP acknowledges an immediate no deal Brexit is effectively off the table. But the party is strongly against postponing Brexit beyond June, and Mr Dodds said it would be a "crazy situation" if the UK ended up having to participate in another EU election. TUV leader Jim Allister is usually the DUP's most vocal critic but he seems content with how it has handled Brexit so far. Last night, he urged Mrs Foster's party to stand firm and warned there was no room for "fudge or slippage" on a backstop which he said threatened the Union. "If Ulster MPs blinked on this issue, then history would rightly judge them as having failed when it matter most to stand firm," he added. Lord Bew, the historian and former adviser to UUP leader David Trimble, reckons it's "50-50" whether the DUP backs Mrs May's Brexit deal. He believes if the DUP "is onside", around 10-15 Labour MPs will follow who otherwise would think it pointless rebelling against their own party whips. "The DUP has sway with the European Research Group, although there's a small ERG hardcore who will still refuse to support the Withdrawal Agreement. I think it's those Labour MPs who will be most influenced by the DUP's decision," he said. Berlin is within its rights to deport asylum-seekers to other countries in the bloc, even if they'll encounter poor living conditions there, according to the EU's highest court. Exceptions apply only in extreme cases. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday cleared the way for Germany to deport asylum-seekers to other EU member states. Deutsche Welle reports in its article Germany eligible to deport refugees to EU countries with poor living conditions that judges in the Luxembourg-based court ruled that weak social benefit systems and living conditions in certain countries were not grounds to block transfers. What did the ECJ say? Shortcomings in the welfare system of a member state should not prevent asylum-seekers from being deported there. Exceptions apply only in extreme cases, where the individual is deprived of the "most basic needs, such as feeding, washing and finding shelter," the judges said. This does not cover "significant poverty" or a wish to have German social standards. The judges pointed out that the EU asylum system was based on mutual trust and that decisions taken by EU states should respect human rights. They also ruled that asylum claims could be rejected in cases where the applicant already enjoys subsidiary protection in another EU country. What are the EU's asylum rules? Under the EU's Dublin Regulation, asylum-seekers must lodge their claim in the first EU country they set foot in. That country is responsible for protecting that individual and processing his or her application. Migrants who travel onwards to another country illegally and lodge an application there instead can be sent back to the point of entry. This transfer must take place within a six-months. How the ECJ case came about? Judges in Germany had asked the ECJ to interpret the bloc's asylum rules to clear up doubts about when deportations could occur in several cases. One case involved a Gambian man who had lodged an asylum application in Italy before traveling to Germany and filing another claim there. He argued he should not be sent back to Italy because of poor conditions for refugees there. Other cases involved a Palestinian who came to Germany via Bulgaria and a Chechen who entered via Poland. What happens now? The ECJ's ruling is significant because it gives Germany the go-ahead to return asylum-seekers to the point at which they entered the EU. However, the final decision on the fate of the asylum-seekers in question will ultimately be up to Germany's federal courts. It's unclear how Hungary, Italy and Poland will respond, given that all three governments have resisted taking in refugees. Last year, Germany transferred more than 8,000 asylum-seekers to other EU states. Most went to Italy. Only a few went to Greece and none were accepted by Hungary. Human rights concerns Activists argue that the conditions for refugees in some of entry countries, such as Greece, are deplorable. They say that instead of sending asylum-seekers back, Germany should instead take over responsibility for their applications. Germany currently sends very few, if any, asylum-seekers to Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece, according to the Interior Ministry, which said there was no guarantee the countries were upholding EU asylum rules. Hungary before the courts The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, took Hungary to court in mid-2018 over its treatment of asylum-seekers. Brussels accused the government of Viktor Orban of violating EU laws by keeping asylum applicants in transit zones on the Hungarian border for excessively long periods of time. That case is ongoing. Probably the best film produced in 2018 was Peterloo. It dealt very powerfully and accurately with the massacre by the British military of 18 working-class protesters at St Peter's Field in Manchester in 1819. The slaughter and wounding of many innocent peaceful demonstrators became widely known as Peterloo by the people at the time, the battle of Waterloo having taken place only four years previously. Indeed, it was the unsettling economic impact brought about by the victory over Napoleon that caused the English working class to become radicalised and to demand elementary civil rights, such as the right for everyone to vote in parliamentary elections. The film's faithful history highlighted the way in which the British Establishment ruthlessly dealt with social agitation by repressing the demonstration with military might and imprisoning the organisers and failing to discipline or prosecute the soldiers, or indeed their officers, who were guilty of carrying out the appalling atrocity. Today the British Labour movement still commemorates Peterloo and honours its dead as martyrs for the cause of labour. One hundred and fifty-three years later, in January 1972, with Bloody Sunday, people could rightly have asked: what has changed? Although the parallels between Peterloo and Bloody Sunday are not precise, nonetheless they are similar enough to illustrate how the British political and military Establishment protects itself in times of crisis. With Peterloo, there was absolutely no question of a public inquiry, nor military prosecutions, although the horrors of the event could not be concealed as it was widely reported in the new phenomenon of national newspapers. What has been lost in the controversy surrounding the decision to prosecute 'Soldier F' for two murders and four attempted murders is the real historic significance of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was a huge propaganda win for the IRA and, in the immediate aftermath, hundreds of young people outraged by the massacre joined the IRA or, having been radicalised by the event, switched support to it. It was the greatest recruiting agent for the IRA, which was probably at its lowest ebb militarily after the highly damaging impact of internment without trial in August 1971. In this one outrageous incident the British military gifted the IRA a political capacity that it had never previously enjoyed. Not only was Bloody Sunday an enormous moral and political outrage that besmirched the reputation and moral standing of Britain throughout the world, it was a huge strategic mistake that set back the Army's attempt to contain the IRA. It also radically changed the dynamics of our politics by weakening the democratic nationalist argument in favour of peaceful change, and gave a huge boost to the cause of the armed struggle as advocated by the Provisionals. Nor should we neglect the specific political aftermath of Bloody Sunday, which saw the unionist government stripped of its security powers by Westminster. The then Stormont Prime Minister Brian Faulkner objected to that move and, along with his government, resigned in March 1972 with the result that direct rule was established, thus bringing an end to 50 years of continuous one-party unionist rule. It was, in political terms, a momentous, historic event, bringing about an absolute end to the unionist monopoly of power. It is remarkable that British politicians, who have clumsily and stupidly been critical of the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision to prosecute Soldier F, fail to realise the enormous damage that their provocative comments are to the rule of law. Their jingoistic defence of the unjustified and unjustifiable actions of the Army, after all that has been revealed by Lord Justice Saville's insightful and definitive report, beggars belief. But the most appalling of all was the intervention of Conservative Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who said in the context of the Bloody Sunday decision to prosecute: "We need to give protection to service personnel... to ensure we don't have spurious prosecutions." The clear implication is that the Bloody Sunday prosecution is a spurious one. Is the holder of the high office of Defence Secretary seriously impugning the professional independence and integrity of the Director of Public Prosecutions? If so, then he could well be in contempt. Quite properly the Bloody Sunday families have asked the Attorney General to investigate these unwarranted remarks to determine whether they are in contempt of the current judicial proceedings. His comments - and those of other Tory MPs - are simply outrageous and extremely hurtful to the victims' long-suffering and dignified families. They expose a gross insensitivity to the ordinary people of Derry, whose legitimate objective was to get some form of justice for their innocent loved ones. Perhaps again, as at Peterloo, the British political and military Establishment have learnt nothing, except to protect themselves. An activist in an orangutan costume takes part in a protest outside the Chinese consulate in Medan, Indonesia, against the construction of a dam that environmentalists fear will damage the habitat of an endangered orangutan species, March 1, 2019. Indonesias leading environmental group said Wednesday it was seeking a meeting with Bank of China representatives to discuss a Chinese-funded dam project in North Sumatra province that, activists and scientists warn, could threaten the worlds rarest orangutan species. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) asked for the meeting after officials from the bank, which is financing the U.S. $1.6 billion hydropower project, announced they would evaluate it in response to concerns raised by conservationists. The banks move was encouraging but direct talks were critical for reaching a common understanding of the issue, said Dana Tarigan, Walhis executive director for North Sumatra. Many of the environmental, social and biodiversity risks are fairly complex, and so we hope a meeting can help clarify and dispel common misconceptions regarding the dams real impacts, Dana told BenarNews. PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE), an independent power producer in which Chinas ZheFu Holding Group owns a majority stake, is building the 510-megawatt hydropower dam in the Batang Toru rainforest on Sumatra Island. The plant will divide the habitat of about 800 Tapanuli orangutan and increase the risk of their extinction, environmental groups and scientists have said. The Batang Toru Ecosystem is the only known home to the Tapanuli orangutan, which was discovered in 1939. It has been identified as a distinct species, and was recently listed as a critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy denied that the project would threaten protected animals. Dana said Bank of China had sent an email to Walhi last year promising to investigate the concerns raised by environmentalists, but the bank had never informed the group of the findings. We hope that we will get firm answers, not just normative platitudes from officials of the Bank of China, he said. We appreciate the statement, but its meaningless if construction is going ahead, he added. Construction would destroy some of the most critical low-altitude habitats of the orangutans, cutting the connection between the eastern and western block of the habitat, according to Erik Meijaard. He directs the conservation program at Borneo Futures and is a professor at the Center of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland in Australia. Bank of China could not be immediately reached for comment. But a statement on its website that was posted on March 4 said officials had taken note of the concerns expressed by some environmental organizations about the hydroelectric dam project. We attach great importance to corporate social responsibility in our global operations and ensure that our business activities abide by local laws and regulations. We are committed to supporting environmental protection globally and upholding the principles of green finance, the bank said. Bank of China will evaluate the project very carefully and make prudent decisions by duly considering the promotion of green finance, the fulfilment of social responsibility as well as the adherence to commercial principles, the statement went on to say. Project expected to be finished in 2022 Part of Beijings One Belt, One Road (OBOR) plan, the project in the Sumatra rainforest underscores how Chinas global infrastructure drive can threaten the environment, said Bill Laurance, director of the Center for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University, which is also in Queensland. The director general for electricity at Indonesias Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Rida Mulyana, said the project was on track to be completed by 2022, local media reported over the weekend. The project has attracted criticism from environmentalists worldwide, as Chinas aims to link Beijing with Asia, Europe and Africa by building massive highways, railways, ports and other infrastructure under OBOR. The Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers and Thinkers (ALERT), led by Laurance, sent a letter to Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo last year, urging him to stop dam-related development in the orangutan habitat. Earlier this month, a provincial administrative court in North Sumatra rejected a petition filed by Walhi demanding that the permit for the project be revoked. The court ruled that construction could proceed. NSHE said the plant would cover an area of 122 hectares (301 acres), or only 0.07 percent of the Batang Toru ecosystem. Only a small part of the project area is in the home range of up to seven orangutans, it said. The project is backed by the China Export & Credit Insurance Corp., also known as Sinosure, a major Chinese state-owned enterprise, and the Bank of China. Beijing-based engineering firm Sinohydro hydropower has been awarded the contract to build the dam. The hydropower plant is one of the priority projects under the Jokowi governments drive to upgrade the countrys infrastructure. Jokowi is up for reelection in mid-April. The hydropower plant is not the only China-funded project that has triggered controversy in Indonesia. Greenpeace blamed the Celukan Bawang coal-fired power station in Bali, a U.S. $700 million project built by China Huadian Corp., for poisoning the island that is a top tourist destination in the country. In August, a court threw out a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and local people against Balis governor and the company, ruling that the local governments decision to issue a permit for the project was lawful. Demonstrators carry a banner at a protest in Marawi, Philippines demanding an immediate return of thousands of displaced residents who fled the Muslim city almost two years ago after it was taken over by Islamic State-linked militants, March 20, 2019. Hundreds of desperate survivors of a siege by Islamic State-linked militants on Wednesday trooped to the streets to demand access to their ruined homes in the southern Philippine city of Marawi. Seventeen months after the Philippine military chased away militants from Marawi in fierce fighting that claimed 1,200 lives, college student Leah Mehila said she was still living with her family in a cramped evacuation site. We have shed so many tears the past two years. Please let us go home, Mehlia said as she joined a march of about 1,000 Marawi residents forced to flee their homes in 2017. Mehlias family is among an estimated 10,000 families still living in evacuation sites, despite pledges from the government that they would soon be able to return home. Tens of thousands of families many now living with relatives elsewhere have been unable to return and fix their homes in an area of Marawi that bore the brunt of the five-month fighting. Families have 'suffered too long' For mother-of-five Faridah Pagalad, it has been a miserable existence the past two years. She said she had thought that once the militants were defeated, she and her husband could try to begin anew The tent is too small for my family. My children are growing up and we have no privacy, she said. Drieza Lininding, chair of the Marawi-based Moro Consensus Group, said villagers have suffered too long from being away from their properties as a result of the siege that started on May 23, 2017. I feel sad that after almost two years we are still discussing issues like relief assistance and temporary shelters among others, Lininding said. This only means we are still at a stage of initial responses, although we had our groundbreaking ceremony six months ago when they promised a new Marawi. That never took off, he said. He said many have become frustrated with the government because it keeps issuing timelines only to offer excuses later. As far as the rehabilitation phase is concerned, the government has failed us, he said, warning that IS militants who escaped from Marawi and were now hiding in jungles could tap this anger among local residents to boost their ranks. Thats what we fear, because nobody could really say whats in the mind of the still-displaced civilians, especially the youth, he said. Eduardo del Rosario, head of a government task force in charge of rehabilitating the city, told evacuees here on Tuesday that clearing operations would likely be finished by the end of August. Troops, he said, were still carefully combing the debris to retrieve some 49 general purpose bombs that were dropped by the Air Force but did not explode. "We are asking for your patience. We are asking for your support, a teary-eyed del Rosario said, as he fended off calls for his resignation. Days before Thailands first election in eight years, authorities told BenarNews on Wednesday they would seek extradition of exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra only if they have clear information about his current location. The businessman who remains deeply popular in Thailand despite a corruption conviction was expected to visit Hong Kong this weekend for a family wedding, according to his social media. Responding to media reports that the Thai government would ask Hong Kong to aid in Thaksins return, Chatchom Akkapin, chief of foreign affairs at the attorney generals office in Bangkok, said that his whereabouts were unknown and that Thailand did not ask for extradition. We heard about the news and we contacted other countrys Interpol, but we found nothing, Krisana Pattanacharoen, a spokesman for Thailands national police, told BenarNews. If we have clear information, we will deal with the agency involved the Attorney Generals office to seek extradition, he said. Officials have made similar comments for years. Thaksin served as prime minister from 2001 until he was overthrown in a coup in September 2006. He fled the country and has been living in exile. His younger sister, Yingluck, was elected prime minister in 2011, the nations last election, but thrown out in a coup led by then-Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who took over as prime minister. Like her brother, she fled the country and is expected to attend the wedding in Hong Kong, according to media reports. Hong Kong does not have an extradition treaty with Thailand, the South China Morning Post reported, adding that Thaksin has traveled to Hong Kong in the past to meet politicians from his Pheu Thai party. Two nationwide polls from the first week of March the final surveys conducted on that scale ahead of Sundays vote showed incumbent Prayuth Chan-o-Cha as the voters top pick for prime minister, but Thaksin's Pheu Thai as the most popular party. Expected turnout Thai voters will go to the polls on March 24 for the first time since 2011 to elect a new parliament. About 51.4 million people are eligible to cast ballots, according to government officials. On Sunday, nearly 87 percent of 2.6 million who had registered to vote early cast ballots, leading election officials to speculate that Thais are enthusiastic about the election. On Wednesday during a visit to Sothon Wararam Worawihan Temple in Chacheongsao province, Prayuth, who turns 65 on Thursday, prayed to Lord Buddha to allow him to stay in office. May the nation, the religion and the monarchy stay safe. I want time to work, he said. We will not let anyone overthrow the key pillars of government. The government will be a bridge to 68 million Thais and make them happy and smile. That is all I want. The vote comes amid criticism that the 2017 constitution was tailored to give an advantage to pro-junta parties and Prayuth by empowering 250 senators handpicked by him to help the lower house choose the next prime minister. Those senators include military leaders. To control the government, a party or coalition must win at least 376 seats one more than half of the 500 seats in parliament and 250 seats in the senate combined. Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University, said polls showing Pheu Thai out in front could be correct, to a degree. I think Pheu Thai will gain the most seats, but by a smaller margin. This election is different from the Thaksin era, he told BenarNews. The long-established Democrat Party, the pro-junta Palang Pracharat and the upstart Future Forward parties could draw away its votes, he predicted. Party leaders speak out Earlier this month, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the leader of the Democrat Party, posted on Facebook that he would not support Prayuth or Thaksins party. Ill make it crystal clear: I will certainly not support Gen. Prayuth to retain premiership. Because the power grab causes conflict and contradicts the Democrats commitment to respecting people, he posted. As for Thaksins party, he posted, The Democrat Party cannot align with the Pheu Thai because our political ideologies could not get along. He also called on the 250 senators to respect the voices of the people. The senators, because they were selected by Prayuth, are expected to give him a head start toward the magical 376 seats needed to run the government. Sudarat Keyuraphan, who leads Thaksins Pheu Thai party, responded to Abhisits comment. Its a pity that the Democrat Party does not make a clear stand to join pro-democracy efforts to resist the dictatorship and its attempt to prolong its power, she tweeted. Conflicts in the South Caucasus led to closure of a number of trade routes, resulting in increased freight transportation costs, which hit economies of not only South Caucasian republics, but also Russia. A quarter of a century ago, the main route, which served as the basis for cargo transportations between Armenia and Russia, passed through the territory of Azerbaijan. This infrastructure, which existed in the Soviet time, was supposed to be developed over many years. According to the CIA Directory of Countries, closer to the end of the Soviet period, about 85% of goods in inter-republican trade were received by Armenian SSR through Azerbaijani SSR, and only 15% were transported through Georgian SSR. Today, despite all the necessary costs, over 80% of goods are supplied to Armenia from Russia through the route that passes through the old Georgian Military Highway, while the rest is transported through Iran. Due to weather conditions and other factors, transportation through this route, which includes Verkhny Lars chechpoint, is extremely hard and often leads to disruption of supplies to and from Armenia, causing dissatisfaction among customers. Armenian experts are considering several alternatives to this route: sea route through Poti; two road routes (corridor through South Ossetia and the Avar-Kakheti road through Dagestan); as well as railway line running through the territory of Abkhazia via the Zugdidi - Sochi route. Railway linking Russia with Armenia, which passes through the territory of Abkhazia, as well as highway through Tskhinvali, has been closed for 25 years, and their opening is not expected in the near future. Armenia borders with four countries, the longest borders are with Azerbaijan and Turkey, both of which are closed. That's why reanimation of the route through the territory of Azerbaijan can be one of the most realistic and safe routes for both Russia and Armenia. Exports from Armenia mostly consists of raw materials. Average annual growth rate of exports from 1992 to 2017 reached just 1.2% (1.6% for imports). Blockade significantly reduced industrial potential of Armenia, leading to a change in structure of foreign trade. Based to the most modest estimates, simply because of high cost of transportation of metal ores through Batumi, which allows to bypass routes through Turkey or Azerbaijan, Armenia annually lost up to $20 million. Transportation of other raw materials, including agricultural products, is almost 25-30% more expensive for Armenian exporters due to the blockade. Meanwhile, the route for heavy vehicles in the direction of Russian border through Azerbaijani territory functions today. The Agstafa-Baku-Derbent route, which once connected Dilijan-Ijevan-Agstafa route, is much longer, so trip from Armenia to Russia through Azerbaijan will take several hours more than the current route, but there shouldn't be any difficulties of force majeure situations associated with natural conditions. Wide multi-lane road, bypassing difficult mountain passes, runs through the regions of Azerbaijan, and then passes along the coast of Caspian Sea right to Makhachkala. Problem of transit highways will remain until Yerevan will make compromises on the Karabakh settlement. For the time being, the position of Armenian leadership in this matter prevents expansion of the land communication. For Immediate Release, March 20, 2019 Contacts: Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org Mary Katherine Ray, Rio Grande Chapter Sierra Club, (575) 772-5655, mkrscrim@gmail.com Maggie Howell, Wolf Conservation Center, (914) 763-2373, maggie@nywolf.org Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project, (520) 623-1878, greta@westernwatersheds.org Feds Urged to Free Two Endangered Wolves Trapped in New Mexico SILVER CITY, N.M. Thirty-seven organizations today sent a letter urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to free two endangered wolves trapped in New Mexico and halt additional trapping. Federal trappers recently removed two Mexican gray wolves from the wild and set traps for a third wolf for preying on cattle in the Gila National Forest. Because the removals undermine wolf recovery, todays letter urges the Service to cancel the removal order and promptly release the captured wolves. Wolves cant be recovered with traps and bullets, said Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. Mexican wolves are closer to extinction than the government admits. Removing wolves to placate the livestock industry is the last thing we should be doing to this profoundly endangered population. The Fish and Wildlife Service has refused to release its removal order to the public. But the agency has acknowledged that the order authorizes the killing of a wolf or multiple wolves. Given the excessive losses to the wolf population in the last year from unlawful killing, traps and other unknown causes, it's crucial that this wolf's life be spared, said Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. A kill order is contrary to the goal of the recovery of this highly imperiled species. The Mexican wolf is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, with two reintroduced populations in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, and roughly 300 captive wolves. Federal trapping and shooting on behalf of the livestock industry has kept the population low since reintroduction began in Arizona and New Mexico in 1998. In 2017, 114 wolves were counted in the wild. The Fish and Wildlife Service will soon release 2018 numbers. In Mexico, approximately 35 wolves stem from a reintroduction program begun in 2011. Any loss to the wild population is a step backward for Mexican wolf recovery, stated Maggie Howell, director of the Wolf Conservation Center. The Fish and Wildlife Service should be releasing captive wolves into the wild as recommended by scientists, not taking critically endangered lobos out. This area is good habitat for wolves, but clearly not such a great place for livestock, said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. Real conflict reduction would mean permanently closing the allotment and allowing wildlife to be wild on our public lands. The letter from conservation groups points out the inequity in the Service ignoring the advice of scientists and allowing wolves to scavenge on livestock carcasses, and then scapegoating wolves when they begin to prey on cattle near where they scavenged. It is not known if those circumstances precipitated the present conflicts. But in the past, Rainy Mesa has seen repeated incidents of cattle dying from non-wolf causes and then being scavenged by wolves. Wolves then began preying on livestock and suffered the consequences. Learning about social determinants of health can give insight into why the same disease may present different challenges to different patients. Doctors do a lot of good for our society, but they could stand to learn a thing or two. In fact, many physicians would benefit from a broader understanding of public health. Public health refers to all the methods and institutions communities use to promote and protect the health. Its about a holistic approach to health one that doesnt start and end at the doctors office. Although its easy to forget, most of us are constantly interacting with professionals in a variety of public health fields first responders and restaurant inspectors, researchers and social workers, policymakers and nutritionists. These are the people who protect our day-to-day safety and look after the health of our communities. Earning a Masters of Public Health (MPH) can be a valuable way for physicians to garner a broader perspective of the social dimensions of medical care. Learning about social determinants of health can give insight into why the same disease may present different challenges to different patients. This awareness can improve the accuracy of diagnoses and cut down on the time it takes to identify environmental causes of health problems. It can also provide insights in why certain patients have a harder time following their doctors medical recommendations. Doctors are also not in a position to decide which patients they attend to nor should they be. In a global world with travel of people from all demographic backgrounds, doctors are required to be competent not only in medicine but also to communicate and care for people with different disease burdens, socio-cultural realities, expectations, values, and beliefs. Doctors of today therefore need a global competence to understand the diverse populations they serve which they can gain from public health education, research, and service. Of course, many doctors might be hesitant to return to school. But studying public health in an academic context can benefit even doctors with many years of schooling under their belts and the typical degree program takes only two or three years to complete. Current medical students can also study public health in dual degree programs. Not only that, medical students have a leg up over those with only an MD especially when looking at careers in administration or clinical research. But even if doctors dont choose to study public health in school, there are other ways to gain exposure to public health. To start, there are numerous online blogs and communities devoted to the subject that one can use as reference The medical community has already begun to embrace a public-health approach to some extent. Consider the Medical College Acceptance Test (MCAT), an exam that, until recently, covered mostly the biological and physical sciences, as well as verbal reasoning. Since 2014, however, the MCAT has included a section on psychological, social, and biological foundations of behaviour topics that have long been critical to the study of public health. This is an encouraging development. A better understanding of social and environmental causes of health problems can only improve the quality of care doctors provide to their patients. Dr. Satesh Bidaisee, Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine; Assistant Dean for School of Graduate Studies, St. George's University Pall to Invest $3.5 Million in New Innovation Partnership New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Corporation, has signed an Industry Participation Agreement with Pall Corporation (Pall) to support the development of its BioPharmaceutical Innovation iLab. The partnership will support two key Centers at NJII that will advance the manufacturing of new cell and gene therapies: the Cell and Gene Therapy Development Center and the Center of Advanced Biologic Manufacturing. "We are excited to work with Pall Corporation, a world leader in high-tech filtration, separation and purification, to advance manufacturing of new cell and gene therapies. These therapies represent a new era in the treatment of cancer and other major diseases and hold great promise in achieving successful patient outcomes," explained Dr. Haro Hartounian, NJII Senior Executive Director, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Innovation. The NJII Cell and Gene Therapy Development Center will focus on addressing manufacturing process technologies and workforce development challenges faced by the industry. This Center will serve as a dedicated platform where the industry can access shared resources including equipment, expertise and project work to find innovative solutions to manufacturing needs for biologic medicines, such as cell-based immunotherapies. The NJII Center of Advanced Biologic Manufacturing, meanwhile, will address challenges of mass production through continuous processing and viral vector manufacturing. This Center will bring big pharma, emerging biotechnology companies, technology developers and instrumentation companies together with regulatory agencies to pioneer new techniques and train those who will take the technology into commercial practice at an industrial scale. The world leader in continuous bioprocessing, Pall is at the forefront of research and development in the industrialization of gene therapy manufacture and brings significant new resources to both projects. State-of-the-art bioreactors, continuous chromatography units, and an acoustic wave separator have been provided by Pall to both NJII Centers as part of the Industry Participation Agreement. Pall experts will also be deployed to support the experimental program and provide training on the new equipment. "Scaling up the manufacture of gene therapies and gene-modified cell therapies to industrial levels is one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine manufacture. If we're going to tackle the industry's productivity challenges, we need to think smart and invest in finding innovative manufacturing solutions, for example through continuous bioprocessing. NJII is doing remarkable work in this area and we're very excited to partner with them on this innovative program," explained Peter Levison, Pall's Executive Director Business Development. Pall's partnership with NJII is the latest in a series of investments by the filtration, separation and purification world leader in R&D programs to advance continuous manufacturing and the production of gene therapies. In November 2018, a partnership between Pall, Cobra Biologics and Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was awarded an Innovate UK grant worth nearly $2 Million to investigate continuous manufacturing for gene therapies the results of which, when complete, may complement NJII's work in the United States. Dr. Gokhale brings to Actinium extensive regulatory knowledge and FDA experience from over 20 years in regulatory positions of increasing responsibility Actinium Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Mamata Gokhale, Ph.D., RAC as Vice President, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs. In this role, Dr. Gokhale will be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive clinical regulatory strategy across Actinium's portfolio of ARC or Antibody Radiation-Conjugate product candidates for targeted conditioning. These include the pivotal Phase 3 trial for Actinium's lead candidate Iomab-B, therapeutic and combination trials of Actimab-A, as well as potential next-generation ARC's resulting from its AWE or Antibody Warhead Enabling technology platform. Dr. Gokhale brings over 20 years of regulatory affairs experience to Actinium that began at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA as a reviewer before transitioning to industry where she worked at biotechnology and pharma companies including Amgen, Watson Pharma, Neumedicines Inc. and global Contract Research Organizations including Voisin Consulting Life Sciences and Paraxel International. At Amgen Dr. Gokhale successfully contributed to approvals and expansion of Prolia , Xgeva , Vectibix and Sensipar . Dr. Gokhale, said, "I am particularly excited that I will be able to apply my skills most immediately to Iomab-B given it is in a pivotal Phase 3 trial. Throughout my career, I have been passionate about ushering novel candidates to approvals and where possible by using regulatory strategy to affect a better development plan and/or label. Actinium's portfolio of ARC's can represent opportunities to apply my regulatory strategy in multiple ways by leveraging the extensive clinical history of the Iomab-B program in multiple hematologic indications. I am also excited to have the opportunity to impact development of the Iomab-ACT program, which represents an exciting opportunity in CAR-T and cell therapy, and also Actinium's combination trials." Familiarity with all phases of drug development allows Dr. Gokhale to align nonclinical and clinical development with regulatory strategies and implementing them at regional and global levels and seamlessly transition between INDs, NDAs/BLAs (United States) and CTAs/IMPDs, MAAs (EU). Dr. Gokhale's regulatory experience includes developing regulatory strategies for small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, cell and gene therapies, leading and managing regulatory interactions, requesting orphan drug, breakthrough therapy and fast track designations and pediatric vouchers, resolution of clinical hold issues, developing target product profiles, core data sheets and conducting labeling negotiations. Dr. Gokhale also has highly complementary and relevant clinical experience that includes developing study concept documents and protocols, interacting with Key Opinion Leaders and data safety monitoring committees, drafting and reviewing Protocols and Investigator Brochures, compiling and reviewing clinical study reports, project management, conducting study feasibility, evaluating budgets for clinical trials, pharmacovigilance and resolution of audit findings. Dr. Gokhale earned her Ph.D. from the University of Bombay (accredited in United States), trained as postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University (School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of public Health) and as a staff fellow at the FDA. Dr. Gokhale has the RAC certification from RAPS and Associate training in the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System. Dr. Gokhale maintains academic ties with the University of Southern California by lecturing at its International Center for Regulatory Science. Why machine learning is the most important media analysis trend for 2019 With media analysis being a critical element of any successful business strategy, it's important for companies to stay mindful of the various methods of analysis and trending topics. Anja Cavanagh from Focal Points. I spoke to Anja Cavanagh, team leader: analysis and media intelligence at media and brand intelligence agency Focal Points to elaborate more on the importance of media analysis, the state of the industry as well as what trends we should pay attention to in 2019 and beyond. Tell us more about yourself and what it is you do? Tell us more about yourself and what it is you do? I spoke to Anja Cavanagh, team leader: analysis and media intelligence at media and brand intelligence agency Focal Points to elaborate more on the importance of media analysis, the state of the industry as well as what trends we should pay attention to in 2019 and beyond. Which of this year's media analysis trends stands out to you and why? Which of this year's media analysis trends stands out to you and why? Why do you consider media analysis a critical element of a successful business strategy? Why do you consider media analysis a critical element of a successful business strategy? Comment on the current state of the media analysis industry. Comment on the current state of the media analysis industry. Going beyond 2019 and looking towards 2020, how can businesses prepare themselves in terms of technology and all the advancements that come with it? Going beyond 2019 and looking towards 2020, how can businesses prepare themselves in terms of technology and all the advancements that come with it? Anything else you would like to add? Anything else you would like to add? Juanita Pienaar's articles About Juanita Pienaar Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. Juanita is the editor of the marketing & media portal on the Bizcommunity website. She is also a contributing writer. I grew up in Pretoria and studied at the University of Pretoria where I completed my Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.I started working at Focal Points in 2016, where my role is to analyse and derive value from clients media coverage. Our reporting solutions are co-created with our clients to ensure that our analysis aligns with their specific needs and helps them to reach their communication objectives.I believe that by using this client-centric method of reporting, Focal Points has established itself as a trailblazer in the media analysis industry.I would definitely say that machine learning is the most important media analysis trend for 2019. Focal Points utilises this technology to identify trends in media data and to find the answers we need at an incredible pace.Our media analysis reports are crafted using a combination of machine learning, natural language processing and human understanding. Using these AI technologies, we are able to process vast amounts of data, which really gives us an edge. The sheer volume of data that we process in order to find insights is what sets us apart from competitors.Thanks to these powerful technologies, we are able to produce comprehensive media intelligence reports that cater to our clients specific requirements in unrivalled turnaround time.With more media channels available to consumers, thanks to the internet, it has become essential to offer a seamless brand experience across all channels.Media analysis is a fundamental tool for identifying where a brands message is portrayed correctly in the media and where you need to focus to change the narrative. For instance, your brand message may be portrayed differently in editorial content compared to the way it appears in content that you have posted on social media.It is imperative for your brands message to be consistent on every channel so that consumers do not misinterpret what your brand has to say. Ensuring that your brand message and voice is the same helps consumers to identify your brand and assists in building trust.For example, if a consumer sees that your brand is focused on uplifting the community, and that message is consistent across adverts, press releases and social platforms, they are more likely to believe that is really your focus. Conversely, if your brand has different messages on various platforms, it is more difficult for consumers to understand and recall your brand.It is commonly said in the industry that data is king and he who masters it rules the world. Although this idea isnt something new, its significance to the state of the industry is two-fold.Firstly, any analysis is only as relevant as the quality and quantity of the data. We see this time and time again, where insights are lacking due to the limited media data analysed.Secondly, the manner in which the data is mastered is crucial. As mentioned earlier, machine learning is the answer to gaining the most valuable insights in the shortest amount of time.The first step businesses need to take is to educate themselves about what these technologies entail and how they all work together. Once businesses have a clear idea of this, they can then start thinking about ways to incorporate them into their own strategies.The next thing businesses need to do is be perceptive to the media and to any upcoming trends in order to stay ahead of new advancements in technology. At Focal Points, we do this by monitoring the media, which allows us to have foresight into what the latest trends will be as well as how to adapt our own technologies based on what consumers need.Social media analysis is something that many brands still dont effectively utilise. Creating and reporting on a social media strategy is critical especially as customers primarily talk about brands and campaigns on social media.This also speaks to omnichannel reporting, which involves reporting on all media platforms instead of focusing on editorial, social and advertising in silos. As customers come into contact with your brand in many different ways, it is imperative to recognise the importance of a comprehensive strategy in order to cover all touchpoints and report consistently.Media analysis can assist by looking at all media and let you know if the messages you are putting out on editorial are being carried through to your adverts. It also shows you how social media users are reacting to key messages, if there are any secondary messages being created and the sentiment of conversations. All of this impacts your brand, which is why media channels shouldn't be reported on in isolation. Cape Town's No. 1 music radio station, Kfm 94.5, has scooped 11 nominations for the 2019 Liberty Radio Awards. Carl WastieThe Kfm Flash Drive with Carl WastieDarren Whackhead SimpsonKfm Mornings with Darren, Sherlin and SibsThe Capes Biggest Baby Shower#KfmLovesKaapstad Summer CampaignBeat the Bomb station promotion with LottoStarThe Coca-Cola Top40SA with Carl WastieChanel September#KfmLovesKaapstad Summer CampaignZoe Brown (Traffic presenter on the Kfm Flash Drive)We are elated by this acknowledgment from industry tastemakers. Receiving more nominations than any other commercial radio station in the Cape is testament to our world-class approach to broadcasting and content. This, together with Kfm gaining the largest one-week cume of any station in the Cape according to the latest BRC RAMs are key highlights for the station. Kfm 94.5 has always been focused on creating a deep connection with audiences, and these nominations are evidence of our 360-degree approach to radio and storytelling, our incredible talent, and our quest to make the brand come alive both on-air and off-air, said Stephen Werner, Kfm 94.5 Programme Manager.For the latest news and information from Kfm 94.5 visit: www.kfm.co.za This week we go behind the selfie with Phil de Lange, comedian and radio producer at Smile 90.4FM, ahead of his one-man show, The Phil Spectrum, at the Baxter Theatre on Friday, 22 March. De Lange says, "I'm not great at selfies but look, I have a t-shirt from Rob van Vuuren's 'What What' show." 1. Where do you live, work and play? 2. Whats your claim to fame? 3. Describe your career so far. 4. Tell us a few of your favourite things. Preview of my debut trap song about thoughts and ideas of a semi politically correct mediocre white boy but not necessarily Post Malone and needing an asthma pump. Full version to be released at The Phil Spectrum on Friday at 19:30. Baxter Theatre. Tickets https://t.co/vvxeRkveT6 pic.twitter.com/PMmaUr7Mdu Phil de Lange (@TakeYourPhil) March 19, 2019 5. What do you love about your industry? 6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists. 7. What are the tools of your trade? 8. Who is getting it right in your industry? 9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on. I think radio can improve with more reliable and trustworthy methods of measuring audience numbers. At the moment, there are different ways of collecting the numbers and different opinions on what the most effective ones are. 10. What are you working on right now? 11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself. 12. Where and when do you have your best ideas? 13. Whats your secret talent/party trick? 14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile? 15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone? 16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry? I live in Vredehoek, Cape Town; I work across the country, and I play in my flat.I don't know if I can claim it yet, but probably winning a Savanna Comics Choice Awards and being selected by Trevor Noah to be part of hisshowcase.A steady journey of gratitude and change.Sharpening my kitchen knives, cooking soup and pasta, binging, dreaming about all my weird ideas that I'll (one day) try, Macy Gray's voice, pancakes.It's unpredictable and forces you to be on your toes and constantly adapt. If you're not fresh, you don't survive, and that makes for good motivation.I wake up at 4:45am and eat two bananas. By 5:30am, I'm at work getting ready for breakfast radio, which runs till 9am. Then I prepare for the next day's show and head home at 1:30pm, where I take a nap or I go to the gym, or take care of anything that needs to happen in my life.After I've rested I head out at night to gigs in Cape Town to get some stage time in and keep writing, because the only way to really write stand-up is to be on stage. I get to bed at about 11pm and the cycle starts again.Books, news, studios, cables, microphones, and an open mind.The South African comedy industry is doing great things and the world is starting to notice. At the moment I'd say Conrad Koch, Loyiso Gola, Loyiso Madinga, Tumi Morake, Carvin Goldstone, and Riaad Moosa come to mind.I also can't leave the question blank without mentioning producer/director/comedy enthusiast Ryan Harduth.When it comes to radio, I'm a big fan of broadcasters who move towards podcasting. Its part of the future and it's great to see so many of them popping up.I definitely think that comedy can improve by working towards making it more sustainable for performers. It's a difficult industry to get into and even more difficult to stay in the industry to a point that you make it a reliable livelihood.I'm working on doing my one-man show,, which is happening at the Baxter Theatre on Friday, 22 March.It's a show that mixes radio sketches, stand-up and music. I'm also starting a web series I've always wanted to do a cooking show. In addition to this, I am also the Breakfast show producer on Smile 90.4FM."Killing it," and "dying" - two phrases that won't make sense to someone who won't know it means to do well or do badly.Mostly, when I make myself believe that I won't forget it if I don't write it down.Pancake flipping.I don't know why anyone would be scared of technology. It's fantastic.A lot of memes and GIFs that I have on standby, all the time.Know your value and prove that you're worth that much. But it takes time. The chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, took the oath and became president for the period before the election and inauguration of the new president. His first initiatives were the renaming of the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, to Nursultan, as well as the erection of a monument in honor of the first president of Kazakhstan in the capital of the republic. Dariga Nazarbayeva was appointed to the post of the speaker of the Senate. I consider it necessary to perpetuate the name of our great contemporary, the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev. Our capital must bear the name of our president and be called Nursultan. Also, Tokayev honored Nazarbayev with the Golden Star and the title of Peoples Hero. He also announced the need to give the first president the status of an honorary senator. All the vital activities of Elbasy will be carried out in accordance with the law "On the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan." He remains the father of the people. Tokayev is a professional diplomat. In 1994-1999 and in 2002-2007, he headed the Foreign Ministry, and in 2011-2013 he was Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. According to the Constitution of Kazakhstan, Tokayev will be not the acting but a full-fledged president of the country until the next elections to be held in the spring of 2020. The only formal restriction related to his status is that he cannot initiate amendments to the Constitution before being elected. In practice, Tokayevs authority will be limited by the need to constantly consult with his predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who voluntarily resigned. As the Deputy Director of the Center for Strategic Estimates and Forecasts, Igor Pankretenko, told Vestnik Kavkaz, it is reasonable to name the resignation the so-called resignation, since Nursultan Nazarbayev fully retained all political, economic and power levers required to govern Kazakhstan. Therefore, it is more correct to speak not about the resignation, but about the transition of Nursultan Abishevich to a new quality - the lifelong and permanent leader of the nation. There is no one who can compete with him. The constitutional reform of recent years was designed to ensure the early departure of Nazarbayev from the presidency without losing influence. In 2017, Nazarbayev significantly reduced the powers of the president and made the government accountable to parliament. But these norms will take effect only when the next president comes to power. This is the classic (after Chinese Deng Xiaoping and Singaporean Lee Kuan Yew) scenario: the de facto leader of the country retains all the levers of power and implements the large-scale modernization programs - which Nazarbayev explicitly stated in his" farewell "speech - but at the same time gets rid of unwanted political burdens. For example, the direct responsibility for the economic results of the transformations and the social problems that accompany them at first, Pankretenko said. In addition, as the expert noted, with his decision, Nazarbayev launches the process of competition within the elites - you were so eager to get power, well, prove that you deserve it. At the same time, he himself remains above the fray, reserving the opportunity to correct the results of this competitive struggle in the right direction. "It is possible to congratulate both Kazakhstan and Nursultan Abishevich personally on the fact that with his powerful pre-New Year - on the eve of Novruz - move, he managed, if not completely eliminate, then to a great extent stop the threats that are inevitable with such a complex and delicate operation as the transit of power. Reserving the lions share of key authority as the Leader of the Nation, Elbasy does everything to ensure that the notorious transit takes place with the predictable consequences for the country and the elites, as well as ensuring continuity of policy in Kazakhstan ", the expert said. Political analyst Arkady Dubnov believes that the power scheme used in Kazakhstan is the most stable of all that can be offered today throughout the CIS countries. In Central Asia, it is a precedent of constitutional transfer of power. Power is transferred by the Constitution, to the second person in the state, the chairman of the Senate. Another thing is that the supreme referee in the person of Nazarbayev remains, and this is perceived rather positively because he is the guarantor of stability. This is Asia anyway. No shocks should be expected in the country, Dubnov said. Tokayev is a skilled figure in the Kazakhstani political field and also an Eastern politician. Hong Kong: FS visits Wong Tai Sin Financial Secretary Paul Chan today visited Wong Tai Sin to learn about the latest developments and needs of the district. He first went to Tai Shing Street Market to meet representatives of the markets Committee of Stall Keepers and visited the stalls to understand their operating environment. Mr Chan highlighted that last year the Government earmarked $2 billion for implementing a Market Modernisation Programme, and in the 2019-20 Budget, he will allocate $600 million to refurbish 240 public toilets to further improve municipal facilities. He then visited the Choi Wan Rhenish Integrated Children & Youth Services Centre of the Chinese Rhenish Church Hong Kong Synod to chat with children, young people and parents. Mr Chan said the Government is committed to fostering the development of innovation and technology to diversify the economy and provide more opportunities for young people. He pointed out $500 million has been earmarked in the 2019-20 Budget to implement the IT Innovation Lab in Secondary Schools Programme, which will enable students to deepen their I&T knowledge through more extra-curricular activities. Before concluding the visit, Mr Chan met District Councillors to discuss district livelihood and development issues. This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton for president back in July of 2015 , becoming one of the first big national groups to throw its support behind the eventual Democratic nominee. And that early endorsement came back to haunt the union. A very vocal contingent of its membership wished the AFT had given Clintons main rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, more consideration. They were angry and felt they had been left out of the process. The National Education Association, which also went in for Clinton early, heard similar complaints . So this time around? AFT isnt exactly jumping to throw its arms around one of the dozen or so candidates for the Democratic nomination. Instead, the union has outlined an extensive endorsement process that will feature what the union calls deep engagement and honest conversation before any decision can be made. (This follows up on steps that the union took at its convention in Pittsburgh last year to address members concerns with the 2016 endorsement process .) The process will feature a candidate questionnaire, member surveys, focus groups with members, as well as town halls, social media forums, and more. Thirty thousand members joined a recent national telephone town hall to discuss the process. The union is also inviting candidates to spend a day with an AFT member, so that they get a sense of what educators face in their daily lives. The members priorities at that Pittsburgh meeting included universal health care, free tuition at public colleges and universities, free child care, and more school funding for low-income school districts. Our No. 1 goal is to elect a president who reflects our values, and that means beating Donald Trump in 2020, said Randi Weingarten, the AFTs president. But to win our endorsement, candidates will have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. As we look ahead to Election Day, we are committed to engaging our members at every step of the way. Its worth asking, though, whether AFT will end up being able to come to a consensus on a candidate. NEA opted not to choose between Clinton and then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008and then watched for eight years as Obama pushed policy after policy that the unions didnt like, including tying teacher evaluations partly to student test scores and getting rid of staff at low-performing schools. Photo: Cliff Owen for the Associated Press Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . The ancient holiday Nowruz is traditionally celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, China, as well as other countries; in Russian regions - Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Dagestan and for more than ten years - in Moscow. However, in Iran this year, not everyone will be able to celebrate Novruz. As Arab News writes in the article Iranians economic woes dampen Nowruz celebrations, Iranians famously say that the New Year would not reach their door if they did not clean their homes before springs arrival. Nowruz, or the ancient Persian New Years celebration, requires a deep household clean, new clothes and for the family to prepare colorful pastries and nuts, tea and fruits to serve visitors. It is no secret that, this particular year, many Iranian families are suffering from financial hardship. Iran has the worlds most famous pistachios and is one of the biggest exporters of the nut, but today they are considered a luxury good that even middle-class families cannot afford. They used to be an extremely popular must-have delicacy for Nowruz. However, everything is extremely expensive for Iranians as the New Year of 1398, which begins on March 21 on the Gregorian calendar, approaches. Many are so frustrated that all they can hope and pray for is that the situation wont be so bad next year. With no guarantee that US President Donald Trump will give another exemption to the limited number of Iranian oil customers, the financial crisis could get worse straight after the public holidays. Such concerns make millions of Iranians hesitant about spending what little savings they have on the New Year celebrations, as the political and financial climate doesnt promise them positive change. The hardships this Nowruz are a reminder of the war with Iraq back in the 1980s, when the regime declared a national emergency and public expectations were thus reduced to match the circumstances. There was a shortage of everything, from school stationery to soap and shampoos all the way to beef, milk, bread and even fuel. The distribution of bread was limited to just a few pieces for each person, so a couple of family members needed to stay in line in order to be able to buy enough for the household. Today, without war, the people of this beautiful nation, which is considered one of the richest in the world with its huge reserves of oil and gas, do not know why they have to face such economic hardship. Economic disaster, combined with an oppressive ruling regime that presses the people politically and ideologically, makes life so difficult for most Iranians that their best alternative is to emigrate. Iranians deserve to live a comfortable and peaceful life. Despite all of the frustration and sorrow, the people truly believe that cruelty will not persist forever. PR Newswire BANGKOK, March 20, 2019 On 25-26 April, 2019, key electric vehicle manufacturers, EV charging network and service providers are convening in Bangkok for CMT's E-Mobility Asia summit focusing on e-vehicle markets in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines. BANGKOK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Home to one of the world's fastest growing consumer hubs, Southeast Asia is a huge emerging market for electric vehicles. Through this 1.5 days summit, Organizer Centre for Management Technology (CMT) presents a country-by-country assessment of the 'Rise of e-Mobility in South East Asia' (with Focus on Charging Infrastructure) particularly in: Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/837738/E_Mobility_Asia_Summit.jpg Meanwhile Huzaimi Nor Omar, Head of Low Carbon Mobility, Malaysian Green Technology Corporation presents on 'e-Mobility in Malaysia: Accelerating Adoption & Development of Charging Infrastructure'. The program features a key session by Chokedee Kaewsang, Deputy Secretary General, The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), sharing on 'Fast-tracking e-Mobility in Thailand's Automotive & Transportation Sectors' while 'Building EVs, Lithium-ion Batteries & Charging Network in Thailand' is presented by Thanapat Suksuthamwong, CEO, EA Anywhere. Success story of BlueSG - an EV Car-Sharing Service in Singapore is another summit highlight. Franck Vitte, Managing Director (Asia and Middle East), BlueSG shares more about the technical challenges to overcome, convenience and more. Hassan Raza, Vice President Ground Operations APEC, DHL Express, is also joining the summit with a talk on 'e-Mobility within Courier Express - Demand & Challenges' - sharing details of the current express situation, high prices and infrastructure challenges. Also participating are Chroma as exhibitor and Nissan Motor's General Manager of External Affairs Department - Makoto Dave Yoshida addressing paper on 'Future Charging Standard - Sustainable Deployment with Interoperability'. The remaining sessions cover topics on: View event website or Contact Ms. Huiyan at [email protected] | +65 6346 9113 for more details. Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu discussed in Damascus the situation in Idlib province and east of the Euphrates River. The sides saw eye to eye as to a need for joint work to search for suitable solutions to bring security and stability back into these two regions of Syria, SANA reported. Assad said at talks that "military-political coordination with Russia at a high level has become one of the key factors that ensured the staunchness of the Syrian people and success in fight against the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups (both outlawed in Russia)". The Syrian President noted that some countries are fighting terrorists only in word, but in deed they align themselves with them, and continue covering them in some regions," he said. "This policy encourages an expansion of terrorism and results in a growing number of victims among the civilians," the Syrian leader stressed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgian detained previously convicted two persons, the father and his son, into the fact of robbery of one of the microfinance organizations on Pekini Avenue, Tbilisi, InterPressNews reported citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "The Vake-Saburtalo Division of the Tbilisi Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia have detained the father (DoB 1965) and his son(DoB 1989), who are previously convicted, on the charges of the robbery committed in group, illegal purchase and keeping of firearms. An investigation has been launched under Article 179, Provision II, Sub-provision B and Article 236, Provision III and IV of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The detainees face from 6 to 9 years of imprisonment, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were killed in the nationwide 'fire festival' in Iran, according to state IRINN TV. In the celebrations of Chaharshanbe Suri, or the fire festival, also 1676 people have been injured so far. The turn of year, according to the Iranian calendar, falls on March 21 which also marks the beginning of spring in the country. The fire festival, a 4,000-year Persian tradition, is celebrated by Iranians on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz (the Iranian new year). On yesterday evening, Iranians celebrated the fire festival by jumping over bonfires and using firecrackers in public places, Xinhua reported. The rites for Iranians have the significance of the farewell to the old year and a prelude to the new year. There are all preconditions for doubling our trade volumes with Belarus, - Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia, said in his opening remarks at the Made in Belarus Fair today, InterPressNews reports. The event was organized by the Georgian-Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 150 Belarussian companies are involved in it. "I am delighted that this fair has turned into a good tradition in our city. We have particularly friendly and warm relations with Belarus and are very proud of this. Around 150 companies have visited us from Belarus, which once again demonstrates that we have great potential of economic cooperation. I am thrilled that bilateral trade is increasing. We have agreed today that this is not a maximum benchmark and we have all the preconditions to at least double the trade volumes between the two countries," the Prime Minister of Georgia said. Mamuka Baktadze noted that such expositions and business forums should ensure the inflow of additional foreign direct investments (FDI) in Georgia. "More FDI will be attracted from Belarus as a result of the fair and business forum held today - and what is most important - we will welcome more tourists from our friendly nation. I am confident that economic cooperation, which will be nurtured between Georgia and Belarus in the coming years is bound to create many jobs both in Belarus and Georgia. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of Novruz today. "Dear fellow countrymen, I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of Novruz. Novruz is a favorite holiday of our people. The people of Azerbaijan have been celebrating Novruz for centuries. We are celebrating this holiday with good results. Azerbaijan is developing successfully and comprehensively. All our objectives are being met. The Azerbaijani state rests on deep national and moral roots. Novruz is our national asset," the president pointed out. The Azerbaijani leader noted that many important events have taken place since the previous Novruz. "Presidential election was held in April and the people of Azerbaijan showed great confidence in me again. I am grateful to my people for this support and confidence. I regard this support as a recognition of the work carried out in recent years. At the same time, I see this as support for the new stage of reforms that were announced in the run-up to the presidential election. Large-scale reforms were launched after the presidential election. The results of these reforms are already evident and will continue to be seen by the people of Azerbaijan," he expressed confidence. In this regard, the president recalled that two months after Novruz, a very important event occurred in the life of Azerbaijan: the official opening of the Southern Gas Corridor took place in May. "This is a historic project. The implementation of this project will ensure long-term and sustainable development of our country, will protect our political and economic interests. Also in May, another major project was commissioned. We celebrated the opening of the Alat international trade seaport. The launch of this port and of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in 2017 turned Azerbaijan into an important international transport center in Eurasia. Today we are giving a successful impetus to the activities of the East-West and North-South corridors. Azerbaijan is successfully involved in both projects. I can say that more than 10 countries participate in these projects, but only one country, Azerbaijan, takes an active part in the North-South and East-West transport corridors. We are the author of many initiatives," the head of state noted. The president added that in June, another historic event took place the TANAP gas pipeline was inaugurated. "The implementation of this project is the key prerequisite for the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor as a whole. We successfully marked this historic event, and additional volumes of Azerbaijani gas are now transported via the TANAP pipeline to world markets," the republic's leader stated. Ilham Aliyev also noted that in 2018, Azerbaijan launched its third satellite into orbit, thereby demonstrating again that Azerbaijan is successfully and rapidly developing in technological respect. "The development of the space industry is one of our top priorities," he stressed. The president noted that in 2018, the Azerbaijani leadership ensured the implementation of the third state program on the socioeconomic development of the regions. "The program was exceeded, and the execution of three programs has led to great changes. We have reconstructed practically all our infrastructure. In terms of infrastructure, Azerbaijan is developing at a very high pace. Suffice it to say that within the framework of the three programs we have begun to export electricity. Provision inside the country is complete, although in previous years we depended on imports. We have brought gasification to 95%, which is one of the highest and best indicators on a global scale. Clean drinking water lines have been laid in most of our cities, and this process continues. Fifteen thousand kilometers of new roads have been built, and according to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan is in 34th place on a global scale in terms of the quality of the road infrastructure. Social infrastructure facilities have been built, more than 3,200 schools and over 640 medical institutions have been built or reconstructed. More than two million jobs have been created. The population has increased by 1.6 million people," the Azerbaijani leader said. Th president also noted that the republic's international positions are strengthening. "Today, Azerbaijan has established very effective and businesslike bilateral relations with many countries. In many cases, Azerbaijan has been the initiator of a multilateral cooperation format. Our relations with neighboring countries have entered a new phase. For any country, relations with neighbors are of particular importance. I am very glad that we have managed to establish fruitful and businesslike relations based on mutual respect with our neighboring countries. Our relations with Muslim countries are developing, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation appreciates the activities of Azerbaijan in this area. Our contribution to Islamic solidarity is highly appreciated throughout the Muslim world," the head of state stressed. The Azerbaijani leader stated that last summer a document on the priorities of partnership with the European Union was initialed. "This is a very important document, especially if we consider that it contains special paragraphs, special thoughts concerning the territorial integrity, sovereignty and the inviolability of the borders of Azerbaijan," the president stressed, noting that this is a very important issue, which is of paramount importance especially for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As far as the settlement of the conflict is concerned, Ilham Aliyev pointed out that the position of Azerbaijan remains unchanged. "This conflict must be resolved only within the territorial integrity of our country. Nagorno-Karabakh is our historical land, and the earliest possible resolution of the conflict must be based only on the norms and principles of international law," the head of state highlighted. "As you know, the Armenian side has raised questions about changing the format of the negotiations. However, Azerbaijan certainly cannot accept this. At the same time, the ambassadors of the Minsk Group co-chair countries, representatives of the United States, France and Russia, have issued a serious statement, noting that the format must remain unchanged. Similar statements have been made by high-ranking officials of the European Union. So this is definitely a serious signal for Armenia. It is also evidence that the position of Azerbaijan gains even greater support," Ilham Aliyev noted, stressing that conflict resolution will lead to peace and stability in the region. "Of course, Azerbaijan seeks and will strive to seek a solution of this issue only on the basis of the norms and principles of international law and within the framework of the territorial integrity of our country," the Azerbaijani head of state expressed confidence. "Along with this, of course, we are increasing our military capability. The two military parades held last year demonstrated our military power to the world. This year and beyond, we will do everything necessary to build up the army. The absolute majority of our military units have been reconstructed," the Azerbaijani leader said, stressing that the Azerbaijani army has the most modern equipment and our combat effectiveness is growing with every day. "Today, the Novruz holiday is also celebrated in Jojug Marjanli. The construction and restoration of Jojug Marjanli and the return of life there are our historic achievements," the president noted, adding that today, Jojug Marjanli is evidence of the unbending spirit of the Azerbaijani people. The republic's leader noted that Azerbaijan has entered a new stage of reforms. "The economic reforms allow us the opportunity to generate additional revenues, and our budget revenues have increased. In January-February of this year, our budget revenues increased by 150 million manats. This has enabled us to channel these funds into social projects. As I have already noted, work on serious reforms began after last year's presidential election. Today, a very serious social package has been approved. As a result of these social initiatives, more than 3 million people have improved their material, financial situation. As you know, the minimum wage and minimum pension have been increased by almost 40%. On average, social benefits have doubled. The allowance paid to IDPs has been increased by 50%. Scholarships for students, allowances paid to martyr families and other social benefits have been increased. A decree related to the documentation of multi-apartment buildings has been signed. A very serious decree has been signed concerning problem loans. I can say that this decree is unprecedented in the world and covers 800,000 people," Ilham Aliyev said, pointing out that the Azerbaijani state always stands by its people. As Azerbaijan's economic power grows, social issues will be addressed on an even broader scale, the president stated. "Economic growth is evident. In two months of this year, the gross domestic product increased by 3%. This is the highest figure in recent years. Industrial production has increased by 4.6%. This is also a good indicator. However, the largest increase relates to industrial production in the non-oil sector. It accounts for 15.5%," the president cited data, stressing that this is a world record and the result of deliberate and serious economic reforms pursued in recent years. The Azerbaijani head of state stressed that these reforms will be further deepened. "There is no alternative to that. Political reforms, economic reforms, reforms in the social sphere, reforms in the judicial system relevant instructions have already been given. A package of documents is being prepared in the fields of education, healthcare, etc. Azerbaijan has embarked on a new phase in all areas. Azerbaijan is renewing, increasing its power and modernizing," Ilham Aliyev stressed. He noted that never before has Azerbaijan been as strong as it is now. "But this does not mean that we should be content with this progress. It inspires and encourages us to look into the future with even greater optimism. I am absolutely convinced that we will complete this year successfully. From now on, Azerbaijan will follow exclusively the path of development and progress. The social status of our people will improve with every year," the head of state noted, "Dear fellow countrymen, let me once again heartily congratulate you on this wonderful holiday of spring and wish you health and happiness. Happy holidays!" the president of Azerbaijan concluded. MONTREAL - A Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigator says a ferry that has been removed from service in Quebec after two recent collisions was already badly damaged before the accidents. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The MV Apollo is shown in dry dock in struck the wharf in Godbout, Que., Monday, Feb.25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Michael Bacon *MANDATORY CREDIT* MONTREAL - A Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigator says a ferry that has been removed from service in Quebec after two recent collisions was already badly damaged before the accidents. The MV Apollo, purchased in January to replace a newer ship that had to undergo repairs, collided while docking Sunday in Matane in Quebec's Gaspe region. Three weeks earlier it crashed into the wharf in Godbout, Que. on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence River. The provincial Crown corporation that oversees ferry service in Quebec announced Tuesday that the MV Apollo will no longer sail because of the risk of further damage and the cost of repairs. Francois Dumont, a TSB investigator, told The Canadian Press that his inspection of the vessel uncovered damage that was clearly not recent, which raises questions about the ferry's previous life carrying passengers across the Strait of Belle Isle for Labrador Marine Inc. The Societe des traversiers du Quebec bought the MV Apollo at a cost of $2.1 million to replace the MV F.-A.-Gauthier, which is expected to remain out of service for several months. Dumont said the TSB investigation will look at the operation of the MV Apollo under its previous owner between northwestern Newfoundland and Quebec's Lower North Shore. "We're definitely going to look at the fact that it's not damage that's happened recently," Dumont said. "This is long-term deterioration. This boat was clearly unloved, it lacked supervision and maintenance. We are going to dig over the coming weeks to find the reason why this boat was sailing between St. Barbe, N.L. and Blanc Sablon in Quebec. " He said multiple problems were identified, from the watertightness of the hull to the presence of fire protection and rescue equipment. "There is serious doubt about the seaworthiness of the ship and its level of safety for passengers and crew," he said. After the collision in Godbout, the vessel returned to service on March 9. The ferry operator had investigated the incident and made repairs. The TSB also inspected at the time but did not detect the additional problems, Dumont said. Stephane Lafaut, interim president of the Quebec ferry corporation, said the purchase of the MV Apollo was made in good faith. He said it was the only ship available at the time, but he had no reason to question its seaworthiness. "The ship was operating in Canada at the time of the acquisition," he said. "It was operated by a Canadian company." VANCOUVER - British Columbia is welcoming the first day of spring with another day of record-breaking warmth. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. VANCOUVER - British Columbia is welcoming the first day of spring with another day of record-breaking warmth. Environment Canada says a massive ridge of high pressure is camped over the province, keeping any bad weather at bay and delivering unseasonably high temperatures for yet another day. Forty-two record highs were posted around B.C. on Tuesday, while 26 were recorded Monday. Tuesday's records include a temperature of 20 degrees in Victoria harbour that shattered the old mark of 16.7 degrees, set in 1878. The Canadian hot spot was Tofino on Vancouver Island where the mercury hit 24.5 degrees, smashing the previous high set in 1928 by 5.1 degrees. The weather office expects the unseasonable warmth to continue Wednesday but predicts clouds, showers and cooler conditions by Friday. TORONTO - The recruitment process that led to the appointment of a close friend of Doug Ford as Ontario's top cop was "flawed," the province's integrity commissioner has found, but the premier himself didn't break any rules. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a press conference at Queen's Park to address the findings of the Integrity Commissioner's Report, in Toronto, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston TORONTO - The recruitment process that led to the appointment of a close friend of Doug Ford as Ontario's top cop was "flawed," the province's integrity commissioner has found, but the premier himself didn't break any rules. In a report issued Wednesday, J. David Wake said Ford stayed at arm's length from the process that resulted in Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner being appointed head of the Ontario Provincial Police last fall. "A recruitment process was put in place which, unfortunately, I have found to have been flawed through no actions of Premier Ford," Wake wrote. "I find that Premier Fords conduct was not improper in relation to the recruitment process and that he could not have had any improper purpose in the approval of the selection committees recommendation on the basis of what he knew at the time." Taverner, 72, withdrew his name from consideration for the job earlier this month, citing the controversy around his appointment and the need to protect the integrity of front-line OPP officers. His appointment had set off accusations of political interference in the hiring process. Wake's investigation was launched after complaints from opposition politicians over the appointment. Ford said the findings totally clear him and his team. "The integrity commissioner's report and its findings represents a complete I repeat a complete vindication for our government," he said. "After three months of an investigation, the integrity commissioner found that we followed the letter of the law." Ford noted that previous OPP commissioners have been appointed without such long processes, and mused that he, perhaps, should have done the same. "Maybe we should have just done what (former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty) did and appoint a great commissioner like Ron Taverner," he said. Taverner initially did not meet the criteria listed for the position and the government admitted it lowered the requirements to attract a wider range of candidates. Steve Orsini, who was at the time the province's top civil servant, told Wake that the premier's chief of staff, Dean French, called him to ask why the job posting was "so restrictive," according to the report. But Wake concluded that a rank requirement was eliminated because a public servant incorrectly used information from a 2014 posting for the commissioner job. Wake did raise concerns with communications between Orsini, who was part of the hiring panel, and French. "What I found most disconcerting in all the evidence were the text messages from the secretary to Mr. French as to Mr. Taverners progress throughout the process," Wake wrote. "There seemed to be a tacit acknowledgment by the secretary that Mr. French was rooting for Mr. Taverners success. Anyone examining these messages would have serious doubts as to the fairness of the process to the other candidates." Wake also listed factors that could have led "perhaps unintentionally" to a preference being given to Taverner, including that Orsini had reached out to Taverner before the commissioner position had been advertised, and the manner in which Taverner's name had come up surrounding two other public sector jobs. Ford told Wake that he approached Taverner in August 2018 about working at the Ontario Cannabis Store. An offer was made to Taverner on Aug. 17 for the position of president of community partnerships with an annual salary of $270,000. Taverner ultimately declined the job, saying he was "getting cold feet," Wake wrote, but that would have made Orsini aware that Ford thought highly of Taverner. A month later, Matt Torigian, the deputy minister of community safety, announced he was leaving the position. Torigian told the integrity commissioner that Orsini confided in him that he felt pressured to hire "a friend of the Fords," mentioning Taverner and another name. Orsini denied that, but he did tell the integrity commissioner that he wanted to "move fairly quickly" with an appointment because he didn't want the premier's chief of staff to start "throwing ideas around" like Taverner. Orsini thought Taverner "would not be deputy material," the report says. It also notes that French initially told the integrity commissioner that both he and the premier recommended Taverner be considered for the top OPP job, but quickly backtracked. "Yes, we both recommended that he be considered," French said. "Actually, I - I should speak for myself. I recommended to Secretary Orsini that he be considered." Ford said that he continues to support French and that he believes he did nothing wrong during the Taverner hiring. Wake said that given the sensitivity of the relationship between the government and the police, an independent process to hire the OPP commissioner must be created. "There ought to be an established appointment process in place which is independent, transparent and readily activated with predetermined criteria and membership on the selection committee," Wake said. "I would encourage the government and all members of the legislature to consider the establishment of such a process and have it in place before the next appointment is required." Days after Taverner withdrew from the role, the government named Thomas Carrique, a deputy chief for York Regional Police, as the next commissioner of the OPP. NDP legislator Taras Natyshak said the report raises disturbing issues about the involvement of Ford's office that should be probed with a full public inquiry. Ford's insistence that he is vindicated is wrong, he added. "The premier obviously didn't read this report," he said. "The questions that still remain ... the broader public need to have answered." OTTAWA - Travellers, immigration detainees and others who feel mistreated by Canada's border agency will be able to complain to an independent body under a new measure included in the federal budget. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Canadian Border Services agent stands watch at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. Travellers, immigration detainees and others who feel they were mistreated by Canada's border agency would be able to complain to an independent body under a new measure included in the federal budget. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese OTTAWA - Travellers, immigration detainees and others who feel mistreated by Canada's border agency will be able to complain to an independent body under a new measure included in the federal budget. Border officers can stop travellers for questioning, take blood and breath samples, and search, detain and arrest people without warrants. Some encounters at the border have left travellers frustrated and angry. The border agency has also come under pressure to be more forthcoming about its role in immigration detentions following people's deaths in its custody 14 of them since 2000, according to a compilation of reports by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. The Liberal government is planning legislative changes to give the RCMP watchdog the additional responsibility of handling public complaints about the Canada Border Services Agency. The budget allocates $24 million over five years, starting in 2019-20, and $7 million a year after that, to expand the mandate of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Wednesday the government wants to move quickly on establishing the revamped agency to "fill a gap" in federal public-safety operations and bolster accountability. "We'll obviously provide it with a different name, there'll be changes in structure, the new money is identified in the budget to move it forward," Goodale said in an interview. "But the objective here is to have an appropriate review agency that can deal with complaints on one side dealing with the RCMP, and on the other side dealing with CBSA." The border agency's thousands of employees manage the flow of about 100 million travellers as well as many millions of commercial shipments entering Canada annually. They collect, analyze and distribute information concerning people and goods at border points, air terminals and seaports. The agency's internal recourse directorate handles complaints from the public. Other bodies, including the courts, the federal privacy commissioner and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, examine various concerns about the agency's work. The Liberals have taken steps to keep a closer eye on the border agency's national-security activities by creating a special committee of parliamentarians to review federal security services and proposing a super-watchdog of civilian experts to complement that work. But the border agency is not overseen by a dedicated, independent review or complaints body, prompting civil libertarians, refugee lawyers and parliamentary committees to call for stronger arm's-length monitoring. The model adopted by the government rolling the duties of the RCMP watchdog into the new body essentially mirrors a proposal by former Privy Council chief Mel Cappe in a June 2017 report commissioned by Public Safety. Goodale suggested the new agency would not only process complaints but be able to initiate public-interest reviews on its own, and that complainants would have the same avenues of appeal now open to those who pursue grievances against the RCMP. "We think by actually using an institution that already exists and building on that platform and expanding it, we'll be able to move faster and it will actually be more cost-effective than if we started from the ground up with something completely new," Goodale said. Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Goodale, said there will be more to say about legislation to create the new agency in "the near future," adding the government is confident it can see the changes through in the limited time before a fall election. Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter MONTREAL - The City of Montreal announced Wednesday it will take down the crucifix that has hung in its council chamber for more than 80 years and move it to a new home. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The crucifix is seen in the council chamber at City Hall in Montreal on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. The city says it will take down the crucifix that has hung in its council chamber for more than 80 years and move it to a museum space. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson MONTREAL - The City of Montreal announced Wednesday it will take down the crucifix that has hung in its council chamber for more than 80 years and move it to a new home. The issue of crucifixes in legislative chambers across Quebec in particular the one prominently displayed at the provincial legislature in Quebec City has been central to the province's debate over secularism. Coun. Laurence Lavigne Lalonde told the city's executive committee meeting that the crucifix, on display above the main door of the council chamber since 1937, will be removed ahead of three years of scheduled renovation work at city hall. Lavigne Lalonde said the crucifix was installed in a different era to remind councillors of the oath before God that they took and, it won't be put back in the chamber when city hall reopens. "I think we can agree the context has changed today," Lavigne Lalonde said, noting society is now represented by democratic institutions that are secular, neutral and open. While Montreal is moving forward, the provincial Coalition Avenir Quebec government remains opposed to removing the crucifix from the legislature, although the premier said his caucus would discuss the issue. The crucifix was first installed above the Speaker's chair in the national assembly in 1936, and successive provincial governments have rejected requests to remove the symbol. That includes the Coalition government, which said last October it is an important part of Quebec's heritage. The debate comes as the government moves to impose strict religious neutrality rules on state employees in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers, who would be forbidden from wearing visible religious symbols. Legislation is expected in the coming weeks. "The City of Montreal has the power to take down the crucifix," Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette told reporters Wednesday in Quebec City. "The national assembly has always decided to maintain it, and that's the position of the government, because it's a patrimonial symbol." Questioned separately about Montreal's move, Premier Francois Legault said the crucifix issue would be discussed at caucus. "Everyone must make compromises. We'll look at positions of different voices in caucus, and we'll come back to you," Legault told reporters. "It's all part of secularism discussions." Lavigne Lalonde said Montreal's crucifix is an important piece of Montreal's heritage, and it will have a new home in a museum space in the renovated city hall where other significant historical items will be on display. The debate over Montreal's crucifix and the place of religion at city hall has been going on for more than 30 years, beginning when prayers were replaced with a moment of silence in 1987. Lavigne Lalonde noted the crucifix was supposed to be removed during previous renovations in 1992. A public commission was also expected to discuss the matter in 2002 but never held any hearings. Mayor Valerie Plante said it is important to distinguish between the city hall crucifix installed 82 years ago to guide municipal lawmakers in what is now considered a secular institution and the city's most famous cross. "For example, the cross on top of Mount Royal, we don't have any intention of taking it down, because it's not a democratic institution where we make decisions," she said. "I think it's important to make the distinction." Lionel Perez, leader of the opposition at city hall, called the crucifix "an important symbol of a founding people of Montreal" and accused the Plante administration of acting rashly. "In our view, it is only going to sow division," he said. "It shows a serious lack of judgment on the mayor's part. It pours oil on the fire on the issue of the Quebec government bill on the wearing of religious symbols." Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Police and fireman work at the rear of an auditorium where a gunman shot and killed at least one person during the PQ victory rally on September 5, 2012, in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson MONTREAL - The sentence given 2012 Quebec election night shooter Richard Henry Bain will remain unchanged, Quebec's Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday. Bain was convicted of attacking a Parti Quebecois rally on Sept. 4, 2012, killing lighting technician Denis Blanchette outside the Metropolis nightclub and seriously wounding one of his colleagues, Dave Courage. The gunfire erupted as PQ leader Pauline Marois was inside delivering a victory speech, and she was forced to flee the stage. In November 2016, Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer sentenced Bain to life in prison without possibility of parole for 20 years after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder. He was also found guilty of three counts of attempted murder of Courage, a provincial police officer and a dozen other stagehands waiting outside the venue for the rally to end. Bain's defence argued unsuccessfully that he should be found not criminally responsible for the killing due to his mental state. Cournoyer said during sentencing that the political nature of the offences justified the lengthy period before parole eligibility. "In an uncharacteristic display of planned murderous violence and hatred for those he described as separatists, Mr. Richard Henry Bain attempted to change the results of the election and the course of history," Cournoyer said. Bain's lawyer had sought a reduction that would have allowed Bain to apply for parole after serving 10 years. The Crown countered that parole eligibility should be increased to 25 years. After hearing arguments last October, a five-judge Court of Appeal panel dismissed the appeals of both the Crown and the defence, arriving at the decision through different reasoning. Two judges on the panel said they didn't have enough information to modify the sentence but made clear it was "not manifestly unfit ... in view of the gravity of the offences." The other three judges ruled the criteria needed to reduce or increase parole eligibility were not met. "In this case the 20-year period of ineligibility for parole has not been shown to deviate from the proper sentencing range in light of the circumstances of the offence," the court ruled. "Moreover, it has not been shown that the sentencing judge committed an error of law or principle that had an impact on the sentence in light of the gravity of the crime and (Mr. Bain's) degree of responsibility." Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev phoned the leader of the Kazakh people, chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to the press service of the Kazakh head of state. Ilham Aliyev noted that during his presidency, Nursultan Nazarbayev made huge efforts to ensure the development, prosperity and stability of Kazakhstan. He also stressed that his friendly relations with the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev laid the foundation for bilateral relations between the countries. In addition, the Azerbaijani leader wished Nursultan Nazarbayev success in future activities and good health. Nursultan Nazarbayev, in turn, thanked Ilham Aliyev for his attention and kind words. In addition, the sides expressed confidence that the development of Baku-Astana friendly relations will continue in all areas. QUEBEC - The Quebec government will give the province's taxi drivers $500 million in compensation as it moves to overhaul the province's passenger transport industry. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Coalition Avenir Quebec MNA Francois Bonnardel rises on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot QUEBEC - The Quebec government will give the province's taxi drivers $500 million in compensation as it moves to overhaul the province's passenger transport industry. The Coalition Avenir Quebec government tabled a bill that seeks to reduce the number of costly requirements for taxi drivers and allow them to benefit from a dynamic pricing system like that used by Uber. Transport Minister Francois Bonnardel said the government will compensate taxi permit holders who've seen the value of those permits drop with the arrival of Uber and other ride-hailing applications. He said the legislation would create a more equal playing field among various companies competing in the industry by reducing taxi drivers' costs and allowing them to adjust prices based on demand. But groups representing taxi drivers were angry with the bill, calling it a declaration of war. The industry has long argued that government hasn't done enough to clamp down on Uber drivers, whom they say have been undercutting fares and operating outside the law. The bill introduced by Bonnardel would require all drivers to meet the same obligations. These include a standard class 5 licence (as opposed to the current 4C required for taxi drivers), a training course and a criminal background check. "We're putting money back in taxi drivers' pockets," Bonnardel said. He said that by lowering the financial burden on taxi drivers, the industry will be able to stabilize and find its place in the market. That assertion was challenged by the taxi industry representatives, who accused the government of betraying them and acting as lobbyists for Uber. "It's a declaration of war" and a "dark day for the taxi industry," industry spokesman Abdallah Homsy said at a news conference. OTTAWA - The Senate's ethics officer says Sen. Lynn Beyak violated the upper chamber's conflict-of-interest code by posting racist letters about Indigenous people on her website. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/3/2019 (997 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A picture of Senator Lynn Beyak accompanies other Senators official portraits on a display outside the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. The Senate's ethics officer says Sen. Lynn Beyak violated the upper chamber's conflict of interest code by posting racist letters about Indigenous Canadians on her website. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - The Senate's ethics officer says Sen. Lynn Beyak violated the upper chamber's conflict-of-interest code by posting racist letters about Indigenous people on her website. Pierre Legault says Beyak's conduct did not uphold the highest standards of dignity required of a senator. Nor did she perform her duties with dignity, honour and integrity or refrain from acting in a way that could reflect negatively on the Senate, as stipulated in the code. Legault says he proposed that Beyak delete the racist letters from her website, post a formal apology and complete a cultural-sensitivity course with an emphasis on Indigenous issues, but she hasn't done any of those things. Beyak posted the letters to show that she had support for a speech she gave in the Senate in January 2018, in which she argued that Indian residential schools did a lot of good for Indigenous children, although many suffered physical and sexual abuse and thousands died from disease and malnutrition. In a report released Tuesday, Legault concludes that five of the letters contained racist content, suggesting that Indigenous people are lazy, chronic whiners who are milking the residential-school issue to get government handouts. Beyak was appointed to the Senate in 2013 by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. She was kicked out of the Conservative caucus last year after refusing to remove the letters from her website. QUEBEC - The struggling Parti Quebecois has suffered another setback with a decision by the Speaker relegating it to fourth place in the provincial legislature. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Parti Quebecois interim Leader Pascal Berube rises during question period Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot QUEBEC - The struggling Parti Quebecois has suffered another setback with a decision by the Speaker relegating it to fourth place in the provincial legislature. Francois Paradis ruled Wednesday that the departure of Catherine Fournier, who last week quit the PQ to sit as an Independent, means the party is now officially the third opposition party behind the Liberals and Quebec solidaire. For the first time since its creation in 1968, the PQ is no longer the leading sovereigntist party in the national assembly, eclipsed by the 13-year-old Quebec solidaire. Fournier said she had lost faith in the PQ's ability to achieve independence. Her departure left the PQ with nine seats compared with 10 for Quebec solidaire. The Liberals have 29. The PQ had argued it should maintain its status as the second opposition party because that was what had been decided in an all-party agreement reached last November after the election won by the Coalition Avenir Quebec. But the Speaker agreed with Quebec solidaire's position. "It would be hard to justify that a party that now has nine elected members should occupy a higher position than one that has 10," he said. Fournier took the opportunity to take another dig at her former party. "What should concern sovereigntists is not the order of the opposition (parties) but our capacity to all come together to win," she wrote on Twitter. "That a party's status depends on a single member demonstrates the whole problem." Martin Ouellet, PQ house leader Martin Ouellet said the caucus remains stable despite the Speaker's decision. "Is it sapping the morale of the troops? Definitely not!" he said. The reduced status means the PQ will have less speaking time in the legislature and will be moved to the back of the opposition benches. FREDERICTON - A Fredericton man accused of fatally shooting four people, including two police officers, in a killing spree last August will stand trial this fall. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Matthew Vincent Raymond is escorted from provincial court in Fredericton on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. A Fredericton man accused of fatally shooting four people, including two police officers, in a killing spree last August will stand trial this fall. Eight weeks have been set aside for the trial of Matthew Raymond, who made his first appearance in Court of Queens Bench Wednesday after earlier proceedings in provincial court. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan FREDERICTON - A Fredericton man accused of fatally shooting four people, including two police officers, in a killing spree last August will stand trial this fall. Eight weeks have been set aside for the trial of Matthew Raymond, who made his first appearance in Court of Queens Bench Wednesday. Raymond is charged with the first-degree murders of Fredericton police constables Sara Burns and Robb Costello, and civilians Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright. His trial has been set for Sept. 30. Justice Fred Ferguson has scheduled a pretrial hearing with the lawyers next week. He said Raymond won't enter a plea until the start of trial. "This is not the time for a plea to be entered because there is no jury here," Ferguson said. Raymond sat quietly in court Wednesday, dressed in the same orange jail clothing he wore for his earlier provincial court appearances. A long, greying beard had been shaved off. The judge said findings of an assessment to determine if Raymond can be found criminally responsible for what happened will remain sealed. He also raised concerns about investigations still being done by WorkSafe New Brunswick and by the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT). Ferguson said he would not issue a publication ban on the results of those investigations now, but would do so if they were released before the jury began deliberations. He said he would not want the findings to have any effect on the jury. The 48-year-old Raymond was previously found fit to stand trial. The Crown took the case to the Court of Queens Bench with a direct indictment, avoiding a preliminary hearing. Raymond is accused of firing a long gun from his apartment window, killing the two civilians as they loaded a car for a trip on Aug. 10. Police allege Raymond shot the two officers as they responded to the scene. Despite the intention to send the case to trial, defence lawyer Alison Menard said the public should not assume how her client will plead, or what will happen. "In most cases it's not possible to make assumptions about what will or will not happen. Everything will happen in the court environment," she said. Very little could be done Wednesday to prepare for future proceedings because there is some question whether Menard will continue to be Raymond's lawyer. She was appointed by the provincial court, but that appointment is done, and it's now in the hands of legal aid officials to determine if they will keep her in place for the case. That decision could be made by the end of the week. The case is to return to court next Wednesday, March 27. WINNIPEG - A labour leader in Manitoba has resigned from her job over what she says have been sexist remarks and dismissive treatment by some of her male colleagues in the labour movement. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2019 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG - A labour leader in Manitoba has resigned from her job over what she says have been sexist remarks and dismissive treatment by some of her male colleagues in the labour movement. Basia Sokal surprised about 50 people at a Winnipeg Labour Council meeting Tuesday night when she announced she was resigning as president after two years on the job. The council is an advocate on municipal labour issues in the city and is part of the Canadian Labour Congress. "In the last 12 months alone, I have seen and heard and been experiencing some of the worst things that you could ever imagine," Sokal told the crowd. "I've got about six pages of things that have been said to my face ... and I just want to mention that these were all said by brothers brothers in the movement, brothers of labour." Some men made comments about her breasts, Sokal said. Others told her to just agree with what she was being told. "'You women are all the same. If you don't like what is going on, why don't you just leave?'" she said one man told her. She did not mention anyone's name. It became clear, Sokal said, that she was expected to keep her opinions to herself and defer to others. In an interview Wednesday, she said she took her concerns to the Canadian Labour Congress last spring and was told there would be some sort of followup. She also spoke to officials at Manitoba NDP headquarters about one man who was on a party committee, she said. Sokal was directed to the federal party, she said, which told her in February it was still looking into the matter but had been busy with other things. Sokal said she felt she was running out of options. "There are several people ... higher up in the labour movement, that knew what was going on," she said. "The systems don't allow for change." Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, said he was surprised by Sokal's resignation and suggested that workplaces need to improve. "Those are serious issues. They're unacceptable. They're wrong in the labour movement. They're wrong in any kind of work environment." The Canadian Labour Congress said it hadn't yet heard directly from Sokal but was planning an investigation. "We have heard a podcast of the (Tuesday night) meeting and obviously it's very concerning," said Darla Deguire, the congress's Prairie region director. "We've reached out to Basia Sokal. Obviously we want to learn more and we want also to make her aware and explain the investigative process." Sokal said she would like to see changes in the labour movement, starting with a more inclusive environment. "I want to see different voices at the table and not just the typical Old Boys club that it actually continues to be." A series of buyout funds including US firms Advent and Blackstone are in talks with advertising group WPP to explore bids for a majority stake in its data analytics unit Kantar. The sale, led by Goldman Sachs, may value Kantar at up to 3.5bn, but some private equity investors are fretting over the decline in profits and revenues that the business has suffered in recent years. Hellman & Friedman and CVC Capital Partners are also working on the deal, according to sources, while industry players have so far shied away from the process. Bain Capital has also expressed interest in making a bid for Kantar, another source said, adding Bain might later decide to team up with one of the other buyout funds in the race. WPP sent out confidential information packs this week, with non-binding offers expected in April, a source said. WPP, the owner of agencies including JWT, Finsbury and Ogilvy, is in the middle of an overhaul launched by its new boss Mark Read following several profit warnings in 2017 and 2018. The London-based group wants to sell a majority stake in Kantar to reduce debt as it braces for a tough year with revenue expected to drop by between 1.5% and 2% in 2019. Kantar, a leading player in market research, provides brand and marketing communications research for some of the worlds largest advertisers. Yet it has suffered a decline in revenue in recent years, with underlying sales down 2% last year to 2.6bn and operating profit down 14% to 301m. The deal poses some challenges for private equity funds as its been on a downward trajectory for a while, one source said. Private equity investors are examining the turnaround potential of a possible deal, the sources said, and would value the business at up to 10 times its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, oe Editda, hoping to reignite growth within the first three years of their investment. Liberum analyst Ian Whittaker said in February that Kantar could fetch more than 3bn, with WPP raising close to 2.1bn to 2.2bn from a 60% stake sale. WPP boss Mr Read aims to complete the sale by the end of the summer as he needs cash to steer the worlds biggest advertising group back to growth. Reuters By Tilman Blasshofer and Douglas Busvine Germanys auction of spectrum for 5G mobile networks drew brisk initial bidding with prospective new entrant 1&1 Drillisch submitting bold offers for the frequencies it covets. Drillisch, run by maverick tycoon Ralph Dommermuth, is vying to become a fourth operator in Europes largest economy a move that could benefit consumers but pressure the margins of the three existing players. It made the early running in the auction being held at a former army barracks in the southwestern city of Mainz that, according to results posted online, had raised a total of 314m by lunchtime. Drillisch, majority owned by United Internet, put down a marker in the first round by staking more than 20m apiece for 10 of the 41 blocks of spectrum on offer. By contrast, the three existing operators - Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefonica Deutschland only submitted minimum opening bids for the blocks they are interested in. The auction only went ahead after a court last week threw out lawsuits from the operators, who had complained a requirement to provide high-speed coverage to 98% of households by 2022 was too onerous. The four firms are vying for spectrum in the 2 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands the latter particularly suited to running connected factories, a priority as German exporters seek to remain competitive in the digital age. Mr Dommermuth has lined up 2.8bn in financing to back his 5G ambition, suggesting there could be fireworks in the auction after Germanys last one, in 2015, raised 5.1bn. Despite his striking entrance, analysts dont expect bidding to get out of hand as it did in a ruinous 3G auction in 2000 that raised 50bn, forcing some players to exit the German market and others to merge. The only reason for high auction prices... will be a senseless strategy to block 1&1 Drillisch, said Berenberg analyst Usman Ghazi. He said that would be futile because Drillisch, which now runs a virtual mobile network, already has guaranteed access to Telefonicas network under conditions attached to its merger with E-Plus five years ago. Most of the national 5G auctions held in Europe to date have been low-key, low-cost affairs. The exception was Italy, where fierce bidding last year generated proceeds of 6.5bn and left operators financially stretched. In Mainz, further auction rounds saw duels developing, as Vodafone outbid Drillisch on two blocks and Deutsche Telekom on one. Reuters It seems increasingly clear that Danske Bank was far from alone in its involvement in one of the worlds biggest money-laundering scandals. Karsten Dybvad, the chairman of Denmarks largest lender, says he hopes the 270bn dirty money saga that has engulfed Danske doesnt end up being even bigger. But we can see in other banks that there are indications that others are involved, he said in an interview in Copenhagen. So well have to see. In the Nordic region, allegations of money laundering have also hit Swedbank and Nordea Bank. Bill Browder, the Hermitage Capital Management co-founder who has brought criminal charges against all three banks, says the Danske case may represent just a quarter of the total illicit flows from Russia into the West. Mr Dybvad says there are still unanswered questions as to where the dirty money ended up. Well see what will happen in the future about that. Danske, which faced shareholders for its AGM on Monday, is still dealing with the fallout of its money laundering case. The bank is the target of criminal investigations in the US and across Europe, and has purged large chunks of its upper ranks in response to the scandal. Mr Dybvad started in December after his predecessor, Ole Andersen, stepped down amid a public backlash against the bank. Among those also to be removed last year was the chief executive Thomas Borgen. Hes been replaced on an interim basis, but the bank is still struggling to find a long-term successor. Half a year after Mr Borgens exit, Mr Dybvad said he doesnt want to set any deadline on how long the process might take. You have to find the right one and it takes time. So, I can assure you that I am working together with the rest of the board intensively to find the right CEO. Mr Dybvad also indicated that the bank doesnt have that many options when it comes to finding the right candidate to be Danskes CEO. The pool is not very big. So we have to be, of course, careful in our search. The qualifications needed are quite high and we dont want any skeletons, so there are a lot of different issues coming up. Danskes management and board are trying to restore confidence in the bank as it faces criminal investigations over claims that it became a central causeway in Europe for former Soviet money launderers to channel their funds into the West until as recently as 2015. Investors are now bracing for fines potentially in the billions of dollars. Bloomberg Two former senior executives with the Quinn group are "very reluctant" witnesses in the action by Sean Quinn's adult children disputing any liability under guarantees for loans of more than 415m, the High Court has been told. Dara O'Reilly and Liam McCaffrey had left the Quinn group after companies were sold, are now employed by the new owners of Quinn Industrial Holdings and both have been subject to "threats and acts of violence", their counsel Ross Gorman BL said. Mr O'Reilly's car was burned out in an incident where the flames approached his house, he said. Both men had been joined by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation to the proceedings by the five Quinn children against IBRC and receivers appointed over shares and are "very reluctant" participants and witnesses. They, along with Sean Quinn Senior, were joined by IBRC as third parties for the purpose of claiming an indemnity against them should the children win their case against the bank. IBRC has claimed both executives had acted as agents for the children in relation to disputed guarantees and share pledges but both men disputed that, he outlined. The Quinn group was "essentially a family business", both his clients accepted they had been senior executives in the Quinn group and were the agents of Sean Quinn Senior but denied they were agents of the children. Mr O'Reilly had said in his witness statement he had received instructions directly or indirectly from Sean Quinn Senior and understood Sean Quinn Senior was authorised to act on behalf of his children. There is no allegation by the bank either of his clients did anything wrong or breached any duty of care or made misrepresentations, counsel added. He was making a brief opening statement for both executives in the continuing action by Aoife, Brenda, Ciara, Colette and Sean Quinn Junior. In proceedings against IBRC and receivers appointed over shares, being heard by Mr Justice Garrrett Simons, the children contend various personal guarantees and share pledges signed by them are invalid and have no legal effect. Claim of 'unconscionable bargain' They claim the guarantees were required by Anglo Irish Bank, IBRC's predecessor in title, for loans advanced by it to Quinn companies in 2007 and 2008 for the purpose of unwinding Contracts for Difference (CFD) positions held by their father in the bank. When the CFDs were unwound into Anglo shares, one portion was purchased by the "Maple Ten" group of investors and the rest by the Quinn Group. The Quinn shares were transferred to six Quinn-owned Cypriot companies which ultimately received 498m from Anglo. The childrens core claim is the securities provided by them are invalid on grounds including "unconscionable bargain", negligence and breach of duty by the bank to them, especially to advise them. They dispute the banks counterclaim seeking to hold them liable for some 83m each under the guarantees. Earlier on Wednesday, in completing IBRC's opening statement, Paul Gallagher SC said the Quinn group was chronically mismanaged and operated without any regard for the rules of corporate governance. Sean Quinn Senior recklessly gambled hundreds of millions of Euro on shares in Anglo via an investment company, Bazzely, registered in Madeira, and owned by his children, he said. The children are now alleging they were under undue influence of their father when they signed various guarantees and share pledges arising from loans advanced by Anglo to Quinn companies but there is no evidence to prove that, he said. The children had not joined their father as a defendant and are working for him in a new venture, Quinn Bet, he added. IBRC maintains the children cannot advance the undue influence claim, counsel said. As owners of key companies in the Quinn group, the children cannot ask the courts now to relieve them of the consequences of their neglect and folly in relation to the operation of the group, he argued. The family had engaged in the most deliberate and fraudulent corruption of legal processes in other countries in seeking to move almost 500m of assets beyond the reach of Anglo, he said. The children are seeking to rewrite history and it was monstrous to argue Anglo had a duty to advise them as hundreds and hundreds of millions was borrowed from it in 2007 and 2008 in an effort to save their companies. They had a duty to advise themselves and had done so, he said. They had agents within the Quinn group, including their father, and access to professional advisers. While entitled to take money from Quinn companies, they were not entitled to do so to such an extent as to leave the companies in straitened circumstances. The children took money out, loaned it and also bestowed enormous gifts on their parents, he said. They owned the house their parents had built for millions of Euro, he said. Paul Gardiner SC, for Kieran Wallace, appointed by IBRC in 2011 as receiver over certain share charges, supported the banks arguments. Opening statements have now concluded and the case will resume on Friday with evidence from Brenda Quinn. U.S. Former Vice President Joe Biden told a group of his supporters that he intends to run for president, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. According to the source, at the meeting on Tuesday Biden asked at least a half-dozen supporters for help in lining up major donors so he can quickly raise several million dollars. The ex-Vice President also reportedly expressed concern he may not have the same immediate success in raising political funds online as some other Democrats, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Congressman Beto O'Rourke of Texas. Biden has been contemplating a White House run for some time and continues to lead in polls among Democrats as a favorite to take on President Donald Trump. He would enter a crowded field of close to 20 presidential candidates that have already declared, or are expected to announce, they will be entering the 2020 race, CNBC reported. Online fashion retailer Asos said its new US warehouse struggled to cope with demand in its latest quarter, hitting sales there and adding to challenges in France and Germany. The news was the latest setback for the one-time market darling following a shock profit warning in December and sent its shares down as much as 13%. Chief executive Nick Beighton said the companys US performance was behind plan because higher-than-expected demand at its new facility in Atlanta caused a significant despatch backlog, which had now been cleared. UK supermarket Sainsburys and its takeover target Asda have committed to deliver 1bn (1.1bn) of lower prices annually by the third year after completion of their proposed 8.5bn deal. They also said they would divest supermarkets and petrol forecourts across both brands but did not provide figures. Sainsburys and Asda are trying to overturn brutal provisional findings from Britains competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is examining the deal. The CMA said last month its initial view was that Sainsburys purchase of Walmarts Asda should be blocked in the absence of the sale of a large number of stores, or even one of the brands. Sainsburys and Asda said they strongly disagreed with the CMAs findings and said the regulators analysis contained significant errors. The two groups said they would invest 300m in the first year after combining and a further 700m over the following two years as cost savings flow through. Sainsburys and Asda had previously said they would lower prices on everyday items by around 10%, financed by cost savings from big multinational suppliers but had not quantified the impact in cash terms. The two groups said the price commitments would be independently reviewed, with the results published in order to hold them to public account. Sainsburys said it would cap its fuel gross profit margin to no more than 3.5 pence per litre for five years, while Asda will guarantee its existing fuel pricing strategy. Sainsburys also committed to pay small suppliers, with turnover with the business of less than 250,000, within 14 days, while Asda will continue to pay its small suppliers within 14 days. The regulator will publish a final ruling by April 30. Sainsburys chief executive Mike Coupe, seen as the architect of the deal, could come under investor pressure if it fails. Industry data published earlier this month also showed Sainsburys continuing to underperform rivals in Britain, including market leader Tesco and No. 4 Morrisons. At current run rates, Sainsburys could lose its No 2 status to Asda when the next data set is published on April 30. Reuters We've all been there. Whether you're the mother, the older sibling, the younger sibling, or perhaps you just happened to be stuck between the three, wishing for it to be over. Regardless, if you've ever been in a car with small children, we're pretty sure you can relate to this video by Cork comedians CCCahoots. The Irish production company are back with another hilarious sketch, showcasing the plight of the daily commute, with little children in tow... The joys. Have a watch, let us know what you think and follow CCCahoots on facebook for more brilliant sketches. One of the country's leading HPV vaccine campaigners Laura Brennan has died at the age of 26. Laura was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 24 and was a leading advocate for patients in the 18 months since. A native of Ennis, Co Clare, she died at University Hospital Limerick today. She encouraged parents to have their children vaccinated against cervical cancer, with the uptake improving since she advocated for the vaccine. Laura was given an honorary degree in UCD in December, with the university's Professor of Gynaecological Oncology Donal Brennan saying at the time that, as a result of her work, rates of vaccination had risen above 70%. Since she contacted the HSE in 2017, uptake of the vaccine has increased by almost 20 percentage points, and this month, over 22,000 girls were vaccinated. Laura's family said she was "a light in the life of everyone who knew her" and "a wonderful daughter, sister and friend". "We are lost without her", they said in a statement. We are all incredibly proud of the work she did in the last 18 months to help protect other young women like herself from the cancer that has taken her life today," they said. Laura used her voice, her generosity and her energy to help parents to make informed choices and protect their daughters from cervical cancer. "She wanted to make a difference, and use the time that she had to right what she felt was a great wrong." The family asked for their privacy to be respected as they grieve for Laura. The Minister for Health Simon Harris paid tribute to Laura, saying she was "an incredible young woman and a powerful campaigner". "Despite her illness, she continued her advocacy and thanks in no small part to her sheer determination, the uptake of the HPV vaccine has increased among young women. The State owes her a debt of gratitude," he said. As a person, she was kind, funny and full of life. Her enthusiasm was infectious. "Every time I met Laura or spoke with her, I was inspired by her. Amazing doesnt do justice to her or her courage. I want to extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Laura "was incredibly generous with her time, even when she knew it was limited". Cervical cancer took Lauras life but her powerful advocacy will save many lives. Her bravery was matched by her determination to prevent others from getting this terrible disease," he said. Anne OConnor, Interim HSE Director General, also expressed her condolences, saying Laura "defined courage and generosity". "Laura came forward when she was first diagnosed with terminal cancer and our mission became hers. We know that Laura has made a difference, and will have saved lives through her great effort and her tremendous generosity of spirit," she said. Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society, Averil Power, said Laura's "selfless honesty" was an inspiration. Lauras legacy is already clear. In many homes across the country, parents will have her to thank for saving their daughters lives," she said. A new student group is organising an event at Dublins Spire this Saturday to highlight Islamophobia and far-right extremism in the wake of the terror attacks in New Zealand. The organisation, Calling All Allies, says it hopes people will travel from across the country for the gathering at which a number of speeches will be made. Organisers stressed that the event while involving Muslim students from universities is for everyone as it was highlighting shared concerns of hatred as well as marking the 50 lives lost in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch last Friday. Calling All Allies is a newly formed group of students from different universities across Dublin students from the college Islamic societies and also different human rights groups, like LGBT, said Ahmad Ryklief, a final year student at DIT. We have come together as one group. Its not an Islamic group, but a group from different societies. He said they were working in collaboration with the Islamic Foundation of Ireland (IFI), better known as the Dublin Mosque on the South Circular Road. The group has put up a post on the IFI Facebook page and they are using IFI facilities to email mosques and organisations across the country, as well as inter-faith and anti-racism groups. We want to get as many people as possible to attend, said Ahmad, a student of mathematical sciences. He said they wanted to show solidarity with the victims of the Christchurch attacks. There was a very anxious reaction to New Zealand," he said. The reaction was we need to do something about this'. Hopefully it will not happen here. He said the attack felt closer to home as New Zealand and Ireland were similar in many ways: the overall size of the population; the size of the Muslim population; the good relationship between the communities and the previous lack of such violence. He said it should make people question any sense of complacency that it could not happen in Ireland. We need to raise awareness of this attack. We dont want this to happen to us here, sitting in Friday prayer at a mosque and something like this happening. This is in solidarity with New Zealand and to stand up against Islamophobia and far-right extremism. But he said the issue was wider than just Islamophobia: This was an attack on a mosque, its the same as an attack on a church or a synagogue. Yes, we are saying No to Islamophobia, but we are also saying No to racism, no to hatred, no to facism. We are expecting Muslims and non-Muslims to attend, it's for everyone." Ahmad said that while far-right groups were small in size in Ireland, Islamophobia was a wider problem, which he said both himself and other Muslims have experienced. I know many people who have experienced Islamophobia, especially ladies wearing headscarves, he said. He said people will be meeting at different universities at 3pm on Saturday and then gathering at the Spire for 5pm. On Friday, the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council is holding a special memorial gathering for victims of the mosque terror attacks at the Islamic Centre of Ireland in west Dublin. The event will take place on the Muslim holy day at the mosque, located in Coolmine Industrial Estate, Blanchardstown, between 1.30-2.30pm. Visitors to Dublin's Phoenix Park using an electric, driverless shuttle to explore the 1,752-acre amenity in the coming years. That is just one of the suggestions included in a strategic review of the park currently being undertaken by the Office of Public Works, Failte Ireland and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The visitor experience strategic review aims to increase the tourism potential in the park and to enhance the existing facilities. It identified the poor connectivity between Dublin city and the park, describing it as "fragmented and oriented primarily towards the private car". Integrated connectivity and public transport mobility are identified as opportunity areas in the review. There is a need to better connect the park to Heuston Station, the review said. "With a highly serviced central line, commuters may be persuaded to leave their cars and take the public transport on offer to reach the nearby Heuston Station with bus, train, Luas and bicycle travel opportunities," it said. Electric vehicles and driverless technology are identified as components of the future transport strategy. Driverless shuttles are already in use in Paris and would require no additional infrastructure. Outside of this, the review identifies the potential to enhance 'visitor experiences' in the park. It suggests dividing the amenity into quarters and floats the potential for new visitor buildings and a more stripped-back entrance 'free of the overt trappings of vehicular traffic'. Education centres, outdoor adventure areas, nature trails, picnic tables, cycle and skateboard lanes and fountains are also potential additions. The draft review is on display on the OPW website until April 12. A former postal sorting worker has told the High Court An Post failed to deal with bullying by colleagues involving "gay rumours" being circulated about her. Claire Stephens (56), a married mother who worked in the Galway Mail Sorting Office, claims the bullying took place over a number of years and culminated in a pornographic postcard being left on her sorting bench. She said she became so distressed by innuendo and rumours in her workplace and circulated a letter to her colleagues saying she was having suicidal thoughts. She is suing An Post for personal injuries arising out of alleged bullying which she says the company failed to deal with properly. An Post denies her claims. It accepts the postcard incident happened but says the offender was dealt with under the company disciplinary policy. She was dismissed in 2016 and brought a separate case to the Labour Court for unfair dismissal which was rejected and is currently being appealed. Ms Stephens said her problems started in 2006 after a female colleague attempted to kiss her in the staff toilets. The woman claimed it was a joke when she saw her reaction. Ms Stephens said she had never met a lesbian before but despite the claim it was a joke, the colleague later kept coming over to her bench for a time afterwards. Another woman who joined the workforce later on "seemed to pick up that I had a problem with making eye contact" and "always seemed to be whispering" to others and looking to her, she said. In 2008, this woman started hitting off her "with her boobs" each time she came over to Ms Stephens' bench. "She was very slim and small and she had to make a lot of effort to do that to me", she said. The same woman tossed her hair on another occasion. On another, after some letters fell beside Ms Stephens' bench, "she purposely put her hand on my knee and started rubbing it. I had to run away". The "final straw" was when the woman was admiring a necklace Ms Stephens was wearing and she "rubbed her arm up and down against my breast. I felt I was sexually assaulted". In 2012, on the night shift, a young male co-worker came to her bench and left a graphic postcard. There were also words including something about someone "practising the gay dash lick", she said. She said nothing but was worried people would say she was "a dry old b***h and he was a young man having a laugh". In subsequent days, she said she heard "a lot of skitting and laughing". She rang the human resources department about the incident but for five weeks nothing happened, she said. The laughing and joking continued with one male co-worker singing "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat where are you" and asking her "are you anything to Pussy...I mean...Cat Stevens". In another incident, male colleagues started talking about the length of her fingers and whether they were bent, a reference she believed to the fingers in the postcard. She made a formal complaint in March 2013. Her supervisor later told her he had had a talk with the young man involved in the postcard incident and he was sorry for what he did but she claimed this was "no more than a pep talk". She said she lost half a stone in weight, was unable to sleep and started telling her colleagues she was suicidal. She also photocopied a letter she described as "a suicide note" and left it on colleagues workbenches. She said there have been two suicides in the Galway Mail Centre. After meeting the company counsellor, who sought details of her GP so he could check her medical history, she withdrew her threat of suicide because she believed she would be sent to hospital if she did not do so. Under cross-examination by Marguerite Bolger SC, for An Post, she agreed that in an internal review of her case in 2014, none of her fellow workers corroborated any of her complaints other than two who heard about the postcard incident. But, she said, they "were never asked". The case continues before Mr Justice Charles Meenan. Kazakhstans Senate (parliaments upper chamber) Speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was sworn in as the republics new president today. In accordance with the decree published on the presidents website, Tokayev took the oath of office at a joint meeting of both houses of parliament on March 20 at 12:00 local time (09:00am MSK). "I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," TASS cited Tokayev as saying. Yesterday, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an address to the nation that he would step down as the head of state and signed a decree on his resignation starting from Wednesday, March 20. Nazarbayev said that his successor was a graduate of Russias prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations, has a post-doctoral degree and vast experience of work in various spheres and is a fluent speaker of English and Chinese. "He was the foreign minister during the years when our countrys foreign policy has just began to take shape, served as the deputy prime minister and prime minister of the country, chaired the Senate. He has vast knowledge of the country, its economic and political affairs. He was nominated and served as UN under-secretary general. This was a great recognition of his diplomatic achievements and a sign of trust in Kazakhstan," the countrys first president said, adding that he and Tokayev have worked side-by-side since the very first days of Kazakhstans independence. "I know him well. He is a fair, responsible and committed person and he fully supports the current domestic and foreign policies. He took part in designing and adopting all programs. I believe that Tokayev is the person whom we can entrust with governing Kazakhstan," the Kazakh leader added. Tokayev will serve as his countrys full-fledged president until the term of his predecessor expires in 2020. Then, in line with the countrys legislation, presidential elections will take place. Update March 21: Martin Whelan has been located safe and well. Gardai in Coolock have issued an appeal to the public for their assistance in finding a 45-year-old man who is missing in Dublin. Martin Whelan was last seen yesterday morning, March 19, at Harmonstown DART Station. When last seen he was wearing a navy jacket, navy trousers and dark shoes. He is approximately 5 7 in height and of medium build. Anyone who has seen Martin or who can assist in locating him is asked to contact Coolock Garda Station on 01 6664200, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. A 27-year-old married man from Cameroon who is living in Dublin has withdrawn a 60,000 damages claim against the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland who had appeared on behalf of an uninsured driver following an alleged rear-ending accident. Paul Afumbom, of Kilakee Court, Firhouse, Dublin, is currently under a two-year suspended sentence for possession of a 22,000 falsified cheque, agreed before Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court to the withdrawal and dismissal of his claim. Judge Linnane also allowed Afumboms solicitor in the personal injury claim to come off record on the grounds of a breakdown of trust in that Afumbom had failed to tell his solicitor of his criminal conviction. Afumbom, who has a family of four, had alleged he suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome with anxiety and depression and headaches following an accident in December 2013 in which he alleged his car had been rear-ended at Newlands Road, Clondalkin, Dublin. Barrister Michael Murray, who appeared for MIBI with Alan Synnott of Stephen Mackenzie Solicitors, told Judge Linnane the bureau had brought a motion to dismiss Afumboms claim. In October 2017 before Judge Karen OConnor he had been given a sentence of two years suspended on his own bond of 100 for possession of a false instrument. Judge OConnor had heard that Afumbom had allowed a cheque for 22,035.68 to be placed in his personal account at Bank of Ireland, Rathcoole, made payable to Irish Ferries. The cheque had been intercepted in the post by a serious criminal element, and Irish Ferries crossed out and replaced with Afumboms name". Detective Garda Shane Barry had told Judge OConnor that Afumbom had been naive in that he had used his own bank account, giving a correct home address and his driving licence as evidence of identity. He had received only 1,043.28 for having facilitated a man who approached him to cash the cheque and had pleaded guilty from the very start. Afumbom told Judge OConnor he had allowed himself to be taken in and that he had not been behind the fraud, losing a good job at Dublin Airport following publicity of his case. Judge OConnor, who heard the sum involved had never been recovered, had been told the maximum sentence for the offence was 10 years. Afumbom appeared in the Circuit Civil Court before Judge Linnane today and withdrew his personal injuries claim and consented to his case being dismissed. Initially, the address used in his damages claim was Broadfield Close, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, the same address under which he had been charged with the criminal offence. Separate investigations are underway after a violent prisoner serving eight-and-a-half years for a vicious knife attack escaped from a Dublin hospital while in the custody of prison officers. Gardai are trying to locate the 22-year-old, while the Irish Prison Service is investigating how the man escaped. Prison escapes have reduced in recent years, but this is the second one in recent months involving an inmate of Mountjoy Prison. Just before Christmas, a north Dublin man serving time for threatening to kill or cause serious harm escaped and has not yet been found. In todays incident, the prisoner was on what is understood to have been a two-man escort to St Jamess Hospital, in Dublins south inner city, when he escaped at around 8am and fled on foot. It is not yet clear if he somehow slipped his cuffs or if medical staff had asked for them to be removed for treatment or if the prisoner had asked to go to the toilet and escaped through a window. The circumstances are not yet known and a detailed report from the prison officers is expected, said one source. The escaped prisoner, from Blanchardstown, west Dublin, received a 10-year-sentence with a year and a half suspended in 2017 for a vicious stabbing of a homeless man in Dublin city centre in June 2015. The slash inflicted was from the victims ear to the side of his mouth, requiring 48 stitches and leaving him with a permanent scar. Immediately after todays escape prison staff alerted gardai and a citywide search is underway. Meanwhile, the Irish Prison Service will conduct an investigation into how the incident happened. The prison officers will give a full report, which will go to the IPS and the Gardai, said one source. The IPS will want to know how did it happen, was there individual failing or system failing, how it occurred, was it something beyond the control of officers or not and if there are any discipline issues or not. In a statement, a spokesman for the IPS said: The Irish Prison Service can confirm that a prisoner has escaped from lawful custody while on escort to St James Hospital this morning. An Garda Siochana were notified immediately and provided with all the relevant information in relation to the prisoner. "The Irish Prison Service is currently investigating the circumstances of the escape. The Minister for Defence is not entitled to demand army recruits commit to serve 12 years in the forces on enlistment, the High Court has ruled. Ms Justice Miriam O'Regan made the ruling in a challenge by a Pakistani man to the Minister's refusal to admit him as an army recruit because he only has permission to stay in Ireland until June 2020. The judge, while finding against the Minister in relation to the 12-year service requirement, rejected the man's challenge on the basis it was brought outside time limit required by court rules. The man had enlisted with the Naval Service in December 2016 but left a month later as he was confident of getting a place in the army, which was his preference. The man, now 23, came to Ireland as an unaccompanied minor in 2012 and later secured subsidiary protection, a status afforded to people who do not qualify as refugees. He secured permission to remain here for three years and this was later extended to June 2020. In April 2017, he was invited to take part in an army enlistment procedure at the Curragh Camp where he was told he was ineligible because he needed a minimum of 12 years permission to reside in the State. In his High Court challenge, it was argued there was no regulatory provision precluding him from being inducted into the defence forces and that the Minister's decision was made on the basis of an unpublished or publicly unavailable document. The Minister disputed the claims. The Minister, in a letter before the challenge to the man's solicitors, also said his swearing in to the Naval Service had been "administratively incorrect" as he failed to satisfy induction criteria for that service which also required a 12-year commitment. Ms Justice O'Regan said the 1954 Defence Act does not support the Minister's claim that a recruit must guarantee to serve for a minimum of 12 years. The Act also says an enlisted soldier might be discharged if they become a member of parliament, she said. Rejecting the man's case on grounds of delay in bringing the proceedings, the judge said Superior Court rules provide judicial review be brought within three months from the date when grounds for the application arose. In certain circumstances, the court can extend that period. However, in this case, sufficient evidence had not been provided to enable the court to extend time. She therefore refused his application. A prisoner is at large in Dublin after escaping while in custody this morning. The prisoner escaped while being escorted to St James Hospital. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it is time to cut the British Government some slack in order to allow them to avoid a crash out Brexit. Speaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said when he arrives in Brussels tomorrow for the EU summit, he will be arguing British Prime Minister Theresa May be given some space to seek to get approval for her deal. He said Mrs May will address the country this evening. Speaking at Dublin's Government Buildings he said: "I understand that she's going to speak to the country tonight and there's an emergency debate in parliament tonight as well. "That will be an opportunity for her to set out her plan, her timeline, as to how an extension would work. "We always said we'd be open to an extension if there was a purpose to it and I think it's important that we hear from her first and we'll respond as 27, as the European Union, in the next couple of days." Asked whether he believed that the French president will veto an extension, MrVaradkar said: "No. It is my understanding, and people will know this from his public comments, that he is sceptical about an extension. "A lot of people in the European Union want this resolved. It's been going on for over two years now. There's a lot of frustration across the European Union." Mr Varadkar said it is time to cut the UK Government some slack. "There is a real risk that we wish to avoid of a no-deal happening by accident despite people's best intentions," he said. It's time now to cut them some slack, to cut the British government some slack, when it comes to their request for an extension and when it comes to their request that the Strasbourg Agreement be ratified formally by the European Council over the next two days. He added that the Irish Government was willing to support both of those requests but that it was "not entertaining any change to the Withdrawal Agreement or the backstop". Street-level drug dealing along Dublin's quays must be confronted, according to TD John Curran. The Fianna Fail TD said locals are aware of the problem which is happening around the clock. He is calling for the Gardai to be better resourced to deal with the issues, in particular around the Dublin 8 area. Mr Curran said: "There was a time when drug-dealing might have taken place in side streets and laneways and alleyways. "There are parts of Dublin city today where it is prevalent on very, very public thoroughfares, very visible and very, very public." Kazakhstans first President Nursultan Nazarbayev held telephone talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the Kazakh presidential press service said. During the conversation, Russias head of government pointed out that Russia highly appreciates Nursultan Nazarbayevs historic contribution in the establishment of Kazakh-Russian relations and development of the Eurasian integration. In addition, Nazarbayev and Medvedev agreed to maintain regular contacts in the future. Latest: Theresa May has blamed MPs for failing to implement the result of the 2016 EU referendum, and told voters who want Brexit to be over: I am on your side. In a televised address from Downing Street, Mrs May said that it was a matter of great personal regret for her to have to ask for a three-month delay to Britains withdrawal from the EU, which was due to take place on March 29. She will go to Brussels tomorrow to make a formal request to the other 27 EU leaders for an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process. Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. Earlier, European Council president Donald Tusk said he believed a short delay would be possible after he spoke to the British Prime Minister by phone. But he said that the extension which must be agreed unanimously by the EU27 was likely to be conditional on Mrs May succeeding in forcing her twice-rejected Brexit deal through Parliament. The British PM made the request in a letter to Mr Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU. Speaking behind a lectern in 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said that MPs who rejected her deal by 230 votes in January and 149 last week had been unable to agree on a way to implement the UKs withdrawal. And in a message directed at voters, she added: Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, youre tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our childrens schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide. Earlier: Theresa May to deliver address to Britain after seeking Brexit delay Theresa May during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons today. Photo: PA. Theresa May is to deliver an address tonight as she prepares to meet EU leaders to discuss her request for a "short" delay to Brexit. No 10 said the British Prime Minister will make a statement in Downing Street at 8.15pm after a series of meetings with opposition party leaders in Parliament. Earlier, European Council president Donald Tusk said he believed a short delay "would be possible" after he spoke to the Mrs May following her formal request for an extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process to the end of June. The British PM made the request in a letter to Mr Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52%-48% majority to quit the EU. Initially Downing Street declined to comment on reports she would be making a statement but Taoiseach Leo Vardakar let the cat out of the bag. Speaking in Dublin, he said: "That will be an opportunity for her to set out her plan, her timeline, as to how an extension would work." We always said we'd be open to an extension if there was a purpose to it and I think it's important that we hear from her first and we'll respond as 27, as the European Union, in the next couple of days. The leaders of the Labour Party, SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Plaid Cymru and the Independent Group are understood to have been invited to meetings with Mrs May. Mr Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, told a press conference in Brussels: "In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. "But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. "The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension." Mr Tusk indicated that it should be possible for leaders of the remaining EU 27 to approve his plan at a summit in the Belgian capital starting tomorrow. He said that while he did not foresee the need for another "extraordinary" summit next week, he would not hesitate to call one if necessary. "If the leaders approve my recommendations and there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week, we can finalise and formalise the decision on extension in the written procedure," he said. "However, if there is such a need, I will not hesitate to invite the members of the European Council for a meeting to Brussels next week." Mr Tusk added: "Even if the hope for final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution - of course without opening up the Withdrawal Agreement. "We have reacted with patience and goodwill to numerous turns of events and I am confident that also now we will not lack the same patience and goodwill at this most critical point in this process." Earlier, during a stormy session of Prime Minister's Questions, Mrs May sparked speculation that she may step down if either MPs or Europe demand a longer extension to the Article 50 negotiation process. "As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30," she said. If the delay is approved by the EU leaders, Mrs May will rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the March 29 leaving date from Brexit laws. She told MPs she intends to table her Withdrawal Agreement for a third time in the Commons, in the hope of overturning massive defeats inflicted on it in January and March. Aides declined to name a date for the third "meaningful vote" - known in Westminster as MV3 - but said it would happen "as soon as possible". Earlier European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned the British PM that Brexit would have to be complete before May 23 or the UK would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament beginning that day. Mrs May said involvement in the elections would be "unacceptable", but appears to regard the July 1 date when new MEPs will take their seats as the effective deadline. Aides said Mrs May will "passionately" make her case for a three-month delay on Thursday to the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states, whose unanimous approval is required for any extension. But an unconfirmed report in French news magazine Le Point suggested that President Emmanuel Macron will argue against any postponement beyond March 29. Only six days ago, Mrs May's effective deputy David Lidington warned that a short delay would be "downright reckless". And a motion tabled by the Government last week appeared to keep a longer extension of nine months to a year on the table. But Leave-backing ministers are understood to have piled on pressure at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to keep any delay short. Downing Street aides said the final form of Mrs May's letter to Mr Tusk was not decided until this morning. Asked if the decision had the backing of Cabinet, a Number 10 source would say only: "There was a long discussion on Brexit at Cabinet yesterday." In her letter to Mr Tusk, Mrs May said it remains the Government's policy to take the UK out of the EU "in an orderly manner" on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed in November and supplemented by documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week. The agreement was rejected by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Monday he would not allow the same motion to be brought again during this session of Parliament, unless it was substantially changed. But Mrs May told the Commons: "The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. If that vote is passed, the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Mrs May of "running down the clock" on Brexit in. He told the Commons: "This Government has led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division." PA Its safe to say that K-12 education isnt getting a ton of attention on the presidential campaign trail. But one Democratic candidate is proposing making it easier for young people who do volunteering and similar work to go to college. During a campaign event in Michigan Monday evening, Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand, D-N.Y., said there should be a service-minded incentive for students who are looking to lessen the financial burden of getting a postsecondary degree. Imagine telling every American kid, if you do public service for a year, you get two years free of community college or state school, she said during an MSNBC town hall . Do two years of public service, you get four years free. That would create a pipeline of kids doing service for someone else. Thats at least a small twist on the popular idea in Democratic circlesand among many of the 2020 White House hopefulsof free college (although even these proposals dont always treat student tuition and debt the same). In 2015, 29 percent of high school students did some form of volunteering , according to a study released last year by the University of Marylands Do Good Institute, although volunteerism by those students can vary widely between states. And the share of teenagers in general who volunteer declined from 28 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2015, which ended a 30-year run of rising rates of community service for that age group. In addition, theres research indicating that requiring high school students to participate in some kind of volunteering might actually make them less likely to volunteer over the long term. At the same town hall event, Gillibrand started off those preceding remarks about education with an applause line, saying, One of the problems with President Trump is Betsy DeVos. The senator noted that she voted against DeVos nomination for education secretary in 2017, and went on to say that she worried about DeVos approach to survivors of sexual assault. In the coming months, its worth watching how often Democrats take the opportunity to bash DeVos when someone brings up education in town halls, diners, press conferences, and debates. Click here for our rundown of Gillibrands views on education when she announced her interest in a presidential run. And go here for our preview from last year on where 2020 contenders stand on K-12 . Photo: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Andrew Ujifusa half of Politics K-12 @AndrewUjifusa. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Kazakh leader's decision to step down on March 20, according to the press service of the Kazakh leader. "The heads of state spoke about the decision of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev to step down from office from March 20, 2019," the report said. The press service said the presidents had agreed to continue regular contacts in the future, TASS reported. Yesterday, Nazarbayev said he would step down as the head of state. He also signed a decree appointing Senate Speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as Kazakhstans Acting President. "Today's decision is about how Google abused its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than the AdSense platform," Vestager said. The EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced the results of the long-running probe of Google's AdSense advertising business at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday. It's the third time the commission has slapped Google with an antitrust penalty, following multibillion-dollar fines resulting from separate probes into two other parts of the Silicon Valley giant's business. The commission found that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, breached EU antitrust rules by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used AdSense, preventing Google rivals from placing their ads on these sites. Google "prevented its rivals from having a chance to innovate and to compete in the market on their merits," Vestager said. "Advertisers and website owners, they had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers." AdSense is an older Google product that lets web publishers such as bloggers place text ads on their websites, with the content of the ads based on results from search functions on their sites. Microsoft filed an EU antitrust complaint about the service in 2009 and the EU Commission formally launched its probe in 2016, although it said at the time that Google had already made some changes to allow affected customers more freedom to show competing ads. Last year, Vestager hit the company with a record 4.34 billion ($6.9 billion) fine following an investigation into its Android operating system. In 2017, she slapped Google with a 2.42 billion ($3.9 billion) fine in a case involving its online shopping search results. AP Energy minister Angus Taylor said the government "owes it" to small businesses to enact a default market offer for energy prices. The government, Labor Party and the Australian Greens outlined their blueprints for small business energy stability at the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia energy summit in Melbourne on Wednesday. Energy minister Angus Taylor visits Melbourne manufacturer ANCA last week. . Credit:Simon Schluter Minister Taylor told the room current energy prices are stopping small businesses from "hiring, retraining, and paying their staff more". He championed the importance of setting default prices across the country, saying the default market offer would save some businesses up to $937 a year. The Reserve Bank has warned banks to not be afraid to take credit risks in the shadow of the banking royal commission and raised concerns about falling apartment prices creating a risk to financial stability. The central bank's assistant governor Michelle Bullock said the substantial increase in apartment construction since the start of the decade could potentially be "sowing the seeds of a decline" now that prices have started falling in both Sydney and Melbourne. She said high-density development can exacerbate price cycles with home buyers willing to purchase apartments off the plan, confident that the apartment will be worth more than they paid for it when it is finally completed. Too much supply is driving down Sydney property prices. Credit:Bloomberg "This continues as long as prices are rising," she said in Perth on Wednesday. "However, [it] ultimately sows the seeds of a decline in prices which, if large enough, results in development becoming unattractive, new supply falling and the cycle starting again. Jordan Peele's sweet spot as a filmmaker is the "pit of your stomach" moment. That thing that happens when you realise the woman stirring the tea isn't just there for conversation. When you notice that the help is a little off. Or, as in his new film Us, when you see the family of four standing in your driveway late at night looks exactly like you. Make no mistake, says Jordan Peele, Us is a horror movie. Credit:ANDREW WHITE Peele knows how to get under your skin and stay there. It's what has made him the must-see horror filmmaker of the moment. Us, out nationwide on Friday, is only his second film, yet it's been an event-in-the-making since it was announced. That's what happens when your debut is Get Out. Get Out wasn't even finished when the former sketch-comedian started cooking up the idea for his follow-up about doppelgangers, loosely inspired by the Twilight Zone episode Mirror Image. Then the wild success of Get Out - four Oscar nominations, one win (Peele for original screenplay), over $255 million in tickets sold against a $4.5 million budget, and general cultural impact - put Peele on another level. Three decades ago, after a two-year national inquiry, the Human Rights Commission advised the federal government that Australia had nearly 25,000 homeless children and young people some of whom were dying from neglect while many others were living in squalid conditions, reduced to petty crime and prostitution to survive and frequently subjected to violence on the streets. Children have rights including the right to adequate shelter and protection from abuse and exploitation. A disturbingly large number of these children were or had been wards of the state and many of them had fled families where they had been sexually, physically or emotionally abused. Many young people were suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness or serious mental health problems left untreated. The public perception was generally that these were bad kids and if they hadnt run away from home there wouldnt be a problem. However, the evidence clearly established that most of the homes they had fled from were violent, abusive or dysfunctional. Some of the children were as young as nine or 10. Our findings and recommendations identified many factors contributing to the problems confronting these children and young people. They included family poverty and isolation; the scarcity of low-cost housing alternatives; the failure to provide any follow-up support for children who had been wards of the state; the inadequacy or complete absence of mental health facilities in rural and regional areas (where the youth suicide rate was 300 per cent higher than in our cities); and failure to implement programs for family support and early intervention and prevention strategies that could assist children at risk of becoming homeless. The federal government responded to public pressure generated by the commissions widely reported findings with increased supported accommodation for young people and several health initiatives and employment and training support programs. However, this funding stagnated after a few years. Several programs for early intervention and support for families where children were at risk were funded and various states also took initiatives based on our recommendations. However, many of these programs were not effectively co-ordinated and by the year 2000 the number of our homeless children had increased to almost 30,000. Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo sought Wednesday to bolster a united front against Iran during a Middle East tour that will include talks with key ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Arab Weekly reported. The US secretary of state kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the first stop of a trip that will also take him to Israel and Lebanon. Pompeo told reporters on the flight from the United States that he would discuss strategic dialogue and the need to combat the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran with leaders in the region. He pushed for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance, a US-sponsored Arab NATO aimed at uniting Washingtons Arab allies against Tehran. NSW Labor has taken out a full page advertisement on the front page of Wednesday's Australian Chinese Daily as the party goes into damage control over leader Michael Daley's remarks about Asian workers. The advertisement features a large photo of Mr Daley with his wife and two children above the slogan: "Michael Daley and Labor. Put education and health before stadium construction." Michael Daley campaigning on Tuesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley The advertisement also features head shots of Labors's candidates in 10 key Sydney seats that have a high proportion of Asian voters. Labor's publicity splash, which also appeared in other Chinese newspapers on Wednesday, appeared to be aimed at countering a special news conference organised on Tuesday by Liberal ministers and candidates. The media event is covered widely in the papers, with Liberal politicians' attacks on Mr Daley detailed at length. A simple turnbuckle breaking under load in heavy seas could have caused the deaths of two Queensland men who disappeared when their converted prawn trawler sank three years ago. The bodies of skipper Matt Roberts, 61, and crewman David Chivers, 36, have never been found and an inquest in Gladstone is investigating their deaths when FV Cassandra sank on April 4, 2016. Expert witness Barry Ehrke prepared a report on the sinking. Credit:AAP It heard on Wednesday a common turnbuckle, which connects the boat's heavy seven-metre boom arm and net via chain to its hull, is thought to have straightened in the rough seas off Fraser Island. It would have caused the boat to roll violently as massive, heavy prawn nets were suddenly released from the port side of the vessel. A business owner and three women have been charged in relation to unlawful prostitution after a raid on a massage parlour in Brisbane's southside. Detectives executed search warrants on No 1 Massage Brisbane on Ipswich Road, Rocklea on Tuesday as part of Operation Romeo Manoeuvre. It will be alleged the business was operating falsely under the guise of a massage parlour. Credit:Queensland Police Service Detective Inspector Craig McGrath said the operation was one of the strategies to investigate organised illegal prostitution activities in Queensland. We are constantly working on strategies to preserve community safety by targeting criminal elements providing unlawful prostitution services," he said. The Brisbane City Police Station on Mary Street has been named the largest operational centre in the state as a sanctuary for officers after replacing the station at Charlotte Street. The $13.5 million facility will be home to about 300 officers that will patrol the Brisbane CBD and inner-city suburbs, including Spring Hill, Milton, Paddington, Red Hill and Kelvin Grove. Dignitaries and special guests including Indigenous elder Aunty Shirley Finn, who began as one of the first Queensland police officer liasons in 1995, gathered for an official opening on Wednesday. The station has the latest technology and resources that will be used by about 300 officers. Credit:Jocelyn Garcia Police Minister Mark Ryan said constructions such as the new station were vital for police to continue to provide excellent policing services to the community and provided the latest technology, resources and facilities. An exclusion zone around Suncorp Bank in Townsville CBD remains in place on Wednesday after a slipping concrete slab sparked fears the building might be unstable. The piece of concrete on the building's facade slipped several centimetres and was spotted on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of an entire city block. The reason for concern regarding the stability of Townsville's Suncorp Bank building. Credit:Nine News Queensland - Facebook Emergency services were first called to Sturt Street about midday and established a smaller exclusion zone around the building. This was extended about 2pm to encompass the entire city block of about 20 buildings. Almost 50 tonnes of litter is being pulled out of the Yarra River every year, including more than a quarter of a million cigarette butts, a report has revealed. Litter volumes in Melbournes major river are on the rise, including dangerously high volumes of tiny microplastics in its lower reaches, Victorias Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability has warned. Between 2014 and 2017, clean-up teams pulled 179 tonnes of litter from the Yarra River, including 1.3 million cigarette butts. Credit:Paul Jeffers The rivers poor health is also putting pressure on native species that depend on it, including platypuses, frogs and the critically endangered Leadbeaters possum and helmeted honeyeater. The commissioner released the first State of the Yarra report late on Tuesday, revealing that the river is in poor condition in 18 of 36 environmental indicators of its health. Loading It was Ms Satie's job to determine if they were eligible for asylum, and after taking four weeks off in order to recover from a minor throat operation, she began the familiar routine of saying goodbye to her family. Working for the department meant Ms Satie's adult children Luke, Rebecca and Matt never knew how long she would be gone for, or where she was deployed. But this time, Ms Satie's daughter Rebecca wanted to make sure she would be back in time to celebrate her own 57th birthday on August 31. "But, as usual, she said she didn't know," Rebecca said. "Most of the time she'd never tell us where she was going. She wasn't allowed to even to her own kids." And while Rebecca said it was always hard to explain to her children particularly her daughter, who adored her nanna where Ms Satie was going, they understood she was a hard worker. Ms Satie's eldest son Matt, based in Canada, was also aware she was flying out, but his focus was on his partner who was about to give birth to their third child. Luke sent her a text message wishing her a safe flight before she left, and said he would see her when she returned. This was the last thing he ever said to his mother, who flew out to Christmas Island on August 27. Luke describes his reaction to the news of her death as a "snap". For five minutes he sat in his mother's living room, and the feeling of confusion and numbness slowly ebbed as the reality of what he had just been told came crashing down. He tried to call his sister Rebecca, who picked up on Luke's second attempt. "I called her and said, 'hey can you come round?' She said 'why, what's up?'" he said. "I said, 'just get over here'. She said, 'why? You're scaring me.'" "The way he was speaking, it was just odd," Rebecca said. "It was quiet, it was just sadness. I think about it now ... and it was just sadness." Rebecca and her husband left the house while Luke phoned his brother in Canada. His wife had just given birth, and they were on top of the world. "I said 'congrats, but I have bad news for you ... Mum's had a heart attack. She's died'," Luke said. "He said, 'you're talking shit'. I said, 'I wish'." With a dying phone battery, Matt was forced to hang up on his little brother just as Rebecca arrived. The family had no idea where their mum was, what she was doing and who she was with. All they knew was she had died hours before her 57th birthday, and before she had met her new granddaughter. 'Everything's a big secret' From official reports, Ms Satie had spent time working in the Department of Home Affairs office on the day of her death. Her scheduled interviews had been cancelled, but she was still busy with desk work with a colleague for some time before she retired to her accommodation in Poon Saan, a residential area for Department of Home Affairs employees. Locals later told The Australian they heard an ambulance rushing to the area about 7pm, responding to reports of a woman who had gone into suspected cardiac arrest. The AFP later confirmed they were on site and administering a defibrillator to Ms Satie within three minutes of the call, but they couldn't revive her. The family said this was the most they'd ever found out about Ms Satie's final moments. Accommodation at Poon Saan. Credit:James Brickwood According to the Department of Home Affairs they were given a single point of contact where they could direct all their questions, and they have had ongoing contact. But according to Rebecca and Luke, this hasn't been the case. Loading "The contact we had from the Department of Home Affairs, to put it politely, [was] useless,' Rebecca said. Department officials visited the family shortly after Ms Satie's death, but even then, details were scarce. "The only support they gave us was passing us on the details of the government's employee assistance program. That was it," Rebecca said. "That was the only support. I only heard from [them] on a regular basis from the time we made contact with [them] up until the funeral ... maybe two weeks. After that, there was nothing." The family signalled their intentions to file for a worker's compensation claim, with Luke now expected to pay off his mother's mortgage and her other debts. "There was a point where [the department] said it wasn't a worker's comp claim, as she didn't work that day," Luke said. Jaquelline Satie. "Well, how? She was there. She wasn't there on holiday. At the end of the day she was there for work. It wasn't for fun or pleasure. FIFO workers are covered from the moment they get on the plane to the moment they get off the plane back in Perth. "How are you going to sit there and tell us it's not the same?" 'Vicarious trauma' and the Australian Border Force Ms Satie had a history of post-traumatic stress disorder due to her job at the department. She was interviewing people at the Wickham Point detention centre in Darwin when a riot broke out, which forced both her and a co-worker to lock themselves in a room. "There were people trying to break into the interview rooms that they were in," Luke said. "They couldn't lock the doors properly. They basically just wedged a chair under the handle to stop them from getting in ... they were smashing chairs into the windows trying to break in. They even took off their hi-vis shirts ... to sort of hide that they're there." The Australian Border Force says it has measures in place to prepare officers for unique occupational challenges. Credit:AAP Ms Satie lodged a worker's compensation claim due to PTSD from the incident, and was in the process of building her case when she died. "They were going to go to the next step and give her a psych test so they could see what kind of impact it had had on her, but because she's died before that can happen, the case dies with it," Luke said. However, her family said they believed their mother was dealing with trauma far before her 2015 PTSD claim. Rebecca said there was no doubt in her mind the stress of the job had somehow contributed to her mother's unexpected death. "Given her role, she had to hear a lot of stories about why these people are coming to Australia, why they need protection," she said. "Trauma, rape, drugs all the rest of it. She had to deal with that every single time she interviewed these people and not let that affect her, and also put that information into the system and research as to whether they're telling the truth. "And then she'd have to make a decision a yes or no if they're going to get protection here or not." Community and Public Service Union national president Alistair Waters said it was imperative the department understood the impact the work could have on border force officials. "Home Affairs is a high pressure work environment where staff know the stakes are high as they deal with complex and sometimes also traumatic issues," he said. Loading "That's especially the case for frontline workers. The personal experiences of CPSU members in Home Affairs makes it clear the department often falls short in providing support, and has similarly failed to tackle problems with workplace culture that further add to the stress workers are under. "The department should be urgently tackling the cultural issues in the department, such as bullying, and ensuring adequate support is provided for staff struggling to deal with work pressure or trauma. "Indeed, short-staffing, budget cuts and recent cuts to the take-home pay of many home affairs workers mean this is a work environment that's getting worse, not better. The family has continually tried to reach out to the department, and has even written to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton for answers about their mother's death. Mr Dutton's office said they were preparing a response for the family, and the minister offered his sincere thoughts and condolences to the family. Regarding the family's claims, the department said all deployments undertaken by employees were "voluntary". "The department and the Australian Border Force take the safety and physical and mental well being of its employees very seriously," a spokesperson said. "The department and the ABF have measures in place that that prepare officers to meet unique occupational challenges. "These include mental and physical well being checks, access to on-the-ground and telephone-based counselling services, and debriefings before, during and after deployments. Three girls and a boy have been suspended for their involvement in the page, which has since been deleted. One of the posts also ridiculing a teacher for "liking 12-year-olds" was liked by 75 people, including some students. The Instagram page, titled 'mccmemesboi', included memes that insinuated a teacher at the school was a paedophile. A number of Mandurah Catholic College students have been suspended after a social media page allegedly created by students called a teacher "a rapist". The students have also been excluded from a number of school activities including school trips, drama productions and leadership roles. They will be required to undertake interviews in order to continue their education at the school after their suspension period. In a statement, Mandurah Catholic College said the school could not comment on individual cases, but was committed to protecting the wider college community from any kind of bullying online. "We can't comment on individual cases due to privacy concerns," it read. "Mandurah Catholic College has a strict policy on the safe and appropriate use of the internet and associated technologies including social media platforms. A public servant sacked for tweeting criticisms of the federal government raised suspicions among colleagues who noticed her desktop image resembled her Twitter profile picture, federal government lawyers say. Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue told the High Court former Immigration Department worker Michaela Banerji was not protected by her anonymity when she posted politically-charged comments online. Former Immigration Department public servant Michaela Banerji was sacked in 2013 for her political tweets. Credit:Karleen Minney At a hearing for the case testing public servants' free speech on Wednesday, Mr Donaghue defended the limits on political expression that brought on her 2013 dismissal, saying they protected the bureaucracy's impartial role. He denied rules restricting public servants from making political comments aimed to rid them of opinions or targeted their free speech. Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the UK business to take part in implementation of National Projects at a meeting with representatives of the UK business community working in Russian. "Hundreds of billions of dollars are planned to be invested into development of the most important sectors of the economy and the social sphere within the framework of National Projects in Russia," the head of state said. "I do not misspoke, investments of hundreds of billions of dollars are exactly meant. I am confident your companies could take part in this work also. The market is fairly large," he noted. Putin added that implementation of national projects will have a comprehensive effect for dynamic growth of the country, which will open significant opportunities for business growth, including the business from the United Kingdom. "Accumulated British investment into the Russian economy is 23.8%, and Russian investment into the British economy is over $11 billion," TASS cited the Russian leader as saying. Canberra: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denounced comments made by Turkey's president linking the Australian suspect in the New Zealand massacre with Australia and New Zealand's role in the WWI battle of Gallopoli. Prime Minister Scott Morrison Credit:Peter Rae "I find it a very offensive comment...and I will be calling in the Turkish ambassador to meet with me and discuss these issues," Morrison said on an ABC radio interview. In inflammatory comments on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that anyone who comes to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would meet the same fate as ANZAC soldiers who died during the Gallipoli campaign. Erdogan, speaking at a political rally, suggested Australia and New Zealand sent troops to Turkey in the World War I Gallipoli campaign as part of an anti-Islam-oriented campaign. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has refused to back away from comments that climate change measures have been a "gratuitous waste" of taxpayer money. A video emerged on Wednesday of Mr Perrottet addressing conservative think tank the Centre for Independent Studies in 2015 where he attacks federal Labor's spending on climate change and renewable energy while in government. "Another example of gratuitous waste is the almost religious devotion of the political Left to climate change," Mr Perrottet says in the video. Asked about his comments on Wednesday, Mr Perrottet said he had always "believed in the science of climate change" but did not back away from his previous remarks. The Liberal Party's state campaign has lodged a complaint with the NSW Electoral Commission, alleging NSW Labor is deceiving voters into thinking its how-to-vote page is an official website. The Vote NSW website tells voters it will assist them in locating their nearest election day booth in the lead-up to Saturdays election, but also signs users up to Labors campaign material mailing list. The NSW Liberals claim Labor's how-to-vote website does not carry any party branding and looks deceptively like an official Electoral Commission page. NSW Liberal director Chris Stone wrote to the electoral commissioner, John Schmidt, on Monday complaining about the website, which does not carry the Labor logo, claiming in particular that the URL is almost identical to www.votensw.info, which is used by the Commission. The only indication that the website is in any way associated with the Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch) is the authorisation at the bottom of the webpage, Mr Stone wrote in the complaint. The Queensland government is pushing for a $25.17 per week pay rise for the state's lowest-paid private sector workers. The state government has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission's annual wage review, calling for a 3.5 per cent increase to the national minimum wage and a "fair and reasonable increase" for all minimum award rates of pay. Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace says Queensland's lowest paid workers deserve a pay rise. Credit:AAP Image/ Glenn Hunt Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said if the proposal was endorsed by the Commission, it would deliver an increase in take-home pay for more than 400,000 Queenslanders who did not have access to enterprise bargaining. "The Palaszczuk government wants to make sure workers with little or no bargaining power on the national minimum wage aren't left behind by the rising cost of living," she said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will splash $70 million on traffic relief in a key Melbourne marginal electorate as he battles for the infrastructure vote before the federal election. The Coalition will commit a major congestion-busting upgrade to bring relief to more than 20,000 motorists enduring chronic traffic delays on Pakenhams Racecourse Road. The road will be upgraded between the Princes Freeway and Henry Street, the Prime Minister will announce today. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison commits $70m for roadworks in a key marginal seat. Credit:Richard Wainwright The project includes new traffic light signals at the Bald Hill Road intersection, an upgraded freeway overpass and the duplication of a connecting road. "We say to people that they must make a judgment call, and if it is wrong, we will penalise them," she said. The comments were made during debate on a government bill to change how police calculate a driver's blood alcohol content (BAC) so that the reading after they are pulled over is presumed to be their blood alcohol content when they were driving. Mirrabooka MP Janine Freeman has called for a debate about whether drinking should be totally banned for drivers. Ms Freeman, speaking in Parliament on Tuesday night, said existing laws expected people to make a judgment call on whether or not they were over the limit, which was easy to get wrong unless they carried around a device to test themselves. "Would it not be better if we just came clean and said that what we really want some people have said it here is for them not to drink, and we do not want them to drive if they have been drinking alcohol? "Would that not be much more honest to the community we represent? "I get that it would be really hard to tell people that because we live in a culture that is about drinking alcohol, but it is something that we need to start discussing. "It will not happen today, and it will not happen in the time of this government, and may not happen in the time of a few governments, but we cannot keep sticking band-aids on this problem." Ms Freeman, who said 20 per cent of the suburb of Mirrabooka followed the Islamic faith, urged MPs to look to the Muslim community as an example for how WA's drinking culture could be improved. The Hague: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been sentenced to life in prison after a failed appeal against his conviction for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. His most egregious of crimes were committed throughout the entire period of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and were noted for their sheer scale and systematic cruelty, Judge Vagn Joensen said as he delivered a summary of the appeal tribunals judgement at a UN criminal tribunal in The Hague on Wednesday. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic enters the court room of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague this week. Credit:AP Karadzic had appealed against the verdict and 40-year prison term handed down at his first trial in 2016 of his crimes in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. But the judges dismissed his appeal and agreed with prosecutors that given the gravity of his crimes he should be jailed for life. Late last night, 55 mercenaries were put on a chartered Air Niugini jet to Hong Kong. The Federal Government placed a crack Army battalion on heightened alert in a contingency plan to evacuate 12,000 Australian citizens from Papua New Guinea as rebel troops bundled the remaining mercenaries out of the country. Soldier v soldier as Australia on alert Mercenaries go, Chan caught out on contract First published in the Sydney Morning Herald on March 21, 1997 Corporal Allen, personal bodyguard of the sacked military commander, Brigadier-General Singirok, pulls his pistol on one of four soldiers who arrived at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby yesterday morning reportedly asking for food. Credit:Andrew Meares The confrontation between PNG's rebellious defence force and the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, over his aborted plan to use the mercenaries in the Bougainville conflict moved towards a showdown yesterday. The sacked military commander, Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok, who still holds the loyalty of most of PNG's 4,700 troops, rejected the compromise plan by Sir Julius to hold an inquiry into the mercenaries plan, claiming it would be rigged. The inquiry is to be conducted by Justice Warwick Andrew, an Australian judge on the PNG Supreme Court. The hearings will last only two weeks and the terms of reference appear narrow. General Singirok handed journalists copies of the hitherto secret contract between the PNG Government and Sandline International, the British company providing the mercenary force. As a vascular surgeon, saving the life of a child was the highlight of Adib Khanafer's career. As a Muslim father, it was also one of his most heart-wrenching moments. Dr Khanafer's voice broke as he spoke to reporters on Wednesday about what happened when he was called to the operating theatre after the Christchurch massacre on Friday. Christchurch Hospital vascular surgeon Adib Khanafer is supported by a colleague as he speaks to the media. Credit:Monique Ford/Stuff He knew immediately that something unusual had happened, because he wasn't just told to "come now" he was also asked where he was, and how far. When he arrived, he was confronted with the sight of a four-year-old girl with serious gunshot wounds in the operating theatre. President of Kazakhstan Qasym-Jomart Toqayev has held a meeting in Akorda with the participation of the Presidential Administration's staff, Kazinform reports. Chief of the Presidential Administration, his deputies as well as Presidential aides attended the meeting, Kazinform learnt from Akorda press service. The meeting discussed the implementation of internal and foreign policies, socio-economic development as well as ensuring security and activity of law-enforcement structures. The President drew the participants' attention to the importance of qualitative implementation of the programmes in these and other spheres of population's life. Tipple has long used the arguments of the US National Rifle Association in defending New Zealands lax gun laws. Semi-automatic sporting rifles for sale in the US, a country whose gun debate has influenced New Zealand's. Credit:AP "It's like being a car dealer, you know there are going to be deaths with cars. What do you sell that doesn't carry the risk of that?" Tipple told Stuff in 2015, after being asked about selling the ammunition later used in the Aramoana massacre. "I don't see firearms as the villain ... I see the psychology as the villain." According to police association president Chris Cahill, this message comes straight out of the NRAs guns dont kill people, people do. He says Tipple has had a difficult time over the years, not only for efforts to challenge gun law reform. In 2002 he was jailed for almost two years in the US for attempting to move 29 hunting rifles and 340 rounds of ammunition through Los Angeles airport without the appropriate permits. He has numerous driving convictions, including ones stemming from a 2008 high-speed chase that went on for 16 kilometres before his car was stopped by police with road spikes. Asked why a man with such a record is allowed to deal guns, Cahill says with obvious frustration, Thats a good question. He said efforts at significant gun law reform had been stymied by a small and effective gun lobby in New Zealand ever since Aramoana massacre. After that attack tougher licensing laws were introduced, but last year 99.6 per cent of the 43,509 applications were successful. Loading Military style semi-automatic weapons remain on the market, though there are some prohibited features, such as flash suppressors. Cahill says this does not make a material difference - the weapons remain tools specifically designed for quickly killing lots of humans. He is particularly frustrated that though it is illegal to attach high capacity magazines for these weapons, it is not illegal to sell or own such magazines. Tipple himself sells 30 and even 75-round drum magazines. He is also concerned that there are an estimated 1.5 million guns in New Zealand - with 50,000 more imported annually - but no register of guns. We have no idea where they are, he said. Gun rights activists in New Zealand have argued that police rather than gun laws are at fault for the easy access to guns for people determined to break the law. We will soon have a serious conversation about our gun laws. Many aspects of them are the best in the world. But the sad truth is that we have been repeatedly let down by the police management of these systems, wrote Mike Loder, a competitive shooter and gun campaigner in the NZ Herald this week. This coming conversation will need to include removing management of the Arms Act from the police... We should let the police get on with police work... The tourist terrorism that broke our hearts this week must never be repeated. New Zealand Council of Licensed Firearms Owners secretary Nicole McKee told ABC radio there was a need for "a thorough investigation into what went wrong". However, "to do a kneejerk legislative change without thinking of unintended consequences may not benefit the safety of New Zealanders," she said. Authorities also needed to look at how Tarrant got his licence and the gun he actually used, she said. "The firearms that he used to commit this heinous attack were actually illegal," he said. "He did not have the licence to hold those." But most analysts believe the political argument is already over given that the both parties in the governing coalition have said they are determined to introduce reforms. Many gun owners welcome such law changes too. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC As many as 750 speed cameras will soon monitor drivers in city school zones, according to Gov. Cuomo, who on Tuesday said he will sign a bill authorizing a massive expansion of the cameras, and the hours they operate, after the state Senate and Assembly each passed versions of the legislation. I support the speed cameras. Ill sign it, Cuomo said at a press conference following each chambers vote. The lower chamber passed Manhattan Assemblywoman Deborah Glicks version of the bill before sending it off to the state Senate, whose members passed corresponding legislation introduced by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (DBay Ridge) by a vote of 43-18. The Legislatures approval of the bills came days after Council on March 13 formally requested that state pols vote in favor of the legislation that only affects the city, passing a so-called Home Rule Request by a vote of 443. The bill now awaiting Cuomos signature authorizes the addition of up to 610 cameras which automatically photograph the license plates of cars driving thirty miles-per hour or more in school zones, and send those vehicles registered owners $50 tickets across the citys 2,300 school zones. The legislation also: Lengthens the hours the cameras are on, extending their current operating times from an hour before and after school is in session to between 6 am and 10 pm on weekdays. Broadens the areas where the cameras operate, allowing officials to install them within a quarter-mile radius of schools, not just within a quarter-mile stretch of the same street a given school is on as current law allows. Requires the city to hang signs in school zones with speed cameras that warn drivers of the technologys presence. Mandates local officials prioritize placing the cameras in school zones with higher rates of speeding and crashes. Requires the city to submit annual reports to the governor and leadership of both chambers of the Legislature with data including the total amount of ticket revenue that local officials spent on traffic and pedestrian safety measures, as well as the effectiveness and adequacy of the [expanded] hours of operation. Gounardes cheered the passage of the expanded bill, which he said would help make streets safer in Brooklyn and all boroughs. No parent, senior, or pedestrian of any age should live in fear of crossing the street because of speeding traffic, he said. This program slows traffic and saves lives. Data shows that the already in place speed cameras work. In the two years after officials first installed them in 2014, there were 60-percent fewer daily violations in school zones with speed cameras, according to a 2018 report published by the Department of Transportation. And the majority of Gounardes constituents support adding more cameras, according to a 2018 poll commissioned by street-safety group Transportation Alternatives. The states move to massively increase the cameras and their operating hours comes roughly eight months after all of them temporarily shut off last July, after state Sen. Simcha Felder (DMidwood) blocked legislation preserving and expanding the program from leaving the Cities Committee, which he chaired at the time, for a floor vote in the upper chamber before it dispersed in June. Council then stepped in to broker an emergency deal between Mayor DeBlasio and Gov. Cuomo, who ultimately signed an executive order to turn the tech back on before school started in September, and this year included a proposal in his executive budget that would reinstate the speed-camera program without the need for an executive order, and up the number of cameras, but only to 290. DeBlasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson (DManhattan) applauded the Legislatures vote to expand the speed-camera program, which Hizzoner called a huge victory for safe streets. The legislation will become law 30 days after Cuomo signs it, and would be valid through June 30, 2022. A spokesman for the governor could not provide a specific date for when Cuomo will sign the legislation, but confirmed that he plans to. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 84th Precinct Brooklyn HeightsDUMBOBoerum HillDowntown A stab in the dark A scoundrel slashed a man with a knife while trying to rob him on Livingston Street on March 11. The victim told the cops that while he was walking on the sidewalk, the perp came up from behind and cut his left arm demanding for the civilians wallet. The villain then fled towards Holy Street at 2:53 pm, police said. Bag swagged A crook punched a lady from behind, knocking her unconscious, then stole her backpack on Middigah Street on March 14. The victim was near Columbia Heights at 8 pm when the miscreant attacked, then fled with her backpack containing her laptop, cellphone, and wallet, according to police. Waking nightmare A villain swiped a sleeping straphangers backpack as he rode the G train to the Hoyt Street station on March 15. The victim awoke at the station near at 7 pm near the Schermerhorn Street to find his bag along with his laptop, cellphone, wallet, and keys gone, according to police. Push comes to shove A dirtbag pushed down a 68-year-old woman and violently assaulted her on Fulton Street on March 28. The victim told the police she was near Redhook Lane at 4 pm when the crook approached her from behind and pushed her down on the sidewalk, then punched her in the face and neck. The victim was knocked unconscious, and the criminal fled in an unknown direction, according to authorities. Maya Harrison Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 60th Precinct Coney IslandBrighton BeachSeagate Copped to it Police arrested a man who they say beat his girlfriend on W. 28th Street on March 10 and then punched a cop. The man punched and kicked the victim in the face before hitting her with his belt, causing lacerations to her nose, at her apartment between Mermaid and Surf avenues shortly before midnight, said cops. Police arrived on the scene later that night, and attempted to arrest him, when he hit an officer in the face, according to authorities. Officers used a Taser on the suspect and arrested him for felony assault, cops reported. Cutting case A bruiser stabbed a man at a Surf Avenue bodega on March 11. The victim was shopping at the store between W. 29th and W. 30th streets shortly after midnight when the perp stabbed him in the back with a sharp object, cops said. The victim was treated for his injuries and remained in stable condition, according to police. Brute force Police arrested a man for allegedly violently assaulting a 77-year-old man on 27th Avenue on March 13. The 48-year-old perp approached the man between Harway Avenue and Mill Road before punching and kicking the victim in the face and body, causing bruising and bleeding, according to cops. The victim was taken to Coney Island hospital, said police. Home invaders Burglars broke into a W. 11th Street house on March 11. The victim left her home between Avenues W and X to go to work at 9 am, all the doors and windows had been locked. When she returned later, the back door was opened, she told police. The victim reported to be missing cash, electronics, and a camera, according to cops. Fast-food getaway Two crooks stole a phone from a 46-year-old man during an argument at a Mermaid Avenue fast-food restaurant on March 15. The victim told police he and the baddies got into a quarrel at the eatery near Stillwell Avenue at 2 pm, and when he took out his phone to record the incident, one of the perps grabbed the phone and the duo ran off, according to police. Aidan Graham Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC 88th Precinct Fort GreeneClinton Hill Diner and dash A raider stole more than $400 from a Fulton Street restaurant sometime overnight on March 11. Police said an employee locked up the diner near Clinton Avenue at 8 pm on March 11, and the next day at 5:40 am, the same employee noticed loose cash behind the counter and that the register was empty. Crikey! A raider looted a car parked near Flushing Avenue and Navy Street on March 15. The thief smashed the passenger-side window of the car at 2 pm and walked off with expensive electronics and a crocodile briefcase, police said. Phoney phone bill A lout opened up a fraudulent phone account in the name of an Adelphi Street resident sometime between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. The victim reported on March 14 at 4:57 pm that he spent a couple of months out of the country and came home to his apartment near Carlton Avenue to find a fraudulent phone bill for more than $400 in his name, police said. Crime on the C train A rapscallion robbed a straphanger near Washington Avenue and Fulton Street on Feb. 22. The victim reported on March 14 that while riding the C train, some punk stole his personal identification cards and $400 from his back pocket sometime between 3:30 and 4:20 pm, police said. Burglary blame A crook looted a car parked along Saint James Place sometime overnight on March 10. The bandit swiped a slew of personal items, including a cellphone and credit cards, sometime between the hours of 8:30 pm on March 10 and 8:30 am the next day, police said. The victim said that his wife may have left the vehicle unlocked, according to police. Bloody crime Police arrested a man who they say assaulted a man on March 12. The suspect allegedly hit the victim with a wooden walking stick near Hudson Avenue and DeKalb Avenue around 2 pm, leaving the man with a bloody nose and mouth, according to police. Designer dash Some villain stole more than $3,000 worth of designer clothes from a man on Fulton Street on March 16. The victim ran into a restaurant near Hanson Place to buy food for himself and the crook around 1:30 am, but the lout drove off with the mans Yeezy sneakers, Off-White belt, and other expensive threads, according to police. Bicycle battery A punk whacked a man on the head on Hanson Place on March 16. The nogoodnik struck the victim with an unknown object, causing deep cuts to his forehead, at 2:34 pm between S. Elliot Place and Fort Greene Place, police said. According to police, the tough hit the man as he got into his car and after he was confronted about running his bike into the victims car during a U-turn. Natallie Rocha Two children were killed when militants opened sniper fire on a school bus in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the head of the Russian reconciliation center in Syria, Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin said. "At 16:50 local time on March 19, 2019, a school bus transporting children in the northwestern Aleppo suburb of Al Zahraa came under sniper fire from the terrorist-controlled territory in the Leramun district," TASS cited him as saying. "As a result, a twelve-year-old boy was killed, while an eight-year-old girl and a female teacher who accompanied the children were gravely injured. The girl later died in hospital," Kupchishin added. Raghuram G Rajan when he was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India was often accused of delivering speeches that were beyond the remit of his office of managing the countrys financial and monetary system. It was, however, a pleasure to read those speeches because he raised interesting questions. This put Dr Rajan more in the realm of a public intellectual rather than an economist. Each of those were standalone speeches, thoughtful and specific to an occasion and context. They were collected in his previous book I Do what I Do . The present book The Third Pillar ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Canadian private equity investor Brookfield is looking to enter cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and others after having bought commercial properties in Mumbai and National Capital Region (NCR). Already, it (Brookstone) is one of the biggest landlords in the NCR and Mumbai and now is looking to do deals with developers in cities in the South, said a source in the know. Blackstone and KKR, two of Brookfields global rivals, already have a sizeable presence in the South. In Mumbai, Brookfield has around six million sq ft of commercial space and around 20 ... Russian senator Suleiman Kerimov, who is accused of tax evasion in France, is currently in Moscow and his lawyers will file an appeal, his aide Alexei Krasovsky said. "Suleiman Kerimov is at his workplace in Moscow. His attorneys will challenge these illegal and unfounded accusations," TASS cited Krasovsky as saying. Prosecutor of Nice Jean-Michel Pretre said earlier that prosecutors in the French city of Nice have launched a new investigation against Russian businessman and senator Suleiman Kerimov on charges of collusion in a large-scale tax evasion The courts session was held on Tuesday evening and the senator paid a 20-mln euro bail. According to the prosecutor, Kerimov was in France. yesterday While it has already appointed two consultants to decide upon the nitty-gritties of the plan, including the various bikes or scooters which can be made at the proposed unit, the various sops offered to it will also play a crucial role in the final decision-making process. The states under consideration are Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh (Noida). We are talking to ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor While Mindtree and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) continue to battle it out in what is being described as a hostile takeover attempt, different stakeholders seem to be divided on what the deal would mean for the two companies. The old guard of company executives sees this as an emotional issue, largely agreeing with the Mindtree promoters line, but roots for an agreeable solution. There is a difference between being a founder and an employee. Founders have a right to be able to have a say in which way the company goes. We dont know the situation in which the founders ... Uighurs and other Muslim minorities who flee from China to Sweden will more easily be able to get a residence permit following a new decision from the Swedish Migration Agency. In a new official standpoint, the agency said that it is sufficient for someone to be an Uighur for them to face a risk of persecution, according to Sveriges Radio. This means that members of these minorities do not need to prove that they as individuals face a specific risk of persecution in order for their applications to be granted, the Local reported. Deportations of Uighurs were temporarily halted in Sweden in September, and according to the agency, the situation in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang has worsened. Before you start the day, take a look at the major events in the country that are likely to make headlines today. From Goa govt floor test to MindTree board meet, here are some of the most important news events scheduled for today that will be keenly watched. 1. New BJP-led govt in Goa to face floor test today The new BJP-led government in Goa will face the floor test in the state Assembly on Wednesday to prove its majority just a day after Speaker Pramod Sawant was sworn in as chief minister with an unprecedented two deputies past midnight capping a frenetic day of political ... The Union government has proposed an overhaul of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 which the British rulers imposed to take over Indian forests, use them to produce timber, while curtailing and extinguishing rights of millions. But, in the draft law to replace the colonial-era act, the Union government has proposed to not only retain but enhance policing and quasi-judicial powers that the forest officials enjoyed under the original act and provide them yet more. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The United States granted Iraq a 90-day waiver from sanctions to buy energy from Iran, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. "Iraq was granted a 90-day waiver to purchase energy imports from Iran," Reuters cited the State Department official as saying. The last sanctions waiver for Iraq was granted by Washington on December 21. Britains messy divorce from the European Union is once again stuck between the demands of Theresa Mays divided government and the reality of what the bloc is willing to offer her -- this time over how long the delay to Brexit should be. With just 10 days left until the U. K. is due to exit the EU, the prime minister is drafting a request for more time to reach a deal that will win the endorsement of Britains skeptical Parliament. But shes facing a battle with Brussels and her own Cabinet ministers over how much time she needs. The issue is now of ... Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday hit back at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri questioning him his "anti-Delhi" stance. This came after the Union Minister accused AAP of being desperate for an alliance while claiming that AAP's support base has been eroding. AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, "Hardeep Puri need not worry about the Aam Aadmi Party, he should tell the people of Delhi about his anti-Delhi approach. Puri, who has nothing worthwhile to show in his performance as a minister, is now venturing into the arena of electoral political analysis." Puri reportedly had stated that AAP is desperate for an alliance with Congress, craving for political power. Questioning its credibility, Puri apparently wondered whether seven MPs of the capital city can get full statehood for Delhi in a House of 545 MPs. Reacting to Puri's comment, Bhardwaj said, "AAP was born out of a movement for the creation of Lokpal, which Mr Puri's party promised in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and was forced to form this anti-corruption ombudsman following consistent questioning by the Supreme Court. Puri was not in then and therefore, might not be aware that AAP began its journey against corruption in Congress-led UPA government's tenure and is now fighting the authoritarian and dictatorial regime of Puri's party (BJP)." While accusing the BJP led Central government of being authoritarian and dictatorial, the AAP spokesperson said, "Having been a career diplomat, who has served in many countries, Puri would well be knowing that authoritarian and dictatorial regimes don't last long and India is a country with a strong democracy where people will no longer tolerate a government which trampled the Constitution and destroyed federalism." He warned that the BJP government's 'anti-people policies' will get a resounding reply in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Lok Sabha elections for all the seven seats in Delhi are scheduled to be conducted in a single phase on May 12. The counting of the votes will be done on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the occasion of World Water Day (22 March), Alkali Manufacturers Association of India (AMAI) will launch a major awareness drive on disinfecting water through chlorine and preventing water-borne diseases. AMAI is the august body of manufacturers engaged in the production of Caustic Soda, Soda Ash and Chlorovinyls. Chlorine is used worldwide to disinfect drinking water. Chlorine can be used safely and effectively for water disinfection and is available easily in India. "AMAI is committed to improving access to safe drinking water and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. AMAI members have launched a drive to not only make available adequate chlorine but also impart free training to personnel involved in water and wastewater treatment on safe usage of chlorine," said Mr Jayantibhai Patel, President AMAI. "Chlorine and caustic soda are co-produced by the alkali industry and AMAI has taken it upon itself to widely spread safe usage of chlorine. AMAI's drive on the treatment of wastewater is also supporting the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission," added Mr Patel. According to AMAI, sources of drinking water such as rivers, ponds, canals, wells, etc. are invariably contaminated with disease-causing pathogens including bacteria, viruses and protozoan parasites causing a wide range of illnesses including diarrhoea, Hepatitis A, Cholera and Typhoid fever. National Green Tribunal recently stated that more than 60 per cent of sewage generated by urban India is untreated and enters water bodies like rivers, resulting in pollution and making it unfit for human consumption. Environment degradation severely affects human health requiring immediate attention, NGT stated. Around 37.7 million Indians are affected by water-borne diseases annually and over 70 million working days are lost due to waterborne diseases. The resulting economic burden is estimated at USD 600 million a year, states a report published by AMAI. According to a UNICEF report, 3,80,000 children die from diarrhoea and its complications every year in India. Poor sanitation and contaminated water cause 80% of the diseases affecting rural India and diarrhoea is a leading killer of children under five. Effective removal of bacteria, viruses and protozoa pathogens requires disinfection by means that destroy them chemically and physically and chlorine is a potent way to achieve the same, AMAI has stated. AMAI represents the entire alkali industry and prominent PVC resin manufacturers in the country. The principal products of the industry are caustic soda/chlorine, soda ash and PVC resins. The alkali industry constitutes the largest segment of the Indian inorganic chemical industry. The Association represents over 50 plants spread across the country with an industry turnover of over Rs. 25,000 crores that provide employment to nearly 2 lakh people. AMAI actively engages with the government and with other trade bodies in the country and internationally for promoting sustainable growth of the Indian alkali and chlorovinyl industries, adoption of best & safe manufacturing practices and resource conservation. AMAI is the first chemical industry association in the country to launch a dedicated all-India toll-free helpline for handling Chlorine Emergencies. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Brazil can be designated as a major non-NATO ally,or maybe a NATO ally, U.S. President Donald Trump said. Trump said he was strongly considering NATO membership for Brazil as he welcomed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the White House. "As I told President Bolsonaro, I also intend to designate Brazil as a major non-NATO ally - or ... maybe a NATO ally. Ill have to talk to a lot of people but maybe a NATO ally - which will greatly advance security and cooperation between our countries," Reuters cited the U.S. leader as saying. Trump also said he supported Brazils efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a club of the worlds advanced economies. Sixteen other countries have major non-NATO ally status, including South Korea, Australia, Argentina and Kuwait. The designation makes it easier for those countries to purchase U.S.weapons and collaborate on other security issues. Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that NATO found itself in a situation where it has no other option but to expand beyond the Euro-Atlantic region. "NATO is the North Atlantic bloc with only two countries outside of Europe, while the remaining 27 are European countries. The situation is stalemate because countries delay payments and pay to the Alliance budget really reluctantly," he named the first reason for inviting Brazil to NATO. "In political terms, the situation in NATO is not very simple as well. There are countries that are already beginning to disobey the United States, primarily in Eastern Europe, except Poland and the Baltic States. And in Brazil, the pro-American president has come to power; impeachment of Dilma Rousseff confirmed the U.S. intentions to rule the whole world, including such a major economic power of Latin America, like Brazil. Therefore, such a statement was made, because the U.S. needs to strengthen NATO in any way, and its not necessary that the new members should be from Europe, the main thing is to obey Washington," Alexander Gusev said. "In addition, Brazil is a member of BRICS, and it is very important for Americans to tear it away from Russia and China. Trump has far-reaching plans: after Brazil, the question of including Argentina in the Alliance may be considered. Much will be determined by the global situation, mainly by positions of Russia and China - if they take steps to curb the Americans, the process of expanding NATO beyond the Euro-Atlantic can be stopped, although the Americans, of course, will not abandon such attempts," the political scientist said. "Washington will unite with anyone just to resist Russia and China, which is gaining momentum," the director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting concluded. The Army has provided advanced sniper rifles to its troops posted along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region to retaliate ceasefire violation by Pakistan. Top Army sources informed ANI that the new sniper rifles were recently provided to some of the units in the Kashmir valley and Jammu region on the LoC and they were used effectively against Pakistani positions, which have been attacking Indian posts and personnel. The troops have been provided two new advanced sniper rifles including the Barrett M95 .50 BMG and Beretta Scorpio TGT 'Victrix' .338 Lapua Magnum. "About a week ago, in the Poonch sector along the LoC, the troops retaliated strongly against specific Pakistani positions which have been aiding and abetting infiltration activities and were also indulging in firing against our troops and posts," the sources told ANI. "We have been able to cause significant damage to the Pakistan Army troops deployed and are trying to ascertain the extent of casualty caused to them," the source added. Around 30 of the two sniper rifles have been procured by the Northern Army Commander through his special financial powers to augment the firepower of the troops on the LoC where Pakistanis had been sniping at Indian troops regularly. "Through our retaliatory action using new sniper rifles, we have also sent a message across that they have to be extremely cautious even before thinking out sniping at our soldiers as we can also hit them hard from long distances," the source further said. Before using sniper rifles, the Indian Army was using Dragunov rifles from Russia which had certain issues with ammunition. The Army has also initiated a move to buy more than 6,500 sniper rifles for troops operating in the counter-insurgency operations under fast track procedures. All infantry units have been given a specific number of sniper rifles but at the moment, most of them do not have sufficient numbers. In a short while, we are expecting to meet the demands. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Velvet Revolution in Armenia gave a chance to achieve peace in the Caucasus region. Armenian citizens were against Karabakh separatists who held power in the country at the time - war party of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan - and they unanimously said no to their domestic and foreign policy, ousting them from the power. This event was supported by all countries interested in stabilizing the Caucasus region - of course, revolution is not a constitutional way of changing power, but no one wanted to dondemn Armenian revolution. Largest international players only spoke about the right of Armenian people to express their will and follow democratic path. So when such alternative as Nikol Pashinyan appeared, no one in the world wanted to support Karabakh separatists who are not interested in anything other than occupation of territories of Azerbaijan. Pashinyan received huge political support not only from citizens of Armenia, but also from international community: he was accepted without any preconditions as official representative of the Republic of Armenia in all the organizations and states important for the country. In other wrods, "velvet revolution" and Pashinyan were perceived as a hope for normalization of Armenias foreign policy, adequacy of which directly affects situation in the Caucasus region. But then it turned out that revolutionaries had no other plans after eliminating Kocharyan and Sargsyan's supporters Manvel Grigoryan, Seyran Ohanian, Michael Harutyunyan and Yury Khachaturov. They all went went to court, but basically nothing new happened. First of all, Pashinyan declared his support for the Karabakh policy, previously pursued by the people he put behind bars. He even sent his son to serve in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, officially rejected the idea of withdrawing Armenian troops from the occupied territories, and at the UN General Assembly, he even accused Baku of preparing to carry out ethnic cleansing in case of de-occupation of Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh. It seems that even though velvet revolution gave Armenia a chance to achieve peace in the Caucasus region, Pashinyan did'ot take advantage of it, and the region is still in the same state - on the verge of resumption of active hostilities. So what prevents Nikol Pashinyan from helping the region? What is he so afraid of? According to political analyst Mikhail Neizhmakov, after receiving power, new leader of Armenia became cautious, and he fears of falling victim to radicals. It is unlikely that Pashinyan will go all-in now, although parliamentary campaign of 2018 showed that oppositions repeated accusations that he's planning to begin backstage negotiations with Baku didn't cause him much harm, just other informational events assiciated with Karabakh that are risky for Pashinyan," he said. "Armenian Prime Minister probably fears to lose his positions and rating, as well as face major protest actions and become target for armed attacks. That's why Nikol Pashinyan repeatedly gives signals about his unwillingness to take further steps in the framework of negotiations," he believes. By Robert Barnett, a co-founder of the Modern Classrooms Project and a math teacher and resident scholar at the Leysin American School We hear all the time about project-based learning. But how does it really work? Of all the tools humans have ever created to help describe and understand our world, few are more useful than mathematics. Math helps us map the world, build sturdy houses, diagnose diseaseI could go on and on. Reading this blog right now is possible thanks to math! As a math teacher, this is obvious to me. But to my students, many of whom would actively tell you they hate math, it isnt. One of my biggest goals as an educator, therefore, is not just to teach students algebra and geometryits to change their very mindset toward math. In a recent TEDx Talk , I offered my first principle for designing better learning experiences, in math or in any subject: to make learning meaningful. Students need to see immediately, without needing to ask, why what they are learning matters. I also gave an example of a math project Ive created, in which students use mathematical models to predict future changes to a population of their choosing. And I showed how this particular project inspired one student, who told me on Day One that shed never liked math, to start considering what we as humans can do to protect the endangered Indian elephant. In this post, I want to dig into the process of creating a project like that, which, if done properly, can motivate an entire unit of study, show students why math matters, and inspire students to go above and beyond the requirements of the project itself. Step 1: Define the most interesting problem that a units content lets people solve. Math textbooks are full of interesting problemsthe issue is that they always come at the end of the chapter! In a traditional classroom, students learn math skills through rote practice before applying them in any interesting way. In my classroom, I do the opposite: I present the most interesting problem first and tell students that the entire point of the unit is to develop the skills to solve that problem. For instance, in my Demographer project, I ask students to choose a population they care about and predict its size in the year 2050. They dont know how to do itwhich is the whole point! By the end of the unit, they will. Step 2: Create an exemplar student response, incorporating key standards and a template to get students there. My unit on functions requires students to understand the basics of functions (domain, range, graphing, etc.) as well as linear and exponential models. (Quadratics, too, but I address those in a different project.) So, I think systematically about how they can use each of those concepts to accomplish the task of predicting a population. I ask myself: What background information will they need? Where will each concept/skill be useful? What shape should their final report take, and how can it most effectively demonstrate mastery? I find that the most effective way of doing this is simply to complete the project myself. In this case, I chose a population I cared aboutPacific humpback whalesand analyzed that population myself , using the same skills I want my students to develop. From there, its relatively simple for me to create a template that students can use to do the same thing. Now they just need to learn how. Step 3: Infuse project-related problems into every lesson. Ive motivated my students by having them choose populations they care about, so now I tie everything we learn in class back to population growth. Learning a new formula? Heres how you can use it to predict population. Analyzing a graph? Heres what it might tell you about population. When, my students used to ask me, will I ever use this in real life? They dont ask that anymore. Because theyre already using it! My Demographer project was the first unit my students completed this year, so it took some adjustment getting used to it. We have to do projects in math?, several students asked incredulously. But by the end of the unit, my students had modeled populations as diverse as they are: Indian elephants and snow leopards, Mexico and New York City, and anything else they chose. They learned functions pretty well, too! Ive applied this same three-step process to nearly every math unit Ive taught: designing tiny houses to learn about geometry , analyzing World Bank data to learn descriptive statistics , etc. My projects and my approach are certainly a work in progresssometimes a problem I find interesting will fall flat or it wont actually show the math I want it to illuminate. Thats a natural part of learning, and its OK; I reflect, collect student feedback, and try to make improvements for the next go-round. I continue to seek out project ideas from students, colleagues, and friends. Perhaps readers of this post will have some ideas as well? Ultimately, I picture students K-12 educations as little more than a series of these projects, each supported by rigorous instructional materials that ensure that every student acquires the skills to produce high-quality work. Ive seen this approach work in math and Ive worked with teachers who make it work in other subjects as well. Can we develop meaningful, project-based curriculum for every standard that we teach, which inspires every student that we reach? Its a lofty goal, but I believe we can. Have an idea for a compelling project? Please share! Prime Minister meets party chief of Guangxis Zhuang autonomous region Updated: 09:57 - 20/03/2019 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Right) and his Chinese guest Lu Xinshe__Photo: VNA , , , Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a reception for Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China Lu Xinshe in Hanoi on March 19.PM Phuc welcomed Lus first visit to Vietnam to attend a spring meeting with secretaries of Party Committees of the border provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Ha Giang.Stressing that the two countries share deep and comprehensive relations, he suggested both sides work to raise awareness among party members and younger people of the good friendship between Vietnam and China, and particularly to bolster economic and trade ties between their border localities.PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam wants to accelerate the development of cross-border economic zones, and the Vietnamese Government will instruct border localities to develop transport infrastructure to promote trade links with Chinese localities.Noting that Guangxi accounts for 25 percent of Vietnam-China trade value, he expressed hope for a strong and more balanced development of the bilateral trade ties in the coming time.On the occasion, the PM suggested that Guangxi authorities create favorable conditions in custom clearance procedures for more Vietnamese exports to enter the Chinese market.Furthermore, he said that both sides should work together to prevent trafficking and border crimes, making contributions to building and maintaining a peaceful border.Lu, for his part, spoke highly of the exchange mechanism between Guangxi and Vietnamese border provinces, which help both sides develop transport connection and trade ties.He hoped to receive the Vietnamese Governments support in developing land and sea transport connectivity between Vietnam and China in general and Guangxi in particular.The official also urged the two sides to pay attention to the building of cross-border economic zones to enhance trade ties between the two nations.As Guangxi has an important role in the Vietnam-China relations thanks to its geographical location, Lu said he will do his utmost to consolidate and further develop the good friendship and collaboration between the two countries A Republican senator is planning to introduce a constitutional amendment to "limit the number of US Supreme Court justices to nine" after several Democrats professed the idea of expanding the bench. The first-term congressman from US' Tennessee's 7th District, Mark Green on Tuesday tweeted, "This Thursday, I will be introducing a constitutional amendment that would limit the number of Supreme Court justices to 9 -- the number of seats since 1869. The Supreme Court must remain a fair and impartial branch of government not beholden to party." As 2020 Presidential elections are drawing closer, several Democrats including former US Attorney General Eric Holder and Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg have expressed concern as country's highest court is becoming a "nakedly political institution." "This central objective that is to prevent the Supreme Court from continuing on this trajectory to become basically ruined by being a nakedly political institution," The Hill quoted Buttigieg as saying. Last year, US President Donald Trump faced flak over his decision to appoint then US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court Justice. His appointment shifted the nine-judge bench further right with five conservative justices. The Democrats, at several instances, had alleged Trump for exploiting the judiciary to have ruling in his favour. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday hit out at Congress leaders for making "derogatory" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his blog on dynastic "The kind of 'abusive' attack the opposition has launched on PM Modi for his comments is 'derogatory'," Prasad told ANI. Earlier today, Prime Minister in his blog post attacked Congress for indulging in dynasty politics, which had left the opposition simmering. Slamming Modi for his comments, Congress leader Tariq Anwar had said: "A person who does not have a progeny cannot take the legacy of the dynasty forward. Modi Ji does not have a successor in the family, which is why he is making such comments." Calling these just mere tactics to deflect the discourse, Prasad said: "I would like to tell them that the entire 130 crores of Indians are part of Modi's family." He also pointed out that in Congress, no one becomes the President or leader unless he is from the family. He also accused the Gandhi family of being reduced to an "enterprise" while adding that the defeat is staring them in their faces ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia stated that it is open to discussing solutions aimed at preventing an arms race with the United States, batting for the extension of the new START treaty, due to expire in 2021. This comes in the wake of both USA and Russia formally suspending their obligations under the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which has led to mounting fears of an arms race between the two nations. "This fully applies to any potential agreements in the nuclear missile sphere," Xinhua quoted the Russian foreign ministry as saying. The new START or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed between Moscow and Washington in 2010 and came into force in 2011. It is a nuclear arms reduction treaty, which replaced the Treaty of Moscow. It established a new inspection and verification regime, replacing the previous mechanism, along with reducing the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers by half in both the United States and Russia. Moscow outlined that the extension of the treaty would be in the interest of the entire community and that the nation is interested in avoiding a new missile crisis in Europe and other regions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special NIA court on Wednesday acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case. "All the four accused persons were acquitted as the prosecution (NIA) failed to prove any of the charges against them," defence lawyer Mukesh Garg told reporters here after the verdict of Special NIA Court Judge Jagdeep Singh. Besides Swami Aseemanand, the others acquitted were Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, Garg said. Earlier in the day, the court dismissed an application filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country in the blast case. The plea of Rahila Wakeel was filed by her lawyer Momin Malik. "It is the duty of the lawyer to present all aspects and claims of his client. So I have presented my case well and highlighted the shortcomings of the Indian High Commission (in Pakistan) and also of its counterpart (in India)," Malik told the media. On February 18, 2007, explosions hit the India-Pakistan trans-border Samjhauta Express in the Panipat area of Haryana and 68 people died in the blast. Out of the deceased, 33 were male, 19 female and 16 children. Later, two unexploded bombs were also found from the site, the Investigation Agency had said. "This terrorist act was committed by using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along with the highly inflammable substances, which caused blasts and consequent fire in the compartments of the train no. 4001 up Attari (Samjhauta) Express at Panipat, Haryana," the charge sheet read. "The Samjhauta Express train blast case of 18.02.2007 was a 'dreadful terrorist act' in which two powerful bomb blasts were carried out by a group of people in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy with an intent to kill people and further to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India and to strike terror in the people of India and in a foreign country," it said. The charge sheet alleged that all the accused were agitated and perturbed over the attacks on Hindu temple cities and towns by the Islamic terrorist groups. In order to retaliate to such attacks, the accused persons conspired to target the Muslim population, it claimed. Accused Rajendra Chaudhary conspired, planned and executed the attack along with other suspects, it alleged. They planted bombs in the train along with other co-accused persons on February 18, it said. Investigation clearly established that the terrorist blasts in Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif were carried out by the accused persons in pursuance to a criminal conspiracy, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian High Commissioner over the acquittal of four accused persons in the 2007 Samjhauta blast case. Earlier today, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Haryana's Panchkula acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the matter. Besides Swami Aseemanand, the others acquitted were Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary. "All the four accused persons were acquitted as the prosecution (NIA) failed to prove any of the charge against them," defence lawyer Mukesh Garg told reporters. According to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Office, the Acting Foreign Secretary "stressed that Pakistan had consistently raised the lack of progress and the subsequent, concerted attempts by India to exonerate the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act in which 44 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives". "The issue was raised repeatedly, including at the sidelines of the Senior Officials, Heart of Asia Meeting in 2016. Formal demarches were also lodged regularly with India on the lack of progress and acquittal of the accused in other cases," the statement said. On February 18, 2007, explosions hit the India-Pakistan trans-border Samjhauta Express in the Panipat area of Haryana and 68 people died in the blast. Among those, scores of Pakistanis were killed in the blasts. Out of the deceased, 33 were male, 19 female and 16 children. Later, two unexploded bombs were also found from the site, the National Investigation Agency had said. Meanwhile, the Indian High Commissioner rejected Pakistan's assertions. He highlighted that the due process of law was followed by the Indian courts and judicial system in a transparent manner, sources said. The High Commissioner called out the lack of cooperation from Pakistan government including in serving court summons to Pakistan witnesses in the case. These summons were returned by Pakistan's Foreign Office and not served, they said. The High Commissioner asked for an expeditious trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which detailed evidence has been given to Pakistan. He expressed disappointment that progress in these trials is held up and the perpetrators and prime accused continue to roam freely in Pakistan, sources further said. He shared India's concerns at the lack of progress in investigations in Pathankot airbase terror attack even when JIT visit was arranged to India and detailed evidence shared, they added. It was also pointed out that Pakistan is yet to take credible and irreversible steps against Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) other terror entities and individuals, despite a detailed dossier having been shared after Pulwama attack, sources said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena on Wednesday accused the BJP of showing undue hurry to get state BJP president Pramod Sawant appointed as the Chief Minister, a day after the death of Manohar Parikkar on Sunday. The Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece Saamna said that the BJP should have waited till Parrikar's ashes were immersed. Sawant in the wee hours of Monday took charge of the Chief Minister's office, hours after the final rites of his predecessor, Manohar Parrikar, were conducted with full state honours. On a closer look, Congress-led by Rahul Gandhi was in a hurry to try to form its own government in the state. Goa Congress leader Girish Chodankar and Chandrakant Kavlekar wrote to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha for forming the government in Goa hours after the news of Parrikar's death hit the television screens. Parrikar died on March 17 (Sunday), at the age of 63 after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer. He served as the chief minister of Goa four times and as the defence minister for three years in the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre. After the death of Parrikar, the strength of 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly was reduced to 36. JP MLA Francis D'Souza died in January, while two other Congress members had quit the workplace in 2018. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two South Korean sailors were killed and one other suffered injuries after a fire broke in an oil tanker near South Jeolla province on Wednesday. According to Yonhap News Agency, the incident took place when the tanker was in the waters about 5 km off Odong islet in South Jeolla province. A total of six people were onboard. Soon after the incident, a Coast Guard rescue team reached the spot and carried out the rescue operation. However, the team could only save four people. The reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained. The Busan-bound vessel was carrying about 10,000 tons of bunker fuel Oil and heavy oil. The Coast Guard have initiated a probe in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday asked for a three-month extension to Article 50, the legal process under which the United Kingdom (UK) is leaving the European Union (EU). Al Jazeera quoted May, who while addressing the Parliament, said that she does not want a long extension that would potentially involve the UK taking part in elections to the European Parliament in late May, as doing so would fail to honour the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum. In a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, May said that she would seek to delay the UK's exit from the deal until June 30. May also wrote that she was confident that the British lawmakers would ratify the deal following her negotiations with the EU. "But this clearly will not be completed before March 29," May was quoted as saying. Speaker of the British Parliament John Bercow along with other lawmakers on Monday denied voting again on the Brexit deal as the same agreement was rejected twice. Citing parliamentary procedure, Bercow underlined that the British government cannot put forth a motion repeatedly before the parliamentarians if it had been previously rejected in the same session. The UK Parliament has already rejected the Brexit deal twice by substantial margins, even though May repeatedly stated that the hard-pressing issues were resolved and asserted that "this is the only deal possible." On March 14, the British Parliament voted in favour of delaying the Brexit process beyond the scheduled date of March 29 and overwhelmingly rejected a call for a second referendum, plunging the country into political chaos. The vote to delay the UK's exit from the EU was passed by 412 votes to 202 in the House of Commons, which means the British parliamentarians acknowledged that more time is required to break the deadlock, amid the uncertainty surrounding the country's status in leaving the European bloc. May had earlier warned that the Brexit process could be delayed longer if her agreement was rejected for the third time. If that happens, it would force the UK to elect members to the European Parliament in the elections slated to be held in May. May will be heading to Brussels on Thursday for a two-day EU summit, where she will attempt to secure the delay. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States Transport Department has directed its internal watchdog to conduct an inquiry into the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. The Boeing aircraft, which has been involved in two major crashes in the last five months, has been grounded by scores of governments and airlines citing safety concerns following the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash which claimed the lives of all 157 people on board. The audit has been ordered by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Tuesday (local time), who stated, "Safety is the top priority of the department, and all of us are saddened by the fatalities resulting from the recent accidents involving two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in Indonesia and Ethiopia." She further wrote that the inquiry will "help inform the department's decision-making and the public's understanding and to assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively," according to The New York Times. The FAA finds itself mired in controversy over its certification and approval of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet. "We are currently developing the scope and objectives of our review and expect to formally announce and begin our audit work as soon as possible," the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General said. Boeing has since agreed to cooperate with the review. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vietnam, Chile look to bolster partnership Updated: 16:17 - 20/03/2019 Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son__Photo: VNA , , , , A diplomatic delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son visited Chile from March 17-19 and conducted the sixth political consultation between the two foreign ministries.During the visit, Deputy Minister Son met with Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile Maya Fernandez Allende, and paid a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero Espinoza.He also participated in a political consultation with Secretary General for Foreign Policy of the Foreign Ministry of Chile Patricio Torres. He then met Vice Minister of Trade Rodrigo Yanez; President of the Chile-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarian Group Karol Cariola; head of the Chile-Vietnam Culture Institute Patricia Abrajua; and other Chilean officials.On the occasion, he laid flowers at President Ho Chi Minhs statue in Santiago de Chile.At the meetings, the two sides shared their delight at the growing Vietnam-Chile partnership in all fields.Two-way trade in 2018 exceeded 1 billion USD, double that of 2014 when the Vietnam-Chile free trade agreement took effect.The Chilean side expressed admiration for Vietnams achievements as well as the rising prestige of the country, saying Chile considers Vietnam as an important partner in Asia-Pacific.To mark the 50th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations (March 25, 1971-2021), the two sides agreed to increase high-level delegation exchanges and maintain political consultation to facilitate bilateral ties.The two sides reviewed the implementation of cooperation frameworks and agreements and agreed to coordinate to promote negotiations for several new deals to complete the legal framework for bilateral affiliation.Both sides also discussed measures to strengthen cooperation in economy, trade, investment and promising areas such as agriculture, aquatic farming, agricultural and aquatic product processing, climate change response, startups, innovation, training, tourism, and sports.They will continue holding meetings of the Vietnam-Chile free trade council, while working closely during the implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). They stressed the need to strengthen collaboration between the two parliaments and increase diplomatic activities.Vietnam and Chile agreed to continue supporting each other within the frameworks of the United Nations, the World Trade Organizations and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, while fostering the partnership between the ASEAN and the Pacific AllianceThe two countries shared their similar stance supporting the settlement of international disputes through peaceful measures in line with international law.- The United States and China will resume trade talks next week after a pause in negotiations, according to an administration official. Quoting the official, CNN reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will travel to Beijing for discussions, aimed at finalising a trade deal between the two countries. Subsequently, a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will then visit Washington for the next round of talks. Following the previous round of talks, negotiations were put on hold after the two sides broached disagreements regarding the enforcement mechanisms in the final deal, according to CNN. "China's going very well. China talks going very well," US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday during a joint press conference here with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. Both Beijing and Washington are engaged in intense negotiations in the wake of a trade dispute, which would've originally seen the United States substantively increase tariffs on Chinese goods from March 1. Trump has since withheld the tariff increase as talks between the two sides have been promising. The two countries now hope to reach a final trade deal which will be signed during a late-April summit at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the official added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vodafone India's board on Wednesday approved the plan to issue equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 at Rs 12.50 per equity share as rights issue aggregating up to Rs 25,000 crore. The board also fixed April 2 as the record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders who will be eligible to apply for the issue, the company informed stock exchanges in regulatory filings. The rights issue entitlement ratio is 87 shares for every 38 shares held by the eligible shareholders of the company on the record date. The issue will open on April 10 and close on April 24. "We are well placed to exploit the growth opportunities ahead of us," said company's CEO Balesh Sharma. "The proceeds from the rights issue coupled with the monetisation of our stake in Indus will allow us to make the required investments in the to achieve our strategic goals." Vodafone Idea is raising funds for expanding 4G capacity and working towards building future-proof networks. On February 6, the company reported a loss of Rs 5,004 crore for the quarter ended December 2018. The gross debt stood at Rs 1.23 lakh crore, including deferred spectrum payment obligations due to the government of Rs 91,480 crore. Cash and cash equivalents totalled Rs 8,900 crore, resulting in net debt of Rs 1.14 lakh crore. The financials of telecom majors have been adversely hurt after the entry of Reliance Jio and falling tariffs. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five days after the murder of YS Vivekananda, his daughter YS Sunitha on Wednesday demanded a fair probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), saying that there were no "internal clashes" among family members. "It was a dream of my father (YS Vivekananda Reddy) to see my brother Jaganmohan Reddy as the Chief Minister of the state and he had worked very hard for that. It is very unfortunate that some are using my father's death to draw political mileage," she said during a press conference. "False allegations are being made that there were internal clashes in our family. There are 700 members in our family and differences are very common in such big families," said Sunitha, stressing that one shall not reach a conclusion without an independent SIT probe. "Let SIT work in a fair manner. As the investigation is underway, I am sure the truth will come out. As a daughter, I am unable to understand with whom I shall share my grief, as the people have different views," she said. Responding to allegations levelled by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that YSR Congress Party chief Jaganmohan Reddy is behind the murder of his uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy as there were internal differences within the family, Sunitha said: "Our family consists of people from different religion, castes, and cultures." "We all have learnt to live together despite the differences. Just because we have different opinions, does that mean we kill each other," she said, adding that she is the only heiress to YS Vivekananda Reddy and she has been raised with lots of love and affection by her father. "My father had been busy with his public life. He preferred people of the state to his own family as he had a great empathy towards the people of the state," she said. Narrating the unfortunate incident of her father's murder, Sunitha said: "At the time of the incident, my mother was with me at Hyderabad for a medical check-up. So my father was alone at home." "Our pain has increased more after hearing rumours and speculations about his murder. If such allegations are being made and these are true, then how can investigation go smoothly," she asked. She urged the people to stay calm and wait patiently for the SIT report. "Please give the same respect to my father which you used to show him when he was alive," she said. YS Vivekananda Reddy was found dead at his home on March 15 in Pulivendula. Initially, it was said that he succumbed to a cardiac arrest. However, the police investigation stated that it was a murder. While the TDP alleged that Jagan's family could have killed him for political gains, the YSRCP alleged that the Telugu Desam Party could have been behind his murder. Jagan also alleged that his grandfather Raja Reddy and uncle Vivekananda Reddy were murdered when the TDP chief Naidu was ruling in the state. Later, Naidu made a counter allegation that family members should be investigated as only they can tell who wiped off the blood on the floor to divert police investigation into the case. YS Vivekananda Reddy was elected as an MLA from Pulivendula constituency in 1989 and 1994. He became a Member of Parliament from Kadapa Lok Sabha seat in 1999 and 2004. In 2009, he was elected as an MLC. He also served as Agriculture Minister of Andhra Pradesh and later resigned from the Congress party and joined the YSRCP. Following Reddy's death, his personal assistant Krishna Reddy lodged a complaint with the police expressing his suspicions on his death. Krishna claimed that Vivekananda's body was found in a pool of blood with injuries on his head and hand. Based on the complaint, the police have filed a case of suspicious death and are investigating. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To launch global Internet of Things (IoT) service in the Chinese market China Telecom Global and Tata Communications are working together to launch a global Internet of Things (IoT) service in the Chinese market. The partnership will allow companies to deploy and manage IoT devices easily and cost-effectively within China and internationally across multiple industries, including consumer and industrial electronics manufacturing, automotive, transport and logistics. China Telecom Global and Tata Communications will cooperate to support global IoT opportunities. The Tata Communications MOVE service leverages the company's relationships with more than 600 mobile network operators worldwide, to ensure that a new IoT-enabled wearable device or automotive system, for example, can be instantly connected, anywhere in the world. With this platform and capabilities, China Telecom Global will be able to enhance the global reach of its IoT offering, and address the needs of both Chinese and overseas based corporations. Through this partnership, China Telecom Global also provides Tata Communications with connectivity for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Tata Communications can also leverage China Telecom's vast 4G network resources to support its customers with competitive and high-quality IoT connectivity in the Greater China market. For specific vertical industries such as automotive, China Telecom Global will provide Tata Communications with IoT connectivity solutions that are compliant with Chinese market requirements. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) DLF announced its second joint venture with Hines. DLF Home Developers (DHDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of DLF, and Green Horizon Trustee, an affiliate of Hines, have entered into a joint venture to develop a high-end commercial project in Gurugram. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Muthoot Capital Services completed a securitization transaction of Rs 236.36 crore on 15 March 2019. With this transaction, the company has so far raised total funds of Rs 749.20 crore through securitization / direct assignment transactions during the FY 2018 - 19. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Cox & Kings owned Meininger Hotels opens its first hotel in Hungary named MEININGER Budapest Great Market Hall. The newly built property not far from the Danube promenade is located next to the famous Great Market Hall and has 184 rooms and 751 beds. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. V-Mart Retail said that the company has opened a new store in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This takes the total number of stores to 211 stores in 168 cities across 17 states and total tally of Uttar Pradesh is 85 stores. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Bodal Chemicals informed that commencement and expansion of manufacturing facilities has been successfully completed and production started at UNIT VII of the company, situated at Village Dudhwada, Taluka Padra, District Vadodara, Gujarat. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Rushil Decor said that there was a fire accident at the company's factory situated at Plot No. 58, 59, 60, Amble industrial Estate, Village Amble, Tai. & Dis. Chikmagalur, Karnataka on Monday, 18 March 2019 at around 3:25 PM. The fire broke out in the store room located at road side of the factory and spread to some extent into the factory. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Receives bids for 18.34 crore units The initial public offer (IPO) of Embassy Office Parks REIT received bids for 18.34 crore units today, 20 March 2018, as against 7.12 crore units on offer, as per the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website data at 17:30 IST. The issue was subscribed 2.57 times. The IPO opened for subscription on 18 March 2019 and it closes today, 20 March 2019. The price band for the issue was fixed at Rs 299 to Rs 300 per unit. Minimum application was for 800 units (i.e., Rs 2.4 lakh at higher price and Rs 2.39 lakh as lower price) and in multiples of 400 units thereafter. Ahead of the opening of the IPO, the board of directors of the company at its meeting held on 15 March 2018, finalised allocation of 5.81 crore units to anchor investors at Rs 300 each. The Embassy Office Parks REIT (Embassy) is an irrevocable trust and was registered with SEBI on 3 August 2017, as a real estate investment trust under Regulation 3(1) of the REIT Regulations. The Embassy REIT has been settled by the Embassy Sponsor. Subsequently, in August 2018, SEBI took on record the addition of the Blackstone Sponsor to the sponsors of the Embassy REIT. As of the date, the Embassy Sponsor and the Blackstone Sponsor are the sponsors of the Embassy REIT. Embassy is the owner of a high quality office portfolio in India that serves as essential corporate infrastructure to multinational tenants and has significant embedded growth prospects. The company's portfolio comprises 7 best-in-class office parks and 4 prime city-center office buildings totalling 32.7 m sq feet as of 31 December 2018, with strategic amenities, including two completed and two under-construction hotels totalling 1,096 keys, food courts, employee transportation and childcare facilities. Of the total 32.7 m square feet, around 60.5% is in Bengaluru, 16.2% is in Mumbai, 14.4% in Pune and rest 8.9% is in Noida. The IPO proceeds will be utilized for repayment of loans and debts of Rs 3710 crore, Rs 460 crore towards acquisition of the Embassy One Assets currently held by EODPL and rest for general corporate purposes. On a consolidated basis, Embassy Office Parks REIT reported total profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 285.11 crore on net sales of Rs 1375.98 crore in the nine-months ended December 2018. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hindalco Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 206.55, up 2.08% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 3.8% in last one year as compared to a 13.49% jump in NIFTY and a 15.27% jump in the Nifty Metal index. Hindalco Industries Ltd is up for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 206.55, up 2.08% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.06% on the day, quoting at 11525.4. The Sensex is at 38405.59, up 0.11%. Hindalco Industries Ltd has gained around 6.25% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Hindalco Industries Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 7.25% in last one month and is currently quoting at 3027.4, down 0.95% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 59.45 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 77.69 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark March futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 206.8, up 1.72% on the day. Hindalco Industries Ltd is down 3.8% in last one year as compared to a 13.49% jump in NIFTY and a 15.27% jump in the Nifty Metal index. The PE of the stock is 33.74 based on TTM earnings ending December 18. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Market is seen opening lower, tracking mixed cues from Asian markets. Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 8.50 points at the opening bell. Overseas, Asian shares were mixed as investors adopted a cautious stance prior to the Federal Reserve's policy decision and further news on US-China trade talks. US stock benchmarks on Tuesday closed mostly lower in a volatile session, as investors digested news on trade and awaited a policy decision by the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee due Wednesday. Investors will focus on the statement issued by policy makers. Chinese officials have reportedly shifted their stance on trade because after agreeing to changes to their intellectual-property policies, they have not received assurances from the Trump administration that tariffs imposed on their exports would be lifted, curbing hopes of a deal. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly plan to travel to China next week for another round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2132.36 crore on 19 March 2019, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1253.67 crore on 19 March 2019, as per provisional data. Local stocks extended gains for seventh straight trading session yesterday, 19 March 2019, amid support from index pivotals. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 268.40 points or 0.70% to 38,363.47. The Nifty 50 index rose 70.20 points or 0.61% to 11,532.40. On the economic front, GST Council in the 34th meeting held on 19 March 2019 at New Delhi discussed the operational details for implementation of the recommendations made by the council in its 33rd meeting for lower effective GST rate of 1% in case of affordable houses and 5% on construction of houses other than affordable house. In respect of ongoing projects, the promoters shall be given a one -time option to continue to pay tax at the old rates (effective rate of 8% or 12% with input tax credits, or ITC) on ongoing projects (buildings where construction and actual booking have both started before 1 April 2019) which have not been completed by 31 March 2019. The option shall be exercised once within a prescribed time frame and where the option is not exercised within the prescribed time limit, new rates shall apply. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A divergent trend was witnessed as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, settled with small gains while the Nifty 50 index registered small losses. The Sensex extended gains for eight straight trading session. The Nifty snapped seven-day rising trend. Stock markets will remain closed on Thursday, 21 March 2019, on account of Holi. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 23.28 points or 0.06% to 38,386.75. The index hit high of 38,489.81 and low of 38,316.21 in intraday trade. The Nifty 50 index fell 11.35 points or 0.10% to 11,521.05. The index hit high of 11,556.10 and low of 11,503.10 in intraday trade. Trading kicked off on a negative note. Shares, however, gained vigor in morning trade amid broad based buying support. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade as profit booking emerged at higher levels. Benchmarks hovered near flat line in afternoon trade and turned range bound in mid-afternoon trade. Gains were capped as investors adopted a cautious stance prior to the Federal Reserve's policy decision and further news on US-China trade talks. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.36%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.33%. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1112 shares rose and 1561 shares fell. A total of 182 shares were unchanged. Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Realty index (up 2.21%), the S&P BSE IT index (up 0.93%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.48%) outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Utilities index (down 1.84%), the S&P BSE Auto index (down 1.41%), the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (down 2.26%) underperformed the Sensex. NTPC (down 4.29%), ONGC (down 3.28%), Coal India (down 2.43%), Tata Steel (down 2.41%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.22%) were the major Sensex losers. Infosys (up 2.36%), HDFC Bank (up 1.39%), Yes Bank (up 1.27%), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.19%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.07%) were the major Sensex gainers. DLF rose 2.6%. The company announced its second joint venture with Hines. DLF Home Developers (DHDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of DLF, and Green Horizon Trustee, an affiliate of Hines, have entered into a joint venture to develop a high-end commercial project in Gurugram. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) jumped 3.37% amid media reports that fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi was arrested in London. The London police today, 20 March 2019, arrested PNB scam accused Nirav Modi. He will be produced in the Westminster court later in the day. The diamantaire is likely to get a bail, but authorities in UK might put conditions on his movement, media reports suggested. Jet Airways (India) lost 4.82% after the company said that an additional six aircraft (include one aircraft of Jet Lite (India)) have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements. The company is actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors and regularly provides with updates on the efforts undertaken by the company to improve its liquidity. Aircraft lessors have been supportive of the company's efforts in this regard. The company is also making all efforts to minimize disruption to its network and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests. The company also continues to provide required and periodic updates to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in this regard. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Newgen Software Technologies surged 9.86% after the company announced the issuance of Patent, entitled Integrated and Automatic Generation of Carbon Credits. Newgen's platforms enable organizations to save operational costs by replacing paper and file movement with digital workflows and document management. Newgen's invention is a carbon credit analyzer coupled with the process management unit, which helps organizations automatically estimate costs & savings associated with the processing of documents. These savings are then converted to equivalent carbon credits. The patent is valid till 10 June 2029. Newgen has filed for 44 patents till date, out of which 11 have been granted. And, there are 3 patents under examination in the US. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Overseas, most European and Asian shares declined as investors awaited a policy decision by the US Federal Reserve. US stock benchmarks on Tuesday closed mostly lower in a volatile session, as investors digested news on trade and awaited a policy decision by the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee due Wednesday. Investors will focus on the statement issued by policy makers in the US. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Sensex inched higher while the Nifty ended with minor losses after a lackluster trading session. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, up 23.28 points or 0.06% to 38,386.75, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index down 11.35 points or 0.10% to 11,521.05, as per the provisional closing data. Domestic financial market will remain closed on Thursday, 21 March 2019, on account of Holi. Trading kicked off on a negative note. Shares, however, gained vigor in morning trade amid broad based buying support. Indices pared gains in mid-morning trade as profit booking emerged at higher levels. Benchmarks hovered near flat line in afternoon trade and turned range bound in mid-afternoon trade. Gains were capped as investors adopted a cautious stance prior to the Federal Reserve's policy decision and further news on US-China trade talks. Broader market corrected. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.36%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.33%. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1125 shares rose and 1550 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged. Shares of Punjab National Bank (PNB) jumped 3.7% amid media reports that fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi was arrested in London. The London police today, 20 March 2019, arrested PNB scam accused Nirav Modi. He will be produced in the Westminster court later in the day. The diamantaire is likely to get a bail, but authorities in UK might put conditions on his movement, media reports suggested. NTPC (down 4.26%), ONGC (down 3.57%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 2.54%), Coal India (down 2.39%), Tata Steel (down 2.25%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.87%) and Tata Motors (down 1.42%), were the major Sensex losers. Infosys (up 2.26%), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.70%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.62%), Yes Bank (up 1.57%), HDFC Bank (up 1.40%), Vedanta (up 1.10%) and HDFC (up 0.87%), were the major Sensex gainers. Overseas, most European and Asian shares declined as investors awaited a policy decision by the US Federal Reserve. US stock benchmarks on Tuesday closed mostly lower in a volatile session, as investors digested news on trade and awaited a policy decision by the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee due Wednesday. Investors will focus on the statement issued by policy makers in the US. Global market focus is largely attuned to global trade developments, amid media reports of US concerns that China is pushing back against American demands in trade talks. Chinese officials have reportedly shifted their stance on trade because after agreeing to changes to their intellectual-property policies, they have not received assurances from the Trump administration that tariffs imposed on their exports would be lifted, curbing hopes of a deal. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly plan to travel to China next week for another round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key benchmark indices were trading lower in early trade amid mixed cues from Asian markets. At 9:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 12.81 points or 0.03% at 38,350.66. The Nifty 50 index was down 8.55 points or 0.07% at 11,523.85. Among secondary barometers,the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.15%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.04%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. On BSE, 575 shares rose and 511 shares fell. A total of 53 shares were unchanged. Overseas, Asian shares were mixed as investors adopted a cautious stance prior to the Federal Reserve's policy decision and further news on US-China trade talks. US stock benchmarks on Tuesday closed mostly lower in a volatile session, as investors digested news on trade and awaited a policy decision by the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee due Wednesday. Investors will focus on the statement issued by policy makers. Chinese officials have reportedly shifted their stance on trade because after agreeing to changes to their intellectual-property policies, they have not received assurances from the Trump administration that tariffs imposed on their exports would be lifted, curbing hopes of a deal. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly plan to travel to China next week for another round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. Back home, DLF was up 3.04%. The company announced its second joint venture with Hines. DLF Home Developers (DHDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of DLF, and Green Horizon Trustee, an affiliate of Hines, have entered into a joint venture to develop a high-end commercial project in Gurugram. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Muthoot Capital Services was up 2.83%. The company completed a securitization transaction of Rs 236.36 crore on 15 March 2019. With this transaction, the company has so far raised total funds of Rs 749.20 crore through securitization / direct assignment transactions during the FY 2018 - 19. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Cox & Kings was up 0.80%. The company owned Meininger Hotels opened its first hotel in Hungary named MEININGER Budapest Great Market Hall. The newly built property not far from the Danube promenade is located next to the famous Great Market Hall and has 184 rooms and 751 beds. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. V-Mart Retail was down 0.67%. The company said that it opened a new store in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This takes the total number of stores to 211 stores in 168 cities across 17 states and total tally of Uttar Pradesh is 85 stores. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Bodal Chemicals was up 1.72%. The company informed that commencement and expansion of manufacturing facilities has been successfully completed and production started at UNIT VII of the company, situated at Village Dudhwada, Taluka Padra, District Vadodara, Gujarat. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Rushil Decor was up 0.54%. The company said that there was a fire accident at its factory in Karnataka on Monday, 18 March 2019 at around 3:25 PM. The fire broke out in the store room located at road side of the factory and spread to some extent into the factory. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 March 2019. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Narendra Modi goverment has succeeded in bringing back 18 fugitive offenders, including alleged AgustaWestland deal middleman Christian Michel James, to India in the last five years and is strongly pursuing extradition cases of absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Sources said that India has been strongly articulating the issue internationally and had presented a nine-point agenda for action against fugitive economic offenders at the G-20 Leaders' Summit held at Buenos Aires last year. India has also pursued the agenda against fugitive economic offenders in various fora of the G20 like Finance and Sherpa Tracks, the Anti-Corruption Working Group and the Denial of Entry Experts Network. Here is the list of the fugitives brought to India in the last five years. 1. AgustaWestland chopper deal co-accused Rajiv Saxena was extradited from United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the end of January this year. He was extradited alongwith corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar. 2. British national Christian Michel James was extradited from UAE on December 4, 2018 in a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy for his alleged role as middleman in AgustraWestland case. 3. Mohammed Yahya, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on October 12, 2018. 4. Vinay Mittal, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on September 9, 2018. 5. Mansoor/Farooq Takla, who faces charges of involvement in terrorist activities, was extradited from UAE on March 8, 2018. 6. Marinoiu Mohd Farooq Yasin, a Romanian national, was extradited from Nicaragua on March 3, 2018 in a bank fraud case. 7. Abubakr Kadir Lonut Alexandru was extradited from Singapore on September 23, 2017 in job scam racket case. 8. Abdul Raut Merchant Mohmmad Sultan was extradited from Bangladesh on November 8, 2016 on charges of murder. 9. Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was extradited from Britain on October 19, 2016 on charges of murder, and criminal conspiracy. 10. Kumar Krushna Pillai was extradited from Singapore on June 27, 2016 in attempt to murder case. 11. Abdul Wahid Siddibapa was extradited from the UAE on May 20, 2016 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 12. Willy Naruenartwanic, a Thai national, was extradited from Thailand on December 9, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 13. Kollam Gangi Reddy was extradited from Mauritius on November 15, 2015 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and attempt to murder. 14. Anup Chetia was extradited from Bangladesh on November 11, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 15. Chhota Rajan was extradited from Indonesia on November 6, 2015 on charges of murder and kidnapping. 16. Bannaje Raja was extradited from Morocco on August 14, 2015 on charges of murder. 17. Jagtar Singh Tara was extradited from Thailand on January 16, 2015 on charges of murder. The nine point agenda presented is below. The Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, says that the member countries will explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, "including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems". The declaration, sources said, reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. The nine-point agenda for economic offenders calls for strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace of fugitive economic offenders. It seeks cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime, early return of the offenders and says efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. The other points are: "Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders." "Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to 'International Cooperation' should be fully and effectively implemented." "FATF (Financial Action Task Force) should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs." "FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders." "FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law." "Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance, etc." "G-20 Forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have a tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery." --IANS rak/ps/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Financially troubled Jet Airways seems to be headed towards more turbulence as around 260 of its pilots have applied to join SpiceJet, even as investors like public sector banks struggle to stitch a rescue plan for the airline. The development took place on Wednesday when pilots of the beleaguered airline applied for jobs in SpiceJet's open interview sessions held here on Wednesday. "Out of the 260 pilots, 150 are senior commanders. The commonality of Boeing jets between the two airlines is the main draw for pilots to apply in SpiceJet," a source told IANS in Mumbai. Jet currently has 1,900 pilots on its rolls. This are now being looked by all other domestic airlines, especially those who are looking at international expansion. Vistara has been permitted to fly abroad while SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir all have bullish overseas plans. IANS had earlier reported that other airlines tried to poach the airlines commanders and co-pilots, luring them with lucrative offers with a stable monthly pay. The apparent jostle of pilots to get out of Jet Airways comes as the airline's lessors offered 50 of its Boeing aircraft to SpiceJet. According to industry insiders, at least 50 aircraft are on offer under dry lease terms from Jet's lessors. These lessors have been able to get their aircraft grounded as dues were not paid to them, said a source. The development has been received optimistically by SpiceJet which had to ground 12 of its 737 Max 8 aircraft due to government's safety restrictions. The cash-strapped Jet is regularly grounding its aircraft as it is unable to pay the dues to its lessors. So far it has been forced to ground over 40 aircraft following its inability to clear the dues. On Tuesday afternoon, aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Jet Airways has only 41 aircraft in its fleet for operations and that there may be further attrition in the fleet size and flights ahead. These developments come as key government officials including those from public sector banks met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on the future of the financially troubled Jet Airways against the backdrop of speculations that an Indian suitor is being searched to save the beleaguered carrier. The speculation has been building up ever since the airline's partner Etihad apparently refused to inject any further funds into the financially bleeding airline, leaving only the public sector banks and the NIIF as the only viable creditors to the company. Industry observers have pointed out that Air India, Tata Group or SpiceJet's Ajay Singh might be some of the contenders in the race. However, Air India could not be entrusted with such a responsibility due to its own financial difficulties or even the Tata Group which is already invested in two airline ventures -- Vistara and AirAsia India -- leaving Singh, who has been credited with the turnaround of SpiceJet from a brink of collapse. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office marked its direct involvement as its Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra, along with State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar and Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola met Jaitley to work out a revival resolution through state bankers for the near-grounded airline. The pilots union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if a complete clarity on the resolution plan is not brought to their notice by March 31. --IANS rv/sn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for threatening to send Australians "back in a coffin" following the Christchurch attacks. Scott Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Erdogan's comments were "very offensive." He said that he would summon the Turkish ambassador to Australia to demand an explanation, Xinhua reported. "I find it a very offensive comment and I will be calling in the Turkish ambassador to meet with me and discuss these issues," Morrison told the ABC. On March 15, Brenton Tarrant, 28, of Australia, a self-described white supremacist, live-streamed the attack on Facebook as he killed 50 and injured 50 more in what is New Zealand's worst attack. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday accused the BJP of systematically attacking every democratic institution in the country and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not take people for fools. Speaking to reporters before beginning the third day of her campaign along the river Ganga on Wednesday, she said, "BJP has systematically attacked every democratic institution in the country in the last five years. You all know it better than I do. "So I think the Prime Minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics." On Wednesday, Priyanka, who is also Congress' in-charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi. Starting her day with an interaction with party workers at the Chunar Fort, she paid tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri at the Shastri Chowk and Shastri Memorial, the house of the former Prime Minister in his ancestral village Ramnagar. Congress workers followed her around raising slogans like "Gali gali me shor hai, chowkidar' chor hai" and "Dahan karne Modi ki Lanka, aa gai behen Priyanka". Locals seemed motivated by the Congress leader's arrival in their midst, with many pointing out her resemblance to her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sanjay Kumar said, "Her arrival augurs a change. People are looking for a new ideology. Now people want to get away from the of temple and mosque." "We have felt helpless in the last five years, we feel cheated by the government," he added. Shahnawaz, another local told IANS, "The BJP has not lived up to our expecations. We see a hope in Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress." Priyanka took the boat ride from the Ramnagar Ghat to Assi Ghat, where she will interact with the locals -- mainly fishermen, people of the Jain community and women. Later in the day, the Congress leader will offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple on the Dashashwamedh Ghat. This will be Priyanka's fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj on Monday. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal on the second day of her campaign. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. The Congress leader will also meet her party workers in Varanasi and visit the homes of three Central Reserve Force Police (CRPF) troopers who died in the February 14 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. She will meet the family members of Avadhesh Yadav in Chandauli district. On her way back to Varanasi, she will meet the families of Vishal Pandey and Ramesh Yadav. (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in) --IANS aks/rtp/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, March 21 (IANS/AKI) Italy's populist Premier Giuseppe Conte will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping here on Saturday during the latter's visit to Italy aimed at boosting economic and political ties, it was announced on Wednesday. A ceremony to mark the signing of a series of accords will be attended by Italian ministers and their Chinese counterparts after a handshake in front of the cameras by Conte and Xi, Conte's office said in a statement. According to diplomatic protocol, there will be no joint press declarations after the ceremony, the statement noted. Xi is on a trip to Italy, Monte Carlo and France from Thursday till Tuesday with delegation containing over 500 people, while a further 300 Chinese representatives will take part in a joint business, culture and overseas investment forum in Rome during his visit. In an article published in leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera on the eve of his visit to Italy - the eurozone's third largest economy - Xi said China was ready to strengthen its "global strategic partnership" with Italy and enter "a new era" of bilateral relations. Climate change, including cooperation within multilateral organisations, notably the United Nations, the G20, the ASEM and the WTO were areas where China and Italy were eyeing closer cooperation, Xi said. Ports, shipping, telecoms and pharmaceuticals were areas where Italy and China could develop cooperation projects, also in third countries, he said. Italy's government plans to sign a preliminary accord on China's new Silk Road - the Belt and Road initiative, a multi-billion-dollar plan that includes rail, road and port projects during Xi's visit to Rome, Conte said last week. The BRI accord will lift Italy's exports while safeguarding its strategic assets, Conte claimed. Although the government says the accord carries no binding obligations and does not signal wider cooperation between Beijing and Rome, it has alarmed the US and European Union partners, who are wary of China's ambitions. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid the ongoing impasse over sharing of seats for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, the Congress on Wednesday decided to leave five seats for the Left Front, but said it would field candidates in the two seats won by the Left parties in the last general elections in 2014. The Congress has already announced candidates for 11 constituencies in West Bengal, including Murshidabad and Raiganj, the seats held by Left Front major CPI-M. "As a goodwill gesture towards the Left Front, we have decided not to field our candidates in five Lok Sabha seats -- Diamond Harbour, Tamluk, Asansol, Arambag and Bishnupur," veteran Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya told reporters here. "We expect that the Left Front will acknowledge our gesture and refrain from fielding candidates in the four seats won by the Congress the last time. We are waiting for the message from their end," he said. Following the understanding between the Opposition's Grand Alliance, the Left Front has so far named candidates for 38 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, leaving four seats that the Congress won in 2014. Left Front Chairman Biman Bose on Tuesday urged the Congress to respond to their "goodwill gesture" by Wednesday afternoon and said they would have to "act otherwise" if the Congress fails to respond. "We will not ask them to take a decision by tomorrow afternoon. Congress never resorts to such strange behaviour. But we will expect the Left leaders to take a call as soon as possible. If they do not inform us about their decision, Congress will decide upon the future course of action following discussions among its leaders," Bhattacharya said. Asked whether the Congress would reconsider the Left's appeal to not field candidates in the two seats held by them, Bhattacharya said there is no scope for rethinking as the names of the Congress candidates from both the seats have already been announced. "Our candidates for 11 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal have already been decided upon by the central committee. So there is no scope of rethinking," he said. Talking about the impasse in the seat adjustment talks, the Congress leader claimed there was no hindrance from their end and that the party wanted a "complete alliance" with the Left. "We have discussed the matter with our central leadership in Delhi. There was no hindrance from our end regarding seat adjustment. We wanted a complete alliance, not seat adjustment," he said. He said the Congress always wanted to hold joint rallies and campaigns with the Left in the run up to the elections, but the latter clearly stated that they do not want any alliance with the Congress. --IANS mgr/rtp/arm/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and the National Conference (NC) on Wednesday announced a pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir but said there will be "s friendly contest" in Anantnag and Baramulla. The announcement was made by senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC President Farooq Abdullah. Azad accompanied by Ambika Soni and state Congress party President G.A. Mir reached the residence of Abdullah in Jammu. Making the announcement jointly, Azad and Abdullah said that a clear understanding had been reached on three of the six Lok Sabha seats in the state while the two parties will engage in "a friendly contest" in Anantnag and Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley. "Abdullah will contest with Congress support in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat while the NC will not field candidates for Jammu and Udhampur seats in support of the Congress," Azad said. "So a clear understanding has been reached on these three seats," he said. Discussions were still on for the sixth seat, Ladakh. The pre-poll alliance talks had hit a deadlock as both the NC and the Congress were not ready to give up their claim over Anantnag. The NC has decided to field Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi at Anantnag while the Congress wanted to put up G.A. Mir. But now, the Congress will field "weak candidates" in both Anantnag and Baramulla to improve the victory chances for NC candidates. NC has fielded senior party leader Muhammad Akbar Lone for the north Kashmir's Baramulla seat. In the last Lok Sabha, the BJP had three and the NC and PDP one seat each while by-polls in Anantnag could not be held after it was vacated by Mehbooba Mufti in 2016 following the death of her father, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. --IANS sq/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Regional National Conference (NC) and the Congress on Wednesday decided to forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in J&K. Interestingly, as per the terms of alliance announced by the NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, the two parties will engage in a "friendly contest" in three of the state's six Lok Sabha seats. The Congress will not field any candidate against Dr. Abdullah, who will seek re-election from theSrinagar constituency. In return, the NC will not field any candidates in the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats in the Jammu division against the Congress. In the remaining three seats of Anantnag, Baramulla and Ladakh, it is going to be an electoral fight between the NC and the Congress although the leaders of the two parties have called it a "friendly contest". There is little doubt that the voter turnout in the three Lok Sabha seats of Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla is going to be low. The last by-poll was won by Dr. Abdullah from Srinagar in 2017 with just a seven per cent voter turnout. The seat had fallen vacant after Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from both the Lok Sabha and the PDP. Karra had won the seat for the PDP in 2014. What if the NC and the Congress voters in Anantnag and Baramulla cast their votes according to party loyalties and thereby pass on the advantage to rivals belonging to other parties like the PDP, the Peoples Conference (PC) headed by Sajad Gani Lone and the J&K People's movement (JKPM) headed by former IAS officer Shah Faesal? The NC has decided to field Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi from Anantnag. The Congress wanted to field its state president, G.A. Mir. After the two parties reached an agreement on an alliance, it is now unlikely that Mir would stand from this seat because that would seriously undermine Masoodi's chances to win. The PDP is likely to field its president, Mehbooba Mufti, or its senior leader, Abdul Rehman Veeri, from Anantnag. If the NC and the Congress candidates in Anantnag divide their vote bank in such a manner that the PDP candidate polls more votes than the candidates of the NC and the Congress poll individually, would not the friendly contest become a self goal for the two alliance partners? Similarly, in Baramulla, the NC has fielded senior leader Muhammad Akbar Lone. Lone is likely to be challenged by Shah Faesal of the JKPM, Raja Aijaz Ali of the PC and Abdul Qayoom Wani of the PDP. Here again, the NC and Congress will fight a friendly match that could cloud Lone's victory prospects. The Congress candidate may poll lesser votes than Lone, but what if the Congress candidate steals Lone' s victory margin against the PC and the JKPM? Sajad Lone has strong pockets of support in Kupwara district. Shah Faesal might be a new entrant in the political arena, but given the support of the youth he has been getting, the NC cannot wish him away as a challenge to Lone in Baramulla constituency. In Baramulla, the division of votes between the NC and the Congress is likely to adversely affect the victory chances of Muhammad Akbar Lone. Another friendly contest between the NC and the Congress is going to be in the Ladakh constituency which was represented by the BJP in the outgoing Lok Sabha. The BJP has strong pockets of influence among the Buddhist voters, but once the Congress fields its own candidate, the Buddhist vote is likely to be divided. In contrast, the Muslims of Kargil district, that forms the voting segment of Ladakh constituency, are likely to field a Muslim candidate backed by the two influential Muslim institutions, Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust and the Islamia School. Once the NC fields its own candidate to engage in a friendly contest with the Congress in Ladakh, this will divide the Muslim votes, thereby posing a serious challenge to the Congress candidate in the Ladakh constituency. In a nutshell, while Dr. Farooq Abdullah is likely to get re-elected to the Lok Sabha with the Congress opting out of the contest in Srinagar, the fate of both the NC and the Congress candidates in Anantnag, Baramulla and Ladakh could become uncertain because of the so-called "friendly dangal" between the two alliance partners. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who belongs to Bhaderwah town in Doda district, is believed to wield influence in the Chenab Valley region and also at other places in Udhampur constituency. Reports suggest that Azad is unlikely to fight the Lok Sabha elections as he would be busy working at the national level for the Congress. Azad's absence from the electoral fray could cost the Congress heavily in Udhampur even though the NC would not field a candidate for this seat. The seat was represented in the Lok Sabha by the BJP's Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the PMO. The Jammu seat was represented by BJP leader, Jugal Kishore. The BJP has decided to repeat its candidates for Udhampur and Jammu seats. (Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.im) --IANS sq/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With both the Congress and the BJP stressing on the winnability of candidates as the prime factor in distribution of tickets, the parties face a strange predicament in Rajasthan. Both fielded most of their winnable candidates in the Assembly elections and are now facing a severe dearth of faces for the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is loathe to field legislators with a strong support base due to its wafer-thin majority in the state assembly. "We reached the majority figure of 101 in the 200-member Assembly after a very tough fight. We are standing on the edge and any risk can spell doom for us in the House. So the party refused to take any chances and allow its MLAs to contest the Lok Sabha elections. "But the air strikes in Balakot have changed the public sentiment. We can't take chances by fielding any Tom, Dick and Harry. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become stronger with the changed political narrative and we need to come out strong too," a Congress minister told IANS. In the changed circumstances, the Congress is planning to field Assembly Speaker C.P. Joshi from Jaipur, ignoring other Brahmin faces from the constituency, Mahesh Sharma and Archana Sharma. "Jaipur has many eligible faces, but because the seat is a Brahmin stronghold we need to zero in on a Brahmin face," the Congress leader said. Mahesh Sharma has won and lost each of the last two Lok Sabha elections, while Archana Sharma, a state vice president, lost the Assembly elections. So the party needs a fresh face, Congress sources said. BJP MLA Satish Punia couldn't resist a dig at the ruling party's predicament. "The Congress fielded all its winnable candidates in the Assembly elections, so a crisis of of candidates looms over the party," Punia told IANS. But, another senior BJP leader confessed that his party's situation is no different. "The BJP's strong candidates are now MLAs while the other senior leaders have lost the elections. Hence the party leadership is struggling to find fresh faces," he explained. The party is considering Union Cultural and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma for a ticket from Alwar, his home town. Sharma represented UP's Gautam Budh Nagar constituency in the outgoing Lok Sabha. His name came up after BJP's dependable Sanjay Sharma won the Assembly election from Alwar. However, a local leader said Sharma contesting from Alwar may not augur well for the party as he has not done anything in his home town. "So, how can he bring in trust among voters? There is a need for the party to think in this direction," he added. The other worrying trend for the parties are their internal rifts. From Bikaner for example, which is a reserved seat, BJP's dependable seven-term MLA Devi Singh Bhati recently resigned from the party after reports that it was yet again planning to field its MP, Arjun Meghwal for the Lok Sabha elections. Thirteen of Rajasthan's 25 constituencies will vote in the fourth phase of the seven-phased general elections on April 29, while the remaining 12 will vote in the fifth phase on May 6. (Archana Sharma can be contacted at archans.s@ians.in) --IANS arc/vm/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here on Wednesday sentenced a Czech model arrested last year on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi to eight years and eight months in jail. The trial in the case was completed on January 9, The Dawn newspaper reported. After Tereza Hluskova, 21, was arrested on January 10, 2018, she told investigators that she came to Pakistan to work as a model but someone had put eight and a half kg of narcotics into her luggage when she was about to take a flight for Abu Dhabi. Czech diplomats had provided her legal assistance. During her trial, nine witnesses recorded their statements against the accused. --IANS pg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fourteen months after he fled India, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Wednesday arrested in London on charges of defrauding on a huge loan taken from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), official sources said. Police made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. He will be produced before a court later in the day. The Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi in July 2018 at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The businessman's whereabouts were a mystery as he had been spotted in New York, Hong Kong and other cities. Along with his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group, Nirav Modi left the country before the CBI formally started investigating the PNB scam. The ED had on May 24 and 26 last year filed chargesheets against both men. Non-bailable warrants were also issued against them. The development came days after the The Telegraph newspaper in Britain claimed that Modi was spotted in London. Accused in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case, Nirav Modi was living in a three-bedroom flat, occupying half the floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, The Telegraph reported. The report also claimed Nirav Modi was involved in a new diamond business, run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his apartment. The new business was incorporated in May 2018, it said. An extradition request against him had been pending before the UK authorities since September last year. The ED on February 26 attached Rs 147 crore worth of property of Nirav Modi and his associate companies in connection with the PNB case. --IANS rak/mr/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dover Corporation, the US-based manufacturer of industrial products, is on an aggressive talent hunt in India, a senior company executive has said. With global imprints in energy, engineered systems, fluids, refrigeration and food equipment, the $7 billion revenue company is aiming for a big expansion in the Indian market. "We plan to organise career fairs and look for collaborations with Indian universities to hire talent," said Girish Juneja, Chief Digital Officer, Dover Corporation. The company, which employs over 24,000 people globally, has nearly 2,500 employees at its offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Baroda and Noida in India. "India is doing great on being digital. The country is a great source of talent and we want to be more visible in India. With 43 companies operating globally, we are now looking forward to hire more people from Indian universities," Juneja told IANS during a telephonic interaction from Bengaluru. Dover is into acquiring companies and they run independently under three segments: Engineering systems, Fluids, Refrigeration and Food Equipment The company has some key clients in India like Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), among others. Juneja said that Dover is also planning to create new revenue streams from the Indian market. "There is a lot changing in the world of technology. Humans are now supplemented at work by robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Digitalisation is impacting all businesses as well as the civil society," he added. The company, which has manufacturing facilities in the US, Brazil, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, China and Brazil, launched a manufacturing facility in Navi Mumbai two years back. The plant follows latest global manufacturing practices and produces dispensers which come with advanced fraud-resistant features. --IANS arc/na/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A dreaded woman Maoist leader accused in the murder of Madhya Pradesh minister Likhiram Kawre in 1999 has been gunned down in Chhattisgarh, police said. Jamuna, 45, carried a reward of Rs 18.50 lakh. She was killed at Bhave in Chhattisgarh in an encounter with the security forces, a police statement said on Wednesday. Kawre, then Madhya Pradesh Transport Minister, was killed by the Maoists on December 16, 1999. --IANS hindi-pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the Instagram era you have to be photo-ready, is what Nina Garcia, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Magazine said about her meeting with Enrique Lores, HP's president imaging and printing. Someone wanted her to pose for a photograph with Lores and she had hesitated because she felt she wasn't camera ready. At HP Reinvent 2019, the company's biggest global partner event, Garcia and Lores gave details of a collaboration between them with the latter trying to find an ally for HP in print. For Garcia too, who at that time had just taken over as head of the fashion magazine, there was good reason for the collaboration. "We met looking for ways to shape things up," she said. In short, it meant HP could help Elle in having customised content for its readers by pulling data from its customer list. This was when they decided to have cover posters for readers but did not know whose poster customers would like to collect. "So right there we started being strategic," Garcia said about how the subject was chosen. The cover had to be of someone who had a fan base and a social media presence. That was how Kim Kardashian featured on the cover, which was signed by her. "This was a personalised cover from Kim. Then it was Jennifer Aniston. They were unique," she said. Lores asked her whether there could one day be a fully personalised magazine for an individual -- taking cues on content to be provided by sifting data. "That is a dream. We have incredible data from our digital site. That would be a logistical feat but this is possible," she said. Lores gifted her a blue scarf that had been produced on an HP Stitch machine. He explained later that it helped to overcome the problem of ink colour matching and provided consistency. --IANS am/in/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Union's antitrust regulators on Wednesday fined Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for abusing its dominance in the online search market by blocking rivals. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites which prevented Google's rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites, the European Commission (EC) said in a statement. "Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euros for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts," EC Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. It is the third EU fine for Google in just two years. "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules," Vestager said. The Commission said the fine which is equivalent to 1.29 per cent of Google's turnover in 2018 takes account of the duration and gravity of the infringement. "The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of competition," Vestager said. Websites such as newspaper websites, blogs or travel sites aggregators often have a search function embedded. When a user searches using this search function, the website delivers both search results and search adverts, which appear alongside the search result. Through AdSense for Search, Google provides these search adverts to owners of "publisher" websites. Google is an intermediary, like an advertising broker, between advertisers and website owners that want to profit from the space around their search results pages. Therefore, AdSense for Search works as an online search advertising intermediation platform. Google was by far the strongest player in online search advertising intermediation in the European Economic Area (EEA), with a market share above 70 per cent from 2006 to 2016. Google's provision of online search advertising intermediation services to the most commercially important publishers took place via agreements that were individually negotiated. The Commission reviewed hundreds of such agreements in the course of its investigation and found that starting in 2006, Google included exclusivity clauses in its contracts. This meant that publishers were prohibited from placing any search adverts from competitors on their search results pages, the European Commission said. --IANS gb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The uncertainty hanging over the future of the Rs 6,000 crore fireworks industry is expected to burst as a major campaign plank for the opposition parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the Virudhunagar constituency of Tamil Nadu. "There are about eight lakh workers who are employed in this industry. Their income was affected owing to the closure of the firecracker units for two months after 2018 Diwali. "The units started functioning only late February," P.Balasubramanian, a CPM party official in Sivakasi told IANS. The Indian firecracker industry is mainly concentrated in Sivakasi with 90 per cent of the country's firecracker manufacturing happening here. According to Balasubramanian, there is simmering anger in the hearts of people about the loss of earning and the surrounding uncertainty of their future employment. Bulk of the firecrackers manufactured in the country may be burst during the Diwali season. But the firecracker manufacturing is not a single day process, it is a year long process. The Supreme Court hearing the case on banning the firecrackers had laid down conditions for bursting during Diwali 2018. The court also banned use of Barium salts in the production of fireworks, manufacture and sale of stringed crackers and e-commerce sites from selling the firecrackers. The firecracker manufacturers were also upset at the attitude of the central government towards their industry. "The automobile industry was given sufficient lead time to reduce the vehicle emissions. But in the case of firecracker units no such buffer time was given," a manufacturer not wanting to be quoted told IANS. Queried whether the issue will echo in the Lok Sabha elections, he said: "I am not sure as the units are functioning now. Further the Supreme Court bench that is hearing case now said it cannot kill jobs of poor workers in the firecracker units." In February this year the mood of the industry players was such that they wanted to boycott the Lok Sabha polls. However, political parties are sure to rake up the issue as the firecracker units are spread across the Virdhunagar constituency and the number of workers employed in the industry is huge. Further the future of other industries dependent on the firecracker sector and the people employed there are also at stake and political parties will surely take up the issue with the people, said Balasubramanian. According to him, the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha seat has been allotted to DMDK by the ruling AIADMK, while the DMK has given the seat to Congress. The BJP heading the central government is an alliance partner of AIADMK. --IANS vj/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) to attend important welfare meetings, staying a varsity's notification till July 17. The court was hearing a plea filed by JNUSU President N. Sai Balaji and other office-bearers challenging the varsity's decision restraining them from participating in the statutory meetings. "The matter be now listed on July 17. Till then, the minutes dated February 15, related to the issue of circular to all deans of schools/chairperson of centres/special centres restraining the students to attend meetings of various bodies at school/centre level shall be kept in abeyance as no prejudice shall be caused in attending such welfare meetings by students' union," Justice Yogesh Khanna said. Balaji, in his plea said that the university had barred them from performing their duties for not providing separate bills of their individual poll expenses. He also said that individual bills were never asked for prior to the 2018 elections and under the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, only an audited statement of accounts was required and not individual bills. The university said that an advance notice had been sent to the office bearers to submit their audited accounts within two weeks from the date of declaration of the results and the dean would not notify the final results if those were not submitted. The petitioners won the elections conducted on September 14, 2018. They have sought the court's direction to declare them as elected office-bearers of the university. The court has listed the matter to the Grievance Redressal Cell and sought a report within two months. --IANS akk/rtp/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday wished the Hindu community in Pakistan "a very happy and peaceful Holi". Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also took to Twitter to wish "happy Holi" to the Hindu community. PML-N President and Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif also greeted the community "on the festive occasion of Holi", media reports said. In his message, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi prayed for "peace, joy and prosperity" in the community. --IANS mr/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India is a very attractive market with high brand recognition for a computer hardware producer like HP, said HP Inc's President for Asia Pacific and Japan, Tian Chong Ng. The Asia Pacific region -- in which India is a key focus area -- has been the fastest growing for HP and provided 16 per cent revenue growth last year. In Q1 of FY2019 it registered 8 per cent growth year-on-year, said Ng in the course of the HP Reinvent 2019 conference, the company's largest global partner event. One reason for that is -- India - and also the Asia Pacific region -- tick marks on demographics trends which provide clear wins for HP: rapid urbanisation and more millennials are joining the work force. While HP is very positive on India and recognises its potential, there are no plans yet for setting up a manufacturing base in India. Ng said it already has a manufacturing base in China apart from others in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan. "There is an existing ecosystem in China and we don't have plans for setting up a manufacturing base in India, he said. One focus area is the 3D printer, which offers HP great opportunity. Construction and automotive sectors are the focus areas here. Meanwhile, an MoU has been signed with the Andhra Pradesh government. "To be successful in India demands that we understand it," he said. HP is also pushing gaming in a big way. However, this has not led to any thinking for manufacturing mobile phones in India, despite the high number of gamers in the country spurred by affordable android phones and cheap data. "Our strength is the PC business and we offer a whole family of products in that space," Ng said. --IANS am/in/vd (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, March 19 (IANS/AKI) Italian authorities have expelled a radicalised former imam on security grounds, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The 36-year-old Moroccan citizen was deported aboard a direct flight to Casablanca from Milan's Malpensa airport, the statement said. The Moroccan, who held a regular Italian residence permit, was in 2017 appointed imam of Vercelli in northwest Italy, where he preached firebrand sermons and fiercely criticised Muslims who kept company with Italians, sometimes coming to blows with them, according to the statement. The man came to the attention of Italian security services in 2012 after his radicalisation became apparent when he suddenly changed his lifestyle, adopted a rigourous interpretation of the Koran and started behaving aggressively towards other Muslims at Novara's cultural centre, where he was imam for a few months, the statement noted. The former imam's expulsion brings to 21 the number of people deported from Italy this year on national security grounds, according to the statement. A total 384 suspected extremists have been expelled since 2015, the statement added. The number of expulsions has continued to climb with 126 last year, 105 in 2017, and 66 per year in 2016 and in 2015, said the statement. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao eyeing a key role in national in the post-poll scenario, his son K. T. Rama Rao appears set to take over the mantle. Buoyed by the massive victory in the recent Assembly elections and confident of a clean sweep in the next month's Lok Sabha polls in the state, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) hopes to play a pivotal role in formation of next government at the Centre. Ever since he floated the idea of Federal Front as an alternative to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress a year ago, KCR never tried to hide his prime ministerial ambitions, saying he will not shy away from discharging his responsibility. TRS leaders expect the regional parties will win 100-120 seats and as the leader of this new formation, KCR, shift to the national capital to play his role. Going by the way he groomed his son K. T. Rama Rao over the last five years, it left nobody in doubt that KCR will hand over the mantle to him. After the TRS retained power with the landslide victory, KCR made Rama Rao the Working President of party so that he can focus on the national There have been other indications as well. KCR, who took over the as the Chief Minister for a second term on December 13, 2018, has not inducted KTR into his cabinet. He has also not allocated key portfolios, including finance, industry, information technology and urban development. Political analysts say this could be aimed at giving free hand to KTR in pick his team as and when he takes over. KTR, however, on many occasions has dismissed the talk of his taking over as the Chief Minister. He always remarked that KCR is fit enough to serve the state for another three terms. Ever since TRS formed first government in India's youngest state in 2014, KTR had emerged as the number two both in the government and the party and came to be seen as KCR's heir-apparent. Suave, soft-spoken and dynamic, KTR hogged the limelight at most of the events as KCR virtually shunned public appearances, focussing on post-bifurcation, governance and party related issues. As minister for information technology, industry and urban development, the US educated leader with IT background developed good rapport with the IT honchos and industrialists and played a key role in attracting the global investments to the state. Effectively using the social media platforms, KTR connected well with the people, especially the young. A good orator in Telugu, English, Urdu and Hindi, he has inherited many capabilities of his father. KTR also emerged stronger by leading the party to a massive victory in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in 2016. He also led the party's campaign in and around the state capital in the Assembly elections held in December and helped the party win a majority in the Assembly. KTR gave TRS a headstart in the campaigning for Lok Sabha by urging people to elect all 16 candidates of TRS, leaving Hyderabad seat for the party's ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). He is also said to be playing a key role in wooing MLAs from main opposition Congress party. The Congress party has targeted him for allegedly engineering defections. As many as nine Congress MLAs have defected to TRS this month, dealing a huge blow to the party ahead of April 11 elections. KCR's daughter K. Kavitha is also a leader in TRS but she has had a limited role in the party. She was elected from Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Though the party is yet to announce the list of candidates, Kavitha is among five sitting MPs who were asked by KCR to start campaigning in their respective constituencies. TRS leaders say it is obvious that KTR, the only son KCR, will take over as and when the latter moves to Delhi. (Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in) --IANS ms/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, whose visit to the Vindhyavasini Devi Temple near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh was marred by pro-Modi slogans raised by BJP supporters, believes in spiritual self-discovery and has practised meditation. Gandhi, on a boat ride on the Ganga from Pryagraj to Varanasi, has been visiting well-known temples and has assailed the Modi government in her interactions with people. But she has largely steered away from in her tweets. Gandhi had taken a Vipasana meditation course and has been practising meditation. She has also pursued a Masters degree in Buddhist studies. "I was so troubled by the fact that I didn't know my mind, so I just disappeared and went for 10 days of meditation," she had said in an interview years ago. According to dhamma.org, 'Vipassana' means to see things as they really are and is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Buddha more than 2,500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for all ills. Gandhi's boat journey is marked by religious and political symbolism to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party's Hindutva thrust ahead of Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi sprang a surprise when she decided to undertake a journey in boat from Prayagraj to Varanasi to shore up the Congress prospects in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh where the party is fighting most of 80 seats on its own. The choice of the the two destinations is significant both politically and religiously. Both the cities, located along the Ganga, are regarded sacred by Hindus. Gandhi began her Ganga Yatra on Monday on a specially-prepared boat from the Sangam in Prayagraj after offering prayers. She went to have 'darshan' of Akshaywat and worshipped at the Bade Hanuman temple. On Tuesday, she visited Vindhyavasini Devi Temple, eight kilometres from Mirzapur. That is when hundreds of BJP workers started shouting slogans hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. --IANS ps/prs/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the third-day of her campaign along the river Ganga on Wednesday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will visit former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's memorial in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi. Speaking to reporters before beginning her day, she said, "BJP has systematically attacked every institution in the country in the last five years. You all know it better than I do. So I think the Prime Minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics." According to party workers, Priyanka, who is also Congress in-charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, will interact with her party workers at a guest house in Chunar before leaving for Shastri Memorial by road in Ramnagar. She will then arrive at Ramnagar ghat to take the boat ride to Assi Ghat, where she will interact with the fishermen, the Jain community as well as women. The Congress leader will then reach Dashashwamedh Ghat by motor boat and go to the Vishwanath Temple to offer her prayers. This will be Priyanka's fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj on Monday. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi on day two of her campaign and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal thereafter. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. The Congress leader will then meet her party workers in Varanasi and leave to visit the homes of three Central Reserve Force Police (CRPF) troopers, who died on February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. She will meet the family members of Avadhesh Yadav in Chandauli district. On her way back to Varanasi, she will meet the families of Vishal Pandey and Ramesh Yadav. The Congress leader will then return to the Varanasi airport to leave for Delhi. --IANS aks/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Life across the Kashmir Valley was adversely affected on Wednesday following a shutdown called by separatists to protest against the death of a youth in police custody on Monday. Rizwan Asad Pandit, 28, died in police custody in Srinagar, three days after he was arrested from south Kashmir's Awantipora town. The custodial death of the youth, who worked as a teacher in a private school, has been condemned across the political and social divide in Kashmir. Authorities have ordered a magisterial inquiry into it under Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc). A departmental inquiry has also been ordered by police to ascertain the circumstances that led to the youth's death. Shops, public transport, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar city and other district headquarters of the Valley. Though skeletal private transport moved in the uptown area of Srinagar city, inter-district transport remained closed. Authorities have made sufficient deployments of police and paramilitary forces to maintain law and order in the Valley. Mobile and internet facilities have been suspended in south Kashmir districts, while its speed has been slashed down in other parts of the Valley as a precautionary measure. --IANS sq/rtp (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has demanded the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reconsider its decision to categorise IDBI Bank as a private entity. In a letter to the RBI on Wednesday, AIBEA's General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam conveyed the union's opposition to RBI's decision. "IDBI and IDBI Bank have been created to be Banks under public sector. Due to huge bad loans to the corporates, the Bank has been facing problem of recovery and consequently its financial performance," Venkatachalam said. According to him, it is ironical that RBI instead of taking action against the private sector corporate borrowers it seeks to protect the bank from Right to Information Act (RTI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and others by recategorising IDBI bank. "Even though Government's stake has come below 51 per cent, LIC, which is the main share-holder is also a 100 per cent Government's corporation and hence, the re-categorisation is unwarranted and motivated against public interest," the letter notes. The RBI recently classified IDBI Bank as private sector bank. --IANS vj/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After works of art, auction house Sotheby's will sell rare objects of historical importance, including the skeleton of a giant woolly mammoth, a species from the Paleolithic period that went extinct around 12,000 BC. The monumental skeleton can go for upwards of Rs 2.2 crore in the fifth instalment of the sale titled 'Curiosity V' on April 2, which will allow collectors to acquire objects spanning millions of years, and across civilisations and continents. Objects from Ice Age Siberia, Bronze Age China, Ancient Egypt and Medieval Europe are also expected to go under the hammer in an upcoming auction. The monumental skeleton is a well-preserved example of the woolly mammoth, the terrestrial mammal that encapsulates our vision of the Ice Age, Sotheby's said. Exceptionally preserved in its entirety, it harks back to these species that existed with the Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic period and as the Homo sapiens during the Upper Paleolithic Period. The 'Mammuthus Primigenius' was hunted by the prehistoric man, and hence developed long, curved tusks used for self-defence and for digging and scraping beneath the snow for food. It is expected to be sold for $319,000-447,000 (Rs 2.2-3.1 crore). The other highlights of the auction include a Neolithic period jade cong from the Liangzhu culture, a monumental stucco Buddha head dating back to the Liao dynasty in the 10th-12th century, and a section of carved stonework from the south window of Canterbury Cathedral -- one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Europe. --IANS sj/rtp/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) High-level officials from the government, the public sector banks and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Wednesday to discuss the future of financially-troubled Jet Airways in the backdrop of speculations that an Indian suitor is being searched to save the beleaguered carrier. Speculations have been building up ever since the airline's partner Etihad apparently refused to inject any more funds into Jet Airways, leaving just the public sector banks and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) as the only viable creditors for the airline. In fact, the Gulf carrier has expressed its wish to walk out of the venture and is said to be looking for buyers from among financial institutions. According to industry observers, a third alternative of roping in a major Indian player is also being looked at. However, the prospective names are just in the realm of speculation at present. Sources said Air India, Tata Group or SpiceJet's Ajay Singh might be among the contenders. However, Air India could not be entrusted with such a responsibility due to its own financial difficulties or even the Tata Group, which has already invested in two airline ventures -- Vistara and AirAsia India -- leaving only Singh, who has been credited with the turnaround of SpiceJet from a brink of collapse. The markets took notice of the buzz around Singh with shares of SpiceJet surging intra-day over 20 per cent to settle 16.38 per cent up at Rs 91.65 apeice on the BSE on Wednesday. Singh has served on board of the Delhi Transport Corporation in 1996. Two-years later, he joined Pramod Mahajan, then I&B minister, as an officer on special duty (OSD). He has also been credited with coining the BJP's 2014 campaign slogan, "Abki baar Modi sarkar". Speculations sprouted after the PMO on Wednesday marked its direct involvement in the matter as Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra, along with SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar and Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, met the Finance Minister to work out a revival plan through state-owned banks for the near-grounded airline. Mishra's participation in the discussion to revive an airline could be seen in the context of general elections when the government would not want job losses, airfare hikes and loss to lenders who are striving to recover non-performing assets. Meanwhile, according to a source in a bank, which too has lent to the airline, the revival plan for Jet Airways through a change in management is imminent, but details are still being worked out. The SBI Chairman nearly echoed that when asked if a new player is in the offing. "No possibility is ruled out," Kumar said. Kumar also discarded the efforts to put the airline under insolvency, saying for the service industry, resolutions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is near impossible, making it clear that Jet is not heading towards the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) anytime soon as lenders fear doing so would make it impossible to recover dues. Jet has a debt of Rs 9,000 crore to the banks. "Airline is a service industry and the IBC is the last option here as under the IBC, resolution for an airline is nearly impossible. Going to the IBC will mean grounding the airline. We have not reached the point where we can give up. The IBC is the last option in the recovery process," Kumar said. The SBI, lead lender of a consortium that extended loans to Jet, almost hinted that but for few issues the package to rescue the airline is ready. "Extensive work has been done by the lenders in the last five months. There are few issues. We will sort them out soon," Kumar said hinting at an early resolution. The SBI Chairman said all efforts should be made to keep Jet afloat. The sector needed competition as air fares have shot up because of the grounding of MAX and Jet Airways planes, he added. The lead banker also refuted any charge of being directed by the Finance Ministry to bailout Jet Airways. "No direction has come from the government. We are bankers and it is in our commercial interests. It is our duty to keep the government informed," Kumar said, adding the government is the most important stakeholder in the process. "All stakeholders, including the government, are of the view till the time all hopes are not lost, efforts should be made to keep the airline going," he said. On the reports that Etihad, a 24 per cent partner of Jet Airways, is seeking to exit the airline, Kumar said nothing conclusive has come from the foreign partner and dialogue with it is on. This comes amid reports that with a formal offer to the SBI, Etihad wants to sell the lender its Jet stake and take over its liabilities in the form of a guarantee. On an immediate basis, lenders are expected to give Rs 750 crore to Jet Airways, which would come by pledging the airline's stake in Jet Privilege with banks. Sources said the Punjab National Bank (PNB) could be the lender in question. Etihad was also to infuse Rs 1,600-1,900 crore for a stake of 24.9 per cent, just below the 25 per cent threshold to avoid an open offer. Lenders are expected to infuse Rs 1,000 crore and take 29.5 per cent stake, according to banking sources. There are reports of Naresh Goyal, founder-promoter of Jet, being in talks with Qatar Airways for a possible investment with Goyal as the minority investor, a pre-condition put forward by Etihad. The pilots' union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if clarity on the resolution plan is not brought to their notice by March 31. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), only 41 Jet Airways aircraft are available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in the coming weeks". --IANS rv-ana/sn/arm/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, whose upcoming movie "Tashkent Files" is set to release during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, says only an "idiot or a guilty person" can call the movie a propaganda and that it is about a "citizen's right to truth". The film, which raises questions about former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death, is scheduled to hit the screens on April 12, a day after the seven-phased general elections commence. Why was such a time chosen to release this film? "Do you question when films are released on Eid day or Republic Day or Diwali day? We are a small film and this is the best window we are getting when there is no other film. Because after this, there are huge films like 'Kalank' and 'Avengers: Endgame' which won't give us screens," Agnihotri told IANS over text messages. The director added that the film started rolling in 2017 after years of research. "Shastri was the PM of India and one of the most respected leaders of India. He is definitely not contesting the elections in 2019. Why should anyone feel threatened?" Political films like "Raajneeti", "Thackeray" and "The Accidental Prime Minister" have been termed as "propaganda" films. Several social media users have said a lot of propaganda films are coming up. "How can it be a propaganda film? Shastri was a Congress PM so, am I propagating Congress's agenda? Are you telling me such great leaders are owned by political parties? He led us to victory in a war with Pakistan after humiliating defeat from China in 1962," he said. Agnihotri said for him, Shastri was "India's first economic reformer and a military PM". "Only an idiot or a guilty person can call it propaganda. It's a great service to the great leader whose mysterious death was never probed in the last 53 years. The film is about a citizen's Right to Truth. Is that propaganda?" he asked. What all aspects related to Shastri will be shown in the film? "The film is strictly about the death of Shastri...," he replied. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty and Shweta Basu Prasad. Talking about the casting, Agnihotri said: "For such a sensitive subject I needed the best actors of our times. I am lucky that I could cast five National Award-winners plus six multiple award winners," he said. Agnihotri promises the film will "stand out for its stellar cast and their outstanding performances". (Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in) --IANS dc/nn/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday said the government intended to bring a bailout package for the cash-strapped Jet Airways - partly owned by foreign investors - using Indian tax payers' money. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told the media that the Modi government had asked public sector banks - State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) - to waive the debt on the airliner totalling Rs 8,500 crore by taking an equity of Rs 1. "Naresh Goyal, who is a London-based NRI, owns 51 per cent stakes while Etihad Airways has 24 per cent stake. It means the 75 per cent ownership is with an NRI and a foreign company," said Surjewala. "Why is the Modi government giving a 'bailout package' to a bankrupt corporate entity like Jet Airways owned by foreign investors, out of public money, but not to India's debt-ridden farmers?" "The PMO (Prime Minister's office) has issued two orders. It has asked the SBI and other PSU banks to waive the loan by converting it into equity of Rs 1. Also, it is going to pay Rs 150 for every share to Etihad. "Will the Modi government now save every defaulting crony capitalist out of public funds?" --IANS spk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May will not seek a long delay to the Brexit process when she asks European Union leaders for more time to secure Parliament's backing for a withdrawal deal, which has twice rejected her current proposal, a government official said on Wednesday. A Downing Street source said May shared public exasperation at the prospect of a lengthy Brexit delay, reported Efe news. "The PM won't be asking for a long extension," the source said. "There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward, but the people have been waiting for three years now. They are fed up with Parliament's failure to take a decision and the PM shares their frustration." May's previous two attempts to push her Conservative Party minority government's withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons, the lower chamber, have failed -- the first by a historic majority and the second by the fourth-largest majority in Parliament's history. Lawmakers later passed an amendment compelling May to request an extension to the negotiation, which had been due to wrap up by March 29, the official Brexit date set by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism to leave the bloc. In a thinly veiled warning to hardline Conservatives, who by and large oppose the government's Brexit plan, May warned that failure to back her deal could result in an extended delay that could ultimately see the UK take part in the European Parliamentary elections on May 22 and could also lead to no Brexit at all. May's endeavour to jam the deal through the House a third time was scuppered by Speaker John Bercow. The Speaker on Monday drew on a 400-year-old guideline preventing a government from pressing lawmakers to vote repeatedly on the same policy unless it contained substantial changes. The EU leaders have said they would only ratify the extensions if the UK government included fresh proposals. All 27 remaining EU states will vote on the proposed extension. France has said it would be willing to veto a delay only if it had an "objective and strategy." The announcement that May would only seek a brief extension, then, could raise eyebrows in Brussels. Speaking to German radio on Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he did not believe a specific date for the delay would be agreed on during a European Council summit, taking place on March 21-22. May's next moves depend on how the EU responds to her request, which she was due to submit to European Council President Donald Tusk. On March 14, Tusks said he would ask EU leaders at the summit to get behind a long Brexit extension. Anti-Brexit leaders in the UK, however, have accused May of trying to appease hardline members of her own party. "The question is how long the so-called moderates in her own party are going to allow this pandering to the hardliners," Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said on Twitter. May has struggled to please pro-Brexit back-benchers in her own ranks who favour a harder withdrawal from the bloc, as well as the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her executive. The UK electorate narrowly voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, although voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland supported staying in the European block. --IANS pg/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May is writing to the European Union (EU) to formally ask for Brexit to be postponed. One ministerial source told the BBC the longer delay could be up to two years, amid reports of a cabinet row, but No 10 said no decision had been made. EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU would not grant a delay without a "concrete plan" from the UK about what they would do with it. Under current law, the UK will leave the EU with or without a deal in 10 days. MPs rejected the withdrawal deal Mrs May has negotiated with the EU for a second time last week by 149 votes. They also voted in favour of ruling out leaving the EU without a deal, and in favour of extending the Brexit process. The Prime Minister had hoped to have another try at getting MPs to back the deal this week - but Speaker John Bercow effectively torpedoed that with his surprise intervention on Monday. She still hopes to ultimately get it in front of MPs for a third go, but says even if that happens and they vote in favour of it, the UK will need a short extension to get the necessary legislation through Parliament. A cabinet source told the BBC she therefore plans to ask the EU to agree to postpone the UK's departure until June 30, but with an option of a longer delay as well. May has warned Brexiteer Tories that longer extension will be needed if her deal does not get through Parliament. One ministerial source said there was "no agreement" around the cabinet table when a delay was discussed. Another cabinet source said they were frustrated that the Prime Minister had not been clear about which delay option she would be arguing for. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom is said to have criticised colleagues, saying they now amounted to a "Remain cabinet", not a "Brexit cabinet". Chancellor Philip Hammond said ministers all wanted the "shortest possible delay" but cabinet members "have different approaches to how we should do this". Any delay will have to be agreed by all 27 EU member states and May is heading to Brussels on Thursday to discuss the options with fellow leaders. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said they have fired and deported one of their employees for posting a comment on Facebook celebrating the terror attacks in New Zealand. Fifty people were killed and dozens injured when 28-year-old Australian national Brenton Tarrant opened fire in two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch on March 15. "A Transguard employee made inflammatory comments on his personal Facebook account celebrating the deplorable mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," the Dawn on Wednesday quoted security company Transguard as saying. "We have a zero-tolerance policy for the inappropriate use of social media, and as a result this individual was immediately terminated and turned over to the authorities to face justice," Managing Director Greg Ward said. The company said the foreign employee was deported by the UAE government. Transguard, an Emirates Group brand, did not disclose the alleged comments. The name, nationality and position of the employee were also not disclosed. --IANS mag/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has signed an agreement with Brazil to protect its technology associated with US participation in space launches in the South American country. According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the State Department, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo on Monday signed the Technology Safeguards Agreement between the two governments, Xinhua reported. The agreement is about "technology safeguards associated with US participation in space launches from Brazil," the statement read. It added that "upon entry into force, the Agreement will establish the technical safeguards to support US space launches from Brazil while ensuring the proper handling of sensitive US technology consistent with US nonproliferation policy, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and US export control laws and regulations." Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is scheduled to visit the White House and meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, during which the two leaders will discuss opportunities for defence cooperation, pro-growth trade policies, combating transnational crime, and situation in Venezuela, the White House said on March 8. Bolsonaro visited the US Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in the state of Virginia on Monday as part of his first official trip to Washington. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US government has ordered a review of the way Boeing's 737 Max aircraft got its licence to fly. It comes after two crashes in five months, amid suggestions from experts that there were "clear similarities" between the disasters, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Transport Secretary Elaine Chao has asked the US Inspector General to audit the aircraft's certification process. One focus of crash investigators has been the Max's anti-stall system, which Boeing says needs a software update. In a memo to Inspector General Calvin Scovel, Chao said she wanted the review in order to "assist the Federal Aviation Administration (the regulator) in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively". After the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft on March 10 which followed a Lion Air disaster in October, there were questions about why the FAA took so long to ground the 737 Max. According to reports, the US Justice Department has also begun preliminary inquiries into the FAA's oversight of the Boeing aircraft. Meanwhile, Europe and Canada said they would seek their own assurances over the safety of the aircraft, a move likely to complicate plans to get the aircraft flying again across the world. European and Canadian regulators have typically tended to follow the FAA's lead. The European Union's aviation safety agency EASA promised its own deep look at any design improvements. "We will not allow the aircraft to fly if we have not found acceptable answers to all our questions," EASA executive Patrick Ky told an EU parliament committee hearing. Canada, which ground the aircraft before the US, said it would independently certify the 737 Max in the future, rather than accepting FAA validation. The FAA declined to comment on individual actions by Canada and the EU, but said in a statement that "the current, historic aviation safety record in the US and globally is achieved through the FAA's robust processes and full collaboration with the aviation community". The two crashes killed 346 people. While there is no conclusive evidence so far that they are linked, French experts analysing the Ethiopian Airlines' flight data black box say early investigations point to "clear similarities". Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing's aircraft - intended to stop stalling by dipping the nose - may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it. Boeing said in a statement that it would fully cooperate with the inspector general's review. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has disclosed its plan to build an exascale supercomputer, about seven times the speed rating of the most powerful system built to date. The US Department of Energy (DOE) granted a $500 million contract to Intel and sub-contractor Cray Computing and the supercomputer, called Aurora, will be delivered to the department's Argonne National Laboratory near Chicogo in 2021, the DOE said in a statement, reported Xinhua news agency. The Aurora system's exaFLOP of performance -- equal to a "quintillio" floating point computations per second -- combined with an ability to handle traditional high performance computing with Artificial Intelligence (AI), will give researchers an unprecedented set of tools to address scientific problems at exascale, according to the statement released on Monday. "The convergence of AI and high-performance computing is an enormous opportunity to address some of the world's biggest challenges and an important catalyst for economic opportunity," said Bob Swan, Intel CEO. The IBM supercomputer is currently ranked the fastest computing system in the world, a notch occupied by China's Sunway TaihuLight and Tianhe 2A for five years. DOE said the new Aurora supercomputer will foster new scientific innovation and usher in new technological capabilities, "furthering the US' scientific leadership position globally." The new plan is seen as part of a catching-up race for the fastest supercomputer between China and the US, and China's counterparts to Aurora may come out neck and neck or even earlier than the American one. The prototype of China's new-generation exascale supercomputer Tianhe-3 has been tested for over 30 organizations in China. Its final version is expected to come out in 2020. Also, the Sunway exascale computer is expected to be up and running in the second half of 2020 or the first half of 2021. --IANS pg/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for describing the arrest of absconding PNB fraud case accused Nirav Modi in London as an achievement, asking who let him flee. "Is it an achievement? Who let them escape from the country?" she said. Speaking to reporters in Chandauli after visiting the family of Awadhesh Yadav, who was among the 40 CRPF troopers killed in February 14 suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, she said that her visit was not political. "...I had spoken to the father of the trooper some days after the attack. He had said to me that 'you people come as we want to meet you'. Thus I had come. My visit to his house is not connected to politics," she said. Asked about her three-day river ride campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh, of whose she is the in-charge for her party, Gandhi said, "It felt nice. And I feel that the organisation will be strengthened here and people will come to know that we believe in strong and new kind of " Gandhi's journey, which began in Prayagraj on Monday, ended in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Modi, on Wednesday. Asked when she is planning to kick off the second part of her Lok Sabha campaign, she said it will be "soon after Holi". Before going to Chandauli, Gandhi offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi for over half an hour. It was her fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal on the second day of her campaign. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. She had arrived at the Vishwanath temple after deboarding from the motorboat at Dashavamedh ghat in Varanasi. Reaching Ramnagar village, the ancestral village of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, in Varanasi via road from Chunar in Mirzapur, where she had made a night halt on Tuesday, Gandhi then went by boat to Assi ghat where she held discussions with the fishermen community. She also paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Shastri Chowk and visited his residence. A minor scuffle broke out between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party workers after the latter raised pro-Modi slogans. Gandhi later condemned the violence. "When I was coming to Varanasi, few people raised slogans for the BJP... then people slapped them. We don't believe in such kind of The Congress workers had been beaten by the Britishers. We took all the pain and didn't raise our hand (in return) but only tried to bring the truth," she said. She also accused Modi of not fulfilling any of the eight promises made to the people of the city, citing the BJP's manifesto for Varanasi in 2014. "This of advertisements is easy and it can be done by anyone," she said. Gandhi, before leaving Chunar in the morning, had also accused the BJP of systematically attacking every democratic institution in the country and advised the Prime Minister to "stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics". She also said that she was not afraid. "Even if anything is done, and we are harassed, we will not feel afraid. We will continue our fight against them. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be our fight," she said. Gandhi, who was followed by Congress workers raising slogans like "Gali gali me shor hai, chowkidar chor hai" and "Dahan karne Modi ki Lanka, aa gai behen Priyanka", also seem to have struck a chord with locals, many of whom who pointed out her resemblance to her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sanjay Kumar said, "Her arrival augurs a change. People are looking for a new ideology. Now people want to get away from the politics of temple and mosque." "We have felt helpless in the last five years, we feel cheated by the government," he added. Shahnawaz told IANS, "The BJP has not lived up to our expectations. We see a hope in Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress." (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in) --IANS aks/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a strong international governance framework on developing global standards for governance and oversight of human genome editing. After a two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO's new advisory committee on human genome editing on Tuesday reviewed the current state of science and technology in this field, and agreed on core principles of transparency, inclusivity and responsibility. It's irresponsible at this time for anyone to proceed with clinical applications of human germline genome editing, according to the committee, reported Xinhua news agency. It also urged a central registry on human genome editing research in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work, and had asked the WHO to immediately begin working to establish such a registry. "Gene editing holds incredible promise for health, but it also poses some risks, both ethically and medically," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that the WHO is "bringing together some of the world's leading experts to provide guidance on this complex issue." Meanwhile, the WHO committee had invited all those conducting human genome editing research to open discussions with the committee in order to better understand the technical environment and current governance arrangements, and help ensure that their work meets current scientific and ethical best practice. "The committee will develop essential tools and guidance for all those working on this new technology to ensure maximum benefit and minimal risk to human health," said WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan. For the next two years, the WHO committee is expected to hold a series of in-person meetings and online consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, with an aim to provide recommendations for a comprehensive governance framework on human genome editing. Such a framework should be scalable, sustainable and appropriate for use at the international, regional, national and local levels, the WHO said. --IANS pg/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Wednesday questioned the Modi government's proposal to bail out Jet Airways which has registered over Rs 7,000 crore losses, and demanded to know if every private firm will be bailed out at the cost of the public exchequer. "Reports in public domain now reflect that PM Modi wants to give a 'bailout package' to Jet Airways which has a loss of Rs 7,355 crore and which owes Rs 8,500 crore to banks," Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said. "India's leading public sector bank, SBI, and other banks including Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank and Allahabad Bank are now being used by Prime Minister Modi for this purpose," he added. London-based NRI businessman Naresh Goyal owns 51 per cent of Jet Airways while 24 per cent shares are owned by Etihad Airways. The company defaulted on its loans in December 2018. An investigation into financial irregularities and siphoning of funds is currently underway. "By directing the SBI and other PSU Banks to convert Rs 8,500 crore debt for equity shares of Jet Airways valued at Re 1, State Bank of India (SBI) and other banks will thus become owner of 50 per cent of a bankrupt private airline," Surjewala said, adding that this was being done without any independent financial valuation of Jet Airways or any due diligence. "A foreign company, Etihad Airways, will be given a bail out package by offloading of its 24 per cent shareholding to National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) for Rs 150/share without any valuation or due diligence. "The private players will walk away happily, while the government of India and PSU banks will be now running a bankrupt private airline. On one hand, Modi government is seeking to privatize Air India and on the other hand they are buying a bankrupt private airline with public money," Surjewala said. "Will the Modi government now save every defaulting crony capitalist out of public funds?" he said, adding that public money of the ONGC was used to buy out a "scam ridden, collapsing GSPC for Rs 7,700 crore", while savings of 38 crore LIC policy holders worth Rs 9,000 crore were used to save the IDBI Bank. --IANS mak/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the RSS would not be allowed to run the country and it is the people of the country, particularly the northeast region, would govern their land and nation. "The (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi government wants the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) from Nagpur would run the country and the northeast region. Congress would, in no way, allow this. "People of the country and the northeast region would govern their land and nation," Gandhi said at an election rally in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council headquarters Khumulwng, 15 km north of Agartala. He said that the Lok Sabha election would be fought between Congress' ideology of inclusiveness and love and the Bharatiya Janata Party's "nafrat" (hatred), and accused the latter of destroying India's culture, history and language. Gandhi, in his around 25 minute speech in Hindi, claimed that when farmers fought to seek waiver of their loans, Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there are no such norms, while letting of lakhs of crores of businessmen like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others. Citing how the UPA government had waived farmers' loan of Rs 70,000 crore and how the new Congress governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan waived loans in two days, instead of the 10 days sought, he attacked the Modi government of helping "all thieves of India loot the people's hard-earned money", of causing loss of jobs for youth and removing the Central Bureau of Investigation Director when the agency wanted to probe the Rafale jet deal. "Narendra Modi deprived the people, specially the farmers and the poor, and gave huge benefit to many industrial tycoons. We would give benefit to the people after the Congress come to the government," he added. He also attacked demonetisation. "An eight-year-old child even understand the terrible affect of Modi's demonetisation, but he does not realised how much he had destroyed by his hasty decision." Noting BJP President Amit Shah had said his party would again bring the Citizenship Bill if it comes to power, Gandhi asserted the Congress would steadfastly oppose it as it "is against the interests of the people of northeast and other parts of the country". He promised to restore the special status to all the northeastern states which the Modi government had revoked it if the party come to power after the elections. State Congress President Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarman, Congress Secretary Bhupen Bora, and tribal leader Animesh Debbarma among others also addressed the rally. Party sources had earlier said during his stay, the Congress chief would announce his party's candidates for the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Tripura, but it was not done. Gandhi launched his second phase of Congress' election campaign in the northeast from Arunachal Pradesh, went to Manipur on Tuesday and in the last leg of his visit, arrived here on Wednesday. He left for Delhi from here. --IANS sc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday lacerated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for "destroying" one crore jobs and unleashing " of division and hatred", insisting while these were happening the PM was busy "marketing" himself. Addressing election rallies in Manipur capital Imphal and Khumulwng in Tripura in the Northeast, where his party's last standing citadel fell to rival BJP's ally Mizo National Front in Mizoram in November 2018, Gandhi accused the saffron party of abandoning its 'act east policy' and attacking the culture and ethos of the people of the region. Unsparing in his assault on Modi, Gandhi also wondered whether the prime minister ever studied at a university, and alleged educational institutions were undergoing saffronisation under his watch. Attacking Modi over alleged loss of employment opportunities, the Congress leader said the prime minister had claimed on taking over the reins of the government that two crore jobs will be created every year, but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. Over 30,000 jobs were lost on an average every day, he claimed. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," Gandhi told the well-attended rally in Imphal. A Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report had recently claimed 1.09 crore jobs were lost in the country in the past one year. The Modi government is under fire from opposition parties as also allies like the Shiv Sena over alleged job loss. "Modi has reduced the Prime Minister's Office to the status of Publicity Minister's Office as he is busy marketing himself," he earlier said during an interaction with students in Imphal, where he also accused the Centre of saffronising educational institutions. During the interaction, he claimed nobody knew whether Modi ever went to a university. "We still have no access to his university degree. Nobody actually knows if he went to university or not. There is an RTI (application) in Delhi seeking PM's degree but it has not been responded to," Gandhi said, adding "the prime minister is imposing mediocrity on a sophisticated country". Speaking about the unrest at the Manipur University last year after students and teachers demanded removal of the then vice chancellor AP Pandey over his alleged "anti-academic activities", Gandhi said he was happy that the people of Manipur succeeded in forcing him out. The protests for the ouster of Pandey, who allegedly had RSS links, had led to the closure of the university for three months. "He (Pandey) was imposed on you. The only qualification to run a university (now) is to wear a pair of shorts, wield a 'lathi' (stick) and spread hatred," Gandhi said, in an oblique reference to the RSS. Gandhi said an ideological battle was being fought in the country between the " of hatred and policy of love", with the BJP and the Congress on rival sides. "There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is of division and hatred of BJP, and on the other hand there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of Congress. "I call upon all party supporters and common people to wage this ideological battle against BJP and help the Congress in forming the government at the Centre," he told a rally in Khumulwng, 25 km from Agartala. As he attempted to retrieve the ground the Congress has ceded to the BJP and its allies in the Northeast, Gandhi, while addressing election rallies in Manipur and Tripura, called the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill an "onslaught on the "land, language, culture and history" of people living in the region. Targeting BJP president Amit Shah over his assertion that the Citizenship Bill will be re-introduced if his party forms the next government, the Congress leader dubbed it as an attack on the culture of the Northeast. "His (Modi's) party president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed...it will never become a law," he told the Imphal rally. Accusing the Modi government of neglecting the Northeast, the Congress leader said, the prime minister's words do not match his acts. "Don't only look east, but act east," he said. Addressing the election meeting in Tripura, the Congress leader alleged the prime minister was "complicit" in aiding the "theft" of public money by fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi. Gandhi's remark came on a day when Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London, in a major boost to India's efforts to bring back the fugitive diamantaire. Mallya also faces the prospect of extradition to India to face trial on money laundering charges after the Westminster Magistrates Court rejected his plea against the move. "All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged, as he targeted the prime minister over the note ban. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor-politician Ambareesh, is among 16 candidates who filed their nominations in Karnataka Wednesday for the Lok Sabha polls. A total of 17 nominations have been received from 16 candidates on Wednesday, poll officials said, adding that cumulative nominations received stands at 28 from 22 candidates. Nominations filed were two each from Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore North, Bangalore central, three each from Bangalore Rural and Mysore, and one each from Bangalore south and Chikkaballapur. With all the three major political parties, the BJP, Congress and JD(S), yet to announce their list of candidates, those who filed nominations on Wednesday were mainly independents and from smaller parties. Sumalatha filed her nomination as independent candidate from Mandya, where she is likely to take on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as Congress-JD(S) coalition's candidate. Sumalatha, a popular south Indian actress,visited the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysuru, ahead of filing nomination. After filing the nomination, she travelled to a venue where a public meeting was organised in a procession in an openvehicle. A large number of people, mainly Ambareesh's fans, irrespective of their partyassociation, joined the procession. She was accompanied by her actor son Abishek and personalities of Kannada film industry, including actors Darshan and Yash. Some people, allegedly Congress workers, took part inthe procession with party flag, despite the grand old partydenying Sumalatha ticket and lending its support to alliance partner JD(S)' candidate Nikhil. Addressing the gathering, Sumalatha, declaring that she was daughter-in-law of Mandya, sought support to carry forward her late husband's legacy andassociation with the people there. She vowed to be the voice of the people of Mandya in Parliament. Karnataka will go to the polls in two phases, 14 constituencies each, on April 18 and 23. While the last date for the filing of nominations forthe first phase of Lok Sabha polls is on March 26, scrutiny will take place on March 27, last date for withdrawal is March29. For the second phase polls on April 23, notification will be issued on March 28. The last date for nomination is April 4, scrutiny on April 5 and the last day for withdrawalis April 8. Counting of votes and announcement of results for both phases is scheduled for May 23. In the 2014 general election, the BJP had bagged 17, Congress 9 and JD(S) two seats. However in the bypolls, the BJP had yielded the Bellary seat to Congress. The Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition that has decided to fight the polls in alliance will contest 20 and 8 seats respectively. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 24 patients, including some women, suffered severe eye infection allegedly due to botched cataract surgeries at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Civil Hospital here. The Kurukshetra district health authorities have suspended eye surgeries at the hospital till Friday. The patients who were operated upon at the hospital over the past three weeks have been referred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research(PGIMER) in Chandigarh. The PGIMER confirmed that its Advanced Eye Centre (AEC) received 24 patients of post cataract surgery endophthalmitis, an inflammation of the interior of the eye, in last couple of weeks. "At AEC, PGIMER, till now 19 patients have been operated... All the patients are doing well on topical and systemic antibiotics. Their vision is gradually improving. None of the patient has complete loss of vision. Eleven patients have been discharged and advised regular follow up," it said in a statement. "Thirteen patients are still admitted in AEC and monitored on daily basis," it added. On Wednesday, a team of doctors led by Director Health Services, Haryana, Dr Arshudeen visited the hospital to investigate the cases. Civil Surgeon Dr Sukhbir Singh said an investigation was on to ascertain the cause of the infection and fix responsibility. A senior eye surgeon had performed around 100 cataract surgeries between February 27 and March 11, he said. Singh said as many as 24 patients reported back with complaints of irritation. Samples of tools, chemicals, medicines, roof and floor of the operation theatre have been taken to ascertain the cause of the infection, he said. Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Manjit Singh said a team comprising of doctors Ranju Soni and Mezpal have been sent to the PGIMER on Wednesday to assess the situation and further recommend to the state government to either pay the medical bills of such patients directly to the institute or reimburse them. "We will examine all patients who underwent surgeries at the LNJPNCH over the past one month to ensure that no case of infection goes untreated," he said. Dr Anita Goyal, who performed some of the surgeries at the hospital, said the infection might have been caused due to tools or fluids used in the surgeries. It was possible that a bacterial infection might have been present in a patient and was transmitted to others, she said. "The operation theatre was maintained as per the surgery protocol to contain any chance of infection. It is a matter of investigation to pinpoint the cause of the infection," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The headquarters of Odisha BJP Wednesday witnessed hectic political activity, as a large number of ruling BJD leaders, including three sitting MLAs, joined the saffron party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Out of the four sitting BJD MLAs who have so far resigned from the regional party to protest against denial of tickets, three joined the BJP here. The sitting BJD MLAs who joined in the BJP are namely Debraj Mohanty, Purna Chandra Nayak and Sukant Kumar Nayak. All of them were denied party tickets for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. However, Gunupur MLA Trinath Gomango, who resigned from the BJD, has not made any such move so far. Earlier, BJD's expelled Paradip MLA Damodar Rout had joined the BJP. Similarly, three former BJD MLAs - Niranjan Pradhan, Kashinath Mallick and K Narayan Rao also joined the BJP on Wednesday. Another former MLA Nilamani Bisoi, who was elected to assembly from Surada assembly segment, as an independent candidate in 2009, also joined the BJP here. Meanwhile, former BJD MP Laxman Tudu, who had switched over to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) after being denied party ticket in 2014 elections, also joined the BJP at the party's state headquarters here. Tudu, who was aspiring to contest from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat, however, resigned from the JMM as the party decided to field Anjani Soren, the daughter of party supremo Sibu Soren. Meanwhile, prominent tribal woman leader from Sundergarh district, Kushum Tete, who had resigned from BJD on Tuesday, also joined the BJP here. Tete, a grassroots level woman leader, resigned from the BJD after the party president gave the ticket to Sundergarh's Congress MLA Jogesh Singh. The Congress MLA had joined the BJD recently. The BJD leaders joined the saffron party along with hundreds of their supporters. All these leaders are hopeful of getting BJP tickets to contest the upcoming polls as the party has not yet announced its list of candidates. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting out at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for his "anti-Delhi" policies, the Aam Aadmi Party Wednesday said a person who has nothing worthwhile to show in his performance as a minister is now venturing into the arena of electoral political analysis. Challenging Puri for an open debate, the AAP said it we will expose the "real face" of BJP and the Union Minister as well as question his anti-Delhi policies in the next seven days. The comments by the AAP comes a day after Puri reportedly slammed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for becoming "desperate" for an alliance. AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said Puri need not worry about the Aam Aadmi Party, but rather tell the people of Delhi about his "anti-Delhi approach". "For next seven days, we will expose the real face of BJP and Mr Puri and question his anti-Delhi policies. We challenge him for a open debate. New political wisdom has dawned on BJP's Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Hardeep Singh Puri, who was made a minister of state in the Narendra Modi government, 18 months back. "Puri, who has nothing worthwhile to show in his performance as a minister, is now venturing into the new arena of electoral political analysis," Bharadwaj said in a statement. Bharadwaj said it is beyond "any reasonable understanding in which capacity Puri is giving his expert comments on the political situation of Delhi, and why is he so worried about the AAP?" The AAP also asked Puri why did the BJP central government's nominees on the Delhi Metro Board support the "unjustified" Metro fare hike? "What were the instructions of your ministry to the central government nominees on the Metro Board about the Metro fare hike? Why has the Narendra Modi government stalled approval to three routes of Delhi Metro Phase-IV?" he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Access, equity and excellence are key challenges to improving the quality of higher in India, and institutions are obliged to address these issues through inclusive processes, scholars said at the launch of a report on higher The event was attended by noted academicians and legal luminaries including Justices Sabrina S McKenna and Michael D Wilson of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, USA. The report, released by Jindal Global University (JGU), highlighted the institution's progress on 16 indicators of diversity and inclusion across key functions such as gender parity, pedagogy, research and disciplinary diversity. JGU Vice-Chancellor C Raj Kumar said that a day long seminar on "Diversity, Inclusion and Internationalisation: Comparative Perspectives" was held at the varsity where scholars, academics, and practitioners discussed the importance of sensitising students, teacher and staff bodies towards challenges of an increasingly diversified university communities, among others. "The idea of this pluralism is deeply embedded in India's rich cultural heritage," said Kumar while launching the report -- Diversity and Inclusion: Towards Building a Diverse, Equitable and Global University. "All institutions and organisations inherently need to be as representative as possible of the communities they are located within, in order to survive and thrive. Higher institutions have an even greater obligation to accomplish such representation given the public character of their mission and purpose, and the broad societal goals they commit to achieve. These aims take on greater significance in India's developing context, and given the value that a robust higher education system can add to achieving national developmental goals," Kumar said. Releasing the diversity report, Professor Virandar S Chauhan, Chairman of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) said institutions must consider offering courses outside of their traditional disciplinary orientations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The grand-alliance of opposition parties in Bihar is intact and its candidates for all the 40 seats in the state will be announced after Holi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Wednesday. "All is well in 'mahagathbandhan'. It is intact and strong and we will put up a strong fight at the hustings. All differences have been ironed out. We will announce our candidates after Holi," Yadav told reporters at the Patna airport after arriving from Delhi, where he was over the past several days negotiating the seat-sharing pact. RJD, he said, would be staying away from Holi celebrations this year as a mark of respect for the jawans killed in the Pulwama attack. Sharad Yadav, whose Lok Jantrik Dal (LJD) is one of the constituents of the grand-alliance, was more specific on the date of announcement of candidates. Candidates will be announced at a press meet in Patna on March 22, he told reporters in the national capital. Meanwhile, a senior Congress leader from Bihar, who is camping in the national capital, told PTI, on condition of anonymity, that reports of his party having agreed to contest only nine seats are "mischievous". "Our state election committee had met in Patna last week and authorised Rahul Gandhi to take the final decision in the matter. There has been no communication within the party about the number of seats. The media reports are, at best, speculative," he said. Asked how many seats the Congress would want to contest, he said, "Initially we wanted 15. Later on it was agreed to scale down. But we do not think a number less than 11 would be acceptable to even Rahul Gandhi." "Gandhi is likely to kick off his campaign in Bihar with a rally in Purnea on March 23. There is a possibility that former BJP MP Uday Singh, who joined the Congress today, will be fielded from there on a Congress ticket. It is also almost final that actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha will be fielded from his Patna Sahib seat on our ticket. His resignation from the BJP and induction into the Congress will take place in a few days," he said. The Darbhanga seat has become a bone of contention between the Congress and RJD. While, the Congress wants to field Kirti Azad, who had won the seat five years ago on a BJP ticket, the RJD wants it too. "The seat is a stronghold of Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi of the RJD, who wants a ticket again. That too remains to be sorted out," the Congress leader added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : In a fresh jolt to the Telangana Congress, party MLA Beeram Harshavardhan Reddy from Kollapur Assembly constituency Wednesday announced his decision to join the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). Reddy, who met TRS working president K T Rama Rao, is the ninth Congress MLA to announce the decision to join the TRS ahead of Lok Sabha elections. Reddy said if need be, he is ready to quit his (Congress) MLA seat and again contest from TRS, if needed. In a statement, Reddy said he took the decision following assurances from TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that compensation would be provided to evacuees of different irrigation projects in his constituency, for (positively responding) to address other issues and for overall development of his constituency. He said he also consulted his followers and party workers before deciding to join TRS. The desertion of the MLAs is seen as a setback to the Congress in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. It would lose the status of main opposition in the 119-member House if the eight MLAs go ahead with their decision to resign. The party requires a minimum of 12 MLAs, being 10 per cent of the house strength, to retain the status of principal opposition party. TRS scored a thumping win in the December 7 2018 assembly elections, winning 88 seats. In the elections, Reddy had defeated five-time MLA Jupally Krishna Rao,who was also a minister in Rao's cabinet. The Congress has accused the TRS of encouraging defection of its MLAs and said it would meet the Governor, besides launching a campaign against the ruling party. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader M Bhatti Vikramarka had in a recent statement alleged that the Chief Minister was "conspiring to eliminate the opposition as he lacked courage to answer their questions". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Army's Chinar Corps, responsible for guarding the Line of Control in Kashmir, Wednesday celebrated its 78th raising day at Badami Bagh cantonment here. A function was held at the Chinar Corps headquarters here to mark the raising day. Corps Commander Lt Gen K J S Dhillon paid tributes at the war memorial by laying a wreath, defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said. He said the Corps was raised during World War II at Barrackpore on March 20, 1942. As part of 14th Army, it participated in the Burma Campaign at Arakan during the World War II. Subsequently, the Corps was shifted to Karachi. In October 1947, the Corps got tethered to Kashmir for the first time when its 161 Infantry Brigade was tasked to fight the invading Pakistani regulars and tribal raiders, Kalia said. "All operations during 1947-48 Indo-Pak conflict were controlled by HQ Jammu and Kashmir Force. Later, on January 4, 1955, at Udhampur, the Corps was entrusted with the role of complete security of J&K state. It made commutable contributions during 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars as well," he said. Over the years, the Army has maintained that the Chinar Corps was raised at Port Said in Egypt on January 12, 1916. Defence and army officials did not respond to queries about the change in the raising day. The army statement issued earlier in the day maintained that Chinar Corps moved its headquarters to its present location in Srinagar in November 1972 following the setting up of the Northern Command headquarters at Udhampur. Since 1989, when Pakistan launched its proxy war against India, Chinar Corps has been successfully maintaining the territorial integrity of the nation. In the last 77 years of its existence, the Corps has become one of the most decorated corps of the Army, having been conferred with four Victoria Crosses, four Military Crosses, 13 Param Vir Chakra, 20 Ashok Chakra and numerous other gallantry awards and citations. These honours highlight the selfless sacrifices of its valiant warriors, Kalia said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two years, three acquittals and Aseemanand, the self-confessed monk with many aliases and one saffron identity, is now a free man after a special court in Panchkula on Wednesday let him off in the 2007 Samjhauta train bombing case. Wearing multiple identities of religious preacher, science student and terror accused, the saffron robed Aseemanand, once known as the most wanted man in India, was the alleged link between the series of three bombings that ripped through India in 2007. The chain began on the intervening night of February 17-18 when a bomb exploded on the Samjhauta Express, the only train link between India and Pakistan, killing 68 people. On May 18, a blast in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid killed nine people. And in October the same year, an explosion in Ajmer's famed Khwaja Chishti shrine claimed three lives. The bespectacled, saffron clad almost cerebral looking 67-year-old, who has been out on bail, has emerged unscathed from all the three terror incidents. Born Naba Kumar Sarkar in Kamaarpukar village in West Bengal's Hooghly district, he has many aliases -- including Jatin Chatterjee and Omkarnath. The man of several names but committed to one shade of saffron came to be popularly known as Swami Aseemanand after he stepped into the national spotlight in 2010 when he was arrested by the CBI for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast. Today's acquittal -- along with three others, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, on grounds of lack of evidence -- is his third. The last two years have been neatly punctuated with one acquittal every 12 months or so. In March 2017, he was absolved in the Ajmer case. In April last year, he was acquitted in the Mecca Masjid case. And a year later, comes the final heralding of freedom with the release in the Samjhauta case. The story of the man who grew out of his humble beginnings began somewhere in the 1970s. He had completed his graduation in science in 1971, but his interests lay elsewhere as well and he became involved with rightwing groups from school, going on to work full time with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Purulia and Bankura districts in the state. It was at the Ashram that Naba Kumar Sarkar was christened Swami Aseemanand in 1981, investigators said. The fiery speaker soon became known for his anti-minority speeches and his relentless campaign against Christian missionaries, getting invited to speak in various places across the country. In the late 1990s, he settled down in Gujarat's Dangs district where he started a tribal welfare organisation called Shabri Dham, a Hindu rightwing organisation. According to a confessional statement given to a judge in 2010, Aseemanand said he was famous for his anti-minority statements. In 2002, things changed after the killing of 30 devotees at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar by terrorist suicide bombers and he wanted to avenge the deaths, he said. Aseemanand spoke of his association with others accused in terror-related cases but retracted the statement later. The NIA did not press perjury charges against him. The rightwing preacher, investigating officials said, also gave a graphic account of his alleged involvement in two other cases of terrorism in Maharashtra's Malegaon town -- on September 8, 2006, when 37 people were killed and on September 29, 2008, when six people were killed. Three years after his alleged involvement in the series of three explosions in 2007, the CBI arrested Aseemanand on November 20, 2010 from an ashram in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. He had been staying there for weeks with forged identification papers, using the assumed names of Jatin Chatterjee and Omkarnath. Sleuths who arrested him found a passport issued by the RPO Kolkata, a ration card and an election card issued by the Haridwar authorities. He has also spoken of his association with other accused in terror-related cases but retracted the statement later. The NIA did not press perjury charges against him. Under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a statement is given by the accused before a magistrate and it is valid in the court of law. However, in case the accused retracts from the statement later, the investigating agency is free to press perjury charges against the accused. In its chargesheet in 2010, the CBI alleged that the accused, including Aseemanand, were "angered by terrorist attacks committed on Hindus and their temples" and wanted to "avenge" them by attacking Muslim areas and places of worship. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australia's prime minister said he would summon Turkey's ambassador in Canberra Wednesday to explain "very offensive" comments made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the wake of the Christchurch massacre. Erdogan, while campaigning for local elections, presented the attack as part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would suffer the same fate as soldiers at Gallipoli, a blood-drenched WWI battle. "I find it a very offensive comment, of course I do, and I will be calling in the Turkish ambassador today to meet with me to discuss these issues," Scott Morrison told national broadcaster ABC. Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair". Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul's request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Three Turkish nationals were wounded in the rampage that killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. The accused gunman, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia, livestreamed much of the attack and spread a manifesto on social media claiming it was a strike against Muslim "invaders". The manifesto references Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire. "This is not an isolated event, it is something more organised," he said during a campaign event on Monday in Canakkale in western Turkey. "They are testing us with the message they are sending us from New Zealand, 16,500 km (10,250 miles) from here." Erdogan did not project the video at the Monday event. Peters said he had complained directly to visiting Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Public health experts, including doctors from the AIIMS, Wednesday questioned the potential of government's flagship healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat, claiming it was an "official channel" through which public money will go to the private sector. Referring to implementation of such healthcare schemes in the past, sector experts pressed for urgent need to strengthen publicly funded hospitals to offer universal health care, while speaking at a panel discussion on 'Ayushman Bharat: Fact and Fiction', organised by AIIMS Front for Social Consciousness in the campus of country's premiere medical institution here. The Ayushman Bharat scheme was nothing but an old wine in a new bottle, said Dr Vikas Bajpai, professor at the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health of Jawaharlal Nehru University. He stressed on the need to analyse the "failures" of the various publicly-funded health insurance schemes, including the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana or RSBY, to ensure that "inadequacies" in their implementation were not repeated. "Apart from lack of desire to commit the required financial resources, the scheme is oblivious and irrespective of the real causes of ill-health of the people, especially the poor," he said. "This was the creation of just another official channel through which public money will go to private set-ups," Dr Bajpai added. Subrato Sinha, head of department of Biochemistry at AIIMS, said Ayushman Bharat does not provide out-patient department care support, which is a major component of health expenditures and is as expensive as the in-patient care. "Also, the main thrust of any healthcare programme should always be on improving and strengthening the public health infrastructure as insurance is always less efficient than direct provision of health services by the government," he said. Dr Pratap Sharan, professor in the department of Psychiatry at AIIMS, said the government is shifting its stance from providing services to purchasing services mostly from the private sector and "it is an abdication of its basic responsibility." Dr Shah Alam Khan, professor in the department of Orthopaedics at AIIMS, referring to a recent report released by the WHO, which showed that the out-of-pocket expenditure on health in two countries -- India and Pakistan -- was the maximum, said, "This means people were spending more money in these two nations, which almost went to war after the Pulwama attack. This shows that both the countries do not care about what is happening to the health of their people." He pointed out the hurdles people face to avail the benefits once they enrol into the scheme and stressed on the need for identification of those hindrances. "The crux of the problem is in the very first Budget presented by the current government in May 2014, they slashed the budget for health by 20 per cent. The only way you can help the poor and the needy is by increasing by spending on healthcare in public hospitals and that is not happening," Dr Khan said. Former chief of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, Harjit Bhatti, said budget allocations "do not reflect the government's good intentions" because Rs 6,400 crore for 10 crore families comes down to Rs 640 per family and Rs 128 per person, which was "too low" to expect good treatment from hospitals. "The Ayushman Bharat is an eyewash to hide the incompetence of the government which is not able to provide required healthcare infrastructure effectively," he said. Imrana Qadeer, faculty at Council for Social Development, said in western countries, where national insurance was successful in providing basic health services, its universality and strong regulatory mechanisms of the state that controlled the private sector were critical. "Neglect of basic healthcare infrastructures under the National Rural Health Mission by drastically curtailing investments, increases the load on secondary and tertiary care institutions and rationalises partnerships with private sector, which are waiting to enhance its profits through schemes like RSBY and PMJAY," she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On a day fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested in London, the Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snoozing when he escaped from the country. In a tweet, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Nirav Modi, who he referred to as "Chhota Modi", was arrested after the Opposition party questioned "Bada Modi", a term he has been using to target the PM. Surjewala said, "1/1/2018-Chhota Modi escapes India after looting ?26,306 Cr. "23/1/2018 - Nirav Modi poses with PM Modi in Geneva. Till November 2018 - He travels the world. "9/3/2019: Telegraph exposes Nirav Modi in London. Congress questions PM. 20/3/2019: Chhota Modi arrested. "Who Snoozed? Bada Modi," he tweeted. The reaction came after Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London and a court on Wednesday remanded him in custody till March 29, saying there are "substantial grounds" to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48, was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement in London. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The 1943 Bengal famine, which is estimated to have caused over three million deaths, resulted not from a drought as is widely thought but from the British government's policy failures, say IIT Gandhinagar scientists who have analysed 150 years of drought data. Policy lapses such as prioritising distribution of vital supplies to the military, civil services and others as well as stopping rice imports and not declaring Bengal famine hit were among the factors that led to the magnitude of the tragedy, historians have maintained. Now, for the first time, researchers have analysed soil moisture database from 1870 to 2016 to reconstruct agricultural droughts. Between 1935-45, the famine-affected region, which was Bengal, had no drought, the team from the Indian Institute of Technology here found. "We are trying to understand the entire history of droughts in India and what is the likelihood they will occur in future," said Vimal Mishra, assistant professor at the institute. "Famines that occurred during the British period caused the deaths of millions. We investigated the factors behind the causes of these deaths -- droughts or policy failures," he told PTI. The Bengal famine of 1943 was completely because of policy failure", he said. Aside from the 1943 Bengal famine, all other famines during 1870 and 2016, appear to be related, at least in part, to widespread soil moisture droughts, Mishra said. While historians have documented policy failures that led to the Bengal famine, this is the first time scientists have used soil moisture data to show there was no drought in Bengal during the period preceding the famine. After analysing over 150 years of data for the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers identified seven major droughts and six major famines in India. "Out of six major famines (187374, 1876, 1877, 189697, 1899, and 1943) that occurred during 18702016, five are linked to soil moisture drought, and one (1943) was not," researchers wrote in the study. "At the time, there was not much irrigation, groundwater pumping was not happening because electricity or mechanical pumps were not available," Mishra said. The last major famine in the British era occurred in 1943, which is also known as the Bengal famine. The famine resulted in two-three million deaths. "We identified 1935-45 as a period under drought, but the famine-affected region, which was Bengal, had no drought during this period," said Mishra. "We find that the Bengal famine was likely caused by other factors related at least in part to the ongoing threat of World War II -- including malaria, starvation and malnutrition," he added. Previous research has shown that in early 1943, military and other political events adversely affected Bengal economy. "We did a very solid diagnosis for each famine that happened in Bengal and Bihar -- which was part of the northeastern province of Awadh in the British period," Mishra said. "What was unique in the 1873-74 famine was that there were 25 million people affected but low mortality due to famine," he added. According to Mishra, this low mortality was due to food imports from Burma, and timely relief aid provided by the British government. Then Bengal lieutenant governor Richard Temple imported, distributed food and relief money and that saved a lot of lives, he said. "The famine was over in 1874, with 17 per cent surplus monsoon rainfall and good food production. But Temple was heavily criticised by the British for over expenditure," said Mishra. In the 1876-77 famine, which affected south India in 1876 and north India in 1877, over 30 million people were impacted. The study suggests that at least six-10 million people died, because measures to provide relief and employment were not taken at the time. According to the study, the expansion of irrigation, better public distribution system, rural employment, and transportation reduced the impact of drought on the lives of people after Independence. Mishra expressed the hope that a comprehensive analysis of the history of droughts and famines in the country can help prepare for such disasters in the future. According to experts, following the Japanese occupation of Burma in 1942, rice imports stopped, and Bengal's market supplies and transport systems were disrupted. The British government also prioritised distribution of vital supplies to the military, civil servants and other "priority classes". The policy failures began with the provincial government's denial that a famine existed. Humanitarian aid was ineffective through the worst months of the food crisis, and the government never formally declared a state of famine. It first attempted to influence the price of rice, but these measures created a black market and encouraged sellers to withhold stocks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The ruling BJD in Odisha Wednesday ridiculed opposition BJP for its delay in announcing the candidates list for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state. Though BJD and Congress have already released the candidates' list for the first and second phase of polling on April 11 and April 18, the BJP is yet to announce to announce its nomination for even a single seat. "Are they(BJP) looking for dissidents from other parties ?" BJD spokesman Sasmit Patra asked adding the last date for filing of nomination papers for the first and second phase of polls is scheduled for March 25 and 26 respectively. Ridiculing the BJP president Amit Shah's mission for 120 plus seats in Odisha assembly, Patra said: The party has made tall claims, but it is still looking for candidates. It is not getting 120 candidates to field in the elections. The BJP is instead trying to rope in dissident leaders from other parties". The BJD, which has already given 33 per cent of its tickets to women canidates for the Lok Sabha elections, also criticised the Congress. The Congress which talks of giving priority to women candidates has announced the name of only one woman candidate in its first list for the Odisha assembly elections. It has no woman candidate for Lok Sabha polls in the state." Patra said. The Congress has announced 36 candidates for the assembly election and six for the Lok Sabha polls. The Odisha Mahila Congress president Sumitra Jena has expressed disappointment over it. Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha seats and its assembly has 147 seats. BJP state vice-president Samir Mohanty in his reaction said that the BJD should take care of its own party. "Several dissident leaders have left the party (BJD) and more are going to join other parties. The BJP is going along with its strategy and will announce its candidates list at the proper time." Three MPs and an equal number of MLAs have quit BJD after being denied tickets in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Odisha assembly polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union ministers Vijay Goel, Prakash Javdekar and Vijay Sampla organised a 'Holika Dahan', saying it symbolises the burning of evil of "corruption of the Congress and the AAP". Goel said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came to power on the plank of Congress's corruption but today his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eager to forge an alliance with it. The Union Minister said that in 2013, Kejriwal vowed that he would put former chief minister Sheila Dikshit behind bars within 24 hours of getting elected, alleging she was "smeared with colours of corruption" related to Commonwealth Games, water tankers scam among others. "Today he has forgotten that he had promised to throw Sheila Dikshit behind bars for corruption. So will he withdraw corruption charges against Dikshit if unholy alliance is formed. On the other side, the Congress, be it led by Ajay Maken or Dikshit, has been accusing Kejriwal of indulging in corruption like CCTV camera scam, low-floor bus scam and ration card scam are prominent among them. "Now both are trying to form an alliance and this only shows how opportunist both these parties are," Goel said, adding Kejriwal has failed to bring development in Delhi in the past four years and vote to him in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would be a waste. Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javdekar said that people had high hopes from Kejriwal when the Aam Aadmi Party came to power but he has failed the people of Delhi. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working tirelessly for the people of this country, and the people of Delhi too would have benefitted had Kejriwal not adopted confrontational behaviour," he said. Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla said that Kejriwal did not implement various schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana because of which the people of Delhi are not able to avail the benefits of the schemes. "Kejriwal and Congress both have become the synonyms of corruption," he said. Days after having unanimously decided to go it alone in Delhi, the Congress is again mulling options to align with the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, with NCP leader Sharad Pawar actively involved in getting the two parties together. Dikshit has earlier made it clear that aligning with AAP will not be in the party's interests keeping in view the assembly election in the national capital slated for next year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A BJP panchayat president in Assam has been shot dead and another party worker critically injured by unidentified gunmen in Cachar district ahead of the three-phase Lok Sabha polls in the state next month, police said on Wednesday. Unidentifed gunmen opened fire on Sukhendu Das, the president of Borkhola Hatichora panchayat, in front of his residence in the village on Tuesday night in which he and another person was grievously injured. The two were rushed to Silchar Medical College Hospital, where Das succumbed to his injuries. The injured person, who was identified as Rinku Senapati, was admitted to the intensive care unit where his condition was stated to be critical. The police rushed to the spot and launched a search to nab the culprits. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has condemned the incident and directed the authorities to take measures arrest those responsible for the killing at the earliest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP's central election committee (CEC) met Wednesday for a third time to deliberate on the names of its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and is believed to have finalised candidates for most of the seats going to the polls in the initial few phases. It has so far not released any list of candidates for the seven-phase polls starting from April 11. The party is likely to field Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, R K Singh and Giriraj Singh from Patna Sahib, Arrah and Begusarai seats in Bihar respectively. It may repeat Union ministers V K Singh and Satyapal Singh from their seats in western Uttar Pradesh. In Odisha, the party is considering fielding its spokesperson Sambit Patra and its vice president Baijayant Panda, sources said. While the party is set to drop a sizeable number of its sitting MPs from UP to take on the formidable SP-BSP alliance, it is set to bank on its sitting members in Bihar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to recontest from Varanasi and the party is also deliberating on whether to field him from one more seat. The CEC, whose meeting was attended by Modi, party president Amit Shah and its other members, held a long meeting with top BJP leaders from Uttar Pradesh. It later met leaders from other states. The party sources said names of candidates for a large number of seats is final and could be announced soon. On Tuesday evening, the CEC had held a seven-hour-long discussion to deliberate upon the names of the party's candidates in various states. Though the Congress has announced candidates for 146 Lok Sabha constituencies so far, the BJP is yet to officially make any announcement on its nominees. The sources in the party suggested that most of the ministers in the Union Cabinet, who are sitting Lok Sabha MPs, are likely to be fielded from same seats. On Tuesday, the party had announced that it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces, a decision that comes in the wake of the party's drubbing in the recent assembly elections. The state's former chief minister Raman Singh may not contest elections, the sources said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A five-year-old boy who went missing during a family walk in Argentina was found safe and well after 24 hours lost in a desert in the west of the country. Authorities in San Juan province and some 1,000 volunteers went searching for the boy -- with a former Dakar Rally motorcyclist finding him 21 kilometres (13 miles) from where he was last seen. The child was hospitalised for slight dehydration. "I was cold, I slept badly, leaning on a rock," he told the newspaper Clarin upon leaving hospital Tuesday. The boy said he had drunk from a stream and eaten grass. "He spent 24 hours in nature, that is not nothing," said Alberto Ontiveros, the man who found him, noting that wild pumas roam the area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Brian Austin Green says he is "still mourning" the death of his "Beverly Hills, 90210" co-star Luke Perry. Perry, the star of the hit 90's show, passed away aged 52 on March 4. The actor was hospitalised the previous week after he suffered a massive stroke at his Sherman Oaks home. Green was missing from the list of Hollywood celebrities who paid tributes to Perry on social media but he made it up for it in a recent episode of his podcast. "Luke was a special guy. I'm still mourning over it, so there's a part of me that's kind of shocked that I'm speaking about Luke this way," he said. "We all knew that at some point we'd have to deal with losing cast members and friends, but not this soon. Not at 52. Not in such an abrupt way," he added. The actor also revealed that he sent Perry a text following his untimely demise. "I texted him after he passed, knowing obviously that he can't text me back but on some level, hoping that he would text me back, or that he was out there somewhere. And I know he is. I know he's looking down and I know he's smiling," Green said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The EU on Wednesday warned Britain it would have to hold elections to the European Parliament if it wants to delay Brexit until June 30, as Prime Minister Theresa May has requested. Before May put in the request, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged her in a phone call not to set a date that was beyond the May 23 to 26 European elections. A top EU diplomat meanwhile insisted that EU leaders would refrain from any decision on the delay at their Thursday-Friday summit. "There will be no decision tomorrow," the diplomat briefed reporters. Amid the confusion, EU Council President Donald Tusk, who coordinates EU summits, announced a press statement for 5:00 pm (1600 GMT). "We will have an indication on what the 27 are ready to give the UK in case the withdrawal deal passes parliament, but nothing formal," the diplomat added. May needs more time because her lawmakers have refused to approve the deal she struck with the EU to leave the bloc. Elections to the European Parliament will be held between May 23 to 26, and the commission said that if Britain is granted a long delay, it must organise ballots. An internal commission briefing note prepared ahead of this week's EU summit and seen by AFP warned that delaying Brexit to June 30 would bring "serious legal and political risks". EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters Juncker had used the call to repeat to May "that the withdrawal has to be complete before May 23 otherwise we risk facing institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty". The commission, the EU's executive arm, urged leaders to choose between a short delay to May 23 or a longer one "at least until end 2019". The European Council, which groups the member states, confirmed it had received the letter from Prime Minister Theresa May asking for the delay, with leaders of the remaining 27 EU countries to decide on a possible postponement at their Brussels summit on Thursday and Friday. "Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections. "This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions," said the commission note, which was prepared on Wednesday morning before May's letter was received. It will be for the leaders to decide on the length of the extension -- and all 27 must give their approval -- but the commission said they faced a "binary" choice: May 23 or the end of 2019 at the earliest. "Any other option (as for example an extension until 30 June 2019) would entail serious legal and political risks for the European Union and would import some of the current uncertainties in the United Kingdom into the EU27," it warned. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If a person disagreeing with the government is a "compulsive contrarian", can someone who always agrees with it be called "his master's voice", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram asked Wednesday, hitting back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The finance minister has slammed 108 economists and social scientists as "compulsive contrarians" for raising concern over "political interference" to influence statistical data. In his blog published on Tuesday, Jaitley had said these "compulsive contrarians" have repeatedly signed memorandums of what he said was manufactured political issues against the present government. Responding to Jaitley, Chidambaram tweeted: "According to Mr Jaitley, one who disagrees with the government is a 'compulsive contrarian'. Can we then say that anyone who always agrees with the government is 'His Master's Voice'?" As many as 108 economists and social scientists, including Jean Dreze (Allahabad University), Emily Breza (Harvard University), Satish Deshpande (Delhi University), Esther Duflo (MIT, US) and Jayati Ghosh (JNU), had made an appeal last week, expressing their concern over "political interference" in influencing statistical data in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Experts from China and Pakistan have discussed best practices in strategic export controls as a Chinese delegations visited the country. The delegation of the Bureau of Industry, Security, Import and Export Control (BISIEC) of the Ministry of Commerce, People's Republic of China visited Strategic Export Control Division (SECDIV), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan on March 18. The Chinese delegation was led by Jiang Qianliang, Deputy Director (BISIEC), People's Republic of China, Zafar Ali, Director General SECDIV led the Pakistan side. Strategic Export Controls experts from the two sides shared their views and best practices. The two sides apprised each other about the latest developments in respective strategic export control system, inter-agency coordination mechanism, licensing processes of dual use items, and capacity building of enforcement agencies, a statement said. The Chinese delegation acknowledged Pakistan's efforts and appreciated the progress on harmonisation of its strategic export control policies and practices with international standards, the statement said. The two sides agreed to continue this process in the future. Pakistan has been China's biggest export destination for arms. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his 'chowkidar chor hai' barb at him, saying the Congress president has insulted people working as guards and asserted that the word 'chowkidar' has now become synonymous with patriotism and honesty. In an interaction with watchmen from across the country, Modi said his rivals lacked guts to name him and attack him directly, and instead resorted to targeting watchmen. With the prime minister often projecting himself as the country's 'chowkidar', Gandhi had coined the "chowkidar chor hai" (watchman is thief) slogan to allege corruption in the Rafale deal, a charge denied by the government. Known for his innovative political campaigns, Modi recently launched a "Main bhi chowkidar" (I too am watchman) drive on social media to turn the tables on the Congress. Without naming Gandhi, he said "naamdaar" (dynasts) have a habit to spread hate against those who believe in work and they will continue to insult them even if somebody becomes a prime minister. The BJP said Modi interacted with over 25 lakh watchmen. Last weeks college admissions scandal occasioned endless commentary, with most it of seemingly focused on all the problems with America that it illuminated. I had a somewhat different take. As I argued over at Forbes: This isn't an indictment of America but of the elite college cartel and the pathologies that it has enabled and exploited. It's an indictment of the way elite colleges sell fast-passes to lucrative jobs on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, of the manufactured scarcity that they have cultivated, and of the way they have avidly marketed that scarcity. When colleges sell access, or are so inept that they make it easy for the rich to buy access, this . . . is an indictment of elite colleges. If admissions offices cannot detect even rudimentary corruption and institutions can't stop themselves from selling access, it raises the question of whether we can trust them to make subtle distinctions when it comes to sensitive issues like race and merit. Given that, I offered a modest proposal: Maybe elite colleges should put their money where their mouth is when they pontificate about the need to democratize opportunity, take a page out of the K-12 charter school book, and switch to lottery admissions. Lottery admissions would help dissolve the relationship between where people went to school, how talented they're presumed to be, and where they would ultimately work. Students, of course, would still be free to apply to the campuses that they find the most attractive and most convenient. Faculty at elite colleges would still do their research, teaching, and mentoring, just with a less curated (and self-impressed) student body. Obviously, all this would only affect a sliver of American higher education, in any event, since most colleges aren't selective. Readers seemed, in turn, tickled, intrigued, and appalled. There was a larger-than-usual number of queries and challenges. And, since I long ago abandoned any pretense of responding to comments, tweets, and the ubiquitous trolling that make up contemporary discourse, I figured Id take a moment to answer some of the frequently asked questions. Here we go: Q: But wouldnt this be a huge blow to the prestige of elite schools and to the hiring routines of corporate HR departments? A: Yes. Q: But wouldnt this just make testing that much more important? A: No. Colleges could simply waive entrance tests, as so many have already been cheered for doing. If students have a high school diploma, theyd be free to stick their name in the lottery. Q: Wouldnt that be devastating for staff at the ACT, the College Board, the college prep industry, and admissions offices at elite colleges? A: Yes. Q: But might this all lead to the wrong sorts of students getting into elite colleges and not completing their degrees? A: Well, I guess that depends on how much faith you have in admissions offices to fairly pick the right students, even when college staff arent complicit in or blind to felonious conduct. In any event, elite college administrators and lobbyists routinely brag about the remarkable job they do of helping students complete on timeIm sure even the wrong high school grads would benefit from their exquisite skills and services, no? Q: Who will turn high schoolers lives into numerical scores, decide which soulful application essays are the most soulful, and keep out those riff-raff applicants who have the wrong attitudes about gun control or Trump? A: Umm. No one? Q: What if the lottery results leave out many talented students a college would like to enroll? A: Colleges are free to expand their student bodies. Heck, they can admit everyone whod like to go. That might further dilute their manicured prestige, force them to spend endowment dollars to buy land and erect buildings, require the hiring of many new faculty, and such. Itd be inconvenient. But such is life. Q: But what about money? If they cant shake down affluent parents, might these colleges start giving out less aid? Or what if they start charging even more, just to scare off low-income students? A: Heres a chance for Americas finger-wagging, socially conscious college administrators to show their mettle. For starters, doing away with the admissions process means they can eliminate their application fee. Then, colleges should pledge to offer need-blind financial aid, protect students by providing grants rather than loans, and freeze tuition. This may all require some belt-tightening by administrators and staff, of course, but the right thing isnt always the easy thing. The commerce ministry has recommended extension of anti-dumping duty on jute sacking bags from Bangladesh to guard domestic players from cheap imports. The ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in its probe has concluded that imports of sacking cloth have increased after the imposition of anti-dumping duty. "The authority recommends extension of the existing anti-dumping duty on sacking bags" imposed on January 5, 2017, the directorate has said in a notification. Currently, the duty exists on jute yarn, sacking bags and hessian fabric (made from skin of jute plant). The duty imposed is in the range of USD 6.3 per tonne to USD 351.7 per tonne. The Indian Jute Mills Association has filed an application for initiation of anti-circumvention investigation concerning import of the product exported from Bangladesh. It has requested for extension of the existing anti-dumping duties on the imports, alleging circumvention of the duty. Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of the World Trade Organization. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Accusing the Congress of insulting institutions, including Parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces, when it was in power, Prime Minster Narendra Modi Wednesday urged people to think wisely before casting their vote in the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11. His government has changed things as it puts institutions above everything else, the prime minister said in a blog post. "As you go to vote - remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now," Modi wrote. "Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way." "Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct," he said, taking a dig at the principal opposition party. India has seen that whenever dynastic has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating, he said. Referring to parliamentary proceedings, he said, "The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party [has a] higher number, its tendency to work more is visible ... which were the forces disrupting the House and why." Discussing the freedom of expression, the prime minister alleged that dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. "No wonder, the very first constitutional amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent," Modi wrote. He pointed out that the UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. "A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail ... the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power," he said. Modi said he wants to tell the Congress that "no amount of intimidation" will change the ground realities. "Curbing freedom of expression will not change people's poor impression of the party." Referring to Emergency, he said it was imposed to "safeguard" the interests of a "dynasty". "The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed," he wrote. Referring to the judiciary, he alleged that Congress' contempt for courts "is anyway legendary". "It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a 'committed judiciary', which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution," he claimed. This pursuit of a committed judiciary, Modi said, made Congress overlook several respected judges while appointing the chief justice of India. "Congress' modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge," he said apparently referring to moves to impeach then CJI Dipak Misra. He said from CAG to the erstwhile Planning Commission, Congress never respected institutions. "In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr Manmohan Singh, 'A bunch of jokers'," he said. The CBI, he alleged, became the Congress Bureau of Investigation and was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. "A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference," he said. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi tearing a copy of an ordinance which sought to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on immediate disqualification of a lawmaker upon conviction. "The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?" he asked. Referring to defence preparedness, Modi alleged the Congress has always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved. "After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family." "When a top Congress leader calls the Army chief a 'gunda' and is subsequently promoted in the party rank and file, it shows their scant regard for the forces," he wrote. Continuing his attack, he said, "When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing 'Khoon Ki Dalali.' When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too." In an opaque reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra's appearance before investigating agencies, he said, "The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply." He also accused the Congress of lacking "internal democracy", saying if a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out. Modi said, in 2014, the people voted for honesty over dynasty, development over decay, security over stagnation, opportunities over obstacles and vikas (development) over vote-bank Modi's attack against the Congress came on a day its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused him of undermining every institution in the country. "The prime minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part," Priyanka Gandhi told reporters in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress seems to be finding it difficult to choose a suitable candidate for Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency that has remained a BJP bastion for long, with several probables including former Minister Ramalinga Reddy declining to contest. According to Congress sources, along with Reddy, his daughter and Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, former MLA Priya Krishna and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda, who were approached to contest the polls from Bangalore South, have declined the offer. Former Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who died last year, represented Bangalore South after defeating IT czar Nandan Nilekani in the 2014 Parliament polls. "Initially I wanted to become corporator and to become Mayor, but when I was corporator for the first time, I got assembly ticket and went on to become MLA and then Minister, but I never wished to become a parliamentarian, so I'm not contesting," Ramalinga Reddy told reporters when asked about contesting Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore South. Stating that he was approached by the party, he said, "as I had never thought about going to Parliament, I said I will not contest." "There are good and eligible people who are seeking ticket like MLC K Govindaraju and Krishnappa," Reddy said. "At some places there will be a fight for ticket with more aspirants, at some places there will be some (trouble), but we have two to three candidates, we will decide among them," he said. Reddy said his daughter also declined as she recently got elected as an MLA for the first time. Internal party issues is said to be one of the reasons for Reddy, a seven-time legislator, who has considerable influence in Bangalore South, for declining to contest the polls. Reddy, who had openly expressed his disgruntlement with party leadership over not being inducted into the coalition cabinet, is also said to be upset over Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is from neighboring Tumkur, being made Minister in-charge of Bengaluru city and related affairs, despite seniors MLAs like him from the city. Sources said it is difficult for the party to breach the BJP bastion of Bangalore South this time too, with so many issues within the party and capable leaders like Reddy, who can challenge the saffron party declining to contest. Tejaswini Ananth Kumar is likely to be the BJP candidate from Bangalore South, the Lok Sabha constituency that her late husband and former Union Minister Ananth Kumar had represented six times. Party's local leaders have unanimously endorsed Tejaswini Ananth Kumar's name as the candidate from Bangalore South to party high command, which is likely to announce the list of candidates any time. Ananth Kumar was a tall BJP leader from Karnataka, and was serving as Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister when he died at the age of 59 in November last year. Kumar first got elected to Lok Sabha in 1996 from Bangalore South, the constituency, which remained his bastion till his death. Active in public life through not-for-profit organisation Adamya Chetana, Tejaswini had worked as a scientist at Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) between 1993-1997 and also on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA - Tejas) project. During her student days, she was very active in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and has also served as its State Joint Secretary and National executive member. Bangalore South has eight assembly segments, with BJP holding five and Congress three after 2018 assembly polls. True to its cosmopolitan nature, the constituency has considerable share of Brahmin, Vokkaliga and Muslim voters and a mix of upper and middle class voters. While Tejaswini is a Brahmin, Congress is said to be looking for a Vokkaliga candidate as the community accounts for 30 per cent of electorate there. The grand old party is also looking for alliance partner JD(S), largely seen as a Vokkaliga party, to transfer its votes to Congress candidate. Bangalore South that was under the erstwhile Janata Party after the 1980 and 1984 general elections, for a short stint came under Congress with former Chief Minister Gundu Rao as MP after the 1989 polls. Then from 1991-2014 in successive parliament elections, BJP has held the seat, mostly with Ananth Kumar as MP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu and Kashmir BJP Wednesday alleged that the Congress had conceded to the National Conference's (NC) pro-separatist agenda after the two parties announced a pre-poll alliance in the state. The Congress and the NC finalised arrangements for the six Lok Sabha seats of the state earlier in the day. "The NC-Congress alliance is an eye wash and a wake up call for Jammu," BJP spokesperson Brig (retd) Anil Gupta told reporters. "The Congress has not only surrendered to the National Conference but also conceded to the pro-separatist, Kashmir-centric, communal and divisive agenda of that party," he said. He added that the "opportunistic" alliance was aimed at promoting "Kashmiri hegemony". With the NC insisting on contesting from all the three seats in Kashmir, the party's couldn't-care-less attitude towards Jammu is obvious, Gupta said. The BJP spokesperson claimed the Congress, like the NC, will oppose granting citizenship to West Pakistan refugees and inheritance rights to the state's daughters. The Congress-NC combine will put an end to anti terror operations and revive the over ground terror support network, Gupta alleged. "They will revoke the ban on Jammat-e-Islami Kashmir and promote radicalisation in Kashmir. They will ensure that Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims are given permanent residence so that the demography of the region is changed and Jammu also becomes insecure like the Valley," he warned. People of Jammu will do a great disservice to their future generations if they vote for the communal and divisive agenda of the NC-Congress alliance, Gupta said. It would not be surprising if the Peoples Democratic Party also joins hands with them to further marginalise the voice of Jammu, he said. While the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the NC will fight from Srinagar, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said at a joint press conference here with NC president Omar Abdullah. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a sharp attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday accused it of insulting key institutions like Parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces when it was in power and also targeted the party over what he called "dynastic politics". The Congress has been mounting a relentless attack on Modi, alleging that his government has been systematically damaging various institutions. Modi's comments are seen as a counter to the charges on the principal opposition party. In a blog post, Modi also urged people to think wisely before casting their vote in the Lok Sabha polls even as he referred to Emergency and instances of imposition of President's Rule in various states by Congress governments at the Centre. Asked to react to Modi's attack, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told reporters in Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh: "The PM has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part." In his blog post, Modi said one family's desire for power cost the nation dearly and that people should remember this while casting their votes. "As you go to vote - remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now," Modi wrote. "Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way," Modi wrote. "Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct," he added. Reacting to his "dynastic politics" jibe directed at the Gandhi family, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the PM himself comes from the Sangh Parivar without whose blessings no one in the country can occupy any public position. "No one in the BJP can occupy any public position without the support of the RSS. The Sangh Parivar is the biggest parivar in the world. Without their blessings no one can hold any public position in the country, be it the position of a PM, a minister, governor or chief ministers," Sibal told PTI. Modi said India has seen that whenever dynastic has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating. Referring to parliamentary proceedings, he said, "The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party [has a] higher number, its tendency to work more is visible ... which were the forces disrupting the House and why." Discussing the freedom of expression, the prime minister alleged that dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. "No wonder, the very first constitutional amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent," Modi wrote. He pointed out that the UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. "A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail ... the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power," he said. Modi said he wants to tell the Congress that "no amount of intimidation" will change the ground realities. "Curbing freedom of expression will not change people's poor impression of the party." Referring to Emergency, he said it was imposed to "safeguard" the interests of a "dynasty". "The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed," he wrote. Referring to the judiciary, he alleged that Congress' contempt for courts "is anyway legendary". "It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a 'committed judiciary', which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution," he claimed. This pursuit of a committed judiciary, Modi said, made Congress overlook several respected judges while appointing the chief justice of India. "Congress' modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge," he said apparently referring to moves to impeach then CJI Dipak Misra. He said from CAG to the erstwhile Planning Commission, Congress never respected institutions. "In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr Manmohan Singh, 'A bunch of jokers'," he said. The CBI, he alleged, became the Congress Bureau of Investigation and was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. "A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference," he said, in a reference to Rahul Gandhi tearing a copy of an ordinance which sought to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on immediate disqualification of a lawmaker upon conviction. Referring to defence preparedness, Modi alleged, "After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than three years after it was discontinued for publishing an unflattering article critical of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi, Hindi language monthly "Congress Darshan" has hit the stands again, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In its cover story, the 60-page magazine has welcomed the formal political foray of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sister of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. It also praises the first prime minister for his "immense contribution" to the nation building as well as to the Kashmir cause. The monthly is not a formal publication of the Congress. The journal was taken out of circulation after an unattributed article published in December, 2015, blamed Nehru for the Kashmir and China problems, and accused him of ignoring the counsel of his colleague Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on international affairs. That article had also published some objectionable remarks on the then party president Sonia Gandhi. After a controversy, the then content editor was sacked, and Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam tendered an unconditional apology. In the latest issue, the monthly has slammed Narendra Modi-led NDA government for "politicising" the valour of armed forces for deriving "political benefits". Magazine founding editor Kripashankar Tiwari said the periodical was neither a party journal nor a party publication. "'Congress Darshan' is neither a party journal nor a party publication. It does not get funding from the party, still it primarily focuses on the expansion of party's philosophy. It had to be closed due to some controversy, but that days are over and we are back," Tiwari told PTI. Tiwari said they have learned from the past mistakes and have "reshaped" the editorial staff. "We are confident now that such controversy will not happen again," he said. The magazine was first launched on December 9, 2003 by Sonia Gandhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb Wednesday came down heavily on the Congress, dubbing it as a party of "traitors" whose leaders come to the state only to "eat the fruits of success". Deb also alleged that there existed an "unholy nexus" between the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the Centre, due to which the Left Front government managed to be in power for 25 years in Tripura. Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers meeting at Pratapgarh here, Deb said, "They (Congress) are traitors. Nobody from the party earlier came to Tripura-- Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh." "After we freed the state from the Communists with support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, why are they coming here? They are a band of Satans. They have come to eat the fruits of success," he added. The chief minister was referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's visit to Khumulwng near Agartala, where he had earlier in the day addressed a public rally. Dubbing the Congress as "anti Tripura", Deb asserted that people would reject its call to overthrow the Modi government in the Lok Sabha polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Copper prices were down 0.17 per cent to Rs 447.05 per kg Wednesday as speculators cut down their holdings amid a weak trend overseas. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, copper for delivery in April was trading lower by 75 paise, or 0.17 per cent, to Rs 447.05 per kg in a business turnover of 1,632 lots. Analysts said a weak trend in most industrial metals on the London Metal Exchange (LME), as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve rate meeting later in the day, kept pressure on copper prices at futures trade here. Globally, three-month copper fell 0.2 per cent to USD 6,446 per tonne at the LME, while at the Shanghai Futures Exchange it eased 0.1 per cent to 49,200 yuan (USD 738.63) per tonne Wednesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aid workers rushed to rescue victims clinging to trees and crammed on rooftops Tuesday after a cyclone unleashed devastating floods in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 350 people were confirmed dead, hundreds were missing and thousands more were at risk. In Mozambique, the rapidly rising floodwaters created "an inland ocean," endangering tens of thousands of families, aid workers said as they scrambled to rescue survivors and airdrop, food, water and blankets to survivors of Cyclone Idai. "This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's recent history," said Jamie LeSueur, head of response efforts for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi said late Tuesday more than 200 people had been confirmed dead in his country. Earlier he said the death toll could reach 1,000. At least 400,000 people were left homeless. In Zimbabwe's eastern mountain areas bordering Mozambique, residents struggled to cope with the disaster. "There was a house there, it was buried and the owners may have been buried with it. They are missing," said Zacharia Chinyai of the Zimbabwean border town of Chimanimani, who lost 12 relatives in the disaster. The cyclone took residents by surprise, Chinyai said. "We heard on the radio" about the flooding in neighboring Mozambique, he said. "But we never thought we could also be victims. ... No one told us it was going to be this devastating." Chipo Dhliwayo lost her daughters, 4-year-old Anita and 8-year-old Amanda. "I wasn't able to save anything except this baby," she said of her lone surviving child, a 6-month-old son, who suffered an eye injury and scars to his face. The family was sleeping when theit house collapsed, the 30-year-old said. "Trees, rocks and mud were raining on us. I grabbed my son, my husband took Anita and we ran to a hut, but that also collapsed. Anita died there," she said. Amanda was trapped in the rubble of their house and her body was not found until the next day. "I knew she was already dead. I cried the whole night," Dhliwayo said. "I lost so much that I wish I had just died." The cyclone created southern Africa's most destructive flooding in 20 years, said emergency workers. Heavy rains were expected to continue through Thursday. Mozambique's Pungue and Buzi rivers overflowed, creating "inland oceans extending for miles and miles in all directions," said Herve Verhoosel of the World Food Program. "This is a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour," Verhoosel said. He said people were "crammed on rooftops and elevated patches of land." "People visible from the air may be the lucky ones and the top priority now is to rescue as many as possible," he said. Many areas remained impassible. With key roads washed away, aid groups were trying to get badly needed food, medicine and fuel into the hard-hit city of Beira, on Mozambique's coast, by air and by sea. "It's dire," Caroline Haga of the Red Cross told The Associated Press from Beira, a city of 500,000. "We did an aerial surveillance yesterday and saw people on rooftops and in tree branches. The waters are still rising and we are desperately trying to save as many as possible." Satellite images were helping the rescue teams target the most critical areas, Haga said. Rescue operations were based at Beira airport, one of the few places in the city with working communications. The waters flooded a swath of land more than 150 square miles (290 square kilometers) in central Mozambique, according to the European Union's global observation program, which was mapping the crisis, putting more than 100,000 people at risk. "The full horror, the full impact is only going to emerge over coming days,"Red Cross spokesman Matthew Cochrane told reporters in Geneva. Thousands of homes were destroyed in Beira, and the city and surrounding areas were without power and nearly all communication lines were destroyed. Beira's main hospital was badly damaged, and in large areas flood waters completely covered homes, telephone poles and trees, the Red Cross said. Beira could face a "serious fuel shortage" in coming days, the WFP said, and its power grid was expected to be non-functional through the end of the month. In Zimbabwe the death toll was 98 but expected to rise, a local government minister, July Moyo, said. "I fled naked," said Tecla Chagwiza, whose home in Chimanimani was destroyed, "I only received clothes in the morning from well-wishers who are also helping me with food." Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in the flooded area on Tuesday and was expected to fly by helicopter to disaster sites on Wednesday. He said the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Angola, were offering aid. Malawi's government confirmed 56 deaths, three missing and 577 injured in the flooding, which caused rivers to burst their banks, leaving many houses submerged and around 11,000 households displaced in the southern district of Nsanje. The United Nations allocated $20 million from its emergency response fund to ramp up the humanitarian response in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court Wednesday sentenced five Uttar Pradesh policemen to 10-year jail term for custodial death of a 26-year-old man, saying any lenient view by way of a meagre sentence will be against the societal interest. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra awarded the jail term to Sub Inspectors (SIs) Hindveer Singh and Mahesh Mishra and Constables Pradeep Kumar, Pushpender Kumar and Haripal Singh for abducting the victim, Sonu, making incorrect entries in the General Diary to mislead evidence and torturing him which lead to his death in 2006. "Any lenient view by imposing meagre sentence or taking too sympathetic view will be result wise counter productive in the long run and against the societal interest which needs to be cared for and strengthened by string of deterrence in built in the sentencing system. "The court cannot lose sight of the fact that a precious human life has been lost while the deceased was in the police custody without any evidence or reasonable suspicion against him and therefore under these circumstances, keeping in view the submissions and gravity of offence...convicts are sentenced with 10 years rigorous imprisonment," the court said. It also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 each on them. Besides, the court sentenced a middleman, Kunwar Pal Singh, who connived with the convicts in abducting Sonu, to three years in jail with a fine of Rs 5,000. The court also directed convicts Singh and Mishra to pay Rs 5 lakh each in compensation; Pushpender and Haripal to pay Rs 2 lakh each and Pal to pay a Rs 1 lakh to the father of the victim. The court had while convicting them said that one of the reasons for custodial death was that the police were confident that they will not be held accountable even if the victim dies in the custody and the truth revealed. It had convicted the five police officials for the offences under sections 365 (abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 220 (confinement by person having authority who knows he is acting contrary to law) 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (criminal acts done by several persons with a common intention) of the IPC. It had held Pal guilty of offences of kidnapping and conniving with the other accused. Sonu was apprehended on the suspicion of being involved in a robbery. The court had earlier directed DGP of Uttar Pradesh Police to take appropriate action for prosecution as well as for disciplinary proceedings against Inspector Deepak Chaturvedi and Constable Manoj Kumar, who were posted as Station Officer and GD writer respectively on that day for their connivance with accused persons in recording wrong entries in the GD Register and for causing disappearance of evidence. The Supreme Court had transferred the case from a sessions court in Uttar Pradesh to a court in Delhi and observed that the manner in which the investigation was conducted after registration of the case unmistakably showed that free and fair trial would not be possible within the state as the accused were members of the police force. "It has been duly proved beyond reasonable doubt that the five accused policemen... in connivance with Kunwar Pal Singh (middleman) and in furtherance of their common intention abducted Sonu from his native village Hazrat Pur (in Uttar Pradesh) and maliciously confined him till he was declared dead knowingly that by confining him illegally they were acting contrary to law as they were apprehending his involvement in a robbery case without any evidence or reasonable suspicion against him," the Sessions Court had said. "Not only this, they tortured Sonu while he was in their custody knowingly that by such beatings/torture they are likely to cause his death. Further, in order to claim a false defence that they lodged Sonu in hale and hearty condition, they in collusion with their colleagues got prepared an incorrect general diary," the court had said. It had acquitted SI Vinod Pandey, one of the accused, of all charges due to lack of evidence against him. According to complaint lodged by the father of the deceased, in September 2006, Kunwar Pal, who worked as a property dealer with his son, came to his house with five police officials in civil dress. Pal had told Sonu that the five persons accompanying him had come to purchase a land and asked him to show the property to them. On that pretext they took him in a car. The complaint further claimed that he was taken to a police station on the false implication of a robbery case where he was tortured by the officers. Sonu's father claimed that his son was murdered by the police after being tortured and they had given it colour of suicide. During the trial, all the accused denied the charges levelled against them. The medical report of Sonu showed that there were contusions on the back of his abdomen and elbow and abrasions on his knee and shoulder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For nearly 12 years, Mohammad Jawid waited for a verdict that could give justice to his brother and his family, who lost their lives in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast. But after a court let off four accused, including Swami Aseemanand, in the case on Wednesday, Jawid was distraught. Besides his brother, Shabbir, sister-in-law Sameena and their three sons -- Shahbaz, Shahreyar, Shahroz -- and daughter Misbah, Jawid lost five more relatives in the blast. "We did not get the justice. The real culprits are still out. This is not a right verdict," the 37-year-old told PTI over the phone from Gaya. Jawid said his mother died in 2008 due to the shock. Recalling the incident, Jawid said the blast occurred in the night, but they only got to know about it in the morning. He reminisced about the time he spent with his brother and his family in the national capital. Jawid had two brothers and three sisters. His brother, Shabbir, aged 40 at the time of his death, had moved to Pakistan to stay with his relatives while he was a child. He would come to India to be with his parents in Gaya. "But due to tensions between India and Pakistan, his visits dropped. However, after the death of my father, he visited India. The visit was also 17 years after his marriage," he said. After spending time with his mother and siblings in India for a month, Shabbir, his family of five and five more relatives left for Pakistan by taking the Samhjauta Express when the blast occurred. Jawid said he also did not get compensation of Rs 10 lakh announced by the Centre as the DNA samples between Shabbir and his family did not match. "We also contested this in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, but the judgement went against us. We went to the railways tribunal, but even they rejected our claim stating that my mother, the immediate kin of the deceased, was also dead," he added. A special court in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others on Wednesday in the Samjhauta train blast case that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. The blast took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For nearly 12 years, Mohammad Jawid waited for a verdict that could give justice to his brother and his family, who lost their lives in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast. But after a court let off the four accused, including Swami Aseemanand, in the case on Wednesday, Jawid was left distraught. Besides his brother, Shabbir, sister-in-law Sameena and their three sons -- Shahbaz, Shahreyar, Shahroz -- and daughter Misbah, Jawid lost five more relatives in the blast. "We did not get the justice. The real culprits are still out. This is not a right verdict," the 37-year-old told PTI over the phone from Gaya. Jawid said his mother died in 2008 due to the shock. Recalling the incident, Jawid said the blast occurred in the night, but they only got to know about it in the morning. He reminisced about the time he spent with his brother and his family in the national capital. Jawid had two brothers and three sisters. His brother, Shabbir, aged 40 at the time of his death, had moved to Pakistan to stay with his relatives while he was a child. He would come to India to be with his parents in Gaya. "But due to tensions between India and Pakistan, his visits dropped. However, after the death of my father, he visited India. The visit was also 17 years after his marriage," he said. After spending time with his mother and siblings in India for a month, Shabbir, his family of five and five more relatives left for Pakistan by taking the Samhjauta Express when the blast occurred. Jawid said he also did not get compensation of Rs 10 lakh announced by the Centre as the DNA samples between Shabbir and his family did not match. "We also contested this in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, but the judgement went against us. We went to the railways tribunal, but even they rejected our claim stating that my mother, the immediate kin of the deceased, was also dead," he added. A special court in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others on Wednesday in the Samjhauta train blast case that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. The blast took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. Jawaid said he will discuss the judgement with Ashok Randhawa, who has been helping him and other victims of the Samjhauta blast case, to determine the next course of action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) - In many countries it is a common sight, but when musicians began playing their instruments at a Dubai metro station, surprised commuters stopped to take photos of the rare performances. The emirate is known among its residents for its pristine streets and impeccably clean metro stations -- where commuters can be fined for chewing gum, or even drinking water, on a train. Khadija played her guitar, as passersby listened intently. She was performing as part of the week-long Dubai Metro Music Festival taking place across five stations. "I am very happy because they chose me, and I am proud to be an Emirati doing this here," the 19-year-old told AFP. "I am excited to perform for the public and grab their attention," she said, as her friend stood by nodding in encouragement. Khadija played the guitar continuously and only took her eyes off her fingers once to readjust her thin black veil. Twenty-five musicians from different countries -- including Portugal, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon -- are participating in the festival that ends on Saturday. While some musicians were playing traditional instruments, others were using more creative methods, such as glass and old typewriters. The metro in Dubai -- home to three million people, most of whom are expatriates -- was launched in 2009. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dutch police said they were investigating a terrorist motive for the Utrecht tram attack, as they arrested a new suspect over the deadly shooting. Authorities said they had found a suspicious letter in a getaway car used by Turkish-born main suspect Gokmen Tanis, 37, which made them "seriously" consider terrorism might have been involved in Monday's rampage in which three people were killed and seven injured. Armed counter-terrorism officers meanwhile arrested one new suspect, aged 40, in Utrecht on Tuesday who was "suspected of being involved in the shooting incident", prosecutors said, adding that his "role was being further investigated." Two other men who were arrested Monday in connection with the shooting had been released, prosecutors added. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte earlier in the day laid flowers for the victims at the scene of the attack and said he was "still filled with horror" by the bloodshed. "So far, a terrorist motive is seriously being taken into account. This is based on a letter found in the getaway car among other things and the nature of the facts," Dutch police and prosecutors said in a joint statement. Apparently ruling out reports that the shooting was due to a family dispute, the statement added: "Our investigation has established no link between the main suspect and the victims." The three people who died in the shooting were a 19-year-old woman from Vianen, south of Utrecht, and two men aged 28 and 49 from Utrecht itself, the statement said. Armed police captured Tanis after an eight-hour manhunt that virtually shut down the Netherlands' fourth largest city and saw security stepped up at airports and key sites across the country. Police said they found a red Renault Clio that the suspect had carjacked before the attack and used as a getaway car afterwards. They had also found a firearm after his arrest. Tanis is expected to appear before a judge later this week in a closed-door hearing after which he most likely will be remanded in custody. A stream of mourners laid flowers on Tuesday at the site of the attack near the 24 Oktoberplein square. "One of the victims was my friend's girlfriend. So coming here today was the least I could do," Marco van Rooijen, 43, told AFP. The attack raised security fears ahead of Wednesday's provincial elections in the Netherlands. Populist and far-right parties have seized on the attack to push their agenda for the polls but Rutte has remained restrained. "A day later, I am still filled with horror," Rutte told parliament. "There are still many questions about the motive, and the police and prosecutors still have to do a lot of work. But there is no doubt that the impact was huge." Flags were flying half-mast on many buildings around the Netherlands and on foreign embassies. Public transport was running again after forensic police finished their investigations at the scene and removed the tram on which the shooting erupted. But there was also growing anger after it emerged that the suspect had only been freed from jail in a rape case two weeks ago. Tanis was originally arrested in 2017 then released from pre-trial detention, before being taken back into custody when he breached his bail conditions, the central Netherlands district court said. He was freed again at the start of March. In 2014, he was also convicted of "illegal possession of weapons" and attempted theft but acquitted of attempted manslaughter. He was also convicted in recent months for shoplifting and burglary. Broadcaster NOS meanwhile said some of his relatives had links to fundamentalist Islamic groups, but also that he was known for unstable behaviour after divorcing his wife two years ago. A woman involved in the rape case told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper: "He is completely mad and uses drugs. I have previously warned the police against him. He's not a terrorist but a psychopath." Support for the Netherlands poured in from around the world, including the United States, the EU and Russia. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "America stands with you. We will continue to do all we can to help you in this terrible time of tragedy." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's intelligence agency was "looking into" the attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dutch voters on Wednesday headed to provincial polls billed by the opposition as a referendum on Prime Minister Mark Rutte, after a campaign overshadowed by a deadly attack on a tram. Hardline right-wing parties pushed the issue of integration to the forefront as the country reeled from Monday's shooting in the city of Utrecht for which a Turkish-born man and one other person have been arrested. Rutte's coalition, led by his centre-right VVD party, looks set to lose its one-seat majority in the upper house of parliament, according to final opinion polls. That would leave it needing "kingmaker" parties to push through new laws. The ballot, in which 13 million people are eligible to vote, will be widely watched abroad as a bellwether for European Parliament elections in May in which populist parties are expected to make broad gains. The leaders of the 13 main parties on the fractured political scene had all cast their votes, including Rutte. Following the Utrecht attack, almost all parties halted campaigning for the elections - which are for provincial bodies but determine the composition of the Dutch senate or upper house of parliament. Only the populist, anti-EU Forum for Democracy (FvD), led by Thierry Baudet, continued with a rally in The Hague's seaside suburb of Scheveningen, which drew sharp criticism from lawmakers. The young and telegenic Baudet accused Rutte's government of "naive" immigration policies and told the crowd that a "change of course is needed, otherwise this is going to happen more often in the Netherlands". The head of Dutch socialist party has called the vote a "Rutte referendum", although Rutte has said he will not step down if his coalition loses its majority and therefore needs help to drive through laws. Rutte has been in power for eight years, and after playing a key role in Brexit negotiations has been widely tipped to take up a top EU post in Brussels when the current set-up led by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker steps down later this year. Dutch newspapers predicted that GroenLinks -- the leftist ecological party led by Jesse Klaver, a politician best known abroad for his strong resemblance to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- was set to make gains and become a potential senate kingmaker. Meanwhile, Baudet's party could threaten the anti-Islam Freedom Party of bleached blonde far-right leader Geert Wilders, which has traditionally attracted hardliners in the Netherlands. But in a development that would be watched with alarm across Europe ahead of the European elections, the two hardline Dutch parties could together form the second biggest block in the senate. The Utrecht attack, which claimed the lives of three people, and the arrest of the Turkish suspect proved the perfect fodder for both parties. Baudet's refusal to stop campaigning on Monday drew bitter condemnation from various MPs including Rob Jetten, leader of the left-leaning progressive D66 party -- a partner in Rutte's coalition -- calling the action "disgusting." Baudet, known for his controversial statements such as "women in general excel less in jobs and have less ambition", defended his actions, telling reporters that "many of the reactions seemed a bit put-on and don't seem genuine". Often seen as relatively minor compared to elections for the lower house of parliament, which last took place in 2017, the Dutch provincial elections are still significant. Voters can elect some 570 representatives to the country's 12 provinces, who will in turn decide on May 27 who sits in the 75-seat upper house. Previously seen as something of a rubber-stamp body, the Senate in recent years has become a political battleground as it has the final say whether to pass laws formulated by MPs in the lower house. Polls say Rutte's coalition partners -- D66 and the Christian Democrats (CDA) -- could drop as many as 10 seats. Losing the majority would mean the coalition having to find other opposition partners to get laws passed, opening the door to potential kingmaker roles. Turnout for provincial polls is traditionally low, standing at 56 per cent in 2011 and almost 48 per cent in 2015 as opposed to national elections in 2017, with a turnout of 82 per cent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday appeared before the anti-corruption body and recorded their statements in a graft case. They appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office here in connection with an alleged loan obtained by the Park Lane Estate Company, a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal, Dawn reported. The NAB has claimed in the case that a piece of land belonging to the Punjab forest department was illegally transferred to the company by some government officials. The anti-corruption body launched an inquiry against the company and the officials. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal later addressed his party workers and media, saying it was PPP's "weakness" and "mistake" to not amend the NAB's "black law". He, however, did not elaborate on the "black law". "This was our mistake, this was our weakness that we did not change this black law which was introduced by a dictator," he said, referring to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Bilawal said that the party will "wipe the Constitution" of every law that had been introduced by the "dictator". There was tight security ahead of their arrival at the NAB office. Some PPP workers clashed with the police, leading to a delay in their arrival at the NAB office. The workers were asked by the party leadership to reach the capital in order to "express solidarity" with the chairperson. Additional security personnel were also deployed to avoid any untoward incident. Prior to Bilawal and Zardari's arrival, the roads leading to the NAB office were blocked. Earlier, the two leaders met with their legal team at Zardari House. On Tuesday, Zardari obtained a 10-day protective bail from the Sindh High Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday it was unlikely the EU would reach any decision on Brexit at this week's summit, adding that another gathering in Brussels may be necessary next week. With just nine days left until Britain's scheduled exit from the EU, Juncker told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the remaining 27 members states' hands were tied until the political indecision in London was resolved. "As long as we don't know what Britain could say yes to, no decision can be taken on our side either," he said. The BBC, citing a Downing Street official, reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May would ask Brussels on Wednesday for a short delay to Brexit to buy her time to get a plan for the way forward through parliament. Exasperated European leaders are demanding London tell them clearly what it wants, warning that the risk remains that Britain could crash out of the bloc on March 29, ending its 46-year membership without formal arrangements. Juncker insisted that the deal negotiated over two years with Brussels was the remaining members states' final offer. "Nothing more can be done, we've reached the end of the road," he said. "If other scenarios are being discussed, we'd need a new road." Juncker said May needed to present Brussels with an agreement approved by parliament as well as "a clear timetable". Given that this was unlikely before the summit's start on Thursday, "we will probably need to meet again next week". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The extradition process against absconding diamond jeweller has begun in Antigua, official sources said Wednesday. They said Indian investigative agencies like the (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have sent across documents to authorities in that country to peruse and send back Choksi to India, accused in the USD 2 billion PNB fraud case along with his nephew Nirav Modi and others. Nirav Modi was arrested by the London police on Tuesday as part of a similar extradition request India sent against him to the United Kingdom authorities. The extradition process against Choksi is on and we are hopeful of a positive response from the authorities of Antigua and Barbuda, they said. The legal processes are on and the probe agencies are looking forward to the next intimation by the authorities of that country, they added. Choksi took Antiguan citizenship last year after he surrendered his Indian passport. In August last year, India handed over Antigua a request for Choksi's extradition. The businessman, who left India last year, is wanted by the CBI and the ED, which are probing the PNB fraud case, the biggest banking scam in the country. A fire broke out in a restaurant-cum-bar here on Wednesday, but it was doused on time, police said. No loss of life was reported, but two security personnel, who fell unconscious, at the outlet were rescued, Chief Fire Officer Jagdish Prasad Phulwari said. The fire broke out at around 3 am on the fourth floor of the restro-bar near Sahakar Marg. Fifteen fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze, the officer said. The fire apparently broke out due to a short circuit, the officer added. A case was registered against the owner of the building in which the outlet is situated, police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French authorities have again indicted Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov for tax fraud after he allegedly used middlemen to buy luxury villas in southern France, the Nice prosecutor said Wednesday. "Mr. Kerimov was interviewed yesterday and charged with complicity to engage in aggravated tax fraud," Jean-Michel Pretre said, adding that the billionaire had been released on a 20-million euro (USD 22.6 million) bail. Judicial authorities last June had dropped the charges after his defence team said they had convinced the court the allegations against Kerimov did not qualify as money-laundering. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) France warned Wednesday it was prepared to vote against Britain's demand for an extension to its Brexit deadline unless Prime Minister Theresa May presents a credible strategy to fellow leaders. May asked her EU partners on Wednesday to extend the deadline for Brexit from March 29 to June 30 to give herself more time to find a path through the political deadlock in London. But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that France could vote against the request when EU leaders meet in Brussels this week, reflecting growing exasperation in Paris and a desire to prevent the process from being dragged out. "A situation in which Mrs May is unable to deliver sufficient guarantees on the credibility of her strategy at the European Council meeting would lead to the request being refused and a preference for a no deal," Le Drian told parliament. A "no deal" exit -- in which Britain crashes out of the bloc without an agreement with its main trading partners -- is seen by analysts as likely to have a severe impact on businesses and investors. But British MPs have twice voted against the Brexit deal that May negotiated with the 27 other members of the bloc, and it is unclear if they will be able to vote for a third time on the agreement. "In the absence of a vote approving the withdrawal agreement, the main scenario is a 'no deal' exit," Le Drian said. "We are ready." All 27 EU members have to vote in favour of an extension to the Brexit deadline, in effect giving any member state a veto in the process. Le Drian set three conditions for an extension. Firstly, that it would be given only in order for British lawmakers to approve May's Brexit deal; secondly, that May should not seek to renegotiate the deal; and thirdly, that Britain should not participate in European Parliament elections on May 23-26. The latter point reflects concern about the consequences of Britain remaining an EU member when the elections take place, which would lead to major practical and legal complications. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gemma Chan has reflected upon her colourblind casting as Bess of Hardwick in 2018's "Mary Queen of Scots" and the actor believes "art should reflect life now". The actor said her bid as British monarch Queen Elizabeth I adviser, a Caucasian woman, in the Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie-fronted film generated some controversy among social media trolls. Colourblind or nontraditional casting is defined as the casting of ethnic minority actors in roles where race, ethnicity, or gender is not germane. "Why are actors of colour, who have fewer opportunities anyway, only allowed to play their own race? And sometimes they're not even allowed to play their own race. "In the past, the role would be given to a white actor who would tape up their eyes and do the role in yellowface. John Wayne played Genghis Khan. If John Wayne can play Genghis Khan, I can play Bess of Hardwick," the actor told Allure magazine in an interview. Chan, who is also a stage actor, talked about theatre's impact on diversifying casts for historical stories set in Europe or North America, which traditionally and predominately highlight white characters. "I feel like 'Hamilton' opened minds a lot. We have a black man playing George Washington. They describe it as 'America then, told by America now.' And I think our art should reflect life now," she said. The colourblind casting in the period drama was spearheaded by filmmaker Josie Rourke, a film and theatre director who previously headed up the all-female production of Julius Caesar at London's Donmar Warehouse in 2012. Rourke, in an interview last December, said that her casting choices on the film stemmed from her theatre experience, where colourblind casting is far more common than in Hollywood. Besides Chan, Adrian Derrick-Palmer portrayed English courier George Dalgleish and Ismael Cruz-Cordova played David Rizzio, the secretary to Mary in the film. Chan's recent cinematic outing was "Captain Marvel" in which she played the blue-skinned Kree alien race sniper Min-Nerva. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government plans to provide unused airport slots of to other domestic airlines on an interim basis, a senior official said Wednesday, amid efforts to minimise flight disruptions. Cash-strapped Jet Airways, which is looking to raise fresh funds, has grounded at least 47 planes due to non-payment of lease rentals. Besides, many aircraft are on the ground due to other reasons. Against this backdrop, the civil aviation ministry officials on Wednesday held a meeting with representatives of various domestic airlines. Civil Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola said the ministry would discuss with about its requirements, including how many slots are being used. As an "interim arrangement", the unused slots of at congested airports would be given for operations to other domestic airlines, he said. Among others, representatives of Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo attended the meeting on Wednesday. According to Kharola, domestic carriers would add around 20-25 more planes in by April end. Augmentation of fleet and utilisation of existing planes were among the issues discussed during the meeting. "Our concern is about operations (of flights), safety and comfort of passengers," Kharola told reporters. The Defence Ministry Thursday gave in-principle approval to certain changes in the norms for selection of shipyards for construction of warships and submarines for the Indian Navy, official sources said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the defence ministry's highest decision making body on procurement. Last year, the government approved induction of 56 warships and submarines for the Indian Navy. The procurement process for some of the ships and submarines will be initiated soon. Sources said the DAC also examined a proposal for procurement of weapons and military hardware worth Rs 2,355 crore, and gave an in-principle clearance to them. The projects which were given go ahead include procurement of weapons and fire control systems for a number of warships of the Indian Navy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat minister Pradipsinh Jadeja Wednesday testified in the Gujarat High Court in an election petition filed by BJP leader Balvantsinh Rajput, challenging the victory of veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel in 2017 Rajya Sabha election. Jadeja, who is the Minister of State for Home, told high court Judge Bela Trivedi that Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil had snatched Congress turncoat Raghavjee Patel's ballot paper after noticing that he had voted for Rajput in August 2017 Rajya Sabha election for three seats in Gujarat. He also told the court that since Congress MLAs Shailesh Parmar and Mitesh Garasiya had showed their ballot papers to persons other than the authorised agents, their ballot papers should have been cancelled, which was not done by the Election Commission (EC). When the defence lawyer asked him during his cross-examination whether seven of the fourteen rebel Congress MLAs were subsequently given tickets from the BJP to contest the December 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections as an incentive for joining the saffron party, he replied in the negative. Jadeja said that as per the decision taken by the party's parliamentary board in consultation with the state parliamentary board, the candidates were selected based on their popularity and other factors. He also said he was not aware that Congress MLA Parmar had given a written complaint against Raghavjee to the returning officer. Ahmed Patel was declared the winner after the EC invalidated the votes of rebel Congress MLAs Bholabhai Gohel and Raghavjee Patel, bringing down the number of votes needed for the victory to 44 from 45. In his election petition, Rajput alleged that Patel had taken Congress MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru before the election, which amounted to "bribing the voters". He also said that the EC should invalidate the votes of two Congress MLAs Parmar and Garasiya. The high court is conducting the trial in the court based on issues framed by it in the matter. Rajput, a former Congress MLA, had quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Rajya Sabha election. He has accused Ahmed Patel of bribing the MLAs to vote in his favour and requested the high court to quash the EC order invalidating the votes cast by the two rebel Congress MLAs. Rajput has also prayed that votes of two other Congress MLAs be declared invalid. The EC's decision to invalidate the votes of Bholabhai Gohel and Raghavji Patel had helped Ahmed Patel get 44 votes, the minimum he needed to win. Rajput had polled 38 votes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana-based Smast Bharatiya Party Wednesday announced its merger with the Congress, saying it supports its secular ideals and ideology. Smast Bharatiya Party chief Sudesh Aggarwal and his wife Neelam announced the merger at a function at the Congress headquarters here. AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Chaudhary and state PCC chief Ashok Tanwar, besides former Haryana Home Minister Subhash Batra were present at the function and welcomed them in the party fold. Hooda said the merger will help strengthen the Congress further and all the leaders in the state would unitedly fight the BJP. Wasnik alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a threat to democracy and the country and proved to be a "dream merchant". People are now realising that he sold "false dreams". Sources said Chaudhary helped initiate the merger of the party with the Congress. Both Chaudhary and Sudesh Aggarwal hails from Bhiwani district. Sudesh was a non-resident Indian and came back to the country in early 2000s. He initially established an NGO and later contested polls but has not won. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court Wednesday refused to quash charges framed against former Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others in the "illegal" telephone exchange case, rapping them for approaching the court for the third time at this stage. Directing the CBI court to complete the proceedings within four months, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said if the petitioners adopt any dilatory tactics, it was open to the trial court to insist upon their presence and remand them in custody as laid down by the Supreme Court. He said the court was convinced that the trial court had fulfilled all the requirements before framing the charges and there was absolutely no ground to interfere with it. Judge R Vasanthi of the XXIV Additional Sessions Court for CBI cases had on January 30 framed the charges against each of the seven accused for offences under the Indian Penal Code -- criminal conspiracy (section 120-B), criminal breach of trust (409) and cheating (420) -- and the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Dayanidhi Maran misused his official position as the then minister for communications and information technology in the UPA I government and got private telephone exchanges installed at his residences here which were used for business transactions of the Sun Network, owned by his brother Kalanithi Maran, during 2004-06. It claimed over 700 high-speed telecommunication lines were installed for which bills were not raised by BSNL, causing the exchequer a loss of Rs 1.78 crore. The Maran brothers and five other accused, who have denied the charges against them in the trial court, in their present petition sought quashing of the charges framed against them, contending that relevant guidelines were not followed by the trial court. Rejecting their plea, Justice Venkatesh said this was the third time the high court was called upon to interfere with the proceedings in the trial court at the stage of framing of charges. If the petitioners were confident that none of the charges against them can be sustained, they must willingly face the trial and get an honourable acquittal, he said. But, they had ensured that the case did not proceed beyond the stage of framing of charges and came up with the same quash plea every time by giving it a different form. The judge said when the prosecution has placed materials before the court prima facie evidencing the truthfulness of the allegations, the trial must be held. The petitioners do not want to face the trial and establish their defence in accordance with law, he said, adding they had consumed sufficient judicial time of this court. Justice Venkatesh said the high court cannot interfere with the proceedings of trial court at each and every step by invoking section 482 of the CrPC. He directed the CBI court to conduct the trial strictly in accordance with with section 309 of the CrPC and the guidelines given by the apex court. Besides the Marans, grandnephews of late DMK president M Karunanidhi, the other accused are former BSNL general manager K Brahmanathan, former deputy general manager M P Velusamy, Dayanidhi Maran's private secretary V Gauthaman and some Sun TV officials. On March 14 last year, the CBI court had discharged all the accused, holding there was no prima facie case against them. But, the Madras High Court had on July 25 quashed the order, holding that there was "heaps" of materials against the Maran brothers and other accused to proceed. The high court order was challenged by Dayanidhi Maran in the Supreme Court which rejected his plea and directed him to face trial in the special court, following which the charges were framed afresh in January this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked self-styled preacher Daati Maharaj to respond to CBI's plea seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to him in a rape case. Justice Chander Shekhar also asked three other accused in the case to file their replies to the agency's petition. The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 26. It had earlier asked the CBI to explain why it was seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Daati and about the steps taken by it to take him into custody, as the matter was transferred to the agency in October, 2018. The high court was hearing the CBI plea seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Daati and three others by a trial court here in January this year. CBI said it was challenging the absolute protection given to the accused from being arrested as he would not cooperate in the investigation. A division bench of the high court had earlier transferred the probe into the rape case to CBI. Daati had filed a petition seeking review of the court decision transferring the rape probe to CBI. The court had dismissed the plea on November 14, 2018. The court had said the investigation was handed over to the CBI "after going through the charge sheet in detail" and after considering the plea moved by the "victim herself". In October last year, the high court said the manner in which the probe was carried out by police "casts a shadow on the investigation" as it did not arrest the accused in the case even after recording the complainant's statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The preacher's plea against the October 2018 order was initially filed in the Supreme Court which had asked him to approach the high court with his grievance. The CBI had registered a case of rape and unnatural sex against Daati on October 26. A complaint was filed against Daati Madan Lal alias Daati Maharaj on June 7, 2018 and an FIR was registered on June 11. On June 22, police questioned the accused, who has been charged with rape of a disciple at his ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan. The accused has claimed that he was being framed. The complainant has filed the case against the preacher, his three brothers and a woman at Fatehpur Beri police station in South Delhi. The case was later transferred to the crime branch. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Hotel Mumbai", which recounts the November 2008 siege of the famed Taj Hotel in Mumbai by a group of LeT terrorists, honours the people's "resilience" in the face of a terror attack and underscores that the "religion of humanity" is most important, actor Anupam Kher said. Kher plays Hemant Oberoi, the hotel's celebrated executive chef and a real-life hero who demonstrated remarkable courage during the hours that the Taj was under attack, saving the lives of many of the hotel guests and staff. "Hotel Mumbai", directed by Anthony Maras and also starring Dev Patel, premiered here Sunday. "It was a difficult film as an actor. It was emotionally exhausting and mentally disturbing," Kher told PTI in an interview. During filming, the 64-year-old actor recalled, Maras would suddenly play recorded gunshots in the middle of a scene. He said it was difficult to imagine what people at Taj and in Mumbai must have gone through during the three days of the terror attack. "To me, the film is about the resilience of people, also about this amazing staff which were heroes and how they discovered their own courage... Sometimes you discover your own courage in a situation like this and find your own unsung heroes," he said. Kher hailed Oberoi and the team at Taj as real-life heroes for their courage and bravery in the face of terror and then "resurrecting" the landmark hotel within months of the attack. "It's a courageous film. In a business where you want to make movies where everything is hunky-dory, it's important to make a film on this subject... The religion of humanity is much more important than anything else," he said. He said whenever there is a terror attack, "you discover that the whole world comes together." He believes a film like "Hotel Mumbai" is sometimes required "to unsettle people because truth, compassion comes out sometimes by unsettling people. Unless the audience gets unsettled, nothing happens." "Cinema is a great tool, not necessarily for your own catharsis, laughter, sadness, tears but it's also an important platform for the audience to have a little more compassion for the victims," he said. Kher also paid tributes to the fighting spirit of the people of Mumbai. "In India, people have a great sense of survival. Mumbai was back on its feet after the attacks. The scar is there but how well you deal with it is important," he said. "Hotel Mumbai", also featuring Armie Hammer of "Call Me By Your Name" fame and "Homeland" star Nazanin Boniadi releases in the US on March 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An international human trafficking racket has been busted with the arrest of 18 people including illegal travel agents and a police constable, police said here Wednesday. The accused allegedly indulged in trafficking workers to Kuwait via the international airport here and other cities across the country through fake visas, they said. The arrested include 15 illegal travel agents, a constable and two persons who worked in different positions at two international airlines, police said. Police seized 250 passports, fake visas, 38 cell phones, fake rubber stamps, computers, laptops and printers besides other material from the possession of the accused, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V CSajjanarsaid. "In order to avoid the legal channel, unlicensed illegal travel agents adopted illegal methods by changing the employment visa as visit visa and created fake visit visas," the Commissioner said. After presenting the fake visit visas at the emigration counter, such passengers (workers who intend to take up domestic jobs in Gulf countries) used to board flights and before reaching the destination, they submitted the employment visas at foreign airport. The illegal travel agents were operating at all major airports including Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata besides the international airport here, Sajjanarsaid. For medically unfit candidates, the illegal agents used to make the workers board the flight taking visit visa from Hyderabad to Sri Lanka and then to Kuwait on work visa, the Commissoner said. These agents formed their groups right from village level to district level and State level and lured innocent people after collecting huge amounts from them, Sajjanar said. They also conducted classes to the gullible people on the travel documents and briefed them not to disclose their names to anyone, police said. These agents operated from different districts of Andhra Pradesh and also from Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Maharashtra. Special police teams have identified as many as 100 illegal agents involved in the racket and efforts were on to nab them, police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amidst growing discontent among Congress leaders over allotting Tumkuru Lok Sabha seat to JDS, Karnataka Pradesh Congress President Dinesh Gundurao Thursday said it would be good if the coalition partner on its own reconsiders it. The Tumkuru seat arrangement has created discontentment among local Congress leaders, especially G Parameshwara, who is said to be sulking over the issue. The seat-sharing arrangement had been struck and it would not be good on the part of Congress to reopen Tumkuru Lok Sabha which has been alloted to JDS, Gundurao said. "However, if JDS on its own reconsiders it, it would be be good for us. In politics, anything can happen at last minute. No chapter is closed for any deal until the D-date. Things might change, but the arrangement is okay for now," he told PTI here. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, Tumkuru is being represented by the Congress and Parameshwara is the Tumakuru district in-charge minister. Parameshwara has been saying that the Congress had a greater chance of victory in Tumkuru. He, however, has said he was okay with allotment of Tumkur to the JD(S) if party supremo Deve Gowda himself contested from there. Replying to a query, Gundurao said the Congress wanted Gowda to contest elections from Bengaluru North constituency. "I spoke to Deve Gowda ji and requested him to contest from Bengaluru North constituency... Congress has five and JDS two MLAs, who can ensure his victory," he said. Gundurao also said the former prime minister's representation from Bengaluru North will have a huge impact in the region, given his stature in public life. The 85-year old JDS patriarch is yet to decide on contesting the Lok Sabha poll and been thinking about his 'usefulness' in the national capital. Gowda has said he lacked the strength that he had in 1996, when he became the Prime Minister, but there is "enthusiasm". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the backdrop of the Congress facing difficulties in forging alliances in a number of states, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asserted that if pre-election tie-ups are not formed due to "compulsions", the anti-BJP forces will come together post the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress wants to enter into alliances in various states and party president Rahul Gandhi has clearly stated that the party will take to the electoral battlefield in the Lok Sabha elections with its alliance partners, Gehlot said. "The BJP has massive resources at its disposal. It wants to capture power by misusing the resources at its disposal and on money power. "The Congress has its compulsions as it is a national party. If the Congress does not forge alliances properly and its workers do not align with the alliance partners, then what is the use of such a tie-up," the senior Congress leader said during an interaction with PTI. Talking about the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD alliance fighting separately in the electorally crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Gehlot said the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have their own "compulsions". "They (SP and BSP) are unable to come with the Congress due to their compulsions. However, pre-poll or post-poll, alliance will be done. There will be pressure from the people," the 67-year-old leader said. The SP and the BSP have forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats in the state and the BSP 38, leaving three for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal and two for Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), as per the deal,. The Congress, which has declared over 30 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, is facing alliance troubles in Bihar and West Bengal, where it failed to forge an alliance with the Left Front. When asked about the Congress's troubles in forging alliances with even smaller parties such as the AAP in Delhi, Gehlot said these parties have their own interests. "These parties have been formed on stealing the vote bank of the Congress. Be it the SP, the BSP or the AAP, they have done by taking away the Congress vote bank.They are looking at their own interests," he said. "But these parties will also see national interest and forge an alliance when the time comes. I believe that whatever happens, Modiji's government will not come back to power. If a pre-poll alliance is not done among various (anti-BJP) parties, then a post poll alliance will be sealed," Gehlot asserted. The Congress and the AAP have made fresh efforts with the help of NCP chief Sharad Pawar to forge an alliance in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls, days after they unanimously decided to go it alone in the national capital. Gehlot, in his remarks, also claimed that democracy was in danger in the country and there was no freedom of speech, alleging that anyone who says anything against the government is branded anti-national. He also said misinformation was being spread among the youth about former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a politician of international stature. "By spreading this misinformation, these people are committing a sin," the Rajasthan chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three persons were arrested after an illegal arms manufacturing unit was busted here on Wednesday, police said. Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided the factory at an abandoned yard in Raj nagar extension area. Seven pistols of .32 and .315 bore were recovered, Ghaziabad Deputy Inspector General Upendra Agarwal said. Three men -- Akram, Wahid and Billa -- were arrested and a case has been registered under the Arms Act, the officer added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed a BJP corporator to pay Rs 24 lakh compensation in connection with an attack on a civic squad for removing illegal hoardings put up by him and his associates last year. A bench of Justices A S Oka and M S Sanklecha directed Murji Patel, the corporator from K (East) ward in suburban Andheri, to deposit the amount with the court within two months. The bench also asked the civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to use this money for the injured staff and public purpose. Earlier last year, the HC had issued a show cause notice to Patel for contempt over the January 2018 incident in which he and seven members from the BJP assaulted and abused a civic squad for removing illegal hoardings. The said hoardings were put up on a municipal ground and a footpath by Jivanjyoti Pratishthan, an organisation run by Patel and his wife. At the time of the incident, the BMC was conducting a drive against all illegal hoardings and banners, in compliance with a previous order of the high court. In the order issued on January 31, 2017, the HC had directed all corporations in Maharashtra to remove illegal hoardings. A separate case was filed by the BMC against Patel and others for assault, which is being heard in a lower court. On Wednesday, Patel, through his lawyer P Dhakephalkar, submitted an affidavit tendering his "unconditional apology" and offering to pay the amount within two months, following which the HC kept the contempt petition against him pending. The HC deferred the hearing on the contempt notices issued to the remaining BJP members till disposal of the related case against them in the lower court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Conference said Wednesday that the Jammu and Kashmir administration should clarify whether the Awantipora youth was in the custody of NIA or state police at the time of his death. He said an FIR should be registered in the matter against the officials concerned. A 28-year-old school teacher, who was arrested in connection with a terror case, died in police custody here during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. Rizwan Pandit was a resident of Awantipora in Pulwama district. "Whether the youth was in the custody of NIA or police, the responsibility lies at the door of the governor. The young teacher was in the custody of the state," NC chief spokesman Aga Roohullah told reporters here. "Initial reports said he was in NIA custody but now the NIA is washing off its hands. Whether it was the NIA or state police, an FIR should be registered so that the culprits can be identified," he said. Roohullah alleged that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was becoming an "instrument of terror" in Jammu and Kashmir. "The NIA is being used to promote a certain ideology and also to curb and suppress any alternative ideology," he said. The former MLA from Budgam said the governor should take steps to save the state from this "dangerous" trend. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India Thursday welcomed the arrest of bank fraud accused Nirav Modi by British authorities in London, and said it was engaged with the UK for his extradition at the earliest. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India continued to actively follow up with the UK the case of Modi's extradition to India. "We welcome the fact that Nirav Modi has been arrested by the United Kingdom authorities pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrate Court," Kumar said. "Government of India continues to actively follow up this matter with the authorities concerned in the UK, with a view to have Nirav Modi extradited to India at the earliest," he said. The arrest of Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case, came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. On Wednesday, a court in the UK, remanded him in custody till March 29. Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. Modi is one of India's richest men, worth an estimated USD 1.75 billion, according to Forbes. He launched his own eponymous brand in 2010 and he soon had stores across India, as well as in New York, London and Hong Kong. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Wednesday expressed concern over the widening trade deficit with China which has ballooned to over USD 58 billion, with the country's new envoy here saying that addressing the issue would be his top priority. India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri, who assumed charge on January 8 at a time when the two Asian giants were trying to boost their bilateral ties, told the state-run Global Times that India is working with the Chinese side for ensuring greater market access to the Indian agricultural products. He expressed concern over the growing trade deficit, which has now crossed over USD 58 billion in over USD 80 billion trade. The bilateral trade will cross the USD 100 billion mark this year, he said. "However, this figure includes a deficit of USD 58 billion for India and this deficit has been increasing over the years. Addressing this trade deficit would be one of my priorities because it is not really sustainable in the long term," Misri said. India is working with the Chinese side for ensuring greater market access to the Indian agricultural products such as sugar and rice, as well as various fruits and vegetables, besides pharmaceuticals and IT, which are India's strengths, he said. The Indian envoy's interview was carried by the daily on Wednesday. "Progress has been made in some of these areas, but translating this progress into actual and sustained exports is important. We hope that in this regard, we will receive support from the Chinese side and expand our trade basket. "In addition, we also need to address the barriers for greater access to the Indian pharmaceuticals and IT products and services in the Chinese market," Misri said. He said that the growth in bilateral investments has not kept pace with the expanding trade volume between the two countries. While both countries have emerged as the top investment destinations for the rest of the world, mutual investment growth is yet to catch up. "Many of the Chinese companies are doing good business in India. Xiaomi and other Chinese companies are among the largest distributors of mobile phones in India. We welcome these companies to set up their manufacturing bases in India, which would contribute to lowering the trade deficit. "We would also like to see more Chinese investment in infrastructure, such as roads and railways, industrial parks and in the food processing sector," Misri said. The India-China bilateral trade reached USD 84.44 billion in 2017. According to India's trade figures, the bilateral trade deficit crossed USD 52 billion in 2017. India has been pressing China to open the IT and Pharmaceutical sectors for Indian firms to reduce the massive trade deficit. Misri said that another welcome area for the Chinese investment would be the hospitality sector, such as restaurants that cater to the Chinese palate, which in turn would be an attractive factor for Chinese tourists. He said that enhancing people-to-people and cultural contacts would be another focus area. "In 2018, the total number of travellers from China to India and vice versa added up to just one million, which is a minuscule number when we consider that our combined population is 2.6 billion," he said. "We need to change these figures and promote our countries as preferred tourist destinations for each other. This would be the best way to enhance trust and understanding between our two peoples and further strengthen our overall bilateral relationship," he said, adding that 2020 will mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China and people's exchanges would be an important component of the celebrations. Mirsi said that one of the main reasons for the low number of Chinese tourists visiting India could simply be lack of information. "We are taking energetic steps to bridge this information gap and China has been identified by us as a priority market for India's tourism promotion. "India promises an unparalleled experience for Chinese tourists as it can provide a mix of heritage, adventure, wellness, medical and spiritual experiences," he said. Misri said that the third focus area for him would be to promote cooperation between India and China in regional and global affairs. "As the two large and developing economies of Asia, India and China share common concerns and positions on many issues of regional and global importance such as climate change, energy security, counter-terrorism and the international trading system. We would like to further strengthen our cooperation in all these areas," he said. Misri also played down concern over India-China competition in South Asia. "I do not think that there is really any confrontation between India and China in the South Asian region. We are both large countries with several important relationships in the region and both of us bring unique contributions to each relationship," he said. India's leaders have long felt that there is enough room for both India and China to grow and achieve their objectives together, Misri said. "As the two large neighbouring countries which share a long border, it is inevitable for our relationship to have elements of both cooperation and competition. "But competition does not necessarily translate into confrontation and in fact healthy competition can lead to further development of the region. If we consider this issue at a pragmatic level, we will find that elements of cooperation far outweigh elements of competition between us," the Indian envoy added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India has lodged a protest with Pakistan over four separate incidents of alleged harassment of Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad, and sought an immediate investigation into them, official sources said Thursday. On March 18, India issued a note verbale -- a diplomatic communication -- to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, giving a detailed account of the incidents including aggressive tailing of the Indian naval adviser by two Pakistani personnel, they said. The note verbale said the naval adviser was "aggressively tailed" by two Pakistani personnel in a car while he was going to the High Commission from his home on March 15, according to sources. They said two Pakistani personnel were keeping a watch outside the residence of the naval adviser during a dinner he hosted on March 14. In a separate case, the note said another official of the mission received hoax calls while another staff of the mission was subjected to "intimidatory" behaviour by a Pakistani personnel on March 14, the sources said. In the note, India asked Pakistan to carry out immediate investigation into the cases of harassment of Indian officials. India issued a similar note verbale to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry on March 13, lodging a strong protest over several incidents of alleged harassment of Indian High Commission officials between March 8 and 11. In the note , the Indian High Commission has sought an urgent investigation into the incidents, saying such cases of harassment are in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. India's strong protest over the incidents came in the midst of severe strain in bilateral ties between the two neighbours. Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian Air Force fighter jets bombed terror group JeM's training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations the next day. However, the IAF thwarted their plans. The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 40 personnel were killed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Peru have concluded a fourth round of negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in the South American nation last week, the Department of Commerce said. The agreement is aimed at boosting the two-way commerce between the countries. "India and Peru are negotiating a trade agreement covering goods, services and investment. The fourth round of negotiations was held from March 11-15 in Lima, Peru," the department said in a series of tweets. The main chapters of the trade agreement include market access for goods, trade in services, movement of professionals, investments, dispute settlement, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies, rules of origin of goods, customs procedures and trade facilitation. In an FTA, two countries significantly reduce or eliminate duties on most of the goods traded between them besides relaxing norms and rules to promote trade in services and increase bilateral investments. With growing uncertainties in its traditional markets, including the US and Europe, India is looking to enhance engagements with other regions such as Africa, South America and Central Asia. The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said Peru holds huge potential for exports and investments for domestic exporters and businesses. "The agreement would boost bilateral trade. Peru holds huge export potential for Indian exporters," FIEO President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said. Peru ranked third among export destinations for India in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. The bilateral trade between the nations increased to USD 3.13 billion in 2017-18 from USD 1.77 billion in the previous fiscal. Among the top-10 commodities that India exports to Peru are motor vehicles, cars, auto components, tyres, dyes, products of iron and steel, cotton yarn and fabrics. While the imports include bulk minerals and ores, gold, fertilisers, aluminium, coffee, crude oil and zinc. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indians are not as happy in 2019 as they were in 2018 and the country figures at 140th place, seven spots down from last year, on this year's released Wednesday which is topped by Finland for the second year in a row. The report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the on March 20 which has was declared as World Happiness Day by the in 2012. The report ranks countries on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. According to the report, the overall world happiness has fallen over the past few years, which has mostly been fuelled by a sustained drop in India, which came in 140th place this year compared with 133rd place in 2018. The UN's seventh annual World Happiness Report, which ranks the world's 156 countries on "how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be", also noted that there has been an increase in negative emotions, including worry, sadness and anger. Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for the second year in succession. The Nordic nation is followed by Denmark, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands. Pakistan is ranked 67th, Bangladesh 125th and China is place at 93rd, according to the report. People in war-torn South Sudan are the most unhappy with their lives, followed by Central African Republic (155), Afghanistan (154), Tanzania (153) and Rwanda (152). The happiness study ranks the countries of the world on the basis of questions from the Gallup World Poll. The results are then correlated with other factors, including GDP and social security. The United States ranks at 19th place for happiness, despite being one of the richest countries in the world. India has said the General Assembly must take lead in finding solutions to the challenges faced by the world, slamming the Security Council for "progressively undermining" the authority of the 193-member global body. India's Deputy Permanent Representative K Nagaraj Naidu said on Monday the growing number of complex challenges facing the world, like those related to peace and security, climate change and sustainable development that cut across boundaries and regions can be addressed only through a genuine multilateral and participative process. "The General Assembly, which is the closest institution to a world parliament, must take the lead in setting the global agenda and in restoring the centrality of the in formulating multilateral approaches to resolving transnational issues," he said. Naidu said the revitalisation process must also restore the primacy of the United Nations in development matters. "...The prerogatives and authority of the General Assembly have been progressively undermined by the Security Council through its frequent attempts to redefine its scope of competence through wider and permissive interpretations of what constitutes a threat to international peace and security and by engaging in discussions on issues that clearly fall within the purview of the General Assembly," he said. "A part of the blame for this situation must also be taken by the General Assembly and its member states for focusing on procedures rather than addressing the substantive issues," he said in a statement. The General Assembly must be in the "vanguard of global agenda-setting" and lead the multilateral process for finding solutions to the challenges faced by the world, Naidu said. He said the political will and commitment of member states were required to reinforce the role and authority of the General Assembly as mandated by the Charter. "A revitalised General Assembly must focus on substantive deliberations rather than spending considerable time and resources on procedural issues," Naidu said. Naidu said it was important that the main organs of the UN work in synergy with one another while fully respecting their respective mandates given by the UN Charter. India has criticised the UN Security Council's veto-wielding members in the past for obstructing the designation of terrorists without giving any explanation, apparently hitting out at China for repeatedly blocking its bid to list Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. New Delhi strongly criticised the UN late last year for its failure to show resolve in sanctioning new Taliban leaders who continue to perpetrate violence and destruction in Afghanistan and aided by those harboured in safe havens in its neighbourhood, a veiled reference to Pakistan. An Indian-American from Charlotte in North Carolina has pleaded guilty for his role in an over USD 3 million tech support scam that defrauded hundreds of victims, including senior citizens. Bishap Mittal, 24, who pleaded guilty before US Magistrate Judge David S Cayer, has been released on bond. A sentencing date has not been set yet. According to the information and plea agreement, Mittal was part of a conspiracy that carried out an international internet "tech support scam" by placing fake pop-up ads on victims' computers to convince them that they had a serious computer problem, and to induce them to pay for purported "technical support" services to resolve the same. On Wednesday, Mittal admitted in the court that he and "Individual 1" resided together in Charlotte. "Individual 1" was the owner/manager of Capstone Technologies LLC (Capstone), a company headquartered in Charlotte that claimed to provide computer-related services to its customers. Capstone conducted business using several different aliases, including Authenza Solutions LLC, MS-Squad Technologies, MS-Squad.com, MS Infotech, United Technologies and Reventus Technologies (collectively, Capstone Technologies), he said. Mittal added that "Individual 1", he and others carried out the tech support scam using a call centre located in India, set up to handle "tech support" calls with potential victims. According to the information, pop-up ads were a central part of the conspiracy. "Individual 1" and other co-conspirators purchased blocks of malicious pop-up adware from publishers around the world. The fake pop-ups would suddenly appear on victims' computers, freezing their screens, prompting victims to contact Capstone Technologies at a number shown on the pop-up ad, federal prosecutors alleged. When victims called the Indian-based tech support centre for assistance, the co-conspirators used remote access tools to gain control of the victims' computers. Once in control of the computers, the scammers identified various fictitious causes for the victims' purported computer malfunction, including the presence of malwares or computer viruses, and induced victims to pay for virus clean-up or other tech support services, they said. The co-conspirators then charged victims between USD 200 and USD 2,400 to make the computers operable again. According to the information, Mittal and his co-conspirators defrauded hundreds of victims throughout the United States, some of whom were elderly, of more than USD 3 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad on Thursday clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the trial into the 2007 Samjhauta Express terror case was carried out in a "transparent" manner, official sources said here. The Indian High Commissioner was summoned by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry to lodge a strong protest against the acquittal of all four accused, including Swami Aseemanand, in the case. Sixty-eight people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed in the attack. The sources said the Indian envoy highlighted that the due process of law was followed by the Indian courts and judicial system in a transparent manner. He also called out the lack of cooperation from Pakistan, including in serving court summons to Pakistani witnesses in the case, the sources said, adding the summons were returned by Pakistan foreign office. A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others in the Samjhauta Express case. The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit". The Indian envoy also asked for expeditious trial in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case in which detailed evidence has been given to Pakistan, they said. He expressed disappointment that progress in these trials is held up and the perpetrators and prime accused continue to roam freely in Pakistan, the sources said. The envoy shared India's concerns at the lack of progress in investigations in the Pathankot terror attack even when a visit by a Pakistani team to India was arranged and detailed evidence in the case were shared, the sources said. They said it was also pointed out that Pakistan is yet to take credible and irreversible steps against JeM and other terror entities as well as individuals, despite a detailed dossier being shared with Islamabad after the Pulwama attack. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian companies are welcome to participate in Indonesia's infrastructure projects, particularly in the Aceh province, as the island nation makes development a priority, a senior minister has said. Addressing a gathering of chief executives of the Indian companies at the 2nd India-Indonesia Infrastructure Forum (IIIF) in Jakarta, country's Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that there was an improved investment climate in the country. "Infrastructure development was a top priority for the Indonesian Government," a statement from the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said quoting the minister. The forum has been organised jointly by the Indian embassy in collaboration with the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs. At the business meeting, Aceh Governor Nova Iriansyah also welcomed the Indian companies' participation in the development of the province. The Governor stressed that India and Indonesia are working together to achieve better connectivity between Banda Aceh, (the province's capital) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. India's Ambassador to Indonesia, Pradeep Rawat, called for forging of greater synergies between Indian and Indonesian industries, especially in the infrastructure sector. The forum was attended by a high-level delegation of over 30 Indian CEOs from infrastructure sectors focusing on automotive, mining, port, power, airport, water resource management, hospital managements systems among others. Some of the Indian companies represented included GMR, GVK, BHEL, Adani, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Power, TCS, Tech Mahindra and several others. The forum was also attended by more than 75 Indonesian companies in infrastructure sector including Pertamina (Oil & Gas), Garuda (Air connectivity), Angkasa Pura (Airports), Pelindo (Seaports), Jasa Marga (Highway Management), along with officials of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board - BKPM, Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises and Ministry of Health. The first India-Indonesia Infrastructure forum was held in March 2018. "The continuation of the event, on annual basis, aims to build existing linkages further with a view to enlarge participation of Indian companies in Indonesian infrastructure projects," the embassy in a statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh has created political history in Canada when he made his debut in the House of Commons as the first non white leader of a major opposition party in the country. The arrival of the turbaned leader into the house on Monday, cheered by all members, coincided with the induction of a senior woman member into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Singh, 40, the leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the House of Commons, the lower of house of Parliament, before the daily question period. He was elected in federal by-elections held on February 25. Singh's first words as an elected lawmaker were about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... in Christchurch," he said. About 50 people were killed last week in the Pacific country's worst-ever mass shooting. He then launched his first question about housing in Burnaby-South. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" he said. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. Speculations are rife that the last budget of the Trudeau government with an eye on the general elections in October is expected to have several attractions for the middle class. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the BJP for taking credit for the arrest of bank-fraud accused Nirav Modi in London. "Ye achievement hai (is this an achievement)? Jane kisne diya tha (who let him flee)?" Gandhi asked. Nirav Modi, the main accused in the Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam, has been arrested in London where a court on Wednesday remanded the fugitive diamantaire in custody till March 29, saying there are "substantial grounds" to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. Gandhi was speaking to reporters in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli district after meeting the family of slain soldiers Awadhesh Yadav and Vishal Pandey, who were killed in the Pulwama attack last month. The Congress general secretary said she had earlier spoken to the family members of the soldiers and had promised to meet them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Wednesday said the IT sector has created 8.73 lakh new jobs in the past five years, as he accused the Congress of spreading blatant "falsehood" on the employment data. "Congress is indulging in falsehoods...They have nothing to offer from their own side...I speak based on our performance not rhetoric, on facts not falsehoods," Prasad told reporters here. Citing the data by apex industry body Nasscom, he said the IT sector has spawned 8.73 lakh jobs in the past five years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and currently provides employment to 41.40 lakh persons directly and 1.2 crore persons indirectly. "I am not using my data, I am giving Nasscom data," he said. Confronting the Opposition over the jobs crisis barb, the minister challenged the Congress to show just how many jobs had been generated in their tenure. "One can talk on facts but not on falsehoods, and if the Congress party is so keen, can they show their record of employment generated in 10 years of UPA when the economy was down and India was a big centre of impropriety and corruption," Prasad said. He said the spurt in economic activities and infrastructure projects over the past few years had created a number of jobs. "If the economy is 7.4 per cent plus, if national highways are being constructed, if manufacturing is picking up, and if India's economy is globally being recognised, it is creating more and more jobs," Prasad said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Premier Giuseppe Conte pledged Tuesday to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join China's ambitious Belt and Road initiative, despite objections from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition. Speaking to parliament, Conte said that Italy's signing of a memorandum of understanding for the infrastructure-building venture, which is due to happen during the Chinese premier's visit this week, would not "in the least" put into question Italy's position within the strategic trans-Atlantic alliance or with European partners. Italy's signature would be considered a major legitimation of the project that envisions overland and maritime routes connecting China with Europe. A White House official has warned Italy against joining, calling it a Chinese "vanity project." European governments declined to sign a joint declaration on the "Belt and Road" at a forum last year in Beijing. They argued it lacked standards on financing and transparency. In his first remarks to lawmakers on the deal on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, Conte said the details have been worked out over months of consultations at every level of government. He emphasised that the memorandum is not legally binding and that it would give Italy access to an enormous market. "We want to first and foremost rebalance our trade, which is not favourable to us now. Our exports to China are far lower than other European countries," Conte said. "The infrastructure will redefine commercial traffic routes. We will have new airports, new trade corridors, and it will certainly influence our economic growth. We don't want to lose any opportunity." China's foreign ministry said Wednesday that Xi will visit Sicily in addition to Rome, with plans to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella as well as Conte. It also defended the Belt and Road initiative against naysayers in Italy. "During the process of developing the Belt and Road initiative cooperation, it is inevitable that we may encounter some misunderstandings and even doubts," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao. "But facts will always speak louder than words." Wang said an agreement between China and Italy would be beneficial for both countries' economic development. "As for ... whether it will help promote trade for Italy, I think it is absolutely 'Yes,'" he said. Pressed about Chinese investments in Italian ports and whether there is an excess in infrastructure developments, given Chinese existing investments in the area that could lead to additional debt, Wang said Chinese investments are decided by market rules. "Whether to invest in a region or not, I believe that will be decided by the market" Wang said without elaborating. In parliament, the opposition attacked the planned memorandum and the lack of detail provided to lawmakers, warning that the deal could be a Trojan horse for China to undermine Italian industries. Concerns also center around whether the accords include 5G access. Even lawmakers from the right-wing League, part of Conte's coalition, say their support for the memorandum is conditional on it not harming Italy's relations with its partners. "If it opens exports for Italian companies, it is great. The only constraints are security, the control of Italians' data, and energy. I would not like someone to wake up on the other side of the world and turn off the switch," League leader Matteo Salvini said this week. "If the Chinese want to invest in railways and ports, fine. What is important that control remains in Italian hands." Francesco Sisci, a China expert currently working as a researcher at Renmin University in China, said the biggest problem with the deals with China is that Italy pursued them without properly keeping its allies informed. "There was a lack of professionalism and political know-how. Whatever the deal is, they need to speak first with the Americans and the Europeans, agreeing to a common approach, then speak with China," Sisci said. "Italy is part of NATO. It is part of the European Union and shares a currency. How do they not speak with their allies? It is crazy," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The JNU administration Wednesday accused the university teachers' association of "indulging in lies and smear campaigns" against it. Eleven students have been on an indefinite hunger strike since Tuesday against issues like the online entrance exams to be held for the first time by the varsity. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) called for a one-day strike on Wednesday in solidarity with the protesting students. "The hunger strike by a handful of students has been choreographed by the JNUTA office bearers and the latter's press notes and letters to faculty members clearly betray their intolerant attitude towards all positive reforms and improvements brought about by the administration," JNU registrar Pramod Kumar said. He said the elected body of teachers in JNU is indulging in lies and smear campaigns against the administration at a time when the university has been taking measures to make a better and conducive academic atmosphere in the campus. JNUTA office bearers have registered their opposition to it, called for a strike, and have been provoking students to join them in creating confusion and sullying the environment in the campus, Kumar said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker Jordan Peele has explained the significance of showing a character donning a Michael Jackson T-shirt in his upcoming directorial "Us". There has been a renewed discussion around child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson post the January premiere of HBO documentary "Leaving Neverland". The four-hour-long documentary, directed by Dan Reed, chronicles allegations of sexual abuse made by Wade Robson and James Safechuck, when they were minors. Peele's "Us", a follow-up to his 2017 blockbuster "Get Out", features the child version of Lupita Nyong'o's character in 1986 wearing a "Thriller" T-shirt. "I didn't know that this documentary was coming out, but in many ways the duality of Michael Jackson has been well documented," the director told NME. He said the sequence in the film, which follows his 2017 blockbuster "Get Out", contributes to his vision of showing people's "darker side". "There's this murky area when it comes to the specifics of his story and all that. I think it addresses this idea of the shadow self and when we talk about the collective shadow self, which is what this film is about. "It involves an ability for us to ignore the truth and the darker side of ourselves. That's a perfect symbol for what this movie is," Peele said. The film also features Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The death toll in the at Dharwad in north touched three Wednesday with one more body being pulled out of the rubble, police said. Rescuers have so far pulled out 56 people from the debris of the four-storeyed under construction building, which collapsed Tuesday evening at Kumareshwaranagar in the heart of Dharwad, about 400 km from here. Police said rescue operations have been intensified to extricate 30 people believed to be still trapped beneath the debris. In addition to 10 ambulances and five fire tenders deployed for relief and rescue operations, three teams of the Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been pressed into service, two from Ghaziabad and one from Bengaluru. "Two more teams of #NDRF are being airlifted from Ghaziabad in addition to one team which was moved from in connection with Dharwad building collapse," the NDRF tweeted. About 150 police, fire and emergency personnel too have joined the rescue operations. No arrests have been made so far. Former minister and from the region Vinay Kulkarni had said Tuesday that one of the partners in the building was his relative and that whoever was involved should face action. An eye-witness had alleged that the building did not have the capacity to bear four storeys whereas an extra floor was being added. "The builders had used substandard materials," he told reporters Tuesday. Most of those trapped were migrant labourers from north who were engaged in laying tiles. As Pakistan and India discuss the alignment of the Kartarpur Corridor, some 600 villagers who are facing "forcible eviction" due to the project say they will block the development work if denied compensation of their land on commercial rates. The entire population (600) of village Kothay Khurd, where Gurdwara Dera Sahib Kartarpur is located (some 125-km from Lahore), has been ordered by the district administration to vacate their houses immediately for the development of the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims from India. "My ancestors had settled in the village even before the partition and now our fifth generation is living here. Some officials came here and told the residents that the government was planning to build Kartarpur Corridor on our land, therefore we will have to vacate the land," Mohammad Arshad of Kothay Khurd told reporters. "We are living in the area for centuries and it was not possible for us to leave the area and the graves of our ancestors," another villager Zaeem Hussain said, adding that the government officials had only told them that they would be compensated after their land and houses had been acquired. Hussain said there has been consensus among the villagers to sacrifice their agricultural land but none of them is ready to leave their ancestral houses. He said the villagers will protest and not let the government develop the corridor if it forcibly evicted them from their houses. "We want compensation of our land on commercial rates," he demanded. The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee has demanded immediate compensation for farmers on commercial rates. It said no ordinary compensation would be accepted and the affected families be given one job each. Deputy Commissioner Waheed Asghar says the government is acquiring the land under Section 4 of the Punjab Land Acquisition Act 1894 and it will pay compensation for the crop and land. He denied that the government was forcefully evicting the villagers. "We are trying to resolve the matter peacefully, he added. Evacuee Trust Property Board spokesman Asif Hashmi told PTI that almost 40 per cent of the development work on the Kartarpur corridor has been completed. "The development work on the corridor is underway and will be completed well ahead of this November to observe the 550 birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak," Hashmi said. Experts from India and Pakistan on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the alignment of the Kartarpur border-crossing corridor project. Both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the zero point and discussed technical aspects including finished road level, high flood level, etc. Zero point is the point at which the Indian side of the corridor and the Pakistani side of the corridor will be meeting. The two sides agreed on some technical aspects and hope to finalise other modalities soon. The next meeting is to be held at Wagah on April 2. The meeting had come amid heightened tensions between the two neighbours following India's air strike on a terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Pakistan's subsequent retaliation. Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Two days later, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not celebrate Holi on Thursday as a mark of respect to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus, which was part of a convoy of the paramilitary force going to Srinagar from Jammu, on February 14. "Delhi Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal will not celebrate the Holi festival tomorrow as a mark of respect to the martyrs of Pulwama terror attack" the AAP posted on its official Twitter handle on Wednesday. The CRPF will also not be celebrating the festival of colours this year officially in solidarity with the families of the troopers killed in the suicide attack in south Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lenders, led by the SBI, are trying to revive debt-laden Jet Airways by change in management as they feel collapse of the airline will not be good for consumers and competition, a source said after the SBI chief met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday. With Jet flying just about a third of its fleet, defaulting on interest payments and delaying salaries to pilot, State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar along with Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Misra met Jaitley Wednesday afternoon. Kumar said the meeting was to apprise the government, which is an important stakeholder, about the happenings in what was once India's second-biggest airline, and not to discuss a bailout package. He, however, emphatically stated that it was in the interest of the lenders and consumers to keep Jet Airways flying, and dragging the debt-ridden firm under bankruptcy proceedings is the last option. Jet Airways has a debt of over Rs 8,200 crore and needs to make repayments of up to Rs 1,700 crore by the end of March. In case the airline collapses, 23,000 jobs would be at stake. Though Kumar refused to share details of the lenders' resolution plan, the source said that the lenders have proposed to change the management of the beleaguered air carrier as they feel it is not possible to run the company with present management. Jet Airways is headed by Naresh Goyal, who currently holds 51 per cent stake. Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has 24 per cent. There were media reports that Etihad has approached the SBI to purchase its 24 per cent stake in the airline. On getting a new player in Jet Airways, Kumar said, "No possibility is ruled out". "The dialogue with Etihad is on. It is not that they have conclusively decided that they will go out. But there are certain conditions which they want to be fulfilled and it is nothing but that the airline should be professionally managed and without any interference," he said. Lenders of Jet Airways have been working on a resolution plan for last five months and it is almost ready, Kumar said, adding "We will make every effort to keep Jet Airways flying and in no manner it is a bailout for any individual or any promoter whatsoever". The SBI chief said that resolution of a service industry, like airline, is nearly impossible under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and is the last option. "IBC means that we are grounding the airline. We will keep trying till such time we believe that all hope is lost. But as on date, I can say that not all hope is lost. We have not reached that decision point where we say enough is enough and nothing can be done," Kumar said. Chairman of the country's largest bank said that the government is the most important stakeholder and it is the duty of the lenders to keep the government informed. "It is in the lender's Interest, the country's interest, the aviation sector's interest that Jet Airways continues to fly," Kumar added. The pilots union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if their salaries are not paid by March 31. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said only 41 aircraft of the Jet Airways were currently available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in coming weeks". 41 aircraft is just one-third of Jet's fleet of 119 planes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lenders led by the SBI are trying to revive debt-laden Jet Airways by change in management as they feel collapse of the airline will not be good for consumers and competition, a source said after the SBI chief met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday. With Jet flying just about a third of its fleet, defaulting on interest payments and delaying salaries to pilot, State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar along with Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Misra met Jaitley Wednesday afternoon. Kumar said the meeting was to appraise the government, which is an important stakeholder, about the happenings. He, however, emphatically stated that it was in the interest of the lenders to keep Jet Airways, which was once India's second-biggest airline, flying and dragging the debt-ridden firm under bankruptcy proceedings is the last option. In case the airline collapses, 23,000 jobs would be at stake. Though Kumar refused to share details of the lenders' revival plan, the source said that Jet Airways lenders resolution plan may include change in management as they feel it is not possible to run the company with present management. Jet Airways is headed by Naresh Goyal, who currently holds 51 per cent stake. Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has 24 per cent. On getting a new player in Jet Airways, Kumar said, "No possibility is ruled out". "The dialogue with Etihad is on. It is not that they have conclusively decided that they will go out. But there are certain conditions which they want to be fulfilled and it is nothing but that the airline should be professionally managed and without any interference," he said. "It is in the lender's Interest, the country's interest, the aviation sector's interest that Jet Airways continues to fly," the SBI chief added. The pilots union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if their salaries are not paid by March 31. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said only 41 aircraft of the Jet Airways were currently available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in coming weeks". 41 aircraft is just one-third of Jet's fleet of 119 planes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Once a formidable force in West Bengal politics, the CPI(M)-led Left Front will be fighting one of its toughest political battles in this Lok Sabha polls to prove its political and electoral existence in the state. The Left Front which had ruled the state for 34 long years since 1977 is now just a shadow of its past. Faced with steady erosion of its vote bank, leadership crisis and exodus of cadres to the ruling TMC and resurgent BJP, it struggles to hold on to its ground with the saffron party replacing it as the main opposition to the ruling party. As the state probably faces a four cornered contest among the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the BJP, the Left Front and the Congress, the Left would fight a lone battle. "This election indeed will be one of our toughest political battles in Bengal. We had never thought that we would be in such a position in state We hope things will change in the days to come once people realise that only the Left, and not the BJP, can provide an alternative to the TMC," CPI(M) politburo member Hannan Mollah told PTI. "It is a fight to prove our political and electoral existence and hold ground against the BJP. It's true that you can't wipe out the Left, but at the same time you need to be electorally significant to make your voice heard in parliamentary politics," another senior CPI(M) leader said. Besides the CPI(M), the 10-party Left Front has All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) as its key constituents which contest Lok Sabha polls in the state. The CPI(M) as well as the Left Front has won only two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2014 polls. The Left Front had initiated a seat sharing deal the Congress but the talks failed at the last moment and both the sides decided to go it alone. "Had we been able to clinch the seat sharing deal, results in various seats would have been different. We could have been a more credible secular alternative to the TMC," CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said. Party insiders said, after the failure of seat sharing dialogues, the CPI(M) is at its wits end on how to retain its two seats. Over the years, the party has lost its vote bank of the minorities and rural Bengal to the TMC and refugee vote bank to the BJP. Adding to its woes, the present Left leadership lacks the dynamism of Jyoti Basu and former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who despite being ill is still the tallest leader of the CPI(M) and the Left in Bengal. According to an internal party report, the CPI(M) does not have organisation to arrange for polling agents in at least 30 per cent of the 77,000 polling stations of the state. "Being in power for three long decades probably led to decay in our organisation. Had we lost once and returned to power during this period, the situation could have been better," Mollah said. Major party programmes of the Left Front, like its Brigade Parade Ground rally last month, still attract a large number of workers and supporters but that success could not be translated into votes. As the CPI(M) with its depleted strength fights to retain its ground, it also helplessly watches TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee taking over its earlier role of uniting the opposition forces against the BJP. The slide of the CPI(M) in Bengal is quite astonishing given the fact of its long history of mass movements during the '60s and '70s. Over the years since Independence, the Left has witnessed a steady growth in the state. The undivided communist party, the CPI, became the main opposition party in the state after the 1952 general and assembly polls with Jyoti Basu becoming Leader of opposition. In 1964, after the split in the party over ideological issues and formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the latter outsmarted the CPI to establish itself as the prime Left force in West Bengal. During the tumultuous days of Naxalite movement, the CPI(M) along with the Bangla Congress, a splinter group of the Congress, formed two short lived governments in the state in 1967 and 1969. The party under the leadership of Basu and Promode Dasgupta has become an alternative to the Congress in Bengal. After the CPI(M)-led Left Front came to power in 1977, its key programmes 'Operation Barga' - giving land to landless farmers which benefited lakhs including Muslims - and setting up of three-tier pancahayat system cemented its support base among the minorities and the rural Bengal. These two vote banks turned to be blank cheques for the Left for next three decades to win one elections after another in the state. In the 1980 general elections, the Left Front won 38 seats in the state - its highest tally in West Bengal - and since then, its vote percentage hovered around 50 per cent in the subsequent polls. The Left Front in 1996 and 2004 with its bloc of 33 and 34 MPs respectively, played a deciding factor in the government formation. But things started falling apart for the Left Front after the Sachar Committee report in 2008 painted a dismal picture on the condition of minorities in the state. The anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram and Singur led by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee further eroded its vote bank in rural Bengal. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Left suffered a set back for the first time as its tally dropped to 15 in the state. With the fall of the Left Front government in 2011, it came down to an all time low of just two seats in 2014 when it polled 29 per cent votes. Since 2016 assembly polls, vote percentage of the Left dropped below 20 per cent in by-elections and panchayat polls. On the Left's downfall, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said people have lost faith in its "obsolete policies" during the 34-year-long "misrule". TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee felt that people have rejected the Left as they think the TMC is the only secular and democratic force to take on BJP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra Police have geared up to strengthen security by sealing its borders with other states in view of the next month's Lok Sabha polls, a senior police official said. During the election time, some syndicates indulge in illegal transportation of liquor and cash to lure voters. Sometimes weapons may also be transported by anti-social elements to create nuisance, he said. "To prevent such activities, the police are taking all precautionary measures, including sealing of borders with other states wherein intense checking of private and public vehicles would be conducted," the official said on Tuesday. Maharashtra shares border with Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat, as well as the Union Territories of Daman, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The state police organised a meeting earlier this month to gear up for ensuring proper security arrangements, the official said. "Authorities in all these other states have also been holding meetings to step up security measures," he said. Last week, Madhya Pradesh Police called their counterparts from neighbouring states, including Maharashtra, and reviewed the security arrangements, he added. Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra will be held in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29 while results will be declared on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will visit Pakistan this week during which he will hold talks with the country's top leadership to strenghten ties, beside attending the Pakistan Day parade. The Malaysian Prime Minister will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including several leading businessmen, on the visit from March 21-23 for which he was invited by Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to the Foreign Office. "The focus of the interest is on enhancing economic, trade, investment, and defence ties, for the mutual benefit of the peoples of the two countries," it said. During his stay in Islamabad, Prime Minister Mahathir would be the Guest of Honour at the Pakistan Day parade on March 23. His bilateral engagements include call on the President of Pakistan, one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Khan followed by delegation-level talks. The two Prime Ministers will also speak at the round-table meeting of the CEOs of Industries, who desire to invest in automobile and telecommunication sectors of Pakistan. "Mahathir's visit would further cement the existing brotherly and friendly relations between the two countries," the Foreign Office said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An employee at a Dubai-based security company was fired and deported for celebrating the deadly New Zealand mosque attacks under a fake identity on Facebook, the group said Wednesday. "Over the weekend, a Transguard employee made inflammatory comments on his personal Facebook account celebrating the deplorable mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," the Transguard security group said in a statement. "Despite posting under a false name, the employee responsible for last weekend's inflammatory (Facebook) comments has been identified, terminated as per Transguard policy and handed over to the authorities." Transguard, which is affiliated with the Emirates Group that includes Emirates Airline, said the man had been deported by the UAE government. It did not name him or reveal his nationality. An Australian white supremacist shot dead 50 Muslims praying at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday. The attacks sparked global revulsion and drew condemnation from the United Arab Emirates. In a statement following the attacks, the foreign ministry said the UAE stood in "full solidarity with the friendly state of New Zealand to confront extremism and terrorism and... safeguard the security and the safety of its citizens and all residents". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a blistering attack at former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for dubbing emergence of new parties in Kashmir as a New Delhi ploy to divide Kashmiri mandate, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday said J&K is not a personal property of the National Conference. Mehbooba's attack followed Peoples Conference chief Sajjad Gani Lone's diatribe against Omar Abdullah that he needed 'mental treatment" for opposing emergence of new parties. "It is unfortunate that National conference considers Jammu and Kashmir as its own estate. When (former Chief Minister) Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed brought Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, they called them worms of dirty drain (as a Delhi's party)," Mehbooba told reporters here. "When the PDP was formed, they alleged the same thing. Today when Shah Faseal formed a new outfit, Omar Abdullah says the same thing," said Mehbooba. The PDP chief said Omar Abdullah feels any party formed in J&K will claim right on their estate of Jammu and Kashmir. "It is a democratic country and everyone has the right to form one's own party and do Jammu and Kashmir is not a personal property of the NC," she added. Omar's remarks came on the day Shah Faesal, a bureaucrat-turned-politician who was reportedly slated to join the NC, launched his own party - 'Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement'. Omar had reacted to the development dubbing it as a New Delhi ploy to divide the kashmiri mandate. "Why is it that these political parties are launched only in Kashmir, why not in Jammu or Ladakh? Doesn't it clearly indicate a ploy aimed at dividing us further? Omar had asked, addressing his party workers' convention in Anantnag Monday. "It is a fact that conspiracies have been hatched for long to weaken our special status. While in Jammu and Ladakh, the (political) field is being left open for the Congress and the BJP, here (in Kashmir) there is always an attempt to divide the mandate, Omar had said, indirectly blaming New Delhi behind the move. Lone too had attacked Omar Abdullah Monday. "Were we to give power to Omar Abdullah after Maharaja Hari Singh? He got Kashmiris killed in 2010. Before that his father got people killed and maimed from 1996 to 2002. Before that his father rigged the elections in 1987, Lone had told reporters in Handwara. Peoples Conference chief asked Omar Abdullah if there should be no other party except the NC. "Do they have a copyright? Let me tell you Omar Abdullah is not a kid. He is throwing others' lives in danger. New people have come on the political horizon. They are moving with few PSOs. Omar and his father and other family members are guarded by 600 to 700 security guards," he said. Lone said had Shah Faesal joined National Conference, then he would have been a "good man" for Omar. "Now he has launched his own party, so he becomes a New Delhi's agent. Omar should get his mental system treated, he had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertisement By WestKyStar Staff Mar. 13, 2019 | PADUCAH By WestKyStar Staff Mar. 13, 2019 | 09:11 PM | PADUCAH Paducah's Chef Sara Bradley made it all the way to the final two Thursday evening on Season 16 of Bravo Network's Top Chef. It was the final showdown as the top three chefs created their best four course meals for the final night of judging. Eric Adjepong was eliminated after the judges were served the first course. Chef Sara and Kelsey Barnard Clark cooked head to head with four courses of creations. The final two ladies are reportedly friends, supporting each other all the way to the top. When judges announced Chef Kelsey won the title of Top Chef, as disappointed as Chef Sara was, she said she was proud of her friend. Bradley owns Paducah's Freight House restaurant. She was the only chef from Kentucky in this season's competition, which took place mostly in the Bluegrass State. The show also shot an episode in Nashville, and traveled to China for the final three episodes. The table of diners Thursday evening included Deputy Editor of FOOD & WINE Magazine Melanie Hansche, acclaimed chefs Mitsuharu Tsumara, Alexander Smalls, Dan Hong, May Chow, and Alvin Leung, along with Tom, Padma, Nilou and Graham. : A 10-km stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail between Ameerpet and Hi-Tec City was inaugurated Wednesday, covering 56 km of the 72 km long elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail project, becoming India's second largest network. With the 56 km length operational, it has now become India's second largest Metro Rail network, next only to Delhi, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HRML) officials said. Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan flagged off the metro rail services to Hi-Tec City, the IT hub of Hyderabad,at Ameerpet Metro station. The 10-km Ameerpet-Hi-Tec City stretch of Corridor-III with nine stations would establish the crucial Metro Rail connectivity to the highly congested IT/ITES service areas of Hi-Tec City, Madhapur, Gachibowli, Jubilee Hills, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 30 km stretch (between Miyapur and Nagole) of the project in November 2017. Another 16-km stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail between Ameerpet and L B Nagar was launched in September 2018. Currently around 1.8 lakh passengers travel by Metro services on these operational routes daily. The Governor later travelled from in the Metro train from Ameerpet. Telangana Chief Secretary S K Joshi, Director General of Police M Mahendar Reddy, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar were among the dignitaries who were present at the Ameerpet station. The Ameerpet-Hi-Tec Citystretch, which forms part of Corridor-III (Nagole-Hitec City-27 km), is one of the most congested traffic corridors of Hyderabad, the officials said, adding this stretch connects with already commissioned stretch of Nagole-Ameerpet (17 km). The total Corridor-III of 27 km has now been made available for the public to give good integrated connectivity to Hitec City from different parts of Hyderabad. Among the nine stations (Ameerpet-Hi-Tec City stretch), Taruni-Madhura Nagar station is being developed as a women managed station and in due course would have shops mostly catering to their needs and that of children. HMRL Managing Director N V S Reddy said the Jubilee Hills checkpost station was a single level one unlike other stations which are mainly on two levels. The concourse level was avoided to reduce the already high level of the station due to gradient related problems,he said. The officials further said that Corridor-II from JBS to MGBS (10 km) will be completed by December this year. At an average speed of 32 kmph initially (max speed 80), the Metro train covers Corridor-I and Corridor-III (Miyapur - LB Nagar and Nagole - Hitec City) in 50 minutes as against two hours by road. Initially trains will run with a frequency of about 12 minutes, which will be increased to three minutes gradually, the officials said. After completion and stabilisation, the system is expected to carry 15 lakh passengers per day. The concessionaire L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited is building the Hyderabad Metro Rail project across three corridors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Mizoram assembly Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Centre not to reintroduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in any form in future. The civil societies, churches, political parties and the people of the state are against the bill, Home Minister Lalchamliana said after moving the resolution. The people of the northeastern region are also against the bill, Lalchamliana added. The state cabinet on January 10 had also opposed the bill, he said. Chief Minister Zoramthanga had informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that the people of Mizoram and the state government opposed the passage of the bill, Lalchamliana said. Zoramthanga also attended a meeting of political parties of the Northeastern region on January 29, in which chief ministers of the regional states and other leaders opposed the move of the Centre on the bill, he said. Leader of Opposition Zodintluanga of the Congress supported the resolution and said the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) should sever ties with the BJP, as the MNF is a constituent of the NDA. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The NCP feels that MNS chief Raj Thackeray's latest diatribe against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would eventually benefit the Congress-NCP combine in Lok Sabha polls, at least in some urban pockets in Maharashtra. The NCP's optimism stems from the appeal made by Thackeray Tuesday in which he said the Lok Sabha elections is a fight between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and rest of the country. Thackeray met NCP chief Sharad Pawar here Wednesday. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which tried hard to be part of the Congress-NCP front ahead of the polls, has already announced not to contest Lok Sabha polls. Though the NCP was in favour of taking MNS on board, the Congress opposed any such move citing the MNS' aggressive brand of In 2014 elections, the MNS had drawn a blank. In the assembly elections held that year, the party won only one seat. Maharashtra will vote in four phases next month. Disgruntled BJP MLA from Dhule, Anil Gote also called on Pawar at his residence Wednesday. Gote told Pawar that his sole aim is to defeat Union minister and local BJP MP Subhash Bhamre. The legislator, however, clarified that he didn't seek help of Pawar, but "just conveyed" his position to the NCP chief. When asked about the meeting between Thackeray and Pawar, an NCP leader said, "The meeting augurs well for our party. The MNS enjoys influence in some urban pockets. Though the MNS is formally not a part of the proposed grand alliance, the position Thackeray took yesterday will eventually benefit us". Addressing MNS workers here, Thackeray had slammed PM Modi over "rising unemployment" and other issues. The ruling BJP claims that the MNS chief is doing the bidding of "Baramati", a reference to NCP chief Sharad Pawar's pocket-borough. The NCP leader said the proposed grand alliance in Maharashtra will benefit in constituencies such as Mumbai north-east, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Nashik and some other pockets in Konkan belt. MNS has loyal vote banks in many of these pockets. Meanwhile, Gote said corruption and goondaism was being protected in Dhule. "I have been fighting against these very ills for the last 30 years. I must cleanse my party if such ills are being practiced within it," he said after meeting Pawar. The MLA, who has been at loggerheads with the BJP's state leadership since the Dhule Municipal Corporation elections held last year, added that he did not seek help from Pawar, but just conveyed his position to the NCP chief. "I discussed issues with him. We will meet him again," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reduced the PMO to Publicity Minister's Office for marketing himself, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged on Wednesday, as he launched a vitriolic attack on his rival over a host of issues including unemployment and demonetisation. Unsparing in his attack, Gandhi also wondered whether the prime minister ever studied at a university, and alleged educational institutions were undergoing saffronisation under his watch. Addressing a public rally and holding an interaction with students in the Manipur capital, the Congress leader raked up the issue of now lapsed Citizenship (amendment) Bill, accusing the Modi government of reneging on its 'act east policy' and attacking the culture and ethos of the people of the Northeast. "Modi has reduced the Prime Minister's Office to the status of Publicity Minister's Office as he is busy marketing himself," he said during an interaction with students. Attacking Modi over alleged loss of employment opportunities, the Congress leader said the prime minister had claimed on taking over the reins of the government that two crore jobs will be created every year, but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. Over 30,000 jobs were lost on an average every day, he claimed. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," Gandhi told the well-attended election rally. During his interaction with students, the Congress president claimed nobody knew whether Modi ever went to a university. "We still have no access to his university degree. Nobody actually knows if he went to university or not. There is an RTI (application) in Delhi seeking PM's degree but it has not been responded to," Gandhi said, adding "the prime minister is imposing mediocrity on a sophisticated country". Speaking about the unrest at the Manipur University last year after students and teachers demanded removal of the then vice chancellor AP Pandey over his alleged "anti-academic activities", Gandhi said he was happy that the people of Manipur succeeded in forcing him out. The protests for the ouster of Pandey, who allegedly had RSS links, had led to the closure of the university for three months. "He (Pandey) was imposed on you. The only qualification to run a university (now) is to wear a pair of shorts, wield a 'lathi' (stick) and spread hatred," Gandhi said, in an oblique reference to the RSS. Calling demonetisation a "ridiculous" decision, he said,"One fine morning, he (Modi) got up and decided to carry out demonetisation. Is this a joke? Destroying people's lives?" he said. Targeting BJP president Amit Shah over his assertion that the Citizenship Bill will be re-introduced if the BJP formes the next government, the Congress leader dubbed it as an attack on the culture of the Northeast. "His (Modi's) party president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed...it will never become a law," he told the rally. He said every state has its unique voice and it should be heard and respected. "There is an ideological war going on. The RSS-BJP combination does not listen to or consider the views of others. On the contrary, the Congress is aware of every state's uniqueness and recognises their place in the country," he said. Accusing the Modi government of neglecting the Northeast, the Congress leader said, the prime minister's words do not match his acts. "Don't only look east, but act east," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to counter Iranian "aggression" as the two met in Jerusalem just weeks ahead of Israel's elections. Pompeo was on a regional tour focused largely on Iran, but the meeting and his warm words on Netanyahu's leadership will likely be seen as support from US President Donald Trump's administration amid the Israeli premier's re-election fight. Netanyahu, facing a stiff challenge from a centrist alliance in April 9 polls whilst under threat of indictment for corruption, will next week visit Washington, where he will meet twice with Trump. Pompeo's visit offered the right-wing premier an opportunity to burnish his security and diplomatic credentials -- both key planks of his re-election campaign. In comments after Pompeo's arrival, Netanyahu said Trump's pressure on Israel's main enemy Iran was already having an effect, referring to his withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and Washington's reimposition of sanctions. "We need to increase it, we need to expand it, and together the United States and Israel are working in close coordination to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world," he said. Pompeo noted a Middle East conference in Warsaw last month that included Arab nations as well as Israel, saying the discussions involved efforts "to stop Iran's regional rampage" among other issues. The US secretary of state also spoke of Iranian calls for Israel's destruction. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparallelled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," he said. Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria, where the Islamic republic backs President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes there against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action, and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions as we do them," Netanyahu said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A rare nude drawing by Picasso of his lover Marie-Therese Walter is to be sold by New York's Museum of Modern Art in Paris later this month, Christie's said Wednesday. MoMA is putting the ink drawing "Flute Player and Reclining Nude" under the hammer to raise money for its acquisitions fund. The auction house said the work from 1932 - which has never before been sold - is one of a series of drawings in which the artist revealed his passion for the French teenager he met in the street in 1927 when she was 17 and he 46. Years later, she told how Picasso walked up to her while she was out shopping in Paris and declared, "I am Picasso! You and me are going to do big things together." "He saw me coming out of the metro and took me by the arm," Walter recalled. "I was a young innocent girl. I knew nothing -- nothing of life nor of Picasso." "The day that I met Marie-Therese I realised that I had before me what I always dreamed of," Picasso later confessed. She quickly became his model and lover and in 1935 gave birth to their daughter Maya. The drawing shows Walter lying on a couch naked next to a flute-playing sprite, a recurring motif in the Spanish artist's work. It is expected to go for between 250,000 and 350,000 euros (USD 400,000) when it is auctioned at Christie's on March 28. Antoine Lebouteiller of Christie's said they were expecting huge interest from art collectors. "It's great quality and prestigious provenance with definitely draw a lot of major international buyers to Paris for the sale," he said. Picasso gave the drawing as a present to his dealer Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, and it was donated to MoMA by the American artist Eve Clendenin in 1961. Museums often sell or exchange works to help them complete or balance their collections of certain artists. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Naxals Wednesday blew up a civilian vehicle using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, leaving nine people injured, police said. The condition of one of them is critical, they said. The incident occurred around 7.45 pm on the "black top road" between Peddakodepal and Naimed villages under the Naimed police station area, when the victims were heading towards neighbouring Dantewada district in an SUV to visit a fair, Deputy Inspector General (anti-naxal operation) Sundarraj P told PTI. After being alerted, a police team rushed to the spot and admitted the injured people to a hospital, the DIG said, adding the vehicle driver, identified as Rajaram (37), was critically injured. A search operation was launched in the area, he added. Police suspect the ultras might have planned to target the security forces whose movement has been intensified in view of the Lok Sabha elections, but mistakenly attacked the civilian vehicle. The injured, identified as Sinni Aalam (26), Gitanjali Avalam (22), Tulsi Avalam (32), Mangali (22), Nikita Avalam (25), Ankit Avalam (5), Dhaniram Korsa (26), Rajaram (37) and Gutta (45), were admitted at Bijapur district hospital, he said. Elections to all the 11 seats in Chhattisgarh will be held in three phases on April 11, 18 and 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura government Tuesday sounded an alert after the death of five members of a family in Nipah virus attack in a Bangladesh village bordering West Bengal, an official said here. The Tripura government issued a notice to all district chief medical officers Monday to stay sensitized and alert on any impending Nipah virus attack in the state. The alert was sounded to all district chief medical officers, Joint Director of Family Welfare and Preventive Medicine Dr P Chatterjee said. "Five persons of a family died in Bangladesh due to Nipah virus attack. The deaths occurred near the West Bengal border, not the international border adjoining Tripura. Since the incident occurred in Bangladesh, Government of India asked us to stay alert," the official said. Nipah virus usually transmits from infected bats carrying the virus. Drinking raw date palm sap is the most common way of transmission of the virus and the health department notice advised people not to drink that sap. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday refused to give credit to the Narendra Modi government for the arrest of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, saying it was a "got-up match" and the arrest may have been fixed by the Centre beforehand. Talking to reporters here, she termed the development a "strike" by the Modi government to reap electoral dividend. Nirav Modi (48), the main accused in the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank scam case, was arrested in London and was on Wednesday remanded to custody there till March 29. He has been absconding from the country for over a year. "I think the Nirav Modi arrest is a got-up match. It is one of the 'strikes' by the Modi government to reap electoral dividends. I have been told by some people that two to three more such 'strikes' are in the offing and will take place in between the seven phases of Lok Sabha polls," Banerjee said. Stating that the Modi government should not claim any credit for the arrest of the fugitive, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, "One journalist of a UK media found out where he stayed. What were the government agencies doing all these times? "Those hiding behind the curtains please come out, your game is up," she added. Stating that the Modi government was past its "expiry date", the chief minister said, "They are branding those asking uncomfortable questions as 'traitors'. We are not traitors, we are protectors, we love the country. But you (Narendra Modi) are selling off the country by shielding the corrupt." In a dig at Modi for addressing 'chowkidars' (watchmen)over the radio and calling himself one, Banerjee said, "From 'chaiwala' (tea seller), he has now turned into a chowkidar. But the true chowkidar does not flaunt such fashionable dresses."She also criticised the Modi government for announcing projects just before the announcement of the parliamentary elections. "When the unemployment figures in the country have reached its highest level in 45 years, when two crore people have lost jobs in recent times, he is promising the moon to the people of the country. The people are not fools," she said. The TMC leader said the condition of blue chip public sectors like Air India and BSNL have deteriorated, while the farmers are in distress and dying. "Demonetisation ripples are still being felt, but Narendra Modi is making tall claims at meetings after meetings," she said. Demonetisation was announced in November 2016. Accusing Modi of playing the religion card ahead of the polls, Banerjee said, "We see him attending meetings with a 'tilak' on his forehead," referring to his recent address in Varanasi. She had on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP for questioning her religion and challenged the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah to compete with her in chanting 'mantras' (hymns). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister Babul Supriyo Wednesday said the arrest of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has "exposed the web of lies" created by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The arrest also proves that as long as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in-charge, no one can loot India's resources and escape, he stressed. The comments came after Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank scam case, was arrested in London and a court remanded him in custody till March 29. "The arrest has exposed the web of lies spread and created by Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi has accused the government of not taking enough action, but the fact is it was during the UPA regime that loans were sanctioned to Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya," Supriyo told a press conference. "They fled because they were aware that they can't roam scotfree by looting the people of this country," he added. On the opposition parties' accusation that the Centre had acted just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to draw political mileage, Supriyo said the allegations were "completely baseless". "The government was tracking the case and the arrest is a result of it. The opposition parties should stop drawing political conclusion to each and every incident that is happening. The people of this country are aware of the truth," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, arrested by Scotland Yard on behalf of the Indian authorities, will be held at a prison in south-west London considered one of England's most overcrowded jails. The 48-year-old, who appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Wednesday in a sombre white shirt and trousers, was taken to Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) Wandsworth after he was remanded in custody until March 29 by District Judge Marie Mallon. While in custody and until the first hearing in his extradition case next week, Modi is likely to be held in a separate cell but may also have to share a cell with other prisoners given the overcrowding pressures. Modi, who was living in a plush apartment in Centre Point in the West End until his arrest on Tuesday, was sent to prison on the eve of Holi. In the prison in south London, Modi's inmates will include the likes of alleged Dawood henchman Pakistani-origin Jabir Moti, currently undergoing extradition proceedings to the US. HMP Wandsworth is classed as a Category B prison, where criminals are held if not deemed to be of a high level of security risk. According to a March 2018 inspection report by the UK's Chief Inspector of Prisons, it holds 1,428 men and remains "one of the most overcrowded prisons in England and Wales. "There were too many prisoners, many with drug-related or mental health issues, and with not enough to do, noted the inspection report. Cells designed for one prisoner were occupied by two, with poorly screened lavatories and the prisoners confined in them for far too long each dayIn common with many other prisons of this type, prisoners at Wandsworth had far too little time out of their cells," the report added. The Wandsworth Prison building was originally built in 1851 and the UK Justice Department claims that extensive refurbishment and modernisation of the wings, including in-cell sanitation, privacy screens for cells occupied by more than one prisoner and installation of in-cell electricity, have taken place since 1989. Modi will be lodged at the prison until he appears for his first case management hearing on March 29, which is expected to be presided over by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot the same judge who ordered the extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya to India last December. That case is now in the High Court as part of Mallya's application seeking leave to appeal against Arbuthnot's ruling. Modi was arrested from a Metro Bank branch in London by uniformed officers Tuesday, when he went there to open a new bank account. He and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. Modi is one of India's richest men, worth an estimated USD 1.75 billion, according to Forbes. He launched his own eponymous brand in 2010 and he soon had stores across India, as well as in New York, London and Hong Kong. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the wake of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's arrest in London, Union minister Prakash Javadekar Wednesday said he will be extradited to India like AgustaWestland case accused Christian Michel and all "thieves" will be put behind bars under the Narendra Modi-led government. The Human Resource Development Minister said the government will ensure that the money looted from the country is returned to the nation. "Michel was extradited, then Talwar and Saxena were brought in and Vijay Mallya is also going to be brought back soon. Nirav Modi has also been arrested. All thieves under the leadership of Narendra Modi will be put behind the bars and will have to return the looted money to the nation,"Javdekar said. He said the arrest of Nirav Modi only "prove" that the country is in safe hands under the leadership of the prime minister. Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London and a court on Wednesday remanded him in custody till March 29, saying there are "substantial grounds" to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Noise pollution beyond prescribed norms is a serious punishable crime, the NGT has said and asked the police to map such hotspots as also put in place a surveillance mechanism for taking strict action against violators. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the Police Commissioner to monitor the implementing officers so as to safeguard the right of citizens and e-mail the report on within a month. The green panel said that citizens have Constitutional right to peaceful environment and noise pollution beyond prescribed norms is serious punishable crime for which adequate preventive and remedial action is needed. "There has to be strict action of identifying and mapping the hotspots of noise pollution, requiring installation of noise measuring device by the users of noise creating devices having potential of causing high noise level, beyond the prescribed limit," the bench said. "There has to be a surveillance and monitoring mechanism, coordination with the educational institutions and resident welfare associations at regular intervals," it added. NGT said it had an interaction with the concerned officers in an attempt to advise them on understanding their responsibility and accountability to law and their duty to the society. The tribunal said taking action against only four persons for noise pollution or simply writing to Central Pollution Control Board hardly meets the expectations when there is large scale violation of law. It said that technical inputs can be taken by personal meeting with the CPCB and Delhi Pollution Control Committee. "Simply writing a letter to them is just avoiding the responsibility. Let the officers now do their duty, take remedial steps and furnish their reports of their efforts," it said while posting the matter for hearing on July 12. Merely passing an order that laws should be complied with is not enough for authorities as they also need to take action violators, the tribunal had earlier said in a case against the use of loudspeaker to curb noise pollution. The NGT's observation came while dealing with a plea alleging that illegal use of loudspeakers at mosques was adversely affecting the health of the residents living in their vicinity in East Delhi. The tribunal was hearing a plea by NGO Akhand Bharat Morcha alleging that illegal use of loudspeakers at such places adversely affected the health of the residents living in their vicinity. The plea had alleged that the activities of some mosques were in violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State-owned power producer NTPC Tuesday said its 200 kilo watt (kW) waste-to-energy plant in Karsada has achieved full generation capacity. The plant is located in Karsada at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (UP). "Karsada plant has been able to achieve full load generation. Set up with an installed capacity of 200 kW, the thermal gasification-based pilot scale 24 tonne per day waste to energy plant has achieved full generation capacity," NTPC said in a statement. The project, NTPC said, is in line with the government's Swachh Bharat Mission, promoting a healthy through proper waste utilisation. "The municipal solid waste supplied by the Varanasi Municipal Corporation is converted to electric power, thus ensuring scientific disposal of waste through a sustainable and environmentally friendly process," it said. The compost created as a by-product is also sold as organic fertilisers to the farmers, it added. NTPC has already signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PuVVNL) of UP for evacuation of electric power generated at this waste-to-energy plant, the statement said. NTPC is India's largest power utility with an installed capacity of 53,166 MW (mega watt). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister on Wednesday discussed the security situation in the country, including on the eastern border with India, with the top leadership of the Army, Navy and Air Force, sources said, amid tensions between the two nations after the Pulwama attack. Khan met Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi. The meeting came just two days ahead of the Pakistan Day parade in Islamabad which would feature a display of military hardware. "The security situation of the country including professional matters pertaining to Armed Forces of Pakistan were discussed during the meeting," according to an official statement. Government sources said that the security situation on the eastern border with India was also discussed. Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after the February 14 Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was handed over to India later. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday extended his greeting to the country's Hindu community on the occasion of Holi. "Wishing our Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours," Khan said in a tweet. The festival of Holi marks the end of winter and the start of spring. The festival is also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love". Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), also took to twitter to wish people on Holi. "Happy Holi to all my Hindu brothers and sisters. On the happy occasion of Holi, let us spread the wonderful massage of peace and happiness," he wrote. The Hindu community in Pakistan celebrates the festival by playing with colours. They also burn logs of wood to symbolise the victory of good over evil and observe Holi Pooja. According to Pakistan Hindu Council, the Hindus constitute about 4 per cent of Pakistan's total population of 200 million. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan will soon have a definition to the word 'terrorism'. This was decided by Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Wednesday when he constituted a seven-member bench to determine the definition of 'terrorism' and the cases that fall within the category, Pakistani media reported. The apex court's decision comes amid intense pressure on Pakistan government to rein in terror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. Pakistan has witnessed a number of major terror attacks in the past. At least 595 people, including Pakistani security officials, have been killed and 1,030 others injured in 262 terror attacks in Pakistan during 2018, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based independent think tank said in January. Pakistani media reported that since 1997, it is not determined that which case comes in the ambit of terrorism, Chief Justice Khosa said. The seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Khosa, will determine and decide the exact definition of terrorism, Dawn newspaper reported. The definition of came under discussion while the court was hearing reviews petitions in "Sibtain versus the State" and "Fazal Bashir versus the State" cases. The accused in the both the cases were charged under Section 7 of the Anti- Act (ATA), which deals with punishment for acts of The application of the ATA clauses also come under scrutiny last year when the Supreme Court set aside capital punishment awarded by an an anti-terrorism court to Asma Nawab and two others, mainly due to legal technicalities, in a 20-year-old case pertaining to killing of her parents and brother. According to legal experts in Pakistan, there is no precise or widely accepted definition of the word, 'terrorism'. It often refers to and is applied to a variety of acts of violence that are not strictly within the ambit of terrorism, ARY News channel reported. "To define what is terrorism leads to an intellectual struggle. The rival parties label the activities of their opponents with it," it said. The features of an act of terrorism include the use or threat of violence and political motivation for some specific purpose, it said. According to the experts of international law the issue of terrorism attracted increased attention and concern in early 70s at the international level. The United Nations had struggled to provide a definition of terrorism. There are difficulties of interpretation. In the post 9/11 period, the issue of dealing with international terrorism has become the primary objective of the international community, the report said. According to reports, Pakistan's political parties are expected to meet on March 28 to discuss the implementation of the Action Plan (NAP) against extremists which was formulated after the 2014 terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in which nearly 150 people, mostly students were killed. Following the Pulwama terror attack, the government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to implement the NAP and sought cooperation from the Opposition parties. Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian High Commissioner to lodge a strong protest against the acquittal of all four accused, including Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Samjhauta terror attacks that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others in the case. The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit". Pakistan's Acting Foreign Secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria today to lodge Pakistan's strong protest, the Foreign Office said in a statement. The Acting Foreign Secretary stressed that Pakistan had consistently raised the "lack of progress and the subsequent, concerted attempts by India to exonerate the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act in which 44 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives". The issue was raised repeatedly, including at the sidelines of the Senior Officials, Heart of Asia Meeting in 2016. Formal demarches were also lodged regularly with India on the lack of progress and acquittal of the accused in other cases, the statement said. The blast in Samjhauta Express took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The cash-strapped Pakistan government has decided to sell unused properties owned by federal ministries to pay off the country's mounting debts, the media reported Wednesday. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday aimed at finding solutions for generating revenue and boosting up the country's paralysed economy which is already under a debt of over 27 trillion Pakistani rupees. Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that only those properties of ministries and allied departments would be put up for sale which are lying unused. "Prime Minister Khan has sought the lists of properties of ministries for disposal," the minister was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. Chaudhry said the ministries had already finalised their lists of properties and sent them to the Cabinet. Explaining the procedures to be adopted for the disposal of assets, the minister said this could be done by adopting a uniform policy that would also describe a modus operandi to legally sell off the properties. To fast-track the process of selling the properties, an Asset Management Committee has been formed by the Ministry of Privatisation on the directions of Prime Minister Khan. Meanwhile, the commission has received details of over 45,000 unused properties to be put on sale with majority of them being disputed, the Express Tribune reported. According to the report, the first sale of properties would take at least six months to complete despite relaxation in some regulations. The Privatisation Commission would first short list valuators who would then value the properties selected for sale. The reference price given by the valuators will be approved by the board of the Privatisation Commission and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, the officials of the commission added. Prime Minister Khan had in September last year suggested that thousands of acres of "dead capital" can be used for productive purposes. Pakistan has received financial aid worth billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China to overcome the financial crisis. Islamabad is also negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for an aid package. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan's elder brother Konidela Nagendra Babu joined the party Wednesday and was named the candidate for the Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh. Admitting his brother, Kalyan described his brother as his "political guru", saying he had a clear understanding of Nagendra Babu, popularly known as Nagababu, is the younger brother of Telugu film star and former Union Minister K Chiranjeevi while Kalyan is the youngest. "On my invitation, he has joined the Jana Sena. He will be available whole time to serve the people," Kalyan said. Kalyan and Nagababu were the pillars of support for Chiranjeevi when he launched Praja Rajyam Party in 2008. The party was later merged with the Congress in 2012 and both of them stayed away from for a while before Kalyan floated the Jana Sena two years later. Like his two brothers, Nagababu is also a film and television actor, besides being a producer. "Kalyan is my younger brother whom I raised in my hands. But now he has grown into a tall leader. He is a leader for me as well. I am ready to serve people with his inspiration," Nagababu said. The two brothers will be fighting elections for the first time. Kalyan will be contesting the April 11 Assembly election from Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram constituencies while Nagababu will fight the Lok Sabha poll. Incidentally, Bhimavaram Assembly segment falls under Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency in West Godavari district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kerala Janapaksham headed by P C George, which supported protests by Hindu outfits over the Sabarimala issue, Wednesday said it would not contest the Lok Sabha elections but asked its workers to defeat "forces trying to humiliate and tarnish religious faith and traditions". Kerala Janapaksham will not field candidates in any constituency, including Pathanamthitta, party Chairman and Poonjar MLA P C George said in a statement here. This marks a shift in the party's stand as George had earlier said he would contest from Pathanamthitta constituency where the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa temple is situated. He had said the party would also field candidates in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Chalakkudi and Idukki seats. In his statement Wednesday, George said it was time for the Kerala Janapaksham party workers to ensure the defeat of the forces trying to humiliate and tarnish religious faith and traditions" in the April 23 elections. George had supported protests by various Hindu outfits last year against the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict lifting the traditional ban on entry of women in 10-50 age group into the Sabarimala temple. He had come out openly against the CPI(M)-led LDF governments stand supporting entry of women in the menstruation age group into the famous shrine. A revision petition against the September 28 last year verdict is pending in the apex court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India Wednesday urged people to guard distressed animals as "chowkidars", a terminology which got currency due to the political slugfest over it. The organisation, in its latest tweet, called on people to look out for animals in distress and to protect them from abuse by reporting cruelty. "Be a #chowkidar for animals and help guard them against abuse. Here's how: http://petain.vg/4gc ," the PETA tweeted Wednesday. The organisation gave a weblink to contact on to report about cruelty to animals. It also gave an emergency contact number -- 98201 22602-- to help distressed animals. PETA India associate director Sachin Bangera said, "Animals need all the chowkidars they can get and of course, it's our fundamental duty as Indian citizens to ensure that animal-protection laws are followed and to have compassion for animals, as mandated by our Constitution." The word 'chowkidar' went viral on social media shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched #MainBhiChowkidar campaign, on Twitter. The term has also been used by opposition parties to take digs at the prime minister and his party leaders, who recently prefixed it to their names on Twitter. Chowkidar is the Hindi word for watchman or security guard. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Industry body PHDCCI Wednesday suggested political parties to work on seven areas including smart farming, bolstering industrialisation and revitalising exports growth, to create over 100 million jobs in the next five years. There is a need to focus on a seven-pronged strategy to create "more than 100 million jobs in the next five years", the chamber said. These include "smart farming, bolstering industrialisation with artificial intelligence and industry 4.0, ease of doing business for MSMEs, revitalising exports growth, exploring tourism potential, quality education with skill development and inclusive health for all," the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) said in a statement. The tourism sector has immense importance not only in earning foreign currency but also in creating millions of employment opportunities for the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workforce, it said. "The tourism sector has potential to create more than 40 million new jobs in the next five years," it said. It added that smart farming should be explored from strengths in the agriculture sector to shift disguised unemployment from the traditional agriculture to agro and food processing exports. "India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub and to increase its share in GDP (gross domestic product) to 25 per cent by 2023-24. We suggest reforms in direct taxation to take place in which corporate tax rate should be reduced to 20 per cent for all, ignoring the turnover criteria," it added. It said improvement in logistics infrastructure and trade facilitation measures would enhance export growth trajectory and create 10 million new jobs in the next five years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is renewing calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between Qatar and four other Arab nations, all America's Mideast partners. On a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo says the crisis that has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, the Islamic State group and others. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began a boycott of Qatar in June 2017, alleging that Qatar funds extremists and has too-cozy ties to Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists, but Doha shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran. Pompeo is in Kuwait on the first leg of a Mideast tour that will take him next to Israel and Lebanon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo sought Wednesday to bolster a united front against Iran during a Middle East tour that will include talks with key ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israeli elections. The US secretary of state kicked off his regional tour in Kuwait where he met Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the first stop of a trip that will also take him to Israel and Lebanon. Pompeo told reporters on the flight from the United States that he would discuss "strategic dialogue" and the need to combat "the threat posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran" with leaders in the region. After Kuwait Pompeo will fly to Israel where an election campaign is in its final weeks with Netanyahu locked in a close battle with centrist rivals. Pompeo is also pushing for a greater role for the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), a US-sponsored Arab NATO aimed at uniting Washington's Arab allies against Tehran. "We all have the same set of threats, threats from Al-Qaeda, from (the Islamic State group), threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Pompeo said at a joint press conference with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled Al-Sabah. Pompeo urged Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both members of MESA, to bury the hatchet in a political dispute over regional policy that has split the two powerful Gulf states. "It's not in the best interest of the region," Pompeo said of the Saudi-Qatari rift. "It's not in the best interest of the world." Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017, accusing Qatar of bankrolling Islamist fundamentalists and cosying up to Iran. Qatar denies the allegations and says the rival states aim to incite regime change in Doha. While Washington insists it is not interfering in Israeli politics, his visit is seen as a show of support for Netanyahu, who is struggling to keep his grip on power as he faces allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust ahead of the April 9 polls. "Leaders will change in both countries over time," Pompeo said before landing in Kuwait. That relationship matters no matter who the leaders are." Israel is one of the most outspoken members of the anti-Iranian grouping assembled by the US, and Iran is sure to be a central focus of Pompeo's talks in Jerusalem. No meetings with Netanyahu's opponents are scheduled, and the secretary of state will not meet with representatives of the Palestinian Authority. "They'd have to want to talk to us," Pompeo said of the Palestinian officials. "That'd be a good start." Washington has taken a series of steps deemed so "hostile" by the Palestinian Authority that it now refuses any contact with the US administration. The moves include cutting most of the US aid to the Palestinians. President Donald Trump's decision in December 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli delighted Netanyahu's government. But it enraged Palestinians, who want to make the eastern, mainly Palestinian part of the city the capital of their future state. Pompeo's two-day visit to Jerusalem also includes a symbolic stop at the new US embassy, which was transferred from Tel Aviv on Trump's orders last year. Netanyahu will travel to Washington in the last week of March for the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), an event sponsored by the influential lobbying group that draws thousands each year. While a meeting has not been officially confirmed, the Israeli premier hopes to use the opportunity of his Washington visit to meet with Trump. A shift in semantics and policy has marked the Trump term, particularly related to the Middle East. The US has ceased to refer to Syria's Golan Heights as "Israeli-occupied" and instead calls the territory "controlled" by Israel - a change seen by some as a prelude to US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau. "That language reflects the facts as we understand them," Pompeo said. "This was a factual statement about how we observe the situation. "And we think it's very accurate, and we stand behind it." The April 9 vote in Israel will also start the countdown for the presentation, expected before the summer, of the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that a small White House team -- strongly pro-Israeli, analysts say -- has been quietly preparing under the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. During Friday's Beirut leg of his trip, Pompeo will focus on the Hezbollah movement, which the US considers a pro-Iranian "terrorist" group even though it is represented in the coalition government of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, himself a US ally. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The British pound fell Wednesday on simmering Brexit tensions after Prime Minister Theresa May asked EU leaders to delay the nation's departure until June 30. On eve of an EU summit in Brussels, May told parliament that she has written to EU President Donald Tusk to ask for the withdrawal date to be moved from March 29. The European Commission warned in an internal briefing note that delaying Brexit to June 30 would bring "serious legal and political risks". The EU's executive arm instead urged leaders to choose instead a short delay to May 23 or a longer one at least until the end of this year. At around 1300 GMT, sterling was down almost one per cent in value, sliding to USD 1.3149, while the euro rose to 86.40 pence. The unit was already in negative territory prior to May's announcement. Analysts expressed doubt that the delay extension would allow May's Conservative government sufficient time to resolve the crisis. "The pound's Wednesday only got worse after the confirmation that Theresa May is seeking a short delay from the EU, one that arguably does not give the government enough time to get through a sterling-positive Brexit deal," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP. "It appears that, despite the various votes highlighting MPs unwilling to leave the EU without a deal, that kind of disastrous exit is still very much on the table." Rebecca O'Keeffe, analyst at online broker Interactive Investor, was similarly downbeat. "A short delay is being perceived as the worst of all possible worlds for the UK and sterling," she told AFP. "Rather than resolve the crisis, it suggests that Mrs May is likely to undergo three more months of brinkmanship. "This will represent one more damaging quarter for UK businesses, especially those who had already implemented plans to cope with an end-March Brexit date. "So it really is no surprise that the pound is going down, as investors face the prospect of another three months of purgatory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of jobs, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that his policies destroyed one crore jobs last year and said "India's PM is a joke". Gandhi's criticism of Modi came over a media report which claimed that the actual size of India's male workforce, or men who are working, has shrunk for the first time since 1993-94. "I thought India was producing 450 jobs a day. Turns out Modi's policies destroyed 1 crore jobs in 2018. That's 27,000 jobs lost every single day of 2018. India's PM is a joke," he tweeted. Addressing a rally in Manipur earlier in the day, Gandhi said: "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs in the country. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs." Slamming the government over the issue of "job losses", Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the country's "chowkidar" is responsible for "stealing" jobs with 4.7 crore youth losing employment. "Modi ji has eaten up 4.7 crore jobs of the youth. Due to the BJP's 'pan-pakoda' policy, 4.7 crore youth had to wash their hands of their jobs," he said. "Promise was to give 10 crore jobs, but 4.7 crore jobs have been taken away. The country's chowkidar is responsible for stealing jobs," Surjewala said with the hashtag "Chowkidar Chor Hai". Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also slammed the government over the unemployment issue. He alleged that about two crore jobs were lost since Modi came to power, citing National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. Sibal said the national male workforce had shrunk from 30.4 crore in 2011-12 to 28.6 crore in 2017-18. In all, since 2011-12, India's national workforce shrunk by 4.7 crore, more than the population of Saudi Arabia, the media report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over reports of shrinking workforce, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his policies have "destroyed" one crore jobs last year and that "India's PM is a joke". Gandhi's criticism of Modi came after an English daily quoted a government labour document to claim that the "actual size of India's male workforce, or men who are working, has shrunk for the first time since 1993-94". "I thought India was producing 450 jobs a day. Turns out Modi's policies destroyed 1 crore jobs in 2018. That's 27,000 jobs lost every single day of 2018. India's PM is a joke," he tweeted. However, the Congress chief did not elaborate how he reached at the 1 crore figure. At a rally in Manipur, Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister had made a promise of providing two crore jobs every year but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. "This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," he alleged. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the youth, the poor and the middle-class in the country have to understand that Modi is "harmful" for employment. On the NSSO labour report quoted by the media, he said, "it is clear now that if someone has taken away jobs of the youth in the country, it is Prime Minister Modi, who claims himnself to be a chowkidar." "The youth of the country, the poor and the middle class, working class, the poor of the country have to understand and realise that Modi ji is harmful for employment", he said. Surjewala also alleged that the country's "chowkidar" is responsible for "stealing" jobs with 4.7 crore youth losing employment. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also alleged that about two crore jobs were lost since Modi came to power, citing National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. According the report, the national male workforce had shrunk from 30.4 crore in 2011-12 to 28.6 crore in 2017-18. The report has also claimed that since 2011-12, India's national workforce shrunk by 4.7 crore, more than the population of Saudi Arabia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday urged people to wage an "ideological battle" against what he called was " of division and hatred" unleashed by the BJP. Addressing a public rally at the Khumpui Academy Grounds near Agartala in Tripura, Gandhi said that unlike the BJP, the Congress follows the policy of love, unity and solidarity. "There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is of division and hatred of the BJP and on the other, there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of the Congress. "I call upon all party supporters and people to wage this ideological battle against the BJP and help form a Congress government at the Centre by voting for the party in the Lok Sabha elections," he said. Identifying unemployment as a major issue in the country, the Congress chief said 30,000 people were losing jobs on an average everyday. "One crore people lost jobs in 2018 alone. In Tripura, there are 7.5 lakh unemployed youths. Nothing is being done for them," he alleged. Gandhi reiterated his promise of introducing a minimum income guarantee scheme for every poor person in India if the Congress is voted to power in the general elections. He described the now-lapsed Citizenship Amendment Bill as an onslaught on the land, language, culture and history of the people living in the north east. "If the Congress forms government at the Centre, we would scrap the bill forever," Gandhi asserted. The Congress president also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of abetting fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. "All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged. He said there was massive corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal, and claimed the prime minister and industrialist Anil Ambani would land in jail if the issue is investigated. Gandhi also exuded confidence that the Congress would return in power in Tripura "very soon". He added that if the Congress forms the next government, it would reinstate special category status for the northeast, make Tripura more connected with the rest of the country and ensure direct funding from the Centre for the the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomus Distrit Council. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As a mark of respect to the CRPF jawans who died in the Pulwama terror attack, the Raj Bhavan here will not celebrate Holi this year, an official said on Wednesday. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) too will not be celebrating the festival of colours this year officially in solidarity with the families of the 40 troopers killed in the February 14 suicide attack in south Kashmir. A Raj Bhavan spokesperson informed that Governor Satya Pal Malik has decided that there will be no official Holi celebrations at the Raj Bhavan in the state's winter capital of Jammu. Malik said that he will not be celebrating the festival personally as well. The Governor did greet the people and observed that celebrating festivals together strengthens the bond of brotherhood between people. In his message, Malik said, the celebration of festivals, a valuable part of our rich cultural heritage, strengthens the bonds of brotherhood and amity. I hope that this Holi would spread happiness and joy all around and promote harmony, he added. Wishing a happy Holi to the people, the Governor said further as he prayed for their well-being and prosperity. At an event to mark the 80th raising day of the force, CRPF Director General (DG) R R Bhatnagar had on Monday said that there will be no "official celebrations" on Holi as a mark of respect to the 40 troops killed in Pulwama. Paying tributes to the slain personnel, the CRPF chief said the force was creating a ''mobile app'' to provide help to the families of jawans killed in action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Spirited dancing, vivid regalia and colorful beadwork brightened Cone Fieldhouse on Saturday during Willamette Universitys annual Social Pow wow. For the past 17 years, the Native and Indigenous Student Union has presented the pow wow, which is sponsored by the Native American Advisory Council, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Associated Students of Willamette University. Students, staff, faculty and community members including representatives from tribes throughout Oregon and Washington gathered to take part in the food, songs and arts and crafts that represent the culture of Native Americans from western Tribal Nations. For many attendees, the pow wow is an important place to regularly reunite with family and friends and share traditions with generations of tribe members. CCTV will broadcast the complete program on Comcast channel 22/322HD multiple times between March 30 and April 8. The NCP Wednesday downplayed the exit of its former MP Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, who crossed over to the BJP, saying the development would not affect its poll prospects in much-discussed Madha seat, currently represented by his father and party stalwart Vijaysinh Mohite Patil. Terming the development "unfortunate", NCP state president Jayant Patil disclosed that the party had decided to renominate Vijaysinh from Madha constituency. Vijaysinh was apparently unwilling to contest from the seat, once represented by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. In an embarrassment for the NCP ahead of the next month's Lok Sabha polls, Ranjitsinh switched over to the BJP with the "consent" of his father, who is said to be sidelined by the party brass. Vijaysinh, a former deputy chief minister, has not opened his cards on his next political move. "Sharad Pawar had finalised Vijaysinh's candidature from Madha constituency for the next month's elections. But he had suggested the name of another person as his replacement, which was opposed by local NCP workers in the constituency," Patil told reporters. After assessing the ground situation, the party leadership re-nominated Vijaysinh, but his son switched over to the BJP. "This is unfortunate," he added. Patil said the party had made Vijaysinh a minister and later deputy chief minister in the past. Meanwhile, Pawar held parleys with NCP leaders from Madha in Mumbai, following Ranjitsinh's move to join the ruling party. "The development won't have any bearing on the NCP's poll prospects in Madha. We will give a strong candidate in Madha and win the seat again. We will burst Chief Minister's (Devendra Fadnavis') bubble of illusion (on winning this seat)," Patil added. It is not yet known whether Ranjitsinh would be the BJP's nominee from Madha seat. He also said that the final picture on seat-sharing between the Congress and the NCP would be clear by March 23. Differences between the two parties in regard to four seats and delays in finalisation of the seats to be allotted to the smaller parties has been reportedly holding back the formal announcement of the poll agreement. The NCP has so far declared candidates in 18 constituencies, including Hatkanangale in Kolhapur district, which it has allotted to Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana of Raju Shetti. The Congress has so far announced candidates in 12 constituencies. Polling for all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in four phases next month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Wednesday asked the media to devote space and time to report on antecedents of politicians and their participation in debates in state legislatures and Parliament to help people make an informed choice in the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture, organised by the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Naidu said during elections, political parties tend to make "popularistic promises" and the media should play the role of questioning the basis of these promises. Terming voting a "national call of duty", he said voting in every election needs to be made a habit. "The media has an important role in promoting participatory democracy through enhanced voter turn out which in turn broad bases the foundation of democratic governance," the vice president said. "One of the fundamental aims of democratic elections is to provide the electorate with an opportunity to exercise their political rights and vote for candidates of their choice. A meaningful way for exercising this choice requires a free and fair media, and an informed citizenry," he said. He asked media organisations to devote space and time to report on the antecedents of politicians, their past work, participation in debates in state legislatures and Parliament. "These facts should be reminded to the people so that they can make an informed choice," he said in his lecture on the 'Role of Media in Moulding an Enlightened Electorate'. Expressing concern over the "unhealthy" trend of politicians switching from one party to another after being elected, Naidu opined that defections were making a mockery of democracy. Defectors must resign from the post and seek reelection, he said. The vice president stressed on the need for speedy disposal of election cases pending before various courts and time-bound disposal of cases by presiding officers of legislative bodies. Naidu asked people to elect leaders based on their character, caliber, capacity and conduct, but warned that some people were trying to replace these qualities with cash, community, caste and criminality (4Cs). "We must foresee that these 4C's are coming and must be careful," he said. The vice president expressed discontent over the falling level of public discourse and wanted the quality of debates to be raised. Referring to the efforts of the Election Commission to combat fake news, Naidu said the media's role is extremely important during elections as the chances of people propagating fake increases. "It is the responsibility of the media to act like myth-busters in such sensitive times, and report the absolute, undiluted truth," he said. Asserting that the quality of the electoral process was the touchstone of a healthy democracy, he said an unbiased media ensures that the electorate is well informed. Opining that the tendency of the media to add commentary to facts could be dangerous for democracy, he said stick to the facts and present them fearlessly as the old saying goes 'facts are sacred and opinion is free'. "Give opinions fearlessly but when giving opinion don't change the facts," the vice president said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A retired IPS officer and a retired district judge are among the first list of 21 candidates announced by actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam Wednesday for the coming in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Haasan said he wished to contest the April 18 but would take a call as per the advice of the party's executive committee. The party released names of candidates for 20 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and for the lone seat in the union territory Puducherry. The candidates for the remaining 19 seats would be announced on March 24 and would include "some important" names, Haasan told reporters here. The first list included south Indian actor M Nassar's wife Kameela Nassar (Chennai Central), retired IPS officer A G Mourya (Chennai North) and retired district judge K Guruviah (Nagapattinam). "Some important names are there in the next list, which would be announced on March 24 in Coimbatore," he said. Asked if he wishes to contest elections, Haasan, who launched his party in February last year, said "Yes, but let them (Executive Committee) tell me, let them give me the permission to do that. Nobody will stop me. But they will have to advise me on the best course of action." On the delay in announcing the candidates, he said various democratic steps, including holding interviews, had to be followed before finalising the list. The Election Commission has been allotted 'battery torch' symbol to MNM. The ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK have announced candidates for the 20 seats each they are contesting in Tamil Nadu. Shiv Sena MLA from Warora, Balu Dhanorakar, who wanted to contest from Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency, resigned Wednesday and blamed the Sena-BJP alliance for his decision. Dhanorkar submitted his resignation to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde. He also quit as the district "sampark neta" of Sena. Speaking to PTI, Dhanorkar said the local MP was "troubling" him for the last five years, and not allowing him to work in his own constituency. "I wanted to contest the election from Chandrapur constituency. However, due to the alliance with the BJP, I could not get the opportunity to do so," Dhanorakar said. Dhanorkar said he had not yet decided whether to join Congress or fight as an Independent. A Sena leader said Dhanorkar might get ticket from the Congress, as he is known for his proximity with the party deputy leader in the Legislative Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar. Vidarbha region Sena coordinator Arvind Nerkar said, after the alliance with the BJP was announced by party president Uddhav Thackeray, the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat went to the BJP quota. Union minister Hansraj Ahir of BJP is the sitting MP from the constituency in east Maharashtra. "Dhanorkar wanted to contest on a Sena ticket. However, the Sena had given its word to the BJP and we could not go back on that promise. If at all he had any problems with the sitting MP, he should have aired his grievances before the party president," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In another example of indigenisation of defence equipment, a five-metre short-span bridge was formally handed over to the Indian Army on Wednesday at a ceremony at the Talegaon facility of Larsen & Toubro, the Defence Ministry said. The bridge is indigenously designed and developed and is the result of close coordination between the Corps of Engineers and the DRDO laboratory in Pune, the ministry said. "The equipment has been manufactured by Larsen & Toubro Limited and has been delivered three months ahead of schedule. All stakeholders have put in concerted efforts to overcome challenges and realise the 'Make in India' initiative of the government, which aims to ensure self sufficiency in our defence needs," a statement said. The bridge will meet the important requirement of providing mobility to own forces by speedy establishment of bridges. The bridge is one of the numerous indigenous projects of Corps of Engineers which have made significant progress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka on Wednesday rejected calls for setting up an international judicial mechanism to probe alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the conflict with the LTTE, saying constitutional challenges prevent foreigners from participating in the process. Foreign Minister Thilak Marapana's comments came during his address at the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. Marapana explained to the UNHRC the legal and Constitutional challenges which prevent foreigners participating in the judicial process. "It has been explained that if non-citizen judges are to be appointed in such a process, it will not be possible without an amendment to the Constitution by 2/3rd of members of Parliament voting in favour and also the approval of people at a referendum," a statement released here said. The 2015 resolution had called for an international investigation in a hybrid court on alleged human rights violations blamed on both the government troops and the LTTE during the final phase of the conflict which ended in 2009 with the killing of rebel Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. Marapana said that the military action by the Sri Lankan forces was against a group designated terrorist by many countries and was not against any community. "Further it must be noted that there are no proven allegations against individiuals on war crimes or crimes against humanity...It is an injustice to deprive any serving or retired officer of the Sri Lankan security forces or the police of their rights," he said. Marapana said Sri Lanka should be encouraged to and assisted in finding innovative local mechanism with international best practices. Tamil and rights groups have called for establishing an office of the UN rights commissioner locally to monitor Sri Lanka's implementation process. Marapana said there was no justification for setting up of such an office as Sri Lanka had already taken many measures for transitional justice. Sri Lanka co-sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution in September 2015 which made it committed to fulfil a range of measures dealing with human rights, accountability and transitional justice. Recently, it came under international pressure to implement fully the measures identified by the UNHRC after the United Kingdom and Germany tabled a resolution at the UN body in Geneva. The UN rights office calls for international investigations into alleged war crimes and encourages member states to prosecute Sri Lankans suspected of war crimes in accordance with universal jurisdiction principles. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections were deferred as the state administration asked for over 70,000 paramilitary troops for conducting simultaneous polls, a demand which could not be acceded to, officials said Wednesday. A home ministry official said the Jammu and Kashmir administration's demand of about 717 companies of paramilitary personnel could not be met as a large number of forces would be required across the country for general elections. A company of paramilitary comprises about 100 personnel. The state elections may be held anytime after the Parliamentary polls, the officials said. The Home Ministry and the administration of J&K, which is currently under the President's rule, had apprised the Election Commission of the security situation in the state when a team of the poll panel had visited there on March 4-5. The EC team had gone there for assessing the situation and checking poll preparedness in the wake of the February 14 terror strike in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. The J&K administration's demand could not be met as a large number of personnel would be required for deployment across the country during the Parliamentary polls, therefore, the state elections were deferred, the official said. The demand on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir administration was placed by the then Addition Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Muneer Khan, who was recently appointed as State Chief Information Commission. The National Conference, the PDP and the Congress, had sought simultaneous polls and criticised the EC decision. The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP had also pitched for holding the polls together. Higher deployment of forces may be necessitated during the polls as they have to secure the routes to be taken by the candidates for campaign, the venue of rallies, besides the security of candidates itself. During the 2014 polls, a little more than 10,000 polling stations were set up, while the EC has announced the number will be 11,316 this time, requiring additional forces to secure them. While 77 candidates were in the fray for the six Lok Sabha seats in 2014, 831 fought the state elections a few months later to elect 87 MLAs. In the 2014 state assembly elections, a total of 428 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed and 47 were managed from the existing counterinsurgency grid, another official said. During the last Parliamentary elections, the security situation had improved considerably and about 300 companies were deployed of which 126 were drawn from the counterinsurgency grid. Before that, during the Parliamentary elections of 2009, altogether 300 companies were deployed on poll duties and 58 were again mobilised internally. In the 2008 assembly elections, 218 companies were sought from the Centre and in addition 58 were mobilised internally by the then state government, the official said. Another official said the large number of security personnel would be required for the Assembly elections too as Pakistan-based terror groups would make all out efforts to disrupt the process not only in the Kashmir Valley but in border districts such as Rajouri, Poonch and Doda. During the last assembly elections, the government had provided about 100 SUVs to the candidates and requirement of such vehicles would be more this time, the official said. The final assessment on holding the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be taken by a three-member panel set up by the Election Commission. The governor's rule was imposed in in the state on June 19, 2018 when the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the 25-member BJP. Initially, the assembly was kept in suspended animation, but the governor on November 21 dissolved the 87-member house after the PDP, supported by the Congress and arch-rivals National Conference, tried to stake claim to form a new government. When the governor's rule expired on December 19, 2018, President's rule was imposed in the state as under the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, there is no provision for extension of governor's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sudin Dhavalikar and Vijay Sardesai were Wednesday appointed deputy chief ministers in the BJP-led government in Goa. A notification issued by Varsha Naik, Under Secretary in the General Administration department, said the two are being appointed as deputy chief ministers with immediate effect. Dhavalikar belongs to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Sardesai is chief of Goa Forward Party (GFP). The two parties are part of the BJP-led state government, formed yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Realty firm is in talks to sells its office complex in Noida for around Rs 1,000 crore as it aims to cut debt significantly and save interest cost, sources said. The company has developed a 9 lakh sq ft office building in its 17.5 acre mixed-use project 'Supernova'. According to sources, is in advance stage of discussions with some potential buyers to sell this office complex, and the deal could be finalised soon. Earlier, the company had put on sale about 10 lakh sq ft retail space in the Supernova project. Talks are on with interested parties to sell this retail complex, sources said, adding that sale of office complex is expected to conclude first. also wants to divest its hotel properties at Rudrapur and Meerut comprising about 210 keys and has appointed some consultants to find buyers. ALSO READ: Supertech plans to monetise 1 mn sq ft retail space in Noida for Rs 12 bn The company is looking to raise around Rs 1,500 crore through the divestment of retail space and hotels, sources said. The total funds raised through sale of office, retail and hotel properties would be used for reducing debt and meet construction cost of ongoing as well as future projects. Supertech has a total debt of around Rs 2,500 crore from banks and non-banking finance (NBFCs). The company spokesperson declined to comment. "We are looking to monetise our commercial space to raise funds for our ongoing projects and reduce debt," Supertech Chairman R K Arora had said in October. Indian commercial real estate has been performing well in the last few years because of huge interest from domestic and global institutional investors in rent-yielding assets. The government's decision to introduce Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in India has also boosted the commercial segment. Supertech had in December 2017 raised Rs 430 crore from Altico Capital to fund its ongoing housing project in Noida and repay debt. It had raised Rs 350 crore from L&T Finance in September 2017 to complete its Eco-Village 1' housing project, comprising 7,500 units, in Noida Extension. In the 17.5 acre premium project Supernova, Supertech is developing five towers at an investment of around Rs 5,500 crore. The company has started delivery in two 44-storey residential towers comprising 575 units. In other towers, it is building studio apartments, a hotel and branded residences. The entire project is expected to be completed in the next two-three years. Supertech has delivered 40,000 units in the last 30 years and is currently working on 60,000 flats across 35 projects, mostly in Noida, Greater Noida and Gurugram. The company also has projects in Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muradabad, Dehradun, Haridwar, Rudrapur and Bengaluru. Heavily armed Taliban militants attacked a remote security check post in Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province, killing at least six paramilitary personnel and wounding over a dozen others, an official said Wednesday. The Pakistani Taliban known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack which took place in the mountainous Lal Khattai area of Ziarat district. The militant outfit said in a statement in Urdu that the attack was in retaliation to several deaths of its activists by the paramilitary forces. Qadir Bakhtakani, Ziarat district deputy commissioner, said the militants started the operation late night and exchange of fire continued for a while. "They attacked a Levies checkpoint and came heavily armed," he said. An investigation into the killing of six soldiers was underway, he said, adding that the injured have been shifted to different hospitals. Several militant groups operate in Baluchistan, including the Pakistani Taliban which continues to target security forces and installations in the province. Last month, they killed six frontier corp personnel in the Kech district of Baluchistan after ambushing a convoy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Texas House committee on Tuesday abandoned a controversial effort to pay teachers based on their performance. The idea, backed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in his State of the State speech, was billed as an effort to boost stagnant achievement in the state and modeled after a plan rolled out in Dallas several years ago. But many district superintendents saw it as a violation of local control, and teachers saw it as something that would result in teaching to the test. The rejection of merit pay sends an important signal that educator salaries should not be tied to standardized tests never intended for that purpose. Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement. Instead, the House education committee is proposing to allow district superintendents to spend the $140 million to provide incentives for teachers to work at low-income schools. The states Senate, meanwhile, has passed a proposal to boost teacher pay by $5,000, a bill that would cost the state more than $3.9 billion over the next two years. Texas legislature is in the thick of attempting to rewrite its states funding formula. The states Republicans have promised to lower property taxes while also increasing the amount of money going to low-income schools. One idea being considered by the Senate is providing more money for school districts that perform well on the states accountability system. Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. Mar 20, 2019 | By Thomas Markforged, a Watertown, MA-based manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, closed an $82m Series D round of funding. The round was led by Summit Partners, an investment firm that closed a $4.9 million growth equity fund in March this year. Existing investors including Matrix Partners, Microsoft Ventures M12, Porsche SE and Siemens next47 also participated in the round, bringing the companys total funding to $137M. In conjunction with the funding, Michael Medici, a Managing Director at Summit Partners, has joined Markforgeds Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its product roadmap, including the introduction of mass production printers and new materials. It plans to add a regional headquarters in Asia this year, as well as double its global headcount in engineering. In Boston, Markforged will add 200 jobs to its existing employee base of 230. The company also plans to open an additional manufacturing facility in the greater Boston area this year. Founded in 2013 by Greg Mark, CEO, Markforged makes industrial 3D printers for metal, composite and plastic parts. In September 2018, the company settled a trade secret and corporate espionage lawsuit with rival Desktop Metal. We have been actively monitoring the additive manufacturing market for the last decade and are excited to partner with the Markforged team, said Michael Medici, a Managing Director at Summit Partners who has joined the companys Board of Directors. Markforged has been quietly executing at an incredible pace for the last five years, delivering exceptional products that solve real-world industrial manufacturing needs. Greg and his team are focused on continued product innovation, and we believe the best is yet to come for Markforged and its customers. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: The Congress Wednesday blamed CPI-M for the failure of the seat sharing talks between the two parties in West Bengal and iterated its decision to go it alone in the state. It, however, decided not to contest five seats in south Bengal as goodwill gesture to the CPI(M) for its decision not to contest four seats won by Congress in 2014 and it was now for the CPI-M t take a call on the matter, party leader Pradip Bhttacharya said.. "The seat sharing talks failed as CPI(M) and Left Front were not keen on a formal alliance. They just wanted a seat sharing deal for this election. We were not ready for such a marriage of convenience. We were not ready to forge an seat sharing deal by compromising our dignity," Bhattacharya, who is the chairman of Bengal Congress Coordination Committee and Rajya Sabha MP said. There is no question of going back on the list of candidates for 11 seats in the state that Congress announced Monday night, he said adding the party will fight the coming Lok Sabha polls on its own in the state. "As CPI(M) has decided not to contest elections in the four seats that we had won last time, we too have decided not to contest in five seats - Diamond Harbour, Bishnupur, Tamluk, Arambagh and Asansol in south Bengal. Now it is for the Left to take a call on the matter," he said. The CPI(M)-led Left Front announced candidates for 13 more Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal on Tuesday taking the total number of its contestants to 38. The LF, however, kept its door open for seat sharing talks with the Congress till Wednesday evening by not declaring nominees in four seats which the national party had won in 2014 general elections. Reacting to LF's time limit till this evening, Bhattacharya said "We don't believe in such threats and ultimatum". The Congress had on Monday night announced candidates for 11 seats in the state, including Raiganj and Murshidabad which the CPI(M) had won in 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States will continue to impose additional import tariff on Chinese products till the time a trade deal is reached with the country, President Donald Trump has said. "We're not talking about removing them. We're talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time, because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal," Trump told reporters on the south lawns of the White House Wednesday. Washington and Beijing are battling over the final shape of an agreement that both sides have said they would like to reach, with American officials demanding profound changes to the Chinese industrial policy. Asked about the progress in the trade talks, the US president said, "We're getting along with China very well. President Xi is a friend of mine. The deal is coming along nicely. We have our top representatives going there this weekend to further the deal." The world's two largest economies are locked in a trade war since Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items from China in March last year, a move that sparked fears of a global trade war. Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on USD 250 billion of Chinese goods. In response, China, the world's second largest economy after the US, imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on USD 110 billion of American goods "No president has ever done what I've done with China. China had free reign over our country, taking out USD 500 billion a year for many years. We actually rebuilt China, in the truest sense of the word. We rebuilt China," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat Wednesday credited multiple schemes implemented by Telangana government for the state recording "impressive growth" rate and said it stood ninth in the Sustainable Development Goals Index of the plan body. The state can be among the top five if it followed the roadmap for "Telangana 2.0". However, it must improve its foundational learning index and agendas like Education 4.0 could be very useful, he said, suggesting that the government do an impact evaluation of all its schemes. He was delivering his inaugural address at a conference organised by CII Telangana on TELANGANA 2.0: The Growth Story Continues: Accelerating Growth through Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Inclusiveness". Saraswat laid a clear roadmap for the development of the State with the theme Telangana 2.0 and touched upon various sectors including agriculture, water, energy, waste management, smart cities, education and e-mobility. The Telangana government came up with multiple schemes which led to impressive growth rate. The NITI Aayog came up with Sustainable Development Goals Index and I must say that Telangana has performed well and is in the ninth position with 64 points. "If we follow a roadmap for Telangana 2.0, I am sure Telangana can be among the top five, a CII release quoted Saraswat as saying. Telanganas Principal Secretary for IT and Industries JayeshRanjan stressed on industries' role in encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. He sought industry support for providing internship, apprenticeship and promoting innovation by way of mentoring budding entrepreneurs. State Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy talked about Telangana Police initiatives in maintaining safety and security in the state. Telangana Police has focused on developing processes, people and technology to enhance citizens experience. Integrated Traffic Management, SHE teams, Community CCTV Camera, BHAROSA Centre for Women and many more initiatives have been taken by the Police in the past five years, Reddy added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court Wednesday allowed ED to quiz Altaf Shah, son-in-law of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and others in connection with a terror-funding case involving LeT chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Special judge Rakesh Syal allowed the agency to question Shah, Zahoor Watali, an influential businessman who has allegedly friendship with Pakistani leaders and Kashmiri separatists, and Naval Kishore Kapoor, a UAE-based businessman. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), through Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana and lawyer A R Aditya sought three days between March 24 and April 5 to interrogate Shah, Watali and Kapoor, who are currently lodged in Tihar jail, which the court allowed. Rana, who is representing the agency pro bono (without charging any money), had earlier told the court that the accused were required for "interrogation and recording of their statement to proceed further in the investigation". ED has filed the case on the basis of an FIR lodged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) accusing Saeed and others, including Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, of "conspiring to wage war against the government" and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley. Fantoosh, Watali and Kapoor were arrested by the NIA in the terror-funding case and are currently lodged in Tihar Jail here. The NIA had earlier filed a charge sheet against the accused, including Salahuddin, in the case. The agency has charged Pakistan-based terrorists Saeed and Salahuddin, besides 10 others, with criminal conspiracy, sedition and under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The agency has charged the Hurriyat leaders with acting under the overall guidance of and instructions from Saeed, Salahuddin and their "Pakistani handlers". They have been accused of plotting strategies to launch violent protests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three men have been arrested by the police for allegedly robbing a taxi driver and stealing his car in east Delhi's Anand Vihar, officials said on Wednesday. The accused have been identified as Hardeep Singh, Vicky Gautam and Sunny Kumar. On January 29, private taxi driver Jeetender, a resident of Jaitpur was having his meal after dropping a passenger at ISBT Anand Vihar when 3-4 men suddenly overpowered him, police said. They threatened him, forcibly took possession of his car and drove off with the vehicle. Jeetender handed over his two phones and Rs 6,000 to the accused after one of them threatened him, Jasmeet Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) said. Jeetender approached the police after he was dropped at Naraina by the men. A case of robbery has been registered, Singh said. Sunny and Vicky Gautam were apprehended from Patel Nagar while Hardeep Singh was nabbed from Sultanpuri area. The police have also recovered the car. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana today informed the state legislature that the Centre has extended the time frame for repatriation of Brus in the six relief camps in Tripura from September 2018 to March 31, 2019. In a written reply to questions from Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) members V L Zaithanzama and C Lalsawivunga, Lalchamliana said that resumption of the repatriation would be taken up again in consultation with the Centre. He said, according to the agreement reached between the Centre, the Mizoram government, the Tripura government and Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF). The MBDPF is an umbrella organisation of the Bru refugees lodged in six relief camps in Tripura since July three last year. The relief camps were to be closed from October, 2018. The agreement was to be implemented by the Tripura state government and the Mizoram government does not have any official information on the extent of implementation of the agreement signed in Delhi, he said. At least 1,681 Bru families have returned to Mizoram so far since 2010 and were resettled in Mizoram-Tripura-Bangladesh border Mamit district, Mizoram-Assam border Kolasib district and Mizoram-Bangladesh border southern district of Lunglei. He said that 5,407 Bru families have been identified in November, 2016 as bona fide residents of Mizoram of which 33 families have returned during 2018 and 5,374 Bru families were estimated to have been remaining in the relief camps. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking potshots at the DMK-Congress combine for not being able to project a Prime Minister candidate unanimously, top AIADMK leader and Chief Minister K Palaniswami said Wednesday the situation in the opposition camp was similar to a headless human body. Only a stable government under a good leader can provide good governance and ensure security and peace for the 130 crore people and it is the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who fit the bill, he said. The BJP, PMK, DMDK, and Puthiya Tamizhagam are among the parties that form part of the AIADMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu. Palaniswami said the AIADMK and its allies in unison, pointed to Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister. "But to this day, the DMK-Congress combine could not even decide who their PM candidate is," the Chief Minister said, addressing a party workers meet here as party of election campaign. Slamming the DMK-Congress combine, Palaniswami said "You have not even declared who your Prime Ministerial candidate is and that is akin to a headless body," he said. "A human body can be described as a human body only if all the parts find a place, but the DMK-Congress combine does not have a head," he said. "Security is very important for the nation's growth and development of industries," he said and alleged that in the wake of threats from neighbouring Pakistan, security has become even more imperative. "It is Prime Minister Modi and the BJP that could ensure the nation's security," he said to thunderous applause. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country was poised to be emerge as a "superpower," he said. Targeting DMK president M K Stalin for pitching Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for the post of Prime Minister in Chennai, the Chief Minister said Stalin's proposal did not even have takers even among their friendly parties. Stalin had first proposed Gandhi's name for the post of Prime Minister in December 2018 at a meet here to unveil the statue of late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. Later, while addressing a rally in Kolkata, Stalin did not maintain his previous stand and claimed that the Prime Minister will be picked following poll victory, Palaniswami said. "One stand in Chennai and another at Kolkata. That is the DMK. Even a chameleon would change its colour after some time, but the DMK changes its stand every second," he said. While the AIADMK always had honoured the coalition dharma, the DMK was a party that always shifted its stand. Ridiculing Stalin, the Chief Minister said Karunanidhi "did not have faith," on his son (Stalin) and that was why he refrained from making him the party president. "If Stalin's father himself had not reposed faith on him, how come the people will do it?" he asked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman college teacher, behind bars for 11 months in connection with the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) sex scandal, was released on bail from the central prison here on Wednesday. Suspended assistant professor Nirmala Devi, accused of luring some girl students to extend sexual favours to senior MKU officials to get higher marks and money, was granted bail by the Madras High Court bench here on March 12. Her release was delayed as the bail formalities were completed on Tuesday only, after her brother and a family friend furnished sureties, police said. Devi was working with the Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai, affiliated to the MKU. She was arrested on April 16 last year on a complaint filed by the college and a women's forum after an audio clip of her purported conversation with students went viral on social media. In the audio clip, she purportedly told the girls to "adjust" with some officials "for getting 85 per cent marks and money". Devi, who has denied the allegations, was suspended by the college following an internal enquiry. The Crime Branch-CID of Tamil Nadu police had filed the charge sheet in the case, booking Devi for several offences under the Indian Penal Code, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and Information Technology Act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation Wednesday announced strengthening of their collaboration, including manufacturing of Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza at Toyota's plant in India from 2022. The two partners have agreed to extend their collaboration to Europe and Africa over and above their partnership in India. As part of "considering a concrete collaboration in new fields", Suzuki will supply Ciaz sedan and Ertiga multi-purpose vehicle to Toyota in India in addition to the already agreed supplies of premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza. Moreover, Suzuki will supply its India-produced vehicles -- Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz, Ertiga -- to Toyota for the African market as well, the companies said in a joint statement. Toyota on the other hand, will provide Suzuki its hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies in India through local procurement of HEV systems, engines, and batteries, while also supplying THS (Toyota Hybrid System) to Suzuki in the global markets. Commenting on India specific collaboration, the two firms said the partnership will focus on the fields of technological development and production leveraging on each other's strength. As part of the programme, Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza will be produced at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) plant from 2022, it said. Moreover, drawing upon Suzuki's expertise in developing vehicles in India, the partners plan joint development of a Toyota C-segment MPV and OEM supply (of the same) to Suzuki. Commenting on the development, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said:"Through our new agreement, we look forward to the wider use of hybrid technologies, not only in India and Europe, but around the world." At the same time, he said,"we believe that the expansion of our business partnership with Suzuki from the mutual supply of vehicles and powertrains to the domains of development and production will help give us the competitive edge we will need to survive this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation." Suzuki Motor Corporation Chairman Osamu Suzuki said since the announcement of scope of cooperation in May last year, the partners had envisaged to strive for success globally. "I have seen progress in the partnership since then, and it is my pleasure to be able to make this announcement today regarding the status of partnership on a global basis, including Europe and Africa," Suzuki said. In addition, he said,"we appreciate the kind offer from Toyota to let us make use of their hybrid technology. We will continue our utmost efforts." As part of the new plans, in Europe, Toyota will adopt newly developed Suzuki engines for compact vehicles. Such engines will be supported by Denso and Toyota, and will be manufactured at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland. On the other hand, Toyota will supply two new electrified vehicles built on its platforms (RAV4, Corolla Wagon) to Suzuki in Europe. "Moving forward, insofar as Toyota and Suzuki continue to fairly and freely compete against each other, both companies intend to consider further collaboration to realise a sustainable future mobility society while respecting all applicable laws," the statement said. In March last year, the two Japanese companies had concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other in the Indian market. As per the agreement, Suzuki supplies premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota supplies sedan Corolla to Suzuki. In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki concluded an agreement towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components. Subsequently, in November 2017 the companies announced an MoU to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in India around 2020. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Domestic traders' body Wednesday criticised Congress President on his statement on GST, saying traders are not annoyed with the new indirect tax regime and instead willing to adopt it in a cohesive manner. "We have come across one of your statements made yesterday (Tuesday) at a rally that traders are suffering from and if you come to power, you will abolish 'Gabbar Singh Tax' as called by you for "As a representative body of business community of the country, we highly object your statement which is highly deplorable and far from facts and is being seen as an attempt by you to score points on shoulders of traders," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in a letter to Gandhi. He said though in initial months of the implementation, traders faced several problems because of it being a new taxation system but with passing of time and subsequent steps taken by the government, it is being simplified to a greater extent. The biggest relief from the (GST) is that it has relived traders from continuous Inspector Rule and lot of burden of complying the taxation system and paper work, he added. He also said Gandhi's statement is highly deplorable and far from facts and is being seen as an attempt by "you to score points on shoulders of traders". "We highly object that taking the shoulders of traders, you have called GST as Gabbar Singh Tax. It gives an impression that perhaps relaxations, amendments, simplification and lowering of tax rates are certainly not in your knowledge that's why you are saying that traders are suffering from GST which is certainly not the case," he said. Mar 19, 2019 | By Thomas Saudi Arabia's Elite for Construction & Development Company has purchased what has been described as the world's largest 3D construction printer from Danish firm Cobod International. The purchase was made as a response to the Kingdom's need to build 1.5 million new houses in the next decade. The Cobod 3D printer, BOD 2, is able to print buildings up to 12 metres wide, 27 metres long and 9 metres high. And three- storeyed buildings of more than 300 sq m per storey could be made with the printer in one go. Cobod said that the BOD2 3D printer will be delivered in Saudi Arabia by the end of May, adding that the machine will be the "first of its kind" in the kingdom. Cobod's developments in the field of concrete printing began in 2015. That resulted in The BOD building, Europes first 3D printed building, in Copenhagen in 2017. In 2018 they launched the BOD2 3D printer, an updated version of the gantry system used to build the BOD office hotel. This system boasts a print speed of one meter per second. Speaking on the firm's latest news, Henrik Lund-Nielsen, chief executive officer at Cobod International, said: "We are very proud to receive this order from Saudi Arabia, which again confirms that our Bod 2 3D construction printer is second to none. "Not only is the Bod 2 the fastest 3D construction printer in the world, but the modular approach of the Bod 2 has allowed us to deliver the size that Elite For Construction & Development Co wanted." Saad Al Shathri, general manager of Elite for Construction & Development Co, said the firm will deliver the output of the 3D printer's "revolutionising technology" across Saudi Arabia. He added: "[Bod 2] will bring costs significantly down compared to the temporary, imported printers using foreign made materials." Lund-Nielsen explained that a small private house was 3D printed in Riyadh at the end of 2018. Now, multiple public and private organisations are requesting the use of the 3D construction printing technology in new construction projects, as soon as the technology is available locally on a permanent basis. Posted in 3D Printer Maybe you also like: Any wrote at 3/20/2019 11:39:43 AM:I think this is incorrect and false information. ETH Zurich posesses RFL (robotic fabrication lab) which is of dimensions 43 by 16 by 8 meters and can be used for a wide variety of applications, including 3d printing. Therefore, the largest printer according to you will not be introduced in 2019, but is already around since 2016. Transgender activist Gauri Sawant has been appointed as one of the goodwill ambassadors of the Election Commission in Maharashtra. This is for the first time a transgender has been appointed as a goodwill ambassador. Till 2014, there was no separate classification of transgenders as voters. In 2014, transgenders were first enrolled as voters along with males and females. While 918 voters had enrolled themselves as transgenders in Maharashtra in 2014, the number has now gone up to 2,086. According to the election officials, the highest enrolment of transgenders (324) is in Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency. Then there are 113, 184 and 123 transgenders registered as voters in Bhiwandi, Kalyan and Mumbai North East constituencies respectively. As a goodwill ambassador, Sawant will visit the houses of transgenders and appeal to them to enrol themselves as voters and also explain to them the need to exercise their franchise, the officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Wednesday accused companies of discriminating against Republicans, saying it is a "very dangerous situation" and something should be done about it. "We have to do something," Trump told reporters at a joint news conference with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. "It's a very, very dangerous situation. I think something has to be looked at very closely," he said in response to a question. The US president said the situation on was different that it used to be. "It seems to be, if they're conservative, if they're Republicans, if they're in a certain group, there's discrimination and big discrimination. I see it absolutely on Twitter and Facebook... and others," he alleged. Twitter and Facebook combined, Trump has around 100 million followers. "I get to see firsthand what's going on, and it's not good," he said. "We use the word 'collusion' very loosely all the time. I will tell you, there is collusion with respect to that, because something has to be going on," the US president said. Trump said that something was happening with the people running Facebook and Google and Twitter. "I do think we have to get to the bottom of it. It's collusive, and it's very, very fair to say that we have to do something about it," he added. US President Donald Trump will meet his key ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, an official announcement said Wednesday. Trump will welcome Netanyahu to the White House from March 25 to 26, presidential spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. "The President and the Prime Minister will discuss their countries' shared interests and actions in the Middle East during a working meeting on March 25," she said. Trump will also host Netanyahu for dinner on March 26, Sanders said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Media reports say Japanese police have arrested an American man on suspicion of fatally stabbing his Japanese wife at a court where they were to settle a divorce. NHK public television says the man, identified only as a 32-year-old US citizen, stabbed the woman in the neck on Wednesday near a security check at the entrance to Tokyo Family Court. It says the man fled but was caught in a nearby park. The 31-year-old victim was rushed to a hospital but later died. NHK says the suspect had three knives and police believe he ambushed the woman when she walked into the building. No further details were immediately available. Police refused to confirm the reports. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Venezuelan doctors have come under pressure from President Nicolas Maduro's government for trying to alert a visiting UN mission about the severe lack of hospital medicine and equipment, NGOs say. Venezuelan authorities say that US sanctions freezing USD 30 billion in assets have blocked imports of basic items including medicine. But they have roughly stomped down on dissenting voices saying much of the resulting medical emergency is the fault of mismanagement, the NGOs allege. "They forcibly booted out the head of a medical school in Maracay (west of Caracas) and since then we haven't heard from her," said Jaime Lorenzo, executive director of one association called Medicos Unidos (Doctors United). "She protested against the repression of medical staff," he said. An opposition lawmaker, Jose Manuel Olivares, who is also an oncologist and radiotherapist, on Twitter said she was "the third doctor in two weeks to be persecuted for having denounced the situation in the hospitals." On Sunday a clash erupted when a pro-regime crowd threw stones at hospital staff in the northwest city of Barquisimeto as they waited for the arrival of representatives of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. According to Medicos Unidos, the repression has worsened over the past two weeks. "We have drawn attention to our patients dying for lack of supplies and equipment. Doctors have been arrested without any reason at all," Lorenzo said. On Saturday, a young doctor in the state of Carabobo, Ronnie Villasmil, tweeted that he was leaving Venezuela after being summoned by police for having contacted the UN mission. "Now I have to flee like a criminal and my mother is crying over it," he wrote. "They want to deprive me of liberty. My only crime is wanting to raise the alarm over the precarious situation in Carabobo's hospitals," he said. The visiting five-member UN team has declined all contact with media. It is officially in the country on a "preliminary technical mission" to prepare for a possible visit by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who was formally invited by Maduro's government in November. The team was finally able to visit the hospital in Barquisimeto when doctors and local officials provided an escort. A doctor who spoke with the visitors said she told them of all that was missing at the hospital. "I told them that patients we operated on can't get chemotherapy here and those unable to buy it abroad die. And when I told them how much we earn, their jaws dropped," she told AFP on condition of anonymity. In crisis-hit Venezuela, a doctor earns between 18,000 and 30,000 bolivars per month -- the equivalent of USD 6 to USD 10. The non-governmental organisations also said authorities had gone to length to try to cover up the extent of the problems by hastily slapping fresh paint down and hauling in last-minute deliveries. "In Valencia (in Carabobo state) and Barquisimeto we saw two trucks delivering medicine and equipment to hospitals the mission was going to visit," Lorenzo said. A human rights NGO critical of the government, Provea, slammed "these camouflage operations before the UN mission's arrival," saying the sudden appearance of supplies was "testimony to the government's negligence and cruelty." In Venezuela's public hospitals, 90 per cent of medical items are missing and nearly all the state laboratories are closed, according to a survey by another NGO, Doctors for Health, with the opposition-ruled National Assembly. Maduro's government has released no official figures on the state of public hospitals for three years. The situation in the impoverished yet oil-rich South American country has been worsened by an exodus of doctors, tens of thousands of whom have left, according to Lorenzo. According to the UN, 3.4 million Venezuelans have abandoned their country, with more than three-quarters of them -- 2.7 million -- leaving since 2015. Matters were made worse when a weeklong, nationwide blackout early this month paralysed the country and knocked out power to hospitals, many of which did not have working generators. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Action star Vidyut Jammwal plans to build a franchise around his upcoming adventure film "Junglee". The actor, who is a trained martial artiste, also said Indian actors are on par with their Hollywood counterparts when it comes to doing death-defying action sequences. "We have had Akshay Kumar doing the 'Khiladi' series. I have done the 'Commando' series. Now we have 'Junglee' and we will have a series of 'Junglee'. "We are not lacking anywhere in action as compared to them. Indian actors are doing well. Nobody can touch us in action as we are doing really well," Vidyut told PTI in an interview. American director Chuck Russell, best known for Hollywood movies like "The Mask", "Eraser" and "The Scorpion King", has helmed the action thriller. Vidyut, 38, said he is proud he got the opportunity to work with Russell in his Hindi directorial debut. "I am proud and happy that we got a Hollywood director here. He is a legend and is making one of the biggest action films here. He is a brilliant man and we have brilliant people here as well." The actor, who is known for doing daredevil stunts on the big screen, said with "Junglee" there was an added pressure to deliver. "The pressure is that I am representing India. Chuck used to talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dwayne Johnson doing action. Working with a director like him who has worked with these action stars was a learning experience," he said. Vidyut said his training in Indian martial art form Kalaripayattu, which originated in Kerala, came in handy for "Junglee". "We have used few weapons like 'otta', which is a rarity. It is made of elephant tusk and 'urumi', a double-edged sword. These are two authentic weapons used in India," he added. The story of the film revolves around a veterinarian (Vidyut), who on his homecoming to his father's elephant reserve, encounters and fights an international poachers racket. "The film is on elephants and protection of animals. There are a lot of animals in the film. Elephant is the central character. We are making a film on animal-human relationship after a long time," Vidyut said. The film will face-off against Salman Khan-backed "Notebook" on March 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Peoples Democratic Party president questioned the grounds on which the accused in the case were acquitted by a court on Wednesday. "Despite damning evidence, the accused including a former RSS member have been acquitted. God forbid, had they been Kashmiris / Muslims, they would be pronounced guilty & imprisoned without even a fair trial. Why such double standards and leniency towards saffron terror?" the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister asked. Mufti's reaction came after a special court in Haryana acquitted and three others in the Samjhauta train blast case that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead in 2007. The blast in the India-Pakistan train took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when it was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last station on the Indian side. The civil aviation ministry Wednesday said it is working with all airlines to provide sufficient capacity and is monitoring safety as well as compliance levels on a daily basis, amid concerns over flight cancellations and rise in airfares. The grounding of aircraft by crisis-hit Jet Airways, grounding of Boeing MAX 737 planes by SpiceJet and curtailed schedule of IndiGo, among other factors, have impacted flight schedules. "To ensure passenger convenience, stable operations and affordable fares, MOCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) is working with all airlines to provide sufficient capacity across the entire network. We continue to monitor safety and compliance on a daily basis," the ministry said in a tweet. All airlines are required to follow Passenger Charter requirements fully and comprehensively. Any complaints may be registered with the AirSewa portal, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- - 400 children across WPP Foundation's adopted schools performed WPP Foundation, the CSR entity of WPP India, in collaboration with Furtado's School of Music, today hosted its Annual Music Recital, an annual music program at the a Mumbai suburban auditorium. The recital saw 400 children across two of WPP Foundation's adopted schools perform a two-hour long recital, as they completed the first academic year of their school music program. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838583/WPP_India_CSR_Foundation.jpg) The school music program was launched in 2018 by WPP Foundation across four schools adopted by the WPP Foundation. So far, 1000 children have been taught to read musical notes, rhythms and chords as well as trained in playing a key instrument based on their interests like an acoustic guitar or keyboards. Besides imparting professional music training to the children, who otherwise may not have access to these opportunities, the program also aims to instill confidence in these young children to take up performing arts. On the occasion, Rama Iyer - Director General, WPP Foundation, said, "At WPP India Foundation and our flagship to Livelihood (E2L) program, we envision to create varied interventions to open doors of opportunities for our children in both mainstream and diverse livelihoods by providing them with holistic development. Aligned to this vision, we develop future skills in the field of professional music enabling our children to explore professional career options in music. It is a proud moment to see our children performing together in such large numbers and stage such mesmerizing performances." About the WPP Foundation: WPP is a creative transformation company that builds better futures for its clients through the integrated services of communications, experience, commerce and technology. WPP India launched the WPP India CSR Foundation in 2015. The vision is to help 20,000+ underserved children and youth in achieving their true potential. Together, we work in unison with partners towards bringing social change. The foundation is committed to a common CSR vision of opening doors for every child and youth from vulnerable and marginalised communities through our holistic child development programmes that focus on education, life skills and health. For more information, visit www.wppindiafoundation.com Journey of the WPP India CSR Foundation Founded in 2015, the WPP India CSR Foundation strives to bring about a social change through its flagship to Livelihood program (E2L). Addressing key focus areas-retention in school, poor learning outcomes, work skilling and deep-rooted social norms, the E2L program has been providing interventions and resources to 20,000 first-generation learners from 11- 18 years. Currently, the program is running successfully in 10 underserved government aided schools across the Mumbai and Delhi-NCR region. Through strategic partnerships with best-of-breed social organizations, the E2L program takes an evidence-based approach in developing frameworks to facilitate successful implementation. The foundation's key initiatives include improving educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy, with a focus on opening young minds to the world of digital innovation. The foundation also helps to inculcate confidence, gender equality and the mindset and habits to be livelihood ready amongst the youth through counselling, sport, dance and music. To ensure retention among the youth they support, they provide access to health and health services. In a remarkably short span of time, the E2L program has been able to: Help over 70% children secure their future through employment or higher education Reduce dropout rates to less than 5% Initiate better health standards Double the ability of coding Reduce gender discrimination Increase literacy & numeracy Increase confidence levels As a testimony of its sustained efforts to drive positive social impact, WPP Foundation has been recognised with several awards including Special Category Award for Livelihood at India International CSR Awards, 2018, Award for Best Business Campaign and Communication in CSR at the National Excellence in CSR Congress and Awards, 2018, Award for the Best CSR Impact Initiative at the National Excellence in CSR Congress and Awards, 2018 and National Recognition for Excellence in CSR at the 5th NHRDN-BIMTECH CSR Summit, 2018. They won a Special Commendation at the Golden Peacock Awards for CSR in January 2019. Recently, the Foundation also won the Best CSR Practices Award, Innovative CSR Practices and Women CSR Leadership Awards at the ET Now Presents CSR Awards, 2019. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday appeared before the top anti-graft body, which questioned them for about two hours on corruption charges. They appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office here in connection with an alleged loan obtained by the Park Lane Estate Company, a Karachi-based real estate firm co-owned by Zardari and Bilawal. The NAB has claimed in the case that a piece of land belonging to the Punjab forest department was illegally transferred to the company by some government officials. Both Bilawal and Zardari were questioned by NAB officials for about two hours about various charges of corruption. NAB said in official handout that a questionnaire was also handed over to them to respond by March 30. There was tight security ahead of their arrival at the NAB office. Hundreds of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) supporters, who had gathered near the NAB's office in support of their leaders, clashed with the police when they were stopped from approaching the top leaders. Several workers of PPP were arrested after clashes with police. Addressing a press conference later, Bilawal termed NAB action as political vendetta. "Whenever I criticize the government, NAB becomes active," he said. Bilawal also said it was PPP's "weakness" and "mistake" to not amend the NAB's "black law". He, however, did not elaborate on the "black law". "This was our mistake, this was our weakness that we did not change this black law which was introduced by a dictator," he said, referring to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. Bilawal said that the party will "wipe the Constitution" of every law that had been introduced by the "dictator". He also condemned the use of force and demanded that all detained workers should be released. "Our workers remained peaceful despite the use of force against themThese actions by the government were unnecessary, he said. Bilawal also said that 30 political workers were arrested and demanded the government to release them immediately. The workers were asked by the party leadership to reach the capital in order to "express solidarity" with the chairperson. PPP leadership including former two-time premier Benazir Bhutto was also embroiled in corruption cases as well as Zardari who spent several years in jail during time Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto's name was deleted from the cases after she was killed in a terrorist attack in 2007 while Zardari was exonerated by courts in at least five corruption cases during the last couple of years. But he is now facing fresh allegations in fake bank accounts case which is about several fake accounts that were allegedly used to siphon off corruption money out of country. Zardari has denied any link with the accounts. Earlier, the two leaders met with their legal team at Zardari House. On Tuesday, Zardari obtained a 10-day protective bail from the Sindh High Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ask any tomato farmer in Kolar, Chikkaballapur or Belagavi districts of Karnataka what his biggest worry is, and his answer will be the price fluctuations of the crop. Thanks to unstable prices, farmers are almost never able to plan a definite production pattern for tomatoes. What makes matters worse is that whether there is a rise in prices or a slump, middlemen profit either way. And farmers are often deceived into selling cheap even when the demand for the crop is high in a neighbouring market. This is set to change. In a path-breaking initiative, the Karnataka Agricultural Price ... Subroto Bagchi, Mindtree's co-founder and ex-CEO, who recently returned to the company to help fend off Larsen and Toubro's (L&T) hostile takeover bid, penned an emotional letter to the IT services firm's employees yesterday, ahead of the crucial board meeting today. The letter not only poignantly recounted the company's inception and its 20-year journey towards becoming a global brand eyeing the $1 billion revenue milestone, but also exhorted the 20,000 'Mindtree Minds' - as the employees are referred to - to "stay focussed" in the face of the unfolding events and continue delivering their best to customers. "KK, Rostow, Partha [the other founders] and I were offered huge bags of money to give Mindtree away. We have respectfully said "no" to their overture," read the letter. "Our polite refusal has been interpreted as foolish idealism of a bunch of lower middle-class folks. That, we are." The letter went on to highlight the humble origins of the company's founders - Bagchi's father was a small-time state government official, Krishnakumar Natarajan's father was an eye doctor of the Indian Railways, N.S. Parthasarathy's (executive vice chairman and COO) father was a traveling ticket collector while Rostow Ravanan's (CEO) was an accountant in a small company. "Our parents had no money to give us, they only given us idealism. We have nothing else. How can we be ashamed of it? That Idealism has a simple tenet: do what is right and not what is convenient. Selling off the Tree is the convenient but not the right thing to do. Because the Mindtree is you, we can't sell you off. Today, we can't put your soul on a leash," Bagchi added. He had hung up his boots at Mindtree as executive chairman in 2016 and had returned to his home state, Odisha. On Sunday, Bagchi resigned as the head of Odisha Skill Development Authority to return to Mindtree. "I cannot stay miles away, ensconced in another world to live the nightmare that the builders have arrived with the excavators, bulldozers, chainsaws, cranes and the impeccably drawn up blueprint to raze Mindtree," he wrote. "In this hugely difficult time, you must make sure that our hearts don't lose a beat when it comes to delivering the best to our customers. Remember, they came to us for our expertise but stayed with us for our culture." Advising employees to keep "eyes on the screen, fingers on the keyboard and our customers on your mind", Bagchi promised that the four co-founders will be "the first line of defence on behalf of all Mindtree". He added that he will be visiting "every Mindtree location in the coming days" to allay employee concerns. "Meanwhile, stay the course. Remember, you hold the Tree," the letter summed up. The board of Mindtree is scheduled to meet today to discuss a share buy-back proposal and the way forward post L&T's bid. Also read: L&T's hostile bid for Mindtree: When prey turns predator Also read: Mindtree: A tale of five questions and an emotional appeal Fugitive billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, a prime accused in $2 billion PNB scam, has been arrested in London on Wednesday where a court remanded him in custody till March 29. The Westminster Court has denied the bail plea filed by him, saying that he is a flight risk, which means that he has enough resources and motive to flee once again. Nirav Modi, who has been on the run since February 2018, was arrested by the UK authorities on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday. The 48-year-old billionaire had been found to be doing diamond business in one of the best and high-end markets of London despite India's efforts to bring him back. Last week, the UK Home Secretary's office moved the extradition file of Nirav Modi to the Westminster Court in London, finding his case "fit for extradition". He had entered the United Kingdom on a 'golden visa' issued on his now-revoked Indian passport. It is a tier-1 investor visa issued to individuals from countries outside the European Union and Switzerland. Also Read: Nirav Modi arrested: What's the legal process ahead for extradition? Here's round-up of events on what has happened to the fugitive economic offender so far. March 20, 2019: Nirav Modi arrested in London after a yearlong chase and remanded in custody till March 29. March 19, 2019: He was placed under arrest by Metropolitan Police, London. March 18, 2019: An arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrates Court, sources have said. The warrant had been issued last week, and India had been made aware of this on Monday. March 9, 2019: The UK Home Secretary moved the extradition file of diamantaire Nirav Modi to the Westminster court in London. February 26, 2019: The ED attached properties worth Rs 147.72 crore owned by the diamond merchant and his companies, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). November 6, 2018: Nirav Modi's 11 properties in Dubai, worth Rs 56 crore, were seized by the ED. October 1, 2018: The ED had attached assets worth Rs 637 crore of Nirav Modi and his family members, including two apartments at New York's iconic Central Park. July 26, 2018: A PMLA court summoned Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, wanted in a 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam, to appear before it on September 25 and 26 respectively. July 2, 2018: Interpol issues red corner notice against Nirav Modi. June 25, 2018: The ED moved a PMLA court in Mumbai, seeking Nirav Modi's extradition from the UK, Belgium, and other countries, as his location had not been confirmed. February 28, 2018: Firestar Diamond Inc, the flagship company of Nirav Modi, files for bankruptcy in the United States. February 27, 2018: A magistrate's court issues a bailable arrest warrant against Nirav Modi. February 24, 2018: Diamond trader Nirav Modi's passport was revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs of India. February 21, 2018: CBI arrested Vipul Ambani, CFO of Nirav Modi's company and two other senior executives of the company. It also sealed his farmhouse in Alibaug. February 20, 2018: A letter that Nirav Modi wrote to the PNB management on February 15/16 came out; loan default pegged around Rs 5,000 crore. February 19, 2018: CBI summoned Nirav Modi's Chief Financial Officer and seals Mumbai's PNB branch. February 18, 2018: CBI arrested former PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty, single window operator Manoj Kharat and group's authorised signatory Hemand Bhat. February 16, 2018: ED carried out raids and searches. CBI filed second FIR against Mehul Choksi. February 15, 2018: Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi passport revoked. CBI got diffusion notice. February 14, 2018: PNB filed complain to the CBI about Nirav Modi alleging fraudulent transactions worth about Rs 11,400 crore. The bank said that money had been illegally transferred abroad from its branch in Mumbai as its own officials violated rules and put out illegal guarantee documents to help the celebrity jeweller secure credit from banks abroad. January 31, 2018: CBI carried out raids and searches and opens a Look Out Circular against him. January 30, 2018: CBI filed the first FIR against Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi, uncle Mehul Choksi and wife Ami Modi. January 29, 2018: PNB filed the first complaint with CBI pegging the LoU scam at 280 crore rupees. By then, all had left the country. While Nirav Modi and Nishal left India on January 1, Choksi did so on January 4 and Ami on January 6. Edited by Chitranjan Kumar Also Read: Nirav Modi denied bail by UK court, to remain in custody till March 29 Nirav Modi arrested: The Westminster Court has denied the bail plea filed by Nirav Modi today. The prime accused in the PNB banking fraud case was produced before the court after he was arrested by Scotland Yard on Tueesday. Reports suggest that he was denied bail on ground that he is a flight risk, which means that he has enough resources and motive to flee once again. Nirav Modi, who has been on the run since February 2018, was arrested by the UK authorities on Tuesday and taken to the Westminster court today. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said, confirming the development that Nirav Modi had been arrested. A London court had reportedly issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi, who is accused in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The order apparently came in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition to India. He had entered the United Kingdom on a 'golden visa' issued on his now-revoked Indian passport. It is a tier-1 investor visa issued to individuals from countries outside the European Union and Switzerland. Catch all the latest updates on Nirav Modi's arrest and his appearance before the London court on BusinessToday.In. 6.42pm: Congress continues to criticise the Modi government for allowing Nirav Modi to flee India. In a tweet, Congress party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tried too draw connections between PM Modi and Narendra Modi. 3.23pm: In a surprise to investigating agencies like the CBI and ED in India, Nirav Modi was spotted roaming in London on March 9. While there are several cases of fraud lodged against the former celebrity designer back home in India, he did not seem even a little perturbed when a UK-based newspaper journalist confronted him and tried to ask some relevant questions. ALSO READ: PNB fraud case: Nirav Modi secured fake LoUs to divert funds through dummy firms, says ED 3.20pm: A request for the extradition of Nirav Modi to India was sent in July 2018, following which the UK Central Authority of Home Office had confirmed the extradition request has been sent to the Westminster Magistrate Court for further proceedings. 3.14pm: Experts suggest Nirav Modi might not be in jail for long as strict civilian laws in the UK could allow him to get bail instantly. 3.10pm: The UK Home Secretary's office had moved the extradition file of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi to the Westminster Court in London two days back on March 7, finding his case "fit for extradition". 3.09pm: The diamantaire has been chargesheeted by both ED and the CBI where ED has attached his assets worth Rs 1,873.08 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and has also seized assets linked to him and his family worth Rs 489.75 crore. 3.05pm: BJP leader Narendra Taneja says the investigation agencies will soon bring him back to India, as they are already in talks with the UK authorities over his extradition. 3.00pm: Nirav Modi was arrested in London on Wednesday. He will produced in the court soon. The authorities have started increasing security arrangements before the commencement of Lok Sabha elections in April. To manage traffic better at border areas, the Noida traffic police have decided to keep only four of total five lanes open for vehicles coming from Delhi towards Noida, reported The Times of India. There are total eight lanes for incoming and outgoing of vehicles on the DND flyway but only five of them are used going towards Noida. Those going from Noida towards Delhi will, however, be able to use all eight lanes. Following a successful trial run, the traffic police have now changed position of two U-turns for people coming from either side. After making these changes, people coming from Delhi will be able to use only three lanes, excluding a lane for two-wheelers. The Delhi commuters looking to turn back from the DND toll plaza can do so by taking U-turn 50 metres before the toll plaza. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court this month issued a notice to private firm Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL) on a plea filed by Noida authority challenging the ongoing arbitral proceedings between them on collection of toll on the DND flyway connecting Delhi and Noida. The Noida authority had filed an interim application in a pending appeal filed by NTBCL, which was running the DND flyway, in the apex court against the Allahabad High Court's order. The high court had asked NTBCL to stop collecting toll from commuters plying on the DND flyway. Edited by Manoj Sharma Also read: Dynastic politics destroyed all institutions, says PM Modi; Priyanka tells him to 'stop thinking people are fools' In a scathing attack on the Opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said "the biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions". In an indirect reference to the Congress party, he said the "dynasty" politics had spared nothing -- from the press to Parliament; from soldiers to free speech; and from the Constitution to the courts. The Lok Sabha elections 2019 have been scheduled to start from April 11 and will go on till May 19. With little time left to woo voters, parties have increased their activities, with prominent leaders holding several rallies every day. From public rallies to workers' meetings, big leaders of the national as well as state parties are leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory in the polls. BusinessToday.In brings complete timeline of all the updates related to the General Elections 2019 through our blog. 1.57pm: Mahagathbandhan is intact, seats and constituencies will be announced after Holi, says Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav. 8.39am: Asansol Mayor and TMC MLA Jitendra Tiwari has promised party councillors with contracts worth lakhs of rupees if they ensured victory of TMC Lok Sabha candidate Moon Moon Sen from their respective wards,reported PTI. Tiwari, while conducting an election committee meeting here in presence of Sen, promised contracts worth Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh to the party councillors depending on the number of votes polled in favour of the TMC LS candidate. "If you are able to get a lead of more than 5,000 votes in your ward, I promise you to give contracts worth Rs 1 crore, if you manage to get ahead of 3,000 votes, you will get contracts worth Rs 50 lakh. If you manage ahead of 2,000 and 1,000 votes, you will be given contracts worth Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively," he said. 8.37am: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti has dismissed reports of an alliance with the Congress and said the party was preparing to contest all the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, reported PTI. "We are preparing to contest all the six seats," Mehbooba said. 8.32am: Tripura BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik joins the Congress party. Agartala: Tripura BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik joined Congress party yesterday. He says, "I was in BJP for 5 years and before that I was a part of Congress party for 35 years. This is like 'ghar wapasi' for me." pic.twitter.com/h6vctrpW8X - ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2019 8.31am: The Congress late on Tuesday night released its sixth list of nine candidates, seven from Maharashtra and two from Kerala, for the Lok Sabha elections, reported PTI. With this, the party has so far released names of 146 candidates for the polls starting April 11. In Kerala, the Congress announced that Shanimol Usman will be the candidate from the Alappuzha seat and Adoor Prakash from the Attingal seat. The Alappuzha seat is currently represented by AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, who has decided to opt out of the contest citing organisational work. In Maharashtra, the party has fielded KC Padavi from Nandurbar, Kunal Rohidas Patil from Dhule, Charulata Khajasingh Tokas from Vardha, Manikrao G Thakarey from Yavatmal-Washim, Eknath Gaikwad from Mumbai-South Central, Bhausahib Kamble from Shirdi and Navinchandra Bandivadekar from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. 8.00am: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made a fresh bid to forge an alliance with the Congress in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, with the former demanding five seats in the national capital, PTI reported. The AAP wants to contest on three seats in Punjab, two in Haryana and five in Delhi. The Congress is yet to respond to AAP's proposal. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said that the incumbent government is responsible for allowing economic offenders to flee the country as reports emerged of PNB scam accused Nirav Modi's arrest in the UK. Nirav Modi's arrest is likely to work in favour of Narendra Modi's BJP ahead of the upcoming general elections. "Be it Vijay Mallya, or Nirav Modi, they fled the country with the permission of this government and took thousands of crores of rupees with them. Now they are being brought back at the time of the elections. More (economic offenders) will be allowed to flee, and then will be brought back at the time of next elections," Azad said. ALSO READ: Nirav Modi arrested in London Live updates: PNB scam accused jeweller to be produced in court today On the question that loans were disbursed to Nirav Modi during UPA reign, Azad responded that the corporate loans given under the previous goverment amounted to Rs 2 lakh core, which rose to Rs 10 lakh core under Modi government. Nirav Modi, the prime accused in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB scam, has been arrested in London two days after Westminster Court issued a warrant against him. The warrant was issued considering requests from Indian investigating agencies to extradite the fugitive businessman. Modi is to be produced before the UK court anytime now. Enforcement Directorate will begin the extradition process to bring Modi back to India. The process, however, is expected to be a long-drawn one. ALSO READ: Lok Sabha Elections LIVE updates: Congress will not allow the Citizenship Amendment Bill to be passed, says Rahul Gandhi After Modi is produced at the Westminster Magistrates' Court to be formally charged, dates will be given for case management hearings and the extradition trial will follow Diamantaire-turned fugitive Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested by the Scotland Yard in London on Tuesday and later produced before Westminster Magistrates' Court today. The court has turned down his bail plea, and he will remain in police custody till March 29. The breakthrough comes days after the London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. The arrest, 17 months after Modi fled India, is being seen as the first step in the legal process to bring him back to the country to answer to the Indian courts. ALSO READ: Nirav Modi arrested in London LIVE updates: PNB scam accused denied bail by Westminster Court What's the immediate next step? Dates will first be given for case management hearings and the extradition trial will follow. In Mallya's case, it took over a year of deliberations before the court ordered his extradition. The matter is then forwarded to the UK Home Office for approval. It took nearly two months for Mallya's extradition order to get signed by Home Secretary Sajid Javid. Post the approval of the Home Secretary, in case a concerned individual does not file an appeal, he/she must be extradited from the UK within 28 days. A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) is reportedly likely to leave for London soon. Sources said that the top officials of investigative agencies are in touch with UK authorities and Indian High Commission in London is closely monitoring the developments. ALSO READ: PNB fraud case: ED gets permission to sell 173 paintings, auction 11 cars of Nirav Modi Then come the appeals According to extradition experts, assuming that the Westminster Magistrates' Court eventually orders Modi's extradition and the Secretary of State approves of it, too, he can first appeal in the High Court - within 14 days from the date of the order - followed by the Supreme Court. This process typically takes about 18 months or more. For instance, 63-year-old Mallya last month filed an application in the UK High Court, seeking permission to appeal against his extradition order. Similarly, the crown prosecution on behalf of the Indian government can appeal to the UK High Court should the Secretary of State disregard an extradition verdict passed by the Westminster Magistrates' Court. The UK Supreme Court, again, would be the final recourse. ALSO READ: Nirav Modi arrest: This govt allowed him to escape, says Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal with PTI inputs) The bail plea by Nirav Modi has been denied by the Westminster Magistrates' Court today. Modi was arrested by UK authorities on Tuesday and produced before the court today to be formally charged. With the court refusing bail, Modi will have to remain in police custody till March 29, the next date for hearing in the case. He will be lodged at the Wandsworth Prison. Modi will be produced before Judge Emma Arbuthnot, Chief Magistrate of Westminster Court. She is also looking into the extradition case of Vijay Mallya. Contesting his bail plea, the counsel for Nirav Modi argued that he is an employee of a London-based diamond company. He said that Modi withdraws a salary of 20,000 pounds and pays his taxes to the UK government. Modi also told the court he has a child to look after who goes to school in London. The Crown Prosecution Service, arguing on behalf of Indian agencies, told the Westminster Court that Nirav Modi is a high-value asset. The court was informed of how he had travelled to eight countries even after his passport was revoked by India. ALSO READ: Nirav Modi arrested: What's the legal process ahead for extradition? After hearing both ends of the argument, the court rejected the bail plea on the ground that Modi is a 'flight risk' with a lot of money, and may try to flee the country if granted bail. This means that he will be custody of UK authorities until the next hearing in his case. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 29. Meanwhile, the Indian agencies are keeping a close eye on the developments. The CBI and ED officials are in direct communication with the Crown Prosecution Service and will share additional evidence to strengthen the case against Nirav Modi, India Today reported. A team of CBI and ED officials is likely to be sent to London for better communication with the CPS and better coordination with the UK authorities. ALSO READ: Nirav Modi arrested in London Live Updates: PNB scam accused denied bail by Westminster Court Earlier this month, an arrest warrant was issued against Nirav Modi after UK home Secretary Sajid Wajid cleared extradition request of India investigating agencies probing the PNB scam. Following this, the Metropolitan Police, London had arrested Modi from the Metro Bank in Holborn after a bank employee recognised him. "Nirav Deepak Modi - 48 (24.02.71) was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities this afternoon (Tuesday, 19 March) in Holborn," the Scotland Yard had said. In a related development, the special PMLA court in Mumbai allowed the ED to auction 11 luxury vehicles and owned by Nirav Modi. The special court also allowed the Income Tax Department to auction 68 paintings owned by the fugitive diamantaire with direction to hand over the proceeds to ED. ALSO READ: PNB fraud case: ED gets permission to sell 173 paintings, auction 11 cars of Nirav Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday lashed out at Congress over its "dynastic politics", saying institutions are its biggest casualty. Modi in his blog titled 'Institutional respect and institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches' said that the 2014 elections made history as people gave a fair mandate choosing BJP in the spirit of 'India First' instead of 'Family First' dynastic lineage of Congress. He also said that people voted for "honesty over dynasty" and "development over decay". "From the press to Parliament, from soldiers to free speech, from the Constitution to the courts, nothing is spared," he wrote on Twitter. The biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions. From the press to Parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the Constitution to the courts. Nothing is spared. Sharing some thoughts. https://t.co/nnRCNcht8e - Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 20, 2019 Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections LIVE updates: Congress will not allow the Citizenship Amendment Bill to be passed, says Rahul Gandhi Launching fresh salvos at Congress, PM Modi stated, "Congress' modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge." The comment came amid allegations by the Congress that the NDA government has been undermining the integrity of institutions. "Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, 'A bunch of jokers'. This comment gives you a glimpse of how Congress treats government institutions." he added. Also Read: PM Narendra Modi to interact with people on Mar 31 over his 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign Resuming his attack on Congress, Modi indicated towards the creation of the National Advisory Council led by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and said, "The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?" Alleging that the party didn't believe in internal democracy, he said that if a leader wanted to head the Congress, he or she would be "shunted out". The Prime Minister also alleged that the Congress saw the defence sector as a source of income. Commenting on the lack of internal democracy in Congress where dynasty and lineage rule the party, Modi said, "Political parties are vibrant bodies that manifest diverse public opinion. Sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. If a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress." Also Read: BJP steps up 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' Campaign, releases caller tune service to connect with people He further articulated, "The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. Are they scared of accountability or do they not believe in it?" Modi also talked about an ordinance that was rejected by Congress President Rahul Gandhi in 2013 undermining then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's authority. He said, "A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference." He further voiced that Indians were tired of our beloved nation being in the Fragile Five, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive. He said that India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future. Highlighting his government's achievements in the last five years, PM Modi said, "Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the world's eyes. India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38% in 2014 to 98% now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth." Also Read: PM Modi not waiving poor farmers' debt, giving money to industrialists, says Rahul Gandhi He stated that reflective of this paradigm shift is the fact that now there is a Government that puts institutions above everything else. "India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating," he remarked. Reacting to PM Modi's attacks in his blog, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit back at him saying the Prime Minister should stop thinking that "people are fools." "BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last 5 years including the media. PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this," she told news agency ANI. By Dale Critchley, Policy Manager, Aviva Despite its name, CDC has more in common with Defined Benefit (DB) pensions than it does Defined Contribution. Good news for actuaries. In simple terms, employees and employers pay in a fixed percentage of salary in return for a promise of a percentage of their pay in retirement. CDC uses actuarial models much like DB schemes to achieve this. But unlike DB schemes, the promise isnt guaranteed, theres no employer in the background ready to plug any funding gaps. If reality is out of step with the actuarial model, members benefits may need to be changed, including those of pensioners. We responded to the consultation and, in a nutshell, we said we support the development of CDC schemes because they can deliver good outcomes for customers, but that there are a lot of factors that first need to be examined. Pensions have a reputation for being complicated, and the underlying set up for a successful CDC is extremely complicated. To run one will require some serious actuarial muscle. It is no easy task to take employees aged from their late teens through to their late 60s and ensure theres a fair outcome for all. Its not all down to actuaries of course. Investment management will require significant skill. The contributions collected from all the members of the scheme will have to be invested to meet the needs of all members. Younger savers will be looking for growth, whilst stability will be the priority for those in receipt of scheme pensions. Throughout, there will be the element of cross-subsidy to be managed. Younger savers will be paying in money which in part will pay for the generation ahead of them, while hoping that the generation behind them will return the favour. Older workers will do well out of CDC, especially those who are likely to spend many years in retirement. But to work effectively the scheme needs longevity, members need to see the benefit of a scheme pension based on a fixed rate of accrual, rather than a universal contribution rate, and they need to believe that the scheme will be around to deliver when they get to retirement age. Skilled actuaries will certainly be required. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) burnt Chinese products at more than 1500 places in the country, including the national capital, ahead of Holi as a mark of protest against China's decision to block India's bid to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. "Traders are Chowkidars of Indian economy and henceforth the trade from China will not be flourished any more. Whoever stands against national security of India, we will boycott goods of such country", said Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General, CAIT. In Delhi, the goods were set ablaze in Sadar Bazar, which is the hub of Chinese products. Similar to Holika Dahan (burning of Holika, the devil), the traders piled up the goods and put it to fire. The traders shouted slogans asking China to stop helping Pakistan in carrying out terror activities in India; otherwise it can end up losing its biggest market. Mr. B.C.Bhartiya, National President, CAIT and Secretary General Mr. Khandelwal said that, "Indian traders are grossly annoyed with China who is waging a backdoor war against the interests of India by helping Pakistan in all kinds. The government should levy restrictions on trade with China". The trade leaders demanded to minimise the imports from China and asked the government to immediately impose a custom duty ranging from 300% to 500% on all imports from the second largest manufacturer. They further added that the traders union (CAIT) is launching a national-level campaign to boycott Chinese products. The campaign aims to educate the traders on how their money meant for purchasing Chinese goods is being used against national interests. A similar campaign will also be conducted to educate consumers and to urge them to stop purchasing Chinese goods. The traders body also aims to put economic pressure on China. CAIT will be joining hands with national organisations of farmers, transporters, small industries, consumers, hawkers, self help entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, amongst others. (Edited by: Nehal Solanki) Also read: CAIT asks government to probe Chinese goods imported via hawala channels Also read: Masood Azhar issue: Traders to burn Chinese goods on Holi, CAIT demands 500% customs duty on imports from China Germany has initiated a move at the European Union to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, days after China blocked a bid at the United Nations to ban him, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. They said Germany was in touch with several member nations of the European Union for listing Azhar as a terrorist which will result in his travel ban as well as freezing of his assets in the 28 countries of the bloc. Germany has floated a proposal to ban Azhar by the European Union, but no resolution on the issue has been moved yet, diplomatic sources said. They said all 28 member countries of the European Union (EU) will have to support the move to ban the Pakistan-based terrorist as the bloc decides on such issues under the principle of consensus. On March 15, France imposed financial sanctions on Azhar and said it will work with its European partners for putting the JeM chief's name on the EU list of persons and entities involved in terrorist acts. The decision by France came two days after China put a hold on a fresh move to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council supported the proposal, but China was the only country which did not go with the move. Also read: France freezes JeM chief Masood Azhar's assets, says will always back India in fighting terrorism Also read: Masood Azhar issue: Traders to burn Chinese goods on Holi, CAIT demands 500% customs duty on imports from China India Wednesday indicated towards boycotting China's second Belt and Road Forum for a second time, voicing its concern that no country can engage in an initiative that disregards its principal concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity. India had skipped the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) meet in the year 2017 after lodging a protest with Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that runs through the disputed territory of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and overrides India's strategic concerns. Launched in 2015, the CPEC is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's North Western region of Xinjiang with Pakistan's Gwadar port on the Arabian sea. Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said that China plans to hold a much bigger, second BRF next month which will also be attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Also Read: China threat theory may harm Indian economy, says Global Times Speculation is rife whether India would attend the second BRF as China has deepened its commitment to expand the $60 billion CPEC project. India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri told the state-run Global Times that "above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations". Also Read: What is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor? "No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," he replied to a question about India's concerns over the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and whether India would take part in the second BRF meet. The Indian envoy's interview was carried by the daily on Wednesday. Also Read: CAIT asks government to probe Chinese goods imported via hawala channels "To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on the BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned." Misri cleared. "India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives. We ourselves are working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives," the Indian envoy stated. Misri further added that the connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and rule of law. Also Read: China terms Mumbai attacks as one of the 'most notorious' terrorist attacks They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability. India along with the US and several other countries have for long been highlighting their concerns over the BRI projects saying that they are not transparent and are aimed at ensnaring smaller, cash-strapped countries in debt traps to help China's geopolitical agenda. The concerns grew louder after China took control of Sri Lanka's Hambantota port in 2017 on a 99-year lease as debt swap. Also Read: China blocks move to list Masood Azhar as global terrorist India's second-largest airline Jet Airways flew into a whole new storm yesterday with its strategic partner Etihad formally refusing to invest further in the crippled carrier even as its pilots threatened to go on strike from April 1 if the resolution plan was delayed and their salary dues were not cleared by month-end. Etihad has, in fact, formally asked State Bank of India to purchase its entire 24% stake in Jet Airways, The Economic Times reported. The Gulf carrier, already a jittery participant in recent discussions on the bailout plan for the airline, signalled its decision to exit Jet Airways at a Monday meeting between its CEO Tony Douglas and SBI chief Rajnish Kumar. The Bank-led Resolution Plan (BLRP), approved by Jet's shareholders last month, is being piloted by SBI. Sources in the know told the daily that Etihad also wants the SBI to take over its liabilities in the form of a guarantee for Jet Airways' Rs 1,000 crore loan from HSBC Dubai. Significantly, the domestic carrier has defaulted on the first repayment of this loan. In addition, it has offered to sell its 50.1% stake in Jet Privilege, estimated to be worth Rs 1,000 crore, to the state-owned bank. Jet Airways owns the remaining 49.9% in Jet Privilege, the airline's frequent flyer programme. The buzz is that Etihad is offering to sell its Jet stake at Rs 150 per share - the stock is currently trading on the BSE at Rs 218.50 apiece - valuing its entire 24% ownership at Rs 400 crore. The Abu Dhabi-based airline had picked up this stake in 2013 for $379 million (around Rs 2,060 crore at the time). Etihad's exit decision poses a huge challenge to the beleaguered airline's revival plans. According to the draft resolution plan submitted to the lenders last month, Etihad was supposed to bring in around Rs 1,800 crore as fresh equity and increase its stake to 24.9% - just below the "open offer" threshold - while the bankers were to infuse another Rs 1,000 crore for a 29.5% stake. On an immediate basis, the lenders were to give Rs 750 crore to Jet Airways in lieu of the latter's stake in Jet Privilege. The daily added that as per the plan, Rs 450 crore that Jet Airways owed to entities related to founder Naresh Goyal was to be converted into equity. Goyal, who has already infused Rs 250 crore, was to end up with a holding of 17.1% and not more than 22%. Reports indicate that Etihad pulled out of the rescue deal as Goyal refused to reduce his shareholding and exit active management. On the verge of losing its strategic partner, Jet Airways has been scrambling for a new partner, which could well translate into a fresh round of resolution talks. Goyal has reportedly been talking to Etihad's Doha-based rival Qatar Airways for a possible investment. "Qatar Airways would be interested in Jet only with Goyal as a minority investor, a pre-condition put forward by Etihad too," a source told the daily, so things are far from optimistic for the airline. As things stand, the airline burdened with a debt of around Rs 8,200 crore has been forced to ground about a third of its fleet - including six aircraft yesterday - due to non-payment of amounts owed to lessors under their respective lease agreements. Meanwhile, the Jet Airways pilots' body National Aviators Guild - representing around 1,000 domestic pilots at the airline - decided at its annual meeting on Tuesday to go on strike from April 1, if "there is no proper clarity on the resolution process and salary payments by March 31". Earlier in the day, the Jet Airways Aircraft Maintenance Engineers' Association (JAMEWA) penned a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation informing that they have been under "extreme mental stress" due to non-payment of three months' salary. "It has been arduous for us to meet our financial requirements, result of which have adversely affected the psychological condition of Aircraft Engineers at work and, therefore, the safety of public transport airplanes being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk," the letter read. Jet Airways' engineers, pilots and senior management have not been paid salaries for January and February and the dues till March reportedly add up to Rs 600 crore. In addition, 87.5% of their December salary is also due. Reacting to these negative developments, especially Etihad's decision to exit, Jet Airways' shares plunged almost 5% yesterday and fell a further 4.61% in morning trade. Apart from eroding fortunes, Jet Airways also has to worry about its looming debt schedule - large repayments of Rs 2,444.5 crore due in FY20 and Rs 2,167.9 crore in FY21. Furthermore, having defaulted in servicing its loan obligations on December 31, 2018, the airline's 90-day window before its loans are dubbed non-performing assets (NPA) ends on March 31. With PTI inputs Also read: Jet Airways crisis: Banks may infuse funds provided major shareholders pledge shares Also read: Jet Airways lenders led by SBI to get a board seat Is the government-controlled SBI (State Bank of India) bending the RBI rules to save the troubled Jet Airways? The discrepancy in the RBI's circular last February and Jet Airways' debt resolution note seems to suggest so. On February 14, the troubled airline Jet Airways announced a bank-led provisional resolution plan (BLPRP) that detailed the plans of Jet's lenders, led by SBI, to take over the airline, and appoint a new board to revive the struggling carrier. "Conversion of lenders' debt into 11,40,00,000 shares of Rs 10 each by allotment of such number of equity shares to the lenders that would result in the lenders becoming the largest shareholders in the company. Such allotment of 11,40,00,000 shares will be made at an aggregate consideration of Re 1 since under the RBI circular, lenders can convert debt into equity at Re 1 when the book value per share of a company is negative," said the Jet note. As on March 20, Jet's book value was (negative) Rs 919.94 crore. ALSO READ: Resolution for Jet Airways is futile; send it for insolvency On the other hand, RBI's circular in February 2018-Resolution of Stressed Assets - Revised Framework-says that "equity instruments, whether classified as standard or NPA, shall be valued at market value, if quoted, or else at break-up value as ascertained from the company's balance sheet as on March 31 of the immediate preceding financial year. In case balance sheet as on March 31 of the immediate preceding financial year is not available, the entire portfolio of equity shares of the company held by the bank shall be valued at Re 1." The same circular also mentions that companies that default on loans have to submit a resolution plan within 180 days or file for bankruptcy. In December, Jet defaulted on its debt payments. Jet, being a listed company, has to prepare its balance sheet in a timely manner. It seems that SBI doesn't want to throw any more money after Jet while, at the same time, it wants to take control of the airline. But why would SBI, which has loaned about Rs 2,000 crore to Jet, want to save Jet instead of recovering money through the IBC (bankruptcy) route. ALSO READ: Jet Airways lenders keep options open to engage with turnaround specialists Jet going for bankruptcy would mean thousands of job losses; and it would send the aviation sector into a tailspin. For an election-bound government, saving Jet is crucial because no government would want a trained workforce of 16,000-odd people to lose jobs overnight. The question is no longer whether SBI and its lender partners can turnaround the airline after taking control-because lenders' track record in reviving troubled assets has been fairly poor. There's a lot more at stake for the ruling NDA government if Jet goes insolvent. The resolution plan is still waiting approval from key stakeholders, including Etihad Airways (which owns 24 per cent equity in Jet) and Jet chairman Naresh Goyal. Aviation veterans have already called the resolution plan as the 'backdoor entry' for the government, and the opposition parties have latched on to the Jet's predicament to score brownie points. On Wednesday, Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that SBI and other banks like PNB, Canara and Allahabad Bank are now being used by PM Narendra Modi to bailout a bankrupt private company. He further said that directing the NIIF (National Infrastructure Investment Fund) to buy Etihad Airways' 24 per cent stake at Rs 150 per share is being done without any independent financial valuation or due diligence of Jet. "Private players will walk away happily, while the government of India and PSU banks will be now running a bankrupt private airline," Surjewala said. ALSO READ: SBI to auction NPAs worth Rs 6,169 crore in next 10 days So while Jet's lenders are avoiding bankruptcy, experts argue that IBC route is better for them than going for a resolution plan. "The alleged government's interference would at best give a short lifeline to the struggling carrier," says an aviation consultant. A legacy carrier, Jet is sitting on some valuable assets-16 owned planes which are worth $400 million, Jet Privilege program, and landing & parking slots in key cities-that can be either easily monetised by its lenders (under IBC) or makes the airline an attractive option for the potential buyers. Tata Group, which had evinced interest in buying Jet some months ago, allegedly wanted Goyal before they take the driver's seat at Jet. They wanted to derive synergies between Vistara and Jet, which needed Goyal to hand over the reins. With a plenty of differences emerging among its key stakeholders, the future of Jet has never been as uncertain. The country's largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) has seen its asset quality markedly improve in the current fiscal - the percentage of net non-performing assets (NPAs) eased to 3.95% in Q3 from 4.84% in the previous quarter and the bank is reportedly gunning for the below 3% mark by the end of March. With that end in mind, the bank has been busy putting up its NPA accounts for sale in an attempt to recover its dues. Over the next 10 days, SBI will auction NPAs worth Rs 6,169 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and other financial institutions, IANS reported. The bank is looking to sell all of them on a 100% cash basis, but the actual realisation will, of course, depend on the reserve price and bids from the buyers. ALSO READ: Etihad offers to sell its 24% Jet Airways stake to SBI at a loss Six of these NPA accounts amounting to over Rs 1,307 crore will be e-auctioned on Friday. The assets on the block are Parental Drugs (outstanding debt Rs 429.72 crore), Kamachi Industries (Rs 365.68 crore), Jain Infraprojects (Rs 361.55 crore), MPK Ispat, MPK Steel and MPK Metals (Rs 53.86 crore), Balmukund Polyplast (Rs 50.12 crore) and Martina Biogenics (Rs 46.34 crore). Then, last Tuesday, six more NPA accounts worth Rs 2,337.88 crore were put on sale, to be auctioned on March 26. The accounts are Indian Steel Corporation (outstanding debt Rs 928.88 crore), Jai Balaji Industries (Rs 859.33 crore), Kohinoor Planet Construction (Rs 207.77 crore) and Gati Infrastructure (Rs 42.86 crore), Mittal Corp (Rs 116.34 crore), MCL Global Steel (Rs 100.18 crore), and Shree Vaishnav Ispat (Rs 82.52 crore). According to SBI, barring Mittal Corp and Shree Vaishnav, all the auctions will be under the Swiss Challenge method. ALSO READ: SBI central board to meet later this week for extension of capital raising timeline March 26 will also see the auction of assets worth over Rs 1,748 crore of BMM Ispat Ltd (BMMIL). Just three days later, the bank is set to auction assets worth over Rs 654.49 crore, including Yashasvi Yarns, Sumita Tex Spin, Shekhawati Poly-yarn Ltd and Shakumbhari Straw, which together owe SBI close to Rs 305 crore, and Easun Reyrolle Ltd (Rs 115.18 crore), while March 30 has four NPA accounts totalling Rs 112.33 crore on the block. The previous fiscal had reportedly seen all the ARCs collectively purchase NPAs worth Rs 20,000 crore. With other banks like PNB, Bank of Baroda and Central Bank following SBI's footsteps in auctioning off bad loans, perhaps the current fiscal will post a higher figure. (Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal with PTI inputs) Facts are stubborn; statistics are pliable. Mark Twain may as well have said this about Jet Airways and its current plight. In Jet Airways and its sharply declining fortunes, facts speak for themselves: founder and chairman Naresh Goyal remains the biggest stumbling block in arriving at a deal to save the airline; unable to pay for fuel, lease, landing and parking charges, the airline's health is deteriorating sharply with nearly half its fleet of 119 grounded; Jet could end up as another Kingfisher Airline if this trend continues; it will be yet another headache for India's financial and aviation regulators who will have to not just have to plug the potential Rs 8000 crore of NPA but also a gaping hole of the 119-aircraft airline disappearing from the Indian skies. Statistics, though, remain pliable. Undisclosed debt is being converted into equity in favour of lenders (@Re 1); Goyal is-stubbornly-demanding upwards of 22 pc equity despite the sharp fall in its market cap (from Rs 9,889 crore on Jan 5, 2018 to Rs 2476.2 crore today); Goyal's 24 pc partner Etihad first agreed to a deal to pump Rs 2,000 crore into the airline and retain its stake but it wanted Goyal out; Etihad now wants to exit Jet in favour of SBI; lenders may now sign on to convert a part of their Rs 8,000 crore debt into equity to take a 50.1 pc stake in the ailing airline. Lenders' 50.1 pc stake will be barely worth Rs 1263 crore at current price and though the lenders haven't disclosed the value of debt being converted into equity, the question is wouldn't they be better off taking Jet Airways to insolvency instead? The Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) not just allows them to throw out the stubborn promoter but would also realise the real market value of the airline when bidders bid for it. State Bank of India, to whom Jet owes more than Rs 2000 crore of the 8,052 crore of its debt, is leading the negotiations on behalf of creditors to arrive at a deal with Goyal and save Jet Airways from going to bankruptcy. Jet Airways is the earliest case under pre-insolvency 'Sashakt' scheme launched by Piyush Goyal in his first term as the interim finance minister. Sashakt provided for restructuring discussions between lenders and borrowers for stressed assets with loans over Rs 500 crore before the company could be proposed for insolvency. This may be a grave error. Even if lenders take a majority stake, they have no expertise in running an airline. The airline may do better under a new promoter rather than makeshift management. The insolvency process removes the current promoter and invites bids to sell the company. Recent examples of ongoing resolution prove that companies with real assets, running business and a strong brand are magnets for exceptionally high bids. Binani Cement which owed Rs 6,500 crore to its lenders got the highest bid of Rs 7,950 crore; Essar Steel's total liabilities were around Rs 47,000 crore but its highest bid was more than Rs 54,000 crore; Bhushan Steel lenders who were owed Rs 56,000 crore also got Rs 35,200 crore in upfront payment from new buyer Tata Steel and another 12.2 pc equity in the company. Who knows? Under insolvency, sans Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways may fetch a far greater value than its Rs 2476 crore marketcap would indicate. Especially if two bidders get into a bidding war as happened in the case of Bhushan, Binani as well as Essar Steel. Jet , after all, is not just a running airline with a preferred brand, but it also has 119 of India's 638 aircraft (16 of them owned) Its Jet Privilege loyalty programme is worth multiples of million dollars and by virtue of its 25 years of presence, it has preferred parking slots and rights to fly international. The question then is whether founder chairman Naresh Goyal is an asset or a liability for the airline! For now, it seems the latter as he appears to be blocking every deal that diminishes or eliminates his role in the airline. SBI and creditors need to segregate the interest of the promoter from the interest of the airline. If they have to choose between the two, it is in lenders' interest to prejudice themselves in favour of the airline, rather than the promoter. Though currently they appear to be working to aide both. And if the route to better valuation is via IBC, so be it. Also Read: Jet Airways lenders keep options open to engage with turnaround specialists Also Read: Nirav Modi arrested: What's the legal process ahead for extradition? Also Read: VG Siddhartha made a profit of Rs 2,858 cr from his Mindtree stake sale to L&T On the surface, the announcement that Irelands economy is the fastest-growing in the EU for the fifth year in a row would appear also to be good news for the countrys startup scene. GDP increased by 6.7% in 2018 (although it should be noted that this figure is somewhat distorted by the presence of the number of leading multi-nationals being headquartered here), accompanied by a 3.3% expansion in domestic demand, and a decrease in the national debt in relation to GDP to around 68%. These healthy figures would also at first glance appear to have had a positive impact on the countrys startup ecosystem. According to a TechIreland Funding Review, 930 million was invested in 223 startup companies from across the country in 2018, which included equity funding, grants and debt. However, these seemingly positive numbers may not reveal the whole story. For instance, 60% of the 930 million was invested in only 9 enterprises, so while the headline figure looks very healthy, it may be disguising the fact that the number of start-ups who are able to obtain investment is not growing. Although the money raised by start-ups in 2017 was significantly lower at 620 million, the spread was wider, with 242 (+19) companies garnering either initial or secondary investment. Some other interesting data to come out of the funding review was the breakdown of the sectors to which the funding was directed. Health was some way out in front, with 361 million (this does not include 350 million which went to Genomic Medicine Ireland), followed by Greentech (165 million), enterprise solutions (157 million) and fintech (139 million). If the overall health of a startup ecosystem can in part be measured by the number and size of exits, then this is perhaps also some cause for concern. The acquisition of Movidius by Intel for 322 million in March 2018 certainly stands out, but otherwise the frequency with which these have been occurring is not regarded as being sufficient to impact the entire system here. It has also become somewhat axiomatic that Irelands startup ecosystem is facing issues regarding the provision of early stage and seed funding, even though 2018 ended and 2019 began with some good news stories in this regard. In December last year, Dublin-based AI software firm Artomatix gained 3.2 million in funding from two separate sources, while earlier this year Galway-based MedTech firm EnteraSense secured 3.5 million in a seed round and through a European Union Horizon 2020 grant. The infrastructure of the Ireland startup scene In many ways, Ireland already has much of the infrastructure in place to foster a sustainable startup culture. The government provides significant support in the tech sector, we have the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe at 12.5%, and as such have received a good deal of FDI, while tech companies can receive a 25% tax credit for R&D. There is also no shortage of state-run funds, incentives and tax benefits available to start-ups, such as the OPTIMISE eCommerce fund (designed to grow online businesses), the Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme (which gives individual investors tax relief on their investments), the Seed Capital Scheme (providing tax refunds for people starting the own business), and the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN), which facilitates syndicated angel investments. Further government support is also available through organisations like Enterprise Ireland, StartUp Ireland, ConnectIreland, Startup Dublin and Startups.ie, as well as independent agencies like TechIreland. Higher education institutions are also a vital part of the ecosystem, with NovaUCD, Launch Box at TCD, and DCU Ryan Academy, amongst others, providing mentoring, workspaces, and access to research and funding. Ireland is also home to a good number of accelerators and incubators, including pre-seed and seed funding startup specialists like NDRC, as well as post-Series A venture capital funds like: Atlantic Bridge, Kernel Capital Venture Funds, and ACT Venture Capital Fund (specialising in tech funding); Fountain Healthcare Partners Fund and Seroba Life Sciences (medical and life sciences funding); and Frontline Venture Fund and Suir Valley Ventures (investing in B2B tech and software solutions). Centered largely around the Digital Docklands in Dublin, there are also several innovative startup hubs and co-working spaces, where both workspace facilities, mentoring and access to investment are available, like Dogpatch Labs, CoCreate, DoSpace, Space@Dublin BIC, CoWork@GEC and Fumbally Exchange (FEX). Where to Next for Ireland Startups? Despite its many advantages, there are nevertheless some significant challenges facing the Irish startup ecosystem as we move further into 2019, and it can be argued that these are primarily the result of a lack of government agility and adaptability to the current needs of startups, and the seemingly never-ending problem of bureaucratic red tape. It is undoubtedly the case that difficulties around early stage and seed funding are still an inhibitor to growth, as demonstrated by the fact that there were fewer companies attracting funding in 2018 when compared to 2017, despite the significant increase in the total amount raised. Whether the presence of so many tech multi-nationals in the country perhaps blinds investors to the extent of local innovation and expertise is certainly up for debate, but there is no question that despite the amount of FDI and the number of VCs looking to get into the startup space, the funding going to those Irish startups in the embryonic phase would seem to be on the decline. Industry observers have also argued that there is something of a seed capital crisis in part because the emphasis on providing a tax-friendly environment for multi-nationals has been accompanied by a failure of the government to put in place tax relief systems that incentivize local investment, such as currently exist in other competitor countries. The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) in the UK are often cited as positive examples as to how this can be done, while it is the case that Irelands similar Business Expansion Scheme - Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme (BES-EIIS) does not go far enough in providing incentives to investors. Capital Gains Tax as it relates to employee share ownership rules, which sees shareholders in a startup slugged with a significant tax bill if they are acquired, is thought to further inhibit potential pre-seed and seed funding for startups. Following on from this, the lack of successful startup founders whose enterprises have benefited from exit and acquisition, and who should now find themselves in a position either to act as mentors for other up-and-coming entrepreneurs, or to become startup investors themselves, is also impacting on the ability of startups to grow, as there is a lack of practical advice and guidance from those who have travelled down this road themselves. Case Study: Ireland v Tel Aviv v Berlin Israel probably has one of the most developed startup ecosystems on the planet, with Tel Aviv leading the way. Berlin is some way behind in its development, and is probably closer to Ireland, but a comparison of the three suggests some potential future directions for Ireland, and what might be achieved given the right sort of regulatory and investment environment. It is certainly the case that is possible to raise larger sums of investment capital more quickly in Tel Aviv than in either Ireland or Berlin. For example, Papaya Global, which has created a system to automate global payroll, raised $4.5 million dollars in its seed round, far more than the typical seed fund raised by Dublin or Berlin startups. However, at the same time salaries are on average higher in Tel Aviv, because the exceptional pool of talent in Israel and the competition for it means that the best can command far more than they would in either Ireland or Berlin (although still nowhere near as much as in the US). This can naturally be a drain on the viability and sustainability of startups. The fact that Tel Avivs ecosystem is considerably more developed than in the other two locations also means that there are more funds who are prepared to support local talent, given the previous success rate of others. There is a clear role model for potential investors to follow, and they can see the value and tangible benefits of investing locally. One area in which both Berlin and Ireland, however, do perhaps have an advantage over Tel Aviv is the presence of a significant number of large tech corporations, which can provide opportunities for B2B startups to make connections and collaborate. It can therefore be argued there are more ways in which startups and their founders can garner experience and expertise from working with these successful multi-nationals than is the case in Israel. Finally, Berlin probably leads the way in successful B2C startups, as the bigger internal market in Germany has naturally led to more user-focused development. With their significantly smaller populations, both Israel and Ireland startups have tended to look outwards to the global market and a focus on business solutions, rather than developments designed for everyday users or consumers. Five Enterprise Ireland backed companies Fineos, Alpha Wireless, Glofox Gym and Fitness Studio Management Software, Mainstream Renewable Power and Linesight have announced new office openings in Australia. This was announced this week in Sydney during Enterprise Irelands Trade Mission to Australia and Singapore, which is being led by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, T.D. Over $10 million AUD (6.2 million) in new contracts for Irish companies including Solgari, Kingspan, GM Steel and Combilift have been announced so far. Enterprise Ireland also announced the opening of a new office in Melbourne, its second office in Australia to further increase exports to Australia and to support clients to expand in Australia and the wider Asia Pac region. Enterprise Ireland client exports to Australia reached 253 million in 2018, an increase of 43% over the past three years. Speaking this week, Minister Humphreys said, "320 Irish companies are now exporting to Australia and these companies employ over 25,000 people in Ireland. Our ambition is to grow client exports to 360 million by 2020. I am delighted to lead this Trade and Investment Mission to Australia and engage in an extensive programme of activity which focuses on supporting Irish companies to expand exports into this significant region." She added, "My aim over the coming days is to build awareness and promote the Irish advantage of the participating companies through their innovation and capability in key sectors. I look forward to engaging with key decision makers at the highest levels in Government and Industry to promote Ireland as a source of world-class products and services." Source: www.businessworld.ie Bank of Beijing signed off as guarantor for the principal and interest in a 2.5 billion yuan debt investment plan to finance the renovations of some old buildings in the capital. Photo: VCG Bank of Beijing has had to pay some 39 million yuan ($5.81 million) in interest on behalf of Citic Guoan Group Co. Ltd., as it serves as guarantor of 2.5 billion yuan of the companys debts. The lender said in a stock exchange filing that it signed off as guarantor for the principal and interest from Citic Guoans 2.5 billion yuan debt investment plan to finance the renovations of some old buildings in the capital. The debt investment plan will come due on July 31, 2021. However, because the company failed to make a quarterly interest payment in March, Bank of Beijing had to pay 39.45 million yuan in interest on its behalf on March 15. If the company fails to repay the bank in six months, then the entire debt investment plan will mature early, on Sept. 3, with Bank of Beijing on the hook for all unpaid principal and interest. If that happens, Bank of Beijing will suffer huge losses, a source familiar with the investment plan said. Bank of Beijing is not the only bank to get entangled in Citic Guoans debt problems. The company has been in disputes with several other financial institutions over failures to repay loan contracts. The institutions include Beijing Zhongguancun Bank Co. Ltd., Huaxin Fortune International Trust Co. Ltd. and China Guangfa Bank Co. Ltd. The trouble has impacted Citic Guoans credit rating. China Lianhe Credit Rating Co. Ltd. downgraded the companys long-term credit rating to AA- from AA+ on Monday, and changed the companys outlook to negative, citing liquidity problems and refinancing difficulties. Relying on a borrowing binge over the past five years, Citic Guoan expanded its businesses from finance and consumer goods into education and health care. From the end of 2013 to the third quarter of 2018, the companys total assets grew fourfold to 221.5 billion yuan, according to Lianhe Credit Rating. The expansion took place after state-backed Citic Group sold nearly 80% of its stake in Citic Guoan as part of its mixed-ownership reform. Citic Guoans expansion didnt boost its profitability. The companys net profit in the third quarter of 2018 fell 89% from a year earlier to 56.04 million yuan. At the same time, its liability-to-asset ratio hit 85%, with the company holding total outstanding debt of 178.3 billion yuan, surpassing that of 2017. Investors are thinking about dumping the companys bonds. We have always worried about the high debt ratio of Citic Guoan, but we hesitated (to sell its bonds) because they still have high ratings from the credit ratings agencies, a bond investment manager told Caixin. Still, we are considering selling off our entire position (in Citic Guoan bonds). Citic Guoan has 1 billion yuan in interest payments on various bonds and loans coming due in the next two months, a source who declined to be named told Caixin. Its likely that the company wont be able to make all of them, increasing the possibility of future defaults, the source said. Amid rising concerns from the market and creditors, Citic Guoan has asked its former parent Citic Group for help, Caixin has learned. Citic Group reported Citic Guoans debt situation to the Ministry of Finance before the Lunar New Year holiday, and has created a team to help negotiate a restructuring plan. Details of the plan, however, have not been disclosed. Contact reporter Leng Cheng (chengleng@caixin.com) The story has been corrected to reflect the accurate asset size and net profit growth of the company. Workers prepare to lay a high-speed rail line from Beijing to the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, on Nov. 26. Photo: IC The development of the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster is lagging behind other major city integration projects, a new report from the China Development Research Foundation has found. The city clusters are major urban integration projects that aim to boost urbanization and national development. The projects aim to connect multiple smaller cities, easing transport between them and integrating their economic development. Jing-Jin-Ji is a planned city cluster that will integrate Beijing, nearby Tianjin, and Hebei province. It is tapped to become one of three world-class integrated city clusters along with the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta Greater Bay Area. The former includes Shanghai, Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province while the latter includes Hong Kong, Macau, and nine cities in Guangdong province including provincial capital Guangzhou. Hebei provinces name is abbreviated to Ji as the present-day province includes the Han dynasty Ji province, one of Chinas nine ancient provinces. The report, titled Report on Chinas City Cluster Integration, established an index, ACEP, to measure the integration of 12 different planned clusters around the country. The ACEP index reflects factors including economic integration, connectivity and institutional synergy. The higher the ACEP index reading, the greater the level of regional integration. The report found that the greatest level of integration was in the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta. In 2015, the ACEP index readings for these two clusters were 61.58 and 56.79, respectively, followed by the Shandong Peninsula, Jing-Jin-Ji, Central Plain Region and the Central-South Liaoning region, which all scored between 30 and 40. The six remaining clusters scored between 15 and 25 on the index. At a Monday press conference announcing the findings of the report, which will be published in April, Yu Jiantuo, the assistant secretary-general of the China Development Research Foundation, said that the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is actually the most difficult of the three major clusters. The biggest problem for the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is that the [economic development] gap between the three cities is very large, he said. The study found that if the underdeveloped Hebei cities Zhangjiakou and Chengde were excluded, the Jing-Jin-Ji integration index would improve significantly. If more remote Hebei cities of Qinhuangdao, Handan and Xingtai were also excluded, Jing-Jin-Ji would rank higher than the Shandong Peninsula in its integration. There are two key variables in the future development of Jing-Jin-Ji: one is whether Xiongan New Area can play a pivotal role in balancing regional development, Yu said, referring to the new city under construction 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Beijing. The role of Xiongan is not to concentrate the high-quality resources of Beijing and Tianjin into a Hebei city, Yu said, but to disperse high-quality resources to other regions to allow cities to share resources. The other is the synergy between Jing-Jin-Ji, the Shandong Peninsula, and the Central-Southern Liaoning urban integration projects, he said. The Shandong Peninsula cluster will integrate eight cities in Shandong province, which sits southeast of Hebei. Together, the Jing-Jin-Ji region accounts for about 10% of Chinas national economy, but if the Shandong and Liaoning agglomerations are added, the economic share exceeds 20%, consistent with that of the Yangtze River Delta. If the three can play a synergistic role and promote economic integration in northern China, Yu said, then the Jing-Jin-Ji area has promising prospects. Contact reporter Ren Qiuyu (qiuyuren@caixin.com) The city of Calgary is considering shifting business tax burden to homeowners. Councillor JyotiGondekwho represents Ward 3 on Calgary City Council, was the one who proposed this motion, and she says although it is not a popular idea, this is a decision that should have been made years ago. There is a gap in Calgarys tax income, left there by the rising number of vacancies in the citys downtown core, now the city is reviewing possible ways to lessen the tax burden on businesses by increasing taxes on homeowners. "What we've learned is that the program that we've used over the last couple of years was not as effective as it should have been," said Calgary Mayor, NaheedNenshi. "We have gotten into a situation where some businesses in the city are seeing a lot of potential damage and that's not right and it's not fair." The city has always relied heavily on its downtown income tax, only to witness a sharp decline from the increased vacancies in the same area in recent years. Worse still, the supply for office spaces in the downtown core keeps going up and is expected to blow up to around 45 million square feet in 2019 as Telus Sky is completed, meanwhile, demand is still as low as 33 million square feet. A report of CBC.ca, says that according to city documents, about $14 billion has been lost in property value since 2015, with an annual $258 million tax impact shared by nearly 14,000 properties, this money would have to be made from elsewhere. In the last two years, the city had had to raise additional money from its fiscal stability reserve fund, and this year, it was proposed that the city take $44 million from savings to help limit hikes on business property tax to no more than 10 percent, but MayorNenshi said this was not a permanent solution. Instead of once again spending savings to soften business tax hikes this year, the city council started to consider the option of raising residential property taxes to rebalance the ratio between home and business property owners. This would mean an extra $65 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, on a $475,000 residential property value. Council is also trying to find savings and could implement a separate small business tax bracket. Coun. JyotiGondekhad suggested that the $44 million could instead be spent on rebates for residential property owners. "If you think about it in quite simplistic terms, if you give a business $100 to apply against a million dollar tax bill, it's not a lot. If you give a homeowner $100 to apply against a $2,000 tax bill, that's a much different situation," Gondek said, quoted on CBC.ca. "It is not popular. I understand that. I'm already getting the onslaught of messages about 'Gondek loves taxes.' This is a decision that should have been made years ago." The councillor insists that not only was this action absolutely necessary, it was also urgent. "We have seen record numbers of businesses closing. We have seen record unemployment," she said. "This is a serious situation we have to help our business community." CAMEROUN :: Cameroon:: The Human Rights Defender, Mowha Franklin, missing August 06, 2018, in Kumba Kumba 03/12/2019: Following an alert from Mr Theophile NONO, close to human rights defender Franklin MOWHA, the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) informed the national and international community of the disappearance of Mr.MOWHA Franklin, a human rights defender, member of REDHAC, since 06/08/2018. Recall of facts: Resident in Bamenda, chief town of the Northwest region, MOWHA Franklin went to Kumba, in the South West on August 02, 2018, for professional reasons, according to our sources. In this most cosmopolitan city of the region, MOWHA Franklin would have stayed at Motel Azim located at Buea Road where he was staying for the last time. His mission was: - meet with internally displaced persons; - Take pictures of the destroyed houses and the disaster; - List the persons arrested and detained arbitrarily in order to obtain their release. In the meantime, his secretary, Mr. Thaddeus NGWA, would have kept in touch with him until 06 August 2018. On several occasions, all attempts to reach him remained unsuccessful until 14 August when his phone stopped ringing. Since then, anxiety has grown within his family and other loved ones. On August 21, 2018, his secretary, Mr. Thaddeus NGWA, left Bamenda for Kumba to find out what would have happened to MOWHA Franklin. On August 22, 2018 in Buea, no trace of Mr. MOWHA Franklin to the regional delegation of the National Security for the South-West where he met the officials of this structure, still less with those of the General Staff of the gendarmerie South West. At the Central Prison of Buea, Mr Thaddeus NGWA is denied access without the authorization of the Public Prosecutor. this one will be delivered to him for the next day, August 23, 2018. At the end of his sentences in search of Mr. MOWHA Franklin, Mr. Thaddeus NGWA resolved on September 5, 2018 to file a complaint to the prosecution of the Court of First Instance of Kumba to declare the disappearance of Mr. MOWHA Franklin, President Frontline Fighters For Citizen Interests (FFCI). FROM ALL THE ABOVE, The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) once again: - Draws the attention of the Cameroonian authorities to the umpteenth case of disappearance in this case that of human rights defender Mr Franklin MOWHA in south-west Cameroon; - Denounces the silence and laxity of the Cameroonian authorities in face of this disappearance, which has been prolonged for almost seven months; - Firmly denounces all methods of intimidation, harassment and abduction of human rights defenders in Cameroon; - Strongly condemns massive human rights violations against human rights defenders, activists and people in English-speaking areas of the country. THAT IS WHY, The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC): Demands Cameroonian authorities: - The immediate and unconditional release of Franklin MOWHA, President of Frontline Fighters for Citizen Interests (FFCI) held by any group; - Take all necessary and urgent steps to find human rights defender Franklin MOWHA; - Arrange an investigation so that the culprits answer for their actions before a fair, just and independent justice; - To ensure the physical and psychological safety of Franklin MOWHA, his family members and all his relatives; AS WELL, REDHAC calls on the Cameroonian government to respect: - The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS in its articles Article 5: "No one shall be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"; Article 9: "can not be arbitrarily arrested, detained or exiled"; - The INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS in its articles: Article 6 al.1: "The right to life is inherent to the human person. This right must be protected by law. No one can be arbitrarily deprived of life. "; Article 7: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment ... Article 9 al.1: "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one may be arrested or arbitrarily detained. No one can be deprived of his freedom ... - The AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS, in its articles: Article 4: "The human person is inviolable. Every human being has the right to his life and his morals and his person ... Article 5: "Everyone has the right to the inherent dignity of the human person .... Trafficking in persons, physical or mental torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are prohibited. "; Article 6: "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person ... no one may be arrested or detained arbitrarily. comment, editorial It is unfortunate Turkish president Recep Tayyap Erdogan has chosen to exploit the Christchurch tragedy in a bid to bolster his electoral prospects. Erdogan, one of the first Islamist Turkish leaders since the creation of the secular Turkish state by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk after World War I, is due to go to the polls at the end of this month. Despite his ongoing campaign to stamp out criticism and dissent, his government's primacy is under threat as a result of a worsening economic outlook. Erdogan's AK party, which has dominated Turkish politics for most of this century, is desperate to cling to power. This is why the out-spoken and notably anti-western president has chosen to politicise the events of last Friday. In recent days he has called on New Zealand to reintroduce the death penalty, played some of the footage of the slaughter the alleged killer streamed on social media at his political rallies, and even quoted from the gunman's "manifesto" to prove Turkey itself was under attack. "They are testing us from 16,500 km away, from New Zealand, with the messages they are giving from there," he said at a rally on the Gallipoli peninsula on Monday. "This isn't an individual act, this is organised". Erdogan, who has warned that any Australians who went to Turkey with hate in their hearts would be killed, has also claimed the Gallipoli landings of 1915 were anti-Islamic, not strategic. Speaking just over a month out from Anzac Day, when tens of thousands of Australians and New Zealanders are expected to converge on Anzac Cove to pay their respects to both the Allied and the Turkish dead, he said: "Your grandparents came here... and they returned in caskets. Have no doubt we will send you back like your grandfathers". The remark was as inaccurate as it was inflammatory. The only Australian body repatriated from the Gallipoli campaign was that of Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges, the first commandant of Duntroon and the commander of the AIF contingent. The vast majority of the Anzac dead were buried on the peninsula where they remain. That was clearly recognised in a famous quote of unknown origin often attributed to Ataturk. "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives [are] now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lay side by side here in this country of ours... your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace." While these words may, or may not, have been penned by Ataturk himself, they did set the tone for warm and friendly relations between Australia and Turkey for almost a century. It is, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the Turkish ambassador on Wednesday, offensive and reckless for Erdogan to risk trashing this relationship. If, as many believe, Gallipoli was where a truly united Australia was born, the same is true for modern Turkey. President Erdogan is disrespecting a heritage that is sacred to both our peoples. We can only hope the Anzac commemoration to be held a little over a month from now is not threatened as a consequence. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/3826f531-9020-4aaf-8824-37e094e96b07/r0_46_900_554_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, history, Canberra is in the low dip of a planning slump, and theres no reason to believe things will improve any time soon, says a former government architect. Roger Pegrum, who was the Australian Government Architect from 1986-88, says he despairs when he sees what Canberras skyline is becoming. But its not the sight of tall buildings that worries him - its the fact that theyre all the same height, with a distinct lack of variety in styles and dimensions. Come down Fairbairn Avenue and look at Civic - it's the most boring skyline ever, he says. I have great hopes for the town - I don't think it's on its last legs or anything like that, but we are in a nadir at the moment and we've got to come out of it. Pegrum has recently published a book about his own life and work as an architect and planner, which ends with a rallying cry for the territory plan to be reimagined. Canberra deserves town planners who dream out loud, he writes. The territory plan should be reimagined, with the bar raised considerably higher than at present, and a firm hand is needed to reject plans to drop buildings the size of battleships into residential streets. From the outside, Roger Pegrums own house could well be a classic inner-northern Canberra duplex. It is tall and nestled back from the street, and built from what look to be the red bricks so familiar in this quiet street in Reid. In fact, Pegrum, who has created some of Canberra's most admired houses and public buildings, designed the house himself, and built it from the ground up 12 years ago. With the multiple children from his blended family long grown, he now shares it with his wife Annabelle Pegrum, a fellow architect and former head of the National Capital Authority. The bricks, he says, were chosen to echo the classic houses around him, the metal window frames selected to blend in with the conventional timber frames on other homes nearby. The house, in other words, is bespoke but designed to blend in, to be in harmony with its surrounding environment. How very considerate, is the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, says Pegrum, consideration, or lack thereof, is a topic thats been preoccupying him of late, as he drives around Canberra taking in the morphing skyline, or trying to visualise what our future gateway will involve along Northbourne Avenue. It isnt, he says, the same Canberra he arrived at in 1948, having spent the first 10 years of his life in Singapore where his father was posted. I remember standing on Mount Ainslie and being told that there would one day be a great city laid out below me, he says. We were just kids, we got on with our lives and didnt spend too much time wondering when this great city would arrive and what it would be like when it did. Canberra in 1948 had been occupied for not much more than 20 years, but it had everything to please and intrigue a young boy. Were sitting in the graceful, upper-floor kitchen of the Reid house, with Pegrums new book spread before us. Its one of several; his 1983 book The Bush Capital is credited - incorrectly, it turns out - with coining the term that has come to define Canberra. In fact, the phrase was borrowed from history, as is the case with the title of his new book, A Very Great City One Day. Its a riff on an early quote from the descendant of an American president, writing to a friend about Washington DC. Pegrums book is also something of a love letter to the city he has returned to several times and eventually made his home, as well as a call for Canberra to find its way back to those days of early promise. He has been in and out of Canberra several times throughout his career; after finishing school, he went to Sydney to study architecture, and returned as an apprentice in what was then the Department of Works. One of his earliest jobs was to design a visitors centre for Tidbinbilla Nature Park, which was duly built. It was very spooky - I was 22 or something, he says. He went on design schools in Garran, Mawson and Hughes, as well as the light fittings along Anzac Parade. It was the early days of what would be an illustrious career; while the Tidbinbilla centre would unfortunately be destroyed during the 2003 bushfires, Pegrum has spent many years in private practice, working on countless private and commercial projects throughout the city. One of his most significant public buildings is, paradoxically, one that hardly anyone gets to see - the Chancery at Government House, for which he won a competition and of which he is still proud. And the smattering of houses he created around the city - notably in Mawson, Aranda and Farrer, are considered prime examples of classic Canberra architecture. He has never gone in for tall buildings, at least from a practical perspective. Nobody's asked me and I don't think I'd get much joy out of it anyway, he says, although he has no problem with apartments and urban density per se. Its the lack of thought - for quality of life, and for the future - that gives him pause. The thing is that if you look at the buildings that were here when I was a kid, and for some time after, they were often quite carefully placed, he says - the War Memorial, on the base of Mount Ainslie; University House in the curve of Balmain Crescent. What's happening now is that there isn't the same care, it seems to me, about where things are put. I don't know that anybody's really got a vision, there's no real plan anymore. And then on top of that, as primarily an architect, is that in terms of the buildings, we're just going through one of those low points. He knows of what he speaks; he has a master's in town planning, and sees it as a necessity for most things in life. I decry or question anything that's built or planned that doesn't look as if it's been thought through, or considered adequately, he says. I like imagination. If the imagination is crazy, it will get knocked down before it becomes annoying, but better to have a bright idea than not to have an idea at all. Or to just keep on doing what you're doing, because it's cheap or easy. In terms of potential, Canberra is in much the same place as it was 70 years ago, when the mighty trees that line the streets were saplings and great buildings mostly in the dreaming stage. The city is nowhere near complete - an adolescent with growing pains, in the first stages of renewal as early-stage houses are knocked down to make way for new ideas. Every time you drive round Canberra, you think 'we've got so much land, we can do anything we like', but we've got to make sure it's not the wrong thing, he says. We are in the middle of nowhere, [for] all intents and purposes, but we do have a brilliant setting: the Brindabellas, and the hills out there, and the inner ridges. We've got everything going for us, we're not in a dry dustbowl at all. They are further west, but we're not. There's no reason why we can't have that beauty that's in the inner Canberra Valley. He concedes that Canberra is far from alone when it comes to low points in planning and vision; Sydney is in the doldrums, along with many towns and cities throughout the world. But I don't know that comparing ourselves with others is what it's all about, he says. I'd rather compare ourselves with ourselves and say, well, we'd like it to be good. A Very Great City One Day, by Roger Pegrum, is published by Barrallier Books. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/180173f0-f0b2-46b4-ae79-4c11ec57137f/r0_164_4159_2514_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg comment In my dotage I've grown grateful to most of the world's religions but perhaps this is the moment for us to review our particular gratitude to the Muslim faith. I confess only a superficial knowledge of it but I'd like to say publicly that I admire the practices of praying five times a day, of kneeling and bowing the head in prayer and of covering most of the body in public. More frequent regular prayer could, I imagine, help us to separate trivial from big issues more effectively during the course of a day. I did have a Muslim colleague once who assured me this was so. And a humble posture in prayer could help us to recognise that we aren't going to solve all the world's problems personally and that we will need the collaboration of other forces, both secular and spiritual. And finally, not feeling any pressure to expose parts of my body would be a relief to me as an older woman. Maybe it would even relieve younger folk from the marketing pressure to look sexy all the time. I can certainly say that, at the moment, it is almost impossible to buy high-necked long-sleeved clothing for a woman in any shopping mall. It's not that I will become Muslim. I think the Dalai Lama is onto something when he advises that we stick to the religion into which we have been born. I will go on enjoying attending a religious meeting on Sundays. I do love our modern confidence as individuals in our efforts to rebalance our planet and I cherish the human body in the many forms it can be manifest. However, I do want to say that I think many of us could learn a lot from the Muslim faith and that, at times like this, perhaps we need to share our admiration of it with each other. Jill Sutton, Watson Brenton Tarrant has been described as pure evil by many people as a way of distancing ourselves from the horrors he perpetrated on defenceless, innocent people. But the reality is he was most likely not mad nor the devil incarnate. He is just at the very extreme end of the spectrum of human behaviour which ranges from the most noble to the most abhorrent. History shows us over and over again that just about all humans, just ordinary people, are capable of murder, torture and other atrocities given the right circumstances. We are also capable of extraordinary acts of courage, caring and self sacrifice if the need arises. The problem is with our tendency to lump people into groups with rigid characteristics which in no way match reality. We can then consider them as "others". People less worthy than us. If we are taught to fear these others we are given permission to criticise them, disparage them, discriminate against them, hate them and ultimately hurt them. Forget "isms" and right and left wing, recent history clearly shows people of all different beliefs and persuasions are capable of inflicting terrible persecution on others and in turn have suffered at the hands of others. It is the human condition which we can only ameliorate by how we live our own lives, by challenging groupthink, by objecting to all forms of discrimination even if we simply say "I don't agree with you" and leave it at that. We need to promote education and an evidence-based approach to policy making. We also need to challenge the media whenever it tries to foment hatred and spread misinformation. A tall order, but every little thing we do helps to counteract politics of hate. Elizabeth Dangerfield, Crace Whilst listening to the ABC News on 666 on Sunday morning I heard the Prime Minister state Senator Fraser Anning should face the full force of the law for his retaliation against his 17-year-old attacker. To my mind, this incident was no better than the cowardly one-punch attacks that we have seen recently. In those cases the attackers are charged and sentenced accordingly. Regardless of Senator Anning's politics, Australia is still a supposedly 'free speech' country. The cowardly 'egging' from behind was no more or no less a one-hit attack. The fact Senator Anning did not fall, hit his head and finish up in a hospital bed was sheer luck. The fact he then retaliated is also perfectly human. Where is the charge against the 17-year-old, who, if any action is taken, will be dealt with by the Children's Court and probably told not to be so silly again. Meanwhile, Senator Anning is the ogre. I have no political affiliation with Senator Anning nor his politics, but the attack was disgraceful. Dave Jeffrey, Farrer Greg Cornwall (Letters, March 18) has made a cheap, disingenuous and rather flaccid rhetorical point about the banning of the 'golliwog' balloon by conflating the possible visual impact of the balloon with the mere existence of some obscure literary fiction on library shelves. I'm guessing the attitude of ACT Libraries might be that the named books were products of their times and should be understood in terms of their artistic merit and historical context. Rather than trawl up lists of books with antiquated titles, perhaps Mr Cornwall could instead use his time and effort to make a positive contribution to race relations. Meanwhile, he aligns himself with the nincompoops who have previously weirdly suggested that having "black" in place names has the moral equivalence of centuries of racial subjugation. He should know better. David Jenkins, Casey In my view, the students who went on strike over what they see as government inaction on climate change ("Striking students teach adult about climate science", March 16, p10) are to be congratulated. Young people see global warming represents a serious threat to their future wellbeing. Many adults, particularly older people and politicians of a conservative bent, see little, if anything, to worry about. As former Australian chief scientist Professor Penny Sackett said, "the approach taken by adults so far isn't working". According to the Department of the Environment and Energy, Australia's greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing since the Abbott government scrapped the Gillard government's carbon price. According to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a warming climate will pass a point of no return by 2030 unless much stronger action is taken. The striking students see current government policies on climate change must change substantially to steer us away from that trajectory. Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin The new bus network timetable has really fouled up the attempted connection for Crace residents trying to get to Belconnen. After our complaints at the network design stage, the designers modified the new 23/24 route to provide a bus stop connection with the rapid 8 route on Gundaroo Drive. This is especially important for older passengers, who rely on public transport and can't walk great distances. However, the timetable just released (weekdays and off-peak, when seniors mostly travel) shows every bus just misses its connection by a minute or two, meaning almost 15 minutes wait for the next bus, with one of the stops not even having a shelter. This applies in both travel directions. Total journey time to and from Belconnen under the "new and improved" timetable goes up from 21 to 32 minutes! This is really poor planning. It almost defeats the purpose of diverting the 23/24 route up Gundaroo Drive. The new timetable needs to be revisited by Transport Canberra. A small timing change could provide a much better connection. I wouldn't be surprised if there were many more similar examples of poor timetable connections across Canberra. Michael Nixon, Crace My quarterly rates and land tax bills have just arrived and, after doing the maths, I liken it to Robin Hood raising cash for the Sheriff of Nottingham. Currently rates account for 4.2 per cent of my gross rental and land tax 6.2 per cent. That makes 10.6 per cent. For 39 days per year my property works for the ACT government. Add in another 5 per cent for the estate agent, which takes another 18 days per annum. The total, before the ATO asks for it's piece of the pie, is 57 days per annum. That is nearly two months in theory that I do not have money to live on. Maybe I should not have started working in a confectionary factory from the age of 16 before I moved on to retail until retirement. All I gratefully get is an ACT Seniors card. Earn money, pay tax, support others. Heather O'Connor, Hawker My deepest sympathy to Mr Lantzke over the loss of the beautiful Mimosa who provided a tonic to many people, as well as her hospice, hospital and aged care homes visits. However I am concerned with the headline horror spread by the media over off-leash dogs in general. Could it be that the black staffy was in a dog off-leash area? I suspect it was. Perhaps the dog owner stupidly thought a meeting between his staffy and an alpaca would make a great photo and had his camera out doing that not expecting the alpaca to be spooked and take off? I would be horrified if he continued filming when the trouble started? Did he? Some people are a bit thoughtless but that should not cause such outrage towards the whole dog-owning community. Dogs on leads become protective of the person on the other end of the lead. Quite often peaceful dogs will have a go at another dog when leads are involved. Owning a dog is a big commitment. It consumes a lot of time out of your day and if you are already time-poor then you shouldn't think of buying a dog. It isn't an animal to have in your backyard and throw a bone to when you think of it. To have a happy and obedient dog it needs to be part of your family. Please don't condemn all responsible dog owners who walk their obedient dogs off-leash. Due to sensational media reporting the public is becoming afraid of all dogs. Mary Brock, Kaleen Gwyn Rees (Letters, March 6) appears to imply my capacity to provide evidence as an expert was questioned by Mortimer J. in her reasons for the decision in the matter of Guy v Crown Melbourne Ltd & anor. [2018] FCA36. They also appear to suggest that, as a result of this, I lack academic credentials. Such a representation would be false. Her Honour observed I had a well-developed and clearly understood view about the harmful nature of electronic gambling machines, which I had, as she put it "candidly disclosed". For this reason, my evidence was not offered in the capacity of an independent expert witness. In the context of the proceedings before the Court, I did not, correctly, make the relevant declarations of independence. That did not mean that my evidence was rejected. Parts of it were accepted by the Court, following discussions between Counsel and Her Honour. I was not required to attend the proceedings for cross-examination, which would have provided counsel for the respondents (Aristocrat and Crown) with the opportunity to test my opinion, an opportunity they declined. Neither did the respondents seek to cross-examine lay witnesses who had attested to the harmful impacts of electronic gambling machines on them personally. There was no implication in Her Honour's findings that I lacked expertise or academic integrity in this field. Rather, my expertise and academic integrity has led me to a view as to the harmful effects of electronic gambling machines, which I appropriately disclosed to the court. To suggest otherwise, I respectfully submit, would be false, and potentially defamatory. My position, I believe, is the same position as any public health expert with expertise in the harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, asbestos, coal dust, or other dangerous commodities might adopt. That is, the use of the product has potentially harmful sequelae, and it is important for the health and wellbeing of the population to ensure effective regulation to prevent or minimise harms associated with its use. For the record, I am not "anti-gambling". I am "anti-exploitation" and pro-effective regulation to prevent or reduce avoidable harm. Associate Professor Charles Livingstone PhD. Monash University, Melbourne ARDERN SHOWS WAY We are all New Zealanders now. And would that we could have Jacinda Ardern as our prime minister. She is articulate, empathetic, strong and wise well beyond her years. Australia, take note. Robin Poke, Hughes WORDS OF CAUTION Some wise advice for all of us: always remember, your words come back to haunt you. Jeff Bradley, Isaacs LACKING IN LEADERS What an outstanding leader Jacinda Ardern, the NZ Prime Minister, is. Where is Australia's Jacinda Ardern? We desperately need someone of that calibre. M. A. Ellis, Bruce CANBERRA BUBBLE Scott Morrison keeps rabbiting on about the "Canberra bubble". Older and wiser Canberrans know it as the "Cabinet Room". Eric Hunter, Cook SECURITY SHOWS STEEL I trust Fraser Anning's top notch security guards would have been wearing hi-tech steel-capped rubber thongs when apprehending 'egg boy'. It would be in keeping with the theme of the entire debacle I would think. Linus Cole, Palmerston ANOTHER ANNING CRACK Doesn't Fraser Anning understand that you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Mark Sproat, Lyons, ACT HOWARD STILL SERVING Has there ever been another ex-PM who has continued to take such an interest as John Howard? We can only be grateful for his dedication. I wonder how we'll get along without him when he's gone. S. Davey, Torrens MONEY FRUSTRATION In recent times, I've discovered a new way to annoy people: I try to pay small businesses for good or services by using cash. Gordon Fyfe, Kambah LONG-DISTANCE LEGENDS Congratulations to the 103 Lap Legend swimmers at the Dickson Aquatic Centre for clocking up 8926km this summer. That's the distance between Canberra and Beijing. Such an 'active travel' effort, undertaken over 20 weeks by participants of all ages, shapes and sizes, should gladden the heart of our Minister for Transport, Health and Wellbeing. Sue Dyer, Downer TRAM PILE-UP If a bus is involved in an accident, buses behind can drive around it. What happens if a tram is involved in an accident? What do following trams do? Just queue up I suppose. R. M. Smith, Scullin POLITICAL U-TURN I'm looking forward to seeing the back of Anning. M. Moore, Bonython Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610. Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to Canberra Times reports should include the date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published). /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/156edccd-a3ac-4754-ad09-ab989dff3c5d/r0_100_2000_1230_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, act-politics Diplomats who cause car crashes but claim immunity to escape criminal charges will be blocked from receiving benefits under Canberra's new compulsory third party scheme. The 413-page Motor Accident Injuries Bill was tabled in the Legislative Assembly late on Tuesday, 18 months after a citizen's jury on the topic was first announced. While the draft legislation is designed to give anyone injured in a motor vehicle accident access to medical treatment, care and lost income regardless of whether they were at fault, drivers convicted of serious offences will have their benefits revoked or reduced. Those offences include murder, manslaughter, intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, wounding or culpable driving. They also include drink and drug driving, as well as refusing to provide a breath, oral fluid or blood test. However Canberra's high concentration of diplomats - and their record of using their diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution over driving offences - has led the ACT government to introduce measures that would allow the new Motor Accident Injuries Commissioner to revoke their entitlements, should they use the Vienna convention to avoid criminal charges. The commissioner must consider the official accident report and any other evidence provided by police in making their decision, which will be open to review through ACAT. An insurer can also request the commissioner cancel the diplomats' benefits. "This provision of the bill aims to ensure that diplomats who engage in criminal behaviour but cannot be prosecuted are not better off than Canberrans who are unable to claim such immunity," a spokeswoman said. The removal of benefits from criminals is intended to be a disincentive to people who engage in serious illegal behaviour or put others at risk. Their benefits won't be removed until they have been found guilty or convicted, meaning an injured person can still receive care and treatment until that point. Any quality of life payment application will be placed on hold until the charges are finalised. There will also be no requirement for criminals to pay back the entitlements they received if they are convicted. People who are in jail awaiting trial for their charges though will not be able to claim treatment and care benefits. This is because they can receive care for their injuries from Justice Health and Corrective Services. Foreign nationals will also be able to claim treatment, care and income replacement benefits while they are in Australia, however they cannot apply for quality of life benefits. They can apply however for a lump sum of up to $10,000 when they leave Australia for future income replacement and treatment needs. Meanwhile lawyers in Canberra remain concerned about the move away from the current, common law system of compulsory third-party insurance. In a joint statement, the presidents of the ACT Bar Association Steve Whybrow, and the ACT Law Society Chris Donohue, as well as the ACT director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance Jamie Ronald said the amendments negotiated by Greens and the unions did nothing to alleviate the unfairness of the scheme "It is alarming that the government seems to have the support of the ACT Greens on the basis of a few faux amendments that will do nothing to alleviate the unfair and unjust outcomes that will flow from the proposed scheme," they said. "If this legislation is passed, this Barr government-Greens deal will slash the benefits and rights Canberrans currently have all for a measly $14 annual reduction in their insurance policy. "When you add in the costs of creating and staffing a whole new division of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and establishing a new bureaucracy to manage the scheme, it is likely there will be no net gain to Canberrans at all." However a government spokeswoman said the updated costings - which were an estimate only - had factored in the cost of the new ACAT division. The ACT Law Society has also hit out at the futility of having a quality of life payment of $350,000 for people with a whole person impairment of 100 per cent, where no-one will qualify for the payment. They have described the decision to exclude superannuation from gross income as "arbitrary" and the gaps in the legislation as "significant" . However the government spokeswoman said the combination of quality of life damages with unlimited treatment, care and income replacement benefits means payments for people with a serious injury could be significantly higher than $350,000. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/702b2e01-1543-460d-ac1d-638e8886cf88/r0_100_2000_1230_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg news, latest-news The big four consultancies have nearly tripled their income from federal government contracts since the Coalition won power, while becoming among the nation's most generous political donors. KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte won contracts worth $562 million last financial year, surpassing the $527 million record set in 2015-16 and taking their total under the Coalition to $2.1 billion. The firms' donations to the major parties were also higher than ever, reaching $915,000 last financial year almost twice the amount they gave when the government changed in 2013. The government and the consulting firms said the spending reflected changes in the Australian Public Service's work, as it responded to economic trends and the public's shifting demands. However, researchers and crossbenchers pointed to the bureaucracy's shrinking workforce and the Coalition-imposed staffing cap as one of the main causes. Commonwealth spending on the big four firms more than tripled in the Rudd-Gillard years, Austender data shows, peaking at $365 million in 2012-13 before dropping to $210 million in the Coalition's first year in power. Except for 2016-17, the spending grew every subsequent year, while the Coalition cut the public service to its smallest size in 12 years. Last year, government agencies entered into contracts with the big four for audits, IT, budget processing, risk management, logistics, advice and project management, among other work. Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick said consultants would be unnecessary if the public service possessed enough in-house skills. "Instead of dealing with shortfalls in knowledge, it has been far too easy to contract the work out, which has the general effect of dumbing down the public sector further," he said. "The Commonwealth government is in a knowledge-and-expertise death spiral." Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the Coalition preferred to outsource work to corporate donors than build the bureaucracy's capacity. "Consultancies are more expensive because they take a profit. And the continued use of consultancies hollows out the public service," he said. The Centre for Policy Development, a think tank chaired by a former head of the Prime Minister's Department, Terry Moran, has warned previously that the erosion of the bureaucracy's capabilities was likely to be inflating spending on consultants. The role of consultants in government has attracted growing scrutiny in recent years. A national audit detailing spending on the big four firms and a parliamentary inquiry have raised questions about the effect on public service skills. However, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann denied the increased spending had reduced policy making and administrative skills within government. The overall cost of government administration including public sector staffing, consultants and contractors as a proportion of overall spending dropped from 8.5 per cent in 2007-08 to 6.8 per cent in 2017-18, he said. "The government continues to promote a flexible approach to resourcing that strikes the right balance between a talented, core workforce of permanent public servants and selective use of external expertise," the minister said. "When public servants and external specialists work together on projects, there is a two-way transfer of skills and experience." Researchers in public administration say the loss of public service jobs, and a cap on staffing, has created a reliance on consulting firms. An Auditor-General's report has also revealed officials fail to correctly identify spending on consultancies when registering contracts. Melbourne School of Government lecturer Martin Bortz said what the government considered a consultant was "murky". He said consultants could transfer their skills to bureaucrats when managers made training part of their contracts with the companies. "Real consultants have a very valuable skillset to offer which takes years and years to hone. I don't think it can happen through osmosis," he said. Growing donations to the Liberal and Labor parties appeared to be a bid from consultancies to grow their influence and become more involved in policy making, Mr Bortz said. The big four have donated $3.5 million to the Labor, Liberal and National parties since the Coalition came to power. Deloitte said its donations were more commonly in-kind and reflected the facilities the company provided for events attended by the major parties. "Deloitte rejects the suggestion there is a correlation between the support provided to the political process and the level of government spend on consultants," a spokesman said. PricewaterhouseCoopers likened its donations to those from other companies and unions, while KPMG said its contributions represented memberships and sponsorships of business associations and conferences managed by the major political parties. "These provide opportunities for attendance at policy briefing sessions, and invitations to networking events with business and parliamentary representatives," a KPMG spokeswoman said. Ernst & Young declined to comment. Senator Cormann denied any link between donations and government spending on the big four, and said the companies followed government rules for transparency and competition in bidding for contracts. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/72c9e62d-ba82-4886-9718-606bcdb9d47c/r0_285_5472_3377_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg The governing federal liberals are likely to lose their party status, the same way Kathleen Wynnes Ontario Liberals, lost theirs, says Andre Marin, writing for the Toronto Sun. The only way to avoid this, writes the columnist, is for Justin Trudeau tocheck his ego at the door. In addition to dropping his ego, Trudeau was also advised to own up and concede that he and his allies messed up and wont interfere with criminal prosecutions again. Trudeau ego was likened to that of Wynne who lost all touch with the people and believed she could beat all odds all by herself until Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives came along with a simple three-word slogan: For the People. And took the leadership seat away from her. It took Wynne about a decade to lose the Ontario seat, but its taking Trudeau just about three years, and worse still he seems to be in a free-fall just seven months before the elections. At present, a lot of Canadians are disappointed with Trudeaus recent actions and the actions of his party allies such as PCO head Michael Wernick, especially how they have handled the entire SNC Lavalin scandal, now popularly called LavScam. "The past few weeks have been an abysmal, slow-motion train wreck in issues management for the Trudeau Government," Ottawa-based political analyst YaroslavBaransaid, speaking with CNN. When he was elected, Trudeau had promised to bring Canada back, but his actions these past few weeks could only be taking Canada backwards, right now Canada is under investigations by The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. They are reviewing the countrys compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Thats the kind of review youd expect of developing countries rife with corruption. Says Marin. Interestingly, Trudeau and his bunch of gofers justified harassing Wilson-Raybould into a deferred prosecution agreement by claiming they could save 9,000 jobs. But a country is under an OECD bribery investigation sends bad vibes to international businesses who might want to invest in Canada. Brilliant. Worse still, in the face of all this, Trudeau remains unrepentant. He is neither contrite nor apologetic and blames the former attorney general, Wilson-Raybould for not coming to him with her protests. Even after she had given evidence, that she did meet him with her objections. Recently, Trudeau seems to be busy with any other thing but the issue at hand. Last week, on Wednesday 13th of March when the Justice Committee was to hold an emergency meeting to discuss bringing back Wilson-Raybould for a second appearance. Trudeaus Liberals used their majority to adjourn the committees work to budget day, it is apparent, that they hope that the budgets news would swallow upLavscam. Trudeau has also been vacationing, going from North Captiva Island to Florida while the image of its government gets even more tainted. This begs questions about the Prime Ministers commitment to the core values that got him that federal seat in the first place.If Trudeau keeps this up, Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer might just be having a smooth ride in the forthcoming elections. Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Nearly everyone now knows the story of how Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, has alleged that she was unduly pressured by Trudeau and other senior officials to offer a remediation agreement to SNC-Lavalin. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to deny that any inappropriate pressure was put on former Attorney General Jody-Wilson Raybould to intervene in the case. He rather claims it was all a misunderstanding. Somehow, almost every top liberal politician in Trudeaus government had just erroneously thought that former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould was open to granting SNC-Lavalin a remediation agreement even after she said the contrary on several occasions. I was not aware of this erosion of trust, and as prime minister and head of cabinet, I should have been aware of it, said Trudeau. Situations were experienced differently and I regret that. Later, the Prime Minister tried to justify having an interest in the SNC-Lavalin affair on the grounds that thousands of jobs were at stake. However, this excuse seems very far-fetched and he has been called out for it from several quarters. A commentary on Global News, claims Trudeaus interference was all about saving liberal seats in Quebec. If Ottawa were seen to have let SNC-Lavalin get away by failing to give the company a remediation agreement, Trudeau would never hear the end of it, and Legault supporters may well throw their votes to other parties, including the Conservatives or Bloc, in the upcoming federal election. writes Tasha KheiriddinTrudeau had enough trouble in Ontario with Doug Ford; he didnt need another war with another premier on the eve of an election. The Financial Post, supports this viewpoint by insisting that Trudeaus actions concerning the SNC-was to protect its political interests in Quebec. According to the article,The willingness of the federal government to aggressively intercede on behalf of SNC-Lavalin is in stark contrast with its refusal to remove environmental and legal roadblocks to actually building the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The prime ministers willingness to intervene for SNC-Lavalin reflects a cynical political judgement that his government depends more on Quebec than on Alberta for votes, not an economic need to protect jobs that were never imperilled. SNC-Lavalin is said to employ only about 9,000 people across Canada. This number is only aninfinitesimal 0.05 percent of Canadas total 18,930,000 jobs. Furthermore, a ban from Federal Government projects would not have affected the company at all. Even with a Federal Government ban, the company would still have been allowed to bid on provincial and municipal projects and these projects make up almost 90% of the Canadian governments infrastructure spending. The company had very recently confirmed that they were performing very well even after they were told by the Federal Justice Department, that they are likely to face persecution. SNC-Lavalin had recently filed a Management Discussion and Analysis (MDA) discussing its business conditions and outlook where they stated that the business had $10 billion of revenue earned in 50 countries and $15 billion of back orders. This is despite the company being banned from bidding on World Bank projects since 2013 due to allegations of bribery and corruption. Trudeau knew all this yet still interfered so strongly with the SNC-Lavalin case, it makes a lot of sense to think that he was only doing so, to protect his political interests. Photo: The Canadian Press A gunman killed three people and wounded five on a tram Monday morning in what authorities said may have been a terror attack, and a suspect was seized after a manhunt that convulsed the Dutch city of Utrecht. Dutch Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the attacker identified as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37 "was known" to justice authorities and had a criminal record, but would not elaborate. "If it had terror motives, that is being investigated. But it was very serious. The world shares our grief," Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. The attack came three days after 50 people were killed when an immigrant-hating white supremacist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. There was no immediate indication of any link between the two events. Dutch authorities reduced the threat level in the city back to four out of five following the arrest, which came after a manhunt involving heavily armed officers with dogs. During the hunt, police released a photo of a bearded Tanis aboard a tram in a blue hooded top. "We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more," Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said as police searched for the suspect. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Dutch military police tightened security at airports and key buildings in the country, and Rutte declared: "If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence." The shooting took place at a busy intersection in a residential neighbourhood. Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram. Anti-terror officers gathered in front of an apartment building close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen outside the building. The Netherlands' anti-terror co-ordinator, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, raised the threat alert to its highest level, 5, around Utrecht, a city of nearly 350,000. Political parties halted campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for Wednesday that will also determine the makeup of Parliament's upper house. In neighbouring Germany, police said they stepped up surveillance of the Dutch border, watching not only major highways but also minor crossings and train routes. German authorities said they were initially told to look out for a red Renault Clio compact car but were later informed it had been found abandoned in Utrecht. Toronto City officials, have demolished a makeshift homeless camp located under the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto, says a report on The Star. The camp had been set up on Lake Shore Blvd. West near Lower Simcoe and city workers were seen recently, rummaging through personal belongings of the homeless residents of the camp, such as their bikes, blankets, plastic containers, mats, and small bags. The occupants of the camp were nowhere in sight as a city truck and a loader cleared rubbish from the camp causing traffic on Lake Shore Blvd. W. According to Brad Ross, the citys chief communications officer, the city had earlier sent eviction notices in January, and even though the camp on Lakeshore Blvd. W. was the only one targeted that day, city officials still had intentions to clear other similar camps and would continue to help the camps residents find space in the citys shelter system. We recognize that not all individuals are prepared to come inside, to engage with us, he said. But we continue to work with them to provide whatever supports they may need. One of the camp residents, Dexter Wolfgang, who was seen packing his belongings a few metres away was interviewed by The Star, he said You have to be ready to move, anytime, He appeared unfazed by the demolition and noted that his stuff is always packed and ready to be pulled away with his quad bicycle. I will move to another spot somewhere, and I will probably be back here again. He explained he had received an eviction notice which had required him to remove materials and debris stored on the publics right of way, and the notice had warned that failure to comply will result in removal by city forces. What theyre doing is stupid. They should give us housing, said Dexter, noting he has been homeless since 2003, moving around the city with his stuff. The city claims they are demolishing these homeless camps due to several concerns about public and individual safety in the camps as there had been recent reports of a fire incident. He said the city is still trying to provide alternatives to the homeless residents of the camp. "It's a fine balance," he said. "We can't force anybody to come inside. But at the same time, we need to make sure public and personal safety are maintained at all times." City staff had earlier backed down from an intended eviction in January, telling the residents to pack up and come for spaces in city shelters. The city claims it had let the residents know they are violating city rules and their possessions could be moved. However, several shelters were near capacity this winter, and residents told the Star that they had nowhere else to go. Several citizens appear horrified by the citys decision to evict the homeless. Massoud Abbasi, quoted on Narcity.com says, Its hard to believe this continues to happen in Toronto. For a city as wealthy and burgeoning as us, our homelessness rates are unacceptable, and the actions we imposed on the homeless even worse. Eastern Province Cement reports 35% fall in net profit 20 March 2019 Saudi Arabias Eastern Province Cement Co has reported a 34.6 per cent YoY profit decline after zakat and tax, falling to SAR70m (US$18.66m) from SAR107m of 2017. The company attributed the decrease to a drop in sales of cement, precast concrete and higher zakat provisions, according to a statement to the countrys stock exchange. In the 4Q18 profit surged 225 per cent YoY to SAR26m, compared to SAR8m of the previous year. Published under Going through a divorce is an awful experience. No matter how bad a marriage could have turned out, the divorce will have an effect on both parties. Picking a divorce lawyer can also become a heavy toll on your personal life. The truth is, that most people do not feel comfortable sharing their intimacies with a stranger. However, if it must be done, it must be done. This is why looking for a divorce lawyer that suits you, is of the essence. In this article, we will point you in the right direction as to the things you should look for when hiring a divorce lawyer. Before you begin looking for the person who will handle your divorce, you need to take a long look at what you really want for your divorce. Do you just want to end it as soon as possible? Do you want to split assets? Do you have to discuss custody? Will you be seeking financial support? All these things are important for you to know before you meet the potential lawyers you might want to hire. Make a list of all the things you want at the end of your divorce so you can discuss this with your potential lawyers. The next thing to do is to make a list of the lawyers you want to hire. It is important that you shop around for a lawyer that will make you feel safe and comfortable. Make a list of at least five lawyers and make an appointment. Once you have your first meeting, take the next few things into consideration: Experience in family law The most important thing to look for in a divorce lawyer is that they have experience with family law. Look for lawyers who specialize in family law or divorces. This is important, because the more experience they have, the easier the process will be. They also have the knowledge that is required for your case and situation. Make sure to ask about their experience, and ask questions about the ins and outs of divorcing. Transparency One of the most important things a lawyer must have is transparency. You can sense this with the way they communicate. A transparent lawyer will discuss fees, without hesitation; they will walk you through the process with detail; they will also tell you exactly what to expect; they will give you a realistic timeline; they will give you an overview of the potential outcomes. Even though you are going through a tough time, you really need someone who will tell you exactly what can happen, they will reassure you, without sugar coating. Eager to meet you A good lawyer should always be eager to meet with you. I mean, they are being paid for all their services, right? However, a good divorce lawyer should always be able to make time for you, even if it is via message. They should always be able to promptly get back to you, or have an assistant call and inquire about your needs. When they meet you, they should always have a positive attitude. They should not look like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Knows the details of your case This is perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind. A good divorce lawyer knows the details of your case. They have read your files, they have taken notes, and will have questions to ask about details they are unsure of. If your lawyer needs for you to go through the same story every time you meet, they are not taking your case seriously. They need to have their notes and remember the details of your specific case. If not, you might want to look into getting a new divorce lawyer. Divorce is a sensitive time for anyone, and choosing the best person to handle this is extremely important. Keep these pointers in mind when searching for the right person, and you will surely find someone that will handle your divorce the way you need them to. Bradley County Sheriffs Office investigators have identified and arrested two men involved with several construction site thefts. After the execution of search warrants at two Bradley County residences, detectives recovered a large amount of power tools including generators, reciprocating saws, circular saws, a table saw and numerous other pieces of construction tools. A utility trailer and other enclosed trailers were also recovered throughout the investigation. As a result of the investigation Joshua Burdin, 32, of Cleveland and Mark Brewer, 50, of Cleveland were both charged with theft over $10,000. Brewer was additionally charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. All property recovered has been accounted for and returned to the victims of the construction site thefts spanning from Chattanooga to Cleveland. The case is currently continuing and other charges are pending the completion of the investigation. The East Tennessee Symphony Orchestra (ETSO) welcomes the spring season with its Spring Concert Brahms Requiem on March 31, at 4 p.m. The free, family-friendly event will take place at Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 4829 College Drive E. in Collegedale. Jeremy Francisco, ETSO music director and conductor, leads the orchestra in a concert lineup featuring the masterful works of the 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms including A German Requiem Op. 45 and Tragic Overture Op. 81. Chorus will be led by guest vocalists Julie Penner (soprano) and Scott Willis (baritone). An updated schedule of future concerts will be available on the ETSOs website (www.etsomusic.org). For more information, contact Mathew Miller at (423) 580-4999, or visit etsomusic.org. The newly formed Latino American Student Organization (LASO), will debut its Festival de Primavera, a Latino-themed all day event scheduled to take place Thursday, March 28 on the main campus of Chattanooga State Community College. All events except the film screening are open to the public. LASO member Jay Medina kicks off the event by presenting Lily Sanchez of La Paz Chattanooga, who will present Empowering Latinos in our Community and discuss the La Paz mission as well as the needs of the local Latino community in the Omniplex building, room 124 at 10 a.m. A Tamale sale, coordinated by LASO president Natalie Sedeno, is scheduled by LASO from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a booth adjacent to the Amphitheater where she will also introduce Jay Medina, who will lead a free Zumba class from 12-1 p.m. At 3 p.m., LASO secretary Amy Minakawa will introduce the film screening of Alfonso Cuarons film Roma that will be shown in room 1087 of the Health Science Center. The screening is open to Chattanooga State students with valid ID only. The first 60 students will receive and enjoy free authentic Mexican food from local restaurant Poblanos. The day will wind down with music and dance performances by Xochipilli Dalton, Delta Hernandez, and Dance Brazil, emceed by LASO member Angie Santamaria, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Omniplex building, room 124. This event is co-sponsored by La Paz Chattanooga, Arts Build, the Tennessee Arts Commission, Carnicerias Loa, Poblanos, the Humanities and Fine Arts Division and the Multicultural Services office. For more information, contact co-advisors Juan Antonio Alonso 423-697-2505; email juan.alonso@chattanoogastate.edu or Dr. Nick Mansito 423-697-5506; email nicolas.mansito@chattanoogastate.edu. The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled today a bank that removed an individual from an account held as a joint tenant with right of survivorship without the individuals permission was not protected from liability. The Court found the plaintiff had sufficiently alleged claims for relief against the bank by asserting that the bank removed his name from the accounts without his consent and breached its duty to him as a co-owner of the accounts by accepting forged signature cards to remove him from the accounts. As a result, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court and Court of Appeals decisions, which had dismissed the lawsuit.Although no proof has yet been presented, in his complaint initiating the lawsuit, Mr.Daniel Haire alleged that he began managing his parents affairs in 2005. When his father passed away in 2008, he was listed along with his mother, Mrs. Ella Haire, as a joint tenant with right of survivorship on a checking account and a savings account at First Tennessee Bank. For the next four years, Mr. Haire served as his mothers primary caretaker and managed her financial affairs.In 2012, after a disagreement with his sister, he relinquished those duties to his sister and brother. Mr. Haire did not sign any paperwork removing his name from the checking or savings accounts. Over the next 18 to 20 months, multiple new signature cards were completed on the checking and savings accounts, never listing Mr. Haire and often listing the brother or sister in some capacity. When Mrs. Haire passed away in November 2013, First Tennessee paid the $129,000 in the savings account to the sister and the $11,500 in the checking account to the brother and sister. Mr. Haire only learned around that time that he was no longer listed as a joint tenant with right of survivorship on the account and sued the bank for removing him.The trial court dismissed Mr. Haires case, finding that, under Tennessee law, a bank is not liable when one party removes funds from a joint account. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and Mr. Haire appealed to the Supreme Court.In its ruling, the Supreme Court found that a joint tenant with right of survivorship is an owner of a joint tenancy bank account and possesses an ownership interest in account funds, which is presumptively equal to that of other joint tenants. The Supreme Court stated a contractual relationship arises between a bank and joint tenants when an account is created and that this contract cannot be modified without the consent of the parties.The Supreme Court emphasized that the Tennessee law the trial court and Court of Appeals relied upon to dismiss the lawsuit only protects banks from liability for paying funds from a joint account to a party on the account. In this case, the funds were not removed from the account, but one of the joint parties was taken off the account without consent.The Supreme Court found that no Tennessee law expressly protects banks from liability for removing a joint tenants name from a multiple party account without the joint tenants consent. The Supreme Court, therefore, reversed the lower court decisions dismissing Mr. Haires lawsuit and sent the case back for further proceedings. The Supreme Court noted that when the case returns to the trial court the bank will have an opportunity to overcome Mr. Haires presumption of equal ownership of the account funds by showing that he did not contribute equally to the account.To read the unanimous opinion in Estate of Ella Mae Haire et al v. Shelby J. Webster et al., authored by Justice Cornelia A. Clark, go to the opinions section of TNCourts.gov The Carson Scholars Fund announces that 505 scholarships have been awarded to exceptional students across the nation. The CSF celebrates 46 new and 52 recognized students from the southeast U.S. who are being named 2019 Carson Scholars. Twenty-three of those new scholars and 27 recognized scholars hail from Hamilton County. "These young adults are exceptional, not only in the academic setting, but also in their communities," officials said. Carson Scholars are individuals in grades 4-11 who display outstanding academic achievement (at least a 3.75 GPA) and humanitarian qualities. Students receive a $1,000 college scholarship and the coveted honor of being named a Carson Scholar. To celebrate their accomplishments, 98 scholars from the southeastern United States will be recognized at the Chattanooga/Atlanta Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 11, starting at noon at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Carson Scholars Fund will also recognize scholars across the country at six additional regional banquets. Click here for the list of scholars being honored in Hamilton County. Welcome Home of Chattanooga will be having their third annual conference, "Demystifying Death and Dying," on Friday, April 5 from 8:30 a.m-4:15 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 401 Gateway Ave. in Chattanooga. Deborah Grassman, N.P. of Opus Peace will be the keynote speaker. Ms. Grassman is a mental health nurse practitioner whose 30-year career at the Department of Veterans Affairs included being the director of the Hospice program, as well as personally taking care of more than 10,000 dying veterans. "She is recognized as one of the nations leading experts in caring for veterans nearing the end of life. Deborah is most well-known for identifying the unique needs of veterans as they near the end of life, which has become the basis for NHPCOs We Honor Veterans program," officials said. She is the author of two books: Peace at Last and the Hero Within. Hospice Foundation of America will offer CEUs for many disciplines who finish her sessions. She will be presenting throughout the day. There will also be a secondary tract of topics for those who are interested. Overview - Soul Injury: Liberating Unmourned Loss and Unforgiven Guilt The mental and emotional injuries that accompany trauma are readily identified. Less recognized are the insidious wounds that occur when we deny the truth of our own experience, becoming separated from our real self. Whether traumatic or insidious, these soul injuries cause an emotional pain that cuts us off from the essence of our being. Connecting with the part of self generating the pain, paradoxically, restores wholeness. Thus, soul restoration includes learning how to re-own, re-home, and revitalize scattered pieces of self by cultivating personal intimacy with the part of self carrying our emotional pain. The basis for addressing soul injury originated with a group of VA hospice nurses who cared for 10,000 dying Veterans. The nurses witnessed soul injuries firsthand as they surfaced unbidden on combat Veterans deathbeds. Let warrior wisdom show you how the heart can be disarmed through love, forgiveness, and self-compassion, starting a process that restores the soul. PTSD and Trauma Integration Research now shows that PTSD is in the head the traumatized brain is remarkably different than it was prior to the trauma. Attention, perception, and memory are radically altered in the fear-based brain. Recovery measures that focus on re-setting the emotional brain to respond appropriately to danger and to recover its capacity to experience safety and relaxation have been found to be the most effective. Resetting the brain includes developing self-compassion, awakening parts of the body where memories are stored, transforming the brain by installing new software, and cultivating honesty, courage, and humility to do the work of recovery. Well-designed ceremonies that acknowledge the losses and allows people to re-visit the distress without re-living it helps integrate acute and chronic stress and trauma. There will also be a full day for the general public. Schedule: 8-10 a.m. Beginning 8:15-8:30 a.m. A light breakfast, registration and networking 8:30-8:45 a.m. Welcome! Sherry Campbell and Terry Melvin, M.D. of Welcome Home 8:45-9:45 a.m. Deborah Grassman, N.P., Keynote Address Soul Injury: Liberating Unmourned Loss & Unforgiven Guilt 10-11 a.m. Morning Session I - Deborah Grassman- PTSD & Trauma Integration (Part 1 Principles); Bob Zylstra, Ed.D., LCSW- Ethical Dilemmas Around Decisions in End of Life Health Care; Rev. Betsy Kammerdiener, M. Div., BCC The Journey of a Hospital Chaplain 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Morning Session II - Deborah Grassman- PTSD & Trauma Integration (Part 2 Principles); Amy Boulware, LAP, MSW- Real World Problems, You Cant Make This Stuff Up; G. David Keller- A Day in the Life of a Funeral Home Director 12:15-1:15 p.m. Lunch provided by Chef Jeff Cunningham will be served; Robin Burk, therapeutic musician and sound practitioner of Purple Sky Healing Arts, will provide music during lunch 1:15-2:15 p.m. Afternoon Session I - Deborah Grassman- PTSD and Trauma Integration (Veteran Application); Judith Pedersen-Benn, M.S., HT, CMBM Faculty - Mindfully Mapping Your Death; Susan Latta, LMFT, FT- Stories of Grief and Healing 2:30-3:30 p.m. Afternoon Session II - Deborah Grassman- PTSD and Trauma Integration (Vietnam Veteran Application); Pam Dent, LMT- Heart to Heart Touch; Rodney Parham, Kindred Hospice- Demystifying Hospice and Palliative Care 3:30-4:15 p.m. Saying Farewell, to include discussion, evaluations and door prizes. Register here Lee University will host Marimba Madness featuring the Britain-Moore Duo and percussion students of Dr. Andy Harnsberger on Sunday. The performance will take place at 3 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall in Lees Humanities Center. The performance will include works by J.S. Bach, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Adam Hopper, Matthew Lorick, Jesse Monkman, Mitchell Peters, Eric Sammut, and Alejandro Vinao. The Britain-Moore Duo, comprising Mat Britain, steel pans and percussion; and Dan Moore, marimba, vibraphone, and percussion; was officially formed in 1986. The duo first collaborated at Wichita State University, where Mr. Britain and Mr. Moore were earning degrees and went on to become the first touring steel pan/marimba duo. Since then, the duo has had four commercial recordings to their credit, the most recent being Nutville. The BMD has performed extensively across the United States, alongside musicians such as Peter Erskine, Fernando Hashimoto, The Percussion Group Nexus, and Jonny Rabb. Mr. Britain has traveled to Trinidad several times to participate in the Panorama competition. Mr. Moore has fine-tuned his approach to the marimba and vibraphone with hundreds of solo performances throughout the world over the last 30 years, also helping enhance the BMDs global perspective on music. Both have traveled to China to perform and learn traditional Chinese drumming. Dr. Harnsberger, associate professor of percussion and percussion coordinator at Lee, is active throughout the year as a freelance percussionist and recitalist. He is a performing artist and clinician for Malletech Instruments and Mallets, Remo Drum Heads, Sabian Cymbals, Ltd., and Grover Pro Percussion. Marimba Madness is a free, non-ticketed event, and is open to the public. For more information, contact the School of Music at 614-8240 or email aharnsberger@leeuniversity.edu. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been married for just under one year. And since then, there has been a lot of drama with Meghans family. However, one person who hasnt seemed to cause any drama is Meghans mother, Doria Ragland. But at the same time, she doesnt spend too much time with Harry. So, what does Harry think of his mother-in-law? Prince Harry and Meghan Markles mother, Doria Ragland | Ben Stansall WPA Pool/Getty Images Doria and Harry have only met a handful of times Although the two are now related, Doria and Harry dont spend much time together and the distance is probably why. Doria is still living out in California while her daughter and Harry have settled down in Harrys home of the United Kingdom, and distance makes it difficult for them to get together. Doria obviously spent some time with the couple when she was over in the U.K. for their wedding, and she visited once more in September 2018 and attended a cookbook event with the two. But besides that, Harry and Doria have hardly spent any time together. On the plus side, they probably havent found much to dislike about one another. Harrys family appears to like Doria a lot Harrys family is in the same boat as the prince when it comes to spending time with Meghans mother. The royal family also hasnt had much quality time with Doria. However, it appears the queen does have a lot of respect for her. The queen invited Doria to tea with her and Prince Philip when Doria arrived for the royal wedding. That shows that the queen thinks highly of Meghans mother and of Meghan as well. Doria and the queen sat down and reportedly had a lovely time together, though Queen Elizabeth hasnt spent much time with her since. Harry and Doria seem to have a close relationship Although Harry and Doria arent in the same place very often, it doesnt mean they dont communicate at all. Nowadays, with such an incredible amount of technology, people can be in contact with one another constantly. Those close to the royal family have said that Harry and Doria actually have quite a good relationship. Doria joined Meghan back in 2017 for the Invictus Games in Toronto, where they both supported Harry. The prince was probably thrilled to see that his future mother-in-law was making an effort to get to know him. Doria Ragland, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry all attended an engagement together in September 2018. | Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images There have been rumors that Doria will move to the U.K. when Baby Sussex is born With Meghan and Harrys first child on the way, there have been rumors that Doria will actually move to the U.K. when the new baby arrives. While Meghan would love this more than anyone, if it is true, then obviously Harry must be alright with it too, which speaks volumes about their relationship. Harry lost his mother when he was young, so there isnt that motherly figure for the couple who can help show them the ropes of parenthood. They have reportedly asked Prince William and Kate Middleton for parenting advice, but having that third set of hands to help care for the baby could be very beneficial for them. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! There are only a few weeks to go until the arrival of Baby Sussex! It is getting more exciting by the day, and every time we see Meghan, the most famous bump in the world is just a little bigger. Everyone knows that Prince Harry and Meghan will make excellent parents. Although they are senior royals, one of the main differences between their baby and the children of Harrys brother, Prince William, is that Baby Sussex is not in the direct line of succession. What does this mean for the newest member of the royal family and how will Baby Sussex change the dynamic of the royal family? Harry will have to adhere to a stricter set of rules Prince Harry is, quite arguably, one of the most fun and playful members of the royal family. While this is just one of the many aspects of his wonderful personality that will make him an excellent father, once the baby arrives, he will have to adapt to a bit of change. Being a parent is a demanding job, and Harry will have to make rules for his child, which may be a change from what he is used to. The baby may have dual citizenship With Meghan being American and Harry being British, their baby may have dual citizenship. This is a first for the royal family, and it certainly changes the dynamic a bit. In fact, Baby Sussex may spend a bit of time in the United States, since that is where Meghans mother, Doria Ragland, currently lives. Meghan will no doubt bring the baby to visit his or her grandmother, as well as the many friends that she has in the United States, introducing her and Harrys child to the American culture. Baby Sussex will have a quieter life Meghan and Harry have expressed their intentions for their child to have a quieter, more normal life, away from the royal spotlight. Harry himself has always been quite vocal about the pressures of being in the public eye and constantly being scrutinized by the media. This is one of the main reasons as to why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have decided to relocate to the countryside town of Windsor. Meghan and Harrys child may not have a royal title Many people assume that anyone who is born into the royal family is automatically given the title of Prince or Princess, however, this may not be the case with Baby Sussex! It has been reported for quite some time that he or she may not be granted a royal title by the queen. This is partly due to the fact that the new baby will be seventh in line to the throne, so a royal title is not exactly necessary. Not being known as a Prince or Princess will most certainly help Baby Sussex live the more reserved life that Meghan and Harry are looking for. The baby may not have a nanny Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex | Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage In the past, royal parents have followed a strict set of guidelines for their children. One of these guidelines always included hiring a nanny in order to help out, especially when the children are newborns. All three of Prince William and Kate Middletons children have nannies and other royal children do as well. However, Meghan and Harry are changing dynamic by considering not using a nanny at all! They are supposedly considering having Meghans mother spend time with them at their new home to help look after the baby. Meghan and Harry are certainly doing things their own way when it comes to Baby Sussex! It is refreshing to see that they have a specific way that they want to raise their child, and they are staying true to what they believe in! Gone are the days of theorizing about the identity of A on the Freeform teen drama, Pretty Little Liars (PLL). But that doesnt mean we dont have lingering questions about the show or the cast. We answered one of those questions How much is the cast worth today? ahead and were not keeping it a secret like Alison, Hanna, Emily, or Aria would. Background on PLL PLL ran for seven seasons on Freeform, making it the networks longest running show, according to AOL. The show centered around five friends in a wealthy Pennsylvania suburb who all had secrets. The series began when Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), the leader of the group, went missing during a sleepover. Shes later found dead. Then, a mysterious character known only as A started tormenting the surviving girls with threatening text messages after Alisons funeral. Lucy Hale, Sasha Pieterse, Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, and Shay Mitchell | D Dipasupil/FilmMagic PLL is based on the book series of the same name written by Sara Shephard. Each book is as hard to put down as the last just like the episodes of the show. Shay Mitchell (Emily Fields) Shay Mitchell played Emily Fields, the sporty girl never without sneakers or a ponytail. Mitchell is a Canadian actress who landed her role on PLL in 2010. Today, shes the founder of Beis, a travel bags, and accessories brand she started after the success of her YouTube channel and Shaycations featuring her travels. Most recently she appeared in the Netflix hit series, You, opposite Gossip Girl alum Penn Badgley. Mitchells net worth was estimated by AOL to be $2 million in 2016. Today, her net worth is likely a bit higher. Another site, NaiBuzz estimated her net worth to be closer to the $3 million mark as of April 2018. Celebrity Net Worth estimated Mitchells net worth to be near $6 million, likely accounting for her acting roles, YouTube channel, business, and endorsement deals. Ashley Benson (Hanna Marin) Ashley Benson played Hanna Marin, the fashion-obsessed friend with quippy remarks who hated school . Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario, and Shay Mitchell | Eric McCandless/ABC Family via Getty Images Benson had a number of roles prior to playing Hanna. She played one of the mean girls from school in 13 Going on 30 but blink and you might miss her. And she starred in the ABC series, Eastwick, before it was canceled after 13 episodes. Between shooting seasons of PLL, Benson starred in the movie Spring Breakers alongside Selena Gomez and James Franco. In 2018, following the end of PLL, Benson appeared in Her Smell with Elisabeth Moss and Cara Delevingne. Her net worth is reportedly $6 million. Sasha Pieterse (Alison DiLaurentis) Pieterse was the only main cast member who was actually a teenager when she was playing a character in her teens on PLL. She played Alison DiLaurentis, who was a master at manipulating people to get what she wanted. Now Pieterse is starring in a PLL spinoff series, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, opposite fellow PLL alum Janel Parrish, who played Mona Vanderwaal. Pieterses net worth is an estimated $2 million according to three different sites, Go Banking Rates, Celebrity Net Worth, and AOL. Since PLL ended, Pieterse starred in the Netflix original film, Coin Heist, and got married. Lucy Hale (Aria Montgomery) Lucy Hale played Aria Montgomery, a teenager who marched to the beat of her own drum. She always dressed differently from her high school classmates and had other interests. A mainstay of Arias journey on PLL was her illicit relationship with her English teacher, Ezra Fitz, played by actor Ian Harding. Hale was reportedly making $42,000 per episode of PLL. Her net worth is estimated to be $6 million. Since PLL wrapped, Hale starred in the CW series, Life Sentence, where she played a young woman who had found out her terminal cancer was cured. The show was canceled after one season. Next, shes set to appear in a film reboot of Fantasy Island. Troian Bellisario (Spencer Hastings) Troian Bellisario played the straight-laced, straight-A student, Spencer Hastings. She was competitive and extremely smart, bound for an Ivy League school. Spencer was resourceful and always tried to get one up on A. Bellisario is the daughter of producers Donald P. Bellisario and Deborah Pratt. She started acting at the age of three and later appeared in the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, Billboard Dad. She made multiple appearances on the USA legal drama, Suits, opposite her now-husband, actor Patrick J. Adams who played Mike. The two have a child together and are extremely private about their personal lives, not revealing they were expecting until after the baby was born. Bellisarios net worth estimate fluctuates between $3 million, according to AOL, and goes as high as $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Its not easy to watch the Netflix documentary The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. More horrific than fiction, the true crime documentary follows the McCann family and teams of investigators as they try to piece together exactly what happened when the adorable 3-year-old British toddler went missing from her bed on a family vacation. Whether you have kids or not, its heartbreaking to watch McCanns parents as they tearfully plead for their daughters safe return. The McCanns chose not to be part of the Netflix documentary, but that doesnt change the fact that it could lead to the eventual capture of the culprit. Because there are people out there whole believe that Madeleine is still alive out there somewhere. Madeleine McCann | Handout/Getty Images What happened to Madeleine McCann? On May 3, 2007, 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bed while her parents were dining at a nearby tapas restaurant. The family was on vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal and the little girl was sleeping in a room with her twin siblings nearby. She was never seen again. One newspaper described the frenzy surrounding the case as the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history. But Madeleine McCanns case is just one of thousands. Why did it receive so much attention? Perhaps its because of the tragic nature of the crime. Or how the clues were so confusing. No matter the reason, people became obsessed with figuring out what happened to Madeleine McCann. Now almost 12 years later, theyre still looking for her. Where is Madeleine McCann now? One of the biggest reasons Madeleine McCanns parents havent given up hope is because there is no evidence of foul play. Obviously, a body was never recovered. The UKs Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirms this theory, saying there is no definitive evidence that Madeleine is dead. There are many theories about what happened to Madeleine. But one of the most popular is that the little girl was sold into a sex trafficking ring which is terrible to think about, but also may prove that Madeleine McCann is still alive. Kate and Gerry McCann | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images As investigators in the docuseries pointed out, Madeleine was high value for sex traffickers and pedophiles since she was a white child from a wealthy country. And sex trafficking through Portugal is on the rise, especially since the country offers access to Brazil, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. Age progression technology can help with the search for Madeleine, since she obviously looks much different now than she did when she was taken. There was one such sighting near Mauritania, West Africa, which the United States recognizes as a hotbed of sex trafficking and forced labor activity. Will the Netflix documentary help the investigation? Madeleines parents Kate and Gerry McCann refused to participate in the Netflix documentary because they were afraid it would hurt the open investigation. But producers are hoping it has the opposite effect. The more people that see images of Madeleine what she looked like then and what she may look like now the better a chance there is of finding her. And then her parents can have closure at last. Theres something about The Daily Show that takes its hosts and correspondents and turns them into beloved and well-known stars. John Oliver is the latest in a long line of former Daily Show members who have moved on to bigger and better. The former comedy show correspondent now hosts Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and shares some pretty liberal views. His political views are so apparent that when you hear where he met his wife, you cant help but chuckle a little. Oliver is married to Iraq veteran Kate Norley Kate Norley doesnt have an extensive past in Hollywood. The 41-year-old has one credit to her name, the short, Tran-si-tions. Norley executive produced and had a small part in the film. Norley spent her life in a different way than her husband. Born into an affluent family, Norley went to a boarding school in Virginia. After the 9/11 attacks, Norley decided she wanted to do more. The Virginia native joined the Army and worked as a combat medic in Fallujah. She also worked as a mental health specialist counseling soldiers. On Norleys return to the U.S., she became a passionate advocate for veterans. She has talked to numerous outlets and appeared on Fox News to campaign for more funding for veterans. How did John Oliver and Kate Norley meet Given each of their backgrounds, its hard to imagine Norley and Oliver crossing paths. But fate brought them together and they met of all places at the Republican National Committee. Oliver was there representing The Daily Show and Norley was campaigning for Vets for Freedom. According to the Boston Globe, Norley and her crew hid Oliver from security at the convention. The two began dating shortly after meeting at the convention. They became engaged in 2010 and married a year later in October 2011. Oliver calls his wife very American with a capital A. He says that Norley has changed the way that he looks at America. The comedian joked with People about how much more his wife has done with her life, Its the most emasculating thing I could possibly do to go out with someone who has actually done something valuable with their life. But their different political views havent stopped Oliver from being outspoken about his views on the White Houses current administration. Oliver takes every chance he gets to talk about his dislike for Jared Kushner and all the things he doesnt love about Donald Trump. The couple has two children Oliver and Norleys first child, Hudson Oliver, was born November 12, 2015. Oliver recently shared that he and his wife have added another member to their family. At the 2018 Emmy Awards Governors Ball, Oliver told People that his latest Emmy is going to go as far away from the 3-month-old as possible. The late-night host told the magazine that being a parent is exhausting, but also a blessing, Its bewildering [and] exhausting juggling that and the show. But no, its the greatest. Whats next for the couple? Right now, the two are enjoying raising their two children. Oliver is shooting Last Week With John Oliver and he has a new movie on the horizon. Oliver will voice Zazu, Mufasas feathered friend in Disneys remake of The Lion King. The Lion King will also star Donald Glover as Simba, Beyonce as Nala, Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, and James Earl Jones as Mufasa. The Lion King will be released July 19, 2019. Until then, be sure to check out the trailer for this breathtaking movie to find out more about this exciting release. Theres nothing like a film featuring two mega-stars. Just think of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or movies that featured Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. When the script, direction, and supporting cast are there, you cant beat this type of production. Looking at the past 30 years, its hard to find two bigger stars than Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Whether due to budgetary constraints, timing or something else, these two have never appeared in a feature film together. But thats about to change. DiCaprio and Pitt joined Margot Robbie and several other stars as well as a heavyweight writer-director for the production of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which has already wrapped shooting. Heres a look at the cast and crew as well as its summer 2019 release date. Quentin Tarantino directs a cast that also includes Pacino, Margot Robbie, and Luke Perry. Leonardo DiCaprio is seen on the movie set of the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on July 24, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. | BG010/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Any Quentin Tarantino film is an event, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is likely to be as hyped as much as any film this year. Tarantino wrote the script and directed, as hes done in his movies dating back to Reservoir Dogs. In addition to Pitt and DiCaprio, Tarantino has Robbie playing Sharon Tate, the actress murdered by Charles Mansons gang. DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton, a fictional actor whose star is fading in the Hollywood of the late-1960s; Pitt plays his stunt-double and friend. That brief premise alone, along with the names of the lead actors and filmmaker, should be enough to get legions into the theater for this picture. However, there are many more names attached to the project. Kurt Russell, Damian Lewis from Homeland and Billions, Luke Perry (in his final role), Dakota Fanning, and Pacino himself round out the cast. It will arrive in theaters in late July. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premieres July 26. Brad Pitt is seen the set of Once Upon a Time In Hollywood on July 24, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. | PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images While Once Upon a Time may make its premiere in May at Cannes, its official U.S. release comes July 26. That should make waiting in line during its opening week bearable, at least. Following the release of the Pitt-DiCaprio poster, Robbie shared her own on Instagram on March 19. You dont have to be a costume designer to see they nailed the actresss wardrobe for the film. In addition to the stars already mentioned, Tarantino regulars Tim Roth and Michael Madsen also appear in the film. Other notable names include Lena Dunham, Emile Hirsch, and James Marsden. Basically, everyone is in this film. However, even with the names stuffing the credits, Pitt and DiCaprio manage to outshine the rest of the cast (even Robbie). Well see if the stars aligned to make their first feature together a winner and whether Tarantino can hit the mark with another great picture set in L.A. Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! Over the past week, Senior Colson Fellow Glenn Sunshine has taken to Facebook to do something that much of the mainstream mediato its discredithas neglected to do: alerting people to what is happening to Christians in places like Nigeria. Last summer on BreakPoint, I talked about the violence targeting Christians in whats known as the middle belt of Nigeria. The population of Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. That religious split largely follows geographic lines: The northern part of the country is predominantly Muslim, the eastern and southern parts of the country heavily Christian. The Middle Belt is, as you probably guessed, ethnically and religiously diverse. In this part of the country, Christians have been on the receiving end of a campaign that Open Doors calls religious cleansing, that is, an attempt to eradicate Christianity from the region. One of the most notorious Islamist groups in the world, Boko Haram, is responsible for killing thousands of Christians and displacing countless more in northern Nigeria. But Boko Haram isnt the only group targeting Christians there. In late June, Christian leaders claimed that over 6,000 personsmostly children, women and the agedhave been maimed and killed in night raids by armed Fulani herdsmen. The Fulani are an ethnic group that are overwhelmingly Muslim, and for the record, their raids are not always at night. In their statement, Nigerian Christian leaders also complained about the continuous abduction of under-aged Christian girls by Muslim youths These girls are forcefully converted to Islam and taken in for marriage without the consent of their parents. While Open Doors calls what is happening in the Middle Belt religious cleansing, Nigerian Christian leaders have called it genocide, and not without good reason. Under the International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, genocide consists of action intended to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The actions can include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group, among other things. All three of these things are happening in Nigeria right now. Where is the Nigerian government in all of this? At best, nowhere to be found. Officials are downplaying, if not outright denying, any religious dimension of whats happening. Instead, theyre calling this a conflict over resources, in this case, over land. This denial conveniently glosses over the one-sided nature of the violence in the region: The Fulani and Boko Haram are the hammers and the Christians are the nails. Did I mention that the president of Nigeria is the son of a Fulani chief? Since I told you about this campaign of extermination last summer, the violence against Christians has continued unabated. Since February alone, according to the Baptist Press and the Barnabas Fund, nearly 300 Christians have been killed and thousands more displaced. Yet, the mainstream media here in the States remains mum. Which is why Glenn is using his Facebook to bring this to peoples attention. As tempting as it is to speculate why we arent hearing about it, that wont do our Nigerian brethren a bit of good. It wont put pressure on our government to speak up, or on the Nigerian government to do its basic duty and protect all of its citizens. What will help is emulating what people like Glenn Sunshine and Mindy Belz of WORLD Magazine are doingusing the channels and forums available to them to spread the word. What will help is becoming knowledgeable about what is happening to Christians in Nigeria and around the word. We are living in a new age of religious persecution and even martyrdom. This kind of intentional and thoughtful engagementalong with, of course, our most important efforts of consistent and concerted prayeris our brethrens best chance at relief. Its a task we all must embrace. BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions. John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview. Publication date: March 20, 2019 Photo courtesy: Pixabay From the roaring applause of the room and the familiar voice of a past presidential candidate, one would have thought they were in a campaign rally. As former Presidential candidate and the 42nd Vice President of the United States Al Gore stood on stage in front of thousands of people, it was clear that he was in his element. Last week, 2,000 people gathered in Atlanta, Georgia to receive training from Gore through the Interfaith Climate Reality Project. This was the organizations first Interfaith climate reality training. Since 2006, Gore has been on a mission to train as many people as he can on what he calls the number one danger that we are facing today, climate crisis. Many in the evangelical community struggle with this assertion, putting Gore at odds with some mainline evangelicals. A 2015 Pew Research Poll found that only 28 percent of white evangelicals believed that the Earth was getting warmer as a result of human activity. This was by far the lowest percentage of any religious demographic in the survey. While this may be the case, during a round table event with reporters, Gore noted that he welcomes other point of views from the evangelical community and would welcome mainline evangelicals to come to the table. Since the Interfaith Climate Reality Projects inception, Gore has trained more than 19,000 people. During the three-day interfaith conference, leaders from around the world came to hear Gore speak about what must be done to fix our environment in order to skirt severe consequences. Gore called the crisis of climate control the number one problem that we face as a society. Gore's opening message was filled with slide shows of what he called the damage thats already been done to the environment. The session featured a mix of pictures and data as Gore spoke for two hours on why change was needed. The last part of his opening session focused on what Gore calls climate racism. Gore believes that fossil fuels are threatening the health of low-income and minority families, an assertion that some black evangelicals agree with. Bishop Barber is thankful for Gore's involvement in his Poor Peoples Campaign and has enjoyed touring with the Former Vice President to disadvantaged communities. Barber even refers to Gore as a brother who is in the cause of helping disadvantaged poor communities. During the interfaith service that was held at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, many in the audience welcomed the former Vice President with open arms. Ebenezer is the church home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The former vice-president, who has tried staying out of the media spotlight in recent years, sat down for a rare interview with a small group of reporters, including Christian Headlines. When asked by Christian Headlines why he thought other evangelicals were not in the room Gore said, "Its a question that I've thought about before but Ive never answered the question publicly. I think evangelicals are starting to come to the table and its beginning to change, maybe not fast enough, but there are evangelical scholars who do support the climate imbalance." Gore went on to say that he attributes the decades-old injection of political tribalism into the issue of climate change as another reason why evangelicals may be hesitant to embrace the issue of climate change. Gore who is a former Southern Baptist, believes that the church needs to get involved in this issue no matter their denominational affiliation. During the round table event with reporters, Gore was clear that there is room at the table for the local church to address the needs that are affecting our climate. Although Gore admits the struggle has been an uphill battle, he believes that people of faith are the answer to addressing the issue of climate change. The environmental activist also noted that although many mainline evangelicals do not agree with his position, it is a relationship, at least for now, that he is eager to have. Photo courtesy: Maina Mwaura/Jason Dennard Photography Tyler Perry made an unexpected call to a grieving family of four after the murder of their mother, 45-year-old Tynesha Evans. "It was a call I wasn't even going to answer. I said, 'Well, let me answer it to see who it is.' I answered and the person on the other end said, 'This is Tyler.' I said, 'Who?' [H]e said, 'Tyler Perry.' At that point, I just broke down crying," said Evans' daughter Audrey Turner to WSB-TV. The four children, two of whom are minors, feared eviction following their mothers death. But, the actor and filmmaker, best known for his role as Madea, covered their rent. He also paid for two funerals one in Atlanta and another in Evans home state of Wisconsin as well as tuition for freshman Sharadiant Turner, who attends Spelman College in Atlanta. "I'm going to do what she wanted me to do. She started me on math and now I'm going to get to graduate with a mathematics degree from Spelman College without debt. It means everything," Sharadiant said, as reported by CNN. On March 16, Evans was fatally shot in the parking lot of a Wells Fargo bank in Alpharetta, Georgia. The alleged shooter was her 58-year-old boyfriend. The Alpharetta Police Department reported that an armed civilian heard the attack and responded to the shooter, demanding that he put down his gun, and waited until the police arrived. Tynesha was taken to the hospital, where she died. Before Perrys donation, Tyneshas children set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to prevent eviction and plan a funeral. In two days, they surpassed their goal of $50,000 with more money pouring in. According to the GoFundMe page, Tynesha was a mother, author, and visionary. The Turner/Evans family are grateful for Perrys support. "This is amazing. We can't thank him enough," Sharadiant told WSB-TV. This is not the first time Perry has extended a generous hand. According to USA Today, Perry paid over $400,000 in layaway bills at two Walmart stores last December. Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Kevin Winter/Staff Christianity Todays March 2019 cover story examined how retirement fits into the Christian vision of faith and work and how assumptions about what retirement looks like are changing for many Americans. We looked at the increasingly diverse ways that Christians are leveraging their post-career years for the good of their families, churches, and communities. A lot of readers wrote in to express appreciation for covering a topic that really matters to so many, but we also got a fair number of responses that were concerned that our take on retirement was too narrow. One reader, Rodney, summed it up this way: "Your article 'Saving Retirement' in the March issue was a good summary of the situation facing retirees today. However, most of the examples of retirees doing something purposeful after retirement were people who had held leading positions in their field of work with presumably large salaries. The article definitely needed to portray what some ordinary workers have gone on to do." We agreed with Rodney that there is a much broader picture of post-work life that needs to be acknowledged. Do Christian understandings of work and aging accommodate those who cant afford to retire? Rev. Amy Ziettlow, pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Decatur, Illinois, and author, with Naomi Cahn, of Homeward Bound: Modern Families, Elder Care, and Loss, joined theology editor Caleb Lindgren and editor in chief Mark Galli to talk about the hopeful vision for retirement she sees in her working-class church community and her recommendations for how retirement-aged individuals and their churches can best partner with each other during the autumn years. This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Hope for the Lonely. Every week on her new podcast, Hope for the Lonely, Charlotte Donlan examines a different angle of loneliness. You can find Hope for the Lonely on iTunes and learn more at charlottedonlon.com. This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Bloodline, the new book by Skip Heitzig, gives you an up-close view of the cross that reveals Gods ultimate mission to save you from sins destruction. Bloodline is available wherever books are sold. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Subscribe to Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our host on Twitter: Morgan Lee Subscribe to Marks newsletter: The Galli Report Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee, Richard Clark, and Cray Allred March 20, 2019 transcription Caleb Lindgren: So, we've got an exciting show prepared for today, and I'm really excited about it. To introduce the topic, the March issue of CT magazine feature to cover story on how retirement fits into the Christian vision of faith and work and how assumptions about what retirement looks like are changing for many Americans. Our cover story included the increasingly diverse ways that Christians are leveraging their post-career years for the good of their families, churches, and communities. We received a lot of great feedback from appreciative readers for covering the topic. It seems to really matter to them, and they really appreciated that. But we also got a fair number of responses that were concerned that the way that we were handling retirement was too narrow. I'll just read from one of our pieces of feedback from a reader named Aladino who had this to say: "As a man nearing 60, and a career truck driver, I find this story unrelatable. Almost all of your examples, except for the music teacher, are CFOs, Partners, managing directors, doctors, etc." And another reader named Rodney summed it up this way: "Your article 'Saving Retirement' in the March issue was a great summary of the situation facing retirees today. However, most of the examples of retirees doing something purposeful after retirement were people who had held leading positions in their field of work with presumably large salaries. The article definitely needed to portray some ordinary workers and what they have gone on to do." Article continues below We think this is exactly right, and we thought that Quick to Listen would be a great place to expand that retirement discussion to include those for whom retirement looks quite different, and those for whom maybe even retirement isn't an option. And to help us understand that we've brought on a guest. Mark, would you like to introduce her? Mark Galli: Yeah, our guest is Amy Ziettlow. She's the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Decatur, Illinois. And with Naomi Kahn, she's the author of Homeward Bound: Modern Families, Elder Care and Loss. Amy has over a decade of experience in hospice care, including serving as a chaplain and also a stint as the COO of the Hospice of Baton Rouge. Welcome, Amy. Amy Ziettlow: Thanks for having me. Caleb Lindgren: So, how about an initial gut check, Mark? Mark Galli: Well the initial gut check on the responses that people gave was a little disheartening, because we have been working really hard as a magazine to be more aware of the class differences in especially our movement, but in the United States in general. Ever since the 2016 election, it's been clear that there are many divisions in our country around especially race, ethnicity, and sometimes gender. But the blind spot we often have is that we don't see class issues, clearly. And even though we've been striving to make our vision better about that, we still sometimes don't see it. So, there was a very helpful set of letters from people and I'm really glad we're having an opportunity to broaden the discussion here. Caleb Lindgren: Yeah, me too. I had a similar reaction. It was sort of a mixture of like, yes, that's totally right, we should do that, I'm excited to do that. But also, disappointment that we missed that opportunity the first time around. I also was sort of struck by looking at that and thinking like oh, you know the way that I think about what retirement looks like is very much shaped by a whole lot of, almost like fables that sort of get told about like, this is what happens when you when you work a certain amount of time, then you move on to the next thing. And then, even the like counter narratives that we were covering about how retirement doesn't look the way that it used to, and people are approaching that differentlyin the talking about encore careers and things like thateven that is shaped by a sort of idealism, assuming that whoever is doing the retiring or moving on to the next stage is stable, comfortable, and with a fairly sizeable income. Mark Galli: Yep, exactly. So now, those are the people I tend traffic with. Just a personal revelation, I'm nearing this part of liferetirement. So, I've been thinking a lot about it, but think about it and white-collar terms. Caleb Lindgren: Yeah for sure. Well, let's bring Amy back in because I would love to hear some of your perspective. Amy, you're a pastor and according to your Twitter bio, you consider yourself a Gen Z pastor. But you also mentioned to us when we were talking to you about coming on the show, you have a lot of folks from a variety of different backgrounds in your church. So, what does retirement look like in your congregation? Amy Ziettlow: Well just to give some context, I think Decatur, Illinois probably looks like many small cities in America. We're probably about three hours south from Chicago, we're in the middle of Illinois, very much a rural area, lots of farmers. We're about an hour west of Champaign, so the University of Illinois is about an hour away, and for Springfield [capital of Illinois], it's 45 minutes away. So, we don't have a lot of commuters from those communities, but many people from our community go there for cultural things and kind of different activities in both Springfield and Champaign. But, here in Decatur, we're a city of about 70,000, and our main source of employment is manufacturing. We're affectionately called the "Soy Capital of America," so much of soybean manufacturing happens here in Decatur. We also have a major Caterpillar plant, manufacturing construction equipment. So, many of the people that are in our congregation are either employed in those industries or are employed by ancillary industries that help support that manufacturing process. Article continues below So, it's been very much a learning experience to see what does retirement look like in this community. And I found there's probably several different paths to retirement. When I read the Christianity Today article about retirement, that in that idealized image you all were just discussing and that idea of vacation or leisure for being the defining element of retirement, that resonated more with the 80- and 90-year-olds that I serve. Those are more of the folks that by the time they're in their 80s should their health be goodthey're able to go to Florida for the winter months, and are able to not have to supplement their income with any type of part-time employment, by the time they're in their 80s. And when they go to Florida, they're not necessarily living extravagantly. I think of one couple, Lawrence and his wife, he was a retired postal worker. And they were able to go to Florida every winter, they had a retirement trailer park community there that they were able to rent space there during the winter months, and then would come back here to Decatur in the summer months, and they were able to do that for about 10 years until their health started failing them in their late 80s. So, it's both a beautiful sign of longevity that many of us can potentially think about living in good health through our 80s, but that element of retirement as leisure, I see it more delayed until those 80s. For 60- and 70-year-olds, I tend to call it a hybrid model, where retirement really means retirement from full-time employment, or I call it like the non-full-time work years. So, that journey looks far more like having to have the necessity to have some type of part-time employment to amplify any pension or retirement savings. Especially if Social Securitythey don't start collecting Social Security till 67 or 70, kind of delaying that time of collecting on Social Security. They really need to amplify some of their savings. The story I think of is a couple in our church, Bob and Connie, they just her both turned 60 this year. And Bob worked for the local power plant for 25 years, and he retired two years ago at 58 and our whole congregation knew that he was counting down to the day when he was eligible for retirement. Because his work was physically taxing, he was in maintenancehighly skilled maintenancebut after 25 years of climbing, crouching, kneeling, really had taken a toll on his body. Even now, he's recovering from his third knee replacement, which just gives a sense of how the taxing that can be on your body. And so, he was counting down to those days when he could retire from the power plant, but he was really honest with, he knew he could not fully retire into being out of any type of employment. So, even as he was planning for that big retirement party, he was already setting up his part-time employment after that. So, he currently works at our local Home Depot. He gets there at 5:00 a.m. and stays there till 10. He loves it because it's quiet, that's when all of the shipments come in, and so he gets on a skid steer and unloads all of the inventory and things for that day, and it's quiet. You know, 'I see the truck full of stuff that I have to unload I get to unload all of it and know when my jobs are all done' and then about 10 a.m. when everybody else starts rolling in, he's able to go home and sort of enjoy the rest of his day. That income helps amplify his time in retirement. Article continues below Mark Galli: Well, I was just going to say, I wonder if the one of the situations with the postal workers as well was better government benefits upon retirement than a lot of what we call blue collar workers. The reason I ask is my dad when he retired, he was a he was a part of a grocery clerks' union, and they took very good care of them in his retirement years. So, he didn't have to supplement his income, and he was able to actually retire early. But of course, he was kind of a frugal guy, so that was part of the deal. And it got me to thinking, and thinking about him and other people, with the decline of unions in the last few decades, that's making it harder for a lot of people in terms of retirement. So, I don't know if that applies to the postal worker. Amy Ziettlow: Right. And Lawrence is now 92. I know for him, although the retirement benefits were good, there was also the fear of how long are these going to need to last and also how to pay for medical treatments and that type of thing. So, I know for him in his 70s, he had employment as a janitor in one of the local schools, which was something that he could do on a part-time basis but could amplify their income during that time. And so then, when they were finally able to say, okay, we're ready, you know, this will be a time of our life when we can go to Florida for the winter months, that really wasn't until their early 80s, when he was like, I can't; some of this physical work is getting a little bit more, or taking more of a toll on my body than I really want it to. Caleb Lindgren: Yeah, that actually relates to one of the questions I was curious about, which is: for the middle-class and working-class folks in your community, do their concerns facing retirement echo some of the ones that were talked about in the article with the more white-collar folks? Are they concerned about the same things or are there different things that they're thinking about as they're thinking ahead? Amy Ziettlow: Probably more that sense of How much money do I really need to live is? is really important. In terms of feeling more comfortable, having some type of part-time employment. I found it interesting in the article, the sense of even if you do seek part-time employment or an encore profession vocation, that that should be one of significance. So, I started thinking about the folks in the pews here in Decatur and realizing I think Bob would even tell you, he's a pretty funny guy, like 'look my work at Home Depot is not significant.' You know, it does draw on some of his skills some of his background in terms of his expertise in life, but he would say this is a necessity, and not necessarily something he would say he feels called to do in the sense of other people who find ways to do maybe more what they might consider more significant work. However, having that part-time employment allows him to do other significant things, so it's more of a means to an end. Article continues below And I find for folks like Boband we have many kind of recently retired late 60s, mid-60s folks in our congregationit both frees up time for them to serve more at church and be more actively involved in sort of the day-to-day maintenance and care for the churchwhich isn't necessarily exciting, but is really necessary in terms of just cleaning, and yard work, and general maintenance for the church but also clears up space for family caregiving. And that was one piece, it's sort of alluded to in the article, but I think that is far more going to be the norm that 60- and 70-year-olds, because we are living longer and in better health, their parents are in their 80s and 90s and are now just at the point where their health is starting to decline. Maybe their cognitive abilities are starting to decline. I know for Bob in the last year, he and his wife have moved his stepfatherwho was living in St. Louis they moved his stepfather Matthew into their home. Because I started noticing at Christmas about a year ago that he was starting to sort of mix up his money, starting to be more forgetful, and started going to some medical appointments with him and he's in the early stages of dementia. And Bob's honest. He said, you know, if I were working full time, he doesn't think he would have been able to consider moving his stepfather in with him. But that's really what's necessary. His stepfather doesn't have any other family, Bob's mom died about six years ago, so it's just his stepfather. And Bob said, you know, it's me; I'm the only candidate to really support him. Or he's going to be out on the street, or eventually going to have to be on Medicaid and being a nursing home. But he's really still ambulatory and doesn't really need nursing care yet, so both he and his wife kind of just felt that was really their call, that that's where they're finding significance is being able to have his stepfather at the home. And based on the trajectory of dementia, Bob's honest, he's like look, he could be with us for 10 more years, and it's probably only going to get more care-intensive as the disease progresses. But, being able to have part-time employment, being able to retire from a full-time physically taxing, mentally taxing, type of job, It opens up a space for him to do that more significant work. Mark Galli: I wonder if the classic Lutheran theology of work, vocation, plays into this? Because the thing I've always appreciated about it isn't like that the work you do to earn money has to be a life calling and a divine calling in the sense. Like Luther said, the job of a shoemaker is to make really good shoes. And for Bob and Home Depot, his job there is to just make sure the store is run efficiently as possible when he's there, and then he also has other things to do for the Lord. Amy Ziettlow: Definitely. I think that theological perspective of vocationand I love when Luther will say, even changing diapers is a way to serve the Lord, and with three kids of my own I said, Amen! Mrs. Luther was fortunate to have a husband that that understood the importance of changing diapers has a God-given vocation. But yes, I think that's definitely true, of seeing vocation in a multi-faceted way. As both paid employment, but also family work as definitely that vocation. Mark Galli: I should warn readers, it's probably not for a couple years, but I am thinking about retirement. So, the other factor is that has not been expressed yet explicitly is that men and women entering into retirement age, they do notmany of them at least traditionallydo not want to depend on their children. Is that still a phenomenon, or is that slowly changing with the new realities of the world we face? In your experience. Article continues below Amy Ziettlow: Yes, in my experience, our elders definitely want to maintain their independence for as long as possible, and also not be a burden on their children and grandchildren. Now living longer, many of our 80- and 90-year-olds are very close to their grandchildren, and are helping raise great-grandchildren, which is just amazing. We have several of those families in our congregation. And to me, that's really where the church comes into play. For example, Lawrence who I mentioned earlier, the retired postal worker and he and his wife had been able to move back and forth between Florida, his wife died eight years ago, and he now lives in assisted-living facility. Both of his daughters, who are getting close to retirement age, are both in the Chicago area. And as his pastor, I see him once a month, I bring communion and do communion services with him and the folks in his assisted living facility. He's very well organized. He knows even though I'm not legally his power of attorney, should something happen the assisted-living facility knows that they will call me, and that they will be calling the daughters at the same time, but there are three and a half hours away. So, if something needs to happen, I know I'm going to be one of the first people to go and be in conversation. I know his daughters now pretty well, because we've had some health crisis happen. And so, to help facilitate that as his pastor, and I can only for see that growing. We're going through a visioning process with our congregation right now, and wanting to remind people that part of our outreach and pastoral care responsibilities as a congregation are to ensure that our 80- and 90-year-olds can continue to live flourishing lives that have meaning and are continuing to live out vocations, whatever that might be. And that that will involve some of these sort of concrete decision-making roles, bringing meals, being able to come over and change light bulbs. We're really going to have to step up because for a lot of our elders, either they don't have children or their children live hours away, or states away. So, we're really the first-line of defense in terms of their family. The other piece, I think for the church too, that we haven't talked about is those folks that are unable to retire. And because of either their work history, perhaps they've been out of paid employment because they've been caregivers, either for young children, caregivers for older adults, or simply have had jobs that just have not produced enough retirement income in order to reach the type of idealized retirement we've been talking about. And that's where a greater dependence and awareness of the social safety net comes into play. And, this was especially true in Baton Rouge, and a lot of the work we did with hospice families is helping families understand all of the different resources they could access through society institutions, in terms of Medicaid for health care, Medicaid for room and board should they need nursing assistants, being able to access the Social Security disability benefit. And I know as a pastor, that when I was going through seminary that was not something that I ever learned or thought that I might need to know as a pastor, but I'm finding as we're becoming an aging society, that is going to be an element that the church can really be a resource forto better understand what are the senior services in our area, what are the senior activities and senior day centers that are available. Especially with mobility and transportation, I find that's one role that our younger generation can play for our older generation, in terms of driving them to church, if they know that they have a doctor's appointment, being able to take off a morning from work to be able to drive Mabel to her doctor's appointment and get her home. And that even just simple things like a ride once a month can be the deciding factor between an 82-year-old remaining independent and her home or having to move into a nursing home. Article continues below And so, raising that awareness in our congregations of sort of understanding what the wishes are of our older generation, and then what roles we can actively play in some concrete ways to make that happen. Caleb Lindgren: Yeah, I'm really glad that you talked about that because one of the things that I was interested to talk to you about was what are the responsibilities of churches in supporting people in the sort of autumn years and beyond. And I think you answered that really well. I also want to talk about sort of the other side of the coin of that. We did an article a while ago on folks with disabilities, and the thing that I appreciated the most about it was that it was looking at the ways that those people serve and benefit the church, and the ways that they bring something unique and valuable that the church needs, in a way that oftentimes the church tends to approach folks with disabilities from a lens of like 'What help do you need? How do we serve you?' And it was instead 'how do they serve us as members of the church?' And that was a really great perspective. And I wondered if we could sort of do that same move with the folks at retirement age, whether they're able to retire or not. And what are the benefits that you see that folks at that stage bring to the church that we as a church community need? Amy Ziettlow: Definitely time. Time and experience. Both wisdomthat comes out in the article of good deal, I think. Scripturally, we see elders are both sources of wisdom. But I love it in scripture, we see Elders are called to pay play prophetic roles. One of my favorite stories is in Luke 2 when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to be dedicated. And the first two people that approach them are elders. You have Simeon, who has been promised by the Holy Spirit that he'll see the Messiah before his death, and he gravitates right to Jesus and is able to proclaim that and bless this family, and will say words to Mary that she'll ponder for the rest of her life about Jesus's future. And then you have Anna, who is 82 and has been living in the temple since being widowed at a younger age, and she also recognizes the Messiah in Jesus and begins preaching. I love that our first preacher in Luke's gospel happens to be an 82-year-old woman in the temple! But I think what we see in that piece is even then, the temple was intended to be a place of safety and security for the most vulnerable, that even as a widow and a younger age that put her very much in a vulnerable class. And so, the temple became a place for her to thrive and flourish. And that it was important for the community to invest in making all of the elements of the temple accessible to all people, and that was just expected of them. Mark Galli: I do remember as a young man visiting a nursing home, and the one thing that struck me about the guests that were still mentally alert, was how frank they were about things. And I think there's something about getting to that age, where you're not worried about the security of your job, you're less and less worried about what people think and how you're going to impress people. And you're able to say frankly what you think's going on, and I think that is a real gift of the of the later years of life that the church could use. Article continues below Amy Ziettlow: Definitely. Our retired and older members are the folks I go to first with my ideas. We have an 82-year-old woman who's a matriarch and one of our charter members of the congregation, and she's currently serving her 7th term on our Council of Elders, and she's the person I go to first with any ideas, or visions, or you know, this committee is thinking about this new project. And I can tell immediately from her facial expressions if she thinks this something we should continue to pursue or pause maybe we need to rethink that. But yes, definitely. I know as a pastor, those are the folks I go to for their honest feedback, and they're also very encouraging. I mean, they love the church and they see the power of the intergenerational nature of church. I'm often struck that the church is often the one place that you have infants and toddlers, and teenagers, and 80-year-olds and 70-year-olds, all in one place. And who are united by the gospel and not by any common interests. You know, it's not a club, but we're all there and we all equally believe that the infant holds as much value in God's kingdom as the 97-year-old. And that God's working and speaking, the Holy Spirit's working in all of their lives. I think theologically, I often come back to the Ten Commandments. I know that was one kind of question, how does the church ground how we honor all ages? And that commandment to honor our fathers and mothers is really critical. And both of Naomi and I, in our book Homeward Bound, we were looking at modern families because families have changed so much. In terms of divorce, remarriage, single parentsI think Pew research now says one in four Americans has some step-kin in their family system. And so, we really wondered, does the honor commandment still hold? As our families change, do younger generations still feel that commandment to honor our elders and honor the people who we call parents still applies to them? And it was beautiful. We interviewed many, many people in Baton Rouge, and we learned that that's true. Coming from the church, it didn't totally surprise me, but it was really helpful to see how our younger generations truly want to honor our older generations. And that may come through practical support, but may also just come through emotional support, or respecting their viewpoints in life, but definitely see them, as you were just saying Caleb, not as charity, but as partnership. That this is intergenerational reciprocal care that's happening, and that those who are honoring an elder are receiving as much as they are giving. So, it's truly ministry and not a one-way street. Mark Galli: Yeah, the interesting thing about the Ten Commandments that we sometimes forget about, is we tend to think all the Commandments are for adults, except for that one. That one's for children. When actually, the whole Ten Commandments are for adults, which means honoring your parents after you're an adult and you have your own family. So, I think that brings a new dimension to it. The other thing that I think that elders bringand this is kind of counterintuitive, but I don't think you'll disagreeit gives the younger generation an opportunity to serve sacrificially, and to actually bear another person's burden. And that is actually a gift we give one another. Because none of us grow spiritually unless we learn to sacrifice and bear burdens. And this is one of the reasons I am notand maybe I'm unusualbut I'm not I'm not particularly concerned about having to depend on my children at some point, because I think it'll be really good for them. I mean, it was really good for me to have to care for my father. My mother died suddenly, so that there wasn't an issue, but it was really good for me. It took a lot out of me, but it also built something into me, and I do think that that's a counterintuitive gift, that gift of service. Article continues below Caleb Lindgren: I would agree with that. I've been watching my parents manage their parents as they get older, and like managing the estate and lots of different discussions and the desire for different levels of autonomy and independence versus what's reasonable. The whole process has been refining for everybody involved in a really fascinating way to watch. I'm a little bit more on the sidelines of that, mostly because they really want to do it as, you know, parents and children, and as a grandchild, I think I have less direct involvement. But I get to watch it happen, and I think that's really incredible. And then in the context of churchesand I love some of the stories you were telling Amy, about how there are people that are located in your community with children that are nearby, but not quite close enough to be right there something happens, and so it's the church that kind of is family and is the one that is able to be present and having that sort of network. No matter your age, I think is really, really important to be able to serve one another that way. Another thing I appreciate a lot about elders in the church is the level of investment that they can give. And I think sometimes that comes in the form of monetary investment if somebody is wealthy, but I think it's also the level of investment of time and energy, which you alluded to earlier, and then also the level of investment of how much care is put into the actions and the activities and the commitments that are made. Again, I'm thinking of my grandparents who for years and years and years were involved in the running of their United Methodist Church in California, and they were very committed to it and were sort of the glue during a pastoral transition. And they were both busy, working folks at the time, even into their late 70s, early 80s, but it was very important to them to commit and to be deeply involved in what was going on in a way that I think I don't see quite as often from younger generations. And it's not because we can't or we won't, but it's just because there's a recognition of the value of that, and the amount of longevity spent in a community sort of ties you to it in a way that's really beautiful, and I see that in the church that I attend right now. And as a younger person, I need to see that. I need to see what that means. Amy Ziettlow: Well I wonder too, if it has something to do with location. And I didn't grow up in a small town, I grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma, but I find definitelygranted Decatur's more of a small citybut I find that here, there are multiple generations that are still living within the area. And so that there is more of an opportunity to see the witness of your grandparents, or your great-grandparents, and the investment that they've made in the church. I definitely see our younger generation being inspired by that, and then trying to balance time-wise how they can wisely invest their time in church, with balancing their full-time employment. I think the word that came to my mind too, as you were talking Mark about the role of learning sacrificial giving, is also that awareness of the precarity of late-life, that as we age it can be a very kind of risky time both physically, financially, also emotionally. And I think as churches, as younger generations see those in their pews who are active and are just more mindful of some of that trajectory of how just a fall can completely derail the next four months for an 85-year-old. That element of being sensitive to that is really big, and that we have an important role as younger generations in supporting them. Article continues below I often think ofmy favorite book in the Bible is Ruth, and the role that Ruth plays for her older mother-in-law Naomithat that precarity of life based on many of our older members are grieving friends who died, spouses who died, church members who died. Both grief, as well as declining physical abilities, can really tempt us to bitterness. There's a moment when after all of their spouses died, and Naomi decides to move back home from Moab, and she says 'Look, I'm changing my name to "Bitter." Like you can just call me "Bitter" from now on.' And thankfully, Ruth sees in her mother-in-law that that doesn't have to be the way, and the only way to push against that bitterness is from her investment in her mother-in-law, and that covenant to say 'I'm not going to leave you, I'm going to go with you, and we're going to we're going to figure this out together,' and that the path for Naomi finding the joy, and finding the beauty of her season of life, really came through that investment and choices that Ruth made for herboth in terms of providing for her financially, but also providing emotional support as her family. So that story always really inspires me, and I think speaks to a lot of the people in our congregation about why we would do that. That it is a risky time. Mark Galli: Yeah, that'll preach, that's good. Caleb Lindgren: And it's beautiful too, because that's the pathway of blessing that God uses to bless the nations beyond that. I mean, you have Ruth included in the genealogy of Jesus, and it's her investment and connection to, and commitment to Naomi throughout that transition that is the vehicle that God uses, which I think is beautiful. There's something you just mentioned also about the precariousness of that age, and for me when I was in college, I spent a summer working on my grandfather's orange orchard. And we spent a lot of time together, and one of the things we did every week was go to hang out with his tractor club, and one of the things that struck me as like aI was probably 19 or 20 at the time, and you know hanging out with a bunch of octogenarians who love old tractors that just the amount of time spent discussing death, and like difficult health scenarios, which is a young person like was completely foreign to me, and I needed to hear that. I needed to see that like life involves a lot of death, and involves a lot of sickness, and involves a lot of suffering in a lot of different discrete way. And that doesn't necessarily make it morbid, or depressing, but being made to think about those things and to walk with those guys through all the difficulties. We had a couple members of the club pass away during that summer. And that wasn't a church, but the communal aspect of that in the way that they sort of held each other up through those times was reallyit impressed upon me how much I was sort of generationally isolated, and how much I benefited from being able to see them walk through that and how to do it right and sometimes how to do it wrong. Amy Ziettlow: I know for meet too, Caleb, when I've had experiences like that it's sometimes come through nursing home or from a relative. Also, that awareness of, we have an idol sometimes of ableism, and I definitely fall prey to it. I definitely would just looking through my Facebook feed see that we can fall prey to worshiping our abilitiesphysical abilities, mental abilities, work, you know, whatever that might beand that it really throws us when those may fail, right? Or we go through a time of difficulty. And watching elders find ways of resilience, is so inspiring to remind us that it is an idol. God loves us regardless of what our abilities are. Article continues below I love the story and Mark 2, with the friends who bring the paralyzed man to Jesus and have to dig through the roof in order to get him to Jesus, and even as a preacher, I always focus on the moment when the man gets up and walks and takes his mat home. But then I'm always pulled back when I realized wait, he actually came to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, which Jesus gives him. And Jesus only heals him, with the ability to walk, after the Pharisees start questioning His ability to forgive sins. And that always pulls me up short to say, 'Oh Amy, there it is again! Look how you tend to focus on that experience of physical healing, when the man who came to Jesus was completely whole as he was.' Jesus really could heal him physically also, but he didn't necessarily he didn't come to Jesus for that. Caleb Lindgren: Thanks so much, Amy for joining us today. It's been really great to talk about this with you, and I'm really appreciative of your wisdom and experience on this topic. Mark Galli: And the way you stitched in Biblical theology; I think that's a really important aspect for us to keep in mind. In 2013, the septic system at Jesus Christ Church of God the Bibleway failed and sewage began leaking into a neighbors yardnot uncommon for rural Alabama, an area plagued by sewage problems and a related upsurge in hookworm cases. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the churchs pastor, Bishop Ira McCloud. The public health department accused McCloud of failing to fix the problem after multiple warnings. But McCloud had actually been trying to resolve the problem for months by connecting the church to a city sewer line; it would be cheaper and easier than buying a new septic system. The city, however, wasnt making it easy. When McCloud heard there was a warrant for his arrest, he immediately turned himself in. I walked into the station and didnt know what to do, so I put my hands up, he recalled. I had tears in my eyes when they took my picture. McCloud, fortunately, didnt have to spend a night in jail. The sheriffs department told him to go home; they werent in agreement with the states orders to make the arrest. With the problem unsolved, the city later threatened to shut off the churchs electricity and take the property away. Leaking sewage systemsand the subsequent legal problems they causearent unique to Alabama and can be understood with a deeper reading of the landscape, an exercise recommended by ecologist Kristen Page, a faculty member at Wheaton College. She references Job 12: speak to the earth, and it will teach you. It can help us understand our role as a part of creation and our connection and responsibility to our neighbors, she explained. Christ will return to reconcile all things, Page said. But before that, he left us as stewards of creation. To love creation and care for it is an extension of living like him. Page, who is particularly interested in how diseases can spread when humans alter landscapes, first encountered the story of rural Alabamas sewage crisis when she met Catherine Flowers, rural development manager for the Equal Justice Initiative, who shared her story at a global health and environment symposium at Wheaton College in 2018. At the symposium, Flowers recalled visiting a young pregnant woman in Lowndes County, Alabamaa county of about 10,000 people some 30 miles southwest of the states capital, Montgomery. With no major city or municipal sewer line nearby, their small, single-wide mobile home was unconnected to a city wastewater system. Instead, the woman managed by piping the familys waste straight into her backyard. A large pit of raw sewage sat just steps away from their backdoor, swarms of mosquitoes silently stalking across the raw waste. In the warm and sticky subtropical atmosphere of Alabama, the stench was impossible to ignorebut Flowers wasnt shocked; she had seen this before. Cesspools of waste sat bubbling in the yards of many homes in Lowndes County, where she grew up. Standing nearby in a summer dress, Flowers left the home with several rising welts where the mosquitoes had fed. Days later, her body broke out in a rash that would last for months. Tests for infections and other diseases came back negative, and it appeared as though she was healthy. The doctors were stumped. Then Flowers recalled how mosquitoes had crawled across the wastewaterI asked my doctor if I could have something that American doctors dont typically test for and she told me it was possible, Flowers said. Eventually, the rash went away. Several years after her illness dissipated, Flowers came across a New York Times opinion piece by Peter Hotez, a medical researcher who described how poverty in the US was giving rise to diseases previously unheard of in America. Article continues below A lightbulb went off. Flowers said a quick prayer and then shot Hotez an email. He quickly responded with interest and sent a team of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine to conduct an official study. Their findings would shock the scientific world. Hookworm, a disease of the worlds poorest countries, was found in multiple residents in Lowndes County. The microscopic worm is notorious for persisting in regions with poor sanitation and open defecation. Individuals are primarily infected when their bare feet or skin come in contact with contaminated feces and the worm latches on, burrowing into the body. With the advent of a treatment, hygiene education, and sewage systems, scientists had assumed that hookworm no longer existed in the US. The discovery sparked international attention: How could a disease of developing countries exist in America? In the 1800s, Americans flocked to the Black Belt region of the US for its fertile soil. Slaves labored to sow fields and build plantations for Alabamas thriving cotton industry. But with poor farming practices, the land failed and the regions cotton boom didnt last long. Overuse of resources creates situations where diseases can emerge, said Page, who offered to help translate the Hotez study and its findings into non-scientific terms for the community, policymakers, and others to understand the environmental health crisis and its causes. For Page, this human misuse of the environment is partially to blame for todays problems. And unfortunately, the legacy of that misused land impacts mostly black communities in the rural Black Belt today. Caring about our environment translates to loving our neighbors, Page said. The way we use land impacts our neighbor and if [we] mistreat the soil, [we] indirectly mistreat and harm people. For example, hookworm responds to deforestationeroded soil is a good habitat for the wormsand historically, this region was a forest, but we cut it down to plant large cotton fields, said Page. Loss of forests makes the land prone to floodingthe ideal home for hookworms, which thrive in moist landscapes with warm climates. The landscape alteration is still having ramifications years later. Today, heavy rains and flooding are overwhelming the Black Belts septic tanks and causing them to malfunction. Small unincorporated communities have no access to city-maintained sewage systems because they are too far away from sewer lines. To make do, some devise their own sewer lines with PVC piping. Manmade ditches hold the waste temporarily, but rain causes the pits to overflow, spreading raw sewage across yards and even up to peoples front doors. Residents with more means invest in septic systemsunderground tanks that contain and treat sewagebut they often fail, too. The regions flood-prone soil often pushes sewage up piping and back into individuals toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. People think its personal failing; they didnt know that others are having the same problems, Flowers said. Who discusses, Oh, my toilet overflowed? Today, Flowers visits homes in Lowndes County to observe and document the extent of the sewage crisis. Its my faith that pushes me onwards, said Flowers who grew up under a Baptist mother and a Methodist father. Even though theres a possibility of getting bitten, getting sick again, at the end of the day, I think this is what God wants from me. Article continues below That is, to bring Lowndes Countys darknessits secret sewage problemto light and help bring change. Since hookworms discovery and the international media attention, Flowers and her organization, the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise, have been approached by multiple partners to help find a solution. Ideas include waterless toilets or the development of affordable septic systems that can operate in the Black Belts nonporous soil. And even though the local government has not stepped in to offer help, Flowers said, God is moving, and Americas dirty secret is being laid bare. Flowers approached McCloud after hearing about his warrant on the news. She had seen dozens of situations like McClouds, where sanitation problems are twisted into a way to promote inequality and injustice. And its not just a problem in Alabama, she said, its happening across the US in other small, rural communities. The bishop was in a state of despair. Pastors live off of their reputation, he said. One of the first things people do is Google you and now it was online that I was arrested. It hurt. About a year into his ordeal, McCloud remembers walking to the back of his church where the leak was and crying out to God. I started crying and praying in the woods. I said, How long will I have to go through this? Lord, I want to fix this but they have cut off my hands. Thats when Flowers showed up. She was convinced the state was using the leak as an excuse to take his property. Flowers connected McCloud to two lawyers who would take on the case pro bono. They won and the bishops name was cleared. Today, his church is connected to the city sewer line. The Lord sent me Catherine Flowers and the lawyers, McCloud said. They were my angels. Nadia Whitehead is a freelance journalist and science writer. Her work has appeared in Science, The Washington Post and NPR. Find her on Twitter @NadiaMacias. LifeWay Christian Resources, the largest Christian retail chain in America, plans to close all 170 stores this year and shift its offerings entirely online. The decision to close our local stores is a difficult one, said acting president and CEO Brad Waggoner, who is succeeding longtime LifeWay president Thom Rainer. LifeWay has developed close connections with the communities where our stores are located, and we have been honored to serve those communities. We will continue serving local congregations as they meet the spiritual needs of their neighbors. The Southern Baptist affiliate announced in January initial plans to reduce its locations this year due to declining sales and financial pressures, but ended up deciding it wasnt viable to keep any stores open past 2019. Rainer said they did all they could to save the stores, which span across 30 states. Our retail strategy for the future will be a greater focus on digital channels, which are experiencing ... 1 The headlines out of China last week sounded ominous. In strident language not heard in a long time, the head of Chinas Protestant church gave a speech supporting the governments policy of reducing Western influence on religion and making it more Chinese, a process dubbed Sinicization in English. Is the move a step toward tighter government control, an opportunity to further indigenize and contextualize the faith, or perhaps both? As with most things in China, the answer is complicated. This Sinicization campaign has been going on for a few years. While outsiders have observed it with growing alarm, many believers in China understand that though the government may have a political agenda, it might also provide opportunities for outreach. The Chinese National Peoples Congress, Chinas legislature, convened at the beginning of the month in Beijing, and Premier Li Keqiang delivered his annual work report speech. According to the National Catholic Reporter, he reiterated the governments commitment to fully implement the [Communist] Partys fundamental policy on religious affairs and uphold the sinicization of religion in China. The following week, Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which oversees Protestant Christianity in China, spoke on his support for the policy and vowed to press on with its own five-year Sinicization plan. Xu claimed that anti-China forces were using Christianity to subvert state power. [We] must recognize that Chinese churches are surnamed China, not the West, he told delegates to the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference. The actions by anti-China forces that attempt to affect our social stability or even subvert the regime of our country are doomed to fail. With the conclusion of the government meetings in Beijing, its a good time to take a closer look at this issue of Sinicization and the surrounding context, or in this case, contexts: political, rhetorical, and historical. Political Context: Sinicization Across Sectors The current campaign to Sinicize religion originated in a speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the National Religious Work Conference in April 2016. According to The Diplomat, Xi stated that in order to actively guide the adaptation of religions to socialist society, an important task is supporting Chinas religions persistence in the direction of sinicization. This task is part of a broader Communist Party campaign to reassert control over all aspects of Chinese society. One area of particular concern for the party-state has been what it sees as the growing influence of Western culture and ideas. Since Xi came to power in 2012, similar crackdowns have been directed against other sectors, such as media and education. While religious activities are seen as a normal part of civil society in the West, they are increasingly viewed in China as a threat to national stability, particularly if there is any foreign involvement. The push to Sinicize religion is not confined to Protestant Christianity. All five government-sanctioned religious bodiesBuddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantismhave been required to work out Sinicization plans. Last April, the China Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the associations that oversee Protestant Christianity in China, released a document titled, Outline of the Five-Year Working Plan for Promoting the Sinicization of Christianity in our Country (20182022). The stated aim of the document is to deepen the establishment of theological thought in the new era, promote the harmonious and healthy development of the church, exert a positive role for Christianity and practice core values of socialism. Further, to continuously improve the width and depth of adaptation to the socialist society, according to a helpful translation from UCA News. The release of this plan, it states, is an important basis for advancing the work on the sinicization of Christianity in the next five years. Rhetorical Context: Actions Over Words Political scientist Carsten Vala, in The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China, writes about the importance of what he calls the public transcriptpublic displays of conformity to the official agenda. Once an official agenda has been announced (in this case, Sinicization), all sectors within society must publicly display that they are following the line, and their public transcripts must conform. This is helpful for us to understand the rhetorical context for the documents and remarks coming from Chinese Protestants. Those who have lived in China for a time already recognize this. Within days of the party-state laying out its vision, the language from the directive makes its way into public discourse and is eventually adopted by all segments of society. When former President Hu Jintao announced the goal of building a harmonious society, everyone rushed to issue plans on how they were going to achieve it; so much so that it didnt take long for people to tire of hearing the word harmony. Even the rhetoric around religion is not all that new. In 2001, President Jiang Zemin spoke about the need to adapt religion to a socialist society. This requires that religious professionals engage in religious practices in accordance with and in service to the highest interests of the state and the overall interests of the nation, he said, that they interpret religious doctrines for social development. In China, there is often a gap between rhetoric and reality, something its citizens are also keenly aware of. As Westerners, we tend to take official pronouncements at face value, assuming that implementation will immediately follow. Those engaged in China-watching need to pay more attention to what actually happens more than what is said. Still, the trends are worrying, and theres evidence that some local officials are translating the rhetoric into reality. This accounts for recent reports of directives to remove crosses from churches, hang pictures of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong in sanctuaries, and replace posters of the Ten Commandments with lists of socialist values. Some instances may be the result of a local official trying to make a name for himself, but these moves could also represent the central governments efforts to test measures before implementing them more widely. Historical Context: Church Under Party Control The Sinicization of religion is not merely a Communist goal; the desire to free religious practice from foreign influence has been a theme in Chinese society since its earliest encounters with the West. Throughout its history, every Christian or religious advance into China was supported, tolerated, or prohibited depending on how it aligned with imperial objectives. Religions that did not fit were proscribed and persecuted. From the beginning, Chinese intellectuals worried about preserving indigenous religions (Taoism and Confucianism). The 1920s brought an anti-Christian movement that coincided with the peak of Protestant missions. There were also officially tolerated initiatives directed at foreign religions, such as the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Following the Communist victory and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, foreign Christians were expelled and Chinese churches were brought under party control through the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee. The name of this committee itself reflects a Sinicization attempt: Churches in the new China were to rid themselves of foreign influence and be self-funding, self-propagating, and self-governing. Registered churches are still today referred to as Three-Self churches. Since then, grassroots efforts have emerged to develop and promote Chinese theologyan indigenization effort that most in the West would see as necessary. But, according to Mary Ma, a mainland Chinese scholar and author of the book Surviving the State, Remaking the Church: A Sociological Portrait of Christians in Mainland China, in the political realm, whenever the regime decides to tight up authoritarian control, it resorts to the need for sinicization, and in the cultural realm, anti-foreign sentiments fluctuate with popular suspicion against the invasion of western ideologies. In other words, conforming religion to party values (socialism) has never not been a goal. Enforcement and implementation wax and wane depending on the needs of the party-state. The needs are higher now, so it has been trotted back out. In some ways, the talk about conforming to Chinese cultural values might be seen as a positive. We might even attach the labels of indigenization or contextualization, which are highly valued in Western missiology. But we also see the need for the issue to be debated and formed within the church, and there is evidence of that happening. What makes this different, and so off-putting, at least to Westerners who start with the assumption of the separation of church and state, is that it is being led by an atheistic party-state that starts with the assumption that it has the right to control every aspect of society and culture, including religion. The Chinese Response A variety of responses have emerged among registered and unregistered churches in China. In many ways, the Sinicization of religion campaign has little impact on the unregistered house churches, since they are not under government supervision (from the governments perspective, thats the crux of the problem). In the wake of the harassment and persecution faced by high-profile house churches and leaders, some have chosen to speak out. A September 2018 letter to the government has now been signed by over 400 pastors from over 20 provinces across China. Other Christians disagree with this pushback and instead find creative ways to continue to worship and practice their faith despite increasing government pressure. Pastors in registered churches are more directly affected, as they are required to spend inordinate amounts of time attending meetings and interfacing with local government and party officials. But theres a disconnect between how the government views Sinicization and how the pastors view it. The government aim is control and alignment with socialism, while pastors see it as a positive opportunity for the church. To them, it means putting a Chinese face on Christianity. It means much the same as contextualization, something missionaries have advocated for a long time, said Wayne Ten Harmsel, a former Calvin College professor who spent 12 years in China and interviewed pastors for a book about registered churches. It has to do with such basics as singing indigenous songs, using Chinese examples and stories as sermon illustrations, tailoring the churchs teaching and preaching to address the problems and culture of contemporary society. Our Response Because of the governments efforts at controlling religion, the church in China has faced decades of opposition and restrictions; yet it has grown and flourished in creative ways. Things have begun to change, though, and opposition and restrictions are increasingly ideological and focused on the realm of beliefs and values. At the same time, due to technological advances (big data, artificial intelligence, facial recognition), the power and opportunity of the party-state to control religious activities down to the individual level have vastly increased. The coming years will be an important time to see how these stated policies will be implemented and to stand in prayer with our brothers and sisters in China as they write a new chapter of Chinese church history. We see the need for believers to pray: That Chinese theologians and thought leaders would have wisdom in considering biblical responses. For unity among churches and church leaders who may be called by God to take radically different approaches in their response to government pressures. That Chinese Christians would know where they can be flexible and where there are bottom lines that cannot be crossed. That God will continue to build his church in China, as some look to new models of outreach. For those of us in the West who are alarmed about recent developments in China, a reminder from a Christian brother is in order: Some people view this time to be a winter for Chinese Christians. In fact, it has been winter since Pentecost, but we are always looking forward to spring. Kerry Schottelkorb is the president of ChinaSource. Joann Pittman is senior vice president. The ministrys ZGBriefs newsletter offers updates on the church in China. Church mourns after two pastors, including Indy 500's 'Priest in the Pits, die in one week Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A day after Saint Susanna Church gathered to mourn their former pastor, Father Kevin Morris, who was killed in a tragic car crash last Tuesday, they were sent reeling in grief again when the man who replaced him in 2012, Father Glenn O'Connor, an auto-racing enthusiast known in racing circles as the "Priest in the Pits," succumbed to stage 4 cancer on Friday. "You could tell people have a lot of anguish, a lot of pent up anxiety over the loss of these two great men in three days time," Saint Susanna Parish Deacon Charlie Giesting told Fox 59. Authorities noted in an RTV6 report that Morris died Tuesday afternoon in a head-on crash after his car crossed the center line on U.S. 40, just outside of Richmond, Virginia, and hit the other vehicle. Morris who would have been 64 in October, led Saint Susanna Church from 1999 until 2012. In a Facebook post on the day he died, the church noted that he was well-loved by the Saint Susanna community. At the time of his death he was serving as pastor of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. Even though Morris spent most of his priestly life in Virginia, his obituary noted that it was at Saint Susanna that he blossomed as a priest. He blossomed as a priest and developed the foundation of his ministry to an active, hospitable and growing parish. The schoolchildren of St. Susanna, many of them now young adults, credited him with lighting the fire of faith in their souls and nurturing it toward active participation in the church, it said. Father OConnor who was well known for his faith as well as his presence on the auto racing track in Indiana, was 66 when he died after his unsuccessful battle with cancer. For more than four decades, O'Connor, according to the Indy Star, was a fixture at the Indianapolis 500 and other races. "During the 500 last year, I thought it was funny and maybe a sign of good luck to have him in front of my pit, IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud told the publication. "It was always a sense of comfort to have him around and he was a lover of life." In 2005, OConnor expressed his love for auto racing days before the Indianapolis 500. "After 30 years at the Speedway, it's still like walking on sacred ground. I have a lot of respect for the drivers, and I love the thrills and the competition. Win, lose or draw, it's an honor to be part of the tradition, he said. And Pagenaud said his passion for the sport was undeniable. "He wouldnt hesitate to help out any team that needed it," he said. "Rest in peace." The Indianapolis Motor Speedway also released a statement on OConnors passing. Everyone at INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is saddened about the passing of Father Glenn OConnor. His passion for auto racing, especially his beloved Indianapolis 500 and the Month of May, made him a legendary and revered figure across the paddock, the organization said. His devotion to serving God and people through his various ministries fueled a life of inspiration, giving and character. Father Glenn had such a warm personality, with a wide smile and hearty laugh that he shared with everyone he met, whether he was celebrating Mass in Gasoline Alley with his trademark checkered flag stole or turning a wrench for an Indy 500 team. Were going to miss him dearly, the statement ended. As Deacon Giesting recalled the legacy left behind by both men, he said he was confident where they are now. "We know where they are at. We will get there too; it will take a little bit of time," Giesting told Fox59. "When I was reading about the transfiguration as our Gospel this week, and I saw Moses, and I saw Elijah next to Jesus. I also imaged in my mind Father Glenn and Father Kevin standing next to Jesus in that heaven," he said. OConnor, he recalled, was an expert in connecting his message with Scripture and was full of energy. "He backed up everything he said and more by what he did every day. The man was non-stop. He was always doing something thinking about Gods kingdom," Giesting said. Father Morriss funeral will be on Monday. Details on Father OConnors funeral date are still pending. Erwin McManus warns believers that blaming the devil removes ownership of one's life Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic Church Los Angeles, says he wants to guide this generation out of being devil-blaming into warriors of peace who take ownership of their lives. McManus says The Way of The Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace, is the most important book he's ever written, and will equip readers with the weapons they need to fight like a warrior and conquer their fiercest enemy (themselves) to take back their lives. "I was driving through Hollywood with my wife and I actually just had this internal narrative. I heard this inner voice say, 'the warriors aren't ready for battle until they have come to peace, it's just the way of the warrior.' I can't explain it," said McManus in an interview with The Christian Post, "but I heard it and I looked at my wife and I said, 'I know what my next book is, I know what the first line is.' And that actually is the first line of the book. "I felt like the book came to me, it just sort of felt like an explosion of things inside of my soul. All the unexplainable acts of violence and rage with school shootings, the conflicts across the world, the acts of terrorism and then here in our congregation I come across 20-year-olds who are dealing with panic attacks and stress and anxiety and depression and worry and suicidal thoughts. [Those] have become normal as a part of the internal struggle of this generation, he said. I felt like we're reflecting on the outside world what's going on in our inner world, and the world is raging with war because there's a war raging within us. So in a very unique way, I wanted to fight for world peace by fighting for inner peace. In his book, McManus highlights teachings from biblical heroes such as Adam, David, Solomon and Elijah, and unveils eight dynamic codes of the warrior he believes are a timely message for this generation. "So much of the book surprised me as I was developing it. I felt like chapters were unwrapping themselves to me. I format this book as an old samurai mentoring a young samurai and teaching them how to live life where violence doesn't take over their soul but they only live to create peace, the pastor explained. In the shortest chapter of the book, which introduces code five, McManus teaches that the warrior owns defeat. That chapter talks about ownership. I think it's one of the most important concepts in the entire book. [It says,] if you do not take ownership for your life, you will become powerless to change your life. If you don't take responsibility for your failures, you're never going to be able to step into the [next] level of success, he maintained. McManus added: "We have a false framework in our culture where we either try to deny failure and say, 'there's no such thing as failure or we always blame our circumstances or society, or the government, or the church, or our parents. So we keep blaming everyone else for the condition of our soul. And even if other people in the world are responsible for the wounds and the brakes in us, we are responsible for who we become from this point forward. The El Salvadorian native explained that he took that framework and directed the readers to take ownership of their lives if they want to change. McManus pointed out that one's fiercest enemy is themselves because most people are quick to blame the devil for things they just wont take ownership of. "One of the nice little nuances of Instagram is that young pastors and preachers are always posting short clips of their messages. What struck me is that almost every millennial pastor I know, at least all the ones I've seen, passionately talk about the devil and they blame the devil for every problem in everyone's life, McManus said. What I think is dangerous is that conservative churches go, 'Yes, they believe in the Bible.' And actually what they don't realize is happening is that they found a biblical way to abdicate responsibility for their life. They blame everything on the devil and so they are powerless to change, he declared. "I think it's a dangerous thing because a lot of Christianity in America still believes in magic and we're not dealing honestly about the human dilemma, it's not even biblical, McManus continued. We keep giving the devil characteristics as if he's God's brother. The devil is not all powerful, all knowing, and all present. The devil can't attack everyone because the devil can't be everywhere. "So when everyone's blaming the devil for everything, they're acting as if the devil is the same as God. The devil is not the same as God. He is massively limited in his capacity to do evil. And frankly, most of us aren't that important for the devil to give us his personal attention. The California-based minister believes most people are messing up their lives all on their own. If we don't take ownership and responsibility for our lives, we're going to keep blaming the devil and he's going to sit back and go, 'we didnt have to do anything, they're doing it to themselves,'" he emphasized. The Way of The Warrior speaks to those of all ages who are struggling with anxiety, stress and depression. McManus pointed out that people today are inundated with information that adds to the anxiety of the world. "I think the human spirit, our psychological construction, we're not really prepared to take endless amounts of the psychological barrage that we now have through massive information, social media, McManus said. I think you have 12-year-olds who are handling the emotional weight that full-blown adults would never have experienced 100 years ago. "The level of trauma and challenge and uncertainty is weighing so hard on our generation, on our culture, that 8-year-olds are having to take on the emotional weight of things that you wouldn't even know if you were president. He maintained that the average American has more information than a president did just 50 or 100 years ago. "We're more aware of what's going on all over the world than any world leader during World War II. This is what children are dealing with, this is what 22-year-olds are dealing with, he lamented. McManus also pointed to the pressure young people feel to be perfect because mistakes now have the potential to go viral and ruin someone's life. If you made a mistake in 1950, your family might know, one or two people might know, there might be three or four people whose trust you have to regain or who you had to process shame and guilt with. Now if you make a mistake, a million people might know in a matter of minutes. So the consequence of your action is multiplied at an exponential rate, he added. McManus acknowledged that no ones built to endure that psychological weight of guilt, shame, fear, worry, stress and anxiety. Its multiplied at a level that I don't think the human spirit has been structured to handle without an immense amount of that resilience, he accentuated. The emerging church leader revealed that he used the word warrior to illustrate what God gave him to share in this book because he loves to reclaim language and use words the way they should be used. A part of the reason I chose this language is because if you look at it pragmatically, there isn't a single man the world that's going to carry an open a book that deals with the real issues of fear, anxiety, depression, and stress. We're just not going to want to be in that conversation, he told CP. I wanted to say, 'Hey, this is not a conversation for the weak; this is not a conversation for the person who can't handle life; this is not a conversation for the person who hasnt given up; this is a conversation for a warrior, a person who refuses to give up on themselves and on the world. "The women who are fighting this battle, they're warriors, the men who are fighting this battle, they are warriors. When you're dealing with hitting head on depression and suicide and anxiety and panic attacks and worry and fear, this doesn't make you a coward, this means you have the courage to rise up and live the life you were created to live, McManus reiterated. McManus, who has overcome his own battles with depression after fighting cancer, has written 10 books but believes The Way of The Warrior contains a most urgent message that God wanted him to share. "I have a sense this is the most important book I've ever written. I have never felt an intense passion or almost like urgency to get a book out in my life. This time, it feels very different for me. I feel like we're at a critical urgent time in our culture. I have a deep sense that there are people who need someone to speak into these issues in their life, McManus added. "I wrote this book in a way that it feels like I am with that person guiding them through the darkest moments of their life. For more information on The Way of The Warrior visit McManus website. PCUSAs only seminary in Western US to become part of nonsectarian Calif. University Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction Appended Presbyterian Church (USA)s only seminary located in the western United States will soon become part of a private nonsectarian university based in California. San Francisco Theological Seminary of California, founded in 1871 and the lone PC(USA) seminary located west of Iowa, recently entered an agreement with the University of Redlands that will make it into a new Graduate School of Theology. The Rev. Dr. Jim McDonald, president of the Seminary, stated in a recent open letter that the Seminary and Redlands signed onto an Agreement in Principle back in February, with the finalization of the merger being hammered out over the next few months. We are very excited about the opportunities this new relationship creates for students from all walks of life, wrote McDonald. We remain committed to educating persons for transformational ministries of peace, healing, and justice as we pursue these new pathways of possibility. In an interview with The Christian Post on Wednesday, McDonald explained that with the agreement, his Seminary is expanding our access to students in Southern California who may be attracted to an SFTS-inspired education. Embedding within a larger university is a proven model for seminaries to thrive, and this partnership allows SFTS to preserve its time-honored mission and identity, said McDonald. SFTS will continue as a Presbyterian (PCUSA) seminary within the Reformed Tradition theologically, and embedded within a larger, U. of R. nonsectarian, multicultural and interfaith Graduate School for Theology. The Christian Post reached out to Presbyterian Church (USA) on Tuesday for more information. However, a PC(USA) spokesperson replied that it was too early in the process to comment. According to an FAQ on their website, the Seminary will still hold classes at their current campus in San Anselmo, though Redlands courses will likely be introduced to the location. The Seminary has approximately 225 enrolled students pursuing masters or doctorates who will be able to complete their programs, according to Presbyterian News Service. However, the Seminary will be cutting its staff, with McDonald telling PNS that he is planning to officially step down as seminary president sometime in the summer. When CP asked McDonald about staff cuts, he responded that all of SFTSs core faculty will be retained with rank and tenure in the University of Redlands by virtue of an appointment within the new Graduate School of Theology. As with any structural merger of this nature, there will eventually be a process of careful evaluation of staffing needs for the newly merged organization, he added. Seminary programs such as the Center for Innovation in Ministry, the Shaw Chaplaincy Institute for Spiritual Care and Compassionate Leadership, and the Applied Wisdom Institute will continue to be offered. The Seminary will also retain its affiliation with the Graduate Theological Union, which is a Bay Area consortium of Protestant and Catholic schools. University of Redlands President Ralph W. Kuncl told CP in an interview on Tuesday that the acquisition of the Seminary will create the seventh Redlands in the Bay Area. Acquisitions are becoming commonplace in higher education as institutions especially small to mid-size private liberal arts institutions seek to mitigate the threats of a shrinking student pool, rising costs such as healthcare and student services, regulatory burdens, and other challenges, explained Kuncl. We have already successfully collaborated, launching a joint certificate in mental health counseling. This program offers community leaders the opportunity to enhance their skills in promoting mental health, providing spiritual care, and facilitating community engagement. Kuncl also told CP that if the outlook remains strongly positive, he expected the acquisition of the Seminary will be formalized and finalized sometime before July. Correction, March 18, 2019: A previous version of this story misreported SFTS enrollment. It is 225, not 160. Hillsong Channel series 'Now With Natalie' highlights celebrities impacting culture with their faith Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Hillsong Channel is now airing a new six-part series featuring celebrities who talk about their faith and how they're using it to make a lasting impact on the culture. Hosted by wardrobe stylist Natalie Manuel Lee, who's a member of Hillsong Church and sister of popular fashion and sneaker designer Jerry Lorenzo, the series, Now With Natalie, shows Lee interviewing Hailey Bieber, Tyson Chandler, Kelly Rowland, Jerry Lorenzo and Elaine Welteroth, among others who speak about their faith. Lee said she wanted to host the show because she saw the need for purposeful content. Episode one featured supermodel Hailey Bieber, filmmaker Elliot Rausch, and cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf. Bieber was the main focus of the episode which centered around identity and comparison. "The guests this season, those are my friends and my family, it's my community. I'm blessed to have them in my life. Not only do I learn from each and every one of them, but we have these conversations all the time, Lee told The Christian Post in a recent interview. It could be very daunting and scary to really tell your story and really be able to tell the [real] truth, Lee said, adding that she believed it was imperative to gather her influential friends and family to encourage a generation. The greatest way to serve is to tell your story. And for them, I just needed them to tell their story, and be honest, be transparent. I knew that they would have an impact that they probably didn't even realize how big the impact would be, and it has so far, she added. Lee emphasized that everyone she interviews for the series shares something about their faith. "One-hundred percent, everybody that's on the show is a believer and that was the point," she told CP. "I think the common thread from everybody from episode one to episode six, the common thread is their faith. "It's that consistent pillar in their life, which is their faith and their relationship with Jesus and their relationship with God. And they're able to talk about it, they're able to display it, they're able to say how it helped them navigate through this industry. So yeah, Kelly Rowland, Tyson Chandler, Angela Davis and then Jerry Lorenzo, they all definitely give it to us about the man above, for sure. Hillsong Church is known for its influence in young Hollywood and its churches are frequently attended by Justin and Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez, among others. Lee, who's also a member of Hillsong, believes the influence Christian celebrities have can be useful in spreading the Gospel. "We are in a generation where we glorify the position that one has, as opposed to glorifying the purpose of the position, she explained. So for this, obviously, people and viewers are going to watch because they see these people that had these huge positions and huge influence. But they're here to tell you that it's not just about that, it's bigger than the platform and the position that God has given them. Kelly Rowland always says, 'it is bigger than the number one.' Lee said her strategy behind the show came as a result of understanding the influence that her guests will have on our generation and on our culture. "I think, for me, the mandate and the mantra and the goal was to infiltrate the Kingdom in the culture as opposed to the other way around. So these people that are influencers of the culture are able to now infiltrate Kingdom mind, thoughts and Kingdom mind characteristics in the culture and it's a need, she declared. Hillsong Church is often criticized for linking arms with different people in Hollywood, but Lee says she believes all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. "The unfortunate thing is that these people [celebrities] with status ... they have a microscope on them more so than we do. We all sin, but for us, we just see it. Unfortunately, the people that are on my show, we see it because of the access and the visibility that they have. So who are you to judge? I sin, you sin, we all sin, Lee maintained. Throughout the six episodes of Now With Natalie, Lee talks mental health, self-worth and the pursuit of status. She believes that many people are fans of these celebrities because of what they stand for. "The whole purpose of it, you look at these people, and you admire them. But the bigger thing is, why do you admire them? You admire them because of their characteristics, and where is their character coming from? It's rooted in faith, and it's rooted in God," she added. "So the whole purpose of this is also to pull back the veil of, this is why you really like that person. You might not know why you like them, but this is why you like them, because they're rooted in Christ and they're rooted in God. And that's where their great character, if you will, comes from, Lee affirmed. When asked why she wanted to create Now With Natalie for the Hillsong Channel, Lee said the age we are living in calls for a show like this. "Where we are as a humanity, the plight of humanity and where we are as a culture, we are just not in the best. The purpose of this show is to really dismantle and nullify and pull back the veil of the counterfeits that are being sold for identity as well as purpose, she said. Lee identified those "counterfeits" as anything other than God that's used to identify one's worth or value. Our Creator, who has created us, is the one that should be putting labels on us. Myles Munroe always says, 'if you see a problem become the solution that can be a part of your purpose. So for me, I just felt the call and I knew that we needed it as a generation," Lee said. "I know that if we can have people sit down, people like the Kelly's and the Haley's and the Jerry's sit down and have a conversation a very vulnerable, transparent conversation that in my opinion was the most impactful way that we needed to do it. I think vocally hearing their story as opposed to maybe reading it, to me, it's more impactful, she added. For more information on Now With Natalie or to watch the show, visit the Hillsong Channel. Azusa Pacific removes ban on same-sex romantic relationships a second time Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction Appended Azusa Pacific University, a major California-based Christian school, has once again opted to remove a ban on same-sex romantic relationships. The University changed their student guidelines on inappropriate sexual behavior last Thursday, removing the ban on homosexual relationships, according to a report by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune published Saturday. Azusa Pacific University spokesperson Rachel White explained in comments emailed to The Christian Post on Tuesday that the changes were part of an overall update of the undergraduate student handbook. The old handbook, produced decades ago, underwent a significant revision and redesign after input from student leaders, board, administration, faculty, and staff, explained White. White said that the ban on same-sex relationships did not reflect our commitment to disciple our students and point them to Christ. APU is an open enrollment campus and some students who choose to attend do not share our Christian faith perspective. We are committed to sharing the Gospel with all our students and we support all our students in making decisions that will enhance their spiritual formation, stated White. The new handbook, which includes a section on sexual stewardship, affirms our mission to be Christ-centered, applies uniform standards to all students, states that APU is biblical and orthodox in our evangelical identity, and calls the university to develop disciples and scholars for Christ. The university still defines marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman, and also prohibits unmarried heterosexual couples living on campus from cohabitating. Furthermore, explained White to CP, the Universitys rules regarding on-campus housing will not be effected by the change, as the school expects that all students will respect and adhere to our standards, including those related to sexuality. APU promotes an evangelical worldview and affirms that sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage covenant between one man and one woman and that individuals remain celibate outside of that marriage covenant, added White. Brave Commons, a pro-LGBT group that engages in advocacy on Christian college campuses, celebrated the Azusa handbook change in a statement released Friday. While the school upholds their view of marriagebetween a man and womanthe ban removal offers equal treatment of LGBTQ+ students in relationships as their heterosexual peers, stated the group. Brave Commons Co-Executive Director Erin Green, an integral piece of the conversation and movement at Azusa Pacific, finds hope in the LGBTQ+ students at APU who fueled the change, which offers no stigmatizing of queer people specifically. This is what we asked for all along. Denny Burk, professor at Boyce College and president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, spoke with concern about the new handbook regulation, writing that Azusas student handbook fails to make a moral distinction between homosexual and heterosexual relationships. Even when abstinent, they are not morally equivalent. A heterosexual relationship can and may have the covenant of marriage as its aim and goal, wrote Burk in a piece published Sunday. A homosexual relationship can never have marriage as its aim and goal. That means that a homosexual relationship can never be holy or pleasing to God. By definition, it is sinful. Azusa had previously attempted to remove its ban on same-sex romantic relationships last September, however they reversed course several days later. In a statement released last year, the Universitys Board of Trustees explained that officials never got approval to remove the ban, adding that they were standing firm and will never "capitulate to outside pressures, be they legal, political, or social." "We pledge to boldly uphold biblical values and not waver in our Christ-centered mission," the board added in their 2018 statement. "We will examine how we live up to these high ideals and enact measures that prevent us from swaying from that sure footing." Correction, March 20, 2019. A previous version of this article mentioned student housing for married students. APU does not have on-campus housing for married students. Google banned Christian YouTube ad on homosexuality after backlash from employees Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A video advertisement informing people on the Bibles teachings on homosexuality was banned by Google-owned YouTube and ruled to be counter to the organizations mission. The Daily Caller News Foundation has reported that a Google vice president in June 2018 moved to prohibit a video advertisement from Messianic Jewish Radio host Michael Brown from being advertised on YouTube after employees called the video homophobic. The video in question is titled Can you be gay and be a Christian? and was posted on Browns AskDrBrownAccount. In the video, Brown, an author, host of the "Line of Fire" podcast, and contributor to The Christian Post and other publications, argues that homosexual sex is a sin. Although he argues it is no worse than other sins, he states that Christians are called to abstain from sinful behavior. According to internal Google communications obtained by the Daily Caller, the video was flagged in an internal listserv newsletter called Yes at Google. The newsletter is run by Googles human resources and is sent to over 30,000 employees. The listserv is devoted to addressing microaggressions and micro-corrections within the company. Highlighted in the listserve was a comment from an employee who stated that Browns advertisement was appearing in channels operated by gay and lesbian users. I cannot see how this can be allowed when the specific idea of LGBT videos is to allow the creators to feel free to share their content and be comfortable that anti-LGBT advertisers would not be attached to their content, the employee reportedly wrote. This seems very counter to our mission, specifically around PRIDE 2018 timeframe. After backlash to Browns videos advertising continued to grow among employees, Google vice president for product management and ads, Vishal Sharma, declared that the video would no longer be eligible to run as an advertisement. Although she stated that YouTube is an open platform that supports the free expression of creators with a wide range of views, Sharma reportedly explained in a comment published by the listserv that we dont allow advertising that disparages people based on who they are. This also includes peoples sexual orientation. [W]e remove ads that violate this basic principle, she stated. After careful and multiple reviews over the course of a few days, our teams decided to remove the ad in question here as it violates our policy. Weve communicated this to the advertiser and have been in touch with creators who have been actively engaged on this issue. The Christian Post reached out to Google for comment on the Daily Caller article and for confirmation of Sharmas comments. A response is pending. Brown responded to the Daily Caller article in an op-ed titled Google v. Gods word. Although Sharma accuses his video of disparaging people, Brown asserts that his video showed no hatred toward the LGBT community and just simply shared Gods word. I did not disparage anyone on the video. Not once, he stressed. I simply stated what Gods Word says, simply and clearly and directly. While some could argue that Browns assertion that someone cant be a true follower of Christ if they openly practice homosexuality is disparaging, he maintains that he simply repeated what Gods word says and what the Synagogue and Church have believed for millennia. Not only so, but in the video I made clear that no one is condemned for having feelings or attractions, he detailed. The issue is whether we act on those feelings or attractions. And that, in fact, is our choice. Brown said he believes that Googles battle right now is with the Bible. [This means] that, if I simply produced a video reading relevant Bible verses on the subject, that video would not be suitable for advertising either, he warned. It would be one thing if Google said, 'Lets be sure this video is only advertised on conservative Christian channels.' That would have been perfectly fine, and we would have fully respected that. Our goal was to equip believers with truth, not provoke LGBT viewers on their own channels. But that was not to be. Google software engineer Mike Wacker first spoke out against the Yes at Google listserv in a Twitter thread last week where he stated that HR is involved in describing sincere religious beliefs as homophobic. [T]his newsletter has also enabled a call-out culture where small incidents or opposing viewpoints are called out with big words: misogynistic, racist, homophobic, etc, Wacker wrote. Employees call out each other and sometimes call out Google's users. In addition to banning his video from being advertised, Browns YouTube account has also been demonetized based on a decision he can not appeal. This means that the account cant earn money from advertising posted to the accounts videos. Administrators claimed that Browns account was demonetized due to re-used copywrited content. His account was ruled not to comply with YouTube Partner Program terms. There are a handful of videos that we received notice about for using a music clip or TV clip that they claimed was not fair usage. But in each case, they made clear this was not a strike against us, that we were not in any trouble with them, and that there was nothing we needed to do, Brown explained. In the end, a few of those videos were demonetized based on these alleged copyright violations. When Brown asked for clarification on the decision to demonetize the account, he received an email back explaining that administrators could not provide him with specific details as to what led them to this decision. Of course, we will push back every way we know how, first because these are unfair business practices and second because pushing back against YouTubes double standards is the thing to do, Brown stated. And while I cant say for sure that this happened to us because we are outspoken, conservative, Bible believers, I can say with certainty that Google/YouTube has certainly made clear where it stands on these issues. Is It OK for Christians to Watch Church Online and Not Attend? Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Professors at Dallas Theological Seminary weighed in on whether attending church solely online and not in person is a legitimate option for Christians. Their answer: it is not. "[T]his experience of church mediated entirely through technology is a pseudo experience of what the church is called to be," said Barry Jones, professor of Pastoral Ministries at DTS. Jones, who is also teaching pastor at Irving Bible Church, gave his response at a DTS student event where students had raised the question of why people should go to church. His large church posts sermons on its website and also allows visitors to watch there worship services live online. But Jones explained that those are "primarily for those people who, for whatever compelling reason, can't be there." "We refuse to call that an online campus and to make that sort of, in any way, communicate that that could be your normal church experience," he stressed. "[W]e try to make sure that we're continuing to tell them, 'This shouldn't be your normative experience of church or Sunday worship. You should be here.'" He admitted though that because they make the services and messages available online, it has become "easier" for people to simply not show up at church. Michael Svigel, professor of Theological Studies at DTS, also acknowledged that some people may consider online church a legitimate option because it's available. "Well, we can be clear that that's not, right?" Svigel said. "We can not have an online only option, which some churches have done. I mean, thankfully, it's a minority. Most people have the sense that merely attending an online campus is not in itself acceptable, except in the exceptions, right?" A 2015 report by Leadership Network and Hartford Institute found that the use of on"online campuses" is rising, with 30 percent of megachurches offering an online campus experience, which not only includes live streaming of the worship service but also interactive features and online attender accountability. Earlier this year, author Skye Jethani offered that church attendance is in decline partly due to the plethora of podcasts and Internet resources on Bible teaching that are available for Christians today. "[W]e need to factor in the availability and the saturation of that content [online] when we think about why people aren't showing up," he said. Jones of DTS believes the Church today is experiencing a kind of Docetism, which is a Christian heresy that says Christ appeared to but did not actually have a real body during his life on earth. "Jesus only seemed to have a body because he couldn't actually have a body and be God. The church called that heresy. Well, we're experiencing a different kind of Docetism that sort of almost says, 'We only seem to have a body,'" he said. "So much of our experience in life and relationships are mediated. So then our experience of church becomes mediated, and we just suck the life out of it in that sense, that just as connectivity is a terrible replacement for real community because actually, that connectivity only leads us further towards isolation." Church is not just a place to consume "religious goods and services," he argued. Rather, it's a place to gathering and do "life together," which is what allows for a believer's spiritual growth, Jones indicated. "[I]t's what we do when we gather together that has some kind of form, and that that form is for the purpose of forming us as disciples to live on mission in the world," he stated. Svigel also stressed the importance of gathering as the church. "I absolutely do not believe you can grow spiritually in any meaningful balanced way apart from the means God has given for spiritual growth, which is the community," he emphasized. "The New Testament uses, Paul uses the image of growth this is an agricultural term for growing spiritually several places, about nine times. Every single one of them is in the context of the corporate community. It's not 'read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow,' as the AWANA song goes." The DTS discussion was led by Darrell Bock, executive director of Cultural Engagement and senior research professor of New Testament Studies, and broadcast through The Table podcast. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signs bill banning abortion based on sex, race or disability Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Aborting a fetus due to her race, gender or disability is now illegal in Kentucky. In a move state lawyers have defended as a fight against eugenics, outspoken pro-life advocate and Kentuckys evangelical Christian Gov. Matt Bevin signed a bill, HB 5, into law Tuesday immediately banning abortion based on sex, race or disability. The move comes just days after a federal judge, David J. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky, temporarily blocked another measure Bevin signed into law on Friday, that prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected which usually occurs around six weeks. That law was expected to take effect immediately. But late Friday, Hale ruled it was potentially unconstitutional and delayed enforcement for at least 14 days to prevent irreparable harm until he could hold a hearing, The New York Times said. Less than 24 hours after HB 5 was passed last week, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to block it, the Courier Journal reported. The ACLUs lawsuit argues that banning abortion based on sex, race or disability infringes on a woman's right to an abortion by imposing restrictions on her reasons for doing so. Bevins general counsel M. Stephen Pitt, argued in a filing in U.S. District Court in Louisville on Tuesday that the law bans "eugenics-based abortions." In Plaintiffs view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendments penumbra lies a protection for eugenics, he wrote. This is a perverse distortion of Roe v. Wade and its progeny. On Monday the ACLU had asked the court to order Bevin to notify the organization when he signed HB 5, saying that instituting laws that instantly affect critical patient care should not be a cat-and-mouse game. Pitt noted in his filing that the bill was signed into law by Bevin on Tuesday. In a video message Friday, Bevin scolded his good friends at the ACLU for challenging HB 5, before it had been signed into law and suggested they needed a civics refresher from Schoolhouse Rock on how legislation works. Yesterday our good friends at the ACLU, and I say good friends in the broadest sense of that word, have chosen to sue the Commonwealth of Kentucky over the passage of House Bill 5. And by passage I mean it moved through the legislature, the House and the Senate in overwhelming fashion, Democrat and Republican alike, and it makes good sense that it did, he said. House Bill 5, simply says that in Kentucky we think its inappropriate to kill an unborn child simply because of its race, or of the childs gender or of a perceived disability. But too much to ask for the folks at the ACLU. They would pretend to speak for what is appropriate in America from a jurisprudence standpoint, from a civic standpoint. The people that are supposedly defending the civic rights of people in this country, nonetheless think its appropriate that you can kill a child based on its race, or kill a child based on its gender. The people of Kentucky again fortunately dont agree with that and so this law was passed through the legislature, Bevin added. Bevin, who has made pro-life legislation a priority of his administration, recently decried laws in New York expanding abortion protections as well as a similar proposal in Virginia. The effectiveness of our pro-life laws and of my administrations legal team was made evident in recent weeks when Planned Parenthood and other hard left, pro-abortion groups announced their intent to pool their ample economic and legal resources to fight against Kentucky babies. Those groups are bringing $90 million into our state, along with additional armies of liberal lawyers to try to tear down Kentucky laws protecting life, Bevin wrote in a Kentucky Today op-ed just over a week ago. As we ponder the heinous nature of the New York law and the bill that was shamelessly proposed in Virginia, Kentuckians must realize that pro-abortion radicals are even suing for the right to dismember a third trimester baby. As Bevin was threatened with the ACLUs recent lawsuit on Wednesday he responded in a tweet: Bring it! Kentucky will always fight for life... Always! Not a preaching series: Joel Osteen details new History channel program 'Jesus: His Life' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Televangelist Joel Osteen was on ABCs Good Morning America Monday to talk about his upcoming 8-part History channel series detailing the life of Christ through the eyes of those around him. In the weeks leading up to Easter beginning on Monday, March 25, History will air Jesus: His Life, a series that will be co-produced by Osteen, the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas and a widely published author. The series will focus on the perspective of biblical figures that surrounded Christ, such as Joseph, Mary, Caiaphas, Judas Iscariot and Peter. Osteen, who has experience producing behind the scenes when his father was the pastor at Lakewood, said that the History series was not a project that he could turn down. I loved seeing the life of Jesus through the eyes of the people that were there, Osteen explained. We have seen the story but it is a little different when you see, [for example], what did Joseph think when he found out his wife was pregnant. Osteen added that the series will be less about preaching and more about showing what life was like for people during the time of Christ [The movie] is more about the culture, the setting at that time. I was inspired by that. I learned from that. You know, just putting myself in those peoples shoes. It really took on a different perspective to me, Osteen said. I thought, Would I have responded like Joseph? Would I have that kind of faith? It is an inspiring series and I think people will learn. The megachurch preacher assured that the project is not a preaching series. Its for everybody to learn about the most important man that ever lived, Osteen contended. Whether you believe He is the son of God like I do or not, Jesus was somebody that changed the culture. The series will include comments from experts, scholars, and pastors from a variety of backgrounds. It will also include perspective from left-leaning Christian leaders such as Father James Martin, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church and Joshua Debois, the former head of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships under President Barack Obama. We took it from different perspectives and makes it really well-rounded, Osteen stressed. Its a fantastic series. I think anybody can be inspired by the life of Christ and what he brought forgiveness, love, respect, redemption, second chances, he continued. That is what we all need in life. Osteen was asked which of Jesus relationships stuck out to him the most. To that, he responded with Peter. I think Peter was the everyday-person. I love the fact that Jesus, when he chose His disciples, he didnt choose the people that you would expect, Osteen reasoned. Peter was a fisherman. He was rough. He made mistakes. Sometimes, he cussed people out. Yet, he was Jesus close disciple and even when he failed when Jesus needed Him the most, Jesus forgave him. It is the story of Christ right through Peter. Today, Osteen says, people need the message of Christ more than ever before. Its easy in our lives today to get caught up in our own world and just think about ourselves, Osteen said. But Jesus life was about lifting people up and helping somebody else. It seems like more than ever today, we need to make that a part of our life being a blessing to somebody else, lift somebody up. As The Christian Post previously reported, the series premise is similar to the storyline of Sight & Sound Theatres' theatrical production Jesus, which also focused on the people Jesus came in contact with. History channel previously produced a 10-part series called The Bible. The series was produced by Mark Burnett and drew over 11.7 million viewers in 2013. That series led to the production of the movie "Son of God" and the subsequent TV series "A.D." The "Jesus: His Life" series will be produced by Nutopia productions, which produced the 2015 program "Finding Jesus. Faith. Fact. Forgery." Religious 'nones' now as big as evangelicals in the US, new data shows Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The number of religious nones in the United States are now statistically equal than the number of evangelicals, according to a political scientist who analyzed data from the recently released 2018 General Social Survey. The GSS, a biennial project run by NORC (National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago, was released this week and showed how Americas religious landscape continues to change. Ryan Burge, a political science researcher at Eastern Illinois University, analyzed data from the survey. He used a Reltrad (religious tradition) classification code to compensate for the oversample of African Americans in earlier waves of data. According to Burges data, 23.1 percent of those surveyed were people of no religion, while those who are evangelical of any race, not just white represented about 22.8 percent of the tally. Despite a tiny resurgence in the 2018 data, white mainline protestants, which were once the largest U.S. religious demographic in the 1970s, were at just 10.8 percent of the tally, a far cry from 1975 when they were over 30 percent. Catholic respondents fell slightly to 23 percent but continue to be one of the largest two religious demographics in the U.S. The study comes as there has been a rise over the last decade-plus in the number of religiously unaffiliated individuals in the United States. According to Burges data, the religious nones comprised just 5 percent when the GSS was first conducted in 1972. Today, religious "nones" are just under a quarter of the GSS data. The nones are not slowing down, Burge told The Christian Post in an email. Their share of the population is continuing to climb ~1 percent every two years and has done so for the past 15 years or so. If current trends keep up then they will be the largest group in the United States in the next five years, statistically. While the share of nones continues to rise, the number of Catholics and Protestants have dwindled over the years. The two groups were once the two largest religious groups in the nation. In 1972, the two groups comprised over 25 percent of the GSS tally each. Catholics, specifically, are down three percentage points in the last four years, according to Burges analysis. As for evangelicals, their peak came in the early 1990s when the number of evangelicals topped 30 percent. Black Protestants continue to make up less than 10 percent and have not risen above 10 percent since 1972. In a tweet, Burge said that while he doesnt put much stock in one-year shifts, he stressed that the larger trends are instructive. Last year, polling from ABC News and The Washington Post found that between 2003 and 2017, the percentage of adult Americans that profess no religion grew from 12 percent to 21 percent. At the same time, the white evangelical portion of the population has shrunk from 21 percent to 13 percent. Also, that poll found that 36 percent of Americans identified as members of Protestant faith (including evangelicals). In 2003, the polling found that 50 percent identified as a member of Protestant faith. Meanwhile, the share of those who self-identify as Catholics (22 percent in 2017) held steady over those years. Appeals court saves clergy tax-free housing allowance Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Friday that a law giving clergy an exemption from paying income taxes on their housing allowance is constitutional. The ruling protects religious leaders nationwide from having to pay nearly $1 billion more each year in taxes. The courts unanimous decision in the case Gaylorv. Mnuchin reversed a district courts ruling in 2017 in favor of the atheist legal group Freedom From Religion Foundation, which argued that excluding pastors housing allowance from their taxable income was unconstitutional. A group of clergy who rely on the housing allowance appealed that decision to the Seventh Circuit and were represented by the law firm Becket. The tax code treats ministers the same as hundreds of thousands of nonreligious workers who receive tax-exempt housing for their jobs thats not special treatment, its equal treatment, said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, which defends religious rights. The court rightly recognized that striking down the parsonage allowance would devastate small, low-income houses of worship in our neediest neighborhoods and would cause needless conflict between church and state, he added. Pastor Chris Butler of the Chicago Embassy Church, a predominantly African-American congregation, says his church cant afford to pay him a full salary, but it offers him a small housing allowance so he can afford to live near his church. This ruling is a victory not just for my church but for the needy South Side Chicago community we serve our youth, our single mothers, our homeless, our addicted, and our victims of gang violence, Butler said. I am grateful that I can continue serving them and living side by side with them to make our neighborhood a safer, more peaceful place." In a previous interview with The Christian Post, Joe Davis, counsel at Becket, said the estimate of $1 billion per year in additional taxes comes in part from a report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which "estimates the housing allowance at $0.97 billion for 2018, and expects that it will actually exceed $1 billion this year." "Congressional estimates for instance the Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 20162020, prepared by the Joint Committee on Taxation likewise estimate the allowance at nearly a billion dollars annually," Davis said. Judge Michael Brennan wrote in his opinion Friday that Congress has enacted federal tax exemptions for religious organizations as far back as 1802. And dismissed FFRFs claim that a tax code exemption for clergy housing violated the Establishment Clause. FFRF claims [that the tax code exemption for religious housing] renders unto God that which is Caesars. But this tax provision falls into the play between the joints of the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause: neither commanded by the former, nor proscribed by the latter. We conclude [the tax code] is constitutional. The judgment of the district court is REVERSED, Brennan added in the opinion. In response to the Seventh Circuits ruling, FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, one of the plaintiffs, said, The housing allowance is so clearly a handout to churches and clergy, and it so clearly shows preferential treatment and discriminating in favor of ministers. The co-plaintiffs with Gaylor were FFRF Co-President Dan Barker (a former pastor-turned-atheist) and Ian Gaylor. The clergy allowance is not a tax deduction, but an exemption allowing housing allowances paid as part of clergy salary to be subtracted from taxable income. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation has reported that the exemption amounts to $700 million a year in lost revenue, FFRF said in a statement Friday. Clergy may use the housing allowance not just for rent or mortgage, but for home improvements, including maintenance, repairs, dishwashers, cable TV and phone fees even personal computers and bank fees," FFRF added in its statement. "The subsidy extends to churches, which can pay clergy less, as tax-free salaries go further. In 2011, the FFRF filed a lawsuit against the tax code exemption for religious housing, a law passed in 1954 that gave clergy a tax exemption for their housing allowance. In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled in favor of the FFRF, only to have the decision overturned in November 2014 by a three judge panel of the Seventh Circuit. According to the panel, FFRF lacked the standing to sue because the atheist group had never asked for the exemption and thus had not been denied it. In April 2016, the FFRF refiled their lawsuit after following the panel's order on standing, with Crabb ruling in October 2017 that the tax allowance was unconstitutional. In her opinion Crabb wrote that the tax exemption "violates the Establishment Clause because it eliminates the burden for a group made up of solely religious employees but maintains it for nearly everyone else." Christian B&B must serve same-sex couples, Supreme Court lets ruling stand Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The United States Supreme Court declined to hear oral arguments in a case about a Hawaiian bed and breakfast that refused on religious grounds to serve a lesbian couple, allowing a ruling against the business to stand. In an order released Monday, the high court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Cervelli v. Aloha Bed & Breakfast, thus upholding a lower court ruling against the small business. Phyllis Young, owner of the three-room Aloha Bed & Breakfast, will now face a penalty for her refusal in 2007 to rent a room to Diane Cervilli and Taeko Bufford, according to Reuters. In 2011, Young was sued by the lesbian couple over the 2007 incident, being represented by the pro-LGBT law firm Lambda Legal. When you open the doors of your business to the public, Hawaii law absolutely forbids you from discriminating against your customers, said Peter Renn, staff attorney at Lambda, in a 2011 statement. You cant roll up the welcome mat when you see a lesbian or gay couple, just as you cant refuse to do business with Jewish customers, African-American customers, or disabled customers. Young was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm that has won multiple cases before the Supreme Court on issues involving religious liberty. The ADF argued that because Phyllis only rented 1-3 rooms in her personal home she did not fall under the Hawaii public accommodations law that makes sexual-orientation discrimination unlawful. And the Constitution also protects Phyllis right not to promote behavior her faith teaches is immoral or to associate with people who are unwilling to respect her deeply held religious beliefs, added the ADF. In 2013, a court ruled against Aloha B&B and in February of last year, Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. In May 2018, Aloha B&B filed an appeal with the Hawaii Supreme Court, only to have the states highest court reject the appeal request last July. Trump, wife attend worship at DC church on St. Patricks Day Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended worship at an Episcopal congregation located near the White House on Saint Patricks Day. The president and his wife went to St. Johns Church of Lafayette Square, with interim rector the Rev. W. Bruce McPherson welcoming the Trump family, according to the Associated Press. Trump rarely attends regular worship services. According to Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs, Trump does occasionally attend holiday services at Bethesda-by-the-Sea when hes at Mar-a-Lago. Earlier on Sunday morning, Trump took to Twitter to attack the long-running program Saturday Night Live, which has often poked fun at him over his remarks and policies. Its truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of 'the other side.' Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows, tweeted Trump. Although Trump has stated he is Christian and was elected in large part because of support among evangelicals, many have questioned the sincerity of his beliefs. For example, last December at the funeral of former president George H.W. Bush at the Washington National Cathedral, Trump garnered criticism for refusing to say the Apostles Creed. A noted Christian statement of faith, Trump and his wife were seen not reciting the creed, even though the words were provided and the former presidents beside him were doing so. Evangelical leader and longtime Trump supporter the Rev. Franklin Graham defended Trump at the time, comparing it to his refusal to sing hymns during worship. Guess what I dont usually sing in church. Why? Because I cant carry a tune! And, I have no rhythm, stated Graham on his Facebook page. Nay-sayers always pointing an accusing finger. Instead, lets be thankful for all of the incredibly positive things he has done for our country (its a long list) and lift him and Melania up in our prayers. St. Johns held its first worship service in 1816 and is known as the Church of the Presidents, as the church stakes claim to having had every president beginning with James Madison attend worship there at least once. St. Johns sanctuary has a pew, known as Pew 54 or The Presidents Pew, which is specifically reserved for the commander in chief. UFO sighting tourist destination becomes 'sanctuary city for the unborn' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Roswell, New Mexico, the southwestern United States city famous for a 1947 incident that some claim involved an alien spaceship crashing to earth, has passed a resolution in support of the unborn. The vote came the same week that the New Mexico state senate rejected a pro-abortion bill. Roswells city council voted last Thursday in support of Resolution 19-28, known as A Resolution in Support of the Unborn. The resolution states among other things that each and every innocent human life is unique and precious to God, innocent human life must always be protected and preserved, and that the protection of all human life is important to the people of the City of Roswell. innocent human life, including fetal life, must always be protected and that Society must protect those who cannot protect themselves, resolved the City Council, stressing their opposition to any diminution by the New Mexico Legislature of the limitations on abortion. Be it further resolved that the City Council honors the rights of healthcare providers to object on moral grounds to performing abortions and opposes any regulation or law seeking to violate that right. The pro-life group Abortion Free New Mexico celebrated the passage of the resolution, declaring that Roswell has become a sanctuary city for the unborn. Roswells resolution appears to be modeled off of a resolution passed by the Lea County Board of County Commissioners last month, though the County resolution did not include a call to protect conscience rights for healthcare providers. Both resolutions came in response to the New Mexico legislature considering a measure to repeal an unenforceable statute criminalizing abortion. Supporters of the repeal bill sought to remove the statute from state law in response to a possible overturning of the United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade in the near future. The provision of abortion care wont change, but we know its at risk, stated ACLU of New Mexico spokesperson Ellie Rushforth, which supported the repeal, as reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican. Although the repeal passed the state house, last week the New Mexico Senate killed it in a vote of 18-24, in which all 16 Republicans and 8 Democrats rejected the pro-choice measure. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham denounced the state Senates vote to keep the statute, calling it an embarrassment. This old, outdated statute criminalizing health care providers is an embarrassment. That removing it was even a debate, much less a difficult vote for some senators, is inexplicable to me, stated Grisham, as reported by the New Mexican. Duke Divinity School student-pastor shot at Costco remains hospitalized, no arrests yet Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Ryan Ware, the 24-year-old Duke Divinity School graduate student-pastor who was shot in a Costco parking lot in Durham, North Carolina, just over a week ago remained hospitalized Monday. Ryan Ware remains hospitalized at this time. No charges have been filed in the case. Investigators do not have new information to release at this time, Kammie Michael, public information officer with the City of Durham Police Department said in a statement to The Christian Post Monday. Ware, who became a licensed pastor last summer, serves as pastor at Wesley Chapel United Methodist in Danville, and Rock Springs United Methodist Church. Police say, just after 1:30 p.m. on March 9, while he was at the 1500 block of North Pointe Drive, Ware was shot in the stomach while inside his SUV at the Costco parking lot. Eyewitnesses said a grey or silver sedan was seen speeding from the scene after the shooting. Police searched Wares SUV, and took a wallet and a cellphone before swabbing for DNA and gunshot residue. Officials also said Ware had been hospitalized with possibly serious and life-threatening injuries. It was unclear Monday how life-threatening the injuries remained. A representative with the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church which offered prayers for Ware days after the shooting said they have not been provided with any new information about his condition. We have not received any updates. They are trying to guard his information is what Ive heard. I know he was in serious condition but thats all I know, the representative said. Duke Divinity School Dean Greg Jones said in a statement to The Chronicle last Wednesday that they had been surrounding Wares family with love and support. The Duke Divinity School community is deeply saddened and troubled by the shooting of one of our students, Jones said. We have been surrounding the victim and his family with love, support and prayers ever since, and we will continue to do so in the coming days." When contacted for an update about the shooting on Monday, a spokesperson for the divinity school said they do not anticipate making any further statements for now. Wares shooting attracted much attention with many prayers being offered up for his recovery. Anyone with information on the shooting is being urged to call Crimestoppers at 919-683-1200. Grandmother fighting to save 10-y-o grandson from puberty blockers, gender-transition speaks out Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Eight year-old Jack Wilson was on a weekend visit to his grandparents' house in mid-December 2016 when he informed his grandmother that his name was really Jacquelyn. "Grammy, my name is Jacquelyn," he complained as he walked into the room and sat down at the kitchen table for lunch. He had just received Christmas presents from friends of his grandmother addressed to "Jack" and was visibly upset. "Why is that your name?" Amanda Wilson, his grandmother, asked in response as she set a plate of chicken and rice in front of him. He replied: "Because I'm a girl now." "What makes you think you're a girl?" she inquired. "It's my gender," he said. She pressed him: "Well, what's a gender?" He stared back at her, puzzled, and said: "I don't know." Amanda Wilson hasn't seen her grandson in two years and each day she longs to hold him in her arms and hug him but can't. Her daughter, Marissa, and her spouse began believing that little Jack was really a girl around three years ago and because Wilson doesn't agree they've cut off all contact with her, no longer speak, and don't allow her and her husband to see him. Shortly after Jack turned 7, Marissa and her spouse excitedly announced on social media that Jack was a girl and they couldn't wait to start him on puberty blockers in two years when he turned 9. They posted a picture of Marissa's spouse and Jack outside a children's hospital that is home to one of the 55 transgender clinics now operating in the United States. The social media account Wilson's daughter had was deactivated and Wilson no longer has the exact words of her daughter's happiness about starting Jack on puberty blockers but she still has the picture. At Wilson's request, The Christian Post is using pseudonyms in this report and has changed or removed identifying details in order to maintain her anonymity. Although she was baptized as a Methodist, Wilson is not a subscriber to any particular religious faith but chose to speak with CP because she felt it was important that the voice of a grandmother is heard as more parents speak out about their heartache of losing their children to what many are calling a transgender "social contagion." She has reached out to many secular journalists to no avail. In 2008, Marissa, who lives just outside of Portland, Maine, was in a relationship with a man, became pregnant and gave birth to Jack in 2009. That relationship ended soon after Jack was born and just a few years later, when Marissa was 26, she came out as a lesbian and started dating a woman. Approximately 16 months later, they married in June 2013. Seven months into that marriage her spouse came out as transgender and changed her name to a male name and started taking hormones. The couple separated last year and now share custody of Jack. Wilson, who is from the Boston area and now lives in Amesbury, Massachusetts, first thought something seemed strange in early February 2016 at an event where Jack was there with his mom and he was outside playing. She noticed he had on a girl's leopard-print jacket with pink fur around the cuffs and hood. Several weeks later on May 1 she received a letter in the mail from Marissa saying that Jack was a transgender girl and that if family and friends did not affirm and support 'her' in this new identity they would be written out of their lives. They were to henceforth call Jack "Jacquelyn," noting they would allow people to call him "Jackie" as a nickname because Jack helped pick that name, but they personally preferred Jacquelyn. "It seemed like this all happened overnight," Wilson said in a recent interview with CP. Other than her daughter's spouse transitioning and hearing about it briefly in the news on the radio, she wasn't familiar with transgenderism as an ideology and was not one who followed politics much at all. Yet when she received the letter she didn't know what to do because although she and her husband didn't believe it, they wanted to do their best to figure out what was happening. Wilson started doing her own research online to find resources on children who believe they're transgender. For the first year Wilson and her husband decided to play it as cool as they could, especially when Jack was with them, but that soon changed. They would sometimes have Jack for a weekend and just let him have fun and would play with him. They tried not to pay too much attention to the gender issues swirling around him at home. "But every time we would send him back my daughter was disappointed or mad about something," Wilson said, explaining that Marissa would call her and berate her for not being sufficiently affirming both of Jack as a girl and of her parenting. What Wilson describes as "the final straw" occurred just over two years ago in February 2017. The Wilsons had Jack for the weekend and Marissa had packed a sleeveless summer dress for Jack to wear but the temperatures were below freezing and they had several inches of snow on the ground. Because it was so cold Wilson washed what Jack had on the day before a Disney Cinderella T-shirt with glittery gold lettering and girl jeans so he could be warm when they took him to a birthday party they were going to the next day. Jack had "loads of fun" at the birthday party, Wilson said, recalling how he was laughing and horsing around with the other kids in the snow with their sleds. But Marissa was furious and "totally freaked out" when she found out that Jack was never dressed in the summer dress while in the care of his grandparents that weekend, Wilson recounted. "And that was the last time I spoke to her and saw him," she said, distraught. Three months before, they had him for another weekend and took him to an event for children at the Boston Museum of Science. Wilson and her husband were wearing Boston Red Sox sweatshirts and Jack said he wanted one so they got him a Red Sox hoodie and a New England Patriots T-shirt he wanted one with a player's name on it and a pair of red socks that had the Red Sox logo on them. "He had a blast, running around like boys do," Wilson said. Even though Jack always had lots of fun when he was with his grandparents it didn't seem to matter to Marissa. They had always done something wrong. The angry phone calls kept coming, insisting that Jack must be fully affirmed as a girl and that Wilson must also voice her approval of how she was raising him. "But when he was here with us, we didn't have to be [affirming]. We just played with him. It wasn't a big deal," she said. Although Jack was being led to believe he was actually a girl he never really caught on that his grandmother was not affirming him as a girl. When he was with her she would say Jack very quickly and it was close enough to Jackie that he never said anything. Yet right before Christmas in 2016, Jack was again visiting his grandparents and there were many presents for him under the tree from other friends that were addressed to "Jack," and that upset him. Wilson and her husband had left his name off their gifts and just gave them to him. It was that weekend where Wilson and Jack had the lunchtime conversation about his name and where Wilson asked him "What's a gender?" and he replied that he didn't know what a gender was, even as he was being required to live and function as the opposite one. For Wilson, that exchange revealed just how much confusion had been sown into her grandson's impressionable, developing mind. She believes today that had Jack not spent his formative years watching his mother's spouse transition that he would have never entertained the idea that he might have been born in the "wrong" body. Around this same time, Wilson was seeing a therapist herself to sort through her own confusion with this, as she was struggling to know how to continue being a good grandparent in a situation she could not understand. She wanted to tell Jack about "the facts of life" and explain biology in terms a young boy could understand, but she did not because her counselor cautioned against doing that and urged her to be extra careful. A clinical social worker furthers the deception Two weeks after the Wilsons received the letter announcing Jack was a girl, her daughter invited them to meet a clinical social worker to alleviate their concerns. The two of them met with her the next week. "She basically told us, 'just let him explore his gender,'" Wilson said. The social worker seemed gracious and she appeared to share the concerns they had that their daughter's spouse had some anger issues, Wilson noted. But she had not heard, as Marissa had told Wilson, that Jack had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Wilson was then extremely confused, as what she was hearing from her daughter conflicted from what the social worker was saying. When she brought this up later on a phone call with her daughter, Marissa became very angry and then said another meeting would take place with all four of them, the Wilsons, Marissa and her spouse. Wilson and her husband agreed to the meeting. "Well, it was only about a month later and the clinician had a totally different attitude," Wilson recalled. "She looked at me in the eyes and said: 'Your granddaughter does not think she is a girl. She is a girl." Wilson was stunned. She could hardly believe this was the same woman who was so understanding and kind a few weeks earlier at their prior meeting. "I started screaming at her and said 'No, that's not true,'" Wilson continued. She then turned to her daughter's spouse, pointed at her and told her: "My grandson is no more a girl than you're a guy." The social worker then tried to calm everyone down as the discussion was growing heated. Wilson's husband then inquired about puberty blockers and their use in young children. "She just made it sound like it was like kids eating candy, that they were reversible, that there were no harms," she said, disgruntled. Upon hearing her brush off their questions, Wilson and her husband got up and left, enraged. Wilson did not buy into the idea that the blockers were like candy because of what she had learned from her own research. She had found critical voices on the practice of chemically suppressing the pubertal signals in the brain, medical perspectives that had reinforced her common sense. "If I knew nothing about them I think she probably could have convinced my husband and me, but because I did have some knowledge, I was prepared," she said. In Wilson's mind, Jack was just a little boy who was pretend-playing, putting on dresses and being creative, and that it was no big deal. At the second meeting with the social worker, Marissa urged her to watch "I Am Jazz" on TLC. "It's a really great show, and it will teach you a lot of stuff," her daughter said to her in a text message. Wilson decided to watch the first two episodes of the series and was thoroughly repulsed and horrified when she finished. "I sent her a text back and said: 'You let my grandson watch that crap? He's 7 years old. And you let him watch that crap?'" Wilson asked. Wilson and Marissa then got into a big fight. The horror of puberty blockers The Massachusetts grandmother doesn't know if her grandson has been started on the blockers but she suspects that he has. And she laments that if indeed he has begun them he will likely be on them for several years and then be put on cross-sex hormones, which will permanently sterilize him. The only connection she has to him is through photos that friends of her daughter's sometimes see and send her. They continue to dress him and treat him as a girl. After storming out of the therapist's office that day in May 2016, Wilson continued to research puberty blockers and her horror only grew. She started posting about them on her Facebook page along with expressions of her anger and disgust that they were considered legitimate medicine and health care. A friend who agreed with her urged her to take her rants to an even more public forum so more people could see them. Although she was not computer-savvy she thought that was a good idea, so she opened a Twitter account. She soon connected with other distressed moms who were hiding behind pseudonyms to maintain their anonymity, all of whom were dealing with children who believe they are the opposite sex and were calling themselves transgender or nonbinary. "I cry myself to sleep every night thinking about it," Wilson said, knowing that her grandson's normal physiological and sexual development is likely being stunted. Wilson often worries that Jack will end up with a disfigured body and a severely split psyche. The thought that, like 17-year-old Jazz Jennings, her grandson will have a less than fully functional micro-penis because of all of the hormones and drugs he might now be taking frequently torments her. In her worst moments she is plagued with a bone-rattling fear that after all these transition chemicals Jack might be so dissociated from his body that he will, in a few years, be steered into undergoing a surgical procedure where his underdeveloped gonads are cut off and his smaller than normal penis is inverted to fashion a fake vagina, which would be partially constructed using a bit of his intestine. "Envisioning him going through that, like Jazz did, it gives me nightmares," she said, mournfully. Her concerns about the psychological effects of puberty blockers have merit. Dr. Michael Laidlaw, a Rocklin, California-based endocrinologist, told CP in a December interview about Lupron, one of the drugs used in gender clinics across the U.S. Laidlaw said these drugs are psychologically addicting "either because of a direct psychotropic effect or because the child can reassure themselves that they are not growing into an adult male body or an adult female body. It continues the illusion." A grandmother's agony "I cry a lot," Wilson said of the sadness she now lives with daily, admitting that she sometimes self-medicates with alcohol. She has been seeing a counselor to process her ongoing anguish but hesitates to go on medication for depression. In her conversations online with fellow suffering moms, activists and a few journalists who are resisting transgender activism and medicalization, suicide is a topic that comes up in a few contexts in their conversations. "There have actually been times ... where I thought I could do it," Wilson said, her voice halting. "But I don't want to really talk to other mothers about that very much because I don't want to put [suicidal] ideas in their heads," she said through tears. What infuriates Wilson most is the manipulative threat transgender activists often use that unless children are allowed to undergo gender transition they are at higher risk of or will indeed commit suicide. The fact is that when children are transitioned, it often creates suicidal ideation in their parents and grandparents who do not agree with or support it. Transactivists accuse parents and family who do not support their child's wishes to be the opposite sex as "violence" and that they hate their children when in fact the opposite is true, she explained. "I don't think I could kill myself, but I just want to die. This has destroyed me so much I just want to die," Wilson said. "And then I think about my husband, and I think about my other grandchild, and I pick myself up and go on another day." Losing friends who demand she comply The losses have been searingly painful and they have extended beyond the zero contact with her grandson and daughter. Wilson also no longer speaks to a pair of sisters, friends of hers with whom she has shared Thanksgiving and other holidays for over 30 years. These friends have sided with her daughter and fully support the transitioning of Jack. Ever since it was announced that Jack was really a girl, whenever Wilson would talk on the phone with these friends they would use female pronouns when referring to Jack and correct Wilson when she referred to her grandson with male pronouns. Wilson would not correct her friends even though she did not like hearing them say that. But it finally got to be too much and she could not take it anymore. "I said: 'Stop correcting me," she said on one particular occasion. But her friend persisted with the female pronouns. "When she did it a third time I exploded," Wilson said. "I've not corrected you once. And I've asked you three times to stop correcting me. This is my grandson, not yours," she emphasized, shouting at her through the phone. A bitter fight ensued and Wilson eventually said to herself "I'm done" and hung up the phone. The friend's sister heard about it and called Wilson to tell her that she owed her sister an apology for yelling at her. "I told her, 'Well, she deserved it,'" Wilson recounted. "So we're not friends anymore," she added. "She had a lot of gall correcting me every time I said 'he' telling me 'it's she' or when I'd say his name and she'd then say the girl name." The holidays are now especially hard. Wilson said she just "goes through the motions every time one rolls around." "When I consider how much I've missed in the past two years, there's a big difference between age 8 and 10. When I think of how much I've missed out on, we were always so close before this. I'm not like the see-you-once-a-year grandma, and I think that's why I'm so devastated. We were so close. And now it's just ... gone," she said, mourning that she could not be with him on his recent birthday. Jack turned 10 on Feb. 28. Wilson has pursued what she might do legally but she believes she has no recourse. She contacted a few attorneys in Massachusetts and even found one locally who was also licensed to practice law in both her home state and in Maine where her daughter and grandson live but she did not want to get involved. Another Maine-based law firm told her the same thing. A paralegal there told her that "grandparents' rights are hard enough to fight for on a good day" and with the transgender issues factoring in they did not want the trouble or negative publicity. Wilson has also called Child Protective Services in hopes they could help her but they could not because gender-transitioning children, legally speaking, is not considered abuse even though many physicians regard it as such. "I can't find any peace," she explained. "Every time I try to find peace and I say to myself 'OK, you've gotta let this go, you've got to stop, you've done everything you can.' And then I say to myself, 'No, you've got to do more, there's gotta be something more.' "So I just keep doing it, and the more I keep doing it the less peace I have. And I'm not going to find peace until there is resolution somehow." Wilson now counsels parents to trust their instincts. "Let your kid be a kid," she said, when asked what she would tell parents who are being told their children might be transgender. "Don't take them to any gender clinic. They don't need therapy at that age. They need to just be allowed to play." If a boy puts on a dress and starts playing around, don't look at it as him somehow sending a gendered message, she added. "I will never affirm this idea," she continued, that children can change sex. "There is nothing that will ever change my mind." "And that doesn't stop me from loving them. I mean, I love my daughter. I love my grandson. But wrong is wrong. I can't and won't try to convince myself of something that is not true." Wilson believes she's as adamant in her fight as she is because she was a victim of childhood sexual trauma; the abuse started before she turned 6 and lasted for many years, she told CP. "And, of course, at that age, I didn't know I was being abused when I was being abused," she said. Her current fight to attempt to rescue her grandson has caused many of those horrific memories to resurface, and the pain is particularly potent because she continues to pick up on the red flags and abuse dynamics operating around Jack that are, unfortunately, eerily familiar. "I'm 57 years old. I'm long past that. And so now, it's not like a trigger but it has brought it back. I think it makes me fight this even harder because I'm just so mad. I see that this is wrong. I know it's wrong," she elaborated, vowing to continue. "It's wrong what happened to me as a child, even though I didn't know it was wrong then. But I know it now. And that's what's happening to my grandson. But the difference is that he's not going to know it's wrong until he's old enough to say it's wrong, and by then he's probably going to be so brainwashed he's still not going to know it's wrong." Q&A with Abby Johnson: Abortion must not be illegal, but unthinkable Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment On the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, My Faith Votes gathered alongside hundreds of thousands of pro-life supporters in Washington DC to stand for life. We marched down Constitution Avenue to the steps of the Supreme Court armed with a new approach to the anti-abortion movement pro-life is pro-science. My Faith Votes sat down with Abby Johnson, one of the keynote speakers of the March, and she explained the power behind this years March for Life theme, Unique from Day One. As science becomes more advanced, we know more about the person in the womb, more about what makes them unique, Johnson said. [Science] reaches everyone. For people of faith like me, I know science comes from my Creator. Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood Director, experienced a complete perspective change herself after witnessing a 13-week old fetus struggle for his life during an ultrasound-guided abortion procedure. I realized there was humanity in the womb, and abortion was taking an individual human life, she said. As science strengthens the debate for pro-life activists, it supplies greater evidence to the workings of God the Creator. This shift reminds todays pro-life supporters they have the opportunity to rewrite history, protect the most innocent and ultimately, change how Americans view abortion. While Johnson continues to lobby for efforts to eliminate abortion, she recognizes this pro-life movement demands a radical culture change that legislation alone cannot solve. Our end goal cannot be to simply make abortion illegal; our end goal must be to make abortion unthinkable, Johnson said, so that when a woman experiences an unplanned pregnancy, she never even thinks about darkening the door of a facility that will exploit her, manipulate her and take the life of her child. According to Johnson, one in three women are affected by abortion which also means one in three men are too. This is why Johnsons ministry And Then There Were None advocates for the pro-life cause and serves those affected by abortion through a personal experience or through work at an abortion facility. As to how pro-life advocates, including Christians, should engage with pro-abortion supporters, Johnson encourages a spirit of love and tenderness. The majority of people I know who support abortion do so because they themselves have had abortions, Johnson observed. We have to remember that someone whos yelling in our face or giving us a piece of their mind on Facebook is someone whos deeply wounded and broken. Its not about winning an argument. Its about reaching the heart of the person youre speaking with and showing them love goes further than throwing facts at them. My Faith Votes has partnered with Johnsons upcoming film, Unplanned, which shares her story as a Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist after a life-changing experience. The film premieres March 18 and hits theaters nationwide March 29. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment We have now learned more about Googles decision last year to ban my ministry from advertising our video Can You Be Gay and Christian? on YouTube. According to a new report, Google banned a video explaining Christian teaching on same-sex marriage from advertising on YouTube after backlash from upset employees, according to internal Google communications reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. So, enough employees got upset about our video the dreaded microagressions! that the complaints made their way to Google VP Vishal Sharma, who agreed that YouTube had no business accepting advertising for a video like this. But before I share Sharmas actual words with you, please do a little experiment. Take 6 minutes to watch the video and ask yourself several questions. First, do I make any major points that are not explicitly biblical? In other words, am I making stuff up as I go along or am I citing Scripture, fairly and in context? Second, do I express hatred against any group on the video? Is there anything in the video that could be called homophobic? Third, do I state clearly that Jesus died for all, loves all, and offers redemption and transformation to all? Have I excluded any individual or group from Gods redeeming love? Fourth, is there a single statement in the entire Bible affirming homosexual practice or homosexual relationships? (Its notable that on different debates on the subject, my opponents were not able to produce a single scripture to support their views. See here and here.) Why, then, did Sharma end up agreeing with his offended workers? In response to those employees who brought our video to his attention he wrote, It means a lot to me personally and those of us working on this across the Ads and YouTube teams. YouTube is an open platform and we support the free expression of creators with a wide range of views. Except that this open platform with free expression for a wide range of views only goes so far. One dare not transgress LGBTQ sensitivities. One dare not present biblical truth in love when that truth is deemed offensive. Better to try and muzzle the Scriptures which, in the end, cannot be muzzled than allow a video which violates no guidelines to be advertised. Sharma continued, But we dont allow advertising that disparages people based on who they are including their sexual orientation and we remove ads that violate this basic principle. And herein lies the rub. I did not disparage anyone on the video. Not once. I simply stated what Gods Word says, simply and clearly and directly. Sharma might say in response, What are you talking about? You said that you cannot be a true follower of Jesus and practice homosexuality at the same time. Thats disparaging people based on who they are based on their sexual orientation. To the contrary, I simply repeated what Gods Words says and what the Synagogue and Church have believed for millennia. Not only so, but in the video I made clear that no one is condemned for having feelings or attractions. The issue is whether we act on those feelings or attractions. And that, in fact, is our choice. I also repeated what Gods Word said in terms of change, namely, that some Christians used to practice homosexuality but no longer do (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). This was true in Pauls day, and it is true today. So, Googles battle is with the Bible, meaning that, if I simply produced a video reading relevant Bible verses on the subject, that video would not be suitable for advertising either. (Maybe Ill try that as an experiment!) It would be one thing if Google said, Lets be sure this video is only advertised on conservative Christian channels. That would have been perfectly fine, and we would have fully respected that. Our goal was to equip believers with truth, not provoke LGBT viewers on their own channels. But that was not to be. Sharma concluded that, After careful and multiple reviews over the course of a few days, our teams decided to remove the ad in question here as it violates our policy. Weve communicated this to the advertiser and have been in touch with creators who have been actively engaged on this issue. In short then, biblical content about homosexual practice, spoken accurately and with love, violates Googles policy. Forget any semblance of Google trying to be even-handed. Forget any idea that Google actually makes a serious effort to recognize the diversity of views on socially divisive subjects. Not a chance. The biblical worldview must be blocked. It cannot be promoted on YouTube. We had learned last week that Google employees felt our video was very counter to [their] mission. Now, weve learned a little more about Googles internal workings, and what we learned confirmed our worst concerns. Equality and diversity do not exist in Google. Fairness and tolerance are nothing better than codewords for unfairness and intolerance. Certain groups cannot and must not be offended, even with biblical truth. A line in the cyber-sand has been drawn, and those who cross that line will be punished. But theres more that needs to be said, so allow me to be totally candid. I truly feel bad for Google, as powerful as it is. In Gods sight, like the greatest human empires, it will be here today and gone tomorrow. In stark contrast, Gods Word will stand forever (see Isaiah 40:7-8; Matthew 24:35), long after Google is a forgotten thing of the past. In that light, I truly hope Google will right its ship and allow for the promotion of Bible-based videos like ours. If not, ultimately, it will be their loss, not mine. For the moment, please share our video with your social networks and give it a thumbs up on YouTube. And if you feel discouraged at any point, remember Pauls simple words: For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth (2 Corinthians 13:8). Truth will always triumph in the end. Nigeria genocide: 9 more, including children, killed by armed men in Kaduna; houses burned Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Nine more people have been killed and more homes have been destroyed as Fulani violence in Nigerias troubling Kaduna state has seen the death of dozens upon dozens of Christians in the last few weeks. Kaduna Gov. Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai confirmed that the latest attack occurred on Saturday morning in the Sanga local government area of the Kaduna state, which lies in the northern part of Nigerias Middle Belt. The security agencies have so far recovered nine corpses, including children, El-Rufai said in a statement. The attackers also burnt several houses in the village. The government condemns this attack on the lives and security of citizens and appeals to our communities to resist those who do not want peace. The governors statement vowed that the government, security agencies and religious institutions will work towards creating "sustainable peace. In this moment of grief, we must come together to defeat the machinations of those who have no notion of respect for the lives of others, Rufai said. Violence has left an unacceptable toll of death and injury, loss of livelihoods, pain and fear. We must overcome this by respecting our common humanity, settling differences peacefully and promptly reporting threats and suspicions to the appropriate authorities. Evil will never triumph over our common humanity. In addition to security agencies being deployed to the district, the State Emergency Management Agency has been directed to provide relief to the impacted community. Although the perpetrators of the latest attack have not been identified, the attack comes just a few days after a Christian human rights group warned that at least 120 Christians have been killed by Fulani militant attacks on various areas in Kaduna since the beginning of February. Last Monday, at least 52 people were killed and at least 140 homes were reportedly destroyed in the Maro district of the Kajuru Local Government Area in Kaduna by suspected Fulani militants. In late February, another attack in the Maro district saw the loss of at least 32 lives and the destruction of homes and a church. While the Kaduna state has been the hardest hit by the recent string of violence, there were at least 70 Christian deaths that occurred between the last week of December 2018 and first week of March 2019 in the Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau and Benue States, according to the Nigeria-based NGO International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law. In 2018, it was reported that thousands of Christians in the Middle Belt were killed by Fulani radicals. As Agence France Press notes, Nigerias Middle Belt has suffered from years-long violence between mostly Muslim Fulani cattle herders and indigenous Christian grain farmers. Some Christian leaders, however, have rejected the narrative that the Fulani violence against Christian farmers is a simple farmers/herdsmen clash. Last year, Christian leaders accused the federal government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is from a Fulani family, of pushing false propaganda and deceit while pushing a policy idea to establish cattle ranches and colonies on the ancestral farming lands of the attacked communities. Although the violence between the Fulani herders and Christian farmers have been territorial, it has been noted that the violence in recent years has taken on religious dimensions. Stephen Enada, the co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria who fled from Nigeria after his own cousin was killed by Fulani radicals in the Benue state, told The Christian Post last year that Fulani militants have begun to take after radical Islamic groups like Boko Haram. He recounted the similarities in the way Fulani militants are now attacking communities and farms with sophisticated weapons in order to drive out the population and occupy the lands. Recently we have seen Fulani militias have Boko Haram branding and wreaking havoc in communities with sophisticated weapons and anyone who stands in their way is killed or decimated, he said. When this happens, they occupy. "It is not that they are unknown. It is just that government is looking the other way, Enada added. If someone is a terrorist and overruns a community, the government should make sure certain people are arrested and prosecuted." Buhari condemned the violence and the ethnic and religious bigotry in a statement Saturday. However, he stressed that all communities involved must find a lasting solution. [The] lack of cooperation by those involved might frustrate governments efforts towards finding a lasting solution, especially if those efforts are politicized, Buhari said in a statement released through an assistant. If the people resist governments efforts to hold the perpetrators and their sponsors accountable, it would be very difficult to bring the violence to a permanent end. Nigeria ranks as the 12th worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2019 World Watch List. Andrea Leadsom says parents should be allowed to choose when children learn about LGBT issues Andrea Leadsom appeared to come down on the side of parents in an ongoing dispute over the teaching of LGBT issues in schools. Parkfield Community School in Birmingham dropped its No Outsiders teaching programme, which covers LGBT relationships, after dozens of parents protested outside the school gates and withdrew their children from classes. Four more schools in Birmingham have since decided to stop teaching the programme after complaints from parents, the BBC reports. Leadsom, the Leader of the House, told LBC radio's Nick Ferrari that while she believed it was right that children learn about gay and lesbian relationships, parents should be entitled to have a say on whether their kids "are exposed to that kind of information". "I think that it's right that the government should have passed legislation that requires that relationships and sex education is taught in schools," she said. "But at the same time, I also agree that it's right that parents should be able to choose the moment at which their children become exposed to that information. "And there are steps taken to enable parents to withdraw their children from classes up to a certain age." Asked whether she believed it was appropriate for children as young as five to receive such lessons, she said: "I would be entirely happy for my children to grow up finding that their LGBT classmates are exactly the same as them. "One of my own kids was in a class with a friend who had two mums and that was absolutely normal right from a very young age. "I think it's important that we absolutely accept equality in every area whilst at the same time respecting that parents may have concerns about how young their children are when they become aware of these things." Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman angered people of faith last month when she came out in defence of the No Outsiders programme and said that schools must teach children that some families "have two mummies or two daddies" irrespective of their basis of faith. "It's making sure they know just enough to know that some people prefer not to get married to somebody of the opposite sex and that sometimes there are families that have two mummies and two daddies," she told the BBC. "It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill." She went on to say that most faith schools were managing to meet their legal obligations, "even those which clearly teach that homosexuality is not right in their faith." The Christian Institute, however, said lessons on lesbian and gay relationships should be left until secondary school. Christian Institute Director Colin Hart accused Ofsted of being "side-tracked into identity politics" when instead it should be focusing on the quality of children's education. "Not every controversial issue has to be covered in primary schools," he said. "The idea of teaching ever more detail about sex to ever younger children is deeply worrying. Treating parents who object as homophobes is not the answer. They just want to protect their child's innocence." He added: "Instead of listening to parents or allaying their concerns, the Chief Inspector of Schools seems to be casting doubts on their integrity. Implying that parents' desire to protect their own children is from fear, ignorance or possibly even homophobia." Catholic journalist investigated by police after 'misgendering' daughter of trans rights campaigner A Catholic Herald journalist contacted by police over allegedly "misgendering" the daughter of a trans rights campaigner has called the investigation into her a "public witch hunt". Caroline Farrow, a mother of five, faces questioning by police after allegedly using the wrong pronoun in a Twitter exchange with Susie Green after the pair appeared together on Good Morning Britain last year. Mrs Farrow, a Catholic, believes that people cannot change sex and said on GMB that single sex spaces should be protected. Mrs Green is the chair of trans campaign group Mermaids and mother of Jackie Green, who was born as a male called Jack before undergoing sex change surgery. According to an ITV report, Mrs Green found Mrs Farrow's comments to be "distressing" and "spiteful". Had a message from Guildford police tonight about my tweets following an appearance on @GMB with Susie Green and Piers Morgan. Susie Green has reported me for misgendering her daughter. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 18, 2019 Mrs Farrow says Surrey Police told her that she had "misgendered Susie Green's daughter" and that an investigation into her comments under the malicious communications act was "ongoing". She also said she was asked to come in for a "taped interview" into the complaint. Mrs Farrow was invited to discuss the case with Green on the Victoria Derbyshire show on the BBC on Wednesday but said she declined because of the investigation. "One of the reasons for declining. All I know is that I have allegedly misgendered. I have not been shown the offending tweets," she said. This is a public witch-hunt. Whether or not I am in breach of the Malicious Communications Act or have broken the law needs to be investigated by the police & a court of law. Not the @vicderbyshire show. Caroline Farrow (@CF_Farrow) March 20, 2019 Hate crimes carry a sentence of up to two years in prison. Mrs Farrow said she could not remember posting offensive tweets about Mrs Green's daughter and insists she has done nothing wrong. "I have done nothing wrong, nothing illegal and will happily do jail time for my right to say that people cannot change sex," she said. She added that her family had been harassed and that they had been the subject of "violent and sexual threats". "And the police do nothing," she said. Drop in support for Trump among white evangelicals, latest poll reveals Support for Donald Trump among white evangelical Protestants has fallen by 9 percentage points since 2017 - but more non-white Catholics are getting behind the president, new figures show. In February 2017, Trump's approval rating among white evangelicals stood at 78 per cent, but by last month, this had fallen to 69 per cent. The dip in support among white evangelical Protestants is the biggest among the racial religious demographic groups surveyed by the Pew Research Center. Support among white Catholics also fell from 52 percent in 2017 to 44 percent in 2019. Despite the findings, support for Trump among white evangelical Protestants remains consistently higher than among other faith demographics. But among some faith demographics, President Trump appears to have made inroads, with support among non-white Catholics doubling from 13 per cent in February 2017 to 26 per cent in February 2019. Overall Catholic support for the president remained at 36 per cent during the same period. "White evangelicals' support for the president has been consistently high, and many prominent evangelical leaders, such as Jerry Falwell Jr. the president of Liberty University have steadfastly stood with the president," said Pew. But the research group added that the generally high approval ratings among white evangelical Protestants does not mean that they don't have any reservations about him, as confirmed by an August 2018 survey which found that around half did not think he had set a high moral standard for the presidency since taking office. "Some prominent evangelical leaders, such as Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, have expressed ambivalence about Trump and concern about some of his policies. Others, such as Beth Moore, founder of Living Proof Ministries, openly oppose the president," it said. While white evangelical Protestant support is consistently high, the opposite can be said for religiously unaffiliated Americans, including atheists and agnostics. Support for Trump was lowest in this group, having only a 24 per cent approval rating of the president in February 2017 and a 20 per cent approval rating by February 2019. "Religiously unaffiliated Americans consistently express among the lowest levels of approval of Trump's performance, ranging from 17% to 27% across the polls the Center has conducted since the president assumed office," added Pew. A separate poll by Morning Consult poll last week was further evidence of the reservations held by some Christians over Trump's behaviour. The survey asked 2,201 adults whether Trump had been right to sign Bibles during a visit to victims of the tornadoes in Alabama. White evangelicals were more likely to find it "inappropriate" (45 per cent) as opposed to "appropriate" (35 per cent), but taking all Christian respondents into consideration, 65 per cent believed it to be "inappropriate" while only a quarter (24 per cent) said it was "appropriate". Voters to decide fate of Christian MP jailed after speeding offence A petition has been opened to decide the future of disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, who served 28 days of a three-month prison sentence for perverting the course of justice. Voters in her Peterborough constituency have until 5pm on May 1 to decide whether the 35-year-old Christian should be allowed to keep her seat. According to the Evening Standard, the MP has continued to receive her 77,379 salary despite her conviction last December after being accused of lying about a speeding offence. She is sitting as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party following her conviction. She did not automatically lose her seat because her sentence was less than 12 months, but under the terms of the recall petition, Ms Onasanya will be forced to step down if 10 per cent of eligible voters - around 7,000 people - sign the petition in favour of her removal. If she loses her seat, a by-election will be triggered, although Ms Onasanya will be allowed to stand for re-election. Despite Ms Onasanya maintaining her innocence, the courts concluded that she had colluded with her brother Festus to avoid penalty points after her car was found doing 41 mph in a 30 mph zone in July 2017. Festus received a 10-month prison sentence after admitting perverting the course of justice. In a WhatsApp message to other Labour MPs after her conviction she compared herself to people in the Bible, including Jesus, who had been wrongly accused. She said: "In times like these the natural inclination of believers is to ask God why? I personally do not, because in my experience the answers are usually far above and beyond my reach. What I do know is that I am in good biblical company along with Joseph, Moses, Daniel and his three Hebrew friends who were each found guilty by the courts of their day. "While God did not save them from a guilty verdict he did save them in it and ensured that their greatest days of impact were on the other side of a guilty verdict. Of course this is equally true of Christ who was accused and convicted by the courts of his day and yet this was not his end but rather the beginning of the next chapter in his story." In a social media post the day before the petition opened, she continued to plead her innocence, saying she had "not been able to share my side" in response to the extensive media coverage of her case. She said in the video: "From the outset, I have maintained my innocence. I have not perverted the course of justice. I have not colluded with my brother. My defence was never put across in the media." She continued: "But what would you do if you knew you were innocent? Would you sit back and accept it? Would you accept the verdict knowing in your heart of hearts that you are innocent? Or would you fight to clear your name? "I am telling you I am innocent and will continue to pursue avenues to clear my name." Where was God during Purim? The festival of Purim takes place tonight. Our road will be closed for the carnival and the biblical book of Esther will be read all over the world tonight and tomorrow morning. In some places, especially in Israel, the festival is extended until Friday. Everywhere, people dress up and make a loud noise (preferably with a rattle) every time the name of the wicked chief minister, 'Haman', is pronounced during the reading of the 'scroll of Esther', known as the Megillah. During Purim people also get drunk, stop cars, demand money for charity and generally behave differently from normal. Why is the story of Purim, featuring Queen Esther, so important to Jews all over the world? The story depicts the first attempted genocide of the Jews in Jewish history, which took place in Persia. It is a typical story of diaspora. It is also the only biblical book in which G-d's name is missing. Why is G-d's name missing from this one biblical book? Surely the book of Esther describes how G-d saved the Jewish people from certain destruction at the hands of the wicked chief minister, Haman, and his master Ahasuerus (usually considered to be the Persian monarch, Xerxes). So why doesn't G-d get a mention? What the story is telling us is that G-d can be there in absentia, while human beings wrestle with doing the right thing. Queen Esther was just a simple Jewish girl who was instructed by her uncle Mordechai to save her people from certain death by marrying the enemy, King Ahasuerus. The story is both convoluted and complex, but involves a beauty parade, a harem, feasting, drinking, resourcefulness and cunning. The wicked Haman who wanted to destroy the Jews is regarded as a descendant of Amalek whom, in Deuteronomy 25: 17-19, we are instructed to 'remember'. Last Shabbat, after the main biblical reading, in shuls all over the world Jews added the following words from Deuteronomy to remind us of the upcoming festival: 'Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way, when you were leaving Egypt. That he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those of you who were straggling, weakened, at the rear, when you were faint and exhausted. And in addition, he did not fear G-d. It shall come to pass that when the Lord your G-d gives you respite from all your enemies all around, in the Land that the Lord, your G-d, is giving you as an inheritance to possess it, you will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!' The idea of Amalek and his descendants is still with us. I was reminded of this when I bumped into my oldest and closest friend we went to school together over 50 years ago. Given the time of year, she reminded me of what her mother (now aged 94) went through as a child in Bergen Belsen concentration camp. A young teenager from Poland, Manya lost everyone except her brother, Chaim, who went through 8 concentration camps, ending up in Buchenwald, where Manya eventually found him after the War. How did Manya survive Bergen Belsen? She told me that she had been a very sickly child always ill and off school. But somehow in Belsen, she managed to remain well and bumped into her cousin, also interred in Belsen, who went down with typhus. Manya nursed her cousin, even sharing the same container of water, without any ill effects. Eventually, in 1945, the British army arrived and Manya and her cousin were set free, but not before they had been made to go on a long march, which nearly finished them off. The Nazis knew that the war was over and that the Germans had lost, but their last act of defiance was to insist on making sure that the weakest and least resistant, the skeletal residue of the 6 million, would be exterminated just for the sake of it. This is Amalek causeless hatred and murderousness in the centre of Europe. And this is also what the Jews had to put up with as a tiny minority in the vast Persian Empire. There was no reason for Haman to need to kill them: the Jews were a tiny people who did not constitute a threat to anyone. Amalek therefore represents inexplicable monstrous ruthlessness and inhumanity. These traits are still with us in the 21st century. The Jews of Persia survived through the courage of two people, Esther and Mordechai. Similarly, those people who survived the Holocaust were often those who helped others in the camps. Survivors had to make heroic efforts to overcome depressive thoughts and think of others instead. Where was G-d in all this? G-d was there in the humanity which managed to survive the horrors. As Mordechai tells Esther (chapter 4: 13-14): 'Do not imagine that just because you are in the King's palace, you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you persist in keeping silent at a time like this, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from some other place, while you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether in fact it was for such a time as this that you were raised to royalty.' In other words, to refrain from acting when we are in a position to do so is as serious a shortcoming as being a perpetrator. If we are in a position to act, we should do so. This is the mission of human beings. And that is why G-d appeared to absent Himself, both in Persia and in the death camps of Europe. We should always ask ourselves not 'Where was G-d?' But 'where were people?' And this is why the festival of Purim celebrates our joy at having survived catastrophe. And is quickly followed one month later by the festival of Pesach and the Exodus from Egypt. Both spring festivals remind us that in seemingly impossible situations we should not be slaves to inertia. Instead we should remember that we are made in G-d's image and should therefore have especial regard for the weak, the straggler, the stranger, the abandoned, the other. That is our only security in life. All else is illusion. Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible. 5 minutes with... Shibata Zeshins The Narrow Road to Shu Specialist Takaaki Murakami reveals why this scroll painting made with lacquer, which sold for $275,000, represents a triumph of innovation in a centuries-old tradition Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) has been hailed as Japans greatest lacquer artist. According to Takaaki Murakami, Head of Sale for Japanese and Korean Art at Christies, he should also be celebrated as an innovator. Zeshin reinvented the medium, argues the specialist, especially in his later life. In 1854, after more than 200 years of self-imposed isolation, Japan opened itself up to trade and diplomacy with the rest of the world by agreeing to the Treaty of Kanagawa. The sudden influx of foreigners contributed to a complex period characterised by rapid modernisation, fuelled by the exchange of ideas with the West, and disruption to longstanding Japanese traditions. The Narrow Road to Shu dates from 1877, by which time Zeshin had witnessed the great transition from the feudal society of the Edo period (1615-1868) to the enlightened, Westernised Meiji period (1868-1912). Shibata Zeshin (Japan, 1807-1891), The Narrow Road to Shu. 20 x 15 in (51 x 38 cm), excluding mount. Sold for $275,000 on 20 March 2019 at Christies in New York Zeshin was aged 71 when he signed this painting, and attempting to merge the style and design sensibilities of Edo-period Japan with those of the new order. The scene a treacherous path in the mountains of Shu in Chinas Szechuan Province was popular among artists of the Edo period. A precarious plank bridge meanders horizontally up and over the cascading river that cuts a deep gorge through the rugged mountains. At the far left, the gates and rooftops of the city of Chengdu can be glimpsed through the mist. This work is quite small, but it is filled with incredible detail, which give it an expressiveness and a forceful sense of three-dimensionality, says the specialist Zeshin was born in 1807 in the city of Edo renamed as Tokyo in 1868. His father was an architectural wood-carver. By the 1850s Zeshin had become a famous and commercially successful lacquer artist. In 1869 he was commissioned to work for the imperial government, which led to his appointment as an Artist of the Imperial Household one of only 53 artists to hold this distinction between 1890 and 1944. During the Meiji period, this was the emperors way of supporting domestic artists, explains Murakami. The emperor wanted to introduce Japanese art to the international market after the nations long period of isolation. Zeshin developed exciting new lacquer textures and finishes that mimicked rusty iron, rough seas, enamelled porcelain, patinated bronze, or the delicate grain of Chinese rosewood. In the 1870s he also perfected the art of painting with black and coloured lacquer onto paper and silk. Lacquer is not like a typical pigment: its a very viscous, thick material, and one that could be unwieldy when showing this much detail and depth Takaaki Murakami Historically lacquer had been used primarily on decorative objects, yet Zeshin found a way to manipulate the sticky sap of the lacquer tree as if it were oil paint. Notably, the lacquers he invented for this process were flexible so that, as with this scroll painting, they could be rolled up and transported. Its easy to overlook how difficult this was to achieve, says Murakami. Lacquer is not like a typical pigment: its a very viscous, thick material, and one that could be unwieldy when showing this much detail and depth. Sign up today The Online Magazine delivers the best features, videos, and auction news to your inbox every week Subscribe All consumers should be on alert for phony phone calls during tax season, but Texans may have less to worry about than residents of some other states, according to a new study by AllAreaCodes.com. Nevada topped the list of states most targeted by robocall phone scams, based on the ratio of consumer complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission per 100,000 people. AllAreaCodes.com analyzed 15 million complaints released by the FTC over the last three years to determine the ranking. San Antonio city leaders are expected to vote on Thursday to approve a deal to annex Halliburton's Eagle Ford Shale service center. In a March 7 letter, Halliburton Vice President Paul Sheppard asked the City of San Antonio to annex the company's 150-acre service center on the 4500 block of South Loop 1604. The request was placed on the San Antonio City Council agenda for Thursday morning. Under the proposed deal, the city would terminate a November 2016 agreement that kept Halliburton's property from being annexed and then enter into a new agreement where the city would annex the property and the company would receive property tax rebates into exchange for maintaining 500 high-paying jobs. Halliburton at 100: From wagons and mules to 21st century technology The Houston oilfield service company opened its San Antonio facility outside the city limits in September 2013 to serve customers in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. Halliburton entered into the November 2016 agreement to avoid being annexed for 10 years. Under that deal, the company agreed to maintain 500 jobs, make a one-time payment of $2 million to a city workforce development program and agreed to pay $1.5 million annually in place of property taxes. Bexar County Emergency Service District 6 began taxing Halliburton's property in 2017, prompting the company to seek annexation, the city council agenda item shows. Once the 2016 agreement is terminated, the San Antonio Economic Development Department is seeking permission from the city council to enter into a Chapter 380 Tax Rebate Agreement with Halliburton. If the council approves the Chapter 380 agreement, Halliburton would receive a partial refund for its 2019 payment as well as annual property tax rebates from 2020 to 2033 in exchange for maintaining 500 jobs at the service center. At least 350 of those jobs must pay more than $47,000 a year, a draft copy of the agreement shows. Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news headlines in your inbox Founded in 1919 and headquartered in Houston, Halliburton posted a $1.66 billion profit on $24 billion of revenue in 2018. Guns. In a divided era, few topics prompt a wider split. On one side of the cultural and political chasm: Gun owners. On the other side: Advocates for more gun control. Between them: a gulf filled with disparate worldviews, conflicting definitions of safety, cultural stereotypes and fear. How to cross it? "Opening up conversation between people right now in America is kinda difficult. Kinda touchy. Nobody's giving anyone the benefit of the doubt," said the playwright E.M. Lewis. "So the conversation is very much all or nothing. Which isn't helping. I think there are a million steps in between." In the coming week, two Albany events will put firearms front and center. The first is a gun show this weekend at the Polish Community Center on Washington Avenue. The second, set for March 27 down the road at the University at Albany, is "The Gun Show," Lewis' one-person play designed to break down assumptions and spark conversation on the topic. The juxtaposition of the events scheduled just a few days and a five-minute drive apart is pure coincidence. When they were planning it, the organizers of the gun show didn't know about "The Gun Show." And the artists behind "The Gun Show" didn't know about the gun show. But taken together, the two events turn a lens on a subject too often reduced to sweeping generalizations. To some on the left, their counterparts on the right are Second Amendment zealots. To some on the right, people on the left want to revoke it and seize their guns. The subject is so fraught that even the possibility for dialogue is open to question. "There's no changing their minds. ... The statistics that they throw out are like, you know, the Ten Commandments burnt into stone which they are not," said David Petronis, who's presenting this weekend's gun show with his wife, Cathy. The couple run both a gun shop in Mechanicville and NEACA Inc., which mounts shows around the Northeast usually, 20 a year in New York and Vermont. Among the many Petronis events over the years were the now-banned gun shows in Saratoga Springs' City Center. He's had many conversations with protesters, he said. To them, and to everyone with an argument against guns, "I would say: 'Open up your brains. Open up your minds.'" Lewis is sympathetic. Yes, she said, she gets his frustration with the left. "Although, honestly, I would say the right is no better." Directed by Robert Jordan who also helmed a staging at PS 21 in Chatham "The Gun Show" tries to open up minds on both sides of the chasm. "Our country, on this subject and so many other subjects, is so horribly polarized that it doesn't feel like we're talking with each other," Lewis said. "It doesn't feel like we're reaching for common ground and finding community with our neighbors. ... It's almost as though we don't live in the same country." More Information If you go "The Gun Show" Where: UAlbany Performing Arts Center, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27; a 10 a.m. Thursday, March 28, performance for school groups is sold out, but teachers can contact the PAC at 518-442-5738 or PAC@albany.edu to be put on the waiting list Tickets: In advance, $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff; $5 more day-of. Info: albany.edu/pac; 518-442-3997 Albany Arms Fair Where: Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave. Extension, Albany When: 9 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 23, and 9 a.m-3 p.m. Sunday, March 24; additional Friday hours for NEACA members Admission: $8 general, $7 senior; children under 14 free with adult Info: neaca.com See More Collapse The playwright was on the phone from rural Oregon, where she grew up in a family and in a world where guns were part of everyday life, whether for hunting or other uses. "But they were farm implements. They were tools, you know? I didn't think a thing of them when I was growing up." As guns entered her life in other ways, her views began to shift. The play, structured around five stories, follows Lewis' "increasingly complicated interactions with guns" starting with her childhood, then being taught to shoot by her future husband, then an account of being held up at a bookstore. The play climaxes with a dark and deeply personal story that cracks Lewis wide open, encouraging audience members to do the same in the post-play talk-back. "These were my experiences that I was trying to make sense of to see what we can do, both on a personal and on a political level," she said. "Because the play doesn't end by saying, 'This is what you should do.' It's not an essay. It's a play. It doesn't say, 'You should do this, and this is the answer.'" The idea, with both the piece and the discussion afterward, is to shake off political credos and stick, instead, to the personal. "When we deal in story, there's no arguing with someone's experience," said Christopher Smith, the actor channeling Lewis's voice in all five segments. "You take it as your experience and there's an openness that happens." "It sounds like a very interesting 'Gun Show,'" Petronis said. Still, he's skeptical. Told that it's meant to strip away bias, he cited a description of the play on the UAlbany website. "It mentions 'taking aim' we'll put that in quotes 'at America's most dangerous pastime.' That's kinda leaning real liberal left." He then referred to an online list of 25 dangerous pastimes, guns nowhere among them. Smith sees his point. "I mean, in all fairness, I can't say that he's wrong." The play's conversation occurs in the middle but the middle feels differently to folks on each side. "So it would probably feel very moderate to people who are very left. To someone who's very much on the right, it's not going to feel smack-dab in the middle. It's probably going to feel like it leans left." He, too, grew up with guns in Los Angeles, where his father once served on the highway patrol and his brother still does. "As young as I can remember, I was always around guns. My dad would take his handgun everywhere we went." Smith got his hunting license when he was 12 in that context, totally normal. "Guns were just always, for a lack of a better phrase, a non-scary part of my growing up. They were just always around." Years later, he was working in a restaurant when a shooting occurred outside. "Bullets came through the glass, and we dropped down on the ground. And I was on the floor of the restaurant while gunshots were coming through the front windows and thinking, 'Oh, this is perfect I'm going to die at the job that I hate.'" Two valet parking attendants were killed that night, hit by stray bullets. Now based in Manhattan, Smith doesn't hunt any longer and his views have shifted to the left. But if his dad asked him to join him for skeet-shooting, he'd go. It's fun, he said. The way he sees it, the disagreement boils down to safety: the left defines it one way, the right defines it the other. "What we all have in common is that we want to be safe. ... I don't know what the way forward is," he said, "but we're human beings. And we should be able to wrestle this with respect for each other." There are patches of common ground. According to a variety of polls, a sizable majority of gun owners support universal background checks. And, according to a February 2018 poll conducted by The Economist/YouGov, only one in five Americans support repealing the Second Amendment. Included among those who oppose doing so is a slim plurality of Democrats. Petronis doesn't buy it. "When they say they aren't against the Second Amendment, I think that's fictitious. That's a lie." But he likes the idea of finding a compromise, though he's hard-put to say what that might be. On the one hand, he worries about gun registration, calling it "the first step to gun confiscation." On the other hand, he'd be on board with a gun-owner's equivalent of an enhanced license something that automatically identifies a carrier as licensed and legally vetted. "There has to be some laws that are agreeable to both sides," he said. "And I believe in the NICS system" i.e., the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. "There's nothing wrong with it. We've done it for decades now. The NICS system is fine." With "The Gun Show," Lewis is looking to at least explore the idea of a middle ground. With that in mind, she said, "We should come to his gun show, and he should come to ours." Petronis, in fact, extended an invitation to all associated with it. He plans to attend Lewis' show; Smith might well attend Petronis'; Lewis will be staging the play this weekend elsewhere with a different actor, "so I can't take him up on it, but I would, I would." The play has been staged more than 30 times over the last five years. Does it give her hope? "It gives me glimmers of hope. What has given me the most glimmers of hope is that we have had people in the audience from all kinds of perspectives and experiences and political stances. We've had police officers, we've had military, we've had people on the right, on the left. and nobody leaves. "People stay and listen to the stories in the wake of that," she continued. "And that alone to come together in a room and say: 'We can sit together, and we can open up something together, something that's difficult, and we can act like a community.' That gives me hope." Petronis said he's looking forward to "The Gun Show." At the end of the play, during the discussion session, "I might jump up on top of the seat and wave my arms." But for now, he doubts the viability of a real, rational conversation. Is it possible across the divide? "No," he replied. No? "No." abiancolli@timesunion.com 518-454-5439 @AmyBiancolli NEW YORK Novelist Tommy Orange keeps winning awards. PEN America announced Tuesday that the author of There There, the most honored literary debut of 2018, has received the PEN/Hemingway award for distinguished new novel. Orange's previous awards included a prize from the National Book Critics Circle for best new book and the First Novel Prize from the Center for Fiction. There There is set in the Bay Area, its story of a loosely connected community of Native Americans culminating unforgettably at the Big Oakland Pow Wow. Orange, an Oakland native, is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. PEN/Hemingway judges Cristina Garcia, Dinaw Mengestu and Scott Simon called There There a devastatingly beautiful novel, as acutely attuned to our current cultural and political condition as it is to the indelible legacy of violence that brought us here. For the PEN/Hemingway award, Orange receives $25,000, along with a month-long fellowship at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. Ernest Hemingway's grandson Sean Hemingway will present the award to Orange at an April 7 ceremony at Boston's John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, where the late author's archives are stored. Previous winners include Colson Whitehead, Jhumpa Lahiri and George Saunders. Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater and Ling Mas Severance were runners-up for this year's award. After suffering a mild stroke, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo was discharged from St. Joseph Medical Center on Wednesday and has entered a rehabilitation program expected to last two weeks. "Based on recent trends, doctors expect the cardinal to make a full recovery," the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston said via a press release. For the first time, one of the top prizes in mathematics has been given to a woman. On Tuesday, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced it has awarded this years Abel Prize an award modeled on the Nobel Prizes to Karen Uhlenbeck, an emeritus professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The award cites the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics. One of Uhlenbecks advances in essence described the complex shapes of soap films not in a bubble bath but in abstract, high-dimensional curved spaces. In later work, she helped put a rigorous mathematical underpinning to techniques widely used by physicists in quantum field theory to describe fundamental interactions between particles and forces. In the process, she helped pioneer a field known as geometric analysis, and she developed techniques now commonly used by many mathematicians. She did things nobody thought about doing, said Sun-Yung Alice Chang, a mathematician at Princeton University who served on the five-member prize committee, and after she did, she laid the foundations of a branch of mathematics. Uhlenbeck, who now lives in Princeton, N.J., learned that she won the prize Sunday morning. When I came out of church, I noticed that I had a text message from Alice Chang that said, Would I please accept a call from Norway? Uhlenbeck said. When I got home, I called Norway back and they told me. Uhlenbeck, 76, a visiting associate at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, said she had not decided what to do with the $700,000 that accompanies the honor. There is no Nobel Prize in mathematics, and for decades, the most prestigious awards in math were the Fields Medals, awarded in small batches every four years to the most accomplished mathematicians who are 40 or younger. Maryam Mirzakhani, in 2014, is the only woman to receive a Fields Medal. The Abel, named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Hendrik Abel, is set up more like the Nobels. Since 2003, it has been given out annually to highlight important advances in mathematics. The previous 19 laureates in three years, the prize was split between two mathematicians were men, including Andrew J. Wiles, who proved Fermats last theorem and is now at the University of Oxford; Peter D. Lax of New York University; and John F. Nash Jr., whose life was portrayed in the movie A Beautiful Mind. In her early work, Uhlenbeck essentially figured out the shape of soap films in higher-dimensional curved spaces. This is an example of what mathematicians call optimization problems, which are often very difficult and can have zero solutions, one solution or many solutions. You can ask a question of when you have a soap bubble in this em>n/em>-dimensional space, she said. You dont know ahead of time what the shapes of those minimal soap bubbles are going to be. In 1983, at 41, she received broader recognition with a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called Genius Grant, which comes with a bundle of money $204,000 in Uhlenbecks case. In 1990, she became the second woman to give one of the highlighted plenary talks at the International Congress of Mathematicians, a quadrennial meeting. At each congress, there are 10 to 20 plenary talks, but for decades, all of the speakers had been men. That was almost more unnerving than being the first woman to receive an Abel, Uhlenbeck said. Uhlenbeck said she recognized that she was a role model for women who followed her in mathematics. Looking back now I realize that I was very lucky, she said. I was in the forefront of a generation of women who actually could get real jobs in academia. But she also noted: I certainly very much felt I was a woman throughout my career. That is, I never felt like one of the guys. To find an influential woman, she looked to television. Like many people in my generation, Uhlenbeck said, my role model was Julia Child. While rapid suburban growth is frequently viewed as a positive trend, that swelling in population and retail development is taking its toll in different ways, including water supply restraints and traffic woes. A study by the Demographics Research Group of the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service looks at the 66 major U.S. metros, measuring their growth from 1990 to 2015 by the number of miles from the inner city. ASTROS ON HoustonChronicle.com: Snowbirds say Astros could do more to get them to spring games Nationwide, the study corroborates Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Aaron Renn's "new donut" model, as CityLab points out. In "old donut" cities, prosperity is still concentrated in the suburbs. In "magnetic cities," there are no larger inner rings, and closer proximity to the city's core is preferred. The "old donut" and "magnetic cities" are exceptions. In "new donut" cities, it's the suburbs closest to the inner city that are seeing the most negative effects, while the inner city and "outer circle" suburbs are growing at manageable rate. That's because in those cities, younger and better educated residents are replacing older and lesser educated people in the inner city, thereby revitalizing those economies. We used the charts generated from this study to focus on Houston proper, 15 miles (inner suburb) from the inner city and 30 miles (outer suburb) from the inner city. Take a look at the changing population, income, education and race changes in Houston and its suburbs from 1990 to 2012 in the slides above. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Print Navigacia: > News > > The fourth edition of Industry Days is ready to kick off! The fourth edition of Industry Days is ready to kick off! The upcoming 26th International Film Clubs Festival Febiofest not only brings important films of key auteur directors, but continues to open up to Slovak and international industry guests. 4th Industry Days represents an important platform for film professionals, including the young upcoming generation to network and talk about their film projects. The Industry programme includes a presentation of upcoming Slovak films, a showcase of educational platforms for filmmakers and their impact on quality film projects, as well as further master classes and discussion panels. 4th Industry Days will take place March 25 26, 2019 in Bratislava, Kino Lumiere. The international guests of the event are Stefan Laudyn (Warsaw IFF), Andrei Tanasescu (Toronto IFF), Bernd Buder (FF Cottbus, Berlin IFF Forum section), Nikolaj Nikitin (Berlin IFF, training programme SOFA - School of Film Agents), Hugo Rosak (Karlovy Vary IFF Industry), Karel Och (Karlovy Vary IFF), Renata Santoro (Venice Days), Anna Ciennik (Les Arcs IFF Industry, training programme LiM Less is More), Philip Ilson (BFI London, London Short Film Festival), Miguel Ribeiro (DocLisboa), Rene Kubasek (Ji.hlava IDFF, training programme EMERGING PRODUCERS), Mihkel Riis (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival), Sarah Momesso (Clermont Ferrand ISFF), Magdalena Zelasko (Lets CEE Film Festival), Arnaud Godart (LOCO Films), Viktorija Cook (Film Republic), Yannick Rudinski (Fizz-e-Motion), Katarzyna Siniarska (New Europe Film Sales), Daniela Chlapikova Colle (Pluto Film), Furnkranz (Autlook Filmsales), Guillaume de Seille (Arizona Distribution), Vratislav Slajer (Bionaut), Barbora Struss (MIDPOINT), Tomas Potocny (dok.incubator), Al Williams (ACE Producers), Walter Nagy (East Doc Platform, EX ORIENTE FILM), Martin Demmer (Film Spring Open), and others. CATALOGUE OF INDUSTRY DAYS (for download) PROGRAM INDUSTRY DAYS 2019: MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019 10:00 | Kino Lumiere | K1 Presentation of upcoming Slovak projects Works in Progress Hosted by Rastislav Steranka | director NCC SFI 1. How I became a partisan, d. Vera Lackova SK CZ | far. | 72 min. | creative documentary | in development | Prod.: Media Voice / Vera Lackova, Jan Bodnar Presented by Vera Lackova (director, producer), Jan Bodnar (producer) 2. The Impossible Voyage, d. Noro Drziak SK CZ | far. | 90 min.| animated docudrama | in post-production | Prod.: MEDIA FILM / Michael Kabos Presented by Michael Kabos (producer) 3. AMNESTY, d. Jonas Karasek SK CZ | far. | 120 min. | political thriller | in post-production | Prod.: AZYL Production / Maros Hecko, Natasa Duricova, Peter Veverka Presented by Natasa Duricova (producer), Viliam Strelinger (producer) 4. LITTLE KINGDOM, d. Peter Magat SK | far. | 90 min. | drama | in production | Prod.: FilmFrame / Zuzana Chadimova, Brano Chlpik Presented by Zuzana Chadimova (producer), Brano Chlpik (producer) 5. Ema & Death's-Head, d. Iveta Grofova SK CZ | far.| 100 min. | drama | in development | Prod.: PubRes / Zuzana Mistrikova, Lubica Orechovska Presented by Iveta Grofova (director), Zuzana Mistrikova (producer) 6. Homeland of Silence, d. Stefania Lovasova SK | far. | 30 min. | drama | in development | Prod.: VSMU / Michaela Kaliska Presented by Stefania Lovasova (director), Michaela Kaliska (producer) - Coffee break (15 min.) - followed by presentation of the training programme Pop Up Film Residency by Matthieu Darras. 7. TEAM BUILDING, d. Adina Popescu, Iulian Ghervas RO SK | far. | 90 min. | comedy, social documentary | in production | Prod.: LEON Productions / David Corba Presented by Adina Popescu (director), David Corba (producer) 8. Fightback, d. Peter Beganyi SK | far. | 78 min. | drama, historic, action | in development | Prod.: Piknik Pictures / Peter Beganyi Presented by Michaela Kralova (producer), Sona Cermakova-Ulicna (producer) 9. A LITTLE BIT UTOPIC or being a human, d. Vladislava Sarkany SK | far. | 80 min. | creative documentary | in production | Prod.: sarkany / Vladislava Sarkany Presented by Vladislava Sarkany (director, producer), Andrea Biskupicova (executive producer) 10. The Sailor, d. Lucia Kasova SK | far.| 80 min. | creative documentary | in production | Prod.: TOXPRO / Nazarij Klujev Presented by Lucia Kasova (director), Nazarij Klujev (producer) 11. BUNKER, d. Gyorgy Kristof SK RO HU | far. | 80 min. | dance film | in development | Prod.: Silverart / Katarina Krnacova Presented by Katarina Krnacova (producer) 12:30 | Bistro St. Germain Networking brunch 14:00 | Kino Lumiere | Kafehaus Barzzuz One-to-One meetings 15:30 | Kino Lumiere | K2 Training platforms presentation Nowadays, filmmakers have numerous opportunities to develop both, theoretical and practical experience by participating in various international training programs and platforms. Those are aimed at various professions and stages of film production. Presentation of eight training platforms with different focuses will offer a basic overview of available film education possibilities. Hosted by Premysl Martinek | artistic director of IFCF Febiofest Training platforms: THE POP UP FILM RESIDENCY POP UP FILM RESIDENCY intends to bring the best of what artistic residencies usually offer, together with a truly individualized mentorship program. Each residency is unique, specific to the needs of the project, and as a matter of fact only hosts one resident at a time. Presented by Matthieu Darras More information: http://popupfilmresidency.org/ MIDPOINT MIDPOINT is a training and networking platform for script and project development operating under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. It is aimed at creative teams of writers, directors and producers from Central and Eastern Europe. Presented by Barbora Struss More information: https://www.midpoint-center.eu/ ACE PRODUCERS ACE PRODUCERS is an exclusive network of experienced independent film producers from Europe and beyond. Membership of the network is based on professionalism, mutual trust, collaborative working, and openness to new ideas. A fundamental aim of ACE PRODUCERS is to encourage and enable international co-productions. Presented by Al Williams More information: https://ace-producers.com/ EMERGING PRODUCERS EMERGING PRODUCERS is an industry flagship project of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and the only one of its kind designed for documentary film producers in Europe. Every year, it selects 18 talented producers (17 European and one representing a guest country), for whom is provided educational, networking, and promotional support. Presented by Rene Kubasek More information: https://www.ji-hlava.com/emerging-producers FILM SPRING OPEN For the past 13 years, FILM SPRING OPEN has been focused on comprehensive education in the audiovisual arts, using cutting edge technology and future-oriented professionals to engage with young students, graduates, artists, producers, programmers and technicians involved in the audiovisual industry. Presented by Martin Demmer More information: https://filmspringopen.eu/en/ SOFA SCHOOL OF FILM AGENTS SOFA School of Film Agents invites young film agents for a workshop training to Wroclaw, Poland. The programs special quality is its unique target group: upcoming film professionals From Central and Eastern Europe, Germany, Greece, Central Asia and the republics of Caucasus. SOFA doesnt aim to educate film directors or producers. SOFA supports culture promoters, mediators, and catalyzers with unique film/cinema project ideas for the local and international audience in their country of origin in all possible creative shapes. Presented by Nikolaj Nikitin More information: http://www.joinsofa.org/ EX ORIENTE FILM EX ORIENTE FILM is an international training programme for documentary professionals supporting the development and funding of creative documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe. The core of the EX ORIENTE FILM workshop is based on three week-long residential workshops held over 9 months. Presented by Walter Nagy More information: https://dokweb.net/activities/ex-oriente-film/2018/about LESS IS MORE LIM Less Is More is the European platform for project development of limited budget feature films. The aim of LIM is to help writers and writer/directors integrate cost constraints into script development. The scheme is open to 1st, 2nd and 3rd feature film projects, as well as to artists coming from theatre, documentary and visual arts. Presented by Anna Ciennik More information: https://lim-lessismore.eu/ DOK.INCUBATOR DOK. INCUBATOR, an international documentary rough-cut workshop, provides six-months of individual tutoring by top internationally-active editors, producers and distributors. For six months, the workshop inspires teams of eight selected films from all over the world, each represented by three team members (producer, director, editor). Presented by Tomas Potocny More information: https://dokincubator.net/ 18:30 | Kino Lumiere | K2 KineDok Conference: Every Wall Is a Door 22:00 | Luna Bar | Hotel Kyjev Industry party TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019 11:00 | Kino Lumiere | K2 Panel discussion: Slovak Film Commission presents... The Slovak film industry has been impatiently anticipating the establishment of Slovak Film Commission (SFC), as there previously hadnt been any institution offering services and locations at foreign events in a coherent manner, like it is in other countries. Film commissioner Zuzana Bielikova and her team will talk about what is the agencys job and what are its plans for the Slovak film industry in the near future. In the second half of the panel, the SFC will present representatives from the surrounding regional film agencies and the possibilities of filming or obtaining funding from regional funds. Part of of the panel will be the presentation of Slovak Business Agency. Slovak Business Agency (SBA) will present the possibilities of using free services of the National Business Center and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. You will learn new ways to travel free of charge to an international conference and market in the EU, how to get a free consultant to help you write grant applications. Find out how you can take part in seminars, lectures and lessons for free workshops to help you start your business or move it up. Have you heard about the European Youth Exchange Program? Panelists : Zuzana Bielikova, Eva Pospisilova | Slovak Film Commission Ivana Kosulicova | Brno Film Office Magdalena Hladka | Zlin Film Office Marijana Stoisits | Vienna Film Commission Szymon Witkowski | Krakow Film Commission The platform Industry Days is organized by IFCF Febiofest, Association of Slovak Film Clubs and Slovak Film Institute. The platform Industry Days is supported by Audiovisual Fund, Creative Europe Desk Slovak Republic. Related AIC Articles: Febiofest Industry Days 2018 Febiofest Industry Days 2017 Houston city officials speaking Tuesday at a District E town hall meeting outlined planned projects for the Clear Lake/Ellington area that will include the widening of El Dorado Boulevard. Construction of the $5.5 million El Dorado project, a joint effort with Harris County that will widen and improve the road from Clear Lake City Boulevard to south of Horsepen Bayou, is scheduled to begin in the fall and be completed in spring 2021, capital improvements director Michael Ereti told an audience of about 80 residents and lawmakers at Johnson Space Center. The city is planning to complete more than 50 rehabilitation projects that will focus on pavement and drainage in the Clear Lake/Ellington area within a year, Ereti and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told the gathering. Ereti said there was a plan for 2,119 capital improvement projects for District E, which includes Clear Lake and Kingwood and has 223,953 residents. Those projects include the construction of 1,620 lane miles of streets, 460 miles of drains and ditches, 19 parks, 12 fire stations, four medical facilities, two police stations and two other community-based projects, he said. District E Councilman Dave Martin spoke about flooding and infrastructure problems in his district and how he has worked to improve those areas over the last six years. You can ask people to rebuild homes. You can get businesses to come back to the community. But if we cant get the flooding under control, then whats the point? he said. Ereti referred to a $3.2 million repaving of Martinville Road completed last summer in Pasadena from Richey Street to Kolb Road. The citys chief recovery officer, Stephen Costello, spoke about the Texas Infrastructure Resilience Fund, which focuses on projects to prepare the city and state for future hurricanes and natural disasters. He urged residents to contact state representatives to support proposed senate bills 7 and 500, which would initiate and activate the fund. The total funding from Senate Bill 500 would amount to $1.65 billion to be divided into use for public assistance, hazard mitigation and other purposes. Turner spoke about the $2.5 billion bond to combat flooding over the next 20 years, which was approved by voters in August. I intend to hold true to the project represented to the voters, he said. The bond will cost taxpayers 2 to 3 cents per $100 of home value. It will also provide local matching money for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. tyler.johnson@chron.com Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners will hold an electronic auction in April for domestically produced crude oil to be exported from its Houston Ship Channel terminal. In a Wednesday morning statement, Enterprise announced the auction of West Texas Intermediate crude oil would take place on April 4. Chicago-based trading firm CME Group will conduct the online auction on behalf of Enterprise. "With the recent success of the first ever electronic auction of U.S. crude oil for export, the market has demonstrated its demand for transparency, efficiency, accurate physical pricing and access to reliable supplies of crude oil with consistent quality standards," Enterprise Senior Vice President Brent Secrest said in a statement. Earnings: Enterprise closes 2018 with $4.1 billion profit amid record exports The auction will be the second to take place since the launch of a physically delivered NYMEX WTI Houston Crude Oil futures contract in November 2018. Using Enterprise's distribution network, the Houston futures contract has access to more than 4 million barrels per day of crude oil, 45 million barrels of crude oil storage and 18 deepwater docks. Less than four years after the federal government lifted a ban on exporting crude oil, Enterprise has become the largest exporter of crude oil in the United States accounting for nearly 40 percent of crude oil shipments abroad. Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news headlines in your inbox Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Houston, Enterprise Products Partnersreported making $4.2 billion profit on $36.5 billion of revenue in 2018. The company is trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol EPD. Natalie Portman heads for the stars in upcoming space drama "Lucy in the Sky," but she finds that coming back down to Earth is a lot tougher. In the new teaser trailer released Tuesday, we see female astronaut Lucy Cola (Portman) suited up for a mission, kissing her husband Drew (Dan Stevens) goodbye before being blasted into space. LOCAL: Movies filmed or set in your Houston-area neighborhood "You got to see the vast celestial everything and it blew your mind, so now nothing makes sense," fellow astronaut Mark Goodwin, played by Jon Hamm, tells Cola after her lengthy mission. The pair embark on an affair that destroys Cola's family, sends her entire life on a downward spiral and into a bitter love triangle. "Lucy in the Sky" reunites Stevens with "Legion" creator Noah Hawley, and also stars Zazie Beetz, Ellen Burstyn, Colman Domingo and Nick Offerman. Only on HoustonChronicle.com: These are the 50 greatest Texas movies ever. Ever. The Fox Searchlight Pictures film is loosely based on NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak's reported criminal activities around her romantic involvement with fellow astronaut William Oefelein. Nowak flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in July 2006, but the following year she was charged with the attempted kidnapping of U.S. Air Force Cpt. Colleen Shipman, who also had an affair with Oefelein. She reportedly drove from Houston to Orlando and followed Shipman in the middle of the night. Nowak ultimately pled guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to a year's probation. "Lucy in the Sky" is set for release later this year. This article originally appeared on The Wrap. PREVIEW: Get experts picks for concerts, kids stuff, fine arts, movies and more delivered to your inbox weekly. The Toyota Center turned Pink for the third time on Tuesday as part of the Beautiful Trauma World Tour, with help from special guest, Julia Michaels. Touring in support of her 2017 album, the concert included the songs "Barbies," "For Now," "I am Here," and "Revenge." Pink also served up nostalgia with songs like "Get the Party Started" and "Just Like a Pill." The number of people who die by suicide in Fort Bend County is on the rise, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office. I believe that the No. 1 issue we face in this county as well as this state and this nation is mental illness, said Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls at a Katy Area Chamber of Commerce business leaders breakfast on Tuesday. The number of people that attempt to take away their lives and then those that are successful is mind-boggling to me. Nehls did not provide statistics but said that almost every day, Fort Bend County deputies respond to incidents where someone is attempting or has died by suicide. Two Fort Bend County residents took their own lives on Sunday, he said. Thirty-nine years old, had an argument with his wife, Nehls said. The kids were sleeping, thank goodness. It happens too often. It doesnt discriminate and doesnt matter your socioeconomic class. ON THE BALLOT: Former HPD officer to run for Fort Bend County sheriff in 2020 About 800,000 people die each year due to suicide, according to a 2018 World Health Organization report. For every one suicide, many more people attempt to take their own lives, according to the report. According to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, individuals with severe mental illness die at higher rates and on average 25 years earlier than those without mental illness. The suicide death rate in Texas has steadily risen over the past two decades. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among those between the age of 15 and 29, the WHO report said. Four months ago, Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office deputies responded to a scene where an 11-year-old had taken his own life, Nehls said. We just have to do better for humanitys sake, Nehls said. HOMETOWN HERO: Sugar Land Boy Scout saves life of 87-year-old neighbor Nehls referred to the recent shooting at two New Zealand mosques, as well as the 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas, shooting where a 26-year-old gunman shot and killed 26 people during church service. The shooter then turned the gun on himself, according to reports. Nehls said the stigma behind depression can be isolating for many people. He said that in many cases, people mix depression medications with drugs and alcohol to mask the pain, which creates a recipe for disaster. Other issues in Fort Bend County: Nehls also addressed the crime across Fort Bend County. Recent U.S. Census data shows that Fort Bend County is home to roughly 760,000 residents, most of which live in unincorporated parts of the county, but that number has exploded in recent years as roughly 25,000 to 30,000 people move to the county each year, Nehls said. How do we make you feel safe and secure in your home and when traveling around Fort Bend County? Nehls asked the three dozen people in the room. We do that with about $78 million and 819 employees. Since 2012 when Nehls took office residential burglaries have dropped, going from 1,672 to 578 in 2018, Nehls said. Nehls also said the county is in a holding pattern for a $4.7 million, 18,000 square-foot Katy-area stand-alone sheriffs facility, which would house about 60 patrol deputies and 12 detectives. The funds were part of bond approved by voters in 2015. The Katy facility would complement the recently finished, brand-new sheriffs office, which houses administration staff. michelle.iracheta@chron.com The creators of the Bacon Maple Bar and Portland Cream donut are bringing their "little doughnut shop that could" to Houston. Portland-based Voodoo Doughnut, from business partners Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson and Tres Shannon, is set to open at 3715 Washington Avenue late summer 2019, according to a press release on Tuesday. Also coming soon: Montrose cafe and bar going up in former Etro space No regular donut shop, the iconic Voodoo Doughnut is as known as much for its colorful interior and playful vibe as for its innovative donuts and pastries. "We look forward to contributing to the Houston community and are eager to find amazing people that thrive in a fun, high-energy environment to join the team," Pogson said in the release. "Get ready to see our iconic pink boxes in the coming year." Menu offerings at Voodoo Doughnut include the Voodoo Bubble donut, with vanilla frosting, bubble gum dust, and a piece wrapped bubble gum placed inside the donut hole, and the signature raspberry-jelly-filled Voodoo Doll donut topped with chocolate frosting. There's also a rolled donut, deemed the Maple Blazer Blunt, that's dusted with cinnamon sugar, and then dipped in maple frosting and red sprinkle embers. The Washington Avenue store, open 24/7, will feature a drive-thru window. FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: A sad dad. A sweet tweet. A happy ending for Billy's Donuts. Houston marks the second Texas outpost of Voodoo Doughnut. The Austin shop launched in 2015. Voodoo Doughnut also has locations in Oregon, Colorado, California and Florida. To see some of Voodoo Doughnut's creative eats, click through the photos above. Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Two Texas-based bands that have torn up the highways touring all over the country are coming home to the Lone Star State to highlight the Friday and Saturday concerts at the Montgomery County Fair. Lubbock-based Flatland Cavalry performs on Friday, March 29, following the rodeo. Native Texan William Clark Green performs on Saturday, March 30, following the rodeo. Flatland Cavalry lead vocalist Cleto Cordero said to expect music thats easy on the ears and heavy on the heart. He looks forward to performing at the fair because it gives the group an opportunity to connect with a variety of ages groups. You get to share your gifts and your storytelling with a whole spectrum of people, Cordero said in a phone interview. You dont get to do that very often. Cordero - who was named after his grandfather - grew up in Midland, Texas learning to play music on his dads old beat up guitar. As a Catholic, it was common that during Lent the television was turned off. Hed use the time to practice and hone his craft. He listened to a lot of the same music his dad listened to like Creedence Clearwater Revival, AC/DC, Stevie Ray Vaughn and others. When he was 17, he attended a Randy Rogers concert and a whole other genre of Texas music opened up to him. He went to college in Lubbock at Tech Techs business school. He knew he was going to play music, but he also did secure an accounting degree to satisfy his mom. He met the Flatland Cavalry band members in college through parties and fraternity events. They started out as a cover band. And he knew he didnt want his name to be the bands name. I loved the idea of flatland because thats all there is in Lubbock and Midland, Cordero said. He liked the idea of Joe Elys The Flatlanders and out of that came Flatland Cavalry. It was perfect and it fit us and it stuck, he said. The band consists of Cordero, electric guitar player Reid Dillion, fiddle player Wesley Hall, bass player Jonathan Saenz and percussionist Jason Albers. He said they try to be honest in their storytelling and when people come to a show, they try to make them feel as if they are a part of something that is bigger than themselves. Their first release was the album Humble Folk, and in January, they released their sophomore album, Homeland Insecurity. William Clark Green spent his first 12 years in Flint, Texas, before his family moved to College Station. He started guitar lessons at St. Marys Catholic Church on Sundays. My main focus was always writing though, the guitar was a tool that allowed me to write, he said in a phone interview with The Courier in 2015. Green also made his way to Texas Tech, majoring in agriculture. But he spent more time songwriting and playing guitar at every open-mic night and hotel bar gig he could find than actually studying. By the time William was handed the keys to a Tuesday-night residency at the Blue Light in Lubbock, he and his own band were on their way. Thats when things got really serious for me, Green said. I came out with my first record (2008s Dangerous Man) and it kind of got to the point where I knew if I was going to pursue music, Id have to give it everything I had, because theres just no room for half-assing it in this business. School went to the wayside I ended up graduating, but it took six years because music was my priority. Now he has several albums under his belt, including 2010s Misunderstood, 2013s Rose Queen, April 2015s Ringling Road, Live at Gruene Hall and the most recent, Herbert Island. For more information on the bands, visit www.flatlandcavalry.com or www.williamclarkgreen.com. In an open letter published by Houstonia magazine, the organizers of Houston's Drag Queen Story Time said they are shuttering the controversial program after recent news that one of their readers had previously sexually assaulted an 8-year-old child. The organizers, Trent Lira and Devin Will, penned the letter, claiming that anti-LGBT groups had been threatening library employees and participants in the story time. Albert Garza, a 32-year-old registered sex offender, participated in the program under the name Tatiana Mala-Nina, according to the conservative anti-LGBTQ group, MassResistance. That happened before the Houston Public Library started performing background checks on readers. The library system has since apologized. APOLOGY: HPL apologizes after registered sex offender participated in Drag Queen Story Time "We assure you that this participant will not be involved in any future HPL programs," the library's statement reads. "...We deeply regret this oversight and the concern this may cause our customers. We realize this is a serious matter." In the letter, the organizers said they are planning on serving the community in another way. "This isn't what we wanted," they said. "We have so loved seeing the smiles on children's faces, their laughter, their dances. We have so loved connecting with parents and connecting with our community. We appreciate the support and experience we gained working with the team at HPL and hope to work with them again in the future." Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message A mural featuring storybook characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is the backdrop for a new section of the Barbara Bush Library, called the George and Barbara Bush Family Place. The new addition aims to help young children learn, develop literacy and prepare to begin school, said Harris County Public Library director Edward Melton during its official opening on Tuesday, March 19. A blue ribbon that read, Grand Opening, was strung across the entrance to the new Family Place. The ceremonial ribbon had not yet been cut, but children were already using the areas resources coloring at one of the new desk units and stacking blocks on the Lego table. The George and Barbara Bush Family Place is a place of learning and experiences in order for families to engage with their children, Melton said. In June 2018, the Harris County Public Library received a $200,000 grant from the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation and Phillips 66 to help introduce Family Place Libraries, a national initiative that promotes literacy, learning and health for families with young children. RELATED: Grant from Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation to help libraries in Harris County The intent is that families who have children (ages) zero to four come and learn and read and sing and play alongside their children, said Julie Baker Finck, president of the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation. The library system will use the grant to obtain reading materials like books and toys, but also provide professional development for librarians to provide workshops on reading, art and health to families, Melton said. The Barbara Bush Library is the first of eight library branches that will feature a Family Place. Were my mother to be here, she would be so excited and my dad as well to see this wonderful family-oriented placeso joyfulnamed in their honor. My mom believed literacy is a critical foundation skill upon which individuals enjoy success in life, said Neil Bush, son of George H.W. and Barbara Bush. The Barbara Bush Library was forced to close to the public after being damaged from floodwaters by Hurricane Harvey. Nearby buildings were also closed due to flood damage, including the Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace courthouse, the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts and the Cypress Creek Christian Church, which gradually reopened after being renovated. While the library eventually opened in May, Neil said his mother, Barbara, was concerned about the lack of access to materials and books from the community while it was closed for renovations. RELATED: Patrons cheer as Barbara Bush Library reopens its doors after being closed since Harvey Libraries provide a great source of inspiration for reading for communities all over Houston, Neil said. The Family Places will also be added to seven additional locations over 12 months, including the Tomball Community Library and the Northwest Library. The other Family Place locations will be rolled out at Maud Smith Marks Library, Octavia Fields Branch, Clear Lake City-County Freeman Library, Parker Williams Library, Jacinto City Library and High Meadows Library. mayra.cruz@chron.com After more than 30 years as a forensic artist, 4,983 cases worked, and 1,266 felon identifications, Lois Gibson has a short and sweet summary for her profession. Im supposed to get in a room with somebody whos been through the worst thing in their life and Ive got to get them to remember the face of the person who did it, Gibson said. The hope is that the portrait will be close enough that it will help the investigator find the guy. Gibsons talent as a composite sketch artist has gained national renown. She is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as yielding the most criminals positively identified due to the composites of one artist. Gibson co-authored a book based on her experience as a forensic artist, wrote a textbook and has a television show in the works. Last year, she sketched the composite of a man Stormy Daniels said made a threat related to the alleged affair between her and President Donald Trump. Related: Famous Houston sketch artist drawn into Stormy Daniels case Gibson, 69, is a forensic artist for Houston Police Department. She shared her experiences as a forensic artist during the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerces March Public Safety Forum. Gibson said she got into the world of forensic artistry after a traumatic experience. As she told the story, her sense of humor shone through, but did not downplay severity of the situation. Some guy tried to kill me for fun, Gibson said. It took 25 minutes. It was a torture killing, but I didnt die for all of you biology experts Im still breathing. Gibson said that in some ways the experience felt like a death. Nevertheless, she survived and pushed herself forward in life. After I was killed, I got a degree in art, Gibson said. While hes killing me, I go, Wow, I didnt finish college, while hes choking me to death. Related: HPD artist brings witness accounts to life Some time passed after the attack before Gibson finally saw her attacker arrested. She described it as a miracle. Gibson diligently honed her forensic art skills and for the past three decades has worked to provide that same miracle to hundreds of other people. Gibson recalled helping a Houston police officer identify an ex-convict who shot the officer in the head and ran him over with a vehicle. Initially, the officer did not recall seeing anything but the flash from the shooting gun. Gibson asked him to describe the perpetrators expression, a common tactic forensic artists use. Ill never forget he said, He looked like a shark. Like he didnt care about anything at all, Gibson said. I did a sketch. They put it out two days later. Two guys at the jail booked him in for shoplifting a chainsaw from Sears. In one case, Gibson was brought to tears by a childs reaction to the composite sketch of his parents suspected murderer. All youve got is a four-year-old, who turned four that day, covered in blood, Gibson said. In cases like these, she said, Samantha Steinbergs Facial Identification Catalogue a book of facial features helps guide her subjects toward the solution. Hell point at pictures and youll draw, Gibson said. When Gibson finished the composite, she turned the sketch toward the child. The baby said, Why did you draw that man? Gibson said. Everybody started crying because we realized it must look like him (the murderer.) Based on the composite, residents pointed officials to the home of the suspected killer. To do her job, Gibson speaks with victims of a crime following the incident. She listens to their descriptions and takes about an hour to sketch a composite of the alleged assailants face from top to bottom. Gibson admits her sketches arent perfect, but said they dont need to be perfect to solve the case. She has sketched based on observations from people under the influence of drugs and successfully identified the culprit. If it catches the guy, then its perfect because it functioned, Gibson said. She has found that self-criticism and a lack of humor are not productive in the field of forensic art. The job can be taxing, she said. Some victims traumatized by the experiences they suffered may take their emotions out on her as she tries to piece together a composite of their assailant. You dont beat yourself up; because, I could. I have to suffer a lot of abuse with the witnesses, she said. After years in the forensic art profession, Gibson has observed what she considers to be a lack of forensic artists in the field. Gibson advocates to increase the number of forensic artists nationwide. She pointed to improved identification technology that can search culprit databases based on sketches, saying that these kinds of advancements make forensic artists more valuable and effective than ever. If I get vaporized by a meteor on the way home, tell somebody how to do it, Gibson said. Because theyre going to have facial ID (technology) and theyre going to put (a sketch) in a system and theyre going to compare it to photographs and then they can solve cases just like with fingerprints and DNA. chevall.pryce@chron.com The Woodlands Township Board of Directors will tackle several incorporation related items during their meeting scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 21, including issues related to the three-person incorporation task force as well as a future meeting schedule for incorporation issues. The regular meeting, set to begin at 6 p.m. inside the township offices at 2801 Technology Forest Blvd., is not normally when directors tackle incorporation issues, however three regular agenda items are related to incorporation. The township hosts separate incorporation planning meetings, usually the last Thursday of each month, where consultants provide updates and directors debate various topics. On Thursday, the directors will consider and possibly act on an item about extending the term of the three-person incorporation task force, a subcommittee composed of board Chairman Gordy Bunch and directors Ann Snyder and Bruce Rieser. The subcommittee was slated to end in December 2018, however directors approved a three-month extension of the task force at their last meeting of 2018 and also replaced former member Director John McMullan, who asked to step down from the committee due to time constraints from his job and personal life. The task force was supposed to end after March, however with concerns related to the incorporation studies not being completed, township directors may need to extend the life of the task force several more months as incorporation studies continue into spring and summer. The directors will also hear a report from consultants from The Novak Consulting Group of Cincinnati, Ohio, about possibly extending the firms contract with the township to finish off an incomplete law enforcement study done by a prior consulting group, The Matrix Consulting Group, which had its contract with the township canceled in December. After those two incorporation-related items are completed, the board is scheduled to revisit their incorporation planning meeting schedule for the remainder of 2019, possibly scheduling more incorporation planning sessions for after March depending on when a new law enforcement report can be completed along with the financial modeling being done. Other items on Thursdays agenda include: A proclamation recognizing former Montgomery County Attorney J.D. Lambright, who died earlier this month. Receiving numerous township reports, including from The Woodlands Fire Department, law enforcement officials and the Park and Ride and Trolley System. Hear a presentation from Dr. Curtis Null, superintendent of the Conroe Independent School District, about the proposed CISD Bond. Consider a tax abatement request from Alight, a human resources company that is planning a new office building in The Woodlands. jeff.forward@chron.com A proposal to build a new four-story, 180,000 square foot office building along with a multi-story parking garage along New Trails Drive in The Woodlands has caused concern from some local residents who say the new building will impact their lives and quality of life. The new building would be constructed by The Woodlands Development Co./Howard Hughes Corp. and owned by the firm and merely rented out to Alight, according both documents detailing the project and Lorrie Parise, a spokesperson for The Woodlands Development Co./Howard Hughes Corp. It is a build to suit opportunity which we would lease, Parise said of the plans. In this case, it is one tenant. According to documents filed with the township, Alight officials reported that they need to vacate their current office which is located on Technology Forest Boulevard by March 2020, hence the need for new offices. The company, one letter states, wants to remain in The Woodlands and to, Continue its employment of a very significant number of local residents and its support of the local businesses and philanthropic needs of this community. The documents detail the proposed building as costing more than $34 million and if successful, will lead to the retention of at least 950 jobs with a salary base of $47 million in annual payroll for the next 10 years. Company officials are requesting a 100 percent tax abatement from year one through year seven, and then 80 percent abatement in year eight, 60 percent abatement in year nine and 40 percent tax abatement in year 10. One local resident, Tiffany Dunne-Oldfield, said she has been unofficially appointed as a spokesperson for a group of dozens of concerned residents who live in Founders Reserve, which is the neighborhood immediately east of the proposed building. Dunne-Oldfield said a large group of residents plan to attend Thursdays township Board of Directors meeting to speak about the project. In a letter to developers and township officials, residents asked for several concessions and discussion about the projects impact before it is approved. The letter was signed by 53 different residents of the neighborhood. As committed community members, we ask that you please re-examine the details of the commercial development project scheduled to start shortly on New Trails Drive near Research Forest (Drive). While we understand that businesses like Alight Solutions bring jobs and money to the community, the design and development of all commercial properties here in The Woodlands should align to the eco-friendly and family-friendly spirit of this planned community and not impose undue hardships on local homeowners, the letter states. As currently outlined, this project appears to have a significant impact on the Founders Reserve community. As such, we ask that you partner with us to find ways to reduce the effect of the project on our established community. Parise said officials with The Woodlands Development Co. are already in discussions with affected residents and are planning to wholeheartedly work with them through the process. We have been speaking to (a) homeowners group there, Parise said. We do plan to follow all of the (development) standards of The Woodlands. We are going to meet with residents on (March 25) when we are going to share plans for the project. We want to assure them we will follow the rules. The company had their county tax abatement approved in early March by the Montgomery County Commissioners Court, which sets the basis for the companys request to The Woodlands for a local abatement. According to a Courier of Montgomery County news article, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said he was happy the company chose to stay in The Woodlands since company officials were considering a location in Harris County. Im not a real big fan of tax abatement when there is an entity already here, he said. But this is a new facility and keeping these jobs here is going to be important. Founded in 1940, Alight Solutions is the fourth largest employer in The Woodlands and operates as a benefits administration and cloud-based human resource and financial solutions providers according to its website. It offers human resources outsourcing and consulting services. The company provides HR and financial solutions including software as a service advisory, cloud deployment solutions, support and application management services. It also offers health and wealth solutions such as benefits administration, contribution administration, advocacy, reimbursements, dependent verification and compliance solutions. Attempts to contact administrative officials with Alights corporate headquarters in Illinois were unsuccessful. The township Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, March 21, at the township offices, located at 2801 Technology Forest Boulevard. The item for Alights tax abatement request is listed as No. 10 on the regular meeting agenda. Courier of Montgomery County Managing Editor Catherine Dominguez contributed to this story. jeff.forward@chron.com A former Hamden school employee, who resigned from her position Friday after a video showing her on a racist tirade in an East Haven grocery store went viral, called police numerous times about the incident. Four audio files were released by East Haven police on Monday to complain about what happened in the store. Listen to the calls here: ***WARNING*** ***GRAPHIC AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE USED *** Corinne Magoveny-Terrone first called Easton police. In the Easton call, a dispatcher has to take another call and puts her on hold briefly, and she yells "Don't you dare put me on hold!" When he comes back, she proceeds to tell him that she was in a grocery store talking to her children when a black man asked if she was talking to him and said a profanity, and she called him the n-word. The dispatcher calmly asks her what town this happened in and then informs her she called the incorrect department. She then called the East Haven Police Department. In a call that lasted longer than six minutes, she tells that dispatcher that she was walking down the center aisle at the store and got to the registers, said "Oh Jesus Christ" to her kids, and then a man in a scooter called her an offensive term and she says she called him the n-word because of what he called her. She also tells police there was "spitting back and forth" and that "I am pressing charges." In another call to East Haven police, she tells a dispatcher that the person who answered the phone previously was "completely unhelpful and useless." She calls back a third time, asks who she is speaking with and then says "I was just verbally assaulted at Shop Rite in East Haven." She then goes on to explain what happened in the store, and she says "I'm not gonna sugar coat what I said." Thousands of people shared two different videos on Facebook over the weekend that partially shows the incident. In the footage, posted by a user whose profile name is Tatiana Winn, Terrone yells the n-word three times and spits at two people, a black man and woman. It is unclear how the encounter began. After her first use of the racial epithet, the man appears to rush toward Terrone, who taunts, "Put your hands on me, come on!" and pulls out her phone to begin recording. The man then appears to quickly knock the device from her hand, and does not make further physical contact based on what is visible in the footage. As of Monday afternoon, police said nobody has come forward yet to file a formal complaint in the case. However, police said they are consulting the state's attorneys office and are "awaiting the final outcome of the DCF investigation." Hamden schools notified the state Department of Children and Families after they were made aware of the video, they said in a statement over the weekend. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the calls were made to 911. Magoveny-Terrone called the police departments at their non-emergency numbers. Former President George W. Bush made a rare public appearance on Monday, when he greeted new U.S. citizens and described immigration as "a blessing and a strength," a message that sharply contrasts with President Donald Trump's rhetoric on the issue. Bush made the remarks at a naturalization ceremony at the Bush Institute in Dallas. More than four dozen immigrants from 22 countries were sworn in during the ceremony, at which former first lady Laura Bush also delivered remarks. "America's elected representatives have a duty to regulate who comes in and when," the former president said. "In meeting this responsibility, it helps to remember that America's immigrant history made us who we are. Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength." Bush, who left office in 2009, said he regretted that his own administration's efforts at comprehensive immigration legislation "came up short." He urged policymakers in Washington to "dial down the rhetoric" and work toward modernizing the country's immigration laws. "The United States of America is the most successful of nations," Bush said. "Historically, where immigration is concerned, we're also the most welcoming of nations. And these two facts are related." Bush's remarks come days after Trump vetoed a congressional resolution disapproving of his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. At the event during which he issued the veto Friday, Trump appeared in the Oval Office, flanked by supportive sheriffs and families of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants. He has repeatedly warned about caravans of migrants headed toward the U.S. and has argued that there is a crisis at the border, including in a tweet ahead of his veto in which he claimed that a border wall will "help stop Crime, Human Trafficking, and Drugs entering our Country." Bush, by contrast, struck a welcoming tone in his speech, applauding the new citizens and remarking that those who seek to begin a new life in the U.S. often "bring a special love of freedom, because they have seen how life works without it." "You paid America the high tribute of aspiring to live here, leaving behind familiar ways and places and accepting a process that everyone knows is not easy," Bush said. "Our country in return honored your efforts and soon will be honored to call you a citizen." His remarks drew praise from Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who shared a clip from Bush's speech on Twitter on Monday afternoon. "Common sense immigration reform shouldn't be a partisan issue," Allred said in the tweet. "Thank you to #TX32 resident President George W. Bush for speaking out on the value immigrants provide to our nation. Congress must work together on comprehensive reform and fix this broken system." - - - The Washington Post's Anne Gearan contributed to this report. A truck-driving preacher arrested for killing two teenage girls from Alabama nearly 20 years ago was found by the same genealogy database techniques used to apprehend the suspected "Golden State Killer" last year. Law enforcement interest in using genetic genealogy to crack cold cases has ballooned since the high-profile arrest of the suspected California serial killer who was found by running crime scene DNA through a genealogy database, said CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist with Parabon NanoLabs, which did the searches in the Alabama case. RELATED: How serial killers have been caught in Texas On July 31, 1999, Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, both 17, set off for a party in southeastern Alabama. They never returned home. Their bodies were found the next day in the trunk of Beasley's black Mazda along a road in Ozark, a city of 19,000 people located about 90 miles southeast of Montgomery. Each had a gunshot wound to the head. The case sat unsolved for nearly two decades. Ozark Police Chief Marlos Walker, who said he always believed the case could be solved, said the Golden State Killer arrest inspired them to try something similar. "Let's try that,' Walker recalled. Police on Friday arrested Coley McCraney, 45, of Dothan, Alabama after the genetic genealogy steered them in his direction. District Attorney Kirke Adams said he will seek the death penalty against McCraney. Adams told a news conference Monday that one of the multiple capital counts against the man includes a charge that one of the victims was sexually assaulted during her slaying. Moore said the Alabama crime scene sample was analyzed and uploaded to GEDMatch, a public genetic database repository where over a million people have uploaded profiles from at-home ancestry kits. "We are looking for second, third, fourth cousins and then we reverse engineer the family tree based on the people who are sharing DNA with that crime scene sample," Moore said. The police chief said the genetic genealogy work identified a family which means at least one of McCraney's relatives had uploaded information and kinship testing narrowed the suspect list down to a single person. The police chief said they obtained DNA from McCraney although he did not say how and the state crime lab matched it to the DNA from the 1999 crime scene. Interest is growing in the technique and Moore said the company is fielding calls for help in decades-old cases. Since May the company has helped provide law enforcement with identifications in 43 cases, she said. She said genetic genealogy can help provide answers for families who have seen their loved one' murders go unsolved for years. "The fact that we can finally provide those is just incredibly important," Moore said. While it has intrigued investigators as a means to develop new leads in once cold cases, the technology has raised red flags for others. "There are huge privacy concerns," said Jennifer Friedman, a public defender in Los Angeles who has been involved in cases involving DNA since the late 1980s. She said there are multiple problems with tying people to crimes using family genetic information, including the fact that most people probably wouldn't want a relative arrested based on their DNA sample. Moore said she only uses a database where people have uploaded their information and are told it can be used this way. She said only a small fraction of the estimated 23 million people who have taken a consumer DNA ancestry test are in GEDMatch. David Harrison, McCraney's lawyer, said he's an outstanding member of the community and a married man with children and grandchildren. He's been a truck driver and had his own church where he preached as recently as three weeks ago, Harrison said. At the press conference announcing the arrest, Carol Roberts, wore a brooch over her heart with a photograph of her daughter Tracie Hawlett. As the years slipped by, her parents began to doubt if the case would ever be solved. "We've been through pure hell the last 20 years," said Mike Roberts, Hawlett's stepfather. "DNA don't lie," he said. Tracie, who had planned since she was a little girl to become a doctor, would have turned 37 this month, her mother said. She remembered the last phone conversation with her daughter the night she disappeared when she asked if her friend could sleep over and go to church the next day. "Last words out of her lips were, 'Mama, I love you.' Last words out of my mouth to her were, 'I love you.'" The company responsible for this week's black plume in Houston's sky has been accused in a federal lawsuit of dumping hazardous waste in the water during Hurricane Harvey. PAST VIOLATIONS: Deer Park plant has history of environmental violations Intercontinental Terminal Co.'s former hazardous waste specialist in Deer Park sued the company in the Southern District of Texas, alleging it intentionally released more than 1 million gallons of hazardous waste into flood waters during Hurricane Harvey to save money. In court filings, ITC denied the allegations. The lawsuit, filed in February, was found by the Houston Chronicle as the Deer Park fire led to questions of the company's past. Read the full story at HoustonChronicle.com. One of four men on trial for charges stemming from violent 2016 attacks on armored truck couriers was dragged from a Houston federal courtroom by U.S. marshals in front of jurors Wednesday after he began ranting about an incident involving his wife. The dispute began out of earshot of the jury when U.S. District Judge David Hittner announced that the wife of defendant Marc Anthony Hill was caught by a deputy marshal trying to sneak a razor blade to another defendant. The judge showed X-ray images of what officials said was a 2-inch razor blade tucked into a loafer intended for Hills nephew, co-defendant Nelson Alexander Polk. BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox Hittner said the woman, Varfeeta Sirleaf, would not be allowed in the courthouse for the remainder of the trial. Sirleaf is identified on the social media site LinkedIn as an owner of a gourmet popcorn business co-owned by her husband, Hill. Polk shook his head. He and Hill both rose to address the judge at various points. The judge instructed both men to sit and told Polk, who was originally representing himself, to remain seated and silent that his lawyer could speak for him if needed. Polk had previously been removed from the courtroom, with no jurors present, for a verbal spat with the judge. After Hittner assigned his backup lawyer to step in, Polk was ultimately allowed to return to the courtroom. Hill, who had opted to represent himself at trial, addressed the judge after the news about his wife, saying hed like to know which deputy reportedly found the blade. When he did not get a response from the judge or any of the deputies posted in the room, Hill persisted. RELATED: Conroe man sentenced to life in prison for severely abusing, burning his two young children I need an answer. Is everybody denying to give me an answer? That shouldnt be too hard. The judge told him to move on. I cant move on, Hill said, raising his voice. Its simple, all you got to do is answer who checked the clothes. Lower your voice, the judge said. Hill said he already had his fresh clothes a half hour earlier and that the story about the razor blade concealed in his nephews clothes didnt make sense. The judge tried to move the case along again. Both Polk and Hill began yelling at the judge. The nephew and uncle are the only ones among the four defendants who are charged with aiding in the robbery and slaying of an armored truck courier, 25-year-old David Guzman, as he stocked an ATM at a Wells Fargo branch on Aug. 29, 2016. This is some b.s. racist [expletive], Polk said, listing a number of constitutional amendments that he said the court had violated. Hittner warned Hill against outbursts, as well as the limits of being his own lawyer as a federal detainee. Then defense lawyer George Michael DeGeurin, Jr., who represents a third defendant, John Edward Scott, conferred briefly with Hill. DeGeurin could be overheard softly informing Hill about the law and how to enter an objection to a ruling. The judge called the jury into the room to resume hearing testimony from an FBI agent about a sting operation on Dec. 7, 2016 that led to the arrests of the four and the death of suspected ringleader Redrick Batiste during a shootout with law enforcement officers. The crew was allegedly trying to rob an ATM at an Amegy Bank of Texas branch when they were surprised by officers in an armored Brinks truck. All four face charges arising from this alleged robbery attempt; the fourth man on trial in the case is Bennie Charles Phillips, Jr. Moments after jurors took their seats, Hill began speaking unprompted into his microphone. Id like to make a statement to the jury, Hill said. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury Mr. Hill, dont do this in front of the jury, the judge said, explaining that he would have a chance to talk about the matter in his closing argument. Hill continued speaking: Why theyre not all out Hittner ordered marshals to move in and take Hill to a downstairs room where he could monitor the rest of the trial via a video feed. His backup counsel would have to take over, the judge said. A deputy marshal bear-hugged Hill, as several others surrounded him in a tight circle. The deputy began pulling him out of a side exit. With the door still ajar, Hill could be heard yelling, Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! in pain, and Stop! Youre assaulting me. All four defendants were wearing shackles and shock belts, although it was not clear if a deputy activated Hills. That aint necessary, Polk muttered, but he remained seated. The judge instructed Hills stand-in lawyer, Neal Davis III, that he would be taking over Hills defense. The jury was able to see Hill briefly on a video screen from a downstairs room standing behind his chair in handcuffs. The judge said he could monitor the trial from there and Davis could confer with his client later. Then the lead FBI agent on the case, Jeffrey Coughlin, resumed testimony. The prosecutor played a series of tapped phone calls that the agent said were between various defendants and Batiste, who is suspected of fatally shooting Guzman and security courier Melvin Moore, 32, in heists prior to the failed Dec. 7, 2016 robbery. The jury also watched secretly recorded videos of Batiste. The agent identified Batiste as the man seen inside a stolen Jeep Cherokee, aiming a rifle at an armored truck set up by police, and then exiting the vehicle. The government also showed the jury video taken from various angles at the time of the heist from pole cameras and surveillance cameras. Another angle showed an armored truck filled with police officers, the agent said bashing repeatedly into the side of a parked Toyota 4Runner, from which two men emerged and ran. With the frame frozen one-by-one on the two runners, the agent on the case identified the person exiting the drivers seat as Polk and the man stepping out of the rear of the car as Trayvees Duncan-Bush. The prosecution believes the plan was for Batiste to shoot the armored truck courier, then for Polk to drive up and for Duncan-Bush to grab the bags of cash from the armored vehicle. Duncan-Bush previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob the truck and aiding and abetting in the robbery. He may be called as a witness at trial. During a break in testimony, DeGeurin, the attorney for Scott, moved for a mistrial and to sever his client. The judge denied the requests. Then a smiling Hill was escorted back into the courtroom. A deputy marshal removed his handcuffs and he sat at counsel table. The judge said he would give Hill one more chance, but that he could no longer serve as his own lawyer. Hittner also said he would consider a request for the jurors to be questioned about whether they believed they could maintain the presumption of innocence for all four defendants following the outburst. After lunch, Davis said he needed more time to confer with his client, Hill. He also asked to sever his client from the group. Hittner denied both requests. Hittner then reminded jurors of their oath to remain fair and impartial and only consider the evidence rendered at trial. If theres any juror who cant follow this instruction, please let me know, Hittner said. He waited a beat. I dont see any hands, he said. And testimony resumed. The trial is expected to continue into next week. gabrielle.banks@chron.com NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. AUSTIN -- Twenty months after Hurricane Harvey ripped through the Gulf Coast and flooded thousands of people out of their homes, the state Senate approved a trio of bills Wednesday that members say will address lessons learned from the storm. The bills call for the creation of a disaster recovery blueprint for government officials, establishment of an infrastructure resiliency fund and would require the state to update mapping techniques and develop a state flood plan every five years. Gov. Greg Abbott asked lawmakers to strengthen the states response to future disasters in light of the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey. One bill, Senate Bill 6, would require training and the creation of a how-to guide for local officials to navigate their after-storm response, including contracting for debris removal, obtaining federal funding and building short- and long-term housing. When you face a natural disaster, you dont know where to start, said Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who sponsored the bill. Related: Final report: Harveys impact on the Houston area laid out in grim detail Senate Bill 7 would establish the Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund to pay for expenses like floodplain management and projects related to Hurricane Harvey. Senate Bill 8 would organize government agencies to share flood prevention plans in an effort to make sure one municipality is not moving their flood mitigation programs to other towns or counties. Each passed the Senate 31-0. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick referred to the bills as some of the most important of this years legislative session. They will next go to the House, which will evaluate them in legislative committees. More Information Pending legislation prompted by Harvey Senate Bill 1220 - Requires sellers of real property provide notice of property located in floodplains, flood pools or reservoirs - Awaiting hearing from Senate committee Senate Bill 443 - Extends the two-year limit for claiming homestead exemptions without living on the premises in disaster areas - Pending in Senate committee Senate Bill 500 - Funding for Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and programs - Cleared Senate, scheduled for House debate March 27 House Bill 4 - Funding Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and programs - Awaiting hearing from House committee House Bill 1650 - Funding Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and program - Awaiting hearing from House committee House Bill 2337 - Contracting guidance for debris removal - Awaiting hearing from House committee See More Collapse They will impact generations of Texans for years to come, he said in a statement. The bills are just a few in a collection of legislation seeking to better prepare for, and prevent, future natural disasters, including bills that would warn home-buyers when they are purchasing a home within reservoir flood pools. Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast in August of 2017 and went on to dump more than 50 inches in parts of Texas, causing disastrous flooding. Its about time we took this step, said Sen. Juan Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen. Weve experienced hurricanes and theyre not going to stop. andrea.zelinski@chron.com A worker who said he was at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. when the fire first erupted Sunday morning first noticed smoke rising from a chemical storage tank. He left the terminal within a half-hour and by then, "It was roaring up." The man, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions, said speculation among his colleagues is that parts of the tank may have overheated. The tanks overheat from time to time, he said, but normally have a safety mechanism that can shut them off. For whatever reason, that safety mechanism may not have been enough to prevent the fire, he said. "Everyone thinks a tank overheated," he said. DEER PARK PLANT FIRE: Blaze extinguished, but situation far from over Video of the initial incident on Sunday showed flames on the ground between several tanks. ITC officials have not said what started the massive blaze. The cause remains under investigation. The fire ignited around 10:30 a.m. and first spread to a tank containing naphtha on the industrial grounds about two miles north of Texas 225 near the Battleship Texas State Historic Site and Buffalo Bayou. The blaze churned through the terminal, engulfing as many as eight units at one point and sending a massive plume of black smoke drifting across the Houston area and stretching northwest of the city. TOMLINSON: Black smoke over Houston is part of the deal The fire surged again late Monday as a loss of water pressure hampered firefighting efforts. By late Tuesday, the plume lost much of its height and volume even as the fire was expected to continue through Wednesday. The company's storage facility along the Houston Ship Channel contains 242 tanks capable of holding petrochemical liquids and gases, including oil products. It has been located in the channel area for the past 47 years alongside several energy-producing corporations synonymous with Houston. The worker said he and his colleagues expected the fire to have been put out in the hours after it started but that never happened. Now, he explained, "It's like putting out a 55-gallon drum with a squirt gun," he said. The worker asked that his name and company not be identified. He provided photos of the facility. nicole.hensley@chron.com NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. The chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company's Deer Park facility may create more problems to the environment. "Some of the chemicals have washed into the adjacent Houston Ship Channel that links the Gulf of Mexico to Houston, the nation's busiest petrochemical port," ITC spokersperson Dale Samuelsen told Reuters. That same report revealed that ships continue to move through the 50-mile-long channel. RELATED: Deer Park plant fire: How the weather impacts growing smoke plume When a reporter asked if chemical runoff will go into the bay during a press conference late Tuesday afternoon, David Wascome, a senior vice president of operations for ITC, did not provide a definitive answer. Reporter: Nothing goes into the actual water, the bay? Wascome: Yeah, so the diked area, as it starts filling up, we're discharging through a ditch, and we're catching that with some spill booms. We've got a third party helping us assist with that. TCEQ is also doing some analysis with the water samples. We're also checking, monitoring online PH, COD and other things. Chron.com sent ITC multiple requests for comment. Up to this point, they have gone unanswered. ITC officials said Tuesday that two additional chemical tanks caught fire overnight at the plant on Independence Parkway after water pressure dropped when two fireboat pumps providing water to firefighters malfunctioned for about six hours. The fire, which had been contained to six storage tanks late Monday, had spread to eight by 2:30 a.m., the company said. The plant has 242 tanks, according to the company's web site. On Tuesday, officials from ITC, which is owned by Japan's Mitsui & Co, also said that it brought in a 15-person crew experienced in battling tank-farm fires. The organization will also bring other equipment to help solve the issues at the scene. Fire officials are now uncertain about how long the chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co. will continue after the blaze at the Deer Park facility worsened late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Multiple local Mexican restaurants were among the cleanest restaurants last month in Houston. The restaurants in the above gallery were deemed the "cleanest" or most compliant in the city throughout the month of February. They included one fast food chain, Whataburger, and multiple Mexican restaurants such as Taqueria La Heroica and Los 3 Guerreros. VIOLATIONS: Mildew covering kitchen walls at Houston restaurant during inspections from March 4 to March 10 Chron.com compiled the list by filtering those with the fewest or least severe health code violations, also referred to as "demerits." Common violations include insect or rodent droppings in the restaurant, improper storage techniques, unsanitary employee practices or failing to keep hot water running at the proper temperature. Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. IRVING, Texas (AP) Nexstar is selling 19 television stations for $1.32 billion as part of its buyout deal with Tribune Media. Nexstar agreed in December to buy Chicago's Tribune Media for about $4 billion. Part of that agreement requires Nexstar to sell certain television stations in order to comply with the FCC local and national television ownership rules and to get FCC and Justice Department approval of the Tribune Media transaction. Kara Rathbones story may sound familiar to many firefighters who marched with her Tuesday along Bagby Street in downtown Houston. Rathbones husband, Austin, drives to work from their home in Bellville, about 70 miles away. A seven-year Houston firefighter, he has received scant raises since joining the department, and makes ends meet by installing irrigation systems on the side and working for a small fire department near Bellville, where about 4,300 people live. That pay is everything. We have two kids. I have to stay home with them. I have a part-time job, she said. The small amount that we get every two weeks in pay, it doesn't cover what we need. Fed up with the pace at which Mayor Sylvester Turners administration has carried out Proposition B the voter-approved November referendum granting firefighters the same pay as police of corresponding rank and experience the Rathbones joined several hundred others in a march on City Hall where union officials demanded full implementation of the raises and called on Turner to stop playing games with public safety. The demands by Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton came a day after Turner rolled out his plan to fund firefighters pay raises in part by laying off 400 to 500 city employees, including firefighters. Several city council members briefed on the plan last week said up to 400 firefighters could be cut. Let me reiterate this: We are going to win this fight, Lancton said to thunderous applause and cheers. Lancton also identified six fire stations he said firefighters were told the city would close as part of the layoff plan. Turner spokesman Alan Bernstein denied that. City officials did not give anyone a list of fire stations that will close or that may close, he said. Fire Chief Sam Pena confirmed in a text that no station closures had been set, noting that Turner and city council must approve any moves. Meanwhile, Turner said Monday evening that the city will send out firefighters first Prop. B-adjusted paychecks in May. Firefighters also will receive lump-sum checks covering Jan. 1 through the first part of May, the mayor said. The city plans to dip into its fund balance to cover the $31 million cost of back pay. For months, Turner has said firefighters deserve raises, but that Prop. Bs $80-to-$100 million cost is squeezing the citys revenue-capped budget because it did not come with a funding source. In an open letter earlier this month, Turner wrote that he does not believe voters, who approved Prop. B by about 18 points, intended to place our city in financial turmoil. The mayors message fell flat with the firefighters, who held signs Tuesday marked on one side with the fire union logo and the word Solidarity, and the other with phrases such as Stop Playing With Public Safety and The Voters Are Not Stupid, Mayor. Ricky Johnson, a firefighter of 25 years from Kingwood, echoed the message, arguing that Turners administration is playing politics with public safety. They're putting our lives in jeopardy and they're putting the citizens of Houston's lives in jeopardy, Johnson said. The firefighters marched from the George H.W. Bush monument at Sesquicentennial Park for several blocks until they reached City Hall, accompanied by bagpipes playing at the front of the pack. At the march were several of the firefighters political allies, including Council members Dwight Boykins and Michael Kubosh, and mayoral candidates Tony Buzbee and Bill King. Both councilmen spoke to the crowd at City Hall, along with Texas State Association of Fire Fighters President John Riddle and Sandy McGhee, vice president of the International Association of Firefighters district that encompasses Houston. Both union officials laid into Turner for the way he has handled the labor dispute and Prop. B. I'm telling you today, the IAFF does not back down from bullies like Sylvester Turner, McGhee said. If anything, the rally appeared to boost the spirits of firefighters who have experienced a range of emotions during the Prop. B saga, from excitement over the referendums passage to worry over impending layoffs. "It does affect the morale, but we're still going to do what we do, and we'll always continue to do that, said Daniel Gutierrez, a Houston firefighter. We show up, we work, we do our job." Turner has contended the fire department should bear the costs of Prop. B, citing a city-commissioned report that recommends a reduction in firefighters. The union disputes those results, pointing to a separate city report that advises otherwise. Since Prop. B passed, city and fire union officials have attempted to negotiate a way of phasing in the raises over multiple years to avoid layoffs, though the two sides have yet to come together on a deal. Without an agreement, Turner has said, he has no choice but to cut personnel, because the city must balance its budget each fiscal year. jasper.scherer@chron.com twitter.com/jaspscherer Houston trial attorney and mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee again called on all Houston unions Wednesday to disavow Mayor Sylvester Turner after a local district of the International Longshoremen's Association dropped its support for the mayor. Buzbee, who made the same appeal after the Houston Federation of Teachers withdrew its support for Turner last month, said in a statement that Turner is "no friend" of union members, despite their widespread support for him when he was elected in 2015. The ILA's South Atlantic and Gulf Coast district President Alan A. Robb said in a separate statement that Turner's ongoing dispute with Houston firefighters over pay raises and a legal case related to collective bargaining played a role in the union's decision. "Mayor Turner's administration is apparently seeking an erosion of public employee rights in pending litigation which has caused the ILA concern and is a factor in our opposition to Mayor Turner," Robb said. In an open letter earlier this month, Turner disputed the notion that he is "mounting a broadside attack, constitutional or otherwise," on the section of the local government code regulating fire and police employee relations. "In my 30 years of public service, I have supported collective bargaining," Turner wrote. "I fought for collective bargaining for firefighters in the Texas Legislature in 2005. To this day, I am committed to collective bargaining." At issue is a lawsuit playing out in Texas' 14th Court of Appeals in which Turner's administration has contended that a part of the code violates the Texas Constitution by granting a judge discretion over firefighter pay. A state district judge rejected that argument. Under the provision, a union can seek a district judge's ruling if the city "refuses to engage in arbitration." If the judge finds firefighters are not receiving compensation that meets criteria laid out in a different section of the code, the judge can declare what pay would meet those standards, and order the city to "make the affected employees whole as to the employees' past losses." The firefighters union and others have argued the removal of that provision would, essentially, gut their collective bargaining rights by removing an enforcement mechanism. In his statement, Buzbee said Turner "has continuously proven he will betray those who support him." "I'm asking all unions to reevaluate whether Sylvester Turner is someone who warrants support from those who understand the importance of the collective bargaining process," Buzbee said. jasper.scherer@chron.com twitter.com/jaspscherer In airport news, officials at SJC worry that the San Jose City Council's easing of height limits on buildings downtown could hurt the airport's long-term prospects; Los Angeles International gets more parking and a lot of flowers; New York LaGuardia opens an Uber "rider center" and some other new amenities; American Express buys the LoungeBuddy app/website; Kansas City breaks ground on a big new terminal; and Amsterdam Schiphol gets a Star Alliance lounge. The San Jose City Council has approved a plan to allow the construction of taller buildings in the city's downtown area and around its Diridon Station rail hub, raising concerns among some airport officials that the long-term growth of Mineta San Jose Airport could be affected especially for long-haul international flights. The new height limits would allow buildings downtown that are five to 35 feet taller but would permit construction near the city's 110-foot SAP Center that is 70 to 150 feet taller than that. According to the San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Airport Commission chairman Dan Connolly said the decision to increase the height limits was "a very devastating move for our airport." Another airport commissioner told the City Council that its decision "will render SJC as a regional airport, putting flights to Asia, Europe and some transcontinental flights in financial jeopardy." Their concern is that airlines might have to fly with reduced passenger/cargo loads to make sure their aircraft are light enough to clear the taller buildings if they lose an engine, thus making SJC less attractive as a gateway. If you're flying to Los Angeles and want to get a look at the "super bloom" of spring wildflowers that is blanketing the region after heavy rainfalls, all you have to do is look out the aircraft window as it descends into LAX. According to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), "The flowers are located across the airfield complex, with the highest concentration on the north airfield, between runways 24L and 24R." In other news, LAWA is targeting March 28 for the opening of a new long-term parking lot, Economy Lot E, that will boost the airport's total number of economy parking spaces to 2,000, increasing to 2,700 by mid-June. The new Lot E is off 111th Street between Aviation and LaCienega boulevards. Lot C, the existing economy parking area, will close April 1. The new lot will have the same fees as Lot C ($12 a day), and it will offer 24-hour shuttle service to the terminals. As work continues on the massive transformation of New York La Guardia's central terminal into a modern new Terminal B, which was partially opened a few months ago, the terminal has opened "the first Uber Rider Center in North America." Located near American Airlines in the Terminal B departures level, the Uber Rider Center is a two-minute walk from the passenger pick-up area in the terminal's new parking garage. "The Uber facility will assist users of the app in finding their ride and provide phone-charging stations while they wait to be picked up," the Port Authority said. Basically, it's a place to cool your jets while you wait for your ride that is likely stuck in the airports infamous traffic jams. Meanwhile, Terminal B also has a new food and beverage outlet called C Bar, located past security in the C concourse. It sells beer, wine, breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and grab-and-go items. There's also a new Starbucks outlet at Terminal B's D gates. For the past two years, the American Express mobile app has partnered with the LoungeBuddy app/website to give AmEx Platinum Card and Centurion members information on the 1,200 airport lounges worldwide that are available to them through AmEx's Global Lounge Collection. And now American Express has purchased LoungeBuddy outright. In addition to giving its users information on the location of airport lounges, LoungeBuddy also provides lounge ratings and reviews, and information on who is eligible to use them. Once it becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Express, the company said, LoungeBuddy will remain under the direction of its original founders and "will continue to develop its technologies and capabilities in digital travel services." Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE bi-weekly email alerts. What's the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Kansas City? It's the construction of a new $1.5 billion terminal at Kansas City International Airport, and the official groundbreaking will be on Monday (March 25). The structure, currently being called simply the New Terminal, will replace the airport's existing three terminals. The first step will be the demolition of the shuttered Terminal A. Terminals B and C will continue in regular operation during the construction project, which should be completed by 2023. The 1 million square foot New Terminal will have 39 aircraft gates, "with infrastructure to support expansion," a spokesperson said. The airport's current single-level roadway will be replaced by upper and lower-level passenger drop off and pick-up areas. Passenger waiting areas at the gates will be larger than before, and the New Terminal will offer travelers a wide range of food and beverage and retail concessions, improved security screening, and more bathrooms. The United/Lufthansa/Air Canada etc. Star Alliance has cut the ribbon on a new premium lounge at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. It's located airside in the Departures 2/Schengen Area on the Panorama terrace level, and it's open to first class and business class passengers on the 16 Star Alliance member airlines that fly to AMS; Star Alliance Gold Card holders; and paid members of the United Clubs and Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges programs. The lounge has a luggage storage area, individual workstations, dining and bar areas, a relaxation area and a wine bar. There's also a free hot and cold buffet, beer on tap, and a serviced bar during afternoon hours. Guests have access to free Wi-Fi, standard and USB power outlets, printing/scanning services, and flight information. It's the eighth Star Alliance airport lounge; others are at Los Angeles International, Buenos Aires, Paris CDG, Nagoya, Rio de Janeiro Galeao, Rome Fiumicino and Sao Paulo Guarulhos. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis. The Government of Canada issued 3,350 invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence to Express Entry candidates in a draw held March 20. The cut-off Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score in todays draw was 452, a reduction of two points over the minimum score in the previous Express Entry draw held March 6. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has now issued a total of 21,200 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) in 2019 through the Express Entry system. This is an increase of 6,700 over the 14,500 ITAs that Canada had issued at this same point in 2018 a year that saw IRCC issue a record 89,800 invitations to Express Entry candidates. It is expected that IRCC will set a new ITA record this year given Canadas higher 2019 and 2020 admissions targets for the three Federal High Skilled economic immigration categories managed by the Express Entry system the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class. Candidates who meet the eligibility requirements for these categories are entered into the Express Entry pool and issued a ranking score based on factors such as their age, education, work experience and proficiency in English or French. IRCC then invites a set number of the highest-scoring candidates to apply for Canadian permanent residence through regular draws from the pool. Find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool The tie-break in the March 20 draw was set at February 7, 2019, at 9:59:25 UTC. This means that all candidates with a CRS score of 452 or above who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before the selected date and time received an ITA in this invitation round. The cut-off CRS score has now dropped twice over the last two invitation rounds, which may have resulted from the fact IRCC only allowed two weeks to elapse between draws in both instances. Larger draw sizes can also have an impact on the cut-off CRS score. Given IRCCs higher admissions targets for 2019 and 2020, it is possible that we will see bigger draws in the second quarter of the year. The second quarters of both 2017 and 2018 saw draw sizes increase and the CRS cut-off drop as a result. The following are hypothetical examples of candidates who would have obtained an ITA in the March 20 draw: Wanda is 32 and holds a bachelors degree and a one year certificate. She has been working as an accountant for the past five years and has never worked or studied in Canada. She has an advanced English proficiency in listening and speaking and an initial advanced proficiency in reading and writing. Wandas CRS score of 452 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in the March 20 draw. Mark is 33 and holds two bachelors degrees. He has been working for three years as a business consultant and has an advanced English proficiency. He has never worked or studied in Canada. His CRS of 452 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in todays draw. Naima is 29 and has a bachelors degree. She has been working for three years as an administrative assistant. She has never worked or studied in Canada. Naima took the IELTS and scored 8 in all categories. Naima has a sister in Canada who is a permanent resident living in Toronto. Her CRS score of 453 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in todays draw. James and Lou are married. James is 35 and his partner Lou is 32. James holds a masters degree and Lou has a bachelors degree. Neither has worked or studied in Canada. James has been working for three years as a manager. They took the CELPIP exam and scored 10 in all categories. James applied as the principal applicant and his CRS of 452 would have been sufficient to obtain an ITA in the March 20 draw. This is the second draw in a row that has seen the cut-off score drop and thats always a welcome development, said David Cohen, senior partner at the Campbell, Cohen Canadian immigration law firm in Montreal, Canada. If the second quarter of 2019 brings larger draw sizes and IRCC keeps a pace of draws every two weeks or so, we could see the cut-off score continue to fall. Find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool 2019 CICNews All Rights Reserved No evidence to support government's view that reducing immigration will improve integration, think tank says New study calls on Quebec to restore annual immigration target to 50,000 No evidence to support government's view that reducing immigration will improve integration, think tank says New study calls on Quebec to restore annual immigration target to 50,000 No evidence to support government's view that reducing immigration will improve integration, think tank says New study calls on Quebec to restore annual immigration target to 50,000 No evidence to support government's view that reducing immigration will improve integration, think tank says Stephen Smith Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Pour lire cet article en francais, cliquez ici. A new study is calling on Quebecs government to restore its immigration target of 50,000 newcomers a year. The study by the independent Institut de recherche et dinformations socio-economiques (IRIS) contends that the governments justification for reducing its immigration target for 2019 to 40,000 that too many new arrivals are not integrating into Quebec society has never been established scientifically. The study follows a series of controversial moves by the provinces new Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government, including its recent effort to dismiss a backlog of just over 18,000 pending Quebec Skilled Worker Program applications as part of a proposed overhaul of the provinces immigration laws known as Bill 9. Written by researcher Julia Posca, the paper provides a statistical snapshot of indicators including mastery of French, education levels and employment rate to assess the CAQs claims that immigrants have been falling short in these areas. In terms of language, the study points to statistics from both Quebecs Immigration Ministry and the Institute de la statistique du Quebec that show nearly 60 per cent of immigrants admitted to Quebec already speak French or French and English by the time they arrive in the province. Immigrants to Quebec are also better educated compared to non-immigrants, Posca writes. Among Quebecers aged 25 to 54, 42 per cent of immigrants have a certificate, diploma or university degree compared to 24.9 per cent of Quebec residents who were born in Canada. As to employment, Posca said discrepancies persist between immigrants and Canadian-born residents of Quebec, but the gap is narrowing. The employment rate of Quebecers born in Canada was 86.6 per cent in 2018 compared to 78.9 per cent for immigrants, which Posca noted was slightly better than Ontarios immigrant employment rate of 78.5 per cent. In summary, immigrants in Quebec master French as never before, are highly educated and participate en masse in the labour market, Posca writes. Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration The study also downplayed the governments claims that too few immigrants to Quebec are retained. Posca points to statistics showing that 82.2 per cent of economic immigrants to Quebec admitted to the province in 2010 were still there five years later. The fact is if we compare Quebec to other provinces in Canada we realize that [Quebec] is one of the four provinces where the retention rate is greatest, Posca told CIC News. We realize that provinces that have more immigrants have the best retention rates. The IRIS study points to a 2018 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development study that shows countries that welcome more immigrants are also those where immigrants enjoy better outcomes relative to those born there. There is nothing to indicate that accepting fewer immigrants will improve their lot, it argues. The study posits that the main obstacles to integration are in fact issues on the host societys end such as the recognition for professional credentials and work experience obtained outside Canada and employment discrimination. Bill 9, however, does not address either of these concerns, it says. The move to reduce immigration at a time when Quebecs population is ageing and its employers are facing a serious shortage of labour is also questioned, as is what the study calls the CAQs utilitarian view of immigration as a means to primarily economic ends. In effect, the government is putting an end to the citizens approach to immigration, where immigrants are considered for their social, cultural and economic contributions, it says. The study recommends that Quebec return to its previous admissions target of 50,000 newcomers as much for human as demographic and economic reasons. With this level of immigration, the employment rate has been going up. The number of immigrants was not the problem, Posca told CIC News. Quebec also has an ageing population, so if we want to address this problem in the future, we should welcome immigrants who are, on average, younger than the population in Quebec, she added. It doesnt seem like a good idea right now to not host those people who want to have a life project here in Quebec. The study also calls on the government to allocate a significant budget for both governmental and non-governmental organizations in the province that work directly with newcomers to the province in order to meet its stated goal of efficient and personalized integration services. In response to the study, the government stood by its views on immigration and highlighted the fact it was elected on a platform to reform Quebecs immigration policies. 2019 CICNews All Rights Reserved Shards of decayed wood are all that remain of the roof that once shielded the wooden water tank at 137 Centre St. On a recent morning, raindrops fell through the splintered support beams, rippling the surface of the dark water inside the open barrel. Something green grew on the sides of the rustic exterior. A shredded tarp hung off the top of the tank, like a tattered garment, flapping with each gust of wind. The holes in the tarp were so big that a bird could easily fly into the tank. This is the drinking water supply for office workers at the New York City Department of Sanitation. Another city agency, which is responsible for the tank, has certified year after year that the entire structure, including the roof, is sound and that the tank has no sanitary defects, dismissing its own 2015 report of E. coli in the water as a clerical error. When asked if there was currently any issue with the sanitary condition of the water tank, a city official replied, No. Frank G. Runyeon Despite years of reforms, new data reveal widespread neglect in the thousands of weathered wooden water tanks that supply drinking water to millions of New York City residents. A review of city records indicates that most building owners still do not inspect and clean their tanks as the law has required for years, even after revisions to the health and administrative codes that now mandate annual filings. There are still many thousands of water tanks across the city for which there is no information at all. The city cant even say with certainty how many there are or where they are located, much less their condition even well-maintained water tanks accumulate layers of muck and bacterial slime. Building owners who do self-report the condition of their water tanks provide suspiciously spotless descriptions on annual inspection reports. These reports include bacteriological test results, but in almost every case the tests are conducted only after the tanks have been disinfected, making it a meaningless metric for determining the typical quality of a buildings drinking water. And regulators have issued dramatically fewer violations in recent years. The data show that the city reported drinking water tanks on municipal buildings, including the city sanitation offices and several court buildings, tested positive for E. coli, a marker used by public health experts to predict the presence of potentially dangerous viruses and bacteria. Oversight remains lax: It took health officials more than a year to investigate several isolated reports of E. coli in drinking water tanks. After inquiries from City & State, however, officials now say that their own reports were erroneous. But scientists at the federal Environmental Protection Agency and public health experts consulted by City & State warned that animals can easily get into New York Citys water tanks, that mucky sediments inside the tanks may contain pathogens and that poorly maintained water tanks could be the source of disease outbreaks. When you look at waterborne disease outbreaks in Gideon, Missouri, and Alamosa, (Colorado), there are three things that happened, an EPA water tank expert said of deadly episodes in those places. If you have sediment buildup, if you have a way that pathogens on animals and insects can get in, and if this sediment is stirred up somehow and is allowed to be used, then you have a real potential for an increase in endemic disease. The first two conditions are common in New York Citys neglected water tanks. And so, experts say, poorly maintained water tanks risk waterborne disease outbreaks in the buildings they serve.2 The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is responsible for overseeing the water tanks, said the wood tanks are not a cause for concern. New York City water is safe, and water tanks pose very little risk to the health of New Yorkers, department spokesman Chris Miller wrote in an email. There is no evidence that the water from water tanks raises any public health concern, and there has never been a sickness or outbreak traced back to a water tank. However, a department FAQ says that water tanks must be inspected and tested for contamination because The Health Department wants to make sure that drinking water tanks are free of harmful bacteria that could make residents sick. The department does not physically inspect the tanks themselves. Instead, it audits inspection filings, tracks waterborne illnesses reported by doctors and sales of antidiarrheal drugs that might indicate potential waterborne disease outbreaks. The department said it is strengthening its water tank oversight with an online reporting system in order to issue violations to buildings that have previously submitted an inspection but failed to do so that year. Buildings will also be fined if they fail to certify whether or not they have a water tank. Before 2009, inspections were done on an honor system and testing water tanks was not required by the city. Moreover, as then-New York City Councilman Daniel Garodnick noted, what records did exist could not even be subpoenaed. In 2009, Garodnick sponsored legislation that required inspections, bacteriological testing and public notice of the results on request. In 2014, several rooftop water tanks tested positive for E. coli and coliform bacteria in water samples taken by The New York Times as part of an investigation that included this reporters work. Independent experts were alarmed by the findings. City health officials disputed the Times reporting and sampling results at the time and said they were satisfied with their regulations. But in 2015, health officials reversed themselves and tightened monitoring to require the annual filing of inspection reports with the city. Lawmakers passed legislation last year, which went into effect in April, to further encourage building owners to conduct the inspections and disclose that information to the public. Has your building been inspected? Use the interactive map below to find out if your building's water tank has been inspected, and when. (click here to view a full-screen version of the map) One morning in May, Jonathan Lewin, a water tank cleaner with American Pipe and Tank, rode up the gated freight elevator to a midtown Manhattan rooftop where a drinking water tank had gone uninspected or cleaned for several years. Ascending a ladder to the cone-shaped roof on the wood tank, the horizon widened to reveal an often-forgotten part of New York Citys water infrastructure: a forest of wooden tanks holding aloft a hidden ocean; hundreds of millions of gallons of water. Lewin lowered his broom and bucket into the tank with a small container of chlorine bleach. Before he could clean the tank, the building should have drained it. Peering into the deep water, it seemed the pipe had clogged. He worried something was stuck in the line. A pigeon? It wouldnt be the first time. In just a year and a half working as a tank man, Lewin has found all sorts of creatures in water tanks, and his experience is not unique. One time, he found a squirrel nest in the crawl space between the roof and the flat plywood cover above the water. Two dead squirrels had drowned below. The building superintendent had seen the squirrels coming and going from the tank and joked that Lewin had found a squirrel martini. Another time, company cleaners found evidence of a man living in a tanks crawl space, apparently the same man police had evicted from a nearby water tank the day before. The vagabond had simply moved his mattress and canned food to the next water tank. Lewin reckons about 1 in 50 tanks hes cleaned had a pigeon in it. Lewins boss at American Pipe and Tank, Steven Silver, recalled that he once got a call from a building superintendent on Park Avenue who said he didnt know why the building had no water. He had climbed up to the water tank. Silver recalled him saying, Its full all the way to the top. I dont understand! Silver continued, Meanwhile, I know exactly what the problem is. His conical cover has been shot for two years. They wouldnt spend the money to replace it. Inundated with pigeons. Theres a dead pigeon floating in the water and it got sucked into the pipe. So, the waters not going down into the building anymore. We dont see that a lot, Silver said of the carcass-clogged pipe. But we do see pigeons a lot. Not knowing what to expect this time, Lewin climbed down to unclog the drain. He was relieved to find the water was just flowing very slowly as the pipes narrowed. He wrenched off the drain pipe, sending dirty water gushing onto the rooftop. Soon, he was inside the tank, dousing it with buckets of fresh water and scrubbing the wet wood walls with his broom, plowing the thick coat of pulpy sediment toward the drain. The tank was filthy, he said as the brown liquid sloshed around his boots. A cockroach corpse floated by. It took Lewin an hour and a half to clean the 15-foot-wide cedar tank. As Lewin clambered back up the decrepit ladder inside the tank, he saw evidence that animals had gotten into the tank. A 3-inch hole appeared to have been gnawed into a corner of the roof. In the crawl space below the roof, a 12-inch hole in the floor, even larger than the one in the roof, led down to the buildings drinking water. A gray feather sat beside it. He climbed down, removed his rubber boots, and reported the 3-inch hole in the roof to the building owner. Then, he left. Tank companies are generally hired to clean and inspect the tank as a package deal. If a repair is needed, the building owner must sign off on it and pay extra for it. To date, the building owner has not called back about the repair. Its a serious concern if you have a bird or a rodent basically disintegrating in your finished water. Environmental Protection Agency water tank expert The city requires building owners to submit proof of an annual water tank inspection to ensure the tank remains sanitary, but many buildings go years without an inspection, according to city estimates and health department records obtained by City & State through a Freedom of Information Law request in late March. From 2015 through 2017, 4,578 unique buildings reported a drinking water tank inspection for at least one year. That means fewer than half of all building owners with a water tank inspected it during that time, based on a city estimate of 10,300 buildings with water tanks. Even landlords who followed the rules one year frequently did not follow them every year. Last year, just 3,527 buildings with water tanks, or an estimated 34 percent, provided proof of a tank inspection, indicating compliance rates may be far worse than the city thought. In April 2015, a health official testified that 73 percent of buildings were in compliance with the annual inspection requirement. Health officials disagreed with City & States calculations, saying they believed the 2017 compliance rate was above 60 percent and that over the past three years more than 75 percent of all building owners with a water tank reported at least one inspection. Health officials did not explain their reasoning. Still, no one knows for certain how many drinking water tanks there are because the city has never tracked where they are, although officials say they are beginning to do so. The dearth of information has complicated the oversight and regulation of the tanks, which are often the last place New York City drinking water is held before it drains into faucets and shower heads. With the passage of a law last year that required landlords to file inspection reports with the city, officials hope to create a roster of buildings with water tanks to identify scofflaws, and fine owners who fail to care for their tanks. When the tightened rules went into effect in 2015, the health department issued water-tank-related violations that resulted in more than $350,000 in fines in the first year, according to data from the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. Then, enforcement abruptly dropped off. For the next year and a half, the department only fined a single building $3,750. It wasnt until the same week City & State submitted its Freedom of Information Law request, in October 2017, that the health department suddenly issued more than $80,000 in fines. But, no more fines were imposed that year. Just one $500 fine has been imposed this year. Frank G. Runyeon Whether it be a daily shower, morning coffee or a complimentary glass of ice water, a New Yorker uses more than 100 gallons of water a day on average from the citys abundant unfiltered water supply. City officials crow about its purity, but rigorous scientific monitoring stops at the curb, when it becomes building owners responsibility to care for the water inside the citys timber storehouses. New York Citys water flows from protected reservoirs upstate through hundreds of miles of tunnels and into city mains, continuously tested for contamination along the way. Once the water reaches a building, however, it becomes the owners responsibility to maintain water quality. In most taller buildings, a pump in the basement carries water to a spout at the top of a rooftop tank and another pipe midway down the tank allows water to flow out into the taps below. The gravity-powered municipal water system only provides enough pressure to reach the sixth floor of most buildings. Since the 1890s, building owners have employed wood tanks on the roof to provide additional water pressure for tenants on higher floors. In the 19th century, tenements were especially filthy on the upper levels, where water pressure was spotty. To ward off disease, officials required rooftop tanks be built, and as buildings grew taller, immigrant barrel makers filled the need. Complaints about the tanks conditions stretch back more than a century. In 1906, The New York Times ran a letter titled Water Tanks Not Cared For in which a writer feared contracting typhoid. He complained that his buildings tank had not been cleaned in over a year and sediment made the water yellowish. In 1950, the Times ran a feature starring health sleuths who helped a petulant housewife bearing a jar filled with water and feathers. An inspector found exactly what he had expected in the water tank, the writer noted. The tanks trap door had been blown away and a family of pigeons had come to roost inside. A tank typically lasts an average of 25 years, depending on the wood and how exposed it is to the elements. Cedar tanks change color as they age, from yellow to pale beige and beige to a dark, ashen brown that fades into the cityscape. Inside the tanks, the air is heavy with the smell of wood pulp and must. Specks of dust dance in the air. Shafts of light often shoot between the staves, the wood slowly decaying and flaking off into the water. Sediment is a common sight in water tanks, steadily accumulating into a muddy layer at the bottom of the tank. Various other types of contamination, such as biofilm and algae, are not unusual to see. Insects and floating debris inside the tank are common, as one might expect in an aging rooftop wooden vessel filled with water. Signs of birds or other animals in the tanks are not so rare, as tank cleaners estimate that they find some kind of animal inside 1 to 2 percent of tanks. Health officials said they did not respond to the reported E. coli test results until nearly two years later. City health officials say that the tanks pose little health risk for several reasons: The water is constantly being drawn and replenished, leaving little time for bacterial growth; the water is protected by chlorine; the wood behaves as an insulator that keeps the temperature low; and because water enters through the top and is drawn out of the middle of the tank, sediment and contaminants sink to the bottom. Its extremely unlikely those (contaminants) enter into the drinking water, wrote Miller, the health department spokesman. However, two senior scientists at the federal Environmental Protection Agency said they were concerned by what they saw in a series of photographs of rooftop tank cleanings and cited several clear health risks. As a condition of the agency-sanctioned interview, the EPA requested its individual scientists not be named. One is an expert on drinking water tanks. The other is a drinking water toxicologist. Using a wooden structure on top of a building is asking for a vulnerable situation, the EPA toxicologist said. This is not a tank thats sealed from the outside environment. There are all sorts of potential routes for rodents or birds other flying insects to get into these tanks, the EPA toxicologist said, reviewing the photographs. Its just very vulnerable to contamination from the outside world. They noted that the water tanks do not appear to follow best practices. The tanks lack adequate protections like ultra-fine mesh screens on vents and overflow valves, while cracks and openings in the tanks can allow creatures inside, carrying with them potentially harmful bacteria or viruses. Its a serious concern if you have a bird or a rodent basically disintegrating in your finished water, the EPA tank expert said, referring to the outbreaks, some deadly, that were linked to animal intrusion in large water tanks, including in Colorado, Missouri and the United Kingdom. But for a New York City building with a rooftop tank, it would be harder for health officials to detect an outbreak because a relatively small number of people would be affected at one time. Dangerous microbes would escape the carcass in spurts, not all at once. Chlorinated drinking water, the experts stressed, is no defense for a decaying pigeon. In those cases, the tanks may be the source of waterborne illness outbreaks the health department never spots. If youve got one or two people in a building that has 500 people in it, theyre probably going to say, Oh, I just ate some bad food, the EPA toxicologist said. But there still may be a lot of hidden pathogenic outbreaks in these situations given the quality of the tank pictures that Im seeing here. The accumulation of muddy sediment in the bottom of the tanks, which is common, is an incubator for microorganisms, including potentially dangerous ones. Recent EPA research on water tanks around the country has shown that the two most common pathogens in the sediment are mycobacterium, which can cause NTM-PD, or nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease, and Legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaires disease. As with most waterborne pathogens, mycobacteria and Legionella bacteria principally pose a threat to the very old, the very young and those with weaker immune systems. Norman Pace, a microbiologist who pioneered techniques to map constellations of bacteria and viruses in unusual environments, said he was especially concerned that water tank cleaners were not properly protected as they cleaned the sludge from the bottom of the tanks. It just makes my skin crawl to think of these guys stirring that stuff up without dust masks on, Pace said. I would certainly be surprised if there wasnt a lot of mycobacterium in those sediments and Legionella. Frank G. Runyeon When Corinne Schiff, the city health departments deputy commissioner of environmental health, testified before the City Council in September, Councilman Peter Koo asked her if cleaning water tanks would help prevent cases of Legionnaires disease in his district. Legionnaires disease is actually entirely unrelated to drinking water tanks, Schiff said, adding that investigations of Legionnaires cases would not include examining drinking water tanks because the department believes the tanks are safe. The citys data on water quality in the tanks is based on samples for E. coli, a microbe that originates in the feces of mammals and birds. But the samples are typically taken after the tank is cleaned and disinfected, which is allowed. As a result, the water sampling methods are inadequate to provide an accurate picture of water quality in the tanks throughout the year, the EPA scientists and microbiologists said. It is a system which is designed to give you the best possible impression but not actually tell you what people are drinking, said Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, a professor of public health at Tufts University and a former chairman of the EPA Science Advisory Boards Drinking Water Committee. It certainly is self-defeating to be taking an E. coli test at the end of it. It would seem to me you should be taking an E. coli test at the beginning and at the end. But the city has defended its regulation of water tanks and says their health surveillance methods are sufficient. We have an active monitoring program for E. coli, which would be one of the bacteria we would be worried about that make people sick, Schiff said during the September hearing. We have no evidence, no cases of E. coli we can link to a drinking water tank. Out of more than 13,000 tank inspection filings over the past three years, just six reported a positive E. coli test. Nearly all those were in public buildings, including the Brooklyn Central Courts Building, the Brooklyn Appellate Courthouse, the Manhattan Civil Courthouse, the Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building, and the Excelsior Building home to the city Department of Sanitations offices. When E. coli is found in drinking water, a boil water order is required, according to EPA regulations. In a public building, the agency experts said notices should be posted at water sources, such as drinking fountains. But the New York State Unified Court System appears not to have known about the reported contamination. I am told by our facilities people that there was never an issue with the water tanks, said courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen. He directed further questions to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the agency that maintains many New York City buildings. City & State then requested DCAS inspection records, which any landlord is required to make available within five business days upon request. Before responding, DCAS filed a series of 2017 reports, months past the filing deadline. When DCAS did respond weeks later, it provided two dozen pages of records that frequently contradicted each other. For example, water test results were repeatedly recorded and certified as accurate months before the tests were ever conducted. The records showed multiple health code violations, but the health department did not fine DCAS or issue a single violation. Jacqueline Gold, a DCAS spokeswoman, said the agency has no tank inspection records prior to 2015. Gold also said DCAS has no lab results for a bacteriological water test prior to 2016, even though DCAS provided a spreadsheet printout that appears to show all five buildings tested positive for E. coli in December 2015. Gold said that DCAS multiple reports of E. coli positive tests in 2015 were a clerical error. But health officials also said they did not respond to the reported E. coli test results until nearly two years later, when they contacted DCAS last fall about the time City & State requested the city data. Safe or not, security officers at the entrances to three of the court buildings universally recommended against drinking the water. A few years back, several officers in two different court buildings said their bosses told them not to drink the buildings water and instead drink bottled water provided to them. There was no formal warning about the buildings water, they said, but it was common knowledge that you dont drink the water. Visits to two of those court buildings, located in Manhattan at 80 Centre St. and 111 Centre St., found functioning water fountains throughout the buildings, including outside hushed jury rooms and in bustling Housing Court hallways. On the 11th floor of the Manhattan Civil Courthouse, a woman said the pipes are just old. You can taste it. It wont hurt you, she said. The water had a metallic, musty flavor. Inside the Lefkowitz Building, where well-dressed couples milled about the Manhattan Marriage Bureau and lawyers trudged to the district attorneys office, a small shop sells coffee that the shopkeeper said was made with the buildings tap water. A floor above, a state court officer with a desk not far from a water fountain said no one ever told him about E. coli or a problem with the drinking water. Hes been drinking from that fountain for years, he said. Two city Sanitation Department employees in the Excelsior Building at 137 Centre St. whose dilapidated drinking water tank sits exposed to the sky also said people drink the tap water. The only other building that self-reported an E. coli positive test result was 114 W. 70th St., an Upper West Side co-op, also in 2015. City & State requested the inspection records from Lisa Jensen, the building manager, but she said the co-op board refused to provide them in violation of the city health code. The board would only make them available to tenants. City health officials did not notice the E. coli report submitted by the co-op until they came across it while they were reviewing cooling tower inspections. The city did not issue any violations to the building, despite the co-op failing to notify the health department within 24 hours, as required. Subsequent tests were E. coli negative, health officials noted. Frank G. Runyeon While the citys new water tank inspection data provides a limited directory of buildings with drinking water tanks, it also catalogs the observations of water tank inspectors. But a review of that data found that the observations entered in the reports were at odds with the expectations of scientists and water tank cleaners who have spent years building, scrubbing and repairing these wood tanks. Looking only at the data, the water tanks appear impossibly clean. Sediment, which is universally acknowledged as common, even in well-maintained tanks, was only reported in 1.8 percent of all tank inspections. When a water tank company representative was listed as the contact person for the inspection, those inspections virtually never reported sediment or any other sanitary defect. Henry Rosenwach, the vice president and heir to the multigenerational Rosenwach tank business, is the contact person for more than 5,800 of the roughly 13,000 inspection reports filed from 2015 through 2017 far more than any other individual. Yet, not a single inspection with his name on it reported the presence of sediment or any other sanitary issue in a water tank. The answer might be, very quickly, is that they clean the tank and then observe it. Theres no sediment! said Philip Kraus, president and CEO of Fred Smith Plumbing & Heating Co. He laughed. Thats probably what happens. Rosenwach executives did not respond to phone calls, voicemails or emails requesting an interview to talk about their inspections. The law does not specify exactly when the observations should be made. The two other major tank cleaning companies said they make their observations after the tank is cleaned. When we get there, yes, theres sediment. Theres almost always sediment at the bottom. The point is that we get rid of it, said David Hochhauser, who owns legacy tank company Isseks Brothers Inc. with his siblings. I think the point of when theyre saying, Do you observe these things?, its after the fact. Not before the fact, Hochhauser said of the city inspection form. By getting rid of it, youre attesting to the sanitary quality of the water. In contrast to Rosenwachs observations, inspection reports where Fred Smith Plumbing is listed as the contact were more in line with cleaners descriptions and City & States observations of water tanks before they are cleaned. But tank cleaning is only a minor part of Kraus business, which averages about 80 tanks a year. We look at the tank, and if we see sediment, we report it and then, of course, we clean it, Kraus said. Fred Smith Plumbing reported sediment was present 78 percent of the time, biological growth 5 percent of the time, insects and/or floatable debris 13 percent of the time, and rodent or bird activity 2 percent of the time. Very few buildings self-reported bird or rodent activity in their water tank inspection observations just eight buildings in three years. Those that did included an upscale cross section of New York real estate: two stately residences with uniformed doormen, one with a marble lobby on Fifth Avenue and another off Central Park West that features wood-paneled elevators; a midtown Manhattan building with a popular sushi restaurant; a Diamond District building with a Pret A Manger at street level; a newer apartment building on the Upper East Side that shares its plumbing with a medical center. Self-reports of such unflattering sanitary defects may be more a hallmark of the inspectors honesty and interpretation of the city rules than any indication of a buildings cleanliness when compared to other buildings. More notable is whats missing from most of the inspection observations: descriptions that match the typical conditions of water tanks. Its not brain surgery. Theres no reason why this system cant be made safe. Eric Goldstein, New York City environment director for the Natural Resources Defense Council At the city Sanitation Departments building at 137 Centre St., a series of inspection reports appeared to directly contradict plainly visible problems. Atop the building, City & State observed a wooden water tank with a nearly nonexistent roof, partially covered with a torn blue tarp. The tank was filled to the brim and the water was clearly visible from a distance. A blue tarp has covered the tank since at least June 2014, according to a series of Google Street View images. Hochhauser said the neglected vessel is likely the drinking water tank he built in 1981. Its in deplorable condition, he said. If its an active domestic water tank, thats shocking. Nevertheless, in water tank inspection reports DCAS employees repeatedly certified, under penalty of perjury, that the tank had no sanitary defects. Michael Nettleton, the DCAS inspector in 2017, confirmed that the wood tank on the sanitation departments building contains drinking water, but had a hazy memory of the inspection. Yeah, no, I probably may, Nettleton said when asked about the inspection report that bore his signature. Last year. I may have looked at it, yeah. Another oddity in the paperwork is that the inspection date is noted as March 2, 2018, but the date next to Nettletons signature reads March 17, 2017. Lets just say theres something that sounds a little fishy about that data, said Eric Goldstein, New York City environment director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Clearly there is a need to tighten up on inspections and enforcement and the City Council should move to fund an independent study that analyzes the risk from current water tank maintenance practices and summarizes best practices throughout the industry, which would include annual cleanings, Goldstein said. This is a statutory gap and a problem with enforcement. Its not brain surgery. Theres no reason why this system cant be made safe. The EPA scientists and health experts agreed that New York Citys wood drinking water tanks warrant further research, both for the potential health risk they pose and because they have never been subjected to scientific investigation. They pitched a range of ideas and avenues of inquiry from sampling possible molds and fungi in the tanks to monitoring the health of building residents. Its unexplored territory, they said. In the meantime, the largest and most densely populated city in America is served by these little understood and poorly maintained wooden reservoirs hovering above the cityscape, as they have for more than a century. It sounds like a system that has got lots and lots of flaws to it and potential for public health impact, said Griffiths, the former EPA drinking water committee chairman. The idea that they are finding pigeons in 1 out of 50 tanks? Come on. That might have been OK in 1900, but its 2018 now. With reporting by Ben Jay. OHCHR Moldova: Apel deschis pentru aplicatii din partea OSC-urilor pentru a beneficia de suport in desfasurarea activitatilor de advocacy la nivel international in contextul celui de-al treilea ciclu de EPU a R. Moldova Journalism has a panopticon problem. Just like the watchman in the center of Jeremy Benthams theoretical circular prison, we can now surveil a vast amount of human activity on the internet. Either through watching users reveal themselves on social media, or by digging into the carelessly secured digital footprints we all leave behind, the amount of information journalists and others can now see outweighs what we could and should report. Unlike Benthams penitentiary, in which the knowledge they are being surveilled limits the brazenness of the prisoners, the easy publicness of actions on social media has not served to discourage bad actors. Instead, it has empowered them to shock and radicalize more widely than would have otherwise been the case. In the wake of the pre-meditated murder of 50 Muslim worshipers in mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand last week, journalists have found themselves in a familiar place; we are back into the loop of self-examination in terms of how to report about acts of terrorism and on those who commit them. In the Christchurch killings, the gunman conducted mass murder within the framework of a social media campaign. A long screed was posted online on an easily accessible message board, explaining his motivations and namechecking a long list of inspirationssome obviously ironic, some apparently sincere. Two Twitter accounts were set up to help spread news of the atrocity, and he used Facebook Live to stream video of his actions in real time, during which he dropped references to aspects of online political culture across all parts of his deadly performance. Individuals, trained by the platforms to understand how to influence and publish, are now well versed in creating material the platforms find difficult to purge. Facebook, Twitter, and message groups struggled to contain the material with limited and late success. Both Facebook and YouTube talked about the difficulty of removing the millions of repeated uploads from the atrocity. Neal Mohan, YouTubes chief product officer, made the problem sound unmanageable, as a version of the video of the killing was uploaded as often as once per second. This was a tragedy that was almost designed for the purpose of going viral, Mohan told The Washington Post. In a statement, Facebook said there were 1.5 million attempts to upload the video, 1.2 million of which were prevented at upload. These are impressive numbers, but the algorithms werent enough to keep the virality at bay. We saw in the response of the platforms the limits of artificial intelligence to quell the path of information troubling, given that Mark Zuckerberg has in the past stated that he sees AI as a major path forward for content moderation. Individuals, trained by the platforms to understand how to influence and publish, are now well versed in creating material the platforms find difficult to purge. Information, it seems, will get out. This raises a question for the press about how journalists ought to treat newsworthy but highly sensitive events. While the ambition is always to have the best possible reporting in difficult situations, there is inevitably debate about where the line should be drawn in terms of coverage and focusnow, that balance must also take into account the fact that the press no longer controls what information is available. There is a whole literature now on what best practices look like for journalists and editors reporting as live events of this type. Many point to academic studies such as this, from 2015, linking a contagion effect to mass killings, and to thoughtful guidelines on how to cover mass shootings responsibly. The Tow Center, which I direct, produced a series of reports in 2016 about the interdependence of terrorism and the media and political response. Responsible reporters ought to have the basics imprinted on their subconscious: Do not report facts until they are verified, do not focus on the perpetrator over the victims, do not use sensational language that might glamorize the terrorist. In response, Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, told the New Zealand parliament she would not repeat the gunmans name. She may have been taking a page from US coverage of mass shootings: In the wake of the shooting in Aurora, Colorado in 2012, two parents set up a campaign challenging the media to stick to a policy of no name, no photo, no notoriety. Similarly, last year, Joan Donovan, an online speech researcher, and danah boyd, director of Data and Society, presented the case for journalists to practice strategic silence when considering issues of amplification of online speech and ideas. Sign up for CJR 's daily email READ: A mosque massacre is livestreamed Since journalism is a citational field (journalists need to show evidence that something happened), Donovan says, the temptation is to link to sources or post material, such as the Christchurch shooters document, whole without context. But this time, there were clear signs after the Christchurch shooting that professional journalists were thinking more carefully about the focus of coverage: I havent seen, for instance, journalists turn to white supremacistswho they now have in their contactsto speak about this, and that is to be commended. And linking to far-right sites and the publishing of raw material was less obviously a feature of mainstream coverage, she adds. Strategic silence is a difficult concept for journalists, and it has its limits. In the immediate aftermath of Christchurch, I searched government-friendly media outlets in countries with authoritarian and Islamophobic leaders, such as Russia, Hungary, and the Philippines. While all carried coverage of the attack, often it was not the lead itemand in most cases the details of the attacker and his motives were left out or vague. Who does this serve? Right-wing talk show host Ben Shapiro urged his followers to ignore the identity and ideals of the gunman, so as not to spread the hateful message. Others noted that it serves the interests of the far-right commentariat who have regularly posted Islamophobic commentary to deflect attention away from the uncomfortable proximity of the deranged meanderings of white supremacists to their own sentiments. The issue of how much reporting attention we give to the micro-details of attacks which use social media or which are widely captured by witnesses with cell phones is another difficult line to navigate. The algorithms werent enough to keep the virality at bay. We saw in the response of the platforms the limits of artificial intelligence to quell the path of information. There are others who think reporting blackouts or over-zealous self-censorship are not helpful in combating terrorism or violent extremism. Bellingcat, a website which specializes in open source intelligence (OSINT) reporting, produced a comprehensive and contextualized report on the motives and movements of the Christchurch killer before he carried out the attacks. The piece contextualized his use of internet image boards and the references he made in his writings and video. His manifesto is not dangerous to the average reader, Bellingcats Robert Evans, who wrote the piece, tells me. The people who will be most influenced by the details of this are people who are already in the dark corners of the internet and already know. Evans would not have posted Tarrants writing whole or uncontextualized, but pointing out things he feels are important, what radicalized and influenced him is important. Evans feels that a lack of coverage of far-right terrorists has made it easier for platforms to ignore those terrorists content, and contrasts that willful ignorance with the near erasure of ISIS and radical Islamist activity from the open web by the very same platforms, at the urging of activists and policymakers. ISIS and their tactics are very much the blueprint for white nationalists. What has effectively minimized the online presence of ISIS though is the political will to do so. (In a Tow Center report from 2016, Rafia Zakaria writes that US law has no way of categorizing domestic terrorism as terrorism, legally.) READ: New Zealand massacre: Journalists divided on how to cover hate In the panopticon, where information is readily available to journalists and nonjournalists alike, there are other concerns that journalists should be routinely aware of. The new term is stochastic terrorism, which describes an unanticipated act of terror committed by a seemingly random individual. Where there is a saturation of inflammatory rhetoric about ideology or particular groups, the theory goes, it becomes statistically likely that some lone wolf will take the bait. The terrible events in Christchurch bear the hallmarks of stochastic terrorism prompted by far-right influence and endless Islamophobic themes repeated by prominent politicians and elements of the media. For the Christchurch killer, as for Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivikwhom the Christchurch killer cites by namethe route to terrorism was close to the mainstream, and reflects a constant type of Islamophobia present on news websites with anti-Muslim agendas such as Breitbart and the Daily Mail. Evans feels that if the white nationalist industry were less profitable to social platforms, and if image boards such as 8Chan were taken more seriously as a root of terroristic threat, then the many clues and postings made ahead of the attack would have been caught earlier. The flip side of strategic silence is that the threat of a different kind of terrorism is minimized, and that the platforms, who have never acted to pre-empt anything that has not previously attracted coverage, continue to treat extreme and violent views as a tolerable type of speech. If there is anything to be learned from the incredibly dark events in New Zealand it is that the platforms as well as the press are now being held accountable for their reactions and policies in terms of how material enters the public square. One thing we have to assume is that platforms are editing and shaping what we see. The ship has sailed in terms of thinking we ever see unfiltered speech, even search is curation, Donovan says, It might be that this is the incident that responsibilitizes the platforms. Journalists and technologists in the meantime should be using every incident which fuses the use of both mainstream and social media with devastating outcomes for ordinary citizens as a chance to reflect on their own role and responsibility in a changing environment. ICYMI: WSJ reporter explains why he was fired Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Emily Bell is a frequent CJR contributor and the director of Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Previously, she oversaw digital publishing at The Guardian. BROWNVILLE, Neb. Emergency officials in Southern U.S. states kept a wary eye on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers as massive flooding that killed four people and caused more than $1 billion in estimated damages to homes, businesses and crops threatened to extend south. Floodwaters resulting from a late-winter storm last week and warming spring weather that melted snow quickly this week inundated a large swath of Midwestern farm states Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa along the Missouri, North Americas longest river. States of emergency have been declared in all or parts of the three states. Officials warned the damage toll would rise as receding waters revealed more devastated roadways, bridges and homes. In the South, Mississippi, which lies downstream from the floodwaters, declared a state of emergency as it prepared for the inundation to spread. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also predicted major flooding for parts of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. In Arkansas, emergency officials said they were monitoring the situation but did not believe flooding would reach crisis levels. The majority of our lakes are not overfilled yet, meaning there were still safe places for floodwater to flow to, said Melody Daniel, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. Kansas and Missouri emergency officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The National Weather Service expects warm weather in the north-central United States to continue into Thursday and Friday, triggering more accelerated snow melt, meteorologist Rich Otto said in a phone interview. About an inch (2.5 cm) of rain is predicted for Saturday in the region. Stop! Turn Around! Farmers in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and other states scrambled to move their harvested grains before flooding destroyed them as they did across Nebraska, Iowa and other states. In northwestern Missouri, where waters were still rising and rivers had not yet crested, farmer Howard Geib, 54, had a close call. I was driving out to get one more load of corn from the bins when the levee broke, and there was a wall of water coming at me, said Geib, 54, whose farm is near a town called Craig. I was on the phone with my son-in-law, who was driving out to help, telling him, Stop! Stop! Turn around!' Vice President Mike Pence toured some of Nebraska on Tuesday and promised to help expedite federal help to the region. In Plattsmouth, Nebraska, just south of the junction of the Platte and Missouri Rivers, a convenience store manager said residents were struggling with the disaster and hoping the worst was over. Theres a lot of people that lost a lot of stuff, but the waters starting to go down, so were moving in the right direction, said a woman who identified herself only as Kathy at Caseys General Store, which she said had escaped flood damage. Four people have been killed by floodwaters in Nebraska and Iowa since the weekend, officials said. Authorities said they had rescued nearly 300 people in Nebraska alone, with some rivers continuing to rise. The flooding killed livestock, destroyed grains and soybeans in storage and cut off access to farms because of road and rail damage. $1 Billion in Damage Nebraska officials estimated flood damage for the states agricultural sector at more than $1 billion, according to Craig Head, vice president of issue management at the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Head said that was likely to grow as floodwaters recede. Its really too early to know for sure how bad this is going to get. But one thing we do know: Its catastrophic for farmers, said Matt Perdue, government relations director for the National Farmers Union. Nebraska officials estimate the floods have also caused $553 million in damage to public infrastructure and other assets, and $89 million to privately owned assets, according to the states Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday. Roads leading to the Nebraska Public Power Districts Cooper nuclear plant near Brownville were engulfed by floodwaters from the Missouri, but the facility was still operating safely at full power on Wednesday. Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, which houses the U.S. Strategic Command, remained heavily flooded, though base officials posted on Twitter that the facility was still mission-capable. The Strategic Commands mission includes defending against and responding to nuclear attacks. Were looking for it to recede by late tomorrow, Drew Nystrom, a spokesman for the base, said on Wednesday. Its gonna take a concentrated effort and many months to get everything back to normal. About the photo: Residents look on at the plume of smoke rising from a fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. petrochemical storage site on Tuesday. As a towering plume of black smoke billowed a mile above Houston for a third day, all attention turned to a concrete wall on the edge of a blazing petrochemical site that was built to hold back millions of gallons of toxic chemicals. Photographer: Scott Dalton/Bloomberg A mile-high chemical-fire plume that towered over Houston since Sunday threatened to descend onto surrounding neighborhoods, prompting officials to hurriedly cancel school for tens of thousands of children. Schools were ordered to shut Wednesday in Deer Park, Texas, the working-class suburb thats home to the Intercontinental Terminals Co. tank farm, where the blaze is entering its fourth day. City leaders cited weather forecasts that show an end to the favorable conditions that allowed the column of black smoke to rise high above the city, leaving residents breathing easy. Four tanks holding gasoline ingredients were still burning about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Houstons business district late Tuesday night, down from five earlier in the day, according to Intercontinental. Previous expectations that the blaze would exhaust itself by the middle of the week no longer hold, officials said. Four nearby school districts Galena Park, La Porte, Channelview, Pas and Sheldon also told students to stay home Wednesday. The cancellations followed an apparent shift in the anvil-shaped column, which began to migrate north and then dip toward ground level shortly before sunset Tuesday. Earlier in the day, pollution monitors across the Houston area showed the air was safe to breathe, probably because the intensity of the fire had pushed the thick plume high into the atmosphere, according to Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with Harris Countys flood control agency. Theres a black disgusting blob, but theres no toxins in there, said Ryan Sitton, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the states oil industry. Its the same risk as your backyard fire when you get ash out of there. Those assurances were met with incredulity by some Houston residents. Its very scary, said Patricia Walker, 85, who was walking her dog in downtown Houston. Im concerned for my granddaughter. They didnt allow her to go outside because of the fumes. Intercontinentals facility in Deer Park has a total of 242 tanks located near the Houston Ship Channel, a primary port of call in the Gulf Coast industrial nexus that supplies much of the worlds fuel, chemicals and plastics. The town of 32,000 residents styles itself the states birthplace because it was the site of the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto that won Texas independence from Mexico. Attention also turned Tuesday to a 4-feet-high concrete wall lining the south side of Intercontinentals property, which firefighters were watching to ensure it isnt breached by foam, water and other runoff. The water, which was knee deep Tuesday, will become a threat if it reaches chest deep, according to Intercontinental executives. The tank farm occupies 265 acres on the Houston Ship Channel east of the city. It can store more than 13 million barrels of chemicals, petroleum, fuel oil and gases. It serves marine, train and trucking transport with five tanker berths and its own rail spur. Intercontinental is owned by Japans Mitsui & Co. A Tokyo-based spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company is watching the situation closely. Bayer AG lost the first phase of a trial over claims its Roundup weed killer causes cancer and now moves to a second phase to determine liability and damages in the case of a man who sprayed the herbicide on his property for decades. The next stage, starting Wednesday, will be a steeper climb for the defense: jurors will hear evidence, including damaging emails, that the company manipulated public opinion to bury health concerns and promote sales of the bestselling herbicide. After Bayer lost its first U.S. trial over Roundup, Tuesdays decision probably edges the company one step closer to a settlement, according to analysts. They predict that paying to resolve more than 11,000 related U.S. lawsuits, which Bayer inherited with its acquisition of Monsanto Co., could cost as much as $5 billion. The verdict will likely result in a flood of cases filed quickly against Bayer, and may expedite the ultimate settlement of the Roundup claims, Anna Pavlik, senior counsel for special situations at United First Partners LLC in New York, said in an email. Pavlik cautioned that Bayer and plaintiffs lawyers probably remain far apart on the price of resolving the lawsuits. Bayer said moving to the next phase of Edwin Hardemans trial against the company has no impact on future cases because each one has its own factual and legal circumstances. We are disappointed with the jurys initial decision, but we continue to believe firmly that the science confirms glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer, the company said in a statement. We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsantos conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardemans cancer. The trial in San Francisco federal court is structured more favorably for Bayer than the first one last summer. In that case, a California state court jury awarded a former school groundskeeper damages eventually reduced by a judge to $78.6 million. The proceedings were split at the companys request and in its favor to first focus jurors attention on the medical question of whether exposure to Roundup was a significant factor in causing plaintiff Hardemans non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Bayer argued that the hepatitis Hardeman suffered for decades is the primary cause of his disease. With that question decided against Bayer, jurors will now hear about two more weeks of testimony to determine whether the company is liable for Hardemans cancer, and if so, what damages hes owed. Now we can focus on the evidence that Monsanto has not taken a responsible, objective approach to the safety of Roundup, Hardemans attorneys, Aimee Wagstaff and Jennifer Moore, said in a statement. Instead, it is clear from Monsantos actions that it does not particularly care whether its product is in fact giving people cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about the issue. Evidence is almost certain to resurface that Monsanto ghostwrote scientific literature and influenced regulators to claim that Roundup is safe. The revelations proved pivotal in the previous verdict, which caused Bayer shares to plunge. The case is In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2741, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco). Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. AKRON, Ohio -- Two teenage boys in Akron were hospitalized Tuesday after someone shot them in separate shootings that appear to be related, police say. Police responded about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to a shooting at a house on the 100 block of Miles Avenue in the citys Middlebury neighborhood, according to a police report. Officers spoke with several witnesses who said they were at the house for a party and intended to gamble. The witnesses reported they were on the front porch when they decided the line to get into the house was too long, police said. As the witnesses tried to leave, a man fired several shots, one of which struck a 16-year-old boy, police said. Witnesses could not provide a description of the shooter. Before officers arrived, an acquaintance brought the 16-year-old boy to Akron City Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, according to police. About 15 minutes later, police responded to another shooting about a mile away, on the 700 block of South Arlington Street in East Akron. Officers found a 17-year-old boy with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. Paramedics brought him to Akron City Hospital where he is listed in critical condition. Officers learned the victim was riding in a 2010 Nissan Sentra near Chittenden Street and Santee Avenue when someone fired multiple shots at the car. The Nissan and several parked cars in the area were also struck by bullets, police said. Again, witnesses could not describe the shooter. The shootings appear to be related, Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards said. Anyone with information is asked to call Akron police detectives at 330-375-2490 or Summit County Crimestoppers Inc. at 330-434-2677. Tipsters can also text TIPSCO to 274637. Callers can remain anonymous. To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The Charter Review Commission officially handed the ball off to City Council on Monday (March 18) with a lengthy list of proposed amendments to the home rule Constitution. It is now up to council to decide what to do with at least 50 and possibly well over 100 recommendations from the commission, the first convened since 1982. But Mayor Carol Roe noted that there may well be two competing ballot issues this fall, referring to an initiative sponsored by the group called Citizens for an Elected Mayor. Among the changes, some substantive, some of a lesser nature, Charter Review Commission Chairman Jack Newman said the most significant conclusion reached by the original 15-member panel was to retain the current council-manager form of government. The commission went on to recommend that the titles of "mayor" and "vice mayor" be dropped, in favor of "council president" and "vice president," for the two members of the legislative body who are appointed by their fellow council members. The title of mayor becomes a sort of talisman that creates an impediment to the actions of the city manager, where the commission decided the executive power should be concentrated, Newman told council. That in itself has become the definitive issue driving Citizens for an Elected Mayor, as they gather a minimum of 2,119 signatures from local registered voters -- 10 percent of those who turned out in the last election -- to get their counter-measure on the ballot. "We think the city's needs would be better addressed by putting those powers in the hands of an elected mayor, providing stronger, more accountable and more visionary leadership," CEM Secretary Michael Bennett told council Monday. Campaign manager Tony Cuda said that was the message he took from interviews conducted by the commission and public input through the early going of the twice-monthly meetings that got under way last year. "And the more power given to an appointed official, the more that is taken away from the people," Cuda said. In its finding of no compelling reason to change from the council-manager form, Cuda felt that the Charter Review Commission adhered to a stricter burden of proof than was necessary. "They wanted to be persuaded overwhelmingly by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, like a criminal case," Cuda surmised. "But the preponderance of evidence showed it is more likely that an elected mayor would be more accountable. "And ultimately, the community will decide," Cuda added, having noted earlier that if two competing initiatives appear on the ballot, the one with the most votes will win. Whatever council decides to do with the recommendations, Newman asked that City Council "make a strong commitment to avoiding any diminution of the power, dignity and responsibility of the city manager." Newman also recommended that if any or all of the proposed amendments find their way onto the ballot, that they be "put to the electorate as an entire unit," rather than as single or smaller-grouped provisions. While he was impressed with the scope of the commission's work, Councilman Jason Stein expressed major concern that "one large, encompassing ballot issue may be confusing for residents coming to vote." Newman said the commission's objective was to examine the charter, originally adopted in 1921, "from the ground up, with no preconceptions. This might be seen as complex, but we deserve a good, modern and understandable charter." To that end, another recommendation would call for a new Charter Review Commission to be convened at least every 20 years. There are also additional ethics provisions, a specificity clause giving a general explanation of why legislation needs to be passed on first reading as an emergency, and a 90-day time limit to fill council vacancies. Roe asked about any further discussion of the possibility of pulling the mayor out for a separate direct election for that seat, as opposed to the seven at-large council races where the top vote-getters win for the number of seats available. "Your work is finished and our work now begins," Roe said, thanking the commission members in attendance Monday. "City Council will decide in Committee-of-the-Whole on what to do with the recommendations and whether or not to send them to the ballot, as well as our ability to change them." Also commended was the city staff and CRC facilitator Larry Keller, who in turn praised the 13 remaining members, calling them the best commission he has ever worked with. This was by far the most thorough review Ive ever been a part of, the Cleveland State professor emeritus said. They deliberated more and their fact-finding was more complete than any of the 15-20 charter reviews Ive worked on. BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Warrant arrest, Richmond Road: At 9:55 a.m. March 13, police stopped a car for speeding. It was subsequently learned that the driver, a Euclid man, 25, was driving with a suspended license and was the subject of a South Euclid police warrant. The man was cited for the offenses and arrested on the warrant. Marijuana possession, Richmond Road: At 4:40 p.m. March 13, an officer stopped a car that was showing expired plates. Police then found that the driver, a South Euclid woman, 24, was driving with a suspended license and was in possession of marijuana. OVI, Richmond Road: At 11:05 p.m. March 14, a car was spotted speeding on Richmond Road near Eaton Boulevard. A traffic stop was conducted and it was found that the driver, a Cleveland Heights man, 54, was intoxicated. The man was charged with OVI, prohibited blood-alcohol content, marijuana possession and, after a scale was found in his car, drug paraphernalia possession. Marijuana possession, Cedar Road: At 12:45 p.m. March 14, an officer stopped a car leaving the Beachwood Place mall parking lot, 26300 Cedar Road, after a check of the vehicles registration showed that the driver had a suspended license. The driver, a Cleveland woman, 36, also was found to be in possession of marijuana. Driving under suspension, Halburton Road: At 10:25 a.m. March 15, police arrested a Shaker Heights woman, 26, for driving with a suspended drivers license. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. LYNDHURST, Ohio -- Felonious assault, Glenlyn Road: At 9:30 a.m. March 13, police were called to Brush High School, 4875 Glenlyn Road, where a security guard had been injured. Officers learned that a girl, 14, had instigated a fight with a 15-year-old girl. The security officer tried to break up the fight, but the girl who started the fight continued to swing her arms and legs, injuring the guards head. The guard was taken to Hillcrest Hospital. The girl who started the fight was charged with felonious assault and turned over to her mother. Warrant arrest, Mayfield Road: At 11:10 p.m. March 16, an officer stopped a car that did not have its headlights activated. It was discovered that the driver, a Cleveland man, 37, was driving with a suspended license and was the subject of Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and Independence police warrants. Neither agency could pick up the suspect, so he was arrested and taken to the county jail in Euclid. Theft, Cedar Road: At 6:30 p.m. March 15, two women ran out of Dick's Sporting Goods, 24545 Cedar Road in Legacy Village, carrying stolen clothing. The women got into a black SUV, which was driven away westbound on Cedar Road. The women were not apprehended. Store employees were unsure of what exactly had been stolen. Criminal damaging, Richmond Road: At 5 p.m. March 15, police were called to an apartment where a man, 19, had been asked earlier in the day by a family member to leave the premises, but had returned with his sister. The man attempted to force his way into the apartment unit. Police arrested the man and charged him with criminal damaging. Theft, Cedar Road: At 1:35 p.m. March 15, a man reported that two credit cards had been stolen from his wallet, which had been in his locker at LA Fitness, 25145 Cedar Road. The credit cards were subsequently used to make fraudulent charges for approximately $500. Theft, Cedar Road: At 6:15 p.m. March 13, it was reported that two male suspects ran from Dicks Sporting Goods carrying stolen merchandise. Store employees were unsure what was stolen. The suspects were not apprehended. Domestic violence, Irene Road: At 6:50 p.m. March 12, a woman, 27, reported that her boyfriend, also 27, had assaulted her. The woman locked herself in her homes bathroom so she could call police. The woman then told dispatch that her boyfriend had calmed down and that she didnt want police to come to her house. Police went to the home and arrested the man, who had pushed the woman, on a charge of domestic violence. OVI, Winchester Road: At 11:35 p.m. March 11, police investigated an incident in which a Lyndhurst woman, 62, drove her car into a tree. The woman was found to be intoxicated and was charged with OVI. If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Aniya Day-Garretts father stood before a scrum of reporters and TV cameras and praised the judge who minutes earlier handed down a life sentence to the mother of his slain daughter and her boyfriend for their roles in the girls death. We have gained some justice today," said Mickhal Garrett, whose dreadlocks and sport coat were both dyed periwinkle pink to honor his late 4-year-old daughters favorite color. Garrett went on to echo the message that the J4A shaved into the buzz-cut-short hair on his right temple conveyed: the quest for Justice for Aniya will carry on. Garrett said he still has questions about the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services handling of multiple inquiries into abuse claims involving his daughter before her March 2018 death. We want to make sure we bring change here in our community to protect our children, he said. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy McCormick sentenced Aniyas mother Sierra Day to life in prison with no chance at parole. Her boyfriend Denote Lewis will be eligible for parole after 20 years behind bars. A jury convicted the pair of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, child endangering and permitting child abuse after deliberating for just a few hours spread over two days earlier this month. Several people in Aniyas life, including day care workers, Days sister Erica Johnson, and Garrett, reported suspected abuse in the final year of Aniyas short life, trial testimony revealed. But Day, who prosecutors called a master manipulator," staved off the intervention attempts by blaming marks on the girl on her daughters clumsiness, all the while further isolating her with each report abuse. At some point Aniya received a blow to her head that triggered bleeding on her brain, which clotted and led to two separate strokes several weeks before her March 2018 death, testimony revealed. Aniya lost her motor skills, stopped eating and became so emaciated that she lost the strength to walk and her pancreas started to digest itself, testimony showed. Neither Day nor Lewis called a doctor as the girl wasted away in a bed soaked with her own urine, prosecutors said. I dont believe in 24 years Ive seen a more callous disregard for human life than I did with Sierra Day, McCormick said, calling the girls death a committed form of torture. Aniyas death sparked community outrage over the way the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services handled several complaints of abuse relating to the girl in the year before her death. The county announced in late 2018 that it would implement several changes in the process of investigating child abuse claims. A state-authored review concluded that social workers failed to follow protocols, made few face-to-face contacts with the child and ignored two years worth of injuries reported by Aniyas daycare provider in response to four claims of abuse against Aniya between February 2017 and her March 11 death. The workers also dismissed Aniyas own claims that her mother hit her in a May 2017 incident. When agency workers learned Aniyas day care center had a nearly two-year backlog of documented injuries to the child that the center did not report, the workers did not obtain those injury reports or take the injuries into consideration when determining how to address Aniyas case, investigators found. A social worker was called to the house in December to investigate claims of abuse, and the worker did not speak to Aniya alone, out of the presence of her mother. And when they responded again in March, days before the girls death, they agreed to postpone an interview with Day. Garrett and the Justice for Aniya Foundation are pushing for what he has dubbed the Aniya Law, a proposal that would toughen up reporting and investigating requirements in the immediate aftermath of a reported abuse claim. It would require an emergency home visit if social workers receive an urgent call about potential abuse. It would also require caretakers to make a child who is the subject of such a complaint available for an interview within 24 hours and make it easier to remove a child from a home at the hands of abuse. The proposal also calls for a cap on the number of cases a social worker can have at one time, and for stricter penalties for social workers who fail in their duties. A change.org petition that Garrett posted last April advocating for the changes has garnered more than 25,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. Garrett said he will continue pushing for the changes and lobbying state representatives. I will be Aniyas voice, Garrett said during Wednesdays court hearing. I will also be the voice for other children being disregarded and mishandled by DCFS. I will not stop fighting for justice. I will keep fighting to make sure changes happen. Watch sentencing for murder of 4-year-old Aniya Day-Garrett after mother, boyfriend found guilty March 7. Jane Morice is in courtroom. Share your thoughts in the comments. Posted by cleveland.com on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 To comment on this story, please visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio A man who received a $300,000 settlement after he was shot by a Cleveland police officer in 2013 was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison on drug and weapons charges. Xavier Hempstead, 34, pleaded guilty in December to a crack cocaine conspiracy charge, as well as to being a felon in possession of a gun. Court records from last year said the FBI and Cleveland police used an informant to buy drugs from Hempstead nine times. The deals happened at Hempsteads home on Emery Avenue, where he was arrested, and at a home on Hirst Avenue between Bellaire Road and West 130th Street, according to court filings. Authorities also found guns at both homes. Hempstead, who has previous criminal convictions for robbery, felonious assault, domestic violence and other charges, said he worked to better himself since his arrest in May and asked Chief U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan for mercy. He said that he intervened when an inmate at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown attacked a guard. In response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Burke said Hempstead had a record of violence and was peddling poison on the West Side of Cleveland. He said Hempstead was "in the right place right now. Gaughan noted that she was giving Hempstead his fourth adult prison sentence. She also noted some of Hempsteads efforts since his arrest. The judge said she hoped Hempsteads work to protect a guard was a sign that he was on the right path. Every time you come before a judge, your sentences are just going to get higher and higher, Gaughan said. Hempstead made news in December 2013 when police officer Robert Miles shot him in the back through the rear drivers side window of his SUV. Hempstead was parked near his mothers house on Emery Avenue, and police said at the time that officers believed Hempstead was involved in a burglary and that he had stolen materials and guns with him. Miles believed Hempstead was a suspect in a burglary and that he had stolen items and a gun with him, according to court records. Miles said he saw Hempstead lean back, point a gun at him and fire a shot. Miles shot several bullets through Hempsteads rear drivers side window. One bullet struck Hempstead in the left shoulder blade, while another went into the back of his neck. Hempstead sped off but later surrendered to police. Police did not find found a gun. A jury later acquitted Hempstead of failing to comply with a police officers order. Miles was cleared of any wrongdoing by a city investigation. The city in December 2016 agreed to pay Hempstead $300,000 to settle a lawsuit. Hempstead has a pending case in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court stemming from a December 2017 arrest. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor aggravated menacing in April 2018, and prosecutors agreed to drop felonious assault and other charges in return. His sentencing in the county case is set for March 26. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio Police are investigating after male was shot Tuesday night in the Corlett neighborhood. Officers found the victim near a bus stop on the 4000 block of East 131st Street, just north of Harvard Avenue. Police released no other details on the shooting, saying that an ambulance had been called to the scene. This post will be updated if more information become available. To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page. COLUMBUS, Ohio The city has filed a lawsuit against the state, challenging a bill approved in December that it says makes it more difficult for cities to pass legislation in regard to firearms. According to WCMH Channel 4, the lawsuit argues that House Bill 228 favors the gun lobby and violates the Ohio Constitutions Home Rule provision. The State of Ohio has gone out of its way to make it more difficult for cities to govern themselves, especially on issues like guns," Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein tells ABC 6. Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther tells 10tv.com that 74 of the 102 homicides in the city in 2018 involved firearms. The city later passed laws it hoped would curb gun violence, but it says the state bill blocks the citys efforts. We took painstakingly significant efforts to narrowly tailor a law to make sure that we acted within what the state of Ohio would allow cities to do, Klein says. In this instance, it was to ban bump stocks in our community, and it was also to, which I think is the most common sense as it comes, to keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence convicts. Gerard Valentino of the Buckeye Firearms Foundation tells 10tv.com that he believes the city is wasting its money with the lawsuit and that it will lose in court. If I was a citizen of the city of Columbus, I would be upset that they are chasing a situation that they know they are going to lose, instead of spending that money on enforcing the gun laws that exist," Valentino says. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost tells ABC 6 he will defend the state in the lawsuit, saying he believes legislators acted constitutionally. CLEVELAND, Ohio Union hospitality workers plan to picket Mabels BBQ here because of owner Michael Symons connection to the Palms in Las Vegas, which workers say refuses to recognize their vote to unionize. The demonstration is part of a national effort by the Nevada Culinary Workers Union Local 226 protesting Palms Casino Resort Las Vegas. Symon runs another Mabels BBQ location inside the Palms. We voted to unionize because we want the same standard as unionized Strip workers fair wages, job security, great health benefits, Eduardo Truebas Martinez, a cook at the Palms A.Y.C.E. Buffet said in a news release. Its time for the company to do the right thing and negotiate! Unite Here! Hospitality Workers Union Local 24 -- a sister union representing service industry employees in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit -- and other affiliated unions are picketing at least two celebrity chefs with connections to the Palms, as well as other organizations affiliated with the casino and its owners. A picket is also scheduled outside the New York location of Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum, which also has a restaurant at the Palms. The Cleveland picket of Mabels is set for March 27, around dinnertime. Other cities with planned pickets include San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. Michael Symon through a representative did not respond to a request for comment. Lori Nelson, vice president of corporate communications at Station Casinos, which operates the Palms, declined to comment on the planned pickets in an Associated Press story. She did not respond to an emailed request for comment from cleveland.com. SALEM TOWNSHIP, Minnesota A woman is being held in jail after she was accused of running over her son with her full-size SUV in the familys driveway, according to reports. The suspect, Cynthia Grund, 58, is the sister of Lois Riess, who is accused of murdering her husband and another woman in Florida, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Grund, 58, is being held on suspicion of second-degree assault with substantial bodily harm and reckless driving, the Post Bulletin reports. According to KIMT Channel 3, she also could be charged with attempted murder. Deputies with the Olmsted County Sheriffs Department were called to Grunds residence at about 5:15 p.m. Monday. Authorities say Grunds 37-year-old son has a severe alcohol addiction and had been drinking throughout the day. Grund had arranged for him to stay with a friend and offered to drive him to the friends home, but he refused, reports say. He laid down in the driveway and reportedly told his mother, Why dont you just run me over. Grund then ran over her son with the two-ton vehicle, causing significant pelvic injuries. He didnt believe I would," Grund told deputies, according to the Post Bulletin. "He has been drinking all day. We gave him a chance. He was taken to the hospital for surgery and he was listed in fair condition on Tuesday, KIMT reports. Grund was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, deputies say. To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has welcomed a new sloth bear, the first born at the zoo in 30 years. No, this isnt the slow, long-limbed sloth that hang in trees in the tropics. Sloth bears weigh 200 to 300 pounds on average and mainly stick to the ground. George Shaw, who first scientifically described the species in 1971, thought the bears and sloths were related and included a sloth genus in the bears scientific name, according to the Smithsonian. These bears are largely insectivores, meaning they use their snouts to suck up bugs or grubs from the ground or in trees. They can close their nostrils to make it easier to snap up prey. They also eat honey, sugar cane and fruits. The cub is the first of his parents, Shiva and Balawat. The zoo is part of an effort to protect sloth bears in Nepal. Sloth bears currently live in India, Sri Lanka and southern Nepal. The species is vulnerable, meaning it is at risk for becoming endangered. The cub, born Jan. 14, is now learning to walk. Sloth bear cubs often ride on their mothers backs. The cub and its mother will likely be on display to the public in several weeks. The zoo will soon announce how the public can help pick the cubs name. PARMA, Ohio -- A new free health care clinic, sponsored by Clevelands Muslim community, has opened in Parma to help people who struggle to pay for doctor visits. The Cleveland Ibn Sina Clinic is inside the Islamic Center of Cleveland, 6055 W. 130th St., Parma. It provides free health care for all community members, not just Muslims, said clinic communications and Public Relations Director Hala Sanyurah. Patients pay only for prescriptions. The clinic plans to use an annual community fundraiser and donations to meet costs, she said. The Cleveland Ibn Sina Clinic will hold a grand opening from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 27. The event will include giveaways and donation collection. Regular clinic hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The clinic was inspired by a similar neighborhood clinic that opened in 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida. Clevelands Muslim community realized there was a need for a free clinic to serve people who have no or not enough health insurance, Sanyurah said. Health care is not a privilege, but a human right, she said. The Parma clinic is a member of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics, and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, she said. It is not affiliated with any Northeast Ohio hospital system. Plans to open the Cleveland Ibn Sina Clinic started about a year ago, and it welcomed its first patients in early March. Weve had a great response rate, Sanyurah said. Organizers raised about $20,000 in donations to create the clinic, including converting space inside the mosque into two patient rooms and a waiting room. The clinic uses donated medical supplies, and its doctors are donating their time, Sanyurah said. The doctors come from the Muslim communities in Cleveland and Akron, and will rotate through the clinic, working once a month. The clinic offers primary care and respiratory medicine, as well as care for sleep disorders, asthma, allergies and mental health counseling. Health education also will be a focus. The clinic plans to hold a womens health day in April to distribute literature about womens health concerns. Clinic organizers hope the free clinic model can be extended to other Northeast Ohio locations. Its something that can grow, Sanyurah said. CLEVELAND, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines proposal to pay for social services for students in schools could be a major boost to Cleveland as it looks to expand those supports across the entire district. Its a plan that if passed by the legislature would give the Cleveland school district $8.9 million next school year and $10.7 million the year after for so-called wraparound supports for kids, such as after-school programs or mental and physical health services. With Cleveland already offering such help in more than 20 schools, its one of Ohios leaders in that area, along with Cincinnati. Now that Cleveland has partnered with the Say Yes to Education college scholarship and student supports program, that cash would be a big help expanding services to all schools in the district. I would absolutely want to coordinate these new budget resources with the Say Yes To Education service roll out, said district CEO Eric Gordon. Other districts with disadvantaged students would also receive large infusions of cash to help students with personal challenges interfering with learning. Statewide, 122 districts would receive the $250 maximum per student next year, based on poverty levels in the district. Akron would receive more than $5 million, Elyria and Lorain about $1.5 million, Parma $1.3 million and Euclid nearly $1.2 million. Even affluent schools would receive some help under DeWines student wellness and success plan a minimum of $25,000 per school for 2019-20 and $30,000 per school for 2020-21. By helping both our teachers and our students, we can help tear down the barriers to success that too many children are up against, DeWine said Friday as he announced the plan. DeWines aim is for districts to use the money to partner with existing agencies and programs in their communities to leverage greater help for students. Thats the model Cleveland has used by hiring full-time coordinators to work in schools and draw in programs to meet student and family needs. Search here for what your district would receive under the plan, or see a list of wraparound funding for all Northeast Ohio districts at the bottom of this story. The proposal drew praise from both of Ohios large teachers unions. Ohio Federation of Teachers president Melissa Cropper said she was glad DeWine is trying to help at-risk students, though she wants to see more details and what plan emerges from the legislature. Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins said she was heartened by the proposal. Educators believe that these so-called wrap-around services are critical to meeting student needs, Higgins said. By acknowledging the need to address student health, trauma and related issues, the Governor has demonstrated that he has listened to Ohios educators. The new program was perhaps the biggest surprise as DeWine unveiled his first two-year budget plan for the state last week. Instead of proposing a new school funding formula or an across-the-board increase for schools, DeWine froze basic state aid to schools at last years levels. The $491 million devoted to wraparound services was the only school funding increase he offered. DeWine and Husted said Friday that they were targeting their increase at a major need. At the same time, any other proposed increases could have been caught up in a soon-to-be-announced way of re-working state aid to schools that state legislators have been working on for months. The plan led by State Rep. Robert Cupp, a Lima Republican, and State Rep. John Patterson, an Ashtabula County Democrat, would base state aid on definable costs to a district, like the number of teachers or counselors a school would need based on the number and needs of students. Though they have shared parts of the plan with educators and the state school board, Cupp and Patterson have not released the full plan or any projections for individual districts. Asked last week when the full plan would be released, Cupp would only say soon. Providing social supports through schools is a growing movement across the country, though one with mixed results, as districts try to help students with issues that distract them from learning. Sometimes thats adding extra meals, providing clean clothes or warm coats, or adding tutoring and after-school programs. In many cases, schools that locate services in schools are known as community schools, a term that can create confusion in Ohio where charter schools are officially called community schools in state law. Cincinnati was an early leader adding these services in Ohio. Cleveland followed after passage of its improvement plan, the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools, in 2012. The district added full-time staff known as site coordinators to 25 struggling schools it labeled investment schools as part of attempts to boost academics there. Say Yes to Education, which just partnered with Cleveland earlier this year, also builds such services into all schools as a way of helping students graduate and move on to college. Clevelands plan under Say Yes was to add directors and basic services to schools over four years - 15% of schools in the fall, 25% the year after, then 30% in years three and four. Gordon said it is too soon to how DeWines proposal could accelerate that rollout, especially for this fall if the budget is not passed until late spring or summer, as usually happens. We would be able to deploy some types of services across the district next year, although probably not for the first day of school, he said. The district and the United Way of Greater Cleveland now spend about $2.8 million a year, Gordon said, with $1 million from the district and $1.8 million from donors to cover the coordinators and some summer programs. Though Husted and DeWine said Friday that the new money would allow districts to free up money they already spend on wraparound, Gordon said he wants to be sure what restrictions are in place before shifting any money. CLEVELAND, Ohio Lake Erie has lots of problems, from harmful algal blooms to plastic pollution. The Cleveland Water Alliance is looking for technology to solve those problems, through its second $100,000 ErieHack competition. While ErieHack 2.0 has seven broad challenges for the big prize money, this year it also offers 13 specific mini-challenges for teams to tackle. Each offers a prize of $1,000 to $5,000. The challenges are each paired with a mentor from partner organizations, who guide teams as they brainstorm innovations. They also provide plenty of context for inventors with less background in water issues, said Cleveland Water Alliance project manager Max Herzog. Were helping to better facilitate close connections between competing teams and their mentors while providing additional context and additional framing, Herzog said in a phone interview. Were letting them know, if they build this thing, there is an institutional partner that might be able to use it. Cleveland Water Alliance is a five-year-old non-profit that leads a network of corporations, universities, research institutions, public agencies and utilities. The goal is to create an entire business ecosystem from research and innovation to manufacturing around Lake Erie. The Alliance partners with organizations in Detroit; Toledo; Erie, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York and Windsor, Ontario. The finals culminate in Cleveland on June 20, just before the 50th anniversary of the final Cuyahoga River fire. Teams will pitch solutions to mini-challenges, just as they pitch their bigger ideas. They can build on each other. For example, one of the mini-challenges this year builds on an inexpensive, easy-to-use spectrometer developed by a University of Akron team in the 2017 Erie Hack. Lots of people are collecting data, Herzog said. We help make sure more of that data is considered together. Take a look at the mini-challenges. Which could you solve? Stormwater mapping tool: Create a mapping application that visualizes local storm water infrastructure and flow for regulated areas of Erie and Niagara Counties with the goal of delivering management tools to municipal officials and increasing public awareness of human impacts on water quality. Reduce or reuse plastic waste: Develop a way to keep plastic pollution off beaches, better dispose of plastic debris, or use existing plastic debris for other purposes. Road salt sensing: Create a sensor and notification unit for road salt that has contaminated a water source. The device should show drivers when the salt has reached a threshold. Quantifying ecosystem restoration: Create a way to evaluate the impacts of projects meant to stop soil erosion in watersheds and water bodies, especially Sandusky Bay. Automated image analysis for robotic algal toxic detection: Create a fully automated, image analysis protocol to process images measuring the bacteria microcystin in the water. The data would be used to calculate in-water toxin concentrations. Harmful algae toxin analysis: Create a way to rapidly evaluate the toxicity of an algae sample. Extra consideration will be given to solutions that are able to quantify toxin concentrations, identify different types of toxins, and/or be simple to use for non-experts. Citizen science for nutrient policy: Develop a tool that leverages data collected by interested people, to help understand nutrient monitoring and mitigation. Stormwater mapping tool: Create a mapping application that visualizes local stormwater infrastructure and flow for regulated areas of Erie and Niagara counties in New York. One goal is to increase public awareness of human impacts on water quality. Anti-fouling solutions: Minimize the accumulation of unwanted material on the surface of sensors in the lake with an inexpensive gadget that uses no harmful chemicals. Water equity champion app: Create a mobile app or handheld device that helps communicate the scope of local water issues, systems, and resources to residents. The invention should help residents register for relevant water affordability programs. Water and digital equity: Create a way that enables a more equitable water future while working to close the digital divide. Climate resilient water infrastructure apps: Create a mobile app related to green solutions to decrease the effects of a changing climate on urban stormwater infrastructure. Water usage analysis: Leverage technical tools to explain or quantify how weather variables contribute to local water usage patterns. Can water usage be normalized to hide weather effects, so that patterns and anomalies would be more easily identifiable? Invasive biology game: Develop a video game, mobile app or other tool based on invasion biology in the Great Lakes system. Outcomes should be an increased awareness of Great Lakes health and a good time. Want more Lake Erie news? Follow RocktheLake on Facebook. COLUMBUS, Ohio Medicaid enrollment, which peaked two years ago at 3 million or over 1 in 4 Ohioans is expected in coming years to flatten out to lower levels, Ohio Department of Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran said Wednesday. Medicaid enrollment is largely driven by the economy. When jobs are plentiful, enrollment drops. When the economy slows and people lose their jobs, more people qualify for Medicaid expansion, which is for adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level. That is $12,140 for individuals and $25,100 for a family of four. Enrollment, according to the department: In February, Ohio Medicaid enrollment was just over 2.8 million. In the fiscal year that begins July 1, the department projects it to dip by 51,000 Ohioans to just under 2.8 million. In the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2020, enrollment is expected to increase by 4,600. We think its going to tick up at the end, Corcoran said about the second year of the states upcoming two-year operations budget that lawmakers are currently drafting. All the economic indicators are suggesting it will slow down. Last week, the federal government approved a state request to require Medicaid enrollees to work 20 hours a week. Critics of the work plan believe that tens of thousands of patients will get kicked off the rolls if the process of verifying their employment is too onerous. One estimate is that 318,000 Ohioans are at risk of losing health care for a number of reasons -- including their jobs not giving them enough hours on some weeks. Health care costs for Medicaid are jointly paid by the state and federal governments. The amount the state gets reimbursed depends on the patient. With Medicaid expansion, the federal government is paying 93 percent of patients health care this year and 90 percent next year. Overall, the federal government is paying nearly 70 percent of Ohio Medicaids expenses, Corcoran said at a Columbus event hosted by the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions heath care think tank. For every $100, $68 are going to come from the federal government, she said. The departments projected cost of providing health care: Medicaid this fiscal year is costing $27.1 billion, with $8.6 billion coming from the state. In the fiscal year that starts July 1, Medicaid is expected to cost $28.2 billion, with Ohios share being $9.1 billion. In the following fiscal year, Medicaid is expected to cost $29.4 billion with the states share projected to be $9.9 billion. State money for Medicaid comes from a number of pots, not all from the General Revenue Fund, which is considered the states main checking account. Medicaid gets money from drug rebates and hospital franchise fees, Corcoran said. For instance, in the current fiscal year, $3.2 billion of the states Medicaid share will come from the other funds that are not part of the General Revenue Fund. That does in fact reflect spending, so it is drawing funds, she said. But its not money that is putting pressure on our state GRF. COLUMBUS, OhioGov. Mike DeWines budget plan includes $3.25 million to set up a state narcotics intelligence center to help disrupt illegal drug trafficking and the opioid epidemic in Ohio. The new center, which would consist of units in Cleveland and Columbus, would be an unprecedented statewide effort to collect data from the states 40-plus police drug task forces and analyze it to find larger trends, patterns and relationships about the drug dealers and criminal organizations who operate here, according to administration officials, who released details about the proposed center on Tuesday evening. This innovative new center will provide local law enforcement with enhanced intelligence and high-tech analytical capabilities to strengthen criminal investigations, to improve public safety and help local law enforcement stop drug traffickers before they peddle their poison in our communities, said DeWine, a Greene County Republican, during his budget plan rollout last Friday. Law-enforcement officials have told the governor about troubles theyve had with criminal drug cases because they dont have access to other departments investigative data in real time, according to Lindsey Bohrer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which would operate the intelligence center. For example, if people are arrested for drug trafficking in southeast Ohio for drug trafficking, task force members in northeast Ohio could flag them as persons of interest for similar criminal activity in their area, said Ben Suver, DPS deputy director of law enforcement initiatives, in an interview. If the Ohio General Assembly keeps the funding for the center in the governors two-year state budget plan, about 17 people would be hired to work at the center, Bohrer said in an email. Theres still no set date for when the center would open, she said. Besides the narcotics intelligence center, the governors budget proposal is also seeking an additional $2.5 million to support drug task forces in Ohio, $3.4 million to establish three new task forces to intercept narcotics trafficking, and $600,000 to create a data-sharing system for law enforcement. In 2017, 4,834 Ohioans an average of more than 13 people per day died from unintentional overdoses, according to the Ohio Department of Health. In 2016, Ohio had the second-highest drug overdose death rate in the United States, as more than 4,300 people died in Ohio that year, according to a 2018 report from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Ohios death rate that year from cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl ranked second, third and fourth, respectively, among all U.S. states, according to the report. Mexican traffickers are the primary suppliers of illicit drugs in the state, according to another federal report from 2011. Ohios numerous interstate highways connect the state with major drug areas such as the U.S.-Mexico border, Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, Detroit, and Canada, the report stated. In 2017, law enforcement seized more than $20.8 million in bulk cash in Ohio most of which is suspected to be payments for illegal drugs, according to the DEA report. That was the second-highest amount of any state that year. Johnson Moves Research to How Robots Climb Rocky Terrain March 20, 2019 The desert is a tricky place for robots to navigate just ask Aaron Johnson. The assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University recently won the Army Research Office's Young Investigator Award for his work designing intelligent interaction between robots and their environments. Johnson's experiences testing robots in the Mojave Desert as a Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania cemented his interest in getting robots to overcome challenging terrain, and he started thinking about jumping and leaping behaviors. "It was clear that we could handle some terrain but not others-the bots had particular difficulty with areas where the rocks were bigger than their legs," said Johnson, who earned his bachelor's degree from CMU's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He will apply these ideas to his newly funded project as he investigates ways to model uncertainty when faced with rocky hills. Government Experiments Mean More Funding for Small Companies March 19, 2019State governments that offer resource, policy and infrastructure support to help aid technological innovation provide important resources for young companies, even if the technologies the companies are developing aren't a sure thing. But it is not enough for governments to offer this funding - especially if companies are unaware what is available.Daniel Armanios, assistant professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, along with Ph.D. student Dian Yu and co-author Lauren Lanahan of the University of Oregon, have compiled a database of resources using reporting from the State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) . They have detailed their methodology in a recent paper published in the journal of the Academy of Management Discoveries. "We term this phenomenon as 'government experimentation,'" the team explained in the paper. "Scholarship has tended to examine national efforts, yet local governments are in an ideal position to tailor programs to the local market context given their proximity."To help companies understand and make use of public funding, the aim of their research is two-fold. First, it outlines the method by which they compiled their database. Second, it analyzes this local government experimentation, comparing each state's policy portfolio, and separating the different ways in which state governments seek to support such experimental efforts into four distinct categories - hub specialists, public entrepreneurs, industry architects and ecosystem designers. These four categories are used to describe the ways local governments experiment through what aspects of technology-based economic development they are trying to enhance and by what specific sectors they are trying to support."Most prior approaches either simply counted the number of ways a state experiments or aggregated the total experimentation at the national level," Armanios said. "What we found from our results is that this misses important distinctions between states. Even more problematic, aggregating to national levels may actually lead to differing - and potentially misleading - assumptions as to how states experiment."For entrepreneurs and small companies, this database will clarify what sort of technological developments their state is interested in supporting, thereby helping them better frame and target their technology initiatives to current government priorities. In particular, this database helps highlight what sectors their state seeks to involve in technology-based economic development, and around what aspects: training and human capital, physical infrastructure, or innovation in a broad or narrow set of technologies.Empowered with this knowledge, the team said they hope that future entrepreneurs and small companies will feel further empowered to seek funding from the ever-expanding pool of public-sector funds and not just the private sector such as venture capitalists or angel investors.Entrepreneurs, small business owners, and policymakers seeking to use the database can find it at: https://www.cmu.edu/epp/stategovexp/ Funding support for this work was provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. LOS ANGELES California's attorney general joined a coalition of two dozen other state attorneys general on Tuesday in opposing the Trump administration's efforts to delay a consumer protection rule for payday lenders. The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month proposed repealing a 2017 "ability-to-pay" requirement that the industry opposed. The Obama administration proposed the rule as a way to end predatory lending against low-income Americans. "The Trump political appointees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have forgotten the essential mission of their agency to protect consumers," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. "The CFPB's proposed rule change would allow payday lenders to target and take advantage of our nation's most vulnerable borrowers rather than issue loans based on a person's ability to pay." Becerra, a Democrat and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, submitted a letter with the coalition opposing the administration's proposal to delay the rule, which had been scheduled to go into effect in August. The letter was sent to CFPB Director Kathleen Kraninger. In the letter, the state attorneys general criticized the Trump administration's delay in implementing the rule and alternative proposals that would rescind the provision. Among the other state attorneys general signing the letter were Letitia James of New York and Gurbir Grewal of New Jersey. "These proposals were issued only after representatives of the payday industry secretly lobbied CFBP's former acting Director Mick Mulvaney, and after CFPB falsely denied that such a meeting had occurred," the letter stated. In addition, the letter said the 2017 rule is of concern to the state attorneys general because they share authority with the CFPB over enforcement of the provision. The rule took effect last year but the federal agency announced it would delay compliance until August 2019. "The delay in the underwriting protections will leave the citizens of our states unprotected from many types of exploitative loans, and could embolden lenders who seek to circumvent the laws of those states with strong protections against such loans," the letter added. Finally, the attorneys general warned "we will not hesitate to consider taking legal action if CFPB unlawfully proceeds." Last month, the CFPB said in a press release that "there was insufficient evidence and legal support for the mandatory underwriting provisions in the 2017 final rule. Additionally, the Bureau is concerned that these provisions would reduce access to credit and competition in states that have determined that it is in their residents' interests to be able to use such products, subject to state-law limitations." The CFPB didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and 2020 presidential candidate, pauses during the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, U.S., on Saturday, March 9, 2019. Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is one of the latest Democratic candidates to eschew socialism, declaring Tuesday on MSNBC that he is a capitalist. However, Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said the U.S. system of capitalism needs to be changed in order to "improve our democracy." Buttigieg, 37, is the youngest candidate in the race for the 2020 nomination. He said "the biggest problem with capitalism right now is the way it's become intertwined with power and is eroding our democracy." He recommended removing money from politics, saying the "ever-expanding" growth of big businesses needs to be stopped from "basically taking over our government." Buttigieg is one of the latest candidates to embrace capitalism in a Democratic primary race that is increasingly welcoming the concept of socialism. Fellow candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris and former congressman Beto O'Rourke have also voiced their support for capitalism. When asked why Buttigieg declared himself a capitalist instead of a socialist, Buttigieg's office directed CNBC to previous comments he's made. In a February interview with MSNBC, Buttigieg said that "American capitalism is the most productive economic force known to man." However, he didn't condemn other Democrats who have been labeled socialists. Buttigieg said he believes socialism is "a word in American politics that has basically lost all meaning" and that it is used as a "kill switch" to prevent certain policies from passing. Like other candidates, Buttigieg sees dangers in unbridled capitalism. In his recent interview with MSNBC, he used Russia as an example of what capitalism looks like without democracy. He said it can quickly evolve into crony capitalism and then an oligarchy a government controlled by a small group of wealthy business leaders and officials. To prevent money from influencing American politics, Buttigieg suggested a possible constitutional amendment "so that we can move past whether Citizens United was decided correctly." In 2010, the Supreme Court voted in the Citizens United v. FEC case to change long-standing restrictions on political fundraising and spending. The ruling allowed businesses, nonprofits and unions unlimited spending power. "It's one of the reasons why we need to establish a more consistent rule of law," Buttigieg said. "Capitalism doesn't even work for the business community properly when you don't have the rule of law as well." He added that the next president needs to "immediately get to work" on making these changes. Buttigieg, a Rhodes Scholar and Afghanistan War veteran, was elected mayor of South Bend in 2011 at 29 years old, making him the country's youngest mayor of a city that size at the time. If he wins the Democratic nomination, he will be the first openly gay presidential nominee by a major party. But he has a long way to go. He is polling with less than 1 percent of the vote, falling behind fellow candidates Harris, Warren, O'Rourke and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not declared whether he will run for president, leads the field at 28 percent. Google, Microsoft and Apple are battling for dominance in classrooms. They all want their devices in the hands of the next generation of consumers. The U.S. education-tech market is expected to hit $43 billion this year, with much of the growth coming in K-12 education, according to a study by Technavio. Apple used to have the most devices in U.S. schools, but Google soared to the top after the release of the Chromebook in 2011. In 2018, Chromebooks made up 60 percent of all laptops and tablets purchased for U.S. K-12 classrooms, up from just 5 percent in 2012. Microsoft is second at 22 percent, followed by Apple, with 18 percent of shipments to U.S. schools in 2018, according to data from Futuresource Consulting. Watch the video to learn how Apple and Microsoft are making moves to change that. Investors are set to gain as China is pushing for new ways that private sector money can fund its domestic companies, according to Helen Zhu, head of Chinese equities at BlackRock. Her analysis comes amid Beijing's plans to introduce a new stock board for start-ups in Shanghai, which is being billed as a pilot program to test more market-oriented measures before rolling them out in China's other stock exchanges. The new science and technology innovation board was announced by President Xi Jinping in November and is expected to be launched by June. "It's really opening the door to a very new and promising financing channel over the medium to longer term. And I think people will read that positively," Zhu said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday. "I think the asset prices will respond accordingly as well." The new high-tech board is meant to ensure that companies that are not yet profitable but are in "high growth areas" start to have access to the equity financing they otherwise could not tap. The new tech board and the adoption of a registration-based initial public offering system will prevent officials from intervening in the timing of the listings, and allow pre-profit companies to go public. Many large Chinese start-ups have turned to foreign stock exchanges for capital funding due to strict requirements for initial public offerings in mainland China that say companies must be profitable before listing. That's a condition many Chinese technology companies, like other high-growth firms, cannot meet at an early stage in their development. As a result, Chinese names such as Alibaba and Tencent held offerings in New York and Hong Kong, respectively. Many Chinese start-ups have also chosen to list overseas in order to boost their brand credibility, and raise capital outside of Beijing's control. According to Refinitiv data, only one-third of the $64.2 billion raised globally last year through IPOs by Chinese companies came from Shanghai or Shenzhen. The new government initiatives are widely seen as an attempt at persuading such companies to list at home instead of abroad. An effort last year to develop a domestically traded share class called China Depositary Receipts did not take off. As of 2018, China has more than 186 companies that are valued at at least $1 billion so-called unicorns. They have a combined value of more than $736 billion, according to a report released earlier this year. Zhu predicted that the reforms to China's equity markets will continue to be cheered by investors. "We do still see the economy kind of decelerating but we have seen the policies really inflect. That's why markets have been quite buoyant today, kind of pricing in the expectation that the policies are going to have a substantial impact and therefore, really kind of get us back on track in the second half of this year," she said. "On a structural reform front, I think that's very important, as well, because it really bolsters confidence. It makes people feel more optimistic about investing in fundamental businesses, as well as in public market and traded assets," Zhu added. The BlackRock expert said there was "a lot of concern" last year in the market that private enterprises were being pressured by a "lack of access to funding" and the practice of stock pledges when companies pledge some shares as collateral for a loan. "All of these things (resulted in a) vicious feedback loop of market panic, share prices going down, and therefore inability to get new financing on a debt or equity side," she said. "This year, I think the capital market innovation, the support in terms of liquidity ... it's already starting to have a positive, stabilizing effect on corporates and on broader sentiment." The Shanghai composite is up more than 20 percent for the year so far. Honeywell hasn't seen an impact on its business from the Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes or the aircraft's grounding, Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk told CNBC on Wednesday. The technology and manufacturing company supplies mechanical systems and avionics for the airplanes, but not flight controls or flight management systems. "We haven't seen any impact on our business at all yet," Adamczyk said on "Closing Bell." He said Honeywell is working closely with the National Transportation Safety Board and Boeing to find the root cause of the crashes. "Anything that Honeywell can do to help Boeing, to help the NTSB is obviously, we'll do. And that's our No. 1 focus. But in terms of business slowing, we haven't seen that. Not yet," he added. All Boeing 737 Max jets in the U.S. were grounded last week after the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. All 157 people on board were killed. Five months earlier, a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed minutes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. Last week, French and Ethiopian investigators said data extracted from the black boxes of the Ethiopian Airlines jet showed "clear similarities" with the Lion Air flight. Investigators in the Indonesia crash have indicated the pilots struggled with an automated anti-stall system that Boeing added to the 737 Max planes. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has said the company will maintain its "relentless commitment to making safe airplanes even safer." CNBC's Leslie Josephs contributed to this report. An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles lands at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States in Washington, March 13, 2019. Analysts at Berenberg are calling Boeing a "tough sell" because they see the 737 Max model that had two deadly crashes as "too big to fail" for the company and the industry. "The 737 MAX is Boeing's most important programme, generating 33% of group revenue, contributing over 50% of profit, and with a backlog of over 4,600 aircraft," Berenberg's Andrew Gollan said in a note Wednesday. "There is no meaningful alternative to support mass switching. It will be unrealistic for the market to reject the platform outright." Berenberg kept its buy rating on Boeing, betting that the primary factor in the two deadly crashes is the flight control system, which the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to sign off on the software fix next week. The analyst expect the impact to be temporary and the grounded fleet to be back in service in the third quarter. WATCH: Why Boeing and Airbus are the only two companies to dominate 99% of the large plane market Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official group photo at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on November 30, 2018. Justice Clarence Thomas on Wednesday broke his three-year silence at the Supreme Court by asking questions during arguments in a racial discrimination case involving a black man who has faced six trials for a quadruple homicide in the 1990s. It was the first time that Thomas, the court's only black justice, asked a question since 2016. Before that, Thomas, who was confirmed in 1991, had gone a decade without asking a question. The case concerns Curtis Flowers, who was convicted of the killing in Mississippi only after five trials either deadlocked or resulted in overturned convictions, including for racial discrimination and prosecutorial misconduct. The justices are reviewing whether district attorney Doug Evans, who prosecuted Flowers over more than a decade, violated the Constitution by excluding black jurors. Thomas' question concerned whether any white jurors were also excluded. The justices seemed inclined to rule in favor of Flowers, with even conservative justices appearing disturbed by Evans' conduct. Justice Samuel Alito, a George W. Bush appointee, said that the prosecutor's actions were "troubling." But in the final minutes of the argument, Thomas, who is often referred to as the court's most ardent conservative, wanted to know if any white jurors had also been struck from the jury. "Were any peremptories exercised by the defendant?" Thomas asked Sheri Lynn Johnson, Flowers' attorney, referring to challenges to potential jurors. When she said that there were challenges, Thomas asked: "And what was the race of the jurors struck there?" Johnson said that the trial attorney defending Flowers had only struck white jurors. "But I would add that the motive her motivation is not the question here. The question is the motivation of Doug Evans," Johnson said. Evans had struck five potential black jurors, leaving only one black juror on the 12-person panel. Thomas' questions and previous votes suggest that he could vote against Flowers in the matter. Thomas was the lone dissenter in a similar 2016 case, Foster v. Chatman. In that case, the court found that prosecutors had unlawfully struck black jurors from a murder trial of a black man in Georgia. Thomas has provided a variety of reasons for his reticence to ask questions from the bench. In 2013, he told an audience at Harvard Law School that he thought the justices "should listen to the lawyers who are arguing their case and allow the advocates to advocate." A decision in the case is expected by late June. Flowers, who is currently on death row in Mississippi, is asking the justices to overturn his conviction. CVS Pharmacy said on Wednesday that it has started selling cannabidiol, or CBD, products in select states. The pharmacy chain said the products include topicals such as creams, sprays, roll-ons, lotions and salves. These products are available in 8 states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and Tennessee. In a statement, CVS specified that it's not selling any CBD-containing supplements or food additives. "We have partnered with CBD product manufacturers that are complying with applicable laws and that meet CVS's high standards for quality," a spokesman said in a statement. CBD is quickly becoming one of the hottest ingredients in consumer products. Companies are adding the non-psychoactive cannabis compound to food, beverages and skin care products. The farm bill President Donald Trump signed in December legalized hemp-derived CBD. However, it's still unlawful under the Food and Drug Administration's regulations to add CBD to food and beverage products because the compound is an active ingredient in a drug product, Epidiolex. Outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has signaled the agency will suggest ways to change this. In the meantime, large manufacturers and retailers are trying to navigate the regulatory uncertainty. The CEO of cannabis company Curaleaf said on the firm's earnings call Wednesday that starting this week over 800 CVS health stores across 10 states started selling its products. Curaleaf also said they will soon be offered on the CVS.com website. CVS was not able to confirm that Curaleaf products will be available in its stores. British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Council of the European Union on the first day of the European Council leaders' summit on June 28, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. European countries are expecting a letter from Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday, requesting a delay to the country's departure from the bloc. "The letter to President (Donald) Tusk will be sent ahead of the European Council," a U.K. official based in Brussels told CNBC Tuesday. The letter from May is due to arrive in Brussels before the heads of state gather on Thursday for an important summit. The 27 leaders will then be discussing the implications of an extension to the Brexit process. However, a senior EU official said Wednesday morning that the letter has not yet arrived in Brussels and that the U.K. has not requested an extension in any other form. "As it stands, there is no request," the official said. "Maybe it will come, maybe it will not come." Any delay to the U.K.'s departure from the EU needs to originate in London first. It is up to Theresa May to tell the other 27 heads of state that she needs an extension and why. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday morning that May "must bring clear plans to the EU summit if she wants an extension on Brexit" but said it is "highly probable" that Britain will not leave the EU on March 29. Speaking to Deutschlandfunk radio, he reiterated that there would be no re-negotiations of the Brexit deal. "When it comes to Brexit we're in God's hands. But even God has a limit to his patience," he said. Kevin Johnson of Starbucks speaks at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders at McCaw Hall in Seattle, Washington. Ahead of its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, Starbucks said it will target two areas to boost future growth: start-ups and improving its in-store experience. Starbucks announced a $100 million investment in a new venture fund with Valor Equity Partners, which has previously invested in Tesla and SpaceX. The fund will give the coffee giant the first look at food and retail start-ups. Valor Siren Ventures Fund marks the first time that Starbucks has made this kind of investment, but it follows CEO Kevin Johnson's tech-heavy focus for the company. In his roughly two years as chief executive, he has pushed the company into delivery and increased its digital engagement with customers. Prior to joining Starbucks, Johnson served as CEO of tech company Juniper Networks and as an executive at Microsoft. Investing in start-ups has become increasingly popular in the last few years among other food companies adjusting to changing consumer tastes, an issue that Starbucks is trying to address as less customers sip its calorie-heavy Frappucinos. Struggling food giant Kraft Heinz launched its own fund in October, following the example of Big Food rivals Campbell Soup, Kellogg and General Mills. The fund plans to raise an additional $300 million from outside investors in the coming months. The Seattle-based company also announced plans to update its stores starting with New York City locations this summer. It teased the changes at its investor day in December. Starbucks has long branded its stores as "the third place," a social spot between home and the office. "I don't want anyone to walk away today thinking this is about furniture or a new renovation strategy," COO Roz Brewer said in a statement. "Reimagining the third place is about listening to our customers so we can better position our business now and for the future." Starbucks did not share how it plans to refresh the cafes nor how it will finance those plans. Brewer said the changes will focus on convenience, comfort and connection. She provided shareholders with two examples of recent cafe updates, which reflected customer feedback. An Austin, Texas store was transformed to be "brighter, fresher, cleaner," she said. The company changed a Glen Ridge, New Jersey location to reflect that customers used the cafe differently throughout the day. In the morning, they look for convenience, while they want comfort in the afternoon. While the company did not provide much more detail on the renovations, the concept goes beyond that to include technology and new products. The announcement comes as Starbucks has been working to expand delivery through Uber Eats to nearly a quarter of its U.S. locations. Other restaurant companies have been remodeling their locations to account for how delivery and digital pick-up orders change foot traffic. Chipotle, for example, is testing drive-thru lanes called Chipotlanes for digital orders only, while McDonald's is pushing franchisees to remodel their stores with high tech updates. Starbucks also announced Wednesday that it plans to test recyclable and compostable cups in several of its markets later this year as it looks to reduce waste. There's an internal fight underway in Iran over whether the country should join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) the international coalition combating money laundering and terrorist financing and it's pitting hardliners against those who want more economic alignment with the West. FATF has given Iran until June to join or face being added to a financial blacklist, a move that could further cripple its economy by affecting trade and financial dealings with the EU and other FATF member states. Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Tuesday that not joining the FATF would "harm the national interests of the country." Iran was taken off the blacklist in 2016. His comments to the Iranian Labour News Agency came just days after Iran's Assembly of Experts, the body that vets legislation, issued an unprecedented statement saying Iran's membership in FATF would be a "strategic mistake." On Monday, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, the committee that resolves differences between the parliament and the Guardian Council, echoed the assembly's stance. Rezaei said that the majority of the council stood against joining the international body. Efforts to join FATF began in November 2017 when President Hassan Rouhani pushed for the ratification of two of four of the organization's requirements. Despite early ratification, the bill took two years to get final approval by the Expediency Council and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, passing in January 2019. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is welcomed by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdulmehdi (R) at Iraqi Prime Ministry Palace in Baghdad, Iraq on March 11, 2019. Iranian Presidency - Handout | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has returned from his first-ever trip to Iraq with a raft of agreements for expanded trade, cross-border infrastructure, and pledges of greater cooperation with Baghdad. Leaders of both countries embraced strengthening ties something Washington has been watching closely. Iran is upping its game in Iraq as U.S. influence recedes, deepening ties with its war-weary neighbor and betting on bilateral economic activity to help offset tough sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Iraq is "another channel for Iran to bypass America's unjust sanctions ... this trip will provide opportunities for Iran's economy," a senior Iranian official on the trip was quoted as telling Reuters last week. The Trump administration reinstated sanctions on Iran last year for what it deemed "destabilizing and malign activities around the world," and the country's economy has since been in a tailspin. With a massive shared border and religious and cultural ties and the major role of Iranian-backed paramilitaries in Iraq's defeat of the Islamic State the Islamic Republic's influence in Iraq is entrenched. Rouhani and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi signed memorandums of understanding across sectors including trade, oil, health, mining, visa-free travel, and perhaps most significantly a railway that would connect Iraq's southern oil-rich city of Basra to Iran's border. The Trump administration is grappling with the extent and limit of U.S. sanctions and power to counter Iran in a country like Iraq with such deep social, economic and cultural ties to Iran. Senior U.S. congressional adviser U.S. officials see Iran's growing inroads into Iraq, and they don't like it. "Iran's actions are aimed at subverting Iraqi sovereignty and making Iraq dependent on Iran," a senior State Department official told CNBC on Monday. He echoed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent charge that Tehran wanted to turn Iraq into a "vassal state." In turn, Rouhani has seized on the opportunity to scold the U.S., telling Iranian media last week that his country's ties with Iraq "cannot be compared to Iraq's relations with an occupying country like America, which is hated in the region." Iraqi President Barham Salih praised Iran's leadership, saying, "Iraq is lucky to be a neighbor with Iran," and describing good relations with Iran as "a fundamental interest for Iraq." Baghdad has sought to balance its ties with the U.S., Iran and the Gulf Arab states to avoid being a victim of the rivals' turf wars. While sanctions have hit hard at key parts of Iran's economy, many Iranian companies doing business in Iraq don't need U.S. banks or resources to be successful, one senior U.S. congressional adviser told CNBC, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the topic. "The Trump administration is grappling with the extent and limit of U.S. sanctions and power to counter Iran in a country like Iraq with such deep social, economic and cultural ties to Iran," the adviser said. Iraq: Iran's gateway to the Mediterranean "All the agreements enable an increased Iranian physical presence on Iraqi soil," Jessica Leyland, a Middle East analyst at risk consultancy firm AKE International, told CNBC. "There are two sides to this: the genuine need and desire for areas of cooperation on both side versus Iran's ability to use Iraq to connect its sphere of influences." The planned railway between the two countries is the most obvious example of this, Leyland said. "The train line will firstly extend to Basra, this will give Iran influence in Iraq's strategic port of Umm Qasr and expand influence in the neck of the Gulf. It is likely that it will in the near future extend through Iraq to Syria, a stated intention of Iran's, which will then give Iran access to the Mediterranean." The business promises made between the two countries show how much has changed since the brutal Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, which killed more than a million people. Ever since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iran has sought to deepen its influence in Iraq and take advantage of its links to the country's now-ruling Shia majority. Harming Iraqi interests? Iran-Iraq trade currently stands at an estimated $12 billion annually and both governments have pledged to expand this to $20 billion. Iran is Iraq's third-biggest trading partner, but the relationship is lopsided: it's mostly Iranian exports to Iraq, to the tune of more than $9 billion. "Hassan Rouhani's recent visit to Iraq is a historic achievement for Iran the treaties signed, however, harm Iraq's interests in a clear demonstration of Iran's growing influence in Iraq," said Muhanad Seloom, a research fellow at Exeter University's Arab and Islamic Studies Institute and a former Iraqi government adviser. Iraqi President Barham Salih Presidency of Iraq | Handout | Anadolu Agency | Getty J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that tech giants should gird themselves for the type of regulatory onslaught that the big banks experienced after the financial crisis. "They haven't had the benefit of the full monty yet," Dimon said in an interview with Kayla Tausche on CNBC's "The Exchange." He added that "if I were them, I'd be getting prepared for it." Dimon's experience, he said, with the type of attention that companies including Facebook and Google are undergoing, is that "it's a lot of work," he said. "When you get attacked by someone, you get one group, it could be every country, every AG, every regulator, all at the same time." Like J.P. Morgan years ago, tech giants are now the target of criticism from a broad array of constituents, including Democratic candidates for president who have called for the breakup of companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. During his tenure atop what is now the biggest U.S. bank by assets, Dimon has defended J.P. Morgan for its role in the mortgage meltdown, as well as later scandals including a $6.2 billion loss from bets gone awry. "They should really gear up and look at it as a very broad-based, extensive type of thing they have to deal with," Dimon said. "And listen carefully to the complaints from the other side, there are sometimes legitimate complaints you should be very reactive to." Dimon's candor is relatively rare for a banker. The tech giants are good customers for investment banks, including J.P. Morgan, who turn to them for advice on acquisitions and raising capital in debt and equities markets. The J.P. Morgan CEO also said that it was a mistake that New York groups drove away Amazon from building a campus in Long Island City. Earlier Wednesday, Dimon, 63, spoke at an event with the Business Roundtable, a Washington D.C.-based group of corporate CEOs, and the Greater Washington Partnership, a business group for the D.C. region. Earlier this week, Dimon unveiled a $350 million program to boost job prospects for under-served communities, including minorities and people who have completed prison sentences. Pushing for corporations and local organizations to boost job training, Dimon said Monday that its "absolutely obvious that a big chunk of [people] have been left behind" in the American economy. A Lion Air Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 aircraft, right, stands on the tarmac at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cenkareng, Indonesia, on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. One day before the deadly crash of a Lion Air plane on Oct. 29 last year, pilots flying that Boeing 737 Max 8 lost control of the aircraft but they were saved by an off-duty colleague riding in the cockpit, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. That off-duty pilot correctly identified the problem the crew was facing and guided them to disable the flight control system in order to save the plane, according to the report, which cited two people familiar with the investigation in Indonesia. Investigators said the flight control system malfunction that day was identical to what brought down the same aircraft the next day, according to the report. The Boeing plane, operated by a different crew, crashed into Indonesia's Java Sea, killing all 189 on board. Lion Air did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. A Lion Air spokesman told Bloomberg that the airline has submitted all data and information to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee and cannot comment further due to the ongoing investigation. Boeing declined to comment, while the Indonesian safety committee did not immediately reply to CNBC's request for comment. Less than five months after the Lion Air crash, on March 10, a Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed. None of the 157 on board survived. The two fatal accidents involving the same plane model led to authorities around the world including in the U.S., Europe, China and Indonesia to ground Boeing 737 Max planes. The U.S. Department of Transportation said on Tuesday it has asked to audit the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of Boeing's 737 Max 8 planes. For the full report on what happened the day before the Lion Air plane crash, read Bloomberg. Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: General Mills The food company reported adjusted quarterly profit of 83 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 69 cents a share. Revenue was slightly above forecasts and General Mills issued an improved full-year outlook. Nexstar Nexstar will sell a total of 19 TV stations for $1.32 billion, 11 to Tegna and eight to Scripps. The divestitures follow the acquisition of Tribune Media by Nexstar, which said it is in talks to sell two more stations in Indianapolis. Alphabet The European Union fined Google $1.7 billion for abusing the dominance of its search engine, in the last of three cases against the Alphabet unit. Google will not have to take any actions related to the fine because it has already changed the practices that resulted in the original charges. Boeing Analysts at Berenberg are calling Boeing a "tough sell" as they see the 737 Max model that had two deadly crashes as "too big to fail" for the company and the industry. FedEx FedEx reported adjusted quarterly profit of $3.03 per share, missing consensus estimates by 8 cents a share. Revenue fell below forecasts as well, and FedEx also cut its full-year outlook for the second quarter in a row, citing a slowing global economy. Tencent Music Tencent Music issued its first earnings report as a public company, with the Chinese music streaming company beating Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Shares are being pressured, however, by concerns over the company's soaring license and content production costs. Johnson & Johnson, Sientra The two companies received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning letters saying the companies had not complied with post-approval study requirements for their breast implant products. The FDA said failure to correct the violations could result in withdrawal of approval. Viacom Viacom said it had begun warning customers of AT&T's DirecTV unit that they may lose channels such as MTV and Nickelodeon if the two sides can't agree on a new contract by a Friday deadline. Sage Therapeutics The drugmaker received FDA approval for its Zulresso drug, the first specifically designed to treat women with postpartum depression. Sony Jefferies downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy," two months after removing Sony's designation as a "top pick." Jefferies expresses concerns about a peak in game profits and Sony's inability to exit the smartphone business. Steelcase Steelcase reported adjusted quarterly profit of 29 cents per share, beating consensus estimates by 2 cents a share. The office furniture maker's revenue came in above Wall Street forecasts, helped in part by higher prices. Monster Beverage Monster Beverage was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at Goldman Sachs, which also removed the energy drink maker's stock from its "Conviction Buy" list. Goldman thinks the company's near-term U.S. sales could be softer than expected. Dollar Tree Dollar Tree was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Telsey Advisory Group following a meeting with management. Telsey said the meeting provided clarity on the discount retailer's plans to improve its results. Smartsheet Smartsheet reported an adjusted quarterly loss of 7 cents per share, smaller than the 14 cents a share loss expected by analysts. The cloud software company's revenue was above estimates, although it is forecasting a larger-than-expected loss for the current quarter and the full year. CNBC's Yun Li contributed to this report. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration's tariffs on Chinese imports could stay in place indefinitely until Beijing complies with a still-developing trade deal which the president said "is coming along nicely." "We're not talking about removing [tariffs], we're talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time, because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal," Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he left to visit an Ohio manufacturing plant. The president's comments come amid conflicting reports about how close the world's two largest economies are to reaching a deal and just what China is willing to concede in talks. Negotiations will restart next week when U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin travel to Beijing. Trump stressed that "we're getting along with China very well" as the countries try to strike a deal and ease trade tensions that threaten sustained damage to U.S. businesses. "President Xi [Jinping] is a friend of mine," Trump said. "The deal is coming along nicely. We have our top representatives going there this weekend to further the deal." Major U.S. stock indexes initially dipped following Trump's remarks Wednesday. If Trump keeps duties on Chinese goods for an extended period of time, it could not only pass higher costs on to American businesses and consumers but also hurt exporters vulnerable to China's retaliatory tariffs. The president has used the duties as a negotiating tool to push China toward a trade agreement. The Trump administration has so far put tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports. China has slapped duties on $110 billion in U.S. products. Trump has held off on increasing tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent as he seeks a deal. On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that China had backed off certain concessions as it sought assurances that the U.S. would remove tariffs. However, The Wall Street Journal later reported that trade talks are in their final stages. Trump's comments Wednesday reflect the muddled messaging that has come from the administration throughout the negotiations. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet on Friday with the leaders of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia at his Florida resort, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. The leaders will discuss countering "China's predatory economic practices," the situation in Venezuela and energy investment in the Caribbean, among other issues, the statement said. New bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing is seen next to vehicle barriers in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, March 5, 2019. The White House is targeting a windfall from an international banking scandal to help pay for the border wall, according to an administration official. French bank Societe Generale struck a deal with the U.S government in November to pay $1.3 billion after admitting that it violated U.S. sanctions on Cuba and Iran for years. The administration is hoping to funnel as much as $359 million from that settlement to a special account at the Treasury Department to fund the wall, the official said. Yet it's unclear whether the White House can use the money for the wall. The Treasury account known as the asset forfeiture fund is made up of cash, property and other items seized during civil and criminal investigations. Use of the funds is restricted by federal law, and the account itself is a lightning rod for criticism, with both conservatives and liberals calling it an example of government overreach. In its 2017 annual report, the fund listed total assets worth $4 billion. "Fundamentally, this is a slush fund of money taken from private citizens that law enforcement officials are allowed to use for their own purposes," said Robert McNamara, a senior attorney with the libertarian Institute for Justice. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the border in an effort to build the wall largely without congressional approval and funding. Instead, the administration is attempting to cobble together $8 billion from spending that has already been authorized this fiscal year. About $3.6 billion will be drawn from previous allocations for military construction. Another $2.5 billion would come from counter drug activities at the Defense Department. The spending deal that Congress passed in January also included $1.4 billion for fencing and other structures. Another $601 million from Treasury's asset forfeiture fund would fill the gap. According to the administration, about $242 million is already available in the fund. The remaining $359 million will come from "future anticipated forfeitures" notably the settlement with SocGen. Two administration officials said the bank's forfeiture is still awaiting final court approval. But another person familiar with the settlement said SocGen has finished making its payments, with the funds split among federal and state authorities. It is unclear exactly how much was destined for Treasury or the forfeiture fund. The fund's assets are typically used to reimburse other agencies and state and local governments for their work in the investigation. The money may also go to informants or victims in the cases. The fund's annual report says any money left over after accounting for operational costs for the next fiscal year can be earmarked for "strategic support" and made available for "any law enforcement activity." Whether that includes the president's border wall is up for debate. "If Congress is supposed to be in charge of appropriations, we shouldn't be setting up funds that the executive can self-fund based on how many people it shakes down," McNamara said. Other attempts by the administration to pinpoint a pot of money for the wall have been met with resistance. Early reports that the White House was considering using disaster money did not sit well with Republican lawmakers such as Rep. Kevin Brady, whose Texas district was hurt by Hurricane Harvey. Now, Democrats are slamming plans to use money intended for military construction to build the border barrier. In response to a letter from top Democratic senators, the Defense Department said it would not divert funding from military housing, barracks and dorms. Only projects with award dates after this fiscal year would be affected, the department said. "More than $10 billion of other top priorities that the military and their families have requested over the last several years is on the chopping block to placate the president," Sens. Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy and Brian Schatz said in a joint statement this week. "This madness will not stop until more of our Republican colleagues are willing to put the military ahead of party politics." Last week, the House and Senate passed a resolution to block the national emergency, but Trump vetoed it Friday. His declaration faces an uncertain future in the Democrat-controlled House, which will vote on whether to override the veto later this month. The Senate does not appear to have enough support to overturn the veto. The stars of the European Union sit on banners flying outside the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 20, 2017. Seven big banks are moving around 1.2 trillion euros ($1.36 trillion) of assets from Britain to the euro zone as part of their preparations for Brexit, European Central Bank supervisor Ignazio Angeloni told Bloomberg. "We expect seven significant institutions to come under ECB supervision at the outset, of which we already oversee three. There will also be some 17 new less significant institutions," Angeloni was quoted on Wednesday as saying. "The seven large institutions will bring about 1.2 trillion euros of assets under the supervision of the ECB," he added. He said that large investment banks will also come under ECB supervision at a later stage and they are also expected to move over some assets. Prime Minister Theresa May returns to Downing Street on March 18, 2019 in London, England. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May formally requested a short delay to Brexit on Wednesday, 1,000 days after the U.K. narrowly voted to leave the European Union. The request, in a letter to EU leaders, seeks to put Britain's departure on hold until June 30. Sterling slipped nearly 1 percent to trade at $1.3156 at around 1 p.m. London time. Under current law, the U.K. is set to leave the EU with or without a deal at 11 p.m. London time on March 29. Any delay would need to be accepted by all 27 other member states. May is set to travel to Brussels on Thursday to discuss the options with her counterparts. In a letter addressed to European Council President Donald Tusk, May said she had warned U.K. lawmakers that the consequences of their second rejection of her plan to leave the EU were "unpredictable and potentially deeply unpalatable." The prime minister confirmed she intends to bring her Withdrawal Agreement to the House of Commons for a third time. That's despite a surprise intervention from Commons Speaker John Bercow earlier this week, who had said May's deal would need to be "fundamentally different" in order to hold another vote. Last week, U.K. lawmakers comprehensively rejected May's Withdrawal Agreement by 149 votes. They also voted in favor of ruling out leaving the EU without a deal and supported an extension of Article 50 the legal mechanism to take the U.K. out of the bloc. EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has previously said the bloc would not grant a delay without a "concrete plan" from Britain about what it planned to do with the extra time. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dove to its lowest level since January 2018 after the Federal Reserve said that it's no longer likely that it will hike rates again this year. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sank 8 basis points to 2.519 percent, while the yield on the 5-year Treasury bond dove 10 basis points to 2.328 percent, its lowest level since February 2018. The short-term 3-month Treasury bill traded with a yield of 2.473 percent and the 2-year note rate dropped 7 basis points to 2.4 percent. Yields rise as bond prices fall. The difference between the yield on the 10-year Treasury note and the yield on the 3-month Treasury bill was 5.5 basis points, the first time the yield curve flattened below 10 basis points since September 2007. The Fed on Wednesday downgraded its economic forecast and said it plans to end its program of reducing the bonds it holds on its balance sheet in six months, a process closely followed by fixed-income traders around the globe. "I guess we learned the definition of the word 'patience' and it means no rate hikes in 2019," said Jim Caron, Managing Director of Global Fixed Income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. "I would argue that the only reason they put one hike in 2020 is that they didn't want to communicate a more dovish message to the market, like an end of the economic cycle." The central bank said that in May it will begin tapering the amount of proceeds it allows to roll off its balance sheet each month. Fed committee members had estimated in December that two rate hikes would be appropriate in 2019 after four increases in 2018. That changed on Wednesday. "It looks like the Fed isn't going to do anything in 2019. The dots are telling the market that they're not going to hike in 2019," said Tom di Galoma, head of Treasury trading at Seaport Global Holdings. "It looks like that's off the table and we're looking at some form of easing if the economy continues to falter." The Fed said in its January meeting that it will be "patient" and data-dependent when deciding whether to raise rates going forward. In a separate release earlier this year, Federal Open Market Committee members also mentioned the reduction to the central bank's balance sheet. The committee issued a separate three-paragraph statement noting that "it is appropriate at this time to provide additional information regarding its plans to implement monetary policy over the long run." [The stream is slated to start at 2:30 pm ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke with the media Wednesday at the conclusion of the central bank's two-day policy meeting. The Fed caused a rebound in stocks and sent yields reeling after indicating it expected to keep rates at current levels for the rest of the year. The central bank also downgraded its viewpoint of the economy and said it would end its balance sheet unwind in September. Read more: 'The one report that everyone in Washington watches' just showed a big gain in job openings Workers at the lower end of the pay scale finally are getting the most benefit from rising wages Why rising wages could push the Fed toward more rate hikes yet Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Sergio Ermotti, chief executive officer of UBS Group AG, speaks during a news conference, as the worlds largest wealth manager announces full year earnings in Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. Corporate giants doing business abroad are painting a dreary picture of the world's economy. With an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, Brexit uncertainty weighing on Europe and the U.K., and new weakness out of Japan, some business leaders say it's harder than ever to rake in profits. This week, top executives at FedEx, BMW, UBS and others described bleak global business conditions while discussing quarterly results. Fitch Ratings also "aggressively" cut its forecast for the year. The head of UBS was among the latest to blame the world's backdrop for weaker-than-expected results. CEO Ermotti told a conference in London on Wednesday that it "one of the worst first-quarter environments in recent history," Reuters reported. The Swiss bank slashed another $300 million from 2019 costs after revenue at its investment bank plunged. Investment banking conditions are among the toughest seen in years, especially outside the U.S., he said. Ermotti's remarks echo the sentiment from FedEx a day earlier. The multinational package delivery service reported sluggish international revenue on Tuesday as a result of tough exchange rates and ongoing trade battles. "Slowing international macroeconomic conditions and weaker global trade growth trends continue, as seen in the year-over-year decline in our FedEx Express international revenue," Chief Financial Officer Alan B. Graf Jr. said in FedEx's quarterly earnings report. BMW is another with a less-than-rosy outlook. The German automaker said it expected pretax profit to fall by more than 10 percent in 2019, and its CFO said global conditions make it hard to provide a clear forecast. "Depending on how conditions develop, our guidance may be subject to additional risks; in particular, the risk of a no-deal Brexit and ongoing developments in international trade policy," CFO Nicolas Peter said in BMW's quarterly earnings report Wednesday. Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal has recently met Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, sources told CNBC-TV18, adding that the former is currently in Dubai and meeting other potential investors. Goyal is not expected to be back in India before April, added the sources. Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India, on Wednesday said the lenders will make every effort to keep Jet Airways flying and all stakeholders are in the unanimous view that the airline is a good aviation property. Kumar met finance minister Arun Jaitley along with aviation secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister. "An effort has been made by lenders to keep the airline running in the interest of all stakeholders and resolution plan for Jet Airways was almost ready but there is some delay," said Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India. On Etihad, he said the lenders are interested in Jet Airways and dialogue with the UAE-based airline is still on. On insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC), the SBI chairman said it is the last option for Jet Airways and the bankruptcy law is nearly impossible for an industry like this. Earlier, multiple sources told CNBC-TV18 that Jet Airways lenders are discussing replacing Etihad Airways with a new investor after the Abu Dhabi-based airline offered to sell its stake in the beleaguered airline. The new investor is likely to be an investment fund, added the sources. Etihad holds 24 percent stake in Jet Airways and was widely expected to be a major helping hand for the beleaguered airline. The airline had asked for interim funding support of Rs 750 crore from Etihad to continue operations. However, the board meeting of Etihad on the matter was inconclusive. Jet has been frequently grounding planes as it is unable to pay the dues to its lessors and is currently operating around 35 planes. The airline's operations from Mumbai to Manchester and Hong Kong will likely be suspended from March 23. Jet has more than Rs 8,000 crore in debt and is looking for urgent liquidity infusion to pay its pilots, engineers and make payments to its lessors. REFINITIV 15 The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Google has released Chrome 92, an upgrade that boosts the browser's performance during anti-phishing calculations, expands the reach of its site isolation technologies and adds some new "Chrome Actions" to its repertoire. The California-based search giant also paid out more than $133,000 in bounties to those who reported some of the 35 vulnerabilities patched in Chrome 92, which was released last week. At least nine of the bugs were marked "High," Google's second-most-serious threat level. A number of the bounties, including four labeled "High," had not yet been assigned a dollar amount, so Google's final payout will almost certainly top the acknowledged total. Because Chrome updates in the background, most users can finish a refresh by relaunching the browser. To manually update, select "About Google Chrome" from the Help menu under the three-dot icon at the upper right; the resulting tab shows that the browser has been updated or displays the download process before presenting a Relaunch button. People new to Chrome can download version 92 for Windows, macOS, and Linux directly. The Android and iOS browsers can be found in the Google Play and App Store markets, respectively. Google currently updates Chrome about every six weeks, although the previous version was released May 26. However, Google has said it will accelerate the Chrome release schedule so that by October the interval will have fallen to four weeks. Analyzing colors to warn of phishing Google has been making much of Chrome's lean-in on privacy of late, a response to rivals making hay over stopping trackers from following users as they skip from site to site. Google's stated project, dubbed "Privacy Sandbox," laid down new milestones toward the end of June that put off major action until late 2022. While other browser makers have put pedal to the metal on blocking tracking bits, Google said: "We need to move at a responsible pace." That there are only minor privacy-specific enhancements to Chrome 92, then, comes as no surprise. One that Google highlighted is a new way to access the rights users have awarded specific websites. In Chrome 92 on Android, users can tap the lock icon at the left side of the address bar to open an updated panel, which shows what permissions have been given the active site. Users can toggle those permissions to withdraw the right to, say, access the device's camera. The permissions panel will filter to other platforms, including desktop, "in upcoming releases," Google said without getting specific. (This dribble-out practice is a hallmark of Chrome, more so than any other major browser, to some users' frustrations; Google typically cites such staging as appropriately cautious considering the vast number of people who rely on Chrome to reach the Web.) Lacking a do-it-now plan to address tracking, Google instead focused users' attention to the browser's work on security, something the search giant is much more comfortable touting. High on its list for version 92 was Google's claim of improved performance while conducting anti-phishing tasks. One way Chrome recognizes known phishing sites those that, say, masquerade as legitimate websites to capture users' credentials is by analyzing the page's color profile. That analysis is done locally Google said that was a sop to privacy so performance gains can have a major impact on the browser and get results to users faster. Google claimed that changes to Chrome 92 resulted in a performance increase of up to 50x, cutting alert arrival times from 1.8 seconds to just 100 milliseconds. Overall, Google contended, the improvements reduce Chrome's overall CPU time by 1.2%. "At Chrome's scale, even minor algorithm improvements can result in major energy efficiency gains in aggregate," said Chrome developer Olivier Li Shing Tat-Dupuis in a post to the Chromium Blog. Actions! More of them Elsewhere in Chrome 92, Google has extended the browser's site isolation technology long a core security component for the browser to extensions, the add-ons Chrome has popularized. "As of Chrome 92, we will start extending this capability so that extensions can no longer share processes with each other," Charlie Reis and Alex Moshchuk, two members of the Chrome security team, wrote in a July 20 post to the Google Security Blog. "This provides an extra line of defense against malicious extensions, without removing any existing extension capabilities." Google has also added additional Chrome Actions, natural language phrases that when typed in the address bar provide shortcuts to various browser settings or functionalities, to version 92. First introduced last November, the list of available Actions now includes new entries such as "safety check," "manage security settings," and "manage sync." The new actions won't be accessible to everyone immediately, but like so much else in Chrome, will be rolled out gradually to the user base. They were not available in Computerworld's copies of Chrome, for example. Google will ship Chrome's next upgrade, Chrome 93, on Aug. 31 (or six weeks after v. 92). The first Chrome issued on a four-week interval will be version 95, slated to ship Oct. 19. Facebook is developing its own cryptocurrency for payments, according to at least two reports, a move that has the potential to make the social network billions of dollars while also helping to eliminate fake news and bots. Although the social media giant has not publicly commented on reports from Bloomberg and The New York Times, it did acknowledge it's exploring the distributed ledger technology (DLT). "Like many other companies Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This new small team is exploring many different applications. We don't have anything further to share," Facebook said in a response to a Computerworld request for comment. While details are few, the reports based on unnamed sourses claim a cryptocurrency would allow users of Facebook's WhatsApp messaging platform to send money to contacts, similar to how Venmo or PayPal allow cross-border payments; the difference is that there would be no middleman (i.e., a central bank or clearing firm). According to the Times' article, Facebook has already spoken with cryptocurrency exchanges about selling its crypto coin to consumers; others believe the social media firm would not tie payments to a strict "cryptocurrency," opting instead to use a stable coin backed by U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies. "They'll get exchanges to onboard customers with the KYC [know your customer] process and enable them to buy the currency," said Avivah Litan, a Gartner vice president of research. "The details are sketchy, but my guess is they increase ad revenue and offer users a PayPal-like experience...and they don't get regulated much." Stable coin networks require operators to keep collateral in a bank, so that if $1 billion in digital coin is issued, an equivalent amount must be available on deposit or reserve, according to Litan. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin that aren't backed by fiat currencies, have no intrinsic value other than supply and demand. In a note to investors this week, Barclays internet analyst Ross Sandler said a "Facebook Coin" could net the social network as much as $19 billion in revenue by 2021, according to a report from CNBC. "Merely establishing this revenue stream starts to change the story for Facebook shares in our view," Sandler told CNBC. Because blockchain-based payment networks eliminate the need for central banks that enable payment processing, the time and fees associated with payment, clearance and settlement can be cut. DLT also has the added attraction of avoiding regulation, which has yet to catch up to the blockchain industry. The Facebook interest reflects gathering interest in using blockchain-based networks to move money around. In February, the largest U.S. bank by deposits, J.P. Morgan, launched its own stable coin. JPM Coin, as the bank is calling it, has the equivalent value of one U.S. dollar. "When one client sends money to another over the blockchain, JPM Coins are transferred and instantaneously redeemed for the equivalent amount of U.S. dollars, reducing the typical settlement time," JPMorgan said in an online FAQ. "The JPM Coin is based on blockchain-based technology enabling the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional accounts." And just this week, IBM launched a payment service using a stable coin for international money transfers. On Facebook, users who want to purchase advertised products must currently type in credit card information not big deal on a desktop computer, but a somewhat more arduous experience on a mobile device that leads to people dropping off the site, according to Litan. "I've talked to someone who uses Facebook extensively for advertising and business and he said [blockchain] is good for advertisers because it'll convert more customers because it's a one-click pay," Litan said. "So, [customers] will have a currency where they'll just pay and that way [Facebook] will keep all the payments within their own network and with more conversions and higher advertising rates." Jack Gold, president and principal Analyst of J. Gold Associates, believes Facebook is interested in entering the "lucrative" the mobile payments market, where it will compete with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and others. "They have a huge installed base and if they can leverage a payment opportunity it could generate some pretty big revenues for them," he said. Facebook, however, could also cash in on blockchain's native cryptography, which enables network operators to authenticate users through hash keys once they're registered; the process keeps identities private but means there's an authentic user on the other end and not a bot. "It can also be used to enhance their ability to fight... 'fake news' by requiring that everyone posting be registered and have an audit trail," Gold said. Blockchain technology creates an immutable record where a file or "block" of data is inextricably tied to the previous one through a hash; it's a write-once, append-many technology. Because of its cryptography capabilities, blockchain could also help Facebook comply with new international privacy laws, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which targets citizens' personally identifiable information (PII), providing transparency around its use and giving people the right to restrict its use or request it be deleted all together. If a user deletes their hash key, their information is no longer accessible, meaning cryptographic deletionis just as effective if not more so as traditional data deletion. Today, registering with blockchain is hard due to the need to confirm the identity of the users (e.g., requiring them to have an ID, picture, etc.), Gold said via email. "So the person can be confirmed and it's a very manual process. But that could potentially be simplified for Facebook needs." There is however, a downside to collecting user information in order to authenticate them; it means Facebook now becomes the repository for a lot of personally identifiable information. "But I suspect there will be a lower bar on identity for Facebook users that can still offer some level of identity without all the serious identity confirmation needed in financial transactions," Gold said. "Although any payment system might still need that, so there may be levels of identity confirmation." Daniel Stafford is Chairman of Oxford Conservative Association. He works in the city as Head of Fundraising and Communications for a national charity. It always comes as a shock to those living outside Oxford to discover the Conservatives havent won a seat on the City Council since 2001. Oxford may seem a political anomaly in the blue shires of Oxfordshire, but the city bears comparable challenges to London, particularly in terms of a younger, more-transient, and internationalist electorate. Labour has governed virtually uninterrupted for decades, occasionally troubled by brief insurgencies from the Liberal Democrats and Green Party. Even today, the so-called opposition fail to offer any meaningful resistance to Labour, and for no wonder they are so closely aligned that city politics is more a case of asking if you want your socialism medium-rare or well-done, rather than asking the more useful question of whether there might be a more sensible alternative. The seeming absence of electoral threat enables Labour to feel they can act with impunity. Two-tiered government in Oxfordshire has provided a convenient bogeyman in the Conservative-led County Council. As elsewhere in England, the County has borne far higher expenditure challenges compared to the City Council, and despite the excellent work of Ian Hudspeth and his team, Labour use distraction tactics to complain about the County Council rather than defend their own record. What is less surprising, but nevertheless equally shocking, are the consequences of this absence of sensible Conservative involvement in the town hall. In the 2018 district elections, Labour won 18 of the 24 wards in Oxford. In eleven of those wards Labour finished more than 30 per cent ahead of their nearest challengers. With such comfortable majorities, councillors who are supposed to reflect their communities and respond to their concerns are instead completely insulated from public opinion. Proof of such insulation has been starkly seen in how Labour have handled three senior Councillors bringing their role into disrepute. Rhe former council leader, John Tanner, was subject to a complaint from Oxford Conservatives when he branded homeless people a disgrace in 2017. Despite investigation, the Councils standards committee did not find Cllr Tanner at fault; hardly a surprise given the partys stranglehold on the committee. Shortly after the 2018 elections, recently re-elected councillor for Lye Valley, Ben Lloyd Shogbesan, was revealed to have made several disgraceful posts on social media, including material that was anti-Semitic. Cllr Shogbesan was restored the party whip after the standards committee decided that he wasnt a councillor on a 24-7 basis, and had shown willingness to make amends for his posts. Two incidents may seem unfortunate in isolation, but in early March, Deputy Mayor, Sajjad Malik, was given a 28-day domestic violence protection order at Oxford Magistrates Court. Despite being suspended by the Council leader, Cllr Susan Brown, he has not been expelled from the party, and remains both a sitting Councillor and Deputy Mayor. Whatever words Labour may say to the contrary at present, their track record shows greater inclination to pull ranks around their councillors, rather than insist that those who disgrace their office, party, and city, should resign. Labour deafness is sadly not limited to the conduct of their councillors. In the past five years they have ignored resident protests about a new link-road right next to a childrens playground in the Northway estate; failed to build sufficient affordable housing at the new Westgate shopping complex; and recently overturned a Planning Committee decision regarding the site of a new school in Marston, despite strong and vocal opposition from local residents. All of this could perhaps be forgiven if the Council was in any way effective, but lamentably for Oxfords residents the Council talks a better game than it delivers. Oxford is officially the least affordable city in the UK; unsurprising when an affordable three bedroom home in the new Barton Park estate came in at 595,000. Oxford has built consistently fewer affordable homes than the surrounding Conservative-led districts, and despite Labours long tenure in the town hall, desperate poverty remains entrenched in estates such as Blackbird Leys, Littlemore, and Barton. We are determined that this should change. As the new Chairman of Oxford Conservatives, I have set up a Parliamentary petition calling for recall petitions to be introduced for local councillors, and challenged local party leaders to endorse it as well. This small measure may well go some way to restoring the faith of voters in democratic measures, not just in Oxford but also in other districts where councillors fail to behave honourably. This is obviously not enough in itself; the only thing that will change the complacent, technocratic, and unresponsive culture at Oxford town hall will be the election of a significant Conservative team to hold the Council to account. Oxford is not a unique case many other opposition dominated areas across the county urgently need a Conservative alternative articulated to voters. But it surely right and necessary that this fight should be won. Many political leaders pass through Oxford colleges, but so too do influencers in culture, business, and the media. Right now, the message they will hear is that it is absurd to be anything other than left-of-centre. Oxfords voters dont agree, and over the next two years it is our intention to make sure that their voice is heard. Anthony Speaight: Six reasons why we are now less likely to be trapped in the backstop Anthony Speaight QC is Chairman of Research for the Society of Conservative Lawyers. To some UK eyes, what was so unattractive about the Northern Ireland Protocol, as originally agreed, was that it could appear to envisage that, whatever the future trading relationship between the EU and Britain, the permanent future of Northern Ireland was in both a single market and customs union with the EU. The status of the UK was dealt with separately from that of Northern Ireland in Articles 6(1) and 6(2) respectively. Article 1(3) stated that the arrangements of the Protocol were necessary, rather than merely desirable, and that such necessity related not only to the avoidance of a hard border, but also inter alia to the conditions for North-South cooperation and the protection of the Belfast Agreement in all its dimensions. Bearing in mind that the EU had not been a party to the Belfast Agreement, and that that Agreement contains no prohibition of customs posts or the like at the border, this created the impression in some that the UK was now agreeing to the EU undertaking a new role almost as guarantor of Irelands interests. It was such features, as much as the absence of a unilateral right of withdrawal or end date, which contributed to the concern that the EU or Ireland or both had no real interest in seeking technological or other solutions to avoid a hard border, and that the UK was acquiescing in the consequence of Northern Ireland being permanently in a seamless trading relationship with Ireland. The joint drafts issued on 11 March went a long way to remove those concerns by six features:- The recital to the Joint Instrument identifies only the absence of a hard border as the required characteristic of the arrangements which would replace the backstop. This weakens the impact of the vague aims of Article 1(3), and, therefore, the scope for the EU or Ireland at a future date to assert that the Protocol is about anything wider than the avoidance of a hard border. Paragraph 5 of the Joint Instrument strengthens the impression of temporariness of the Protocol by introducing a new date, namely a year from the date of UKs withdrawal, for the conclusion of negotiations of a replacement. If the Withdrawal Agreement is now ratified, that will be considerably earlier than the date mentioned in the Protocol, namely 31 December 2020. Not only is the target date for the conclusions of replacement negotiations thus advanced, but it ceases to coincide with the end date of the implementation period. This emphasises that the agreement of the replacement need not be contingent on the agreement of the future trading relationship. That is significant, and must seriously diminish the scope for the EU or Ireland to claim at a future date that the Protocol envisaged Northern Ireland permanently remaining in a single market and customs union with the EU. The Joint Instrument makes specific mention of study of technological measures for avoiding a hard border. Paragraph 7 commits the parties to the study of inter alia technologies. This is the approach which the UK has been advocating all along. The EUs response to date has created the concern that it would never look seriously at technologies. There had been no mention of border technologies in the original Withdrawal Agreement or Protocol and it will now be impossible for the EU to escape from detailed study of such. A further feature of reassurance to the UK is that such study of technologies is stated in paragraph 6 of the Joint Political Statement to cover not only existing but also emerging technologies meaning the EU will no longer be able to bat back this topic with the refrain that no adequate technology is yet in use anywhere in the world. The Joint Instrument in paragraph 10 explicitly recognises that a replacement arrangement will not be required to replicate its provisions in any respect. That must finally knock on the head the scope for the EU or Ireland in future to claim that the Protocol always envisaged Northern Ireland permanently remaining in a single market and customs union with the EU. Therefore, whilst it remains the case that the Protocol could conceivably remain in force indefinitely, that scenario has become more theoretical than it was previously. In practice, that scenario will arise only if intensive work with a genuine focus on the possibilities of every kind of technology, including those which are not yet in force anywhere in the world, fails to demonstrate a way to avoid a hard border. Although the EU may be regarded as adept at finding legal technicalities of assistance to its political objectives, it remains a mature and responsible player in the realm of international agreements. The EU would be unlikely to countenance the reputational damage of being seen to resile from its commitments in the six features identified above. Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book is What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit. The editor of ConservativeHome and I share an interest in CS Lewiss adult novels. They are much less popular than his childrens books, and for good reason. Lewis crammed a lot of philosophy and theology into his adult stories, and the result could be didactic, clumsy and contrived. But there are sublime moments, especially in That Hideous Strength, the culmination of his science fiction trilogy, published in 1945. That Hideous Strength tells the story of a literally diabolical plot to subdue Britain in the guise of a benign bureaucracy known (amusingly enough from our present perspective) as the NICE: the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments. Slowly, and at first gently, the NICE sets about subverting Britains institutions. The book begins with some university dons agreeing, against their better judgment, to sell a patch of ancient woodland and ends well, I wont spoil the story for you, but lets just say that things escalate. For 20 years, I have used the phrase Hideous Strength to describe the way in which Brussels distorts the national institutions of its member states. Lewis took his title from a sixteenth-century Scottish poem about the Tower of Babel which, given the overweening ambitions of the multi-lingual EU, made it seem especially apt. At first, I was making a literary joke a slightly precious one, you might think; but, over the past 30 months, it has become horribly serious. The EUs Hideous Strength manifests itself in the readiness of politicians and institutions at the national level to act against their interests for the sake of deeper integration. To put it another way, as well as being undemocratic in itself, in the sense of being run by unelected officials, the EU frequently requires its member states to give up a measure of their domestic democracy in order to sustain the requirements of closer union. There are dozens of examples, some of them fairly minor: parties switching their EU policy in order to join coalitions, ministers being removed from office because they had crossed Brussels, rules on referendums being rewritten to make it easier to get European treaties through. Until now, Id have said the most alarming instances of the EUs Hideous Strength were the civilian coups in Italy and Greece in 2011, which saw the imposition of Eurocrat-led coalitions in order to prop up the euro. But that was before the British referendum or, rather, before the attempts by some of our politicians to overturn it. It is truly extraordinary to watch Labour and Conservative MPs, all of them elected in 2017 on manifestos that promised to uphold the referendum result, now wriggling out of their promises. In their determination to stand by Brussels, they are doing serious damage to themselves, their parties and the legitimacy of our system of government. Yet they do it anyway, held somehow by the EUs orbit. Arguably even worse is the politicisation of the Speakers Chair. The neutrality of that office was, for a long time, one of the features of the British system that other countries most admired. The idea that the Commons could elevate one of its own above party was an inspiration to more politically riven nations. The impartiality of Britains Speaker was, like the impartiality of its monarch, a given. In recent weeks, though, the Speaker has started making up the rules as he goes along, consistent only in his Euro-enthusiasm. When it suits him, he disregards the advice of parliamentary officials and declares that I am not in the business of invoking precedent. When it doesnt, he invokes ancient conventions. He is happy to call Remainer amendments, regardless of how much broader the support is for the Eurosceptic amendments he denies. His latest ruling that the same motion cannot be put twice in the same session is, as Henry Newman wrote here yesterday, based on precisely the same guideline that also prohibits the calling of identical amendments, yet he seems perfectly happy to have multiple attempts at a second referendum or at the Cooper/Letwin attempts to seize control of the agenda. No serious observer could call his behaviour consistent. And, in private, lots of Remainers concede this, though they will (which is fair enough) accept support from any quarter. When Emily Maitlis put it to Dominic Grieve on Monday that the Speakers rulings were biased, Grieve was too honest to deny it, instead smiling and saying only: Hes the Speaker. Sadly, though, feelings are running so high that Grieves calm is the exception rather than the rule. Many Euro-enthusiasts are now so wound up that they now wont hear any criticism of the Speakers consistency even as, somewhat contradictorily, they hail him as their champion. Labours #MeToo crowd, for example, dropped all the criticism we might have expected in the wake of the bullying accusations because they wanted to keep him in place to do precisely what he is doing now. Pro- and anti-Bercow stickers are appearing something that would have been unimaginable under any of his predecessors. Without anyone in Brussels needing to issue orders, some British MPs have ditched their principles, undermined the authority of the worlds foremost parliament and prejudiced the office of its Speaker. And, worst of all, their supporters in the country are cheering. Marvel at the EUs Hideous Strength. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long. So said Theresa May at Prime Ministers Questions. She sounded like Oliver Cromwell dismissing the Rump Parliament: You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. Is this high-handed attitude towards the Commons the way to induce it to vote for her deal? Or will the Prime Minister just sound demagogic and dictatorial? Clement Attlee said referendums were a device of dictators and demagogues, a view later quoted with approval by Margaret Thatcher. Yet May now derives her legitimacy from the referendum result. She says the people who voted No in that referendum deserve better than this House has given them so far. But whose task is it to bring the views of the House into harmony with those of the people as expressed in the referendum? This is the Prime Ministers task. She called a general election in order to obtain a House of Commons which would strengthen her hand in the negotiations required to bring about Brexit. She instead managed to lose the slim majority her predecessor had won in 2015. The voters declined her invitation to turn her into an elected dictator. Her task became harder instead of easier. And the Conservative Eurosceptics did not today accept her claim to be the true voice of the British people. Peter Bone reminded her that she had said 108 times that Britain will leave the EU on 29th March, and went on: If you continue to apply for an extension of Article 50 you will be betraying the British people. On the other side of the argument, Kenneth Clarke, Oliver Letwin, Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper were among those who demanded that the Commons be allowed to hold a series of indicative votes, in order to show what kind of deal can command a majority. The Prime Minister looked isolated. Her accusation that the House has indulged itself struck a puritanical note. She, like Cromwell, is in the right, and is fed up with MPs who waste their time arguing about things. It was almost as if she had given up trying to persuade anyone else, and just wanted to demonstrate to her own satisfaction that she is justified. The House is perturbed and confused, and looked in no mood to follow Mays lead. It might yet come to the view that the Prime Minister has indulged herself on Europe for too long. Either you do as I say, or Im off. That was the self-righteous implication of her remarks, and of her letter today to Donald Tusk. And one wondered how many MPs will treat this as an incentive to do as she says. (ANSA) - Rome, March 20 - Premier Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday the government will hold a cabinet meeting in Calabria "because Calabria is one of the most abandoned regions in southern Italy and the cabinet meeting will have a symbolic and also operational value". Speaking to Rome LUISS University students, Conte said "there are many problems in Calabria, a disastrous health system, a very insidious criminality". Conte said the cabinet meeting would produce "concrete measures". He said "we are thinking of an extraordinary intervention on the health system, which will resolve things" after the heads of the regional health system were recently axed. In the now unlikely event of No Deal, the Prime Ministers position should be secure, at least for a while. It would be all hands to the pump, and no time for a novice. If her deal passes through Parliament, Conservative MPs may then experience what one senior player calls a sugar rush a brief sense of relief, well-being and confidence. In such circumstances, May would have a window to try to dig in. In the event of a short extension, the Conservative Parliamentary Party will have little motive to remove her, since a leadership election would be impracticable if the negotiation is up against a new spring deadline. Only a long extension of, say, nine months or longer offers Tory MPs the chance to oust her quickly, through a combination of pressure from the 1922 Committee, the Cabinet and the voluntary party. Although she cannot be challenged in a confidence ballot until the autumn, there are other ways of expressing no confidence in a party leader, or threatening to. Some of these fall short of the nuclear option of voting with Labour in a no confidence motion, or at least abstaining. For example, Conservative MPs could declare that they would table or support a motion to cut the Prime Ministers salary in half. This site has heard the option floated. This background helps to explain why May was never likely to back a long extension. Downing Streets warning that it might, issued over the weekend to panic Tory holdouts into supporting her deal, always looked like an empty threat. As we write, it can apparently be added to her long list of U-turns. Here is part of that list again: holding a general election in 2017; controlling migration during transition; extending transition; putting her deal to the Commons in December; opposing a regulatory border in the Irish Sea. (Check out her Road to Brexit video where she warned that this would keep Northern Ireland in parts of the Single Market. That would would break up the UK economically, and creating new barriers to our own internal market.) We can now add the 108 times she said that Brexit will take place on March 29. At any rate, Number Ten is briefing this morning that the Prime Minister wont be asking for a long extension. There is a more urgent reason for her to clamber down off the fence she perched on yesterday, when her fellow Cabinet members were left unsure what length of extension she favours. With the Soft Brexiteers (and Remainers) in favour of a long extension and her harder ones backing a short one, she kept her cards clasped to her chest. Now she has been forced to move. A majority of Conservative MPs voted against any extension at all last week. May is due to address the 1922 Committee meeting this evening. Things were about to get very ugly indeed. We suspect that Mays real hope, with tomorrows EU council looming, was for an ambigious outcome a short extension with the possibility of a longer one at the end. Such an outcome would probably have come closest both to keeping her in place while not risking Cabinet resignations from either group of her divided ministers. The EU does not seem to favour such an extension, assuming it grants one at all. Some member states prefer a long extension; others, a short one. Readers will remember that Olly Robbins forecast the former while drinking in a Brussels bar. Very soon, we will know if he was right. A new study conducted by researchers from the University of California at San Diego found yet another health risk associated with smoking e-cigarettes. According to their findings, consumers who vape are increasingly more susceptible to a condition known as leaky gut. This happens when holes have developed in the gut lining that bacteria can leak through, which can ultimately cause inflammation throughout the entire body. This is the first study that demonstrates how chronic exposure to e-cigarettes increases the guts susceptibility to bacterial infections, leading to chronic inflammation, and other health concerns, said researcher Soumita Das, PhD. Given the importance of the gut barrier in the maintenance of the bodys immune homeostasis, the findings provide valuable insight into the potential long-term harmful effects chronic use of e-cigarettes [has] on our health. Risks to gut health To better understand how gut health is impacted by e-cigarettes, the researchers created 3D models of the human intestinal system using stem cells. They then used the models to mimic the process of smoking an e-cigarette and analyzed the effects of smoking on the models gut reaction. The researchers found that chemical additives used in e-cigarettes -- specifically propylene glycol and vegetable glycerol -- are responsible for damage to the intestines. Ultimately, these chemicals damage the guts protective barrier, which is what initiates gut inflammation. While this is concerning for overall gut health, the researchers explained that it can also have greater complications for consumers immune systems. Once these chemicals break through the intestines, they have direct access to the immune system, which can make consumers more susceptible to infections. The safety of e-cigarettes has been debated fiercely on both sides, said researcher Dr. Pradipta Ghosh. Nicotine content, and its addictive nature, has always been the major focus of those who argue against its safety, whereas lack of chemicals in the carcinogens that are present in the cigarette smoke has been touted by the makers of e-cigarettes when marketing these products as a healthy alternative. In reality, its the chemicals making up the vapor liquid that we should be more concerned about as they are the cause of gut inflammation. Though vaping rates have declined in recent months -- especially for young people -- the researchers hope that consumers understand the severity of the long-term risks associated with smoking e-cigarettes. The gut lining is an amazing entity, said researcher Dr. Ghosh. It is comprised of a single layer of cells that are meant to seal the body from trillions of microbes, defend our immune system, and at the same time allow absorption of essential nutrients. Anything we eat or drink, our lifestyle choices in other words, has the ability to impact our gut microbes, the gut barrier, and overall health. Now we know that what we smoke, such as e-cigarettes, negatively impacts it as well. The site you specified has a disallow rule. At the origin of the Internet links were basically a signal of "likes". In a way, so likes, tweets and shares have now the natural explicit meaning of links. CoolSocial is an analyzer you can use to improve your site social media impact. You can also check for your competitors. (ANSA) - Milan, March 20 - A 47-year-old bus driver was held by Carabinieri police on Wednesday after allegedly hijacking a bus with schoolchildren aboard and subsequently setting it on fire after handcuffing them in an apparent attempt to kill them, sources said. According to an initial reconstruction, the man hijacked the bus with 51 pupils from a middle school in the northern province of Cremona. The suspect has been named as Ousseynou Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004. He said he wanted to kill himself and "stop the deaths in the Mediterranean," the sources said. Sy ordered a teacher to tie the children's hands with plastic cuffs but the teacher only cuffed four of five of them, and so lightly that they easily freed themselves afterwards, local sources said. "No one will survive," Sy said after hijacking the vehicle outside San Donato near Milan, according to Carabinieri Provincial Commander Luca De Marchis. After being stopped by police, he got off the bus and set it alight, having poured petrol inside. But the Carabinieri managed to get the children out by smashing windows at the back, the sources said. Before being stopped, the suspect had also tried to ram through a road block. Twelve children and two adults were taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation, as was Sy, the sources said. The bus is a write-off. A teacher who was with the children said that it was not the first time Sy drove a bus with pupils on board. "We knew him" the teacher said, adding that the hijacker was angry about the government's migrant policy. "He wanted to get to the runway at (Milan's) Linate (airport)". The children's ordeal lasted nearly 40 minutes, local sources said. A girl said "he handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour our the petrol and light the fire. He kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is Di Maio and Salvini's. Then the Carabinieri saved us". Luigi Di Maio, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leader, and Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League, are the two partners in Italy's populist government which has closed Italy's ports to migrant rescue NGO ships amid a broader crackdown on migrants. Sy will face possible charges of kidnapping, attempted mass murder, causing a fire and resisting arrest, judicial sources said. 100% Website vishsoftsolutions.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery and WebFonts. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 517183 bytes (505.06 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-06, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. After his retirement, he continued writing in many publications, including "The Hindu". His works include 'Ripping the Fabric' ,'The Decline of Mumbai and its Mills' and 'Temples or Tombs? Industry Versus Environment'. His pioneering work as environmental journalist is valuable and relevant even today. "Darryl was one of my gurus in journalism. But he was no intimidating figure. Warm and welcoming, he never let you feel that you were not an equal. To a rookie, that meant the world", remarked Jyoti Punwahi, a well-known political commentator on political affairs. He was an editor with space for issues which others avoided. "Although Darryl worked for much of his life in mainstream media, he never gave up his convictions on environment, human rights, civic and urban issues,and the rights of the most marginalised", wrote Kalpana Sharma in "Indian Express". He consciously mentored others. In the world of cut- throat competition, this stood then, and stands even now, as an unusual trait. When the Dalit Panthers Movement erupted in Mumbai, he brought out special edition on the movement's literature and Dalit struggles in his Sunday Review section of "The Times of India". He travelled to remote parts of Jharkhand to meet tribal leader Shibu Soren and Marxist trade union leader AK Roy. He slept with Adivasis and learned about their struggles and wrote about tribal rights and oppression by the mining mafia. His balanced writings on riots of 1992-93 in the "Times of India" made Shiv Sena call it 'Times of Pakistan.' His thoughts on silent valley and dangers of environmental destruction are an indication of his concern towards nature. Paying his condolences over his demise on March 16, former union minister Jairam Ramesh, who knew him well, said, "He was among India's earliest environmental journalists and became one of the most eminent of them. He and I disagreed at times but retained great fondness to each other". His works had some influence on government policies. D' Monte will be remembered as a courageous journalist who was committed towards sustained ecological growth. --- *Writer from anywhere and everywhere is interested in environmental issues Very few journalists stood by peoples'rights and dared to expose atrocities committed by corporates and government. One such fine committed journalist was Darryl D'Monte who inspired younger generation. He passed away on March 16 in a Mumbai hospital. A prominent advocate of the Advanced Locality Management (ALM) movement, which involved citizens in care of their neighborhoods, he was the president of Bandra West Residents Association. Also, he was a trustee of the Mumbai Waterfronts Center, a member of the Apna Mumbai Abhiyan, chair of the Celebrate Bandra Trust, and a former convener of the Bandra festival.He also devoted himself to environmental issue networking environmental journalists in India and the world. He was chair of the Forum of Environmental Journalists in India and founder- president of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.He was editor of the "Times of India's" Sunday Review and Mumbai resident editor for the "Indian Express" and the "Times of India". Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: In-country Movement: Foreign Travel: Citizenship: Internally displaced persons Protection of refugees Refoulement: The government detained Rohingya in many of the northeastern states of the country. For example, after serving the allotted time for illegal entry into the country, the government obtained travel permits for seven Rohingya refugees from Burmese authorities and, according to media reports on October 4, the seven Rohingya were transported from prison to the border town of Moreh in Manipur state to be deported. In July, Minister of State Kiren Rijiju informed the lower house of parliament that the Ministry of Home Affairs instructed state governments to identify Rohingya migrants through the collection of biometric data. The Ministry of Home Affairs directed state governments to monitor Rohingya and restrict their movements to specific locations. The government advocated for the return of Rohingya migrants to Burma. Access to Asylum: Absent a legal framework, the government sometimes granted asylum on a situational basis on humanitarian grounds in accordance with international law. This approach resulted in varying standards of protection for different refugee and asylum seeker groups. The government recognized refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka and honored UNHCR decisions on refugee status determination for individuals from other countries, including Afghanistan. UNHCR did not have an official agreement with the government but maintained an office in New Delhi where it registered refugees and asylum seekers from noncontiguous countries and Burma, made refugee status determinations, and provided some services. The offices reach outside of New Delhi was limited, however. The government permitted UNHCR staff access to refugees in other urban centers and allowed it to operate in Tamil Nadu to assist with Sri Lankan refugee repatriation. Authorities did not permit UNHCR direct access to Sri Lankan refugee camps, Tibetan settlements, or asylum seekers in Mizoram, but it did permit asylum seekers from Mizoram to travel to New Delhi to meet UNHCR officials. Refugees outside New Delhi faced added expense and time to register their asylum claims. The government generally permitted other NGOs, international humanitarian organizations, and foreign governments access to Sri Lankan refugee camps and Tibetan settlements, but it generally denied access to asylum seekers in Mizoram. The government denied requests for some foreigners to visit Tibetan settlements in Ladakh. After the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, the government ceased registering Sri Lankans as refugees. The Tamil Nadu government assisted UNHCR by providing exit permission for Sri Lankan refugees to repatriate voluntarily. The benefits provided to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees by the state government of Tamil Nadu were applicable only within the state. The central government approved the extension of funding to run the camps until 2020. Employment: The government granted work authorization to many UNHCR-registered refugees, and others found employment in the informal sector. Some refugees reported discrimination by employers. Access to Basic Services: Although the country generally allowed recognized refugees and asylum seekers access to housing, primary and secondary education, health care, and the courts, access varied by state and by population. Refugees were able to use public services, although access became more complicated during the year because many refugees were unable to acquire the digitized identity (Aadhaar) card necessary to use some services. In cases where refugees were denied access, it was often due to a lack of knowledge of refugee rights by the service provider. In many cases UNHCR was able to intervene successfully and advocate for refugee access. The government allowed UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum seekers to apply for long-term visas that would provide work authorization and access to higher education, although the rate of renewal for long-term visas slowed significantly. For undocumented asylum seekers, UNHCR provided a letter upon registration indicating the person was under consideration for UNHCR refugee status. The government did not fully complete a 2012 Ministry of Home Affairs directive to issue long-term visas to Rohingya. It has reportedly slowed renewals for those with long-term visas significantly, limiting access to formal employment in addition to education, health services, and bank accounts. Sri Lankan refugees were permitted to work in Tamil Nadu. Police, however, reportedly summoned refugees back into the camps on short notice, particularly during sensitive political times such as elections, and required refugees or asylum seekers to remain in the camps for several days. Government services such as mother and child health programs were available. Refugees were able to request protection from police and courts as needed. The government did not accept refugees for resettlement from other countries. Stateless persons By law parents confer citizenship, and birth in the country does not automatically result in citizenship. Any person born in the country on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987, obtained Indian citizenship by birth. A child born in the country on or after July 1, 1987, obtained citizenship if either parent was an Indian citizen at the time of the childs birth. Authorities consider those born in the country on or after December 3, 2004, citizens only if at least one parent was a citizen and the other was not illegally present in the country at the time of the childs birth. Authorities considered persons born outside the country on or after December 10, 1992, citizens if either parent was a citizen at the time of birth, but authorities do not consider those born outside the country after December 3, 2004, citizens unless their birth was registered at an Indian consulate within one year of the date of birth. Authorities can also confer citizenship through registration under specific categories and via naturalization after residing in the country for 12 years. Tibetans reportedly sometimes faced difficulty acquiring citizenship despite meeting the legal requirements. The Assam state government began a process to update the NRC to determine who has legal claim to citizenship in the country, and who is determined to have migrated illegally per a 2014 Supreme Court order. According to official reports, the government has excluded an estimated four million persons from the NRC draft list published on July 30. The central and state governments indicated that all persons not listed were able to file claims and objections for 60 days from September 25. The future legal status of those excluded is not clear. Many individuals may be declared citizens at the end of the process, while others may be at risk of statelessness. According to UNHCR and NGOs, the country had a large population of stateless persons, but there were no reliable estimates. Stateless populations included Chakmas and Hajongs, who entered the country in the early 1960s from present-day Bangladesh, and groups affected by the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. In September 2017 the central government stated it would appeal to the Supreme Court to review its 2015 order to consider citizenship for approximately 70,000 Chakma and Hajong refugees. Media quoted Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju saying the Supreme Court order was unimplementable. Children born in Sri Lankan refugee camps received Indian birth certificates. While Indian birth certificates alone do not entitle refugees to Indian citizenship, refugees may present Indian birth certificates to the Sri Lankan High Commission to obtain a consular birth certificate, which entitles them to pursue Sri Lankan citizenship. UNHCR and refugee advocacy groups estimated that between 25,000 and 28,000 of the approximately 90,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu were hill country Tamils. While Sri Lankan law allows hill country refugees to present affidavits to secure Sri Lankan citizenship, UNHCR believed that until the Sri Lankan government processes the paperwork, such refugees were at risk of becoming stateless. --- Click HERE for complete report According to the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation, approximately 16,000 of 27,000 Sri Lankan refugee children born in the refugee camps have presented birth certificates to the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai. According to UNHCR, the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission issued 2,858 birth certificates during the year.UNHCR and refugee advocacy groups estimated that between 25,000 and 28,000 of the approximately 90,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu were hill country Tamils. While Sri Lankan law allows hill country refugees to present affidavits to secure Sri Lankan citizenship, UNHCR believed that until the Sri Lankan government processes the paperwork, such refugees were at risk of becoming stateless.--- The government detained Rohingya in many of the northeastern states of the country. For example, after serving the allotted time for illegal entry into the country, the government obtained travel permits for seven Rohingya refugees from Burmese authorities and, according to media reports on October 4, the seven Rohingya were transported from prison to the border town of Moreh in Manipur state to be deported.In July, Minister of State Kiren Rijiju informed the lower house of parliament that the Ministry of Home Affairs instructed state governments to identify Rohingya migrants through the collection of biometric data. The Ministry of Home Affairs directed state governments to monitor Rohingya and restrict their movements to specific locations. The government advocated for the return of Rohingya migrants to Burma.Absent a legal framework, the government sometimes granted asylum on a situational basis on humanitarian grounds in accordance with international law. This approach resulted in varying standards of protection for different refugee and asylum seeker groups. The government recognized refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka and honored UNHCR decisions on refugee status determination for individuals from other countries, including Afghanistan.UNHCR did not have an official agreement with the government but maintained an office in New Delhi where it registered refugees and asylum seekers from noncontiguous countries and Burma, made refugee status determinations, and provided some services. The offices reach outside of New Delhi was limited, however. The government permitted UNHCR staff access to refugees in other urban centers and allowed it to operate in Tamil Nadu to assist with Sri Lankan refugee repatriation.Authorities did not permit UNHCR direct access to Sri Lankan refugee camps, Tibetan settlements, or asylum seekers in Mizoram, but it did permit asylum seekers from Mizoram to travel to New Delhi to meet UNHCR officials. Refugees outside New Delhi faced added expense and time to register their asylum claims.The government generally permitted other NGOs, international humanitarian organizations, and foreign governments access to Sri Lankan refugee camps and Tibetan settlements, but it generally denied access to asylum seekers in Mizoram. The government denied requests for some foreigners to visit Tibetan settlements in Ladakh.After the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, the government ceased registering Sri Lankans as refugees. The Tamil Nadu government assisted UNHCR by providing exit permission for Sri Lankan refugees to repatriate voluntarily. The benefits provided to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees by the state government of Tamil Nadu were applicable only within the state. The central government approved the extension of funding to run the camps until 2020.The government granted work authorization to many UNHCR-registered refugees, and others found employment in the informal sector. Some refugees reported discrimination by employers.Although the country generally allowed recognized refugees and asylum seekers access to housing, primary and secondary education, health care, and the courts, access varied by state and by population. Refugees were able to use public services, although access became more complicated during the year because many refugees were unable to acquire the digitized identity (Aadhaar) card necessary to use some services.In cases where refugees were denied access, it was often due to a lack of knowledge of refugee rights by the service provider. In many cases UNHCR was able to intervene successfully and advocate for refugee access. The government allowed UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum seekers to apply for long-term visas that would provide work authorization and access to higher education, although the rate of renewal for long-term visas slowed significantly. For undocumented asylum seekers, UNHCR provided a letter upon registration indicating the person was under consideration for UNHCR refugee status.The government did not fully complete a 2012 Ministry of Home Affairs directive to issue long-term visas to Rohingya. It has reportedly slowed renewals for those with long-term visas significantly, limiting access to formal employment in addition to education, health services, and bank accounts.Sri Lankan refugees were permitted to work in Tamil Nadu. Police, however, reportedly summoned refugees back into the camps on short notice, particularly during sensitive political times such as elections, and required refugees or asylum seekers to remain in the camps for several days.Government services such as mother and child health programs were available. Refugees were able to request protection from police and courts as needed.The government did not accept refugees for resettlement from other countries.By law parents confer citizenship, and birth in the country does not automatically result in citizenship. Any person born in the country on or after January 26, 1950, but before July 1, 1987, obtained Indian citizenship by birth. A child born in the country on or after July 1, 1987, obtained citizenship if either parent was an Indian citizen at the time of the childs birth. The chapter Freedom of Movement of the US State Departments India 2018 Human Rights Report, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as termites, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assams final draft list, leading to uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term refugee, treating refugees like Rohingiyas as any other foreigners.Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse, the report says.The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation. The government generally respected these rights. In 2015 the implementation of a land-boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh enfranchised more than 50,000 previously stateless residents, providing access to education and health services.The country hosts a large refugee population, including 108,005 Tibetan refugees and approximately 90,000 refugees from Sri Lanka. The government generally allows the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to assist asylum seekers and refugees from noncontiguous countries and Burma. In many cases refugees and asylum seekers under UNHCRs mandate reported increased challenges regularizing their status through long-term visas and residence permits. Rohingya refugees were registered by UNHCR but not granted legal status by the government.Abuse of Migrants, Refugees, and Stateless Persons: The law does not contain the term refugee, treating refugees like any other foreigners. Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse.The courts protected refugees and asylum seekers in accordance with the constitution.Refugees reported exploitation by nongovernment actors, including assaults, gender-based violence, fraud, and labor exploitation. Problems of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and early and forced marriage also continued. Gender-based violence and sexual abuse were common in camps for Sri Lankans. Most urban refugees worked in the informal sector or in occupations such as street vending, where they suffered from police extortion, nonpayment of wages, and exploitation.UNHCR and NGOs observed an increase in antirefugee (specifically anti-Rohingya) rhetoric throughout the year in advance of state and 2019 national elections, which reportedly led to an increased sense of insecurity in refugee communities. On October 4, the Supreme Court rejected a plea to stop the deportation of seven Rohingya immigrants from Assam. The court noted the individuals, held in an Assam jail since 2012, were arrested by Indian authorities as illegal immigrants and that Burma was ready to accept them as their nationals.According to media reports, the nationality of the immigrants was confirmed after the Burmese government verified their addresses in Rakhine State. Rights groups said the governments decision to deport them placed them at risk of oppression and abuse. According to HRW, the government deported the seven ethnic Rohingya Muslims to Burma where they are at grave risk of oppression and abuse. HRW further noted, The Indian government has disregarded its long tradition of protecting those seeking refuge within its borders.The central government relaxed restrictions on travel by foreigners to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, and parts of Jammu and Kashmir, excluding foreign nationals from Pakistan, China, and Burma. The Ministry of Home Affairs and state governments required citizens to obtain special permits upon arrival when traveling to certain restricted areas.The government may legally deny a passport to any applicant for engaging in activities outside the country prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.The trend of delaying issuance and renewal of passports to citizens from the state of Jammu and Kashmir continued, sometimes up to two years. The government reportedly subjected applicants born in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, including children born to military officers deployed in the state, to additional scrutiny and police clearances before issuing them passports.On July 31, the government of Assam published the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a document intended to define individuals with a claim to citizenship in a state that experienced an influx of foreigners in 1971. In 1985 the government declared that anyone who entered Assam without proper documentation after March 24, 1971, would be declared a foreigner.The names of four million residents were excluded from the final draft list, leading to uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations. Individuals will be required to go through an appeals process to have their names included in the final list of Indian citizens.The Supreme Court is overseeing the process, and four million individuals were given 60 days from September 25 to file a claim or objection. On September 24, ruling BJP party president Amit Shah called Bangladeshis who may be in Assam termites who will be struck from the list of citizens.Authorities located IDP settlements throughout the country, including those containing groups displaced by internal armed conflicts in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Maoist-affected areas, the northeastern states and Gujarat. The 2018 annual report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center asserted 806,000 individuals were displaced because of conflict and violence as of December 2017, with 78,000 new displacements due to conflict in 2017.Estimating precise numbers of those displaced by conflict or violence was difficult, because the government does not monitor the movements of displaced persons, and humanitarian and human rights agencies had limited access to camps and affected regions. While authorities registered residents of IDP camps, an unknown number of displaced persons resided outside the camps. Many IDPs lacked sufficient food, clean water, shelter, and health care.National policy or legislation did not address the issue of internal displacement resulting from armed conflict or from ethnic or communal violence. The welfare of IDPs was generally the purview of state governments and local authorities, allowing for gaps in services and poor accountability. The central government provided limited assistance to IDPs, but they had access to NGOs and human rights organizations, although neither access nor assistance was standard for all IDPs or all situations.NGOs estimated Gotti Koya tribe members displaced due to prior paramilitary operations against Maoists numbered 50,000 in Chhattisgarh and 27,000 in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In October 2017 the Hyderabad High Court directed the Telangana government not to displace the Gotti Koya tribal members or demolish their dwelling units. (ANSA) - Milan, March 20 - A 47-year-old bus driver was held by Carabinieri police on Wednesday after allegedly hijacking a bus with schoolchildren aboard and subsequently setting it on fire after tying their hands with plastic ties in an apparent attempt to kill them, sources said. The children's terror lasted for almost 40 minutes as the man, angry at government migrant policy, said no one would survive. The man hijacked the bus with 51 pupils from a middle school in the northern province of Cremona. The suspect has been named as Ousseynou Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004. He said he wanted to kill himself and "stop the deaths in the Mediterranean," the sources said. Sy ordered a teacher to tie the children's hands with plastic ties but the teacher only attached the ties to four or five of them, and so lightly that they easily freed themselves afterwards, local sources said. "No one will survive," Sy said after hijacking the vehicle outside San Donato near Milan, according to Carabinieri Provincial Commander Luca De Marchis. After being stopped by police, he got off the bus and set it alight, having poured petrol inside. But the Carabinieri managed to get the children out by smashing windows at the back, the sources said. Before being stopped, the suspect had also tried to ram through a road block. Twelve children and two adults were taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation, as was Sy, the sources said. The bus is a write-off. A teacher who was with the children said that it was not the first time Sy drove a bus with pupils on board. "We knew him" the teacher said, adding that the hijacker was angry about the government's migrant policy. "He wanted to get to the runway at (Milan's) Linate (airport)". The children's ordeal lasted nearly 40 minutes, local sources said. A girl said "he handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour our the petrol and light the fire. He kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is Di Maio and Salvini's. Then the Carabinieri saved us". Luigi Di Maio, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leader, and Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League, are the two partners in Italy's populist government which has closed Italy's ports to migrant rescue NGO ships amid a broader crackdown on migrants. Sy will face possible charges of kidnapping, attempted mass murder, causing a fire and resisting arrest, judicial sources said. "It was a miracle they survived and we have to thank the Carabinieri for that," said Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco. He said the prosecutors were weighing terrorism charges against Sy. Sy did not pronounce Islamist phrases, sources said. Prosecutors said they were trying to establish if SY was for to drive. (ANSA) - Milan, March 20 - A 47-year-old bus driver was held by Carabinieri police on Wednesday after allegedly hijacking a bus with schoolchildren aboard and subsequently setting it on fire after tying their hands with plastic electrical ties in an apparent attempt to kill them, sources said. The children's terror lasted for almost 40 minutes as the man, angry at government migrant policy, confiscated their phones and said no one would survive. But one boy, 13-year-old Rahmi, managed to keep hold of his phone and call the police. The man hijacked the bus with 51 pupils from a middle school in the northern province of Cremona. The suspect has been named as Ousseynou Sy, a man with a criminal record who is originally from Senegal but has been an Italian citizen since 2004. He said he wanted to kill himself and "stop the deaths in the Mediterranean," the sources said. Sy ordered a teacher to tie the children's hands with plastic ties but the teacher only attached the ties to four or five of them, and so lightly that they easily freed themselves afterwards, local sources said. "No one will survive," Sy said after hijacking the vehicle outside San Donato near Milan, according to Carabinieri Provincial Commander Luca De Marchis. After being stopped by police, he got off the bus and set it alight, having poured petrol inside. But the Carabinieri managed to get the children out by smashing windows at the back, the sources said. Before being stopped, the suspect had also tried to ram through a road block. Twelve children and two adults were taken to hospital after suffering smoke inhalation, as was Sy, the sources said. The bus is a write-off. A teacher who was with the children said that it was not the first time Sy drove a bus with pupils on board. "We knew him" the teacher said, adding that the hijacker was angry about the government's migrant policy. "He wanted to get to the runway at (Milan's) Linate (airport)". The children's ordeal lasted nearly 40 minutes, local sources said. A girl said "he handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour our the petrol and light the fire. He kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is Di Maio and Salvini's. Then the Carabinieri saved us". Luigi Di Maio, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement leader, and Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League, are the two partners in Italy's populist government which has closed Italy's ports to migrant rescue NGO ships amid a broader crackdown on migrants. Another girl said "he took our phones but one schoolmate managed to keep his. We were cuffed with electrician's ties. He told us nothing would happen but threatened to pour the petrol". Rahmi's friend Adam, 12, said "he was clear-minded, he was smart. The driver took all our phones but he managed to keep one and called the Carabinieri". "Later I called the emergency services and we tried to explain where we were". Sy will face possible charges of kidnapping, attempted mass murder, causing a fire and resisting arrest, judicial sources said. "It was a miracle they survived and we have to thank the Carabinieri for that," said Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco. He said the prosecutors were weighing terrorism charges against Sy. "The intention to commit mass murder had started ad the man was about to torch (the children) as he then did the bus," said Greco, thanking Carabinieri for an operation that was "like something that you see in films about special forces". Sy did not pronounce Islamist phrases, sources said. Prosecutors said they were trying to establish if Sy, who was employed by the Autoguidovie bus firm, was fit to drive. Carabinieri questioned Sy's wife who left the Carabinieri barracks at Castelleone without saying anything to the media. TEL AVIV - The Design Museum Holon, designed by British-Israeli industrial designer Ron Arad just south of Tel Aviv, hosted the Israeli edition of Italian Design Day, created by the Italian Embassy in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture. Italian design was represented by architects Giulio Ceppi of Milan Polytechnic and Samuele Sordi of Pininfarina SpA, who illustrated the role of design "in finding innovative and sustainable solutions for the contemporary city and that of the near future, oriented at valorising the environmental, cultural, and human resources that make it up, taking into account the new frontiers in mobility". Italian ambassador to Israel Gianluigi Benedetti said the event "celebrated Italian design with a view to the near future in a country, Israel, that is on the cutting edge in many sectors of high technology". Italian Design Day is an initiative of the foreign ministry that aims to promote design, which in Italy generates more than four billion euros annually. The Spectrum of the Seas has left Papenburg on the River Ems, with a Thursday arrival time scheduled in Eemshaven following her conveyance. A team of river pilots from Emden will be responsible for manoeuvring the ship to Eemshaven. The pilots on the river Ems also looked after the Meyer Werft ships during their passage to the North Sea in previous years. The team trained the conveyance at the computerised simulator in Wageningen (Netherlands) to be better prepared for the task. The Spectrum of the Seas will proceed in reverse up the river Ems to the North Sea. This approach has proven successful in the past as it makes it easier to manoeuvre the ship, the yard said. Two tugs will be providing assistance in the process. After completing technical and nautical sea trials on the North Sea, the ship will be handed over to Royal Caribbean in April. Schedule: Tuesday, March 19, 2019 Approx. 06.30 pm: ship in waiting position (Papenburg) Approx. 07.00 pm: ship passes sea lock (Papenburg) Wednesday, March 20, 2019 Approx. 01.30 am: ship passes Friesenbrucke (Weener) Approx. 06.00 am: ship passes the Jann Berghaus bridge (Leer) Approx. 10.15 am: arrival at the river Ems barrier (Gandersum) Approx. 11.45 am: ship passes the Ems barrier Approx. 01.15 pm: ship passes Emden John Chernesky has been promoted to the role of senior vice president, North America sales and trade marketing for Princess Cruises, according to a statement. In this role, Chernesky will continue to lead the North American sales teams for Princess and Cunard, in addition to assuming responsibility for all Princess Cruises trade marketing. In this role, John brings unparalleled business experience to lead the North American sales team and trade marketing, said Gordon Ho, Princess Cruises chief marketing officer. His 26 years of experience with Princess Cruises, in addition to his exceptional product knowledge and passion for cruising, will position him to lead our field sales team to measurable future success. Chernesky, who has been with Princess Cruises since 1992, has been instrumental in fostering innovative approaches to enhance the relationship with professional travel advisors, the cruise line said. In the last four years of leading the North American sales team, Chernesky launched the Princess Innovation Council to harness valuable retail partner feedback to drive customer-centric solutions. He also created and maintains an industry-leading social media presence thats become an engaging and strong trade advocate presence in the cruise industry. Chernesky has also held several other roles at the company including vice president, onboard revenue, where he implemented casino, Lotus Spa, photo/video, fine arts and other onboard revenue strategies for Princess Cruises, Holland America, Seabourn and P&O Australia. In addition he served as director of passenger programs, overseeing onboard media, enrichment programs, youth and teen programs, and daytime activities. He also served as project manager, hotel operations for the design and development of Princess newbuilds. Beyond his role with the company, Chernesky serves on the board of directors of Carousel Ranch, a Santa Clarita based non-profit organization that services the developmental needs of children and young adults through equestrian thereapy and vocational training. He holds a B.S. degree in business administration (marketing) from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and completed an executive leadership program at UCLAs Anderson School of Management. ROMA - Save the Children will hold a public event in Rome's Galleria Alberto Sordi on Sunday, March 24 at 19:00 titled "Stop the War on Children" in support of children suffering in the war in Yemen. The organisation said nearly 6,500 children have been killed or wounded in airstrikes in Yemen since the start of the war four years ago. It said currently more than one in 10 children live in areas in which the intensity of the conflict is high, with devastating consequences on the children and their future. The event aims to "give them a voice and keep attention on what is now the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world". It will bring together the music of pianist Giovanni Allevi, who is a Save the Children ambassador, and the voice of actress Anna Foglietta, who is president of the association Every Child Is My Child. Save the Children said the event will tell the story of "the daily life that children in Yemen live, the suffering they are forced to endure, but also their great desire for a future of peace and hope". The director of Save the Children in Yemen, Tamer Kirolos, is also scheduled to speak at the event. The imposing white house on the curve where Route 33 turns from Wilton toward Ridgefield often attracts the attention of passersby, says its proud owner Tom Grotta. The house is, in fact, part repurposed barn, originally built in 1895. But there is no sign to indicate it is even more remarkable as home to browngrotta arts, an international showcase for contemporary fiber arts. I always tell people were the biggest fish in the smallest pond you can find. Were the brand name, says Grotta, who runs the business with his lawyer wife, Rhonda Brown. Theres no place in the world that shows this caliber, in this field, in one space. Their roster of artists is star-studded; their work so wildly diverse and ingenious that the very term fiber arts is dangerously misleading. There are pieces on display inside the browngrotta house, which does double duty as gallery and residence, that strictly speaking are neither woven nor made of fiber. Hanging in a first-floor room sometimes used for parties is a piece that looks like a monochrome painting done in horizontal stripes. The stripes happen to be strips of dried fish skin sewn together by Annette Bellamy, an Alaska artist who also works as a commercial fisherman. She identifies the skins by species and type: halibut and salmon, both untreated and smoked. On the opposite wall, there is a circular honey-combed piece framed in glass by the California artist Karyl Sisson. She made it from tightly rolled up paper drinking straws. Sisson also makes pots from tape measures and bug sculptures from vintage buttons and hairpins. A focal point of the room is New Nebula, a piece that looks like traditional tapestry in the sense that it hangs, is large (roughly six-feet by four-feet) and composed of hundreds of swatches of fabric. The fabric is its own mixed media, though, coming from alpacas, silk worms and varieties of palm, onion and eucalyptus plants. The artists, Eduardo Portillo and Maria Eugenia Davila, grow everything the use on their property in Venezuela, Grotta says. They keep the location secret because of the unrest there. Last year, they were in residence at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Bethany. Josef was an hugely influential German-born painter and theorist who eventually taught at Yale. Anni, also German-born, was equally influential as a textile designer and weaver who made fabric an art form. Last year, the Tate Modern in London gave her a major retrospective. Summing up the transformation she fostered, Albers once said, When its on paper its art ... Galleries and museums didnt show textiles, that was always considered craft and not art. That certainly is no longer the case. The 100 or so artists listed on the browngrotta website are identified primarily by the museums which have them in their collections. Only three reside in Connecticut. One is the Swedish-born tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck, who moved to Ridgefield decades ago and whose largest works sell for hundreds of thousands. Another is Norma Minkowitz of Westport, who is known for her crocheted sculptures. The third and youngest is Kari Lonning of Ridgefield, whose trademark is double-walled baskets woven from dyed rattan. As a gallery, browngrotta operates mostly long distance. Private buyers or interior designers can view their artists work on line. If someone wants a piece for a specific room, photographs may be exchanged to give an approximation of how it might look. A sample price list from this January acts as a gallery guide, sorting pieces by the room. Among those in the older kitchen are the New Nebula by the Venezuelan artists for $24,000, Karyl Sissons drinking straws for $15,000 and Annette Bellamys fish skin Food Chain for $1,400. The single most expensive piece, listed at $48,000, is in the living loom. By the English artist Sue Lawty, it is a 10-foot long tapestry somehow woven from tiny river stones. Nearby is a gilded orb by Minkowitz, listed at $20,000. Tom Grotta and Rhonda Brown have been married 35 years, about as long as their business has existed. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology, with a degree in photography. It remains his personally favorite medium. He takes all the gallery photographs and produces its numerous catalogs. Really what I like to do is make books, he says. Rhonda worked for Womens World Magazine, then got a law degree from Yale. She still works as a lawyer for MacMillan publishing, while handling editorial duties for the gallery. They say their tastes are complementary rather than shared. Im very rigid in what I like, Grotta says. But theres not a thing in here both of us dont want to have. The combination of the two is us is what makes this work. One day during a photo shoot at their house in Maplewood, N.J., a curator observed the collection lacked examples of textile art. From there one thing led to another. Grottas mother would commission a piece from Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, a leading Canadian tapestry artist (she made the curtain for the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts). And Grotta would be dispatched to Canada to photograph a project for her husband, the painter and ceramicist, Claude Vermette. Instead of paying me in money, they gave me art. So I brought it home and people wanted to buy it and thats what started this whole thing. To say there was no plan is really an understatement, Grotta says. We were lucky to have Mariette to start with because she was an important name and she introduced us to other important names. Rhonda Brown says that exhibit was roughly equivalent to the 1913 Armory show, changing the conception of what textile arts could be just as the Armory show redefined modern art. The couple first moved to Wilton in 1985, when Brown started law school. They have been in their barn/house/gallery since 1999. The reason it has no sign is that it is open to the walk-in public only during its annual Art in the Barn exhibit. This years installment runs from Saturday, April 27 to Sunday, May 5. The opening day hours are 1 to 6 p.m. On the remaining days the hours at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Culture writer Joel Lang is a frequent contributor to Sunday Arts & Style. BRIDGEPORT The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has agreed to pay $3.55 million to five men who claim in lawsuits they were sexually abused as children by priests. The claimed abuse occurred from the late 1980s to the early 2000s by three priests, the Rev. Walter Coleman, the Rev. Robert Morrissey and the Rev. Larry Jensen, in Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury and Ridgefield. The settlements were reached following mediation with the law firm, Tremont, Sheldon, Robinson and Mahoney, of Bridgeport, which represented the five plaintiffs. As a result of countless hours of effort and hard work over the past 25 years, our law firm has been able to develop a collection of materials and information which we use to get our clients compensation for the abuse they have suffered, said attorney Douglas Mahoney. While the money can never take away their pain, we hope that the resolution will allow them to take a small step forward with their healing. The settlements come as Pope Francis is being lauded for directing the church to finally take responsibility and make amends for decades of abuse by priests, amid reports if misconduct from around the country and the world. I admire the bravery and tenacity of the survivors. They came forward with the truth and persevered through what had to be a very stressful trial process, said Gail Howard, Connecticut co-leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The priests who abused them wounded innocent children. These men are lucky that the statute of limitations for prosecution of sex crimes is short. I hope that changes soon. Bringing cases to light Bridgeport Bishop Frank J. Caggiano has gone to the forefront of a movement by the church to become more transparent, revealing in a report last October that the diocese has paid $52.5 million to settle 156 allegations of sexual abuse by priests since 1953. Caggiano also appointed a retired judge to look into claims that the diocese covered up priests sexual abuse of children for decades. Institutions, such as the diocese, must understand that the only ways to combat and prevent the horrors of child abuse is through transparency, vigilance and accountability, attorney Cindy Robinson said. This is a fight that we will continue to wage on behalf of all survivors. It is our hope that these settlements bring a measure of healing and justice to victims, although we are fully aware that they can never be fully compensated for their suffering and loss, said Brian Wallace, director of communications for the diocese. The diocese also continues to promote healing and reconciliation by working with victims/survivors through its survivors group, victims assistance coordinators, Mass of Hope and Healing, and other resources. Wallace said that between December and February, the diocese participated in mediation to resolve the lawsuits together with a co-defendant in one case (the Maronite Order) and its insurer for four of the cases. The diocese resolved these cases through this mediation process and was able to cover the vast majority of the exposure through insurance proceeds, Wallace said. The Bridgeport law firm has represented a majority of the people involved in the settlements. Connecticut has a five-year statute of limitations on criminal charges, but in 2002 extended the limit on filing lawsuits until the alleged victims reach the age of 48. Legislatures in New York and Pennsylvania are debating similar laws but are facing stiff opposition from the church. Decades of claims The diocese lists 26 priests on its website who have credibly been accused of sexual abuse in the diocese. Since the 1960s, according to the dioceses own records turned over to the courts, abuse allegations against priests were hidden and the priests accused were moved from parish to parish. Bishop Walter Curtis hid priest abuse in the 1970s and his predecessor, Bishop Edward Egan, who later became New Yorks cardinal, continued the practice into the early 1990s, the records show. Since 1993, the Tremont law firm has represented dozens of abuse victims in lawsuits against the diocese, resulting in more than $35 million in settlements. The coverups have caused harm to so many children who loved their church and revered their parish priest, said Jason Tremont, urging the diocese to release all documents regarding sexual abuse by its priests for real transparency to occur and allow victims to heal. Coleman, who died in October 2016, served in 12 parishes in the diocese since 1960, according to diocese records. Diocese officials first began getting complaints about him abusing children in the 1970s. Court records show that Monsignor Laurence Bronkiewicz, the assistant to then-Bishop Egan, was informed in 1994 about accusations that Coleman had abused children. Coleman was allowed to retire in 1995 after the first lawsuit was filed against him. But after he retired, Hearst Connecticut Media discovered Coleman was serving as a priest in the Archdiocese of Miami. His authorization to practice as a priest was removed by Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori in 2002. Denial and admission Two of the men in the new lawsuits were altar boys at St. Patricks Church, now known as The Cathedral Parish in Bridgeport, and students at St. Patricks School when they were allegedly abused in the 1970s and 1980s by Coleman, who was pastor of the parish. The third man claims he was sexually abused by Coleman at St. Josephs Parish in Brookfield in the 1980s, when Coleman was reassigned there as pastor. The fourth plaintiff was allegedly sexually abused by Morrissey at St. Marys Parish in Ridgefield in the 1990s. In 2001, Morrissey angrily denounced accusations of abuse against priests as a witch hunt from the pulpit of St. Marys. He resigned a year later after two men filed suit claiming Morrissey abused them at parishes in Stamford and Greenwich in the 1970s and 1980s. Removed from ministry in 2004, Morrissey died in December 2014. The fifth alleged victim first met Jensen in the early 2000s at an Emmaus retreat. Emmaus is a youth ministry operated by the diocese for decades, and thousands of children throughout Fairfield County have attended its overnight retreats. Jensen, the spiritual director of the dioceses Danbury program, is accused of abusing the plaintiff at St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church where the program was held. Emmaus is supposed to be a retreat where the youth focus on their faith and relationship with God; instead we have seen predator priests use religion as a means to groom and ultimately abuse them, Jason Tremont said. Jensen served eight years at the Danbury church before being transferred to St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church in Waterville, Maine. He was removed from the priesthood in 2017, after the Tremont firm reported the claim and the Eparchy of St. Maronite of Brooklyn, N.Y., determined it was substantiated. Our role in the case was not central and I am grateful the case was given the respect it was due, said Jensens lawyer, Philip Russell, said. Jensen said in the 2006 interview that he tried to get youth more involved in church, starting a youth play for Christmas and a Passion play for teenagers and young adults. Children need to feel at home at their church, Jensen said at the time. It is supposed to be a family feeling when they are here. Rapper Meek Mill was recently given the key to the state of Connecticut for his work for criminal justice reform. TMZ reported that Mill was given the key before a concert at the Xfinity Theater in Hartford. The key was put on a plaque that also contains a proclamation that declared March 19 as Meek Mill Day across Connecticut. Mill became a symbol for criminal justice reform activists after a judge in Pennsylvania sentenced him to two to four years in prison for minor violations of his probation conditions in a decade-old gun and drug possession case. He spent months in prison before a court ordered him released. The Philadelphia City Council announced Thursday that "Meek Mill Weekend" will commence Friday. In January, Mill joined Jay-Z and others to form a coalition that lobbies for changes to state probation and parole laws called the Reform Alliance. The General Assembly recently passed a bill to restore voting privileges to convicted felons who are on parole. A scheduling conflict prevented Meek from attending a Quinnipiac University symposium on criminal justice reform on Monday. Source.com reported that Meek showed love by gifting the Gov. Ned Lamont and parolees who attended the symposium with pairs of his PUMA Clyde Court #REFORM sneakers. You might remember a few weeks ago when a man was stuck in his car during a snow storm and managed to survive on just a few packets of Taco Bell hot sauce for five days. It looks like the chain's famous sauce has saved another life. According to a statement on the Winter Haven Police Department's Facebook page, 77-year-old Emmanuel Akowuah and his wife were parked in the parking lot of a Taco Bell in Winter Haven, Florida, getting ready to leave when an awful incident occurred. Akowuah says he put the car in reverse and then back into drive, at which point the car went over the curb and crashed into the restaurant, stopping about 10 feet inside. TUNIS - The wealth of Arabo-Islamic cultural heritage in Tunisian cities such as Tunis, Mahdia and Kairouan - a stronghold of the kingdom of the first Arab leaders at the dawn of Islam - will be at the heart of the event "Tunis, Capital of Islamic Culture 2019" on March 21 at the Tunis City of Culture. The event was organised by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) with the support of the Tunisian Cultural Affairs Ministry. Tunis is one of four Islamic capitals of culture in 2019, together with Al-Quds Sharif for the Arab region; Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, for Africa; and the city of Bandar Seri Begwan, capital of Brunei, for Asia. The Tunis Opera House will host a performance on Thursday evening titled "Dharwat El-Maali", a review of leading songs of liturgical heritage that combine orchestral writing and Sufi singing, performed by the Tunis Opera orchestra and choir. A full programme of activities and exhibitions are planned inside the City of Culture convention centre. ISESCO General Director Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri announced the programme, which will include 17 events centred on Islamic thought, science, architecture, literature, and art. Welcome to Green Entrepreneur's video recap of the cannabis news you might have missed this week, hosted by our cannabis correspondent, Conrad Martin. If you were ever curious about the right way to consume marijuana, there's a book for that! Author Lizzie Post has penned "Higher Etiquette" which serves as a guidebook for stoner do's and don'ts. The book covers everything from the proper way to dab, to making sure you EDGE THE BOWL! Related: These 3 Companies Are Finding Creative Ways to Connect With Their Customers Florida has allowed medical patients to smoke On Monday, Florida governor Ron Desantis signed a bill allowing medical marijuana patients in the state to consume smokable marijuana. Patients were originally restricted to vapes, tinctures, and edibles. Advocates are hoping this will be the first step towards legalizing recreational adult use. Related: Spike Jonze Directed a MedMen Commercial Curaleaf acquires Acres New England based cannabis company, Curaleaf, has acquired Nevada based cannabis giant, Acres Cannabis. With the acquisition, Curaleaf aims to expand its operation westward. Related: Maryland Marijuana Sales Double the Forecast Be sure to keep up with all things cannabiz by checking out GreenEntrepreneur.com If you missed the last episode, check it out here: You Won't Believe This Story Related: This Week in Weed: How To Get High The "Proper" Way This Week in Weed: You Won't Believe Our Last Story! This Week in Weed: Whole Foods Will Sell Weed! (One Day...) Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Mare Ionio captain probed For 'favouring illegal immigration' (ANSAmed) - LAMPEDUSA, 20 MAR - The captain of the NGO migrant rescue ship Mare Ionio, which has been seized after offloading 50 rescued migrants at Lampedusa, has been placed under investigation for favouring illegal immigration and refusing to obey an order from a warship, sources said. Captain Pietro Marrone is accused of disobeying a command not to bring the migrants into Italian territorial waters. "I would do it all again, to save people's lives" Marrone said. "What was I supposed to do, let them die?". The ship, run by the Rome-based NGO Mediterranea, which is also under investigation, said it rescued the migrants from a sinking boat off Libya. In the coming hours the crew will be questioned, sources said. (ANSAmed). Cette annonce nest plus disponible et aucune proposition ne peut etre transmise. Advertising Sales Representative a Djibouti We are a small company looking to expand and this is where you come in as a Sales Development Representative, ideally with your own vehicle. We are looking for a smart and energetic online advertising entrepreneurial sales professional to help grow our business in Djibouti. You will be our first point of contact for new clients. You will be identifying, qualifying and delivering opportunities to the next stage in the sales cycle. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR We are currently looking for enthusiastic, motivated and target driven sales person. With outstanding communication skills. Were looking for a sales hunter with: - 1-year sales/customer service experience, - Strong interpersonal skills, written and verbal, - Familiar with modern sales techniques, - A good knowledge of the local market RESPONSABILITIES You will be dealing with queries via phone, email, whereby you will qualify these opportunities. - Prospect, develop and retain a portfolio of prospects - Work Directly with Clients - Handling initial product questions WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER - A growing sector (Digital Media industry) - Full digital environment - Full training about our product will be provided If this sounds like a great position for you, Click here to apply : https://goo.gl/QEqVNR Emplois & Services, Emplois 20 mars, 2019 1154 vues au total, 0 vues cette semaine Mothers of Srebrenica hail Karadzic's life term for genocide (ANSAmed) - SARAJEVO, MARCH 20 - Members of the Mothers of Srebrenica group, representing women who lost loved ones in the massacre, who followed the appeals trial against Radovan Karadzic from Potocari, the martyred city's cemetery and memorial, welcomed with satisfaction the court's decision to increase the ex-Bosnian Serb leader's sentence from 40 years to life in prison. Women took to the streets to celebrate. The announcement that the appeals court had sentenced Karadzic to life for the genocide of Srebrenica, the siege and bombing of Sarajevo and other atrocities carried out during the war in Bosnia (1992-1995) was also applauded by some 300 representatives of the academic community of Sarajevo. They were following the hearing in The Hague that was being broadcast on television from Sarajevo's National Library. (ANSAmed). Pine Grill Classic a special start to high school boys basketball The Pine Grill Roundball Classic is in its 10th edition after a year hiatus because of COVID. A great local tournament opens the HS basketball season. Tunisia celebrates 63 years of independence, demos Google's Doodle dedicated to the anniversary (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MARCH 20 - Tunisia on Wednesday celebrated its 63rd anniversary of independence from France. Official ceremonies have been planned across the country for an anniversary that is still very important for Tunisians. Google's Doodle on Wednesday is also dedicated to the Tunisian National Day 2019. In Tunis, hundreds of associations of civil society and women's rights movements are scheduled to march together as the ''Collective of March 20 for a civil State and national sovereignty'' in order ''to consolidate the fundamentals of the civil State, save the achievements of public healthcare and schools of the Republic'', organizers said. (ANSAmed). CAIRO - The Libyan National Conference, the first step in the UN road map to hold elections in the country, will take place April 14-16 "on Libyan soil", said UN special envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame in a televised press conference. Salame said the forum will be open to all Libyan factions and there won't be "any exceptions in those invited to participate", according to the website Alwasat. "I hope that this conference is the clear result of all the processes of consultation and agreement between the Libyan parties," Salame said. "I hope for more stability, economic prosperity, and unity among the official state institutions," he said. He said preparatory work for organising the meeting is already underway. Salame had previously planned the conference for January, or in any case early this year, in order to allow for elections in June. However, divisions among various Libyan factions, above all between those who support Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and those who support General Khalifa Haftar, have caused delays. "No one will be excluded unless some party decides not to participate," Salame said in the press conference in Tripoli on Wednesday, according to the website Libya Express. There could be between 120 and 150 representatives taking part in the "Multaqa Watani" (national conference), but there will be no foreign parties, Salame said. He said the conference will examine all the disputed issues so that Libyans can decide what their next step will be. The UN and the international community will protect the choices made at the conference, Salame said. Gucci has become embroiled in another diversity row, just a month after a selection of its designs were likened to blackface, including a knitted balaclava jumper. The Italian fashion house announced on social media that it's introducing a new Changemakers program, which supports diversity throughout the fashion industry. The initiative involves a $5 million Changemakers Fund and a $1.5 million scholarship program in North America, alongside a global employee-volunteering framework. Social media users were divided over the announcements with many slamming the brand for not offering the program on a wider scale. One commented on the Instagram announcement: 'This program doesn't seem well thought out and put together in a rush just to deal with one countries issues. P.S #Gucci there's a whole world out there!!' Italian luxury brand Gucci have announced the debut of a new program aimed at improving diversity throughout the fashion industry A luxury brand who was accused of 'blackface' after bringing out a black balaclava knit top just last month has divided fashion fans with the announcement of its new diversity program A stream of responses to Gucci's announcement questioned the brands motives and slammed them for focusing on North America rather than rolling out to a wider range of countries Fashion designer Dapper Dan revealed on Instagram that he was involved in speaking to the Italian brand about ensuring the program will give black fashion professionals creative opportunities. Speaking about working with Gucci on increasing diversity across the fashion industry, Dapper Dan posted: 'We met with the CEO of Gucci in Harlem. I have seen real action towards the solutions we discussed, and I want to share them with you.' 'What we are announcing tomorrow is game-changing for the industry at-large. After meeting with some of the industry's leading black minds and others in fashion, business and culture, we've helped Gucci come up with programs that will positively impact the black community and fashion as a whole. 'Black designers and fashion professional will be given new opportunities through these new initiative. It's imperative that we have opportunities to learn on a world-class level, and also have a seat at the table to say how we should be represented. Harlem-based designer Dapper Dan revealed that he took part in discussions with Gucci ahead of rolling out the program to ensure black fashion professionals will be given world-class creative opportunities 'Through out work together, Gucci is in a position to steer the overall industry toward becoming a better, more inclusive one. This does not end with Gucci, it begins with Gucci...' A stream of responses on Gucci's Instagram account were unimpressed by the announcements and questioned the brands motives. One wrote: 'I'm still not sure why Gucci is putting all this money in North America. Wouldn't it be best to have these programs in Europe and Italy?' While another said: 'This is great and full of positive intentions, but why is your action only dedicated to the US black community in the States? It's very close to stigmatization, don't you think.' A third added: 'Why are you only focusing on North America? What about the people in Africa who were offended by your black face failure. Or is it that only the American Dollar counts?' A stream of responses to Gucci's announcement questioned the brands motives and slammed them for focusing on North America rather than rolling out to a wider range of countries 'North America is not the be all and end all in the story of inclusion, do your research, South Africa also had a terrible system of exclusion and segregation. Gucci issued a public apology for a selection of its designs that were likened to blackface last month. The Italian brand promised to increase diversity throughout their organisation and take into consideration comments made by those offended. Photos from the collection which sparked controversy continued to circulate on social media long after Gucci removed its $890 (689) 'balaclava' knit. Gucci issued a public apology last month when a number of items including a $890 (689) 'balaclava' knit was slammed for its likeness to 'black face' Social media users continued to circulate images of the clothing pieces that were deemed offensive after they were withdrawn from sale Gucci President and CEO Marco Bizzarri said: 'I believe in dialogue, building bridges and taking quick action. This is why we started working immediately on the long-term infrastructure at Gucci to address our shortcomings. 'And now through our Changemakers program, we will invest important resources to unify and strengthen our communities across North America, with a focus on programs that will impact youth and the African-American community. 'I believe in the promise of the next generation, and through our scholarship fund we will also create more opportunities for talented young people of diverse backgrounds to gain access to careers in the fashion industry.' Alongside Dapper Dan, Gucci has also been working with American artist Cleo Wade and musician Will.I.Am. Other responses to news of Gucci's new program were positive. One person said: 'I'm here for it... You heard the call & you went to action... I hope this helps many people reach their dreams' Another wrote: 'Now THIS is how you show that you are serious about changing/improving your brand. I don't owe one Gucci piece and was not happy about the incident, but I am very impressed with how the this situation has been handled in a manner that will make positive change form a mishap. 'This will definitely yield a positive impact on business and definitely shows Gucci is serious about its social responsibility. NOW Gucci has set a bar for other companies to follow. Kudos.' While a third added: 'Well done Gucci so excited to see and support your efforts for change! Be the change!' Joan Lawrence has opened up for the first time about her special bond with Kate McCann as she marks the 10th anniversary of her daughter Claudia's disappearance The 75-year-old from York, told Bella magazine that her friendship with Kate has helped her through some of her darkest days since Claudia went missing as she walked home from work on 18th March 2009 Joan told the magazine: 'Over the years, I began to get in touch with the mums of other missing children. I exchanged letters with Kate McCann and met up with Ben Needham's mum Kerry. 'We drew strength from one another, offering words of encouragement and affection on particularly dark days - of which, there are many.' Kate and Gerry McCann were thrust into the media spotlight in 2007 when their daughter Madeleine McCann was abducted in Portugal. Joan has previously referred to being in touch with Kate but has never been so open about the nature of their friendship before. Joan Lawrence (pictured) 75, from York, told Bella magazine that she reached out to other mothers of of missing children to help and them come to terms with the situation Kate (pictured) and Gerry McCann were thrust into the media spotlight in 2007 when their daughter Madeline McCann went missing in Portugal Claudia's disappearance is still a mystery, with police officers following several lines of inquiry at the time, but never solving her case. While looking into her case detectives found that the 35-year-old had had 12 lovers over five years, some had even been married. Over the years nine people were arrested over her disappearance. Police submitted files to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to several men in their fifties but there is insufficient evidence to bring charges. Theories have also circled that convicted killer Christopher Halliwell was involved. Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn, of North Yorkshire Police this week said police do not believe Claudia fell victim to an attack by a stranger. On 18th March 2009 Claudia Lawrence, a chef, went missing as she walked home from work He said: It remains the case that we strongly suspect key and vital information is being withheld that could provide the breakthrough that we all want to see, not least Claudias heartbroken family. Unless we get information or intelligence to suggest that Claudia came to harm as a result of an opportunity taken by someone unconnected to her, the team and I still strongly believe the answer lies locally. Lack of CCTV and social media profile have also been a factor around her case, Malyn also said. Lack of CCTV and social media profile have also been a factor around Claudia's case - police have said Peter Lawrence, photographed at his home near York, holds a photograph of his daughter Claudia Lawrence According to the police her mobile phone didn't leave the area of her home, so they believe she wouldn't have been attacked by a stranger. While they also said fresh lines of inquiry are still being looked at after, as the public are still coming forward with new information. Last week Peter Lawrence, 72, Claudia's father, told the Mirror he no longer believed his daughter was alive: 'It's getting more difficult to believe that as time goes on. It's very difficult now. 'It just keeps going on and on, of course, because of not knowing what happened and it is the not knowing which has always been the worst part about it.' Madeleine McCann, who was just three when she went missing from her parents holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, has never been found. Madeleine McCann on the day she went missing from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal Joan Lawrence (pictured) spoke to Good Morning Britain about her fears for her missing daughter Some believed that her parents were involved, while others claimed that the Portuguese police delayed the investigation. This month a Netflix documentary claims Madeleine McCann might still be alive and could be being held by people traffickers - 12 years after she disappeared. On Monday afternoon, friends of Claudia's gathered at York Minster to light a candle for the chef, which is still missing and appeal for information. While Joan also spoke to Good Morning Britain about her worries for her daughter, saying: 'If Claudia was abducted, what would she have gone through? What sort of fear? What sort of trauma? If she's still alive somewhere, what is she thinking?' Joan Lawrence (right) 75, and her daughter Claudia, who went missing in 2009 - police still don't have any leads Kate and Gerry McCann appealing for more information in 2012 - 5 years after their daughter went missing A mother-of-two with 2.4million Instagram followers has been named the UK's favourite 'mumfluencer'. Louise Pentland, of Northampton, topped the top 20 list voted for by readers of Mother & Baby magazine, followed by podcast host Candice Brathwaite and author Giovanna Fletcher. Bloggers, vloggers and Instagrammers all made the cut. The size of following varies greatly, ranging from 2million plus to under 500. Mother-of-two Louise Pentland (pictured with her daughter Darcy, 7,) topped a list of this year's most influential mothers as voted for by readers of Mother & Baby magazine In fourth place is Nilly Dahlia with 15,000 followers on Instagram, followed by author Susie Verrill who has 104,000 followers. Also on the list is vloggers Sammi Maria, Charlotte Taylor and Rebecca Meldrum. Speaking about the decision to compile the list, Mother & Baby digital editor Aimee Jakes said: 'We're proud to have launched The Mum List to both celebrate and recognise the key mumfluencers that entertain, reassure and inspire mums on social media. 'Our readers told us the mums who make their life that little bit easier and there are some fab mum-bloggers with less than 500 followers alongside the two-million-plus big hitters.' 1. Louise Pentland Louise who is mum to two daughters, Darcy (pictured), 7, and Pearl, 1, started her blog in 2009 and now boasts 2.4m Instagram followers and 2.4m YouTube subscribers 2. Candice Brathwaite Podcast host and writer Candice Brathwaite (pictured with her children and husband) has over 32,000 followers on Instagram and is responsible for an award-winning campaign that challenges the perceptions of motherhood 3. Giovanna Fletcher Bestselling author Giovanna Fletcher (pictured with her son) from Essex who is married to former boy band member Tom Fletcher boasts 1.1m followers on Instagram and is currently auctioning the opportunity to win a breakfast with her to raise money for chairty 4. Nilly Dahlia Nilly Dahlia (pictured with her daughters) has over 15,000 followers on Instagram and 23,000 subscribers on YouTube, she often shares videos about her family, culture and religion 5. Susie Verrill Blogger Susie Verrill (pictured with her 4-year-old son) who has an interest in travel and fashion alongside sharing moments from motherhood has gained over 104,000 followers on Instagram 6. Fizzy Peaches Lyndsay (pictured) and Pearl from Brighton who conceived using IVF share their journey through motherhood on lifestyle blog Fizzy Peaches. The mums have 11,000 followers on Instagram and 408 subscribers on YouTube 7. Life of Mummies aka Holly and Sophie First time 30-year-old mums Holly and Sophie (pictured) whose babies were born 3 weeks apart share candid photos of their parenting with over 10,000 Instagram followers 8. Hannah Michalak Vlogger Hannah (pictured left) who shares life with her husband and son on YouTube account themichalaks has gained over 278,000 subscribers since launching her channel in 2012 9. Sarah Turner aka The Unmumsy Mum Sunday Times bestseller Sarah Turner (pictured with her 7-year-old son) who has three sons is currently sharing efforts to renovate a 1930s property alongside running her successful parenting Instagram account which has 352,000 followers 10. Jemma aka Dorkface Blog Jemma, 30, (pictured) from Plymouth who is an artist and blogger has over 11,000 followers on Instagram The women inspiring YOUR parenting: Mother & Baby's top ten mumfluencers in full... 1. Louise Pentland (Instagram.com/louisepentland/) 2. Candice Brathwaite (Instagram.com/candicebrathwaite) 3. Giovanna Fletcher (Instagram.com/mrsgfletcher) 4. Nilly Dahlia (Instagram.com/millydahlia) 5. Susie Verrill (Instagram.com/susiejverrill) 6. Lyndsay aka Fizzy Peaches (fizzypeaches.com) 7. Life of Mummies aka Holly and Sophie (Instagram.com/lifeofmummies/) 8. Hannah Michalak (youtibe.com/themichalaks) 9. Sarah Turner aka The Unmumsy Mum (Instagram.com/theunmumsymum) 10. Jemma aka Dorkface Blog (Instagram.com/dorkfaceblog) 11. When Tania Talks (Instagram.com/whentaniatalks) 12. Charlotte Taylor (youtibe.com/MissCharlotteTaylor) 13. Brogan Georgiou (Instagram.com/brogan.georgiou) 14. Megan Rose Lane (Instagram.com/megan_rose_lane) 15. Adele Jarrett-Kerr aka Beautiful Tribe (Instagram.com/beautiful.tribe) 16. Hollie Burgess (Instagram.com/hollieplus) 17. Hannah Mills (Instagram.com/hannahmummymills) 18. Anna Williamson (Instagram.com/annawilliamsonofficial) 19. Sammi Maria (youtube.com/beautycrush) 20. Rebecca Meldrum aka Mrs Meldrum (youtube.com/MrsRMeldrum) Advertisement The spring issue of Mother & Baby magazine, featuring a 5-page special on The Mum List and an interview with Louise Pentland, is on sale on Wednesday 20 March. More info: motherandbaby.co.uk/the-mum-list-2019 A YouTube star who was rejected from the University of Southern California has shared her thoughts on Olivia Jade Giannulli's parents allegedly bribing her way into the school. In her latest video, titled 'Dear Olivia Jade, From a USC Reject,' Emma Monden, 19, from California, opened up about how disheartening it was to learn that Olivia Jade, 19, supposedly got into the school under false pretenses when she 'cried for weeks' after she was denied acceptance. 'I tried to do everything in my own power to give me the best shot of getting into that school, and so to see someone who literally did nothing and had their parents just completely do everything for them . . . it just makes me disappointed,' she said. Scroll down for video Opening up: Emma Monden, 19, shared her thoughts on the college cheating admissions scandal in her latest YouTube video, titled 'Dear Olivia Jade, From a USC Reject' Charges: Lori Loughlin allegedly paid bribes to get her influencer daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli into the university Olivia Jade's parents Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are currently facing up to five years in prison for falsely presenting her and her sister Isabella as crew recruits at the university and then allegedly paying over $500,000 in bribes to guarantee that both of them would be admitted to the school. They are among 50 people who have been charged in the massive college cheating admissions scandal that has dominated headlines this past week. Emma, who is a freshman at California Polytechnic State University, explained that she wasn't trying to add to the backlash with her video, but the scandal had been on her mind, particularly because she had hoped to attend USC herself. 'USC was my dream school. All throughout high school, I worked my butt off to do everything that I could to get into that school,' she recalled. Emma said the part that didn't sit well with her was the fact that there was an actual crew recruit out there who was probably well-qualified and worked her whole life in the sport but was denied admission to the school to make room for Olivia Jade. Heartbreak: Emma said she took AP and honors classes, got an SAT tutor, and worked as hard as she could to try and get into the University of Southern California but was still rejected Looking back: Emma revealed she had gotten rejected from her 'scream school' in a YouTube video she posted in April 2018 'That's what I have a hard time with, especially being someone who applied to USC last year,' she explained. 'It was literally all I wanted in the world.' Emma said her desire to get into USC was the reason she worked so hard in high school. She took AP and honors classes, got an SAT tutor, and paid someone with her own money to help her revise her essays and 'make them as strong as possible.' 'So seeing someone get handed that admission who didn't work for it, it's just hard to be completely honest with you,' she said. Whether or not Olivia Jade and her sister knew about the alleged bribery remains unknown, but Emma believes that they had to have some idea about what was going on. According to court papers, Olivia Jade's father took an 'action photo' of her on an indoor rowing machine to supplement her profile as a crew coxswain for the LA Marina Club. Scandal: Olivia Jade's mother Lori and father Mossimo Giannulli allegedly paid over $500,000 in bribes to guarantee she and her sister Isabella Rose (right) would be admitted to USC Upset: Emma, who is now a freshman at California Polytechnic State University, admitted that she 'cried for weeks' after she was rejected from the school Emma also felt it would likely be obvious to Olivia Jade that she didn't earn the grades or the test scores to be accepted into the school on her own merit. 'Just given what Olivia has said in her videos about not caring about school, I am pretty sure that she would know that she didn't get into USC on her own merit,' she said, noting that the YouTuber had previously admitted that she just wanted to party. 'I'm sure you would know that you didn't get into USC because they have, like, a 13 per cent acceptance rate,' she added. Emma said the most disheartening thing about the scandal was learning how many people were in on it. 'I guess I'm just a little confused on why the parents paid so much money to get their kids into these schools when they couldn't get in on their own merit,' she said. 'Like, what makes you think they're going to succeed on their own at the school if they couldn't get in?' Moving on: Emma said the most disheartening thing about the scandal was learning how many people were in on it. Opinion: The YouTuber believes Oliva Jade knows she didn't get into USC on her own merit USC 'because they have, like, a 13 per cent acceptance rate' Emma had a message for high school seniors who are feeling frustrated and wary of the college admissions process. 'You will end up exactly where you are supposed to be and you can know that you did it with integrity,' she said. 'I feel like that's one of the most amazing feelings, to know that you got somewhere on your own merit. You've worked for it and you got the result.' Although she believes she ended up in the right place, the college freshman said the scandal reminded her of how upset she was when she learned she wouldn't be going to USC. 'I am so happy to be where I am now. I love my school, but just looking back at last year and how devastated I was . . . I kid you not. Guys, I literally cried for weeks. I thought it was the end of the world. 'Just looking back at how devastated I was to get rejected from USC and then knowing someone like Olivia who already had her career set up for her got in just for the experience of partying that's what made me upset,' she said. Having doubts: Olivia Jade's former classmate Harlow Brooks admitted in a YouTube video that she was suspicious about how the YouTube star got into USC while managing her career Allegations: The fellow vlogger claimed students took prescription drugs to survive the immense pressure they were put under by helicopter parents at the tough school Just wondering: Harlow admitted she was confused as to how Olivia Jade managed to balance her school work with her life as an influencer However, Emma insisted she is 'not bitter' about what happened; she is just disappointed in the whole situation in general. 'I really feel for the people who feel that they were cheated by the system myself included,' she said. 'If you have yet to apply to college, I just beg that you are honest. I think integrity is so important.' Emma's video came just a few days after Olivia Jade's former high school classmate Harlow Brooks revealed that she was suspicious about how the YouTube star got into USC while managing her career as an influencer. Although she didn't mention the name of the Los Angeles-area high school she briefly attended, many people suggested it was the private Marymount All Girls Catholic High School in Bel Air. In a YouTube video posted last Thursday, the fellow vlogger claimed students took prescription drugs to survive the immense pressure they were put under by helicopter parents at the tough school. Harlow admitted she was confused as to how Olivia Jade managed to balance her school work with her life as an influencer and earn the grades to be accepted into USC, which is an 'extremely hard' college to get into. Both Olivia Jade and Isabella decided to withdraw from USC last Thursday, reportedly due to the backlash their family had received since the news broke. One of the stars from the latest season of Queer Eye has had her life transformed twice thanks to the popular Netflix show: First, by the Fab Five, and now, by the series' fans. Kansas resident Jess Guilbeaux, 23, appeared on the fifth episode of the third season of the show, in which the Fab Five helped make her feel like the 'strong, black lesbian woman' she wanted to be. But while they gave her a new hairdo and clothes, a redecorated apartment, and newfound confidence, they were unable to help her raise the funds to go back to college so now her fans are chipping in to get her re-enrolled in school. Fan favorite: Jess Guilbeaux, 23, appeared on the fifth episode of the newly-released third season of the show Tough stuff: The Kansas resident was kicked out by her religious parents when she came out as gay at age 16 Jess said of her time on the show: 'This experience was life changing for me. I learned how to love my natural curls, love my highly melanated skin, and all of what makes up who i am' Jess' story was one of many heartbreaking and heartwarming ones to appear on the reality show this season. When she was just 16, her religious adoptive parents kicked her out after she confessed that she was gay. She hadn't had a real home until settling into her current apartment, where she lives with two roommates but still, the place hardly felt homey before Bobby Berk worked his magic, trading in couches lifted from the dumpster for brand new furniture and decor. Tan France helped her find her style, Jonathan Van Ness cut her hair so she could embrace her natural curls, Antoni Porowski taught her how to upgrade her cheap meals, and Karamo Brown helped her get in touch with her feelings. Jess came out of it looking and feeling like a different person, writing on Instagram that she felt like the 'kween' of her home and felt 'so beautiful' after Jonathan cut her hair. A feel for fashion: Tan France (pictured left) helped her find her style Transformation: Jonathan Van Ness cut her hair so she could embrace her natural curls, and Karamo Brown helped her get in touch with her feelings 'This experience was life changing for me. I learned how to love my natural curls, love my highly melanated skin, and all of what makes up who i am (a fierce gay kween)' she wrote. But at least one thing remained the same. Jess had once been a student at the University of Kansas, but had to drop out before finishing due to financial reasons. She continues to work as a waitress in Lawrence, Kansas, but doesn't appear to be scraping by with enough to finish just yet. That's where her fans come in. One named Vanessa Gamet started a GoFundMe page in her honor, encouraging fans to donate to Jess' college education fund. 'Jess Guilbeaux, from Queer Eye Season 3 , Episode 5, is a strong, black lesbian woman,' reads the page. 'When she came out to her adoptive family at 16, they threw her out and she's been on her own financially ever since. Amazing! She was attending the University of Kansas but had to drop out for financial reasons - but Queer Eye fans have donated to a GoFundMe campaign to help her continue her education 'This is so sweet. i have no words. im dehydrated at this point,' she wrote, Getting better: Her life has changed since the show, and she has grown closer to her sister, whom she hadn't been spending much time with 'She started taking classes at the University of Kansas as a Computer Science major but had to drop out due to debt. 'Let's send this smart and strong woman back to college to complete what she began and give her the future she deserves.' Since the page was created on March 16, over $18,750 (of a $100,000 goal) has been raised, and the number continues to grow. The average donation is about $30. Vanessa and Jess have been in contact, and Jess has assured fans that it's the real deal. 'This is so sweet. i have no words. im dehydrated at this point,' she wrote, tweeting about the fundraiser. Her fans have also been leaving words of encouragement. 'You are beautiful and inspiring! There ARE people who will love you for all that you are! Thank you for letting us see a little of your world. Go to college, you deserve it!' wrote one. Back to school: Since the GoFundMe page was launched, over $18,750 (of a $100,000 goal) has been raised, and the number continues to grow Sweet! Fans have left her supporting messages and hopes she gets to continue her education 'You soul was SHINING through on the show. You have a gift for empathy. You have great things ahead!' commented another. And a third: 'You are a total inspiration and I want to be part of your success.' She seems happy to be reaching other people, telling E!, 'I just want people to hear this side of the story. I think the perspective of a queer black woman is not heard very much, especially ones that have been through a lot of things and didn't grow up with all the privileges most people have to this day. 'I just want that story and that narrative to be told and heard and I wanted people who were struggling or going through things in any regard, but also specifically who are queer or black or women, to feel that they have someone out there who is rooting for them.' New York-based womenswear label Tanya Taylor has joined forces with Memorial Sloan Kettering to bring joy to female patients. The brand has donated 300 chic headscarves to the hospital for women undergoing treatment for cancer. The project was inspired by Tanyas friend Erin Hazelton who lost her waist-length hair after undergoing chemotherapy. Fashion for good: New York-based womenswear label Tanya Taylor has joined forces with Memorial Sloan Kettering to create colorful headscarves for women undergoing chemotherapy 'A main focus for the brand is to bring strength to women at all times,' shared Tonya. Through her ready-to-wear collection, Tanya strives to bring colorful confidence and high-energy happiness to women's wardrobes through the artful use of color and original prints. 'We believe that color has the power to spread joy,' said Tanya. After the designer consulted her friend Erin on fit, functionality and style, she reimagined a vintage Norma Kamali suede head warp in jersey, as the material is flexible and both warming and cooling. The three headscarves in the collection feature lively prints that were all hand-painted in the Tanya Taylor design studio. Ditsy Camo Floral Headscarf, $15; tanyataylor.com 'It felt like an opportunity to partner with MSK to bring color and confidence to the lives of women when they need it most.' Tanya has been working with Memorial Sloan Kettering and other children's hospitals since 2018 teaching color therapy classes. A true believer in the effectiveness of color on mood and well being, she redesigned the curtains in Memorial Sloan Ketterings pediatric wing with a print featuring her multicolored brushstrokes. 'Color therapy is about associating colors with emotion and finding therapeutic solace in wearing or creating art with different colors,' she said. 'We are very grateful for Tanya Taylor and her teams immediate connection to our work, bringing their passion, creativity and generosity to making a difference in the lives of our patients,' said Nina J. Pickett, Senior Director, Department of Pediatrics. Adult and childrens headscarves are available for purchase for $15 at TanyaTaylor.com with 100% of proceeds donated to Memorial Sloan Kettering. A savvy mother-of-two has wowed fans after using cheap items from the supermarket to bake a towering $30 princess cake for her daughter's third birthday party. Olivia White, the Melbourne-based founder of House of White, has never considered herself a 'good baker' but has a talent for 'hacking' supermarket cakes to suit the theme of her daughters' birthdays. 'This year, Teddy was having a Sugar Rush party (from the movie Wreck-It Ralph) and I wanted to make something that resembled Vanellope's, Princess Castle,' Ms White, 29, said. Scroll down for video A savvy mother-of-two has wowed fans after using cheap items from the supermarket to bake a towering $30 princess cake (pictured) for her daughter's third birthday party Olivia White, the Melbourne-based founder of House of White, has never considered herself a 'good baker' but has a talent for 'hacking' supermarket cakes What did Olivia White use to make the princess cake? Marble Block Cake: $4.50 Woolworths Red Velvet Cake: $7 Woolworths Select Mini Waffle Ice Cream Cone: $3.50 Essentials Ice Cream Cone Cups: $1.65 Betty Crocker Strawberry Frosting x 2: $8 Dr. Oetker Rose Icing Decorations: $3.50 Sshmallows White Mini Marshmallows: $2 Total: $30.15 Advertisement 'After hours of scrolling I got a few ideas on how I could put something easy and affordable together with just a few supplies from Woolworths.' Ms White used just eight items to bring the cake to life, including waffle cones, a pre-iced marble cake, a red velvet cake, jars of icing and decorative roses. She froze both of the cakes for a while before icing them to prevent the crumbs from falling off and then proceeded to place ice cream cone cups around the sides. 'Then I used some of the leftover frosting and pipped it into the top of the cones to act as a glue for the waffle cones. You could also melt some white chocolate to do the same thing,' she said. 'I then popped the Woolworths Select Mini Waffle Ice Cream Cones on top of each ice cream cup to make the rest of the towers. Ms White used just eight items to bring the cake to life, including waffle cones, a pre-iced marble cake, a red velvet cake, jars of icing and decorative roses (pictured) Ms White (right) has been flooded with praise online after posting her impressive creation and said that Teddy absolutely loved it 'From here, it's really just a free for all on how you'd like to decorate. I used Sshmallows White Mini Marshmallows and Dr Oetker Rose Icing Decorations.' Ms White has been flooded with praise online after posting her impressive creation and said that Teddy absolutely loved it. 'I know this isn't anything to write home about but I'm no talent at cake making, so this is good for me... plus my baby girl loved it so that's all that matters,' she said. She's not the first mum to show off her 'cake hacking' skills, with thousands of savvy home bakers previously sharing their own creations in a popular Facebook group. You can read more about how to make Ms White's cake on her blog and follow her on Instagram here. They are the glamorous presence on every flight - and no matter the distance, jet lag or turbulence, always look their best. So how do flight attendants maintain their look at 35,000 feet? These cabin crew members have shared their beauty secrets and the must-have products they swear by for travelling. From a 'ride or die' product to combat dehydration to a lipstick that is as 'good as a facelift', here FEMAIL delves inside the beauty bags of some of the air's most immaculate. Scroll down for video A series of cabin crew members shared their beauty secrets and the must-have products they swear by for looking their best at 35,000 feet (pictured: private flight attendant Anastacia) Anastacia has been an attendant on private flights for several years now, and always makes sure she looks her best in the air (pictured) Anastacia - Private flight attendant Her 'ride or die product for dehydration' is Payot Hydra's 24+ Creme Glacee Plumping Moisturising Care Cream (pictured) Anastacia has been an attendant on private flights for several years now, and always makes sure she looks her best in the air. Speaking about her 'ride or die product for dehydration', the Moscow-based flight attendant said she is a huge fan of Payot Hydra's 24+ Creme Glacee Plumping Moisturising Care Cream, which costs $90. 'It leaves the skin smooth, imparting a beautiful radiance,' she told Beauticate. Elsewhere in her makeup bag, Anastacia said she loves Bumble and bumble Bb. Colour Gloss to 'refresh and maintain' her colour between salon visits. Clarins' Hydra-Essentiel Moisture Repairing Lip Balm is also a hero product for combatting dry and flakey lips on board. Victoria Kiss (pictured) from Hainan Airlines swears by Bioderma Sensibo BB Cream for a flawless base that requires 'virtually no touch ups' Victoria Kiss, Hainan Airlines The flight attendant loves MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstick, which is a perfect natural colour that acts as a 'lipstick facelift' (pictured) When it comes to presenting a perfect image, a flawless base is an absolute must. Victoria Kiss from Hainan Airlines swears by Bioderma Sensibo BB Cream in this regard. '[It] gives me a flawless finish: fresh and dewy with zero grease. It's an amazing product that requires virtually no touch ups,' she told Beauticate. The flight attendant also loves MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstick, which costs $36 and is a perfect natural colour that acts as a 'lipstick facelift'. Bioderma is one of Victoria's favourite brands for skincare. The brand's Micellar Water and Sensibio Light Soothing Cream are both go-tos for removing heavy makeup and looking after her complexion at the end of a shift. Working at Air France, Constance LG (pictured) has access to some of the best skincare and makeup in the business in France Constance is also a fan of Korean sheet masks and especially loves the My Real Squeeze in Green Tea flavour (pictured) Constance LG, Air France Working at Air France, Constance LG has access to some of the best skincare and makeup in the business in France. So what does she keep in her beauty arsenal? 'For makeup that lasts throughout flights, I love the Clarins Fix Makeup Spray ($40),' she said. 'I do a spritz right after I've finished my makeup, but it's also great for refreshing makeup on board.' Constance is also a fan of Korean sheet masks and especially loves the My Real Squeeze in Green Tea flavour. Bliys (pictured), who works with Korean Air, has incredibly smooth skin and swears by the rice toner from Tony Moly, which costs $23 Bliys, Korean Air Bliys, who works with Korean Air, has incredibly smooth skin and swears by the rice toner from Tony Moly, which costs $23. She loves it because she said it helps to deal with clogged pores and refine the surface of the skin. The website's product description describes the toner as being 'packed with rice filtrate that works to instantly seep into skin and deeply hydrate it'. 'The hypo-allergenic and alcohol-free formula also contains sugarcane, grape, and apple extracts to naturally exfoliate skin and help reduce pigmentation,' the site reads. Air France flight attendant Mathilde (pictured) has one trick for whiter teeth: baking soda - she uses an old French product, Email Diamant, which is red in colour Mathilde, Air France Air France flight attendant Mathilde has one trick for whiter teeth: baking soda. She said that it 'really works to remove stains' when applied at home. For toothpaste, she said she uses an old French product, Email Diamant, which is red in colour. Speaking to FEMAIL, Qantas flight attendant Anastasia Andreev (pictured) shared her in-flight essentials - which include Estee Lauder's Double Wear foundation Anastasia Andreev, Qantas Speaking to FEMAIL, Qantas flight attendant Anastasia Andreev shared her in-flight essentials. The 23-year-old, who is from Sydney, swears by a 'versatile' wardrobe, a universal travel adaptor and Estee Lauder's Double Wear foundation - which she said 'many flight attendants wear, as it 'stays put for 24 hours'. 'If I'm operating on a flight, then I definitely make sure to get a good night's sleep and moisturise well the night before and morning of my flight,' Anastasia told FEMAIL. 'I wear quite a rich moisturiser (Sukin's night cream) underneath my foundation, which acts as a barrier against the harsh elements in the air.' 'Once I apply my make up for the flight, it's not coming off until I'm at the hotel,' Anastasia said (pictured) One of the things people always observe about flight attendants is their near-perfect make up, which never seems to slide, come off or worsen while a flight attendant is in the air: 'Once I apply my make up for the flight, it's not coming off until I'm at the hotel,' Anastasia said. She said she swears by Estee Lauder's Double Wear foundation, which 'literally stays put for 24 hours and ensures I need as few touch ups as possible through the flight'. She will also use a 'soothing face mist every couple of hours (MAC's Fix+) for an instant refresh'. Elsewhere in her regime, Anastasia extolled the benefits of hand cream: 'It's so important, as the air gets very dry,' she said. 'I also carry a peppermint essential oil on my wrists and temples, which has a calming and soothing effect on my body while invigorating the senses. 'I love my Bare Minerals Gen Nude liquid lip colour in "Swag", as it doesn't dry your lips out, but is the perfect colour to complement the pink in our scarves. 'Never forget to touch up before touch down, that's key.' A Tennessee bakery has proved that cake is the perfect confection for celebrating all occasions even a vasectomy. Signature Desserts in Nashville created a cheeky 'Happy Vasectomy' cake for a woman who wanted to show her husband how much she appreciated him going through with the sterilization procedure. The vanilla-frosted cake is decorated with a picture of two lemons, and the phrase '100% Juice, No Seeds' is written across the top in black icing. Clever: Signature Desserts in Nashville, Tennessee, created a 'Happy Vasectomy' cake for a woman who wanted to celebrate her husband getting the sterilization procedure The bakery proudly shared an image of the dessert on Instagram, writing: 'We make cakes to celebrate any occasion!!' 'That is hysterical,' one Instagram user wrote, while another commented: 'This is great!' Signature Desserts told Fox 17 News that the husband thought the cake that was made in his honor was 'incredibly hilarious.' 'It was a big thing for him to get a vasectomy and somewhat underrated for men,' the bakery said. Time to celebrate? A growing number of people are requesting similar cakes that say things such as 'Snip, Snip, Horray!' To the point: One vanilla-frosted cake was decorated with nothing more than blue icing that said 'Aww Nuts' Although the cake is undoubtedly clever, it's not the first of its kind. A growing number of people are requesting similar cakes that are giving a whole new meaning to 'Happy V-Day.' One woman shared a photo of a cake decorated with scissors and a scalpel that reads 'Snip Snip Hooray!' Another vanilla-frosted cake was decorated with nothing more than blue icing that said 'Aww Nuts.' Adult humor: The rise in popularity of vasectomy cakes is giving a whole new meaning to 'Happy V-Day' RIP: Kimberly Hemperly, a mom who lives in Washington state, got this cake for her husband when she threw him a 'Balls Voyage' party in 2017 In 2017, Kimberly Hemperly, a mother-of-two who lives in Washington state, threw her husband a 'Balls Voyage' party. She took to Facebook to share the news that her husband Jason was undergoing the procedure, writing: 'We have an announcement to make! We are thrilled to say we will NOT be adding any more tiny humans to our family!' She added: 'My husband is taking one for the team and to celebrate this momentous occasion, I felt the need to throw him a little "Balls Voyage" party for his upcoming procedure. Because omg y'all nobody is more excited about this than me.' Kimberly included the hashtags, #teamnomorebabies, #snipsniphooray, and #recreationaluseonly and added the scissors, family, and heart emoji to her post. 'Time to retire the swim team': As part of the celebration, Kimberly made customized T-shirts for her husband Jason and their children, Harper and Brody Get it? There was a basket filled with pun-tastic goodies, including Milk Duds, beef jerky, Ding Dongs, and seeds His turn: After having undergone two C-sections to welcome their children, Kimberly was admittedly happy that her husband was taking 'one for the team' Having undergone two C-sections to give birth to their children, Harper and Brody, Kimberly told Bored Panda at the time that her husband was now taking 'one for the team.' And to show her appreciation, she decided to throw him a party to celebrate, complete with meatballs and sausages as appetizers. There was a basket filled with pun-tastic goodies, including Milk Duds, beef jerky, Ding Dongs, and seeds. She filled surgical gloves with frozen peas, which many men use for relief after undergoing the procedure. For dessert, there was a cake bidding 'RIP' to his sperm, which iced sperm decorating the sides. Kimberly even made customized T-shirts for her hubby and offspring. Jason's read 'Time to retire the swim team,' while Harper and Brody's said 'Swim team survivors.' Multi-level staircases, 12-car garages and his-and-hers dressing rooms are just some of the demands wealthy homeowners are making when it comes to buying their dream house in 2019. No expense is spared when it comes to infinity pools, kids' bedrooms that fit king-sized mattresses and internal lifts, Sydney buyers' agent Janne Sutcliffe told Domain. Considering these individuals tend to travel a lot for work - and have seen the kinds of luxury awarded to premium hotel guests overseas - they know it's possible to replicate the same level of grandeur in their own homes. Multi-level staircases, 12-car garages and his-and-hers dressing rooms (pictured) are just some of the demands wealthy homeowners are making when it comes to building their dream house 'They're now much more precise about what they want and they want every box ticked,' Ms Sutcliffe told the publication. While location is still supremely important to the average rich homeowner, they are now also preoccupied with how the size in their houses is arranged. They want to ensure the kitchen - where food preparation occurs - is close to the family room - where guests may lounge about - to ensure everyone can enjoy each other's company at one time. They want to ensure the kitchen - where food preparation occurs - is close to the family room - where guests may lounge about - to ensure everyone can enjoy each other's company at one time If that's not enough, his-and-hers studies, separate showers and toilets are looked on favourably because couples are able to coexist without getting in each other's way Large garages are becoming a more popular big ticket item as people realise their passion for vintage cars and need a place to store them. His-and-hers dressing rooms, wine cellars, gyms, massage areas and cinemas are being added for ease, managing director of Melbourne's Kay & Burton Ross Savas said. 'Today it's all about creating an environment at home so you don't have to leave,' he said. Infinity pools are a popular addition and add a touch of glamour to any ordinary home No expense is spared when it comes to infinity pools, kids' bedrooms that fit king-sized mattresses and internal lifts (pictured), Sydney buyers' agent Janne Sutcliffe told Domain What do rich homeowners want? *Internal lifts *Separate bathrooms, toilets and dressing rooms *An infinity pool or similar design *Bespoke cabinetry *A kitchen and family room close together Advertisement All bedrooms should be designed to have en suites and there should be enough rooms leftover for guests if they want to stay over after entertaining nights. If that's not enough, his-and-hers studies, separate showers and toilets are looked on favourably because couples are able to coexist without getting in each other's way if they're travelling to work or need to handle important business. One of the quirkier touches include bespoke cabinetry created by a designer, allowing the homeowners to give their place an artist flair. A royal superfan spends her free-time finding replicas of some of the Duchess of Cambridge's most photographed looks after falling in love with her impeccable style after the royal couple announced their engagement. Brigitte Scheffer-Drews, 34, originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba loved following Princes William and Harry throughout her childhood, as they were close in age. The mathematician who is now based in Manchester, New Hampshire started using social media to document her copies of the Duchess' clothing choices more than a year ago, and has also replicated some of Meghan's recent looks. Brigitte recalls instantly being enthralled by Prince William's the-future bride's classic, sleek style when Kate and William announced their engagement in November 2010. Brigitte became fascinated with Kate's (pictured right, wearing an Issa dress) classic, sleek style after spending her childhood following Prince William and Prince Harry Among Brigitte's snaps shared on Instagram is a recreation of Kate (pictured right, wearing a Jaeger dress) visiting the Solomon Islands in s sunshine yellow dress Brigitte began following Kate's official engagements and fashion choices online and soon discovered the art of 'repli-Kate-ing', people who spend their spare time finding replicas or an exact copy of the Duchess of Cambridge's outfits, often for a fraction of the price. Among the snaps Brigitte has shared on Instagram, she channels the Duchess of Cambridge in a Zara version of the blue polka-dot Alessandra Rich dress worn in Prince Charles' official 70th birthday family photographs in November 2018. The mathematician also wears a top version of the stunning Prabal Gurung dress worn on the Duchess of Cambridge's tour of Singapore in September 2012 and the Hobbs blouse worn by Kate in March 2018 on her final royal duties before giving birth to Prince Louis. Speaking about her love of the Duchess of Cambridge, Brigitte said: 'When Kate came on the scene, I was very interested in her, I had been a rather big fan of William when I was a teenager, and started following her engagements and fashion via a few different blogs. I also followed a few Instagram accounts. 'I woke up early to watch their wedding and was so happy that William had found someone to share his life with. The Royal watcher (pictured left) also began copying the Duchess of Sussex's (pictured right, wearing a Babaton By Aritzia dress during a visit to Birkenhead) style after she got engaged to Prince Harry in 2017 Brigitte (pictured left) has gained a following on Instagram by sharing snaps of her outfits inspired by the Royals including Kate's (pictured right, wearing a Dolce & Gabbana suit) look while attending a 'Mental Health In Education' conference 'They both looked absolutely radiant on that day. I was also excited to see what she would do with this large platform that had been given to her. 'I've been very impressed by her work in the mental health field. It's an incredibly important area that impacts so many people. I wish there was more of a focus here in North America. 'I had followed a few other Replikaters ever since Kate came on the scene but only decided to start one about a year and a half ago as a creative outlet. 'It's much easier to access pieces in the USA - there's more availability within the USA and when buying overseas, there aren't any duties or taxes when you import clothing compared to Canada, which assesses duties on anything over $20. 'Kate wears outfits that are very easy to translate to the office. My office is fairly casual, but I still like to wear a nice dress or skirt/blouse combination on occasion. 'Kate also wears colours and prints that I might otherwise not, so she definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone. 'I also love how Kate mixes and matches high end with affordable pieces. This is something I love to do as well. Brigitte (pictured left) who never spends more than 75 recreating the Duchess of Sussex (pictured right in Tonga) and Duchess of Cambridge's looks revealed she enjoys the hunt Brigitte (pictured) explained she sometimes buys outfits worn by Kate in different colours as she gravitates towards purple and pink colours The mathematician took inspiration from the Duchess of Cambridge's (pictured left with Prince William wearing sweaters from the Canadian Rangers) visit to Canada for a casual red sweater outfit 'I'm a little more of a purist in that I prefer to get the actual items that Kate wears or source a similar item from the same brand but maybe buying a blouse instead of a dress or a slightly different colourway. 'Kate loves blue and while I like blue, I gravitate more to purples or pinks, so I bought her LK Bennett Detroit dress in pink versus the blue colour she wore. 'I also bought the blouse version of the Zara flocked dress she wore while out in Norfolk with Charlotte and George since I really didn't need another dress at the time. 'I really enjoy the hunt and can't necessarily justify paying full price for some of the outfits she has worn, like the green polka dot LK Bennett dress that she wore to the Evelina London Children's Hospital, so I will wait and stalk eBay and other sites until I can get it more reasonably, even if it takes a while.' Brigitte who describes herself as a 'purist' revealed wherever possible she tries to get her hands on the exact items Kate wears without spending more than 75 (100 USD). She often scours eBay, or sources a similar item from the same brand but might buy a blouse instead if Kate wore the dress. Brigitte also showcases on social media images emulating Kate's pre-wedding look worn as she arrived at the Goring Hotel, London in April 2011 and the sunshine yellow Jaeger dress worn on a trip to the Solomon Islands in 2012. Brigitte explained she likes to put a twist on Kate's (pictured right, wearing Prabal Gurung) outfits as the Royal often wears one colour head-to-toe which isn't really her style The royal watcher started taking inspiration from Meghan Markle also after she got engaged to Prince Harry, and has expertly recreated the former actress' eye-catching red and purple number worn on a trip to Birkenhead in January this year. Brigitte reckons she has exactly replicated around 30 of the Duchess of Cambridge's and Sussex's outfits since she has started but her favourite royal look has been the Rebecca Taylor tweed suit, worn by Kate which took almost two-years to track down on eBay. She said: 'I think Harry will be an excellent father and he seems to have found genuine love with Meghan. 'It will be interesting to see how their role evolves while they juggle raising a family. 'Since they will be representing the Queen and the Commonwealth, I will be closely following their activities as well. 'For me, it's all about having fun with fashion and doing it on a reasonable budget. 'By following Kate, I have been exposed to brands like LK Bennett and Reiss that I would otherwise not have tried, but absolutely love. 'I also like to take Kate's outfits and put a twist on them because Kate tends to wear one colour head-to-toe and that's not exactly my style. 'Even if we're not all following Kate and Meghan and buying the clothing they wear as inspiration, what is available to buy from high-end designers to mall shops is all inspired from somewhere.' For more information see www.instagram.com/canadianduchess14 The artist grandson of wealthy Manhattan socialite and Clinton donor Denise Rich and her late financier husband Marc killed himself in London last week. Kai Schachter, the 19-year-old son of art dealer Kenny Schachter and artist Ilona Rich Schachter, took his own life in London last Monday, Page Six reports. Sources claim Kai was left 'heartbroken' by a 'busted romance'. 'Kai's death is a devastating loss, he was a hugely gifted artist with a wonderful spirit and a sense of humor that touched everyone he met,' the Rich and Schachter families said in a statement. 'The family is asking for privacy at this time as they take time to grieve and gather all of the details.' Kai is believed to have have been living between London and New York at the time of his death. He was an artist enrolled at London's Slade School of Fine Art at the time. Kai Schachter, 19, the grandson of Manhattan socialite Denise Rich and her late husband Marc died in London last week after taking his own life Denise, 75, is a well-known songwriter, and was also a big donor to Bill Clinton, handing over $1 million to the Democrats during his presidency. She is pictured with Hillary Clinton in 1999 In Manhattan, Kai shared an apartment with his brother Adrian and two other artist friends on the Lower East Side. He had also built up a close circle of prominent friends in London, including Jude Law's son Rafferty. Kai had been dating British socialite Lady Lola Crichton-Stuart prior to his death and she posted multiple tributes describing him as the 'love of her life'. Kai was one of four children of artist Ilona Rich Schachter and art dealer Kenny Schachter. The couple are pictured together in 2006 Sources told Page Six that Kai was 'heartbroken over a busted romance' before his death. A representative for Lady Lola declined to comment. Kai and his brother Adrian had been featured in the pages of Vogue Italia and also various art magazines as they made their mark in the creative world. The talented teenager was one of four children of Kenny and Ilona, who is the daughter of songwriter Denise and the late financier Marc - known to many as the 'King of Commodities'. Marc died at the age of 78 in June 2013 at a hospital in Lucerne, Switzerland after he fled to Europe 30 years earlier when he and his business partner were charged with more than 50 counts of fraud, racketeering and tax evasion. He spent nearly two decades on the FBI's Most Wanted list, and narrowly escaped capture in Finland, Germany, Britain and Jamaica. Among the most serious crimes of which he was accused was trading with Iran during the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, when he was alleged to have taken advantage of the oil embargo to make huge profits in the energy market. Marc had previously insisted that he was neutral on all matters of international relations, saying: 'In our business we're not political. That's just the philosophy of our company.' Switzerland refused to hand him over to U.S. authorities because of its secretive tax laws and neutral policy towards Iran, and his lawyers repeatedly pressed the Department of Justice to drop the case against him. Kai, who is pictured with British socialite Lady Lola Crichton-Stuart, was understood to be living between London and New York at the time of his death The emerging artist, who is pictured far left with family including his grandmother Denise (third from left), was reportedly left 'heartbroken over a busted romance' Kai (left) and his brother Adrian (right) had been featured in the pages of Vogue Italia and also various art magazines as they made their mark in the creative world British socialite Lady Lola Crichton-Stuart posted multiple tributes to Kaie following his death and described him as the 'love of her life' When DoJ officials refused to negotiate, Rich's attorneys turned to Clinton, and on January 20, 2001 he granted the fugitive a pardon - just hours before he handed over the White House to George W. Bush. Critics pointed out that Denise Rich had donated $200,000 to the Democratic Party in the previous year, as well as giving money for Clinton's presidential library. Denise is said to have given around $1 million to the Democrats during Clinton's presidency. Lady Lola, a British society beauty and daughter of the 7th Marquess of Bute, was among those who paid tribute to Kai on Instagram following his death. Kai's grandfather was late financier and 'King of Commodities' Marc Rich. Marc died at the age of 78 in June 2013 at a hospital in Switzerland after he fled to Europe 30 years earlier when he was charged with more than 50 counts of fraud, racketeering and tax evasion The socialite, who appeared in the February issue of Tatler with her mother Serena Bute, posted multiple photos of her kissing Kai as part of her tribute posts to him. 'A life without you is a life I can't bear the thought of. I still cannot wrap my head around it,' she wrote on Instagram. 'You were the kindest person I have ever known, you had the biggest heart and the most special soul. All you ever wanted was for everyone else around you to be happy, seldom yourself. Your kindness never went unnoticed. 'You touched every single person you met, so deeply. I always wondered how could someone be so good? How did I get so lucky to have you and love you when I did. 'We were a team and I feel part of me has been taken. The thought you were in pain and suffering in silence breaks my heart. I wish I could have done more to save you. Nothing will ever be the same without you, there will never be anyone quite like you. You were my rockstar.' She went on to describe his 'epic energy', 'goofy grin' and huge heart. 'I have never known someone as loved as you were, you made such an impression on this world, in such a short amount of time, it will never be the same without you,' she said. 'Life is not fair and your journey was cut far too short. You were too special for this world my darling Kai Kai.' Kai, whose artwork had been shown in London and the U.S., was a member of a fashion-art-music collective co-founded by Rafferty Law. The pair are both pictured above Close friend Rafferty Law, who is the 22-year-old son of Jude Law and Sadie Frost, paid tribute to his 'friend' and 'brother' before urging followers to speak out about mental health issues British socialite Lady Lola Crichton-Stuart led tributes to artist and 'love of her life' Kai Shcachter following his death last week. They are pictured above together in a Valentine's Day Instagram post In the last 48 hours Lady Lola has shared photos of a memorial for Kai, in which paper lanterns were released into the sky, pictured Lady Lola, also 19, who was named one of Tatler's English Roses, penned a heart-wrenching Instagram post remembering Kai, just weeks after sharing the loved-up Valentine's Day photo Kai's friends held a memorial for him on Tuesday during which they released paper lanterns into the sky. Lady Lola shared photos and videos of the lanterns being released as the group of friends sang. She captioned the post: 'We sang to you. my best friend, my love, my other half forever.' Friends have also offered their support to Lady Lola, including Sadie Frost, who wrote: 'Sending love'. Meanwhile, close friend Rafferty Law, who is the 22-year-old son of Jude Law and Sadie Frost, paid tribute to his 'friend' and 'brother' before urging followers to speak out about mental health issues. Kai's model friend Adwoa Aboah paid tribute to the artist and said his death had reminded her to make sure loved ones were not suffering in silence. 'This week we lost our Kai, an infectious energy, Kai's death has not only broken my heart but countless others. If there is anything to have learnt from this tragic loss, it's that we MUST ask the questions that sometimes feel to hard to ask, we MUST work hard together to make sure that our loved ones and others around us never have to suffer in silence, believing that they are alone, unheard and that there is no light at the end of the tunnel,' she wrote. Kai, whose artwork had been shown in galleries in London and the U.S., was a member of a fashion-art-music collective co-founded by Rafferty Law, known as Raff. Those seeking support in the U.S. should contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255, or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. For support in the U.K. contact Samaritans 116 123 or visit samaritans.org. Kai's grandmother Denise Rich is a wealthy New York socialite. She is pictured above with Michael Jackson and Hillary and Bill Clinton The Duke of Sussex had to convince young children that he was the 'real' Prince Harry today, despite not wearing a crown. Prince Harry joked with pupils, met the school dog and mimed his pregnant wife's baby bump as he helped plant trees to highlight the importance of the environment. Harry mimed the shape of the baby bump of his wife Meghan, who is believed to be around six weeks away from the arrival of her first child, as he chatted to staff, children and visitors at St Vincent's Catholic Primary School in Acton, west London, on Wednesday. But, in an adorable moment, a teaching assistant revealed that one of the young children asked him: 'When is the real Prince Harry coming?' Prince Harry looked overjoyed as he met with crowds of children and teachers from St Vincent's school Winnie seemed equally excited to meet Prince Harry, as the royal bent down to greet the little school dog Harry, pictured giving a high five to Asher Charles-Bowen, planted his own tree in the garden at the school Prince Harry mimed Meghan's baby bump when he was asked where his wife was by one of the children, referring to her pregnancy and suggesting she is now on maternity leave A little girl hand the Duke of Sussex a bunch of flowers and he shakes her hand during their meeting today. Prince Harry planted his own tree with the Year 5 pupils at the school The Prince pauses to stroke a teacher's dog, believed to be called Winnie, while visiting the schoolchildren in London this morning Prince Harry leans in close to the row of schoolchildren as they stand outside in London Prince Harry met young pupils from the school, as well as teacher's pet Winnie The Duke was snapped stroking Winnie, and seemed to be a natural with the dog, who is believed to belong to one of the teachers at the school The little puppy seemed to love the attention of the royal, who stroked and tickled the dog under her chin Harry responded by saying: 'I'm the real Harry. I've just had my hair cut for the occasion.' Prince Harry seemed in good spirits, and was a natural with children as he was seen crouching down to a little girl's eye level and leaning in as he shook her hand at St Vincent's Catholic Primary School in Acton, west London. Dozens of schoolchildren filled the playground for Prince Harry's visit and some even waved coloured-in flags as teachers stood nearby. The Duke of Sussex was handed two presents by the children during the visit, and he lifted one of the boxes to his ear before giving it a playful shake. Prince Harry held up a Union Flag as he grinned at some of the children who had crowded around to meet him The crowd were enthusiastic as they greeted Harry, waving flags and returning the Prince's grin Children handed Harry two presents and he lifted one to his ear before giving it a cheeky shake The children could not hold back their smiles as Prince Harry knelt down to speak with them The Duke of Sussex told the white pup to be quiet as he stood up outside St Vincent's Catholic Primary School Pupils from the school presented the prince with a decorative cross and a gift in a ribboned box covered in cartoon foxes The children gave Harry gifts including an eco-friendly yellow raincoat and wellington boots for the new royal baby, as well as a decorative cross. Harry also met the school dog Winnie, a white cavachon - a cross between a Bichon Frise and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - during the visit, as he talked with the schoolchildren and helped plant trees in the school garden. Harry looked overjoyed as he met children after planting the cherry tree and was pictured waving and smiling with various pupils. The prince, who is just weeks away from becoming a father for the first time, grinned broadly as he spoke to crowds of pupils and teachers. Prince Harry looked pleased to accept the gift from school pupils as he left St Vincent's school A joyful greeting: The Prince seemed excited throughout his visit, after taking part in a tree planting project at the school Prince Harry seemed overjoyed and enthusiastic on his school visit, which comes weeks before he is due to become a father himself Prince Harry gave an encouraging thumbs up to the schoolchildren who will later plant trees Other youngsters at the school waved coloured-in flags for the Prince during his visit Children hold up their drawings to the Prince as interacted with them at St Vincent's school He grinned broadly and joked around with the pupils, and seemed in fantastic spirits ahead of becoming a father himself for the first time When pupils asked him where his wife Meghan was, he referenced her pregnancy, by miming his wife's baby bump with his hand. He also told them she was having a baby - suggesting that she's now officially on maternity leave. The duke was also treated to a rendition of Seasons Of Love from the musical Rent by the pupils. Earlier, he was greeted by headteacher and deputy head Monica McCarthy and Sean Buyers, as well as Beccy Speight, chief executive of The Woodlands Trust. Prince Harry wore a smart navy jacket for the visit, and a crisp white shirt. His beaded bracelets were also on show The prince took a Union flag from one of the children as he departed from the school He seemed unsure about shaking one of the pupil's hands, as he jokingly pointed his finger at one of the young children A royal handshake: As many of the pupils reached out for a handshake, Prince Harry shook the hand of one of the children at the event The prince seemed in fantastic spirits as he joked with the children, waving and grinning at the crowds The Duke of Sussex watched as schoolchildren planted a tree provided by the Woodland Trust Harry rested his hands on his hips as he keenly listened to the children during the tree planting He was also given a posy from the school's 'eco ambassadors' Momo Invanca, five, Luke Byers, six, and Mary Jane Bres, 11. Theodora Ivanovo, 50, who helps maintain the outdoor spaces of the forest school, an idea that comes from Scandinavian outdoor education, said: 'We want to make the area a mini-urban forest for the benefit of the children, because we can't make a big one in the centre of London. 'It contributes to making our town greener and part of the project of our mayor to turn London into a nature park. 'It's also to fight global warming and let the children be a part of the movement which is now so inspiring for young people around the globe.' The Prince was seen getting his hands dirty as he planted a cherry tree from the Woodlands Trust at St Vincent's Catholic Primary School in London Prince Harry revealed a plaque commemorating his visit with the help of Asher Charles-Bowen, a pupil at the school The Duke of Sussex with Becci Speight, the CEO of the Woodland Trust, at the tree planting project After planting the tree, Harry looked overjoyed to be spending time shaking hands with pupils and teachers The duke planted a cherry tree, helped by one of the pupils, as part of a project that will see 60 trees planted in the garden. He was pictured bending down and digging into the soil, before jokingly looking around for help from pupils and teachers watching. He also unveiled a commemorative plaque, with the help of a young pupil from the school, as part of the The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy scheme. The scheme, run by The Woodland Trust, has provided 74,000 trees across the UK since 2015, as well as 8.4 million hectares of forests in 43 countries. Beccy Speight, chief executive of The Woodland Trust, said: 'We are extremely proud to be associated with this wonderful initiative and thrilled His Royal Highness could join us this morning to plant a tree to commemorate our support of The Queen's Commonwealth Canopy. 'We are thrilled that so many schools like St Vincent's are planting, whilst teaching and educating children about the benefits trees bring.' The patient prince bent down to chat to 6 year old Stella at the school, and seemed to be listening attentively Harry, who seems to be a natural with children, returned the young girl's grin as the prince grasped her hands Actress Tamsin Greig will star in the hotly anticipated TV adaptation of Julian Fellowes' novel Belgravia, it has been announced. Greig, 52, leads the cast of the six-part ITV period drama, which will be produced by the team behind Downton Abbey. She will play Anne Trenchard, the wife of businesswoman James Trenchard (Life On Mars actor Philip Glenister). Tamsin Greig, 52, left, leads the cast of six-part ITV period drama Belgravia, which will be produced by the team behind Downton Abbey. She will play Anne Trenchard, the wife of businesswoman James Trenchard (Life On Mars actor Philip Glenister, right) Other early casting announcements include The Crown actress Harriet Walter as Caroline, the Countess of Brockenhurst and Alice Eve as Susan Trenchard. Producers will be hoping to replicate the success of Downton Abbey, another Julian Fellowes creation, which pulled in record ratings, catapulted its actors to stardom and continues to enjoy buzz almost a decade after its first episode aired. Belgravia, published in 2016, tells the story of secrets and dishonour amongst the upper echelon of London society in the 19th Century. It starts when a businessman named James Trenchard and his wife Anne Trenchard accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Producers will be hoping to replicate the success of Downton Abbey, stars Michelle Dockery and Maggie Smith pictured, which still has a buzz almost a decade after its first episode aired They attend with their daughter, who catches the eye of the son of one of the most influential families in England. That night sets into motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come. It later follows the families as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of Belgravia, one of Londons grandest postcode. Filming on the series will begin in the coming weeks and it is expected to air either later this year or early 2020. In a release announcing the show executive producer Gareth Neame said: 'Its fantastic to be working once again with Julian, a master storyteller. 'In Belgravia he has painted a wonderful backdrop of 19th century society against which intrigue and dynastic power struggles will play out.' Belgravia is a Carnival Films co-production with EPIX for ITV, A bookmaker has slashed odds that the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby will be a girl. Meghan, 37, and Prince Harry, 34, are expecting their first child in late April and if a recent flurry of bets is anything to go by, a new princess may be on the way. Betfair has revealed that a girl for the parents-to-be are now odds-on at 1/2 after being a popular choice with punters. 'Following a significant bet this afternoon we've slashed the odds of the Royal baby being a girl from 10/11 to 1/2 , with a boy now out to 6/4,' said Betfair Spokesperson Katie Baylis. Bookmaker Betfair has slashed odds that the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby will be a girl. Pictured, Prince Harry and Meghan at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 11, 2019 Mother-to-be Meghan is due in late April. Above, the Duchess of Sussex attended a reception at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales on March 5 2019 She added: 'This bet is one of the biggest we've seen on the Royal Baby markets this year so could be a big clue that we will have a new Princess in the coming weeks.' Meanwhile, Diana - in honour of Harrys late mother - still remains the 5/1 favourite for the name. 'Diana is the big 5/1 favourite for the name of the baby, with Grace, Victoria and Alice all at 14/1,' said Katie. 'Arthur is the favourite boy's name at 8/1 ahead of James and Edward at 14/1.' Earlier today another bookmaker slashed odds that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby will be born on the Queen's birthday. Earlier today another bookmaker Coral slashed odds that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby will be born on the Queen's birthday. Pictured, Queen Elizabeth II visited King's College to officially open Bush House, the latest education and learning facilities on the Strand Campus on March 19, 2019 Pictured, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at New Zealand House on March 19, 2019 in London, England. The visit was following the recent terror attack which saw at least 50 people killed at a Mosque in Christchurch Coral has it at 10-1, down from 25-1, that Harry and Meghan's child will put in an appearance on April 21 which is also Easter Sunday this year. The Queen turns 93 in a month's time and will be the baby's great-grandmother. Royal Baby Name Betfair Odds Diana 5/1 Arthur 8/1 Grace 14/1 James 14/1 Victoria 14/1 Alice 14/1 Edward 14/1 Advertisement Heavily pregnant Meghan visited New Zealand House, London, on Tuesday with Harry to pay their respects to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack. The American former actress has said she is due to give birth in late April or early May. 'With Meghan due towards the end of April we could be heading for one of the more memorable Easter Sundays in the royal household,' explained Coral's Harry Aitkenhead. 'Not only would the baby be born on the holiday, it also would then share a birthday with the Queen. 'It would be an incredible coincidence and we've slashed our odds on it coming true next month.' President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump are officially raising a teenager in the White House. The 48-year-old first lady took to her official Instagram and Twitter pages on Wednesday to pay tribute to their son Barron William Trump on his milestone 13th birthday. 'Happy Birthday BWT,' Melania captioned an image of rose gold Mylar balloons that are held together to make the number '13.' Major milestone: President Donald Trump and his wife Melania celebrated their son Barron's 13th birthday on Wednesday Proud mom: Melania took to Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday to pay tribute to her only child with a picture of rose gold Mylar balloons The proud mom ended the post with three heart emoji to show her love for her only child with her 72-year-old husband. Barron, who is the youngest of the president's five children, turned 13 on March 20, the last day of classes at his private school in Maryland before his spring break vacation. It's unclear how the president and first lady plan on celebrating their son's big day at the White House. Donald was in Washington, D.C. with plans for a trip to Ohio later on Wednesday. However, Melania and her Barron will be spending his spring break at the family's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, per tradition. Big day: Barron turned 13 on March 20, the last day of classes at his private school in Maryland before his spring break vacation Priorities: Donald has yet to publicly wish Barron a happy birthday on social media. He spent the morning lashing out on Kellyanne Conway's husband George Allegations: The president called his adviser's spouse a 'loser' and 'husband from hell' Hitting back: George retweeted the president's takedown, writing: 'The President of the United States' Fighting words: The lawyer said Donald is 'nuts' in a series of tweets Diagnosis: George has accused the president of having narcissist personality disorder President Barack Obama's daughters, Malia and Sasha, also turned 13 in the White House. Melania is the only one in the family who celebrated Barron's birthday on social media so far, although there is still plenty of time to pay tribute to the teen. Donald, who never misses an opportunity to fire off a tweet, publicly lashed out on lawyer George Conway, the husband of his White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, first thing on Wednesday morning. 'George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wifes success & angry that I, with her help, didnt give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!' he wrote. The tweet marked the first time Donald has claimed Kellyanne played a role in her husband's failure to secure a plum Justice Department position in the administration's early days. Never-ending battle: The president piled on Tuesday, calling George 'a total loser' after his 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale claimed he was 'jealous' of his wife's sucess Back and forth: George shoved back on Twitter, congratulating Donald for raising the public profile of their online sparring match His evidence: George tweeted photos of a manual of mental disorders that psychiatrists use to make diagnoses ALL THE BEST SCORES: George suggested that Donald has a grandiose sense of self-importance or other narcissistic traits Not giving up: George also tweeted out signs of an antisocial personality disorder That claim quickly lost power, however, when The Washington Post released a May 31, 2017 letter from George to the president in which he turned down the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the DOJ. Donald's long-simmering feud with George boiled over this week after the attorney claimed online that he is mentally ill and tweeted pages from a standard psychiatric diagnosis manual to back up his assertions. He tweeted at Donald on Wednesday: 'You seem determined to prove my point. Good for you! #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder' and added minutes later: 'You. Are. Nuts.' A few weeks ago, Barron made a rare appearance alongside his parents. The seventh-grader missed a day of school on March 8 to join the president and first lady on a trip to tornado-ravaged Alabama before heading to Mar-a-Lago for a short weekend getaway. First family: A few weeks ago, Barron made a rare appearance alongside his parents when they visited tornado-ravaged Alabama before heading to Mar-a-Lago for a weekend getaway Getting tall: Barron towered over his mother as they walked out of the White House to join Donald Home sweet home: The Trump family was seen arriving home on the South Lawn of the White House a few days later on March 10 The then-12-year-old towered over his mother as they walked out of the White House to join Donald, who addressed reporters before the family boarded Marine One to start their trip to Alabama. The Trump family was seen arriving home on the South Lawn of the White House a few days later. Melania looked ready for spring in a short trench coat, which she paired with a black and yellow patterned scarf. Barron kept warm in a puffy red jacket that he wore over a white polo and khaki pants. He matched his pants with a pair of tan New Balance sneakers. While they all looked a bit subdued, Donald waves to the cameras as they walked across the South Lawn together. The Prince of Wales looked suitably cool in the Caribbean sunshine today, as the royal donned a pair of sunglasses as he met marine cadets during to his visit to St Vincent and the Grenadines. Prince Charles, 70, and Camilla, 71, are currently on a 12 day tour of the Caribbean, and were greeted by school children as they arrived on the island. Camilla carried a light parasol to keep the sun from her face in the 30C heat and later she even enjoyed a sample of passionfruit rum. The Duchess of Cornwall had a shock after swigging some very strong rum and was left exclaiming: 'Blimey! That packs a punch!' The Prince of Wales met marine cadets during a visit to the St Vincent and Grenadines Coastguard on a one day visit to the Caribbean island Camilla enjoyed a sample of very strong passionfruit rum upon her arrival at St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College The Prince of Wales looked cheerful as he greeted school children in St Vincent and the Grenadines during the latest leg of his 12 day Caribbean tour The Duchess of Cornwall kept cool with a parasol, and wore a lovely baby pink kaftan with balloon sleeves The royals, who have already visited St Lucia and Bridgetown on their tour, are now in St Vincent and the Grenadines for a flying one day visit Prince Charles looked cool in shades as he was greeted by crowds of school children waving flags at Argyle International Airport Camilla came across the famous Caribbean spirit when she strolled through some local craft stalls set up in a local school she visited. The duchess said to vendor Michker Edwards: 'I might have to try one. Is it very strong?' She selected a passion fruit flavour - which was 40% alcohol content. As she took a sip of the spirit - served straight with no ice - her eyes widened and she exclaimed: 'Blimey! That packs a punch!' Camilla carried a parasol to keep the hot island sun from her face and carried a straw handbag The Prince of Wales, who just arrived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is currently on a 12 day tour of the Caribbean with wife Camilla The royals descended the plane's stairs and were greeted by school children who welcomed them to the island Camilla grinned as she met school children on the tarmac at the Argyle International Airport, many of whom had Union flags The Duchess of Cornwall also visited St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College to join a round table on domestic violence and to meet female entrepreneurs. Camilla wore a baby pink kaftan, with balloon sleeves and a light white detailing. She paired the mid-length top with white trousers, and carried a light parasol and straw bag. The Prince looked cool in a grey suit, with a light pink tie and grey and black striped tie. He finished off the outfit with a pair of trendy sunglasses. The royals have already visited St Lucia and Bridgetown on their tour, which will also take in an historic trip to Cuba later this month - the first by a member of the British royal family. Waiting to meet the couple at the bottom of the steps of the RAF Voyager ministerial jet was the country's Governor General Sir Frederick Ballantyne, the Queen's representative in the country. Prince Charles looked smart in a cool grey suit with a pink shirt that perfectly complimented his wife's outfit Camilla smiled as the royal couple were greeted by school children at the airport as they arrived on the island The Prince of Wales smiled as the couple arrived at the airport, and looked cool in his trendy black sunglasses All aboard: Prince Charles climbed aboard a coastguard station for a tour during his one day visit to the island Nearby was the Commonwealth nation's prime minister Ralph Gonsalves - known as Comrade Ralph to many in his country. He campaigned in a 2009 referendum to have the Queen, his country's head of state, replaced with an elected president but a majority of voters rejected the proposal. Mr Gonsalves, who has been in power since 2001, has forged ties with Cuba, Venezuela and Iran as he has tried to diversify the economy away from banana production. When Camilla met the Duke of Cornwall in Kingstown vegetable market, they went on a walkabout shaking hands with local shoppers surprised to see the royals, whose visit was unannounced. The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince of Wales are visiting St Vincent and Grenadines for just one day during their 12 day tour The Duchess wore a gorgeous baby pink kaftan with pretty white detailing, and carried a bamboo handle bag The Prince of Wales took time to speak to children at the airport, who waved Union flags and the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prince Charles visited a conservation project at the Prospect Brighton Mangrove Park during a visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines A group of young girl guides were very excited - but they thought they were about to meet the Queen. One asked Camilla: 'Queen Elizabeth, do you have a castle?' After Camilla put them straight, the unimpressed group moved on to Charles who was a few metres behind his wife and asked him: 'Where's the Queen, I don't get it.' 'She's not here I'm afraid,' replied a bemused heir to the throne. One man got a bit overexcited and started shouting at the prince: 'We want to take you to the beach.' The royal was given a tour of the Prospect Brighton Mangrove Park during his visit to St Vincent and the Grenadines At one stage it looked as though Charles had bumped his head on a branch as he walked through the garden Prince Charles, who is passionate about the environment, has taken the opportunity on the tour to talk about climate change Smile! Charles visited the Prospect Brighton Mango Conservation Park and unveiled this information board The royal greeted marine cadents and graduates of the Youth Development Summer Programme The royal shook hands with one of the marine cadets during his meet and greet in a line up Local sports mascot Angus Evan, known as Sappy, was wearing an outfit in the national colours of St Vincent - yellow, green and blue - complete with a multi-coloured hat and he waved his nation's flag. Charles posed for a picture with Sappy, who for almost 30 years has been geeing up crowds whenever a local cricket, netball or cricket team is playing. He said: 'Charles said he liked my jersey and he liked my hat and the flag. He asked if I played football, I used to be a goalkeeper but I'm retired.' Earlier in the day they met and smiled at school children in the crowds. Many of the pupils waved Union Jacks alongside the flag of the island. Later, the Prince of Wales visited a conservation project at the Prospect Brighton Mangrove Park. The royal unveiled an information board in the park. Charles went on to meet with marine cadets and graduates of the Youth Development Summer Programme. People lined the coastline as he visited the coastguard station, and was shown around by guards on duty. Prince Charles visited a coastguard station during his visit to St Vincent and the Grenadines People line up to watch Britain's Prince Charles visiting a coastguard station during his visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines The Prince hopped off the coastguard and went on to attend a wreath laying ceremony in Kingstown Prince Charles climbed aboard a coastguard station while on his whirlwind visit The Prince was shown around the station by those working aboard During their tour, Charles and Camilla will also visit St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and the Cayman Islands. Meanwhile, Camilla was snapped drinking passionfruit rum while visiting St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College. The royal, who was still carrying her trusty parasol, grinned from ear to ear as she drank a small shot of the liquor. She posed for photographs with students of the college, who performed and danced for the Duchess in intricate costume. She was greeted by a dance presentation by the La Gracia Dance Company and Arabesque Dance Company at St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College. Camilla arrived at St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College today to attend various functions She was met warmly by pupils at the college, and grinned as she chatted to the youngsters Students lined the balcony as Camilla was greeted with a dance presentation by the La Gracia Dance Company and Arabesque Dance Company Camilla posed for a photo with students during a visit to St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall met pupils at St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College Camilla enjoyed a sample of passionfruit rum upon her arrival at St Vincent and The Grenadines Community College The royal looked overjoyed to be visiting the island, and smiled broadly at cameras while holding her trusty parasol The Duchess went on to join a round table discussion on domestic violence at the college The royal couple both wore dark shades attended a wreath laying ceremony in Kingstown during their visit Ahead of the ceremony, they greeted girls who were part of the Worldwide Association of Girl Guides Prince Charles lays a wreath at the Cenotaph memorial in Kingstown in front of young girl guides The Prince of Wales during a wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Kingstown, St Vincent and Grenadines during a one day visit to the Caribbean island The Duchess went on to join a round table discussion on domestic violence at the college. Later the royals went on to attend a wreath laying ceremony together in Kingstown. They met girls who were part of the Worldwide Association of Girl Guides, before the Prince of Wales laid a wreath at a Cenotaph memorial in Kingstown. The couple also met with local entrepreneurs in a market, where one even kissed Camilla's hand in a friendly greeting. The prince shared a joke with a local group of school girls, who looked overcome with emotion as they met the prince, with one clutching onto a union flag as they all laughed. Prince of Wales shares a joke with school children, who are overcome by laughter, as he visits Kingstown Market Prince Charles look intrigued by what was on offer at the market, as he and Camilla met local entrepreneurs Camilla met local people at the Kingstown market in the blistering heat and seemed charmed by the town Prince Charles also met the local wildlife - he visited a Botanical Garden, where he was photographed with a tropical bird The royal seemed non-plussed by the tropical bird flying toward him at the Botanical Gardens The Prince of Wales was given a tour of the Botanical Gardens while on his visit, and met members of the girl guiding association Charles met Sappy, an enthusiastic football fan, while on his tour of the market in Kingstown Camilla greeted delighted girl guides during her visit to the island,who carried St Vincent and the Grenadines flags and the Union flag The royal went on to meet local entrepreneurs who had businesses in the local market at Kingstown She had one adorable moment with a young toddler as she greeted crowds of people in the town One local was keen to greet the royal in a traditional way and kissed her hand as she walked past Locals lined a rooftop overlooking the main square as they desperately tried to catch sight of the royals Getting his hands dirty: Charles took up a little gardening while on his visit to the Botanical Gardens Later, Prince Charles visited a Botanical Garden while on his visit and was photographed with a tropical bird perched on his hand. Charles was also snapped doing a little gardening at the Gardens, where he got his hands dirty with a shovel and watering can. He also popped in to the town's cathedral, St. George's, where he was recieved by local priests. Meanwhile the Duchess of Cornwall gave a speech at St Vincent's Girls High, and was photographed presenting an award to a girl guide. Charles was grinning as he dug a hole for his plant while at the Botanical Gardens today Duchess of Cornwall visits the St. Vincent Girls School, and gave a speech to the pupils During her time there, the Duchess presented one girl guide with an award Prince Charles (centre) met Bishop Calvert Leopold Friday, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Windward Islands, Canon Otis Nichols, Dean of St. Georges Cathedral, and Hon. Rene Baptiste, Speaker of the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States Prince Charles was shown around the cathedral by members of the congregation of St George's Cathedral Later, Charles and Camilla were hosted by Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves at his official residence Camilla and Charles attended the reception with Governor-General Sir Frederick Ballantyne and Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves The royal couple looked excited to be exchanging gifts with the Prime Minister at his residence Later, the royals attended a reception with the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves at his official residence. They exchanged gifts with the prime minister during the reception at his house. Charles is also said to be keen to discuss the impact of climate change in the area, having already spoken about the issue in St Lucia. Speaking about the global threat posed by climate change the prince said: 'Importantly, the Commonwealth brings us together and gives us the means to harness shared opportunities, as well as to address common challenges. 'There is no greater challenge facing all of us, in my view, than that of global warming and climate change which, I know, poses nothing short of an existential threat to this island as it does to every part of this region.' Advertisement Rochelle Barrett never used to consider herself a beauty. The 30-year-old dance teacher from Sheffield was just eight months old when an accident with a kettle of boiling water left her with third degree burns over 70 per cent of her body. She was bullied as a teenager and spent years hiding her scars. But after getting into dance and performing in her 20s, she was attracted to the world of beauty pageants. 'I love anything to do with fashion and beauty so when, in 2015, I saw that Miss Caribbean UK was looking for contestants, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to do,' she says. 'I didn't know there would be a bikini round until halfway through and to be honest, I didn't know if I could do it. But I'd come so far I thought 'why not?' It's a decision she has not regretted. A group of women are taking part in a new type of beauty pageant called Miss Unique Beauty which is 'exclusively for and celebrating survivors of disfigurement and visible differences' Rochelle Barrett, 30, is a dance teacher from Sheffield. She was just eight months old when an accident with a kettle of boiling water left her with third degree burns over 70 per cent of her body 'When I stepped on stage and showed all my scars, it was the most wonderful and empowering experience I've ever had,' she says. 'I felt like I could do anything.' After being crowned Miss Personality in the contest, Rochelle was determined to give other women the opportunity to experience that same feeling. 'The pageant built up my confidence so much, I wish I'd done it long ago. There are lots of women out there who have visible differences that mean they haven't felt accepted in society and by the worlds of beauty and fashion. I wanted them to be celebrated as beautiful and desired, to show you're more than your trauma.' And so, at the end of this month, the winner of Miss Unique Beauty UK will be crowned. 'The pageant is for survivors of burns, scarring and disfigurement and flips the traditional beauty pageant on its head. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and we should be celebrating those differences,' says Rochelle. Rochelle's desire to challenge that cookie-cutter perception of beauty could not be more timely. In an era when we're bombarded with more images of so-called aesthetic perfection than ever before, anything that forces a reassessment of what we consider to be 'beautiful' is surely a force for good for all women. Rochelle was bullied as a teenager and spent years hiding her scars. But after getting into dance and performing in her 20s, she was attracted to the world of beauty pageants Lauren-Marie Cross, a 22-year-old radiographer's assistant from Doncaster who is one of the finalists, thinks it's about time 'girls like me' were celebrated in the world of fashion and beauty She was born with a cleft lip and palate, which means her facial features didn't form properly, and admits that she was 'not always a fan' of her face Lauren-Marie Cross, a 22-year-old radiographer's assistant from Doncaster who is one of the finalists, thinks it's about time 'girls like me' were celebrated in the world of fashion and beauty. She was born with a cleft lip and palate, which means her facial features didn't form properly, and admits that she was 'not always a fan' of her face. 'Boys have said nasty things in the past. I've been taunted, called 'Scarface' and 'Clefty' but now, I absolutely adore my scar. I wouldn't be me without it,' she says. 'If you try to hide your scars, you're trying to hide a part of yourself. I've never tried to cover it with make-up now I even put highlighter on it to make it stand out more. 'There was no one moment that changed how I felt about it, but as I got older I realised that a lot of the negativity comes from people not understanding it, so now I just explain why I look the way I look.' Lauren-Marie says she's frustrated she doesn't see people with facial disfigurements in the fashion industry. 'The way beauty is defined so narrowly makes many women feel ugly, because it seems so unobtainable,' she says. When she finishes university later this year, she intends to challenge this by redoubling her efforts to become a model. Laura Masters, 26, jumped at the opportunity to take part in a competition actively seeking women with visible differences 'I've applied for beauty competitions since I was 18,' says the care worker from Caerphilly, who at just a year old was placed in a bath of boiling water by her birth mother's boyfriend, resulting in third-degree burns across half her body Like Lauren-Marie, Laura Masters, 26, jumped at the opportunity to take part in a competition actively seeking women with visible differences. 'I've applied for beauty competitions since I was 18,' says the care worker from Caerphilly, who at just a year old was placed in a bath of boiling water by her birth mother's boyfriend, resulting in third-degree burns across half her body. I can't think about what I'd have looked like if I hadn't been burned. My scars have made me the person I am, and I can't imagine being anyone but me. 'But I've been told I couldn't take part because of my scars they'd never say it outright, instead they'd say things like: 'Your image doesn't meet the requirements.' That's a horrible thing to hear. It tells you that you're not good enough.' After months in intensive care as an infant, Laura was placed with a foster family who went on to adopt her, supporting her through more than 100 operations, the most recent a laser treatment to help break up her scar tissue. 'I can't think about what I'd have looked like if I hadn't been burned,' says Laura. 'My scars have made me the person I am, and I can't imagine being anyone but me.' She hopes taking part in the pageant will give her the opportunity to spread the word about the organisations she credits with giving her confidence. 'There are clubs all over the UK for burn survivors, and it was through them that I met people in the same boat as me. I was 21 when I took a trip to South Africa with one of the clubs and although up until then I'd always worn clothes that hid my scars, out there I wore shorts I didn't have to worry that anyone was going to stare at me, they understood.' Again and again, these women bring up the difficulty they face in dealing with others' attitudes to their appearance. Maxine Syrett, 33, from West London, currently works as a volunteer. She was born with a cleft palate and lip, which affected her hearing, speech and sight She had her first corrective surgery at the age of six months and the last just over two years ago. She sees the pageant as an opportunity to come to terms with something she says she's 'always resented' 'Just because I have a facial disfigurement, it doesn't make me different,' says Maxine Syrett, 33, from West London. 'I still have my intellect, I still live a normal life.' Maxine, who currently works as a volunteer, was born with a cleft palate and lip, which affected her hearing, speech and sight. She had her first corrective surgery at the age of six months and the last just over two years ago. She sees the pageant as an opportunity to come to terms with something she says she's 'always resented'. 'As a child I was bullied and called names, such as 'Bent Nose', so I had to learn to stand up for myself. I just felt angry at the world. As a teenager, the way I looked had a profound effect on me. I was always rejected by the boys I had crushes on. I remember one telling me 'I won't kiss you with a lip like that'. I constantly felt ugly, and as if I didn't fit in. 'People would assume that I had learning difficulties because I looked and sounded different. It makes it hard to make friends, or to create a good impression in a job interview. People are scared of what they don't understand, they don't know what to say to you. 'But I want to show people that no matter what I've been through I can still face the world. I hope it will show others self-worth shouldn't be based on appearance.' Saffron Cohen, 21, a student at Southampton University, has struggled with the fear that other people might not accept her because of the way she looks. Saffron was four when she was dancing in front of a gas fire and her dress caught light, leaving her with burns up her legs and torso Growing up on the south coast she was always in a swimming costume, but when she hit her teens she became much more self-conscious Saffron Cohen, 21, a student at Southampton University, has struggled with the fear that other people might not accept her because of the way she looks. Saffron was four when she was dancing in front of a gas fire and her dress caught light, leaving her with burns up her legs and torso. Growing up on the south coast she was always in a swimming costume, but when she hit her teens she became much more self-conscious. 'It would upset me when people stared, because you realise you're different and, as a teenager, the last thing you want is to be different. The biggest hurdle was my own worries that other people might not accept me. Now, I accept people will look at me, but it's taken a while to get to this point.' She's at pains to point out that these things don't happen overnight, that you have to 'be patient with yourself'. Lauren-Marie agrees. 'It's a process, learning to love your scars, but you get there eventually.' Kira Evans, 24, admits that she still struggles. She was in a house fire aged 14 and had to be put into an induced coma for several months while the burns that covered a third of her body were treated. 'Even today I won't wear shorts and I've never been in a swimming pool since,' she says. Kira, from Llanelli, a stay-at-home-mum to Carys, five, and Levi, three, says that after the fire she became a recluse. 'I shut down, I didn't leave the house for well over a year.' Kira Evans, 24, admits that she still struggles. She was in a house fire aged 14 and had to be put into an induced coma for several months while the burns that covered a third of her body were treated. 'Even today I won't wear shorts and I've never been in a swimming pool since,' she says. Kira, from Llanelli, a stay-at-home-mum to Carys, five, and Levi, three, says that after the fire she became a recluse. 'I shut down, I didn't leave the house for well over a year.' When she met her partner, Andrew, 29, seven years ago, she says she was 'shocked he had any interest in talking to me. I wasn't comfortable being out in public at all.' When she met her partner, Andrew, 29, seven years ago, she says she was 'shocked he had any interest in talking to me. I wasn't comfortable being out in public at all.' They started off as friends 'I didn't want to let my guard down' before their relationship developed. This tentative approach is something Saffron and Lauren-Marie both recognise. 'I tend to build relationships quite slowly, because I feel like I have to pick the right moment to tell them about what's under my clothes,' says Saffron. 'Although it's never been a problems for any of my boyfriends, so I think a lot of that fear is based on my own worries rather than reality.' Lauren-Marie has been with her boyfriend since they were 15, but remembers the first time he asked to kiss her. 'I remember saying to him, 'My mouth might feel weird, it might put you off' but he told me he couldn't care less.' The pageant is for survivors of burns, scarring and disfigurement and flips the traditional beauty pageant on its head. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and we should be celebrating those differences All of the women see the pageant as an opportunity to be the role models they wish they'd had when they were growing up. 'Back then there was nothing,' says Kira. 'It was hard to find out about burns or scars, there was nobody you could look up to.' 'I want our voices to be heard,' adds Maxine. 'And to change society's perceptions of disfigurement and disability.' They also see it as a chance to reframe our conventions. 'There isn't one standard of beauty,' says Saffron. 'It's more than the generic vision we're usually presented with, and I hope this shows that.' However, it's telling that, despite many beauty brands' outward claims of inclusivity, when we spoke Rochelle was struggling to get sponsorship for the pageant, after being rebuffed by many of the companies she approached. She has even taken on a second job to finance the project. This quiet determination to make the event go ahead regardless of the obstacles she faces is characteristic of all of the finalists we spoke to, and is encapsulated in a quote Saffron tells me she found on the internet which, she says, 'just seemed to sum up how I feel. It said: 'I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.' Ivanka Trump enjoyed a night in with her nearly three-year-old son Theodore on Tuesday while her husband Jared Kushner was out for the evening. The 37-year-old first daughter took to Instagram to share a photo of herself sitting on her kitchen counter in sweats while eating Chinese takeout with her youngest child. 'When Dads away...' she captioned the image, which shows Theo happily eating out of her takeout container. Night in: Ivanka Trump, 37, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of herself enjoying Chinese takeout with her nearly three-year-old son Theodore Incognito: The next morning, the first daughter was seen leaving her Washington, D.C. home straight from her garage in a Secret Service SUV The little boy, who turns three years old next week, is wearing navy and white striped pajamas while sitting on top of the kitchen island with his mom. Ivanka is also dressed casually in a zip-up sweatshirt and leggings, and she is smiling at Theo as they enjoy their meal together. Although she and her son are sharing one container, the counter is littered with takeout, including packets of soy sauce. It's unclear where Jared, 38, was that evening or if their two eldest children Arabella, seven, and Joseph, five, had joined them for dinner. The White House senior adviser, who usually heads to work early in the morning, got a late start the next day. Jared was seen stepping out of the front gate of their Washington D.C. home at about 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday. Off for the day: Jared Kushner, 38, was seen heading to work ten minutes before his wife Night out: It's unclear where Jared was on Tuesday evening, but he got a later start than usual the next day. He headed to work at about 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday He looked patriotic in a navy suit, light blue button-down, and red tie, and he carried a black work bag in his left hand. The father-of-three flashed a smile as he made his way into the Secret SUV parked right in front of his door. Ten minutes later, Ivanka left home in Secret Service SUV straight from their garage. The couple is celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim, which started on Wednesday evening and ends on Thursday. Purim commemorates the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther in the Bible. Ivanka converted to Judaism to marry Jared, and CNN's Betsy Klein revealed on Wednesday that the couple gifted White House reporters with hamantaschen in honor of the holiday. Celebration: CNN's Betsy Klein revealed on Wednesday that Ivanka and Jared gifted White House reporters with hamantaschen in honor of the Jewish holiday Purim Family: Jared and Ivanka are also parents to a seven-year-old daughter, Arabella, and a five-year-old son, Joseph The journalist tweeted photos of the pastry and the gift bag it came in, writing: 'When @IvankaTrump & fam send the White House press corps hamentaschen.' The triangular cookies, which are typically filled with either poppy seed, raspberry or apricot preserves, are a staple during Purim. The treats were stored in a muslin bag and topped with a white gift tag that read: 'Happy Purim 2019, The Kushners - Jared, Ivanka, Arabella, Joseph, & Theodore.' In a follow-up tweet, Betsy added: 'I should note this comes literally minutes after the President lambasted the media on the White House South Lawn.' Wednesday also happened to be Barren Trump's 13th birthday, but neither Ivanka nor any of her siblings paid tribute to their half brother on social media. Major milestone: Ivanka's father, President Donald Trump, and his wife Melania celebrated their son Barron's 13th birthday on Wednesday Proud mom: Melania took to Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday to pay tribute to her only child with a picture of rose gold Mylar balloons However, their stepmother, first lady Melania, took to Twitter and Instagram in the morning to pay tribute to her only child on his milestone 13th birthday. 'Happy Birthday BWT,' she captioned an image of rose gold Mylar balloons that are held together to make the number '13.' The proud mom ended the post with three heart emoji. Ivanka's discreet exit from her home on Wednesday morning was a far cry from the fashionable display she put on when she headed to work s few days before. The first daughter had a smile on her face when she stepped out of the front gate of her Washington, D.C. home on Monday. The mom donned head-to-toe black as she headed to work in a cropped jacket with an origami design at the collar and high-waisted dress pants that stopped right above her ankles. Ready to work: Ivanka was seen leaving the front gate of her home with a smile on her face on Monday morning Outfit of the day: The first daughter donned a black cropped jacket with an origami design at the collar and high-waisted dress pants that stopped right above her ankles Focus: Ivanka appeared at an event that discussed the Higher Education Act and college affordability on Monday Ivanka topped off the look with a pair of classic black patent leather stilettos and a $3,400 Chanel Executive Tote that she carried in her right hand. The White House senior adviser appeared to be in good spirits when she left the front gate of her home at 8:30 a.m. She flashed a smile as she made her way to the Secret Service SUV parked at the curb, though she didn't wave to the photographers outside of her door like she sometimes does. Ivanka's long blonde hair was center-parted and straight, falling loose around her shoulders. She sported smokey brown eye make-up, which she paired with a natural-looking pink lip. The Trump administration presented its proposals on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act on Monday, and the first daughter appeared at an event that discussed college affordability. 'We look forward to working with bipartisan Members of Congress on comprehensive #HigherEducationAct reform to make higher education more affordable, flexible and outcome-oriented,' she wrote on Instagram Monday. Drinking piping hot tea or coffee could more than double the risk of developing cancer, research has warned. People who regularly consume their tea at 60C (140F) or higher see their risk of gullet cancer rise by 90 per cent, though the risk is still small. But letting a cup of freshly boiled tea to cool down for several minutes before drinking it could help. The study, led by Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, adds to an array of research linking hot drinks to the disease. But this is the first time the link has been found in a large-scale study which has followed people for a long time. Scalding water irritates the lining of the mouth and throat which can fuel tumours, scientists believe. Oesophageal cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer worldwide and one of the main causes of cancer death. Experts found that drinking 700ml per day of tea at 60C or higher was 'consistently associated' with a 90 per cent increased risk of the disease, compared with people who consumed drinks at lower temperatures The researchers said their findings based on tea will apply to other hot beverages, including coffee or hot chocolate. Published in the International Journal of Cancer, the study looked at the drinking habits of 50,045 people aged 40 to 75 who lived in north-eastern Iran. During a follow-up period from 2004 to 2017, 317 new cases of oesophageal cancer - also known as cancer of the food pipe - were identified. The risk of oesophageal cancer rose to 2.4 times among those who regularly drank it at 75C (167F). The researchers, led by Dr Farhad Islami, said the results 'substantially strengthen' the existing evidence between hot drinks and oesophageal cancer. Several mechanisms could explain how drinking hot beverages could lead to cancer of the oesophagus, said the researchers. The heat could injure the gullet leading to inflammation, which could damage DNA and fuel production of carcinogenic chemicals. DRINKING TEA OR COFFEE DURING PREGNANCY REDUCES BABY SIZE Women who drink tea or coffee during pregnancy are more likely to have small babies, research suggested last November. Even women who drink less than the 'safe' cutoff of 200mg caffeine - about two mugs of instant coffee or three cups of tea - are more at risk of having low-birth weight or premature newborns. The researchers, from University College Dublin, said caffeine restricts blood flow to the placenta, affecting babies' growth. The study, led by doctor Ling-Wei Chen, looked at 941 mother-child pairs born in Ireland. Tea was the mothers' main source of caffeine (48 per cent), followed by coffee (38 percent). The results suggested that for every additional 100mg of caffeine - around half a cup of coffee - consumed daily during the first trimester, birth weight was reduced by 0.5lbs (72g). Advertisement It could also impair its ability to act as a barrier to harmful toxins from alcohol and smoking. Oesophageal cancer mainly affects people in their 60s and 70s and is more common in men than women. Symptoms can include difficulties in swallowing, persistent indigestion or heartburn, bringing up food soon after eating, a loss of appetite and weight loss. Dr Islami said: 'To our knowledge, this is the only large-scale prospective study in the world in which actual tea drinking temperature has been measured by trained staff. 'It may thus be a reasonable public-health measure to extrapolate these results to all types of beverages, and to advise the public to wait for beverages to cool to under 60C before consumption.' That is below the World Health Organisation's recommendation of less than 65C (149F). In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - a cancer agency of the World Health Organisation - classified drinking very hot beverages above 65C as a probable carcinogen. In China, Iran, Turkey and South America tea is traditionally drunk very hot - at about 70C (158F). But cancer charity Cancer Research UK said most Brits would not drink tea or coffee at such temperatures. Georgina Hill, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: 'This study adds to the evidence that having drinks hotter than 60C may increase the risk of oesophageal cancer, but most people in the UK don't drink their tea at such high temperatures. 'As long you're letting your tea cool down a bit before you drink it, or adding cold milk, you're unlikely to be raising your cancer risk - and not smoking, keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol will do much more to stack the odds in your favour.' Previous research has suggested waiting at least four minutes before drinking a cup of freshly boiled tea, or more generally allowing foods and beverages to cool from 'scalding' to 'tolerable' before swallowing. Dr James Doidge, from University College London, said: 'If... we take the results of this study on face value, then we are talking about an additional lifetime risk of oesophageal cancer of around one in 100. 'Not an insubstantial risk but one that should be balanced against the pleasure that you personally derive from your daily ritual, the unknown but probably smaller gains that you would get from changing your habit now, and the fact that if you dont develop oesophageal cancer then something else will be along to fill that role. By focusing on the more general risk factors of smoking, obesity and alcohol, you can lower your risk of a whole range of cancers at once. Powerful 'skunk' cannabis flooding the streets of Britain increases the risk of psychosis five-fold, a major study has found. The problem is so widespread that an astonishing 30 per cent of all cases of psychosis in London are caused by the drug, researchers found. They warned that 94 per cent of all cannabis available on the streets of the UK capital is now of the skunk form. It is cultivated to have super-high levels of psychoactive THC making it up to 10 times more powerful than the 'weed' and 'hashish' more common 20 or 30 years ago. As much as 94 per cent of all cannabis available from drug dealers in the UK is now skunk, according to the researchers. This form of the drug tends to have higher amounts of THC, the chemical which makes people 'high' (stock image) The King's College London researchers studied more than 2,100 people in 11 cities in Europe and South America, in the biggest study of its kind ever undertaken. They found that the link with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and paranoid delusion was strongest in London and Amsterdam the two cities where high-potency cannabis is most commonly available. Voices for legalisation of cannabis have been growing in recent months, buoyed by the Government's decision to permit limited use for medical treatment. The researchers warned against following the lead of Canada and the US states of Colorado and California, where legalisation has seen the potency of cannabis increase even further. And they said that even medicinal cannabis oil which is available in the UK for a very limited number of people should come with a warning of psychosis as a possible side effect. Professor Sir Robin Murray, one of the researchers on the paper, said: 'If you are going to legalise unless you want to pay for a lot more psychiatric beds and a lot more psychiatrists then you need to devise a system in a way that will not increase the consumption and will not increase the potency. 'Because that is what has happened in the US states where there has been legalisation for recreational use.' He added: 'The critical question is whether medicinal use remains medicinal. 'The problem in California and Canada was that medicinal use became a synonym for recreational use. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THC AND CBD Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are both derived from the cannabis plant. Together, they are part of the cannabinoid group of compounds found in hashish, hash oil, and most strains of marijuana. THC is the psychoactive compound responsible for the euphoric, 'high' feeling often associated with marijuana. THC interacts with CB1 receptors in the central nervous system and brain and creates the sensations of euphoria and anxiety. CBD does not fit these receptors well, and actually decreases the effects of THC, and is not psychoactive. CBD is thought to help reduce anxiety and inflammation. Advertisement 'You could go on the internet and tell a doctor "I have headaches, I have back pain, I feel better if I have cannabis." 'The main reason they legalised it was to try and control the amount of so-called medicinal use that is being used there, hoping that there would be a decrease in the use.' He said there was not a risk of that in the UK 'at present' because cannabis oil is so strictly controlled. But be said politicians here should be very cautious and closely monitor the situation on the other side of the Atlantic. 'Studying animals is very expensive you have to give them cannabis, you have to feed them, you have to have cages for them,' Sir Robin joked. 'But North Americans come free.' The research team, whose work is published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, found that skunk which they defined as having a THC level of more than 10 per cent increased the odds of psychosis 4.8-fold if smoked every day, compared to someone who never used the drug. Using it more than once a week was less dangerous, but still increased the risk 1.6-fold. Low-strength cannabis that which has a THC level of less than 10 per cent increased the odds of psychosis 2.2 times if used daily and 1.4 times if used more than once a week. Study leader Dr Marta Di Forti said the effect of skunk on mental health is so high that in cities where it is widely available it has a huge impact on numbers of people diagnosed with psychotic disorders. She said if skunk was taken off the streets of London new cases of psychosis would drop 30 per cent, from 46 to 32 cases per 100,000 people. DOES CANNABIS INCREASE THE RISK OF PSYCHOSIS? Going from being an occasional marijuana user to indulging every day increases the risk of psychosis by up to 159 percent, research revealed in July 2017. Marijuana is thought to cause psychosis-like experiences by increasing a user's risk of depression, a study found. The two mental health conditions have previously been linked. Frequently abusing the substance also significantly reduces a user's ability to resist socially unacceptable behavior when provoked, the research adds. Study author Josiane Bourque from the University of Montreal, said: 'Our findings confirm that becoming a more regular marijuana user during adolescence is, indeed, associated with a risk of psychotic symptoms. '[Psychosis symptoms] may be infrequent and thus not problematic for the adolescent, when these experiences are reported continuously, year after year, then there's an increased risk of a first psychotic episode or another psychiatric condition.' The researchers, from the University of Montreal, analyzed around 4,000 13-year-olds from 31 high schools in the surrounding area. Every year for four years, the study's participants completed questionnaires about any substance abuse and psychotic experiences. Psychotic symptoms included perceptual aberration - for example feeling that something external is part of their body - and thinking they have been unjustly badly treated. The participants also completed cognitive tasks that allowed the researchers to assess their IQ, memory and stimuli response. Advertisement This was second only to Amsterdam, where the eradication of skunk would cut psychosis 50 per cent, from 38 to 19 cases per 100,000. In Cambridge the only other British city to take part in the study 8 per cent of psychosis cases were attributed to strong cannabis. Dr Di Forti said even cannabis oil used for epilepsy and MS which has very low levels of THC should come with a warning of possible mental health effects until it is proven that there is no risk. 'There is no such thing as a medicine which doesn't come with a side effect,' she said. 'That doesn't stop me prescribing them. 'But... we should include risk of psychosis in the side-effect profile, both so people that prescribe it can monitor it effectively, and so that people who take it know what to look out for.' The research comes after another major Lancet study last month concluded that cannabis is responsible for 60,000 cases of depression among young people in Britain. Psychosis is a much rarer condition than depression so the numbers affected will be far smaller but the consequences are generally far more serious. Voices are growing in Britain for legalisation. Sir Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, has repeatedly claimed making mild forms of the drug legally available would stop people using skunk. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform led by Baroness Molly Meacher wants sick people to be allowed to grow their own cannabis under licence. And even the Royal College of Psychiatrists which for years has warned against legalisation is currently reviewing its position to take into account the view that decriminalisation would give the government power to both regulate its strength and generate tax from its sale. Dr Adrian James, registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said last night: 'Cannabis carries severe health risks and users have a higher chance of developing psychosis.' But he added: 'Because of these risks, a good drugs strategy should focus on preventing and reducing harm, not on diverting people to the criminal justice system.' Despite agreeing to the limited prescription of medicinal cannabis last year, Theresa May and the Government remain opposed to legalisation. Super Smeller Joy Milne (pictured on ITV's This Morning in October 2015) first discovered she can smell Parkinson's when her late husband Les was diagnosed in 1986 Doctors have relied on smell to diagnose diseases as far back as Hippocrates in ancient Greece. But while sniffing patients has fallen out of fashion in modern medicine, scientists have discovered a 'Super Smeller' who can detect Parkinson's in the odour of undiagnosed sufferers. Joy Milne who is in her late 60s first discovered she can smell Parkinson's when she noticed a change in her late husband Les's scent a decade before he was diagnosed in 1985. In a new study by The University of Manchester, the grandmother and former nurse successfully separated those with and without the neurological condition based on the scent of oils wiped from their backs. The researchers hope their study will lead to a non-invasive test that diagnoses Parkinson's early doctors are currently being forced to rely on symptoms alone. The first of its kind research was led by Dr Perdita Barran, a professor of mass spectrometry. Around one in every 350 adults in the UK are diagnosed with Parkinson's, according to Parkinson's UK. And more than 10million people are living with the disease in the US, Parkinson's Foundation statistics reveal. Dr Barran led research several years ago which revealed Mrs Milne could detect 'Parkinson's odour' when sebum the waxy oil that keeps skin moisturised is collected from a patient's back but not when it comes from their armpits. In the more recent study, the researchers therefore collected sebum from the upper backs of 43 Parkinson's patients and 21 controls. Excessive sebum production is a symptom of Parkinson's, with sufferers also having higher levels of the protein -synuclein in their skin. Scent-causing compounds were extracted from these sebum samples and heated to 'encourage the production of volatiles'. Mrs Milne then set about sniffing the samples via an 'odour port'. Mrs Milne accompanied her husband (both pictured) to a Parkinson's-support group. She knew she was on to something when she noticed all the patients smelt exactly like Les Results published in the journal ACS Central Science revealed the Super Smeller detected a characteristic musky smell in those with Parkinson's. 'I'm in a tiny, tiny, branch of the population, somewhere between a dog and a human,' she previously told the BBC. Mrs Milne could even sort different strengths of the odour. However, these were not in order of disease severity or time since diagnosis. No significant difference in smell was found between the Parkinson's patients on medication and those not. 'Joy has an extremely sensitive sense of smell, and this enables her to detect and discriminate odours not normally detected by those of average olfactory ability,' the authors wrote. Further analysis revealed the presence of the chemicals hippuric acid, eicosane and octadecanal in the patients' sebum. These all indicate altered levels of chemical messengers in patients, which leads to progressive brain cell death and loss of motor function. Mr Milne's dying wish was for his wife (pictured with their granddaughter) to assist research into the smells behind Parkinson's, which currently has no definitive diagnostic test The researchers hope their study will lead to a non-invasive diagnosis test for Parkinson's. Patients are typically diagnosed at a late stage of their disease, when significant brain cell damage has already been done. But first, additional research using both human and canine 'smellers' is required, the researchers add. Professor David Dexter, deputy director of research at Parkinson's UK, said: 'Finding changes in the oils of the skin of people with Parkinson's is an exciting discovery that was sparked by a simple conversation between a member of the public and a researcher. 'More research is needed to find out at what stage a skin test could detect Parkinson's or whether it is also occurs in other Parkinson's-related disorders. 'But the results so far hold real potential to change the way we diagnose the condition, and may even help in the development of new and better treatments for the 145,00 people living with Parkinson's in the UK.' More than half of local NHS boards in England are rationing access to cataract surgery, a report has revealed. A total of 104 out of 195 commissioning groups have the surgery on their list of 'procedures of limited clinical value', meaning they limit who can have them. Cataract surgery is the most common operation done by the NHS, with more than 300,000 of the procedures performed each year. Dozens of NHS groups are also rationing hip and knee replacements, hernia repair operations, and certain diabetic glucose monitors in a bid to save money. Experts have called the findings 'shocking' and said the NHS is making financial decisions which leave patients in pain and with worse quality of life. More than half of local NHS organisations are cutting back on cataract operations to save money, meaning patients are left waiting longer and suffering more before they can have the surgery, experts warn (stock image) Research by the Medical Technology Group (MTG) has revealed which NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are rationing which operations. CCGs are the local boards in charge of funding for GP surgeries and hospitals in the area. They ration procedures in order to save money to redirect it elsewhere usually to people they consider more urgent patients. A majority of CCGs (73) are rationing two types of surgeries from the MTG's list, 35 are rationing three, 41 rationing one, and 46 rationing none of the four. Only one CCG that in Bedfordshire is limiting access to treatment in all four of the categories. If a procedure is on the limited clinical value list, it means bosses no longer want to pay for it and people are likely to face stricter criteria to get it on the NHS. For cataracts this means people may be referred for the operation based only on how good their eyesight is, which goes against recommendations from the Royal College of Opthalmologists. Waiting longer could mean more people suffer damaging effects of worsening eyesight before they can have corrective surgery, a charity has warned. WHAT ARE CATARACTS? The Queen had an eye problem in 2016 that left her right one bloodshot Cataracts occur when the lens - a small transparent disc inside the eye that helps to focus light - becomes cloudy. The patches gradually become bigger over time, according to the NHS, and can lead to blurry vision and, in some cases, blindness. Cataracts affect around half of over-65 in the UK. Some 24 million adults aged over 40 in the US suffer, according to figures. In children they are much less common, with around one in 3,000 being born with them or developing them in childhood. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists last year warned that due to a rapidly ageing population, the number of required cataract operations is expected to jump by 50 per cent over the next 20 years. Yet in his new book 'The Complete Patient's Guide to Cataract Surgery', leading eye surgeon David Allamby claimed there simply will not be enough specialists to cope with the soaring demand. He said around 1,300 NHS surgeons perform 389,000 operations a year. However, by 2035 more than 2,000 medics will be needed to do around 583,500 procedures annually. People are more at risk if they have: diabetes, suffered an eye injury, take certain medications or have other eye conditions. Symptoms normally develop very slowly and include being more sensitive to light and thinking everything looks washed out. Cataracts can be removed by surgery and replaced with an artificial lens. No other treatment is available. The Mail has long campaigned against the current unfair system for surgery in the UK, which were a postcode lottery until the health watchdog issued guidelines last August to tackle problem, which had led to many sufferers being denied the straightforward 30-minute operations. Advertisement 'Its shocking that access to this life-changing surgery is being unnecessarily restricted by so many CCGs,' said Helen Lee, spokesperson for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). 'Cataract removal is a crucial procedure that has a huge impact on the lives of patients and their families. 'We know that restrictions or delays to cataract surgery can severely impact peoples ability to lead independent lives, making them twice as likely to experience falls and significantly reducing quality of life.' While cataract operations are being denied to many patients, demand is expected to rise by a quarter over the next 10 years. The operation has a high success rate and only takes around 30 to 45 minutes to complete. It is the only way of treating cataracts. There is no justification for CCGs restricting access to cataract surgery,' said Mike Burdon, president of the Royal College of Opthalmologists. 'CCGs must take notice of the NICE recommendations which reinforce the message that cataract surgery should be delivered at point of clinical need.' Hip and knee replacement operations tend to be rationed by raising the threshold of pain and disability a patient must suffer before being given the surgery. The same principle applies to hernias, which are caused by part of the internal organs or tissues pushing through abdominal muscles. The Royal College of Surgeons last year warned patients, most of whom are men, risk dying if hernias are left untreated for too long. It said in a comment today: 'It is wrong for commissioning groups to label operations for hip and knee replacements, and hernia surgery, as of limited value thereby delaying or denying surgery to patients in pain. 'Hip and knee surgery, for example, remains one of the most effective and life- enhancing treatments available in modern medicine. 'With the NHS about to receive a significant cash boost in April, we need an unambiguous message from Government that restricting such treatment is wrong.' Procedures of limited clinical value are usually those which are complementary therapies or are cosmetic procedures such as tattoo removal. And local NHS bodies' ability to restrict access to procedures such as cataract surgery which patients are entitled to if they show signs of the condition developing means there is a postcode lottery for people wishing to have the op. Basildon and Brentwood CCG in Essex, for example, has restricted access to the treatment, whereas neighbouring Barking and Dagenham has not. The MTG's investigation was conducted in October 2018. The organisation is made up of dozens of charities, such as Macmillan Cancer Support, patient groups and medical manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson. It found many NHS groups take a 'watchful waiting' approach to monitoring hernias, meaning people are left to suffer with them while more tests and observations are done. 'Its simply not fair that patients up and down the country are being denied access to vital treatments because of where they live,' said the chair of MTG, Barbara Harpham. 'This indiscriminate rationing by local NHS organisations must stop now and information about what treatments are or are not provided should be made freely available to patients. It should depend on your needs, not your postcode.' A spokesperson for Bedfordshire CCG said: 'Bedfordshire CCG policies have been clinically developed utilising national evidence base and best practice guidance. 'Patients requiring any of the treatments mentioned must meet a set of clinical criteria. 'Where the responsible clinician feels there are exceptional circumstances, these are considered on an individual case basis. 'Our aim is to ensure patients are accessing evidence-based, clinically appropriate procedures.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Decisions about when or whether a patient should have a procedure are rightly made by clinicians. 'However, It is completely unacceptable for CCGs to ignore crucial clinical guidelines, which are in place to ensure cataract patients get fair and consistent access to the best possible treatment for their needs. 'Commissioners should take NICE guidelines fully into account and if there is evidence of rationing care we expect NHS England to intervene.' Dementia rates in the Western world have fallen by 15 per cent every 10 years since 1988, according to reseach. People improving their heart health and quitting smoking since the 80s is believed to have helped cut rates of the deadly brain degeneration. But scientists warn growing rates of obesity are at risk of stopping this progress in its tracks. They hope advancements in medications and healthier lifestyles will help to keep the numbers falling but said improvements 'may not continue for long'. Dementia, a condition in which the brain becomes increasingly damaged and people's memory, thinking skills, and physical abilities are reduced, is expected to affect a million people in the UK by 2025 (stock image) Researchers led by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied almost 60,000 people to make their findings. 'Looking over three decades,' said Professor Albert Hofman, 'the incidence rate of dementia in Europe and North America seems to be declining by around 15 per cent per decade. 'This finding is more pronounced in men than women and is likely to be driven by changes in cardiovascular risk factors and lifestyle.' Around 850,000 people in the UK currently have dementia, but this is expected to rise to one million by 2025. And about 5.8million Americans have the condition. Professor Hofman's research tracked the 59,230 people between 1988 and 2015, and found 5,133 of them developed dementia. HOW DOES OBESITY RAISE DEMENTIA RISK? Obesity is thought to raise the risk of dementia in a number of ways. Higher numbers of fat cells produce chemicals which trigger inflammation (swelling) in the brain, which can increase the likelihood of tissues and nerves being damaged, according to research by Trinity College Dublin. Those scientists found people with fatter bellies performed worse in thinking tests than slim people. Being overweight and having excess fat in the body also puts strain on the heart and blood vessels, and increases the likelihood of heart disease. Damaging the blood vessels may in turn affect the brain by limiting how much blood is successfully pumped to the vital organ. And obese people are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, which can damage the liver and limit its ability to transport fats vital for building parts of the brain. As this damage worsens over time it could increase someone's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, University of Pennsylvania scientists suggested. Advertisement Although the number of people with the condition may be rising because of growing populations, the risk of a given individual developing dementia has fallen. Dementia is a condition most often caused by Alzheimer's disease it causes people to struggle with memory loss, thinking speed, communication and physical movement. The illness mostly affects over-65s and is incurable, eventually resulting in death because it causes extensive brain damage. Professor Hofman added: 'We know that recent decades have seen a radical decline in smoking rates for men. 'While many people may have been persuaded to stop smoking due to an increased risk of cancer or heart disease, it is also a key risk factor for dementia. 'With other dementia risk factors such as obesity and diabetes on the rise, this apparent decline in dementia rates may not continue for long.' The number of obese people is increasing in the UK almost two thirds (64 per cent) of adults are overweight or obese. This figure has risen from 53 per cent since 1993 an increase of more than a fifth. And 30 per cent of school children are now overweight or obese, and type 2 diabetes known to be caused by being overweight is thought to affect more than three million people in the UK. People with excess body weight are more likely to get dementia in part, scientists believe, because extra fat produces damaging hormones. Professor Hofman will present his research at the Alzheimer's Research UK Research Conference in Harrogate today. A Wisconsin nurse saved the life of man who overdosed on heroin in a Walgreens parking lot. Donna Davis, a licensed practical nurse, made a last-minute decision to drop by o one of the Milwaukee stores on March 8 after she had forgotten to buy something. That's when she heard a woman screaming and saw a man slumped in the front seat of a car, reported Fox 6 News. After the woman told Davis that the man had taken heroin, she immediately gave him a shot of Narcan and began performing CPR until the man began breathing again. Now, the mother-of-one is calling on others to become certified in CPR in case of a medical emergency when there isn't a health professional around to save someone's life. Donna Davis, (pictured), a licensed practical nurse, was in a Walgreens parking lot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 8 when she heard a woman screaming Davis saw a man slumped over in the driver's seat of a car and pulled his body onto the concrete. The woman with him told Davis he had overdose on heroin. Pictured: Davis performing CPR on the man The nurse asked for a passer-by to get naloxone, which is used to treat and reverse the effects of narcotic overdoses. Someone brought Narcan from the Walgreens, which Davis sprayed in the man's nostrils. Pictured: Davis performing CPR on the man Davis told Fox 6 that the Walgreens where the incident occurred isn't the one she normally goes to, but she stopped quickly because she needed something. From her truck, she heard a woman screaming in a nearby vehicle and assumed a kid was locked inside. Instead, she saw a man slumped over in the driver's seat. 'He had no color, no pulse, nothing,' Davis said. 'He didn't look like he was breathing.' She ran over to the vehicle and pulled the man's body from the car onto the concrete and asked the woman who was with him what had happened. 'I said: "I'm a nurse. Is there something that he has taken?" And she slowly whispered to me: "Heroin",' said Davis. The nurse asked for a passer-by to get naloxone, which is used to treat and reverse the effects of narcotic overdoses. Someone brought Narcan, an FDA-approved nasal form of the medicine, from Walgreens, which Davis sprayed in the man's nostrils. Right after that, Davis began performing CPR while another woman called 911. 'When you're doing those chest compressions, it takes a lot out of you,' she told Fox 6 News. 'I was exhausted, honestly. I was exhausted, but I knew I couldn't stop.' In a video taken by a passer-by, Davis is seen administering the Narcan and doing chest compressions. After about three minutes, she finds a pulse. 'He took this loud gasp of air and, when I looked down at him, I immediately saw his face turn more flushed, like a red color, and at that point I knew he was breathing again,' she said. 'I dropped my head again and said: "Thank God".' After about three minutes, the man had a pulse and began breathing again. When the man asked Davis what happened, she replied: 'You were dead!' Pictured: Davis feeling for a pulse, left, and after the man began breathing again, right Davis (pictured) said the man later thanked her and asked if he could hug her. She said she hopes that others are encouraged to learn CPR themselves In the video, the man is seen lying on the ground with his nose bleeding and he asks Davis what happened. 'And I'm like: "You were dead!"' she said. As first responders arrive on the scene, the man sits in his car and insists that he's fine. Off-camera Davis can be heard saying: 'He's got to get some help. This is too scary. This is the second time I've had to do that to somebody.' The original video, which was live-streamed on Instagram and then shared on Facebook, has more than 15,800 reactions and has been shared more than 29,600 times. Davis told Fox 6 that the man later thanked her and asked if he could hug her. She said she hopes that he's learned a lesson and that others are encouraged to learn CPR themselves. 'At the end of the day, I was only trying to do the right thing, and I would do it again for anybody,' she said. US regulators have approved the first drug to treat postpartum depresson. Zulresso, an IV drug given over two-and-a-half days, got the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. A company-funded study conducted by the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found around 70 percent of women had improved mood after the infusion. Its manufacturer, Sage Therapeutics, said Zulresso will cost $34,000 without insurance, plus costs for staying in a hospital or infusion center. Whether the treatment gets covered by insurance is determined by each insurance company, which also sets the out-of-pocket costs, depending on the plan. Zulresso, an IV drug given over two-and-a-half days, got the green light from the FDA on Tuesday to prescribe for women with postpartum depression. Stephanie Hathaway, 33, (pictured with her first daughter) took part in the clinical trial at UNC. Having experienced postpartum depression twice, Hathaway says the infusion changed her life When the doctors put Hathaway's first-born Hadley on her chest, Hathaway felt nothing. Soon she developed crippling anxiety, even calling her husband Adam (pictured) at work one day panicking about what would happen if she put Hadley down She got a prescription for antidepressants, which alleviated her symptoms, and they hoped that this would prevent a repeat with their second pregnancy, but it didn't One woman who took part in the study, 33-year-old Stephanie Hathaway, says the treatment saved her life, after enduring crippling anxiety after the births of both of her daughters. 'I woke up from a nap, and the thoughts were gone. And they never came back,' Hathaway told NBC. 'And then hour after hour, I got my energy back. I got my appetite back. I was eating because I was actually hungry, not because people were making me eat.' Hathaway, from South Glastonbury in Connecticut, had her first daughter with husband Adam in 2015, shortly after they moved to China for his work. But when the doctors put her first-born Hadley on her chest, Hathaway felt nothing. Soon she developed crippling anxiety, even calling Adam at work one day panicking about what would happen if she put Hadley down. 'I was holding my baby one night, and my husband was at a meeting, and I just thought, "Oh, my goodness. If I put the baby down, I might hurt myself,"' Hathaway recalls. She got a prescription for antidepressants, which alleviated her symptoms, and they hoped that this would prevent a repeat with their second pregnancy. But when Brenley arrived in 2017, now back in Connecticut and on antidepressants, it was exactly the same. In fact, it was worse. Hathaway is hardly alone. It's rarely been talked about in the public sphere until recently, but postpartum depression is incredibly common, affecting about 400,000 American women a year. It often ends on its own within a couple weeks, but it can continue for months or even years. It can be treated with antidepressants, which can take six to eight weeks to work and don't help everyone, or with counseling. 'Postpartum depression is a serious condition that, when severe, can be life-threatening,' Dr Tiffany Farchione of FDA's Division of Psychiatry Products said in a statement. 'Women may experience thoughts about harming themselves or harming their child,' Hathaway, desperate for solace, found UNC was doing a clinical trial on an infusion of drugs to mediate hormone changes after birth. Hathaway was one of the trial's biggest success stories, saying: 'It's given [her kids] their mom back. This is what it was supposed to be like' Adam said he was incredibly concerned for Stephanie as her symptoms escalated Zulresso's active ingredient, brexanolone, mimics a derivative of the naturally occurring hormone progesterone, levels of which can plunge after childbirth. The infusion helps restore normal levels and emotions, according to Sage Chief Executive Dr Jeff Jonas. The drug's most common side effects were sleepiness, dizziness and headaches. A few women had more-serious problems, such as fainting and loss of consciousness. Hathaway was one of the trial's biggest success stories, saying: 'It's given [her kids] their mom back. This is what it was supposed to be like.' However, due to the side effects other women experienced, the FDA said it is restricting Zulresso's use to certified health care facilities where patients can be closely monitored throughout the infusion. Zulresso appears safe for breastfeeding, said Dr Kimberly Yonkers, a psychiatrist specializing in postpartum depression who heads Yale Medical School's Center for Wellbeing of Women and Mothers. She expects the drug will be used to treat serious cases and patients not helped by antidepressants. 'It's going to depend on patient willingness to go into an infusion center and insurers being willing to pay for this,' Yonkers added. Sage plans to begin selling the drug in late June. It's developing a second, similar treatment in pill form, and Marinus Pharmaceuticals is testing both a pill and IV therapy. A nine-year-old girl with a rare inoperable cancer has been saved by pioneering proton beam therapy in the US. Caroline Brown, from Longhoughton, Northumberland, had been unwell for four months before a diagnosis of cancer in March 2017. Doctors initially thought her stage-four rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue cancer, was an ear infection. The tumour had spread so close to Caroline's brain that her family were told it was too risky to operate on. She was seven at the time. She was sent to the US for ten weeks to have proton beam therapy, which was not available in the UK, and has made a full recovery. The treatment has been hailed as a game-changer, and now the NHS are setting up centres to help hundreds of patients a year. Caroline Brown, from Northumberland, has been saved inoperable cancer by pioneering proton beam therapy in the US Doctors initally thought a stage-four soft tissue tumour that was millimeters from her brain, known as a rhabdomyosarcoma, was an ear infection Caroline's mother Lucy, 45, told The Times: 'Now Caroline has recovered, occasionally Ill just look at her and cry.' According to her, Caroline had intermittent earache from November 2016, which the GP said was an infection. But she was also losing a lot of weight, and had no energy, motivation or interest in doing anything, including playing with her friends. After an MRI scan, doctors diagnosed Caroline with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a type of sarcoma that grows in the active muscles of the body. RMS is the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma to occur in childhood, accounting for 53 per cent of cases. Under 60 children are diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in the UK each year, and 400 to 500 new cases of rhabdomyosarcoma occur each year in the US. Doctors said Caroline's tumour could not be operated on because it was too close to her facial nerves. The NHS funded proton beam therapy in the US, which uses a beam of high energy protons to precisely target a tumour and reduce the damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Mother Lucy Brown, 45, said Caroline's cancer started as an earache when she was seven years old which lasted four months before a diagnosis in March 2017 Caroline had chemotherapy in the UK, and now has been fully recovered for a year WHAT ARE RHABDOMYO-SARCOMAS? Sarcomas are rare types of cancer that develop in the supporting or connective tissues of the body. Soft tissue sarcomas can develop in muscle, fat, blood vessels, or any of the other tissues that support, surround and protect the organs of the body. About 3,300 new cases are diagnosed each year in the UK. Rhabdomyosarcomas grow in the active muscles of the body. The most common places for them to be found are the head, neck, bladder, vagina, arms, legs and trunk of the body. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas tend to occur in older children and adolescents. It is usually treated with chemotherapy, along with surgery or radiotherapy - but it's unknown what causes it. Most rhabdomyosarcomas are diagnosed after a person develops symptoms. These may include: a lump that can be seen or felt - it may or may not be painful bleeding from the nose, vagina, rectum or throat, if the tumour is in these areas tingling, numbness, pain and loss of movement, if the tumour presses on nerves in the area Source: Macmillan Cancer Support Advertisement It's an advantage in certain groups of patients where the cancer is close to a critical part of the body such as the spinal cord or brain. Caroline then had additional chemotherapy at Newcastles Royal Victoria Infirmary. Ms Brown, a writer, told The Times: 'Chemo is the most horrific thing to watch your child go through. It destroys them. Research is vital to make this less aggressive and, if possible, more tailored to each child. 'A year in remission fills me with amazement shes made it, and regret that it ever happened. Its an unnameable emotion, like a type of grief.' Proton beam therapy has been offered abroad to about 1,000 eligble NHS patients since 2008. Last autumn, an NHS centre opened at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. The first patient was treated in December last year, and by the time a second centre is opened in summer 2020, 750 patients will be treated every year. Eventually, it is expected to benefit 1,500 patients a year. The therapy drew attention four years ago when the story of Ashya King, who was then five, sparked a fierce debate. His parents were jailed with abduction when they took him to Spain, fearing the radiotherapy recommended by doctors in Southampton treating his brain tumour would turn him into 'a vegetable'. Despite being arrested, they were eventually allowed to take him to Prague for proton beam therapy, and Ashya is now recovering. Legalising medicinal cannabis has led to people getting carried away with what they believe it could treat, England's Chief Medical Officer has warned. Dame Sally Davies spoke in Parliament yesterday to say she has concerns about the safety of cannabis-based medicines. She called for more clinical trials to test the safety and effectiveness of the drugs, and said doctors mustn't cut corners. Cannabis-based medicine was legalised in the UK in November and is only available to a limited number of patients mainly children with severe epilepsy. But the previous illegality of the medicines means clinical trials haven't been done in the past, so evidence of how well they work, and for what, is thin on the ground. Dame Sally Davies, the British Government's chief adviser, said she has concerns about the safety and effectiveness of medicinal cannabis and warned there are 'no shortcuts' to prescribing it Dame Sally has been the Government's chief medical adviser since 2011. Speaking to the health select committee yesterday, she said doctors were rightly hesitant to dish out cannabis-based drugs without good evidence from clinical trials. In the highest profile cases of the children who prompted the law change, they had already been taking the medication illegally before it was allowed. 'I think we have opened a Pandora's box and there is a belief that it works for many conditions,' Dame Sally said. 'I do have concerns about safety.' Various benefits of cannabis-based medicines are widely claimed but not well proven. People claim they help epilepsy, chronic pain, depression and PTSD, multiple sclerosis, and even controversially cancer. Mothers of children with severe forms of epilepsy say they have found their children have far fewer seizures when treated regularly with cannabis oil. But Dame Sally warned the chemical THC, which makes people high when they smoke cannabis, has links to depression, schizophrenia and brain development problems in young people. She called for more in-depth trials to be done to find out how the drugs actually affect patients who take them. And private companies set to profit the most from selling the drugs should help to fund them, she said. Randomised control studies, properly done, are the way to go forward,' Dame Sally said. 'It would be great if the industry would make a contribution to this. I really hope we can do the trials, because without those, how can we help the patients? Campaigners yesterday marched to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition signed by 578,000 people calling on the Government to review prescribing guidelines for medicinal cannabis products and make them less 'restrictive' Campaigners, pictured with Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi (left), said even thought medical cannabis has been legalised it is still too difficult for the parents of epileptic children to access ACCESS TO MEDICAL CANNABIS 'APPALLING' SINCE LEGALISATION A university professor last month said access to medicinal cannabis had been 'appalling' since it was legalised in November. Professor Mike Barnes, from Newcastle University, claimed in February only six patients had been given prescriptions and none of them were on the NHS. Since November 1 2018, specialist doctors in the UK have been able to legally prescribe unlicensed marijuana-based products containing THC, which is what makes users 'high'. Despite the law change, the British Paediatric Neurology Associations guidelines do not recommend the prescription of medicinal cannabis that contains THC. 'The situation is appalling,' Professor Barnes said in The British Medical Journal. 'Not one patient has benefited from a cannabis prescription on the NHS. 'The legislation has had no impact on the health of people due to the lack of education of the medical community and overcautious guidelines produced by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Paediatric Neurology Association.' Advertisement But clinical trials take a long time and desperate parents insist the clock is ticking for their epileptic children who could be helped by the drug. Dame Sally said: Without an evidence base, we cannot license these drugs and move them into whatever turns out to be their rightful place in medicine. But when asked if the process could be streamlined to allow patients quicker access to the products, she said: There is no shortcut, we have to find out how it works and what the impact is. Campaigner Peter Carroll, who represents at least 16 families lobbying Parliament to get access for their severely epileptic children, said waiting to compile more evidence would be unforgivable. Speaking on behalf of the campaign group, End Our Pain, Mr Carroll said some children suffered from 300 seizures a week. He told the committee: How can we tell these children they have to wait four or five years?... That is unforgivable. These prescriptions can and should be written now. Families of children with severe epilepsy handed a petition with 578,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street calling for the guidance on prescribing medical cannabis to be reviewed. Organised by End our Pain, the petition said that despite medical cannabis being rescheduled, guidance issued Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA) was so restrictive that almost no one will get access to medical cannabis. It is supported by Hannah Deacon, whose son Alfie Dingley was the first person in the UK to receive a permanent medical cannabis licence and went on to be granted the first NHS prescription issued after the UK law change. Campaigners from the End Our Pain group hold photos of their relatives outside 10 Downing Street yesterday. They want access to medical cannabis, which is believed to reduce seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy, to be easier to access Billy Caldwell, pictured with his mother, Charlotte, suffers from severe epilepsy which Ms Caldwell found was eased by cannabis oil which she had to obtain illegally. Billy's was one of the landmark cases which convinced the UK Government to change its mind on the legal status of cannabis medicines THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THC AND CBD Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are both derived from the cannabis plant. Together, they are part of the cannabinoid group of compounds found in hashish, hash oil, and most strains of marijuana. THC is the psychoactive compound responsible for the euphoric, 'high' feeling often associated with marijuana. THC interacts with CB1 receptors in the central nervous system and brain and creates the sensations of euphoria and anxiety. CBD does not fit these receptors well, and actually decreases the effects of THC, and is not psychoactive. CBD is thought to help reduce anxiety and inflammation. Advertisement Speaking at Parliament, Miss Deacon said she could not stand back and let other children suffer after seeing the wonderful change medical cannabis had had on Alfie. She said that since the prescription, her seven-year-old son had gone from being in hospital 48 times in one year to just one hospital admission in a year. Parents Matt and Ali Hughes from Norwich said the clock was ticking for their 20-month-old son Charlie who suffered from as many as 100 seizures a day. His rare form of epilepsy stops the brain from developing. If we can stop the seizures by getting cannabis oil we can give him a chance to develop. It could completely change his outcome and give him a better quality of life, said Mrs Hughes. Other families said they have been reduced to criminality by spending thousands of pounds to bring the drug into the UK from Holland to help their children. But Alette Addison, head of pharmacy development and regulation at the Department of Health and Social Care, told the select committee that without an evidence base doctors will not be confident prescribing the drugs. She also denied that the current guidance was too restrictive, insisting it was based on the best international evidence available. She added: Doctors are only going to be confident in prescribing, signing that form, if they have the evidence base to do so, and its not there at the moment. A baby was found to have eye cancer after his mother saw a white spot in his pupil in a photograph. Emily Smith, 23, from Bognor Regis, West Sussex, took Jaxson, then aged 11 months, to the doctors when she noticed the blur in other photos. After tests, the GP referred Jaxson to specialists who diagnosed retinoblastoma - a rare form of eye cancer that usually affects children under five. If the disease is picked up early, retinoblastoma can often be successfully treated. After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Jaxson, now three, has been stable for ten months. Jaxson was diagnosed with eye cancer when his mother saw a white spot in his pupil in a photograph when he was aged 11 months Jaxson was diagnosed retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer that usually affects children under five. Pictured now, age three, with his mother, Emily Smith, 23 After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, Jaxson has been stable for ten months. Pictured with his mother and her partner, Owen Scrivens, 23 Ms Smith, a mental heath care worker, said: 'The flash on my camera automatically came on as Jaxon was in the dark. 'He looked so cute, but when I looked back at the picture I noticed the strange clouding behind one of his pupils. 'It was after this that I googled it and looked back at previous photos where we also noticed the white reflex.' Ms Smith and her partner, Owen Scrivens, 23, who is Jaxson's father, booked a GP appointment the following day on November 28, 2016. A red reflex test made some worrying findings - an abnormal red reflex is a white, yellow or black reflection in one or both eyes, and is a warning flag for a serious eye condition. Ms Smith said: 'The results confirmed that there was a glow which meant there was something behind his eye. 'She [the doctor] stated that in the 16 years she has been a GP she had never seen anything like it.' Retinoblastoma is very rare. Around 45 children are diagnosed in the UK each year, and around 200 to 300 in the US. 'That's where our nightmare began,' Ms Smith said. Following the GP's concerns, Jaxson was put forward for an emergency referral at St Richards Eye clinic, Chichester. Ms Smith said: 'Both myself, and my partner were extremely anxious and worried about Jaxson. A GP referred Jaxson to eye specialists. An ophthalmologist told the family that Jaxson could have cancer before they were seen by a Royal London Hospital retinoblastoma specialist. Pictured, scans of Jaxsons eyes Jaxson had six rounds of systemic chemotherapy at Southhampton General hospital Scans showed that Jaxson's cancer had not spread, which could have affected his optic nerve and the rest of his body. Pictured with his father Mr Scrivens Jaxson had his last treatment and was stable in July 2017 before a relapse 'An ophthalmologist looked into Jaxson's eye with a special scope and immediately asked a senior clinician for their advice. 'They told us that Jaxson could have cancer and that we would be again immediately referred to the Royal London Hospital to see the retinoblastoma specialist. WHAT IS RETINOBLASTOMA? Retinoblastoma is a rare type of eye cancer that usually affects children under the age of five. As it is usually caught early in the UK, 98 per cent of children with the disease are successfully treated. About 45 children develop the condition every year in Britain. It affects up to 300 youngsters annually in the US. Retinoblastoma is specifically a cancer of the retina, which is the light-sensitive lining at the back of the eye. It can affect one or both eyes. A fault gene is responsible in about 40 per cent of cases. This can be inherited from the sufferers parents or may occur spontaneously. The most common symptoms are the pupil looking like a cats eye and the child developing a squint. The cat eye look is most commonly seen in photos. Small tumours can usually be treated with laser or freezing treatment. Larger tumours may require chemotherapy or surgery. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement 'The wait for the appointment was agonising. We finally got our appointment for 21 December, 2016 - the day felt very twice as long, and anxiety levels were high among ourselves and family members.' While in the operating theatre, surgeons used a special magnification scope to look at the retina. They were then able to confirm there was a tumour. The specialists also investigated whether the tumour had grown or spread close to the back of the eye. This could affect the optic nerve leading into other areas of the body. Ms Smith added: 'Waiting for Jaxson to come round was horrific - it was only an hour, but it felt like so much longer. 'Luckily, following his surgery, Jaxson was pleasantly unaware of what was going on and continued to be our happy, beautiful baby boy. 'We had Christmas knowing what was going on inside our little boys' eye and trying to be as positive as possible knowing that this tumour was actively growing, it was an incredibly difficult time.' An MRI scan confirmed that Jaxson's cancer wasn't spreading. After Christmas, he started having systemic chemotherapy, used for larger tumours, at Southhampton General hospital. There are two possible treatment options for small tumours contained within the eye - laser treatment and freezing the tumour (cryotherapy). In July 2017, after six rounds of chemotherapy, the couple were given the good news that Jaxson's tumour had become stable, meaning he required no more treatment. Ms Smith said: 'We were heartbroken to find out it was beginning to grow again, despite Jaxson reacting so well to his previous treatment' Jaxson had infra-arterial chemotherapy every two weeks and six sessions of laser surgery under general anaesthetic After a difficult couple of years, Ms Smith and Mr Scrivens finally received the news last year that Jaxson was stable once again. Ten months later, he is still stable The doting parents said they were proud of their son But six months later, in December 2017, they were given the sad news he had relapsed. 'We were heartbroken to find out it was beginning to grow again, despite Jaxson reacting so well to his previous treatment,' Ms Smith said. 'They had already done laser surgery on the tumour as best they could whilst Jaxson was asleep, then, when they found the laser treatment wasn't working. 'They gave him infra-arterial chemotherapy every two weeks until Jaxson had had six sessions of laser under general anaesthetic.' After a difficult couple of years, Ms Smith and Mr Scrivens finally received the news last year that Jaxson was stable once again. Ten months later, he is still stable, and Ms Smith said: 'We were told by Jaxson's school that he is on track for everything development-wise with no concerns. 'I think we have always been aware that he may struggle due to being premature and also an oncology patient but we could not be more proud of our gorgeous little boy. 'Even if he was behind we would still be just as proud, but to know despite it all he is still so kind and clever is extraordinary.' 'Jaxson was so brave and we couldn't have been more proud of him as he underwent lifesaving surgery and chemotherapy.' Philadelphia health officials say they've now believe 67 people have contracted mumps at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Last month, the school alerted students that four people had been diagnosed with the highly-contagious, viral disease. Mumps is typically preventable with the MMR vaccine - which also protects against measles and rubella - but a number of the sick students were reportedly vaccinated, although the outbreak comes amid anti-vaxxer driven measles outbreaks. Yesterday, the school reported that 12 cases had been confirmed via laboratory testing while another 55 others are considered probable. At Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (pictured), 12 cases of mumps have been confirmed and another 55 students are suspected to have the highly-contagious virus Probable diagnoses are used in cases where a person in the community shows mumps-like symptoms. Some people show no signs or symptoms of the virus, but others develop pain and swelling around the face, as well as headache, fever, muscle aches, weakness and a loss of appetite. The advent of the MMR vaccine has cut the number of annual mumps cases by 99 percent since the 1970s. But since 2006, there has been an uptick in outbreaks across the US, occurring about every five years. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that vaccination helps to limit the number of cases, potential reach of the disease's spread and duration of outbreaks, it also cautions that outbreaks can still happen. They typically occur among close-knit communities where people are living in close quarters and having frequent contact, as the disease is communicable through saliva. For this reason, a college campus like Temple University's is a ripe breeding ground for the virus. Additionally, the school previously required only proof of a meningitis vaccination for students planning to live on campus. Now, the school says it is updating its immunization policy so that students must have both doses of the MMR vaccine and chickenpox vaccine, as well as a single dose of the Tdap (tetanus, diptheria and pertussis) vaccine within the past 10 years. For students that have already fallen ill, or may have come into contact with sick peers, there is no treatment. Like all viral infections, mumps is not treatable with antibiotics, but typically clears up in a couple of weeks. If it doesn't, the infection can cause brain, ovarian, breast and testicular inflammation, though these are rare in adults. The university has instructed symptomatic students to drink lots of fluids, rest and take anti-inflammatory medications like Tylenol and Motrin to manage swelling. College health officials are urging any unvaccinated students to get their MMR shots, and recommending a third booster dose for anyone who has come into close contact with a sick peer. Otherwise, all the campus community can do to stop the diseases spread is cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, wash their hands correctly, keep their food and drinks to themselves, and stay home if they start feeling ill. People travelling abroad for hair transplants may end up having the procedures done by 'taxi drivers and Syrian refugees with no training', experts have warned. The lure of lower prices is leading people to pay for poor quality, botched transplants which leave them scarred and bloody. Grim photos released by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) have shown what happens when these hair transplants go wrong. The ISHRS said illegal clinics are tricking British customers with sophisticated websites and false guarantees while charging as little as 620 for the procedures. The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery warns in some clinics overseas people are at risk of having treatment performed by people without the right training, which can result in injuries like the above, in which a man had too many follicles taken at once 'The marketing tactics are deceptive as it appears like a team of professional doctors with excellent testimonials,' said Dr Ricardo Meija, chair of the ISHRS's unlicenced practice of medicine committee. 'However, the reality is your surgery may be done by someone with no medical training. 'The demand for hair transplants is so high, reports are that taxi cab drivers and Syrian refugees do the surgery in some overseas countries.' The ISHRS said there are growing numbers of people being left scarred by transplants gone wrong. It has revealed photos of men and women who have had too much hair harvested from their heads, patients being left with wounds from the ops, and transplants which have simply failed. Done successfully, hair transplants can transform the appearance of the patients, who are usually balding men. They have grown in popularity in recent years, with 635,000 operations performed worldwide in 2017, the ISHRS said, up from 225,779 in 2006 a 181 per cent rise. Celebrities including Wayne Rooney, X Factor judge Louis Walsh, chef Gordon Ramsay, and actor James Nesbitt have all had the operations. Usually costing around 7,000, the ops work by taking living hair follicles from areas where it is still growing and transplant them to balding areas. While the rich and famous can fork out thousands to have transplants done in high-end clinics, others may be tempted by the cut-price procedures offered abroad. Unregulated clinics may perform hair transplantation techniques which are outdated or not executed properly because of poor quality or non-existent training One man in the ISHRS's warning was left with a wound which caused the tissue on his scalp to die, because the surgical procedure was done badly Travelling to clinics which aren't staffed by experts, the ISHRS warns, can leave people forking out for undesirable results which they will then have to pay to correct when they get home Mexico, Turkey, India and Sweden are all among the most popular destinations for transplant travellers, according to the ISHRS. While regulation is strict in the UK and clinics must register with the NHS and care home watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, it may be more lax overseas. Last week it was reported a man at a private clinic in Mumbai, India, had died after a 12-hour hair transplant operation. The 43-year-old had paid 500,000 rupees (5,400) for the hair transplant and is believed to have died of an allergic reaction, though this hasn't been confirmed. Speaking of less serious but still concerning complications, Dr Meija added: 'Patients are the ones that suffer when they realise too late who carried out their surgery. '[They] end up with botched complications and scars, and hairlines that are not normal and are disfiguring.' The US-based ISHRS has launched a 'Black Market Awareness' campaign to try and stop these rogue operators, many of whom are in Turkey. A spokesperson for society said: 'The rogue clinics and hospitals that facilitate illegal or unethical practices have created an expanding black market hair transplant underworld of sorts. 'Surgeries are performed by non-doctors with little or no training, are causing irreparable harm.' Some black market clinics reportedly offer the procedures for as little as 620. The perils of bad hair transplants are not limited to men these photos show a woman whose surgeon took too many hair follicles from the back of her hair and as a result she was left with thinner hair than before This man's procedure was botched and caused an unnecessarily large amount of scarring, making parts of his head look worse than before Even if patients are not maimed by their botched surgery it might leave them with poor quality results the transplant tissue was not handled properly in this man's case and so the hair never grew after his operation This man's hair was simply not fixed by the procedure, which appears to have caused unnecessary damage to his scalp and left him with thin, patchy hair This patient was left with dozens of small round scars beneath his healthy hair where the surgeons took out large clumps of flesh Former ISHRS president and founder of the British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery and the Farjo Hair Institute, Dr Bessam Farjo, said registered surgeons are left to pick up the pieces when people are left with disastrous results. He said: 'We know that there are clinics out there staffed by "practitioners" who do not have the requisite training, skill or expertise to carry out successful hair transplant procedures and appreciate the medium and long term issues facing the hair loss patient. 'And we then subsequently see their patients at our own clinics, when theyre desperate for horrendous mistakes to be rectified.' He added: 'A poor hair transplant - which can look unnatural, create awful scarring or simply not work at all - will not only leave a patient out of pocket but will potentially permanently deprive them of the hair they desire, and have an enormous impact on their confidence, psychological well-being and self-esteem.' Experts have warned people considering the procedures to only go to UK clinics registered with the Care Quality Commission. London hair surgeon Dr Greg Williams added: 'I also believe patients and practitioners should not hesitate to report any clinics to the CQC that offer HRS and are not registered. 'If you are operating on patients in a non-CQC registered hair transplant clinic then you are operating illegally.' A teenager was left suicidal after he caught a mind-altering infection from his cat who scratched him. The boy, whose name has not been revealed, was hospitalised four times during 18 months, believing he was an 'evil, damned son of the devil'. Doctors diagnosed the otherwise healthy 14-year-old - who had been having suicidal thoughts and feared his cat was going to kill him - with rapid onset schizophrenia. His illness progressed, leaving him with hallucinations, irrational fears and outbursts of rage, until his mother had to quit her job to care for him. During an 11-week stay in hospital, extensive testing was carried out on the boy, who was failing to respond to usual treatments. A physician recognised marks on his skin linked with 'cat-scratch disease', caused by a bacteria called Bartonella henselae found in the mouth and claws of cats. A teenager who spent almost two years in psychosis was suspected to have schizophrenia, but was in fact had an infection of Bartonella from cat scratches. Photographs taken by the parents in February 2017, around seven months after the parents spotted them The patient tested positive for the infection, and after a range of antibiotics, he made a full recovery, doctors at North Carolina State University revealed. Bartonella infection is notorious for 'hiding' in the linings of blood vessels, but left untreated, it can have devastating consequences. It has caused a range of illnesses, ranging from a fever to fatigue, and in extreme cases can lead to deadly brain swelling and heart infections. Researchers, writing in the Journal of Central Nervous Disease, said this rare case was interesting for a number or reasons. Dr Ed Breitschwerdt, lead author of the case report, said: 'This case is interesting for a number of reasons. 'Beyond suggesting that infection itself could contribute to... schizophrenia, it raises the question of how often infection may be involved with psychiatric disorders generally.' The talented boy, who owned many pets, was suddenly struck in October 2015 by symptoms including feeling overwhelmed, confused, depressed, and agitated. He also expressed that he wanted to take his own life due to intrusive thoughts about killing his family. He was admitted for emergency psychiatric hospitalisation and discharged a week later. But soon he became more dysfunctional and was unable to go to school due to his severe psychiatric symptoms. The report said: 'In addition to persecutory delusions related to his pets, he developed auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations and began refusing to leave the house.' By December 2015, his mother quit her job to provide full-time supervision, but he was soon in a psychiatric hospital again. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU'RE BITTEN BY AN ANIMAL? Clean the wound immediately by running warm tap water over it for a couple of minutes, even if the skin does not appear broken. Remove any dirt or foreign objects from the wound. Encourage the wound to bleed slightly by gentle squeezing (unless already bleeding freely). If there is heavy bleeding, place a clean pad or sterile dressing over wound and apply pressure. Dry the wound and cover with a clean dressing or plaster. Seek medical advice unless the wound is very minor. For severe wounds, go to A&E. Advertisement At home, he developed excessive fatigue, daily headaches, chest pains, shortness of breath - possibly panic anxiety - and a constant need to urinate. The medial team were mystified when a long list of treatments for the psychosis and other possible causes of the symptoms such as an auto-immune condition were ineffective. The withdrawal symptoms of the drugs were traumatic, too - the boy experienced severe anorexia, nausea, and vomiting, which resulted in hospitalisation and a 20.5kg (40lbs) weight loss over almost six weeks. In the summer of 2016, he was hospitalized for 11 weeks at a large out-of-state psychiatric teaching hospital where extensive testing took place. When he came home, still unwell, his parents noted the marks on his skin around the armpit and thigh - around ten months after the initial symptoms begun. In early 2017 a physician connected the dots, and blood tests revealed that there was, in fact, an infection of cat-borne bacteria. By the end of the year, after missing two years of school, the boy had returned to his normal self. Bartonella was until recently thought to be a short-lived infection. But watchdogs have warned that cat bites and scratches can be 'devastating in terms of infection and permanent disability', if left untreated. There are at least 30 different known species of Bartonella, and 13 of those have been found to infect human beings. Official figures suggest around 12,000 Americans succumb to cat scratch disease each year. It is unsure how many Britons develop the infection. A psychedelic compound from toad venom is the latest promising treatment for anxiety and depression, a new study reveals. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that the 'mystical experience' of the compound, called 5-MeO-DMT, may actually be a quick-acting way to reduce the symptoms of crippling mental health problems. In the last several years, scientists have been increasingly focusing on psychedelics like psilocybin and ketamine as potential treatments for anxiety, depression and PTSD because the drugs require only short sessions to work. And 5-MeO-DMT is the latest experimental drug to be investigated as a possible therapy for people who don't respond to more traditional treatments. The venom of the homely Colorado River Toad (pictured) contains 5-MeO-DMT, a psychedelic compound that reduced anxiety and depression symptoms for 80 percent of those who tried it For decades, psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, LSD, ketamine and DMT have been used recreationally by people searching for meaning and mystical experiences. But now scientists think that hippies and club kids might be onto something - if the drugs are used properly, in controlled settings and in conjunction with talk therapy. One of the issues facing people struggling with mental illness is that relief is never never instantaneous. Antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications are proven to work - best when they're taken in tandem with therapy - but it can take weeks, even months, for their effects to set in. And nearly half of depressed patients (45 percent) are 'treatment resistant,' meaning that the drugs don't work. The standard recommendation for next-steps is to up the dosage, add on more drugs or try a different drug. That means starting the waiting game over, or risking broader-sweeping effects. Many patients wind up in a seemingly endless cycle of trial-and-error treatment with little to no relief. Psychedelics have a different pharmacology from pharmaceutical drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Instead, they act instantly, on different receptors, and only for a short while. Their effects can lead to a sense of self-exploration and work as a sort of 'reset' for the brain. Clinical trials of psilocybin and ketamine for depression and PTSD treatments, respectively, are already underway, and Dr Alan Davis of Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit wants to keep exploring additional psychedelics. Namely, 5-MeO-DMT. The compound can be taken from the poison that the homely Colorado River Toad uses to defend itself from predators, or made synthetically. Some have referred to 5-MeO-DMT as the 'god molecule,' and is estimated to be four- to seven-times more powerful than the related DMT. The drug acts on the brain's serotonin system too, but in a very different way from traditional antidepressants, producing hallucinogenic effects (such as seeing intricate patterns and fractals). His new study is Dr Davis's initial exploration of the drug, and simply surveyed people who had used it in a (relatively) controlled setting. The study establishes that as being in a group ritualistic setting, in a predetermined dose, with guidance and support before, during and after taking it. 5-MeO-DMT lasts just an hour to an hour-and-a-half, and about 80 percent of the 362 survey respondents said that even after those short 'trips' they felt less anxious and depressed. And the more 'mystical' their experiences were, the more effective people said 5-MeO-DMT was at reducing they symptoms of their anxiety or depression. For 80 percent of the study participants, 5-MeO-DMT was at least among the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives. Although some people did experience 'challenging' elements of a psychedelic trip, such as physical discomfort or paranoia, this didn't seem to make any difference in whether or not 5-MeO-DMT improved their anxiety and depression. It's far too soon to say for sure that the toad poison psychedelic will be hitting pharmacy shelves, but Dr Davis is eager to explore its possibilities, given what a high percentage of people who tried it found relief. 'It is important to examine the short- and long-term effects of 5-MeO-DMT, which may enhance mood in general or may be particularly mood enhancing for those individuals experiencing clinically significant negative mood,' he said. 'Regardless, this research is in its infancy and further investigation is warranted in healthy volunteers.' People with a rare, genetic disorder that turns tissue into bone may finally have a treatment. Three experimental drugs are currently being tested in human trials as potential therapies for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). Developed by research universities and pharmaceutical companies, the drugs target genes and proteins responsible for the hyperactive bone growth to prevent - and, in some cases, reverse - it. With any luck, one of them could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by next year, reported STAT News. Three drugs have entered clinical trials as potential treatments for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a rare, genetic disease in which damaged muscle and soft tissue turn into bone. Pictured: Image of the back and skeleton of someone with FOP FOP is a rare, genetic disorder in which damaged muscles and soft tissues - such as ligaments and tendons - regrow as bone. These new bones eventually form a second skeleton and severely limit sufferers' ability to move. It was only in 2006 that researchers discovered FOP is caused by a mutation in the ACVR1 gene, which controls the body's growth and development of bones and muscles. Naturally, cartilage is replaced by bone from birth to adolescence. But scientists say that the mutation may leave gene receptors constantly 'on', which causes bones to overgrow and joints to fuse together. Those with the disorder usually experience their first 'flare-up' by age 10. Children with FOP start growing extra bones in their neck and shoulders, proceeding through the body down to the feet. According to the National Center for Advancing Transnational Sciences, the disorder occurs in roughly one in 1.6 million newborns. There are only about 800 people in the world known to have the condtion. WHAT IS FIBRODYSPLASIA OSSIFICANS PROGRESSIVA? Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare, disabling genetic conditions. It causes bone to form in muscles, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues. Ridges of extra bone develop across joints, progressively restricting movement and forming a second skeleton that imprisons the body in bone. There are no other known examples in medicine of one normal organ system turning into another. FOP can eventually result in death when the cartilage holding the ribs together also solidifies, making it impossible to breathe. Patients may eventually suffocate or suffer a cardiac arrest as their bodies attempt to get enough oxygen. Advertisement Currently, there is no cure and treatment consists of medications that reduce inflammation and relax the muscles. Most FOP sufferers are bedridden by the age of 20 and die around age 40. But, three drugs are in clinical trial with the hope of one that can turn FOP into a manageable condition, Dr Frederick Kaplan, a professor of molecular orthopedic medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Inquirer. 'I don't think FOP is going to be any different in concept than common conditions like hypertension, asthma, or diabetes,' he said. 'The more targets we have, and the more varied approaches we have, the more successful we'll be at keeping the disease at bay and changing its natural course.'. The first drug, called garetosmab, is being developed by Regeneron Pharmaceutical, based in Tarrytown, New York. It targets activin A, a protein that normally blocks growth. However, studies have shown that it does the exact opposite in those with FOP. and triggers hyperactive bone growth. In 2015, Regneron showed that garetosmab, which is injected, shut off the signal in mice genetically modified to develop the illness. Currently the drug is being tested on 40 adults, reported STAT News. The second drug is called palovarotene - originally used to treat lung disease - that has been found in several studies to stop new bone formation in mice with FOP by preventing cartilage from ossifying. Canadian biotech company Clementia Pharmaceuticals licensed palovarotene from drug company Roche. In 2016, it announced results from a clinical trial that showed FOP patients saw less bone growth during flare-ups. The company is planning to submit a drug application for approval to the FDA before the end of the year. A third drug, known as BLU-782, targets the FOP gene before it has the ability to attach itself to activin A. Developer Blueprint Medicines just finished conducting a safety study on the pill and plans to begin testing it on FOP patients next year, according to STAT News. Whitney Weldon, a 27-year-old from New York City, is one of the FOP patients taking palovarotene and hopes it will help her gain back some of the independence she has lost. 'I never thought that this would even be a possibility,' she told STAT News. 'It would be a lot of happy tears, finding a medication.' Running a public company can be harsh. Investors are impatient, especially when it comes to technology firms where earnings can be bumpy. But hiding behind private equity ownership is rarely the best answer. Last July, UK satellite pioneer Inmarsat bravely showed American rival Echo Star the door on the grounds that an offer worth 532p a share (some of it paper) undervalued the Silicon Roundabout-based group. Chief executive Rupert Pearce spoke confidently of the firm's strategy on a stand-alone basis. In August of last year UK satellite pioneer Inmarsat bravely showed American rival Echo Star the door on the grounds that an offer worth 532p a share undervalued it Recently, Inmarsat has provided upbeat briefings on its progress on beaming wifi into aircraft in flight, having already signed up carriers such as Emirates. Just eight months later, Inmarsat looks as if it is ready to flog itself off to a consortium headed by UK private equity outfit Apax, Warburg Pincus of the US, and a bunch of Canadian pension funds at a not-much-improved price of 544p. The future for Inmarsat should not just be settled on price alone. The would-be buyers look a relatively benign bunch and there is no sign of a Chinese or Russian marauder around the corner. But once in private equity hands and out of sight and mind who is to say that a company important to national security will not end up in the wrong hands overseas. Inmarsat already is the repository of significant shipping and aircraft movement data. Its innovative wifi applications could offer a wonderful intelligence opportunity. Just as worrying is the potential loss to the UK of advanced technology developed here and paid for by taxpayers through our research-based universities. At a time when Germany is working to tighten the national grip on cutting-edge technologies, Britain too easily waves them goodbye. Softbank's stewardship of ARM has been disappointing, with the sale of the Chinese operations to a Beijing-controlled entity. Earlier this week we saw former RBS offshoot Worldpay land in the US at a phenomenal price. The May Government rightly has been referring an increasing number of tech sales to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) for scrutiny. Inmarsat's current investors, including Lansdowne Partners and UK funds Aberdeen and Jupiter, should show steel and back the project for the longer-term. And Business Secretary Greg Clark should break from Brexit machinations and immediately refer it to the security services and CMA in the national interest. Snagging list Someone had to take the blame for the failure of Kingfisher to deliver on its 2015 promise of 500million of extra profits. So waving goodbye to chief executive Veronique Laury is the easy answer. Truth is that firms that set themselves ambitious financial markets are always on a hiding to nothing. This is especially true in fast-changing retail and do-it-yourself, which have fallen out of fashion. A positive consequence of Britain's open borders to European migration has been the arrival of skilled and hardworking Polish and other Eastern European tradesman. They have supplanted DIY and the British botching specialists who would rather be on their tea breaks or down at the boat club. The struggles of B&Q come as no surprise. Its main UK rival Homebase has changed hands at least four times in recent years and finally ended up being sold for 1. Keeping B&Q up and running, if shrunken in size, makes sense. Even a shrinking B&Q provides useful cash flow while the star in the firmament, Screwfix, which serves the trade online and through trade counters, is allowed to grow. Laury reportedly found life in London less than ideal. It might have been easier if chairman Andy Cosslett and the board were more supportive and investors willing to give her more time. Instead, Laury's hold on the job was undermined by blame-shifting and rumours of impending exit. Unfortunate. Pension ruse Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio is in need of better advice. When under fire it is critical to get ahead of the criticism with a grand gesture. Hortsa-Osorio's belated waiving of 3,000-a-year from a final salary pension backfired badly. It shifted focus to his excessive cash-in-lieu pension payment of 33 per cent of pay worth 419,000 a year. Horta-Osorio should volunteer to cut the cash allowance to the standard Lloyds pensions contribution a generous 13 per cent. Otherwise he risks widening employee and investor scrutiny of an aloof management style. Shares in Inmarsat rocketed higher after a group of suitors from the UK and overseas launched a 2.5billion bid for the satellite technology giant. The FTSE 250 company revealed it is in talks with a consortium of investors, including US-based Warburg Pincus, London-based Apax and two Canadian pension funds. But the deal faces opposition amid concerns about a major British satellite operator falling into the control of foreign owners. Takeover mission: Inmarsat revealed it is in talks with a consortium of investors, including US-based Warburg Pincus, London-based Apax and two Canadian pension funds And the takeover bid is expected to face scrutiny from ministers, after the Government last night confirmed it was monitoring the talks. Satellites are classed as important national infrastructure and Inmarsat counts the UK and US militaries among its customers. Critics of the deal warned the sale would be yet another example of Britain allowing one of its most successful technology companies to be snapped up by foreign rivals. Sir Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats and a former business secretary, called on ministers to take a close interest in the takeover. He said: 'I am seriously concerned that one of the UK's last major technology companies, and a major part of our successful space industry, could disappear. The secretary of state should use his powers to intervene.' Howard Wheeldon, a defence and aviation analyst, said: 'With the Government having set out its space policy and the Royal Air Force now actively engaging in space strategy, it is absolutely crucial that we maintain and enhance our sovereign satellite capabilities. Inmarsat is a very important player and we need to ensure it gets the correct level of protection. German fund to fight foreign takeovers Germany plans a state-owned fund to protect key firms from hostile foreign takeovers. The move is a response to a flood of investment by Chinese state-owned companies into critical infrastructure and high-tech firms across the West, which has unnerved many European governments. Senior officials in the German government said the fund would work with the private sector to buy stakes in companies that were targets of unwelcome takeover attempts. It comes after Germany was left rattled by a 2016 Chinese raid on robotics firm Kuka. It also saw off an attempt by China's State Grid last year to buy into power network operator 50Hertz, with state-owned bank KfW stepping in to buy a 20 per cent stake instead. 'As with all takeovers in defence and aerospace, we need to be very, very careful. If there is sufficient reason to do so, we should be willing to block the deal.' Last night a Government spokesman said: 'This is a commercial matter, but we are monitoring the potential takeover.' Shares in Inmarsat closed 13.1 per cent higher, or 57.5p, at 495.3p after the company revealed talks were under way. It is thought other bidders could enter the fray. Inmarsat dates back to 1979 when it was part of the UN-controlled International Maritime Organisation. It was privatised in the 1990s after member countries refused to pay for upgrades to its network. The company operates 13 satellites and more than a third of its business comes from the maritime sector, with the firm providing tracking and communication services to ships. The latest offer for the company comes just eight months after it fought off bids by France's Eutelsat and American rival Echo Star, which offered 532p per share. Echo Star's bid was just 2.3 per cent less than what the consortium is offering in the current talks. Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat's chief executive, previously dismissed suggestions of a sale after claiming Echo Star's bid 'significantly undervalued' the business. At that time, he said: 'We don't feel weak about our future and we don't feel the need to engage in a merger even with somebody in our industry at this point in time. We don't think that will drive exceptional value for shareholders. So, that's why we did not engage.' However Inmarsat has now revealed it has been in talks with Apax, Warburg and others since January, with the talks dubbed 'Project Triton' by staff at the satellite firm. Some analysts speculated its announcement about the consortium's interest was an attempt to coax a higher offer out of its suitors. 'The decision to unilaterally disclose the consortium's six-week-old bid, almost identical in value to the rejected Echo Star bid, feels like a well-advised 'stalking horse' that could now result in a revised bid from either suitor,' analysts at Jefferies wrote. The consortium, made up of Apax, Warburg, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, is thought to be interested in Inmarsat's growing business supplying internet connections to planes. Its customers include British Airways, Emirates and Norwegian, but the division is expected to need significant investment. Another day, another outsourcer reporting bad news. After seeing Interserve hog the spotlight for most of this month, it was Kier Groups turn to return centre-stage yesterday as it revealed it had swung to a loss for the first half of the year. The FTSE 250-listed construction and maintenance giant said administrative costs related to its debt-cutting turnaround plan helped push it to a 35.5million loss. This compared with a profit of 34.3million in the same period last year. Revenues at Kier, which builds and maintains roads, hospitals, schools and prison facilities, rose 3 per cent to 2billion and, while it managed to save 4million over the six months, the cost-cutting programme itself cost 14million to implement. FTSE 250-listed construction and maintenance giant Kier Group said administrative costs related to its debt-cutting turnaround plan helped push it to a 35.5m loss Shareholders in the HS2 contractor have now been given a little less love from the company with the dividend falling to 4.9p a share from 23p a year earlier. The results came a day after Kier announced that Andrew Davies, the man who was due to take over at Carillion before it went bust last January, will step in as chief executive next month. Shares fell 11.3 per cent, or 54.6p, to 429.4p around half what they were just six months ago. There was better news for fellow FTSE 250 stock TI Fluid Systems. Shares in the car parts maker, which counts Ford and Aston Martin among its customers, surged as it not only came out with good growth but said it expects to outperform the car market again this year. Stock Watch - Aquis Exchange Listing on the London Stock Exchange isnt cheap and so it has proven for equities trading platform Aquis Exchange. Costs of 1million related to its float last June were part of why its pre-tax loss widened to 3.7million, from 3.3million a year before. This was despite revenue doubling to 4million. Chief executive Alasdair Haynes hailed a transformational year and investors seemed to agree, as shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 12.5p, to 585p leaving them well up on their float price of 269p. TI is helped by its growing emphasis on making parts for electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Profit before tax rocketed from 136million in 2017 to 187million last year although profits in 2017 were knocked by 34million worth of costs related to its float. Revenue at TI was flat in its first full year as a listed firm. The group hiked its full-year dividend and investors responded in kind, with shares rising 12.1 per cent, or 20.8p, to 192.5p. The FTSE 250 as a whole slipped lower yesterday shedding 0.35 per cent, or 162.31 points, to 19,388.98. The FTSE 100 was dragged down by mining stocks as Brazilian company Vale said it was close to reopening its largest iron ore mine triggering a plunge in iron ore prices. Rio Tinto lost 2.3 per cent, or 101p, to 4204p, and Antofagasta lost 0.7 per cent, or 7.4p, to 958.2p, as it was also hit by a HSBC rating downgrade to reduce from hold. The Footsie ended its rising streak as it lost 32.99 points, taking it down to 7291.01. Resources stocks were some of the other major movers on the main and AIM markets yesterday. Kurdistan-focused Genel Energy said it will pay its first dividend next year even though it fell to a loss in 2018. Genel intends to pay shareholders at least 30million a year from 2020. It posted a pre-tax loss of 215million in 2018, down from a profit of 206million in 2017. Shares dived 5.3 per cent, or 12p, to 213p. Oil and gas company Highlands Natural Resources said it had raised around 1.6million through a share placing to help fund a new cannabis business. Highlands is moving into the booming market for natural remedy cannabidiol oil made from cannabis plants. Its new subsidiary, Zoetic Organics, will lease a 33,000 square foot facility in Colorado to grow the cannabis plants using hydrogen from its gas operation in Kansas as a fertiliser. Shares lost 8.5 per cent, or 0.82p, to 8.88p. And Greenland-focused Bluejay Mining has quashed speculation that it will soon be fundraising, saying it has enough cash to last until spring 2020. The firm is working towards a study of its Dundas project, which it says is the worlds purest resource for ilmenite used in white paint. Shares rose 7.2 per cent, or 0.66p, to 9.76p. Victims of a 1billion bank fraud have been urged to share their stories with retired judge Dame Linda Dobbs as she investigates claims of a cover-up. Business owners who lost money in the scandal at the Reading branch of HBOS are being asked to set out how they were treated, so those who made mistakes can be brought to book. In the run-up to the financial crisis, a gang of criminal bankers deliberately wrecked entrepreneurs' businesses and spent the proceeds on prostitutes, holidays and luxury goods. Probe: Retired judge Dame Linda Dobbs is investigating claims of a cover-up at HBOS and wants victims of the fraud to come forward HBOS was then bought by Lloyds in 2008. Dobbs is looking at how senior bankers dealt with complaints after that. The gang was eventually jailed in 2017, amid allegations Lloyds had sought to cover up what happened. Victims have claimed that they were stonewalled and bullied by Lloyds when they tried to expose the truth. The bank even repeatedly tried to evict some of those affected from their homes. Dobbs said: 'We want to know not only what Lloyds knew but also what it should reasonably have known about the fraud. 'This is a chance for you to tell your story about how you were treated. It is very important that we can fully assess how you were dealt with in your communications with Lloyds. 'This message is really a final call to potential witnesses to come forward to assist me and the team.' Lloyds is funding the Dobbs review as part of an effort to put the past behind it. She will write a report setting out if there were any failings in how the bank dealt with victims, and who was responsible. This document will be given to Lloyds, which is likely to come under pressure to make the full details public. Dobbs started work in 2017 and her report has been repeatedly delayed. It is not likely to be finished until next year. Tensions between arch-enemies Israel and Iran once again threaten to plunge the two countries into direct military conflict one that could all too easily lead to a new and terrifyingly unpredictable regional war. In a flash, such a conflict could drag in other major regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and the Lebanese-based Shia militia Hezbollah, which are aligned militarily with the Middle Easts two main opposing power brokers, the United States and Russia. On Sunday, a ferocious Israeli missile strike on alleged Iranian military bases in Syria reportedly killed dozens of soldiers. On Sunday, a ferocious Israeli missile strike on alleged Iranian military bases in Syria reportedly killed dozens of soldiers (picture taken from Syrian TV) It is true that Israel has launched more than 100 such strikes inside Syria since the barbaric civil war broke out in that country seven years ago, targeting both Iranian and Hezbollah forces sent to the country to help prop up President Assads regime, which is still technically at war with the Jewish state. However, the latest attack was the most brazen and deadly yet. It was followed yesterday by a dramatic claim from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he has proof the mullahs in Tehran have been secretly developing nuclear weapons, in blatant contravention of an internationally brokered deal sealed by Barack Obama in 2015 aimed at curbing Irans nuclear ambitions. It saw the lifting of crippling economic sanctions on Iran, in return for limitations to the countrys controversial nuclear energy programme. In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said Israel recently uncovered 55,000 documents and 183 CDs of information from Iran's 'nuclear archives' Mr Netanyahu accused Iran of having a secret plan called Project Amad, whose goal is to produce five ten-kiloton nuclear weapons. This unverified claim will of course have been music to the ears of Donald Trump and the anti-Iran hawks the President has surrounded himself with in the White House. Even before this dramatically theatrical display from Israel, Mr Trump appeared determined to scrap the controversial nuclear deal next month, because he sees it as being fatally flawed. The deal is still strongly backed by Britain, the EU, Russia, China and the UN-sponsored watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency. All remain adamant that inspections show Iran has and continues to abide by its principles. Indeed, during a visit to the White House last week, French president Emmanuel Macron urged Mr Trump to stick to the agreement echoing similar pleas by Theresa May and Angela Merkel. The Israeli leader said that the 'atomic archive' where Iran kept its files was in the Shorabad District of the capital, Tehran But is Mr Trump listening more closely to his old friend Mr Netanyahu? What we do know is that, as the deadline nears for Mr Trumps decision on whether to re-ratify the nuclear deal, unprecedented threats and counter-threats of death and destruction are being hurled between Tehran and Tel Aviv. In the past few weeks, each has promised to destroy the others major cities if threatened, raising fears that the proxy war they have been waging in Syria may soon explode into a direct military confrontation. We should remember that over the past few decades Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly, but erroneously, suggested that Iran is just months away from declaring it has developed a nuclear weapon. Still, it is easy to see why he is so paranoid. Since the revolution in 1979 brought the Shia Islam mullahs to power, the Tehran regime has proudly promoted the destruction of Israel as its top foreign policy objective. During a visit to the White House last week, French president Emmanuel Macron urged Mr Trump to stick to the agreement echoing similar pleas by Theresa May and Angela Merkel Worse for Israel, the civil war in Syria has resulted in thousands of Iranian fighters joining thousands more militia men from Hezbollah, Irans main regional Shia ally, which has already fought numerous wars with Israel. Their ostensible aim was to help Assad fight Islamic State and other Islamist rebel groups, but that brutal experience means they are now battle-hardened, armed to the hilt and entrenched right on the Jewish states border. Until now, Russia which is allied with Assad, Iran and Hezbollah, but also has warm relations with Israel has played a delicate diplomatic balancing act, backing Israels enemies while turning a blind eye to the Jewish state attacks against them in Syria. Russian leader Vladimir Putin recently signalled his patience with Mr Netanyahu had run out But Russian leader Vladimir Putin recently signalled his patience with Mr Netanyahu had run out, and he has promised to deliver the advanced S-300 air defence missile system to Assad to help him defend against such aerial attacks. Israel responded by saying that any such system would be destroyed before it could become operational. It is easy to see, then, why the price of oil is soaring on the back of Mr Netanyahus claims yesterday. Its a sign that the international markets are afraid supply will be disrupted by strife and conflict in the region. The great fear for diplomats around the world is that, if Mr Trump does decide to withdraw from the nuclear deal and reimposes sanctions, Israel will launch unilateral strikes against what it says are Irans nuclear facilities. That would almost certainly provoke a devastating military response not just from Tehran, but also its allies in Syria and Lebanon. And if that happens, it will take a massive effort of will to stop America and Russia coming to the aid of their allies at which point the risks of a global conflict will rise sharply. Once again, the tinder box Middle East threatens to drag two of the worlds great powers to the edge of the abyss. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pushed back at the U.S. immediately after President Trump announced he was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal threatening it would boost its uranium enrichment. Capping the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment activities was a key pillar of the Iran deal reached between Iran and six other nations, an effort meant to ensure it didn't have enough material to make a nuclear bomb. Speaking immediately after Trump, Rouhani said the nation would enrich uranium 'more than before ... in next weeks.' 'I have ordered Iran's atomic organization that whenever it is needed, we will start enriching uranium more than before,' Rouhani said. 'I have ordered Iran's atomic organization that whenever it is needed, we will start enriching uranium more than before,' Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said He made his remarks on live TV. Rouhani said he was sending Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped ink the deal, to meet with other nations who remain in the agreement. Rouhani whose own political prospects could dim if the agreement collapses amid Iran's economic problems and the rising costs of basic staples then took a swipe at the world's greatest military power. 'Iran will be conferring with the world's two super powers, Russia and China,' he sniped, insisting that Trump's 'psychological war and economic pressures will not work.' Rouhani, who along with President Barack Obama helped set the conditions for the deal to go forward, also said Iran would remain in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), leaving uncertainty about what level of enrichment he intended. Trump blasted the Iran deal as a 'horrible' agreement He spoke after Trump blasted the Iran deal as a 'horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.' Rouani also said at a Petroleum conference just before Trump spoke that Iran 'could face some problems' under restored sanctions, the Washington Post reported. 'But we will move on,' he said. 'If we are under sanctions or not, we should stand on our feet,' he said. His comments came even as the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany announced they would remain in the agreement and work with Iran. French President Emmanuel Macron has said France, Germany and Britain regret US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. DEFIANT: In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani addresses the nation in a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2017 file photo, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, second right, speaks at a military parade marking the 37th anniversary of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, just outside Tehran, Iran French President Emmanuel Macron has said France, Germany and Britain regret US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal 'France, Germany, and the UK regret the U.S. decision to leave the JCPOA (Iran deal). The nuclear non-proliferation regime is at stake,' he wrote on Twitter, speaking on behalf of the three nations. 'We will work collectively on a broader framework, covering nuclear activity, the post-2025 period, ballistic activity, and stability in the Middle-East, notably Syria, Yemen, and Iraq,' he added. According to their joint statement: 'It is with regret and concern that we, the Leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom take note of President Trumps decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.' They continued: 'Together, we emphasize our continuing commitment to the JCPoA. This agreement remains important for our shared security. We recall that the JCPoA was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council in resolution 2231. This resolution remains the binding international legal framework for the resolution of the dispute about the Iranian nuclear program. We urge all sides to remain committed to its full implementation and to act in a spirit of responsibility.' 'According to the IAEA, Iran continues to abide by the restrictions set out by the JCPoA, in line with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The world is a safer place as a result. Therefore we, the E3, will remain parties to the JCPoA. Our governments remain committed to ensuring the agreement is upheld, and will work with all the remaining parties to the deal to ensure this remains the case including through ensuring the continuing economic benefits to the Iranian people that are linked to the agreement.' 'We urge the US to ensure that the structures of the JCPoA can remain intact, and to avoid taking action which obstructs its full implementation by all other parties to the deal. After engaging with the US Administration in a thorough manner over the past months, we call on the US to do everything possible to preserve the gains for nuclear non-proliferation brought about by the JCPoA, by allowing for a continued enforcement of its main elements.' A federal appeals court on Tuesday grilled lawyers for the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia about their claims that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting profits through foreign and domestic officials who stay at his Washington hotel. The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed skepticism about claims in a lawsuit that alleges Trump is violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting benefits from foreign or state governments without congressional approval. 'You even want him fired from 'The Apprentice,' don't you,' asked Judge Dennis Shedd, in what appeared to be reference to reports that the president benefited from the purchase of rights for the show by government-owned foreign broadcasters. A federal appeals court grilled lawyers about their claims that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution for owning a DC hotel while in office Trump opened the Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House, shortly before he was elected in 2016 His question seemed to suggest the suit wanted to penalize Trump for being a successful business executive before he inhabited the Oval Office. The judges repeatedly questioned lawyers for Maryland and the District about what they seek as a solution to their concerns about Trump's business interests. Judge Paul Niemeyer said Trump has pulled back from active management of the Trump International Hotel and questioned whether Trump divesting himself of the business would have any effect on whether dignitaries stay there, since it would likely remain in the Trump family. Loren AliKhan, solicitor general for the District of Columbia, said divestment would be one option to solve the problem. Judge Dennis Shedd pressed her about whether anything short of divestment would resolve concerns about Trump violating the emoluments clause. She said a declaration that Trump has violated the clause and an injunction ordering him not to do so could also be an option. Shedd also seemed skeptical of the lawsuit's claim that Maryland and the District have suffered harm because more people would stay at their hotels if they weren't eager to curry favor with the president by staying at Trump's hotel. He said many people visit Washington to protest the Republican president's policies and would be more likely to stay at his competitors' hotels. AliKhan said Trump's status as president is 'a driving factor' for foreign and domestic government officials to stay at his hotel. And Shedd questioned if there was another possible motive, asking if a court declaration that the president violated the 'emoluments' clause would 'be the basis for a high crime and misdemeanor for impeachment?' 'I don't believe so,' AliKhan replied. Trump opened the Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House, shortly before he was elected in 2016. Unlike past presidents, he has retained ownership of numerous business interests, including the hotel, while serving as president. Since his election, the hotel has become a favored lodging and event space for some foreign and state officials visiting the U.S. capital. The first of its kind lawsuit claims the president is violating a clause in the Constitution that restrict federal officials from accepting government-bestowed financial gains or 'emoluments' - other than their annual salaries. The president donates his annual salary to charity. Trump is challenging a ruling by a federal judge in Maryland to allow the lawsuit to proceed. 'You even want him fired from 'The Apprentice,' don't you,' asked a judge during the court case; Trump is seen here on the reality show that made him famous with his daughter Ivanka and contestant Stefani Schaeffer The president often dines at his hotel and the presidential limousine is seen outside of it in April Trump's legal team told the appeals court that Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine - both Democrats - lack authority to sue the president in his official capacity. 'The president is unique in our constitutional structure,' said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Hashim Mooppan. Trump's lawyers also argued that the emoluments clause only bars compensation made in connection with services provided in his official capacity or in 'an employment-type relationship' with a foreign or domestic government. They say that even if Frosh and Racine did have standing to sue, their claims are invalid because the president has not violated the emoluments clause. Mooppan said the plaintiffs are arguing that they've suffered injuries from competition when the emoluments clause was meant as a check against government corruption. 'There is no support for their broad definition,' he said. The 4th Circuit's decision to hear the unusual mid-case appeal put the lawsuit on hold before deadlines to respond to subpoenas issued in December seeking tax returns, receipts and other records from more than 30 entities, including 13 Trump businesses and the federal agency that oversees the lease for Trump's hotel. The Justice Department has argued that the discovery is 'intrusive' and could distract Trump from performance of his constitutional duties. After the hearing, Racine and Frosh downplayed the judges' aggressive questioning. 'We think our case is a strong one and we expect to prevail,' Frosh said. And Racine told CNN he's willing to appeal the case all the way to the Supreme Court. 'I think we very much believe very strongly in our case,' he said. 'As far as whether the case will go to the US Supreme Court, it appears as though both parties are firm in their positions in this case, and so that wouldn't surprise me that this case ultimately would end up in the Supreme Court.' The 4th Circuit panel court did not indicate when it would rule. No matter how it rules, it appears likely the case will not end quickly. Racine said that if Maryland and the District lose the appeal before the three-judge panel, they would seriously consider asking for a rehearing by the full court. He said it wouldn't surprise him if the case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court. All three judges on the panel were nominated to the 4th Circuit by Republican presidents: Niemeyer, by George H.W. Bush; Shedd, by George W. Bush, and Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, by Trump. Two other lawsuits accusing the president of violating the emoluments clause have been filed in other federal courts. The stark jail cell where the accused Christchurch gunman is reportedly being held in solitary confinement has been described as a cream and brown-coloured space with 17kg concrete-block walls. Brenton Tarrant, 28, is understood to be under 24-hour surveillance at Paremoremo maximum-security prison in Auckland, and has been refused access to newspapers, television and radio, the New Zealand Herald reported. The Australian's likely surroundings are a 8.99sq m cell with heartbeat detectors, security doors that unlock with fingerprint scanners and a five-layered fence. Each cell is 3.1m wide by 2.9m long and contains a single heavy-duty steel bed built into the wall, a window, a desk, and a toilet and shower visible to all staff via cameras. A domed ceiling mirror also allowing guards to see into the entire cell from outside the horizontal bars sitting behind high-security glass. This accused Christchurch gunman's cell in solitary confinement is likely to be a cream and brown-coloured confined space with walls made of concrete blocks weighing 17kg each Brenton Tarrant, 28, is understood to be under 24-hour surveillance at Paremoremo prison in Auckland (pictured), and has been refused access to newspapers, television and radio Tarrant's (pictured) likely surroundings are a 8.99sq m cell with heartbeat detectors, electrified security measures and five layers of security The prison is the country's only maximum-security detention facility. Pictured: Paremoremo prison Maximum-security inmates spend up to 20 hours a day in their cells, prison director Andy Langley said. Paremoremo prison, which recently underwent a $300million rebuild, holds 681 inmates and is home to some of New Zealand's most dangerous criminals. The maximum-security wing holds 260 inmates. The prison is the country's only maximum-security detention facility. All rooms are located on the ground floor, and individual wings spanning out from the centre can be shut down if fires or riots break out. Without access to outside world information, Tarrant will be unable to obtain reports on the Christchurch mosque massacre he's accused of carrying out last Friday. Tarrant will not be permitted to receive visitors while behind bars, the Department of Corrections said. Without access to outside world information, Tarrant (pictured) will be unable to obtain reports on the Christchurch mosque massacre he's accused of carrying out last Friday 'He is being managed in accordance with the provisions set out in the Corrections Act 2004 and our international obligations for the treatment of prisoners. 'At this time he has no access to television, radio or newspapers and no approved visitors,' Corrections said in a statement. Authorities have tried to shroud Tarrant's exact whereabouts in secrecy, but the Department of Corrections did state they had been assisted by 'other agencies' in moving the 28-year-old from Christchurch to his new location. The maximum-security wing holds 260 inmates (pictured is an overhead view of the prison) Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis declined to comment in regards to Tarrant's exact location on Tuesday, Stuff reported. 'I'm not going to go into any operational things. You've got to remember that the safety of Corrections officers is most paramount and I'm not going to say anything to jeopardise that,' he said. New Zealand has formally identified 21 of the 50 victims murdered during attacks on two mosques in Christchurch last week. Authorities have tried to shroud the 28-year-old's exact whereabouts in secrecy (Paremoremo Prison pictured) Their bodies are now being made available to their families, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said on Wednesday. By midday Wednesday, the bodies of another six victims were identified and released, taking the total to 27. 'By the end of Wednesday, we should have completed the majority of those identifications,' Commissioner Bush told reporters in Christchurch. 'I have to say some of those victims will take a little longer.' Some 120 forensic workers are involved in the identification process, which began soon after the attacks. Another 50 people were injured during the shooting. Islamic State leaders have called for retaliation over the terror attack on two mosques that killed 50 in Christchurch. The spokesman for the terror group, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, has broken a six-month silence to issued the appeal in a 44-minute audio recording, according to The New York Times. Dozens of worshippers were murdered when a terrorist went on a gun rampage through two mosques in the city of Christchurch on Friday. Islamic State leaders have called for retaliation over the terror attack on two mosques that killed 50 in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, is accused of the shooting and has been charged with murder Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, is accused of the shooting and has been charged with murder. 'The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion,' he said. He compared the Christchurch slaughter to the battle raging over the terror group's last remaining slither of territory in Syria - the village of Baghouz. 'Here is Baghuz in Syria, where Muslims are burned to death and are bombed by all known and unknown weapons of mass destruction,' he added. The true identity of al-Muhajir, an invented name, is not known and it is understood that he has not appeared in any photographs or in ISIS propaganda videos. The attacks in Christchurch left 50 dead and 50 more injured with nine of the wounded victims described as being in a critical condition. An ISIS spokesperson compared the Christchurch slaughter to the battle raging over the terror group's last remaining slither of territory in Syria - the village of Baghouz (stock image) Preparations were underway to begin burials of victims after days of intense grieving. Bodies of the victims of Friday's attacks were being washed and prepared for burial in a Muslim ritual process, with teams of volunteers flown in from overseas to assist with the heavy workload. 'We've been very conscious of the need to work sensitively with requirement of each family,' Sarah Stuart-Black, Director for the Ministry of Civil, Defence & Emergency Management, said at a press conference in Christchurch. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, where police said he will likely to face more charges. Bodies of the victims of Friday's attacks were being washed and prepared for burial in a Muslim ritual process, with teams of volunteers flown in from overseas to assist with the heavy workload The victims, killed at two mosques during Friday prayers by a gunman with semi-automatic rifles, were largely Muslim migrants, refugees and residents from countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Kuwait, Somalia and others. Families of the victims are desperately seeking to come to New Zealand for the funerals. Immigration New Zealand said 65 visas have been granted for travelling family members. Families of the victims are desperately seeking to come to New Zealand for the funerals Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia besieging ISIS's last enclave in eastern Syria said on Tuesday it had captured '157 experienced terrorists, mostly foreign nationals'. The operation was carried out at Baghouz, the site of the ISIS enclave, by SDF special forces, said Mustafa Bali, the head of the militia's media office, on Twitter. He did not say when the operation took place. A woman who was shot dead while crawling on the pavement outside a Christchurch mosque only returned to the bloody scene to check if her husband was alive. Ansi Alibava, 25, was among a small group of women and children who managed to escape the mosque as a gunman stormed the building on Friday. She had turned back to check on her husband, who she thought was still inside the building, when she was struck by a bullet. As the young woman crawled on the pavement pleading for help, the gunman ran to the street and shot her once more. Ansi Alibava (pictured), 25 was among a group of women and children who managed to escape a mosque as a man allegedly stormed the building firing shots at worshipers on Friday Mourners have placed a picture of Ms Alibava in a shrine dedicated to the 25-year-old Her husband Abdul Nazer Ponnath Hamsa has spoken to Stuff about the horrifying day, with the assistance of Renju Scaria George who translated. The couple, from India, hadn't been to the mosque for about nine months when they decided to attend on Friday, Mr George said. Mr Hamsa, who had been near the emergency exit in a separate room from his wife during the main prayer, was quick to realise the popping sound he heard was gunshots. After someone had managed to smash a window, Mr Hamsa and others escaped. Covered in blood, he fled to a nearby property, where he begged them to let him inside to phone the police. After calling for help he then went in search of his wife. 'He walked out and then he could see a child and a mum lying on the street and then his wife next to them so he went to wake her up and she was not responding, all he could see was a pool of blood,' Mr George said. Mourners spelled out Ms Alibava's name in candles as part of a shrine dedicated to her. They also placed flowers and pictures for the young woman Ms Alibava has been remembered as a 'bubbly and loving' young woman. Mourners stand in silence at the shrine set up for her 'One of the guys standing there said 'who's that'? And he said 'it's my wife', and then (the other man) said she's dead.' Mr Hamsa went blank after hearing the news. The pair had married two and a half years ago in India before moving to New Zealand to study. Ms Alibava had just completed her masters in Agribusiness study at Lincoln University. Ms Alibava was one of 50 people killed in Christchruch, on New Zealand's South Island, on Friday. At least 50 other victims were injured in the terrorist attack. Mr George had seen footage of the attack which was livestreamed on social media. The footage showed Ms Alibava being killed. Mr George said he was shocked at what he saw. Flowers have been laid outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand following the shooting Members of the the public grieve at a makeshift memorial at the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Rd in Christchurch The community in reeling after the tragedy, that saw 50 people killed and multiple others injured 'A man with a heart can't do that. If someone is asking for help you should be helping that person rather than trying to take their life off them.' Some of the victims have been formally identified and are ow being made available to their families, NZ Police Commissioner Mike Bush said on Wednesday. He said he expected the process of identifying majority of the victims to be completed by Wednesday, however, some of the vicitims will take a little longer, Mr Bush said. Australia Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged in relation to the attacks. President Donald Trump says he has no problem with the special counsel report being released and looks forward to reading it himself. He turned up the heat on the prosecutor expected to release a report in the Russia investigation any day on Wednesday as he left the White House for Ohio, saying Robert Mueller is 'conflicted' because they had a 'nasty' business transaction once. Trump said that neither he nor his voters could understand why such a man is being allowed to investigate alleged collusion between Russia and his presidential campaign. Still, he said the report that Mueller is writing should be released, so they can evaluate the claims for themselves. 'I don't mind. I mean, frankly, I told the House, if you want, let them see it,' he said of a unanimous vote on the House to make the prosecutor's findings public. 'Let it come out. Let people see it.' President Donald Trump says he has no problem with the special counsel report being released and looks forward to reading it himself He said later: 'I want to see the report, and you know who wants to see it? Tens of millions of people that love the fact that we have the greatest economy we've ever had.' Trump noted that Mueller was selected for the job and not elected like himself. 'Tens of millions of voters. And now somebodys going to write a report who never got a vote. So well see what the report says. Lets see if its fair,' he told journalists on the South Lawn before a Marine One departure. The president has long claimed that a dispute with one of his golf clubs, of which Mueller was once a member, prohibits the special counsel from taking a fair look at the allegations against his campaign. 'I know that hes conflicted. And I know that his best friend is Comey, whos a bad cop. And I know that there are other things, obviously. I had a business transaction with him, he claimed. 'I had a nasty business transaction with him. And other things. I know that he put 13 highly conflicted and you know very angry, I call them angry Democrats in.' For the report to be legitimate, Trump claimed, it would have find that there was no collusion with Russia by him or his associates and that he did not obstruct justice when he fired James Comey, the FBI director he ousted nearly two years ago. 'You know better than anybody theres no collusion. There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing,' he said. Trump said he has no insight into the drop date of Mueller's report and seemed to be reacting to media reports that it's coming any day. In the lead-up, Trump and his advisers have been considering how to weaponize those possible findings for the 2020 race, according to current and former White House officials and presidential confidants who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. A change is underway as well among congressional Democrats, who have long believed the report would offer damning evidence against the president. The Democrats are busy building new avenues for evidence to come out, opening a broad array of investigations of Trump's White House and businesses that go far beyond Mueller's focus on Russian interference to help Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Looking to strike: Trump is said to be getting ready to turn the findings of the Robert Mueller investigation into a weapon to use against his enemies and to bolster his 2020 run About to end? Robert Mueller has yet to release his report about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election but speculation has mounted in Washington D.C. that it is nearly done It's a striking role reversal. No one knows exactly what Mueller will say, but Trump, his allies and members of Congress are trying to map out the post-probe political dynamics. One scenario would have seemed downright implausible until recently: The president will take the findings and run on them, rather than against them, by painting the special counsel as an example of failed government overreach and Trump himself as the victim who managed to prove his innocence. The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, said on the House floor last week that he had a 'news flash' for Democrats who had high hopes that the report would be damaging to Trump. 'What happens when it comes back and says none of this was true, the president did not do anything wrong?' Collins asked. 'Then the meltdown will occur.' Trump's tweeted version was even more graphic: The Democrats' House investigative committees were going 'stone cold CRAZY.' That was in reaction to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler's document requests to 81 people, businesses and organizations related to Trump. Nadler said his panel must look at 'a much broader question' than Mueller has. Adam Schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee, also said there's much more to look into. Mueller, he said, 'can't be doing much of a money laundering investigation' if he hasn't subpoenaed Deutsche Bank, which has loaned millions of dollars to Trump. Schiff's panel, along with the House Financial Services Committee, is looking into money laundering and Trump's foreign financial entanglements. 'We have a separate and independent and important responsibility,' Schiff has said. 'And that is to tell the country what happened.' The Russia probe, taken over by Mueller in May 2017, has posed a mortal threat to the presidency since Trump was elected - a possible case for collusion or obstruction of justice that could begin a domino effect ending with impeachment. Those fears still exist, but as the investigation winds down, other feelings have taken hold in the White House, namely a cautious optimism that the worst is over, that no smoking gun has been found. Not giving up: Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee Adamn Schiff said that he will keep investigating regardless of the Mueller outcome Narrative set: One of Trump's most ardent defenders, Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, tweeted that Democrats will 'keep investigating if Mueller doesn't find what they want. Amazing.' Even if Mueller's final report does not implicate the president in criminal conduct, the investigation was far from fruitless. His team brought charges against 34 people, including six Trump associates, and three companies. His prosecutors revealed a sweeping criminal effort by Russians to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and showed that people connected to the Trump campaign were eager to exploit emails stolen from Democrats. Trump, of course, has railed relentlessly against the probe, deeming it a baseless 'witch hunt,' sometimes in all capital letters, and has said it was based on unfounded allegations perpetrated by his 'deep state' enemies in the Department of Justice, as well as his foes in the Democratic Party and the media. If the report proves anticlimactic, says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a strong Trump ally, 'there would no longer be any justification for what the House Dems want to do. They have their report, they had the guy they wanted writing it, and he had the full power of the federal government behind him and they still didn't get the president. 'Trump can say: Here is the report. I didn't fire Mueller, I didn't interfere with him. If you want to keep investigating me, it just shows that it is purely partisan.' In fact, Trump has told his inner circle that, if the report is underwhelming, he will use Twitter and interviews to gloat over the findings, complain about the probe's cost and depict the entire investigation as an attempt to obstruct his agenda, according to advisers and confidants. The president's campaign and pro-Trump outside groups will then likely amplify the message, while his advisers expect the conservative media, including Fox News, to act as an echo chamber. A full-throated attack on the investigation, portraying it as a failed coup, could also be the centerpiece of Trump campaign events, including rallies, they say. While Trump's base has long been suspicious of Mueller, the president's team believes independents and moderate Democrats who backed him in the last election but have since soured may return to the fold if convinced he has been unfairly targeted. In the meantime, the president and his surrogates will labor to link the report with the mounting investigations launched by House Democrats. One of Trump's most ardent defenders, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, tweeted last month that Democrats will 'keep investigating if Mueller doesn't find what they want. Amazing.' Meadows wrote in a separate tweet: 'Their message is shifting. The 'Russian collusion' narrative is falling apart, and they know it.' Police are investigating after bouncers allegedly held a clubber in a chokehold, before he was punched in the face. Video footage emerged on social media which appeared to show the fracas kicking off outside Funhouse in Croydon, London - a ball pit and gaming bar. Filmed from inside the venue through a window, it appeared to show a punter being held in a chokehold by one bouncer while another colleague punches him in the face. Later, another man was held down by one of the bouncers, described by one witness as 'unnecessary.' The fight kicked off in the early hours of Sunday morning, as dozens of drinkers sat in the bar in Croydon High Street. The Funhouse in Croydon One began filming when things turned nasty outside - and caught the bouncers becoming embroiled in a fight. The witness said: 'There was an argument between a bouncer and a member of the public. That member of the public then threw a punch at the bouncer, who retaliated. 'I don't know what they guy had been saying as we were inside, but I still don't think the actions of the bouncers were necessary. 'When the police turned up it all fizzled out.' Metropolitan Police officers managed to calm the fight down and it quickly fizzled out. Five men aged between 19 and 20 have been arrested. A Met Police spokeswoman said: 'Police were on routine patrol in High Street, Croydon, at 01:08hrs on Sunday, 17 March when they witnessed an altercation take place outside a nightclub. 'Officers deployed their CS spray and a total of five men were arrested. Enquiries continue.' Funhouse has been contacted for comment. Donald Trump's son has blamed Theresa May and other 'elite' politicians for failing to deliver Brexit as promised on March 29 and said today: 'Democracy in the UK is all but dead'. Donald Trump Jr said that EU withdrawal negotiations could have been completed in months but will stretch out for years because Mrs May failed to take his father's advice. And he said the British people need to 'stand up for themselves against the global elite' to ensure that Brexit happens on time in nine days. His intervention came a week his father deepened Mrs May's Brexit misery by saying he was surprised at how badly negotiations had been handled and said it would have gone 'smoothly' if the PM had listened to him. And this week Mr Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon slammed Mrs May for fumbling the Brexit talks, accusing her of 'not understanding' the negotiations. Donald Trump with his son Donald Trump Jr, who said Brexit is being 'thwarted' by the 'elite' in Britain Mr Trump also waded into the Brexit debate to attack Theresa May's handling of the UK's departure from the EU as he met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar at the White House last week The Prime Minister (pictured arriving in Downing Street) has received a lot of criticism from the US, including Trump Sr and Jr Mr Trump Jr's comments, in an article for the Daily Telegraph, come just days after his father remarked that Mrs May had not listened to his advice on how to handle the Brexit process, which was now going 'badly'. The article is certain to spark speculation over whether Mr Trump Jr's stance reflects the President's thinking. The younger Trump said that Mrs May should 'honour' her oft-repeated promise to take the UK out of the EU on March 29. And he raised the question of whether politicians' assurances that they would deliver Brexit were in fact 'a ruse', quoting unnamed pro-Brexit politicians as suggesting that the Prime Minister may in fact be trying to 'sabotage' the process. 'Since 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May has promised on more than 50 separate occasions that Britain would leave the EU on March 29 2019,' he said. 'She needs to honour that promise. 'But Mrs May ignored advice from my father, and ultimately, a process that should have taken only a few short months has become a years-long stalemate, leaving the British people in limbo.' Steve Bannon (pictured last week in Detroit) slammed Theresa May for fumbling the Brexit talks, accusing the Prime Minister of 'not understanding' the negotiations Donald Trump Jr, who is executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, drew parallels between delays in delivering Brexit and the investigations into his father's alleged links with Russia. 'In a way, you could say that Brexit and my father's election are one and the same,' he wrote. 'The people of both the UK and the US voted to uproot the establishment for the sake of individual freedom and independence, only to see the establishment try to silence their voices and overturn their mandates. 'What we're seeing now in Washington, London and Brussels is the desperate, last-gasp attempt by those previously in power to cling on to what was once theirs in the face of an overwhelming mandate for change.' He claimed that 'the elites control London from Brussels' and that, as a result, 'the will of the people is likely to be ignored'. And he added: 'With the deadline fast approaching, it appears that democracy in the UK is all but dead.' Last week Donald Trump said the process should have gone smoothly but the Prime Minister 'didn't listen' to him and that he now hated to see Britain being 'ripped apart'. The US President also said he thought a second referendum would be 'unfair' to those that voted Leave as he dangled the prospect of a large-scale trade deal. His characteristically undiplomatic intervention twisted the knife in a brutal week for the Prime Minister. Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Irish premier Leo Varadkar, Mr Trump said he would not comment on Brexit, only to then say it is 'tearing a lot of countries apart'. Allies: President Donald Trump (left) with Nigel Farage when they met at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on March 2 He said: 'It's a very complex thing right now, it's tearing a country apart, it's actually tearing a lot of countries apart and it's a shame it has to be that way but I think we will stay right in our lane.' The President again claimed Theresa May had ignored his advice on how to handle the talks. The Prime Minister has previously revealed that Mr Trump told her to 'sue the EU' and 'not go into negotiations'. Mr Trump said: 'I'm surprised at how badly it's all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation. 'I gave the Prime Minister my ideas on how to negotiate it and I think you would have been successful. 'She didn't listen to that and that's fine - she's got to do what she's got to do. 'I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart now.' GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence Flynn was President Trump's former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller's most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama's director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation. GUILTY AND JAILED: MICHAEL COHEN Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Pleaded guilty to further count of lying to Congress in November 2018. Sentenced to three years in prison and $2 million in fines and forfeitures in December 2018 Cohen was investigated by Mueller but the case was handed off to the Southern District of New York,leaving Manhattan's ferocious and fiercely independent federal prosecutors to run his case. Cohen was Trump's longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump's inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump - and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations - and admitted that he acted at the 'direction' of 'Candidate-1': Donald Trump. He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million. And he admitted lying to Congress in a rare use of the offense. The judge in his case let him report for prison on March 6 and recommended he serve it in a medium-security facility close to New York City. GUILTY AND JAILED: PAUL MANAFORT Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Sentenced to 47 months in March 2019. Pleaded guilty to two further charges - witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. Jailed for total of seven and a half years in two separate sentences. Additionally indicted for mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney, using evidence previously presented by Mueller Manafort worked for Trump's campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.'s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free - in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine. Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts in August 2018. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent due in September did not happen when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering in a plea bargain. He was supposed to co-operate with Mueller but failed to. Minutes after his second sentencing hearing in March 2019, he was indicted on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., using evidence which included documents previously presented at his first federal trial. The president has no pardon power over charges by district and state attorneys. GUILTY AND GOING TO WEEKEND JAIL: RICK GATES Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Sentenced to 45 days weekend jail and three years probation, December 17, 2018 Gates was Manafort's former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns. GUILTY AND JAILED: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Sentenced to 14 days in September 2018, and reported to prison in November. Served 12 days and released on December 7, 2018 Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump's campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank. GUILTY AND JAILED: RICHARD PINEDO Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Sentenced to a year in prison Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities. GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence and was deported to the Netherlands on his release Van der Zwaan was a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik. His law firm say he was fired. GUILTY: W. SAMUEL PATTEN Pleaded guilty in August 2018 to failing to register as a lobbyist while doing work for a Ukrainian political party. Sentenced to three years probation April 2019 Patten, a long-time D.C. lobbyist was a business partner of Paul Manafort. He pleaded guilty to admitting to arranging an illegal $50,000 donation to Trump's inauguration. He arranged for an American 'straw donor' to pay $50,000 to the inaugural committee, knowing that it was actually for a Ukrainian businessman. Neither the American or the Ukrainian have been named. CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. At large, probably in Russia Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort's political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S. He has been linked to Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia - effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller's team. INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. They remain at large in Russia Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud. Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list - which is not made public - and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S. INDICTED: MICHAEL FLYNN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS Bijan Kian (left), number two in now disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying company, and the two's business partner Ekim Alptekin (right) were indicted for conspiracy to lobby illegally. Kian, an Iranian-American was arrested and appeared in court charged with a conspiracy to illegally lobby the U.S government without registering as a foreign agent. Their co-conspirator was Flynn, who is called 'Person A' in the indictment and is not charged, offering some insight into what charges he escaped with his plea deal. Kian, vice-president of Flynn's former lobbying firm, is alleged to have plotted with Alptekin to try to change U.S. policy on an exiled Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and who is accused by Turkey's strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of trying to depose him. Erdogan's government wanted him extradited from the U.S. and paid Flynn's firm through Alptekin for lobbying, including an op-ed in The Hill calling for Gulen to be ejected. Flynn and Kian both lied that the op-ed was not paid for by the Turkish government. The indictment is a sign of how Mueller is taking an interest in more than just Russian involvement in the 2016 election. GUILTY AND AWAITING SENTENCE: ROGER STONE Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign official and longtime informal advisor to Trump, was indited on seven counts including obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in January 2019. Convicted on all counts November 15, 2019, awaiting sentence Stone was a person of interest to Mueller's investigators long before his January indictment, thanks in part due to his public pronouncements as well as internal emails about his contacts with WikiLeks. In campaign texts and emails, many of which had already been publicly revealed before showing up in Mueller's indictment, Stone communicated with associates about WikiLeaks following reports the organization had obtained a cache of Clinton-related emails. Stone, a former Nixon campaign adviser who has the disgraced former president's face permanently tattooed on his back, has long been portrayed as a central figure in the election interference scandal. 'They got nothing,' he said of the special counsel's investigation. Stone gave 'false and misleading' testimony about his requests for information from WikiLeaks. He then pressured a witness, comedian Randy Credico, to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, and pressured him in a series of emails. Following a prolonged dispute over testimony, he called him a 'rat' and threatened to 'take that dog away from you', in reference to Credico's pet, Bianca. Stone warned him: 'Let's get it on. Prepare to die.' CLEARED: GREG CRAIG Greg Craig, President Barack Obama's White House counsel, was indicted for failing to register as a foreign agent. Mueller's investigators uncovered Craig's work on behalf the government of Ukraine while probing Manafort, who did business with Craig. Prosecutors released a grand jury indictment of Craig in April 2019, after Craig's law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP agreed to pay more than $4.6 million as part of a settlement. The prominent firm also acknowledged it had failed to register, and placed much of the blame on Craig, a senior partner there. Craig's lawyer blasted the decision as an abuse of prosecutorial discretion, and prepared to argue that omission of information during an interview is not tantamount to making false statements. The charges stem from a 2012 report Craig and the firm produced on behalf of the Ukrainian government on opposition figure and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She was an opponent of Manafort's client , former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Craig was cleared on September 9 2019. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled his plan to build a fast-rail link capable of sending travellers between major cities in just minutes at speeds of more than 1220km/h. The high-speed train network is part of the Prime Minister's plan to ease congestion on the east coast. A tube system has been proposed that would slash inter-state travel times across Australia, meaning a trip between Sydney and Melbourne could take 37 minutes. Scroll down for video A high-speed train network is part of the Prime Minister's plan to ease congestion on the east coast (artist's impression) A tube system has been proposed that would slash inter-state travel times across Australia, meaning a trip between Sydney and Brisbane (pictured) could take as little as half an hour If the proposed rail link was to go ahead, people could travel from Sydney to Melbourne (pictured) in just over 30 minutes From Adelaide to Melbourne travel time would be just over 30 minutes; Melbourne to Canberra, 23 minutes; Canberra to Sydney, 14 minutes; and Sydney to Brisbane, only 37 minutes Travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne or Sydney to Brisbane would take just over 30 minutes. A trip from Melbourne to Canberra is expected to take 23 minutes, and passengers could travel from Canberra to Sydney in only 14 minutes. The proposal has been presented by American company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies in response to an inquiry from the government in October. 'A Hyperloop serving Australias Eastern seaboard and connecting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane addresses a population of over 10 million people,' the company's submission read. The futuristic transport system comprises of capsules magnetically levitating in a tube on pylons, the ground or underground. The entire system would run on solar power. Air pressure is lowered to reduce friction and allow the capsule to move at high speed.'Adding Adelaide, Canberra, the Southern Highlands and extending the route to the Gold Coast increases the number to well over half of the Australian population, in a 2000km stretch of relatively flat, seismically stable terrain and creating new business, passenger and freight transport opportunities to millions of Australians each year.' According to the submission, the tube will be optimised to transport freight and better connection regional towns. Scott Morrison's (pictured) plans to ease crippling congestion across Australia's east coast will include a reduced annual migration intake and plans for a fast-rail train network In addition to high-speed rail, Mr Morrison's plans to ease crippling congestion include a reduced annual migration intake. After hinting at his population plans for many months, the PM is expected to announce the details of his decentralisation blueprint on Wednesday. As part of the population plan, Australia's annual migration intake is being slashed by 30,000 places in an attempt to ease population pressures on congested capitals. Many skilled migrants will also have to work in regional towns for three years, with international students offered enticements to study outside the big cities. Mr Morrison said he wanted workers in capital cities to spend less time stuck in traffic, while helping struggling rural and regional communities inject life into their towns. One of the anticipated features of the plan is a new fast-rail network, with three projects under consideration, The Australian reported. The PM said he wanted workers in capital cities to spend less time stuck in traffic, while helping struggling rural and regional communities inject life into their towns Fast-rail links between Melbourne and Shepparton, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and Sydney and Newcastle are believed to be under consideration. He denied concerns about congestion were driven by racism, saying migrants were an important part of Australia's social and economic fabric. 'We won't be distracted from the task at hand to make Australia's cities and towns even better places to live,' Mr Morrison said. 'People who want to play politics or run scare campaigns from these announcements are taking Australians for mugs.' The government is cutting the annual migration ceiling from 190,000 to 160,000 places for the next four years. It does not expect the reduction to have any impact to the federal budget. One of the anticipated features of the plan is a a new fast-rail network, with three projects under consideration (stock image) The federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (pictured) confirmed Labor is willing to lower the annual migrant intake to 160,000 but has warned against 'dog whistling' on population policy The federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has confirmed Labor is willing to lower the annual migrant intake to 160,000 but has warned against 'dog whistling' on population policy. Mr Morrison said Australia had thrived from steady population growth, but for the past two decades infrastructure and services have struggled to keep pace. He pointed out the vast majority of migrants had settled in the capital cities, putting significant pressure on roads and public transport. In an attempt to arrest this trend, the government is introducing two new visas requiring skilled workers to stay in the regions for three years before applying for permanent residency. Population Minister Alan Tudge (pictured) said many smaller cities were crying out for more people, with an estimated 47,000 job vacancies in regional Australia There will be 23,000 set aside for the new regional visas, which more than triples the number of migrants currently forced to spend two years in the bush. Population Minister Alan Tudge said many smaller cities were crying out for more people, with an estimated 47,000 job vacancies in regional Australia. 'Some regional areas simply cannot fill the jobs available,' he said. The number of employer-sponsored skilled migrants allowed into Australia is being bumped up slightly to 39,000 places, but there will be no change to the family stream of the program, which offers 48,000 visas. Meanwhile, tertiary scholarships worth $15,000 will be offered to 1000 local and international students each year to attend university in the regions. Overseas students will also be able to work in Australia for an extra year after graduating from regional unis. Qantas has considered cancelling Senator Fraser Anning's membership from the airline's Chairman's Lounge Qantas has considered cancelling Senator Fraser Anning's membership from the airline's exclusive Chairman's Lounge over his comments following the Christchurch mosque massacre. The independent politician blamed Friday's attack, which killed 50 people and left dozens injured, on Muslim immigration. Senator Anning also whacked the Australian teenager dubbed 'Egg Boy' twice in the face, after the 17-year-old slapped an egg on the politician's head, following his widely-condemned comments. Qantas said the airline will review Mr Anning's access to the invitation-only lounge, frequented by federal Members of Parliament and top business elites, The Australian reported. Daily Mail Australia contacted Qantas to confirm the review and the reasons behind it but the airline has refused to comment. Malcolm Roberts, who was replaced by Senator Anning in Pauline Hanson's One Nation party after he was disqualified in 2017, saw the review as a free-speech issue. 'Qantas are free to decide who should and shouldn't enter the Chairman's Lounge,' he tweeted. 'In return, Australians who think this decision is an unjustified attack on free speech can retaliate by not flying Qantas, 'That's how free speech works, we each live with lawful consequences for our actions.' The Qantas Chairman's Lounge membership offers flight seat upgrades, an a la carte menu, a comfortable lounge and table service. The exclusive membership has been around for almost 30 years but Qantas has remained secretive about how it selects people or how many members there are. According to Business Insider, the value of the luxurious membership is more than the $510 a year Qantas club fee. There is a Chairman's Lounge in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, accessed by members who have been given a Chairman's Lounge black card. There is a Chairman's Lounge in Sydney (pictured), Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide The exclusive membership has been around for almost 30 years but Qantas has remained secretive about how it selects people or how many members there are Vice chancellor of the Australian National University and astronomer Brian P. Schmidt has confirmed he is a member but did reveal any more details. Before the review, Senator Anning made controversial comments about the Christchurch mosque shootings. 'As always, left-wing politicians and the media will rush to the claim that the causes of today's shootings lie with gun laws or those who hold nationalist views but this is all cliched and nonsense,' Mr Anning said in a statement. 'The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.' Vice chancellor of the Australian National University and Astronomer Brian P. Schmidt has confirmed he is a member but did reveal any more details (Melbourne lounge pictured) According to Business Insider, the value of the luxurious membership is more than the $510 a year Qantas club fee Before the review, Senator Anning made controversial comments about the Christchurch mosque shootings Senator Anning spoke at a press conference at Moorabin, in Melbourne's south after his comments, when teenager Will Connolly cracked an egg over his head. Connolly was punched in the face twice by Mr Anning before being tackled to the ground and put in a choke-hold by four of the Senator's supporters. Connolly was arrested by police but was released without charge. Senator Anning spoke at a press conference at Moorabin, in Melbourne's south after his comments, when teenager Will Connolly cracked an egg over his head Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has ignored widespread criticism by continuing to show footage of the Christchurch mosque massacre at his campaign rallies. The Turkish leader has been using clips from the attack to denounce Islamophobia ahead of March 31 local elections as he tries to stoke nationalist and religious sentiments. Speaking at the northern town of Eregli on Tuesday, the president called on New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two mosques on Friday. 'If New Zealand fails to hold the attacker accountable, one way or another we will hold him to account,' he said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) called on New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two mosques, during a rally on Tuesday Erdogan also showed footage of the Christchurch attack to a crowd (pictured) of thousands in a bid to to denounce Islamophobia ahead of March 31 local elections 'There are no sentences longer than 15 years in our laws,' he continued. 'What are you saying? [Someone] is going to slaughter 50 Muslims who are worshipping, and there's no such article in your laws? 'This is human life. How cheap is human life. If there's no such thing in your laws, then make new legislative regulations, and don't give murderers like these a right to life.' Erdogan also took aim at New Zealand and Australia for sending troops to Turkey in the World War I Gallipoli campaign, claiming their motive was anti-Islam oriented. 'Why did you come here? What business did you have here? We had no issues with you, why did you come all the way over here? The only reason: we're Muslim, and they're Christian.' The president has been criticised for exploiting the video footage even as authorities have cracked down on the internet and social media to stop the clips from spreading. The country's opposition party accused Erdogan of playing the footage 'for the sake of [winning] three or five votes.' Facebook announced on Tuesday that the livestream was viewed less than 200 times live and 4,000 times in total before it was removed. Erodgan had spoken at a rally featuring an image of independent Queensland senator Fraser Anning (pictured) Erdogan has as inflamed previously-warm diplomatic ties by referencing the sacred Gallipoli campaign of 1915, saying anyone with anti-Muslim sentiments will be 'returned in coffins.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the remarks were 'deeply offensive' The company said it used technology to block visually similar videos, before using audio tech as well, catching 1.5million videos before they were uploaded in 24 hours. A further 300,000 videos were later removed. Erdogan has also been accused of inciting a rift between previously-warm diplomatic ties by referencing the sacred Gallipoli campaign of 1915 in the wake of the attack. On Monday, the 65-year-old leader referenced the doomed campaign during a public address on an outdoor podium. 'Your grandparents came, some of them returned in coffins,' he told a rally featuring people waving Turkish flags. 'If you come as well like your grandfathers, be sure that you will be gone like your grandfathers.' The Gallipoli campaign killed 8,141 Australians. The nine-month Gallipoli campaign at the Dardanelles, in Turkey, saw 860 Australians killed in five days, following the doomed landing on April 25, 1915. Prime Minister Scott Morrison later slammed Erdogan's warning as 'deeply offensive.' Speaking to reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Morrison said: 'Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians, and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment.' 'They are offensive because they insult the memory of our Anzacs and they violate the pledge that is etched in the stone at Gallipoli, of the promise of Ataturk to the mothers of other Anzacs.' He said he did not accept that the president's comments reflecting the feeling of the people of Turkey and 'all options were on the table' in terms of Australia's response. Mr Morrison met with the Turkish ambassador Korhan Karakoc at Parliament House on Wednesday. 'We had a frank exchange with the prime minister and the Gallipoli spirit will always remain,' the ambassador said on his way out of Parliament House. During an interview with Sydney radio 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones he said the comments were deeply offensive but also unhelpful. 'I think it's our job here not to escalate this. It's our job to take the temperature down,' he said. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australians and New Zealanders would soon travel to Gallipoli to mark Anzac Day and 100 years of friendship with Turkey. The Turkish president said they will hold the attacker accountable if New Zealand fails to do so He echoed Mr Morrison's sentiments saying the comments are 'foolish and offensive remarks at a time when New Zealanders are mourning.' Australians planning to travel to Turkey for Anzac Day are now being urged to exercise caution and await further advice, following the incendiary comments. Armenian National Committee of Australia executive director Haig Kayserian said the Turkish president's comments were outrageous. 'What Erdogan is doing is responding to a hate crime by spreading more hate,' he said. 'He is disrespecting ANZACs by referring to their return to Australia and New Zealand in coffins, while at the same time threatening those of our citizens who wish to pay respects to the memory of our ANZACs in Gallipoli.' Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers, killing 50 people. Turkey is a member of G20, the global forum which Australia is seeking agreement to act on social media companies broadcasting terror attacks like the Christchurch shootings. 'I hope he'll join with me in addressing the issues around social media when it comes to terrorist attacks,' Mr Morrison said of his Turkish counterpart. Exactly 1,000 days ago today, the British electorate went in unprecedented numbers to the ballot box for the EU referendum. And when 17.4 million voted Leave, on a 24-year-high turnout of 72 per cent, they gave the Government the biggest democratic mandate in UK history. With a sense of quiet jubilation, courage, determination and ambition, the people said precisely what they wanted: To cast off the sclerotic blocs chains and step out into the world. Defiantly ignoring the unseemly bombardment of Project Fear scare stories from biblical prophets of doom, who warned economic catastrophe would befall Britain, the indomitable public sent a clear message to the politicians: Get us out! Wednesday marks 1,000 days since the Brexit referendum. Leave voters in Sunderland (pictured) were some of the first people to start celebrating Despite being visibly stunned by the extraordinary and unexpected result, the party leaders agreed to implement the electorates will. Soon, it was said, the country would finally become a truly sovereign nation for the first time in 45 years. We could halt unpopular free movement, regain control of borders, ditch the loathed Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies, end the European Courts jurisdiction over British law and set sail on the high seas of global trade with flourishing economies. And, to boot, stop sending billions of pounds annually to the Brussels spendthrifts. How long ago it now seems! Today the dream, if not dead, is gasping pitifully on life support. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has been a staunch opponent of Brexit, despite the referendum result The culprit? An out-of-touch, elitist Parliament which has shamefully failed to enact the explicit desire of the electorate. A motley mixture of incompetent MPs, masochistically intransigent Eurosceptic zealots, treacherous Remainers and a supercilious, sabotaging Speaker have conspired to thwart Brexit. As her deal floundered, no wonder Theresa May was forced to make the embarrassing admission that Britain was embroiled in a national crisis. Let us be crystal clear: this is a humiliation for the United Kingdom. There are no two ways about: the failure to pass a deal in the 1,000 days since June 23, 2016, has made us an international laughing stock. Theresa May's inability to get Parliament to agree to her deal has left European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker aghast Rubbing salt into the wound, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has suggested watering down the Prime Ministers withdrawal agreement to a deal so soft it would make an aghast public wonder why they had bothered to leave in the first place. For millions of moderate, pragmatic people across the nation, the unsavoury events unfolding in Westminster must seem a monumental act of betrayal. Out in the real world, where men and women have jobs, incomes and mortgages that rely on a stable government, the tawdry antics can have been nothing short of bewildering. All they wanted was a sensible resolution. They must feel foolish for putting so much faith in politicians! The British economy continues to yield healthy growth since the Brexit referendum, despite warnings from former Chancellor George Osborne While the incessant squabbling of MPs has brought Government to a standstill, those self-same hardtoiling folk have been getting on with the task of keeping the country going. And an excellent job they are doing. Figures yesterday show the jobs miracle continuing apace. Employment is at a record high (32.7 million in work) while unemployment has fallen below four per cent for the first time since 1975 when the UK was on the brink of becoming an economic basket case. Meanwhile, real wages saw their biggest increase since the 2008 crash. These are numbers the stagnating eurozone can only dream of. So it is no wonder heads of companies are tearing their hair out along with the rest of a frustrated, irritated nation at Parliaments abject failure to get a deal over the line. Parliament's inability to agree to a deal on Brexit has heads of companies tearing their hair out The International Monetary Fund recently said that if agreement was reached, the resulting economic surge would see UK growth quickly outpace even that of Germany. The prize for delivering Brexit is enormous. And by their towering incompetence, the preening egotists in Westminster seemingly more interested in political posturing and clucking about arcane Parliamentary procedure than what is good for the nation have also jeopardised a 26.6 billion Brexit bonus. Raked in by Chancellor Philip Hammond to spend after all EU liabilities had been paid, it was cash that could have been spent on police battling the knife-crime epidemic, our creaking railways, under-strain care system, schools and tax cuts. But now that is at risk of being squandered. Even Donald Trumps top adviser, John Bolton, yesterday announced that the U.S. was ready to sign a mammoth trade deal with the UK after Brexit. Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg! Donald Trump has talked of prioritising a trade deal with the UK after the country left the European Union How on earth has it come to this? The Mail is the first to admit Mrs Mays Brexit deal is not flawless. There are obvious concerns that Britain could be temporarily stuck in the Irish backstop and governed by EU rules hampering our chance to sign agreements with economies in the rest of the world. But there are overwhelming positives. It was a sensible deal that stood the best chance of repairing a nation fractured by Brexit, honoured the referendum result and ensures that our departure will be orderly and amicable There is no single plan which commands a majority. The British people do not want their desire for independence from the EU stymied by a second referendum, or a Norway-style deal that would leave this country shackled to the bloc without voting rights. But neither do they want a chaotic No Deal. The Prime Minister has been the only grown-up in the room during the protracted Brexit negotiations The Prime Ministers fate for tirelessly and resolutely thrashing out a conciliatory pact? Carping, mockery and duplicity, from MPs on all sides of the political spectrum in Westminster, and sneering from Brussels. Few come out of the whole sorry debacle with a smidgen of credit except for the Prime Minister, the only grown-up in the room. Predictably, even as she battled to salvage her ailing deal yesterday, there was a beauty parade of ambitious Tory ministers keen to peacock their leadership credentials, instead of rallying behind the Prime Minister whatever their reservations about the deal. And on an extraordinary day, Boris Johnson, who quit the Cabinet in a fit of pique over her negotiating strategy, was spotted entering No 10 presumably demanding his price for his (eventual) support. Boris Johnson visited Theresa May on Tuesday, presumably demanding a price for his support Meanwhile, despite a lifelong hatred of the EU, Jeremy Corbyns stand on Brexit was one of ambiguous evasion. The Labour leader insinuated he supports a second referendum and that, if he did, he might back Remain . . . or not . . .entirely depending on who he was talking to. This preposterous Marxists only desire is to force a General Election. Yet if he seized the keys to No 10, his hard-Left clique would drive the economy into a ditch. That would be a national calamity. But the most deplorable of all the subversives are the Jacob Rees-Mogg-led European Research Group the Hard Brexiteers trade union. They have insisted on the purist of pure Brexits. But the supreme irony is that, by hubristically making the perfect the enemy of the good, they risk losing the prize they have sought for two generations: Brexit itself. Jacob Rees-Mogg and the European Research Group may have cost themselves a chance at leaving the EU It is difficult to envisage how the hardliners will be able to look each other in the face if Britain is forced to stay in the EU, let alone deal with the anger of millions of voters. Now Mrs May will write to Brussels requesting an extension, although it is not clear what Mr Barnier, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker et al will offer. Whatever it is, it will undoubtedly come attached with painful conditions. But if the Prime Minister manages to wangle a third vote on her deal, Brexiteers must decide what they really want: swallowing leaving the EU on her terms, seeing it diluted or consigned to the dustbin of history. If it is the latter, 1,000 days and 1,000 potential opportunities will have been shamefully wasted. How did victory turn to this? Advertisement Two victims of the Christchurch mosque massacre - a Syrian father and son - have been laid to rest at the first funeral, with mourners each using their hands to throw three handfuls of soil into the graves. Refugees Khaled Mustafa, 44, and his high school student son Hamza, 15, were killed in the carnage at the Al Noor mosque during the gunmans alleged reign of terror, which claimed 50 lives last Friday. The bodies arrived in a procession of more than a dozen cars about 12.30pm. There was complete silence on the grounds. The janaza, or funeral prayers, began shortly thereafter, with the words 'allahu akbar' (god is the greatest) hanging in the air. The coffin of the first victim from the Christchurch terrorist attack arrives for the burial ceremony at Memorial Park Cemetery Mourners console each other before the first funerals for the victims of last Friday's terrorist attack in Christchurch The victims were then carried to the plots for burial, with the men ordered to line up in order to throw soil into the graves. The women in attendance watched on from afar, as is Islamic custom. The talented farrier father and his son, a student at Cashmere High School, were buried next to one another at plots 87 and 88. Young Hamza called his mother from the mosque after the shooting began. Salwa Mustafa told Stuff that he said, 'mum, there's someone coming into the mosque and he's shooting us'. He was with his brother, who was shot in the leg, at the time. Three to four hundred men, women and children attended the service, with a special area set up for mourners to wash their hands and feet and two little boys playing tag during the funeral prayers. The first victims laid to rest were Syrian refugee Khaled Mustafa, 44, (left) and his high school student son Hamza, 15 (right) Zaid Mustafa (pictured) was shot in the leg during the mosque massacre which killed his father and brother The first victims of the Christchurch massacre - Syrian refugee Khaled Mustafa, 44, and son Hamza, 15, have been laid to rest Up to 400 mourners gathered at Memorial Park Cemetery for services to farewell the first Christchurch massacre victims Female mourners have gathered under a marquee to pay their respects at the first funerals held for victims killed last week An announcer gave mourners evacuation instructions in case of an emergency, a sign of a community on edge. The burials, more than five days after the massacre, follow mounting frustration from families that their relatives remains could not be released quickly, due to the police investigation. Authorities moved swiftly to prepare the grave sites after the massacre, where 50 were killed. The city council dug 50 graves at the Memorial Cemetery in Linwood, beginning less than 24 hours after the horrendous killings. The bodies of several victims will be repatriated to their home countries. Mourners used their hands to throw three handfuls of soil into the graves at Memorial Park Cemetary Up to 400 men, women and children attended the service, with an area set up for mourners to wash their hands and feet A council spokeswoman said there were 50 victims, and we didnt know how many were being repatriated' and the decision was made to dig 50 graves 'just in case'. Many burials will occur en masse in the coming days as further bodies are released. In typical Islamic funerals, men participate in the burial, while women pay their respects under a marquee that has been erected nearby. Funeral prayers are said and the bodies washed in a traditional fashion. The victims are wrapped in white shrouds and placed in the ground. Those injured in New Zealand's worst mass shooting last week attended the first funerals of the victims Men participate in the traditional Islamic burials while women paid their respects under a marquee erected nearby Auckland University expert Dr Zain Ali said the bodies are pointed towards Mecca. Mourners traditionally place three handfuls of soil into the ground as part of the burial. The family of the victims gave permission to media to photograph the services. New Zealand Police officials confirmed this morning that 21 bodies were now available for release. There was a police presence at the first services for victims of last Friday's Christchurch terrorist attack HOW AN ISLAMIC FUNERAL WORKS A typical Islamic funeral service involves the washing of the body with warm water from head to toe at a mosque with family members at a mosque, said Auckland University expert Dr Zain Ali. The body is then placed in a shroud, or white cloth. It is then brought to its final resting place in a coffin. Here in New Zealand, because its a small community, youd have a lot of the community turn up, even if youre not directly related to the person whos passed away, Dr Ali said. The body is then placed in the grave, facing Mecca, and buried. Mourners traditionally place three handfuls of soil into the plot, in a symbolic gesture. Dr Ali said the gesture means: Weve come from this soil, we return to the soil, and one day we will be raised back from the soil again, in a sort of resurrection From this we came, from this we return. Advertisement Journalist Lee Lin Chin has fired back at NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley after he claimed young people were being forced to 'flee' Sydney because educated Asian migrants were stealing their jobs. Chin, the former SBS news anchor, took to social media to take a swipe at Mr Daley after footage emerged of his controversial rant in a pub in the Blue Mountains. 'Don't worry Michael Daley, I stole an Australian newsreaders job without a PhD,' she wrote on Twitter. 'We will take the jobs regardless of our education.' Scroll down for video Iconic newsreader Lee Lin Chin (pictured) has fired back at the NSW Labor Leader after his comments about young people being forced from cities by Asian immigrants The former long time SBS news anchor took to her social media to take a swipe at Mr Daley's comments from 2018 when he said young people are 'being replaced' by people from Asia with a PhD Her tweet attracted more than 500 retweets and close to 4000 favourites from Twitter users. 'His biggest worry right now - voters of NSW taking his job,' one Twitter user responded to the tweet. 'Can you steal a nasty MP's job,' another quipped. Chin's tweet was posted after Mr Daley refused to issue an unconditional apology for controversial comments he made at a public function in September last year. 'Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs,' Daley said in the video. Michael Daley (pictured) refused to issue an unconditional apology for controversial comments he made at a public function in September last year Speaking outside Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Tuesday, he admitted he could've used better language but repeatedly refused to apologise. The 53-year-old said he called situations as he saw them. 'One of the things you know about me is ... I call it as I see it,' Mr Daley said, reported The Daily Telegraph. He also rebuffed the question of whether he would agree if his comments could be perceived as 'racist'. 'We are in the Asian region the statistics bear almost half of the immigrants to Australia are from the Asian region particularly the skilled migration scheme,' Mr Daley continued. 'They're welcome to come to Sydney and I've said that, I've said it's not a bad thing because Asian kids are coming to work here, it's a bad thing because I'd like my daughter and others like her to remain here,' he concluded. Mr Daley (pictured centre) admitted he could've used better language but declined the opportunity to apologise without qualification (File picture) Mr Daley continued to backtrack on his prior observations and claimed the issue was not with people coming from Asia, but housing affordability in Sydney He continued to backtrack on his prior observations and claimed the issue was not with people coming from Asia, but housing affordability in Sydney. 'I have conceded that my language could have been better, I've readily acknowledged that and if anyone has taken offence to what I've said, I do apologise,' he said. 'But I did make the point, and I make the point again today, that Sydney is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live in. 'Commutes are longer, people are having to move further away from the CBD, a fifth of Sydney families are suffering rental stress,' Mr Daley added. 'Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs,' Mr Daley said in the video. Mr Daley stunned members of the audience when he spoke of the 'transformation' that was happening in Sydney with 'foreigners moving in taking jobs' 'So there's a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs.' When a man in the audience expressed his concern over Mr Daley's comments he went on to explain it was a statement of fact that young people were moving out of Sydney because they could not afford to afford to live there. He said they were being replaced by international workers, mainly from Asia. 'It's not a bad thing because Asian kids are coming to work here, it's a bad thing because I'd like my daughter to be living in Maroubra rather than St Kilda,' he said. Two months after the video was filmed, Mr Daley spoke at Chinese-only press conference, where his sentiments were vastly different. NSW Labor leader Michael Daley (pictured with daughter Olivia, wife Christina and son Austin) has been recorded saying Asian immigrants were taking jobs from young Australians in extraordinary comments caught on camera Premier Gladys Berejiklian has slammed Mr Daley, labelling him a 'hypocrite'. 'He's prepared to say one thing to one group and completely change his position in front of another because he'll say whatever he thinks they want to hear. That's not what a real leader does.' Greens MP David Shoebridge has called the video 'shameful and 'ugly'. 'Michael Daley's appalling narrowcasting is engaging in racist dog whistling against Asian Australians when he thinks no one critical is listening,' he told the Australian. The man Mr Daley replaced as Labor leader, Luke Foley, was wildly criticised when in 2018 he used the term 'white flight' when referring to struggling western Sydney suburbs. Population has been a mounting issue for Sydney and Melbourne, as pressure has been building with congestion and infrastructure. Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has slammed Mr Daley, labelling him a 'hypocrite' Figures show about 70 and 80 per cent of all new permanent entrants choosing to live in the two major cities. The Government has been making moves to restrict immigration intake with the Expenditure Review Committee recently signing off on parts of its broader population policy, which will see an annual cap of 160,000 for permanent migration intake, The Australian reported. The cap will replace the 190,000 ceiling that was imposed in 2015 in a bid to reduce numbers to a more manageable level. The committee also signed off on a regional settlement policy that will require a set number of general skilled migrants to live in a different city not Sydney or Melbourne for a minimum of five years. On Tuesday Mr Daley made a formal apology and explained he had been discussing housing affordability when he made the comments, expressing a desire for 'all our children' to continue living in Sydney if they chose. 'Many are being forced to leave Sydney because of high cost of living and property prices, notwithstanding some recent declines,' he said in a statement. 'In making these points, I could have expressed myself better. I meant no offence and hope none has been taken. 'I apologise if any offence is taken.' Mr Daley's predecessor Luke Foley was wildly criticised in 2018 when he used the term 'white flight' when referring to struggling western Sydney suburbs. An anonymous individual is calling out TripAdvisor for allegedly failing to protect its users from patronizing businesses where people have been sexually assaulted. The user identified only as K.K. has started a petition on Change.org seeking to persuade the world's largest travel site to change its policy on how it deals with reported sexual assaults, following allegedly being attacked by a tour guide 'with stellar reviews on TripAdvisor.' The site currently encourages users to post a public, first-person review warning others of allegations of violence, but K.K. would like to see implicated businesses removed from the platform, entirely. 'Im just one of countless women whove been ignored or mistreated by TripAdvisor after reporting a sexual assault at a business on their site,' K.K. wrote in the petition which has amassed over 143,000 signatures 'In the era of #MeToo, this company is not taking violence against women seriously.' The site didn't always invite the reviews it now seeks, however, coming under fire in November of 2017 for rejecting such posts because they were not 'family friendly.' TripAdvisor told DailyMail.com it 'absolutely disagrees with the premise of the accusations made' in K.K.'s petition. A person identified only as K.K. has started a petition on Change.org seeking to persuade TripAdvisor (logo inset at top left) to change its policy on how it deals with reported sexual assaults, following allegedly being attacked by a tour guide 'with stellar reviews' on the site. The photo K.K. has used on the petition site is shown K.K. would like to see such listings removed from the platform, but TripAdvisor said to do so would be dangerous, 'allowing a business to operate in the shadows, without having a transparent record of travelers experiences,' and instead asks users to submit first person reviews of assaults. The TripAdvisor logo is shown 'On a recent international trip with friends, I decided to go on an outdoor excursion,' K.K. wrote in the petition. 'I never would have imagined that our tour guide, who came with stellar reviews on TripAdvisor, would ultimately rape me, and that TripAdvisor would do next to nothing to prevent him from doing it again.' TripAdvisor senior communications manager Haley Coleman told DailyMail.com: 'The health and safety of travellers is a responsibility TripAdvisor takes very seriously. TripAdvisor exists as an information and review platform for travellers to share their experiences, including incidents of assault. 'With respect to the petition, TripAdvisor absolutely disagrees with the premise of the accusations made. Its a horrible tragedy when someone experiences a safety issue like a sexual or physical assault. In fact, for more than a decade, TripAdvisor has enabled survivors of sexual assault to courageously tell their stories, which have in turn served as warnings to millions of travellers across the globe. 'We continuously work to find the right balance between honouring a survivors privacy and making the TripAdvisor platform helpful to travellers.' (The full statement can be read at the bottom of this article.) TripAdvisor has said its site is a research tool, and it does not 'promote' any one business over another. 'We are often asked why we dont remove a business listing when something terrible happens. Having a business listing on our platform isnt an endorsement of that business. What makes TripAdvisor different from other platforms is that it would be a disservice to the public to remove these listings and therefore withhold valuable information. Allowing a business to operate in the shadows, without having a transparent record of travelers experiences at that location, potentially puts travelers at risk,' a TripAdvisor spokesperson said in a statement. TripAdvisor said leaving the pages up of businesses that have been implicated in alleged assaults is 'helpful in warning the public so people can make an informed decision.' K.K., however, argues that relying on reviews in not sufficient, as the posts are listed chronologically on the platform, and the solution is insensitive to the needs of survivors of assault. K.K. argues the existing approach is re-traumatizing and insufficient. The petition has amassed more than 143,000 signatures, to date 'Im just one of countless women whove been ignored or mistreated by TripAdvisor after reporting a sexual assault at a business on their site,' K.K. wrote 'My assault was deeply traumatic and probably one of the worst things Ive ever experienced. But the humiliation I was put through when I turned to TripAdvisor for help was almost worse,' K.K. wrote in the petition. 'When I asked for help warning other tourists about my attacker, the company simply suggested I leave a review. Not only was this solution woefully inadequate to warn other tourists my one star review would quickly get lost among minor complaints about the guide but it required me to relive the painful details of my assault and out myself publicly in a place where my assailant could likely find me.' TripAdvisor does, however, offer the option to create an anonymous account, and offered to walk K.K. through the process of doing so. TripAdvisor said it continues to work 'to find the right balance between honoring a victims privacy and making sure our platform is helpful to travelers.' TripAdvisor said it 'believes that every person impacted by a traveler safety issue, including sexual assault, has the right to write a first-hand account about their experience. Even a brief, non-descriptive mention that a traveler experienced an assault can serve as a powerful warning to the global travel community.' K.K. did ultimately write a review, according to the Guardian, but it was not written as a first person account, so it was reportedly left as pending rather than published. 'Its a horrible tragedy when someone experiences a safety issue like a sexual or physical assault. TripAdvisor exists as an informational review platform for travelers to post their experiences, including incidents of assault,' TripAdvisor said in a statement. Regarding TripAdvisor's claim that it doesn't promote businesses listed on its site, it does rank them by star rating provided in user reviews, and to K.K.'s point, a single review may have little impact on a business with thousands of reviews. The Guardian reported noting 40 business listings which had reviews describing sexual assault, rape and groping committed by staff members that were highly rated hotels or other travel businesses. In November of 2017, the company began implementing warning flags on businesses where reports had been made of health, safety or discrimination concerns. The company said at the time they would 'evaluate whether to place this notification on a business listing when we become aware of media reports regarding a notable health, safety or discrimination issue at a property listed on our site where that issue may not be apparent in TripAdvisor reviews or forum content'. TripAdvisor came under fire in November of 2017 and issued a public apology to Kristie Love, 35, of Dallas, after The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that TripAdvisor removed her 2010 forum post about the Paraiso Maya resort, where she said she had been raped by a security guard. The company said at the time there was a former policy that allowed only 'family-friendly' language in user reviews. 'A few years ago, we updated that policy to allow more descriptive reviews and content about first-hand accounts of serious incidents like rape or assault,' the company said in the 2017 statement. 'Even at that time, we recognized that our previous guidelines went too far in preventing information like this from being shared.' The company has said the flags remain on the business listing for three months as a general guideline for re-evaluation, but that each case is handled on an individual basis. K.K. highlighted the warning flags in her petition, writing: 'The company has already bent to public pressure on this issue by implementing a system to warn users about businesses with "health, safety, and discrimination issues." But the system is proving ineffective and insufficient. 'Now is the moment to demand policies which actually protect customers from sexual assault and incentivize travel businesses to do the same. If enough of us speak out now, the poor publicity TripAdvisor is receiving compounded by our pressure will force the company to do something.' In its recent statement, the company said: 'TripAdvisor continues to iterate on new and better ways to make important health and safety information more visible and available to protect travelers. 'The health and safety of travelers is a responsibility we take very seriously. We believe that empowering the global travel community with as much information as possible to inform their decisions is an important role we play as a business in keeping people safe.' In its recent statement, the company said: 'TripAdvisor continues to iterate on new and better ways to make important health and safety information more visible and available to protect travelers. The health and safety of travelers is a responsibility we take very seriously. We believe that empowering the global travel community with as much information as possible to inform their decisions is an important role we play as a business in keeping people safe' The National Portrait Gallery in London has become the first major art institution to give up funds from the controversial Sackler family. Members of the Sackler family are facing lawsuits over their alleged role in the US opioid crisis and campaigners say the move from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) to give up the grant is a landmark victory in the battle over the ethics of art funding. The decision has been hailed as a 'powerful acknowledgement' that certain sources of income should not be justified. The family, whose company Purdue Pharma LP produces opioid prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been set to provide a 1million donation to the gallery. The Sackler family from left to right: Dr. Theodore Shapiro, Dr. Jack Barchas, DR. Susan Shack Sackler, Dr. Kathe Sackler, Dr. Carla Shatz, Dr. BJ Casey, Dr. Jay Gingrich and Dr. Robert Michels The National Portrait Gallery in London (pictured above) is the first major art institution to give up funds from the Sackler family Purdue Pharma is the maker of the prescription opioid painkiller OxyContin (pictured above) Speaking to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the gallery said that it had agreed with the Sackler family that both parties would not proceed with the donation 'at this time'. The family denies allegations against them which suggest they participated in 'conspiracy and fraud to portray OxyContin as non-addictive, even though they knew it was dangerously addictive'. The family claimed that the donation to the gallery's 'Inspiring People' project had been dropped in order to avoid creating a 'distraction' from the hard work the institution had put in to the initiative. Despite the decision being revealed as mutual, it could be seen as a major blow to the family's status following a campaign led against them by American artist Nancy Goldin. This file photo shows the outside of Purdue Pharma at the company's offices in Stamford, US Goldin has previously spoken out about being addicted to OxyContin after being prescribed the drug and last week said she was 'happy' with the decision taken by the NPG. She highlighted the need for other museums and galleries to do the same and reconsider gifts from the Sackler family. Reflecting on the decision she said: 'They did the right thing. I hope there is a domino effect now; there needs to be.' She had previously refused a retrospective of her work to be held at the NPG if it accepted the donation and had held protests outside the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York over their links to the Sackler's. Protests had previously been held outside the Guggenheim museum (above) by artist Nancy Goldin Protesters targeted the Guggenheim (pictured above) over its ties to the Sackler family Nancy Goldin (pictured centre pointing) took charge of a protest against the family outside the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York The NPG had been one of many British cultural institutions set to receive donations from members of the family, but had come under fire from artists and campaigners who said that accepting money from them would make the NPG complicit in the damage done by the drugs the family's company produce. The co director of campaigning organisation Culture Unstained, Jess Worth told the Guardian that decision to not continue with the donation 'from those that profited from the opioid crisis' was a 'powerful acknowledgment that some sources of funding cross a red line'. She added: 'This raises the question of whether the gallery will now apply the same standards to its BP sponsorship deal or continue to promote a fossil fuel company in the midst of a climate crisis. 'Waved through with minimal scrutiny in the past, BP sponsorship now like the Sackler donation looks ethically untenable.' Shakespeare's Globe in London (pictured above) has also previously received money from the Sackler family According to a 2016 estimation by Forbes magazine, the Sackler family has an estimated worth of $13billion, making them the richest family in America and each year the family continues to make philanthropic donations. However in November 2018 court filings suggested that some members of the family had 'actively participated in conspiracy and fraud to portray [OxyContin] as non-addictive, even though they knew it was dangerously addictive'. Following the revelation some public institutions including New York's Columbia University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have reviewed whether they would continue to accept their donations. Goldin added: 'I spoke to the National Portrait Gallery. I'm so happy, I'm very glad about it. We have to hold museums to a higher standard, they are supposed to be a repository of the best of humanity, a repository of learning and culture.' The Sackler trust awarded the NPG 35.5million in 2016 for a project for building development, redisplaying collections and a new education centre. The Royal Opera House (pictured above) has also previously received financial support from the Sackler family The money was a pledge and was not paid, partly due to the fact that work had not yet started and the gallery's ethics committee was considering the implications of receiving funding from the family. The Sackler Trust said: '[We have] has supported institutions playing crucial roles in health, education, science and the arts for almost half a century and we were pleased to have the opportunity to offer a new gift to support the National Portrait Gallery. The giving philosophy of the family has always been to actively support institutions while never getting in the way of their mission'. 'Recent reporting of allegations made against Sackler family members may cause this new donation to deflect the National Portrait Gallery from its important work. The allegations against family members are vigorously denied, but to avoid being a distraction for the NPG, we have decided not to proceed at this time with the donation. We continue to believe strongly in the gallery and the wonderful work it does.' NPG chair David Ross said he acknowledged the generosity of the Sackler family and their support over the years. 'We understand and support their decision not to proceed at this time with the donation to the gallery.' Over time the Sackler name has provided financial support for various institutions in the UK such as the Royal Opera House, Shakespeare's Globe and the Royal Ballet School. In 2017 the V&A opened a Sackler courtyard which was estimated to have cost 2million. This is while the V&A in Dundee, Scotland is said to be under pressure to return a donation from the Sackler family. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were seen by Trump opponents as the acceptable face of the presidency Young, attractive and wholesome-looking with their little children running around at their feet, White House First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were seen by Trump opponents as the acceptable face of the presidency. Trumps self-proclaimed feminist daughter, 37, and her mild-mannered husband, 38, would, it was hoped, exercise a moderating influence on her bombastic fathers worst impulses. When it became clear the fashion industry entrepreneur and multi-millionaire property developer would both have key roles in the Trump administration, many in Washington raised a silent cheer. Not everyone whispering into the Presidents ear would be a swivel-eyed white nationalist lunatic, they reasoned. At least there would be two people there with some sort of moral compass. Now the gloss has come off the couple dubbed Javanka with a new book Kushner, Inc. that portrays them as what one insider called a toxic mix of arrogance and ignorance. To that, the book says, can be added an insatiable lust for power thats caused havoc all over the world thanks to their huge sway over the Trump administration. Far from reining in Mr Trump, the pair who both hold unofficial, unpaid but clearly hugely powerful White House posts have encouraged his excesses, the book claims. Now the gloss has come off the couple dubbed Javanka with a new book Kushner, Inc. that portrays them as what one insider called a toxic mix of arrogance and ignorance Ivanka Trump is so arrogant, in fact, says Vicky Ward, author of Kushner, Inc., she believes she may one day be president, too. According to the book, Gary Cohn, once a key Trump official as director of the National Economic Council, has told people Ivanka believes her fathers tumultuous reign is the beginning of a great American dynasty. Her husband is equally deluded, according to the book. Dubbed the Secretary of Everything by colleagues due to his meddling in pretty much every area of government, he and his wife live in what one of Wards sources describes as a reality distortion field created by the huge wealth of their respective families. Neither of them, says a member of Mr Trumps legal team, has any idea how normal people perceive, understand, intuit. Ivanka was mocked by White House staff as Habi home of all bad ideas, claims Ward, who clearly had no trouble finding members of the Trump administration, past and present, ready to stick the knife in. None appears to have any time for the overbearing and widely loathed couple. The view is that, just like Mr Trump, the Kushners were fixated by image rather than substance, and showed an alarming lack of interest in the details of government policy. According to the book Ivanka believes her fathers tumultuous reign is the beginning of a great American dynasty White House insiders believe Kushner whose property tycoon father, Charles, was once jailed for tax evasion and illegal political campaign contributions was responsible for the controversial decision to close White House visitor logs in April 2017, ending a tradition that let outsiders scrutinise who the President was talking to. Sources told the author Kushner didnt want his frenetic networking exposed. One friend is reportedly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman the Saudi leader accused of direct responsibility for the savage murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey. Kushner, who was appointed an envoy to the Middle East, has particularly infuriated diplomats because of his insistence on interfering in U.S. policy across the world. He and Ivanka allegedly tried to control who went on State-Department funded trips and its also alleged former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didnt know what Kushner was doing. Both Mr Tillerson (one of many officials Kushner has outlasted) and Gary Cohn accused Kushner of mixing personal interests with U.S. policy, according to the book. Mr Tillerson blamed Kushner for the Presidents sudden decision to endorse a controversial blockade and diplomatic clampdown on Qatar by old foe Saudi Arabia and its allies in 2017. The U.S. has thousands of servicemen stationed at Qatars airbase and the Secretary of State bluntly told Kushner his interference had endangered the U.S., an unnamed Tillerson aide tells Vicky Ward. Ivanka and her husband allegedly tried to control who went on State-Department funded trips and its also alleged former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didnt know what Kushner was doing Mr Tillerson only later discovered that Kushners family had courted the Qataris for financial help but had been turned down. Meanwhile, the new book claims Mr Cohn, former head of bank Goldman Sachs, told off Kushner in January 2017 after it emerged the latter had dined with executives from Anbang, a Chinese financial corporation thinking of investing in a beleaguered Manhattan skyscraper owned by the Kushner family. Mr Cohn and other colleagues felt Kushner wasnt that bothered if it looked like he was trying to enrich himself or his family. Ivanka Trump also unsubtly put her oar into U.S. foreign policy during phone calls between her father and foreign leaders, according to the book. Kushner, Inc. relies heavily on anonymous sources, and a spokesman for Kushners lawyer dismissed the book as fiction, adding: Correcting everything wrong would take too long and be pointless. The White House has also called the book fiction, saying it is based on shady anonymous sources and false information instead of all the incredible work Jared and Ivanka are doing for the country. These latest claims will only hasten the fall from grace of a couple increasingly accused of being utterly brazen in their determination to use the presidency to advance themselves. The couple earned at least 61 million in outside income during their first year as unpaid advisers to the President. Both have stepped back from the day-to-day running of their businesses but maintain large stakes in them. Kushner is having a bad week. His academic history and his place at Harvard University have attracted unflattering scrutiny following a national scandal over the ability of rich parents to buy their children places at top U.S. academic institutions. Kushner was admitted to Harvard soon after his father Charles donated 1.9 million to the university. A family spokesman insisted there was no link between the donation and Jareds admission. The book suggests he and his wife are alarmingly clueless, claiming visitors to their home say they have few books and zero intellectual curiosity. Ward says various insiders told her with dismay how Ivanka would wander into the Oval Office, often with a child in tow, and talk to Trump in a singsong voice. Hed call her baby or pat her on the bottom. He sometimes stopped what he was doing to ogle her when she left the room. Doesnt she look great? he would say to others in the room. One of her sources found the relationship sickening. But, as Trumps former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon concedes, at least she tries to protect her father. Which means Javanka will no doubt outlast their many White House foes. A Muslim family have been targeted by racist vandals who spraypainted their car with swastikas and the words 'Muslim dogs'. The Hassan family, from Clarkson in northern Perth, awoke early Tuesday morning to find their BMW painted with the Nazi symbol and the offensive words. Mariam Hassan's husband got up to feed their baby when he noticed the graffiti, which comes just days after 50 Muslims were killed at two mosques in Christchurch by a white supremacist gunman. Scroll down for video The Perth family's white BMW was spray painted with swastikas and the words 'Muslim dogs' early Tuesday morning 'It's like they're trying to scare you and say, "get out of my country",' Mariam Hassan told 9 News. 'Do people hate us? It's so upsetting,' Mrs Hassan said, adding she has no idea who did it. The Hassan family believe the culprit snuck onto the front lawn of their home between two and four in the morning. Mrs Hassan said she and her 11-month-old son were asleep inside when the hate crime was carried out. Her husband noticed the damage to the white BMW when he woke up to get a bottle for their son. In the aftermath of last week's tragic Christchurch shooting, the family fears the offender could come back and do a lot worse. Mariam Hassan was asleep in her Perth home with her husband and 11-month old baby when the vandalism occurred early Tuesday morning Meanwhile Western Australia's terror threat level remains as 'probable'. On Monday premier Mark McGowan reassured the public that police are keeping an eye on right wing extremists in the community. The perpetrator could face charges under the racial vilification act, as police investigate the incident as an act of vandalism. Forensic investigators have examined the car but are yet to identify the offender. Cambridge is facing a 30million deficit this year, despite being one of Britains richest universities. It has received less Government funding, along with other universities but warned that this had not been compensated for by tuition fees. The 800-year-old institution, which wants to take more students, has also been unable to expand in the historic city. News of its precarious financial position has shocked experts because the elite university benefits from generous donations and endowments from its star-studded alumni. But despite its advantages, even Cambridge is struggling in what some say is a sign of things to come for the university sector. Cambridge is facing a 30million deficit this year because it has received less Government funding which hasn't been compensated for by tuition fees. The deficit was revealed in an email from the vice-chancellor The deficit was revealed in an email from vice-chancellor Stephen Toope to the universitys 150 academic departments. Richest five Cambridge colleges based on net assets 1.) Trinity - 1.4bn 2.) St John's - 780.1m 3.) King's - 349.9m 4.) Jesus - 327m 5.) Peterhouse - 324.2m Advertisement It explains how the university faces a growing budget deficit thanks to rising costs, the freeze on undergraduate tuition fees and a decline in some research funding. Professor Toope wrote: The budget position is deteriorating rather than improving, as had previously been forecast, despite efforts to control spending over the last few years. He said the universitys finance team completed a ten-year budget projection last month that confirmed we are now running an annual cash operating deficit of roughly 30million on a total combined... budget of 1.25billion. The university stressed that it had a huge cash reserve and was in no danger of going bust, being able to afford to be in the red for years before the situation becomes a crisis. In addition, the deficit only applies to the central university budget, which is responsible for most teaching and research. Its 31 individual colleges which include Trinity, St Johns and Kings all have their own separate budgets for their day-to-day running. Many are known to be rich, although much of the money donated to them goes on maintaining their historic buildings. Experts claim a number of universities are in financial trouble. Many are thought to be former polytechnics struggling to recruit enough students. A review into universities and tuition fees is expected to be published in the summer. Led by finance expert Philip Augar, it is expected to recommend that annual tuition fees in England are cut from 9,250 to 7,500. News of its precarious financial position has shocked experts because the elite university benefits from generous donations and endowments from its star-studded alumni. Pictured: Trinity college In his email, Professor Toope said: A deficit of this order while manageable in the short term is not sustainable in the longer term. The vice-chancellor warned that across the world, universities face headwinds including increased political and economic uncertainty, with a growing possibility that financial markets will decline, reducing the income generated by the university and college endowments. In Britain, this would be exacerbated by the uncertainty posed by Brexit, he said. He added: If the review of post-18 education and funding recommends a significant reduction in tuition fees and the Government is not able or willing to make up for that reduction... the total income of the university sector would fall. Cambridges various financial streams including endowment income, philanthropic gifts and income from its publisher, the Cambridge University Press meant budget pressures will be manageable, he said. But the university must still act now so that we do not dig ourselves into a hole. According to the latest accounts, Cambridge whose former students include Charles Darwin, professor Stephen Hawking and Sir David Attenborough, has a cash reserve of more than 4billion. A spokesman said: The university may not depend on Government and tuition-related funding as heavily as many other universities, but it still needs to be prudent. A former private school boy and swimming teacher has been accused of molesting up to eight young girls in a case the magistrate has compared to that of Cardinal George Pell. Kyle James Henk Daniels, 20, is facing 31 child sex charges for offences committed between June 2018 and March 2019 on girls aged between six and 10 years old. Daniels allegedly assaulted the girls while he was teaching them at Mosman Swim centre, between June 2018 and February this year. He was arrested at his parents' home in Balgowlah, on Sydney's northern beaches, last week by detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad. Daniels and his mother were seen blowing kisses and smiling at each other during a court hearing in Manly Local Court on Wednesday, where he was granted bail. Kyle Daniels (pictured) is accused of sexually assaulting eight young girls, aged between six and 10, during their swimming lessons at Mosman Swim Centre The alarm was first raised about Daniels' alleged offending last winter, the court heard. An eight-year-old child complained to the swimming centre that she was inappropriately touched during a lesson. The child was removed from the class and Daniels was 'spoken to about the complaint' by senior staff. The magistrate described the incident as an 'allegation of inappropriate behaviour towards a young child of a sexual nature. Daniels' parents (pictured) were in court to support him on Wednesday as he was hit with 28 extra charges Former private schoolboy Kyle Daniels (pictured with his father) , 20, allegedly assaulted the girls while he was teaching them at Mosman Swim Centre in Sydney The court was told that the complainant said Daniels touched her 'close to (her) groin and chest area'. Daniels told staff any touching was accidental, the court heard. Daniels' lawyer Todd Alexis, SC, said it was 'very improbable that a young man like Daniels would deliberately touch a young girl in a public swimming pool'. He said the girl's mother, lifeguards and other staff were there in the pool at the time. 'It is glaringly improbable that these offences occurred,' he said. Magistrate Daniel Reiss replied that all sex offences were improbable. 'A cardinal is now in jail which is highly improbable,' Mr Reiss said. Daniels' mother and father shook their heads in disbelief at the connection to the George Pell case. 'The nature of these matters are improbable and surprising and happen regarding people of good character,' Mr Reiss said. Daniels (right) pictured at a Knox Grammar School function with his parents Daniels' lawyer said his client strongly denies the allegations and claims any touching was accidental. He said several of Daniels' friends speak of his good character. Mr Alexis said Daniels should be granted bail so he could continue his education at Sydney University. 'It would be devastating if he were denied the opportunity to continue his education,' he said. Prosecutor Matthew Karpin said bail should not be granted because the case against Daniels was strong and he 'may re-offend'. He said the alleged offences were against 'vulnerable young people' when Daniels was in a position of authority. 'This was a serious abuse of trust and authority,' he said. The court heard Daniels had been struggling in prison since his arrest, after a guard 'told other prisoners about his charges. The new charges include eight counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, six counts of intentionally sexually touch child under 10 years, and 14 counts of indecent assault person under 16 years of age. Daniels appeared briefly via video link wearing a black T-shirt. He was not asked to speak (court sketch pictured) They come after Daniels - who went to $33,000-per-year Knox Grammar, one of Sydney's most prestigious schools - was last week accused of sexually touching a girl on February 2 between 2pm and 4pm. Then on February 14, Daniels allegedly had sexual intercourse with another girl between 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Daniels' parents and twin brother were in court for the hearing. His mother could be seen blowing a kiss to Daniels, who smiled and blew a kiss in return. Daniels appeared briefly via video link wearing a black T-shirt. He was not asked to speak. A letter from Mosman Ezyswim said Daniels had been suspended when the girls' parents first reported the allegations in February, and that all employees had current working with children checks. 'We are extremely distressed by this situation and will keep customers up to date when more information comes to hand,' the letter said. Detectives from the NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad arrive at Manly Local Court on Wednesday At the time of his arrest, head of the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad Detective Superindendent John Kerlatec commended the alleged victims for coming forward. 'These young brave kids put their hands up to Mum and Dad and said, 'Something happened,' Detective Superintendent Kerlatec said. 'That is exceptionally brave.' The magistrate granted bail on the condition Daniels not leave home without his parents' supervision between 6pm and 6am. 'I don't want him running around after dark,' Mr Reiss said. He was also required to post a surety of $100,000. Daniels will face court again next month. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has visited the grieving school of two mosque shooting victims, where students welcomed her with a moving haka. An assembly was held at Christchurch's Cashmere High School on Wednesday, following the terror attack at two mosques in the city last week. The school has been directly affected by the tragedy, with students Sayyad Milne, 14, Hamza Mustafa, 16, and former student Tariq Omar, 24, among the victims. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) has visited the grieving school of two mosque shooting victims, where students welcomed her with a moving haka Another student was injured from the shooting. The haka has been performed by a number of groups in New Zealand in the wake of the devastating attacks where 50 people were killed on Friday. Ms Ardern began by thanking the students for their 'incredible welcome' and acknowledged their loss of students and friends from the attack. She told the students 'it's okay to grieve, it's okay to ask for help'. During the Assembly Ms Ardern answered questions from the heartbroken students. The first question that was put to the leader by a pupil was: 'How are you?' Ms Ardern responded: 'I'm sad'. New Zealand Police said it has formally identified 21 of the 50 victims murdered in the shooting as of Wednesday. During the Assembly Ms Ardern answered questions from the heartbroken students. The first question that was put to the leader by a pupil was: 'How are you?' Ms Ardern responded: 'I'm sad' Ms Ardern speaks to a young Cashmere High School student on Wednesday. The school has been directly affected by the terror attack last week, with two students killed An assembly was held at Christchurch's Cashmere High School on Wednesday, following the terror attack at two mosques in the city last week Their bodies are now being made available to their families, NZ Police Commissioner Mike Bush said this morning. Some 120 forensic workers are involved in the identification process, which began soon after the attacks on two mosques on Friday. Some 50 people were killed and another 50 were injured when a man opened fire on people gathered for Friday prayers. Australia Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged in relation to the attacks. Petrol prices could soar to $2.33 a litre while rolling blackouts strike Australia's biggest cities if Labor wins the next election, the government has warned. With the Coalition struggling in the opinion polls, federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor has stepped up his attack on Labor's plan to slash carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. He has seized on a report by BAEconomics, a Canberra-based consultancy, which predicted Labor's policy would see a $326 carbon price per tonne of emissions imposed on the economy. Petrol prices could soar to $2.33 a litre as rolling blackouts griped Australia's biggest cities if Labor won the next election, the government has warned (stock image) 'The carbon penalty whether it's a shadow price or an explicit carbon tax required to achieve a 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030, will increase the average price of petrol to around 233 cents per litre, and diesel up to around 245 cents per litre,' Mr Taylor told a small business energy summit in Melbourne on Wednesday. Mr Taylor's calculation was based on unleaded prices in Australia surging by 24 cents for every dollar of the $326 carbon price, on top of an average petrol price of $1.55 a litre. Using advice from the Department of Energy, he argued this would push up regular unleaded prices by 78 cents a litre to $2.33. He also estimated every dollar of the $326 carbon price would push up diesel prices by 27 cents a litre, which would see motorists paying $2.45 a litre at the bowser. Were petrol prices to surge to $2.33, the costs of filling up a Toyota Hilux, Australia's top-selling car, would surge to $186 while a Mazda3 fuel bill would top $119. Petrol prices in Australia's major capital cities now stands at about $1.50 a litre. Energy Minister Angus Taylor (pictured) has stepped up his attack on Labor's plan to slash carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 This means it now costs about $120 to fill up an unleaded-powered Toyota Hilux and $77 to fill up a Mazda3, Australia's top-selling hatchback. Labor is also vowing to have 50 per cent of Australia's energy come from renewable sources by 2030, which Mr Taylor said would drive up a range of energy prices. 'The increase in energy costs needed to reach such an aggressive target won't be limited to electricity. It will have to include gas, petrol and diesel,' Mr Taylor said. 'There are many ways to explicitly or implicitly impose an energy tax, but Labor will have no alternative if they are to almost halve national emissions in just a few years.' Labor's energy frontbencher Mark Butler accused Mr Taylor of running a scare campaign. 'This rubbish modelling isn't an analysis of Labor policy, and their conclusions about the impacts of our policy are not accurate,' he said. The Coalition has previously blamed Labor's energy targets for the 2016 blackouts that griped South Australia in 2016 (Adelaide's city centre pictured) 'Labor utterly rejects the latest Liberal attempt at a climate change scare campaign.' The Coalition has previously blamed a former state Labor government's renewable energy target for the blackouts that griped South Australia in September 2016. BAEconomics managing director Brian Fisher, who has been an economist since 1976, said tackling climate change involved hip-pocket pain and slower economic growth as electricity prices and production costs rose. 'The reason I've done this work was because a lot of people were running around, particularly from universities, saying, "We can achieve all of these reductions in emissions at no cost to the economy",' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's just very frustrating for an economist to hear that sort of thing because it's frankly very dishonest.' A Sudanese shepherd claiming asylum in the UK blamed the immorality on display in Newcastle city centre for his violent sex attack on a vulnerable man, a court heard. Zain Osman, 25, approached his victim after seeing him engaged in consensual activity with a man he met at a bar last September. Osman put his hand down the victims trousers and pulled his own trousers down in the early-morning attack which lasted 20 minutes and saw Osman bite the man and send him tumbling into a roadworks ditch. The court heard the 26-year-old victim, who has difficulties, was left with multiple injuries and was extremely traumatised. Defending, Jamie Adams, said: [Osman] had never experienced the kind of immorality he experienced in coming here and was evident in this particular area of Newcastle. Zain Osman, 25, attacked a 26-year-old in Newcastle (pictured) in September. He pulled the man's trousers down, as well as his own, and bit the man who fell into a roadworks' ditch Osman, from Newcastle, was jailed for 15 months after admitting sexual assault, must sign the sex offenders register for ten years and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order He came from Sudan, where homosexuality is still a capital offence, although its not always enforced. Alcohol is also a pretty serious offence for a Muslim in Sudan. Prosecutor Robin Turton pointed out the victims conduct has been perfectly lawful and moral and he had told Osman he was not interested. Osman, of Newcastle, who came to the UK in the back of a lorry, was jailed for 15 months at Newcastle Crown Court after admitting sexual assault. Sentencing him, Judge Jeremy Freedman said: I accept you are now very sorry... and you are a naive uneducated gentleman. Nevertheless, you knew what you were doing was wrong and you must be punished. Osman must also sign the sex offenders register for ten years and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order. A staggering 1.5 million Britons aged over 50 are chronically lonely, a study suggests. And the economic cost to business and public services of not tackling the issue stands at 1.8billion a year. Research by a former Treasury economist found that lonely people are twice as likely to visit their GP, three times more likely to develop depression and almost twice as likely to end up with a diagnosis of dementia. A staggering 1.5 million Britons that are aged over 50 are chronically lonely, a study suggests (stock photo) It quoted studies linking loneliness to hypertension, heart disease and the risk of having a stroke, while its impact on mortality may be equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And it warned that the number of lonely people aged over 50 could rise to 2million by the end of the next decade if nothing is done. Loneliness has a 1billion-a-year impact on public services as lonely people are more likely to see their GP or end up in social care. And there is an 800million cost to business, including 220million lost due to staff taking time off to care for friends and family suffering from loneliness. The report was launched by Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured) on Tuesday night The report, Harnessing Technology to tackle Loneliness, was commissioned by Vodafone and launched last night by Health Secretary Matt Hancock. He said: Loneliness doesnt just have an economic cost it has a profound human cost too, and can be hugely damaging to our health and happiness. The report, written by former Treasury economist Matthew Oakley, called for GPs to prescribe classes teaching older people how to use technology. Retailers, community centres and libraries should provide tech-starter lessons, it suggested. Education secretary Damian Hinds called on PayPal and other firms to help stop the 'essay mills' which allow students to buy essays and pass them off as their own Technology companies must stop helping students to cheat by processing online payments for fake essays, the Education Secretary is demanding. Damian Hinds called on PayPal and other firms to help stop the so-called essay mills companies making money. The mills help thousands of students to buy essays and pass them off as their own. They often employ graduates to complete the work, and can tailor essays to a required grade. The companies exploit a loophole in the law, by claiming the scripts are just for guidance and not to be submitted under false pretences. Universities can discipline students for handing in work which is not their own, but it is often hard for tutors to spot fake work. The companies exploit a loophole in the law, by claiming the scripts are just for guidance and not to be submitted under false pretences A spokesman for PayPal confirmed the company is already reviewing the issue Yesterday, Mr Hinds said: Sadly there have always been some people who opt for the easy way and the internet has seen a black market in essay-writing services spring up. It is unethical for these companies to profit from this dishonest business which is exploiting young people and it is time to stamp them out of our world-class higher education sector. I am determined to beat the cheats who threaten the integrity of our system and am calling on online giants such as PayPal to block payments or end the advertisement of these services. It is their moral duty to do so. It is understood Google and YouTube have responded to the calls and are taking steps to remove hundreds of adverts for essay-writing services. A spokesman for PayPal confirmed the company is already reviewing the issue. The Quality Assurance Agency found about 17,000 instances of academic offences in 2016 in the UK. However, the number of students using essay writing services is thought to be higher. The mother of a boy whose malnourished body was found encased in concrete told a fellow prisoner that he died after being forced to spend all night in an animal carrier, according to court records. Elisha Pankey, 43, from Colorado, is said to have revealed to a fellow inmate that her son, Caden McWilliams, told her he was thirsty and hot before he was found dead. Caden died in July, months before his body was discovered inside a Denver storage unit, according to the court records. A woman whose name is redacted in court records told police that Pankey said she and her husband sometimes forced the boy inside an animal carrier. The inmate said Pankey told her that sometime in July they kept him in the carrier overnight despite his cries of being thirsty and hot. Pankey said the boy was dead by morning and she believed he had suffocated, the records state. She told police that Pankey said she and her husband took the boy's body - still inside the animal carrier - to the storage unit, poured concrete over him and wrapped the carrier in plastic trash bags. Authorities say Elisha Pankey told a fellow inmate that her son died in July, months before his body was discovered encased in concrete inside a Denver storage unit The medical examiner found that Caden McWilliams had 'cocaine metabolite and methamphetamine in liver tissue' in its autopsy report, according to CBS Denver. Elisha's husband Leland Pankey has remained in jail since late December on an outstanding warrant. He has not been charged in connection with McWilliams' death. Records show police began investigating the family in mid-December after Pankey reported that her husband had choked and threatened to kill her. The couple are said to have lived a chaotic life, with both parents living in hotels. McWilliams last attended school in late May. His mother unenrolled him from Denver Public Schools in the fall of 2018 and said he would be home-schooled. She told investigators that Leland Pankey took their son and daughter to live with him in November and had been sending her threatening text messages. Within a week, police in suburban Aurora arrested Leland Pankey for outstanding warrants in the metro area. But they could not find McWilliams or get more information from his parents. McWilliams last attended school in late May. His mother unenrolled him from Denver Public Schools in the fall of 2018 and said he would be home-schooled The Denver coroner's office identified the body but could not determine how the boy died. An autopsy found signs that McWilliams was severely emaciated and evidence of injuries to his head, chest and limbs, some of which showed signs of healing Elisha Pankey was charged with child abuse and abuse of a corpse. Investigators believe Caden McWilliams last attended school in May before he was killed During a search of Elisha Pankey's hotel room, police found a business card with a unit number from a public storage facility in Denver. They also found heroin and took the woman to Arapahoe County jail on suspicion of drug possession, the records state. Denver police opened the storage unit and found a large chunk of cement inside an animal cage that had been wrapped in plastic sheeting. Investigators say they discovered a decomposed child's body in the cement but could not immediately tell if the remains were those of McWilliams. The Denver coroner's office later identified the body but could not determine how the boy died. An autopsy found signs that McWilliams was severely emaciated and evidence of injuries to his head, chest and limbs, some of which showed signs of healing. Leland Pankey has remained in jail since late December on an outstanding warrant. He has not been charged in connection with McWilliams' death Denver police opened the storage unit and found a large chunk of cement inside an animal cage that had been wrapped in plastic sheeting Pankey, who is charged with child abuse resulting in death and with the abuse of a corpse, has not entered a plea and is due back in court April 2. She is represented by the state public defenders' office, which bars its attorneys from commenting on individual cases. The accused Christchurch gunman was travelling to a third location when his car was rammed and he was arrested by police. Brenton Tarrant, 28, allegedly shot and killed 50 people in two shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday. New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said officers had identified where the shooter was headed after attacks at Al Noor and Linwood mosques. The accused Christchurch gunman was travelling to a third location when his car was rammed and he was arrested by police (pictured) Brave police officers ploughed into the alleged gunman's silver Subaru station wagon (pictured) and arrested him after Friday's shootings Police said Tarrant (pictured) was arrested within 21 minutes of officers being notified of the shooting 'I'm not going to go into those details - I don't wish to traumatise others,' Mr Bush said. 'That will form part of the court case, but we absolutely believe we know where he was going and we intervened on the way.' Brave police officers ploughed into the alleged gunman's silver Subaru station wagon and arrested him after Friday's shootings. 'Within 10 minutes, the armed offenders squad were on the scene ready to respond. Within 21 minutes, the person that is now in custody was arrested. 21 minutes from when we were first notified,' Mr Bush said. Earlier reports had stated police arrested Tarrant 36 minutes after first being notified of the shootings. 'I have previously said the offender was in our custody within 36 minutes,' Mr Bush said. New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush (pictured) said officers had identified where the shooter was headed after attacks at Al Noor and Linwood mosques 'I have now been made aware that, while we had the offender in custody at the Justice Precinct within 36 minutes, it in fact only took 21 minutes from the first 111 call for the offender to be apprehended at the roadside by the two officers.' The accused shooter was stopped by two rural police officers on Brougham Street in Christchurch. Mr Bush refused to confirm if the alleged gunman had visited Christchurch before the attacks or if he had surveyed them beforehand. Mr Bush said police were working to identify the bodies of those who died. Brenton Tarrant (pictured) has been charged with one initial count of murder over the mass shootings that killed 50 people in the southern city of Christchurch and faces life in prison 'Our number one priority is the victims and their families, but we do of course have other obligations,' he said. 'If we get that wrong, that is unforgivable. 'Not just delivering to the coroner an evidential standard for identification, we must prove for prosecution the cause of death to the satisfaction to the coroner, to the judge. 'You cannot convict for murder without that cause of death,' Bush said. A man has been shot by police after an officer was slashed while responding to reports of a suspect 'armed with knives and making threats to kill'. Police were called at 9.45pm yesterday to Knights Close, Hackney, following reports of a 28-year-old man armed with knives at a residential address. While responding to the incident an officer sustained a 'slash injury' but their condition is not thought to be life-threatening. Police (pictured at the scene) were called at 9.45pm yesterday to Knights Close, Hackney, following reports of a 28-year-old man armed with knives at a residential address A police cordon has been set up on Knights Close, Hackney following the shooting of a man late yesterday evening. Officers had been sent to the area following reports of a man armed with a knife An officers was slashed while responding to the incident at Knights Close, Hackney (pictured), but their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'Firearms officers were deployed and a male was shot by police. 'He has been conveyed to an east London hospital; we await an assessment of his condition. 'The officer's injury is not believed to be life-threatening. There are no other reported injuries. 'The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed.' The Independent Office for Police Conduct has also been informed and has launched an independent investigation. The number of British children being used as slaves has doubled in a year after an explosion in county lines drug gangs. Shocking figures show that modern slavery cases involving children soared from 676 in 2017 to 1,421 last year. Over the past five years, the number of youngsters being targeted by criminal gangs has rocketed by more than 2,000 per cent from just 63 cases in 2013. Experts say the growth of county lines gangs has fuelled the rise in children as young as 11 being enslaved. Modern slavery cases involving children soared from 676 in 2017 to 1,421 last year because of a rise in county lines drug dealing. Picture: stock The number of drug-dealing operations has almost trebled from 720 last year to around 2,000, with teenagers aged 15 to 17 making up the bulk of the gangs involved. Police chiefs have said the 500million industry in county lines referring to the mobile phones used to sell, distribute and buy the drugs has saturated the country. In 2018, there were 1,421 British children submitted to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which assesses instances of modern slavery, the National Crime Agency (NCA) found. Of those, 987 two-thirds were being used for labour exploitation, principally by drug gangs. The report said: This increase is due, in the majority, to a continued increase in the recorded NRM referrals related to the county lines criminal business model of exploiting vulnerable individuals and other forms of criminal labour exploitation. The terrifying number of youngsters being sucked into the vile trade was disclosed yesterday as a separate report warned many childrens services do not realise teenagers in their care are victims. The number of drug-dealing operations has almost trebled from 720 last year to around 2,000, with teenagers aged 15 to 17 making up the bulk of the gangs involved. Picture: stock An independent review into the Modern Slavery Act 2015 called for a rollout of child trafficking guardians to safeguard those at risk. The report, by MPs Frank Field and Maria Miller and retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss, warned local authorities are failing to act when children go missing and files are closed if they are not found within six months. The NCAs latest modern slavery statistics, published today, show that 6,993 potential victims of all ages were identified last year a rise of 80 per cent from 3,804 in 2016. Of the 6,993 victims, 1,625 were British, compared with 819 in 2017. Roy McComb, the NCAs deputy director, said: The increase is undoubtedly the result of greater awareness, understanding and reporting of modern slavery. However, the more we look, the more we find, and it is likely these figures represent only a snapshot of the true scale of slavery and trafficking in the UK. Of particular concern is the increase in referrals made for county lines-type exploitation. Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said: The Government needs to get a grip on the true scale of the problem. An NSPCC spokesman said: Sadly, our child trafficking team knows only too well that children continue to be smuggled into the UK as if they were objects and not humans. More must be done to help the public know how to spot a trafficked child, and give them the confidence to report their concerns. The Indonesian Lion Air plane that crashed and killed all 189 passengers on board had been saved from disaster by a third pilot just one day earlier, new details reveal. An ongoing investigation into the October accident has found the doomed Boeing 737 MAX 8 had malfunctioned on an earlier flight from Bali to Jakarta but avoided catastrophe after an off-duty pilot stepped in. Authorities believe the cause of the crash was due to the plane model's faulty automated anti-stalling system which caused the aircraft to nosedive. Sources familiar with the investigation have told Bloomberg that the extra pilot, who was sitting in the cockpit jumpseat, quickly identified this problem and helped disable the system in time. He advised the crew to deactivate the motor which had been driving the nose down, a procedure all pilots should be familiar with, sources said. New details reveal an off-duty pilot had saved the doomed Indonesian Lion Air aeroplane (stock photo) from disaster during a flight a day before the crash Authorities believe the cause of the crash was due to the plane model's faulty automated anti-stalling system, the Maneuvering characteristics Augmentation System, which caused the aircraft to nosedive. Similarities between two air disasters involving Boeing 737 Max 8 jets have shone a spotlight on the system used in the aircraft model A preliminary report on the Lion Air Flight 610 accident blamed it in part on a faulty angle of attack sensor that triggered the MCAS system and automatically forced the plane's nose down Just one day later, on October 29, the jetliner, flight JT-610 was headed to Pangkal Pinang and suffered the same issue while under the control of another crew who were unable to save the plane. Pilot, Indian national Bhavye Suneja, had reported 'technical difficulties' minutes after take-off and asked to return to the airport. Traffic control allowed the return, but the aircraft then vanished from radar and plunged 5,000ft into the Java sea. Weeks after the crash, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee released a report on their findings which did not contain details of a third pilot onboard. A spokesperson for Lion Air told the news outlet the airline could not comment on an ongoing investigation. 'All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC,' he said. According to the report, the plane had suffered numerous malfunctions on earlier flights and was never properly repaired. Pictured: Bhavye Suneja was one of two pilots sitting in the cockpit when the flight crashed on October 29. The plane had been in control of a different crew from the day before The Lion Air flight crashed into the sea having reached an altitude of 5,000ft shortly after take off Earlier this month, multiple countries announced it would barred the Boeing 737 Max 8 from its airspace, following the crash of an Ethiopian Airliner on March 10 that killed 157 people. The two crashes have raised questions over the model's safety feature which was designed to prevent the plane from entering into a stall, or losing lift. Both planes were fitted with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) - an automated safety feature designed to prevent the plane from entering into a stall, or losing lift. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), while noting the similarities between the accidents, said it was too early to draw any conclusions. But the jets experienced similarly erratic steep climbs and descents and fluctuating airspeeds before crashing shortly after takeoff. MCAS was introduced by Boeing on the 737 Max 8 because its heavier, more fuel-efficient engines changed the aerodynamic qualities of the workhorse aircraft and can cause the plane's nose to pitch up in certain conditions during manual flight. Angle of attack sensors on the aircraft tell the MCAS to automatically point the nose of the plane down if it is in danger of going into a stall. Relatives of passengers on the doomed flight check personal belongings retrieved from the waters where the airplane is believed to have crashed, at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia in October A handout photo made available by the Indonesian Navy Information Center shows the Lion Air JT-610 cockpit voice recorder being stored inside a special container shortly after it was found underwater This is done through horizontal stabilizers on the plane's tail which are activated by the aircraft's flight control computer. According to Boeing, MCAS does not control the plane during normal flight but 'improves the behaviour of the airplane' during 'non-normal' situations. These could be steep turns or after takeoff when a plane is climbing with flaps up at speeds that are close to stall speed. According to the flight data recorder, the pilots of Lion Air Flight 610 struggled to control the aircraft as the automated MCAS system repeatedly pushed the plane's nose down following takeoff. The pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines plane reported similar difficulty before the aircraft plunged into the ground shortly after takeoff. A preliminary report on the Lion Air Flight 610 accident blamed it in part on a faulty angle of attack sensor that triggered the MCAS system and automatically forced the plane's nose down. Boeing came in for some criticism after the Lion Air crash for allegedly failing to adequately inform 737 pilots about the functioning of MCAS or provide training about the system. Following the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a bulletin to airlines operating the 737 Max 8 advising pilots how to override the MCAS system. The Max 8 is at the centre of a growing global ban by more than 40 countries following a second fatal crash, this time in Ethiopia, in less than five months. The BBC was yesterday accused of 'complacency' over the astonishing 87million bill for its new EastEnders set. The project, nicknamed E20 after the soap's fictitious postcode, is already 27million over budget and is not expected to be completed until May 2023, nearly five years late. MPs said BBC bosses 'badly' managed the construction and that they made 'a serious error' by failing to consider what project management skills they needed. The public accounts committee said they secured a contract poorly, drastically increasing costs. EastEnders set taking shape at Elstree studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and is already 27million over budget The BBC say their new set will better reflect the modern architecture seen today in East London The committee also found that contract negotiations took six months longer than planned, partly because of discussions about what bricks to use for the set. Meanwhile, the corporation spent 50,000 on samples. MPs added that they were 'disappointed by the BBC's complacency in managing this project, particularly in its early stages'. And they said the BBC 'underestimated the scale and complexity of the project, including how it would age the new sets so that they either exactly replicate what viewers are used to, or look realistic where there are new locations'. MPs were told the original set, built in 1984, is 'no longer fit for purpose'. The BBC is building the new set at its Elstree studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. It consists of a 'front lot' a brickwork replica of the current set and a 'back lot', which will provide extra locations to 'better reflect modern East End London'. A BBC spokesman said: 'We strongly reject the notion that there has been any complacency in managing this project. 'Like any building work of this scale, there have been challenges along the way including construction market issues beyond our control and working on a brownfield site.' A kindhearted policewoman was left with a broken nose, sliced cheek and bloodied uniform after trying to offer an alleged violent criminal a cup of tea. The 41-year-old man had been arrested just after 5pm on Monday following an alleged assault inside a home in Halekulani, on the NSW Central Coast. He was taken back to Wyong Police station in handcuffs and moved to a cell. The sergeant attempted to give him a cup of tea when she was allegedly kneed in the face and punched in the head according to the NSW Police Association. A female police sergeant was left with a broken nose and lacerations to her face after an alleged brutal assault inside the Wyong Police station on Monday Radio personality Ray Hadley, who said he had spoken to the police union, revealed the sickening details of the alleged assault on his 2GB morning show. 'The allegation is, and its on the charge sheet apparently, the alleged offender grabbed this officer by the hair,' a police union spokesperson told Mr Hadley. 'She was actually taking him a cup of tea in the cell. 'He grabbed her ears and pulled her head down by the ears kneeing her in the face and then punched her in the face a number of times, allegedly, if youve seen the photo her nose is spread across her face.' When other officers attempted to intervene, the man allegedly tried to run from the station but was quickly detained. The officer, who was left with a broken nose, had to be taken to the Wyong Hospital for treatment including stitches. Daily Mail Australia contacted the Wyong Police Station (pictured) for a detailed account but the Duty Officer was not available for immediate comment Mr Hadley uploaded a photograph of the injured officer to Facebook. 'A female NSW Police sergeant was savagely assaulted at Wyong Police Station on Monday,' he wrote alongside the confronting image. 'This is what our police put up with on a daily basis.' The man was hit with 10 serious offences including assault against a police officer, trespassing, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, resisting arrest and escaping police custody. He has also been charged with aggravated break and enter. His application for bail was denied and he will be remanded in police custody until his court date in May. Daily Mail Australia contacted the Wyong Police Station for a detailed account but the Duty Officer was not available for immediate comment. Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd could be sent back to Britain within eight days to serve his six-year prison sentence. The web designer, 31, will appear at a court in the Georgian capital Tbilisi by March 28 for a hearing at which prosecutors will demand his extradition. The father-of-one has previously blocked attempts for a swift extradition, saying he would be tortured in prison if sent back. Jack Shepherd, 31, could be sent back to Britain within eight days to serve his six-year prison sentence He even said he wanted to become a citizen of Georgia and has started speaking the language in jail. But a source close to his legal team said yesterday that Shepherd, pictured, may not oppose his extradition this time. He knows his return to the UK is just a question of when, not if, they said. Shepherd was found guilty of the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown, 24, after she died after falling from his faulty speedboat during a date on the Thames in London in 2015. He fled to Georgia a year ago and was sentenced in his absence. Following a Daily Mail campaign, he handed himself in to the Tbilisi authorities in January. Shepherd was convicted of killing Charlotte Brown, 24, in 2015 while on a date on the Thames A spokesman for the prosecutors office in Georgia said: If the lawyers and the judge all agree to the extradition, then all that is needed is the signature of the justice minister to send him to the UK. The Crown Prosecution Service in the UK may charge him with absconding and for glassing a barman days before he fled. Shepherd has continued to shamelessly blame Miss Brown for the accident. London commuters were left terrified last night after a racist commuter launched into an anti-Muslim tirade during rush hour, saying: 'Just kill them'. Passengers who were on the London Overground service near West Croydon in South London were forced to listen to the man say how he 'hated Muslims'. He told other passengers about his hatred just four days after a white supremacist gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The apparently drunk man is said to have got on the train at some point after West Croydon shortly before 6pm yesterday, before finally getting off at Canada Water. He started his rant by addressing fears about taking public transport in the capital. He said: 'I can't even get a train to work without even worrying if a Muslim is going to blow me up, you can't even do nothing these days. I'm London, I'm British till I die.' He then went on to swear before saying: 'Who do they think they are? Just kill them. 49 Muslims got killed the other day and I was like come on mate you have to do that.' Speaking to MailOnline, one passenger who was on the train said: 'The man got on the Overground midway to Canada Water. The passenger on board the London Overground who was spouting anti-Muslim rhetoric 'I thought it was just a joke at first because he was making such a fool of himself. It wasn't long before I understood the hate he was coming out with. 'He was just saying things and he clearly didn't care about what was coming out of his mouth. This is London, for crying out loud. This is 2019, we don't need this. 'He was talking about his heritage and his grandparents and I told him there was no excuse for the things he was saying. You can't wish groups of people dead. 'You can't walk around London saying those things. From the things he was saying on the train I think he is the sort of person who is capable of killing a Muslim. 'When people are drunk you get to understand their true nature. If he had a chance to kill a Muslim and get away with it he would. 'We don't need to be spreading hate, we need to stand together. We don't need this in London it's just not acceptable. He knew exactly what he was saying.' The passenger as wearing a high visibility vest and was carrying a helmet On how other passengers reacted, the witness said: 'There was a black man who got up from his seat and walked away. Passengers were uncomfortable. 'I'm a lady so didn't want to get involved but others just didn't want to get into a fight. 'He got off at Canada Water and people were just waiting for him to get off so they could just get to their final destination. 'It's scary to think with all the uprisings that people are doing this. We all need to be more accepting of each other. It was really quite terrifying.' British Transport Police said it was aware of a video online showing an 'incident of racial abuse on the London Overground', but no one had yet made a complaint. A spokesman added: 'We take all reports very seriously and would ask anyone who witnessed what happened, or who has any information, to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 405040 quoting reference 800 of 19/03/19.' * Did you witness the incident? Please email: tips@dailymail.com * Jason Donovan returned to the London Palladium, scene of his triumph 28 years ago in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to symbolically pass the Joseph baton to its newest incumbent, an unknown drama student who hails from the Welsh Valleys. Donovan was at the hallowed variety theatre to welcome Jac (CORR) Yarrow, 21, to the lead part in the buoyant musicalisation of the Old testament tale. It was the first Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical to be produced. Jason Donovan (right) standing on his tiptoes alongside new lading man Jac Yarrow (left) at the announcement for Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat on Monday The Australian-born entertainer will be back too, this time playing the Elvis Presley-like Pharaoh. Sheridan Smith is the star casting as the Narrator in the production, which runs for 11 weeks from June 27. The new contemporary Joseph has sold in excess of 4.5 million worth of tickets. Donovan, 50, seemed visibly moved to be back at the Palladium where he remembered romping around the wide stage in a scanty loincloth. He said: I was quite exhausted though at the end of the show, and I was half naked. I wont be putting on a loincloth this time, thats for sure. Then he laughed, flexed his muscles and boasted: Though Im definitely in shape. Im prepared for anything. When asked if he would ever step in as the new Josephs understudy, he chuckled, and quickly responded: Well, I know the songs. Jason Donovan (centre) with the Joseph cast in 1991. He told Yarrow to 'work hard, have fun' with the lead role Donovan didnt have a multi-coloured coat to hand on to give Yarrow, but he had a few words of wisdom. Work hard, have fun, he told Yarrow who was born and raised in the village of Creigiau, near Cardiff. He continued: And act. Thats essential to a good musical performance. You cant just stand there and sing. For people to love what you do or the character you play, youve got to be vulnerable and open as an actor. Other than that, youve got eight shows a week. Turn up on time and keep fit and try and stay sober. Baz Bamigboye's tweet praised the young actor, saying he was 'thrilled to see next gen of talent firing on all cylinders' Lloyd Webber and Rice had separately told Michael Harrison, the producer charged with putting the summer show together, that they wanted a 20-year-old new discovery to play Joseph in Dreamcoat. In its first version the musical was performed at a London junior school in 1968 that lasted 25 minutes. Since then, as we know, the show has expanded. Harrison found his young new star with help, unwittingly supplied by the Daily Mail. Harrison spotted a tweet written by this reporter celebrating the next generation of talent firing on all cylinders in the Disney musical Newsies seen at the Arts Educational School. The cast was led by one Jac Yarrow. Donovan with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1991 while the Australian was performing in the musical That tweet got my attention.I went to see Newsies and found Jac, Harrison said. Yarrow was put through three tough auditions with Joseph director Laurence Connor. A video of his work was sent to Lloyd Webber and Rice who gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Yarrow was told he had won the role on his 21st birthday. This is more than I can ever imagine, Yarrow said when he met the Daily Mail and Jason Donovan at the Palladium on Monday. Let alone for my first job straight out of college, and to be working with Sheridan and Jason. Itll be like a getting a masterclass, said Yarrow, who has been given special dispensation by Arts Educational College to begin rehearsing Joseph a month before his graduation date in June. He said that Donovan had been generous in his advice. Jason said that its not rocket science. Its a case of being yourself in the role. He said act the role. Poor Joseph has a lot to contend with. Hes been sold into slavery by his brothers. Yarrow said he was raised in a rural village 20 minutes from Cardiff. Its a classic Welsh village - sheep and fields. Theres a primary school that I went to, he added. Hes familiar with the role because at the age of seven he played the title role of Joseph. I was part of a stage group on a Saturday and we did a half-hour revue show. One half did Sweeney Todd and the rest Joseph. I played Joseph and Im sure my dreamcoat was made in five minutes, he said. His new coat designed by Morgan Large will take another two months before its completed. Yarrow said his home was always filled with music. His parents - mother Allison a deputy head at a comprehensive school, father John, who works for a homeless charity - and older sister Beth enjoy singing. He said: My parents are very patriotic and sing Welsh songs - and Jason Donovan songs. It was a very musical household. Yarrow blushed and said, I believe Im going to wear a loincloth and Im prepared for it. Ive got a gym membership and a personal trainer. Ive seen Jasons tweets and hashtag about the lion cloth so I will be doing the training! In an age of social media and instant communication, its difficult to convey the phenomenon of Jason Donovan being cast to play Joseph. Donovan was a TV star thanks to playing Scott Robinson the proverbial boy next door in Neighbours and he was a pop star. His single Any Dream Will Do from Joseph was a chart-topper. As Donovan noted yesterday (Monday): Remember this was in the days when a song from a stage musical show could go into the charts. It hasnt happened since, though Hugh Jackman has enjoyed huge recording success with The Greatest Showman. Zac said: Jason said that its not rocket science. Its a case of being yourself in the role. He said act the role. Poor Joseph has a lot to contend with. Hes been sold into slavery by his brothers He was also dashingly handsome. He was beaut looking, as the Aussies said. Police and private security had to guard the Palladium stage door in Great Marlborough Street to clear a path for Donovan to get into the theatre. Donovans wistful about his time as Joseph.He was on the front page of every single newspaper, from tabloid to quality. The Daily Mail analysed his every move while The Guardian ran a five-part series of him. He admitted that he did have a bit of a wild time and a few twists and turns in the nineties, adding: But I never lost track of my passion. I love performing and working with people. Your career wobbles a little bit but its how you jump back thats the important thing. I come from a wonderful family and Ive got my own family now. The actor, who has been touring the UK with a show called The Amazing Midlife Crisis Tour, added: #Im in a good place at the moment.Ive got a great family and my wife and I are still going strong. You know, Im a very lucky person.Im grateful for that. And Im happy. How do you measure success? How many bedrooms in a house do you need, really? His three children are Jemma, 19, Zach 18, and Molly, eight. Have they shown any interest in following in his footsteps, and those of their mother, a former stage manager? Definitely, Donovan said. #Watch this space. I say to them, work hard, keep fit, respect others. I dont discourage them If they want that. This shows about dreams, right, he asked, referring to Joseph. If you think it, want it, dream it and its real, you are what you feel. Thats what the Narrator sings at the beginning. Thats the one thing I always hung onto. Those Tim Rice lyrics are so tongue in cheek. He said that the Pharaoh role - designed as a mirror-image of Elvis - is nicely paced, just right for me. Donovan stood up, went and hugged Yarrow, and declared: The Pharaoh wasnt this pale. I need to get a sun tan, mate. Shocking footage shows the moment a brazen armed robber tries to carjack a Mercedes before being gunned down by police in a shootout at the Bellagio on Friday. Michael Charles Cohen, 49, is seen leaving the Las Vegas hotel and casino and accosting a woman driving a black Mercedes just before the shootout took place around 9.45pm. Four police officers notice the commotion and rush over to Cohen, who fires at them, hitting an officer in the chest. Footage shows 49-year-old Michael Charles Cohen approaching the woman's Mercedes and trying to get into it in front of the Bellagio on Friday night Four officers notice the commotion and rush over to the man, who starts firing at the policemen 'This could have been very tragic for our officers, as well as citizens within our community, or that lady who was in that car,' Charles Hank, Assistant Sheriff, explained in a press conference. Cohen (pictured in a previous mugshot) managed to hit one of the officers in the chest 'Imagine had someone been in the other car, it could have been an unfortunate event.' Prior to the attempted carjacking, Cohen had tried to get away in a white vehicle but he couldn't find the keys for it. Police believe Cohen is also responsible for the Bellagio robbery in 2017. Both disguises consisted of a black beanie, jacket and glasses. In the 2017 robbery, the thief approached a poker cage and demanded money from the employee. Cohen is a felon, having been convicted of two counts of bank robbery in 1999 and two more counts in 2008. He had been previously arrested for bank robbery, kidnapping, carjacking, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, possession of stolen property and a plethora of traffic charges. Police described him as being 5'7" and 185lbs. Cohen had walked into the Vegas casino on Friday and robbed the poker cage at gunpoint. He then fled out of the north entrance with cash and casino chips. Unfortunately for the robber, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino was already crawling with police that night, as they were investigating an unrelated missing child case. Officers caught up with the suspect outside in the valet lot where he was attempting to steal a vehicle. Cohen had walked into the Vegas casino on Friday and robbed the poker cage at gunpoint. He then fled out of the north entrance with cash and casino chips. He is seen above in a Facebook photo Prior to the attempted carjacking, Cohen had tried to get away in a white vehicle but he couldn't find the keys for it Police believe that Cohen is responsible for the Bellagio robbery in 2017. Similar disguises were used in both The officers told him to get on the ground, but he refused. The suspect shot one round with a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380, police say, before he was shot in the head. 'The officer had his bulletproof vest on, which probably saved his life,' Capt. Nichole Splinter of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a briefing. Cohen and the injured officer were taken to the hospital where the wounded casino robber was initially in critical condition. The suspect's death was confirmed by a police spokesman, Officer Aden OcampoGomez, at around 3am Saturday. The officer who was hit in the vest was treated and released. Video taken by Twitter user Andrew Badecker shortly after the incident from inside the crowded poker room shows gamblers largely unaware that the robbery and shootout took place as an officer attempts to ask questions of potential witnesses. The officer's shirt is seen here. He was shot in the chest by the suspect The bulletproof vest that saved the officer is seen above The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 Cohen used in the shooting is pictured 'No one noticed,' Badecker responds to the Las Vegas uniformed cop trying to take statements from his table. The cage area in the poker room that was robbed is where the casino cashiers exchange chips and tokens for cash. 'Going to be a long night at #Bellagio. Poker cage robbed, @LVMPD shot the robber outside, poker room on lockdown,' user Rick Fuller tweeted with a photo of police tape surrounding the poker room cage and a Las Vegas police officer standing by. Twitter user Robert Fuller, @Gamblindude, posted this image of a Las Vegas police officer with police tape placed around chairs to cordon off the cage area of the Belaggio's poker room on Friday night Twitter user Andrew Badecker posted video from the poker room after the robbery incident, but the gamblers in the crowded area apparently hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary The vicar of Peterborough is calling on disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, who was jailed for repeatedly lying about a speeding offence, to step down. It comes as the first recall petition in England opened yesterday, designed to determine whether a by-election needs to be called for the Peterborough MP's seat. Onasanya, 35, served 28 days of a three-month prison sentence after being convicted of perverting the course of justice in January and has continued to receive her 77,379 salary. The vicar of Peterborough, the Rev Canon Ian Black (right, has called for the MP (left MP Fiona Onasanya outside her home in Peterborough yesterday) to go, saying 'it's time', after the 35-year-old MP released a video - recorded in front of an image of the New York City skyline - pleading her innocence A recall petition for voters in Peterborough opened yesterday and her constituents will have six weeks to sign before it closes at 5pm on May 1 - and should it attract the signatures of 10 per cent of eligible voters - about 7,000 people - she will be forced out and a by-election called. Now, the vicar of Peterborough, the Rev Canon Ian Black, has called for the MP to go, saying 'it's time', after the 35-year-old MP released a video - recorded in front of an image of the New York City skyline - pleading her innocence. He told The Times: 'I found the video bizarre. She is a person of faith and she had always struck me as being someone of integrity and of deep interest in this constituency, so the whole thing is just strange. 'I think she is someone going through a personal turmoil and for that she does have my profound sympathy and prayers, but I think her days as our MP should come to an end.' Bedford Hall in Thorney, Peterborough, where voters are being given the opportunity to sign a petition to force a by-election following the conviction of local MP Fiona Onasanya for lying about a speeding offence It is the first recall petition in England, designed to determine whether acby-election needs to be called for the Peterborough MP's seat Yesterday Onasanya posted a video in which she pleaded with voters to let her continue as their representative in Parliament. In the clip, recorded in front of an image of a city skyline, she claims she is innocent of perverting the course of justice. She said the media had only reported the prosecution's case - but then provided no details to support her claim she had not colluded with her brother. Recall Petitions: when were they introduced and how do they work? Is this new? Yes. The Recall of MPs Act 2015 came into force on 4 March 2016. How can a recall petition be triggered? The petition is opened automatically if an MP: is convicted of an offence and receives a custodial sentence (including a suspended sentence) of more than 12 months is barred from the House of Commons for 10 sitting days or 14 calendar days or is convicted of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. What happens now? Once a Petition Officer has opened a recall petition, it will be open for signing for six weeks. If at least 10 per cent of the electorate in the constituency signs the petition, the MP will lose their seat and a by-election will be triggered. The recalled MP can stand as a candidate at the by-election. Source: The Electoral Commisison Advertisement She is the second MP, and the first representing an English constituency, to be subjected to a recall petition since the procedure was introduced in 2015 to give voters a means of ousting errant MPs in between elections. Although, under recall rules brought in after the MPs expenses scandal, she would remain eligible to stand for re-election. North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jr narrowly avoided recall last year when 9.4 per cent of eligible constituents signed a petition demanding his removal after he was suspended from Parliament for failing to declare a holiday paid for by the Sri Lankan government. Ms Onasanya was elected for Labour in the Cambridgeshire city in 2017 by a wafer-thin majority of 607 votes, but was expelled from the party after her conviction. She was not subject to automatic removal as an MP as her sentence was less than 12 months, and has resisted calls to resign her role. Recall petitions are launched when MPs receive a custodial sentence - including suspended sentences - are barred from the Commons for 10 sitting days or are convicted of providing false information about their expenses. Voters in Peterborough will be allocated to one of 10 signing stations around the constituency and can also apply to make a postal or proxy signature. Peterborough's petition officer Gillian Beasley said no updates on the progress of the petition would be made while it remains open After it closes, the result will be sent to the Commons Speaker and Peterborough City Council will await his reply before publishing it. The petition process will cost around 500,000, funded by central government. Onasanya has continued to protest her innocence and last week voted against Theresa May's Brexit deal in the House of Commons while wearing an electronic ankle tag. Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that she colluded with her brother Festus after her car was clocked speeding at 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017. Today is the first day that voters in Peterborough are being given the opportunity to sign a petition to force a by-election following the Fiona Onasanya's conviction for lying about a speeding offence Yesterday she protested her innocence despite her conviction but did not explain how the court had reached what she said was the wrong verdict She was sent a notice of intended prosecution to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was away visiting his parents in Russia. Festus Onasanya, 34, from Cambridge, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including the July 24 incident. A YouGov survey conducted in January found that of more than 4,000 people polled, 81 per cent thought Onasanya should resign. In 2013, former Cabinet minister Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne resigned from Parliament after pleading guilty in a similar case. He and his former wife Vicky Pryce were both jailed for eight months for a case in which, ten years previously, she had agreed to take speeding points he should have accrued, by telling police she was driving the car. Sentences in such cases are set deliberately high for nonviolent offences as a deterrent - because police know the likelihood of catching on offender is very low, and because perverting the course of justice is a crime against the legal system itself. After his guilty plea, the former energy secretary said: 'Having taken responsibility for something that happened 10 years ago, the only proper course of action for me is to resign my Eastleigh seat in Parliament, which I will do very shortly.' Britain is expected to sign a trade deal with Canada within days, but time is running out for dozens more agreements to be signed before Brexit. Whitehall officials believe an agreement with Ottawa is achievable before March 29, when the UK is scheduled to leave the EU. It will effectively copy Canadas economic pact with the EU for British companies after Brexit, and is a boost for Liam Foxs Department for International Development. Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, walking outside Downing Street yesterday, promised to secure up to 40 free-trade agreements in 2017, but the UK has so far only agreed seven The UK is the biggest trading partner Canada has within the EU, so a deal is significant for both sides across the Atlantic. Mr Fox, the International Trade Secretary, promised in 2017 to secure Britain up to 40 free-trade agreements replicating existing EU arrangements in time for Brexit one second after midnight. But the UK has only agreed seven, covering markets including Switzerland and Chile in the event of No Deal. The Government has nine days to finalise at least two dozen such trade deals. Firms will face higher tariffs and trade barriers abroad if it fails to do so. According to a diplomatic note seen by The Times, Michel Barnier, the EUs lead Brexit negotiator, told European envoys on Friday that Britain was about to sign a free trade agreement with Canada. Michel Barnier, the EUs lead Brexit negotiator, told European envoys on Friday that Britain was about to sign a free trade agreement with Canada It comes as Mrs May is set to travel to Brussels to establish the terms of an extension to Article 50 before putting it to the Commons next week. During a stormy session of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister rounded on Mr Bercow for dredging up a 17th century convention in order to block a third vote on her plan. She said the Speaker was making a laughing stock of Parliament. In the wake of his ruling, which came as a surprise to No 10, Mrs May told ministers: 'The Speaker has framed this debate as Parliament versus the Government. But what it actually is now is Parliament versus the people.' But the Prime Minister's plan to ask for a nine-month Brexit delay could be ditched after a furious bust up at cabinet yesterday between senior ministers. Mrs May is now expected to ask Donald Tusk for a three month extension rather than her original plan of nine months. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and International Trade chief Liam Fox were thought to be against a lengthy delay, as was Commons leader Andrea Leadsom. She said: 'This used to be the cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now from what I'm hearing it's not.' It comes a thousand days on from the 2016 referendum and just ten days before the UK is due to leave the Brussels club. South Africa: Eskom condemns fake reports This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The City of Ekurhuleni has given people amnesty to return overdue library books without paying fines. Boxes will be placed in libraries, where users can place long outstanding books, the city said. The fine-free week is part of South African Library Week celebrations which end on Saturday. This years theme for Library Week is Collab... See more A Sydney bar is offering its customers free drinks - but there is a twist. Thirsty customers fancying a cheeky beverage will need to bring along a cucumber first. From Thursday, the versatile vegetable can be exchanged for a beverage at Hendrick's pop-up Cucumber Bar at Darling Harbour. A Sydney bar is offering its customers free drinks - but there is a twist. Thirsty punters fancying cheeky beverage a will need to bring along a cucumber first Curious consumers will need to collect a cucumber from an exchange booth at Darling Harbour and then head to one of the participating bars to receive a free Hendricks gin and tonic. The upmarket venues taking part in the campaign are Helm, The Port, Tokio Hotel, Bluefish, Blackbird, Watershed, Planar and HBK. The promotion, which runs until Saturday, has been launched as a celebration of the cucumber, a Hendricks Gin spokeswoman said. Curious consumers will need to collect a cucumber from an exchange booth at Darling Harbour and then head to one of the participating bars to receive a free Hendricks gin and tonic 'Cucumber Currency' has been created in a bid to escape the conventional and embrace the delectable, she said, 'By enjoying Hendricks world-famous gin, served with its trusted partner: the cucumber.' This isn't the first time 'Cucumber Currency has been launched, the idea first popped up in Sydney in September. A family have proudly called their newborn Lucifer after the Prince of Darkness, the devil himself. Lucifer rivals another Biblical name chosen in Scotland in 2018 - a baby called Messiah. Of the 47,785 born in Scotland in 2018, there babies called Awesome, Nun, Royalty and Pepper, the Sun reported. The baby called Lucifer rivals another Biblical choice of name in Scotland last year where a baby was called Messiah (stock image) The most popular first forenames in Scotland last year have been published by the National Records of Scotland Edinburgh Council's Karen Watson told the Sun : 'There aren't really any rules around names. It's a case of people can call their babies whatever they like.' Experts believe that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's choice of name will be influential She added: 'To be perfectly honest, names now are actually pretty normal and there are only one or two that go a wee bit different. 'As long, as it's not offensive we don't get involved in what they are calling their baby.' Olivia was Scotland's most popular girl's name, while Jack topped the boy's table for an eleventh year. According to Babycentre, there are likely to be many babies born in 2019 with royal names as Meghan Markle is due to give birth. Another royal event which may impact 2019's choices is the marriage between Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank which took place last year, and Eugenie could rank higher as a result. Lucifer comes from the Latin name for the planet Venus - the morning star - and was later applied to a Hebrew translation which referred to the King of Babylon as the 'shining one.' The interpretation led the name to become synonymous with stories of Satan's fall from heaven and was applied to the Devil himself. Ros Altmann (pictured) says her mother was the victim of an HMRC scam, when crooks told the elderly lady she owed 20,000 When my mother phoned, she was in a terrible state. I could hear from her voice that something had left her petrified. My mother is a strong, independent woman of 86 with a sharp mind. But she has had some serious bouts of ill health and it was obvious that, at that moment, she was on the verge of panic. Gradually, she managed to explain what had upset her so badly. A phone call had come out of the blue from an official claiming to be from Her Majestys Revenue & Customs. According to the caller, she owed 20,000 for years in unpaid taxes and if she didnt pay them the money straight away, she faced a visit from the police and immediate arrest. It was a scam, a blatant fraud, one of the type that the Mail Investigations Unit has done so much brilliant work to expose this week. But my mother was beside herself with worry, so she phoned me. Im so thankful that she managed to reach me to share her worries, and was not frightened into just handing the money over to these shameless conmen. The vicious hoax began with an answerphone message. My mother lives alone: she has always valued her independence, and she is adamant that she will never impose on anyone, even those who love her most dearly. She knows that, if she decided to move in with us, wed welcome her gladly. But I respect her independent spirit and I would certainly never want to take it away from her. Sadly, to some evil people, the fact that she lives alone makes her vulnerable and a perfect target for their criminal schemes. The first phone message came at a time when she was not feeling particularly robust. She has had treatment for lung cancer, and was recovering from heart surgery. So when the message with its official tone informed her there was an issue with her tax payments, she felt she had to call back on the number the crooks had left. That was a grave mistake. The man who answered the phone immediately began to hector and bully her. He accused her of attempting to evade her taxes, and warned that she had placed herself in serious trouble. If she didnt make a bank transfer straight away, and pay the 20,000, he would send police to her house to arrest her. I know where you live, he said aggressively. What a horrible ordeal for anyone, but especially an octogenarian in fragile health. It makes me very angry that these scammers have such contempt for people and are prepared to inflict such mental torture to steal from them. Frankly, it disgusts me. My mother protested that her accountant handled all her affairs, and he had said nothing about tax arrears. She had always paid all her tax bills. The crook accused her of ignoring repeated written demands and, when she insisted that she had seen nothing in the post, he said the letters had been going to the accountant who was either incompetent or worse, he added. Thank goodness my mother was not harried into parting with money there and then. It wasnt possible: 20,000 is a very large sum, much more than she had access to that day. She insisted that she had to speak to her financial adviser, and put the phone down, shaken and confused. She tried calling her accountant, only to discover he was on holiday, and she really became distraught. Thats when she called me. I immediately guessed what was going on and tried to assure her it must be a scam. I said I would find out what I could. I called the fraudsters number from my mobile, to see if I could find out more about how they operated information I intended handing to the police. They didnt answer my call but, when I tried ringing again with my number withheld, a man picked up. I said I was calling on my mothers behalf, and asked him what this was all about. He put the phone down. This type of crime is so calculating, callous and immoral. It is targeted mainly at the elderly, those from a generation that respects authority and has always believed in doing their bit for society. The thought of avoiding paying taxes, to my mother and her contemporaries, is abhorrent. They settle their bills, and theyre proud of it. If, by some administrative error, my mother really did owe anything to HMRC, she wouldnt rest till it was paid and these contemptible thieves think that they can take advantage of that. Theres something else about my mothers generation: they are polite. They speak patiently and courteously on the telephone, even when the caller is being rude and disrespectful. The idea of putting the phone down on anyone, even a scammer, is almost physically painful. It is hateful that these organised criminals treat human decency as weakness. They have no compunction. When I read the Mails outstanding investigation on Monday, in which reporter Tom Kelly infiltrated a fake call centre in the Indian city of Ahmedabad and revealed these scammers target a staggering 10,000 Britons a day, my blood boiled. Research by the Money Advice Service suggests that there could be as many as eight scam calls every second the equivalent of 250million calls per year. More than that, the British police and Whitehall departments should be doing their utmost to prevent the gangs from accessing the private phone numbers of British citizens. It would also make a huge difference if the scammers were stopped from buying and using bogus UK phone numbers, even copying the HMRC phone number, to make the scam seem authentic. The telecoms industry and the Government should introduce measures to prevent people from being able to hide their identities behind these bogus numbers. Clearly, the technical issues involved are complex. I have been campaigning for a long time to put a stop to cold-calling pension scams that deprived many of funds for their retirement. In January, these fraudulent practices were outlawed the culmination of the work that I began as Pensions Minister. But there is more to do and crooks will always attempt to find a way around any safeguards. Registering your phone number with Telephone Preference Service to screen out cold calls, for example, doesnt make a scrap of difference in most cases. What would work is if banks were to freeze all accounts that have been used in transferring scammed funds. Scammers never con only one person: there will always be more. The sooner banks are alerted and can shut down or freeze accounts being used by these criminals, the more people will be protected. There is clearly more to do to protect the public and to co-ordinate responses across the banking system, so all banks are alerted when a scam is discovered. Most of all, we all need to be aware of the risks, and to make sure that our loved ones know never to transfer money to spurious callers. A few weeks after the scare, my mother had another scam call. She hung up. Lesson learned. A controversial businessman accused of spreading footage of the Christchurch mosque massacre over the internet has appeared in court. Philip Neville Arps allegedly copied the live-stream of the mass killings, which showed the slaughter and wounding of scores of innocent men, women and children and distributed the chilling footage the day after last Friday's mass killing, Christchurch District Court heard. Arps, 44, whose insulation firm has Nazi themes in its company logo, was charged with two counts of violating New Zealand's 1993 Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act by distributing an 'objectionable publication'. Philip Neville Arps (pictured) appeared in Christchurch District Court, where he was remanded in custody until his next hearing on April 15 Tattooed Arps glowered as he stood in the dock while his photograph was being taken at the start of the hearing. Dressed scruffily in grey tracksuit pants, a dirty blue T-shirt and striped socks but no shoes, Arps listened intently while District Judge Stephen O'Driscoll told him he was not required to enter a plea. Police prosecutor Bronwen Blackmore outlined the two charges against Arps; that on March 16 he distributed 'a live-stream of the murder of multiple victims at the Deans Avenue Mosque, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the publication is objectionable'. Friends and supporters of Philip Neville Arps leave Christchurch District Court on Wednesday after he was denied bail Earlier the judge had cleared the public gallery of ahead of the hearing, only allowing legal officials, police and accredited journalists to listen to the proceedings. Two of Arp's 'close family members' were ordered out of the court and Judge O'Driscoll rejected an application from his lawyer Anselm Williams to allow them back into the hearing, saying it was a 'high risk' situation. A supporter leaves court after Philip Neville Arps was remanded in custody Married father-of-six Philip Neville Arps (pictured) has been remanded in custody after he allegedly reposted the live-streaming of the Christchurch terror attack on Saturday The married father-of-six, who was arrested in a police raid at his Christchurch home on Tuesday, was refused bail. He was remanded in custody until his next hearing on April 15. Judge O'Driscoll told him: 'You will be remanded in custody until the 15th April.' Arps replied: 'Yup.' The businessman faces a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted. Several people attended Christchurch District Court to support Philip Neville Arps Advertisement Scientists in China have created the country's first cloned police dog as they hope to help the country's police forces cut the training time, reduce the training cost and improve the breeds of their detective canines. Puppy Kunxun, now three months old, is the 'mini me' of a seven-year-old female wolfdog which has been dubbed 'the Sherlock Holmes of police dogs'. She was carried by a beagle surrogate. The tiny pooch was born at a lab in Beijing last December and has now begun her training to be a future police sniffer dog at a police base in Kunming. Scroll down for video Ready to catch ya! Three-month-old Kunxun is the first cloned police dog in China and a copy of the 'Sherlock Holmes' mother Too cute: The puppy is a copy of a seven-year-old wolfdog, named Huahuangma, and was carried by a beagle surrogate Energetic: Kunxun has begun her training to be a future sniffer dog in Kunming and is said to be energetic and curious Kunxun is a Kunming wolfdog, which is a type of dog bred by the Chinese Police Security Bureau at the police dog centre in Kunming. The breed was created in 1964 and has been trained to assist China's army and police forces. Kunxun's name is a combination of the words 'Kunming' and 'merit'. She was cloned under a Beijing-led programme to duplicate 'outstanding' Kunming wolfdogs. The project was carried out by the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University, with support from the Ministry of Public Security, reported Science and Technology Daily. Kunxun is a copy of Huahuangma, a decorated sniffer dog from the Police Dog Squad at the Pu'er Public Security Bureau. Since 2013, Huanghuama has helped Pu'er police solve 12 murder cases and 20 other major criminal cases. She received an award of first-class meritorious service from the China's Public Security Bureau in 2016. Shhh.... Kunxun was born healthy on December 19, weighing 540 grams (19 ounces) and measuring 23cm (nine inches) long She is a Kunming wolfdog, a type of dog bred by the Chinese Police Security Bureau at the police dog centre in Kunming She was cloned by Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University with governmental support One scientist, named Liu Xiaojuan, who participated in the project described the cloning process to Science and Technology Daily. Experts took a sample measuring 'a few millimetres' from Huahuangma's skin in Pu'er on September 12 last year. The sample was then put into nutrient fluid and immediately flown to Beijing. Researchers started cultivating the tissue on the same day and a somatic cell system was established two weeks later, according to Liu. An embryo was created after team members injected content of the somatic cell from Huahuangma into an egg cell they had taken from another female dog. To prepare for the process, the team had removed the central part of the egg cell known as nucleus, but kept the solution of the cell known as cytoplasm. Kunxun was cloned under a Beijing-led programme to duplicate outstanding Kunming wolfdogs to enhance police forces Kunxun's 'mother', Huahuangma, is a decorated sniffer dog from the Police Dog Squad at the Pu'er Public Security Bureau It's expected that Kunxun would start working for the police at around 10 months old having started her training in March The embryo was then transplanted into a female beagle scientists had selected, which is said to have a 'gentle temperament'. Kunxun was born healthy on December 19, weighing 540 grams (19 ounces) and measuring 23cm (nine inches) long, according to Sinogene Biotechnology Company. Her DNA is found to be more than 99.9 per cent identical to that of Huahuangma, according to Sinogene Biotechnology. Huanghuama (pictured) has helped Pu'er police solve 12 murder cases and 20 other major criminal cases since 2013 She received an award of first-class meritorious service from the China's Public Security Bureau in 2016 for her bravery Huahuangma is pictured with her handler Li Hua, the director of Pu'er Police Dog Squad and a policeman of 33 years The puppy was flown from Beijing to Kunming on March 5 to begin her training. She is described to be dear to humans, curious to surroundings and more energetic compared to other puppies. According to Wan Jiusheng, a researcher at the Kunming Police Dog Centre, China is facing a shortage of thousands of police dogs. At the Kunming centre, police dog hopefuls receive their preliminary training from 75 days old and official training from six months old. The official training would last three to five months before the dogs are sorted into different classes specialised in various tasks ranging from chasing, drug-detecting, public order keeping and evidence collecting. It's expected that Kunxun would start working for the police at around 10 months old, according to Wan. It has been estimated that the cost for the Chinese police to train a dog like Huahuangma is around 500,000 yuan (56,400). A researcher interacts with Kunxun in Beijing on February 22, 2019. The puppy is now under training in Kunming Zhao Jianping, the deputy general manager of Sinogene, told MailOnline that his team had not calculated the total cost to clone Kunxun. But he estimated the figure to be 'several hundreds of thousands of yuan' as Kunxun was the first ever police dog they had copied. The cost is expected to become lower as the programme continues. South Korean scientists created the world's first cloned dog in 2005. The country began employing cloned Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs for the customs service at Incheon International Airport in 2009, according to a previous report by BBC. The puppies, all duplicated from a single retriever, had received 16-month-long training. Sinogene Biotechnology is one of the leading companies in China in cloning dogs. In 2017, the company claimed to have found the key to mass-breeding extra strong and fast 'super dogs' thanks to a pioneering technology. Scientists there said they were able to change a dog's nature by modifying its genes, and then reproduce it through cloning. For example, they could customise a dog to make it have bigger muscles and better running ability before making copies of it. In December, the company cloned a celebrity dog, nine-year-old Juice, which has appeared in various Chinese blockbusters. Its copy is expected to carry on entertaining film fans in China when the famous pooch dies. Scott Morrison has been branded a 'scaredy cat' by Kyle Sandilands, after he refused to appear on his KIIS FM breakfast show. The shock jock announced on Monday he would donate $30,000 to charity if the Prime Minister called into the radio station before 8.30am on Wednesday, but it was radio silence from Mr Morrison's end. The 47-year-old has never been shy about his distaste for Prime Minister, and used Monday's breakfast show to air a montage of some of his own choice words for Morrison. Kyle Sandilands said his radio show's producers have invited Morrison to appear on the show on several occasions in past but the Prime Minister has always refused 'This guy's a scaredy cat,' Sandilands remarked, 'why won't you come on here?' In the past Sandilands has called Morrison a variety of colourful names, including 'gronk', 'p***y', 'a slob', 'white and wobbly', as well as a 'gutless little toad'. Sandilands, who co-hosts with Jackie 0 Henderson, said his radio show's producers have invited Mr Morrison to appear on the show on several occasions in past but the Prime Minister has always rejected the offer. Sandilands was hoping he could tempt Morrison, pledging to donate $30,000 to charity if he phoned up. 'He hates us that much that I'm so confident he won't ring up,' Sandilands said at the start of Wednesday morning's show. But by the 8.30am deadline Mr Morrison had still not called in. 'They're so scared. These people want to run the country. They want to protect us from everyone but they're scared of us. Please', Sandilands said on air. Scott Morrison refused to call in to KIIS FM's breakfast show with shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his co-host Jackie O Henderson (pictured) Sandilands then took aim at the Prime Minister's media team for not lining up an interview. 'They wouldn't even answer our calls. They treated us like lepers, like we weren't worth it,' he said. Although Mr Morrison avoided KIIS FM this morning, he was more than happy to chat to Kyle and Jackie O's rival breakfast show, Fitzy and Wippa, as well as Channel 7's Sunrise and ABC News Breakfast. The radio star's comments come just days after the Prime Minister announced he's preparing to slash Australia's immigration intake. A cap of 160,000 people per year is expected to be introduced, which drops the average annual intake from 190,000. The Prime Minister defended bringing up the population debate so soon after the Christchurch terror attacks, where the alleged gunman is accused of being staunchly against Muslim immigrants. Rachel Sorkow, 29, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with five counts of felony misconduct, along with 'capturing the image of the private area of another person' and indecent exposure A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer who is said to have used police equipment to record a man's genitalia without him knowing, appeared in court on Thursday. Rachel Sorkow, 29, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with five counts of felony misconduct, along with 'capturing the image of the private area of another person' and indecent exposure, according to arrest documents obtained by News Las Vegas. Sorkow has sense been relived of duty with pay. Police began investigating allegations back in September 2018 and found that the patrol officer had been sharing information with people who were not authorized to see it. She was using her connections in law enforcement to skate around clearance issues. This information - which she is believed to have gotten on 19 occasions - included background information on loved one's significant others. Sorkow is said to have recorded seven videos of four people who were 'in her control as a police officer,' KVVU reports. Police began investigating allegations back in September 2018 and found that the patrol officer had been sharing information with people who were not authorized to see it In one video, a man with a tear in his pants is seen kicking a squad car with his genitals exposed. Sorkow had gotten on the PA system to tell the man to continue kicking the car in a video she distributed to friends. The woman is also said to have referred to the man as her 'n***a'. She is said to have also responded to a call of a mentally ill man who was wearing two dresses and had his hair in pigtails. Sorkow allegedly recorded herself telling the man that she wanted to see him 'dougie and twerk' and then 'we're good'. Once he starts dancing she tells him to do it again. When mentioned to her by another officer, Sorkow is said to have used a transphobic epithet. Sorkow is said to have recorded seven videos of four people who were 'in her control as a police officer' Sorkow is said to have fed a handcuffed person gummy bears while making plane noises, in one of the other videos. She also asked an 250lb woman is she had considered being on 'My 600LB Life.' The internal investigation into Sorkow began in September 2018 after information about the woman came out in a case involving a person on parole. She worked for the Community Policing Division in Metro's Northeast Area Command. She was relieved of duty on December 4. An associate of slain Gambino family crime boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali allegedly threatened a reporter who showed up to the New York funeral on Tuesday. A worker at Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island, New York claimed a member of the press who was around once the entombment was complete was scared off away from the site when man thought to be connected to the mob ordered him to leave or else face his demise. Speaking about the alleged incident, the insider laughed to New York Post: 'Some guy from ABC was asking a question in the office. And [a] mob guy said, "Get the f**k out of here before I blow your f**king head off".' The employee claimed the confrontation came once the mourners returned to the parking lot next to the chapel and the cemetery's office. Scroll down for video Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali's funeral took place Staten Island, New York Tuesday. A gravedigger said a mob guy told a reporter: 'Get the f**k out of here before I blow your f**king head off'. He is shown, left, recently and right in an old booking photo. He was 53 The source also claimed that one of the small number of attendees paid for a white-pillared, red-marble mausoleum in full with cash. It was so much they had to handle it like travel luggage. The group 'came in with a suitcase on Saturday and paid my boss $45,000 in cash', the gravedigger claimed. Gambino family crime boss was buried on lower level of white-pillared, red-marble mausoleum A gravedigger said associates 'came in with a suitcase and paid $45,000 in cash' Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island is a notorious mob burial ground where the likes of likes of Costantino Paul 'Big Paul' Castellano , also known as 'The Howard Hughes of the Mob' and 'Big Paulie' is laid to rest Cali has a spot on the lower level of the two-tiered mausoleum with a view of the ocean It got Cali, who died at 53, a spot on the lower level of the two-tiered mausoleum with a view of the ocean. Approximately three dozen long-stemmed white roses were scattered in front of the mob boss' crypt. The Post reported a temporary white-tape label read 'FRANCESCO CALI 1965 2019.' Cali joins the likes of Costantino Paul 'Big Paul' Castellano, also known as 'The Howard Hughes of the Mob' and 'Big Paulie'. The successor to Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family died at 70 in 1985 and has a crypt on the second tier of the mausoleum. Approximately three dozen long-stemmed white roses were scattered in front of the mob boss' crypt The Post reported a temporary white-tape label read 'FRANCESCO CALI 1965 2019.' Castellano, the successor to Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, died at 70 in 1985 and has a crypt on the second tier of the mausoleum Thomas Bilotti was the Gambino Crime Family underboss for two weeks. His promotion triggered the assassination of Castellano. Born 1940, he passed away in the same incident as Castellano outside a Manhattan steak house - the executions said to be on the orders of John Gotti - and he can be found in Zone F Grave 120. Alleged murderer Anthony Comello (above) is accused of killing Gambino crime family boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali last week Underboss of Gambino Crime Family, Frank DeCicco, served as a Capo and was laid to rest at 50 in Moravian Cemetery in 1986. He died when Genovese associate Herbert Pate detonated an explosive attached underneath a car, that was meant for John Gotti. The man charged with killing Cali, Anthony Comello, 24, appeared in court for the first time in Toms River, New Jersey on Monday for an extradition hearing. During the hearing, he showed off drawings on his hand which read 'MAGA forever' and 'QAnon' - a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a 'deep state' is working to bring down President Trump. Those messages are in line with the posts from his secret Instagram account, the existence of which was first reported by the New York Post. Comello 'used to post crazy things about politics and Trump and Democrats,' a source told the Post. The Instagram page was created under the handle 'realamericasvoice_'. One Instagram post included the Reichsadler, or 'imperial eagle,' which was used during the Nazi period. The post reads: 'Infidel of freedom, infidels of the free world...Dems=demons go down on all counts.' Another post shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wearing a symbol that supposedly represents 'evil fascism.' The Instagram page believed to have belonged to Comello was created under the handle 'realamericasvoice_' The above meme found on the Instagram page shows extreme messages denouncing Democratic members of Congress and liberal activist Linda Sarsour One Instagram post included the Reichsadler, or 'imperial eagle,' which was used during the Nazi period. The post reads: 'Infidel of freedom, infidels of the free world...Dems=demons go down on all counts.' There are also truther conspiracy theories which allege that the September 11, 2001 attacks were orchestrated by the Bush administration. Another Instagram post depicts Michelle Obama, the former first lady, as a man dancing with 'wife,' Barack Obama, whose head is photoshopped onto her body. One meme shows a group of prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Eric Holder, and others in jail for 'treason' since 'Russia collusion is a proven lie.' The Instagram post also shows messages denouncing illegal immigrants, socialism, and taxes. Camello (above) showed off pro-Trump slogans on his left hand during a court appearance on Monday in Toms River, New Jersey. The messages include 'MAGA Forever' Comello asked a US Marshal how he could go about performing a 'citizen's arrest' on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and turned up outside New York City Hall protesting against Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and saying he should be jailed Comello is also said to have tried to make a 'citizen's arrest' of top Congressional Democrats Maxine Waters (left) and Adam Schiff (right) Comello first drew the attention of police after he bizarrely tried to make a 'citizen's arrest' of prominent Democratic figures including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Pelosi, U.S. House Rep. Adam Schiff, and U.S. House Rep. Maxine Waters. 'There was an incident at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan where he showed up [on February 21] asking to make a citizen's arrest of a number of elected officials,' NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller told the Post. 'These were rambling statements, but it involved that he wanted to make citizen arrests of Maxine Waters, Congressman Schiff,' Miller said. Schiff, Waters, and Pelosi are members of Congress from California. They are also outspoken critics of President Trump. Miller said that Comello 'blamed Nancy Pelosi and all kinds of other people for stealing the election.' 'They engaged in conversation with him, and while they were waiting for a sector car to show up, he walked off. That was the extent of the contact.' One source told DailyMail.com: 'He was clearly unhinged well before he decided to kill Cali. The whole citizen's arrest inquiry against Nancy Pelosi is proof of that.' Comello's Monday courtroom stunt has already been compared to the actions of 'MAGA Bomber' Cesar Sayoc. Floridian Sayoc, 56, was charged in October last year with sending 16 pipe bombs to President Trump's political enemies, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. When he was arrested, Sayoc had been living out of a van covered with pro-Trump stickers and images of prominent Democrats with cross-hairs on their faces. Sayoc faces life imprisonment if convicted. Investigators are seen with forensic equipment outside the Cali's home on Thursday A man has admitted to fracturing the legs of two newborn babies after squeezing them when he became frustrated with their crying. The incident occurred in 2018 when the New Zealander 'grabbed one of the legs of each... and squeezed hard while twisting their legs slightly', according to a police summary of facts, Stuff reported. Judge Joanna Maze referred the matter to restorative justice, and remanded the South Canterbury man to appear in the Timaru District Court again on May 30. The 30-year admitted to two charges of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard on the babies, who were 21-46 days old at the time. The 30-year-old man, whose name has been suppressed, will appear in Timaru District Court (pictured) again on May 30 'He described the squeeze as a 'fair squeeze' and that 'it was really hard but really fast',' the police summary said. A few weeks later, an associate was visiting the twins and noticed one child's legs appeared to looked injured. The associate called a doctor who visited the home the next day before the babies were taken to the pediatrics department at Timaru Hospital. A scan of the baby's leg revealed two healed fractures to the right tibia, one near the top of the bone, and one near the bottom. Both babies then had a full body scan, which revealed the second child had a healed fracture to the left lower tibia. One victim has sustained two healed fractures to the right tibia, one on the shaft and one on the distal metaphysis of the tibia The other had sustained a healing fracture to the distal metaphysis on the left tibia. The defendant admitted to all the facts and stated he had had a stressful day and he had become 'frustrated by the babies screaming their heads off'. The man also stated he instantly regretted his actions. Advertisement A Syrian boy who laid his father and older brother to rest after they were killed in the Christchurch mosque massacre expressed his sorrow at the loss of his family. Refugees Khaled Mustafa, 44, and his high school student son Hamza, 15, were killed in the carnage at the Al Noor mosque during the gunman's alleged reign of terror, which claimed 50 lives last Friday. Hamza's younger brother, Zahid, was also in the mosque on the day in question and was shot in the legs. He is currently wheelchair bound, recovering from the injuries he sustained in the attack. Jamil el-biza from the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association said he overheard the 13-year-old boy speaking. 'I don't want to be here alone,' Zahid said. Zahid Mustafa (pictured) laid his father and older brother to rest after they were killed in the Christchurch mosque massacre The first victims laid to rest were Syrian refugee Khaled Mustafa, 44, (left) and his high school student son Hamza, 15 (right) Zahid (pictured) tried standing for prayers for his father and brother but couldn't as a result of gunshot wounds to his leg Hamza's younger brother, Zahid (pictured), was also in the mosque on the day in question and was shot in the legs. He is currently wheelchair bound, recovering from the injuries he sustained in the attack 'To hear him say to his father "I don't want want to be alone", that was devastating,' Mr el-Biza said. Zahid tried standing for prayers for his father and brother but couldn't as a result of gunshot wounds to his leg. 'Even when he was given condolences, we tried not shake his hands and lift his hand and not touch his foot because they're still wounded, but he refused - he wanted to shake everyone's hand.' The refugee family moved to New Zealand last year, finally settling in a safe haven after fleeing Syria and spending time in Jordan. The first victims of the Christchurch massacre - Syrian refugee Khaled Mustafa, 44, and son Hamza, 15, have been laid to rest Mourners console each other before the first funerals for the victims of last Friday's terrorist attack in Christchurch The talented farrier father and his son, a student at Cashmere High School, were buried next to one another at plots 87 and 88. Young Hamza called his mother from the mosque after the shooting began. Salwa Mustafa told Stuff that he said, 'mum, there's someone coming into the mosque and he's shooting us'. He was with Zahid, who had been shot in the leg, at the time. Three to four hundred men, women and children attended the service, with a special area set up for mourners to wash their hands and feet and two little boys playing tag during the funeral prayers. The bodies arrived in a procession of more than a dozen cars about 12.30pm. There was complete silence on the grounds. The janaza, or funeral prayers, began shortly thereafter, with the words 'allahu akbar' (god is the greatest) hanging in the air. The victims were then carried to the plots for burial, with the men ordered to line up in order to throw soil into the graves. The women in attendance watched on from afar, as is Islamic custom. The coffin of the first victim from the Christchurch terrorist attack arrives for the burial ceremony at Memorial Park Cemetery Up to 400 mourners gathered at Memorial Park Cemetery for services to farewell the first Christchurch massacre victims Female mourners have gathered under a marquee to pay their respects at the first funerals held for victims killed last week An announcer gave mourners evacuation instructions in case of an emergency, a sign of a community on edge. The burials, more than five days after the massacre, follow mounting frustration from families that their relatives' remains could not be released quickly, due to the police investigation. Authorities moved swiftly to prepare the grave sites after the massacre, where 50 were killed. The city council dug 50 graves at the Memorial Cemetery in Linwood, beginning less than 24 hours after the horrendous killings. The bodies of several victims will be repatriated to their home countries. Up to 400 men, women and children attended the service, with an area set up for mourners to wash their hands and feet A council spokeswoman said 'there were 50 victims, and we didn't know how many were being repatriated' and the decision was made to dig 50 graves 'just in case'. Many burials will occur en masse in the coming days as further bodies are released. In typical Islamic funerals, men participate in the burial, while women pay their respects under a marquee that has been erected nearby. Funeral prayers are said and the bodies washed in a traditional fashion. The victims are wrapped in white shrouds and placed in the ground. Men participate in the traditional Islamic burials while women paid their respects under a marquee erected nearby Auckland University expert Dr Zain Ali said the bodies are pointed towards Mecca. Mourners traditionally place three handfuls of soil into the ground as part of the burial. The family of the victims gave permission to media to photograph the services. New Zealand Police officials confirmed this morning that 21 bodies were now available for release. There was a police presence at the first services for victims of last Friday's Christchurch terrorist attack HOW AN ISLAMIC FUNERAL WORKS A typical Islamic funeral service involves the washing of the body with warm water from head to toe at a mosque with family members at a mosque, said Auckland University expert Dr Zain Ali. The body is then placed in a shroud, or white cloth. It is then brought to its final resting place in a coffin. 'Here in New Zealand, because it's a small community, you'd have a lot of the community turn up, even if you're not directly related to the person who's passed away,' Dr Ali said. The body is then placed in the grave, facing Mecca, and buried. Mourners traditionally place three handfuls of soil into the plot, in a symbolic gesture. Dr Ali said the gesture means: 'We've come from this soil, we return to the soil, and one day we will be raised back from the soil again, in a sort of resurrection 'From this we came, from this we return'. Advertisement A hardline Muslim sheikh has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of shedding crocodile tears for the victims of the Christchurch mosque massacre. Jamil El-Biza, a Salafist imam from the Saudi-funded Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, was participating in a Sydney fundraising panel with fellow Sunni preachers when he took aim at Australian politicians. 'Don't give us these crocodile tears,' the Wollongong-based sheikh said on Friday night, hours after the carnage in New Zealand. A hardline Muslim sheikh has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney) of shedding crocodile tears for the victims of the Christchurch mosque massacre 'Don't offer us these condolences that don't go further than the camera you were looking at.' Mr El-Biza reserved his strongest criticism for Mr Morrison, who had only hours earlier had confirmed in a media conference that Grafton-raised Australian Brenton Tarrant had been arrested in Christchurch. 'He tried to cry as he's doing the press conference,' he said. 'He tried because that's what a politician does. But even with all of his political power and experience, he could not shed a tear for over 60 people killed in Christchurch.' Jamil El-Biza (far right), a Salafist imam from the Saudi-funded Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, was participating in a Sydney fundraising panel with fellow Sunni preachers when he took aim at Australian politicians The death toll from the Christchurch massacre stands at 50, not 60, making it the English-speaking world's second worst mass shooting by a lone gunman. Mr El-Biza also took aim at controversial independent Queensland senator Fraser Anning, who on Friday released a statement blaming the massacre on 'the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence'. He equated Senator Anning's previous calls to ban Muslim immigration with the violence in New Zealand. Jamil El-Biza (right) equated Senator Fraser Anning's (left) previous call to ban Muslim immigration with the Christchurch massacre Mr El-Biza argued that free speech had contributed to the massacre by a white supremacist, who allegedly gunned down Muslim men, women and children at two mosques in Christchurch during weekly prayers on Friday afternoon (victim arriving at hospital on Friday) 'Politicians from their head to their toe, from the Prime Minister to the smallest politician, their defence of free speech, we knew that this day was going to occur,' he said. Mr El-Biza argued that free speech had contributed to the massacre by a white supremacist, who allegedly gunned down Muslim men, women and children at two mosques in Christchurch during their weekly prayers on Friday afternoon. 'When they say rhetoric which puts the blame on you, because you're a Muslim, and lifts the blame of others because of freedom of speech, this was only natural that this was going to happen,' he said. The former nurse accused of raping an impregnating an incapacitated patient in Arizona will fight a court-ordered STD and HIV test, according to his lawyers on Tuesday. Nathan Sutherland's lawyer, Edward Molina, asked Maricopa County Superior Judge Roger Hartsell to schedule a hearing concerning the court order. It was originally ruled that the results be made available to the nurse's alleged victim, AZ Central reports. Nathan Sutherland's lawyers argued that the STD testing would violate the 36-year-old's constitution rights Molina argued that the testing would violate the 36-year-old's constitution rights and pondered whether it would be easier for the victim to take the test as she is currently at a long-term care facility. The lawyer added that since the victim gave birth in December, she has likely already been tested for STDs. Molina referred to the request as a 'fishing expedition' in February. The defendant, a licensed practical nurse who began working at the Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix in 2012, was charged with one count each of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult 'They want to test him for HIV and I don't know why they don't just test the person they believe has it,' he said. A hearing on the blood test matter was scheduled for March 26. A complex case management hearing is set for May 21. Sutherland, a devout Christian and father-of-four, was forced to submit his DNA sample under court order, to determine if he was the baby's father On February 5, Sutherland pleaded not guilty in an Arizona court. Nathan Sutherland was arrested in January after DNA evidence linked him to the victim's child. The defendant, a licensed practical nurse who began working at the Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix in 2012, was charged with one count each of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. Police started investigating after the 29-year-old woman, who they say was not in a position to give consent, unexpectedly gave birth on December 29. The patient had been at the facility since she was three. The shock delivery prompted authorities to test the DNA of all the men who worked at the care facility. Sutherland, a devout Christian and father-of-four, was forced to submit his DNA sample under court order. The right wing activist who described the Christchurch mosque massacre as 'karma' is also wanted for crimes against a Gosford church. Melbourne man Neil Erikson has an outstanding non-custodial warrant out on him after he failed to appear in the Gosford Local Court in September 2018. He is charged with using threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties, and disturbing religious worship. In May of 2018 it is alleged that Erikson and up to seven other people stormed into the Anglican Parish of Gosford dressed as Roman soldiers and Jesus Christ to protest Father Rod Bower. The right wing activist who described the Christchurch Mosque massacre as 'karma' is also wanted for crimes against a Gosford church after an incident in May 2018 (pictured, Neil Erikson) Melbourne man Neil Erikson has an outstanding non-custodial warrant out on him after he failed to appear in the Gosford Local Court in September 2018 charged with using threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties, and disturbing religious worship Erikson told Daily Mail Australia the protest was against perceived left wing bias by Fr Bower. 'He uses his position at the church to share political vocal points and I am within my rights to protest his church,' Erikson said. 'The law is for religious people not political activists.' Erikson was also one of the men who pinned down William Connolly, who egged Fraser Anning at a protest rally. He said police were yet to arrest him and return him to Gosford because he was back in Victoria, where he lives. 'Come and get me Rod Bower,' Mr Erikson said. 'What set it (protest) off was the signs he has, that he puts provocative things on, about the ANZACS and defending the Burqa.' He said he dressed as Jesus before entering the church while another of the group dressed as a Roman soldier in order to re-enact scenes from the Bible. Fr Bower told Daily Mail Australia he accepts Erikson's right to an opinion but he was not entitled to 'disrupt Christian worship'. 'It was a violent act, while it wasn't physically violent it was a violent act, people in the Church were scared with is actions,' he said. 'He made it an unsafe environment.' Fr Bower said he did not accept the rationale by Erikson that he was left wing or used his platform for left wing ideals. Erikson (far left) said he was the man who held down William Connolly's head (pictured) after he cracked an egg over Senator Fraser Anning's head 'You don't get to obey the laws you agree with and not the ones you don't.' Fr Bower said he had no issues with protesting and Erikson and others were completely within their rights to protest outside or across the street, but not inside the church. Fr Bower said he took to Twitter when he saw that one of the men holding down William Connolly was Erikson. Erikson posted footage of the Church invasion to the You Tube page Senator Slayer titled Erikson confronts Rod Bower. Erikson told Daily Mail Australia the protest was against perceived left wing bias by Fr Bower Fr Bower said he had no issues with protesting and Erikson and others were completely within their rights to protest outside or across the street, but not inside the church The footage shows Erikson storming into the church dressed as Jesus with a megaphone, one young lady is heard screaming in terror until she realises what is happening. Fr Bower tells them they are desecrating sacred worship before Erikson begins to read from a pre-written speech, at which point Fr Bower tries to drown him out with religious song. After a few minutes Erikson is escorted out by the man dressed as a Roman soldier. In an online post after the Christchurch terrorist attack, Erikson describes the far-right movement as 'the sleeping dragon that has now awoken'. 'It is karma, this is what happens when you attack a people for so long,' he said. 'I am not surprised this happened. I am not condoning terrorism or going out and shooting people, but what do you expect when your religion goes around beheading, murdering, raping white Christians particularly in the western world.' Erikson said he does not intend to go to Gosford to answer his charges and he would have to be taken across the border by force to do so. 'They can't get me over the border,' he said. 'They've tried.' A Domino's pizza worker has impressed commuters with his cheesy dance moves. Josh Brandon, 18, from Coomera in the Gold Coast, has become a viral sensation for his seductive roadside moves, to entice people to buy pizza. Numerous bystanders have captured the 18-year-old moving his hips, waving Domino's promotional signs in the air and even doing the splits - a marketing tactic referring to as 'wobble boarding'. His boss has told him his outrageous marketing tactic has brought record sales to the Hope Island store. Josh Brandon (pictured), 18, from Coomera in the Gold Coast, has become a viral sensation for his seductive roadside moves, to entice people to buy pizza Numerous bystanders have captured the 18-year-old moving his hips, waving Domino's promotional signs in the air and even doing the splits A spokeswoman from Domino's told Daily Mail Australia some employees have been told to 'wobble board' as a safe way to attract the community to buy pizza. Wobble boarding is the pizza chain's promotional tactic, which involves waving signs in the air accompanied by dance moves. Mr Brandon hopes to fulfill a career in musical theatre. Witnesses took to social media and shared their own footage of Mr Brandon's street dance on different occasions. 'This guy literally makes my life,' one woman was heard saying as she filmed the employee from inside a car. 'This guy is always on the roundabout near my place. I've nearly crashed so many times watching him lol,' one user wrote. 'Employee of the year!!!!! Now that's getting everyone's attention to go Domino's!!! Payrise!!!!' another wrote. Advertisement Vice President Mike Pence took a look at the raging Elkhorn River at the small town of Waterloo, Nebraska on Tuesday, after it found itself cut off from the outside world last week by floodwaters. Pence visited the flood disaster area Tuesday at the request of President Donald Trump. He met with a group of first responders who helped pluck people from their flooded homes along the river's banks. Vice President Mike Pence, second right, is accompanied by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, left, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, second left and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, right, as they walk to a bridge over the Elkhorn River on Tuesday Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets with Travis Harlow of the Waterloo fire department, and with volunteer Brad Brown, left, in Omaha, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, left, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, top center, and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, right, watch as Pence, second left, thanks volunteer Brad Brown, his wife Mary, bottom right, and Travis Harlow, center for their work Vice President Mike Pence, right, meets with first responders and volunteers who had helped evacuate people to safety This Monday photo taken by the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol and provided by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, shows flooding along the Missouri River north of Blair, Nebraska He also thanked Brad and Mary Brown, who used their recreational airboat to guide rescuers to stranded residents, saying, 'I never fail to be inspired at moments like this. It's just the best of America.' Pence later visited a temporary shelter set up at a school in far-west Omaha, where about 25 people who had been evacuated from their homes were eating dinner. Several also had pets, as the Humane Society had set up a make-shift pet shelter in the school's basement. Pence said the Trump administration will expedite presidential disaster declarations for Nebraska and Iowa. Pence toured areas ravaged by the flood that has killed at least three people and forced hundreds of Midwesterners from their homes. Pence said he spoke to the governors of both states shortly after landing in Omaha to assure them federal aid will soon be on the way. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds were among a group of Republican leaders accompanying Pence during a brief tour of damaged areas. Others included U.S. Sens. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, and Joni Ernst, of Iowa, as well as Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. A vehicle is stuck in floodwaters Tuesday Fremont, Nebraska. Flooding is expected throughout the week in several states as high water levels flow down the Missouri River. Swollen rivers have already breached more than a dozen levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jake Nebuda removes damaged items from the basement of home Tuesday in North Bend, Nebraska. The home had over 40 inches of water in it early this week The Holt County Sheriff's Department said an evacuation was ordered Tuesday in Craig, a town of about 250 residents 110 miles (177 kilometers) north of Kansas City, Missouri, as the Missouri River threatens it. The sheriff's office said anyone choosing to stay must go to City Hall to provide their name and address in case they need to be rescued. Snowmelt and heavy rain sent the Missouri River pouring over and through levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Craig residents joined thousands of others displaced by the flooding. A farm aid nonprofit launched an effort to donate hay to ranchers in flood-stricken Nebraska. North Dakota-based Farm Rescue is seeking hay donations and volunteer drivers. The Nebraska Farm Bureau said farm and ranch losses in that state could reach $1billion. Farm Rescue first activated its 'Operation Hay Lift' program to help drought-stricken Upper Midwest ranchers in 2017. Dozens of volunteer truckers hauled hundreds of loads of hay to the region. The nonprofit provides free physical labor for farmers and ranchers dealing with an injury, illness or a natural disaster in six Plains states. It relies on volunteers from around the country, donations and corporate sponsors. A section of West Dodge Road is shown heavily damaged after floodwaters from the Elkhorn River receded slightly Monday A barge is moored along the Missouri River as floodwaters begin to creep into a dredge operation in St Joseph, Missouri Monday This Monday photo taken by the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol and provided by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, shows flooding along the Missouri River in rural Iowa north of Omaha Akashi Haynes, left, and her daughter Tabitha Viers carry their belongings rescued from their flooded home in Fremont, Nebraska on Monday. Authorities say flooding from the Platte River and other waterways is so bad that just one highway lane into Fremont remains uncovered, and access to that road is severely restricted This satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows from top, Pacific Junction, Iowa on August 10, 2018 before flooding and Pacific Junction during flooding on March 18, 2019 A disaster declaration was declared for nearly 70 percent of the state of Nebraska. The state's Emergency Management Agency said in a news release Tuesday that 65 of the state's 93 counties are under state-issued emergency declarations. Gov. Pete Ricketts said there have been disasters with greater loss of life. But he said he didn't think 'there's ever been a disaster this widespread in Nebraska.' The president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Steve Nelson estimates $400million in crop losses because of crops that will be planted late, if at all. He also estimates as much as $500million in livestock losses. Nelson told the Omaha World-Herald that he wouldn't be surprised if 'lost agriculture numbers go over a billion dollars'. Agriculture amounts to 20 percent of Nebraska's gross domestic product and provides one of every four jobs in the state. Nelson said flooding is costing the state's cattle industry $1million a day in costs usually not covered by insurance. Farmers raised concerns that busted levees won't be fixed before the traditional spring flood season. A woman wearing a Nebraska coat takes photos of flooded areas in Plattsmouth, Nebraska on Sunday Gabe Schmidt, owner of Liquid Trucking, top right, travels by air boat with Glenn Wyles, top left, Mitch Snyder, bottom left, and Juan Jacobo, bottom right, as they survey damage from the flood waters of the Platte River, in Plattsmouth Sunday People view the rising waters from the Platte and Missouri rivers which flooded areas of Plattsmouth, Nebraska on Sunday Gabe Schmidt, owner of Liquid Trucking, right, talks to Glenn Wyles, second right, as they survey by air boat flood damage from the flood waters of the Platte River Flooded RVs, washed away by the flood waters of the Platte River, are seen in Merritt's RV Park in Plattsmouth Gabe Schmidt, owner of Liquid Trucking, in red hoodie, walks with Glenn Wyles, left, as they look for damage from the flood waters of the Platte River A statue of the Virgin Mary is seen under a tree in the flood waters of the Platte River in Plattsmouth, Nebraska on Sunday A railroad crossing is flooded with water from the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Nebraska on Sunday Cars sit in flood waters from the Platte River alongside a BNSF train, in Plattsmouth, Nebraska on Sunday Hundreds of homes are damaged, and tens of thousands of acres are inundated with water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says rivers breached at least a dozen levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Flooding is expected through the week as high water levels flow down the Missouri River. Corps official Jud Kneuvean says levees usually take six months to repair. That means most likely won't be fixed by mid-May, the start of the most flood-prone part of the year. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said 41 of Iowa's 99 counties are now included in her state disaster declaration after massive flooding. She said some hog confinement operations in the southwest part of the state are under water with dead animals inside, and grain bins filled with corn and soybeans have been destroyed. She says some farm fields look like lakes just weeks away from spring planting, which will have significant impact on the upcoming growing season. Floodwaters were washing away roads, making some communities unreachable and forcing drivers to make time-consuming detours in parts of the Midwest. This March 16, 2019 NASA satellite image provided by NASA shows Omaha surrounded by Platte River, left, and Mississippi River as two rivers meet just south of Offutt Air Force Base. A disaster declaration has been declared for nearly 70 percent of the state of Nebraska, the state's Emergency Management Agency said in a news release Tuesday that 65 of the state's 93 counties are under state-issued emergency declarations Flooding closed more than 100 roads in Missouri. And 70 miles (112 kilometers) of Interstate 29 is closed from St. Joseph to the Iowa border, complicating efforts to access the Cooper Nuclear Station along the Missouri River in Nebraska. Some plant workers travel from Atchison County, Missouri, where a levee breach grew larger overnight. The county's emergency management said so many roads are closed in the region that residents are traveling more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) out of their way to get to the plant. Authorities said river flooding surrounded a northern Illinois neighborhood with water, prompting residents to escape in boats. People living in the Illinois village of Roscoe said children had walked through high floodwaters or kayaked to catch school buses amid flooding along the Rock River. About 40 miles (64 kilometers) away in Freeport, authorities said rescue workers helped more than 170 people evacuate their homes since Saturday due to flooding along the Pecatonica River. The river is at its highest level since 1933. Flooding along rivers in western Michigan also has damaged dozens of homes and businesses. Scott Morrison has lashed out at Waleed Aly after The project host claimed the prime minister once suggested the Coalition exploit concerns about Muslim immigration as a political strategy. In an emotional speech after the Christchurch mosque attacks, Aly referenced a 2011 report published in the Sydney Morning Herald that said Morrison brought up the strategy at a meeting but it was knocked back. Mr Morrison hit back on ABC TV on Wednesday, saying 'it is a disgraceful smear and an appalling lie'. Scott Morrison has spoken out about claims he once suggested the coalition exploit concerns about Muslim immigration as a political strategy Prime Minister Scott Morrison looks at floral tributes to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack during a visit to the Lakemba Mosque Prime Minister Scott Morrison paying his respects at the New Zealand High Commission in Canberra He also noted he had a long history of working with the Islamic community. 'That's why I'm welcomed when I attend mosques in south-western Sydney, with warm embraces,' he said. 'Perhaps if people focused a bit more on the story they don't want to tell about my relationship with people of all faiths in this community, then perhaps they wouldn't leap to make prejudiced conclusions.' The PM also said he would not sue after his office previously called Aly's comments defamatory. Aly choked back tears during his broadcast on Friday, hitting out at politicians who have allegedly expressed anti-Muslim sentiments in recent years. 'I know there are media reports going back eight years at a shadow cabinet meeting in which another senior politician suggested his party should use community concerns about Muslims in Australia failing to integrate as a political strategy,' he said. 'That person is now the most senior politician we have,' he added in an apparent swipe at Mr Morrison. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Chief Press Secretary Andrew Carswell allegedly blasted Channel Ten after host Waleed Aly made a reference to the prime minister's alleged 'anti-Muslim' sentiments on air on Friday Aly's statement allegedly prompted Mr Morrison's chief press secretary Andrew Carswell to slam the network for defaming the Prime Minister, according to The New Daily. Aly's remarks were in reference to a 2010 meeting during which Mr Morrison, who was just an MP at the time, allegedly suggested the Liberal Party capitalise on 'growing concerns' about Muslim immigration. Five former members of the shadow cabinet, including Peter Dutton and Greg Hunt, denied claims that Mr Morrison encouraged the party to exploit those sentiments, according to The New Daily. A network source told the publication Mr Carswell contacted the channel accusing them of broadcasting 'discredited information' which he claimed was 'defamation effectively of the Prime Minister'. Mr Carswell allegedly said the network had 'failed journalism 101' by neglecting to check its claims. The Prime Minister's office declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia. Aly's video remains online and has been shared 12 million times. 'I'm gutted, I'm scared, and I'm overcome with utter hopelessness,' the 40-year-old devout Muslim said on Friday. Aly said that because of the global increase of far-right violence in western countries he was not shocked by the attack. Nearly three days since the horrific terror attack in Christchurch which left 50 worshippers dead, new details about the innocent victims are emerging A man was seen with bloodstains on his trousers near the mosque after the shooting 'The most dishonest thing would be to say that I'm shocked, there's nothing about what happened in Christchurch today that shocks me,' he said. The presenter said that as a devout Muslim, he knows what the victims would have been doing before they were shot. 'I know exactly what those moments before the shooting began would have been like,' he said. 'I know how quiet, how still, how introspective those people would have been before they were suddenly gunned down.' Witnesses inside the mosque reported seeing dozens being shot, including children The Project host slammed comments made after the horrific attacks by politician Fraser Anning which he said this kind of speech incites hate. 'I don't want to name him but all parties have denounced him,' Mr Aly said. He was clearly struggling to keep his composure during the speech. 'We are one community and everything we say to try and tear people apart, to demonise groups set them against each other - that all has consequences,' he said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Ten for comment. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says accused gunman Brenton Tarrant's Australian background won't affect trans-Tasman relations. Ms Ardern tackled the question of Australia and New Zealand interactions in the wake of the mosque shooting at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Ms Ardern said she had a sense that Australians, like New Zealanders, are uneasy with the accused shooter's background. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) says accused gunman Brenton Tarrant's Australian background won't affect trans-Tasman relations 'We're incredibly aware that Australians will be feeling that too,' she said. 'We have acknowledged that this person was not a New Zealand citizen. They did not grow up with this ideology here. They did come to us and bring this terrorist act with them. But she also acknowledged although terrorist Brenton Tarrant was from the NSW town of Grafton, it had no bearing on future relations between the two nations. 'But we do not see that as a reflection of our relationship with Australia or its people. And so I do draw that distinction. I think New Zealanders draw that distinction.' Tarrant worked as a personal trainer in Grafton until about 2012, before travelling extensively in Asia and Europe before settling in Dunedin, south of Christchurch. Police have now charged Tarrant with murder following last Friday's shootings at two Christchurch mosques that killed 50 worshipers and injured dozens more. Ms Ardern (pictured) tackled the question of Australia and New Zealand interactions in the wake of the mosque shooting at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon Ms Ardern said on Wednesday she has spoken numerous times with Scott Morrison (pictured) since the attack The New Zealand PM said she has spoken numerous times with her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison since the attack. Ms Ardern has also spoken with opposition leader Bill Shorten and Australia's high commissioner to New Zealand, Patricia Forsythe. She praised the 'fantastic' support from various Australian agencies. Ms Ardern confirmed she had postponed a visit to Australia planned for next week. A high school has warned students and parents to remain vigilant after a year-eight student was approached by a man in a van. Sylvania High School, in Sydney's south, emailed parents an urgent stranger danger alert on Wednesday after a teenager was forced to run from an older man. 'This morning a year-eight male student was approached by an older gentleman who offered to drive him to school and asked him to hop in to his van,' the email began. Sylvania High School (pictured), in Sydney's south, has warned students and parents to remain vigilant after a year-eight student was approached by a man in a van The school emailed parents an urgent stranger danger alert on Wednesday after a teenager was forced to run from an older man 'The student was asked more than once. The student ran off towards school.' The van is described as a white Toyota Camper Van which would fit a stove and bed in the back. The school administrators said the incident took place on Wanganui Road in Kirrawee, about 25 kilometres south of the CBD. Sylvania High School said the incident served as an ideal time to remind children about protecting themselves from possible harm. They have recommended seven strategies students should abide by to ensure their safety when outside school grounds. Students should proceed home or to school via the most direct route and should avoid quiet and isolated streets. Sylvania High School said the incident served as an ideal time to remind children about protecting themselves from possible harm The van is described as a white Toyota Camper Van which would fit a stove and bed in the back The school recommends travelling with at least one other person or in a group when waking to and from school. Mobile phones should be switched on and easily accessible in case of an emergency situation and students should inform their parents of their whereabouts. 'Under no circumstances should you engage in conversation with unknown people or get into the car of a stranger,' the school said. 'If you feel unsafe for any reason go into the nearest shop or house where there are people present. Shout or call for help should this be necessary to attract attention.' The email warning, which was also shared to Facebook, was signed off from the principal. Daily Mail Australia has contacted NSW Police for comment. Stubborn landowners who have refused to leave an asbestos-laden town will have properties seized by the West Australian government. Five landowners, three of who still live in the mining town Wittenoom, in the Pilbara, will all be paid compensation packages. Ben Wyatt, the lands minister, confirmed the packages will cost the state government between $2 and $3 million in total. Former Wittenoom resident David Jones (pictured left) died of asbestos related mesothelioma aged just 48 The former mining town Wittenoom (pictured) - the remaining properties have been purchased by the West Australian government Mr Wyatt added many of the remaining properties were bought 'effectively for $1 given the nature of the value'. It is estimated more than 2000 workers and residents of Wittenoom have died from asbestos-related diseases after the mill was originally opened in 1939. Adding to the concern is the high number of visitors to the town, despite a number of signs outlining the deadly risks. The area has also become appealing for other tourists, mainly young explorers who appear to ignore exposure to the cancer mesothelioma. Described as the deadliest of asbestingos-related diseases, it has the ability to stay dormant for decades before then kill within months. Last year, former Wittenoom resident Lyniece Bolitho told nine.com.au the reckless tourists are gambling with their lives. 'These young people who visit it today think 'it won't happen to me, it [mesothelioma] is just an old man's disease,' he said. 'But they are dicing with death if they think that. It has the potential to claim lives at any age.' Lang Hancock built an asbestos crushing mill at Wittenoom in 1939, which was then purchased by CSR in 1943. Operations at the mill formally ceased in 1966, but the damage to workers and local residents was already done. Signs in Wittenoom warning visitors about asbestos in the area A second warning highlighting the dangers of asbestos fibres and dust in Wittenoom A mineral asbestos naturally occurring in a rock (stock image) A newborn baby understood to be less than 24-hours-old has been found abandoned outside a medical centre in Western Australia. The baby boy was left in a box covered by a blanked outside Garden City Medical Centre on Davy Street in Booragoon, Perth, about about 8am on Wednesday morning. Authorities have launched an urgent search for the mother as they are concerned for her welfare. The baby, which appears to be in good health, has been taken to Perth Children's Hospital (pictured) for assessment Police are asking for the mother to contact them or the Department of Community Services as they believe she may require medical attention. The baby, which appears to be in good health, has been taken to Perth Children's Hospital for assessment. 'The baby was found abandoned outside a medical centre,' Detective Sergeant Dixie Johnson told reporters. 'The baby is fine... he's doing well and he was taken to Perth Children's Hospital for assessment.' A note was left with the newborn baby and police suggest the mother wanted the child to be looked after. 'The baby was found in a box covered with a blanket. The baby appeared to be cared for,' Ms Johnson said. 'There was a note left. I won't comment on what exactly the note said at this time but the mother was expressing that she wanted the baby cared for.' Police believe the child is less than 24-hours-old and had only been left outside the medical centre for about 10 minutes before he was found. The medical centre notified police and St John's Ambulance took the newborn to hospital. 'We are appealing for the mother to come forward and we must stress that we want to speak to her purely for her welfare and to know that she is okay,' Ms Johnson said. Fremantle Detectives are investigating the incident and will look at CCTV footage. Anyone with any information regarding the identity of the mother is asked to call police or contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A short Islamic prayer was the final words of one of the pilots on the doomed Lion Air Boeing jet as it nosedived into the sea off Indonesia last year, a cockpit recording has revealed. The Indonesian first officer can be heard saying 'Allahu Akbar' - meaning 'God is greatest' in Arabic - as he and his colleagues ran out of time while desperately looking through the instruction manual trying to save the aircraft. Pilots scoured the handbook as they struggled to understand why the Max 8 aircraft was lurching downwards - but ran out of time before it hit the water, according to people with knowledge of the recording. The investigation into the crash, which killed all 189 people on board in October, has taken on new relevance as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the model last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors. It is the first time the voice recorder contents from the Lion Air flight have been made public. The three sources discussed them on condition of anonymity. The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX (stock photo) scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards - but ran out of time before it hit the water, three people with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder contents said A preliminary report on the Lion Air Flight 610 accident blamed it in part on a faulty angle of attack sensor that triggered the MCAS system and automatically forced the plane's nose down A Lion Air spokesman said all data and information had been given to investigators and declined to comment further. The captain was at the controls of Lion Air flight JT610 when the nearly new jet took off from Jakarta, and the first officer was handling the radio, according to a preliminary report issued in November. Just two minutes into the flight, the first officer reported a 'flight control problem' to air traffic control and said the pilots intended to maintain an altitude of 5,000 feet, the November report said. The first officer did not specify the problem, but one source said airspeed was mentioned on the cockpit voice recording, and a second source said an indicator showed a problem on the captain's display but not the first officer's. The captain asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source said. For the next nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response, the report showed. A stall is when the airflow over a plane's wings is too weak to generate lift and keep it flying. The Lion Air flight crashed into the sea having reached an altitude of 5,000ft shortly after take off The captain fought to climb, but the computer, still incorrectly sensing a stall, continued to push the nose down using the plane's trim system. Normally, trim adjusts an aircraft's control surfaces to ensure it flies straight and level. 'They didn't seem to know the trim was moving down,' the third source said. 'They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about.' Boeing Co declined to comment on Wednesday because the investigation was ongoing. The manufacturer has said there is a documented procedure to handle the situation. A different crew on the same plane the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists, according to the November report. But they did not pass on all of the information about the problems they encountered to the next crew, the report said. The pilots of JT610 remained calm for most of the flight, the three sources said. Near the end, the captain asked the first officer to fly while he checked the manual for a solution. About one minute before the plane disappeared from radar, the captain asked air traffic control to clear other traffic below 3,000 feet and requested an altitude of 'five thou', or 5,000 feet, which was approved, the preliminary report said. As the 31-year-old captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, the 41-year-old first officer was unable to control the plane, two of the sources said. The flight data recorder shows the final control column inputs from the first officer were weaker than the ones made earlier by the captain. 'It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75,' the third source said. 'So you panic. It is a time-out condition.' The Indian-born captain was silent at the end, all three sources said, while the Indonesian first officer said 'Allahu Akbar', or 'God is greatest', a common Arabic phrase in the majority-Muslim country that can be used to express excitement, shock, praise or distress. The plane then hit the water, killing all 189 people on board. French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash that killed 157 people showed 'clear similarities' to the Lion Air disaster. Relatives of passengers on the doomed flight check personal belongings retrieved from the waters where the airplane is believed to have crashed, at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia in October Since the Lion Air crash, Boeing has been pursuing a software upgrade to change how much authority is given to the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, a new anti-stall system developed for the 737 MAX. The cause of the Lion Air crash has not been determined, but the preliminary report mentioned the Boeing system, a faulty, recently replaced sensor and the airline's maintenance and training. On the same aircraft the evening before the crash, a captain at Lion Air's full-service sister carrier, Batik Air, was riding along in the cockpit and solved the similar flight control problems, two of the sources said. His presence on that flight, first reported by Bloomberg, was not disclosed in the preliminary report. The report also did not include data from the cockpit voice recorder, which was not recovered from the ocean floor until January. Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesian investigation agency KNKT, said last week the report could be released in July or August as authorities attempted to speed up the inquiry in the wake of the Ethiopian crash. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the cockpit voice recorder contents, saying they had not been made public. (Reporting by Cindy Silviana in Jakarta, Jamie Freed in Singapore and Tim Hepher in Paris; writing by Jamie Freed; Editing by Gerry Doyle) Two brothers have been arrested in India for allegedly raping their 12-year-old sister who was later beheaded with a sickle, police say. The girl's uncle, 40, has also been arrested while police are now searching for the eldest brother after the body was found in the central state of Madhya Pradesh last week. Shocked police say the case has caused such outrage that lawyers are refusing to represent the accused in the case - the latest to rock India. The country has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors with more than 36,000 cases reported in 2016, according to latest available government data. A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 said one in three rape victims in India was a minor. Almost half the abusers are known to the victims. The high rates of assault continue in India despite an overhaul of laws in the wake of a high-profile fatal gang rape of a Delhi student in 2012 The accused had initially tried to put the blame on a rival family before police in Sagar district found discrepancies in their statement and realised the eldest brother had been missing. 'That was a big clue,' district police superintendent Amit Sanghi told AFP by phone. 'All the men (three brothers and the uncle) were involved in raping the girl and when she threatened to tell the police, they strangled her to death and chopped off her head and dumped the body.' Sanghi said the autopsy had confirmed the victim was gang-raped and subjected to 'unnatural sex'. 'I have not seen such a crime in my life. Even lawyers have said they don't want to represent the accused in this case.' The high rates of assault continue despite an overhaul of laws in the wake of a high-profile fatal gang rape of a Delhi student in 2012 that sparked mass protests and a tightening of the law. That crime shone a spotlight on the rising levels of violence against women in India, and saw the introduction of tough penalties for offenders and accelerated trials through court. Chilling footage has been released of six men running down an alleyway after a woman was sexually assaulted in Melbourne's CBD. The video, which shows a group of six men walking down an alley before looking back and sprinting off camera, was released by Victoria Police on Wednesday. Police believe the six men can assist them with their inquiries regarding a robbery and sexual assault that occurred in Melbournes CBD earlier this month. Chilling footage of six men (pictured) running down an alleyway after a woman was sexually assaulted in Melbourne's CBD has emerged Two women were allegedly assaulted and had a speaker and tobacco stolen by a group of six male offenders on March 9 in Queen Street about 3.55am. One woman was allegedly sexually assaulted while the other woman was punched to the face before the offenders fled the scene. Police have urged anyone with information about the incident or video footage to come forward or call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000. Advertisement Theresa May abandoned plans for a long Brexit delay following warnings it would trigger a mass walkout by Eurosceptics in her Cabinet. Downing Street announced her decision at dawn yesterday, hours after a group of Brexit-supporting ministers had gathered to discuss their next move. The ministers, known as the Pizza Club plotters, held an emergency meeting in the Commons on Tuesday evening after the Prime Minister had earlier left them guessing on how long an extension she would seek from Brussels. It was attended by Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who all voted Leave, as well as Brexit converts Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss. A smiling Michael Gove leads a charge of Brexiteer cabinet ministers leaving Downing Street including Chris Grayling, Liam Fox, Penny Mordaunt, Andrea Leadsom and Liz Truss (left to right) after being summoned by Theresa May Theresa May (pictured leaving Downing Street) has admitted she has asked the EU to delay Brexit - having said 108 times Britain would leave on March 29 This is Theresa May's letter to Donald Tusk begging for a delay and asking them for help to ensure her deal can be voted on for a third time after John Bercow made it 'impossible' not Several of the ministers present indicated they were prepared to resign if Mrs May attempted to keep the country in the EU for a prolonged period. But they withdrew their threats after she announced the delay would not got beyond June. The group of eight ministers met the Prime Minister in Downing Street yesterday afternoon and told her she had their full backing, attempting to reassure her she had made the right decision. As they left No 10, several members of the delegation were smiling. Earlier on LBC radio, Mrs Leadsom had warned that it was absolutely essential the country is out of the EU before European Parliament elections, which take place at the end of May. It would be extraordinary for the people who voted to leave the EU to find us fielding candidates for these next elections, she said. In response, Mr Tusk (pictured delivering his message to Britain) said in Brussels a short extension was possible - but said it was 'conditional' on MPs passing the deal next week [The Prime Minister] is absolutely working her socks off to get to that point, so, in seeking a short extension, she and her Cabinet will be determined to get further progress on the Meaningful Vote so we can get her deal voted through in Parliament. During a fiery meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday, the Commons leader had rounded on colleagues for losing their nerve and allowing the UK to be dragged into asking for a humiliating delay. She said: This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now, from what Im hearing, its not. Miss Truss also warned the meeting that failure to deliver Brexit soon would usher in a Labour Government, leading to a barren land ruled by Jeremy Corbyn with all of us here in a gulag. Tory Brexiteers yesterday welcomed Mrs Mays decision not to seek a prolonged extension. In the Commons at PMQs (pictured) Theresa May condemned MPs for 'navel gazing' over Europe and said their refusal to pass the deal was to blame for delay Mrs May came under fire from both sides of the Commons as she scrambled to shore up both her own political future and Britain's exit from the EU Jacob Rees-Mogg toasted French President Emmanuel Macron after it was reported he could veto any sort of Brexit delay. If true, then Vive la France, the chairman of the European Research Group tweeted. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith warned that any delay will cause problems for Conservative local election prospects in May. The Chingford and Woodford Green MP told Radio 4s Today programme: There is real, real resistance and concern in the Conservative Party, not just in Parliament but on a much wider spectrum around the country in the run-up to the May elections. This will without question cannon into the May elections and cause real issues and concerns on the doorstep. Brexiteer Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Home Secretary Sajid Javid arrive at 10 Downing Street to meet the PM Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom grins as she leaves from 10 Downing Street - but Remainer Health Secretary Matt Hancock looked less pleased Michael Gove and Liz Truss in Whitehall after leaving Downing Street but remained tight-lipped about talks with the PM Any delay creates a bow wave of problems, not just for the Government here but for the governing party and, frankly, for all those people who voted to leave thinking... we would leave on March 29. Any delay must be hinged around the idea of getting change to the deal, but any other reason simply doesnt work. A majority of Conservative MPs voted against any extension at all to Brexit in the Commons last week. Another Brexit-supporting Tory MP, Nadine Dorries told BBC2s Politics Live: The fact that the Prime Minister is going to request an extension is in itself phenomenal because it is against what both the Labour and the Tory manifestos committed to during the 2017 election, which was that we would leave, we would honour the Brexit result, we would leave on March 29, she said. There are a lot of people who will not be happy with the request for this extension. How long is this extension? Will we be sending MEPs to be elected to the European Parliament? I think if we do that then that will be again another crisis. So Brexit has come to this: As May pleads for a three month Brexit delay after another furious Cabinet row this is MailOnline's guide to what is going on Theresa May heads to Brussels tomorrow afternoon for a crunch summit on the fate of Brexit - and almost nothing is certain. She is to ask for a three month delay before one final push to get her deal agreed by MPs in a third showdown next week. Her plea comes after a major Cabinet row yesterday. Donald Tusk said today a short extension is possible - but only if MPs vote for the deal next week. It is not even clear if the Speaker will allow a third vote. Currently the law says Britain will leave the European Union with or without a deal in nine days time - at 11pm next Friday night. But it is also true there are a majority of MPs against a No Deal Brexit and probably still true there is a majority of MPs against Mrs May's deal. As Brexit finally enters the end game, these are the answers to some of the pressing questions: Theresa May heads to Brussels tomorrow afternoon for a crunch summit on the fate of Brexit - and almost nothing is certain What happened today? Theresa May has finally set out her terms for delaying Brexit after accepting it cannot happen on time. She has told EU Council President Donald Tusk she wants three months to have another go at getting her deal through. The Prime Minister has been criticised for appearing to dump the idea of a long extension - despite it being in her own plan last week and a short extension being damned as 'reckless' by her own deputy David Lidington six days ago. In response, Mr Tusk backed a short delay if MPs vote for the deal - but warned it could not be confirmed until after they do so. Does May have any support? There was a major row in Cabinet yesterday about any delay to Brexit. At the time, Mrs May did not express an opinion. Today she has set out her terms in a letter. Downing Street refused to say if Cabinet were consulted any further before the missive was finalised. What is May asking for at the summit tomorrow? The Prime Minister wants the EU Council to rubberstamp the extra three documents she agreed with the EU Commission on the backstop last week. She hopes this, combined with new promises at home on a role for the Northern Ireland Assembly, will be enough to convince John Bercow to allow a third vote on her deal. Mrs May will ask the EU to give her a three month extension to deliver the deal with these commitments. Will she get it? Probably - but only on condition MPs pass the deal next week. Donald Tusk announced today a short extension was 'possible' but that the details still needed to be hammered out. There are tricky issues: First, the bloc only wants a short extension to run until May 23 - the date of European Parliament elections in the UK. It will insist Britain is out of the bloc if it has no MEPs. Second, it has said there must be a clear reason for delay. This could be time to implement the agreed deal or time for an election or referendum that might set a new path for Brexit. How is Brexit delayed, if the EU agrees? To change the law, the Government would have to get a law change through Parliament. This can be done with a Statutory Instrument - a simple short piece of law - that tweaks the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 to change the current date to something else. In an emergency, it could likely be got through the Commons and Lords in two days - and conceivably a single day assuming there were votes to win procedural changes. What happens if Brussels says No? This unlocks a number of possible scenarios. First, Mrs May could come home and try and get her deal agreed by MPs anyway. Second, she could accept her deal is dead and invite MPs to choose a different course. Third, the Prime Minister could say Britain now has no choice but to leave the EU with no deal. Mrs May will ask for a three month delay before one final push to get her deal agreed by MPs in a third showdown next week. Her plea comes after a major Cabinet row yesterday (pictured are Brexiteer MPs walking out of No 10 today) Will there be a second EU summit if there are no conclusions tomorrow? Possibly. If the EU sends Mrs May home to come up with a concrete plan, they could agree to an emergency second summit next week. Organised EU summits is difficult - it requires 28 national leaders to turn up - but the EU is eager for Britain to leave with a deal. It means if Mrs May can get her deal through, leaders might reconvene to green light a short delay at the 11th hour. If she gets a Commons vote on an alternative plan, such as a referendum, she could ask them to meet again for a longer delay. Will there be a third meaningful vote and if so when? It is unclear. Mrs May has told the EU she wants a third vote 'as soon as possible' if they agree to give her a delay. If the delay is agreed tomorrow, Mrs May could put back the date of Brexit before having the third vote on her deal. In practice, that appears to make the deadline around April 11 - the last point at which the Government can order EU Parliament elections. If a delay is made subject to approval of the deal, Mrs May will have to try again next week - probably on Tuesday night at the latest. What happens if the deal is defeated again? This also unlocks a number of possible consequences. First, given the proximity of exit day a third defeat next week would dramatically raise the risk of a No Deal Brexit on Friday. This could easily trigger a vote of no confidence in the Government - forcing pro-EU Tories to choose between voting with Jeremy Corbyn or accepting No Deal. Second, Mrs May has said if MPs continue rejecting the deal they will have to choose an alternative path. The Government would probably hold an indicative vote on the various options and hope for a longer delay at the last minute. Third, Mrs May could simply resign and hand the mess over to someone else in acknowledgement her flagship policy has fallen to historic failure. Fourth, if she already has a delay agreed by Brussels she could keep pressing on in the hope something comes up. Will MPs vote on other options? Probably. Because of the second defeat for the deal, procedure dictates there must be a debate on the next steps for Brexit, with the possibility of amending a Government motion. This could be used as a proxy for an indicative vote or could be used by MPs to seize the timetable and Commons procedure. They would use it to pit all the possible ideas against each other. It appears likely the initial amendable motion will be debated and voted on Monday night. Brussels leaders including Jean-Claude Junker and Donald Tusk (pictured today in Brussels) is already pushing back on the idea - meaning in 24 hours things could be even less certain than Will May resign? She appeared to hint she would today in preference to delaying Brexit beyond June 30. Downing Street refused to deny this was the clear implication of her remarks. What happens to Brexit if May goes or the Government collapses? It is hard to know. Without changing the law, No Deal happens next Friday. But we also know there is a majority of MPs against a No Deal Brexit. It is possible there are enough Tory MPs prepared to remove the Government to stop No Deal by installing a Corbyn government ahead of a snap election. Only the Government can bring forward the necessary change in the law to change the Brexit date. What is Labour's position? Labour says no deal must be stopped - but also says it will not vote for Mrs May's deal. It wants a three month delay to renegotiate the political declaration on the final UK-EU relationship but this would require it form a Government more or less immediately. Were it to do so, it would try pass the divorce deal attached to a new political declaration that said the final relationship would be based on a permanent customs union. Will there have to be a new election or a referendum? This falls into the anything is possible category. Parliament is deadlocked and has been for months - which suggests an election is necessary. And yet the governing Tory party clearly has little idea what it would put to the country or who would lead it into an election. An election can be forced without the consent of the Tories but it is very difficult. Similarly, it is far from clear there are the votes for a referendum in the Commons. The idea was crushed last week because Labour did not vote for it. Will Brexit ever happen? Almost three years after the referendum, this depends entirely on your view of events. The law says it will but there are enough MPs to at least change the date if given the chance to do so. Is that a bathing SUIT, Boris? Ex-Foreign Secretary is pictured on a sunshine break in Italy with his new partner - before heading back to Downing Street to rebuff May 's Brexit peace offer Boris Johnson appeared slightly overdressed when strolling along an Italian beach with his ex-Tory aide girlfriend Carrie Symonds on Saturday - before being called back to the UK to meet Theresa May. The former foreign secretary was yesterday called to Downing Street by the Prime Minister for last-ditch talks urging him to get behind her plan. In a face-to-face meeting of around 40 minutes, Mrs May cautioned that failure to back her deal would result in a delayed departure from the EU. Yet Mr Johnson, who had been enjoying a walk along the Fornillo beach, in Positano, this weekend, told the Prime Minister that he will still not vote for her deal despite her warning. Boris Johnson appeared slightly overdressed when strolling along an Italian beach with his ex-Tory aide girlfriend Carrie Symonds on Saturday Mr Johnson, who had been enjoying a walk along the Fornillo beach, in Positano, this weekend, was called back to Downing Street to meet Theresa May Mr May also expressed concerns that MPs could seize control of the process, meaning Brexit could be watered down or might not happen at all. But Mr Johnson told her he would not back down unless she successfully renegotiated the Irish backstop. 'His position remains the same,' said a friend. 'Unless there is some sort of movement on the backstop, he will not vote for the deal.' In the meeting, Mrs May (pictured right arriving at church in Sonning, Berkshire, on Sunday) warned that if Mr Johnson did not back her deal it would result in a delayed departure from the EU The source declined to comment on whether the pair discussed in their meeting the suggestion of some Brexiteers that Mrs May should set out a timetable for her own departure in return for Tory MPs passing her deal. Critics of Mr Johnson have accused him of posturing ahead of a future Tory leadership contest. But his supporters argue he has been consistent in his opposition to Mrs May's plan. In a newspaper column earlier this week, Mr Johnson argued it was not possible for 'anybody who believes in Brexit' to vote for the withdrawal agreement. He told how he had sought advice from his local constituency association on whether to 'stick to my guns or fold'. Mr Johnson (pictured leaving the Cabinet Office today) was hauled in for the 40-minute meeting with Mrs May today He wrote: 'I could continue to oppose a deal that I believe is detrimental to the interests of this country, in the sense that we risk becoming a kind of economic colony of Brussels. 'Or else I could compromise, and vote it through, on the grounds that there was now a real risk that Brexit would not happen at all and in the hope that the many defects in the deal could be fixed later. 'My constituents were strongly of the view that I should not compromise. They assured me that they would support whatever decision I took but they believed I should continue to vote against the deal.' Mr Johnson argued that Mrs May's agreement would leave the UK 'in a position of almost unbearable weakness' for subsequent talks on trade. 'Unless we have some change and at present, in the immortal phrase, nothing has changed it is hard to ask anyone who believes in Brexit to change their mind,' he said. 'There is an EU summit this week. It is not too late to get real change to the backstop. It would be absurd to hold the vote before that has even been attempted.' Since quitting as foreign secretary last July, Mr Johnson has repeatedly used newspaper columns to attack Mrs May's Brexit strategy. In his most controversial intervention, he claimed in September that her plans had strapped a 'suicide vest' around the UK constitution and handed the detonator to Brussels. Mrs May needs 75 MPs who voted against her Brexit deal last week, when she lost by a majority of 149, to switch sides if it is to pass. She is hoping to win over the DUP's ten MPs. Violent pornography seized from the accused Claremont serial killer's home will not be used as evidence in his murder trial. Bradley Robert Edwards, 50, appeared in the West Australian Supreme Court, via video link from Casuarina prison, for a monthly criminal case management hearing on Wednesday. Edwards has been charged with murdering Ciara Glennon, 27, Jane Rimmer, 23, and 18-year-old Sarah Spiers, who were all last seen in Claremont, a western suburb of Perth, between 1996 and 1997. Bradley Robert Edwards, 50, has been charged with murdering three women who were all last seen in Perth between 1996 and 1997 Bradley Robert Edwards, 50, appeared in the West Australian Supreme Court (pictured), via video link from Casuarina prison, for a monthly criminal case management hearing on Wednesday He is also accused of attacking an 18-year-old woman at her Huntingdale home in 1988 and twice raping a 17-year-old girl at Karrakatta cemetery in 1995. Justice Stephen Hall said graphic pornography found on Edwards' devices were irrelevant to the trial scheduled for July 22. The pornography included thousands of BDSM images, a film called Forced Entry depicting the rape and torture of young women, and violent erotic stories detailing the abduction of women. This means the work of fiction called 'Chloe's story' which has been described as similar to the Karrakatta attack has been deemed inadmissible. 'The Chloe story does include a number of features that are common to the offences, in particular the Karrakatta offences. However, the story is different in many other important respects,' Justice Hall said. 'It contains no striking, unique or telling details that only the perpetrator would know. Edwards has been charged with murdering Ciara Glennon (right), 27, and 18-year-old Sarah Spiers (left) He is also charged with murdering 23-year-old Jane Rimmer (pictured) 'If, as alleged, it is autobiographical, it is curious that it has so many details that are unlike the Karrakatta offences.' Justice Hall handed down his judgment following a pre-trial hearing last month where defence counsel Paul Yovich applied to run a separate trial for the Huntingdale offences. Justice Hall said all charges should be heard in one trial but Mr Yovich has seven days to appeal the decision. Edwards' conviction for attacking a woman at Hollywood Hospital in 1990 and evidence regarding the alleged Huntingdale attack and alleged cemetery rape were deemed relevant to the entire case. Edwards, a former Telstra technician, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. The court heard 580 witnesses may give evidence during the nine-month trial sitting without a jury. Thrill-seeking teenagers are putting their lives in danger by clinging onto the back of trains and riding them across Sydney Harbour Bridge, it has been revealed. The potentially fatal fad, known as 'train surfing', has plagued the Sydney train network in recent years. Now alarming footage of the craze has emerged, in which a young teen is seen crouching down on the rear end of a train about to depart from Wynyard station, in central Sydney, at 11.33am on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Footage has emerged of a youth (pictured) crouching down on the back of the end carriage of a train about to depart from Wynyard station The image shows the youth clinging onto the back of the train as it pulls out of the station The male teenager can be seen holding onto the back door handle as the train pulls out of the station and heads towards Sydney Harbour Bridge. The unidentified youth's two friends are seen riding safely inside the carriage, but appear to hide their faces when they realise they're being filmed. One witness, who initially thought the youths were vandalising the train estimated the group of boys were around 14 or 15 years old. When he realised what the teenagers were really up too, he said he thought it was 'even worse'. 'I thought that was even worse, even more dangerous, suicidal in fact, there's definitely better ways to get your kicks,' the eyewitness told 9News. Howard Collins a spokesperson for Sydney Trains described the bahviour as 'idiotic'. 'This is stupid, idiotic behaviour, customers if you see something please please report it immediately and we can do something about it,' Mr Collins said. Since July 2018, 46 people have been arrested for 'train surfing' offences. (Image shows two young men 'train surfing)' Since July 2018, 46 people have been arrested for 'train surfing' offences, which is down from previous years. It's thought that a new fleet of more modern trains, which are designed to prevent a person from hanging off the back, has helped reduce the reckless behaviour. A person can be slapped with a fine of up to $5,000 if caught 'surfing trains'. A NSW police spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that Police Transport Command are investigating the 'train surfing' incident at Wynyard station. A person can be slapped with a fine of up to $5,000 if caught 'surfing trains' (Image shows another 'train surfer') 'Train-surfing' or trespassing around train tracks or in rail corridors is dangerous and reckless,' the spokesperson said. 'Any individual undertaking this activity put their lives at serious risk and can potentially risk the safety of other commuters, they concluded. A Sydney Trains spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia 'train surfing' is 'extremely dangerous'. 'Buffer riding in the rail corridor is not only illegal but it is also extremely dangerous and stupid behaviour,' the spokesperson said. 'People are gambling their lives for a silly thrill. It's not worth it. 'It only takes a train accelerating quickly or braking suddenly to shake someone buffer riding onto the tracks and risk serious injury or being killed,' they added. 'We have more than 11,000 CCTV cameras and work closely with the Police Transport Command to target and deter reckless behaviour. 'CCTV footage is provided to help identify any risk takers. 'We encourage customers and other members of the public to report any buffer riding to Police and Sydney Trains staff immediately, and help us to stamp our this reckless behaviour,' the spokesperson concluded. Scottish investigators want to speak to nearly 20 former East German secret police officers over alleged links to the Lockerbie bombing, it has been claimed. Seven retired Stasi agents, now in their 70s and 80s, have reportedly been interrogated already, more than 30 years after the crash which killed 270. Detectives are said to believe that the Stasi could have helped to supply the timer on the bomb, which brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town in 1988. The secret police could also have provided 'logistical support' for the attack, German newspaper Bild reported. A police officer walks by the nose of Pan Am flight 103 in a field near the town of Lockerbie in 1988. Scottish detectives are said to be investigating possible links to the East German Stasi Scottish detectives have reportedly sent dozens of requests to authorities in former East Germany to speak to retired agents. Seven who live near Frankfurt/Oder are said to have been handed over and questioned already, with investigators from Edinburgh present. Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of murdering the 270 crash victims in 2001. It has long been suggested that then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ordered the bombing, although he denied it. However Libya could have had help from East Berlin, where the Stasi are known to have supported terror groups. At the Lockerbie trial in 2000 the court heard that the Swiss businessman whose company supplied the timer had links to the Stasi. The Stasi's former headquarters are seen in East Berlin. Scottish detectives have reportedly sent dozens of requests to authorities in former East Germany to speak to retired agents The Stasi are known to have given assistance to members of the Red Army Faction, a far-left terrorist network active in West Germany in the 1970s. Former left-wing terrorists were given shelter in East Germany and given new identities, according to the government of reunified Germany. Stasi agents were also linked to a 1986 disco bombing in West Berlin, which was also connected to Libya. The Stasi - short for Ministry of State Security - kept watch over the population of socialist East Germany until its collapse in 1990. They spied on the population with the help of up to 189,000 'unofficial collaborators' one for every 90 people who reported back on their friends, neighbours and even relatives. They also ran a political prison in a Berlin suburb, where enemies of the state were kept without trial and subjected to psychological torture. Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (left) was found guilty of murdering the 270 crash victims in 2001. Pictured right: the crater left by the crash in 1988 Many of the Stasi's crimes have only been revealed since the fall of the Wall, along with tales of betrayal by parents, children, husbands and wives. Agents tried to destroy the Stasi archives as Communism collapsed in 1989 but many of them remain intact. The Lockerbie flight was on its way from London to New York when it exploded, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. The explosive which detonated was stored in a suitcase in the plane hold. Many believe the Lockerbie atrocity was committed in revenge for the downing of an Iran Air passenger flight by a US missile cruiser earlier in 1988. Megrahi was released from prison on 'compassionate grounds' in 2009 and died in Tripoli in 2012. However Megrahi's family are still pursuing a possible appeal against his conviction. A former private school boy facing accusations that he molested eight young girls hid his face as he was released on bail on Wednesday. Swimming instructor Kyle James Henk Daniels, 20, facing 31 child sex charges for offences committed between June 2018 and March 2019 on girls aged between six and 10 years old. Daniels was granted bail during a court hearing in Manly Local Court on Wednesday where he appeared briefly via video link. The alleged child molester was greeted by his parents and twin brother at Amber Laurel Correctional Centre at Emu Plains, in western Sydney, after he was released from custody. A former private school boy and swimming teacher has hidden his face as he is released on bail after being accused of molesting eight young girls Kyle James Henk Daniels was granted bail during a court hearing in Manly Local Court on Wednesday where he appeared briefly via video link Daniels' parents were seen comforting each other while they waited for their son's release The 20-year-old wore a blue t-shirt and used a green jumper to cover his face as he left the prison gates and hopped into a vehicle. The accused was carrying plastic zip-lock bags likely holding a number of personal items. His twin brother, who wore a floral shirt and beige cap, placed his arm around his mother while waiting for Daniels' release. Daniels spent over a week in custody after he was arrested at his Balgowlah home, Sydney's northern beaches, on Tuesday March 12. Wednesday's release came after the swimming teacher was seen blowing kisses and smiling at his mother in court. Daniels allegedly assaulted the girls while he was teaching them at Mosman Swim centre, between June 2018 and February this year. The alleged child molester was greeted by his parents and twin brother at Amber Laurel Correctional Centre, in western Sydney on Wednesday The 20-year-old wore a blue t-shirt and used a green jumper to cover his face as he left the prison gates and hopped into a vehicle Daniel's release came as internal correspondence from the swim school to staff emerged Daniels' release comes as a disturbing internal memo the swim centre released to staff last year emerged. The note, sent out on August 14 2018, warned staff against 'unorthodox hands-on' methods which had been observed, news.com.au reported. The document, which outlines three key rules for swimming teachers, has been submitted to the court. 'As instructors, it is extremely important that we are aware and using the correct technique to hold and interact with children,' the memo said. '1. DO NOT hold children close to the groin and/or chest area.' The memo warns that swim teachers should always have their hands above the water and should not position themselves behind children. '2. CUDDLING. While it is acknowledged that crying children sometimes need a cuddle, unnecessary cuddling can be concerning to some parents. Use your discretion. The third rule said teachers should not be overly playful or unnecessarily hands-on as they are there to instruct. Daniels was arrested at his parents' home in Balgowlah, on Sydney's northern beaches, last week by detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad. The alarm was first raised about Daniels' alleged offending last winter, the court heard. An eight-year-old child complained to the swimming centre that she was inappropriately touched during a lesson. The family was followed to their home in Sydney's northern beaches after bail was granted Daniels (right) sat in the back of his family car next to his twin (left) on Wednesday evening The child was removed from the class and Daniels was 'spoken to about the complaint' by senior staff. The magistrate described the incident as an 'allegation of inappropriate behaviour towards a young child of a sexual nature. The court was told that the complainant said Daniels touched her 'close to (her) groin and chest area'. Daniels told staff any touching was accidental, the court heard. Kyle Daniels (pictured) is accused of sexually assaulting eight young girls, aged between six and 10, during their swimming lessons at Mosman Swim Centre Daniels' parents (pictured) were in court to support him on Wednesday as he was hit with 28 extra charges Former private schoolboy Kyle Daniels (pictured with his father) , 20, allegedly assaulted the girls while he was teaching them at Mosman Swim Centre in Sydney Daniels' lawyer Todd Alexis, SC, said it was 'very improbable that a young man like Daniels would deliberately touch a young girl in a public swimming pool'. He said the girl's mother, lifeguards and other staff were there in the pool at the time. 'It is glaringly improbable that these offences occurred,' he said. Magistrate Daniel Reiss replied that all sex offences were improbable. 'A cardinal is now in jail which is highly improbable,' Mr Reiss said. Daniels' mother and father shook their heads in disbelief at the connection to the George Pell case. 'The nature of these matters are improbable and surprising and happen regarding people of good character,' Mr Reiss said. Daniels (right) pictured at a Knox Grammar School function with his parents Daniels' lawyer said his client strongly denies the allegations and claims any touching was accidental. He said several of Daniels' friends speak of his good character. Mr Alexis said Daniels should be granted bail so he could continue his education at Sydney University. 'It would be devastating if he were denied the opportunity to continue his education,' he said. Prosecutor Matthew Karpin said bail should not be granted because the case against Daniels was strong and he 'may re-offend'. He said the alleged offences were against 'vulnerable young people' when Daniels was in a position of authority. 'This was a serious abuse of trust and authority,' he said. The court heard Daniels had been struggling in prison since his arrest, after a guard 'told other prisoners about his charges. The new charges include eight counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, six counts of intentionally sexually touch child under 10 years, and 14 counts of indecent assault person under 16 years of age. Daniels appeared briefly via video link wearing a black T-shirt. He was not asked to speak (court sketch pictured) They come after Daniels - who went to $33,000-per-year Knox Grammar, one of Sydney's most prestigious schools - was last week accused of sexually touching a girl on February 2 between 2pm and 4pm. Then on February 14, Daniels allegedly had sexual intercourse with another girl between 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Daniels' parents and twin brother were in court for the hearing. His mother could be seen blowing a kiss to Daniels, who smiled and blew a kiss in return. Daniels appeared briefly via video link wearing a black T-shirt. He was not asked to speak. A letter from Mosman Ezyswim said Daniels had been suspended when the girls' parents first reported the allegations in February, and that all employees had current working with children checks. 'We are extremely distressed by this situation and will keep customers up to date when more information comes to hand,' the letter said. Detectives from the NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad arrive at Manly Local Court on Wednesday At the time of his arrest, head of the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes squad Detective Superindendent John Kerlatec commended the alleged victims for coming forward. 'These young brave kids put their hands up to Mum and Dad and said, 'Something happened,' Detective Superintendent Kerlatec said. 'That is exceptionally brave.' The magistrate granted bail on the condition Daniels not leave home without his parents' supervision between 6pm and 6am. 'I don't want him running around after dark,' Mr Reiss said. He was also required to post a surety of $100,000. Daniels will face court again next month. John Pierre Dupont has been charged with setting up false websites puproting to support Democrats including Beto O'Rouke (pictured) to scam donors out of money A California fraudster has been charged with conning political donors out of more than $250,000 through falsified groups and websites for well-known Democrat politicians, including 2020 presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Beto O'Rourke. John Pierre Dupont, 80, allegedly set up at least three sham political action committees (PACs) and around 15 websites that claimed to be raising money for Democratic candidates and causes, prosecutors said Tuesday. The websites purported to support congressional and senate campaigns generally, as well as approximately 10 individual Senate candidates including Beto O'Rouke in Texas. Other targets included former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum's 2018 bid for Florida governor and Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders was the star attraction during the alleged scam, drawing in more than half ($140,000) of the illicit funds. Another website claimed to be raising money for children affected by President Trump's immigration policy, who may have been separated from their parents. Bernie Sanders (pictured) was the star attraction in Dupont's alleged scheme, as donations to his 2016 presidential campaign accounted for $140,000 of the total $250,000 The sham site said: 'The Trump administrations policy of separating migrant children from their parents, that is for all intents and purposes this child abuse, is targeted to discourage asylums seekers from crossing the border. 'This inhumane policy has alarmed child psychologists and experts who study human development. 'Our volunteer attorneys, doctors, nurses and social workers are working day and night to liberate these children. Help them help the children by your donations to subside these volunteers costs.' In a press release, prosecutors said that in fact, the so-called 'Foundation for Sanity in Politics' PAC had no volunteers and therefore 'dedicated no funds to paying for doctors, social workers, or any other professionals, advocacy, or political operations'. One website claimed to be raising money to elect Texas politician Beto O'Rourke to the Senate Dupont reportedly instead used the funds to pay his rent and a parking fine, and also splashed out on a $25,300 Mercedes-Benz sedan. In the press release, prosecutors alleged that his nationwide scam ran from 2015 until his arrest yesterday. In that time he hoodwinked more than 1,000 donors, according to a criminal complaint on the Department of Justice website. Another sham website was set up purporting to fund former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum's bid to become Florida's Governor in 2018 U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: 'Thousands of donors believed their hard-earned money was being used to support the causes described in solicitations, but in reality, the scam PACs had no operations beyond the fundraising itself, and no funds were used to support candidates. Dupont is charged with one count of wire fraud as well as aggravated identity theft, which carry maximum sentences of 20 years and two years in prison, respectively. If you think you are a victim of the scheme, please contact Wendy Olsen, Victim & Witness Services for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, at 866-874-8900. A British GP who fled to Cape Verde after allegedly stealing 400,000 in NHS cash shot dead his Hungarian lover before killing himself with the same gun, an inquest has heard. Dr Titus Bradley, 42, and Noemi Gergely, 28, left Britain for the islands off the northwest coast of Africa in April 2017 as Sussex police launched an investigation into claims he embezzled money from GP practices he ran in Hastings, East Sussex. Their bodies were discovered by police at the Divin Art guest house on the island of Santo Antao on April 15 the following year after guests heard them arguing in their apartment, an inquest in Bournemouth heard. Officers found a note in the GP's passport which contained the quote 'time to die' from the sci-fi movie Bladerunner. In the weeks before the murder-suicide, he confided in his mother that he had money troubles and had regretted leaving his first wife and two children years before. Titus Bradley (pictured), 42, and his lover Noemi Gergely, 28, allegedly left Britain for the Cape Verde in 2017 The bodies of Titus Bradley, 42, and Noemi Gergely, 28, were discovered by police at the Divin Art guest house on the island of Santo Antao On the night of April 15 last year Dr Bradley and Miss Gergely, 27, were heard arguing at a guesthouse they were staying in on the island of Santa Antao. Miss Gergely came out and told a receptionist that Dr Bradley had struck her but then returned to their room. Staff then heard strange sounds from the room and when they went to check they found the bodies of the couple in the bathroom along with a 6.35mm pistol. The police investigation concluded Dr Bradley shot Hungarian Miss Gergeley in the head before turning the handgun on himself. Officers found a note in his passport which contained the quote from the sci-fi movie Bladerunner. Richard Middleton, the assistant coroner for Bournemouth, said: 'It is dated March 1 and starts with the phrase Time to die. 'It makes reference to him having an automatic gun, apologises for mistakes he has made and makes reference to him knowing some day he would be caught.' Dr Bradley used to live in Portesham, Dorset, worked as a GP in Weymouth and was a keen spear fisherman. He was divorced when he died and had children with his ex-wife, the inquest heard. Helder Bentub, manager of the guesthouse, previously described hearing the couple having a row. After the couple were found slumped on the bathroom floor, police were called. 'The day of the shooting was no different from any others. They went out after breakfast to go walking and exploring and came back around 5pm. 'The only difference that day was that there was a terrible argument. 'They were in their room but we could hear shouting and the banging of doors and windows. His mother, Gail Seery, said in a written statement read out to the inquest her son had been running a game fishing trip business in Cape Verde and lived with Miss Gergeley on a yacht on the island of Sao Vicente. She said that her son was a 'high achiever,' but overworked himself to the point that he battled with depression and suicidal thoughts. She also said he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had mentioned suicide in the month leading up his death. She said: 'Shortly before he died he was in touch a great deal, he and Noemi were no longer a couple and he was strangely furious with her. 'He messaged me a lot about suicide...in other shorter messages he said he'd had a great life and had done wonderful things but kept thinking about what he'd lost. 'Money was a problem for him but Noemi seemed to be well off. He asked me for help. She said that on the day the couple died her son had emailed her to say he was 'feeling better about life'. 'I know he was angry at Noemi but I never thought he would be capable of shooting her. My son was mentally ill and it led to the end of his life, or so I believe.' The British GP's marriage broke down in 2012 as rumours circulated that he had cheated on 45-year-old Lucy with a colleague. Dr Bradley met Hungarian Noemi when she was working in public relations for a club in London. Crime scene: The supposed murder-suicide took place at the Divin Art guest house in Santo Antao in Cape Verde Dr Titus Bradley and Noemi Gergely allegedly left Britain for the islands off the northwest coast of Africa in 2017 as Sussex police launched an investigation into claims he embezzled money The MailOnline previously reported that the couple checked in after the money went missing from taxpayer-funded centres and died just two days after they checked into the guest house on April 15 2018. Sussex police confirmed they launched an investigation into the missing money in May last year. The inquest heard police found messages written in Dr Bradley's passport which referred to suicide and him having a gun. Mr Middleton said the messages suggested he knew 'someday he would be caught' and apologised for his 'mistakes.' Mr Middleton said that Dr Bradley died by suicide and offered condolences to his family. The govts decision may pave the way for the controversial case against Vanzara and Amin to be dropped. Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has declined sanction to prosecute retired police officers D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin in the alleged fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, the Central Bureau of Investigation told a special CBI court on Tuesday. The governments decision may pave the way for the controversial case against Mr Vanzara and Mr Amin to be dropped. After going through a letter submitted to the court by CBI lawyer R.C. Kodekar, judge J.K. Pandya said the sanction to prosecute the two former officers, who were accused in the case, under Section 197 of the CrPC, was declined by the state government. The defence lawyers then sought permission to file an application to drop the proceedings against Mr Vanzara and Mr Amin. The court granted the request and asked them to file an application on March 26. It will now be up to the CBI to decide whether to proceed with the case against the two without the government sanction. As per CrPC Section 197, prior sanction is required from a competent authority to prosecute a public servant. The court had earlier rejected the discharge pleas of Mr Vanzara, former deputy inspector general of police in Gujarat, and Mr Amin, who retired as superintendent of police, and asked the CBI to clear its stand on whether it wants to get sanction from the state government to prosecute them. Accordingly, the CBI wrote to the state government requesting the same. Mr Vanzara and Mr Amin are two of the seven accused chargesheeted by the CBI in the case. Mr Vanzara had sought discharge in the case on the ground of parity with the states former in-cha-rge director general of police P.P. Pandey, who was discharged in the case in February last year for want of evidence. Mr Amins application seeking discharge was based on the ground that the encounter was genuine and that testimonies of witnesses produced by the CBI were not reliable. Homophobic fliers targeting lesbian mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot have been posted in Chicago's South Side. The double-sided leaflets, distributed at black churches in the city, claim the first openly-gay mayor candidate will, if elected, assign jobs exclusively to gay people. One side of the flyers features a photo of the candidate with her wife Amy Eshleman with a message that reads: 'The Gay Equality Act! It's our turn. 1st openly gay woman in City Hall.' The other side reads: 'All contracts, jobs and employment newly assigned exclusively to gay people!' Chicago mayoral candidate Lori Lightfood, pictured, speaks at the University of Chicago The front of the flyers, pictured, that were posted, reads: 'The Gay Equality Act! It's our turn' The other side claims that, if elected, Lightfoot will enforce the Gay Equality Act, which in fact does not exist The homophobic leaflets also claim that Mrs Lightfoot promises to enforce the Gay Equality Act, which in fact does not exist. They include claims such as 'All churches will abide by the gay marriage laws' and 'All Public Schools will teach Gay History by mandate'. The flyers have been left on cars outside the Apostolic Faith Church in Bronzeville, Chicago. Democrat candidate Toni Preckwinkle, Lightfoot's opponent in the mayoral race, said in Chicago there is no space for 'intolerance of our LGBTQ community' Bishop Larry Trotter condemned the flyers, saying they were 'not reflective of any black church in Chicago' While no Gay Equality Act has been introduced, Democrats in Congress recently reintroduced the Equality Act, aiming to ban LGBTQ discrimination. Democrat Toni Preckwinkle, Lightfoot's opponent in the mayoral race, denounced the flyers, saying: 'There is no place in Chicago, or any society, for intolerance of our LGBTQ community.' Bishop Larry Trotter, the pastor of Chicago's Sweet Holy Spirit Church who lobbied against same-sex marriage in 2013, said the flyers were 'not reflective of any black church in Chicago'. He added he supports Lightfoot, adding she is 'running for mayor, not for bishop'. Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, now CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, condemned the flyers, addressing them as 'politics of hate and fear'. 'The attack flyers are infused with mischaracterizations of the LGBTQ community and the laws that protect them,' Parker said. Anthony Guglielmi of Chicago Police Department said they will monitor the situation. The gun superstore that sold weapons to the right-wing terrorist accused of shooting 50 people dead in the mosque attack in New Zealand, has sold out of the semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges. While the owner of Gun City in Auckland has admitted the company sold Tarrant four of the firearms used in the attack, they say he did not obtain a AR-15-style semi-automatic assault rifle from them. Gun City store owner David Tipple speaks to the media during a press conference at the Piano Event Centre in Christchurch, during which he said he feels no responsibility for the attack Gun City, one of New Zealand's biggest firearm retailers, say they have run out of AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she is preparing to announce new gun laws within days, prompted by the horrific terror attack. 'Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,' Ardern told a news conference after her cabinet reached in principle decisions on gun reform laws in the wake of New Zealand's worst ever mass shooting. In addition to the 50 killed, dozens were wounded at two mosques in the South Island city during Friday prayers. Gun City, one of New Zealand's biggest firearm retailers, told The Times they have run out of AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch last week. David Tipple, the managing director of Gun City, said earlier this week that he felt no responsibility for the deaths of 50 worshippers who were gunned down on Friday. 'We detected nothing extraordinary about this licence holder,' Tipple told a press conference in Christchurch. The shop said they had not sold Brenton Tarrant an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle (stock image) Firearms and accessories are displayed at Gun City gunshop in Christchurch, New Zealand Gun City managing director David Tipple said Brenton Tarrant placed 'three or four' online orders for guns from November 2017 up until the most recent order in March 2018. Pictured: A controversial Gun City billboard David Tipple, managing director of Gun City (pictured) - one of New Zealand's biggest firearm retailers - revealed the 28-year-old Australian had purchased four weapons and ammunition from the store Tipple said the alleged gunman bought four weapons and ammunition between December 2017 and March 2018. 'The MSSA, military-style automatic, reportedly used by the alleged gunman was not purchased from Gun City. Gun City did not sell him an MSSA, only A-category firearms,' he said. Tipple refused to answer direct questions about the use of firearms sold from his shop, indicating this was not the time for a debate about guns. Asked if he held any sense of responsibility, Tipple said: 'No, I do not.' He added he would continue to sell weapons to anyone with the same credentials as the gunman. It was the responsibility of the police to vet firearms licence applications, he said. Latest available statistics show police approved 99.6 percent of nearly 45,000 applications in 2017 when Tarrant received his licence. Mr Tipple (pictured) disputed reports that people have been 'panic buying' assault rifles Tipple said the military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) the gunman was seen using did not come from his store. 'We didn't sell him a rifle used in the incident. I watched the video, I saw the rifle, and I know for sure where it came from -- if it has the serial number that I expect -- and it was not from any Gun City affiliated store,' he said. Tarrant obtained his standard 'A-category' firearms licence in November 2017 and bought four weapons over four months using an online service, Tipple said, adding Gun City had records of the purchases and had provided full details to the police. Amid a public outcry across New Zealand, including the banning of semi-automatic weapons, Tipple said he would not be proactive and withdraw AR15s from sale but would do so if required by law. Tipple rejected reports of 'panic buying' of weapons after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said gun laws would be tightened in the wake of the massacre. 'It's a lie. There's been a number of people wanting to sell their semi-automatic firearms as a result of the incident.' Advertisement Theresa May has confirmed this evening she is asking the EU for a Brexit extension until June 30 and implored MPs to back her deal before voters lose faith in Parliament. In an abrupt statement inside No.10 Theresa May said it was a matter of 'great personal regret' the country would not be leaving the EU on time with a deal on March 29. The Prime Minister also attacked MPs for failing to make headway with Brexit and said it was 'high time' politicians made a decision. Today's summit in Brussels now looks certain to set the stage for an historic and pivotal week in British politics as the Brexit endgame goes right down to the wire. If no delay or deal is agreed with the EU before Friday, the law says Britain will leave without a deal - despite years of dire warnings about its impact on Britain. If May's deal fails, the EU has not ruled out offering a longer delay but this would likely come with preconditions such as a second referendum. Alternatively they could choose to let the UK crash out of the bloc. In a direct appeal to the nation and a clear warning shot to squabbling politicians, Mrs May said: 'Of this, I am absolutely sure. You the public have had enough. 'You are tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. 'You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide.' Mrs May again ruled out a second referendum and argued she would not seek a lengthier extension to the Brexit exit as the country would then have to fight European elections, something she said would be 'bitter' and 'divisive' for the country. Prime Minister Theresa May making a statement about Brexit in Downing Street this evening. She confirmed Britain will not be leaving the EU on March 29 and Mrs May will seek an extension on the the UK's Brexit withdrawal until June 30 Donald Tusk made a short speech in Brussels today after speaking to Theresa May by telephone and following talks with EU leaders over the past week Theresa May (pictured tonight leaving Downing Street) has today admitted she has asked the EU to delay Brexit - having said 108 times Britain would leave on March 29 A smiling Michael Gove leads a charge of Brexiteer cabinet ministers leaving Downing Street including Chris Grayling, Liam Fox, Penny Mordaunt, Andrea Leadsom and Liz Truss (left to right) today after being summoned by Theresa May In the Commons at PMQs today (pictured) Theresa May condemned MPs for 'navel gazing' over Europe and said their refusal to pass the deal was to blame for delay Mrs May came under fire from both sides of the Commons as she scrambled to shore up both her own political future and Britain's exit from the EU She added: 'So far, Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. 'Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without Parliament ever deciding what it wants. 'All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want. 'I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I've negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable. 'And I will continue to work night and day to secure the support of my colleagues, the DUP and others for this deal. 'But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June.' The Prime Minister's speech in full The Prime Minister blamed for MPs for the country's Brexit chaos this evening The Prime Minister addressed the nation from Downing Street on Wednesday night. Here is what she said: 'Nearly three years have passed since the public voted to leave the European Union. 'It was the biggest democratic exercise in our country's history. 'I came to office on a promise to deliver on that verdict. 'In March 2017 I triggered the Article 50 process for the UK to exit the EU and Parliament supported it overwhelmingly. 'Two years on, MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK's withdrawal. 'As a result, we will now not leave on time with a deal on the 29th of March. 'This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me. 'And of this I am absolutely sure: You, the public, have had enough. 'You're tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. 'You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. 'It is now time for MPs to decide. 'So, today, I have written to Donald Tusk the President of the European Council to request a short extension of Article 50 up to the 30th of June to give MPs the time to make a final choice. 'Do they want to leave the EU with a deal which delivers on the result of the referendum, that takes control of our money borders and laws while protecting jobs and our national security? 'Do they want to leave without a deal, or do they not want to leave at all causing potentially irreparable damage to public trust not just in this generation of politicians but to our entire democratic process? 'It is high time we made a decision. 'So far, Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. 'Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without Parliament ever deciding what it wants. 'All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want. 'I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I've negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable. 'And I will continue to work night and day to secure the support of my colleagues, the DUP and others for this deal. 'But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June. 'Some argue that I'm making the wrong choice and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward. 'That would mean asking you to vote in European elections nearly three years after our country decided to leave. 'What kind of message would that send? And just how bitter and divisive would that election campaign be at a time when the country desperately needs bringing back together. 'Some have suggested holding a second referendum. 'I don't believe that's what you want and it is not what I want. 'We asked you the question already and you've given us your answer. 'Now you want us to get on with it. 'And that is what I am determined to do.' Advertisement Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn pulled out of talks with other opposition party leaders and the Prime Minister earlier this evening after members of the breakaway Independent Group turned up to the meeting. Chuka Umunna, the Independent Group spokesman, said it was 'extraordinary behaviour in a national crisis' by the Labour leader. Government sources last night indicated Mrs May would make a third and probably final attempt to persuade MPs to approve her deal next week, possibly as soon as Monday. Ministers still hope they can win the backing of the DUP and persuade more moderate Eurosceptics to back the deal. But they have all but abandoned hope of persuading the two dozen Brexit hardliners holding out for No Deal. Instead they are focusing on Labour MPs, particularly those in Leave-supporting areas, who they believe might reluctantly back Mrs Mays plan rather than allow the UK to crash out next week. Last night some MPs suggested her comments could backfire, with one warning they could spark attacks on MPs. Speaking in Brussels today Mr Tusk said: 'In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. 'But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. 'The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension.' Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers were pictured leaving Downing Street in a seemingly jovial mood before Tusk's announcement amid claims some had threatened to resign last night if Mrs May had pushed for a delay of nine-months. Their rebellion yesterday forced the PM to shelve plans to ask for a longer delay, while the Commons is seemingly still deadlocked with no majority for a deal. Mr Tusk added: 'If the leaders approve my recommendations and there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week, we can finalise and formalise the decision on extension in the written procedure. 'However, if there is such a need, I will not hesitate to invite the members of the European Council for a meeting to Brussels next week.' In a major headache for May Speaker John Bercow said on Monday she could not put the same meaningful vote to MPs again after they rejected it twice, limiting her room for maneuver as she tries to break the constitutional deadlock. Eurosceptics including Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt all left Downing Street together amid claims some had threatened to resign last night if Mrs May had pushed for a delay of nine-months. The PM has also invited the leaders of the opposition parties including Jeremy Corbyn to discuss her Brexit delay at a 6pm meeting in Downing Street before heading back to Parliament to address her backbenchers and urge them to vote for her divorce. But Remainers were less upbeat, with Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve QC warning the Government's credibility 'is running out'. He said: 'When ... the Prime Minister came to the despatch box today at PMQs, I confess I think it was the worst moment I have experienced since I came into the House of Commons. 'I have never felt more ashamed to be a member of the Conservative Party or to be asked to lend her support.' He added: 'We really are, I'm sorry to say this, at the 11th hour and 59th minute, the Government's credibility is running out, trust in it is running out and unless ... the Prime Minister by some great exertion of will, and she has plenty of will and plenty of robustness, stands up and starts doing something different, we are going to spiral down into oblivion and the worst part of it all is that we will deserve it.' Some MPs reacted with frustration on Twitter after the Prime Minister announced she would attempt to extend Article 50 until June 30 and proposed a third meaningful vote on her Brexit deal. Labour's former minister Yvette Cooper said Mrs May was 'in the worst state of denial'. 'Truly shocking,' she tweeted. 'This is a Prime Minister in the worst state of denial, refusing to listen to anyone, just still doing the same thing again and again, no plan B, heading stubbornly towards the cliff edge.' Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron claimed Parliament is 'dancing to the tune of extremists' rather than listening to ordinary people. 'And there's the problem in a nutshell - the PM listens to (Brexiteer Tory MP Peter) Bone not Britain. We are dancing to the tune of extremists, not listening to the people. Mrs May last night abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay or longer after furious Brexiteer cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June. This morning she spoke to Mr Juncker who reportedly told her that the EU would only consider a shorter extension until May 22 to avoid Britain having to take part in European elections - or the delay will have to be up to two years. The PM has now published the letter sent to Donald Tusk today, which says Britain needs a delay until June 30 to pass and legislate for her deal - and it also blasts Commons Speaker John Bercow for making it 'impossible' to hold a third meaningful vote on her deal before the summit. She appealed for the EU Council which includes the leaders of all EU states to formally adopt the three extra documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week to pass Mr Bercow's ruling on a new vote being on a 'substantially different' purpose. Mrs May's letter said: 'If the motion is passed, I am confident that Parliament will proceed to ratify the deal constructively. But this will clearly not be completed before March 29, 2019.' Admitting the timetable was 'uncertain' she said: 'I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 until June 30 2019.' But that prompted France to warn it might block any request by Theresa May to delay Brexit unless she can give EU leaders 'guarantees' that it will lead to MPs passing a withdrawal deal. So Brexit has come to this: As May pleads for a three month Brexit delay this is what happens next What is May asking for at the summit tomorrow? The Prime Minister wants the EU Council to rubberstamp the extra three documents she agreed with the EU Commission on the backstop last week. She hopes this, combined with new promises at home on a role for the Northern Ireland Assembly, will be enough to convince John Bercow to allow a third vote on her deal. Mrs May will ask the EU to give her a three month extension to deliver the deal with these commitments. Will she get it? Probably - but only on condition MPs pass the deal next week. Donald Tusk announced today a short extension was 'possible' but that the details still needed to be hammered out. There are tricky issues: First, the bloc only wants a short extension to run until May 23 - the date of European Parliament elections in the UK. It will insist Britain is out of the bloc if it has no MEPs. Second, it has said there must be a clear reason for delay. This could be time to implement the agreed deal or time for an election or referendum that might set a new path for Brexit. How is Brexit delayed, if the EU agrees? To change the law, the Government would have to get a law change through Parliament. This can be done with a Statutory Instrument - a simple short piece of law - that tweaks the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 to change the current date to something else. In an emergency, it could likely be got through the Commons and Lords in two days - and conceivably a single day assuming there were votes to win procedural changes. What happens if Brussels says No? This unlocks a number of possible scenarios. First, Mrs May could come home and try and get her deal agreed by MPs anyway. Second, she could accept her deal is dead and invite MPs to choose a different course. Third, the Prime Minister could say Britain now has no choice but to leave the EU with no deal. Will there be a second EU summit if there are no conclusions tomorrow? Possibly. If the EU sends Mrs May home to come up with a concrete plan, they could agree to an emergency second summit next week. Organised EU summits is difficult - it requires 28 national leaders to turn up - but the EU is eager for Britain to leave with a deal. It means if Mrs May can get her deal through, leaders might reconvene to green light a short delay at the 11th hour. If she gets a Commons vote on an alternative plan, such as a referendum, she could ask them to meet again for a longer delay. Will there be a third meaningful vote and if so when? Mrs May has told the EU she wants a third vote 'as soon as possible' if they agree to give her a delay. This now looks certain to be early next week - if Speaker John Bercow agrees. He has insisted a new motion must be 'substantially' different. Mr Bercow alone will make this ruling and it is impossible to predict. What happens if the deal is defeated again? This also unlocks a number of possible consequences. First, given the proximity of exit day a third defeat next week would dramatically raise the risk of a No Deal Brexit on Friday. This could easily trigger a vote of no confidence in the Government - forcing pro-EU Tories to choose between voting with Jeremy Corbyn or accepting No Deal. Second, Mrs May has said if MPs continue rejecting the deal they will have to choose an alternative path. The Government would probably hold an indicative vote on the various options and hope for a longer delay at the last minute. Third, Mrs May could simply resign and hand the mess over to someone else in acknowledgement her flagship policy has fallen to historic failure. Fourth, if she already has a delay agreed by Brussels she could keep pressing on in the hope something comes up. Advertisement This is Theresa May's letter to Donald Tusk begging for a delay and asking them for help to ensure her deal can be voted on for a third time after John Bercow made it 'impossible' not Jeremy Corbyn will go to Brussels TOMORROW to meet Michel Barnier hours before Theresa May faces EU leaders to ask for a Brexit delay Mr Corbyn will meet Michel Barnier tomorrow morning, giving him an opportunity to put across his Brexit views hours before Mrs May faces the EU27 leaders at what is likely to be a stormy European Council meeting Jeremy Corbyn will meet the EU's chief Brexit negotiator tomorrow just hours before Theresa May faces European leaders. In a development that will pour fresh pressure on the Prime Minister the opposition leader will met Michel Barnier in Brussels on Thursday morning, the Guardian reported. The meeting will give Mr Corbyn a chance to put forward Labour's alternative Brexit plan and also discuss the possibility of a second referendum taking place. Mr Corbyn yesterday met with the Westminster leaders of the other opposition parties to discuss a new vote, which resulted in a request to swing behind a referendum and stop 'prevaricating'. But he also later met with MPs who support a soft Brexit that would keep Britain closely aligned with the EU, potentially including retaining freedom of movement. Mr Barnier yesterday tore into Theresa May's attempt to keep her delay options open by suggesting she must present leaders this week with a clear idea how the UK wants to stay in. Michel Barnier told reporters today that any longer extension to Article 50 would only be considered if there was 'a new political process' in the UK to justify it. At a Brussels press conference Mr Barnier stressed that it was ultimately a decision for EU27 leaders at the European Council meeting on Thursday, he said: 'The EU authorities want to know what the underlying political process which would be the grounds for that extension would be - political process within the House of Commons or in the general political debate in the UK.' Mr Barnier added: 'It is our duty to ask whether this extension would be useful because an extension will be something which would extend uncertainty, and uncertainty costs.' He added: 'What would be the purpose and outcome? How could we be sure that at the end of a possible extension we are not back in the same situation as today?' Advertisement Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the parliament in Paris that Mrs May would need to make an incredibly strong case at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday. The Prime Minister revealed in the Commons this afternoon that she had written to the EU to ask for an extension to allow more time to pass a deal. Mr Le Drian told French MPs: 'A situation in which Mrs May would not be able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees about the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit.' The Brexit delay has split Mrs May's cabinet with pro-Brexit ministers in triumphant mood while outraged Remainer ministers today said it was Mrs May's 'most craven surrender to the hardliners yet'. The plan she is pursuing was branded 'downright reckless' by her deputy David Lidington just a week ago. Announcing she was seeking an extension to Article 50 to June 30, Mrs May told the Commons: 'The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. 'If that vote is passed the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed'. Hinting at her own departure of her deal falls and Britain seeks a longer delay she added: 'As Prime Minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30'. The Prime Minister strongly suggested the UK will leave without a deal if her deal is not agreed at the end of her planned extension in June. At PMQs, Tory MP Richard Drax asked: 'If this extension happens what guarantee can you give the British people that by the end of June if we still do not have a deal we honour that referendum result and we leave?' Mrs May replied: 'If it's the case there is an extension this does not actually take no-deal off the table. It leaves that as a point at the end of that extension. 'I believe it is time we actually delivered on the vote of the British people in 2016. 'As Prime Minister as far as I'm concerned there will be no delay in delivering Brexit beyond June 30.' Afterwards a No 10 spokesman refused to deny the Prime Minister was threatening to resign if Brexit was going to be delayed beyond June 30. She said: 'I think it is important that the Prime Minister sends a clear signal about her view on the right way forward. She does not believe a long extension is the right thing to do. What you should infer (from the PM's words) is her determination to get this over the line'. Jeremy Corbyn said the UK is 'now in the midst of a full-scale national crisis' and called on Theresa May to meet with him to discuss his Brexit proposals. At Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons the Labour leader said 'incompetence, failure and intransigence from the Prime Minister and her Government have brought us to this point'. He said with her deal and no-deal both rejected, Mrs May has 'no plan', while he is meeting with other parties and EU leaders to come up with an alternative. Mr Corbyn asked: 'This is a national crisis. Will the Prime Minister meet me today to discuss our proposals as a way forward to get out of this crisis?' Mrs May said it was a 'bit rich' for him to invite her for talks when he for 'days and days he refused to meet me'. She added that she was 'always happy to meet members from across this House to discuss Europe'. Mr Tusk a more conciliatory message in a tweet sent after his speech on Brexit in which he said a delay hinged on a deal being passed by MPs next week Jean-Yves Le Drian made the warning about Mrs May's chances of getting a Brexit deal in the French parliament today (pictured) EU bureaucrats earlier demanded the Prime Minister's attempt to delay Brexit until summer be scuppered, saying the UK must leave by late May or stay tied to Europe until the end of the year. Delaying Brexit is 'betraying the British people' Theresa May is told by TORY backbench Brexiteer Peter Bone who warns her that 'history will judge you at this moment' Peter Bone regularly rises to question the Prime Minister at PMQs. The Wellingborough MP is a long term and devout Tory Brexiteer Theresa May was accused of 'betraying the British people' by seeking a delay to Brexit by one of her own senior backbenchers today. Hardcore Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone warned his party leader that 'history will judge you at this moment' in a pointed exchange during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. The 66-year-old Wellingborough MP's intervention came minutes after Mrs May had confirmed she was asking the EU to delay Brexit until the end of June in order to get a Brexit deal past MPs. He said: 'If you continue to apply for an extension to Article 50 you will be betraying the British people. If you don't, you will be honouring their instruction. 'Prime Minister, it is entirely down to you. History will judge you at this moment. Prime Minister, which is it to be?' He also claimed that Mrs May had committed to a March 29 Brexit 108 times in the House of Commons while Prime Minister. Mrs May replied: 'I am saying that I think we should look again at being able to leave with a negotiated deal but in order to do that we need time for this Parliament to ratify a deal, and in order to do that we need an extension until June 30.' Advertisement As Theresa May rose to tell MPs she has requested Brexit be postponed to June 30, the European Commission said that she should face a 'binary choice' of delaying for less than two months or for a full nine months. The shorter extension to before May 23 - when European elections are due to be held- was revealed in a briefing note for EU leaders meeting Mrs May at Thursday's European Council meeting, seen by Reuters. 'Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections,' the document said. 'This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions.' Mrs May moments earlier had confirmed she had written to European Council president Donald Tusk requesting a delay until June 30. A senior official in President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Wednesday that France took note of Mrs May's decision to send the Brexit divorce deal to a third vote in Parliament. 'If the deal is rejected, it would pave the way for the undesirable outcome of a no-deal,' the official said. 'A technical extension could be envisaged to complete legislative work in case of a deal. That's what Mrs May is asking for and will be discussed tomorrow at the European Council.' It came after the Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker this morning warned that a decision on an extension to Article 50 might not even happen this week. He suggested that an emergency summit might be needed next week - potentially just hours before Brexit day - because EU leaders might not approve an extension without a withdrawal deal passed by MPs. He said that Mrs May 'must bring approval of the negotiated deal and she must bring clear ideas on timing' to the European Council in Brussels tomorrow or face a humiliating rejection. Mr Juncker told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the remaining 27 members states' hands were tied until the political indecision in London was resolved. Mr Juncker (right) greeting European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier today in Brussels. Both men have played a hard line on Britain's prospects of winning an extension to Article 50 from the EU MAY PREPARES TO GIVE 'STORMONT LOCK' CONCESSION TO D.U.P. By Jack Doyle, Associate Editor, for the Daily Mail Theresa May is preparing to offer significant Brexit concessions to the DUP to win their support for her deal, it emerged last night. In the coming days, the Prime Minister is expected to promise legislation for a Stormont Lock named after the parliament building in Belfast. It would give the Ulster assembly a veto over the decision to enter the backstop if Britain and the EU failed to strike a post-Brexit free trade deal. The lock could also guarantee that any Brussels regulations applied to Northern Ireland would be extended to the whole of the UK to prevent the need for regulatory checks on goods passing between Great Britain and the province. In her letter to Donald Tusk, the PM highlighted further domestic proposals which would protect our internal market given the concerns expressed about the backstop. The guarantee would be written into British law rather than the Withdrawal Agreement, which the EU has refused to reopen. The assembly has been suspended since 2017 following a bitter row between the DUP and Sinn Fein. The support of the DUP would give Mrs May a huge boost. As well as securing ten votes from DUP MPs, it would also encourage several of the hardline Brexiteers to back her. Advertisement 'My impression is ... that this week at the European Council there will be no decision, but that we will probably have to meet again next week, because Mrs May doesn't have agreement to anything, either in her Cabinet or in Parliament,' Mr Juncker added. 'As long as we don't know what Britain could say yes to, we can't reach a decision.' Asked about indications from Downing Street that Mrs May will request a short extension, Mr Juncker told DRF: 'Those months would have to produce, as an end result, an agreement from the British Parliament to the (Agreement) text which is before them. 'If that doesn't happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God. And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience.' A European Commission spokesman told the daily press conference in Brussels today that President Juncker had just received a phone call from Theresa May about Article 50. He said: 'She informed him of the latest state of play around the Article 50 process and consulted the president on how best to approach the European Council. Discussions are ongoing.' The spokesman added 'nearly all foreseen contingency measures are approved' for a no-deal scenario, with only two outstanding, which are short-term visas and the EU budget for 2019. In the same interview Mr Juncker insisted that the deal negotiated over two years with Brussels was the remaining members states' final offer. 'Nothing more can be done, we've reached the end of the road,' he said. 'If other scenarios are being discussed, we'd need a new road.' His interview was the latest attempt by the EU to ramp up the pressure on Mrs May ahead of Thursday's summit in Brussels. Andrea Leadsom accused Cabinet Remainers of frustrating Brexit, and hinted she could quit (pictured leaving the meeting on Tuesday) Speaker John Bercow's bombshell intervention on Monday puts a barricade in Theresa May's path to holding a third meaningful vote on her Brexit deal next week Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom, who yesterday blasted ministers for failing to deliver Brexit and hinted she could resign, told LBC today: 'I'm quite sure it will only be a short extension. It's absolutely essential we're out of the EU before the European elections'. She also said John Bercow's ruling to prevent a third vote on Mrs May's deal is 'subordinate to the views of parliament' and said: 'He needs to remain impartial. I've had some questions about it'. The reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, told Reuters in an interview published on Monday that it was possible his incarnation could be found in India, where the 83-year-old has lived in exile for 60 years, before adding that the Chinese government could try to intervene and choose a successor it approves of. 'Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism and has fixed rituals and systems,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said while responding to press questions at a regular briefing. 'The Chinese government has adopted policies on freedom of religious belief. The reincarnation system is respected and protected by such legal instruments as "Regulations on Religious Affairs" and "Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas",' he added. The 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, told Reuters that it was possible his incarnation could be found in India, where the 83-year-old has lived in exile for 60 years Above, the iconic Potala Palace in the regional capital of Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region. China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that he reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and religious rituals Geng stressed in his 'authoritative answer' that the reincarnation system has been in existence for several hundred years. 'The 14th Dalai Lama himself was also recognised following religious rituals and historical conventions and his succession was approved by the then central government. Therefore the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should abide by national laws and regulations, religious rituals and historical conventions,' he added. China enacted the New Regulations on Religious Affairs and the Rules on the Management of Reincarnation of Tibetan Living Buddhas in 2018 and in 2007 respectively, according to CGTN. According to the regulation, Buddhist institutions should apply to the government if they intend to reincarnate a monk. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two years old. The Dalai Lama arrives at Tezpur, Assam in India on April 18, 1959. He fled to India from the Tibetan capita Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule The Dalai Lama receives the Nobel Peace Prize from Egil Aarvik, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on December 10, 1989 at Oslo University. This year marks 60 years since the spiritual leader went into exile after fleeing a Chinese crackdown in Tibet in 1959 He fled to India in early 1959 from the Tibetan capita Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has since worked to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote and mountainous homeland. China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, brands the Nobel peace laureate a dangerous separatist. Pondering what might happen after his death, the Dalai Lama anticipated some attempt by Beijing to foist a successor on Tibetan Buddhists. 'China considers Dalai Lama's reincarnation as something very important. They have more concern about the next Dalai Lama than me,' he told Reuters in an office next to a temple ringed by green hills and snow-capped mountain. 'In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in free country, one chosen by Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). So that's an additional problem for the Chinese! It's possible, it can happen," he added, laughing. Many Tibetans - whose tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death - suspect any Chinese role as a ploy to exert influence on the community. The Dalai Lama leads a group meditation at the Bercy arena in Paris on October 14, 2003. He said contact between Tibetans living in their homeland and in exile was increasing, but that no formal meetings have happened between Chinese and his officials since 2010 Supporters of the Dalai Lama chanted and prayed at the Buddhist shrine in mountainous Dharamsala - home to Tibet's government in exile in northern India Many of China's more than six million Tibetans still venerate the Dalai Lama despite government prohibitions on displays of his picture or any public display of devotion. The Dalai Lama said contact between Tibetans living in their homeland and in exile was increasing, but that no formal meetings have happened between Chinese and his officials since 2010. Informally, however, some retired Chinese officials and businessman with connections to Beijing do visit him from time to time, he added. He said the role of the Dalai Lama after his death, including whether to keep it, could be discussed during a meeting of Tibetan Buddhists in India later this year. He, however, added that though there was no reincarnation of Buddha, his teachings have remained. 'If the majority of (Tibetan people) really want to keep this institution, then this institution will remain,' he said. 'Then comes the question of the reincarnation of the 15th Dalai Lama.' If there is one, he would still have 'no political responsibility,' said the Dalai Lama, who gave up his political duties in 2001, developing a democratic system for the up to 100,000 Tibetans living in India. 'China - great nation, ancient nation - but it's political system is totalitarian system, no freedom. So therefore I prefer to remain here, in this country,' he said, adding that he wasn't expecting to visit while China remained under Communist rule. The Dalai Lama was born to a family of farmers in Taktser, a village on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, in China's Qinghai province. 'Our strength, our power is based on truth. Chinese power based on gun,' the Dalai Lama said. 'So for short term, gun is much more decisive, but long term truth is more powerful.' Kieran Brown (pictured) from the Sunshine coast, was killed instantly after the helicopter crashed near Woomera A pilot has died after his helicopter crashed and burst into flames while flying over the Australian outback. Kieran Brown, from the Sunshine coast, was killed instantly after the helicopter crashed near Woomera 446 kilometres north of Adelaide around 11am on Wednesday. The 45-year-old was part of a team working to lay down power cables near to Carrapateena copper-gold mine, The Civil Aviation Safety Authority confirmed. Scroll down for video Experts have said the type of work Mr Brown was undertaking was 'highly skilled' and 'highly risky', 7News reported. On Monday Mr Brown had taken to his Facebook page to say he was heading to Adelaide. He was working for ElectraNet, a South Australian electricity transmission company, when the tragic incident occurred. ElectraNet have since released a statement to confirm the tragic passing of Mr Brown. The helicopter (pictured) crashed and burst into flames while flying over the Australian outback The helicopter (pictured) crashed near Woomera 446 kilometres north of Adelaide around 11am on Wednesday 'ElectraNet is deeply saddened to confirm that a fatality has occurred this morning in an incident involving one of our contractors working on a project in the upper north of the state,' the statement read. 'Our thoughts are with the pilot's family and colleagues at this time. 'ElectraNet it cooperating with all relevant authorities investigating this incident,' the statement concluded. A friend has paid tribute to Mr Brown (pictured) on social media since following the news of his death A friend has paid tribute to Mr Brown on social media following the news of his death. 'Kieran Brown my thoughts are with your family on such a tragic day. Gonna miss your humour rest easy up there mate,' the friend wrote. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is understood to be investigating the incident. A father who went for a vasectomy expecting a 'safe simple snip snip' but was left with constant pain in his testicles is suing his private doctor for 200,000. Marc Ollosson, 50, claims he wasn't told of the one-in-20 risk of lasting pain following a vasectomy - and would not have had the operation if he had been. Soon after the surgery in 2013, the care support worker found himself in agony, which he told the High Court has ruined his quality of life. Marc Ollosson, 50, (seen yesterday outside the High Court in London - with his wife on the left) claims he wasn't told of the one-in-20 risk of lasting pain following a vasectomy - and would not have had the operation if he had been He now uses methadone as a painkiller, which means the real ale enthusiast - who has published a book about the subject - had to give up alcohol. Sex is painful and work difficult, while he has also had to give up riding his motorcycle, his barrister, Julian Matthews, told judge Mr Justice Stewart. Suing his doctor, Mr Ollosson, of Dussindale, near Norwich, claims he wasn't properly advised of the risks of a procedure most people think is straight-forward and risk-free. 'Vasectomy was always to me a 'safe, simple snip-snip',' he told the judge. In fact, around one-in-20 develop lasting post-op testicle pain, with a small number experiencing severe symptoms like Mr Ollosson, said his barrister. The court heard Mr Ollosson decided on the vasectomy due to problems he and his wife, Karen, had with other birth control measures. His GP put him in touch with Dr Alan Lee, of the Drayton Vasectomy Service, at the Drayton and St Faith's Medical Practice, near Norwich. He underwent the operation in November 2013, but found himself with 'persistent, chronic disabling pain' afterwards, said Mr Matthews. But Mr Ollosson told the court the first he had heard of 'chronic post-vasectomy pain' was when he was diagnosed by a urologist. The pain left him unable to work for 12 months over three years and feeling down, depressed and tired, as well as suffering problems with his sex drive. What is a vasectomy and what are the risks? A vasectomy, or male sterilisation, is a procedure to cut the tubes that carry a man's sperm to permanently prevent pregnancy without further contraception. It can usually be done under local anaesthetic and takes about 15 minutes, according to the NHS. The procedure is only usually carried out on older men, and surgeons are often reluctant to carry it out on people under 30 in case they regret it later. The NHS lists possible complications as being a collection of blood inside the scrotum (haematoma), hard lumps called sperm granulomas (caused by sperm leaking from the tubes) or an infection. Long-term testicle pain is another possible complication, which may need further surgery to deal with. The percentage of men who experience this pain is debated, with different figures cited by various sources. Advertisement Giving up alcohol due to his pain medication also affected his social life and he had to have another operation in an attempt to ease his agony. Mr Matthews claimed Mr Ollosson was not given adequate information about the risks of the operation to enable him to decide whether to run that risk. 'Mr Ollosson says he was simply not provided with the information that was generally available to medical practitioners to be able to make the relevant judgment,' he said. The father of one grown-up daughter was given 'inadequate' literature, which emphasised the absence of significant risk, before the operation, he claimed. It said there was a 'small risk', which Mr Ollosson took as meaning highly unlikely, and did not mention the possibility of 'severe' pain, the barrister claimed. 'The information he ought to have had prior to his vasectomy was precisely of the condition which he has had,' he continued. 'He has been profoundly unfortunate that the consequences for him are agreed to be at the severe end of the scale.' He added: 'Had he been aware of the risk of him developing chronic and ongoing testicular pain, he wouldn't have proceeded with the operation. 'Mr Ollosson and his wife would have reverted to the use of other methods of contraception.' Dr Lee denies liability for Mr Ollosson's injury and says that he had been provided with the necessary information to give informed consent to the operation. He was given a booklet setting out information about the procedure and signed a form to confirm that he was consenting to the surgery, said the doctor's barrister, Nadia Whittaker. And he says that he told Mr Ollosson that there was a risk of a complication resulting in 'severe' effects which could impact on his 'quality of life'. Consultant urologist, Dr Richard Parkinson, told the court that the risk of 'quite severe' ongoing pain following a vasectomy is about one per cent. He estimated that, of around 10,000 vasectomy patients in England and Wales each year, two would go on to have pain so severe it required a reversal operation. The hearing continues. An Afghan accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in Germany could walk free after his lawyers claimed he may have been too young to face charges. The asylum seeker, known as Mansoor Q, is one of two men - along with Iraqi murder suspect Ali Bashar - accused of attacking the young girl. But defence lawyers said his age was unclear and he may not have been 14 at the time, meaning he could not be tried or convicted under German law. Mansoor's barrister Michael Harschneck told the court in Wiesbaden there were 'great uncertainties' over the defendant's age, Bild reported. Afghan man Mansoor Q, pictured centre, is accused of raping an 11-year-old girl but his lawyers have claimed he may not have been 14 at the time, meaning he could not be convicted 'We have presented documents from which it appears that Mansoor was not yet 14 at the time of the offence,' Harschneck said. The defence did not have to prove or disprove anything and it was up to the prosecution to verify his age, he said. Prosecutors acknowledged there were differing documents but cited expert reports which showed he was at least 14 years old at the time. At 14, the age of criminal responsibility in Germany is higher than that in Britain (10) or France (13). Mansoor has also helped prosecutors with their separate murder case against his co-defendant Bashar, who is also accused of killing 14-year-old schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman. He is said to have given authorities crucial information which helped them arrest Bashar. Both men are standing trial for the alleged rape of the 11-year-old. Mansoor also helped prosecutors with their separate murder charge against Ali Bashar (pictured), who is also accused of killing 14-year-old schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman (right) as well as raping the 11-year-old Following a public outcry over Susanna's death, German federal police hauled Bashar back from Arbil, northern Iraq, where he had been arrested by local Kurdish security forces. Bashar was put on a flight to Germany despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany. The 21-year-old is accused of raping and strangling the schoolgirl in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden last May 23. He also faces charges for a park robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card. The Susanna case prompted politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel to urge the speeding up of deportations of asylum-seekers who have broken the law in Germany. The trials continue. Horrifying new photographs show the full extent of a country-wide knife amnesty with thousands handed into police forces across Britain. Images show bins of blades collected during the national event which ran between March 11 and 17. Many forces saw their biggest ever haul of weapons handed in, with banned butterfly knives, samurai swords and designer blades left in special bins. The amnesty was part of a national campaign, Operation Sceptre, run by police forces across the country to reduce the number of illegal knives in circulation. Picture of knives collected by Mildenhall Police force this week from Operation Sceptre Humberside Police collected in these knives, including many with footlong blades or bigger The Yorkshire force also collected in more than 100 smaller blades as part of the amnesty Humberside also published this image showing other bladed weapons handed in during the amnesty - including seven full-sized swords South Wales Police collected in a samurai sword alongside knives and cleavers in Op Sceptre Coloured kitchen knives and heavy meat cleavers were among the blades collected by Lowestoft Police during Operation Sceptre It was set up after most forces saw increases in the number of knife-related incidents over the past three years. Hertfordshire Police alone saw 680 blades dumped in marked wheelie bins at police stations including Hatfield (216), Stevenage (105) and Watford (78). The haul included swords, military knives, knuckle dusters and a large amount of kitchen knives. Other bins saw 250 blades surrendered in Potters Bar, at St Albans Civic Centre and Waltham Cross. The bin put out by Thames Valley Police outside their High Wycombe police station saw these heavy-duty kitchen knives handed in Twenty-six people have been killed in London alone since the start of the year as violent crime continues to spiral upwards Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, David Lloyd, said: 'These amnesties are an integral part of Hertfordshire's Serious Violence Strategy to reduce the number of knives on the streets, but also to send the message out that carrying a knife won't keep you safe. 'The response from the public has been very good and we have had some great feedback. 'However, we all need to continue to work together in Hertfordshire to ensure young people are aware of the risks of carrying knives.' It comes after a huge leap in knife crime which saw Spanish national David Martinez, become the 14th stabbing fatality in 16 days earlier this month, after 17-year-olds Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki, were killed in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester. Composite picture of some of the people who have lost their lives to knife crime this year. Top row, from left: Tudor Simionov, Jaden Moodie, Nedim Bilgin, Lejean Richards, Dennis Anderson. Middle row, from left: Patrick Hill, Sidali Mohamed, Bright Akinleye, Abdullah Muhammad, Glendon Spence. Bottom row, from left: Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, Hazrat Umar, Che Morrison, Jodie Chesney, Yousef Ghaleb Makki Home Secretary Sajid Javid is calling for more money to tackle knife crime, while Theresa May and Met Commissioner Cressida Dick recently clashed over whether a reduction in officer numbers had fuelled the problem. The killings have prompted warnings of a 'national emergency' and sparked intense scrutiny of reductions in the size of the police workforce. The number of officers in the 43 territorial forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 24,000 since 2009, and numbers of PCSOs have falled more than 5,000 in the same period. Mrs May, who was home secretary from 2010 to 2016, argued at the beginning of March there was 'no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers'. But a string of senior figures in policing including Met Commissioner Cressida Dick lined up to dispute her assertion. A French rapper has been found guilty of incitement to violence and handed a suspended fine over a song called Hang White People. In Nick Conrad's music video, the 35-year-old was depicted torturing and murdering a white man and called for Caucasian babies to be killed. A court has now handed him a suspended 5,000 (4,280) fine after a trial. He was also told to pay 1,000 euros (860) in damages to each of the two anti-racism groups that brought the case forward. French rapper Nick Conrad (pictured) has been found guilty of incitement to violence and handed a suspended fine over a song called Hang White People In Nick Conrad's music video he was depicted torturing and murdering a white man and called for Caucasian babies to be killed Conrad, who denies racism towards white people, says he will appeal and has argued the song was a fictional depiction of racism that was not intended to be taken at face value. His lawyer said after the hearing: 'The court had a reading of freedom of expression that does not satisfy us. According to AFP, the court said in its judgement that if 'the permissible limits of freedom of expression are assessed with greater flexibility' when it comes to rap, 'the freedom of artistic creation is, however, not absolute.' Conrad could have faced up to five years in prison and 45,000 euro (38,600) fines under the charges. But prosecutors requested the suspended 5,000 euro fine because he had 'already to a certain extent paid the consequences' after losing his hotel receptionist job. In one scene from 'PLB' - short for 'Pendez Les Blancs', or 'Hang Whites' in English - the little-known rapper and an associate drag their white victim along the pavement and kick him in the head. The attack appears to be a reference to a famous scene from the film American History X, in which actor Edward Norton plays a neo-Nazi who stamps on the head of a black man as he lies face down on the pavement. The 35-year-old (pictured with his lawyer in January) caused outrage last year when he released the film showing a white man being abducted, tortured, shot and hanged from a tree A gun is also forced down his throat and he is ordered to 'suck it'. The lyrics evoke the killing of adults and children and advocated killing 'white babies' and 'hanging their parents'. The rapper sings during one scene: 'I walk into creches, I kill white babies, catch them quick and hang their parents.' The video was taken off YouTube four days after its official release in September last year. Conrad, who lost his job as a receptionist at a five-star hotel on Avenue de l'Opera as a result of the song, defended the decision to create the music video, claiming that it was not racist but 'a message of love'. By reversing the roles and showing whites being tortured and killed by black people, Conrad claimed he wanted to underline racial problems. The rapper admitted that he understands those who are concerned by the clip, but denies being a racist. The rapper says, 'I walk into creches, I kill white babies, catch them quick and hang their parents' Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux condemned the 'hateful, nauseating lyrics in the strongest possible terms' as did Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who slammed the video's 'abject remarks and ignominious attacks'. Conrad was born and grew up in suburban Paris, but describes himself as an 'Afro-French' citizen. He regularly uses his Facebook account to call for 'a mutiny' against France, which he accuses of still being a 'colonising nation'. Anti-racism organisation LICRA, which filed a formal police complaint, also hit out at the rapper, saying his artistic freedom 'is not the freedom to call for whites to be hanged because of the colour of their skin'. Until becoming the subject of nation-wide media coverage, Nick Conrad was a virtual unknown, with only 40 monthly listeners on the music streaming platform Spotify. The nine-minute video, which was uploaded onto YouTube on September 17, presents the action as taking place in the eastern Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Grand. It contains references to a speech by US black nationalist Malcolm X. On his Twitter account Conrad, who is of Cameroonian origin and has in interviews claimed to be influenced by American hip-hop, had presented it as his 'first short film'. German politicians have reacted with fury after the U.S. ambassador criticised Berlin's plans to cut defence spending. Richard Grenell slammed Germany's 'worrisome' budget plans which would see military outlays fall well below the NATO target of two per cent of GDP. His comments were the latest flashpoint in a long-running row with Donald Trump, who has accused NATO allies of expecting a 'free ride' on Washington's military might. Grenell - who has frequently clashed with Berlin - is now facing calls to be expelled as U.S. envoy. German politicians have reacted with fury after the U.S. ambassador, Richard Grenell (pictured), criticised Berlin's plans to cut defence spending below NATO targets Wolfgang Kubicki of the liberal FDP party demanded that Grenell be declared 'persona non grata', Der Spiegel reported. 'Someone who acts like the high commissioner of an occupying power needs to learn that there are limits to our tolerance,' he said. Social Democratic Party whip Carsten Schneider called Grenell a 'brat' and a 'total diplomatic failure', according to German media. His party colleague Johannes Kahrs said it was 'unbelievable who can become a U.S. ambassador these days'. Fellow SPD member Ralf Stegner said: 'Mr Grenell behaves in the way you expect from the Trump administration: uncouth, boorish and politically unsuited to the role. 'Our relationship with the U.S. is more important than Trump or Grenell.' Left Party MP Helin Evrim Sommer said: 'The expulsion of the Trumpist Grenell from Germany is overdue. 'Someone who meddles in the internal affairs of other states like a feudal lord disqualifies themselves as a U.S. ambassador'. U.S. President Donald Trump (left) has repeatedly accused Berlin of freeloading on Washington's military might but Angela Merkel (right) rejected the American criticism However a right-wing AfD member came to Grenell's defence, saying: 'You only expel ambassadors in extreme cases, for example at the start of warlike confrontation.' During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump said some NATO allies were 'getting a free ride', calling it 'unfair'. In 2018 Washington spent nearly $700 billion on defence, compared with just $280 billion for all the European NATO allies combined. Germany's finance ministry had yesterday presented its budget planning for coming years, which signalled a drop. It said defence spending would first rise to 1.37 percent of gross domestic product in 2020 but then likely fall back to 1.25 percent by 2023. While German defence spending went up from $45 billion to $50 billion last year, the growing economy meant the figure relative to GDP stayed flat at 1.23 per cent. Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back against the U.S. criticism by arguing that Germany was as focused on foreign aid as on military spending. Bundeswehr recruits march to be sworn in at the ministry of defence in Berlin, Germany. Angela Merkel has insisted that Germany will not cut aid spending to increase its military 'We have always said that we're headed in the direction of two percent, and that by 2024 we will reach 1.5 percent,' she said. 'I can understand that this is not enough for the American President, it's not enough for many European allies.' Grenell took up his Berlin posting on May 8 last year. The envoy immediately irked Germany when he tweeted that day that German companies should stop doing business with Iran, after Trump tore up the nuclear deal. He stoked further outrage with reported comments to right-wing news website Breitbart of his ambition to 'empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders.' Grenell also raised eyebrows by describing Austria's arch-conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as a 'rock star.' Recently he appeared to threaten that the U.S. would cut back its intelligence co-operation with Germany if Berlin used Chinese firm Huawei in its 5G telecome infrastructure. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that next month China plans to hold a much bigger, second BRF which will also be attended by Pak PM Khan. India along with the US and several other countries have been highlighting the concerns over the BRI projects, leaving a number of smaller countries in debt traps. (Representational | AFP) New Delhi/Beijing: India on Wednesday signalled that it will boycott China's second Belt and Road Forum for a second time, saying no country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity. India boycotted the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in 2017 after protesting to Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) overriding New Delhi's sovereignty concerns. Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said that next month China plans to hold a much bigger, second BRF which will also be attended by Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan. Speculation is rife whether India would attend the second BRF as China has deepened its commitment to expand the USD 60 billion CPEC, which aims to connect China's Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar port with a host of road, rail, gas and oil pipelines. China has also undertaken a host of energy projects under the aegis of the CPEC. India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri told the state-run Global Times that "above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations". "No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," he replied to a question about India's concerns over the BRI and whether India would take part in the second BRF meet. The Indian envoy's interview was carried by the daily on Wednesday. "To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on the BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned. India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives. We ourselves are working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives," Misri said. "However, it is also our belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and rule of law. They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability," the Indian envoy said. India along with the US and several other countries have been highlighting the concerns over the BRI projects, leaving a number of smaller countries in debt traps. The concerns grew louder after China took over Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on a 99-year lease as debt swap. Several countries including Malaysia and even Pakistan have wished to reduce the Chinese projects over debt concerns. Asked whether India-China ties are back on track, Misri said: "the bilateral relationship between India and China is of great significance not just to the two countries, but also to the larger region and the international community". He said that the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in April, 2018 was a "milestone in bilateral relations during which the two leaders exchanged views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and elaborated their respective visions and priorities for national development in context of the current international situation". Last year, the two leaders also met on the sidelines of multilateral summits. "These meetings have reinforced strategic communication between the two countries at the highest levels and helped in elaborating a road map for continuing contacts. China is India's biggest neighbour and we assign a very high priority to this relationship," the Indian envoy said. "Unlike some 50 years ago, when our relationship had a much narrower basis and there was not much communication, today we have what one would call a full-spectrum relationship. This has been possible because our respective leaders have realised that mutually-beneficial cooperation responds to the most urgent developmental needs of our people and these needs to be prioritised over other issues," Misri said. Asked about the impact of India's elections on India-China ties, Misri said: "my own feeling is that on foreign policy issues there is a broad political consensus in India on where our national interests lie. I do not think therefore that the outcome of the elections will impact the broad contours of India's foreign policy in general or the very important relationship with China in particular". 'Yellow vest' protester James Goddard has today denied threatening a newspaper photographer during a demonstration. Goddard, 29, who is awaiting trial over claims he called MP Anna Soubry a 'Nazi and a traitor' reportedly told Joel Goodman he would 'take his head off his shoulders' whilst he was on assignment at a protest in Manchester city centre. The report said that during the incident on February 9, Goddard was said to have told Goodman: 'I've warned you, I swear to God when there's no police around here, I'm going to take your head off your shoulders, and all the football lads will as well, your card is marked. James Goddard, pictured arriving in Manchester Magistrates' Court this morning, centre, denies assaulting photographer Joel Goodman in Manchester City Centre on February 9 Goddard, pictured, also denied using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards Mr Goodman on the same occasion 'Trust me, next time you're in London mate, you're finished. All the football lads know exactly who you are and you will be ran out of London. Next time you're down, you'll see what happens''. He was charged after his alleged outburst was caught on Goodman's body cam equipment. Goddard, who is representing himself in court, refused to give his address, although court records show he lives in the suburb of Timperley, near Altrincham. He appeared with two burly minders to face charges of common assault and using threatening behaviour. The charges can only be tried in the magistrates court and if convicted he faces up to six months jail. Before his hearing began, Goddard who appeared under the name 'Jamie Goddard' brashly walked into the court and demanded journalists covering his case be ejected saying: 'Get them out of here or I'm not coming in. He's from the BBC, so he can definitely get out - the far leftist mouthpiece for the BBC, scum. 'I don't want scumbag journalists in here who portray things in the wrong way. I want my family and friends in here.' During the court proceedings, Goddard kept standing up and waving his arms around in the dock when speaking. He also started watching a video on his mobile phone that he had made of the incident in question before emerging from the dock during the proceeding to retrieve some paperwork from one of family members sat in the public gallery. One of the group asked a police officer why journalists were allowed to use mobile phones in court to message reports of the proceedings. During the hearing prosecuting, Laura Keegan, said: 'The court relies on the evidence of Joel Goodman and his body worn video footage. It lasts about two and a half minutes in total.' But Goddard ressed in a navy blue checkered shirt with navy blue jeans and who was unrepresented said: 'What I am saying is that I have evidence myself that I have that I want to bring before the court and a defence statement. 'I have evidence that counteracts what he was saying. I have video footage of me talking to him. The allegations are nullified because I shook his hand. 'There was two police officers there who didn't arrest me. So the police made a political decision to arrest me at my home. Yesterday Goddard appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where he denied harassing former Conservative MP Anna Soubry. The hearing was interrupted when Goddard's supporters began chanting 'Soubry is a Nazi' inside the court Other yellow vest demonstrators stormed the Attorney General's office and had to be removed by police The protesters were demanding a stiffer sentence for a convicted drink driver who killed three teenage boys walking to a 16th birthday party 'They said they only went after me because they said it was in the public interest. So it's all trumped up and I hope we get the right outcome. 'I would like to call the police constables there as witnesses because if I committed these offences, then they would have arrested me. 'I am being treated like a terrorist or a rapist. I feel like I am being targeted. 'I want to be able to come back into the city centre to get a job. But if you want to put conditions on me not to go to protests then that's fine.' Remanding Goddard on conditional bail, District Judge, John Temperley, said: 'You're not to attend any organised demonstrations in Manchester City centre. You can go into the city centre, but you're not to protest. You're also not to contact Joel Goodman. You must attend this trial on June 25 at 10am.' With a chuckle, Goddard responded: 'He's not my cup of tea. I wish I had you in court yesterday.' Other yellow vest supporters stormed the office of the Attorney General yesterday to protest against the length of sentence handed down to a man who was jailed last year for killing three teenagers walking to a 16th birthday party. Jaynesh Chudasama, was more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit for alcohol and doing 71mph on a 60mph road in Hayes, west London, when he ploughed into the teenagers. He pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of semi-professional footballer Harry Rice, 17, apprentice electrician George Wilkinson, 16, and labourer Josh McGuinness, 16. He subsequently had his 13-year prison term cut to 10-and-a-half years by three judges at the Court of Appeal in London. A Ukrainian woman allegedly cut her three-week-old daughters throat in a jealous rage because she believed her husband loved the baby more than her. The 21-year-old mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, killed her child when her husband left their apartment in the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraines Rivne Oblast region for a few minutes. Police reports say the woman attacked her baby when her husband, 26, went out to throw away some rubbish. Arrested: The 21-year-old woman allegedly murdered her three-week-old baby daughter as her husband, 26, left their apartment in Rivne in north-western Ukraine to take out the rubbish When he returned to the apartment he saw that his wifes hands were covered with blood. The man rushed into the bedroom to check on his newborn daughter and saw her lying motionless in a pool of blood. The shocked father called emergency services. The mans mother Maria Momot said: He [her son] went out for a few minutes and she grabbed a kitchen knife and cut the childs throat open. According to Mrs Momot, her daughter-in-law was jealous of the baby because she thought that her husband loved the child more. She said: My son and I loved the child very much. We gave her all our thoughts and care. Murder weapon: A kitchen knife covered in blood was found in the sink in the flat The husband's mother Maria Momot, pictured, claims the 21-year-old slashed the baby's throat with a knife in a jealous rage because she thought he loved the baby more than her She [her daughter-in-law] was jealous. She thought that her husband loved their child more than her. This morning I bathed my little granddaughter and now she is gone. I cannot believe that it all happened to our family. According to emergency services who arrived at the scene, the woman was heard asking her husband: Why are you crying? Police found the murder weapon in the kitchen sink. The knife was still covered with the childs blood. Police spokesman Anton Kruk said: The child died of the knife wound to its throat. The mother could not explain why she did it. She could not even remember what she was doing during the day. Nightmare: The shocked father returned to the apartment to find his baby daughter dead and his wifes hands covered with blood It is known that the suspect was suffering from meningoencephalitis - an inflammation of the brain - in November last year. The disease is believed to have affected the woman's mental health, and she recently underwent treatment. She was discharged from the mental facility on March 3, shortly after giving birth, as doctors believed she was healthy. The mother has been taken into custody and will undergo a psychiatric evaluation. If the examination shows the mother was responsible for her actions at the time of the criminal act, she will be charged with premeditated murder of a minor. The suspect faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. A five-year-old boy has been found alive in the Argentine desert after he went missing for 24 hours. Benjamin Sanchez disappeared during a family outing in San Juan on Sunday, prompting 1,000 police, firefighters and volunteers to mount a huge search. His family feared for his health as he was wearing only a T-shirt and trousers and had no food with him. But he was found by volunteers on Monday some 13 miles from where he had vanished, Clarin reported. Rescue: Five-year-old Benjamin Sanchez is held in the arms of one of his saviours after a group of volunteers found him in the Argentine desert 24 hours after he disappeared Footage of the moment he was found shows five-year-old Benjamin being lifted up in celebration. The video, shared by Canal 13, also shows some of the motorcycles used by the rescue team to track the youngster down. Benjamin was taken to the Guillermo Rawson Hospital but is now said to be out of any danger. His sister Guadalupe Zurita told Argentine media: 'He's already eating, he's laughing and he's talking to us. We can not believe it. 'The relief is huge. We spent the worst 24 hours of our lives , I thought the worst. I thought I would never see it again.' Reunited: Benjamin Sanchez hugs his mother in hospital after he spent 24 hours in the desert, wearing only a T-shirt and trousers Recovery: Benjamin (pictured) was taken to the Guillermo Rawson Hospital but is now said to be out of any danger San Juan governor Sergio Unac welcomed him home, saying he 'shared a special morning' with the young boy. 'I am excited and deeply appreciate what was accomplished yesterday, this speaks of the tremendous heart that we have in San Juan,' the politician said. Rescuers were able to follow the tracks left by the boy's shoes, according to one of the volunteers on motorcycles. Officials said the boy had walked around in a circle and may initially have been playing a game of hide-and-seek. Later he appeared to have tried to return to his family but had not been able to find them, they said. A 13-year-old boy in east China has been detained by police for stabbing his mother to death after she killed his dog. The teenager, identified by his surname Shao, hacked his 37-year-old mother to death with a cleaver on Saturday night at their home in Jianhu county, Jiangsu province following an argument about the pet, according to Chinese reports. Officers detained the boy on Monday after the mother's body was found in their home, Jianhu police said in a statement. Police officers remove the body of the woman from her home in Jianhu county, east China's Jiangsu province. The victim's 13-year-old son, Shao, has been detained by authorities An owner of a nearby business told Red Star News that the mother, identified by her surnamed Yang, had been quite strict with her son. 'The boy loved playing with his pet all day long, so the angry mother threw it to its death in front of him,' the owner was quoted as saying, adding that the woman owned a clothing store at a nearby mall. During a heated argument, the boy picked up a cleaver and hacked his mother to death, according to Beijing News. An employee at a nearby residential district said the boy's father was a migrant worker who spent most of the year away from home. Crowds gather near the victim's home as police conduct investigations into the murder. An owner of a nearby business said the mother had been quite strict with her son The boy was later found by police officers at a 24-hour restaurant on Monday morning after spending more than a day there. Restaurant staff said he had ordered a cup of water and ate the biscuits that he had brought, the report added. He also had his schoolbag with him. 'Shao was dissatisfied with Yang's disciplining methods and there was a fierce conflict between the two parties, causing Yang's death,' Jianhu police said in a Weibo statement on Tuesday. The case remains under investigation. Under Chinese law, children under the age of 14 cannot be held criminally responsible. Those between 14 and 16 can be arrested and charged for offences such as murder, robbery and rape. Meanwhile, juvenile correctional facilities only accept teenagers aged between 14 and 18. Last December, a 12-year-old boy in a village in Hunan province fatally stabbed his mother more than 20 times with cleaver at home after she whipped him for smoking The child stabbed the 34-year-old woman with a kitchen knife and spent the night with her corpse with his two-year-old younger brother at their home (pictured) in Hunan province Last December, a 12-year-old boy in a village in Hunan province fatally stabbed his mother more than 20 times with cleaver at home after she whipped him for smoking. The incident shocked many in China and sparked a public outcry after the teenager, surnamed Wu, was released without charge nine days after the murder because he could not be prosecuted. The boy's school refused to take him back due to protests from other parents, who fear that the boy could harm their children. The similarities in both cases have prompted net users to call on the government to revise the the current legal system to better handle juvenile crime cases. 'There must be heavier consequences for juvenile criminals. They can't just be released back to school like nothing happened,' one person commented on Weibo. 'It's time to take juvenile delinquency more seriously,' another said. Wu, 12, has been freed without punishment after killing his mother at home in China Last week, 30 Chinese lawmakers submitted a proposal to the National Peoples Congress to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old. Experts have also urged the government to find better solutions to educate and rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. Pi Yijun, a specialist in juvenile delinquency at the China University of Political Science and Law, earlier told Caixin that there were few institutional provisions for such rehabilitation. 'That's why in a large number of cases, the police have no alternative but to return these underage children to society,' Pi said. A Beijing court previously revealed that among all court cases involving minors from 2010 to 2017, nearly 15 per cent were crimes committed by teenagers under 16. Earlier this month, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that the country is developing a multi-level system on education, assistance and mandatory correction to deal with the lack of efficient interventions on juveniles engaging in severe delinquent behaviour. Advertisement Unmarried couples have been whipped today for breaking Sharia law in Indonesia after they were caught either cuddling, holding hands or having sex. Five couples received between four and 22 strokes from a rattan cane outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after serving several months in prison. Religious police had caught them cuddling and holding hands or, in some cases, having sex outside marriage - a crime under the conservative Aceh region's Islamic law. Hundreds of spectators, including children, watched and filmed as a masked sharia officer lashed the offenders who winced in pain. Five couples received between four and 22 strokes from a rattan cane outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after serving several months in prison Religious police had caught them cuddling and holding hands or, in some cases, having sex outside marriage - a crime under the conservative Aceh region's Islamic law A female prisoner enters the punishment area (left) while another is publicly caned (right) for sexual relations without marriage in Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia Hundreds of spectators, including children, watched and filmed as a masked sharia officer lashed the offenders who winced in pain 'We hope in the future there will be no more cases like this - it's embarrassing,' said religious officer Safriadi, who goes by one name. Flogging is common for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol and having gay sex. It is the only province in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country that imposes Islamic law. In December, two men caught having sex with underage girls were whipped 100 times each in Aceh. Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end, but the practice has wide support among Aceh's population. Flogging is common for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol and having gay sex. Pictured: A sharia officer punishes a prisoner for sexual relations without marriage Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end, but the practice has wide support among Aceh's population The Project has hit back at Scott Morrison after the Prime Minister pulled out of the show over claims he had once suggested his party use anti-Muslim scare tactics for political gain. Host Waleed Aly took aim at anti-Muslim sentiment in politics in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack on Friday night, and claimed Mr Morrison had suggested in 2011 that his party exploit Muslim immigration concerns as a political strategy. Mr Morrison has strongly denied the accusation and even cancelled an appearance on the show, according to Project host Hamish MacDonald. The Project has hit back at Scott Morrison after the prime minister pulled out of the show over claims he had once suggested his party use Muslim scare tactics for political gain (pictured, host Hamish MacDonald) Host Waleed Aly took aim at anti-Muslim sentiment in politics in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack on Friday night, and claimed Mr Morrison (pictured) had suggested in 2011 that his party exploit Muslim immigration concerns as a political strategy 'Now we offered Mr Morrison the opportunity to respond live on this desk when he was due to appear on this program on Monday,' Macdonald said on Wednesday night. 'Not only did he decline but his media team pulled him out of the scheduled appearance altogether.' MacDonald went one step further to claim Mr Morrison's response to Aly had dragged the host into an 'ugly political fight'. Aly's accusation against Mr Morrison was drawn from a 2011 report published in the Sydney Morning Herald that said Morrison - then only a member of parliament - had brought up the strategy at a meeting but it was knocked back. 'I know there are media reports going back eight years at a shadow cabinet meeting in which another senior politician suggested his party should use community concerns about Muslims in Australia failing to integrate as a political strategy,' he said. 'That person is now the most senior politician we have,' he added in an apparent swipe at Mr Morrison. On whether or not the meeting happened, MacDonald had only this to say. 'In truth, no-one but those in that room can now say for sure what was said and there does seem to be two very distinct versions,' Macdonald said. 'But we as a country know what our leaders have been saying about refugees and immigrants and Muslims for well over a decade.' MacDonald compared Mr Morrison's heated response to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 'If anything paints a clearer picture on the state of Australian politics today it is this; after Waleed made that genuine, thoughtful, and reasoned contribution on Friday night a plea for our community to come together the Prime Minister of our country threatened to sue. Aly's accusation against Mr Morrison was drawn from a 2011 report published in the Sydney Morning Herald that said Morrison - then only a member of parliament - had brought up the strategy at a meeting but it was knocked back 'In contrast, New Zealands Prime Minister invited Waleed to her country to sit down for an interview. 'If you want to know why Im here tonight and not Waleed thats why, thats where he is.' Mr Morrison aimed his criticism at Aly earlier on Wednesday on ABC TV and labelled the accusation an 'appalling lie'. He pointed out he had a long history of working with the Islamic community. 'That's why I'm welcomed when I attend mosques in south-western Sydney, with warm embraces,' he said. 'Perhaps if people focused a bit more on the story they don't want to tell about my relationship with people of all faiths in this community, then perhaps they wouldn't leap to make prejudiced conclusions.' The PM also said he would not sue after his office previously called Aly's comments defamatory. A New York man who staggered home with blood leaking from his leg was found dead in his bed Monday morning. Hector Fernandez, 40, was found by a cousin facing upwards in his bed at around 7.40am at home in Queens. Police found a trail of his blood leading to his apartment and are investigating how he sustained the wound on his knee. Hector Fernandez, 40, was found by a cousin facing upwards in his bed on Monday morning He staggered home with blood leaking from his leg. Police are investigating whether he was stabbed or accidentally injured Medics pronounced him dead at the scene. Inquiries are ongoing to determine whether the injury was accidental or if Fernandez - from From Cuenca, Ecuador - was stabbed. A post-mortem will determine how Fernandez died. An American man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his Japanese wife to death outside a Tokyo court before they were due to have a divorce hearing. The man has not been named but is described by local media as a 32-year-old US citizen. They were near a security check outside the court when he allegedly lunged at her and stabbed her in the neck. The man was arrested in a park near to where the attack took place. Images above from local television networks showed a bald white man being treated by paramedics near the scene but it is unclear if this is the American man involved Outside the court, authorities put up a partition to conceal the woman's body Local media reports say he was carrying multiple knives at th etime. The man fled but was caught in a nearby park, according to authorities. The 31-year-old woman was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead. NHK says the suspect had three knives and police believe he ambushed the woman when she walked into the building. No further details were immediately available. Police refused to confirm the reports. Images on local television networks appeared to show a bald man lying on the floor being treated by police at around the time of the man's arrest. It is not clear if he was injured in the incident, or how long after the attack he was arrested. Police have not named the 32-year-old man or the 31-year-old woman. The man is in custody Japanese Police are seen hovering over a man n the ground near where the attack took place. He is believed to be the attacker Labour joined a move to force an emergency debate on Brexit delay today amid fears John Bercow (pictured today in Westminster) will trash Commons procedure again to hand MPs control Labour joined a move to force an emergency debate on Brexit delay today amid fears John Bercow will trash Commons procedure again to hand MPs control. Rumours are swirling in Westminster of an attempt to stage votes later today on what kind of Brexit Parliament will support on the eve of a crucial EU summit. Labour took control of the emergency debate plan after Theresa May refused to make a statement on her plans. She is is appearing at PMQs at noon. Mrs May will fly to Brussels tomorrow to ask for a short delay to Brexit - apparently to use as leverage to get her deal agreed by MPs next week. Her move flouts warnings from her own deputy just six days ago that requesting a short delay without the deal already agreed would be 'downright reckless'. Downing Street is still scrambling to recover from Mr Bercow's ruling on Monday that Mrs May could not call a new vote before the summit without changing the deal. Amid the chaos in Westminster caused by his bombshell, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer will demand the emergency debate later using rules known as 'Standing Order 24'. He will try to call a debate about the 'length and purpose of the extension of the Article 50 process requested by the Government'. A separate plan from backbench Labour MP Alison McGovern has not been selected by the Speaker. Normally debates called using the rule are about a general issue and cannot order the Government to do anything specific. The Commons Speaker hinted on Monday he could unilaterally change the rules to make an emergency debate more powerful. He said of emergency debates that the 'opportunities are fuller than has traditionally been acknowledged'. If Mr Bercow flouts the normal rules and allows MPs to table amendments, it could lead to a series of votes on different Brexit proposals tonight. Jeremy Corbyn will support moves to stage an emergency debate on Brexit today if Theresa May refuses to make a Commons statement on her plans A Labour spokeswoman said: 'The Prime Minister should make a statement. 'If she doesn't, we will support all measures to force a debate in Parliament on this matter.' MailOnline understands Labour wants Parliament to specify a 'purpose' for any extension to the two-year Article 50 process due to expire next Friday, March 29. Mrs May abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay or longer after furious Brexiteer cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June. The Brexit delay has split her cabinet with pro-Brexit ministers in triumphant mood while outraged Remainer ministers today it was Mrs May's 'most craven surrender to the hardliners yet'. Britain is due to leave the EU next Friday, March 29, but after failing to get her deal through parliament last week the Prime Minister will tomorrow ask the EU to extend the deadline at a Brussels summit. If they do not, Britain leaves with No Deal. Mrs May will fly to Brussels tomorrow to ask for a short delay to Brexit - apparently to use as leverage to get her deal agreed by MPs next week. A No 10 insider said today: 'The PM won't be asking for a long extension. There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward. But people in this country have been waiting nearly three years, they are fed up with Parliament's failure to take decision and the PM shares that frustration'. The Prime Minister is expected to write to the EU today asking for a shorter extension but Jean-Claude Juncker said she might have to hold a vote before any delay is agreed. An emergency EU summit has been scheduled next week to make a final decision. But confusion reigned this morning when Education Secretary Damian Hinds said that a third meaningful vote on the PM's deal might not take place next week because it is not certain she will win. Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom, who yesterday blasted ministers for failing to deliver Brexit and hinted she could resign, told LBC today: 'I'm quite sure it will only be a short extension. It's absolutely essential we're out of the EU before the European elections'. She also said John Bercow's ruling to prevent a third vote on Mrs May's deal is 'subordinate to the views of parliament' and said: 'He needs to remain impartial. I've had some questions about it'. European Union regulators have hit Google with a $1.68 billion (1.49 billion euro/1.28billion) fine for or blocking rival online search advertisers. It is the third multi-billion dollar EU antitrust penalty for Google's parenting company Alphabet in just two years. The European Commission, which said the fine accounted for 1.29 percent of Google's turnover in 2018, said in a statement that the anti-competitive practices had lasted a decade. Google has been fined $1.68 billion (1.49 billion euro/1,28billion) for preventing companies using its AdSense product from displaying search advertisements from its competitors The EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced the results of the long-running probe at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday. 'Today's decision is about how Google abused its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than the AdSense platform,' Vestager said. The commission found that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, breached EU antitrust rules by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used AdSense, preventing Google rivals from placing their ads on these sites. WHAT IS ADSENSE AND HOW DID GOOGLE MISUSE IT? AdSense is a program that allows website publishers to display advertisements on their sites, targeted to their audience and content. The ads shown by the program, used by millions of websites, are managed by Google. Today's EU case concerned AdSense for Search, which placed a Google search bar on the website in question, then used any searches made through it to tailor the content of adverts that users were shown. For example, if a user searched for 'shoes', they would be shown articles about shoes as well as adverts for shoes. But Google also made publishers sign contracts which initially forbid them from using a rival search engine on the same site, and later forced them to make Google's search the most prominent used on the site. Google also required publishers to reserve the most profitable advertising spaces for adverts they supplied, and forced them to seek written approval any time they wanted to change the way rival adverts were displayed The EU found these restrictions stifled innovation and denied rivals the chance to compete. Advertisement Google 'prevented its rivals from having a chance to innovate and to compete in the market on their merits,' Vestager said. 'Advertisers and website owners, they had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.' Last year Vestager hit the company with a record $5bn (3.8bn / 4.3bn) fine following an investigation into its Android operating system. In 2017, she slapped Google with a $2.84bn (2.1bn / 2.42bn) fine in a case involving its online shopping search results. Shortly after the fine was announced, Google said it has made and will continue to make a number of changes to address EU antitrust regulators' concerns. 'We've always agreed that healthy, thriving markets are in everyone's interest,' Kent Walker, senior vice-president of global affairs, said in a statement. 'We've already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the Commission's concerns. 'Over the next few months, we'll be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe,' he continued. He did not comment specifically on the European Commission's $1.7bn fine handed down today. EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, from Denmark, speaks at a news conference on the concurrence case with Google online search advertising, at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday The European Commission opened the most recent case against Google in 2016, accusing the search engine of preventing third parties using its AdSense product from displaying search advertisements from Google's competitors. In response to the investigation, Google changed the conditions in its AdSense contracts with large third parties, giving them more leeway to display competing search ads. The AdSense case may not be the end of Google's EU antitrust woes. EU antitrust enforcers have asked Google's rivals if it unfairly demotes local search competitors, according to a questionnaire seen by Reuters, a move which could lead to a fourth case. Online mapping services and others could also soon be in the spotlight. The British police on Wednesday arrested wanted fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi. Diamond Merchant Nirav Modi is needed in connection to Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The British police on Wednesday arrested wanted fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi. UK authorities within three days turned an arrest warrant into action after India requested Nirav Modi's extradition. Why Nirav Modi is wanted in India? Diamond Merchant Nirav Modi is needed in connection to Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam that raised questions over the creditability of India's banking system. On the morning of 14 February, the biggest scam in India's banking history was unearthed at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. The revelation sent shock waves across the nation and soon a multi-agency probe was ordered. As days progressed, diamond tycoon Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi were found at the centre of the fraud. The duo took loans from Indias largest lending bank to finance overseas loans and expand their business. The nephew and uncle duo had left the country weeks before the scam was detected. Here is the timeline of the case: January 29, 2018: PNB's Deputy General Manager of Mumbai branch, Avineesh Nepalia detects a loss caused by issuing eight fraud Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) amounting to Rs 280 crore to overseas banks. He sniffed the role of bank's employees and lodges a complaint with CBI. January 31, 2018: Income Tax officials raids offices of Nirav Modi across India. February 5, 2018: The CBI registered First Information Report (FIR) against Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal, wife Ami and Mehul Chinubhai Chowski of Diamond R and Stellar Diamonds. February 14, 2018: Punjab National Bank reached CBI to complain about Nirav Modi for illegally transferring about Rs11,000 crore of taxpayers' money abroad from its Mumbai branch. Punjab National Bank also alleged that its own employees helped Nirav Modi in carrying big-fat scam. February 15, 2018: Enforcement Directorate registers a money laundering case against Nirav Modi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. February 16, 2018: The CBI seeks Interpol's help to arrest Nirav Modi. February 17, 2018: Government revokes passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi for four weeks. February 18, 2018: CBI searches PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, questions officials and makes some arrests in the case. February 24, 2018: The government cancels passports of Nirav and Mehul. February 27, 2018: A magistrate's court issues a bailable arrest warrant against celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi. February 28, 2018: The CBI sends a mail to Nirav Modi to ask him to corporate in the investigation. March 2018: The UK authorities confirm that Nirav Modi is in London. April 5, 2018: Following the request from the ED, regulators in Belgium freeze two bank accounts of billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi. April 8, 2018: A court in Mumbai issues non-bailable arrest warrants for the nephew-uncle duo on the CBIs request. June 29, 2018: International Police Agency, Interpol issues a red corner notice against Nirav Modi. August 20 2018: India lodges an application with the UK Home Office to initiate the process of extraditing Nirav Modi. October 1, 2018: The ED seizes around Rs 6.4 billion of Nirav Modis assets in India and abroad. March 8, 2019: The UK Home Office deems Nirav Modis case fit for extradition and transfers case to the District Court in Westminister, which later issued the summons to Nirav Modi. March 20, 2019: UK police arrests Nirav Modi. A self-made Australian entrepreneur is planning to sell 'outback air' to scores of willing customers across different parts of Asia. Joe Duchiera, 36, has ploughed hundreds of thousands of dollars into the business and is just days away from releasing Ozi Air in China. He claims the unique product is a 'completely Australian-owned and made' product which uses specialised machinery to test the purity of the air, before it is placed into a compressed air can, ready to be sold. Australian entrepreneur Joe Duchiera is just days from launching 'Ozi Air' in China Ozi Air will soon be released across Asia, and is tipped to dominate the market in China With interest on social media from China, Hong Kong and South Korea building each day, Duchiera is hoping to launch his product in April. The Adelaide resident told News Corp the product is created by capturing clean air remotely from a few locations 'off the beaten track and closed to the public'. 'It's a bit of a secret, we remotely go out bush,' he said. 'We have air quality measuring devices we use to test the air to make sure we get the purest air we can.' Customers will take in the 'Aussie air' by using a face mask on the top of the can. It lasts for between 140-160 breaths or close to 10 minutes. Individual cans will retail for $23.99 with a dozen cans $179.99. Naturally, both the can and mask are made from recycled materials. Dr Mathew McDougall, the Reach China CEO, anticipates Duchiera's product to dominate the market. 'Ozi Air is an innovative product that is uniquely Australian..it gives Chinese (people) the opportunity to enjoy the benefit of pure fresh clean air, which is something they can't get at home,' he said. 'It will bring relief to those dealing with pollution. It will also serve as a unique souvenir for Chinese visiting Australia - they will be able to buy pure fresh Australian air and take it home as a wonderful memento.' A British woman has been arrested in Spain on suspicion of strangling a homeless Romanian man to death. The 50-year-old suspect, who lives on the holiday island of Gran Canaria, was detained there along with a 43-year-old Spaniard on Wednesday morning. The 61-year-old victim, who used a wheelchair after having both of his legs amputated, was found dead on January 11. He was found strangled in an abandoned building where he had been sleeping, in San Bartolome in Tirajana in the south of Gran Canaria. Suspects: A 50-year-old British woman (left) and a 43-year-old Spaniard (right) have been arrested over the death of a homeless Romanian man who was found strangled in January Sources close to the case said the arrested woman, initially described as Irish by police but British by court officials, was from Belfast. Police said the alleged killers had tried to burn the evidence after pouring an accelerant over the man's body. A spokesman for Spain's National Police said the British woman lived on the island and had no previous convictions. Police have not yet named her and have not revealed any relationship between the two suspects. 'We know the detainees and the victim knew each other but we are not in a position at this stage to offer any information on the possible motive,' a spokesman said. 'That will form part of the ongoing investigation which is now in the hands of a judge.' Armed with a search warrant, officers raided the home of the two suspects and seized items of clothing they are thought to have been wearing on the day. The unnamed British suspect, who lives on the island of Gran Canaria (file photo), is suspected of killing the Romanian man 'An intense police investigation lasting two months has led to the identification of the suspected authors of the January 11 murder,' police said. 'The arrested man is Spanish and the arrested woman is British. Both live in the south of Gran Canaria. 'The victim, a 61-year-old Romanian of no fixed abode, was sleeping in an abandoned building in San Bartolome de Tirajana and moved around in a wheelchair after having both legs amputated. 'He was strangled at the place where he used to sleep and then burnt after having accelerant poured over him.' The court hearing will take place behind closed doors and an investigating judge will decide as a first step whether to remand the suspects in custody or release them on bail pending an ongoing probe. There is 'absolutely no way' Robert Kraft will take a plea deal that requires him to admit he would have been found guilty f soliciting prostitutes at a Florida massage parlor, sources close to the Patriots owner say. Kraft, 77, is one of dozens of men who have been charged over their visits to the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida. This week, authorities offered him and others the chance to avoid court and jail time by admitting that they would have been found guilty had the case gone to trial. Kraft would avoid getting a criminal record but, as part of the deal, he would have to submit to STD testing and take a class on the dangers of prostitution. Sources close to him told The New York Post he was not even considering it. 'One-hundred percent no way hes taking the deal. Scroll down for video Robert Kraft will not take the deal prosecutors have put forward, according to sources close to him 'Kraft strongly insists he didnt do anything wrong, and he isnt going to take a deal that indicates he did,' they said. Kraft was charged last month with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and has publicly denied any criminal wrongdoing in the case, which was part of a larger investigation into human trafficking at Florida spas and massage parlors. Kraft was not accused of human trafficking. He was scheduled to be arraigned in the case next week. If Kraft chooses to go to trial and is convicted, he could receive one year in jail, a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. Kraft was charged last month with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida (pictured) Kraft visited the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida twice in a 24-hour span in January, according to police records. The first visit occurred on January 19, when Kraft allegedly received hand stimulation from 45-year-old spa manager Lei Wang and a 58-year-old spa employee named Shen Mingbi. Neither Wang nor Mingbi are believed to be victims of human trafficking. According to the affidavit, Kraft paid both women with a $100 bill. Wang has been arrested and charged with maintaining a house of prostitution, but Mingbi has not been charged. The second visit occurred on January 20, just hours before Kraft flew to Kansas City for the AFC Title game between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chief. That day, Kraft received oral sex from Wang, who is known as 'Lulu.' Kraft allegedly paid her with a $100 bill and another unidentified bill before leaving. Surveillance cameras that police had hidden in the spa captured both visits. Kraft used two different Bentleys to drive to the spa in the 24-hour span. While it remains unknown if Kraft will take the deal, the NFL insists the Patriots owner will not get any special treatment as it addresses his sex solicitation case. 'Our Personal Conduct Policy applies equally to everyone in the NFL. We will handle this allegation in the same way we would handle any issue under the Policy,' it said in a statement after Kraft was charged. 'We are seeking a full understanding of the facts, while ensuring that we do not interfere with an ongoing law enforcement investigation. We will take appropriate action as warranted based on the facts.' Commissioner Roger Goodell could fine or suspend Kraft from any activities involving this year's Super Bowl champions, and there will likely be a league inquiry. The NFL's personal conduct policy states that 'ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline. 'It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful,' it states. Meanwhile, a group of powerful Democrats is calling on the FBI to provide an assessment of any 'counterintelligence risks' posed by Li Wang's interactions with President Trump, following revelations about potential straw donations. Li Yang, also known as Cindy Yang, owned the Orchids of Asia day spa. Powerful Democratic lawmakers are demanding the FBI reveal potential 'counterintelligence concerns' by her fundraising efforts to benefit President Trump Yang previously owned the Orchids of Asia day spa. She also founded GY US investments, a firm that marketed to a Chinese clientele and offered the 'opportunity to interact' with the president. The leading Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Panels wrote the heads of the FBI, Director of National Intelligence, and Secret Service. The lawmakers are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to 'conduct criminal and counterintelligence investigations into credible allegations of potential human trafficking, as well as unlawful foreign lobbying, campaign finance and other activities by Ms Yang.' 'We also ask that the Bureau furnish to the intelligence and judiciary committees an assessment of any counterintelligence risks or related concerns associated with any interactions with President Donald Trump and Ms. Yang.' Yang has been photographed with Trump at a fundraiser. She also has been a guest at Mar-a-Lago, the president's Florida club, and has been photographed with numerous Trump family members and associates. Shannon Lee, 21, from Netley Abbey near Southampton, would pose as another woman, whose photos she stole from the internet, before luring men into sexual and embarrassing conversations A 'vindictive conwoman who made more than 100,000 on a sugar daddy website by 'catfishing' married men before blackmailing them has been jailed for nearly three years. Shannon Lee, 21, from Netley Abbey near Southampton, would pose as another woman, whose photos she stole from the Internet, before luring men into sexual and embarrassing conversations. Lee would then threaten to expose the conversations to wives, family members and friends if her six victims refused to pay large amounts of money into her bank account, Southampton Crown Court heard. In total, police found payments of more than 100,000 in Lee's account - including 40,000 from one man alone, who she had targeted for two years. Lee, who would conduct these traps from the comfort of her own home, has now been jailed for 32 months for charges of blackmail and fraud. Judge Peter Henry described her as 'cold callous and vindictive' and explained that her actions had been to fuel her own thrills and excitement. The court heard how Lee would contact the men through Las Vegas-based SeekingArrangement. The site is centred around 'sugar daddies and sugar babies' - a type of relationship often started and maintained over the internet for the financial benefit of younger women. The website, which describes itself as a place where 'beautiful and successful people fuel mutually beneficial relationships', has more than 2.6 million so-called sugar babies. In recent years it has become extremely popular for university students in the UK as an extra form of income and a way of paying tuition fees. The court heard how Lee would contact the men through Las Vegas-based SeekingArrangement. Pictured: An advert for the site The court heard, Lee, using the name of 'Sophie' and pictures of a women which she had stolen from the internet, would strike up a friendly conversation with her targets. She would then request a fee from the men to continue the chat, something prosecutor Jane Terry described as 'common practice' on SeekingArrangement. Ms Terry said Lee would later move the conversation on to encrypted mobile messaging application Whatsapp - on which messages can only been seen by the sender and receiver. Ms Terry said: 'She began engaging in sexual conversation via Whatsapp, before demanding money from her victims. 'If she didn't receive the money, she said she would disclose the messages to family or friends.' The court heard Lee would send menacing messages to her victims in order to pressure them to pay up including one with the phrase 'tick-tock, time is almost up.' 'Get the transfer done and I might discuss things further': Vile messages Lee sent to her victims Lee: 'Show me you're a decent human being, get the transfer done and then I MIGHT discuss things further and give you that information but until then the threat stands in place. 'I'll not reply now. I've told you how things will happen. You've got until 11.22pm. 'It doesn't matter who. I've told you enough. I don't care what's criminal and what's not I need to keep a roof over my head, now I've given you an option, I'll be in touch later after 11.22pm. 'You'll make the transfer or you'll be exposed.' Victim: 'Exposed as what?' Lee: 'You know what I'm talking about. Now I'm done talking, if the transfer is not made by 11.22pm you'll be exposed. Goodbye..' Advertisement When one victim tried to negotiate a lower the price, claiming he could not pay, Lee replied: 'I'm not bartering with you. I don't want to have to do it [expose you], but I will, believe me.' One victim, who was targeted by Lee for almost two years from 2016 to 2018, paid more than 40,000 into her account. Ms Terry said the victim was subjected to both 'begging and cajoling' by Lee, who used both threats and 'sob stories' to encourage them to pay up. Lee was eventually brought to the attention of the authorities after one of her victims, a foreign student in the UK, came forward to police to report himself as a victim of blackmail. Lee, who gave her personal bank details to her victims was then investigated by police who were able to identify and contact a further five victims. Lee gave a 'no comment' interview to police, but later admitted to one count of fraud and six counts of blackmail. Sentencing Lee, Judge Henry said: 'You got these men to engage in sexual conversations, which at the very least would be embarrassing to them or their family members and friends. 'You said you would expose these men in an embarrassing way. You were putting pressure on those men to come up with money and you were cajoling them. 'Blackmailing is an extremely serious and nasty offence. You were being cold and calculating and became vindictive. 'You told the probation service that when you were doing this you were enjoying the thrill of putting pressure on these men. 'You admitted you were being greedy and excited when you were scamming these people. You were controlling these men, that's why this is a very serious offence.' In recent years SeekingArrangement has become extremely popular for university students in the UK as an extra form of income and a way of paying tuition fees Ms Terry said the money gained by fraud amounted to more than 28,000 she had conned out of one of her victims through her 'sob stories'. And the six counts of blackmail related to more than 3,800 she demanded from her victims, of which they had paid 2,500. Ms Terry added that total payments of 100,000 were found in her account during the police investigation. In mitigation, Berenice Mulvanny said Lee was a teenager when her offending began and she had been 'depressed, anxious and lacking guidance.' She added that jobless Lee was 'deeply remorseful' and 'bitterly regretted' her actions. Lee will serve half of her sentence before she is allowed out on licence. MailOnline has contacted SeekingArrangement for comment. A mother who went to police over tweets posted by a Catholic journalist about her transgender daughter says she has now withdrawn the complaint. Susie Green, whose daughter Jackie transitioned as a teenager, reported Caroline Farrow to Surrey Police over tweets posted online after they appeared on TV together last year. Mrs Farrow, 44, expressed her outrage yesterday that she was the subject of a criminal investigation for 'misgendering' Jackie as a 'he' online. The case has sparked a row over whether police should be spending time examining tweets rather than pumping more resources into tackling violence and theft. But Mrs Green hit back today, saying her complaints to police were also about Mrs Farrow's calling her a 'child abuser' who had 'castrated' her 'son' on Twitter. She says she now plans to withdraw the complaint to police because she fears the row is giving Mrs Farrow 'a platform'. Susie Green (left) went to police over tweets posted by Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow (right) about her transgender daughter, Jackie, after they appeared on TV last year Mrs Green said Mrs Farrow's tweets were not an accidental slip, but were 'malicious' and aimed at her. The tweets were broadcast on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show this morning Mrs Green told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire: 'Every day, people misgender my daughter online, that wasn't uncommon. What was uncommon was that this was a journalist who had a public platform, who used that to send very malicious and nasty messages. 'It's not just the misgendering, it's actually the context that she puts it into and that she calls me a child abuser... it's also the stuff around mutilation and castration. It was the really damaging things she said about me.' Mrs Green was asked whether she thought that, though upsetting, the tweets were a matter for police. She said that was up to the police and prosecutors, but as the founder of a charity which advises others to report hate crime, she felt she should report it. She said she is now withdrawing her complaint, adding: 'If I had continued my complaint then Caroline Farrow would have continued to have a platform to spread misinformation about what actually happened. Being involved in an investigation would have meant that I couldn't talk.' Jackie Green (right) had a sex change after turning 16. She is the daughter of Susie Green (left) who appeared on Good Morning Britain alongside Caroline Farrow last year Susie and Jackie (pictured above) the pair enjoyed a holiday to Thailand before Jackie had her operation What is the Malicious Communications Act? The Malicious Communications Act prohibits the posting of material which is grossly offensive or threatening, false or believed to be false, if it is sent with the intent to cause distress or anxiety. Sentences for those found guilty under this act can be up to two years. In 2012, guidance was given to prosecutors which stated cases should not where what is posted is 'not obviously beyond what could conceivably be tolerable or acceptable in a diverse society which upholds and respects freedom of expression'. The guidelines stated: 'In line with the free-speech, no prosecution should be brought unless it can be shown on its own facts and merits to be both necessary and proportionate.' Advertisement The original tweets posted by Mrs Farrow on October 4 were read out on air today. One stated: 'What she [Susie Green] did is illegal. She mutilated him by having him castrated and rendered sterile while still a child.' Another tweet accused Mrs Green and her charity of 'child abuse'. Mrs Farrow tweeted this morning: 'All I have been told by Surrey Police that I "misgendered Susie Greens daughter". 'The investigation is still ongoing. I am very concerned about Mrs Green disclosing what the police will not tell me about my tweets on this programme & making allegations I cannot counter.' She added: 'This is a public witch-hunt. Whether or not I am in breach of the Malicious Communications Act or have broken the law needs to be investigated by the police & a court of law. Not the @vicderbyshire show.' Surrey Police said the investigation currently continues. It is understood police have yet to receive an official withdrawal statement from Mrs Green. If she decides to officially withdraw her original complaint, detectives will decide whether to end the investigation. The police force has come under fire for mounting the investigation at a time when budgets are stretched and knife crime is on the rise. Surrey's former Chief Constable Lynne Owens said in 2015 that as a result of 25million in cuts and the loss of 250 officers, minor crimes would be ignored in favour of investigation of offences against vulnerable people. Jackie Green (pictured above) had previously appeared on This Morning to discuss her place at the Miss England finals A group of preschool students gathered in their classroom singing 'Jesus Loves Me' as a tornado ripped off the roof of their school in Kentucky. The twister, tearing through five miles of land in Paducah, damaged every room at Mount Zion Baptist Church except for the one where 40 preschoolers and 10 church staff members had gathered. As the tornado hit the area on March 14, the preschool children became frightened and staff members helped them by singing with them. The roof of Mount Zion Church (pictured) in West Paducah, Kentucky, was entirely destroyed The songs included Jesus Loves Me and Hes Got the Whole World in His Hands'. The 50-year-old church lost most of its roof but nobody inside the building was hurt. Michelle Rushing, director of the Mount Zion Baptist Day Care, said staff had received a tornado warning and had implemented their evacuation plan, moving children and workers to a safe room. Several buildings around the area were destroyed when a twister touched down in Kentucky Power lines in Paducah went down after the twister and the public was asked to avoid the area as crews tried to fix the problem After the storm, staff and students found out the nursery and the sanctuary had been destroyed. The only untouched room was the one where children and teachers had taken shelter. Ms Rushing said God had helped keep everyone in the building safe. Sylvia Cherry, a church member, told CBS News: 'We just give God the glory that no one was hurt.' The senior pastor, Wes Conner, said he is already working on plans to rebuild the church and services are still being held, but in a different part of the building. 'Church is not a building, church is the people,' he said. 'Buildings can be rebuilt, and, frankly, God is going to get us through this.' The Wilbert Vault Co., in West Paducah, Kentucky, was damaged during the tornado last week No serious injuries were recorded but more than 5,300 residents lost power in the area Dramatic footage of the tornado hitting from Lovelaceville through the West Paducah area was posted on social media. Several buildings in the western Kentucky area were damaged and, although no serious injuries were recorded, more than 5,300 residents lost power. The public was asked to avoid the area while crews worked to clear utility lines, downed trees and other debris. A 104-year-old woman who has never been in trouble with the law has been 'arrested' by police as part of a bucket list wish. Anne Brokenbrow, who is a resident at Stokeleigh Care Home in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, was 'detained' by two officers as part of a charity event. The home is one of five facilities in the area participating in the Wishing Washing Line initiative. This is the moment 104-year-old Anne Brokenbrow, pictured along with PCSO Kelly Foyle, right, and PC Stephen Harding, left, is 'arrested' at the Stokeleigh Care Home in Bristol today Mrs Brokenbrow stunned staff at the home when she said she wanted to be arrested as she has never been on the wrong side of the law PC Stephen Harding and his colleague PSCO Kelly Foyle arrived at the home this morning to perform the arrest before escorting her to the car. Mrs Brokenbrow, who is a former secretary, filled out a form which stunned staff at the care home. She wrote: 'My wish is... to be arrested. I am 104 and I have never been on the wrong side of the law.' Today, two officers arrived at the care home and 'arrested' Mrs Brokenbrow and took her for a run in a police car. Mrs Brokenbrow said she'd enjoyed being on the wrong side of the law for a change. She said: 'I had a lovely day it was interesting. Nothing like that ever happened to me before. They put the handcuffs on, I had the lot. 'What did it feel like being a criminal? Well it will make me much more careful of what I say and do. But the police were very nice throughout.' Care home resident's wishes were pegged on a 'wishing washing line;' at nearby Co-op stores last week, in the hope a shopper will see it and offer to help make it come true. Anne's note read: 'My wish is... to be arrested. I am 104 and I have never been on the wrong side of the law.' Today her wish came true. Mrs Brokenbrow said: 'It was a very pleasant interlude. And its been a very eventful day. I get to a lot of different activities here - I have a go at everything, they're very nice to me. Mrs Brokenbrow described today's adventure as 'a very pleasant interlude' A member of staff wheeled Mrs Brokenbrow out to the police car along with PC Harding, left, and PCSO Foyle, right 'I've got grandchildren, all fit and well - I hear a lot from them and see them quite often,' she added. Mrs Brokenbrow, who is 104 and has dementia, has been at the home for 10 months, where she is regularly visited by her granddaughter Sasha who she raised. 'I was a secretary at the Robertsons jam factory for many years,' she said. 'I worked in the offices there. I didn't do anything very special but I worked quite hard.' PCSO Kelly Foyle helped in the arrest. She said, 'My colleague PC Stephen Harding arrested her, as far as I know she's the oldest person he's arrested.. She was smiling, she had a lovely time. 'This all started when I received an email for the charity. We're part of the neighbourhood pol team, this is our beat, this is the most unusual request we've ever had certainly. The local police team said they were happy to help Mrs Brokenbrow with her bucket list wish 'I got the email and I thought 'wow what an amazing thing to wish for', it explained that she'd never been in trouble with the law and she's 104 and she would just like the experience of being arrested, was so I emailed back saying 'yes were happy to be on board'. 'She did come quietly, and she wanted to be handcuffed so we very gently applied the handcuffs and escorted her down to the police car. PCSO Rob Cole said: 'It was our first time arresting anyone at a care home. She was surprised to see us, I don't think she could remember at first that she'd wanted to be arrested. 'But when she saw us and the handcuffs were coming out she went along with it then - she didn't resist or anything. Simon Bernstein chief exec of alive activities who run the 'wishing washing line scheme', he said: 'Our charity provides lots of creative activities for older people and engage the community in coming into care homes. 'It can be very boring and quite lonely sometimes - with the best will in the world, some of the care staff don't have the time to engage people in meaningful activities. He said the wishing washing line idea - which originated in Essex - had been a great success so far with many residents making wishes. PC Harding showed Mrs Brokenbrow the interior of his squad car Mrs Brokenbrow, pictured wearing a police hat, enjoyed her unusual bucket list experience 'It can be as simple as going to the pub for a pint, or having somebody to knit with or play bridge with, it can be anything. 'One man said he wanted to see Elvis - but you can't make every wish come true.' Simon explained that some elderly people might actually be better off in prison, at least in terms of fresh air. He said: 'There's a real irony in Anne being arrested today because I've been told on average people living in a care home in the UK only get to go outdoors and breath fresh air for four minutes a month. 'That's actually less than prisoners.' Mrs Brokenbrow filled out the form as part of the Bristol Wishing Washing Line Care home manager Alex said Anne was their first resident to be arrested by police. She said: 'Anne has been a resident here over 10 months, she's definitely a character - she's got a beautiful and a great sense of humour. 'She usually brings a smile to the carers' faces. 'We were a little bit surprised when she came up with her wish, who would expect from a 104 to want to be arrested. 'But it's been great. Mrs Brokenbrow, pictured in 1937 with her husband Ronnie, who died 35 years ago Mrs Brokenbrow, pictured in 1935, left, and 1978, right, has been living in the care home for ten months With the wishing washing line scheme only a couple of weeks old, Alex said it was great that their first resident's wish had been fulfilled in such a spectacular fashion. She said: 'We've got a couple of others - one resident wished to have bikers come here and rev the engines, one would like to go in a Rolls Royce and have a ride, and another resident would like to drive a car because he never has.' Alex said a motorcycle club had already volunteered to come to the home and fulfil the next resident's wish. The paper slips are then attached to a 'washing line' at nearby Coop stores. The idea is that shoppers will stop to look at the wishes and if they think they can grant one then they can contact the elderly person behind it. The Wishing Washing Line project launched in Bristol this month, having already helped thousands of elderly people in Essex. This photograph of Mrs Bokenbrow was taken in 1919 when she was aged four Bill Gates has followed Jeff Bezos to become the world's second 'centi-billionaire' after his fortune reached the $100 billion threshold. According to Bloomberg, which tracks the wealth of the planet's richest people through its Billionaires Index, the Microsoft co-founder has already earned $9.5 billion so far this year - taking him right up to the magic $100 billion mark. The only other member of the ultra-exclusive $100 billion club is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who became the first centi-billionare in history in November 2017 and is now worth $146 billion. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (pictured) has become the world's second 'centi-billionaire' with a fortune of $100 billion Bezos, who started e-commerce marketplace Amazon in 1994, has amassed a staggering $20.7 billion since January 1. Once the world's richest person, Gates was eclipsed by Bezos in July 2017, but has also donated more than $35 billion to charity through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has said he intends to give away at least half of his wealth to programs that reduce poverty, enhance healthcare and expand education. Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, may have to cede some of his vast fortune to his wife of 25 years, Mackenzie, during their imminent divorce. The climbing fortunes of Gates and Bezos are indicative of America's expanding wealth gap. The middle class has a significantly smaller share of overall U.S. income and wealth than it did four decades ago - and it's losing ground to the richest of the rich, who have nearly doubled their share of overall U.S. income since 1980. Gates has joined Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (pictured) in the centi-billionaire club of which they are the only two members The richest 10 per cent of Americans accounted for 44.9 per cent of all income in 1980 with the top 1 per cent alone accounting for 10.7 per cent of all income. But by 2014 that wealthy 10 per cent accounted for 67.2 per cent of all income, and the top 1 per cent made 20.2 per cent of all income in the U.S. Indeed, billionaire investor and the world's fourth richest man Warren Buffett said last month that the wealthy - including himself - are not paying enough taxes. 'The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population,' Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, told CNBC television. 'As we get more specialized, the rich will get richer,' he continued. 'The question is: How do you take care of a guy who is a wonderful citizen whose father died in Normandy and just doesnt have market skills? 'I think the income tax credit is the best way to address that. 'That probably means more taxes for guys like me, and Im fine with it,' he said. After regaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, some Democratic lawmakers have also been calling for higher taxes on the wealthy. They include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York City, who has proposed a 70 percent marginal tax on incomes over $10 million to bridge the growing wealth gap between the rich and poor. According to Bloomberg, there are also 145 people in the world who are designated 'deca-billionaires' with fortunes of at least $10 billion, and some 2,800 regular billionaires. A surgeon who operated on a four-year-old girl critically injured in the Christchurch terror attack ran to surgery for the first time in his life to treat the young victim. Adib Khanafer, a vascular surgeon at Christchurch Hospital, received a desperate call while in a planned procedure on Friday and automatically knew the situation was serious. 'This was a totally different call ... it said ''come now'' and ''where are you'' and ''how far'',' he told the NZ Herald. Adib Khanafer (pictured), a vascular surgeon at Christchurch Hospital, received a desperate call while in a planned procedure on Friday and automatically knew the situation was serious 'This is the first time I have run to theatre.' Dr Khanafer had not yet learnt that almost 50 people were shot dead in the country's worst terrorist attack in history. Dozens more were being rushed to the same hospital to be treated for their horrific injuries. Dr Khanafer broke down in tears as he described the harrowing ordeal almost a week later. The surgeon said he entered the operating theatre to find the four-year-old girl with serious gunshot injuries lying on the table. He said it was 'really sad' to see such a young victim needing desperate surgery. 'This was a totally different call ... it said ''come now'' and ''where are you'' and ''how far'',' Dr Khanafer said The young girl had already been on the table for 45-minutes but Dr Khanafer's vascular expertise was needed for the damage around her pelvis. Dr Khanafer apologised for his emotional display when speaking to the NZ Herald and explained the situation felt all the more real as the father of four children aged between seven and 14. 'It could have been my boy, it could have been my girl,' he said. The incident was even more confronting for the surgeon as she was the youngest patient he had ever treated. Before Christchurch, his youngest patients had been in their 30s and 90 per cent of them were over 60. Dr Khanafer had not yet learnt that almost 50 people were shot dead in the country's worst terrorist attack in history (pictured: mourners pay tribute to victim's of the terrorist attack) Dr Khanafer put his own emotions to one side and worked tirelessly to treat the young victim. The moment he finished up in the operating theatre, Dr Khanafer stepped outside and began to cry. He spoke to the girl's father, who was also injured in the attack, and explained they had done their bit but the rest was up to 'God Almighty'. The young girl was transported to Starship Children's Hospital, in Auckland, and the surgeon has remained in contact about her condition. Dr Khanafer, who identifies as British Lebanese and trained overseas, said he is extremely optimistic about her chance of recovery. The first victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack were buried on Wednesday (pictured), five days after a white supremacist gunned down defenceless worshippers He also spoke about the lasting impact the Christchurch terror attack has had on children of the Muslim faith. He explained his 13-year-old daughter feared for his wife's safety due to her choice of wearing the hijab but he reassured her the family lived in a safe town. There are still 29 victims in hospital following Friday's attack and eight of them are in a critical condition. The first victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack were buried on Wednesday, five days after a white supremacist gunned down defenceless worshippers at two different mosques. An assistant principal in West Virginia accused of harassing a transgender student inside the boys' bathroom will be out of his job after this school year. The board of education in Harrison County, voted to not renew a probationary contract for Lee Livengood, who allegedly followed 15-year-old Michael Critchfield into the men's room at Liberty High School last November and said, 'You freak me out.' School Superintendent Mark Manchin, who is a cousin of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, initially tried to extend Livengood's contract for a fourth year, but he said Tuesday's board vote to end Livengood's employment on June 30 was unanimous. The board of education in Harrison County, West Virginia, on Tuesday voted unanimously to not renew a probationary contract for assistant principal Lee Livengood over claims that he harassed trans boy Michael Critchfield (right) in the bathroom Critchfield said Livengood ordered him to prove his gender by using a urinal in the boys' bathroom at Liberty High School last November Critchfield, who identifies as a male, said Livengood also ordered him on November 27 to prove his gender by using a urinal. Livengood was suspended without pay before returning to Liberty High. The American Civil Liberties Union said 1,100 people signed a petition demanding the board take action. Loree Stark, legal director for the ACLU of West Virginia, released a statement demanding further action. 'While were glad to see Harrison County Schools taking accountability for what happened in the bathroom that day, we expect talks to resume regarding the implementation of best practice trans-inclusive policies that will better protect LGBTQ students and create a safer learning environment for Michael moving forward,' Stark said. 'Anything less would be unacceptable.' Critchfield, who identifies as a male, is a high school sophomore. He said Livengood's conduct in the bathroom was 'terrifying' to him According to Critchfield, during the November incident Livengood entered the boys' bathroom and asked if any students were in the stall. Critchfield confirmed he was, but said that when he left the stall, Livengood was standing in the bathroom doorway blocking the exit. The sophomore student claims Livengood 'barricaded' him in and demanded to know why he was using the boy's bathroom. When he replied it was his legal right as he identifies as a male, Critchfield alleges Livengood used improper pronouns and asked him to use a urinal to prove that he was a boy. '[Livengood] kept raising his voice and saying, "why are you in this bathroom? You shouldn't be here",' Michael told the Huffington Post. Trying to repeatedly explain his gender identity, Michael said he was continually interrupted by the incensed Assistant Principal. 'Come out here and use the urinal,' Livengood allegedly challenged. 'If you can't use the urinal, then you shouldn't be in here. Critchfield's mother, Caroline (right), previously lashed out at Livengood, saying his job was to protect students like her son, not to bully them 'What if a student said you were checking them out in here?' Other students are said to have heard screaming coming from the bathroom and told a chaperone, who saw both Critchfield and Livengood walk out. Livengood later went on to reportedly exclaim: 'I'm not going to lie: you freak me out.' Critchfield said the transphobic exchange left him feeling 'degraded and discriminated against'. He added: 'Kids like me should never have to go through anything like this. At the end of the day all I wanted was to feel welcome.' Critchfield told The Charleston Gazette-Mail: 'A chaperone found out he had me barricaded in the bathroom. By the time she came, I was breaking down and had quivering lips.' Critchfield's mother, Caroline, said: 'As a parent, that is my child that you are talking to. His job was to provide safety, to protect my son while he was in school. School Superintendent Mark Manchin, who is a cousin of conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (pictured), initially tried to extend Livengood's contract for a fourth year 'Not bully. Not badger. Not to humiliate. Not to tear someone down. Not cause phobia. Not cause discrimination against him. What is this teaching our students?' In a press release, Critchfield said: 'Mr. Livengood's behavior in the bathroom that day was terrifying, and no student deserves that kind of treatment. 'I'm telling my story so that high school doesn't have to be a scary place for kids like me.' Last week, Senator Manchin, the school superintendent's relative, made headlines when he became the sole Democratic senator who did not co-sponsor an LGBT anti-discrimination bill. The bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, would add LGBT protections to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 'I am not convinced that the Equality Act as written provides sufficient guidance to the local officials who will be responsible for implementing it, particularly with respect to students transitioning between genders in public schools,' Manchin wrote in a statement posted Monday to his website. Manchin, who is known as a conservative Democrat, did not sponsor a similar proposal in 2017. West Virginia ACLU Executive Director Joseph Cohen said he was 'sorely disappointed' that neither of the states US senators endorsed the proposal. The death sentence must be imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be an altogether inappropriate punishment. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that life imprisonment is the rule, to which the death penalty is the exception. The death sentence must be imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be an altogether inappropriate punishment, having regard to the relevant facts and circumstances of the crime. The apex court in a recent judgment said sentencing is a difficult task and often vexes the mind of the court, but where the option is between life imprisonment and a death sentence, if the court itself feels some difficulty in awarding one or the other, it is only appropriate that the lesser punishment be awarded. A bench of Justices N.V. Ramana, M. Shantanagouder and Indira Banerjee said the courts are not obliged to make efforts either to give latitude to the prosecution or loosely construe the law in favour of the accused. The traditional dogmatic hyper technical approach has to be replaced by a rational, realistic and genuine approach for administering justice in a criminal trial. If a court finds it difficult to make a choice between death penalty and life imprisonment, it should opt for the lesser punishment. In this case the appellant Sachin Kumar Singhraha was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh. He took the child to the school where his own daughter was studying, but the victim did not return home that day. He raped and killed her and dumped the body in a well. Both the trial and high courts slapped death sentence on him and he preferred the present appeal. Disposing of the appeal, the Bench in its verdict said he has committed a heinous offence in a premeditated manner. He not only abused the faith reposed in him by the parents but also exploited the innocence and helplessness of a child as young as five years of age. At the same time, we are not convinced that the probability of reform of the accused/appellant is low, in the absence of prior offending history and keeping in mind his overall conduct. A model broke down in tears today as she was sentenced to eight years in prison in Pakistan for trying to smuggle 1million of heroin into Ireland. Tereza Hluskova wept after she was handed the sentence in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. The court said the 22-year-old Czech model was arrested in possession of 19 lbs (8.5kg) of heroin in January 2018 at the Lahore airport. From there, she was heading to Ireland via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the court said. Since her arrest, Hluskova has told investigators that she came to Pakistan to work as a model but that someone put narcotics into her luggage. Czech model Tereza Hluskova broke down in tears today as she was sentenced to eight years in prison in Pakistan for trying to smuggle 1million of heroin into Ireland Tereza Hluskova, 22, wept after she was handed the sentence in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province The court said the 22-year-old Czech model was arrested in possession of 19 lbs of heroin in January 2018 at the Lahore airport Her lawyer, Sardar Asghar Dogar, says she will appeal. Miss Hluskova was convicted during a court appearance last week. Her sentence also includes an $800 (600) fine. Previous reports said Miss Hluskova was stopped with a haul of the Class A drug stashed in statues in her luggage. The story gained attention when Miss Hluskova was captured smiling and posing for photos with Pakistani investigators after she was arrested at the airport. Miss Hluskova's trial was repeatedly delayed and she had been on bail in Pakistan Miss Hluskova is facing more than eight years in prison after her conviction. The death penalty in Pakistan applies to those caught with over 10kgs of drugs The story gained attention when Miss Hluskova was captured smiling and posing for photos with Pakistani investigators after she was arrested at the airport She has previously said she was in Pakistan for a modelling contract and told authorities she did not know how the heroin ended up in her suitcase. Two other men were also arrested and were due to face drug trafficking charges after police went through the model's phone. In a video, released online, a Pakistani customs official is shown 'discovering' the drugs hidden in the suitcase while Miss Hluskova looks on. She then puts her head in her hands. She says in the video: 'They gave me something for luggage, three statues or something. They said it was gifts. I didn't know there was something inside'. Miss Hluskova broke down in tears at a previois hearing after she was told her trial would be postponed The model has previously said she was in Pakistan for a modelling contract and told authorities she did not know how the heroin ended up in her suitcase Tereza Hluskova, 22, from the Czech Republic, was stopped at Lahore airport in Pakistan as she attempted to board a flight to Dublin, Ireland In November last year, a man was jailed for three years after he threatened terrorist attacks on Pakistan if Miss Hluskova was not released. Nikolai Simeonov Ivanov, 21, from Bulgaria, sent threatening emails and text messages to a news website in Pakistan. Ivanov admitted that he did not realise the consequences of sending the threats, a court heard. Catherine Ann Vandermaesen is in custody after deputies discovered her 96-year-old father living in a home stinking of feces and filled with up to 700 rats A California woman was arrested after her 96-year-old father and multiple pets were discovered living in a home stinking of feces and infested with up to 700 rats. Catherine Ann Vandermaesen, 65, is being held on suspicion of felony elder abuse and misdemeanor animal neglect, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. She was in custody and couldn't be reached for comment. Vandermaesen didn't want to allow deputies inside the home during a welfare check last Wednesday in Ojai, a small city in a rural valley northwest of Los Angeles, the statement said. Her 74-year-old sister was also discovered at the house and was described as a 'possible victim.' When officers asked to see their 96-year-old father, both daughters said they would bring him out in a wheelchair but refused to allow them into the home. After gathering more information about their living conditions, officers chose to return the following day with more resources. The ammonia smell associated with urine was detected 20 feet from the residence when officers arrived there, the sheriff's office said. Ventura County Sheriff's Office issued shocking pictures showing deplorable and squalid conditions inside the house, which was infested with up to 700 rats A sheriff's task force encountered multiple pets, urine and feces throughout the residence, authorities said. The home was also filled with garbage, according to the release. Eight dogs, two rabbits, a cat, a parrot and 55 pet rats were removed. The Ventura County Animal Control and Humane Society of Ventura County estimated the house was infested with 200 to wild 700 rats. A number of animal cages can be seen inside the home , while waste and fecal matter can be seen on the floor Rats can be seen inside a cage at the house where Catherine Vandermaesen cared for her elderly father and where her sister also lived in Ojai The ammonia smell associated with urine was detected 20 feet from the residence when officers arrived there, the sheriff's office said The rats were running around within two bedrooms, walls, the garage and garbage located throughout the house. Vandermaesen's elderly father and her 74-year-old sister, who deputies described as a 'possible victim,' were taken by ambulance to a hospital. Their conditions were unknown. County welfare authorities assumed custody of Vandermaesen's father, who uses a wheelchair. Officials also helped the sister get temporary housing services. The City of Ojai Code Enforcement yellow tagged the residence, due to the conditions inside the residence being unlivable and a danger to the occupants and animals A spokesman for Ventura County Sheriff described her as a 'hoarder of animals' and said welfare services had been in contact with her before over an incident involving her sister Vandermaesen had 'willfully caused or permitted the health of her elderly father to suffer' by allowing him to live at the home, officials said. The task force also discussed possible elder abuse, animal abuse, medical concerns, living hazards and environmental concerns. The City of Ojai Code Enforcement yellow tagged the residence, due to the conditions inside the residence being unlivable and a danger to the occupants and animals, both caged and uncaged. Eight dogs, two rabbits, a cat, a parrot and 55 pet rats were removed from the property located at the 1200 block of Gregory Street in Ojai (pictured) Her elderly sister was also medically assessed on scene and transported to Ojai Valley ER. Ventura County Adult Protection Services helped her gain temporary housing services. Vandermaesen was held on felony charges of elder abuse and failure to care for Animals and was booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility. She is scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court at 8.15 am on April 2. A spokesman for Ventura County Sheriff's Office told Dailymail.com that Vandermaesen had been on the radar of welfare services following an incident , which was 'similar in nature,' involving her sister last year. The spokesman said the woman 'chooses to live her life this way' despite receiving assistance from various services. He added that she was a 'hoarder of animals' despite understanding the serious healthy and safety risks associated with it. Cory Booker gushed over his girlfriend Rosario Dawson during an appearance on Ellen on Wednesday and even teased the idea that the pair may have a White House wedding if he wins the 2020 presidential election. Booker, 49, told host Ellen DeGeneres that Dawson - who enthusiastically confirmed their relationship last week - had been 'ambushed' in the airport with questions about their romance. 'She was TMZ'd. She was visiting me in DC and she left to the airport and she got ambushed at the airport. I got a little video of her at the airport saying "I got TMZ'd. I don't have make-up on, this and this and that." Scroll down for video Cory Booker gushed over his girlfriend Rosario Dawson during an appearance on Ellen on Wednesday where he described her as an 'incredible human being' Rosario Dawson, 39, confirmed the relationship as she arrived at Reagan International Airport to spend time with her boyfriend in Washington DC on Thursday Dawson and Cory Booker are pictured in January with Taylor Trensch (middle) when they went to watch his play Dear Evan Hansen 'She was wonderful, she's just an incredible human being,' he said. He added that Dawson is a 'deeply soulful person' who has 'taught him a lot of lessons about love'. 'Sometimes you show your greatest strength when you make yourself vulnerable. 'She really has this nurturing spirit that's made me more courageous, not just in the love that I project and want to see in our country but even in our personal relationship, just to love more fearlessly. I am really, really blessed,' he said. Ellen then joked that they should wait until after the election to get married if they intend to. Booker did not recoil at the suggestion. 'You're saying if Rosario and I get there, wait. Don't do the marriage before? In January 2021? 'Would you help preside over the wedding? Is that a promise?' he said, then shook Ellen's hand. Booker was also full of praise for his host. Booker asked Ellen if she would preside over a White House wedding if he wins and he and Rosario get engaged The Democratic presidential candidate was full also full of praise for his host who he said was patriotic as a 'leader for the spirit of goodness, kindness, decency' 'Can I just thank you. I want to interrupt right now. You really are a leader for the spirit of goodness, kindness, decency. 'Patriotism is love of country but you cannot love your country without loving your fellow countrymen and woman and that love that you give, to me is patriotic,' he said. Dawson said earlier this month she was grateful to be with Booker who is 'kind, loving and caring' He also told of his intention to have a female running mate and vowed to bring 'grace and decency' back to politics and condemned President Trump's recent tweets about the late John McCain as 'repugnant' and 'unacceptable'. Dawson, 39, was forthcoming when asked if she was in a relationship with Booker last week. 'Yes very much so,' she answered when asked if the pair were in a relationship, adding: 'He's a wonderful human being. It's good to spend some time together when we can.' She went on to gush over Booker, 49, as a 'kind', 'loving' and 'caring' person but said she had 'no idea' if the pair would get married any time soon. 'I am just grateful to be with someone that I respect and love and admire so much who is so brilliant and kind and caring and loving.' Dawson added that she believes her boyfriend's 2020 campaign will be successful. Neither Booker nor Dawson has been married. She has a daughter, Lola, who she adopted when the child was 11. Booker does not have any children. A Maryland middle school teacher will head to trial after he allegedly slammed a door on a student's hand so hard that three of her fingers were severed. The child's father, Javier Benitez, filed a lawsuit that accuses the Ann Arundel County Board of Education and former teacher Steven Akers of negligence. Akers was teaching French at MacArthur Middle School at the time of the 2017 incident. Court documents filed this month in the 2018 lawsuit reveal new details about the girl's injuries, which they say left permanent discomfort and nerve damage despite surgery, according to The Capital Gazette. Former MacArthur Middle School (pictured) teacher, Steven Akers, of Maryland, has been accused of slamming a door on a student's hand so hard that three of her fingers were severed. Akers is set to head to trial in the case in June The family says the girl, who was 13 years old at the time, was asking Akers a question in 2017 when she put her hand on 'the door jam of the class door frame'. In an attempt to get the class' attention, Akers slammed the door, injuring her hand, 'namely her pointer, middle and ring fingers, severing the tips of all three fingers', according to the lawsuit. The student was airlifted to the Union Memorial Hospital. She was later transported to the Curtis National Hand Center in Baltimore where she underwent hand surgery. The teen's attorney Steven D. Campen said she has now lost feeling in those fingers and has discomfort when trying to type or write County prosecutor Philip Culpepper, who is representing the school board, says the girl was looking out of a window when Akers unintentionally hurt her. Campen said the board conducted an internal investigation and found Akers was not at fault for the incident because he did not try to intentionally injure the student, according to the Gazette. School spokesman Bob Mosier says Akers resigned in 2018. The child's father is seeking $75,000 in damages. Akers' trial is set for June. Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberg, 68, is slamming the FAA for letting Boeing conduct their own aircraft certification inspections Hero pilot Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberg is slamming the Federal Aviation Administration for allowing Boeing to oversee its own aircraft certification inspections, which could have led to the two fatal 737 Max 8 plane crashes. Sullenberg rose to international fame in 2009 for his miracle emergency landing in the Hudson River when his plane's engines disabled, saving 155 people on board. The now retired pilot turned safety advocate says that the FAA 'has created an inherent conflicts of interest' by allowing Boeing to conduct certification inspections on their own planes. Boeing has come under fire after two of their 737 Max 8 planes horrifically crashed in Indonesia in October then again Ethiopia in February, each time killing all on board, and all within a five month period. 'Boeing and the FAA have been found wanting in this ugly saga that began years ago but has come home to roost with two terrible fatal crashes, with no survivors,' Sullenberg wrote in an op-ed for Market Watch. He says the FAA lacks sufficient funds to ensure proper oversight of the global aviation industry. On top of funds, the agency is severely understaffed. He says the FAA is so understaffed and low-funded that they allow aircraft manufacturers to do their own plane certifications, which creates a conflict of interest. The Boeing 737 Max 8 plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines that crashed in February pictured above Boeing has come under fire after two of their 737 Max 8 planes horrifically crashed in Indonesia in October then again Ethiopia in February, each time killing all on board, within a five month period Rescue workers of crashed Lion Air flight JT610 carry a body bag off a boat at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 30, 2018 Captain Sully Sullenberger is criticizing the FAA for letting Boeing conduct certification inspections on itself saying it has created inherent conflicts of interest. pic.twitter.com/RayO7mSt8u TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 20, 2019 Because of small amount of staff, the FAA allows aircraft manufacturers to oversee their own aircraft certification, which raises question to the reliability of such inspections. 'There simply are not nearly enough FAA employees to do this important work in-house,' he said in his think piece. He believes that the 737 Max 8 aircraft was made in haste due to global competition, which led to poor engineering and eventually the fatal crashes. 'Boeing, in developing the 737 Max 8, obviously felt intense competitive pressure to get the new aircraft to market as quickly as possible. When flight testing revealed an issue with meeting the certification standards, the company developed a fix, Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), but did not tell airline pilots about it,' he said. 'In mitigating one risk, Boeing seems to have created another, greater risk,' he added. Sully says the issue with the aircraft should have been properly investigated following the October Lion Air 610 crash in Indonesia, but Boeing supposedly pushed back in talks with the FAA about the extent of changes that would be required. Then after the Ethiopian 302 crash in February, the Boeing CEO reached out to President Trump in an effort to keep the 737 Max 8 from being grounded, Sullenberg says. Captain Sully, a famed retired pilot turned safety advocate, weighed in on the plane crash controversy this week saying that FAA and Boeing are to blame for the crashes Sullenberger was dubbed a national hero for safely ditching a US Airways plane (pictured) into the Hudson river in 2009 'The new fix still has not been fielded, nearly five months after Lion Air. It almost certainly could have been done sooner, and should have been,' he added. He said that Boeing will likely face several billion of dollars in additional costs as a result of the crashes. 'It is always better and cheaper to do it right instead of doing it wrong and trying to repair the damage after the fact, and when lives are lost, there is no way to repair the damage,' Sully said. 'And in this ultra-cost-competitive global aviation industry, when it comes to costs, nothing is more costly than an accident. Nothing,' he added. This isn't the first time Sully's attacked Boeing over the two crashes. Just last week he slammed the 'absurdly low' number of training hours Ethiopian Airline pilot had to clock before taking to the air. Sully took to Facebook to note that Ethiopian Airlines pilots had a requirement of 200 hours of training hours - 'an absurdly low amount for someone in the cockpit of a jet airlines'. 'While we dont know what role, if any, pilot experience played in this most recent tragedy, it should always remain a top priority at every airline. Everyone who flies depends upon it,' he added. President Donald Trump raised the temperature Wednesday on his feud with lawyer George Conway, calling him 'a husband from hell' in a tweet and then telling reporters that he's 'a whack job.' Conway, the spouse of Trump's chief counselor Kellyanne Conway, crossed swords with him in a back-and-forth that has lasted nearly a week, culminating with tweeted suggestions that the commander-in-chief is mentally ill complete with screen-grabs from a psychiatric diagnostic manual. 'George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wifes success & angry that I, with her help, didnt give him the job he so desperately wanted,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell!' As he left the White House for Ohio hours later, he couldn't resist putting his broadside on videotape. 'I don't know him. He's a whack job, there's no question about it,' the presdient said. 'I think he's doing a tremendous disservice to his wonderful wife. Kellyanne is a wonderful woman, and I call him "Mr. Kellyanne",' he added. Mrs. Conway defended Trump for clobbering her own husband, asking Politico in a brief phone interview: 'You think he should just take that sitting down?' President Trump branded George Conway, his chief counselor Kellyanne Conway's spouse, a 'husband from hell' after the two crossed swords online, and then told reporters that he's 'a whack job' Mr. Conway tweeted a series of pages from a psychiatric diagnosis manual, suggesting the president is mentally ill Mrs. Conway broke a glass ceiling in 2016 as the first woman to lead a successful presidential campaign; Trump claimed Wednesday that she played a role in keeping her husband from getting a top Justice Department job Trump wrote that Mr. Conway is angry that he didn't get a plus administration position, and mocked him as 'Mr. Kellyanne Conway' She said Trump had sat on the sidelines of her household's intramural political mudfight long enough. 'He left it alone for months out of respect for me,' she said. 'But you think he shouldnt respond when somebody, a non-medical professional, accuses him of having a mental disorder? You think he should just take that sitting down?' 'Don't play psychiatrist any more than George should be,' she told Politico. 'You're not a psychiatrist and he's not, respectfully.' The president's Wednesday morning tweet marked the first time Trump has claimed Kellyanne played a role in her husband's failure to secure a plum Justice Department position in the administration's early days. That claim quickly lost power, however, when The Washington Post released a May 31, 2017 letter from Mr. Conway to the president in which he turned down the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the DOJ. 'I am profoundly grateful to you and to the Attorney General for selecting me. ... I have reluctantly concluded, however, that, for me and my family, this is not the right time for me to leave the private sector and take on a new role in the federal government,' the letter reads. 'Kellyanne and I continue to support you and your Administration, and I look forward to doing so in whatever way I can from outside the government.' Mrs. Conway was the president's campaign manager in the fall of 2016, the first woman ever to successfully bring a White House campaign across the finish line. Trump's long-simmering feud with Mr. Conway boiled over this week after the attorney claimed online that he is mentally ill and tweeted pages from a standard psychiatric diagnosis manual to back up his assertions. He tweeted at Trump on Wednesday: 'You seem determined to prove my point. Good for you! #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder.' and added minutes later: 'You. Are. Nuts.' He said in an interview on Tuesday that he takes his anti-Trump frustrations out online so he can avoid disrupting his marriage by complaining directly to his powerful wife about the president he considers insane. 'The mendacity, the incompetence, it's just maddening to watch,' he told The Washington Post on Tuesday. 'The tweeting is just the way to get it out of the way, so I can get it off my chest and move on with my life that day. That's basically it. Frankly, it's so I don't end up screaming at her about it.' Speaking of the public war of words that led him to tweet a definition of 'narcissistic personality disorder,' he said the armchair diagnosis 'stuck ... because of the utter bizarreness this weekend, his own conduct. It was so illustrative. Mr. Conway fired back, mocking Trump as 'nuts' Within an hour of Trump claiming he denied Mr. Conway a plum Justice Department job, The Washington Post published this May 2017 letter in which Conway turned Trump down Conway also pushed back on Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale's claim on Twitter that the president turned Conway down for a senior-level DOJ position. He said he withdrew from consideration after Trump fired his FBI Director, James Comey, a move that led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. 'Im thinking to myself, this guy is going to be at war with the Justice Department for the next two years. Im not doing this,' Conway said. Trump had called him 'a total loser' just hours before. And the president's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, claimed 'Mr. Kellyanne Conway' is 'jealous' of his more-famous wife's success. 'He barely worked @TheJusticeDept and was either fired/quit, didn't want the scrutiny? Now he hurts his wife because he is jealous of her success. POTUS doesn't even know him!' Parscale tweeted Monday night. Mr. Conway had launched a barrage of insults at the president on Monday evening, tweeting medical definitions of personality disorders including 'deceitfulness' and grandiosity as symptoms and saying they apply to the 45th president. His latest criticism of Trump followed a weekend of digital slams from the president against a range of targets including the late Sen. John McCain and Saturday Night Live. The president piled on Tuesday, calling Mr. Conway '[a] total loser' after his 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale claimed Kellyanne's husband was 'jealous' of her success Conway shoved back on Twitter, congratulating Trump for raising the public profile of their onlin sparring match Mr. Conway fired back sarcastically at Trump on Monday, tweeting that it wasn't smart of the president to give his amateur head-shrinking a bigger platform. 'Congratulations!' he wrote in a tweet. 'You just guaranteed that millions of more people are going to learn about narcissistic personality disorder and malignant narcissism! Great job!' Conway's wife, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, brushed off the incident, saying she was taking care of the couple's four children Monday morning and hadn't paid attention. Parscale, however, spoke for Trumpworld; the president himself piled on hours later Mr. Conway posted the definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder; he also tweeted the cover of the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders in a slap at Trump. According to the definition, someone with the disorder has three or more of a list of symptoms. Among them are a 'Grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).' Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted that Mr. Conway is 'jealous of his wife's success' Strained? Kellyanne Conway brushed aside her husband's claims that her boss had at least two mental disorders by saying she was not 'up to speed' Mr. Conway tweeted from a manual of mental disorders that psychiatrists use to make diagnoses ALL THE BEST SCORES: Conway seemed to be suggesting that President Donald Trump has a grandiose sense of self-importance or other narcissistic traits Conway also tweeted out signs of an antisocial personality disorder A person with a narcissistic disorder may also be: 'Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love;' 'Believes he or she is 'special' and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions);' and 'Requires excessive admiration ... has a sense of entitlement ... [and] is interpersonally exploitative.' Before his stab at armchair psychiatry, Conway retweeted conservative commentator William Kristol, who urged people to think seriously about Trump's psychological state. 'Agree with this, but would add that *all* Americans should be thinking seriously *now* about Trump's mental condition and psychological state, including and especially the media, Congress and the Vice President and Cabinet,' Conway wote. Kellyanne Conway commented on the latest instance of her husband torching the president her boss brushing off a question by a reporter at the White House. 'I have four kids and I was getting them out of the house this morning before I got here, so I could talk to the president about substance. So I may not be up to speed on the whole thing,' she said. As Conway's tweet attacking the president's alleged narcissism reverberated, Trump weighed in on the New Zealand terror attack that killed 50, defending his own image and complaining that he was being blamed for the slaughter. 'The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand. They will have to work very hard to prove that one. So Ridiculous!' the president wrote. Last year, former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson said Trump had aced a diagnostic test used to look at potential mental disorders. Trump got a perfect score on a test designed to look for signs of memory loss or cognitive dysfunction. He bragged about the results as he blamed his predecessors for failing to solve problems in North Korea. 'I guess they all realized they were going to have to leave it to a president that scored the highest on tests,' Trump quipped at the time. Gokmen Tanis (pictured) is suspected of shooting three people dead on a tram in Utrecht on Monday An older brother of the suspected Dutch tram shooter has links to a Turkish jihadist movement and has fought in Chechnya, it has been claimed. Two elder siblings of Gokmen Tanis were described by neighbours as strict Muslims while one of them has worked in a taxi firm with a known extremist in the city of Utrecht. Gokmen is alleged to have shot three people dead and seriously injured three others after opening fire on a city tram on Monday. He remains in custody while another 40-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday as Dutch police and prosecutors pursue 'every lead there is'. The eldest brother has links to the Turkish extremist movement Caliphate, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported. The movement is led by Germany-based Metin Kaplan, dubbed the Caliph of Cologne, who was imprisoned in Turkey in 2005 for plotting to overthrow the constitution and planning a terror attack. The brother's links to Chechnya are unclear but he is said to have trained there. Fighters in the Muslim-majority region fought two bloody wars with the Russian government in the 1990s. One of the brothers is apparently a partner in a taxi firm with an Utrecht activist linked to the Caliphate movement. Prosecutors have until Friday to question the Turkey-born suspect before he must appear before an investigating judge who could extend his detention. Emergency: Dutch special police forces inspect the tram in Utrecht after a gunman opened fire in the public transport carriage and killed three people Tributes: Students lay flowers yesterday near the site of the shooting as Dutch police and prosecutors pursue 'every lead there is' Fearing more than one shooter was active, authorities locked down the city for hours - halting public transport and advising residents to stay indoors - until Tanis was arrested. Today police spokesman Joost Lanshage said officers had arrested a 40-year-old man in Utrecht on Tuesday and released two other men detained earlier. Officials have said they are seriously considering an extremist motive after finding a note in a suspected getaway car after the attack. Investigators said they had not yet determined any relationship between the alleged shooter and the victims. The three people who died were a 19-year-old woman from the neighboring town of Vianen, and two men aged 28 and 49 from Utrecht. Respects: Many people could be seen carrying flowers to 24 Oktoberplein square in central Utrecht yesterday to pay tribute to the victims of Monday's shooting Investigation: Police officers are seen in front the building where the main suspect of the shooting was arrested in Utrecht Tanis, a 37-year-old man of Turkish descent, was being held on suspicion of 'manslaughter with terrorist intent.' In an unusual step, judicial authorities released details of Tanis' criminal past, and said he was released from jail on March 1 and faces trial in July on a rape charge. A court had approved his release after he pledged to cooperate with authorities. In the past, he was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of illegal possession of a weapon and theft. Dutch PM Mark Rutte said that because of the attack in Utrecht, 'we feel an even stronger bond with the people of Christchurch' following the shooting there. Rutte said the shooting 'was not a bad dream but the hard reality with which we woke up.' A tow truck driver had to undergo surgery after his leg was crushed when it was trapped between his truck and the pavement when another car crashed into it as he was loading a vehicle onto the tow. The crash took place in Fairview Park, Ohio at around 4am on Monday morning as the man, 53, from Cleveland, went to tow a car stopped by police. While he worked, a silver 2017 Acura drifted across another lane and hit his truck head-on. The impact forced the tow truck on top of the startled driver, who frantically waved for help, with a manager at the tow company later saying he had to undergo surgery on a crushed leg. Police said that the tow driver was seriously injured and is expected to remain in hospital 'for some time'. No charges have been filed against the driver of the Acura, 35, also from Cleveland, and the crash remains under investigation, Fairview Park police's Lieutentant Paul Shepard said. Media reports revealed that a police officer had called the tow truck to remove a car they had stopped. The tow driver started to put the car onto the tow truck when the Acura smashed into the truck on the drivers side. Both the police cruiser and tow truck had their emergency lights activated when the crash took place. The tow truck driver writhed on the floor in pain with his legs trapped underneath his truck after the collision He tried to pull his leg free but was unable to and then waved frantically for help following the shocking crash Officers at the scene gave the tow truck driver first aid before he was rushed to hospital. The driver of the Acura was also taken to hospital. Though serious, their injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Police say the Acura driver is from Cleveland, though investigators aren't sure why he left his lane. News 5 Cleveland spoke to a manager at Patton's Towing company, where the driver works. A manager there said the driver had worked for the company for a 'couple of years'. More than 400 illegal immigrants have been arrested in just five minutes as they tried to cross over the U.S. border in Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents said they apprehended two large groups of illegal immigrants near El Paso in the early hours of Monday morning. The groups were made up mostly of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles. More than 400 illegal immigrants (pictured above) were arrested in just five minutes as they tried to cross over the U.S. border in El Paso, Texas on Monday morning Authorities said agents found the first group of 194 crossers at about 2.45am at the border wall just west of Bowie High School. Just five minutes later, authorities said agents working further west encountered a second group of 252 people who crossed illegally near Downtown El Paso. 'In all, agents had already taken over 430 people into custody within the first three hours in what appears to be only the beginning of another busy day for the El Paso Sector Border Patrol,' CBP said in a statement. Agents working in the El Paso sector say they have been averaging 570 arrests a day in the last 30 days. 'These numbers continue to stretch the resources available to the U.S. Border Patrol to deal with this influx and the challenges that come with it,' CBP said. It comes after the number of undocumented immigrants stopped at the border with Mexico rose to more than 76,000 in February - the highest monthly level in years, the CBP said earlier this month. Salvadoran migrants wait for a transport to arrive after turning themselves into US Border Patrol by border fence under construction in El Paso, Texas on Monday A family from El Salvador is pictured walking to turn themselves into Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande to claim asylum in El Paso, Texas on Monday The number of families and unaccompanied children also rose to nearly two-thirds of the total, often crossing in large groups and turning themselves in to authorities to request asylum, blunting the Trump administration's tactics aimed at curbing the flow. At 76,103, the number of people stopped at the border or detained after crossing was up sharply from the roughly 61,000 average for the previous three months, a surprising surge for what is usually a downturn in the coldest month of the year. It was also more than double the number of February 2018 and 3.2 times the number for February 2017, the first full month after President Donald Trump took office promising to take aim at illegal immigration. 'We are currently facing a humanitarian and national security crisis along our southwest border,' said CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. 'The vast increases in families and children coming across our border, in larger groups and in more remote areas, presents a unique challenge to our operations and facilities, and those of our partners.' Machelle Hackney, 48, was arrested on Friday in Maricopa, Arizona on child abuse charges A woman has been accused of abusing her seven adopted children in order to force them to perform in lucrative YouTube videos. Machelle Hackney, 48, was arrested on Friday in Maricopa, Arizona and charged with seven counts of child abuse, five counts of unlawful imprisonment and two counts of child molestation. Hackney, who goes by her her maiden name Hobson, operates the YouTube channel Fantastic Adventures, which has 800,000 subscribers and more than 250 million total views. The channel features her adopted children, ranging in age from six to 15, performing in a variety of whimsical scripted adventures often involving Nerf battles, and ending with the children facing the camera with a plea to 'like and subscribe.' Police say that Hackney used cruel methods to force her adopted children (above) to perform in YouTube videos, including forced ice baths and pepper spraying their genitals The videos featured the children in whimsical scripted scenarios and Nerf battles Police say that behind the camera, life for the children was far from pleasant. The young performers were being starved, locked in a closet for days, and beaten, according to a probable cause statement from the Maricopa Police Department viewed by DailyMail.com. The children told cops that they hadn't attended school in years, in order to perform on Hackney's YouTube channel instead. 'They stated they are disciplined in the manners above if they do not recall their lines or do not participate as they are directed to,' the probable cause statement said. Hackney used pepper spray on the kids' faces and bodies, the children told investigators. 'I either get beat with a hanger or belt...or a brush...or get pepper sprayed from head to toe,' one of the kids told police. One girl told police that Hackney had used pepper spray on her genitals as punishment, leaving her in agony for four or five days. On several occasions, one of the boys bled from Hackney pinching the tip of his penis hard with her fingernails, cops say. Forced ice baths and stress positions were Hackney's other favorite method to ensure compliance, according to the police document. As the alleged abuse went on, Hackney was presumably getting rich from her her YouTube channel, which was cranking out several roughly 10-minute videos a month. By expert estimates, the channel could have taken in roughly $2.5 million in total ad revenue, of which YouTube would have typically kept $1.125 million, with the rest potentially going to Hackney. The channel remained active on Wednesday but was no longer running ads. YouTube confirmed the channel was demonetized once the company was made aware of the arrest. The adopted children told police that Hackney beat and confined them if they failed to remember their lines or perform as demanded in the videos 'As weve said previously, when were made aware of allegations like this, we take action,' YouTube said in a statement to DailyMail.com. 'With allegations so serious in nature, we terminate the channel immediately upon conviction, guilty plea, etc.' The company stressed that it has flagging tools that allow users to report suspected child abuse in videos. Regarding suspected abuse taking place offline, YouTube said that it encourages calling police. The company did not directly respond when asked whether it would keep the advertising revenue generated by Hackney's channel. Police were alerted to the case by Hackney's biological daughter on March 13, prompting a welfare check at the home 30 miles outside of Phoenix. Cops became alarmed when they first found one adopted child in a closet off Hackney's bedroom, wearing only a diaper. 'Officers came in contact with the six other children, who appeared to be malnourished, due to their pale complexion, dark rings under their eyes, underweight, and they stated they were thirsty and hungry,' according to the probable cause statement. The children told police horror stories of abuse and neglect, saying that they were locked in a closet they called the 'green screen room' and not allowed to eat or drink for days One of the children told police she was extremely hungry and thirsty, but refused to eat a bag of chips that responding officers happened to have on hand, saying she was afraid that Hackney would smell the food on her breath and punish her. Another child guzzled three 16-ounce bottles of water that the police offered in just 20 minutes. The document said the children told police that Hackney would use 'pepper spray all over their face and body, spank them, force them to take ice baths and when resisting would force their head underwater as well as she will make them stand in the corner with their arms raised above their head for several hours at a time.' The kids told police that Hackney would routinely lock them in her bedroom closet all day, which they called the 'green screen room'. They said they would sleep on the bare tile floor of the closet and go for days without being allowed to eat, drink or use the bathroom. Hackney's two adult sons, Ryan (left) and Logan (right) Hackney, were also charged with seven counts of failing to report child abuse Ryan Hackney called himself the content editor for the channel and touted its success Hackney denied the accusations, and told police that the only punishment she uses is spanking and grounding the children, and making them stand in a corner. She said she never used pepper spray on the children, although police found two canisters of the chemical irritant in her bedroom. Hackney's two adult sons, Ryan and Logan Hackney, were also charged with seven counts of child of failing to report child abuse. Police say that Logan admitted knowing about some of the abuse and had discussed contacting authorities with his brother, though neither did. Ryan performed in several of the videos and describes himself on Facebook as a 'content editor' for the family YouTube channel, which he bragged about on the social network. Machelle Hackney is being held in the Pinal County Jail pending bond of $200,000. It was unclear whether she or her sons had an attorney who could comment on their behalf. Nirav Modi was produced before the Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where he contested his extradition to India. New Delhi/London: Fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, wanted in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, has been arrested in London, where a court on Wednesday remanded him in custody till March 29. Nirav Modi was produced before the Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where he contested his extradition to India. District judge Marie Mallon denied bail to Modi and remanded him in custody till March 29, saying there was substantial grounds to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. Nirav Modi (48) was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities on Tuesday in Holborn, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement in London. His arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition in a money-laundering case. Modi, dressed in a plain white shirt and trousers, appeared in the dock where he spoke only to confirm his name and also to formally decline consent to be extradited to India. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), representing the Indian authorities in court, told the court that Modi was wanted in India for fraud and money-laundering amounting to the tune of $2 billion. Under UK domestic law, the CPS said he was liable to be charged with conspiracy to fraud, which has a maximum jail term of seven years, and conspiracy to conceal, which could result in anywhere between seven to 10 years or even a life term in jail. We do object to bail because there are substantial grounds to believe the requested person (Modi) would fail to surrender, said barrister Jonathan Swain, who appeared for the CPS and on behalf of the Indian government. Modis legal team was headed by barrister George Hepburne-Scott, and his solicitor, Anand Doobay, is the same legal expert hired by former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya in his extradition proceedings against India in the UK courts. Modis team made their case for bail, offering 500,000 as security and an offer to adhere to stringent conditions. He strongly contests all the allegations and is prepared with comprehensive arguments to support his case... His legal team has had months of contact with the extradition squad and expressed his willingness to cooperate, Mr Hepburne-Scott said. It emerged in court that Modi was arrested from a Metro Bank branch in London by uniformed officers on Tuesday when he went there to open a new account. Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. His diamond-encrusted designs were worn by Hollywood stars like Kate Winslet, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Naomi Watts, while Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra-Jonas has appeared in several advertisements for the brand. An Indian billionaire jeweller wanted over an alleged 1.5 billion fraud has been remanded in custody as a flight risk, following his arrest in London. Nirav Deepak Modi, 48, was held by Met Police officers in Holborn overnight and today at Westminster Magistrates Court he contested an extradition request from India but bail was denied. He is wanted in India for his alleged role in the nation's biggest ever swindle on the state-run Punjab National Bank. Wearing a white shirt and black trousers Modi said today that he did not consent to the extradition order. Jonathan Swain, for the Indian government, said: 'There are allegations that he is involved in the issuing fraudulent letters of undertaking to the total value of over one billion dollars.' Nirav Modi, 48, is involved in a new diamond business in the capital - despite Indian police issuing an Interpol red notice for his arrest. He was arrested over an alleged billion-pound fraud last night He said a summons was issued but ignored, bar an email saying that Modi was aware but out of the country. He said the charges of conspiracy to defraud and the conspiracy to conceal criminal property carry respective maximum sentences of seven years and life in India. Remanding Modi in custody District Judge Marie Mallon said: 'Taking into account the extensive value of the amounts of these allegations, and the fact you access your means and the scope in this case, I find that there is a susbtansial risk that if you were released you would abscond.' George Hepburn-Scott, defending, said Modi had arrived in the UK in June 2018, before any allegation was made in India, that his son had spend five years in an English school, and that MAdoi had lived here lawfully and paid tax. 'Unsuprisingly he will strongly contest the allegations,' his barrister said, 'and and he will raise a number of comprehensive objections. Those relate to human rights and political motivation.' He added: 'He has lived openly, pays council tax and has a National Insurance Number. He is the opposite of a flight risk.' Nirav Modi, one of India's richest men allegedly defrauded the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) out of $1.8billion He accused police of excuting the arrest warrant 'notwithstanding months of frequent contact, cooperation and high visibility.' Earlier this month The Daily Telegraph dramatically revealed that wanted Modi was living in a flat in central Londons Centre Point tower, having tracked him to a three-bedroom flat in the tower block, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000 a month. Despite his bank accounts bring frozen by Indian authorities, and an Interpol red notice being issued for his arrest, Modi was involved in a new diamond business based in the capital. A source told the Telegraph then that he had been given a National Insurance number, meaning he can legally work here, and has used British bank accounts. The jeweller is accused of taking part in the fraud on Punjab National Bank, believed to be one of the largest ever fraud cases in India. The billionaire's jewels are worn by top Hollywood stars including Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts, but he is accused of being behind a 1.5bn fraud. He and diamond merchant business partner Mehul Choksi fled India after being accused of defrauding the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) out of the enormous sum. His luxury diamonds are worn by numerous top Hollywood stars (above Kate Winslet shows off her Nirav Modi pieces at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 2016) Naomi Watts is also a Nirav Modi fan (pictured with him at his Madison Avenue store opening in New York) The Hollywood actress dazzled in the jewellery tycoon's luxury diamonds The pair's passports were suspended by Indian authorities and the country's financial crimes agency is investigating the allegations. When the billionaire left India in February last year and investigators seized more than half a dozen luxury cars, including a Rolls Royce Ghost and a Porsche Panamera. A money laundering case has been registered by the authorities against Modi, who owns powerhouse jewellery brand Firestar Diamond. The company's website went offline. Authorities searched Modi's Mumbai offices within a day of PNB saying it had detected fraud of almost $1.8billion (1.2billion) at a branch in the city. Victoria's Secret model Karlie Kloss wears Nirav Modi as she walks the Oscars red carpet last year The 47-year-old, the third generation of his family to go into the diamond trade, is worth $1.73billion according to Forbes, placing him 85th on India's rich list. He is the owner of 17 exclusive jewellery boutiques across the world, with branches in Asia, India, America and the UK. Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said Modi and Choksi's passports had been suspended for four weeks and would be revoked if they did not provide a response. 'If they fail to respond within the stipulated time it will be assumed that they have no response to offer and the MEA (foreign ministry) will go ahead with the revocation,' Kumar said in a statement. The billionaire jeweller's designs are widely advertised in India (above Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra models his expensive designs on a billboard in New Delhi, India, this month) The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday carried out raids on more properties connected to the pair and said it had contacted Interpol to track down Modi. 'We've reached out to Interpol with a request for a diffusion notice to track down Nirav Modi today,' said CBI spokesman Abhishek Dayal. Modi has not commented on the allegations. Firestar Diamond previously said the case was not connected to the company. Interpol served a Red Notice as a request for the British government to find Modi and arrest him ahead of an extradition. Red notices list both the fugitive's name and identifying features, as well as the crimes they are wanted for. Modi's notice said that he is wanted by Indian police for 'criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, corruption, and money laundering'. Modi has always denied the claims and says he is innocent. In what is thought to be a legal first, Tendai Muswere, 25, is being prosecuted for creating the frames of a James R Patrick PM522 Washbear Revolver and a Reprringer V3 Hexen pepper-box handgun. He is pictured outside Southwark Crown Court A university student denied manufacturing handguns using a 3D printer during his court appearance. In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, Tendai Muswere, 25, is being prosecuted for creating the a James R Patrick PM522 Washbear Revolver and a Reprringer V3 Hexen pepper-box handgun. Muswere appeared at Southwark Crown Court today. The alleged weapons were found during a raid on Musweres flat in Tachbrook Street, Pimlico, central London. The Zimbabwean national was a student at Londons Southbank University at the time of the offence. He denied two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm. He further denied two counts of manufacture of a prohibited firearm relating to the same two guns. The process of 3D printing involves layering composite materials to create complex shapes and was initially used for manufacturing prototypes but is increasingly being used for consumer products. The Washbear Revolver was created in November 2015 by American mechanical engineering student James R Patrick and the specifications disseminated online. Muswere appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, where he denied two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm in respect of the two alleged weapons. The Hexen pepper-box handgun first appeared in 2013, and is believed to be the first attempt to create a viable firearm with a 3D printer. Listing Musweres trial for August 27, Judge Christopher Hehir told him: If you were to fail to attend, that would be a separate criminal offence and its very likely you would be tried in your absence. He is a man who has attended university, he is somebody against whom it is alleged that he was in possession of and manufactured weapons using a 3D printer. This is an unusual case. Judge Hehir also scheduled a further case management hearing for June 19. He was bailed ahead of his trial at Southwark Crown Court on 27 August. A furious passenger in south China has been caught violently dragging a bus driver out of his seat after he had missed his stop. The elderly man lost his temper after the driver, Wang Jiping, refused to stop and let him off after the vehicle had already left the station in Changsha, Hunan province on Tuesday afternoon, according to Chinese reports. Shocking CCTV footage shows the pensioner hitting Wang and pulling his clothing before yanking him out of his seat, sending the driver tumbling onto the floor while the bus was still moving. The elderly man lost his temper after the driver, Wang Jiping, refused to stop and let him off after the vehicle had already left the station in Changsha, Hunan province on Tuesday Shocking footage shows the pensioner hitting Wang and pulling his clothing before yanking him out of his seat, sending the driver tumbling onto the floor while the bus was still moving It is unclear why the driver was not wearing his seat belt. Realising he could put everyone on the bus at risk, the pensioner reluctantly helped the driver get up, the footage release by video website Pear shows. Wang is seen scrambling to reach for the vehicle's handbrake and the bus came to a halt safely. The vehicle had travelled for about 300 metres (980 feet) before the pensioner realised he had missed his stop, according to Sanxiang Metropolis Daily. The bus was travelling at a speed of 3 km/h (1.86 mph) at the time of the dispute Net users slammed the pensioner's violent actions on social media while calling for more serious penalties for such unruly passengers The bus was travelling at a speed of 3 km/h (1.86 mph) at the time of the dispute, the report said. 'When I dragged onto the ground, the bus was still moving. It was a really dangerous situation,' driver Wang told reporters, adding that there were a lot of traffic on the busy road. He immediately called police and officers took the the pensioner to the police station. The driver was taken to hospital for a sprained left ankle and some scratches on his legs. Net users slammed the pensioner's violent actions on social media while calling for more serious penalties for such unruly passengers. The driver was taken to hospital for a sprained left ankle and some scratches on his legs Wang is seen scrambling to reach for the vehicle's handbrake and the bus came to a halt safely 'The bus company should at least install a partition to protect the bus driver,' one user said on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. Passenger-driver disputes recently came under the spotlight in the country after a fight between a driver and a commuter caused a bus in Chongqing to plunge into a river in October, killing at least 13 people on board. In a similar incident, a man in Yinchuan, Ningxia was caught dragging a bus driver by his arms and grabbing the steering wheel after he missed his stop. He was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means in a court and was sentenced to three years and two months in prison. There were 223 criminal cases involving disputes between passengers and bus drivers from 2016 to Oct 31 last year, according to Xinhua news agency citing the Supreme People's Court. Nearly 30 per cent of passengers involved were found to have grabbed the steering wheel from drivers, the report added. About 60 per cent of the disputes were caused by misunderstanding over charging and the location of bus stops. Nearly 70 per cent of offenders were passengers, and about 20 per cent were drivers. A Labor party plan to save declining koala populations could cost $1billion and slash almost 2000 jobs, according to a new analysis. NSW Labor has committed to establish a Great Koala National Park on the mid-north coast, if elected in Saturday's state election, to protect one of the nation's most famous marsupials. But according to Ernst and Young research, commissioned by the Australian Forest Products Association, the koala site would kill the local logging industry, the Daily Telegraph reported. NSW Labor has committed to establish a Great Koala National Park on the mid-north coast (pictured: Labor's Michael Daley) The analysis found the plan to save koalas would tally a loss of $757million in output and another $292million in 'value add'. The plan would also see 1871 jobs in NSW slashed, according to the research based on a site at Coffs Harbor which was proposed by conservationists. The site extends from the Tweed to the Central Coast and covers a large area of forestry. Labor has not unveiled the exact site yet but parliamentary budget costings said the party planned to build the park in the Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbor-Grafton regions. The park would be home to about 4500 koalas, about 25 per cent of the states wild population, in a bid to ensure 'New South Wales has world-leading protection for our national animal'. 'Habitat loss caused by land clearing and urban development has resulted in koalas disappearing from 75% of their former range,' the NSW Labor website says. Ross Hampton (pictured), CEO of Australian Forest Products Association, said Labor's plan would end the timber industry on the north coast 'We cannot save the koala with kind words and token actions, we have to act and protect their diminishing habitat.' A visitor centre and koala hospital would also be built at the 315,000 hectare site, including 175,000 hectares of state forest and 140,000 hectares of conservation reserves. The plan has been supported by the Nature Conservation Council and National Parks Association of NSW who campaigned for the park to be built in Coffs Harbour. Ross Hampton, CEO of Australian Forest Products Association, said Labor's plan would end the timber industry on the north coast. '(This) would cost a future Labor government hundreds of millions of dollars in support for the thousands of blue collar workers, who would lose their jobs and in broken legal contracts with sawmills,' he said. The park would be home to about 4500 koalas, about 25 per cent of the states wild population The Australia Forest Products Association anticipates Labor will follow the conservationists desire to build park in Coffs Harbour. Penny Sharpe, shadow environment minister, said the finances in the analysis were not Labor's. 'Koalas are on track to become extinct in the wild in NSW by 2050,' she said. 'The creation of a Koala National Park will require a comprehensive scientific assessment and genuine consultation process with all stakeholders. A sheriff and her deputies have resigned in disgust after a judge allegedly ignored their concerns about the safety of the county jail - and allegedly offered a bribe to get them to overlook the potentially fatal hazards. Nowata County in Oklahoma is without a sheriff's agency after Sheriff Terry Barnett quit, followed by the rest of the county's deputies and most of her staff, over ignored safety hazards including carbon monoxide leaks and exposed wiring in the showers. Barnett even alleges Nowata County Associate District Judge Carl Gibson offered to raise her salary to $75,000 to sweep the list of faults under the carpet. It is not clear what her current salary is. Scroll down for video Nowata County in Oklahoma is without a sheriff's agency after Sheriff Terry Barnett (pictured) quit, followed by the rest of the county's deputies and most of her staff, over ignored safety hazards including carbon monoxide leaks and exposed wiring in the showers Among an damning allegations, Barnett lists: Exposed wiring in the shower areas and throughout the jail Broken plumbing with damaged sewer lines and methane gasses seeping in A carbon monoxide leak which has sent four employees to the emergency room The fire alarm system mandated by the fire marshal is not in place A snake fell on a prisoner's head when a jail door was opened Barnett took the list of problems to Judge Gibson, telling him the building simply does not comply with constitutional standards and needed a total overhaul. But instead, she claims, the judge told her to take a two-week vacation to Greece while the safety inspections were carried out, and said she would return to a hefty $75,000 salary. 'I will not sweep these things under the carpet,' Barnett said in a press conference. Barnett took the list of problems to Judge Gibson, telling him the building simply does not comply with constitutional standards and needed a total overhaul (the run down cell is shown) Some more of the poor conditions are pictured by Now At 5 News, including moldy walls The jail has a broken toilet but when Barnett urged the judge for a refurbishment she was asked to sweet it under the carpet 'Judge Gibson asked to meet with me, and he felt that Nowata County was going to become a train wreck if we continued to house prisoners elsewhere,' she said. 'He stated to me, 'Let's say you go to Greece for two weeks, and when you come back, the jail is open and has passed all inspections and the prisoners are returned.' 'He also stated to me he felt like he could get my salary up to around $75,000 in order for me to increase the salaries of employees who work in the Sheriff's Office. 'I do feel like he tried to bribe me last Thursday,' she added. Images taken from Now At 5 news coverage show the state of the badly damaged building. Sheriff Barnett said she told the judge she would not compromise her integrity and told the judge that Nowata County was 'extremely corrupt'. She added: 'When I was elected, I said I would do the right thing. I was hopeful to see change in Nowata County. But now I see without support it is only continuing to create a dangerous situation. Among an damning allegations, Barnett lists: Exposed wiring in the shower areas and throughout the jail; broken plumbing with damaged sewer lines and methane gasses seeping in; a carbon monoxide leak which has sent four employees to the emergency room Nowata County sheriff's office and jail in Oklahoma (pictured) now only has two jailers and three dispatchers on duty 'Instead of looking for solutions, many would prefer to hope and pray that nothing will happen. 'Today, as I leave this office officially at 11, I, too, hope and pray nothing happens, that our prisoners remain safe wherever they are and our employees remain safe. But I will not sweep these things under the carpet.' Barnett even alleges the judge threatened her with prison in order to get her to comply. 'I came in here, was ordered up here by the judge, and he basically said if I don't get prisoners back over here I would be in contempt and go to jail, and this job is not worth me going to jail. I have a family to take care of,' she said. Two jailers and three dispatchers decided to stay on, with one telling TulsaWorld that they also handle fire and ambulance services, so without them county residents would be put at risk. Judge Gibson appeared to defend himself at a later administrative hearing, telling the court he has an 'obligation to live within a budget,' KTUL reports. He also issued a statement saying he would not comment directly on allegations. Authorities seized at least 992 pounds of cocaine at the Port of Philadelphia which had a street value of $18 million. Bricks of the narcotic were stuffed in duffel bags found in a shipping container aboard the MSC Desiree, which was traveling from Colombia to Europe, a source told WPVI-TV. Federal and local authorities inspected the container after noticing the bolts on the door had been tampered with. Authorities in Philadelphia announced the largest-ever cocaine bust in the port's history on Tuesday Bricks of the narcotic (pictured) were stuffed in duffel bags found in a shipping container aboard the MSC Desiree, which was traveling from Colombia to Europe The total amount of cocaine is the largest haul ever seized in Philadelphia, it is understood. The container was brought to the Port of Philadelphia on North Delaware Avenue. Multiple agencies, including Philadelphia Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Delaware State Police, Homeland Security, the DEA, the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, inspected it around 10.30 am Tuesday. U.S. Customs & Border Protection Mid-Atlantic Region spokesman Stephen Sapp said following a multi-agency inspection, the alleged contraband was discovered inside a shipping container. He added: 'The case was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss details of an investigation until it is appropriate to do so.' In January 2018, federal authorities seized 709 pounds of cocaine entering the Port of Philadelphia. That was the largest cocaine bust in Philadelphia since 2007, when officials seized 864 pounds of cocaine concealed in a shipping container from the Dominican Republic. Multiple law enforcement agencies are seen at the Port of Philadelphia where they seized at least 450 grams of cocaine Federal and local authorities seen here at the Port of Philadelphia inspected the container after noticing the bolts on the door had been tampered with Stephen Sapp told Dailymail.com claimed the Philadelphia shipment originated from China and it was destined for different areas throughout the United States. He said the seizure was unrelated to a massive cocaine haul at the ports of New York and New Jersey on February 28. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last week that 3,200 pounds of the drug in 60 packages were seized at Port New York and New Jersey on February 28. The street value is estimated at $77 million. The cocaine haul at the Port of New Jersey and New York was three times larger than the latest Philadelphia seizure and the street value of the cocaine was worth three times more at $77 million. Customs agents seized the biggest shipment of cocaine recovered at the ports of New York and New Jersey in 25 years. It's the biggest cocaine seizure at the ports since 1994. The drugs were hidden behind boxes of dried fruit aboard a cargo ship. The shipment was intercepted when the vessel stopped over in New York/Newark on its way to Antwerp, Belgium. A truck is pictured bringing away 3,200 pounds of cocaine in 60 packages, where it was seized at the Port of Newark It is unclear whether the drugs were destined for the U.S., or meant to continue on to Europe. Troy Miller, director of New York field operations for the agency, said: 'This is a significant seizure, in fact it is the largest cocaine seizure at the Port of New York/Newark since May 1994. 'This interception prevents a massive quantity of drugs from getting to the streets and in the hands of our children.' A Customs spokesman said that the container was recovered from a ship that originated in South America. Customs officers turned the drugs over to federal Homeland Security officials for investigation. Former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig could soon be charged over allegations of illegal foreign lobbying A former Obama White House counsel could soon be the first Democrat to face prosecution over allegations of illegal foreign lobbying. The Justice Department is deciding whether to charge Greg Craig who is accused of failing to register as a foreign agent while working for Russian-backed Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych in 2012. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) makes it illegal for lobbyists not to declare publicly that they're representing foreign leaders, governments or their political parties. Craig - who has also held jobs in the Clinton presidency - was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom at the time when the law firm allegedly supervised the construction of a report on behalf of the Ukrainian government. If charged, Craig would become the first Democrat to face prosecution following the Russia investigation initially probed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. FARA violations rarely resulted in prosecution until Mueller alleged that former Trump 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort conspired to help the Ukrainian government hide the fact it paid more than $5.2million for the report. FARA violations rarely resulted in prosecution until Mueller took aim at Paul Manafort (pictured) for illegal lobbying on behalf of the Ukrainian government Manafort, who steered the work to Craig according to the New York Times, has been convicted on numerous bank and tax fraud charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this year. Craig, being a Democrat with ties to the Obama administration, was recruited by Mr. Manafort as part of an effort to build support in Washington for Mr. Yanukovych, according to lobbyists who worked on the account, the Times reports. Since allegations emerged last year, Craig left Skadden and paid the Justice Department $4.6 million in a settlement to avoid a criminal prosecution. Theresa May was accused of 'betraying the British people' by seeking a delay to Brexit by one of her own senior backbenchers today. Hardcore Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone warned his party leader that 'history will judge you at this moment' in a pointed exchange during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. The 66-year-old Wellingborough MP's intervention came minutes after Mrs May had confirmed she was asking the EU to delay Brexit until the end of June in order to get a Brexit deal past MPs. She also gave a strong indication that she could quit if the UK has not left the bloc after that three-month extension. He said: 'If you continue to apply for an extension to Article 50 you will be betraying the British people. If you don't, you will be honouring their instruction. 'Prime Minister, it is entirely down to you. History will judge you at this moment. Prime Minister, which is it to be?' Mrs May had earlier told the Commons she had written to the European Council president Donald Tusk to ask for a Brexit delay until June 30 He also claimed that Mrs May had committed to a March 29 Brexit 108 times in the House of Commons while Prime Minister. There were shouts of 'give over' and this is not helpful at all' from some of the MPs sat around him as he spoke. Mrs May replied: 'I am saying that I think we should look again at being able to leave with a negotiated deal but in order to do that we need time for this Parliament to ratify a deal, and in order to do that we need an extension until June 30.' The Prime Minister also revealed today that she will bring back her ailing deal for a third time 'as soon as possible' in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk which also suggested she will try to introduce new reassurances on the Irish border backstop to win over Brexiteers and the DUP. Mrs May told the Commons today that Britain is 'fed up' of waiting to quit the EU and said it would be 'quite wrong' if the public is asked to vote in the June European election three years after they voted to leave the bloc. Peter Bone regularly rises to question the Prime Minister at PMQs. The Wellingborough MP is a long term and devout Tory Brexiteer Hinting any further delay would lead to her resignation she twice told the Commons: 'As Prime Minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30' and afterwards her spokesman refused four times to rule out she might quit. And in a plea to MPs who have voted her deal down twice already she said: 'This House spending endless hours contemplating its navel on Europe. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long. The British people deserve better'. Mrs May last night abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay or longer after furious Brexiteer cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June. This morning she spoke to Mr Juncker who reportedly told her that the EU would only consider a short extension until on May 22 to avoid Britain having to take part in European elections - or the delay will have to be up to two years. The PM has now published the letter sent to Donald Tusk today, which says Britain needs a delay until June 30 to pass and legislate for her deal - and it also blasts Commons Speaker John Bercow for making it 'impossible' to hold a third meaningful vote on her deal before the summit. She appealed for the EU Council which includes the leaders of all EU states to formally adopt the three extra documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week to pass Mr Bercow's ruling on a new vote being on a 'substantially different' purpose. Mrs May's letter said: 'If the motion is passed, I am confident that Parliament will proceed to ratify the deal constructively. But this will clearly not be completed before March 29, 2019.' Admitting the timetable was 'uncertain' she said: 'I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 until June 30 2019.' Advertisement Fighters in Syria are scouring the last few hundred square yards of ISIS territory for landmines, secret tunnels and any hiding jihadists after pushing the terror group into their last sliver of land. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., are clearing areas they captured yesterday as they reduced the ISIS 'caliphate' to a tiny patch of bombed-out scrapyard in eastern Syria. An official with the fighters said there was calm and no clashes today as Syrian forces were seen singing, dancing and giving V-for-victory signs to celebrate 'victory' in Baghouz. In one video released by Syrian forces a group of fighters are seen jigging in rhythm in the desert as they mark the 'end of the ISIS caliphate'. SDF soldiers were today women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghouz, in a sign evacuations were ongoing today, while black smoke could be seen rising from the village. The last diehard ISIS fighters continued clashing with the SDF on Tuesday night but the terror group is on the brink of defeat after holding a third of Syria and Iraq in 2014. Last battle: Smoke rises from the Islamic State's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces in Baghouz today Last few: Suspected Islamic State fighters and civilians are screened by members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the village of Baghouz today Last push: Smoke rises from the last besieged neighbourhood in the village of Baghouz, where ISIS have been reduced to their last sliver of land less than five years after they controlled a third of Syria and Iraq Final battle: Heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State (IS) group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the 'V' for victory sign as they come back from the frontline in the battle against ISIS in Baghouz yesterday Reduced to a burning scrapyard: ISIS fighters and followers have been steadily forced back to Baghouz after years of retreats in the face of military campaigns by an array of foreign and local forces. Pictures show the bombed-out remains of cars in the terror group's last stronghold At the height of its power the Islamic State's 'caliphate' stretched from Baghdad in Iraq all the way across north eastern Syria in the west - the dwindling remains have been constricted into the town of Baghouz in the Deir'ez-Zur region of eastern Syria The SDF says that it has seized a key encampment from the jihadists and that victory will come 'very soon'. A map shows the territory held by ISIS two days ago Maps show how ISIS fighters are retreating into an ever smaller pocket of land in Syria. The area in red was all the terror group had left yesterday US-backed SDF fighters said they were even closer to driving ISIS out of Baghouz yesterday. A map shows the territory (in red) now held by the terror group The extremists had retreated into a tiny parcel of land, with some reportedly having used their own children as human shields, after they were forced out of the camp where they had been holding out. Pictures yesterday showed the burning remains of cars along the banks of the Euphrates river where ISIS fanatics have been desperately digging in over the last few months. Hundreds of militants had surrendered on Monday, an SDF spokesman said, signalling the terror group's collapse after months of stiff resistance. The fighters also revealed they had captured a group of alleged terrorists suspected of being behind a suicide attack in northern Syria that left four Americans dead earlier this year. The taking of the ISIS camp was a major advance but not the final defeat of the group in Baghouz, but fighters from Syrian forces were celebrating nonetheless. 'I'm happy it's over. Now I know my people are safe,' said a fighter who identified himself as Walid Raqqawi who fought in the camp Monday night. He said he is returning to his hometown of Raqqa to rest. Comrades from his unit sang and danced in celebration at an outpost in Baghouz, all saying they were looking forward to going home. Hardened militant fighters holed up in the encampment have been mounting a last-stand defence of the enclave, all that is left of ISIS's self-proclaimed 'caliphate' that once spanned a third of both Syria and Iraq. The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their notorious propaganda machine working even on the brink of collapse. On Monday, ISIS issued a video showing its militants furiously defending the encampment, a junkyard of wrecked cards, motorcycles and tents. Rescue: A man stands in the back of a truck used by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to evacuate fighters and civilians from the Islamic State Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand at a position overlooking the camp of Baghouz where remaining Islamic State fighters are holding out Battle: A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter is seen on a military vehicle in the village of Baghouz during the fighting Struggle: Three Syrian Democratic Forces fighters sit on top of a tank in Baghouz during the final push against ISIS this week Fighting has been intense as SDF fighters move in on ISIS positions in the village of Baghouz. Pictures show smoke rising over the enclave on the banks of the Euphrates in eastern Syria U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sing and link arms as they celebrate their territorial gains over ISIS this afternoon Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made the 'V' for victory sign as they come back from the frontline The SDF captured hundreds of wounded militants when it overran the camp on Tuesday, Bali said. It also captured 157 mostly foreign fighters. An SDF fighter makes a 'V for victory' sign yesterday U.S.-backed Syrian forces on Tuesday seized control of an encampment held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, a spokesman said, signaling the group's collapse after months of stiff resistance They shoot nonstop with AK-47s and M-16s from behind trucks, vehicles and sand berms. A group of children could be seen at one point amid the fighting. 'My Muslim brothers everywhere, we did our best, the rest is up to God,' a fighter said to the backdrop of black smoke rising from behind him. The SDF captured hundreds of wounded militants when it overran the camp on Tuesday, a spokesman said. It also captured 157 mostly foreign fighters. Asked how long it would take to defeat the remaining jihadists, a spokesman said he expected the operation to end 'very soon'. Some remaining militants had fallen back to the bank of the nearby Euphrates River, he said. 'The battles are not yet over,' he said. 'Some of the terrorists have taken their children as human shields. There are intermittent clashes.' ISIS fighters and followers have been steadily forced back to Baghouz after years of retreats in the face of military campaigns by an array of foreign and local forces. Warfare: Heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State (IS) group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz Interpreter Ghadir Taher, 27, (left) and Naval officer Shannon Kent, 35, (right) were killed in a blast in Manbij in January, as the SDF announced yesterday they had made arrests relating to the attack Army Chief Warrant Officer II Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, (left) and former Navy Seal Scott A. Wirtz, 42, (right) were killed in the blast in Manbij along with two other Americans - SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said they had apprehended those who facilitated the attack Evacuation: Trucks used by the Syrian Democratic Forces are shown transporting fighters and civilians from the last remaining Syrian land held by ISIS yesterday A man stands in the back of a truck used by the SDF to evacuate people from Baghouz yesterday. SDF officials say they are close to driving the terror group out of the village The area held by ISIS in Baghouz is the last pocket of territory in Syria controlled by the extremist group, which once held a vast area of Syria and Iraq, calling it an Islamic 'caliphate'. Pictured: An SDF fighter takes aim during the battle for Baghouz For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign to tear down the 'caliphate.' But even after Baghouz's fall, ISIS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten a continuing insurgency. The battle for Baghouz has dragged on for weeks - and the encampment has proven a major battleground, with tents covering foxholes and underground tunnels. The siege has also been slowed by the unexpectedly large number of civilians in Baghouz, most of them families of IS members. Over past weeks they have been flowing out, exhausted, hungry and often wounded. The sheer number who emerged - nearly 30,000 since early January according to Kurdish officials - took the Kurdish-led SDF by surprise. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast outside a popular restaurant in Manbij, which killed at least 16 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians. It was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces went into the country in 2015. In the last two weeks, many IS militants appeared to be among those evacuating. But SDF commanders have stopped speculating when the battle may finally be over. Commanders say they don't know how many more may still be left, hiding in tunnels beneath the war-scarred village. In the seizure Tuesday of the encampment, hundreds of wounded and sick militants were captured and have been evacuated to nearby military hospitals for treatment, Bali, the SDF spokesman, said in a Twitter post. Still, he cautioned, 'this is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight.' The extremists are retreating in to an ever shrinking parcel of land at Baghouz in the country's east - with some now said to be using their own children as human shields. Pictured: An ISIS fighter waving the jihadists' black and white flag in Baghouz on Monday Over the past two months, more than 60,000 people have poured out of the dwindling enclave, nearly half of whom surrendered as ISIS supporters, including some 5,000 fighters, according to the SDF. ISIS released this image of fighters firing their weapons from inside Baghouz As they make their final stand, the IS militants have issued a string of statements this month claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the SDF. In an audio clip posted online on Monday, ISIS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajer issued his first message in six months, calling for revenge attacks by Muslims in Western countries in retaliation for the shooting attack on two New Zealand mosques that killed 50 people. He also ridiculed U.S. declarations of the defeat of the Islamic State group, calling the claim of victory a 'hallucination.' But SDF fighters celebrated as if the final collapse were imminent. At the SDF outpost in Baghouz, a commander danced with his soldiers. Fighters said remaining IS militants didn't put up much resistance. 'We fired on them with our rifles and heavy weapons and they didn't shoot back. So we walked into the camp and they didn't shoot at us,' said Orhan Hamad, from the northern province of Hassakeh. 'I tell the martyrs, it wasn't for nothing. With God's permission, we've finished Daesh.' Flashpoint: ISIS has released footage it claims show fighters firing their weapons during clashes with U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Baghouz Terrifying video showed the moment an ISIS suicide bomber killed two US soldiers and two American civilians in a horrific attack in Syria in January A Senegalese man abducted 51 children when he hijacked an Italian school bus and set the vehicle alight in a protest over migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. Ousseynou Sy, originally Senegalese but with Italian citizenship, stopped the bus he was driving, with two classes of high school students on board. He was said to have ordered the children's hands to be bound and threatened to kill them and himself during the drive, before setting the vehicle on fire when he was stopped by a police blockade today. Officers broke the glass in the back door of the bus and got all the passengers to safety without serious injury before the flames destroyed the vehicle, authorities said. As he was apprehended, the driver said he was protesting migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Commander Luca De Marchis told Sky TG24. Scroll down for video. The remains of the bus in San Donato Milanese, near Milan, which was set alight this morning Firefighters and police officers attended the scene after a student aboard called the police The incident happened in San Donato Milanese, a town near Milan, Italy. The 47-year-old father of two, whose ex-wife is Italian, has been arrested and charged with carnage and kidnapping, worsened by the fact that most of the people involved are under age. De Marchis told Sky TG24 that the driver, an Italian citizen of Senegalese origin in his 40s, threatened the passengers, telling them that 'no one would survive today' as he commandeered the bus carrying two middle-school classes in Cremona province, some 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Milan. ANSA quoted one of the students as saying the driver took all their phones and ordered the chaperones to bind the students' hands with cable ties, threatening to spill gas and set the bus ablaze. The student, whose name was not given, said a classmate managed to conceal his phone. Authorities said that an adult called an emergency operator, while one of the students called a parent, and they alerted authorities, who set up roadblocks. The 47-year-old driver set the bus alight and then he threatened to kill himself, saying deaths in the Mediterranean must be stopped The bus was intercepted on the outskirts of Milan by three Carabinieri vehicles, which were able to force it into the guardrail, De Marchis said. 'While two officers kept the driver busy - he took a lighter and threatened to set fire to the vehicle with a gasoline canister on board - the others forced open the back door,' De Marchis said. While the evacuation was underway, the driver started the blaze. De Marchis credited the officers' 'swiftness and courage,' for getting out all the children and their teachers 'with no tragic consequences.' Some of the passengers were treated at a hospital, mostly for cuts and scratches related to the evacuation and firefighters also attended the scene, he said. The driver was apprehended and was being treated for burns, while Italian media reported 12 students were rushed to hospital. ANSA identified him as Ousseynou Sy, and said he was being investigated on suspicion of kidnapping, intention to commit mass murder, arson and resisting law enforcement. De Marchis said he had previous convictions, but did not specify their nature. ANSA reported that Sy, who became an Italian citizen in 2004, had been convicted in 2007 and 2011 of drunken driving and sexual molestation of a minor. Massimo Traetta, who was driving in the opposite lane, witnessed and filmed the scene Policemen were called by a student after the driver started screaming, showing a can of gasoline and a lighter Sky TG24 said that the driver had worked for the bus company for 15 years without any employment-related issues. 'Investigators must clarify how the transport company permitted such a delinquent ... to drive a bus, especially one carrying children,' said Riccardo De Corato, a Milan provincial official for security. Video showed firefighters dousing the bus that had been completely gutted by flames, leaving only the charred metal frame. Massimo Traetta, who was driving in the opposite lane, witnessed and filmed the scene, showing the children running away from the bus after the police arrived to attend the incident. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that, before setting light to the bus, the man shouted: 'I want to be done, deaths in the Mediterranean must be stopped.' Sy, who has been an Italian citizen since 2004, has a criminal record for driving in a state of drunkenness and for a case of sexual abuse on a minor, the Italian newspaper reported. According to early reconstructions of the incident, the man had to bring the two student classes from the high school Vailati di Crema to the gym, but he diverted the route. Officers broke the rear windows of the bus, letting the children get off while the man set the bus on fire A student reported that Sy wanted to head towards the airport. Witness aboard the bus said Sy started screaming while driving, showing a can of gasoline and a lighter. One of the students aboard called the police who arrived quickly and stopped the bus near the junction with Peschiera Borromeo, Milan. Officers broke the rear windows, letting the young students get off the bus while Sy set it alight. Another student aboard the bus told Repubblica: 'He was threatening us, saying if we moved he would have poured the gasoline and set a fire. 'He kept saying that people in Africa die and it is the fault of Di Maio and Salvini. 'Then the police saved us.' Autoguidovie, a society managing the school bus service, said: 'The man, our coworker since at least 2002, has been working full time since 2004. 'Over the years he has never shown any signs of mental imbalance, neither have we ever received any complaint regarding his behaviour as a driver. 'As a company, we did not know anything about his criminal record.' An investigation at the driver's house is ongoing. Investigators also asked four of the students who were aboard the bus to go back to where the accident took place to reconstruct what happened. This comes amid attack by the Congress alleging that Modi government has been undermining the institutions. PM Modi on Wednesday wrote in his blog that people voted decisively in the 2014 general elections for 'honesty over dynasty' and 'development over decay'. (Photo: File) New Delhi: In his latest attack on Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Indias institutions have been the biggest casualty of dynastic politics. PM Modi on Wednesday wrote in his blog that people voted decisively in the 2014 general elections for honesty over dynasty and development over decay. Read: Institutional respect and Institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches As you go to vote- remember the past and how one familys desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty, he said. Lashing out at Congress, Modi further stated, The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. Are they scared of accountability or do they not believe in it? Congress modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge, he added. This comes amid attack by the Congress alleging that Modi government has been undermining the institutions. Responding to criticism, PM Modi said, Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, A bunch of jokers. This comment gives you a glimpse of how Congress treats government institutions. Referring to ordinance tearing by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in 2013, Modi said, A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference. Continuing his attack, Modi cited the creation of the National Advisory Council led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and said, The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Ministers Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions? Modi said that Indians were tired of the country being in the Fragile Five, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive. He said India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future. Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the worlds eyes, PM Modi In his blog, PM Modi highlighted the BJP-led governments achievements in the last five years. India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38pc in 2014 to 98pc now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth, he said. A university's push for plants and animals to have legal rights under 'multispecies justice' has been slammed by critics as 'utter madness'. Researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney revealed the radical idea as part of their six-themed 'FutureFix' research program. According to the faculty's website, the future-facing research projects are aimed at creating solutions for issues of global importance. A university's push for plants and animals to have legal rights under 'multispecies justice' has been slammed by critics as 'utter madness' (stock image) Researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney (pictured) revealed the radical idea as part of their six-themed 'FutureFix' research program The idea of multispecies justice states that legal rights aren't just for humans but rather it extend to plants and animals equally. 'Justice is typically thought to be the preserve of humans, and advocacy has sought to ensure all humans are subjects of justice,' the faculty website states. 'But harms inflicted on animals and the environment are coming to be understood as injustices.' In order to answer the question of how justice across the human and natural world would work, the faculty is set to host a series of four symposiums in June. Academics from around the globe, including California, Alabama and parts of India, are beleived to be heading Down Under to take part in the four-day conference. According to schedule, the symposium will consist of a series of formal presentations that promote conversation, reflection and future planning. Academics have been urged to bring their ideas to the table to help further explore the debate and 'think beyond liberal and individualist conceptions of justice'. While the faculty itself has admitted multispecies justice is by no means simple, critics have slammed the school, saying academics have lost touch with reality. Institute of Public Affairs Western Civilisation director Dr Bella d'Abrera said multispecies justice is not a genuine problem faced by Australians The idea of multispecies justice is that legal rights aren't just for humans but rather they extend to plants and animals equally Institute of Public Affairs Western Civilisation director Dr Bella d'Abrera told The Daily Telegraph multispecies justice is not a genuine problem faced by Australians. 'This is utter madness Australian taxpayers need to be made aware that their hard-earned dollars are funding such frivolous and irrelevant research,' Dr d'Abrera said. The director claimed 'the same people who want to kills cows to stop climate change, now want to give wombats the vote'. 'The fact that they genuinely believe multispecies justice to be a global problem reveals the massive divide between the real world and the academy,' she said. The news comes after former Education Minister Simon Birmingham intervened after $4.2 million in university grants were found to have been spent on bizarre projects. This is the incredible moment four heroic Iowa police officers catch three young children dropped to safety from a third story window of a burning building by their desperate mother. The senior cops have been praised for their quick thinking and bravery after body camera footage of the moment they arrived on the scene was released. In footage taken from the scene the four men, named as Cole Johnson, Craig Vasquez, Tyler Kelley, and Casey Sanders, are seen helping the Des Moines firefighters with a blaze at an apartment block. Police say the officers 'quickly positioned themselves outside the building' after the emergency services were called in the early hours of Tuesday morning. One officer is heard shouting to the mother, later identified as O'Sheana Harrison, as each child - all aged three or under - is thrown one by one to safety on the ground below. He says: 'Ma'am, get all your kids by the window. Send them down, I got them. Drop them.' The senior cops were called to the scene in the early hours of Tuesday morning Body camera footage from the scene showed the four officers instructing mom O'Sheana Harrison to throw her children to safety One by one each child makes it safely out of the burning building where they are then comforted by the police officers on the ground Sirens can be heard in the background of the police bodycam footage as the cops carry out their daring rescue. The first child drops into an officer's arms as he tells O'Sheana to 'keep going'. The youngster can be heard crying and is comforted by the law enforcement official. They then continue the rescue, calling out 'next one' before all three children, named as three-month-old Jayciere, 18-month-old Ariyah and three-year-old Breeaylah, are saved. Huge flames can be seen billowing from one of the windows of the complex as the officers shout for a ladder to help rescue O'Sheana. They add: 'We got somebody trapped, we got the kids. Hold on, it's ok. We got the babies, just stay calm. You're ok.' The officers can then be heard comforting the visibly distressed kids while rescue efforts are made to free their mom, telling them: 'Your mommy is going to get out, ok. I got you, baby.' No one was injured in the incident and all residents were evacuated safely. O'Sheana later praised the officers for their help in saving the lives of her children. She told WhoTV: 'When I opened the door it was just like a wall of thick smoke. 'He was like, "you got to trust me," and I dont trust anybody with my kids, but at that point in time, all I thought was I had to get them out. 'I can't say thank you enough. I owe them the world because they saved my world.' O'Sheana Harrison has praised officers after they helped to save three-month-old Jayciere, 18-month-old Ariyah and three-year-old Breeaylah SPO Cole Johnson, top left, SPO Craig Vasquez, top right, SPO Casey Sanders, Bottom left, SPO Tyler Kelley, bottom right, were named as the four heroic officers In a statement on Facebook Des Moines police wrote: 'Early this morning, DMPD officers responded to assist DMFD with a structure fire at an apartment complex in the 3700 block of MLK Parkway. Officers arrived to find that heavy smoke was preventing their access to the 3rd floor. 'Senior Police Officers Cole Johnson, Craig Vasquez, Tyler Kelley, and Casey Sanders quickly positioned themselves outside the building, and caught children that were dropped to them from a 3rd floor window. All are well. 'Please join us in thanking these officers, and those who serve with them, for leaving their homes every day to help make Des Moines the safe and secure city that it is!' Lt. Rick Thomas of the Des Moines Fire Department said the cause of the fire is now being investigated. A man has been arrested after demanding a 'bag of cans' and the return of Brendan Rodgers to Celtic before he would end a stand-off with armed police. Police were called to a block of flats in Paisley, near Glasgow, at around 11pm on Monday, where a 31-year-old man was allegedly brandishing a weapon. The man was then heard issuing his demands: 'I want a f*****g bag of cans, I want Brendan Rodgers back, I want a job.' A photo showed a police marksman aiming a gun at his flat. Police were called to a block of flats in Paisley, near Glasgow, at around 11pm on Monday, where a 31-year-old man was allegedly brandishing a weapon. Police: A police marksman during the stand-off The man was arrested and is due to appear in Paisley Sheriff Court later today. Rodgers, 46, controversially quit Celtic at the end of February for a move to Premier League Leicester City. The decision sparked anger of fans, who displayed a sign at the next home game that said: 'You traded immortality for mediocrity. Never a Celt, always a fraud.' Some supporters were also heard taken part in sick chants at a pub about wanting him to die from an 'IRA bullet'. To the tune of the hymn Give Me Joy in My Heart they sing: 'I hope you die in your sleep Brendan Rodgers, I hope you die in your sleep I pray. 'I hope you die in your sleep Brendan Rodgers, from a bullet from the IRA.' The man is heard in video footage issuing his demands: 'I want a f*****g bag of cans, I want Brendan Rodgers back, I want a job' Fans of the club have regularly been criticised for chanting about the terror group, which took the lives of hundreds of people during the Troubles, including women and children caught up in bomb attacks on civilian targets. Police Scotland said: 'Police called to a disturbance in Springbank Road, Paisley around 11pm on Monday in which a 31-year-old man was allegedly brandishing a weapon. 'Officers, including specialist negotiators and public order, attended and the man was detained around 2.30am. 'He was initially taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for assessment but has now been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. He is due to due appear at Paisley Sheriff Court later today.' A Bronx father cast an icy sideways glance during his arraignment Wednesday in the death of his one-month-old son, whom he is accused of bashing against a wall. Christian Rodriguez, a 24-year-old father-of-four, was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court this afternoon on charges of assault causing injury through risk of death; reckless assault of a child involving a brain injury; assault causing injury to a person less than 11 years old and assault causing injury to a person less than seven years old. Infant Aiden Rodriguez was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital on Monday suffering from head trauma. Christian Rodriguez is pictured in Bronx Criminal Court on Wednesday during his arraignment Rodriguez, 24, is pictured cradling in his arms his newborn son, Aiden (right), whom police say he bashed to death on Monday night Rodriguez was arraigned on charges of assault causing injury through risk of death; reckless assault of a child involving a brain injury; assault causing injury to a person less than 11 years old and assault causing injury to a person less than seven years old. The father-of-four is pictured looking straight ahead during his court appearance Something's funny? Rodriguez is pictured wearing a smirk on his face while being led in handcuffs out of a Bronx police station on Tuesday Rodriguez was charged with multiple counts of assault in connection to his son's death NBC New York's video taken on Tuesday night showed Rodriguez smirking as he was led in handcuffs out of a police station. After settling in the backseat of a police cruiser, the 24-year-old suspect glared out the window at a crowd of curious onlookers and reporters. During questioning, Rodriguez told investigators he was taking his baby son home when he 'inadvertently struck the childs head against the wall', a police source told The New York Post. The newborn's mother was also questioned by police, but she has since been let go without any charges. News camera caught her sobbing and visibly distraught while getting into a car outside the 40th Precinct. Aiden's five-year-old brother was later removed from the family's apartment at Mill Brook Houses in the 500 block of East 137th Street by the Administration for Childrens Services. Rodriguez was previously convicted of felony assault for attacking one of his other children. WPIX11 quoted Rodriguez's cousin as saying that the father 'tried his best' to save Aiden's life. The parents' neighbors told CBS New York Rodriguez seemed happy to have welcomed his youngest son. One of them said she last saw the man taking a walk with baby Aiden last Friday. Aiden's mother (pictured) was questioned by police and released Paramedics were called to Mill Brook Houses in The Bronx (pictured) overnight for a medical emergency involving a baby who suffered head trauma According to the NYPD, just before midnight Monday, police officers responded to Lincoln Hospital after receiving a 911 call reporting possible child abuse. Investigators were then told by hospital staff that earlier that night, paramedics had been called to Mill Brook Houses on East 137th Street for a medical emergency involving a child. Aiden Rodriguez was rushed to Lincoln Hospital in serious condition to be treated for head trauma. The baby was subsequently transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Medical Examiner is expected to perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of the boys death. Advertisement A former railway station ticket office converted into a luxury family home has been listed for 899,995. The property was previously the ticket hall of Mayfield Station on the Cuckoo Steam Railway Line in 1880 until the service was shut down following the 1963 Dr Beeching Report on the reshaping of British Railways. Despite being 140 years old, the property in Mayfield, East Sussex, comes with a ten-year new home warranty because it has been completely renovated to create a modern family home. The current owner of The Sidings home extended the existing building and sympathetically renovated the property, retaining some period features on the outside but completely transforming the interior. A former railway station ticket office that was converted into a luxury family home has been listed for 899,995 by Knight Frank The property was previously the ticket hall of Mayfield Station on the Cuckoo Steam Railway Line in 1880 until the service was shut down following the 1963 Dr Beeching Report on the reshaping of British Railways Despite being 140 years old, the property in Mayfield, East Sussex, comes with a ten-year new home warranty because it has been completely renovated to create a modern family home Inside the lower ground floor of the property opens with a reception hall featuring tall windows, that allow for natural light to filter through. To the side of the reception room is a walk way leading to the combined kitchen, dining and living area. The well-designed kitchen comes complete with top of the range appliances and modern cabinetry. On the other side of the floor is the first of spacious two guest rooms with its own en suite bathroom. Inside the lower ground floor of the property opens with a reception hall featuring tall windows, that allow for natural light to filter through The reception also has a timber gallery staircase and big windows for natural lighting to create a light and airy space The timber flooring continues through into the combined kitchen, dining and living area The kitchen comes complete with top of the range appliances as well as sleek cabinetry and modern fixtures Stairs leading up to the ground floor of the property lead to the second bedroom, also with its own en suite. The grandiose master wing boasts its own dressing room and en suite with a bathtub and a sleek vanity counter. Outside it has attractive wrap-around lawns with four sunken terraces and off-road parking for two cars. The rest of the original railway station has also been converted and is a separate property not included in the sale. Aside from a lavish master suite on the ground floor, the stunning property also features two spacious guest bedrooms each with their own en suite bathroom Outside it has attractive wrap-around lawns with four sunken terraces, as well as off-road parking for two cars The picturesque home backs on to the A267 bypass, but real estate agent Mark Yelverton said: 'Apart from the bypass it is quite secluded, it's down a road that is tree-lined on both sides, there's one set of houses just beyond it and that's it' The well-designed home is split across two levels. The reception, open combined kitchen, lounge and dining, as well as first bedroom sits on the lower ground floor. Meanwhile the master wing and second bedroom sit of the ground floor The house is just a mile form the centre of Mayfield, which has plenty of shops and other amenities, and is less than ten miles from Tunbridge Wells. Mark Yelverton, from Knight Frank, said the building had sat derelict and empty for decades before the current owner bought it in 2015 as a project. 'Where the ticket hall was so small originally, he extended it. He created 2,000sq ft of new property from what was just a tiny waiting room. He said the property would be perfect for someone who can appreciate its character: 'It's very beautifully presented and the proportions are great, it's got brilliant bedrooms and the reception space is fab with the vaulted ceiling.' Mark Yelverton, from Knight Frank, said the building had sat derelict and empty for decades before the current owner bought it in 2015 as a project 'Where the ticket hall was so small originally, he extended it. He created 2,000sq ft of new property from what was just a tiny waiting room Mr Yelverton said the property would be perfect for someone who can appreciate its character: 'It's very beautifully presented and the proportions are great, it's got brilliant bedrooms and the reception space is fab with the vaulted ceiling'. Pictured: Mayfield Station on the Cuckoo Steam Railway Line before it was shut down The picturesque home backs on to the A267 bypass, but he said: 'Apart from the bypass it is quite secluded, it's down a road that is tree-lined on both sides, there's one set of houses just beyond it and that's it. 'Even people in the village don't know it exists but the bizarre thing is back when it was a station it would have been the heart of the village. Mr Yelverton added that the property would be perfect for people looking to downsize and interested in the history of the property. Harvard University has 'shamelessly' capitalized on rare photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the images over to the slaves' descendants, according to a bombshell lawsuit filed this morning. Tamara Lanier, from Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the elite Ivy League school for 'wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation' of images she says depict two of her ancestors. Her 24-page complaint, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos, acknowledge her ancestry and pay an unspecified sum in damages. Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said Wednesday he is not in a position to comment on the lawsuit because the university has not yet been served with it. Tamara Lanier, from Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the elite Ivy League school for 'wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation' of images she says depict two of her ancestors Her 24-page complaint, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos. She is seen above speaking outside the Harvard Club in New York on Wednesday This July 17, 2018 copy photo shows a Daguerreotype of Renty, which was commissioned by a Harvard biologist whose ideas were used to support the enslavement of Africans in the US The images are believed to be the earliest known photos of American slaves. Delia is photographed shirtless At the center of the case is a series of 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photo, taken of two South Carolina slaves identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. Both were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. The images are believed to be the earliest known photos of American slaves. They were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the US. The lawsuit says Agassiz came across the Congolese Renty and his daughter, Delia, while touring plantations in search of racially 'pure' slaves born in Africa. Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the US, commissioned the photos of Renty and his daughter 'To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens,' the suit says. 'The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered.' The suit attacks Harvard for its 'exploitation' of Renty's image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It says Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a 'hefty licensing fee to reproduce the images'. It also draws attention to a book Harvard sells for $40 with Renty's portrait on the cover. The book, called 'From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery,' explores the use of photography in anthropology. Among other demands, the suit asks Harvard to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for the humiliation of Renty and Delia, and that Harvard 'was complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery.' A researcher at a Harvard museum rediscovered the photos in storage in 1976. But Lanier's case argues Agassiz never legally owned the photos because he didn't have his subjects' consent and offered them no compensation, and that he didn't have the right to pass them to Harvard. Instead, the suit says, Lanier is the rightful owner as Renty's next of kin. The suit also argues that Harvard's continued possession of the images violates the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. 'Renty is 169 years a slave by our calculation,' civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, one of Lanier's lawyers, said in an interview. 'How long will it be before Harvard finally frees Renty?' Lanier (C) exits after a press conference about the lawsuit filed by her attorney Ben Crump (L) against Harvard University in reference to her great-great-great grandfather Renty A sample image of Rnety and his daughter Delia, taken in 1850, is shown during a press conference Wednesday announcing a lawsuit against Harvard University Lawsuit alleged Harvard has been aware of Lanier's claims concerning the photos since 2011 but failed to acknowledged genealogical ties to Renty Lanier is pictured above holding the photo of Renty - the slave who Lanier says is her family's patriarch The lawsuit says of Renty and Delia: 'their images, like their bodies before, remain subject to control and appropriation by the powerful, and their familial identities are denied to them.' Lanier says she grew up hearing stories about Renty passed down from her mother. While enslaved in Columbia, South Carolina, the suit says, Renty taught himself to read and later held secret Bible readings on the plantation. He is described as 'small in stature but towering in the minds of those who knew him.' The suit says Lanier has verified her genealogical ties to Renty, whom she calls 'Papa Renty.' She says he is her great-great-great-grandfather. Harvard retails a book with Renty's portrait on the cover titled 'From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery' 'My mother made sure that not only her children and her grandchildren, but everyone, knew the stories,' Lanier told The Associated Press. Asked what she would do if given the photos, Lanier said she wants the opportunity to tell 'the true story of who Renty was.' Lanier alleges that she wrote to Harvard in 2011 detailing her ties to Renty. In a letter to Drew Faust, then Harvard's president, Lanier said she wanted to learn more about the images and how they would be used. She was more explicit in 2017, demanding that Harvard relinquish the photos. In both cases, she said, Harvard responded but evaded her requests. The school has used the photos as part of its own effort to confront its historical ties to slavery. At the 2017 conference called 'Universities and Slavery: Bound by History,' referenced in the lawsuit, Harvard printed Renty's portrait on the program cover and projected it on a giant screen above the stage. In the image, Renty stares hauntingly into the camera, his hair graying and his gaunt frame exposed. Lanier, who was in the audience at the event, said she was stunned by a passage in the program that described the origins of the photo but seemed to dismiss her genealogical findings. It said that the photo was taken for Agassiz's research and that 'while Agassiz earned acclaim, Renty returned to invisibility.' The suit alleges that 'by contesting Ms. Lanier's claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans' genealogy by a century's worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves' family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy.' In recent years, Harvard, as well as other celebrated universities, including Columbia and Georgetown, have been taking steps to confront their past ties to the institution of slavery. In 2016, Harvard unveiled a plaque honoring four slaves who lived and worked on campus in the 1700s. Harvard Law also has dropped an emblem that was tied to a slave-owning family. A video of an airplane passenger licking a toilet seat has set Twitter on fire, with social media users voicing their disgust after watching the short clip. The video was posted by Twitter user 'Grimiestt', a sex worker based in Brooklyn, New York, who also posts x-rated content on social media. It shows the person, who is genderfluid, meaning they identify as neither man or woman, bent over a toilet in an airplane cubicle, licking the seat. The person, who describes themself as a sex worker, posted the video on Twitter, and it has since been viewed more than six million times, and shared by thousands Explicit: The Twitter used claimed to have licked 'a lotta toilets in my day' in their caption Written across the screen are the words: 'Lickin the airplane toilet bc I'm gross like that [sic].' Upon posting the video on Twitter, they captioned the video: Ive licked a lotta toilets in my day but this was the first that made my tongue go numb', followed by a series of emojis. The video had been shared more than 7,400 times, and seen by millions, with most viewers expressing incredulity and disgust. One person replied: 'Its numb because you just contracted 1200 diseases at once', while another simply said 'I'm deeply concerned.' The video was posted by Twitter user 'Grimiestt', a sex worker based in Brooklyn, New York Going viral: One of the many Twitter users who expressed their incredulity after seeing the video was actress Jameela Jamil Surprise: The person appears to be taking their new-found fame in their stride 'I cant believe what I see on this app sometimes. Thats enough twitter for today. Bye,' another person tweeted. Among those who could not believe their eyes were The Good Place-actress Jameela Jamil, who simply commented: 'What...is...this...?' 'Grimiestt' responded to the British actress themself, writing: 'a sex worker, working'. The person later added in another tweet that they 'believe Twitter made me famous for licking a toilet.' A Canadian university student who wore a Make America Great Again hat to a vigil for New Zealand mosque massacre victims had it ripped from his head by a woman in a hijab as an angry crowd shouted at him to 'get out'. Video of the young man in the red and white cap being confronted by fellow students at York University in Toronto after the vigil has gone viral, sparking a fierce debate on social media. The students accused the man, who has not been named, of intentionally provoking his classmates by wearing the cap to an event for the 49 victims of the Islamaphobic hate crime three days earlier. One woman can be heard telling him: 'These people don't owe you an explanation, you just need to leave. There was a f***ing massacre and you're wearing a symbol of racism. Get the f*** out.' Several onlookers then begin chanting 'get out' at the man. As he turns around to leave, a woman can be seen knocking the hat off his head. A student at York University in Toronto, Canada, sparked outrage by wearing a Make America Great Again hat to a vigil for New Zealand mosque massacre victims on Monday Video shows the young man in the red and white cap emblazoned with US President Donald Trump's campaign slogan being confronted by fellow students after the vigil. The students accused the man, who has not been named, of intentionally provoking his classmates by wearing the cap to an event for the 49 victims of the Islamaphobic hate crime on Friday One attendee, Raneem Ayoub, shared a clip of the confrontation on Twitter Tuesday morning, writing: 'This man showed up with a MAGA hat on purpose. Before I started recording he was saying the vigil was meaningless.' Ayoub told DailyMail.com that the man told one of the attendees there was 'no point of the vigil being held'. She further explained the events that led up to the clash in a series of tweets. 'The man in the cap did not attend the vigil until the very ending of the event when it was being finished off with a prayer,' she wrote. 'During the prayer, he was arguing with the two men next to him. Everyone else at the vigil ignored him until the vigil was officially over (out of respect of the victims and the event). No one approached him and disturbed the vigil until it was finished. 'My school is so welcoming, the vigil was not only for the Muslim community but it was being heavily supported by many other communities at our school (including the Jewish and Christian community). The problem is not the students who took offence but the man himself. 'He's also been known by other students for always showing up to events similar to this one wearing the maga hat. Everyone seems to also be ignoring the fact that he was vocalizing disrespectful slurs about the vigil.' One attendee, Raneem Ayoub, told DailyMail.com that the man disrupted a prayer during the vigil and was later heard telling someone there was 'no point' of it being held Several onlookers then begin chanting 'get out' at the man, and as he turns around to leave, a woman in a hijab can be seen knocking the hat off his head Video of the incident has gone viral on social media as some users condemned the man's fashion choice and others defended by saying there was no proof that he provoked the students on purpose One person wrote on Reddit: 'Wearing a hat supporting an anti-Muslim president of another country (nonetheless) at a vigil for massacred Muslims makes you an giant a**hole.' Others defended the man by saying that the video shows no evidence that he was trying to antagonize vigil attendees. 'The MAGA hat is not a symbol of hatred!' one woman wrote on Twitter. In one clip shared on Instagram, the man can be heard defending himself by saying: 'I can stand here if I want.' Authorities say 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant published 74-page dossier containing 'extremist alt-right' and 'white nationalist' ideology before entering the mosques and carrying out his massacre in Christchurch on Friday. Australia will review travel advice for those travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac Day in the wake of the Turkish president's threats that anti-Muslim visitors would return in 'coffins like their grandparents'. Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday after the Turkish leader made the shocking comments at a political rally while denouncing Islamophobia. Mr Erdogan, who played footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack at the election rally, sparked the row by claiming Australian diggers fought in Gallipoli in World War I for 'anti-Islam' reasons. 'Why did you come here? What business did you have here? We had no issues with you, why did you come all the way over here? The only reason: we're Muslim, and they're Christian.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) on Wednesday after the Turkish leader made the shocking comments at a political rally while denouncing Islamophobia Australia will review travel advice for those travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac Day in the wake of the Turkish president's threats (pictured: Anzac memorial at Gallipoli) The president has been criticised for exploiting the video footage from Christchurch as authorities crack down on the internet and social media to stop the clips from spreading. 'Your grandparents came, some of them returned in coffins,' Mr Erdogan warned Australians. 'If you come as well like your grandfathers, be sure that you will be gone like your grandfathers.' Mr Morrison said the president insulted the memory of troops from Australia and New Zealand who fought in Turkey during World War I. 'Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians, and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment,' he said on Wednesday. 'They are offensive because they insult the memory of our Anzacs and they violate the pledge that is etched in the stone at Gallipoli, of the promise of Ataturk to the mothers of other Anzacs.' Mr Erdogan, who played footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack at the election rally (pictured), sparked the row by claiming Australian diggers fought in Gallipoli in World War I for 'anti-Islam' reasons Mr Morrison said the president insulted the memory of troops from Australia and New Zealand who fought in Turkey during World War 1 The nations have spent a century at peace. On Wednesday Darren Chester, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Defence, told the Daily Telegraph, that the government were closely monitoring the security situation in Turkey. 'Higher security levels apply in some parts of the country because of the high threat of terrorist attack and the Prime Minister has asked that this advice is reviewed in light of recent developments,' he said. Acting RSL chairman John King said he fears Australians travelling to Gallipoli to commemorate Anzac Day may feel threatened following the comments, The Australian reported. 'It would be appalling for Australians to feel threatened if they wish to visit Gallipoli to pay their respects,' Mr King said on Wednesday. 'Our Anzacs fought against exactly the sort of hate and extremism these comments represent. Mr King said the President's 'provocative and intolerable' comments came at a time when all should unite to disavow radicalism. The attendance at the dawn service in Turkey has dropped since the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign in 2015 but about 1300 people attended last year. Ruth Littler, one of the remaining World War I veteran's widows, warned that Australia needed to be very diplomatic to avoid a third world war, the Daily Telegraph reported. Acting RSL chairman John King said he fears Australians travelling to Gallipoli to commemorate Anzac Day may feel threatened following the comments The 95-year-old said: 'I think I'd give the travel (to Turkey) a miss at the moment.' The Turkish ambassador could face expulsion from Australia as the country reviews official travel advice ahead of Anzac Day. Mr Morrison summoned the ambassador, Korhan Karakoc, to Parliament House to explain the remarks and tell him the president should withdraw them. 'The excuses I don't accept are things are said in the heat of the moment. The excuses that I don't accept are that things are said in an electoral context,' Mr Morrison said after the meeting. Mr Karakoc told reporters as he exited Parliament House: 'We had a frank exchange with the prime minister and the Gallipoli spirit will always remain.' Mr Erdogan also called on New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman, who opened fire at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers, killing 50 people (pictured: Christchurch terror attack memorial) Opposition Leader Bill Shorten supported Mr Morrison's stance on Mr Erdogan's 'foolish' remarks. 'We in Australia do not want or expect to be judged by the actions of a single, deranged Australian,' Mr Shorten said in Perth. 'But perhaps there's a lesson also here for us. That when individuals of other faiths act, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to judge the faith.' Australia's travel advice for Turkey is already set at 'exercise a high degree of caution', due to the high threat of terrorism. A man in south-west China has been arrested for selling his toddler daughter online for 6,800 in order to pay off his gambling debts. The man, identified by his surname Jiang, sold the child to a couple after racking up a debt of more than 60,000 yuan (6,798) by gambling online, according to Chinese reports. The unemployed man in Guiyang, Guizhou province took his one-year-old daughter away from home and told his wife that the girl would be staying with her grandmother. The man, identified by his surname Jiang, sold his daughter to a couple after racking up a debt of more than 60,000 yuan (6,798) by gambling online. Above, the toddler being returned to her family after police located her last Friday in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province Last November, Jiang told his wife that they would be staying with his mother in Zunyi city, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) away from their home. The mother, sunamed Wang, grew suspicious after she hadn't heard from her daughter for nearly three months, according to Guiyang Evening News. Every time she asked her husband about their daughter's whereabouts, he would give her different excuses to delay her return. One day in February, the concerned mother was checking her husband's phone at home when she discovered a screenshot of a conversation between him and her daughter's buyers, revealing the shocking discovery. The unemployed father in Guiyang, Guizhou province took his one-year-old daughter (pictured) away and told his wife that the girl would be staying with her grandmother The child was located by police last Friday and brought home to her mother in Guiyang On the same day, she met with her mother-in-law, who told her that the child had been taken away from her weeks ago. The horrified mother immediately reported the incident to police in Qianling district after her husband was nowhere to be found. Following investigations, police eventually discovered Jiang at a hotel in Guiyang late February. He admitted to owing the large sum of gambling debts and opted for the extreme measure after seeing an online post about child adoption. Jiang lied and told the buyers, a couple in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, that he could no longer afford to raise the child because he had been separated from his wife and both his parents were dead. The father, surnamed Jiang, then took the child away from his mother on November 5 and flew to Zhoushan, more than 1,850 kilometres (1,150 miles) away from their home Above, a group of 60 children at the Guiyang Welfare Center for Children are waiting to reunite with their parents after police rescued them from human traffickers in Guiyang in Oct 2009 He then took the child away from his mother on November 5 and flew to Zhoushan, more than 1,850 kilometres (1,150 miles) away from their home. The child was located by police last Friday and brought home to her mother in Guiyang. The father has been arrested and detained on suspicion of human trafficking amid ongoing investigations, the report quoted police as saying. Child abduction and trafficking has long been a serious social problem in China, with an estimated 70,000 children going missing each year for forced labour, adoption or prostitution, according to a previous report by China Daily. Chinese courts ruled on 2,806 cases involving the abduction and trafficking of women and children between 2015 and 2018, according to the Supreme People's Court cited by Global Times. A boy, nicknamed Hao Hao, is reunited with his grandfather. He was only two years old when his birth parents decided to sell him to another couple for 13,600 in January last year Just last week, a couple in Wuzhou, Guangxi have been arrested for selling all five of their children - three boys and two girls - for a profit of more than 100,000 yuan (11,300). In January, a boy in Jinjiang, Fujian province was reunited with his grandparents after his parents sold him to another couple for 120,000 yuan (13,600) last year. The unmarried couple in split the money before going their separate ways. Zhang Baoyan, a delegate to the 13th National People's Congress, last week called for an amendment to the Chinese law to impose the death penalty on those convicted of trafficking women and children. Zhang, who has been a long-time advocate for women's and children's rights in the country, also called for a stiffer punishment for buyers, who fuel the trade but are seldom held accountable. Currently, convicted buyers of human trafficking victims face no more than three years in prison. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. Jammu: Sealing an alliance after days of hectic parleys, the Congress and National Conference Wednesday announced they will fight two and one Lok Sabha seats respectively, while agreeing on a "friendly contest" on the rest three constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. In a joint press conference here, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that while the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. "I will contest from the Srinagar seat," he told the press conference. "We had a give-and-take and nobody should be under illusion that one party lost or the other won during the agreement." State Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir and AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni were also present at the press conference. The state sends six Lok Sabha MPs. "Friendly contest means that we will not go hard against each other and at the same time will make a joint efforts to defeat the opponents. Whether they (NC) win or we, it will make no difference because the (seats) will add to the national kitty," Azad said. Had the two parties entered the fray separately in Jammu, he said, it would have benefited the BJP. "And in Kashmir, if we fought separately, it is difficult to transfer votes." He said, "We have some MLAs in Anantnag and Baramulla and (by friendly contest) we will be able to maintain our turf." The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J&K as the state faces threat from Pakistan, Azad said. "Live and let live." The Rajya Sabha MP said he himself and other leaders of his party would campaign for Abdullah in the Srinagar constituency, which the NC patron currently represents. Abdullah also appealed to the Congress to exhibit magnanimity and reach out to like-minded parties in other parts of the country to safeguard the secular character of the nation. "We have to keep our nation secular. Try hard in other places and reach an understanding (with other parties). We have to make this nation stronger and keep it secular and equal for everyone," Abdullah told the Congress. The country is faced with dangers from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and the people living on the border in J&K are the worst sufferers of the animosity between India and Pakistan, he said. "If there is peace between the two countries, the first beneficiary will be the people of the state." He said secular parties need to come together because communal forces only strengthen Pakistan, China and "our enemies of the nation and weaken the country from within". Azad appealed to the people of Jammu to vote for strengthening secularism and isolating communalism. "A communal India cannot face any nation but secular India can fight any country in the world." Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP alleged the Congress conceded to the National Conference's (NC) pro-separatist agenda. Azad said they were not working for BJP. "We have an alliance with like minded parties at five or six places, it (BJP) has alliance at over 40 places." On the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics, Azad said, "The one who had no family what will he do? Abdullah also rejected the dynastic barb, saying nobody can come to power if people don't vote for them. "They are creating this fuss because they have no other issue. If an actor, a doctor, a film director, and others put forward their son in the same field, nobody raises dynastic thing. I am Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's son and have seen politics form my childhood and faced problem. "Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter (India Gandhi) gave atom bomb to the nation to make it strong. She gave her blood for the nation and her son," Abdullah said. Azad said the BJP government is the most "corrupt and scandalous" in the entire world. "I have said this in presence of Modi in the house. You are not allowing inquiry wherefrom the information will come to the fore," he said. Toyota has announced it will build a new hybrid electric car in Britain for its Japanese rival Suzuki in welcome news for the beleaguered motor industry. Toyota expects production to start in late 2020 at its Welsh plant in Deeside and its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire. No new jobs will be created but it is hoped the move will help safeguard the future of the two sites, which employ around 3,200 people in total. Toyota expects production to start in late 2020 at its Welsh plant in Deeside and its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire (pictured in 2011) 'Seeking to produce additional volume for other customers is one example of all the efforts we are making to keep our UK manufacturing operations as competitive as they can be in the face of Brexit,' said Toyota's head of UK operations, Marvin Cooke. Just two weeks ago, Toyota Europe's CEO Johan van Zyl warned the firm could end production in Britain by 2023 should the country exit the European Union without a deal. Cooke repeated Toyota concerns in today's statement. 'We have consistently said for the medium to longer term, continued free and frictionless trade and common automotive technical standards will be essential to support the international competitiveness of the UK automotive sector.' But he added that the announcement 'demonstrates Toyota's trust' in the local workforce. Toyota said it would supply hybrid electric vehicles to Suzuki based on the Toyota Corolla Wagon. No new jobs will be created but it is hoped the move will help safeguard the future of the two sites, which employ around 3,200 people in total. Pictured: The Burnaston site The news is in contrast to Japanese rival Nissan, which recently said it would stop production of Infiniti cars at its factory in Sunderland, northeast England, and cancel the plant's plans for the X-Trail SUV. Japanese peer Honda has also curbed investment in Britain, and plans to close its car plant in Swindon in 2022 with 3,500 job losses. Today's news was announced by Toyota's head of UK operations, Marvin Cooke After a meeting with Honda and Business Secretary Greg Clark, Swindon's Tory MPs Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland said they were 'disappointed and surprised' by the news, adding that job losses were not expected until 2021. And in January, Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover said it planned to make 4,500 job cuts, mainly in the UK. It blamed the threat of Brexit, poor sales in China and lower demand for diesel cars. Carmakers are being forced to weigh uncertainty about possible tariffs and border checks at a time when the industry faces a wholesale overhaul amid changing consumer habits, concerns about global warming and the shift to electric vehicles. In case of a no-deal Brexit, the British government last week said UK-based carmakers reliant on EU supply chains would not face tariffs for imported vehicle parts. However, UK car industry body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, responded that a no-deal would spark disruption and job losses in a sector already plagued by collapsing demand for high-polluting diesel vehicles. China is building an enormous museum billed as 'the world's largest planetarium'. The Shanghai Planetarium occupies 39,000 square metres (419,790 square feet) - about half of the size of The Louvre in Paris - and is due to be the largest museum facility in the world solely dedicated to astronomy. The planetarium's designing team say the attraction in suburban Shanghai will beat all its peers in the world in terms of its construction size. Scroll down for video Construction of the Shanghai Planetarium is due to finish by the end of this year and according to Chinese media, 95 per cent of the building works have been completed as of this month The structure is due to be the largest museum facility in the world solely dedicated to astronomy, but its planetarium dome, with a diameter of 68 feet, will not be the largest However, its domed theatre - with an exterior diameter of 29 metres (95 feet) - will be smaller than the one in the Museum of Space Exhibits in St. Petersburg. The Shanghai Planetarium will cost around 600 million yuan (68 million) to build and is scheduled to welcome its first guests in 2021. It is situated in the eastern part of Pudong New Area of Shanghai, a mega-metropolis of around 25 million people known for its skyscrapers. Construction of the three-storey museum started in late 2016 and is expected to complete by the end of this year. The impressive building is a single structure reportedly made of 2,000 tonnes of steel According to People's Daily, 95 per cent of the construction has been finished as of this month. The building, a single structure reportedly made of 2,000 tonnes of steel, has drawn much attention due to its flowing curves. Its smooth silhouette is inspired by the orbital motion of sun and earth, according to its designers. The planetarium will cost around 68 million to build and is scheduled to open in 2021 It is situated in the eastern part of Pudong in Shanghai, a mega-metropolis of some 25 million Apart from star-gazing, visitors would be able to find permanent and temporary exhibitions, two domed theatres and an overnight outdoor youth camp when the museum opens its doors in two years. The first theatre has an interior screen measuring approximately 16.9 metres (55 feet) in diameter; while the second theatre is equipped with a sphere with an exterior diameter of 29 metres, according to the designers. The world's largest planetarium dome, measuring a whopping 37 metres (121 feet) across, is in the Museum of Space Exhibits in St Petersburg, Russia. The museum opened in 2017 and beat the previous record holder, the planetarium in the Nagoya City Science Museum in Japan, by two metres (6.5 feet). Advertisement Frank Cali, the Gambino family boss who was buried on Tuesday in a secretive funeral on Staten Island, has taken his place among other mafia legends in the cemetery where he was laid to rest. Cali, 53, has been entombed in a coveted spot on the lower level of the extravagant Hillview Mausoleum in the Moravian Cemetery in New Drop. The cost of his crypt and the quiet funeral service was $45,000 which was reportedly paid with a suitcase full of cash. Nearby lie other former bosses including Paul Castellano, who was gunned down in 1985 in an infamous ambush outside Sparks Steakhouse, his driver on the night Thomas Bilotti and Frank DeCicco, John Gotti's underboss who was blown up by a car bomb in 1986. The bodies of four Gambino family mobsters are at the Moravian Cemetery in New Drop, Staten Island, including Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali who was laid to rest on Tuesday. He is in a mausoleum as is former boss Paul Castellano but Frank DeCicco and Thomas Bilotti, who held lower ranking positions, are buried in the ground Frank Cali's casket is in one of the crypts in the Hillview Mausoleum, shown. It is not yet marked with his name. His funeral was on Tuesday Cali's casket is in this extravagant mausoleum in the Moravian Cemetery which overlooks the bay Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali, 53, was killed last week outside his home Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali 'Franky Boy', as he was known to associates, was gunned down outside his home last week. He was 53 and had been at the helm of the family for at least five years but his ascent is shrouded in mystery. He married into the family - his wife is the niece of John Gambino - but spent decades working his way through the ranks. Cali was known for his ties to Sicilian mafia but was considered a 'real old school boss' by law enforcement agencies which kept track of him. 'He was the polar opposite of John Gotti. Hes basically a ghost,' an anonymous investigator told The New York Times after his death last week. His only brush with the law was in 2008, when he was arrested as part of a wide, extortion investigation and was favored by his in-laws, to the annoyance of others in the family. By 2014, he was serving as an underboss to Domenico Cefalu and when Cefalu stepped down, he took the reins of the family. Paul Castellano was assassinated in 1985. He was the boss of the family at the time but John Gotti was eager to usurp him Cali insisted on the most old fashioned practices. He refused to take phone calls and conducted business face to face. Paul Castellano Until Cali, Castellano's death in 1985 was the last time an acting mob boss was assassinated. He was shot as he entered Sparks Steakhouse with Thomas Bilotti in a hit that was ordered by John Gotti. Gotti plotted their deaths as part of his takeover of the family after the death of boss Carlo Gambino. To his dissatisfaction, Gambino had appointed Castellano as his successor when he died in 1976. Castellano was known more for his business acumen and interest in white collar crime than he was for his brawn and Gotti, a Maverick who was selling drugs behind his back and against his wishes, had no appetite for it. He arranged their deaths then assumed control of the family. The killings are two of the most notorious in New York mafia history. Thomas Bilotti was Castellano's underboss. He was also shot at the steakhouse Their bodies were left in the street, next to the car Bilotti had driven them in, for hours afterwards. Thomas Bilotti Bilotti was shot alongside Castellano at the steakhouse as he got out of the other side of the car. There was an attempt by Gotti and his number two, Frank DeCicco, to switch him out and have DeCicco drive him instead to ensure that Castellano would be killed but they abandoned it at the last minute for fear that it would raise his suspicions. He was also despised by Gotti and others in the family for his quick succession under Castellano. When Castellano took over from Gambino, he gave Bilotti his own crew to manage then when his underboss died of cancer, Castellano have Bilotti the position. It enraged Gotti and his co-conspirators and set in motion the plan to kill them. Thomas Bilotti was shot dead outside Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan in 1985. He had driven boss Paul Castellano there in an ambush set up by John Gotti. His grave is in the main section of the cemetery. There is space for his wife, Donna The body of Thomas Bilotti is shown outside the Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan where he and Paul Castellano were gunned down in 1985 in a hit ordered by John Gotti Paul Castellano's body was found on the other side of the car. The pair were gunned down as they got out of the vehicle before they had a chance to enter the restaurant Frank DeCicco died in 1986 in a car bomb explosion that was meant to kill John Gotti, his boss Frank DeCicco Gotti's number two, Frank DeCicco, was blown up in a car bomb explosion the following year which he narrowly avoided. DeCicco is also buried in the cemetery in New Drop. The failed assassination on Gotti contributed to his nickname, The Teflon Don. He was meant to be in the car with DeCicco but decided not to go at the last minute. Gotti died in 2002 in prison after a lengthy cancer battle. He is buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens along with other members of the family. While Castellano, Bilotti and DeCicco were murdered in unmistakable hits from their rivals, Cali's death remains somewhat of a mystery. The man accused of killing him - Anthony Comello - is yet to offer a motive. He appeared in court this week with MAGA forever written on his hand. Sources have claimed their dispute may have been over Cali's apparent refusal to allow Comello to date his niece. His funeral on Tuesday was monitored by police who photographed men carrying his body out of a funeral home and racing towards the cemetery. Afterwards, a reporter who had gone into the cemetery to ask questions was reportedly confronted by one of the mourners who said: 'Get the f**k out of here before I blow your f*****g head off.' Former Vice President Joe Biden would crush President Donald Trump by a 10-point margin if the 2020 election were held today, according to poll numbers released Wednesday. Biden, who ran for the White House in 1998 and 2008, has not yet announced his candidacy this year, but news reports have confirmed behind-the-scenes conversations with potential fundraisers and donors. The Emerson College poll found 55 per cent of registered voters would choose Biden, and Trump would get the other 45 per cent. Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in a new poll of a hypothetical head-to-head 2020 matchup for the White House Biden isn't the only Democrat who is ahead of Trump; Kamala Harris is beating him by 4 points and others are within the poll's margin of error Trump will face a bruising re-election fight next year and so far there are at least 14 major-party candidates with a shot at taking him on California Sen. Kamala Harris, with a 4-point lead over the president, is the only other Democrat who would beat him handily enough to be outside the poll's 2.8 per cent margin of error. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are each ahead of Trump by 2 points; the president beats former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke by the same 2-point split. The Democratic primary field is split into two distinct tiers, according to the Emerson poll. Biden and Sanders are tied with 26 per cent each, followed by Harris with 12 per cent, O'Rourke with 11 and Warren with 8. Five per cent chose 'someone else' rather than backing any of the candidates. The Democratic primary field is quickly collapsing into two tiers with most of the field polling at 3 per cent or less California Sen. Kamala Harris is the only Democrat other than Biden who is beating Trump in the Emerson College poll by a spread wider than the margin of error South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigier and New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker each have a 3 per cent share of the primary vote. Six more candidates registered 1 per cent, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand scored zero. The group with 1 per cent showings includes former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, entrepreneur Andrew yang, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. Emerson also polled hypothetical three-way contests that pitted Trump against either O'Rourke or Biden but adding potential independent candidate Howard Schultz as a potential spoiler. Schultz made no difference in the Trump-O'Rourke matchup, polling 10 per cent of the vote but leaving the president with a 2-point victory. But the former Starbucks CEO tightened Biden's lead over Trump from 10 points to 8. Potential independent candidate Howard Schultz, theformer Starbucks CEO, would trim down Biden's lead over Trump in a three-way race, but he wouldn't move the needle in a Trump battle with Beto O'Rourke Popular vote polls can be misleading since the United States chooses its presidents through the Electoral College a system that some Democrats want to abolish. Each state is given a fixed number of electoral votes equal to the number of lawmakers who represent it in the U.S. House and Senate. Most states award control of those votes on a winner-take-all basis, but a few divide them up, as the U.S. Constitution permits. Because some states are vastly more populous than others, it's possible for one candidate to earn more votes overall while still losing in the Electoral College. Trump won control of electoral votes in 20 states, beating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's 20, even though nearly 3 million more people voted for her when all the states' raw vote totals were combined. Her margin in California alone was 4.3 million votes, but that brought her the same Electoral College result as she would have enjoyed with a margin of a single vote. Two teachers have been fired from a New York middle school where a collage depicting nooses labeled 'back to school necklaces' was displayed for several months. The nontenured staff members, who had been employed by the district for two to three years, were dismissed by the Roosevelt Union Free School District board on Tuesday. The board voted 4-0 on Tuesday to terminate their employment from Roosevelt Middle School, Long Island due to alleged involvement in the incident. This image depicting nooses dubbed 'back to school necklaces' was found in a classroom at Roosevelt Middle School in New York. Two teachers have been fired over the incident while a third is suspended pending a hearing A third teacher, who is tenured, was also suspended with pay at the Tuesday night meeting, pending a hearing, the board's president told NBC News. Parents had become outraged after learning of the collage, which showed a pair of nooses jokingly dubbed 'back-to-school necklaces'. Arthur Mackey Jr, a pastor at Mount Sinai Baptist Church Cathedral in Roosevelt, shared the offensive image on his Facebook page in February. The clergyman said he got a photo of the collage from a local teacher and called on the Roosevelt school superintendent and the Board of Education to address what he characterized as an 'unacceptable display of racially offensive images.' More than half of the students enrolled in Roosevelt Middle School are Hispanic or Latino, and about 45 per cent are African-American The classroom collage also included a pink smiley face sticker, and the words 'ha ha' and '#yes.' In a statement at the time, the Roosevelt Union Free School District said the Board of Education had been made aware of 'the inappropriate conduct at Roosevelt Middle School'. Arthur Mackey Jr, a pastor at Mount Sinai Baptist Church Cathedral, was the first to raise the alarm about the offensive collage The statement went on to say that an investigation was immediately launched and appropriate action taken,' adding that 'the Board of Education has zero tolerance for the display of racially offensive images.' More than half of the students enrolled in Roosevelt Middle School are Hispanic or Latino, and about 45 per cent are African-American, according to data from the New York State Department of Education. Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen called for those responsible for creating and displaying the collage to be fired, arguing that besides being racist, the image could also incite someone to suicide. 'This imagery that was on display in a Roosevelt Middle School classroom is undoubtedly racist and should not be tolerated in our town, or any other community,' Gillen told WNBC. According to Urban Dictionary, the phrase 'back to school necklace' is another name for a noose. 'This is due to the utter despair you feel when school starts back up again,' the entry for the term reads. The Roosevelt Union Free School District said in a statement that action has been taken The community was split about the meaning of the imagery in the collage. 'This is evidence that racism still goes on,' Roosevelt student Dante Hawkins said. Local resident Savitri Lekhram told News 12 Long Island that 'it's probably a joke, it probably has nothing to do with African-Americans but at the same time, they could still draw that connection.' Roosevelt mother Yvette Hudson told News 12: 'I'm just glad my kids are out of there right now.' In a follow-up post, Pastor Mackey identified by name three Roosevelt teachers pictured in the collage and called for their immediate termination. 'That is a pure, outright discrimination, whether they realize it or not,' Mackey told CBS New York. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has had his sentence for genocide increased to life behind bars, meaning he will almost certainly die in prison. UN appeals judges in The Hague today upheld the 73-year-old's convictions for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. He had appealed against his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his country's devastating 1992-95 war - Europe's bloodiest conflict since the Second World War. The former leader is one of the most senior figures tried by The Hague war crimes court. UN appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (right, today) for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment Karadzic (right, today) showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars The 73-year-old had appealed against his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his country's devastating 1992-95 war - Europe's bloodiest conflict since the Second World War His case is considered as key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left more than 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. Judge Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence, given what he called the 'sheer scale and systematic cruelty' of Karadzic's crimes. Applause broke out in the public gallery as Judge Joensen passed the new sentence. Families of victims who travelled to The Hague welcomed the verdict. Mothers of victims, some elderly, wept with apparent relief after watching the ruling read on a screen in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic was also awaiting an appeal judgment of his genocide and war crimes conviction, which earned him a life sentence. Karadzic's case is considered as key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left more than 100,000 people dead and millions homeless Decision: Applause broke out in the public gallery as Judge Joensen passed the new sentence Toys and other belongings of children who were killed in the 1990s war in Bosnia are displayed in Sarajevo as their parents wait for broadcast of the verdict in the case of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzi Both men were convicted of genocide for their roles in the slaughter by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia's eastern Srebrenica region in July 1995. Prosecutors had appealed against Karadzic's acquittal on a second count of genocide, which saw Serb forces drive out Muslims and Croats from Serb-controlled villages in a 1992 campaign. Judges rejected that appeal. At an appeals hearing last year, prosecution lawyer Katrina Gustafson told a five-judge panel that Karadzic 'abused his immense power to spill the blood of countless victims. Justice requires that he receive the highest possible sentence - a life sentence'. Karadzic has always argued that the Bosnian Serb campaigns during the war, which included the bloody siege of the capital Sarajevo, were aimed at defending Serbs. After his indictment by the tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic remained at large for years before he was arrested in Serbia in 2008 disguised as a new-age therapist. Advertisement Washington D.C. has the worst gentrification problem in America, with 40 percent of its low-income neighborhoods affected by an influx of wealthier residents, rising home prices and shifting demographics, according to a new study. As wealthy white people moved into these D.C. neighborhoods, 20,000 African American residents were displaced - more than any other city in the nation, according to the report by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Researchers defined the problem in D.C. and other U.S. cities as 'intensive gentrification,' or when more than 10 Census tracts within a city underwent gentrification from 2000-2013. Gentrification occurred in 62 out of 154 of D.C.'s low-income Census tracts during that period. Census tracts are small geographic regions that typically encompass a population of 2,500-8,000 people. While D.C. was the most gentrified by the percentage of neighborhoods affected, New York City was the most gentrified by 'sheer volume,' with 24 percent of its low-income neighborhoods experiencing the phenomenon and nearly 15,000 African Americans displaced, according to the report. Nationwide, gentrification has been concentrated in larger cities, particularly as more wealthy people have returned from the suburbs. The pattern often forces many low-income Americans - particularly minorities - to move to further-flung suburbs or neighborhoods where the cost of housing is lower. This map illustrates the U.S. cities where gentrification is most prevalent, with a concentration in areas on the East and West coasts. Washington D.C. had the highest 'intensity' of gentrification, while New York city had the most by 'sheer numbers' In fact, nearly half of all gentrification has occurred in seven U.S. cities, predominately along the nation's coasts. In addition to D.C. and New York those include: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Diego and Chicago. 'The gentrification and displacement that we found is really concentrated in a few of the most economically active cities,' said Jason Richardson, co-author of the report and director of research at NCRC. 'It displaced mostly African American and Latinos because they had been drawn into living in those neighborhoods during the 1950s, 1960s (and) 1970s era, and now there's a process of them being pushed out,' he told DailyMail.com. Washington D.C. stood out again along with Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon for having high rates of African American displacement. Portland saw 13 percent of its black community displaced from 2000-2013, and Philadelphia saw 12,000 African Americans displaced during the same period. The issue has also affected Hispanic people, with the greatest displacement of those communities occurring in Denver and Austin. Across the country, 110,935 African Americans and 24,374 Hispanic people were displaced due to gentrification, researchers found after analyzing U.S. Census tracts that were in the lower 40th percentile for median home values and household incomes in 2000. This graph illustrates the top cities experiencing gentrification, and shows the percent of low-income Census tracts that have experienced gentrification in each metropolis This map charts the displacement of African American (in pink) and Hispanic (in orange) residents from communities in major U.S. cities. The problem has emerged as a result of gentrification - when neighborhoods experience an influx of investment, drawing wealthier residents, raising home prices and shifting demographics These graph illustrates the levels of gentrification and displacement of Hispanic (left) and African American (right) residents in U.S. cities most affected by both issues 'Regionally you see some differences in displacement: in the Northeast, Midwest and southern regions of the U.S., you see high levels of African American displacement while in the West it's more Hispanic displacement,' said co-author Bruce Mitchell, a senior research analyst for NCRC. Overall, displacement occurred in 22 percent of gentrified Census tracts, according to the report. Nationwide, three percent of towns and cities experienced intensive gentrification, while eight percent of U.S. towns and cities saw more moderate levels of gentrification (from two to 10 tracts). Gentrification is not all bad the phenomenon is typically coupled with economic investment in local communities, often drawing new businesses and injecting life into depressed communities. Many more American communities struggle due to a lack of investment, and would welcome some measure of gentrification as long as it didn't lead to displacement, Mitchell said. However, that kind of rapid growth usually leads to long-term residents and businesses being forced out by rising rents and property taxes. These maps offer a close-up view at the communities where gentrification and displacement has happened within Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Baltimore Researchers said there is no single solution to the problems caused by gentrification, and that the issues should be tackled at the local level so communities can decide for themselves how to balance the need for investment with the desire to keep current residents in their long-term neighborhoods. Mitchell and Richardson did suggest several approaches that can be used to tackle the problem, while stressing that communities must decide for themselves how to implement the concepts. One idea is to offer tax abatements to long-term, low-income residents, so property taxes are held at a certain level even as home values increase to avoid displacement. Another approach is to give low-income renters the right of first refusal to buy their units as apartment buildings are converted into condominiums. That tactic is often coupled with down-payment assistance. The authors also suggest low-income housing credits to make it more affordable for long-term residents to stay in rapidly gentrifying communities. Police in New Zealand have said they are 'actively investigating' social media users who posted footage of the Christchurch massacre, after two people were charged for allegedly sharing the Facebook live stream. Alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant live-streamed horrific footage of the shootings - including himself gunning down worshippers - on his Facebook page last Friday. The social media giant says it has removed some 1.5million videos of the attack, in which 50 people died, but is facing fresh scrutiny over content which is distributed on its platform. Philip Neville Arps (pictured) appeared in Christchurch District Court accused of sharing the footage of the terrorist massacre last Friday Armed police officers speak to members of the Muslim community near Al Noor mosque in Christchurch today New Zealand police said in a statement: 'Police are actively investigating the sharing and dissemination of the video. 'For operational reasons, we are unable to go into specific details regarding our investigation.' Facebook refused to specify if they would identify users who shared the video. The firm's vice president Chris Sonderby said: 'We have been working directly with the New Zealand Police to respond to the attack and support their investigation. 'We removed the attacker's video within minutes of their outreach to us, and in the aftermath, we have been providing an on-the-ground resource for law enforcement authorities. 'We will continue to support them in every way we can.' The first user report on the original video came in 29 minutes after the video started, and 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended, Facebook said. Other shares that are visually similar to that video are detected and automatically removed from Facebook and Instagram, the social network said. Twitter referred to its guidelines for law enforcement, which state that private details would only be shared in accordance with a legal process such as a court order. MailOnline has also approached YouTube to ask if they will share users' identities with law enforcement. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said it would look at any files passed to it by police, in line with usual practice. The Metropolitan Police has said that spreading footage of the attack 'may result in a criminal investigation'. Friends and supporters of Philip Neville Arps leave Christchurch District Court on Wednesday after he was denied bail A coffin containing the body of a victim of the Christchurch terrorist attack is carried for burial at Memorial Park Cemetery today In the latest case to go to court in New Zealand, businessman Philip Neville Arps allegedly copied the live-stream of the mass killings and distributed it on Saturday. He was charged with two counts of violating New Zealand's 1993 Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act by distributing an 'objectionable publication'. The 44-year-old appeared in court in Christchurch today. Dressed scruffily in grey tracksuit trousers, a dirty blue T-shirt and striped socks but no shoes, Arps listened intently while District Judge Stephen O'Driscoll told him he was not required to enter a plea. Police prosecutor Bronwen Blackmore said Arps had distributed 'a live-stream of the murder of multiple victims at the Deans Avenue Mosque, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the publication is objectionable'. The married father-of-six, who was arrested in a police raid at his Christchurch home on Tuesday, was refused bail. Tattooed Arps glowered as he stood in the dock while his photograph was being taken at the start of the hearing. Arps was the second person prosecuted, after a teenager faced the same charges for allegedly posting the footage. Flowers left by residents are seen at a memorial site for victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks at an Islamic Center in Kilbirnie, Wellington The first victims laid to rest were Syrian refugee Khaled Mustafa, 44, (left) and his high school student son Hamza, 15 (right) Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, has been charged with murder and appeared at court on Saturday. He was remanded until April 5. In addition to the live stream he outlined his anti-immigrant motives in a manifesto posted online. In the live stream, a man inside a mosque appears to say: 'Welcome brother,' as a gunman approaches. Of those killed in the massacre, 42 died at the Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue in central Christchurch, seven were killed at the suburban Linwood Masjid Mosque, and one person died at Christchurch Hospital. A number of improvised explosive devices found on a vehicle after the shootings were defused by police. British security sources said there were no apparent UK links to the attack. Jamal Trulove (pictured) attends the 'The Last Black Man In San Francisco' premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on January 26, 2019 An innocent man who spent more than six years in prison after police framed him for murder has received $13.1 million in compensation from the city of San Francisco. Jamal Trulove, 38, was sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of his friend, Seu Kuka, in 2007. Kuka, who was also Trulove's neighbor, was shot and killed in a public housing project. Trulove served six years of his life sentence before an appeals court overturned his conviction in 2014 and ordered a new trial. He was acquitted in a 2015 retrial. On Tuesday, the aspiring actor and rapper received a $13.1 million settlement from the city of San Francisco for his wrongful arrest, prosecution and imprisonment. Despite the payout, Trulove hasn't closed the book on the 12-year injustice he suffered. 'I'm not done with them by a long shot!!' the artist tweeted Tuesday night. 'After what these cowards of the law did to me, I will [let] my freedom ring through every platform I get to show what injustice really looks like. Me!' San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to settle Trulove's civil rights lawsuit. The settlement was part of the board's consent calendar and was approved without comment. San Francisco's city attorney and Trulove's lawyers negotiated terms of the settlement before it was presented to the board for approval. Alex Reisman, one of Trulove's lawyers, said Trulove spent eight years in maximum security prisons, mostly in Southern California hundreds of miles from family. He was also stabbed, Reisman said. 'He endured a lot,' Reisman said. San Francisco Police arrested Trulove (pictured) in 2007 and charged him with murder in the death of his friend Seu Kuka, who was shot in a public housing project An appeals court overturned his conviction in 2014 after his attorneys proved police manipulated a friend to misidentify Truelove as the shooter Three years after his exoneration, Trulove sued the police department and four officers saying they fabricated evidence, coerced a key eyewitness and withheld vital information that may have exonerated Trulove. A federal jury last year determined the two lead homicide detectives had violated Trulove's civil rights and awarded him $14.5 million. Trulove accepted the $13.1 million offer in exchange for the city's dropping of its appeal. The jury cleared two other officers of wrongdoing. Trulove was freed in 2015 after he was acquitted at retrial after more than six years in prison The jury found that detectives showed an eyewitness a single photo of Trulove rather than presenting the person with photos of other people as part of a 'lineup' to identify a suspect. Evidence also was produced showing the detectives were aware of another suspect who they did not investigate, among other failures. The four officers named in Trulove's lawsuit have retired. No officers were disciplined for their roles in the case, Reisman said. Since he was set free in 2015, Trulove has made progress getting his life and career back on track. In January, he attended the Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a festival award-winning drama he co-stars in, which hits theaters this summer. Trulove recently reflected on his journey in an Instagram post looking back on the day he was released from prison and came home to surprise his mother. A friend captured the moment on video. 'It's just hitting me 4 years later on what happened to me after revisiting this footage,' Trulove said on IG. 'There's nothing I could do to make up for that time I missed. No amount of money could ever reverse the time I missed with my kids and the affect that it's had on there up bringing and our relationship... But, lookin back at this footage and seeing my mom's reaction and knowing how happy I was to be free from them walls, only makes me understand more why I was chosen for this journey and my energy is what it is today and beyond. I will change the world.' The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. New Delhi: The wait for the BJPs list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls persisted as the third meeting of the party's central election committee continued on Wednesday without any formal announcement of ticket nominees. Sources stated that the finalisation of candidates was taking longer than expected as the party could effect major changes in the ticket distribution denying many sitting MPs a chance to contest on BJP tickets. They pointed out that the indication regarding major changes came as the party has already decided to deny tickets to all 10 sitting MPs from Chhattisgarh. The BJP, which faced a severe drubbing in the recent Chhattisgarh assembly polls, decided to drop all its 10 sitting MPs from the state. The BJP's central election committee (CEC) met at the party headquarters in the capital as part of its deliberations to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Today's meeting came after two such meets by the party's CEC on March 16 and 19 which also ended without the release of the much awaited list of candidates. This is the third meeting of the CEC, BJP's highest decision making body, on selection of candidates. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. A Danish politician claimed she was told her baby daughter was 'not welcome' in the parliament's main chamber. Far-right speaker Pia Kjaersgaard allegedly ordered Conservative politician Mette Abildgaard to remove her five-month-old baby from the room. The mother, who is in her 30s, said she had never brought her daughter to work before, but she had to so that day because her father could not take care of her. Danish Conservative politician Abildgaard pictured with her husband and their daughter Abildgaard handed the baby to an assistant, pictured with Esther Marie, in Parliament Abildgaard wrote on Facebook that she did not ask for permission to bring her daughter Esther Marie to work as she had seen another colleague bring her baby in the chamber before. 'I am not aware that there are written rules about it,' she added. The politician said the toddler was in a good mood and she had asked her secretary to go and pick the baby up if she made any noise during the meeting. Mrs Abildgaard also added she is entitled to a year's maternity leave with full salary from the Parliament. Far-right speaker Pia Kjaersgaard said that only MPs should be allowed in the chamber Conservative MP Mette Abildgaard was ordered to remove her five-month-old daughter from the Danish parliament's main chamber She said she did not want to take advantage of it, as she prefers to 'go back and serve democracy'. However, she added mothers of young children need more flexibility. Ms Kjaersgaard allegedly passed the message to an assistant, who asked Mrs Abildgaard to remove the baby from the chamber. Abildgaard kisses her five-month-old baby Esther Marie, who Pia Kjaersgaard said was 'not welcome' in the parliament's chamber The politician handed the child to an assistant and then she went back to the chamber to vote. 'MPs should be in the chamber, not babies or children,' Ms Kjaersgaard told reporters. Denmark is known as a pioneer country for women's rights and equality, as well as a nation with generous parental leave. GOP Rep. Steve King, an Iowa congressman whose comments on 'white nationalism' got him kicked off his congressional committees, declined to take a position on an all-white 'white society' at a town hall in his district on the basis that it's a 'hypothetical' situation that has never presented itself. 'I dont have an answer for that. Thats so hypothetical,' King told a constituent, according to the New York Times. 'Ill say this, America is not a white society it has never been a completely white society. We came here and joined the Native Americans.' He went on to explain his views on American patriotism, saying it it is his belief that it not one's nationality need not be determined by birth or race. 'Ive long said that a baby can be lifted out of a cradle anywhere in the world and brought into any home in America, whatever the color of the folks in that household, and they can be raised to be American as any other,' he said. 'And I believe that every one of us, every one of us, is created in Gods image.' GOP Rep. Steve King, an Iowa congressman whose comments on 'white nationalism' got him kicked off his congressional committees, declined to take a position on an all-white 'white society' at a town hall in his district on the basis that it's a 'hypothetical' situation that has never presented itself Mary Lavelle, a 63-year-old Iowan, had asked King if he thinks a 'white society is superior to a nonwhite society' at the event that coincided with King's removal of a Facebook post speculating which political party would win a modern-day civil war. King told a CNN reporter he 'wasnt aware' of the post. The Facebook page bears his name, but the congressman said he does not personally manage it. He claimed, 'The only people who care about that is national news media. Nobody has raised the issue around here.' King said in January that he'll run for reelection, in spite of previous comments he made on 'white nationalism' that he says were taken out of context. 'I am running in 2020,' he said Thursday, according to the Associated Press. He told an Iowa television show host the same day, 'I have nothing to apologize for.' King says he was misquoted him and news outlets weaponized what he said. The Iowa was widely condemned by politicians from both parties following comments that appeared in a New York Times article. He joined in a House-passed motion of disapproval following his comments. It passed 424 to 1. 'White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive?' King reportedly said. In an episode of 'Iowa Press' that airs on Friday evening, King claimed it was a 'misquote,' according to the Des Moines Register. 'If you would just hold these publications to what is true, there is no story whatsoever,' he said. 'Theres no part of me that believes in anything thats advocated by folks that identify themselves as white nationalists or white supremacy.' After the article ran, he penned an email to his campaign supporters portraying himself as a victim of a campaign to destroy him. King voted for a resolution condemning himself for comments he made about white nationalism and white supremacy that he now claims were taken out of context 'The unhinged left has teamed up with Republican 'NeverTrumpers' and is pulling out all the stops to destroy me,' he wrote, the Des Moines Register reported. He also said the 'rabid leftist media' was coming for him. Since the interview, King denied that he is racist and said his remarks were 'completely mischaracterized'. Republican leaders blasted his comments. House leaders stripped King of his committee assignments. 'There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the comments appeared last week. Republican Congressional leaders Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (left) and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (right) have condemned King's remarks The final vote was 424 in favor and one opposed; Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush said he would vote no because he wants King censured, a much stronger punishment 'Rep. King's statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position. If he doesn't understand why 'white supremacy' is offensive, he should find another line of work.' Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah called for King to 'step aside.' King went along with the resolution when it came to a vote before the full House in a move that stopped short of a formal censure. 'I agree with every word that you have put in this,' King told House Democratic whip James C. Clyburn, who sponsored the resolution, in a speech on the House floor shortly before the vote. 'So I want to ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle let's vote for this resolution. I'm putting up a yes on the board here because what you say is true, is right and is just,' he added. When the comments first appeared, King issued a statement saying: 'Today, the New York Times is suggesting that I am an advocate for white nationalism and white supremacy. I want to make one thing abundantly clear; I reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define,' King said in the statement, which did not deny the accuracy of the quotation. 'Further, I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology which saw in its ultimate expression the systematic murder of 6 million innocent Jewish lives,' he said, bringing up the Holocaust. The nine-term lawmaker has drawn a potentially serious primary challenger in Iowa state Sen. Randy Feenstra. King also said on the floor: 'The words are likely what I said, but I want to read them to you the way that I likely said it.' He said he, too, condemns white supremacy. The mother of a 14-year-old who was raped and killed in 2016 took the stand on Wednesday to tell a court that her daughter had a tendency to be a 'very difficult child'. Grace Packer was brutally murdered as part of a sick rape-murder fantasy between Jacob Sullivan, 46, and his girlfriend, Sara Packer. Sullivan pleaded guilty last month to the 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of Grace. Grace's adoptive mother, Sara Packer, has also agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. The defense has said that Sullivan should get the same sentence as Packer - life in prison. Sara Packer, who wore a red prison jumpsuit, also said she has a degree in psychology and an IQ over 140. Grace Packer's adoptive mother, Sara Packer (left), said in court that her daughter was a 'very difficult child'. Grace was raped, killed and dismembered by Jacob Sullivan (right) and Sara Packer in 2016 Grace (pictured) was brutally murdered as part of a sick rape-murder fantasy between Sullivan and Sara Packer Grace's family members said they remain haunted by her torture and excruciating death, describing for jurors their unrelenting pain at a hearing that will determine whether her killer will be sentenced to life or death. Prosecutors have said Sara Packer hated Grace, shared a rape-murder fantasy with Sullivan, watched as he sexually assaulted and strangled her in a hot attic outside Philadelphia, and helped hack up her body and dispose of it months later. 'It sickens me to know that Grace was abused, tortured and literally thrown away like she was a piece of trash,' her cousin, Karie Heisserer, with whom Grace lived for a time in 2015, said in court Thursday. 'Grace is in a better place now, free from evil and pain.' Jurors saw photos of the bubbly but troubled teen in happier times: Sitting in the cab of her uncle's big rig, frolicking in the sand at her first trip to the beach, delighting in birthday cake at a pool party. But all of that happened with relatives, not with Sara Packer, a former county adoptions supervisor who prosecutors say spent years physically and mentally abusing the little girl she fostered and then adopted. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub told the jury that he agreed to a life sentence for Sara in exchange for her confession and guilty plea because the physical evidence against her was weak. Grace's family members said they remain haunted by her torture and excruciating death, describing for jurors their unrelenting pain at a hearing that will determine whether her killer will be sentenced to life or death In a confession to police, Sullivan said he and Sara Packer (pictured during a 2017 court appearance) plotted Grace's death Sullivan (center) admitted he punched and raped Grace as Sara Packer watched, bound her hands and feet with zip ties and stuffed a ball gag in her mouth Weintraub said the evidence was weak because it was Sullivan who raped and killed Grace, and because Sara Packer's crimes did not qualify for the death penalty. In a confession to police, Sullivan said he and Sara Packer plotted Grace's death. Sullivan admitted he punched and raped Grace as Sara Packer watched, bound her hands and feet with zip ties and stuffed a ball gag in her mouth. Prosecutors said Sullivan and Packer also gave her what they intended to be a lethal dose of over-the-counter medication and left her to die in a sweltering attic. Grace eventually managed to escape some of her bindings and spit the gag out, but was unable to make it out of the house before Sullivan and Packer returned overnight - some 12 hours later. That's when Sullivan strangled her as Sara Packer looked on. The couple stored her body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it in October 2016, prosecutors said. Grace's younger brother, Josh Packer, now 14, told jurors the only way he can bear his loss is if adults know her story and then act to prevent child abuse. Prosecutors said Sullivan and Packer gave Grace what they intended to be a lethal dose of medication and left her to die. Grace eventually managed to escape some of her bindings and spit the gag out, but was unable to make it out of the house before they returned That's when Sullivan strangled her as Sara Packer looked on. The couple stored her body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area (pictured) where hunters found it in October 2016, prosecutors said He said in a statement read by a detective that if his big sister was told she could save other kids' lives by giving her own, she would ask: 'What do I have to do?' 'Watch out for all the kids so that a loss like Grace's loss never happens again,' Josh wrote. 'Do your best to help kids who can't help themselves.' That's not what happened in Grace's case. Sara Packer and her husband at the time, David Packer, adopted Grace and Josh in 2007. The couple cared for dozens of foster children before David Packer was sent to prison for sexually assaulting Grace and a 15-year-old foster daughter at their Allentown home, about an hour outside Philadelphia. Sara Packer lost her job as a Northampton County adoptions supervisor in 2010 and was barred from taking in any more foster children. But child welfare authorities did not remove Grace from the home, despite evidence of abuse. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services launched an investigation after Grace's murder but its findings have not been made public. Jeffrey Millar, pictured outside Manchester Crown Court, was handed a community order after he pleaded guilty to attempting to groom a 15-year-old girl for sex A former soldier who helped arrange Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions has become the first landlord in Britain to be convicted of 'sex for rent' offences after he attempted to groom 'a homeless 15-year-old girl'. Jeffrey Millar, 55, put an advert on Cragslist saying he wanted a woman to move into his one-bed apartment claiming he would 'come to an arrangement that will be mutual and beneficial to us both'. He indicated that 'race and size does not matter'. However, the advert for the flat near Manchester City Centre was seen by Billy Richardson-McLean, who pretended to be a 15-year-old homeless girl looking for accommodation. Mr Richardson-McLean checked up on Millar, found his social media profile to discover he helped DoE teenagers - then sent him a message saying: 'Horny young girl, desperate for somewhere to live.' Millar then sent a response saying. 'Don't need money to stay with me, I'd like to see your p***y' before exchanging further sexually explicit messages. He also arranged to meet the 'girl' in Harpurhey, Manchester but police were alerted and arrested him at his home in nearby Blackley. It emerged two other people had responded to the post - one a woman. At Manchester Crown Court, Millar pleaded guilty to an offence of attempt to cause a child to engage in sexual activity but escaped with a three year community order after a judge said it would 'ensure the protection of the public'. Millar, 55, claimed in the advert he was offering a 'Free Room for females in Manchester'. According to the ad: 'Will live with me rent and bill free. Will come to an agreement that will be mutual and beneficial to us both as to your payment for staying with me at the flat' Millar, pictured, worked with the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme organising expeditions Millar, a former sapper in the British army had posted the advert to Craigslist, on July 29 2017. Prosecutor, Gavin Howie said: 'Mr Billy Richardson-McLean saw the advert on Craigslist which the defendant talked about looking for a tenant who would live rent and bill free, but he implied other suggestions as a form of payment. 'The headline of the add read: 'Free Room for females in Manchester'. The advert read: 'Offering to share my flat with a female - race and size does not matter. Ten mins from Manchester City Centre. 'Will live with me rent and bill free. Will come to an agreement that will be mutual and beneficial to us both as to your payment for staying with me at the flat.' And he offered his mobile phone number. 'Seeing that advert, Mr Richardson-McLean took the view that this was unpleasant and suspicious and felt he had to identify the poster of the advert, and he wanted to discover the number attempts to respond. 'This caused him some concern as he discovered the poster on Facebook was the defendant, and discovered he was a coordinator with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme for the Army Cadet Force. He was concerned enough about that to post a response on the advert to being a tenant. 'His response stated: 'horny young girl desperate and needing a place to live'. He was not a member of a paedophile hunter group and not formally affiliated. He was in fact curious as to how many had responded to the advert. Two other people responded to the advert, one of those was an adult female. Millar's legal tem described him as a 'sad and lonely old man' 'Millar's response was to say 'don't need money to stay with me, I'd like to see your p***y'. Mr Richardson-McLean was surprised at how sexually charged the exchange was. He found this suspicious as the defendant worked with children. He then told the defendant he was 15 years old. 'Mr Richardson-McLean told the defendant he was a 15-year-old girl who was kicked out by her family and desperate to find somewhere to live. He did not appear to be put off by her age, and said if she were to stay, a sexual favours arrangement would need to be made. 'A response from the witness stated that she asked him for "pics" said: "I'd like to see your hard c**k". No pictures were made available. At this stage they engaged in sexual communication. They organised a meeting on August 30 at 10.30am in Harpurhey. The meeting did not take place. 'The defendant messaged the witness stating that she had not come to the meeting. The witness believed the defendant thought he was talking to a 15 year old and he had offered sexual intercourse. It is also believe that he had arranged to meet another 15 year old before this meeting and that was another person pretending to be 15. 'Officers attended his home address, he was arrested and his phone was seized. In interview he said he didn't believe any of the responses, he concerned himself with making the advert, he got the reply and then deleted the advert. 'The phone was then disposed of as he knew the police would be looking for him. He said his intention was building the relationship and he did not send pictures of himself. He said he had no intention of going to meet anybody and he had never gone to meet those persons.' In mitigation, his defence lawyer Richard English said: 'This case has been described as distasteful, seedy and unpleasant. This is a very serious allegation. If the girl was real, she would have been very vulnerable. There is a degree of grooming and a degree of vulnerability. 'The case is unusual to the extent that he is not someone who has gone looking for an underage woman, he is approached from a third person. He did not pretend to be somebody else, namely another young and vulnerable person. It's because of this he was able to be identified very quickly. 'The sexual conversation began with the witness and he accepts and is shamed to have responded to that. When asked to send photos, he did not. The defendant is aware he will not be entitled to a great deal of sympathy. He is a sad and lonely man who was on a particularly low ebb. Millar was ordered to complete a sex offenders treatment programme and sign the sex offenders register for ten years 'Although this was unpleasant, it was completely out of character. He was provoked by somebody else. Nothing like that has happened before. Sentencing Judge Hilary Manley told Millar: 'It's suggested that in that advert you explained you would come to some sort of sexual favours agreement and whilst this person pretending to be a 15-year old girl made the first sexual overture, you responded with enthusiasm and encouragement. 'You arranged to meet her the next morning and that is the most aggravating and worrying feature of this case. You did not make the first approach, however in my opinion, the advert could be seen as bait to see what you could get. You did not make the first sexual approach, but you did return it. The best way to protect the public and ensure no repeated behaviour by you with this sort of offending is to make you subject to a lengthy community order. I am prepared to give you one chance.' Millar was ordered to complete a sex offenders treatment programme, sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and abide by the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention order. The case comes after homeless charity Shelter revealed 250,000 women had been offered 'sex-for-rent' in the last five years. In January after campaigning by MPs the Crown Prosecution Service issued new guidance to lawyers, classifying such deals as an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Advertisement The doomed ocean-liner RMS Titanic sunk because of a little-known rule that insisted all ships turn right to avoid a collision - sending her straight towards a wall of ice, a new book has claimed. Since the Titanic went down in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, historians have long pinned the blame solely on her striking an iceberg. But journalist Senan Molony, who has been researching the disaster for 30 years, believes there is much more to it than this with a fire in a coalbunker, a shortage of fuel and the decision to turn right to avoid an iceberg all among the reasons for its sinking. In his new book, Titanic: Why She Collided, Why She Sank and Why She Should Have Never Sailed, Senan Molony reveals new information that suggests the decision to turn the vessel right to avoid a collision with an iceberg one of the crucial reasons it sank. And it came after a fire in a coalbunker - which had been raging since Belfast - caused serious damage to the Titanics hull, in the same area where the iceberg later hit. RMS Titanic at Queenstown on Thursday 11 April 1912. This ship went down in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York Captain Edward John Smith (left) of RMS Titanic died when the ship sank on April 15, 1912. Investigative journalist Senan Molony has outlined in a new book some of the reasons for the ship's sinking - including a fire in a coalbunker that caused serious damage to the Titanics hull. Pictured right The New York World highlights the uncontrolled outbreak of a fire in a boiler room The Titanic at Belfast. Affected by a national coal strike, her capacity, conflagration, consumption, course and collision are all inextricably linked, writes Mr Molony First officer William McMaster Murdoch (left), said to have been alone on the bridge, is notable as the officer in charge when the Titanic collided with an iceberg. Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall (right), who was on duty but claimed to be in his cabin before impact - and therefore did not spot the iceberg He claims that a little-known shipping rule, that ships should always turn right (starboard) when faced with an oncoming vessel, meant a crash could avoided - just like when applied by pedestrians, two people walking towards each other on a busy pavement would not collide. But the rule, introduced for ships in the 1850s, did not work for icebergs, he claims - with the crew of The Titanic deciding to obey it nonetheless. Writing in his book, Mr Molony explains: 'In the case of a driver facing an oncoming tractor-trailer or articulated lorry, he or she knows that the length of the vehicle ahead will all be behind its driver. 'Yet icebergs dont observe the rules of the road. They can present in any form. And if one is encountered in the dark, with only the forepart of an obstruction initially visible, it cannot be assumed the body or load is all to the rear. 'It may be floating side-on, and if so, how can those on board the ship know to which side deadly length may extend? To the left or right? To port or to starboard?' And indeed there was much debate over the size of the iceberg from those who spotted from the ship, with one seaman, Joseph Scarrott, suggesting it extended to the right hand side of the Titanic. First officer William McMaster Murdoch (left), notable as the officer in charge when the Titanic collided, would also have spotted the iceberg. While fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall (right), who was on duty but claimed to be in his cabin before impact - did not spot it. Seaman Joseph Scarrott (inset), looked back from the well deck and saw an iceberg like the Rock of Gibraltar with its length to starboard. He personally signed a drawing of what he had seen, which was printed in 1912 A Gibraltar-like berg photographed in the locality from the Cunard liner Carmania prior to the Titanics collision. The picture appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer confidently headlined Iceberg which sank Titanic New York art professor Lewis Skidmore drew a twin-humped berg on the advice of survivor Jack Thayer aboard the Carpathia on 15 April Mr Molony continues: 'Standard operating procedure, when faced with an object dead ahead, was to go to starboard. The way to avoid collisions in 1912 was to travel to the right in any emergency, and to do so decisively. 'Yet doing so in this case would be fatal with the berg drawn by Scarrott, because he demonstrated that its mass extended in that direction. 'The international maritime Rules of the Road, which sought to take the gamble out of collision avoidance, ordained that everyone in imminent danger of head-on accident must avoid to the right, even if the object ahead could not be identified. 'If the obstruction proved to be under governed power of human hand, it would make a reciprocal turn. If not, the manoeuvre would still hopefully result in the evasion of a static object. 'Only if the obstruction had extreme length to the right, would the dangerous situation clearly become much worse instead of being relieved, as became the case with the Titanic.' And indeed this was eventually the case with the tragic ocean liner, as the crew of the Titanic followed the rule to move right when faced with the object dead ahead. The bow of the Titanic is pictured at rest on the bottom of the North Atlantic, about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland The Titanic went down in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York (pictured at the bottom of the ocean) Realising they were about to hit a wall of sheer ice, crews then have to order the vessel to quickly turn in the other direction - but by then it was too late. Mr Molony writes: 'In this version of events, the Titanic does the correct thing, which happens to be a terrible mistake. It is posited that she followed good seamanship, obeyed the stricture and applied standard procedure to avoid head-on collision. 'It then becomes unfortunate, in these circumstances, that age-old practice was an active menace because of how the berg presented itself. 'Had the Titanic chosen straight away to move to port, they would surely have escaped. But they would have been breaking an ingrained rule. 'It bears repeating that standard operating procedure, when faced with an object dead ahead, was to go to starboard. Not to port.' And it is claimed that during an inquiry into the collision, senior personnel lied about the sequence of steering events - colluding and pulling the wool over the eyes of the public. Mr Molony continues: 'Titanic said she made only one manouevre. But she likely actually made two. And they were contradictory. Costing the whole ship and all aboard.' This age-old rule, however, is just one of a number of reasons the vessel never made it New York, Mr Molony claims - with a fire in a coalbunker and a shortage of fuel among the other reasons. He believes that a fire in a coalbunker caused serious damage to the Titanics hull in the same area where the iceberg later hit - and had been raging since she left the shipyard in Belfast. He says the 1,000C temperatures weakened the hull so much that when the Titanic collided with an iceberg what could have been a minor knock became an unimaginable disaster. Mr Molony believes that a fire in a coalbunker caused serious damage to the Titanics hull in the same area where the iceberg later hit - and had been raging since she left the shipyard in Belfast. Titanic fireman Charles Hendrickson testified that the bunker fire began in Belfast. Mrs Elizabeth Brown learned of the outbreak and of men working day and night to fight it He says: 'That fire critically weakened its forward wall which happened to be the Titanics furthermost rampart of defence against any flooding influx. 'Then, when she struck her berg, all hell was let loose. The fire-affected bulkhead had lost three-quarters of its strength because of the fires high temperature altering the chemical composition of its steel. 'It had also been robbed of the bolstering banks of coal either side - dug out and thrown into the furnaces in a race to extinguish that fire - so that it became a flimsy ribbon against the flood.' Testifying to the fire, Titanic fireman Charles Hendrickson testified that the bunker fire began in Belfast. While a Mrs Elizabeth Brown learned of the outbreak and of men working day and night to fight it. And this coal fire also meant the ship was travelling at some speed, with Mr Molony writing in his book: 'The Titanic was therefore turbocharged, and the drive from the stokehold unleashed the idea of a publicity push for New York. In effect, the coal fire acted as propellant and accelerant.' The Titanic was therefore speeding into an area with a number of icebergs, with an already weakened hull. And she couldn't divert around the area because she didnt have enough coal to both flee to safer waters and to make her New York destination thereafter. As Mr Malonoy writes: 'Rather than embarrassingly run out of coal, having been too-lightly loaded in the first place because of Britains first-ever National Coal Strike, the ship chose to knife straight through the known ice-field, with tragic consequences'. Theresa May heads to Brussels tomorrow afternoon for a crunch summit on the fate of Brexit - and almost nothing is certain. She is to ask for a three month delay before one final push to get her deal agreed by MPs in a third showdown next week. Her plea comes after a major Cabinet row yesterday. Donald Tusk said today a short extension is possible - but only if MPs vote for the deal next week. It is not even clear if the Speaker will allow a third vote. Currently the law says Britain will leave the European Union with or without a deal in nine days time - at 11pm next Friday night. But it is also true there are a majority of MPs against a No Deal Brexit and probably still true there is a majority of MPs against Mrs May's deal. As Brexit finally enters the end game, these are the answers to some of the pressing questions: Theresa May heads to Brussels tomorrow afternoon for a crunch summit on the fate of Brexit - and almost nothing is certain What happened today? Theresa May has finally set out her terms for delaying Brexit after accepting it cannot happen on time. She has told EU Council President Donald Tusk she wants three months to have another go at getting her deal through. The Prime Minister has been criticised for appearing to dump the idea of a long extension - despite it being in her own plan last week and a short extension being damned as 'reckless' by her own deputy David Lidington six days ago. In response, Mr Tusk backed a short delay if MPs vote for the deal - but warned it could not be confirmed until after they do so. Does May have any support? There was a major row in Cabinet yesterday about any delay to Brexit. At the time, Mrs May did not express an opinion. Today she has set out her terms in a letter. Downing Street refused to say if Cabinet were consulted any further before the missive was finalised. What is May asking for at the summit tomorrow? The Prime Minister wants the EU Council to rubberstamp the extra three documents she agreed with the EU Commission on the backstop last week. She hopes this, combined with new promises at home on a role for the Northern Ireland Assembly, will be enough to convince John Bercow to allow a third vote on her deal. Mrs May will ask the EU to give her a three month extension to deliver the deal with these commitments. Will she get it? Probably - but only on condition MPs pass the deal next week. Donald Tusk announced today a short extension was 'possible' but that the details still needed to be hammered out. There are tricky issues: First, the bloc only wants a short extension to run until May 23 - the date of European Parliament elections in the UK. It will insist Britain is out of the bloc if it has no MEPs. Second, it has said there must be a clear reason for delay. This could be time to implement the agreed deal or time for an election or referendum that might set a new path for Brexit. How is Brexit delayed, if the EU agrees? To change the law, the Government would have to get a law change through Parliament. This can be done with a Statutory Instrument - a simple short piece of law - that tweaks the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 to change the current date to something else. In an emergency, it could likely be got through the Commons and Lords in two days - and conceivably a single day assuming there were votes to win procedural changes. What happens if Brussels says No? This unlocks a number of possible scenarios. First, Mrs May could come home and try and get her deal agreed by MPs anyway. Second, she could accept her deal is dead and invite MPs to choose a different course. Third, the Prime Minister could say Britain now has no choice but to leave the EU with no deal. Mrs May will ask for a three month delay before one final push to get her deal agreed by MPs in a third showdown next week. Her plea comes after a major Cabinet row yesterday (pictured are Brexiteer MPs walking out of No 10 today) Will there be a second EU summit if there are no conclusions tomorrow? Possibly. If the EU sends Mrs May home to come up with a concrete plan, they could agree to an emergency second summit next week. Organised EU summits is difficult - it requires 28 national leaders to turn up - but the EU is eager for Britain to leave with a deal. It means if Mrs May can get her deal through, leaders might reconvene to green light a short delay at the 11th hour. If she gets a Commons vote on an alternative plan, such as a referendum, she could ask them to meet again for a longer delay. Will there be a third meaningful vote and if so when? Mrs May has told the EU she wants a third vote 'as soon as possible' if they agree to give her a delay. This now looks certain to be early next week - if Speaker John Bercow agrees. He has insisted a new motion must be 'substantially' different. Mr Bercow alone will make this ruling and it is impossible to predict. What happens if the deal is defeated again? This also unlocks a number of possible consequences. First, given the proximity of exit day a third defeat next week would dramatically raise the risk of a No Deal Brexit on Friday. This could easily trigger a vote of no confidence in the Government - forcing pro-EU Tories to choose between voting with Jeremy Corbyn or accepting No Deal. Second, Mrs May has said if MPs continue rejecting the deal they will have to choose an alternative path. The Government would probably hold an indicative vote on the various options and hope for a longer delay at the last minute. Third, Mrs May could simply resign and hand the mess over to someone else in acknowledgement her flagship policy has fallen to historic failure. Fourth, if she already has a delay agreed by Brussels she could keep pressing on in the hope something comes up. Will MPs vote on other options? Probably. Because of the second defeat for the deal, procedure dictates there must be a debate on the next steps for Brexit, with the possibility of amending a Government motion. This could be used as a proxy for an indicative vote or could be used by MPs to seize the timetable and Commons procedure. They would use it to pit all the possible ideas against each other. It appears likely the initial amendable motion will be debated and voted on Monday night. Brussels leaders including Jean-Claude Junker and Donald Tusk (pictured today in Brussels) is already pushing back on the idea - meaning in 24 hours things could be even less certain than Will May resign? She appeared to hint she would today in preference to delaying Brexit beyond June 30. Downing Street refused to deny this was the clear implication of her remarks. What happens to Brexit if May goes or the Government collapses? It is hard to know. Without changing the law, No Deal happens next Friday. But we also know there is a majority of MPs against a No Deal Brexit. It is possible there are enough Tory MPs prepared to remove the Government to stop No Deal by installing a Corbyn government ahead of a snap election. Only the Government can bring forward the necessary change in the law to change the Brexit date. What is Labour's position? Labour says no deal must be stopped - but also says it will not vote for Mrs May's deal. It wants a three month delay to renegotiate the political declaration on the final UK-EU relationship but this would require it form a Government more or less immediately. Were it to do so, it would try pass the divorce deal attached to a new political declaration that said the final relationship would be based on a permanent customs union. Will there have to be a new election or a referendum? This falls into the anything is possible category. Parliament is deadlocked and has been for months - which suggests an election is necessary. And yet the governing Tory party clearly has little idea what it would put to the country or who would lead it into an election. An election can be forced without the consent of the Tories but it is very difficult. Similarly, it is far from clear there are the votes for a referendum in the Commons. The idea was crushed last week because Labour did not vote for it. Will Brexit ever happen? Almost three years after the referendum, this depends entirely on your view of events. The law says it will but there are enough MPs to at least change the date if given the chance to do so. Alice Cutter, 22, named herself 'Buchenwald Princess' in beauty competition - after the German concentration camp where thousands of Jews were slaughtered during WWII A woman accused of being a member of National Action entered a beauty contest set up by the banned neo-Nazi terrorist group in a bid to recruit more members to it. Alice Cutter, 22, won the competition in which she named herself 'Buchenwald Princess' - after the German concentration camp where thousands of Jews were slaughtered during WWII. She entered 'Miss Hitler' to 'raise the profile' of National Action, jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told as her trial opened today. The court heard that it was 'no coincidence' that her fiance Mark Jones, 24, had been pictured doing a Nazi salute in an execution room at the camp just a month earlier. The engaged couple have gone on trial accused of being members of the banned far-right organisation, which was proscribed in December 2016. They deny the charges alongside co-defendants Garry Jack, 23, and Connor Scothern, 18. It is alleged she entered competition in a bid to recruit more members to the extremist group National Action and 'raise the profile' it, jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told. Cutter and her fiance Mark Jones have gone on trial accused of being members of the banned far-right organisation, which was proscribed in December 2016 The couple deny the charges alongside co-defendants Garry Jack, 23, and Connor Scothern (pictured left outside the court) Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC said: 'Terror comes in many different forms. 'None, perhaps, more chilling than the particular brand of terror the four accused were seeking to spread. 'The terror of the gun, the terror of the knife, the terror of the noose, the terror of the explosive, the terror of the gas chamber. 'The terror of an ideology so warped, so extreme and so twisted, its continued existence will be shocking to many of you, if not all. 'It is the terror of pathological racial prejudice. It is the terror of society lacerated by division. It is the terror of ethnic cleaning. 'It is the terror of life without mercy. It is the terror of violent dictatorship. It is the terror neo-Nazi white supremacy. 'It is, above all, the terror of hate. 'This case is about a fellowship of hate. A hate so fanatical and a fellowship so defiant that the accused would sooner break the law than break their bonds of hate. 'This case is about a tiny, self-selecting group of young people in this country, for whom Hitler's work will always be unfinished. 'A group for whom the Final Solution to the Jewish question, to use Hitler's words, remains to be answered by complete eradication. 'We are talking about a group seeking to mimic Hitler's 'Sturmabteilung' or storm detachment - the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi party. 'The Crown should make it clear at this early stage that this case, involving as it does Nazi fanatics, will by its nature lead you, the jury, into a world as dark as a black sun. 'The words 'black sun' are chosen for a reason. Why will become clear in due course. 'It is a world that will transport the court back to the horrors of Nazi Germany: the concentration camps, the gas chambers, the mass executions, the crematoria and the Satanic chimneys.' The court heard how Jones had travelled with a fellow member of the group to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he posed for a photo doing a Nazi salute. The image later appeared on the National Action website with the caption 'Oy vey. Such horrors. Dem bois were recently on tour in Germania'. Mr Jameson added: 'It shows the faces, deliberately blurred, of two men in an empty room giving the Nazi salute. 'The men were in the execution room of Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp that stood out, even by the standards of Nazi concentration camps, for its depravity. 'Like Auschwitz, Buchenwald is a permanent museum to honour the victims and remind the world of the horrors perpetrated in the name of Nazism. 'There expression 'Oy vey' was deliberate. It is Yiddish indicating dismay or grief.' Mr Jameson told the court how Jones and Cutter were to later become an item after she appeared in Miss Hitler 2016. Cutter put herself forward for the competition via the VK online network the week after Jo Cox MP was murdered by a far right extremist. The contest was organised by the far right organisation National Action, which was banned the same year after members celebrated the killing of Ms Cox. She wore a National Action face-mask in her profile photo and called for women to 'step up and be lionesses' and 'rip apart the hyenas laughing at us'. Mr Jameson added: 'On 24th June 2016 National Action staged, if you can believe this, a beauty contest titled Miss Hitler 2016. 'This was, no doubt a publicity stunt to raise the group's profile and attract more members. 'Amusing to a teenage schoolboy, perhaps, until you look at the detail. 'Alice Cutter entered and I think won the competition as 'Buchenwald Princess' and set out her mission statement in a detailed interview. 'It is anything but funny. 'The name 'Buchenwald Princess' was perhaps no co-incidence given that Jones had visited the execution room at Buchenwald the previous month and Jones and Cutter became an item.' Mr Jameson read out an excerpt of the answers she gave in an interview for the contest, in which she said: 'It's so important to me that there's a balance of feminine to masculine in the movement. 'Without feminine involvement, what would a movement be? 'A sad sausage fest with no appeal? 'Women are the most important figures when it comes to teaching and raising the next generation to be strong and proud. 'Nurturing is not a weak role, it is essential. 'I don't want this horrendous cycle of sanctioning the demise of our own race for the benefit of others to continue due to women falling victim to cultural Marxist propaganda. 'We need to step up, be the lionesses we ought to be and rip apart the hyenas laughing at us as we get raped, beaten, brainwashed and de-feminised en masse. 'Hyenas have no place in our pride and they never will.' The court heard Jones and Cutter become an item after she appeared in Miss Hitler 2016 The court also heard Jones was arrested at a white supremacist event in Swansea in March, 2016, and fined for throwing a flare in the street The four defendants are charged with membership of the group between December 17, 2016 and September 5, 2017 after it was banned by then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Cutter, of Halifax, West Yorks. and Scothern, of Nottingham, remain on bail, while Jones, of Halifax, and Jack, of Birmingham, West Midlands are in custody. The court also heard, National Action members superimposed their faces onto characters from Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs' film in a meme shared between the group, the court heard. The jury were told Jones was featured in the image as 'Mr Angry' due to his 'intense interest in guns and knives'. Mr Jameson added: 'On November 4, 2016, an image finds its way onto Scothern's mobile of six National Action men dressed from Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. 'To 'Mr Pyro's' right is the first defendant, Jones, under the name 'Mr Angry.' 'This is the same Jones who gave the Nazi salute in the execution room in Buchenwald and who had an intense interest in guns and knives. 'You will have to decide whether the epithet 'Mr Angry' was apt. 'Jones is a National Action die-hard. He was a far right activist since his late teens, being part of the youth wing of the British National Party. 'He formed a relationship with Alice Cutter in 2016 and the couple moved in together in West Yorkshire in 2017. 'During the banned phase you will hear that Jones was a member of the inner chat group strictly reserved for National Action leadership under the name 'Granddaddy Terror'.' Birmingham Crown Court was also told how Cutter complained of anxiety and chest pains when National Action was banned. Mr Jameson said: 'On December 12, 2016, Jones alerts Cutter to the possibility of terrorism raids 'The panic was well-founded and began to spread. 'On December 12, 2016, Parliament gave a public indication that National Action would be banned by the end of that week. 'At 11.58am, Cutter messaged Jones as follows: 'I suggest you get your arse home asap and make sure everything is wiped'. 'At 1.13pm Cutter messaged again: 'No way to truly clean up my iPad. Or phone even. 'At 1.14pm Cutter messaged 'I wish I could call I'm really sick today cause of it to the point where I've got such bad anxiety I'm dry heaving and having stabbing pains in my chest'. 'Given that Cutter denies ever having been a member of National Action, you may wonder what was so worried about wiping her iPad and mobile?' The court also heard Scothern had a vile meme on his phone showing piles of ash with the words 'dead jew child'. The antisemitic image appeared on his mobile on December 9, 2016, just days before the extremist group he is accused of belonging to was banned. All of the defendants deny the charges. Cutter and Scothern are pictured outside of Birmingham Crown Court Mr Jameson said Scothern's father thought he had been 'groomed' and 'brainwashed'. He added: 'News of the imminent ban parked an explosive exchange of texts between Scothern and his father. 'The latter warned his son he risked being stabbed or sent to prison. 'Scothern replied 'I'd rather [be] stabbed than submit to my enemies and allow my continent to be given to invaders where the f**k is your honour and pride'. 'His father responded 'you sound a bit brainwashed are you being groomed'.' Mr Jameson said the final defendant Garry Jack was an 'out and out fanatic' who wanted to be part of the National Action 'revolution.' He told the jury: 'Jack said he was willing to sacrifice time, relationships and friendships to become part of a revolution. 'Within a fortnight of joining, Jack was chosen for the stickering attack on Aston University. 'Jack was, we say, was connected to almost everyone in National Action including his co-Defendants, Cutter, Jones and Scothern. 'In the post-proscription phase, Jack, or 'Rump Steak' continued as an active member of National Action. 'His mindset remained overtly Nazi during the banned phase of National Action.' All of the defendants deny the charges. The trial continues. President Donald Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week, hosting him for a two-day visit as the Israeli leader faces trouble at home and Trump tries to push a wedge among Democrats. The two leaders 'will discuss their countries' shared interests and actions in the Middle East during a working meeting on March 25,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Wednesday. Trump also will host Netanyahu for dinner on the following evening. The gesture is just the latest time Trump has embraced Netanyahu politically, even as he faces potential prosecution at home. Last month, Israel's attorney general said he planned to indict Netanyahu for bribery and fraud. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House for two days when he is in town next week Trump, who was traveling in Hanoi when the news broke, talked up Netanyahu, saying he 'has done a great job.' Trump also called him 'smart, strong and tough. Netanyahu also will address the annual AIPAC summit, a gathering of the powerful American pro-Israel lobby. Trump has sought exploit a recent split among Democrats, after senior Democratic leaders blasted new Democratic Rep. llhan Omar of Minnesota for her remarks about Israel. Trump recently attacked Democrats as 'anti-Israel' and 'anti-Jewish' after lawmakers from both parties denounced Rep. Ilhan Omar's recent comments as anti-Semitic. President Trump has used Rep. Ilhan Omar's comments to bash Democrats as 'anti-Jewish,' a remark that itself drew controversy Various lawmakers accused Omar, who is Islamic, of promoting old 'tropes' and raising unacceptable 'dual loyalty' charges through her remarks. In one comment, she tweeted that lawmakers' support for Israel was 'all about the Benjamins.' She later apologized, Then Omar, 37, sparked controversy after saying that she wanted to discuss 'the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country' at an event in Washington. Senior Jewish lawmakers, including Judiciary Chair Jerold Nadler and her own Foreign Relations Committee chair Eliot Engel blasted the comments. Rep. Ilhan Omar was embroiled in an anti-Semitism scandal after making comments about Israel House leaders ultimately brought up a resolution condemning anti-semitism and other intolerance as a result. The Muslim lawmaker, who came to America in 1991 as a Somali child refugee, then said supporting Israel was not a pre-requisite for serving in Congress. Trump was under fire last week after the massacre in New Zealand. The president called the attack 'horrible' and expressed sympathy, but did not condemn white supremacy acknowledge the shooter's own expression of support for Trump or comments railing against an immigrant 'invasion.' Netanyahu, who has the ability to speak eloquently in English before U.S. crowds, has sparked controversy through his visits before, as when he accepted a House GOP invitation to address Congress in 2015 without consulting President Barack Obama. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also giving a lift to Netanyahu by meeting with him on the diplomat's mideast tour this week. A London council has been slammed for spending more than 7,000 of taxpayers money on sending staff 'on a jolly' to the south of France. Labour-led Merton Borough Council was criticised by residents as the trip to look at properties in Cannes, a resort town on the French Riviera, appeared to coincide with a rise in council tax charges. Council leader Stephen Alambritis and Cllr Martin Whelton, as well as two regeneration officers, took part in a four-day real estate exhibition last week, with tickets costing 1,800 each. Council leader Stephen Alambritis (left) and Cllr Martin Whelton (right), as well as two regeneration officers, took part in a four-day real estate exhibition last week, with tickets costing 1,800 each After the figures were revealed, locals took to social media to express their disbelief at the amount of money spent on the 'jolly' for council workers. Kerry Davis wrote: 'Was the council tax put up so we could pay for their tickets?', while Sam Bradfield simply said: 'Unbelievable.' And Mel Park commented: 'Perhaps, they need to explain themselves to the council tax payers as to why this was necessary. 'If this is found to be a "jolly" they need to repay the money from their own pocket and be held accountable for their actions.' Social media user Eric Goode added: 'Morden's Regeneration begins in the South of France. Local government is as bad as Parliament.' In an email sent to several councillors the council said the decision was worthwhile because of the 'need to promote Morden's (a district and town in the London Borough of Merton) regeneration.' It read: 'The next phase of regenerating Morden involves attracting large scale external investors. Labour-led Merton Borough Council was criticised by residents as the trip to look at properties in Cannes (pictured), appeared to coincide with a rise in council tax charges In an email sent to several councillors the council said the decision was worthwhile because of the 'need to promote Morden's (a district and town in the London Borough of Merton (pictured)) regeneration.' 'It is for this reason that Future Merton has proposed attendance at MIPIM. The leader Alambritis and Councillor Whelton together with two regeneration officers will be attending. 'Going to this event often attracts adverse publicity as it is easy to characterise it as a publicly funded junket in the south of France. 'For this reason amongst others Merton has not attended in the past, though many other London boroughs have. 'The need to promote Morden's regeneration has led the administration to the view that the risk of the bad publicity is worth running in pursuit of a larger public good.' The decision has been met with backlash from other councillors, including deputy leader of Merton Conservatives, Daniel Holden, who said the money would be better of spent closer to home. After the figures were revealed, locals took to social media to express their disbelief at the amount of money spent on the 'jolly' for council workers He said: 'Less than a week after seeing their council tax increased by the largest possible amount, residents will be shocked to learn that Merton Labour have headed off to Cannes at rate payers' expense. 'With much needed services being cut, it sticks in the throat that Councillors Alambritis and Whelton have taken the decision to attend an international property conference at the cost of 1,800 a ticket. 'As a London council, Merton has key developers and financiers right on its doorstep so it seems the only reason for this junket is to give Labour councillors a week of winter sun.' A spokersperson for the council said: 'This is the first time that Merton Council has attended MIPIM, the premier real estate event which gathers the most influential people from all sectors of the international property industry, and we went as part of a London Councils delegation. 'We were there to broker relationships with investors and funders interested in the regeneration of Morden, a prime location for future development in London. 'We were also raising the profile of the borough as a whole and awareness of investment opportunities as part of the masterplan for the development of Wimbledon, a destination which attracts visitors from across the world.' Former Democratic National Committee chief Donna Brazile went head-to-head with Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night over several policy issues that face the 2020 presidential candidates during her first week as the network's newest contributor. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two kicked off the lighting round debate with a discussion about Medicare for All, an idea for a government-run health care system that has been embraced by Democratic presidential hopefuls like California Sen Kamala Harris. Hannity asked Brazile if she agreed with Medicare for All and whether or not private insurance should be banned. 'Medicare for All is not a controversial plan,' Brazile said, citing a January poll that found that Americans initially support the idea 56 per cent to 42 per cent. Brazile, who was recently hired by Fox News as a political commentator, also said that if people 'want to keep their private insurance and maintain it as I would' they should be able to. 'Alright, you disagree with Kamala,' Hannity quipped. 'Next question.' After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two kicked off the lighting round debate with a discussion about Medicare for All, an idea for a government-run health care system that has been embraced by Democratic presidential hopefuls like California Sen Kamala Harris Hannity asked Brazile if she agreed with Medicare for All and whether or not private insurance should be banned. 'Medicare for All is not a controversial plan,' Brazile said, citing a January poll that found that Americans initially support the idea 56 per cent to 42 per cent Brazile immediately responded: 'No I don't disagree with her. I hope she can explain exactly how her plan will cover every American and insure that we don't have millions of Americans who cannot afford their prescription drugs as well. 'We got to have a good conversation about this.' Hannity then questioned Brazile about late-term abortions. 'Democrats believe that this is a choice that women should have a say in. We believe that women should have the full range of health services,' Brazile said. Hannity challenged Brazile's stance, asking if women should be able to abort in the ninth month of pregnancy. 'I am not a doctor and I am not going to tell anyone what to do with his or her body,' Brazile said. Hannity then asked Brazile about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, a nonbinding resolution that calls for a '10-year national mobilization' to shift the economy away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace them with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Hannity then asked Brazile about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, to which Brazile said 'it should be debated' 'I believe it should be debated,' Brazile said, adding that she believes 'we need to do something about climate change in this country'. Brazile challenged Hannitys assertion that 'everything is gonna be free' under the Green New Deal and told him to 'go look' at the document himself. When asked if she though it was a good idea to secure the country's southern borders with walls, Brazile said: 'I believe we need to use multiple methods to secure our borders. I do not believe that the president's plan will actually work.' Regarding the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Brazile said she's not a 'strong supporter'. 'I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform,' she added. The debate ended with Hannity welcoming Brazile to Fox News and even offering her an opportunity to fill in on his show. Brazile, who was fired by CNN for tipping off the Hillary Clinton campaign about debate topics in 2016, recently joined Fox News Channel as a political commentator. She said Monday that she knows fellow liberals will criticize her for joining Fox, but that it's important for people not to retreat to 'safe spaces' where they just talk to people who agree with them. 'There's an audience on Fox News that doesn't hear enough from Democrats,' Brazile said in a statement. Her conduct at CNN was revealed as part of emails exposed by Wikileaks. She had contacted the Clinton campaign about topics that would be covered in a March 2016 town hall when the competition was Bernie Sanders. Brazile initially denied the accusation, but admitted to it after the election. Brazile, who was fired by CNN for tipping off the Hillary Clinton campaign about debate topics in 2016, recently joined Fox News Channel as a political commentator She was fired by CNN after it was learned she fed Hillary Clinton's campaign topics that the then-presidential candidate would be asked about at a March 2016 town hall event in Columbus, Ohio (above) She wrote in March 2017 that sending emails to the Clinton campaign was 'a mistake I will forever regret'. At Fox, Brazile will not have anything to do with campaign debates or town halls, said a Fox employee with knowledge of the arrangement who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about contract details. That may be a moot point, anyway: the Democratic National Committee recently said it would not allow Fox News to host any of its upcoming primary debates. She'll now be going to work alongside some people at Fox who hammered her in the aftermath of the leaked questions story. On the day that she admitted to tipping off Clinton's team, guests on the Fox commentary program The Five laid into her. 'She's as corrupt as the day is long,' then-panelist Eric Bolling said. Fox has not given up on hosting any Democratic primary debates or town halls, and wants to counter charges from an explosive New Yorker magazine article that outlined its ties to President Trump. Brazile said that if Americans learned anything from the 2016 election, 'it is that we can't have a country where we don't talk to those who disagree with our political views'. 'You can be damn sure that I'm still going to be me on Fox News,' she said. 'I'm going to do what I always do, and dish it out straight, exactly as I see it, with just as much New Orleans hot sauce as folks expect.' The decision didn't necessarily sit well with all Fox News viewers, either, particularly in the wake of the apparent suspension of Saturday night host Jeanine Pirro following remarks she made questioning the patriotism of Muslim US Rep Ilhan Omar. Fox News viewers were angry about Brazile's hiring, which came just days after the network suspended Jeanine Pirro (above) for comments about House Rep. Ilhan Omar Marj Gallun tweeted: 'Youve got to be kidding!! 'What we (the audience) needs is Judge Jeanine back' Another viewer tweeted: 'Watch as they plummet, now they hired Donna Brazile as a contributor and pulled Judge Pirro!' 'Disgusting!!' tweeted another angry user. 'No. 1 Fox News will now take a nose dive. Known liar & cheater Brazile!!' 'There are too many liberal contributors AND hosts on #FoxNews now!' tweeted another angry viewer. 'But I willingly trade a Shep Smith for a Brazile!' Another viewer tweeted: 'I sure dont want to hear her. So count me out along with some of the other libs. If I wanted to hear that nonsense, I watch something else' One angry viewer tweeted: 'Fox pulling Judge Jeanine and bringing on Brazile is like someone breaking up with you but you won't stop calling, so he/she has to take out an order of protection' 'Omar wears the hijab, which according to the Quran 33:59, tells women to cover so they wont get molested,' Pirro said during her show on March 10. 'Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?' One angry viewer tweeted: 'Fox pulling Judge Jeanine and bringing on Brazile is like someone breaking up with you but you won't stop calling, so he/she has to take out an order of protection. 'Fox not being subtle about how much they hate their own viewers with their latest moves. Cut the cord.' 'Disgusting!!' tweeted another angry user. 'No. 1 Fox News will now take a nose dive. Known liar & cheater Brazile!!' Another viewer tweeted: 'Watch as they plummet, now they hired Donna Brazile as a contributor and pulled Judge Pirro!' 'There are too many liberal contributors AND hosts on #FoxNews now!' tweeted another angry viewer. 'But I willingly trade a Shep Smith for a Brazile!' Shepard Smith hosts an afternoon news program on Fox News. Smith has been known to criticize Trump. Another viewer tweeted: 'I sure dont want to hear her. So count me out along with some of the other libs. 'If I wanted to hear that nonsense, I watch something else.' Marj Gallun tweeted: 'Youve got to be kidding!! Some liberals on Twitter were also not happy with Brazile's new career move. David Rothschild tweeted: 'Donna Brazile blocked me years ago for calling her out as Fox News "Democrat" ... guess I was ahead of the curve there!' Amee Vanderpool said she was disappointed by Brazile's jump to Fox News 'Money talks and Donna walks,' tweeted another Twitter user 'Et tu, Donna?' tweeted the official Twitter account of the California Democratic Party Washington Post media critic accused Fox News of 'spreading hatred and Trump sycophancy in copious helpings' 'What we (the audience) needs is Judge Jeanine back. 'What the hell do we need with one more Dem on Fox. I thought that one on every show would suffice the left.' Even Trump over the weekend tweeted that Fox should reinstate Pirro. The conservative Breitbart News tweeted: 'Well, looks like she won't have access to any debate questions.' Some liberals on Twitter were also not happy with Brazile's new career move. 'Et tu, Donna?' tweeted the California Democratic Party. David Rothschild tweeted: 'Donna Brazile blocked me years ago for calling her out as Fox News "Democrat"... guess I was ahead of the curve there!' Another Twitter user tweeted: 'Money talks and Donna walks.' Erik Wemple, media critic for The Washington Post, tweeted: 'One thing's for sure: Having people like Brazile on the payroll is critical to the Fox News claim that it's an evenhanded news org - even though in its key time slots, it spreads hatred and Trump sycophancy in copious helpings.' Amee Vanderpool tweeted: 'I was so excited when Donna Brazile followed me back because I used to admire her so much. 'But when I questioned her statements during her book tour and asked for an explanation before I judged, she blocked me. 'Taking a job at Fox News is more disappointing than all of that.' Brazile made her debut as a contributor Monday afternoon on Dana Perino's program. 'We're not going to get ahead by yelling at each other and sending nasty tweets,' Brazile said. The Hassan Congressmen felt the party should have retained the Hassan seat and fielded a candidate. Bengaluru: A day after Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders spoke of unity and the need for a joint campaign to win the Lok Sabha polls, former CM and Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Siddaramaiah faced a major embarrassment after Hassan Congress leaders refused to work for Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister H.D. Revanna, who is contesting on the JD(S) ticket from Hassan. A special meeting of Congress and JD(S) leaders has now been convened on Thursday to resolve all pending issues and Mr Revanna too has been asked to participate in the meeting. On Monday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had reportedly directed Mr Siddaramaiah to hold talks with the factions within the party who are reluctant to work wherever the JD(S) has been allotted seats. As per Mr Gandhis direction, Mr Siddaramaiah convened a meeting of senior Congress leaders of Hassan at his official residence here to convince them to work jointly with the JD(S). A shock was in store for the former CM as the majority of leaders flatly refused to work with the JD(S). They contended that JD(S) leaders had backstabbed many Congress candidates in previous Assembly elections, including Mr Siddaramaiah himself. The Congress workers were even intimidated by Mr Revanna and false cases were booked against them, they claimed wondering how state Congress leaders could expect them to work for Prajwal. The Congress leaders recalled that contractors were harassed by Mr Revanna who had reportedly warned them that unless they joined hands with JD (S) leaders, their bills would not be settled. Mr Mallesh, a Congress leader said Mr Prajwal was not even a gram panchayat or zilla panchayat member and was being fielded directly for the Lok Sabha polls. Their conscience did not permit them to work for a boy who wants to become MP without basic knowledge, he said. The Hassan Congressmen felt the party should have retained the Hassan seat and fielded a candidate. Already, the Congress party has been wiped out in eight districts in the old Mysuru region. Lorraine Kelly has escaped a 1.2 million tax bill after a judge described her as an 'entertaining lady' who is her own boss. Kelly, 59, locked horns with the tax authorities over claims that the company through which she provides her services to broadcasters is just a front. In 2016 HM Revenue and Customs presented her with an income tax bill for almost 900,000, plus national insurance contributions of over 300,000. Lorraine Kelly A vision: Lorraine was born and raised in Glasgow but has been familiar with the City of Discovery since meeting her husband Steve Smith in the 1980s. The house was put on the market by Savills in April last year- with the firm asking for offers over 825,000 Lorraine Kelly attended the RTS Programme Awards at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London last night But now she has scored a victory after a tax judge described her as an 'honest, intelligent' woman who is a super-talented freelancer. Working for numerous broadcasters, she picks her own work - once even turning down Elton John for an early hours interview that didn't meet her schedule. She had created her own 'persona' and 'brand' and that is what broadcasters wanted when they took her on, said Judge Jennifer Dean. The dispute hinged on a contract the Scottish star signed with ITV Breakfast in 2012 to present the 'Daybreak' and 'Lorraine' shows. In 2016 HM Revenue and Customs presented Lorraine (pictured with her daughter Rosie and husband) with an income tax bill for almost 900,000, plus national insurance contributions of over 300,000 The dispute hinged on a contract the Scottish star signed with ITV Breakfast in 2012 to present Daybreak and Lorraine (pictured, with Kelly interviewing Stacey Solomon in March) shows She did the deal through her services company, Albatel Limited, but HMRC insisted she in reality became an ITV employee (Lorraine pictured rehearsing her show) She did the deal through her services company, Albatel Limited, but HMRC insisted she in reality became an ITV employee. Kelly told Judge Dean she was 'baffled' by HMRC's attitude and denied that tax and national insurance should have been deducted from her income under the PAYE system. She said she had been 'freelance' since 1992 and had since then worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Scottish TV, Sky and ITV, also writing weekly columns for the Sun newspaper. Working for numerous broadcasters, she picks her own work - once even turning down Elton John (seen on February 24) for an early hours interview that didn't meet her schedule She considered it an 'honour and a responsibility' that she is one of the handful of TV stars whose names are in the titles of their shows. She can endorse commercial products however she likes, launching a clothing range for JD Williams, acting as a brand ambassador for Avon and appearing in an online advert for furniture company, Wayfair. Giving an example of her independence, she said she had refused to interview Elton John on a live link from Australia at 4am as she was filming with the BBC later in the day. Explaining the 'give and take' in her relationship with ITV, she said she had been absent from the broadcaster's morning schedule for four weeks in 2017 when she went on an expedition to Antarctica Judge Dean said: 'Ms Kelly explained she was baffled by HMRC's reluctance to accept that she is an entertainer....she explained her frustration at the manner in which HMRC had conducted the inquiry.' An HMRC spokesperson said: 'We are disappointed that the First Tier Tribunal has decided that the intermediary rules (also known as IR35) did not apply in this case. 'We will carefully consider the outcome of the tribunal before deciding whether to appeal.' Kelly on This Morning in 2004, left, and on talk-show Live Talk with Kaye Adams, Carol McGiffin and Kathryn Apanowicz Insisting her role was nothing like Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight, Kelly said she 'dressed up for comedy sketches' with, amongst others, Aled Jones. Describing herself as a 'theatrical artist', she told the First-tier Tribunal that 'she acted every day as a version of herself.' She has he own stylist, her own Twitter account and her presenting work has ranged from the Scottish BAFTAS to the Chelsea flower show. Kelly also pointed out that she received none of the 'perks' available to ITV employees. She gets no pension from the broadcaster and she's not obliged to attend think tanks and training 'away days' like ITV staffers. The tribunal was told that Kelly is a 'unique broadcaster' and that, for her, 'ratings are revenue'. Her 'Lorraine' show - described as 'akin to Oprah' - 'has her DNA, she is the show, it could not happen without her and could not exist without her ideas and input.' When is a person classified as in employment or self-employed? Last year, regional presenter Christa Ackroyd, 61, was ordered to pay almost 420,000 in unpaid tax after she was 'encouraged' to set up a 'personal service company'. The broadcaster was the anchor of BBC Look North in Yorkshire for 12 years until inquiries into her tax affairs led to her being taken off air in 2013. Here we explain when a person is typically classed as a freelancer or an employee... A person IS typically classed as employed if... They have an agreement to provide personal work or services They turn up to work even if they do not want to There is work for that person as long as the contract or agreement lasts A person is typically classed as self-employed if... They are responsible for the success or failure of their business in regards to profit and loss They get to chose the hours they work, when they work and how they work If that person can hire or fire workers That person is free to work for other companies or take on other work Advertisement Upholding Kelly's appeal, Judge Dean praised her 'honest and cogent evidence' and rejected claims that she was ITV's 'servant.' She added: 'ITV was not employing a 'servant', but rather purchasing a product, namely the brand and individual personality of Lorraine Kelly. She was not entitled to sick pay, holiday pay or other benefits which are generally due to employees. Overturning the tax bills, the judge concluded: 'The relationship between Ms Kelly and ITV was a contract for services and not that of employer and employee.' Judge Dean also ruled that, as a 'theatrical entertainer', Kelly was entitled to deduct fees she paid her agent, Roar Global Ltd, from her tax bills. 'She presents herself as a brand, and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her,' the judge said. 'All parts of the show are a performance, the act being to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality. 'Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself...quite simply put, the programmes are entertaining, Ms Kelly is entertaining. 'She may not like the guest she interviews, she may not like the food she eats, she may not like the film she viewed, but that is where the performance lies, as no doubt with other entertainers such as Ant and Dec or Richard and Judy. 'We do not doubt that Ms Kelly is an entertaining lady, but the point is that, for the time she is contracted to perform live on air, she is public 'Lorraine Kelly'.' Judge Dean said she had 'no hesitation in concluding that Ms Kelly is a 'theatrical artist' and that her agent's fees were deductible from tax. The Trump administration will stop detaining immigrant families who cross the border illegally in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas because the volume has surpassed officials' ability to safely keep them in jails. Instead, starting this week, families in that region will be released on their own recognizance with a Notice to Appear in immigration court for deportation or asylum proceedings a policy known as 'catch-and-release,' which Trump has vowed to end. The goal is 'to mitigate risks to both officer safety and vulnerable populations under these circumstances,' a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told DailyMail.com. Officials described the change as 'temporary' and 'due to limited bed space.' It's unclear how many families will be released and it will all depend on how much room is available in ICE detention centers, according to The Wall Street Journal. A border patrol agent apprehends a migrant woman after she was caught illegally crossing into the U.S. border from Mexico near McAllen, Texas in May 2018 ICE has three family detention centers - including two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania - which can hold thousands of people at any given time. Under a federal agreement, ICE can detain families with children for up to 20 days. The Trump administration has faced criticism for the conditions in which immigrants have been held, particularly facilities where children have been detained. Two immigrant children died in December while being detained by Border Patrol. After they are released, adult immigrants are typically required to wear ankle monitors to track their location a policy that doesn't apply to children. The border in the Rio Grande Valley has long seen the highest volume of families crossing into the U.S. illegally. More than 58,000 migrants have been arrested in that region during the period from October 1 February 28 42 percent of the 136,000 taken into custody nationwide. In addition, more than 400 illegal immigrants were arrested in just five minutes as they tried to cross over the U.S. border into Texas near El Paso in two large groups early Monday morning. CBP agents said the groups were made up mostly of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles. Agents working in the El Paso sector say they have been averaging 570 arrests a day in the last 30 days. 'These numbers continue to stretch the resources available to the U.S. Border Patrol to deal with this influx and the challenges that come with it,' CBP said. Across the whole Southern U.S. border, the number of undocumented immigrants stopped rose to more than 76,000 in February - the highest monthly level in years, the CBP said earlier this month. Families who have been taken into custody for illegal entry into the United States sit in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas in June 2018 A majority of the families are fleeing gang violence, poverty and corruption in the Northern Triangle region of Central America Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Most have sought asylum in the U.S., saying they would face threats of violence and death if they returned to their home countries. The process for seeking asylum often last years and many are ultimately unsuccessful. Some immigrants are allowed to live in the U.S. while awaiting their fate in court while others spend the time in detention centers. Last year Trump sought to stem the tide of families coming across the border by implementing a controversial zero-tolerance policy that led to thousands of immigrant children being separated from their parents while both were detained for the misdemeanor of crossing the border illegally. The actions sparked massive public outrage and multiple federal lawsuits, leading to Trump ending the policy through an executive order on June 20, 2018. A federal judge also ordered the administration to reunite families a slow process that is ongoing and hampered by many parents having been deported without their children. More recently, the administration has begun to return some Central American migrants back to Mexico until a judge decides their case. Attorneys for Robert Kraft and 14 other defendants accused of soliciting prostitutes in Florida filed jointly on a protective order that would prevent law enforcement from releasing video evidence from the investigation, including hidden camera footage. Police previously said there is video evidence of everyone accused of solicitation in the prostitution sting involving several Florida massage parlors and spas. In the motion obtained by the Daily Mail , defendants attorneys argue that the case is still active, and therefore police and prosecutors should be forbidden from releasing evidence to the public. Kraft's attorney Jack A. Goldberger did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Kraft and other defendants were offered a plea deal that would require them to admit they would have been found guilty of soliciting prostitutes, but according to the New York Post, Kraft is not interested in any such deal. 'One-hundred percent no way he's taking the deal,' a source told the Post. Kraft has pleaded not guilty and has publicly denied any criminal wrongdoing in the case, which was part of a larger investigation into human trafficking at Florida spas and massage parlors. According to police records, Kraft visited the Orchids of Asia day spa twice in a 24-hour span in January, when women working as prostitutes 'manipulated his genitals' and one woman allegedly performed oral sex on the 77-year-old billionaire. Scroll down for video Robert Kraft will not take the deal prosecutors have put forward, according to sources close to him 'Kraft strongly insists he didn't do anything wrong, and he isn't going to take a deal that indicates he did,' the source told the Post. If Kraft chooses to go to trial and is convicted, he could receive one year in jail, a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. Kraft visited the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida twice in a 24-hour span in January, according to police records. The first visit occurred on January 19, when Kraft allegedly received hand stimulation from 45-year-old spa manager Lei Wang and a 58-year-old spa employee named Shen Mingbi. Neither Wang nor Mingbi are believed to be victims of human trafficking. According to the affidavit, Kraft paid both women with a $100 bill. Wang has been arrested and charged with maintaining a house of prostitution, but Mingbi has not been charged. Kraft was charged last month with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida (pictured) The second visit occurred on January 20, just hours before Kraft flew to Kansas City for the AFC Title game between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chief. That day, Kraft received oral sex from Wang, who is known as 'Lulu.' Kraft allegedly paid her with a $100 bill and another unidentified bill before leaving. Surveillance cameras that police had hidden in the spa captured both visits. Kraft used two different Bentleys to drive to the spa in the 24-hour span. While it remains unknown if Kraft will take the deal, the NFL insists the Patriots owner will not get any special treatment as it addresses his sex solicitation case. 'Our Personal Conduct Policy applies equally to everyone in the NFL. We will handle this allegation in the same way we would handle any issue under the Policy,' it said in a statement after Kraft was charged. 'We are seeking a full understanding of the facts, while ensuring that we do not interfere with an ongoing law enforcement investigation. We will take appropriate action as warranted based on the facts.' Commissioner Roger Goodell could fine or suspend Kraft from any activities involving this year's Super Bowl champions, and there will likely be a league inquiry. The NFL's personal conduct policy states that 'ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline. 'It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful,' it states. Meanwhile, a group of powerful Democrats is calling on the FBI to provide an assessment of any 'counterintelligence risks' posed by Li Wang's interactions with President Trump, following revelations about potential straw donations. Li Yang, also known as Cindy Yang, owned the Orchids of Asia day spa. Powerful Democratic lawmakers are demanding the FBI reveal potential 'counterintelligence concerns' by her fundraising efforts to benefit President Trump Yang previously owned the Orchids of Asia day spa. She also founded GY US investments, a firm that marketed to a Chinese clientele and offered the 'opportunity to interact' with the president. The leading Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Panels wrote the heads of the FBI, Director of National Intelligence, and Secret Service. The lawmakers are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to 'conduct criminal and counterintelligence investigations into credible allegations of potential human trafficking, as well as unlawful foreign lobbying, campaign finance and other activities by Ms Yang.' 'We also ask that the Bureau furnish to the intelligence and judiciary committees an assessment of any counterintelligence risks or related concerns associated with any interactions with President Donald Trump and Ms. Yang.' Yang has been photographed with Trump at a fundraiser. She also has been a guest at Mar-a-Lago, the president's Florida club, and has been photographed with numerous Trump family members and associates. Donald Trump says the last of the Islamic State's territory in Syria will be freed by U.S.-backed forces 'by tonight.' Trump spoke as he left the White House and displayed maps of IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria on the day he was elected and as of Wednesday morning. The most recent map shows what Trump says is a 'tiny spot which will be gone by tonight.' He says when he was elected, Syria was 'a mess' and awash in IS fighters. U.S.-backed fighters battling to retake the last IS outpost in eastern Syria seized most of the last pocket of land on Tuesday. Trump has previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters remain in Syria. Trump says the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely. Boast: Donald Trump brandished a map showing ISIS territory on election day 2016 (top) and now (bottom) and took credit for dealing with a 'mess' Last battle: Smoke rises from the Islamic State's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces in Baghouz today Last few: Suspected Islamic State fighters and civilians are screened by members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the village of Baghouz today Fighters in Syria Wednesay were scouring the last few hundred square yards of ISIS territory for landmines, secret tunnels and any hiding jihadists after pushing the terror group into their last sliver of land. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., are clearing areas they captured yesterday as they reduced the ISIS 'caliphate' to a tiny patch of bombed-out scrapyard in eastern Syria. An official with the fighters said there was calm and no clashes today as Syrian forces were seen singing, dancing and giving V-for-victory signs to celebrate 'victory' in Baghouz. In one video released by Syrian forces a group of fighters are seen jigging in rhythm in the desert as they mark the 'end of the ISIS caliphate'. SDF soldiers were today women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghouz, in a sign evacuations were ongoing today, while black smoke could be seen rising from the village. The last diehard ISIS fighters continued clashing with the SDF on Tuesday night but the terror group is on the brink of defeat after holding a third of Syria and Iraq in 2014. Last push: Smoke rises from the last besieged neighbourhood in the village of Baghouz, where ISIS have been reduced to their last sliver of land less than five years after they controlled a third of Syria and Iraq Final battle: Heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State (IS) group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the 'V' for victory sign as they come back from the frontline in the battle against ISIS in Baghouz yesterday Reduced to a burning scrapyard: ISIS fighters and followers have been steadily forced back to Baghouz after years of retreats in the face of military campaigns by an array of foreign and local forces. Pictures show the bombed-out remains of cars in the terror group's last stronghold At the height of its power the Islamic State's 'caliphate' stretched from Baghdad in Iraq all the way across north eastern Syria in the west - the dwindling remains have been constricted into the town of Baghouz in the Deir'ez-Zur region of eastern Syria The SDF says that it has seized a key encampment from the jihadists and that victory will come 'very soon'. A map shows the territory held by ISIS two days ago Maps show how ISIS fighters are retreating into an ever smaller pocket of land in Syria. The area in red was all the terror group had left yesterday US-backed SDF fighters said they were even closer to driving ISIS out of Baghouz yesterday. A map shows the territory (in red) now held by the terror group The extremists had retreated into a tiny parcel of land, with some reportedly having used their own children as human shields, after they were forced out of the camp where they had been holding out. Pictures yesterday showed the burning remains of cars along the banks of the Euphrates river where ISIS fanatics have been desperately digging in over the last few months. Hundreds of militants had surrendered on Monday, an SDF spokesman said, signalling the terror group's collapse after months of stiff resistance. The fighters also revealed they had captured a group of alleged terrorists suspected of being behind a suicide attack in northern Syria that left four Americans dead earlier this year. The taking of the ISIS camp was a major advance but not the final defeat of the group in Baghouz, but fighters from Syrian forces were celebrating nonetheless. 'I'm happy it's over. Now I know my people are safe,' said a fighter who identified himself as Walid Raqqawi who fought in the camp Monday night. He said he is returning to his hometown of Raqqa to rest. Comrades from his unit sang and danced in celebration at an outpost in Baghouz, all saying they were looking forward to going home. Hardened militant fighters holed up in the encampment have been mounting a last-stand defence of the enclave, all that is left of ISIS's self-proclaimed 'caliphate' that once spanned a third of both Syria and Iraq. The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their notorious propaganda machine working even on the brink of collapse. On Monday, ISIS issued a video showing its militants furiously defending the encampment, a junkyard of wrecked cards, motorcycles and tents. Two American missionaries have returned home to the U.S. after they were detained in Russia for more than two weeks for alleged visa term violations. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said Wednesday in a statement that the men were treated well in detention. Kole Brodowski, 20, from California, and David Gaag, 19, from Bothell, Washington, were detained on March 1 in Novorossiisk, a Black Sea city. Kole Brodowski, (left) and David Gaag, (right), were detained in Russia over visa term violations A Russian court ordered their deportation after they were accused of working as English teachers without proper credentials. The The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Utah, had previously said it was 'troubled by the circumstances' of the detention. Latter-day Saint missionaries are not allowed to legally proselytize in Russia and are called 'volunteers.' In a statement emailed to CBS News, Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), said Brodowski and Gaag 'have been released and have left' Russia. Hawkins said Brodowski was to return to his home in California, while Gaag was going to 'return to the United States for a short time, receive any needed support, and then continue his service in a new mission.' Hawkins claimed they were both 'treated very well' after their arrest in Novorossiysk and were able to maintain 'regular contact with their families and mission president.' Brodowski (pictured) and Cole were imprisoned by authorities earlier this month 'while engaged in a meeting at a local meeting house' Gaag is returning to the United States and will continue his service in a new mission Brodowski's father expressed his relief in a Facebook post, saying: 'Its finally over!. 'Kole is headed home and his companion will receive another call. I want to thank the thousands of people worldwide that prayed for him/us and sent messages of comfort and support. 'There were many people Ill never meet that worked day and night for the past three weeks to free these young men. Thank you to all.' The young volunteers were imprisoned by authorities earlier this month 'while engaged in a meeting at a local meeting house', according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Religious missionaries were banned in 2016 but the church claims by officially registering workers as 'volunteers' they are complying with the law. 'The Church is closely monitoring conditions in Russia for all volunteers and will continue to fully comply with Russian law,' Hawkins said in the statement on Wednesday. Kole's father Kyle Brodowski's tweeted about his relief at the prospect of his son coming home Russia is holding at least two other U.S. nationals in custody over alleged espionage and another on fraud charges. Last week Moscow City Court upheld a ruling that ordered keeping former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in jail at least until the end of May. Paul Whelan, of Michigan, was arrested in a hotel room in the Russian capital in late December and accused of 'unspecified spying activity' amid claims he was caught with a 'USB stick containing names of Russian agents'. Defense attorney Vladimir Zherebenkov said that the allegations of Whelan spying 'in the interests of the US' seem to be based largely on the fact that he'd traveled to Russia on an American passport. Whelan also holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship and denies the charges against him. A Virginia school resource officer has been suspended after it was revealed he was secretly an organizer for white supremacy group Identity Evropa. Police officer Daniel Morley, 31, was a named the School Resource Officer for L.C. Bird High School in August 2018, but was suspended this week after it was revealed he was a pledge coordinator for the neo-Nazi group. His affiliation to the white power group was unearthed in an investigation led by anti-fascist activists who scoured through thousands of leaked messages that were posted online by independent media organization Unicorn Riot. Morley was suspended from his job at the high school and Chesterfield County Police Chief Jeffrey Katz recommended he be fired after he completes a state-mandated disciplinary process, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Virginia school resource officer Daniel Morley, 31, was outed as a member of white supremacy group Identity Evropa this week He had worked at L.C. Bird High School as a resource officer since August 2018 and worked with the Chesterfield County Police Department. The police announcement of his appointment as the school resource officer pictured above 'We are concerned and committed to determining if there is any truth to these allegations,' Police Chief Katz said on Monday. 'There is absolutely no place for intolerance or prejudicial behavior in public service, and we will not tolerate affiliations which even remotely lend themselves to predispositions of bias,' he added. Morley's white supremacy ties were unmasked when anti-fascist activists reached out to local paper the Richmond Times-Dispatch, alleging that Morley had been a Neo-Nazi since 2006 and posted comments on white supremacist websites under the moniker 'Danimal876'. He was active on multiple white nationalist platforms where he espoused his racist, pro-white views and interacted with like-minded peers back in 2009. He was suspended from the Chesterfield County Police department and from L.C. Bird High School where he was working as the school resource officer after the allegations came out last week Morley posted on Identity Evropa's server in September announcing his position as the pledge coordinator. 'My job is to help guide people through the process of applying to IE and becoming full members of this great organization. If you have any questions about what you need to do next, DM me and Ill get back to you,' he posted. His post came just a month after he was designated as a high school resource officer. The Chesterfield County Police Department shared a clip of Morley when he received that esteemed position. In the video Morley says: 'I want to ensure that the children of this county get to have the same safe childhood that I did growing up.' The paper flagged his neo-Nazi ties to Chesterfield police officials. Police said last week that they were investigating the allegations against Morley and he was suspended from his position. Identity Evropa is an American neo-Nazi and white supremacy organization that was established in March 2016 and is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group helped organize the deadly Unite the Right March in Charlottesville in 2018. The Identity Evropa emblem pictured on the man in the white polo's shirt above Identity Evropa has also rebranded as the American Identity Movement 'We are aware of the alleged affiliation and online activities of one of our officers and our Office of Professional Standards is actively investigating these claims,' Police Chief Katz said. 'At this point, the officer in question has been removed from his position as a school resource officer and has been administratively suspended from the police department pending a recommendation from Col. Jeffrey Katz for termination,' the police said in a press release. Unicorn Riot leaked more than 700,000 messages that have outed numerous public figures. According to Huffington Post, seven members of the U.S. military were working directly with the hate group. Identity Evropa is an American neo-Nazi and white supremacy organization that was established in March 2016 and is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group is also known as the American Identity Movement. The group played a role in organizing the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Many of the ralliers at that protest were seen wearing identity Evropa emblem on their shirts. Brussels dramatically raised the stakes tonight over Britain's request for a Brexit delay ahead of a showdown summit tomorrow. EU Council chief Donald Tusk said it was 'possible' Theresa May's call for a three-month extension would be approved. But he warned it would be 'conditional' on her deal being passed by the Commons at the third try. That appeared to significantly raise the risk of No Deal next week, although Mr Tusk suggested he would consider an emergency summit if the deal is voted down again. However, that would probably only be to offer a much longer extension. EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who was seen high-fiving Mr Tusk ahead of tomorrow's Brussels summit, said Mrs May 'must bring clear ideas' for an extension to be granted. EU leaders were last night divided over how tough to be on Mrs May, with French president Emmanuel Macron said to be taking a hard line. Reports suggested he could even veto Britain's request for a delay at tomorrow's summit if he fails to be convinced that Mrs May can pass her deal in the coming days. Prime Minister Theresa May making a statement on the state of Brexit negotiations in Downing Street today European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (left) greets European Council President Donald Tusk with a high-five during a summit at the Europa building in Brussels today Amid the turmoil today, Irish premier Leo Varadkar called for Mrs May to be cut 'some slack'. He added: 'There is a real risk of No Deal happening by accident.' Germany is also understood to be more sympathetic towards Mrs May while Belgium, like the French, are toeing a harder line. It came after she published a letter to Mr Tusk today saying she will seek a Brexit extension until June 30. The remaining EU27 leaders must agree unanimously to the request if it is to be granted. It would not be formally given but the leaders would agree that they could approve it after a Commons vote if MPs pass the Withdrawal Agreement. Mr Tusk said: 'I believe a short extension will be possible, but to be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons.' He said the end date was still 'a question which remains open' as members are divided over whether a short extension should run until June 30 or end earlier before EU Parliament elections on May 23. Three-way: Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is welcomed by Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker with high and low fives at the Europa building in Brussels today Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured today at a meeting of the college of commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, raised the possibility of an emergency summit next week to approve a Brexit delay, possibly giving Mrs May a chance to pass a deal early next week An extension beyond the May elections without the UK taking part in them 'creates a series of questions of a legal and political nature,' he said. A third Commons rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement could force the PM to return to Brussels to ask for a lengthier extension to try to avoid No Deal on March 29. The bloc would demand far stricter conditions for such a request, which would lead to a softer Brexit or even a second referendum. Insisting the EU had acted with 'patience and goodwill', Mr Tusk said: 'Even if the hope for a final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although the Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution.' A senior diplomat from one EU member said their leader would need to be convinced by what the PM says tonight. They said: 'Perhaps May will say different things tomorrow than what we read today in the letter.' However, senior sources say that privately most member states have suggested they will almost certainly approve an extension in the event Mrs May's deal passes. Jean-Yves Le Drian made the warning about Mrs May's chances of getting a Brexit deal in the French parliament today (pictured) The Prime Minister, pictured in parliament today, was warned she might not get a Brexit delay from EU leaders tomorrow if she arrives in Brussels without a withdrawal agreement approved by MPs France warned today it would block any request by Theresa May to delay Brexit unless she can give EU leaders 'guarantees' that it will lead to MPs passing a withdrawal deal. Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the parliament in Paris today that Mrs May would need to make an incredibly strong case at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday. The intervention came hours before EU Council Donald Tusk said delay would be 'conditional' on MPs passing the deal next week. France has consistently played hardball with Brexit under President Macron and Paris' warning today lays bare the stakes facing MPs. Ahead of the EU summit tomorrow, Mrs May has asked for a three month delay so she can have one more push at getting her deal over the line. Mr Le Drian told French MPs: 'A situation in which Mrs May would not be able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees about the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit.' A third meaningful vote early next week is now key to winning a Brexit delay from the EU. Mr Juncker (right) greeting European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier today in Brussels. Both men have played a hard line on Britain's prospects of winning an extension to Article 50 from the EU If it passes, a conditional delay agreed tomorrow will be confirmed. If the third vote fails, Britain will be just hours from a No Deal Brexit. EU bureaucrats demanded the Prime Minister's attempt to delay Brexit until summer be scuppered, saying the UK must leave by late May or stay tied to Europe until the end of the year. As Theresa May rose to tell MPs she has requested Brexit be postponed to June 30, the European Commission said that she should face a 'binary choice' of delaying for less than two months or for a full nine months. The shorter extension to before May 23 - when European elections are due to be held- was revealed in a briefing note for EU leaders meeting Mrs May at Thursday's European Council meeting, seen by Reuters. 'Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections,' the document said. 'This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions.' Mrs May moments earlier had confirmed she had written to European Council president Donald Tusk requesting a delay until June 30. A senior official in President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Wednesday that France took note of Mrs May's decision to send the Brexit divorce deal to a third vote in Parliament. 'If the deal is rejected, it would pave the way for the undesirable outcome of a no-deal,' the official said. Speaker John Bercow's bombshell intervention on Monday puts a barricade in Theresa May's path to holding a third meaningful vote on her Brexit deal next week 'A technical extension could be envisaged to complete legislative work in case of a deal. That's what Mrs May is asking for and will be discussed tomorrow at the European Council.' It came after the Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker this morning warned that a decision on an extension to Article 50 might not even happen this week. He suggested that an emergency summit might be needed next week - potentially just hours before Brexit day - because EU leaders might not approve an extension without a withdrawal deal passed by MPs. He said that Mrs May 'must bring approval of the negotiated deal and she must bring clear ideas on timing' to the European Council in Brussels tomorrow or face a humiliating rejection. Mr Juncker told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the remaining 27 members states' hands were tied until the political indecision in London was resolved. 'My impression is ... that this week at the European Council there will be no decision, but that we will probably have to meet again next week, because Mrs May doesn't have agreement to anything, either in her Cabinet or in Parliament,' Mr Juncker added. 'As long as we don't know what Britain could say yes to, we can't reach a decision.' Andrea Leadsom accused Cabinet Remainers of frustrating Brexit, and hinted she could quit (pictured leaving the meeting on Tuesday) Asked about indications from Downing Street that Mrs May will request a short extension, Mr Juncker told DRF: 'Those months would have to produce, as an end result, an agreement from the British Parliament to the (Agreement) text which is before them. 'If that doesn't happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God. And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience.' A European Commission spokesman told the daily press conference in Brussels today that President Juncker had just received a phone call from Theresa May about Article 50. He said: 'She informed him of the latest state of play around the Article 50 process and consulted the president on how best to approach the European Council. Discussions are ongoing.' The spokesman added 'nearly all foreseen contingency measures are approved' for a no-deal scenario, with only two outstanding, which are short-term visas and the EU budget for 2019. In the same interview Mr Juncker insisted that the deal negotiated over two years with Brussels was the remaining members states' final offer. 'Nothing more can be done, we've reached the end of the road,' he said. 'If other scenarios are being discussed, we'd need a new road.' His interview was the latest attempt by the EU to ramp up the pressure on Mrs May ahead of Thursday's summit in Brussels. On Tuesday he refused to answer questions over his invocation of 17th century precedent and during a stormy session of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister rounded on Mr Bercow and said he was making a laughing stock of Parliament Mrs May abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay or longer after furious Brexiteer cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June. The Brexit delay has split her cabinet with outraged Remainers saying today it was Mrs May's 'most craven surrender to the hardliners yet' because it 'substantially increases the risk of No Deal'. Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom, who yesterday blasted ministers for failing to deliver Brexit and hinted she could resign, told LBC today: 'I'm quite sure it will only be a short extension. It's absolutely essential we're out of the EU before the European elections'. She also said John Bercow's ruling to prevent a third vote on Mrs May's deal is 'subordinate to the views of parliament' and said: 'He needs to remain impartial. I've had some questions about it'. Britain is due to leave the EU next Friday, March 29, but after failing to get her deal through parliament last week the Prime Minister will tomorrow ask the EU to extend the deadline at a Brussels summit. If they do not, Britain leaves with No Deal. A University of Missouri police officer has been fired after a photo of him donning blackface and dressed as rapper Flavor Flav emerged. Marcus Collins of the MU Police Department lost his job after the image - reportedly taken before he started the post - was sent to the university. He had been hired by the university police in January 2018 but was fired Tuesday morning, just hours after the picture was shared. Spokesman Christian Basi said Collins admitted it was him in the image. He told The Columbia Tribune: 'Once we were able to verify it was Collins in the photo and Collins acknowledged that, shortly after a discussion with top university officials, he was terminated. 'We felt he could no longer be an effective police officer. We do not want someone out there representing us at the same time engaging in this type of behavior. This is not something the University of Missouri will allow.' University of Missouri police officer Marcus Collins has been fired after a photo of him donning blackface and dressed as rapper Flavor Flav emerged Basi added: 'The personal conduct at all times of any employees of the University shall be of such a nature as not to bring discredit upon the institution. 'Conduct contrary to this policy will result in the termination of such employees' connection with the University.' Chancellor Alexander Cartwright said in a statement to the DailyMail.com: 'This type of behavior is not tolerated at Mizzou, and we understand how this impacts our entire community profoundly. 'Racism, hate and insensitive behavior have no place on our campus. We are committed to our values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence, and to making our campus a place where everyone feels welcome and protected.' Collins admitted it was him in the image and he was quickly fired from his role Collins of the MU Police Department was dressed as rapper Flavor Flav in an image taken before he got his job at University of Missouri Stephen Graves, director of undergraduate studies in the MU Black Studies Department, told the paper: 'Any time you have gotten a photo by 9 a.m. and by 11:30 that person is fired, it had to have been a hell of a conversation. 'I think you do society a disservice when you don't allow for conversation and the police officer involved to explain himself. That person needs to step in front of a camera and explain the behavior, the who, what, where, why and when. 'You are always going to go back and find something that someone did wrong. How good or bad it is for our society, I am not 100 per cent sure. It is going to be hard to find perfect angels to do this job.' Collins has reportedly deleted his social media accounts and could not be reached for comment. The Pentagon's inspector general has formally opened an investigation into a watchdog group's allegations that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has used his office to promote his former employer, Boeing Co. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint with the Pentagon's inspector general a week ago, alleging that Shanahan has appeared to make statements promoting Boeing and disparaging competitors, such as Lockheed Martin. Shanahan, who was traveling with President Donald Trump to Ohio on Wednesday, spent more than 30 years at Boeing, leading programs for commercial planes and missile defense systems. He has been serving as acting Pentagon chief since the beginning of the year, after James Mattis stepped down. The probe comes as Boeing struggles to deal with a public firestorm over two deadly crashes of the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner within the last five months. And it focuses attention on whether Trump will nominate Shanahan as his formal pick for defense chief, rather than letting him languish as an acting leader of a major federal agency. Questions: Patrick Shanahan will be the subject of an inspector general's investigation into whether he favored his old employer Boeing while in office New development: One example raised by the complaint into Patrick Shanahan's conduct is the Pentagon's decision to request funding for Boeing F15EX fighter jets in the 2020 proposed budget. It is a development of the F-15E, seen in a training flight in the UK in 2018 Dwrena Allen, spokeswoman for the inspector general, said Shanahan has been informed of the investigation. And, in a statement, Pentagon spokesman Tom Crosson said Shanahan welcomes the review. 'Acting Secretary Shanahan has at all times remained committed to upholding his ethics agreement filed with the DoD,' said Crosson. 'This agreement ensures any matters pertaining to Boeing are handled by appropriate officials within the Pentagon to eliminate any perceived or actual conflict of interest issue(s) with Boeing.' During a Senate hearing last week, Shanahan was asked by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., about the 737 Max issue. Shanahan said he had not spoken to anyone in the administration about it and had not been briefed on it. Asked whether he favored an investigation into the matter, Shanahan said it was for regulators to investigate. On Wednesday, Blumenthal said that scrutiny of Shanahan's Boeing ties is necessary. 'In fact, it's overdue. Boeing is a behemoth 800-pound gorilla - raising possible questions of undue influence at DOD, FAA and elsewhere,' said Blumenthal. Shanahan signed an ethics agreement in June 2017, when he was being nominated for the job of deputy defense secretary, a job he held during Mattis' tenure. It outlined the steps he would take to avoid 'any actual or apparent conflict of interest,' and said he would not participate in any matter involving Boeing. The CREW ethics complaint, based to a large part on published reports, said Shanahan has made comments praising Boeing in meetings about government contracts, raising concerns about 'whether Shanahan, intentionally or not, is putting his finger on the scale when it comes to Pentagon priorities.' One example raised by the complaint is the Pentagon's decision to request funding for Boeing F15EX fighter jets in the 2020 proposed budget. The Pentagon is requesting about $1 billion to buy eight of the aircraft. Shanahan, 56, joined Boeing in 1986, rose through its ranks and is credited with rescuing a troubled Dreamliner 787 program. He also led the company's missile defense and military helicopter programs. Trump has seemed attracted to Shanahan partially for his work on one of the president's pet projects - creating a Space Force. He also has publicly lauded Shanahan's former employer, Boeing, builder of many of the military's most prominent aircraft, including the Apache and Chinook helicopters, the C-17 cargo plane and the B-52 bomber, as well as the iconic presidential aircraft, Air Force One. This is only the third time in history that the Pentagon has been led by an acting chief, and Shanahan has served in that capacity for longer than any of the others. Presidents typically take pains to ensure the Pentagon is being run by a Senate-confirmed official, given the grave responsibilities that include sending young Americans into battle, ensuring the military is ready for extreme emergencies like nuclear war and managing overseas alliances that are central to U.S. security. Advertisement President Trump took credit on Wednesday for keeping the Army's only tank plant, in Lima, Ohio, open. 'If it weren't for me this place would have been closed,' he said in a speech, where he demanded, again, that General Motors reopen a factory 200 miles to the east or sell it to someone who will. The plant is the only tank manufacturer in the U.S. and is currently upgrading M1 battle tanks from the M1A1 to M1A2's latest specification, the SEPv3, at the rate of 11 a month. Trump also boasted that he'll have an easier time getting elected, given all he's done for the economy, especially minorities and women, the next time he's on the ballot. 'No, the easy part, and I say this to all of your political leaders here: If you do a good job it's a lot easier that second time. But nobody's has done the job that we've done,' he proclaimed. Commander in chief: Trump stood in front of three M1 tanks which are at the plant being upgraded to the M1A2SEPv3, the latest version of the military's main battle tank Reception: Trump got applause from the manufacturing work force in Lima, Ohio, a state which is crucial to his re-election campaign Bring in the big guns: The M1A2SEPv3, to which the plant is currently upgrading existing M1s, formed the backdrop for Trump's speech Firepower: Trump spoke in front of a backdrop formed by actual tanks and a giant poster of the latest version of the M1 In the heartland: Trump used his speech to urge General Motors to bring jobs back to Lordstown, 200 miles away, after it shuttered its plant where 1,700 had worked assembling its Cruze model Jobs message: Trump used the manufacturing plant's main hall to boast that he had saved it from being mothballed, lashing out at Obama Upgraded: the M1A2SEPv3 is the latest iteration of the M1 Abrams tank, which has been the Army and Marine Corp's main battle tank since the 1980s, first seeing combat in 1991 Meet the workers: Trump was taken round the manufacturing operation and introduced to some of its hundreds of workers In the hull: Trump, accompanied by acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan (right), saw how workers upgrade M1s to the latest specification Fighting machine: The M1 hull is the base for the latest Abrams version, but Trump declined to pose like Michael Dukakis Firepower: The M1A2 is fitted with the smoothbore M256 cannon. Almost all of the tanks in the Lima plant are being painted in the green camouflage which would be used for conflict in Europe - and not the desert sand camouflage used in their deployment in Iraq The president had just finished touring the Lima Army Tank Plant, which had been under threat of closure until the Trump administration injected more money into the Pentagon's budget. According to CBS News, the Defense of Department directed $714 million to the production of tanks like the M1A1 Abrams. He told a Lima, Ohio, audience that included the secretary of the army and his acting Pentagon chief, that the previous administration budged no money for tanks, putting the plant that's owned by the government and operated by General Dynamics in danger. 'Four straight years, the number of U.S. tanks that were budgeted for upgrades was zero. Does anybody remember that? Raise your hands. Remember that? Zero. That was under your great president Obama,' the president asserted. Trump opened 50 minutes of remarks with a reminder for cheering factory workers that he's the one lining their pockets. 'Well you better love me, but I kept this place open,' he said. 'This is some tank plant, there's nothing like it in the world.' He said he wanted to sit behind the wheel of a tank while he was touring the plant, but then he recalled a George H.W. Bush campaign ad that decimated the former Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis' 1988 bid for the presidency He said he wanted to sit behind the wheel of a tank while he was touring the plant, but then he recalled a George H.W. Bush campaign ad that decimated the former Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis' 1988 bid for the presidency. 'I want to get into them, but then I remember when a man named Dukakis got into a tank,' he said. 'I've never seen anyone tank like that.' All that talk about tanks reminded Trump that he had a map with him of the territory ISIS held when he was elected and the territory that it holds today. 'ISIS, when I came in it was a mess....where the hell is that chart,' he asked. 'When I took over it was a mess, sea of red, and now you look at it, and there's no red, no red.' Fighting power: The M1A2SEPv3 has been given enhanced armor in a bid to better protect its four-strong crew against IEDs Escort: Trump was shown around part of the plant by Lt. Col Travis Adkins, who is commander of the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, the highest-ranking Army officer at the Army Tank Plant Why it matters: GM is a major employer across a swathe of three states won by Trump, two of which had been seen as part of Hillary Clinton's 'blue wall' Ohio will play a central role in Trump's 2020 coalition. He won the state in 2016, which he admitted on Wednesday is a factor in his interest in the Lima plant and the General Motors factory in the state that's closing down. 'Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST!' Trump tweeted Saturday. It was a marked change from his previous claim that 'it doesn't really matter,' because the state, under his leadership, will 'replace those jobs in like two minutes.' He said Wednesday that 'everybody wants it' without explaining what he meant. The SP and the BSP have forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. New Delhi: In the backdrop of the Congress facing difficulties in forging alliances in a number of states, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has asserted that if pre-election tie-ups are not formed due to "compulsions", the anti-BJP forces will come together post the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress wants to enter into alliances in various states and party president Rahul Gandhi has clearly stated that the party will take to the electoral battlefield in the Lok Sabha elections with its alliance partners, Mr Gehlot said. "The BJP has massive resources at its disposal. It wants to capture power by misusing the resources at its disposal and on money power. "The Congress has its compulsions as it is a national party. If the Congress does not forge alliances properly and its workers do not align with the alliance partners, then what is the use of such a tie-up," the senior Congress leader told agencies. Talking about the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD alliance fighting separately in the electorally crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gehlot said the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have their own "compulsions". "They (SP and BSP) are unable to come with the Congress due to their compulsions. However, pre-poll or post-poll, alliance will be done. There will be pressure from the people," the 67-year-old leader said. The SP and the BSP have forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats in the state and the BSP 38, leaving three for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal and two for Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), as per the deal. Advertisement The onset of spring has left Lake Michigan covered in gorgeous shards of ice. Melting water on the lake has frozen in place, looking like a mosaic of blue tiles or preserved waves. The phenomenon is caused by water that is currently moving underneath the ice as Lake Michigan begins to thaw. The onset of spring has left Lake Michigan covered in gorgeous shards of ice this week. The shards were visible from South Haven, Michigan The phenomenon is caused by water that is currently moving underneath the ice as Lake Michigan begins to thaw The lake is melting quickly, causing the water to push up sheets of ice to the surface, according to MLive.com. These ice shards have begun stacking up against each other, creating a gorgeous sight that could be seen from the pier at South Haven, Michigan on Tuesday. But while the shards make look solid, the US Coast Guard has asked residents to appreciate the view from afar. Lake Michigan is melting quickly, causing the water to push up sheets of ice to the surface and stack up against each other Fifty-six percent of Lake Michigan was covered by ice at the beginning of the month and is now finally starting to thaw 'No ice is safe ice especially this time of year,' it told the site. 'The ice is certainly deteriorating and breaking up.' Fifty-six percent of Lake Michigan was covered by ice at the beginning of the month. And this wasn't the only incredible sight the lake offered up before winter's end. Just last week hundreds of people traveled to the small northern Michigan town of Petoskey to catch a glimpse of a submerged life-sized statue of Jesus Christ on the cross. The melting water on the lake has frozen in its place, looking like a mosaic of blue tiles or preserved waves on Tuesday While the shards make look solid, the US Coast Guard has asked residents to appreciate the view from afar because the ice is 'deteriorating' and 'breaking up' Severe weather has prevented anyone from seeing the 11ft and 1,850 lb marble statue since 2015, when a record-sized crowd of 2,021 people stood in line for hours in frigid temperatures to get a peek. There was no guarantee visitors would get to see the cross this year, but this time, their prayers were answered. Workers had to cut a hole through the ice last Saturday so that an estimated 1,200 sightseers could see the giant Jesus. The statue, which was made in 1956, has become a shrine to honor those who have died on the water. The first public viewing of the idol took place in 1986. Shirley Harmon, 36, was charged Sunday with aggravated sexual assault of a child for not telling authorities a man was sexually abusing her daughter An Texas mother is facing felony charges after police say she agreed to let a 62-year-old man molest her five-year-old daughter for $400. Shirley Harmon, 36, of Odessa, Texas, was charged Sunday with aggravated sexual assault of a child. The Odessa American reports Harmon admitted to Ector County Sheriffs investigators that she allowed Gary Landreth, 62, to touch her child over the course of three years from 2017 to 2019. The abuse began when the Harmon's daughter was just two years old, police said. Landreth was arrested on January 14 and posted $50,000 bond. Authorities said a rape kit exam was performed on the child and results indicated she had been sexually assaulted. Harmon told investigators that her daughter told her Landreth would touch her inappropriately and hurt her while in his company, according to an affidavit. But Harmon reportedly ignored her child's pleas for help and continued to allow Landreth to see the girl, investigators said. Gary Landreth, 62, was charged in January with sexually assaulting Harmon's 5-year-old daughter Authorities said Harmon admitted to ECSO investigators that she took $400 from Landreth to allow the 62-year-old man to continue his abuse. She remained in custody on Wednesday at the Ector County Detention Center on a bond of $50,000, authorities said. President Trump once again attacked the late Sen. John McCain on Wednesday, this time suggesting the Vietnam war hero should have come to him after he was first handed a copy of the Golden Showers dossier. Trump teed off on McCain a day after saying he was 'never a fan' of McCain. This time, he returned to the topic of the dossier which contained salacious and unverified claims about Trump's comments in a Moscow hotel room as well as claims of Russian influence over Trump's circle. 'John McCain received the fake and phony dossier. Did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton, right?' Trump said at an event in Ohio, drawing boos at the mention of his Democratic rival, who had a law firm fund opposition research after a conservative group first funded the research that became the dossier. 'And John McCain got it. He got it. And what did he do? He didn't call me. He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put me in jeopardy. And that's not the nicest thing to do,' Trump said. Fox News reported based on filings that a McCain associate turned over the dossier to the FBI, along with media outlets, after the campaign. President Donald Trump attacked the late Sen. John McCain again on Wednesday Trump also vented about McCain's funeral which was held in the National Cathedral and included ceremonial honors, though Trump didn't attend at McCain's request. He took at shots at McCain's support for U.S. military intervention abroad, then groused that he never got a thank you from the McCain family for the McCain funeral. 'I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve,' Trump said. Trump brought up the infamous Steele dossier, which stated Russian agents had gained material sufficient to 'blackmail' him, and said the regime had been cultivating Trump for years Referencing the Iraq War, Trump said: 'We're in a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard. He was calling Bush, President Bush, all the time: "Get into the Middle East! Get into the Middle East!" 'So now we're into that war for $7 trillion,' Trump said. 'Thousands and thousands of our people have been killed. Millions of people overall. ... So John McCain loved it. I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this, I didn't get a thank-you. That's okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain,' Trump said. Then Trump concluded, at an event meant to highlight job gains in Ohio and throughout the nation: ''We're all set. I don't think I have to answer that question, but the press keeps "What do you think of McCain? What do you think?" Not my kind of guy. But some people like him and I think that's great.' McCain associate and former State Department official David Kramer testified in a court case that McCain gave the first pages of the dossier to former FBI Director James Comey on December 9, 2018. The president's latest comments came as the McCain controversy boiled over after Trump's weekend attacks on the longtime senator who was held captive for 5 1/2 years in a Hanoi POW camp during the war. In recent days the controversy has brought in McCain family members, the Senate leaders from both parties, and other lawmakers who knew McCain. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said he will reintroduce legislation to name a Senate office building after McCain following Trump's comments that he is 'not a fan' of the Vietnam war hero. Lt. Commander John S. McCain III, a POW for over five years, waves to well wishers March 18, 1973 after arriving at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida. John McCain is administered to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner of war in the fall of 1967. McCain spent 20 years in the Navy, a quarter of it in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. On Oct. 26, 1967, McCain's jet was shot down over Hanoi during a bombing mission John McCain is greeted by President Richard Nixon in Washington during the spring of 1973 after spending more than five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Solitary confinement was McCain's fiercest enemy during his more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, an experience he says taught him confidence, humility and the ambition to pursue larger dreams after he was released Schumer first raised the issue after McCain's death in August. He brought it up again after Trump blasted McCain on Twitter over the weekend, then doubled down when asked about McCain in the Oval Office Tuesday. 'I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be,' Trump told reporters Tuesday. Trump's continued public animosity has pushed several GOP senators to weigh in with their own views. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came out with a tweet calling his 'good friend' and former colleague a hero but did not directly call out Trump for his comments. Daughter Meghan McCain hit back at Trump Wednesday, saying her father 'would think it was so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death' McCain died of brain cancer in August. He voted down an Obamacare repeal and had a role in the transmission of the Steele dossier Sen. Charles Schumer wants to name a Senate office building after McCain Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain his 'good friend' and former colleague a hero on Twitter but did not directly call out Trump for his comments 'Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes,' said McConnell. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was McCain's best friend in the Senate and something of a protege, has been put on the spot by the situation. A former fierce Trump critic, Graham now backs Trump on a series of issues and has provided critical cover on the subject of the Russia probe. 'A lot of people are coming to John's defense now that called him crazy and a war-monger, so it's kind of interesting to see the politics of how this dispute's being used to bash Trump by people who were against both Trump and McCain,' said Graham in his home state, NBC reported. Schumer shortly after McCain's death announced a plan to rename the Senate Russel Office Building after his former colleague, who had a reputation for working with members of both parties, as well as occasionally blowing up at rivals. 'I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Senate Russell Building after American hero, Senator John McCain,' Schumer tweeted Wednesday. His prior resolution was cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican who was a regular Trump target. The building's naming after Sen. Richard Russell has become controversial due to the Georgia Democrat's support for segregation and opposition to civil rights legislation. Meghan McCain delivered another emotional tribute to her father on ABC's 'the View,' punching back at Trump. 'If I had told my dad, 'Seven months after you're dead, you're going to be dominating the news and all over Twitter,' she said Wednesday. 'He would think it was so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death.' Then she tried to turn the tables by bringing up cyber bullying a top issue of first lady Melania Trump. 'Do not feel bad for me and my family,' she said. 'We are blessed. We are a family of privilege. Feel bad for people out there who are being bullied that don't have support.' She continued: 'Feel people out there who are being bullied who don't have support ... There are kids committing suicide bc of cyber bullying on line. There are people going through rough time. ... We have 20 veterans a day committing suicide. Focus on these issues,' she said. Trump attacked the late senator twice this weekend on Twitter, focusing on McCain's ties to the infamous Steele dossier that contains the unverified allegations the Russians have blackmail material on the president. 'So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) 'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!, the president wrote on Sunday. McCain was actually fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, and regularly joked about his own academic performance. A dog has reportedly died after allegedly being deprived of oxygen on board an Air France-KLM flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles. As TMZ first reported on Wednesday citing unnamed sources within the airline, the pet, which was said to have resembled a husky, was discovered dead on Tuesday afternoon inside the plane's cargo hold. An Air France worker told the gossip site the dog had been improperly loaded onto the aircraft and ended up losing oxygen during the nonstop flight that lasted 10 hours and 45 minutes. A passenger's dog was discovered dead inside the cargo hold of KLM Flight 601 from Amsterdam to Los Angeles Tuesday (stock photo) KLM Flight 601 landed in Los Angeles at 12.35am. When the animal's owner went to a warehouse at LAX Airport to collect her pet, she discovered its lifeless corpse, reported TMZ. DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon reached out to Air France-KLM for comment on the report and was awaiting a reply. As per Air France's policy pertaining to the transposition of animals, passengers are allowed to keep a dog or a cat weighing no more than 17lbs in the cabin, so long as the pet is at least 10 weeks old and has all required shots. Travelers flying business class on intercontinental flights are not allowed to keep their pets in the cabin, no matter their size. The dead dog, described as a husky, was said to have been improperly loaded into the cargo hold, where it allegedly lost oxygen during the 11-hour flight (stock image) All cats and dogs weighing between 17lbs and 165.3lbs must travel in the cargo hold, confined to hard plastic or fiberglass containers 'fastened by bolts' and approved the by the International Air Transport Association. According to the IATA requirements, the animal must be able to stand up without touching the roof or the container, and also it must be able to turn around and lay down inside the container. There has been several high-profile incidents involving pets dying on board airplanes in recent years. Last year, a French bulldog puppy died on board a domestic United Airlines flight after a crew member forced its owner to store the dog in the overhead bin. In April 2017, a giant rabbit named Simon died while traveling in the cargo hold on a United flight between London and Chicago. Deputy Ryan Thompson, 42, was killed on Tuesday in Kittitas County, Washington A married sheriff's deputy with three children has been gunned down and killed by a suspect in Washington state. Deputy Ryan Thompson, 42, was killed on Tuesday evening in Kittitas County in central Washington, after a car pursuit ended in an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who also died. Kittitas Police Officer Benito Chavez was wounded in the shooting and is currently recovering at Harborview Medical Center. 'Last night was the worst incident in my 45 plus years in law enforcement, and something that a sheriff or police chief wishes would never ever happen during their watch,' Kittitas Sheriff Ryan Dana said. Fire and law enforcement officials join others in saluting as the body of Kittitas County Sheriff's deputy Thompson draped with a U.S. flag is carried out of Kittitas Valley Healthcare Hospital Thompson was killed and a police officer was injured after an exchange of gunfire during an attempted traffic stop Ellensburg Police Chief Ken Wade says the officers were responding to reports of a road rage incident near Badger Pocket when they attempted to pull over a vehicle at 7.42pm. The vehicle fled, and police initiated a pursuit that led into the town of Kittitas. The pursuit ended when the suspect reached the dead end of Pierce Street in Kittitas, police said. The suspect leaped out of the car and opened fire at the officers, striking Chavez in the leg and fatally wounding Thompson, who was pronounced dead at Kittitas Valley Hospital. The suspect was killed in the exchange of gunfire. Police have yet to publicly name the suspect. The body of a Kittitas County Sheriff's deputy is draped with a U.S. flag as it is loaded into an ambulance for a procession away from Kittitas Valley Healthcare Hospital Thompson was born and raised in Walla Walla and graduated from Central Washington University, the sheriff's office said. He started his career as a reserve deputy with Kittitas County in 2004 and served as a corrections officer prior to becoming a police officer with Central Washington University Police Department in 2007. He returned to the Kittitas Sheriffs Office in December 2013. 'He was a great officer and family man,' the sheriff's office said in a statement. 'Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends.' Miami residents have held an emergency meeting to discuss ways to make Spring Break less fun after a spate of drunken fights and arrests. Aggravated home and business owners flocked to an auditorium in Miami Beach on Tuesday to share their complaints about the current break which, they say, is worse than any before. Among their complaints was that there are 'naked women running down the street'. To combat the escalating chaos, an additional 25 police officers will patrol Ocean Drive, where most of the trouble is, to seize alcohol or drugs. Scroll down for video The debauchery of Spring Break has put some of the residents at their wits end. Above, a woman in Rockstar Beach, Texas, twerking Miami Police have been appealing to revelers not to overdo it on the beach. They have vowed to put prison vans in place along the boardwalk to herd up any who misbehave They will also place prison vans along the street to herd up misbehaving youths. The City Manager said it would not be 'pretty' but that a tough response was required. 'Who is in charge of this city?' fumed Madelyn Alvarino, one of the residents who attended the meeting, according to The Miami Herald. 'Every year, last year it was the same thing and now this year youre surprised because it is a mess. 'We are residents. We pay our taxes. All of you work for us,' she said. Nancy Liebman, another resident, complained: 'Theres motorcycles, theres half-naked and fully naked women running around the streets. 'The enforcement was not there. The problem is somebodys gotta get tough.' In Miami this year, there have been vicious fights caught on camera on the boardwalk in addition to the usual drunken antics that are frustrating residents City Manager Jimmy Morales heeded their warnings. 'This is going to be challenging work and at times it may not be pretty, but Ive assured senior command staff, Ive even spoken to our union president, that I, the administration, stands behind our officers to do everything they need to do to take control of the beach,' he said. So far this year, there have been vicious boardwalk fights in Miami along with the expected parade of drunken revelers. Miami Police Department has made several social media appeals to revelers to behave themselves. Its officers are patrolling the crowded beaches on quad bikes to make arrests and give anyone who needs it medical help. Movie legend Brigitte Bardot is facing prosecution for inciting racial hatred after calling French people from Reunion Island 'degenerate savages'. The 84-year-old former sex symbol said she was furious that many of those living on the overseas territory in the Indian Ocean were cruel to animals. 'The natives have kept their savage genes,' Miss Bardot wrote in an open letter to local governors on the island, which has a population of almost a million. She was particularly angry about Hindus on Reunion 'sacrificing goats', and said that those on the 'demonic isle' were also cruel to cats and dogs. Miss Bardot said that Hindus who took part in 'Indian Tamil festivals beheaded goats, and then threw their entrails into the sea, attracting sharks', who in turn threatened swimmers. Brigitte Bardot, the former French film star turned animal rights activist, made comments about people from Reunion Island in which she described them as 'degenerate savages' The 84-year-old film star's comments have been referred to French prosecutors by the prefect of Reunion Island She also referred to 'the cannibalism of past centuries' and described those from Reunion, who are predominantly Catholic, as 'a degenerate population still immersed in barbaric ancestral traditions'. Miss Bardot, who shot to fame in the 1956 film '...And God Created Woman', evoked the 'cannibalism of past centuries' as she lashed 'a degenerate population still soaked in barbarous ancestral traditions'. Despite her glamorous image, Paris-born Miss Bardot already has five criminal convictions for inciting hatred, mainly against Muslims for halal slaughter, and Jews for their preparation of kosher food. She has openly supported France's far-Right National Front, which is now called the National Rally, as well as the Yellow Vests movement that is now responsible for weekly riots across France. It was Amaury de Saint-Quentin, the Prefect of Reunion, who referred Miss Bardot's latest hateful outburst to French public prosecutors. Today he issued a statement saying Miss Bardot's language 'included insulting and racist terms likely to constitute an offence'. Annick Girardin, the French overseas territories minister on Reunion, also said Miss Bardot's comments were 'insulting and racist'. 'Ordinary racism has no place in the exchange of opinions', Girardin said on Tuesday, adding that she would add her name to the complaint filed by the island's prefect. Miss Bardot quit the movie industry in 1973 and now runs an animal sanctuary in the French Riviera resort of St Tropez In Paris, the president of the lower house of parliament, Richard Ferrand, expressed his 'contempt' for Bardot's comments. Didier Robert, President of the Reunion region, described her as 'irresponsible, outrageous and contemptuous'. He said her letter contained deeply racist terms that were 'absolutely unacceptable'. During previous court appearances in France, Miss Bardot has received substantial fines and been forced to apologise for her bigotry. She is a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the FN, who has been convicted for anti-Semitism, racism and Holocaust denial. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, now runs the party. Miss Bardot quit the movie industry in 1973 and now runs an animal sanctuary in the French Riviera resort of St Tropez, where she first shot to stardom in the 1950s. Animal rights activists say abuse of animals is common on the island and that animal sacrifice is tolerated in some religious ceremonies. Reunion, which is 6000 miles from Paris, is one of five overseas departments and regions of France. It is a favoured holiday destination of thousands from Europe. The island, east of Madagascar, has also made headlines in recent years for a spate of fatal shark attacks. Advertisement Gambino crime family boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali's funeral in Staten Island on Tuesday was a quiet, dignified affair with just a hint of the violence many of the mourners are known for. Cali, 53, was laid to rest in a private service then was taken to the Moravian Cemetery. The mourners were a who's who of current figures of interest to authorities which photographed some of them as they carried Cali's casket out of the funeral home before taking him to the cemetery. Four black unmarked police cars watched the service from across the street. 'They want to know who shows up, who the players are, whos going to possibly take over, whos active, whos not, the pecking order. 'Unfortunately, its very limited. But they have to take what they can get,' one law enforcement source told The New York Post about them being there. Once the service at the Scarpaci Funeral Home was over, his casket was driven to the nearby cemetery and was placed in a crypt in the Hillview Mausoleum, an extravagant two-tier building where the thousands of spots are highly coveted. Scroll down for video Gambino family crime boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali is carried out of the Scarpaci Funeral Home in Staten Island to be taken to a nearby cemetery. His casket had his name and the dates of life printed on it According to witnesses, the pall bearers, who have not been identified, were photographed by law enforcement agencies outside the funeral home. Funerals have long been a way for cops to identify current and upcoming key players in the mafia world where meetings are normally conducted out of sight Cali's casket, which had his name and the years of his life written on it, was placed in a crypt in a mausoleum where spots are limited and expensive. Witnesses said that his service was paid for with a suitcase containing $45,000 cash After the mourners had left, the only clue marking Cali's crypt was a pile of white roses they left behind. His crypt has not yet been engraved Next to it, a bunch of white roses were left. Cali's name has not yet been engraved on the stone but a temporary sticker marked his place. Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali, 53, was shot dead outside his home on March 13 As the mourners made their way out of the cemetery after the incident, one reportedly threatened a reporter who was asking questions inside the office. 'Get the f*** out of here before I blow your f*****g head off,' he said, according to The New York Post. The source also claimed that one of the small number of attendees paid for a white-pillared, red-marble mausoleum in full with cash carried in a suitcase. Cali is buried in a lower level spot in the two-tier mausoleum. Thomas Bilotti was the Gambino Crime Family underboss for two weeks. His promotion triggered the assassination of Castellano. Born 1940, he passed away in the same incident as Castellano outside a Manhattan steak house - the executions said to be on the orders of John Gotti - and he can be found in Zone F Grave 120. Underboss of Gambino Crime Family, Frank DeCicco, served as a Capo and was laid to rest at 50 in Moravian Cemetery in 1986. He died when Genovese associate Herbert Pate detonated an explosive attached underneath a car, that was meant for John Gotti. Gambino family crime boss was buried on lower level of white-pillared, red-marble mausoleum An expensive view: Cali's crypt is one of the few in the mausoleum which overlooks the bay. Spots for a single person can cost up to $61,000 A gravedigger said associates 'came in with a suitcase and paid $45,000 in cash' The man charged with killing Cali, Anthony Comello, 24, appeared in court for the first time in Toms River, New Jersey on Monday for an extradition hearing. During the hearing, he showed off drawings on his hand which read 'MAGA forever' and 'QAnon' - a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a 'deep state' is working to bring down President Trump. Trump-loving Anthony Camello (above) is accused of murdering the crime boss last week Those messages are in line with the posts from his secret Instagram account, the existence of which was first reported by the New York Post. Comello 'used to post crazy things about politics and Trump and Democrats,' a source told the Post. The Instagram page was created under the handle 'realamericasvoice_'. One Instagram post included the Reichsadler, or 'imperial eagle,' which was used during the Nazi period. The post reads: 'Infidel of freedom, infidels of the free world...Dems=demons go down on all counts.' Another post shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wearing a symbol that supposedly represents 'evil fascism.' There are also truther conspiracy theories which allege that the September 11, 2001 attacks were orchestrated by the Bush administration. Another Instagram post depicts Michelle Obama, the former first lady, as a man dancing with 'wife,' Barack Obama, whose head is photoshopped onto her body. One meme shows a group of prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Eric Holder, and others in jail for 'treason' since 'Russia collusion is a proven lie.' The Instagram post also shows messages denouncing illegal immigrants, socialism, and taxes. The Instagram page believed to have belonged to Comello was created under the handle 'realamericasvoice_' The above meme found on the Instagram page shows extreme messages denouncing Democratic members of Congress and liberal activist Linda Sarsour One Instagram post included the Reichsadler, or 'imperial eagle,' which was used during the Nazi period. The post reads: 'Infidel of freedom, infidels of the free world...Dems=demons go down on all counts.' Comello first drew the attention of police after he bizarrely tried to make a 'citizen's arrest' of prominent Democratic figures including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Pelosi, U.S. House Rep. Adam Schiff, and U.S. House Rep. Maxine Waters. 'There was an incident at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan where he showed up [on February 21] asking to make a citizen's arrest of a number of elected officials,' NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller told the Post. 'These were rambling statements, but it involved that he wanted to make citizen arrests of Maxine Waters, Congressman Schiff,' Miller said. Schiff, Waters, and Pelosi are members of Congress from California. They are also outspoken critics of President Trump. Comello asked a US Marshal how he could go about performing a 'citizen's arrest' on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and turned up outside New York City Hall protesting against Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and saying he should be jailed Comello is also said to have tried to make a 'citizen's arrest' of top Congressional Democrats Maxine Waters (left) and Adam Schiff (right) Miller said that Comello 'blamed Nancy Pelosi and all kinds of other people for stealing the election.' 'They engaged in conversation with him, and while they were waiting for a sector car to show up, he walked off. That was the extent of the contact.' One source told DailyMail.com: 'He was clearly unhinged well before he decided to kill Cali. The whole citizen's arrest inquiry against Nancy Pelosi is proof of that.' Comello's Monday courtroom stunt has already been compared to the actions of 'MAGA Bomber' Cesar Sayoc. Floridian Sayoc, 56, was charged in October last year with sending 16 pipe bombs to President Trump's political enemies, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. When he was arrested, Sayoc had been living out of a van covered with pro-Trump stickers and images of prominent Democrats with cross-hairs on their faces. Sayoc faces life imprisonment if convicted. Investigators are seen with forensic equipment outside the Cali's home on Thursday Marine Richard Laugel, who joined the Marines two days after 9/11 has been sentenced to a decade in prison for car bombing his neighbor. Laugel had blamed post-traumatic stress disorder for his actions A man who joined the Marines two days after the September 11 attacks has been sentenced to a decade in prison. Richard Laugel blamed post-traumatic stress disorder as the reason he put a bomb under his neighbor's car in 2016. Laugel and his neighbor were reportedly in the middle of a parking dispute, although it has also been claimed that the neighbor was a rival drug dealer. The bomb set off a fireball and explosion that was powerful enough to buckle the car's doors. But the victim miraculously escaped injury, even though the bomb was detonated as he drove down a street in the Bronx. Laugel was subsequently charged with attempted murder, arson, and criminal possession of a weapon. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer said in court on Wednesday that he would have made Laugel spend twice as long in prison if not for his military heroism. Laugel had been out on $100,000 bail for the bombing when he was arrested again in May after agents found an arsenal of weapons in his home, including an AR-15 that had a grenade launcher inscribed with the words 'havoc' (pictured) Agents also found firearm silencers, parts to make assault riffles, bottle rockets, and ammunition after executing a search warrant The judge cited a letter from Laugel's former platoon commander, which said that Laugel had provided security during the initial invasion of Iraq for former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who was leading a Marine division at the time. Laugel had been out on $100,000 bail for the bombing when he was arrested again in May 2018. Department of Homeland Security agents reportedly found an arsenal of weapons and bomb-making materials in his Bronx home while executing a search warrant. Agents discovered an AR-15 that had a grenade launcher inscribed with the words 'havoc', firearm silencers, parts to make assault riffles, bottle rockets, and ammunition, according to the New York Post. They also found three handguns, two of which had defaced serial numbers, as well as the chemical mixture Tannerite, which can be used to make bombs. They also found three handguns, two of which had defaced serial numbers (pictured) Cops said a teddy bear stuffed with 30 grams of cocaine was also located in his house. Agents requested support from the New York Police Department's Bomb Squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, fearing the home could be rigged with booby traps, a source told the Post at the time. No assembled, functional bombs were found in the home. The warrant was in response to 49 Xanax pills that were confiscated at John F Kennedy International Airport's mail facility in 2017. Authorities believed the pills were heading to Laugel's home. Laugel was arrested after a day-long manhunt, just a week before he was due to face charges for the car bombing. The BSP, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal have entered into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the April-May Lok Sabha polls. New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said on Wednesday that she would not be contesting the coming Lok Sabha polls. However, she clarified soon afterwards that this does not mean she cannot enter Parliament through the byelection route later, thus keeping open the question of her being a contender for the prime ministership should a larger Opposition alliance get the requisite numbers. At a press conference in Lucknow, Ms Mayawati said: In view of the present circumstances and the need of the country and the interests of the party, the movement and the public, it is the need of the hour that I do not contest the Lok Sabha polls. This is the reason I have decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls. However, she clarified shortly afterwards: When I became UP CM first time in 1995 I was not a member of either the UP Assembly or the Council. Similarly, there is a provision at the Centre where a person has to become a Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha member within six months of holding office as minister or Prime Minister. Dont get disheartened over my decision not to contest the Lok Sabha polls now. She claimed that all she has to do is to go and file her nomination papers, and her party workers will ensure her victory. The reason given by the BSP chief for not contesting was that if she contests, her party workers will focus only on her seat even if she forbids them, and thus affect the campaign in other constituencies. Hence, winning each and every Lok Sabha seat is more important than my personal victory, the BSP chief said. The BSP, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal have entered into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the April-May Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is not part of this pact, but the alliance has said it will not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, the two seats that are now held by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Tens of thousands of Russian orphans, some as young as eight, are to be recruited into Vladimir Putin's 'youth army' where they will be trained to use machine guns and parachute jump. Critics have accused Putin's fast-growing 'Yunarmia' of resembling the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany and say it is an 'immoral' bid to swell army numbers. Others in the Russian government say the recruitment drive is evidence of the increased militarisation of Russia amid deteriorating relations with the West. But supporters say the force, set up in 2015 and now numbering more than 353,000 with a suspected target of one million by next year, keeps children out of trouble while fostering patriotism. Recruits from eight to 18 are taught military drills, how to handle Kalashnikovs, wrestling, and parachute jumping. Scroll down for video. A 'Yunarmia' youth army ceremony on board the Dmitry Donskoy Russian nuclear submarine A young Yunarmia recruit in the city of Kostroma in western Russia testing a missile launcher A flashmob of Vladimir Putin's 'youth army', some which are recruited at the as young as eight, dancing in the street Declaring this was not 'normal', Col-General Viktor Bondarev, who once headed Russia's strategic rocket forces and is now a senior pro-Putin senator, demanded urgent military training for schoolchildren. This coincides with a complaint by a senior military and political figure that modern children are 'afraid of machine guns' and do not know how the throw a hand grenade. Controversially Russia's children's ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova is now backing a move that could see the mass recruitment of up to 50,000 Russian orphans of both sexes join the force. She has demanded her regional officials - whose role is to safeguard the interests of children - play an active part in recruiting direct from orphanages for Yunarmia, claimed Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Critics say these children will not be able to say no because are under the state's direct control. During the Soviet era, orphans were also recruited to the military and KGB. Expert Alexander Gezalov angrily hit out at the plan to 'dress them in uniform'. Members of Putin's 'youth army' taking part in exercise drills at a children's summer camp in Artek, part of the disputed Crimea on the Black Sea which was annexed from Ukraine in 2014 Recruits in the youth force are taught military drills, how to handle Kalashnikovs, wrestling, and parachute jumping from the age of eight to 18 Currently numbering more than 353,000, the youth army has a suspected target of one million by next year, including 50,000 Russian orphan recruits He said: 'Nobody is left to protect orphans if the children's ombudsmen are pushing them into these military units. 'They should be dealing with completely different matters.' The aim is to have 500,000 recruits by May and one million a year later when Russia marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, according to reports in the Russian media. Psychologist Nikolay Scherbakov complained: 'This idea is non-professional and immoral.' A simultaneous drive is underway to recruit children directly in schools - when parental permission is needed - and among the offspring of factory workers in large companies. This follows blistering criticism by a senior senator, Education Minister Olga Vasiliyeva, for failing to ensure military education in Russia's classrooms. Bondarev, who formerly commanded Russia's strategic rocket forces and now chairs the senate's committee on defence and security, thundered at Vasilyeva: 'Children are afraid of machine guns. 'Children do not know what a grenade looks like or how to throw it. Is it really normal?' Yunarmia members demonstrating a Kalashnikov gun to young children at a school in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur Young members of the Yunarmia on board a nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoy where a ceremony was held Russian President Vladimir Putin's 'Yunarmia' youth army is targeted to expand its numbers from 353,000 to over one million next year by recruiting 50,000 Russian orphans He warned that children were not properly educated in military matters in schools compared with in Soviet times. He declared: 'Why did you remove the basic military training course from schools? 'You know that a pacifist will never protect his Motherland with poems or brushes.' 'This was even more so when Russia was surrounded by threats', he added. 'What are we afraid of and whose hands are we playing into? 'Please, be wise, [military training] must be brought back now. Thanks to pacifists, compulsory army service [conscription] has been cut to only one year.' When it was formed one Russian news website complained that the Yunarmia was 'plagiarising Hitler Youth' - but the report was swiftly removed. 'Something similar to German organisation Hitler Youth is coming from Russia,' the report stated. Jeremy Corbyn was accused of 'juvenile' behaviour this evening after walking out on a crucial Brexit briefing with party leaders because former Labour MP Chuka Umunna was invited. The Labour Leader is thought to have refused to sit down with the Independent Group spokesman as 'he's not a real party leader'. Mr Corbyn was slammed online for failing to join the cross-party meeting organised by the Prime Minister, despite there being only nine days until the UK's scheduled departure from the EU. Leading the criticism, Countdown presenter Rachel Riley mocked Mr Corbyn for meeting with Hamas - the military wing of which is a banned terrorist group in the UK - but refusing to talk with Mr Umunna. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving Downing Street tonight) walked out on a crucial Brexit briefing with party leaders because former Labour MP Chuka Umunna (left) was invited The presenter - who has been a victim of anti-Semitic abuse from hard-left activists - wrote on Twitter: 'Corbyn on Hamas (the terrorists): I wanted Hamas to be part of the debate. 'Corbyn on Chuka Umunna (the anti-racism ex-Labour MP): Tell him I'm not talking to him. OK, got it.' Mr Umunna, who is not officially the leader of the newly formed Independent Group but instead an appointed 'spokesman', described Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to engage in talks as 'extraordinary' and 'very juvenile'. Leading the criticism, Countdown presenter Rachel Riley (pictured) mocked Mr Corbyn for his actions She wrote on Twitter: 'Corbyn on Hamas (the terrorists): I wanted Hamas to be part of the debate. Corbyn on Chuka Umunna (the anti-racism ex-Labour MP): Tell him I'm not talking to him' There are only 9 days until our scheduled departure date, and we are in a crisis situation. The people expect politicians from all political groupings in Parliament to come together and engage in serious dialogue to try and chart a way forward through this chaos. #ChangePolitics pic.twitter.com/wRBsJg1Tqd ChukaUmunna (@ChukaUmunna) March 20, 2019 Speaking to Sky News in a clip he shared to Twitter, Mr Umunna said: 'We are in a crisis situation here where the people of this country expect their representatives from different political groupings in Parliament to come together and actually chart a way forward. 'That is why the Prime Minister convened the meeting, I welcomed the fact that she did so. 'I think it is really extraordinary behaviour for the leader of the opposition to behave in really this kind of very juvenile way when the moment demands that we all step up and engage in some serious dialogue to find a way through this chaos and this mess. 'He will have to explain his actions.' Following the meeting, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: Jeremy Corbyns kinder, gentler politics was found wanting as he stomped out of the meeting before it began rather than breathe the same air as Chuka Umunna. 'That is rather a strange way to behave in a national crisis.' Following the meeting, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: 'That is rather a strange way to behave in a national crisis' Mr Umunna described Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to engage in talks as 'extraordinary' and 'very juvenile' SNP MP Stewart McDonald told Mr Corbyn to 'get a grip' after his refusal to engage in talks with the Independent Group Anna Soubry, a former Tory MP who is now with the Independent Group, also attended the meeting He added that the talks with Mrs May had been 'courteous' but she had offered no new thinking. 'We were just going round in circles,' he added. Others also pointed out Mr Corbyns history in meeting with extremists, with former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tweeting: Jezza has been quite happy to meet with some rather edgy folk in the past... but draws the line at that menace to civilisation, Chuka Umunna. In 1984, Mr Corbyn came under fire after inviting representatives of the IRA to the House of Commons - just two weeks after the Brighton bombing which killed five people. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron tweeted: Jezza has been quite happy to meet with some rather edgy folk in the past... but draws the line at that menace to civilisation, Chuka Umunna. Mr Umunna described Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to engage in talks as 'extraordinary' and 'very juvenile' He also famously described members of the anti-Israel terror group Hezbollah as his friends. SNP MP Stewart McDonald told Mr Corbyn to 'get a grip' after his refusal to engage in talks with the Independent Group. He tweeted: 'I mean honestly, nine days until the country he wants to be Prime Minister of leaves the EU and @jeremycorbyn has gone full "you can't sit with us". 'This isn't Mean Girls. Get a grip of your life, man!' A Labour spokesperson said: 'It was not the meeting that had been agreed and the terms were broken. Downing Street is in such chaos that they were unable to manage their own proposed meeting. 'We are in discussions with Number 10 about holding the bilateral meeting with the PM that Jeremy proposed at PMQs.' Later in the evening, Mr Corbyn wrote on Twitter: 'In a phone call this evening, I made clear to the Prime Minister that we must immediately agree to a compromise alternative that supports jobs and living standards, can win the support of parliament, be negotiated with the EU and bring the country together.' Former Footy Show host Sam Newman has been criticised for mocking New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's accent. Ms Ardern on Tuesday gave a moving speech in parliament during which she vowed never to name Brenton Tarrant, the man accused of attacking two mosques in Christchurch on Friday. Afterwards, Newman wrote on Twitter: 'Thank heavens NZ prime minister said she will never mention the name of the terrorist. How grating is her accent?' Scroll down for video Footy Show host Sam Newman has been criticised for mocking New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's accent. Pictured: Ms Ardern in parliament on Tuesday This is Newman's tweet which has been slammed by dozens of voters online Dozens responded to the Tweet, calling Newman 'sexist' and 'backward.' Several New Zealanders defended their prime minister, saying she was a top leader - unlike Scott Morrison, Australia's embattled PM. Many commenters said Newman (pictured) was just trying to get attention One Kiwi wrote: 'We're extraordinarily proud of our PM's empathy, dignity and strength in this awful time. 'She has articulated our grief, our sympathy, our shock, our anger and our determination to change our lax gun laws. She speaks for us, and like us.' One Australian man said Newman was just trying to get attention. He wrote: 'This fool is just trying to get attention as his relevance declines from little to nothing. Prime Minister Adern is a great leader and head of government - far, far better than our own.' Another commenter replied to Newman, saying: 'It would seem you have that depressingly common gift of joking at another's expense. 'The NZ PM's words have done so much to help so many deal with an appalling, evil act. That's all that matters.' 'Look out, there's an egg behind you,' a fourth person joked, referring to the moment a teenager egged Senator Fraser Anning after he aired a shocking statement blaming Muslim immigration for the New Zealand terror attack. Later, Newman doubled down on his comments in a fiery post aimed at his critics. He wrote: 'Thank you so much for comments re NZ prime minister - and her accent. To be clear, this had nothing to do with her sentiments. Newman then tweeted this in response - and this Tweet was also slammed by commenters 'It DID have to do with the ghastly accent NZs have cultivated. Now, bang on about that being racist. That should occupy your tiny brains.' Will Connolly cracked an egg on Anning's head during a political meeting in Moorabbin, Melbourne, on Saturday. Mr Anning slapped the 17-year-old before his right-wing cronies violently held the youngster to the ground. Advertisement Stunning satellite images of Southern California's 'superbloom' of poppy flowers reveal that the blossoms are so vibrant and orange, they're even visible from outer space. The blooming poppies have taken over the hilly city of Lake Elsinore, California, concentrated along the Walker Canyon. The beautiful and overwhelming bloom of the wild flowers has attracted tens of thousands of flower-crazed tourists who have collectively shut down the area and caused huge traffic jams, all in pursuit of the perfect Instagram with the rare spectacle. While the flowers are dazzling on Earth, they even make one catch their breath when seen from outer space. Satellite images snapped on Tuesday show a generous dusting of orange along the canyon and in Lake Elsinore. The poppies stretch across the mountains, crop up alongside highways, and transform rolling hills of green into captivating golden slopes. Incredible satellite images snapped on Tuesday from outer space show the orange poppy 'superbloom' taking over Southern California Over the past two weeks a massive bloom of poppy flowers took over Lake Eilsinore and Walker Canyon in a stunning display The poppies stretch across the mountains, crop up alongside highways, and transform rolling hills of green into captivating golden slopes The blooms took over the southern California hills after the area experienced heavy winter rain followed by warm temperatures A super bloom occurs when warm temperatures follow stretches of winter rain and the explosion of flowers exceeds average spring-time blooms. Over the past two weeks the green hills transformed slowly but surely into poppy fields. The color of the poppies is so vivid it can be seen from mountain tops hundreds of feet above. The super bloom was originally met with excitement in the community of 66,000, which is about a 90-minutes drive from both Los Angeles and San Diego. But problems quickly arose this weekend, including traffic and people leaving trails and trampling the flowers. Officials in Lake Elsinore in Southern California were forced to close its public viewing of a super bloom of poppies on Sunday after being overrun by tens of thousands of flower-crazed tourists Tens of thousands of tourists were spotted posing for pictures among the scores of flowers following the super bloom of poppies The hashtags #poppyshutdown and #poppyapocalypse began spreading on Twitter. The city initially tweeted that roads were jammed, traffic on Interstate 15 had stopped moving and law enforcement assistance was requested from neighboring jurisdictions to deal with the crush. But the city then shut down access saying the weekend had become unbearable and they were not able to sustain 'Disneyland size crowds'. There was an estimated 50,000 visitors on Saturday alone and people started lining up at 5.30am to catch a glimpse of the flowers. 'The situation has escalated beyond our available resources. No additional shuttles or visitors will be allowed into Walker Canyon. This weekend has been unbearable Lake Elsinore,' city officials said on Facebook. 'We know it has been miserable and has caused unnecessary hardships for our entire community.' The super bloom, which was the result of extremely heavy winter rainfall, saw the Lake Elsinore hillside completely covered in bright orange poppies. Thousands of tourists flocked to the area to take photos among the blooms Authorities in the city of Lake Elsinore closed access to Walker Canyon on Sunday after 'Disneyland size crowds' flocked to the area and caused huge traffic jams on nearby highways Residents of the small town experienced difficulty getting to and from their homes at the weekend due to widespread road closures and traffic congestion caused by visitors A couple is pictured posing among the flowers as thousands of people flocked to the area for a glimpse of the super bloom Instagram was filled with super bloom photos of people posing among the flowers One of the main concerns from city officials was people leaving the trails and trampling the wild flowers The super bloom is the result of extremely heavy winter rainfall that saw the hillside covered in bright orange poppies Tourists have been flocking to the area for several weeks to see the super bloom but authorities were forced to shut off access on Sunday Residents of the small town experienced difficulty getting to and from their homes due to widespread road closures. Lake Elsinore Mayor Steve Manos said in the chaos over the weekend, one city employee was hit by a car and a visitor suffered a snake bite. The city had initially put measures in place, including free shuttle buses, to try and ease the congestion. Officials posted a photo of a flyer on Sunday that read: 'No more shuttles or Entrance' and 'No Viewing or Visiting.' It also featured hashtags including: '#PoppyNightmare' and '#IsItOver.' The super bloom was originally met with excitement in the community of 66,000 but problems quickly arose this weekend, including traffic and people leaving trails and trampling the flowers Tens of thousands of tourists have been spotted posing for pictures among the scores of flowers over the last month Official said on Sunday that they had been experiencing issues with people leaving trails and trampling the flowers Poppy fields are blooming on the slopes of Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore after heavy rains in California boosted the growth of wild desert flowers The super bloom was brought about by heavy rains in California that boosted the growth of wild desert flowers A man photographs a woman painting a super bloom of wild poppies blanketing the hills of Walker Canyon A woman and a child were spotted sitting among the poppies earlier this month when the super bloom first occurred The leader of the Brexit-Party has quit after it was discovered she had posted anti-Islamic comments on social media. Catherine Blaiklock resigned from the Nigel Farage-backed party today, just two months after she founded the party with the former Ukip leader and represented the group at the European Parliament. She claimed in Twitter posts that Islam was a threat to most of society, was 'incompatible with liberal democracy' and a submission 'mostly to raping men'. It is understood that the former Ukip economics spokeswoman took the decision to stand down in response to the comments having been discovered. However, it is not yet understood how Ms Blaiklock's resignation will alter the party. The Brexit Party is registered as a limited company, with Ms Blaiklock being the owner. Catherine Blaiklock (pictured above) has resigned from the Brexit Party following the revelation of tweets In a resignation statement, Ms Blaiklock said her role had been successful in 'working with Nigel Farage ... to set the party up and register it with the Electoral Commission'. 'The out-of-character comments that I made on social media some time ago were unacceptable in tone and content,' she continued. 'After speaking to Nigel Farage, I realise that my comments fall well short of what is expected in any walk of life. 'I have accordingly tendered my resignation as party leader.' Anti-racism campaigners Hope Not Hate, who helped unearth the since-deleted posts, celebrated her resignation. Catherine Blaiklock had launched the party with Nigel Farage (above) 'Blaiklock's abhorrent racist social media posts reveal the true nature of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party: new branding, same old nasty underbelly,' campaign director Matthew McGregor said. One tweet in June 2017 read: 'Islam = submission - mostly to raping men it seems. ukip.' Later on that year, another said: 'Islam - Threat to women, gays, whites, non-Muslims, Blacks, Indians, Chinese - aggression to everyone but themselves.' She also retweeted a post which spoke of a 'white genocide', a term favoured by the far-right and found in the manifesto of the man suspected of the Christchurch mosque murders. She has also previously slammed Halal meat and commented that 'Muslim's don't have to eat normal pork sausages'. She had previously slammed plans that a Swiss community had made to serve Halal sausages at a festival The Brexit Party was registered on February 5 and eight days later Mr Farage tweeted that he was representing the organisation in Brussels. Mr Farage had told the Press Association he wanted to attract Leave voters from across the traditional political spectrum, adding: 'I genuinely believe people would be very surprised at the support it would attract.' The former Ukip leader quit the party in December stating he was uncomfortable with its direction under Gerard Batten. A pair of heroic workmen rushed to help a dog walker whose beloved pet had 'died' only to discover that the stubborn pooch was staging a lie-down protest at not going on his favourite walking route. Michele Bilsland, 43, had agreed to take Old English bulldog Begbie on a shorter walk than usual last Friday afternoon due to the bad weather in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. But when the canny canine realised this, he plonked himself down on the pavement and refused to budge. Scroll down for video Begbie, the Old English bulldog, lay motionless on the pavement after him walker took an alternative route than usual Professional dog walker Michele took four-year-old Begbie, named after Robert Carlyle's character in cult film Trainspotting, out of the cul-de-sac and turned left instead of right to take him on a quick walk around the block. Just as Begbie swooned to the ground, two workmen driving past pulled over fearing he had dropped dead as Michele was stood open-mouthed in shock. Michele from Crieff, Perth and Kinross, said: 'The woods he likes are up the hill but we'd turned left because the weather was stormy so he knew I was walking him down the way just towards the village. 'When he's not going where he wants he just throws himself on the floor and then he doesn't move and turns his head away in disgust. 'He'd done it seconds before the guys in the van came up that road. 'I think they were a father and son who just parked up straight away and asked 'are you alright love? What's happened?' Michele Bilsland, 43, had agreed to take Old English bulldog Begbie on a shorter walk than usual last Friday afternoon due to the bad weather in Perth and Kinross, Scotland 'Because Begbie was on the floor and his head was turned away they thought he'd died on me. 'I told them he was fine and just having a tantrum and sulking so he wouldn't move because he was playing dead. 'I thanked them and they laughed when they realised he was just sulking - I just waited for him to get up.' Begbie staged a minute-long protest before conceding defeat and starting plodding along the road. Mum-of-two Michele said: 'I've got used to it now so I know not to drag him along. After around a minute he just got up under his own steam but then did the same again a little later on. The stubborn pooch regularly stages lie-down protests and refuses to budge, but Michele says she does not get frustrated by it 'He's adorable and full-on in a nice way, he's full of energy, very opinionated and such a character. 'It's such a lovely, unique side to him - I can't get frustrated at him. 'The walk he likes is about an hour and despite his build when he's out with labradors and spaniels he always tries to keep up. 'His build means he's not meant for speed but he doesn't give up. He won't be beaten though he is absolutely pooped by the end of it. 'He adores walks and being in the countryside and won't come back to the van when the walk is over. 'He just throws himself on the floor and won't move. When I first started walking him three months ago I didn't know he had this issue and was in the middle of nowhere. 'He knew we were on the way back to the van and he just lay there refusing to come out of the field. 'I took a video trying to coax him along but he just wouldn't move at all. I had to message his owner and go and fetch a lead for him.' Her Facebook post read: 'So as I said to the two men who jumped out of the van to try and revive the 'dead dog'. 'Begbie isn't dead,..... he is having one of his throw yourself on the floor and sulk moments because he has just realised that we aren't going up the hill to his woods. The four-year-old bulldog (pictured with owner Roz Niblock, 30) is very friendly as well as being exceptionally stubborn 'I'm standing there patiently waiting for him to get over himself. Please don't panic if you see this. This is what he does, this is one of the reasons why we love him so.' Despite being dubbed the 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' of dogs for his stocky build and feisty personality, Michele said that he's a real softy at heart and loves nothing more than to curl up with his cat 'brother' Tag. Michele said: 'Begbie just has a very strong personality that matches his physique. 'He's the Arnold Schwarzenegger of dogs but despite his looks as being a tough, stubborn and opinionated dog, his best friend is his cat 'brother' Tag who he loves cuddling up to while asleep.' Begbie's owners Roz Niblock, 30, and Matt Kennedy, 33, named the pooch after the Trainspotting character due to his larger-than-life personality. Cake business owner Roz said: 'Begbie is so full of character, very friendly but stubborn as hell. 'He knows what he likes and has a strop when he doesn't get his own way.' A mechanic has been arrested in connection with a hit-and-run that killed a second-grade teacher earlier this year, prosecutors have said. Ibn Collins, a 39-year-old from Linden, New Jersey, was allegedly intoxicated when he mowed down Meghan Crilly as she and three friends crossed an intersection in the early hours of January 20. Authorities allege Collins has spent the past two months quietly patching up his Jeep in his garage, in a bid to destroy the evidence and evade justice. Ibn Collins (left), a 39-year-old from Linden, New Jersey, was allegedly intoxicated when he mowed down Meghan Crilly (right) as she and three friends crossed an intersection in the early hours of January 20. Authorities allege Collins has spent the past two months quietly patching up his Jeep in his garage, in a bid to destroy the evidence and evade justice Collins reportedly 'did not slow down or stop,' following the crash, and instead headed back to his auto body shop in Westfield, where he hid the Grand Cherokee and ordered replacement parts over a two month period. It is alleged he explained the damage as having hit a deer. Detectives were able to trace the Jeep's battered bumper found at a salvage yard in Pennsauken, NJ, about 70 miles from the scene of the crash, officals said. The alleged hit-and-run driver was arrested at home last night, and charged with manslaughter and evidence tampering. He faces up to 30 years in prison. Tragic teacher Crilly, 35, was left in a coma in a Newark hospital for before dying from her injuries 11 days later. She had spinal cord injuries, shattered bones and a lacerated liver, her family say. Tragic teacher Crilly, 35, was left in a coma in a Newark hospital for before dying from her injuries 11 days later. She had spinal cord injuries, shattered bones and a lacerated liver, her family Investigators say tragic Crilly was thrown 140ft from where he had been hit, with Collins also charged with driving under the influence She also had her spleen removed and suffered massive internal bleeding. Investigators say tragic Crilly was thrown 140ft from where he had been hit, with Collins also charged with driving under the influence 'While this arrest doesn't bring her back, we believe it is a first step toward securing the justice Meghan and her loved ones deserve,' said Union County Prosecutor Michael Monahan. Accused Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant allegedly threatened police with a bomb as heroic officers ran him off the road and dragged him from his car. On Wednesday, New Zealand police revealed further details surrounding the alleged gunman's arrest, which took place just 21 minutes after they were called to the scene on Friday. The 28-year-old Australian suspect allegedly opened fire on two Christchurch mosques, killing 50 worshippers and injuring 50 more, before fleeing in his white station wagon. Soon after, two officers ran the vehicle off the road and approached the accused shooter with their weapons drawn. 'These two guys pull this guy out but at the same time he was yelling, "I've got a bomb," and shooting at the same time. So we overuse the word hero, but not in this case,' Police Minister Stuart Nash said. Tarrant was arrested (pictured) on the sidewalk by two training police officers on Friday after he allegedly shot and killed 50 Muslim worshipers The New Zealand mosque killer faces an 'unprecedented' sentence that bars him from ever applying for release, but could yet dodge terror charges, legal experts say. Brenton Tarrant (pictured) has been charged with one initial count of murder over the mass shootings that killed 50 people in the southern city of Christchurch and faces life in prison Footage filmed by a passing motorist showed the moment Tarrant was taken down after officers rammed him off the road. The alleged gunman's white station wagon was wedged between the gutter and another police car, with its front wheels spinning in the air. Police told reporters they believe the alleged gunman was on his way to another attack when officers stopped him. Nash would not say whether the officers will receive awards for their heroism but admitted, there 'aren't too many more acts of bravery higher than that.' The officers had sprung into action straight after attending a training session on how to deal with armed criminals, it was previously revealed. The entire incident, from when the alleged gunman opened fire to when he was brought into custody, took place over approximately 40 minutes. 'While we had the offender in custody at the Justice Precinct within 36 minutes, it in fact only took 21 minutes from the first 111 call for the offender to be apprehended at the roadside by the two officers,' Commissioner Mike Bush said. They were seen approaching with their weapons drawn before pulling a person in dark clothing out of the vehicle On Wednesday, authorities said they had formally identified 21 of the 50 victims and their bodies were being reunited with their families. The bodies of another six victims were expected to be identified and released for burial. 'By the end of Wednesday, we should have completed the majority of those identifications,' Commissioner Bush told reporters in Christchurch. 'I have to say some of those victims will take a little longer.' Some 120 forensic workers are involved in the identification process, which began soon after the attacks on two mosques on Friday. Cambridge University have pulled their offer of a fellowship for the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson after fury at his gender stance. The academic - who has more than a million followers on Twitter - rose to prominence when he challenged Canadian legislators over compelling speech over trans people's preferred pronouns. He is openly anti-political correctness and believes that men are as much the victim's of gender discrimination as the perpetrators of it. The University of Toronto professor caused backlash at Cambridge this week when he announced he would be visiting the Faculty of Divinity for a series of lectures. Jordan Peterson at the Cambridge Union last November, today the students' union welcome the Faculty of Divinity's U-turn on inviting him to give a series of lectures Clare and King's College at Cambridge - the students' union wrote today: 'His work and views are not representative of the student body and as such we do not see his visit as a valuable contribution to the University' Cambridge swiftly backtracked, with the faculty tweeting: 'Jordan Peterson requested a visiting fellowship at the Faculty of Divinity, and an initial offer has been rescinded after a further review.' One person commented, 'Good. The offer should never have been made in the first place.' Mr Peterson has made constant arguments of the dangers of barring freedom of expression at academic institutions. Cambridge University's Students' Union wrote on Facebook: 'When we refer to Peterson's views not being representative of the student body, we refer directly to his history of actively espousing discriminatory views towards minority groups, not to academic freedom.' Their statement continued: 'It is a political act to associate the University with an academics work through offers which legitimise figures such as Peterson. 'His work and views are not representative of the student body and as such we do not see his visit as a valuable contribution to the University, but one that works in opposition to the principles of the University.' Mr Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' rapidly became an Amazon bestseller and his recent explosive interview with Channel 4's Cathy Newman became a viral sensation. He has argued widely against what he describes as 'cultural Marxism' which he believes seeks to look at people as oppressed through the lens of a power structure which permeates all aspects of life. Mr Peterson has become an unlikely global superstar for his refusal to bow to the mainstream views on trans people Mr Peterson's lectures on psychology - in particular the peer reviewed study of the differences between men and women - were his most popular and catapulted him to stardom. But Mr Peterson has been called highly controversial and attracted criticism for statements he has made about feminism, trans people and race. He has referred to the concept of white privilege as a 'Marxist lie.' New Zealanders are being encouraged to wear headscarves on Friday to show their support for the Muslim community, one week on from the devastating Christchurch mosque attack which killed 50 people. Several different groups are organising events for Friday March 22, inviting Kiwis of all religions to take part to show unity and solidarity. The 'Wear a Headscarf Friday' group is aimed at women in the Christchurch region and has been supported by the New Zealand Muslim Association. Scroll down for video New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs and consoles a woman as she visited Kilbirnie Mosque on Sunday to lay flowers among tributes to Christchurch attack victims So far thousands of people on Facebook have expressed interest in the events. The #headscarfforharmony movement is another group hoping to ease the fears of Muslim women who feel they can't go outside wearing a headscarf after last week's terror attack. Women are being invited to don a headscarf to work, school or play. 'We want to show our love and support and grieve for the loss of 50 mothers, fathers, children, colleagues and friends after last Friday's terrorist attack in Christchurch,' the group says. The leaders of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand said 'the gesture of solidarity and support will be very much appreciated by our community' The idea started with Thaya Ashman, a Mt Eden DP, who's been associated with Muslim communities since she volunteered as a doctor in Afghanistan. 'It's a simple invitation to the whole of New Zealand to show our support, but also to recognise our grief as New Zealanders,' she told The AM Show. The leaders of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand have thrown their support behind the events, saying 'the gesture of solidarity and support will be very much appreciated by our community'. Friday's events encouraging Kiwis to wear headscarves is for solidarity and unity, with Muslim women expressing their fears to wear headscarves in public following last Friday's terror attack The president of the NZ Muslim Association, Ikhlaq Kashkari, called it a 'wonderful idea'. When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited members of the Muslim community in Christchurch on Saturday, she donned a sombre black headscarf as she met with and comforted relatives of those killed and injured. The Prime Minister has been commended around the world for her strong yet compassionate handling of the mosque massacre, which killed 50 worshippers last week. Arden called for two minutes of silence on Friday, and mosques around Auckland have pledged to open their doors to people of all religions that evening. The green panel said that citizens have Constitutional right to peaceful environment. New Delhi: Terming noise pollution beyond prescribed norms as a punishable crime, the National Green Tribunal asked the police to map such hotspots as also put in place a surveillance mechanism for taking strict action against violators. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the police commissioner to monitor the implementing officers so as to safeguard the right of citizens and e-mail the report within a month. The green panel said that citizens have Constitutional right to peaceful environment and noise pollution beyond prescribed norms is serious punishable crime for which adequate preventive and remedial action is needed. The bench said: There has to be strict action of identifying and mapping the hotspots of noise pollution, requiring installation of noise measuring device by the users of noise creating devices having potential of causing high noise level, beyond the prescribed limit There has to be a surveillance and monitoring mechanism, coordination with the educational institutions and resident welfare associations at regular intervals. The tribunal said taking action against only four persons for noise pollution hardly meets the expectations when there is large scale violation of law. Meghan McCain hit out at President Trump for his latest criticism of her father on 'The View' on Wednesday. 'If I had told my dad, "Seven months after you're dead, you're going to be dominating the news and all over Twitter," he would think it was so hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death,' Meghan said about her father, the late Senator John McCain. Then she tried to turn the tables by bringing up cyber bullying a top issue of First Lady Melania Trump. 'Do not feel bad for me and my family,' she said. Meghan McCain, co-host of The View, responded Wednesday to President Trump's latest criticism of her father, the late Senator John McCain The president hit out at John McCain on Wednesday for handing over a copy of the Steele Dossier to the FBI. Trump is seen above on Wednesday in Lima, Ohio 'We are blessed. We are a family of privilege. Feel bad for people out there who are being bullied that don't have support.' She continued: 'There are kids committing suicide because of cyber bullying online. There are people going through rough times. 'We have 20 veterans a day committing suicide. Focus on these issues,' she said. Meghan concluded: 'Im just surprised because I do think this is a new bizarre low. 'I will say attacking someone who isnt here is a bizarre low, but my dads not here but Im sure as hell here.' Meghan was reacting to Trump's latest attack on her father, who died last summer from brain cancer. The president said that the McCain family wasn't grateful enough to him for approving state funeral arrangements for the late senator. McCain's funeral was held in the National Cathedral and included ceremonial honors, though Trump didn't attend at McCain's request. He also took shots at McCain's support for U.S. military intervention abroad. The president also criticized the McCain family for not thanking him for approving the state funeral for the late senator last summer 'I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve,' Trump said. 'I don't care about this, I didn't get a thank-you. That's okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain.' The president also suggested on Wednesday that the Vietnam war hero should have come to him after he was first handed a copy of the Golden Showers dossier. Trump brought up the infamous Steele dossier, which stated Russian agents had gained material sufficient to 'blackmail' him, and said the regime had been cultivating Trump for years This time, he returned to the topic of the dossier - which contained salacious and unverified claims about Trump's stay in a Moscow hotel room as well as claims of Russian influence over Trump's circle. 'John McCain received the fake and phony dossier. Did you hear about the dossier? It was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton, right?' Trump said at an event in Ohio, drawing boos at the mention of his Democratic rival, who had a law firm fund opposition research after a conservative group first funded the research that became the dossier. 'And John McCain got it. He got it. And what did he do? He didn't call me. He turned it over to the FBI hoping to put me in jeopardy. And that's not the nicest thing to do,' Trump said. Fox News reported based on filings that a McCain associate turned over the dossier to the FBI, along with media outlets, after the campaign. Referencing the Iraq War, Trump said: 'We're in a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard. He was calling Bush, President Bush, all the time: "Get into the Middle East! Get into the Middle East!" Lt. Commander John S. McCain III, a POW for over five years, waves to well wishers March 18, 1973 after arriving at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida John McCain is attended to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner of war in the fall of 1967. McCain spent 20 years in the Navy, a quarter of it in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. On Oct. 26, 1967, McCain's jet was shot down over Hanoi during a bombing mission John McCain is greeted by President Richard Nixon in Washington during the spring of 1973 after spending more than five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. Solitary confinement was McCain's fiercest enemy during his more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, an experience he says taught him confidence, humility and the ambition to pursue larger dreams after he was released 'So now we're into that war for $7 trillion,' Trump said. 'Thousands and thousands of our people have been killed. Millions of people overall... So John McCain loved it.' Then Trump concluded, at an event meant to highlight job gains in Ohio and throughout the nation: ''We're all set. I don't think I have to answer that question, but the press keeps "What do you think of McCain? What do you think?" Not my kind of guy. But some people like him and I think that's great.' McCain associate and former State Department official David Karmer testified in a court case that McCain gave the first pages of the dossier to former FBI Director James Comey on December 9, 2018. The president's latest comments came after Trump's weekend attacks on the longtime senator who was held captive for 5-and-a-half years in a Hanoi POW camp during the war. In recent days the controversy has drawn in McCain family members, the Senate leaders from both parties, and other lawmakers who knew McCain. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said he will reintroduce legislation to name a Senate office building after McCain following Trump's comments that he is 'not a fan' of the Vietnam war hero. Schumer first raised the issue after McCain's death in August. He brought it up again after Trump blasted McCain on Twitter over the weekend, then doubled down when asked about McCain in the Oval Office Tuesday. 'I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be,' Trump told reporters Tuesday. Trump's continued public animosity has pushed several GOP senators to weigh in with their own views. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came out with a tweet calling his 'good friend' and former colleague a hero but did not directly call out Trump for his comments. McCain died of brain cancer in August. He voted down an Obamacare repeal and had a role in the transmission of the Steele dossier Sen. Charles Schumer wants to name a Senate office building after McCain Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain his 'good friend' and former colleague a hero on Twitter but did not directly call out Trump for his comments 'Today and every day I miss my good friend John McCain. It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate. His memory continues to remind me every day that our nation is sustained by the sacrifices of heroes,' said McConnell. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was McCain's best friend in the Senate and something of a protege, has been put on the spot by the situation. A former fierce Trump critic, Graham now backs Trump on a series of issues and has provided critical cover on the subject of the Russia probe. 'A lot of people [who] are coming to John's defense now [are the same people] that called him crazy and a warmonger, so it's kind of interesting to see the politics of how this dispute's being used to bash Trump by people who were against both Trump and McCain,' said Graham in his home state, NBC reported. Schumer shortly after McCain's death announced a plan to rename the Senate Russel Office Building after his former colleague, who had a reputation for working with members of both parties, as well as occasionally blowing up at rivals. 'I look forward to soon re-introducing my legislation re-naming the Senate Russell Building after American hero, Senator John McCain,' Schumer tweeted Wednesday. His prior resolution was cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican who was a regular Trump target. The building's naming after Sen. Richard Russell has become controversial due to the Georgia Democrat's support for segregation and opposition to civil rights legislation. Trump attacked the late senator twice this weekend on Twitter, focusing on McCain's ties to the infamous Steele dossier that contains the unverified allegations the Russians have blackmail material on the president. 'So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) 'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!, the president wrote on Sunday. McCain was actually fifth from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, and regularly joked about his own academic performance. Police are investigating after a decomposing body was found in a Dallas Walmart Supercenter parking lot on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities were called to the scene of the Walmart Supercenter on the 3100 block of West Wheatland Road after an employee spotted the body inside a vehicle. Dallas police say that the body was inside of the SUV for up to six weeks, WFAA reports. Scroll down for video An employee alerted Dallas police of the man's body after finding it inside a Ford Explorer at a Walmart parking lot on the 3100 block of West Wheatland Rd Footage from the store's security cameras show the Ford Explorer pull into the lot back in early February. The vehicle was parked towards the middle of the parking lot, under a tree. Police say that the man's body was found in the back seat of the vehicle, as if he had laid down to sleep. Police believe that the man's body was in the car for up to six weeks The employee who contacted police had believed that they had seen blood coming from the vehicle. Authorities will not release the man's identity until they have notified a next of kin. The police say that the man's cause of death is currently pending an autopsy. Controversial Senator Fraser Anning spent more money than any member of federal parliament flying his family around Australia in 2018. It comes as a sting to many taxpayers who didn't even vote the right-wing senator into Parliament, who received only 19 votes in 2016. Senator Anning spent the most money out of all 76 Senators and 150 members, flying his family around the country last year. According to data from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, he claimed $34,672 for family travel expenses on 44 trips throughout the year. Far-right senator Fraser Anning (pictured with his wife) has topped the list for costing taxpayers the most money in family flight expenses in 2018 Mr Anning refused to comment on a series of questions from the Sydney Morning Herald regarding his use of taxpayer funds, which included $21,483 for 22 flights to places outside of Canberra. A spokesman for the senator said 'the interstate travel falls within parliamentary entitlement requirements and is for the benefit of his Queensland constituents.' Despite having no constituents in Victoria, Senator Anning also admitted to charging taxpayers to attend right-wing rallies in Melbourne last year. Mr Anning has recently come under intense public scrutiny for his comments after the Christchurch terror attack, blaming Muslim migration for spikes in violence. The senator has refused to apologise for the comments, despite widespread backlash from both sides of politics. During a taxpayer-funded trip last weekend, Mr Anning was 'egged' by a 17-year-old boy, nicknamed 'egg boy', protesting his remarks linking the mosque shootings to Muslim immigration. During a taxpayer-funded trip last weekend, Mr Anning was 'egged' by a 17-year-old boy, nicknamed 'egg boy', protesting his remarks linking the mosque shootings to Muslim immigration 'Egg boy,' a 17-year-old from Melbourne called Will Connolly, rose to social media stardom after egging the controversial senator during a press conference in Melbourne. Connolly was then punched by Anning and aggressively tackled to the ground and held in a tight choke-hold by his supporters, which was also later slammed online. The data, which was released on Tuesday, revealed federal politicians claimed $139 million for all categories of expenses last year. This figure showed an increase of about $10 million on travel expenses from the previous year. All MPs are entitled to bring family members on trips to Canberra or around their electorate at taxpayers' expense, although there is a cost cap. They can also have three interstate family reunion trips each year. Only Mathias Cormann and Melissa Price, both cabinet ministers from Western Australia, claimed more than $30,000 for family travel trips last year. The cost of Senator Anning's staff travel was $247,128 last year, taking his total claims for the year to $556,472. Senator Anning's total entitlement claims were over half a million dollars ($556,472) in 2018 Opposition Leader Bill Shorten claimed more than any other MP, for all categories of expenses last year, totaling $3,182,385. 'The Office of the Leader of the Opposition has more staff than other MPs, so the travel expenses are higher,' a spokeswoman claimed. 'And unlike the offices of the Prime Minister and government ministers, the office flies commercially and does not use a private VIP jet, the costs of which are not listed on the expenses reports.' The accounts also reveal Prime Minister Scott Morrison spent $2000 on luxury car travel during his highly-publicised 'bus tour' of Queensland in November. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Fraser Anning's office for comment. Longtime close Trump aide Hope Hicks has indicated she will cooperate with Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who are demanding any diaries or notes about Trump firings, Russia contacts, and Stormy Daniels. Hicks plans to turn over documents requested by House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler, CNN reported Wednesday. Nadler fired off a letter to Hicks seeking information on a wide range of topics an indication of her close work with Trump on a variety of topics that panel investigators are girding to probe. Among the topics is the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians. Hicks had a hand in developing a misleading statement that the President Trump drafted after it was first revealed. Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks is planning to turn over documents to House Judiciary Committee investigators Hicks was a Trump Organization and campaign spokeswoman who followed her boss to the White House, where she became 'director of strategic communications' and communications director. She resigned in March 2018 after admitting she sometimes told 'white lies' in her post, and following DailyMail.com's revelation she was dating Rob Porter, Trump's ex-staff secretary who is accused of beating both his ex-wives. However unlike some of her colleagues, she left on her own terms and soon landed a lucrative position. Trump gave her a heroe's send-off when she left, and she nabbed a job as chief communications officer for Fox, parent company of Fox News and other Rupert Murdoch holdings. She likely earned a pay package of at least $1 million, a Fox executive told Politico when she got the job. Hicks moved to Los Angeles and taken on a new role at Fox after leaving the White House White House Communications Director Hope Hicks leaves the U.S. Capitol after attending the House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2018 President Donald J. Trump waves beside White House Communications Director Hope Hicks as he walks from the Oval Office to board Marine One to depart from the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, March 29, 2018 in Washington, DC Nadler asked Hicks to provide information about the infamous Trump Tower meeting that included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya She also was asked for any information about the proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow that would have been the tallest building in Europe Lawmakers are seeking information about fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Democrats also want any documents about potential firing or resignations of officials including Special Counsel Robert Mueller Democrats hit Hicks with a request seeking 'any personal or work diary, journal or other book containing notes, a record or a description of daily events' that they referenced in a series of questions. She was among 81 Trump associates being asked for information. Among the topics they asked her about were: The Trump Tower meeting with Russians; the Moscow tower project Michael Cohen was negotiating during the campaign; former national security advisor Mike Flynn's meetings contacts with Russians; Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey; and possible firings or resignation of Robert Mueller or deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. They also asked about possible pardons for former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and Flynn. Hicks, who was cognizant of a variety of scheduling matters during the campaign, also got asked about any Russia contacts by top Trump associates. Nadler also asked for information about any payments to 'any person' by Michael Cohen's or the LLC he set up called Essential Consultants. That would would include any information about porn star Stormy Daniels, though she wasn't named specifically. She met with Robert Mueller's investigators before she left the White House. Authorities have identified the three people found dead in northwestern Minnesota as a mother and her two young children. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Wednesday said 28-year-old Emma LaRoque fatally shot herself at her home in rural Ogema in Becker County. Her children - identified by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office as four-year-old Frederick York and nine-year-old Shane Woods - were homicidal violence victims. Scroll down for videos Emma LaRoque, 28, shot herself dead at home in White Earth Village, Minnesota on Monday Her sons Frederick York, four, and Shane Woods, nine, were homicidal violence victims They did not elaborate on how the children died. Their bodies were found Monday at their White Earth Village home off Highway 34. LaRoque was identified as the daughter of tribal Public Safety Director Michael LaRoque. LaRoque was the daughter of tribal Public Safety Director Mike LaRoque (pictured) The Becker County Sheriff's Department responded to 'an incident' at the property when they came across the three bodies. No arrests were made. 'Based on the preliminary investigation, it is believed there is no threat to the public,' the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement. Friends told Valley News Live 'nobody had a bad thing to say about her' and the deaths have 'the whole tribe feeling like they got sucker punched in the stomach.' Neighbor Tabashish Anamiki Ogitchida, saw LaRoque less than two weeks ago and described her as 'a good mom' to Star Tribune. 'Everybody is in shock and awe,' community resident, Liz King, told DL Online. 'It's terrible that this family of three had to be gone that soon.'. On Tuesday, the White Earth Nation said they would not focus on how the family died but their 'beautiful souls'. 'During this time we want to stay clear of re-traumatizing our community, therefore we need to focus on the facts, maintain caution and use safe messaging to minimize the ripple effect,' a spokesperson said before encouraging the community to do self-checks, and take time for self care. The community was urged to take breaks, relax and reach out to one another. 'As adults we have a hard time making sense of this loss, at the same time we have to be mindful of how it's impacting out little ones,' the woman continued during her speech. The community said 'nobody had a bad thing to say about her' and the deaths have 'the whole tribe feeling like they got sucker punched in the stomach' The bodies were found when cops responded at their White Earth Village home off Highway 34 She added that Anishinaabe tribe members 'are people of the heart' so children should be spoken to about feelings of sadness but to avoid discussing the details of the way the community members died. The Wednesday speech was led by White Earth Nation's Vice-Chairman Eugene 'Umsy' Tibbetts, who has taken over leadership since Tribal Chairman Terry Tibbetts, 60, lost his battle with cancer over the weekend. A suspected murder-suicide, a neighbor described LaRoque as 'a good mom' He had led Minnesota's largest tribe since 2016 and his passing was a devastating blow to the community. The four recent deaths prompted a six-hour healing circle at their community center on Tuesday as well as several others in the surrounding area. Using medicines and songs, the tribe deals with grief by using eagle feathers to push away bad energy, cedar water to wipe participants clean, and smudging with sage. 'We use buffalo and bear, we smoke the pipe, boil up the cedar, and boil up various medicines given to the Anishinaabe people a long, long time ago,' Senior White Earth Reservation Cultural Coordinator Merlin Deegan told Grand Forks Herald about the monthly gathering that has taken place over four years. 'What we do is, we wash them off to deal with their grief, because our community right now really needs something to grasp to move forward in a positive way. They do feel better, but it's not a fix-all.' The tribe held cleansing ceremonies to help deal with grief and offered counseling Anishinaabe people were told to avoid discussing details with children but to discuss feelings A video from ABC 5 let media in on one of the ceremonies for the first time ever. The community was also working with behavioral health experts and offered mental health counseling at the ceremonies. 'We are experiencing extreme trauma and crisis, so we just want to be supportive to those who are immediately impacted,' White Earth Mental Health Crisis Program coordinator, Verna Mikkelson, told DL Online. '(It's) more than an individual can handle on a normal level.' The National Suicide Prevention Hotline offers advice at 800-273-TALK (8255). Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang agreed on Wednesday to have a debate with conservative radio host Ben Shapiro on the issue of circumcision. The two came to an agreement on Twitter to have a conversation about the issue, which Yang is opposed to. 'Would be happy to have a convo - my team will follow up,' Yang tweeted to Shapiro. Andrew Yang with his wife Evelyn and two sons Yang agreed to a debate with conservative radio host Ben Shapiro on the issue of circumcision, which he opposes 'Terrific! Look forward to it,' Shapiro replied. No date has been announced yet. Shapiro discussed Yang's long-shot candidacy on his radio show Tuesday, describing Yang as a candidate with millennial appeal who is 'developing a cult following. Yang, who is polling at about 1 percent, has garnered attention for his detailed campaign platform - particularly his call for a universal income plan - but recently came in the spotlight for coming out against circumcision. Millennials in particular have been drawn to his idea to give every individual a $1,000 in income. He's also promoted universal health care and a government ombudsman. Shapiro joked Yang's policy page 'has more positions than the karma sutra.' But, Shapiro added: He does have an unfortunate habit of sounding off on weird issues.' The author of the new book 'The Right Side of History' made it clear he supports the act of circumcision. 'A s an orthodox Jew I have a continued interest in the continuation of circumcision,' he said. There is a ceremonial aspect to the procedure in the Orthodox Jewish faith. Yang, a father of two, claims the procedure is 'pushed' on parents of newborn baby boys. 'It's sort of pushed on parents in many situations,' he told the Daily Beast earlier this week. He said if elected president he would push initiatives that would inform parents they don't need to have their infants circumcised for health reasons. He noted he is supportive of circumcision opponents who call themselves 'intactivists' - a reference to their desire to keep penises 'intact.' 'I'm highly aligned with the intactivists,' Yang said. 'History will prove them even more correct.' Yang did not address whether he was circumcised himself but did say his wife convinced him not to have the procedure formed on their sons. Yang has said his sons are not circumcised 'From what I've seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky,' said Yang. The American Academy of Pediatrics says circumcision can reduce the chance of sexually transmitted diseases and urinary tract infections. Yang, 44 and a son of Taiwanese immigrants, has garnered enough donations to qualify for the June Democratic primary debate. It remains to be seen if circumcision will be a topic on the debate stage. The presidential contenders have already been asked about slavery reparations, the abolishment of the electoral college, expanding the Supreme Court, and the legalization of marijuana. Yang, a businessman, founded Venture for America, a fellowship program for entrepreneurs. His presidential website outlines about 80 different policy positions, including everything for a $1,000-a-month 'freedom dividend' to every adult in America to legalizing marijuana to the American Malls Act, a proposal to revitalize shopping centers' value to the local community. More than 66,000 donors have contributed over $350,000 to his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The man initially charged with kidnapping a 23-year-old woman in Boston has now also been arraigned on 10 counts of aggravated rape. Victor Pena, 38, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court as new, horrific details emerged in the case against him. Pena now stands accused of abducting and repeatedly raping the woman over three days while forcing her to drink alcohol, read aloud from a Spanish Bible and feeding her nothing but pineapple chunks from a can, NBC News reported. Police found the victim alive inside Pena's Charlestown, Massachusetts apartment on January 22. Pena was indicted by a grand jury on the 11 charges last week. Scroll down for video New horrific details have emerged in the case of Victor Pena, 38 (pictured left), who has pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a Massachusetts court to kidnapping and repeatedly raping a 23-year-old woman in Boston in January The woman went missing in January after a night out with friends, and said she woke up the next day on a bare mattress in Pena's filthy apartment, according to prosecutors. Court documents say that when police entered Penas home three days later on January 22, the victim was crying and had a 'horrified look on her face.' The woman told a detective 'she was being held against her will,' and that Pena took her phone and 'refused to let her leave the apartment for the entire time she was held there,' according to earlier filings. Now it's been revealed that Pena allegedly told the woman he was saving her from the street and the two were going to start a family together, as he kept her in his home and fed her only chunks of canned pineapple. He's also believed to have said he took the woman with him because she reminded him of a daughter he said he had not seen in 10 years. Prosecutors said Pena offered the woman ramen noodles but she couldn't eat it because she has a wheat intolerance, but that Pena still forced the woman to drink whiskey. The woman is also said to have offered to help clean Pena's apartment as a way to stall while she tried to figure out an escape. Prosecutors said she feared to make a move against Pena out of worry she would miss her one opportunity to regain her freedom. Pena's older brother, Jose, told the Boston Globe his sibling is mentally challenged as a result of a medical procedure performed on him aged seven, during which his brain was deprived of oxygen. Jose said that based on his brother's version of events, which he relayed to him in a phone call from jail, Pena did not kidnap the woman. According to the paper, Pena told his older brother that he met the 23-year-old woman on January 19, and that she went with him willingly and spent the night at his home. The next morning, the victim allegedly told Pena she was afraid her father would be angry with her and decided to stay in his apartment. Jose said Pena told him the victim busied herself by cleaning his cluttered apartment. The paper also revealed that Pena does not have a job and lives off Social Security payments because he is mentally disabled. He has a son from a previous relationship, but he has played no role in the child's upbringing, according to the boy's mother, who told the Globe Pena had never been violent. Several friends and neighbors said they feared the worst after the woman's disappearance and were overjoyed that she beat the odds and came home alive. Pena's older brother, Jose, said his sibling is mentally challenged as a result of a medical procedure performed on him aged seven, during which his brain was deprived of oxygen. Jose said that based on his brother's version of events, which he relayed to him in a phone call from jail, Pena did not kidnap the woman The victim had last been seen at Hennessy's bar (pictured) on January 19 before being found at Pena's apartment on January 22 Before being abducted, the victim was last seen near Hennessy's bar in Boston at around 11pm on January 19, where she had been with her family and friends. Police say surveillance footage captured Pena holding the woman later that night, and they say it was clear 'she did not go along willingly.' Police located the woman and Pena in the city's Charlestown neighborhood on January 22, after spotting her in the surveillance footage at the subway. When they visited his home, Pena only answered after a locksmith started drilling holes in the door, ABC reported. At that time, Pena is said to have given the woman her phone back and told her to text someone that she was OK. Pena was seen in photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com leading the victim out a subway station after she was approached by him and another man outside of Hennessy's bar on January 19. Pena and the other man were observed asking the woman to walk with them in the area of Congress and State Streets near Boston's City Hall. One of the men appeared to walk ahead while Pena 'places his arm around the woman and directs her toward the State Street MBTA station.' Pena has a history of run-ins with the law going back 15 years, according to reports In 2009, a woman filed a complaint with police alleging that Pena was stalking her on the T, which is Boston's subway and light rail system Twenty minutes later Pena still has his arm wrapped around the petite, 5-foot-2 blue-eyed brunette as they exit at the Bunker Hill Community MBTA station, Boston police officials said. At that time the second man is no longer seen. Then at 12:13am, the victim and Pena are picked up by surveillance video walking toward Bartlett Street in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. The victim's cell phone then pinged in the notorious Bunker Hill Housing Development. Charlestown is over a mile away from the Irish pub where the woman was last seen on January 19 before turning up in Pena's home. Police said the victim had left the bar with another man but they determined that he was not connected with her disappearance after he was put in a cab by his friends. Victor Pena, left, is arraigned on kidnapping charges at the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on January 23 In court in January, Pena was pictured wearing a white jumpsuit, and with his wrists cuffed and ankles shackled He was heard sobbing and muttering to himself before a judge ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation In court in January, Pena was pictured wearing a white jumpsuit, and with his wrists cuffed and ankles shackled. Pena was overheatd crying and talking quietly to himself at the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court in Charlestown, reported The Boston Globe. Court psychologist Jodie Shapiro, who examined Pena after his arrest, told the judge the suspect acted in a 'bizarre' manner during their interview, including sucking his thumb and praying for forgiveness. Shapiro said Pena told her he was having paranoid thoughts and hearing voices, and purported to have no understanding of what was happening. The psychologist said that while Pena appeared to show signs of mental illness, she suggested it was possible he was playing up some of the symptoms. Pena has a history of run-ins with the law, according to WCVB-TV. In 2009, a woman filed a complaint with police alleging that Pena was stalking her on the T, which is Boston's subway and light rail system. Two other women also complained about Pena's behavior, WCVB-TV reported, but no charges were ever filed. Pena has also been found to have violated restraining orders in 2008 and 2014, the television station reported. Those charges, however, were eventually dismissed. WPRI reported that he was arrested last summer at Twin River Casino in Lincoln on charges of cheating and obtaining money under false pretenses. That case is still pending. In 2004, Pena was arrested and charged with assault, but that charge was dropped after he successfully met pre-trial probation requirements. Pena remains in custody at this time without bail pending a dangerousness hearing which is set for April 10, the prosecutor's office said. A grandfather was diagnosed with dementia and put in a care home because his family and GP did not realise he was being terrorised by tax conmen. It was thought that Patrick Kelly was hallucinating when he started saying he owed money to the taxman and was going to be arrested at home. Relatives and doctors had no idea that the petrified 86-year-old, who had never been in debt, was being targeted by telephone scammers posing as HMRC officials. The fraudsters had threatened him with jail if he refused to repay fictitious tax debts. Patrick Kelly (pictured), 86, from Norwich started receiving phone calls started last May. The fraudsters had threatened him with jail if he refused to repay fictitious tax debts Diagnosing accelerated dementia triggered by a mysterious traumatic event, doctors decided he was no longer safe to live alone. It was only months later when Mr Kellys daughter was checking on his property that she discovered fake HMRC messages on the answerphone warning him of his immediate arrest. She told him he had been the victim of a scam but by then his condition had deteriorated so badly because of his anxiety that he was unable to return to living alone. The harrowing story comes after a Daily Mail investigation discovered that 10,000 UK residents are being targeted a day by fraudsters who operate from scam call centres in Ahmedabad, India. Scores of readers have described losing up to 50,000 to the criminals. Conmen working in an office in Ahmedabad, India pose as HMRC officials and tell Britons they owe tax and face arrest and imprisonment if they do not pay up immediately. Pictured is Samkit Jain who spoke to an elderly gentlemen over the phone and said: 'Sir, we just wanted to know if you received the yellow slip regarding your case? Your case for tax fraud' Mr Kellys daughter, Moira Swatman, said: I feel so guilty not believing him. They have robbed him of independent living. Its more than money, its his whole life. Before the phone calls started last May, widower Mr Kelly lived in his own flat and was very strong minded despite his age, she said. The pensioner from Norwich had worked in the dairy industry for 60 years and after retirement took a job as a courier, which he continued until he was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease. His daughter added: He suddenly rang me one morning crying and saying Youve got to come and help me because I owe money to the taxman and someones watching my flat. I thought he must have had a funny dream because I did his finances and knew he didnt owe a penny, and never had. But it continued, and he kept begging me to close his windows and saying Theyre going to come for me and I dont know what Ive done wrong. The final straw came when she found him sitting in his flat with a hammer in his hand. Hed been there all night because he was scared of these people coming in the middle of the night, she said. Mrs Swatman took her father to his GP and then to hospital, where baffled doctors struggled to understand how he had lost his mental capacity within a few days. They said something traumatic must have happened, she said. But I couldnt understand what. Id been with him the day before and he was his usual self, complaining about politicians and everything. Doctors decided he was unsafe to live independently and he moved into a nursing home. Mrs Swatman then found the answerphone messages. It was like a lightbulb going off in my head, she said. The message was almost word for word what he had been telling us. It must have been so frustrating no one believing him. We just had no idea. By then, it was too late. The harrowing experience had caused a deterioration from which he hasnt recovered. Despite his Parkinsons, he could easily have had another year at home until this happened. Police said they couldnt investigate because no money was taken. Following this papers expose, Chancellor Philip Hammond promised to do more to stop the landline phone scammers and shut down the numbers they use. But Mrs Swatman is worried that thousands more vulnerable people could suffer a similar fate. These threatening calls push people to the edge mentally. I fear theyd be enough to drive some people to suicide, she said. Much more needs to be done by the authorities. investigations@dailymail.co.uk Nathan Smith, from Poole in Dorset, moved to New Zealand 13 years ago and was at the Al Noor Mosque for Friday prayers when the shooter struck A British survivor of the Christchurch mosque shootings has described the terror inside the massacre where corpses were 'stacked on top of each other.' Nathan Smith, who converted to Islam after moving to New Zealand 13 years ago, was worshipping in the Al Noor Mosque when the lone gunman opened fire at Friday prayers. The father-of-three, originally from Poole in Dorset, said he had lost all of his friends in the terror attack. Mr Smith said he first thought the shooting was 'firecrackers' or an 'electrical problem'. 'Then, all of a sudden it was becoming louder and louder,' he told the BBC. 'The windows started going out, I could see people just falling forward. People standing up and just falling.' Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder after 50 people were killed and dozens more injured in the massacre at two mosques last Friday. Mr Smith told the broadcaster: '50 people, dead. The bodies were stacked on top of each other. People just falling. The windows going out. I can't explain it. 'How I got out? I just don't know. All my friends dead and me not a scratch.' Mr Smith said he managed to escape through the back of the mosque and ran to his car before escaping over a wall. He described how he then found a young woman lying in the road near the mosque. A woman looks at the floral tribute near the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand on Thursday A hearse arrives at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand, as the first funerals were held on Thursday Mr Smith said: 'I didn't know her name and I don't know where she's from at the time. 'I'm just holding her, I don't know why but I'm stroking her back - she's already dead.' He wept as he told the BBC: 'Just because they're wearing something different or they have beards or they're not dressed the same as you or eat the same food. They're still the same. 'They laugh, they're happy, they're sad. They're good people. 'And the best one's are not coming home.' Workers are seen cleaning up at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand on Thursday, as a police car is parked outside the scene and flowers adorn the walls His account comes after the first two funerals were held, for father and son Khalid Mustafa, 44, and 15-year-old Hamza Mustafa. Hamza's younger brother, Zahid, was also in the mosque on the day in question and was shot in the legs. He is currently wheelchair bound, recovering from the injuries he sustained in the attack. Another troubling revelation has emerged in the Jeffrey Epstein case, with a lawyer for the victim whose case resulted in the plea deal between the accused child rapist and prosecutors revealing his client was never told this information. The Miami Herald spoke with the lawyer who represented 16 of the girls in the case, including the girl, 16, who would become the lone minor Epstein admitted to soliciting for a sex act. 'I was never told that any of my 16 victim clients were part of Epsteins charges in state court,' said Robert Josefsberg. 'I can tell you that when the judge asked the prosecutor whether the victims were informed, and she said that they were, that mine were not.' Scroll down for video Concerning behavior: Jeffrey Epstein (above in January wearing a monogrammed sweatshirt) and his legal team never informed the victim, 16, that her case was the one to which the sex offender entered a guilty plea, claims her lawyer The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the victim who Epstein admitted to soliciting for prostitution was not the 14-year-old girl who first reported the millionaire money manager, but rather this 16-year-old victim. This was kept a secret because her age was left blank on court documents. Assistant State Attorney Lanna Belohlavek was asked at the end of the trial if the victims were in agreement with the deal that had been put in place, to which she responded: 'Yes.' That victim's age meant that Epstein did not have to register as a sex offender in states like New Mexico, where he owns a 7,600-acre property called Zorro Ranch, and has allowed him to be classified as a low risk offender in the US Virgin Islands, which is currently his primary residence. This revelation comes one month after a federal judge ruled that then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta violated the rights of Epstein's alleged victims when they neglected to notify them that they were no longer pursuing federal charges. That was another part of the deal, which in addition to allowing Epstein to have work release and live in a low-security facility also agreed to drop a federal probe into the millionaire moneyman. Under fire: He was prosecuted by Alex Acosta (right with President Trump), who is currently the Secretary of Labor and had been mentioned a possible pick to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General Jeffrey Epstein was seen recently in these photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com. He is pictured above last month arriving at West Palm Beach International airport ready for a flight Now Acosta - who is currently the Secretary of Labor and had been mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general - and others are again coming under fire for allegedly catering to the man who donated millions to the Clintons and hosted President Trump at his Manhattan townhouse while keeping his victims in the dark. 'They were cutting a plea deal. It wasnt a prosecution,' said attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented the 14-year-old girl who alerted police. 'They had a grab bag of 40 girls to choose from.' He then revealed that he and his client believed they had been the victim referenced in the plea deal. 'Its unbelievably upsetting,' said Kuvin. 'The rug has been swiped out from under the one girl who was brave enough to come forward and break this thing.' Ambedkar said that senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani had informed the then state chief minister, Pawar, about Dawoods willingness to surrender. Mumbai: Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar Tuesday alleged that Dawood Ibrahim, who wanted to surrender, had not been brought to India because of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Mr Ambedkar said that senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani had informed the then state chief minister, Mr Pawar, about Dawoods willingness to surrender. However, Mr Pawar did not inform the then Prime Minister about it, he said. The NCP hit back at Mr Ambedkar saying that Dawood was ready to surrender on the condition that he would not be sent to jail, which was not acceptable to the NCP chief. The BBM also asked why the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government did not follow up on this issue. NCP spoke-sperson Nawab Malik said that the issue of Dawood Ibrahim had been brought for discussion in order to favour the BJP. The NCP also asked why he was raising this question after 25 years. Addressing a press conference at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar, Mr Ambedkar said that those who were now pleading that Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts and riots be handed over, had lost an earlier opportunity to bring him back to India. The BBM leader asked why Mr Pawar had rejected Ibrahims proposal and let him off? The Dalit leader demanded that Mr Pawar clarification on why Dawood Ibrahim was not asked to surrender when he was willing. Mr Malik said that Dawood, who was absconding, could not surrender on his own conditions. The government had not given any approval to the same. The government did not accept the conditions, which were stated by Mr Jethmalani. The NCP chief had already made it clear several times, he added. The Prime Minister gazed into the television camera, her hooded eyes tinged with a fleck of sorrowfulness. Her voice, only just restored after succumbing last week to Jean-Claude Juncker's incessant cigarette puffing, crackled unevenly like a well-oiled chip pan. There was an endearing distress to her manner, a polite fretfulness which said: 'Please folks, it's been a long old day. Just let me get something off my chest.' At first, had it been anyone else speaking, it could have been a woman pleading with guerrilla fighters for the release of a loved one taken hostage. Mrs May was, in fact, addressing the nation live about the next state of (what else!) Brexit, which she will now not be able to deliver on time. Humiliatingly, she has been forced to ask Brussels for Article 50 be extended until the day before Wimbledon starts. Theresa May looked directly into the TV cameras as she made a statement inside number 10 Downing Street At first, had it been anyone else speaking, it could have been a woman pleading with guerrilla fighters for the release of a loved one taken hostage, Henry Deedes says Her setting was inside Downing Street. She emerged, shortly after 8.35pm, alone, stranded as a runtish petty officer manning the crow's nest. The delay to leaving the EU, she said, was of 'great personal regret'. You, the poor public, she added sympathetically, must be fed up to the hind teeth of it all. 'You are tired of the infighting, you are tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns.' She wanted to let us know she was as sick of it as we are. I've done all I can, it's those pesky politicians who keep stabbing me in the back, she seemed to imply. I'm on your side. Her language was very much 'it's Us and Them'. 'Do they want to leave the EU with a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum? Do they want to leave without a deal? Or do they not want to leave at all?' Was this a naked attempt to go above the heads of MPs and appeal to voters for sympathy? Without doubt. But then these are desperate times in the Downing Street bunker. She reiterated her determination to get her battered Brexit deal through the House of Commons. Mrs May became cross, her voice rising as though she were about to begin thundering from the lectern, if she's capable of such a thing. During her statement Mrs May reiterated her determination to get her battered Brexit deal through the House of Commons I half-expected Carl Orff's dramatic choral number Carmina Burana to start building to its foreboding crescendo in the background. 'Now you want us to get on with it,' she surmised. 'And that is what I intend to do.' And with that, off she marched back to her red boxes. As national addresses go, it was no barnstormer. Hardly a spine-tingler like the 'Touch the Face of God' speech Ronald Reagan delivered following the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. But her words will almost certainly have found an audience. It is clear that for all her failures, outside the Westminster bubble, Mrs May has her admirers. Large swathes of the public respect her fortitude, her Keep Buggering On attitude, her flinty resilience. Today, she's back in Brussels, due to plead all afternoon with other EU leaders to back her extension and where she'll doubtless be made to feel as welcome as a nun at a nudist colony. Tory Remainers reacted angrily last night after Mrs May caved in to Cabinet Eurosceptics by ruling out a long delay to Brexit. Dominic Grieve, who has led the efforts in Parliament to frustrate Brexit, suggested he and his colleagues had been outmanoeuvred. The sight of Mrs May ruling out a long delay to Brexit at Prime Ministers Questions yesterday was the worst moment I have experienced since I came into the Commons, he said. Dominic Grieve, pictured, who has led the efforts in Parliament to frustrate Brexit, suggested he and his colleagues had been outmanoeuvred In an emotional speech to MPs, the former attorney general said: I have never felt more ashamed to be a member of the Conservative Party or to be asked to lend her support. She spent most of her time castigating the House for its misconduct. At no stage did she pause to consider whether it is, in fact, the way she is leading this Government that might be contributing to the situation. He added that while he had great sympathy for the Prime Minister and the position she finds herself in: I could have wept wept to see her reduced to these straits and wept to see the extent she was simply zigzagging all over the place rather than standing up for what the national interest must be. Unless Mrs May at the 11th hour and 59th minute changes her choice of her deal or No Deal we are going to spiral down into oblivion and the worst part of it all is that we will deserve it, Mr Grieve said The MP for Beaconsfield said the underlying integrity which one hopes one will continue to see from Government even in difficult circumstances now seems to be fast running out and that troubles me very much. He spoke of a wider pattern of the complete disintegration of collective responsibility in Government, adding: We have ministers coming to the despatch box and saying entirely contradictory things. We have ministers publicly disassociating themselves from Government policy and staying in post. Leading Remainer ministers including Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke, who had spoken out in favour of a long delay at Tuesdays Cabinet meeting, were given no advance warning of Mrs Mays decision to ignore their advice. One senior Remainer said she had surrendered to Eurosceptics who had warned that a long delay would break the Conservative Party. Tory Remainers reacted angrily last night after Mrs May (pictured) caved in to Cabinet Eurosceptics by ruling out a long delay to Brexit The minister said that in doing so she had wrecked her own strategy of trying to pile pressure on hardline Brexiteers by threatening them with the prospect that the UK might never leave. This is the move that ensures she stays in No 10, avoiding decision, the minister said. It will not work as a strategy for getting the deal through. This is not what Parliament voted for last week. At Cabinet she was making the case for a long delay, then we wake up to hear shes ruling it out its obvious shes been got at. A second minister said: Im not happy to put it mildly. The PM has caved in to the ERG (European Research Group) and created a huge risk to the integrity of the UK and the prosperity of the economy as no deal gets closer. Another minister said the Government should revoke Article 50 effectively cancelling Brexit rather than giving in to the hardliners. I cant stand them they are poisoning us, he said. Miss Rudd sent a message round the WhatsApp group of Remainer ministers known as the hairshirt club, urging them to keep their powder dry. A source said it was not the day to rock the boat. But one member of the 20-strong grouping told the Mail he was ready to resign next week in order to vote for backbench plans to allow Parliament to take control of the Brexit process. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, a key ERG member, said that even if a short delay were agreed, it effectively gave diehard Remainers only until April 11 to thwart Brexit. That is the date by which the UK would have to agree to take part in the elections to the European Parliament in order for the EU to contemplate a longer Brexit delay. Time is running out for the Remainers, Mr Duncan Smith warned. The Home Office turned down a Christian convert's bid for asylum in an 'unbelievably offensive' letter quoting bloodthirsty passages from the bible to prove Christianity is not a religion of peace. The Iranian national claimed asylum in 2016, but was turned down, with Home Office officials saying his conversion from Islam was 'inconsistent' with his claim Christianity was a peaceful religion - by highlighting violent passages from the bible. In the refusal letter six passages are listed and a claim is made that Revelations is filled with 'images of revenge, destruction, death and violence.' One of the passages quotes examples from The Book of Leviticus, from the old testament, while others focus on passages from The Book of Revelations After quoting another bible package the letter says 'These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a 'peaceful' religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence rage and revenge' Immigration caseworker Nathan Stevens posted excerpts from the letter on Twitter and said he was 'genuinely shocked' to read such an 'unbelievably offensive diatribe.' He added: 'Whatever your views on faith, how can a government official arbitrarily pick bits out of a holy book and then use them to trash someone's heartfelt reason for coming to a personal decision to follow another faith.' Officials appear to have used six examples taken from the Bible Gateway - a searchable online bible, and one of the world's most well-utilised Christian websites. The refusal letter also quotes parts of The Book of Leviticus from the old testament. The full statement below the verses says: 'These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a 'peaceful religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge.' The Iranian national claimed asylum in 2016, but was turned down, with Home Office (pictured) officials saying his conversion from Islam was 'inconsistent' with his claim Christianity was a peaceful religion - by highlighting violent passages from the bible Immigration caseworker Nathan Stevens posted excerpts from the letter on Twitter and said he was 'genuinely shocked' to read such an 'unbelievably offensive diatribe' Mr Stevens added on Twitter that his client will be appealing the decision and he will be complaining to the Home Office. Social media users were so shocked by the content of the letter a number of them did not even believe it was real - with the decision being described as 'gobsmacking' and 'unreal.' Conor James McKinney, deputy editor of website Free Movement, told Mail Online: 'Immigration lawyers often speak of a 'culture of disbelief' among the officials that make these life-or-death asylum decisions. 'This case seems to be an extreme example of an individual official manufacturing a reason to refuse an asylum claim, and the Home Office acknowledges that it was out of line, but those working with asylum seekers do report horror stories almost as bad on a regular basis.' Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society told the Independent it was 'wholly inappropriate' for the Home Office to use 'theological justifications for refusing asylum applications'. He added: 'Decisions on the merits of an asylum appeal should be based on an assessment of the facts at hand and not on the state's interpretation of any given religion. It's not the role of the Home Office to play theologian.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'This letter is not in accordance with our policy approach to claims based on religious persecution, including conversions to a particular faith. 'We continue to work closely with key partners, including the APPG on International Freedom of Religion and a range of faith groups, to improve our policy guidance and training provided to asylum decision-makers so that we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way.' Wildlife tourists on safari could be affecting the welfare of elephants and making them more anxious and frightened, according to new research. The study, the first analysis of its kind, shows wildlife tourism is making free ranging elephants more nervous because of the large groups of people. Hordes of tourists turning up in jeeps and taking pictures is also responsible for herds retreating away from where they are resting or feeding, the study found. Income generated from the industry is potentially vital in the protection of animals and their habitats, but the international team say we need to consider its effect. Scroll down for video Wildlife tourists on safari are damaging the health of elephants, stressing them out and making them more violent towards each other, according to new research. Income generated from the industry is potentially vital in the protection of animals and their habitats Over 15 months, researchers from Liverpool John Moores University, examined elephants in South Africa. The findings were based on 26 individually identified male and female elephants observed at Madwike Game Reserve in North West Province between April 2016 and June 2017. Lead author Isabelle Szott, from Germany said: 'Tourists who wish to observe animals in their natural habitat should be aware of their potential negative effects on animal welfare.' 'Research should investigate best practice standards to minimise such negative effects.' It is known captive elephants trained for riding, or performing funny tricks, often develop post-traumatic stress. But the analysis shows wildlife tourism is making free ranging elephants more anxious and frightened. Miss Szott, a PhD student at the university, said that elephants tended to retreat fromm tourist spots in tandem with rises in visitors. 'We found elephant herds became increasingly likely to move away with increasing numbers of vehicles present.' Impacts of wildlife tourism on animals are not well understood but a few previous studies have found it fuels more fear, alertness, aggression, vigilance and stress behaviour in a range of animals including rhinos and bison. 'Mega-fauna, such as African elephants, are among the most popular species for wildlife viewing, particularly for international tourists,' she said. 'Yet research assessing the impact of tourist pressure, in form of monthly numbers of tourists, or tourist presence, in form of vehicle presence, on elephant behaviour is scarce. A 15 month study in South Africa found elephants were more likely to be aggressive towards other group members when there were was a large number of people, reports the Journal of Zoology 'Elephants in unfenced areas have been reported to avoid human roads and settlements by altering their behaviour and movement suggesting active avoidance of human contact by some herds.' Elephant viewing occurs almost exclusively from game drive vehicles (GDs) where elephants are encountered on roads. This is a large, open safari truck, with a qualified field guide at the wheel, that seats up to ten people along with a 'spotter' at the front of the vehicle. No more than three GDs were allowed at an elephant sighting, and the researchers' vehicle was not included in this number. Miss Szott said: 'Our results show that even with regulations in place, where wildlife viewing is carried out exclusively from GDs driven by qualified guides and overall numbers of tourists viewing elephants at any time are restricted, tourism led to changes in behaviour of the viewed elephants.' Over 15 months, researchers from the university of Liverpool, examined elephants in South Africa. They found elephants were more likely to be aggressive towards other group members when there were was a large number of people She said that elephants at waterholes could experience frustration and stress, as well as being the target of other herd members, increasing the possibility they will display aggression towards bystanders in vehicles. A consistent minimum distance from the nearest individual, especially upon first approach, should be introduced to guidelines for wildlife viewing to alleviate the potential for conflict between tourist vehicles and wildlife, Dr Szott suggested. 'It would further give elephant herds, or indeed other wildlife, more space and may reduce the likelihood of animals moving off, giving tourists longer, more natural viewing experiences.' Miss Szott said that reserves should monitor elephant behaviour to identify when tourist pressure has potential effects on elephant welfare and train guides to monitor behaviour and adjust minimum distances flexibly. 'This study further contributes to a small but growing body of literature on non-consumptive wildlife tourism impacts on wild animals.' The findings were reported in the journal Zoology. If you go down to the woods today, watch your step as you might accidentally tread on a sleepy queen bumblebee. New research has shown that, after hibernating through winter, bumblebee queens spend most of their time resting among dead leaves and grass rather than flying. Previously it was thought that the queen bees dispersed quickly in the spring to found new colonies. The new evidence suggests that instead they make short flights punctuated by long rest periods on the ground. Conserving energy in this way gives them a much longer range as they search for a new site to colonise. Scroll down for video If you go down to the woods today, watch your step as you might accidentally tread on a sleepy queen bumblebee. New research has shown that, after hibernating through winter, bumblebee queens spend most of their time resting among dead leaves and grass rather than flying The study was carried out by experts at Queen Mary, University of London, who attached small tracking antennae to the backs of queens that had just emerged from artificially induced hibernation. Co- lead author Doctor Joe Woodgate said the study suggests that a few weeks of this type of behaviour would carry queen bees several kilometres away from their hibernation site. 'This might explain how queens disperse from the nest in which they were born to the place they choose to found a new colony,' she said. The findings showed that queen bumblebees spent an average of 10 to 20 minutes on the ground between brief flights lasting just 10 to 20 seconds. When they flew, they took off in random directions. Computer simulations showed that the short flight strategy could explain how queen bees ended up many kilometres from their hibernation spots. Previously it was thought that the queen bees dispersed quickly in the spring to found new colonies. The new evidence suggests that instead they make short flights punctuated by long rest periods on the ground Conserving energy in this way gives the queen a much longer range as they search for a new site to colonise. The study was carried out by attaching small tracking antennae to the backs of queens that had just emerged from artificially induced hibernation Co-lead author Dr James Makinson, now based at Western Sydney University in Australia, said: 'Our findings suggest that creating pollinator-friendly corridors between conserved landscape patches would be helpful.. 'Leaving vegetation, such as leaf litter and long grass, undisturbed until late in the spring would give queen bumblebees safe places to rest.' The researchers had advice for anyone stumbling on an exhausted queen bumblebee around this time of year. They suggest filling a teaspoon with a half water, half sugar solution and moving it gently towards the insect's antennae or mouth parts. Sipping the sugar water will help the queen to re-fuel and prepare for the next flight, they said. The full findings of the study were published in the journal Scientific Reports. Long-haul flights in a rocket could soon make plane travel on Earth virtually obsolete, an investment firm suggests. A trip from London to New York would only take 29 minutes and less than one hour to Sydney on Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship. Getting from point-to-point on Earth by travelling through outer-space could 'cannibalise' the current market for journeys lasting over 10 hours. Swiss firm UBS predicts that the market of point-to-point rocket travel will be worth 15 billion ($19.7bn) a year by 2030. The company also claims that the space tourism industry will be worth 2.3 billion ($3bn) by 2030. Scroll down for video Long-haul flights in a rocket will soon wipe out plane travel on Earth, said UBS analysts. And it would only take a predicted 29 minutes from London to New York and less than one hour to Sydney The future of long-distance air travel on earth will feature rockets entering the upper atmosphere before returning to Earth, said the financial experts. Such high-speed travel via outer space' represents a very lucrative market for the likes of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, who are competing in a space tourism race. Jarrod Castle and Myles Walton, analysts with UBS, said: 'Although some might view the potential to use space to service the long-haul travel market as science fiction, we think there is a large market.' 'While space tourism is still at a nascent phase, we think that as technology becomes proven, and the cost falls due to technology and competition, space tourism will become more mainstream.' For longer haul flights such as London to Sydney, which can currently take 23 hours, a rocket would take less than an hour. Space tourism to Mars and other planets will also become a reality, they said, with hotels signing up to build outposts in space stations. Analysts predict that the wider space industry, which is currently worth around 300 billion ($400bn) billion today will rise to 610 billion ($805bn) by 2030. SpaceX's Starship rocket has been tapped to take man to the moon and Mars but it may also be used for travel to destinations on Earth. Long-haul flights between countries may be wiped out by rocket travel that shoot a spacecraft into outer-space and back down to Earth again A journey from London to New York in the future could take less than 30 minutes in a rocket, according to experts. In January, Elon Musk's space travel programme SpaceX revealed images of its fully-assembled Starship hopper test rocket THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE: HOW BRANSON, MUSK AND BEZOS ARE VYING FOR GALACTIC SUPREMACY Jeff Bezos in front of Blue Origin's space capsule Dubbed the 'NewSpace' set, Jeff Bezos, Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk all say they were inspired by the first moon landing in 1969, when the US beat the Soviet Union in the space race, and there is no doubt how much it would mean to each of them to win the 'new space race'. Amazon founder Bezos had looked set to be the first of the three to fly to space, having announced plans to launch aboard his space company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20, but Branson beat him to the punch. The British billionaire became Virgin Galactic Astronaut 001 when he made it to space on a suborbital flight nine days before Bezos - on July 11 in a test flight. Bezos travelled to space on July 20 with his younger brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student whose dad purchased his ticket, and pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82. Although SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has said he wants to go into space, and even 'die on Mars', he has not said when he might blast into orbit - but has purchased a ticket with Virgin Galactic for a suborbital flight. SpaceX became the first of the 'space tourism' operators to send a fully civilian crew into orbit, with the Inspiration4 mission funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman. His flight was on a Dragon capsule and SpaceX rocket built by space-obsessed billionaire, Elon Musk and took off for the three day orbital trip on September 16 - going higher than the International Space Station. SpaceX appears to be leading the way in the broader billionaire space race with numerous launches carrying NASA equipment to the ISS and partnerships to send tourists to space by 2021. On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away, with Musk's own red Tesla roadster attached. Elon Musk with his Dragon Crew capsule SpaceX has also taken two groups of astronauts to the |International Space Station, with crew from NASA, ESA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency. SpaceX has been sending batches of 60 satellites into space to help form its Starlink network, which is already in beta and providing fast internet to rural areas. Branson and Virgin Galactic are taking a different approach to conquering space. It has repeatedly, and successfully, conducted test flights of the Virgin Galactic's Unity space plane. The first took place in December 2018 and the latest on May 22, with the flight accelerating to more than 2,000 miles per hour (Mach 2.7). More than 600 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (200,000) seat on one of Virgin's space trips. The final tickets are expected to cost $350,000. Branson has previously said he expects Elon Musk to win the race to Mars with his private rocket firm SpaceX. Richard Branson with the Virgin Galactic craft SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots. Each passenger gets the same seating position with two large windows - one to the side and one overhead. The space ship is 60ft long with a 90inch diameter cabin allowing maximum room for the astronauts to float in zero gravity. It climbs to 50,000ft before the rocket engine ignites. SpaceShipTwo separates from its carrier craft, White Knight II, once it has passed the 50-mile mark. Passengers become 'astronauts' when they reach the Karman line, the boundary of Earth's atmosphere. The spaceship will then make a suborbital journey with approximately six minutes of weightlessness, with the entire flight lasting approximately 1.5 hours. Bezos revealed in April 2017 that he finances Blue Origin with around $1 billion (720 million) of Amazon stock each year. The system consists of a pressurised crew capsule atop a reusable 'New Shepard' booster rocket. At its peak, the capsule reached 65 miles (104 kilometres), just above the official threshold for space and landed vertically seven minutes after liftoff. Blue Origin are working on New Glenn, the next generation heavy lift rocket, that will compete with the SpaceX Falcon 9. Advertisement The race to be the first company to send passengers to space is being fought between Virgin Galactic's Sir Richard Branson, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. UBS predicts that the market is huge even if a small percentage of passengers on turn to rocket travel to get from point to point. In 2018, more than 150 million passengers spent more than 10 hours on a long haul flight. Elon Musk's Starship rockets has a capacity of 100, and spacecraft sizes may be a limiting factor for the foreseeable future. USB said it is unlikely that any rocket will carry over 300 people anytime soon, but that more frequent flights could solve the problem. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk hopes to bring 'space tourists' to the moon by 2024, along with other plans to use Starship to reach the red planet sometime in the future British billionaire Richard Branson, pictured here, travelled to space aboard his own Virgin Galactic spaceship. Virgin Galactic is one of two companies, along with Blue Origin, on its way to sending passengers into space Elon Musk believes humans on Mars can cultivate food through hydroponics, or growing plants without soil. Pictured is a mock up of an astronaut using hydroponics to grow food on Mars Virgin Galactic, which is charging 190,000 ($250,000) for a spot on one of its commercial flights, reached space for the first time in December 2018. SpaceShipTwo's flight reached for the second time on February 22nd. Looking back to humans ancestral roles as hunters and gatherers could help to explain how serial killers choose their victims. This is according to new research led by a Penn State evolutionary psychologist, who says the different patterns seen between male and female murderers may be a product of gender-specific behaviors that persisted for most of human history. While male serial killers tend to hunt for their victims, often targeting and stalking complete strangers, female serial killers are more likely to gather, seeking out victims from the people around them many of whom they already know. Male serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, left, are often nicknamed for the brutality of their crimes - Dahmer was also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster. Female serial killers, on the other hand, are given nicknames to reflect their gender. Jane Toppan (right) was nicknamed Jolly Jane WHAT IS THE 'DARK TRIAD' OF TRAITS? The dark triad is a name given to three personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. When all three traits are found in a single person, it implies a malevolent personality. All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct, but have been shown to have an overlap. Narcissism is characterised by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy. Machiavellianism is characterised by manipulation and exploitation of others. It is also often linked to a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception. Psychopathy is characterised by continuing antisocial behaviour, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness. Advertisement If a murder has been committed without a known suspect, you can sometimes use details of the crime to form a profile of what the perpetrator might look like, explains Marissa Harrison, associate professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg. So if you know that men are more likely to commit a crime in a certain way and women are more likely to do it another, hopefully it can help investigators go down the correct path. According to Harrison, there are noticeable patterns that often distinguish male and female serial killers. In the new study, researchers gathered data on 55 female and 55 male serial killers from the United States, using news sources such as the Associated Press and Reuters as well as TV networks and local media outlets. Male serial killers, they found, were almost six times more likely to kill a stranger. Female killers, on the other hand, were twice as likely to target someone they already knew. Male serial killers were also much, much more likely to stalk their victims; a staggering 65.4 percent were found to have done this, compared to just 3.6 percent of female serial killers. Considering humans lived as hunter-gatherers for roughly 95% of history, the researchers say these behaviors may have evolutionary roots. Historically, men hunted animals as prey and women gathered nearby resources, like grains and plants, for food, Harrison said. As an evolutionary psychologist, I wondered if something left over from these old roles could be affecting how male and female serial killers choose their victims. In our sample, there were two female serial killers who engaged in stalking-like behaviour during their crimes, Harrison added. Interestingly, reports indicate that men were also involved in those crimes. Serial killer Ted Bundy is pictured above It isnt just the behavior of murderers themselves that differs by gender, the researcher also found. How their crimes are portrayed in the media also reflects gender biases. Women were more likely to be given nicknames that denote their gender like Jolly Jane or Tiger Woman, Harrison said. While men were more likely to be given nicknames that suggest the brutality of their crimes, like the Kansas City Slasher. But, the researcher notes, while evolution may help to explain certain differences in the patterns of killing, it doesnt mean some people are predestined to be killers. Evolution doesnt mean youre predetermined to do certain things or act a certain way, Harrison notes. It means that it may be possible to make predictions about behaviour based on our evolutionary past. In this case, I do believe that these behaviors are reminiscent of sex-specific behaviors or assignments in the ancestral development. And perhaps we can understand this better through an evolutionary lens. Technology used to map the interior of Icelandic lava tubes could be used to explore deep caves on Mars and the moon, scientists say. 'Space drones', or LiDAR-equipped drones, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, are currently used to examine the lava tube's shape and its ice formations. The team, from the SETI Institute and Astrobotic Technology, was investigating the Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave in the remote Myvatn region of Iceland. Scroll down for video Scientists are hoping to use the same technology used to map the interior of Icelandic lava tubes to explore deep caves on Mars. SETI's mission is to explore and examine the origin and nature of life in the universe. Pictured: Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave, Iceland SETI, which explores and examines the origin and nature of life in the universe, recently tested the practical application of using drones to 3D map caves and lava tubes. The success of this experiment makes the prospect of learning about both the Mars and lunar surfaces even more exciting. The NASA-backed drone with the LiDaR technology sends out light waves and tracking reflections to map places too difficult for humans to explore. LiDAR surveys an area using a pulsed laser. The information collected from this is used to make 3D models. The tests showed that SETI was able to fly their drone into Lofthellir and accurately map it within minutes. This success will pave the way for future LiDAR drones which will not use propellers but instead rely on small thrusters due to the lower gravity levels on the Moon and Mars. SETI says that the hope is to gain as much data and understanding for the mission to be reproduced on Mars. Drone-borne LiDAR 3D map of the Main Chamber of the Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave in Iceland, with highlighted rock and ice features. Colors indicate elevation: Red is highest; Purple is lowest They wanted to study Iceland lava tubes because of the massive amounts of ice inside to understand the potential hazards. SETI planetary scientist Pascal Lee said 'We also wanted to study the opportunities presented by the many lava caves we hope to explore on the Moon and Mars.' 'One promising way to explore them is with drones.' Left: An 80 meter diameter pit crater in Mare Tranquilitatis on the Moon (Credit: NASA/LRO). Right: Artist concept of a propulsive drone exploring a lunar cave in the future Drone-LiDAR mapping of the 'skylight' entrance area of the Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave in Iceland. Top: Aerial view of the entrance. Bottom: Drone-borne LiDAR map of the lava tube cave below the skylight entrance area. Middle: Drone LiDAR map projected against the aerial view to show underground extent of lava tube entrance area Space scientists have known that caves and lava tubes exist on the Moon and Mars. Most of these caves openings are in volcanic terrain, created as a result of extreme temperatures or asteroid impacts. These caves have been sheltered from harsh surface conditions like radiation and meteorite bombardment. They might also be places where water collects, they said. If water turns out to be present, caves may prove to be essential resources for future missions. They could even provide fuel sources because the molecules that make water can be broken down to create rocket fuel. Experts have previously suggested that humans could one day occupy such caves for 'long-term habitation'. 'Some caves, in particular those reported near the North pole of the Moon and on the flanks of giant volcanoes on Mars, might be cold enough to accumulate water ice via a process called cold-trapping,' SETI said. 'Such sheltered ice would represent an important record of the history of water on the Moon and Mars, and in the case of the latter, an exciting opportunity to search for signs of life as well.' Astrobotic's LiDAR-equipped drone on the floor of the Main Chamber of the Lofthellir Lava Tube Ice Cave in Iceland, ready for its subterranean mapping mission Space scientists will need to further modify the drones to make them work outside the Earth's atmosphere; for example, they would need thrusters. Iceland has previously played a significant role in space exploration; the original Apollo mission trained in the Central Highlands of Iceland. The areas of Askja in the Dyngjufjoll were chosen because of the similarities in landscape to the moon. Security researchers have identified a flaw in Google's photo-hosting service that would let hackers track your location history and who you tagged in photos. The vulnerability was discovered by Imperva, a cyber security software company, and detailed in a blog post. Google has since patched the flaw in the latest version of its web browser, Chrome 72, as well as for devices running Android 7.0 or higher. Scroll down for video Security researchers have identified a flaw in Google's photo-hosting service that would let hackers track your location history and who you tagged in photos. The flaw is now patched WHAT IS THE GOOGLE PHOTOS SECURITY FLAW? Imperva researcher Ron Masas discovered a side-channel attack in Google Photos that exposes where a picture is taken and the names of people tagged. He discovered the flaw exists in Google's search function, where users can look for photos based on robust data collected in photo metadata, as well as Google's AI technology. By timing his searches, he could distinguish when Photos had retrieved results for a specific search query. In order for it to work, however, users would have to click on a malicious link, which would let attackers snoop on your Google Photos account. Advertisement Mail Online has reached out to Google for comment on the now-patched vulnerability. Imperva researcher Ron Masas first spotted the vulnerability in the web version of Google Photos, which let malicious sites 'expose where, when, and with whom your photos were taken.' Google Photos uses a photo's metadata to provide robust information, such as geographic coordinates, date and more. It also uses Google's artificial intelligence technology to identify objects in the photo, as well as automatically tag subjects that are in the photo. Users can use this information to make detailed search queries. For example, they can search 'Photos of me from 2017' and Google Photos will serve up pictures that match that description. However, Masas discovered this feature could be exploited by malicious sites using browser-based timing attacks. In order for it to work, users would have to click a link to a malicious website while they're logged into Google Photos. A malicious link could be sent via a direct message in a chat app or email, as well as via malicious Javascript inside an advertisement. This means that the chance of users falling prey to the attack is pretty slim, but nevertheless, it was still possible. 'After some trial and error, I found that the Google Photos search endpoint is vulnerable to a browser-based timing attack called Cross-Site Search (XS Search),' Masas explained. In order for it to work, users would have to click a link to a malicious site while they're logged into Google Photos. A malicious link could be sent via a direct message in a chat app or email 'I used the HTML link tag to create multiple cross-origin requests to the Google Photos search endpoint. 'Using JavaScript, I then measured the amount of time it took for the onload event to trigger,' he added. Masas would see how long it took the system to generate a search result for a query he knew would generate zero results. He referred to this timing as the baseline. He then performed another search query and compared the timing to the baseline. If it took longer than before, Masas knew that the search result had generated results. 'Google Photos search engine takes into account the photo metadata,' Masas said. 'So by adding a date to the search query, I could check if the photo was taken in a specific time range. 'By repeating this process with different time ranges, I could quickly approximate the time of the visit to a specific place or country,' he noted. It's not the first time Masas has identified an attack of this kind. He previously identified a side-channel attack in Facebook Messenger that would let attackers see which contacts users have been messaging recently. 'It is my opinion that browser-based side-channel attacks are still overlooked,' Masas explained. 'While big players like Google and Facebook are catching up, most of the industry is still unaware.' Religions that feature vengeful gods who punish wicked sinners developed to keep big societies in line, a study has found. Faiths which feature mighty deities who dish out supernatural punishment are common in many major world religions. But now a wide-ranging study has concluded that as societies get bigger, religions become more moralistic featuring codes that result in divine retribution if you break them. And they are more likely to feature a powerful god or gods who punish those who step out of line. Or, in the case of Buddhism, punishment for wrongdoers through reincarnation as a lowly creature such as an insect. Scroll down for video Religions that feature vengeful gods who punish wicked sinners developed to keep big societies in line, a study has found. Faiths which feature mighty deities who dish out supernatural punishment are common in many major world religions (stock image) Religions start to feature tough moral codes once societies reach more than one million people, the research found. The codes stop people acting in anti-social ways. Debate has raged for years whether having religions that have tough moral codes came first allowing people to live together in harmony. Or, whether the religions developed tough morality after big groups of people from many different tribes got together. To find out, researchers at Oxford University and others studied the religions of 414 societies over 10,000 years. A wide-ranging study has concluded that as societies get bigger, religions become more moralistic featuring codes that result in divine retribution if you break them (stock image) The studies looked at many religions including those of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, native Americans as well as the Abrahamic god of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. They measured how complex each society was based on historical records. They then assessed each religion for how much it stressed gods or other supernatural agents enforcing morality. The authors, led by Patrick Savage of Keio University in Japan said recent millennia has seen the rise of what he calls big pro-social religions, featuring either powerful moralising high gods such as the Abrahamic god or more general broad supernatural punishment such as karma in Buddhism. The authors write: Our analyses not only confirm the association between moralising gods and social complexity. But also reveal that moralising gods followrather than precede large increases in social complexity. Moralizing gods may help to sustain and expand complex multi-ethnic empires after they have become established. Mr Fadnavis on Tuesday inaugurated the partys media cell for the general election. Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated that more people from other parties will join the Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming days. Aage aage dekho hota hai kya, (see what happens in coming days) he said when asked about the possible entry of leaders of other parties. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and son of former chief minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil on Tuesday announced that he would be joining the BJP. He is likely to be given a ticket from the Madha seat, from where NCP chief Sharad Pawar had announced his candidature and later withdrew. Mr Mohite-Patil will be inducted in the BJP in a function organised at Garware club in Mumbai on Wednesday. Mr Fadnavis on Tuesday inaugurated the partys media cell for the general election. At the event, he said that Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale was demanding one seat from the party, which they wont be able to give the seat due to some reason. We will accommodate him in the Assembly election. Mr Athawale is with us and he will remain present in a rally on March 24 with us, Mr Fadnavis said while replying a question over Mr Athawales discontentment. The BJP leader also said that the party would do much better than the previous Lok Sabha elections and register a record. Prime Minister Narendra Modi waive is bigger than the 2014 election, he claimed. Speaking to The Asian Age, NCP leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil said that he supports his son Ranjitsinh, who will join the BJP. The move of Ranjitsinh is another jolt to the Opposition parties as Sujay Vikhe-Patil; son of the Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil had joined the BJP in last week. Sources said that Ranjitsinh had held a late-night meeting with Mr Fadnaviss close associate and water resources minister Girish Mahajan on Monday. Later on Tuesday, Ranjitsinh called a meeting of party workers and his supporters at his residence at Akluj in Solapur and announced his decision to join BJP. Uday Pratap Singh, senior Mumbai NCP leader and close aide of Vijaysinh will also join the BJP. Till date, the NCP has not announced its candidate for the controversial Ahmednagar and Madha seats. Virgin Atlantic is launching daily flights between London and Brazil from next year. The service will connect Heathrow to Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport in what is the airline's first route to South America. It will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the flight, which will take 11 hours and 55 minutes. Virgin Atlantic has announced that it is launching a daily flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil, pictured, from 2020 The service will connect Heathrow to Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport. It is Virgin Atlantic's first foray into South America All flights will have Virgin Atlantic's upper class, premium and economy cabins. The UK-based carrier says the new service aims to capitalise on the fast-growing Brazilian economy. Sao Paulo is the commercial capital of Brazil and one of the top 20 global economic cities. Its the largest city in the Americas after New York for multinational companies to have offices in. In addition, Virgin Holidays also intends to launch trips to Brazil for the first time, with both the spectacular Iguacu Falls and Amazon rain forest easily accessible from Sao Paulo. Holidaymakers can also connect on to locations such as Rio de Janeiro and the beautiful beaches of Santa Catarina. Meanwhile the airline expects that the new flight will become a popular cargo route as Brazil is the number one import and export country in South America. Shipments could include car parts, pharmaceuticals, food and agricultural products. The UK-based carrier says the new service aims to capitalise on the fast-growing Brazilian economy. Pictured is Sao Paulo's cathedral Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic executive vice president commercial, said: '2019 marks the start of a new phase of growth for Virgin Atlantic as we work to become the most loved travel company. 'Sao Paulo represents an incredible opportunity for our business, and were very excited to be flying to a brand new continent for the first time. 'There are a significant number of corporate customers, and multi-national businesses, located in this powerhouse of South America who can now enjoy the Virgin Atlantic experience on this busy international route. 'But its not all about business Im also thrilled to introduce an exciting new destination to our leisure customers. 'Sao Paulo boasts numerous cultural institutions such as the Museu de Arte, has a rich architectural history, and acts as a gateway for leisure travel within the rest of Brazil and beyond. 'This is a prime opportunity for Virgin Holidays who are busy securing a range of ancillary partners and diverse accommodation options for those customers seeking a full-service holiday offering.' The new Virgin Atlantic service will be operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight will take 11 hours and 55 minutes All flights will have Virgin Atlantic's upper class (pictured), premium and economy cabins While Marcelo Alvaro Antonio, from the Ministry of Tourism in Brazil, added: 'The increase of air connectivity is one of the priorities of the Government in order to make Brazil more competitive in the global tourism scenario. 'This new flight is a great achievement for our country.' Virgin Atlantic has embarked on an ambitious growth plan, with the airline 'focusing on delivering irresistible, effortless and great value experiences that customers love', according to a press statement. In 2019, Virgin Atlantic will welcome the first four of 12 Airbus A350-1000s to its fleet, which not only boasts a totally redesigned on board experience for customers but will help transform the fleet into one of the quietest and most fuel efficient in the sky. The airline also looks forward to becoming the founding member of a new, $13 billion (9.8 billion) transatlantic joint venture with over 300 daily transatlantic flights and 96 non-stop transatlantic routes, alongside Delta, Air France and KLM. It is also launching new services from London Heathrow to Las Vegas, Manchester to Los Angeles and London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. The best and worst US airlines for 2019 have been revealed - and it's Delta Air Lines in the number one spot. A study ranked the 10 major carriers in America taking into account factors including cabin comfort, customer satisfaction and timeliness. Coming second in the list is Alaska Airlines while rooted at the bottom of the research is Frontier Air. Delta Air Lines has been named the best US carrier in a study by aviation website The Points Guy THE BEST AND WORST US AIRLINES OF 2019 1. Delta (up two) 2. Alaska (down one) 3. Southwest (down one) 4. United (same spot) 5. Hawaiian (up four) 6. American (same spot) 7. JetBlue (up one) 8. Allegiant (same spot) 9. Spirit (down two) 10. Frontier (down five) Source: The Points Guy Advertisement The ranking was created by aviation website The Points Guy, which based its findings on ten categories using data from the US Department of Transportation. Three new factors that were taken into account for this year's research included cancellations, bumps and revenue passenger miles. The Points Guy explained that Delta came out on top as 92.7 per cent of its planes arrive on time and the carrier has the largest number of lounges and cities served. The Atlanta-based airline also saw just 32 passengers out of more than 136million bumped from flights. Second place Alaska, which clinched the top spot last year, was praised despite sliding down the ranking. Researchers found it offered the best value and perks in its loyalty programme and that it is the only airline with power outlets at every seat. Second place Alaska, which clinched the top spot last year, was praised despite sliding down the ranking Southwest Airlines came third, with research showing it only had 602 complaints despite flying over 160million passengers last year In third place is Southwest Airlines, which The Points Guy noted had only 602 complaints despite flying over 160million passengers last year. United Airlines is in fourth place, followed by Hawaiian, the highest climber on the list. The Points Guy found that it was the most punctual out of all of the airlines with just 6.4 per cent of flights delayed for 30 minutes or more. American Airlines claimed sixth spot while JetBlue came seventh. Allegiant Air comrd eighth and Spirit is ninth, with the Points Guy saying these airlines along with Frontier have 'some catching up to do'. Taking fourth place in the ranking by The Points Guy is United Airlines, pictured Allegiant was marked down due to its lack of a loyalty programme while Spirit was found to have the smallest seat pitch at 28 inches. The research also found that bottom-ranked Frontier had 'lacklustre cabins' and a high rate of customer complaints. Brian Kelly, CEO and founder of The Points Guy, said: 'It's been a milestone year for aviation in America, and this report directly reflects the changes in the industry and consumer preferences with shake-ups in our top rankings. 'Our team has worked tirelessly to create this preeminent resource for ranking domestic airlines based on what matters to travelers now.' Destroyed first by the Nazis and then by government cuts, Italy's very own 'Trans-Siberian' railway has reopened thanks to the work of hobbyists, taking travellers back in time through the snowy Abruzzo mountains. Today, lovingly restored, almost 100-year-old carriages take tourists along the 80-mile line from Rome to the Roccaraso ski resort to the east, passing over countless precarious viaducts. The Sulmona-Roccaraso section, reaching an altitude of 4,163 feet at its highest point, was opened in 1897 and is a feat of engineering, winding its way up the steep, rocky mountainside in a series of long, elegant loops. Scroll down for video Destroyed first by the Nazis and then by government cuts, Italy's very own 'Trans-Siberian' railway has reopened thanks to the work of hobbyists, taking travellers back in time through the snowy Abruzzo mountains The self-described 'low-speed travelling museum', widely known as the Italian Trans-Siberian, passes through myriad tunnels and narrow cuttings, past frozen lakes and snowy forests. Even the occasional wolf can be seen along the way. 'It's really an amazing experience, going back in time, with these slow-moving trains, rather than really fast ones where you can't see anything outside,' said Neapolitan tourist Elisabetta, travelling with her partner and 10-year-old son Giosue. A first-class velvet-covered seat costs 40 euros (34/$45) for a return trip from Rome, or you can opt for cheaper wooden benches in third class for 30 euros (25) The self-described 'low-speed travelling museum' passes through myriad tunnels and narrow cuttings, past frozen lakes and snowy forests Usually 'you're isolated from the sound, while here you can hear the noise of the train,' she added, with a beaming smile. Historically, the line played a vital role linking up isolated communities in the Apennine mountains, less than two hours' drive from Rome. The railway line was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II as they were defeated by Italian partisans backed by the British, and it was only reopened in 1960. The almost 100-year-old carriages take tourists along the 80-mile line from Rome to the Roccaraso ski resort to the east, passing over countless precarious viaducts But by the late 20th century, roads had improved and the line was completely closed in 2011 after decades of government cuts. Then, in 2014 passionate enthusiasts from the Le Rotaie association dedicated to safeguarding old railways teamed up with the Italian Railways Foundation to get the line, known as the Neapolitan, reopened. 'This line went to Naples, to the port of Naples, from where so many Italians boarded ships to emigrate to the Americas,' said Le Rotaie's Claudio Colaizzo, whose day job is as a travel agent. 'It was also hugely important for everyone who lived in the region, because it allowed people to go to school or work even when the weather was bad, when there was two metres (6.6 feet) of snow,' said Colaizzo, who travels to the train from Pescara on Italy's east coast. The railway line was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II as they were defeated by Italian partisans backed by the British, and it was only reopened in 1960 He describes himself and his fellow amateur train addicts as 'trainsexuals'. The carriages are known as 'hundred doors' as passengers can climb on board at almost any seat, pulled by a comparatively recent, and smelly, 1970s diesel locomotive. Where the train stops, travellers get off and can buy local cheeses or sausage, injecting cash into often isolated communities. Abruzzo native Vinicio D'Agostino is one of a band of folk musicians who board the train to accompany the hypnotic sound of the trains on the tracks. He remembers when he used to take this train back in 1969. 'Fifty years on, it was very emotional to get back on board,' said D'Agostino, who gave his age as around 70. 'My companions can tell you, I said "mamma mia", I took this train to do my military service, it was just amazing,' he said, before getting back to his traditional drumming. Le Rotaie dreams of restoring the entire line running between Pescara and Naples, joining the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas on either side of Italy. For now, a first-class velvet-covered seat costs 40 euros (34/$45) for a return trip from Rome, or you can opt for cheaper wooden benches in third class for 30 euros (25). She is one of the world's foremost action stars and that means a commitment to continual training. And Charlize Theron showed her relentless dedication to her craft on Tuesday as she was spotted at a gas station in Los Angeles. The 43-year-old actress flaunted her legs in skintight jeans while still wearing her shooting glasses after participating in tactical training. Getting some gas: Charlize Theron showed her relentless dedication to her craft on Tuesday as she was spotted at a gas station in Los Angeles The Atomic Blonde star's denim pants highlighted her long slender legs and she added a simple white t-shirt on top. She kept things cool and casual by donning a pair of black and white high-top Converse. Her medium-length dark tresses were left unencumbered and fell freely to a couple inches above her neck. Practices makes permanent: The 43-year-old actress flaunted her legs in skintight jeans while still wearing her shooting glasses after participating in tactical training Earlier in the day, Charlize was spotted taking part in tactical training while dressed in the same ensemble. She was seen chatting next to the side of a building, while two women in the foreground practiced with assault rifles. It is unknown whether Charlize was preparing for an upcoming role or just staying up to date. Coming soon? The South African beauty might be preparing for her reprisal of her role in the upcoming sequel to Atomic Blonde The South African beauty might be preparing for her reprisal of her role in the upcoming sequel to Atomic Blonde. Charlize confirmed that there would be an Atomic Blonde 2 back in April of 2018, but there hasn't been much word on the film since. Meanwhile, she recently attended the premiere of her new movie Long Shot, which also star Seth Rogen. The flick premiered to rave reviews at SXSW in Austin, Texas last week, and is set to hit theaters across the United States on May 3. She's best known for her 11 year stint hosting Blue Peter. And Konnie Huq, 43, stunned in a chic black co-ordas she attended the premiere of Say My Name in London on Tuesday. The mother-of-two added height to her petite frame in the sleek black pinafore-style one piece worn over a sheer white shirt. Chic: Konnie Huq, 43, stunned in a chic black jumpsuit as she attended the premiere of Say My Name in London on Tuesday She completed the simple ensemble with a pair of heels hidden by long trousers as she posed at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square. Konnie, who married Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker in 2010, finished off her look with a silver necklace - and kept her smooth brunette locks swept to the side. The presenter was joined at the premiere by upskirting activist Gina Martin, comedian Sindhu Vee and actress Susie Wokoma. Classic: The mother-of-two added height to her petite frame in the sleek black pinafore-style one piece worn over a sheer white shirt Throwback: Konnie appeared on Blue Peter for nine years from December 1997 to January 2008 Also in attendance were Deborah Frances-White, Jeany Spark and Lisa Brenner. Konnie married Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, 47, in 2010 after just nine months of dating. They are now parents to two sons Covey, six, and Huxley, five, with Charlie recently paying tribute to the TV star and their children, revealing how his whirlwind romance and becoming a parent changed him for the better. Glam: The presenter was joined at the premiere by American actress Lisa Brenner (left) and Wallander star Jeany Spark (right) Poised: Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise, 19, and Steven Ali posed for snaps at the event Pretty in pink: Upskirting activist Gina Martin, 26, also attended the event in Leicester Square The writer told BBC 4's Desert Island Discs that marrying Konnie in a Las Vegas ceremony and deciding to become a father were 'the best decisions' he ever made. Of the loved-up pair's marriage he said: 'That was absolutely the right time. 'It was weird because, for years, I'd not known if I'd wanted kids or a family. Pals: Sindhu Vee, Deborah Frances-White and Desiree Burch (L-R) were in high spirits at the venue Bright: Deborah Frances-White (left) and Susan Wokoma (right)were also in attendance at the exclusive premiere 'That seemed like something that other people did, I couldn't perceive of that as a future. 'And then Konnie came along and quite early on she said "I want kids and a family" and this sort of thing, and I heard myself going "OK", and sort of thought, "oh, right, why have I said that?" 'It was the best decision I ever made.' Matching set: Gaia Wise dazzled in a matching pink corduroy skirt and jacket at the premiere Advertisement He's one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, known for his blockbuster films including The Greatest Showman, Les Miserables and Wolverine. So it's hardly surprising Hugh Jackman has an international property portfolio to match his stellar career. The 50-year-old actor and his wife Deborra-lee Furness, 63, first stepped onto the property ladder in the late '90s and now have luxury homes in Australia and the U.S. From a humble $240,000 'starter apartment' in Melbourne to a New York compound worth $21MILLION: Take a look inside Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness's international property portfolio. Pictured on November 18, 2018 in Hollywood Before his breakout role in X-Men in the year 2000, Hugh and Deborra-lee lived in a modest two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne. The couple bought their first property together for $240,000 in 1997, a year after they married. They eventually sold the apartment in August 2015 for $740,000, earning themselves a tidy profit of half a million dollars. Humble beginnings! Before his breakout role in X-Men in the year 2000, Hugh and Deborra-lee lived in this modest two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne The couple's first home featured polished floorboards and high ceilings, as well as an abundance of natural light thanks to its oversized windows. In 2009, they upgraded by splashing out on a three-storey apartment in the Meier Towers building in New York. Their Manhattan address boasts five bedrooms and five bathrooms, a professional-grade kitchen, a gym, library and terraces. Delightful: The couple's first home featured polished floorboards and high ceilings, as well as an abundance of natural light thanks to its oversized windows The NYC home originally had a price tag of $40million, but Hugh managed to buy it for just $21million. The luxury apartment has floor-to-ceiling windows which offer unparalleled views of the Hudson River. Hugh and Deborra-lee also have a property in Sydney, where they spend several months a year. Moving up in the world: In 2009, splashed out on this three-storey apartment in the Meier Towers building in New York What a bargain! The NYC home originally had a price tag of $40million, but Hugh managed to buy it for just $21million Back in 2016, they snapped up an ocean-front apartment in Bondi Beach for $5.9million. The newly-built, three-bedroom property effortlessly blends Hollywood luxury with quintessentially Australian beach views. The spacious property also features a state-of-the-art kitchen and superior European oak floors. And the generous balcony offers seamless indoor and outdoor living, perfect for hot and breezy Bondi afternoons. Beachside pad: Hugh and Deborra-lee also have a property in Sydney, where they spend several months a year The Australian dream! Back in 2016, they snapped up this ocean-front apartment in Bondi Beach for $5.9million In addition, Hugh and Deborra-lee are proud owners of a house in The Hamptons. The exclusive East Hampton address has pristine views of the water, as well as a lap pool and pavilion. The main house is still a work in progress and isn't expected to be completed until the end of the year. But, in the meantime, the family has been staying in the guest house. Sleek: The generous balcony offers seamless indoor and outdoor living, perfect for hot and breezy Bondi afternoons A holiday home: In addition, Hugh and Deborra-lee (pictured) are proud owners of a house in The Hamptons Last year, Hugh and his wife-of-22-years were rumoured to be buying a clifftop home in Sydney's exclusive Dover Heights suburb. Deborra-lee was seen attending an open inspection, but it was later reported she was actually there on behalf of a friend who was interested in the property. Hugh and Deborra-lee, who tied the knot in April 1996, share two children: 18-year-old son Oscar and 13-year-old daughter Ava. Congratulations go out to David Henrie and his wife Maria Cahill. The first-time parents welcomed a baby girl named Pia on Tuesday. Pia was born in Los Angeles and weighed-in at 7 lbs., 6 oz. 'It's been six decades since there's been a Henrie girl, so we are overjoyed to welcome little Pia Henrie into the world,' the former Disney Channel star told ET. Congratulations! Disney star David Henrie and wife Maria Cahill are first time parents with the arrival of their baby girl Pia on Tuesday The Henries, who have been married since April 2017, announced they were expecting their first child last September in a gender reveal video. 'ITS A GIRL ITS A GIRL ITS A GIRL. I'm a Poppa!!!!!!!" Henrie gushed in the caption. 'I'm so overwhelmed with joy I had to share this with you guys. I'm already singing 'I Loved Her First.' The self-professed gun enthusiast then boasted: 'That reminds me. Wheres my shotgun? I dont have a shotgun. Someone get me a shotgun! I cant wait to sit her down on a couch and tell her a 9 season story of How I Met Your Mother #baby #itsagirl #shotgun #poppa #dad.' Aunty Selena: The couple boasted about how Henrie's former Disney co-star Selena Gomez gave his wife a sweater to keep the baby warm when she was pregnant The 29-year old new dad made headlines last year for all the wrong reasons when he was arrested for bringing a loaded M&P Shield pistol to LAX Airport. Two hours after his release from jail he took to Twitter and apologized and said he 'unintentionally brought my legally owned gun which is registered in my name to the airport.' Eventually he pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation, 20 days of community labor, pay fees/fines, and enroll in a gun safety course. Legal troubles: The 29-year old was arrested in September 2018 for bringing a loaded handgun to LAX Airport; he pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation Henrie is best known for starring alongside Selena Gomez in the Disney teen sitcom, Wizards Of Waverly Place, from 2007 to 2012. The two have remained friends. In fact, Henrie took to Instagram in late February to share that Gomez had given his wife a baby shower present. 'Aunty @selenagomez gave my wife a lil sweater to keep warm before she arrives!!! Pia is coming!!!' he captioned a picture of himself and wife dressed in the sweater. The California native's last television role came in the 2014 drama film, Mind Games, which starred Steve Zahn and Christian Slater. She's known for her head turning outfits. And Priyanka Chopra wore no less than four splashy ensembles on Tuesday, rocking the quartet of chic looks for her promo tour of New York City, including a stop at ABC studios to chat on The View. The 36-year-old Baywatch star's most radical outfit change was into a sheer, racy dress adorned with polka dots. Costumes change: Priyanka Chopra wore no less than four splashy ensembles on Tuesday, rocking the quartet of chic looks for her promo tour of New York City The tiered dress' sheer material showed plenty of Chopra's gorgeous gams and cleavage. She paired the statement garment with a pair of black bowtie stilettos and a gold tasseled necklace. Dark shades and a black purse completed the look. Peep show! The tiered dress' sheer material showed plenty of Chopra's gorgeous gams and cleavage Both sides now: She paired the statement garment with a pair of black bowtie stilettos and a gold tasseled necklace Earlier in the day, the Bollywood beauty head into The View while wearing a predominantly gold ensemble. The actress rocked a slightly sheer turtleneck sweater and snakeskin print pants and layered on an ornate gold Madiyah Al Sharqi statement coat. Then, when leaving the daytime talk show, Chopra was pretty in an all pink outfit. Stay gold: Earlier in the day, the Bollywood beauty head into The View while wearing a predominantly gold ensemble All that glitters: The actress rocked a slightly sheer turtleneck sweater and snakeskin print pants and layered on an ornate gold Madiyah Al Sharqi statement coat The Indian born star stood out in a red Tom Ford dress and pink platform shoes on Tuesday afternoon while exiting ABC's NYC studios. The 2011 vintage dress is owned by By Fashionaholic in Chicago, who loaned the distinctive gown to Priyanka to wear for the appearance. During her appearance on the female-centric talk show, the actress was asked right away about her marriage to Nick Jonas. 'Yeah that happened quick,' said Priyanka about getting married after months of dating before telling a story about one of the things that made her fall for the boy bander. Her pop of color: Priyanka stood out in a red dress and pink platform shoes on Tuesday afternoon while in New York City Eye-catching: The siren showed off plenty of her bare back as she turned around She made the big table: She was joined by Joy Behar, Meghan McCain, Abby Huntsman and Sunny Hostin She said that she can't cook and she told him that when she proposed. 'He is from a good southern home where his mother made food, and I am not like that,' said the Quantico actress. She makes eggs and coffee and that's about it. 'I am a terrible wife in that sense.' But the cover girl loved how he responded to her lack of culinary skills: 'When I told him I can't cook, he said, "Don't worry babe, neither can I." The talk was about her man: Jonas was brought up several times during the interview Her husband: The 36-year-old India-born actress appeared on The View and was asked right away about her marriage to Nick Jonas She added most men are not like that. And then she said that she loves being Mrs Jonas: 'Marriage feels so different, it's like the family you choose,' said the actress. They played the Jonas Brothers song Sucker for her and asked how she was cast in the music video alongside Kevin's wife Danielle and Joe's fiancee Sophie Turner. 'It was actually just a dinner table conversation and we were taking about video girls and the boys looked around the table and looked at us and were like, "Look who we're married to." And that is how it came about,' she said. No worries: She said that she can't cook and she told him that when she proposed. 'He is from a good southern home where his mother made food, and I am not like that,' said the Quantico actress. She makes eggs and coffee and that's about it. 'I am a terrible wife in that sense.' But she loved how he responded to her lack of culinary skills: 'When I told him I can't cook, he said, "Don't worry babe, neither can I." 'We shot over two days in a castle where The Favourite was shot,' she added, saying they loved being in the posh atmosphere. Chopra was asked about how she handles failure and turns out it's with sugar. 'I hate failure, nobody likes it, I eat a double ice cream when a movie fails, I am like anyone else. But you have to indulge yourself.' She then said, 'Failure teaches you.' She loved being in the Sucker video: 'We shot over two days in a castle where The Favourite was shot,' she added, saying they loved being in the posh atmosphere Priyanka then said that her parents were 'overachievers.' 'I wanted to grow into that but my parents taught me to fail to learn, there is always a plan B,' she said. Chopra then said that there are so many ways to succeed today: 'We have an option in a digital world today to create options for ourselves.' She also said people can sit in their garage and think of an app that will make them a living. Joy then threw in a lot of people don't have a brain to create an app. Chopra shot back that ideas are what matter and the audience applauded her. Later in the day, Priyanka went with a much more casual look, modeling a pair of light blue jeans, a black Michael Stars tee, a black leather jacket, and a pair of chic Dear Frances boots. Fourth times the charm: She changed into a fourth outfit once night fell, opting for something a bit more casual Night movies: This time out she paired light blue jeans with a black t-shirt, adding a pair of black leather boots from Dear Frances to complete the look Ray Donovan star Pooch Hall avoided up to six years in prison for his October 3 arrest for misdemeanor DUI and child endangerment by striking a plea deal with prosecutors. The 42-year-old actor's BAC was three times the legal limit when he crashed his Chrysler 300 into a parked car in Burbank with his then two-year-old son Djulian on his lap. Pooch (born Marion Jr.) got three years probation for the DUI and he'll have to complete a three-month alcohol program and a one-year parenting class - according to TMZ. Close call: Ray Donovan star Pooch Hall avoided up to six years in prison for his October 3 arrest for misdemeanor DUI and child endangerment by striking a plea deal with prosecutors (pictured Friday) There was no baby car seat: The 42-year-old actor's BAC was three times the legal limit when he crashed his Chrysler 300 into a parked car in Burbank with his then two-year-old son Djulian on his lap (pictured February 22) In October, TheJasmineBrand.com reported that the LA Superior Court judge also ordered Hall to install an ignition interlocking device in his car to test his BAC. The Massachusetts-born father-of-four previously neglected to make sure his then 11-year-old son Djordan wore a seat belt while driving his kids in a May 11 Instagram video. Perhaps this is why Pooch's wife of 21 years - Linda Baptista Hall - Insta-storied a selfie on Tuesday featuring both their sons safely strapped into their seats. Slap on the wrist: Pooch got three years probation for the DUI and he'll have to complete a three-month alcohol program and a one-year parenting class (pictured May 11) No blow, no go! In October, TheJasmineBrand.com reported that the judge also ordered Hall to install an ignition interlocking device in his car to test his BAC (2017 stock shot) Deja vu: The Massachusetts-born father-of-four previously neglected to make sure his then 11-year-old son Djordan wore a seat belt while driving his kids in a May 11 Instagram video Safe with mom: Perhaps this is why Pooch's wife of 21 years - Linda Baptista Hall - Insta-storied a selfie on Tuesday featuring both their sons safely strapped into their seats Family-of-six: The college sweethearts - who met on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus - are also parents to 12-year-old daughter Djaeda and 22-year-old daughter Djanai (pictured in 2018) The college sweethearts - who met on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus - are also parents to 12-year-old daughter Djaeda and 22-year-old daughter Djanai. Hall is expected to resume his role as boxer/limo driver Daryll Donovan in the 12-episode seventh season of Ray Donovan premiering later this year on Showtime. They ended their engagement early last year after being widely known as Instagram's first 'power couple'. And now, Reece Hawkins has revealed he has had 'no contact' with ex-fiancee Tammy Hembrow after she allegedly had his Range Rover repossessed, last month. On Monday, the 23-year-old District Goods founder told Daily Mail Australia: 'At the moment there is no contact'. EXCLUSIVE: 'There is no contact': Reece Hawkins revealed he does not speak with ex-fiancee Tammy Hembrow despite the former flames sharing custody of two children Saskia, two and Wolf, three Back in February the couple were feuding over the vehicle on social media. 'Sadly, I lost my Range Rover yesterday,' Reece said in an Instagram video at the time. 'That got repossessed. She [Tammy] decided that I didn't need that.' 'I've tried my absolute hardest to get this resolved and everything signed so everyone could move on with their life happily, but sadly it didn't go that way,' he said. Tammy hit back at Reece on her own Instagram page, accusing him of having speeding fines and not paying his registration. 'I'm not about to air my dirty laundry on social media,' she said. 'I don't think it's appropriate to talk bout some things. I don't want to put anyone in a negative light, especially the father of my kids.' EXCLUSIVE: 'It's always going to be difficult': Reece Hawkins (L) revealed what he'd change about his messy split with ex fiancee Tammy Hembrow (R)... after the former pair were nicknamed 'The King and Queen of Instagram'. Pictured together in 2016 'But basically, in response to the car thing that he's talking about, that's not the full story. It's not true at all. Just don't believe what you see on social media, I guess.' She added: 'If I'm letting someone use my Range Rover they shouldn't expect me to pay their speeding fines and registration. Simple as that.' Meanwhile, Reece told Daily Mail Australia this week what he would have done differently regarding his public break-up with Tammy, 24. 'Any split with a partner, especially with kids is always going to be difficult, let alone being in the public eye,' he said. 'There is nothing more I could have done throughout this break up so I would not change anything,' he added. Last month, Reece claimed that Tammy was planning on suing him and accused her of 'following musicians around America' in a series of videos posted to his Instagram Stories. But Reece revealed that Tammy's plans to relocate her family to Los Angeles are 'just rumours for now'. 'Any split with a partner especially with kids is always going to be difficult, let alone being in the public eye,' the District Goods founder, 23, told Daily Mail Australia on Monday. Pictured in August 2017 with Tammy and their children - son Wolf (L) and daughter Saskia (R) Meanwhile, the tattooed hunk, who boasts 968 thousand followers on Instagram, recently joined Neon Model Management's newest segment, Influencer Models. The aim of the segment is to provide a one-stop-shop for brands, giving them the benefit of displaying their products with models who can offer to promote them. Reece's U.S. model girlfriend London Goheen, whom he began dating last September, has also joined Influencer Models. 'There is nothing more I could have done throughout this break up so I would not change anything,' he added. Pictured in November, 2016 Speaking about whether the pair will relocate to either Australia or the U.S, Reece said: 'We have no plans of relocating permanently. 'London and I are taking advantage of the two homes we have in these destinations meaning we are able to go back and forth between.' Reece and Tammy officially announced their split last June after four years together. Last year, Tammy released a break-up video on YouTube clarifying that their split was not due to infidelity. 'We are taking advantage of the two homes we have in these destinations meaning we are able to go back and forth between' : Reece and his U.S. model girlfriend London Goheen (pictured) who has also joined Influencer Models, have decided not to relocate anywhere permanently In the video, the Saski Collection founder said she was the one to end the relationship. 'One or two months ago, I decided to end things with Reece. He didn't cheat on me, I didn't cheat on him. It wasn't like that at all,' she said. 'I don't want people to think we just gave up. Most people know relationships are very complex.' Tammy and Reece share two children: daughter Saskia, two, and son Wolf, three. President Donald Trump stepped up claims of political bias by Big Tech firms on Tuesday in a fresh assault on Silicon Valley. He went further when asked about social media at a joint press briefing with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. (Photo:AP) Washington: President Donald Trump stepped up claims of political bias by Big Tech firms Tuesday in a fresh assault on Silicon Valley after one of his key congressional allies sued Twitter claiming it discriminates against conservatives. The latest diatribe from the president comes with online platforms facing heightened scrutiny on how they filter and amplify content -- but with the industry fiercely defending itself against claims of political bias. Trump renewed his attacks after retweeting news of a lawsuit filed by Republican Representative Devin Nunes seeking USD 250 million in damages from Twitter. "Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats," Trump tweeted. Hours later, he went further when asked about social media at a joint press briefing with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. "It seems to be if they are conservative, if they are Republicans, in a certain group, there is discrimination. I see it on Twitter and Facebook," Trump said. In a separate tweet, the president pointed to an incident in which his social media director Dan Scavino was temporarily blocked on Facebook. "I will be looking into this!" Trump wrote, adding the hashtag #StopTheBias. Facebook said Scavino, who claimed he was merely responding to comments, was briefly blocked as a result of activity detected as spam, not for any political reason, and added that it had apologized to him. Nunes alleged in his lawsuit filed in a Virginia state court that Twitter "shadow bans" conservatives, making their messages less visible. He also claimed Twitter was negligent for failing to crack down on parody accounts such as "Devin Nunes' Mom" and "Devin Nunes' cow" which accused him of obstructing investigations into the president. Nunes, the former Republican leader of the House probe into Russian interference in the US election, stepped aside in 2017 after being criticized for compromising the probe in visits to the White House. Nunes, then the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had sought to turn the investigation away from Russia and toward allegations that the previous Obama administration abused its powers by spying on Trump and his advisors. Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats. But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2019 Rancor over Nunes sharing top secret intelligence reports with Trump -- but not members of his own committee -- had driven the committee's probe to a halt. The suit echoes accusations from Trump that major internet platforms discriminate against conservatives, even though he himself has more than 59 million followers on Twitter. The Fake News Media has NEVER been more Dishonest or Corrupt than it is right now. There has never been a time like this in American History. Very exciting but also, very sad! Fake News is the absolute Enemy of the People and our Country itself! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 19, 2019 Twitter declined to comment on the lawsuit, but has in the past vigorously denied claims that its platform is politically biased. Legal analysts have largely maintained that internet platforms such as Twitter are not liable for most content posted by third parties, but the Nunes lawsuit claims Twitter was negligent and failed to enforce its own terms of service. "Twitter let it happen because Twitter had (and has) a political agenda and motive," the lawsuit said. The complaint included many of the insulting tweets, including one from the Devin Nunes' Mom account stating: "Are you trying to obstruct a federal investigation again? You come home right this instant or no more Minecraft!" Other tweets accused the lawmaker of having white supremacist friends and distributing "disturbing inflammatory racial propaganda." Separately, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. wrote in the news outlet The Hill that tech firms are using a variety of tools to silence conservatives. "Facebook appears to have deliberately tailored its algorithm to recognize the syntax and style popular among conservatives in order to 'deboost' that content," he wrote. Internet firms have consistently maintained there is no attempt to impose bias on their platforms and that conservative have large followings on social platforms. "Tech firms do not, and it would be foolish for them to make conscious decisions to discriminate on political grounds," said Ed Black, head of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents major firms including Facebook and Google. Black called the recent attacks an effort "to bully them into an attempt to do it in a direction favorable to the attackers." She's been making bold style statements night after night on the promotional tour for Dumbo. And Eva Green delighted yet again as she stepped out in Paris on Tuesday in another eye-catching ensemble. Looking every inch the Bond babe, the 38-year-old French actress was a vision of beauty in a billowing black gown. Glam: She's been making bold style statements night after night on the promotional tour for Dumbo. And Eva Green delighted yet again as she stepped out in Paris on Tuesday The garment featured a mesh bodice fastened with a bow and featuring cold shoulder cut outs, which skimmed over a black floor length dress. Putting a quirky spin on the look, Eva accessorised with a gold boater hat that she rested on her loose and tousled raven locks. She finished off the glamorous look by framing her peepers with a dramatic smokey eye shadow and donning a slick of nude lipstick. Turning heads: Looking every inch the Bond babe, the 38-year-old French actress was a vision of beauty in a billowing black gown teamed with a gold boater hat Eva has been making the rounds lately promoting her new film, Dumbo. She plays trapeze artist Colette Marchant in Tim Burton's re imagining of the animated classic, part of Medici's Dreamland circus alongside Colin Farrell as Dumbo's carer Holt Farrier. Following on from re-makes of Cinderella, Maleficent, Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney's latest live-action offering is set to be released in March. Burton is in the director's chair for the film, while his frequent collaborator Danny Elfman is on board to do the soundtrack. Dressed to impress: The garment featured a mesh bodice fastened with a bow and featuring cold shoulder cut outs, which skimmed over a black floor length dress Eva is famed for her role as Bond girl Vesper Lynd alongside Daniel Craig in 2006's Casino Royale, and recently waded into the ongoing debate over who should play the next 007 - insisting it shouldn't be a woman. Speaking to Vanity Fair at the premiere of Dumbo, in Hollywood, she explained: 'I'm for women, but I really think James Bond should remain a man. It doesn't make sense for him to be a woman.' Eva continued: 'Women can play different types of characters, be in action movies and be superheroes, but James Bond should always be a man and not be Jane Bond. 'There is history with the character that should continue. He should be played by a man.' She also admitted that she had reservations about being a Bond girl at first as she didn't want to be a 'bimbo', but insisted that the characters are now 'intelligent and sassy'. Advertisement It proved to be one of reality TV's most incredible occasions, as Billie Faiers and Greg Shepherd tied the knot at last following a five year engagement. And the couple have given fans an inside look at their boozy Maldives wedding which saw their adorable daughter Nelly steal the show, Greg take to the stage and Billie dazzle with her beautiful wedding gown. In a slew of social media snaps, Mr and Mrs Shepherd eagerly documented the romantic ceremony and raucous reception that followed among the beautiful Maldives setting, just days after returning from their honeymoon on the island of Medhufaru. Grand: Billie Faiers and Greg Shepherd have given fans an inside look at their incredible Maldives wedding, just days after returning from their romantic honeymoon One hilarious video posted by Billie's mum Sue, featured four-year-old taking her place on the dancefloor, showing off her hilarious moves as she danced across the sparkling floor. The caption read: 'Just having her little moment at mummy and daddys wedding love you Nelly.' Another snap from the occasion showed Greg cosied up to his new wife, as well as his sister-in-law Sam Faiers, who was equally beautiful in a fitted white bridesmaid's dress. Hilarious: In a video posted by Billie's mum Sue, her daughter Nelly, four, had her moment in the spotlight as she danced around without a care in the world Proud: Another snap - posted by Greg - also showed little Nelly make a speech in honour of her mum and dad on their big day Greg posted plenty of snaps with friends and family as 95 guests joined them in the Maldives for the big day, though it was reported they had upset fellow holidaymakers with their noisy antics. However Billie and Greg have insisted that their guests were nothing but wholly respectful to other holidaymakers. Another snap showed Greg taking command of the reception as he delivered a sensational speech in honour of his wife, while also playfully poking fun at her Mummy Diaries series. Star of the show: Greg also took hold of the microphone at one point to deliver a wild speech, as the reception continued well into the early hours Family affair: Plenty of selfies were posted following the occasion, alongside Billie's sister Sam, as well as their close friend Ferne McCann Candid: One snap showed the couple moments before posing for their wedding photos, with their group of flowergirls and pageboys, including their own children Nelly and Arthur Another candid snap showed Billie and Greg as they prepared to pose for their beach-based wedding photos, with their group of young flowergirls and pageboys - including Nelly and their son Arthur - in tow. The couple tied the knot in an idyllic ceremony earlier this month in the Maladives and enjoyed their honeymoon on the island of Medhufaru. The ITVBe reality star revealed that she and Greg made memories to 'last a lifetime' on the idyllic island off the Maldives, shortly before giving a candid insight into how she nailed her bridal body with the help of a personal trainer. Cheese! Greg also happily posed for a selfie with his new sister-in-law Sam, who dazzled in a beautiful bridesmaid's dress Beaming: It was a family affair as the happy couple were joined by 95 guests for their big day, though they insisted that everyone was respectful following alleged complaints about their 'raucous' behaviour Incredible: Another snap showed Billie's beautiful white lace wedding gown as she made her way down the aisle WOOHOO! Ferne was documenting the raucous festivities on social media with an onslaught of snaps Speaking to OK! Magazine, she revealed that the couple's first plans as a married couple are to go house hunting but despite saying baby number three isn't a priority the blonde beauty added: 'never say never'. The pair married after a five-year engagement and are parents to Nelly, four, and Arthur, two, but admitted that it was 'nice to take some time' on their honeymoon without their children. The Mummy Diaries star who looked sensational in not one, but two gowns, on her big day revealed she enlisted the help of a personal trainer before the wedding to help her look her best. Here come the girls! Ferne quoted The Great Gatsby in her caption, as she penned: 'The parties were bigger. The pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, the liquor was cheaper' Here come the girls! Ferne was beaming in the snaps as she celebrated with her gal pals She explained: 'I have never been a gym-goer but I hired a personal trainer called Ellie Hopley a few months before my wedding so that I felt confident. However, their nuptials haven't been without controversy after they were accused of ruining a host of fellow holidaymakers' trips due to their guests' raucous behaviour. And while the pair remained defiant about the antics, the couple skirted their woes to enjoy their honeymoon. Flawless: Mother of the bride Sue looked equally stunning in a fitted white beaded dress for the big day, as she beamed with pride at seeing her daughter tie the knot Smile! Greg posted a series of fun selfies with loved ones as they all let their hair down for the big day, partying well into the night on the beautiful Maldives beach Brothers in arms: Greg also happily posed alongside Sam's partner Paul, who joined the large number of guests in attendance for the big day Having heavily documented the events online Greg filmed Billie as she sizzled in a black gown with racy slashes at the leg. After streams of reports about the big day, the couple set the record straight as they revealed hilarious details, including the fact that Greg's three best men performed a spoof of their show The Mummy Diaries and Billie's annoyance at Greg's 'epic fail'. One of the highlights was undoubtedly when Greg's three best men created a Mummy Diaries spoof as Greg revealed: 'They had some help from The Mummy Diaries crew so they created a spoof episode... 'They were taking the mick out of how long it took to get my Instagram verification.' Star in the making: Ferne's sweet daughter Sunday, one, showed she could already strike a pose, as she joined her mum in matching peach silk dresses Her new film, Us, hits theaters across the United States on Friday. And Lupita Nyong'o looked stunning at the premiere on the forthcoming flick on Friday in New York City. The 36-year-old actress cut a chic figure in an edgy ensemble as she made her way down the red carpet. Chic: Lupita Nyong'o looked stunning at the premiere on the forthcoming flick on Friday in New York City The Black Panther star donned a clear jacket covered in metal spikes on top of white Balmain shirt dress. The frock fell to a few inches above her knees, and she clasped a silver belt around her waist. Lupita added a couple extra inches via clear heels that were outlined in silver. Beauty: The 36-year-old actress cut a chic figure in an edgy ensemble as she made her way down the red carpet Spikes: The Black Panther star donned a clear jacket covered in metal spikes on top of white Balmain shirt dress Lupita stars in a duel roll in Us as she plays family matriarch Adelaide Wilson and her doppelganger. The film, which also stars Winston Duke and Elizabeth Moss, follows a family who are enjoying a vacation at the beach, but their serenity quickly turns to chaos when a group of horrifying doppelgangers begin to terrorize them. The movie is Jordan Peele's second in the director's chair Shining: Lupita added a couple extra inches via clear heels that were outlined in silver Star: Lupita stars in a duel roll in Us as she plays family matriarch Adelaide Wilson and her doppelganger The 40-year-old writer-director arrived at the premiere looking sharp in a powder blue suit. He was joined on the carpet by his wife Chelsea Peretti, 41, who donned a colordul matching ensemble. Winston Duke, 32, donned a medium-blue suit along with black Oxfords. Powder blue: The 40-year-old writer-director arrived at the premiere looking sharp in a powder blue suit Happy couple: He was joined on the carpet by his wife Chelsea Peretti, 41, who donned a colordul matching ensemble Shahadi Wright Joseph, 13, looked pretty in a pink dress that featured an intricate white rose pattern. Ashley Mckoy looked stylish in a light grey suit with a white top underneath. Twins Noelle and Cali Sheldon, 16, arrived on the carpet together with one dress in blue and the other in red. Pretty in pink: Shahadi Wright Joseph, 13, looked pretty in a pink dress that featured an intricate white rose pattern Ear to ear: Ashley Mckoy looked stylish in a light grey suit with a white top underneath Twining: Twins Noelle and Cali Sheldon, 16, arrived on the carpet together with one dress in blue and the other in red Tim Heidecker, 43, did a great job on the carpet as he donned a maroon windowpane suit. Karamo Brown, 38, donned a matching black and white pant vest combination with a black shirt underneath. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, 32, threw a grey blazer atop black pants and a black shirt. Great job! Tim Heidecker, 43, did a great job on the carpet as he donned a maroon windowpane suit Stylish: Karamo Brown, 38, donned a matching black and white pant vest combination with a black shirt underneath All smiles: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, 32, threw a grey blazer atop black pants and a black shirt Power couple: Ice-T, 61, and his wife Coco Austin, 40 arrived to the premiere arm in arm Married At First Sight's Jessika Power was branded a 'liar' on Tuesday night after making a shock comment to Ning Surasiang about her 'husband' Mark Scrivens. And following the dramatic episode, Jessika's aunt Bec has slammed the 'fake' editing tactics used against her niece and has revealed what really happened. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Bec claimed that Jessika was telling the truth, but producers twisted her words, admitting: 'They cut everything out. It's so bad.' Married At First Sight EXCLUSIVE: Jessika Power's clash with Ning Surasiang was 'STAGED by producers - as it's revealed her voice over was recorded weeks after their argument' Before Jessika told Ning that Mark had allegedly said he wants to 'f*** lots of b*****' after the show, the girls were discussing the blonde's 'affair' with Dan Webb. A voice-over from Jessika could then be heard saying, 'I need to just shift the focus' - as she then addressed Ning in front of the group. Suggesting producers staged the drama to portray Jessika negatively, Bec said: 'They had her record that line weeks later and just edited it from nowhere. It was fake.' 'They cut everything out. It's so bad': Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Jessika's aunt Bec (pictured) claimed she was telling the truth to Ning, but producers twisted her words Bec then claimed that most of Jessika's chat with Ning was cut out, in a bid to make it appear that she really had just made it up on the spot to 'deflect'. 'Why would Jessika lie? She'd been taking it every single day from them about Dan, she didn't care if they continued,' Bec said. Aunt Bec, who spoke to Jessika daily while she was filming and was aware what was happening, then elaborated on Jessika's comments to Ning. Editing trick? Bec claimed the voice-over from Jess, which said, 'I need to just shift the focus', before addressing Ning (pictured), was recorded weeks later about and just edited in 'Mick [Gould] told her about Mark off camera during their homestay. It all started after Mark apparently met a businessman on his honeymoon,' claimed Bec. 'When he was in Bangkok, this guy in a bar said he wanted to beak into the Australian market with his business and Mark could help him after the show. 'Mark told Mick that the guy had promised him an all expenses paid trip abroad for the boys if promoted his businesses to his followers once he was famous.' Aunt Bec then claims that the businessman had joked there would be 'plenty of girls and partying' on the trip - which is where Jessika's comments stemmed from. However, it appears that the story was lost in translation, from Mark allegedly telling Mick, who then told 'wife' Jessika, before she then told Ning. What's the truth? Bec claimed that Jessika's comments about Mark allegedly saying he wants to 'f*** lots of b*****', stemmed from a supposed conversation with a businessman about 'partying with girls during an expenses paid trip' When asked why Jessika only decided to tell Ning about the story on last night's episode, Bec said she was 'initially she was respecting Mick'. 'Mick asked her not to tell anyone but then when Ning was saying she was unsure about Mark and sleeping with him, it all seemed unfair. 'She's got three babies at home that she'd been away from for so long.' 'She's got three babies at home that she'd been away from for so long': Bec also claimed that Jessika told Ning about Mark (pictured) to stop her from having her heart broken During an appearance on Wednesday's Today Extra, Mark shared his own version of the story. Mark said: '[Jessika] has probably taken a story and maybe sprinkled a bit on it... 'I wouldn't have said that. It's not true. There's no doubt about it, I would never have said that.' Mark explained that he and Mick, would have regular chats during filming and 'probably discussed [their] previous shenanigans'. But insisted they never spoke about having sex with women after the show. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nine for comment. He's a Hollywood legend that starred in his first film in 1946. And as he has dedicated his life to the glitz and glamour, over Kirk Douglas was spotted out in Beverly Hills on Tuesday over 70 years later. The 102-year-old actor cut a casual figure rocking retro shades as she was helped in a wheelchair by a doting assistant. OUt and about: Kirk Douglas, 102, was spotted out in Beverly Hills on Tuesday Kirk has gone from centurion to centenarian, crafting a sparkling career as one of Hollywood's greatest leading men, and is one of the industry's most-loved figures. However, he came from humble beginnings - born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on Dec 9, 1916 to Jewish immigrants in Amsterdam, NY. Kirk also held a series of odd jobs such as selling snacks and a paperboy to help support his family as they struggled with poverty during his childhood. He found a love for acting at an early age and was offered a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he was classmates with Lauren Bacall. Casual: The actor cut a casual figure rocking retro shades as she was helped in a wheelchair by a doting assistant Acting dynasty: Kirk joined son Michael Douglas and grandson Cameron (left), along with Michael's wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, for Michael's star being awarded on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December Iconic: He's well known for playing the titular role in the star studded historical epic Spartacus Dynasty: Kirk paid a surprise visit to his son Michael aged 24 - on the movie set, Hail, Hero After graduating, Douglas made his Broadway debut in Spring Again, playing a telegraph boy. He then put his acting aspirations to the side to enlist in the U.S Navy following the outbreak of WWII, as a communications officer before being discharged on medical grounds in 1944. Douglas made his feature film debut in 1946, in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers opposite Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin. Prize parent: Kirk Douglas demonstrates his strength and holds 21-month old son Peter aloft Father and son: Kirk and Michael Douglas, pictured circa 1985 He continued to star in Westerns and WWII films through out the mid-sixties in films such as 1966's Cast a Giant Shadow and 1967's The War Wagon. He also authored two novels, Dance with the Devil, in 1990 and his second, The Secret, in 1992. Douglas suffered a debilitating strokes in 1996, impairing his ability to speak. which forced him to suspend his acting career. That same year, Douglas was presented with an honorary Oscar by the Academy and made emotional acceptance speech despite his impaired ability to talk. Family first: Kirk with his boys in Paris in March 1953 Kirk has been married to second wife Anne Buydens, 99, since 1954 and toigether they had two sons - Peter, 63, and Eric, who sadly he died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 46 in 2004. Michael's mother is Diana, to whom Kirk was married from 1943 to 1951, they also had son Joel, 71. Diana Douglas passed away on July 3, 2015. Things are still going strong between Chloe Grace Moretz and her live-in love Kate Harrison, who caught a flight out of Mexico on Monday after vacationing together. The 22-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner toted Louis Vuitton luggage through Puerto Vallarta Airport with the 28-year-old Freedom Model, whom she passionately kissed in public on December 3. The Suspiria starlet and the Playboy playmate - who reportedly share an LA rental pad - were joined in Jalisco by her big brothers Trevor, Colin, and their pal Nick Franger. Live-in loves: Things are still going strong between Chloe Grace Moretz (L) and her girlfriend Kate Harrison (R), who caught a flight out of Mexico on Monday after vacationing together Chloe and Kate did not share any snapshots of their hush hush lavish getaway in the seaside resort town, but her siblings certainly did. Moretz officially ended her on/off romance with Brooklyn Beckham a year ago, while Harrison previously dated Dead Sara frontwoman Emily Armstong and Gene Simmons' son Nick. The 5ft10in brunette did not remain home in Los Angeles long as she Insta-storied a snap of herself on Tuesday catching another flight to the Peruvian capital of Lima. Japanese skincare company SK-II dropped their new #BareSkinChat campaign commercial on Tuesday featuring the former child star and Late Late Show host James Corden. Three months strong: The 22-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner toted Louis Vuitton luggage through Puerto Vallarta Airport with the 28-year-old Freedom Model, whom she passionately kissed in public on December 3 'Soulmates Holiday!' The Suspiria starlet and the Playboy playmate - who reportedly share an LA rental pad - were joined in Jalisco by her big brothers Trevor (L), Colin (R), and their pal Nick Franger (M, pictured Thursday) 'VIVA MEXICO!' Chloe and Kate did not share any snapshots of their hush hush lavish getaway in the seaside resort town, but her siblings certainly did (pictured Monday) 'LAX - Lima!' The 5ft10in brunette did not remain home in Los Angeles long as she Insta-storied a snap of herself on Tuesday catching another flight to the Peruvian capital of Lima In it, the Atlanta-born belle made the 40-year-old Englishman 'feel' her 'incredible' face with both hands. The strange ad also featured Chloe and James sporting tuxedos, top hats, and canes - prompting her to admit: 'Can I just say that this is bizarre?' British audiences can finally catch Moretz as grieving New York newcomer Frances McCullen in Neil Jordan's horror thriller Greta when it hits UK theaters April 18. 'We're so excited for this!' Japanese skincare company SK-II dropped their new #BareSkinChat campaign commercial on Tuesday featuring the former child star and James Corden 'Too much fun on set!' In it, the Atlanta-born belle made the 40-year-old Englishman 'feel' her 'incredible' face with both hands The strange ad also featured Chloe and James sporting tuxedos, top hats, and canes - prompting her to admit: 'Can I just say that this is bizarre?' Ice-T and Coco Austin were glimpsed Tuesday night heading to the New York premiere of Jordan Peele's new horror film Us. Coco, 40, slipped into a monochrome leopard-print cocktail dress that featured a splash of color in the form of floral accents. Balancing on lavender heels, she accessorized with a white purse and matching fur coat - though whether the fur was real or faux was unclear. Date night: Ice-T and Coco Austin were glimpsed Tuesday night heading to the New York premiere of Jordan Peele's new horror film Us Her blonde hair, which drew predictable claims of cultural appropriation last year when she wore cornrows she called 'Da Coco Swoop,' was teased into curls. She accentuated her unmistakable features with makeup including a slick of deep purple lipstick, throwing in a splash of dazzle with a diamond necklace. Meanwhile, Ice-T's premiere ensemble included a tee that appeared to be by Versace, plus a complementary dark jacket and simple black trousers. Jordan, who won a best original screenplay Oscar last year for Get Out, has returned to the genre by writing, directing and starring in Us. Looking fab: Coco, 40, slipped into a monochrome leopard-print cocktail dress that featured a splash of color in the form of floral accents He and Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o star as the heads of a family who find themselves beset by demons that impersonate them. Ice-T and Coco got married in 2002, welcomed their daughter Chanel into the world 13 years later and currently reside in New Jersey. Last month, the family of three jetted off to the Dominican Republic for a seaside holiday, staying at the Hard Rock Hotel And Casino in Punta Cana. Hoofing it: Balancing on lavender heels, she accessorized with a white purse and matching fur coat - though whether the fur was real or faux was unclear Mrs. Ice-T dished to Life And Style late in 2017 that she suspects Coco's Chanel will be 'my one and only' offspring, as 'I only wanted one child.' She explained: 'The fact that we travel so much, its already hard with one kid and a dog, so Im good for now. Id much rather have a lot of dogs! They fill my heart.' Coco told Life And Style: 'I call Chanel my human liposuction! I was a lot bigger, then when I got pregnant with her she sucked the fat out of me.' She recalled: 'I was like: "What the heck? I need to be pregnant my whole life!" Then when I had her, that's when the weight came back on. It easily came on faster - but now that I'm a mom I don't [worry] so much about being in shape.' She lives a jet-setting lifestyle that has seen her spending time in Milan, Paris, and New York City over the past month. But Kendall Jenner was back at home on Tuesday as she was spotted shopping in Woodland Hills. The 23-year-old model cut a casual chic figure as she promenaded about a mall, taking in another lovely Los Angeles day. Casual chic: Kendall Jenner was back at home on Tuesday as she was spotted shopping in Woodland Hills The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star showed off her long legs in high-waisted blue jeans. She threw a stylish, dark brown, knee-length, leather coat a straightforward white tank top. Kendall pulled her dark tresses into a simple bun, letting a variety of locks prettily spill out across her face. The reality television personality shaded her eyes with dark sunglasses and donned white sneakers. Shopping: The 23-year-old model cut a casual chic figure as she promenaded about a mall, taking in another lovely Los Angeles day Over the weekend, Kendall slipped into a leopard print string bikini with a matching hat as she posed for a selfie inside a luxurious bathroom. All eyes went to Kendall as she was flashing plenty of flesh. But on closer inspection two of her pals could be seen. One of the women is sister Kourtney Kardashian, 39, who had on a neon green bikini bottom with a white T-shirt. Buns out: Over the weekend, Kendall slipped into a leopard print string bikini with a matching hat as she posed for a selfie inside a luxurious bathroom On Friday, Kendall was spotted arriving at the Four Seasons Hotel Georges V in Paris. The appearance comes as Kylie Jenner hinted she could soon be collaborating with her sister Kendall on a Kylie Cosmetic make-up line. 'You know Kendall was in a contract for a really long time so I couldn't do a collaboration with her. That's the only reason why I didn't collaborate with her. But, you know, we worked it out,' Kylie said in a social media clip. He's a talented surfer, but did you know Chris Hemsworth also knows a thing or two about vertical skateboarding? The Thor actor, 35, shared a video to Instagram on Tuesday of himself pulling off a few tricks in his backyard in Byron Bay, NSW. In the footage, Chris showed off his muscular physique in a pair of patterned boardshorts, sneakers and a trucker cap. Chris's bulging biceps and perfect pecs were on display in the video, which showed him jumping while flipping the skateboard, The Marvel franchise star recently returned to his hometown of Byron Bay with his family, after a brief holiday in Western Australia. On Sunday, he shared a few highlights from the trip with his fans on social media. Marvel-ous moves! Thor star Chris Hemsworth showed off his impressive skateboard skills in his backyard in Byron Bay, NSW on Tuesday 'One of the best trips we've ever been on,' he captioned the video package. Chris, his wife Elsa and their three children lived in tents without WiFi or phone signal in a fairly remote destination. Summing up their holiday, Chris said: 'Off the grid, no cell phones, no crowds just sunsets, surfing, fishing and big smiles!' Hollywood heartthrob: Chris's bulging biceps and perfect pecs were on display in the video Chris and Elsa swapped the bright lights of Hollywood for a more relaxed life in Byron Bay, on Australia's east coast, five years ago. 'We did the move three years ago and I'm so happy with it,' Elsa said in April 2017. 'In Byron we just feel like locals. People really respect us... and it's what I always dreamt of giving to my kids.' Getaway: The Marvel franchise star recently returned to his hometown of Byron Bay with his family, after a brief holiday in Western Australia. He was joined on trip Matt Damon (right) by Peter Tran Hanoi's priorities include a North-South Highway with a 118 trillion ong (US$ 5.3 billion) price tag, with less than half from China. Chinese interest rates are among the highest and come with several fees. Chinese companies win contracts by outbidding others, but their costs multiply as a result of delays and slow work. Hanoi (AsiaNews) Chinas eyes on Vietnams major infrastructure projects, on which the countrys development depends, are raising concerns among experts that it might fall into a debt trap and pay the price for the shortcomings of Chinas developmental model. For Vietnam, a paved six-lane Highway remains a priority, linking the northern city of Nam inh, which is located some 90 kilometres south-east of the capital, to the southern province of Vinh Long, is a case in point. Stretching for 2,000 km, the road will cross 13 provinces. According to the plans of the National Assembly, it should be completed by 2021 at a cost of 118 trillion of ong (4US$ 5.3 billion). Of these, 55 trillion (US$ 2.5) will come from China, whilst 63 trillion (US$ 2.8 billion) will be provided by the central government. The new road will pave over more than 3,700 hectares of land, 1,000 previously dedicated to rice cultivation. Since the North-South link is Vietnams lifeline, Pham V, a member of the National Assembly's Legal Committee, recently advised the authorities to carefully evaluate Chinese contractors. His concerns are not unique. Increasingly, Asian countries are worried by Chinas so-called debt trap. More and more Asian leaders are convinced that Beijings business model, which underpins its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), threatens their national interests. Vietnams Ministry of Planning and Investment recently noted that Chinas loans have an annual interest of 3 per cent compared to between 0 and 2 per cent for those from South Korea. Loans from India carry an interest of 1.7 per cent. According to Pham, the country "has not yet come to this situation (i.e. the debt trap). However, Vietnam is facing many risks from Chinas investment projects. Chinese concessional loans come with a "commitment commission" of 0.5 per cent and a management fee of equal amount. Chinas concessional credit loans are issued through Chinas Export-Import Bank (China Eximbank). A report by the Planning Ministry notes that projects funded by Chinese loans, using Chinese equipment and workers, show slow progress with no guarantee of quality, pushing up costs and reducing investment efficiency. For this reason, Vietnamese companies are often called upon to finish work started by Chinese companies. By accepting Chinese loans, Vietnam is required to accept companies from across the border. This is a non-negotiable condition of any agreement. Dr Le, a well-known Vietnamese economist, wants the government to reconsider the legislation on investments and tenders. "Because of Vietnams Bidding Law gives priority to those who bid low, Chinese contractors often bid at very low prices, so they always win bids. After they win the bid, they will extend the time of the construction period. Of course, these projects or works will increase prices and costs many times the original price. One example is the Cat Linh-Ha ong railway, based on an agreement reached in 2008. It involved US$ 419 million in Chinese capital with Vietnam putting up US$ 133 million. Due to delays and slow work, the projects total cost ballooned to US$ 891 million. It was supposed to be in operation by 2014. As of March 2019, no train has yet to travel on its rails. A host of stars appeared turned out to support Children's Hospital Los Angeles on Tuesday. And Nikki Reed was among the celebrities to attend the event that was put on in coordination with fashion designer Jonathan Simkai. The 30-year-old actress looked stunning in two different ensemble while attending the event. Doubling up: Nikki Reed was among the celebrities to attend the event that was put on in coordination with fashion designer Jonathan Simkai Mobile caption 2 One ensemble found the Thirteen stat flaunting her cleavage in sea foam green overalls with a lacy white top underneath. Her caramel-colored tresses were left unencumbered and cascaded across her shoulders in thick waves. The Twilight star second ensemble saw her pair baggy blue jeans with a black tank top. She through a striped white jacket over her shoulders and added a couple inches via pointy black heels. Beauty: One ensemble found the Thirteen stat flaunting her cleavage in sea foam green overalls with a lacy white top underneath Doing the right thing: Her caramel-colored tresses were left unencumbered and cascaded across her shoulders in thick waves Posing: The Twilight star second ensemble saw her pair baggy blue jeans with a black tank top Chanel Iman looked stunning as usual in an all-white ensemble as she made her way into the charity event. The 28-year-old supermodel threw a vest over a matching top with a plunging neckline that highlighted her cleavage. Her dark tresses were parted to the right and she accessorized with large hoop earring, along with a various of necklaces ad rings. She painted her lips a nude pink and carried an slender gold clutch in one hand. Stunner: Chanel Iman looked stunning as usual in an all-white ensemble as she made her way into the charity event All smiles: The 28-year-old supermodel threw a vest over a matching top with a plunging neckline that highlighted her cleavage Catt Sadler, 44, was also at the event and she paired a two-toned gold and white jacket with blue jeans. Simkhai kept things casual for his event, sporting navy pants and a shiny brown shirt on top a black shirt. Those in attendance for the event received 10 percent off with 15 percent of the proceeds going to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Mix and match: Catt Sadler, 44, was also at the event and she paired a two-toned gold and white jacket with blue jeans Casual: Simkhai kept things casual for his event, sporting navy pants and a shiny brown shirt on top a black shirt The upcoming Netflix mystery-comedy, Murder Mystery, starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, has been slated to premiere June 12. Less than three months out, director Kyle Newacheck has to be feeling the pressure, considering the film's two lead actors were called upon to do some reshoots in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Both were spotted on the set, in-between takes, as the crew was shuffling to set up another scene. Back to work: Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler were spotted doing reshoots for the upcoming Netflix comedy, Murder Mystery, in Los Angeles Stunning: Jennifer looked gorgeous as alway Aniston made 50 look like the new thirty-something wrapped up in a bulky black jacket. Looking fresh and glamorous, the former Friends star had her highlighted tresses styled long with some soft waves as she waited patiently for the director to yell 'action' again. Sandler, 52, looked his usual relaxed self in blue and white shorts and a red t-shirt as he lounged on a chair in-between takes. Cut! The Happy Gilmore star relaxed in-between takes on the set in LA Movie star: The actress, 50 looked glamorous despite being wrapped up in a bulky black jacket On the job: The former Friends star was escorted off the set in-between takes In the film Jennifer and Adam play a married couple who go on a European vacation to reinvigorate their marriage. Then, in a chance meeting on a flight, a mysterious man invites them to an intimate family gathering on the super yacht with an elderly billionaire. When the wealthy man is murdered, they become the prime suspects. The project also stars Luke Evans, Gemma Arterton, David Walliams, Erik Griffin, Dany Boon, John Kani and Luis Gerardo Mendez. Principal filming for the movie began last June in Montreal, Canada. Shooting was also done in Italy at three different locations including Santa Margherita Ligure, Lake Como and Milan. On screen item: In the film, Jennifer and Adam play a married couple who go on a European vacation, but things take a turn for the worse Long haul: Principal filming began in Montreal, Canada last June Brian Austin Green was snapped in Studio City, California on Tuesday waiting on friends to join him for lunch, after making headlines for his poignant words about his late friend and Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star, Luke Perry. The 45-year-old actor, who played David Silver on the 90s Fox hit, donned a white T-shirt with grey jeans and grey sneakers, with a large black bag strapped across his back as he stood on a staircase. The actor recently broke his silence about Perry, who died at the age of 52 on March 4, about five days after he suffered a massive stroke at his Sherman Oaks, California home February 27. Scroll below for video Out and about: Brian Austin Green, 45, was snapped in Studio City, California on Tuesday waiting on friends to join him for lunch, after making headlines over his poignant words about his late friend and Beverly Hills, 90210 co-star, Luke Perry On his podcast ... with Brian Austin Green, Green said the cast of the show had congregated at the home of Gabrielle Carteris in the wake of Perry's passing: 'It was very mixed emotions because you were happy to see everybody but what a horrible reason to have to see everybody again.' He said that he'd chat with Perry about the upcoming reboot of the show, and that the hope was that Perry could make a few cameos if the show was well-received and he wasn't busy filming Riverdale. Green, who's been seen on shows including Magnum P.I. and Desperate Housewives, said he'd sent his friend a text message after learning of his passing. 'I text him after he had passed, knowing obviously that he can't text me back, but on some level hoping that he would text me back or that he was out there somewhere,' Green said. 'And I know he is. I know he's looking down, and I know he's smiling.' Tough time: Green said he'd sent his friend a text message after learning of his passing Missed: Perry died at the age of 52 on March 4, about five days after he suffered a massive stroke at his Sherman Oaks, California home February 27 Pals: Green called Perry 'a great guy,' 'a rock' for his friends, and 'one of those people that nobody had a bad story about' The father-of-three - to six-year-old son Noah, five-year-old son Bodhi and two-year-old son Journey, with Megan Fox, as well as his 16-year-old son Kassius with ex Vanessa Marcil - was effusive in his praise for Perry, who he said was 'a great guy,' 'a rock' for his friends, and 'one of those people that nobody had a bad story about. 'He was Luke no matter where you saw him, no matter when you saw him, no matter what he was going through,' Green said. 'I'm extremely lucky to have had him in my life. He really is a great guy and he'll be missed.' He said that 'knowing Luke, he is not one that wants us to mourn him - he wants us to celebrate him.' Emily Ratajkowski flashed her astonishingly trim midriff in a barely-there bikini from her Inamorata swimwear line on Tuesday. The 27-year-old supermodel posed leaning against a chair for a monochrome Instagram snapshot taken by shutterbug Tom Newton. She recently revealed via Instagram that Inamorata, which she launched 'a little over a year' ago, is expanding to include a new collection called BODY. Plugging away: Emily Ratajkowski flashed her astonishingly trim midriff in a barely-there bikini from her Inamorata swimwear line on Tuesday The Westminster-born model dished that she was 'Introducing BODY, a category that is so much more than lingerie. I hope you guys love it as much as I do.' Emily, who has a penchant for showing off her figure on red carpets and social media, told Marie Claire last year that her breasts are 'a key to my sexuality.' The Gone Girl supporting player told the magazine: 'Boobs are funny. They hurt sometimes, and sometimes theyre the thing that makes me feel the most powerful.' 'I remember there was some article like: "Emily Ratajkowski Is the Mozart of Breasts." What was so bad is someone sent it to my dad, who sent it to me,' she recalled. Promotional: She recently revealed via Instagram that Inamorata, which she launched 'a little over a year' ago, is expanding to include a new collection called BODY 'My dad still sees me as a little kid. I love my boobs. I love other peoples boobs. Boobs are kind of great,' rhapsodized the I Feel Pretty actress. Emily, who while showing Vogue around her vast apartment in 2015 said she was for a platform to 'redistribute wealth in this country,' married last February. She made a splash with her surprise courthouse marriage to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard in New York, wearing a $200 Zara trouser suit. As seen last month: She made a splash with her surprise courthouse marriage to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard in New York last February, wearing a $200 Zara trouser suit Though they only became a couple weeks before the wedding, a source told Us Weekly that 'Emily has known Sebastian for years.' The London-born model and actress recalled to Marie Claire: "People came after my marriage, like: "Wow. I give it three weeks." Im like: "What?"' Emily groused: 'No one can take women seriously on any choices that they make, especially if theyre unique to them and they dont play into the way we think women should get married. It's a constant writing-off.' Kate Langbroek, her husband Peter Lewis and their four children are currently living in Italy for a year. And trying to take advantage of their new European base, Peter surprised Kate with tickets to her favourite comedian, Bill Burr, who was performing in nearby Amsterdam. However, as Kate told listeners on Hughesy & Kate on Wednesday, Peter got more than he bargained for when he bought two overpriced tickets for 440 euros (AU$706) each. 'They're terrible scalpers!' Kate Langbroek (right) reveals her husband Peter Lewis (left) paid $1400 for two tickets to comedian Bill Burr on Viagogo... before realising their face value was only $60 each Recalling the story to her co-host Dave Hughes, Kate explained that her husband had purchased the tickets through online ticket reselling site, Viagogo. 'My husband ended up buying two tickets because he thought they were the only two tickets left,' she said. 'I think he bought the 440 euro option (more than $600 a ticket). That was the cheapest option,' she continued. 'And then when the deal finally went through, they sent a picture of the tickets with the face value of it on them. 'Hughesy, they're terrible scalpers! Guess what the face value was? 38 euros! [AU$61]' Ouch! Peter was hoping to surprise his wife with tickets to a Bill Burr (pictured) show in Amsterdam, but got tricked into paying scalpers ten times the face value Bologna bound! Kate, Peter and their kids Lewis, 15, Sunday, 13, Artie, 12, and Jannie, nine (pictured) made their big international move in January and plan to live in Italy for a year Kate, Peter and their kids Lewis, 15, Sunday, 13, Artie, 12, and Jannie, nine have been enjoying the Italian city of Bologna since moving from Melbourne in January. Just days prior to relocating overseas, Kate appeared on The Project to admit she had 'no idea' why she was doing it. Kate confessed: 'I can't tell you why because I've got NFI [no f**king idea].' She added: 'But at the time it seemed like a good idea that we would take our four children and go to live in Italy for a year. 'Why? I don't know. I'm hanging by a thread.' 'I'm hanging by a thread': Kate confessed on The Project that she had no idea why she was heading overseas for a year Kate has continued to host the Hughesy & Kate radio show from a studio in Italy. She was going to resign from her job, but Dave, 48, encouraged her to keep working. 'The reason that we left KIIS FM [at the end of 2017] was because I only wanted to sign a one-year contract because I knew that we wanted to go and live overseas this year,' Kate previously told News.com.au. While she assumed she would have to quit working in the Australian media, Dave told her, 'You're crazy, we've got to keep doing the show.' He starred in the Oscar-nominated film Call Me By Your Name. But Armie Hammer says that it's unlikely there will be a sequel to the story of the love affair between a 24-year-old American, played by Hammer, and a 17-year-old Italian, played by Timothee Chalamet, over the course of an Italian summer. The actor, 32, told Vulture in an interview published Tuesday that he thinks the original is so special, it should be left to stand alone. No part 2: Armie Hammer says it's unlikely there will be a sequel to his 2017 film Call Me By Your Name, telling Vulture he thinks the original is so special, it should be left to stand alone Asked if a sequel could be in the offing, Hammer replied: 'The truth is, there have been really loose conversations about it, but at the end of the day Im sort of coming around to the idea that the first one was so special for everyone who made it, and so many people who watched it felt like it really touched them, or spoke to them.' 'And it felt like a really perfect storm of so many things, that if we do make a second one, I think were setting ourselves up for disappointment. I dont know that anything will match up to the first, you know?' Hammer acknowledged, however, that if Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino were on board and there was 'an incredible script,' he would be 'an a**hole to say no' to a sequel. Call Me By Your Name, which was nominated for a best picture Academy Award in 2018, did win an Oscar for James Ivory for best adapted screenplay. It's based on the novel by Andre Aciman. Romance: The movie tells the story of the love affair between a 24-year-old American, played by Hammer, and a 17-year-old Italian, played by Timothee Chalamet, during an Italian summer Hammer's comments come as he is busy promoting his latest big screen role. He stars as an American caught up in the 2008 terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in the based-on-a-true-story Hotel Mumbai. At least 174 people died, including nine of the attackers, and more than 300 were wounded during the four-day incident. The film centers around the Taj Palace hotel where Indian staff went to incredible lengths to try and protect their foreign guests from the Islamic terrorists. Things have really kicked up a gear between Pete Davidson, 25, and new girlfriend Kate Beckinsale, 45. Not only was Pete introduced to Kate's beloved mother, Judy Loe, on Tuesday but the Saturday Night Live funnyman marked the 40th anniversary of Kate's father Richard's death with the whole family. Pete, 25, drove Kate, 45, to a dinner at Nobu restaurant in Los Angeles, accompanied by Judy and Kate's stepfather Roy Battersby in the backseat. The in-laws: Saturday Night Live funnyman Pete Davidson, 25, (right) was seen driving Kate Beckinsale, 45, (left) and her mother, Judy Loe, to dinner at LA's exclusive Nobu restaurant on Tuesday night Pearl Harbour star Kate rode shotgun, looking demure in a smart black blazer and her wavy brunette tresses in glorious waves across her shoulders. Pete, to who she's been romantically linked since February, wore a colorful sweater for the family dinner. Judy and partner Roy, who married 18 years after Kate's father's death in 1997, were pictured in the back on the Range Rover after a commemorative dinner. Meeting the parents: Kate's mother Judy Loe was seen being driven by her daughter's new boyfriend, hinting that things had become serious between Kate and Pete Full family outing: They were joined by Kate's stepfather Roy Battersby [center], on what was the 40th anniversary of the passing of the actress' late father, Richard Beckinsale It's the first time that Pete has been pictured with Kate's family, but it hints that things have turned serious for unlikely duo. Kate and Pete went public with a date at a New York Rangers game two weeks ago, but they are believed to have first met at a Golden Globes afterparty in January. Tuesday was an important day for Kate, who paid tribute to her late father on Instagram earlier that morning, to honour 40 years since the Porridge actor passed away. The actress posted a montage of childhood images to her Instagram page, leading an outpouring of remembrance for the talented actor, who died on March 19, 1979 at the age of just 31. Kate, who was just five when she lost her father, wrote alongside the black and white shots: '40 years is a lot of missing. Thank you so much to everyone who has been kind. Lots of love xx #march19.' Getting serious: Pearl Harbour star Kate seemed to have introduced her new boyfriend to her parents already Altogether: Pete wore a colourful sweater for the dinner date with his girlfriend's mum In loving memory: Kate paid tribute to her late father Richard, with a heartbreaking post on Instagram, earlier that day Kate was five at the time and alongside the image wrote the emotional caption: '40 years is a lot of missing. Thank you so much to everyone who has been kind. Lots of love xx #march19' Richard Beckinsale was one of the stars of classic British sitcoms Porridge and Rising Damp, acting alongside comedy legends Ronnie Barker and Frances de la Tour. He died in his sleep - survived by Kate, her mother Judy and her older sister Samantha - from a heart attack, which was later revealed to be a congenital defect. He reportedly complained of pains in his arms and chest the night before, but dismissed it. Fans of Kate's and her father's work replied to the post with fond words. One wrote: 'Your dad went far to early....i loved watching him on tv, he made me laugh so much,he would be very proud of you kate!! [sic]' '40 years is a lot of missing': Kate thanked people for their kind well-wishes Casual: Kate cut a stylish figure as she donned leopard print leggings for an outing in Los Angeles, as she paid a touching tribute to her father Gone too soon: Richard died of a heart attack aged just 31, when Kate was five [pictured in 1977] Another echoed this sentiment: 'Couldn't imagine leaving my daughter at 5yrs old. Keep his memory alive and I'm sure he's proud of you [sic].' Another wrote, 'Richard was brilliant taken too soon r.I.p. [sic],' as another penned, 'Hes a legend! One of the finest comic actors of the 1970s [sic]'. Director Stephen Frears told The Mirror: 'He was adorable - a wonderful actor and a very nice man. I was looking forward to directing him in future films. 'I think he would have gone on to be a movie star. He was very good-looking. He had it all.' Rising Damp co-star Don Warrington told The Express: 'He was a very fine actor who could turn his hand to anything. The trajectory of his career was upwards. He was a great loss.' Porridge: He was able to shoot the film version of Porridge and was set to star in another sitcom, Bloomers, as well as branch into more serious drama with a role in gritty movie Bloody Kids [pictured in Porridge alongside Ronnie Barker and Fulton Mackay in 1979] Reflecting on Richard's character - a medical student who was picked on by landlord Rigsby, played by the late Leonard Rossiter - Don went on: 'Len really loved Richard. 'He thought he was wonderful. Whatever mood Len was in, Richard would come in and his mood would change.' The pair were responsible for such classic exchanges as 'You're a member of the permissive society, you're supposed to know where the erogenous regions are!' 'I know where the Himalayas are but I've never been up 'em!' Two years ago, on the 38th anniversary, Kate uploaded a photo of her father, captioning it: 'My dads best friend has sent my mum and me flowers on the day he died every single year since. 'He has been sending flowers for more years than my dad lived. Its today. With love and awe at humans rescuing other humans, and that love really does never die, thank you and love to everyone who is missing someone.' Richard married young: At 18, he wed Margaret Bradley, who is Samantha's mother, but they divorced in 1971. He later met Judy [pictured] and they were married in 1977 - two years prior to his death. Kate is pictured as a newborn in the summer of 1973 Looming: Richard and Ronnie are pictured in a 1979 episode of Porridge, not long before Richard died Of losing her father, the Hollywood actress said in 2013: 'It was a terrible loss. Its so weird as a five-year-old to look out in the street and see people reading the paper and crying while youre crying and your mum is crying and your grannys crying. 'Even though it was the worst loss that I have experienced I was able to share it with people who genuinely, even if they didnt know him, really seemed to love him. 'I feel not many people are in that position to have lost somebody and also to feel like thats something really relevant to other people.' Richard left school at 16 and began working as a bus seat upholsterer but found it so non-stimulating that he once fell asleep on the job. He was consequently fired. Following this, he worked as a pipe inspector in plumbing, but applied for a RADA scholarship and got in. Classic comedy: Richard was one of the stars of British sitcoms Porridge and Rising Damp, acting alongside comedy legends Ronnie Barker and Frances de la Tour [pictured on set of Rising Damp in 1977] Change of direction: Richard worked as a pipe inspector in plumbing, but applied for a RADA scholarship and got in [pictured in 1977] His own father, Arthur Beckinsale, recalled: 'I told him it's a very dicey profession. You'll be out of work more than in and you must have a second string to your bow, even if it's hairdressing or something like that.' Richard married young at the age of just 18. He wed Margaret Bradley, who is Samantha's mother, but they divorced in 1971. The actor later met Kate's mother Judy and they were married in 1977 - two years prior to his death. Richard appeared for the first time on TV in 1969, on soap Coronation Street, as a policeman. His character arrested classic character Ena Sharples. He later starred opposite Paula Wilcox in The Lovers, earned Best TV Newcomer award in 1971 and was cast in Porridge in 1974 as prison inmate Lennie Godber. Making waves: Richard is pictured in character as Lennie Godber on the set of the feature film version of the television series Porridge at Chelmsford Prison in February 1979 Legends: Ronnie Barker won a BAFTA, and paid an emotional tribute to Richard in his acceptance speech. He said - 'The death of my friend Richard Beckinsale has robbed me of the joy of this award but the pride of winning it still remains' [pictured in 1979, weeks before Richard's death, on the set of Porridge] He worked on this and Rising Damp - in which he played Alan Moore - simultaneously. He was able to shoot the film version of Porridge and was set to star in another sitcom, Bloomers, as well as branch into more serious drama with a role in gritty movie Bloody Kids. He died in March 1979, at his home in Sunningdale, Berkshire. Days later, Ronnie Barker won a BAFTA, and paid an emotional tribute to Richard in his acceptance speech. He said: 'The death of my friend Richard Beckinsale has robbed me of the joy of this award but the pride of winning it still remains.' Kate has admitted in the past that she finds comfort in watching re-runs of Porridge and her dad's other work. The actress followed in her father's footsteps and has since starred in movies such as Vacancy, Underworld, Pearl Harbour and Serendipity. She's staunchly denied rumours that her derriere has been enhanced by surgery. And fitness model, Tammy Hembrow, 24, has sent a clear message to her detractors by revealing the secret to achieving her sizable backside lies in sweating it out at the gym. The Gold Coast mother-of-two took to Instagram Stories on Wednesday to share her three-step workout plan for growing the glutes. Scroll down for video In the process she also offered her 9.3 million followers a generous glimpse of her buttocks in tight activewear as she performed several exercise drills at the gym. Clad in a form-fitting hot pink crop top and a pair of shorts, Tammy executed a squat while holding a free weight with both hands in the first video. She turned her backside to the camera and then lowered herself downwards- all the while offering viewers a generous look at her posterior. That's peachy! Fitness model, Tammy Hembrow, 24, revealed the secret to achieving her sizable backside when she shared a series of workout demonstration videos to Instagram Stories on Wednesday 'These damn sliders always killing me': Tammy showcased her fitness prowess as she was seen performing a gruelling drill where she tucked her knees into her chest while her feet were placed on sliders Breaking a sweat! In the third clip, the buxom blonde was seen performing a side squat where she moved rapidly from side to side while holding a round iron disc In the next video, she tucked her knees into her chest while her feet were placed on sliders. Tammy revealed she finds the move particularly challenging, captioning the clip: 'These damn sliders always killing me.' In the third clip, the buxom blonde was seen performing a side squat where she moved rapidly from side to side while holding a round iron disc. Internet sensation: Over the past five years, the Saski Collection founder has become an Internet sensation thanks to her dramatic body transformation and 'clean eating' lifestyle The social media sensation performed the sweat-inducing move, which is aimed to help strengthen legs, glutes and the outer thighs. Over the past five years, the Saski Collection founder has become an Internet sensation thanks to her dramatic body transformation and 'clean eating' lifestyle. However fans have previously accused the fitness star of using surgery to help sculpt her booty. Wow! The mother-of-two has transformed her backside and achieved an incredible waist-to-hip ratio in just a few years. Pictured left: in her late teens, and right: in a more recent photo She recently rubbished the claims, telling Cosmopolitan magazine that being accused of getting butt implants is 'frustrating'. 'I don't want people to think they can't achieve a booty with hard work,' she said. Speaking to New Idea in 2017, Tammy revealed she trains three to five days a week and prefers a combination of HIIT, weights and cardio. She also emphasised the importance of eating protein-rich food and complex carbohydrates to maintain her flawless physique. 'For me lean protein like chicken breast, turkey and fish, really helps, but I find that with trying to build my booty I wasn't consuming the amount of protein I needed so supplements like protein shakes helped too,' she said. 'I needed to eat lots to build that area, so I also ate lots of complex carbohydrates like brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes and healthy fats,' she added. 'I eat every two to three hours!' Tammy, who is the daughter of Australian film director Mark Hembrow, has two children of her own - daughter Saskia, two, and son Wolf, four - who she shares with her ex-fiance Reece Hawkins. A producer has stepped in after fans online accused Iggy Azalea of copying Cardi B's distinctive musical sound. Listeners took to Twitter to claim they heard similarities between Cardi B's single Money and Iggy's new track, Sally Walker. But J. White, who produced both rappers' songs, denied the 28-year-old Australian was influenced by the 26-year-old American. 'Actually that's false': Producer J. White defended Iggy Azalea this week after fans accused her of copying Cardi B on her new hit single Sally Walker. Pictured: Iggy Azalea The famed producer, who goes by the moniker J. White Did It, Tweeted in response to one critic to set the record straight. A fan Tweeted: 'Iggy Azalea really went in studio and said to producers, 'You heard that Cardi record Money yea make me one too''. J. White replied to the comment in his own Tweet: 'Actually that's false'. Her style? Listeners took to Twitter to claim they heard similarities between Cardi B's single Money and Iggy's new track, Sally Walker. Pictured: Cardi B No deal! The Grammy-nominated producer, who goes by the moniker J. White Did It (pictured) Tweeted in response to one critic to set the record straight Another person who Tweeted: 'What if Iggy actually DIDN'T bite Cardi B's last single? Could it possibly be the SAME PRODUCER behind both of the records with an incredible, CHART TOPPING sound? *GAASSSP!*' To this, J. White replied: 'Right!!' He also re-tweeted a person who wrote: 'I didn't even know you was in the studio when they made the song. Tell me how it went down?' Response: J. White clapped back at critics with some pointed remarks on Twitter She's back! Iggy has hit No.4 on the iTunes US charts with new single Sally Walker J. White is a Grammy nominated producer who hails from Kansas City, and is a longtime collaborator of Cardi B. It comes after Iggy saw her latest single, Sally Walker, storm the US iTunes chart, going straight in at No. 4. It's the first time the Sydney-born rapper has cracked the top five since 2014 after landing the same position with Black Widow. Wendy Williams suffered an embarrassing gaffe on her talk show this week. While presenting a Hot Topics segment about the Glastonbury music festival, the daytime queen awkwardly confused pop star Kylie Minogue for reality star Kylie Jenner. The 54-year-old was reading out the Glastonbury line-up from an official poster, and she assumed that the name 'Kylie' was referring to Kylie Jenner. Oops! Wendy Williams awkwardly confused pop star Kylie Minogue for reality star Kylie Jenner on an episode of her talk show on Tuesday 'Everyone's gonna be there, from The Killers to Kylie Jenner!' she exclaimed. 'No she doesn't sing,' Wendy continued, referring to the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star. 'But you guys follow her, so she's going to be there doing what she does.' Kylie Minogue is an Australian pop star who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, while Kylie Jenner is a reality TV star and social media personality best known for her Instagram and Snapchat posts. Mistake: The 54-year-old was reading out the Glastonbury line-up from an official poster when she got to the name 'Kylie' - which she assumed was Kylie Jenner Fans were quick to call out Wendy's mishap, with many expressing surprise that the pop culture aficionado would make such an obvious mistake. 'Kylie Minogue is performing Wendy! Not Kylie Jenner!' snapped one. Another commented: 'Surely it's Kylie Minogue, not Kylie Jenner.. why would Jenner be there?' Wendy also mistakenly stated that the Glastonbury Festival is held in London, when it is actually held in Pilton, Somerset. Fans also slammed Wendy for stating in the same segment that she had 'never met' Pamela Anderson - despite interviewing Pam on her show back in 2016. 'Kylie Minogue is performing Wendy! Not Kylie Jenner!' Fans were quick to call out Wendy's mishap, with many expressing surprise that she'd make such an obvious mistake. 'I love Pamela Anderson,' Wendy gushed. 'Never met her, don't care if I don't ever meet her, but she seems like a whole lot of fun. She's a friend in my head!' One fan quizzed: 'Did she say she never met Pamela Anderson? Does she not watch her own show?' Another commented: 'Aunt Wendy... Pamela Anderson was on your show before as a guest.' Oops... I did it again! Fans also slammed Wendy for stating in the same segment that she had 'never met' Pamela Anderson - despite interviewing Pam on her show back in 2016 Earlier this week, DailyMailTV exclusively revealed that Wendy is being treated at a sober living facility in Queens, New York, for an alcohol and prescription drugs addiction. The daytime diva has been staying overnight at the private apartment run by the Pure Recovery Network since returning to New York last month. Hours after DailyMailTV contacted Williams seeking a comment for the story, she broke down in tears on her show on Tuesday, admitting she had been living at the sober home and was attending meetings in New York City. by Nirmala Carvalho Indian authorities detained a Malaysian man who carried a live human embryo into Mumbai airport. He is believed to have made at least ten trips in the last 18 months. Indian doctor urges people to take part in a pro-life march on 24 March. Mumbai (AsiaNews) Media yesterday reported that embryo trafficking might be taking place in India after a Malaysian national was arrested with a live human embryo in a specialised suitcase. For Dr Pascoal Carvalho, an Indian doctor member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, this is the sign of a "culture of death masquerading as one giving life. This, he explains, "is a tragic thing. Human life is a precious gift of God, from conception to natural death." The Malaysian man was identified as one Partiban Durai, possibly acting as courier carrying embryos to a fertility clinic in Bandra West, Mumbai, the Indo-Nippon IVF, on Turner Road, which specialises in vitro fertilization. Investigators believe he made ten trips to the clinic in the last 18 months, illegally importing fertilised eggs to be implanted in the uterus of surrogate mothers. In India, the demand for surrogate pregnancies through the commodification of womens bodies has created a thriving market thanks to the low costs of pregnancies compared to Western countries, ranging from US$ 18,000 to US$ 30,000, or a third of the cost in the United States. India adopted a law that imposes up to five years in prison for commercial surrogacy. Last December, the lower house of the Indian parliament (Lok Sabha) banned in vitro fertilisation for singles and foreigners. The Diocesan Human Life Committee (DHLC) of the Archdiocese of Bombay (Mumbai) holds regular symposia promoting a culture of life, Dr Carvalho said, adding that a rally will be held on this topic on 24 March. At last, in his view, The prophetic voice of the Church counters the anti-life mentality and actively promotes a culture of life. Sylvia Jeffreys made her debut on A Current Affair last month after being axed from Channel Nine's Today show in December 2018. And it appears no job is too small for the 32-year-old former breakfast television newsreader. Sylvia got her hands dirty as she was seen chasing a criminal down the street outside Darlinghurst Courthouse in Sydney on Wednesday's episode of ACA. The journalist grilled 38-year-old former financial adviser Gabriel Nakhl, who was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for engaging in dishonest conduct with investor funds, outside the courthouse. Sylvia, clad in a pink blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt, appeared to increase her speed to catch up with the Nakhl. 'These are good hard-working people, Mr Nakhl. You've left them with nothing,' Sylvia said as she caught her breath. 'You've got absolutely nothing to say to them?' Sylvia Jeffreys chased a criminal down the street in a dramatic shakedown on Wednesday's episode of A Current Affair Confrontation: Gabriel Nakhl refused to talk to or even acknowledge Sylvia as he fixed his gaze straight ahead and powered down the street 'You've got absolutely nothing to say to them?' she added. However Mr Nakhl refused to talk to or even acknowledge Sylvia as he fixed his gaze straight ahead and powered down the street. Later in the report, Sylvia was seen interrogating Nakhl on the street yet again. 'Are you sorry for what you did?' Later in the report, Sylvia was seen interrogating Mr Nakhl (right) once again outside of the courthouse 'Are you sorry for what you did to these families?' Sylvia asked Nakhl. 'Is there anything that you'd like to say to them? You lied to them. You misled them. You stole their money and left them with nothing,' she added. At one point, self-proclaimed 'genius' Nakhl turned the camera on Sylvia as he was seen filming her with his iPhone when she tried to question him. Caught on camera! Self-proclaimed 'genius' Mr Nakhl even turned the camera around on Sylvia at one point as he was seen filming her with his iPhone while she tried to question him Sylvia filed her first report for A Current Affair in February this year. Last month, Channel Nine confirmed she would be moving to A Current Affair after being dropped as the Today show's newsreader in December. In a statement, it was revealed she would be redeployed across 'several departments' in 2019. Iconic game show Mastermind is returning to SBS in April after a 34-year absence from Australian screens. And on Wednesday, SBS announced Australian journalist Jennifer Byrne, 64, would be the host of the revived series. Speaking to TV Tonight on Wednesday, Jennifer said: 'As an avid devotee of games and quizzes, being a quizmaster for Mastermind the gold standard of its breed is a huge thrill!' 'It's the gold standard of its breed': SBS announces journalist Jennifer Byrne (above) as the host of iconic game show Mastermind... as it returns to Australia after a 34-year absence 'Im looking forward equally to drilling the contestants with tough questions and sharing a friendly chat about their weird and wonderful specialist topics,' she added. Mastermind is a BBC UK format, which has been running for nearly 50 years abroad. Last year, SBS announced it was ordering 85 x 30-minute episodes of the TV quiz show for the Australian version. Plenty of fun to come! Last year, SBS announced it was ordering 85 x 30-minute episodes of the TV quiz show for the Australian version The show quizzes contestants on general knowledge, with the winner also quizzed on a 'special subject' of their choice. Each Friday a new semi-finalist will progress to the end of season final episodes. SBS Director of TV and Online Content Marshall Heald also told TV Tonight: 'Were delighted to bring Australian audiences an entertaining and intelligent point of difference in the 6pm free to air slot with the truly iconic Mastermind.' In the hot seat! The show quizzes contestants on general knowledge, with the winner also quizzed on a 'special subject' of their choice Mastermind will film in Sydney from April 6 to June 24 at SBS Studios in New South Wales' Artarmon. Registrations to be in the studio audience are open here. Applications opened for contestants in November 2018, and closed in February 2019. Mastermind will air weeknights on SBS from 6pm, starting Monday April 15 She has been revelling in her new role as a mother to son Theodore with husband Spencer Matthews. And Vogue Williams, 32, continued to beam as she enjoyed an active stroll with her little one and dog Winston in London on Wednesday. The Irish beauty, who welcomed her son in September, was clad in a black rain rain with white zip detailing down the middle and across the chest. All smiles: Vogue Williams, 32, continued to beam as she enjoyed an active stroll with her little one and dog Winston in London on Wednesday The model-turned-presenter teamed her jacket with a pair of black gym leggings and trainers as she pushed Theodore in his buggy. Highlighting her glowing complexion, she worked her blonde hair into a messy top knot and accessorised her activewear with a sprinkling of rings. During her outing, Vogue proved she is a master of multi-tasking as she checked her phone, pushed her son's buggy and simultaneously walked her dog. Vogue's appearance comes after she revealed that she's put plans for a second child on hold, admitting that she and Spencer want to enjoy their time with Theodore. Walk out: The Irish beauty, who welcomed her son in September, was clad in a black rain rain with white zip detailing down the middle and across the chest The couple had previously been outspoken about how they wanted to add to three more to their brood but now Vogue has backtracked and explained that she wants to give her 'body a break' before trying again. She told The Mirror: 'I think I just want to enjoy a bit more of Theodore. 'And being pregnant, I didnt find it the easiest thing in the world so I need to give my body a little bit more of a break.' However, Vogue admitted she doesn't want to wait too long before the next as she shares such a special bond with her sister Amber, who is two and half years her junior. On hold: Vogue's appearance comes after she revealed that she's put plans for a second child on hold, admitting that she and Spencer want to enjoy their time with Theodore She added: 'Theres just two and a half years between my sister and I and shes my best pal so Id love that for Theodore. At some point, we will start trying again in the not too distant future.' Vogue and her husband Spencer Matthews first met in 2017 in Austria, on the set of Channel 4 reality show The Jump. The reality star proposed on stage during a West End production of The Lion King in February 2018. The couple married in June 2018 at Spencer's family's estate in the Scottish Highlands, three months before welcoming their son into the world. Love: Vogue and Spencer Matthews married in June 2018 at his family's estate in the Scottish Highlands, three months before welcoming their son into the world Vogue recently admitted that she cannot take any credit for 'taming' her former lothario husband as she discussed their marriage. Speaking to Fabulous Magazine, the model claimed that Spencer's transformation from a woman-loving party boy to doting dad and husband was simply due to him 'growing up'. She said: 'Taming Spencer wasnt anything to do with me. He had already grown up and was ready for a relationship. Ready for this kind of relationship.' Despite Spencer having changed of his own accord, Vogue also confessed that she was initially wary of entering a romance with the reality star due to his playboy reputation. Lupita Nyong'o is a big fan of the Australian soap opera, Neighbours. The 36-year-old revealed her passion for the long-running television show during an interview on The Project which aired on Wednesday evening. When asked if she had heard of the Australian city of Adelaide - which is also the name of her character in the movie Us - Lupita insisted she had. 'I was a very staunch watcher of Neighbours': Lupita Nyong'o revealsed her love of the Australian soap opera during an interview on The Project on Wednesday The actress revealed: 'I was a very staunch watcher of Neighbours. I know quite a lot about Australian cities'. Lupita grew up in Kenya, where Neighbours is broadcast on the KTN network on weekdays and Sunday mornings. In 2014, the star won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on 12 Years a Slave. I know it! When asked if she had heard of the Australian city of Adelaide - which is also the name of her character in the movie Us - Lupita insisted she had. Pictured on The Project She's a fan! The actress revealed: 'I was a very staunch watcher of Neighbours. I know quite a lot about Australian cities' And the beauty says she has an unusual use for her Oscar - she has realised she could wield it as a weapon. She told The Project: 'Probably my Academy Award would be a great weapon. I am definitely taking Mr Oscar into a zombie apocalypse.' The Black Panther star recently filmed Jordan Peele's latest thriller, Us, and 'loved how unremarkable' and 'refreshing' it was that the lead characters in the psychological horror were an African-American middle class family. Handy! And the beauty says she has an unusual use for her Oscar - she has realised she could wield it as a weapon. She told The Project: 'Probably my Academy Award would be a great weapon. I am definitely taking Mr Oscar into a zombie apocalypse'. Pictured 2014 'I loved how unremarkable it was that they were black, because I often feel quite unremarkable, I don't live my life always considering the color of my skin and it was nice to have that,' she told Sky News. She added: 'A family that we could project our own understanding of a family on to no matter what color our skin is, and that the paradigms to which they were navigating this particular monster had nothing to do with the color of their skin.' Us follows a family enjoying a vacation at the beach, but their serenity quickly turns to chaos when a group of horrifying doppelgangers begin to terrorize them. Their romance has blossomed over the last few episodes of Celebs Go Dating. In an exclusive clip from Wednesday night's show, Jack Fowler and his date Kate grew ever closer as they went to Siam Park in Tenerife to enjoy a steamy hot tub and champagne date. And, despite the brunette beauty effectively calling the Love Island star a 'd**khead,' and Jack, 23, making an epic gaffe about Australia, he insisted their date 'couldn't have gone better.' Scroll down for video. Heating up: In an exclusive clip from Wednesday night's show, Jack Fowler and his date Kate grew ever closer as they went to Siam Park in Tenerife to enjoy a steamy hot tub date Whilst standing topless sipping on champagne, Jack asserted: 'What I've heard, though, is that the Australian world map is upside down.' After being met with a confused look by a swimsuit clad, Jack continued in a state of genuine confusion: 'Wait, so what your world maps aren't upside-down?' With his date doubled over with laughter, the former Love Islander added: Wait, I'm being serious. Don't laugh!' Australian beauty Kate rolled her eyes as she told Jack: 'That is 100 per cent not a thing.' The best: despite the brunette beauty effectively calling the Love Island star a 'd**khead,' and Jack making an epic gaffe about Australia, he insisted their date 'couldn't have gone better' What? Whilst standing topless sipping on champagne, Jack asserted: 'What I've heard, though, is that the Australian world map is upside down.' No way! With his date doubled over with laughter, the former Love Islander added: Wait, I'm being serious. Don't laugh!' she rolled her eyes anf told him: 'That is 100 per cent not a thing' Love-struck: Later on, Jack told Kate: 'I feel like it's so easy to get on with you. I don't feel as though I have to dig for conversation. I feel like you're quite chilled, I'm quite chilled' 'I'm not the only one who thinks that, I'm not,' insisted the reality hunk, before gushing about their budding romance. 'I feel like it's so easy to get on with you. I don't feel as though I have to dig for conversation. I feel like you're quite chilled, I'm quite chilled,' said Jack. 'We're both just kinda d**kheads,' added Kate, which led Jack to exclaim: 'You've just called me a d**khead!' Speaking directly to the camera after their date, Jack confessed: 'Kate can call me whatever she damn well likes. This date could not have gone any better.' Say what? 'We're both just kinda d**kheads,' added Kate, which led Jack to exclaim: 'You've just called me a d**khead!' Happy days: Speaking directly to the camera after their date, Jack confessed: 'Kate can call me whatever she damn well likes. This date could not have gone any better' Gorgeous: And for Love Island's Jack Fowler, it was the ultimate feat of landing Australian beauty Kate for Tenerife For Love Island's Jack Fowler, it has been the ultimate feat of landing Australian beauty Kate for Tenerife, though he seemed doubtful over whether they had shared a full-on kiss on their last outing. While Kate branded it a 'sort of kiss,' she later clarified that she held back due to Jack's nut allergy, having had pecans for breakfast earlier in the day. Following another successful date, Jack took the plunge by asking Kate on the break, and the pair cemented things with a kiss in the snow. Celebs Go Dating continues on weeknights and Sundays at 9pm on E4. Gogglebox star Chris Ashby-Steed has hit out again at reality bosses for the treatment he received when leaving the show amid his row with Stephen Webb. The TV star, 42, was removed from the show and replaced with Stephen's mum last year, a move he claims left him suicidal, before insisting during an appearance on The Victoria Derbyshire Show that he was 'hung out to dry'. His admission comes shortly after he paid tribute to late Love Island star Mike Thalassitis, who was found dead in woodland near his north London home on Saturday, while criticising the after-care provided on reality TV. Cruel: Gogglebox star Chris Ashby-Steed (right) has hit out again at reality bosses for the treatment he received when leaving the show amid his row with Stephen Webb (left) On Tuesday, Chris discussed his battle with mental health after falling out with his co-star Stephen and leaving the hit show - which he claimed left his suicidal stating: 'There have been times where Ive felt so low that I think, "How can I kill myself?"'. His admission came shortly after he paid tribute to late Love Island star Mike and connected the tragedy to the poor after-care provided on reality TV. Touching on the subject once again, he said of leaving the show: '[Leaving the show] makes you feel like a failure, when people go on the shows they think its going to be paved in gold for them... 'They think all these opportunities are going to be chucked at them out there and they can pick and choose what they want... Shocking: His admission comes shortly after he paid tribute to late Love Island star Mike Thalassitis, who was found dead in woodland near his north London home on Saturday, while criticising the after-care provided on reality TV Heartache: Touching on the subject once again, he said of leaving the show: '[Leaving the show] makes you feel like a failure, when people go on the shows they think its going to be paved in gold for them' (pictured with Stephen in 2017) 'And that is just so for some of it - but unfortunately there will always be someone younger, prettier, someone a lot better looking and a lot more charisma than you and youll be replaced.' After his initial comments, a Gogglebox spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Chris has not contacted us since he made the decision to leave the show... The duty of care of the Gogglebox contributors is of paramount importance'. Chris insisted this was not the case, as he said: 'I did approach them. I went to the studio, I told them how I thought I was treated, none of it was noted... Painful: Victoria insisted the hairdresser must have known how things would turn out, yet he hit back: 'In my situation nothing prepared me for how big Gogglebox would be' (pictured with Stephen in November 2017) 'They said I needed to sort it out myself. I gave the best of myself for 5 years and I was left with scraps at end of it I had no energy I was tired'. Victoria insisted the hairdresser must have known how things would turn out, yet he hit back: 'In my situation nothing prepared me for how big Gogglebox would be... 'When I was found for the show I was told this is a pilot, it probably wont go anywhere - be prepared. So I was like OK fine. Then it was Channel 4s biggest programme for 4/5 years. I went from being unknown to being on the biggest show. 'Nothing preps you for it. Social media training would be great. Love Island is one of the biggest shows, they need to prepare people as overnight they become TV stars.' Tough: 'People need to have the training, their lives will change maybe for a short time but its going to change overnight.' Returning to the point of Mike, he said: 'Mike's death absolutely tragic, I would look at someone like him and think hes got it all the looks, hes young hes got his whole life ahead of him, its tragic this is a mans life thats now gone and for what? 'People need to have the training, their lives will change maybe for a short time but its going to change overnight.' In light of the criticism, Love Island bosses released a statement on Tuesday night revealing they had been working on improving after-care for the past six months, with the statement coinciding with Mike's death and Sophie Gradon's passing. If you have been affected by this story, call The Samaritans at any time, from any phone for FREE, on 116 123 She's been living the high life as a Hollywood A-lister for some years. But Rebel Wilson is heading back to Australia to shoot a new TV series, Les Norton, in Sydney. The 39-year-old will star in the 10-part series, being made for the ABC, which has already begun filming according to TV Tonight. Back in town! Rebel Wilson (pictured) is said to be returning to Australia to start filming on ABC's sexually-charged crime drama Les Norton in Sydney, TV Tonight reported Wednesday The series is based on the Les Norton book series by Australian author Robert G. Barrett. About lovable battler Les, who works in an illegal Kings Cross casino, the series is riddled with violence and racy sex scenes. Set in the 1980s, the show also stars David Wenham and Alexander Bertrand. Racy? The series is based on the Les Norton book series by Australian author Robert G. Barrett and is described as riddled with violence and racy sex scenes. Pictured in Pitch Perfect in 2017 It comes after the success of Rebel's new comedy, Isn't It Romantic, in which she starred opposite Liam Hemsworth. The actress admitted it was a 'brutal' filming experience because she is on screen so much. Speaking at 'Build Series' in New York City, she quipped: 'When we would film, we would film 16 hours a day, and it was kind of brutal, and I just had to keep going because I am in every scene of the movie.' Fluffy and fun! It comes after the success of Rebel's new comedy, Isn't It Romantic (pictured) in which she starred opposite Liam Hemsworth (right). Hard work! The actress admitted it was a 'brutal' filming experience because she is on screen so much, and worked 16 hour days. Pictured in Isn't It Romantic Rebel went on to say she tried her best not to make love scenes with Liam 'awkward' by simply not thinking about them. She said: 'The scene where we're making out in the hallway - awesome, that one - somebody said to me, 'We only have three shirts for Liam,' so we only had three takes. So then I was like, 'OK, I'm going for it.' 'It is awkward if you think about it, but if you just go for it obviously our movie was PG-13, so nothing full on was going to happen.' Emma Roberts has made some changes in her love life. According to a Wednesday report from UsWeekly, the 28-year-old brunette beauty has split from fiance Evan Peters and is now dating actor Garrett Hedlund. The 34-year-old Garrett is best known for dating Kirsten Dunst and starring in movies such as Country Strong and Tron: Legacy. His current film is Triple Frontier with Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam. Done: Emma Roberts has made some changes in her love life. According to a Wednesday report from UsWeekly , the 28-year-old brunette beauty has split from Evan Peters; seen in March 2018 Good choice: And is now dating Garrett Hedlund. The 34-year-old Garrett is best known for dating Kirsten Dunst and starring in movies such as Country Strong and Tron: Legacy 'Garrett and Emma have been friends, but this is new, casual, and just a couple of weeks old,' a source said. A source claims to have seen Roberts and Hedlund holding hands in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake recently. And it was added that the star's split from Evan was not a shock. 'Emma and Evan were heading for a split and now are just friends,' another source told Us. 'Evan has moved out. It wasn't a bad breakup.' Busy man: Hedlund with Charlie Hunnam (L) as they attend the press conference for the Singapore premiere of Triple Frontier on March 9 They had screen magic together: Hedlund with Gwyneth Paltrow in the 2010 film Country Strong The way they were: Garrett and Kirsten Dunst seen at a LA Lakers game in March 2014 Roberts and Peters, 32, started dating in 2012 after filming Adult World. Then went on to work together on American Horror Story for four seasons. In 2013 Roberts was arrested after a fight with Peters that resulted in him having a bloody nose. But their reps said it was just a 'misunderstanding'; she was released after questioning. The pair got engaged later that year, but split briefly in 2015 and again in 2016. In October 2017, she was named as the woman who came between Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen. Roberts worked with Christensen on Little Italy. Emma was last seen in LA on Monday. She had on a classic Journey T-shirt, dark boot cut blue jeans and black boots as she walked through the streets. The niece of Julia Roberts kept her look playful with a padlock necklace and black shoulder bag worn crossbody. The star made her film debut at the age of 10 in the crime drama Blow. She later starred in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. The leading lady released her solo debut album Unfabulous and More in 2005 with the hit single I Wanna Be. Rock on! Roberts sported a vintage Journey T-shirt, dark boot cut blue jeans and black boots in LA on Monday Roberts has been quite the busy bee with roles in films like Palo Alto and Billionaires Boys Club and on television with roles on Scream Queens and American Horror Story. She has also given her voice talent to the upcoming animated film Ugly Dolls which is set to hit theaters in May. In February, the svelte wonder showed off her body in a sheer off the shoulder sequined gown with matching nude open toed heels at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills. Sheer beauty: The svelte wonder showed off major curves in the sheer off the shoulder sequined gown and nude open toed heels at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in February The breathtaking performer finished her look with a long diamond earrings, a gold necklace and a matching sequined clutch. Most recently the artist starred in the film Paradise Hills which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January. She is set to return to American Horror Story for the ninth season of the series later this year. Coronation Street's Jack P Shepherd has defended the way Shona Ramsey's hostage plot mirrored Kylie Platt's death in the soap. The actor, 31, addressed a fan's comment on Tuesday after they noticed David Platt's current love interest even wore the same clothes as the past character. Quizzing Jack, they wrote over a collage of the two scenes: 'Proper random, but was it deliberate putting Shona in similar clothes when kylie died? Thought you may know, desperate to find out haha x' Meant to be: Coronation Street's Jack P Shepherd defended the similarity between Shona Ramsey's hostage plot and Kylie Platt's death as he told fans it was deliberate, on Tuesday And the actor then revealed that the similarities was a deliberate decision on the part of scriptwriters and showrunners, as they were meant to look the same. Jack explained on his Instagram stories: 'Yep, same clothes, camera shots, blood spatter, and same way I held Kylie.' At the time the episode aired, some viewers took to Twitter to complain about the scene, with some claiming it was unoriginal, while others were upset to see David go through the same thing he did with his late wife. Eagle-eyed viewer: The actor addressed a fan's comment after they noticed David Platt's love interest wore the same clothes, had the same blood spatters and was also held the same way Deliberate: Jack explained to the fan on his Instagram stories: 'Yep, same clothes, camera shots, blood spatter, and same way I held Kylie' One user wrote: 'No, not again. David can't lose Shona the same way he did Kylie! Hope Shona pulls.' While another criticised: 'silly shona deluded, talk about insensitive lying in david arms like poor kylie did, anything to make you watch it. (sic)' Another Twitter user said: 'Watching David cry over the whole scenario with Kylie/Shona n him pouring his heart out we love you David x' Upset by the moving the episode, one added: 'OMG that episode was so emotional as if history is repeating itself for David.' Upset: When the episode aired, some viewers took to Twitter to complain, with some claiming it was unoriginal, while others were sad to see David go through the same thing he did before Drama: In the soap, Shona's life hung in the balance as she was kidnapped and later held at knifepoint by her killer son Clayton Hibbs In the soap, Shona's life hung in the balance as she was kidnapped and later held at knifepoint by her killer son Clayton Hibbs. The soap regular (played by Julia Goulding) found herself in the tense situation after Clayton (Callum Harrison) managed to escape from a prison guard while attending his father's funeral. As she was taken hostage, her boyfriend David came to the rescue, despite his own dislike for the criminal who was also responsible for the death of his wife Kylie. However the scene didn't play out exactly as it did for Kylie in 2016, as Shona turned the tables on her son and stabbed him to get away. He is famed for his womanising, hyperactive personality and dashing good looks. And while Geordie Shore star Scotty T typically captures the hearts of Newcastle clubgoers, he was garnering more A-list attention during his appearance on Wednesday night's episode of Comedy Central's Your Face or Mine. The show's hosts, Katherine Ryan and Jimmy Carr, appeared mesmerised by the handsome star as he was stationed to test a girlfriend, when she was quizzed over who she found better looking - Scott or her boyfriend. New fans! Geordie Shore star Scotty T typically captures the hearts of Newcastle clubgoers, yet he was garnering more A-list attention during his appearance on Wednesday night's episode of Comedy Central's Your Face or Mine The premise of the Comedy Central hit sees contestants, mostly couples, challenged to guess how attractive people are based on the choices of the audience. In teaser clips for the upcoming show, hosts Katherine and Jimmy cast aside their typically acerbic tongues to greet the handsome star. As he is welcomed on the show, Jimmy brands him 'King Of The Geordies' and suggests he may be Newcastle legend Paul Gascoigne's love child. Jimmy said: 'One can only assume is Gazza's love child. You're King Of The Geordies so we thought we'd give them a choice. Is this the first time you've been on a sofa and you've not been having sex with either of them?' Oops! The show's hosts, Katherine Ryan and Jimmy Carr, appeared mesmerised by the handsome star as he was stationed to test a girlfriend, when she was quizzed over who she found better looking - Scott or her boyfriend Happy days: In teaser clips for the upcoming show, hosts Katherine and Jimmy cast aside their typically acerbic tongues to greet the handsome star After the female contestant correctly guesses that the audience found Scott better looking, Scott left the stage - while Katherine professed: 'He's adorable!' Shortly after, in a shocking move for the typically snide presenter, Jimmy gushed: 'That's a very confident young man... I like him a lot'. Earlier this month, Scott again appeared on the show where he made things awkward as he was forced to join a previous love interest, Holly, and her new firefighter boyfriend, Ethan, on the sofa. The star and the Scottish nurse had a wild night out in Newcastle in the past which even resulted in them heading to a strip club. Cheeky! As he is welcomed on the show, Jimmy brands him 'King Of The Geordies' and suggests he may be Newcastle legend Paul Gascoigne's love child Keep em coming: In teaser clips for the upcoming show, hosts Katherine and Jimmy cast aside their typically acerbic tongues to greet the handsome star And Scott was left baffled when he ends up on the sofa with Holly and her new man, Ethan, especially when Jimmy asks her who is better in bed. Talking about how they know each other, the nurse reveals: 'I've tried to erase it from my memory as well, but unfortunately it hasn't worked... I was on a night out in Newcastle, I bumped into him and we ended up in a strip club. We then ended up.' To which Scotty T interjected with: 'We didn't exactly just watch telly and drink tea, did we?' Your Face or Mine airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on Comedy Central UK. Francis authorizes the publication of the decree recognizing his martyrdom. He spent almost 30 years in the mountains of Myanmar, where he was killed in 1953. Fr. Brambillasca: A joy for the whole Institute, the Church of Myanmar and the Church of Cremona. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Father Alfredo Cremonesi, a PIME priest, will be proclaimed blessed. Today, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to publish the decree recognizing that he was "killed in hatred of the Faith in the village of Donoku (Myanmar) on 7 February 1953". Fr. Ferruccio Brambillasca, Superior General of PIME, told AsiaNews: "The news brings joy to the whole Institute, the Church of Myanmar and the Church of Crema, which has worked intensely for this beatification. Fr. Cremonesi, missionary in Myanmar , is one of the many witnesses of our Institute who has worked for many years and with dedication in this beautiful land of Asia: may the new Blessed help us all to rediscover the uniqueness of the missionary vocation, in the year in which we will celebrate the extraordinary missionary month of Missions". Alfredo Cremonesi was born May 15, 1902 in Ripalta Guerina (Cremona). First of seven brothers - one of whom, Ernesto, died in a Nazi concentration camp - of weak constitution. Suffering from lymphatic and blood disease, during high school he had to spend long periods in bed, in the diocesan seminary of Crema, without any hope of recovery, so much so that it seemed impossible for him to fulfill his desire to become a missionary. Instead, he healed perfectly. He was certian of this: he had entrusted himself to Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus. Thus in 1922, at the age of twenty, he began attending the third year of theology in the seminary for the Foreign Missions of Milan and on 12 October 1924 he was ordained a priest by Msgr. Giovanni Menicatti, of PIME. Exactly one year later he left for Burma. He would remian there for his entire life. Having arrived November 10, 1925 in Toungoo, Fr. Alfredo spent one year studying local language and customs. Then the bishop entrusted him with a new district and Donoku, a village lost in the mountains. It was the base camp for many of his expeditions among pagan and Catholic villages. His enthusiasm was great, but youth and impatience soon lead him to having ti take stock of his frailty: "I tell you the truth - he writes - I often surprise myself by crying like a child, when I think of how much good I must do and my absolute poverty, which immobilizes me, and not just once, crushed under the weight of discouragement, I asked the Lord would it not be better for me to die rather than be a worker so forcibly inactive ". And yet, precisely in his relationship of profound intimacy with God, he found the strength to go on. In fact, he is a missionary especially with prayer. "We missionaries - he writes years later - we are really nothing. Ours is the most mysterious and marvelous work that is given to man not to perform, but to see: to see souls who convert is the greatest of all miracles. In 1941, during the Second World War, when the Japanese arrived on Burmese territory, the British interned the missionaries in concentration camps in India, except for the six elders who were there for more than ten years. Among these is Fr. Cremonesi, who remains in Moso 'until the end of the war, utterly alone and destitutute of everything. Until 8 September 1943, Italian missionaries were treated by Japanese soldiers as friends, but later they became their worst enemies. "We were robbed of everything. Not even a hen among us". I was then taken, the last month of the war, by an extremely cruel officer, who commanded the last Japanese teams which, judging by appearances, must have been made up of thieves and murderers freed from prison and left for the last slaughter . I was tied up for a night and a day in their camp, and then, I don't know by what miracle, I was released. Then I had to run away and take refuge in the woods. On that occasion I was robbed of everything again. My Christians scrabbled a few plates, a spoon, a little rice, they gave me one of their blankets and in this way I survived to the end of the war ". In early January 1947, Burma now freed from the Japanese invasion and independent of England, Fr. Alfred returned to Donoku. With renewed enthusiasm he began to rebuild everything that had been devastated. He taught catechism and also English, assisted and healed the sick, resumed his pastoral activities. But soon new trials arrived. Burma had achieved independence, but the central government encountered major obstacles: the Carian tribes, and in particular those formed by Protestant Baptists. Catholics, who remained loyal to the government, were not even protected by the largely Buddhist army. Father Cremonesi, following a rebel raid in the village of Donoku, was forced to take refuge in Toungoo. For Easter 1952, as a pact of non-aggression between the rebels and the government was stipulated, he dared to return to Donoku. But peace was short-lived. Although defeated, the rebels carried out continuous raids, and the anger of regular troops against Carian villages, now suspected of favoring the rebels indiscriminately, was furious. So Fr. Alfredo, in order to assist his Christians, shared all in their dangers. He obtained a pass to be able to move more freely between both sides, but by then even the government suspected him becaue of his insistance in working in the guerrilla zone. Thus, after the failure of a military operation with which the regular army intended to finally eliminate teh rebel presence in he region, the government troops, during the retreat, raided the village of Donoku, accusing Fr. Cremonese and the villagers of aiding the rebels. The father's conciliatory words were of no use, as he tried to explain and reassure, defending the innocence of his people. Blinded by anger, the soldiers did not even leave him time to finish the speech. They respond with gunfire. It was February 7th 1953. She is set to portray paleontologist Mary Anning for new period drama Ammonite. And, Kate Winslet, 43, was seen on the Devon set of the upcoming lesbian romance on Wednesday, clad in full Victorian costume as she climbed into a small boat before setting sail to film scenes elsewhere. Production on the film continues even after the family of dinosaur pioneer Anning hit out at the filmmakers for 'inventing' the fact that she was gay. Getting into character: Kate Winslet, 43, was seen on the Devon set of Ammonite on Wednesday, getting into character clad in full Victorian costume as she climbed into a boat Oscar-winning actress Kate was transported back to the 1840s for the film, inspired by the life of legendary fossil hunter Mary Anning. She was clad in a long burgundy dress, with a coordinating wrap slung over her arm as she clambered into boat. With a pair of dusty light blue flat boots and taupe stockings, the actress ensured she was warm underneath her robe-like frock. A bonnet atop her head was held on with a rouge necktie, and a beige scarf knotted around her neck lightened her ensemble somewhat. A different look: The Titanic star's face was free of heavy make-up and her hair dyed brown, worn parted in the centre In costume: She was clad in a long burgundy dress, with a coordinating wrap slung over her arm as she clambered into boat Cosy: With a pair of dusty light blue flat boots and taupe stockings, the actress ensured she was warm underneath her robe-like frock Finishing touches: A bonnet atop her head was held on with a rouge necktie, and a beige scarf knotted around her neck lightened her ensemble somewhat Happy: Despite the gruelling filming schedule, Kate still seemed to be in great spirits as she donned her period costume Covered up: In a break from scenes the Oscar-winner donned a thick grey overcoat with her period dress Determined: The star was also seen chatting to the crew as they headed to the boat for filming Big-budget: The big-budget biopic is already hotly anticipated, after Kate was seen alongside co-star Saorise Ronan on set The Titanic star was seen getting into character, her face free of heavy make-up and her hair dyed brown, worn parted in the centre. Keeping safe, the actress donned a life jacket atop her period costume and was helped aboard the vessel by professionals. Kate, who displayed a sense of focus on her face as she climbed aboard, wore a pair of fingerless gloves and clutched onto a flask of hot coffee. Surrounded by crew members, The Holiday star flashed a wide smile as she eased into her journey across the water. Careful! Keeping safe, the actress donned a life jacket atop her period costume and was helped aboard the vessel by professionals Focused: Kate, who displayed a sense of focus on her face as she climbed aboard, wore a pair of fingerless gloves and clutched onto a flask of hot coffee Here she comes! Oscar-winning actress Kate was transported back to the 1840s for the film, inspired by the life of legendary fossil hunter Mary Anning Make way: Kate was assisted onto the boat by members of the crew Meanwhile, Barbara Anning, a distant niece who still lives near the Jurassic Coast where the fossil hunter made many discoveries, said there was no proof she was ever in a same-sex relationship. Ms Anning, of Axminster, said: 'The lesbian storyline is pure Hollywood as far as I know and there was no suggestion that she was a lesbian at all. That's just what they do I suppose.' The plot centres around the famous paleontologist, who becomes involved with a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea. Saoirse Ronan, plays her supposed lover Frances Bell in the film, 'a London woman of means to whom she must unexpectedly play nursemaid.' Step: Kate first boarded a small boat before being taken to a larger vessel to film scenes Next up: Once Kate was aboard, another crew member joined her Happy lady: Surrounded by crew members, The Holiday star flashed a wide smile as she eased into her journey across the water And away they go: Kate was unmissable in her distinctive costume It is directed by Francis Lee, who was recognised at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 for God's Own Country. Lyme Regis, famously depicted by novelist Jane Austen, has undergone a makeover ahead of the Hollywood duo descending upon the town. The project marks Kate and Mary Queen Of Scots star Saorise's first collaboration on the big screen. Anning's niece had previously written on an online forum: 'I do not believe there is any evidence to back up portraying her as a gay woman... I believe Mary Anning was abused because she was poor, uneducated and a woman. Is that not enough?' In safe hands: Kate appeared to be at ease as the boat sailed away Distracted: Crew members distracted the actress with chit chat during the journey Experts and fans of her work are also upset, claiming Miss Anning, who never married or had children, was 'interesting enough' without needing her life to be spiced up. A fan society dedicated to the fossil finder called Mary Anning Rocks also objected to the plotline, including Harvard University geologist Bretton Carter, who said: 'I have mixed feelings about this movie. 'Being gay, I'm all about the inclusion of LGBTQ characters, but I feel like Mary Anning is an interesting enough person as she is, they didn't have to throw in same-sex affair with her (as it has no known historical basis).' False? There is apparently no evidence that Anning, pictured, ever had a same-sex relationship A spokesperson for the society added they would 'love Mary even more' if there was evidence she was gay, but hoped the director Francis Lee would treat her story with respect The spokesperson said: 'We are all hoping the press has exaggerated the Mary being gay part! Francis Lee is an amazing writer/director, I doubt contrived gay scenes are his thing! I hope that wouldn't wash with a straight-talking, gay pig farmer from the Pennines! 'But don't get us wrong, if there was proof Mary, a working class, Victorian, self-educated powerhouse was also a lesbian we'd love her, even more.' Slammed: Some on Facebook, including Harvard geologist Bretton Carter, pictured, have also criticised the film for adding the plot without historical basis Anning is known for making major discoveries in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs at Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Her work contributed to important changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life. However, due to being a woman, she was prevented form joining the Geological Society of London and did not receive full credit for her findings. It is also thought she was the inspiration for the 1908 tongue-twister 'She sells seashells on the seashore' by Terry Sullivan. She recently returned home from her envy-inducing break in America following her split from beau Adam Collard. And Zara McDermott proved to be every inch the globetrotter as she shared a sizzling clip from her family trip to Spain on Instagram on Wednesday. Revealing she's overhauled her lifestyle, the Love Island star, 22, shared the results of her strenuous fitness regime as she gushed over her 'new abs' while donning a bright pink bikini. Wow-factor! Zara McDermott proved to be every inch the globetrotter as she shared a sizzling clip from her family trip to Spain on Instagram on Wednesday The TV personality ensured all eyes were on her as she slipped into a two-piece, embellished with frilly detailing. Reality star Zara swept her brunette tresses into a loose bun to reveal her naturally radiant complexion as she went make-up free. Expressing her gratitude towards her personal trainer Rhys Fletcher, Zara shrieked with excitement: 'I just woke up, and for the first time in a long time, I have abs! Oh my God, thank you Rhys, I love you!' Earlier this week, the brunette bombshell posed up a storm in a teeny-tiny lemon bikini before slipping into a red two-piece for her impromptu photoshoot. Impressive: Revealing she's overhauled her lifestyle, the Love Island star, 22, shared the results of her strenuous fitness regime as she gushed over her 'new abs' while donning a pink bikini Sizzling: The TV personality ensured all eyes were on her as she slipped into a two-piece, embellished with frilly detailing Pleased: Expressing her gratitude towards her personal trainer Rhys Fletcher, Zara shrieked with excitement: 'I just woke up, and for the first time in a long time, I have abs! Oh my God, thank you Rhys, I love you!' For one sizzling snap, Zara showcased her incredible abs and plenty of cleavage in the yellow thong bikini. With her hair in voluminous waves, the reality starlet seductively posed against a palm tree as she basked in the glorious sunshine. She simply captioned the post: 'You come here often?' And Zara wasn't content with uploading just the one bikini photo in the space of 24 hours. Turning up the heat: Earlier this week, the brunette bombshell posed up a storm in a teeny-tiny lemon bikini before slipping into a red two-piece for her impromptu photoshoot Racy display: The reality star also modelled a strapless red tankini, which showcased her tanned and toned physique The former government advisor also modelled a strapless red tankini, which showcased her tanned and toned physique. Her raunchy social media snaps comes after she and fellow singleton Olly Murs, 34, have been 'liking' one another's Instagram posts for the last couple of weeks. X Factor star Olly couldn't resist but show his appreciation for a selection of the TV personality's sexy posts, including one in which she wore a neon green bandeau top. Dear Darlin': Her sizzling social media snaps comes after she and fellow singleton Olly Murs, 34, have been 'liking' one another's Instagram posts for the last couple of weeks She's a fan! The former government advisor in return liked this clip of Olly with Tom Jones, as did Vicky Pattison She returned the favour, by liking a clip of the musician and Tom Jones together. MailOnline contacted Olly and Zara's representatives for further comment at the time of publication. Her recent ex boyfriend Adam, 23, broke his silence on the romance rumours, telling FUBAR radio's Access All Areas show that he 'still loves her' and 'wishes her all the best.' The fitness enthusiast said: 'I havent really seen anything about that but... I mean, I dont really think anything of it. If she was to do that, I wish her all the best.' When asked if it was a genuine relationship, Adam, who broke up with Zara four weeks ago, said: 'I love her to bits. I dont really know what else to say.' Zara first confirmed she had split from Adam last month, taking to Instagram with a statement saying she was 'heartbroken' and 'will always have a special place in my heart for him'. She's set to make her long-awaited return to screens as the titular monarch Victoria. But Jenna Coleman was putting on a casual display in a simple grey checked overcoat on Wednesday, as she took a break from rehearsals for her latest role to grab a coffee in London. The British actress, 32, hid her trim figure under the cosy cover-up as she sipped a hot drink after heading into Pret A Manger, as Victoria's long-awaited third series is set to kick off on Sunday. Low-key: Jenna Coleman was putting on a casual display in a simple grey checked overcoat on Wednesday, as she grabbed a coffee in London As she headed out into the capital, Jenna was oozing casual chic as she sported the long grey trench coat, with a tiny checked print. The former Doctor Who star seemed to be taking inspiration from her period roles, as the coat also sported a pretty ruffle across the neck and lapel. Keeping her brunette bobbed tresses styled into loose waves, Jenna sported comfy blue trousers and trainers underneath her coat, sporting barely-there makeup as she sipped the hot beverage. Relaxed: The British actress, 32, hid her trim figure under the cosy cover-up as she sipped a hot drink, with the coat boasted a pretty ruffle across the neck and lapel Casual: Under the coat Jenna was sporting loose blue jeans and white trainers, with her brunette tresses styled into simple waves Jenna's outing comes as Victoria is set to make its long-awaited return to UK screens on Sunday, after the last series concluded in October 2017. The upcoming third outing will see the iconic Queen once again at odds with her husband Albert, as they face political upheaval thanks to the rise of the Chartists movement. As the series will document Victoria's life, Jenna recently revealed that she will be recast as the series progresses to accurate portrays Victoria at a later age. Exciting: Jenna's outing comes as Victoria is set to make its long-awaited return to UK screens on Sunday, after the last series concluded in October 2017 Big role: The star also recently admitted that she would have to be recast in the series, should they decide to portray the whole of Victoria's life Flawless: Jenna rose to fame after starring in Doctor Who as companion Clara Oswald, from 2013 to 2015 Speaking at a press event for the show's imminent third season, the actress, 32, also offered some insight into who she thinks should replace her. 'Theres going to come a point where I have to [to be recast]. The idea Ill be playing Victoria meeting Abdul is not really possible,' she admitted. 'But its going to be a hard thing to give over, especially as she gets older. '[Victoria] is becoming much more like everything that shes kind of known for her impatience and straightness and inability to hide how she feels. '[Recasting] brings a lot of challenges and its hard as an actor when youve taken it so far its hard to give it up.' Asked who she would like to see take the reins, The Cry star Coleman answered: 'Theres lots of people. Helena Bonham Carter would be good, but shes busy right now. Olivia Colman was so good in The Favourite but shes busy too.' Victoria returns on Sunday 24th March at 9pm on ITV. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence filmed an action-packed scene for the upcoming Bad Boys for Life movie. The actors were spotted on set on Tuesday night in Atlanta with Smith, 50, on a motorcycle and Lawrence, 53 sat in a sidecar next to him. The duo weren't able to go too fast however, as their vehicle was attached to a trailer with the camera equipment fixed to it. Wild ride: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are pictured on set in Atlanta on Tuesday night riding a motorcycle with sidecar Production has been ongoing in Atlanta for just over two months now with the movie actually based in Miami. In the first Bad Boys movie, it was revealed Smith's character Mike Lowrey is quite wealthy, with his parents leaving him a fortune, which might explain the fancy threads. The actor could be seen in a gold embroidered jacket and black pants as he took the reins. Lawrence, who plays detective Marcus Burnett, wore a more subdued outfit with dark jacket over a khaki T-shirt as he took charge of firing a gun built-in to the sidecar. Team effort: Will, 50, took the reins while Martin, 53, sat beside him firing a gun Production: Last month the duo were seen making an arrest as they filmed another scene in Atlanta The new story follows Marcus, who is now a police inspector, while Mike is in a midlife crisis. They unite again when an Albanian mercenary, whose brother they killed, promises them an important bonus. While he hasn't been spotted on the set yet, also returning from 1995's Bad Boys and 2003's Bad Boys II is Joe Pantoliano's Captain Howard. The rest of the cast is populated by franchise newcomers, including Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton. The cast also features popular musician DJ Khaled, although his character has not yet been revealed at this time. Sony Pictures has set Bad Boys For Life for release on January 17, 2020, which already has plenty of competition lined up. Popular franchise: The first Bad Boys was released in 1995 with the sequel Bad Boys II following in 2003 Sony is already developing a fourth Bad Boys movie, while there will also be a TV spin-off debuting this summer titled L.A's Finest Also opening on that date is Warner Bros.' Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan and Universal's The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle starring Robert Downey Jr. Sony is already developing a fourth Bad Boys movie, while there will also be a TV spin-off debuting this summer. L.A.'s Finest, which was originally being developed by NBC, will debut as the first Spectrum Originals TV series, debuting exclusively for Spectrum subscribers May 13. The series stars Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union, who plays Sydney Burnett, the sister of Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett. Matt Damon says he is a 'dinosaur' when it comes to social media. The Jason Bourne actor prefers to avoid using social media, but says he realizes it could prove helpful in his endorsement of charity campaigns, such as Water.org and Stella Artois' Pour it Forward. He said: 'I'm a dinosaur. I'm looking at the impact of [social media] and it's kind of undeniable. So yes, I think I will probably move into that realm somewhere down the line because it's so hard for us to message around this.' Matt Damon says he is a 'dinosaur' when it comes to social media... but needs to 'move into' it The 48-year-old actor has seen how powerful social media can be thanks to his friend Chris Hemsworth. He added to E! News: 'He is definitely in the middle of the social media world and I've been able to see up close because I'm with him all the time, the reach that he's able to have. 'So definitely in terms of the work at Water.org, it's definitely making it a hard case for me not to get on social media. I'll grow up.' The campaign aims to halt the global water crisis and Matt admitted his involvement has been a real 'eye opener' because he doesn't have personal experience of the situation. Inspiration: Damon's friend Chris Hemsworth has shown him the value of social media He explained: 'If you're raising money for cancer awareness or AIDS awareness, we all have family or friends who have been affected by those things, whereas clean water is not something that we can really relate to. It's not something that affects any of us or our friends so it's been an eye opener for me.' Anyone wanting to help the campaign can buy a Stella Artois chalice on their website, which helps provide five years of access to clean water for someone in the developing world. Matt said: 'You can go to the bar with your friends and by doing something really simple, you can have this profound impact on somebody's life in the developing world. That's just a really cool thing to come up with.' Love Island star Laura Anderson gave fans an inside look at her latest beauty treatment on Wednesday, as she flashed her peachy posterior in an Instagram Stories post. The former air hostess, 29, showed off her perky behind in a revealing black thong as she underwent a non-surgical lifting treatment. In the post Laura beamed as she explained to fans the details behind her new non-surgical treatment, after admitting she wanted to shape up her figure and 'get that curve.' Transformed: Love Island star Laura Anderson gave fans an inside look at her latest beauty treatment on Wednesday, as she flashed her peachy posterior in an Instagram Stories post In the video, Laura cut a casual figure in a cosy pink hoodie as she went makeup free for her trip to the clinic, flashed her perky behind in the black thong. Flashing a glimpse at her bottom, she playfully told fans: 'That's a little good morning for you isn't it? I had to rush to get here because I'm always late, can you see that lift?' 'I'm gonna be here to be honest because I'm trying out loads of different things, they've got this freezing technique it's called fat freezing. 'I'm gonna learn a little bit, something cold that touches your skin, so I'm always intrigued to know, everyone has different stubborn areas, mine is my back, my lower back love handle area. New look: The former air hostess, 29, showed off her perky behind in a revealing black thong as she underwent a non-surgical lifting treatment In depth: The star told fans she wanted to shift the 'love handles' and gain 'that curve' by undergoing the lifting treatment Determined: The star showed off her amazing tattooed behind in the revealing black underwear as she underwent the procedure The star added: 'I feel I need to push the love handles down into my back get that curve. I'm actually better and more brave than I used to be.' Laura has been single since splitting from 2015 Love Island winner Max Morley, 26, in December. The Love Island star recently revealed former The Wanted star Max George, 30, 'slid into her DMs' and she's planning on meeting up with him when she travels to Las Vegas for her 30th birthday. Flawless: Laura rose to public attention after her appearance on Love Island in 2018, and has been no stranger to flaunting her figure in a slew of social media snaps Laura finished in second place on last year's Love Island alongside male model Paul Knops, 32, but the pair called time on their romance in September, shortly after the series wrapped in July. Prior to pairing up with Paul, the Scottish blonde suffered her fair share of knock backs in the Mallorcan villa. Megan Barton-Hanson had no qualms pinching Wes Nelson from her and later, she was dumped a second time by Jack Fowler in favour of Laura Crane. Paris Hilton and Jack Whitehall have raised eyebrows after leaving flirty messages and liking each others Instagram pictures. The American socialite, 38, has scattered a bunch of flirty comments under the British comedian's social media, with the funnyman, 30, returning the likes himself. Jack was even reportedly a guest at her recent birthday bash and sources have reported that Paris thinks 'he's gorgeous.' Love is in the heir-ress? Paris Hilton, 38, and Jack Whitehall, 30, have raised eyebrows after leaving flirty messages and liking each others Instagram pictures after partying together at her birthday bash Speaking of the potential new romance, a source told The Sun that Jack spent time with Paris at her extravagant birthday festivities at her epic Beverly Hills mansion. 'She think he's hot and they've been hanging out as she wanted to get to know him better,' it was revealed. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Paris and Jack for further comment. It was also reported by the publication that Jack had caught Paris' eye when he presented at the BRIT Awards in February. Cheeky: The American socialite has scattered a bunch of flirty comments under the British comedian's social media Soon after Paris followed him on Instagram and dropped a series of flirtatious messages under his pictures. Jack returned the favour and followed her back, and has dropped a sole like on a black and white snap of her hanging off a stripper pole. Before her romance with Pete Davidson came to light, Jack was previously linked to Kate Beckinsale. Paris broke off her engagement to actor Chris Zylka in November. Mutual: Jack returned the favour and followed her back, and has dropped a sole like on a black and white snap of her hanging off a stripper pole In attendance: Speaking of the potential new romance, a source revealed that Jack spent time with Paris at her extravagant birthday festivities at her epic Beverly Hills mansion Birthday girl! Meanwhile, Paris was joined by the likes of the Kardashian sisters as she rang in her 38th birthday while clad in an eye-catching silver sparkling jumpsuit While chatting with The Mirror earlier this month, the Confessions Of An Heiress author seemed to downplay the likelihood of an new romances. 'I don't have time for love right now. I hardly have time for myself,' she said. Meanwhile, Paris was joined by the likes of the Kardashian sisters as she rang in her 38th birthday while clad in an eye-catching silver sparkling jumpsuit. Advertisement Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio sure knows how to sell swimsuits: by wearing the herself. This Brazilian bombshell - who modeled for Victoria's Secret for many years - shared new photos to Instagram where she was hawking her new line of swimwear, GAL Floripa. The mother-of-two launched the fun collection, which has the tagline 'Created in the Magic Island,' earlier this month with her sister Aline and one of her best friends. Brazilian ambition: Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio shared new photos from her line of swimwear, GAL Floripa Flawless frame: In one of the latest images, Alessandra has on a flirty one piece that hugs her curves just right while showing off a peek of cleavage thanks to a low neckline and a plunging front In one of the latest images, Alessandra has on a flirty one piece that hugs her curves just right while showing off a peek of cleavage thanks to a low neckline and a plunging front. There are thin straps holding the suit up and also a few across her body. The suit comes up high on the hips making the model's legs look longer. The stunner has fun modeling the suit as she stands next to a tree while looking down with a little pout. The cover girl is also seen running around on boulders while the sun sets. Smoldering: The stunner has fun modeling the suit as she stands next to a tree while looking down with a little pout Hope she has insurance for the shoot: The cover girl is also seen running around on boulders while the sun sets In earlier photos she was seen in both a peach colored one piece as well as a bikini. Small white shells hung from the strings on the bikini lending a beachy feel. Alessandra worked with her sister Aline Ambrosio and best friend Gisele Coria and they are manufacturing the product in Brazil. 'We always had this dream. We grew up in Florianopolis, which is an island south of Brazil, and swim was always like our second skin,' the model told People. All legs and arms: In this breathtaking photo the star is seen stretching while in shallow water; her string bikini is jet black Mogul: This 5ft9in bombshell was a lingerie model for Victoria's Secret for many years Magic indeed: The brand, which features plenty of swimwear, is called GAL Floripa; the tagline, 'Created in the Magic Island' Take a good look: The Brazilian beauty shared a look at the bikinis and one pieces on Instagram on Friday 'We were always in a swimsuit going from one beach to another and always wanted to have a bikini shop there one day. 'That was our dream when we were 18.' And it's for all shapes: 'Everyone should feel good wearing a swimsuit because it shows your body,' she said. 'You shouldn't be self-conscious about it. We all have different shapes and need to embrace that. We need to love who we are because that's all we have anyway. If we don't love who we are, who are we going to love?' Model logic: 'Everyone should feel good wearing a swimsuit because it shows your body,' she said Dreamy: 'You shouldn't be self-conscious about it. We all have different shapes and need to embrace that,' said the very slender supermodel She also said it's important to be happy in your suit. 'We work all year long to take those vacations and we take those vacations and we go somewhere nice and warm and we need to feel as good as it gets.' The name of their brand is a combination of the letters in their names (Gisele+ALessandra+ALine) and a tribute to their favorite beach spot they told the site. Sitting pretty: The mother of two added, 'We need to love who we are because that's all we have anyway. If we don't love who we are, who are we going to love?' Not a lot of material on this outfit: One of the bikinis is very skimpy with shells on the strings in front and on the sides Their Galactic Sun collection features one-piece and two-piece swimsuits. There is a '70s-inspired 'out of this world' feel. Alessandra's last swimwear line is Ale by Alessandra. 'It was so much fun to create the collection. We chose our favorite cuts for the swimwear and from there chose colors and fabrics,' said Alessandra. Dream big: Alessandra worked with her sister Aline Ambrosio and best friend Gisele Coria and they are manufacturing the product in Brazil. 'We always had this dream. We grew up in Florianopolis, which is an island south of Brazil, and swim was always like our second skin,' the model told People 'We chose comfortable fabrics that had a little bit of shimmer and they're a little bit iridescent,' she said. 'We have four different types of bottoms and five different types of tops that you can kind of mix and match and just whatever makes your body feel comfortable and gives the nice shape that you're looking for'. And she revealed the inspiration for the name of the swim line. 'I was like re-watching one of my favorite movies, Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty, and this song came up [on the soundtrack]. And there's this part where it says "the galactic sun" and I was like "Oh my God!" So I called them it was super late and I was like "I got the name for the collection!" And they were so excited and loved it,' she said. Prices ranging from $88 to 228. Netflix has issued a series order for an untitled coming of age TV series from The Mindy Project creator Mindy Kaling. Kaling will co-create the series alongside her Mindy Project executive producer Lang Fisher, which was given a 10-episode order, according to Deadline. Kaling will co-write the pilot script with Fisher, who will both also serve as showrunners and executive producers. New series: Netflix has given out a series order for a new coming of age series from Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher The series centers on the, 'complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl.' The show will be inspired by Kalings own childhood, though it's unclear if the show will be set in her hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kaling, 39, was born to Indian parents, who immigrated to America the year Mindy was born. Childhood: The show will be inspired by Kalings own childhood, though it's unclear if the show will be set in her hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts Coming of age: The series centers on the, 'complicated life of a modern-day first generation Indian American teenage girl' Kaling and Fisher will executive produce alongside Howard Klein and Dave Miner from 3 Arts, along with Universal TV. The writer-actress had previously been based at Universal TV for 15 years, before signing a lucrative six-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television in February. Kaling rose from Universal's writing program to land her first series writing gig on The Office, before she came aboard to star as Kelly Kapoor in the series as well. New movie: This new series is just the latest development in what's looking to be a big year for Kaling, with her new movie Late Night slated for release in June Young Mindy: Kaling, 39, was born to Indian parents, who immigrated to America the year Mindy was born This new series is just the latest development in what's looking to be a big year for Kaling, with her new movie Late Night slated for release in June. The movie debuted at Sundance in January, where it was picked up by Amazon Studios for a whopping $13 million. Kaling stars in Late Night, which she also wrote, alongside Emma Thompson, John Lithgow, Ike Barinholtz and her co-star from The Office, Amy Ryan. Co-stars: Kaling stars in Late Night, which she also wrote, alongside Emma Thompson, John Lithgow, Ike Barinholtz and her co-star from The Office, Amy Ryan Kaling also signed on to adapt the 1994 romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral for a new romantic comedy series. Kaling will create the series with Matt Warburton, with Richard Curtis, who wrote the original movie, slated to executive produce The series is slated to premiere at sometime during the 2019/2020 TV season. Cheers: Mindy Kaling raises a Stella Artois Limited-Edition Chalice for World Water Day to Pour it Forward and help end the global water crisis. Each Chalice purchased equals 5 years of access to clean water from Water.org for someone in need. Mindy shared a recent post as she is Joining Stella Artois and Water.org to Inspire Americans to Change Up Their Usual and Pour it Forward to Help End the Global Water Crisis. She is preparing to move back to UK later this week after selling her 1.2million Beverly Hills home. But ahead of her upheaval, Shirley Ballas indulged in a spot of back cupping in a bid to tighten her skin and relieve stress on Wednesday. The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, took to Instagram to document the acupuncture therapy, sharing a slew of pain-inducing snaps of the cups applied on her back. Acupuncture: Shirley Ballas indulged in a spot of back cupping in a bid to tighten her skin and relieve stress in Los Angeles on Wednesday Shirley was hoping the cups, which are placed on the skin and pulled up to create suction, would help maintain her youthful figure. And it wasn't the only treatment the former Latin dancer tried out to help keep her 'hormones in place' and stress at bay. Shirley also shared a video of her attached to a drip and told her fans she was feeling under the weather ahead of her return to London later this week. Ouch: The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, took to Instagram to document the acupuncture therapy, sharing a slew of pain-wincing snaps of the cups applied on her back Health kick: Shirley was hoping the cups, which are placed on the skin and pulled up to create suction, would help her maintain her youthful figure Painful: Shirley also shared some gruesome close up snaps of her back skin being sucked up in the cups 'Hey everyone, I'm feeling a little under the weather again so Dr Assandra has put me on a drip that's full of zinc and vitamins and so on and so forth. 'I just want to wish in London an amazing day, I'm excited to come back to the U.K I'll be home on Sunday.' Shirley also shared some gruesome close-up snaps of her skin being sucked up in the cups. Poorly: Shirley also shared a video of her attached to a drip and told her fans she was feeling under the weather ahead of her return to London next week She wrote: Getting myself all sorted to come home. I've seen Dr Sheigh for my skin tightening, sun spots etc Dr David for my back wet cupping. 'And today gone to see Dr Assandra to make sure all my hormones are in place, he also put me on a vitamin drip and checked my well being.' Shirley admitted her big move back to the UK has taken a toll on her health. She added: 'Also packed up my home took all week with @alannate11, thank you to them both. Feeling stressed: Shirley admitted her big move back to the UK has taken a toll on her health 'Now ready to ship my belongings to Great Britain. So it's been a very busy week. I'm excited to come home and see my mum oh boy do I miss her she's my partner in crime. 'My mum my friend my snuggle bunny. Exploring new beginnings with new friends with exciting times ahead. See you all soon.' The decision to return will see the brunette leave her son, Mark, in the US, where he is a pro on Dancing With The Stars. Shirley's move might have something to do with her new romance; she has been dating actor Daniel Taylor, since they met in Liverpool over the festive season, during her stint in panto. Her mother Audrey resides in the UK, so she will also be closer to her. by Emanuele Scimia The memo of understanding between Italy and China should foster the participation of Italian seaports in the New Silk Roads project. Trieste and Venice could become Belt and Road hubs unless the US and the EU throw a spanner in the works. Rome (AsiaNews) - Italys endorsement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which should be sealed during Chinese President Xi Jinping visit to Rome from March 21-23, has put the spotlight on the possible role of Italian seaports in the massive trade and infrastructure project that aims to link China to Europe. More than two-thirds of trade by value between the European Union and the Asian giant goes by sea via the Suez Canal, and the North Adriatic maritime transport route is the shortest way to reach inland parts of the Old Continent from East Asia. Italian, Croatian and Slovenian port facilities are more competitive in geographic terms than Piraeus port in Greece, which China Ocean Shipping Company purchased in 2016 in the attempt to turn it into the main Mediterranean gateway for Chinese goods. Pino Musolino, president of the Port Authority of Venice, told AsiaNews that Venice port has long worked to seize the opportunities that Chinas New Silk Roads strategy offers, with the aim of having positive spillovers on local business and job levels. On February 11, Venice signed a memo of understanding with Piraeus to improve overall capacities of the two seaports as important hubs in the Belt and Road scheme. The two port facilities had already set up a weekly ferry service last October. Venice port also has a new rail link to Duisburg, in western Germany, which is the European hub for the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt. In regard with the dualism between Venice and Trieste, the two ports actually service different markets, Musolino emphasized. Our facility is the main gateway to industrial clusters in northern Italy, importing raw materials and exporting high-added-value products. For its part, Trieste is focused on Central and Eastern Europe. Musolino believes North Adriatic ports should combine their efforts to better manage increased Mediterranean trade resulting from the Belt and Road plan. Zeno DAgostino, who heads the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, the public company that runs Trieste port, essentially agrees with the concept of more Adriatic hubs for the BRI. There are many Chinese companies that are willing to operate and invest in the regions port system, he explained. Cooperation to maximize the benefits of the New Silk Roads is possible among Italian, Slovenian and Croatian seaports, but that will mostly depend on the choices of private terminal operators. Strong connectivity with the rest of Europe, and a robust supply chain, could help Trieste port become the western end of the Maritime Silk Road. The Croatian port of Rijeka is another potential entry point for Chinese shipped goods. Croatia wants to attract more investment from China, particularly for the construction of a modern rail connection between Rijeka and Budapest. However, it is likely that Chinese companies will prioritize investments in ports such as Trieste, which is already well-connected. DAgostino noted that without the support of solid rail infrastructure and links, a seaport cannot become an international trade hub and a key Belt and Road node. It remains to be seen whether Italy will maintain support for the BRI strategy in the face of growing opposition from the United States and a number of EU countries, which have warned that Chinas activities and presence in Italian ports might imperil their security interests. Pete Wicks has been hedging his bets when it comes to deciding who he wants to take on holiday with him to Tenerife in the final episode of Celebs Go Dating. But the TOWIE star left viewers cringing during Wednesday's episode of the show, when it appeared he had finally made his decision between his two dates, Demi and Poppy. Just as it seemed Pete was about to ask Demi whether she would like to join him at the Canary Island resort, Demi stopped the Lothario in his tracks and firmly friendzoned him before he could finish his sentence. Undecided: Pete Wicks has been hedging his bets when it comes to deciding who he wants to take on holiday with him to Tenerife in the final episode of Celebs Go Dating Pete had previously taken Demi on one date and had also dated another girl he had met during the show, Poppy, a couple of times as well. The reality star began telling Demi she was the nicest girl he had met during the process, before she cut in and said: 'I really respect you and obviously we do get on really well, but I dont know about you but I do feel like its a friendship level. Do you think that or not?' However Pete definitely didn't seem to be on the same wavelength and replied: Im surprised youve said it. Do you know what? I genuinely really respect you for that. What's it to be? But the TOWIE star left viewers cringing during Wednesday's episode of the show, when it appeared he had finally made his decision between his two dates, Demi and Poppy Discussing the awkward exchange, Peter later said: 'Pete the pirate got pied! We went on a date and I really, really loved the girl. But she went, Actually, I see us more as friends." I was unhappy, I got friend zoned at the last hurdle, I got pied!' Shortly after being pied by his date Demi, Pete gives Poppy a call in the hope that she will still be keen to come to Tenerife with him. Not seeming too downhearted about the turn of events, Pete said: 'She gives me a run for my money, I think that's the thing with Poppy. I dated Poppy right at the beginning of the process. Ouch! Just as it seemed Pete was about to ask Demi whether she would like to join him at the Canary Island, Demi stopped the Lothario in his tracks and firmly friendzoned him before he could finish his sentence 'I had a couple of dates with her and then was told I was going to see other people and date other people because that's why I joined the agency, to go through this process. 'From there it was like everyone that I was dating I just didn't get on with quite as well as Poppy. I ended up going back to Poppy and luckily she said she'd come away to Tenerife. I've definitely made the right choice because she is a nice girl. 'I mean, the whole point of this is its celebs go dating, not, "So let's get married," I don't know if there's going to be anything further from it, but I made the right choice, she's a good girl, we get on really well and shes definitely quite feisty. I mean the last date we had before we came out here we had a row!' Awkward: Megan and Pete were both struggling to decide who they wanted to take with them on holiday for the final part of the show Unsure: During an awkwardly timed meeting with love guru Anna Williamson, Megan and Pete discussed who they felt most drawn to out of their dates so far Elsewhere in the show, viewers went wild for hunky host Tom Read Wilson who appeared at the beginning of the show in just a pair of tiny trunks. However at home, Megan and Pete were both struggling to decide who they wanted to take with them on holiday for the final part of the show. During an awkwardly timed meeting with love guru Anna Williamson, Megan and Pete discussed who they felt most drawn to out of their dates so far. Favourite? Megan admitted that she kept being drawn back to her date Tom, adding that they had lots of fun together but she worried that it was only because they were drunk Megan admitted that she kept being drawn back to her date Tom, adding that they had lots of fun together but she worried that it was only because they were drunk. Pete said that although he had a good time with Poppy he planned to take Demi out again because he hadn't given her enough of a chance. However things appeared to go much better for Jack Fowler and his date Kate, as they grew ever closer as they went to Siam Park in Tenerife to enjoy a steamy hot tub and champagne date. And, despite the brunette beauty effectively calling the Love Island star a 'd**khead,' and Jack, 23, making an epic gaffe about Australia, he insisted their date 'couldn't have gone better.' Heating up: In an exclusive clip from Wednesday night's show, Jack Fowler and his date Kate grew ever closer as they went to Siam Park in Tenerife to enjoy a steamy hot tub date Whilst standing topless sipping on champagne, Jack asserted: 'What I've heard, though, is that the Australian world map is upside down.' After being met with a confused look by a swimsuit clad, Jack continued in a state of genuine confusion: 'Wait, so what your world maps aren't upside-down?' With his date doubled over with laughter, the former Love Islander added: Wait, I'm being serious. Don't laugh!' Australian beauty Kate rolled her eyes as she told Jack: 'That is 100 per cent not a thing.' The best: despite the brunette beauty effectively calling the Love Island star a 'd**khead,' and Jack making an epic gaffe about Australia, he insisted their date 'couldn't have gone better' What? Whilst standing topless sipping on champagne, Jack asserted: 'What I've heard, though, is that the Australian world map is upside down.' No way! With his date doubled over with laughter, the former Love Islander added: Wait, I'm being serious. Don't laugh!' she rolled her eyes anf told him: 'That is 100 per cent not a thing' Love-struck: Later on, Jack told Kate: 'I feel like it's so easy to get on with you. I don't feel as though I have to dig for conversation. I feel like you're quite chilled, I'm quite chilled' 'I'm not the only one who thinks that, I'm not,' insisted the reality hunk, before gushing about their budding romance. 'I feel like it's so easy to get on with you. I don't feel as though I have to dig for conversation. I feel like you're quite chilled, I'm quite chilled,' said Jack. 'We're both just kinda d**kheads,' added Kate, which led Jack to exclaim: 'You've just called me a d**khead!' Speaking directly to the camera after their date, Jack confessed: 'Kate can call me whatever she damn well likes. This date could not have gone any better.' Say what? 'We're both just kinda d**kheads,' added Kate, which led Jack to exclaim: 'You've just called me a d**khead!' Happy days: Speaking directly to the camera after their date, Jack confessed: 'Kate can call me whatever she damn well likes. This date could not have gone any better' Gorgeous: And for Love Island's Jack Fowler, it was the ultimate feat of landing Australian beauty Kate for Tenerife For Love Island's Jack Fowler, it has been the ultimate feat of landing Australian beauty Kate for Tenerife, though he seemed doubtful over whether they had shared a full-on kiss on their last outing. While Kate branded it a 'sort of kiss,' she later clarified that she held back due to Jack's nut allergy, having had pecans for breakfast earlier in the day. Following another successful date, Jack took the plunge by asking Kate on the break, and the pair cemented things with a kiss in the snow. Celebs Go Dating continues on weeknights and Sundays at 9pm on E4. The fourth season of Married At First Sight UK premiered with strangers Stephanie and Jonathan tying the knot after their previous quests for love failed. The episode saw experts tell the respective pair that they had found them a match, giving them six weeks to prepare for their impending nuptials by telling their shocked friends and family and trying on wedding outfits. The engaged couple's nerves were put to rest as they both proved to be pleased after meeting at the altar for the first time - however, viewers didn't appear too confident in the longevity of their union as they noted Steph's 'trust issues'. Anything for love: The fourth season of Married At First Sight UK premiered with strangers Stephanie, 28, and Jonathan, 39, tying the knot after their previous quests for love failed After Jonathan spent his spare time building her a jumbo jenga, and Steph moved her mother to tears after trying on wedding dresses, the two finally met on their wedding day. And all appeared to be smooth sailing, as they happily shared a kiss after exchanging vows before celebrating the rest of their nuptials in a lavish reception. 'You walked in, I thought thank God,' Jonathan delightedly told Steph before telling the cameras: 'I'm really happy, it couldnt have gone better!' Steph also echoes his sentiments, telling cameras: 'I'm feeling very good about Jonathan. He's really easy to get along with. A lovely, genuine man. I have a really good feeling about him.' Exciting! The episode saw experts tell the respective pair that they had found them a match Big moment: The pair had six weeks to prepare for their impending nuptials and Steph was seen trying on wedding gowns However, while the premiere episode ended on a joyful note for the pair, who exchanged a further series of kisses at their wedding suite, viewers noted that Steph's 'trust issues' could potentially hinder their marriage. Earlier in the episode, Steph proved emotional and on the brink of tears, when relaying the story of her ex going for a night out and cheating on her. Fans of the show appeared convinced she was still in love with her ex, while also noting that her new husband's gaggle of female pals could add to her woes. 'Ohhhh they seem cute but i dont think shes over her d****** ex.' 'Yeah sure, match the guy with the attractive best friends to the girl with trust issues.they both seem lovely people though, so fingers crossed!' Thrilled: The engaged couple's nerves were put to rest as they both proved to be pleased for their choice of life partner after meeting at the altar for the first time 'Not over her ex': However, viewers didn't appear too confident in the longevity of their union as they noted Steph's 'trust issues' Oh no! Earlier in the episode, Steph proved emotional and on the brink of tears, when relaying the story of her ex going for a night out and cheating on her 'Steph is clearly too fiery for him! She has trust issues, he only has hot women for friends. Ok. #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Steph has massive trust issues and they've put her with a guy who hangs out with 10 women regularly? #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Stephs got trust issues....wait till she finds out Jonathans mates are all women...thats going to go down well...not #disaster #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Ohhhhhhhhh Steph isnt over the ex. Great way to start a marriage #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Jesus, Steph is a steaming hot mug of trust issues. This wont end well. Mark my words #MarriedAtFirstSight.' Delighted: The pair showered each other with compliments as they laid eyes on each other for the first time 'Trust issues': Fans of the show appeared convinced she was still in love with her ex, while also noting that her new husband's gaggle of female pals could add to her woes 'It breaks my heart that a strong, successful, hardworking woman like Steph has so little self confidence in what a great person she is because of how an ex treated her. The way she doubts everything really hurts my heart. #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Why does Steph keep saying variations of well at least he didnt do a legger? How low has your self esteem got to be?! #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'Steph's set herself a low bar if turning up makes a man good husband material #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'This lass has depressingly low expectations he didnt do a runner so it couldnt have gone any better #MarriedAtFirstSight.' 'I'm really happy': Despite the viewer reaction, the pair happily shared a kiss after exchanging vows before celebrating the rest of their nuptials in a lavish reception Earlier this month, the couples set to tie the knot for the new series of Married At First Sight UK were revealed, and one has already vowed that they will be the first to beat the divorce streak. Jack, 25, and Verity, 28, will join Jonathan and Stephanie in meeting for the first time as they walk down the aisle, and will then live together to see if they can make romance out of such a meeting. After insisting that she is trying the show as a 'last resort,' Office Manager Verity has insisted she and Jack will be the first couple to go the distance, as the previous six couples who made it down the aisle ended things in divorce. New faces: Earlier this month, the couples set to tie the knot for the new series of Married At First Sight UK have been revealed Married At First Sight 2019 Couples Jack and Verity He wants: A petite girl who is active, caring and open to new experiences She wants: A witty guy who is humble and emotionally honest and open Why have they signed up for the show? Jack has always gone for the wrong person, and his mum is desperate for him to find love. Verity brands it a 'last resort,' as she is looking to settle down and start a family. First impressions? Verity said she was pleased to see Jack 'wasn't minging,' while he said she 'looked lovely.' Jonathan and Stephanie He wants: Someone active and outdoorsy, kind, and shares the same outlook on life as him. She wants: Someone tall and dark, who likes cats, is equally laid back, funny, kind and logical. Why have they signed up for the show? Jonathan was inspired by his friends having arrange marriages. Stephanie wants to avoid 'the hard bit' of choosing a partner. First impressions? Stephanie said the connection felt 'natural and normal.' Jonathan said he 'felt the same.' Advertisement Speaking to The Mirror about the big day, Jack admitted that he felt sick ahead of walking down the aisle, as it finally dawned on him that he was about to marry a woman he didn't know. An IT Consultant from London, Jack admitted he chose to take part in the show after taking inspiration from his parents' 40-year marriage, and said his mum is keen for him to settle down. He also vowed to beat the show's track record that none of its couples have stayed together over the past three series, saying it is possible Verity could be the one. A spark? Speaking to The Mirror about the big day, Jack admitted that he felt sick ahead of walking down the aisle, after saying he wants to be paired with an active petite girl First kiss? The pair exchanged awkward pleasantries upon meeting at the altar, as Verity said that would like a witty, humble man Bonding? Before the big day, Verity also confessed the fear that Jack would not turn up for the wedding, as she donned a 1920s-style wedding dress for the occasion Meanwhile, Verity confessed that she genuinely feared that Jack would not turn up for the wedding, and began to feel the jitters as she donned the 1920s-style wedding dress. As she walked down the aisle for the big day - in scenes which will air later this month - Jack grins at her, and the pair exchange brief pleasantries before the ceremony begins. After the reception, Verity admitted she was pleased that Jack 'wasn't minging,' so it remains to be seen whether they will go the distance. Playful: Regardless it seems the pair went through with the ceremony, and enjoyed a raucous reception Going the distance? Verity also admitted she signed up for the show as a 'last resort' in finding love, adding she was pleased to see he 'wasn't minging' Progress: It remains to be seen how long their relationship will last, as all previous couples who took part in the show have now split Stephanie, a nurse from Somerset, seemed similarly unfazed by the idea of tying the knot with a stranger, as she said it had been three years since her last serious relationship. The blonde added that she wanted to dodge the obstacles of dating by being set up with a man, and said following the ceremony that it felt very 'natural and normal.' For Jonathan, a property manager from Bristol, the biggest relief came when he saw Stephanie for the first time, after controversially admitting it was 'all about the attractiveness.' Describing the moment she walked down the aisle, he added that everyone's breath seemed to let go when they locked eyes for the first time. Last series saw the pairing of Ben Jardine and his then-wife Stephanie, but the couple soon called it quits. Not long after Ben - who appeared on Celebrity Big Brother last year - admitted to cheating on his wife and getting another woman pregnant. He welcomed his first child with his ex-partner in November. In October, a source told MailOnline that Ben was 'downcast on the one-year wedding anniversary with his wife because his divorce was taking forever.' Married At First Sight returns on Wednesday 20th March at 9pm on Channel 4. Cyclone Trevor is expected to intensify as it makes landfall on the north Queensland coast. The weather bureau forecasts the storm could build to a category three system when it is forecast to hit an area near the Lockhart River late on Tuesday. Senior Meteorologist Gabriel Branescu says the storm is set to cross the peninsula on Wednesday. It should dump 400mm of rain in the region before moving into the Gulf of Carpentaria on Thursday. From there Mr Branescu said the storm could re-intensify while moving towards the Northern Territory. "(It's) likely to develop into a category three system but possibly even higher categories because the environment is favourable" Mr Branescu said areas between Cairns and Cooktown could receive anywhere between 200mm and 400mm of rainfall in coming days. Residents of recently-flooded Townsville are unlikely to be drenched again when Cyclone Trevor crosses the coast. A warning zone has been issued for areas from Orford Ness to Cape Flattery, including Coen and Lockhart River. Residents in these remote areas have been advised to prepare for heavy rain and gale force winds of up to 125 km/h. More than two-thirds of welfare recipients say Jobactive has not been useful in helping them find employment. A survey of more than 4000 Australians over the age of 15 also found nearly three-quarters of respondents had not met with a Jobactive provider in the last year. WA jobseeker Chad says he has to beg the service to help him. "I have tried to speak to the Jobactive agents about failure and rejection but they don't ever give you hope or make you feel optimistic," the 24-year-old said. "Instead they just say 'thanks for coming to your screening today, see you next month'." To keep their unemployment benefits job-seekers have requirements such as attending meetings with service providers and applying for 20 jobs a month. A Senate committee recently described the scheme, which is already under review by the government, as "not fit for purpose" and said it wasn't helping people on welfare find work. The government says Jobactive helps Australians find work by connecting them with employers and providing tailored assistance while finding employment. The survey also found 80 per cent of respondents who have been unemployed long-term are suffering from depression or anxiety. Close to 90 per cent said unemployment was either a factor, or the main factor, towards their mental health. Job-seeking app Found Careers' Andrew Joyce, who commissioned the study, says the unemployed aren't benefiting from Jobactive. "We believe that Jobactive is simply failing to keep up with the way that millennials engage with the world," he said. "Technology will need to develop rapidly and play a much larger part in this sector in the future." Independent analysis of the NSW coalition's costings shows the party would have to borrow an extra $7.3 billion to help fund its election commitments. The parliamentary budget office on Monday released its budget impact statements for both the coalition and Labor. The PBO found the government's net borrowing would increase from $38.6 billion to almost $46 billion over the forward estimates. The budget would be $700 million worse off under the coalition over the forward estimates compared to the current projection while it would increase under Labor by $1.4 billion. However, Labor's plan to abolish the 2.5 per cent wages cap with the intention of increasing pay for public sector workers wasn't costed by the PBO. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said if the wages cap crept up to 3.5 per cent it would leave a $5.1 billion hole in the state surplus over the forward estimates. Meanwhile, costing of Labor's plan to make public transport for children and students free did not factor in additional bus or train services being added to the network to service demand. The PBO said Transport for NSW had warned there was limited existing capacity to absorb demand. Opposition treasury spokesman Ryan Park warned the coalition would have to consider privatising more public assets to pay for the additional $7 billion in borrowings. Meanwhile, Labor's luxury car and boat tax - meant to raise $240 million to pay for more nurses - fell short by $13 million, according to the impact statement. On Monday NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley was forced to defend a video from 2018 in which he said young people "will flee" Sydney and are being replaced by "young people from typically Asia with PhDs". The footage shows comments made in September during a Politics in the Pub session in Wentworth Falls, the Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Daley went on to explain it was a statement of fact that young people are moving out of Sydney because they cannot afford to live there and are being replaced by international workers, mostly from Asia. "It's not a bad thing because Asian kids are coming to work here, it's a bad thing because I'd like my daughter to be living in Maroubra rather than St Kilda," he reportedly said. A spokesman for Mr Daley told the Daily Telegraph the Labor leader "was discussing cost of living and housing affordability pressures on young people in Australia's only global city". Scott Morrison says Australia's security agencies are giving the rising threat of white supremacists "more and more attention" after the Christchurch terror attack. Brenton Tarrant, from Grafton in NSW, has been charged with murder over the terrorist attack that killed 50 people and left another 50 injured. The 28-year-old was not on any watchlist in Australia or New Zealand, despite online profiles linked to him containing white supremacist material. "This is not a new area of activity for our security agencies, they have been monitoring this area for quite a long time," Mr Morrison told an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch on Monday. "Sadly, white supremacy in sections of Australia is not new. "It's a serious issue. It will always get more and more attention." Mr Morrison met with security agency bosses on Monday afternoon to hear about their responses to Tarrant's attack. Liberal MP Arthur Sinodinos said he had started to notice more racist rhetoric getting public attention over the past 12 months. "I have to admit that in the last year I've noticed particularly how quickly white supremacist views have come to the fore," he told the ABC on Monday. Labor leader Bill Shorten said Australia's police forces need a common definition of hate crimes so they can be tracked. "This country needs to be better at recording hate crime ... you can't beat what you can't measure," he told reporters in Perth. "I'd like our police agencies to be supported, create a category across all police jurisdictions to record a hate crime." Mr Morrison said the sheer number of disturbing online responses to the terror attack showed how hard it was to figure out who potential terrorists were. "Read some of the comments that have been made in relation to the stands that I or others have taken in denouncing these attacks," Mr Morrison said. "There are hundreds of them, if not thousands. This is what I found truly disturbing, in addition to the sheer atrocity." Mr Morrison also told social media companies to lift their game after the Christchurch shooting was livestreamed on Facebook. "There needs to be the capability to shut these horrific things down immediately," he said. "And if you can't do that then the responsibility of having those features available is something that really genuinely needs to be questioned." British counter-terrorism authorities have secured the removal of 310,000 pieces of terrorist and extremist content since 2010. New Zealand authorities are turning their attention to how an Australian man accused of killing 50 people in a terror attack on mosques slipped under the radar, and if he could be have been stopped. More than 250 Kiwi police staff, with help from the Australian Federal Police and United States' FBI, are still piecing together the details of Friday's attack in the city of Christchurch. But questions have also been asked about how the lone accused, 28-year-old, white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, formerly of NSW, was not flagged by security agencies on either side of the Tasman. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday confirmed New Zealand intelligence departments would be called in to probe whether something had been missed - based on Tarrant's travel abroad, gun collection and social media presence. "The purpose of this inquiry is to look at what all relevant agencies knew or could or should have known about the individual and his activities ... and whether they could have been in a position to prevent the attack," she said. Ardern has also announced she will present new gun laws next week, while calling for residents to consider voluntarily handing over their firearms. Earlier in the day, it was revealed Tarrant had bought four guns online from a Christchurch store, none of which were the semi-automatic rifles used in the massacre. It's thought the weapons employed in the attack were bought legally using a licence and then later modified. In NSW, counter-terrorism police assisting New Zealand investigators raided two homes on Monday, including one that's believed to belong to Tarrant's sister. The searches were not a sign of an impending threat, the AFP and NSW police said. Meanwhile an 18-year-old man accused of distributing a livestream of the shooting posted by Tarrant, and who is not connected to the attack, appeared in Christchurch District Court. The teen - who is also charged with posting a photograph of one of the mosques attacked with the message "target acquired" - was denied bail and could face up to 14 years' jail if found guilty. Facebook earlier said it had taken down 1.5 million copies of footage and authorities were last week left scrambling to stop its spread. Christchurch Hospital says 31 people are still being treated after the shootings, the worst in the country's history, with 10, including a four-year-old girl, still critical. Armed officers maintain a heavy presence across the city and mosques are expected to remain under guard until Friday, while many residents have begun to return to work and schools. The families of victims have continued with funeral preparations as they wait for coroners to release their loved ones' bodies. Police over the weekend tried to give assurances they were acting as swiftly as possible, amid concerns the delays have prevented the swift burials called for under Islamic tradition. While a major memorial event planned in the city has been postponed until next week to give families time, Ardern is scheduled to visit again on Wednesday, having on Saturday met with the local community. The federal government is expected to announce policies capping immigration at 160,000 and forcing a portion of skilled migrants to live outside Sydney and Melbourne. Cabinet has authorised the changes, which would slash the targeted annual intake of permanent migrants by up to 30,000, The Australian reports. A regional settlement policy would require a certain number of skilled migrants to live for at least five years in cities other than Sydney and Melbourne. The government will also provide incentives for foreign students to attend universities away from the two major cities, as part of its bid to reduce congestion in Sydney and Melbourne. New Zealand police probing the online presence of the Australian white supremacist charged with killing 50 in a terror attack on mosques are being met with resistance from some websites. Investigators have been looking into 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant's involvement in far-right chat boards and other internet activity since the attack in Christchurch on Friday. In one email exchange New Zealand police requested an American-based website preserve the emails and IP addresses linked to a number of posts about the attack, but were met with an expletive-filled reply. In a reply posted on the site, its founder described the request as "a joke" before calling New Zealand as a "s***hole country" and an "irrelevant island nation". Police in a statement confirmed they had contacted the site, but would not comment further. Tarrant posted a rambling 74-page "manifesto" online and foreshadowed the shootings on at least one other controversial forum popular among alt-right groups. He also live-streamed the attack, with Facebook saying it had taken down 1.5 million videos in 24 hours as authorities scrambled to stop its spread. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has written to global asking them to crack down on social media companies that broadcast terrorist attacks. "Social media companies are international businesses and it's up to the international community to force them to act," he said on Tuesday. Earlier this week, an 18-year-old man accused of distributing the livestream, but who is not connected to the attack, appeared in Christchurch District Court. The teen - who is also charged with posting a photograph of one of the mosques attacked with the message "target acquired" - was denied bail and could face up to 14 years' jail if found guilty. New Zealand's government has announced a probe into how intelligence agencies on both sides of the Tasman failed to flagged Tarrant as a risk. NSW Labor leader Michael Daley hopes no one was offended when he said young people were being forced to "flee" Sydney because their jobs were being taken by educated Asian migrants. The Opposition leader on Tuesday issued a qualified apology after comments he made in the Blue Mountains in September emerged. "Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs," the then-deputy Labor leader told the Politics in the Pub function in Wentworth Falls. "So there's a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs". He later explained it wasn't bad because Asian children were coming to work in Sydney but it was bad because "I'd like my daughter to be living in Maroubra rather than St Kilda (in Melbourne)" the Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Daley on Tuesday said he had been discussing housing affordability and a desire to ensure "all of our children" could continue to live in Sydney if they chose. "Many are being forced to leave Sydney because of high cost of living and property prices, notwithstanding some recent declines," he said in a statement. "In making these points, I could have expressed myself better. I meant no offence and hope none has been taken. "I apologise if any offence is taken." Mr Daley's predecessor Luke Foley was wildly criticised in 2018 when he used the term "white flight" when referring to struggling western Sydney suburbs. The New Zealand government ready to send the foreign minister to Turkey. Canberra could also reconsider relations with Ankara. During an election rally, the Turkish leader demanded the death penalty for the bomber and threatened the citizens of the two nations. "Crazy words" for the Australian opposition leader. Ankara (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Wellington wants to send Foreign Minister Winston Peters to Turkey, to respond in person to the words of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the Christchurch attack, in which 50 Muslims gathered for Friday prayers lost their lives. In the context of a campaign for the local elections, the Ankara leader exploited the attack on the two mosques on March 15 to stand as a bulwark in the defense of Islam and threatens to kill those who have anti-Muslim sentiments. During the rally held yesterday, images of the attack were even transmitted, Erdogan asked New Zealand to reintroduce the death penalty for the main suspect in the massacre of the two mosques. He added that he will "charge" the 28-year-old Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, author of the attack, if Wellington does not. New Zealands justice system has opened a murder investigation against the suspect; he will have to appear before the judges on April 5th. Meeting with journalists, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stressed that Foreign Minister Peters is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face" with the Turkish leaders, after Erdogan's unacceptable words. Hewill ask "urgent clarifications" from the Ankara government, after condemning the dissemination of the images of the shooting that could trigger a vendetta against their fellow-citizens among the Muslims in the world. Meanwhile, the Australian Prime Minister - country of origin of the author of the massacre - Scott Morrison has summoned the Turkish ambassador to Canberra for a meeting, during which he will ask for Erdogan's words to be removed from Turkish state television. "I look forward to seeing the response of the Turkish government - added the premier - before taking further action. But I assure you that all the options are on the table ". Furthermore, the Australian government could reconsider the travel visas for its fellow citizens who are planning trips to Turkey. In the past, relations between Ankara, Wellington and Canberra have always been good. Every year thousands of New Zealanders and Australians go to Turkey, to remember the thousands of soldiers who fell in the "Battle of Gallipoli" during the First World War. Erdogan himself recalled the story in yesterday's rally, strongly criticizing the Anzacs (an acronym that indicates the bodies of the Australian and New Zealand army) for their role in the conflict. And he added that he will return anyone who comes to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments "inside their caskets". Words that the Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten has called "crazy" and that will end up feeding the aims of those who "want to divide" and feed tensions. A senior Labor senator has made an impassioned call for Australia's political community to learn from the tragedy of the New Zealand mosque shootings and help the country stand against those who would tear us apart. Penny Wong hopes Australians will be moved not just to change their behaviour and grieve for a week, but to change the way race and faith are discussed. "And, more importantly, to recognise that there is a difference between hate speech and freedom of speech," the senator told ABC radio's AM on Tuesday. She was elected at the 2001 "Tampa election". "Since that time we have seen a willingness by some politicians to engage in language or actions which have not been, I think, in the national interest, have not been good for this country," Senator Wong said. "I hope that what we can do is take this moment, a moment of such sorrow and grief, such tragedy and such horror, and do something with it that is good." Senator Wong said one concrete action the coalition government and her own party could do would be to make sure they preference One Nation and extreme right-wingers like independent senator Fraser Anning last at the coming federal election. Politicians needed to say to Australians that the values we all as a country believed in were those of inclusion, acceptance and respect. "We have to choose unity over division. We have to choose respect over prejudice. We have to choose hope over fear and we have to choose love over hate," she said. "That is a job for all of us, whether it's the Labor Party, the coalition, you in the media or the whole community. "We have to choose the values which we want this country to have and we have to stand against those that we know tear us apart." Senator Wong's call comes a day after Prime Minister Scott Morrison decried the retreat to "mindless tribalism", saying Australians had to learn to disagree better. "As Australians we need to stand against the militant and lazy group think that distorts our public debate, stand up for our individualism and seek to think better of each other," he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. The Australian Greens will try to suspend independent senator Fraser Anning from parliament until the election over his racist attacks on Islam. While there are just two sitting days scheduled in the upper house before the May poll, Greens leader Richard Di Natale believes Senator Anning should not be allowed to return to parliament before he faces the voters. The ultra-conservative Queensland senator has been widely condemned for blaming 50 deaths during the Christchurch mosque massacres on Muslim immigration. Senator Di Natale said a censure motion, which has the support of the major parties, did not go far enough. "We need to make a strong and emphatic statement that Fraser Anning has no place in the Australian parliament," the Greens leader told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday. "We can do that via a simple suspension motion." Labor's Senate leader Penny Wong said Senator Anning should resign. "I hope that what we take from this tragedy is not just standing against Fraser Anning, a man who's never been elected, who's looking to peddle hatred in a pathetic attempt to get re-elected," she told ABC AM. "I hope that what we do out of this is to stand against hate speech in all its forms." Senator Anning entered parliament in late 2017 as a replacement for One Nation's Malcolm Roberts after he was found to have been a dual citizen and therefore ineligible for election. While Senator Anning ran on the One Nation ticket at the 2016 poll, he quit the party minutes before being sworn in after falling out with leader Pauline Hanson. Senator Di Natale also hit out at mainstream media for giving a platform to anti-immigration views pushed by some politicians. "The lesson from this is we can't continue to let this unfettered hate speech continue," he said. He said Senator Hanson's regular spot on Seven's Sunrise program had given her a chance to espouse hateful, divisive, racist and Islamaphobic views that were similar to Senator Anning's. The federal government is offering Adelaide more than half a billion dollars to boost cultural tourism in the South Australian capital. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the city deal being signed with Liberal Premier Steven Marshall will focus on growing Adelaide's innovation economy, supporting population growth in the city and across the state and boost its cultural and tourism sector. The $551 million in funding will be used to will help transform the Lot Fourteen sector on the edge of the city's CBD, where the new Australian Space Agency headquarters will be built. The NSW Labor leader wants to be One Nation in the bush and the Greens in the city, the coalition says after a video emerged of Michael Daley saying young people were being forced to "flee" Sydney because jobs were going to educated Asians. Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says the Labor leader's comments in September 2018 - which were made public on Monday - are "inflammatory, offensive and wrong". "He's trying to be Pauline Hanson in the Blue Mountains and (Greens Senator) Sarah Hanson-Young in the city," the Liberal minister told reporters on Tuesday. "What we saw in that video was a two-faced hypocrite." "It is completely wrong and irresponsible to single out a race and say that people are fleeing Sydney as a result." The opposition leader has issued a qualified apology over the September comments made at a Blue Mountains pub forum. At the time the then-deputy Labor leader said: "Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs." "So there's a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs," Mr Daley said at Wentworth Falls. The Labor leader on Tuesday insisted he'd been discussing housing affordability and a desire to ensure "all of our children" could continue to live in Sydney. "Many are being forced to leave Sydney because of high cost of living and property prices, notwithstanding some recent declines," he said in a statement. "In making these points, I could have expressed myself better. I meant no offence and hope none has been taken. I apologise if any offence is taken." Premier Gladys Berejiklian took aim at the Labor leader's "rank hypocrisy". "Mr Daley shows time and time again he'll say one thing to one group of people and something else to another group of people," she told 2GB radio. "He's consistently done this. He deals with the Shooters on one hand, the Greens on the other (and) tells them what they want to hear. This is just again another example of rank hypocrisy." Greens MP David Shoebridge said in a statement: "We must categorically call out and rule out racism in all its forms, it has no place in our politics." Meanwhile, the premier was spruiking her pledge to drop the weekly price cap on public transport Opal cards from $63 to $50. That could save commuters travelling longer distances up to $700 a year, Ms Berejiklian said. "This is really an example of us supporting our families and cost of living." A jail sentence in Norway for attacking a housemate wasn't enough to stop Jason Colton from repeating the violence in Melbourne, but with fatal consequences. The 42-year-old was sent to prison again on Tuesday, for up to 11 years, after fatally bashing and choking to death an Airbnb guest over a $210 unpaid bill owed to another man. Ramis Jonuzi died on the front lawn of the Brighton East home where he'd been renting a room for 10 days in October 2017. His death followed a sustained assault by three men, instigated by Colton. The 36-year-old had rented a room from Craig Levy and Ryan Smart who are already behind bars for manslaughter over the attack. Colton, who was living in the garage, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, though that plea was not accepted until prosecution evidence wrapped up in his murder trial earlier in March. He must serve at least eight years before he's eligible for parole, Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth ordered on Tuesday. She called the attack cowardly, vicious and unprovoked against a restrained and defenceless man who was trying to get away. The attack started because Colton got involved in the rental dispute "that was none of your business". "You were by far the most physically violent and were involved for the longest time," she said, noting he could only do all he did because of Levy and Smart's involvement. After Colton punched Mr Jonuzi until he was unconscious, Levy and Smart carried him outside and Colton dragged him around the front yard by his chin. With his knee on his victim's back, Colton choked Mr Jonuzi, and later tried to have Levy hit the struggling man with a wrench. Levy refused and called police. "Mr Jonuzi did not fight back, and posed no threat to any of you at any stage," Justice Hollingworth said. Colton told police a "pack of lies" after the killing, accusing Mr Jonuzi of being the primary aggressor and downplaying the nature and extent of the violence. Mr Jonuzi could not be revived by police or paramedics. After finding out Mr Jonuzi had died, Justice Hollingworth said Colton still called his victim a "scumbag" who deserved everything he got. It was revealed in a pre-sentence hearing that the assault on Mr Jonuzi was not Colton's first violent attack on a housemate. He served three months of a five-month jail sentence in Norway in 2013 for hitting a man in the head and holding him by the throat while he slept in one of several attacks after arguments about living arrangements. Justice Hollingworth said Colton had reasonable prospects of rehabilitation and noted he showed some signs of remorse, though fell short of full responsibility or acknowledging he had anger management issues. Levy and Smart are serving maximum seven-and-a-half and nine-year sentences respectively. A toxic waste clean-up in suburban Melbourne has only scratched the surface as authorities reveal a stockpile of hazardous and flammable chemicals much greater than first thought. Eight warehouses across Campbellfield and Epping are thought to contain 19 million litres of toxic waste, WorkSafe Victoria revealed on Tuesday. "It became clear there was significantly more waste material there than we first estimated," WorkSafe spokesman Michael Coffey told ABC radio. "It was extremely difficult to estimate what the volume of the waste was in these warehouses because they were floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall stacked with containers and the atmosphere inside was not safe." The clean-up operation has already been going for six weeks and so far workers have removed about 800,000 litres of the waste, Mr Coffey confirmed. Revised estimates of the quantity of chemicals is based on engineering drawings of the sites. "We know the substances inside are highly-flammable. We know there's solvents, there's paints, there's oxides, there's basically industrial waste," Mr Coffey said. Authorities fear the repeat of a fire at a West Footscray warehouse in August, when chemicals caught alight and posed a hazard to the community. "Our priority in this project is to get those chemicals out of those warehouses as quickly as possible," Mr Coffey said, adding that WorkSafe is collaborating with a certified processor to handle the waste. Investigations into the stockpiles continue and the penalties are "tough", he noted. "What we're seeing at the moment is highly-organised operations that are actively trying to avoid ... regulations." Premier Daniel Andrews described the situation as challenging. "WorkSafe is doing exactly what it should be doing - checking and then making sure there's corrective action," he told reporters. "Our first thing is get the clean up done. Then second to that, there's about fines and penalties and how you recoup cost of that." A Brisbane fashion designer has admitted fatally stabbing her husband during an altercation in their home five days before Christmas. Katie Anne Castel has pleaded guilty to the 2017 manslaughter of Jarred Paul Castel in Chapel Hill in Brisbane's inner-west. Castel threw a knife at the man during an argument in their kitchen over him coming home late in the evening, prosecutors said on Tuesday. The knife lodged in his chest. He pulled it out before he died. Castel, 38, is being sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday. An old car manufacturing plant in Melbourne will be transformed into a hydrogen fuel cell production centre to power special vehicles adapted to run on renewable energy. Toyota's Altona factory will become a renewable energy hub to promote the use of hydrogen to power cars, with a $3.1 million funding injection from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. "Hydrogen has the potential to play a pivotal role in the future because it can be used to store and transport energy from wind, solar and other renewable sources to power many things, including vehicles," Toyota Australia president Matt Callachor said on Tuesday. "Right now, the biggest factor to the success of hydrogen being widely available is the lack of infrastructure. "The sooner we move to a zero emissions society the better, and Toyota is committed to making this a reality." Toyota will contribute the rest of the cost of the $7.4 million centre, which will be repurposed into Victoria's first integrated hydrogen site. The centre will produce at least 60kg of hydrogen each day, with on-site solar panels and battery storage providing electricity to support the energy requirements of the project. Global annual demand for hydrogen as an energy source is expected to grow from about one million tonnes in 2019 to about 35 million tonnes by 2040. "Australia has the potential to be a world leader in hydrogen because of our abundant energy resources and proximity to emerging export markets in North Asia," Energy Minister Angus Taylor said. He said the federal government has also commissioned the development of an ambitious national strategy on hydrogen. ARENA chief executive Darren Miller said the Toyota plant would pave the way for more renewable energy-powered vehicles in Australia, which has been slow to take up electric cars. "The demonstration of low-cost hydrogen production and distribution is key to the uptake of hydrogen-powered electric vehicles in areas such as truck, bus and government fleets," Mr Miller said. NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has refused to issue an unconditional apology for saying young people were forced to "flee" Sydney because their jobs were being taken by educated Asians. The opposition leader on Tuesday admitted he could have used better language and said he was sorry if anyone was offended by the comments he made in September during a Blue Mountains pub forum. But he declined numerous opportunities to apologise without qualification during a 40-minute press conference outside Allianz Stadium. "Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs," the then-deputy Labor leader told a public function in Wentworth Falls in September. "So there's a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs." Mr Daley on Tuesday said the problem wasn't people coming from Asia but housing affordability in Sydney - which he says has already forced his daughter to move to Melbourne. "I have conceded that my language could have been better, I've readily acknowledged that and if anyone has taken offence to what I've said, I do apologise," he told reporters on Tuesday. "Certainly no offence was intended. "But I did make the point, and I make the point again today, that Sydney is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live in. Commutes are longer, people are having to move further away from the CBD, a fifth of Sydney families are suffering rental stress." Treasurer Dominic Perrottet says Mr Daley's September comments - which were made public on Monday evening - are "inflammatory, offensive and wrong". "He's trying to be Pauline Hanson in the Blue Mountains and (Greens Senator) Sarah Hanson-Young in the city," the Liberal minister told reporters. Mr Daley's predecessor Luke Foley was wildly criticised in 2018 when he used the term "white flight" when referring to struggling western Sydney suburbs. Labor and a prominent think-tank have rejected climate policy modelling which paints emissions targets as damaging for the economy. The modelling, authored by Brian Fisher from BAEconomics, says Labor's 45 per cent emissions reduction target would cause more than 300,000 job losses as well as drop wages by eight per cent. Labor's climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler says the modelling released on Tuesday is at odds with other analysis, labelling it as "complete rubbish". "(This is) yet another piece of dodgy modelling to prop up the latest scare campaign to convince voters and the business community to do nothing about climate change," he told ABC Radio National. "We're not going to be distracted from taking a climate change policy to the community that takes our responsibility to deal with this issue very seriously." Labor is yet to announce its full climate policy. The coalition's emissions reduction target of 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 would cost 78,000 jobs, the modelling found. Dr Fisher also concluded it would see wages drop by two per cent. But Energy Minister Angus Taylor has welcomed the modelling, saying Labor's targets are "reckless". The 45 per cent reduction target would hurt industries the nation relies on, such as manufacturing, he added. The Australia Institute's climate and energy program director Richie Merzian has questioned why Mr Taylor isn't using government agencies to model policies. Assumptions and costs regarding the future of renewable energy used in the modelling are wrong, Mr Merzian says. Penrith have avoided a back-row crisis with Hame Sele cleared of a broken arm. The Panthers said that scans had cleared him of major injury after going down in Sunday's NRL loss to western Sydney rivals Parramatta. Sele is now racing the clock to prove he is fit for Saturday's round two clash with Newcastle. To lose Sele for an extended period of time would have been a body blow with Viliame Kikau, who he replaced in the Panthers starting side, still three weeks away from returning from a knee injury. As well, skipper Isaah Yeo must this week pass concussion protocols after copping an ugly high shot from Michael Jennings, for which the Panthers centre was suspended. A Brisbane man was frightened his girlfriend would leave him when he slit the throat of one of her Bible studies peers during an argument about Satan and burning in hell. Joshua Benjamin Guy went alone to the home of Jehovah's Witness Benjamin Jessop one night in May, 2014, in an effort to persuade him to agree with his girlfriend's interpretations of the Bible. Guy's German partner had been studying the Bible alongside Mr Jessop, as part of her quest to join a religious group. But the woman had disagreed with some of Mr Jessop's views, and Guy was worried it would lead her to leave Australia, and him. "Because of these differences, it looked to you like she would not join his group," Justice Walter Sofronoff told Guy in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday. "You became worried that if she was unable to find a religious group and join it, that she might leave Australia and go back to her home in Germany. "You became worried that she might leave you, so that is why you went to Mr Jessop's home." Guy apologised for turning up unannounced, and agreed to meet Mr Jessop the next day to discuss his views on the Bible. Mr Jessop offered to drive Guy home, but on the way they got into an argument about a biblical passage. Once there, Guy snapped, pulling out a knife and holding it against Mr Bessop's throat. "You said, 'Are you going to tell me with a knife pressed against your throat that Satan is not going to burn in hell'?" Justice Sofronoff said. "With great courage and conviction, Mr Jessop replied 'Yes, that is what I am going to say'. "You then cut his throat." The cut was so deep Mr Jessop's throat muscles were showing. He told Guy he was dying, but Guy said: "It's not a death wound." Guy said he would go with Mr Jessop to a hospital. Mr Jessop tried to drive, but blood thinners he was taking meant he was bleeding profusely, and he became disoriented. Mr Jessop fled the vehicle when Guy took the wheel and crashed into a parked car. Guy chased him, still holding the knife, and tried to stop him from getting back into the car and driving away. Mr Jessop was in court on Tuesday, along with members of Guy's family. The court was told he was a resilient man who did not want to make a victim impact statement, and had overcome his injuries. Guy, 32, who pleaded guilty to a malicious act with intent, was sentenced to seven years in prison, but can immediately apply for parole due to time already served. She might only be the size of a 10-cent piece, but Melbourne Zoo's Southern Corroboree Frog, Jagumba, can be credited with the survival of her species. The Zoo's reptiles team will celebrate Jagumba's breeding milestones on Wednesday as part of World Frog Day as they prepare to release more than 1000 eggs of the critically-endangered species into the wild. Amphibian specialist Damian Goodall said Jagumba was collected from Mount Kosciuszko in 1999 as an egg, and had been actively contributing to the breeding program since 2001. "She came to us in 2001 and was the first female Corroboree frog that we kept here in captivity at Melbourne Zoo," he said. "This year, she will be 20 years old and is still one of our most important breeding females. "It is pretty amazing for a frog to reach that age and still laying viable clutches of eggs every year." The tiny and brilliantly-coloured Southern Corroboree Frog is an Australian icon. Restricted to the Snowy Mountains region of Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, the key threat driving this species towards extinction is disease. Mr Goodall said the Southern Corroboree Frog is considered to be one of Australia's most endangered frog species. But hope is not lost for this vibrant amphibian. "So far we've had a successful season, producing over 1000 fertile eggs," he said. Since the recovery program commenced, Melbourne Zoo has released over 5000 eggs back into the wild. The alleged Christchurch terrorist is being transformed into a propaganda symbol by some members of the far-right using a fascist digital art movement known as "fashwave". Brenton Tarrant's manifesto, released at the time of last week's mass-killing, is laden with memes and references to racist, far-right political forums he may have frequented. Some sites which host the forums - such as 4chan and 8chan - have now been blocked by Australian telcos. The capacity for semi-ironic meme culture to radicalise members of the far-right needs to be addressed, Monash University senior media lecturer Andy Ruddock says. "There are serious customers under there doing serious work," he told AAP. "They're writing their own history with this - it's white, it's masculine, it's Christian and connected to the Third Reich." Tarrant stormed a mosque in Christchurch on Friday killing at least 50 people in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called one of New Zealand's "darkest days". The country remains in mourning, reflecting on tales of loss and heroism from the Muslim families targeted by the white nationalist terrorist. While Tarrant called online for violent conflict he also urged followers to "paint, write, sing, dance, recite poetry" to build the movement. The massacre was live streamed and images from the bloody event are being repurposed into propaganda by some in the far right. The 28-year-old has been referred to as "ourguy". Images show the alleged terrorist holding his gun, which is covered in references to Christian victories over Muslims, overlaid with retro computer distortion effect and pink hues. They're produced in the style of fashwave - a music and visual art style which grew out of the ironic meme culture of the internet. "Aside from the horror of the attack on Christchurch, the attacker used social media and the language of the internet to make sure it had maximum impact," University of NSW senior culture and politics lecturer Uros Cvoro told AAP on Tuesday. "Fashwave is a perfect logical extension, it's an ironic reimagining of the 1980s - there's nothing ironic about murdering 50 people but (Christchurch) was done with that aesthetic." The internet capacity to mobilise followers using seemingly absurd humour was understood by Tarrant. "Memes have done more for the ethno-nationalist movement than any manifesto," the alleged terrorist wrote. Fashwave began in about 2015 as an offshoot of obscure electronic music genre vaporwave, according to internet culture database Know Your Meme. Overt fascist iconography, including swastikas and Nazi brigades, are set alongside images of Western culture - including Greek sculptures and lunar landers - and washed in nostalgic computer audiovisual effects. Tarrant's own Facebook profile, now deleted, contained fashwave images. The style is in its infancy, but it's building on old fascist tropes, Ruddock said. "Aesthetics were always important to fascism," Dr Ruddock said on Tuesday "It is important to getting people on board, it's about saying 'We're worth paying attention to'." Ms Ardern on Tuesday rejected the extremist's bid for notoriety by promising "New Zealand will give him nothing". The prime minister has vowed to never use his name. Security agencies in Australia and New Zealand are targeting right-wing extremists. The Australian Federal Police this week said it takes "all extremist groups seriously targeting criminality regardless of the background of the perpetrator". Several websites including 4chan have been blocked by major Australian telcos for continuing to host footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack. Telstra confirmed on Tuesday it had blocked access to 4chan, 8chan and Voat, the blog Zerohedge and video hosting platform Liveleak. "We understand this may inconvenience some legitimate users of these sites, but these are extreme circumstances and we feel this is the right thing to do," Telstra networks and IT executive Nikos Katinakis said in a statement. Optus and Vodafone declined to name which domains they blocked but the same platforms also failed to load on their networks on Tuesday afternoon. The ban on 4chan was lifted a few hours later. Vodafone said while blocking requests normally came from the courts or law enforcement agencies "this was an extreme case which we think requires an extraordinary response". "While there were discussions at an industry level about this issue, this is a decision Vodafone Australia came to independently," a spokeswoman said in a statement. Optus said it had blocked the domains after "reflecting on community expectations". Another large internet service provider, TPG, has been contacted for comment. A spokesman for the eSafety commissioner said she did not provide "any direction or advice to Australian ISPs in regard to the blocking of websites". The office does not have the authority to direct ISPs to block domains but can take action to remove content shared on Australian-hosted websites. The commissioner is encouraging social media users to report the video and any content supporting the attacks directly to the platforms. New star Canberra forward John Bateman is bringing a no-fear policy into the Raiders' clash with NRL nemesis Melbourne. The Storm have a poor record against Canberra, the Green Machine winning only 11 of 43 games between the teams. While Craig Bellamy's team has a good record over most sides in the NRL, there is something extra about their stranglehold over the Raiders. After Bellamy took over at the Victorian club in 2003, the Storm won 14 straight matches against Canberra. The Raiders' last victory over Melbourne came in the middle of their 2016 hot-streak en route to the finals. But Englishman Bateman is determined to bury the Raiders' horrendous record when they host Melbourne at GIO Stadium this Friday night. "I've watched the Storm play myself, obviously last year in the grand final. They're a good side with some world-class players," Bateman told reporters on Tuesday. "There's not really a burden over my head of losing against them or having this record against them. "I'm looking forward to going out there and just playing my own rugby league and I think everyone else will be doing the same." Bateman started his NRL career by putting in a flawless 80-minute performance as the Raiders smashed Gold Coast 21-0 in round one. It was the perfect first-up start, not only for the second-rower, but as Canberra search to find more balance between defence and attack. "We spoke a lot in pre-season about making sure defence is spot on," Bateman said. "Naturally we can all play rugby but it's about being more focused with our defence." AAP FactCheck Investigation: Could inaction lead to koalas becoming extinct mid-century or are koala populations rising? The Statement "If we don't do something by 2050 koalas are going to be extinct." Tony Judge, NSW Labor candidate for Coffs Harbour. March 19, 2019. "I think the scientific evidence shows otherwise, that the numbers (of koalas) are far higher than they have been in the past." Gurmesh Singh, NSW Nationals candidate for Coffs Harbour. March 19, 2019. The Analysis Coff Harbour candidates Tony Judge (Labor) and Gurmesh Singh (Nationals) are divided over NSW koala populations and the need for a Great Koala National Park in their electorate. [1] AAP FactCheck examined Mr Judge's claim that "if we don't do something by 2050 koalas are going to be extinct". AAP FactCheck also examined Mr Singh's opposing claim that "scientific evidence" shows the number of koalas "are far higher than they have been in the past". Concerned by the impact of logging and the forestry industry, regional environment groups and the NSW National Parks Association (NPA) engaged ecologist David Scott to map and report on koala populations along NSW's mid north coast. Scott's 2013 report led to a proposal titled "A blueprint for a comprehensive reserve system for koalas on the North Coast of NSW". It was adopted in December 2014 by then NSW Labor leader Luke Foley who committed $150 million for a Great Koala National Park (GKNP) ahead of the 2015 NSW election. This GKNP proposal has since been adopted by the NSW Greens Party. [2] The GKNP would consist of 315,000 hectares in the Coffs Harbour hinterland and would be Australia's first large national park dedicated to protecting koalas. [3] The park would protect an estimated 4550 koalas or between 20-30 per cent of all koalas in NSW. The GKNP became a 2019 NSW election issue because of the impact it would have on the Coffs Harbour electorate. Candidates are divided on koala populations, the negative impacts a GKNP could have on the forestry industry and any positive impacts from tourism. [1] Tony Judge's 2050 koala extinction claim is based on a 2018 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Nature Conservation Council (NCC) which estimated koalas were on track to face extinction in NSW by 2050. The 2050 estimate was reached using advice from the federal Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) in 2012, which listed koalas in NSW, Queensland and ACT as "vulnerable to extinction" based on two population estimates. "The TSSC estimated a 33 per cent koala population decline from 31,400 to 21,000 across the two decades from 1990-2010. The worst-case extinction year would be 2050 based on linear extrapolation from these two points," the WWF/NCC report said. [4] NCC CEO Kate Smolski said "koala numbers across the state, including on the north coast, have plummeted up to 50 per cent since 1990". "There are now possibly as few as 15,000 left in the wild. On current trends and without urgent action koalas are on track to become extinct by mid-century." [5] Richard Kingsford, a professor of environmental science at the University of NSW, said while the WWF/NCC methodology was sound, the report's 2050 prediction was "blunt". "It's clearly identified that clearing has gone on - that seems incontrovertible - I think the more difficult leap is what does that mean in terms of potential extinction of species." [6] A spokesman for NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton discounted the WWF/NCC report. "The NSW government's koala strategy - the biggest commitment by any state government to secure koalas in the wild - will provide more natural habitat for koalas, tackle diseases, improve research and fix roadkill hotspots. The NSW government has committed $45 million for this strategy. The WWF and NCC are simply playing politics and scaremongering." [7] Based on the evidence AAP FactCheck found Mr Judge's claim to be mostly true, as Prof Kingsford and Ms Upton discounted some or all of the WCC/NCC report on which Mr Judge based his claim. There was little evidence to support Mr Singh's claim "the numbers (of koalas) are far higher than they have been in the past". It's "practically impossible" to get an accurate count of koalas, according to the Australia Koala Foundation. Instead modelling is used to estimate koala numbers by examining koala habitats and the spread and density of koalas across habitats. [8] There is however consensus that koala numbers are declining. According to a senate report the estimated koala population before European settlement was as high as 10 million. [9] The Journal of Conservation Biogeography estimated an average decline of 24 per cent over the past three generations. [10] The senate report concluded koalas had "undergone marked decline over three generations". [9] The Australian Government Department of Environment's Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) told a 2011 senate inquiry there were approximately 300,000 koalas in 2010, down from 430,000 in 1990. [9] In South Australia and Victoria koala populations are "flourishing" and are not listed as vulnerable or threatened, although numbers are still declining according to the Journal of Conservation Biogeography. The decline in Queensland, NSW and the ACT is considered severe. [9 pages 17 & 23] [10] Ecological historian and forester Vic Jurskis told ABC radio in 2017 that the koala decline was not a crisis as populations had fallen from unsustainably high levels. "A stable (koala) population is the right size. If koalas are increasing there's something wrong and inevitably they're going to decline," Mr Jurskis said. [11] There was only one study, commissioned by the NSW Department of Primary Industries in 2018, which found any evidence of an increase. It found there were 10 times the number of koalas previously thought to be in NSW's north-east forests. [12] AAP FactCheck concludes Mr Singh's claim "the numbers (of koalas) are far higher than they have been in the past" is mostly false as there was only one 2018 NSW government study which found any increase. The Verdict Mr Judge's claim is mostly true - mostly accurate, but there is a minor error or problem. Mr Singh's claim is mostly false - mostly false with one minor element of truth. The References 1: 'Candidates respond to Great Koala National Park plans'. The Coffs Harbour Advocate. March 19, 2019: https://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/video-candidates-respond-to-great-koala-national-p/3675527/ 2: 'The Great Koala National Park proposal: 26 years in the making - Part 1'. Coffs Coast Outlook. June 5, 2018: https://coffscoastoutlook.com.au/the-great-koala-national-park-proposal-26-years-in-the-making-part-1/ 3: 'The Great Koala National Park plan'. National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) conservation organisation: https://npansw.org/npa/campaigns/great-koala-national-park/the-great-koala-national-park-plan/ 4: WWF Australia. September, 2018: koala extinction risk nsw - WWF-Australia 5: 'Great Koala National Park will 'destroy' the North Coast'. By Sam Flanagan. Coffs Coast Advocate. March 16, 2019: https://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/great-koala-national-park-will-destroy-the-north-c/3673555/ 6: 'Koalas face extinction in New South Wales by 2050 due to land clearing, scientist warns'. By Patrick Wood. ABC. September 10, 2018: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-07/koalas-face-extinction-in-nsw-due-to-land-clearing/10212236 7: 'Government ridicules WWF claim koalas extinct by 2050'. By John Ellicott. The Land. September 7, 2018: https://www.theland.com.au/story/5632638/wwf-report-says-native-veg-laws-will-kill-off-koalas/ 8: 'How AKF and Government got their Numbers'. Australian Koala Foundation: https://www.savethekoala.com/our-work/how-akf-and-government-got-their-numbers 9: 'Environment and Communications References Committee senate inquiry: The koala--saving our national icon'. 2011: https://www.savethekoala.com/sites/savethekoala.com/files/uploads/old/pdfworddocs/conserve/senatereport.pdf 10: 'Use of expert knowledge to elicit population trends for the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)', by C. Adams-Hosking et al. Diversity and Distributions - A Journal of Conservation Biogeography. 2016. Supplied to AAP FactCheck 11: 'Ecological historian argues koala population decline is not a crisis'. ABC Radio. RN Breakfast. November 27, 2017: https://abcmedia.akamaized.net/rn/podcast/2017/11/bst_20171127_0753.mp3 12: 'Acoustics provide new insights on koalas in hinterland forests'. NSW Department of Primary Industries. July 30, 2018: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/releases/2018/acoustics-provide-new-insights-on-koalas-in-hinterland-forests Protesters have clashed with police as roadworks began in country Victoria. There was a strong police presence along the Western Highway on Tuesday, as highway construction work began between Buangor and Ararat. Senior Traditional Owner Sandra Onus said after news spread that police were moving in to break up a community blockade at the site, more than 150 people joined the protest and put their bodies on the line to stop work. The latest clash comes after several lengthy delays to the project. Activists first set up camp at the site in June 2018 due to Aboriginal heritage concerns. "The existing freeway easement will destroy trees that have been culturally modified and used for traditional cultural practice for up to eight hundred years," Aunty Sandra Onus said. "They are of enormous cultural value to Tjabwurrung people. "As we have been saying now for over two years, an alternative must be found that will not destroy outstanding natural and cultural values." Police confirmed there would be a dedicated police presence along the highway all week, which would include support from Highway Patrol Operations Response Unit, Dog Squad and Mounted Branch. "Victoria Police respects people's right to protest peacefully, but will not tolerate those who break the law and simply won't tolerate any anti-social behaviour or violence," a spokeswoman said. AAP FactCheck Investigation: Do NSW residents suffer from the highest power prices in the developed world? The Statement "Power prices in NSW are the highest in the developed world". NSW Labor election advertisement. March 20, 2019. The Analysis AAP FactCheck examined NSW Labor's campaign claim that NSW power prices are the most expensive in the developed world. [1] AAP FactCheck found no evidence to support the claim. The United Nations classifies countries into one of three broad categories: developed economies, economies in transition and developing economies. Developed countries include the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. [2] NSW Labor did not respond to AAP FactCheck requests to provide a source for its campaign claim. A NSW Labor Facebook post on March 20, 2019 about electricity prices uses a headline from a July 2016 report in The Sunday Telegraph which states "Power shock: NSW families pay highest electricity prices in the world". [3] The story quotes "new research by a leading economics consultancy" and states the "international price comparison by Melbourne-based CME was done for One Big Switch". The story further states News Corp Australia, publisher of The Daily Telegraph, is a shareholder of One Big Switch. [4] AAP FactCheck examined the same report from the same independent Australian economics consultancy CME Carbon + Energy Markets MarkIntell dated July 2016 and found Victoria and South Australia both had more expensive electricity prices than NSW and most households in Europe, Great Britain, Japan and the United States. [5] An August 2017 report from the the same Carbon + Energy Markets' MarkIntell consultancy showed South Australia had the highest electricity prices in the world. NSW was ranked fifth most expensive on the MarkIntell table behind Denmark, Germany and Italy. [6] Two other reports showed South Australia, not NSW, has the most expensive electricity prices compared to other Australian states and developed countries. A 2018 list of countries and regions with the highest electricity prices, based on figures from Finnish research and advisory firm VaasaEtt and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), ranked South Australia third behind Germany (number two) and Denmark (number one). NSW was ranked fifth after Spain. German data provider Statista, which published the list, noted "the situation is a far cry from 2004, when Australia claimed the fourth cheapest electricity prices in the OECD". [7] According to the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) 2018 annual report which compared electricity price trends among Australian states, South Australia had the highest prices with NSW second in 2017/2018. The AEMC report titled Residential Electricity Price Trends further predicted NSW would drop from second highest to third behind South Australia and West Australia in 2018/19. The AEMC annual reports are prepared at the request of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council. The AEMC report also predicted NSW residents would reap further price savings as the NSW Government was "delivering a range of new programs to provide clean and affordable energy for the people of NSW. These programs will assist households and businesses to save money on their energy bills." [8] Two other reports which compared Australian electricity prices with developed countries showed Australia was far from the most expensive. A 2017 ACCC report which compared retail electricity prices among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries found Australia was one of the cheapest. In a list of 30 countries Australia was the 22nd most expensive or the eighth cheapest based on 2016 electricity prices. Portugal was the most expensive and Norway was the cheapest. [9] International Energy Agency statistics on world energy prices for the first quarter of 2018 showed Australia was ranked eighth most expensive among 35 developed nations for household electricity prices per megawatt-hour. Megawatt-hour is the period of time for which the amount of electrical power is used. [10] The Verdict False - The checkable claims are all false The References 1: 'Facebook the medium as pollies target voters with mixed messages'. By Nigel Gladstone. The Sydney Morning Herald. March 20, 2019: https://www.smh.com.au/nsw-election-2019/facebook-the-medium-as-pollies-target-voters-with-mixed-messages-20190227-p510hx.html 2: 'World Economic Situation and Prospects. Country classification. Data sources, country classifications and aggregation methodology'. United Nations. 2014: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/wesp_current/2014wesp_country_classification.pdf 3: 'The Liberals & Nationals are to blame for electricity prices' NSW Labor. Facebook. March 20, 2019: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2255843687997671 4: 'Power shock: NSW families pay highest electricity prices in the world'. By John Rolfe. The Sunday Telegraph. July 10, 2016: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/power-shock-nsw-families-pay-highest-electricity-prices-in-the-world/news-story/75368ed35e0a817d403868636253e616 5: 'International comparison of Australia's household electricity prices, a report prepared for consumer network, One Big Switch'. CME Carbon + Energy Markets MarkIntell. July 2016: http://cmeaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/160708-FINAL-REPORT-OBS-INTERNATIONAL-PRICE-COMPARISON.pdf 6: 'Australian households pay highest power prices in world'. By Ben Potter and Andrew Tillett. Financial Review. August 5, 2017: https://www.afr.com/news/australian-households-pay-highest-power-prices-in-world-20170804-gxp58a 7: 'Australia's electricity affordability problem', By Simon O'Dea. Statista. July 18, 2018: https://www.statista.com/chart/14751/australias-electricity-affordability-problem/ 8: 'Residential Electricity Price Trends'. Australian Energy Market Commission annual report. December 21, 2018. Trends in representative residential electricity prices across States 2017/18 - 20/21 (Page 5): https://www.datocms-assets.com/6959/1545274459-2018-residential-electricity-price-trends-final-report.PDF 9: 'Retail Electricity Pricing Inquiry' preliminary report. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). September 22, 2017 (Page 24): https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Retail%20Electricity%20Inquiry%20-%20Preliminary%20report%20-%2013%20November%202017.pdf 10: 'Key world energy statistics'. International Energy Agency. 2018: https://www.iea.org/statistics/kwes/prices/ Francesco Cali, shown in a 2008 photo released by Italian police, was the first reputed New York mob boss murdered in 34 years, according to US media US police on Saturday arrested a man whom they expect to charge with the murder of reputed New York mafia boss Francesco "Frank" Cali. The purported head of the Gambino crime family, also known as "Franky Boy," was shot six times, then hit by a blue truck outside his brick home in the New York borough of Staten Island late Wednesday. Anthony Comello, 24, was taken into custody in New Jersey, apparently without incident, and had not yet been returned to New York, a New York Police Department official told AFP, on the condition of anonymity. Upon the suspect's handing over to New York, "we are very confident that he will be charged with the murder of Mr Cali," the official said. US media reported that Cali's killing marked the first murder of a New York mob boss in 34 years since the death of Paul Castellano -- another Gambino family boss -- by order of John Gotti, who was known as Teflon Don. People flee as heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces on March 18, 2019 A shroud of black smoke covered the Islamic State group's last redoubt in eastern Syria on Monday as US-backed forces battled holdout jihadists after a night of shelling and heavy air strikes. Even as it fought IS, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces also came under threat from Damascus, which has sworn to retake the third of the country the SDF controls. The SDF has been closing in on IS fighters holed up in a small sliver of territory in the eastern village of Baghouz since January. A cluster of rudimentary tents and vehicles is all that remains of the once-sprawling "caliphate" declared across large swaths of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014. A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces fires a truck-mounted gun toward a part of Baghouz where remaining Islamic State group fighters are holding out in their last position, on March 18, 2019 Tens of thousands of men, women and children have poured out of the small farming village in recent weeks, slowing down an SDF offensive aimed at crushing the last vestige of the jihadist proto-state. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the SDF pummelled the IS pocket with shelling on Sunday night, pushing deeper into the jihadist encampment. Ground battles and artillery attacks continued on Monday as the Kurdish-led force worked to consolidate its most recent gains, SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said. "Clashes are ongoing between the SDF and IS" as the Kurdish-led forces secured positions it had seized inside the camp, he said. On a hilltop overlooking the bombed-out bastion earlier, an AFP correspondent saw US-backed fighters training their guns on the camp. "There, over there! Near the tree next to the bridge," a combattant shouted out, prompting another to unleash a torrent of machinegun fire in that direction. Men -- believed to be jihadists -- could be seen shuffling inside the redoubt, beneath plumes of dark smoke that obscured most of the encampment. - Kurdish areas to be 'liberated' - Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub (C) at a joint press conference in Damascus on March 18, 2019 with Iraq's Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi (R) and Iran's Chief of Staff Mohammad Hossein Bagheri "The SDF ground offensive has been very effective," coalition spokesman Sean Ryan said. The SDF said on Sunday night that its forces had captured positions inside the camp. Syria's minority Kurds have largely stayed out of Syria's eight-year civil war, instead carving out a de-facto autonomous region in the northeast of the country. The Kurdish-led SDF now controls some 30 percent of the nation's territory, including areas from which it has expelled IS. Syrian Defence Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub on Monday said his government would recapture territory controlled by the SDF in the same way it "liberated" other parts of the country. "The only card that remains in the hands of the Americans and their allies is the SDF," he said. Men believed to be Islamic State fighters walk amid flames and smoke in the jihadist group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz on March 18, 2019 "The Syrian government will deal with this issue in one of two ways: a reconciliation agreement or liberating the territory they control by force," he said. A shock announcement by President Donald Trump of a US troop pullout sent the Kurds scrambling to mend ties with Damascus to protect them from a feared Turkish offensive, but ongoing talks have yet to yield any results. Eight years in to a conflict that has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions, President Bashar al-Assad's forces are in control of almost two-thirds of the country. But the northeastern swathe held by the SDF, as well as the jihadist-held northwestern region of Idlib, remain beyond its control. - Exodus - It remains unclear exactly how many people remain inside the last IS pocket, but SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel on Sunday said those quitting the area put the number at up to 5,000 people. More than 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have quit the last IS redoubt since January 9, according to the SDF. They include 37,000 civilians, 5,000 jihadists and around 24,000 of their relatives. An additional 520 IS fighters have been captured in SDF operations. The huge numbers have flummoxed Kurdish forces, who are struggling to accomodate jihadists in Kurdish-run detention centres further north. The exodus of civilians and relatives of fighters has also sparked a humanitarian crisis in Kurdish-run camps for the displaced. The biggest of them is now struggling to host 70,000 people, including at least 25,000 school-aged children, according to the International Rescue Committee. More than 123 people -- overwhelmingly under-fives -- have died on the way or shortly after arriving at the main camp of Al-Hol, the aid group said. While SDF taking Baghouz would mark the end of the IS "caliphate", the jihadists still retain a presence in eastern Syria's vast Badia desert and have continued to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held territory. In an audio recording released Monday, a spokesman for the group called on supporters in SDF-controlled areas to carry out "revenge" attacks. The US Supreme Court considers whether to take a case on black voting rights and Virginia's electoral map The US Supreme Court on Monday took up a lower court's ruling that some Virginia districts were deliberately redrawn to diminish the impact of the African American vote -- an urgent issue as the eastern swing state prepares for legislative elections. The state, whose population is nearly 20-percent black, underwent redistricting in 2011 by the House of Delegates, the lower house of the state legislature. Residents mounted a legal challenge, arguing that the electoral map was drawn to concentrate African American voters in certain districts, in order to diminish their influence in other districts. The stakes are important in a country where most blacks vote for Democrats, while whites tend to favor Republicans. A lower court found in favor of the plaintiffs but the Supreme Court, the first time it took up the issue, found that the court's arguments were flawed and sent the case back. In its new ruling, the lower court found that voters' skin color had played a preponderant role in the mapping of 11 districts, in violation of the US Constitution. The court's judges approved a redistricting map drawn up to correct the 2011 map, and analysts say the changes appear to favor Democrats. The House of Delegates' majority Republicans are appealing the lower court ruling to the Supreme Court. The nation's top court must first decide whether the Republican members of the lower house have standing to appeal the ruling. Normally, it would fall to the state's attorney general to appeal but Virginia's attorney general, a Democrat, has opted not to do so. - Invitation to 'discord' - At Monday's hearing, Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the high court's liberal wing warned accepting the Republicans' standing to appeal "would invite complete discord in the state." The Trump administration supports the Virginia Republicans' position on the substance of the case. But it opposes granting them standing to appeal, warning that would have "far-reaching and unexpected consequences" in states like Virginia where Republicans and Democrats share power. If the Supreme Court decides in favor of the Republicans' appeal, it will then proceed to rule on the substance of the case. Its task is complicated because the Voting Rights Act, the 1965 law that sought to remove barriers to African Americans exercising their right to vote, allows black voters to be grouped in districts to ensure they have some representatives. But it is illegal to concentrate black voters in certain districts in order to weaken their overall electoral impact. In the Virginia case, the 2011 redistricting sought to satisfy the requirements of the Voting Rights Act by capping the number of black voters in a district at 55 percent. "It needs to be a little more tailored than that," said Justice Stephen Breyer. The Supreme Court should rule in the next few months. It's possible, though, that would come too late for the next state election on November 5, when all seats in Virginia's House of Delegates and Senate are up for grabs. Electoral redistricting, or gerrymandering, as it is widely known, has long been used by American political parties to gain advantage in elections. The word gerrymandering was inspired by a 19th century Republican governor, Elbridge Gerry, who redrew a district in his state to such an extent it was said to resemble a salamander. Turkish police fired water cannon to break up supporters of the main pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP after the activist's death The death of a Kurdish activist on hunger strike in a Turkish prison sparked clashes between supporters and police near his grave on Monday as his lawyers and Kurdish party officials said he had committed suicide. Zulkuf Gezen, who died late Sunday, was one of scores of detainees on hunger strike in support of a Kurdish lawmaker in Diyarbakir, a sensitive region where Turkish forces have battled Kurdish militants. Clashes erupted on Monday when police firing water cannon to break up supporters of the main pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP who had gathered at his grave, an AFP reporter at the scene said. "A prisoner lost his life yesterday. If the justice ministry had fulfilled its responsibility, our friend who lost his life would still be alive," HDP co-leader Sezai Temelli told reporters. Gezen's lawyers said he had hanged himself. He had been in prison for 12 years on charges of membership of the PKK Kurdish militant group. In a statement, the public prosecutor's office said Gezen had committed suicide in a bathroom, but rejected claims he killed himself as part of his protest. Clashes broke out with police after the Kurdish prisoner's lawyers said he had committed suicide in prison and supporters tried to reach his grave A lawmaker from HDP or People's Democratic Party (HDP), Leyla Guven, launched a hunger strike on November 8 while in jail to protest the prison conditions for Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. She has been released but other detainees followed her lead. Ocalan is one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984. It is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. Ocalan has been serving a life sentence for treason in an island prison near Istanbul since his capture in 1999. The HDP remains under the scrutiny of Turkish authorities, which accuse the party of links to the PKK. Several of its MPs are behind bars, including former party leader Selahattin Demirtas. At least 171 prisoners are on hunger strike, according to the party, which has urged the international community to take action. The PKK initially sought independence and more recently autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority. Fighting has left tens of thousands dead. US President Donald Trump, pictured in the Oval Office on March 15, 2019, courted controversy when he played down the wider implications of the gunman's ideology US President Donald Trump waded Monday into the controversy over his response to the massacre of 50 people in two New Zealand mosques, complaining that he was being blamed for the tragedy. "The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand," Trump told his more than 59 million followers on Twitter. "They will have to work very hard to prove that one," he tweeted. "So Ridiculous!" Trump appeared to be referring to criticism of his response to the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a 28-year-old white supremacist claiming to be resisting genocide against white people. In a lengthy written rant, the alleged killer referred to Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity." Trump did on several occasions tweet and speak to condemn the "horrible" attack and offer any US assistance to New Zealand's authorities. However, he courted controversy Friday when he played down the wider implications of the gunman's ideology, saying that violent white nationalism is not a growing problem. "It's a small group of people," he said. Trump's homeland security chief, Kirstjen Nielsen, gave a distinctly different emphasis Monday in a speech where she said that "domestic terrorists," like the New Zealand killer, increasingly resemble the better known threat from Islamist groups. - 'Mass murder tactics' - "The primary terrorist threat to the United States continues to be from Islamist militants and those they inspire, but we should not and cannot and must not ignore the real and serious danger posed by domestic terrorists," she said. "They are using the same do-it-yourself, mass murder tactics as we saw with the horrible assault last week in New Zealand against Muslim worshipers," she said. Trump's dismissal of a broader security threat led to a flurry of criticism from Democrats and other critics over the weekend. They pointed to his frequent labeling of illegal immigrants as invaders, his high-profile restrictions on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, and a lukewarm condemnation of a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. "Time and time again, this president has embraced and emboldened white supremacists -- and instead of condemning racist terrorists, he covers for them. This isn't normal or acceptable," tweeted Kirsten Gillibrand, who formally entered the Democratic race for the White House Sunday. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney went on television Sunday to push back, saying "the president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that." "To simply ask the question every time something like this happens overseas, or even domestically, to say, 'Oh, my goodness, it must somehow be the president's fault,' speaks to a politicization of everything that I think is undermining sort of the institutions that we have in the country today," he said on Fox television. Indian billionaire Anil Ambani settled his debt with Ericsson after the Supreme Court warned that he would be jailed if he refused to pay Indian tycoon Anil Ambani has settled a multi-million debt with Sweden's Ericsson, the company said Monday, after judges threatened the billionaire with jail if he did not pay his dues. The Supreme Court in February found that Ambani, 59, had refused to pay telecom giant Ericsson 5.5 billion rupees ($77 million), as previously ordered by India's top court. The judges warned that Ambani would be jailed for three months if 4.5 billion rupees were not stumped up within a month. His firm Reliance Communications -- which is some $4 billion dollars in debt after a brutal telecom price war with his brother Mukesh, India's richest man -- said it would comply with the ruling. "We've received complete payments, as mandated by the Supreme Court, today from Reliance Communications," a spokesperson for Ericsson told AFP on Monday, without elaborating on the details of the settlement. Reliance Communications could not be reached for comment. Shares of Reliance Communications fell by almost 10 percent on India's Bombay Stock Exchange at the close of markets Monday, just the latest sharp dip. The company filed for insolvency after Reliance Communications failed to sell assets to pay back lenders. The dispute with Ericsson started when the Swedish firm sought to recoup 16 billion rupees from Reliance Communications. They reached a settlement last May, but the Indian company failed to meet payment deadlines. Ambani had hoped to avoid insolvency proceedings by offloading his company's telecom tower and spectrum business to his brother's Reliance Jio for $2.4 billion. But the deal has hit regulatory hurdles and opposition from creditors. Reliance Communications faces liquidation if it is unable to pay back its debts by November. The Ambani brothers engaged in a bitter feud for control of Reliance Industries after their rags-to-riches father Dhirubhai Ambani died in 2002 without a will. The pair ended up splitting the Reliance group, which was India's most valuable listed company. Experts expect flying taxis, a model of which is pictured here, to take to the skies by 2025 We've all dreamed while stuck in traffic jams of being able to just lift off and fly over the gridlock. According to experts gathered this week at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, that is likely to happen sooner than later, with flying taxis expected to take to the skies by 2025. "People have been dreaming about it for decades on paper, and now the technology is here," said Michael Thacker, executive vice-president for technology and innovation at Bell. "The only question is, what are we going to do with it?" Thacker said his company has joined with ride-hailing app Uber and several aeronautics firms, including France's Safran, to create a fleet of flying taxis that are called vertical take-off and landing vehicles (VTOL). The Nexus, as this hybrid electric propulsion aircraft is named, was first unveiled in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Between 20 and 30 other firms are working on similar concepts, among them start-ups or major companies such as Airbus, which recently presented its electric aircraft CityAirbus. Uber plans to launch its air taxis first in Los Angeles and Dallas, two major traffic-congested American cities. Asked about using helicopters as an alternative, Thacker said the taxis are financially sounder and quieter. "The noise has to blend in with the background noise of the city," he said. He predicted the vehicles could start to be commercially used around 2025. "It's not going to replace ground transport, it will augment it in another dimension," he said. "And it's not going to jump overnight with thousands of aircraft. "There will rather be a few dozens of them in a few cities... at first using helipads and helicopter routes." Bell executives said drones transporting goods, such as emergency medical products, should take to the skies well before taxis given lesser restrictions imposed on such aircraft. "Transport of goods don't have so many requirements in terms of safety and acceptability by people," he said. Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA, said although 2025 appears like a reasonable date for a limited launch of flying vehicles, it will take longer for the market to fully expand. "For this market to really flourish... I think we really need to mature the market at scale and that may take a decade," he said. Also, experts say, several barriers still need to be overcome before flying vehicles get the green light. - A third dimension - One of the biggest technological hurdles for flying car concepts to overcome is the battery: most of the prototypes designed use electric propulsion and batteries currently don't have enough power to fly a car for a long distance You have to see "if you can actually test the vehicle in an urban space without having visual line of sight over people with buildings," said Shivika Sahdev, with the consulting firm McKinsey. One of the biggest technological hurdles to overcome is the battery. Most of the prototypes designed use electric propulsion and batteries currently don't have enough power to fly a car for a long distance. Still, industry experts are optimistic about the new technology. In a report entitled "Vision 2050" presented at SXSW, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) predicts that by 2050, the use of flying taxis and other autonomous drones will be widespread, mainly thanks to artificial intelligence. "For me, artificial intelligence is easier in the air," said Scott Drennan, director of innovation at Bell. "There's a lot of space up there and so we have a lot of room, we have a third dimension to maneuver in. "It's not the Wild Wild West up there," he added. "I think the rules of the sky are more defined than the rules of the road." Another advantage to flying cars is their GPS, said Anil Nanduri, vice president of Drone Group at Intel. "GPS precision today is a couple of meters plus minus," he said. "For ground-based vehicles... it's not accurate enough to have the precision you need. But once you go up to third dimension, it's enough." For those still skeptical about driving in the skies, tech reporter Aarti Shahani has only this to say: "If you had told me 10 years ago that I would open something called an app to order a car driven by a stranger for my mom who lived 3,000 miles away, I'd tell you you were crazy. "And actually, that's what I do now all the time for her." Fighters loyal to the Huthi movement protest in the capital Sanaa against airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemeni province of Hajjah Civilian casualties have risen in Yemen despite a three-month-old truce in a vital port as the devastating conflict intensifies elsewhere, an aid group said Monday. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has been providing food, shelter and other necessities in the country described by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, said that sniper and explosive attacks have been growing despite an easing of air attacks. Yemen's beleaguered Saudi-backed government and Iranian-linked Huthi rebels in December agreed in Sweden on a truce that included a ceasefire in Hodeida, the lifeline port on the Red Sea. But the Norwegian Refugee Council said that deaths have been rising in two other regions, Hajjah and Taez. Since the Hodeida truce, 348 civilians have been killed in the two provinces, more than double the nationwide number excluding Hodeida from the previous three months, said the group, using data from the Civilian Impact Monitoring Project backed by humanitarian agencies. "The reduction in violence seen in Hodeida through recent months has been counteracted by escalations in other parts of the country," said Mohamed Abdi, the Norwegian Refugee Council's country director for Yemen. "While air strikes on Hodeida city have reduced significantly and a semblance of life has resumed, the fighting is intensifying in other parts of the country with a devastating impact on civilians," he said in a statement. He called on the combattants to return to the negotiating table and extend their ceasefire across all of Yemen to "put an end to this untold suffering for Yemeni civilians." The group said that 13 schools were among the buildings attacked over the past three months and that 80 percent of Yemen's population -- 24 million people -- still required humanitarian assistance. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- with the logistical and political backing of the United States -- unleashed air power against the Huthi rebels. Rights groups say that the death toll could be far higher. Save the Children has estimated that 85,000 Yemenis under five years old may have died of starvation. Burkina Faso soldiers in August 2018 pay their respects to soldiers killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the eastern part of the country Five members of Burkina Faso's security forces were killed in roadside bomb attacks in the east of the country at the weekend, officials said on Monday. A policeman and a soldier were killed on Saturday when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) in Kompienga, a security official said. Late Sunday, three soldiers were killed in the same area by the same technique, another official said. The attacks bore the hallmarks of jihadist groups whose insurgency in the Sahel region spilled over into Burkina Faso four years ago. In a separate development, a priest was kidnapped on Sunday near Djibo in the north of the country, a security official said. The bishop of Dori, Laurent Dabire, identified the missing prelate as Father Joel Yougbare. "(Yougbare) left to go to mass yesterday has still not returned home. The alert was sounded yesterday at around 8.30 pm but we are still have no news," Dabire said. Last month, a Spanish priest and four customs officials were killed in a jihadist attack in eastern Burkina Faso, while in neighbouring Niger, an Italian missionary was abducted in September last year. Since 2015, more than 300 people have been killed, typically in hit-and-run raids, and the capital Ouagadougou has been hit three times. Attacks using IEDs began in August 2018 and have claimed more than 60 lives, according to a toll compiled by AFP. The armed forces launched an anti-terror operation dubbed Otapuana ("Lightning"), in the centre and east of the country earlier this month. It aims at "neutralising terrorists and destroying hiding places in forests in the region," according to the authorities. Since January 1, a state of emergency has been in force in 14 of the country's 45 provinces. The cyclone struck last week and killed 84 people in Mozambique, including 55 in the city of Beira alone A deserted shop in the devastated Mozambican city of Beira has become a place of refuge for dozens of families displaced by a deadly cyclone, which has caused flooding and rendered many areas inaccessible. More than 1,000 are feared to have died in the cyclone after it smashed into Mozambique last week, while scores were also killed in neighbouring Zimbabwe. In front of Beira's city council in the modest neighbourhood of Praia Nova, locals have settled in an abandoned shop after fleeing their homes when torrential rains and strong winds stole many roofs and flooded most buildings. Beira bore Cyclone Idai's full wrath on Thursday before the storm barrelled on to neighbouring Zimbabwe "When the wind started, we just had time to escape with the kids, we just left everything else," mother of five Serephina Bernardo told AFP on Monday. "We are here because our house has been submerged by the water," the 35-year-old said. "We have nothing left." Every other house has been destroyed by torrential rains, while gale force winds have torn off many roofs and electric pylons. Small aircraft lies damaged at the city's international airport which was temporarily shut due to damage. Beira is Mozambique's second largest city and a major port hub Another local, Joao Suale, sits on the shop floor nursing a swollen leg hit by a metal sheet. "There was a lot of wind, so I fled to here," Suale said. Next to him, other locals stretch out make-shift laundry lines to try and dry the few clothes they have left. Outside, the rain continues to pour heavily. Food is quickly running out and the victims still await assistance. "We are asking for help," Suale said. Residents joined military personnel in the search for survivors in Ngangu township Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe Neighbourhoods in the city are littered with branches and mounds of rubble of all sorts. Aerial photographs show many houses almost submerged and people on roofs desperately trying to stay afloat. According to the Red Cross, the cyclone has damaged or destroyed 90 percent of Beira, Mozambique's second largest city and a major port hub. "We have never had something of this magnitude before in Mozambique," said Emma Beaty, coordinator of a grouping of NGOs known as Cosaco. Some dams have yielded while others have reached full capacity. Much of the country remains inaccessible due to flooding. "The biggest threat we have now, even bigger than the cyclone, is floods," warned the governor of Sofala province, Alberto Mondlane. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday said "communities are isolated and bodies are floating" on the water, as he warned that the death toll could climb to more than 1,000. Boeing's 737 MAX planes, including those owned by American Airlines, seen here in March 2019, have been grounded following recent accidents Boeing and US aviation regulators are coming under intense scrutiny over the certification of the 737 MAX aircraft after news that two recent crashes share similarities. On March 11, just a day after the Ethiopia crash left 157 dead, a grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena to at least one person involved in the plane's certification, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing people close to the matter. The subpoena, which came from a prosecutor in the Justice Department's criminal division, seeks documents and correspondence related to the plane, according to the report. A criminal inquiry is "an entirely new twist," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of the Leeham Company, who recalled a probe of a 1996 ValuJet crash as the only other aviation probe that was not a civil investigation. "Unlike France, where criminal investigations into aviation accidents seems common, it is very, very rare in the US," Hamilton added. The Transportation Department's inspector general also is probing the approval of the 737 MAX by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), The Wall Street Journal also reported. Neither department responded to requests for comment from AFP. Maps and factfile on the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, 2019 and the Lion Air crash on October 29, 2018 The probe is focusing on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, implicated in the Lion Air crash, which authorities have said shared similarities with the latest accident. The Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 came less than five months after a 737 MAX 8 operated by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia, killing 189. While it may take months for definitive conclusions, Ethiopian officials said Sunday there were "clear similarities" between the two catastrophes based on information from the flight data recorder. The two incidents have prompted air transport regulators to ground 737 MAX aircraft worldwide, a surprising setback for a line of jets that has been flying for less than two years and is Boeing's top seller. An investigation by The Seattle Times -- in the city where Boeing has a large manufacturing presence -- showed numerous problems with the MCAS, including that it would repeatedly override a pilot's actions based on one faulty sensor. The paper asked for a response from Boeing and the FAA at least a week prior to the latest crash. Shares of Boeing dropped another 1.8 percent on Monday to $372.28. The company has fallen about 12 percent since the Friday before the crash. FAA officials had no comment Monday on the investigations but reaffirmed that the certification for the plane followed standard procedure. Boeing said it followed the rules in bringing the plane to the market. "The 737 MAX was certified in accordance with the identical FAA requirements and processes that have governed certification of all previous new airplanes and derivatives," Boeing said. "The FAA considered the final configuration and operating parameters of MCAS during MAX certification and concluded that it met all certification and regulatory requirements." Later Monday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg sought to reassure clients and passengers of the firm's commitment to safety in a video message. "Safety is at the core of who we are at Boeing, and ensuring safe and reliable travel on our airplanes is an enduring value and our absolute commitment to everyone," Muilenburg said. "Soon we'll release a software update and related pilot training for the 737 MAX that will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the Lion Air Flight 610 accident." - Auto-certification? - The 737 MAX was certified as a variant of the 737 Next Generation, the plane it replaced, despite major differences in the engine and the addition of the MCAS, according to documents available on the FAA's website. The motors on the new plane are heavier than in the 737 NG, posing more of a risk of stalling, so the MCAS was designed to protect against the possibility. But the Lion Air accident showed the system can erroneously correct for a stall when the plane is taking off, based on one bad sensor, and continuously fight the pilot for control. US pilots complained to Boeing about the issues following the Lion Air crash. Because of budget constraints, the FAA delegated aspects of the approval process to Boeing itself, according to sources. Under a program, known as the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), employees of Boeing are accredited by the FAA to assist in approving the aircraft -- including design, production, flight tests, maintenance and other systems -- as well as signing off on the training procedures of pilots on new planes. The FAA last week said it already had ordered Boeing to develop a fix for problems with the MCAS system. But the agency was not able to describe any changes in the plane implemented by Boeing after the Lion Air accident. According to one aviation expert who requested anonymity, Boeing had readied some modifications for the system by the end of 2018 but the regulatory approval and subsequent installation of the changes were delayed by the five-week US government shutdown. Legislators Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Ted Cruz, who chairs a Senate transportation subcommittee, have each called for hearings to look into the 737 MAX's certification. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said the European members of NATO should build their 'autonomy' amid questions over US commitment to the alliance France's defense minister questioned Monday whether the US commitment to the NATO alliance is "perennial" and said Europe needs to build defense "autonomy" as that question goes unanswered. With Washington increasingly focused on the strategic challenge from China, Florence Parly said, "a question mark has emerged" over the transatlantic alliance. Those posing the question would not be reassured, she said, "by the current atmosphere of withdrawal: withdrawal from battlefields, from treaties, from trade pacts." "What Europeans are worried about is this: will the US commitment (to NATO) be perennial? Should we assume that it will go on as was the case in the past 70 years?" Parly asked the Atlantic Council in Washington ahead of a meeting with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. The minister said she was most concerned about President Donald Trump apparently tying the US commitment and Europe's readiness to spend more on defense, including buying more US defense equipment. "The alliance should be unconditional, otherwise it is not an alliance. NATO's solidarity clause is called Article V, not article F-35," she said, referring to the US fighter jet. Parly conceded Trump's criticism that NATO's European members need to spend more on shared defense, but she said it would be good to build up a measure of autonomy so as not to overly depend on the US military. The Europeans "have started to look honestly at what they would be really able to do if left on their own," she said. "Building a European autonomy should never be seen as a move against the US. We want America solidly steeped in NATO. Autonomy should be a variation on friendship." "Every time the US has retreated from Europe, threats have come back to haunt the US itself," she added. Parly also gave support for the continued presence of US forces in Syria, and said France could take part -- an issue she would be discussing with Shanahan. "Today, we are carefully studying the recent US offer to maintain a residual presence, in cooperation with a few partners," she said. The US Supreme Court will examine the life sentence without parole given to Lee Boyd Malvo for the 2002 "DC Sniper" murders The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine the sentence of life in prison without parole handed down to a teenager involved in a series of sniper murders which terrorized the Washington area for several weeks in 2002. Lee Boyd Malvo was 17 years old when he took part in the sniper attacks in Maryland, Virginia and the nation's capital which left 10 people dead. John Allen Muhammad, a 41-year-old Gulf War veteran Malvo regarded as his "surrogate father," was considered the mastermind of the "DC Sniper" attacks. Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed at a Virginia prison in 2009. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Maryland and Virginia. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012, however, that a life sentence without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional for juveniles. In 2016, the nation's highest court said its decision was retroactive and life in prison without parole should only be reserved for "the rarest of juvenile offenders, those whose crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility." Malvo, taking advantage of the rulings, has appealed his sentence and lower courts have delivered split decisions on his case. Virginia's Supreme Court, for example, ruled against him but an appeals court said he should get a new sentencing. The Supreme Court will now intervene to settle the matter, which could impact hundreds of other inmates in the country who were juveniles when they were convicted. Muhammad and Malvo terrorized the Washington region in October 2002 by randomly shooting people from a hiding place in the trunk of their car. They were arrested at a highway rest stop on October 24, 2002 after a massive manhunt. Ethnic Mro refugees displaced by fighting between Arakan Army rebels and Myanmar soldiers gather at a pagoda compound during a January 2019 government-organized visit to Buthidaung, in the restive Rakhine state Fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine insurgents has now reached the ancient temples of Mrauk U, the former capital of the Rakhine kingdom and a popular tourist site, local residents said Monday. Rakhine state in Myanmar's west is riven with ethnic and religious divisions. It came under the global spotlight after the bloody 2017 army crackdown that forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border into Bangladesh. But now the army is waging war against the Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, a population that also stands accused of aiding the military in their expulsion of the Rohingya. Several thousand people have been displaced by the spreading violence which has neared the state capital Sittwe and has now engulfed the town of Mrauk U. "We've been hearing gunshots and heavy artillery fire since about 7:30pm," local historian Khin Than told AFP by phone on Monday evening, adding that she saw soldiers shooting from about 10 vehicles as they drove around town. "We dare not go outside and are hiding in our homes," she said. "We do not want our ancient treasures destroyed in the fighting." Residents of Rathedaung township, in Myanmar's restive Rakhine state, show bullet shells in an area where soldiers battled Arakan Army rebels in January 2019 Among the most vulnerable are some 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine without citizenship, restricted to either camps or their villages. Fighting over the weekend raged around the town of Kyauktaw, wounding three Rohingya, including two teenagers. "We are stuck in the middle," one Rohingya man told AFP, preferring not to give his name. "Our injured villagers cannot go anywhere for treatment because of the situation. We can't do anything," he said. The military ramped up operations against the AA after the armed rebels launched a brazen attack on police posts in early January that killed 13 officers. The area is in strict lockdown and information is difficult to verify independently. On Saturday, AA insurgents ambushed a cargo ship on the Kaladan river, temporarily abducting the crew and setting the vessel on fire, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said. The rebels enjoy widespread support from many ethnic Rakhine, who have felt marginalised for decades in one of the country's poorest states. The group has expanded its ranks since its formation in 2009 and is now believed to have several thousand recruits. It is feared the expected verdict on Tuesday in the trial of a popular Rakhine politician for alleged treason could be a further flashpoint in Sittwe. President Felix Tshisekedi vowed to root out corruption when he took office on January 24 in the first peaceful transition of power in DR Congo since independence from Belgium in 1960 DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday blocked newly-named senators from taking office and called for a probe into corruption that had allegedly stained their election, an official said. The announcement was made by the acting interior minister, Basile Olongo, after supporters of Tshisekedi's predecessor, Joseph Kabila, swept to victory in last Friday's senatorial elections. After an inter-ministerial meeting, Olongo said Tshisekedi was "suspending the senators' induction" and postponing elections for provincial governors, due on March 26, until further notice. He also asked prosecutors to "open inquiries into ingrained corruption" among elected officials. "Senators and provincial deputies, those who corrupt and those are corrupted... (must be) severely punished," the president was quoted as saying. The Democratic Republic of Congo's upper house is elected indirectly by the country's provincial assemblies -- a process that critics say is notorious for kickbacks. Elections that were held in 24 out of the country's 26 provinces -- the vote was postponed in the other two -- handed 84 out of 100 Senate seats to Kabila's Common Front for Congo (FCC) coalition. That huge majority entitles the FCC to make changes to the country's constitution or pursue legal proceedings against the current head of state. The FCC also wields a massive majority in the lower house, the National Assembly, after the December 30 elections won at the presidential level by Tshisekedi. Taking office on January 24 in the first peaceful transition of power in DR Congo since it became independent from Belgium in 1960, Tshisekedi vowed to root out entrenched corruption and improve its record on human rights. Last week, he issued pardons for an opposition leader and a rights activist jailed during Kabila's 18-year presidency. But he has otherwise struggled to push ahead with legislative reforms in the face of Kabila's power base. On Monday, Arthur Ilunga, the prosecutor at the court of appeal in Matadi, in the southwestern region of central Kongo, said three provincial deputies who faced "serious suspicions about corruption" had been arrested. "The list could lengthen because the investigation is ongoing," Ilunga said. He did not give the name of the three arrested. Tshisekedi's own party, the UDPS, has come under attack from the grassroots over the vote-buying charges. The party's interim president, Jean-Marc Kabund, told a rally in Lubumbashi, in the southeast, that 26 UDPS deputies in four provincial assemblies would be handed over to the authories. "These deputies will be stripped of their posts and replaced by their alternates," he said. The shockwaves from the New Zealand mosque massacre have reverberated around the world with Pakistani traders burning a picture of the alleged gunman, a white supremacist White supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who is accused of killing 50 people in the New Zealand mosque massacre in what he claimed was a blow against Muslim "invaders", played into jihadist hands by following their strategy, experts say. From the Islamic State (IS) group to Al-Qaeda, jihadist groups aim to deepen divisions between Muslims and the rest of the world in an apparent aim to trigger all-out war between "believers" and "unbelievers". For them, such horrific racist attacks are a gift, with the perpetrators seized upon as fuel for their jihadist agenda, experts say. "The Christchurch attack was a blessing for Daesh," said Alain Chouet, a former senior French intelligence official, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "It plays fully into the hands of those that (Tarrant) wanted to fight," he told AFP. A specialist in Islamic extremism, Chouet said the idea of fomenting conflict was laid out by extremist ideologue Sayyid Qutb in his book "Milestones" which remains an inspiration for jihadist networks. Qutb, an Egyptian close the Muslim Brotherhood who was hanged in 1966, argued for the need to "cut off Muslims from the rest of the world, have them regroup somewhere then launch a struggle to establish a world caliphate," he explained. "By acting like the Islamic State killers, people like Tarrant give legitimacy to their actions." - Fool's game - Farhad Khosrokhavar, head of research at the Paris-based School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences said IS had tried to radicalise the situation "by turning Western Muslims against the societies in which they live". "The violent ultra-right, by following suit with such blind violence, has created this climate of generalised violence in which Muslims are expected to act violently against Western societies that in turn respond in the same way, breeding a vicious circle liable to spark all-out war between Muslims and non-Muslims," he told AFP. "Brenton Tarrant has played right into this fool's game, inciting Muslims to react in the same way," he said. "Spawning an all-out vendetta is playing into the hands of IS." Within hours of the Christchurch killings, jihadist sympathisers throughout the world popped up on social networks calling for vengeance. In his 74-page manifesto that was put online just before the attacks, Tarrant said one of his motivations was the death of an 11-year-old Swedish girl killed in a Stockholm truck attack in April 2017. The killer, an Uzbeki man, said he had wanted to mow down "infidels". But responding to such an attack by gunning down worshippers at a mosque was falling into the trap set by jihadist ideologues, the experts said. In order to fight such extremists, one had to be beyond reproach, Chouet said. "It's all about using the law, just the law and nothing but the law." In Ukraine, some 200 Canadian troops - like this instructor at military exercises near Lviv in July 2016 - will provide training to the Ukrainian military until the end of March 2022 Canada's defense and foreign ministers jointly announced Monday the extensions of military training missions in Iraq and Ukraine. Both had been slated to wrap up at the end of March, but security concerns persist. In Iraq, Canada will keep 250 special forces troops advising and training Iraqi security forces, plus several attack helicopters, as part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State mission until the end of March 2021. The number of troops deployed could ramp up to 850, if needed, and they will also help neighboring Jordan and Lebanon build their respective security capabilities, said officials. Complementing those efforts, Canada last November assumed command of a new NATO mission. It has been contributing air power, medical support and help in training Iraqi forces since 2014. "We have made significant and lasting progress, but we recognize that more work is needed. Now we must ensure that Daesh can never rebuild and threaten the safety of Iraq," Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan told a press conference, using an Arabic acronym for IS. In Ukraine, some 200 Canadian troops will continue to provide arms, military engineering, logistics, military policing, and medical training until the end of March 2022. Since 2015, Canada has so far trained nearly 11,000 Ukrainian soldiers. Canada will also host a third Ukraine reform conference in Toronto on July 2-4. "Ukraine can continue to count on Canada's unwavering support," Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said. "It's very important to send a strong message to Ukraine, to the people of Ukraine, and to the international community that the invasion of Crimea and the annexation of Crimea are a grave breach of international law," she added. Men believed to be Islamic State fighters walk amidst flames and smoke in the jihadist group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria on March 18, 2019 An air strike pounds a demolished bridge in eastern Syria, sending armed men scampering to hide among the cars and tents of the Islamic State group's smouldering last redoubt. On the eastern banks of the Euphrates River, the suspected jihadists slip out of sight as US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces watch them from a nearby hilltop. The river flows past the battlefield in the farming hamlet of Baghouz, its surface only pierced from time to time by a stray artillery shell. Fighting has flared since Sunday night between the jihadists and advancing SDF fighters backed by air strikes of a US-led coalition. On the hill overlooking the scorched IS redoubt, a flag of the Kurdish forces spearheading the SDF flaps in the breeze. Some SDF fighters crouch alert behind their weapons, while others track the jihadists through binoculars or with the naked eye. "There, over there," one of them suddenly shouts in Kurdish to his fellow fighters. "Near the tree next to the bridge." A fighter named Sharfan unleashes a torrent of fire from his machinegun, until he receives further instructions. "Look! They're hiding in the reeds by the river," cries another fighter. When their ammunition belts are spent, they open up small boxes, pulling new strings of bullets out to replace them. Nearby, another fighter sits in the back of a truck, manning a heavy machinegun, while puffing out cigarette smoke. - 'End is near' - Two fighters lug heavy wooden boxes filled with mortar rounds, then help each other carry out each missile. One sends a shell whizzing off towards the embattled jihadist encampment, then the other peers over the ridge to check it reached its target. A field commander with a green scarf wrapped around his head says the clashes have been ongoing since dawn. A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces opens fire toward a part of Baghouz where remaining Islamic State group fighters are holding out in their last position "After we surrounded them, they responded by attacking our forces. We're now using all kinds of weapons against them," says the fighter, presenting himself as Hiwa. "Their end is near," he adds. "Many of them have been killed, and many more have been wounded." The crackle and thud of heavy clashes ring out from several directions, as the SDF strive to tighten the noose around jihadists constantly dropping out of sight. "As soon as we aim at them, we see them run. And suddenly they vanish into thin air, as if they were hiding underground," one fighter told AFP. Thousands of women, children and men -- including suspected fighters -- have streamed out of the jihadist pocket in recent weeks, hampering an advance by US-backed forces. The SDF have been astonished by seemingly endless numbers -- mostly IS family members, and many foreigners -- emerging from the battered riverside camp. - 'Stop! Children!'- But from their hilltop, Kurdish-led fighters can still see figures dressed in the long black robes of women, moving around or running away from incoming fire. In recent days, many US-backed fighters have said women are taking part in the fighting. Clouds of smoke billow from a sprawling sea of canvas and cars in Baghouz, the Islamic State group's last redoubt in eastern Syria On the hilltop, the SDF machineguns are spluttering bullets down on the camp, when a fellow fighter abruptly cries out. "Stop, stop! There are children, let them pass." Field commander Hiwa says women and children -- usually IS family members -- signal their presence as they move to the edge of the camp. "We see them hold their hands up in our direction," he says. Clouds of thick grey smoke rise up sideways from positions all over the sprawling sea of canvas and abandoned cars -- one ablaze, others scorched through. In Baghouz, holdout jihadists are surrounded by the SDF on three sides, their backs against the water. On the opposite shore, among the green fields dotted with clusters of houses, there are Russia-backed regime forces who have also fought them. "Whatever happens, the IS fighters are completely surrounded," Hiwa says. "They're trapped in the middle... They can either be killed, or surrender." Flooding across the Midwest came a year after heavy rain deluged Indiana, pictured, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and other Midwest states in February 2018 The US Midwest struggled Monday with historic flooding that claimed at least three lives, displaced residents and damaged hundreds of homes and businesses. Swollen waters hit much of Nebraska, as well as parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, after a major storm last week dumped snow and rain, even as melting snow was already raising the levels of area waterways. Neighboring states could also be affected as floodwaters drain, officials said. President Donald Trump on Monday described the floods as "devastating" and said the White House would remain in close contact with state officials. "Our prayers are with the great people of South Dakota," he said in one tweet. In another aimed at Iowa residents, he said: "We support you and thank all of the first responders working long hours to help the great people of Iowa!" - 'Historic' flooding - The National Weather Service (NWS) described the flooding as "major" and "historic," forecasting that it would continue across large sections of the middle of the country. "Flood Warnings and Advisories are scattered throughout the Plains, Mississippi Valley, and western parts of the Ohio Valley region, with a focus in Nebraska and western Iowa," the NWS said in an advisory. "Farther west and north, areal flooding is also possible in the Northwest and Northern Plains as snowmelt continues over frozen ground." The early damage assessment total for the state of Nebraska was more than $260 million, according to emergency management officials. Record flooding was reported in 17 locations in the state and 10 American Red Cross shelters were operating for displaced residents. At its highest point, the Missouri River was expected to crest at 47.5 feet (14.5 meters), beating its 2011 record by more than one foot. "Comparisons to 2011 were inevitable," the NWS office in Iowa tweeted, "but these floods have resulted in many more rescues and widespread damage in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa." Failing levees were blamed for flooding in numerous communities -- damaging homes and businesses. The US Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains federal levee systems, said a majority were compromised along an approximately 100-mile portion of the Missouri River in southeast Nebraska. - Military base under water - Hundreds of people were rescued in Nebraska, where 54 cities issued emergency declarations, as did four Native American tribal areas. Fremont, a city of more than 25,000, was surrounded by floodwaters over the weekend and cut off from aid. It finally received food and other emergency supplies Sunday after crews managed to clear debris and mud from a road, officials said. Three dozen Iowa counties were under states of emergency. Roads were closed throughout Wisconsin and more than 200 people were evacuated, according to officials. A third of Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska was overcome with floodwater, and was not expected to be dry again until Thursday. "It's important to understand that this is going to take weeks and months to recover so this will be a prolonged effort," one of the base's leaders, Kevin Humphrey, said in a statement. Three people were reported killed. A Nebraska farmer died Thursday, during the height of the storm, trying to rescue a motorist stranded by floodwaters, the Omaha World-Herald reported. On the same day, 80-year-old Betty Hamernik died after being trapped by floodwaters in her home in rural Columbus, Nebraska, according to the newspaper. Aleido Rojas Galan, 55, was killed Friday in Iowa when his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters, TV station KETV said. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (R) and US President Donald Trump's former strategist Stephen Bannon during a meeting Sunday with prominent conservative thinkers at the Brazil embassy in Washington Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had a meeting at the headquarters of the US Central Intelligence Agency Monday as he launched an official visit to the US capital. The rare visit by a foreign leader to the marquee US spy agency was reported by his son Eduardo, a Brazilian legislator who was along for the trip. "I'm going now with the president and ministers to the CIA, one of the most respected intelligence agencies in the world," he said on Twitter. "It will be an excellent opportunity to discuss regional issues with top-level experts and technicians." A Brazilian source said Bolsonaro was there for discussions about organized crime and drug trafficking as well as other issues important to Brazilian security bodies, but could not confirm whether he met with CIA director Gina Haspel. The CIA declined to confirm or deny the visit, saying it does not comment on who visits its headquarters in the forested Washington suburb of McLean, Virginia. The far-right leader, a former military officer who took office on January 1, was in Washington for meetings with President Donald Trump to cement a budding conservative-populist alliance and to coordinate pressure on Venezuela. He arrived Sunday with six ministers, among them Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Justice Minister Sergio Moro. In his first event, he dined at the Brazilian embassy Sunday night with US conservative thinkers including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead, and American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa smiled and chatted with passengers when he got stuck for hours on a commuter train heading to the capital Pretoria South African President Cyril Ramaphosa found himself stuck on a commuter train for several hours on Monday, giving him a glimpse into the daily reality for commuters just two months ahead of the May polls. Ramaphosa was on the election campaign trail with media in tow when he had to wait one hour for a train to arrive at the station in Mabopane township to the capital Pretoria. The train took nearly three hours to complete what is normally a 45-minute ride from Mabopane to Pretoria, after it suddenly stopped while he was on it. Journalists who followed Ramaphosa circulated images on social media, of a smiling president chatting with passengers. Train delays are a daily occurence and derailments are common in South Africa. Comments from regular commuters on Twitter included, from "Coversationalist", "from a 45 minutes ride to almost 3 hours; welcome to our world!" while "ActivistAfrica" said Ramaphosa and his ruling ANC "have no shame. People have been crying about Prasa & trains for over a decade". Prasa is the national rail agency. At the end of his over-long trip, the president vowed to meet quickly with rail agency officials to solve this "national problem". "It is unacceptable that a trip of 50km (30 miles) can take us three hours and it must come to an end. We are going to talk to Prasa to get things right or otherwise heads must roll," Ramaphosa said. Despite dipping in the polls, the ANC is tipped to win the upcoming parliamentary election with at least 60 percent of the vote. Malian troops have come under frequent attack by jihadists who carried out 237 attacks in 2018 An attack by suspected jihadists Sunday on an army camp in central Mali killed 23 soldiers, military sources said Monday, raising an initial toll of 21. A local politician and military sources had given the initial toll after a dawn attack officially blamed on "terrorist groups under the command of Ba Ag Moussa, a deserter army colonel", according to the Malian armed forces. Moussa is considered close to Tuareg militant Iyad Ag Ghaly, leader of the Sahel region's main jihadist alliance linked to Al-Qaeda. The updated toll came as defence minister and top army brass visited the region. The Dioura camp is midway between regional capital Mopti and the Mauritanian border in an area repeatedly been hit by attacks by a group linked to radical Islamist preacher Amadou Koufa. Paris and Bamako had last year reported Koufa dead following a French military operation in central Mali but he recently resurfaced in a video with French officials admitting last week it was "likely" he was still alive. Moussa -- also known as Bamoussa -- had deserted initially in 2006 during a rebellion chiefly by soldiers hailing from the northeastern city of Kidal. He returned to the military only to desert again in 2012 during a Tuareg-led rebellion which included fighters who had returned from Libya after the fall of Moamer Kadhafi. Once a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, Mali in recent years has been dogged by a coup, civil war and Islamist terrorism. Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013. In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with some armed groups, but the jihadists remain active, and large tracts of the country remain lawless. Despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, a strong French military contingent and the creation of a five-nation military force in the region, jihadist violence has not abated. Models present creations by Christian Dior during the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2019 collection fashion show in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai on March 18, 2019 In a tent in Dubai surrounded by fire-breathers and circus performers, Dior unveiled a 15-piece capsule collection that dug into the house's archive to honour the woman of today. Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first woman to lead the legendary French label, and her hallmark feminism were present in force, with a limited collection that drew on motifs popularised by Christian Dior himself, redefined to accomodate the contemporary woman Pleated skirts in muted, metallic rainbow colours and redingotes laced with hand-embroidered gold frogging were paired with pedestrian-friendly, fantastically glittery flats and chunky-heeled boots -- with neither stiletto nor peep-toe in sight. "In this specific show we made a little capsule, that is like a small, new collection, of 15 pieces," Chiuri told AFP ahead of the show. "Every time we move to another country, in some ways it's the location that gives us inspiration. Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri (C) acknowledges the audience at the end of the Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2019 collection fashion show in the United Arab Emirate of Dubai on March 18, 2019 "When you think about Dubai, you think of a place that in a sense is very Mediterranean, where there is the sun. So we use more colour, different techniques, different shapes." Chiuri's closing look was a three-piece, multi-coloured polkadot ensemble featuring a structured leotard, billowing full-length skirt and ruffled cape. Pulling from her last show at Paris Fashion Week, the Dubai catwalk also featured Chiuri's circus-inspired organza and tulle dresses, ringmaster blazers and lion-tamer jackets -- a nod, she says, to the sisterhood that binds women. "In the circus, in specific -- because it's the circus that we used -- all the women worked together. And each woman trusted the other woman, because it's impossible to make this kind of exercise if you don't trust each other," Chiuri said. Celebrated milliner Stephen Jones' eye-catching glitter skullcaps topped every look, part Pierrot-joins-Instagram, part glam Amelia Earhart. "There is this element in the circus that fascinates me a lot. That is the clown. Behind the mask of the clown, you dont' know if there's a man or a woman. You know that it's a person," Chiuri explained. "So I covered the hair, because I would like for people to focus on the clothes." A model walks the runway under the watchful eye of fashion lovers and influencers for Dior's "parade" in Dubai -- the house's first show in the emirate, featuring a 15-piece capsule collection One black-and-gold pattern on both boots and skullcaps in particular stood out -- a star, polka dot and paisley combination, a tribute to the star Christian Dior found on the sidewalk outside of what would become his flagship store, and a nod to the arabesque of the Arab world. "The more I go around the world the more I think that the women are the same around the world," said Chiuri, an advocate of the idea of a global sisterhood. "There is perhaps differences in taste, but this is also about personality, for women and for men." Tens of thousands of Algerians have protested against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in recent weeks Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday confirmed he will stay in power beyond his term expiring next month, despite tens of thousands of people demonstrating against his rule. Bouteflika announced on March 11 he was withdrawing from his bid for a fifth term, initially sparking elation among protesters before they realised he would be remain in office beyond his term. The ailing 82-year-old also scrapped the election set for April 18 and announced he was rolling out reforms through a "national conference". Rarely seen in public since a 2013 stroke, Bouteflika issued a statement on Monday which confirmed his new plan would see him stay in power for months beyond the expiry of his term on April 28. "(I hope) that Algeria experiences, in the near future, a harmonious transition and assists handing over the reins to a new generation," he said in the statement carried by state media. "This is the ultimate goal that I have committed to making a reality before the end of my presidential journey, at your side and at your service," added Bouteflika, who has ruled Algeria for 20 years. While Bouteflika has given no timetable for his national conference, he said the shake-up of Algeria's "political, economic and social systems" would start "in the very near future". A constitutional review would be put before a referendum, he said, which would be "a prelude to a new electoral process that will see the election of a new president." Protests initially erupted last month after Bouteflika announced his intention to stand for another term, bringing tens of thousands to the streets in the capital Algiers and across the country. - 'External dangers' - Despite the president's reform pledges, Algerians have continued marching in huge numbers, many clutching humorous banners and waving their country's flags amid a festival atmosphere. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appears at a meeting with members of his government in the Algerian capital on March 11, 2019 The demonstrations have been largely peaceful, with occasional clashes between a minority of stone-throwing young people and police on the sidelines. In his latest message, Bouteflika appealed to Algerians to "offer your support to your army to protest Algeria from external dangers." The president's comments followed Algeria's army chief promising the military would remain "the bastion of the people and the nation." "Everyone must show responsibility to find solutions as soon as possible," Ahmed Gaid Salah said on Monday during a visit to the southwest of the country. Part of the president's inner circle, he said Algerians "have the abilities necessary to prevent their country from any situation (in which) it could be exploited by hostile foreign parties." Authorities have previously warned that the protests risk dragging Algeria into instability, comparing the rallies to those that sparked Syria's ongoing war. Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat and former UN envoy for Syria, on Monday denied references to turmoil in other countries was intended to scare protesters. "We must be aware of the dangers that exist. Talking about Iraq or Syria is not an attempt to tell the population to hold still... we tell them to go ahead with their open eyes," he said in a national radio interview. Brahimi called for structured and organised dialogue to take place as soon as possible. At the moment, he said, "there's a blockage, I hope that it's not a deadlock." France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in the Libyan capital Tripoli on March 18, 2019 France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday praised "significant progress" made in southern Libya by strongman Khalifa Haftar, a rival to the UN-backed government. Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army launched an offensive in January to take over the vast southern desert region, which had become a holdout for jihadists and traffickers. "Significant progress has been achieved in the south of the country in the face of terrorist groups, organised criminals and armed foreign groups who, for a long time, have fuelled instability in the region," Le Drain said during a visit to Tripoli. France hosted a landmark meeting between Libyan rivals in May 2018, during which they agreed to hold elections, although violence and political divisions have meant no vote has been scheduled. Haftar met in Abu Dhabi last month with Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the administration supported by the United Nations, where they reasserted the need to hold elections. "France hopes that this agreement will be executed quickly, in a spirit of national harmony and cooperation," Le Drain said after meeting Sarraj. France's top diplomat is also due to meet Haftar and UN envoy Ghassan Salame during his Libya visit. Haftar's southern offensive was viewed with suspicion by Sarraj's Government of National Accord, which accuses him of wanting to install a military dictatorship in the North African country. Libya has been mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, as the two rival administrations and numerous militias grapple for power. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said standing back and allowing bigotry amounted to nothing more than complicity and cowardice Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday slammed leaders' unwillingness to call out hate, while parliament unanimously passed a motion to stand against white supremacy in the wake of the Christchurch mosques attack. "I stand here today to cast a light on this hatred and on our unwillingness to call it out," Trudeau said in the House of Commons. "As leaders, as (a) privileged few with power and an audience, we have a responsibility to do something." Trudeau said allowing bigotry in party politics, online, at town halls and "when it reaches our front door" amounted to nothing more than complicity and cowardice. "I'm calling on like-minded countries of the world to stand with Canada in this fight. Muslims, Christians, Jews, black, white, all of us, we must fight this hatred as a team." The prime minister's comments come amid a heated debate over religious and racial bigotry in the neighboring US that saw President Donald Trump berated over his tepid response to the New Zealand massacre. After the attack on two mosques in Christchurch on Friday, which left 50 dead and 50 injured, Trump voiced sympathy and solidarity with the victims and people of New Zealand. The alleged gunman -- identified as an Australian white nationalist -- referred to Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." But in comments to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump dismissed concerns that white nationalism represented a growing danger around the world. "I don't really. I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess," Trump said. The Quebec City mosque shooter, who killed six worshipers in 2017, had scoured Twitter for Trump, right-wing commentators and alt-right figures before the attack. The US Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a black man sentenced to death by a jury that included a white man who made openly racist remarks The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the case of a black man who was sentenced to death for murder by a jury which included a white man who made racist remarks. Keith Tharpe is on death row at a prison in the southern state of Georgia after being convicted of the 1990 kidnapping and murder of his sister-in-law, Jaquelin Freeman. Lawyers for Tharpe have been seeking to have the sentence thrown out on the grounds that one of the jurors who heard the case had shown racial bias. Juror Barney Gattie, who has since died, used racial slurs in an interview seven years after Tharpe's 1991 conviction and said he "wondered if black people even have souls." The Supreme Court issued a last-minute stay of execution to Tharpe in September 2017 but it declined on Monday to hear his claim of juror bias. The nation's highest court did not give its reasoning for refusing to hear the case. Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited procedural questions in agreeing with the decision not to hear Tharpe's case although she said it had "uncovered truly striking evidence of juror bias." "That evil often presents itself far more subtly than it has here," Sotomayor said, adding that eliminating racial prejudice from the administration of justice is "far from done." Marcia Widder, a lawyer for Tharpe, condemned the decision. "Allowing Mr. Tharpe's death sentence to stand is an affront to the fairness and decency to which we, as a society, should aspire," Widder said. DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi's party is in talks with supporters of ex-leader Joseph Kabila about the makeup of a new government The United Nations on Monday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo's new President Felix Tshisekedi to quickly form a new government, warning that voters had "huge expectations" from the leadership change and should not be let down. Tshisekedi's party is working to cobble together a coalition government with the party of former president Joseph Kabila, which won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections. "We hope that the new government will soon be formed and operational," UN envoy Leila Zerrougui told the Security Council. "The Congolese people's expectations are huge and it is crucial that they not be left waiting for too long, or be disappointed," she warned. Tshisekedi was declared the winner of a presidential election that turned the page on Kabila's nearly two decades in power in Kinshasa. The election result, which marked the first peaceful handover of power since the DR Congo's independence from Belgium in 1960, has been greeted with cautious optimism. The formation of the new government is being closely watched for signs that Kabila will continue to hold sway in the nation's politics if many top cabinet posts are filled by his supporters. The two camps have yet to agree on the appointment of a prime minister. The council is weighing a recommendation from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to draw down the large 16,000-strong peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo, known as MONUSCO. Guterres has proposed cutting 1,600 troops, 35 police officers and one formed police unit (about 140 police) along with a 30 percent reduction in the number of military observers. The council is scheduled to vote on the MONUSCO mandate next week. Donna Brazile, a former Democratic Party operative, will be a commentator on Fox News, the cable channel preferred by her party's political nemesis, Donald Trump Former Democratic National Committee leader Donna Brazile agreed Monday to become a commentator for Fox News, in a move highlighting how American politics can make truly strange bedfellows. Brazile, who has served as interim DNC chair, will be joining the cable news channel preferred by her party's nemesis, President Donald Trump. Brazile, 59, said in a statement she was "excited by the opportunity" and hoped she could "help shape the dialogue at this important juncture in our history." The move comes amid ongoing attacks by the White House at much of the mainstream media, including Fox News rival CNN, which Trump has labeled as "fake news" over its coverage of politics. Brazile, who served as a campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, said she hoped to help tone down the heated rhetoric in politics in the runup to the 2020 election. "My mother tried to teach us Brazile kids a lesson we all need to heed as citizens: Listen more, talk less," she said. "Be civil to one another. Find common ground. Contempt is hatred towards others. These are the lessons and the attitude I will bring to Fox News." The longtime political operative said she hoped her presence would reduce the effect of the "filter bubble" in which people read or view news from a single perspective. "My beliefs will be challenged, and I welcome it," she wrote. "Will I agree with my fellow commentators at Fox News? Probably not. But I will listen." Brazile previously worked as an analyst for CNN, which parted ways with her after hacked emails released by WikiLeaks showed that she shared questions with Hillary Clinton's campaign during the Democratic primary campaign ahead of events sponsored by the network. The move to Fox comes just a week after a New Yorker investigative report claiming that the network blocked the airing of a report ahead of the 2016 election on Trump's hush money payments to help the Republican candidate. The story by Jane Mayer suggested that Fox News, controlled by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch, has effectively become a propaganda arm of the White House. But Trump in recent days criticized some Fox hosts and pressed the network to bring back a show from Jeanine Pirro after her comments criticizing a Muslim member of Congress. Some reports said Pirro was suspended, but Fox declined to comment. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is appealing for broad US investment after opening up a base to commercial satellites Brazil's new right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, signed a deal Monday to open a base to US satellite launches as he appealed for warm relations with Donald Trump on a visit to Washington. The outspoken conservative, who will meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday, has ideological affinities with the US leader and has broken Brazilian precedent by heading to Washington, not Argentina, for his first official trip abroad. Promoting a business-friendly approach after more than a decade of socialist presidents, Bolsonaro signed an agreement with US companies on technical safeguards to allow commercial satellite launches from the Alcantara base in the northern Brazilian state of Maranhao. "We should be thanking God for the recent change of ideology in Brazil," Bolsonaro said at the US Chamber of Commerce. "We want to have a great Brazil, just like Trump wants to make America great." Alcantara is an ideal location as it lies near the Equator, decreasing fuel needs by 30 percent. Brazil hopes it will take a slice of the multibillion-dollar launch market as it competes with the Kourou space center in French Guiana. But the deal needs approval from the Brazilian Congress, which blocked a similar agreement by former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso on the grounds that the country would lose sovereignty to the United States. Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes, who was the country's first astronaut, likened the proposed status of Alcantara to a hotel. "Imagine that you brought technology to your room. You have the key and I, the hotel owner, can get in if necessary," he said. Brazil's aspirations for Alcantara were set back by a 2003 explosion in which 21 technicians were killed. Former leftist president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva signed a deal for Ukraine to launch from the base, but the deal was later terminated, with Brazil citing economic and technological developments. Bolsonaro -- whose close ties to business and agricultural interests have frightened environmentalists -- said he hoped for US investment beyond the space base. "In different areas, minerals, agriculture, biodiversity -- we have immense biodiversity in the Amazon -- we would very much like to have a partnership with this country that I admire," he said of the United States. Bolsonaro said he would also speak with Trump about their joint campaign to oust Venezuela's leftist president, Nicolas Maduro. "We cannot leave them the way they are. We have to free the nation of Venezuela. This is why we're counting on the United States to reach this objective," he said. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's US representative, Carlos Vecchio, has taken control of three of the South American country's diplomatic properties in the United States Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's ambassador to Washington said Monday he had taken control of three Venezuelan diplomatic properties in the United States. Carlos Vecchio, appointed by self-declared president Guaido, entered two Venezuelan military buildings in Washington -- while advisory minister Gustavo Marcano took control of the consulate in New York. "We are recovering and protecting the assets of the Venezuelan people to stop the usurper regime from continuing to steal from and destroy them as it has in the last 20 years," Vecchio said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who is loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro, denounced the "forced and illegal occupation." In a statement on Twitter, the Venezuelan government branded the action an "extremely serious violation of the US government's international obligations," and threatened to take reciprocal action in Venezuela. The ambassador said that in the coming days, his mission would take possession of the Venezuelan embassy, although its accounts are frozen. A source close to Vecchio said the opposition-controlled National Assembly would have to approve their use. A US State Department spokesman confirmed that President Donald Trump's administration -- which recognizes Guaido's authority along with some 50 other countries -- backed the move. "This is a welcome development for our bilateral relations with Venezuela... US policy is to support democracy in Venezuela, interim President Guaido and the National Assembly, which is the only democratically elected institution in the country," the spokesman told AFP. Vecchio added that the Venezuela's military attache in Washington, Colonel Jose Luis Silva Silva, would remain in his poist. Silva Silva represented Maduro until January 26, when he took advantage of Guaido's offer of amnesty for military personnel who reject Maduro's socialist government. The New Zealand flag hangs at half mast outside the parliament building in Wellington on Tuesday following last week's mosque massacre New Zealanders have begun handing in weapons in response to government appeals following the Christchurch massacre, but the gesture has put some squarely in the social media firing line. John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of Masterton, decided to give his semi-automatic rifle to police after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday plans to tighten gun laws in light of the slaughter Friday of 50 Muslim worshippers. She also encouraged owners to surrender unnecessary firearms after it emerged that the accused mosque attacker, Australia white nationalist Brenton Tarrant, had legally acquired the guns he used in the rampage. Hart said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted that "on the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesnt outweigh the risk of misuse. We dont need these in our country". The tweet drew a barrage of derogatory messages to his Facebook account -- most apparently from the US, where the pro-gun lobby is powerful and vociferous. Hart deleted the messages but posted online: "A warm kia ora to all my new American Facebook friends." "Im not familiar with your local customs, but I assume 'Cuck' is a traditional greeting," he said of the insult, short for "cuckold', frequently used by far-right extremists. Hart told AFP many of the messages made inaccurate references to his sexuality. "It was very sudden. It started about the time the US east coast was waking up. There seemed to have been a rallying call," he said. A more mild message, from Kaden Heaney asked: "What's the point of giving up yalls personal guns? Yall do realize what happens to societies that give up their guns right? Evil people will get their hands on guns, knives, bombs or whatever they want to kill no matter what the intentions of good people are. Who will protect you." Christopher @offwhiteblogger said: "You did the right thing then; you clearly arent responsible enough to own a firearm." Police said they did not have data available on the number of weapons handed in since Friday. But they issued a statement saying that "due to heightened security and the current environment, we would ask that people please call us first before attempting to surrender a firearm." A person calling himself Blackstone tweeted: "this is one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Have owned a firearm for 31 years ... Once I realised that, the only way I could go forward with a clear conscience was to hand it into the police for destruction." Ardern has said that details of the government's proposed law changes on gun ownership will be announced by next week, but she indicated that gun buybacks and a ban on some semi-automatic rifles were under consideration. "As the Cabinet, we were absolutely unified and very clear: the terror attack in Christchurch on Friday was the worst act of terrorism on our shores, it was in fact one of the worst globally in recent times, it has exposed a range of weaknesses in New Zealand's gun laws," she said. New Zealand police, meanwhile, were investigating a suspicious fire at a gun club in the far north of the country, but were not immediately linking it to the current gun debate. There had also been a fire at the same club a year ago. Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo is facing extradition from the United States back to his home country Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who is facing extradition from the United States over corruption charges, was briefly jailed for public intoxication after getting drunk in a California restaurant, local police said Monday. Toledo, 73, was arrested at the eatery near Palo Alto on Sunday, and spent the night in a cell before being freed early Monday, San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade told AFP. Toledo is wanted in Peru over allegations he received $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction Odebrecht, as part of a wide ranging corruption scandal implicating high-level politicians in Peru and beyond. But Blankswade confirmed Toledo, who led Peru from 2001 to 2016, would not be extradited following his arrest. And the Peruvian Foreign Ministry confirmed the arrest had "nothing to do with the ongoing extradition process." US President Donald Trump is the oldest president ever, and at age 72 is already running for re-election in 2020 With a septuagenarian president preparing his re-election bid, and two likely main challengers in their late seventies by 2020, Americans are facing an inevitable question: does age matter in White House politics? Donald Trump, the oldest person ever elected US president, will be 74 on Inauguration Day 2021. Two likely contenders for the Democratic nomination who lead early polls, Senator Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, will be 79 and 78, respectively. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts progressive also in the race, will be 71. Democrats already sport several far younger White House hopefuls: Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg are 37, Julian Castro is 44 and Senator Cory Booker is 49. History would suggest they have a better shot at victory than members of the gerontocracy. The last time Americans elected a Democrat older than 55 to the White House was Harry Truman in 1948. As Americans mull the prospect of a president turning 80 in his first term, two images from recent days stand out. Candidate Beto O'Rourke, 46, drew attention to his own comparative youth, running a five-kilometer (three-mile) race at a brisk clip Saturday in Iowa, while Bernie Sanders, 31 years his senior, slipped in the shower and sustained a gash on his head that required seven stitches. (Sanders has been given a clean bill of health.) For Biden and Sanders, their decades in the political arena mean greater name recognition among voters and valuable experience that they can apply to the most powerful position on Earth. It could also weigh them down, as they seek to expand support and embrace modern forms of communication like social media. Biden and Sanders backers frequently brush off questions about their political favorites' ages, touting their vitality and firing off ageism accusations. Sanders can appear to have more support from young people than senior citizens. "His age doesn't matter to me, (and) there's no reason to believe he's not healthy," Garrick Dodson, who is 17 but will be old enough to vote next year, told AFP in Iowa. He said Sanders inspired "a whole generation of kids" in the 2016 presidential race, with his progressive platform that includes universal health care and the fight against wealth inequality. "I love Bernie Sanders and will vote for him no matter what," Dodson added. Former vice president Joe Biden, who is mulling a White House campaign, will be 78 years old on Inauguration Day 2021 Trump, who delights in confounding health experts with his junk food cravings, was declared to be in "very good health" last month by his chief physician. "And I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency, and beyond," chief physician Sean Conley said in a statement. But a rambling series of bombastic tweets by Trump in recent days caused concern. Aides defended the president's mental state. But lawyer George Conway, the husband of Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway and a regular critic of the president, insisted Trump's "condition is getting worse." - 'Harder' at 80 - Age has been no barrier to success in US politics. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has shown that, at nearly 79, she remains a remarkably shrewd politician. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 77, is also fully engaged and a master tactician. Trump infuriated Democrats in 2016 by attacking Hillary Clinton, then 68, with claims his rival lacked the "mental and physical stamina" to be president. Sanders, who would be the oldest-ever president by far, is firm on the issue: Voters need to treat candidates "not by their sexual orientation or their gender, and not by their age," he said last month. "I have been very blessed in my life with good health... and I think I had and still have a great deal of energy." But gradual decline is inevitable. Eric De Jonge, director of geriatrics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, said aging's effects become particularly noticeable after 80, when dementia becomes more prevalent. Organs naturally degenerate, there is neuron loss in the brain, blood vessels stiffen, exercise capacity decreases. Senator Bernie Sanders is the oldest US presidential candidate of the lot, and would be 79 on Election Day 2021 "Exhausting 16-, 18-hour campaign days are going to be harder on an 80-year-old than on a 50-year-old, all other things being equal," De Jonge told AFP. "That doesn't mean you can't have a great candidate who's 75 years old." For those entering the presidency in their late seventies, physical and cognitive deterioration could become an issue in their second term. De Jonge believes age is likely to play out in the 2020 campaign. "People will react to an incredibly robust and energetic 75-year-old and think 'Wow, that guy can really handle it and keep up with everybody, good for him,'" he added. "Or it may play out in the other way, that they may reveal certain symptoms of aging that are of concern to the electorate." Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are seen at the company's factory in Renton, Washington Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft are grounded across the world following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, casting a harsh spotlight on the plane's safety certification and the close relationship between Boeing and American authorities. Nearly 10 days later, what do we know? - What happened? - On March 10, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed southeast of Addis Ababa, killing the 157 people on board. It was the second accident in five months for a 737 MAX aircraft, a product line meant to replace the 737 NG. The first crash, involving a MAX 8 operated by Lion Air, occurred October 29 in Indonesia's Java Sea and left 189 people dead. The aircraft have been temporarily grounded or banned from airspace around the world. - Are the two crashes related? - Mourners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia carry portraits of victims from the Ethiopian Airlines crash Both aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff. Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said Sunday that a study of the flight data recorder retrieved from the Ethiopian plane had shown "clear similarities" to that of the Lion Air flight in Indonesia. She said the parallels would be the "subject of further study." - What have investigators found? - In both cases, investigations are still underway, with the outcomes not expected for several months. The flight recorders retrieved from the Ethiopian crash have been sent to France for analysis. Preliminary results in the Lion Air crash have pointed to a possible malfunction on the aircraft's stabilization system intended to prevent stalling, known as MCAS, or the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. American pilots have also reported encountering problems using MCAS. - What does Boeing say? - The manufacturer has expressed its condolences to the victims' families, sent staff to the crash sites and says it is cooperating with investigators. Boeing's CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the company was finalizing a software update to the MCAS and an update for onboard manuals and pilot training. The US Federal Aviation Administration has given the company until April to carry out these changes. Sources familiar with the matter told AFP that the fix should be ready by March 25 and that it should take around two hours to perform. Boeing has also suspended deliveries of 737 MAX aircraft but has continued to manufacture them. - Why such controversy? - A boy looks on as forensic investigators work at the crash site of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX aircraft Since the Ethiopian Airlines crash, questions have arisen about Boeing's ties to the FAA, which has offices within the company's plants. For a decade, the FAA has allowed manufacturers themselves to certify their aircraft. FAA-accredited Boeing employees notably certified the MCAS system, sources say. Critics say the aviation regulator has been too soft on Boeing, a major player in the American export economy whose planes are also at issue in the current US-China trade talks. - What other US authorities say - The Justice Department, as well as the inspector general's office at the Department of Transportation, have both opened investigations into how the 737 MAX was certified, according to media reports. The Justice Department investigation is reportedly a criminal matter. The House of Representatives Committee on Transportation is also considering an investigation and calling on FAA officials to testify in public. - When will MAX fly again? - Three months is the best-case scenario, according to Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at Teal Group. United Airlines is banking on this scenario after canceling flights that were scheduled to use 737 MAX 9 planes at the end of May. In 2013, the 787 Dreamliner was grounded for four months following battery problems. - What is Boeing's financial hit? - The cost will depend on what the accidents' cause turns out to be. If it is only an MCAS modification, the repair bill will be less than $1 billion, according to Ken Herbert of Cannaccord Genuity. This would be peanuts for Boeing, which is aiming for $15 billion in cash flow this year after record revenues of more than $100 billion last year. The company may still have to pay damages demanded by clients or victims' families. In the meantime, Boeing has already lost roughly $30 billion in market capitalization on Wall Street. The company is also facing a logistical dilemma: where to store the 737 MAX aircraft it continues to produce? If the grounding and air space bans continue, can it keep building the jets, knowing it will be unable to deliver them? Some Thais have defied a junta ban on protests to call for a return to democracy, as public anger mounts over prolonged military repression Dead dissidents dumped in a river, activists knotted up by the courts, and Big Brother-style internet laws -- critics of Thailand's junta fear this week's election is poised to sharpen the dangers faced by those who disagree. Thais goes to the polls on March 24, in the first election since the 2014 coup that installed the generals in power. But it will be held under new rules established by a junta that has made clear it has no intention of leaving the political stage. Scores of dissidents, academics and "Red Shirt" activists have been pushed into self-exile during the junta years, in what analysts say is one of the biggest political flights in Thailand's recent history. Some found sanctuary in the West, but the majority fled to neighbouring countries to avoid charges and jail terms. "I couldn't bear living under an unjust power anymore," said Thantawut Twewarodomgul, an activist who had previously served a jail sentence for royal defamation. He left Thailand for Laos in the wake of the coup. In Laos, some launched digital radio stations to keep up their opposition to the generals and -- in some cases -- the kingdom's unassailable monarchy. - 'Shocked and scared' - But rights groups say their continued activism may have jeopardised their lives. Three firebrand radio hosts have been reported missing in Laos since the coup, according to Human Rights Watch. Late last year the corpses of two aides of radio host Surachai Danwattananusorn washed ashore on the Thai-Laos border. Their disemboweled bodies were stuffed with concrete blocks and their faces battered beyond recognition. The men lived with Surachai, 77, who had fled to Laos in June 2014 soon after the coup, and hasn't been seen since mid-December. His wife Pranee, who remains in Thailand, fears the lifelong activist -- who spent nearly three years in jail in Thailand after being sentenced under royal insult laws -- is dead. "In a democracy, people should be able to criticise public figures," Pranee told AFP. The grim case has injected fear into the exiled community. "We are shocked and scared. We are looking to leave Laos," another exile involved with the anti-junta radio, who declined to be named for their safety, told AFP. - Activists at risk - After four years smothering political debate, the junta lifted some of its bans on political activity weeks before announcing elections. But there is little trust its repressive reflexes have dulled. Pro-democracy campaigner Nuttaa Mahattana, 39, said she was slapped with "sedition" charges for anti-junta stunts. There have been no fresh charges under Thailand's royal defamation law so far in 2018 -- two years after Thailand's new King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne "Very few voices have risen in the kingdom against the junta. Someone had to do it," Nuttaa said. She is among thousands of activists facing prosecution in Thailand -- rights groups say nearly 2,000 have gone to trial in military courts. These lawsuits are "a reminder of the perils of speaking out," said Tyrell Haberkorn, a researcher on Thai state violence from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prosecutions under a royal defamation law -- referred to as "112" after its criminal code -- spiked early in the junta rule, with record sentences meted out. It has been upheld as a necessity to protect the monarchy but rights groups decry it as a tool against dissent. There were no fresh charges in 2018 -- two years after Thailand's new King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne -- and the halt in cases could signal the palace's shifting attitude regarding 112's use, said a senior police source. But Haberkorn remains unconvinced the law, which she said was used to "create a climate of fear", is in retreat. "It will not disappear with elections." - From streets to online - Thailand's northeast is the heartland of supporters loyal to the powerful Shinawatra clan, and serves as the home to the "Red Shirts" -- a grassroots pro-democracy movement made up of farmers and the urban working-class. One of the junta's first moves was to head off any possible Red Shirt resistance, and its leaders have been "summoned, visited and surveilled", a former leader told AFP, requesting anonymity. "We just don't have the power" to mobilise anymore, he said. With the streets off-limits to protest for several years, anti-junta sentiment has spilled online, with memes, videos and raps against the military going viral. But freedom on the web is not a sure bet. The draconian Computer Crime Act, revised by the junta, has been wielded against online critics. The junta-picked parliament also passed a cybersecurity bill, allowing authorities to seize devices without court orders when confronted with perceived "critical" threats. While critics have likened the bill, which allows officials to ask internet providers and users for personal information, to a "Big Brother" mandate, junta spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak told AFP it is necessary to "protect citizens against cyber crimes and fraud". But the prospect of the new law in the hands of a junta eyeing a return to power in civilian clothing has left many queasy. "If the junta-allied party forms the new government, they will retain the same measures," said Yingcheep Atchanont of monitoring group iLaw. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants the G20 summit to tackle online extremism Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on world leaders to press technology firms to tackle the "ungoverned" space of extremist internet content in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack. In a letter published Tuesday, the Australian leader asked the G20 summit host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that the issue be raised when leaders gather in Osaka this June. Morrison is in the middle of a tough re-election campaign, where his party has faced persistent allegations of fuelling anti-migrant sentiment to appeal to conservative voters. Morrison has spoken publicly several times to denounce extremism since the attack that killed 50 people in neighbouring New Zealand on Friday. He has also taken aim at tech companies for their seeming inability to stop the propagation of extremist content, such as live footage shot by the gunman as he rampaged through the Al Noor mosque. "They've created these capabilities, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they're available for peaceful and happy purposes, but we do know that they can be used and weaponised by terrorists of any description," he told the press. "If you can write an algorithm to make sure that the ads they want you to see can appear on your mobile phone, then I'm quite confident they can write an algorithm to screen out hate content on social media platforms. "I'm sure we can work together to make sure they protect our citizens by ensuring that their tools that they have developed are not used by terrorists as weapons to advance their agendas of hate," he said. Opposition leader Bill Shorten backed that call, telling social media platforms: "If you help create the swamp, you can't go missing when evil things start crawling out of it." New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed never to speak the name of the gunman responsible for last week's mosque massacres New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised on Tuesday that the man responsible for last week's deadly mosque massacres would face "the full force of the law", as she vowed never to utter his name. "He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety -- that is why you will never hear me mention his name," Ardern said in an emotional address to a special meeting of parliament, which she opened with the Arabic greeting "as salaam aleikum" -- 'peace be upon you'. "I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them," she told the gathering in Wellington, four days after the massacre in the southern city of Christchurch. "He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless," she said. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, was captured by police and has been charged with one count of murder, but Ardern assured parliament other charges would follow. "He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand," she said. Ardern has promised reforms to New Zealand gun laws which allowed Tarrant to legally purchase the weapons he used in the attack, including semi-automatic rifles. And she announced a full review of how the Australian -- an avowed white supremacist -- was able to plan and carry out the attacks in New Zealand under the radar of security services. "The person who committed these acts was not from here. He was not raised here. He did not find his ideology here. But that is not to say that those very same views do not live here," she said. Moon Chung-in, special adviser on national security to South Korea's president, says a launch of any kind by Pyongyang would be a 'disaster' North Korea should take "actual action" towards giving up its nuclear weapons to break the deadlock in talks with Washington, a top security adviser to the South's president said, suggesting Seoul's patience with Pyongyang may be wearing thin. President Moon Jae-in was instrumental in brokering the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington, seizing on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to catalyse a rapid diplomatic rapprochement after a year of missile tests, threats and tensions. But the first summit between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June produced only a vague commitment to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". Their second meeting in Hanoi last month broke up without agreement, or even a joint statement, as the two failed to come to a deal over sanctions relief and denuclearisation. Since then, Pyongyang has said it is considering suspending the talks and images have emerged of rebuilding works at the Sohae rocket launch facilities. That triggered international alarm that North Korea might be preparing a long-range missile or space launch, which could put the whole negotiations process at risk -- Pyongyang has not carried one out for more than a year and Trump has repeatedly said its continued moratorium is crucial. A launch of any kind by the North would be a "disaster", said Moon's special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in. The "outcome will be catastrophic", he told AFP. - 'Like a blind man' - In Hanoi, US officials said, Trump urged Kim to "go all in" and that "the weapons themselves need to be on the table". In return, they were "prepared to go all in as well". South Korean Moon Jae-in has long pushed engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table But it was not clear exactly which facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex the North was willing to give up, while they wanted "basically all the sanctions except for armaments" lifted, the officials said. For its part the North's foreign minister said it only wanted some of the measures eased, and that its proposal to close "all the nuclear production facilities" at Yongbyon was its best and final offer. Moon's goal, his adviser said, was a "nuclear weapons-free, peaceful and prosperous Korean peninsula" -- and he would not accept a peaceful accommodation with a nuclear-armed North. The South Korean president has long pushed engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table, but his security adviser backed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's assessment that "talk is cheap", saying that the North had given "words and commitment, but no actions". Kim had told the South Korean leader that he had dismantled 30 percent of the Sohae rocket site, including "about 20 percent of the launching pad -- but he hasn't shown us", Moon Chung-in said. "That still needs some kind of observation or inspection." Similarly, Pyongyang claimed to have demolished "two-thirds" of its nuclear testing ground at Punggye-ri, but that too "needs verification", he said. "North Korea should take further moves to really dismantle all of them," he stressed. "It is now the North Korean turn to show actual action to make (the) US move." Openness was crucial, he added. There are many competing estimates of the North's nuclear arsenal, and Moon places the most faith in figures of 30-35 weapons from US expert Siegfried Hecker, who has been to Yongbyon. "But still we never know," he added. "That is why we need the process of declaration and inspection. It's like a blind man touching (an) elephant." - 'Regime survival at stake' - A retired professor of politics, Moon Chung-in has been involved with policy towards the North for decades and was one of the architects of the "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with Pyongyang under president Kim Dae-jung. The second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un broke up without an agreement, or even a joint statement He stressed that he speaks for himself and not the president -- as an adviser, he is outside the formal policy-making process -- but his comments may suggest the South will press the North harder to narrow the gap with Washington on nuclear talks. The breakdown in Hanoi meant a mooted trip by Kim to Seoul was off the table for now, Moon said, but added it was vital the two Korean leaders met again for more talks. The South is pushing an "all for all" agreement, as demanded by the US, combined with Pyongyang's insistence on a step-by-step process to get there, described by Moon Chung-in as "incremental implementation with an acceptable road map". That would require compromise from both sides. Moon has met Kim twice and says the North Korean leader has a "mastery of issues". "He's young, much more willing to talk" than his father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, "kind of entertaining". Kim understands that "complete denuclearisation" includes his existing stock of weapons, and the missiles that can reach the US mainland and other targets, he said. The North Korean leader was -- like any negotiator -- looking to minimise risk while maximising benefits, Moon said, and "hedging" because "regime survival is at stake". But he must have been "very shocked" when Trump walked out of the Hanoi meeting, Moon said. "I think that was a very important learning process for him." China is the world's fastest growing aviation market The key role China played in grounding the troubled Boeing 737 MAX 8 has demonstrated its growing clout in global aviation and may give it an extra bargaining chip in trade talks with Washington. China ordered its domestic airlines to ground the plane on March 11, a day after the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airways Boeing 737 MAX 8. That touched off a domino effect as other countries followed suit in light of the aircraft's second fatal accident in months, and came two days before the Trump administration and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the plane grounded. The situation raised eyebrows because China historically takes its cues from the FAA -- particularly given the US safety regulator's familiarity with Boeing. Regardless of the trade war or big-power rivalries, it was a move that China had to make, aviation analysts said. China now has the world's fastest growing aviation sector as rising prosperity fuels travel among a huge population that a generation ago struggled to afford basic necessities. A deadly safety mishap in Chinese skies would be a catastrophe for the Communist government. "China as a country simply has to be serious about safety. You can try to read more into it but ... it's a country prioritising safety more than anything else because of the size of the market," said Janesh Janardhanan, director of Aerospace, Defence & Security at business consultancy Frost & Sullivan. "It was not a stand-alone isolated reaction, as many countries followed suit." - Propaganda win - The turn of events has prompted suggestions that US regulators may have temporarily abdicated their vital watchdog role, giving China an opening to exercise more global leadership. But analysts said the Boeing crisis will likely prove an isolated incident and there was no reason to view the FAA's days as the world's de facto safety watchdog to be under threat. Boeing and European rival Airbus have a huge lead over China's homegrown passenger jets, which do not yet have a proven service record. Various Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 planes of Air China parked at Beijing's capital airport There also is concern over granting safety leadership to an opaque Communist Party government. China had a dismal safety record culminating in a series of deadly plane incidents in the 1990s, improving the situation after inviting the FAA to work with the Civil Aviation Administration of China. "The FAA and the NTSB (an US agency which investigates accidents) are the gold standard-setters in aviation safety. Let's not forget that the airplane was invented in the US. China's decision in my view will not change this," said Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy firm Endau Analytics. He added that on safety China "has improved a lot, obviously. But it hasn't reached US or EU standards". Robert Mann, head of US-based aviation consultancy R.W. Mann and Co, said predictions of the FAA's decline were "precipitous, arguably irresponsible." But he noted that there was indeed propaganda value for China in the 737 fiasco. "Science and hard data-based decision-making are becoming subordinate to public opinion and appearances," he said. - Home-made jets - Few question China's growing clout in aviation. A generation ago air travel was not that common in China, but the country is expected to surpass the US within a few years to become the world's largest market for air travel. More than 1.26 billion passengers moved through Chinese airports in 2018, an increase of 10.2 percent compared to the previous year, according to official figures. An improving safety record has no doubt helped fuel such traffic, and thousands more aircraft are expected to be needed by China to keep up with future growth. A Chinese-made Comac C919 passenger jet takes off from Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Until China's domestic aircraft manufacturing industry is more developed, the country will be reliant on US and European makers "China is the largest user of new planes, new aircraft deliveries, so you will see them play an increasing role in terms of defining safety standards, in terms of end-user expectations," said Janardhanan. China's stance on the 737 gives Beijing added leverage in its trade dispute with Washington. Aircraft make up one of the biggest product segments in terms of US export value to China and it would not be difficult to see Beijing using the un-grounding of the 737 MAX 8 as a bargaining chip. But China remains heavily dependent on jets from Boeing -- and Airbus -- and has excluded the US aircraft from the tariff war with the United States. Longer term, China may be looking for a bigger voice in aviation to push its unproven domestically-made jets, but it will take "a decade at least" to see whether this will work, said Mann. "Chinese civil aircraft and high-bypass engine technology have a long way to go to be globally competitive," he said. The 'New Wafd', headed by El-Sayed El-Badawi, claims to embrace the principles of the old party but critics argue it has lost its liberal essence by supporting President Sisi A century after Egypt's March 1919 revolution, the prominent Wafd party credited with leading popular demands to end the British occupation, has now been largely sidelined on the country's political scene, analysts say. A one-time liberal opposition force with a mass following, Wafd is considered Egypt's oldest surviving party, having started its political life under the then monarchy during the early 20th century. But in recent times critics say the party's role has descended into irrelevance under the rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. "The party has completely lost its lustre and no longer attracts liberals," said political science professor at Cairo University Hassan Nafaa. "Wafd still lives on the credit of its historic track record." Since its founding in the wake of the 1919 revolution, the party quickly rose through Egypt's political echelons leading several governments which were largely at odds with the king. It remained for years the face of Egyptian politics before being dismantled along with others amid the rise of the military rule in Egypt in 1952. - Blurred values - It was not until more than 20 years later that Wafd rose again from the ashes rebranding itself as the "New Wafd" under late president Anwar al-Sadat. But Wafd MP Fouad Badrawi maintains his party still has "impact" on the ground despite the political blows it has received over the years. "It has been through multiple ups and down over the years, but it is still surviving," he said. Wafd rose again from the ashes rebranding itself as the 'New Wafd' under late president Anwar al-Sadat The "New Wafd" claims to embrace the principles of the old party with civil rights and freedoms at its core. Critics however argue that Wafd has lost its liberal essence by supporting Sisi. "It is not possible for any party in connection with the current regime ... to claim to be liberal," Nafaa said. Under Sisi, Egyptian authorities have curtailed freedoms and launched a crackdown on dissent. Tens of thousands of political opponents have been arrested and charged. In January, Amnesty International said Egypt's stepped up crackdown on dissent has made the country "more dangerous" than ever for peaceful critics. Badrawi, who is also a senior Wafd member, however maintains that the party adheres to its liberal policies, dismissing rights group's accusations as "baseless." "We (as the Wafd party) don't object for the sake of objection. We only raise objections when the people or the nation are in danger," Badrawi said. Another core value of the old Wafd was its support for secular governance. To this day, the party's motto is still "religion is for God and the nation is for all." Its emblem remains the cross interlinked with the crescent moon, symbolic of national unity. This secular spirit was blurred after the party forged alliances with the Muslim Brotherhood group on several occasions since its resurrection. "Its alliance with the Brotherhood damaged its image and reduced its popularity," said Nafaa. Wafd has also backed general-turned-president Sisi since his rise to power after the military ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Brotherhood. In the 2018 elections, the party threw its support behind Sisi who ran virtually uncontested winning 97 percent of the vote. - Possible contender? - Wafd currently holds 43 seats in the 596-seat parliament which convened in 2016, two years after Sisi took office. As an established party, it counts prominent businessmen among its ranks and is considered to be well financed compared to others. "Wafd has some 220 branches and more than 500,000 members nationwide," said Wafd spokesman Yasser al-Hodeibi. Although it is not clear whether all the party's members are active. It also possesses the only partisan newspaper, according to Hodeibi. Despite its ample financial capabilities, the party failed to field a candidate in the 2018 elections. But it has nonetheless promised to run a candidate in the upcoming elections in 2022. In recent weeks, the overwhelming majority in parliament including Wafd MPs approved in principle possible constitutional amendments that would extend Sisi's rule beyond 2022. "We are preparing three prominent figures so that one of them could potentially run the race," said Hodeibi. Nafaa believes a Wafd candidate will stand little to no chance if they are running against Sisi. "It will be a candidate to justify the elections," Nafaa said. "This will be another blow to the party's image." The cash from Hyundai subsidiary Kia Motors will be used by India's Ola to expand its fleet of electric vehicles Indian taxi-hailing company Ola has secured a $300-million investment from South Korean car giant Hyundai, the firms said Tuesday, providing a major boost in its fight against US giant Uber. Ola was launched in 2011 and is engaged in an aggressive battle with Uber in India's ride-hailing market, which is estimated to be worth around $10 billion and growing fast. The new money, from Hyundai's subsidiary Kia Motors, will largely be used to help Ola increase its electric vehicle fleet, the companies said in a joint statement. "Our partnership with Ola will certainly accelerate our efforts to transform into a smart mobility solutions provider," Hyundai executive vice chairman Chung Eui-sun said in the statement. Bangalore-based Ola announced last year that it planned to put a million electric vehicles on India roads by 2021. Ride-hailing apps are booming in the country despite stiff opposition from traditional taxi firms and some initial concerns about passenger safety. Ola says it handles around a billion rides a year across India's major centres, as well as seven cities in Australia. In 2018, Ola also announced operations in Britain as part of a drive into other markets as competition with Uber intensifies on home turf. Students blocked several major intersections in Dhaka to demand the government take road safety seriously a day after a teenage pedestrian was mowed down Hundreds of students demonstrated in Dhaka Wednesday after a teenager was struck and killed by a speeding bus, just months after a similar accident sparked Bangladesh's biggest anti-government protests in decades. Students chanting "We want justice!" blocked several major intersections in the bustling capital of 20 million, demanding the government take road safety seriously a day after a teenage pedestrian was mowed down. "We request all students to return to their classrooms. Let us do our work," said Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia. The protests rekindled memories of major street demonstrations last August that lasted a week and erupted after two students were killed in a road accident. Tens of thousands took to the streets as the marches grew into a broad challenge against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been accused of waging a crackdown on dissent under a rule. Police responded then by firing tear gas and rounding up scores of students and prominent government critics who joined the marches, with some beaten. The heavy-handed response to a peaceful demonstration attracted international criticism. Hasina, whose chief rival is behind bars, was elected in December for a third consecutive term in a poll marred by rigging allegations and the mass detention of opposition figures. Bangladeshs transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated and dangerous. Thousands of buses and lorries ply the roads without certificates of roadworthiness. About 12,000 people die each year in accidents on Bangladesh's notorious roads, according to a monitoring group. Palestinian children look through the bars of a cage at a lion at Rafah Zoo in southern Gaza Forty animals including five lions are to be rescued from squalid conditions in the Gaza Strip, an animal welfare group said Wednesday. The animals would be taken out of a zoo in the Palestinian enclave and relocated to sanctuaries in Jordan next week, the Four Paws organisation said. Among the other animals to be taken out are a hyena, monkeys, wolves and porcupines, the organisation said in a statement. Rafah Zoo in southern Gaza confirmed the agreement, saying they weren't receiving any funds for the animals and couldn't provide proper care for them in the strip. The zoo hit the headlines last month when the cash-strapped owner revealed he had declawed one of the lions there, so that customers could pay to play with her. The organisation condemned the declawing, with almost 150,000 people signing a petition against the treatment. The animals would be treated and sedated, before being taken through Israel into Jordan, Four Paws said. "For far too long, the animals of Rafah Zoo have had to live under unimaginably dreadful conditions," said Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil. "We are happy to finally put an end to this horror," he said in the statement. The animal welfare group has previously evacuated two other zoos in Gaza, where desperate poverty often leaves owners unable to assure adequate conditions. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, measures it says are necessary to isolate the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. In 2016, Four Paws helped facilitate the transfer of the sole tiger in the Gaza Strip, eventually relocating it to South Africa. The organisation in 2017 rescued a lion and a bear from a zoo in Mosul in northern Iraq, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group. A spokesman for the Tunisian National Guard (members pictured October 2014) said three terrorists "were killed overnight" and the guard seized "Kalashnikov rifles, explosive belts, grenades, explosives and ammunition" Tunisian security forces have shot dead three Islamic State-linked militants suspected of involvement in the grisly killings of shepherds in the restive Kasserine region, the interior ministry said Wednesday. "Three terrorists were killed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday," National Guard spokesman Houssemeddine Jebabli told AFP. "We seized Kalashnikov rifles, explosive belts, grenades, explosives and ammunition." He said the three militants, members of the Islamic State's (IS) Tunisia branch Jund al-Khila fa, were involved "in the killing and beheading of shepherds in the area, as well as attempts to target security forces and the army". He said the jihadists, named Houssem al-Thlithi, Mohamed Nasser al-Mbarki and Mondher al-Gharssali, had been shot dead in the Mount Salloum region. On Saturday, jihadist monitoring group SITE said IS had claimed responsibility for the beheading of Tunisian shepherd Mohamed Lakhdhar Makhloufi, whose body was found last month in nearby Mount Mghilla. In 2015, 16-year-old Mabrouk Soltani was beheaded in nearby Mount Mghilla by a group of extremists as his 14-year-old cousin watched. Jund al-Khilafa (Arabic for Soldiers of the Caliphate), claimed responsibility, accusing the boy of informing the army on their movements. Two years later, Mabrouk's brother Khalifa was abducted and killed in the same area, in an attack also claimed by IS. The three militants killed overnight were involved in all the murders, Jebabli said. Tunisian security forces regularly conduct search operations in the mountainous areas near the border with Algeria to hunt down IS- and Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has experienced multiple jihadist attacks that have killed dozens of members of the security forces and 59 foreign tourists. The country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when an IS-claimed suicide bombing in Tunis killed 12 presidential guards. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) is on a regional tour also including Kuwait and Lebanon Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Wednesday to counter Iranian "aggression" as the two met in Jerusalem just weeks ahead of Israel's elections. Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump's pressure on Iran was already having an effect, referring to his withdrawal from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and the reimposition of sanctions. "We need to increase it, we need to expand it, and together the United States and Israel are working in close coordination to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world," the premier told journalists after Pompeo arrived. Pompeo spoke of a Middle East conference in Warsaw last month that included Arab nations as well as Israel, saying the discussions involved efforts "to stop Iran's regional rampage" among other issues. The US secretary of state also noted Iranian calls for Israel's destruction. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparallelled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," he said. Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria, where the Islamic republic backs President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes there against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action, and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions as we do them," Netanyahu said. The premier, facing a stiff challenge from a centrist alliance in April 9 polls, will also visit Washington next week and meet with Trump twice while there. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - The white supremacist accused of gunning down 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand has dismissed his lawyer and opted to represent himself at trial, prompting the prime minister to declare Tuesday that she would do everything in her power to deny him a platform for his racist views. "I agree that it is absolutely something that we need to acknowledge, and do what we can to prevent the notoriety that this individual seeks," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters. "He obviously had a range of reasons for committing this atrocious terrorist attack. Lifting his profile was one of them. And that's something that we can absolutely deny him." Asked if she would like the trial to occur behind closed doors, Ardern demurred, saying that was not her decision to make. "One thing I can assure you - you won't hear me speak his name," she said. The gunman's desire for infamy was made clear by the fact that he left behind a convoluted 74-page manifesto before Friday's massacre and livestreamed footage of his attack on the Al Noor mosque. The video prompted widespread revulsion and condemnation by lawmakers and members of the public. Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos of the shootings during the first 24 hours after the massacre. But on Tuesday, Ardern expressed frustration that the video remained available online, four days after the attack. A man walks past a memorial of 50 pairs of white shoes for the victims of Friday March 15 mass mosque shootings in front of a church in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Four days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) "We have been in contact with Facebook; they have given us updates on their efforts to have it removed, but as I say, it's our view that it cannot - should not - be distributed, available, able to be viewed," she said. "It is horrendous and while they've given us those assurances, ultimately the responsibility does sit with them." Arden said she had received "some communication" from Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg on the issue. The prime minister has also spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May about the importance of a global effort to clamp down on the distribution of such material. Lawyer Richard Peters, who was assigned to represent Brenton Harrison Tarrant at his initial court appearance on Saturday, told the New Zealand Herald that Tarrant dismissed him that day. A judge ordered Tarrant to return to New Zealand's High Court on April 5 for his next hearing on one count of murder, though he is expected to face additional charges. He is being held in isolation in a Christchurch jail. "He seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior," Peters told the newspaper. "He didn't appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views." Peters did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said a judge could order a lawyer to assist Tarrant at a trial, but that Tarrant would likely be unsuccessful in trying to use it as a platform to put forward any extremist views. Under New Zealand law, a trial is "to determine innocence or guilt," Peters said. "The court is not going to be very sympathetic to him if he wants to use the trial to express his own views." Peters said Tarrant didn't tell him why he wanted to represent himself. Separately, Ardern has said gun law reforms would be announced within 10 days of the attack and an inquiry conducted into intelligence and security services that failed to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. There have been concerns intelligence agencies were overly focused on the Muslim community in detecting and preventing security risks. New Zealand's international spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, confirmed in a statement that it had not received any relevant information or intelligence ahead of the shootings. Meanwhile, Christchurch was beginning to return to a semblance of normalcy Tuesday. Streets near the hospital that had been closed for four days reopened to traffic as relatives and friends of the victims continued to stream in from around the world. Thirty people were still being treated at the Christchurch hospital, nine of them in critical condition, said David Meates, CEO of the Canterbury District Health Board. A 4-year-old girl was transferred to a hospital in Auckland and is in critical condition. Her father is at the same hospital in stable condition. The close-knit community has been deeply wounded by the attacks. On Monday evening, more than 1,000 students from rival Christchurch schools and different religions gathered in a park across from the Al Noor mosque, joining voices in a passionate display of unity. The students sat on the grass in the fading daylight, lifting flickering candles to the sky as they sang a traditional Maori song. Hundreds then stood to perform an emotional, defiant haka, the famed ceremonial dance of the indigenous Maori people. For many, joining the vigil for the victims of the mass shooting was a much-needed opportunity to soothe their minds after a wrenching few days. Most of the students spent hours locked down in their schools on Friday as police tried to determine if any other shooters were involved in the attacks. Those at the vigil told harrowing tales of being forced to hide under classroom tables or on a school stage behind a curtain, of being instructed not to speak, and to urinate in a bucket rather than risk leaving the classroom for a bathroom. Sarah Liddell, 17, said many of her peers felt intense anxiety since the attack. There was a sense of safety in coming together on Monday, she said. "I feel like it's just really important to show everyone that one act of violence doesn't define a whole city," she said. "This is one of the best ways to show everyone coming together. Some schools have little funny rivalries, but in times like this we all just come together and that's all forgotten." The students draped a fence along the park with chains of colorful paper notes, each emblazoned with messages of love and hope and sorrow: "You are not alone." ''This is your home. You are part of us." ''We all bleed the same colour." Relatives of the dead are still anxiously awaiting word on when they can bury their loved ones. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours. Ardern has said authorities hope to release all the bodies by Wednesday and police said authorities are working with pathologists and coroners to complete the task as soon as they can. ___ Associated Press writers Stephen Wright and Nick Perry contributed. Fifty pairs of white shoes line up as a memorial to the victims of Friday March 15 mass mosque shootings in front of a church in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Four days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A woman photographs a memorial of 50 pairs of white shoes for the victims of Friday March 15 mass mosque shootings in front of a church in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Four days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A woman walks past a memorial of 50 pairs of white shoes for the victims of Friday March 15 mass mosque shootings in front of a church in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Four days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A police officer stands guard outside the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Four days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Students react as they gather for a vigil to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Mourners lay flowers on a wall outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Students hold candles during a moment of silence as they gather for a vigil to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Students gather for a vigil to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Candles are placed to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Members of Muslim religious groups leave after a special blessing ceremony near the site of Friday's shooting outside the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) Mourners hug after paying their respects to the victims near the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. A steady stream of mourners paid tribute at makeshift memorial to the 50 people slain by a gunman at two mosques in Christchurch, while dozens of Muslims stood by to bury the dead when authorities finally release the victims' bodies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) A boy pays his respects at a park outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after mosque shootings, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Kansas' solicitor general on Monday called on a federal appeals court to reinstate the state's law requiring people to provide proof of citizenship before they can register to vote, saying problems with how it was enforced during the three years it was in place are fixable. During a hearing before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Salt Lake City in a case with national implications for voting rights, Judge Jerome Holmes questioned attorneys for the state and for plaintiffs who succeeded in getting a lower court to overturn the law, which was in effect from 2013 until 2016. He pointed to evidence that it kept more than 30,000 people from registering to vote even though nearly all of them were citizens. Solicitor General Toby Crouse said there were problems with the way the law was implemented, but he argued that the state should be able to ensure that ballots are cast legally and called on the court to resurrect the law. "The rollout is problematic and concerning and should be improved, but that's not a reason to undermine the law and strike it down as unconstitutional," he said. Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, disagreed. He said cases where people can't find their birth certificate or afford a new one are inevitable, and the Kansas law contains few fail-safes to ensure citizens can cast a ballot. "The difficulties of implementing a law like this, which is unique in the country, are baked into the statute," he said. FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photo, then Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach responds to questions from reporters in Topeka, Kan. An appeals court in Salt Lake City, will consider Monday, March 18, 2019, the constitutionality of a struck down Kansas statute that had required people to provide documents proving U.S. citizenship before they could register to vote. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File) The judges didn't indicate when they might rule. The legal fight has drawn national attention as Republicans pursue voter ID laws aimed at preventing in-person voter fraud, including by people who are in the country illegally. Many experts say such voter fraud is extremely rare, and critics contend that the Republican-led efforts are actually meant to suppress turnout from groups who tend to back Democrats, including racial minorities and college students. The law was championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who led President Donald Trump's now-defunct voter fraud commission and was a leading source for Trump's unsubstantiated claim that millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally may have voted in the 2016 election. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, supported the legislation when she was a state senator but opposes resurrecting it. Kobach, who is an attorney, personally defended the statute in the courts while he was secretary of state. Kansas' Republican attorney general, Derek Schmidt, has taken up its defense during the appeal, saying in an emailed statement that the law was passed by large bipartisan majorities in the Legislature. "The Legislature is free to repeal the statute if it is no longer favored, but as long as the law requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote remains on the books, we think it, like other duly enacted state laws, deserves a full and vigorous legal defense," Schmidt said. Kansas argued in court filings that it has a compelling interest in preventing voter fraud. It contended its proof-of-citizenship requirement is not a significant burden and protects the integrity of elections and the accuracy of voter rolls. Critics countered that the documentary proof-of-citizenship law was "a disastrous experiment" that damaged the state's voter rolls, disenfranchised tens of thousands and eroded confidence in the state's elections. The National Conference of State Legislatures has counted 35 states that have laws requiring some form of identification at the polls, but the Kansas voter registration statute at issue goes further by requiring people to provide documents such as a birth certificate, U.S. passport or naturalization papers before they can even register to vote. Arizona is the only other state with a similar law in effect, but it is far more lenient and allows people to satisfy it by writing their driver's license number on the voter registration form. Proof-of-citizenship laws in Alabama and Georgia are not currently being enforced. Judge Robinson found that between 1999 and 2013 a total of 39 noncitizens living in Kansas successfully registered, mostly due to applicant confusion or administrative error. That is .002 percent of the more than 1.76 million registered voters in Kansas as of Jan. 1, 2013. Eleven of those 39 noncitizens voted. The registration law took effect in January 2013. In the three years before the appellate court put it on hold, more than 30,732 Kansans were not allowed to register to vote because they did not submit proof of citizenship. That figure represented about 12 percent of voter registration applications. __ Associated Press writer Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kansas, contributed to this report. Over 1,000 feared dead after cyclone slams into Mozambique JOHANNESBURG (AP) - More than 1,000 people were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation's president said. "It is a real disaster of great proportions," President Filipe Nyusi said. Cyclone Idai could prove to be the deadliest storm in generations to hit the impoverished southeast African country of 30 million people. It struck Beira, an Indian Ocean port city of a half-million people, late Thursday and then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi with strong winds and heavy rain. But it took days for the scope of the disaster to come into focus in Mozambique, which has a poor communication and transportation network and a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy. Speaking on state Radio Mozambique, Nyusi said that while the official death toll stood at 84, "It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths." ___ NZ leader vows to 'absolutely deny' mosque gunman a platform CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - The white supremacist accused of gunning down 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand has dismissed his lawyer and opted to represent himself at trial, prompting the prime minister to declare Tuesday that she would do everything in her power to deny him a platform for his racist views. "I agree that it is absolutely something that we need to acknowledge, and do what we can to prevent the notoriety that this individual seeks," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters. "He obviously had a range of reasons for committing this atrocious terrorist attack. Lifting his profile was one of them. And that's something that we can absolutely deny him." Asked if she would like the trial to occur behind closed doors, Ardern demurred, saying that was not her decision to make. "One thing I can assure you - you won't hear me speak his name," she said. The gunman's desire for infamy was made clear by the fact that he left behind a convoluted 74-page manifesto before Friday's massacre and livestreamed footage of his attack on the Al Noor mosque. ___ 'Angels of the sky' offer flights into flooded Nebraska city A Nebraska city walled off by massive flooding is getting a big lift from private pilots who are offering free flights to shuttle stranded residents to and from their hometown. Flooding from the Platte River and other waterways is so bad that just one highway lane into Fremont remains uncovered, authorities said Monday. Emergency responders have restricted access for safety reasons, leaving residents in the city of 26,000 stuck on an island in the middle of Nebraska farm country, about 40 miles northwest of Omaha. The flooding in Fremont comes as communities in several Midwestern states grapple with swollen rivers and breached or overtopped levees following heavy rain and snowmelt. After a weekend with no road access to the outside world, officials in Fremont said they still don't know when any will reopen. The flights were a godsend for Sue Ankersen, 56, who lives in the city but wasn't able to return home after baby-sitting her granddaughter in Omaha on Friday. Ankersen said she had never flown in a small plane before, but heard about the flights from her daughter and worked up the courage to go because she was homesick and wanted to volunteer to help others. "I call them angels of the sky," she said. "I'm just so thankful for these guys doing this." The makeshift shuttle flights have led to a surge in air traffic at the Fremont Municipal Airport and its two runways. Pilots have flown in from at least five nearby airports in Nebraska as well as others in western Iowa and Kansas, said Jim Kjeldgaard, the airport's operator. ___ Truck-driving preacher charged with killing Alabama teens OZARK, Ala. (AP) - A truck-driving preacher charged with killing two Alabama teenagers found shot to death in a car trunk nearly 20 years ago was tied to the slayings through a DNA match uncovered with genetic genealogy testing, authorities said Monday. The analysis linked evidence that sat for years in a police freezer to Coley McCraney, 45, of Dothan, Alabama, police said. McCraney was taken into custody Friday and booked Saturday on rape and capital murder charges, according to officials and jail records. He now faces a potential death penalty in the 1999 killings of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, both 17. Hawlett's mother, Carol Roberts, said she went numb when she heard of McCraney's arrest. She said that as the years ticked by, she began to doubt if the case would ever be solved. "God gave her to me. He didn't have the right to do that. I just want to know why," said Roberts, who wore a button featuring her daughter's photo at the news conference announcing the arrest. ___ Warner Bros.' chief Tsujihara steps down following scandal NEW YORK (AP) - Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara, one of the highest ranking Hollywood executives to be felled by sexual misconduct allegations, stepped down from the studio Monday following claims that he promised roles to an actress with whom he was having an affair. WarnerMedia chief executive John Stankey announced Tsujihara's exit as chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros., saying his departure was in the studio's "best interest." "Kevin has contributed greatly to the studio's success over the past 25 years and for that we thank him," said Stankey. "Kevin acknowledges that his mistakes are inconsistent with the company's leadership expectations and could impact the company's ability to execute going forward." Earlier this month, WarnerMedia launched an investigation after a March 6 Hollywood Reporter story detailed text messages between Tsujihara and British actress Charlotte Kirk going back to 2013. The messages suggested a quid pro quo sexual relationship between the aspiring actress and the studio head in which he made promises that he'd introduce her to influential executives and she'd be considered for roles in movies and television. In a memo to Warner Bros. staff on Monday, Tsujihara said he was departing "after lengthy introspection, and discussions with John Stankey over the past week." ___ R. Kelly case spotlights abuse of girls in the era of #MeToo NEW YORK (AP) - The girls, a dozen of them 15 to 18 years old, file into a conference room in a downtown Brooklyn office building, taking seats in chairs carefully arranged in a circle. On the floor in front of them is a makeshift altar of comforting objects: A string of Christmas lights, plastic toys and dolls, oils and crystals, a glitter-filled wand. They arrive at the end of a school day in their usual hoodies and jeans, their smiles and easy banter masking the painful experiences that bring them together: This group is called "Sisters in Strength," and its members are survivors of sexual violence, or their allies and supporters. There's a high school senior who describes being raped at 14, by a family friend she considered a big brother. She endured years of anger and isolation before seeking help. Writing poems is part of her healing process. Soon after the assault, she scrawled in a notebook: "Did you not hear my screams? The screams I vocalized at the top of my lungs, burying my voice ten feet under." Another young woman, now 18, seeks peace through daily meditation. She too was assaulted by someone she knew, she says, just days after her 18th birthday, but never reported it because she feared she wouldn't be believed. "Most people will say, 'What were you wearing or what were you doing? Why were you out so late?' And all those things," says this survivor. She found refuge in two trusted teachers, who sent her to "Sisters in Strength," run by the advocacy group Girls for Gender Equity. "I'm still in my way of healing," she says, "and I think it's better for me to focus on myself and move on." ___ New Zealand's darkest day: 36 minutes of terror CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - On March 15, New Zealand changed. Some are calling it a loss of innocence, a reminder that distance doesn't bring protection against violence. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to change gun laws and investigate what went wrong. This is how 36 minutes of terror unfolded, according to witness accounts and livestream video. 1:32 p.m. Ardern and about 30 other people get a chilling email from Brenton Tarrant. He has attached a manifesto filled with racism and hatred as he tries to justify why he is about to carry out a massacre. Its 74 pages are riddled with contradictions. He talks about the years he spent roaming the world and how "the varied cultures of the world greeted me with warmth and compassion." Twelve pages in, he says he will target mosques in Christchurch and Linwood, as well as one in the town of Ashburton if he makes it that far. ___ Pediatrician gets at least 79 years for assaulting patients EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A former Pennsylvania pediatrician was sentenced Monday to at least 79 years in prison for sexually assaulting 31 children, most of them patients, as his now-adult victims blasted not only their abuser but the system that let him get away with it for so long. Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown was sentenced on dozens of criminal counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors said he spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice in western Pennsylvania and at local hospitals, having opted to become a pediatrician so he'd have a ready supply of victims. He typically abused prepubescent girls. One was an infant. "I grieve for the little girl I should have been, for the childhood I should've had. ... I grieve for all the children you hurt," Erika Brosig, who was sexually abused at age 13, said at Barto's sentencing. Brosig and 18 other people gave victim impact statements Monday, both in person and through a prosecutor, describing their pain and hurt. ___ Gunman kills 3 on Dutch tram; mayor fears terrorism UTRECHT, Netherlands (AP) - A gunman killed three people and wounded five during a mid-morning tram ride Monday in the Dutch city of Utrecht, raising the specter of another extremist attack only days after the murderous rampage in New Zealand. Authorities seized a Turkish-born suspect after a manhunt that convulsed the historic city of nearly 350,000 people for most of the day. As night set in, three victims lay in critical condition, and the motive for the bloodshed remained under investigation. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said authorities were trying to determine whether the attack had "terror motives." Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the suspect, identified as Gokmen Tanis, 37, was known to justice authorities and had a criminal record, but would not elaborate. Police said they also detained another man on suspicion of involvement but released no details. The shooting came three days after 50 people were killed when an immigrant-hating white supremacist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. There was no immediate indication of any link between the two events. ___ Putin visits Crimea to mark 5th anniversary of annexation MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin led thousands to chant "Russia!" on a visit Monday to Crimea marking the fifth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula's annexation from Ukraine, as NATO and the European Union once again strongly condemned the land grab by Russia. Speaking at an outdoor concert in Crimea's regional capital of Simferopol, the Russian leader hailed Crimea's residents, likening them to the Red Army soldiers of World War II. "Russia has taken you into its fold with delight and joy," he told the crowd. "We will fulfill all of our goals ... because we are together now." Putin began his trip by attending the launch of new power plants in Crimea, part of Moscow's efforts to upgrade the region's infrastructure. Ukraine has cut off energy supplies to the peninsula and blocked shipments of Crimea-bound cargo via its territory after Moscow annexed the region in 2014. "The situation has changed radically," Putin said, adding that the new power facilities will fully cover Crimea's energy needs. KURCHALOY, Russia (AP) - A court in Russia's province of Chechnya on Monday sentenced a prominent rights activist to four years imprisonment on drug charges widely seen as an effort by authorities to stifle a critical voice. The court in the Chechen town of Shali found Oyub Titiyev guilty of drug possession and sent him to a prison colony, which means he will be able to travel home to see his family two days a weeks. Titiyev has denied the charges, and his lawyers said they would appeal the verdict. The 61-year-old rights activist, in a traditional Muslim skull cap, spent the entire day in a metal cage in court, sometimes reclining on the bars. The courthouse was packed with his relatives and neighbors, some of whom at times would doze off at the monotony of the judge's reading which took more than eight hours. Titiyev has been in custody since his arrest in January 2018 in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against a rare critic of the Chechen government. As the head of the Chechen office of prominent rights group Memorial, he played a major role in exposing extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture perpetrated by security forces in Chechnya. Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who previously dismissed rights activists as liars and traitors, publicly called the 61-year-old Titiyev a "junkie." Titiyev's supporters said the case aimed not only to silence the activist, who is known as a devout Muslim, but also discredit him in the eyes of the community. Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic late on Monday said that the charges against him "lacked credibility" and called Titiyev's conviction "the latest example of the hostile and dangerous environment" for rights activists in Chechnya. Oyub Titiev, the head of a Chechnya branch of the prominent human rights group Memorial, stands behind bars in court before a hearing in Shali, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2019. Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government. The court is due to issue its verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) Chechnya witnessed two devastating wars in the 1990s and early 2000s before a separatist leader switched sides to support the Russian government in return for almost full control over this region in the North Caucasus. Since his father's assassination in 2004, Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled this predominantly Muslim area as a personal fiefdom, using generous Kremlin subsidies. Titiyev's case closely resembles criminal prosecution of a politician and a journalist in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Both men have been a thorn in the side of the Chechen government, and both men were charged with drug possession, which they say were planted on them. The case against Titiyev was intended to "punish him for his rights activism and drive out Memorial, which is the last remaining rights organization present in Chechnya," said Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch. Titiyev was arrested after a traffic patrol stopped his car and found what they said a suspicious bag in his car. The prosecutors later said it was marijuana. Tests didn't find any drugs in Titiyev's blood and two dozen neighbors gave testimony in court to say that he wasn't known for taking drugs - a bold act in Chechnya where people who come out even with mild criticism of authorities end up being harassed and intimidated. Titiyev's wife and three children fled Russia after he was jailed. His eldest daughter still lives in Chechnya. The dusty streets of Titiyev's home village of Kurchaloy, which is about 35 kilometers (22 miles) away from regional capital Grozny, were empty last weekend, except for a few boys riding bicycles past Titiyev's family house. Titiyev's 72-year-old sister Zharadat Titiyeva charged that the authorities sought not only to silence him, but also smear his reputation as a devout Muslim who doesn't drink or smoke, let alone take drugs. "They decided to disgrace him in front of the people: 'Look who your defender really is: he's just a junkie,'" she said. Titiyev's trial could become a watershed moment for Chechnya where the crackdown on rights activists has been unrelenting. The Chechen leader last year pledged unhindered access to hearings in the Titiyev case, but vowed to make Chechnya after the end of the trial a "no-go zone" for human rights activists whom he described as being no better than "terrorists and extremists." Titiyev took the lead of Memorial in Chechnya in 2010 after his boss Natalya Estemirova, a single mother of a teenage girl, was kidnapped and brutally murdered. Her death remains unsolved. His sister recalls how proud the whole family was when he took up activism. "But when Estemirova was killed we started getting worried," she said. "We were saying: 'You should quit this job.' And he would say: 'If I quit, who would be left then?'" In his final statement in court last week, Titiyev recalled the release of villagers captured by federal forces during the second war in Chechnya as a turning moment in his life that kept him going all those years. "Even if we had managed to save just one person in the line of our work - and I know there were many of them - then our work wasn't in vain," Titiyev said. Oyub Titiev, the head of a Chechnya branch of the prominent human rights group Memorial, stands behind bars in court before a hearing in Shali, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2019. Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government. The court is due to issue its verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) Oyub Titiev, the head of a Chechnya branch of the prominent human rights group Memorial, stands behind bars in court before a hearing in Shali, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2019. Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government. The court is due to issue its verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) In this Sunday, March 17, 2019, photo, Zharadat Titiyeva, left, Khava Zakriyeva, center, and Yakub Titiyev look through the family pictures that feature their sibling, jailed activist Oyub Titiyev, at their family home in Kurchaloy, Chechnya, Russia. A court in Russia's Chechnya is due to issue its verdict Monday, March 18 in the case of the prominent rights activist. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) In this Sunday, March 17, 2019, photo, Yakub Titiyev, elder brother of jailed activist Oyub Titiyev, speaks to the Associated Press at their family home in Kurchaloy, Chechnya, Russia. A court in Russia's Chechnya is due to issue its verdict Monday, March 18 in the case of the prominent rights activist. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) Oyub Titiev, the head of a Chechnya branch of the prominent human rights group Memorial, listens to his lawyer Pyotr Zaikin, right, standing behind bars in court before a hearing in Shali, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2019. Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government. The court is due to issue its verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) People gather in front of the court building before a hearing on Oyub Titiev, the head of a Chechnya branch of the prominent human rights group Memorial, in Shali, Russia, Monday, March 18, 2019. Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government. The court is due to issue its verdict Monday. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev) PARIS (AP) - France's prime minister announced a ban Monday on yellow vest protests along the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris and in two other cities following riots on Saturday that left luxury stores ransacked and charred from arson fires. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the ban will apply for an unspecified period in the neighborhoods that have been "the most impacted" in the cities of Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse, where repeated destruction has occurred since the yellow vest protest movement began in November. He also said Paris police chief Michel Delpuech will be replaced this week by prefect Didier Lallement. Philippe announced the measures following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and top security officials that sought to avoid a repeat of Saturday's violence, in which rioters set life-threatening fires, ransacked luxury stores and attacked police around the Champs-Elysees. Many of those high-end boutiques remained closed on Monday, some of them charred from arson fires set. He acknowledged "dysfunction" in French police operations on Saturday, rejecting "inappropriate" orders given to security forces to use fewer rubber bullets following a controversy about the numerous injuries they've caused at previous protests. Philippe also announced a shift in security strategy to allow police forces to have a greater initiative on the ground to take measures against rioters and disperse crowds. He said police will use new tools, including drones and video surveillance, to help preventing violence and send rioters to trial. Bystanders take snapshots of the burned out terrasse of the famed restaurant Le Fouquet's on the Champs Elysees the day after it was vandalized and set on fire during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) "When a protest has been banned and its aim is to ransack and loot, all of those who take part it in and, in fact, protect looters, encourage them or glorify them online, are complicit and will have to face the consequences," he said. Philippe promised "nothing will change" for other peaceful, authorized protests. The surge in violence came as the 4-month-old yellow vest movement, which is pressing for more economic justice, has been dwindling. Images of the destruction on Saturday- including from a bank fire that engulfed a residential building and threatened the lives of a mother and child - could further erode public support. But the renewed attention energized some protesters, who took to social networks to call for new protests this Saturday to demand lower taxes and more support for workers. The Finance Ministry held a meeting Monday with groups representing small businesses, restaurants, hotels, insurance companies and banks to estimate the economic impact of the protests. The Paris region's Chamber of Commerce said 91 businesses suffered consequences from Saturday's riot at the Champs-Elysees, 80 percent of which were severely damaged. It called for an "emergency plan" to support those shopkeepers and employees. Last month the French Parliament passed a bill backed by Macron's government to further prevent violence during protests and to help authorities maintain order. But the "anti-troublemakers" law has not yet taken effect since the Constitutional Council must assess it first. It would authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, and would force protesters involved in violence to pay for damages. It would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces, punishable by up to one year in prison and a 15,000-euro ($17,000) fine. The bill has been criticized by rights groups, opposition members and even members of Macron's centrist party as going too far in restricting freedoms. Protesters sought to raise their profile Saturday to mark end of a national debate that Macron had organized to respond to their concerns about sinking living standards, stagnant wages and high unemployment. Many demonstrators feel the debate didn't succeed. Yet after offering French workers a series of economic concessions to address their complaints, Macron, the protesters' target, is now resurgent in the polls. French President Emmanuel Macron flanked by Elysee general secretary Alexis Kohler, left, holds a meeting at the Elysee presidential Palace, in Paris, Monday, March 18, 2019. Macron summoned top security officials Monday after police failed to contain resurgent rioting during yellow vest protests that transformed a luxurious Paris avenue into a battle scene. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP) French President Emmanuel Macron, center, flanked by his cabinet director Patrick Strzoda, right, and Elysee general secretary Alexis Kohler holds a meeting with France's Premier Edouard Philippe, right back to camera, and Interior minister Christophe Castaner, left back to camera, at the Elysee presidential Palace in Paris, Monday, March 18, 2019. Macron summoned top security officials Monday after police failed to contain resurgent rioting during yellow vest protests that transformed a luxurious Paris avenue into a battle scene. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP) French President Emmanuel Macron, 3rd right, flanked by his cabinet director Patrick Strzoda, 2nd right, and Elysee general secretary Alexis Kohler holds a meeting with Prance's Premier Edouard Philippe, 3rd left, at the Elysee presidential Palace in Paris, Monday, March 18, 2019. Macron summoned top security officials Monday after police failed to contain resurgent rioting during yellow vest protests that transformed a luxurious Paris avenue into a battle scene. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP) Outside view of a store vandalized and set on fire the day after riots erupted on the Champs Elysees during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) Bystanders walks past charred motorcycles on the Champs Elysees, the day after they were set on fire during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) A worker repairs the shop windows of a clothing store on the Champs Elysees the day after it was vandalized during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) Inside view of the burned out remains of terrasse of the famed restaurant Le Fouquet's on the Champs Elysees the day after it was vandalized and set on fire during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) Inside view of the burned out remains of terrasse of the famed restaurant Le Fouquet's on the Champs Elysees the day after it was vandalized and set on fire during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world's most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh) LONDON (AP) - The speaker of Britain's House of Commons dealt a potentially fatal blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's ailing Brexit deal on Monday, saying the government couldn't keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same deal they have already rejected twice. The government intended to try a third time to get lawmakers to back the deal, ideally before May joins EU leaders Thursday at a Brussels summit where she is set to ask the bloc to postpone Britain's departure. May has warned opponents that a failure to approve her Brexit divorce deal would mean a long, and possibly indefinite, delay to Britain's departure from the EU. Speaker John Bercow scuttled May's plan, saying that centuries-old parliamentary rules prevent "the same proposition or substantially the same proposition" from being brought back repeatedly for votes in a session of Parliament. He said a new motion would have to be "fundamentally different. Not different in terms of wording, but different in terms of substance." The ruling caused uproar on the government side of the House of Commons. Solicitor General Robert Buckland said Britain was facing a "major constitutional crisis," with not much time to solve it. By law, the U.K. will leave the EU on March 29, deal or no deal, unless it secures a delay from the bloc. Withdrawing without a deal could mean huge disruption for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining EU countries. FILE - In this file photo dated Thursday, March 22, 2018, John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons speaks at Westminster Hall inside the Palace of Westminster in London. Bercow dealt a potentially fatal blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's ailing Brexit deal on Monday, March 18, 2019, saying the government couldn't keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same Brexit deal that lawmakers have already rejected twice. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, FILE) "Frankly, we could have done without this," Buckland told the BBC. As interpreter and enforcer of Parliament's rules, the speaker has broad powers. Bercow - whose booming cries of "Orderrrrr!" have made him something of a global celebrity - has often used his office to boost the influence of backbench lawmakers, to the annoyance of May's government. "Part of the responsibility of the speaker is, frankly, to speak truth to power," he said Monday. Even before Bercow's ruling, May faced a struggle to reverse the huge margins of defeat for the Brexit divorce agreement in Parliament. It was rejected by 230 votes in January and by 149 votes last week. Her goal was to win over Northern Ireland's small, power-brokering Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP's 10 lawmakers prop up May's minority Conservative government, and their support could influence pro-Brexit Conservatives to drop their opposition to the deal. Opposition centers on a measure designed to ensure there is no hard border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU until a permanent new trading relationship is in place. Brexit supporters in Britain fear the backstop could be used to bind the country to EU regulations indefinitely, and the DUP fears it could lead to a weakening of the bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. Talks between the government and the DUP have been aimed at reassuring the party that Britain couldn't be trapped in the backstop indefinitely. But with no sign of a breakthrough, May's spokesman, James Slack, said the government would only hold a vote if there is "a realistic prospect of success." Influential Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said he would wait to see what the DUP decided before making up his mind on whether to support May's deal. "No deal is better than a bad deal, but a bad deal is better than remaining in the European Union," he told LBC radio. After months of political deadlock, British lawmakers voted last week to seek to postpone Brexit. That will likely avert a chaotic British withdrawal on the exit date of March 29 - although the power to approve or reject a Brexit extension lies with the EU, whose leaders are fed up with British prevarication. May has said if her deal is approved, she will ask EU leaders this week to extend the Brexit deadline until June 30 so that Parliament has time to approve the necessary legislation. If it isn't, she will have to seek a longer extension that would mean Britain participating in May 23-26 elections for the European Parliament - something the government is keen to avoid. EU leaders say they will only grant it if Britain has a solid plan for what to do with the extra time. "We have to know what the British want: How long, what is the reason supposed to be, how it should go, what is actually the aim of the extension?" German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters in Brussels. "The longer it is delayed, the more difficult it will certainly be." Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders agreed, saying: "We are not against an extension in Belgium, but the problem is - to do what?" ___ Lorne Cook reported from Brussels. Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story. ___ Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit A European flag and a British Union flag hang outside Europe House, the European Parliament's British offices in London, Monday, March 18, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May was making a last-minute push Monday to win support for her European Union divorce deal, warning opponents that failure to approve it would mean a long - and possibly indefinite - delay to Brexit. Parliament has rejected the agreement twice, but May aims to try a third time this week if she can persuade enough lawmakers to change their minds. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) In this handout photo provided by UK Parliament, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, first row centre, laughs during the Brexit debate in the House of Commons, London, Thursday March 14, 2019. Britain's Parliament has voted to seek a delay of the country's departure from the European Union, a move that will likely avert a chaotic withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29. (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor via AP) Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, left, speaks with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 18, 2019. EU foreign ministers hold talks with their Chinese counterpart as the bloc seeks to establish a new strategic balance with the Asian economic giant. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, left, speaks with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels, Monday, March 18, 2019. EU foreign ministers hold talks with their Chinese counterpart as the bloc seeks to establish a new strategic balance with the Asian economic giant. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) European flags and a British Union flag placed by anti-Brexit remain in the European Union supporters are blown by the wind across the street from the Houses of Parliament, not pictured, backdropped by Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 18, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May was making a last-minute push Monday to win support for her European Union divorce deal, warning opponents that failure to approve it would mean a long - and possibly indefinite - delay to Brexit. Parliament has rejected the agreement twice, but May aims to try a third time this week if she can persuade enough lawmakers to change their minds. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Armed British police officers walk past a pro-Brexit leave the European Union supporter, at left, protesting next to anti-Brexit remain in the European Union supporters outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, March 18, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May was making a last-minute push Monday to win support for her European Union divorce deal, warning opponents that failure to approve it would mean a long - and possibly indefinite - delay to Brexit. Parliament has rejected the agreement twice, but May aims to try a third time this week if she can persuade enough lawmakers to change their minds. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Placards placed by anti-Brexit supporters stand opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, March 18, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May was making a last-minute push Monday to win support for her European Union divorce deal, warning opponents that failure to approve it would mean a long - and possibly indefinite - delay to Brexit. Parliament has rejected the agreement twice, but May aims to try a third time this week if she can persuade enough lawmakers to change their minds. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) A tourist takes a selfie next to placards placed by anti-Brexit supporters stand opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, March 18, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May was making a last-minute push Monday to win support for her European Union divorce deal, warning opponents that failure to approve it would mean a long - and possibly indefinite - delay to Brexit. Parliament has rejected the agreement twice, but May aims to try a third time this week if she can persuade enough lawmakers to change their minds. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) - She wonders now if that moment was a prophecy, if her brother somehow knew it was the last time they'd see each other. Or maybe he was just teasing her, like he always did. But whatever the whole thing meant, Aya al-Umari likes to believe it was her brother's way of saying goodbye. It was Thursday, the evening before a white supremacist stormed into the mosque where Hussein al-Umari was praying, killing the 35-year-old in New Zealand's deadliest mass shooting in modern history. Hussein had joined his sister Aya and their parents for dinner. And he was fixated on Aya's new shirt. It was just a simple cream-colored T-shirt. But on the front were three words: "See You Bye." Every time she passed him, he'd chirp: "Hey, that's a nice top!" Was he serious, or just making fun of her? She couldn't tell. After the fifth comment, she started ignoring him. Like most big brothers, he could be a real pest. He'd always delighted in teasing her. One time when they were visiting Malaysia as kids, he'd given her some candy that he assured her was smooth and sweet. When she put it in her mouth, she quickly realized he'd tricked her. It was popping candy, which instantly began to fizz and spark on her tongue. She shrieked. He laughed. Aya Al-Umari wears the T-shirt that her brother, Hussein Al-Umari, 35, teased her about the last time she saw him, before he was killed on March 15 in the attack at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, March 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Juliet Williams) When Hussein left her house on Thursday night, she was busy. She didn't get the chance to hug him goodbye, or say the words out loud. The next day was a nightmare. Hussein, who worked in the tourism industry, was between jobs, which left him free to attend Friday prayers at Al Noor mosque. He died there, one of 50 people whose lives were cut short in a barrage of racist violence that day. On Friday night, Aya returned home and saw the shirt lying on a chair. She looked at the words, "See You Bye." She thought of Hussein. Maybe he'd had a premonition. She alternates between laughter and tears when she thinks of him now. The two of them moved from Abu Dhabi to Christchurch in 1997, and had settled comfortably into their new lives in the peaceful green country. Hussein, an exercise enthusiast, loved taking long walks, sometimes several times a day. He also loved to travel, most recently to the seaside South Island city of Nelson. He'd created a video blog of his adventures; Aya had been impressed by how polished the video was. When she remembers Hussein, she pictures him with his arms wide open, ready to wrap her in an embrace. He'd always been a hugger. Even after a long day, when she just wanted to go to bed, he insisted on giving her a squeeze first. On Monday, she was left wondering where Hussein was. Like most families who lost loved ones in the attacks, she was still waiting for her brother's body to be released. The wait has been made more painful by the fact that Islamic law calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours. "It's very unsettling not knowing what's going on. If you just let me know - is he still in the mosque? Is he in a fridge? Where is he?" she said. "I understand the police need to do their job because it's a crime scene, but you need to communicate with the families." For now, she comforts herself with memories of Hussein the way he was in life: arms wide open, wrapping her in a hug. Teasing her about a T-shirt that she clings to as a symbol of their final farewell. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The Latest on a shooting in a tram in the Netherlands (all times local): 8 p.m. Turkey's foreign ministry has condemned the Utrecht tram shooting that killed at least three people. In a written statement Monday, the ministry said it "strongly" condemned the attack, "regardless of the identity of the perpetrator and the motivation behind it." Police in Utrecht released the picture of a 37-year-old man, identified as Turkey-born Gokmen Taskin, who they said was linked to the incident. A suspect is now in custody in the Netherlands. The Turkish ministry said it stood with the Dutch people and the government. A forensics expert looks for clues inside a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Diplomatic relations were shattered in 2017 after the Netherlands blocked Turkish government officials from holding campaign rallies for a referendum back home that expanded presidential powers. Turkey's president, in campaign speeches, compared Dutch and German politicians to Nazis and fascists. The two countries re-appointed ambassadors in September 2018 to "normalize relations." The ministry said earlier that Turkish and Dutch officials would meet Tuesday to discuss "bilateral relations" and cooperation. ___ 7:40 p.m. The Dutch justice minister has told The Associated Press that the suspect in the Utrecht tram attack had a criminal record. Ferd Grapperhaus said it was too early to say whether the attack suspect had a terror motive but acknowledged he had a criminal history. He warned against early speculation about motives and said "it is important that now the independent investigation will thoroughly go through" the evidence. "Yes, the suspect was known within the justice department. He had a criminal record. That is indeed what we know. I can give no more details." Local networks said that the suspect had been charged several times over the past years, anything from attempted manslaughter to petty crime in and around Utrecht. The networks said that only two weeks ago he was in court on charges of raping of woman in 2017. ___ 7:20 p.m. The Dutch justice minister says the attacker in the deadly tram shooting in Utrecht "was known" to authorities. Ferd Grapperhaus was speaking shortly after the Utrecht police chief announced that the gunman was detained. Grapperhaus didn't provide further details about how the suspect was known to authorities. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, speaking at the same news conference, said some of the wounded "are still in critical condition." Rutte said "three people are dead, three people are fighting for their lives. There was an attack today in the Netherlands - if it had terror motives, that is being investigated. But it was very serious. The world shares our grief." The attack killed at least three people and wounded five others. ___ 7 p.m. Dutch authorities have reduced the threat level in the central city of Utrecht back to four out of five following the arrest of the suspect in the city's deadly tram shooting. The country's counterterror coordinator announced the scaling down of the threat level in a tweet Monday evening. He says the decision was prompted by "the arrest of the main suspect of the shooting." A level four terror alert is in line with the rest of the Netherlands. The decision came shortly after police announced the arrest at the end of a nationally televised press conference. Three people were killed in Monday's shooting and five were wounded, according to police. ___ 6:40 p.m. Utrecht's police chief says the suspect in the deadly tram shooting in the Dutch city has been detained. At the end of a news conference Monday evening in Utrecht, police chief Rob van Bree told reporters: "I just heard that the suspect we were hunting has been arrested." Further details were not immediately available. ___ 6:25 p.m. The father of the suspect in the Utrecht tram shooting says his son should be punished if he's to blame. Utrecht police released a photo of a 37-year-old man born in Turkey who they said was "associated with the incident." The photo identified him as Gokmen Tanis. Police say three people were killed in the shooting Monday and five wounded. Mehmet Tanis, his father who lives in Turkey's central Kayseri province, told the private Demiroren news agency that he hadn't spoken to his son in 11 years. He says "if he did it, he should pay the penalty." Separately, Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said the suspect's relatives believe he shot at someone close to the family due to "family issues." ___ 4:45 p.m. Police in Utrecht say they are reducing to five the number of people who were injured in a deadly shooting on a tram in the Dutch city. Earlier, police said nine people had been wounded in the shooting on Monday. The death toll of three in the shooting has not changed. Dutch police announced the updated number of wounded in a tweet but did not immediately give a reason for changing the number. Heavily armed police are now in a manhunt in the central Dutch city, searching for the suspect. ___ 4:30 p.m. The mayor of Utrecht has withdrawn advice issued earlier by his municipality for the city's residents to stay indoors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting on a tram. Mayor Jan van Zanen says in a video tweeted by the Utrecht municipality that the earlier advice to remain indoors was based on fears that shots had been fired at more than one location in the city. He now says "that is not the case, as far as we know." Van Zanen says police are hunting for a suspect in the shooting that left three dead and nine injured. He says "there could be other suspects, we don't know yet." ___ 3:10 p.m. The mayor of the Dutch city of Utrecht says that three people have been killed in an attack on a tram and adds that a "terror motive" is the most plausible option. Jan van Zanen also said that nine have been wounded, three of them seriously. Van Zanen said that "we cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more." Dutch authorities have named a 37-year-old Turkey-born man as linked to the tram shooting. ___ 2:55 p.m. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says that the Netherlands has been hit by an attack in Utrecht and that terrorism isn't excluded, after one person was killed in a tram shooting along with an unknown number of wounded. Rutte says that "our nation was hit by an attack in Utrecht. It is clear there were shots on tram passengers in Utrecht, that there are wounded," without specifying how many. He said that "a terror motive is not excluded." Rutte said that throughout the nation, "there is a mix of disbelief and disgust." He said "if it is terror attack then we have only one answer: our nation, democracy must be stronger that fanaticism and violence." Dutch authorities have named a 37-year-old Turkey-born man as linked to the tram shooting. ___ 2:30 p.m. Dutch authorities have named a 37-year-old Turkey-born man as linked to the tram shooting in the central Dutch town of Utrecht. Police showed the picture of a bearded man sitting on public transport and dressed in a dark blue top with a hood tucked in his neck. Police identified him as Gokmen Tanis. It was the first image distributed of someone linked to the shooting. Police warned citizens not to approach the man but call authorities instead. __ This item has been corrected to show that the spelling of Turkey-born man's name is Gokmen, not Gokman. ___ 1:30 p.m. German police say they have upped surveillance on the country's border with the Netherlands and are on the lookout for the gunman behind a shooting in the Dutch city of Utrecht. Heinrich Onstein, a spokesman for the federal police in the border state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told The Associated Press on Monday that additional police had been added to watch not only major highways, but also minor crossings as well as railway routes. He says the federal police are in close contact with authorities in the Netherlands and have a description of the suspect. He says initially German authorities were told to look out for a red Renault Clio compact sedan but now have been told it was found abandoned in Utrecht. ___ 1:15 p.m. Heavily armed anti-terror officers have gathered in front of an apartment block close to the scene of a deadly shooting on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht. Authorities say that a suspect is still on the run following the shooting late morning Monday in which one person was killed and police said multiple others were wounded. From the tram scene, security officials have moved to a location some 200 meters away where they are awaiting further instructions. Police said they were searching for the shooter "with all possible means." ___ 12:35 p.m. The Dutch anti-terror coordinator has raised the threat alert to its highest level around the central Dutch town of Utrecht following the shooting incident on a tram in the city, with the shooter still on the run. Anti-terror coordinator Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said in a statement that the "threat level has gone to 5, exclusively for the Utrecht province," referring to the highest level. "The culprit is still on the run. A terror motive cannot be excluded," he said in a Twitter message. He called on citizens to closely follow the indications of the local police. Dutch police say they are looking for a least one person who might have fled by car. Spokesman Bernhard Jens did not exclude more people might be involved. "We want to try to catch the person responsible as soon as possible," Jens said. ___ 12:30 p.m. Police have erected a white tent over an area where a body appears to be lying next to a tram following reports of a shooting in the Dutch city of Utrecht. Earlier, footage showed what appeared to be a body lying under a white blanket. Police had said that there were "multiple" people wounded in the shooting Monday morning. ___ 12:10 p.m. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say they are investigating a shooting in a tram that left "multiple" people injured and are considering the possibility of a "terrorist motive." Police, including heavily armed officers, flooded the area after the shooting that happened Monday morning on a tram at a busy traffic intersection. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the situation "very worrying" and the country's counterterror coordinator said in a tweet that a crisis team was meeting to discuss the situation. There have been no reports yet of any suspects arrested. ___ 11:40 a.m. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. Utrecht police say that trauma helicopters were sent to the scene Monday and they are appealing to the public to stay away to allow first responders to do their work. Further details were not immediately available. CAPTION CORRECTS THE NAME - This image made available on Monday March 18, 2019 from the Twitter page of Police Utrecht shows an image of 37 year old Gokmen Tanis, who police are looking for in connection with a shooting incident on a tram. Police, including heavily armed officers, flooded the area after the shooting Monday morning on a tram at a busy traffic intersection in a residential neighborhood. (Police Utrecht via AP) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) In this image taken from video, a body lays next to a tram as emergency services attend the scene of a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo) Rescue workers install a screen on the spot where a human shape was seen under a white blanket following a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Ambulances are seen next to a tram after a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Emergency services attend the scene of a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (Martijn van der Zande via AP) Emergency services attend the scene of a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (Martijn van der Zande via AP) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) The body of one of three victims is covered with a white sheet as it lies next to a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) The body of one of three victims is covered with a white sheet as it lies next to a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house with a sniffer dog equipped with a camera after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police stand guard as others enter a house after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Dutch counter terrorism police leave after searching a house following a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A forensics expert looks for clues inside a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A forensics expert looks for clues inside a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A forensics expert looks for clues inside a tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. A gunman killed three people and wounded nine others on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, sparking a manhunt that saw heavily armed officers with sniffer dogs zero in on an apartment building close to the shooting. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A body is covered with a blanket next to a tram following a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands, Monday, March 18, 2019. Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht say on Twitter that "multiple" people have been injured as a result of a shooting in a tram in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin led thousands to chant "Russia!" on a visit Monday to Crimea marking the fifth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula's annexation from Ukraine, as NATO and the European Union once again strongly condemned the land grab by Russia. Speaking at an outdoor concert in Crimea's regional capital of Simferopol, the Russian leader hailed Crimea's residents, likening them to the Red Army soldiers of World War II. "Russia has taken you into its fold with delight and joy," he told the crowd. "We will fulfill all of our goals ... because we are together now." Putin began his trip by attending the launch of new power plants in Crimea, part of Moscow's efforts to upgrade the region's infrastructure. Ukraine has cut off energy supplies to the peninsula and blocked shipments of Crimea-bound cargo via its territory after Moscow annexed the region in 2014. "The situation has changed radically," Putin said, adding that the new power facilities will fully cover Crimea's energy needs. Russia's modernization effort for Crimea has included building a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge that opened last year across the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The $3.6-billion project gave Crimea a land link to Russia. Previously, a ferry crossing that was often interrupted by gales served as the only connection. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with local residents and veterans at the historical memorial the Malakhov Kurgan (Malakoff redoubt) in Sevastopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Moscow's annexation of Crimea drew U.S. and EU sanctions against Russia that hurt its economy, but the move boosted Putin's popularity at home. NATO allies said in a statement Monday that "we strongly condemn this act, which we do not and will not recognize." They denounced alleged rights abuses including "arbitrary detentions, arrest, and torture" against members of the Crimean Tartar community and criticized Russia's military buildup in Crimea. Russia has beefed up its military in Crimea with new navy ships, missiles and warplanes. Viktor Bondarev, the head of the Russian upper house's defense affairs committee, said the new weapons included Iskander-M missiles and Tu-22M3 long-range bombers. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "we stand in full solidarity with Ukraine, supporting its sovereignty and territorial integrity." NATO and the EU also called for the release of Ukrainian seamen who were seized by Russia in November's standoff in the Black Sea. Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York that an investigation will determine "what's the level of their guilt." "I assume that it is not the highest level of guilt, because somebody in Kiev or elsewhere gave them this criminal order to enter our territorial waters, to provoke our border guards," Polyansky said. "There are a lot of indications that they were meant to be kind of sacrifice." The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry protested Putin's visit to Crimea as a "crude violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Putin claims Russia "re-integrated" Crimea after the ouster of Ukraine's former pro-Russian president in 2014 to protect ethnic Russians who made up the majority of Crimea's population from Ukrainian nationalists. The Kremlin was also worried a new Ukrainian government could annul Russia's lease on its key Black Sea navy base in Crimea and welcome NATO there instead. The Russian leader has said he put Russia's nuclear forces on combat readiness during the 2014 developments in Crimea and warned his Western counterparts that Moscow was ready to defend what it considered its land. The annexation gave Russia hundreds of miles of coastline along the Black Sea, a near-stranglehold on commerce in the Sea of Azov and access to vast potential energy riches on the Black Sea shelf. Crimea was first seized by Russian forces in the 18th century under Catherine the Great. The 27,000-square kilometer (10,425-square mile) territory, roughly the size of Massachusetts, is a lush peninsula that long has been a favorite vacation destination for Russians. It became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality until the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union meant that Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine. The Kremlin has argued that Khrushchev's move on Crimea violated Soviet law. Russian troops swept into Crimea just days after the February 2014 ouster of Ukraine's Russia-friendly president, catching the West by surprise. The Russian forces blocked Ukrainian soldiers at their garrisons, setting the stage for a hastily called referendum in Crimea that the West denounced as illegitimate. Putin on Monday hailed that 2014 referendum as a true expression of the Crimean people's will, saying the West's refusal to recognize it shows "disrespect for democratic principles." "It was a landmark event in the history of Russia," he said at a meeting with local residents. "We have shown the entire world that we nurture our interests and can protect them." During a meeting with residents that involved religious leaders, Putin said he had invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the opening of a new mosque in the region and suggested also inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit for a ceremony unveiling a new synagogue. The U.S. and the EU responded to the annexation of Crimea and Moscow's support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine with several waves of sanctions that have limited Russia's access to global financial markets and to energy and defense technologies. Annexing Crimea helped bolster Putin's popularity but public enthusiasm about the land grab has waned over the years amid Russia's economic difficulties and a plunge in living standards. "After Crimea was annexed, there was a sense of almost universal euphoria," said Masha Lipman, a Moscow-based independent policy expert. She noted the majority of Russians still feel proud about the annexation of Crimea but "it no longer works the way it had, it does not improve the mood." A poll this month by the Public Opinion Foundation, a Moscow-based survey firm, said most Russians continue to support the annexation, but also indicated an increasing public awareness of its costs. ___ Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during a meeting with local residents in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with local residents and veterans at the historical memorial the Malakhov Kurgan (Malakoff redoubt) in Sevastopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with Franch delegation in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with local residents in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during a meeting with local residents in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, visits a new power plant in Crimea, part of Moscow's efforts to upgrade the region's infrastructure in Sevastopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during a meeting with French delegation in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with Franch delegation in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, speaks during a meeting with local residents in Simferopol, Crimea, Monday, March 18, 2019. Putin visited Crimea to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by visiting the Black Sea peninsula. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP) HOUSTON (AP) - A large fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. The fire erupted Sunday at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Houston. Firefighters were working to control the blaze, and the company said the risk of explosion remained "minimal." ITC has said all employees have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported. A huge plume of smoke could be seen for miles, including from the Galveston Ferry, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of the blaze. Officials estimated the plume rose 3,000 feet (914 meters) to 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) into the air. The company said the fire spread to seven storage tanks holding components of gasoline and also used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. ITC initially said the fire had spread to eight tanks , but company official David Wascome scaled back the number Monday, saying one of the tanks was empty. Monday afternoon, ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said fire crews had made progress battling the blaze as three of the tanks were now only intermittently on fire. A report done by the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, a local environmental consultant hired by ITC, shows the air quality around the facility was below levels that would represent a health concern, Richardson said. Data for the company's report was collected from multiple locations in Deer Park and in surrounding communities from Sunday through Monday morning. Firefighters battle a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company Monday, March 18, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas. The large fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Monday the county is performing its own monitoring of air quality and reviewing data from the state. "The latest information available doesn't show levels beyond a threshold that would make this dangerous," she said. Hidalgo, the highest elected official in the county, said if conditions change, residents would be alerted about any potential health hazards. A shelter-in-place order was issued Sunday for Deer Park, which has about 34,000 residents. The order was lifted early Monday after air-quality tests showed no unsafe levels of chemicals, according to the city. But city and county officials warned that smoke from the fire could cause skin and eye irritation, and respiratory issues. Schools in the area were closed Monday as a precaution. Deer Park and the school district in neighboring La Porte planned to resume classes on Tuesday. Isaias Lopez's grandson stayed home after classes in La Porte were canceled. The two walked his dog at a park on Monday and looked at the dark plume of smoke coming from the fire. "I've seen the smoke since yesterday," Lopez said. "It's been blowing like that. Today it's been making more wind than yesterday. So it's not so bad as long as the smoke don't come around this area. I guess we'll be OK." Fire crews used foam to protect storage tanks that have not caught on fire "We are controlling the fire and keeping it off the rest of the tanks," said Ray Russell with Channel Industries Mutual Aid, an organization that coordinates rescue and emergency capabilities of the local petrochemical industry. Russell estimated the fire would burn for another two days. He said firefighters were now in a defensive mode. Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said investigators from her office are on the scene of the fire and are still determining a cause of the blaze. The fire was the second in as many days at a Houston-area petrochemical facility. A fire at an ExxonMobil plant in nearby Baytown that broke out Saturday has been contained. ___ Associated Press Writer John Mone in La Porte contributed to this report. ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70 A plume of smoke rises from a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company Monday, March 18, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas. The large fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) A plume of smoke rises from a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company Monday, March 18, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas. The large fire at the Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) A plume of smoke from a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company is shown over downtown Houston Monday, March 18, 2019. The large fire at the Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) A plume of smoke from a petrochemical fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company is shown over downtown Houston Monday, March 18, 2019. The large fire at the Houston-area petrochemicals terminal will likely burn for another two days, authorities said Monday, noting that air quality around the facility was testing within normal guidelines. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) CENTER LINE, Mich. (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke boasted Monday that the more than $6 million he raised online within a day of announcing his White House bid, the most reported by any 2020 candidate, was helping to create "the largest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen." The "record-breaking" $6.1 million collected last week came "without a dime" from political action committees, corporations or special interests, O'Rourke spokesman Chris Evans tweeted. The figure is just above what Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders reported for his first day as a 2020 candidate. O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman, jumped into the presidential race on Thursday after months of speculation, shaking up the already packed Democratic field and pledging to win over voters from across the political spectrum. "Thank you to everyone who's helping to build the largest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen, funded completely by people - not PACs, not lobbyists, not corporations and not special interests," O'Rourke told reporters in Center Line, a Detroit suburb. "It's one of the best ways to bring the country together to make sure that we are listening to one another and not that entrenchment of wealth and power and privilege that defines so much of our politics from before." O'Rourke raised an eye-popping $80 million in grassroots donations last year in his failed U.S. Senate race in Texas against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, all while largely avoiding money from PACs. His early fundraising numbers in the presidential contest will be seen as an initial signal of whether his popularity during the Senate campaign will carry over to his White House bid. He said Monday he didn't know the average donation to his presidential campaign, but added without providing evidence, "I just know that people contributed from every state in the union." Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke during a stop at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) The new figures set O'Rourke and Sanders apart from the rest of the Democratic field in launch day fundraising. California Sen. Kamala Harris reported raising $1.5 million in the 24 hours after she launched her campaign in January. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar reported raising $1 million in the 48 hours after launching her campaign in February. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said three days after starting his presidential campaign this month that he had raised more than $1 million, a notable haul for a governor less widely known than many of his competitors in a field dominated by senators. And former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said he reached $1 million within 48 hours of announcing his White House bid at the beginning of this month. Sanders has set the pace for 2020 grassroots donations. Aided by the $6 million he pulled in on his first day as a candidate, he took in more than $10 million in the first week, overwhelmingly from small donors. O'Rourke, asked last week if he thought he would top Sanders, said only, "We'll see." ___ Hazell contributed from Washington. Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is interviewed after a campaign stop at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke signs a placard after a visit to the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke visits with apprentices at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke watches as apprentices work on a project at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is given a tour of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters by president Tom Lutz, left, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke looks over a robotic total station with the help of Andy Showers, left, carpenter instructor and apprentice Josh Rice at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) NEW YORK (AP) - Lyft officially kicked off the road show for its initial public offering, saying Monday it plans to put more than 30 million shares up for sale with an anticipated price of between $62 and $68 per share. That would raise more than $2 billion for the San Francisco ride-hailing company, pegging its market value at $20 billion to $25 billion, even though it hasn't been able to turn a profit yet. It's the first time that Lyft has revealed how much money it hopes to raise in the IPO, and how much it believes it's worth. Those financial targets could still change as Lyft's investment bankers gauge demand for the company's stock leading up to the IPO pricing, which is expected to happen next week. Lyft and Uber have raced to be first with an IPO, and Lyft's rival is expected to offer shares in the coming weeks. Uber is hoping its larger ride-hailing service will justify a market value as high as $120 billion after its IPO is completed later this spring, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lyft released financial details about the company for the first time this month, reporting $2.2 billion in revenue last year, more than double its $1.1 billion in revenue in 2017, but also $911 million in losses. Lyft has lost nearly $3 billion since 2012, but has brought in more than $5 billion in venture capital. FILE - This Jan. 31, 2018 file photo shows a Lyft logo on a Lyft driver's car in Pittsburgh. Lyft officially kicked off the road show for its initial public offering Monday, March 18, 2019, with 30 million shares expected to cost between $62 and $68 per share. That would raise more than $2 billion for the San Francisco ride-hailing company, which could be valued in between $20 billion and $25 billion eventually. Lyft announced earlier this month that it intended to go public and has been in a race with Uber to be first to offer its stock to the public. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) The company's executives warned that the company could struggle to turn a profit, despite a rapidly growing market share. The company's share of the U.S. ride-hailing market was 39 percent in December 2018, up from 22 percent in December 2016, according to its filing. The $2.2 billion in revenue for 2018 was about double what it brought in the previous year. Bookings, which represent Lyft's fares after subtracting taxes, tolls and tips, have been rising dramatically - a trend that the company intends to highlight to potential investors. Lyft's bookings surpassed $8 billion last year, 76 percent more than in 2017 and more than four times the number from 2016. Lyft's recent market-share gains came as Uber was dogged by reports that drivers accosted passengers and that the company tolerated rampant sexual harassment internally. Those problems ultimately led its co-founder Travis Kalanick to resign. Uber has been working to repair its image under CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Lyft said it would offer 30,770,000 shares of its common stock to the public and give underwriters the option to buy up to 4,615,500 more shares. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Hundreds of homes have flooded in several Midwestern states after rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snowmelt in the region, authorities said Monday while warning that the flooding was expected to linger. Many homes in a mostly rural area of Missouri's Holt County were inundated with 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters) of water from the swollen Missouri River, said the county's emergency management director, Tom Bullock. He said his own home was now on an island surrounded by floodwater. One couple was rescued in a helicopter after water from three breached levees swept across 40,000 acres, he said. Another nine breaches have been confirmed in Nebraska and Iowa counties south of the Platte River, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "The levees are busted and we aren't even into the wet season when the rivers run high," Bullock said, noting that local farmers are only a month away from planting corn and soybeans. "The water isn't going to be gone, and the levees aren't going to be fixed this year." In nearby Atchison County, about 130 people were urged to leave their homes as water levels rose and strained levees, three of which had already been overtopped by water. Missouri State Highway Patrol crews were on standby to rescue anyone who insisted on staying despite the danger. "The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough," said Rhonda Wiley, Atchison County's emergency management and 911 director. CORRECTS MONTH TO MARCH NOT MAY - Anthony Thomson, left, and Melody Walton make their way out of a flooded neighborhood Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Fremont, Neb. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Nebraska and Iowa as levees succumbed to the rush of water. (Kent Sievers/Omaha World-Herald via AP) The Missouri River has already crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska, though hundreds of people remained out of their homes. In southwest Iowa, the Missouri River reached a level in Fremont County that was 2 feet (0.6 meter) above a record set in 2011. Evacuations have been ordered in the small towns of Bartlett and Thurman. "This wasn't a gradual rise," Mike Crecelius, Fremont County emergency management director, said Sunday. "It's flowing fast and it's open country - there's nothing there to slow it down." The National Weather Service said the river was expected to crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Missouri, at its third highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base. The flooding started after a massive late-winter storm hit the Midwest last week. At least two deaths were blamed on flooding, and two other men have been missing for days. The Missouri Department of Transportation reports about 100 flood-related road closures, including a stretch of Interstate 29. Jud Kneuvean, the emergency manger with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' Kansas City district, blamed a combination of higher temperature, rainfall and snowmelt "converging all at the same time." No significant flooding was expected east of Kansas City, though Kneuvean said the Corps was watching weather forecasts closely. "When you have a high river and have any forecast of rain on it, it can change the scenario very quickly," Kneuvean said. ___ Associated Press reporter Jim Salter contributed to this report from St. Louis. CORRECTS MONTH TO MARCH NOT MAY - The Elkhorn River consumes a section of western Douglas County Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Omaha, Neb. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Nebraska and Iowa as levees succumbed to the rush of water. (Jeff Bundy/Omaha World-Herald via AP) CORRECTS TO MARCH FROM MAY - Floodwaters surround buildings on the southwest side of Hamburg, Iowa, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Residents in parts of southwestern Iowa were forced out of their homes Sunday as a torrent of Missouri River water flowed over and through levees, putting them in a situation similar to hundreds of people in neighboring Nebraska who have been displaced by the late-winter flood. (Ryan Soderlin/Omaha World-Herald via AP) A BNSF train sits in flood waters from the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Neb., Sunday, March 17, 2019. Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in Nebraska, but rivers there were starting to recede. The National Weather Service said the Elkhorn River remained at major flood stage but was dropping. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) Gabe Schmidt, owner of Liquid Trucking, back right, travels by air boat with Glenn Wyles, top left, Mitch Snyder, bottom right, and Juan Jacobo, bottom left, as they survey damage from the flood waters of the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Neb., Sunday, March 17, 2019. Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in Nebraska, but rivers there were starting to recede. The National Weather Service said the Elkhorn River remained at major flood stage but was dropping. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) ROME (AP) - U.S. and Russian officials are meeting in Rome this week to discuss the crisis in Venezuela. The U.S. State Department says Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, will hold talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and other Russian officials on Monday and Tuesday. Ryabkov said in comments carried by Russian news wires ahead of the meeting in the Italian capital that "we will do everything to protect our cooperation with Caracas." He also noted that Moscow "will warn the U.S. against using force and other forms of unlawful pressure on the legitimate government in Caracas." Russia and the U.S. are on opposite sides in the political crisis in the Latin American country. Moscow supports Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro while Washington has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president. "Moscow and Washington have diametrically opposite positions on the issue, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't talk," Ryabkov said. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters during a government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, March 9, 2019. Demonstrators danced and waved flags on what organizers labeled a "day of anti-imperialism" in a show of defiance toward the United States, which has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to oust the president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Algerian Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui struggled to form a new government Monday as candidates sought to keep their distance from unpopular President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the target of monthlong nationwide protests. Bedoui, who was appointed last week after the 82-year-old president indefinitely postponed April's elections and overhauled the government, had promised to create a new cabinet within days to respond to the demands of Algeria's demonstrating youth. In a move that he hopes will help calm tensions, Bouteflika said Monday a "national conference" over a new election date and a new constitution for the country would be held soon. Algeria's state-run news agency APS quoted Boutelifka, who returned to Algeria earlier this month after two weeks in a Swiss hospital, as saying that this forum will take "decisive decisions." Protesters have not been appeased by Bouteflika's announcement on March 11 that he won't stand for a fifth term as president as he also canceled the scheduled presidential poll, a move that critics said flouted the constitution in a desperate bid to cling to power. Demonstrations persisted for a fourth consecutive Friday as hundreds of thousands of people of all ages marched through Algeria's capital and other cities to press for an end to the ailing president's 20-year-rule. Meziane Meriane, a union official from the country's education sector, declined a meeting with Bouteflika-loyalist Bedoui because her representatives don't want to be part of a government that is "condemned by the people." Algerian shouts as he holds the national flag during a protest in Algiers, Algeria, Friday, March 15, 2019. Tens of thousands of people gathered Friday in Algeria's capital and other cities amid heavy security for what could be decisive protests against longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika. (AP Photo/Toufik Doudou) "We are with the street demanding change, but this prime minister who was interior minister in the outgoing government does not correspond to the break demanded by the people," Meriane said Monday. The state doctors' union boss, Lyes Merabet, also declined a meeting on discussions over the creation of the new government. "We are for a total break," Merabet said Monday. A week ago, Bouteflika responded to the unprecedented street protests by cancelling the presidential elections and withdrawing his bid to seek a further term. But demonstrators have demanded the government quit at the technical end of its mandate in April, along with the president who has rarely been seen since a 2013 stroke. "Top officials don't want to go against the people's will by sitting on a government that should leave office on April 29 - the date that President Bouteflika's term ends," said the Associate Press Abdelaziz Rahabi, former ambassador of Algeria in Madrid and current professor at Sciences Po University. "The country is experiencing a major political crisis." ___ Associated Press writer Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (AP) - Like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz," the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore is being overwhelmed by the power of the poppies. About 150,000 people over the weekend flocked to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near the city of about 60,000 residents, about a 90-minute drive from either San Diego or Los Angeles. Interstate 15 was a parking lot. People fainted in the heat; a dog romping through the fields was bitten by a rattlesnake. A vibrant field of poppies lures Dorothy into a trap in the "Wizard of Oz" when the wicked witch, acknowledging that no one can resist their beauty, poisons the wildflowers and she slips into a fatal slumber until the good witch reverses the spell. Lake Elsinore had tried to prepare for the crush of people drawn by the super bloom, a rare occurrence that usually happens about once a decade because it requires a wet winter and warm temperatures that stay above freezing. It offered a free shuttle service to the top viewing spots, but it wasn't enough. A man takes a picture among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Sunday traffic got so bad that Lake Elsinore officials requested law enforcement assistance from neighboring jurisdictions. At one point, the city pulled down the curtain and closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. "It was insane, absolutely insane," said Mayor Steve Manos, who described it as a "poppy apocalypse." By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. And people were streaming in again. Young and old visitors to the Lake Elsinore area seemed equally enchanted as they snapped selfies against the natural carpet of iridescent orange. Some contacted friends and family on video calls so they could share the beauty in real time. Artists propped canvasses on the side of the trail to paint the super bloom, while drones buzzed overhead. Patty Bishop, 48, of nearby Lake Forest, was on her second visit. The native Californian had never seen such an explosion of color from the state flower. She battled traffic Sunday but that didn't deter her from going back Monday for another look. She got there at sunrise and stayed for hours. "There's been so many in just one area," she said. "I think that's probably the main reason why I'm out here personally is because it's so beautiful." Stephen Kim and his girlfriend got to Lake Elsinore even before sunrise Sunday to beat the crowds but there were already hundreds of people. The two wedding photographers hiked on the designated trails with an engaged couple to do a photo shoot with the flowers in the background, but they were upset to see so many people going off-trail and so much garbage. They picked up as many discarded water bottles as they could carry. "You see this beautiful pristine photo of nature but then you look to the left and there's plastic Starbucks cups and water bottles on the trail and selfie sticks and people having road rage because some people were walking slower," said Kim, 24, of Carlsbad. Andy Macuga, honorary mayor of the desert town of Borrego Springs, another wildflower hotspot, said he feels for Lake Elsinore. In 2017, a rain-fed super bloom brought in more than a half-million visitors to the town of 3,500. Restaurants ran out of food. Gas stations ran out of fuel. Traffic backed up on a single road for 20 miles (32 kilometers). The city is again experiencing a super bloom. The crowds are back. Hotels are full. More than 6,000 people on a recent Saturday stopped at the visitor's center at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California's largest park with 1,000 square miles (2,590 sq. kilometers). But it helps that the masses of blooms are appearing in several different areas this time, and some sections are fading, while others are lighting up with flowers, helping to disperse the crowds a bit. Most importantly, Macuga said, the town's businesses prepared this time as if a major storm was about to hit. His restaurant, Carlee's, is averaging more than 550 meals a day, compared to 300 on a normal March day. "We were completely caught off guard in 2017 because it was the first time that we had had a flower season like this with social media," he said. "It helps now knowing what's coming." _____ Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ____ This story has been corrected to show Dorothy was saved in "Wizard of Oz" by good witch after friends failed to carry her out of fields. Renee LeGrand, of Foothill Ranch, Calif., takes a picture among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, a city of about 60,000 residents. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A photographer passes behind wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, a city of about 60,000 residents. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) People walk among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, a city of about 60,000 residents. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) A model poses among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinores, about a 90-minute drive from either San Diego or Los Angeles. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) People walk among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas Department of Transportation worker who posted a tweet from the agency's official Twitter account criticizing President Donald Trump is no longer employed by the department, the agency said. The tweet on Sunday came in response to a tweet from Trump that criticized Fox News weekend anchors and asked whether they had been trained at CNN, a network that the president frequently derides, the Wichita Eagle reported. The tweet from the agency's account called Trump a "delusional communist." "You know it's communist countries that try to control media, right?" the rest of the tweet read. The tweet was posted at 1:50 p.m. on Sunday and had been deleted by 3:50 p.m. Julie Lorenz, the state's transportation secretary, said the tweet does not reflect the views of the agency or the administration of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Lorenz said the tweet was "an unacceptable use of state communication tools." Lorenz hasn't revealed the name of the former employee responsible for the tweet or specified if the worker resigned or was fired. The White House did not immediately reply to an Associated Press request for comment. ___ Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com NEW YORK (AP) - A judge directed prosecutors Monday to publicly release documents related to the search warrant for last year's FBI raids on the home and office of President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III ordered that redacted versions of the documents be released Tuesday. Media organizations had requested access to the records. Pauley sentenced Cohen to three years in prison in December for crimes including lying to Congress and paying two women to stay silent about affairs they claimed to have had with Trump. Cohen, scheduled to report to prison in May, recently testified before Congress in open and closed hearings about his dealings with Trump over the past decade. In a statement Monday, Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, said the impending release of the warrant furthers Cohen's interest in "continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump organization to law enforcement and Congress." FILE - In this March 6, 2019 file photo, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, returns to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington. Prosecutors are scheduled to publicly release documents on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 related to the search warrant that authorized last year's FBI raids on Cohen's home and office in New York. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Pauley ruled last month that some parts of the search warrant documents can remain secret because making them public could jeopardize ongoing investigations. Those portions include information surrounding Cohen's campaign finance crimes. The judge said prosecutors can disclose portions of materials related to Cohen's tax evasion and false statements to financial institutions charges, along with Cohen's conduct that did not result in criminal charges. In requesting the records, The Associated Press and eight other media organizations had cited high public interest and a right to access. Prosecutors had opposed the request, saying disclosure "would jeopardize an ongoing investigation and prejudice the privacy rights of uncharged third parties." They declined through a spokeswoman to comment Monday. News organizations in the legal action to unseal the documents included the AP, The New York Times and the parent companies of ABC and CBS News, CNN, the Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday and the New York Post. ___ Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report. BALTIMORE (AP) - Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh stepped down from the University of Maryland Medical System's board of directors on Monday, days after it came to light that the hospital network had for years purchased her self-published children's books. Board positions are unpaid, but The Baltimore Sun reported last week that around a third of the board has received compensation through the UMMS network's contracts with their businesses. The newspaper revealed that Pugh failed to fully disclose a $500,000 business relationship she began with the 11-hospital network in 2011. In recent days, Pugh amended years of financial disclosure forms with Maryland's ethics commission. She announced her resignation Monday from the board after defending selling some 100,000 copies of her illustrated "Healthy Holly" books to the medical system. The self-published books, which focus on exercise and good nutrition, were distributed to schoolchildren and daycare centers. "It has been an honor to have been associated with the important work of the UMMS board, but the fact is, I have many other pressing concerns that require my full attention, energy and efforts," Pugh said in a statement. Her resignation comes days after Gov. Larry Hogan and leading Maryland lawmakers demanded answers from the hospital network about board members' significant financial dealings with the system. FILE - In this June 8, 2018 file photo, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh addresses a gathering during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Boston. Pugh on Monday, March 18, 2019, stepped down from the University of Maryland Medical System's board of directors, days after it came to light that the hospital network had for years purchased her self-published children's books. Board positions are unpaid, but The Baltimore Sun reported last week that around a third of the board received compensation through the UMMS network's contracts with their businesses. The newspaper revealed that Pugh failed to fully disclose a $500,000 business relationship she began with the 11-hospital network in 2011.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) "It is not just unseemly, it is appalling," the governor said on Friday. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller called it a "disaster," and he said "we're going to deal with it this session." In a brief Monday statement, UMMS board chairman Stephen Burch said he accepted Pugh's resignation and expressed gratitude for her service. WASHINGTON (AP) - Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday that her department may have been founded to combat terrorism, but its mission is shifting to also confront emerging online threats. China, Iran and other countries are mimicking the approach that Russia used to interfere in the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and continues to use in an attempt to influence campaigns on social media, she said. Under threat are Americans' devices and networks. "It's not just U.S. troops and government agents on the front lines anymore," Nielsen said. "It's U.S. companies. It's our schools and gathering places. It's ordinary Americans." Devices and networks are "mercilessly" targeted, she said. Those responsible are "compromising, co-opting, and controlling them." Nielsen was speaking about the priorities of a sprawling department created after the Sept. 11 attacks. It handles counterterrorism, election security and cybersecurity, natural disaster responses and border security - President Donald Trump's signature domestic issue. The president on Friday issued his first veto , to secure money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Nielsen did not specifically mention that fight, but made clear that she sees a humanitarian and security crisis at the border because of an increasing number of Central American families crossing into the U.S. to seek asylum. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, joined by director of Auburn University's McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, Frank Cilluffo, speaks at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) While the overall number of migrants coming into the U.S. is down from a high of 1.6 million in 2000, the number of families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has reached record highs. The system is at a breaking point, she said. Nielsen said the department has introduced tougher screening systems at airports and is working with the State Department to notify other countries of stricter information-sharing requirements. She said the countries that work with the U.S. will make the world safer, and those that do not "will face consequences." Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen speaks at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, joined by director of Auburn University's McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, Frank Cilluffo, speaks at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) WASHINGTON (AP) - Melania Trump took a deep dive into the federal bureaucracy Monday at a briefing on government youth programs as she looks for ways to promote her "Be Best" initiative. "My focus has and always will be on our children, the next generation," the first lady said as opened a meeting of the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs. "They're our future doctors, nurses, firefighters, scientists, teachers, chefs, generals, pilots, designers, reporters and missionaries, just to name a few." The first lady noted her domestic and international travels during the past year to promote "Be Best," which focuses on child well-being , online safety and avoiding drugs . The initiative is nearing its one-year mark. Mrs. Trump told representatives of nearly 20 departments and agencies, including five Cabinet secretaries, that she wants to learn more about government programs and "how we can work together to continue creating more opportunities to help and empower our children." Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who chairs the group, said Mrs. Trump's initiative is "timely and has certainly influenced many of the plans and objectives of this working group." Azar went on to describe resources on a government website that can help people recognize opioid abuse in young adults. The site also has information on the risks of tobacco and e-cigarettes, he said. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pushed a proposal for billions in federal tax credits for people who donate to groups that offer scholarships to help students attend private schools, apprenticeships and other educational programs. First lady Melania Trump, speaks during a meeting of the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. The goal is to build upon and improve youth programs that align with her "Be Best" initiative, which focuses on the well-being of children, their safety online and avoiding drugs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke about his department's literacy programs. The first lady learned that the National Institutes of Health is preparing to enroll up to 10,000 pregnant women, including some who are addicted to drugs, in a healthy brain and child development study and follow them and their children for 10 years. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency has produced an old-fashioned card game to help teach children how to stay safe and help others during an emergency. ___ Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap First lady Melania Trump, speaks during a meeting of the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. The goal is to build upon and improve youth programs that align with her "Be Best" initiative, which focuses on the well-being of children, their safety online and avoiding drugs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) First lady Melania Trump, convenes a meeting of the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. The goal is to build upon and improve youth programs that align with her "Be Best" initiative, which focuses on the well-being of children, their safety online and avoiding drugs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) First lady Melania Trump, back row third from left, convenes an interagency meeting to discuss youth programs throughout each of the member agencies in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Teachers and some students returned to a Brazilian school in Sao Paulo Monday, less than a week after two armed men raided it, killing seven people and injuring nine others. Staff members gathered to discuss when classes should resume, while students were invited to pick up any belongings left behind while running for their lives. A multitude of flowers and messages lay on the ground outside the entrance gate in homage to victims and survivors. Students could be seen hugging as they met outside. A total of 10 people died as a result of Wednesday's shooting, including five students, a teacher, a school administrator and the two killers, who took their own lives. One of the shooters also killed his uncle, owner of a nearby used-car dealership, shortly before carrying out the massacre at the Raul Brasil state school in the city of Suzano, on the outskirts of Brazil's largest city. Four individuals were still being treated in state hospitals, a spokesman for the Sao Paulo health ministry told the AP Monday. A woman leaves flowers one day after a mass, school shooting outside the Raul Brasil state school in Suzano, Brazil, Thursday, March 14, 2019. Classmates, friends and families began saying goodbye on Thursday, with thousands attending a wake in the Sao Paulo suburb while authorities worked to understand what drove two former students to attack the Raul Brasil State School with a gun, crossbows and small axes. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) The attackers were identified as 17-year-old Guilherme Taucci Monteiro and 25-year-old Henrique de Castro. Authorities were also looking into the possibility of a third accomplice. The tragedy revived a debate around loosening gun laws in the country, a key campaign promise of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil is the world leader in annual homicides but school shootings are rare. According to a study by the Instituto Sou da Paz, Brazil has had at least seven other similar shootings since 2002, killing a total of 28 people and injuring 41 others. The study found that in half of the cases, the guns used were legally obtained arms. The investigation into this latest shooting is still ongoing and authorities have not yet said where or how the attackers had acquired the gun and other weapons used. Police officers and investigators stand outside the Raul Brasil State School in Suzano, the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Wednesday, March 13, 2019. The state government of Sao Paulo said two teenagers, armed with guns and wearing hoods, entered the school and began shooting at students. They then killed themselves, according to the statement. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Most voters in New York think it was bad for the state when Amazon dropped plans to put a second headquarters in Queens and many think U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bears blame for the deal falling through, according to a new poll released Monday. The Siena College poll of registered voters in New York state found that 67 percent of those surveyed said the internet retailer's decision last month was detrimental to New York. Sixty-one percent support the state and city again offering Amazon up to $3 billion in incentives to create 25,000 jobs if the internet giant reconsiders. "While some may have celebrated Amazon's announcement to pull the plug, the vast majority of New Yorkers of every stripe thought it was bad for the Empire State," said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg. "Clearly, jobs outweigh the cost of government incentives in the minds of most voters." The company scrapped plans to redevelop a Long Island City neighborhood for one of its second HQs after the deal met mounting opposition from local elected officials who mostly objected to the incentives package going to a company owned by the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos. Among those leading the charge against Amazon was Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens. When asked if several key players in the Amazon situation were a hero, villain or role player, 38 percent of poll responders said Ocasio-Cortez was a villain, compared to 12 percent who call her a hero and 24 percent who considered her a role player. When Amazon announced Feb. 14 that it was backing out of the Queens deal, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world." FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, people stand in the lobby for Amazon offices in New York. Most voters in New York think it was bad for the state when Amazon dropped plans to put a second headquarters in Queens and many think U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bears blame for the deal falling through, according to a new poll released Monday.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, declined to comment on the poll. Local Queens activists were deemed the villain by 34 percent. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, fellow Democrats who brokered the Amazon deal, came in at 28 percent and 29 percent, respectively, followed by Amazon itself (26 percent), the Democrat-controlled state Senate (21 percent) and labor unions (17 percent). Speaking on WAMC radio Monday morning, Cuomo said he's not surprised by the poll's finding that most New Yorkers believe the collapse of the deal was bad for the state. "Nothing that I didn't know," he said. While Cuomo said he's trying to get Amazon to reconsider, he isn't optimistic. "The horse is out of the barn," he said. The survey included questions on several other issues being debated at the state Legislature, including the legalization of recreational marijuana and whether immigrants who entered the country illegally should be allowed obtain drivers licenses. Fifty-three percent of voters support legalizing retail sales of pot, while 43 percent oppose it. A majority of voters - 61 percent - oppose allowing immigrants to get a New York license if they didn't enter the U.S. legally, while 34 percent support the idea. The poll of 700 registered voters was conducted March 10-14. It has margin of error of 4.2 percentage points. EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on pediatrician's sentencing for sexually assaulting 31 children (all times local): 12:40 p.m. A former Pennsylvania pediatrician has been sentenced to at least 79 years in prison for sexually assaulting 31 children, most of them patients. Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown was sentenced Monday on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say the 71-year-old spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals. Nineteen people gave victim impact statements both in person and through a prosecutor ahead of the sentencing. They described how he destroyed their lives, caused them to feel hopelessness and made them fear doctors. His wife, Linda Barto, was among them. She says he "spent his whole sinister life lying and sneaking around so he could carry on his abuse uninterrupted." This undated file photo provided by Cambria County Prison shows Dr. Johnnie Barto. The former Pennsylvania pediatrician is scheduled for sentencing Monday, March 18, 2019, in the sexual assault of 31 children, most of them patients. (Cambria County Prison via AP, File) The attorney general's office had asked for 31 to 62 years in prison. ___ 12:05 p.m. Victims of a former Pennsylvania pediatrician have given statements before his sentencing in the sexual assault of 31 children, describing how he destroyed their lives, caused them to feel hopelessness and made them fear doctors. Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown will be sentenced on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say he spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals. On Monday, he was deemed a sexually violent predator before the sentencing hearing began. Nineteen people then gave victim impact statements both in person and through a prosecutor. His wife, Linda Barto, was among them. She says he "spent his whole sinister life lying and sneaking around so he could carry on his abuse uninterrupted." The attorney general's office is asking for 31 to 62 years in prison. Barto declined to make a statement. ___ 1 a.m. A former Pennsylvania pediatrician is scheduled for sentencing Monday in the sexual assault of 31 children, most of them patients. Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown will be sentenced on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say he spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals. Barto appeared before the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine nearly two decades ago on administrative charges that he molested two young girls. But regulators threw out the case and allowed him to keep practicing medicine. Prosecutors say the 71-year-old doctor went on to molest at least a dozen more young patients before his arrest in January 2018. Barto has pleaded guilty to some counts and no contest to others. He's been jailed pending sentencing. WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. The Justice Department probe will examine the way Boeing was regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is not public. A federal grand jury in Washington sent a subpoena to someone involved in the plane's development seeking emails, messages and other communications, the person told The Associated Press. The Transportation Department's inspector general is also looking into the FAA's approval of the Boeing 737 Max, a U.S. official told AP. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported on the probe Sunday said the inspector general was looking into the plane's anti-stall system. It quotes unidentified people familiar with both cases. The anti-stall system may have been involved in the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air jet off of Indonesia that killed 189 people. It's also under scrutiny in the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet that killed 157. The Transportation Department's FAA regulates Chicago-based Boeing and is responsible for certifying that planes can fly safely. FILE- In this March 13, 2019, file photo people work in the flight deck of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane being built for TUI Group parked next to another MAX 8 also designated for TUI at Boeing Co.'s Renton Assembly Plant in Renton, Wash. U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file) The grand jury issued its subpoena on March 11, one day after the Ethopian Airlines crash, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the inspector general said Monday they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any inquiries. The FAA would not comment. "Boeing does not respond to or comment on questions concerning legal matters, whether internal, litigation, or governmental inquiries," Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said in an email. The company late Monday issued an open letter from its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, addressed to airlines, passengers and the aviation community. Muilenburg did not refer to the reports of the Justice Department probe, but stressed his company is taking actions to ensure its 737 Max jets are safe. Those include an upcoming release of a software update and related pilot training for the 737 Max to "address concerns" that arose in the aftermath of October's Lion Air crash, Muilenburg said. The planes' new flight-control software is suspected of playing a role in the crashes. The French civil aviation investigation bureau BEA said Monday that black box data from the Ethiopian Airlines flight showed the links with the Lion Air crash and will be used for further study. Ethiopian authorities asked BEA for help in extracting and interpreting the crashed plane's black boxes because Ethiopia does not have the necessary expertise and technology. The Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau intends to release a preliminary report within 30 days. The United States and many other countries have grounded the Max 8s and larger Max 9s as Boeing faces the challenge of proving the jets are safe to fly amid suspicions that faulty sensors and software contributed to the two crashes in less than five months. Both planes flew with erratic altitude changes that could indicate the pilots struggled to control the aircraft. Shortly after their takeoffs, both crews tried to return to the airports but crashed. Boeing has said it has "full confidence" in the planes' safety. Engineers are making changes to the system designed to prevent an aerodynamic stall if sensors detect that the jet's nose is pointed too high and its speed is too slow. Investigators looking into the Indonesian crash are examining whether the software automatically pushed the plane's nose down repeatedly, and whether the Lion Air pilots knew how to solve that problem. Ethiopian Airlines says its pilots received special training on the software. Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot and a spokesman for their union, said Boeing held a discussion with airlines last Thursday but did not invite pilots at American or Southwest, the two U.S. carriers that use the same version of the Max that crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Tajer said airline officials told the unions that Boeing intends to offer pilots about a 15-minute iPad course to train them on the new flight-control software on Max jets that is suspected of playing a role in the crashes. He called that amount of training unacceptable. "Our sense is it's a rush to comply - 'let's go, let's go, let's go,'" Tajer said. "I'm in a rush to protect my passengers." A spokesman for the pilots' union at Southwest Airlines also said Boeing representatives told that union they expected the upgrade to be ready the end of January. The spokesman, Mike Trevino, said Boeing never followed up to explain why that deadline passed without an upgrade. Boeing was expected to submit a proposed fix to the FAA in early January. ____ Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. FILE- In this March 14, 2019, file photo a worker walks next to a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane parked at Boeing Field in Seattle. U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) WASHINGTON (AP) - The president of Brazil made an unusual visit to CIA headquarters Monday and later spoke of his admiration for the United States on the second day of a trip that reflected his country's shift to a more pro-American stance. President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician who succeeded a leftist who at times had a frosty relationship with the United States, arrived in the country with a half a dozen ministers and a goal of expanding trade and diplomatic cooperation between the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere. He was expected to meet Tuesday with President Donald Trump to discuss a range of issues, including ways to increase U.S. private-sector investment in Brazil and efforts to resolve the political crisis in Venezuela. "Nowadays, you have a president who is a friend of the United States who admires this beautiful country," Bolsonaro told an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Bolsonaro underscored the difference between his administration and that of former President Dilma Rousseff by stopping by CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to discuss "international themes in the region," according to his son, Eduardo, a Brazilian lawmaker accompanying him on his first bilateral overseas trip. Eduardo Bolsonaro described the CIA as "one of the most respected intelligence agencies in the world," in a tweet that was likely to raise eyebrows back home in Brazil, where the U.S. and its spy services have been regarded with suspicion in recent years. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) In 2013, leaks from Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency had wiretapped conversations of Rousseff, leading to several years of tense relations between the U.S. and Brazil. "No Brazilian president had ever paid a visit to the CIA," said Celso Amorim, who served as foreign minister under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and is a Bolsonaro critic. "This is an explicitly submissive position. Nothing compares to this." The CIA had no comment on the visit. The far-right Bolsonaro was elected last year and is an admirer of Trump. He sought to underscore his pro-America stance with a tweet upon his arrival Sunday. "For the first time in a while, a pro-America Brazilian president arrives in DC," he said in the tweet. "It's the beginning of a partnership focused on liberty and prosperity, something that all of us Brazilians have long wished for." Bolsonaro's insurgent candidacy against the candidate of Rousseff's party has been compared to Trump's victory in 2016. The Brazilian president made the comparison himself in his speech to the Chamber of Commerce, describing how he has had to contend with "fake news" and tough coverage from established news organizations. "We want to have a great Brazil just like Trump wants to have a great America," he said. The speech came after the two countries signed several bilateral agreements, including one that allows the United States to use Brazil's Alcantara Aerospace Launch Base for its satellites, and Brazil announced an end to visa requirements for U.S. tourists who visit the country. Brazil is seeking U.S. help with its efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and to expand trade. The Bolsonaro administration is seeking to reduce public-sector spending and privatize state enterprises to cut debt and grow its economy. A senior U.S. administration official noted that the U.S. does have a $27 billion trade surplus with Brazil and that there are opportunities to bring the nations' business communities closer. He said there are expected to be new initiatives on energy infrastructure. The official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, noted that Brazil has a close relationship with Venezuela's military and may be able to serve as a go-between with the security forces that continue to support Maduro. Brazil, like the U.S., has recognized the leader of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela's interim president under the argument that Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate. "We have to sort Venezuela out," Bolsonaro said. "We cannot leave them the way they are. We have to free the nation of Venezuela." ___ Associated Press writers Mauricio Savarese in Madrid and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, center, waves as he goes over to meet those involved in a signing ceremony at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Foxconn Technology Group said Monday that its manufacturing facility in Wisconsin will be producing flat-screen panels by the end of 2020, with construction starting later this year. The news came after the worldwide electronics manufacturing leader sent mixed signals earlier this year about whether it planned to suspend work in Wisconsin. After a meeting with President Donald Trump, Foxconn's leader recommitted to building a smaller manufacturing facility in Wisconsin than what was originally promised. The Taiwan-based Foxconn is building what is known as a Generation 6 factory, which typically makes smaller liquid crystal display screens for cellphones, tablets, televisions and other devices. It first said it was going to build a larger Generation 10 plant, which would have used glass more than three-times as large as what the smaller facility will use. Even with the changes, Foxconn has remained committed to investing up to $10 billion in Wisconsin and hiring 13,000 people. If it does that, the company would qualify for about $4 billion in state and local tax credits. The project, and the promise of taxpayer-funded tax credits, has drawn considerable backlash in Wisconsin and became fodder in the governor's race last year. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker made the deal with Foxconn. Current Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has been critical of the project, calling for more transparency, while also working with the company on its plans. Evers, who talked with company officials last week, tried to take credit for the news that Foxconn was moving forward with construction of the plant. The governor's spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said the announcement "makes it clear that Gov. Evers is getting results" and he will continue to talk with the company to ensure transparency and accountability. Foxconn on Monday announced dates for moving ahead with that project, including awarding bids for roads, utilities and storm drainage work by April 1 and issuing construction bids in May. Construction will begin by the summer, with the first panels produced in the last three months of 2020, Foxconn said. "Our commitment from day one has been to establish a winning formula for Foxconn and for Wisconsin," Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn founder and CEO Terry Gou, said in a statement. "We continue to expand our presence around the state, create jobs, and deepen our partnerships while innovating and adapting to meet changing market needs." The factory will be a part of a massive Foxconn campus located near Racine, close to the Wisconsin border with Illinois. Local leaders near the development site praised the news. "It's an exciting time for the entire state," said Jenny Trick, executive director of the Racine County Economic Development Corporation. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP GENEVA (AP) - Government experts from 25 countries have opened a meeting to look at ways of preventing an arms race in space, amid uncertainty whether some of the world's biggest powers will actually find it in their national interests. The informal, closed-door talks over two weeks starting Monday at the United Nations in Geneva will test the level of goodwill among key powers including Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The Trump administration, for one, has touted its plans for a "Space Force." The group's chairman, Ambassador Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil, said the meeting aims to reach a basic consensus on a list of elements that could one day be part of a possible agreement on space. He acknowledged that aiming for a treaty within the next decade would be "very ambitious." CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czech Republic (AP) - The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, though it won't say exactly how much beer it sends there. Like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. That exit is due to happen on March 29, though with political wrangling still very much underway, a delay looks likely. That's meant worrying uncertainty for businesses like Budvar that rely on being able to send their goods to Britain without inspection delays at borders. "It's about two weeks to Brexit and nobody knows anything," said Budvar director Petr Dvorak. "We're now waiting for what happens because it's going to be uncertain till the last moment." Budvar's business has been growing - it increased exports by 8.5 percent to reach 1.075 million hectoliters (28.4 million gallons) last year. The brewer reached its production capacity in recent years and has been expanding to be able to produce more. In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a truck drives past cases of beer at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) Still, a loss of UK business would be a blow, Dvorak said. "It might threaten our positions in bars and restaurants if we're not able to supply the market in the long term," he said. Budvar is also among the major Czech brewers that in recent years started to deliver beer in tanks in an effort to keep it fresher. That unpasteurized beer expires after 21 days, meaning big problems if trucks get stuck at customs posts can't get it to the UK in a timely fashion. "The last thing we need for our beer is to get stuck somewhere on the border," Dvorak said. Among the few things Budvar can do is to stockpile as much beer as possible in Britain in hopes that a deal will be reached soon. But that's a short term solution that works only for beer in barrels, bottles and cans. Budejovicky Budvar and U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch have been in a trademark dispute over the Budweiser brand since 1906. Anheuser-Busch joined AB InBev in 2008. Budejovicky Budvar holds exclusive rights to sell Budweiser beer in most major European markets, including Germany. But in the UK, both Budvar and AB InBev can sell Budweiser after a court ruled that consumers can tell the difference between the two. AB InBev is significantly bigger. Brexit won't change anything about that arrangement. So might British customers start drinking American Budweiser if they can't get Budvar after Brexit? Dvorak thinks the two beers are different enough that they won't. "In the meantime, we can only hope that the British government has a plan because it is, of course, in the interest of the British government to allow free trade," he said. In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker loads a truck with cases of beer at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019,a worker carries a case of beer at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker checks beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a beer production line at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker walks past beer boiling cans at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker adds hops into a beer boiling can at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, a worker checks a hopped wort at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this photo taken on Monday, March 11, 2019, Budvar director Petr Dvorak smiles during an interview at the Budejovicky Budvar brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer's top five markets, and like many other businesses, it's concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) MILAN (AP) - Low-cost carrier EasyJet says it is pulling out of talks to form a consortium that aimed to take over struggling Alitalia. EasyJet said in a statement Monday that it was withdrawing from the process, which envisioned a deal with Delta Air Lines and the Italian State Railway to relaunch Alitalia. EasyJet said that it "remains committed to Italy, as a key market for the company, where it currently carries 18.5 million passengers every year and employs 1,400 pilots and crew, all on local contracts." The Italian government has been looking to find a buyer for Alitalia since it declared bankruptcy two years ago. Alitalia has struggled amid competition from low-cost carriers and has failed to come up with a sustainable plan to establish Italy's flagship airline as a long-haul player. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - President Donald Trump's drug czar on Monday touted the president's plan for a U.S.-Mexico border wall as a way to save American lives by helping stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country. While visiting Kentucky, drug czar Jim Carroll said Trump's long-promised border wall would help stop drug smugglers looking for places to penetrate the United States away from ports of entry. "So that wall will undoubtedly stop the flow of drugs in those locations, force people to the ports of entry, where there's more law enforcement located," Carroll said when asked about the wall and its potential impact on the illegal drug trade. But U.S. statistics, analysts and testimony at the New York City trial of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman show most hard drugs entering the U.S. from Mexico come through land border crossings staffed by agents, not open sections of the border. David Shirk, a University of San Diego political science and international relations professor, said by phone Monday that a wall would only lead to "more creative solutions to moving drugs into the country." Carroll visited an addiction recovery center in Louisville with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has stuck with the president during Trump's fight with Congress over his national emergency declaration along the Mexican border. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber as the Republican-led Senate is set to deal President Donald Trump a rebuke on his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, with the only remaining question how many GOP senators will join Democrats in defying him, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 14, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Trump issued the first veto of his presidency in rejecting an effort by Congress to block the emergency declaration he'd used to circumvent lawmakers as he tried to shake loose funds for the wall. It is unlikely that Congress will have the votes required to override Trump's veto, shifting the confrontation to the courts. Carroll said it's wrong to assume that beefing up enforcement at ports of entry alone will stop the influx of illegal drugs. "If you're a drug trafficker coming up from Mexico, you're not going to stop trafficking drugs just because (of) the ports of entry," he said. "They will then move between the ports and that's why we need a wall there. But obviously they're coming through in massive numbers as it is now. But this is clearly needed to save American lives." The southwestern U.S. border "remains the primary entry point for heroin into the United States," said the Drug Enforcement Administration's 2018 Drug Threat Assessment. It said most of its heroin seizures on the border are at official crossings called ports of entry, in California, and increasingly in Arizona. It arrives in passenger vehicles, hidden inside their frames and in other places in the cars, followed by tractor-trailers, where the drugs are hidden in legal imported goods. A much smaller amount of heroin is seized from people who sneak across the border, usually on foot. Border security has been beefed up for decades without making a dent in drug flows, said Shirk, who specializes in U.S.-Mexico relations and border politics. "Barriers make it easier for border authorities to gain operational control at the border, but they also lead to innovation by drug traffickers to find new, more sophisticated ways to penetrate the border," he said. McConnell and Carroll emphasized a combination of law enforcement and treatment and recovery programs to combat substance abuse. Carroll also urged employers to consider hiring people who have overcome addictions. A restaurant owner recently told him the eateries staffed by people in recovery are his best-performing locations, Carroll said. "These people who are in recovery and starting their lives over again are some of the hardest-working people that they've found," Carroll said. McConnell, who is up for re-election next year, said about $30 million in federal funding has been sent to Kentucky in recent years for addiction treatment and recovery efforts. "I think our people on the ground ... are making great use of all this additional funding that we are providing to try to get on top of this epidemic," McConnell said. McConnell and Carroll visited a Volunteers of America addiction recovery center in Kentucky's largest city. For participants, the center's treatment programs can last three to nine months because the focus goes beyond recovery from addiction, said Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Mid-States. "We know ... that long-term recovery must be contingent upon not just being clean and sober, but having stable housing, also having a living-wage job," she said. ATLANTA (AP) - Abortion rights activists chanted "shame" as Republicans on a Georgia Senate committee moved Monday to ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The Senate Science and Technology Committee approved the bill on a party-line vote of 3 to 2. The legislation, backed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, has passed the House and now could go quickly to the floor of the GOP-controlled Senate. Republicans are moving to enact tough abortion restrictions in the state legislatures they control, even though they're certain to be challenged in court. Similar "heartbeat" bills just passed the Ohio Senate and the Tennessee House, and are advancing in Mississippi, Florida, and South Carolina. They're hoping the U.S. Supreme Court - with new Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh - will uphold state laws that undermine the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing the right of women to abort a fetus that can't survive outside the womb. Courts have repeatedly struck down similar laws. A state judge found Iowa's "heartbeat" law to be unconstitutional in January. Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of "heartbeat" measure in Kentucky. In Georgia today, women have the legal right to seek abortions during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. A fetal heartbeat is generally detectable at around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Protesters opposed to a proposed abortion bill fill the hallway on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) The proceedings inside the Capitol have been fraught with tension and emotional arguments from lawmakers and advocates on both sides, some of whom shared personal abortion stories. The issue has drawn large crowds - mainly protesters against the bill. Troopers urged activists to stay calm in the hallways on Monday, warning they'd arrest anyone who continued to chant. The two Democrats on the Senate committee, both women, tried to introduce three amendments countering the idea that a fetus is a person before it's viable outside the womb. One amendment introduced by Democratic Sen. Valencia Seay would have eliminated tax benefits the bill would provide for expecting parents; another would have essentially nullified the bill by making it revert to current state law, which grants abortion rights during the first 20 weeks of gestation. After all three amendments were voted down by the committee's Republicans. Seay slammed the bill and the lawmakers who support it, all of them men. "I've made every attempt to rectify this non-commonsense approach," Seay said. "Common sense comes from us who have delivered, who have given birth and who respect women making a choice for themselves." The Georgia bill makes exceptions in the case of rape and incest -- but only when the woman files a police report first -- and to save the life of the mother. It also allows for abortions when a fetus is determined to be not compatible with life due to serious medical issues. Republicans have allowed some changes since House passage, including to allow a pregnant woman to pursue child support from the father for direct medical and pregnancy expenses. Republican Rep. Ed Setzler of Acworth, the House bill's author, said last week that the government's paramount duty under the state constitution is to protect "the fundamental right to life of our citizens, particularly those that are most defenseless among us." Sen. Valencia Seay, left, and Sen. Jennifer Jordan, right, remain seated for a moment after the passage of a bill concerning abortion Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) State Rep. Ed Setzler, right, and Sen. William Ligon, Jr., arrive at the Capitol for a hearing on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Sen. Lee Anderson, left, and Sen. William Ligon, Jr., look over proposed amendments to an abortion bill on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Sen. Valencia Seay, left, speaks passionately against a bill concerning abortion as Sen. Jennifer Jordan, right, listens on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) People listen during discussion on a bill concerning abortion on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Protesters fill the hall outside a committee room at the state capitol on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Atlanta. A Georgia Senate committee approved a measure that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Republicans in Georgia are joining others in many states moving to enact tough abortion restrictions, even though they're certain to be challenged in court, in hopes that recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court will find them constitutional. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) The Trump administration on Monday proposed new limits on federal student loans taken out by parents and graduate students as part of a broader proposal to curb the cost of college. White House officials included the plan in a list of suggested changes to the Higher Education Act, a sweeping federal law that governs student lending. The legislation is getting its first overhaul from Congress in more than a decade. Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of President Donald Trump, unveiled the plan at a meeting of the National Council for the American Worker, an advisory group that Ivanka Trump helps lead. "We need to modernize our higher-education system to make it more affordable, flexible and outcomes-oriented, so all Americans, young and old, can learn the skills they need to secure and retain good-paying jobs," Ivanka Trump said on a call with reporters. A primary goal of the proposal is to curb the growth of college tuition rates and reduce the nation's student debt load, which has reached nearly $1.5 trillion and has more than tripled since 2003. The White House's proposed solution is to cap federal loan programs available to students' parents and to graduate students. The plan doesn't propose specific limits, but officials suggested it could vary based on academic program. FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2017 file photo, Ivanka Trump stands before President Donald Trump signs a memorandum to expand access to STEM, science technology engineering and math, education, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration on Monday proposed new limits on federal student loans taken out by parents and graduate students as part of a broader plan to curb the cost of college. White House officials included the plan in a list of suggested changes to the Higher Education Act, a sweeping federal law that governs student lending and is in the process of getting its first overhaul from Congress in more than a decade. Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of President Donald Trump, unveiled the plan at a meeting of the National Council for the American Worker, an advisory group created last July that Ivanka helps lead. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Underpinning that idea is a belief that colleges are largely responsible for the nation's debt woes. The White House says easy access to federal aid has led colleges to drive up prices, adding that they are "unable or unwilling" to make education more affordable. Colleges often argue they have been forced to raise tuition to make up for reduced funding from their states. Many Democrats have echoed that position, with some calling for greater government support for schools. Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, says the plan misses the "root cause" of the problem: "that college costs are rising exponentially and most students can't afford college without taking on massive amounts of debt." "In fact, this proposal would end up hurting students by reducing the amount of federal aid for students and taking billions out of the pockets of borrowers," she said. Borrower advocates said they welcome attention to the topic but don't think the White House plan will help. Federal loans for students' parents and graduate students total about $25 billion a year, compared to $151 billion in total federal student loans. James Kvaal, president of the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success, said the plan takes the wrong approach, adding that there's "no evidence" the availability of federal loans has led to higher college costs. "The solution is to invest more in Pell scholarships for low-income students, to work with states to make public colleges and universities more affordable," said Kvaal, who is also a former policy adviser to President Barack Obama. White House officials say they also want to simplify the loan repayment process, a goal shared with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate education committee and is leading the push to update the Higher Education Act. Lamar said it is "helpful" to have the White House's perspective as he works with Democrats on the overhaul. "I share the administration's goals to make a college education worth it and to make it simpler to apply for federal student aid and pay back student loans," he said. Several items on the White House's wish list were also included in the Education Department's budget proposal for next year, including the elimination of public service loan forgiveness, a program that can erase debt for certain borrowers after 120 months of repayment. Instead, the White House says all federal borrowers should get undergraduate debt wiped clean after 180 months of repayment. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos praised the White House plan as "an important roadmap for working with Congress to rethink higher education and pass meaningful reforms." She added that legislation to simplify lending "should be passed immediately." The White House is also asking Congress to make federal Pell grants available to be used in short-term certificate programs, and to take other steps intended to help workers gain skills outside of traditional colleges and universities. "The higher education system has been slow to adapt to the changing nature of work," the White House said. "Millions of jobs remain unfilled in part due to a lack of Americans with appropriate skills." Congress is still in the early stages of its work to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Alexander has made it his mission to update the legislation before he retires in two years. The law, originally signed in 1965, received its last major update in 2008. ___ Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Preparatory work for offshore drilling shouldn't be halted while a lawsuit challenging the practice moves through the court, according to papers filed Monday by attorneys for the Trump administration. The government wants a judge to deny a preliminary injunction request filed by coastal municipalities that are suing the administration over offshore drilling tests using seismic air guns. The cities and towns want the tests halted while their lawsuit moves forward, arguing that such testing is harmful to marine life and tourism. In its filing, the government says there's no evidence the communities or nearby wildlife would be adversely affected by the testing, which precedes the drilling itself, saying such an injunction would constitute "extraordinary relief." Last year, the municipalities, along with environmental groups, sued to oppose the administration's plans to conduct the tests, challenging permits for the testing. The legal challenge claims that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act in issuing the permits. South Carolina has also joined the lawsuit, which is filed in federal court in South Carolina. Gov. Henry McMaster and Attorney General Alan Wilson, both Republicans, support the state's effort, which comes in the wake of the Trump administration's announcement of a five-year plan to open 90 percent of the nation's offshore reserves to private development. Drilling has stirred emotions and vocal opposition along South Carolina's coast, with many expressing concern the proposal could cause irreparable harm to the coastal areas that are the heart of South Carolina's $20 billion tourism industry. Some drilling supporters say it could mean an economic boon for an area increasingly reliant on tourism. The drilling issue has been difficult for McMaster, an ally of Trump. Last year, McMaster was among state executives who requested a drilling waiver, seeking the same sort of promise already given to then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott, another Trump ally. But McMaster supports Wilson's decision to join the federal action and has repeatedly pledged to protect the state's coastline. "We must stand firmly against all efforts to endanger the future of our pristine coastline, our beaches, our sea islands, our marshes, and our watersheds. Ladies and gentlemen, that means we will not have offshore testing or drilling off the coast of South Carolina," McMaster said in his State of the State address in January, to one of his biggest ovations of the evening. ___ Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union and a group of abortion providers argued on Monday that a federal court should allow a trial on whether to strike down a 40-year-old Maine law that prevents non-doctors from performing abortions. The ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Maine Family Planning and four clinicians brought their case to U.S. District Court in Portland, where a judge is expected to make a ruling in the coming weeks about whether to let the case go forward. Attorneys for the state of Maine have requested a summary judgment to dismiss the case. If it were instead to go forward and the rule were struck down, that could ultimately expand access to abortion in the rural state by allowing physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to perform them. Dozens of states have restrictions that limit the performance of abortions to doctors, and some of those have been challenged. ACLU of Maine legal director Zachary Heiden said he hopes the case provides a precedent for other states. ACLU attorney Julia Kaye told Judge Nancy Torresen the state's restrictions force women who are seeking abortions in Maine to travel long distances, and some are unable to access abortions at all. "These are burdens being imposed by the state for no articulable reason," Kaye said. "When you're asking poor and low income women to travel hundreds of miles, sometimes on a very time-sensitive basis, some women won't be able to do that." Chris Taub, assistant attorney general for Maine, argued that there isn't strong enough evidence showing how many women have to travel long distances. He added that fewer abortions are being performed in the state compared to the 1980s and '90s because demand is down, and not because of state laws. "We have vague evidence that because of the physician-only law, some women have to travel far distances," he said. "We don't have any evidence of the percentage of women who face these kinds of burdens." The court case is playing out while recently elected Gov. Janet Mills, a former Maine attorney general, is also hoping to expand the state's list of abortion providers. Mills, a Democrat, has proposed a bill that would also allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse-midwives to perform abortions. Despite Mills' bill, the ACLU is moving forward with its lawsuit because it believes the current rules are unconstitutional and should be addressed by a federal court, said Heiden, of the ACLU of Maine. It is not clear when Torresen will issue a ruling about the state's request for summary judgment. The arguments about the judgment were wrapped up by late morning. DEER PARK, Texas (AP) - The Latest on a fire at a Texas petrochemicals plant (all times local): 5:05 p.m. Authorities and the company whose Houston-area petrochemicals terminal continues to burn say reviews of the air quality around the facility show it is not dangerous to individuals. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Monday officials continue monitoring air quality levels following the fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Houston. But Hidalgo says the latest air quality information available doesn't show levels beyond a threshold "that would make this dangerous." ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson says a report done by an environmental consultant hired by the company shows the air quality was below levels that would represent a health risk. Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Some residents in the area are being urged to find a safe location indoors after the fire broke out at the petrochemicals terminal. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP) Fire crews continue to battle the blaze, which began on Sunday. Officials say the fire will burn another two days. ___ 12:30 p.m. Officials say a large fire at petrochemicals terminal near Houston will likely burn for another two days. The fire erupted Sunday at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles southeast of Houston. Fire crews continued battle the blaze Monday, and authorities monitoring air quality around the facility say levels are within normal guidelines. ITC says the risk of explosion at its facility is "minimal" and no injuries have been reported. The company initially said the fire had spread to eight storage tanks. But on Monday, the company said the fire had spread to seven tanks and that one of the tanks was empty. The tanks contain gasoline components. Officials say fire crews are using foam to battle the blaze and to protect the surrounding storage tanks that have not caught on fire. ___ 7:19 a.m. Emergency crews in Texas are working to control a large fire burning at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal that has spread to eight storage tanks. The fire started Sunday morning at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Houston. ITC says the risk of explosion is "minimal" and no injuries have been reported. The company said Monday morning that the fire has spread to a tank that contains a chemical used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. Earlier, the fire spread to separate tanks that contained petrochemical liquids and gases, including fuel oil and bunker oil. Early Monday, Deer Park lifted its shelter-in-place order for residents but school was canceled Monday in the city. Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Some residents in the area are being urged to find a safe location indoors after the fire broke out at the petrochemicals terminal. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Media rights activists on Monday urged the Sri Lankan government to withdraw proposed anti-terror legislation, calling it is a set of draconian laws aimed at suppressing the media freedom and democratic rights. The new Counter-Terrorism bill approved by the cabinet of ministers is now before the Parliament. A date has yet to be announced for a debate and a vote on the bill, which the government says would repeal the existing tough anti-terror law. C. Dodawatta, convener of the Free Media Movement, a local media rights group, said the proposed act could be used to arrest and detain journalist for "distributing or making available any information to the public." He said the new government came into power in 2015 promising to repeal the existing anti-terror law - the Prevention of Terrorism Act - that has been criticized by rights groups who say the successive governments have used it for arresting and detaining the journalists, media workers, artists, rights activists, ethnic minority Tamils and opposition politicians. "But so far the government has failed to repeal the PTA and instead now they are brining another legislation which seems worse than PTA," he told reporters. Dharmasiri Lankapeli, another media rights activist, said the legislation may result in arresting journalists for non-revelation of sources and "this would pose a great danger to media freedom and send more journalists to prison." Rights activist and lawyer Viranjana Herath said the minister in charge could prohibit a common place, ban entry, taking photographs, video recordings and making sketches and also, prohibit any organization. "This will affect the freedom of assembly and association and could pose a serious threat to the freedom of expression and media freedom." He said Sri Lanka does not need new laws to combat terrorism, saying there are more than 20 existing laws and legal provisions to deal with offenses on terrorism. "Therefore, bringing new laws could be described as an attempt to suppress the voice of the people," he said. There was no immediate comment from the government and the spokesmen for the government did not answer phone calls seeking a comment. President Maithripala Sirisena and the new government came into power in 2015 promising to end a culture of impunity and ensure justice to slain journalists. Under Sirisena's predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, dozens of journalists were killed, abducted and tortured. Some fled the country. In some cases, military officers were arrested and released on bail. Forty four journalists and media workers were killed between 2006 and 2015, during the Rajapaksa presidency. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 11 journalists were killed in the same period, including five who were targeted for murder and whose cases remain unsolved. Most of the killings and attacks on journalists took place during Sri Lanka's civil war, which ended in 2009, after the government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels who fought for a separate state for the ethnic minority Tamils. Both the government and the rebels were accused of killing and abducting critics. DALLAS (AP) - Former President George W. Bush welcomed new U.S. citizens Monday during a naturalization ceremony in Dallas, saying that "amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength." Bush and former first lady Laura Bush spoke to the around 50 candidates for naturalization during the ceremony at his institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Those becoming citizens at the ceremony came from more than 20 countries around the world. He told the group that he hopes "those responsible in Washington can dial down the rhetoric, put politics aside, and modernize our immigration laws soon." Noting public debate on immigration "can get pretty sharp," he told them that they signed up with a "boisterous democracy." He encouraged them to participate in it and vote. "As president, I worked hard on comprehensive immigration reform, and I regret that our efforts came up short," Bush said. "Today, emotions can cloud the issue. But here at the Bush center, we are clear-eyed about the need to enforce our borders and protect our homeland, and about the critical contributions immigrants make to our prosperity and to our way of life." Bush did not mention President Donald Trump by name, but his words stood in contrast to his fellow Republican's fiery rhetoric about immigrants. Last week, Trump used the first veto of his presidency to overturn a measure Congress passed that would have overturned his emergency declaration to build a wall along the southern border - a centerpiece of his successful campaign. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush recite the pledge of allegiance with new U.S. citizens, including Felix Odeh, (top right) of Nigeria, during a naturalization ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Monday, March 18, 2019. Forty-nine people representing 20 countries became American citizens at the ceremony. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP) It's not the first time Bush given such a rebuke of the current administration's political tone. Bush said at a speech in New York in 2017, "Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children." Last year at a speech in Abu Dhabi Bush noted there are people willing to do jobs Americans don't want to do, adding, "We ought to say thank you and welcome them." Immigration is a focus of the George W. Bush Institute, which says it advocates for "smart, skills-based immigration reform." Laura Bush said Texas is a state that "thrives due to the prosperity, ingenuity, transformation and generosity of immigrants." George Bush told the group: "I'd like to point out that not only are you becoming an American, but as Laura mentioned, you're a Texan. And if you walk out of here with a little extra attitude in your step, it shows the culture is taking hold." Former President George W. Bush gives remarks on immigration during a naturalization ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Monday, March 18, 2019. Before the naturalization ceremony, President and Mrs. Bush delivered brief remarks noting the significant contributions of immigrants to our society and economy, and the importance of border security. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP) Former first lady Laura Bush gives remarks during a naturalization ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Monday, March 18, 2019. Before the naturalization ceremony, President and Mrs. Bush delivered brief remarks noting the significant contributions of immigrants to our society and economy, and the importance of border security. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP) New U.S. citizen Felix Odeh, of Nigeria, (center) and other new citizens wave American flags as "God Bless America" is sung during a naturalization ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Monday, March 18, 2019. Forty-nine people representing 20 countries became American citizens at the ceremony. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP) BERLIN (AP) - The United States is bristling at the suggestion Germany might miss its own defense spending target, which is already short of the NATO goal. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz's budget plan, which is to be presented to cabinet on Wednesday, foresees Germany's defense spending rising to 1.37 percent of national income in 2020, but decline to 1.25 by 2023, according to the dpa news agency, which reviewed a copy of the proposal. NATO countries have pledged to move toward spending 2 percent of GDP on defense and Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had pledged to increase spending to 1.5 percent by 2024. U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell told The Associated Press Monday the government's consideration of "reducing its already unacceptable commitments to military readiness is a worrisome signal to Germany's 28 NATO allies." OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Canada is extending its military missions in Ukraine and Iraq. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday the mission of about 200 Canadian Forces personnel in Ukraine will be extended through March 2022. Canada has helped train Ukraine's military, which is battling Russian-backed separatist forces. Canada will also extend its contribution to the Global Coalition Against Daesh and the NATO mission in Iraq until the end of March 2021. Canada has about 500 military members in Iraq, including 200 who are part of a NATO training mission and 120 special forces who have been helping Iraqi forces root out Islamic State insurgents around the northern city of Mosul. Both missions were due to expire at the end of the month. NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) - After weeks of hype, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke swung through Iowa for the first time and strode into the presidential race to larger crowds and more media attention than most others in the already crowded 2020 Democratic field. Until recently, O'Rourke was a little-known El Paso congressman whose views weren't well known. His campaign rollout filled in some blanks and gave him a chance to try to move past some flubs, such as quips about being a part-time parent. Still, he remains something of a political mystery. Here's some of what we learned during his White House rollout: ___ DONOR DARLING One of the big questions surrounding O'Rourke's candidacy is whether he'd be able to recreate the energy that fueled his political stardom during his 2018 challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz. Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke signs a placard after a visit to the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) At least on the fundraising front, the answer is yes. O'Rourke's campaign said Monday it drew in $6.1 million in donations during its first day alone, or just more than the $6 million fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders raised in the opening 24 hours of his campaign. That's a key indication O'Rourke can revive a deep, nationwide supporter base built heavily on small donors that helped him rake in $80-plus million while nearly upsetting Cruz. As he did while running for Senate, O'Rourke says he won't take donations from outside political groups, but he also won't rule out organizing fundraisers with high-dollar donors, as has another 2020 Democratic White House candidate, Elizabeth Warren. He said he'd support his campaign staff unionizing after Sanders' became the first presidential campaign to do so. And O'Rourke has pledged to release his tax personal returns - unlike President Donald Trump - but didn't say when. ___ FOREIGN POLICY O'Rourke's six years in Congress encompassed little foreign policy experience, and it's showed at times. He said he supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but when asked if he had an opinion about "Brexit," he answered simply, "No." If elected president, O'Rourke says he wouldn't send U.S. troops to Venezuela. Nor would he deploy them to Syria "without some declaration or authorization for force." He's also denounced China for manipulating international markets but hasn't said how he'd deal with that other than criticizing Trump's trade tariffs. ___ BORDER NATIVE Policy areas O'Rourke likes discussing are immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. A fluent Spanish speaker, he hails from El Paso , across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which he calls the "world's largest binational community." O'Rourke says he knows more about the border that has dominated national debate than anyone running for president. ___ HEALTH CARE During the Senate race, O'Rourke said he'd support Sanders' "Medicare for All" plan. Now, O'Rourke says he prefers a proposal by Democratic Reps. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois known as "Medicare for America." O'Rourke says it would allow people who already get health insurance from their employers to continue to do so while helping millions without coverage enroll in Medicare. When a man in Independence, Iowa, accused O'Rourke of siding with "insurance company greed," the former congressman responded with one of his common refrains: "If we become too ideological or too prescribed in the solution, we may allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good." ___ REPARATIONS Asked about the U.S. government making financial payments for centuries of stolen labor and oppression of enslaved black Americans, O'Rourke didn't directly answer. He said only that the nation had to confront the truth about its racist past. Other 2020 presidential hopefuls, including Harris, Warren and ex-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, have suggested the U.S. government should use tax credits or other subsidies to compensate the descendants of those enslaved. ___ RUNNING WHILE RUNNING O'Rourke frequently jogged with supporters while running for Senate and seems poised to get plenty of exercise during the presidential campaign. He participated in a race in North Liberty, Iowa, running 5 kilometers, or about 3.1 miles, in 24 minutes and 29 seconds. He also chatted with fellow racers while doing so, saying talking health care helped speed him up. O'Rourke acknowledged being in pain toward the end of the race, but he called it a good "pressure check" on his body. ___ SELF-DRIVING VEHICLE O'Rourke likes to drive himself to campaign stops, often while livestreaming. He did this constantly as a Senate candidate, saying he can't stand to sit still. His presidential campaign used a Dodge Caravan to traverse parts of Iowa, then drive to Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio with plans to head to Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. But O'Rourke has a tendency to speed - and to sometimes curse at other drivers - which can make for awkward internet moments. He's promised to clean up his language while running for president. O'Rourke could have the road to himself a lot. While other candidates, including the senators running for president, have day jobs, the campaign is O'Rourke's only occupation at the moment. ___ CONSPICUOUS GYRATIONS Trump suggested O'Rourke constantly waving his arms might mean the Texan is crazy. Others picked up on how, during the online video announcing his candidacy, O'Rourke bounced so much on the couch where he was seated with his wife that she occasionally pitched forward, appearing to nod in agreement without actually moving her head. Those who knew O'Rourke before he was elected to Congress in 2012 say he used to be a stiff and little-animated campaigner - a problem he no longer has. Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is interviewed after a campaign stop at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Former Texas congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke watches as apprentices work on a project at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, Monday, March 18, 2019 in Ferndale, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Congo's interior minister says the president has suspended installing newly elected senators after weekend protests led to violence that killed at least one person. Interior Minister Basile Olongo said Monday that President Felix Tshisekedi has also postponed governor elections set for March 27. He made the decision after meeting with the chief of the National Assembly, the president of the outgoing senate, the prime minister and foreign and interior ministers. Tshisekedi said the suspension is meant to give prosecutors time to investigate allegations that local deputies were corrupted by candidates for senate seats. Members of Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress party demonstrated Saturday after the party failed to win any senate seats from Kinshasa in the regional assembly. While voters elect regional deputies, senators are then chosen by the deputies. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Mali's army says heavily armed men have attacked a camp in central Mali, killing at least 23 soldiers. The army said Monday the attack on Sunday, which is the most deadly against the army this year, took place in the village of Dioura. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bears the mark of al-Qaida-related jihadist groups that have been regularly attacking the army and international forces in central Mali. Mali's army has blamed the attack on Ba Ag Moussa, a former colonel of the Malian army who deserted in 2012 to join the Tuareg rebellion before joining al-Qaida. However, this announcement by the army comes as debates are being held about integrating former rebels into the army as part of a peace agreement. Many senior Malian officers are not in favor of integration. WASHINGTON (AP) - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, little known outside his home state, boasts he raised over $1 million in the days after launching his White House bid. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and others say they did, too. Impressive numbers, even if dwarfed by the $6 million or so reported by Bernie Sanders and now Beto O'Rourke . The seven-digit figures for the lesser-known Democratic hopefuls don't lie, but they don't tell the whole story either. Early bursts of donations don't happen by accident, especially for candidates with little national name recognition such as Inslee, who hit his target thanks in part to an email list of donors he's cultivated for months. He's among a crowded field of more than a dozen Democrats who are feverishly trying to show they can raise big money and realistically challenge Republican President Donald Trump. With the first-quarter fundraising deadline looming, some are straining credulity to give the impression of a spontaneous groundswell of support. In addition to Inslee and Hickenlooper, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and California Sen. Kamala Harris have boasted they raised $1 million or more in the hours and days after launching their campaigns. What that signifies is less clear. FILE - In this March 6, 2019 photo, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee listens as he takes part in a non-partisan panel discussion hosted by the University of Washington Jackson School and the American Security Project on the UW campus in Seattle. The little-known Washington state governor recently raised over $1 million in the days after launching his White House bid, thanks in part to an email list of donors he's cultivated for months. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) "It's a strange goal post for viability, and there are a lot of tricks you can use to come up with that number," said Tim Lim, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's campaigns. However, he added: "It's a great talking point." So how do you get to $1 million within 24, 48 or 72 hours? Candidates like Vermont Sen. Sanders and former Texas Rep. O'Rourke have used their star power to quickly raise astronomical sums. O'Rourke announced on Monday that he edged Sanders by pulling in $6.1 million in the 24 hours after his launch. But a wide range of tools are available to help the lesser-known White House hopefuls. They include rented fundraisings email lists, targeted social media ads (which all candidates use) and revenue sharing agreements, which allow interest groups to raise money for their own causes while splitting it with a favorite candidate. Fundraising commitments are often lined up in advance, while creative accounting maneuvers can be used to pad the bottom line. Senators have a leg up. They can take money from existing federal campaign accounts, while governors are largely barred from doing the same with their state accounts. Before his early March launch, Inslee spent months running targeted ads that asked Facebook users to fork over their email addresses to join his fight against climate change - now the signature issue of his campaign. At the same time, Inslee, who was then head of the Democratic Governors Association, made prospecting trips to states including New York and California. He started collecting larger checks from conventional donors in the weeks before the launch. Then, shortly after announcing his run, his campaign blasted out thousands of fundraising emails and the online money started to roll in, which he juiced by making rounds on the talk show circuit. Within about three days, he reached the magic $1 million figure - and his campaign issued a news release. The fundraising effort was described by two Inslee aides who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the inner workings of his campaign. Michael Duncan, a Republican digital strategist, said numbers posted by lesser-known candidates are likely to be less grassroots and more "the campaign equivalent of AstroTurf." But Duncan, who formerly handled digital strategy for the insurgent tea party group FreedomWorks, said it was a shrewd tactic. Particularly now that the Democratic National Committee is using online fundraising, with an emphasis on low-dollar contributions spread out across many donors to qualify for the debate stage. "I would imagine the grassroots support is manufactured," said Duncan, who also was an architect of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's digital strategy in 2015. "I'd doubt they'd own a file of hundreds of thousands of Americans dying to give them $10." Most campaigns won't offer specifics on how they reached their mark. News releases sent out at the time shed some light, however. Harris offered the most detail. Her campaign announced in January that it raised $1.5 million in 24 hours, collecting an average donation of $37 from more than 38,000 people. From there, it gets more fuzzy. Klobuchar's campaign said it raised $1 million in 48 hours from "online and grassroots" supporters in all states, but did not break the numbers down further. Inslee launched his campaign on a Friday and announced the following Monday that he had reached the mark, with donations coming from all 50 states. Hickenlooper's campaign said it reached the figure in less than 48 hours and received donations from all 50. His campaign wouldn't offer specifics. But touting the number was a no-brainer, said spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. "Of course we thought it was important in our launch to show he is the more-than-viable candidate we know," she said. Though $1 million is a lot to most, raising that much isn't as difficult as it may seem. It could be reached if about 357 donors cut checks for the $2,800 primary maximum. And lining up support from longtime donors in advance could go a long way toward getting a candidate close. Zac Moffatt, Mitt Romney's 2012 digital director, said the focus now will be whether they can keep it up. "The question would be: what is Act II?" he said. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Latest on an appeals court weighing whether to resurrect a Kansas proof-of-citizenship voting law (all times local): 12:30 p.m. A federal appeals court has heard arguments about whether Kansas should be allowed to resurrect a law that required people to submit proof of citizenship before registering to vote. During a hearing Monday in Salt Lake City, Judge Jerome Holmes of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals pointed to evidence that Kansas' requirement kept more than 30,000 people from registering over the three years it was in effect, even though nearly all of them were citizens. Kansas' solicitor general, Toby Crouse, said much of that was due to bureaucratic problems with the way the law was implemented, and that it doesn't make the law unconstitutional. Dale Ho, of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that those problems are "baked in" to the measure and that the number is compelling evidence that the law created an illegal hurdle to the ballot box. FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photo, then Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach responds to questions from reporters in Topeka, Kan. An appeals court in Salt Lake City, will consider Monday, March 18, 2019, the constitutionality of a struck down Kansas statute that had required people to provide documents proving U.S. citizenship before they could register to vote. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File) The three-judge panel didn't indicate when it might rule. __ 6 a.m. An appeals court will consider the constitutionality of a struck-down Kansas statute that had required people to provide documents proving U.S. citizenship before they could register to vote. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Monday in Salt Lake City in a case with national implications for voting rights. At issue is a legal challenge to a voter registration statute requiring people to provide documentary proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers. Kansas is appealing a ruling last year that found its law violated the constitutional right to vote. The state faces an uphill battle to resurrect the law championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who led President Donald Trump's now-defunct voter fraud commission. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Searchers combed a river in the Sierra Nevada foothills for a little girl swept away during the weekend, a man was found dead in a river northeast of Sacramento, and two people were rescued in Los Angeles Monday, putting a focus on dangers resulting from California's exceptionally wet winter. The 5-year-old girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River around 5 p.m. Sunday at Knights Ferry, a sprawling recreation area. The girl's mother, Marissa Vasquez, said that Matilda Ortiz has autism. On Monday, Vasquez and several friends and relatives walked along the river searching for the girl. Vasquez pleaded with the public for help. "She is a 5-year-old and she is not aware of dangers. If anyone could just please come help us, it would be much appreciated," a sobbing Vasquez told The Modesto Bee. Sheriff's Deputy Royjindar Singh said Matilda was with her father at the time of the accident and that he jumped in, but began to struggle. A bystander briefly had a grip on the girl before she was swept away, he said. The river, which plunges out of the High Sierra through rapids and canyons toward the San Joaquin Valley, was flowing in the area at a rate of more than 4,000 cubic feet per second (113.3 cubic meters) Monday morning, according to the California Department of Water resources. In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities, fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department said the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. The department said several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department said in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) Search teams on Monday found the body of a man who fell into the rain-swollen American River northeast of Sacramento over the weekend, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said. Investigators believe Andy Odon Ortega Fonseca, 23, was taking photos along the bank when he slipped and fell Sunday evening. A barrage of storms this winter has dumped huge amounts of rain on California and coated the Sierra and other ranges with snow. Yosemite National Park warned last week that as spring temperatures warm, significant snowmelt will fill rivers and streams. "This cold and swift-moving water poses a potential hazard to park visitors," a Yosemite official said in a release. To the south, a man and woman were pulled from the water around 12:30 a.m. after being swept down the Pacoima Wash, part of the tributary system of the Los Angeles River in the San Fernando Valley. "One patient called 9-1-1 from in the water and spoke with dispatchers while moving down river," a Los Angeles Fire Department statement said. The 21-year-old man and the 18-year-old woman were able to grasp a wall, and a firefighter lowered by harness from an aerial ladder was able to reach them. Both were taken to a hospital but neither appeared to have serious injuries, the department said, noting that it was unknown how they ended up there. They were not identified. California's rivers and streams can flow at a lazy pace or a trickle for during drought years and then roar to life when storms finally arrive. Numerous drownings occurred in spring 2017 after the last wet winter. The state is expected to get more rain and snow during the week. ___ Associated Press reporters John Antczak and Christopher Weber contributed to this report from Los Angeles. In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department says the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. It says several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department says in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department said the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. The department said several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department said in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) ATLANTA (AP) - A federal appeals court sided with news media organizations Monday in ruling that Alabama can't keep its lethal injection protocol secret from the public. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected Alabama's argument that its execution method is not a court record and thus should remain secret. "Judicial records provide grounds upon which a court relies in deciding cases, and thus the public has a valid interest in accessing these records to ensure the continued integrity and transparency of our governmental and judicial offices," the court stated in its ruling. At issue is what the court described as the botched execution of Doyle Hamm on Feb. 22, 2018. The court said that after several failed attempts to insert a needle into his veins, the execution was called off as midnight approached. The Associated Press and other news outlets then sought the state's execution protocol and related records. "Alabama is the most secretive state in the country with respect to its protocol," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "The intense secrecy has obvious problems," he said. "The Doyle Hamm case is one classic example of that because the difficulties in finding a vein all happen out of the view of the public." Representatives of the Alabama Attorney General's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday's decision, so it wasn't known whether they would appeal. Alabama could ask the appeals court for reconsideration of the case, or appeal to the United States Supreme Court, Dunham said. The state also could ask for a stay of Monday's ruling as appeals play out, he said. Monday's decision upheld a federal judge's ruling last year that the public has "a common law right of access" to the records. In that May 2018 ruling, U.S. Judge Karon Bowdre decided that some information can remain secret in the interest of security, such as the names of low-level prison employees involved in executions. Last year's ruling found that the execution protocol and related records "clearly concern a matter of great public concern, i.e., how Alabama carries out its executions," the appeals court wrote in Monday's ruling. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local): 7:40 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Nebraska to survey damage from flooding in the Midwest. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that President Donald Trump requested Pence go Tuesday to the Midwest to see the damage. Sanders says Pence will be joined by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. The tweet did not say where in Nebraska Pence would go. Gabe Schmidt, owner of Liquid Trucking, back right, travels by air boat with Glenn Wyles, top left, Mitch Snyder, bottom right, and Juan Jacobo, bottom left, as they survey damage from the flood waters of the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Neb., Sunday, March 17, 2019. Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in Nebraska, but rivers there were starting to recede. The National Weather Service said the Elkhorn River remained at major flood stage but was dropping. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) __ 3:30 p.m. North Dakota's largest city has declared an emergency and Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney is asking residents to help fill 1 million sandbags as the city prepares for major Red River flooding. The National Weather Service says "significant" snowmelt flooding is likely this spring in the Red River Valley after last week's massive late-winter storm in the Midwest. The chance the river will reach major flood stage in Fargo has increased from 50 percent to 90 percent. The neighboring cities of Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota, experienced a record flood 10 years ago. The two cities have implemented several measures such as home buyouts and levees since then. But Mahoney says there are still areas that could be vulnerable. Sandbag-filling operations begin March 26. ___ 3:10 p.m. An Illinois town is bracing for potentially the worst flooding it has seen in at least a half-century. Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow says the town of 25,000 residents west of Rockford could see an all-time record flood along the Pecatonica River. At best, the water level will get to its highest level in 50 years. Several Illinois towns face flooding from the late-winter deluge that has ravaged several Midwestern states. National Weather Service readings show major flooding along the Pecatonica River at Shirland, Illinois, and along the Rock River in Moline and the Rockford area. ___ 2:45 p.m. The late-winter flood has compromised about 200 miles of Missouri River levees in four Midwestern states. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says levees that have been topped or breached in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas contributed to the flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes. Three deaths have been blamed on floodwaters, and two men in Nebraska have been missing since Thursday. The National Weather Service says river levels have topped off along the Missouri River at Omaha, Nebraska, as well as at several Missouri River tributaries in Nebraska. High flows and water levels remain throughout the river basin south of Sioux City, Iowa. ___ 1:40 p.m. Authorities say an 80-year-old woman has died in her flooded Nebraska home after authorities couldn't reach her. The Platte County Sheriff's Office announced the death of Betty Hamernik on Monday. The Omaha World-Herald reports that officials learned Thursday that she was trapped in her house by the flooding Loup River. The sheriff's report says rescuers from a Lincoln search team were unable to get to Hamernik because of the fast current, high waves and wind gusts of 60 mph. A team from the Nebraska National Guard attempted to rescue Hamernik by air on Friday morning. After several attempts, crew members discovered that Hamernik had died. But they still were unable to get in the house. A dive team recovered her body Saturday. ___ 12:05 p.m. Hundreds of homes have flooded in northwest Missouri after the Missouri River overtopped and breached several levees following heavy rain and snowmelt upstream. Holt County Emergency Management Director Tom Bullock said Monday that many homes are inundated with 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters) of water. He says one couple was rescued in a helicopter. Residents in parts of southwest Iowa were forced from their homes Sunday because of the flooded river, which has also displaced hundreds of people in Nebraska after a massive late-winter storm hit the Midwest last week. The Missouri Department of Transportation reports about 100 flood-related road closures. The National Weather Service says the river should crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Missouri, at its third-highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base. ___ Check out the AP's complete story on flooding. CORRECTS MONTH TO MARCH NOT MAY - Anthony Thomson, left, and Melody Walton make their way out of a flooded neighborhood Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Fremont, Neb. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Nebraska and Iowa as levees succumbed to the rush of water. (Kent Sievers/Omaha World-Herald via AP) CORRECTS MONTH TO MARCH NOT MAY - The Elkhorn River consumes a section of western Douglas County Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Omaha, Neb. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Nebraska and Iowa as levees succumbed to the rush of water. (Jeff Bundy/Omaha World-Herald via AP) CORRECTS TO MARCH FROM MAY - Floodwaters surround buildings on the southwest side of Hamburg, Iowa, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Residents in parts of southwestern Iowa were forced out of their homes Sunday as a torrent of Missouri River water flowed over and through levees, putting them in a situation similar to hundreds of people in neighboring Nebraska who have been displaced by the late-winter flood. (Ryan Soderlin/Omaha World-Herald via AP) A BNSF train sits in flood waters from the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Neb., Sunday, March 17, 2019. Hundreds of people remained out of their homes in Nebraska, but rivers there were starting to recede. The National Weather Service said the Elkhorn River remained at major flood stage but was dropping. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) DALLAS (AP) - Prosecutors have dismissed charges against three Dallas police officers who were indicted after a man they arrested and physically restrained died in 2016. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office dropped the misdemeanor deadly conduct charges against Sgt. Kevin Mansell and Officers Danny Vasquez and Dustin Dillard. Their cases arose from the death of Anthony Timpa , who was arrested for erratic behavior and later died at a hospital. Police say the 32-year-old was combative. The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, saying Timpa died of cardiac arrest caused by the effects of cocaine and the stress of physical restraint. In 2017, a grand jury concluded the officers acted recklessly during the arrest. The District Attorney's office says three medical examiners said they don't believe the officers were reckless. BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Federal prosecutors in North Dakota are seeking a prison sentence for a Rhode Island woman who funneled lottery scam money between the U.S. and Jamaica that's more than double what they sought for the scheme's ringleader. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan O'Konek said a lack of contrition and cooperation on the part of Melinda Bulgin are big reasons why the state is seeking a 14-year sentence for her, which is about eight years more than they sought for kingpin Lavrick Willocks. Defense attorney Chad McCabe said he'll seek a sentence "more reasonable and appropriate." A jury in September convicted the 28-year-old Bulgin of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering in a scam that authorities say bilked more than 100 mostly elderly Americans out of more than $6 million. It's believed to be the first large-scale Jamaican lottery scam tried in the U.S. It involved 31 defendants, including 14 Jamaican nationals, most of whom accepted plea deals with the government. Among those who accepted a plea deal was Willocks. Prosecutors say he ran the scam out of a Jamaica mansion where he lived with his mother. O'Konek recommended six years and three months in prison, and U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in October sentenced him to six years, crediting him with cooperating. Authorities say Bulgin funneled scam proceeds via cheap flights she got through her airline job. She eventually was caught at a Jamaican airport in 2015. "She went to trial, did not accept responsibility, and has not had empathy for the victims in this case," O'Konek said. Authorities identified victims in 31 states, including at least one person who committed suicide. The case has been prosecuted in North Dakota because that's where the initial identified victim lives. McCabe said his client should not be punished for exercising her right to go to trial and called it "unfortunate" that the government is seeking such a lengthy prison term. "It does seem very harsh and unfair to ask for a sentence for Miss Bulgin that is much bigger than for an individual who played a much larger role in this case," he said. Bulgin is to be sentenced April 17. Hovland in December ordered her detained until sentencing, saying she was "looking at significant (prison) time" and could be a flight risk. ___ Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake LIVINGSTON, La. (AP) - A man accused of killing his girlfriend, her family and his parents in Louisiana has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they're seeking the death penalty. News outlets report 21-year-old Dakota Theriot entered the pleas Monday to three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Summer Ernest; her father, Billy Ernest; and her brother, Tanner Ernest. Authorities say Theriot shot the Ernests in Livingston Parish, then his parents, Elizabeth and Keith Theriot, in Ascension Parish. He was arrested in Virginia . The five slayings happened in January. Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux says he considered reports that Theriot is mentally ill, but ultimately nothing convinced prosecutors not to seek his execution. Perrilloux expects an insanity defense. Theriot hasn't been indicted yet in Ascension Parish. His lawyer declined to comment to The Advocate . ___ FILE - In a Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 file photo, Dakota Theriot, left, is escorted to the Ascension Parish Courthouse East in Gonzales, La. Theriot,accused of killing his girlfriend, her family and his parents in Louisiana, pleaded not guilty Monday, March 18, 2019. Prosecutors say they're seeking the death penalty. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File) Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com TORONTO (AP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed a former justice minister to examine whether the dual role of justice minister and attorney general should be separated amid a scandal that threatens his Liberal party's re-election. Trudeau announced Monday that Anne McLellan, also a Liberal, would undertake the study. Former Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould says Trudeau and senior members of his government improperly pressured her in a case involving a major Canadian engineering company accused of corruption Trudeau reportedly wanted her to instruct prosecutors to reach the equivalent of plea deal and avoid a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin because he felt that thousands of jobs were at stake. A conviction would bar the company from government contracts. The scandal has led to resignations of two high-profile Cabinet ministers, including Wilson-Raybould, and Trudeau's top adviser. Canada's top civil servant, Michael Wernick, also announced an early retirement on Monday, saying there is no path for him to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties. The opposition accused Wernick of being partisan when he testified that no inappropriate pressure was put on Wilson-Raybould and that Trudeau repeatedly assured Wilson-Raybould the decision on the SNC-Lavalin prosecution was hers alone. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the South Nepean Muslim Community Mosque to speak to community members in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 17, 2019. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) "Significant issues have been raised recently about relations between the former attorney general and justice minister and the government," Trudeau said in Parliament. The attorney general in Canada also serves as the justice minister and is an elected lawmaker in Parliament. Wilson-Raybould was demoted from her role as attorney general and justice minister and named veterans affairs minister in January as part of a Cabinet shuffle and resigned weeks later. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, wanted in his home country in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal, was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication and spent the night in jail before being released Monday, authorities said. Toledo is accused of taking $20 million in bribes while leading Peru. He has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Peruvian authorities have been seeking his extradition since 2017. However, the arrest appears unlikely to hasten that process. The 72-year-old Toledo was arrested after officers were called to a restaurant in Menlo Park just south of San Francisco, said San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade. Toledo was drunk and had refused requests to leave the establishment, she said. He was released without charges, which Blankswade said is routine for most public drunkenness arrests. Toledo was Peru's president from 2001 to 2006 and developed a reputation for partying. His presidential aircraft became known as the "party plane" after a government official was caught on camera drunkenly singing a popular tune called "Pass Me the Bottle" while aboard a flight to Europe. In this photo released Monday, March 18, 2019, by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is Alejandro Toledo. Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday that Alejandro Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park. (San Mateo County Sheriff's Office via AP) Toledo has denied reports about drinking. After Toledo left power, incoming President Alan Garcia published a tally of Toledo's liquor purchases during his time in the presidential palace: $164,000 in spirits, whisky, wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages. Peruvian prosecutors accuse Toledo of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht while president. He has denied wrongdoing. In February 2017, then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski asked President Donald Trump to deport the ex-Peruvian president. Blankswade said the international police organization Interpol issued a "warning" to law enforcement agencies around the world to notify it when Toledo was arrested. Interpol officials told the San Mateo County sheriff's office they had no immediate plans to take Toledo into custody. "After reaching out to Peruvian officials and Interpol, we learned that the existence of charges in Peru alone does not authorize the subject's arrest in the United States," Blankswade said. Toledo brushed off questions about his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness during a brief radio interview Monday with Peru's RPP radio. "I'm at my home, writing my book," he said when a reporter reached him on the phone. Asked if he could clarify whether he had been detained, he said, "I'm not falling into that trap." Interpol officials did not immediately return phone messages left with the organization's U.S. office in Washington. In a statement, Peru's foreign ministry said Toledo's detention "has no relation with the extradition process underway, which is being handled with the utmost zeal and in coordination with various institutions." Odebrecht in 2016 acknowledged in a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to paying some $800 million in bribes to politicians throughout Latin America. The scandal has hit a particularly rough note in Peru, where nearly every living president is suspected or under investigation for ties to Odebrecht. All of Peru's former presidents have denied wrongdoing. Toledo moved to Northern California shortly after leaving office to work and study at Stanford University in Palo Alto, according to a 2007 San Francisco Chronicle report. Toledo earned a doctoral degree in education and two master's degrees from Stanford, where he delivered the commencement speech to the school's graduating class of 2003 while still in office. He has held a variety of fellowships and visiting scholar positions at Stanford until 2017, according to university announcements. In 2017, the same year Peruvian officials announced they were seeking to arrest Toledo, Stanford spokeswoman Brooke Donald told a Latin American media outlet that the college was severing its ties with Toledo, who she said was an unpaid "volunteer" who didn't teach. Stanford officials didn't respond to email and phone inquiries Monday. The public drunkenness arrest marks the latest chapter in what has been a stunning fall from grace for the man who rose out of poverty to become Peru's first president with indigenous roots. Toledo grew up shining shoes and selling lottery tickets in northern Peru, one of 16 children, at least seven of which did not survive to adulthood. A happenstance meeting with a U.S. humanitarian worker couple set his life on an unexpected trajectory: With their help, he applied and won a scholarship to the University of San Francisco. His jovial nature, ease with the masses and opposition to strongman Alberto Fujimori helped him clinch the presidency in 2001. He proudly called himself "El Cholo" - a term referring to his indigenous ancestry. The nation's economy boomed under his leadership, with gross domestic product rising from 0.2 percent to 6.8 percent. ___ Armario reported from Bogota, Colombia. Franklin Briceno in Lima, Peru contributed to this report. File - In this April 7, 2011, file photo, Presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo, of the political party Peru Possible, delivers a speech during a campaign rally in Lima, Peru. Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday, March 18, 2019, that Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File) HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Latest on the release from prison of reputed Connecticut mobster who federal authorities believe has information on a still-unsolved heist of $500 million worth of artwork from a Boston museum (all times local): 3:25 p.m. Federal prison officials say there is no evidence to support mistreatment allegations made by a reputed Connecticut mobster who authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history. Eighty-two-year-old Robert Gentile was released from prison Friday after finishing a four-year sentence for weapons crimes. He maintains he knows nothing about the still-unsolved theft of $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. He accused prison officials Monday of worsening his health problems by restraining him in a bed for the past year. The federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement Monday that it could find no support for the allegations. FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2017 file photo, Robert Gentile is wheeled into the federal courthouse in Hartford, Conn. The reputed Connecticut mobster, who authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history, was released from prison Friday, March 15, 2018, in an unrelated weapons case. Federal prosecutors have said they think Gentile has information about the still-unsolved 1990 $500 million heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (Patrick Raycraft/Hartford Courant via AP, File) Federal prosecutors have said they believe Gentile has some information on the stolen paintings. ____ 12:33 p.m. An elderly reputed Connecticut mobster who federal authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history has been released from prison and is criticizing federal government officials. Eighty-two-year-old Robert Gentile also maintained Monday that he knows nothing about the still-unsolved theft of $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. He finished a four-year sentence in an unrelated weapons case and was released Friday. Gentile is blaming federal officials for his worsening health problems and criticizing authorities for seizing his money and damaging his Manchester home during a raid in the weapons case. An FBI official declined to comment on Gentile's statements. Federal Bureau of Prisons officials said they were reviewing Gentile's comments. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A reputed Connecticut mobster who federal authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history criticized government officials Monday as he adjusted to being back home after finishing a four-year prison sentence for weapons crimes. Robert Gentile, 82, also maintained he knows nothing about the unsolved theft of $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. He was released from federal custody in the unrelated weapons case Friday. "I had nothing to do with the paintings. It's a big joke," Gentile said in a phone interview from his Manchester home. He also blamed federal prison officials for worsening health problems that have left him unable to get around except in a wheelchair, and he criticized law enforcement officials for seizing his money and damaging his home during a raid in the weapons case. "I'm all crippled up. They had me in a bed for a year chained up," he said. "I should have never been in jail. It's a joke." The federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that there was no evidence to support Gentile's claims of mistreatment. It said it cannot discuss inmates' medical conditions. FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2017 file photo, Robert Gentile is wheeled into the federal courthouse in Hartford, Conn. The reputed Connecticut mobster, who authorities believe is the last surviving person of interest in the largest art heist in history, was released from prison Friday, March 15, 2018, in an unrelated weapons case. Federal prosecutors have said they think Gentile has information about the still-unsolved 1990 $500 million heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (Patrick Raycraft/Hartford Courant via AP, File) An FBI spokesman in New Haven declined to comment. The art heist took place March 18, 1990, when two men masquerading as Boston police officers got into the museum by telling a security guard they were responding to a report of a disturbance, according to authorities. The guard and a co-worker were handcuffed and locked in the basement while the thieves made off with the art. The missing pieces include Rembrandt's only known seascape, "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee," and Vermeer's "The Concert," one of fewer than 40 known paintings by the 17th-century Dutch painter. The FBI told The Associated Press in 2015 that two suspects - both Boston criminals with ties to organized crime - were deceased. Investigators believe the paintings moved through mob circles to Connecticut and Philadelphia, where the trail went cold, officials have said. Prosecutors have said another gangster's widow claimed her husband gave Gentile two of the paintings. Authorities also have said that Gentile talked about the stolen paintings with fellow prisoners and once told an undercover FBI agent he had access to two of the paintings and could negotiate the sale of each for $500,000. But Gentile, who will be on federally supervised release for the next three years, has publicly insisted he knows nothing about the theft or where the paintings are. Federal agents have searched Gentile's home three times, including with ground-penetrating radar, in what Gentile's lawyer, A. Ryan McGuigan, believes were efforts to find the paintings and other evidence about the heist. The weapons charges were filed after authorities found several firearms at Gentile's home in 2016, which he was prohibited from possessing as a previously convicted felon. Gentile was sentenced to more than two years in prison in 2013 for illegally selling prescription drugs and possessing guns, silencers and ammunition. In that case, prosecutors said federal agents found in Gentile's home a handwritten list of the stolen paintings and their estimated worth, along with a newspaper article about the museum heist a day after it happened. PITTSBURGH (AP) - A judge ruled on the eve of trial Monday that jurors in the case of a white western Pennsylvania police officer accused of shooting to death an unarmed black teenager last summer will hear evidence about a drive-by shooting that happened about 15 minutes before Antwon Rose II was killed. Judge Alexander Bicket allowed testimony at the trial of former East Pittsburgh officer Michael Rosfeld regarding the drive-by shooting that involved the vehicle in which 17-year-old Rose was a passenger. The trial begins Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Rosfeld's lawyer has said Rose's shooting was justified. Another passenger in the unlicensed taxi, Zaijuan Hester, 18, of Swissvale, pleaded guilty on Friday to aggravated assault and firearms violations for the drive-by shooting that left a man with an abdominal injury. Hester told a judge that he was the shooter and not Rose. Bicket also said he does not intend to let jurors hear details about a robbery that Rosfeld's lawyer says involved Rose before the drive-by incident and before his fatal shooting. Bicket said that decision, which prosecutors supported, may be revisited. The Tribune-Review reported Monday that Rosfeld defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said evidence about the purported robbery was necessary to tell the complete story and will bolster Rosfeld's belief that someone who exited the vehicle had pulled a gun on him. Rose was shot three times, including in the back, as he ran from a vehicle Rosfeld had pulled over. Rose was unarmed at the time, but authorities have said two guns were inside the vehicle and an empty ammunition clip was in his pocket. The trial of Rosfeld, 30, of Verona, will be heard by a jury picked last week in Harrisburg. TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) - In some versions of a story March 18 about a court hearing over the killing of a reputed Gambino crime boss, The Associated Press erroneously reported where the victim was born. Francesco Cali was born in New York City, not in Sicily. In addition, a March 19 follow-up story provided more information about the potential significance of the markings on the defendant's hand. A corrected version of the story is below: Suspect in mob boss hit flashes pro-Trump slogans on hand The man charged with killing the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family wrote pro-Donald Trump slogans on his hand and flashed them to journalists before a court hearing Monday By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) - The man charged with killing the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family wrote pro-Donald Trump slogans on his hand and flashed them to journalists before a court hearing Monday. Anthony Comello, 24, was arrested Saturday in New Jersey in the death of Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali last week in front of his Staten Island home. While waiting for a court hearing to begin in Toms River, New Jersey, in which he agreed to be extradited to New York, Comello held up his left hand. On it were scrawled pro-Trump slogans including "MAGA Forever," an abbreviation of Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." It also read "United We Stand MAGA" and "Patriots In Charge." In the center of his palm he had drawn a large circle. It was not immediately clear why he had done so. Comello's lawyer, Brian Neary, would not discuss the writing on his client's hand, nor would he say whether Comello maintains his innocence. Asked by reporters after the hearing what was on Comello's hand, Neary replied, "Handcuffs." He referred all other questions to Comello's Manhattan lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, who said in an emailed statement his client has been placed in protective custody due to "serious threats" that had been made against him, but gave no details of them. Ocean County officials could not immediately be reached after hours on Monday. "Mr. Comello's family and friends simply cannot believe what they have been told," Gottlieb said. "There is something very wrong here and we will get to the truth about what happened as quickly as possible." The statement did not address the writing on Comello's hand, and a lawyer from Gottlieb's firm declined to comment further Monday evening. Comello sat with a slight smile in the jury box of the courtroom Monday afternoon as dozens of reporters and photographers filed into the room. When they were in place, Comello held up his left hand to display the writings as the click and whirr of camera lenses filled the room with sound. During the hearing, Comello did not speak other than to say, "Yes, sir" to the judge to respond to several procedural questions. Cali, 53, was shot to death last Wednesday by a gunman who may have crashed his truck into Cali's car to lure him outside. Police said Cali was shot 10 times. Federal prosecutors referred to Cali in court filings in 2014 as the underboss of the Mafia's Gambino family, once one of the country's most powerful crime organizations. News accounts since 2015 said Cali had ascended to the top spot, though he was never charged with leading the gang. His only mob-related conviction came a decade ago, when he was sentenced to 16 months in prison in an extortion scheme involving a failed attempt to build a NASCAR track on Staten Island. He was released in 2009 and hasn't been in legal trouble since then. Police have not yet said whether they believe Cali's murder was a mob hit or whether he was killed for some other motive. The last Mafia boss to be rubbed out in New York City was Gambino don "Big Paul" Castellano, who was assassinated in 1985. ___ Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court seemed to struggle Monday with how to resolve a case that could help flip control of the Virginia House of Delegates to Democrats. The justices heard arguments in a case about the map Virginia has used to choose House delegates, a map a lower court ruled discriminated against black voters. The lack of clarity about how the high court will resolve the case was odd because the justices had previously allowed the lower court to approve a replacement map. State elections officials are currently preparing to use that replacement map for primary contests in June. The replacement map is seen as favorable to Democrats and could help them gain control of the House. The Republican-controlled House, meanwhile, is defending the map it drew in 2011, after the last census, which has been used in the four elections since. Democratic voters sued in 2014, accusing Republicans of packing black voters into certain districts to make surrounding districts whiter and more Republican. Republicans currently hold control of the House of Delegates by a slim 51-49 margin. The map Virginia officials are currently using was created after the lower court ruled 2-1 in June that the previous, legislature-drawn map improperly factored race into the drawing of 11 of the 100 House districts. After the House and Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam were unable to reach an agreement on a redistricting plan, the lower court chose a new map from a series of proposals submitted by a special master. The justices had been asked to block the lower court from approving a new map while the case proceeded in the Supreme Court, but the justices declined in January. So Virginia election planning has moved forward with the new plan. Candidates have until March 28 to sign up for primary contests, which are set for June 11, ahead of November's election. Any decision by the Supreme Court that changes what map is used could be hugely disruptive if the justices don't move quickly. However the Supreme Court decides, it will be the last time the map is used because it will need to be redrawn following the results of the 2020 census. On Monday, justices questioned both whether the House of Delegates had a right to bring the case to the high court and whether the districts it drew were problematic. Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that black lawmakers had been supportive of the original map and that it was given required approval by the Justice Department. But Justice Elena Kagan seemed to suggest lawmakers should have done a more thorough, district by district analysis when drawing boundaries. This is the second time the case has been to the Supreme Court. In 2017 the justices voted to throw out a ruling that upheld the challenged districts. It told the lower court to revisit the case and apply a different legal standard. The lower court then concluded that the 11 districts violated the Constitution's equal protection clause. The case is 18-281, VA House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill. ___ Associated Press reporter Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report. ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Under a large circus-style tent, Dior showcased its latest haute couture collection to a crowd of Mideast-based fashionistas, social media figures, celebrities, buyers, designers and editors Monday night. It was the first show in Dubai for the French fashion house, which initially presented its spring-summer 2019 haute couture collection in Paris in January. The presentation in Dubai, however, also included 15 entirely new creations unveiled especially for the show's design conscious Arab Gulf-based audience. Dubai's exuberant displays of luxury and the city's surreal, futuristic-looking skyline were the ideal backdrop to the show, where creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri was on hand. The emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where Bugattis and billionaires are a common sight, has a reputation for glamour and over-the-top projects like man-made palm shaped islands, the world's tallest tower and a seemingly endless pipeline of new five-star hotels and spas. The well-heeled Dubai crowd was wowed as models in sequined helmets presented the pieces inspired by Chiuri's memory and imagination associated with the circus. Dior has a history with the big top, with the circus theme first appearing in a 1955 styled photo and reappearing under John Galliano's creative direction. A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) The haute couture collection included details like a "tattooed" body suit that conjured up images of Victorian-era circus performers and a tulle jumpsuit of multi-colored streaks in satin bands and dramatically square shoulders. Haute couture is an artisan-based method of making clothes that dates back over 150 years. The highly expensive garments, shown in collections in Paris twice a year, are bought by a core group of no more than a few hundred rich women around the world. The exclusive pieces at the invitation-only show, which took place in a public park, reflected in many ways Dubai's own ambitions to become a global fashion and design hub. Minna Joseph, who attended the show in a tulle skirt of her own creation, said it was amazing to witness the collection. "I mean this is the park that I grew up in, I bring my kids in. And having something symbolic as Dior come, it's monumental for Dubai, for all of us, for the fashion community," she said. A more than $1 billion project called the Dubai Design District, or D3, was launched in recent years with offices dedicated to the fashion industry. The district's modern architecture and modish cafes cater to fashion editors of magazines like Vogue Arabia, emerging designers and local artists who can afford the steeply priced office space. Despite Dubai's creative push, the emirate does not have a major fashion week. In a first in 2015, Chanel held a show in Dubai to unveil a cruise collection by Karl Lagerfeld. Still, Dubai is a major shopping destination, drawing tens of millions of visitors from around the world to its more than 40 malls each year. The retail and wholesale sector is the biggest single contributor to Dubai's economy, according to the Oxford Business Group. "Today Dior is in Dubai. This is the biggest example that the UAE is making a place for itself on the fashion map," Lebanese TV personality Annabella Hilal said. ___ AP Fashion Writer Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report. A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) Models wear creations for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) A model wears a creation for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) Onlookers take photographs of models wearing creations for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri stands with models wearing creations for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri accepts applause during a show featuring models wearing creations for the Dior Spring/Summer 2019 Haute Couture fashion collection presented in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell) HONOLULU (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state's anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple. The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed & Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued that she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs. "Mrs. Young will rent a bedroom in her home to anyone, including those who are LGBT, but will not rent to any romantic partners other than a husband and wife," her attorney, James Hochberg, said in a statement. "This kind of governmental coercion should disturb every freedom-loving American no matter where you stand on marriage." The case involved an effort by Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford of Long Beach, California, to book a room at Aloha Bed & Breakfast in 2007 while they were visiting a friend nearby. When they specified they would need just one bed, Young told them she was uncomfortable reserving a room for lesbians and canceled the reservation. Cervelli and Bufford filed complaints with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2011 file photo, Taeko Bufford, left, and Diane Cervelli, right, pose for a photo in Honolulu. The U.S. Supreme Court is rejecting an appeal from a Hawaii bed and breakfast that wouldn't rent a room to the lesbian couple. The justices on Monday, March 18, 2019 left in place Hawaii state court rulings that found the Aloha Bed & Breakfast in Honolulu violated Hawaii's anti-discrimination law by turning the couple away. Owner Phyllis Young had argued she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) Young told the commission she is Catholic and believes that homosexuality is wrong, according to the appeals court ruling. The commission found the business illegally discriminated against the couple and issued Cervelli and Bufford "right to sue" notices. They filed their lawsuit in 2011. "The freedom of religion does not give businesses a right to violate nondiscrimination laws that protect all individuals from harm, whether on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation," Peter Renn, an attorney who represents the couple, said in a statement. Last year, the Hawaii Supreme Court rejected Young's appeal of a lower court ruling that ordered her to stop discriminating against same-sex couples. ___ Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. HAVANA (AP) - Cubans have had widespread access to social media for just a few months, and they embraced it on Monday to bombard U.S. diplomats in Havana with complaints about new visa restrictions. More than 400 Cubans sent comments to the Facebook page of The U.S. Embassy in Havana, largely to complain about the elimination of five-year tourist visas announced Friday. Cubans now will need a new visa for each trip. That's devastating for Cuba's private entrepreneurs, who often make trips to the U.S. for supplies, and for those trying to visit relatives in the U.S. Many also complained about delays in the family reunion program caused by a sharp reduction in consular personnel in Havana following a series of mysterious illnesses suffered by diplomats there. A Facebook user identified as Williams Hernandez pleaded: "Ease our hearts from this sadness we experience living far from our loved ones." Most visa requests are rejected, and Cubans must make a costly trip to a third country like Mexico or Panama even to apply. A man pushes a refrigerator on a dollie past the U.S. embassy, behind, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 18, 2019. The U.S. State Department said Friday, March, 15, 2019, that it is eliminating a coveted five-year tourist visa for Cubans, dealing a heavy blow to entrepreneurs and Cuban members of divided families, who used the visas to see relatives in the U.S. and buy precious supplies for their businesses on the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Cuba opened internet access to smartphones late last year and many Cubans have rapidly taken to social media. Cubans wait their turn to enter Panama's embassy to apply for travel visas to Panama, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 18, 2019. The U.S. State Department said Friday, March, 15, 2019, that it is eliminating a coveted five-year tourist visa for Cubans, dealing a heavy blow to entrepreneurs and Cuban members of divided families, who used the visas to see relatives in the U.S. and buy precious supplies for their businesses on the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) U.S. flag flies at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 18, 2019. The U.S. State Department said Friday, March, 15, 2019 that it is eliminating a coveted five-year tourist visa for Cubans, dealing a heavy blow to entrepreneurs and Cuban members of divided families, who used the visas to see relatives in the U.S. and buy precious supplies for their businesses on the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Tourists take a joy ride in a vintage convertible car as they pass the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 18, 2019. The U.S. State Department said Friday, March 15, 2019 that it is eliminating a coveted five-year tourist visa for Cubans, dealing a heavy blow to entrepreneurs and Cuban members of divided families, who used the visas to see relatives in the U.S. and buy precious supplies for their businesses on the island. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily on Monday: Worldpay Inc., up $9.83 to $108.51 The payments processor agreed to be acquired by Fidelity National Information Services for about $35 billion. Deutsche Bank AG, up 38 cents to $9.26 The giant German bank said it's in talks to merge with Commerzbank. Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc., up 75 cents to $12.37 Bloomberg News reported that the company was considering a deal with SM Energy. Synaptics Inc., down $9.77 to $33.46 The company announced late Friday that its CEO was leaving effective immediately. It also issued a weak forecast. MSG Networks Inc., up $1.40 to $23.40 The New York Post reported that media mogul John Malone is considering a bid for the company. Marriott International Inc., up $2.64 to $124.96 The company announced a major growth plan ahead of an investor day. Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc., down 35 cents to $9.82 The company reported revenue that missed analysts' forecasts and said its chief financial officer was leaving. Overstock.com Inc., down $1.16 to $19.28 The company announced a quarterly loss that was much wider than investors were expecting. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A June trial date is set for a South Dakota woman charged in the death of a newborn who was abandoned in a ditch in 1981. Theresa Rose Bentaas was arraigned on murder and manslaughter charges Monday. Bentaas is being held on a $250,000 bond, and has pleaded not guilty. The Argus Leader reports Bentaas spoke softly when she said she understood the charges against her. A trial date was set for June 10. Bentaas, now 57, was charged earlier in March. Police said they used DNA and genealogy sites to determine she was the mother of the infant, dubbed Baby Andrew. According to a court affidavit, Bentaas told authorities she gave birth alone in her apartment and drove the baby to a cornfield ditch. The baby died of exposure. This March 8, 2019 bilking photo released by Minnehaha County, South Dakota, Jail shows 57-year-old Theresa Rose Bentaas. The South Dakota woman has been charged in the death of a baby found in a ditch 38 years ago after police said they used DNA and genealogy sites to determine she was the mother. Police in Sioux Falls said Bentaas was arrested Friday, March 8 in the death of the child who'd been dubbed Baby Andrew. She is charged with murder and manslaughter. Police say the baby was alive when he was left in a cornfield ditch near Sioux Falls in 1981. The baby died of exposure. (Minnehaha County Jail via KELO via AP ___ Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Standing beside the family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by police a year ago Monday, the Rev. Al Sharpton called for California to make it easier to prosecute officers who kill civilians and to require that all cases go before a grand jury. "The legacy is we're going to pass legislation in Stephon's name, the legacy is that we won't stop fighting for justice in Stephon's name," Sharpton said, referring to Stephon Clark. "You might have killed him a year ago, but you can't kill a movement." Sharpton spoke on the steps of the Capitol alongside Clark's brother, mother and grandmother, as well family attorney Ben Crump, who is known for representing the families of young black men killed by police. Demonstrators chanted "Stephon Clark didn't have to die" as more than 200 people marched peacefully through Sacramento on Monday evening to mark the anniversary. Two Sacramento officers responding to calls of someone breaking car windows shot Clark a year ago in his grandparents' backyard. Local and state prosecutors announced earlier this month that they would not charge the officers because police thought Clark had a gun and feared for their lives. Clark was holding only a cellphone. His death prompted intense protests in the capital city last year, with marchers shutting down a highway ramp and blocking fans from entering the downtown arena where the Sacramento Kings play. It also drew the attention of Sharpton and Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin. Stevante Clark, center, the brother of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, raises his fist as The Rev. Al Sharpton calls for California to change how it responds to police killings of civilians during a news conference at the Capitol on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Monday marks a year since two Sacramento police officers killed Clark, 22, as they responded to vandalism reports. Looking on are Stephon Clark's mother, SeQuette Clark, right, and uncle Curtis Gordon, second from right. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Now Sharpton, Crump and the family are calling for sweeping changes to California laws dealing with police shootings. They're backing legislation by San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber that would change the standard for when police can use deadly force. The measure says police must have a "reasonable" need to open fire, instead of a "necessary" one. Weber proposed it last year after Clark's death, but the Democratic-led Senate blocked it from moving forward. Sharpton said such a change likely would have required the officers who shot Clark to show there was no other alternative than shooting him. He also called for lawmakers to require all police shooting investigations to be heard by a grand jury. A 2017 law requires that grand jury transcripts be made public in police shooting cases when the officers aren't indicted, but prosecutors can decide whether to press charges on their own. No such legislation has been introduced, but Sen. Steven Bradford said he's in "discussions" about it. Police unions do not support changing the use-of-force standards and are backing their own measure that would enhance officer training, with an emphasis on trying to calm suspects first. The California Police Chiefs Association did not comment on the grand jury idea. The Sacramento Police Department this month released transcripts of the interviews done with the officers in the hours after the shooting. Both described thinking Clark had a gun. Crump said Clark's death and the failure to charge the officers is an example of police discrimination against young black men. He noted white men have committed far worse crimes than vandalism, such as mass shootings, and come out alive. The announcements that they wouldn't be charged sparked new protests, including one in which police arrested 84 people in a wealthy Sacramento neighborhood. District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who declined to indict the officers, chose not to press charges against anyone arrested. Clark's family has called for peaceful demonstrations. "Let's march peacefully, because they want us to act ugly," said SeQuita Thompson, Clark's grandmother. "Let's stand tall and proud, for we will get justice one day for all our loved ones." Behind those who spoke Monday hung a white banner that said, "I am SAC," using Clark's initials as a play on the capital city's nickname. Sequitta Thompson, second from left, the grandmother of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, calls for justice for her grandson during a news conference at the Capitol on Monday, March 18, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Monday marks a year since two Sacramento police officers killed Clark, 22, in Thompson's backyard as they responded to vandalism reports. Thompson was joined by Clark's brother, Stevante, left, The Rev. Al Sharpton, third from left, and Clark's mother, SeQuette Clark, right, (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Trayvon Wiseman, center, a cousin of police shooting victim Stephon Clark, hugs Clark's mother, SeQuette Clark, left, and grandmother, Sequitta Thompson, right, during a news conference at the Capitol on vMonday, March 18, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Monday marks a year since two Sacramento police officers killed Clark, 22, in Thompson's backyard as they responded to vandalism reports. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's re-election campaign is urging supporters to contribute to a "Wall Defense Fund" as it seeks to cash in on opposition to the president's signature campaign promise. But there is no separate fund or account to advocate for wall construction. Instead, the money goes right into the campaign's general coffers. A look at what's afoot: WHAT'S THE PITCH? In recent fundraising texts and emails, the president's Republican campaign has said it is "launching" its "Official Wall Defense Fund to give us the resources we need to fight back against liberals who want to tear down our borders." "Stand with President Trump," read one appeal, "and let's FINISH THE WALL." FILE - In this March 2, 2019 file photo, a razor-wire-covered border wall separates Nogalas, Mexico, at left, and Nogales, Ariz. President Donald Trump's re-election campaign is urging supporters to contribute to a "Wall Defense Fund" as it seeks to cash in on opposition to the president's signature campaign promise. But there is no separate fund or account to advocate for wall construction. Instead, the money goes right into the campaign's general coffers. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) ___ WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? The campaign's chief operating officer, Michael Glassner, said the appeals are "a method of raising funds to support the re-election of President Trump. Supporters and donors know that completing the wall is a primary goal for the president, and that the only way to get it done is for him to be re-elected. Democrat candidates oppose the wall, and many even support tearing down existing portions." Trump last week issued the first veto of his presidency, rejecting an effort by Democrats and Republicans to stop him from using emergency powers to circumvent Congress for wall construction money. Trump and his aides believe his hard-line immigration stance was key to his 2016 victory and intend to continue hammering the issue during his re-election campaign. ___ IS THAT LEGAL? Experts said the plea was a common fundraising method. "Political committees have a lot of freedom to raise money how they want," said Erin Chlopak, director of campaign finance strategy at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center. "There's no honesty requirement, per se." Andrew Herman, an attorney at Miller & Chevalier who specializes in federal campaign and election law, said that "obviously" the emails' main appeals are "completely misleading," but that the campaign does make clear in fine print how the money will be spent using standard disclaimer language. But he said the pitch makes clear what message the campaign thinks will resonate with supporters. "It's not that we need your money for our re-election campaign. Clearly they think the wall is a lure for their donors," he said. The campaign did not provide numbers, but Glassner said the campaign has "been very successful because people know the wall is important to American public safety." ___ Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider Virginia's plea to reinstate the life-without-parole sentence of a man who as a teenager participated in sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002. The justices said they will take up the state's appeal in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad fatally shot 10 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. Malvo was sentenced to life-without-parole terms in Virginia and in Maryland. Muhammad, who was 41 at the time of the shootings, was sentenced to death and was executed in 2009. Malvo was sentenced to four life terms for crimes he committed in Virginia. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled last year that while Malvo's life-without-parole sentences were legal when they were imposed, Supreme Court decisions that followed altered sentencing requirements for juvenile offenders. The appeals court judges said a resentencing would determine whether Malvo qualifies as "one of the rare juvenile offenders" who can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because his "crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility." They said if his crimes instead "reflect the transient immaturity of youth," he is entitled to a sentence short of life without parole. The Supreme Court will review that decision. As is typical, the justices did not make any comment in agreeing to hear the case, which will be argued in the fall. Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, it is unlikely that Malvo would get out of prison anytime soon. He isn't currently getting a new sentencing hearing in Maryland, where he struck a plea deal and was sentenced to six life-without-parole prison terms for shootings that took place in that state. FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2003 file photo, Lee Boyd Malvo listens to court proceedings during the trial of fellow sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach, Va. The Supreme Court has agreed to consider Virginia's plea to reinstate the life without parole sentence of a man who participated in sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002. The justices said Monday they will take up the state's appeal in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo. Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad fatally shot 10 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. Malvo was sentenced to life-without-parole terms in both Virginia and in Maryland. (AP Photo/Martin Smith-Rodden, Pool, File) A judge previously ruled that Malvo would not get new sentencing hearings in Maryland. Malvo, who has been serving his sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Pound, Virginia, has appealed. For people in the Washington area, the shooting spree is remembered as particularly frightening because of the randomness of the attacks. Over three weeks, Muhammad and Malvo shot people as they went about everyday activities. An FBI analyst was killed as she stood in the parking lot of a Home Depot. A bus driver was fatally shot on his bus as he readied for his route. Two victims were fatally shot at gas stations. Many people were fearful every time they went outdoors. Among those injured was a teenager wounded after being shot outside his school. Schools canceled outdoor activities from recess to sporting events. Virginia's appeal was among four criminal cases the court added to its docket for the term that begins in October. In the others: -Kansas, backed by the Trump administration and 10 other states, wants to be able to prosecute immigrants for identity theft and other crimes when they use other people's Social Security numbers to work in the United States. Kansas' top court ruled that the state couldn't prosecute the immigrants because the case relied on information that is on a required federal work authorization form, the I-9 - information that immigration law says may only be used for enforcement of federal crimes. -The justices will decide whether convictions by non-unanimous juries in criminal cases violate the Constitution. Louisiana and Oregon are the only states that allow divided juries on some criminal charges, although Louisiana voters recently amended the state constitution to prohibit non-unanimous verdicts for crimes committed after Jan. 1. The court has held that the Sixth Amendment requires unanimous verdicts in federal criminal cases. But unlike with most rights guaranteed by the first 10 amendments, states have not been compelled to follow suit and require unanimous juries in all state cases. -A Kansas death row inmate is challenging whether states can eliminate the so-called insanity defense for criminal defendants without violating the Constitution. The inmate has been sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife, their two daughters and the wife's grandmother, but the jury was not allowed to consider evidence that he was criminally insane at the time of the killings. ___ Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed to this report. ___ Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) - The Latest on the public drunkenness arrest of Peru's former president (all times local): 2:20 p.m. Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo brushed off questions about his arrest on suspicion of public drunkenness during a radio interview. Toledo also declined to discuss his detention with Peru's RPP radio, saying "I'm not falling into that trap." San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade says Toledo was arrested at a San Francisco Bay Area restaurant Sunday and spent the night in jail before his release Monday morning. Toledo was Peru's president from 2001 to 2006 and has lived in California in recent years. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University in 2017. File - In this April 7, 2011, file photo, Presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo, of the political party Peru Possible, delivers a speech during a campaign rally in Lima, Peru. Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday, March 18, 2019, that Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File) He is wanted in his home country on accusations of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. He has denied wrongdoing. While he was president, Toledo's presidential aircraft became known as the "party plane" after a government official was caught on camera drunkenly singing a popular Spanish-language tune called "Pass me the Bottle" during a flight to Europe. ___ 12:15 p.m. Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday that Alejandro Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park. Toledo was released early Monday morning and the charge was dropped, as is routine for suspects arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness. Peruvian authorities have offered a $30,000 reward for Toledo's capture. Blankswade says Interpol officials told jailers they had no interest in immediately extraditing or holding Toledo. Prosecutors have accused Toledo of taking $20 million in bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. He has denied wrongdoing. In this photo released Monday, March 18, 2019, by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is Alejandro Toledo. Authorities say a former Peruvian president who is wanted in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication over the weekend and was briefly detained. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rosemerry Blankswade said Monday that Alejandro Toledo was arrested Sunday night near a restaurant near the San Francisco Bay city of Menlo Park. (San Mateo County Sheriff's Office via AP) MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Nicaragua's government and opposition accused each other of undermining the latest round of political dialogue Monday, after police arrested more than 100 at a weekend protest. The opposition Civic Alliance condemned the government's "violent repression" of Saturday's march, in which it said some 164 people were arrested. The group said in a statement that it was frustrated that the talks had not produced results, including the release of hundreds of people it considers political prisoners. The government complained that opposition representatives participating in the negotiations were part of the march, which it labeled a "provocation." Protests against President Daniel Ortega's government have been effectively banned since September. The government said opposition negotiators' participating in Saturday's protest was "inconceivable, contradictory and unbelievable." It said there were 107 arrests and the detainees were released hours later. The sides had met Friday, and before Saturday's protest were expected to resume talks Monday. Mario Arana, an economist participating in the dialogue as a representative of the private sector, said the talks were suspended for the time being. "The mediators have work to do," he said. Police detain protesters in Managua, Nicaragua, Saturday, March 16, 2019. Nicaragua's government banned opposition protests in September and police broke up Saturday's attempt at a demonstration to pressure the government to release hundreds of protesters held in custody since 2018. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga) The Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua, Waldemar Sommertag, who has mediated the talks, asked for patience Monday. Responding to criticism that he seemed to be siding with the government, Sommertag said he had no personal interest and was giving his all to brokering the talks. Luis Rosadilla, representative of the Organization of American States, called on those involved to build a good atmosphere for dialogue. "The government must show the political will to overcome the crisis," he said. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at least 325 people have died in protests or related violence since April 2018. Some 700 are believed to be in government custody. Also Monday, Robert Palladino, a U.S. State Department spokesman, condemned the repression of Saturday's march and the arrests. In a statement, he called for the government to immediately release those who were "arbitrarily" detained, guarantee freedom of expression and assembly, and commit to holding early elections. Demonstrators chant during a protest demanding the government release hundreds of protesters held in custody since 2018, in Managua, Nicaragua, Saturday, March 16, 2019. Nicaragua's government banned opposition protests in September and police broke up Saturday's attempt at a demonstration. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon sent a 20-page list of military construction projects to Congress on Monday that might be slashed to pay for President Donald Trump's wall along the Mexican border. Democrats expressed hope that by knowing which local projects could be targeted, lawmakers would be likelier to override Trump's veto of a measure aimed at preventing the cuts. "Now that members of Congress can see the potential impact this proposal could have on projects in their home states, I hope they will take that into consideration before the vote to override the President's veto," Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. With the House scheduled to vote Tuesday on overriding Trump's veto, the spokeswoman for the top GOP vote counter predicted the president will prevail anyway. "House Republicans have stood strongly with President Trump on securing our nation's border and overwhelmingly supported his emergency declaration by large margins when we voted on this weeks ago; this will not change," said Lauren Fine, spokeswoman for No. 2 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana. The Pentagon document listed hundreds of projects envisioned around the U.S. and world worth around $12.9 billion. Not all will be subject to cuts, the Defense Department wrote, making it difficult to determine exactly which would be vulnerable. The list included more than $100 million for water treatment plant improvements at Camp Lejeune and airfield security and other work at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina. That is the home state to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who initially said he opposed Trump's emergency but voted for it. Tillis, who could face a tough re-election fight next year, said the White House had shown a willingness to consider curbing presidential powers to declare future emergencies. FILE - In this March 11, 2019 photo, construction crews replace a section of the primary wall separating San Diego, above right, and Tijuana, Mexico, below left, seen from Tijuana, Mexico. The Pentagon has sent a 20-page list of military construction projects to lawmakers who want to know which might be cut to pay for President Donald Trump's wall along the border with Mexico. Democrats say the list shows that Trump is willing to cut needed defense spending and make the U.S. less secure, just to finance his wall. Trump has vetoed legislation aimed at blocking the cuts, and a veto override vote is set for next week. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Also listed were an air traffic control tower at Fort Benning, Georgia; a maintenance hangar at Travis Air Force Base in California; and a drone hangar at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. In their initial votes, the House and Senate both fell short of the two-thirds majorities that will be needed to override Trump's veto. That suggests the override effort will fail unless the political tide shifts. Trump declared a national emergency at the Mexican boundary last month after Congress limited him to just under $1.4 billion to build border barriers. He invoked a law that would let him siphon other budget funds - $3.6 billion from military construction - to build the structures and fulfill his prime 2016 campaign promise. The House voted to block his emergency by 245-182 in February. The Senate followed last week by 59-41, including a dozen GOP defections. Lawmakers expressed concerns that Trump was ignoring Congress' constitutional control over spending and worries about the cuts' impact back home. Trump vetoed the bill Friday. In a letter accompanying the list, Defense Department officials said they wouldn't touch items for which money would be awarded by the Sept. 30 end of this fiscal year or for projects like housing. They didn't specify which would be exempted. Even so, Democrats latched onto the potential cuts to drum up support for the veto override. "What President Trump is doing is a slap in the face to our military that makes our border and the country less secure," Reed said. Three top Democrats said in a statement that the projects were facing cuts "to placate the President." Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Hawaii's Brian Schatz said, "This madness will not stop until more of our Republican colleagues are willing to put the military ahead of party politics." A spokesperson for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Armed Services panel, said the document "is not a list of projects that will definitively be impacted." She said Inhofe will continue working with defense officials to find targets "without negatively affecting any military construction projects." Trump said throughout his campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall, which it has consistently refused to do. Democratic-aligned groups including state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against the emergency declaration, potentially blocking the money for months or more. ___ Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report. ___ Pentagon list: http://apne.ws/IwU9ohK DALLAS (AP) - A date has been set for the murder trial of a white former Dallas police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in his own apartment. Court records show that Amber Guyger is scheduled to begin a jury trial on Monday, Aug. 12, less than a year after she shot Botham Jean, whose apartment she says she mistook for her own. Guyger was arrested on a manslaughter charge three days after the Sept. 6 shooting of her neighbor, a 26-year-old native of the Caribbean island of St. Lucia who worked in Dallas for an accounting and consulting firm. The case drew national attention and the initial charge was criticized as being lenient. Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department later in September. A grand jury indicted her for murder in November. NEW YORK (AP) - In a story March 17 about the arrest of a man wanted in the 1999 shooting of a New York Police Department officer, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the officer had died, relying on information from the police department. A spokeswoman for the department now says Vincent Ling survived and has since retired. A corrected version of the story is below: Suspect in 1999 shooting of NYPD officer arrested in Florida The commissioner of the New York Police Department is thanking law enforcement in Florida after the arrest of a suspect in a 1999 shooting of an off-duty police officer NEW YORK (AP) - A man wanted in the 1999 shooting of an off-duty New York Police Department officer was arrested in Florida almost two decades after the incident, and the head of the NYPD on Sunday offered his thanks to fellow law enforcement for their perseverance. Local television stations in Jacksonville, Florida, reported Lester Pearson, 43, was taken into custody Friday morning in connection to the shooting of officer Vincent Ling. NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill tweeted his appreciation Sunday for Jacksonville police and U.S. marshals in the arrest. "Law enforcement professionals demonstrate time & again that we are patient & that our collaborative forces have a very long reach," he said. Ling, 27 years old at the time and an undercover officer, was shot in the chest and had a bullet between two vertebrae. Sgt. Jessica McRorie, a police spokeswoman, says that Officer Vincent Ling survived and has since retired, even though O'Neill had tweeted that Ling had been killed. It was not clear if Pearson had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Messages were sent to the Jacksonville prosecutors' office, and an email was also sent to the Bronx District Attorney's office. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it had no information Sunday on the arrest. The U.S. Marshals Service did not return calls seeking comment. The NYPD did not describe the circumstances of the shooting but, according to a New York Post account at the time, the December 1999 conflict in the Bronx started when the two men ran into each other on the street and an argument ensued. They were connected through the officer's sister. Pearson at that time had an extensive arrest record and one conviction. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Meghan McCain says President Donald Trump's life is "pathetic" after his weekend Twitter attack against her father, the late Sen. John McCain. She fired back at Trump on ABC's "The View" Monday after the president tweeted comments criticizing her father, who died last year after battling brain cancer. McCain says Trump "will never be a great man," and is urging Trump to focus on his family instead of hers. Trump attacked John McCain for his role in the Russia investigation. The president also tweeted that the 2008 Republican presidential candidate was "last in his class" at the U.S. Naval Academy. Meghan McCain initially responded Sunday to Trump's remarks on Twitter, then expounded on her words Monday on the talk show she co-hosts. FILE - In this May 3, 2014 file photo, Meghan McCain, and Sen. John McCain attend the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington. Meghan McCain says President Donald Trump's life is "pathetic" after his Twitter attack against her father, the late Sen. McCain. She fired back Monday, March 18, 2019, at Trump on "The View" after the president tweeted comments over the weekend criticizing her father, who died last year after battling brain cancer. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota House voted Monday night to hold drug manufacturers responsible for the state's growing costs for dealing with the opioid crisis. The bill passed 94-34 after around four hours of debate that split mostly along party lines. It would support a wide range of prevention, education, intervention, treatment and recovery strategies. The state would pay for them by sharply raising its currently low annual registration fees for pharmaceutical manufacturers and drug wholesalers that sell or distribute opioids in Minnesota. The fees would bring in $20 million a year that would go into a new "Opioid Stewardship Fund." A new advisory council would then make recommendations to state officials on how to spend it. Any settlements that the state reaches from opioid lawsuits against drug companies would also be deposited into the fund. An opioid bill with some differences is working its way through the GOP-controlled Senate and has another hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The two versions are expected to go to a conference committee for resolution. According to the sponsors, opioid-involved overdoses led to more than 2,000 visits to Minnesota emergency rooms in 2017, while opioid-related overdose deaths in Minnesota have increased steadily since 2010, to 395 in 2016. The lead author, Rep. Liz Olson, told her colleagues that taxpayers have been among the hardest hit by the opioid crisis. "This cost of responding to this crisis is huge, and it's hard to even calculate," the Duluth Democrat said. As just one example, she said, county social service agencies are "drowning" in costs for placing children from affected families into other homes. But Olson said one sector has benefited from opioids while failing to step forward to combat the epidemic - the pharmaceutical industry. "With profits in the hundreds of millions, these groups have still not come to the table," she said. Rep. Dave Baker, of Willmar, whose son, Dan Baker, became addicted to opioid painkillers and died of a heroin overdose in 2011, was among the Republicans supporting the bill. He said it would put Minnesota on the "cutting edge" of fighting the opioid crisis. Baker was a chief author of a bill with a different funding mechanism, dubbed "penny a pill," which passed the Senate last year but failed to get a House floor vote amid industry opposition. Since then, Democrats have taken control of the House. Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, who was speaker last session, led the opposition, saying imposing higher costs on the industry runs counter to the goal of reducing health care costs for consumers. "This will literally increase the cost of health care for every Minnesotan," he said. PHIMAI, Thailand (AP) - It's election season in Thailand and a campaign truck is rolling at the crack of dawn through the streets of the northeastern town of Phimai, blaring the slogan "Vote Thaksin, Get Thaksin." It's a bit disconcerting, since the Thaksin everyone in Thailand knows is former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted by a 2006 military coup and living in self-imposed exile since 2008 to avoid serving a prison term for a conviction on a conflict of interest charge. This small-town Thaksin, distributing campaign handbills as he walks ahead of the truck, is a 46-year-old schoolteacher. He happily explains that sharing his name with the 69-year-old former prime minister is no coincidence, and that he changed his former name - Veerawit Chuajunud - to Thaksin Chuajunud as a vote-getting tactic. Phimai, in Nakhon Ratchasima province, is in Thailand's poor rural region known as Isan, the heartland of the neglected farmers and villagers who represent the original and still largely loyal base of the former prime minister, a billionaire now living in Dubai. "I want to grab the attention of the people, making sure that my name is easy to remember. I only have one to two months to campaign, so I decided to change my name to be symbolic," said the candidate in Sunday's general election. In this March 14, 2019, photo, Veerawit Chuajunud, center, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud for Pheu Chart party, makes his election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) The name-changing tactic may be tricky, but it's not insincere. Phimai's Thaksin is running as a candidate for Pheu Chart, one of several small parties established by allies and supporters of the former prime minister. There is an established flagship pro-Thaksin party, Pheu Thai, but election laws established by the anti-Thaksin military government targeting the former leader's political machine are aimed at keeping any large party from obtaining a legislative majority. So the pro-Thaksin strategy is to splinter the machine into separate parties that could unite forces after the election. Name-changing is a tactic to help overcome confusion over political brands, especially for the new, lesser-known satellite parties. It also helps to stand out in a large field of candidates. More than 11,000 are registered for Sunday's vote, compared to just over 2,800 in the last election. Thaksin Chuajunud is one of 15 candidates from his party who made opportunistic name changes. Most took on the name "Thaksin," but four adopted the name of Thaksin's sister, Yingluck, who became prime minister in 2011 and was forced from office by a controversial court decision just before the military ousted her government in another coup. She also has faced court cases that supporters charge amount to political persecution, and likewise fled into exile. Phimai's Thaksin is on fairly friendly ground as he introduces himself at a local market. It's been more than a decade since Isan's political hero, the former prime minister, even set foot on Thai soil, but he is not forgotten. "I wish he would come back. I wish that every day and every minute. I don't know how and I have never really said this. I do miss him. I am concerned about him, and I quietly give him my support," says farmer Pajaree Changkodpanao, wiping away tears. Pro-Thaksin parties, despite serious obstacles put in their way by Thailand's traditional conservative political establishment, have won every national election since 2001. Thaksin, who made his fortune in telecommunications, used his money to subsume rural and regional political power brokers into his own party, then once in power implemented generous and generally unprecedented social programs benefiting the rural poor and urban working class, cementing his relationship with a majority of the country's voters. "No matter what anyone said about him, I always loved him since many years ago," says 59-year-old Nuwate Jiamwong from Nonrung village, another farmer. "It's fixed in my mind." Thaksin's populist policies, such as universal health care and generous farming subsidies, account for a good deal of his popularity in poor rural areas. They also show the people in those areas the gains the political process could bring them aside from the cash handouts they traditionally receive from vote-buyers on election eve. Virot Ali, a political science lecturer at Bangkok's Thammasat University, says he believes people in the countryside still think of Thaksin as the main person who guided the economy in the interests of the rural sector, as well as gave them confidence that democracy could work to their benefit. Thaksin's populist policies assured him large electoral majorities, but also alienated the country's traditional power-holders - royalists, the military and their Bangkok middle-class supporters. The 2006 coup that ousted him, after accusations of abuse of power and disrespect toward the monarchy, set off a battle for power between his supporters and opponents that sparked sporadic mass street violence and triggered the army's second coup in 2014. The anti-democratic measures still being taken by Thaksin's opponents to thwart his political comeback - changes to the constitution that offset the direct election of legislators and limit the power of elected lawmakers - are a measure of what Thaksin's supporters are up against. Phimai candidate Thaksin says he's up for the challenge. "I know that changing my name does not mean that I will automatically win," he says. "I still have to work hard, visiting and working continuously for the community." In this March 14, 2019, photo, Thai women listen as Veerawit Chuajunud, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud of Pheu Chart party, introduces himself during an election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, Veerawit Chuajunud, center left, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud of Pheu Chart party, speaks during an election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, a Thai worker arranges sugar cane on truck in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's populist policies, such as a universal health care scheme and generous farming subsidies, account for a good deal of his popularity in poor rural areas. They also show the people in those areas the gains the political process could bring them aside from the cash handouts they traditionally receive from vote-buyers on election eve. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, a man walks behind cows in the field in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's populist policies, such as a universal health care scheme and generous farming subsidies, account for a good deal of his popularity in poor rural areas. They also show the people in those areas the gains the political process could bring them aside from the cash handouts they traditionally receive from vote-buyers on election eve. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, Veerawit Chuajunud, center, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud of Pheu Chart party, makes his election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, Veerawit Chuajunud, right, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud of Pheu Chart party, makes his election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, a Thai woman on a bicycle moves past the posters of Pheu Chart party's Veerawit Chuajunud, left, who changed his name to Thaksin Chuajunud, and Pracha Pracharat Party's candidate and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, left on right poster, during an election campaign in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, Nuwate Jiamwong, 59-year-old farmer, points at an image of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on a calendar in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. "No matter what anyone said about him, I always loved him since many years ago," says the farmer. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) In this March 14, 2019, photo, Nuwate Jiamwong, 59-year-old farmer, talks to The Associated Press during an interview as the farmer holds a calendar with a picture of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on it, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in exile and banned from interfering in the country's politics. But his name is a powerful political attraction and in tribute, and to win votes, some candidates in general election on Sunday, March 24, 2019 have changed their names to Thaksin so supporters of the former leader can register their loyalty at the ballot box. "No matter what anyone said about him, I always loved him since many years ago," says the farmer. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Monday embraced a congressional proposal to study a framework for reparations to African-Americans hurt by the legacy of slavery as the best way to begin a "national, full-blown conversation" on the issue. Warren first voiced support for reparations last month, becoming one of three 2020 Democratic candidates to do so. But her comments about a study on reparations, made during a CNN town hall broadcast from Mississippi, mark a keener focus from the Massachusetts senator on her preferred route to tackle the thorny question of how best to deal with systemic racial inequality. The Democratic field's ongoing debate over reparations comes as African-American voters are poised to exert significant influence over the selection of the party's nominee to take on President Donald Trump. Warren offered in-depth answers to several other questions that touched on issues important to African-American communities, winning cheers for a call for Mississippi to replace its state flag - the only one in the nation that depicts a Confederate image. Warren, 69, has made racial justice a centerpiece of her case for the Democratic nomination, even as she doubles down on her long-running emphasis on economic inequity. Warren also came out in favor of eliminating of the electoral college, the most pointed instance of her opposition to the polarizing mechanism the nation uses to elect its presidents. She has been critical of the electoral college in the past, saying last year that Trump's 2016 victory - despite Democrat Hillary Clinton's winning 3 million more total votes - is "not exactly the sign of a healthy democracy." But Warren's comments on Monday were her most straightforward endorsement of an end to the electoral college system. From left, Greenville, Miss. Mayor Errick Simmons, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mable Starks, former CEO Mississippi Action for Community Education, tour Central Avenue from Poplar Street in Greenville, Miss., Monday March 18, 2019. The group discussed dilapidated and affordable housing in the rural communities. (Bill Johnson/The Democrat-Times via AP) "I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote," Warren said. She also faced a tough question about her past claims to Native American identity, a political liability for her presidential run as she attempts to move past a DNA analysis she released last year that showed "significant evidence" of a distant tribal ancestor. Warren told the audience that, growing up in Oklahoma, "I learned about my family from my family," adding, "That's just kind of who I am, and I do the best I can with it." She added that, based on her experiences traveling to nearly a dozen states so far in her campaign, Americans are more inclined to ask her about issues that affect their everyday lives. UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The head of the U.N. agency that helps 5.3 million Palestinian refugees on Monday urged donors who filled a $446 million hole in its budget last year after the Trump administration drastically cut the U.S. contribution to be equally generous this year. "Last year we had an extraordinary crisis and an out of the ordinary response," Pierre Krahenbuhl said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Our humble request to all the donors is: Please keep your funding levels at the same level as 2018." He said he has been thanking donors for their "exceptional" contributions that enabled the U.N. Relief and Works Agency to fund its entire 2018 budget of $1.2 billion. Krahenbuhl said the agency, known as UNRWA, also adopted a $1.2 billion budget for 2019, and this year it is getting nothing from the United States. Last year, the Trump administration gave $60 million, a dramatic reduction from the $360 million it provided in 2017, when the United States was the agency's largest donor. U.S. President Donald Trump said in January 2018 that the Palestinians must return to peace talks to receive U.S. aid money - a comment that raised alarm from leaders of 21 international humanitarian groups, who protested that the administration's link between aid and political objectives was "dangerous." Krahenbuhl said the campaign that UNRWA launched immediately after the U.S. slashed its contribution succeeded as a result of "very important donations," starting with the European Union, which became the agency's biggest donor. He said 40 countries and institutions increased funding to UNRWA, including Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, Canada and Australia. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait each gave $50 million, he said. "Countries that supported us last year I would say were extremely proud to contribute to the solution," Krahenbuhl said. Last year, he said, the number of multi-year funding agreements with donors rose to 19. So UNRWA right now is in "a somewhat better position" than it was last year, with a shortfall of just over $200 million, Krahenbuhl said. So far this year, the agency has received $245 million and is expecting $100 million more, he said, which means it should be financially OK until about May. "But from then on we'll start to ... reach some crisis points," Krahenbuhl said. He said UNRWA is thinking about holding some events in the next two or three months "to collectively mobilize the donor community." In June, he said, there will be a pledging conference at which the U.N. and donors will take stock of the agency's financial situation. Krahenbuhl said he is committed to making up for the $60 million that UNRWA is losing from the United States this year through internal cost saving measures to reduce the agency's expenditures. "That's going to hurt, but that's where we feel our financial responsibility, so that we preserve the trust that was generated by the level of donors," he said, noting that UNRWA last year saved $92 million. Krahenbuhl said donors recognize the agency does important work. He pointed to the 280,000 boys and girls in UNRWA schools in Gaza and the food assistance the agency provides to 1 million people there every three months. "That's half of Gaza's population," he said. The UNRWA chief also said that continuing the agency's services to Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and elsewhere in the Mideast "is in everybody's interest" and important for stability in the region. "If you take Gaza right now ... it's continuously at the razor's edge," Krahenbuhl said, stressing that any shift in humanitarian assistance or conditions that people live in "can trigger the need for justification, or the excuse ... to go back to war." Noting his own experience in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, Krahenbuhl said, "this is absolutely devastating and needs to be avoided." WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the Ethiopian Airlines crash (all times local): 9:30 p.m. Boeing's CEO says the aircraft manufacturer is taking actions to ensure the safety of its 737 Max jets in the wake of two crashes that killed 346 people. In an open letter addressed to airlines, passengers and the aviation community, Dennis Muilenburg says Boeing will soon release a software update and offer related pilot training for the 737 Max to "address concerns" that arose in the aftermath of October's Lion Air flight that plunged into the Java Sea, killing 189. The planes' new flight-control software is suspected of playing a role in the crashes. Muilenburg says Boeing representatives are supporting the investigation into the cause of last week's crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 that killed 157. The United States and many other countries have grounded the Max 8s and larger Max 9s as Boeing faces the challenge of proving the jets are safe to fly amid suspicions that faulty sensors and software contributed to the two crashes in less than five months. FILE- In this March 14, 2019, file photo a worker walks next to a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane parked at Boeing Field in Seattle. U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) ___ 3:15 p.m. U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. The Justice Department probe will examine the way Boeing was regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is not public. A federal grand jury in Washington sent a subpoena to someone involved in the plane's development seeking emails, messages and other communications, the person told The Associated Press. JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Latest on Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (all times local): 9:05 p.m. Elizabeth Warren supports the elimination of the electoral college, the most pointed instance of the Democratic presidential candidate opposing the polarizing mechanism the nation uses to elect its presidents. Warren has been critical of the electoral college before. The Massachusetts senator said last year that President Donald Trump's 2016 victory, despite Democrat Hillary Clinton winning 3 million more votes than him, is "not exactly the sign of a healthy democracy." But Warren's comments Monday during a Mississippi town hall broadcast on CNN represent her most straightforward endorsement of an end to the electoral college system. Warren says, "I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote." From left, Greenville, Miss. Mayor Errick Simmons, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mable Starks, former CEO Mississippi Action for Community Education, tour Central Avenue from Poplar Street in Greenville, Miss., Monday March 18, 2019. The group discussed dilapidated and affordable housing in the rural communities. (Bill Johnson/The Democrat-Times via AP) ___ 8:55 p.m. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren supports a new flag for Mississippi, which is the only state to have Confederate imagery on it. Warren made the comment Monday at a CNN town hall broadcast from Jackson, the state's capital, in the middle of a three-day swing through the South. The Mississippi state flag's use of a Confederate battle emblem was legally challenged in 2017, but the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The Massachusetts senator gave a succinct answer to the appreciative crowd in Mississippi when asked about the state flag: "Yes," Warren said, the state should choose a new one. ___ 8:35 p.m. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is embracing a congressional proposal to study a framework for reparations to African-Americans hurt by the legacy of slavery as the best way to begin a "national, full-blown conversation" on the issue. Warren first voiced support for reparations last month, becoming one of three 2020 Democratic candidates to do so. But her comments about a study on reparations, made Monday night during a CNN town hall broadcast from Mississippi, mark a keener focus from the Massachusetts senator on her preferred route to tackle the thorny question of how best to deal with systemic racial inequality. The Democratic field's ongoing debate over reparations comes as African-American voters are poised to exert significant influence over the selection of the party's nominee to take on President Donald Trump. WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (NOO'-nehs) of California is suing Twitter and several of its users for more than $250 million, accusing them of defamation and negligence. The defendants include two anonymous parody accounts, "Devin Nunes' Mom" and "Devin Nunes' Cow." The suit filed in Virginia accuses Twitter of "knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory." Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act provides internet services with immunity from liability for material posted by their users. Nunes' suit also accuses Twitter of censoring "viewpoints with which it disagrees" and "shadow-banning conservatives." Shadow banning allows users to post freely - but no one else sees their messages. Twitter has denied doing it, although some political conservatives -including President Donald Trump - remain unconvinced. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on river dangers in California (all times local): 8:30 p.m. Authorities say search teams have found the body of a man who fell into a rain-swollen river in Northern California over the weekend. The Placer County Sheriff's Office says 23-year-old Andy Odon Ortega Fonseca was found dead Monday in the American River northeast of Sacramento. Investigators believe he was taking photographs along the bank when he slipped and fell Sunday evening. To the south, crews are searching for a 5-year-old girl who slipped into the Stanislaus River on Sunday afternoon at Knights Ferry in the Sierra Nevada foothills. In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities, fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department said the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. The department said several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department said in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) Authorities are warning of dangers resulting from California's exceptionally wet winter. ___ 9:45 a.m. Authorities have rescued two people from a fast-flowing wash in Los Angeles and are searching a river in the Sierra Nevada foothills for a little girl swept away during the weekend, spotlighting the dangers of California's very wet winter. The Los Angeles Fire Department says a man and woman were pulled from Pacoima Wash around 12:30 a.m. Monday after being swept miles downstream at 20 mph. The department says the man was able to call 911 from the water, and rescuers lowered a firefighter in a harness to pluck them from the stream. In the Sierra foothills, the search goes on for a 5-year-old girl who slipped into the Stanislaus River on Sunday afternoon at Knights Ferry. Relatives and bystanders tried to reach the girl but she was swept away. In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department says the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. It says several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department says in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) In this Sunday, March 17, 2019 photo provided by the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Authorities fire and rescue personnel search for a 5-year-old girl who was swept away by a swollen river in Central California. The Stanislaus Sheriff's Department said the girl slipped off rocks and fell into the Stanislaus River Sunday afternoon. The department said several relatives and bystanders tried to rescue her but couldn't reach her. The department said in a statement crews on boat and a helicopter searched until darkness Sunday but called off their search because of the river's dangerous conditions. (Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District via AP) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Jorge Altieri runs his hands over old blood stains on a helmet that saved his life in 1982 when Argentina and Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands. Looking at the treasured object is still a novelty: The helmet was recently returned to Altieri decades after he lost it on the battlefield where he was almost killed by shrapnel. "I have it next to me now and I use it like a teddy bear," Altieri said. "I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories." Argentina lost the war for the South Atlantic archipelago after its troops embarked on an ill-fated invasion nearly 37 years ago, an international humiliation that claimed the lives of 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers. Argentina still claims the islands, which it calls the Malvinas. Britain says the Falklands are a self-governing entity under its protection. After decades of tense relations, though, both countries have experienced a thaw, including a deal that allowed a multinational team of experts to exhume and identify the remains of dozens of Argentine soldiers. Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait with the blood-stained helmet that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The helmet was recently returned to Altieri decades after he lost it on the battlefield where he was almost killed by shrapnel. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Today, veterans and relatives of those who died also say the recovery of objects taken as war trophies has helped heal their scars. "I can't stop looking at it, thinking of what it did to stop the bomb shrapnel blowing my head off," Altieri said about his helmet, although he still lost an eye and part of his brain in a blast during battle for Mount Longdon on June 12, 1982, two days before fighting stopped. In a parallel tale of reconciliation, Argentine veteran Diego Carlos Arreseigor announced March 7 that he is planning to return the blood-stained helmet of fallen British soldier Alexander Shaw, who was killed at Mount Longdon at age 25. The helmet is expected to be delivered to Shaw's sister, Susan, in April or May. "Susan touched me with her spirituality. She was 15 when her brother left for the war," Arreseigor told The Associated Press. Arreseigor said he had picked up the helmet in a pile of discarded equipment and hid it from a British soldier by keeping it under his jacket. "I kept it these 37 years, always considering it a trophy of war, a sort of consolation for the loss and the pain of so many fallen friends," he said. Some years ago he became curious about who had worn it and noticed it had a last name written on one of its interior belts. Arreseigor eventually found out Shaw's identity and learned he had been a victim of Argentine artillery. "The story moved me. Knowing that he died just hours before the cease-fire. ... it's sad like all war stories," he said. "I just turned 60 and I demand our sovereignty over Las Malvinas, but I also pay homage to all of those who died - Argentine and British - because I think that's the way to rebuild." For Altieri, having his helmet has helped him find similar closure. After the war's cease-fire, Altieri's helmet was taken to London by a British paratrooper who had pulled it from a heap of military equipment. After the man passed away, it was kept by his family until it was put up for auction four years ago. At the time, Altieri offered about $520 (400 pounds), but a British man who collects war objects paid twice that amount and Altieri failed to persuade him to sell it. "He'd say: 'Even if the queen comes asking for it, I won't give it away,'" Altieri recalled. Some days ago, however, the helmet briefly went up for auction again on eBay for about $13,000 (10,500 pounds). When it was taken off the site, Altieri feared he had lost it for good until he heard the news: An anonymous Argentine entrepreneur had bought it for Altieri. "All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," Altieri said. He now hopes to display it at home before donating it to a Falklands war museum. "I want people to see it and see what happened to us there." ___ Associated Press journalists Paul Byrne and Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait with the blood-stained helmet, recently returned to him, that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. "I have it next to me now and I use it like a teddy bear," Altieri said. "I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories." (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait with the blood-stained helmet, recently returned to him, that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. For Altieri, having his helmet has helped him find similar closure. "All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," he said. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri poses for a portrait outside the Malvinas War Museum, where a map of the islands is colored in the colors of Argentina's national flag, in Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Altieri lost an eye in a blast during the June 12, 1982 battle for Mount Longdon. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Diego Carlos Arreseigor poses with a British soldier's helmet that he found on the battlefield in 1982 at the monument that honors Argentine soldiers killed during the Falklands war in Buenos Aires, Argentina Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Arreseigor is planning to return the blood-stained helmet of fallen British soldier Alexander Shaw, who was killed in the battle of Mount Longdon at the age of 25, to Shaw's sister in April or May. (Diego Carlos Arreseigor via AP) This 1982 photo courtesy of Diego Carlos Arreseigor shows him, standing center, with his battalion during the Falklands War where Argentina and Britain battled over the archipelago which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. Arreseigor found and kept the helmet of British soldier Alexander Shaw as a trophy of war. Thirty-seven years later, in 2019, he was able to contact the soldier's sister in order to arrange its return this year. "The story moved me. Knowing that he died just hours before the cease fire ... it's sad like all war stories," he said. (Diego Carlos Arreseigor via AP) BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai construction tycoon was convicted Tuesday on charges related to a high-profile poaching case last year but was found not guilty of possessing the carcass of an endangered black panther seen in photos that had sparked a public outcry. The Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court sentenced Premchai Karnasuta, the president of Italian-Thai Development PLC, to 16 months in prison for possessing the carcass of a protected Kalij pheasant, possessing firearms in public areas, and supporting others to hunt in a protected wildlife sanctuary. Premchai was arrested last February after park rangers found that he and three of his company's employees had set up camp at the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, where they were found with guns and the carcasses of a panther and other animals. Only the three other men were found guilty of possessing the panther carcass. Only one defendant was found guilty of hunting in the wildlife sanctuary, and he and Premchai were fined a 2 million baht ($63,132) fine. Premchai's case had been met with public skepticism that justice will be done in a country that has seen the rich and privileged prevail in high-profile cases. Wildlife activists concerned about the case have worn masks of the slain big cat as a symbol of protest on several occasions and graffiti artists had sprayed Bangkok's walls with paintings of the black cat while environmentalists had pledged to keep up pressure. Premchai was released on bail for a bond of 400,000 baht ($12,635) shortly after Tuesday's ruling while he appeals the case. The court also granted bail for two other defendants because they were not deemed flight risks. Thai billionaire construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta leaves The Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court in Kanchanaburi, Thailand Tuesday, March 19, 2019. The court sentenced Premchai to 16 months in prison Tuesday for possessing the carcass of an endangered Kajij pheasant and possessing firearms in public areas. (AP Photo) Before Thailand's general election is held this coming Sunday, some political parties have even used images of the black panther in their campaigning to vow for an improved justice system. TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan and the U.S. will hold talks later this year as part of upgraded efforts to counter Beijing's growing pressure on the island for political unification. The talks planned for September in Taipei will include a senior official from Washington, de facto U.S. ambassador to Taipei William Brent Christensen said Tuesday. Christensen didn't say whether the consultations are meant to provoke China or push it to make changes. The U.S. has formal diplomatic relations with China but maintains strong ties with Taiwan though the American Institute in Taiwan, its de facto embassy in Taipei, which has recently undergone a major upgrade in facilities. "We believe it's possible to have a good relationship with Taiwan and a good relationship with China at the same time," Christensen said at a news conference. "Things we do with Taiwan should not be regarded as things that we are doing because we are seeking to provoke China or vice versa." President Donald Trump has elevated 40 years of informal ties with Taiwan through more open contacts and planned arms deals. Meanwhile, China and the U.S. are enmeshed in a dispute over trade, copyrights and tariffs, raising economic and political frictions to their highest level in a decade. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the "Indo-Pacific Democratic Governance Consultations" - as the dialogue is termed - would allow the two sides to "grow closer and more direct in their cooperation ... to protect regional freedom and legal order." Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left, and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Brent Christensen shakes hands during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Taiwan and the U.S. will hold talks later this year as part of efforts to counter growing pressure from Beijing to force the island into political unification with mainland China. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai) Taiwan has been democratically ruled for about 30 years. It allows freedom of expression and religion in contrast to China's tight restrictions under authoritarian Communist Party rule, and remains a close U.S. ally in the Asia-Pacific region. While China insists that Taiwan is its territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary, more than 70 percent of Taiwanese oppose China's goal of unification, the government's Mainland Affairs Council spokesman said in January. Many fear Beijing would eliminate Taiwan's democratic institutions. While there was no immediate word from Beijing, China will "most definitely" protest the consultations, said Shane Lee, a political scientist at Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. China has used military flybys, aircraft carrier movements and diplomatic pressure as warnings to Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen took office there in 2016. Tsai's party embraces greater Taiwanese independence from China, resulting in a strong backlash from China. Beijing has cut all formal ties with Tsai's government, blockaded the island's participation in international forums and persuaded five countries to cut diplomatic ties with it. Washington switched its official recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979. But Taiwan still counts the United States as its staunchest informal ally, particularly as a source of advanced weapons systems. Last year Trump signed a bill encouraging more high-level exchanges between the two governments, inflaming China. In another sign of stronger U.S.-Taiwan ties, Tsai is expected to stop over in U.S. territory once or twice during a trip starting Thursday to visit diplomatic allies in the South Pacific. China has protested to the United States against her previous stopovers. ___ Associated Press video journalist Johnson Lai contributed to this report. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, left, and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Brent Christensen attend a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Taiwan and the U.S. will hold talks later this year as part of efforts to counter growing pressure from Beijing to force the island into political unification with mainland China. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai) American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Brent Christensen speaks during a press conference with Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, in Taipei, Taiwan Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Taiwan and the U.S. will hold talks later this year as part of efforts to counter growing pressure from Beijing to force the island into political unification with mainland China. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai) Strong winds have battered Ireland as Storm Gareth arrived. A yellow weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for Northern Ireland until midday on Wednesday, with gusts of between 70mph and 80mph expected. In the Irish Republic, Met Eireann has issued a Status Orange wind warning for the western counties of Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo until 9am. Gusts reached up to 80mph at Malin Head in Co Donegal. P&O Ferries cancelled two sailings from Liverpool and Dublin on Tuesday night due to weather conditions. We're sorry to say that due to adverse weather forecasted later today the following sailings from #POLiverpool & #PODublin have been cancelled: 21:00 & 21:30 P&O Ferries Updates (@POferriesupdate) March 12, 2019 While in Belfast Harbour, the planned departure of the cruise ship Astoria was delayed due to conditions. A law must be introduced to clamp down on unqualified people calling themselves electricians, according to an MSP. Tory Jamie Halcro Johnston described the lack of regulation in the profession as an anomaly and has urged the Scottish Government to take action to ensure the title of electrician is protected in law. Over 100 professions are currently protected in law, including registered gas engineers, but not electricians. Mr Halcro Johnston said that he will introduce a members bill to the Scottish Parliament aiming to address the issue. In a debate on the subject in October, MSPs from across the parties at Holyrood gave their support for providing protection of title. Mr Halcro Johnston said: For too long, the Scottish Government has dithered around the regulation of electricians. MSPs have backed proposals to provide protection of the title (Joe Giddens/PA) It has been discussed and discussed again, without any real commitments ever seeing the light of day. When I speak to people about this campaign, the first reaction is usually surprise that anyone can call themselves an electrician without any qualification. When so many other trades and professions are regulated, it seems the position of electricians is more of an anomaly than anything else. Most people dont consult electricians on a regular basis and arent always confident about the qualifications of people they employ. This should provide some additional protection to consumers. Electrical safety is vitally important. Every year, there are fatalities caused by electric shocks and fires caused by electrical malfunctions. It is important that people carrying out electrical work are qualified and able to do so. I was pleased to get so much support from across the political parties when this was debated back in October and I would hope that support would carry across to introducing a Bill on the subject. Skills Minister Jamie Hepburn said: The serious concerns raised about electricians are being considered fully and we are committed to continuing to work in partnership with all stakeholders. During a debate in Parliament in October last year, I offered to meet with any MSPs to discuss these issues further. Whilst others have made contact, Mr Halcro Johnston has not taken up this offer. Following calls for further regulation, we formed the Electricians Working Group to bring the industry together and attempt to build consensus for a way forward. An independent analysis of research, leading to a risk assessment and business case on the way forward, is due to be presented to the Scottish Government later in March. Poorer families, severely disabled people and female lone parents are among those in Scotland whose household income is taking the biggest hit from tax and spending plans, new research indicates. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) examined the impact of combined changes to tax, social security and local authority services between 2010 and 2022. Families with at least one disabled adult and one disabled child are predicted to be hardest hit, standing to lose 5,000 a year on average equivalent to a tenth of their income. Taking the changes into account, the EHRC report estimates household income in Scotland will fall by 8.5% for Scotlands poorest families, 8% for larger families and 7.8% for female lone parent households. Household income for black families is predicted to drop by 6.5%, while severely disabled people face a 5% cut and younger people a 4% reduction. The report estimates an increase in child poverty across Scotland by 2021-22, with 80,000 more children in poverty than in 2010 an 8% rise. Marginalised Scots are most affected by tax and spending changes, new research suggests (Jane Barlow/PA) The forecast impact of changes to tax, welfare and local authority services is uneven across race and gender with white households predicted to lose 550 on average between 2012 2022, while black households lose more 2,900 and Asian households lose an average of 1,200. Women are estimated to lose an average 250 a year, compared to 40 for men. For women in the 35-44 age group this rises to a loss of more than 1,200 compared with less than 350 for men. Overall, total household income in England is projected to fall by 1,450 between 2011 and 2022, compared to 200 in Scotland and 470 in Wales, with decisions by the Scottish Government mitigating the impact of some UK Government cuts. The report makes a series of recommendations including calling on the UK Government to consider mitigating some cuts to reduce the disproportionate impact on some groups. Further recommendations are for the Scottish Government to continue its mitigation policies and for both governments to ensure future spending plans are accompanied by equality impact assessments. EHRC Scotland head John Wilkes said: The findings show just how stark and how unequal the combined impact of the recession, austerity and public spending cuts have been. Using this new approach to assess the combined impact of tax and spend policy reveals that it is the most marginalised who have suffered the most. We already know that ethnic minorities, disabled people, and lone parents are much more likely to live in poverty than other Scots, and face far higher than average unemployment. What this research clearly shows is that we can and must consider the different impacts on different groups before we make major policy changes. Otherwise we risk increasing the inequalities in our society. Positive policies in Scotland such as mitigating effects of some social security changes has saved many from even greater income losses. Scottish Labour MSP Elaine Smith said the report should be a stark warning to the Scottish and UK governments on the impact of austerity. She added: A single child living in poverty should be a source of shame for our governments the forecast that there will be a further 80,000 by 2021 is simply sickening. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said the UK Government welfare cuts are expected to lead to a 3.7 billion reduction in social security spending in Scotland in 2020/21. She said: We are committed to ensuring that, despite the UK Governments welfare cuts, Scottish Government spending choices and services continue to protect the rights and incomes of our most marginalised and vulnerable citizens including those from disadvantaged groups. She added that Scotland is the only part of the UK to have set a target to eradicate child poverty. A UK Government spokesman said: The Scottish Governments significant powers now include tax-raising and deciding how to allocate funding between public services. At Budget, we reiterated our commitment to the people of Scotland by increasing the Scottish Governments budget by 950 million. And last year, the Department for Work and Pensions delivered 15.7 billion of welfare spending in Scotland to support those most in need. A murder inquiry has been launched after a man was found dead at his home in Glasgow. Police went to Ryan Richardsons flat at 77 Kilmany Drive, Shettleston, on Friday evening after being alerted by his family that he had not been in contact for more than a week. On entering at around 6.30pm, officers found the 28-year-olds body. Police said he had died after being subjected to a violent assault. Mr Richardson was last seen alive by a family member near the Bellgrove Hotel in the citys Gallowgate on Wednesday March 6. Ryan Richardson suffered a violent assault (Police Scotland/PA) Detective Chief Inspector Grant Macleod said: Mr Richardson died after being the victim of a violent assault and it is absolutely vital that we get to the bottom of what happened and why. Our investigation will focus on establishing a time frame of Mr Richardsons movements prior to him being found and we would urge anyone with information to come forward. Perhaps you have seen Mr Richardson over the past few weeks, heard some sort of disturbance, or noticed someone acting suspiciously around his home. Even the slightest detail could be significant so please get in touch if you know anything at all. We are also keen to speak to any friends or acquaintances of Mr Richardson who have spoken to him recently, or have knowledge of any issues he may have been having. It is important that we know as much as possible about his life and activities, as this information could help us find the person responsible for his death. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number 2061 of Friday 15 March 2019, or to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where details can be given in confidence. Police have named the suspect in a shooting attack on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht which has left three people dead and five others injured. Officers identified Turkish-born Gokman Tanis, 37, in connection with the incident. The public have been urged not to approach him. Utrecht mayor Jan van Zanen confirmed the number of people killed and injured in the incident, saying the authorities were likely to assume a terror motive. Authorities immediately raised the terror alert for the area to the maximum level while Dutch military police went on extra alert at airports and at key buildings in the country as the Utrecht manhunt took place. Police, including heavily-armed officers, flooded the area after the shooting on Monday morning on a tram at a busy traffic intersection in a residential area. Officers said a Red Renault Clio had been hijacked shortly before the shooting, and was later found further south in the city. They asked for anyone with information about the car to get in touch. (PA Graphics) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: Our nation was hit by an attack in Utrecht. It is clear there were shots on tram passengers in Utrecht, that there are wounded. He said that a terror motive is not excluded. Mr Rutte said that throughout the nation there is a mix of disbelief and disgust. He added: If it is a terror attack then we have only one answer: our nation, democracy must be stronger that fanaticism and violence. Police spokesman Bernhard Jens said no-one had been detained yet in the shooting and one possible explanation is that the person fled by car. He did not rule out the possibility that more than one person was involved in the attack. Rescue workers at the scene of the shooting (Peter Dejong/AP/PA) We want to try to catch the person responsible as soon as possible, Mr Jens said. The countrys anti-terror co-ordinator raised the threat alert to its highest level around Utrecht. Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said the threat level has gone to 5, exclusively for the Utrecht province. Hugely concerning news of a gunman opening fire on a tram in Utrecht, no doubt with innocent people just getting on with their day. We are in contact with Dutch authorities, urgently seeking further information. The UK stands with the people of the Netherlands Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) March 18, 2019 Police in Germany say they have upped surveillance on the countrys border and are on the lookout for the gunman. Heinrich Onstein, a spokesman for the federal police in the border state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said additional police had been added to watch not only major roads, but also minor crossings as well as railway routes. With just 11 days to go to the scheduled date of Brexit, Britain is no clearer about how, when or if it will be leaving the European Union. Theresa Mays plan for a third meaningful vote on her Brexit deal looks set to be put off until next week, unless there is a sudden surge in support for the Withdrawal Agreement. And Parliament may not decide until days before March 29 whether to leave the EU with or without a deal on that date or to delay the UKs withdrawal for months or even years. Here is how the crucial days ahead may pan out: MONDAY-WEDNESDAY MARCH 18-20 Downing Street will continue to use all its powers of persuasion to win backing for Mrs Mays deal from MPs, with a particular focus on the Democratic Unionist Party, whose stance is expected to be influential on wavering Tories. To overturn the deals 149-vote defeat last week, the Prime Minister must win over 75 MPs and retain all those who backed her. Of the 75 Tory rebels who rejected the Withdrawal Agreement on March 12, a sizeable number are likely to resist any attempts to woo them. DUP leader Nigel Dodds and his colleagues have been engaged in talks with the Government over the Brexit deal (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Some 23 Tory MPs signed a letter to the Telegraph saying it would not be moral for them to back Mrs Mays deal. And at least four others Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Steve Baker and John Baron have indicated in recent days they do not plan to support it. Another six Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah, Jo Johnson and Phillip Lee support a softer Brexit or no Brexit at all, and are unlikely to be deterred by the prospect of an extension to Article 50. Of course, some of these may abstain rather than vote against, but it seems highly unlikely that any of them can be recruited to Mrs Mays cause. Even if the PM won over the remaining 42 Conservative rebels and all 10 DUP MPs, she potentially needs the support of a further 23 switchers, with the most fertile ground likely to be among Labour MPs in Leave constituencies. However, many of these are unlikely to jump unless they are sure that Mrs Mays deal will be approved anyway, as they do not want to be accused of handing victory to Tories. A motion on Mrs Mays deal would have to be tabled by the end of Monday to be debated on Tuesday, or at the end of Tuesday for debate on Wednesday. Downing Street has said no motion will be put forward this week unless a majority is within reach something which few at Westminster now expect. However, Commons Speaker John Bercow threw a spanner in the works on Monday afternoon by ruling that the Prime Minister cannot bring her EU Withdrawal Agreement back before MPs unless it is substantially different from the package which was decisively defeated last week. THURSDAY-FRIDAY MARCH 21-22 The European Council summit in Brussels is slated to be the last with the UK as a member. If the Commons has ratified her deal, Mrs May will ask the other 27 leaders to agree an extension to the Article 50 withdrawal negotiation period to no later than June 30, to allow time for the remaining legislative preparations to be completed. (PA Graphics) If the Agreement has not won parliamentary backing, the PM will request a longer extension, perhaps to the autumn or the end of the year, or even to the end of the proposed transition period in December 2020. EU leaders have suggested they will grant a long extension only if it is clear that the UK has new proposals, such as a change in its red lines, a second referendum or a general election. Brexit will take up only the first part of the formal summit on Thursday, held in Mrs Mays absence. The PM will join her counterparts for dinner and discussions on the economy, climate change, external relations and fake news, as well as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the European Economic Area. MONDAY-THURSDAY MARCH 25-28 If Mrs May has secured Commons backing for the deal and EU approval for an extension, work will get under way in earnest to tie up all the legislative loose ends before Brexit Day, probably in May or June. Parliament may cancel all or part of its Easter recess, due to run from April 4-23, to speed Bills through. If she has not yet won MPs support, but has an EU promise of a long extension, the PM is likely once more to call a meaningful vote. With just days to go, she will hope to force the deal through with the reluctant support of Leave-backing Tories fearful that any further delay may end in Brexit being lost. If she wins, Brexit could still go ahead in May or June. If she loses, it will kick off an almighty debate on the way ahead. MPs rejected Theresa Mays Withdrawal Agreement by 149 votes last week (PA) MPs will also vote on amendments to her motion, calling for a second referendum or indicative votes to show what kind of deal the Commons could support. Labour may back a backbench proposal making the PMs deal subject to a referendum. If the EU27 refuse to grant an extension and MPs again reject her deal, Mrs May will be confronted by the unenviable choice between halting Brexit by revoking Article 50 something she has vowed not to do or going ahead with a no-deal withdrawal which she says will damage the economy. FRIDAY MARCH 29 Exactly two years after the UK submitted its letter informing the European Council of its intention to quit, March 29 has long been marked down as Brexit Day. Whether that becomes reality, or the Friday of next week ends up as just another day in the long and arduous process of negotiating withdrawal, will depend on the decisions taken over the next two weeks. Frances prime minister has announced a ban on yellow vest protests along the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris and in two other cities following riots on Saturday that left luxury stores ransacked and charred from arson fires. Edouard Philippe said the ban will apply for an unspecified period in the areas that have been the most impacted in the cities of Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse, where repeated destruction has occurred since the protest movement began in November. He also said Paris police chief Michel Delpuech will be replaced this week by prefect Didier Lallement. Mr Philippe announced the measures following a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and top security officials that sought to avoid a repeat of Saturdays violence, in which rioters set life-threatening fires, ransacked luxury stores and attacked police around the Champs-Elysees. Riot police stand in front of a burned store (Christophe Ena/AP/PA) Many of those high-end boutiques remained closed on Monday, some of them charred from arson fires set. He acknowledged dysfunction in French police operations on Saturday, rejecting inappropriate orders given to security forces to use fewer rubber bullets following a controversy about the numerous injuries they hae caused at previous protests. Mr Philippe also announced a shift in security strategy to allow police forces to have a greater initiative on the ground to take measures against rioters and disperse crowds. He said police will use new tools, including drones and video surveillance, to help prevent violence and send rioters to trial. When a protest has been banned and its aim is to ransack and loot, all of those who take part it in and, in fact, protect looters, encourage them or glorify them online, are complicit and will have to face the consequences, he said. Mr Philippe promised nothing will change for other peaceful, authorised protests. Riot police officers charge as a yellow vest demonstrators fall in Paris (Christophe Ena/AP/PA) The surge in violence came as the four-month-old yellow vest movement, which is pressing for more economic justice, has been dwindling. Images of the destruction on Saturday including from a bank fire that engulfed a residential building and threatened the lives of a mother and child could further erode public support. The renewed attention energised some protesters, who took to social networks to call for new protests this Saturday to demand lower taxes and more support for workers. The Finance Ministry held a meeting on Monday with groups representing small businesses, restaurants, hotels, insurance companies and banks to estimate the economic impact of the protests. The Paris regions Chamber of Commerce said 91 businesses suffered consequences from Saturdays riot at the Champs-Elysees, 80% of which were severely damaged. It called for an emergency plan to support those shopkeepers and employees. Social media companies are facing mounting pressure to reform and accept sweeping new regulation following a string of high-profile reports criticising the industry. The range of reports come ahead of an expected Government white paper on online harms, due to be published before the end of March, which could include plans to introduce regulation on how social networks operate and the duty of care they have to their users. Here is a look at the wide range of reports and experts calling for tighter rules on social media. What have politicians said? The latest findings from MPs urge social media addiction to be classed as a disease. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Social Media and Young Peoples Mental Health and Wellbeing said social networks such as Facebook and Twitter should be regulated by Ofcom and forced to adhere to a statutory code of conduct. This is just one of several reports published in the last eight weeks with a similar message. Earlier this month, the House of Lords Communications Committee said a Digital Authority should be created to oversee the regulation of internet companies by the likes of Ofcom, as well as impose a duty of care on the firms. A wide range of reports and experts have called for tighter rules on social media(Peter Byrne/PA) In February, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee labelled Facebook and others digital gangsters in its own major report, calling for the Government to bring forward legislation that would set out ethics guidelines for what was and was not acceptable on social media. It said that when breaches of these guidelines occurred, an independent regulator should have the power to launch legal proceedings against them and issue large fines. Also in February, the Cairncross Review commissioned by the Prime Minister and which looked into the future of the UK news industry said regulation was needed to ensure quality news content was hosted by the likes of Google and Facebook. This was then supported by a European Commission study published at the end of last month, which said Facebook, Google and Twitter were all failing to provide enough detail on the steps they had taken to cut disinformation on their platforms, in line with a new Code of Practice they had each signed up to. Who else has spoken out against the firms? Childrens charity the NSPCC backed the suggestion of large fines for companies that fail to remove harmful content that is a risk to younger users. It said named directors should be held personally liable for upholding a legal duty of care to children, banning them from other directorial roles if they are found to be in breach. It also announced support for fines of up to 4% of global turnover in the event of breaches. Earlier this month the charity also published figures which suggested that the number of children targeted for grooming and abuse on Instagram had tripled in just 18 months between April 2017 and September 2018. NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless accused social media firms of 10 years of failed self-regulation. Ian Russell, the father of teenager Molly Russell, who was found to have viewed content linked to self-harm and suicide on Instagram before taking her own life in 2017, has also suggested the time of social media self-regulation has passed. Up until now they have chosen their own course. Governments have allowed social media platforms to be self-regulated, but remember this really is a matter of life and death and its getting worse, he said earlier this month. Now is the time for the UK Government to bring effective internet regulation, with strong sanctions as back-up. Now is the time for the UK to lead the world in making the online world a safer place, especially for the young. What have social media firms said in response? Sir Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister and Facebooks new head of global affairs, has said the site is willing to work with governments on regulation. I think its perfectly legitimate for governments to say, Look, we want to take our responsibility as governments or legislators to set boundaries, he said. I dont think it is sustainable for tech companies to just say, No, we dont like all regulation. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has also offered some support, warning the Government against rushing into knee-jerk regulation which could harm victims of online sex abuse through unintended consequences. Instead, the foundation urged the Government to work with social media on a regulatory framework, rather than imposing it on them. What happens next? The Government has confirmed its white paper on online harms will be published by the end of the month, and digital minister Margot James has said it will set out clear expectations for companies on how they should keep their users safe. We in Government have a duty to act in a way which will compel, as well as encourage, companies to put the protection of children and the security of users at the heart of their corporate culture, she said. Whats unacceptable offline has to have the same unacceptability and the sanctions and the force of law behind it online, just as it does offline. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Prime Minister Theresa May to raise her concerns over the role of the devolved administrations during the Brexit talks. In a letter sent on Monday, Ms Sturgeon called on the Prime Minister to provide greater clarity and assurances following reports of her strategy in trying to win a majority to pass her Brexit deal in Parliament. Mrs Mays deal has already been voted down twice by MPs, but its anticipated to be put forward again. The First Minister described reports of a possible offer to the DUP in order to gain support for her deal as concerning and said that Scotland had been repeatedly ignored throughout the Brexit process. She wrote: As you are aware, like Northern Ireland, Scotland voted to remain in the European Union. In the past two years however, Scotlands wishes and national interests have been roundly ignored and at times treated with contempt by the UK Government. Theresa May (left) and Nicola Sturgeon have previously held Brexit talks in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The First Minister highlighted her concern over the involvement the devolved nations could have in discussions over any future trade relationship between the UK and the EU. She wrote: Firstly, there must be no question of one political party the DUP being represented in talks on the future trade relationship between the UK and EU when other political parties and devolved governments are not. As you are aware, in August 2018, the Scottish Government published a paper in respect of our role in international trade negotiations. There has been no indication that the UK Government is taking these proposals seriously, although there has since been support for a greater role for devolved administrations in trade negotiations from both the International Trade and Scottish Affairs select Committees in the House of Commons. In addition, there have been no meaningful moves to ensure the devolved governments have a properly enhanced role in the next phase of EU-UK negotiations. Secondly, the UK Governments proposals to the DUP appear to involve a serious curtailment of the powers of the Scottish Parliament. Many of the relevant rules fall within devolved competence and therefore it is not in the gift of the UK Government to unilaterally constrain the powers of the Scottish Parliament in order to strike a deal with the DUP. Continued alignment can only be guaranteed with the full support of the Scottish Government and Parliament. As you will be aware, the Scottish Government continues to be concerned that Scotland will be placed at a disadvantage if your proposals take effect. Ms Sturgeon also said that funding to Northern Ireland (1 billion as part of a confidence and supply agreement in 2017 and an additional allocation of 140 million in Northern Irelands 2019-20 Budget) had served to short-change Scotland. The UK Government cannot continue to favour Northern Ireland over the other devolved administrations for short-term political gain and we expect any future funding to be allocated in a fair and transparent manner. The First Minister also reiterated her support for holding another vote on leaving the EU. She added: I have said and will continue to say that while there is no broad consensus in the UK Parliament for your Brexit deal, the decision ought to be put back to the people in a second EU referendum that is the responsible and democratic thing to do. A UK Government spokesman said: The Prime Minister is committed to delivering a Brexit that works for all parts of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland. The deal she has negotiated is in the best interests of businesses and households across Scotland and will bring new opportunities to fishing and farming communities. We have worked constructively with the Scottish Government throughout the Brexit process, consistently updating them on negotiations and listening to their views. Mobile coverage in Scotland will continue to lag behind the rest of the UK unless more ambitious coverage targets are set, it has been claimed. In a joint response to a consultation on coverage by regulatory body Ofcom, the Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust warned that its proposals would not be sufficient to bring the country in line with other UK nations. In its response, the Scottish Government expressed disappointment that Ofcoms original proposals to provide a geographic coverage obligation of 76% in Scotland had been reduced to 74%. And although noting that the plans would see Scotland achieving the biggest level of coverage uplift in terms of percentage point increase, the Government wrote that it would still leave the country lagging behind. Connectivity Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, urged the regulator to adopt equitable targets across the UK. While, legally, access to telecommunications is the responsibility of UK Ministers, I welcome the recent engagement between Ofcom, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust in exploring alternative approaches beyond what is proposed, said Mr Wheelhouse. There are calls for more ambitious targets to be set (Lauren Hurley/PA) However, I believe current proposals fall far too short for Scotland something weve been saying for a considerable time now. Although we will see coverage improve as a result of Ofcoms proposals, the proposals will still leave coverage in Scotland lagging behind Wales, Northern Ireland and England. On top of that, the target of 2 Mbps is not sufficiently aspirational, does not leave enough scope for future growth in service demand and should be reconsidered. The Scottish Governments response to the 2018 consultation was also very clear we didnt believe Ofcoms proposals were sufficiently ambitious. Todays major Ofcom study on the UKs communications networks shows the number of people unable to get a decent broadband has gone down in the UK. Read our plans to do more for rural areas: https://t.co/zaDnEI0d0T pic.twitter.com/9GQxO8YKzM Ofcom (@Ofcom) December 18, 2018 The Scottish government last year committed to extending superfast broadband to all premises by 2021, with an investment of 600m in improved connectivity. Mr Wheelhouse said the Government would continue to work in collaboration with the regular to improve coverage. He said: Even though it is not, for now, our responsibility, the Scottish Government is already investing 25 million of our own resources to improve mobile coverage through the Scottish 4G Infill Programme and we believe there are opportunities to test innovative technologies through our programme to improve coverage in Scotland. However, there is an essential role for Ofcom, as the UK-wide regulator, to work alongside that investment in order to maximise consumer access to services. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Ofcom and the Scottish Futures Trust to explore solutions and, ultimately, to ensure that Scotland is ready for the roll-out of 5G services. An Ofcom spokesman said: We want to see the best possible mobile coverage in Scotland, so were proposing stretching new rules to boost reception in rural areas. Under these plans, Scotland would see the largest coverage increase of any UK nation. Well consider all responses to our consultation carefully, before finalising our decisions this summer. A gunman killed three people and injured five on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday morning in what the mayor said appeared to be a terror attack. Authorities immediately raised the terror alert for the area to the highest level and Dutch military police tightened security at airports and key buildings in the country. A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of a 37-year-old Turkish-born man they identified as Gokmen Tanis and said he was associated with the incident. Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said three people were killed and police put the number of wounded at five. An image of Gokmen Tanis, who police are looking for in connection with the shooting (Police Utrecht via AP/PA) We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more, Mr van Zanen said. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that a terror motive is not excluded and that the attack was met throughout the country with a mix of disbelief and disgust. If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence, he added. (PA Graphics) The shooting took place at a busy junction in a residential area. Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram. Anti-terror officers gathered in front of a block of flats close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen outside the building. Police spokesman Bernhard Jens said one person might have fled by car and he did not rule out the possibility that more than one assailant was involved. Emergency services attend the scene of a shooting in Utrecht (Martijn van der Zande/AP/PA) The countrys anti-terror co-ordinator Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg raised the threat alert to its highest level, five, around Utrecht, a city of nearly 350,000. Political parties halted campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for Wednesday that will also determine the make-up of Parliaments upper house. In neighbouring Germany, police said they stepped up surveillance of the Dutch border, watching not only major roads but also minor crossings and train routes. German authorities said they were initially told to look out for a red Renault Clio compact car but were later informed it had been found abandoned in Utrecht. Political leaders must consider what responsibility they might carry in allowing Islamophobia to thrive, a gathering at a London mosque has been told. Home Secretary Sajid Javid was joined by Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at an event in solidarity with the victims of the New Zealand attack. Some of the names of those killed in Fridays shootings were read aloud at London Central Mosque, before those present, including schoolchildren, bowed their heads for a minute of silence. Academic Arzoo Ahmed, a member of the Sunni Muslim community, said words of sympathy and solidarity after such an attack were appreciated, but action was needed. As Mr Javid looked on, she said: While solidarity is great it is not enough and we need action. Left to right, James Brokenshire, Arzoo Ahmed, Ephraim Mirvis, Sadiq Khan, Justin Welby, Dr Ahmad Al Dubayan and Sajid Javid at the event (Jonathan Brady/PA) So this is a call to our political leaders, our institutions and our media to search deep within the individual and collective conscience, for what responsibility you may carry for the language that you have used and the framing that you have presented to enable such harmful attitudes to thrive. Our words and our behaviour matter. We need leadership at the grassroots level to strengthen our communities and we need our leaders to show the leadership to tackle such attitudes within the establishment and across mainstream society. Addressing the Home Secretary directly, she added: I ask the Home Secretary, who has kindly joined us today, to respond to calls for increased spending on the protection of all religious institutions that are at risk, and urgently for mosques. Mr Javid said Mondays gathering was a demonstration of a shared pain and to show that no faith, no race, no community, will ever be alone. Sajid Javid speaks at the mosque (Jonathan Brady/PA) He added: The events that unite us are beyond tragic, but together we represent what is truly great about Britain. An open and welcoming country, that finds strength in its diversity. The Most Rev Justin Welby was applauded when he made a commitment to discuss how, through the teaching of an estimated one million children at Church of England schools we can be more effective in our education to be one people. He also pledged that the church will stand with Muslims who are being persecuted, apologising if such solidarity has been lacking in the past. He said: For Muslims who are under threat we will be with you, if we have not been with you sufficiently yet, and if we have not, I am so sorry. Mr Khan said there was anger and frustration among young people he spoke to in a roundtable discussion after listening to speakers at the mosque. Sadiq Khan, right, speaks as Sajid Javid looks on (Jonathan Brady/PA) He said they had raised concerns about language used by politicians that couldve led to some of the behaviour and actions weve seen not just in Christchurch but in this country. The mayor added that the message from young people to himself, ministers and religious leaders is: We saw this coming and we still feel scared. He said Muslims he has spoken to are supportive of financial support for security for Jewish places of worship and cautioned that additional funds are needed for Islamic places of worship. Mr Khan said: What the Muslims who are here are saying is, Dont take the money away from the Jewish synagogues and the Jewish schools, but weve seen the difference that additional financial support can provide to Jewish schools and we think the same sort of support should be given to Islamic places of worship and Islamic ethos schools. He is set to write to Mr Javid on the issue of funding for security for mosques across the country. An English council has apologised after flying the Welsh flag on St Patricks Day. Social media users expressed their puzzlement on Sunday when the distinctive red dragon of Wales was spotted fluttering above Sheffields Town Hall. The city council then added to the confusion by issuing an initial statement which included congratulations to the Welsh rugby union team following its Grand Slam in the Six Nations. Crowds watching the Dublins St Patricks Day Parade (Niall Carson/PA) On Monday, a Sheffield City Council spokeswoman said: We are very sorry that the Welsh flag was raised in error yesterday rather than the St Patricks flag. We are also sorry for any offence caused by our earlier statement. The suspect in the deadly tram shooting in Utrecht which left three people dead has been detained, Dutch police have said. At the end of a news conference on Monday evening, police chief Rob van Bree told reporters: I just heard that the suspect we were hunting has been arrested. Five people were also injured in the incident and authorities immediately raised the terror alert for the area to the highest level. A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of a 37-year-old Turkish-born man they identified as Gokmen Tanis and said he was associated with the incident. Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said three people were killed and police put the number of wounded at five. We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more, Mr van Zanen said. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that a terror motive is not excluded and that the attack was met throughout the country with a mix of disbelief and disgust. (PA Graphics) If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence, he added. Justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the attacker was known to authorities, but did not provide further details. Mr Rutte said three of the wounded were fighting for their lives The shooting took place at a busy junction in a residential area. Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram. Anti-terror officers gathered in front of a block of flats close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen outside the building. Emergency services attend the scene of a shooting in Utrecht (Martijn van der Zande/AP/PA) Police spokesman Bernhard Jens said one person might have fled by car and he did not rule out the possibility that more than one assailant was involved. Authorities later reduced the threat level in Utrecht back to four out of five following the arrest, back in line with the rest of the Netherlands. Political parties halted campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for Wednesday that will also determine the make-up of Parliaments upper house. Fewer UK graduates joined the medical register last year than doctors who trained outside the country, figures show. A total of 7,183 UK-trained doctors were registered for the first time in 2018, compared with 8,113 doctors with overseas qualifications, according to General Medical Council (GMC) data. It is the first time the number of UK graduates granted their first registration has been exceeded by those trained overseas since 2006. The data was the subject of a question to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens at The Spectator Health Summit in London on Monday. In 2017, 7,034 doctors who trained in the UK were added to the medical register for the first time, compared with 6,258 European and international doctors, the GMC data shows. In 2016, there were 7,177 from the UK and 5,594 from outside the country. Mr Stevens said it was clear that we need to train more health professionals in this country, including doctors. He noted the Government had committed to boosting the number of doctors trained each year by 2020, but said, in the meantime, low-income countries should not be deprived of qualified medics. We have always in the NHS, as you know, benefited from some targeted international health professionals, Mr Stevens told the event on Monday. And I think over the next five or 10 years, its inevitable that thats going to continue to be the case. But as we do that, we need to make sure thats not a substitute for facing up to the need to expand training pipelines in this country, and we need to do so in a way that is ethical. He added: We have an expanding health service and we are going to need more people and thats going to be a combination of training and retention and being a more flexible employer so people can, mid-career, stick with it. Between 2000 and 2006, UK graduates added to the medical register for the first time were consistently outnumbered by those from outside the country. However this trend was reversed between 2007 and 2017. Una Lane, director of registration and revalidation at the GMC, said: Doctors with qualifications from overseas make a vital contribution to UK health services and they have been doing so for many years. The NHS is reliant on this population of doctors to deliver high quality care to patients across the UK every day of the week. An official report on the impact of Brexit on rural Scotland has included the quote: We are f*****, it can be revealed. A document published by Scottish Rural Action (SRA) featured a side banner on page four with the statement. It was one of a number of banners attributed to participants in a workshop which asked them to imagine what newspaper headlines they might expect to see after Brexit. Amanda Burgauer, SRA chairwoman, said that the exercise had been used as an icebreaker and that several of the participants had used earthy language in describing their feelings towards Brexit. The comments are only explained on the following page, saying they had been put forward by those taking part in the workshop event. Ms Burgauer said that she would flag up the design and layout issue with the SRA design team. The report used the term `we are fu@%^d on page four in a side banner (SRA/PA) The Scottish Government has said that although the SRA report was funded through its Brexit Stakeholder Fund, it had no editorial role. The report will be launched at an SRA event with cabinet secretaries Mike Russell and Richard Lochhead in Elgin on Monday. Its findings also detailed the potential impact of Brexit on rural Scotland, suggesting that it could lead to 21st century clearances, with a loss of freedom of movement resulting in significant depopulation. Further concerns raised in the report, taken from conversations with rural communities, also included the risk of EU funding being lost post-Brexit and potential damage to social cohesion. Speaking about the report overall, Ms Burgauer said: This report is about giving voice to a rural point of view that is rooted in Scotlands people and places, rather than its rural industries. She added: There is widespread anger and frustration across rural Scotland, but that anger isnt solely about Brexit. It was clear from workshop discussions that Brexit is compounding long standing concerns about rural equity and fragility. Brexit was described as the straw that breaks rural Scotlands back, with people pointing to structural fragilities across rural communities. Participants generally believed that an historic over-reliance on EU funding to prop up rural areas makes rural Scotland particularly exposed to future loss of EU support. Speaking ahead of the reports launch, Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the voices of rural communities are heard and I commend Scottish Rural Action for the work it has done to achieve this. The findings in this report are stark. Taking Scotland out of the EU against our will removes us from a market which is eight times bigger than the UK alone. Rural communities are deeply worried about the impact of Brexit on their lives. From funding and trade to community life and the workforce, many believe the effects will be nothing short of catastrophic. This is sadly yet another example of just how damaging Brexit will be for Scotland. A UK Government spokesman said: Thriving rural areas with strong, sustainable economies and vibrant communities will continue to be a priority for the UK Government when we leave the EU. We have committed to establishing a UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will cover Scotland, to increase productivity in areas where the local economies are furthest behind. We have also confirmed that we will maintain the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the Parliament. A gunman has killed three people and wounded five on a tram in what authorities said may have been a terror attack, and a suspect was seized after a manhunt that convulsed the Dutch city of Utrecht. Justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the attacker identified as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37 was known to authorities and had a criminal record, but would not elaborate. If it had terror motives, that is being investigated. But it was very serious. The world shares our grief, prime minister Mark Rutte said. Our thoughts go to the victims relatives, to the families who have lost a beloved member. Our thoughts also go to the wounded, who are now fighting for their lives. The whole of the Netherlands shares your deep pain. Full statement https://t.co/VBOPf232R3 Mark Rutte (@MinPres) March 18, 2019 The attack came three days after 50 people were killed when an immigrant-hating white supremacist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. Dutch authorities reduced the threat level in the city back to four out of five following the arrest, which came after a manhunt involving heavily armed officers with dogs. During the hunt, police released a photo of a bearded Tanis on a tram in a blue hooded top. Dutch counter-terrorism police (Peter Dejong/AP) We cannot exclude even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more, Utrecht mayor Jan van Zanen said as police searched for the suspect. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Dutch military police tightened security at airports and key buildings in the country, and Mr Rutte said: If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger than fanaticism and violence. The shooting took place at a busy intersection in a residential neighbourhood. Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram. (PA Graphics) Anti-terror officers gathered in front of an apartment building close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen outside the building. Local media said Tanis had been charged several times over recent years with offences ranging from attempted manslaughter to petty crime in and around Utrecht. Two weeks ago he was in court on charges of raping a woman in 2017, news reports said. The Netherlands anti-terror co-ordinator, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, raised the threat alert to its highest level, five, around Utrecht, a city of nearly 350,000, until Tanis was captured. Political parties halted campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for Wednesday that will also determine the make-up of parliaments upper house. In neighbouring Germany, police said they had stepped up surveillance of the Dutch border, watching not only major highways but also minor crossings and train routes. German authorities said they were initially told to look out for a red Renault Clio but were later informed it had been found abandoned in Utrecht. A man charged with killing the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family has written pro-Donald Trump slogans on his hand and flashed them to journalists before a court hearing. Anthony Comello, 24, was arrested on Saturday in New Jersey over the death of Francesco Franky Boy Cali last week in front of his Staten Island home. While waiting for a court hearing to begin in Toms River, New Jersey, in which he agreed to be extradited to New York, Comello held up his left hand. On it were scrawled pro-Trump slogans including MAGA Forever, an abbreviation of Mr Trumps campaign slogan Make America Great Again. It also read United We Stand MAGA and Patriots In Charge. Anthony Comello displays writing on his hand (Seth Wenig/AP) Comellos lawyer Brian Neary would not discuss the writing on his clients hand or say whether Comello maintains his innocence. Asked by reporters after the hearing what was on Comellos hand, Mr Neary replied: Handcuffs. He referred all other questions to Comellos Manhattan lawyer Robert Gottlieb, who said his client has been placed in protective custody due to serious threats made against him, but gave no details of them. Mr Comellos family and friends simply cannot believe what they have been told, Mr Gottlieb said. There is something very wrong here and we will get to the truth about what happened as quickly as possible. Comello sat with a slight smile in the jury box of the courtroom on Monday afternoon as dozens of reporters and photographers filed into the room. Anthony Comello (Seth Wenig/AP) When they were in place, he held up his left hand to display the writings as the click and whirr of camera lenses filled the room with sound. During the hearing, Comello did not speak other than to say Yes sir to the judge to several procedural questions. Cali, 53, was shot last Wednesday by a gunman who may have crashed his truck into Calis car to lure him outside. Police said Cali was shot 10 times. Federal prosecutors referred to Cali in court filings in recent years as the underboss of the Mafias Gambino family, once one of the most powerful crime organisations in the country. News accounts since 2015 said he had ascended to the top spot. Calis only mob-related criminal conviction came a decade ago when he pleaded guilty in an extortion scheme involving a failed attempt to build a Nascar track on Staten Island. He was sentenced to 16 months behind bars and was released in 2009. Police have not said whether they believe Calis murder was a mob hit or whether he was killed for some other motive. The last Mafia boss to be killed in New York City was Gambino don Big Paul Castellano, who was assassinated while getting out of a black limousine outside a high-end Manhattan steakhouse in 1985. Hundreds of homes have been flooded in several US Midwestern states after rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snow melt in the region, authorities said. About 200 miles of levees were compromised either breached or overtopped in four states, the US Army Corps of Engineers said. Even in places where the water level had peaked in those states Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas the current was fast and the water so high that damage continued to pile up. The flooding was blamed for at least three deaths. .@KC_USACE staff loads sandbags and sandbag machines to support communities with flood flight efforts along the Missouri River. This particular machine went White Cloud, Kansas, where the community filled 5,000 sandbags Saturday. #2019FloodFight pic.twitter.com/XbAyIRVLIZ USACE HQ (@USACEHQ) March 18, 2019 Betty Hamernik, 80, of rural Columbus, was trapped in her home by the fast-rising Loup River. Her body was recovered on Saturday. Aleido Rojas Galan, of Norfolk, was swept away on Friday night in south-western Iowa when the vehicle he was in went around a barricade. On Thursday, Columbus farmer James Wilke, 50, died when a bridge collapsed as he used a tractor to try to reach stranded motorists. Two men in Nebraska have been missing since Thursday. One was last seen on top of his flooded car; the other was swept away after a dam collapsed. The levees are busted and we arent even into the wet season when the rivers run high, said Tom Bullock, the emergency management director for Holt County, Missouri. He said many homes in a mostly rural area of Holt County were inundated with 6ft to 7ft of water from the swollen Missouri River. He noted that local farmers are only a month away from planting corn and soybeans. The water isnt going to be gone, and the levees arent going to be fixed this year, said Mr Bullock, whose own home is now on an island surrounded by floodwater. One couple was rescued by helicopter after water from three breached levees swept across 40,000 acres, he said. Another nine breaches were confirmed in Nebraska and Iowa counties south of the Platte River, the Corps said. The Missouri River floods across K-7 highway (Orlin Wagner/AP) In nearby Atchison County, Missouri, about 130 people were urged to leave their homes as water levels rose and strained levees, three of which had already been overtopped by water. Missouri State Highway Patrol crews were on standby to rescue anyone who insisted on staying despite the danger. The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough, said Rhonda Wiley, Atchison Countys emergency management and 911 director. The Missouri River had already crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska, though hundreds of people remained out of their homes and water continued to pour through busted levees. Flooding was so bad around Fremont, Nebraska, that just one lane of US 30 was uncovered outside the city of 26,000. State police limited traffic on that road to pre-approved trucks carrying fuel, food, water and other essential supplies. Satellite imagery shows the change in the Missouri River from 3/11-3/16. Water can be seen outside of the river banks #flood2019 #NEflood #IAflood #Moflood pic.twitter.com/yjKRvNIL3S NWS MBRFC (@NWSMBRFC) March 18, 2019 In south-west Iowa, the Missouri River reached a level in Fremont County that was 2ft above a record set in 2011. The countys emergency management director, Mike Crecelius, said more water was flooding into low-lying parts of Hamburg, where a wall of sand-filled barriers was breached when one failed. Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, touring flood-ravaged areas of the state for the second straight day, warned that flooding will worsen along the Mississippi River as snow melts to the north. The National Weather Service said the river was expected to crest on Thursday in St Joseph, Missouri, at its third-highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base. #Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney has declared a State of Emergency & established a goal of producing 1 million sandbags for Flood 2019. "It is critically important for everyone to know that we need the publics assistance; we cannot be complacent." Learn more at https://t.co/trBwArLcBS. pic.twitter.com/GkPQNWSRli The City of Fargo (@thecityoffargo) March 18, 2019 In North Dakota, Fargo was preparing for potentially major flooding along the Red River the same river that ravaged the city a decade ago. The city declared an emergency and mayor Tim Mahoney asked residents to help fill a million sandbags. That was in response to the National Weather Service warning that snow melt poses a big risk in Fargo, which now stands a 90% chance of major flooding. Sandbag-filling operations begin on March 26. Theresa May will convene a meeting of her Cabinet after her Brexit plans were dealt a significant blow by the Commons Speaker. John Bercow scuppered the chance of another Commons vote on the Prime Ministers deal before Thursdays EU summit, leading one minister to warn that the Government faces a major constitutional crisis. Mr Bercow ruled that Mrs May cannot bring her EU Withdrawal Agreement back before MPs unless it is substantially different from the package that was decisively defeated last week. The Speakers ruling, announced in an unexpected statement to the Commons, throws a further obstacle in the way of the Prime Ministers scramble to get a deal agreed by the scheduled date of Brexit of March 29. A Government source said it seems clear that the Speakers motive here is to rule out an MV (meaningful vote) this week which also stands in the way of a securing a shorter extension. (This) leads you to believe what he really wants is a longer extension, where Parliament will take over the process and force a softer form of Brexit. But anyone who thinks that this makes no deal more likely is mistaken the Speaker wouldnt have done it if it did. Solicitor General Robert Buckland said the Government was facing a major constitutional crisis and Mr Bercows intervention would have huge reverberations for the Brexit process. Robert Buckland (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA) He suggested ministers may need to prorogue Parliament and call a new session to get around the ruling. There are ways around this, he told BBC News. Frankly we could have done without this. Now we have this ruling to deal with, it is clearly going to require a lot of very fast but very deep thought in the hours ahead. Education minister Nadhim Zahawi warned that the move reduced the chance of Britain leaving the EU, telling BBC Twos Newsnight: What Speaker Bercow has done has made it much more likely that we dont deliver Brexit. What Speaker Bercow has done has made it much more likely that we dont deliver Brexit Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi tells Emily Maitlis, adding that that worries him@nadhimzahawi | @maitlis | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/btgWlm8eHJ BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 18, 2019 But Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve said Mr Bercow was completely within his rights. On Tuesday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will meet leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and Green Party to discuss Brexit. In a joint statement ahead of the talks, Ian Blackford, Vince Cable, Liz Saville Roberts and Caroline Lucas said: The UK faces an unprecedented crisis with Brexit, and Westminster remains deeply divided. The best and most democratic way forward is to put the decision back to the people in a new vote with the option to Remain on the ballot paper. (PA Graphics) Mr Corbyn will also meet members of the Norway Plus group of MPs in a separate meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile in Dublin, European Council president Donald Tusk will hold talks with Irish premier Leo Varadkar. Universities in Scotland could lose hundreds of millions of pounds worth of research grants if there is a no-deal Brexit, the UK Government has been warned. Academics who have applied for grants from the European Research Council (ERC) are due to find out if they are successful on April 8, but the Government has not explained what would happen if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal by then. Universities Scotland, who represent the Scottish higher education institutions, have said that life-changing discoveries and leading researchers tackling some of societys major health and environmental challenges could be left in limbo. The UK was the most successful country in the last round of ERC Advanced Grants, with 66 applicants awarded up to 2.5 million euros each a total of 155 million (133 million) in funding. In Scotland there are currently six ERC funded projects, worth up to 15 million euros (13 million). Now Universities Scotland want the Government to pledge to cover the potential future funding in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Universities Scotland warn that millions of pounds worth of research grants could be lost if there is a no-deal Brexit (Abertay University/PA) Scotland should address various economic areas to compete in the global economy, research has found. More than 100 business leaders, industry bodies and public sector representatives contributed to the study about developing the economy, carried out by the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) at the University of Strathclyde. The Institute identified trends, opportunities and risks that Scotland needs to respond to in order to build a competitive economy by 2050. Recommendations seek to address low productivity, the skills gap, exports, and infrastructure. It also said more needs to be done to address political short-termism and the potential for growing pressure on public services as a result of the revised budget arrangement agreed by the Scottish and UK governments. The report concludes that Scotland needs to develop physical and digital infrastructure that is fit for the future, longer-term policy making by politicians at both a Scottish and UK level and a more joined-up, collaborative approach to entering new markets. A study looking at how Scotlands economy can develop by 2050 has been released by the Fraser of Allander Institute (John Linton/PA) It also suggests greater collaboration between academia and industry to commercialise innovation. Professor Graeme Roy, Fraser of Allander Institute director, said: Our economic analysis and engagement with business has shown Scotland has key strengths that should give the country optimism for the future. But in many areas there is scope for improvement; our export base is too narrow and we lag behind many of our competitors. If Scotland is to take advantage of the changing nature of the global economy in the coming decades, it will need to boost its level of internationalisation. Paul Hally, Chairman of Shepherd and Wedderburn who commissioned the study, said: Despite the challenges it identifies, this research shows that there is much to be optimistic about. Scotland has a proud tradition of innovation and entrepreneurialism which, if properly harnessed, will see us seize the considerable opportunities ahead. The law firm will be hosting a series of political engagement events in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in May to discuss the findings in the Fraser of Allander Institutes final report. A minimum income for students would help guarantee stronger financial support for those at university and college, Scottish Labour has said. The proposals were initially outlined in an independent report for the Scottish Government published in November 2017, titled: A New Social Contract for Students Fairness, Parity and Clarity. It set out a number of recommendations on how financial support for students could be enhanced, including providing parity for those accessing funding, increasing clarity by moving to a centralised online portal, as well as the introduction of a minimum income. The income would be delivered through a mixture of bursaries and student loans, and would be set at a minimum figure of 8,100. Despite its support for the New Social Contract for students, Scottish Labour has accused the Scottish Government of watering down its acceptance of the reports recommendations. The party has said that it will this week move to force a vote in the Scottish Parliament on the implementation of a minimum income. Scottish Labour claims that financial support for students has been overlooked (Chris Radburn/PA) Scottish Labours education spokesman Iain Gray said: Financial support for students at university and college has been overlooked for too long in the political debate it is time for that to change. Labour supports free tuition but students need to be able to access decent financial support when they actually get to college and university. Thats why Labour would implement the New Social Contract, which provides a minimum student income. Its now down to other parties to either back our plans or explain to Scotlands students why not. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: We support the ambition outlined in the Student Support Review to achieve a minimum income for our students. We have begun to implement this by increasing the care-experienced bursary to 8,100 per year. From 2019/20, we are increasing bursary support for students in both further and higher education and increasing the higher education bursary threshold from 19,000 to 21,000, ensuring that more students will be able to access the maximum bursary. Overall, we continue to invest record amounts in student support with over 120,000 undergraduates each year studying in Scotland benefiting from free tuition. Higher education students from the least well off backgrounds benefit from a minimum income guarantee of 7,625 per year and in further education, students can access a bursary of up to 4,247 per year. And we continue to keep university free from tuition fees, ensuring access to higher education is based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay. John Bercow comes under close scrutiny in the national newspapers as they give their views on his ruling over another vote on Theresa Mays Brexit deal. The Commons Speaker scuppered the chance of another Commons vote on the Prime Ministers deal before Thursdays EU summit, ruling that she could not bring her EU Withdrawal Agreement back before MPs unless it was substantially different from the package that was defeated last week. The Daily Mail leads the criticism of Mr Bercow, branding his decision an act of sabotage. It attacks the Speaker for what it calls anti-Brexit prejudice, and says losing the chance to back Mrs Mays deal would be a perversion of our democracy. Although he claims his decision is based on strong and longstanding convention, several constitutional experts including ex-Commons clerk Sir David Natzler and former Parliamentary Counsel Sir Stephen Laws say it is wrong in principle as well as in spirit, the paper writes. They say he is wrong to obstruct the vital business of government in this way and wrong to frustrate the House in its search for compromise. Commons Speaker John Bercow has come under fire (House of Commons/PA) The Daily Express takes a similarly firm stance, running with the headline The Brexit Destroyer on its front page. In its leader, the paper says Mr Bercows ruling was a wholly unwelcome surprise. Although Bercows ambush will please certain No Deal advocates and other enemies of Theresa May, it has rightfully caused anger in Westminster and across the country, frustrating a plan that was starting to hold, it says. Mrs May will now likely seek an extension from the EU, but Bercows political vanity has sent a wrecking ball crashing into the most important political process in decades. Tomorrow's @Daily_Express front page: - Speaker John Bercow triggers constitutional crisis by ruling out PMs third vote #Brexit - Vanessa Feltz: 'I know the harsh reality of TV fame' - Kate and Meghan: Even the royals can fail to pick a fashion winner#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/UMCLiivU03 Daily Express (@Daily_Express) March 18, 2019 The Sun also criticises Mr Bercow for the ruling, and says a third vote is arguably in the public interest. Our entire future is in the balance, it warns. Meanwhile, The Times says the Governments Brexit strategy was further blown apart by Mr Bercows announcement. But that strategy appeared to have run out of road even before his intervention, it adds. It suggests Mr Bercow had succeeded in doing something that has until now proved impossible: he has managed to unite both sides of the Brexit divide. Brexiteers cheered his ruling because they believe he has breathed new life into the possibility of no deal Pro-Europeans, on the other hand, are delighted because they believe that the prime minister will have to seek a long extension to Article 50, it says. The Times 19/3/2019 John Bercow rules out a new vote by MPs on Brexit deal if the motion is the same, or very similar. MP's say, it would be against parliamentary rules to vote without changes to it. Photo : HOC/Universal News And Sport #thetimes #tomorrowspaperstoday @thetimes pic.twitter.com/I7UL50l5DD The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) March 18, 2019 The papers leader adds: The best option is for parliament to back Mrs Mays deal in a vote next week. The question is whether both sides can come up with something that would meet Mr Bercows definition of substantive change, allowing a fresh vote to take place. Time is impossibly short. The stakes could not be higher. More drama lies ahead, warns the Daily Telegraph, as it says Mr Bercows intervention gave the Brexit plot yet another twist. As things stand, though, Mrs Mays deal is effectively dead and the UK is leaving the EU next week, it adds. It is spring, it is Holi and it is the equinox. Today marks this years spring equinox the day when the sun is directly above the equator. This makes the day and night the same length of time. Extending the logic, the northern and the southern hemispheres would be equally illuminated. The equinox occurs twice each year on March 20/21 and September 22/23. Both these days witness equal day and night timings both the days when the sun is directly above the equator. In the northern hemisphere, the March equinox since it marks the end of winter and ushers in a warmer climate is called Vernal or Spring Equinox. On the other hand, the September equinox marking the end of summer and ushering in the autumn and a colder climate is called the Autumnal or Fall Equinox. The southern hemisphere would see an exactly opposite pattern. The word equinox traces its roots to the Latin word 'aequinoctium', derived from 'aequus' meaning 'equal', and and the word 'nox' from genitive root 'noctis' meaning 'night'. People raise their arms towards the sun to welcome the spring equinox in front of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, near Mexico City. (Photo: Reuters) It is said that when Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set March 25 as the date of the spring equinox a day that already marked the beginning of the New Year in the Persian and Indian calendars. The Iranian New Year called Nowruz is celebrated on the equinox. The same is followed by the Zoroastrians, whose new year coincides with the Iranian. The Iranian tradition was passed onto Central Asians Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uighurs who celebrate the new year on this day called Nauryz. Closer home, remember Ugadi, Bihu, Puttandu, Vishu, Noboborsho and other new years celebrated in India? All of these are celebrated around or within a fortnight of the equinox. In ancient cultures, when people did not have clocks to calculate minutes of daytime and nighttime, they would measure the suns position geometrically. The astronomers back then observed that the suns rising and setting points moved slightly each day of the year the two days of the year when the sun rose exactly due east and set exactly due west marked the equinoxes. However, with the advent of more precise and advanced time measuring instruments and technology, scientists found that the day and night time length varies according to the observers geographical location and the sunrise and the sunset tables defined that the day is about seven to 14 minutes longer (depending on your location) than the night time in the northern hemisphere. Sorry to burst the bubble, folks! Nonetheless, it heralds a happier, warmer climate and harvest season globally. Happy spring, happy equinox and a very happy Holi! Also read: Super snow moon: Tonight, the lunar orb will present a rare visual treat for earth dwellers Rayonier, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in investment in timberlands. It operates through the following business segments: Southern Timber, Pacific Northwest Timber, New Zealand Timber, Real Estate, Timber Funds and Trading. The Southern Timber, Pacific Northwest Timber and New Zealand Timber segments reflect all activities related to the harvesting of timber and other value-added activities, such as recreational licenses, within each respective geography. The Real Estate segment reflects all U.S. land sales, which are reported in the following sales categories: Improved Development, Unimproved Development, Rural, Non-Strategic and Timberlands, and Large Dispositions. The Timber Funds segment represents operations of the three private equity timber funds included in the Pope Resources transaction. The Trading segment reflects the log trading activities that support New Zealand operations. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Wild light, FL. Read More Infineon Technologies AG designs, develops, manufactures, and markets semiconductors and related system solutions worldwide. Its Automotive segment offers automotive microcontrollers; 3D ToF, magnetic, and pressure sensors; discrete power semiconductors; IGBT modules; industrial microcontrollers; power and radar sensor integrated circuits (ICs); transceivers; silicon carbide diodes, MOSEFTs, and modules; and voltage regulators for use in assistance and safety systems, comfort electronics, infotainment, powertrain, and security products. The company's Industrial Power Control segment provides bare dies, discrete IGBTs, driver ICs, SIC diodes, and IGBT modules and stacks for home appliances, industrial drives, industrial power supplies, industrial robotics, industrial vehicles, and traction, as well as for energy generation, storage, and transmission. Its Power & Sensor Systems segment offers gas sensors, MEMS microphones, and pressure sensors chips; discrete low-voltage, mid-voltage, and high-voltage power MOSFETs; control ICs; customized chips; GaN power switches; GPS low-noise amplifiers; low-voltage and high-voltage driver ICs; radar sensor ICs; RF antenna switches and power transistors; transient voltage suppressor diodes; and USB controllers for use in audio amplifiers, automotive electronics, BLDC motors, cellular communications infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations, human machine interaction, high-reliability components, Internet of Things, LED and conventional lighting systems, mobile devices, and power management applications. The company's Connected Secure Systems segment provides connectivity solutions, embedded security controllers, microcontrollers, and security controllers for authentication, automotive, consumer electronics, government identification document, Internet of Things, mobile communication, payment system, ticketing, access control, and trusted computing applications. Infineon Technologies AG is headquartered in Munich, Germany. Read More Grand City Properties S.A. engages in the residential real estate business in Germany, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company invests in, manages, and rents real estate properties in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin; metropolitan regions of Dresden, Leipzig, and Halle; and the cities in the north of Germany, Bremen, Hamburg, and Hannover, as well as other urban centers, such as Nuremberg, Munch, Mannheim, Frankfurt, and London. Grand City Properties S.A. was founded in 2004 and is based in Luxembourg. Read More 4 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Metro Bank in the last year. There are currently 1 sell rating and 3 hold ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "hold" Metro Bank stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in MBNKF, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Metro Bank or view top-rated stocks. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at contact@marketbeat.com | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. PIMCO Municipal Income Fund II operates as a closed-end investment fund. It intends to seek current income exempt from federal income tax. The firm invests all of its assets in a portfolio of municipal bonds, residual interest municipal bonds and tax-exempt bonds whose interest rates bear an inverse relationship to the interest rate on another security or the value of an index. Its investment portfolio include investments in hospital, water and sewer, tobacco, state and local general obligations, education, lease, tax and power sectors. The company was founded on March 29, 2002 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Finance Unlimited Company, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing Spain S.L., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO US Holdings Inc., AMO USA LLC, AMO USA Sales Holdings Inc., AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, APSIS, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Manufacturing GmbH, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Australia Pty. Limited, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Korea Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Mexico S.A. De C.V., Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals UK Limited, Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Registration Limited, Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CNA Development GmbH, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Codman & Shurtleff Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DR. CI:LABO COMPANY LIMITED, Darlain Trading S.A., DePuy France, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dr. Ci:Labo Co. Ltd., Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Biosurgery Ireland, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Holding Sarl, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon Ireland Unlimited Company, Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor Guatemala Sociedad Anomina, Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovalens B.V., Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JNJ Irish Investments ULC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma Inc., Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Group Holdings Limited, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Company UC, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical, Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Foundation Scotland (NON-PROFIT), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Holdings K.K., Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Company, Johnson & Johnson Japan Inc., Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Limitada, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Servicios Profesionales S. de R.L. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Servicios Corporativos S. de R.L. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, LifeScan, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medical Industrial do Brasil Ltda., Medos International Sarl, Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty AU Pty Ltd, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthotaxy, Orthotaxy, PMC Holdings G.K., PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Penta Pty. Limited, Percivia LLC, Perouse Plastie, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Enterprise Co. Ltd., Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, Spine Solutions GmbH, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., TriStrata Incorporated, UAB "Johnson & Johnson", Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals. Xcel Energy, Inc. operates as a holding company, which engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity primarily in portions of generates, transmits and distributes electricity in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. In addition, this segment includes sales for resale and provides wholesale transmission service to various entities in the United States. It also includes commodity trading operations. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores, and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment engages in steam, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Quest Diagnostics: AmeriPath, AmeriPath Cincinnati Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Cleveland Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Consolidated Labs Inc. (FL), AmeriPath Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Hospital Services Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Indianapolis PC (IN), AmeriPath Kentucky Inc. (KY), AmeriPath Lubbock 5.01(A) Corporation (TX), AmeriPath New York LLC (DE), AmeriPath Texas Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Tucson Inc. (AZ), American Medical Laboratories, American Medical Laboratories Incorporated (DE), Associated Clinical Laboratories L.P. (PA), Associated Clinical Laboratories of Pennsylvania L.L.C. (PA), Athena Diagnostics, Athena Diagnostics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics, Blueprint Genetics FZ-LLC (UAE), Blueprint Genetics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics Oy (Finland), California Laboratory Associates, Cape Cod Healthcare - Business, Celera, ClearPoint Diagnostic, Clearpoint Diagnostic Laboratories LLC (TX), Cleveland HeartLab, Cleveland HeartLab Inc. (DE), Clinical Laboratory Partners, Colorado Pathology Consultants P.C. (CO), ConVerge Diagnostic Services, Consolidated DermPath Inc. (DE), DFW 5.01(a) Corporation (TX), DGXWMT JV LLC (DE), Dermatopathology of Wisconsin S.C. (WI), Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma LLC (OK), Diagnostic Pathology Services Inc. (OK), Diagnostic Reference Services Inc. (MD), ExamOne Canada Inc. (New Brunswick), ExamOne LLC (DE), ExamOne World Wide Inc. (PA), ExamOne World Wide of NJ Inc. (NJ), Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue, Hoffman M.D. Associated Pathologists Chartered (NV), Institute for Dermatopathology Inc. (PA), Isabella Street Urban Renewal LLC (NJ), Kailash B. Sharma M.D. Inc. (GA), Kilpatrick Pathology P.A. (NC), LabOne, LabOne LLC (MO), LabOne of Ohio Inc. (DE), Laboratorio de Analisis Biomedicos S.A. (Mexico), Lancet Labs, MACL, Med Fusion LLC (TX), Med fusion, MedPlus, Mid America Clinical Laboratories LLC (IN), Nomad Massachusetts Inc. (MA), Nuclear Medicine and Pathology Associates (GA), Ocmulgee Medical Pathology Association Inc. (GA), Pathology Building Partnership (MD) (gen. ptnrshp.), PeaceHealth Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories PLLC (WA), Q Squared Solutions Holdings LLC (DE), Q Squared Solutions Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (China), Quest Diagnostics Brasil Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Domestic Holder LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics HTAS India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Incorporated (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (MD), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NV), Quest Diagnostics India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Infectious Disease Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics International Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics International LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Investments LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Ireland Limited (Ireland), Quest Diagnostics LLC (CT), Quest Diagnostics LLC (IL), Quest Diagnostics LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Massachusetts LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Mexico Holding Company Trust (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Mexico S de RL de CV (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute (CA), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute Inc. (VA), Quest Diagnostics Receivables Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Subsidiary Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics TB LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Terracotta LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Venture LLC (PA), Quest Diagnostics Ventures LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil), Quest Diagnostics of Pennsylvania Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics of Puerto Rico Inc. (PR), Quest HealthConnect LLC (CA), ReproSource, Reprosource Fertility Diagnostics Inc. (MA), Solstas Lab Partners, Sonora Quest Laboratories LLC (AZ), Specialty Laboratories Inc. (CA), Summit Health, UMass Memorial Medical Center - Anatomic Pathology Outreach Laboratory Business, Unilab Corporation, and Unilab Corporation (DE). iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF's stock was trading at $51.51 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EUSA stock has increased by 70.7% and is now trading at $87.9058. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Mexican Gold Mining Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of resource properties. It holds a 100% interest in the Las Minas project consists of six mineral concessions located in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. The company was formerly known as Mexican Gold Corp. and changed its name to Mexican Gold Mining Corp. in February 2020. Mexican Gold Mining Corp. was founded in 2006 and is based in Vancouver, Canada. Read More iShares National Muni Bond ETF's stock was trading at $114.45 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, MUB stock has increased by 1.7% and is now trading at $116.39. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Nevsun Resources Ltd. engages in the mining and development of mineral properties in Europe, Africa, and North America. It explores for gold, copper, zinc, and silver deposits. The company's principal assets include Timok project, a copper-gold development project in Serbia; and Bisha copper- zinc mine in Eritrea. It also holds exploration licenses and permits in Serbia and Macedonia, as well as in the Bisha mining district. The company was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. As of January 7, 2019, Nevsun Resources Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group Company Limited. Read More Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF's stock was trading at $81.79 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, BSV shares have decreased by 0.9% and is now trading at $81.06. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. The following companies are subsidiares of Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams. Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, national, and international news to professionals through desktop terminals, media organizations, and industry events, as well as directly to consumers. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited. Read More Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 433,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 98,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,233 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,048,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 572,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 130 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 67,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 270,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada. Read More Whitbread has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock. According to analysts' consensus price target of GBX 3,715.56, Whitbread has a forecasted upside of 28.2% from its current price of GBX 2,898. Whitbread has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.90, and is based on 9 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings. 4.7 Community Rank Outperform Votes Whitbread has received 822 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.) Underperform Votes Whitbread has received 346 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.) Community Sentiment Whitbread has received 70.38% outperform votes from our community. MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Whitbread and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe WTB will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe WTB will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days. Previous Next As it was with George W. Bush and every other president who preceded him, Barack Obama made policy decisions I found troubling. Obama once described the driving principle of his foreign policy as little more than dont do stupid s. That reflexive reaction to Bushs military adventurism led to U.S. inaction in the face of some 500,000 Syrian deaths and the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. Domestically, Obama failed to pass a significant piece of legislation during his final six years in office. And yet, 100 years from now, Obamas presidency will be hailed as the most transformative of our lifetimes and Donald Trumps will be viewed with the same scorn that followed the Dred Scott decision. Like that pre-Civil War Supreme Court case, Trump will forever be condemned as a racial reprobate whose words and actions inspired white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Last weeks slaughter of Muslims in New Zealand was committed by a fascist who claimed to draw inspiration from Trump and others. It was the latest in a long line of tragedies that our president failed to clearly condemn. After the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump proclaimed a moral equivalence between neo-Nazis and their opponents. After the killings in Christchurch, the president dismissed the threat of white supremacy while claiming the rising tide of violence coming from the far right was limited to a few troublemakers with very serious problems. Trumps acting chief of staff appeared on national television to declare that the president is not a white supremacist. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway once again shamed herself by dismissing the fascist mass killing from Australia as an eco-terrorist. The presidents apologists denied that the current commander in chief was inspiring right-wing violence. But the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported in November that far-right attacks rose in Europe by 43 percent since 2016, while right-wing terrorist attacks have quadrupled in the United States over the same time. Hate crimes rose 17 percent in 2017. This troubling chapter in American history has one author and his name is Donald Trump. This sputtering reality star has created a political identity and corrupt presidency inspired by the wave of racism that followed Obamas. The Manhattan multimillionaires 2016 calls for a Muslim ban and creation of a Muslim registry, the claim of ignorance toward former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, the attack on a Hispanic judges integrity, the callousness shown toward a Muslim Gold Star family, and the anti-Semitic tweet featuring a Star of David and piles of $100 bills next to Hillary Clintons face. These are just a few of the racially charged offenses that Trump committed even before Americans elected him president. The shocking conclusion to the 2016 campaign made millions of Americans, including me, look foolish for believing that Obamas victories in 2008 and 2012 had proved that the United States had emerged from the scourge of racism infecting it for more than two centuries. I remain shocked that this strain of bigotry still fuels the political careers of Trump and his enablers on Capitol Hill. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., often said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. That is but one reason why the rise in bigotry shown to Muslims, Jews, Hispanics, blacks and others has been so discouraging in the age of Trump. Like those who believed these racists were relics from a bygone age, I had also convinced myself that my Republicans colleagues were so repelled by racism that they would never support a leader who provided inspiration to neo-Nazis and white supremacists; the manifesto of the New Zealand killer and the words of David Duke after Charlottesville showed just how wrong I was. Thats why any policy differences I had with Obama now seem so insignificant. Americans who still have faith in the upward arc of Kings moral universe should be grateful for Obamas presidency and the way his election exposed the white racism that is still at large in our land. If changing the Constitution and re-electing Obama two more times would break the fever that now ravages Trumps Washington, I would cheerfully champion the passage of that constitutional amendment, slap a Hope and Change sticker on my shirt and race to the nearest voting booth to support the man historians will remember as the most significant president since Abraham Lincoln. In its latest order, Sebi directed Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) and Fortis Hospitals Ltd (FHsL) to continue their efforts to recover dues from Shivinder Mohan Singh and Malvinder Mohan Singh as well as seven other entities. Mumbai: In a blow to the Singh brothers, the market regulator Sebi has asked Fortis Healthcare to take all measures to recover Rs 403 crore, along with accrued interest, from the brothers and their holding companies. In its latest order, Sebi directed Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) and Fortis Hospitals Ltd (FHsL) to continue their efforts to recover dues from Shivinder Mohan Singh and Malvinder Mohan Singh as well as seven other entities. The Sebi order directed the Singh brothers to pay Fortis within three months from the date of the interim order. The latest ruling confirms the Sebis interim order where it had found that the Singh brothers, along with seven entities, diverted Rs 403 crore from FHL, for the ultimate benefit of parent firm RHC Holding Pvt. Ltd. and Religare Finvest Ltd. "This seven-year agreement for an incremental $1.3 billion continues to build on the success of the Xerox-HCL relationship, which began in 2009 with product engineering and support services," HCL Tech said in a statement. (Photo: HCL Tech website) New Delhi: Indian IT company HCL Technologies announced on Tuesday that it has signed a managed services agreement with Xerox worth $1.3 billion over multiple years. "This seven-year agreement for an incremental $1.3 billion continues to build on the success of the Xerox-HCL relationship, which began in 2009 with product engineering and support services," HCL Tech said in a statement. HCL Tech will manage portions of Xerox's shared services, including global administrative and support functions, including selected information technology and finance functions (excluding accounting), it added. The IT firm currently manages aspects of Xerox's mechanical, electrical and software engineering activities for printer and imaging product lines. Together, the two companies have delivered 215 US patents and have created research and development (R&D) labs that are tightly integrated with Xerox infrastructure and standards. "Xerox will benefit from our global scale, best-in-class processes and investments in artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and transformation tools, and HCL will benefit from a long-term agreement to provide product support and administrative services to Xerox," HCL Technologies President and Chief Executive Officer C Vijayakumar said. As part of the agreement, a group of Xerox employees will transfer to HCL (subject to statutory compliances), the statement said but did not divulge specific numbers. Xerox President and Chief Operations Officer Steve Bandrowczak said, "We selected HCL as our partner for this strategic initiative due to our successful track record together thus far and our shared values". New Delhi: SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Wednesday said the lenders of Jet Airways will make every effort to keep the embattled airline flying. Kumar met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley along with Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. "Will make every effort to keep Jet airways flying," Kumar told reporters. A source said banks are trying to work out a revival plan for Jet Airways through a change in management. On getting a new player in Jet Airways, Kumar said, "No possibility is ruled out". "The dialogue with Etihad is on. It is not that they have conclusively decided that they will go out. But there are certain conditions which they want to be fulfilled and it is nothing but that the airline should be professionally managed and without any interference," he added. Etihad currently holds 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. Keeping Jet Airways flying is in the interest of lenders and consumers, the source added. The pilots union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if their salaries are not paid by March 31. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said only 41 aircraft of the Jet Airways were currently available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in coming weeks". Kumar further said that taking Jet Airways under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is the last option. SpiceJet and Jet Airways are the only carriers in India that operate this type of aircraft and have a total of about 400 on order. (Photo: PTI/Representational) New Delhi: Indias SpiceJet Ltd could benefit from cash-strapped Jet Airways being forced to ground planes, and the low-cost carrier is in talks with lessors to lease some of those aircraft, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Shares of SpiceJet rose as much as 7.2 per cent on Wednesday in their biggest percentage gain since December 18 as investors bet the airline could take advantage of Jet Airways woes. SpiceJet last week was forced to ground its 12 Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 planes by Indias aviation watchdog, following safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people. SpiceJet and Jet Airways are the only carriers in India that operate this type of aircraft and have a total of about 400 on order. The airlines also operate the previous model, the 737-800 among other Boeing planes. The 737-800 makes up the majority of the Jet Airways fleet, and the airline is now operating only 41 aircraft, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Tuesday. That means around two-thirds of its fleet is grounded for non-payment to lessors, maintenance or other reasons. Lessors are panicking as they havent been paid and if Jet goes for insolvency, their planes will be stuck in India, so many of them are chasing SpiceJet, said the person quoted earlier. The person said SpiceJet needs at least twelve 737s to cover the grounded MAX planes and it is negotiating for more. Jet Airways pilots are also queuing up to join the budget airline. Jet Airways lessors have offered 50 aircraft to SpiceJet, according to a report by news wire IANS. SpiceJet and Jet Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jet Airways shares dropped about 7 per cent on Wednesday as its financial crisis deepened, with the Indian government calling for an emergency meeting and pilots threatening to go on strike over unpaid salaries. The government has asked state-run banks to rescue Jet Airways without pushing it into bankruptcy, two people within the administration have told Reuters, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to avert thousands of job losses weeks before a general election. The 25-year-old airline has defaulted on loans after racking up over USD 1 billion in debt, and owes money to banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors - some of whom have started terminating their lease deals with the carrier. This has forced Jet Airways to cancel hundreds of flights, leaving passengers stranded and angry. The number of Jet Airways flights has fallen by 80 per cent from a year ago, according to the DGCA. As part of "considering a concrete collaboration in new fields", Suzuki will supply Ciaz sedan and Ertiga multi-purpose vehicle to Toyota in India in addition to the already agreed supplies of premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza. New Delhi: Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation Wednesday announced strengthening of their collaboration, including manufacturing of Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza at Toyota's plant in India from 2022. The two partners have agreed to extend their collaboration to Europe and Africa over and above their partnership in India. As part of "considering a concrete collaboration in new fields", Suzuki will supply Ciaz sedan and Ertiga multi-purpose vehicle to Toyota in India in addition to the already agreed supplies of premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza. Moreover, Suzuki will supply its India-produced vehicles -- Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz, Ertiga -- to Toyota for the African market as well, the companies said in a joint statement. Toyota on the other hand, will provide Suzuki its hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies in India through local procurement of HEV systems, engines, and batteries, while also supplying THS (Toyota Hybrid System) to Suzuki in the global markets. Commenting on India specific collaboration, the two firms said the partnership will focus on the fields of technological development and production leveraging on each other's strength. As part of the programme, Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza will be produced at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) plant from 2022, it said. Moreover, drawing upon Suzuki's expertise in developing vehicles in India, the partners plan joint development of a Toyota C-segment MPV and OEM supply (of the same) to Suzuki. Commenting on the development, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said:"Through our new agreement, we look forward to the wider use of hybrid technologies, not only in India and Europe, but around the world." At the same time, he said,"we believe that the expansion of our business partnership with Suzuki from the mutual supply of vehicles and powertrains to the domains of development and production will help give us the competitive edge we will need to survive this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation." Suzuki Motor Corporation Chairman Osamu Suzuki said since the announcement of scope of cooperation in May last year, the partners had envisaged to strive for success globally. "I have seen progress in the partnership since then, and it is my pleasure to be able to make this announcement today regarding the status of partnership on a global basis, including Europe and Africa," Suzuki said. In addition, he said,"we appreciate the kind offer from Toyota to let us make use of their hybrid technology. We will continue our utmost efforts." As part of the new plans, in Europe, Toyota will adopt newly developed Suzuki engines for compact vehicles. Such engines will be supported by Denso and Toyota, and will be manufactured at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland. On the other hand, Toyota will supply two new electrified vehicles built on its platforms (RAV4, Corolla Wagon) to Suzuki in Europe. "Moving forward, insofar as Toyota and Suzuki continue to fairly and freely compete against each other, both companies intend to consider further collaboration to realise a sustainable future mobility society while respecting all applicable laws," the statement said. In March last year, the two Japanese companies had concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other in the Indian market. As per the agreement, Suzuki supplies premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota supplies sedan Corolla to Suzuki. In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki concluded an agreement towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components. Subsequently, in November 2017 the companies announced an MoU to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in India around 2020. Shareholders will be able to buy 87 shares for every 38 shares held for an issue price of 12.50 rupees apiece. Vodafone Idea Ltd, Indias largest telecommunications company by subscribers, on Wednesday approved 250 billion rupees (USD 3.63 billion) rights issue at a sharp discount, sending its shares tumbling. The deal is the second major fundraising by an Indian telco this year after Bharti Airtel Ltd announced a similar plan to reduce debt and fund operations in a market blighted by steep price competition. Shareholders will be able to buy 87 shares for every 38 shares held for an issue price of 12.50 rupees apiece, the firm said in a statement. That will be around 60 per cent discount to the current share prices. Indian telcos are trying to cut debt and shore up balance sheets at a time when the industry grapples with a prolonged price war triggered by the 2016 entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, owned by Asias richest person, Mukesh Ambani. Resulting consolidation included Idea Cellulars merger last year with the Indian operations of Britains Vodafone Group PLC in a deal worth USD 23 billion. Market conditions also prompted Bharti Airtel this month to sell USD 525 million worth of stock to Singapore Telecommunications Ltd under a plan to raise USD 4.6 billion. After Wednesdays news, Vodafone Idea stock fell as much as 7.6 per cent to 29.60 rupees, its steepest intraday fall in almost two months. Mumbai: On Monday, a 32-year-old man employed with cab aggregator got arrested for allegedly stalking TV and film producer Ekta Kapoor over the past few months. The Hindustan Times report stated that the police found accused Sudhir Rajender Singh following Ekta more than 30 times, including to Juhu temple and her gym. Police further stated that Sudhir wanted to befriend her and get a job at her firm. Reportedly, the police arrested Sudhir Singh soon after Ekta Kapoor's company filed a complaint. A police officer quoted the leading daily, "We received a complaint saying Kapoor had repeatedly tried to ignore the man, but he kept following her across the city." "The most recent instance took place a few days ago when Kapoor had gone to a temple in Juhu. Singh followed her and tried to approach her, but was stopped by Kapoors security guards, the police officer added. Despite being warned by the guards, Sudhir Singh used to wait for Ekta Kapoor outside her gym. The Amboli police have registered an FIR against Sudhir Singh and started looking for him. The officer further said, "We used technical surveillance to track him down to Veera Desai Road. During interrogation, we found out the number of times he had followed her." Speaking about checking Sudhir Singh's phone, the officer further added, "We need to find out how he got information about Kapoors whereabouts and schedule. We will submit a charge sheet soon." New York: "Hotel Mumbai", which recounts the November 2008 siege of the famed Taj Hotel in Mumbai by a group of LeT terrorists, honours the people's "resilience" in the face of a terror attack and underscores that the "religion of humanity" is most important, actor Anupam Kher said. Kher plays Hemant Oberoi, the hotel's celebrated executive chef and a real-life hero who demonstrated remarkable courage during the hours that the Taj was under attack, saving the lives of many of the hotel guests and staff. "Hotel Mumbai", directed by Anthony Maras and also starring Dev Patel, premiered here Sunday. "It was a difficult film as an actor. It was emotionally exhausting and mentally disturbing," Kher told PTI in an interview. During filming, the 64-year-old actor recalled, Maras would suddenly play recorded gunshots in the middle of a scene. He said it was difficult to imagine what people at Taj and in Mumbai must have gone through during the three days of the terror attack. "To me, the film is about the resilience of people, also about this amazing staff which were heroes and how they discovered their own courage... Sometimes you discover your own courage in a situation like this and find your own unsung heroes," he said. Kher hailed Oberoi and the team at Taj as real-life heroes for their courage and bravery in the face of terror and then "resurrecting" the landmark hotel within months of the attack. "It's a courageous film. In a business where you want to make movies where everything is hunky-dory, it's important to make a film on this subject... The religion of humanity is much more important than anything else," he said. He said whenever there is a terror attack, "you discover that the whole world comes together." He believes a film like "Hotel Mumbai" is sometimes required "to unsettle people because truth, compassion comes out sometimes by unsettling people. Unless the audience gets unsettled, nothing happens." "Cinema is a great tool, not necessarily for your own catharsis, laughter, sadness, tears but it's also an important platform for the audience to have a little more compassion for the victims," he said. Kher also paid tributes to the fighting spirit of the people of Mumbai. "In India, people have a great sense of survival. Mumbai was back on its feet after the attacks. The scar is there but how well you deal with it is important," he said. "Hotel Mumbai", also featuring Armie Hammer of "Call Me By Your Name" fame and "Homeland" star Nazanin Boniadi releases in the US on March 29. Mumbai: While the festivities of Holi spread happiness every year, the festival is even more celebratory for Kriti Sanon owing to the abundant success of her recent outing Luka Chuppi. Kriti Sanon has not only achieved the mark of 75 crores with her first release of the year but is also aiming to march towards the 100 crore club. Feeling ecstatic about happiness and success galore of Luka Chuppi, Kriti Sanon said, "The sweetness is going on since Bareily ki Barfi, I can't describe how overwhelmed I feel. The response for Luka Chuppi has been amazing not just from the critics but from the audiences' as well. People have watched the film with their families living up to the film's 'saparivaar' idea." The actress is currently juggling with the shoot for her upcoming period drama Panipat, some starry live performances and her upcoming film Arjun Patiala which is set to be released in May. Besides work, it's after a long time that Kriti Sanon will be celebrating the festival with her family who has flown down to Mumbai all the way from Delhi which makes this Holi even special for Luka Chuppi actress. Kriti Sanon could not contain her happiness as she'll be celebrating Holi with her parents and her sister. "They have come down from Delhi and it's after quite some time that I will be having fun during Holi, together with my parents and sister, I am excited, to celebrate 'saparivaar' says Kriti Sanon. Luka Chuppi marks Kriti Sanon's highest opener ever as a solo female lead and the actress is overwhelmed with the kind of the response the film has been garnering. The actress who plays the role of Rashmi is a perfect combination of a small-town girl with modern thinking and Kriti Sanon has been raking in immense appreciation to pull off the role with ease. Marking her first release of the year with Luka Chuppi, Kriti will be next seen in Arjun Patiala, Housefull 4, and Panipat. Ace Kannada filmmaker Sunil Kumar Desai, a master of suspense thrillers, is ready with his next multilingual thriller titled Uchchakattam in Tamil and Udhgarsha in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Thakur Anoop Singh who played the antagonist to Suriya in Singham 3 turns hero with this film. Sai Dhansika and Tania Hope of Thadam fame are the two lead ladies. Kabir Singh Duhan who came to limelight by playing the villain to Ajith in Vedhalam will be seen as the main baddie. Aadukalam Kishore, Shravan Raghavendhra, Shradhha Das and Vamsi Krishna are in the supporting cast. Says Sunil, The story revolves around a murder that takes place at a high end club 48 hours before New Year. How the various characters who come to the resort to celebrate the New Year get entangled with the murder hampering their next move is narrated with a lot of mysterious twists and turns. The film has plenty of suspense, thrill, love, lust, betrayal and loads of action sequences. Bollywood composer Sanjoy Chowdhury, son of ace Salil Chowdhury composes the music. AGS Cinemas releases the movie on March 22. Bharani of Nadodigal fame vanished after doing a few insignificant films only to make a comeback through Bigg Boss reality show. The actor created a flutter in BB when he tried to escape from the show. Now, he is back with a movie, which is interestingly titled Kuchchi Ice. Jaya Prakash, a former assistant of ace Bharathiraja who has done a few movies including the controversial Saadhi Sanam, is back and wielding the megaphone. Debutante Rathika will essay Bharanis love interest. Talking about the film, Jaya Prakash claims, The movie deals with the repercussions of globalisation among simple rural people told in soul stirring manner. Talks are on with prominent actors for supporting roles. The movie went on floors in Erode recently. Tejraj, son of veteran actor Charanraj who acted in 400 movies in all south languages, Hindi and Bengali, is a happy man these days. Tej, a Viscom student who trained in all aspects of films including taking an acting course at Balu Mahendras acting school Cinema Pattarai, stunts from Pandian master and dance from masters Raghuram and Sridhar has finally reached his destination cinema. The actor who played the role of rowdy in the recently released controversial film 90 ML says that it has given him the due recognition. People recognise me wherever I go after 90 ML and are asking for my autograph. It gives me a contented feeling and I am excited about it, Tejraj says. The young actor reveals that he was initially apprehensive about the intimate scenes with his pair Bommu Lakshmi in the film. Yes, even as my director Alagiya Asura madam narrated the script, she told me that she was looking for an A movie which involves many lip locks and intimate scenes. I was a bit hesitant and told dad about it. He said, it is cinema, go ahead and do it. That gave a bit of confidence to do the character. Ask him if he wants to establish himself as a villain or hero and he says, It is not important whether I do a hero or villain role. As long as the character is meaty and earns a name for me, I am happy to accept it. I want to long last like my dad in films. Talks are on about a few films, which he will announce soon, he adds. Over the last one year, the Movie Artistes Association (MAA) has regularly been in the news due to its infighting. With the recent elections and a new team in place, everyone thought that the controversy had ended. However, it appears that the fight is far from over. Recently, newly elected president Naresh accused Sivaji Raja of obstructing him and not allowing him to take the oath. He also criticised the former MAA president in many ways. Not one to take things lying down, Sivaji Raja soon went on an offensive. There are by-laws which state that the elections will be held in March and the president takes oath on April 1. I am simply following that law. I dont know why Naresh held a press meet, he said, adding that he was hurt by Nareshs open criticism of him in front of the media. Further, Sivaji Raja urged Naresh to show the contents of a file which the latter keeps bringing up. What is in the file? Open and show it in front of the media, stop threatening, said an irate Sivaji Raja, who also brought up Nareshs lavish spends. Recently Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, Naresh and I went to Malaysia for a film event. We all got business class tickets but while Paruchuri and I stayed in a normal room, Naresh stayed in a suite. Also, he got drunk and missed the flight, forcing the organisers to book him on another flight. Isnt that a waste of money? he asked. The former president also said that he does not want to go to the office anymore. I will go when the new president is taking charge as it is the norm, but I dont want to go otherwise. Why should I obstruct them? I have neither the manpower nor money power like them, said Sivaji Raja, questioning Naresh about Mahesh Babus programme in the US. We were able to earn some money from Chiranjeevi garus event in the US but everyone knows why Mahesh Babus event got cancelled. Naresh should explain when and where the programme will be held, he challenged. As for Naga Babus support to the Naresh panel, the former president said, Naga Babu and I have been friends for the last 30 years. I will soon give him a return gift. On a parting note, he added, I waited for three days after Naresh held a media conference and accused me. Since the TFI committee didnt respond, I was forced to call this press conference. Im very happy that I will get to celebrate holi for two days continuously this year. My celebrations0 will start off on the sets of the movie aivar, for which I am shooting in Chennai. Later, I will fly to Mumbai and enjoy the festival with my friends. This Holi is surely an eventful celebration, And Im not going to be playing dry Holi. Im sorry, Im a very responsible citizen of this country and I value resources like electricity and water. but we have already sacrificed crackers during Diwali and I want to really rain dance and play around with pichkaris this Holi. Indians simply love the colours of Holi. The trend this year is to play safe. Our festivals are not just mere celebrations. They are a fusion of rich heritage, tradition, culture and some fun-filled moments that leave memories for a lifetime. Colours can treat each one very differently. With the growing trend of celebrating every festival with a natural touch, herbal colours are definitely in. Urvashi Vats, expert at Momspresso expresses, Distribution of happiness and sweetness in relations through putting colour on each other is the sole purpose of celebrating Holi, but colours available often have chemicals, which are very harmful to the skin. Why not use natural colours to play Holi? So that this festival of colours should really become a festival of happiness. Mahesh Babu, actor Its all about family Holi isnt that big a festival here in Hyderabad, but the kids have a holiday, so its usually quality time spent at home with the family. Hope everyone has a fun-filled and safe Holi...we normally just have a small get-together with the kids friends at home. Home-made recipes Green: With mehendi mix cornflour and you can make a dry green colour. Always remember that gooseberry should not be mixed with mehendi. If you want to make it dark then mix water in it. Yellow: Turmeric and gram flour can be mixed to prepare yellow. The proportion in of gram flour and turmeric should be 1:2. It can be usually used as a facepack too and makes the skin glow. Instead of gram flour, you can also use talcum powder. Red: Red sandalwood powder if mixed with dry hibiscus flower makes a beautiful and fragrant colour. For wet red colour boil two spoons of red sandalwood powder in one litre of water. Pink: Take a beetroot, cut it into slices and grind it and soak it in one litre of water for a night. In the morning boil this water and make it thick. For Ayurveda expert Dr Partap Chauhan, no country in the world celebrates spring as extravagantly as India does. From Holi to Vasant Utsav to Bihu, the entire nation celebrates spring with great pomp and joy. While you enjoy the festival of colours, make sure that your skin remains protected. Here are some simple tips. A day before Holi, apply mustard oil all over the body. Apply generously on face, hands and legs as these are exposed areas to colour. This will not only keep your skin protected, it will also allow you to remove the colours with ease. On your hair apply plenty of coconut oil. This acts as a protecting agent and prevents colours from penetrating deep into the roots. Alternatively you can also use a lotion. If dry colour gets into your eyes quickly rinse it with water. On the day of Holi keep washing your eyes regularly with water. Apply some rose water in your eyes. This will relax the eyes. Use organic colours and in case you observe rashes on your skin, follow these simple tips: a) If the colour has been applied by rubbing it in, it is best to use face wash instead of soap to remove it. Be gentle while washing as this process can harm your skin. b) Before going out to play, soak some multani mitti for about an hour. Once you are done, apply the multani mitti on affected areas. This will prevent future rashes too. c) One good home remedy is to mix gram flour, sweet oil and milk cream in rose water and use the paste on your body. d) Some colours are prepared from harmful substances like acids, glass and strong chemicals which are hard to remove. e) A few home remedies will help removing these strong chemicals. f) Take half a bowl of curd in two spoons of lime juice. Apply it on the areas having colour and take a bath with lukewarm water. Home-made pack is another handy remedy. g) Avoid scrubbing your skin too hard. The skin gets affected with synthetic colour. Also, avoid going out in the sun after all festivities. Lets go organic Many are divided on whether they want to celebrate the festival or not while some are put off by the quality of the colours. Easy availability of quality or organic colours may help bring back its popularity. Also, social media may be useful to spread the essence of the festival. Saina Nehwal Many shopkeepers now put up pots on their shop walls to enable sparrows to nest there. ALAPPUZHA: A decade ago the chirpy little house sparrows were common sighting in rural markets in Kerala. Considered one of the most human-friendly birds in the world, they were seen walking around cackling, staying in the self-made nests in nooks and corners of the dusty shops in busy markets. People fed them like pets, providing with free space to breed, and it, in turn, maintained the markets from getting dirty. So they called the passer domesticus with love as Angadi Kuruvi or sparrow of the market. With urbanisation, their habitat started vanishing. The tile-roofed retail shops gave way to glitzy concrete-and-glass structures driving them away. So, since 2010, the Nature Forever Society founded by environmentalist Mohammed Dilawar began celebrating World House Sparrow Day on March 20. Their conservation is need of the hour as surveys show it's fast becoming endangered species. Birdwatchers say their count has dropped across the state. The only place it was spotted in the district is Edathua. Harikumar Mannar of Alappuzha Nature History Society attributes the reason to indiscriminate human intervention to nature. These birds used to survive by eating grains fall in markers. With the rice and other grains coming well-packaged now, they lost food. The radiation from mobile towers is hindering their hatching," he says. Their sightings shrank to a few places like Kanjirappally, Vagamon, Kottayam, Ranni, Konni and Kozhencherry. The declining will result in not only the destruction of environmental sustenance but also the survival of humans." A survey by the Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences, Kottayam, in ten spots in the district last year found merely 64 while the number was 740 in 2012. Another report says the sparrow count in Kochi dropped from 481 in 2016 to 332 in 2018. He suggests the creation of general awareness about the dwindling sparrow population. Many shopkeepers now put up pots on their shop walls to enable sparrows to nest there. "Weve launched a campaign Kuruvikku Oru Koodu (a nest for sparrow)," he said. Before getting doused in colour, apply a generous layer of lip balm to lock in your lips moisture levels. (Photo: Representational/Pixabay) Mumbai: Do you really need to wear makeup on Holi, considering the plan is to be drenched in an indecipherable rainbow of colours by the end of the day anyway? If you want an extra layer of skin protection from the sun, splashes and suspect chemicals in Holi colours, then the answer is yes. Skin Saviour While Holi is great fun for us, its not so great on your skin. The combination of spending hours under the burning sun, dirty water, and chemical colours can cause some serious damage. Doing thorough skincare prep before you step out to celebrate is a must. Cleanse and exfoliate, before applying a moisturiser suited to your skin type, and finally, add a layer of waterproof sunscreen. Remember sunscreen needs to be applied at least 30 mins before you apply makeup or go out. Partner in Prime Once youve got your sunscreen on and settled in, apply a generous layer of primer on your skin. A primer is usually used to create a smooth canvas for the rest of your makeup and helps give your skin a flawless finish. But in this scenario, where you know your skin has to face off against sun damage and corrosive chemicals, it protects your skin by creating a strong barrier. Stack up SPF Since youll be spending more time than usual under the sun, give your skin a better chance at fending off UV rays by layering your SPF. Choose base products like concealers & foundations that have SPF to boost your skins ability to protect itself from harmful UV rays. MyGlamms Total Makeover FF Cream is perfect for the job. Important: Using a base makeup product enriched with SPF does not mean you can forego applying sunscreen. Sunscreen is your first line of defence against UV rays, while SPF-enriched makeup only adds an extra layer of protection. Get in Line If youre the kind who never steps out without eyeliner, switch out of your regular kajal with a waterproof formula. You dont want black panda eyes bleeding into your face full of bright pigments. But in the spirit of celebrating colour, instead of the traditional black kajal, experiment with bold blues, teals, and greens, all of which look vibrant on Indian skin tones. Lip Love Lips often get ignored in skincare prep, even though they get damaged most easily. Your lips have a super thin outer layer and absorb colours very easily. They also tend to dry out quickly when youre playing in the hot sun. Before getting doused in colour, apply a generous layer of lip balm to lock in your lips moisture levels. A few swipes of the LIT pH Lip Balm will serve double dutyitll hold in moisture and give you a naturally tinted pout. On the Nail Remember walking around with gulal-tinged fingertips for days after Holi and hating it? Theres a simple solution to prevent thatnail polish! Always start with a good base coat. It protects your nail bed and prevents colour from seeping through. Then follow it up with a bright celebratory pop of colour like the Wanderlust Gel Nail Enamel in Mistress. Finish off your nails with a top coat to lock in the shine and prevent your nails from chipping quickly. While playing Holi, nails tend to get soft and break easily after being soaked in water for a long time. Wearing nail polish acts as armour, ensuring they stay strong as you fling colour. *Disclaimer: This article has been contributed by Jerusha Chande, Content Head, MyGlamm. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Deccan Chronicle, and Deccan Chronicle does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. Kenya: Luggard, a lively three-year-old, limps behind the rest of his ragtag troupe of orphan elephants, halting to graze or rub against a tree. When he was just five months old, Luggard was found struggling to keep up with his herd in Kenya's Tsavo East National Park. He had been shot twice. One bullet pierced his left front foot, and another shattered his right, hind femur just above the knee joint. The calf was discovered "too late for successful surgery," said Edwin Lusichi, 42, head keeper at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) elephant nursery in Nairobi National Park, Luggard's new home. With the rest of the gang of 20 elephant babies in this unusual orphanage, Luggard comes charging with great enthusiasm, though hobbling heavily on his deformed leg, out of the bush for a 9:00 am feeding. The calves greedily slurp from oversized "baby bottles", rumbling contentedly and trumpeting excitedly as they ingest the special mix of human baby formula, water and vitamins. Each calf at the nursery has a tragic story: orphaned by poachers, drought, or in conflict with humans encroaching ever further into the few wild places left. "We rescue them from just a few days old," DSWT administrator Kirsty Smith told AFP. The youngest elephant in the centre's care is Larro, 10 months. She was found lost and alone in the Maasai Mara game reserve, likely after her family clashed with humans. "Sometimes the elephants get into the communities, farms and homes, people fight them, chase them away, and in the process of the fight they (the babies) get separated from their families," Lusichi explained. Without its mother, an elephant calf will die. They are weaned between the ages of five and 10, when they enter adolescence. Adulthood starts around the age of 18, and left undisturbed, elephants can live to be 70. But poaching claims many prematurely. About 20,000 African elephants per year, 55 per day, are killed, mainly for their tusks, according to the WWF. "You're killing a whole elephant just to have the tusks! For what -- just to have an ornament?" asks an exasperated Lusichi. He points to Enkesha, a tiny two-year-old. "You see the trunk? She was found trapped in a snare" which all but severed the appendage elephants use to breathe, eat, drink water, and communicate. Enkesha was rescued, stitched up, and after a long rehabilitation, now uses her badly-scarred trunk almost as normal, ripping up grass to eat and sucking up water. The nursery keeps babies like Luggard, Larro and Enkesha until they are about three -- the age at which elephants start craving more independence. But until then, they receive 24-7 care with a bottle feeding every three hours. Here they spend several years learning to live independently, eventually joining a herd or forming their own and setting off into the wider park. Chakradhar allegedly offered the girl toffees, took her to his house and tried to sexually assault her. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: A 46-year-old man was taken into custody for allegedly attempting to sexually exploit the eight-year-old daughter of his tenant. The Madhapur police said the accused, Chakradhar alias Chakravarthy, had offered toffees and lured the girl to his house. Police said Chakradhar, a resident of Parvathanagar in Madhapur, worked as a labourer and lived along with his family. On Monday evening, the victim, a Class III student at a private school, was playing near her house after returning from school. Her parents, both labourers, were out at work. Chakradhar allegedly offered the girl toffees, took her to his house and tried to sexually assault her. The girls mother returned home in the meanwhile and didnt find her. She began searching for her and allegedly found her in Chakradhars house. She pulled the girl out of the house and alerted the neighbours, and called the police, who took Chakradhar into custody for the questioning. A senior official from the Cyberabad police commissionerate quoted from the mothers complaint to say that she had seen Chakradhar lying on the girl on a bed. Based on the complaint from the mother, a case under IPC Sections 376 (punishment for rape) read with 511 (punishment for offences entailing imprisonment), Sections 9 (aggravated sexual assault) and 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of POCSO Act and under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered. Chakradhar was picked up for questioning. The victim was sent for counselling and medical assistance, and the investigation is on. The accused has not been arrested yet, said the official. There were attacks on consecutive days especially on houses where women live alone. Kollam: The villagers of coastal Eravipuram are having sleepless nights due to unabated theft attempts and sexual assaults towards women for the last few weeks. The residents of Valathunkal here have now ganged up to nab the thief or thieves who have become a menace to the residents. There were attacks on consecutive days especially on houses where women live alone. The police also could not yet trace the invisible thief who hides behind shadows of night. Describing the modus operandi, the local residents said the person or persons behind the crime targets houses in which women live alone. During early night hours, the thief knocks the door signalling them an its me gesture veiled as if the person is familiar to the family. If the women are reluctant to open the door, the thief barges into the house by breaking the door. The women are also sexually harassed before getting looted. There were over 12 incidents at Valathu-nkal, Mayyanad, Erav-ipuram, Koottikkada, and Pallimukku areas during the past 10 days despite the local residents being prepared to nab the thief. However, the robbery and attack continues unabated, the residents allege. The residents also suspect the involvement of a youth from nearby area, who is also a drug addict, behind the attacks. Eravipuram police had recovered CCTV visuals that showed the suspect walking along the Valathunkal area, but is yet to nab the culprit. Police including shadow police team focuses on drug mafia to find possible hints into the crime series. Plus-2 students after completing their final exam at an exam hall in Chennai on Tuesday. (Image DC) Chennai: Scrapping blueprint in board exams and improved awareness about punishment for malpractices have brought down the number of students involving in malpractices in plus two board exams from 152 last year to just 14 students this year. Nearly 9 lakh candidates appeared for the plus two board exams that were concluded on Tuesday. A maximum of four candidates caught during Chemistry and Accountancy exam. In English exam also only three candidates were found to be involved in copying. Districts like Cuddalore, Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai used to have a high number of malpractices. But this year, Cuddalore district has recorded only one malpractice case which is very surprising, officials from school education department said. Some headmasters said scrapping blueprint has played a major role in bringing down the malpractices in board exams. With the blueprint, the students would know where the questions would come from. So, they would write the answers and bring them to exam halls. Without the blueprint, students were not sure where the questions would be asked. It could have prevented them from carrying notes or papers to exam halls, said G.J.Manohar, the headmaster of MCC Higher Secondary School in Chetpet. However, the instances of copying from other candidates also not widely reported this year. The directorate of government examinations (DGE) has issued circulars to schools highlighting the punishment for the exam related offences this year. All the schools were repeatedly read out the punishments for exam-related offences during prayer meetings. It might have created awareness among the students, said N.Vijayan, founder and principal of Zion Matric Higher Secondary School in Tambaram. In the circular, DGE warned the students that if a candidate was found guilty of copying and attempting to copy from forbidden papers they would be debarred for next two examinations. It also said the copying from another candidate will attract cancellation of performance and debarment for more than one year. Further, the directorate also put restrictions on employing private school teachers for exam-related work. We have given instructions that if any student found possessing materials like printed books, notes or manuscripts by the flying squad members, then action will be taken against hall supervisors. It has put the hall supervisors on extra vigilant this year, says D.Vasundradevi, director of government examinations. Sources in the directorate also pointed out that after the introduction of NEET based admission for MBBS and BDS courses, the private schools stopped indulging in mass copying or other violations. There is not a single case recorded against private schools in the last couple of years following the Neet based medical admissions, they said. Earlier, the private schools used to employ several methods including circulating question papers with marked answers or long erasers with answers to students. Some schools even allow the students to write unanswered questions at chief superintendent rooms. HMRL MD N.V.S. Reddy has assured that all the issues will be resolved within two months, and that frequency will be increased depending on the demand. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: The much-awaited Metro line, which is set to commence operations on Wednesday, will have a duration of 12 minutes between each train, unlike the frequency in the stretches from Nagole to Miyapur and LB Nagar to Ameerpet. Commuters claim that this will only be useful for those who travel to Hitec city and no other stations in between. Mr B. Naresh Yadav, President of IT FAN (IT Facility and Admin Manager Network), said that frequency has been a matter of concern for those who commute to work during peak hours, and argues that the metros frequency should be enhanced between 4 pm to 8 pm for the employees who commute to home from office. He also mentioned that the metro authorities have temporarily asked commuters to park their vehicles in a mall near Hitec City junction and that the issue will be resolved in two months after inauguration. The chairman of Facilities Management Council of Telangana, Mr M. Satyanarayana, said that although commuters are concerned about frequency, the metro to Hitec City will be a relief for the IT fraternity. He also added that once the Metro is operational till Gachibowli, another lakh commuters will add to the demand and last mile connectivity will become a concern. Many others argue that the RTC bus is a better and cheaper option to travel from Ameerpet to Peddamma Temple and Jubilee Hills Check Post, when compared to the metro. Chennai: The Madras high court has directed the Election Commission of India to file its reply to the PIL, which sought to reschedule the polling date, scheduled on April 18 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry or in the alternative to shift the election booths to any other premises convenient for the government and public, other than the schools run by the Christian community since the election date falls on Maundy Thursday and within the 'Three Holy Days or the Holy Triduum of utmost religious importance for Christians and essential for Christian faith. When the PIL filed by Most Rev. Dr. Antony Pappusamy, Archbishop and president, Tamil Nadu Bishop's Council, came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, Niranjan Rajagopal, counsel for EC submitted that the representation of the petitioner was already rejected. Directing the counsel to file an affidavit, the bench posted to March 21, further hearing of the case. According to petitioner, on Maundy Thursday, on the eve of the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Good Friday, 'The Last Supper' takes place on Maundy Thursday, wherein Lord Jesus Christ founded the Holy Eucharist. The 3 days of the Holy Week called 'Holy Triduum' (Holy Three Days) is on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, he added. He said due to this important religious phenomenon, all the three days were observed in spiritual discipline with respective religious ceremonies. Thousands of people will visit all the churches and spend hours of prayer in and around the church personally and in groups, culminating in community celebrations of official liturgy in the form of religious worship, as mandated by the Church. There were two difficulties faced in this context. That was the timing and the venue. Firstly, in most of the churches, in the villages and towns, there were schools located within the church premises. The Catholic Church was running around 2,800 schools. All other schools were aided or partly aided Tamil Medium Schools. Most of these aided schools were traditionally used by the government as election booths, for any election. When school was notified as an election booth, a specified radius and its perimeter will become a security zone, with restricted movements. Even on the previous day, these premises will be taken over by the security forces and go under their control. It will be mutually incompatible, both for security concern as well as for the religious activity on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. It was not a question of few hours of prayer. Throughout night, there will be prayers. Almost all the three days, there will be prayer and continuous religious activity in the church campus. People will be flowing in and out of the churches. Restriction of any movement of the people visiting the churches will be problematic. Secondly, as almost all the Christians will be deeply involved in religious activities on Maundy Thursday, in the respective churches, which may adversely affect the percentage of voting, he added. Nirav Modis presence was recently figured in a video released by The Daily Telegraph, walking on London streets and responding to queries by its reporters with 'No comment'. (Photo: File) Mumbai: UK court on Wednesday denied bail to Fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and remanded him in custody till March 29. UK judge said, "Substantial grounds to believe Nirav Modi would fail to surrender if granted bail." Nirav Modi was arrested and produced before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. The police stated that Modi was picked up from the Holborn Metro Station on Tuesday afternoon. The arrest came days after a London court issued a warrant against him in response to a request by India's Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money-laundering case. Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday on 19 March, in Holborn," the London Metropolitan Police said in a statement. The arrest warrant was issued by the Westminster Court, sources said. The location of the arrest indicates that Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank scam, was arrested from where he is believed to have been living in a plush apartment in Centre Point in West End. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the PNB scam, which involved fake guarantees in the name of the state-run lender to secure loans overseas. Nirav Modis arrest is seen as the first stage of the legal process for extradition. Nirav Modis presence was recently figured in a video released by The Daily Telegraph, walking on London streets and responding to queries by its reporters with a No comment. The 48-year-old billionaire had skipped the country last year, weeks before the detection of the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank scam. His relative Mehul Choksi, who was also wanted in the case, was granted citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda on January 15, 2018. Chennai: Reminding the bravery shown by our Indian air force pilots in targeting the enemy terrorists camps inside the territory of Pakistan, the Madras high court has expressed its expectation from a staff nurse, who is transferred from Coimbatore government hospital to Vellore government hospital, to show such courage and braveness in performing his duties. If such mindset is developed in the public service, then, there would be no room for corrupt activities also in public service, said Justice S.M.Subramaniam while dismissing the petitions filed by R.Sreenivasan, challenging the order of the authorities transferring him from Coimbatore Government hospital to Vellore district. The judge said the petitioner is serving as a Staff Nurse in Government Hospital. The job nature of staff nurse is noble one. A public servant, more specifically, serving as a staff nurse, is bound to serve with full devotion to duty. Undoubtedly, the petitioner, being a staff nurse, more specifically in a government hospital, has to serve in the interest of public and for the welfare of the administration, the judge added. The judge said administrative transfers were issued on various grounds. It was not necessary for the competent authorities to spell out reasons for all such administrative transfers. Administrative grounds cannot be challenged in a routine manner. However, the authorities, while exercising the power of discretion must keep in mind that the said power should be used without any bias and administrative transfers were to be issued for genuine reasons. The authorities should not issue any such transfer orders on personal vengeance or on any other extraneous consideration, the judge added. The judge said in the present case, except by stating that the petitioner was an office bearer of an Association and the officials concerned have taken certain personal vengeance against him, the said allegations were not substantiated with sufficient materials on record. Those officials were not impleaded as parties in their personal capacity. In the absence of any such specific and substantiated allegations regarding the mala fide intention, this court would not entertain a petition based on certain bald allegation or on certain grounds made in the petition. If such grounds were accepted at the threshold, every public servant will come to the court and state that every such transfer orders were issued with some ulterior motive or on personal vengeance. Courts cannot give room for such pleadings to be raised by the public servant without any basis, the judge added. The judge said undoubtedly every family in this country has got problems in one way or other and they have to solve the problems and lead their life with happiness and peace. Such personal grievances cannot be a ground to revoke an order of transfer. Public service is a noble one, more so being a member of medical services in government hospitals, where the service of nurses like the petitioner, is very much essential for the benefit of poor people. This court would like to remind the bravery shown by our Indian air force pilots in targeting the enemy terrorists' camps inside the territory of Pakistan. The petitioner staff nurse also is expected to show such courage and braveness in performing his duties. If such mindset is developed in the public service, then, there would be no room for corrupt activities also in public service. Under these circumstances, this court would suggest that the petitioner has to serve in the place where he is posted, in the interest of public and to serve the nation with full devotion to duty, the judge added. Indira Canteens opened in the city in 2017 with a great deal of promise, a replica of the Amma Canteen in Tamil Nadu which provides subsidised food, with breakfast priced at Rs 5 and lunch at Rs 10. Indira Canteens opened in the city in 2017 with a great deal of promise, a replica of the Amma Canteen in Tamil Nadu which provides subsidised food, with breakfast priced at Rs 5 and lunch at Rs 10. A Congress initiative, they came as a boon to the citys working class. However, it wasnt long before complaints were raised about the quality and quantity of food. Now, a lab report has confirmed that the food is not fit for human consumption. Activists are pushing for an audit and have demanded that the contract be given to self-help groups, reports Aknisree Karthik. They were expected to do for the Congress party what the Amma Canteens did for the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. Promising to provide good quality food at highly subsidised rates, the Indira canteens opened in Karnataka in August 2017. Although all seemed well initially with the poor enjoying a breakfast for Rs 5 and lunch for Rs 10, the canteens have of late been in the news for the wrong reasons, much to the dismay of the Congress, which can do without the negative publicity with the parliamentary polls approaching. But it is currently having to face charges from BJP corporator, Umesh Shetty, who claims to have collected samples from various Indira canteens following complaints about the quality of food served by them and received confirmation that it is unfit for consumption. Pointing out that over 16,000 pourakarmikas regularly eat at the Indira canteens, he says many had begun to fall sick in recent weeks, complaining of vomiting and diarrhoea. Read | Guest column: Centralised kitchens run by 2 corporates - not a good idea! It was only after this that I realised the seriousness of the situation. The canteens, which are spread over all 198 wards in the city, are visited by thousands of people and their health was at stake. So I decided to collect samples from the canteens and send them for a lab analysis and it has confirmed my suspicions. The food is not fit for consumption, he claims. According to him all samples of rice bath, sambar and bisi bele bath collected from different canteens at Nagapura, Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Moodala palya and Byatarayanapura were certified unfit for human consumption by the M S Ramaiah Hospital and the Public Health Institute. But ask a senior health inspector of the BBMP and he denies there is any cause for concern about the quality of food served at the Indira canteens. "Under the rules we can even cancel the tenders of the contractors if the food is not found fit for human consumption. But they are following strict protocol on both the quality and quantity of food served. There isn't any problem with the food served at the Indira canteens," he asserts, adding that to reinstate public confidence in the canteens, their food samples have been sent to the FSSAI labs for testing. But Mr Shetty is not convinced that the FSSAI, which is a government body, will do an impartial job. Being a government agency, it will try to protect the state, he charges, claiming that that the report given by the M S Ramaiah Hospital is far more reliable. When the idlis are served cold In the year since their launch in August 2017, the Indira canteens served over six crore meals. But questions are now being raised about the quality and quantity of the food they are serving the poor who frequent them. Some who eat at the canteens say they throw away the food as it is either cold, over cooked or not cooked properly. Mayor Gangambike addresses a press conference about the food quality at Indira Canteens. (Photo: DC) Every day the canteens serve idlis, tomato bath, vegetable pulav, avalakki bath, rice-sambar and curd rice, but none of it is palatable , they complain. "As the food is supplied to the canteens from centralised kitchens, it turns very cold by the time it comes on our plates," said Mr Ganga Raju an auto driver, eating at the Indira canteen in K R Market. Sometimes the idlis served here are so cold that we cannot even break them down. We leave them on the plate and leave, he added. No doubt the food is cheap. But for that reason, can we eat half boiled rice ? Sometimes the rice is over-cooked or the dal in the sambar is burnt,, said Mr Mohammed Khalander, a mechanic, who was eating at the Chalwadipalya Indira canteen. Its true that we can have rice-sambar for Rs 10 here, but if we pay another Rs 15 or 20, we can get quality food elsewhere and hold the restaurant responsible if the food is not good. Here at these canteens there is no proper mechanism to lodge complaints and many of us are not educated enough to take the complaints forward, he added, painting a grim picture of the canteens that are meant to feed the poor and hungry of the city. Diamond Merchant Nirav Modi is needed in connection to Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The British police on Wednesday arrested wanted fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi. UK authorities within three days turned an arrest warrant into action after India requested Nirav Modi's extradition. Why Nirav Modi is wanted in India? Diamond Merchant Nirav Modi is needed in connection to Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam that raised questions over the creditability of India's banking system. On the morning of 14 February, the biggest scam in India's banking history was unearthed at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. The revelation sent shock waves across the nation and soon a multi-agency probe was ordered. As days progressed, diamond tycoon Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi were found at the centre of the fraud. The duo took loans from Indias largest lending bank to finance overseas loans and expand their business. The nephew and uncle duo had left the country weeks before the scam was detected. Here is the timeline of the case: January 29, 2018: PNB's Deputy General Manager of Mumbai branch, Avineesh Nepalia detects a loss caused by issuing eight fraud Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) amounting to Rs 280 crore to overseas banks. He sniffed the role of bank's employees and lodges a complaint with CBI. January 31, 2018: Income Tax officials raids offices of Nirav Modi across India. February 5, 2018: The CBI registered First Information Report (FIR) against Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal, wife Ami and Mehul Chinubhai Chowski of Diamond R and Stellar Diamonds. February 14, 2018: Punjab National Bank reached CBI to complain about Nirav Modi for illegally transferring about Rs11,000 crore of taxpayers' money abroad from its Mumbai branch. Punjab National Bank also alleged that its own employees helped Nirav Modi in carrying big-fat scam. February 15, 2018: Enforcement Directorate registers a money laundering case against Nirav Modi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. February 16, 2018: The CBI seeks Interpol's help to arrest Nirav Modi. February 17, 2018: Government revokes passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi for four weeks. February 18, 2018: CBI searches PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, questions officials and makes some arrests in the case. February 24, 2018: The government cancels passports of Nirav and Mehul. February 27, 2018: A magistrate's court issues a bailable arrest warrant against celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi. February 28, 2018: The CBI sends a mail to Nirav Modi to ask him to corporate in the investigation. March 2018: The UK authorities confirm that Nirav Modi is in London. April 5, 2018: Following the request from the ED, regulators in Belgium freeze two bank accounts of billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi. April 8, 2018: A court in Mumbai issues non-bailable arrest warrants for the nephew-uncle duo on the CBIs request. June 29, 2018: International Police Agency, Interpol issues a red corner notice against Nirav Modi. August 20 2018: India lodges an application with the UK Home Office to initiate the process of extraditing Nirav Modi. October 1, 2018: The ED seizes around Rs 6.4 billion of Nirav Modis assets in India and abroad. March 8, 2019: The UK Home Office deems Nirav Modis case fit for extradition and transfers case to the District Court in Westminister, which later issued the summons to Nirav Modi. March 20, 2019: UK police arrests Nirav Modi. According to a police source, around 95 per cent of shops in Pollachi remained closed on Tuesday demanding a fair probe by CBI into the scam. Coimbatore: Traders at Pollachi down shutter shops on Tuesday protesting the sex scandal seeking to hang the offenders. According to a police source, around 95 per cent of shops in Pollachi remained closed on Tuesday demanding a fair probe by CBI into the scam and monitored by the High court as well seeking the extreme punishment of hanging for the offenders. Extending their support to the traders the auto drivers of Pollachi remained off road on Tuesday, condemning the sexual harassment against many young girls and women. As many as 750 police men were deployed in security duty at Pollachi on Tuesday led by West Zone IG, K. Periaiah and DIG Karthikeyan. Additional strength was deployed in all sensitive areas of Pollachi. Meanwhile, members of AIDWA, CPI(M)'s women's wing, led by district secretary Radhika petitioned the CB-CID superintendent Nisha on Tuesday demanding to lodge a new complaint against the remaining three associates of Thirunavukarasu and investigate them by taking into custody. "If the CB-CID officials fail to take the reaming three into custody we will approach the court added," added Radhika. Singh, as an elected lawmaker, talked about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. (Photo: JagmeetSingh | Twitter) New Delhi/Ottawa: Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh created history in Canada when he made his debut in the House of Commons as the first non-white leader of a major opposition party in the country. The arrival of the leader, wearing a turban, into the house on Monday, cheered by all members, coincided with the induction of a senior woman member into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Singh, 40, the leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the House of Commons, the lower of house of Parliament, before the daily question period. He was elected in federal by-elections held on February 25. Singh, as an elected lawmaker, talked about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... in Christchurch," he said. About 50 people were killed last week in the Pacific country's worst-ever mass shooting. He then launched his first question about housing in Burnaby-South. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" he asked. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister was beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. The BJP has been consistently under attack from the Opposition after Niram Modi managed to flee the country weeks before investigating agencies opened probe. (Photo: File) Mumbai: Indian politicians across party lines were quick to react soon after fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested in London. Nirav Modi, and his uncle Mehul Choksi are wanted in India's biggest scam of over Rs 13,500 crore. The BJP has been consistently under attack from the Opposition after Niram Modi managed to flee the country weeks before investigating agencies opened probe. Congress General Secretary for East Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on BJP saying the arrest of Nirav Modi in London is an achievement of PM Modi: Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? pic.twitter.com/ZCc21V25J2 ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Read: Nirav Modi arrested in London, to be produced in court today Union Minister Hardeep Puri tweeted: You can run, but cannot hide from the country's #Chowkidar. As wheels of justice grind, after Vijay Mallya, fugitive Nirav Modi has been arrested in London. Clear sign that this is not the India which will allow economic offenders to loot the country & evade the long arm of law. pic.twitter.com/iZCzzY4VeR Chowkidar Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) March 20, 2019 Congresss Ghulam Nabi Azad said, They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, now they are bringing him back. They are bringing him back for the elections, they will send him back after elections. A quick response came from National Conference chief Omar Abdullah. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the likely candidature of former chief minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question. (Photo: FIle) New Delhi: In a major decision, the BJP Tuesday announced it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces in the Lok Sabha polls, a decision that comes in the wake of the partys drubbing in the recent assembly elections. BJP general secretary Anil Jain, also the party affairs incharge for the state, made the announcement as the BJPs Central Election Committee, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders, met here to deliberate over its candidates for the polls. We have decided to fight the elections with new candidates and new zeal, Jain told reporters. The party decision means that Union minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union minister Ramesh Bais will not be fielded in the polls. The announcement underscores the BJPs bid to wrest its lost territory back from the Congress, which handed it a massive defeat in the assembly polls last year. The Congress had won 68 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the state for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two parties was a huge 10 per cent. The BJP is also considering not fielding any family member of these sitting MPs, sources said. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the likely candidature of former chief minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question. The BJP's central election committee (CEC), which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening as part of its deliberations to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, is expected to release the first set of nominees after the meeting, party sources said. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The BJP's central election committee (CEC), which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening as part of its deliberations to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, is expected to release the first set of nominees after the meeting, party sources said. This will be the third meeting of the CEC, BJP's highest decision-making body, on the selection of candidates. On Tuesday evening, it had held a seven-hour-long discussion to deliberate upon the names of party's candidates in various states. The meeting, besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was attended by top brass of the BJP, including party chief Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The sources said the party is expected to release its first list of candidates Wednesday evening. The CEC has already held wide-ranging discussions on the selection of its candidates for Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chattisgarh and all eight north-eastern states. Though the Congress has announced candidates for 146 Lok Sabha constituencies so far, the BJP is yet to officially make any announcement on its nominees. Sources in the party suggested that most of the ministers in the Union Cabinet, who are sitting Lok Sabha MPs, are likely to be fielded from same seats. On Tuesday, the party had announced that it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces, a decision that comes in the wake of the party's drubbing in the recent assembly elections. Divya Maderna pointed out that the sarpanch belonged to BJP and asked how she could be allowed to sit on the dais in a meeting that was organised to give thanks to the villagers for voting the Congress MLA to power. (Photo: Twitter/ @DivyaMaderna) Jodhpur: A sarpanch body in Rajasthan on Tuesday demanded an apology from a Congress legislator who had asked a village head to sit on the floor instead on a chair beside her at a meeting. The Rajasthan Sarpanch Sangh's reaction comes after a video went viral where MLA Divya Maderna was asking the Khetasar village head in Osian area of Jodhpur district on Saturday to sit among the people on the ground. Watch Rajasthan'Congress's MLA Divya Manderna snub a woman Sarpanch from sitting on stage next to her.This is the reality of Congress's mere empty sloganeering of woman empowerment.Nothing more dynast,racist than @INCIndia!#VampireCongress#MondayThoughtspic.twitter.com/vrDV2N92nu Chowkidar Geetika Swami (@SwamiGeetika) March 18, 2019 "Divya must apologise for the humiliation of a female sarpanch. If she did not do so, she should be ready to face our ire", said Bhanwarlal, president of the Rajasthan Sarpanch Sangh. The village head, Chandu Devi, said being a woman, she did not expect such behaviour from a female public representative. "I am very disappointed with the behaviour meted out to me by Maderna. I had gone to the meeting of Maderna on the insistence of the villagers and also sat on the dais after the villagers wanted me to sit beside the MLA," Devi said. Maderna, however, pointed out that the sarpanch belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked how she could be allowed to sit on the dais in a meeting that was organised to give thanks to the villagers for voting the Congress MLA to power. Later, the Osian MLA said she did not know that Devi was a sarpanch as the latter's face was covered under a veil. "I could not recognise her. I considered her a simple villager and thought that she had come to me on the dais with some grievance." In the video, however, it could be seen that Devi first greeted Maderna and had almost seated on the chair when the legislator asked her to sit with the villagers. Maderna has been taking a round of the villages of her constituency to pay gratitude to her voters for electing her as an MLA. Jammu: Sealing an alliance after days of hectic parleys, the Congress and National Conference Wednesday announced they will fight two and one Lok Sabha seats respectively, while agreeing on a "friendly contest" on the rest three constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. In a joint press conference here, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that while the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. "I will contest from the Srinagar seat," he told the press conference. "We had a give-and-take and nobody should be under illusion that one party lost or the other won during the agreement." State Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir and AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni were also present at the press conference. The state sends six Lok Sabha MPs. "Friendly contest means that we will not go hard against each other and at the same time will make a joint efforts to defeat the opponents. Whether they (NC) win or we, it will make no difference because the (seats) will add to the national kitty," Azad said. Had the two parties entered the fray separately in Jammu, he said, it would have benefited the BJP. "And in Kashmir, if we fought separately, it is difficult to transfer votes." He said, "We have some MLAs in Anantnag and Baramulla and (by friendly contest) we will be able to maintain our turf." The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J&K as the state faces threat from Pakistan, Azad said. "Live and let live." The Rajya Sabha MP said he himself and other leaders of his party would campaign for Abdullah in the Srinagar constituency, which the NC patron currently represents. Abdullah also appealed to the Congress to exhibit magnanimity and reach out to like-minded parties in other parts of the country to safeguard the secular character of the nation. "We have to keep our nation secular. Try hard in other places and reach an understanding (with other parties). We have to make this nation stronger and keep it secular and equal for everyone," Abdullah told the Congress. The country is faced with dangers from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and the people living on the border in J&K are the worst sufferers of the animosity between India and Pakistan, he said. "If there is peace between the two countries, the first beneficiary will be the people of the state." He said secular parties need to come together because communal forces only strengthen Pakistan, China and "our enemies of the nation and weaken the country from within". Azad appealed to the people of Jammu to vote for strengthening secularism and isolating communalism. "A communal India cannot face any nation but secular India can fight any country in the world." Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP alleged the Congress conceded to the National Conference's (NC) pro-separatist agenda. Azad said they were not working for BJP. "We have an alliance with like minded parties at five or six places, it (BJP) has alliance at over 40 places." On the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics, Azad said, "The one who had no family what will he do? Abdullah also rejected the dynastic barb, saying nobody can come to power if people don't vote for them. "They are creating this fuss because they have no other issue. If an actor, a doctor, a film director, and others put forward their son in the same field, nobody raises dynastic thing. I am Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's son and have seen politics form my childhood and faced problem. "Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter (India Gandhi) gave atom bomb to the nation to make it strong. She gave her blood for the nation and her son," Abdullah said. Azad said the BJP government is the most "corrupt and scandalous" in the entire world. "I have said this in presence of Modi in the house. You are not allowing inquiry wherefrom the information will come to the fore," he said. Bengaluru: In a desperate attempt to paper over the differences on the contentious seat-sharing pact that has seen top leaders and workers of Congress and JD (S), working at cross-purposes, the coalition partners on Tuesday publicly put up a show of unity. Not only did they announce that under the leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, they would restrict a "communal" BJP to a single digit show in next month's Lok Sabha polls, JD(S) supremo Mr H.D. Deve Gowda said that differences in all 28 constituencies between the two sides would be resolved before nominations are filed. "There may be questions now as to what is happening in Mandya or Mysuru and so on. Everything will be settled,'' Mr. Gowda said adding that a rally planned on March 31 would put an end to speculation on the longevity of the coalition government. The show of unity commences with a rally on March 31 at an as yet unspecified location, with Mr Gandhi, JD (S) president H D Deve Gowda and other leaders of both parties to send across a message of unity to the voters as well as workers of Congress and Dal (S). In addition, there will be a series of joint press conferences and two-member team of observers in each of the 28 constituencies. This was decided at a joint meeting attended by Mr Deve Gowda, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and others. These leaders also declined to announce the final list of candidates as part of the 20-8 seat-sharing pact announced last week. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Gowda said Mr Modi spoke lightly about Mahagathbandhan, which took birth in Karnataka, and visible in at least 15 states. Though some differences are palpable among partners of Mahagathbandan, the common goal would be to keep the BJP away from power in New Delhi. Mr Modi would get a fitting reply from these partners in forthcoming parliament polls, he added. Earlier, Mr Siddaramaiah said the decision of coalition partners fighting the BJP jointly was not recent, but arrived at soon during formation of the coalition government last year. Mr Gandhi and himself would accompany Mr Gowda during electioneering and to convince party workers to shun their differences in the run up to elections, he added. HDDs guessing game Mr Deve Gowda continued to maintain the suspense over this constituency with his remarks: "I am still thinking about it. During my last speech in parliament, I had said this might be my last speech. However, there is pressure not only from within the state, but also from New Delhi. They feel that I am senior and my guidance is required in parliament. I am still weighing my thoughts, and will take a decision in a day or two,'' he added. Asked about his intention to return to Hassan, Mr Gowda remarked : "I had told Mr Prajwal three years ago that I will be vacating my seat for him. I am already 86 and will be turning 87 in two or three months. So, there is no question of contesting from Hassan,'' he but ducked a question on whether his choice would be Tumakuru or Bengaluru (North). Siddu, HDK defend action Defending police action against techies at Manyata Tech Park on Monday evening, when some shouted slogans in support of Mr Modi during an interaction of Mr Rahul Gandhi with entrepreneurs, Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Kumaraswamy lambasted the leadership of BJP and RSS. Denying any arrests, Mr Siddaramaiah said if anyone was arrested, there should be a FIR and the person should to be produced before a magistrate. Nothing of that sort occurred on Monday evening. Besides, it was RSS and BJP leaders who had instigated the techies. ``They should realise that we can also disrupt functions of Mr Modi in the state," warned Mr Siddaramaiah. Mr Kumaraswamy hit back at BJP president Mr Amit Shah for his tweet saying: ``I advise Mr Amit Shah to instruct his supporters to behave properly in public. It is their responsibility. Do they have any decency? When some other party's programme is on, they should behave decently,'' he added. New Delhi: Clearing all the speculations, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati on Wednesday declared that she will not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mayawati said, I will not contest the Lok Sabha elections. Mayawati said that it's more important for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance to win each and every seat it is contesting rather than her winning the polls. She, however, laid stress that if needed, post elections, she can easily make her way to Lok Sabha by asking one of her MP's to vacate a seat for her. "If I will contest then my party workers, despite my telling them not to do so, will spend all their energy in campaigning for me in the particular Lok Sabha constituency I choose to contest from. This will certainly not be in the interest of the party," said Mayawati. "It is more important for the (SP-BSP-RLD) alliance to win each and every seat it contests on rather than me winning the elections. If the opportunity arises after the election then I can easily make my way to Lok Sabha by asking someone to vacate his seat," she added. The Congress party on Sunday announced to leave seven Lok Sabha seats for Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh, where 80 seats are at stake. The former chief minister also clarified that including Uttar Pradesh, the BSP is not in alliance with the Congress in any other state. It is worth mentioning that SP, BSP, and RLD have forged an alliance to take on the BJP in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the state. SP president Akhilesh Yadav had, however, claimed that the Congress party is with the SP-BSP alliance in UP. SP-BSP has left Rae Bareli and Amethi seats for the Congress. As per the seat-sharing agreement, SP is contesting 37 seats and BSP 38. Three seats have been given to the RLD Mathura, Muzaffarpur, and Baghpat. Rahul Gandhi also spoke about the controvery on the Vice Chancellor of Manipur. (Photo: ANI) Imphal: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that its party won't pass the Citizenship (Amendment), Bill. While addressing a public rally in Imphal, Manipur Rahul said, ''I am committing to you here that the Congress will defend your culture and history. We are not going to allow the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to be passed.'' Alleging that PM Modi has drained his promise on the job in vain, Rahul said, "In 2018, PM Modi 'destroyed' 1 crore jobs, which showed the scale of his incompetence." In an attempt to allure the voters of Manipur, he said, "Special status, industrial policy to be restored for Northeast if Congress voted to power." Rahul Gandhi also spoke about the controversy on the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Manipur. "Centre imposed VC on Manipur, his only qualification is he knows how to wear shorts, hold 'lathi' and spread hatred," said Congress President. On Tuesday while interacting with the students of Manipur State Film Development Society in the state capital, Rahul said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has relegated the Prime Minister Office (PMO) to a "Publicity Minister's Office" by indulging in "mediocrity" in a highly sophisticated country. Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has reportedly completed his exercise to announce the list of candidates for Lok Sabha seats on the auspicious day of Pournami of the month of Phalguna on Thursday. Following the announcement by Mr Chandra-sekhar Rao at the Nizamabad public meeting on Tuesday that he would release the list of candidates on Thursday, the aspirants and sitting MPs are anxious. Mr Rao had already indicated during the Karim-nagar and Nizamabad meetings that Mr B. Vinod Kumar from Karimnagar and Ms K. Kavitha from Nizamabad Lok Sabha seats would be fielded for the second time. The party chief, whose aim is to win 16 Lok Sabha seats, is keen on fielding winning horses in all constituencies. In view of the reports that the party chief would drop some of the sitting MPs, there are speculations of replacing the sitting MPs of Khammam, Mahbubnagar and Mahbubabad with new candidates. With the latest development of senior Congress leader that D.K. Aruna likely to join the BJP and contest from Mahbub-nagar. sources said Mr Chandrasekhar Rao was re-thinking about fielding Mr Jitender Reddy in that constituency. The reasoning is that since Jitender Reddy came from the BJP to the TRS, and therefore he could manage the BJP vote bank in the segment. Earlier reports indicated that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao would nominate industrialist M.S.N. Reddy from Mahbubnagar. As the sitting MPs from Peddapalli and Malkajgiri were elected to the Assembly and with the resignation of Chevella MP Mr Konda Vishwesh-war Reddy, the party chief is in search of new faces for the three segments. The cash has been handed over to the income-tax department to investigate the source. Hyderabad: Since the election code has come into effect, the police have seized Rs 23.8 crore in unaccounted money. Of this, Rs 12.60 crore were seized in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 11.2 crores were seized in Telangana. Apart from the state police, the income-tax department has deployed three officials at the RGIA to keep a check on the flow of money. However, no major cash catch has been reported so far. The cash has been handed over to the income-tax department to investigate the source. The state police nodal officer Jitender, additional DIG law and order, Telangana Police, explained, `11.2 crore in cash has been seized in Telangana. This apart, the police is taking care to not disrupt the daily course of life and business in the state. Seizures will be made only if the source and the carrier seem suspicious. With respect to political parties campaigning in full swing, he added, MCC violations, such as using loudspeakers after 10 pm, and taking out rallies without permission, will be dealt with according to the law. The department of excise and prohibition has deployed 340 mobile teams and 14 mobile patrols at 19 checkpoints to tighten the flow of liquor into the state. A state that ignores the majority, especially a needy majority, and an increasingly young and restive majority at that, does so at its own peril. (Photo: PTI) With the 17th Lok Sabha elections fast approaching, we increasingly hear them described as a celebration of democracy! It very well might be so, but for who and how still remains to be explained. This reminds me of a tale from the Mahabharata, when many years after their victory in the great 18-day war, King Yudhishtra decides to perform the Ashvamedha Yajna at Hastinapur. A great feast was prepared and then an interesting incident took place. A mongoose entered the kitchen and after helping himself to the food, began to laugh uproariously. It was apprehended and taken to the King, who asked for an explanation for this outrageous behaviour? The mongoose narrated the story of a poor brahmin family, which after having starved for a week had found some grain. Just as they were getting ready to eat, a mendicant knocked on the door and asked for food. He kept asking for more, and finally the lady of the house served him with all of it. A few morsels were still left in the dishes and our friend, the foraging mongoose, helped himself to them. And lo and behold, that food was so blessed that he began to turn golden. But it was not enough to turn all of him golden. And ever since then, the mongoose said: I have been going from puja to puja, and from yajna to yajna in small and great homes, hoping to find food that will turn the rest of my body golden. Even your food, Great King, is not blessed enough to do that! Thats why I am laughing. The ordinary Indians experience with democracy is pretty much the same. More than 70 years ago a frail old man in a loincloth, steel-rimmed glasses and a staff in hand had turned us half-golden. Independence gave us freedom and equality, and above all hope. We have since then been through 16 general elections, 16 celebrations of democracy and the hopes still remains unfulfilled. Perhaps they never will be? Perhaps democracy is only a halfway house? Perhaps we have distorted our democracy? According to Aristotle, the underlying principle of democracy is freedom, since only in a democracy can freedom be shared. There are two aspects to freedom being ruled and ruling. And since everyone is equal, numbers matter. We in India have equality in the sense implied in a democracy. We have periodic free and fair elections at least reasonably free and fair, an independent media, an independent judiciary and all of us enjoy all the freedoms we believe to be essential to be a free people. But why then are we unhappy with the system of government we have? To begin to understand this, we must first understand what kind of a democracy we have evolved into. We were intended to be a hybrid democracy, combining direct democracy at the local levels and representative democracy at the regional and national levels. To facilitate the installation of a direct democracy at the lowest levels, we needed to dismantle the traditional institutions of local government. While in most parts of the country institutions such as the Khaps, Jaati Sabhas and Gaon Sabhas continue to stubbornly exist, their powers and influence has been considerably whittled down by state systems in anticipation of a new system of government called the panchayati raj, a system based on elections by equals and not based on tradition and birth. The panchayati raj system never did take root. As a matter of fact, local government even in the cities never took root. The distribution of salaries tells this tale vividly. Out of a total national expenditure of almost Rs 5,00,000 crores each year on salaries and pensions, the central government distributes almost 42 per cent, the state governments almost 47 per cent and all the nations local governments only 11 per cent. Now what happened? Though the founders of this republic never used the term political party even once in the Constitution, from day one we were intended to be and are a party-based democracy. When people elect representatives they are in fact choosing parties. And now we are increasingly electing a supreme leader. How parties function then becomes critical to our democracy. If parties did not function or are not required to function in a prescribed constitutional and democratic manner, the leadership inevitably migrates into the hands of an elite, as we have seen in almost all our political parties now. These political parties now have factions that come together on the basis of a shared region, religion or caste, with any one of these impulses being the dominating motive for coming together. We have seen the transition of democratic styles in many of the worlds established democracies. The United States saw power passing from a self-nominating convention nomination process to a primary-based system that binds the convention to the choice of individual party members. This kind of a transition did not happen in India. On the other hand, we migrated from a system where parties consisted of equals sharing a common purpose and sometimes goals to one where power passed into the hands of a self-perpetuating political aristocracy. This system is in fact akin to the democracy of the Kouroukan Fouga of the great Mali Empire, where clans (lineages) were represented in a great assembly called the Gbbara. We had a similar system in the form of the Loya Jirga in Afghanistan. Even the Licchavi democracy in the post-Magadhan period was akin to this. Clan democracies are implicit with concentration of power with a very few and the manifestation of dictatorial tendencies. The bottom-up system thus transforms itself into a top-down system. Power then flows from a position of power. There is another consequence to this. When we have a clan democracy, issues pale and the capture of power becomes the sole driving force. Since issues have to be dealt with, we quickly get an ideological consensus, as we see in India now. The clans are quite satisfied with a system that gives them a share of the power and the pelf that goes with it. This has happened in India and unfortunately most social scientists have not seen in it a failure of democracy. Thats why what Che Guevara said in 1961 in Uruguay is relevant here: Democracy cannot consist solely of elections that are nearly always fictitious and managed by rich landlords and professional politicians. The lack of intelligent and sensible debate in Parliament portends bad days for our democracy. Even the relatively few who care to attend Parliament seem to be increasingly doing so more with the intention of making propaganda by deed by taking resort to unparliamentary, mostly unsavoury, ways. No party is blameless. A state that ignores the majority, especially a needy majority, and an increasingly young and restive majority at that, does so at its own peril. The stresses and strains are showing everywhere around us. Not a day passes when some long-felt demand for attention doesnt result in an explosion of fury. Coercion begets more coercion and soon the mob and the State are fused together by paroxysms of violence. All restraint is thrown to the ill winds and with it goes the semblance of democracy. The ill winds have torn to shreds the sails of democracy that are meant to take the ship of state towards prosperity and national unity. All recent economic trends point towards accretion of wealth and the benefits of policy by a small minority. We now not only have one of the highest income inequalities in the world, but the regional imbalance indices are even worse. The vast majority of our people live under the shadow of the monsoons. Even worse is the limited focus of the national media, particularly the English print media and television channels, on the concerns of a small and self-centred elite that propounds the so-called market reforms and the so-called liberalisation only to help itself even more. The loot of the stock market and the banking system are a lasting testimony to the concerns of this section, for which the government mostly toils. In a true democracy, the concerns and wants of the majority will be the focus of the State. Till then, we will be going from celebration to celebration, like that mongoose, to become fully golden. Wise Road Capital will hold a small majority in the new entity, according to an AMS spokesman, while AMS shifts its focus to optical, image and audio sensors. Austrian chipmaker AMS AG has agreed a joint venture for its environmental sensor business with private equity fund Wise Road Capital, effectively offloading the unit as part of its plan to focus on other business segments. AMS has suffered from slow demand for Apples latest iPhones, which it supplies with face recognition technology sensors, resulting in a nearly 60 percent drop in fourth-quarter core profit. Wise Road Capital will hold a small majority in the new entity, according to an AMS spokesman, while AMS shifts its focus to optical, image and audio sensors. The private equity fund buys into European and North American high-tech companies and helps them grow in China, according to its website. It was part of the consortium that bought NXP Semiconductors Nexperia business in 2016 before selling it in the largest buyout-backed exit outside of the US market in 2018. Wise Road Capital sees immense potential in marketing the excellent technology and products developed by AMS, said Michael Zhang, Managing Partner at Wise Road Capital. Environmental sensors detect temperature or moisture and can be used in autos, buildings and air quality monitoring applications. AMSs units for ultrasound-based flow sensors used in smart metering solutions for utilities and pressure sensors for identifying fluid and gas flows will also be transferred to the joint venture, it said. Investments in the new entity, which is valued at approximately USD 120 million, will be made according to the shareholding, the AMS spokesman said. This new JV will...(focus) on further advancing and developing AMS award-winning environmental, flow and pressure sensor solutions, for which we see the largest market opportunity in China, said Chris Feige, Executive Vice President at AMS AG. Stefan Raible, currently general manager of AMSs environmental sensors business, will head the JV. The staff will continue to work in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where the JV will also be headquartered, according to the spokesman. Asked how many employees were affected, he said more like 100 than 1,000. Shares in Swiss-listed AMS gained as much as 2.3 percent to 29.26 Swiss francs, while the European tech index was flat. AMS shares traded at around 115 Swiss francs a year ago. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The UN, meanwhile, said that one of the worst storms to hit southern Africa in decades had also unleashed a humanitarian crisis in Malawi. (Photo:AP) Beira: The death toll from a cyclone that smashed into Mozambique and Zimbabwe rose to more than 300 as rescuers raced against the clock to help survivors and the UN led the charge to provide aid. "We already have more than 200 dead, and nearly 350,000 people are at risk," Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced Tuesday, while the government in Zimbabwe said around 100 people had died but the toll could be three times that figure. The UN, meanwhile, said that one of the worst storms to hit southern Africa in decades had also unleashed a humanitarian crisis in Malawi, affecting nearly a million people and forcing more than 80,000 from their homes. Four days after Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall, emergency teams in central Mozambique fanned out in boats and helicopters, seeking to pluck survivors from roofs and treetops in an inland sea of floodwater, sometimes in the dead of night. Air force personnel from Mozambique and South Africa were drafted in to fly rescue missions, while an NGO called Rescue South Africa said it had picked up 34 people since Friday night, using three helicopters. "It is the only way to access the people that are stranded," Rescue SA's Abrie Senekal told AFP, saying the NGO was trying to hire more helicopters. Ian Scher, who heads Rescue SA, said the helicopter teams were having to make difficult decisions. "Sometimes we can only save two out of five, sometimes we drop food and go to someone else who's in bigger danger," he said. "We just save what we can save and the others will perish." In Nhamatanda, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of Beira, 27-year-old Jose Batio and his wife and children survived by climbing onto a roof. But a lot of their neighbours "were swept by the water," he said. "Water came like a tsunami and destroyed most things. We were prisoners on the roof," he told AFP after they were rescued by boat. The city of Beira, Mozambique's second largest city and a major port, was immediately cut off after the storm. According to the Red Cross, the cyclone damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the city of half a million people. President Nyusi, speaking on Tuesday after attending a cabinet meeting in the ravaged city, said the confirmed death toll stood at 202 and nearly 350,000 were "at risk". The government had declared a national emergency and ordered three days of national mourning, he said. "We are in an extremely difficult situation," Nyusi said, warning of high tides and waves of around eight metres (26 feet) in the coming days. On Monday, Nyusi had said he feared more than 1,000 had died and more than 100,000 people were in danger. Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, was also hit by deadly floods in 2000 that killed 800 people and left at least 50,000 homeless. The storm also lashed eastern Zimbabwe, leaving around 100 dead, a toll that could be as much as 300, local government minister July Moyo said after a cabinet briefing. "I understand there are bodies which are floating, some have floated all the way to Mozambique," he said. "The total number, we were told they could be 100, some are saying there could be 300. But we cannot confirm this situation," he said. At least 217 others are missing and 44 stranded, officials said. Worst hit was Chimanimani in Manicaland, an eastern province which borders Mozambique. Families started burying their dead in damp graves on Monday, as injured survivors filled up the hospitals, an AFP correspondent said. Military helicopters were airlifting people to Mutare, the largest city near Chimanimani. The storm swept away homes and bridges, devastating huge areas in what Defence Minister Perrance Shiri said "resembles the aftermath of a full-scale war". Some roads were swallowed by massive sinkholes, while bridges were ripped to pieces by flash floods. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was mobilising aid for some 600,000 people, saying the world did not yet appreciate the scale of the "massive disaster". So far, it has dispatched more than five tonnes of emergency provisions to the affected areas. "WFP aims to support 500,000 to 600,000 people in the coming weeks," spokesman Herve Verhoosel told reporters in Geneva. "I don't think that the world (has) realised yet the scale of the problem." In Malawi, 920,000 people have been affected by the cyclone and 82,000 people have been displaced, the UN said. "OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) has deployed resources to support assessments and information management, and UNICEF is deploying additional supplies to affected areas including tents, water and sanitation supplies and learning materials to affected children," it said. 'What is happening there is a disgrace. This was one of the wealthiest countries in the world and all of a sudden, it is grief-stricken.' (Photo:File) Washington: President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the United States could impose "a lot tougher" sanctions on Venezuela as he urged the country's military to depose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro. Meeting Brazil's new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, an avowed opponent of socialism, Trump declined to predict a time-frame for the fall of Maduro, who has clung to power for nearly two months since the United States and Latin American powers declared him illegitimate. "We haven't done the toughest sanctions," Trump told a joint news conference with Bolsonaro. "We've done, I would say, right down the middle, but we can go a lot tougher if we need to do that," Trump said. "What is happening there is a disgrace. This was one of the wealthiest countries in the world and all of a sudden, it is grief-stricken, poverty-stricken -- no food, no water, no air-conditioning, no anything," Trump said. Trump renewed his call on Venezuelan security forces to desert Maduro, who still enjoys support from the leadership of the military. "We call on members of the Venezuelan military to end their support for Maduro, who is really nothing more than a Cuban puppet," Trump said. Bolsonaro, an outspoken foe of leftist ideology, said he had spoken to Trump about allowing the US military to position itself in Brazil near the Venezuelan border. Trump has repeatedly said that "all options" are open on Venezuela, although Latin American and European allies have broadly warned against the use of force. "Brazil will be more than willing and ready to fulfill this mission and take freedom and democracy to that country," Bolsonaro said. Despite Trump's threats, the United States has already imposed a wide range of sanctions on Venezuela including the key step of cutting off the regime from revenue of its state oil company -- which counts on the United States as a key market through operator Citgo. A sweeping embargo on Venezuela -- of the sort imposed for half a century by the United States against communist Cuba -- is seen as unlikely to gain wide support in Latin America, despite frustration with Maduro. Millions of Venezuelans have fled and the country is recovering from days of blackouts as the state-guided economy splutters. London: British Prime Minister Theresa May asked the European Union leaders on Wednesday for a three-month delay to Brexit amid continued political deadlock in London, but Brussels warned the postponement carried serious legal and political risks. Exactly 1,000 days on from Britain's seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union and with just nine days left until the scheduled departure date, the divorce deal is blocked in parliament and political turmoil grips the country. Faced with the potentially catastrophic impact of Britain leaving its biggest trading partner with no deal on March 29, May said she would try one last time to pass her deal next week. If it passes, it would still need to be ratified, and she told MPs she has written to EU President Donald Tusk asking to push Brexit back until June 30. If she fails a third time, May said parliament would have to decide what happened next -- but said she viewed any longer extension as a failure to deliver on the referendum decision. She hinted that her own future was on the line, saying: As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30.And the prospect of Britain having to hold European Parliament elections at the end of May would be unacceptable, she said. May will travel to Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit where she will put her request in person to the other 27 EU leaders, who must unanimously approve any delay. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said it was unlikely they would reach a decision without a clear signal from London on what MPs want, suggesting another meeting might be needed next week. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, also warned EU leaders against the June 30 date saying a shorter delay to May 23 or a longer one to at least until 2019 would be preferable. Mays original plan to hold a third vote this week, before the EU summit, was dramatically blocked by Commons speaker John Bercow, who said May could not keep bringing the deal back to MPs without changes. European leaders are now demanding Britain tells them clearly what it wants. As long as we dont know what Britain could say yes to, no decision can be taken on our side either, Juncker told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. He said the deal agreed was the final offer, warning: Nothing more can be done, weve reached the end of the road. If other scenarios are being discussed, wed need a new road.Juncker said Confusing signals European commission president Juncker said it was unlikely EU will reach a decision without a clear signal from London on what MPs want Nearly 200 women workers of a garment factory in Peenya protested against its general manager and his subordinates who assaulted their 36-year-old co-worker. Though the Rajagopalnagar police initially refused to register a case, they eventually booked Shashi Kumar Shetty, the GM of Texport Apparels LLP in Peenya 4th Stage, on March 15, after intervention by the Karnataka Garment Workers Union (KOOGU). Kumar was booked under IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 354 (sexual harassment). KOOGU general secretary T S Swamy told DH that the garment worker, Prasitha (name changed), was summoned to the GMs chamber on the morning of March 12. Prasitha had questioned a newly-appointed supervisor who she did not know. A security guard escorted her to the chamber, where 10-12 supervisors were already present," Swamy said. Shetty hurled abuses at her and removed his boot to hit her when she ran outside the cabin for cover. "The men present went after her, assaulted and even tore her clothes," Swamy added. Prasithas colleagues at the cutting section came to her rescue and sat on a protest asking the management to sack Shetty. "Women workers allege that the male supervisors sexually harass them often," Swamy said. "Some supervisors took obscene pictures of the women on their mobile phones. Shetty, while calling women into his chamber, watched porn in their presence," KOOGU president Sebastian Devaraj said. Garment worker Nagaratna said women had been posting written complaints in the box placed in the factory. "There've been at least 200 complaints in the suggestion box which havent been looked into and they disappear from the boxes," she alleged. Karnataka State Womens Commission chairperson Nagalakshmi Bai, who visited the factory on Monday, ordered the men involved to be suspended for three months. An inquiry has been initiated. Texport Overseas LLP manufactures garments such as Nautica and Vans. Apart from the mostly male management staff, its 700-strong workforce is largely made of women. Managements version Texports General Manager-Human Resources M V Sagar clarified that the issue was work-related. The woman refused to take orders from her manager and wanted instructions directly from her immediate supervisor. She was summoned to the GMs chamber where she was counseled to listen to both her seniors. The worker then ran out to gather a mob of women and began protesting. "We've placed Shashi Kumar Shetty under suspension pending inquiry," he said. Sagar dubbed the sexual harassment allegation baseless, saying the company staff knew that the GM got abusive only over work-related issues. As for written complaints, he said most of them were anonymous. "We've a sexual harassment committee at the factory that periodically meets," Sagar said. Armed with a Rs 1,500 crore bailout plan, the lenders headed by State Bank of India on Wednesday stepped up efforts to keep afloat cash-strapped Jet Airways, India's second-largest airline. A change in management is also on the cards to diffuse the crisis as Chairman Naresh Goyal has been asked to step down. Goyal holds 51% stake in Jet Airways, while Abu Dhabi-based Etihad has 24%. Emerging out of a high-powered meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nriprendra Mishra and officials of finance and aviation ministries, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said, it was in the interest of the nation and the public that Jet Airways was kept afloat. He said every effort would be made to revive the airline and the lenders would ensure that it was not put under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Having already burnt its fingers with Kingfisher, this would be a second such attempt by public sector lenders to bail out a private airliner at the cost of taxpayers money. It is in the larger interest of the country, public and the lenders that Jet Airways continues to fly. We have not lost all hope and all efforts will be on to keep it flying, Kumar said. SBI is also looking at getting a working chairman on board to save Jet Airways. The bankers were of the view that the current management of Jet Airways did not have the ability to pull through the crisis. On whether the airline had reached a stage where putting it under IBC was under consideration, Kumar said, there is no question of IBC for Jet. IBC is synonymous to grounding the airline.IBC will be the last option for the service industry like aviation, he said. Only 38 planes of Jet's 119 strong fleet are operational and pilots, who have not been paid since December, have threatened to go on strike from April 1 if the resolution plan was delayed. Kumar said Etihad continued to be in talks with Jet Airways and it was not conclusive it wanted to exit. Jet Airways shares fell about 6% on Wednesday on the buzz that Etihad wanted to exit. According to estimates, Jet Airways employs more than 20,000 people. Meanwhile, the other two big players IndiGo and SpiceJet have tried to cash-in on the crisis. Indigo, with almost 49% of total market share, Wednesday announced 14 new flights and SpiceJet was reported interviewing Jet Airways pilots in Mumbai. 20 chowkidars (watchman) under Jharkhand Rajya Dafadar Chowkidar Panchayat on Tuesday demonstrated against the government delaying payment of their salaries by observing a silent protest in a police station in Ranchi. They alleged at least 10,000 chowkidars in the Jharkhand did not receive their salary for four months. Each chowkidar monitors 10 villages under one police station and has a salary of Rs 20,000. The rural policing system came into force with the Village Chowkidar Act, 1870. Chowkidars would report to dafadars. Chowkidars and dafadars help villages to maintain law and order and collect the intelligence inputs for the police force. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi identified himself as chowkidar and later started the Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign, we felt proud that somebody recognised this neglected section of administration. But the fact is that our salaries are always delayed. Why should we always suffer? I want to know whether the salary of chief minister Raghubar Das, chief secretary Sudhir Tripathi and all other officials has ever been delayed by a single day, Krishna Dayal Singh, the president of Jharkhand Rajya Dafadar Chowkidar Panchayat, told The Telegraph. The protest was held when BJP leaders including Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das had added the prefix 'Chowkidar' to his name on Twitter as part of the #MainBhiChowkidar campaign. The campaign was launched by the party on March 16 to counter the opposition parties who have attacked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him a failed watchman as they allege that he has turned a blind eye to rampant corporate corruption. Chal meri Luna! This is a phrase many of us have grown up hearing. When there were no fancy and high-tech motorbikes or scooters like today, the common man used to get around cities in Kinetics Luna or a TVS XL. People who could shell out a little more dough would opt for a Vespa, Lambretta or even a Jawa and Royal Enfield Bullet. Easy to ride and manoeuvre, mopeds were used to get around or even transport light goods. Though mopeds are not seen that much in the big cities, there are a lot of them around in the smaller towns and villages. There were several models to choose from over the years the Suvega, BSA Bond, Luna, Royal Enfield Mofa, Hero Puch and the TVS range. The TVS moped is the only one still in production, while the others remain fond memories. DH takes a look at mopeds that were once commonplace on Indian roads: TVS XL: The TVS moped has stood the test of time and is the only one that is still in production. The first model TVS rolled out was the XL in 1980. It was a 50cc two-stroke model. Several models were released over the years. In 2000, the TVS Sport got a 70cc engine. In 2015, the first four-stroke moped was rolled out and with a 100cc engine. The company still produces the XL 100 with several variants, including one with an electric start. The company has sold more than 1.3 crore mopeds. In fact, this humble moped has been involved in a lot of motorsport over the years, notably drag and track racing. The moped has scorched the tracks at Sholavaram and has been a winner in the Kolar Klassik as well. Suvega: Motoebecane Mobylette. Picture credit: en.wikipedia.org/ Stahlkocher Coimbatore-headquartered Mopeds India Limited manufactured the Suvega in technical collaboration with French company Motobecane. The factory was in Tirupati. The first model was the Suvega Super 50, which was based on the Motobecane Mobylette. Three other models Suvega 717, Suvega Samrat and Suvega Super Delux were produced till Mopeds India became defunct in 1988. This company too was into motorsport from the 60s to 80s. Their mopeds won several laurels in the under 50 cc class and was an active participant in the Sholavaram races and won many laurels. Mofa: The Mofa was produced by Royal Enfield in the 80s. It had a 22cc engine that put out a power of 0.8 bhp. It was more of a bicycle with a small engine and fun to ride. It did not require registration with the transport department. The most distinctive feature of the Mofa was that it had no suspension. The fuel tank could hold just about 1.5 litres, but fuel efficiency was about 90 Km to the litre. Kinetic Luna: Luna Super. Picture credit: commons.wikimedia.org/ Cherubino The Kinetic Luna was a 50cc moped manufactured by Indian company Kinetic Engineering from 1972. The first Luna was a licenced version of the Piaggio Ciao. The company produced various models in India TFR Plus, Double Plus, Wings, Magnum and Super. The Wings was the exception with a 35 cc engine instead of the usual 50 to 60cc engines. Production of the Luna stopped in the early 2000s. BSA Bond: This was a 50 cc mini motorcycle that had a monoshock rear suspension but there were dual shocks models as well. The bike was produced by tea leaf makers Brooke Bond India. Production began in the early 80s. It had a four-speed gearbox and was used in motocross events in India. Despite having only a 50 cc engine, the presence of a gearbox made it popular for street use as well. It went out of production sometime in the late 80s. Hero Puch: It was once commonly seen on the streets because of its agility and ease of use in traffic. Puch, an Austrian company, sold the production line to Hero Motors after production ceased in Austria. It had a 65 cc engine with two gears and there was a three-gear and automatic variant of the moped as well. Production of the Hero Puch began in 1988 and ended in 2003. Embattled state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17 of Lower Merion, has joined forces with state Sen. Sharif Street, D-3 of Philadelphia, to offer a bill that would ultimately legalize cannabis for adult use in Pennsylvania. Weve had a cruel, irrational and expensive policy on cannabis for more than 80 years, Leach stated in a release. Prohibition has destroyed countless lives and has cost our taxpayers millions of dollars. Its time we walk into the bright sunshine of enlightenment and stop arresting our kids and funding violent drug cartels. The proposal would permit adults 21 years and older to consume cannabis and allow for home delivery. Users would also be allowed to grow up to six plants for personal consumption, but would not be allowed to sell any of those plants. The bill additionally provides for automatic expungement of prior criminal convictions for cannabis-related offenses, including possession and delivery of less than 1 ounce, as well as commutations of sentences resulting from those convictions. More than 25,000 Pennsylvanians, disproportionately people of color, are put into the criminal justice system every year due to cannabis-related crimes at an annual cost of more than $500 million, according to the release. An end to the prohibition of cannabis is overdue, said Street. It is time for us to join the emerging cannabis economy with the legalization of the adult use of cannabis in Pennsylvania, which should not be a crime when responsibly used by adults, nor mandate medical oversight. The economic imperatives are too great. We also have a moral mandate to correct the damage that disparate enforcement of our marijuana laws has done and is still doing to communities across the commonwealth. Under the proposal, the majority of tax revenue from sales would be used for public education, with individual school districts choosing proportions to put toward the new funding formula and property tax relief. A memo on the bill began circulating Monday, allowing other state senators to sign on if they wish. Following the co-sponsorship period, the bill will be formally introduced and assigned to a committee for consideration. Nearly 60 percent of Pennsylvanians support ending the prohibition against cannabis use, according to the release. Ten states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized cannabis for adult use and 33 states have legalized medical marijuana, including Pennsylvania. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has been on a listening tour across the state over the past several weeks to address the issue. He has so far made 18 stops in 17 counties, with another 50-plus stops planned through June. Gov. Tom Wolf has reported receiving more than 21,000 responses to the tour in an online feedback form, more than any other topic has generated since he took office in 2015. This will be a tough battle, but so was passing medical marijuana, said Leach, a longtime proponent of legalizing cannabis use. We did that, and we will do this. The stakes are too high for us to fail. Leach remains the subject of a state Senate investigation following allegations that he forced himself on a 17-year-old girl in 1991. Cara Taylor, now 44, circulated a private criminal complaint to 40 lawmakers earlier this year accusing Leach of forcing her to perform oral sex on him while he was defending her mother on attempted murder charges. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has indicated the accusations in Taylors complaint fall outside a statute of limitations and are too old to prosecute, but Senate Democrats have nonetheless contacted a law firm to conduct an outside investigation. There was no update on that investigation Wednesday. Leach, a former state representative who has served in the Senate since 2009, has called the allegations completely false and filed a defamation suit against Taylor and two other women in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. "URINETOWN," through March 25, Sandra Lloyd Performing Arts Center, 12830 S. Redwood Road, Riverton (801-520-9330 or rivertonartscouncil.org); running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (one intermission) RIVERTON As the name suggests, Riverton Art Councils Urinetown makes a parody of actual American landscapes. In an outrageous dystopia meant to satirize our own, an extreme drought has led to water shortages and the rise of business mogul Caldwell B. Cladwells (Heath Bateman) evil corporation, U.G.C. (Urine Good Company get it?). Through the corporations lobbying efforts, private toilets have been successfully outlawed U.G.C. now charges impoverished masses high fees for The Privilege to Pee (the musicals second number, sung by Lani King as the coin-counting, Rosie-the-Riveter-esque Miss Pennywise). As the curtain opens, policemen walk through the audience and onto a stage of close-legged bathroom goers, threatening to seize anyone who pees for free outside of Urine Good Companys toilet, Amenity No. 9. When this exact scenario unfolds, the audience discovers that peeing criminals are taken away to Urinetown, a nondescript place embodying the whole of human desperation a place "we won't see until Act 2," Officer Lockstock (Rex King) tells the audience. This is only one example of the shows self-referential commentary on musicals, accomplished through cut-away scenes and musical numbers whose formats and lyrics satirize popular Broadway hits such as Fiddler on the Roof," "Chicago" and Les Miserables. While familiarity with Broadway will help audiences experience the plays parodies in whole, these numbers stand well on their own as intrinsically comedic pieces and Rivertons cast sings them all exquisitely well. But for all its commentary on Broadway and the two-act structure, Urinetown leaves a sincere impression more than one of an extended witty remark. When Hope Cladwell (Jessica Yergensen), the golden-hearted daughter of Mr. Cladwell, meets Bobby Strong (Jacob Shamy), the son of Old Man Strong who was taken away in the plays first act, the musicals honest emotional undertones emerge. Hope places her ear on Bobbys chest to listen to his heart, and begins to sing about Bobbys secret longing for world peace in a stunningly high-pitched solo. Similarly, when Bobby sings to the audience about pursuing his hearts vision in spite of hardships, the audience cant help but step away from the Urinetown scenario and remember their own deep-seated longing for a world with health, peace, freedom and opportunity for all. While the rest of the cast had little to do with the storys forward movement, all sang with the tone and well-practiced melody of lead performers. The harmonies in the music were particularly well constructed and well rehearsed making Urinetown a pleasure to listen to regardless of its lyrical content. As far as the production and set, the directors made ample use of the theaters odd restaurant-style setup, with actors coming into the audience and some scenes taking place on the blocked-off peripheral second floor of the theater. Because of the theaters immersive setup, the audience was integrated with the Urinetown set in spite of the plays unusual premise and satirical style, viewers seemed willing to accept the increasingly peculiar events unfolding around them. A good mix of music, comedy and reality, Riverton Art Councils Urinetown is a wonderfully performed and fascinating piece that illustrates some aspects of Americas most obvious yet eternally unresolved political and social conflicts. While the musical fails to offer a solution, it does remind its viewers of the collective American dream while making light of the capitalism-based confusion which continues to surround us. OREM Utah Valley University and Mountainland Technical College have signed a series of agreements to create seamless educational pathways from the technical college to the university. The agreements in culinary arts, nursing, automotive technology, and web and mobile phone development mean Mountainland students will not have to repeat classes when transferring to UVU, making it easier and faster to graduate. Mountainland's one-year certificates are workforce-based, which should help students to find jobs should they choose to work while attending UVU. The new educational pathways will augment the long-standing agreement between the two institutions, where the technical college's programs with 900-plus hours of instruction can transfer directly to UVU as 30 credit hours in the technology management program. The two institutions are working on pathway agreements in surgical technology and other health care fields to supporting the need for more health care workers in Utah Valley. In the future, the institutions hope to create pathways in manufacturing, welding and small business management. UVU also offers a Wolverine Scholarship that applies to students enrolled in a two-year career and technical education pathway. The scholarship is available to Pell-eligible students and applies to the workforce-focused pathways between Mountainland and UVU. The scholarships make it possible to complete a UVU associate degree tuition-free. Thanks to the hard work of the faculty and staff of both institutions, MTECH students now have an unprecedented opportunity to make a meaningful transition into university coursework, said Clay Christensen, Moutainland Technical College president. We look forward to expanding our important partnership with UVU as we serve our students throughout the region. Faculty from both institutions have worked closely together to evaluate and align curriculum and validate its rigor. UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez said the university is proud of its partnership with Mountainland Technical College. What we are doing qualifies as best practice for 21st century, pragmatic, and inclusive education. MTECH offers valuable instruction that prepares students well to succeed at UVU, she said. These new pathways will allow greater numbers of students to graduate in a timely and efficient manner. Together, MTECH and UVU are helping prepare students to lead productive and dignified lives. What a wonderful mission for both our institutions. SALT LAKE CITY Heres a trivia question: How many bills did the Utah Legislature pass in the 45-day annual session that ended last week? If you said 574, youre an astute observer. Now, can you think of 574 things the state had a burning need to put in its code books? Can you think of 100? I have neighbors who arch their eyebrows when I pass along statistics like these. If you think government conjures up too many ways to bring its mischief to our everyday lives, the thought of 574 bills passing the House and Senate in 45 days can be confirming evidence, especially when you realize lawmakers will pass about that many more next year, too. These neighbors see the world around them functioning in an orderly manner. Unemployment is low. The roads are decent. Schools may need more money, but what else is new? They wonder, why not elect a Legislature that is so part time it is on-call, kind of like a volunteer fire department? If we think of some new law we ought to have, we could set off a bell somewhere. Everyone say aye, then get back to your jobs. The irony, of course, is that none of those 574 bills was the one thing leaders in the House and Senate and the governor said they most wanted to pass this year tax reform. Lawmakers spent most of the session working behind the scenes to get a bill ready, but when they finally put HB441 together, so little time remained in the session that it was politically impossible to pass. As a result, lawmakers will keep working on reform, with the goal of passing something later this year in a special session, most likely in June. And this raises the question no one wants to confront is the 45-day limit on Utahs yearly legislative session (mandated by Article VI, section 16 of the state constitution) enough? Before you choke on your breakfast, or whatever you happen to be snacking on at the moment, consider a few things. Two years ago, the National Conference of State Legislatures examined all states and divided them into five categories. At the top were those with full-time lawmakers and large full-time staffs (California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania). At the bottom were those with part-time lawmakers who make little money and have small staffs (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming). Utah was in a category just above this last one. It has what could be termed a citizen Legislature. That is, lawmakers spend most of the year living and working among those who elected them. But its structure is just slightly less spartan than the other four. But if you look closely, Utah is beginning to separate from the pack. It has the largest population of any state in these two categories. It also ranks among the nations fastest-growing states, having grown by nearly 2 percent in the last year. The only faster-growing state in the citizen legislature category is Idaho, and its population is more than 1 million less than Utahs. Keeping up with growth and that includes governing important resources such as water, building enough roads and finding ways to clean the air takes time, expertise and concentrated study. One danger of a legislature that is too part time is that lawmakers become dependent on the bureaucracy the professional staff in state departments. On the other end of the argument, its hard to quibble with success. Wallethub.com this week released two studies that put Utahs governance in perspective. The first found that Utahns are the sixth-lowest taxed people in the nation. The other found that the state is the fourth-least dependent on the federal government. Its hard to look around and say the state is suffering because its lawmakers dont meet more often. Im guessing most of you instinctively know what would happen if the annual session were longer. Those 574 bills would turn into 1,000 or more. Still, its inevitable that, as Utah grows, its political leaders will have to grow with it. The next category up in that National Conference of State Legislatures study is a group of states where lawmakers are part time but spend about the equivalent of two-thirds of a full-time job doing the publics business. Utah already is larger than some of those states. If tax reform is a harbinger, creeping up the ladder may be inevitable, and that on-call Legislature an even more distant dream. Ezra Taft Benson was called to be an apostle in 1943. He and Elder Spencer W. Kimball were sustained, ordained and set apart at the same time. For a short while, their first homes in Salt Lake City were across the street from each other. Elder Benson later moved to another house nearby where he lived until moving to Washington, D.C., to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for eight years. Before being sworn into office, Secretary Benson strolled past the Washington and Lincoln monuments reviewing the nations history in his mind (see William G. Hartley's essage in "The Presidents of the Church" edited by Leonard J. Arrington, page 434). In 1965, Elder Benson directed the beginning of missionary work in Italy and opened the work in a number of countries that had not heretofore had missionaries within their borders. In October 1979, Elder Benson broke ground for a new chapel in Kirtland, Ohio. While there, he declared: The scourge that was placed upon the people in that prophecy (Doctrine and Covenants 124:83) is being lifted today. Our prophecy said that yet your children may possess the Kirtland lands, but not until many years shall pass away. Those many years have, I feel, passed away, and now is the time. Now is the time to arise and shine and look forward to great progress in this part of the Lords vineyard (see "Joseph Smiths Kirtland," by Karl Ricks Anderson, page 247). Elder Benson presided at the organization of the Kirtland Stake in 1983 and dedicated the refurbished Newel K. Whitney store in 1984 (see "Joseph Smiths Kirtland," pages 248 and 250). That store, of inestimable historic value, was made available to the church by Lilian Wood, widow of Wilford C. Wood. SALT LAKE CITY As many orchestras throughout the country battle a dip in attendance, the Utah Symphony is getting ready to test one potential solution: wear jeans. To drive that idea home, the symphony musicians will soon be swapping tuxes and dresses for casual wear but not all the time. The first wardrobe experiment comes Saturday, March 23, when the symphony performs Rachmaninoffs Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring Ukrainian-born pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk, and contemporary composer Andrew Norman's work, Play. I think the symphony business industry-wide is wrestling with declining attendance over the long term, said Jeff Counts, former general manager of the Utah Symphony who will be the host for Saturdays concert. We've had a pretty good year certainly since the calendar changed to 2019, but we're always looking for more people, and these days, artistic institutions have to be a little bit more creative about the way they offer up their work. For the Utah Symphony, that creativity comes most recently in the form of its new concert series Unwound, which features more than musicians and concertgoers mingling in jeans on Saturday, the Utah Symphony will host a Fatty Tuna food truck and pre-concert activities including trivia (hosted by Jimmy Martin and Shannon Barnson of the Geek Show podcast) as attempts to liven up its classical music concerts. The idea is just to take the concert experience and deconstruct it take the rules away. Some of the barriers of participation in classical music and in high art in general can be a little off-putting because it seems elite. Theres too many rules, there's too many traditions (and) it's not flexible or welcoming, Counts said. I don't believe that it truly is that way, but I think that perception exists, so we're trying to remove those things. We want people to wear what they want. We want people to clap when they want (and) we want them to just be themselves and enjoy the music. As someone who despises formality, Mark Wait, a longtime announcer for KBYUs Classical 89, said he welcomes this experiment. I would like to see the concert hall be a less formal, more welcoming and inclusive experience. Personally, Id love to show up in jeans and a T-shirt and not feel like I was being judged or that I was being ostracized by not being part of that formality," Wait said. " Great music has nothing to do with the tux and tails. Its an artificial connection between formal dress and great music that we have imposed over the past century that really doesnt need to be that way. But not all concertgoers feel that way which is why the Utah Symphony is doing things the traditional way on Friday. But so far, according to Counts, the Utah Symphony hasnt received any criticism or pushback for this new effort. I think people will vote with their feet, so we'll have to see how many people decide to try this out, he said. But I think people understand that it's about giving people a new way in and I think everyone appreciates that. The fans of the Utah Symphony want to see the Utah Symphony be successful. We haven't gotten any complaints and I'll be really interested to see what people think after they've experienced it. And while a lot of changes are taking place during Saturday nights concert including large screens that give concertgoers an up-close view of the musicians theres one thing that remains unchanged: the quality of the performance. Informality is a nice foil for a business that is as formal as (the Utah Symphony), Counts said. (The musicians are) certainly never casual about the way they perform, and I think that the orchestra, knowing people are out there taking this in in an open and free way, is going to play even better. The hope is that the people who experience us in this way will do one of two things: They'll continue to look for those casual experiences and attend those concerts or be interested enough by what they see that they'll attend other of our offerings, Counts continued. We're just hoping people will decide to make us part of their cultural profile to get some new faces and give our old friends a chance to see us in a new way. If you go What: Utah Symphony's Unwound performance When: Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m. Where: Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple How much: $20-$69 Web: utahsymphony.org LONDON Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan has been derailed in Parliament. Now she is at the mercy of an exasperated European Union. May was preparing Tuesday to ask the EU for a delay of at least several months to Brexit after the speaker of the House of Commons ruled that she can't keep asking lawmakers to vote on the same divorce deal that they have already rejected twice. Chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc wouldn't automatically grant the request. He said a long extension "must be linked to something new, a new event, or a new political process." "The real question is, what is the purpose of it. What is it for?" Barnier said in Brussels. "To get out of this uncertainty, we need choices and decision from the United Kingdom." May had hoped to win over her domestic opponents and bring her deal back to Parliament before a summit of the 28-nation bloc in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. That plan was scuttled Monday by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, who declared that Parliament can only vote again if the deal is "fundamentally different" to the version rejected by 230 votes in January and 149 votes last week. The deadlock leaves Britain's plan to exit the European Union still scheduled to take place on March 29 in limbo. The prime minister's Downing St. office said May will send a letter formally requesting an extension to European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday or Wednesday. Downing St. wouldn't say how long a delay she plans to ask for. If the Brexit deal was approved, May had planned to ask the bloc for an extension until June 30 in order for Parliament to pass the necessary legislation for Britain's departure. Now a much longer delay looks likely. May has warned opponents that a failure to approve her agreement would mean a long, and possibly indefinite, delay to Britain's departure from the EU. It could also mean Britain crashing out of the bloc next week without a deal, even though Parliament has voted to rule out that option. By law, the U.K. will leave the EU on March 29, deal or no deal, unless it secures a delay from the bloc. Withdrawing without a deal could mean huge disruption for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining EU countries. The EU is intensely frustrated with Britain's political paralysis, and says it will only grant an extension if U.K. politicians break their deadlock and come up with new proposals. "If there is no decision, the date of March 29 comes and then it's a 'no-deal,'" French European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau said. "For the British to decide nothing is to decide on a 'no-deal.'" Loiseau said U.K. lawmakers "have said no to a 'no-deal' and they have said no to a realistic deal. They have to change their mind on one of the two options." A top official at the French presidency said a British request would be assessed on "two criteria: Is there a new plan likely to win a majority, and what will be the impact on the European Union?" "The EU's interests will be put before anything else," said the official, who isn't authorized to speak publicly in line with the presidency's customary practices. Germany's European affairs minister, Michael Roth, said he expected "clear and precise proposals" from Britain. "We are really exhausted by these negotiations," Roth said at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels before the leaders' summit. EU leaders have been left bemused by Bercow's ruling, in which he cited a 400-year-old parliamentary precedent against voting repeatedly on the same issue. "I'll concede that I wasn't actively aware of the British Parliament's rules of procedure from the 17th century, so I took note of this with interest yesterday," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. The British government is enraged at Bercow, believing he has overstepped the bounds of his role as speaker. As interpreter and enforcer of Parliament's rules, the speaker has broad powers. But some ministers have accused him of plunging Britain into a constitutional crisis by upsetting the balance of power between the government and Parliament. "It's a political crisis," said Catherine Haddon, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government think-tank. "It is shambolic and I think it's showing up many of the confusing aspects of our constitution particularly the convoluted parliamentary rules that have been a difficulty for MPs (members of Parliament) throughout this process." May, meanwhile, hasn't given up on getting her deal approved. She could try to bring it back to Parliament next week if it can win over enough opponents. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said that despite Bercow's ruling, the deal could be voted on again if "the circumstances have changed." "The fact that a number of members of Parliament have said that they will change their votes points to the fact that there are things that are different," he told Sky News. ___ Lorne Cook reported from Brussels. Samuel Petrequin in Paris, Danica Kirka in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story. SALT LAKE CITY With all the talk at the end of the 2019 Legislature of a special session this summer to finish work on tax reform, little has been said about the new power lawmakers have to call themselves back into session. "It does give independence we didn't have before," Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said of the amendment to the Utah Constitution approved by voters last November. But this time, it will be Gov. Gary Herbert who calls lawmakers back into special session to pick up where they left off on coming up with a solution to lagging sales tax revenues. The governor stood with the Senate president and House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, when a late-surfacing House bill extending sales taxes to a wide variety of services, including haircuts and legal advice, was scrapped. Herbert has made it clear he wants to maintain momentum on tax reform, telling the Deseret News he's confident "we'll have a special session sometime this summer and get this thing completed." His office confirmed it will be the governor who calls a special session once there's consensus on what needs to happen with taxes, and that the Legislature will not have to exercise their new authority. Before Constitutional Amendment C was passed, only the governor could call lawmakers into a special session of the Legislature outside of the annual 45-day general session. The governor also controlled special session agendas. Legislative leaders decided they, too, needed that authority after the governor choose to set up the election process to replace former Rep. Jason Chaffetz in Congress in 2017 rather than call lawmakers into special session to handle it. Voters set aside concerns raised by the governor and others that changing the constitution to allow lawmakers to determine if they need to convene between general sessions could lead to a full-time Legislature. Now, the Senate president and House speaker can convene a special session of up to 10 days at least 30 days after the end of a regular general session because of "a persistent fiscal crisis, war, natural disaster, or emergency" in state affairs. "This is a significant change in the way the Legislature operates," said Jason Perry, head of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. "We will see, one of these days, just what kind of power that is." Perry said although the governor is "highly likely" to call the special session on tax reform, the reality is that if for some reason he didn't want to, lawmakers could do it themselves. "I think the Legislature is not going to take that lightly," Perry, who served as chief of staff to Herbert, said. "But I think it gives them a lot more leverage in their negotiations." Adams said he believes legislators' ability to bring themselves back into a special session "did give us confidence," knowing they had the ability to resolve any potential conflict with the governor. "I do believe it played a role," the Senate president said. "It surely wasn't something we talked about directly. It wasn't part of the decision-making process. But it's hard to imagine it wasn't in the back of our minds." BYU political science professor Adam Brown, who closely tracks the Legislature, said he wondered if lawmakers had calling themselves into a special session in mind when they talked about "the sales tax situation in crisis terms." But Brown said it wouldn't have looked good for the new constitutional power to be invoked in this situation. "It would be a little concerning if the first use of this new provision would be for the Legislature to call themselves into special session for something that was on the agenda of the regular session, but they just didn't get it done," he said. Especially for what he called "an entirely foreseeable crisis, years in the making," as consumer spending shifted from goods to services, shrinking the state sales base key to funding all of government outside of education. That would "raise some eyebrows about what the spirit of that new amendment is," Brown said. House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said the amendment may be misunderstood. It "evens the playing field a little bit in terms of the leverage that exists between the legislative and executive branches," King said. "It makes it easier for legislative leaders to say, 'This isn't going to be our only shot.'" He said, though, "a lot of people thought it gave too much power to the Legislature to call themselves into a session on a whim," not appreciating that most lawmakers aren't all that interested in coming back between regular sessions. "I enjoy what I do at the Legislature, but I don't want to spend more time up there than I absolutely have to," King said. "I'm not really thrilled with the idea that it could increase the likelihood that we have the Legislature being in special session." SALT LAKE CITY The Logan City Council decided on Tuesday to delay a vote on an ordinance that would restrict stores from distributing plastic bags. "The volume, the tonage of plastics that is currently sent out to our landfill is massive, and whatever we can do to minimize that, to reduce it, to recycle that plastic adds years to the life of our landfill and is a great environmental benefit to our community," said Councilman Herm Olsen, who encouraged the council to vote in favor of the ordinance Tuesday. He said he's been waiting for action on the issue for years and worries that action will again halt. The decision to hold off on banning grocery stores and other retailers from distributing disposable plastic bags at the point of sale came after a vigorous debate. The ordinance would've gone into effect April 22. Members of Cache County's Solid Waste Advisory Board attended the meeting to urge the council to work together with other cities in the county to address its solid waste problem. Craig Buttars, the board chairman and a county executive, said he feels the issue is broader than what would be addressed by one city's ban on plastic bags. He suggested creating a public information campaign to address the problem and look at countywide solutions that would "accomplish more in the long run." Lloyd Berentzen, director of the Bear River Health Department, said, "I think it's a team effort." "I know Logan is doing their part by trying to put something together here that will really have some teeth," he acknowledged, adding that a better way to approach solid waste issues might be to inform the public and work together with retailers rather than impose an ordinance. Richmond Mayor Jeff Young said he supports the idea of having some deadlines, but is concerned that if one city moves "too fast" it's harder to "rally everyone else." He also encouraged the City Council to work together with other cities in the county to come up with solutions. Olsen said he agreed with the members of the solid waste advisory board, but still felt the city needs make the first move by banning plastic bags. He suggested revising the proposed ordinance to begin March 2020 to give other cities time to implement a countywide plan. "I will say that in 11-plus years on the City Council, I have never seen a greater public interest on an issue than we saw six weeks ago," he said, suggesting that many community members expressed their support for a ban during a recent council meeting. His requests to vote on the ban during Tuesday's meeting incited applause from those in attendance. Councilwoman Amy Anderson said she believes the city needs to act on plastic management but is concerned about "jeopardizing cooperative motion forward." Councilman Jess Bradford agreed. "All along I've been saying plastic bags are not the issue, we have a plastics problem," he said. If working with the county fails, the option to bring the ordinance back up is "always there," Bradford suggested. According to Councilman Tom Jensen, implementing the ordinance could increase what he called "enmity" between other Cache County cities and Logan. He doesn't want to "antagonize that," he said. The council agreed to table the ordinance for six months to allow the solid waste advisory board to continue developing a plan for the county and to "show action." Had the council voted in favor of the ordinance, Logan would've been Utah's third city to implement a plastic bag ban. In May 2017, Park City adopted the state's first ban on plastic bags, followed by Moab in September 2018. Earlier in 2018, a bill sponsored by Sen. Gregg Buxton, R-Roy, sought to prohibit local governments from regulating, prohibiting or restricting the use of or sale of an "auxiliary container" such as plastic bags or impose fees for their use. The bill was not passed. SALT LAKE CITY Sen. Mitt Romney chastised President Donald Trump on Tuesday for the latest denigrating remarks he made about the late Arizona Sen. John McCain. "I cant understand why the President would, once again, disparage a man as exemplary as my friend John McCain: heroic, courageous, patriotic, honorable, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, empathetic, and driven by duty to family, country, and God," the Utah Republican tweeted. During an Oval Office meeting with Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday, Trump was asked about his recent tweets about McCain. The president responded that he's "very unhappy" that McCain voted against repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act in 2017. "I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be, Trump told reporters. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump hit McCain for his handling of a dossier compiled by a former British spy on Trump's relationship with Russia leading up to the 2016 election. "So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) 'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!" Romney posted a nearly 500-word essay about his one-time political rival on his Senate campaign website after McCain died last August. "No person this century better exemplifies the great qualities of patriotism than John McCain," he wrote. "Ones like him dont come along very often," wrote Romney, who lost the 2008 GOP presidential nomination to McCain. "He is a hero. He is a friend." Romney has a history of criticizing Trump, and vowed to call him out when the he makes comments the senator finds distasteful. On the day before he took office in January, Romney expressed his disappointment in Trump's leadership "But, on balance, (Trumps) conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions (in December), is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office, Romney wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. Romney said he didn't intend to comment on Trump's every tweet or fault, but said he would speak out against "significant" statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions. Trump responded to Romney's op-ed, tweeting, "Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didnt. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!" Romney has blasted Trump before. During the 2016 presidential campaign he called then-candidate Trump a "phony" and "fraud" in a scathing speech at the University of Utah. During his Senate campaign, he called out the presidents temperament and character. SALT LAKE CITY A new survey reveals that the relationships of cohabiting couples around the globe may be wobblier than those of married couples, creating risk of instability for children. The report, published by the Institute for Family Studies, finds a large number of kids worldwide are raised in two-adult households, but finds great variation in adult relationship stability within those households. Generally, couples who are married prioritize their relationships more than those who cohabit and they're more likely to believe their relationships will last. That has ramifications for how stable life is for their children. "Children tend to do better when their lives are marked by stable routines with stable caregivers," write co-authors Wendy Wang and W. Bradford Wilcox in "Less Stable, Less Important: Cohabiting Families' Comparative Disadvantage Across the Globe." Wang is the director of research and Wilcox is a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. "We know that children are more likely to flourish in enduring families, so examining stability differences between cohabiting and married families continues to be a meaningful focus for experts interested in promoting child well-being," Jason Carol, professor in the School of Family Life and associate director of the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, told the Deseret News. The Global Family and Gender Survey on which the report is based includes responses from 16,474 adults in 11 countries who live with minor children in their homes. The survey was fielded in September 2018 by the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution and included couples from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States. Generally, the survey found married couples feel better about their relationship and its future than cohabiting couples, though the gap was bigger in some countries than others. "Not every child will experience these things, but research shows children (in unstable environments) have behavior problems, less school achievement and an array of indicators that have shown stability is really almost the most important factor in how kids perform," Wang said. The new findings The report finds nearly 40 percent of cohabiting couples in the United Kingdom with minor kids at home say they've had "serious doubts that their relationship with their partner will last" the highest of any country in the study. By comparison, 27 percent of married couples in the U.K. doubted their relationship in the last year. The United States (36 percent), Australia (35 percent) and Canada (34 percent) had similar numbers expressing doubt, as did 31 percent of those in Canada, Ireland and France. "Across the Anglosphere, cohabitation is perceived as markedly less stable than marrying by parents," the report says. In contrast, just one in five cohabiters in Argentina question whether their relationship will last. In France, skepticism about the longevity of the relationship was highest, but marital status made little difference: 31 percent of cohabiters and 30 percent of married couples said they'd experienced doubts. In the United States, the difference between the two groups was 19 percentage points, with 17 percent of married couples expressing doubts compared to 36 percent of cohabiters. Cohabiting adults were also less likely to agree that "my relationship with my partner is more important to me than almost anything else in my life." More men agreed than women, regardless of marital status, which the report said "may reflect the fact that mothers are more likely than fathers to prioritize their children over their partner." The biggest gap between married and cohabiting couples on that question was in the United Kingdom, where 71 percent of married couples agreed, compared to 54 percent of cohabiting couples. Cohabiters in Australia, Canada, the United States and Ireland were "a lot less likely than married parents to view their relationship as a vital part of their lives," the report says. While satisfaction with family life was generally higher for married couples compared to cohabiters, that didn't hold true everywhere. In Mexico, married and cohabiting couples were equally satisfied with family life, at 64 percent each. The United States has an 8-point gap, with 69 percent of married respondents satisfied compared to 61 percent of cohabiters. The biggest gap is in Canada, where 48 percent of cohabiting parents and 62 percent of married parents express satisfaction with family life. Wang and Wilcox said their new survey's conclusions are similar to findings in the 2017 World Family Map report, which looked at families in Europe and the United States and found children whose parents are cohabiters are "about 90 percent more likely to see their parents break up, compared to children born to married parents." "Commitment" might explain "the stability premium for family life associated with marriage," they write. "Specifically, this brief finds that married parents are more likely to attach greater importance to their relationship, compared to cohabiting parents." Family structure challenges Some experts suggest that children who live with cohabiting adults will do as well as children of couples who are married because the important thing is that there are two adults in the home. But there are significant differences, according to Wang. Not all cohabiting couples include both biological parents of the children living in the home. In many cases, couples include a single mom living with her boyfriend, who is not related to one or all of the children there. These relationships can be "hard to navigate" for kids, Wang said. "In terms of stability, when kids grow up with cohabiting (adults), about 50 percent see the parents break up by age 5" in the United States, Wang said. That's not as true for children who live with their married parents. Many studies look at family instability through the lens of divorce, while research on cohabiting is just catching up as it becomes more common and marriage (and thus divorce) becomes less so. Often, studies on divorce cite the potential damage it brings to children, but there aren't parallel studies examining fractured cohabiting relationships. Even studies focused solely on divorce aren't all consistent. For instance, divorce has been linked to child delinquency. But a recent study by researchers at Florida State University published in Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice suggests the impact isn't large in adolescent years and isn't "substantially associated with criminal behavior in adulthood." Kids outgrow the small effect, said researcher Kevin M. Beaver, professor of criminology and a study author. Marriage is certainly more likely to produce stability and involved parenting and may or may not have the healthy emotional climate. Cohabiting is less likely to have stability. Scott Stanley, a research professor at the University of Denver Scott Stanley, a research professor at the University of Denver, believes predicting how family structure will impact children including divorce or breakup of cohabiting couples is hard to do at the level of individual families. And because parents make the relationship and living arrangement choices, they can be sensitive to what they see as criticism. Beyond that, while the risks are "clear and consistent" that children will suffer some negative impacts when adults leave partnerships, Stanley said no trend will be true in every family or for every child. Difficulties are more likely, but not assured. Parents can also take steps to minimize harm. Stanley likes how sociologist Paul Amato characterized such efforts, likening it to reducing the risk from secondhand smoke: "A modest risk in cases where people try to change behavior to improve the odds for children," Stanley said. A child's age when a parental relationship ends matters, too, said Stanley, who adds the effect on children may also change depending on what kind of relationship the adults had such as whether they fought a lot or had a low-conflict relationship. Stanley said while researchers more often pay attention to divorce and its impact than that of cohabiting adults who separate, children are more affected by cohabitation, in part because there's more of it. And adults in those relationships may have drifted in, rather than entered the relationship with deliberation. While couples choose to marry, cohabiting may be the result of what he calls "sliding" into a relationship, rather than "deciding" on it. He believes children need three things in particular: stability, involved parenting and a healthy emotional climate. Many different family structures can provide them and any family can make them a priority. "But it's also fair to say there are pathways more likely than others to produce that. Marriage is certainly more likely to produce stability and involved parenting and may or may not have the healthy emotional climate. Cohabiting is less likely to have stability," he said. MANTI Two men face felony charges after allegedly attacking two teen boys during a scuffle at a mink farm where they all worked. Rudy Aguado, 28, of Mount Pleasant, and Oscar Manuel Garcia, 21, of Chester, Sanpete County, were each charged Tuesday in 6th District Court with aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony, and aggravated assault act with force/violence to injure, a third-degree felony. According to an affidavit written in support of the men's arrests, the incident happened on a November night as the teens were waiting for a ride home from the mink farm on state Route 161 east of Moroni, Sanpete County. Police learned of the alleged attack after one of a 15-year-old boys "came clean" to his mother about how he's received a broken ankle. According to the teen, Aguado and Garcia tied up a 16-year-old co-worker with a rope and the 15-year-old helped untie the co-worker. The boy said that Aguado and Garcia then got him "on the ground and had a rope around his neck and he could not breathe." The boy "was kicking and trying to get them off of him," police said. The men also threw a large rock at him and hit him in the leg, the teen told police. The 15-year-old said he eventually got on top of a horse trailer in an attempt to get away from the men, but Garcia allegedly followed him up. The teen jumped off of the trailer to get away, police said, and broke his ankle, causing him to scream. Aguado's father came out from a shed and told Aguado and Garcia to stop and take the 15-year-old to a hospital, according to the affidavit. Pictures of the 15-year-old showed marks on his back from the attack, police said, and he was wearing a medical boot on his left foot for his ankle. Police arrested Aguado and Garcia at the mink farm on March 13. WASHINGTON A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a group of immigrants in a case about the government's power to detain them after they've committed crimes but finished their sentences. The issue in the case before the justices had to do with the detention of noncitizens who have committed a broad range of crimes that make them deportable. Immigration law tells the government it must arrest those people when they are released from custody and then hold them while an immigration court decides whether they should be deported. But those affected by the law aren't always picked up immediately and are sometimes not detained until years later. In the case before the Supreme Court, a group of mostly green card holders argued that unless they're picked up essentially within a day of being released, they should be entitled to a hearing where they can argue that they aren't a danger to the community and are not likely to flee. If a judge were to agree, they would not have to remain in custody while their deportation case goes forward. That's the same hearing rule that applies to other noncitizens the government is trying to deport. But the Supreme Court disagreed with the immigrants' interpretation of federal law in a 5-4 ruling that divided the court along ideological lines. Looking at a statutory provision enacted by Congress in 1996, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that "neither the statute's text nor its structure" supported the immigrants' argument. The court's conservative justices sided with the Trump administration. The administration argued, as the Obama administration did, that those affected by the law aren't entitled to a hearing where they can argue for their release, regardless of whether they are arrested immediately after being released from custody or not. Department of Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the administration was "pleased with the decision." Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent he read aloud in court, said that the larger importance of the case has to do with the power his colleagues' ruling gives the government. "It is a power to detain persons who have committed a minor crime many years before. And it is a power to hold those persons, perhaps for many months, without any opportunity to obtain bail," Breyer said. He wrote that in his view the law requires immigrants who have committed crimes to be detained "within a reasonable time after their release" from custody, "presumptively no more than six months." If the person is not detained within that time, they should get a hearing where they can argue for their release, Breyer wrote. The American Civil Liberties Union represented the immigrants in the case before the Supreme Court. ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang, who argued the case, said after the decision that the ACLU will call on Congress to clarify the law and will continue to pursue options in court. Tuesday's ruling was based on the text of the statute, and Wang said the ACLU will argue that the statute, as interpreted by the justices, is unconstitutional. Wang also called the decision an "extreme waste of taxpayer money," saying it locks up individuals who are not a danger to the community. The case before the justices involved a class-action lawsuit brought by noncitizens in California and a similar class-action lawsuit brought in the state of Washington. In those cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with the immigrants, but other appeals courts had sided with the government in similar cases. One of the lead plaintiffs involved in the California case, Mony Preap, has been a lawful permanent resident of the United States since 1981 and has two convictions for possession of marijuana. He was released from prison in 2006 but was not taken into immigration custody until 2013. Preap has since won his deportation case, allowing him to remain in the country. The case is 16-1363 Nielsen v. Preap. SALT LAKE CITY An Arizona mother who reportedly ran a YouTube channel starring her seven adopted children that garnered over 800,000 subscribers has been arrested on suspicion of repeatedly abusing her children when they did not perform well in the YouTube videos, according to The Arizona Republic. Machelle Hackney and her two adult sons were arrested after the children reported being locked in a closet for days without access to food, water and restrooms, among other charges, the Republic reported. Several of the children appear to be under the age of 10, according to AZ Central. Officials did not release their ages, according to NBC News. Hackney has denied the charges of abuse. She was booked into Pinal County Jail on seven counts of child abuse, five counts of unlawful imprisonment and five counts of child neglect. She also faces two counts of molestation of a child, according to AZ Central. She was arraigned Tuesday and held without bond, NBC News reported. Hackneys biological sons Logan and Ryan Hackney were also arrested for failing to report Hackneys abusive behavior, according to AZ Central, though the two say they had discussed reporting it. The Department of Child Services has removed all seven children from Machelle Hackney's care, according to NBC News. According to a statement of probable cause released last week, Hackney, 48, who runs the Fantastic Adventures channel, was the perpetrator of the abuse and was arrested Friday at her home in Maricopa, according to the Washington Post. Authorities in Arizona said Hackneys YouTube channel was the reason for her alleged mistreatment of her adopted children, according to the Washington Post. Hackney was said to punish the children when they "didnt remember their lines or otherwise didnt perform as directed," the Post reported. The children told police that they had been pepper-sprayed from head to toe, forced to take ice baths, beaten with belts and hangers and required to stand with their arms raised above their heads from dawn to midnight, according to the Washington Post. Officials were tipped off about the alleged abuse when Hackneys biological daughter reached out to them, the Post reported. A welfare check conducted March 13 at the home led to the arrest of Machelle Hackney and her sons after authorities reportedly found a child wearing only a pull-up in a closet with a lock in the master bedroom, according to AZ Central. The other six children appeared underweight, malnourished and pale with dark circles under their eyes, according to AZ Central. One child told police she was very hungry and thirsty but was scared her mother would smell the chips officers offered her on her breath, according to AZ Central. Fantastic Adventures, which was still on YouTube as of Wednesday morning, featured sketch videos of adventures, nerf battles, escape rooms and scripted stories starring Hackneys children. The channel's "episodes featured each of the seven adopted children acting out different scenarios, usually inside a house or backyard," according to the Arizona Republic According to AZ Central, Hackneys children said they were not attending school so that they could make the videos. YouTube told the Arizona Republic that it demonetized the account and has said Hackneys channel would be taken down if she were convicted or pled guilty. In a statement to the Washington Post, a YouTube spokesperson said, We take safety on YouTube very seriously. We work closely with leading child safety organizations and others in our industry to protect young people. When were made aware of serious allegations of this nature we take action, which may include suspending monetization, or, upon conclusion of an investigation, terminating channels. According to the Washington Post, Hackney could have grossedas much as $2.5 million from the YouTube channel. WEST JORDAN A West Jordan man was charged Wednesday with threatening to kill a judge just so he could be sent back to prison. John Alden Powell, 43, is charged in 3rd District Court with threatening a judge, a third-degree felony. Powell used a phone at a 7-Eleven, near 1300 West and 7000 South, on Monday to call 911 to report that he "was upset that he was charged and convicted of another crime so he was going to kill the judge in that case," according to charging documents. The court documents do not name the judge. Police located Powell, who told them that a judge "was mad at him" for calling 911 too many times, so Powell was going to kill the judge so he would be sent back to the Utah State Prison "where he wanted to be," the charges state. West Jordan Police Sgt. JC Holt said officers are familiar with Powell, and he does have a history of calling 911 and stating that he wants to go back to jail or prison. But the violence Powell is allegedly threatening in his calls has been escalating in recent months, he said. In January, Powell was charged with emergency reporting abuse, a class C misdemeanor, after he called police dispatchers multiple times over a two-day period stating that he wanted to go to jail, according to charging documents. "The suspect made statements about considering jail a vacation, and continues to call for emergency services for this reason. When I spoke with the suspect today, after he called for emergency services four times today, he stated he called because he wanted to go to jail and he's tired," the charges state. In December, he was charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct for throwing computers while at the emergency room of a local hospital. And in August he was again charged with emergency reporting abuse, according to court documents. His next hearings in those cases is scheduled for April 11. Powell was convicted of emergency reporting abuse in 2012, and determined to be guilty and mentally ill in another case that same year on charges of criminal mischief and stalking, according to court records. Kesari, as a lot of us thought, is not at all a politically colored film. Based on the Battle Of Saragarhi, this film does not attempt to pitch one against the other. So even though there are two major religious communities that are portrayed in the film, one is not glorified by demeaning the other. In fact, there have been instances where it is almost outrightly said how religion is being made a medium to rise to power. The fact that all religions are just medium to reach a god, and that one should practice tolerance finds ample example in the film. But that being said, you can not miss how a streak of emotional detachment almost to the extent of malevolence has been actually attributed to one. Though most attempt has been taken to not get it religiously colored, it is largely achieved, being missed in one or two instances! The Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has outlined a plan to deploy 50,000 telecom towers across the next seven years. The plan will be carried out in cooperation with the National Telecommunications Commission, as well as the countrys incumbent mobile operators Globe Telecom and Smart Communications and newcomer Mislatel. Between them, Globe and Smart have around 16,000 towers in operation across the Philippines. The parties have signed an MoU stating that they will pool their resources to identify the sites where towers can most effectively be deployed. For the first year of the plan, the goal is to deploy 3000 sites, with the aim of increasing this target year-on-year. By the fifth year, the parties aim to be rolling out 10,000 sites per year. In a bid to avoid duplicating sites, in September 2018 the DICT recommended the creation of a common tower planning policy after operators revealed the sites that they considered to be the highest priority. Last month, the three operators all indicated that they would support the shared policy, and the DICT is now seeking to finalise it. Building just one tower requires at least 25 permits, and procuring these can take upwards of six months, and the DICT is also looking to speed up this process by creating an inter-agency unit to help operators liaise with government agencies. This will expedite the processing of licences as well as the other administrative, legal and regulatory permits and certifications that are required for tower construction. Nokia Mobile Indias official Facebook page has started teasing the upcoming launch of the Nokia 9 in India. The teaser also takes a jab at smartphone makers who have been caught faking camera samples. Nokia Mobile India has started teasing the launch of the Nokia 9 in India. The phone with a penta-camera setup at the back was first launched at MWC 2019. The video teaser for the Nokia 9 flagship has appeared on Nokia Mobile Indias official Facebook Page with the words Get ready to capture the most breathtaking pictures with the all new Nokia 9. Stay tuned! The video shows a bunch of camera samples from the Nokia 9 Pureview( 13999 at Tatacliq) and funnily enough, HMD Global takes a jab at all those smartphone makers who have recently been caught posting fake camera samples of their devices. While flashing Nokia 9s photography skills, this text appears in the video - Shot on Nokia 9...For Real. Its ironic that Nokia is trying to take a dig at Huawei and Samsung, who have been in the news lately for faking camera samples of their phones. Back in the day, when Nokia was owned by Microsoft, the company found itself in thick soup for faking a video shot by a DSLR and passing it off for a Lumia 920 camera video. Now that HMD Global runs Nokia smartphones, chances are the company is just having a little bit of good ol' competitive fun with the new Nokia 9 teaser. Nevertheless, Nokia 9 is headed to India soon and thats whats important to note here. The phone is one of the most innovative we have seen from HMD Globals stable till now. It took a long time to develop, but the five cameras at the back of the device have been designed with great effort. All the five cameras on the Nokia 9 Pureview have a 12MP resolution and are made by Sony. Three of the five cameras are monochrome sensors and the other two are RGB sensors. Theres also an additional ToF depth sensor for additional depth information. A dual-tone LED flash completes the setup. The phone uses Lights proprietary Lux Capacitor camera-control chip to manage the data from all the five sensors. If you want to know more about how the Nokia 9s camera functions, head here to read our detailed explanation. Nokia 9 Pureview Specs The Nokia 9 Pureview features a glass-sandwich design with a metal frame holding it all. It comes with the same diamond-cut finish as the Nokia 8 Sirocco and ditches the notch on its pOLED 5.99-inch display with a standard 18:9 format. The display has a 2K resolution and is HDR 10 certified, protected by Gorilla Glass 5. There also an under-display fingerprint sensor and AI-based face unlock on the phone. Further, the Nokia 9 is rated IP67 for water and dust resistance.. Its a P-OLED display with 2K resolution and is HDR10 certified. On the processor front, the phone features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset coupled with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. All this is powered by a 3320mAh battery. The phone supports fast charging with Quick Charge 3 and USB Power Delivery, as well as 10W wireless charging. Theres no 3.5mm headphone jack on the device. The Nokia 9 Pureview will available in only one colour Midnight Blue. It retails for a global average price of $699 (roughly Rs 50,000). Subscriber content preview ANCHORAGE (AP) Alaska's largest airport is expecting a big increase in passenger capacity during the summer tourist season. Officials at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport are looking forward to a significant increase in summer 2019 passenger capacity as more tourists visit Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday. . . . Subscriber content preview SALEM, Ore. (AP) Oregon lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a permanent ban on offshore drilling as the federal government forges ahead with a plan that could open up the Pacific for exploration. The House voted 47-8 on Tuesday to prohibit drilling and exploration on state marine waters. The measure indefinitely extends a 10-year ban on the practice that was set to expire next year. . . . Subscriber content preview By MAE ANDERSON AP Technology Writer NEW YORK Google on Tuesday unveiled a video-game streaming platform called Stadia, positioning itself to take on the traditional video-game business. The platform will store a game-playing session in the cloud and lets players jump across devices operating on Google's Chrome browser and Chrome OS, such as Pixel phones and Chromebooks. . . . Subscriber content preview Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge] Currently, the midblock City Loan Building has five stories, the Grand Central has four and the Buttnick has three. They now offer about 116,000 square feet. Not much has been heard from the Grand Central block in Pioneer Square since 2017. The block, at 200 - 222 First Ave. S., comprises three landmarked old structures. Unico Properties sold it in January for $45 million to a Goldman Sachs-related LLC as part of a larger portfolio sale. Unico still retains an undisclosed ownership stake. . . . And now, Etihad asks SBI to bail it out from Jet Airways Jet Airways financial problems have worsened with partner Etihad deciding to part with Jet Airways and formally asking State Bank of India to purchase its stake in the airline. Jet Air is now placed in a similar situation as that of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, which owns about 24 per cent in Jet, has found it difficult to handle financial matters as Jet Airways became more demanding. Etihad was also reluctant to participate in discussions to resolve Jets financial woes with Naresh Goyal at the helm. Etihad on Monday formally conveyed its decision to exit Jet in a meeting on Monday. Etihad Airways has asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to buy out its stake in beleaguered Jet Airways, in a move that could deepen the crisis at the full service carrier. Jet Airways, already hit by a financial crisis, is now being forced to curtail operations following orders to ground its mainstay Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and forcing passengers to shell out more for their travel. Jets financial woes also fuelled the pileup of grounded planes as carriers operating on truncated fleet alter schedules, curtail flights and hike airfares during a busy season. The grounding of planes by airlines comes at a time when the annual school holidays start in April. It is also the peak travel period in the country. Reports said Etihad wants SBI to buy out its stake and also take over its liabilities in the form of a guarantee for Jets loan from HSBC Dubai. Etihad has also offered its 50.1 per cent stake in Jet Privilege to SBI. Etihad wants to exit Jet completely. Any decision now has to come from SBI, a source said. Etihad CEO Tony Douglas is believed to have discussed this with SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar on Monday. The consortium of lenders led by SBI will meet in Mumbai to discuss the latest development and decide on a future plan for Jet. The problems associated with the grounding of the Boeing 737 max aircraft has been worsened by Jet grounding over 50 per cent of its fleet, which in turn has also led to an increase in air fares. Governments efforts to insulate passengers from the sectors turbulence has not helped much. Last week, civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola advised carriers to refrain from hiking fares. He also said, The DGCA has said it will be monitoring all the sectors very closely ED attaches 13 properties in terror funding case against Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached 13 properties worth Rs1.22 crore in Jammu and Kashmir in a terror funding case against Pakistan-based terrorist Syed Salahuddin, chief of the globally banned terror group Hizbul Mujahideen. ED said the attached properties are in the names of Bandipora resident Mohammad Shafi Shah and six other Kashmiris, who are accused of working for Hizbul Mujahideen. ED has issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these properties, according to a PTI report. The ED move follows the filing of charges by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) against Salahuddin, Shah and others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Action (UAPA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. "Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the most active terror outfit in Kashmir, has been responsible for funding terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Headed by Syed Salahuddin, its self-styled commander based out of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, it funds terrorism on Indian soil through monies organised by a trust called JKART (Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust) in alleged connivance with the ISI and other Pakistan-based entities," the ED said in a statement. The ED said a thorough probe has revealed that the funds were meant for carrying out terror activities in India and that the the terrorists used the havala route for fund transfer. "The funds are illegally distributed to the next of kin of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, active and dead," it said. Salahuddin, chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, a US-designated 'foreign terrorist organisation', is also the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terror groups active in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2017, Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid Yousuf was arrested by the NIA in connection with this case. Yousuf was working in Jammu and Kashmir agriculture department but he was suspended from service after arrest. Shah and three others are currently confined to New Delhis Tihar jail. Nirav Modi arrested in London on PNB fraud case The London police on Tuesday arrested fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi, the main accused in the Rs13,500 crore PNB fraud case, following an extradition request by Enforcement Directorate (ED), the investigative wing of the revenue department. The Scotland Yard police from Holborn arrested the elusive diamantaire on a warrant issued by London's Westminster Magistrates' Court. He will be produced before court shortly today. It is believed that the 48-year-old fugitive jeweller will be formally charged at Westminster Magistrates' Court, following which he is expected to seek bail. Modi has allegedly cheated Punjab National Bank through fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs), thereby siphoning off funds worth Rs6,498.20 from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai while his uncle and aide Mehul Choksi has been accused of swindling Rs7,080.86 crore, also from PNB. An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant short-term credit to the applicant. Modi had fled immediately after the PNB scam surfaced last year. Since then Indian authorities had sounded the Interpol, which in turn issued a Red Corner Notice against Modi in June. The external affairs ministry had also sent an extradition request to the United Kingdom in August last year. Both the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI are probing the PNB scam involving Modi and Choksi, who both have fled India last year. Choksy had since taken refuge in Antigua. The CBI has registered an FIR against Modi, Choksi, Modi's brother and wife. While his wife Ami is a US citizen, his brother Nishal is a Belgian citizen. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Catherine Byrne TD, who has responsibility for implementing Irelands drug and alcohol strategy Reducing Harm: Supporting Recovery, will be in Letterkenny tomorrow to launch a new community action plan to reduce alcohol harm. Speaking ahead of the launch, Kieran Doherty, CEO of the Alcohol Forum said: Our organisation has led out on Community Action on Alcohol at a national level over the past number of years. Its really brilliant to see our own town of Letterkenny joining the wider community-based movement that has seen alcohol plans being developed in many other areas including Cork, Galway, Kerry and Dublin. Launching the Community Action Plan for Letterkenny, Minister Byrne said:I welcome the development of this Community Action on Alcohol Plan which builds on the goals and actions set down in our Government Strategy. This is a hugely important piece of work and will help to identify and reduce alcohol related harm in the community. It aims to increase awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol, especially among young people living, working and studying in Letterkenny, and will ensure that information about local supports and services is easily available. I am confident that this collaboration between stakeholders from right across the local community will have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the people of Letterkenny and beyond. Councillor Gerry McMonagle, who has been chair of the steering group, is keen to highlight that the plan is the result of a lot of consultation and participation that has taken place in the town over the past two years. Its taken a while, weve had to think about and understand the huge impact that alcohol is having on us as a community, just like other communities across Ireland. Weve normalised it or weve ignored it. But the reality is, there are so many families in our town who are struggling and children who will really benefit if parents are supported. Teenagers will have safer experiences on nights out in the town when we move forward with our safer socialising plan thats being developed in partnership with the Gardai. Theres been huge support, people are really getting behind it. One example of people getting behind it includes the Students Union in the LYIT. Paul Lynch, the President of the Students Union is keen to say how said he is proud to be involved. Students are such a big part of the population, were almost 4,000 in Letterkennys overall population of 20,000. Just this week, weve launched a Student Survey on alcohol attitudes and behaviours which is being done in partnership with Ulster University. In the first three days, 170 students had participated. This will give us a good picture which will inform the work of the plan. At the same event, the Donegal Addiction Family Support group will be launched. A joint initiative of the HSE Addiction Services and the Alcohol Forum, this new group which meets every second Wednesday in Letterkenny provides practical support to family members who are struggling with a loved ones addiction to alcohol, other drugs or gambling. Sadie Grace, the CEO Of the National Family Support Network will also be attending the event where she will launch a new leaflet for the group, which aims to let people know that the group is there but also that help is out there and that people dont have to struggle on their own. At last weeks meeting, one of the group had this to say The family support group has given me the strength, hope and inspiration to live life for me on my terms. Members are so supportive and facilitators are second to none. Little Time Left to Save Mexico's Vanishing Vaquita Baja California, Mexico - In recent decades, the sleek, wide-eyed vaquita porpoise has been pushed to the brink of extinction by poachers pursuing another critically endangered sea creature, the totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder sells on the Chinese black market for thousands of dollars. The porpoises end up caught in nets intended for the totoaba and killed as collateral damage. The vaquita (its name is Spanish for "little cow") is a toothed whale and the smallest of all cetaceans; a full-grown female can measure just five feet and weigh only 75 pounds. Thousands of vaquitas once plowed the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, which is bordered on the east by the Mexican mainland and on the west by the Baja California peninsula. Today, their numbers are estimated at around 10 but no more than 22 in the wild. Without a strictly enforced ban on even possessing gillnets, the species will soon go extinct in the wild. Just last week, the badly decomposed body of what was thought to be a vaquita was found caught in a gillnet. There is little time left to act to save the vaquita, yet there is hope. For Mexico's new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the fate of the little porpoise represents political opportunity and the chance of failure. He can do nothing and preside over the first sea mammal extinction in North America in decades. Or he can save one of Mexico's national symbols and rescue a troubled fishing industry. "This is doable even now," said Brooke Bessesen, a conservationist and author of a new book, Vaquita: Science Politics and Crime in the Sea of Cortez. "We have to come up with solutions that buy time. This is not a numbers game. It's a game of time." The Sea of Cortez is 62,000 square miles of azure and turquoise water that ranks as one of the most productive fisheries in the world, with more than 900 species of fin fish, including blue marlin and whale sharks. Commercial fishing started in earnest in the 1940s and is largely concentrated off the Mexican state of Sonora, on the eastern shore of the sea. But poachers are generally thought to be the problem these days. The small-scale fishermen who live on the sea's western and northern shores motor out in cheap fiberglass skiffs known as pangas, armed with gillnets. These nets, made from near invisible nylon mono- and multi-filament, float on or near the surface and are weighted at the bottom. They kill indiscriminately, entangling everything from sea lion pups to great white sharks. Today, there are so many abandoned nets that the Mexican government pays fishermen to drag them ashore. Poor poachers still use gillnets to catch the totoaba, whose swim bladder sells for $20,000 on average in China for traditional medicine and even as investments. A bladder is both a high-end business gift and a sort of trophy in itself. The trade is so lucrative that even the drug cartels have become involved in the poaching. Last April, Mexican authorities stopped a Chinese man at the Mexico City International Airport with 355 totoaba swim bladders. Three days later, another Chinese man bound for China had 417 swim bladders in two suitcases. And in December, Chinese officials confiscated 980 pounds of swim bladders, estimated to be worth $26 million. Sixteen people were arrested. So it is no wonder that poachers and their gillnets have pushed the totoaba onto the list of critically endangered species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and dragged the even more endangered vaquita along with it. The tiny porpoises drown when they are snagged in these nets. The Mexican government shares some of the blame. Warnings that the vaquita might vanish arose years ago when there were still hundreds in the wild, but it failed to take effective actions to protect them. Mr. Lopez Obrador's predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto, banned the use of gill nets in the porpoise's habitat in 2015, for instance, but not their possession. An attempt to capture porpoises to breed them in captivity in 2017 led to one dying; another nearly did and had to be released. The totoaba, however, is being bred in captivity, giving the species a path to survival. But that effort is likely to be counterproductive for the vaquita, because it will only encourage more poaching of the totoaba. The vaquita's situation is so dire that Thomas A. Jefferson, a San Diego marine biologist and conservationist, said he feared that extinction was its most likely fate. "The conservationist in me doesn't want to admit that but the biologist has to," he said. Yet the vaquita clings to life. In October, four were spotted in open water. The little porpoise may possess a unique genetic advantage that could allow it to recover in the wild if just left alone. The vaquita was never widely distributed, numbering perhaps only 5,000 at its modern height and located only in the Sea of Cortez. But there is no evidence that it has hit the bottleneck of birth defects from inbreeding often seen in declining populations. And so, there is hope - if President Lopez Obrador acts swiftly. The vaquita is one of Mexico's national animals, along with the golden eagle and the jaguar. He's under economic pressure to do so. But by acting aggressively to save the porpoise, he can also fulfill core campaign promises and emerge a hero, not just in Mexico but around the world. Pressure is coming from the United States. Last year, the United States Court of International Trade in New York temporarily banned seafood imports from Mexico caught in the Sea of Cortez with gillnets. The injunction was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by environmentalists complaining that the Trump administration was not enforcing a 1972 law that protects marine mammals from being killed in the process of fishing. It has been a crippling blow to the fishing industry in the Sea of Cortez, blocking an estimated 1,400 tons of seafood worth $300 million from being sold in the United States. Even before that, the grocery retailer Trader Joe's had banned blue shrimp from the Sea of Cortez from its nearly 500 stores because of concerns that vaquitas were being killed in gillnets intended for shrimp. Even if he wasn't facing that economic pressure, saving the vaquita represents an opportunity for the new president. Mexican presidents cannot run for re-election, so Mr. Lopez Obrador is at the zenith of his power at the start of his six-year term. By banning the possession of gillnets, Mr. Lopez Obrador would slow the killing of both the totoaba and the vaquita and perhaps resolve the trade dispute with the United States. By expanding the practice of paying more fisherman to remove ghost nets, he would put idle anglers to work. By allowing video of illegal fishing to be used as evidence in court - it is now not admissible - the Mexican Navy could make poaching arrests stick. And by managing the fishery wisely, he would keep it producing for Mexicans and foreign markets alike. Already this kind of fishery management is taking shape in parts of Sonora. "There has to be some way. But this comes down to Lopez Obrador," said Ms. Bessesen, the author. "He is the remaining flicker of hope for the vaquita." So, yes, there is hope. But in the Sea of Cortez, there is little time for either the president or the porpoise. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The ESB have given an update on the broken electric car charge points in Dundalk and Carlingford, which had been out of order for some time and were discussed at the most recent Dundalk Municipal District meeting. When the Dundalk Democrat contacted the ESB for an update on the broken charge stations, the ESB responded with the following statement: "The charger at St Alphonsus Road has been visited by our engineers and we are waiting for a replacement part to repair this unit. The charger at Carlingford has been rebooted by our engineers and is now back in service." A real-time map showing the charge points in Louth and nationwide, including the status and availability of the charge points, is available on the ESB's website here. Electric vehicles are said to offer an increasingly realistic solution to the challenge of reducing the transport sectors greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy in transport and reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels. An electric vehicle home charger grant was introduced in early 2018 to assist homeowners install an electric vehicle charge point on their property, as part of the government initiative to promote electric vehicles. This scheme will provide a grant up to the value of 600 towards the purchase and installation of a home charger unit. The scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). SEAI is also offering grants of up to 5,000 for a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) purchased and registered in Ireland How can small businesses make the most of social media? Now, more than ever, small and medium businesses are using social media to engage with their customers and build brand awareness. According to Kaylie Smith, Director of SMB for Australia and New Zealand, Instagram and Facebook; more than 80 per cent of people on Instagram are following a business and 47 per cent have visited a small business as a result of something theyve seen on the platform. However, it is important for SMEs to understand that social media is not the right platform to push promotional products and brag about achievements, its about interacting with their audience, seeking feedback, and building an online presence, which in the long run will boost business. Andrew Raso, CEO, Online Marketing Gurus said Facebook alone had over 15 million monthly active users, spending more than four hours per day on the platform. According to Sensis, only 26 per cent of small businesses are actively advertising on social media. Not tapping into this massive opportunity is crazy. Imagine getting your product or service in front of 15 million people? he said. In this weeks Lets Talk we asked business leaders, How can small businesses make the most of social media? Some of their top tips include, switching to a business account on your social media platform, get creative with content, use social media tools to drive business, use messaging and chat tools to interact with your clients, and actively engage with your customers. Kaylie Smith, Director of SMB for Australia and New Zealand, Instagram and Facebook With over 80% of people on Instagram following a business, we know our community is passionate about connecting with brands and products as part of their experience on the platform. Instagram is a key platform for brands to reach new shoppers who are potentially interested in their products, while at the same time being a great way to increase engagement among existing customers. Recent research found 66% of Australians follow a local business on Instagram and 47% have visited a small business, such as a restaurant or store, as a result of something theyve seen on the platform. For small businesses looking to make the most of social media platforms, here are my top tips: Switch to a business account On Instagram, youre able to switch your account to a business profile easily in Settings, which allows for interactive tools for your customers and easy ways for business owners to manage messaging, shopping, and insights. Insights Instagram provides an array of analytics and information for SMBs on their audience and engagement. This information provides insights that businesses can use to help better understand and target their audience. Get creative To cut through your audiences Instagram feed, make the most of creative tools and apps, such as Instagrams Hyperlapse and Boomerang, to take a simple product and make it pop. Use the tools Instagram offers a variety of tools that drive customers to an action. For example, Instagrams Shopping tool allows the customer to click through to the product, or the Swipe Up feature allows small businesses to direct customers to your website through Instagram Stories. Using these tools, small businesses can reach their customers in fun and creative ways and potentially reach new audiences around Australia and the world. Joel Kimber, Senior Social Media Specialist, Employsure The best way to use social media is to interact with the people who use it. You want to be able to connect, educate and inspire your audience. Its easy to fall into the trap and think social media is a tool to acquire new leads, showcase their products and brag about their achievements. Small businesses can make the most of social media by engaging with their local communities or their target niche. Provide valuable knowledge, answer questions, be a source of innovation and information. Actively engage with your community, share their stories, ask them questions, ask them for reviews and use their feedback to improve your business. People trust other people far more than they trust brands, utilise this fact and let your customers and audiences be your biggest spokespeople on Social Media. Tracy Hall, Marketing Director, GoDaddy ANZ If youre looking for ways to connect with your customers, maximise your reach and build an online presence, social media can be a great resource for your business. Its easy to think that you should be active across all social media channels in order to maximise your marketing strategy, but there may only be a select few that are suitable for your particular business or service industry. Research which channels are most appropriate to reach your target customers. For example, if your business can provide strong images such as fashion or floristry, Instagram, with its hot spots and swipe-up-to-shop options, could be an appropriate channel to reach the right people. Once you have identified the appropriate social media channels for your business to target potential customers, you can then focus your energy on effectively optimising the performance of those channels. David Jackson, Committee Member of Sydney Angels and CEO, S2M The first thing to realise is that the vast majority of scattergun social media is completely pointless for most small businesses. The second thing to understand is that you need to assess your target market carefully, and find out what social media they are using. If you are a B2B business selling to procurement managers, they are unlikely to be successfully influenced through Instagram, but they may be on LinkedIn. However, if you are an online B2C company selling to millennials, Instagram or Facebook may be great channels where LinkedIn certainly is not. Once you understand which channels may actually be effective, social media then requires a well-thought-out strategy to actively engage your audience in a conversation that builds trust and familiarity, and that adds value to THEM. Random content or jumping straight into sales mode will not be effective. John Tabari, Co-Founder, ClassBento Before you begin to delve into social media tactics, there are two essential things you need to understand. The first is your audience segments, not just at a demographic level (eg. a female aged between 18 to 35) but at a human level, (eg. Jane lives in Bondi, loves yoga and eats organic). You need to build lists of these human level segments and think as Google put it in micro moments. Ask yourself when is Jane on social media? Which platform does she use and why? And how can I best connect with Jane in that specific moment? The second is asking yourself why your business is doing what its doing. This core ethos is what you should push on social as it is heartfelt, personal and the most powerful marketing tool you have. Once you have that foundation of understanding, its just about staying up to date. Keep on top of new social updates and trends and execute them well there are too many brands shooting video in landscape mode when everyone is consuming content on smartphones and portrait works best. Remember that the majority are watching videos on mute so adding subtitles and captions can have a huge impact on engagement. At ClassBento, were a marketplace for fun workshops. Our social mission is to improve the well being of Australians by encouraging them to learn new skills and discover new hobbies that will allow them to switch-off and make something with their hands. So for us, social is about sharing the stories of our artists and makers and inspiring mindfulness through making. Tanya Creer, Digital Business Advisor, Digital Business Solutions When it comes to social media its easy to forget that what we are trying to do is start a conversation and get prospective clients to participate. Not just because it helps analytics but because it helps sales. Small businesses have more opportunity than ever before to get people talking about their products or services, but knowing the right applications and tools might feel a bit like putting together an IKEA coffee table with no instructions. You know its doable. Its just very confusing and even with the instructions right in front of you, chances are you might go wrong. The key to success is great content, knowing the right applications and converting this knowledge into sales. Nicola Moras, Social media strategist, author of Visible Small business owners can leverage the trillions of dollars being spent online when they use it effectively, by increasing their visibility on social platforms. The creation of fresh, digital content daily on the social channels, for example, using a mixture of photos and text posts, is crucial to appear regularly in the feed of your audience. The rise of video consumption has increased dramatically, and the platforms are prioritising the placement of videos in newsfeeds without you having to spend a cent, which means more eyes on your content. Remember to be obvious about how people can buy from you with a clear call to action shared regularly. Hugh Stephens, founder and CEO, Sked Socia Social media is a cost effective, relatively simple channel to use, that gives small businesses the ability to interact with potentially millions of customers around the world. Instagram alone has over 1 billion users, half of which use the platform daily. We know brands interact with Instagram 10 times more than they do with Facebook, while influencer marketing can drive 11 times more ROI than digital marketing. Every business, whether B2B or B2C, should have somewhat of an online presence, even if only a basic LinkedIn page. Consumers are savvier than ever and often, will look a business up online before making a purchase. Not having an online presence in todays digital-first market can damage your brands credibility. Using social media not only provides a way to market your products and brand, it provides a medium through which businesses can engage with and create active dialogue with their customers. Sharon Brown- Cikos, Head of Marketing, EasyShed Aside from the obvious benefits of reaching and communicating with customers through the extensive advertising tools, Social Media provides an opportunity for small businesses to create a community, boost website traffic and grow their brand. Channels like Facebook and Instagram allow customers to discover more about products & services, and in turn provide your business with valuable insights. Social media helps small businesses establish a voice and maximise reach, be it via sharing customer feedback or company updates. This channel is vital in engaging and serving your customers better. At EasyShed we regularly engage with customers via Social channels and obtain actionable insights around improving after sales service for our products. Jordan Sim, Group Product Manager, BigCommerce At their core, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram were built with the intention to build and maintain personal relationships. When brands started piling onto the platforms, they treated the channels in much the same way: as a tool to identify and engage with their customers. But in recent years, the purpose of the platforms have expanded to also include product discovery, which presents Aussie brands a huge opportunity to leverage social content as a sales tool to drive conversion. In particular, Instagrams Shoppable feature on posts and stories makes the shopping journey more seamless as users no longer have to leave the app to purchase goods. The process for browsing to buying has been simplified connecting brands with their customers directly. This is undeniably valuable for small businesses, as it gives them the ability to track every detail related to each post, from impressions and reach to likes, comments, and saves. Were now at a point where we can directly attribute sales to social content and most importantly, businesses have an understanding of the popularity of their products and where they should continue to invest the time, cost and resources. Dipra Ray, CEO, mPort Small businesses can make the most of social media by leveraging the following of their existing followers and influencers. If targeted correctly, your message can be easily disseminated to thousands of dedicated followers with similar interests and values to your brand. This in turn can generate potential leads and build brand awareness at an affordable cost, unlike traditional media which can be an expensive and long process. At mPort, weve also used social media to build our own community, where people can share their fitness achievements with each other and receive support and encouragement from their fellow mPort users. This builds trust and authenticity in our product and creates a positive environment for our members to achieve real body change. Nathan Ruff, CEO, HooZu Diversify your online marketing channels and decide which platforms are right for you. Be sure to include a mix of channels that best suit your brand and objective and ensure you are utilising the right platforms to target customers you want to attract. Cross promotion is also key across multi-channels. It is therefore important to know your target audience on each platform and be sure to tailor the content specifically to each of them in order to keep it relevant. This technique will help to expand your business enormously. Another way businesses can make the most of social media is to use the right tool. Not only does this save you time and endless to-do lists but it can also save money and resources! Some of our favourites at Hoozu are Relay That, Asana, Latergram, and Canva. Other tips include knowing your audience, using FB ads, darkposting content, influencer marketing and creating and sharing compelling content. Luke McNeal, Director of Workplace Asia Pacific, Facebook There are now 5 generations in the workforce which means building culture and driving employee engagement is a tough job. But there are tools to help and SMBs are missing a trick if they dont make the most of these collaboration and social networking tools. In Australia, weve seen how SMBs like Spell & The Gypsy Collective use Workplace by Facebook to empower employees to be part of a community and build meaningful relationships at work. Using social media tools as a form of collaboration helps businesses simplify internal communications allowing team members to work smarter, make better decisions, and take decisive action. It also allows leaders to more easily engage their teams and help them achieve their best. This humanises a business and helps employers keep their finger on the pulse of whats going on and what really matters. And ultimately a connected business means better productivity, which in turn will boosts a business bottom line. Sharon Brown- CIkos, Head of Marketing, EasyShed Aside from the obvious benefits of reaching and communicating with customers through the extensive advertising tools, Social Media provides an opportunity for small businesses to create a community, boost website traffic and grow their brand. Channels like Facebook and Instagram allow customers to discover more about products & services, and in turn provide your business with valuable insights. Social media helps small businesses establish a voice and maximise reach, be it via sharing customer feedback or company updates. This channel is vital in engaging and serving your customers better. At EasyShed we regularly engage with customers via Social channels and obtain actionable insights around improving after sales service for our products. Jade Hirniak, Co-founder, The Volte Set measurable social media goals and objectives that have a real impact on your business; its not just about getting likes! Target potential customers through different channels using a diverse marketing strategy. Focus on gaining an organic following. Adam Noall, APAC Channel Director, BlueJeans No matter the scale of their operations, every business needs to evaluate whether their internal collaboration tools help or hinder their teams to deliver. Social media is one tool which strengthens the connection between executives and their employees, ensuring the intentions of leadership are seen and heard. Its natural to interact across levels when working in a small team, but as a business grows, executives need to prioritise maintaining this transparency and approachability. Unfiltered access to the executive vision and strategy is whats appreciated most across any organisation. Investing in an in-house social platform and other tools for internal collaboration is a minor investment which can reap major rewards, as trust in the business flows from top down. Theres more at stake for small business leaders than their big league counterparts when it comes to company culture. Collaborating with their employees through social media and other workplace tools will keep a leaders image and direction front of mind. GO1s VP of Marketing, Scott Cooper Many small businesses fall into the social media trap of using social media platforms to push their promotional materials out to the world at regular intervals. Rather than doing this, focus more on generating engagement call to action with your posts by asking questions and involving your audience in the discussion. This is a great way to easily build up an online community and tap into your potential buyers. And with the brand association of you facilitating the discussion, this will lead to further interactions with your products or services. By not using social media as a megaphone, you can make it a place for meaningful discussion and leverage your social media accounts to maximum potential. Kim Kuzma in 'Dancing Queen' - Tuesdays at The Palm Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Puerto Vallarta's most endearing and enduring songstress, Kim Kuzma, has an electrifying new show this season, called 'Dancing Queen,' featuring the music of Cher and ABBA. Kim has been a top headliner in Puerto Vallarta for 14 seasons now, and her staying power is due to a number of great qualities that she possesses. First and foremost is her absolutely fabulous voice. Kim is warm, friendly and very funny, which draws audiences to her and keeps them coming back. Her shows are always high-energy as Kim makes each show a Zumba experience with her high kicks and stage aerobics. And most importantly, she is always trying new things in her performances. With breathtaking vocals, original style, edgy humor and non-stop energetic performances, Kim consistently delivers a remarkable performance each time she takes the stage. She consistently delivers a first-class show that people flock to again and again! Over the years she went from singing with backtracks to performing with a live band, which led her to become one of Vallarta's most celebrated musicians. This season, Kim and her band are doing the favorites of ABBA and Cher with some Latin flavor. You'll experience songs, with rhythmic twists and even some mash ups of both Cher and ABBA in the same song. You can always count on Kim to add her special, signature flair to the music. And just wait until you see Kim's fabulous costumes! They are absolutely gorgeous! Kim has also added some new talent, by bringing on the superbly accomplished Nate Buccieri on the piano and vocals and newcomer Alexis Mena Torres on percussion, adding jazz and Cuban beats to the band. The incredible, Eduardo Leon, once again returns on guitar and vocals to complete the band! Kuzma and the band offer up ABBA hits like, SOS, I Have A Dream, Chiquitita, and Mama Mia, just to name a few. All the songs are sung to perfection with energy and enthusiasm along with beautiful harmonizing provided by Nate and Eduardo. In fact, adding Nate Buccieri this season was brilliant and helped to make this show one of the best in Vallarta! With Cher making music history, recording an ABBA album, Kim was inspired to combine the iconic music of legends Cher and ABBA, for a spectacular performance. Kim and Nate perform the mash up, If I Could Turn Back Time and Winner Takes It All in a simply amazing performance! We also hear the Cher favorite, "The Shoop Shoop Song," otherwise known as It's in His Kiss, which was another fantastic number. Another highlight of the evening was when Nate and Kim performed the hit song, Walking in Memphis. The blending of the voices and the stellar musicianship on this song was simply astonishing! The audience also enjoyed a light-hearted version of the Sonny & Cher number, I've Got You Babe. And, of course, a night of Abba favorites wouldn't be complete without Voulez-Vous and the signature song of the night, Dancing Queen, which are both absolutely spectacular! Go see this show. It is one of the best in Vallarta this season and features one of the most talented and loved musicians that this town has ever known. Kim Kuzma performs 'Dancing Queen' every Tuesday night, through April 9th at both 7 pm and 9:30 pm. Get ready for a vibrant, fun and exhilarating performance that will be part of your favorite Vallarta memories! For information about the show or for tickets, go to ThePalmCabaret.com. Open 7 nights a week, The Palm Cabaret and Bar features two shows per night, one at 7:00 pm and the other at 9:30 pm. They sometimes offer afternoon matinees as well. For more information and the 2018-2019 season's complete line-up, visit ThePalmCabaret.com. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load By Sharon Kelly A report published Wednesday names the banks that have played the biggest recent role in funding fossil fuel projects, finding that since 2016, immediately following the Paris agreement's adoption, 33 global banks have poured $1.9 trillion into financing climate-changing projects worldwide. The top four banks that invested most heavily in fossil fuel projects are all based in the U.S., and include JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi and Bank of America. Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays in Europe, Japan's MUFG, TD Bank, Scotiabank and Mizuho make up the remainder of the top 10. This report comes as March has already brought deadly weather to places such as the American Midwest, where historic flooding has left four dead and farm losses could reach $1 billion, and Mozambique, where Tropical Cyclone Idai has devastated the East African country and President Filipe Nyusi estimated that more than a thousand people are likely dead. Both disasters have been linked to climate change. "Increased flooding is one of the clearest signals of a changing climate," said 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben in a statement published by ThinkProgress, adding that flooded Nebraska's "current trauma is part of everyone's future." Nebraska National Guard "One inescapable finding of this report is that JPMorgan Chase is very clearly the world's worst banker of climate change," the report, titled "Banking on Climate Change," found. "The race was not even close: the $196 billion the bank poured into fossil fuels between 2016 and 2018 is nearly a third higher than the second-worst bank, Wells Fargo." A half-dozen environmental groups Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Sierra Club, Oil Change International, Indigenous Environmental Network and Honor the Earth authored the 2019 report, which was endorsed by 160 organizations worldwide. It tracked the financing for 1,800 companies involved in extracting, transporting, burning, or storing fossil fuels or fossil-generated electricity and examined the roles played by banks worldwide. Global Snapshot of Fossil Fuel Sector Finance Total fossil fuel financing, in billions of U.S. dollars, by bank and year, 2016-2018. Banking on Climate Change 2019 Report Past report cards by the groups have focused only on coal, or on "extreme" fossil fuel projects, like tar sands extraction, ultra-deepwater oil drilling, and coal mining, and power generation. 2019's report card expands, for the first time, to cover the fossil fuel sector as a whole. This year's report card also dived deep into lending to shale oil and gas companies for the first time, finding that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase "are the biggest bankers of fracking overall and, in particular, they support key companies active in the Permian Basin, the epicenter of the climate-threatening global surge of oil and gas production." JPMorgan Chase also provided the most financing to LNG projects, Arctic oil and gas projects, and ultra-deep-water oil and gas extraction, the report concluded. The Royal Bank of Canada topped the list on tar sands oil financing. "Coal mining finance is dominated by the four major Chinese banks, led by China Construction Bank and Bank of China," the 2019 report found, adding that Bank of China provided the most financing to coal power projects as well. On March 19, China's State Development & Investment Corp., listed as one of the report's top coal power companies, reportedly confirmed that it would stop investing in thermal coal power plants three years ahead of schedule. "Since the Paris Agreement, JPMorgan Chase has provided $196 billion in finance for fossil fuels," the groups wrote, "10 percent of all fossil fuel finance from the 33 major global banks." A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson declined to comment. In 2017, JPMorgan Chase pledged to "facilitate $200 billon in clean financing through 2025," adding that it had helped finance $18 billion of wind, solar, and geothermal projects between 2003 and 2017. Barclays, which offered a total of $109 billion for fossil fuel projects, topped the 2019 report's list of "worst in Europe," followed by HSBC, with $77 billion in financing. More Money for Fossil Fuels Since Paris Agreement All told, financial backing for fossil fuel projects has grown, not shrunk, each year since the Paris agreement, the report found. Banks provided $612 billion for fossil projects in 2016, $646 billion in 2017, and $654 billion in 2018. That's despite the fact that Article 2 of the Paris agreement calls for "[m]aking finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development" and in the run-up to Paris, major banks positioned themselves as supporting a strong global response to climate change. "Scientific research finds that an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is warming the planet, posing significant risks to the prosperity and growth of the global economy," JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley wrote in a 2015 statement. "As major financial institutions, working with clients and customers around the globe, we have the business opportunity to build a more sustainable, low-carbon economy and the ability to help manage and mitigate these climate-related risks." In 2017, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC that he opposed President Trump's plan to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. Guerrilla street painting against fossil fuel pipeline investment outside Wells Fargo World Headquarters in San Francisco, Nov. 6, 2017. Peg Hunter /Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0 Activist pressure campaigns focused on individual banks have recently claimed successes. This week, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo both announced plans to stop financing private prisons, which Moody's Investment Services said in a comment "builds on the trend of negative publicity and uncertainty prevalent in the sector." The past year has brought increasing awareness of climate-related risks in some financial circles but banks headquartered in the U.S. and Canada have lagged behind. "According to a survey conducted by Boston Common Asset Management in 2018, European banks are far ahead of large banks in the U.S. and Canada in implementing climate-related risk assessments," American Banker reported in January. "Specifically, 80 percent of European banks surveyed are, in some way, stress-testing their loan and investment portfolios for a 2-degree-Celsius increase in global temperatures, versus just 44 percent of banks in North America." A report issued last month by U.S.-based Morgan Stanley tallied $650 billion in climate-related disasters over the past three years and predicted $54 trillion in damages worldwide by 2040, citing figures from the UN. "We expect the physical risks of climate change to become an increasingly important part of the investment debate for 2019," the Morgan Stanley strategists wrote. The Banking on Climate Change report finds that nonetheless, Morgan Stanley offered fossil fuel companies $19.48 billion in financing in 2018 (down from $23.7 billion the prior year), making it the world's 11th largest financier of fossil fuel projects. "Alarming is an understatement," said lead author Alison Kirsch, a Rainforest Action Network researcher. "This report is a red alert." Reposted with permission from our media associate DeSmogBlog. An early-season wildfire near Lyons, Oregon burned 60 acres and forced dozens of homes to evacuate Tuesday evening, the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) said, as KTVZ reported. The initial cause of the fire was not yet known, but it has been driven by the strong wind and jumped the North Santiam River, The Salem Statesman Journal reported. As of Tuesday night, it threatened around 35 homes and 30 buildings, and was 20 percent contained. Oregon Department of Forestry "It was a big shock, especially around here," Lyons resident Brianna Schott, who was forced to evacuate, told the Salem Statesman Journal. "We've had little field fires, but this is the biggest event I can remember. We just had snow, and now this?" Another Lyons resident, Bryan Wolf, said he hadn't seen a wildfire like this since moving to Lyons in 2002. "They called us on the home phone here and told us to evacuate twice," Wolf told the Salem Statesman Journal. "We just thought we'd stay put for a little while, keep our eye on it because the wind was still blowing to the east and the fire was headed down river. Once the wind slacked up a little bit, it started coming back and burning more vegetation close to the river, and it got to be a little bit scary for us. The firefighters showed up with their engine and pumper and we felt pretty secure after that." The length of the wildfire season in the Western U.S. has increased due to warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt, the National Climate Assessment found. The Northwest has warmed nearly two degrees Fahrenheit since 1900, which is at least partly attributable to human-caused climate change, the assessment further found. According to Climate Central's States at Risk, the area burned by fires in Oregon each year has increased around 18 times in the last decade compared to an average year in the 1970s. More than 1.2 million Oregonians, or 33 percent of the state's population, live in areas with increased fire risk. The Salem Statesman Journal explained the progression of Tuesday's fire: A grass fire was reported Tuesday afternoon near North Santiam State Park between Mehama and Mill City on the Marion County side of the North Santiam River. An emergency citizen alert was issued about 3 p.m. for those who live in the area to evacuate. Hours later another grass fire was spotted near Gates on Garden Lane separate from the Santiam State Park fire. That fire required no evacuations. Then, another grass fire was reported about 5 p.m. near Neighbors Lane in Lyons, and those within a 3/4-mile radius were asked to evacuate. The Santiam Park fire and Neighbors Lane fire merged due to strong winds in the area. By Patti Lynn 2018 was a groundbreaking year in the public conversation about climate change. Last February, The New York Times reported that a record percentage of Americans now believe that climate change is caused by humans, and there was a 20 percentage point rise in "the number of Americans who say they worry 'a great deal' about climate change." That was before the release of two reports in the fall by scientists commissioned by the United Nations and the U.S. federal government. Both reports painted a dire picture of the coming climate catastrophe and a clear timeline. They warned that if we don't take drastic action to cut emissions globally, we will face global catastrophic effects of climate change. According to the U.N., we have about a decade. That's no time at all. So it makes sense that at the very end of 2018, even as global greenhouse gas emissions rose alarmingly, two bold plans for climate action took hold of the public imagination: the international People's Demands for Climate Justice, and in the U.S., the Green New Deal. But in order to move these plans from visions to actual policies that are just and effective, we must address the largest obstacle that lies between today's status quo and a livable future for all: the influence of the fossil fuel industry on climate policy. Demand for Bold Action Takes Hold Both the People's Demands and the Green New Deal offer possibilities for bold, visionary and just climate solutions. The People's Demands call for keeping fossil fuels in the ground globally, advancing people-first solutions at the U.N., and providing resources to countries and communities that have done the least to cause climate changeand which are currently bearing the brunt of its effects. The Green New Deal resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey envisions a rapid drawdown of greenhouse gas emissions, the creation of millions of well-paying jobs, and the advancement of equity and justice for communities on the front line of climate change. In the U.S., the Green New Deal has taken hold of the progressive imagination. Globally, the People's Demands have become a rallying cry for hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of organizations, including at the last U.N. climate treaty talks. This growing call for action can't be underestimated. We need great social and economic change to fully and justly solve the climate crisis, and no change on this scale happens without public engagement fueling the political will to create such changes. But we also must be clear-eyed about what stands in the way of achieving such transformative change. Big Polluters, Big Obstacles Certainly, for the Green New DealU.S. politics being what they arethe path from a visionary platform to actual policy is deeply fraught. But perhaps the biggest obstacle to the Green New Deal becoming the transformative set of policies we need it to be is the influence of the fossil fuel industry and other polluting industries. As David Roberts at Vox points out: "If the [Green New Deal] looks like it has any chance of becoming a reality, it will face a giant right-wing smear campaign, coordinated across conservative media, think tanks, and politicians, funded by effectively unlimited fossil fuel wealth." Indeed, fossil fuel wealth and influence has, for half a century, stymied necessary climate action at every level of policymakingfrom the U.N. to national policy to state legislation. To succeed in moving both the Green New Deal and the People's Demands from vision to action requires that we effectively counter the fossil fuel and other industries as they bring to bear their full arsenal of money and influence. This is not to say that the supporters of the Green New Deal have entirely neglected to address the influence of the fossil fuel industry. Proponents have been vocal about excluding members of Congress who have received money from fossil fuel PACs from shaping the plan, which is a good first step. But if it is to live up to its boldest visions, the Green New Deal will need to do far more to safeguard against the influence of big polluters and other industries seeking to profit from our most basic needs. For one thing, influence peddling by polluting industries doesn't just come in the form of campaign contributions by fossil fuel PACs to members of Congress. In fact, corporate PAC donations are no longer the most important nor significant route of influence. Increasingly, corporations wield their influence in a myriad of other ways: from positioning themselves as necessary "stakeholders" in policymaking, to establishing think tanks and front groups to sway public opinion, to selling "public-private partnerships" as a way to muscle their way into policymaking and actual control of public resources. If the champions of the Green New Deal are serious about making a true shift, they must create an impenetrable firewall between industry and policymaking. Even at the nascent stages, there are warning signs. The Indigenous Environmental Network has highlighted several important ways in which the Green New Deal resolution falls short of getting to the root of the problem, allowing "industries and governments to continue causing harm to Indigenous communities." Among other concerns, they point out that the "net-zero greenhouse gas emissions" goal of the Green New Deal opens the door to carbon-pricing schemes, which give Big Polluters the opportunity "to continue the business-as-usual practices of extraction, transport and combustion" under a green-washed guise. Instead, the goal must be to keep fossil fuels in the ground and end subsidies and tax breaks to fossil fuel corporations. There is also concern regarding industries beyond Big Polluters. Clean water and infrastructure are mentioned throughout the resolution. When it comes to our water infrastructure, the private water industry has long jockeyed to co-opt public funding for profit. It employs a sophisticated PR and political machine to get government infrastructure fundsand too often leaves residents worse off than before, as they are forced to face rate hikes, poor water quality and worker layoffs. We can expect this machine is already rolling to cash in on the Green New Deal. A Global Mandate to Kick Big Polluters Out For the Green New Deal to succeed in effectively addressing the threats of climate change, those leading the charge must resist the enormous pressure to consider the fossil fuel industry as "stakeholders." These are the entities that brought us into this crisis. They cannot be the ones to get us out. Rather, we must follow the leadership of, and be in deep conversations with, communities currently on the front lines of climate change, who have been developing true and just solutions, as pointed out in a recent letter on the Green New Deal to Representative Ocasio-Cortez and other members of Congress. This includes Indigenous communities, communities of color and low-income communities in the U.S. and around the world. After all, climate change is a global problem. No single country, no matter how visionary, can solve it alone. This is why the People's Demands were collectively developed by, and rooted in, climate justice organizations and people's movements around the world. At the heart of these demands is a recognition that big polluters are the primary cause of the lack of progress on international and national climate solutions. For decades, using every weapon in their arsenal, big polluters have prevented the U.N. climate treaty from facilitating bold climate actionfrom a smear campaign targeting the scientists of an early U.N. climate report, to putting industry representatives on delegations, to all-out sponsoring the talks, and much more. Therefore, ending big polluters' influence on the U.N. climate treaty process and advancing a conflict-of-interest policy is a core component of the People's Demands. Such a policy, text or mechanism would protect global climate policy from obstruction by Big Polluters and would urge governments to begin insulating policymaking from industry influence. Having this kind of directive at the international level provides significant resources, leverage and political will to do the same at the national level. We've seen that with the World Health Organization's global tobacco treaty (formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), which safeguards public health policymaking from the influence of the tobacco industry. Since the adoption of the treaty in 2003, countries around the world have implemented policies keeping the tobacco industry away from the policymaking table. This has, in turn, enabled the implementation of lifesaving tobacco control measures, like graphic health warnings, bans on advertising and tobacco taxes. To be sure, the specifics of climate change and the tobacco epidemic differ greatly, and the fossil fuel industry is more powerful than the tobacco industry. Nevertheless, successfully kicking big polluters out of the U.N. climate treaty process could pave the way for countries around the worldincluding the U.S.to adopt strong firewalls between the fossil fuel industry and climate policymaking. Doing so will also give the Green New Deal the best shot at succeeding. If 2018 was the year when many people in the Global North finally woke up to the existential danger posed by climate change, 2019 just might be the year that politicians around the world heed the call for visionary climate actionand begin the process of disentangling climate policymaking from the clutches of corporate capture. This just might be the only way we achieve the swift and massive change we need. Patti Lynn is the executive director of Corporate Accountability. This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by Truthout. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican who was elected partly because of his experience as a public school educator, proposed a budget this year that would slash more than a quarter of the states $1.6 billion education budget. The proposal has outraged the states school officials who say if the budget is passed as it stands now, they will be forced to lay off scores of teachers and cut crucial programs. The state is heavily dependent on oil revenue and, because oil prices havent rebounded as much as expected in recent years, the state has had to consider ways to reduce its costs. Cuts to K-12 spending over the last three years resulted in the states education department laying off more than a third of its staff. Before becoming a politician, Dunleavy served as an elementary school teacher, principal, and a superintendent of the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. Thousands of educators and parents clad in red marched through the Maryland state capital after school hours last week, waving protest signs with such slogans as, The Time Is Now, Fund Our Schools, and Schools Just Want to Have Funds. The purpose of the march was to urge legislators to increase school funding by $325 million for fiscal 2020 and by $750 million in fiscal 2021. That proposalwhich has been introduced by Democratic leaders in the state Housewould include money to provide a 1.5 percent average teacher raise and expand services for at-risk learners. Teachers and parents marching said they cant wait any longer for an investment in schools. They pointed to stagnant pay, dilapidated school buildings, unwieldy class sizes, and a lack of mental-health resources for at-risk students. This is the first large-scale protest by Maryland teachers in a year of nationwide teacher activism. About 1,500 miles away in Texas, teachers rallied at the state Capitol for increased school funding last week during spring break as well. Being a state schools chief is a high-profile, high-pressure job, subject to political uncertainties as well as policy challenges. Thats reflected in the turnover rate: The average tenure of a state chief today is below two years. The most recent class of state superintendents11 in all, not including those named on an interim basiswas ushered in after last-years midterm elections, most of them appointed by newly elected governors. All except for Floridas once worked as a teacher in a school district, marking a break away from an era in which many governors hired business leaders and politicians to take charge of state departments of education. And this latest crop is ethnically diverseIllinois and Wisconsin both hired their first women of color to take charge of their school systems. Arizona | Kathy Hoffman Salary: $85,000 Experience: Special education teacher Elected For the last four years, Arizonas since-departed state schools chief, Republican Diane Douglas, was at odds with Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and his appointed state board of education over whos in charge, who works for whom, and state standards. Since being inaugurated, Hoffman has pushed to repair the departments relationship with the political leaders. And she has pushed for more funding for schools, reminding the public that, though Ducey promised teachers a 20 percent raise by 2020, other staff members at schools, including custodians, paraprofessionals, secretaries, and special education teachers, also deserve a raise. Im acutely aware of the diminished resources and the shortages, the former special education teacher said about the shortage of special education teachers. Theres also a retention problem because theyre burning out and leaving the field. California | Tony Thurmond Salary: $165,126 Experience: State assemblyman, school board member Elected Californias state superintendent race, in which Thurmond was backed by the states teachers union, was the most expensive in the country. Thurmond defeated opponent Marshall Tuck, who was backed by the states charter sector, by fewer than 100,000 votes. Thurmond takes office at a volatile time for education politics in California, as state leaders wrestle with the local role in policy, how to spend a rapidly growing pot of state funds, and how to hold district officials accountable for lagging academic results. This school year, teachers in Los Angeles and Oakland staged strikes to protest their pay, class size and oversight of charter schools. In response, newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed legislation for more charter transparency rules and he has promised the department will study charter schools impact on district funding. Newsom, a Democrat, appointed as the chairwoman of the states board of education Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford scholar who has a similar stance as her predecessor and next door neighbor, Michael Kirst. Florida | Richard Corcoran Salary: $276,000 Experience: Attorney, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Appointed by state board The states board was strongly urged by recently elected Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, to appoint Corcoran, who served on his transition committee. Many in the state, including the states teachers union and many civil rights advocates, felt the states board of education should conduct a national search for a new commissioner. But board members said Corcoran checked all the boxes. Corcoran faces some big challenges, including juggling both state and federal school accountability systems, and overseeing a slew of new state laws that deal with school choice and school spending. While the states academic outcomes have ticked upward in recent years, many districts face teacher shortages, and advocates have long complained about offerings for English-language learners. In addition, the new governor says he wants to rid Florida of the last vestiges of the Common Core State Standards, an announcement that forced the state education department to delay adoption of new instructional materials and confused districts and vendors alike. Illinois | Carmen Ayala Salary: To be determined by state board of education at March meeting Experience: Teacher, assistant superintendent, superintendent Appointed by state board Ayala is the first woman of color to take over the states education department and was endorsed by recently elected Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat. She previously served as superintendent of Berwyn North School District, and has been a teacher, director of bilingual services, assistant superintendent, and superintendent at various times in her career. She takes over the state department at a pivotal time. The department recently streamlined its teacher licensing process, scrapped the PARCC exam for a shorter state exam, expanded its offering of ACT and SAT tests, and two years ago rolled out a new funding formula. Maine | Pender Makin Salary: Not available as of press time Experience: Assistant superintendent, recent state principal of the year Appointed by governor Under former Republican Gov. Paul LePages two terms, Maine had five commissioners. That includes, for a brief period, LePage himself after he got frustrated with the state chiefs nomination process in 2016. When Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, was elected last year, Makin, then assistant superintendent of Brunswick schools, wrote to Mills about what shed like to see changed at the states department of education. Among her suggestions: more freedom for administrators to decide how to run their schools, less red tape, and more trust between state and local officials. A few weeks later, Mills nominated Makin to be the state chief. The mostly rural state has lost thousands of students in recent years, resulting in major budget cuts for some districts. As state chief, Makin says she wants to push for more investment in pre-K and career tech programs. Minnesota | Mary Cathryn Ricker Salary: $150,002 Experience: Teacher, AFT vice president Appointed by governor Gov. Tim Walzs pick of Ricker, the executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, as state chief made national headlines and firmly situated a team of educators in charge of the state. The governor is a former teacher, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is a former Minneapolis school board member, and the state teachers union heavily backed Walzs campaign. Ricker, who previously had served as the president of St. Pauls teachers union, replaces the long-serving Brenda Casselius in overseeing a state school system that is among the nations highest-performing, but where a growing number of poor, rural, black, immigrant, and Latino students have not excelled academically. Many districts have also operated in the red, and the state faces a growing teacher shortage in rural areas. Missouri | Margie Vandeven Salary: $192,000 Experience: High school English teacher, Missouri deputy superintendent of learning services Appointed by state board Vandeven, who was fired by the states board of education last year, was rehired in a unanimous vote late last year by a board with several newly appointed members. Shed clashed with former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, whod appointed a majority of the previous board, over expansion of charter schools. Among her challenges, the state education department recently rolled out a new testing system, its fourth in the last five years as the states legislature changed its standards. New Mexico | Karen Trujillo Salary: $128,000 Experience: Math teacher, principal, college administrator Appointed by governor New Mexico will undergo some of the biggest school accountability changes this year as the state makes the transition from former Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. The states letter-grade accountability and teacher-evaluation systems, crafted under the previous administration, upset most of the states teachers and the Democratic party, which recently took back the capitol, has promised to replace both systems wholesale. Trujillo is a long-time New Mexico educator who recently has been serving as associate dean for research at New Mexico State Universitys College of Education. Grisham also picked Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, to serve as the governors own education advisor. Rhode Island | Angelica Infante-Green Salary: Not yet determined Experience: English/language arts, district administrator, New York state deputy commissioner Appointed by governor, approved by state board Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, in mid-March recommended Angelica Infante-Green, a veteran New York educator, expert on English-language learner communities, and first-generation immigrant to serve as the states next commissioner of education. She must be approved by the states board of education. Infante-Green, the daughter of Dominican immigrants, received her undergraduate degree in architecture but, after college, decided to switch careers after a Teach for America stint as a dual-language teacher in the South Bronx. She rose through the ranks in New York City schools, serving as a dual-language project director, the founder of a school for recent immigrant arrivals, and the associate commissioner for bilingual education and world languages. She currently serves as the deputy commissioner with the New York Education Departments office of Instructional support. She would take over as Rhode Island is in the middle of a wide-ranging debate over what it needs to do to improve its school system. Recent test results show that its students perform significantly worse than Massachusetts students do. This is an important, exciting moment in Rhode Island education, Infante-Green said in a statement. The foundation is in place, and we we must have the courage and collective will to act boldly on behalf of all of our students. Tennessee | Penny Schwinn Salary: $200,000 Experience: Teacher, charter school founder, Texas Education Agency deputy Appointed by governor Schwinn will be stepping into a difficult job. The Tennessee department of education has been under attack by teachers and district administrators for its administering of the states botched standardized test. The state had to scrap its entire letter-grade accountability system, which determines some students grades, teachers evaluations, and whether several schools should be shuttered or taken over by the state. In addition, the states Achievement School District, tasked with taking over academically struggling schools and handing them over to charter providers, has failed to improve many of the schools it took over in several impoverished Memphis neighborhoods five years ago. Several charter operators have pulled out of the ambitious experiment. Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, has pledged to expand the states charter sector and to push for the expansion of vouchers, a proposal that has had a difficult time politically in recent years. Prior to her service in Texas, Schwinn founded a charter school in Sacramento. She worked as a TFA teacher in Baltimore and Los Angeles at the beginning of her career and comes from a family of educators. Wisconsin | Carolyn Stanford Taylor Salary: Not available as of press time Experience: Teacher, principal, union leader, assistant state superintendent of the division of learning support Appointed by governor Stanford Taylor is the states first black superintendent of public instruction and for the last 17 years has served as the states assistant state superintendent of the division of learning support. She was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, who was himself the state chief prior to his upset victory in last years gubernatorial election. As state chief, Stanford Taylor will be in charge of implementing a new accountability system that the legislature has denounced as ineffective, and working with Evers to figure out a way to pump millions more dollars into the states public school system, which has lost thousands of students in recent years. Evers has also discussed attempting to halt growth of the states voucher system and limiting the charter school expansion. Hes going to reach across the aisle, Stanford Taylor told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about relations between the governor and the GOP-controlled legislature. From buying classroom supplies to working long after the school bell rings, teachers make countless sacrifices for the sake of other peoples children. Few ever imagined theyd also be asked to sacrifice the well-being of their own children, but that is exactly what is happening to many teachers who breastfeed. As the national wave of teacher strikes and walkouts moves into a second year, there is one important issue of dignity for teachers that has been left out of the conversation: breastfeeding accommodations. By mid-day my boobs were so full that I just began leaking everywheresoaked through my shirt and sweater, Catherine, an elementary school teacher, told us during our new study on breastfeeding discrimination through the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. While Catherine was willing to swallow the indignity of pumping in a closet or being walked in on by her colleagues, not getting any pumping break was too much to bear. I started thinking, Im here teaching these babies basic life skills, and I dont even have the time to provide my own baby with food for survival. Nearly two-thirds of mothers who brought breastfeeding discrimination cases in the last decade lost their jobs." In schools across the country, teachers like Catherine can be found huddled in closets, balancing their pumps awkwardly in toilet stalls, and hiding under their desks with their breasts out. It is hard enough to find five minutes to take a bathroom break, said one elementary school teacher we interviewed. Pumping four times a day as a teacher is the hardest, worst, most stressful thing Ive ever had to do, said another. Many teachers are left with no choice but to quit breastfeeding. Others, like Catherine, quit their jobs. Nearly two-thirds of all mothers who brought breastfeeding discrimination cases against their employers in the last decade lost their jobs, either because they were fired (43 percent) or forced to resign (20 percent), we found in our study. Those who didnt lose their jobs outright often suffered other economic harms, like being forced to take unpaid leave. Breastfeeding parents who are not provided reasonable accommodations also face health consequences, including illness, infection, and diminished milk supply. Some are forced to wean their babies earlier than doctors recommend. Infants who are not breastfed face worse health outcomes , including higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and childhood leukemia. Their moms are at greater risk for breast cancer and heart disease . Despite the harsh consequences of breastfeeding discrimination, federal law does not adequately protect breastfeeding teachers. Due to an unintended legal technicality, teachers are excluded from the protections of the Break Time for Nursing Mothers law, the federal requirement that employers provide workers with pumping space and break time. Because they arent covered by the law, many teachers struggle to get the basic accommodations they need. Although other federal laws, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Title IX, prohibit firing or harassing a teacher because she is breastfeeding, those laws cannot be reliably counted on to provide break time and space to pump. Given the federal governments failure to provide adequate rights to teachers, some states have stepped in to fill the gap . Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws clearly requiring break time and space for nearly all workers, including teachers. Other states have added to the patchwork: Texas and Montana cover public employees, while Louisiana and Virginia have passed laws specifically to protect breastfeeding educators. Many administrators already realize the benefits of providing private pumping space and break time. Doing right by breastfeeding workers has been proven to reduce turnover, lower healthcare costs and the number of sick days taken, and boost morale it ultimately saves money and keeps educators in the classroom. But all teachers deserve the dignity of breastfeeding accommodations, not just those fortunate enough to have an administrator with this foresight. Including teachers, 27.6 million women of childbearing age in this country do not have the basic legal protections needed by all breastfeeding workersa clear right to receive break time, space, and other reasonable accommodations. In our recent report , we outline common-sense policy solutions to help teachers walk out of their closets and into clean, private pumping spaces. These include establishing clear space requirements that take the guesswork out of accommodating pumping workers and ensuring laws can be enforced in court. Critically, breastfeeding laws must cover workers in every industry and job title, includingat long lastteachers. Providing basic accommodation for breastfeeding teachers is just one small and affordable way to give teachers the dignity at work they deserve. San Salvador, Mar 20 (efe-epa).- Some 500 people marched Wednesday in the Salvadoran capital to demand that lawmakers move immediately to approve a long-stalled constitutional measure making access to water a human right. The march, from the University of El Salvador (UES) to the seat of congress, came in response to an agreement reached Monday by a key committee in the Legislative Assembly to include representatives of industry and agri-business on the board of the National Water Authority. Organized by UES with help from a range of civic groups, the procession was led by university chancellor Roger Arias, who urged Salvadorans to remain in the streets until water is recognized as a human right and a resource exclusively under public management. At the end of the protest, several organizers tried to enter congress, but were stopped by security guards. The assembly speaker, Norman Quijano, had already decided to suspend Wednesday's session "to protect the integrity of the employees, visitors and lawmakers." "Considering the background of previous protests ... today's plenary session is suspended," he wrote on Twitter. Quijano, a member of the right-wing Arena party, was referring to disturbances that occurred at the end of a march last June, when a group of people tried to enter the assembly building by force, though without causing any injuries or damage. The idea of including private-sector representatives in water management is supported by Arena and other parties ranging from center-right to right, while the governing leftist FMLN is opposed. El Salvador's outgoing president, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, said Tuesday that the Legislative Assembly should "heed the clamor of the people and not approve a law that privatizes water management." Salvadoran lawmakers have spent years trying to pass a General Water Law amid opposition from many sectors, including the Catholic Church, who say the real intent behind the legislation is privatization of water. Those sectors instead want congress to ratify a constitutional measure adopted in 2012 that proclaims access to water as a human right. A 2016 study by the national ombud's office concluded that water shortages - which have gotten worse with climate change - will make life in El Salvador impossible within 80 years. Employee fired in UAE for hailing New Zealand attacks At least 50 people were killed in the attack on two mosques in New Zealand last week. A company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has fired an employee for celebrating last weeks mass killing of Muslims in a deadly terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand. HE MADE INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS "Over the weekend, a Transguard employee made inflammatory comments on his personal Facebook account celebrating the deplorable mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," security company Transguard said in a statement on Tuesday. The company said the employee was deported by UAE authorities, but did not specify his nationality. "We have a zero-tolerance policy for the inappropriate use of social media, and as a result this individual was immediately terminated and turned over to the authorities to face justice," Managing Director Greg Ward said. At least 50 people were killed when a terrorist opened fire on worshippers during the weekly Friday prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Four suspects three men and one woman were detained. One suspected was reportedly released later. EUs Juncker: Brexit decision unlikely this week European leaders likely to reconvene next week on Brexit, the European Council president says. European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker has dampened expectations that an upcoming EU summit this week will come to a decision on a possible delay to Brexit. "THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU" "This might surprise you, but my assessment is that there wont be any decision this week," Juncker told Germanys Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday. He said it was likely an additional meeting would be held next week, as UK premier Theresa May could not ensure any agreement yet within her Cabinet or Parliament on a way forward. EU leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit focusing on Brexit, the upcoming EU summit with China and climate change. British Prime Minister Theresa May was likely to ask EU leaders for a delay to Brexit beyond the 29 March deadline, after British lawmakers rejected her Brexit deal twice. Her plan faced a fresh hurdle on Monday after House of Commons Speaker ruled out another vote on her Brexit deal unless a significantly changed proposal was submitted. Women took another step forward in the still male-dominated world of science Tuesday, as American Karen Uhlenbeck won the Abel Prize in mathematics for her work on partial differential equations. This handout photo taken on March 18, 2019 in Princeton, New Jersey and released on March 19, 2019 by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters / Institute for Advanced Study shows scientist Karen Uhlenbeck. As the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced on March 19, 2019, Uhlenbeck will be awarded the prestigious Norwegian Abel Prize for mathematics. [Photo: AFP/Andrea KANE / Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters] "Karen Uhlenbeck receives the Abel Prize 2019 for her fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory, which has dramatically changed the mathematical landscape," Abel Committee chairman Hans Munthe-Kaas said in a statement. "Her theories have revolutionised our understanding of minimal surfaces, such as those formed by soap bubbles, and more general minimization problems in higher dimensions." She is the first woman to win the prize, which comes with a cheque for six million kroner (620,000 euros, $703,000). She is also an advocate for gender equality in science and mathematics. "I am aware of the fact that I am a role model for young women in mathematics," said Uhlenbeck, according to a Princeton statement. "It's hard to be a role model, however, because what you really need to do is show students how imperfect people can be and still succeed... I may be a wonderful mathematician and famous because of it, but I'm also very human." Uhlenbeck, 76, is a visiting senior research scholar at Princeton University, as well as visiting associate at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), both in the US. The Cleveland native "developed tools and methods in global analysis, which are now in the toolbox of every geometer and analyst," the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said. - 'Change in the air' - With the award, Uhlenbeck joined a still very small club of women who have scored a scientific prize. Of the 607 Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry or medicine between 1901 and 2018, only 19 women were among the awardees, according to the Nobel Prize website. Marie Curie won twice, once for physics and another time for chemistry. Only one woman has won the other major international mathematics prize -- the Fields Medal -- Maryam Mirzakhani of Iran in 2014. She died in 2017. Princeton mathematician Alice Chang Sun-Yung, who is a member of the Abel committee, said "women are relative 'newcomers" as research mathematicians, so it will take a while for us to get to the level of the 'top prize winners.'" "There needs to be some 'critical mass,' not a just few truly outstanding exceptional individuals for the math community to recognize and accept women as equally talented (in math) as men," she told AFP. "But change is coming and is in the air," she added, pointing to wins by Uhlenbeck and Claire Voisin, who won the Shaw Prize in science in 2017. Named after the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, the prize was established by the Oslo government in 2002 and first awarded a year later, to honour outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics, a discipline not included among the Nobel awards. Along with the Fields Medal, which is awarded every four years at the Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), it is one of the world's most prestigious maths prizes. Germanys Muslims call for tougher security at mosques Police presence around mosques will help deter new attacks, Central Council of Muslims says. Germanys Muslim community called on authorities on Tuesday to step up security around mosques in the country after recent terror attacks in New Zealand. "POLICE PRESENCE WOULD HELP DETER ATTACKS" Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, told a news conference in Berlin that visible police presence around mosques would help deter potential attacks by extremists. "This would also have a symbolic meaning," he said, adding that the Muslim community would feel that "the state and society take responsibility for their security." Germany has witnessed growing racism and Islamophobia in recent years fueled by far-right parties, which have exploited fears over the refugee crisis and terrorism. Police recorded 578 hate crimes against Muslims between January and September last year. At least 40 Muslims were injured in the attacks, which were carried out mostly by far-right extremists. Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the countrys nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin. Greek foreign minister to visit Turkey Georgios Katrougalos to pay a working visit to southern Antalya province Thursday. Greece's foreign minister will visit Turkey on Thursday, according to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. "BILATERAL AS WELL AS REGIONAL ISSUES WILL BE DISCUSSED DURING THE VISIT" The statement said Georgios Katrougalos will pay a working visit to the southern province of Antalya upon the invitation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. "Bilateral as well as regional issues will be discussed during the visit," the statement said. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had paid a two-day visit to Turkey on Feb. 5-6, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. New York police investigating assault on Muslim woman 'This disgusting act of hate isn't just an attack on Muslims, it's an attack on all New Yorkers,' says New York City mayor. Police in New York City are investigating a possible hate crime after a Muslim woman was physically assaulted in what the citys mayor deemed a "disgusting act of hate." "IT IS AN ATTACK ON ALL NEW YORKERS" Umber Nisar, 41, walked to her mother's house in Brooklyn on Saturday to deliver some food for a gathering. She was dressed in a shalwar kameez, the traditional outfit worn by women from across the Indian subcontinent, and a hijab, according to a local report. As she was returning home, a man reportedly approached her and attempted to trip her, then kicked her in the shin and fled the scene. "I love this country. This is my home. Ive heard of such things happening to other Muslim women, but I never thought something could happen in this neighborhood," she told Bklyner, a Brooklyn-based news outlet. "Its my home. I felt safe here. Now, I feel like I am on another planet." "This disgusting act of hate isn't just an attack on Muslims, it's an attack on all New Yorkers," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter. The incident took place just a day after a terrorist opened fire on two mosques in New Zealand, killing at least 50 people. The NYPDs Hate Crimes Task Force was assigned to investigate whether the incident is a hate crime, according to multiple reports. Security measures taken for Turkeys local polls March 31 elections will take place in a secure environment without any problem, the Turkish defense minister says. March 31 elections will take place in secure environment without any problem, Turkish defense minister says Turkey has taken all security measures for the upcoming local elections in the country on March 31, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday. "We are sure that the election will take place in a secure environment without any problems," Akar said during inspections in southeastern Srnak province. 12 TERRORISTS WERE KILLED Akar also recalled Turkey's counter-terrorism operations in northern Iraq on Saturday, which left two Turkish soldiers martyred and 12 terrorists dead. "It was an attempt to infiltrate [into Turkey]. Our soldiers showed a tremendous heroism and dedication by burying these traitors," Akar said. According to a Defense Ministry statement on Sunday, the terrorists killed on Saturday also include Serkan Tuncer, who was in the grey category of the Turkish Interior Ministrys wanted list. In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children. With daily campaign rallies and politicians speeches, Turkey is gearing up for local elections to be held across the country on March 31. A total of 12 political parties will participate in the local elections. Soldier martyred in PKK terror attack in SE Turkey One more Turkish soldier injured as an improvised explosive device planted by PKK terrorists went off in Srnak province. A Turkish soldier was martyred and another injured in a PKK terror attack in the southeastern Srnak province on Wednesday, a security source said. IT EXPLODED DURING THE OPERATION An improvised explosive device planted by PKK terrorists in Silopi district went off when Turkish security forces were carrying out search operation in the area, said the source who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The injured soldier was taken to Srnak State Hospital, the source added. The search operation continued in the district. In its more than 30-year terror campaign, the PKK considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU has killed more than 40,000 people, including numerous women and children. Syria: Regime shelling kills 3 civilians in Idlib Two children were among the victims. Three civilians were killed in artillery shelling by regime forces and Iran-backed groups in Syrias northwestern Idlib province on Wednesday, according to the White Helmets civil defense agency. 2 CHILDREN WERE AMONG THE VICTIMS The shelling targeted the opposition-held towns of Qalaat al-Madiq and Al-Hwaiz, the group said. Two children were among the victims, it added. Regime attacks in Idlibs de-escalation zone, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited, are believed to have killed at least 147 civilians since Jan. 1. Last September, Ankara and Moscow agreed to turn Idlib into a demilitarized zone following a meeting in Russia's coastal city of Sochi between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Putin. Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity. Turkey, Iran agree to continue operations against PKK Turkey and Iran decided to launch an operation against PKK terrorists on the border between the two countries. Turkish and Iranian military commanders agreed in a phone call to continue joint operations against terrorists from PKK terror organization for some time, Turkeys Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. TERROR ORGANIZATION WILL BE ELIMINATED Turkey earlier this week announced a joint operation with Iran against PKK terrorist group on the countrys eastern border. We started joint operation with Iran against PKK on eastern border at 08.00 a.m. local time, Turkish interior minister said Suleyman Soylu said in Mediterranean city of Antalya. We will announce the outcome of the operation later. We will eliminate terrorist PKK," Soylu added. Turkeys Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Turkish Gendarme Commander Arif Cetin and Iranian Border Forces Commander Qassem Rezai discussed the joint operations. In a separate phone call Turkish and Iranian deputy interior ministers welcomed the stage reached in the joint operations, the ministry said. In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children. Turkey issues arrest warrants for 36 FETO suspects Arrest warrants issued as part of the ongoing probe into the terror group's infiltration into the Turkish army. Turkey Wednesday issued arrest warrants for 36 suspects over alleged links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup. "COVERT IMAMS OF THE TERROR GROUP" Turkish security forces launched simultaneous operations in 13 provinces across the country based in the central Kayseri province against suspects including 22 on duty soldiers with alleged links to the FETO, as part of an ongoing probe into the group's infiltration into the Turkish army, according to judicial sources on Wednesday. The arrest warrants were issued for the suspects for allegedly having contact with "covert imams" of the terror group by payphone, it said. FETO and its US based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. Turkey accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary. Turkish charities aid people in 362 localities of Afrin Aid packages include food packages, personal care items and non-food items. Turkish humanitarian groups have distributed humanitarian aid in 362 different localities in Syria's Afrin since January of last year, according to a statement on Tuesday. HUMANITARIAN AID IN AFRIN "Turkey continues to provide humanitarian aid in Afrin, Syria. Since January 29, 2018; AFAD, @RedCrescentTR and other Turkish NGOs have provided humanitarian aid to people in need in 362 locations of Afrin," Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said on Twitter. The aids include 194,382 food packages, 2,417 tons of flour, 2,664,407 hot meals, 6,378,142 loaves of bread, 500,760 bottles of water, 104,018 personal care items and 190,219 non-food items. Turkish parliamentary group to visit New Zealand The visit comes after terror attacks at Christchurch mosques that left 50 people dead. A Turkish parliamentary commission will visit New Zealand to show solidarity with the victims of the Fridays terror attacks at Christchurch mosques, the head of the commission said on Tuesday. 'THESE PEOPLE WERE KILLED JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE MUSLIM' We will pay an examination visit to New Zealand to show solidarity with the victims of the inhumane massacre and the New Zealand government who approached the incident with a common sense worth of appreciation, Hakan Cavusoglu, the head of Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Commission, said in a statement. Turkey would continue to fight against anti-Islam hate remarks and extend solidarity with local Muslims from Austria to Australia, Cavusoglu said. Recalling the massacre of 50 people, including women and children, in Christchurch on Friday in two mosques, Cavusoglu condemned the attacks and extended good wishes for the injured. He said that these people were killed just because they were Muslims. At least 50 Muslims were killed when a terrorist opened fire on worshippers during the weekly Friday prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand. He said the growing Islamophobia worldwide has left the UN and EU values of human rights unanswered for the Muslims. He urged for defining anti-Islam acts as crime against humanity, just like anti-Semitism. Turkish security forces strike PKK positions in N. Iraq Arm emplacements, hideouts and ammunition depots destroyed in the air strike in the Hakurk region, says Defense Ministry. Turkish jets pounded PKK positions in northern Iraq, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday. AMMUNITION DEOPOTS WERE DESTROYED IN AN AIR STRIE PKK's arm emplacements, hideouts and ammunition depots were destroyed in an air strike in Hakurk region, the ministry said in a tweet. In its more than 30-year terror campaign, the PKK considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU has killed more than 40,000 people, including numerous women and children. US set to deliver 2 more F-35 jets to Turkey Although the US Congress has adopted an anti-Turkey stance, so far there is no limping in the delivery process of F-35 aircraft. The US is set to deliver two more F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, a spokesman for the F-35 program said Tuesday. "IT WILL CONTINUING UNTIL OTHERWISE DIRECTED" Joe DellaVedova told Anadolu Agency the Turkish F-35 program of record, including ongoing training of Turkish F-35 personnel at Luke Air Force Base, is continuing "until otherwise directed." "Turkey currently has two F-35As at Luke Air Force Base and two other aircrafts are in final preparations to go to Luke," said DellaVedova. "The first two aircrafts are currently scheduled to arrive in the country in November," he added. However, sources familiar with the matter said delivery of the latest pair would take place within weeks. DellaVedova and sources avoided giving a specific date due to final preparations, technical issues, weather conditions and flight schedule. In line with schedule conditions, the US is supposed to send the aircraft of new delivery to Turkey within one to two years after flight trainings are completed under US custody. Turkey took ceremonial delivery of first two F-35 fighters in June. The aircrafts were sent to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona where they are used to teach Turkish pilots and crews to maintain and fly the fighters. Ankara is planning to purchase 100 F-35 fighter jets. The Pentagon delivered a report to Congress detailing implications of Turkey receiving the stealth fighter jets in November. "MANUFACTURES VARIOUS AIRCRAFT PARTS FOR ALL F-35 VARIANTS AND CUSTOMERS" Turkey first joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program in 2002 and has invested more than $1.25 billion. It also "manufactures various aircraft parts for all F-35 variants and customers." Separately, as a security issue for Turkey since the end of the 1990s, its search for an air and missile defense system accelerated in 2011 due to threats in the region. After protracted efforts to purchase the Patriot air defense systems from the US with no success, Ankara decided in 2017 to buy Russias S-400 system, which sparked concerns among American officials. Washington cautioned the S-400 system might covertly obtain critical information on its F-35 fighter jets, including detection range, which could then be relayed to Russia. Several top generals suggested Washington should not supply Ankara with F-35 fighter jets if it accepts Russias S-400 missile defense system. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, however, stressed that Ankara purchasing S-400s from Russia is "not a choice, but a necessity". MINNEAPOLIS - Some studies have suggested that people who are younger when they enter puberty are more likely to later develop multiple sclerosis (MS). But a new study attributes that link to body mass index (BMI). The study is published in the March 20, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Previous studies have shown that children with higher body weight tend to enter puberty earlier than children with normal body weight, and increased BMI is also linked to a greater risk of MS," said study author J. Brent Richards, MD, MSc, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "It appears that earlier age at puberty is associated with an increased risk of MS, but this association is influenced by BMI. Our findings do not support a substantial role for the effect of the timing of puberty on the risk of MS independent of BMI." For the study, researchers looked at a genome-wide association study of 329,245 women and 372 genetic variants that are strongly associated with the age when girls have their first menstrual cycle. Previous studies have shown that the genes related to the timing of puberty are well-correlated in girls and boys. Then researchers looked at another genetic study that included 14,802 people with MS and compared them to 26,703 people who did not have the disease to examine whether the age of puberty was associated with risk of MS. Richards said they did find that people with an earlier age of puberty were more likely to develop MS, but once they factored in BMI, the results were no longer significant. "More research is needed to determine whether decreasing rates of obesity could help to reduce the prevalence of MS," he said. "If so, this could be another important reason for public health initiatives to focus on lowering obesity rates." A limitation of the study was that researchers were not able to analyze results for men and women separately. ### The study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Quebec Health Research Fund (FRSQ). Learn more about multiple sclerosis at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology's free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The American Academy of Neurology is the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with over 36,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit AAN.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Media Contacts: Renee Tessman, rtessman@aan.com, (612) 928-6137 Angharad Chester-Jones, achester-jones@aan.com, (612) 928-6169 March 20, 2019 - Salads were recently in the news--and off America's dinner tables--when romaine lettuce was recalled nationwide. Outbreaks of intestinal illness were traced to romaine lettuce contaminated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. These bacteria occur naturally in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Because crops are grown in the natural environment, E.coli may get into the fields, contaminating produce. The results are potentially deadly for people who eat that produce. Cooking kills E. coli, removing the danger. But lettuce and other leafy greens are generally eaten raw, so they present special safety issues. To protect the public, strict rules require producers to test their irrigation water to see if it is contaminated with E. coli or other microorganisms that can cause illness. The produce industry implements these food safety measures to keep people safe and grow a reliable, nutritious product for consumers. Are the irrigation water tests consistent enough to prevent future widespread recalls? Researchers are comparing tests to see. In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed ten EPA-approved tests to detect generic E.coli in irrigation water. One of these methods, mTEC, is an excellent test for generic E. coli but has not been commonly used in the water testing industry. A commercially available test kit, Colilert, is much simpler to use. It is also offered by hundreds of water quality testing laboratories nationwide, compared to only a handful of laboratories that offer the mTEC assay. Research scientist Jean E. McLain and colleagues at the University of Arizona felt it was important to discover how good laboratories are at using these tests, and whether test results are consistent from lab to lab. Each month, a technician collected a water sample from irrigation canals at the university's research farms near Yuma and Maricopa, AZ. Each water sample was divided into thirds: one-third was delivered to McLain's lab and the remainder was delivered to two collaborating labs for testing. "This study used a side-by-side comparison of both methods, across three laboratories, to test how well the method results were reproduced across labs," says McLain. "Both methods have shown excellent results as long as water samples are clean. But because these methods were developed for drinking water, they may not work as well with environmental water samples, which can contain salts, sediments, and naturally-occurring microbes." Field samples of irrigation water can include salts and sediments when rivers are muddied from rain. Because the Arizona water samples were usually very clean, the researchers sometimes added sediment, salts or bacteria like E. coli to the samples before sending them off for testing. Each lab put its samples through the two certified methods to identify the amount of generic E. coli in the sample. Both tests performed very well when there were no additions to the water as well as when salts and sediments were added. "But when microbes were added, the consistency fell apart," McLain reported. "For both the mTEC and Colilert tests, two labs found the levels of generic E. coli were very high--way above the safety standard. But for each test, one of the three labs showed that the water quality was within the safety threshold." "The Colilert test is so straightforward that labs generally get same results," McLain said. "But in this study comparing the two methods, we are not seeing the same results with each test and each lab. Why would labs have such disparate results? That will be the focus of the rest of the study." One suggestion is that some of these methods are very subjective, requiring highly-trained technicians to evaluate the test results. All water testing completed by the leafy greens industry must be conducted at a certified laboratory, and any presumptive positive results for pathogens must be tested a second time to confirm their presence. In the next phase of research, McLain and her collaborators will gather more data about the varying conditions that may affect test results, including environmental factors and technician training. The team's goal is to develop a user-friendly guide for industry that will help ensure consistently accurate test results. ### McLain presented her research at the Annual Meeting of the Soil Science Society of America, Jan. 6-9, in San Diego, CA. This work is funded by the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. A team of ASU scientists has been using the latest space technology, combined with ground measurements, to assess the health of one of the nation's most important sources of underground water, a large aquifer system located in California's San Joaquin Valley. The team, comprised of School of Earth and Space Exploration researchers Chandrakanta Ojha, Susanna Werth, and Manoochehr Shirzaei, focused on the San Joaquin Valley's most recent drought period, from 2012 to 2015, measuring both groundwater loss and aquifer storage loss. The results of their findings have been recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. With the hope of providing water resource managers with better tools to help keep aquifers healthy, the research team is developing new observation techniques to monitor groundwater and storage capacity of this important California aquifer. They are using a unique combination of data from the NASA GRACE satellites, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) from the European Space Agency's Sentinel 1 satellite, extensometers, and ground level records. The results of the recent study, which is a follow up to their 2018 published research on the 2007-2010 drought in California's Central Valley, show an alarming loss of ground water each year of the 2012-2105 drought and, more importantly, an overall permanent loss of storage capacity in the San Joaquin Valley aquifer. "Using high-tech Earth-orbiting satellites, we can see that groundwater overdraft in a large part of San Joaquin Valley has caused the permanent compaction of clay layers, resulting in rapid ground sinking of up to almost 12 inches per year," says co-author Shirzaei. "Through our research, we measured the amount of permanent compaction in the aquifer and we can now calculate the amount of water loss that has caused this compaction." While the space and ground data showed an average groundwater loss of 1600 billion gallons (6.1 cubic kilometers) for each year of the drought (close to the total equivalent of the volume of Lake Powell in Arizona), the data also indicate that the aquifer system has permanently lost up to three percent of its storage capacity from 2012 to 2015. "The lost groundwater storage capacity cannot be recovered through natural recharge," explains lead author Ojha. "It's a permanent loss that will decrease the availability of groundwater needed during future droughts, potentially running wells dry and effecting both communities and agriculture." While three percent of aquifer loss may sound small, compounded with subsequent expected future droughts, the impact could be severe. "If we have even one drought per decade, our aquifers could shrink a bit more each time and permanently lose more than a quarter of their storage capacity this century," explains co-author Werth, who also holds a joint appointment in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. "While the exact frequency of future droughts might be uncertain," adds co-author Shirzaei, "we know from our 2018 and 2019 analyses that up to five percent of aquifer storage capacity has already been permanently lost during the first two decades of the 21st Century." While this research specifically focused on California, the researchers plan to continue this type of data analysis to measure aquifers health in the southwestern United states and around the world. "Water managers may not be able to change water use right away," says Ojha, "but this study gives them the scientific knowledge and data analysis they need to implement sustainable water usage practices in the future and that may help preserve the availability of groundwater resources for decades to come. "We cannot properly manage what we don't measure," adds Werth. ### Little motors power everything from small comforts, such as desk fans, to larger safety systems, like oven exhaust systems - but they could be more precise, according to a research team from Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. An international collaboration from Japan and Massachusetts unveiled an improved algorithm to track motor performance and speed estimation in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica. Induction motors are powered through an alternating current delivered through equipment known as a drive. A rotor is suspended through a stacked cylinder of metallic windings that, once powered, create a magnetic field forcing the rotor to rotate. The speed depends on the power and variability of the drive. Without sensors to detect the speed of the drive, the speed of the rotor is incredibly difficult to estimate. There are some methods to determine the speed, but, according to Wang, they're lacking. "Rotor speed estimation for induction motors is a key problem in speed-sensorless motor drives," wrote Yebin Wang, Senior Principal Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass, and first author of the paper. "Existing approaches have limitations such as unnecessarily assuming rotor speed as a constant parameter," Wang wrote. He also noted that some approaches tradeoff between estimation bandwidth and measurement robustness, but they offer simple designs that could be expanded upon. The rotor speed could be treated as a state variable, rather than a constant variable. State variables are assumed to be true for the whole motor system, unless some outside force manipulates them and they change. Wang and his team took the state variables and changed their coordinates to allow the system to remain stable, relative to itself. By allowing system variables to stay in sync but moveable as a whole, the scientists could perform mathematical experiments to manipulate the system and determine specific speed variations and changes. "Experiments demonstrate the potential effectiveness and advantages of the proposed algorithm: fast speed estimation transient and ease of tuning," Wang wrote. "This paper also reveals a number of issues." One major issue is that to better estimate the speed, all of the variables of the system must be known. In real-world scenarios, it's unlikely that every variable will be precisely identified. Wang and the team plan to further develop more systematic solutions to address the system stability and to generalize their proposed algorithm to account for uncertainties within the system. ### The team includes Scott Bortoff, a Distinguished Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories; Lei Zhou, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Akira Satake, a group manager, and Shinichi Furutani, a researcher, both with the Advanced Technology Research and Development Center at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in Amagasaki City, Japan. Fulltext of the paper is available: http://www.ieee-jas.org/article/doi/10.1109/JAS.2018.7511252?viewType=HTML&pageType=en https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8476635 IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica aims to publish high-quality, high-interest, far-reaching research achievements globally, and provide an international forum for the presentation of original ideas and recent results related to all aspects of automation. Researchers (including globally highly cited scholars) from institutions all over the world, such as NASA Ames Research Center, MIT, Yale University, Stanford University, Princeton University, select to share their research with a large audience through JAS. JAS has its latest CiteScore as 3.18, which ranks it among top 18% (40/224) in the category of "Control and Systems Engineering", and top 19% (48/251, 32/168) both in the categories of "Information System" and "Artificial Intelligence". JAS has entered the 1st quantile (Q1) in all three categories it belongs to. Why publish with us: Fast and high quality peer review; Simple and effective online submission system; Widest possible global dissemination of your research; Indexed by IEEE, ESCI, EI, Scopus, Inspec. JAS papers can be found at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6570654 or http://www.ieee-jas.org Big data analyses suggest that moralizing gods are rather the product than the drivers of social complexity (Vienna, March 20, 2019) An international research team, including a member of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, investigated the role of "big gods" in the rise of complex large-scale societies. Big gods are defined as moralizing deities who punish ethical transgressions. Contrary to prevailing theories, the team found that beliefs in big gods are a consequence, not a cause, of the evolution of complex societies. The results are published in the current issue of the journal Nature. For their statistical analyses the researchers used the Seshat: Global History Databank, the most comprehensive, and constantly growing collection of historical and prehistorical data. Currently Seshat contains about 300,000 records on social complexity, religion, and other characteristics of 500 past societies, spanning 10,000 years of human history. "It has been a debate for centuries why humans, unlike other animals, cooperate in large groups of genetically unrelated individuals," says Seshat director and co-author Peter Turchin from the University of Connecticut and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. Factors such as agriculture, warfare, or religion have been proposed as main driving forces. One prominent theory, the big or moralizing gods hypothesis, assumes that religious beliefs were key. According to this theory people are more likely to cooperate fairly if they believe in gods who will punish them if they don't. "To our surprise, our data strongly contradict this hypothesis," says lead author Harvey Whitehouse. "In almost every world region for which we have data, moralizing gods tended to follow, not precede, increases in social complexity." Even more so, standardized rituals tended on average to appear hundreds of years before gods who cared about human morality. Such rituals create a collective identity and feelings of belonging that act as social glue, making people to behave more cooperatively. "Our results suggest that collective identities are more important to facilitate cooperation in societies than religious beliefs," says Harvey Whitehouse. Big data: a new approach to social theories Until recently it has been impossible to distinguish between cause and effect in social theories and history, as standardized quantitative data from throughout world history were missing. To address this problem, data and social scientist Peter Turchin, together with Harvey Whitehouse and Pieter Francois from the University of Oxford, founded Seshat in 2011. The multidisciplinary project integrates the expertise of historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, social scientists as well as data scientists into a state-of-the-art, open-access database. Dozens of experts throughout the world helped to assemble detailed data on social complexity and religious beliefs and practices from hundreds of independent political units ("polities"), beginning with Neolithic Anatolians (today Turkey) in 9600 BCE. The complexity of a society can be estimated by social characteristics such as population, territory, and sophistication of government institutions and information systems. Religious data include the presence of beliefs in supernatural enforcement of reciprocity, fairness, and loyalty, and the frequency and standardization of religious rituals. "Seshat allows researchers to analyze hundreds of variables relating to social complexity, religion, warfare, agriculture and other features of human culture and society that vary over time and space," explains Pieter Francois. "Now that the database is ready for analysis, we are poised to test a long list of theories about human history." This includes competing theories of how and why humans evolved to cooperate in large-scale societies of millions and more people. "Seshat is an unprecedented collaboration between anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and evolutionary scientists", says Patrick Savage, corresponding author of the article. "It shows how big data can revolutionize the study of human history." ### Harvey Whitehouse, Pieter Francois, Patrick E. Savage, [...] Peter Turchin. (2019) "Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history", Nature http://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1043-4 The published Seshat data are available at http://seshatdatabank.info/data About the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH): The mission of CSH Vienna is to host, educate, and inspire complex systems scientists dedicated to making sense of Big Data to boost science and society. Scientists at the Hub develop methods for the scientific, quantitative, and predictive understanding of complex systems. Focal areas include the resilience and efficiency of socio-economic and ecological systems, network medicine, the dynamics of innovation, and the science of cities. The Hub is a joint initiative of the Medical University of Vienna, the TU Wien, the Vienna University of Economics and Business, the Graz University of Technology, the Danube University Krems, the IIASA International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, and Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO). http://www.csh.ac.at Lugano, Switzerland, 20 March 2019 - The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) have announced that the 2019 Heine H. Hansen (HHH) Award will be given to Francoise Mornex. The award will be presented at the ELCC 2019 (European Lung Cancer Congress), to be held 10-13 April in Geneva, Switzerland. Mornex is Professor of Oncology at the Universite Claude Bernard in Lyon, France, and practices radiation and medical oncology at the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Her specialty is combined chemoradiation strategies in lung cancer, including multimodality treatment, novel chemoradiation regimens, and innovative radiotherapy techniques. She is passionate about teaching and tutoring young oncologists on research and clinical practice in Europe and Asia, and improving connections between lung specialists with help of ESMO and the IASLC. Giorgio Scagliotti, IASLC President, said: "The 2019 Heine H. Hansen Award goes to a true interpreter of the multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and treatment of thoracic malignancies. Prof. Mornex has been crucial to the success of the educational activities of both societies and has played a significant role in raising a voice about the threat of lung cancer in emerging countries." On receiving the accolade, Mornex said: "This award is a great honour and a rare privilege. I met Heine Hansen in 1988 when he was IASLC President. He was a charismatic, visionary leader, a pioneer in many fields, and inspired me deeply, especially with his concept of international collaboration. It is symbolic for me to receive an award with his name, reflecting the opportunity from ESMO and the IASLC to make progress in combined treatment modalities and education. Receiving this award also recognises the scientific work of collaborative teams in Lyon, France, Europe and internationally, and supports the pivotal role of radiotherapy in the therapeutic management of lung cancer." Acknowledging the contributions of others to her career, Mornex gave "a special mention to all women in oncology. They deserve a strategic place in our field and many of them have impressed and influenced me". She also thanked her mentors, notably Jim Cox, Eli Glatstein, Allen Lichter, Paul Bunn and John Minna at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, US, where she was a visiting fellow in radiation and medical oncology during 1983-1985. Solange Peters, ESMO President-elect, said: "I am very pleased to see Prof. Mornex's extensive experience in the study of multimodal therapy for lung cancer patients acknowledged with the Heine H. Hansen Award. Needless to say, as Chair of the ESMO Women for Oncology Committee, it gives me great pride to see this prestigious award given for the first time to a woman." The HHH Award honours the lifetime contribution of Heine H. Hansen to lung cancer research and education and is awarded to a lung cancer investigator who has made a special contribution to this field. The HHH Award is presented annually by representatives of ESMO and the IASLC at ELCC, where the recipient will give a keynote lecture. (1) ### Notes to Editors Please make sure to use the official name of the meeting in your reports: European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) 2019 References (1) The Heine H. Hansen Award will be presented to Francoise Mornex during the HHH Award lecture on Wednesday, 10 April 2019, 13:45-14:15, Room B. "The HHH model applied to Radiotherapy: Honour the past, evaluate the present and stimulate the future." About Heine H. Hansen Heine H. Hansen started translational research in lung cancer and collaborated with many investigators in Europe and the US. Early on he saw a need for a formal collaborative framework for investigators focusing on lung cancer and was one of the visionary founders of the IASLC and its journal Lung Cancer. He later became the IASLC's President and first Executive Director. Prof Hansen played a significant role in ESMO's evolution and was ESMO President in 1996-1997. At ESMO he contributed to the development of a global curriculum for medical oncology and was instrumental in developing medical oncology as a recognised specialty in Europe. He was also very active in educational activities in the previous Eastern European countries and implemented many clinical trials in this part of Europe. About the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) The European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) has become the reference event in Europe for professionals treating lung cancers. From surgical resection to complex treatment options with novel agents and novel targets; from lung cancer in non-smokers to issues surrounding gender; from various forms of lung cancer, the big killer, to rare forms of chest tumours: the third edition of the ELCC will provide a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of the latest as well as of the state-of-the-art knowledge in thoracic malignancies, covering different aspects such as prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment modalities and the results of basic, clinical and translational research, presented by top international academic experts. About the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With more than 20,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 150 countries worldwide, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information. ESMO is committed to offer the best care to people with cancer, through fostering integrated cancer care, supporting oncologists in their professional development, and advocating for sustainable cancer care worldwide. Visit http://www.esmo.org About the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organisation dedicated solely to the study of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 6,500 lung cancer specialists across all disciplines in over 100 countries, forming a global network working together to conquer lung and thoracic cancers worldwide. The association also publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the primary educational and informational publication for topics relevant to the prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of all thoracic malignancies. Visit http://www.iaslc.org for more information and follow us on Twitter @IASLC. Most people who immigrated to the United States for a chance to live the "American Dream" are more satisfied with their lives in the "land of the free" than those who were born here, according to new research from Florida State University. A team of researchers, including FSU Assistant Professor of Sociology Dawn Carr, found immigrants from white, Hispanic and other racial groups have higher levels of happiness and overall life satisfaction than those born in the United States. Their findings were recently published in the February 2019 print edition of the Journal of Aging and Health. "We discovered that people who are foreign-born and living in the United States do have higher levels of life satisfaction," Carr said. "We examined life satisfaction because it is a useful global measure for understanding how people are doing on the whole with regard to how they feel about their life. It's a good way of capturing their overall well-being." Scholars found Hispanic immigrants in the United States had the highest overall life satisfaction of any other racial group. Study participants had lived in the United States for an average of about 30 years. "The older adult immigrants in our sample adjusted to life in the United States, and they're thriving more than their native-born counterparts," Carr said. "This is particularly true for Hispanics, who maintain their well-being despite having fewer resources than their native-born counterparts. They seem to have developed a life that provides a good old age." In the past 50 years, scholars have examined a concept known as the "Hispanic Paradox," which refers to the observation that older Hispanic immigrants in the United States tend to have better health outcomes than non-Hispanic whites despite their more limited socioeconomic resources. "We wanted to see if this was also true for overall well-being," Carr said. The paradox is believed to stem from cultural and social factors specific to immigrants of Hispanic origin. "It might be that those cultural factors are quite beneficial in terms of maintaining well-being," Carr said. "For instance, it may be their overall spirituality or sense of community. Studies have shown there are expectations for support in the Hispanic culture. However, we were unable to identify specific mechanisms that explain these effects." Researchers examined data from more than 7,000 participants 60 years and older who were surveyed for the most recent wave of the Health and Retirement Study in 2014. This study is the largest and most comprehensive study of older adults in the US. The team also found that foreign-born blacks did not report the same increases in overall life satisfaction as compared to other races. "It was very discouraging to see this outcome for the black sample," Carr said. "Blacks in general have lower levels of life satisfaction than everybody else and foreign-born blacks do not experience any better outcomes." Carr and her colleagues also studied how levels of education were linked with overall life satisfaction. For whites, higher levels of education translated to higher levels of life satisfaction. However, they found for both native and foreign-born blacks, the more education they had, the lower their life satisfaction. "That was a puzzling discovery," Carr said. "This means that education does not seem to enhance the lives of minorities like we might expect. We do not know the reasons for these trends, but we might guess that factors like discrimination are involved, detracting from their overall happiness. For instance, someone who has a college degree, who is in a job with similarly educated individuals who are not minority, might be more overtly aware of the discrimination they're experiencing." Researchers found higher levels of education for native-born Hispanics also was associated with lower life satisfaction. Carr said further research needs to take place to determine what factors are at the root of these varying levels of happiness in later life. ### Carr's co-authors include associate professor and lead author, Rocio Calvo, and Associate Professor Christina Matz, both of Boston College. Unfortunately, however, creation of libraries containing high numbers of zip codes covering the entire genome proved to be difficult. Researchers at Goethe University now succeeded in solving this problem. As Dr Manual Kaulich reports in the scientific journal "eLife", he and colleagues found a reliable method for creating libraries of any magnitude. "Using our newly developed 3Cs technology, we for the first time came up with a library that allows us to investigate the entire genome simultaneously - including non-coding regions outside of genes. In total, our library contains 16.5 million unique zip codes," explains Kaulich, who leads an independent research group at the Institute of Biochemistry II. The non-coding regions which represent 98% of our genome are of particular interest as they are suspected to hold the key to numerous regulatory mechanisms. CRISPR/Cas reagents produced by the novel method can for example help to better understand mechanisms underlying chemotherapy resistance. The flash of inspiration hit Manuel Kaulich together with colleague Dr Andreas Ernst, who at that time was also heading a research group at Institute of Biochemistry II. "We were chatting about our different areas of expertise and suddenly there was this compelling idea on how to elegantly combine the two," state Kaulich and Ernst. Since then, Manuel Kaulich has established numerous additional collaborations, like the one with Dr Anja Bremm, also a group leader at the Institute of Biochemistry II, on the biological relevance of a certain protein class. Together with Institute Director Professor Ivan Dikic, he set up the "Frankfurt CRISPR/Cas Screening Center" (FCSC), which aims at making the technology broadly accessible for studying unknown cellular functions. Ivan Dikic comments: "This exciting discovery is also attributed to the unique culture of our Institute, which inspires creativity, new ideas, and teamwork." Through its technology transfer subsidiary Innovectis, Goethe University has meanwhile applied for a patent to protect the innovative idea. The patent also forms the basis for the start-up company Vivlion GmbH, which was recently founded by three employees of the Institute of Biochemistry II together with Goethe University. Vice President Professor Manfred Schubert-Zsilavecz comments: "This is a milestone for the Goethe University: Vivlion is the first start-up that was founded with the participation of Goethe University employees." Innovectis prepared the grounds for the start-up to take off. As Innovectis CEO Martin Raditsch states, "I am very happy about successfully starting Vivlion GmbH from out of Goethe University, because we have here a very promising technology coming together with an excellent working group and a perfectly assembled founding team." The company will introduce the first 3Cs reagents to the market in the upcoming months. ### Publication: Wegner M, Diehl V, Bittl V, de Bruyn R, Wiechmann S, Matthes Y, Hebel M, Hayes MG, Schaubeck S, Benner C, Heinz S, Bremm A, Dikic I, Ernst A, Kaulich M. Circular synthesized CRISPR/Cas gRNAs for functional interrogations in the coding and noncoding genome. Elife. 2019 8: e42549. doi: 10.7554/eLife.42549. Pictures may be downloaded here: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/76899967 Caption: The team of Manuel Kaulich (2nd from left) in the laboratory. Credit: Uwe Dettmar Further information: Dr. Kerstin Koch, Institut fur Biochemie II, Universitatsklinikum, Tel.: +49 69 6301 84250, k.koch@em.uni-frankfurt.de Current news about science, teaching, and society can be found on GOETHE-UNI online (http://www.aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de) Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt am Main. The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a "foundation university". Today, it is one of the three largest universities in Germany. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it is a partner in the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance. Internet: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de Publisher: The President of Goethe University Editor: Dr. Anne Hardy, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-13035, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, hardy@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de. A global research team including scientists from La Trobe University have identified specific locations within plants' chromosomes capable of transferring immunity to their offspring. The findings could lead to new ways of preventing disease in crops - of great potential benefit to farmers. Led by the University of Sheffield (UK), the research team identified, for the first time, specific locations (loci) within a plant's chromosomes that impart disease resistance to their offspring by undergoing a reversible biochemical modification known as DNA methylation, in response of pathogen attack. Published in the journal eLife, the research identifies four DNA loci that control disease resistance against a common plant pathogen called downy mildew. Importantly, this resistance was not associated with any negative effects on growth or resistance against other environmental stresses. La Trobe University Research Fellow Dr Ritushree Jain said that when plants are repetitively attacked by pathogens, they develop a 'memory' (known as priming in plants) of this encounter which enables them to fight efficiently when attacked again. "One of the mechanisms for transferring this 'memory' to their next generation via seeds is DNA methylation," Dr Jain said. "It is an epigenetic phenomenon - meaning there is no change in the DNA sequence." Dr Jain explained the potential benefit to farmers these findings offer. "Not only could this significant discovery lead to new ways of preventing disease in important crops, but it could also help reduce our reliance on pesticides," Dr Jain said. Lead researcher Professor Jurriaan Ton from the University of Sheffield's P3 Plant Production and Protection Centre said findings from the study pave the way for further research into how epigenetics can help to improve disease resistance in food crops. "We now hope to use this study to carry out further research to understand how these epigenetic loci control so many different defence genes," Professor Ton said. "We are also keen to participate in more translational studies, in order to find out whether epigenetics can be used to prime disease resistance in crops that are vital to food supplies around the world." Led by the University of Sheffield in the UK, the research was conducted in collaboration with La Trobe University, PSL University (Paris) and the Technical University of Munich (Germany). The research paper, Identification and characterisation of hypomethylated DNA loci controlling quantitative resistance in Arabidopsis, was published in eLife. ### Media Contact: Claire Bowers - c.bowers@latrobe.edu.au - 9479 2315 / 0437 279 903 The prognosis for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor: very few achieve remission and for those that don't the option is largely palliative. Every year almost 1000 Australians die of the disease and clinical trials into new therapies for older patients have largely failed. A new Australian drug trial has achieved a remarkable result, clearing the bone marrow of leukaemia in almost 60% of patients. The trial was considered so effective that the US Food and Drug Administration approved its use last November for the treatment of AML. Kaye Oliver, 74, was the first patient in the world enrolled on this trial at the Alfred Hospital in 2015 - the results of which are published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Given little hope of survival beyond a few months at diagnosis, Kaye remains well and without evidence of the cancer four years later. Associate Professor Andrew Wei, from the Alfred Hospital and Monash University Clinical School, commenced research in this area almost two decades ago at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He is now the lead clinician/researcher on the international trial of the cancer drug, currently combined with cytarabine to treat older adults with AML. Taken separately these drugs achieve little, according to Associate Professor Wei. Venetoclax alone led to a 19% response rate in a US trial and cytarabine had a similar result, he said. "But combining LDAC with venetoclax in older patients led to a 54% response rate, with half the study population surviving longer than 10 months," he added. The trial tested 82 patients with a median age of 74 years and was conducted in Australia, Europe and the USA. The current research is supported by another trial in older AML patients, which combined venetoclax with another drug, azacytidine and led to a 71% remission rate with an average life expectancy of almost 17 months. Based on the early results of these two studies, the Food and Drug Administration in the US approved the use of these combination drug therapies in older people with AML on November 21 last year. The drug combination acts on a protein prevalent in leukaemia cells called BCL-2 which controls the survival of the cells. Venetoclax acts by effectively switching off the protein and activating a self-destruct program in the cell. Associate Professor Wei said that a randomised trial of the therapy, where patients on the therapy are compared to those who are not, has recently been completed and the results are awaited to support a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Association in Australia. The findings are important not just because of the success of the treatment in a disease that, previously, was fatal, but because with an aging population AML is likely to become more prevalent in the future. "AML arises due to mutations accumulating in the bone marrow over time. It also arises in patients who have previously had chemotherapy. With an expected doubling in the number of over people over 65 in the next 30 years, the need to find more effective treatments for this disease is paramount," Associate Professor Wei said. "AML research used to be likened to a 'clinical trial graveyard' because trials of new drugs into AML were rarely successful," Associate Professor Wei said. "It was widely seen as an untreatable and inevitably fatal condition for older patients by most doctors. These two new trials have given real hope to patients who previously had little." ### NEW YORK (March 19, 2019) --More than one-third of healthcare workers were contaminated with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) after caring for patients colonized or infected with the bacteria, according to a study published today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that 39 percent of workers made errors in removing personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns and gloves, increasing the incidence of contamination. "Based on these findings, we should reevaluate strategies for removing personal protective equipment, as well as how often healthcare workers are trained on these methods," said Koh Okamoto, MD, MS, a lead author of the study. "An intervention as simple as education about appropriate doffing of personal protective equipment may reduce healthcare worker contamination with multi-drug resistant organisms." Researchers at Rush University Medical Center monitored 125 healthcare workers in four adult intensive care units who were caring for patients colonized or infected with a MDRO, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Researchers took more than 6,000 samples from healthcare workers' hands, gloves, PPE, and other equipment, such as stethoscopes and mobile phones, taking cultures before and after patient interaction. Additionally, trained observers monitored the technique each worker used to put on and remove their PPE and tracked errors based on guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC suggests two removal methods for PPE - a gloves-first strategy, and an approach that removes gown and gloves together. Researchers also tracked a third method of removing the gown first. A significant majority of the healthcare workers had received training on appropriate methods for putting on and removing PPE within the past five years. After patient contact, 36 percent of healthcare workers were contaminated with a MDRO. Contamination of healthcare workers' PPE was more common in settings of higher patient and environmental contamination. After removing their PPE, 10.4 percent were contaminated on their hands, clothes, or equipment. Healthcare workers who made multiple errors when removing their PPE were more likely to be contaminated after a patient encounter, however the rate of making errors depended on the PPE removal method, with 72 percent of workers who used a glove-first removal making multiple errors. Examples of errors included touching the inside of the gown or glove with a gloved hand, touching the outside of the gown or glove with bare hands, and not unfastening the gown at the neck. Given the high rate of hand contamination of those who used the gloves-first strategy, the authors recommend further research and possible reconsideration of this technique, as well as research to examine the impact of improved education for putting on and taking off PPE. Additionally, the authors note several limitations to their work, including the influence of observers on healthcare workers' practices and the potential that not all contamination was detected. ### Koh Okamoto, Yoona Rhee, Michael Schoeny, Karen Lolans, Jennifer Cheng, Shivani Reddy, Robert A. Weinstein, Mary K. Hayden, and Kyle J. Popovich. "Impact of doffing errors on healthcare worker self-contamination when caring for patients on contact precautions." Web (March 19, 2019). About ICHE Published through a partnership between the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and Cambridge University Press, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology provides original, peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or healthcare facility. ICHE is ranked 19th out of 83 Infectious Disease Journals in the latest Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) is a professional society representing more than 2,000 physicians and other healthcare professionals around the world who possess expertise and passion for healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, and antimicrobial stewardship. The society's work improves public health by establishing infection-prevention measures and supporting antibiotic stewardship among healthcare providers, hospitals, and health systems. This is accomplished by leading research studies, translating research into clinical practice, developing evidence-based policies, optimizing antibiotic stewardship, and advancing the field of healthcare epidemiology. SHEA and its members strive to improve patient outcomes and create a safer, healthier future for all. Visit SHEA online at http://www.shea-online.org, http://www.facebook.com/SHEApreventingHAIs and @SHEA_Epi. About Cambridge Journals Cambridge University Press publishes over 350 peer-reviewed academic journals across a wide spread of subject areas, in print and online. Many of these journals are leading academic publications in their fields and together form one of the most valuable and comprehensive bodies of research available today. For further information about Cambridge Journals, visit journals.cambridge.org About Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Its extensive peer-reviewed publishing lists comprise 45,000 titles covering academic research, professional development, over 350 research journals, school-level education, English language teaching and bible publishing. Playing a leading role in today's international market place, Cambridge University Press has more than 50 offices around the globe, and it distributes its products to nearly every country in the world. For further information about Cambridge University Press, visit cambridge.org. Tuberculosis can be treated, prevented and cured, yet it kills 1.6 million people a year, more people than any other infectious disease Tuberculosis can be treated, prevented and cured, yet it kills 1.6 million people a year, more people than any other infectious disease The savings from averting a TB death are estimated to be three times the costs, and may be much greater in many countries Despite existing treatments, global research investment must increase by four times to transform TB outcomes, according to major report published ahead of World TB Day Authors stress the need for accountability in TB - assessing progress in 10 high burden countries and announcing the launch The Lancet TB Observatory - an independent annual report evaluating progress towards the 2022 UN High Level Meeting targets A world free of tuberculosis (TB) is possible by 2045 if increased political will and financial resources are directed towards priority areas including providing evidence-based interventions to everyone, especially to high risk groups, and increasing research to develop new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent TB. Funding this response will require substantial investments, and accountability mechanisms will be necessary to ensure that promises are kept and targets are reached. Published ahead of World TB Day (24 March 2019), The Lancet Commission on TB estimates that there are significant financial benefits of reducing TB mortality - the savings from averting a TB death are estimated to be three times the costs, and may be much greater in many countries. "This report is optimistic about ending TB - a disease that is preventable, treatable and curable However, there is no room for complacency in our work, and we must act quickly and strategically to save the next generation from TB," says lead Commissioner Dr Eric Goosby, UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis, University of California San Francisco, USA. "In the wake of the UN High-Level Meeting on TB, the Commission views this report as a roadmap to help keep high-burden countries accountable for defeating this deadly disease." TB remains the leading infectious killer of our time, responsible for 1.6 million deaths worldwide in 2017, with drug-resistant forms of TB threatening control efforts in many parts of the world. In addition, in 2017, around a quarter of the world's population were living with TB infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) first declared TB a public health crisis in 1993, and in 2018 the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB made ending the disease a global priority. This included ambitious goals to treat 40 million people, and to prevent 30 million new cases between 2018-2022. The Lancet Commission on TB makes policy and investment recommendations to countries with high levels of TB and their development partners. The report is the work of 37 commissioners from 13 countries, and includes economic analyses, and modelling of interventions to counter treatment challenges (drug-resistant TB, HIV co-infection, and treatment within private health systems), which are published in detail in an accompanying research paper in The Lancet Global Health journal. The report is published with linked Comments from former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, and Minister of Health and Family Welfare in India, Jagat Prakash Nadda, and a Profile of Nandita Venkatesan, who is a journalist, TB survivor, patients' rights activist, and co-author on the report. Scaling up existing interventions and reaching high risk groups The first priority for most high burden countries is to ensure that high quality diagnostic tests and treatments are available for all people with active TB. Many people with TB, especially the poorest, cannot access or afford services, and health systems are often slow to identify and investigate cases, meaning patients do not complete treatment or recover. Currently more than a third of TB cases (35%) are not diagnosed or treated. The authors call for universal access to drug susceptibility testing [2] at diagnosis to ensure that all patients are given appropriate treatment, including access to second-line treatment for drug-resistant TB. Estimates for this report suggest that increasing these interventions (drug susceptibility testing to 90% of people diagnosed, and second-line treatment to 85% of people with drug-resistant TB) in Moldova, where there are high levels of drug-resistant TB, could lead to a 73% reduction in TB deaths and a 43% reduction in new cases between 2018-2045. However, private health care is often the main route to diagnosis and treatment for patients in high-burden countries, meaning countries and donors must engage with the sector to improve care. Modelling demonstrates that subsidising tests and supporting patients to complete treatment in India, the country with the highest TB burden [3] and predominantly private health care, more than one-quarter (28%) of TB deaths could be averted over the next 30 years (an additional 8 million lives). This would cost an extra US$290 million each year, which is significantly less than India's US$32 billion losses associated with TB mortality each year. Identifying groups at high risk of TB infection (including people with HIV, people living in the same house as someone with TB, migrants, prisoners, health care professionals, and miners) and bringing them into care will be vital, including offering TB prevention, such as treating latent TB. This is particularly important in people with HIV, where risk of co-infection is high and TB is the leading cause of death. By making TB prevention available to 90% of people with HIV in Kenya, the authors estimate that TB mortality could be reduced by 17% (equivalent to 3 million lives saved) between 2020 and 2045, costing US$66 million a year between 2018 and 2045, which would be relatively modest compared with the economic costs of the avoidable deaths from not implementing this measure (US$2.7 billion each year). Once high-risk populations and those already in care have access to affordable, high quality services, introducing universal health coverage is needed to help countries find remaining TB cases. Investing in TB However, even if current treatments were extended to 90% of people with TB, and 90% were successfully cured, existing efforts would have failed to avert 800,000 deaths in 2017. Global research investment needs to increase by up to four times (from US$726 million in 2016) to develop treatments and prevention tools that would transform TB outcomes. Affected countries, donor nations, private sector, and philanthropies must also devise effective financing strategies to end the TB epidemic. The initial global costs to reduce TB deaths by 90% (from 1.7 million per year to less than 200,000 a year) could be in the order of US$10 billion a year [4], and investments would need to increase by about US$5 billion a year initially. However, this would be followed by reduced costs (diminishing to US$1-2 billion a year by the early 2040s) as the number of new cases reduces. Investing in TB has a strong return on investment, with an estimated US$16-82 return for every dollar spent on TB research and development. Similarly, TB control could produce considerable economic benefits for high burden countries, with savings three to seven times higher for every TB death averted. More public finances must be allocated to TB (from increasing GDP levels, taxing tobacco and alcohol, and by increasing health insurance) in addition to increased investment in local expertise and infrastructure. Estimates suggest that Bangladesh, Zambia, China, and Indonesia could increase their annual TB expenditures by more than five-fold over the next five years. Global donors also need to invest more wisely. Currently, only 24% of global health aid goes to global functions (compared with country-specific functions) that could help multiple countries, such as research and development, negotiating for lower prices for TB drugs, and leadership and advocacy. This funding should be extended to include a focus on reducing drug-resistant TB to avoid cross-border spread, and ensuring high risk groups are identified and cared for potentially through social insurance schemes. "While there are many challenges to ending TB, we have the potential right now to address this problem. We have rapid, sensitive diagnostic tools, and the promise of potent TB treatment strategies in the pipeline. In addition, TB control strategies, new health technologies, sustained global economic growth, increased commitment to achieve universal health coverage, and growing political momentum could all make ending TB within a generation more feasible than ever before. With sound science, political will, shared responsibility, TB is a solvable problem." says report co-author Dr Michael Reid, University of California San Francisco, USA. [1] Speaking about the report's role in India, co-author Dr Nalini Krishnan, Resource Group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health, India, says: "India has shown strong political commitment to ending TB, pledging to eliminate the disease by 2025. The TB Program has moved into high gear, prioritizing person-centered care, engaging the private sector and focusing on prevention. But India must now accelerate on three fronts: involving TB survivors and affected communities as key drivers of the TB response, improving the quality of care of TB services and integrating TB services into the primary health system to reduce diagnostic delays and out-of-pocket expenditure. The Commission's recommendations with reference to accountability, rapid scale up of proven technologies and investing in research, are important strategic directions to adopt." [1] Accountability: A shared responsibility for TB Increased accountability for TB at the local, national and global level is needed. Heads of government must be held accountable for their TB outcomes and report these biannually at the United Nations; donors must be accountable for drug-resistant TB and for research and development. To meet this need, the authors launch The Lancet TB Observatory - an independent annual report evaluating progress towards the 2022 UNHLM targets, and monitoring domestic and global financing. The authors also created individual report cards monitoring progress on TB, political will and TB financing for the ten highest burden countries. Writing in a linked Comment, Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General and Deputy Chair of The Elders, notes the importance of accountability and the role of TB control in the drive for universal health coverage (UHC). He says: "UHC may seem a rather broad goal for holding countries to account in tackling tuberculosis, but with its emphasis on rights, equity, and services allocated to needs, it is the ideal framework for tackling this persistently deadly disease. Tuberculosis kills more people than any other infectious disease; it disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable; and drug-resistant strains threaten all of humanity. All of this means the case for prioritising tuberculosis elimination within UHC reforms is unchallengeable." Highlighting policies implemented in India to achieve TB elimination by 2025, India's Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda, writes in a linked Comment: "The Lancet Commission reports the value of the loss associated with tuberculosis mortality to be an estimated $32 billion per year in India. New tools resulting from greater tuberculosis research and development (R&D) are essential to prevent those projected economic losses. With at least 30% of India's population infected with tuberculosis, we need accurate point-of-care diagnostics for detecting tuberculosis infection and effective person-centred treatment. We need an effective vaccine to prevent tuberculosis. Delivering strong advocacy, in close coordination with the Ministry of Science and Technology and research-oriented pharmaceutical companies, and global commitment and collaboration to tuberculosis R&D are essential to reach our targets... To end tuberculosis, governments of high-burden countries will need to propose bold plans to address tuberculosis rather than be content with moderate incremental gains." ### NOTES TO EDITORS This Commission was supported financially by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the University Research Company and the Stop TB Partnership. The Stop TB Partnership and University Research Company provided administrative support to the Commission. The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com [1] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article. [2] Drug susceptibility testing involves testing individuals to confirm which drugs their TB bacteria are sensitive to. [3] The ten countries with highest burden of TB mortality are: India (421,000 deaths in 2017), Nigeria (155,000), Indonesia (116,000), South Africa (78,000), Bangladesh (60,000), Pakistan (56,000), Democratic Republic of the Congo (56,000), Tanzania (49,000), Mozambique (48,000), and Kenya (43,000). [4] Based on 1.5 million lives saved multiplied by the cost of saving a life (US$7,000) IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS: http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/tuberculosis-free-world Peer-reviewed / Systematic review, modelling **Report cards for 10 high burden countries available** A consortium of UK cyber security experts including UCL academics is to support global businesses to tackle online threats and protect themselves from cybercrime. The Cyber Readiness for Boards project, which is jointly funded by the National Cyber Security Centre and the Lloyd's Register Foundation, has launched to explore the factors shaping UK board decisions around cyber risk and develop interventions to provide guidance and support. Project lead and Director of the Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security (RISCS) Dr Madeline Carr (UCL Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy) said: "With the UK being the largest digital economy in the G20 and 83 per cent of UK critical infrastructure in private hands, the role of boards is central to cyber security. "Understanding the decision-making process and the way that boards assess cyber risk will be fundamental to addressing some of the ongoing challenges we face - both here in the UK and globally." A survey by PWC Global Investor in 2018 revealed that cyber threats are among the top concerns for company CEOs and investors; however, only 11 per cent of corporate directors believe their boards possess a high level of understanding of cyber security risk, meaning companies are increasingly exposed to cybercrime. Cybercrime cost the UK economy between 11bn and 30bn each year according to figures from 2016. Recent security breaches from more than 2,000 leaked databases exposed over 770 million individuals' private data. Facebook could face a record $1.6bn fine and a formal investigation over its recent data breach. In the UK, 2.9 million companies are estimated to be attacked by cyber criminals every year. Tesco Bank was fined 16.4m for security failures after a cyber-attack in 2016. Research conducted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in 2018 found that the boards of private sector organisations, who tend to have positive attitudes towards risk, are instrumental in how protected the business is against cybercrime. Key to protecting companies is ensuring that boards understand the nature and importance of cyber security. JP Cavanna, Group Head of CyberSecurity at Lloyd's Register said: "With the ever-increasing complexity and expansion of cyber threats, it is vitally important that Boards feel sufficiently knowledgeable and supported. Lloyd's Register Foundation is supporting the Cyber Readiness for Boards research to provide Boards with the tools and information they need to understand and manage their cyber risk effectively." The project is a collaboration between researchers at three leading UK universities - UCL, the University of Reading and Coventry University. They are joined by the Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security (RISCS), the NCSC, Lloyd's Register Foundation and RESILIA - a leading cyber security training provider, part of AXELOS Global Best Practice. The project will initially work with six multinational companies who are at particular risk due to their high profile, before rolling out to include more businesses including SMEs and larger enterprises in early 2020. First year results are expected to be delivered from September 2019 and the project will conclude in September 2020. The collaboration will focus on four main areas: An evaluation of board level training interventions An assessment of how boards evaluate cyber risk 'evidence' An investigation into the significance of board composition, accountability and responsibility The impact of investor pressure on board decision-making on cyber risk Sarah Lyons, Deputy Director, National Cyber Security Centre said: "We believe that cyber security is now a mainstream business risk. So corporate leaders need to understand what threats are out there, and what the most effective ways are of managing the risks. "We have taken an evidence-based approach to developing our own board toolkit, and welcome new research into how UK boards make decisions around cyber risk. This research will help us refine and develop targeted guidance for business leaders, helping to make the UK the safest place to live and work online." Nick Wilding, General Manager of Cyber Resilience at AXELOS, who leads RESILIA best practice said: "Using evidence based research is critical. Not only in developing appropriate tools and interventions that can help boards to manage their cyber risks, but also for designing them in ways that actively engage with and effectively integrate into existing risk management oversight and governance. I look forward to helping to engage and inform boards during the research through RESILIA's focus on culture and behaviour change." ### The project is jointly funded by the NCSC through RISCS and Lloyd's Register Foundation, who have each contributed 500,000. The work feeds into the NCSC's cross-Whitehall strategy to make the UK the safest place in the world to do business. Notes to Editors For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact: Kate Corry, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)20 3108 6995 E: k.corry@ucl.ac.uk About UCL (University College London) UCL was founded in 1826. We were the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. We are among the world's top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. UCL currently has over 39,000 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff. Our annual income is more than 1 billion. http://www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow us on Twitter @uclnews | Watch our YouTube channel YouTube.com/UCLTV Lloyd's Register Foundation The vision of the Lloyd's Register Foundation (the Foundation) is to be known worldwide as a leading supporter of engineering-related research, training and education that makes a real difference in improving the safety of the critical infrastructure on which modern society relies. In pursuit of this, we connect science, safety and society by supporting research of the highest quality, and acting as catalysts working with others to achieve maximum impact through our grant making. For more information please visit: http://www.lrfoundation.org.uk Scientists of Ural Federal University and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, received additional funding to conduct research on the creation of new materials. The project is a continuation of the cooperation of the researchers of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, and a research team from the Laboratory of High-Pressure Physics and Synthesis of Superhard Materials, Scientific and Practical Center for Materials Science of Belarus National Academy of Sciences. 'Scientific research is aimed at creating new materials based on classical ceramics of bismuth ferrite and barium titanate,' says the project leader Denis Alikin, senior researcher of the Department of Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Technology Division, UrFU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. 'The key task is to achieve improved piezoelectric properties of materials for their subsequent use in various electromechanical devices. The Belarusian side will be engaged in the synthesis, and the Russian in the study of functional properties'. Denis Alikin also notes that the relevance of such work is due to the need of creating lead-free multifunctional materials with high values of the piezoelectric coefficient, optimal dielectric and magnetic properties. The use of complementary macroscopic and local research methods will allow to form complementary data for analyzing the structure and properties of the compositions. 'Understanding the relationship of the evolution of the structural state of the compositions in the field of phase transitions and improving the electromechanical, dielectric and magnetic properties of such compositions will allow synthesizing materials with optimal and controlled functional parameters - residual polarization, coercive field, dielectric constant and loss, conductivity, residual magnetization. Materials with improved functional properties will find application in the creation of a wide range of electrotechnical devices,' explains Denis Alikin. From the Russian side, the research will be supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Financing a two-year grant will be 700 thousand rubles annually. The support of scientists will be held within the framework of the RFBR contest for the best scientific projects carried out jointly by teams of young scientists from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. ### 'Chronoprints' can identify a sample from a video taken as it reacts to disturbance If we could tell authentic from counterfeit or adulterated drugs and foods just by looking at them, we could save money and lives every year, especially in the developing world, where the problem is worst. Unfortunately, the technologies that can detect what a sample is made of are expensive, energy-intensive, and largely unavailable in regions where they are needed most. This may change with a simple new technique developed by engineers from the University of California, Riverside that can detect fake drugs from a video taken as the sample undergoes a disturbance. If you've ever used online photo tools, you've probably seen how these tools use image analysis algorithms to categorize your photos. By distinguishing the different people in your photos, these algorithms make it easy to find all the photos of your daughter or your dad. Now, in the journal ACS Central Science, researchers report they have used these algorithms to solve a very different problem: identifying fake medicines and other potentially dangerous products. Called "chronoprinting," the technology requires only a few relatively inexpensive pieces of equipment and free software to accurately distinguish pure from inferior food and medicines. The World Health Organization says that about 10 percent of all medicines in low- and middle-income countries are counterfeit, and food fraud is a global problem that costs consumers and industry billions of dollars per year. Fraudulent food and drugs waste money and jeopardize the health and lives of their consumers. But detecting fakes and frauds requires expensive equipment and highly trained experts. William Grover, an assistant professor of bioengineering in UC Riverside's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, and Brittney McKenzie, a doctoral student in Grover's lab, wondered if it would be possible to distinguish authentic from adulterated drugs and food by observing how they behave when disturbed by temperature changes or other causes. Two substances with identical compositions should respond the same way to a disturbance, and if two substances appear identical but respond differently, their composition must be different, they reasoned. McKenzie designed a set of experiments to test this idea. She loaded samples of pure olive oil, one of the world's most commonly adulterated foods, and cough syrup, which is often diluted or counterfeited in the developing world, into tiny channels on a microfluidic chip, and chilled it quickly in liquid nitrogen. A USB microscope camera filmed the samples reacting to the temperature change. McKenzie and Grover wrote software that converts the video to a bitmap image. Because the image showed how the sample changed over time, the researchers called it a "chronoprint." The team then used image analysis algorithms to compare different chronoprints from the same substance. They found that each pure substance had a reliable chronoprint over multiple tests. Next, they repeated the experiment with samples of olive oil that had been diluted with other oils and cough syrup diluted with water. The adulterated samples produced chronoprints that were different from the pure samples. The difference was so big, so obvious, and so consistent the researchers concluded that chronoprints and image analysis algorithms can reliably detect some types of food and drug fraud. "The significant visual differences between the samples were both unexpected and exciting, and with them being consistent we knew this could be a useful way to identify a wide range of samples," McKenzie said. Grover said their technique creates a powerful new connection between chemistry and computer science. "By basically converting a chemical sample to an image, we can take advantage of all the different image analysis algorithms that computer scientists have developed," he said. "And as those algorithms get better, our ability to chemically identify a sample should get better, too." The researchers used liquids in their experiments but note the method could also be used on solid materials dissolved in water, and other types of disturbance, such as heat or a centrifuge, could be used for substances that don't react well to freezing. The technique is easy to learn, making highly trained experts unnecessary. Chronoprinting requires hobbyist-grade equipment and software downloadable for free from Grover's lab website, putting it well within reach of government agencies and labs with limited resources. ### See how chronoprinting works in this video: https://youtu.be/qbyE68qD2Zo McKenzie and Grover were assisted in this work by Philip Brisk, an associate professor of computer science at UCR, and Jessica Robles-Najar and Eric Duong, undergraduate bioengineering students. The paper, "Chronoprints: Identifying samples by visualizing how they change over space and time," by Brittney A. McKenzie, Jessica Robles-Najar, Eric Duong, Philip Brisk, and William H. Grover, is published in ACS Central Science. The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. Irvine, Calif., March 20, 2019 - Here's something to chew on: One in four people are impacted by defects of the temporomandibular - or jaw - joint. Despite the pervasiveness of this affliction, treatments are lacking, and many sufferers resort to palliative measures to cope with the pain and debilitation it causes. "The TMJ is central to chewing, talking and so many other daily activities, so when this crucial joint is impaired, there are significant negative effects on quality of life," said Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine. "The problem may start with slight pain and clicking and get progressively worse to the point where it's not just impacting the jaw but the entire body." Athanasiou is senior author on a paper published recently in the Cell Press journal Trends in Molecular Medicine that examines the causes of temporomandibular disorders, past failures in treating them, and new approaches based on tissue-engineering innovations developed in his laboratory. Co-authors are Ryan Donahue, UCI graduate student researcher in biomedical engineering, and Jerry Hu, UCI principal development engineer in biomedical engineering. Temporomandibular disorders can be the result of sudden injuries or wear and tear over time. The cartilage disc between the mandible and the temporal bone is subject to thinning or perforation. The condition usually affects patients between the ages of 20 and 50. Most strikingly, premenopausal women are eight times more likely to experience jaw joint problems than men - which Athanasiou calls the TMJ gender paradox. Typical treatments include physical therapy, splints and adjustments, corticosteroid injections and pain medications. Only about 5 percent of sufferers are candidates for surgical interventions. The TMJ is a joint like many others in the body, and surgeries to repair knees, elbows, hips and shoulders are commonplace, so why are operations on the jaw so rare? "It has to do with the proximity of the TMJ to the brain," Athanasiou said. "Back in the 1980s, many patients - primarily women - came forward with issues they had with the TMJ. The solution at the time was to insert a spacer between the two bones articulated in the jaw." The spacer was made of Teflon, a material approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "It turns out that Teflon was an absolute catastrophe for all of those women," Athanasiou said. "Because of the large mechanical forces generated in the jaw, the Teflon broke up into pieces, and because of the proximity of the TMJ to the brain, those pieces somehow found their way into the brain." This fiasco set back therapies for temporomandibular disorders for decades, but now Athanasiou and his colleagues in UCI's Department of Biomedical Engineering are working on new approaches that eschew synthetic materials entirely. They're developing biological TMJ discs in the laboratory that will be suitable for implantation in humans. "The end product that we aspire to use for treating afflictions of TMJ discs is a tissue-engineered product that's fully alive, biological and mechanically comparable to the real thing," Donahue said. "So even if it breaks down, it will be like any other biological component, without having pieces of foreign material entering the brain." In work detailed in a study published in Science Translational Medicine in June 2018, Athanasiou's team successfully took cells from the rib cartilage of a Yucatan miniature pig, grew them in their laboratory and implanted the tissue-engineered construct into a separate animal. Whereas some researchers may place bioengineered cells in some other part of an animal's body - on the back of a mouse, for example - Athanasiou said a key aspect of his group's work is to put the new disc in the exact place as the old one so it will be subject to all the normal stresses of the joint. "In eight weeks, we saw complete functionality of the TMJ disc, whereas the ones we left untreated deteriorated completely, developing full osteoarthritis in the joint," Hu said. "So we were able to show that by using our tissue-engineering approach in a large-animal model, we could achieve exceptional healing." Athanasiou said his team's goal now is to conduct trials in more large-animal models to determine if their solution will ultimately work in humans. A major hurdle will be gaining regulatory approval from the FDA, but Athanasiou recently received some encouraging signals from the agency. "The FDA has asked if we could help them figure out how to go about developing processes for bringing TMJ products to the market," he said. "We would be delighted to help create that pathway." ### Funding for this work was provided by the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research). About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu. Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists. As Lyft and Uber race toward IPOs this spring, Americans are relying on the ride-hailing services more than ever, and as a result, city parking garages and airport parking lots are a bit emptier. A new study published in The Journal of Transportation and Land Use aims to understand how parking demand is changing as people opt to hitch a ride and leave their cars at home. Researchers from the University of Colorado Denver found that people who use ride-hailing are willing to pay more to avoid driving, including the stress and cost of parking. As a result, cities are seeing a reduction in parking demand, particularly at restaurants and bars, event venues, and airports. That reduction could push cities to reconsider and replace parking infrastructure, leading to more vibrant cities and, one day, less dependency on cars. "We wanted to understand how these new services, Uber and Lyft, are impacting a city in regards to how people shift travel behavior, overall congestion and changes in landscape," said lead author Alejandro Henao, former CU Denver PhD student and current mobility researcher with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). For the study, he teamed up with Wes Marshall, PhD, PE, associate professor in the College of Engineering, Design and Computing. Last fall, the pair published a study in the Journal of Transportation examining how rideshare services impact the transportation system. Their research found ride-hailing increased deadheading (drivers circulating around without passengers), congestion and vehicle miles traveled while luring passengers away from more sustainable travel options like walking, biking and public transportation. Parking, researchers realized, may be one upside. A lack of public data from the ride-hailing companies -- and tenuous cooperation when courts have ordered them to share -- required the researchers find a workaround. In fall 2016, Henao became a driver for both Uber and Lyft and drove a 2015 Honda Civic around Metro Denver for 14 weeks. Logging hundreds of rides and gathering 311 surveys from his passengers, Henao collected a "driver dataset," containing the GPS tracking of date, time of day, travel times, and travel distance of the rides; and a "passenger dataset," containing information gathered by surveying his passengers during the ride about car ownership, reason for travel and if parking was a reason for leaving their cars at home. By combining the ethnographic research with interviews and the technology-based data, researchers were able to assess the shift in parking demand and how much of that was contributed to parking stress. Results suggest that 26.4 percent of Uber/Lyft riders would have driven and needed a parking space if the ride-hailing services did not exist. While the same service replaced more sustainable forms of transportation by a third, a third of respondents stated that they are driving less when asked about general travel behavior. Parking stress was the second most cited reason for ordering a car, even if researchers found that the relative time and cost of parking was negligible compared to the cost of their ride. "We found that the stress of the uncertainty of finding a parking spot downtown was enough to discourage people from driving themselves and made them willing to pay more to avoid it," said Marshall. Researchers believe their findings could provide insight for cities to set parking rates and manage supply and demand. In fact, Henao said cities should rethink and better manage curb space by allocating more space to walking, biking, and transit; and monetize car trips (private cars and ride-hailing) to meet sustainable goals. Some airports are already charging a pick-up and drop-off fee for the curb space allotted to ride-hailing companies, allowing them to collect revenue lost to parking. "Historically, cities have relied upon parking minimums," said Marshall. "But too much parking is just as bad as - if not worse than - too little parking. Parking lots don't make for great places. If you are a city, you'd see more bang for the buck from another land use, and having options like ride-hailing available should make doing so easier." Marshall sees this research as a push cities may need to reduce parking considering the growing list of transportation options, including autonomous cars. "We need to make the technology fit our cities, not the other way around," said Marshall. "If we focus on the fundamentals of walking and biking, the city will be livable on a human scale, and the technology will adapt to that." ### This research was funded in part with grants from the University of Colorado Denver, U.S. Department of Transportation's Mountain-Plains Consortium and the National Science Foundation's Bridge to the Doctorate Program. Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a way to identify the beginning of every gene -- known as a translation start site or a start codon -- in bacterial cell DNA with a single experiment and, through this method, they have shown that an individual gene is capable of coding for more than one protein. Historically, the generally taught scientific premise has been that each gene has one unique start site and is responsible for the creation of only one protein. However, the study, which is published in Molecular Cell, a leading journal on the topic of cellular processes, shows that some genes have more than one start site and can specify production of more than one functional protein. Their method of identifying gene start sites relies on a common prescription drug called retapamulin, a topical antibiotic. Retapamulin, they showed for the first time, works by causing the ribosome, which reads genetic code, to become stalled at these start sites, inhibiting translation, a key part of the process by which the genetic code in DNA is used to create proteins. UIC's Alexander Mankin and Nora Vazquez-Laslop led the research, which looked at E. coli cells in response to retapamulin in in vitro and in vivo experiments. "First, we understood the antibiotic's mechanism and then we applied that knowledge to identify the special 'start' gene signals the cell uses to regulate protein synthesis," said Mankin, the Alexander Neyfahk Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the UIC College of Pharmacy. "In the past, these start codons were identified by rather difficult processes -- proteins often needed to be isolated and studied to discover where the start sites of their genes are located in the bacterial genome. Now, in a single experiment, we can profile the starts of all the thousands of bacterial genes in a more forward manner." Mankin and Vazquez-Laslop say using retapamulin to aid in bacterial gene translation profiling opens many new avenues for research. Using the antibiotic, the researchers from Mankin and Vazquez-Laslop's lab, which included Sezen Meydan, James Marks, Dorota Klepacki and Amira Kefi, were able to identify "cryptic," or alternative start sites within some bacterial genes. "We saw that many previously hidden proteins were initiated at sites in the middle of the gene and that those proteins were functional and that initiation at alternative start sites is widespread in bacteria," said Vazquez-Laslop, research professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at the UIC College of Pharmacy and the Center for Biomolecular Sciences. The researchers found more than 100 E. coli genes, out of around 4,000, that could initiate protein synthesis at more than one site. "Proteins initiated at these unknown sites may constitute a previously hidden fraction of the proteome -- the entire set of proteins that can be expressed -- in bacteria and their initiation at these sites may play a role in the life of the cell," said Mankin, who is also director of the Center for Biomolecular Science. "By better understanding the cell and the mechanisms of antibiotic action, we can apply that knowledge to learn more about what makes bacteria become pathogenic." "We can also apply that knowledge to better understand how to prevent or stop bacteria from causing harm," Vazquez-Laslop said. ### Additional co-authors on this research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation (MCB1615851), include T?nu Margus of Umea University in Umea, Sweden; Virag Sharma of Technische Universitat Dresden in Dresden, Germany; Pavel Baranov of University College Cork in Cork, Ireland; and Andrew Firth of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Women who develop diabetes in pregnancy but are not diagnosed are much more likely to experience stillbirth than women without the condition, according to new research. The study, led by the University of Leeds and the University of Manchester, found that the risk of stillbirth was over four-times higher in women who developed signs of gestational diabetes but were not diagnosed. However, with appropriate screening and diagnosis that increased risk of stillbirth disappeared. Funded by the charities Action Medical Research, Cure Kids, Sands and Tommy's, the study compared the symptoms and care of 291 women who experienced a stillbirth to 733 similar women who did not experience a stillbirth across 41 maternity units in England. Researchers found that across all women with high blood sugar, measured after a period of fasting, they had on average twice the risk of stillbirth than women without the condition. The increased risk was likely to be caused by the missed diagnoses and lack of subsequent care experienced by many of the women, although the results show an association only, and cannot provide certainty about cause and effect. The new research was published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Dr Tomasina Stacey, who led the study at the University of Leeds and now works at the University of Huddersfield, said: "There's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that women with gestational diabetes have no increase in stillbirth risk if national guidelines are followed for screening, diagnosis and management. The bad news is that the guidelines are not always followed and some women therefore experience avoidably higher risk." According to recent figures, approximately 5% of women in the UK experience gestational diabetes during pregnancy. The National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that all women at a higher risk of gestational diabetes should receive blood screening for the condition: this includes women with a raised body mass index (a BMI of over 30), or from South Asian or Black Caribbean ethnic groups. Only 74.3% of the participating women with a raised BMI and 74.7% of the participating women from South Asian or Black Caribbean ethnic groups received screening. On average, women at higher risk of gestational diabetes who were not screened according to the NICE guidelines also experienced higher risks of stillbirth. Co-author Professor Alexander Heazell, from the University of Manchester and Clinical Director of Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre, said: "It's not clear why some women missed out on being screened or diagnosed for gestational diabetes, but this needs to be improved. "Gestational diabetes can cause serious complications in pregnancy. It's important that we detect every woman with symptoms so she can receive the appropriate care and support." In 2015, the NICE raised the threshold for diagnosing gestational diabetes to a fasting plasma glucose concentration - where blood sugar is measured after fasting - of greater than 5.6mmol/L. In the United States the threshold is 5.1mmol/L, and there is considerable debate worldwide about the appropriate level for diagnosis. The present study found little evidence to support one threshold over another, instead finding that the risk of stillbirth increased steadily with increasing glucose concentration. Dr Stacey, who also works at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, added: "There's no blood sugar level where the risk suddenly jumps. The choice of the right threshold for diagnosis is therefore more about pragmatism and finding the right balance of risk to resource, and avoiding over-medicalisation. Our study shows that the current NICE guidelines can be effective, but only if they are followed." According to recent figures from MBBRACE-UK, around four in every thousand pregnancies in the UK result in stillbirth. Commenting on the research, Mr Edward Morris, Vice President of Clinical Quality at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "Women with gestational diabetes are more likely to have a stillbirth, but with adequate monitoring, care and treatment, this risk can be managed so that women can maximise their chances of having a healthy pregnancy and birth. "Maternity units should follow NICE clinical guidance to ensure women are diagnosed and supported to avoid complications and ensure the best possible outcomes." The study is unique for separating the harmful biological effects of raised glucose from the benefits of diagnosis, which typically leads to better care and management of the condition. Co-author Dr Peter Tennant, from the University of Leeds and the Alan Turing Institute, explained why this is so important. He said: "There's a lot of debate about the true impact of gestational diabetes, and whether it's worth spending so much time and money on screening, diagnosis, and care for these mothers. But most women with diabetes currently receive good care, and this really seems to help. "Only when you look at women who aren't appropriately screened or diagnosed, does the full impact of gestational diabetes become clear." The research project came out of a Stillbirth Summit in 2011, and was created with the help of more than 550 parents and members of the public. It was designed by and for parents, to try to maximise the positive impact it could have on society. ### Notes to editors For interview requests please contact Simon Moore, Press Officer at the University of Leeds, on 0113 34 38059 or s.i.moore@leeds.ac.uk. The paper is titled 'Gestational diabetes and the risk of late stillbirth: a case-control study from England, UK' and will be available online here: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.15659 More information on gestational diabetes - including symptoms, treatment, and management - can be found on the Diabetes UK website. University of Leeds The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 38,000 students from more than 150 different countries, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. The University plays a significant role in the Turing, Rosalind Franklin and Royce Institutes. We are a top ten university for research and impact power in the UK, according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and are in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings 2019. The University was awarded a Gold rating by the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework in 2017, recognising its 'consistently outstanding' teaching and learning provision. Twenty-six of our academics have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships - more than any other institution in England, Northern Ireland and Wales - reflecting the excellence of our teaching. http://www.leeds.ac.uk Follow University of Leeds or tag us in to coverage: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram A University of Missouri study exploring how men often use metaphors to discuss miscarriages finds couples need to 'co-cope' with the experience "Lost gift." "Cataclysm." "Death of a loved one." "Emptiness." "Chaotic movement." "Rock." "Guard." "Repairman. "Secondary character." Researchers at the University of Missouri say men often use descriptions such as these to cope with their partner's miscarriage and to describe their role in the experience. Although miscarriage is usually considered a "women's issue," men also grieve the loss of the baby. Women who endured miscarriage often use metaphors to make sense of and cope with the experience, and researchers wanted to expand that to include the men in the relationship. They hoped to also expand upon a communication model that claims people use narrative-like descriptions to organize and interpret their life experiences. The model was created by Jody Koenig Kellas at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Haley Kranstuber Horstman, a professor of communication in the MU College of Arts and Science. After interviewing 45 men, Horstman and her team found five metaphors often reflected the men's understanding of the physical, emotional and relational implications of their partner's miscarriage. These included lost gift, cataclysm, death of a loved one, emptiness, and chaotic movement. Unexpectedly, the researchers discovered these men also used four additional metaphors to describe their role in the experience -- rock, guard, repairman and secondary character. "In describing the miscarriage itself, the men are speaking to a societal expectation that pregnancy is easy and smooth," Horstman said. "When describing their role in the experience, the men speak to the traditional expectation that they should be heterosexual and tough. But without intention, we see that men's emotions are being pushed aside to help their partner, when in reality these men are also suffering." The researchers hope the study's findings will encourage couples to "co-cope" with the experience by using metaphors and other descriptive phrases when talking about miscarriage. They hope these findings will encourage men to find helpful ways to talk about their spouse's miscarriage. They also acknowledge that the study's participants were mainly highly educated heterosexual white men and look to expand future research with other ethnic and social groups. Horstman researches how couples talk about miscarriage. Her interest began when she and one of the study's co-authors, Amanda Holman, were in graduate school and witnessed many their friends experiencing infertility and miscarriages. "We noticed a lot of the men that were a part of the relationships didn't talk about miscarriage," Horstman said. "They didn't feel they had the space to talk about it, and didn't feel like they could cope with miscarriage because it is such a women's space." The study, "Men's use of metaphors to make sense of their spouse's miscarriage: Expanding the communicated sense-making model," was published in Health Communication. A third author on the study is Chad McBride. Holman and McBride are in the department of communication studies at Creighton University. Funding was provided by Creighton University's Dr. George F. Haddix President's Faculty Research Fund. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. ### ANN ARBOR--Negative media portrayals of Muslim Americans can have adverse effects on how they view themselves as citizens and their trust in the U.S. government. In fact, these effects may be stronger than the impact caused by personal discrimination, according to a new University of Michigan study published in the Journal of Communication. "There has been an increasing concern regarding the extent to which racial and ethnic minorities in the United States identify as Americans and support American values," the U-M researchers wrote. "Although many of these concerns are targeted towards immigrants, even non-immigrant minorities face criticisms of being unpatriotic and disloyal to their American national identity." The researchers examined how young Muslim Americans' identification with their American and Muslim identities change over time as a function of discrimination and exposure to negative media coverage of their group. The sample involved 237 participants, many of whom identified as Arab and South Asian, and their answers were recorded in three waves collected before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Respondents replied to questions of being personally discriminated against, perceptions of news media coverage of Muslims, their strength of American and Muslim identification, and their trust in the U.S. government. Discrimination did not affect how respondents identified themselves--a finding that surprised researchers who initially thought this negative action would lower American identification over time. "One reason for this could be due to the increased media coverage of negative remarks made by several U.S. presidential candidates during the 2016 election," said study lead author Muniba Saleem, assistant professor of communication studies and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research. "This can increase the salience of media in people's minds as well as increase perceptions of group discrimination." Negative news about Muslims, however, significantly reduced the strength of respondents identifying as Americans and weakened their trust in the U.S. government. But neither discrimination nor negative news coverage influenced the respondents' strength of identification as a Muslim, the study showed. The researchers point to some limitations of their study, including not knowing how older adults would respond to identity threats (their research focused on younger adults), and uncertainty about how Muslim Americans who do not strongly identify as an American are likely to consider some news coverage as negative and biased when it is, in fact, neutral. The bottom line, which isn't surprising, according to the researchers: showing Muslims as terrorists and radical extremists in mainstream media can distance Muslims from successfully integrating within American society and further trusting in its political institutions. ### The study's other authors include Ian Hawkins and Miao Li of U-M, Magdalena Wojcieszak of the University of California-Davis and Srividya Ramasubramanian of Texas A&M University. Study: Social Identity Threats: How Media and Discrimination Affect Muslim Americans' Identification as Americans and Trust in the U.S. Government Muniba Saleem 'After being vaccinated with a new strain of flu, our immune systems appear to be expanding and boosting antibodies generated by previous exposures to earlier flu viruses' AUSTIN, Texas -- We are repeatedly exposed to the influenza virus via infections, vaccinations and our communal environments. The annual flu shot is believed to be the best line of defense, and doctors recommend vaccinations every year because the flu virus is in a constant state of adaptation and mutation, rendering older vaccines obsolete. The conventional wisdom guiding our long-established annual flu shot comes from an understanding that once a person is newly vaccinated, the immune system is reset and all new antibodies are directed to the new flu strain. However, new research from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin published in a recent issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe highlights the role played by immunological imprinting -- or how the immune system fights the flu after previous exposure to the virus via infections or vaccinations -- in the elicitation of new antibodies. "After being vaccinated with a new strain of flu, our immune systems appear to be expanding and boosting antibodies generated by previous exposures to earlier flu viruses, whether by infection or vaccination," said George Georgiou, a professor of biomedical and chemical engineering and molecular biosciences, a leader in the field of therapeutics and immune responses and co-author of the study. The researchers examined the composition and dynamics of an individual donor's antibody repertoire over a five-year period during which the donor had been infected or vaccinated with influenza multiple times. The study suggests our immune systems are "imprinted" by antibodies that had been elicited in response to influenza strains encountered previously in life. "Each vaccination still elicits new antibodies that are highly specific to the new strains, but these new antibodies decay over time, returning to the antibody repertoire that already existed before the vaccination," said Jiwon Lee, a postdoctoral fellow in Georgiou's Laboratory of Protein Therapeutics and Applied Immunology who led the study. The researchers found that the antibody repertoires remained highly static throughout. More than 70 percent of the antibody molecules found in the donor's bloodstream remained the same over five years. More than two-thirds of these persistent antibodies targeted invariant parts of the virus -- the elements that do not change from one year to the next. These persistent antibodies continue to be produced by the immune system for years and can affect our ability to generate novel antibodies that recognize unique molecular features of a new seasonal strain. "Currently, there is a very large scientific effort underway to design flu vaccine candidates that focus the immune system to produce antibodies targeting the invariant sites of vulnerability of the influenza virus," Lee said. Vaccines that can imprint one with highly potent antibodies and, therefore, combat a broad range of influenza strains, could reduce or even eliminate the need for annual vaccinations. "Now that we have delineated the role of antibody imprinting in adults, the next step is to analyze the immune response to influenza early in life in order to understand how this phenomenon of antibody imprinting arises in the first place, perhaps even in infancy," Lee said. Influenza is still one of the world's most widespread viruses and is extremely difficult to contain. Globally, the influenza virus infects more than 1 billion people and results in approximately half a million deaths annually. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is investing heavily in the development of a universal flu vaccine that could provide long-term protection against multiple subtypes of flu. Such a vaccine could eliminate the need for the annual flu shot entirely. Until such a universal flu vaccine is successfully developed, the annual flu shot is unquestionably still the best way to prevent infection. ### This study was conducted in collaboration with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland, and was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Clayton Foundation. Can artificial intelligence (AI) help us understand how the brain understands language? Can neuroscience help us understand why AI and neural networks are effective at predicting human perception? Research from Alexander Huth and Shailee Jain from The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) suggests both are possible. In a paper presented at the 2018 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the scholars described the results of experiments that used artificial neural networks to predict with greater accuracy than ever before how different areas in the brain respond to specific words. "As words come into our heads, we form ideas of what someone is saying to us, and we want to understand how that comes to us inside the brain," said Huth, assistant professor of Neuroscience and Computer Science at UT Austin. "It seems like there should be systems to it, but practically, that's just not how language works. Like anything in biology, it's very hard to reduce down to a simple set of equations." The work employed a type of recurrent neural network called long short-term memory (LSTM) that includes in its calculations the relationships of each word to what came before to better preserve context. "If a word has multiple meanings, you infer the meaning of that word for that particular sentence depending on what was said earlier," said Jain, a PhD student in Huth's lab at UT Austin. "Our hypothesis is that this would lead to better predictions of brain activity because the brain cares about context." It sounds obvious, but for decades neuroscience experiments considered the response of the brain to individual words without a sense of their connection to chains of words or sentences. (Huth describes the importance of doing "real-world neuroscience" in a March 2019 paper in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.) In their work, the researchers ran experiments to test, and ultimately predict, how different areas in the brain would respond when listening to stories (specifically, the Moth Radio Hour). They used data collected from fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machines that capture changes in the blood oxygenation level in the brain based on how active groups of neurons are. This serves as a correspondent for where language concepts are "represented" in the brain. Using powerful supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), they trained a language model using the LSTM method so it could effectively predict what word would come next - a task akin to Google auto-complete searches, which the human mind is particularly adept at. "In trying to predict the next word, this model has to implicitly learn all this other stuff about how language works," said Huth, "like which words tend to follow other words, without ever actually accessing the brain or any data about the brain." Based on both the language model and fMRI data, they trained a system that could predict how the brain would respond when it hears each word in a new story for the first time. Past efforts had shown that it is possible to localize language responses in the brain effectively. However, the new research showed that adding the contextual element - in this case up to 20 words that came before - improved brain activity predictions significantly. They found that their predictions improve even when the least amount of context was used. The more context provided, the better the accuracy of their predictions. "Our analysis showed that if the LSTM incorporates more words, then it gets better at predicting the next word," said Jain, "which means that it must be including information from all the words in the past." The research went further. It explored which parts of the brain were more sensitive to the amount of context included. They found, for instance, that concepts that seem to be localized to the auditory cortex were less dependent on context. "If you hear the word dog, this area doesn't care what the 10 words were before that, it's just going to respond to the sound of the word dog", Huth explained. On the other hand, brain areas that deal with higher-level thinking were easier to pinpoint when more context was included. This supports theories of the mind and language comprehension. "There was a really nice correspondence between the hierarchy of the artificial network and the hierarchy of the brain, which we found interesting," Huth said. Natural language processing -- or NLP -- has taken great strides in recent years. But when it comes to answering questions, having natural conversations, or analyzing the sentiments in written texts, NLP still has a long way to go. The researchers believe their LSTM-developed language model can help in these areas. The LSTM (and neural networks in general) works by assigning values in high-dimensional space to individual components (here, words) so that each component can be defined by its thousands of disparate relationships to many other things. The researchers trained the language model by feeding it tens of millions of words drawn from Reddit posts. Their system then made predictions for how thousands of voxels (three-dimensional pixels) in the brains of six subjects would respond to a second set of stories that neither the model nor the individuals had heard before. Because they were interested in the effects of context length and the effect of individual layers in the neural network, they essentially tested 60 different factors (20 lengths of context retention and three different layer dimensions) for each subject. All of this leads to computational problems of enormous scale, requiring massive amounts of computing power, memory, storage, and data retrieval. TACC's resources were well suited to the problem. The researchers used the Maverick supercomputer, which contains both GPUs and CPUs for the computing tasks, and Corral, a storage and data management resource, to preserve and distribute the data. By parallelizing the problem across many processors, they were able to run the computational experiment in weeks rather than years. "To develop these models effectively, you need a lot of training data," Huth said. "That means you have to pass through your entire dataset every time you want to update the weights. And that's inherently very slow if you don't use parallel resources like those at TACC." If it sounds complex, well -- it is. This is leading Huth and Jain to consider a more streamlined version of the system, where instead of developing a language prediction model and then applying it to the brain, they develop a model that directly predicts brain response. They call this an end-to-end system and it's where Huth and Jain hope to go in their future research. Such a model would improve its performance directly on brain responses. A wrong prediction of brain activity would feedback into the model and spur improvements. "If this works, then it's possible that this network could learn to read text or intake language similarly to how our brains do," Huth said. "Imagine Google Translate, but it understands what you're saying, instead of just learning a set of rules." With such a system in place, Huth believes it is only a matter of time until a mind-reading system that can translate brain activity into language is feasible. In the meantime, they are gaining insights into both neuroscience and artificial intelligence from their experiments. "The brain is a very effective computation machine and the aim of artificial intelligence is to build machines that are really good at all the tasks a brain can do," Jain said. "But, we don't understand a lot about the brain. So, we try to use artificial intelligence to first question how the brain works, and then, based on the insights we gain through this method of interrogation, and through theoretical neuroscience, we use those results to develop better artificial Intelligence. "The idea is to understand cognitive systems, both biological and artificial, and to use them in tandem to understand and build better machines." ### MADISON, Wis. -- We all know that turning off lights and buying energy-efficient appliances affects our financial bottom line. Now, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, we know that saving energy also saves lives and even more money for consumers by alleviating the costs of adverse health effects attributed to air pollution. Writing this week in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, a team led by UW-Madison postdoctoral researcher David Abel tabulates both lives saved and cost benefits to consumers of improved health outcomes due to reduced energy consumption. "By saving electricity, we can also save lives," says Abel, of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment in UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. "There is a range of health benefits. It's a bonus. We find there are extra health reasons to turn off a light." Abel and his colleagues, including senior author Tracey Holloway, also of the Nelson Institute, deployed a suite of three widely used models to calculate power plant emissions, air quality and human mortality over a span of three summer months, when energy use is high. Their findings show that a 12 percent increase in summertime energy efficiency would reduce exposure to air pollution, specifically ozone and fine particulate matter. In short, cleaner air would save 475 human lives each year in the United States, worth an estimated $4 billion. That savings translates to almost 5 cents per kilowatt hour of energy used. That is a huge incentive, the Wisconsin team notes, given that electricity costs about 10 cents per kilowatt hour on average. "We're trying to clarify how changes in energy systems have benefits for public health," explains Holloway, who is also a UW-Madison professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. "For the most part, the energy community is not focused on the human health effects of air pollution." By showing the savings and how to accurately gauge the value of lives saved and associated reduced health care costs, the UW team hopes to provide policymakers and the energy industry with a road map for assessing the human health benefits of reducing energy use. Ideally, putting a price tag on positive health outcomes related to reduced energy adds a new impetus to the existing strategies used by government and the energy industry to help consumers save energy. Air pollution such as ozone and fine particles caused by emissions from power plants adversely affect human health. They are known to contribute to an increased incidence of asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases in susceptible populations. The project to quantify the human health benefits of saving energy, says Holloway, emerged from an undergraduate class project that found that only one state, Texas, had used energy efficiency to meet air pollution targets. Many counties across the United States fail to meet ozone and particulate standards, as required by the Environmental Protection Agency. "This seems like a missed opportunity," says Holloway. "Energy efficiency is free, yet it is not being included in the basket of solutions." An implicit goal of the new research, say Abel and Holloway, is to help build bridges between distinct sets of researchers and policymakers. In practice, people who focus on air pollution and those who focus on energy work in different worlds, the Wisconsin researchers say. Finding common threads and providing tools to integrate those different worlds will save money, improve human health, and equip government and industry to meet stated air quality goals. ### Terry Devitt, (608) 262-8282, trdevitt@wisc.edu This work was funded by the George Bunn Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in Energy Analysis and Policy, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Global Health Institute's Graduate Award. Support was also provided by the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (Grant # NNX16AQ92G), and by the Bridge to the Doctorate fellowship from the Wisconsin Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation by the National Science Foundation. Tuesdays US session was buffeted by several conflicting messages about the US China trade deal. Bloomberg ran a headline claiming China were walking back trade offers, then 15 minutes later Reuters issued several wires reporting an imminent deal. Uncertainty is also high in the UK as Brexit and a potential leadership battle are causing friction. Risk markets such as equities are off to a weak start on Wednesday after a mixed session on Tuesday, firstly blowing off higher, then pulling back. The indecision comes from some conflicting messages on the expected trade deal between the US and China, initially created by the Bloomberg headline that US officials see China "walking back" trade offers. Bloomberg reported that "some US officials are concerned that China is pushing back against American demands in trade talks as progress slows toward a deal that could give President Donald Trump a boost for his 2020 reelection bid, according to people familiar with the talks." The steady flow of positive remarks and rhetoric from both sides has dropped off in recent days so this headline caused a stir and an immediate reaction lower in equity markets. However, the content in the article gave a different point of view."A person close to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer denied that Chinese officials have backed away from previous pledges. A Chinese official briefed on the talks said that the negotiations are still ongoing and that a back-and-forth is to be expected in such circumstances." Markets started to recover and were helped on by a number of positive headlines coming from the Reuters stream. *DJ US-CHINA TALKS IN FINAL STAGES -- SOURCES *DJ US TRADE REPRESENTATIVE ROBERT LIGHTHIZER AND TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN FLYING TO BEIJING WEEK OF MARCH 25 -- SOURCES *DJ CHINA VICE PREMIER LIU HE TRAVELING TO WASHINGTON FOLLOWING WEEK- SOURCES The markets dont know who or what to believe at the moment. The negotiations are ongoing, and it is clear both sides want a deal. However, it is unclear how many of the US demands the Chinese will agree it remains to be seen if the US will agree to roll back the tariffs. These issues could lead to further friction and stand in the way of a deal for some time. Meanwhile, rumours and headlines will continue to leak out from sources and will continue to push the markets around. No Vote Wednesday Wednesday was supposed to be the day the next meaningful vote was held on Theresa Mays Brexit deal but the Speaker has blocked the vote and May has been forced into asking the EU for an extension to Brexit. Heres a short summary from Danske Bank, Yesterday, we found out that today PM Theresa May is likely to send EU council President Tusk a letter explaining why the UK wants an extension. This letter is expected to be received today, where hopefully we will also get to know the content. According to Bloomberg, the EU is likely to say that May has to get the Brexit deal through Parliament by mid-April, otherwise the choices are a long extension into 2020 or leaving without a deal. Meanwhile, fed up members of the Conservative party are said to be making alliances and preparing for a leadership contest. With Tories convinced that Theresa Mays days in No 10 are numbered, MPs are feverishly discussing who will seek to replace her, how organised the teams are and whether a general election would be necessary, reported the Guardian on Wednesday. This would throw even more uncertainty into the mix, and potentially hurt Sterlings tentative recovery over the last few weeks. The fear is that a hard-line Brexiter like Boris Johnson could take over the leadership and surround himself with a like-minded Cabinet. This would make a no-deal Brexit much more likely and GBP, the FTSE and many European markets will be pressured lower. Hong Kong is the most expensive place in the world for expats to rent a home, costing an average of US$10,929 per month, up 4.9% year on year, followed by New York and Tokyo, according to new research.In Europe the most expensive place for expat rents is London, averaging US$7,189, according to the latest research from ECA International which looks at the typical cost paid by expats for three bedroom homes. London is also the fourth most expensive in the world.The next most expensive in Europe is Moscow, followed by Zurich, Geneva and Dublin with the Irish capital among the top five most costly in Europe for the first time and it is the 26th most expensive globally at US$4,191.Rents increased across Hong Kong during 2018 with limited availability of suitable accommodation, a long term issue for the Hong Kong housing market, being the main driver, said Lee Quane, regional director for Asia at ECA International.Rent increases are not just limited to central Hong Kong anymore either, with rents expected to rise throughout outlying neighbourhoods in 2019 too, as international firms seek more affordable office space and try to take advantage of cheaper suburbs, he added.According to Alec Smith, accommodation services manager at ECA International, the last decade has seen a significant turnaround in the fortunes of Dublins residential rental market. The global financial crisis exposed a property bubble in the Irish capital and rents have increased significantly with each subsequent year of recovery, he said.The cost of renting has also been affected by elevated demand from international companies relocating staff while looking to take advantage of Irelands low corporate tax rate, he pointed out.Rental prices for expats in Singapore have dropped by 1.3% to an average of US$4,215 per month and are now on average, US$500 cheaper per month than in 2016. Bangkok entered the top 10 most expensive Asian locations for expat accommodation for the first time.Aberdeen is the only UK city to see a decline in rental costs, dropping by US$40 per month, while Glasgow remains the cheapest city in the UK to rent a three bedroom home, costing on average US$1,455 per month. Edinburgh has re-entered the top 50 most expensive in Europe at US$2,119 per month, up US$360 year on year.The ongoing decline in the oil and gas industry has reduced the number of overseas renters in Aberdeen. With remaining workers having their housing budgets cut, average rent levels have followed suit, Smith explained.Changes in Scottish legislation in the past couple of years have affected the supply of rental accommodation in Edinburgh while demand remains strong. Tax increases on the purchase of second homes have increased landlords' costs, while the phasing out of shorthold assured tenancies means many landlords have increased rents to cover the perceived greater risks in renting out their properties, he added. "Manufacturing & Supply Chain Talent Transformation: People or Robots?" CLAREMONT, CA March 19, 2019 APICS Inland Empire Chapter (APICS-IE), the leader in accreditation of supply chain and operations professionals, part of The Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM), is proud to announce the Spring 2019 Symposium line up of experts who will talk about the talent pool and future needs in manufacturing and the supply chain. The Symposium focusing on, "Manufacturing & Supply Chain Talent Transformation: People of Robots?" will be held on Saturday, April 13, 2019 from 8am 11:30am at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. The panel will feature four key executives experienced in the talent needs within manufacturing, the talent pool as it exists today and the skills needed as robots, automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), other technology and customer expectations transform manufacturing and the supply chain. "In addition to today's tight labor market, elevated customer expectations and technology advances are further increasing the skills gap. There is a huge need for the right talent. And, looking into the future, we also know that jobs will continue to evolve requiring new and different skill sets. We are excited to have these experts share their knowledge and insights with us" commented Lisa Anderson, APICS-IE Chapter Leader and President of LMA Consulting Group. The panel includes: Paul Granillo - President & CEO, Inland Empire Economic Partnership Cindy Elliott Global Go-To-Market Strategy Manufacturing & Logistics, ESRI Jerry Hsiung Robotic Expert Carnegie Mellon & Harvey Mudd Jermaine Waltemeyer - Recruiter/Practice Lead, Aerotek "Each panelist brings a unique perspective to the talent discussion and how they see the global economy and advancements affecting the manufacturing and logistics talent pool. To hear these insights first-hand from different perspectives will provide attendees with a better understanding of which technology advances to pursue as well as the best way to recruit, train and manage talent" Ms. Anderson concluded. The symposium attracts industry professionals from throughout the Inland Empire and Southern California and welcomes students. The APICS-IE Spring Symposium, "Manufacturing & Supply Chain Talent Transformation: People or Robots?" will be held Saturday, April 13, 2019 from 8:00-11:30 AM at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Fees to attend are $15 for members, $25 for non-members and students are free. A breakfast buffet is included. Register online Wednesday, March 20, 2019 Dennis Glavis spent 20 years of his life at Ferrari of Los Gatos. He began his career with the infamous dealership not long after his friend, Jack Gordon, said to him, I know some guys that are going to open a Ferrari store soon, and I think I can get us jobs there.." Jack and Dennis became good friends while working at Ken Keegans imported car dealership. When the Keegan dealership closed, Ferrari of Los Gatos took over the same location. The corner of East Main Street and Pageant Way had been housing car dealerships since the 1920s but none quite the same as Ferrari of Los Gatos. Jack was the first to be hired, then Bill Warren, and a guy nicknamed Stretch. When Stretch got into trouble and had to take an extended leave of absence, Jack told owners Brian Burnett and Richard Rivoir about Dennis. His interview lasted just a few minutes and ended with, Show up for work tomorrow.." So he did. It was 1976, and the casual atmosphere at the dealership made customers and employees feel comfortable. California wasnt like the Northeast where the Ferrari salesmen went to work in three-piece suitsat least not at Ferrari of Los Gatos. Silicon Valley Casual Lifestyle Fit Right In The term Silicon Valley hadnt been coined yet. The salesmen at Ferrari of Los Gatos referred to the area as Hard Drive Valley. Many of the dealerships early customers worked at Seagate Technology, one of the pioneers in computer data storage. Seagate employees went to work in t-shirts and shorts, which fit right in with the casual style at Ferrari of Los Gatos. Not only was the dealership a comfortable place to work, but the owners also let the sales staff do their own deals,." said Dennis. You had to clear trade-ins and tell them what car you were selling, and theyd respond, Okay, good. ." This management style gave Brian time to pursue other interests, such as Muscle cars, Hot Rods, and Street Rods. Dennis reminisced, I knew nothing about Hot rods or Street Rods when I started. Cars like 36 and 38 Buicks were some of Brians favorites, and I developed a respect and appreciation of these older models. While they werent my forte, they were still automotive art. The guys that owned them loved to hang out at the dealership and talk about cars.." Admiration for Car Enthusiasts that became Good Friends Several of the car owners that met at Ferrari of Los Gatos attended car shows together. One time they drove across the country as a group. Dennis watched them having a lot of fun and adventures along with their cars, and he admired that. Plus, the job was lucrative for Dennis. The business did really well for a couple of years, and everybodyincluding the salesmenmade a lot of money. Then 1980 hitthe economy tankedand it wasnt easy to sell Ferraris. Do you have any stories about Ferraris from the 1980s or any other time? Please share the story here, or leave a comment below. From: Scott Lorenz - Book Marketing Expert For Immediate Release: Dateline: Detroit , MI Wednesday, March 20, 2019 By Scott Lorenz Westwind Book Marketing Authors, put down your pen and go explore the many book fairs and festivals around the country. You wont be sorry! Scott Lorenz, Book Publicist After writing diligently for weeks and months on end its time to get invigorated! Nothing does the job like meeting people who love books and write books. Check out this list of book festivals and fairs that I compiled that authors can attend for 2019. These events are an excellent way for authors to meet book buyers and reviewers, interact with fellow authors and publishers, meet your readers and find new ones too. As an author you can network with book industry leaders, locate the help you need, such as a publicist or book editor, and learn whats new in the marketplace. Book fairs usually want speakers. By volunteering to speak, authors not only gain great exposure but can also add that appearance to their resume and press releases. One of my author clients was a member of a panel of authors at a Southern Book Festival. I issued a press release about it and added it to her accomplishments on her bio. Not only is she a respected author but shes now an author admired by her peers. Its these little things that all add up in the minds of reviewers and the media when they decide who they will write about. If you want to land a panel slot or speaking gig you must plan ahead; dates for panel participants, speakers and autograph sessions are usually arranged months in advance. For more upcoming book events check out C-SPAN2 at: http://www.BookTV.org and click on the Book Fairs tab. For more information about book events and book marketing visit http://www.Book-Marketing-Expert.com Heres my list of upcoming book fairs and events that are worthy of your attendance in 2019 as of the date of this publishing: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 13-14, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA. The festival attracts more than 150,000 people. https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/ 2019 Dayton Book Expo, April 27, 2019 at the David H. Ponitz Conference Center, Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. There will be unique books by new authors and panel discussions for aspiring authors. https://www.daytonbookexpo.com/ BookExpo America, May 29-31, 2019, Javits Center, NYC, the Big Daddy of all book events. Its worth a trip just to see what the book business is all about. There are plenty of great seminars to attend, book signings and events. I highly recommend all authors attend. http://www.bookexpoamerica.com Millbrook Literary Festival, May 18, 2019. Millbrook Free Library on Franklin Street presents dozens of thought provoking authors. https://millbrookliteraryfestival.org/ Printers Row Lit Fest, June 8-9, 2019, Chicago, Illinois on and around the area of Dearborn Street, from Congress to Polk. A large book fair attended by more than 150,000 book lovers. http://printersrowlitfest.org Santa Barbara Writers Conference, June 16-21, 2019, in Santa Barbara, California. There will be more than 20 different instructional workshops each day. http://www.sbwriters.com American Library Association Annual Conference, June 20-25, 2019, in Washington, D.C.. Some 25,000 experts in the market who will help you advance your career. https://2019.alaannual.org/ International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) June 25-June 28, 2019, Nashville, TN. CBAs International Christian Retail Show Considered the best show for Christian authors according to Sara Bolme, author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace. http://www. Marketingchristianbooks.com Harlem Book Festival, July 20, 2019 Harlem, NYC visited by over 30,000 readers and viewed by millions on C-Span http://www.harlembookfair.com The Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair will begin August 2, 2019 and finish August 3, 2019 in Denver, Colorado www.rmaba.org/rmbpf/2019/rmbpf_2019_GeneralInfo.html Writers at Woody Point, August 13-18, 2019 in Woody Point, Newfoundland. Travel to Canada and see what creativity and talent lies across the border. http://www.writersatwoodypoint.com Decatur Book Festival, August 30-September 1, 2019, Decatur, GA, largest independent book festival in the country. Since its launch, more than 1000 authors and hundreds of thousands of people have attended this event in downtown Decatur. http://www.decaturbookfestival.com The Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors will be held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on September 5-8, 2019 https://www.bookmarksnc.org/2018-festival-books-authors The Brooklyn Book Festival will begin September 16, 2019 and run through September 23, 2019 in Brooklyn, New York. http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org The Iowa City Book Festival will begin October 1, 2019 and end October 7, 2019 in Iowa City, Iowa. http://www.iowacitybookfestival.org The South Dakota Festival of Books in Brookings and Sioux Falls, South Dakota will be held October 3-6, 2019. http://sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books/ The Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee will run from October 11, 2019 through October 13, 2019. https://www.visitmusiccity.com/visitors/thingstodo/southernfestivalofbooks The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair will be held October 12-13, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. http://www.seattlebookfair.com The Vegas Valley Book Festival will take place on October 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. https://10times.com/vvbf The Texas Book Festival will begin October 26, 2019 and end October 27, 2019 in Austin, Texas. http://www.texasbookfestival.org The Baltimore Book Festival will begin in Baltimore, Maryland on November 1, 2019 and end November 10, 2019. http://www.baltimorebookfestival.com The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (40th Annual) will be held November 15, 2019 through November 17, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. http://bostonbookfair.com The Bottom Line: Authors, put down your pen and go explore the many book fairs and festivals around the country. You wont be sorry! About Book Publicist Scott Lorenz Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether its their first book or their 15th book. Hes handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Womans World, & Howard Stern to name a few. Learn more about Westwind Communications book marketing approach at http://www.book-marketing-expert.com or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist Check his blog at: http://www.The-Book-Publicist.com Share this: Like this: Like Loading... The Trump administration is threatening to pull out of a trade deal with Mexico, a move that could increase what U.S. grocery shoppers pay for tomatoes and hurt Texas and Arizona produce importers. The U.S. Department of Commerce is looking to end a 23-year succession of agreements that set price floors and prevent tariffs on Mexican tomatoes. Despite the deals, administration officials say, Mexican growers have continued to undercut their U.S. competitors. If U.S. and Mexican officials dont agree to a new pact before the most recent agreement ends May 7, the U.S. will conduct an anti-dumping investigation. In the meantime, importers will be required to pay deposits estimated at 17.5 percent of the price of their Mexican tomato imports. That could be a big blow to the $3 billion industry thats grown up around importing Mexican tomatoes. Just the three bridges alone in Pharr, Laredoand Progreso imported almost $1 billion worth of tomatoes in 2017, said Dante Galeazzi, CEO of the Texas International Produce Association. When you start looking at the number of companies that are touching tomatoes here in the United States and specifically in Texas youve got the importers, youve got the guys that are repacking, you have the final sales all those people have employees that are depending on the Mexican tomato business. Margins in fresh produce are already razor thin, he said, so if theres increases, that increase just gets passed down the supply line to the final consumer. Nogales, Ariz.-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas says even a 5 percent reduction in Mexican tomatoes would cost U.S. consumers an additional 25 cents per pound, or $790 million a year. Florida and other U.S. tomato growers, who accuse Mexico of unfairly subsidizing the countrys producers, say they are fighting to preserve a vital domestic industry. There is rampant circumvention of the agreement. There are loopholes in the agreement. Theres a lack of enforcement. And the domestic industry continues to decline as a result, said Michael Schadler, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, which represents growers. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' plan to withdraw from the tomato suspension agreement called that because the agreements suspended anti-dumping investigations against Mexico followed a Feb.1 letter from Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and 47 House and Senate colleagues. Since 1996, Mexicos share of the U.S. tomato market increased to 54 percent from 32 percent, the letter said, while U.S. growers slice dropped to 40 percent from 65 percent. U.S. production of tomatoes has declined 34 percent since 2002, and Mexican tomatoes have skyrocketed 125 percent. Mexican tomato exporters have used successive suspension agreements as cover for their continued use of unfair trade practices to gain U.S. market share at the expense of the domestic tomato industry, the lawmakers wrote. The Border Trade Alliance fired back with its own letter to Ross, saying he was responding to regional and politically powerful interests at the expense of U.S. consumers and international trade. The letter cited a recent study that showed tomato imports alone support more than 30,000 U.S. jobs and a supply chain that generates nearly $3 billion in gross domestic product. Signatories included the city of McAllen, Rio Grande Valley Partnership and Laredo-based International Bank of Commerce. Mexico is the United States top agricultural trade partner, they said, annually importing about $18 billion worth of U.S. products that make up about 70 percent of Mexicos agri-food imports. Our concern is youre going to create sectorial or even regional trade by taking these kinds of measures, IBC Bank Executive Vice President Gerald Schwebel said. Whos going to be next? ... This thing can be a never-ending process. Importers say the administrations plan is backed by some of the same interests who wanted to insert so-called seasonality provisions into the pending United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. The failed effort would have allowed smaller, regional U.S. produce groups to seek trade protection during seasons when competition is most intense. Its the same group, Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, said. At the end of the day with seasonality (provisions), we would have a patchwork quilt of tariffs all around the country at different times, Jungmeyer said. And you would end up with foreign countries saying, Hmm, I guess I can do that, too. And you would see the level of trade go backward. Schadler of the Florida Tomato Exchange, however, rejects the notion that growers who want fair competition with their Mexicans counterparts are seeking a protectionist advantage. This is not some kind of unilateral act by U.S. tomato growers to block the market for Mexico, he added. It is a consequence of unfair trade practices by the Mexicans. Other agri-business interests say U.S. growers have fallen behind Mexican producers because theyve failed to invest enough in technology and process improvements. To me, the industry in the United States has had 25 years to change its technology to be able to meet consumer demand and they have not made barely a move to do anything, said Bryant Ambelang, CEO of San Antonio-based NatureSweet, which grows greenhouse tomatoes in both Mexico and Arizona. We believe weve actually in the last five years invested more in protected or high-tech agriculture to be able to service the consumer than the people who are in favor of continued tariffs on tomatoes from Mexico. Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering trade, agriculture and the economy. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | Twitter: @lbrezosky San Antonio officials are close to adopting a plan that would prevent low-income families from being tossed out of their houses or apartments because of fast-rising costs. But with San Antonios hot real-estate market, which is pushing up property tax bills, local housing advocates fear the city isnt doing enough to help needy families keep their homes. City Council will vote Thursday on a plan that would, at best, help 200 households stave off eviction or foreclosure. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio home sales rose 9 percent in February as prices continued to rise San Antonio residents have already been forced out of their homes by rising property values, redevelopment and the revitalization of the citys urban core at times directly resulting from city involvement. A Houston developers purchase and rehabilitation of the Soapworks and Towne Center apartment complexes on San Pedro Creek last year threatened to displace about 300 households as their rents rose. And an apartment development that pushed out more than 100 low-income families from the Mission Trails mobile home park on the citys South Side in 2016 received nearly $2 million in city incentives. Indirect displacement is already happening, as is direct displacement, said Maria Tijerina, co-chair of the grassroots organization COPS/Metro Alliance. Those families, those working families, those working individuals, they need something in place now. The citys budget writers set aside $1 million last year to provide financial assistance to residents forced out of their homes by residential redevelopment, drastic rent increases or health and safety issues. Council will vote Thursday on how to use those funds. Thats enough to help about 200 households in danger of displacement, Deputy City Manager Peter Zanoni said. When existing city and federal funds are folded in, the city has about $1.5 million to help displaced families. But relocation can be costly. The city recently helped relocate 55 families from the Whispering Heights apartment complex off of Austin Highway on the citys Northeast Side to the tune of $300,000, Zanoni said raising questions of whether the city has enough funds to assist all displaced households. We just dont know because weve never done it in this fashion before, Zanoni said. On ExpressNews.com: Why are high-income San Antonio residents increasingly renting their homes? The majority of the $1.5 million will be divvied into two pots, aimed at assisting households making the area median income or less. The area median income for the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area is $66,800, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of the $1 million, $650,000 will go toward assisting households forced to vacate their homes because of redevelopment, code enforcement actions or steep rent increases. Another $300,000 will provide short-term assistance to renters and homeowners who experience an unexpected financial hardship, including unemployment, hospital bills and funeral expenses. But landlords are often wary of renting homes to residents with past evictions, preferring to let units sit empty rather than risk filling them with families who may not be able to pay rent, said Veronica Soto, director of the city Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. The city, in partnership with the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless, plans to put $50,000 toward a rental incentive fund designed to encourage landlords to rent to tenants that have been forced out of their homes and need new housing. Were trying to see if landlords will open up those units, knowing that were there to cover that high-risk premium, Soto said. The displacement fund is part of a multi-pronged effort to help low-income residents and families stay in their homes and prevent displacement, officials say. The city has backed a bill by state Rep. Diego Bernal of San Antonio to freeze taxes levied by school districts if owners have lived in their home for at least 15 years. Budget writers have pumped $10 million in city funds into rehabilitating single-family homes. Officials are close to hiring an executive to head a coordinated housing system. And the city is eyeing the creation of neighborhood empowerment zones that could encourage the development of affordable housing in needy areas. City Council members could also direct staff members to fast-track a study determining how many San Antonio residents are feeling the effects of indirect displacement, or gentrification. But the study and any ensuing policy recommendations to combat indirect displacement would take at least a year to complete, Zanoni said. On ExpressNews.com: As San Antonio mayor, Julian Castro started program that gave millions to developers for luxury downtown condos At times, city officials have directly contributed to displacing their own residents. In November 2016, the city awarded $1.8 million through the Center City Housing Incentive Policy (CCHIP) a program that gives developers property tax rebates and construction loans to build housing downtown to developers to build the Mission Escondida Luxury Apartments where the Mission Trails mobile home park sat. Since then, officials have worked to curtail the citys contribution to displacement as policymakers have focused their attention on boosting the areas affordable housing stock. City Council members barred developers whose projects could displace residents from receiving CCHIP funds among other reforms to the incentive program. Such projects are also barred from receiving funds through the citys Neighborhood Improvements Bond. Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering real estate, economic development and philanthropy. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports For most of America, when cheese and steak come together as one, its in the form of shaved rib-eye and Whiz on a hoagie roll. Move over, Philly. South Texas is the land of steak con queso. Diners in San Antonio can find steak con queso on at least a half-dozen restaurant menus, where it arrives at the table in a few different configurations. For some establishments, such as De Weses Tip Top Cafe, 410 Diner and Josephine Street Cafe, the steak portion is billed as a chopped steak, more recognizable as a bunless hamburger patty. Others, like Good Time Charlies, serve it as strips of grilled sirloin, while Mamas Cafe specializes in chunks of seared sirloin tips. The one constant is all that beef gets doused in a generous scoop of chile con queso, that ooey-gooey melange of cheese, chiles and sometimes tomatoes and other flavorful ingredients. On ExpressNews.com: Queso: The bowl of Texas gold the world needs now We tried to find a definitive answer to how, when and where steak con queso came into existence, and like most food origin stories, the facts were hard to pin down. This much is certain: it begins with chile con queso. The history of chile con queso, which has been part of San Antonios lore for a hundred years or more, appearing at Otis Farnsworths Original Mexican Restaurant as far back as 1900. A recipe for chile con queso first appeared in a San Antonio cookbook in the 1920s. So how do we go from chile con queso, which is normally served with tortilla chips, to steaks swimming in the stuff? Its not that much of a leap, really. Queso fundido, a Mexican staple that marries cheese and chorizo or ground beef, is seen by many as a precursor to Tex-Mex-style chile con queso. Swapping in a good steak should be an obvious inspiration for any red-blooded Texan. So where does San Antonios love of steak con queso start? For Good Time Charlies co-owner Millard Stetler, it was with family. The dish was added to the restaurants menu shortly after it opened in 1979. My daughter loved queso, Stetler said. I started thinking about things we could put on our menu that would stand out from the run-of-the-mill stuff. I though, Lets trim up some really good steak, cook it up medium-rare the way I like it, and cover it in queso. The rest, Stetler said, is history. His version of the dish has become a customer favorite thats been a menu fixture for four decades. Stetler and Good Time Charlies may have been early innovators with the dish, but The Barn Door Restaurant kitchen manager Robert Cochran said his first memories of steak con queso come from his father and uncle, Robert and Arthur Cochran, who developed a version of it at least 60 years ago. My dad was experimenting in the kitchen one day and he decided to make it and try it, and from there it became a big thing, Cochran said. The Barn Doors version could not be more different from Good Time Charlies. Its a 10-ounce chopped sirloin steak wrapped in bacon. That gets topped with a vibrant and spicy pico de gallo laced with fresh serrano chiles, a few slices of avocado and a steakhouse flourish of parsley to garnish. On ExpressNews.com: Chili Queens once ruled Alamo Plaza El Paso also makes a strong claim to the steak con queso crown, where queso fundido is seen as one of the citys culinary calling cards. Queso fundido is typically made with freshly roasted green chiles and white cheeses like Oaxaca or Monterey Jack good luck getting an El Paso chef to share their exact recipe with loose chorizo or ground beef often added. Its different from the Tex-Mex-style chile con queso found in San Antonio, but not far off. At L&J Cafe, an El Paso restaurant that opened in 1927, customers have been able to order a dish billed as chile con queso steak for decades. Their version is a grilled sirloin steak doused with a white chile con queso made with onion and roasted Hatch chiles. The dish was a logical outcome based on local tastes, L&J manager Joel Zapata said. People in El Paso like their grilled carne asada, so we grill the carne, right? And then people in El Paso like their queso fundido. So pretty much you get that combination, put it together and you serve it with tortillas, and youve got a taco, Zapata said, noting local customers almost always slice the steak into ribbons and stuff it into fresh corn tortillas. We all know everything is bigger in Texas, including legends about how our favorite foods came to be. Were not taking sides or declaring a definitive inventor of steak con queso, but we sure are sharing a few recipes to make your own version at home this week. So get cooking and keep it cheesy, yall. Recipe: Basic Steak con Queso Recipe: Chorizo Chopped Steak con Queso Recipe: El Paso-Style Chile con Queso Steak Paul Stephen is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen A Texas House panel this week advanced a school finance proposal that includes the biggest overhaul in 30 years of the way the state distributes money for most of its students, based on a system the San Antonio Independent School District uses to differentiate between levels of poverty. Not all povertys the same, said Mohammed Choudhury, SAISDs chief innovation officer, who implemented a similar system in Dallas ISD before bringing it to San Antonio. You are now measuring disadvantage in a more sophisticated way. Leaders of Bexar Countys largest school districts have expressed support for the bill, which includes property tax reforms and would add $9 billion to state public education funding in the next two years, $2.7 billion of it to replace existing property taxes. OnExpressNews.com: Alamo Colleges trustees raise hourly minimum wage to $15 I appreciate the work of this group in crafting what is very comprehensive legislation, Northside ISD Superintendent Brian Woods told the House Public Education Committee earlier this month. School finance town hall WHEN: Thursday, March 21, at 7 p.m. WHERE: Buena Vista Street Building Theater (BVB 1.326) at the UTSA Downtown Campus, 501 W Cesar E Chavez Blvd. PARKING: Free parking in unmarked spaces of lot D-3, beneath Interstate 35. Free and open to the public See More Collapse Woods and Rep. Diego Bernal, a San Antonio Democrat and the committees vice chairman, will speak Thursday night at a forum on school finance hosted by the Express-News and the University of Texas at San Antonio. They will be joined by Kara Belew, senior education policy adviser for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. House Bill 3 would raise the basic state allotment to $6,030 per student, a 17 percent increase, and would add weights multipliers of the basic allotment for students in bilingual and dual-language programs, a feature SAISD pushed for. The bill would increase minimum pay for educators. It would provide additional funding for schools that extend the academic year up to 30 days to improve literacy rates. It would fund high-quality, full-day prekindergarten for children who are low income or have other qualifying needs. And before sending the bill to the House floor for debate, the education committee Tuesday added incentives for teachers to work at campuses or teach subjects for which there is the greatest need. The current school finance system wasnt created overnight, said Brian Gottardy, superintendent of North East ISD, in an email. Multiple sessions of band-aid approaches led to where we are today. It wont be fixed in one session either, but HB 3 is a good start to making needed improvements. The Texas Senates school finance bill includes some of the same components but is shorter on specifics. It would not increase the basic allotment or restructure allocations for low-income students as the House plan does. It would increase funding for schools based on their third-grade reading scores and mandates $5,000 pay raises for every teacher and librarian. Woods testified in favor of the House version on behalf of his district and the Texas School Alliance, which represents the largest school districts in the state. On ExpressNews.com: Senate plan calls for $5,000 raises for all full-time teachers Choudhurys system, which uses local census data to categorize students, was noticed and admired by Texas education policymakers some months ago. Instead of the current state system of adding a fixed extra weight to all students who qualify for free or reduced lunch based on federal income thresholds 61 percent of Texas students House Bill 3 proposes five different weights, determined by the census block the student lives in. Each census block would fit into one of the five tiers based on average median household income, the educational attainment of the population, percentage of single-parent households, rate of homeownership, and other criteria determined by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. The lowest weight, for students who qualify as economically disadvantaged but come from census blocks that represent relative socioeconomic stability, would still be still higher than the current weight for all economically disadvantaged students. Choudhury first started sorting students based on census blocks when he worked in Dallas ISD. He adopted the same methods three years ago in SAISD, mostly to integrate magnet schools by reserving seats for students from the highest-poverty census blocks. Determining students socioeconomic situations based only on federal meal subsidies misses the difference between those who fall just below the income benchmarks and those in abject poverty, Choudhury said. He and Bernal both likened it to responding to the effects of poverty with a blunt instrument. When SAISD presented its census block-based system to an interim school finance commission the Legislature created two years ago, it was greeted with a standing question, said Bernal, who sat on the commission. Lots of people, for a long time, have wanted to find ways to give more resources to the schools and students that need them the most, but theres been some debate over how to best do that, Bernal said. SAISD certainly showed us a thoughtful and reliable way. Further sorting students by the demographics of their census blocks also accounts for the environments that students grow up in, Choudhury said. A student in a census block with the highest socioeconomic ranking is more likely to be around families who earn more, own their homes and have households run by two parents with college degrees. The reverse is true for students in the census blocks with the lowest socioeconomic ranking. Some economically disadvantaged children have grandparents with college degrees and live in a two-parent home that the family owns, said Woods, whose Northside ISD is one of the most socioeconomically diverse school districts in the state. That is an entirely different situation, for children growing up in that home, than one living in Section 8 housing, where as far back as that child has ever met family members, they have lived in Section 8 housing, Woods told the House education panel. Where folks come and go in the household all day and night. Where theres not a place to do homework. Educating that second child is entirely different than educating that first child and what youve suggested here honors that notion. Woods proposed a committee made up of educators from around the state to help Morath determine the criteria for the weights. Were trying to create a definition that is tied to the level, the shades of gray, of economic disadvantage, Woods said. Its not this binary system that we have, so this is progress in that direction. Within its own budget, Dallas ISD provided additional funding to its neediest schools. The money paid for wrap-around services including family liaisons, social workers, supplemental academic programs, and training for employees. Decades of research shows more money moves the needle, Choudhury said. School districts are weighing the fiscal impacts of both chambers school finance plans, but both are works in progress. The House proposal would lower school property tax rates by 4 cents per $100, which would result in a loss of $16 million in tax revenue to North East ISD, seen in isolation from revenue gains provided in other parts of the bill, according to the district. The bill would grant school districts money for three years to make up for any losses in state and local funding compared to the previous years revenue, or 125 percent of the statewide average revenue. SAISD has roughly calculated the House proposal would reduce its property tax revenues but result in significantly more funding for schools, district spokeswoman Leslie Price said. The Texas School Alliance also supports the Houses increased funding for career and technical education in middle schools, Woods said. Gottardy said he also liked the bills increased funding weight for dyslexic students. The bill also would provide more funding for homeless students, Bernal noted, adding, Its evolving in a way that only benefits our city. He said he expects the Senate to adopt what comes out of the House. A large portion of this stems from the school finance commission that they really wanted, and if Im being honest, it worked out, Bernal said. I dont see this as a standoff. I see this as us having different starting places UPDATE: Shelter-in-place alert issued for Deer Park after high benzene levels detected 6:50 p.m. update A fireball erupted at the Intercontinental Terminal Co. several hours after fire crews extinguished the days-long petrochemical blaze, causing black smoke to rise from the industrial site once again. An ITC spokeswoman attributed the soaring flames to a flare-up in a tank containing xylene, which was one of the first storage containers to catch fire. There was likely a break in the foam being poured on the tank, she said. Vapor can then ignite when it hits hot metal, she added. Deer Park Emergency Services Director Robert Hemminger said the fire was extinguished within 30 seconds. A strip of smoke, thinner than what had stretched across the Houston region since Sunday, poured out of the terminal site for several minutes before dissipating. The spokeswoman said similar flare-ups could continue to happen as crews spray foam among the razed chemical tanks. Earlier story below The cause of the dayslong chemical fire at a Deer Park plant remains under investigation as emergency crews douse what's left of the now-extinguished blaze and prepare for clean-up, company officials said Wednesday. Now Playing: Emergency crews continue to douse whats left of the now-extinguished petrochemical tank fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, in Deer Park. Fire crews extinguished the blaze at ITC about 3 a.m., Wednesday, almost four days after it started. Video: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle Fire crews extinguished the blaze at Intercontinental Terminals Co. about 3 a.m., almost four days after it started on Sunday morning and which caused a plume of black smoke to linger over the Houston area. How long the cleanup will take is unclear. Firefighters are continuing to spray foam on the 15 tanks in the affected area to prevent the blaze from sparking again and steam and smoke may still be visible from the area. Eleven of the tanks, many containing gasoline components, were affected by fire. "Reignition is possible, but with every passing hour, our risk of that is reduced," ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said Wednesday. "Our goal is to be good neighbors good neighbors to our industry, good neighbors to our community. We're sorry for what has happened." ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Deer Park company battling fire accused of intentionally polluting water during Harvey No serious injuries have been reported since the fire started at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Air quality levels were still at moderate levels Wednesday morning, according to AirNow.gov. The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting air and water quality tests at the fire site and in the plume, EPA on-site coordinator Adam Adams said. The most concerning materials are particulates and "volatile organic compounds," but no hazardous levels have been found. "Had we gotten some significant results that were hazardous, we would share that information with our stakeholders in the community as soon as possible to take action," Adams said at a news conference Wednesday morning at ITC's Pasadena plant. The EPA is also looking into the potential impact at the Houston Ship Channel, Adams said. Water quality tests there have not yet been returned, determining what chemicals might have infiltrated the runoff. Adams declined to comment on whether the EPA would spark its own investigation after the fact and said the organization is more concerned with the immediate monitoring for now. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: In Deer Park, 3 days of burning and a round of golf The difference-maker between Tuesday morning when officials walked back earlier estimates and declined to say when the fire would be snuffed out was an offensive approach to the firefighting, Richardson said. "They continued that proactive attack, tank by tank, and it was successful," she said. It's unknown how full the 11 damaged tanks were prior to the fire, and how full they are now. The tank that sparked the incident 80-8, a tank of naphtha in the middle of the 15-tank block was the fullest, with 72,000 barrels. Another had 60,000 barrels, and several others were well below that, said David Wascome, vice president of operations at ITC. The tanks are able to be filled to 80,000 barrels. The tanks that burned contained gasoline blends, base oil, pyrolysis gasoline, naptha and xylene. Two of the tanks were empty, officials said. The foam that is being sprayed in the plant is effectively creating a seal covering the chemicals, Wascome said. "We're treating it as if those could be VOCs (volatile organic compounds)," he said. The amount of damage to the tanks is unknown. Many of them will have to be demolished, Wascome said. Investigators with the Harris County Fire Marshal's office are on site to help determine the cause of the fire, Richardson said, Nicole Hensley contributed to this report Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. City Councilman Clayton Perry is talking about streets, crime and taxation in his first re-election bid as he faces four challengers, all women, including three who want the city to offer more direct support to low-income families, women and children. Early voting in the May 4 election starts April 22. Perry said he has a first-term track record of success that includes bringing more funding for streets into District 10 on the Northeast Side, and supporting increased police, fire and EMS staffing citywide, while fighting for property tax relief. Perhaps his most experienced challenger is Reinette King, a former Zoning Commission member and spokeswoman for last years firefighters union-backed charter amendments. King ran for the District 10 seat in 2017, coming in fourth in a race that drew 10 candidates when Mike Gallagher decided not to run for reelection. Perry defeated attorney Ezra Johnson in a runoff. If re-elected, Perry said, he wants to stay on course with streets and drainage, pursue plans for at least two new parks and position the district to get its fair share of funding in the 2022 bond issue. District 10 candidates Clayton Perry, incumbent Age: 63 Occupation: Retired Air Force civil engineer Family: Not married; three grown children, five grandkids Education: Bachelor of science, building construction, Texas A&M; master's in aerospace technology, Emory-Riddle Aeronautical In his own words: "One of the biggest things is people really complaining about property taxes." Elise Kibler Age: 43 Occupation: Pediatrician Family: Not married; two children Education: Private school in Houston; Biology major at Wellesley College in Massachusetts; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston In her own words: "We can address air pollution, water pollution and global warming." Reinette King Age: 67 Occupation: Real estate investor Family: Not married; five nieces and nephews Education: Bachelor's in business from University of the Incarnate Word; MBA from St. Mary's; Graduate Squadron Officer's School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama In her own words: "I am the person of action who is uniquely qualified." Maria Perez Age: 50 Occupation: Self employed in child development Family: Not married; one child Education: High school; attended college In her own words: "There is an outcry for truth in working for the future of our next generation." Linda Montellano Age: 55 Occupation: Claims intake for Texas Workforce Commission Family: Not married; two adult children Education: Private high school in Chicago In her own words: "There are a lot of people in District 10 who feel their voices aren't heard, that they don't count." See More Collapse My goal is to get all of our ducks in a row, and try to get a bigger portion of the bond here in District 10 than we did this last time, when a lions share of voter-approved bonds were directed in and around downtown, Perry said. King notes shes the only candidate with 33 years experience in negotiation. This is critically important in working with other council members, staff, government peers, business entities, chambers, and beyond our city, she said. Only Perry and King filed the required financial report Jan. 15; the others had not yet filed to run. Perrys campaign listed 185 contributions and expenses totaling $58,142.91. The campaign has slightly more than $55,000 as the electrion approaches. Kings campaign reported having just over $1,000 on hand. The next financial report is due April 4. Here are the candidates in the order they will appear on the ballot. Clayton Perry, the incumbent, is a retired engineer. Perrys efforts to secure a city homestead exemption property tax relief that exists in other large cities has failed in City Council but he said hes reviving the issue. Weve got a city budget of $2.8 billion. In this last year, for a 5 percent homestead exemption, it would cost the city about $11 million. And we had a carryover from (2018 to 2019) of $13 million, so we couldve paid for it right off the bat, Perry said. On the environment, Perry said he is asking District 10 residents to weigh in on the citys proposed Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, but is disappointed that it lacks information on the costs to taxpayers and businesses on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has similar concerns about the ConnectSA transportation plan, saying its proposed funding options are not viable. Elise Kibler, a pediatrician who is fluent in Spanish, has worked as a medical volunteer in Guatemala, Ecuador and Botswana. Her campaign focuses on education, economic stimulation and advocacy for the poor. I am financially very conservative, yet socially more liberal, Kibler said. Kibler said she would advocate for more local programs and state funding to support children, schools and uninsured families. She believes the city has poured money into construction projects, while under-investing in human services to prevent drug and alcohol addictions, child abuse and other societal problems. I believe we should maintain our infrastructure in a more financially conservative way and invest in our schools, advocate on the state level for improved access to mental health services and supplement those mental health services on the local level, she said. Kibler wants San Antonio to mirror the economic successes of Austin, where she used to live, in fostering a highly skilled workforce and attracting companies to hire them. Like Perry, she supports a city homestead exemption for San Antonio homeowners. As for the climate plan, Kibler said she endorses it as well as efforts to promote green energy and tree-planting. Reinette King, a real estate investor, said she supports a city homestead exemption. Thats why Im about responsible spending, said King, who wants to lower the city tax rate, but create a budget to recruit top-tier police officers nationwide to work in San Antonio. In regard to the climate plan, King said she has cost concerns about it, especially for small businesses that might be affected by local regulations. She supports voluntary climate-friendly actions. King said she supports the concepts of the ConnectSA transportation plan. Maria Perez described herself as a visionary, with a diverse background in early child development, medical technology, retail, construction and social work. She vows to be a warrior for women, children and families, and an ardent champion of efforts to combat human trafficking. I was concerned with the overall directions I saw our city was heading, Perez said. Perez also supports a city homestead exemption. We need to be willing to consider new ideas, assisting them (homeowners) to avoid any foreclosures, Perez said. Linda Montellano said she has experience in political and human rights activism, having been raised in Chicago, the daughter of a police officer and Vietnam veteran. If elected, she said, she would be a hands-on advocate for people in the district, especially single mothers and children at risk. Im not a politician. Im an advocate for the people, she said. While residents west of Perrin-Beitel Road are worried about common citywide concerns such as pothole repairs, traffic and police protection, conditions are more bleak on the east side of the district, where people long to hear good news about a store opening or beautification project, Montellano said. They dont feel theyre part of the district, she said. She wants to focus on social services for mothers and children, and make more self-help resources available to low-income families, through the city, state and nonprofit groups. I truly care about all the people of District 10 and San Antonio, not just those who contribute to my campaign, Montellano added. As for the climate plan, Montellano said San Antonio should be the example for other cities that a project like this can work in lowering harmful greenhouse gases. Montellano said she supports the concepts of ConnectSA. Scott Huddleston covers Bexar County government and the Alamo for the San Antonio Express-News. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA Over the past 57 years, this states District 20 congressional seat has opened up only twice: in 1997, when iconic liberal warrior Henry B. Gonzalez took ill and announced that he planned to step down; and in 2011, when Gonzalezs son and successor, Charlie, decided not to seek an eighth term in office. It may be happening again soon. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, through his associates, signaled last week that he is all but certain to give up his House seat next year to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. OnExpressNews.com: Bexar County Dems' murky finances will be headache for FBI With a Castro announcement looming, you would expect a stampede of Democratic hopefuls racing for the pole position in next years District 20 primary. After all, Bexar Countys most promising Democrats have been stymied over the past two decades by a perpetual political bottleneck, caused by a lack of opportunities for Dems in this reliably Republican state. For local Democrats, the District 20 seat is a golden ticket, a priceless piece of political real estate. Its the only congressional seat entirely contained within Bexar County and its deep Democratic blue. Once youre in, unless you screw up in a major way, youve got that seat for as long as you want it. Thats why Castro planted his flag as a candidate in District 20 only hours after Charlie Gonzalez called him the day after Thanksgiving 2011 to say he wasnt running again. Nonetheless, the latest news of a likely opening in District 20 has been met with a muted response from San Antonio Democrats. Part of it has to do with elected officials waiting for Castro to officially declare his intentions. Part of it has to do with the fact that the timing is a little funky for the people we would ordinarily see as the most likely contenders. Trey Martinez Fischer, the representative for Texas House District 116, might have been the most obvious choice eight years ago if Castro had chosen not to run in District 20. Martinez Fischers West Side district also overlaps considerably with U.S. District 20. Hes the dean of the San Antonio delegation in the Texas House and a vaunted parliamentary master when it comes to blocking controversial Republican legislation. OnExpressNews.com: O'Rourke complicates Castro's path to victory But he just returned to the Texas House two months ago after giving up his seat in 2016 to challenge Jose Menendez for the Texas Senate. After asking voters only a year ago to oust his successor, Diana Arevalo, and put him back in the Texas House, it would be a bold move to give up that House seat again, so soon, for a congressional bid. Theres also the fact that Democrats are only nine seats away from flipping the Texas House and Martinez Fischer clearly would play a huge role in a Dem-controlled state House. That possibility may prove more enticing to him than the thought of relocating to Washington, D.C. Three months ago, Justin Rodriguez would have been a prime prospect for Castros congressional seat. At that time, Rodriguez, a former San Antonio councilman, was completing his third term in the Texas House seat that Castro gave up to run for Congress in 2012. Rodriguez, however, has since moved on to the Bexar County Commissioners Court and the last thing he wants to do is make another political move now, just as hes settling into his current job. And its way too early for Rodriguezs Texas House successor, Ray Lopez, to even think about higher office, only a week after earning a hard-fought ticket to the state Legislature. All this uncertainty is a reminder that while congressional seats look appealing from a distance, they come with considerable disruption. I think weve put congressional seats on a pedestal, like thats some kind of Holy Grail of politics, said Colin Strother, a Texas Democratic strategist. But if you do it right, its an extraordinarily tough lifestyle. Its a lot of travel and immense fundraising obligations. Its possible that San Antonio Democrats will find their next member of Congress by looking outside the sphere of current elected officials. One intriguing possibility is Melanie Aranda Tawil, a 2008 youth-vote field organizer for Barack Obamas presidential campaign and the CEO and co-owner of a local tech company called SwipeTrack Solutions. Tawil is highly regarded among local Democrats and has received calls over the past week from politicos urging her to consider a congressional run. She would bring a rare combination of business experience, political acumen and a history of community engagement. Back in 1998, when District 20 opened up after 37 years of representation from Henry B. Gonzalez, the result was a crowded Democratic primary, with seven candidates vying for the nomination. (Charlie Gonzalez ultimately triumphed in the runoff over former Councilwoman Maria Berriozabal.) In 2012, the opposite happened, as Castro ran without opposition in the primary. So far, 2020 looks like a big question mark. Low cost carrier Wizz Air will expand its operations in Serbia this coming summer season by increasing frequencies and capacity on existing flights, while launching one new route and resuming a previously suspended service. From its base in Belgrade, the airline will grow frequencies on flights to Dortmund, Malta and London Luton, which will be maintained five times per week and the latter two four times per week. Furthermore, the airline has upped capacity to the British capital on select days from the 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft to the 230-seat A321 throughout April. Wizz will also introduce a new two weekly service from Belgrade to Lyon. Initially scheduled as seasonal, the route has now been upgraded to year round. Both airports are run by operator VINCI. "With the new route, we will now serve fourteen destinations from Belgrade to seven countries. As a result, Wizz Air will support close to 700 jobs in Serbia this year alone", the company said. Wizz Air will resume flights between Malmo and Nis this April after discontinuing the service on January 7. Flights between the two cities will restart on April 17 and will run twice per week, each Wednesday and Sunday. The route was shelved following the closure of the budget carrier's base in Poznan, from where the operating aircraft was deployed for the Malmo - Nis service. The jet will now be sourced from the airline's Katowice base. In total, Wizz Air will have 921.000 seats on sale from Serbia this year. The airline handled close to 800.000 travellers on flights to and from Belgrade and Nis in 2018, representing an increase of 6% on the previous year. Wizz Air's CEO, Joszef Varadi, recently said, "We are totally committed to the [Serbian] market and we hope to see some improvements of commercial terms in the marketplace. That would certainly attract us with more capacity. We will see what VINCI will bring into the party". The airport operator previously noted it would keep Belgrade's fees unchanged for the first three years of its 25-year concession. However, VINCI can make changes to the airport's incentive plan. Wizz Air's last major expansion in the Serbian market came in 2017 when it based its second aircraft in Belgrade and introduced a number of new routes. BRIDGEPORT A tussle between senior officers in the police chiefs office earlier this month is the subject of a criminal investigation, multiple police sources have said. The sources said the Chief States Attorney is reviewing details of the March 6 incident involving Capt. Brian Fitzgerald and Sgt. Charles Paris, the head of Bridgeports police union. A spokesman for the Chief States Attorney had no comment. Attorney Thomas Bucci confirmed he has been hired to represent Fitzgerald in the incident as a victim. On behalf of Capt. Fitzgerald I sent a letter to the citys director of labor relations about the incident and in the interim Ive been informed that the chief ordered an investigation by the Office of Internal Affairs, Bucci said. Bucci declined to comment on whether the details of the incident have been referred to criminal authorities. Chief Armando Perez confirmed Wednesday that he has asked the citys Office of Internal Affairs to investigate the incident. It was really nothing, the whole thing is being blown out of proportion, the chief said. I did the right thing referring it to OIA but its really nothing. Multiple sources said that during a meeting of senior officers in Perezs office, Paris got into a heated argument with Fitzgerald over the use of a drug-sniffing dog in the department. The sources said the argument ended when Paris lunged at Fitzgerald with his fist raised. Senior officers had to pull Paris off of Fitzgerald, they said. Paris would not comment. The incident comes at a time of turmoil in the Bridgeport Police Department as a result of the release of an internal investigative report detailing allegations of officers using excessive force and lying about their actions during a chaotic response to a noise complaint at a pre-Halloween party on Colorado Avenue in October 2017. Two officers cited in the report have committed suicide since the party. There has been no direct link found between the investigation and the suicides. The most recent of those deaths, that of Sgt. Mark Belinkie, who was found dead in his Milford home on March 2, resulted in further friction in the department. Two police officers who discovered Belinkies body, Lt. Ronald Mercado and Sgt. James Geremiah, were later suspended by Perez after, sources said, they turned their back to the chief at Belinkies wake in a protest. HARTFORD The legislation named after a Guilford teenager who accidentally killed himself with a gun while at a friends house in January of 2018 passed the Judiciary Committee 34-4 Wednesday with bipartisan support. The bill - Ethans Law - which would would require all firearms, loaded and unloaded, to be safely stored in homes occupied by minors under 18 years of age, now heads to the House. The bill would allow prosecutors to criminally charge the owner of a gun that isnt properly stored. Connecticuts current safe storage law only requires that loaded firearms be properly stored if a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian of the minor. Ethan Song died of a self-inflicted gunshot. He accidentally shot himself in the head, the Waterbury states attorneys office said after concluding its investigation. A juvenile friend of Ethan was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death. Patiently watching the debate and vote on the law was Ethan Songs mother, Kristin, who had fought tirelessly since the death of her son for tougher gun laws and who captivated legislators with moving testimony last week imploring them to pass Ethans Law. After the vote, Kristin Song called the bills passage a bittersweet moment. Of course Im glad that the bill passed, she said. I think you can understand why its not exactly a happy feeling. Connecticut Against Gun Violence Executive Director Jeremy Stein, who sat with Kristin Song watching the debate and vote, said he was heartened by the fact that Republicans joined Democrats on the committee to support the bill. Obviously this could have easily passed with just the Democrats, Stein said, but its a good sign that it had support from both sides. We really need to come together as a state on these issues of gun safety. The bill passed with one change. The change advocated for by the largest Second Amendment organization in Connecticut, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League (CCDL), says that safe gun laws shall be taught in school systems. Originally the language of the bill said may be taught. Proponents of the bill said that change in language wasnt hard to accept to get what they wanted overall - a chance for the House to debate, and hopefully vote on the safe storage law. Committee member after committee member praised Kristin Song, and her husband Mike, for their advocacy on the issue. I want to thank you for taking your pain and doing something good with it, Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, told Kristin Song. I wish we didnt need this law. Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chair of the committee, said he hoped the bill would encourage folks to consider safety, training and awareness when it comes to gun storage safety. Sen. Gennaro Bizzarro, R-New Britain, said he really struggled with his vote, but decided to vote yes. I sleep with my gun at my side, Bizzarro said, to protect his family from any possible intruders. But, in the end, he went along with the majority and voted yes. Not everyone voted in favor. While also praising Kristin Song for her advocacy on behalf of her son, Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott said the bill has one flaw. He said that flaw was you must secure guns in a certain way. I dont believe we have a right to tell people what they should in their own homes, Sampson said, adding in their own homes is what a gun owners right to choose their own method to secure a gun. After investigating Ethan Songs shooting, Waterbury States Attorney Maureen Platt did not bring charges against Daniel Markle, owner of the gun Ethan used to shoot himself. Mr. Songs death was a tragic event in that he accidentally shot himself in the head with a .357 magnum handgun which was stored in a master bedroom closet at the location where he was shot, Platt said in her report. The boys regularly had played with three guns kept in a closet in Songs neighbors house, Platt said. Markle kept three weapons in a cardboard box inside a large Tupperware container in the master bedroom closet, according to the report. Each gun was secured with a gun lock, the report said. In this case, there is no evidence that the gun owner knew that the juvenile had actual knowledge of where the guns were stored, Platt wrote. Kristin and Michael Song have sued Markle and his business, Markle Investigations, claiming that Markle had failed to properly store, keep and/or secure a gun on the premises when he knew or should have known that minors might gain access to the gun and that he permitted unaccompanied minors on the premises, according to the Songs complaint in Superior Court. That civil lawsuit is still pending. The bill was sponsored by each and every member of the shoreline delegation - both Democrats and Republicans. The committee also passed a bill banning so-called ghost guns, which are essentially homemade firearms. Those pushing gun safety laws say they are particularly dangerous since there has been no inspection process and the weapons dont have a serial number. They also arent recorded as a gun sale, making them impossible to trace if the firearm was used in a crime, lawmakers said. That bill passed 26-12 and now moves to the House. WASHINGTON Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would be the first to tell you hes an accidental Irish-American. His Mom is Polish-American from New Britain. Hartford law-firm partner Dad is at least partly Irish, but young Chris grew up as a Protestant. But none of this is stopping Connecticuts junior senator from playing the Murphy card on a trip to Dublin, Belfast and London to discuss the implications of Brexit for U.S.-U.K. relations and also to plead for an equitable solution to the possible hardening of British-controlled Northern Irelands border with the Republic of Ireland. Lots of moving parts here and I dont pretend to be an expert on Brexits fine print. But Murphy and a fair portion of Irish-Americans are worried that a restoration of a full border with customs inspections, passport control and the like will damage the blossoming peace thats existed since 1996, when the Good Friday Agreement ended the troubles that raged across Northern Ireland. My greatest hope is hell reinforce a longing for peace in the region, and no hard border, said Brian ONeill, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians chapter in Stamford, who was on a conference call of Connecticut Irish-American leaders with Murphy before Murphys departure Monday. Once a British militarized zone aimed at choking off Irish support for the IRA in Northern Ireland, the border now is nothing more than an invisible line. Commerce flows freely between the two nations. A British withdrawal from the EU theoretically would put an end to all that, ushering in bitter memories of violent times. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Murphy has a bit of a bully pulpit to preach reconciliation and continuing peace. Murphy told reporters in a separate call that a return to hard borders would be unacceptable. He added: I hope my visit during (this) critical time will have an impact. ========================== After a disgruntled employee opened fire and killed four at Connecticut State Lottery headquarters in 1998, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to approve a risk-warrant law allowing relatives and friends to initiate a legal process that takes guns from troubled individuals when a judge concludes they pose a risk to themselves or others. The same idea now goes by a new name the Red Flag statute. It is a prominent item on the gun-violence-prevention menu on Capitol Hill since Democrats took control of the House. On March 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing titled Red Flag Laws: Examining Guidelines for State Action. Expect Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to highlight Connecticuts law as a model. Blumenthal is behind Red Flag legislation with an unlikely partner, Judiciary chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. While the partisan divide on gun issues remains wide, Graham and Blumenthal were able to bridge it over Red Flag. Sen. Blumenthal and I disagree on many issues regarding the Second Amendment, but we strongly agree that restricting access to firearms from those who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others is a strong step forward in protecting public safety, Graham said earlier this month. According to a 2017 Duke University study, invocation of Connecticuts law reached a high in 2012 the year of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. That year, authorities seized 140 guns. Not a huge number, but as we now know, it takes only one such gun in the wrong hands to cause a tremendous amount of mayhem. @danfreedma DERBY A Main Street building city officials feared was on the verge of toppling over has been given a reprieve from demolition. We have a professional report from the owners structural engineer which submits the building is sound but the facade needs to be shored up, said Andrew Baklik, chief of staff to Mayor Richard Dziekan. Baklik said the buildings owner, Derby Shores LLC, is expected to begin removing the outside stucco on the four-story structure at 195 Main St. We are told they will begin putting the scaffolding up as soon as noon Thursday, Baklik said. Because there is a bus stop adjacent to the building at the intersection of Main and Minera Streets, Baklik said he expected the owner would erect a cover over the sidewalk to protect people from falling debris. At that point, the citys firewatch crew will be recalled they initially were on the scene March 15 and the owner would be billed for 24/7 coverage. Last week, city officials said they were concerned that the building was collapsing and would have to be demolished after portions of the facade and the chimney began falling. They contacted Derby Shores. I think we will want to do a post-inspection once all the work is done, Baklik said. Michael Hillis, a local defense attorney and principal in Derby Shores, told Hearst Connecticut Media that the company paid about $250,000 to renovate the interior. Neither Hillis nor his structural engineer immediately returned requests for comment Thursday. The building is across the street from the ongoing demolition by the state as it prepares to widen Main Street,/Route 34 into a four-lane road next year. The only building still standing on the south side of Main Street is the former Friendly Bar at the corner of Factory and Main. Factory street is the site of a major planned development whose site plans will be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission during its March 26 meeting. MILFORD Ray Meglio had just driven home, sometime after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and was about to turn in when he saw red flashing lights outside his second-story window. I couldnt have been in the house more than 10 minutes, Meglio said later. He stepped out onto his porch to see chaos. Fire hoses stretched the length of East Broadway toward the beach at the end of the road. There was smoke and a bunch of onlookers. It was insane, said Meglio. He could see the flames shoot very high into the sky. Meglio said it was a very loud fire. Within two hours, the new Silver Sands State Park buildings that seemed to be taking forever to build were gone. What remained was a stream of embers that Meglio feared might ignite his roof or a neighbors deck. Eventually he retreated inside. On Wednesday morning, surveying the burnt shell of the nearly complete, controversial pavilion and visitors center, Meglio shook his head. Awful, he said, as police went door to door to interview neighborhood residents. What we had there (before the new, now-burned buildings went up) were a couple of shacks. Progress is progress. Pete Micanovic, of Bethany, said he feels the same way. He and his wife have been looking to buy a house in the neighborhood. Micanovic and his adult son have often walked the long stretch of sand along Silver Sands State Park. It reminds him of Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, Micanovic said. I didnt know about the controversy; I just know it was a nice location. he said. While the cause of the fire has not been officially determined, Micanovic added, I just hope they find out who did it and rebuild it. Another neighbor, who declined to give her name as she walked her dog past the site, said she also was looking forward to the projects completion. Some were against it. I never was, she said, adding. I wouldnt say that in front of my neighbors. While some feared the project would increase traffic on the already busy street, Meglio, who has owned his house 15 years, didnt think so. Some, he said, already come down the road mistakenly thinking it is an entrance to the park, so would end up parking on the street. Especially kids, on weekends, kegs in tow. People had mixed feelings about it, Meglio said. My feeling what we had there was garbage. People would come one way or the other. I am not sure putting in a nicer structure would generate additional traffic. Lee Sawyer is a spokesman for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which is in charge of the park. He said local opposition to on-street parking should have been alleviated when the state passed its Passports for Parks Initiative, providing free on site parking in state parks. Sawyer added that the state views the project as having great benefits to the public. Once the investigation into the fire is complete, he said, DEEP hoped to see the project again move forward. lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck BRIDGEPORT A Stamford man was sentenced to two years in prison for crashing his car into two children and the woman who leaped to their aid last May outside a Bridgeport grocery store. Im remorseful and Im sorry, Allen Pearson stated in a near whisper as he stood before Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti Tuesday afternoon. You dont seem like a bad guy, the judge responded. But sometimes people who are not bad people do bad things. The judge continued that he was disturbed about the serious injuries one of the victims - an 8-year-old boy - suffered in the crash and the fact Pearson was arrested twice while the case was pending, including for allegedly choking his girlfriend. On the conviction of second-degree assault, the judge sentenced the 39-year-old Pearson to five years, suspended after he serves two years in prison and followed by two years probation. Police said that on May 31, 2018, twin 8-year-old boys were standing outside the Junco Restaurant on Harral Avenue in Bridgeport just after noon when Pearson drove his car right at them. Shanta Jordan, 32, saw the car headed toward the boys and leaped in front of it hoping to protect them, police said. All three were pinned by the car against a wall. Police said Jordan suffered a fractured hip while one boy suffered fractured legs and a broken shoulder. His brother sustained bruises and abrasions. Senior Assistant States Attorney Tatiana Messina told the judge the states case was hamstrung by the very minimal investigation done by city police. She pointed out that the report was only a paragraph long and no test was done to determine if Pearson was driving under the influence at the time of the crash. A day later, Pearson was arrested by Stamford police and charged with possession of a hallucinogen and possession with intent to sell after Stamford police said they found PCP on him. The leprechaun. What is going on here? Lets review: Every March a little green man runs around, creating mischief for no apparent reason. There is a rainbow and a pot of gold involved, as well as children trying to catch him which is very hard to do. That gets children downright hysterical. They amp up into a frenzy and whip around wreaking havoc, leaving everyone baffled in their wake. They are a real problem, Mom I dont know how they do it, my 7-year-old George informs me, amazed he has been outfoxed by a geeky green guy. We are not Irish. I wasnt hip to green dye in the toilet or little green footprints around the house on St. Patricks Day. Listen, I can barely handle the demonic Christmas Elf-on-the-Shelf, who is downright catatonic compared to this verdant freak. At my house, we didnt do any of this stuff growing up. When I asked my husband, Ian, he answered dryly, Jews dont do leprechauns. But you cant avoid leprechaun-mania in Greenwich. It dominated our dinner conversation pretty much all last week. One classmates toilet was stained green, and anothers cookies were left out and found half-eaten the next morning. The kids school set leprechaun traps in the media center and organized a hunt for gold coins. Was everyone in Greenwich suddenly Irish? Several years back, a Greenwich preschool teacher warned her students that leprechauns would arrive in their classroom and things might get a little crazy. There would be gold candy coins left in shoes, pranks all over the classroom and if you were fast enough, you might be able to catch a leprechaun. The kids were breathless with excitement. The next day rolled around and within 10 minutes the classroom went absolutely wild. Kids ran in every direction, screaming and searching for little tricksters while finding candy coins and pranks everywhere. One little boy got concerned, went to the back room and called 911 to report a leprechaun problem. Several minutes later, he called again. Listen, you better bring backup, he told the police. They had it on the recorded line, it was so awesome, my friend told me. The Greenwich Police Department went down to the nursery school, in good humor. We hear you have a leprechaun problem here, they said as the teacher opened the door. The story has been lore ever since. So what are they? Heres how Wikipedia breaks it down: A leprechaun (Irish: leipreachan/luchorpan) is a type of fairy of the Aos Si in Irish folklore. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. They are solitary creatures who spend their time making and mending shoes and have a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If captured by a human, they often grant three wishes in exchange for their freedom. Like other Irish fairies, leprechauns may be derived from the Tuatha De Danann. Aside from deciding to name our next pet Tuatha De Danann, this didnt get us anywhere. A solitary little bearded man with a coat smiling and offering a little mischief? Are you kidding me? Thats what you tell your child to run from, not try to catch. So I took it to the experts, George and his best friend, Billy, both second-graders, to get some perspective. I videoed them on my iPhone for historical purposes. George: Well, first off, they are small. Billy: Yeah, really small. Like the size of a DVD case. George: No bigger, like up to my leg. Mom, I think of them kind of like a toddler. Billy: Yeah, like a more intelligent, naughty, out-of-control toddler. George: Its all about the pot of gold. Tommy watched the movie. Billy: Well, it was an animated movie, so you know. But if leprechauns dont have their pot of gold, they like have bad luck. Its not like our lives because if they dont have their pot of gold its really bad. Are leprechauns nice? I asked George. No. Well, no one really knows. They are tricksters but no one knows what they really are. I mean, maybe someone we know is one. We just dont know basically. I mean maybe I am one, Mom, George offered with enthusiasm. You are not a leprechaun, George, I said. Of that, at least Im sure. Beyond that, its anyones guess. Although its clear that Greenwich loves its leprechauns. Its clear a LOT of people in Greenwich found the pot of gold, a friend told me. But the jury is still out on the rainbow part. Heres hoping you find yours. Claire Tisne Haft is a former publishing and film executive, raising her family in Greenwich while working on a freelance basis on books and films. Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in power generation and power plant development activities in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through Power and heat generation, Coal, and Other segments. It generates electricity through various sources, such as coal-fired, thermal, hydro, wind, nuclear, biomass, and solar. As of December 31, 2019, the company managed an installed capacity of approximately 68,278.10 MW. It also engages in heat supply; the import of power related fuel; coal mining and trading; silicon and aluminum smelting; production and sale of alumina; cargo shipping; sale of coal ash and integrated application of solid waste; power plant construction and operation; repair and testing of power equipment; research and development activities; and provision of power related technical services. The company was formerly known as Beijing Datang Power Generation Co., Ltd and changed its name to Datang International Power Generation Co, Ltd. in April 2004. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China. Datang International Power Generation Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of China Datang Corporation Limited. Read More Changes to Scotlands rural payment mapping system must not run the risk of leaving farmers out of pocket, according to a Scottish Conservative MSP. The new Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) was introduced to speed up the collection of data used for CAP payments last year. In parliamentary questions to the SNPs rural economy secretary, Peter Chapman found some elements of LPIS wont be fully functional until the summer. However, the two-month window for filling in the Single Application Form for CAP ends on May 15. Accordingly, the North East region MSP has urged farmers who have completed their Single Application Form in paper format to check their maps against those held by the Rural Payments and Services division of the Scottish government. And he has urged Scotland's Rural Economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing to ensure maps should not change once forms are in. Mr Chapman said: The majority of farms now try to do everything online but there are still lots of paper applicants. A tiny mistake or inconsistency on the Single Application Form can cost a farmer tens of thousands of pounds in fines. Thats often not their fault. Land use can change dramatically due to weather, and Ive heard concerns from some constituents that they worry about their declared information matching up with LPIS as it continues to update, he said. Farming unions have written to Philip Hammond warning that the recent 'no-deal' UK tariff policy announcement will damage British farming. Temporary tariffs would be applied to beef, lamb, poultry and some dairy products in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit to protect the British farming industry, the government has said. Under the tariff regime, some farming sectors will not have this protection noticeably eggs, cereals, fruit and vegetables. The possibility also remains of Irish products entering Northern Ireland tariff free, but products moving in the other direction facing tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Northern Irish sheep farmers have said the tariff regime at the border with the Republic of Ireland would 'crush' the sector. The letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, written by the NFU, NFU Cymru, Ulster Farmers' Union and NFU Scotland, reaffirms their position of being committed to avoiding a 'disorderly exit' from the EU. NFU President, Minette Batters said: While we acknowledge that the tariff policy announced earlier this month is intended to be temporary and would be in direct response to an undesirable situation facing the country, we have very significant concerns about the damage this policy would cause to farmers across the country. Without the maintenance of tariff protections we would be in danger of opening up the UK to imported food which would be illegal to be produced here, produced at a lower cost because it may fail to meet the environmental and animal welfare standards which are legally required of our own farmers, she said. Tariffs currently in place by virtue of EU membership on almost all agricultural products deemed to be sensitive by the UK will be slashed, including those on beef, poultry meat, cheddar, butter, sugar and pork. The unions also said that treating Northern Ireland in effect as a separate customs territory from Great Britain is 'not appropriate'. Mrs Batters added: Governments failure to secure reciprocal commitments from the Republic of Ireland is unacceptable. It is imperative that government does not allow the Northern Irish border to become a loophole that only works to the benefit of Irish businesses to the detriment of UK producers. The underlying point is that a no-deal exit from the EU would be disastrous for British farming and food production and should be avoided at all costs. The government has launched a new notification system for businesses that import live animals from outside the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Defra has launched the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS), which would replace the EUs TRACES system. It comes as parliament votes to reject a no-deal exit on Brexit date, March 29, and instead to extend Article 50 to leave the EU on another later date, thought to be in late June. But the prospect of no-deal has not completely gone away, and still remains a medium or long-term prospect. Defra is continuing with its no-deal planning, including the launch of IPAFFS. This service is for imports of live animals, animal products and high-risk food and feed from countries from non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries. The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The department said importers should submit a notification as early as possible, even if the information given is incomplete. For animal products, notifications must be submitted before the consignment is unloaded. For animals, high-risk food and animal feed of non-animal origin, the notification must be submitted one working day before the consignment is due to arrive. However, the National Pig Association (NPA) said the greatest concern was over imports from the EU in the event of a no-deal. NPA senior policy advisor, Ed Barker said: From March 29, IPAFFS will not be available to those planning to import live animals and animal products from the EU, and importers will initially need to send information electronically to the competent authorities though a different route. Importers will need to access a government notification form and submit this to APHA, providing details of the consignment. Given the frequency of EU imports of genetics and live animals, it is concerning that we still have a large question mark over the process of this trade, without further details yet. Mr Barker added: Looking at the bigger picture, it does look more and more likely that there will be a delay in our departure from the EU. But as long as a no deal remains a possibility, at the end of March or further into the future, it is important that businesses continue to make themselves aware of how they could be affected and what they need to do to prepare, he said. One-hundred and fifty people from across the United Kingdom have been awarded a 2019 Churchill Fellowship, including a farming expert from the University of Cumbria. Upland farming expert Dr Lois Mansfield has secured a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to explore what lessons Britain can learn from the Far East. Churchill Fellowships are awarded to people who are recognised as being uniquely qualified by their real-life experience to head overseas to learn about issues affecting the UK. Dr Mansfield, the director of Ambleside campus of the University of Cumbria, will spend four weeks in Japan. In July she will learn more about Japans approach to rural development. Carrying out a research project of their choosing, Fellows are instructed to travel to learn, return to inspire and bring important insights home, sharing findings with policymakers, communities and others. Dr Mansfield said: I will be investigating rural development in some of the remotest areas of Japan. The country is very similar to the UK; they are an industrial country, and situated with a coast close to where they are dominated by another economy, not unlike our forthcoming change in European status. She plans to meet with agriculture and environment ministers, and academics. Accompanied by a translator, she then will visit remote farming communities for most of her trip. The project will allow her to discover more about the grassroot initiatives that are shaping Japans rural development and building its resilience. Kyoto, Japans ancient capital, is to be Dr Mansfields second stop on her four-week trip before she visits farmers in the Yoshino-Kumano national park in the south west. Its very similar to the Lake District, said Dr Mansfield. The national park Ill be visiting has mountainous uplands, marginalised hill farmers and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site so Ill be looking to draw parallels and see how they have approached issues in the Eastern culture. It is exciting to be able to go and learn more about schemes and methods they have introduced that may not have permeated into the western world. Dr Mansfield intends to host a series of lectures and produce a toolkit about how to value social and cultural capital on her return to the UK. Churchill Fellowships are awarded by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT), which was established when Sir Winston died in 1965. Over 5,000 Fellowships have been awarded to date. Dr Mansfields Fellowship is part of the WCMTs partnership with the Princes Countryside Fund. The Welsh government has launched a consultation on its environmental principles and governance once the UK leaves the EU. The 12-week consultation aims to gather evidence to maintain 'effective and coherent' environmental governance after Brexit. After leaving the EU, environmental law and policy derived from the bloc will no longer be subject to the oversight of EU institutions. The Welsh government aims to deliver a legislation programme to ensure existing legislation can continue providing the same level of environmental standards and protection. The consultation seeks views on how environmental governance can be improved in a way that aligns with the wider framework. This could include improvements to existing structures and a specific oversight body. It also recognises whilst Brexit presents an opportunity for Wales to build on its existing legislation, there are instances where it will be important post-EU membership for the four administrations of the UK to work more collaboratively. For example, where there are common UK obligations, UK wide governance may be appropriate. In Wales, legislation such as the Well-being of Future Generations and Environment Acts already emphasises sustainable development and the environment. As a result of the approach, Wales is seen as being more aligned to the structure at the EU level and is at a different starting position to the rest of the UK. Wales' Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths said: In Wales, we recognise our environment is intrinsically linked to our economy and essential to our society. In developing solutions for Wales we will continue to avoid creating a siloed approach to the environment recognising environmental challenges and realising the significant opportunities requires social and economic action. This is a complex issue which deserves careful consideration so we put in place the right governance arrangements for the future. I urge everyone with an interest to get involved and share their views with us, she said. The closing date for the consultation is 23.59 on 9 June 2019. SFI scheme may lead to 'postcode lottery' over soil carbon Soils are not equal when it comes to sequestration The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. The Fethiye district is beginning to shed its winter garb and shake itself off for the summer and many of the signs so far are that it could be a bumper season. Unpredictable events including weather and politics could still influence the final figures but, so far, there has been quite a bit of positive news. Turkey was one of the top performers in the tourism business in 2018, recording an increase of 22% in the number of visitors last season. Best Overseas Destination The European Travel Commission stated the figures put Turkey above 33 other European nations, with Serbia and Malta rounding off the top three. Significant increases were recorded in the number of visitors to Turkey from Russia, India and China. Meanwhile, Turkey was also awarded the Best Overseas Destination Award at the Road Trip Festival in Shanghai earlier this month at an event organised in Shanghai by the China Self-Drive Club. The accolade underpins 2018 being the Year of Turkish Tourism in China, helping to increase the number of visitors from the Far East by almost 60%. A quiet walk on the beach and the sound of the sea epitomise the summer season in Turkey Turkey is also expecting an estimated six million tourists to visit from Russia in 2019 an increase of between 10 and 15%. Relations between the two countries have thawed since sanctions were lifted in 2017, after they were imposed by Moscow in the wake of the shooting down of a Russian war plane over Syria. The International Travel and Tourism Fair in Moscow this month was a successful trip for representatives from TURSAB the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies. Antalya and Istanbul remain the most popular destinations for Russians, who generally pick all-inclusive breaks and, on average, stay eight nights. Meanwhile, an estimated 1.5 million visitors had already arrived in Turkey by the end of January, up just over 5% on the same period the year before. Most were planning to tour Istanbul, although Erdine on the border of Greece and Bulgaria and Artvin on the Black Sea also performed well. Cheapest destination Turkey has also been named 2019s cheapest holiday destination by the UKs Post Office Travel Money survey. The slump in the value of the Turkish lira isnt great news for those who live and work in the country but the exchange rate is favourable for visitors, with bookings from the UK between April and December reported to be up 65% year-on-year. The prospects for 2020 look a little better for Turkey too, with Seabourn confirming its cruises will return to Turkish ports in 2020. The Seabourn Odyssey will visit the Turquoise Coast between Izmir and Antalya as part of a cruise visiting the Aegean and Mediterranean. Turkish lira: Holidays to Turkey are increasing in popularity as tourism increases once again (Image: Getty) Sources: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-receives-best-overseas-destination-prize-141797?platform=hootsuite http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-expects-over-6-million-russian-visitors-this-year-141874 https://www.dailysabah.com/tourism/2019/02/19/turkey-tops-33-european-countries-in-tourism-growth?fbclid=iwar0n_ihg45re0zrmrzvrvtlahtfai7y3mr2ejxw9ezato42sdi-dag-kg0q https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/cheapest-destinations-europe-2019-a4048501.html?fbclid=IwAR11h5zBNX-tWx0FtxQdu8VbUGYUlRlPCoS9kywFTvKwY8z-dQyXEyp4inA 2018 saw many changes in terms of the quality content that Bollywood films provided. Badhaai Ho was one such movie which was widely praised for the way it presented a comedy drama about a middle aged couple who get pregnant despite having grown up kids. The film received love not just from audiences, but also critical acclaim, and its writers were nominated for the category of 'Best Original Story' in the Filmfare Awards. However, the writers Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial have withdrawn their nomination from the awards. Read further to find out why. The writers of Badhaai Ho, Shantanu and Akshat, have withdrawn their names from the nomination under the category of 'Best Original Story' for the Filmfare Awards 2019. The reason being their nomination also included the screenwriter Jyoti Kapoor's name, who the Badhaai Ho writers claimed that she had nothing to do with the writing of the film. Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial released a statement on their social media stating that they were withdrawing their nomination from the Filmfare Awards explaining that they would not like to share their award with someone who has not written the film. The statement read, "Akshat and I have decided to withdraw our names from Filmfare Best Original Story nomination, irrespective of Jyoti Kapoor's name being reinstated or not, as we believe that it is better to lose a possible award than to share it with someone who has not written the story of Badhaai Ho. We wish all the nominees the best of luck and hope that self respect stays in currency forever." A few days back, screenwriter Jyoti Kapoor's name was included in the nomination for Badhaai Ho, but it was later dropped. However, Jyoti again demanded that her name be included in the nomination, post which the writers of Badhaai Ho, Shantanu and Akshat decided to withdraw their nomination from the award. MOST READ: Priyanka Chopra And Sanjay Leela Bhansali To Reunite For A Film Titled Gangubai! Issued A Statement Against Campaigning During the last elections, some of the known faces of Sandalwood, such as Raju Gowda, Sri Murali and Soma Shekar were supported by Sudeep. But, his fans were critical about this decision of the actor's. According to Filmibeat Kannada reports, he later issued a statement saying, "Henceforth, I won't be taking part in election campaign." Is This The Reason? Now that Sudeep has chosen to stay away from the election scenes, everybody is wondering if his previous statement the reason behind this decision. The actor seems to have realised that if he goes ahead to support Ambareesh's family, it might end up upsetting his fans' feelings. Darshan's Not The Reason All this while, reports were making rounds that Darshan is the reason why Sudeep hasn't come forward to support Sumalatha. He had issued a statement saying, "Sumalatha wouldn't need me when Darshan is with her." Though these actors have an unpleasant history, that is not what is stopping Sudeep. Fans Criticize Yash & Darshan Members of JDS, Congress and a few fans have criticized Yash and Darshan for supporting Sumalatha. They said as actors, their focus should be on cinema and not getting involved in politics. However, both actors have refrained from commenting on the same. People love celebrities but a few fans cross their lines. These celebrities have a tough time dealing with such obsessive fans as they stalk them. As per DNA report, the television czarina, Ekta Kapor was stalked for over 30 times by a 32-year-old man, who is identified as Sudhir Rajendra Singh. He is a driver working with a private cab service provider. As per a police report, Sudhir is a Haryana resident and wanted to meet the producer to bag a role in a film or television show. As per reports, recently, he was even warned by Ekta's personal guards when he tried to meet her at a temple in Juhu, Mumbai. He even managed to enroll at a gym, which Ekta visits frequently. He would wait outside the gym while the producer worked out. A police officer was quoted by News18 as saying, "On March 16, Singh tried to follow Ekta into the gym, but was stopped by her guards. Ekta's company submitted a complaint about Singh after which he was arrested on March 18 from Andheri west. We have booked him under Section 354 (D) of IPC." The officer revealed that the accused was traced from Veera Desai road with the help of CCTV and some technical evidence. The case is under investigation. Most Read: Kasautii Zindagii Kay's Shubhaavi Choksey On Hina Khan: Once They Say Cut, She's Hina & Not Komolika MEIKLES LIMITED 90 Speke Avenue, Harare, Zimbabwe Tel: +263 4 252068-71, Fax: + 263 4 252065/7 Email: reception@meikleslimited.co.zw CAUTIONARY STATEMENT Further to the cautionary statement published in the press on 22 February 2019, the Directors of Meikles Limited wish to advise shareholders that discussions to sell certain of its hospitality assets are ongoing. The Company will be seeking the approval of its shareholders for the proposed disposal at an Extraordinary General Meeting to be convened at a future date. The Directors advise shareholders of Meikles Limited and the public to continue to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of Meikles Limited. T. Mpofu Company Secretary 20 March 2019. 20 March 2019 TECTONIC GOLD PLC ("Tectonic Gold" or the "Company") Clermont Project Assay resutls Tectonic Gold plc (TDIM: TTAU), an Intrusive Related Gold System ("IRGS") exploration pioneer, is pleased to announce assay results from rock chip samples at the Company's Clermont project in Queensland, Australia. Highlights: Samples assaying up to 8.01g/t Gold, 140g/t Silver and 6.32% Copper Sampling program focused on bulls eye geophysical target area and old workings About the Clermont Prospect: The Clermont project is the northern most project area in the Company's portfolio. Previously, some twenty gold-copper prospects were worked under small claims and had profitable operations with ore mined grading up to 35% copper. Tectonic has completed geological and geochemical surveys and defined a 3km2 area of overlapping anomalous gold, copper, antimony, manganese, phosphorous and barium mineralisation. This is co-incident to magnetic and gravity geophysical targets within the Clermont project. Assays up to 8.01g/t gold, 140g/t silver and 6.32% copper were obtained from independent laboratory results of rock chip samples collected from the survey. About Tectonic Gold: Tectonic Gold is a specialist gold exploration company, focused on the identification and delineation of large-scale, multimillion-ounce Intrusion Related Gold System ("IRGS") assets. Tectonic Gold holds a number of gold discoveries in the New England Orogen in Eastern Australia, a prolific gold region that is home to Australia's two largest gold production companies, Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining. At the beginning of 2019 Tectonic reached agreement with VAST Minerals Sands Pty Ltd ("VAST") to farm in to a 50% economic interest in VAST's diamond concession on the South African Government's Alexkor diamond mine. Tectonic plans to utilise cash flows from this project to fund further exploration and development of the Company's gold portfolio. All gold assets held within the Biloela, Clermont and Rockhampton Projects in Queensland are 100% owned and operated by Tectonic Gold. The Company's focus remains the Specimen Hill project and limited further compliance work is planned at Clermont over the next year. Funds will also be allocated to progressing the Mt Cassidy prospect (within the Rockhampton Project) during the 2019 calendar year with some diamond drilling currently being planned to be undertaken at the prospect under its existing drill for equity deal with Titeline Drilling. 7,500m of diamond drilling remains available on a 50% cash payment basis under this agreement. Mr. Brett Boynton, Managing Director - Tectonic Gold Plc "Clermont is a very large target and we are slowly maturing it for further work once we have completed delineation of the Biloela projects. These results are very encouraging and give depth to the project pipeline." Qualified Person: Mr Jonathan Robbeson - BSc (Hons1), MEconGeol, MMinEng, (CP Geo) is a full time employee of the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Signature Gold Limited, and is a registered Chartered Professional (Geology) with the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM - 304542). Mr Robbeson has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the Note for Mining Oil & Gas Companies, June 2009, of the London Stock Exchange and the 2012 Edition of the 'Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (JORC Code). Mr Robbeson consents to the inclusion in the release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. Table 1 information required for the reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' in accordance with the guidelines of the 'JORC Code' can be found on the Company's website for the Clermont Project. The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. For further information, please contact: Tectonic Gold plc Brett Boynton Sam Quinn www.tectonicgold.com . @tectonic_gold +61 2 9241 7665 NEX Exchange Corporate Adviser and Broker Peterhouse Capital Limited Mark Anwyl +44 20 7469 0930 Financial Adviser and Broker VSA Capital Limited Andrew Raca - Corporate Finance Andrew Monk - Corporate Broking +44 20 3005 5004 Ends The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. Financiere de Tubize SA/NV Allee de la Recherche 60 1070 Brussels BE 0403.216.429 www.financiere-tubize.be (http://www.financiere-tubize.be/) CONVENING OF THE ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETINGS OF SHAREHOLDERS OF 24 APRIL 2019 The shareholders are invited to attend the ordinary and extraordinary general meetings, which will take place on Wednesday 24 April 2019 at respectively 11:00AM and 12:00AM in the EEBIC business center located in 1070 Brussels (Anderlecht), Allee de la Recherche 12 (Metro: Erasme - Erasme public parking nearby). Agenda of the ordinary general meeting oF 24 april 2019 Report of the board of directors on the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Commentary : the board report discusses all the items referred to in article 96 of the Company code. Remunerations report on the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Proposed decision : approve the remunerations report on the financial year ended 31 December 2018. Statutory auditor's report on the annual accounts as at 31 December 2018 Commentary : this report has been prepared in accordance with the articles 143 and 144 of the Company code. Annual accounts as at 31 December 2018 - Result appropriation Proposed decision : approve the annual accounts as at 31 December 2018, including the distribution of a gross dividend of 0,56 per share. EU-IFRS financial statements as at 31 December 2018 Commentary : to provide a useful and complete set of information to the market, the Company prepares, in addition to the annul accounts in accordance with the Company code and Belgian accounting law (BE GAAP), financial statements in accordance with international financial reporting standards as adopted by the European Union (EU-IFRS), with equity accounting of UCB. These financial statements and the statutory auditor's report thereon are communicated to the general meeting and published on the Company's website. Discharge of the directors for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Proposed decision : by special vote, discharge each of the directors for the execution of their respective mandate during the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Discharge of the statutory auditor for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Proposed decision : discharge the statutory auditor for the execution of his mandate during the financial year ended 31 December 2018 Board of Directors - Renewal - Appointment Comment : The term of several directors expires Proposed decision : renew the term of office of Evelyn du Monceau for a period of four years ending at the end of the ordinary general meeting to be held in 2023. Proposed decision : renew the term of office of Charles Antoine Janssen for a period of four years ending at the end of the ordinary general meeting to be held in 2023. Proposed decision : renew the term of office of director of Cyril Janssen for a period of four years ending at the end of the ordinary general meeting to be held in 2023. Proposed decision : approve the appointment of AVO Management BVBA, duly represented by its permanent representative, Mrs. Annick van Overstraeten as a director for a period of four years ending at the end of the ordinary general meeting to be held in 2023 Proposed decision : Confirm that AVO Management BVBA is appointed as independent director, the company and its permanent representative both responding to the independence criteria laid down in article 526ter of the Company code. Agenda of the extraordinary general meeting of 24 April 2019 Amendment of the Articles of Association: Renewal of the authorisation given to the board of directors to purchase and dispose of own shares Proposed decision : replace article 10, paragraphs 7 and 8, by the following text: L'autorisation de l'assemblee generale n'est, de plus, pas requise lorsque l'acquisition d'actions propres est necessaire pour eviter a la societe un dommage grave et imminent. Cette habilitation statutaire n'est valable que pour une periode de trois ans a dater de la publication de l'assemblee generale du 24 avril 2019 modifiant les statuts en ce sens, et peut etre prorogee pour des termes identiques conformement aux dispositions du Code des societes. L'assemblee generale du 24 avril 2019 a octroye au conseil d'administration l'autorisation d'acquerir des actions de la societe afin d'eviter un dommage grave et imminent, pour une duree de trois ans a dater de la publication de la modification des presents statuts decidee par l'assemblee precitee. Assign the powers to execute the above-mentioned decisions: Proposed decision : assign powers, with possibility of sub-delegation, to the board of directors for the execution of the above-mentioned decisions, and to Madame Stephanie Ernaelsteen and Madame Anne-Catherine Guiot, each acting separately, to prepare the consolidated text of the Articles of Association. Formalities to attend the general meeting To attend or be represented at the general meeting and exercise her/his voting right, a shareholder must have carried out the accounting registration of his/her shares on the fourteenth day before the general meeting at 24:00h Belgian time (being Wednesday 10 April 2019, the "Registration Date"), either by registering them in the Company's register of nominative shares, or by registering them in the accounts of a licensed account holder or a settlement institution, the number of shares held on the day of the meetings being disregarded. The shareholder must also inform the Company of her/his desire to attend the general meeting. A holder of nominative shares should send to the Company the duly signed attendance notice, this form being appended to the invitation to attend. A holder of dematerialized shares should send to the Company the attestations issued by the licensed account holder or by the settlement institution, certifying the number of shares that are registered in the accounts of the account holder or settlement institution on the name of the shareholder at the Registration Date and for which the shareholder has declared he/she wants to participate in the general meeting. The attendance notices or the attestations should reach the Company, at the e-mail address aspijcke@icloud.com, no later than six days before the date of the general meeting (being Thursday 18 April 2019). Voting by proxy Shareholders may be represented by a proxy, in conformity with the articles 547 to 549 of the Company code. The proxies must be executed in writing on the basis of the form drawn up by the board of directors and must be signed by the shareholder. For the nominative shareholders, the form is appended to their invitation to attend. Holders of dematerialized shares can retrieve the form from the Company's website www.financiere-tubize.be (http://www.financiere-tubize.be/). The proxy must reach the Company, at the e-mail address aspijcke@icloud.com, no later than six days before the date of the meeting (being Thursday 18 April 2019). Adding items to the agenda and submitting proposed decisions One or more shareholders collectively holding at least 3% of the share capital may request that items be added to the agenda of the meetings and submit proposed decisions concerning original and/or added matters on the agenda. Requests should be made in writing and include the text of items to be added with corresponding proposed decisions or of proposed decisions relating to original agenda items. They should state the e-mail address to which the Company can send an acknowledgement of receipt within 48 hours. Requests should reach the Company no later than twenty-two days before the date of the general meeting (being Tuesday 2nd April 2019) by e-mail sent to aspijcke@icloud.com. Shareholders intending to exercise this right should prove, on the date of their request, that they hold at least 3 % of the share capital, either through a certificate stating that the corresponding shares are registered in the Company's register of nominative shares, or through a certificate drawn up by a licensed account holder or settlement institution certifying the number of corresponding dematerialised shares registered in accounts on the name of the shareholders. They should also perform the accounting registration for at least 3 % of the capital. If shareholders exercise this right, the Company shall publish a supplemented agenda for the general meetings according to the same terms as the original agenda and no later than fifteen days before the date of the general meetings (being Tuesday 9 April 2019). Simultaneously, the Company will make amended forms for voting by proxy available to its shareholders through its website. Right to ask questions to the directors and the auditor Each shareholder who has satisfied the formalities for admission to the meeting has the right, as from the publication of the invitation to attend, to ask questions in writing about the directors' and the statutory auditor's reports, as well as about any other items indicated on the agenda of the general meeting, to which will be responded, as the case may be, by the directors or the statutory auditor, as long as the disclosure of data or facts does not harm the Company's commercial interests and does not violate the confidentiality agreements binding the Company, its directors or the statutory auditor. These questions should be sent electronically to aspijcke@icloud.com, no later than the sixth day before the date of the meeting (being Thursday 18 April 2019). Information on the website The following information can be consulted on the Company's website www.financiere-tubize.be (http://www.financiere-tubize.be/).: Present convening Proxy form Total number of shares and voting rights at the date of the present convening Documents to be presented at the general meeting: Annual accounts EU-IFRS financial statements Report of the board of directors Remuneration report Report of the statutory auditor on the annual accounts Report of the statutory auditor on the EU-IFRS financial statements Annual financial report Profile of the newly proposed director and of the directors whose mandate are proposed for renewal. Holders of nominative shares receive a copy of all documents together with the invitation to attend. Other shareholders may obtain a free copy of the documents by sending a request to aspijcke@icloud.com. Please note that, on the day of the meetings, shareholders and proxy holders will be invited to prove their identity, and representatives of legal entities must prove their representation power. For this reason and for a smooth functioning of the meeting, participants are invited to arrive as from 10h00 onwards. Brussels, 20th March 2019 The board of directors This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Financiere de Tubize SA via Globenewswire Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) -TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (FSE: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has signed definitive closing documents to acquire the land, building and asset package (the "Property") which includes an existing 196,000 square foot facility on 5.5 acres of land as well as cannabis packaging and processing equipment. As referenced in the Company's February 4th, 2019 press release, the facility has undergone major renovations over the past twenty-four months which has created specific divisions for nursery, cultivation, manufacturing, extracting, bottling, remediation, and transportation & distribution. The total cost for the renovations was US$8 million. "Acquiring arguably the largest vertically integrated cannabis centric three-storey multi-purpose facility in California reinforces our strategy to be fully self-contained in our ecosystem. We also have an additional 5 acres in the green zone adjacent to the facility to build up to 600,000 sq. ft. three-storey grow facility to supply our own biomass for the brands we acquire or create," stated Jim Pakulis, CEO of TCAN. The total purchase price for the Property is US$15 million. The Company paid the sellers a US$250,000 non-refundable deposit, and will pay a US$8 million down payment from the proceeds of the Company's over-subscribed brokered private placement (see news releases dated February 20, 2019 and March 14, 2019). The seller of the building has agreed to a carry back note of US$6.750 million at 7% p.a. interest only for up to thirteen months, with an initial maturity date of October 15, 2019, subject to a six month extension (the "Note"). As consideration for the seller's agreement to accept the Note, and to provide an additional one month extension in addition to the six month extension, the Company agreed to pay the seller US$200,000, and issue to the seller an aggregate of 500,000 common shares upon closing of the acquisition. The Company has also agreed to amend the vesting schedule applicable to the 1.2 million share purchase warrants the Company agreed to issue to the seller, conditional upon the closing, for a previously agreed extension (see February 22, 2019 news release). Each warrant will be exercisable to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $2.60 per share for a five-year period from the date of issuance, vesting quarterly in equal portions over the initial 12 months of the five-year term commencing on the date of the original extension, being February 21, 2019, notwithstanding the warrants shall be issued upon closing of the acquisition of the Property. In the event that the Company determines to exercise the option to extend the maturity date of the Note to April 15, 2020, the Company will issue to the seller a further 500,000 common shares. All of the securities issuable to the seller in connection with the Property acquisition will be subject to applicable resale restrictions from the date of their issuance in accordance with Canadian and U.S. securities laws. The Company will close the Property acquisition as soon as possible following completion of its brokered private placement which is currently expected will close on or around [March 28, 2019]. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.transcanna.com. About TransCanna Holdings Inc. TransCanna Holdings Inc. is a Canadian based company providing branding, transportation and distribution services, through its wholly-owned California subsidiaries, to a range of industries including the cannabis marketplace. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.transcanna.com or email the Company at info@transcanna.com. Media Contact TransCanna@talkshopmedia.com 604-738-2220 On behalf of the Board of Directors James Pakulis Chief Executive Officer Telephone: (604) 609-6199 The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to: the expected purchase of the facility, the terms of the facility acquisition, the payment of finders fees in relation thereto, the ability of the Company to secure financing and the acquisition of appropriate licenses for the facility. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43547 STOCKHOLM, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Electrolux today announces the launch of a brand new kitchen range to be rolled out across Europe. Combining technology with human-centric Scandinavian design, it takes the cooking experience to a whole new level for the consumer. The company has developed a line of Electrolux-branded products comprising a truly intuitive kitchen range, designed to work in harmony with the cook. From meal inspiration, all the way through cooking and cleaning up, the range offers appliances that help the consumer at every stage of the cooking journey. The innovative products have been developed in three main categories based on the primary benefit they offer: Flex, Pro and Sense, for flexible, precise and assisted cooking. The Sense series includes ovens enriched with connected features which are compatible with Electrolux European smart kitchen partners, notably Google for voice assistance and the Innit recipe app. "We're extremely proud of the new Electrolux kitchen range, which truly puts the needs of the consumer first to offer outstanding experiences around great tasting food. For the past 100 years, Electrolux has improved the everyday life of people in their homes through innovation and superior design. We believe this range is a game-changer," said Anna Ohlsson-Leijon, Head of Electrolux business area Europe. The range will be launched starting in April. Several of the smart, connected appliances will also be shown at the Future Kitchen event, taking place at the Electrolux headquarters in Stockholm on March 21. Electrolux is inviting partners - from startups to retailers and tech giants - to discuss how to create value through the food and kitchen ecosystem. Follow the event on Twitter and join the conversation with FutureKitchen. The products The new Electrolux kitchen range is born from the simplicity of Scandinavian design to offer a seamless aesthetic with attention to detail and ergonomics, making the products intuitive to understand and use. Including hobs, ovens, fridges, freezers, dishwashers and hoods, some highlights are: The multi-functional 900 SteamPro oven. Its Steamify feature automatically combines the right amount of steam and traditional heat for best-in-class baking, roasting and steaming results. The oven is connected and works with the Innit recipe app and can be voice controlled through Google Home for even more intuitive cooking assistance. oven. Its Steamify feature automatically combines the right amount of steam and traditional heat for best-in-class baking, roasting and steaming results. The oven is connected and works with the Innit recipe app and can be voice controlled through Google Home for even more intuitive cooking assistance. The Electrolux 900 CookView oven has an integrated camera that together with the 'My Electrolux' app allows consumers to keep an eye on their food on a mobile device, even while not in the kitchen. oven has an integrated camera that together with the 'My Electrolux' app allows consumers to keep an eye on their food on a mobile device, even while not in the kitchen. The Electrolux 900 SensePro hob is the most advanced induction hob to date. Coming with the world's first wireless and battery-less food probe, it enables perfect results by letting the user simply tell the hob what's cooking and how they'd like it done. The probe can also control water temperature so accurately it allows users to cook sous vide on the hob. is the most advanced induction hob to date. Coming with the world's first wireless and battery-less food probe, it enables perfect results by letting the user simply tell the hob what's cooking and how they'd like it done. The probe can also control water temperature so accurately it allows users to cook sous vide on the hob. The Electrolux 700 Hob2Hood hood wirelessly synchronizes with most Electrolux hobs and is automatically activated when the hob is turned on, adapting the speed of the kitchen fan to the hob's power settings. hood wirelessly synchronizes with most Electrolux hobs and is automatically activated when the hob is turned on, adapting the speed of the kitchen fan to the hob's power settings. The 2019 iF Design award-winning Electrolux 900 ComfortLift dishwasher with QuickSelect. The new intuitive touch slider only requires one choice to be made, cycle time, and guides the user to the most eco-friendly choice. ComfortLift is the world's first lift-and-load rack for easy loading and unloading. dishwasher with QuickSelect. The new intuitive touch slider only requires one choice to be made, cycle time, and guides the user to the most eco-friendly choice. ComfortLift is the world's first lift-and-load rack for easy loading and unloading. The Electrolux 800 MultiSpace stands tall at 190 cm, providing extra space and visibility of the ingredients. Through its unique SpinView 360 rotating shelf for complete access to food at the back of the fridge, it helps optimize space and minimize food waste. For further information, please contact Electrolux Press Hotline, +46-8-657-65-07. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/electrolux/r/electrolux-to-launch-a-new-intuitive-kitchen-range-across-europe,c2766930 The following files are available for download: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) Will we see Angel Locsin don the mantle of another superhero? Locsin, who's no stranger to action packed roles, says that she's done with playing superheroes. "Tapos na ko sa superhero roles hehehe," Locsin tweeted, replying to a fan on Twitter. [Translation: I'm done with superhero roles.] Tapos na ko sa superhero roles hehehe :) but kilig na nag reply ang creator :) Angel Locsin (@143redangel) March 19, 2019 Her statement came after Filipino comic artist Leinil Yu said that he would love to see Locsin play the role of Marvel's latest Filipina superhero. "We would love to see you as Wave, Angel," Yu tweeted in response to Locsin's questions about the character's design. Its a collaboration of ideas between me, greg and Marvel editorial:). Would love to see you as wave, Angel! Leinil Yu (@leinilyu) March 18, 2019 Locsin had played Filipino superhero Darna in the 2005 TV series, and the half-human, half-Mulawin Alwina in the 2004 TV series Mulawin. She currently stars as 2nd Lt. Rhian Bonifacio in the TV series The General's Daughter, after it took her years to recover from a spine injury. READ: Angel Locsin back in fighting form after spine injury Her injury also prevented her from reprising her role as Darna in the upcoming movie that now stars Liza Soberano as the iconic heroine. PARIS and ZUG, Switzerland, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nordic Group, a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialisation of hospital and orphan products, and Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, an innovative global Anaesthesia pharmaceutical company, announced a strategic agreement today to launch OZALIN in France. One of the challenges facing paediatric anaesthetists in treating children, either for premedication prior to surgery or during procedural sedation, is the lack of acceptable approved medications. An innovative oral solution for children older than 6 months, OZALIN, has been approved in several markets in the EU including France, to improve the palatability and acceptability for children. "The partnership with Nordic Group represents an important achievement for Primex Pharmaceuticals and underscores our commitment to making OZALIN available across all EU member states," said Alan Knox, Primex's Group CEO. "We are confident that Nordic Group with their experience in the hospital sector, will further support their portfolio in Anaesthesia in France." Vincent Leonhardt, Managing Director of Nordic Pharma in France said: "Nordic Pharma is delighted to have the opportunity to commercialize OZALIN, a product initially developed at Amiens hospital in France, and that will make a fundamental difference to children and their acceptability toward treatment." About Primex Pharmaceuticals: Primex Pharmaceuticals is a leading global innovative anaesthesia company, expanding in paediatric pharmaceuticals. Primex brings a broad portfolio of anaesthesia products helping patients undergo a wide range of medical procedures, including a novel, oral solution for paediatric sedation now approved in several markets in the European Union. Primex Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Switzerland. www.primexpharma.com About Nordic Group: Nordic Group is a privately-owned pan-European pharmaceutical company with a presence in 17 countries. It focuses on the development and commercialisation of hospital and orphan products to respond to unmet medical needs. Nordic Group expertise relies on the development and sales of its own products, but also on partner products acquired at various stages of development. https://www.nordicpharma.fr/ Primex Pharmaceuticals AG, Zug, Switzerland. All rights reserved IMIconnect's AppExchange app enables Salesforce users to automate two-way customer interactions across 10+ communication channels LONDON, March 20, 2019today announced the availability of its enterprise cloud communications platform IMIconnect on Salesforce AppExchange. This can enable businesses utilising the Salesforce Platform to rapidly launch and orchestrate two-way, trigger-based customer communications, across 10+ communication channels including SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, In App and Push, amongst others. The IMIconnect for Salesforce App will augment the existing customer interaction capabilities of Salesforce Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Field Service Lightning to enable proactive customer engagement and reduce the cost of serving customers across touchpoints. Enterprises will be able to automate communications, such as order and delivery notifications for retailers, engineer appointment bookings for utility providers and customer welcome journeys for mobile operators, among many others, with ease of integration into Salesforce. 'IMIconnect for Salesforce' app is now available on AppExchange at https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000FYEGIUA5 IMIconnect provides omnichannel customer communications at scale Over 80% of businesses now compete predominantly on the basis of customer experience. Two-way digital communication channels are becoming business critical for enterprises in all sectors to proactively communicate with their customers. [1] The IMIconnect customer communications platform, now integrated with AppExchange, enables Salesforce customers to orchestrate proactive, trigger-based communications across different points in the customer journey. Jay Patel, Chief Executive of IMImobile, commented, "Consumers today expect the same connected experience with businesses as they have with their friends and family, through two-way digital channels using their Smartphone or tablet. The ability of businesses to provide the choice of channels to their customers with high levels of automation and integration becomes critical to deliver a differentiated customer experience and reduce operating costs. IMIconnect's integration with AppExchange will allow Salesforce customers to offer a connected customer experience across communication channels". "We are happy to welcome IMIconnect onto Salesforce AppExchange as they provide customers with an exciting new way to automate two-way customer interactions," said Mike Wolff, SVP, ISV Sales, Salesforce. "The exponential growth of AppExchange underscores the enormous opportunity the entire Salesforce ecosystem has in creating cutting-edge solutions and driving customer success." Jay Patel continued, "Salesforce is a world leader and innovator in customer engagement, who recognise that the key to successful customer communications is for businesses to adopt an omni-channel strategy. We're excited to be integrating our IMIconnect enterprise communications platform with the world's leading customer relationship management platform." About Salesforce AppExchange Salesforce AppExchange, the world's leading enterprise cloud marketplace, empowers companies to sell, service, market and engage in entirely new ways. With more than 5,000 solutions, 6 million customer installs and 80,000 peer reviews, it is the most comprehensive source of cloud, mobile, social, IoT, analytics and artificial intelligence technologies for businesses. Additional Resources Like Salesforce on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/salesforce (http://www.facebook.com/salesforce) Follow Salesforce on Twitter: https://twitter.com/salesforce (https://twitter.com/salesforce) Follow IMImobile on Twitter: https://twitter.com/imimobile (https://twitter.com/imimobile) Salesforce, AppExchange, Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Field Service Lightning and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. About IMImobile PLC IMImobile is a communications software provider whose solutions enable enterprises to automate digital customer communications and interactions to improve customer experience and reduce operating costs. IMImobile's enterprise cloud communications software platform manages over 42 billion messages a year across the world. Organisations that trust us to deliver smarter digital customer engagement include Hermes, Centrica, AA, O2, EE, BT, Foxtons, Pizza Hut, Vodafone, MTN, three of the major retail banks in the UK and public-sector organisations globally. IMImobile is headquartered in London with offices in Hyderabad, Toronto, Little Rock, Dubai and Johannesburg and has over 1,100 employees worldwide. IMImobile is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market with the TIDM code IMO. [1] https://blogs.gartner.com/jake-sorofman/gartner-surveys-confirm-customer-experience-new-battlefield/ SAO PAULO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Itiviti, a leading technology and service provider to financial institutions worldwide, has partnered with technology company RTM, the largest Brazilian financial extranet provider to the buy-side industry. The combination of Itiviti's NYFIX order routing network with RTM's technology solutions will enable RTM clients to provide on-net clients with access to the 700-strong international broker community and its associated services, such as NYFIX TCA, NYFIX Market Access, NYFIX Matching and the NYFIX Store, along with RTM's existing reach. RTM is joining a growing Brazilian partner network through Itiviti's Global Alliance Program (GAP), the umbrella under which the company manages all partner relationships globally, enabling clients to leverage a highly integrated network of providers. "This partnership is part of our goal of building a strong connectivity network for the financial sector vendors," said Adriane Rego, Commercial and Product Director of RTM. "Providing solutions that bring dynamism and security to financial operations is one of our priorities and working in a global partnership with Itiviti allows us to provide customers with a higher quality service." "Through the Itiviti Global Alliance Program, we are building a strong community of technology providers, both traditional and SaaS/cloud-based, that want to work with an agnostic, un-conflicted vendor," says Philippe Carre, Global Partnerships Director at Itiviti. "It is in our interest to ensure Itiviti NYFIX connections are lit up quickly and efficiently, while providing participants security and robustness. Our strategic vision remains to operate a global connectivity utility for trading and post-trade services." For further information, please contact: Itiviti Megan Geldman Senior Marketing Manager Americas Itiviti Tel: +1-312-541-4181 megan.geldman@itiviti.com RTM Patricia dos Santos Communication and Marketing Analyst RTM Tel: +55-21-2102-7324 patricia.santos@rtm.net.br Claudia Paiva Communication and Marketing Manager RTM Tel: +55-21-2102-7858 claudia.paiva@rtm.net.br About Itiviti Itiviti enables financial institutions worldwide to transform their trading and capture tomorrow. With innovative technology, deep expertise and a dedication to service, we help customers seize market opportunities and guide them through regulatory change. Top-tier banks, brokers, trading firms and institutional investors rely on Itiviti's solutions to service their clients, connect to markets, trade smarter in all asset classes by consolidating trading platforms and leverage automation to move faster. A global technology and service provider, we offer the most innovative, consistent and reliable connectivity and trading solutions available. With presence in all major financial centers and serving around 2,000 clients in over 50 countries, Itiviti delivers on a global scale. For more information, please visit www.itiviti.com. Itiviti is owned by Nordic Capital. Follow Itiviti on social media on Twitter @Itiviti_AB , on Facebook @ItivitiAB , and onLinkedIn About RTM RTM is the largest technology service provider for Brazilian financial market integration, offering telecommunications infrastructure and technology solutions in a private network environment with total security and high availability. Along with ANBIMA and B3, it is present in 19 states connecting around 500 institutions of all sizes and 24 providers of information and services. In partnership with Embratel, it provides the management structure of RSFN, one of the networks of the Brazilian Payment System. With a comprehensive business vision, RTM is committed to the open innovation model, stimulating creativity and entrepreneurship through initiatives and projects shared between partners, customers and startups. The relationship is the main differential of the company, which always seeks to be close to its customers, meeting their demands. For further information, please visit www.RTM.net.br Follow RTM on social media on LinkedIn and on Facebook @RTMtelecom. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/itiviti-group-ab/r/itiviti-accelerates-buy-side-capital-markets-connectivity-with-rtm-in-brazil,c2766999 The following files are available for download: BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 6:00 am ET Wednesday, Eurostat will release Eurozone industrial production for January. Ahead of the data, the euro traded mixed against its major opponents. While the euro held steady against the yen and the pound, it dropped against the franc. Against the greenback, the currency rose. The euro was worth 125.73 against the yen, 1.1359 against the franc, 0.8597 against the pound and 1.1294 against the greenback as of 5:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The European Investment Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares The European Investment Trust plc ("the Company") The Company announces that on 19 March 2019 it purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of 25 pence each on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Ordinary Shares: Date of purchase: 19 March 2019 Number of ordinary shares purchased: 10,000 Lowest price per share 814p Highest price per share 814p The Company intends to cancel the purchased shares. Following the above transaction, the Company has 40,481,769 ordinary shares in issue. Each of the Company's shares carries one vote. Accordingly, the total number of voting rights of the Company is 40,481,769. 20 March 2019 LEI: 213800QNN9EHZ4SC1R12 Enquiries: Kenneth J Greig Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited Tel: 0131 270 3800 The Company's registered office address is: Beaufort House 51 New North Road Exeter EX4 4EP Kevin joins Rimilia after a period of strong growth for the company and will use his extensive experience to drive further geographic expansion Rimilia, a fintech company helping finance departments simplify the complex, has appointed Kevin Kimber as CEO. The news follows another strong year for Rimilia. In 2018, Rimilia opened offices in Central London and Denver, Colorado in the U.S., and reported significant revenue growth on the previous year. Rimilia was founded in 2008 and its platform, created by finance professionals, uses RPA (robotic process automation) technology to help finance teams fast-track their cash flow by providing clearer information and better control. It has quickly become the industry leader, trusted by a number of global brands from HSBC to DHL and Santander, to provide visibility, improve efficiencies and guarantee cash flow. Rimilia works with any currency, any bank and in any language, and on average delivers 70% cost-savings and an 80% reduction in manual effort to its customers. Kevin joins Rimilia from Eight Roads Ventures (one of Rimilia's investors), where he was a Venture Partner, advising its portfolio companies on go-to-market and sales strategy. Prior to that, Kevin was Managing Director of the UK Cloud business at SAP and previously Kevin led the EMEA region for first ServiceNow and then Zuora. He was an early member of ServiceNow's management team and its first European employee, helping to scale the company from less than $1m in annual revenues through to $140 million, including an IPO on the NYSE in 2012 (NYSE: NOW). Steve Richardson, co-founder of Rimilia, said, "Kevin has been involved with Rimilia for over a year as a Board Advisor and we're delighted he's agreed to join us as our CEO. His experience of building high growth tech companies, such as ServiceNow, Zuora and SAP, clearly demonstrates that his leadership skills are a natural fit for our organization. We have an aggressive plan for global expansion, and we're excited to have Kevin at the helm." Kevin Kimber said: "This is a fantastic team with an exceptional opportunity and I'm honored to be taking on the role of CEO. Rimilia has established a market leading position, enabling customers of all sizes to leverage automation and intelligence. Having helped build and establish three global leaders that disrupted their fields, I am confident that Rimilia has the same opportunity to be another transformative global leader." Davor Hebel, Managing Partner and Head of Eight Roads Ventures Europe, added: "We're thrilled that Kevin is taking on the role of CEO of Rimilia. His experience of building businesses both in Europe and in the U.S. will be invaluable as Rimilia continues to scale internationally. We've been impressed by Rimilia's rapid growth and we look forward to continuing to support the business as it tackles new markets, takes on new customers and strengthens its product." About Rimilia Rimilia creates software finance people love by helping them eliminate archaic practices of tracking cash and managing credit collections. Rimilia provides companies around the globe with faster cash allocation, clearer information, and better control over cash flow. As a global solution, Rimilia works with any currency, any bank, any ERP, in any country and language. Rimilia has offices located in Bromsgrove and London in the UK, and Denver, Colorado in the U.S. Rimilia is backed by Eight Roads Ventures and Kennett Partners. Learn more at https://www.rimilia.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005170/en/ Contacts: Gem Swartz Catalyst Marketing Agency 925-588-8515 gem@catalystmarketing.io www.catalystmarketing.io SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --The global arrhythmia monitoring devices market size is expected to reach USD 8.41 billion in 2025with aCAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Continuous R&D activities in the field of cardiac monitoring are leading to technological expansion. This, in turn, is positively influencing the growth of the arrhythmia monitoring devices market. Wearable diagnostic patch by iRhythm Technologies, Inc., Zio, has led to symptomatic arrhythmia monitoring, which is superior in comparison to conventional Holter monitors. Key suggestions from the report: The arrhythmia monitoring devices market is highly competitive and is rapidly evolving with numerous potential market players Holter monitors dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2017. On the other hand, mobile cardiac telemetry is expected to witness the fastest growth rate during the forecast period Atrial fibrillation dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2017. The growth in the number of untreated cases of arrhythmias are leading to increasing need for advanced cardiac monitoring devices Heightened adoption of sophisticated technologies has led to the expansion of the market. Kardia Mobile by AliveCor captures ECG in 30 seconds projecting the heart rhythm for conditions such as atrial fibrillation The hospitals and clinics segment held the largest share in the market in 2017. On the other hand, diagnostic centers are likely to experience the fastest growth over the forecast period North America commanded the leading share in the market in 2017 due to faster regulatory approvals for innovative devices and procedures AliveCor, Inc.; Applied Cardiac Systems; BioTelemetry, Inc.; BIOTRONIK; Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd.; GE Healthcare; iRhythm; Medi-Lynx; St. Jude Medical (Abbott); Medtronic; Nihon Kohden Corporation; Nuubo; and Spacelabs Healthcare are some of the key players operating in this market. Read 90 page research report with TOC on "Arrhythmia Monitoring Devices Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (ECG, Implantable, Holter, Mobile Cardiac Telemetry), By Application, By End Use, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025"at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/arrhythmia-monitoring-devices-market Big pharma and medical device companies are heavily investing in R&D to perform a detailed mapping of cardiac arrhythmia. In February 2018, Medtronic received FDA clearance for the first non-invasive cardiac mapping system, CardioInsight. It includes wearable 252-electrode sensor vest that creates 3D electroanatomic maps of heart by combining data from a cardiac computed tomography scan with ECG signals collected from the chest region. In addition to these technologies, emergence and advancements in mobile cardiac telemetry are leading to further progress of the overall market. In October 2017, Abbott received FDA clearance for Confirm Rx, a smartphone-compatible implantable cardiac monitor indicated for arrhythmia diagnosis. Boston Scientific announced its FDA approval for Resonate, a line of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator and cardioverter defibrillator systems for the cardiac management. Grand View Research has segmented the global arrhythmia monitoring devices market based on type, application, end use, and region: Arrhythmia Monitoring Devices Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) ECG Monitors Implantable Monitors Holter Monitors Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Arrhythmia Monitoring Devices Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Bradycardia Tachycardia Atrial Fibrillation Ventricular Fibrillation Premature Contraction Others Arrhythmia Monitoring Devices End Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Hospitals & Clinics Diagnostic Centers Others Arrhythmia Monitoring Devices Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe U.K. Germany France Italy Spain Asia Pacific Japan China India Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa South Africa Find more research reports on Medical Devices Industry, by Grand View Research: Manual Resuscitators Market - The global manual resuscitator market size was valued at USD 363 million in 2015. - The global manual resuscitator market size was valued at in 2015. Breast Biopsy Device Market - The Breast Biopsy Device Market size was estimated to be USD 372.9 million in 2015. It is a diagnostic procedure that involves the removal of tissue or fluid from a suspicious area. - The Breast Biopsy Device Market size was estimated to be in 2015. It is a diagnostic procedure that involves the removal of tissue or fluid from a suspicious area. Cardiovascular Devices Market - The global cardiovascular devices market was valued over 33 billion in 2015 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% over the forecast period. Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports About Grand View Research Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") has received permits for drill roads and drill pads and is now cleared to commence a planned 5,000 - 6,000 metre drill program. New mineralized zones defined during 2018 drilling at Nika, and in several areas with higher-than-expected grade intercepts at the Porphyry zone, both offer significant opportunities to add to the deposit resource base at higher-than-deposit average grades. This focused winter drilling campaign will also include two drill-holes more than 1km south of the resource area, where several narrow intervals of high-grade (up to 17.5 g/t Au) contact-style mineralisation similar to that at the Porphyry zone were intersected in a historical hole (see press release February 20, 2019). The Company has selected two drill contractors, Forage Orbit Garant Drilling ("Orbit Garant"), a large locally-based and internationally active drilling company, and Forage Pikogan, a smaller local company with majority First-Nations ownership. Initial mobilization and drill preparations are now underway, with equipment for Orbit Garant's first drill rig having just arrived at the Douay Project today. Drilling is expected to commence at the Nika Zone in approximately one week to test the up-dip and down-dip extensions of last year's new discovery (see press release May 14, 2018). Maple Gold's VP, Exploration, Fred Speidel, commented: "This is a very exciting time for our technical team as we drill some of our high priority holes after nearly 18 months on the Project, with the benefit of more data, knowledge and new models in place. We have significantly improved targeting ability thanks to our 3D model, and are focused on testing new exploration targets and adding quality ounces to the resource base. An updated resource estimate is underway with RPA and we anticipate initial results early in Q2." Click here to watch brief video highlighting top-priority drill-hole locations and the Company's new 3D model. Qualified Person The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration, of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work. Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) Maple Gold implements strict Quality Assurance ("QA") and Quality Control ("QC") protocols at Douay covering the planning and placing of drill holes in the field; drilling and retrieving the NQ-sized drill core; drill-hole surveying; core transport to the Douay Camp; core logging by qualified personnel; sampling and bagging of core for analysis; transport of core from site to the analytical laboratory; sample preparation for assaying; and analysis, recording and final statistical vetting of results. For a complete description of protocols, please visit the Company's QA/QC page on the website at: http://maplegoldmines.com/index.php/en/projects/qa-qc-qp-statement About Maple Gold Maple Gold is an advanced gold exploration and development company focused on defining a district-scale gold project in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The Company's ~392 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone (55 km of strike) within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project benefits from excellent infrastructure and has an established gold resource3 that remains open in multiple directions. For more information please visit www.maplegoldmines.com. ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD. "Matthew Hornor" B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO For Further Information Please Contact: Mr. Joness Lang VP, Corporate Development Cell: 778.686.6836 Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. Forward Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about the prospective mineral potential of the Porphyry Zone, the potential for significant mineralisation from other drilling in the referenced drill program and the completion of the drill program. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing and completion of the private placement. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions that management believed reasonable at the time they were made or in certain cases, on third party expert opinions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual events, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.'s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43526 Provides Insights into Expansion Strategy, Previews New Brand Look NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: POT) (FSE: 0OS1) (OTCQB: WKULF) today announced that CEO Mr. Paul Chu spoke at New York City's CannaGather event on Tuesday, March 20. Mr. Chu shared the stage with Richard Carleton, the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Securities Exchange and Alan Brochstein, the Founder of New Cannabis Ventures. During his talk, Mr. Chu highlighted: The Company's focus on building a recreational cannabis lifestyle brand that appeals to a wide range of demographics. The appeal of the Company's stock symbol POT, the most iconic symbol on the Canadian Stock Exchange. The Company's management experience in building consumer packaged good brands and why that matters in the cannabis industry. The Company's offerings across Canada , Jamaica and the United States : licensed seed-to-sale in California , grow operations and a brand launchpad in Washington , energy drink brands Champ and Verve defining the future of alcohol alternatives, seed-to-sale production and extraction in Oklahoma , world-class retail in Alberta , and cannabis lifestyle experiences and export licenses in Jamaica , and : licensed seed-to-sale in , grow operations and a brand launchpad in , energy drink brands Champ and Verve defining the future of alcohol alternatives, seed-to-sale production and extraction in , world-class retail in , and cannabis lifestyle experiences and export licenses in The Company's growth strategy with brand partnerships that align with recreational lifestyles in both CBD and THC markets. In addition, Mr. Chu provided a preview of the company's brand new look and Weekend-branded products, which he said would be made public on April 10, 2019. CannaGather is the largest cannabis industry community of more than 10,000 members supporting the state by state cannabis ecosystems by making it more accessible to new entrants and entrepreneurs. CannaGather is dedicated to educating and connecting all those who are in and interested in getting involved in the industry at this historic inflection point. About Weekend Unlimited Inc. Weekend Unlimited is capitalizing on its vast industry relationships to establish a lifestyle brand featuring premium products and delivering life's highest moments. The company aggregates and scales small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. Learn more at www.weekendunlimited.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - Tudor Gold Corp. (TSXV: TUD) (FSE: TUC) (the "Company" or "Tudor Gold") is pleased to announce that it has entered into debt settlement agreements with two creditors of the Company (the "Creditors") and pursuant thereto will issue an aggregate of 3,214,285 common shares in the capital of the Company, at a deemed price of $0.28 per common share, in consideration for the settlement of a total of $900,000 in accrued liabilities owing to the Creditors (the "Debt Settlement"). The Company expects that the proposed Debt Settlement will assist the Company in preserving its cash to advance exploration of the Company's mineral properties in the Golden Triangle of northwestern B.C and for working capital purposes. Pursuant to the Debt Settlement, the proposed issuance of 2,678,571 common shares to one of the Creditors, More Core Drilling Services Ltd., a company controlled by Sean Pownall, a director of the Company, constitutes a "related party transaction" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101-Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is exempt from the formal valuation requirements and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the common shares issued to related parties in the Debt Settlement will not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. A material change report will be filed less than 21 days before the closing date of the transaction. The Company considers this shorter period to be reasonable and necessary in the circumstances to allow the Company to improve its financial position by reducing its accrued liabilities as soon as possible. All securities to be issued pursuant to the Debt Settlement will be subject to a four month hold period from the closing date under applicable Canadian securities laws, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada. The Debt Settlement is subject to all necessary regulatory approvals including from the TSX Venture Exchange. Stock Options Granted The Company announces the issuance of: (a) 5,750,000 stock options with an exercise price of $0.30 cents per share for the purchase of up to 5,750,000 shares of the Company, expiring March 20, 2024; and (b) 100,000 stock options with an exercise price of $0.35 cents per share for the purchase of up to 100,000 shares of the Company, expiring March 20, 2024. The stock options are being issued to directors, officers and consultants of the Company and are subject to approval by regulatory authorities. About Tudor Gold Tudor Gold is a precious and base metals explorer in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, an area that hosts past-producing mines and several large deposits that are approaching potential development. The 17,913 hectare Treaty Creek project (Tudor Gold has a 60 % interest) borders Seabridge Gold Inc.'s KSM property to the southwest and borders Pretium Resources Inc.'s Brucejack property to the southeast. The Company also has a 60% interest in the Electrum project, and a 100% interest in the 18,300 hectare Crown project, all of which are located in the Golden Triangle area. "Walter Storm" Walter Storm President and Chief Executive Officer For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.tudor-gold.com or contact: Aris Morfopoulos Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary Tel: 604-721-2650 Email: aris@tudor-gold.com or: Marketsmart Communications Inc. Tel: 604-261-4466 Toll-Free: 877-261-4466 Email: info@marketsmart.ca Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. All statements including, without limitation, statements relating to the ability to complete the Debt Settlement and receipt of regulatory approvals as well as any other future plans, objectives or expectations of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43548 Its cloud-based services and seamless integrations with automakers' legacy systems make it highly attractive to Tier 1 automobile manufacturers LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the European telematics services market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Sweden-based WirelessCar with the 2018 European Market Leadership Award. From a provider of customer-specific solutions, WirelessCar has repositioned itself as a platform-based service provider, earning itself several long-term partnerships with major automakers. It skillfully manages data and serves as a telematics service provider (TSP) for multiple automakers by adapting to their requirements. The company currently serves more than 75 markets. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838109/WirelessCar_Award.jpg "The ability to quickly adjust to automakers' requirements with high-quality services and technologies has set WirelessCar apart from competitors," said Krishna Jayaraman Industry Analyst. "Its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) has allowed it to offer distinctive value-added services by leveraging car Internet of Things (IoT) technologies which could enable cars to safely communicate and sync data in a connected ecosystem. WirelessCar's expertise in data management, authorisation, authentication, and integration with numerous touchpoints of automakers' legacy systems has made it the TSP of choice for connected vehicles." One of WirelessCar's major strengths is its ability to form long-standing partnerships with leading brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars, Subaru, and Nissan. It had been a wholly owned subsidiary of Volvo Group since 2007, but it recently announced that the Volkswagen Group would acquire majority stakes. Among its successes are Volvo On Call safety, security, and convenience services, which have been implemented in Volvo cars in North America, Brazil, China, Russia, and 30 other markets. It already has close to 10 percent of the market share, or 4 million active connected vehicles; Thanks to the impending acquisition by VW and the rapid volume growth with existing and new customers the ambition now is to provide digital services to more than 100 million cars 2025. its, is expected to take it past the 100 million mark by 2025. In addition rapid development of EV services , WirelessCar is looking to stake a claim to the shared mobility market as well. Automakers in all these categories prefer WirelessCar to other TSPs as it can work with multiple telecom vendors and machine-to-machine providers. It has also developed in-house expertise in managing all the complex processes of a connected car programme, including integrations with OEM legacy systems for customer relationship management, dealership management, production and ordering systems, and financial systems. Moreover, it seamlessly integrates with automakers' servers, both regionally and globally. "While its competitors are mostly one-off solution providers or off-the-shelf product companies, WirelessCar has set itself apart with its platform strategy," noted Jayaraman. "It has gained entry into every major automaker's digital ecosystem by offering functionalities such as open application programming interfaces (APIs), partner APIs, and subscription management through its telematics platform. Overall, its industry-leading ability to address connectivity requirements and transform automakers' business processes make it the ideal future-proof solution." Each year, Frost & Sullivan bestows this award upon the company that demonstrates excellence in growth and customer value. Attaining loyal customers who became brand advocates allows the company to grow and achieve a market leadership position. By committing to the customer at each stage of the buying cycle and continuing to nurture the relationship, this Award recognises a company's increased market share over time. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About WirelessCar We drive the automotive industry beyond connectivity, into the future. Today. With the ambition to lead the automotive industry beyond connectivity and into the digital society, WirelessCar is the world's leading innovator of Digital Vehicle services. Founded in 1999, WirelessCar has continuously built on its heritage and knowledge, and is today a highly recognized and award winning company, connecting more than four million vehicles in over 75 countries. WirelessCar operates globally, with offices in Sweden, North America and China. Our more than 400 dedicated and highly skilled members of staff are committed to deliver world class services that exceed customer expectations and needs, bringing our partners and customers into the future of digital services. Our positioning and open connected car platform allow customers such as Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, Daimler, Nissan and Volvo Cars to leverage the full value of digital services across the entire spectrum of always being connected. About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion . Contact: Estefany Ariza P: 210.477.8469 E: estefany.ariza@frost.com New collaboration to evaluate the potential of bacterial antigens that mimic tumor antigens and neoantigens ("onco-mimics") to drive immune responses PARIS and CAMBRIDGE, MA, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ENTEROME SA, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its unique knowledge of the key functional and molecular interactions between the gut microbiome and the human body to develop targeted therapeutics, has entered into a research and development collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA) to evaluate and develop gut microbiome-derived antigens as potential cancer immunotherapies. Enterome is developing an innovative approach to cancer immunotherapy, based on the concept of "molecular mimicry," whereby microbiome-derived bacterial antigens show molecular similarity with Tumor-associated Antigens (TAAs) and Tumor-specific Neoantigens (TSNAs). Based on this similarity, bacterial antigens ("onco-mimics") mimic key tumor antigens that are highly expressed by tumors to trigger tumor-specific cytotoxic T cell immune responses. Enterome has developed a discovery platform to identify such onco-mimics from the human gut microbiome and has advanced EO2401 as its first clinical candidate. EO2401 comprises several microbiome-derived antigens that mimic antigens highly expressed by brain tumors and is targeting first clinical trials in 2019 as a potential new immunotherapy for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) for which no curative treatments exist. The collaboration brings together Enterome's ability to identify potential TAAs and TSNAs as well as to generate bacterial onco-mimics for the selected TAAs and TSNAs with the complementary translational expertise from the research groups at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute led by Dr. David Reardon at the Center for Neuro-Oncology and Dr. Paul Kirschmeier at the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science. Drs. Reardon's and Kirschner's groups are focused on driving innovative research programs and clinical trials to improve cure rates in patients with brain and spinal cancers, with a particular focus on immunotherapies. Through this collaboration Enterome will have access to knowledge, scientific expertise and preclinical models at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that are intended to support the in vivo validation and further development of Enterome's immunotherapy approach for the treatment of cancer. "We are delighted to have signed this collaboration with one of the most esteemed cancer research institutions in the US," said Pierre Belichard, CEO of Enterome. "Drs. Reardon and Kirschmeier are accomplished and renowned clinician-scientists in their respective fields and their groups have pioneered novel approaches to cancer therapy, particularly in the brain. We believe that this collaboration will be highly productive in further validating our onco-mimic immunotherapy approach and enable us to develop our pipeline of new candidates for multiple cancer indications." About Enterome Enterome is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its unique knowledge of the key functional and molecular interactions between the gut microbiome and the human body to develop targeted therapeutics. Enterome is advancing a pipeline of small molecules, short peptides and protein therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cancer, including immuno-oncology, and auto-immune disorders: these include EB8018, a first-in-class, non-systemic, orally administered small molecule that is specifically designed to remain gut-restricted and to block bacteria expressing the bacterial virulence factor, FimH. EB8018 is in a Phase 1b clinical trial for Crohn's disease (partnered with Takeda). Enterome is also developing EO2401, an innovative microbiome-derived cancer immunotherapy ("onco-mimic"), which is expected to enter clinical trial in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients in 2019. The Company's strategic drug discovery is driven by its proprietary platform enabling the identification and therapeutic application of the bioactive molecules that are expressed, secreted and regulated by the gut microbiome. Enterome's partners include Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and Janssen Biotech. The Company is backed by leading venture capital investors (Seventure Partners, Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Health for Life Capital, Omnes Capital and Principia) and strategic investors (BMS, Nestle Health Science, Shire and INRA Transfert). Additional information about Enterome is available at: www.enterome.com Follow us on Twitter: @EnteromeSA CRANBROOK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.(TSX-V: "EPL") has received notice from Rockridge Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ROCK) that it has commenced a winter diamond drilling program on the Knife Lake Property, owned 100% by Eagle Plains and under option to Rockridge. Winter drilling will consist of approximately 1,000m in eight to ten holes. The 85,196 ha Knife Lake claims cover both the historical Knife Lake VMS deposit and an extensive, under-explored regional VMS target area. The Knife Lake area saw extensive exploration from the late 1960's to the 1990's with the last documented work program completed in 2001. To earn a 100% interest, Rockridge has agreed to make a cash payment to Eagle Plains of $150,000 upon regulatory approval (complete), issue up to 5,250,000 common shares of Rockridge (2M shares issued to date) and complete $3,250,000 in exploration expenditures over four years. Eagle Plains will retain a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on certain claims which comprise the project area. Under the terms of the agreement Rockridge is designated as the Operator of the project. See Knife Lake regional map The current drill program will focus on verifying the results of historic drilling as well as infill and step- out drilling to better define the Knife Lake mineralization. Results from this program will be used to support an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource calculation for the project. Historical drill assays will be validated by twinning select historical drill holes targeting the higher grade core of the Knife Lake deposit. In 1998, Leader Mining published a historical estimate of the shallow VMS deposit, reporting a drill-indicated, non NI 43-101 compliant historical resource of 20.3 million tonnes grading 0.6% Cu, 0.1 g/t Au, 3.0 g/t Ag, 0.06% Co and 0.11% Zn. Leader also defined a higher grade zone of 11.0 million tonnes grading 0.95% Cu within this historical estimate.* Additional drilling will focus on resource upgrade or expansion by infill drilling between historical holes, and drilling in areas with unverified or missing historical assays. Knife Lake Geology and History The Knife Lake deposit lies within the Scimitar Complex, which is believed to be the disconnected, northwest extension of the northern Flin Flon domain and the Amisk Volcanic package, which hosts massive sulphide mineralization in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake mining district, the most prolific greenstone belt in Canada. Since the initial discovery of mineralization in 1915, the Flin Flon camp has produced over 170 million tons of sulphide ore from 31 VMS deposits worth in excess of C25 billion dollars. (2002 NRC, Current Research). Exceptionally high Au contents of many of these deposits, including Flin Flon (62.4 Mt @ 2.6 g Au/t) and Lalor (8.8 Mt @ 4.6 g Au/t in the Au zone), make them particularly attractive exploration targets.This information is provided only as historical reference. Management cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the subject properties. Knife Lake is interpreted to be a remobilized VMS deposit. The stratabound mineralized zone is approximately 15 m thick and contains copper, silver, zinc and cobalt mineralization which dips 30 to 45 eastward over a strike-length of 4,500 m, with an average horizontal width of approximately 300 m. The deposit is hosted by felsic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks which have been metamorphosed to upper amphibolite facies. The deposit is typical of VMS mineralogy which has been significantly modified and partially remobilized during the emplacement of granitic rocks. The mineralization straddles the boundary between two rock units and occurs on both limbs of an overturned local fold. Drilling has outlined a series of stratabound ore lenses which are controlled by complex geological structures. In the copper mineralized zone, significant thickening of the mineralization occurs near the central portion of the deposit. Sulphides and rare native copper are visible in outcrop. Massive sulphides consist of 25 to 60% pyrrhotite and 0.2 to 10% chalcopyrite mineralization. Pyrite is present as irregular disseminations and masses. Locally, up to 8% sphalerite (zinc mineralization) is present. The first documented work in the Knife Lake showing area occurred between 1969-1973, consisting of ground and airborne geophysical surveys and extensive soil geochemical sampling. The discovery drill-hole, collared in September, 1969, returned 2.37% Cu over 4.48m from 19.96-24.44m, including 3.5% Cu over 2.5m from 20.27-22.77m. A total of 96 diamond drill holes (8,232m) were completed between 1969-1971 and in 1973 Straus Exploration announced a maiden resource on the Knife Lake Deposit. Hudson's Bay Exploration and Development Company Ltd. later carried out a regional Airborne EM geophysical survey in the Knife Lake - Scimitar Lake area, followed up by geological mapping, prospecting, ground geophysics and diamond drilling. The property was subsequently optioned by Copperquest Incorporated in 1989, which carried out further geophysical and geochemical surveys and optioned the property to Leader Mining International in 1996. Between 1996 and 2001, Leader flew various airborne geophysical surveys in the area, including EM, magnetic, and gravity surveys. This was followed up with stripping and trenching of the outcropping deposit area. Ground TEM, magnetic, ground IP/Resistivity and VLF-EM surveys were completed over and adjacent to the main deposit area. Between 1996 and 1998, Leader completed 315 drill holes, outlining a broad zone of mineralization occurring at less than 100 meters depth (AF 63M-0006, Report 10). Late in 1998, Leader published the geological reserves of the deposit, reporting a drill-indicated resource of 20.3 million tonnes grading 0.6% Cu, 0.1 g/t Au, 3.0 g/t Ag, 0.06% Co and 0.11% Zn. It was suggested that 11.0 million tonnes grading 0.95% Cu could be mined using an open pit (SMDI 0406). *Eagle Plains' management considers these estimates to be historical in nature and cautions that a Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves in accordance with National Instrument 43-101. These estimates do not comply with current definitions prescribed by National Instrument 43-101 or the Canadian Institute of Mining, and are disclosed only as indications of the presence of mineralization and are considered to be a guide for additional work. The historical models and data sets used to prepare these historical estimates are not available to Eagle Plains, nor are any more recent resource estimates or drill information on the Property. A 357kV powerline has recently been completed to within 16km of the Knife Lake Deposit area, greatly enhancing the project's infrastructure Charles C. Downie, P.Geo., a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a Director of Eagle Plains, has prepared, reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release. About Eagle Plains Resources Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout western Canada. The Company is committed to steadily enhancing shareholder value by advancing our diverse portfolio of projects toward discovery through collaborative partnerships and development of a highly experienced technical team. Managements' current focus is to preserve its treasury while advancing its most promising exploration projects. In addition, Eagle Plains continues to seek out and secure high-quality, unencumbered projects through research, staking and strategic acquisitions. Since 2012, Eagle Plains has added to its portfolio a number of new projects exceeding 130,000 ha targeting mainly gold, uranium and base-metals in Saskatchewan, a highly-prospective mining jurisdiction which was recently recognized by the Fraser Institute as the second best place in the world in terms of Investment Attractiveness. Throughout the exploration process, our mission is to help maintain prosperous communities by exploring for and discovering resource opportunities while building lasting relationships through honest and respectful business practices. Expenditures from 2011-2018 on Eagle Plains-related projects exceed $20M, most of which was funded by third-party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 30,000 m of diamond-drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of numerous projects at various stages of development On behalf of the Board of Directors "Tim J. Termuende" President and CEO For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673) Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. SOURCE: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539425/Rockridge-Resources-Commences-Winter-Drilling-Program-at-Eagle-Plains-Knife-Lake-Project-Northern-Saskatchewan Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Bermuda March 20, 2019 Dear shareholders/investors, Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NYSE: NAT or the "Company") communicated its view on the new Sulphur requirements, effective from 2020 in our Press Release October 24, 2017 and in a NAT conference call held February 20, 2019. The Company is steadfast on its decision that scrubbers are not a solution for NAT based upon a conservative financial policy. NAT does not take on risk it does not have to. An increased number of ports now prohibit or impose strict requirements on the use of scrubbers, which purify emissions from large ships. The scrubber cleans the exhaust from vessels for Sulphur and emit impure water into the sea, and that is what the ports now will put an end to. Therefore, we still do not see that this new requirement is an issue for NAT. According to Reuters of yesterday, the Norwegian authorities may ban the use of scrubbers. It is indicated in the Reuters message that a worldwide ban may become in effect. Press Release October 24, 2017. In this press release it was stated that discussions about the sulphur requirements for bunker consumption on ships to be in effect from 2020. Our 33 (which NAT had at the time) Suezmax tankers are fully compliant to run on 0.10% sulphur content or less. Therefore, going forward we do not see that this new requirement is an issue for NAT. Conference call February 20, 2019. The same scrubber considerations were discussed at the NAT investor conference call February 20, 2019. Reuters: Norway considers a ban on scrubbers Now, a ban on so-called scrubbers is also being considered in Norway, according to Reuters. An increasing number of ports around the world prohibits the use of scrubbers, which purify emissions from large ships. The news agency E24 wrote a few days ago how the industry believes that ships without scrubbers could be exposed, as more and more customers demand lower emissions from their shipping partners. Now comes the news that several ports consider banning scrubbers. The point of the scrubbers is that they clean the exhaust from the ships for sulphur. The consequence is that the ships pump impure water into the sea - and that is what the ports will now put an end to, writes Reuters. Also in Norway, a ban on the use of scrubbers that emit unclean water into the fjords is now being considered. E24 refers to a non-named source in the Ministry of Climate and Environment. It is a question whether all types of scrubbers may be prohibited. The International Shipping Organization (IMO) has decided that the limit for sulphur content in fuel used in shipping should be reduced from the current 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent. We cannot say for certain what the outcome can be expected to be. We feel confident, though, that the view of NAT communicated explicitly Oct 24, 2017, is the right avenue forward. Whether a worldwide ban may become relevant, remains to be seen. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K. Contacts: Gary J. Wolfe Seward & Kissel LLP New York, USA Tel: +1 212 574 1223 Bjrn Giver, CFO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 888 755 8391 or +47 91 35 00 91 Herbjrn Hansson, Chairman & CEO Nordic American Tankers Limited Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or +47 90 14 62 91 Press Release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/201/R/2239109/882491.pdf) This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Nordic American Tankers Limited via Globenewswire DENVER, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Drinks infused with cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD) are in a prime position to bring disruption to the beverage sector. The growing consumer interest in hemp-derived CBD as a health supplement along with the recent passing of the Farm Bill has spawned a growing interest in CBD-infused drinks. The ever-increasing global trend to legalizing cannabis is also creating demand for "harder" beverages derived from marijuana Big alcohol companies have taken a particular interest in investing in cannabis producers. The relationship is also working in an inverse direction, with CBD producers recruiting experienced beverage executives to help launch new products. Corporate interest in building a cannabis-infused beverage profile demonstrates the level of potential growth for such an industry, with key developments being made across multiple channels. To address the needs of the wellness-oriented consumer, Phivida Holdings Inc. (CSE:VIDA) (OTC:PHVAF) (PHVAF Profile) has created a line of active hemp extract (CBD)-infused drinks that are just starting to hit store shelves and is expected to be distributed to a thousand retail outlets in Q2. In the adult beverage sector, Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE:STZ) has made a $4 billion investment in Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE:CGC), fueling research into cannabis drinks which suggests a proactive approach to addressing the potential sales impact in markets where consumer use of marijuana is legal. The Canadian business unit of Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) has also made a deal with a cannabis producer to create beverages for that market. In the health supplements sector, Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. (OTC:CWBHF) (CSE:CWEB), which markets hemp-derived CBD oil, has recruited a former Coca-Cola executive to bring beverage sector expertise into the company. To view an infographic of this editorial, click here. The Changing Beverage Space Beverages are among the most trend-driven of all food industry products with continuing innovations in packaging, flavors and formulations being made to drive consumer interest. Decades ago, store shelves consisted of a few cola and fruit-flavored drinks. Since then, there have been introductions of enhanced fruit juices, bottled iced teas and more recently energy drinks, which created an entirely new drink category. Consumer tastes have grown considerably as well, especially when considering the popularity of the fermented tea drink kombucha. Now a fresh wave of innovation is on the cusp of altering the beverage industry. The growing interest in hemp-derived CBD as a health supplement along with the legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use in several jurisdictions has led manufacturers to explore new products and expand their consumer base. This has led to the creation of a new product category - CBD-infused beverages. The Rise of CBD Beverages Few companies currently have a strong focus on CBD drinks. However, among those looking to take advantage of this market is Phivida Holdings Inc. (CSE: VIDA) (OTC: PHVAF). Through its Oki brand of active-hemp, extract-infused waters and iced teas, Phivida is targeting health-conscious consumers who are looking for newer ways to enhance their well-being. Backed by its own market research, Phivida expects that introducing an attractive beverage formulated with the flavors and features most desired by this segment will have strong market acceptance. Driving the growth of this new segment is the rocketing popularity of CBD as a health supplement. One of the many active ingredients in cannabis, CBD doesn't produce a high in users, unlike cannabis' more famous constituent, THC. While research into CBD is in its early stages, consumers are increasingly looking for products containing CBD to address a variety of health issues such as anxiety, pain, and immune health. This has been aided by the passing of the Farm Bill in December 2018 which legalized hemp - defined as a variety of the cannabis plant that contains less than 0.3 percent THC - and allows its production and sale in all 50 states. For companies such as Phivida, which process the hemp plant into their products, this has provided them with a significantly large market to grow into. Launching into the CBD-infused Drink Market Chances are that, within a decade, every store may have a CBD-infused drinks section. But currently, companies are entering new territory and strategizing the best steps that will lead to success. A critical step some are taking is to reach into the established beverage industry to tap into seasoned expertise and leverage previous success. For example, hemp-derived CBD supplement producer Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. (OTC:CWBHF) (CSE:CWEB) recently recruited former Coca-Cola executive Eugenio Mendez as its chief growth officer. The company has stated its strategy is to expand into new segments, and Mendez could provide vital experience for a move into beverages. For Phivida, that process also started with finding the right people to manage the project. Last March, Jim Bailey and Mike Cornwellstepped in as new management at the company. Veteran executives from Red Bull, they brought with them large beverage company expertise in product formulation, package design, product distribution and marketing. Coming from the last company to truly innovate and trigger a widespread disruption in the beverage industry, the two executives look well-equipped to repeat that achievement at Phivida. Another key step is designing a beverage that will have the most consumer appeal. To align with the sentiments of their target consumers, Phivida's Oki brand flavored waters and iced teas contain non-GMO, natural and organic ingredients; are plant based and vegan friendly; and are packaged in sleek 100 percent recyclable glass containers. The flavor line-up, which includes Watermelon Relax and Lemon Ginger Harmony, are aligned with the current preferences of the health-conscious consumer. Phivida's surveys have resulted in product testing scores as high as 80 percent from its sample group of 1,200 individuals for its OKI beverage. The new leadership team has also put in significant effort to ensure that Oki has the distribution channels necessary to reach consumers. Company officials have been working with one of the nation's largest grocery distributors and meeting with both national and regional chains to secure retail contracts. Several retail contracts are in development, and Phivida expects Oki to be available in more than 1,000 outlets by the second quarter of this year. Beer Makes Its Cannabis Move So far, one of the most significant moves by the beverage industry into cannabis has been made by Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE:STZ). The company behind brands such as Corona beer and Svedka vodka has taken an active interest in the cannabis sector. Through two rounds of investment over the past two years, Constellation has provided $4 billion to Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE:CGC), one of Canada's largest and most successful cannabis companies. This investment provides Constellation with one-third ownership of Canopy Growth and the potential to take that investment further. Unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of speculation about how this money will be spent. Canopy Growth has been using its increased financial clout to expand its business from Canada into the United States. Canopy is establishing a production facility in New York state that, for now at least, will produce industrial hemp from which CBD can be extracted. In another team-up between a brewer and a Canadian cannabis company, Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) announced last summer that its Canadian arm would be working with the Hydropothecary Corporation on a joint partnership to produce cannabis-infused drinks in anticipation of the expansion of that country's cannabis legalization. Cannabis beverages and edibles are expected to be made available by October 2019, and Molson will be positioned to serve that new sector once it is made legal. The market for both CBD- and THC-based cannabis drinks has barely begun to take shape, but given the dramatic growth in the popularity of cannabis, it could become a major disruptor for the beverage industry over the next few years. For more information about Phivida Holdings, please visit Phivida Holdings Inc. (CSE:VIDA) (OTCQX:PHVAF). 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You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and CNW and FNM undertake no obligation to update such statements. CannabisNewsWire (CNW) & NetworkNewsWire (NNW) are proud to be affiliated partners of the Investor Brand Network (IBN) About IBN Over the past 10+ years we have consistently introduced new network brands, each specifically designed to fulfil the unique needs of our growing client base and services. Today, we continue to expand our branded network of highly influential properties, leveraging the knowledge and energy of specialized teams of experts to serve our increasingly diversified list of clients. Please feel free to visit the Investor Brand Network (IBN) http://www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com Corporate Communications Contact: CannabisNewsWire (CNW) Denver, Colorado www.CannabisNewsWire.com +1-303-498-7722 Office Editor@CannabisNewsWire.com Media Contact: FN Media Group, LLC NNW@FinancialNewsMedia.com +1-(954)345-0611 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (CSE: MYM) (OTCBB: MYMMF) (CSE: MYM.CN) (MYM.CN) ("MYM" or "The Company") is pleased to announce that it has increased its stake in Colombia Organica to 80%. Colombia Organica currently holds 3 licenses which include: production of cannabis derivatives, cultivation of psychoactive cannabis, and cultivation of non-psychoactive cannabis. Licenses include the capacity to export. Colombia Organica has submitted an application to certify cannabis seeds for commercialization. In addition, it holds a lease for a 36-acre property located 44 kms from Medellin. The region's climate is conducive for growing cannabis with an average temperature of 16-18 C, and an elevation of 2,475 meters above sea-level. They have secured an option to buy the property. MYM and Colombia Organica are building a production facility near Medellin, Colombia for the cultivation and processing of cannabis and cannabis products. Currently, Colombia Organica is developing and registering seed strains with the Colombian Agricultural Institute. MYM will acquire eighty 80% of Colombia Organica from its existing shareholders for consideration of cash, equity and loans to the company for a total package of up to $2.26 million. MYM will employ Colombia Organica principals Daniel Alonso and Gabriel Ramirez as Territory Managers for South American operations. "After further review we've decided to increase our stake in Colombia Organica under much more favourable terms", said Howard Steinberg, CEO of MYM. "Colombia presents an exciting opportunity for MYM to expand its cultivation operations into South America, bringing with it increased value to our shareholders. The addition of Daniel and Gabriel to our team will provide the company with boots on the ground for all current and future projects in South America". The Investment Agreement is subject to all required approvals and MYM's due diligence. About Colombia Organica Colombia Organica is a Colombian company with expertise in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, medicinal chemical substances and botanical products. Colombia Organica currently holds 3 licenses which include: production of THC cannabis derivatives, cultivation of psychoactive cannabis, and cultivation of non-psychoactive cannabis, including exportation. Colombia Organica has selected for production high quality plants which are suited to the unique high altitude, equatorial regions of Antioquia, Colombia. About MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is an innovative company focused on the global growth of cannabis and hemp. To ensure a strong presence and growth potential within the industry, MYM is actively looking to acquire complementary businesses and assets in the technology, nutraceuticals and CBD sectors. MYM shares trade in Canada, Germany and the USA under the following symbols: (CSE:MYM) (OTC:MYMMF) (FRA:0MY) (DEU:0MY) (MUN:0MY) (STU:0MY). Keep up to date with MYM on our social media channels: Twitter: @mymnutra Facebook: @mymnutra Instagram: @mymnutra This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and other disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulators, which are posted on www.sedar.com. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Howard Steinberg, CEO MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. www.mym.ca Investor Relations Billy Casselman 778-522-2261 investors@mym.ca Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - ArcWest Exploration Inc. (TSXV: AWX) ("ArcWest") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release dated January 16th, 2019, it has signed a Definitive Agreement dated March 14th, 2019, with Strikepoint Gold Inc. (TSXV: SKP) (OTCQB: STKXF) ("Strikepoint") with respect to the acquisition by Strikepoint of 100% of ArcWest's Willoughby Property (the "Property"). The Property is situated about 30 kilometers east of Stewart, British Columbia in the province's famed Golden Triangle. The terms of transaction set out in the Definitive Agreement include: Strikepoint will acquire 100% of the Property; Strikepoint will make a cash payment to ArcWest of CAD$85,000; Strikepoint will issue 3,000,000 common shares to ArcWest; ArcWest will retain a 1.5% net smelter return royalty, which can be reduced by Strikepoint to 1% for an additional cash payment of $1,000,000. ArcWest President & CEO Tyler Ruks commented: "The Willoughby transaction will provide ArcWest with a significant share position in Strikepoint and a royalty on the Willoughby project. This will provide ArcWest shareholders with exposure not only to exploration upside at Willoughby, but to Strikepoint's entire project portfolio, which includes exciting high grade precious metals properties in BC's Golden Triangle, and throughout the Yukon. The Strikepoint team has a track record of discovery, wealth creation for shareholders, and significant prior exploration experience with Willoughby. We are confident that the Strikepoint team will make exciting discoveries that will benefit ArcWest shareholders." The Proposed Transaction is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. For further information please contact: Tyler Ruks, President and CEO at +1 (604) 638 3695 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43535 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - Millennial Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ML) ("Millennial" or the "Company") is pleased to report encouraging results from a short-term pumping test of a third production-scale well at its Pastos Grandes Project in Salta, Argentina. Pumping well PGPW18-17 was installed as a future production well, and meanwhile to undertake short-term pumping of lithium brine to determine aquifer parameters and chemical variation during a 72-hour period in March, 2019. At a pumping rate of 19.4 litres/second (L/s), the drawdown was approximately 30 metres (m), with rapid water level recovery. Estimated transmissivity was calculated from the water level recovery data to be about 100 square metres per day (m2/day). The pumping test was completed under the direction and supervision of Montgomery & Associates. Millennial's President and CEO, Farhad Abasov, commented: "Millennial is very pleased with the results of our third pumping test in the central portion of the Company's land position at Pastos Grandes. The pumping rate was 19.4 L/s over a 72 hour time frame from March 5 to 7th with a maximum drawdown of approximately 30m with full recovery to initial level after 3 days of recovery. The transmissivity, calculated at about 100 m/day, is encouraging and indicates the aquifer has good potential to sustain long term pumping. With a strong cash position Millennial is on track to produce an updated 43-101 resource report early in Q2 and complete the Bankable Feasibility Study later in the quarter." Well PGPW18-17 was drilled using mud rotary methods to a total depth of 608 m using 17.5" and 14.75" diameter drill bits. The well was completed with 12" and 8" diameter steel pipe with 12" blank pipe for the section from 0m to 50.4m, 12" slotted pipe for the section from 50.4m to 199.8m, 8" slotted casing from 199.8m to 594.4m and 8" blank casing from 594.4m to 601.4m with an end cap. The annular space between the borehole and the casing was filled with gravel pack. Following a step-test to determine the optimal pumping rate a 72-hour constant flow pumping test was completed with a flow rate of 19.4 L/sec, the maximum rate for the equipment used for the test. Water level drawdown and recovery were measured for successive 72 hour periods (See Table 1). Maximum drawdown was approximately 30 m; the recovery to initial water level was observed in the 72 hours after pumping stopped. Table 1. Summary of Pumping Test at Well PGPW18-17 Well ID Total Well Depth (m) Pumping Duration (hours) Initial Water Level (metres below measuring point) Maximum Drawdown(m) Pumping Rate (L/s) PGPW18-17 608 72 5.22 30.0 19.4 The drawdown and recovery data provide the basis for the calculation of the aquifer transmissivity, a measurement of the rate brine moves through the aquifer. The best estimate of the transmissivity is about 100 (m/d) and is considered to be very good for fine-grained aquifers. Based on this transmissivity calculation, the aquifer has good potential to sustain a long-term pumping rate of greater than the 19.4 L/s maximum test rate. Brine sampling during the pumping test was completed every 12 hours to determine the variation in brine chemical composition over the period the aquifer was tested. Laboratory chemical analyses for the brine samples are pending. Millennial continues to evaluate and define the characteristics of the lithium-bearing aquifer in the southern portion of its land package with pumping well PGPW18-15 nearing completion with short term pumping tests and brine sampling to follow. Sampling was conducted in accordance with CIM guidelines for brine resource evaluation, with an appropriate chain of custody and QA/QC program in place for ensuring veracity, accuracy and precision of the analytical results. The primary analytical laboratory to be used for the data in this program is the newly commissioned SGS Laboratory in Salta, Argentina. SGS is accredited to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO14001:2004 for their geochemical and environmental labs for the preparation and analysis of numerous sample types, including brines. Investor Relations and Communications / Branding Agreements The Company wishes to announce the terms and conditions under which three groups provide investor relations, communications, branding and / or similar services to the Company: NetworkNewsWire The Company has engaged NetworkNewsWire ("NNW") to provide corporate communications expertise, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. NNW is an experienced financial news and publishing company that provides services to companies in the United States and Canada pursuant to contracts between NNW and the companies. NNW will provide corporate communications, company news release dissemination, enhancement and social media solutions and related advice on a month-to-month basis for $25,000 USD per month. The Company will pay NNW directly from the Company's current working capital. Millennial Lithium and NNW are at arm's length and, to the Company's knowledge, neither NNW nor any of its affiliates have an interest in securities of the Company. NNW has received no shares or warrants from Millennial Lithium or any third party for the services that NNW provides to the Company. NNW is a private company based in the United States, and Michael McCarthy is NNW's Managing Director. SRC Swiss Resource Capital AG The Company has entered into an agreement (the "SRC Agreement") effective until November 1, 2019 (after which time it is renewable on a quarterly basis) with SRC Swiss Resource Capital AG ("SRC") for investor relations communications services in Europe in German speaking countries. The Company will, subject to the SRC Agreement's approval by the TSX Venture Exchange, work with SRC to deliver services which include disseminating Company information to existing and potential shareholders in the form of the Company's news releases, creating interviews and videos through social media and online means as well as representing the Company at trade and investment shows. The fee under the SRC Agreement is Swiss Francs 6,000 per month with additional fees for special services such as trade and investment shows (such as approximately Swiss Franc 3,500 plus expenses per trade and investment show). The services, in particular in relation to trade and investment shows, are to be provided in various places. SRC is a private company and is based in CH-9100 Herisau, Poststrasse 1 in Switzerland. SRC is led by Joachem Staiger, CEO. SRC has extensive experience in providing services to companies listed on various stock exchanges that are seeking to raise their profile in public markets. SRC owns 15,000 ML shares and has no intention to sell them but holds them for investment purposes. Proactive Investors Limited The Company has entered into an agreement (the "Proactive Agreement") with Proactive Investors Limited ("Proactive") dated effective September 1, 2018, to provide services including: (i) ongoing editorial coverage of Company news releases, analyst commentary and interview based articles; (ii) building and maintaining a profile page on Proactive websites; and (iii) conducting executive interviews in audio and video format to be featured on Proactive websites. The Proactive Agreement is for a period ending on November 30, 2019. Proactive has received a fee of $15,000. Funds for payment of Proactive came from existing working capital. Proactive is a multimedia organization which operates a number of financial websites in multiple languages and has offices in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney. Proactive is a private company with employees experienced in delivering various communications and other services and Proactive's Vancouver office will, subject to the TSX Venture Exchange's approval of the Proactive Agreement, work with the Company to deliver services under the direction of Sam Kiri, Director of Proactive. The technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed by Iain Scarr, AIPG CPG., Chief Operating Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101. To find out more about Millennial Lithium Corp. please contact Investor Relations at (604) 662-8184 or email info@millenniallithium.com. MILLENNIAL LITHIUM CORP. "Farhad Abasov" President and CEO, Director NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, currency risks including the exchange rate of USD$ for Cdn$, fluctuations in the market for lithium, changes in exploration costs and government royalties or taxes in Argentina and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43541 Topcoder, a Wipro company, and the world's largest talent network and crowdsourcing platform for developers, designers, data scientists and testers, today announced that its on-demand, crowdsourced Quality as a Service (QaaS) offering has powered a three-fold surge in speed, a two-fold increase in the regular work volume, and five-times the risk coverage for 60 client organizations, as compared to those enabled by traditional quality assurance and testing methods. QaaS is an innovative, on-demand crowdsourced software testing and quality assurance (QA) delivery model that combines Topcoder's 1.4 million-member community with Wipro's QA expertise. Wipro has been cited as a Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Application Testing Services for five consecutive years*. One of the first customers to benefit from the increased speed of test cycles, expand its QA coverage and reduce project costs was Zurich Insurance, a Switzerland-based insurance company. "With Wipro and Topcoder, Zurich Insurance has on-demand access to a global network of quality engineering talent that helps us enrich customer experience and drive innovation," said Sajeev Nair, Global Head of Application Development and Maintenance, Zurich Insurance. "The Topcoder platform offers a rare combination of speed, quality and scale." The Topcoder Quality as a Service offering includes: Real World Testing: Create and execute test cases, or generate feedback through real-time testing, to validate functional, digital accessibility, localization and UI/UX requirements. Performance Testing: Test the availability and reliability of applications against user and business scenarios. Mobility Testing: Complete functional and non-functional tests, including device compatibility certification and user sentiment analysis. Automated Testing: Build cross-browser, device-ready automation frameworks and test scripts using open source tools. Salesforce Testing: Pre-built test assets bundled with tool licenses ideal for new salesforce implementations, upgrades, customizations and enhancements. "Companies initiate QA projects and receive deliverables through the Topcoder platform and crowdsourced software testing (i.e. crowdtesting) via the Topcoder Community and/or Wipro QA engineers," said Mike Morris, Global Head of Crowdsourcing, Wipro Limited. "Our Quality as a Service offering is unique: it's a scalable, on-demand way for companies to quickly integrate the highest quality testing and QA competencies from a global community of elite engineers and developers, as needed, into any aspect of the software development lifecycle." In the September 2018 report, Market Guide for Application Crowdtesting Services**, Gartner said "crowdtesting is becoming an integral part of application testing as speed, new technology skills and customer experience top digital agendas." Gartner also estimated that "by 2022, automated and crowdsourced security testing platform products and services will be employed by over 50 percent of enterprises, up from less than 5 percent in 2018." Topcoder became a part of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, in November 2016. For more information on the Quality as a Service offering, contact Joey Poarch at jpoarch@topcoder.com. * Gartner, "Magic Quadrant for Application Testing Services Worldwide," by Susanne Matson, Gilbert van der Heiden, Gunjan Gupta (21 November 2018) **Gartner, "Market Guide for Application Crowdtesting Services," by Susanne Matson, Gilbert van der Heiden, Michael Isbitski (19 September 2018) Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About Topcoder Topcoder, a Wipro company, is a workforce marketplace with 1.4+ million developers, designers, data scientists and testers around the world. For more than a decade, Topcoder has helped organizations including IBM, Honeywell, GE, BMC, Booz Allen, NASA Tournament Lab, Harvard Medical School, U.S. Dept. of Energy and Land O'Lakes accelerate innovation, solve challenging problems and tap into hard-to-find skills. Enterprises distribute work to Topcoder's global network through the Topcoder platform, where individuals with the right skills participate in competitions to win money, build experience and earn recognition. Visit www.topcoder.com. About Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 170,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future. Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future op erating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005398/en/ Contacts: Purnima Burman purnima.burman@wipro.com The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels. You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us! Send information, pictures or videos, you remain 100% anonymous. Envia fotos, videos, notas, enlaces o informacion todo 100% Anonimo. Borderland Beat? We love to have you in our team, send Sol Prendido or HEARST an email! Want to be a contributor or citizen reporter forBorderland Beat?We love to have you in our team, sendoran email! WARNING: Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. COMMENTS: We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. Highlighting encouraging preliminary first human data in REIMAGINE Phase IIa trial Complete data on Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) cohort will be presented at the Warsaw EPA Conference MADRID, SPAIN and CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Oryzon Genomics, S.A. (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in diseases with strong unmet medical need, announced today that the company will continue its institutional presence in several reputed international investment and medical conferences in the upcoming weeks. Dr. Carlos Buesa, Oryzon's CEO, will present its clinical programs to institutional investors at the 29th Annual Healthcare Conference being held March 19-20, 2019 at the Westin New York Grand Central in New York City. A public presentation, focused mainly on Vafidemstat, will take place on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 from 3:55 PM - 4:25 PM in the Embassy room. For more info on this event please see https://www.opco.com/conferences/healthcare19/index.aspx Dr. Buesa will also advance encouraging topline results on Vafidemstat's REIMAGINE Phase IIa trial on a first cohort of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) patients. Vafidemstat was safe and well tolerated by the BPD patients, who had an overall decrease in the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale. Vafidemstat produced significant improvements in the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). Furthermore, the 4-item agitation/aggression Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) subscale score and the total NPI score evidenced a statistical significant reduction after 2 months of treatment. In addition, the total BPD checklist (BPDCL), a combination of the aggression-related scores and the combination of the remaining scores (i.e. BPDCL scores not associated with aggression) all showed a statistically significant reduction as well. These preliminary data will be presented by Dr. Roger Bullock, Oryzon's Chief Medical Officer, at the 7th European Congress of Psychiatry (EPA 2019) in Warsaw (Poland) from April 6-9, 2019. For more information on this event please visit https://epa-congress.org/2019#.XID8AVVKipo Dr. Bullock commented: "This is the first human clinical data obtained with Vafidemstat and we see a neurologically relevant effect. The fact that we have confirmed the preclinical observations from aggression models and that these observed improvements not only reduce aggressiveness but also improve the overall scales is encouraging as a proof of concept. This will be completed soon with more data from patients with other indications within REIMAGINE, giving valuable information to design further definitive studies". About Oryzon Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (ISIN Code: ES0167733015) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company considered as the European champion in Epigenetics. Oryzon has one of the strongest portfolios in the field. Oryzon's LSD1 program has rendered two compounds Vafidemstat and Iadademstat in clinical trials. In addition, Oryzon has ongoing programs for developing inhibitors against other epigenetic targets. Oryzon has a strong technological platform for biomarker identification and performs biomarker and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurodegenerative diseases. Oryzon has offices in Spain and the United States. For more information, visit www.oryzon.comwww.oryzon.com About Vafidemstat Vafidemstat (ORY-2001) is an oral, brain penetrant drug that selectively inhibits LSD1 and MAOB. The molecule acts on several levels: it reduces cognitive impairment including memory loss and neuroinflammation, and at the same time has neuroprotective effects. In animal studies Vafidemstat not only restores memory but reduces the exacerbated aggressiveness of SAMP8 mice, a model for accelerated aging and Alzheimer's disease, to normal levels and also reduces social avoidance and enhances sociability in murine models. In addition, Vafidemstat exhibits fast, strong and durable efficacy in several preclinical models of multiple sclerosis (MS). Oryzon has already started Phase IIa clinical studies with Vafidemstat in patients with Relapse-Remitting and Secondary Progressive MS (SATEEN), in patients with Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's disease (ETHERAL) and in aggressiveness in patients with different psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders (REIMAGINE, a basket trial). FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This communication contains, or may contain, forward-looking information and statements about Oryzon, including financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, capital expenditures, synergies, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally identified by the words 'expects,'anticipates,'believes,'intends,'estimates' and similar expressions. Although Oryzon believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and holders of Oryzon shares are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Oryzon that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the documents sent by Oryzon to the Spanish Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), which are accessible to the public. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and have not been reviewed by the auditors of Oryzon. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributable to Oryzon or any of its members, directors, officers, employees or any persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement above. All forward-looking statements included herein are based on information available to Oryzon on the date hereof. Except as required by applicable law, Oryzon does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or any other jurisdiction. Oryzon's securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. Any public offering of Oryzon's securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of a prospectus that may be obtained from Oryzon or the selling security holder, as applicable, that will contain detailed information about Oryzon and management, as well as financial statements. US Contact: The Trout Group Thomas Hoffmann +1 646 378 2932 thoffmann@troutgroup.com Spain: ATREVIA Patricia Cobo/Idoia Revuelta +34 91 564 07 25 pcobo@atrevia.com irevuelta@atrevia.com Oryzon: Emili Torrell BD Director +34 93 515 13 13 etorrell@oryzon.com SOURCE: Oryzon Genomics, S.A. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539619/Oryzon-to-Present-Latest-Advances-of-Vafidemstat-at-Oppenheimers-29th-Annual-Healthcare-Conference NEW DELHI, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report Global Cloud Services Brokerage Market, published by KBV research, The Global Cloud Services Brokerage Market size is expected to reach $14.4 billion by 2024, rising at a market growth of 16.4% CAGR during the forecast period. A cloud broker is a third party or company who acts as an intermediary between the cloud service buyer and sellers. The role of a broker could simply be to save the buyer time by researching services from different vendors and provide the buyer with information on how to use cloud computing to promote business goals. The North America market would dominate the Global Cloud Service Brokerage External Brokerage Enablement Market by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 16.4 % during the forecast period. Remarkable improvements and innovations in the CSB technology are likely to support the ruling position of North America among other regions across the global market. Also, the CSB market would witness a rapid boost in this region due to the surge in cloud enablement activities and emerging trends within cloud marketplaces. The Europe market is expected to witness a CAGR of 17% during (2018 - 2024). Additionally, The Asia Pacific market is expected to witness a CAGR of 20% during (2018 - 2024). Access Full Report: https://www.kbvresearch.com/cloud-services-brokerage-market/ The Integration, Sourcing, & Procurement market dominated the Global Cloud Service Brokerage Market by Service Type 2017. The Vendor Management market is expected to witness a CAGR of 14.7% during (2018 - 2024). Additionally, The Governance & Control market is expected to witness highest CAGR of 17% during (2018 - 2024). Based on Organization sixe, the market is segmented into Large Enterprises, and Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises. As companies expand their cloud services, the provision of those services to customers will depend on cloud brokers. Business users and application developers today require immediate availability of cloud services and unlimited scalability. Large Enterprises has dominated the market during the forecast period. "KBV Research has introduced Subscription Based Model which aims to offer market intelligence to its clients ensuring a convenient and economical approach." To know more, visit: https://www.kbvresearch.com/subscription-model/ The market research report has exhaustive quantitative insights providing a clear picture of the market potential in various segments across the globe with country wise analysis in each discussed region. The key impacting factors of the market have been discussed in the report with the elaborated company profiles of IBM Corporation, Dell technologies, Accenture Plc., Wipro, DXC technology, Arrow Electronics Inc., Tech Mahindra Ltd., ComputeNext Inc., Oracle Corporation, and HP Enterprise. Growing collaboration among the market players for the promotion and development of Cloud based solutions has driven the growth of Cloud Brokerage Market. Global Cloud Services Brokerage Market Segmentation By Platform External Brokerage Enablement Internal Brokerage Enablement By Service Type Integration, Sourcing, & Procurement Vendor Management Governance & Control By Deployment Model Public Private Hybrid By Organization Size Large Enterprises Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises By End User Telecom & IT BFSI Retail & Consumer Goods Government Healthcare & Life Sciences Manufacturing Others By Geography North America US Canada Mexico Rest of North America Europe Germany UK France Russia Spain Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Singapore Malaysia Rest of Asia Pacific LAMEA Brazil Argentina UAE Saudi Arabia South Africa Nigeria Rest of LAMEA Companies Profiled IBM Corporation Dell technologies Accenture Plc. Wipro DXC technology Arrow Electronics Inc. Tech Mahindra Ltd. ComputeNext Inc. Oracle Corporation HP Enterprise. Unique Offerings from KBV Research Exhaustive coverage Highest number of market tables and figures Subscription based model available Guaranteed best price Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free Related Reports: Cloud Orchestration Market Cloud ERP Market Cloud-Based Contact Center Market About Us: Knowledge Based Value Research is a global brand and consulting firm serving all kinds of business verticals, government and non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. Our motto is to extend our services that will have a lasting impact on our clients who trust us with their business goals. Our aim is to transform and customize our services to address the fast changing business needs of our clients. With innovative methods, we seek to empower our research tools with new capabilities that would eventually bring about customer delight, as we understand that businesses evolve. Contact: Mr. Alan D'Souza KBV Research 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1407 New York, N.Y. 10001 United States (U.S) Tel: +1 (646) 661-6066 Email: query@kbvresearch.com LOGO: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/519478/KBV_Research_Logo.jpg YOKNEAM, Israel, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- WonderLogix, the leading innovator in coding-free industrial automation systems expands their capabilities to include the Siemens TIA Portal. With this latest integration, Siemens Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) can now leverage the advantages of the WonderLogix software platform for easier, safer, and more cost-effective industrial automation design. WonderLogix's ability to support Siemen's PLCs is due in large part to the $2.2M USD equity-free investment awarded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 SME program. When combined with the current support for Rockwell Automation's PLCs, the WonderLogix platform is now available to a vast majority of PLC implementations worldwide. "We are excited to bring WonderLogix to another important segment of the industrial controls market. This development further expands the capabilities of the WonderLogix platform, enabling implementations of industrial automation projects by professionals, with or without formal PLC programming experience," said Gonen Ziv, CEO of WonderLogix. The WonderLogix platform accomplishes this by allowing users to intuitively define, visually and in plain English, how their facility should operate, and then automatically generate PLC code and the supporting documentation. Additionally, clients are able to import existing functional blocks for re-use in designing new systems or upgrading existing ones. Companies using Siemens PLCs will now enjoy the benefits of using the WonderLogix platform, including increased accuracy due to safety and diagnosis features, enhanced efficiency and ultimately shorter commissioning times and easier software maintenance. Mark Massa, Principal at Plant-IQ, observed "The WonderLogix platform is the Rosetta Stone of industrial automation!! The industry has longed for a unified programming environment that is control system agnostic and we are excited to partner with WonderLogix to bring it to market. It allows for process knowledge to be interpreted into control system design without needing to know a particular vendor's programming environment." About WonderLogix WonderLogix is disrupting the world of industrial automation with patented technology that enables designing and programing control systems in plain English, with no low level coding required. These solutions apply to a range of market segments, including water treatment, energy, biotech, food & beverage and oil & gas. Meet us for a live demo at the Hannover Messe trade fair in Hannover, Germany, Mon, Apr 1, 2019 - Fri, Apr 5, 2019. To learn more about WonderLogix, please visit our website or watch our short video Contact details: Efrat Tsur Marketing Director WonderLogix etsur@wonderlogix.com Closes Series D Funding Movius, an emerging leader in cloud-based secure mobile communications software, announced that John Loiacono has joined the company as CEO. He will assume day-to-day leadership of Movius. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005189/en/ Movius Announces Tech Industry Veteran John Loiacono as CEO (Photo: Business Wire) A Silicon Valley veteran, Loiacono has held senior executive roles across large public companies and has initiated numerous new ventures. Prior to Movius, Loiacono most recently was founder and CEO at Jolata. The company was sold in late 2018. At Adobe, Loiacono was senior vice president and GM of Digital Media and Creative. At Sun Microsystems, he held several senior leadership positions including CMO and executive vice president for Sun's software portfolio. "The Movius opportunity is pervasive. Almost every company on planet Earth is mobilizing their workforce but are challenged to find a way to securely interact with their customers and constituents using all the preferred communication vehicles be that voice, SMS or any other channel they use in their daily lives," said John Loiacono, CEO at Movius. "I'm thrilled because I'm joining a team that features highly passionate and proven innovators who are maniacally focused on delivering this very solution. I look forward to leading this next chapter of growth for the company." Movius provides businesses with an all-in-one mobility platform to mobilize the modern workforce simply and easily while solving compliance and security challenges. The MultiLine solution is a cloud-based app that provides an effective and secure way for employees to communicate with clients through a separate business mobile number. With its patented technology, MultiLine works anywhere any mobile device, any carrier, and across all WiFi, data, and cellular channels. More than 1,400 businesses around the world have deployed MultiLine, including leading enterprises across financial services, insurance, healthcare, construction, and education. In conjunction with the CEO announcement, Movius also announced it closed a Series D Funding round. In addition, Movius Executive Chairman and Interim CEO Krish Panu will return full-time as Managing Director at PointGuard Ventures, a Movius investor. PointGuard Managing Director Pete Thomas will step in as Chairman of the Movius board of directors. "John brings an exceptional track record in executive leadership, along with a strong entrepreneurial drive," said Panu. "It has been a privilege to have stepped in to lead Movius for the past two years during an important period of transformation from signing major customer and partner contracts to expanding the platform and its capabilities and strengthening the balance sheet for growth. After an extensive CEO search, I am confident that John is the right leader to inspire the Movius team through the next phase of hyper-growth. As we pursue this massive strategic market in cloud communications, there is not a better leader to pick up this baton." Loiacono will be based in the company's San Francisco Bay Area office. About Movius Movius is the leading global provider in cloud-based secure mobile communications software, helping enterprises deliver better engagement for their clients. Enterprises around the world use the company's all-in-one mobility platform to connect with their customers in more convenient, cost-effective and compliant ways. The platform offers an easy way to extend and integrate voice, text, and messaging services into other systems, like CRM or collaboration tools. Headquartered in Atlanta, Movius has additional locations in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Bangalore, India. Movius has more than 130 employees around the world and is the platform of choice for the world's leading mobile carriers including Sprint, Telstra, and Telefonica. For more information on Movius, visit https://www.moviuscorp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005189/en/ Contacts: Jennifer Sims Fellner at jenniferf@accesstheagency.com 415-844-6275 The Honorable Judge Kathleen O'Malley to receive NYIPLA Outstanding Public Service Award NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Am Law 100 firm Polsinelli's Peter G. Thurlow, a Shareholder in the firm's New York office and current President of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA), will preside as host at NYIPLA's 97th Annual Dinner in honor of the federal judiciary on Friday, March 22nd at the New York Hilton Midtown. The NYIPLA Annual Dinner is one of the premier events in the legal industry and is expected to be attended by more than 2,300 attorneys and nearly 100 federal judges, as well as members of Congress. The Honorable Kathleen M. O'Malley, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, will be presented with the 17th Annual Outstanding Public Service Award. The evening's keynote speaker will be Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jon Meacham. Polsinelli's Thurlow commented: 'It's an honor to host this prestigious event as NYIPLA President in celebration of the federal judiciary and its administration of justice in the areas of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other intellectual property law. Judge O'Malley is celebrating 25 years on the federal bench, and has served with great distinction and has elevated the federal judiciary by her presence.' About Polsinelli Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 850 attorneys in 22 offices. Ranked #30 for Client Service Excellence1 and #10 for best client relationships 2 among 650 U.S. law firms, Polsinelli was also named among the top 30 best-known firms in the nation3. The firm's attorneys provide value through practical legal counsel infused with business insight, and focus on health care, financial services, real estate, intellectual property, mid-market corporate, labor and employment, and business litigation. 12019 BTI Client Service A-Team Report 22017 BTI Industry Power Rankings 32018 BTI Brand Elite For more information, contact: Cathy Loos at cathy@adam-friedman.com, 347-334-4135 SOURCE: Polsinelli View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539579/Polsinellis-Peter-G-Thurlow-President-of-the-New-York-Intellectual-Property-Law-Association-to-Host-Annual-Dinner-in-Honor-of-the-Federal-Judiciary How can you expect PACU nurses to remain optimistic about not having to deal with postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) patients? TINTON FALLS, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Pressure Point Inc. said there is a simple solution for Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) nursing teams knowing when high-risk PONV surgery patients have been provided adequate levels of optimal PONV management. It's when they see the surgery patients wearing the clinically proven Pressure Right transparent medical adhesive bracelet styled stimulation strips that PACU nurses can confidently assume the likelihood of PONV to be an almost non-existent event for their patients. The supplemental effects of the bilateral skin application of the company's clinically proven medical adhesive bracelet strips applied on patients prior to their induction of anesthesia has proven to enhance the best option for patient nausea management following surgery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np3MimFsS18&feature=youtu.be As a result, the nurses can spend much less time with patients over PONV concerns making the PACU process more efficient and cost-effective. These patients will be inclined to experience a sense of physical and mental well-being by not experiencing PONV episodes while in PACU and after being discharged for recovery at home. Pressure Point said that during the 1970s, Western neurological research recognized that the triggering of endorphins in the brain can be used to change the perception and response based on nerve impulses in the brain. The "gate control theory of pain" established that perception and response to pain mechanisms could be altered resulting from the releasing of endorphins and neuromodulators in the brain by evoking nerve acupuncture impulses from the skin. It was further implied that we are born with a genetically determined neural network of acupuncture signals in the central nervous system that can alter perception in the body of neurological effects. The action mechanism of the Pressure Right 7-day wearable disposable adhesive bracelet strips mitigate nausea responses from occurring associated with anesthesia and surgery. By virtue of its pressure-based acupressure positioning on the patient's skin it evokes similar nerve impulses in the central nervous system, which leads to the triggering of endogenous endorphins released in the brain. This action is known to block ascending nausea and vomiting signals to the brain, thus altering the perception and response transmission to the brain not to react to PONV impulses. The implementation of the Pressure Right 7-day disposable medical adhesive bracelet strips can be described as a non-drug transport method of optimal nausea management, which can support existing PONV drug therapy combinations. In fact, it can even eliminate some of the less effective drugs as well as reduce multiple prescribed dosages during and after surgery. It can be observed that the phenomenon of PONV has been institutionalized over the years as an accepted practice because of the use of pharmaceutical drugs. The pharmaceutical approach has not matched the progress made in identifying PONV candidates based on patient risk analysis. There currently remains a significant gap between patient PONV identification and patient-free outcomes averaging at least 30% annually of the general surgical population that are still impacted by the effects of PONV. The PONV process has been in desperate need of being restructured and better regulated in order to arrive at an optimal solution to this distressing complication after anesthesia and surgery. One way to ease the pain of surgery patients is to accept non-pharmacological methods such as Pressure Right that can deliver the added optimal qualities of PONV prevention that are needed to solve this ongoing crisis. Pressure Right value-added benefits can transform operating room outcomes with a lot more satisfying patients resulting from taking away most nausea management issues. The opportunity is available to you. All you have to do is contact us about Pressure Right, which has been granted FDA certification as an approved medical device in the US and China. About the Company: Pressure Point Inc. is the global provider of the Pressure Right transparent medical adhesive bracelet styled acupressure-mechanism strips. Pressure Right's primary purpose is to trigger the release of endorphins in the brain to protect against neurological induced side effects such as nausea, vomiting and much more. Contact: J. DiLustro, at therapeutics101@verizon.net or at 908 601 8877 Company website: www.pressurerightstrips.com SOURCE: Pressure Point Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539505/Spotlight-on-Post-Surgery-Nausea-and-Vomiting Kelowna, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - Valens GroWorks Corp. (CSE: VGW) (the "Company" or "Valens"), a multi-licensed provider of cannabis products and services focused on various proprietary extraction methodologies, distillation, cannabinoid isolation and purification, as well as associated quality testing announces that it has entered into an agreement with AltaCorp Capital Inc. ("AltaCorp"), as lead underwriter and sole bookrunner and including GMP Securities L.P., Raymond James Ltd., Haywood Securities Inc., and Mackie Research Capital Corp., (together with AltaCorp the "Underwriters"), to increase the size of its previously announced "bought deal" financing from $30,000,001 to $37,499,999 (the "Offering"). Pursuant to the amended terms, the Underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 12,711,864 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of C$2.95 per Unit (the "Offering"). Each Unit is comprised of one common share (a "Common Share") of Valens and one-half common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant a "Warrant") of the Company offered at a price of $2.95 per Unit for gross proceeds of $37,499,999 (the "Offering"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one common share of the Company (a "Warrant Share") for a period of two years following the closing date at an exercise price of $4.00 per Warrant Share, subject to adjustment in certain events. In the event that the volume weighted average trading price of the common shares for ten consecutive trading days exceeds $6.00, the Company shall have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants upon no less that fifteen trading days' notice. In addition, the Underwriters will also have the option, exercisable in whole or in part, to acquire up to an additional 1,906,780 Units at a price of $2.95 per Unit at any time from closing of the Offering and ending 30 days following the closing date for additional gross proceeds of up to $5,625,001 (the "Over-Allotment Option"). The Over-Allotment Option may be exercised by the Underwriters in respect of: (i) Units at the Offering price; or (ii) Common Shares ("Over-Allotment Shares") at a price to be agreed to by the Company and the Lead Underwriter; or (iii) Warrants ("Over-Allotment Warrants") at a price to be agreed to by the Company and the Lead Underwriter; or (iv) any combination of Over-Allotment Shares and/or Over-Allotment Warrants, so long as the aggregate number of Over-Allotment Shares and Over-Allotment Warrants which may be issued under the Over-Allotment Option does not exceed 1,906,780 Over-Allotment Shares and 953,390 Over-Allotment Warrants. The Company plans to use the net proceeds from the Offering to strategically increase the Company's domestic geographic presence, increase production capacity and white label offerings, and for general corporate purposes. The Common Shares will be offered by way of a short form prospectus to be filed in each of the provinces of Canada, other than the Province of Quebec and by way of a private placement in the United States. The Offering is subject to customary conditions including receipt of required regulatory approvals and completion of documentation. Completion of the offering is expected on or about April 9, 2019. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Valens GroWorks Valens GroWorks Corp. is a research-driven, Canadian cannabis company focused on downstream secondary extraction methodology, distillation and cannabinoid isolation and purification, as well as associated quality testing with three wholly-owned subsidiaries located in and around Kelowna, BC. Subsidiary Valens Agritech ("VAL") holds a license to cultivate cannabis and produce cannabis oil under the Cannabis Act, as well as a license to conduct analytical testing for the cannabis industry. VAL currently has extraction processing and supply agreements with various leading producers across Canada. Subsidiary Valens Labs is a Health Canada licensed ISO 17025 accredited cannabis testing lab providing sector-leading analytical services and has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a Centre of Excellence in Plant Based Science. Subsidiary Valens Farms is in the process of becoming a purpose-built facility in compliance with European Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, ensuring the product from this facility can be exported anywhere in the world where Cannabis is nationally legal for medical or adult usage purposes. For more information, please visit http://valensgroworks.com. The Company's investor deck can be found specifically at http://valensgroworks.com/investors/ For further information, please contact: Scott Young Valens GroWorks Corp. Telephone: +1.705.888.2756 U.S. / Europe Investors KCSA Strategic Communications Phil Carlson / Elizabeth Barker VGW@kcsa.com 212.896.1233 / 212.896.1203 Media KCSA Strategic Communications Anne Donohoe adonohoe@kcsa.com 212.896.1265 Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur , and include statements with respect to the expected closing date of the offering, the use of proceeds, the purchase of the facility at 180 Carion Rd, Kelowna, B.C. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risk that the conditions to and approvals required for the offering will not be met or obtained. The Corporation is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. The CSE or other regulatory authority has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this press release. We seek Safe Harbour. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43550 The permanent store follows the successful trial of various pop up locations Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - Peekaboo Beans Inc (CSE: BEAN) (OTCQB: PBBSF) ("Peekaboo Beans" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Company is opening a permanent location in Tsawwassen Mills following the successful course of Peekaboo Beans' trial pop-up shops across the country. The store is now open in the updated location within the mall, which is conveniently located in the busy 'kid zone'. The official grand opening is set for April 14, 2019 and will feature a day full of fun events for kids, along with media and influencer appearances. Traci Costa, Founder and CEO of Peekaboo Beans, commented, "The success of our pop-up locations showed us that there is still value in a physical retail store. A recent study from the International Council of Shopping Centers has also proven that there is a significant link between a physical store leading to greater brand presence and in turn, overall web traffic. We have been working to ensure our brand maximizes all distribution points that are available to us as we continue to expand our revenue margins." Following the Company's business model restructuring in October 2018, focus has been placed on reducing costs while building out Peekaboo Beans' sales network. As part of the omni-channel approach, the flagship location will provide a retail experience that remains preferable for a significant portion of the market, allowing Peekaboo Beans to ensure every distribution channel is accounted for. About Peekaboo Beans Inc. Peekaboo Beans is a children's apparel brand with a focus on ethically produced clothes that are intentionally designed to inspire play. Through an omni-channel approach, Peekaboo Beans engages sellers through social platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, as well as online retailers, to maximize revenue and build brand loyalty. The Company works to promote a playful lifestyle for children by designing comfortable clothes that are built to last. To learn more about Peekaboo Beans, visit: www.peekaboobeans.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Peekaboo Beans Inc. Ms. Traci Costa, President and CEO (604) 279-2326 For more information, please contact the Company at: BEAN@kincommunications.com 1-866-604-6730 Reader Advisory This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43534 Streamlined design makes it easier to find the high-quality, bulk CBD isolate that businesses need to power their sales in the growing cannabis industry DAYTONA BEACH, FL / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Vapor Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: VPOR) (also known as 'the Company') has launched a new streamlined website, www.vpor.com, that makes it easy for distributors and resellers to find the CBD isolate they need to compete in the burgeoning cannabis industry effectively. Vapor Group prides itself in providing only premium bulk CBD isolate made from 100 percent industrialized organic hemp that is produced by top growers in the U.S. from states like Kentucky, Colorado, and Oregon. The Company works directly with B2B businesses in the sector to stay up-to-the-minute on the latest consumer trends in the category. Cutting-edge resellers are eagerly looking for ways to tap into consumers' increasing desire for CBD-infused products, with surveys suggesting that close to 7 percent of Americans currently use the hemp-based compound. 'This isn't a fad, it's a global trend,' said Vapor Group President and Chief Executive Officer David Zinger. 'With the overall global cannabis industry expected to grow to $146.4 billion as early as 2025, there's no better time for business to meet the high consumer demand for CBD. This website is just the first step in quickly connecting businesses with the bulk CBD isolate that they need to meet consumer demand and take their sales to the next level.' Vapor Group recently consolidated its manufacturing and business operations into a new facility in Daytona Beach as part of a broader strategy to help the company integrate into the billion-dollar cannabis and CBD markets. More updates concerning the corporate restructuring of the Company will be announced in the near future. About Vapor Group, Inc. Vapor Group, www.vaporgroup.com, is a publicly traded OTC company, trading under the symbol, VPOR, and today is a holding company for several subsidiaries. Vapor Group is the owner of Simple Cork, Inc., www.simplecork.com, the developer of a new, multi-nationally patented combination wine bottle cork/opener being prepared for market entry. If you have specific questions about the Company, please email us at investors@vaporgroup.com. Safe Harbor: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. CONTACT: Vapor Group, Inc. 954-883-9525 SOURCE: Vapor Group Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539524/Vapor-Group-VPOR-Launches-New-Website-for-Bulk-CBD-Isolate-Distributors-and-Resellers NEW DELHI, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report Global Data Center Cooling Market, published by KBV research, The Global Data Center Cooling Market size is expected to reach $18.8 billion by 2024, rising at a market growth of 13.4% CAGR during the forecast period. The fueling factors behind the significant developments in this industry are augmented demand for improved mobility, operational efficacy, security, and bandwidth. Software-based centers are providing top-notch levels of automation, which is eventually contributing to the market expansion. A growing shift towards digital transformation via connected technology and IoT has triggered the requisite for a data center ecosystem. The North America market would dominate the Global Data Center Cooling Air Conditioners Market by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 10.9 % during the forecast period. In the global economy, it is anticipated to emerge as a strong region, in particular for implementing and developing new technologies. Also, the presence of giants like Facebook, Amazon, Inc., and Google, Inc., in the North America region is expected to contribute to the growth of this market. The Europe market is expected to witness a CAGR of 11.5% during (2018 - 2024). Additionally, The Asia Pacific market is expected to witness a CAGR of 14.4% during (2018 - 2024). Access Full Report: https://www.kbvresearch.com/data-center-cooling-market/ The Room Based Cooling market dominated the Global Data Center Cooling Market by Structure Type 2017. The row-based segment is being anticipated to observe a strong CAGR over the forecast period. In the data center environment, high and variable IT equipment produces heat which cannot be tackled by using the room-based approach. Additionally, The Rack Based Cooling market is expected to witness highest CAGR of 16.1% during (2018 - 2024). "KBV Research has introduced Subscription Based Model which aims to offer market intelligence to its clients ensuring a convenient and economical approach." To know more, visit: https://www.kbvresearch.com/subscription-model/ The precision air conditioners segment of the data center cooling market would register the prominent CAGR over the estimation period. The collective impact of technological advancements and developments in energy-efficient units might surge the demand for precision air conditioners. Furthermore, these conditioners provide a wide range of benefits including demonstration of better air distribution, continuous operation, precise humidity control, and automatic control over individual AC loads for effective cooling. The market research report has exhaustive quantitative insights providing a clear picture of the market potential in various segments across the globe with country wise analysis in each discussed region. The key impacting factors of the market have been discussed in the report with the elaborated company profiles of Emerson Electric, Asetek A/S, Hitachi, Ltd., AdaptivCool, Coolcentric, IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco System, Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., and Schneider Electric SE. Global Data Center Cooling Market Segmentation By Solution Type Air Conditioners Precision Air Conditioners Air Handling Units Chillers Others By Structure Type Room Based Cooling Row Based Cooling Rack Based Cooling By Data Center Type Large Data Center Medium-Sized & Others Data Center By End User Telecom & IT BFSI Retail Healthcare Government & Defense Others By Geography North America US Canada Mexico Rest of North America Europe Germany UK France Russia Spain Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Singapore Malaysia Rest of Asia Pacific LAMEA Brazil Argentina UAE Saudi Arabia South Africa Nigeria Rest of LAMEA Companies Profiled Emerson Electric Asetek A/S Hitachi, Ltd. AdaptivCool Coolcentric IBM Corporation Hewlett Packard Enterprise Cisco System, Inc. Dell Technologies Inc. Schneider Electric SE Unique Offerings from KBV Research Exhaustive coverage Highest number of market tables and figures Subscription based model available Guaranteed best price Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free Related Reports: Data Center Virtualization Market Hyperscale Data Center Market Data Center Colocation Market About Us: Knowledge Based Value Research is a global brand and consulting firm serving all kinds of business verticals, government and non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. Our motto is to extend our services that will have a lasting impact on our clients who trust us with their business goals. Our aim is to transform and customize our services to address the fast changing business needs of our clients. With innovative methods, we seek to empower our research tools with new capabilities that would eventually bring about customer delight, as we understand that businesses evolve. KBV Media Contact: Mr. Alan D'Souza KBV Research 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1407 New York, N.Y. 10001 United States (U.S) Tel: +1(646)661-6066 Email: query@kbvresearch.com https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/519478/KBV_Research_Logo.jpg Performance Index Edition VIII offers the most in-depth look to date on mobile and app marketing landscape SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AppsFlyer , the global leader in mobile attribution and marketing analytics, released today its latest Performance Index , providing marketers with the most comprehensive report to date on the evolving mobile advertising industry. Covering activity in the second half of 2018, the report draws on 370 media networks to examine 20 billion app installs, 11,500 apps, and 39 billion app opens. While Facebook and Google continue to dominate the rankings overall, other power players are emerging -- particularly in the vibrant gaming market. In categories like shopping and ecommerce, Apple Search Ads and Snap still trail Facebook and Google in the rankings but saw continued growth. Additionally, relatively high fraud rates worldwide continued to impact the rankings and chip away at marketers' budgets, prompting marketers to re-evaluate certain tactics like affiliate marketing. The study surveyed media sources in the following regions: North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and, for the first time, rankings for Africa and the Middle East were included, demonstrating the region's growth. Categories surveyed included Shopping, Utilities; Lifestyle & Culture; and Gaming, segmented into Casual, Midcore & Strategy, and Social Casino apps. Among the report's major takeaways: Facebook remains No. 1 network for mobile apps, while Google excels at non-gaming. Continuing its success at sustaining user demand for games, Facebook held onto its position as the top network for mobile apps, driven by its performance in gaming. Google, meanwhile, saw higher growth in non-gaming apps compared to the social media giant, likely a reflection of Google's search intent model. Continuing its success at sustaining user demand for games, Facebook held onto its position as the top network for mobile apps, driven by its performance in gaming. Google, meanwhile, saw higher growth in non-gaming apps compared to the social media giant, likely a reflection of Google's search intent model. Google's retargeting share surges. The search giant's 190 percent jump in its share of the app retargeting landscape marked an impressive showing for Google, while Facebook maintained its No. 1 perch on this metric. The search giant's 190 percent jump in its share of the app retargeting landscape marked an impressive showing for Google, while Facebook maintained its No. 1 perch on this metric. AppLovin is a powerhouse in gaming, while ironSource sees sustained momentum. AppLovin cemented its No. 3 spot in gaming rankings behind Facebook and Google, having made significant strides the last two years in its share of the gaming app install pie. When it comes to driving gaming app installs, ironSource has almost doubled its market share, surpassing Unity Ads with the 4th largest piece of the pie. Having said that, Unity Ads held its #4 position in the universal power ranking in the gaming category overall, compared to ironSource's 5th spot. AppLovin cemented its No. 3 spot in gaming rankings behind Facebook and Google, having made significant strides the last two years in its share of the gaming app install pie. When it comes to driving gaming app installs, ironSource has almost doubled its market share, surpassing Unity Ads with the 4th largest piece of the pie. Having said that, Unity Ads held its #4 position in the universal power ranking in the gaming category overall, compared to ironSource's 5th spot. ROI saw major fluctuations. Among the networks to see the biggest changes were Snap, which rose to fourth place from ninth in the non-gaming ranking, while declining from the top spot to No. 12 in casual games; CrossInstall, which plunged from first to sixth in universal gaming; and Vungle, which rocketed from 12 th to fifth place in universal gaming. Among the networks to see the biggest changes were Snap, which rose to fourth place from ninth in the non-gaming ranking, while declining from the top spot to No. 12 in casual games; CrossInstall, which plunged from first to sixth in universal gaming; and Vungle, which rocketed from 12 to fifth place in universal gaming. Emerging players face significant growth challenges. Among the networks appearing in AppsFlyer's previous Growth Index, which showcases performance of up-and-coming media sources in a specific region, 40 percent saw absolute negative growth, and only 10 percent remained in the rankings of the current and previous editions of the Index. All were emerging media sources. Among the networks appearing in AppsFlyer's previous Growth Index, which showcases performance of up-and-coming media sources in a specific region, 40 percent saw absolute negative growth, and only 10 percent remained in the rankings of the current and previous editions of the Index. All were emerging media sources. Mobile fraud is stubbornly persistent. At 30 percent worldwide, app install fraud remained high, impacting some rankings and underscoring the magnitude of the threat to marketers' budgets and decision-making based on polluted data. At 30 percent worldwide, app install fraud remained high, impacting some rankings and underscoring the magnitude of the threat to marketers' budgets and decision-making based on polluted data. Affiliate models take a hit. Amid growing attention to mobile ad fraud, the second half of 2018 saw a shift away from the affiliate model, with a 12 percent drop in affiliate-driven app installs, even as overall app installs increased by 32 percent. Amid growing attention to mobile ad fraud, the second half of 2018 saw a shift away from the affiliate model, with a 12 percent drop in affiliate-driven app installs, even as overall app installs increased by 32 percent. Africa and the Middle East are on the rise. Making its first appearance on the index, the Africa / Middle East region showed substantial growth, reflecting the region's continued economic development. As the number of smartphone owners increases in the area at breakneck speed, the region represents fertile ground for marketers vying to attract and retain new customers. "AppsFlyer's latest Performance Index reflects our unwavering commitment to serving as the leading source of actionable intelligence and insights for marketers navigating an always-evolving mobile landscape," said Shani Rosenfelder, Head of Mobile Insights at AppsFlyer. "As marketing campaigns become more dynamic, complex, and transcend various media platforms, marketers are looking for ways to engage audiences across a diverse range of media sources, regions, platforms and channels in order to build messages that resonate -- and to connect the dots across the user journey. The latest Performance Index reflects ongoing shifts across the media landscape, and complements our unique position as the go-to resource for marketers navigating the mobile ecosystem." To access the full version of the latest AppsFlyer Performance Index, please visit: https://www.appsflyer.com/indexviii. About AppsFlyer: AppsFlyer's technology is found on 98 percent of the world's smartphones, making it the global leader in mobile attribution and marketing analytics. Data-driven marketers trust AppsFlyer for independent measurement solutions and innovative tools to grow and protect their mobile business. AppsFlyer's platform processes billions of mobile actions every day, empowering marketers and developers to maximize the return on their marketing investments. AppsFlyer's People-based Attribution, NativeTrack Attribution, Marketing Analytics Data, OneLink's Deep linking capabilities and Protect360 enterprise-grade fraud solutions have made AppsFlyer's platform the go-to resource for the most successful mobile apps in the world. With Facebook, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Snap Inc., Tencent and 4,600+ other integrated partners, and clients including HBO, Waze, Alibaba, Skyscanner, Activision and 12,000+ leading brands worldwide, AppsFlyer has 15 global offices to support marketers everywhere. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com . Media Contact: Jill Burkes jill@headline.media +1-917-722-5054 DUBAI, UAE, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dhamani Group is excited to announce the official opening of the flagship boutique of 'Dusoul,' a fine jewelry brand within its portfolio aimed at the aspirational and inspirational millennial generation, at City Centre Mirdif. Dusoul is envisaged as a passionately crafted jewelry brand, born from the desire to develop collections with a more accessible price point whilst ensuring that the key components of the Dhamani group, quality, craftsmanship and design, are retained. The Dusoul brand stands out with its innovative designs and sparkling personality which echo the spirit of the inspirational city from which the brand is created. As such, Dusoul encompasses the modern, aspirational, inquisitive nature of the ever-evolving landscape of Dubai. In the beautifully interior-designed, new boutique, the brand showcases its most stunning and sophisticated fine jewelry collection. Each piece of jewelry presented is carefully designed, created and sourced with infinite attention to detail. "We are delighted to open the second Dusoul boutique in Dubai in such a short span of time and to bring the collections of our brand to this side of Dubai where so many of our clients live,' said Rohit Dhamani, Executive Director and CEO of Dusoul. With over 50 years of experience, the Dhamani Jewels Group is a pioneer in the diamond and jewelry industry across Asia and the Middle East headquartered in Dubai. It is determined on brand promise of delivering value to its target segment. "Dubai is a center of luxury and for us the Middle East is an exciting and growing market that fully understands and appreciates the very best in life,' he added. Maryam Al Hashemi, Director - Precious Metals and Stones, DMCC added: "The Dhamani Group has been a DMCC member company since 2004, and we are proud to support the growth and expansion of their enterprise. The launch of a second Dusoul store is an exciting milestone, and we congratulate them on their continued success.' Soft and natural hues define the boutique's interior which houses internally designed collections brought to life by the natural elements of sun, sea, sand and the stars as well as select international brands endorsed by celebrities and socialites from around the world. These include fine jewelry brands; Palmiero, Casato and Giovanni Ferraris, Brumani, a timeless yet contemporary Brazilian brand, and Moiseikin, a statement brand from Russia. With the brand launch and first boutique opening in Atlantis The Palm last year, Dusoul is now taking the next step in its brand journey by launching the second boutique located at Central Galleria, Ground Floor of City Centre Mirdif. A dynamic store network is planned, a pipeline of 10 further boutiques in a range of locations including Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, Zahia Mall, Sharjah, Nakheel Mall, The Palm, Mall of the Emirates, and Emirates Towers in Dubai, to be opened by Expo 2020 aligning with Dubai's vision. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838663/Dhamani_Jewels.jpg) TEL AVIV, Israel, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gazit Globe (TASE: GZT), a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, management and development of retail and mixed use properties in major urban markets in North America, Brazil, Israel, Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, announced on March 18, 2019 that it has commenced an issuer offer (the "Tender Offer") to purchase up to NIS 290 million (approximately US $80.4 million) in value of its ordinary shares-10 million shares- at a purchase price of NIS 29 (approximately US $8.04) per share (The tender is for all or any of the tendered amount). The closing price of the ordinary shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on March 17, 2019, the last trading day prior to the launch, was NIS 28.01 (approximately US $7.77) per share. The shares subject to the Tender Offer constitute, as of the current time, 5.3% of Gazit's issued and outstanding shares. Gazit will fund the purchase of shares in the Tender Offer with available cash. The last acceptance date of the Tender Offer will be on April 1, 2019. Gazit has retained American Stock Transfer & Trust Company as the Depositary for the Tender Offer. A copy of an English translation of the Israeli tender offer documentor telephone number +972-3-694-8000, which will provide them with the documentation that is needed for the tender of their shares. None of Gazit, its Board of Directors, or the Depositary for the Tender Offer has made or will make any recommendations to shareholders as to whether to tender or refrain from tendering their shares in the Tender Offer. Shareholders must make their own decision as to whether, and how many shares, they will tender, if any. In so doing, shareholders should read and evaluate carefully the information in the English translation of the Israeli tender offer document. Important information regarding the Tender Offer This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell ordinary shares of Gazit. The Tender Offer described in this press release has not yet been consummated, and there can be no assurances that the Company will consummate the Tender Offer on the terms described in this press release or at all. The Tender Offer is being made only pursuant to the English translation of the Israeli Tender Offer document, which Gazit has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, at https://www.gazitglobe.com/investor-relations/ , or by calling Gazit's Investor Relations department, at +972-3-694-8000. About Gazit Gazit Globe is a leading global real estate company focused on the ownership, management and development of retail and mixed use properties in North America, Brazil, Israel, northern, central and Eastern Europe, located in urban growth markets. Gazit Globe is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GZT) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: GZT) and is included in the TA-35 index in Israel. As of September 30, 2018, Gazit Globe owns and operates 101 properties, with a gross leasable area of approximately 2.5 million square meters and a total value of approximately NIS 38.6 billion. In addition, as of September 30, 2018, Gazit Globe owned 31.3% of First Capital Realty Inc. Forward-Looking Statements Keysight's virtual drive testing tools help research partners benchmark base stations and mobile devices in field-realistic lab environment Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, announced the successful completion of the international research project Virtuoso, which focused on using virtualized environments for communication system development and optimization. Virtuoso, funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark, was jointly established by Keysight Technologies, Intel Mobile Communications Denmark ApS, Telenor Denmark A/S, and Aalborg University, in 2014 to trial new 5G technologies. Keysight's Virtual Drive Testing (VDT) Toolset, which uses Keysight's PROPSIM channel emulator to replicate complex real-world radio channel conditions and impairments, was developed as part of Virtuoso. The project provided a lab-based and field-realistic benchmarking methodology that streamlines modem design, integration, verification, and network feature rollout, enabling research partners Intel Mobile Communications Denmark and Telenor Denmark to trial new technologies. "Keysight's network emulation solutions, combined with our expertise in virtual drive test tools, channel modeling and channel emulation, contributed to the successful completion of project Virtuoso, which has accelerated research and development of 5G," said Janne Kolu, director of channel emulation solutions at Keysight Technologies. In 2016, project Virtuoso helped accelerate the first-to-market commercial release of Keysight's VDT Toolset for simulated networks, which is the only tool used as part of China Mobile's test plan to verify mobile device performance in high-speed train scenarios. The mandated test plan requires suppliers to demonstrate device performance under challenging mobility conditions prior to market introduction, which helps improve end-user quality of experience. Keysight's VDT Toolset also enabled Telenor to benchmark LTE mobile devices and base stations to establish a systematic, realistic and repeatable test in a lab-based environment. In addition, Intel Mobile Communications Denmark validated Keysight's fading replay technology, and Aalborg University, collaborating with Keysight, developed state-of-the-art map-based channel models for 5G in support of key 5G use cases. "As a result of our participation in project Virtuoso, the foundations for a productive and durable cooperation have been established and have enabled us to build a new lab using a shielded chamber to facilitate advanced testing of wireless devices," said Brian Jrgensen, head of digital infrastructure, Telenor Technology at Telenor Denmark. "Keysight's virtual drive test tools allowed us to efficiently and automatically benchmark mobile devices and base stations, as well as repeatably reproduce specific field issues in a lab environment." "Virtuoso offered us a great opportunity to perform joint 5G measurement campaigns, develop world-leading research capabilities on over-the-air testing of 5G systems, and publish articles in research journals and patents with Keysight that helped the industry advance 5G technology," said Gert Frlund Pedersen, professor at Aalborg University. About Keysight in 5G Keysight's industry-first 5G end-to-end design and test solutions enable the mobile industry to accelerate 5G product design development from the physical layer to the application layer and across the entire workflow from simulation, design, and verification to manufacturing, deployment, and optimization. Keysight offers common software and hardware platforms compliant to the latest 3GPP standards, enabling the ecosystem to quickly and accurately validate 5G chipsets, devices, base stations and networks, as well as emulate subscriber behaviour scenarios. Additional information about Keysight's 5G solutions is available at www.keysight.com/find/5G. About Keysight Technologies Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) is a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers, and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight's solutions optimize networks and bring electronic products to market faster and at a lower cost with offerings from design simulation, to prototype validation, to manufacturing test, to optimization in networks and cloud environments. Customers span the worldwide communications ecosystem, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics end markets. Keysight generated revenues of $3.9B in fiscal year 2018. More information is available at www.keysight.com. Additional information about Keysight Technologies is available in the newsroom at https://www.keysight.com/go/news and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005463/en/ Contacts: Geri Lynne LaCombe, Americas/Europe +1 303 662 4748 geri_lacombe@keysight.com Fusako Dohi, Asia +81 42 660-2162 fusako_dohi@keysight.com novae and Borgun to co-create solutions to expand and improve payment and loyalty options for banks and merchants while enhancing the customer experience REYKJAVIK, Iceland, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Borgun, a European payment processor and merchant acquirer, has signed an agreement with the fintech and insurtech company novae to support its digital transformation. Borgun and novae aim to co-create solutions in a digital capability framework (DCF) developed by novae that leverages invisible payments, digital currency, embedded travel-related benefits, push payments and other technologies aimed at improving and expanding payment and rewards options for Borgun's bank and merchant clients while enhancing the customer experience. The DCF will feature a user-centric, universal, cross-border, all-digital, mobile-first loyalty platform that enables bank consumers and merchants to redeem points anytime, anywhere (online and in-store), from any device (mobile, desktop or wearable) and using any payment method (credit, debit, points or split payment). "Through our partnership with novae, Borgun is excited to harness online and mobile tools that will take customer benefits and the customer experience to the next level," said Smundur Smundsson, Borgun's CEO. "novae is honored to have the opportunity to work with such an industry leader as Borgun to support its digital transformation," said Sergio Arana, novae's CEO and Head of Ventures. Thanks to novae's single, smart payment solution on an invisible and securely encrypted payment platform, Borgun clients will be able to manage rewards as digital currency that can be used alone or split with other payment methods, such as credit or debit cards registered on the platform, to make payments online and contactless in-store around the world. "Borgun intends to leverage the powerful solution novae is creating with us not only in Iceland, but also in the UK, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other markets where our company operates," said Petur Fridriksson, Borgun's General Manager, Card Services and Business Development. "novae's alliance with Borgun is an exciting one, and this is only the beginning. Iceland will be our gateway for expansion throughout Europe," said Adriana P. Sanchez Krieger, novae's Head of Europe. Finally, by integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, novae's platform will help Borgun better understand the interactions and purchase behaviors of its clients to proactively present increasingly relevant offers. Leveraging novae's Hum/bot technology, Borgun will seamlessly combine AI-powered customer interactions when speed is the priority with human interactions when preferred, as well as provide support to customers in the messaging channels they use every day. About Borgun Founded in 1980, Borgun was the first issuer and acquirer of credit cards in Iceland, providing acquiring services to merchants in six countries in Europe. It offers a comprehensive range of simple, secure payment processing solutions that can be tailored to fit specific business needs. Borgun is a member of Visa Inc. and MasterCard International and has exclusive agreements with JCB, Diners / Discover, Union Pay and American Express. Borgun is a licensed financial institution regulated by Iceland's Financial Supervisory Authority. For more information, visit us at borgun.com or write borgun@borgun.is. About novae novae improves the customer experience through technologies and services that make mobile transactions, communications and other business-consumer interactions faster, easier, more effective and more enjoyable. Headquartered in San Francisco and with a business and innovation hub in Miami, an insurtech hub in London and shared services centers in Buenos Aires and Bogota, novae has clients across the Americas and Europe. novae is part of a&a Co, a global equity investment company based in San Francisco and focused on creating, acquiring and investing in artificial intelligence (AI), mobile services and payments/loyalty ventures. novae's strategic partners include Visa, CyberSource, Canopius Syndicate at Lloyd's, Expedia and AAXIS. Investors in novae include the private debt and equity capital funds CASEIF III LP and ExWorks Capital LLC. For more information, visit us at wearenovae.com or on Twitter or LinkedIn. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838675/novae_Borgun_Executives.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/403593/IATAI_Enterprises_Logo.jpg Enter for Recognition, Global Exposure and New Business Opportunities Today! LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2019 European Business Awards is now open and calling all successful businesses to enter and get the recognition and global exposure they deserve. To enter your company go to www.businessawardseurope.com Companies can enter for the opportunity to win in one of 18 categories. As well as global recognition, other benefits include networking and new business opportunities, increased brand exposure and inclusion in an influential business community. Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards, said: "The European Business Awards recognises the drivers, innovators and game changers: the successful businesses that look beyond their own desks and office blocks to make a difference to the world. If that is you then enter today." He continued: "The Awards exist to develop a stronger, more successful and more ethical business community in Europe because we believe that businesses play a key role in tackling major global issues such as unemployment, climate change and widespread poverty." The European Business Awards is one of the world's largest and most prestigious independent cross border, cross sector business competitions. It analysed over 111,000 companies from 34 countries in last year's competition alone. This year the Awards is also pleased to announce award winning private equity firm, Inflexion, as the new sponsor for its Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Andrew Priest, a Partner at Inflexion said: "We are honoured to sponsor The European Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which recognises the vision, talent and tenacity of Europe's vibrant community of entrepreneurs." To read what others say about the awards go to www.businessawardseurope.com/testimonials As well as a robust, transparent competition, The European Business Awards runs in-depth research, alumni groups, conferences and webinars to give leaders from different industries the opportunity to learn, share and solve major challenges. Adrian Tripp said: "We understand the power of networking and bring together the movers and shakers from multiple sectors all under the same roof." This year the competition has a three-stage process. Following entry, the Awards will publish its "Ones to Watch" list of the most successful, innovative and ethical businesses from each European country. After further judging, 18 National Winners in each country will be announced in September (one National Winner for each category), and then in December 2019 the final 18 European Winners will be announced at a high profile two day Business Summit and Awards Gala Dinner, bringing together over 700 of the most successful and influential businesses in Europe. The Awards Categories for 2019: The Inflexion European Entrepreneur of the Year Award The ELITE Award for Growth Strategy of the Year The New Business of The Year Award The Germany Trade and Invest Award for International Expansion The Social Responsibility and Environmental Awareness Award The Workplace and People Development Award The Award for Innovation 0 - 25M The Award for Innovation 26M - 150M The Award for Innovation 150 + The Customer and Market Engagement Award 0 - 25M The Customer and Market Engagement Award 26M - 150M The Customer and Market Engagement Award 150 + The Digital Technology Award 0 - 25M The Digital Technology Award 26M - 150M The Digital Technology Award 150 + The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 0 - 25M The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 26M - 150M The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 150 + To enter this year's European Business Awards or for more information about the competition please go to www.businessawardseurope.com About the European Business Awards: The European Business Awards is one of the world's largest and most prestigious cross border, cross sector business competitions. Since 2007, it has been rewarding the most successful, ethical and innovative businesses across Europe; businesses of all sizes that are a force for social good and making a difference to the world we live in. Our primary purpose is to support and develop a strong, successful and more ethical business community as we truly believe businesses play a key role in tackling major global issues such as unemployment, climate change and widespread poverty. The European Business Awards is now in its 12th year. Last year it considered over 111,000 businesses from 34 countries. Sponsors and partners include Inflexion, ELITE, Germany Trade & Invest and PR Newswire. Twitter: @The_EBAs Facebook: www.facebook.com/businessawardseurope LinkedIn: the company page "The European Business Awards" Instagram: the_ebas About Inflexion: Inflexion is as an award-winning mid-market private equity firm, investing 10m to 250m for a minority or majority stake across all sectors. As a firm founded by entrepreneurs 20 years ago, it backs high-growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and works in partnership to accelerate growth. It supports businesses to achieve the next stage of their growth through international expansion, mergers and acquisitions, digital expertise, operational improvements, talent management and access to Inflexion's network. With experts in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and India, and the U.S., our investee companies benefit from privileged access to these growth markets. www.inflexion.com About ELITE: ELITE is a full-service programme designed to share best practice and increase growth opportunities for fast growing companies, with a focus on understanding the capital markets. ELITE is an innovative programme based on exclusive training and a tutorship model, supported by access to the business and financial community. Its aim is to prepare companies for their next stage of growth and investment. For further information on the programme, companies and the full list of partners, please go to: www.elite-growth.com About Germany Trade & Invest: Germany Trade & Invest is the economic development agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The company helps create and secure extra employment opportunities, strengthening Germany as a business location. With more than 50 offices in Germany and abroad and its network of partners throughout the world, Germany Trade & Invest supports German companies setting up in foreign markets, promotes Germany as a business location and assists foreign companies setting up in Germany. About PR Newswire: PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on PR Newswire please visit www.prnewswire.co.uk Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838732/Winner_2018.jpg 2018 Full-year results and business update Clinical trials set to announce key data in 2019 Invir.IO platform designed to deliver a new generation of oncolytic viruses has demonstrated promising preclinical data and is progressing to clinical stage Launch of myvac TM our platform for highly innovative virus-based, individualized immunotherapy has already achieved multiple milestones translated into a strategic partnership with NEC Received $48 million in Tasly Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. ('Tasly') shares through the sale of TG1050 and TG6002 rights to Tasly in Greater China Key financial elements: 8 million in net income in 2018 as a result of the Tasly deal 20 million revolving credit facility secured, using its Tasly shares as collateral Financial visibility extended until mid-2020 Conference call scheduled today at 6:30 p.m. CET (in English) (details at the end of this release) Regulatory News: Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG) (Paris:TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies to transform the fight against solid tumors and infectious diseases, publishes its financial results for 2018 and provides an update on its clinical and preclinical portfolio, and its technology platforms. Philippe Archinard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Transgene, commented: "2018 was a year of intense activity for Transgene resulting in significant progress across all aspects of the business. We continued to advance our promising clinical assets and look forward to announcing data from our key clinical trials in the second half of 2019. Our R&D efforts were focused on our two cutting-edge technology platforms: oncolytic viruses and therapeutic vaccines, engineered to deliver a step change improvement in the treatment of solid tumors. With the Invir.IOTM platform, we design a new virus with a more potent oncolytic effect and are arming it with strong immune-modulating agents to treat tumor which are today resistant to existing therapies. Positive data were presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting 2018. We have an ambitious program and we are currently evaluating several preclinical Invir.IOTM candidates which we expect to bring to the clinic in H1 2020. In September we launched myvacTM, a highly innovative viral vector-based, individualized immunotherapy approach combining the use of the tumor's neoantigens with Transgene's viral vector expertise to create a completely novel patient specific treatment option for solid tumors. We signed a strategic collaboration with NEC to leverage its artificial intelligence capabilities to identify candidate neoantigen targets. With the know-how and highly skilled experts at NEC as well as Institut Curie, HalioDx and Traaser, we are targeting to initiate two clinical trials in H2 2019 with our lead myvacTM candidate TG4050. This is an exciting time for Transgene as we advance our viral-vector based immunotherapies to transform the fight against solid tumors." Clinical Pipeline Review Transgene has made significant progress with its key clinical trials, the majority of which are designed to produce proof-of-concept clinical data. Positive results from these trials would create significant value and partnering opportunities. TG4010 + Opdivo (ICI) (nivolumab) + chemotherapy Phase 2 Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 1st line Trial of TG4010 in combination with nivolumab and chemotherapy in patients whose adenocarcinoma cells express low or undetectable levels of PD-L1. Recruitment is progressing well in US and EU with the opening of additional centers in EU; recruitment completion expected in Q2 2019 Bristol-Myers Squibb supplying nivolumab through a clinical collaboration Data on the study's primary endpoint (ORR) on all evaluable patients (n=35) expected in H2 2019 Pexa-Vec + sorafenib (PHOCUS) Phase 3 Advanced liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma HCC) 1st line Clinical trial being conducted by Transgene's partner, SillaJen, Inc. (sponsor) Ongoing global recruitment Futility analysis expected mid-2019 First efficacy readout expected in 2020 Pexa-Vec + Opdivo (ICI) (nivolumab) Phase 1/2 Advanced liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma HCC) 1st line Several active trial sites in France and Italy Safety confirmed by Safety Review Committee (SRC) in February 2019, Phase 2 part on-going US sites to be activated in Q2 2019 Interim analysis on 15 patients expected 2H 2019 (primary endpoint: ORR) TG4001 + Bavencio (ICI) (avelumab) Phase 1/2 HPV-positive cancers including oropharyngeal head and neck cancer 2nd line Clinical collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA and Pfizer, for the supply of avelumab Following positive SRC the Phase 2 part is ongoing and additional sites are being activated in Europe Next clinical readout expected in H2 2019 TG6002 Phase 1/2a TG6002 is the first candidate from Transgene's next generation oncolytic platform which is based on an improved viral backbone. This oncolytic virus, given in combination with the prodrug 5-FC, has been designed to produce the cytotoxic 5-FU locally in the tumor Gastro-intestinal adenocarcinoma (colon cancer for Phase 2) IV route Multi-center trial on-going in Belgium, France and Spain First clinical readout expected in H2 2019 Metastatic colon cancer (liver metastasis) IHA route Coordinating investigator: Adel Samson, St James's Hospital, Leeds (UK) Multi-center trial in UK; INDs submitted in UK First patient expected to be treated in Q4 2019 TG1050 + Standard of care Phase 1 Chronic hepatitis B Trial completed Positive results from Phase 1 clinical trial of TG1050 in Chronic Hepatitis B presented at the AASLD Liver Meeting 2018: confirmation of safety, and immunogenicity Transgene is looking for partner to further advance this product TG4050 Two Phase 1 in preparation TG4050 is a therapeutic vaccine developed for individual patients, based on the specific mutations identified in the patient's own tumor Collaboration with NEC; Transgene and NEC will co-finance 2 trials in: Ovarian cancer (after first line surgery and adjuvant therapy) First patient expected Q4 2019 (evaluation of safety and immunogenicity) Trial will be conducted in the US and France HPV-negative head neck cancer (after surgery and adjuvant therapy) First patient expected in Q4 2019 (evaluation of safety and immunogenicity) Trial will be conducted in the UK and France Transgene's Cutting-edge Oncolytics and Vaccine Platforms Poised to Change the Treatment of Solid Tumors In 2018, Transgene significantly reinforced its preclinical capabilities, capitalizing on its global leading viral vector expertise in two of the most attractive fields of onco-immunotherapy: oncolytic viruses (OV) and therapeutic vaccines. With Invir.IO, its new and more potent oncolytic virus platform Transgene is designing multi-functional OVs that it believes will deliver a step change in the treatment of advanced solid tumors. This is still an area of significant medical need despite the rapid growth in the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors either alone or in combination with other anti-cancer agents. With myvacTM its individualized immunotherapy platform, Transgene is developing therapeutic vaccines designed for each individual patient which are expected to deliver improved outcomes in patients with less advanced solid tumors, as an adjuvant therapy following surgery for the first proof of concept trials. The lead candidates from both platforms are expected to enter clinical development in the next 12 months. Invir.IOTM: the next generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses to treat advanced solid tumors With Invir.IOTM, Transgene is making good progress in the increasingly attractive field of novel oncolytic viruses (OVs). Oncolytic viruses are an emerging class of targeted anticancer therapies designed to selectively infect, replicate in, and lyse malignant cells without causing harm to normal, healthy tissues. In addition to direct oncolytic activity, OVs have shown dual promise as immunotherapeutic agents: the viral infection leads to an immunogenic tumor cell death, triggers innate and adaptive immune responses that mediate further tumor destruction and these viruses can also deliver very potent immunotherapeutic agents selectively in the tumor micro environment. Transgene expects its Invir.IO viruses to deliver a step change on these two fronts. The Invir.IO platform is designed to generate novel multifunctional oncolytic virus that has a more potent oncolytic viral backbone and incorporate several transgenes encoding for a range of specific anticancer weapons that are capable of better modulating the tumor micro-environment, with the aim of improving the treatment outcomes of patients with solid tumors. In November 2018, Transgene presented positive data of its antibody-armed oncolytic vaccinia virus at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). This oncolytic vaccinia virus has demonstrated its ability to ensure the expression of BioInvent's anti-CTLA-4 antibody in the tumor with low systemic exposure. It also showed improved efficacy and a better safety profile compared to the combination of the antibody and the non-armed corresponding oncolytic virus in pre-clinical models. The Company is progressing very well in developing its large preclinical portfolio of candidates. We are committed and on track to bring to the clinic the OV encoding an anti-CTLA-4 antibody (collaboration with BioInvent), as well as at least one other OV encoding for an anti-cancer agent in H1 2020. myvacTM: New generation of individualized immunotherapy using Transgene's unique MVA based platform In September 2018, Transgene announced the launch of its myvacTM platform, which has been designed to produce individualized, MVA-based immunotherapies that stimulate and educate the immune system of patients to recognize and destroy tumor cells. The personalized immunotherapy product is based on the mutations that are identified in the patient's own tumor. These mutations are highly relevant targets since they lead to the expression of tumor neoantigens which are known to trigger a stronger immune response than tumor associated antigens. In March 2019, Transgene formalized its strategic collaboration with NEC aimed at treating cancer patients. NEC's artificial intelligence algorithms will be used to predict which of the tumor neoantigens identified by sequencing in a given patient's solid tumor are the most appropriate neoantigens to integrate into the genome of the viral vector (MVA). Transgene will design and manufacture a personalized vaccine for the treatment of this specific patient using the myvacTM technology. NEC will co-finance the first two clinical studies that Transgene will conduct with the lead myvac vaccine TG4050.These twoclinical trials will be conducted in Europe and in US, in patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancers and ovarian cancer. Both trials are expected to start in Q4 2019 Transgene has developed and validated its PilotClin manufacturing unit in order to efficiently produce GMP batches of its personalized vaccines. Several research tracks are also being pursued to optimize further the immunogenicity of the myvacTM therapeutic vaccines. In March 2019, the NEOVIVA project which supports the industrial development of the myvacTM platform, was awarded a grant from Bpifrance's 'Investments for the Future' program. Under the agreement, Transgene will receive 2.6 million over the five-year duration of the program from Bpifrance. The NEOVIVA project aims to further develop this innovative technology in collaboration with its three partners: HalioDx, Traaser and the Curie Institute. The NEOVIVA project complements the already existing collaboration between Transgene and NEC. Sale of the Rights of TG1050 and TG6002 in Greater China On July 10, 2018, Transgene entered into a set of agreements with Tasly Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. ('Tasly') under which Transgene sold both the T101 Greater China patent rights and its entire 50% stake in the Transgene Tasly (Tianjin) joint venture which already owned the T601 Greater China patent rights. Following these agreements, Tasly now holds all rights to research, develop and commercialize T601 and T101 in Greater China. In return, Transgene received a total of 27.4 million new Tasly shares valued at $48 million (41 million) based on the subscription price in pre-IPO financing round of Tasly, which took place concurrently with the transaction with Transgene. Transgene's stake represents 2.53% of Tasly's expanded share capital. Tasly has announced its intention to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The transactions were finalized in August 2018. NB: T601 and T101 are products developed in China and respectively incorporating Transgene's TG6002 and TG1050 patented technologies. 20 million revolving credit facility secured with Natixis Transgene has recently secured a 20 million loan (revolving credit) facility with Natixis, the French Corporate and Investment bank. The interest-bearing facility will have a 30-month term and Transgene will be able to draw and reimburse the facility at its discretion during the term. Transgene has used its shares in the Chinese biotech company Tasly as collateral for this loan. Key Financials Net profit of 8.0 million in 2018 , compared to a loss of 32.3 million in 2017. The net profit that Transgene achieved in 2018 was mainly generated by the transaction with Tasly Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. , compared to a loss of 32.3 million in 2017. The net profit that Transgene achieved in 2018 was mainly generated by the transaction with Tasly Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Net operating expenses of 35.5 million in 2018 , compared to 36.1 million in 2017 , compared to 36.1 million in 2017 Net cash burn for 2018 was reduced to 24.5 million compared to 28.1 million in 2017 million compared to 28.1 million in 2017 Cash available at year-end 2018: 16.9 million, compared to 41.4 million at the end of 2017 "In 2018 we were able to continue a high level of investment in our clinical and per-clinical programs while at the same time reducing our cash burn via prudent financial management. Operating costs remain under good control and following the recent financing agreement with Natixis we now have extended our financial visibility until mid-2020." said Jean-Philippe Del, Vice President, Finance The financial statements for 2018 as well as management's discussion and analysis are attached to this press release (Appendices A and B). Financial Outlook 2019 Transgene expects its cash burn for 2019 to be between 25 million and 30 million. The Company has the financial resources to execute its strategy through to mid-2020. The Board of Directors of Transgene met on March 20, 2019, under the chairmanship of Philippe Archinard and closed the 2018 financial statements. Audit procedures have been performed by the statutory auditors and the delivery of the auditors' report is ongoing. The Board will convene Transgene's annual general meeting of shareholders for May 22, 2019 and proposes to renew all four directors whose terms are set to expire at that meeting. The Board of directors was informed of the decision of Mr Alain Merieux to retire from his board seat effective as of the AGM on May 22, 2019. The Board thanks Mr Merieux for his long-time continued support of Transgene and has named Mr Merieux Honorary President of Transgene in recognition of his contributions. The Board has proposed the nomination of Mr Hedi Ben Brahim, Vice President for immunotherapy at Institut Merieux, to fill the seat vacated by Mr Merieux. The Company's registration document, which includes the annual financial report, will be available in April 2019 on Transgene's website, www.transgene.fr A conference call in English is scheduled today, on March 20th at 6:30 p.m. CET Webcast link to English language conference call: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/nf6e6vaw Participant telephone numbers: France: +33 (0) 1 7099 4740 UK (Toll Free): 0808 109 0700 US (Toll Free): +1 866 966 5335 Password: Transgene A replay of the call will be available on the Transgene website (www.transgene.fr) following the live event. About Transgene Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a publicly traded French biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company's lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010, a therapeutic vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer, Pexa-Vec, an oncolytic virus against liver cancer, and TG4001, a therapeutic vaccine against HPV-positive head and neck cancers. The Company has several other programs in clinical development, including TG1050 (a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B) and TG6002 (an oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumors). With its proprietary Invir.IO, Transgene builds on its expertise in viral vectors engineering to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. myvacTM, an individualized MVA-based immunotherapy platform designed to integrate neoantigens, completes this innovative research portfolio. TG4050, the first candidate selected from the myvac platform, will enter the clinic for the treatment of ovarian cancer and head and neck cancer. Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance, or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future Appendix A: Financial statements 2018 Consolidated balance sheet, IFRS (in thousands) ASSETS December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents 1,885 1,643 Other current financial assets 15,015 39,762 Cash, cash equivalents and other current financial assets 16,900 41,405 Trade receivables 784 2,564 Inventories 443 270 Other current assets 11,627 14,497 Assets available for sale Total current assets 29,754 58,736 NON-CURRENT ASSETS Property, plant and equipment 13,217 13,604 Intangible assets 180 250 Financial fixed assets 45,158 3,971 Investments in associates 2,916 Other non-current assets 20,234 21,396 Total non-current assets 78,789 42,137 TOTAL ASSETS 108,543 100,873 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 CURRENT LIABILITIES Trade payables 4,791 2,868 Financial liabilities 11,207 10,283 Provisions for risks 76 356 Other current liabilities 3,463 3,359 Total current liabilities 19,537 16,866 NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Financial liabilities 48,369 51,717 Employee benefits 3,778 3,710 Other non-current liabilities 158 491 Total non-current liabilities 52,305 55,918 Total liabilities 71,842 72,784 EQUITY Share capital 62,276 62,075 Share premiums and reserves 512,581 512,228 Retained Earnings (545,468) (513,194) Profit (loss) for the period 8,026 (32,274) Other comprehensive income (714) (746) Total equity attributable to Company shareholders 36,701 28,089 TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 108,543 100,873 Consolidated income statement, IFRS (in thousands, except for per-share data) December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Revenue from collaborative and licensing agreements 1,335 2,099 Government financing for research expenditure 5,749 5,358 Other income 35,835 687 Operating income 42,919 8,144 Research and development expenses (27,349) (30,359) General and administrative expenses (6,991) (5,674) Other expenses (1,221) (154) Net operating expenses (35,551) (36,187) Operating income from continuing operations 7,368 (28,043) Finance cost (2,017) (2,287) Share of profit (loss) of associates 2,675 (1,944) Income (loss) before tax 8,026 (32,274) Income tax expense Net income 8,026 (32,274) Basic loss per share () 0.13 (0.52) Diluted earnings per share () 0.13 (0.52) Cash Flow statement, IFRS (in thousands) December 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 Cash flow from operating activities Net income/(loss) from continuing operations 8,026 (32,274) Cancellation of financial income 2,017 2,287 Elimination of non-cash items Income of associates (2,675) 1,944 Provisions (333) (1,070) Depreciation 1,733 1,691 Share-based payments 467 436 Others (35,590) 60 Net cash generated from/(used in) operating activities before change in working capital and other operating cash flow (26,355) (26,926) Change in operating working capital requirements Current receivables and prepaid expenses 2,268 (2,117) Inventories and work in progress (173) (49) Research tax credit (5,899) (5,530) Assets available for sale Other current assets (23) 941 Trade payables 2,031 (1,778) Prepaid income (368) 766 Employee benefits (6) (663) Other current liabilities 144 (14) Net cash used in operating activities (31,816) (35,370) Cash flows from investing activities (Acquisitions)/disposals of property, plant and equipment (1,359) (432) (Acquisitions)/disposals of intangible assets (45) (30) Other (acquisitions)/disposals 6 100 Net cash used in investing activities (1,398) (362) Cash flow from financing activities Net financial income proceeds (75) (113) Gross proceeds from the issuance of shares 14,390 Share issue costs (1,118) Conditional subsidies 30 2,528 (Acquisition)/disposal of other financial assets 24,790 11,651 Net tax credit financing 5,666 6,307 Bank loan Financial leases (391) (1,121) Net cash generated from/(used in) financing activities: 30,020 32,524 Effect of changes in exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents 1 (4) Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 242 (3,212) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,643 4,855 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 1,885 1,643 Investments in other current financial assets 15,015 39,762 Cash, cash equivalents and other current financial assets 16,900 41,405 Appendix B: Management Discussion of 2018 Financials Revenue During the periods under review, income from the collaboration and licensing agreements, representing 1.3 million in 2018 versus 2.1 million in 2017, consisted primarily of the following items: research and development services for third parties amounting to 1.3 million in 2018 (0.9 million in 2017); and income related to the commercial use of technologies or products provided under license by Transgene amounting to 0.03 million in 2018 compared to 1.2 million in 2017. In 2017, it primarily corresponded to the TG3003 product license granted to ElsaLys Biotech SA for 1.0 million. Public funding for research expenses accounted for 5.7 million in 2018 versus 5.4 million in 2017, referring mainly to the research tax credit and to grants received and receivable: Other income Other income amounted to 35.8 million in 2018 versus 0.7 million in 2017. This increase is attributable to the sale of rights in TG1050 for Greater China to Tasly BioPharmaceuticals Co., Ltd for 35.6 million in July 2018. Operating expenses Research and development (R&D) expenses R&D expenses amounted to 27.3 million in 2018 versus 30.4 million in 2017. The following table details R&D expenses by type: In millions of euros Dec. 31, 2018 Dec. 31, 2017 Change Payroll costs 11.2 11.1 +1% Share-based payments 0.3 0.3 +20% Intellectual property expenses and licensing costs 0.9 4.8 -81% External expenses for clinical projects 7.9 7.0 +13% External expenses for other projects 1.5 1.5 Operating expenses 3.7 3.9 -5% Depreciation and provisions 1.8 1.8 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENSES 27.3 30.4 -10% Employee costs allocated to R&D (salaries, employer contributions and related expenses) amounted to 11.2 million in 2018, compared to 11.1 million in 2017. Intellectual property and licensing expenses amounted to 0.9 million in 2018 versus 4.8 million in 2017. This decrease was mostly due to the 3.8 million installment payment made to SillaJen, Inc. in the first half of 2017 with the inclusion of the first PHOCUS study patient in Europe. External expenses for clinical projects were 7.9 million in 2018, versus 7.0 million in 2017. Other external expenses, including expenses for research, preclinical, amounted to 1.5 million in 2018, as in 2017. Operating expenses, including the cost of operating research laboratories, amounted to 3.7 million in 2018, compared to 3.9 million in 2017. General and administrative (G&A) expenses General and administrative (G&A) expenses amounted to 7.0 million in 2018 versus 5.7 million in 2017. The following table details G&A expenses by type: In millions of euros Dec. 31, 2018 Dec. 31, 2017 Change Payroll costs 3.2 3.0 +7% Share-based payments 0.2 0.2 Fees and administrative expenses 2.8 1.6 +75% Other fixed costs 0.7 0.8 -13% Depreciation and provisions 0.1 0.1 GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 7.0 5.7 +23% Employee costs allocated to G&A amounted to 3.2 million in 2018 versus 3.0 million in 2017. Fees and administrative expenses amounted to 2.8 million in 2018 versus 1.6 million in 2017. This increase is due to Tasly transaction. Other expenses Other expenses amounted to 1.2 million in 2018 versus 0.2 million in 2017.They consist primarily of a depreciation in the receivables for ElsaLys Biotech SA of 1.1 million. Financial income (loss) Financial income showed a loss of 2.0 million in 2018 versus a loss of 2.3 million in 2017. Financial income (investment income) amounted to 0.3 million in 2018, as in 2017. Financial expenses amounted to 2.3 million in 2018 (2.6 million in 2017) and were mainly related to: bank interest on the loan received from the EIB (0.8 million, as was the case in 2017) the present discounting of the contingent proceeds on the sale of Jennerex, Inc. stock to SillaJen, Inc. in 2014 (0.3 million vs. 0.8 million in 2017); the present discounting of the debt owed to Bpifrance on the advances received under the ADNA program (1 million versus 0.7 million in 2017); the interest on financial leases (0.2 million in 2018, the same as in 2017). Net income Net profit was 8.0 million in 2018, compared with a net loss of 32.3 million in 2017. Net earnings per share were 0.13 in 2018 vs. a net loss of 0.52 in 2017. Investments Investments in tangible and intangible assets (net of disposals) amounted to 0.5 million in 2018 (0.6 million in 2017). Repayable advances and loans In 2018, the Company refinanced its 2017 research tax credit of 5.4 million. To this effect, it took out a bank loan with Bpifrance that matures in mid-2021, at which time the receivable is expected to be paid by the French government. The tax credit for competitiveness and employment was also financed in 2018 in the amount of 0.1 million through a loan from Bpifrance (which matures in mid-2022). Since 2016, Transgene benefits of a credit facility granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) for 10 million. This loan is payable in 2021. The interest accrued is payable starting in 2019. Liquidity and capital resources The Company's cash is invested in short-term money-market mutual funds or placed, at market conditions, in a cash pool managed by the majority shareholder of Transgene, Institut Merieux. At December 31, 2018, the Company had 16.9 million in cash available, compared with 41.4 million at December 31, 2017. Cash flow The Company's net cash burn amounted to 24.5 million in 2018 versus 28.1 million in 2017. Post-closing events In March 2019, Transgene has secured a 20 million loan (revolving credit) facility with Natixis. The interest-bearing facility will have a 30-month term and Transgene will be able to draw and reimburse the facility at its discretion during the term. Transgene has used its shares in the Chinese biotech company Tasly as collateral for this loan. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005618/en/ Contacts: Transgene: Jean-Philippe Del +33 (0)3 88 27 91 04 investorrelations@transgene.fr Media: Citigate Dewe Rogerson EU: David Dible/ Sylvie Berrebi US: Marine Perrier-Barthez + 44 (0)20 7638 9571 +1 424 341 9140 transgene@citigatedewerogerson.com Regulatory News: The Combined Shareholders' Meeting of Air Liquide (Paris:AI) will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 3 pm, on first notice, at the Palais des Congres in Paris, France.The proposed resolutions, approved by Air Liquide's Board of Directors on February 13, 2019 and to be submitted to the Shareholders' Meeting, as well as all the information concerning the Meeting are available on the Group's website, www.airliquide.com, Shareholders section. The Notice of meeting has been published on March 20, 2019 in the French legal gazette (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires) and is available on the Group's website. The invitation to the Meeting will be sent to all shareholders of the Company, by mail or electronicallyfor those having opted for the electronic invitation. These documents include the voting form, the agenda of the Meeting, the resolutions submitted to shareholders, a presentation of the objectives of each resolution and practical information for attending, voting and exercising shareholder rights. The Shareholders' Meeting provides an opportunity to present the Group's strategy, its development prospects and to participate in the life of the Company. All shareholders are invited to vote either by attending the Shareholders' Meeting in person, by proxy, or by voting by correspondence. That process might be carried out: by sending the voting form back, so that it reaches the Company on Friday, May 3, 2019 at the latest by voting by Internet, prior to the Meeting. The voting website will be open from Tuesday, March 26 to Monday, May 6 at 3 pm, Paris time. Detailed instructions on how to connect to this website are provided in the invitation to the Meeting documents sent to shareholders. Air Liquide values the participation of each shareholder The Shareholders' Meeting will be webcast live and a recorded version will be available on the Group's website. It will be accessible to people who are deaf or hearing impaired (through sign language interpretation and surtitling, in French). The preparatory documents will also be kept at disposal of the shareholders at Shareholder Services, 75 quai d'Orsay, 75007 Paris, France, and published on the Group's website www.airliquide.com, Shareholders section, according to legal and regulatory requirements. Air Liquide share ownership (as at December 31, 2018) 32% of the capital held by individual shareholders of the capital held by individual shareholders 50% of the capital held by non-French institutional investors of the capital held by non-French institutional investors 18% of the capital held by French institutional investors Agenda of the Combined Shareholders' Meeting of May 7, 2019 Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting Board of Directors' reports. Statutory Auditors' reports. Approval of the Company financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018. Approval of the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018. Appropriation of 2018 earnings; setting of the dividend. Authorization granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 18 months to allow the Company to trade in its own shares. Renewal of the term of office of two Directors. Statutory Auditors' Special Report on agreements covered by articles L. 225-38 et seq. of the French Commercial Code. Approval of the elements of remuneration paid or awarded to Mr Benoit Potier for the year ended December 31, 2018. Approval of the remuneration policy applicable to the Executive Officers. Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting Authorization granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 24 months to reduce the share capital by cancellation of treasury shares. Delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 26 months in order to increase the share capital via the issuance of ordinary shares or marketable securities conferring entitlement, immediately and/or in the future, to the Company's share capital, with retention of preferential subscription rights for a maximum amount of 470 million euros. Authorization granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 26 months to increase the issuance amount of equity securities or marketable securities in the event of oversubscription. Authorization granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 38 months to grant to employees and Executive Officers of the Group, or some of such employees and Executive Officers, share subscription options or share purchase options. Authorization granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 38 months to grant existing or new shares to employees and Executive Officers of the Group, or some of such employees or Executive Officers. Delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 26 months to perform share capital increases, with cancellation of preferential subscription rights, reserved for members of a Company or Group Savings Plan. Delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors for a period of 18 months to perform share capital increases, with cancellation of preferential subscription rights, reserved for a category of beneficiaries. Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting Powers for formalities. UPCOMING DATES First quarter 2019 revenue: Friday, April 26, 2019 Combined Shareholders' Meeting: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 Dividend ex date*: Monday, May 20, 2019 Dividend payment date*: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 subject to the necessary approvals at the Combined Shareholders' Meeting scheduled for 7 May 2019 A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 66,000 employees and serves more than 3.6 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the core of the company's activities since its creation in 1902. Air Liquide's ambition is to be a leader in its industry, deliver long term performance and contribute to sustainability. The company's customer-centric transformation strategy aims at profitable growth over the long term. It relies on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and digitization, and delivers greater value to all its stakeholders. Air Liquide's revenue amounted to 21 billion euros in 2018 and its solutions that protect life and the environment represented more than 40% of sales. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes. www.airliquide.com Follow us on Twitter @airliquidegroup View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005632/en/ Contacts: Media Relations +33 (0)1 40 62 58 49 media@airliquide.com Investor Relations Paris France +33 (0)1 40 62 50 87 Philadelphia - U.S. +1 610 263 8277 Shareholder Services Patrick Renard +33 (0)1 40 62 51 86 Jeremie Creange +33 (0)1 40 62 52 03 The 18 MW Project is Owned, Operated by Major Swiss Power Company, EKZ NEC Energy Solutions (NEC ES), has completed the installation of the largest battery energy storage system in Switzerland. The 18 MW, 7.5 MWh GSS Grid Storage Solution system is owned and operated by one of Switzerland's largest power distribution companies, EKZ (Elektrizitatswerke des Kantons Zurich). The energy storage system is being used for primary frequency reserve. "Battery storage is a vital part of future energy supply," said EKZ storage specialist Marina Gonzalez Vaya. "The now-completed storage system contributes to the stability of continental Europe's power grid." The new 18 MW energy storage system is located at an existing substation in Volketswil, near Zurich. It can power the equivalent of the daily electricity consumption of 600 average four-person households. While mostly used for primary frequency reserve to stabilize grid frequency in response to frequency deviations, the system could also be used for other ancillary services and is expected to have a payback of 5-7 years. "We are excited to deliver the largest energy storage project in Switzerland," said Steve Fludder, CEO of NEC Energy Solutions. "As countries modernize their power grids across the world, NEC's storage solutions enable the transformation to a cleaner, more renewable and more digital electric power system of the future. We value the confidence and trust which EKZ has placed in us." For more information about NEC or this project, please visit www.neces.com. About Elektrizitatswerke des Kantons Zurich We help to shape the future of energy by reducing our customers' energy worries: we offer 100 percent renewable energy, some of the lowest electricity prices in Switzerland, and solutions for the future. We are one of Switzerland's biggest energy suppliers, providing nearly a million people with electricity. Our 1,400 employees are committed to helping homeowners and tenants, small, medium-sized and large businesses as well as other Swiss energy suppliers to find the most suitable energy solutions. Our electricity grid stretches over about 15,000 km, and its availability, at 99.997 percent, is above average. About NEC Energy Solutions NEC Energy Solutions designs, manufactures, and integrates smart energy storage solutions for the electric grid, behind the meter, and critical power applications. Its scalable distributed energy storage and control systems provide greater grid stability and flexibility to the benefit of both providers and users of electricity. In telecom, datacenter, and other industrial applications, its high-performance lithium-ion battery systems provide better value than traditional lead-acid batteries in tough, critical power applications. Learn more at www.neces.com. NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. 2019 NEC Corporation View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005519/en/ Contacts: NEC Energy Solutions Roger Lin, +1 (508) 497-7261 rlin@neces.com Kali Jones is a first. She is the first African-American woman to serve as the Deputy Chief of Mission here at the US Embassy in Botswana. Notably, she now joins a distinguished group of women; women who serve as Deputies in Foreign missions based in the country including at the Embassies of the United Kingdom, South Africa, Germany, Zimbabwe, European Union, Kenya and France. The US diplomat arrived in Gaborone in 2017 and has been working dual roles for the past seven months until the recent arrival of her colleague, Craig Cloud, who is the new Ambassador of the US to Botswana. Before she arrived to serve in Botswana she was slightly nervous, and feeling a certain pressure only to find that her team is supportive and wants her to lead and succeed making her transition all the way easier. Her leadership style involves empathy and respect, and not backing away from making the tough decisions. As a leader you have to be very aware that people are people. That they have outside pressures, issues of family finances, and personal goals of their own. You need to understand what brings people to your team, she shares. At the top of her management list is being able to make the difficult decisions. There are over 200 people working for the Embassy, not everyone will agree. Being comfortable in a seat of disagreement is hard but necessary, she adds. Jones, is on a three-year standard term and is aware that as a woman the expectation to perform is levelled a notch up, and doubly so because she is also a black woman. It is only during weird circumstances like when she is the only woman in a room full of men that it hits her. Being the only black woman leads to a lot of responsibilities. I have this talk with my sisters too, explains Jones. This is partly why it is a conscious decision for her to provide mentorship and create time to do it; even though it gets difficult the higher she goes up the ladder with many things pulling at her time. To this degree she is also part of a close-knit, low-key Badass Womens Brunch group, comprising of six other women dedicated to supporting each other professionally, women whose career trajectories she has learnt from. Jones uses an example in the US to indicate how concerted efforts are needed to instigate change and increase the participation and inclusion of women in the economy. Back in 1972 the Foreign Service she now works for got rid of a rule which prescribed that women had to exit work if and when they got married, a rule which had a major negative impact on whether women stayed in the diplomatic corps or if they rose up the Foreign Service ranks. This prohibition would have applied to Jones who met her partner and now husband, Nicholas in 1999 and got married last year. Thanks to the eradication of such laws, and making entry or base exams gender neutral the department, years later is now gender balanced with 50 percent female and male employees. A similarity she has observed between the womens movement here and in the US is the unjust sexual assault women face. Jones has since had numerous conversations with Batswana women in politics, and women at the helm of businesses and what concerns her is the aspect of social change and gender balance an observation she extends and clarifies as the need for women to have the power to step forward. As for Gender Based Violence (GBV) Jones shares that it is important that the shame and stigma attached to GBV is removed so that survivors can be free from the quietness of being a victim as has been the case in the US where the cause now has many outspoken faces representing it. She also senses a culture of quitting, which I dont like when it comes to GBV locally; sure enough it is important to have partners such as UNICEF and UNDP fighting GBV but she does find it imperative that more businesses, institutions and schools have sexual harassment policies and overall legal frameworks that will also help protect and support people. She was therefore pleased to hear the first family, the President Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi, together with his partner and First Lady, Neo Masisi championing the chorus against GBV and the abuse of children, I have met awesome leaders here who are moving Botswana forward, she adds. Although there are different disciplines in the Foreign Service her focus today is on the economic track and all things that deal with economics. These range from conservation of wildlife to the more hardcore macroeconomic issues such as how to build economic trade. According to Jones critical steps forward include the focus on shared prosperities between Botswana and the US, such as the interest by both President Trump and President Masisi in developing the trade and investment sectors. She observes Masisi as invested in bringing in Foreign Direct Investment and curbing youth unemployment. Even HIV and AIDS is an investment in human capital. One of the focal areas for the US Embassy, as well as the WHO, who provide normative guidance - is supporting Botswana with HIV prevention, treatment and care strategies. This is largely facilitated through PEPFAR Botswana which has partnered with the government for the past 15 years and is now working to get programmes and policies to help reach HIV epidemic control. What is important is the effective use of the funding, she says as she reminds that Botswana in this partnership actually commits 60 percent of funding to HIV. In respect to local politics and that Botswana together with other African countries will be hosting elections this year Jones observes that Botswana is a democratic country. What is great is that people are involved and talking. People are engaged. And that is what you want to see. Democracy survives when people are engaged, that is critical. Jones says Botswana still has a good story to tell, and that people in the West still perceive it as a diamond of Africa, the place that is unlike the others hence US tourists are the number one consumers outside of Africa of tourism in the country. She observes that Botswana indeed has all the right indicators - it is well governed, transparent, and has diamond reserves. With no hesitancy the US diplomat explains that the resolution to the current furore and debate on Batswana and her elephants lies with Botswana citizens. The elephant story is best left to Botswana citizens, who she expects to comply with all international standards and requirements as to the solutions they will take. Jones was born in Louisiana, in the south part of the USA, a country with a history of slavery. As such race is a factor for her but not one she bares unnecessarily particularly because she is aware that, The way people view race is so dramatically different in every country and has also observed that even when people tell her that race is not an issue There is always a component of race. I have seen race everywhere, she says. Two years ago there were huge protests in the South of the US with states like Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida; demonstrations for and against the taking down of Confederate statues or such similar monuments which were created and mounted in several US states during heightened periods of the implementation of the Jim Crow laws, laws with a sole and symbolic purpose of segregating the black population from the white citizens of the country. Such policies bore similar intent and spirit to that of Apartheid in South Africa. These debates on the removal or not of the Confederate statues easily rebirth and bring into vividness the countries slave history. I grew up with race. Its a very emotional issue. It helps me understand that everyone has a motive. But I dont take it (race) with me, explains the diplomat. Jones chokes up when speaking of Dr. Condoleezza Rice, a globally acclaimed US political figure who has been her epitome of a black woman holding her power, and respecting her authority and responsibility. Rice was also a first, the first female African-American US Secretary of State. Jones recalls wondrous moments of privilege when working close enough to Rice while she was the Secretary of State. Jones was very junior to Rice and serving as one of 35 Watch Officers in a Unit called the Operations Center. She remembers being close enough to be corrected and guided to the right decisions by Rice, and close enough to appreciate the discipline Rice had. From my seat I could see her (Rice) schedule. And she was always on time, she says. She was decisive. She listened to all opinions. She asked for opinions from all around the building, and was open to dissenting opinions. She was wicked smart too. The way she was able to process information, adds Jones, When you have a leader who makes decisions you can get on with the business, says Jones of Rice. Beyond female leadership Joness favourite US Presidents include Abraham Lincoln who despite being well before my time had leadership principles that she subscribes to. She has read his book Lincoln on Leadership and notes that he talks of simple steps like going outside or taking a walk but when Jones strides the office halls here people are quick to ask If there is anything wrong and where she is going? she says with a giggle. John F. Kennedy is another former US President she admires for his idealist character, which looked beyond the US and stirred him to create the Peace Corps. And of course Barack Obama, from an African-American vantage point Obama was a wow moment of intense pride which had even more impact on her older family members, the ones who were in the civil rights movement. I know how hard it is to get there, she says of Obamas presidential win. She has absolute respect for the first African-American President of the US for then hiring his opponent Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State during his tenure. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Despite the occasional market disruptions, luxury has never lost its allure, and few products accentuate social status and personal style to the degree a fine timepiece does. One noteworthy development in this highly traditional industry is its growing openness to a relatively recent phenomenon: the boom in demand for luxury pre-owned and unworn watches. Largely driven by the Millennial generation, unique and vintage products are enjoying a revival, while digital stores and social media platforms are enabling brands to reach younger buyers. With the high-end pre-owned watches, and often unworn market set ablaze, brands are taking note and venturing into this space despite their initial reluctance, according to YourWatch.com, a New York City-based firm, specializing in unworn Swiss-made premium timepieces from the most desirable brands. With more than 25 years of experience at the top echelon of the watch industry, YourWatch.com has been setting new standards in the market. Yourwatch.com is single handedly redefining the customer experience for buyers of luxury pre-owned and unworn watches. Unlike most of the top watch websites that claim to have the product in stock but end up scrambling to procure the purchased item, YourWatch.com maintains a colossal inventory, which allows it to ship the products immediately to any part of the world, with clients in the United States taking delivery within 24 hours. It offers an exceptional selection of fine Swiss watches, among them the superb creations of brands such as Hublot, Patek Philippe, Chopard, Rolex, Bvlgari, and Audemars Piguet. The company aims to deliver unrivaled customer service, relying on the extensive experience of its in-house experts and providing a luxury concierge service for every watch sold. There are no precise sales figures for luxury pre-owned and unworn watches due to the lack of dedicated research into this segment, but various reports on the overall market, analyst estimates, and comments from resellers clearly point to a surge in demand. Bain & Co puts the value of the pre-owned personal luxury goods market in 2018 at $25 billion, attributing 80% of it, or $20 billion, to watches and jewelry. Kepler Cheuvreux, which contributed to the Trends Report 2018 of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FIHH), estimates that global sales of pre-owned premium timepieces generate $5 billion. According to the financial consultancy firm, this segment is expanding by approximately 5% annually and will either match or overtake the new watches category within five years. Reginald Brack, executive director at research company NPD Group, believes that people underestimate the size of the luxury pre-owned and unworn watches market. According to some calculations, it is three times as big as the new watches market, which is itself valued at as much as $10 billion in the US alone. YourWatch.com has managed to gain a strong foothold in this buoyant segment, securing a leading position due to its focus on meeting demand without delay. As a result, it has become the store of choice for a generation of luxury goods buyers who expect instant gratification. In addition to having the best product selection, the company also offers unrivaled prices and has earned the absolute trust of its customers by never knowingly underselling on pre-owned unworn watches. Due to its relentless adherence to quality and service standards, YourWatch.com has become the most trusted online retailer of luxury pre-owned and unworn watches. YourWatch.com - The Leading Retailer of Luxury Pre-Owned and Unworn Watches: http://yourwatchnews.com Yourwatch #1 Source for Iconic Swiss Watches Hublot Bvlgari: http://yourwatch.com Your Watch (@yourwatchllc) - Instagram photos and videos: https://www.instagram.com/yourwatchllc/ Contact Information: YourWatch.com 546 5th Avenue New York, NY 10036 (212) 888-6602 concierge@yourwatch.com SOURCE: YourWatch.com View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539652/Luxury-Pre-Owned-and-Unworn-Watches-in-Booming-Demand-According-to-YourWatchcom SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Smart Contract Security Alliance, a collaboration of industry leaders that recommend security standards and guidelines for the blockchain industry, adds Fujitsu R&D Center Co., Ltd. to its membership. Fujitsu R&D Center, a China-based Fujitsu group company, is the first research and development institution with independent legal status in China. Established in 1935, Fujitsu Limited is Japan's top IT services provider, and is also a leader in the development of Hyperledger. "Fujitsu is a longstanding and successful IT company that has made key contributions to Hyperledger," says Richard Ma, CEO of Quantstamp and Cofounder of the Smart Contract Security Alliance. "We are thrilled to include their involvement and interest in Hyperledger to the collective expertise of the alliance." While enterprise companies are generally interested in blockchain applications, the lack of security standards has led many potential adopters to wait on the sidelines. Blockchain applications, such as smart contracts, offer great potential for companies across numerous sectors because they can create efficiencies and solve problems that other technologies are unable to solve. It is crucial to tackle the security challenges standing in the way of blockchain's broader adoption through initiatives such as the Smart Contract Security Alliance. The Smart Contract Security Alliance, founded by Quantstamp, works with industry leaders to develop accepted standards for creating and evaluating the security of smart contracts and blockchain applications. Through the development of these standards, the Smart Contract Security Alliance aims to bring professionalism to the blockchain industry and facilitate mainstream adoption. "Organizations like the Smart Contract Security Alliance are essential for bringing professionalism and security into the emerging blockchain industry," says Kentarou Fuji, VP of Global Marketing Unit in Fujitsu Limited. "We look forward to working with our peers in the alliance to help this industry reach its massive potential." The membership of the Smart Contract Security Alliance includes Quantstamp, Layer X, NRI Secure, Blockgeeks, Modular Inc., and the National University of Singapore Crystal Centre School of Computing. The alliance will soon provide more guidance to the blockchain community and share learnings related to smart contract security. Fujitsu Limited is a premier member of Hyperledger. In July 2017, the company increased the speed of Hyperledger transactions by 270% by improving the communication between blockchain applications and the underlying blockchain. Fujitsu also developed a "blockchain productization framework" that enables businesses to develop minimum viable products (MVPs) in 5 days. This past June, the company launched a "blockchain asset service" product that enables businesses to better market products to potential customers. In March 2018, Fujitsu developed software that detects potential vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts. Security companies interested in advancing blockchain technology standards are encouraged to join the Smart Contract Security Alliance and have a voice in the future of blockchain security. Learn more at SmartContractSecurityAlliance.com or get in touch directly hello@smartcontractsecurityalliance.com Learn more about Fujitsu at fujitsu.com/global/ Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838334/Fujitsu_Smart_Contract_Security_Alliance.jpg In thousands 2018 2017 (*) Change Revenue 400,579 348,721 +14.9% Recurring operating income 41,894 33,918 +23.5% As a % of revenue 10.5% 9.7% Cost of performance shares (1,466) (1,029) Other operating income and expenses (907) 787 Operating income 39,521 33,676 +17.4% Financial income/(expense) (273) (94) Tax (expense)/income (11,921) (9,645) Net income from consolidated companies 27,327 23,937 +14.2% As a % of revenue 6.8% 6.9% Net income attributable to owners of the parent 27,327 23,937 Earnings per share 2.08 1.83 +13.8% Payroll 6,166 5,848 +5.4% (*) restated to reflect the application of IFRS 15 Aubay's Board of Directors, which met on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 under Chairman Christian Aubert, approved the statutory and consolidated financial statements for financial year 2018. Recurring operating margin at the upper limit of the target range At 10.5%, recurring operating margin lies at the higher end of the initial target range of between 9.5% and 10.5%, an improvement of 80 basis points compared to the previous year. This marks Aubay's 20th consecutive year of solid results and strong growth. All market segments helped drive growth, with the ramp-up of projects around the Cloud, the digital transformation and data proving to be particularly dynamic. Aubay now offers a balanced profile between new technology-focused projects (SMACS) and application portfolio management for its major corporate clients. The consolidation of the business acquired in Italy in 2017 was successfully completed during the year. All the acquisitions made in Spain in recent years have now been legally consolidated. Today Aubay has a solid base in all the countries where it operates for entering a new growth phase. The Group's recurring operating margin for the period came in at 11.8% for activities in France and 9.1% for activities overseas, compared with a respective 10.8% and 8.5% in 2017. Operating income: up 17.4% Aubay's operating income amounted to 39.5 million, a 17.4% increase after taking into account the 1.4 million cost of performance shares and 0.9 million of "Other operating income and expenses" which mainly consisted of restructuring expenses. Slightly positive net cash position of 0.2 million As expected, the Group's financial position improved sharply over the second half of the year. Aubay thus moved from a net debt position of 10.9 million to a net cash position of 0.2 million at the close of the financial year, compared to net debt of 5.5 million at 31 December 2017. The consolidation of its acquisition in Italy and the work undertaken to align it with Aubay's high management standards should contribute to further improving cash flow generation in 2019. Attributable net income up 14.2% Attributable net income increased 14.2% to 27.3 million, another historic high. Earnings per share amounted to 2.08 versus 1.83 the previous year. Application of IFRS 16 from January 1, 2019 The Group will apply IFRS 16 to leases from January 1, 2019. For the lessee, the impact of the standard's application will be the recognition of an amortizable right of use in assets on the balance sheet and an equivalent lease obligation in liabilities. For Aubay, the main leases are for buildings and secondarily vehicles and IT equipment. At this stage, lease obligations are estimated at approximately 25 million at January 1, 2019. The impact on the other key financial indicators (recurring operating income, net income, cash flow) is considered marginal. Proposed dividend payment of 0.60 per share Aubay's Board of Directors is to propose the payment of a dividend of 0.60 for financial year 2018 (versus 0.47 for 2017) at the General Meeting of Shareholders. An interim dividend of 0.27 was paid in November 2018. The General Meeting of Shareholders will be held on May 14, 2019 at 9 am (Paris time). Outlook for 2019 At this beginning of the financial year, Aubay's management has seen a continued appetite for investment on the part of its major corporate clients. The market therefore remains promising, continuing the positive trend of the previous quarters. This year is off to a good start in all countries where the Group operates. All business indicators are green. Accordingly, the objectives set for 2019 are in line with the medium-term targets, as follows: Revenue of 425 million , corresponding to organic growth of 5%-7%; , corresponding to organic growth of 5%-7%; Recurring operating margin between 9.5% and 10.5%. Aubay's 2019 first-quarter revenue will be published on Wednesday April 24, 2019 after the close of trading. Glossary Organic revenue growth: this refers to growth calculated for a constant scope of activity for a given period, excluding revenues from companies that were acquired or sold during the period. As Aubay conducts most of its business in the euro zone, any impact from changes in exchange rates is minimal. Recurring operating income: this indicator corresponds to operating income before the cost of free shares and other income and expenses that are unusual, abnormal or infrequent and that are booked separately in order to facilitate the understanding of an entity's recurring operating performance. Recurring operating margin: this indicator, which is expressed as a percentage, is the ratio of recurring operating income to revenue. Net debt or net cash: this indicator represents the difference between an entity's cash and debt. If the result is negative, it is referred to as net debt. If it is positive, it is referred to as net cash. About Aubay Aubay is a digital services company working alongside some of the biggest names in the Banking, Finance, Insurance, Manufacturing, Energy, Transport and Telecoms sectors. With 6,166 employees across 7 countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom) at the end of the year, Aubay generated revenue of 400.6 million in 2018. NYSE Euronext, Compartiment B - ISIN FR0000063737-AUB - Reuters AUBT.PA - Bloomberg AUB:FP Alexandra Prisa - Actus Finance - Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 35 79 - E-mail: aprisa@actus.fr David Fuks- Co-Chief Operating Officer - Finance Department +33 (0)1 46 10 67 67 - E-mail: dfuks@aubay.com ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Recevez gratuitement par email les prochains communiques de la societe en vous inscrivant sur www.actusnews.com Communique integral et original au format PDF:Telecharger le PDF LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An independent grouping of doctors formed to act as a centre of knowledge and excellence in the rapidly developing field of medical cannabis has launched a set of prescribing guidelines for medical cannabis. The UK Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (MCCS), alongside the All Party Parliamentary Group for Medical Cannabis under Prescription, has launched the guidelines against a back drop of the NHS guidelines and associated recommendations from various medical bodies resulting in virtually no NHS prescriptions being written since the law was changed on 1stNovember 2018 following high profile cases that hit the headlines last summer. This refusal to prescribe is causing widespread frustration and despair for patients. Representatives of the MCCS will assemble for a photo call at 10 Downing Street at 3pm on March 20th to hand in a copy of the guidelines with a letter asking the Prime Minister to urge all involved in the Department of Health & Social Care and the NHS to take steps to address what appears to be a deadlock. Professor Mike Barnes said, Chair of the MCCS said: 'The current guidance that exists for clinicians around prescribing cannabis-based medical products is limiting in the extreme. It gives a disproportionate weight to evidence that has come from double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trials. As a result, it fails to take into account the wide range of evidence of different forms from around the world demonstrating the efficacy of medical cannabis for a range of conditions. The MCCS guidance does take this other evidence into consideration along with the growing body of observational evidence that is available in the UK from the handful of patients that have been able to secure prescriptions. "We hope that the NHS and medical bodies will welcome the publication of our guidelines and view them with an open mind. Therefore, I strongly urge the NHS and Department for Health and Social Care to consider the guidelines and recommendations that we are hand-delivering today. "The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Medical Cannabis Under Prescription has welcomed the publication of the guidelines." Co-Chair of the APPG, Sir Mike Penning MP said: 'One year ago, today I sat with the family of Alfie Dingley and the Prime Minister in Number 10 as they spoke of how their entire lives had been transformed in Holland when 6 year old epilepsy sufferer Alfie Dingley had access to medical cannabis. The Prime Minister and the Home Office acted quickly to ensure Alfie was able to access his medicine in the UK. Alfie has now gone as long as 300 days between seizures and his life has been transformed. His case paved the way for a series of events which led to the Home Secretary taking the bold and decisive decision to reschedule medical cannabis. But to the best of my understanding not a single new NHS prescription has been written for a THC bearing medical cannabis product since the law change. Even Alfie's NHS Trust will not prescribe, forcing his parents to find a work-around. Patients and their families are left frustrated and devastated. I am particularly aware of a group of families, each with a child suffering from intractable epilepsy similar in severity that affecting Alfie. They are left in the frankly cruel situation of knowing that medical cannabis is now legal here, but they can't get it and may have to consider either fundraising to go abroad or bring back the medicine illegally." Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Co-Chair of the APPG added: 'I urge the Department of Health and Social Care to review these guidelines and interact with the MCCS to ensure they can find a way forward to widen access. Patients and families were given so much hope when the law changed in November but now they are in despair. Many of the epileptic child cases that I am aware of are routinely prescribed dangerous cocktails of powerful drugs designed for adults. Its incomprehensible to me why patients are not being allowed to try medical cannabis which has been so life-transforming for patients like Alfie Dingley, who's mum Hannah is here with us today." Notes to Editors: Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can now offer a modern and new cloud-centric solution to the SMB and SME OAKVILLE, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / CloudOak is pleased to announce that they have officially released their new business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) appliance called CUBE to Managed Service Providers globally. CloudOak now offers the first Rubrik AIR productized appliance solution exclusively for Rubrik MSP's and for any MSP's who want to use a 'powered by Rubrik' hardware appliance for their Small to Medium Business (SMB) and Remote Office, Branch Office (ROBO) clients. With our new partnership, CloudOak will offer a certified 'powered by Rubrik' hardware appliance targeting the 20TB and below market for MSPs wanting to enter the Disaster Recovery as a Service, Backup as a Service and Business Continuity as a Service market. With the new CloudOak BCDR appliance, for the first time MSP's can now provide a 'powered by Rubrik' solution to the SMB at a SMB price. 'We are incredibly excited to offer our solution to Managed Service Providers, System Integrators and Value Added Resellers of all sizes.' says Troy Cheeseman, CSO of CloudOak. 'All partners would agree that Rubrik has provided the industry's best backup, disaster recovery and archive solution in a single, scalable product for the enterprise. Now when combined with the CloudOak certified SMB appliance and with our premier service, expertise and global support, CloudOak can offer a true cloud-centric DRaaS solution to all MSP's servicing the SMB and SME.' adds Cheeseman. 'Our new BCDR appliance will allow any MSP to offer BaaS and DRaaS across both the public cloud and private cloud, opening up opportunities to easily monetize the hybrid cloud storage market; something that was not completely available to the SMB,' says Petrus Human, CTO of CloudOak. 'All partners can now have the comfort of knowing that there is a tested and supported Rubirk 'AIR' hardware focused and productized appliance ranging from 4TB up to 20TB, priced for their SMB and ROBO opportunities,' says Human. The CUBE is now available to all partners globally and can be ordered from the CloudOak site www.cloudoakchannel.com or by contacting partners@cloudooakchannel.com. On January 30th, CloudOak publically announced our company and product. With this announcement came immediate interest from Managed Services Providers globally. One such signing was with MIS3 INC., a progressive and uniquely positioned technology services provider in Vaughn, Ontario, Canada. 'Mis3 Inc. is a Business Value Technology Partner. We offer a unique and proprietary business and technology process for our clients,' states Nilesh Mistry, owner of MIS3. 'MIS3 focuses on adding true value at every stage of the business technology life cycle. Our unique market position grants us access to select clients. We have been a Rubrik partner for 2 years and to date, we did not provide a packaged 'powered by Rubrik' solution that targeted SMB and ROBO opportunities. After meeting with CloudOak we immediately understood the cloud centric value we could offer to our clients. We became a partner immediately,' adds Mistry. 'We are very happy that MIS3 Inc. choose CloudOak. Neil is providing a unique service and refreshing perspective to the MSP and VAR services industry. Having MIS3 Inc. as a partner truly validates our product and service,' says Troy Cheeseman For more information on the CloudOak 'CUBE', please contact: Troy Cheeseman CSO (Channel, Product & Business Development) 700 Dorval Drive, Suite 400 Oakville, ON, L6K 3V3 ph: 416.863.8638 tf: 1-855-430-0866 x8638 Email: partners@cloudoakchannel.com About CloudOak (www.cloudoakchannel.com) CloudOak is a MSP & Channel solution provider creating solutions that Protect, Control and Recover any company's data and applications. We source and integrate technology solutions for the channel by implementing the tools of today, designing for the emerging SMB, SME and MSP of tomorrow. We are proud to offer our services exclusively to Managed Service Providers globally. About MIS3 Inc. (www.mis3.ca) Managing Information Systems 3 Inc. (MIS3) is a privately held Canadian organization with headquarters in Vaughan ON. Organically grown, MIS3 Inc is a Next Generation Solutions Integrator and Value added reseller focused on new and emerging technology platforms focused on Infrastructure, Security and IT Operations. MIS3 Inc. specializes in architecture design, implementation and creating IT operational simplicity. Focusing on data centre infrastructure on premise (Private Cloud) with public cloud integration (Hybrid Cloud), providing visibility and overall governance into all workloads, applications, services and data, creating a simplified IT Operational model. SOURCE: CloudOak View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/539643/CloudOak-Officially-Launches-the-powered-by-Rubrik-CUBE-for-Managed-Service-Providers-Globally-Announces-Immediate-MSP-Growth-in-Canada Regulatory News: Elior Group (Paris:ELIOR) announces it has recently entered into exclusive discussions with PAI Partners concerning a potential sale of its concession catering activities, which are grouped within its Areas subsidiary. At this stage, any indication as to the result of these discussions is premature. Elior Group will not comment any further on this process and will communicate in due time, in accordance with regulations. About Elior Group Founded in 1991, Elior Group has grown into one of the world's leading operators in contract catering, concession catering and support services, and has become a benchmark player in the business industry, education, healthcare and travel markets. Operating in 15 countries, the Group generated 6,694 million in revenue in FY 2017-2018. Our 132,000 employees serve 6 million people on a daily basis through 25,600 restaurants and points of sale. Our mission is to feed and take care of each and every one, at every moment in life. Innovation and social responsibility are at the core of our business model. Elior Group has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2004, reaching the GC Advanced Level in 2015. For further information please visit our website http://www.eliorgroup.com or follow us on Twitter (@Elior_Group) @Elior_Group TimeSavored View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005758/en/ Contacts: Press contact Ines Perrier ines.perrier@eliorgroup.com / +33 (0) 1 71 06 70 60 Investor relations Marie de Scorbiac- marie.descorbiac@eliorgroup.com / +33 (0) 1 71 06 70 13 Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) today released its regular weekly Net Asset Value ("NAV") and performance returns on its website, https://www.pershingsquareholdings.com/company-reports/weekly-navs/. The NAV and returns were computed as of the close of business on Tuesday, 19 March 2019. PSH NAV per share as of close of business on 19 March 2019 was 22.81 USD 17.19 GBP and year-to-date performance was 31.9%. Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft). Performance is presented on a net-of-fees basis and reflects the deduction of, among other expenses: management fees, brokerage commissions, administrative fees and accrued performance fees, if any. The performance figure includes the reinvestment of all dividends, interest and capital gains. Depending on the timing of a specific investment, net performance for an individual investor may vary from the net performance as stated herein. Net performance is a geometrically linked time weighted calculation. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005782/en/ Contacts: Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989 media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2019) - ArcWest Exploration Inc. (TSXV: AWX) ("ArcWest") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release dated January 22, 2019, it has signed a Definitive Agreement dated February 26th, 2019, with Rolland Menard (the "Vendor") with respect to the acquisition by ArcWest of 100% of the Sparrowhawk Property (the "Property"). The Property is situated 65 km northeast of Smithers in north-central British Columbia, adjacent to Glencore Canada's Bell and Granisle mine property and Pacific Booker's advanced stage Morrison property. The terms of transaction set out in the Definitive Agreement include: ArcWest will acquire 100% of the Property; ArcWest will make a cash payment to the vendor of CAD$5,000; ArcWest will issue 87,000 common shares to the vendor; The vendor will retain a 1% net smelter return royalty, which can be purchased by ArcWest for a cash payment of $2,000,000. ArcWest President & CEO Tyler Ruks commented: "The Babine area is a significant porphyry copper-gold district in British Columbia which includes Glencore's past-producing Bell and Granisle mines, and Pacific Booker's advanced stage Morrison project. The Sparrowhawk property is situated in between the Bell-Granisle and Morrison deposits, with mineral claims that are contiguous with both Glencore's and Pacific Booker's land positions. Importantly, the Sparrowhawk project is situated along a prospective corridor which contains both the controlling structures for Babine-district porphyry copper-gold deposits, and associated, widespread porphyry copper-gold occurrences and high grade breccias, all of which remain untested by drilling. We are looking forward to exploring the project in 2019." The Proposed Transaction is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. For further information please contact: Tyler Ruks, President and CEO at +1 (604) 638 3695 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43553 Cash-strapped Jet Airways, which is looking to raise fresh funds, has grounded at least 47 planes due to non-payment of lease rentals. Besides, many aircraft are on the ground due to other reasons. New Delhi: The government plans to provide unused airport slots of Jet Airways to other domestic airlines on an interim basis, a senior official said Wednesday, amid efforts to minimise flight disruptions. Cash-strapped Jet Airways, which is looking to raise fresh funds, has grounded at least 47 planes due to non-payment of lease rentals. Besides, many aircraft are on the ground due to other reasons. Against this backdrop, the civil aviation ministry officials on Wednesday held a meeting with representatives of various domestic airlines. Civil aviation secretary Pradip Singh Kharola said the ministry would discuss with Jet Airways about its requirements, including how many slots are being used. As an "interim arrangement", the unused slots of Jet Airways at congested airports would be given for operations to other domestic airlines, he said. Among others, representatives of Air India, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo attended the meeting on Wednesday. According to Kharola, domestic carriers would add around 20-25 more planes in by April end. Augmentation of fleet and utilisation of existing planes were among the issues discussed during the meeting. "Our concern is about operations (of flights), safety and comfort of passengers," Kharola told reporters. NCLAT said RBI cannot restrict it from prohibiting banks from 'asset classification' and observed that any change in this order would upset the entire resolution process New Delhi: The Reserve Bank on Tuesday moved the NCLAT seeking modification of its order that restrained banks from declaring accounts of IL&FS and its group companies as NPAs even as the tribunal asked the banking regulator not to make it a "prestige issue". Admitting the apex bank's plea, which contends that there is an overlap of power, the tribunal also wanted it to clarify whether its NPA (Non-Performing Assets) norms and powers come in the way of successful resolution of IL&FS. The NCLAT said the RBI cannot restrict it from prohibiting banks from 'asset classification' and observed that any change in this order would upset the entire resolution process of the IL&FS and 300 group companies, which are sitting on the huge debt amounting to over Rs 90,000 crore. The Reserve Bank of India has moved the tribunal requesting it to modify its order restraining banks from classifying IL&FS and its group companies as NPAs, contending that there was an overlap of power. The central bank contended before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that it is a regulator of banks and it should also be heard in the matter, which the bench agreed and directed the matter to be listed on 29 March. The NCLAT said that it would hear the RBI on the issue and asked the banking sector regulator to clarify if its NPA norms and powers come in the way of successful resolution of IL&FS companies. A two-member bench headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya wondered that the affected banks have still not come before it and instead of that, the RBI has come forward. "We have not prohibited you (from declaring NPA), we have just said that you need our permission before doing so. Please do not make it a prestige issue. If the affected lenders have not moved to NCLAT, why is RBI before us," the bench said. The NCLAT also told the RBI that the apex bank could not prohibit the appellate tribunal from restraining the banks. "We can not regulate bank but can prohibit bank. You can regulate bank but can not prohibit a tribunal," said Justice Mukhopadhaya. Over the RBI's argument of overlap of the power conferred to it, NCLAT told banking regulator "overlap would be only, where you have powers". The RBI, through his counsel, said that its norms governing the classification of assets as NPAs are constitutionally sound under the RBI Act, Banking Regulation Act. Senior advocate Gopal Jain appearing for the RBI said: "We are not here on the recovery of loans, we are on the issue of classification". On this appellate tribunal also said that "your circular must have an object" and NPA is only for recovering the amount. Passing an order on February 25, NCLAT had said : "We make it clear that due to non-payment of dues by the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited' or its entities including the Amber Companies', no financial institution will declare the accounts of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited' or its entities as NPA' without prior permission of this Appellate Tribunal. During the proceedings, senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan appearing for IL&FS informed the NCLAT that the number of green companies has increased to 50 from the previous number of 21. "29 more IL&FS companies have been added in Green list. Total would be now 50 and NCLAT can consider releasing the additional 29 green cos from the moratorium to begin releasing payments to lenders," he submitted. He also informed that the number of amber companies has also been increased to 13 from the previous 10. "We are not against the classification of Green or Red cos if they default. However, we can not allow classification of amber firms as NPAs. It must ensure that amber companies remain going concerns for a successful resolution," said the NCLAT. It also directed the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and IL&FS to submit roadmap and asked to clarify whether amber companies can discharge their debt liability by paying debts of their senior secured financial creditors. Srinivasan also informed NCLAT that they are in the process of appointing resolution consultants. "These resolution consultants would work alongside Justice DK Jain Committee for resolution of group cos," he said, adding that it would work on a Committee of Creditors - like a mechanism where lenders will be invited to join and invite resolution applicants for individual group companies. Earlier, the corporate affairs ministry submitted the debt resolution plan for IL&FS. The entire resolution process is based on the principles enunciated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, as per the ministry. Under the plan, the government has categorised IL&FS group companies into green, amber and red based on their respective financial positions. Companies under the green category would be those that continue to meet their payment obligations. Amber category would be for those companies that will not be able to meet their obligations but can meet only operational payment obligations to senior secured financial creditors. Amber category entities "are permitted to make only payments necessary to maintain and preserve the going concern". "Companies falling in the red category are the entities which can not meet their payment obligations towards even senior secured financial creditors," as per the plan. Such companies would be permitted to make payment necessary to maintain and preserve. Lenders, led by the SBI, are trying to revive debt-laden Jet Airways by a change in management as they feel collapse of the airline will not be good for consumers and competition New Delhi: Lenders, led by the SBI, are trying to revive debt-laden Jet Airways by a change in management as they feel collapse of the airline will not be good for consumers and competition, a source said after the SBI chief met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday. With Jet flying just about a third of its fleet, defaulting on interest payments and delaying salaries to pilot, State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar along with Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Misra met Jaitley on Wednesday afternoon. Kumar said the meeting was to apprise the government, which is an important stakeholder, about the happenings in what was once India's second-biggest airline, and not to discuss a bailout package. He, however, emphatically stated that it was in the interest of the lenders and consumers to keep Jet Airways flying, and dragging the debt-ridden firm under bankruptcy proceedings is the last option. Jet Airways has a debt of over Rs 8,200 crore and needs to make repayments of up to Rs 1,700 crore by the end of March. In case the airline collapses, 23,000 jobs would be at stake. Though Kumar refused to share details of the lenders' resolution plan, the source said that the lenders have proposed to change the management of the beleaguered air carrier as they feel it is not possible to run the company with present management. Jet Airways is headed by Naresh Goyal, who currently holds 51 percent stake. Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has 24 percent. There were media reports that Etihad has approached the SBI to purchase its 24 percent stake in the airline. On getting a new player in Jet Airways, Kumar said, "No possibility is ruled out". "The dialogue with Etihad is on. It is not that they have conclusively decided that they will go out. But there are certain conditions which they want to be fulfilled and it is nothing but that the airline should be professionally managed and without any interference," he said. Lenders of Jet Airways have been working on a resolution plan for last five months and it is almost ready, Kumar said, adding "We will make every effort to keep Jet Airways flying and in no manner it is a bailout for any individual or any promoter whatsoever". The SBI chief said that resolution of a service industry, like airline, is nearly impossible under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and is the last option. "IBC means that we are grounding the airline. We will keep trying till such time we believe that all hope is lost. But as on date, I can say that not all hope is lost. We have not reached that decision point where we say enough is enough and nothing can be done," Kumar said. Chairman of the country's largest bank said that the government is the most important stakeholder and it is the duty of the lenders to keep the government informed. "It is in the lender's Interest, the country's interest, the aviation sector's interest that Jet Airways continues to fly," Kumar added. The pilots union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from 1 April if their salaries are not paid by 31 March. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said only 41 aircraft of the Jet Airways were currently available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in coming weeks". 41 aircraft is just one-third of Jet's fleet of 119 planes. As many as 47 aircraft of full-service carrier Jet Airways are on the ground now as the company failed to pay rentals to lessors New Delhi: Shares of crisis-hit Jet Airways plunged nearly 7 percent Wednesday after the company grounded six more planes due to non-payment of lease rentals. The stock tumbled 6.59 percent to Rs 213.95 on BSE. On NSE, shares cracked 6.93 percent to Rs 213.35. As many as 47 aircraft of the full-service carrier are on the ground now as the company failed to pay rentals to lessors. ".... an additional six aircraft (include one aircraft of Jet Lite (India) Ltd) have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements," the airline said in a filing to the stock exchanges Tuesday. The government has called an emergency meeting to discuss the cash-strapped carriers woes. The government has asked state-run banks to rescue the airline without pushing it into bankruptcy, two people within the administration told Reuters. State-run banks have been urged to convert debt into equity and take a stake in Jet in a rare move in India to use taxpayer money to save a struggling private-sector company from bankruptcy. The two people and another source, however, said this would be transitory and lenders could sell the stakes once Jet revives itself. Jet Airways has been grappling with acute financial woes and has been looking at ways to raise fresh funds. Meanwhile, in more trouble for the airline, an umbrella body of its domestic pilots Tuesday threatened to stop flying from 1 April if their dues are not paid by March-end. With inputs from agencies Mindtree's own co-founder, Ashok Soota, had walked out of Mindtree in 2011 to start his own IT firm, Happiest Minds. The place is romantically named Global Village. As someone who was present at the inauguration of Mindtree's aesthetically landscaped campus on the Mysore Road in Bangalore in 2005, I can imagine what it must mean to the founders of the IT services company as they face an unsolicited Rs 10,800-crore takeover bid from construction-led conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Group. The man who helped build that campus as an early investor with real estate interests, Cafe Coffee Day czar VG Siddhartha, seems to have literally pulled the ground from beneath the feet of its founders, who pride themselves as first-generation entrepreneurs now seeking special support from the government to thwart what they think is a hostile bid, even as L&T's CEO SN Subrahmanyan speaks of "dil" and "pyar" (heart and affection). Valentine's Day was a month ago. This one looks more like a Balakot attack at first play. Siddhartha may be named after the founder of Buddhism, but it turned out he is not exactly a renunciate as he sold his 20.3 percent chunk in the company to L&T, triggering an offer to minority shareholders of the company founded by alumni walking out of billionaire Azim Premji's imposing Wipro stable two decades ago. They now realise that a free entrepreneur could well be a horse up for trade in the unforgiving world of shareholder capitalism. They may want to commiserate with Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, who became a sulking billionaire last year after US giant Walmart acquired the online retailer founded in Mindtree's own Bangalore. Investment is eventually not about sentiment, much as Mindtree's founders may wish otherwise. But there is another kind of sentiment that perhaps matters more -- and that is of partners, customers and above all, nearly 20,000 employees spread across 17 countries. Here is where their strengths lie, if at all. Mindtree's own co-founder, Ashok Soota, had walked out of Mindtree in 2011 to start his own IT firm, Happiest Minds. Both companies are founded on the strength of employee happiness, enthusiasm and creativity as guiding ideals. Just as well. In the software industry, there is a saying that assets can walk out of the offices at 5 pm. Code geeks and engineering nerds are often kept happy by things other than money, and getting the best out of them is art different from the simple ways of lucre that L&T's managers may be used to. But there is a beautiful irony in the fact that L&T is not a family-run company either. It has its own culture and ethos in which managers have autonomy and talented engineers can move up the corporate ladder without sighting glass ceilings and promoter power. A decade ago, when Tech Mahindra bailed out the former Satyam Computer Services after its founder Ramalinga Raju admitted to India's biggest corporate fraud, employees had reasons to cheer because it was a rescue. The staff morale went up. L&T failed as a suitor for Satyam. In Mindtree, like a spurned lover insisting on marriage, L&T is facing a far more sensitive situation. In the undefined lexicon of the technology industry, employee morale pips shareholder supremacy because future earnings depend more on human capital than the one that is written on cheques. However, the onus is on Mindtree's co-founders to prove that they are not being viewed by thousands of their junior colleagues the way they themselves viewed Azim Premji when they quit Wipro. One of techie's progressive entrepreneur could be another's overbearing boss. Many questions loom: Are the projects Mindtree working on scalable in a manner that doesn't need extra capital? What if L&T assures a work culture surpassing, if not matching, Mindtree's? Are employee stock options under the current dispensation good enough to give the bulk of Mindtree's employees a sense of positive ownership? If L&T takes its intended 66 percent stakes, won't that leave employees as marginal stakeholders? There are no easy answers, but it is time for Mindtree's founders to realise that L&T, if you know its history, was as entrepreneurially progressive as itself and had fended off in 1989/90 a takeover attempt by Reliance Industries by extending arguments similar to what is in Bangalore's air this spring. AM Naik, the current non-executive chairman of L&T, was then in the thick of the action. There is a fig leaf for reconciliation in signals that Mindtree's founders are ready to talk to Naik. If their current posturing is aimed at extracting better terms for employees and stockholders including the founders, we may yet see that this is not a case of spurned love but one of a handsome dowry. Watch this space. After all, this is the land of arranged marriages in which love is often found after elders bless a relationship. (The writer is a senior journalist and commentator. He tweets as @madversity) The NCLAT on Wednesday asked the resolution professional of Essar Steel to call a fresh meeting of CoC to discuss the distribution of Rs 42,000 crore coming from ArcelorMittal's resolution plan New Delhi: The NCLAT on Wednesday asked the resolution professional of Essar Steel to call a fresh meeting of CoC to discuss the distribution of Rs 42,000 crore coming from ArcelorMittal's resolution plan. A two-member bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya has asked to reconsider distribution of the funds between financial and operational creditors of Essar Steel in the meeting. Meanwhile, the appellate tribunal also said that the 8 March order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Ahmedabad-bench approving ArcelorMittal plan in 'letter and spirit'. "The resolution professional (RP) may call for the meeting of the Committee of Creditors for reconsideration of distribution of funds," the bench said. The NCLAT was hearing an urgent application moved by Standard Charted bank, an operational creditor of the company. The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on 27 March for next hearing. Standard Chartered moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the plan as its counsel contended that the bank was being given only 1.7 per cent of its total dues on Essar Steel, while other financial creditors, forming part of the Committee of Creditors (CoC), were getting over 85 per cent of their dues. ArcelorMittal's resolution proposal provides financial creditors Rs 41,987 crore out of their total dues of Rs 49,395 crore. Operational creditors, under the plan, would get just Rs 214 crore against the outstanding of Rs 4,976 crore. If the ArcelorMittal plan is implemented, Standard Chartered will only get Rs 60 crore against its claims of Rs 3,187 crore from Essar Steel. Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill at Hazira in Gujarat. This was was among the first 12 cases selected by the Reserve Bank of India to be resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of FHL, have also been asked not to associate themselves with the affairs of FHL and FHsL in any manner. New Delhi: SEBI Tuesday directed Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) and Fortis Hospitals Ltd (FHsL) to continue efforts to recover more than Rs 403 crore from Shivinder Mohan Singh and Malvinder Mohan Singh as well as seven other entities. The latest ruling confirms the watchdog's interim order where it had found that Singh brothers along with seven entities diverted Rs 403 crore from FHL, for the ultimate benefit of parent company -- RHC Holding Pvt Ltd -- and group company Religare Finvest Ltd. Singh brothers, erstwhile promoters of FHL, have also been asked not to associate themselves with the affairs of FHL and FHsL in any manner. RHC Holding, Shivi Holdings Pvt Ltd, Malav Holdings Pvt Ltd, Religare Finvest, Best Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Fern Healthcare and Modland Wears Pvt Ltd are the seven entities. According to the regulator, the entities have failed to effectively rebut the prima facie findings and the allegations made against them in the interim order. The detailed investigation in the matter is still in progress which is supposed to reveal all the layers of the alleged fraud as well as expose the specific role of each entity, it noted. Pending investigation, Singh brothers and the six entities have also been directed not to dispose of any of their assets or divert any funds without SEBI's prior permission. For Religare Finvest, the regulator said the firm should not dispose of or alienate any of its assets or divert any funds except for complying with corrective action plan as stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India. On the call of CAIT, traders across the country gave a strong message to China by burning Chinese goods ahead of Holi festival New Delhi: Traders across the country on Tuesday burnt Chinese goods to protest China's move to use its veto in the UN Security Council against declaration of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", a statement of the Confederation of All Indian Traders said. China for the fourth time blocked a bid in the United Nations Security Council last week to designate the Pakistan-based chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed as "global terrorist" by putting a technical hold on the proposal, a move India termed as disappointing. "Traders are 'chowkidar' (watchman) of Indian economy, thus the trade from China will not flourish here any more," Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT secretary general, said. Whoever stands against the national security of India, the traders will boycott the goods of that country, he said. On the call of CAIT, traders across the country gave a strong message to China by burning Chinese goods ahead of Holi festival. In Delhi, the event was held at Sadar Bazar, the hub of Chinese goods, the statement said. Thousands of traders from all parts of the city participated in the demonstration. They made heaps of Chinese goods and put them on fire, it said. The demonstrators also held placards, urging people to boycott Chinese goods. They shouted slogans against China and warned the dragon nation to stop helping Pakistan in sponsoring terror activities in India. The traders also said that they would dislodge China from India which is its largest market if it failed to mend its ways, the statement said. CAIT national president B C Bhartia and Khandelwal said the Indian traders were annoyed with China for waging a back-door war against the interests of India by helping Pakistan. They demanded the government to levy restrictions on trade with China, it said. The Chinese goods are cheaper and consumers buy them without caring about the quality. Since our Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are capable enough to produce these goods with good quality and at affordable prices, the government should encourage such industries by giving them incentives so that they can compete with China, the statement added. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Washington: The US will start accepting applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year from 1 April, the federal immigration agency said on Tuesday and announced the launch of a new data hub to increase the transparency of the work visa programme popular among Indian IT companies and professionals. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the new H-1B Employer Data Hub. It will be available on uscis.gov on 1 April. The data hub is part of the USCIS' continued effort to increase the transparency of the H-1B programme by allowing the public to search for H-1B petitioners by fiscal year, NAICS (the North American Industry Classification System) industry code, company name, city, state, or zip code. This will give the public the ability to calculate approval and denial rates and to review which employers are using the H-1B programme, it said. Simultaneously, the USCIS said the premium processing will be offered in a two-phased approach during the next 2020 cap season. The fiscal year 2020 begins 1 October. The first phase will include 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting a change of status and the second phase will include all other fiscal 2020 cap-subject petitions, USCIS said. "The USCIS continually strives to improve the administration of the H-1B program and make it work better for employers, our agency, and US workers," said USCIS director L Francis Cissna. "We are also committed to fulfilling the president's Buy American and Hire American executive order, one of the principal goals of which is to protect the interests of US workers in the administration of our immigration system, in part by promoting the proper functioning of the H-1B visa programme, he said. As per US President Donald Trump's 'Buy American, Hire American executive order, the department of homeland security is reviewing current guidance and regulation to protect American workers while also providing good faith employers the opportunity to recruit H-1B workers where needed. "Our new H-1B data hub will make information more accessible to the public, and the new selection process will help make the system more meritorious and better protect the wages of US workers. Additionally, our two-phased approach to premium processing will make the process more effective and efficient for employers and the USCIS," Cissna said. About 1,000 farmers are allegedly planning to file nominations from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter Kavitha, to protest the alleged failure of the ruling TRS to ensure minimum support price for turmeric and red jowar (sorghum) produce. Karimnagar: About 1,000 farmers are allegedly planning to file nominations from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter Kavitha, to protest the alleged failure of the ruling TRS to ensure minimum support price for turmeric and red jowar (sorghum) produce. About 40 nomination forms were taken by various individuals, including farmers on Monday, the first day of filing nominations, official sources said. Some farmers said they have decided to file nominations to express their protest as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi had failed to ensure MSP for their produce. Turmeric and red jowar farmers in Nizamabad and Jagtial districts in Telangana have been agitating for higher MSP for the last three weeks. The nomination fee for each contesting candidate for Lok Sabha is Rs 25,000. Schools, colleges and universities in Kashmir remained closed due to the strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership, an amalgam of separatist groups, to protest against the death of Rizwan Pandit in police custody Srinagar: Normal life in Kashmir was affected on Wednesday due to a strike called by separatists to protest against the custodial death of a youth. Schools, colleges and universities remained closed due to the strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), an amalgam of separatist groups, to protest against the death of Rizwan Pandit in police custody on the intervening night of 18 and 19 March, officials said. Shops and other business establishments also remained closed while public transport remained off the roads but a few private vehicles could be seen plying on the city roads, they said. The state administration has ordered a magisterial probe into Pandit's death while police have ordered a separate inquiry into the matter. Rizwan Asad Pandit was picked up on Sunday night from his residence in Awantipora for questioning in a 'terror case'. The local police in Awantipora area of Pulwama had handed him over to the dreaded Special Operations Group, the counter-insurgent group of Kashmir police, where he died on Tuesday The death of a young Kashmiri teacher, who died in police custody, could not have come at worse time. With the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre preparing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the custodial death has created a sense of shock and rage in the region. Separatists have called for a shutdown on 20 March after the news about the teacher's death in the volatile south Kashmir spread through the Valley. Rizwan Asad Pandit was picked up on Sunday night from his residence in Awantipora for questioning in a "terror case". The local police in Awantipora area of Pulwama had handed him over to the dreaded Special Operations Group, the counter-insurgent group of Kashmir police, where he died on Tuesday. Rizwan had turned 29 on Monday. "It is a custodial murder," Zulkarnain Asad, the brother of the slain youth said. "He was not associated with any militant organisation. But we don't expect any justice, because we know justice will never be served in Kashmir." The streets of Awantipora, hometown of Rizwan in Pulwama, were filled with stones, as young schoolchildren in white and grey uniforms fought pitched battle with police and paramilitary soldiers. The alleged custodial death has triggered several protests and will have an adverse impact in the already tensed Kashmir region. The state administration was already struggling to make security arrangements for the upcoming elections in south Kashmir. "He was our teacher and a noble soul. Why did they kill him?" asked Hameed Bashir, a student, in Awantipora town. A school teacher associated with Jamaat-e-Islami, Rizwan was most likely arrested for his affiliations. Police had launched a massive mass crackdown on Jamaat cadres in Kashmir after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) banned the outfit. "Three days ago, police came and cordoned off the area. They got the family members out and took him (Rizwan) away. When we went to the concerned police station, they said he is in Cargo (SOG camp in Srinagar), but we came to know today through social media that he was killed in custody," Zulkarnain Pandit, brother of Rizwan, said. More than 200 activists of Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested by forces recently, which is being seen as a crackdown on opposition voices ahead of the elections. In recent weeks, police has been swooping down on residences of Jamaat-e-Islami members in Kashmir and arresting or detaining its members, including its chief Dr Abdul Hamid Fayaz. Though the police has termed the detentions as routine, officials privy to the developments have said that this is a first major crackdown on the organisation that is part of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a separatist conglomerate. Rizwan was associated with Jamaat and his father is 'rukun-e-Jamaat'. The custodial death made the former chief minister Omar Abdullah to sound like a doomsayer while many recalled the nightmarish era of nineties when such deaths would be common occurrence in the valley. I had hoped custodial deaths were a thing of our dark past. This is an unacceptable development & must be investigated in a transparent, time bound manner. Exemplary punishment must be handed out to the killers of this young man. https://t.co/Jj9RzsFu7r Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 19, 2019 The police department has requested a magisterial inquiry under Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ascertain the cause and circumstances leading to Rizwan's death. Some of his family members have said that he was picked up by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and was lodged in the Cargo detention centre. The NIA, however, has denied the any role in Rizwan's arrest.The police have also ordered a separate inquiry to investigate the incident. Sajad Lone, Peoples Conference chief and BJP's Kashmir ally said: Condemn in strongest terms the death in police custody in Srinagar. This is what the sanctity of human life has been reduced to in Kashmir. My thoughts r with the family of the deceased. Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) March 19, 2019 Six months ago, Rizwan was arrested by police and slapped with the draconian Public Safety Act. But the case was quashed by the court in January. After he got bail, the police still kept him under illegal custody for 20 days, his brother said. Former chief minister and leader of Peoples Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti tweeted: Innocent men hauled up from their homes for interrogation return home only in coffins now. GoIs repressive approach leaves young educated men vulnerable who are forced to take up arms. Stop using Kashmir to exhibit your sick chauvinistic nationalism. We have suffered enough. https://t.co/YF4RhVb1QQ Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 19, 2019 / Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 19, 2019 / Custodial death of a youth (from Awantipora Pulwama) in Srinagar Kashmir. As per sources he was picked up by NIA few days ago & was lodged in CARGO camp Kp Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 19, 2019 The death has triggered outrage online, as well, with #Rizwan trending on social media. "People don't die in police custody. People are killed in police custody. #Rizwan," Mirza Waheed, Kashmir's renowned novelist, tweeted. Today's top stories: Narendra Modi will address 25 lakh chowkidars; Goa CM Pramod Sawant will face a floor test in the Assembly; 37 people have been rescued from the site of a building collapse in Dharwad; and more. Poll watch: Modi to address chowkidars; Bihar Opposition finalises seat-sharing deal Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address 25 lakh security guards in an audio conference on Wednesday as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Meanwhile, BJP's Chhattisgarh in-charge and national general secretary Anil Jain said the party will change all 11 sitting MPs from the state this election, and that the Chief Election Commissioner has approved of such a plan. The BJP's central election committee is set to meet once again on Wednesday evening. On the Opposition front, the Congress-RJD combine in Bihar is likely to announce its seat-sharing arrangement on Wednesday. The Congress is believed to have settled for nine of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Also, the party's general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, will arrive at Modi's home turf of Varanasi on Wednesday, the last day of her three-day Ganga Yatra. Her brother, party president Rahul Gandhi, will hold rallies in Agartala and Imphal. Furthermore, the Congress-Left Front alliance in West Bengal could be heading for a collapse as the latter has already announced candidates for 38 of the 42 seats in the state, keeping the four seats held by Congress MPs vacant for now. The Left has given the Congress a 24-hour deadline to "respond positively" to its gesture. A day after the Election Commission of India met representatives of top social media organisations, including WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook, the platforms said they will draft and submit, on Wednesday, user guidelines to the poll watchdog with the upcoming election in view. New Goa chief minister faces floor test New Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant will face a floor test in the state Assembly on Wednesday. Sawant has already said he is confident of a victory, with the support of 21 MLAs in the House 12 from the BJP, three each of allies Goa Forward Party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three Independents. Sawant won the 2012 and 2017 Assembly elections from North Goa's Sankhalim constituency, which used to be a Congress stronghold. The politician, recently seen in the RSS uniform at a Sangh event, was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Goa on Monday after Manohar Parrikar's death on Sunday evening. Two dead, 37 rescued after building collapses in Dharwad At least 37 people have been rescued from the site where an building under construction collapsed atKumareshwar Nagar in Karnataka's Dharwad on Tuesday evening. The rescue operation is still underway as more people are feared trapped. Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan had confirmed two dead, and that 28 people had been admitted to a civil hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said rescue efforts will be conducted on a war footing and urged local resident not to panic. 1,000 farmers to file nominations from KCR's daughter's constituency As many as 1,000 farmers are allegedly planning to file nominations from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana, represented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter Kavitha, to protest the alleged failure of the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to ensure Minimum Support Price (MSP) for turmeric and red jowar produce. Various individuals, including farmers, took around 40 nomination forms on Monday, the first day of filing nominations, official sources said. Some farmers said they had decided to contest to express their protest as the TRS had failed to ensure MSP for their produce. Jet Airways may further reduce number of aircraft in its fleet The DGCA on Tuesday said Jet Airways is currently operating only 41 aircraft, just a third of its original fleet, as the debt-laden carrier struggles to finalise a rescue deal with lenders and its major shareholder, Etihad Airways. The aviation regulator said the situation is fluid, and that Jet may further reduce the number of aircraft it is flying in the coming weeks. Saddled with debt of more than $1 billion, Jet Airways has delayed payments to banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors, some of whom have ended lease deals with the airline before taking the planes out of the country. GST Council provides relief to under-construction residential projects The all-powerful GST Council on Tuesday allowed builders an option to choose between old tax rates and the new ones for residential projects under construction to help resolve input tax credit issues. The council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and including representatives of all states, at its 34th meeting, laid out transition rules for the implementation of new tax rates for the real estate sector. Builders will get a one-time option to continue paying tax at the old rates (effective rate of 8 percent or 12 percent with Input Tax Credit) for ongoing projects (buildings where construction and actual bookings both started before 1 April, 2019, but which will not be completed by 31 March, 2019), Revenue Secretary AB Pandey told reporters. Google unveils its long-awaited cloud gaming service Google has officially unveiled Stadia, a cloud-based gaming service that brings console-quality games to Chrome and Android. The tech giant also announced a Stadia controller that looks like a cross between an Xbox and PS4 controller. There is no fixed launch date for Stadia yet, but Google says the service will be announced sometime this year. Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan's film caught in row over fictitious lesbian story Filmmaker Francis Lee has been accused of fabricating a lesbian storyline in his next directorial Ammonite. The film, a biographical drama about paleontologist Mary Anning, features Oscar-winner Kate Winslet and actor Saoirse Ronan in the lead. The story follows the life of noted British paleontologist Anning (Winslet), who begins a relationship with Frances Bell, her nursemaid (Ronan). A report in The Telegraph, however, questioned the film's storyline, with Anning's real-life descendants claiming that her sexuality was never confirmed. Responding to the arrests, Barkha Dutt tweeted that 10 more numbers had been listed by her in the FIR and she will follow up on the case until each one of them is jailed. The Delhi Polices cyber crime cell has arrested four men for sending objectionable messages to journalist Barkha Dutt following an FIR filed by her in February for online abuse, blackmail and sexual harassment against several people who sent her obscene messages and threats on WhatsApp after her phone number was circulated on Twitter in the aftermath of the Pulwama attacks. While three of the men are from Delhi, the man who sent her a graphic image is from Surat. According to a report by The Indian Express, they have been identified as: Surat's Shabbir Gurfan Pinjari (45), and Rajiv Sharma (23), Hemraj Kumar (31) and Aditya Kumar (34) from Delhi. According to the report, while the three men from Delhi were booked for sending objectionable text messages and have been released on bail, Pinjari has been sent to a 14-day judicial custody for sending an obscene photograph. Sharma is pursuing his graduation via correspondence from a private university, Hemraj is a chef in a private hotel, Aditya works with a private firm as a sales executive, and Pinjari works in a butcher shop, the report said. The accused reportedly told police that they found Dutt's number on social media, where someone had shared it claiming it was for escort services. Police are now trying to ascertain who shared the journalists number online. On 18 February, Barkha had taken to Twitter to voice her complaint about the barrage of unsolicited hate and abuse messages she received in her Twitter inbox and later on WhatsApp in form of sexually explicit context. She tweeted the message she received along with the phone numbers, in order to oust the men who did so. Following her tweet, Twitter had blocked some of the features for her account, post which, Barkha shared a complaint email she sent to the team of Twitter India expressing her disappointment on the platform's inability to curb online abuse and sexual harassment. I had close to 1000 abusive messages and calls in a Cordinated and violent mob attack. These included a message to shoot me, a nude photo, many sexually abusive messages. I outed the men who did this. Twitter locked me till many of the details were taken down. I wroe this to them pic.twitter.com/XRyx9xbjcV barkha dutt (@BDUTT) February 19, 2019 An FIR was reportedly registered under IPC sections 354-D (stalking), 506 (threatening), 507 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and sections 67 and 67-A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) of the IT Act. According to reports, Barkha's FIR said that she appeared to have been made a victim of some fake news propaganda and that her personal number was shared on social media platforms after which she was sent nude pictures and sexually abusive text messages. I fear for my well-being, security and life as this is a coordinated assault by a violent mob, she had said adding that one message even read, "Goli maar deinge (Will shoot you)". Thereafter, on 19 February, the National Commission for Women had asked Delhi Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik to initiate a speedy investigation into the harassment faced by Dutt on social media. Responding to the arrests, Dutt tweeted that 10 more mobile numbers had been listed by her in the FIR and she will follow up on the case until each one of them is jailed. With elections less than a month away, fake news and reaching out to voters based on some kind of profiling is a possibility in India A year has gone by since the Cambridge Analytica data breach came to light. Facebook screwed up and let data of 87 million users be captured without their knowledge. While the European Union has activated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018, India is still is debating the Data Protection Bill as prepared by Sri Krishna Committee. The Cambridge Analytica scandal not only affected the US and the UK but also over 5 lakh Indian citizens, whose data was compromised. In the US and the UK, psychographic profiles of Facebook users were created to later target them with advertisements, to influence their voting patterns. Christopher Wylie, in his tweet dated 28 March, 2018, mentioned that SCL, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, was involved in elections of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (2003); Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and UP (2007); Uttar Pradesh (2007); General Elections (2009); Bihar (2010); Uttar Pradesh (2011 & 2012). I've been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCL's past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question - yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like. pic.twitter.com/v8tOmcmy3z Christopher Wylie (@chrisinsilico) March 28, 2018 The government admitted that there were media reports about leakage of personal data for political use. These reports were taken note of and notices were sent to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to come clean on these matters. While Facebook and Cambridge Analytica claimed that there was no misuse of data, the government wasn't adequately convinced. Eventually, in July 2018, CBI was asked to investigate this matter with regard to possible misuse of user data by Cambridge Analytica. The CBI, as of 12 March, 2019, has not carried any conclusive investigation in the matter. It has merely written to the companies (Facebook and Cambridge Analytica) seeking more information on the subject and its data collection methodology. It is still carrying the preliminary investigations and has not registered the FIR on the subject. The government claims that it already has provisions for the protection of user data. Section 43A and Section 72A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, provides for privacy and security of data in digital form. Section 43A provides for compensation to be paid to the victim in case of unauthorised access of information and leakage of sensitive personal information respectively. It mandates body corporates to implement reasonable security practices for protecting sensitive personal information of individuals. Section 72A of the Act provides for punishment for disclosure of information in breach of the lawful contract. Further, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 notified under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000, require that the intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties and shall publish the rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement for access or usage of its computer resource by any person. So, it needs to be investigated that Facebook had implemented the provision of IT Act 2000 and IT Rules 2011 and done its due diligence that the data has not been misused by Cambridge Analytica. In case Facebook as an intermediary has not done the due diligence, then the financial penalties as per IT Act can be imposed on it. To further strengthen personal data protection of user, the government had set up a Committee of Experts under the Chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Shri B N Sri Krishna to prepare a data protection framework and work out the Data Protection Bill. The Sri Krishna Committee deliberated on various issues and brought out a White Paper on Data Protection that laid down the principles. Thereafter, the Committee submitted its report along with draft Bill to MeitY. The report and the draft Bill were placed in the public domain and comments were sought, feedback has been received. Steps are afoot to bring about data protection legislation. The Supreme Court delivered its judgment in on 26 September, 2018, in case of Aadhaar Act 2016 wherein the apex court impressed upon the government to bring out a robust data protection regime in the form of enactment of the Act based on Justice BN Sri Krishna Committee Report with necessary modifications wherever deemed appropriate. The need for protecting privacy of individuals is important in the online world. It is up to the individuals to what extent they share their information on the digital platforms, but the same may have dangerous repercussions for which one must be prepared. Having said that, the Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and it is the governments responsibility to protect it. The Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament, Anurag Thakur, sought the personal appearance of senior officials of Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram before it and suggested that they should adhere to guidelines and directives of Election Commission during the ongoing general election, in real time. But with elections less than a month away, fake news and reaching out to voters based on some kind of profiling is a possibility in India, just like it happened in the US. Model Code of Conduct enforcement in the absence of data protection law With the general elections in India set to begin in less than a month and the Model Code of Conduct being enforced since 10 March, 2019, the use or misuse of the lack of a dedicated data protection law in the country can be exploited by political parties in the country. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has mentioned that there will be a social media expert in district and state level monitoring committees apart from radio and electronics media experts. Only approved political social media advertisements will be used as part of the campaigning and there will be no social media advertisement before 48 hours of the elections in a constituency. In nutshell, all the provisions of Model Code of Conduct will apply to social media site just as they are for traditional media. A meeting of ECI was held with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and representatives from social media organisations such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google, ShareChat, TikTok and BigoTV on 19 March, 2019. In the meeting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sunil Arora exhorted that social media organisations, who are formidable force-multipliers, should come up with a code for the ongoing election process in the immediate context and a lasting document in the long run. Election Commissioner, Ashok Lavasa, pointed out that voluntary restraint is a hallmark of civilised society and works as effectively as any regulation. He suggested that a clear clause on users' voluntarily agreeing not to misuse social media platforms for election or political purposes should be considered by the management. Election Commissioner, Sushil Chandra, reminded the representatives that ECI is committed to ethical, free and fair elections. He reiterated that role of social media in helping spread information as well as curbing misinformation cannot be underestimated. IAMAI and social media intermediaries have agreed with the ECI to come up with a Code of Ethics for the industry laying down operational details of the use of social media in the elections. It needs to be seen that political parties which time and again violate the Model Code of Conduct will actually adhere to a Code of Ethics on social media. Rescuers had pulled out 55 people from the rubble of the four-storeyed under construction building, which collapsed on Tuesday evening at Kumareshwaranagar in the heart of Dharwad, about 400 km from Bengaluru Bengaluru: The death toll in the building collapse at Dharwad in north Karnataka mounted to seven Wednesday as rescuers pulled out four more bodies from the debris and one person succumbed to injuries at hospital, police said. Rescuers had pulled out 55 people from the rubble of the four-storeyed under construction building, which collapsed Tuesday evening at Kumareshwara Nagar in the heart of Dharwad, about 400 km from here. "Seven people have lost their lives," Director General of Police (chief of fire and emergency services) MN Reddi told PTI. Earlier, Hubballi-Dharwad commissioner of police M N Nagaraj said 55 people had been rescued. He expressed apprehension that about 15 to 20 people were trapped inside the rubble. No arrests have been made, Nagaraj said. "We have registered a case. Arrests will also follow but our focus at present is on the rescue operations," he added. Police said rescue operations had been intensified to extricate people believed to be still trapped beneath the debris. In addition to 10 ambulances and five fire tenders deployed for relief and rescue operations, three teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been engaged, two from Ghaziabad and one from Bengaluru. "Two more teams of #NDRF are being airlifted from Ghaziabad in addition to one team which was moved from Bangalore in connection with Dharwad building collapse," the NDRF tweeted earlier in the day. About 150 police, fire and emergency personnel too have joined the rescue operations. Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader from the region Vinay Kulkarni had said Tuesday that one of the partners in the building was his relative and that whoever was involved should face action. An eye-witness had alleged that the building did not have the capacity to bear four storeys whereas an extra floor was being added. "The builders had used substandard materials," he told reporters Tuesday. Most of those trapped were migrant labourers from north India who were engaged in laying tiles. Nirav Modi was arrested in London and denied bail, while the Punjab National Bank approached the CBI regarding a similar scam. PM Modi wrote a blog post on press freedom and Akshay Kumar spoke about playing a Sikh warrior in Kesari Rumours of Kamal Nath-Digvijay Singh feud likely to be a ploy to catch BJP off-guard in Lok Sabha polls In throwing a challenge to Digvijaya Singh, Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath may be trying to use his best bet to breach three Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, particularly those which have been dominated by the BJP for the last three decades. UK court denies bail to Nirav Modi, remands him in police custody till 29 March Nirav Modi's arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition in a money laundering case. While the Westminister Magistrates' Court adjourned hearing on the extradition case till 29 March, District Judge Marie Mallon denied bail to Modi and remanded him in custody till the next hearing. In the blog, Narendra Modi hits out at Congress over press freedom, gives kettle room to launch a counterattack on pot One of the biggest oversights in Narendra Modi's blog post is in the section titled 'Press and Expression'. Before getting to the contents of the section or indeed the part under the category 'Press', it's worth briefly recalling the dim view taken of the concept of 'Expression' by the ruling party and its bannermen, for want of a better word. Literature fests, art exhibitions and even cinema there's hardly an aspect of expression that hasn't seen efforts to control and reshape it. PNB hit by another fraud, CBI investigating alleged Rs 250-crore scam by Hanjer Group According to top sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Punjab National Bank approached the agency against Hanjer Biotech Energies Private Limited after a forensic audit revealed that more than Rs 200 crore has been siphoned off, and the account has been declared a Non-Performing Asset. Akshay Kumar on playing a Sikh warrior in Kesari: Not many actors get to play such a courageous man I have had one of the best times doing the action sequences for Kesari because they were so raw. It was completely out of the world. The very premise of the film is something which swells my chest with pride and the climax where I had to fight hordes of men alone with the sword was just something else, says Akshay Kumar about his role in the film Kesari. Almost an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blog, which slams Congress' dynastic 'family-first' politics, went online, former Union minister, senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal was ready with a counter-charge. Sibal said that Modi, too, is a dynast, so is Amit Shah, so are chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and host of Centre and state-level ministers. Almost an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blog, which slams Congress' dynastic "family-first" politics, went online, former Union minister, senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal was ready with a counter-charge. Sibal said that Modi, too, is a dynast, so is Amit Shah, so are chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and host of Centre and state-level ministers. Sibal said, Sangh Parivar is the biggest dynasty in India and since all these leaders have had their rooting in the RSS, they all qualify to be dynasts. Ironically, the accusation comes from a top ranking minister, who held portfolios of Law and Justice, Human Resource Development, Communication and Information Technology, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences during the UPA regime. Sibal also continues to be a close confidante of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Another Congress leader Tariq Anwar argued that Modi's 'dynastic' jibe against Nehru-Gandhi family was manifestation of sour grapes scenario. Modi was slamming Congress over dynastic rule because prime minister himself did not have any lineage to boast about. #WATCH Tariq Anwar, Congress on PM Modi's tweet, says, "Narendra Modi Ji is saying this as he does not come from a dynasty. How can one who who does not come from a dynasty say this? Tell me one profession where dynasty is not encouraged." pic.twitter.com/HHtjwXD12Z ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Rahul Gandhi, addressing a rally at Imphal, questioned Modi's educational qualification. Rahul Gandhi interacting with students in Imphal:We still have not had access to PM's university degree.Nobody actually knows whether the Prime Minister went to a university or not. There is an RTI filed in Delhi asking for PM's university degree but it has not been responded to. pic.twitter.com/mGzwmahmxR ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Rahul is alleging as Aam Admi Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind kejriwal, despite the fact that both, the Delhi University and the BJP, have clarified that the prime minister joined university through correspondence course and got degree from the university. Modi's blog evoked several strong reactions, especially from the Congress. "In the summer of 2014, the people voted decisively for: Honesty over dynasty. Development over decay. Security over stagnation. Opportunities over obstacles. Vikas over vote-bank politics... The mandate of 2014 was epoch-making also because it was for the first time in the history of India that a non-dynastic party was blessed with a complete majority." Modi opened his blog with these lines. The prime minister also made a point by point rebuttal to his political rivals and critics charge that there was an unrelenting attack on institutions under his regime. In the blog, Modi details how it was Congress party and it's "first family" which undermined and targeted institutions constitutional, statutory and otherwise. To the charge that his regime is the one throttling freedom of speech and intolerant to dissent, Modi said it was actually the Congress which believed in curbing freedom of expression. "Dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. No wonder, the very first Constitutional Amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. The recent UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything 'offensive'. A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail. Just a few days ago, the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power." The prime minister referred to the incident at Rahul's rally in Karnataka where a few youngsters, who were allegedly Modi supporters, were taken into custody for chanting pro-Modi slogans. Modi listed out institutions press, judiciary, armed forces, governmental institutions, constitutional and investigative bodies to narrate how Congress party treated them. Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 was highlighted in detail. "When the sun set on the evening of 25th June 1975, it took with it the democratic ethos of India. A hurried radio address by the then Prime Minister showed the extent to which the Congress can go to safeguard the interests of one dynasty. The Emergency made the nation a prison overnight. Even to express was to commit sin. The 42nd Amendment put curbs on the courts, covering the Parliament and more. It took a groundswell of public opinion to end the Emergency but the anti-constitutional mindset of those who imposed it remained. The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed. Congress contempt for the courts is anyway legendary. It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a committed judiciary, which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution" Modi has given talking points to his party workers and supporters to counter charges alleged by the Congress and other parties in the run up to Lok Sabha election. British police on Wednesday said fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi had been arrested in London on behalf of the Indian authorities Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case, has been arrested in London, Scotland Yard said on Wednesday, in a major boost to India's efforts to bring back the fugitive diamantaire. The arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. "Nirav Deepak Modi, (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added. Here's the timeline of the PNB scam involving Modi: 29 January, 2018: Punjab National Bank (PNB) files police complaint against jewellers Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others, saying they had colluded with two of its staff to defraud the bank of Rs 281 crore ($43.16 million). 5 February, 2018: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says it has launched a probe into the alleged scam. Bank tells stock exchange it is still investigating the extent of the fraud. 14 February, 2018: PNB discloses the amount involved in the fraud as $1.77 billion, adds other banks overseas advanced money to jewellers based on the fraudulent guarantees issued by its staff. 15 February, 2018: PNB Chief Executive Sunil Mehta holds news conference, says working with law enforcement agencies, regulators, other banks. CBI says Modi, Choksi left India before PNB filed complaint. 16 February, 2018: CBI files case against Choksis Gitanjali Group, conducts searches at 20 of the jewellery retailers locations. PNB CEO tells analysts bank putting in place better checks and balances, hopes to recover within six months. Reserve Bank of India says it will take appropriate supervisory action. State-run Union Bank Of India says it has exposure of about $300 million related to the PNB incident, while State Bank of India says its exposure is about $212 million. 17 February, 2018: CBI makes first arrests in the case, two PNB employees and an executive of Nirav Modis group detained. State-run UCO Bank says it has about $412 million in exposure to fraudulent transactions carried out at PNB. Enforcement Directorate seizes a cumulative Rs 5,674 crore worth of diamonds, gold and jewellery from Nirav Modi's home and offices. 19 February, 2018 CBI arrests three more PNB executives. 20 February, 2018 PNB shares fall for fifth trading session, wiping off $1.9 billion in market capitalisation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley slams oversight lapses, without directly referring to PNB case. Reserve Bank of India asks banks to implement measures to strengthen their oversight of the SWIFT interbank messaging platform. Jeweller Modis lawyer denies wrongdoing by client; Modi writes to PNB saying his companies owe much less than the sums reported. Enforcement Directorate (ED) says investigating more than 100 shell companies allegedly used by Modi and Choksi to route funds. CBI arrests three officials from Modis group, two from Gitanjali. 16 February 2018: The external affairs ministry suspend Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi's passports for 4 weeks. 21 February, 2018: CBI arrests PNB general manager Rajesh Jindal, who headed the banks Brady House branch in Mumbai between August 2009 and May 2011. Jeweller Modi writes to his employees in India saying they should look for other jobs as he would not be able to pay them salaries after the seizure of his assets. 22 February, 2018: ED seizes nine luxury cars belonging to Modi and his firms; freezes shares and mutual funds worth Rs 7.8 crore held by Modi and Rs 86.72 crore held by Choksi. 23 February, 2018: Auditor group Institute of Chartered Accountants of India begins probe into PNB fraud. RBI orders linking of SWIFT system with banks core accounting software by 30 April, among other measures, Feb. 20 letter to banks shows. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra announces cutting ties with Nirav Modis brand. 24 February, 2018: Choksi writes an open letter to employees of Gitanjali Gems protesting innocence and telling them to look for other jobs. ED seizes 21 properties including a farmhouse, a solar power plant and land belonging to Modi worth Rs 524 crore. 27 February, 2018: PNB says the amount of fraudulent transactions has gone up by about $204 million to $1.97 billion. Jeweller Modis firm Firestar Diamond files for bankruptcy in the United States. 28 February, 2018: CBI arrests former PNB auditor MK Sharma, who was responsible for auditing systems and practices of the banks Brady House branch. 1 March, 2018: PNB appoints BDO India as forensic auditor for five group companies belonging to Modi. CBI arrests another former PNB internal auditor, Bishnubrata Mishra, who was responsible for audits at the branch between 2011 and 2015. 3 March, 2018: Authorities say gold and diamond bribes given to one PNB staffer named in fraud. State-run lender Allahabad Bank says its exposure to the fraud is about $367 million. 4 March, 2018: CBI makes four more arrests - two former employees of Modis Firestar International, an auditor of Modis group and a former director of one of Choksis companies. 6 March, 2018: CBI arrests a vice president of Gitanjali group. Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) meets executives from Axis Bank, ICICI Bank over Modi, Choksi exposure. 7 March, 2018: PNB CEO Sunil Mehta meets SFIO officials in Mumbai. 8 March, 2018: Choksi accuses investigating agencies of gross abuse of due process in ongoing probe. 2 July 2018: Interpol issues Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi. 20 August 2018: The UK has confirmed to the CBI that fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi is in their country. 10 September 2018: Interpol issues red-corner notice against Nirav Modi's sister Purvi Modi. 8 March 2019: PNB fraud accused Nirav Modi's seaside bungalow in Alibaug (in Maharashtra) demolished using explosives. UK Telegraph reporter tracked the Nirav Modi down to a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block in London. 9 March 2019: Nirav Modis extradition request sent to court by UK home secretary Sajid Javid. 15 March 2019: A special court in Mumbai issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Ami Modi, the wife of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi. 18 March 2019: London court issues arrest warrant against diamantaire Nirav Modi based on ED's request for extradition. 20 March 2019: Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case, arrested by Scotland Yard in London. The Westminster Magistrates' Court remands him in custody till 29 March. The court rejected his bail application. (with inputs from agencies) India is believed to have had cancelled the dialogue of coast guards with Pakistan, in the wake of the tension after the Pulwama terror attack. India is believed to have cancelled the dialogue between its coast guard and that of Pakistan, in the wake of heightened tension between the neighbours after the Pulwama terror attack. The decision is in line with India's stance that terror and talks cannot go together. The annual maritime dialogue was scheduled for 6 to 9 March. Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard Rajendra Singh was supposed to visit the talks, ANI reported. The dialogue between the coast guards of the two is part of the 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) India and Pakistan had signed. Under the MoU, a hotline link was also set up between the heads of Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) to exchange information on non-military maritime subjects. This is along the lines of the hotline between the director generals of military operations of the two countries. India and Pakistan had held their last maritime dialogue after a two-year gap in May 2018. A Pakistani delegation had visited India to discuss ways to end the suffering of fishermen who cross sea borders and also reduce pollution and handle disasters. The last meeting between the Indian Coast Guard and PMSA before the talks in May 2018 was in July 2016. India had cancelled the annual maritime dialogue in 2017 due to the diplomatic tension caused by a Pakistani military court awarding a death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav after convicting him on espionage charges. Referring to the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan after the Uri attack, Modi had said 'blood and water can't flow together'. It remains to be seen how things will unfold after Pulwama. After the 2016 terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that "blood and water cannot flow together". He was referring to the Indus Waters Treaty, under which India shares the waters of the rivers that flow west from the state with Pakistan. Under the treaty, the waters of rivers Ravi, Beas and Sutlej are reserved for India, and that of western rivers Indus, Chenab and Jhelum are for Pakistan. Now, after the 14 February attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, the situation seems to have become even more grim, with Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari going to the extent of tweeting that India could consider blocking Pakistan's share of the river waters. Dr Uttam Sinha, research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and author of Riverine Neighbourhood and Hydro-politics in South Asia, gives his insights on the Indus river system. After the Pulwama attack, Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari tweeted about how India could consider blocking Pakistan's share of waters of the Indus river system. This is not a tap that can be turned on and off. We are legally well within our rights to abrogate the treaty, but even if we were to resort to such a measure, it would mean inundating our own areas and destroying large tracts of forest areas. We cannot forget that China is also an important player in this regard because the Indus river originates in Tibet. That is why I say we can punish Pakistan through other means. As a first step, we need to maximise the effectiveness of the treaty. We have 3.6 million acre feet (MAF) of water flowing into Pakistan because we had not created enough storage capacities. So our own capacities need to be improved. That is why I say we need to optimise the treaty before thinking of abrogating it. Ultimately, abrogation will be a political decision. Do you think the Indus Waters Treaty should be done away with? The Indus Waters Treaty has become an albatross, and we remain tied to its provisions that were laid down in 1950. It is a treaty drawn out by engineers and goes into great technicalities. I am studying Pandit Nehru's notes on this treaty, and I must emphasise that Nehru was enamoured by engineers. He had invited the chief engineer of the Tennessee Valley Authority to Teen Murti, and the Damodar Valley Corporation was also based on that. The chief architect of the Indus Waters Treaty was also an engineer. The treaty has 12 short articles and massive annexures. The agreement hardly fits into our present social and political environment and needs a relook. Design concepts of river banks have changed in terms of flushing water. There have been so many developments in this field to ensue better flow, but these can only be incorporated if Pakistan agrees to them. What is the government's thinking of better utilisation of the waters of the Chenab and Jhelum? The western rivers flow through Kashmir. We cannot talk about the Indus because it moves upwards and flows through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Chenab is a high-volume, fast-flowing river because of the terrain it goes through. According to the Indus Waters Treaty, we can use the water from these rivers for non-consumptive purposes such as hydro-electricity generation, irrigation and storage, after which the water flows back to the river. India has listed 33 to 36 projects to be developed on these two rivers. The Jhelum is critically important for Pakistan because it feeds its triple canal system (the Upper Bari Doab) and then its water moves to their other canals. Pakistan believes that if we control the flow of the Jhelum, it will adversely affect their agricultural practices. Our focus, at the moment, is on the Chenab. The construction of the Baglihar Dam on the river was completed in 2008. Of course, the project had meant getting into a lot of technical disputes. The problem is that Pakistan does not want to see Kashmir being settled, does not want to see Kashmiris happy. They created problems even with the Kishanganga Dam on the Jhelum and took the matter to the International Court of Justice. When you keep delaying a project, costs rise, and it ends up becoming uneconomical and unfeasible. We are now looking at fast-tracking the Bursa and Sawalkot projects. After the Uri attack, we decided to ignore Pakistan's pressure tactics. We will go ahead with our own technical assessment. We have Detailed Project Reports prepared for both the Sawalkot and Bursa undertakings. Are you saying India will ignore Pakistan's criticism of these projects? We are adhering to the treaty. We will allow site visits. Pakistani experts came to India a month ago and went back generally satisfied, at least according to their notes. Of course, when they return to Pakistan, they will give the matter a political spin and change their narrative. But we are treating these as projects of national interest to fast-track them. The financial allocations have been made, and we hope to start work on them very soon. Projects of this size create problems of displacing a large number of local residents as well as environmental issues. We are going to try to minimise both environmental and social costs. The Ministry of Water Resources will be co-operating with the Jammu and Kashmir government to execute the work. What do the Detailed Project Reports focus on? The Ministry of Water Resources has gathered details of land acquisition, deforestation, movement of people as well as cost estimates. Bursa is an 800-megawatt project, and Sawalkot, at 1,800 megawatts, is expected to be the largest hydro project in Kashmir. The cost of both projects will run into several thousands of rupees, and we have looked at their ecological and sustainable impact, as well. We must not forget that Kashmir has the potential to produce 16,000 megawatts of electricity but has been developed to produce only 3,000 megawatts in the past 70 years, from which it gets only 1,200 megawatts. Most of Kashmir's water resources go to Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. We have to address this issue. The government plans to push ahead with using navigation facilities for these rivers. A 22-kilometre stretch has been identified on the Jhelum river to build a 40-feet-wide barrage to ease transport of commodities between Sopore and Baramullah. We call this navigation lock-oriented system Tulbul, while Pakistan calls it the Wullar Barrage. This project was started in 1984 but was halted in 1987. The present government believes navigation is important for our riverine systems, but it was not paid enough attention in the past. Developing a navigation system would help to preserve a river and develop its ecosystem. More importantly, we want to use water to integrate Kashmir into the nation. This project has been lying in cold storage, again because of objections from the Pakistani side. But the situation is set to change. Have we entered a new phase of hydro diplomacy? In the past, our hydro diplomacy with our neighbour has been largely bilateral. But today, China is the big elephant in the room. Look at the Ganga. As much as 47 percent of its flow is transboundary, with important tributaries like the Kosi and the Gandak originating in Nepal. At the same time, however, water has also become a very divisive subject. The Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) meets twice a year and has already met 115 times since the treaty was inked. The PIC meetings were suspended after the Uri attack, though they met twice in 2017. The Pakistani side is allowed to come and see what we are doing on the rivers. It remains to be seen how things will unfold now after the Pulwama attack. Treaties were formulated in the past with a bilateral approach, but we have now realised the need to look at things from a basin approach. The Indus and Sutlej both originate in Tibet. The basin approach would be much broader, meaning wider participation of Nepal, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh. We already have treaties with Pakistan and Bangladesh on water sharing. In both cases, India is the upper riparian State. China has a different approach. It does not consider any engagement on river water. We need to open a dialogue on the water front with China since it is very much part of South Asia and is building two large dams on the Indus and several dams on the Brahmaputra, which are of concern to us. A delegation led by Union Minister Vijay Goel called on the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and submitted a memorandum alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party's government was misusing its official position. The delegation accused AAP workers of making phone calls to voters stating that their names had been deleted from the voter's list and that they (AAP) can help voters get their names restored. A delegation led by Union Minister Vijay Goel called on the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and submitted a memorandum alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party's government was misusing its official position. The delegation accused AAP workers of making phone calls to voters stating that their names had been deleted from the voter's list and that they (AAP) can help voters get their names restored. AAP's version is that the BJP got more than 30 lakh voters' names deleted in Delhi and hence it started talking about this issue and hired a call centre to inform voters about it. AAP alleged that this is what led the BJP to order the Delhi Police to harass the call centre employees. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: Why is CEC raiding our call centres and asking for our data? What is our crime? Pl tell our crime at least. https://t.co/uaECjjAxRh Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 15, 2019 Speaking to Firstpost, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that the raids were being conducted by the state police that is controlled by the Centre. "How can the police raid our call centres and demand our data? They are influencing our campaign. How are the crime branch and police getting even involved?" he asked. Singh questioned the reason why no action wasn't being taken by the CEC instead and accused the BJP for drumming up a list of 70 complaints by its own people against AAP. Manoj Tiwari, Delhi BJP head, told Firstpost that Kejriwal is making his disrespect for constitutional mechanisms evident by taking this stand. The Election Commission of India has asserted that the local state police and Central paramilitary forces come under its superintendence and control during the elections for all purposes. Once the complaint has been registered with the CEC, it is their decision on what action they like to take against the agency. Given the nature of the case, which involved phone calls and mass data collection, senior police officials might have deputed the crime branch to exercise its specialised skills. No arrests were made. In other states, politicisation of the state police becomes an issue around election time and central forces are deputed to keep a check. In Delhi, the police is controlled by the Centre. However, when a complaint is registered with an authorised body, there is nothing illegal about referring the case to the local police. Going beyond the incident, the purpose of the Model Code of Conduct is to be able to keep a check on the party in power, because it is that party which can misuse administrative machinery for political gain. The Election Commission is well within its rights to investigate complaints from Opposition parties and since Kejriwal tweeted to the CEC, a dispassionate analysis to the political tussle between the BJP and AAP becomes essential. During the recent state elections in Chhattisgarh, a senior IAS officer was appointed as a special observer. On condition of anonymity, he shared an incident with Firstpost regarding a vehicle distributing campaign material to voters, less than 48 hours before polling. "The Election Commission ordered the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to look for that vehicle and when it was found, the material was confiscated," he said, explaining that raising a complaint is bona fide right of political parties. AAP has held a sit-in protest out the Election Commission office against Delhi Police over allegedly harassing call centre employees hired by their party and demanded action from the poll panel. A delegation led by Manish Sisodia, comprising senior leaders like Singh and partys Lok Sabha candidates Raghav Chadha and Atishi, reached the CECs office and alleged that the police has been conducting searches at AAPs call centres at the behest of the BJP. Unlike the lack of jurisdiction over the municipality and the state police, which can become a subject of political contest between the BJP and AAP, this particular issue centres around the constitutional powers of an autonomous body that has a long history of keeping parties in check. One year etched in the story of that history is 1971, when freedom fighter Raj Narain contested in the Lok Sabha election against the then prime minister Indira Gandhi from the Rae Bareilly seat. Gandhi was re-elected by a two-to-one margin. With his election petition, Narain had summoned the state government of Uttar Pradesh before the Allahabad High Court to produce a document called the Blue Book that contained instructions for the protection of the Prime Minister of India when on a tour or in travel. The government officials refused to produce the document, citing Section 123 of the Evidence Act in which it is stated that no one shall be permitted to give any evidence derived from unpublished official records relating to any affair of State except with the permission of the Officer at the Head of the Department concerned who shall give or withhold such permission as he thinks fit. The central government of the time failed to file an affidavit to claim such privilege. The high court hence ordered the production of the Blue Book, mainly for the governments failure in claiming its privilege under Section 123 (imposes the obligation on the government to timely claim such privilege in an affidavit). The Supreme Court of India held that the court had the discretion of drawing inference from non-filing of an affidavit that no privilege was claimed and that it enjoyed the judicial authority to look to the document itself and take a decision. The Supreme Court also noted that under Section 162 of the Evidence Act, an objection to disclosure of a privileged government record should be filed on the date which is fixed for the production of document so that the Court may decide the validity of such objection. Right after the sweeping victory of the Indira Gandhi government, on 12 June 1975, The High Court of Allahabad found Indira Gandhi guilty of misusing government machinery under the The Representation of People Act, 1951, which meant that she could no longer continue to serve as the Prime Minister. She appealed in the Supreme Court but it was on vacation. Thereafter, a state of emergency was declared by the then President Fakrudeen Ali Ahmad citing internal disturbance. The politicisation of the state police is a separate issue and the assumption of that politicisation, be it in the manhandling of its people by authorities or the motive of accessing the election data, isnt reason enough to question the motives of the CEC. Chittisinghpora massacre: Nineteen years ago on 20 March, 2000, 35 Sikh men were killed in cold blood by a group of masked gunmen in army fatigues; Nanak, the lone survivor of the killing recounts the horrific night Anantnag: It was 20 March, 2000. The sky was murky and overcast. Just after dusk, worshippers were walking back home from the temples in the Sikh-dominated Chittisinghpora village in south Kashmirs Anantnag district. Some were chatting by the roadside while the women were busy preparing dinner. It was a routine evening. Nobody would have thought that the small pastoral hamlet with a stunning natural landscape was about to change, that the idyll would be shrouded in horror and distress. A group of masked gunmen in army fatigues barged into the village. They split into two groups and rounded up 36 Sikhs, including teenagers, the young and the elderly. They made two groups of Sikhs stand outside the two gurdwaras in the area located just 150 metres apart. The terrified Sikhs were unsure what was going to happen when in unison, both groups of gunmen fired indiscriminately at point-blank range. All, except Nanak Singh, then 39, died. The gunmen left, leaving behind a trail of dark memories that still haunt the villagers. The massacre had sent shockwaves across India. Around 30 women were left widowed and scores of children were orphaned that dreadful night. The memories of the carnage are still fresh in Nanak's mind. The soft-spoken and grey-bearded survivor of the Chittisinghpora massacre is a retired government employee. He lost his son, brother and three cousins that night. This is his recount of the tragedy: Winter had just passed in Kashmir. It was still a bit cold outside. I had donned a pheran. Like every day, we were gossiping as we walked home from the temple. A group of gunmen in army fatigues entered our village through a narrow lane from the back, their faces were covered with a mask. Their sudden presence didnt frighten us as it was normal during those days. We thought they were fauji (soldiers). Later, their actions signalled that something unusual was going to happen. I don't know how many of them were there, but it was a huge group and one leader was giving them directions. They broke into two parties. One group went down the road towards Shaukeen Mohalla Gurdwara. "What's happened, sir? Is everything alright?" we asked the gunmen. "Yes, everything is alright. We have to check your identity cards. It will take 10 minutes. Stay here," they replied. Some of them barged into houses located close to the two gurdwaras and brought more men out. Among them were my son Gurmeet Singh, who had recently passed Class 10 exam, my 28-year-old brother Darbari Singh and three cousins 22-year-old Sartaj Singh, 20-year-old Kulbeer Singh and 25-year-old Ujjal Singh. Sartaj had been married for 10 months while Darbari was a farmer with two kids. Both his children aged less than 10 years. "Where are the militants? We have information that some militants are visiting this village," they said. "We havent seen any militants, Sir. You may have the wrong information," we replied. Sinister thoughts crossed my mind. I murmured into the ear of my neighbour Charan Singh, standing by my right, that we were going to die today. We could sense a murderous frenzy in the actions of the gunmen. They lined us up outside Singh Sabha Sumandri Hall Gurdwara. There were 19 of us. My son was beside me. I still remember I was seventh from the left side. At the same time, the other group of gunmen placed 17 Sikhs in a row outside Shaukeen Mohalla Gurdwara, 150 metres down the road. It was 7.45 pm. There were eight to 10 gunmen in front of us. We were still unsure about their plan. One of them fired in the air a signal to the other group to get ready to kill. Then they shot indiscriminately at us. The firing continued for a few minutes. All of us fell to the ground. I didnt receive any bullet, but I dropped to the ground and played dead, I was murmuring, "Waheguru Ji, Waheguru Ji", under my breath. They stopped firing and flashed torches at us. "Akh round aur maro saalu ko. Koi nahi bachna chahiye (Shoot these idiots again. Make sure everyone is dead), one of them ordered. I became ready to die this time. They fired at us again, and one bullet pierced my left leg and broke my right thigh joint. I didnt scream. As they left, vanishing through the route they had come, they chanted 'Jai Hind!', 'Jai Mata Di!' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai!' I was bleeding profusely. I opened my eyes and found someone had clutched me with his arm. I lifted his arm and looked closely, it was my son Gurmeet. I shook his body, I called him, tried to wake him up. Then I touched his head; it was soaked in blood. Tears rolled down my face. I was not able to stand up. I wanted a sip of water. A pile of bodies was lying before me in a pool of blood, some were still shaking and wobbling. Each man was hit by 10 to 12 bullets. That dreadful scene is imprinted on my mind. My cousin Sartaj was robust. With his bullet-riddled chest, he walked up to our house. Then the villagers came, beating their chests. They picked me up. The gunmen had turned our village into a slaughterhouse. The road ran red, and blood squished under shoes. Sartaj and I were placed in a room. There was no vehicle in the village. Men, women, children, everyone was crying and screaming for help. Some young Sikh villagers ran to the police station, around seven kilometres away from our village. I too was crying. Shrieking. I had witnessed the brutal death of my loving son. "Why are you crying? Stop screaming," Sartaj was telling me in a broken voice. By the time police reached our village, Sartaj had taken his last breath. He might have survived if he had been given immediate treatment. The police took me to Anantnag district hospital, from where I was shifted to Bone and Joint Hospital, Barzulla, Srinagar. The next day, I was referred to the army hospital, where I stayed for 25 days and was operated on once. I was still unable to walk. I went to Amritsar, where the Sikh committee took me to a senior doctor. I was operated twice. My damaged hip joint was replaced by an artificial one. It took me months to recover. I didnt even take part in my son's last rites. I stayed with my relatives in Jammu for some time, to get over the shock. Nothing is worse than to witness the gruesome murder of your loved ones. While the gunmen were conversing, I had heard three names Pawan, Bhansi and Bahadur. I dont know if these names were fake or real, but they still reverberate in my ears. As the lone survivor of the massacre, I gave scores of interviews. I was an eyewitness in a number of courts and government offices. Nothing happened. Then we lost hope of justice. It was a premeditated massacre. We only saw a flawed inquiry and later, fake promises. The massacre was carried out to give a wrong message about Kashmir to former US President Bill Clinton, who was visiting India. Everyone is aware of the Pathribal fake encounter, in which five innocent civilians were killed, and later dubbed militants responsible for the Chittisinghpora massacre. Even the CBI report suggested that the five civilians were killed in cold blood in Pathribal. After the massacre, people suggested I migrate from Kashmir. But I refused. Why would I leave my village? I was born here. I lived here and will die here. We didnt make an issue of the massacre. Everyone in Kashmir had been witnessing death and destruction for decades now. We still live happily with our Muslim brothers. The criminals failed to break our bonds. I can only say that it was a miracle that I survived, for hundreds of bullets were fired at us at point-blank range. Three-day mourning for Chittisinghpora massacre victims Nanak now lives with his other son, Manmeet Singh, also a government employee. Every year, on the anniversary, Sikh villagers of Chittisinghpora commemorate their loved ones. They observe three days of mourning and memorial events. They have preserved the haunting memories of the massacre, but have lost hope of justice. Nineteen years have passed, and the killings are still shrouded in mystery. After the Chittisinghpora massacre under SRO-43, every victim's family was given Rs 1 lakh and a government job. The author is Anantnag-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters PNB Fraud Case; Nirav Modi Arrested LIVE Updates: District Judge Marie Mallon remanded Nirav Modi in custody till 29 March, saying there was substantial grounds to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. Auto refresh feeds They said an extradition request was sent to the United Kingdom through the external affairs ministry. On Tuesday, the Central Beauro of Investigation (CBI) sources said expeditious efforts were being made to get Modi extradited from the United Kingdom. Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi has been arrested from Holborn metro station in London and will be produced in court later on Wednesday, ANI reported. The court also permitted the Enforcement Directorate to sell 173 paintings and 11 cars belonging to Nirav Modi. A PMLA court in Mumbai has issued a non-bailable warrant against Ami, the wife of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case. Speaking to reporters after Nirav Modi was arrested in London, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, and now they are bringing him back. They are doing this for the Lok Sabha election, and they will send him back (to London) after election." India Today reported that fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi spent the night in police custody after he was arrested on Tuesday. The arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. India Today reported that Nirav Modi, who will be produced in a Westminster court, will brought in from back gate of the court premises. He is currently at the holding cell of court. Speaking to reporters on Nirav Mod's arrest, Union minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the Narendra Modi government's efforts to bring back economic offenders. "Mallya will also be brought to India. They (fugitive offenders) are left with no other option," he said. The case will then follow a similar pattern through the UK courts as that of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, who remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 on fraud and money laundering charges. Nirav Modi will be produced before a District Judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London to be formally charged, following which he is expected to seek bail. According to PTI, he is now believed to be running a new business, which describes itself on the UK's Companies House register as a wholesale trader in watches and jewellery and a retailer of watches and jewellery in specialised stores. Nirav Modi is believed to have arrived in London in 2018 and was able to travel in and out of Britain at least four times since his passport was cancelled by the Indian authorities in February 2018. Nirav Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. The fugitive diamond merchant will be produced before a magistrate court in London in 20 minutes from now. The Times of India reported that Nirav Modi's legal team is present inside the Westminster court in London. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi lashed out at the BJP for claiming that Nirav Modi's arrest was an "achievement". "Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? (Is this an achievement? Who let him go?),' she said. The case on fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's extradition was adjourned in the Westminster court till 29 March. According to reports, Nirav Modi appeared in court during the hearing and refused consent to extradition. In his bail petition, Nirav Modi argued that the charges against him were politically motivated. He also claimed that he was cooperating with the Indian agencies in the probe. In a major setback to Nirav Modi, the Westminster court rejected his bail application on Wednesday. According to India Today, he will be in custody of the metropolitan police in London till 29 March, when a hearing in the extradition case will be held. India Today reported that the Westminster court rejected Nirav Modi's bail plea because he is too much of a "flight risk", which means he has a lot of money and the motivation to flee. Apart from claiming that the charges against him were politically motivated, Nirav Modi said in the bail plea that he has a 5-year-old child to look after. He also offered 500,000 as security deposit. However, District Judge Marie Mallon denied bail to Modi and remanded him in custody till 29 March, saying there was substantial grounds to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. Sharing a timeline of developments in the Nirav Modi case, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed that it was "Bada Modi" Prime Minister Narendra Modi who "snoozed". Today Special Court (PMLA) Mumbai was pleased to allow ED to auction 11 vehicles (Rolls Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota Fortuner etc.) owned by Nirav Modi in #bankfraud case. 1 pic.twitter.com/dSXmEEReu5 Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate obtained permission from a special court in Mumbai to sell 173 paintings and 11 vehicles "beneficially owned" by Nirav Modi. Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on BJP saying the arrest of Nirav Modi in London is an achievement of PM Modi: Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? pic.twitter.com/ZCc21V25J2 Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi lashed out at the BJP for claiming that Nirav Modi's arrest was an "achievement". "Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? (Is this an achievement? Who let him go?),' she said. Reports said that the Enforcement Directorate is being represented in Westminster court by Mark Summers, the lawyer who also represented it in Vijay Mallya's case. Interestingly, both the fugitive businessmen also have the same defense lawyer, Anand Doobay. Fugitive diamantaire appeared in Westminster court, where the case will be allocated to a chief magistrate. The case on fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's extradition was adjourned in the Westminster court till 29 March. According to reports, Nirav Modi appeared in court during the hearing and refused consent to extradition. In his bail petition, Nirav Modi argued that the charges against him were politically motivated. He also claimed that he was cooperating with the Indian agencies in the probe. In a major setback to Nirav Modi, the Westminster court rejected his bail application on Wednesday. According to India Today, he will be in custody of the metropolitan police in London till 29 March, when a hearing in the extradition case will be held. India Today reported that the Westminster court rejected Nirav Modi's bail plea because he is too much of a "flight risk", which means he has a lot of money and the motivation to flee. Apart from claiming that the charges against him were politically motivated, Nirav Modi said in the bail plea that he has a 5-year-old child to look after. He also offered 500,000 as security deposit. However, District Judge Marie Mallon denied bail to Modi and remanded him in custody till 29 March, saying there was substantial grounds to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. 1/1/2018-Chhota Modi escapes India after looting 26,306 Cr. 23/1/2018-Nirav Modi poses with PM Modi in Geneva. Till Nov 2018-He travels the world. 9/3/2019: Telegraph exposes Nirav Modi in London. Cong questions PM. 20/3/2019: Chhota Modi arrested. Who Snoozed? Bada Modi! Sharing a timeline of developments in the Nirav Modi case, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed that it was "Bada Modi" Prime Minister Narendra Modi who "snoozed". PNB Fraud Case; Nirav Modi Arrested LATEST Updates: In a major setback to Nirav Modi, the Westminister court on Wednesday rejected his bail application. Apart from claiming that the charges against him were politically motivated, Nirav Modi said in the bail plea that he has a 5-year-old child to look after. He also offered 500,000 as security deposit. However, District Judge Marie Mallon remanded him in custody till 29 March, saying there was substantial grounds to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. The case on Nirav Modi's extradition was earlier adjourned in the Westminster court till 29 March. According to reports, Nirav Modi appeared in court and refused consent to extradition. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted on fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi's arrest and said, "Its amusing to see the BJP falling over itself to credit the prime minister with the Nirav Modi arrest while completely ignoring the fact that it was The Telegraph of London and its correspondent who found Nirav Modi, not the prime minister and his agencies." Nirav Modi is to be produced before a magistrate court in London at 4.50 pm IST. Speaking to reporters on Nirav Modi's arrest, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, and now they are bringing him back. They are doing this for the Lok Sabha election, and they will send him back (to London) after election." India Today reported that Nirav Modi spent the night in police custody after he was arrested on Tuesday. The arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. A PMLA court in Mumbai has permitted the Enforcement Directorate to sell 173 paintings and 11 cars belonging to Nirav Modi. The court also issued a non-bailable warrant against Ami, the wife of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, the main accused in the $2 billion PNB scam case. Nirav Modi was arrested on Wednesday by Scotland Yard in London. The arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added. The location of the arrest indicates that Nirav Modi, wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank scam case, was arrested from where he is believed to have been living in a plush apartment in Centre Point in the West End. It would seem that his arrest is on an extradition warrant, details of which would become clear when he appears before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. The CBI sources on Tuesday said expeditious efforts were being made to get absconding jeweller Nirav Modi extradited from the United Kingdom, They said an extradition request has been sent to the United Kingdom through the External Affairs ministry. Highly placed sources said no new intimation had come to the agency after his spotting in London by some television channels Tuesday. These are legal processes which take their own time, they said, adding the CBI will provide every possible assistance to the UK agencies to expedite his extradition request which is open. With PTI inputs Fisherfolk in Bihar are among the communities that revere the Ganga and have dealt with her love and anger for centuries. But of late, the river has given them nothing but pain. Editor's Note: A network of 60 reporters set off across India to test the idea of development as it is experienced on the ground. Their brief: Use your mobile phone to record the impact of 120 key policy decisions on everyday life; what works, what doesn't and why; what can be done better and what should be done differently. Their findings straight and raw from the ground will be combined in this series, Elections on the Go, over a course of 100 days. Read more articles from the series here *** Kagazitola (Bhagalpur): Ganga is not just a river; it's our country's lifeline, an integral part of Indian culture, and it holds many people's livelihoods in its hands. Fisherfolk are among the communities that revere the Ganga and have dealt with her love and anger for centuries. But in the recent past, the sacred river has given them nothing but pain. We travel to the Kagazitola Mohalla, nearly 280 kilometres west of Patna, which falls under the Kahalgaon block in Bihar's Bhagalpur Lok Sabha constituency, once known as the 'Silk City' of India. It was the epicentre of the Ganga Mukti Movement, a decade-long struggle against Panidari (the exclusive right of zamindars to fish and sail boats in 80 kilometres of the Ganga). Zamindars used to lease out their part to the fisherfolk for anywhere between Rs 700 and Rs 2,000 annually. The struggle bore fruit after the system was abolished in 1991, and fishermen were given free right to fish. Kagazitola Mohalla comprises narrow lanes and tiny rooms of bricks and mud, situated on the banks of the Ganga. The morning we arrive is chaotic as people get ready for work. But amid this bustle of noise and activity, the Ganga is silent, and that scares the fisherfolk. Meena Devi is busy preparing morning meals in her mud house, which is protected from the river adjacent to it by a three-foot-high wall she built. "Monsoon is the scariest time for us; no one knows when the house will fall in the Ganga," the 45-year-old says. Meena Devi's house has been eroded four times in the past. Pointing to the river, she explains, "My first house (approximately 150 feet away from the present one) was there. After erosion damaged it, we had to move further away from the waterbody." During the rains, the mother of five sends her children to a nearby school over fears of floods, as her husband, Sitaram Sahani, a fisherman, spends much of his time away to earn for the family. She alleges that despite erosion taking away her home four times, the government offered no help. "Every time I lost my house, I had to spend more than Rs 50,000 to build a new one." Meena Devi and Rekha Devi's rooms share a wall. "Fifteen years ago, during the monsoon, the Ganga's water was just a few feet away. My 8-year-old daughter had stepped out of the room to attend nature's call and slipped in the river and died," recalls 35-year-old Rekha Devi. What's even sadder is that these two women are among the "lucky" ones as they at least have shelter. Tens of others don't and have been forced to migrate elsewhere. Of the 800-odd families of fishermen who used to live in Kagazitola, at least 150 moved away after the Ganga eroded their homes. A shifting river Apart from Kagazitola, Bateshwar, Kasri, Antichak, Rani Diyara, Mohanpur-Khawaspur, Asthawan, Ekchari in Mohanpur, Budhuchak, Kalbalia, and Kamlakund have been affected due to erosion by the Ganga. Local community leader Kailash Sahani says: "We have pressed our demand for compensation and land many times. We even protested in front of the district magistrate's office. All we got after every demonstration was empty promises." There are various factors behind erosion, but a key one is the change in the river's route. Near Bhagalpur, the Ganga has moved 2.5 kilometres north from its earlier course. Professor Sunil Kumar Choudhary from the Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University explains: "Lower Ganga flows through Bhagalpur. Small and medium structures being set up in the river has resulted in fast sedimentation in its upper stream, forcing lower Ganga to move northwards." He adds that earlier, the ample green cover on the river's banks used to stop erosion, but now, erosion is speeding up after deforestation. Shifting fortunes There are around 1.5 crore fishermen in Bihar. The economically backward community does not own cultivable land, and fishing is the only means of livelihood for them. In Bhagalpur alone, thousands of fishermen are dependent completely on the Ganga. But over the past few decades, the fish have been vanishing. Veeru Kumar Sahani has been fishing for 15 years. Earlier, he used to catch 15 to 20 kilograms of fish every day, which used to fetch him Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000. "It used to take three days in the river to get that much fish," the 37-year-old says. "Now, even after spending more than three days, we barely manage to net 2 kilograms of fish. And all this effort and risk gets us only Rs 5,000 a month. My wife has started buying vegetables in wholesale and selling them at a local market to run the family." Ravi Sahani sailed on the Ganga at 6 am with his friends to catch fish. They went 7 kilometres in and 36 hours later had not caught even 1 kilogram of fish. "We had brought ice with us to keep the fish fresh, and even prepared meals on the boat at night. All this cost us around Rs 200, but we had to return empty-handed," the 28-year-old says. This severe scarcity of fish has forced fishermen to go to neighbouring Maldah in West Bengal to buy fish. "When I don't get fish here, I go to there. I spend Rs 600 per trip and buy around 20 kilograms of fish, which I sell at the local market in Kahalgaon. That earns me Rs 600," Ravi rues. Where have all the fish gone? Several factors are behind the depleting population of fish in the Ganga, an important one being the 2,245-metre-long Farakka Barrage commissioned in the 1980s. Experts say the barrage has deteriorated fish production in the area. Another reason is pollution in the river untreated sewage from many cities flows into the Ganga. According to a recent assessment by the Quality Council of India, effluents from 30 nullahs in Bihar are discharged in the Ganga without any treatment. Professor Sunil Kumar Choudhary says: "Apart from untreated sewage, excessive use of chemical pesticides in farmlands adjacent to the Ganga, too, causes pollution. It has damaged the river's ecology and affected the fish." Citing a research paper, he adds, "In recent decades, many species of fish, including Rohu and Katla, have vanished from the Ganga." Compounding these problems are the mafia, belonging to other castes, active in the area. They have allegedly been using their money and muscle power to exploit the Ganga, using 100-metre-long nets, as fine as mosquito nets, to catch fish. This results in baby fish getting trapped and dying immediately. The regularity of such illegal activities is also responsible for entire species being wiped out from the Ganga. The mafioso also threaten traditional fishermen, warning them to not fish in the Ganga and sometimes snatch their nets and fish. Many incidents of threat, kidnapping and murder have been reported in recent times. This February, the mafia in Bhagalpur kidnapped five fishermen and released them later. Despite attempts, the Bhagalpur Senior Superintendent of Police, Ashish Bharti, remained unavailable for comment. The fiasco of identity cards According to local fishermen, whenever anyone from their community is killed, it is difficult to establish them as fisherfolk, which deprived their families of compensation. Hence, they have demanded identity cards from the government. According to government officials, around 150 fishermen of Kahalgaon were given identity cards in 2017. But the cards dictated the area where they could fish, thereby limiting their access to the Ganga. Fishermen had then protested and demanded revised cards that give them unlimited access. When asked about this, Deputy Director of Fisheries (Bhagalpur) Sanjay Kisku says: "There is a clear rule that states a fisherman cannot fish in other blocks. This is a policy decision; we can't do anything about it. Nonetheless, we sent a letter to the department last December and are awaiting a reply." Although there are a few government schemes, such as a subsidy to open fish-feed units, digging ponds and insurance for fish grown in ponds, these benefit only those who own ponds and waterbodies, leaving a large number of traditional fishermen out in the cold. When politicians curry (fish) favour In the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar, the Mallah community's votes are the deciding factor. Last year, Janata Dal (United) chief and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had pressed for Schedule Tribe status for the community, a second time after 2015. The ball is now in the Centre's court. An extremely backward caste, the fisher community has long been associated with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav. Later, its loyalty shifted to the BJP BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain won two consecutive elections from Bhagalpur in 2004 and 2009. During the 2014 general election, it was a three-way fight, after JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP and RJD fought alone. That divided the votes, and RJD leader Shailesh Kumar trumped. A local fisherman says: "When we narrated our plight to Hussain, he promised that once the BJP came to power, our grievances would be addressed. Hence, we voted for him in 2014, but he lost." So this time around, community members have taken matters into their own hands and got their own leader, Mukesh Sahani, popularly known as "Son of Mallah". The Bollywood set decorator-turned-politician is a millionaire and vocal about fisherfolk's rights. Sahani believes that the Mallah community must get reservation in Bihar, just like it has in West Bengal, Delhi and other states. Sahani was with the BJP during the 2014 polls. Over differences in the seat-sharing formula, he snapped ties with the saffron unit last December and floated his own outfit Vikasheel Insaan Party and later joined the RJD and Congress-led alliance. Many fishermen we spoke to seem optimistic about Sahani. But politics, just like the river Ganga, is on its own course, where promises are either broken, or forgotten, or simply ignored. The author is a Patna-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters The circulation of the videos made by those accused in the Pollachi sexual assault case have made both the perpetrators and survivors identifiable. Technology is a powerful tool, it can protect lives and destroy them too. It all depends on who is using it. The internet is one of the best and most troubling examples of this. By itself, the internet is efficient, powerful and yet neutral. People from anywhere in the world can access it and use it or misuse it for years on end, before they are discovered. Most importantly, data that is uploaded onto the internet can potentially stay there for eternity, which means it can be mined and used for good purposes or evil ones, at any point in time. The internet gave rise to social media, a very effective form of communication which is an alarming amalgam of things that are beneficial and malicious. Within a very short span of time, social media has grown to mammoth proportions and cast its spell across the globe. Unfortunately, it has no effective gatekeepers. Whenever there is a disaster, it becomes apparent that in spite of all the posturing by executives of social media platforms, they have no control over what is uploaded or posted, or what the outcome may be. The Pollachi sexual assault and blackmail case in Tamil Nadu has brought all these issues to the forefront over the last couple of weeks. It was through Facebook that the perpetrators identified and groomed their victims. The survivors, who are educated, young women, were befriended by strangers who presented false pictures of themselves. After the survivors were sufficiently groomed, the trysts were fixed on WhatsApp. The perpetrators communicated with each other and also with the survivors on social media. They filmed their assaults with their cell phones and then terrorised and blackmailed their victims. After one survivor lodged an FIR against the blackmailers, her brother was assaulted by four friends of the perpetrators. And then the police jumped into action. The perpetrators were easily identified, again, thanks to their images on social media. They were caught and confessions were extracted from them. These images of the alleged perpetrators with bruises all over their bodies, confessing went viral. Four assault videos were found on the phones. The rest had apparently been erased. Videos which were purported to be the ones of the actual assaults began circulating. They were sent to legacy media houses, as well as to new media. Some of them which showed girls being stripped and beaten and crying out for help also had visuals of the men who had been arrested. Many media houses did not use these videos, but some did; these images, too, went viral. Technology was now called in for help. The phones were sent for forensic examination. In the old days, physical evidence could be destroyed, but today, evidence is practically indestructible and continues floating around, available for cybercrime experts to capture and analyse it. Analysing cybercrime data also requires expertise, which is why the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has more technical expertise at its command. By now, the complainant survivors identity had been widely circulated. First the Coimbatore SP mentioned her name and personal details twice in press conferences. Secondly, the government order (GO) transferring the case to the CBI, which is a public document, also contained her name and other details. Besides, the videos from the phones had found their way into the public domain, endangering the lives of other survivors. Enter the judiciary: The way in which the Madras High Court handled the issue of protecting the identity of the survivors can in future perhaps be used as a template while issuing judgments on similar crimes. The question that arose was whether it was mandatory to protect the identity of the complainant, as she was neither a minor nor a rape survivor. She is 19-years-old. She had been beaten, stripped and video-graphed by the blackmailers. But she said she had escaped being raped. During the hearing of the case, it was pointed out that though the FIR had been booked under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman to outrage her modesty), Section 376 (rape) could be included at any stage of the investigation or even when the charge sheet was being filed. Therefore, the Supreme Court directions would apply here. The complainants identity should not have been disclosed, as this would actually amount to contempt of court. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which heard the case, ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay Rs 25 lakh to the survivor. The Bench also ordered disciplinary action against Coimbatore SP Pandiaraj, who had revealed the name twice, and Tamil Nadu Home Secretary Niranjan Mardi, who had revealed it in the GO transferring the case to the CBI. "There should be soul searching by everybody concerned here," the bench comprising N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar said, and expressed surprise that an IPS Officer and an IAS officer had violated the law and gone against the Supreme Courts order. They ruled that the old GO should be withdrawn and a new one issued without identifying the survivor. The court accused the police of releasing the videos to the public and ruled that sharing them would be seen as an offence. "We want an artificial intelligence-based system that automatically rejects videos of heinous crimes, including sexual abuse, to be put in place on social media, the bench said, while giving the Centre and the Internet Service Providers Association of India three weeks time to withdraw the scandalous videos from circulation. The court also directed the Centre and the State to submit a status report on its 2012 order, which mandated the setting up of a 'one stop centre' for dealing with rape cases and the counselling of survivors. The Pollachi case makes evident the role social media plays in making victims of sexual violence vulnerable, and the lapses that can take place in the authorities' handling of the situation. Reacting to the acquittal of all four accused in the Samjhauta blast case, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, 'Despite damning evidence, the accused, including a former RSS member, have been acquitted.' Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti questioned the grounds on which the accused in the Samjhauta blast case were acquitted by a court on Wednesday. "Despite damning evidence, the accused, including a former RSS member, have been acquitted. God forbid, had they been Kashmiris/Muslims, they would be pronounced guilty and imprisoned without even a fair trial. Why such double standards and leniency towards saffron terror?" the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister asked. Mufti's reaction came after a special court in Haryana acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the Samjhauta train blast case that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead in 2007. The blast in the India-Pakistan train took place near Panipat in Haryana on 18 February, 2007, when it was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last station on the Indian side. Kunxun, now three months old, will undergo extensive training in drug detection, crowd control. Scientists in southwest Chinas Yunnan province have cloned what they called the Sherlock Holmes of police dogs in a program they hope will help cut training times and costs for police dogs, state media reported on Wednesday. The dog, named Kunxun, was cloned from a police sniffer dog by the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University, with support from the Ministry of Public Security, the state-owned tabloid Global Times reported. Sinogene is hoping to make it possible to achieve volume production of cloned police dogs in order to significantly reduce training times, the companys deputy general manager Zhao Jianping told the Global Times, but he added that cloning costs remain a major obstacle. Kunxun, now three months old, will undergo extensive training in drug detection, crowd control and searching for evidence, and will become a fully fledged police dog when it is about 10 months old, the official China Daily said. Training usually takes about five years and costs as much as 500,000 yuan, with no guarantee of success, the paper said, citing an animal expert at the Yunnan Agricultural University. The paper did not say how much a cloned dog would cost. South Korean scientists created the worlds first cloned dog in 2005, and two years later the country began employing cloned Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs for the customs service, China Daily said. The building came down crashing Tuesday evening, giving rise to a thick cloud of dust at Kumareshwaranagar in the heart of Dharwad, triggering widespread panic among neighbours and passers-by. One more body was recovered from the debris of a four-storeyed under construction building that collapsed at Dharwad in north Karnataka Tuesday, taking the toll to three. At least 37 people have been rescued so far and the relief operations are still underway. The building came down crashing Tuesday evening, giving rise to a thick cloud of dust at Kumareshwaranagar in the heart of Dharwad, triggering widespread panic among neighbours and passers-by. Rescuers have pulled out at least 37 people from the rubble, police said, adding, the injured have been hospitalised, ANI reported. As many as 10 ambulances and five fire tenders were deployed to carry out relief and rescue operations. Residents said there were several shops on the ground floor and many people often used to visit there. Rajesh, a witness, told a Kannada TV channel that the first two floors of the building were being rented out by shops. "There was a tea shop, a photostat shop," he added. Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader from the region Vinay Kulkarni said one of the partners in the building was his relative. Speaking to reporters, he said whoever was involved should face action. Most of those trapped were migrant labourers from North India who were engaged in laying the tiles. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who expressed shock over the collapse, directed the chief secretary to supervise the rescue operation. An eye-witness alleged that the building did not have the capacity to bear four storeys whereas an extra floor was being added. "The builders had used substandard materials," he told reporters. Besides police and fire and emergency services, BSF jawans, who were deployed for the Lok Sabha polls, too were engaged, as the rescue operations were on. With inputs from agencies Interested and eligible candidates can fill the online application forms on upsconline.nic.in once the registration window opens. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is expected to release UPSC IES, ISS Exam 2019 notification today i.e. Wednesday, 20 March, 2019. The notifications for UPSC Indian Economic Service (IES) and Indian Statistical Service Exam (ISS) 2019, will contain exam dates, eligibility criteria, vacancy details, exam guidelines and other information. Candidates are advised to check the notification on the official website: upsc.gov.in Interested and eligible candidates can fill the online application forms on upsconline.nic.in once the registration window opens. Age Requirement and Nationality Indian Citizens as well as those from Nepal, Bhutan etc who have the required certificate from the government of India can also apply. Candidates falling the age bracket of 21 to 30 years, calculated as on 1 August, 2019 are eligible for the examination. The relaxation in the upper age limit as per the government rules is applicable and the details of the same can be checked on the official website. Eligibility and Educational Qualifications for the examinations For IES exam As per the official notification by the board, a candidate with a post-graduate degree in Economics or related subject from a recognized university is eligible to apply for the IES exam. The courses could be a degree in Economics, Applied Economics, Business Economics and or Econometrics. For ISS exam The minimum educational qualifications are a bachelors degree in Statistics, Mathematical Statistics, and Applied Statistics as one of the subjects. Applications of candidates with a Master's degree in Statistics/Mathematical Statistics/Applied Statistics from a recognized university are also valid. The information on the exact number of vacancies and other details will be available once the detailed notification is released on the official website. Three weeks after the 26 February airstrikes, as the Indian government and forces claim more evidence of Balakot strike being a successful one, the Pakistan Air Force has lined up its F-16s across the eastern border from Sindh in South to Skardu in North and deployed special forces along the Line of Control. Islamabad: Three weeks after the 26 February airstrikes, as the Indian government and forces claim more evidence of Balakot strike being a successful one, the Pakistan Air Force has lined up its F-16s across the eastern border from Sindh in South to Skardu in North and deployed special forces along the Line of Control. Rising passions on television news aired across both countries have only made matters worse. While Indians want a war against the nurturing of terrorism aimed at destroying their nation, the Pakistanis seek a strong retaliation against an enormous established enemy that helps Pakistan's army justify its massive expenses. Global superpowers, including the US, France and Saudi Arabia, have made efforts since mid-February to de-escalate tensions between the two neighbours. But, the preparations going on along the India-Pakistan border and within the Pakistan defence forces suggest otherwise. Pakistan has deployed its JF-17 fighter aircraft and a fleet of F-16 jets along the Indian border, apart from deploying a heavy contingent of ground troops aided by sophisticated artillery and field hospitals along the LoC. Pakistani forces have called back all men from routine leave and suspended weekly holidays for an unspecified period. Medical staff on alert Doctors, para-medical staff and consultants at armed forces-run hospitals across Pakistan have been advised to remain available around the clock and main army-run hospitals at Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta are functioning under a declared emergency. Senior officials said in conversations that Pakistan's armed forces are ready and will go the extra mile to defend their homeland. "We are fully equipped militarily to take the bull by the horns. But, we are still open for talks and will try our level best to avoid war," a senior military official told this correspondent, confirming that the country's air force, navy and ground forces are fully equipped and on standby to retaliate. He avoided providing any precise details when asked if a squadron of F-16 fighter jets had been deployed at the border with India. "As I said, our air force, navy and ground forces are on standby. I hope you have got my point," said the official, who has been directly involved in formulating strategy when it comes to the counter-Indian advance. Background interviews and conversations with civilian and military officials in posts of authority who wished to stay anonymous reveal that a fleet of JF-17 fighter jets, developed by China and Pakistan in collaboration, and an F-16 fighter jet squadron have been deployed at a newly-developed airfield at a location in Gujrat district, close to the north-western border of India. However, there was no official word on the development. Imran Khan for trade over war Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday asked tribesmen living in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to standby in the wake of possible Indian aggression. "We dont want to go to war with India. Rather, I'm ready to hold talks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. we want to open the doors of trade," Khan said at a public rally in Bajaur district. The last round of offensive fire exchange across the LoC saw a lull only when Pakistan's Director-General Military Operations called his Indian counterpart on 5 March to resume their routine call, which he had discontinued since 26 February. The two sides had been shelling heavy mortar and 120 mm rounds in several sectors across the LOC and blaming each other for violating the ceasefire. In Islamabad, PAF aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets, have been regularly seen taking to the skies. Tension across Pakistan is at an all-time high following the aerial strike by Indian fighter jets that allegedly pounded targets in Balakot, killing almost two hundred militants, according to Indian claims. This only followed a serious aerial clash between Indian and Pakistani aircraft over LoC leading to the downing of an Indian jet and the capture of its pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was released 60 hours later by Pakistan in an attempt to de-escalate growing tensions. With the patrols of its fighter jets across the LoC in broad daylight, Pakistan has made it clear that it wants its neighbour not to underestimate its ability to engage in armed conflict in order to safeguard its land, airspace and waters. While the country's civilian leadership insisted that it wants peace and stability in the region, the Pakistan Army said last Thursday it is ready to thwart any "Indian aggression" amidst tense ties with New Delhi. "Due to the prevailing environment, Pakistan Army troops are at high alert along LoC with required safeguards along the eastern border in place to thwart any Indian aggression," the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan Army stated. The director-general of Pakistan's Military Media Wing told reporters last week that both the PAF and the Pakistan Navy (PN) "continue to stay fully alert" and remain ready to counter any ill-advised adventurism by India. "The Pakistan armed forces are in a state of readiness for all eventualities, the Pakistan Army had said in a press statement amid rising tensions in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group. Courting China to call truce In Islamabad, it is believed that China played a vital role in defusing tensions between the two arch rivals. While Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi did ask ministers in both Pakistan and India to practice restraint and find a way to deescalate the situation, he did so only after repeated calls went to him from the Pakistan foreign ministry. Deputy head of the Chinese mission in Islamabad, Zhao Lijian, said that China has played a "constructive" role in urging the two neighbour countries to restrain their forces. Earlier this month, China's vice-foreign minister Kong Xuanyou visited Islamabad. During the visit, that concluded on 6 March, he reiterated Beijing's support to Pakistan for peace and stability in the region and also acknowledged Islamabad's measures against terrorism. Earlier this month, Pakistan's navy claimed to have intercepted an Indian submarine that allegedly attempted to sail into Pakistan's waters. Delhi denied Islamabad's claim. Pakistan said the incident occurred on 4 March, when the country's navy "detected and blocked" an Indian Navy submarine from entering its waters. It released video footage that went viral on social media. Pakistani news channels aired the footage as 'Breaking News'. The footage had shown an Indian submarine on the water's surface with a timestamp of 8:35 pm, Monday, 4 March, 2019. The Indian side on the night of 13 March put its air defence systems on alert after spotting two Pakistani jets in the airspace near LOC, Indian government sources were reported as saying. The author is a Rawalpindi-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters Nazeer Banarasi was one of the many Muslim Urdu poets from the 20th century who celebrated Indian festivals like Holi | #FirstCulture Editor's note: The following article was originally published on 2 March, 2018. It is being republished on the occasion of Holi 2019. Festivals in India weren't events of a religious nature, but rather cultural celebrations. The divisive discourse concerning religious festivals was introduced by the colonial rulers, which has now become institutionalised with time. Today, in India, if a Muslim celebrates Holi or Diwali, he may be excommunicated by members of his community. The same holds true for a Hindu who chooses to celebrate Muslim festivals. In fact, the issue of festivals and celebrating them has also led to communal riots in the country. We were not always like this. On the occasion of Holi, I will argue that until a few decades ago, Muslims considered it an Indian festival rather than a Hindu one, using poems by Nazeer Banarasi. Nazeer Banarasi, who practised Unani medicine, was born in Varanasi in 1925. This eminent Urdu poet has written extensively about the nation, its festivals, and politics. In his poems one can sense the flavour of Varanasi's culture. Not only he has written at least four poems describing how the festival of colours was celebrated, but he has also employed it as a metaphor and simile in his other works. During the Chinese aggression in 1962, he addressed the nation to celebrate Holi of a different sort. He writes: Nayi tarah Holi manao to aayen Vatan ke liye khuun bahao to aayen (I will come, if you celebrate Holi in a new fashion If you shed your blood for the nation, I will come) Banarasi has compared Holi to laying down ones life for the nation, thus envisioning a new way to celebrate the festival. In another poem titled Mana Len Pehle Holiyan Diwali Phir Manayenge, he urges the youth of the country to take up arms against the Chinese aggressors and play Holi with the enemies blood. He asks: Lahu se phaag khel kar gharon ko jagmagayenge Shikast de ke dushmanon ko qumqumen jalayenge Mana len pehle Holiyan Diwali phir manayenge (Houses will be illuminated after we play colours with blood We will light up the lamps after defeating the enemies First let us celebrate Holi and Diwali will be celebrated afterwards) Holi and Diwali assume the shape of metaphors, which enable the poet to reach a larger audience. Nazeer Banarasi has also written many devotional poems in praise of Lord Krishna. In one such poem, Hume To Shyam Ne Holi Khila Ke Luut Liya (Krishna robbed us through Holi), he writes: Hai shaam Holi ki, lagta hai dil pe teer pe teer Gulaal khaak udata hai aur dhool abeer Chhadega rang pe na mere koi Nazeer Har ek rang se rangeen bana ke luut liya Mujhe to Shyam ne Holi khila ke luut liya (It is Holi evening, arrows pierce the heart Coloured powder has replaced the soil Nobody can match my majestic complexion He robbed me after colouring me better than any colour Shyam robbed me after playing Holi with me) As is evident, Radha is talking about Lord Krishna. Banarasi uses the setting of Holi to visualise divine love. Apart from the use of Holi as a figure of speech, Banarasi has written a few poems solely describing festivities. In a poem titled Holi, he calls it a day to forget enmities: kahin paDe na mohabbat ki maar holi men ada se prem karo dil se pyaar holi men gale men Daal do banhon ka haar holi men utaro ek baras ka khumar holi men (Look, there should not be dearth of love on Holi Show affection through coquetry and love with your heart on Holi Embrace with your arms on Holi End the intoxication of the whole year on Holi) milo gale se gale baar baar holi men (Hug each other again and again on Holi) burai aaj na aise rahe na vaise rahe safai dil men rahe aaj chahe jaise rahe ghubar dil men kisi ke rahe to kaise rahe abiir uDti hai ban kar ghubar holi men (Wickedness will not remain in any form today Piety remains in the heart in whatever form How the impurity will stay in any heart Impurities fly away with the colours on Holi) In another poem Ghazal Me Holi (Holi in a poem), he says: Jab dil na milne paaye to milne se fayda Dil ka milan zaruri hai Holi milan ke sath (If hearts dont meet, what is the point of meeting The meeting of hearts is necessary after a Holi meet) For him, Holi is an occasion to renew relationships and forget enmities. In another poem titled Holi Jawani Ki Boli Me (Holi in the words of youth), he describes it as an occasion of amusement. ye boTi pari ban ke uDne lagegi zara gholiye phir se gholi na hogi (This cannabis will fly away like a fairy Stir it again, it might not have dissolved) As a resident of Varanasi, Nazeer Banarasi considers thandai, which is made from bhaang, an integral part of the celebration. Banarasi is just one of the many Muslim Urdu poets from the 20th century who revered Hindu deities and Indian festivals. These writings are a reflection of the composite culture of India. As divisive politics tries to pit religions against each other, it is our duty to look back at our glorious past of mutual respect and brotherhood. To sum up, here is a poem which presents the spirit of India as Banarasi imagined it: Mandir me gajar baj jata tha masjid me azaan ho jaati thi Jab chandni raato me hum tum Ganga ke kinare hote the (Bells of the temple rang and the azan was called from the mosque When on a full moon night we used to be on the banks of Ganges) The writer is an independent socio-political commentator and historian The maximum number of MCC violation complaints were received from Pune (85), followed by Thane (61), Solapur (44), Mumbai suburban (40), Mumbai city (39) and Nagpur (26). Most of the complaints were pertaining to banners put up without permission Mumbai: The Maharashtra chief electoral office has received as many as 400 complaints of violation of the model code of conduct through its app cVIGIL, an official said on Wednesday. The Election Commission in July last year launched the Android-based mobile application, using which a person can secretly send to it geo-tagged videos and photos of illegal money being distributed or a hate speech being made during elections. The application called 'cVIGIL', which stands for "citizens' vigil", is available on Google Play Store. The model code of conduct for next month's Lok Sabha polls came into effect on 10 March and most of the complaints were received by the state election office after that, the official said. "Around 400 complaints have been received through cVIGIL across Maharashtra. The local team gets an alert once the complaint is lodged and our people reach the spot and verify the details. If the complaint is valid, we record the details and initiate an enquiry," he said. He said the maximum number of 85 complaints were received from Pune, followed by Thane (61), Solapur (44), Mumbai suburban (40), Mumbai city (39) and Nagpur (26). Most of the complaints were pertaining to banners put up without permission, the official said. "There are no complaints so far of comments inciting violence or casteist remarks as hardly any public rallies have been held in the state," he said. Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra will be held in four phases on 11, 18, 23 and 29 April, while results will be declared on 23 May. Arvind Kejriwal, in a tweet in Hindi, said Narendra Modi wants the whole country to become 'chowkidar' New Delhi: Taking a dig at BJP's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that if people want their children to become watchmen, they should vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And if they want good education, they should vote for Aam Aadmi Party, he said. Kejriwal, in a tweet in Hindi, said Modi wants the whole country try to become 'chowkidar' (watchman). "If people want their children to become chowkidar, they should vote for Modi but if they want their child to get good education and become doctor, engineer or lawyer, they should vote for AAP," he said in his tweet in Hindi. On Saturday, Modi had urged his supporters to take the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' (I too am watchman) pledge, saying he is not alone in the fight against graft and social evils. Since then, the BJP has stepped up its 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign with the prime minister and other party leaders, including its president Amit Shah, prefixing the word 'chowkidar' to their names in their Twitter profiles as they sought people's support in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will field its candidates in all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, senior BJP leader and MLA KS Eshwarappa said Wednesday Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party will field its candidates in all 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, senior BJP leader and MLA KS Eshwarappa said Wednesday. The former deputy chief minister also said the list of candidates has been almost finalised and could be released Wednesday night. "Our list of candidates is almost final. In all likelihood our national president would release it tonight. We are contesting in all the 28 Lok Sabha seats.We are getting more than expected overwhelming support," Eshwarappa told reporters. He was also asked about the Mandya parliamentary seat from where actor Sumalatha, the widow of popular Kannada film actor and former Mandya MP, is in the fray. There are 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, including Mandya, the Shivamogga MLA said. Earlier when Sumalatha announced her decision to contest from the constituency as an Independent, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa had said the party would take a call on Mandya. Sumalatha filed her nomination from Mandya Wednesday. Replying to a query that fielding a candidate in Mandya would mean there is no support for Sumalatha, Eshwarappa said, "I am telling you specifically that there is no dilemma." "When I said that we are fielding a candidate in Mandya, what should it mean? We will not back stab our candidate by supporting any other person," he said. The decision to field candidates in all the 28 seats was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah after consulting the party state president, Eshwarappa said. The BJP will make all efforts to win all the seats in the state, he added. Sources in BJP told PTI that the party decided to field a candidate in Mandya as a precautionary measure. "What if Sumalatha suddenly withdraws her nomination succumbing to some pressure. Earlier also, we had a similar experience. This is the reason that we have decided to field our candidate," a senior BJP functionary said. Karnataka will go to the polls in two phases, 14 constituencies each, on 18 and 23 April. The first list of 21 candidates was announced by actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Chennai: A retired IPS officer and a retired district judge are among the first list of 21 candidates released by actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam Wednesday for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Haasan said he wished to contest the 18 April elections but would take a call as per the advice of the party's executive committee. The party released names of candidates for 20 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and for the lone seat in the union territory Puducherry. The candidates for the remaining 19 seats would be announced on 24 March and would include "some important" names, Haasan told reporters here. The first list included south Indian actor M Nassar's wife Kameela Nassar (Chennai Central), retired IPS officer AG Mourya (Chennai North) and retired district judge K Guruviah (Nagapattinam). "Some important names are there in the next list, which would be announced on 24 March in Coimbatore," he said. Asked if he wishes to contest elections, Haasan, who launched his party in February last year, said "Yes, but let them (Executive Committee) tell me, let them give me the permission to do that. Nobody will stop me. But they will have to advise me on the best course of action." On the delay in announcing the candidates, he said various democratic steps, including holding interviews, had to be followed before finalising the list. The Election Commission has allotted the 'battery torch' symbol to MNM. The ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK have announced candidates for the 20 seats each they are contesting in Tamil Nadu. The floor test in the Goa Assembly was necessitated after Pramod Sawant took oath as the new chief minister of the state early on Tuesday. New Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant on Wednesday won the confidence motion he had moved in the Goa Assembly with the support of 20 MLAs, thus ensuring a victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the crucial floor test. The floor test was necessitated after Sawant took oath as the new chief minister of the state early on Tuesday. His predecessor Manohar Parrikar's death on Sunday evening had left the chief minister's seat vacant, triggering a fresh round of uncertainty over who would assume office next. TV channels had reported that the BJP has moved its lawmakers to a five-star hotel to secure its numbers ahead of the trust vote. Fifteen of the 35 MLAs in the Goa Assembly voted against Sawant in the floor test. Fourteen of them belonged to the Congress, which had earlier accused Governor Mridula Sinha of favouritism towards the BJP. "We strongly condemn the undemocratic action of Goa governor Mridula Sinha for not allowing our single largest party to form the government and allowing the BJP to carry on horse trading despite not having sufficient numbers to form the government," Sunil Kawthankar of the Goa Congress had told ANI. Wednesday's proceedings, in a special session of the Goa Assembly that Sinha had convened, were preceded by a Condolence Motion moved to remember not Parrikar, but also one-time deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza and former deputy speaker Vishnu Wagh, who also passed away recently. Several sitting MLAs spoke about the three leaders as new Speaker Michael Lobo urged them all to keep their speeches short. Former Goa chief minister Churchill Alemao, Goa Forward Party leader Vijai Sardesai, BJP MLA Manohar Ajgaonkar, Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho and Independent Priol MLA Govind Gaude were among the leaders who fondly remembered the role Parrikar played in making Goa inclusive and modern. Significantly, all 35 MLAs of the Goa Assembly were present in the House for the trust vote, including Pandurang Madkaikar who had suffered a brain stroke in 2018. Notably, Sawant had been maintaining that he was confident of a victory in the floor test. Late on Tuesday, 11 ministers took oath along with Sawant to complete the new power structure in Goa. They include Sudin Dhavlikar, Vijai Sardesai, Manohar Azgaonkar, Rohan Khaunte, Govind Gaude, Vinod Palienkar, Jayesh Salgaonkar, Mauvin Godinho, Vishwajit Rane, Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral. Of them, Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party and Sudin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will be the new deputy chief ministers of the state. When Parrikar passing away on Sunday, the BJP was compelled to swing into action. The impasse over government formation, which included dealing with stubborn allies demanding their pound of flesh, is now resolved with the BJP coalition's victory in the Goa Assembly. With inputs from agencies Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah jointly told the media while the Congress will contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference will fight from Srinagar. Jammu: Sealing an alliance after days of hectic parleys, the Congress and National Conference on Wednesday announced an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha polls, while agreeing on a "friendly contest" on the three constituencies of the state. In a joint press conference, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah said that while the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. "I will contest from the Srinagar seat," he told the press conference. "We had a give-and-take and nobody should be under illusion that one party lost or the other won during the agreement." State Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir and AICC general-secretary Ambika Soni were also present at the press conference. The state sends six Lok Sabha MPs. "Friendly contest means that we will not go hard against each other and at the same time will make a joint efforts to defeat the opponents. Whether they (National Conference) win or we, it will make no difference because the (seats) will add to the national kitty," Azad said. Had the two parties entered the fray separately in Jammu, he said, it would have benefited the BJP. "And in Kashmir, if we fought separately, it is difficult to transfer votes." He said, "We have some MLAs in Anantnag and Baramulla and (by friendly contest) we will be able to maintain our turf." The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J&K as the state faces threat from Pakistan, Azad said. "Live and let live." The Rajya Sabha MP said he himself and other leaders of his party would campaign for Abdullah in the Srinagar constituency, which the National Conference patron currently represents. Abdullah also appealed to the Congress to exhibit magnanimity and reach out to like-minded parties in other parts of the country to safeguard the secular character of the nation. "We have to keep our nation secular. Try hard in other places and reach an understanding (with other parties). We have to make this nation stronger and keep it secular and equal for everyone," Abdullah told the Congress. The country is faced with dangers from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and the people living on the border in Jammu and Kashmir are the worst sufferers of the animosity between India and Pakistan, he said. "If there is peace between the two countries, the first beneficiary will be the people of the state." He said secular parties need to come together because communal forces only strengthen Pakistan, China and "our enemies of the nation and weaken the country from within". Azad appealed to the people of Jammu to vote for strengthening secularism and isolating communalism. "A communal India cannot face any nation but secular India can fight any country in the world." Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP alleged the Congress conceded to the National Conference's pro-separatist agenda. Azad said they were not working for BJP. "We have an alliance with like minded parties at five or six places, it (BJP) has alliance at over 40 places." On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics, Azad said, "The one who had no family what will he do? Abdullah also rejected the dynastic barb, saying nobody can come to power if people don't vote for them. "They are creating this fuss because they have no other issue. If an actor, a doctor, a film director, and others put forward their son in the same field, nobody raises dynastic thing. I am Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's son and have seen politics form my childhood and faced problem. "Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter (India Gandhi) gave atom bomb to the nation to make it strong. She gave her blood for the nation and her son," Abdullah said. Azad said the BJP government is the most "corrupt and scandalous" in the entire world. "I have said this in presence of Modi in the house. You are not allowing inquiry from where the information will come to the fore," he said. With RJD vetoing Kanhaiya Kumar as a grand alliance candidate from Begusarai, the former JNUSU president's political prospects have been reduced significantly in the Lok Sabha polls The delay and differences in reaching out an agreement over seat-sharing among the partners of the grand alliance in Bihar have considerably diminished the prospects of former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Kumar, who shot to fame following his arrest in February 2016 for allegedly raising anti-national slogan at JNU campus, was hoping to be fielded as a grand alliance candidate on Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket, which along with Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, Vikassheel Insaan Party, Hindustani Awam Party and Loktantrik Party is part of the grand alliance. While the deadlock over the number of seats is likely to be resolved and the final announcement regarding the seat-sharing arrangement might be made today, what is amply clear is that Kumar will not be fielded as the alliance candidate which would have considerably strengthen his prospects of winning the seat from Begusarai, which is referred as Bihars Leningrad, where the Left has a stronghold in certain Assembly segments since the 1960s and is and also Kumar's hometown. While Kumar is all set to foray into electoral politics with CPI making it clear that it will with or without the support of the grand alliance field the former JNUSU president from Begusarai, the equation would be completely different if he would get the support of RJD and Congress, the most important alliance partners. The fact that Kumar has been denied the support of the grand alliance shall benefit Union Minister and incumbent Nawada MP Giriraj Singh, who has been asked to contest from Begusarai this time. Kumar contesting as grand alliance candidate would have posed a serious challenge to Singh. The reason for Kumars loss is the veto made by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav who wants Tanveer Hasan, who lost marginally from Begusarai in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, to be fielded as the grand alliance candidate and was reportedly upset over CPIs insistence on fielding the former JNUSU president from Begusarai. Hasan, who is close to Yadav family and a loyalist for years, is also popular in Begusarai. He holds a good image among the people, thus increasing the prospects of his winnability. However, the Left has its own reasons to back Kumar. Begusarai is Kumars home constituency and he belongs to the Bhumihar, an upper caste, that has a sizeable presence of over three lakhs in this constituency. Kumar, who was accused of sedition and jailed for 20 days in March 2016, had become an instant national hero after his release and was lauded for his oratory skills. CPI is relying on these factors in fielding Kumar and in assessing his winnability. However, there are fractions in the Left, working at the ground level, who are not happy with Kumars candidature as they see him as an outsider who has been parachuted from the top and has no ground experience. While uncertainty prevails over Kumars electoral career, another JNU student leader Shehla Rashid, a former JNUSU vice president, recently made her foray into active politics by joining the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples' Movement, launched by former IAS officer Shah Faesal. Rashid led the protest movement after Kumars arrest in 2016 and is a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi government. Both Kumar and Rashid, on multiple occasions have denied intentions to join electoral politics and instead focus on their academics. But, as the Lok Sabha election approached both the student leaders made intelligent calculations to opt for the best political party that suits their interests. Kumar chose CPI, which is close to the student organisation All India Students Federation (AISF) on whose ticket he had won the JNUSU election in 2015, becoming first AISF cadre to win the post. On the other hand, Rashid who was member of All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) Liberation choose to join Faesals party that is been anticipated to emerge as a major player in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir in the coming years. In 2016, Kumar shot to fame because he had the support of all Left parties in JNU, in spite of the fact that some of them were vowed adversaries. It was an "attack on the campus" sort of narrative that led to this wider consensus. But, far from the idealism of campus activism, the terrain of electoral politics are usually so uneven that forging a consensus for support is not easy and often shoots surprises. Kumar understands this, hence he has refrained from making any comments that can hamper his political prospects. Kumar's political prospects significantly depend upon the fact whether or not he will finally succeed in winning the support of the 'grand alliance' as over the years the support base of CPI has eroded considerably and winning alone on CPI ticket will be tough for Kumar. Whether or not Kumar will get the support of the 'grand alliance' will be made clear today. Whatever the result may be the fact remains is that Kumar has made his choices like an astute politician by seeking to contest under the patronage of an alliance that has arithmetic on its side. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to his blog to hit out at the Congress in a post titled 'Institutional respect and Institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches' Election season is upon us and that means parties and politicians are gearing up if not already doing so to take a break from year-long campaigning and mudslinging and put all their energies into Lok Sabha election campaigning and mudslinging. It's a bit like the normal variety, only with the volume and shrillness turned up all the way to 11. As such there will be louder rallies, more acerbic turns of prose and generally a more angry and almost-tribal atmosphere that envelopes the country. And so, it won't be unusual to see party members and leaders turn into prolific orators, champion writers, flowery poets and keen distributors of witty social media content. Every word will travel that much further, because it's the quinquennial Lok Sabha election season. The Opposition, ranging from the Congress' sibling tag team of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee and numerous others, have spared very few opportunities to lambast the ruling party, its ideological fountainhead and the prime minister. And this hasn't been one-way traffic either, with the BJP and its allies hitting out at the constituents of the Opposition 'mahagathbandhan' and the Congress in particular. Same old same old, you may well conclude. You would be wrong. This is after all Lok Sabha election season and all stops must be pulled out. It is perhaps this sentiment that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi take to his admittedly under-utilised blog that has previously been used for public service announcements, paying tribute and opining on projects and foreign visits to hit out at the Congress in a post titled 'Institutional respect and Institutional contempt - two contrasting approaches'. After listing how the country and presumably its prospects have changed since 2014, the blog entry notes, "Reflective of this paradigm shift is the fact that now, there is a government that puts institutions above everything else. India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating." If that sentence seems a bit odd, it's probably because it is, considering the government has been accused of meddling with the CBI, the Supreme Court, RBI and the RTI Act to name but a few. But then such trivial matters can easily be overlooked when there's a bigger point to be made or a more pressing target to aim for: That the word 'dynasty' or a variation of the word appears six times and Congress appears 24 times makes this amply clear. One of the biggest oversights is the section of the post titled 'Press and Expression'. Before getting to the contents of the section or indeed the part under the category 'Press', it's worth briefly recalling the dim view taken of the concept of 'Expression' by the ruling party and its bannermen, for want of a better word. Literature fests, art exhibitions and even cinema there's hardly an aspect of expression that hasn't seen efforts to control and reshape it. "Dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press... Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent," the post states. The raids against NDTV, the ABP News episode, the demise of Hindustan Times' Hate Tracker and the financial strangling of Amnesty India are a handful of examples of what 'speaking truth to power' apparently gets you in today's India. Further, that this remark comes from a prime minister who has yet to hold a press conference since taking office and only appears to answer questions that are scripted or posed by 'pliant journalists' seems somewhat strange. "The recent UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything 'offensive'... A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail," the blog entry continues. And that law seems to have been used to the fullest by the UPA's successor, as Huffington Post points out, against "teachers, students, businessmen, auto-rickshaw drivers, and members of the police and paramilitary forces". "Just a few days ago, the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power," the post carries on, championing the cause of free will and true feelings. Are some feelings more true than others? Or does it depend on whom those feelings are aimed at? While it was this section on 'Press and Expression' that took the cake, there were other interesting crumbs scattered elsewhere. Most notably towards the end, where the post posits, "Are they [Congress] scared of accountability or do they not believe in it?". Curiously, in Gandhinagar on 5 March, Modi had himself taken a thinly-veiled swipe at the concept, stating, "There is a recent trend of people expecting that everything has to be done by the government. They also seek answers from the government for the works that are not done. This was not a tradition in our country." So what have we learned from Wednesday's blog entry by the prime minister? To somewhat mangle John F Kennedy's words: Ask not what your government can do for you. Ask nothing at all. With actor-politicians Sumalatha and Nikhil Gowda, both first timers in politics, vying for Mandya seat, it's feared that important issues like agrarian crisis, water woes, etc, may get sidelined during the election campaign It is an epic dumbing down of a democratic exercise called the election, in Mandya. Two film stars with absolutely no political experience, no known adherence to any political ideology and no record of social service are presenting themselves as choices before the electorate in this Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka. One's claim to fame is that she is the widow of a filmstar-politician and the other is the son of the incumbent chief minister. In this farce, Sumalatha, a senior multi-lingual actress herself, is contesting as an independent after being shunned by the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress alliance which has put up Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy's actor son Nikhil Gowda as its candidate. Sumalatha seeks to cash in on the sympathy that has been generated after the death of her husband Ambareesh, a hugely popular filmstar from Mandya district. In an emotional Facebook post, she said that entering politics was never on her agenda but the force of the collective will of the people has made her take the plunge. Nowhere in the post does she talk about her plans for the constituency or about its problems. The appeal is only to the emotions of Ambareesh's legion of fans. Nikhil is just a couple of movies old neither of which failed to set Sandalwood, aka Kannada film industry, on fire. He is the latest in a long list of HD Deve Gowda's family members who have taken to politics. The former prime minister, soon to turn 87, wants to have another go in next month's elections. His one son (HD Kumaraswamy) is the chief minister and another (HD Revanna) a state cabinet minister. The chief minister's wife is an MLA while Revanna's wife is a Zilla Parishad president. And like Nikhil, Revanna's son Prajwal is contesting from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency. It is disappointing that the voters will have to choose between two greenhorns for this important Lok Sabha seat. Mandya plays an important role in Karnataka politics. Located at the heart of the Cauvery basin in Karnataka, the town has been at the centre of the state's century-old river water sharing dispute with Tamil Nadu. Ambareesh who was Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in Manmohan Singh's council of ministers from 2006 to 2007, had resigned from the post after a Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal ruling went against the interests of the state. The heartland of the Vokkaliga community, the district has witnessed many farmers' movements as well. Although agriculturally rich, agrarian distress has been a feature in the district which saw over 200 farmers committing suicide between 2015 and 2016. The inability of farmers to pay off loans due to crop losses, the benefit of the loan waiver scheme eluding many a farmer because of poor implementation, and deficiencies in water management are among pressing issues that need redressal in the constituency. Even if it can be argued that the responsibility of the MP, as opposed to that of an MLA in addressing local issues that may have more to do with the state government, is limited, such distinctions get blurred in times of crises. The distressed citizen will look to whoever offers them hope. Are Sumalatha and Nikhil, one of whom may make it to the 17th Lok Sabha, up to the task? The Deve Gowda family is pulling out all stops to ensure Nikhils victory. Deve Gowda himself came down to Mandya to introduce his grandson to the voters as he did with his other grandson in Hassan. Far from being apologetic about making the JD(S) a family affair, Deve Gowda told a public meeting that Nikhil has been wanting to lighten the workload of his father Kumaraswamy who has had an open heart surgery a couple of years back. Deve Gowda and his sons realise that it is not easy for Nikhil to score over Sumalatha, given the sympathy generated in her favour. They first tried to discredit her saying shes an outsider (from Andhra Pradesh). And then Deve Gowdas elder son Revanna earned an all-around condemnation for questioning Sumalathas entry into politics just a few months after her husband died. The desperation of the Deve Gowda clan to retain its hold over Mandya is understandable. The JD(S) is not much of a force outside the Old Mysore region, which includes Mandya. In any case, the outgoing MP from the constituency belonged to the party. Sumalatha had sought a Congress ticket but party leaders expressed their helplessness saying the seat belonged to its alliance partner. In the seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress is contesting 20 seats and the JD(S) eight. With two members from the film fraternity, both first-timers in politics, vying for the seat, how much importance will issues that matter get during the run-up to polling remains to be seen. There is already the danger of the campaign being hijacked by film stars who are making a beeline to Mandya to canvass for Sumalatha. In fact, when she made the announcement about her contesting as an Independent candidate, she was flanked by two big stars of Sandalwood. Ironically, it was left to an actor (Chetan) and a social activist to bluntly call out the "dangerous trend" of "star-based politics as prime determinant in the electoral process". In a series of tweets, Chetan said the emphasis on stars' popularity to win rather than grassroots work, adds to inequality and ignorance, and that media and voters must distinguish "reel from the real lest we fall further behind". About Sumalatha, he asked: "Do service, anti-corruption or ideology factor into her (Sumalatha) election equation at all? Does anyone know what Sumalatha stands for/against?" He didnt spare Nikhil either: "Nikhil, beneficiary of dynastic politics a plague of so many is unfit to be an MP from anywhere let alone Mandya (sic)." The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections were deferred as the state administration asked for over 70,000 paramilitary troops for conducting simultaneous polls, a demand which could not be acceded to New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections were deferred as the state administration asked for over 70,000 paramilitary troops for conducting simultaneous polls, a demand which could not be acceded to, officials said Wednesday. A home ministry official said the Jammu and Kashmir administration's demand of about 717 companies of paramilitary personnel could not be met as a large number of forces would be required across the country for general elections. A company of paramilitary comprises about 100 personnel. The state elections may be held anytime after the Parliamentary polls, the officials said. The Home Ministry and the administration of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under the President's rule, had apprised the Election Commission of the security situation in the state when a team of the poll panel had visited there on 4-5 March. The EC team had gone there for assessing the situation and checking poll preparedness in the wake of the February 14 terror strike in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. The Jammu and Kashmir administration's demand could not be met as a large number of personnel would be required for deployment across the country during the Parliamentary polls, therefore, the state elections were deferred, the official said. The demand on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir administration was placed by the then Addition Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Muneer Khan, who was recently appointed as State Chief Information Commission. The National Conference, the PDP and the Congress, had sought simultaneous polls and criticised the EC decision. The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP had also pitched for holding the polls together. Higher deployment of forces may be necessitated during the polls as they have to secure the routes to be taken by the candidates for campaign, the venue of rallies, besides the security of candidates itself. During the 2014 polls, a little more than 10,000 polling stations were set up, while the EC has announced the number will be 11,316 this time, requiring additional forces to secure them. While 77 candidates were in the fray for the six Lok Sabha seats in 2014, 831 fought the state elections a few months later to elect 87 MLAs. In the 2014 state assembly elections, a total of 428 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed and 47 were managed from the existing counterinsurgency grid, another official said. During the last Parliamentary elections, the security situation had improved considerably and about 300 companies were deployed of which 126 were drawn from the counterinsurgency grid. Before that, during the Parliamentary elections of 2009, altogether 300 companies were deployed on poll duties and 58 were again mobilised internally. In the 2008 assembly elections, 218 companies were sought from the Centre and in addition 58 were mobilised internally by the then state government, the official said. Another official said the large number of security personnel would be required for the Assembly elections too as Pakistan-based terror groups would make all out efforts to disrupt the process not only in the Kashmir Valley but in border districts such as Rajouri, Poonch and Doda. During the last assembly elections, the government had provided about 100 SUVs to the candidates and requirement of such vehicles would be more this time, the official said. The final assessment on holding the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be taken by a three-member panel set up by the Election Commission. The governor's rule was imposed in in the state on 19 June, 2018 when the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the 25-member BJP. Initially, the assembly was kept in suspended animation, but the governor on November 21 dissolved the 87-member house after the PDP, supported by the Congress and arch-rivals National Conference, tried to stake claim to form a new government. When the governor's rule expired on 19 December, 2018, President's rule was imposed in the state as under the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, there is no provision for extension of governor's rule. While Kamal Nath might have been discomfited by Digvijaya Singh's increasing interference in the day-to-day functioning of his government, it is not too big a provocation to spoil a long association. The hint of a feud between Congress veterans Chief Minister Kamal Nath and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh has let loose speculation of an emerging fault line in the faction-ridden party in Madhya Pradesh. On Saturday, responding to reporters queries in Chhindwara on whether Singh would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Nath said that he had requested him to contest from a seat where the Congress had not won in 30-35 years. It may be recalled that after a drubbing in the 2003 Assembly elections at the end of his second term as chief minister, Singh had vowed not to contest elections for the next 10 years. On Monday, he accepted Nath's challenge, but said the seat should be chosen by my leader Rahul Gandhi. Nath's challenge is being interpreted in certain sections as his bid to damage the political career of Singh. Since the seats are BJP strongholds, it would be impossible for him to wrest any of them. It would deflate his ambitions within the Congress besides cutting him to size. However, not many political observers are willing to buy the feud theory. They view the development as some kind of tactical ploy. The association between the two goes back a long way. Nath, a close friend of the Gandhi family, was instrumental in the anointment of Singh as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1993, the beginning of the first of his two consecutive terms at the helm. Zooming in to 2018, Singh was by Nath's side throughout the time as hectic parleys were on to choose a chief minister for Madhya Pradesh late in 2018 when the Congress returned to power in the state after a 15-year exile post BJP's three consecutive terms. The political watchers in the state are taking the development with a pinch of salt. While Nath might have been discomfited by Singh's increasing interference in the day-to-day functioning of his government, it is not too big a provocation to spoil a three-decade-long association. Some observers believe this could be a move to catch the BJP off-guard before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. In throwing a challenge to Singh, Nath may be trying to use his best bet to breach three Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh in particular that have been dominated by the BJP for the last three decades, from 1989. While four BJP MPs represented Bhopal during this span, Indore has been dominated by current Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan alone. Vidisha too returned five members to the Lower House including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, three-term Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and present External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Congress party has persistently tried to breach these three fortresses but failed. In the present day Madhya Pradesh politics, Singhs strong presence across the state, with a huge following, cant be denied. People see him as the only Congress leader whos rooted in the state. The other big leaders like Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia or tribal leader Kantilal Bhuria all have influence in limited pockets. Nath and Scindia have been perceived as leaders from Delhi. Undoubtedly as two-term chief minister, Singh has immense influence in Bhopal. The Congress had last won Bhopal and Indore constituencies in 1984 after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Though he belongs to Raghogarh royal family, which at present is in Rajgarh district, Singh was born in Indore, finished school and mechanical engineering both from Indores The Daly College and SGSITS respectively. Besides this, his participation in students politics those days, brings him closer to Indore. According to Pradesh Congress sources, theres no apparent feud between the two senior leaders. Theres neither any feud nor any disagreement between these two senior most Congress leaders of Madhya Pradesh. Its baseless. Kamal Nathji gave a suggestion regarding Digvijayjis contesting Lok Sabha election, to which the latter accepted it as a challenge and said he would contest from the seat that his leader Rahul Gandhiji will ask him to do. There is nothing more to it, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson JP Dhanopia told Firstpost. The rumour has taken wings because besides the opposition, a section within the Congress has accused Singh of interfering in governance and governments decision-making. It is well-known that the new chief secretary of the state is close to him. Besides the chief secretary, there are many plump posts which have been given to the bureaucrats close to Digvijaya Singh. There are ministers who take instructions from him. Despite not being in the government, he has a strong presence in governance. Even this issue came up in the Assembly, a source in the state bureaucracy said on condition of anonymity. Its not about the chief minister trying to show Singh his position. Its a facade, rather a diversion tactic to keep public attention away from this issue of interference in government, the source said. Singh, known for his controversial statements like in the Batla House case or calling Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden as Osamaji or equating the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to Nazis and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), often became an embarrassment for the party. During the Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh at the end of 2018, the Congress leadership ensured that he stayed away from making any controversial remarks in the state. In the past elections, his comments had caused enough damage to the party. Many in the state are of the opinion that Nath paved the way for the return of Singh in electoral politics. Throwing challenge and acceptance of it by the latter, in a way gives a message to the Congress high command that hes ready for the fight and a chance should be given to him. Slamming the BJP over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) termed leaders of BJP as 'duplicate Hindus' while referring to himself as a 'real Hindu.' Nizamabad: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) on Tuesday termed leaders of BJP as "duplicate Hindus" while referring to himself as a "real Hindu." "Political parties should not decide where should Ram Janmabhoomi stay, the matter is in the Supreme Court. Are we not Hindus? We are going to temples and performing puja. Are we going to temples only after the BJP says so? The Hindu religion says everyone should be respected. You (BJP) are duplicate Hindus and we are real Hindus. You also belong to political Hindutva," KCR said while addressing a public meeting in Nizamabad. He further said that he will announce the TRS candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election on 21 March. The central governments since the last 73 years have always neglected farmers and labourers. There is no water available, nothing has happened till now. Many Naxal movements have started. They have staged dramas, but not done any work. That is why I am saying that the federal front should come to power, the Telangana chief minister said. BJP has moulded 15 to 20 groups and the BJP leaders are abusing me in the groups. Today, the public is listening to the speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. They are screaming, and I want to ask who they are screaming at. Congress ruled for 65 years and BJP ruled for 11 years. If Congress could have done good work, then the country would have developed a lot." KCR further claimed that Telangana is the only state in the country which is giving 24 hours power supply to farmers. If Congress comes to power, one thing is certain they will name all the Yojanas (schemes) after Jawahar Lal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi. The schemes will come up with these names. And if BJP comes to power, they will name Yojanas after Deendayal Upadhyaya, Shyam Prasad Mukherji. The names of the schemes will change but the fate of the public will not change in the country, he said. Today in the country more than three lakh megawatts current is available, but half of the country is under darkness. Congress and BJP are not competent enough to use the available current in the country, added KCR. He later went on to compare India with countries like Singapore and China. The BJP CEC has already held wide-ranging discussions on the selection of its candidates for Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chattisgarh and all eight north-eastern states. New Delhi: The BJP's central election committee (CEC), which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening as part of its deliberations to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha election, is expected to release the first set of nominees after the meeting, party sources said. This will be the third meeting of the CEC, BJP's highest decision-making body, over the selection of candidates. On Tuesday evening, it had held a seven-hour-long discussion to deliberate upon the names of party's candidates in various states. The meeting, besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was attended by top brass of the BJP, including party chief Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The sources said the party is expected to release its first list of candidates Wednesday evening. The CEC has already held wide-ranging discussions on the selection of its candidates for Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chattisgarh and all eight north-eastern states. Though the Congress has announced candidates for 146 Lok Sabha constituencies so far, the BJP is yet to officially make any announcement on its nominees. Sources in the party suggested that most of the ministers in the Union Cabinet, who are sitting Lok Sabha MPs, are likely to be fielded from same seats. On Tuesday, the party had announced that it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces, a decision that comes in the wake of the party's drubbing in the 2018 Assembly elections. In the 2018 Assembly election, Congress knocked off the ruling BJP in the state elections and won 68 out of 90 seats. Formed in the year 2000 after separation from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh has 11 parliamentary constituencies and 90 Assembly constituencies. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds all but one parliamentary seat in the state. Durg is the only seat held by Congress. Rich in coal mines, the state is home to 16 percent of the total coal deposits of the country, according to official figures. An estimated 44,483 million tonnes coal is mined from the 12 coalfields of Chhattisgarh in Raigarh, Surguja, Koriya and Korba districts. In terms of coal production, the state ranks second, contributing over 18 percent to the total national production. Thirty percent of the states population belong to Scheduled Tribes and 12.8 percent belong to Scheduled Castes. An overwhelming 76.8 percent live in rural areas. According to the Forest Survey of India (2009), 41.33 percent of the states geographical area is covered in forests. The state is also one of the worst-affected by Maoists in the country. In the 2018 Assembly election, Congress knocked off the ruling BJP in the state elections and won 68 out of 90 seats. The former chief minister and BJP leader Raman Singh took responsibility for the defeat and resigned. The grand old party is likely to ride on last years feat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 1. Bastar Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 10 Total electors: 12,98,083 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 6,65,237 Male electors: 6,32,749 Reserved: Yes. For Scheduled Tribes. Delimited: Yes. Until 1999, Bastar was a reserved constituency in Madhya Pradesh. After the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, it became a part of the state. In 2008, Bhanpuri and Keslur Assembly constituencies were removed and Naranpur and Bastar were added into the Bastar constituency. Assembly Constituencies: Kondagaon, Narayanpur(ST), Bastar(ST), Jagdalpur, Chitrakote(ST), Dantewada(ST), Bijapur(ST), Konta(ST) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, when it was a part of Madhya Pradesh, the Bastar constituency was held by BJP candidate Baliram Kashyap. He continued to hold sway over the constituency even after the state of Chhattisgarh was formed. He was re-elected MP in 2004 and 2009. After his death in 2011, his son Dinesh was elected MP in the by-elections. Dinesh was re-elected in the 2014 General Elections. Demographics: There are 14,13,199 people living in Bastar, according to Census 2011 data. Almost 70 percent of the total population in Bastar come are from tribal communities such as Gond, Maria, Muriya, Bhatra, Halba, Dhruva community. Rich in iron-one, mining is one of the major activities in the region. In 2008 Tata Steel had acquired land for setting a 5.5 million tonne steel factory. However, following protests, in 2016, Tata Steel withdrew from the project. In December 2018, the newly appointed Congress government started the process for returning the land to tribals. In February this year, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi handed over ownership certificates to people. This is likely to sway votes in favour of Congress in the Maoist-affected constituency which has otherwise remained loyal to the BJP. 2. Bilaspur Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 5 Total electors: 17,29,229 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 8,37,724 Male electors: 8,90,891 Reserved: No Delimited: Yes. Until 2008 Bilaspur was an Assembly segment of Hamirpur constituency. Assembly Constituencies: Kota, Takhatpur, Beltara, Lormi, Bilha, Masturi (SC), Mungeli (SC), Bilaspur Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 2009, Dilip Singh Judev won the General Election and became the first MP from this constituency. BJPs Lakhan Lal Sahu won the 2014 elections. Demographics: Bilaspur has a population of 19,61,922, and only 31.3 percent live in urban areas. It has a sizeable tribal population as 19.6 percent belong to scheduled tribes. Of the total population, 13.8 percent belong to Scheduled Castes, according to Census 2011. In the last General Election, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees niece Karuna Shukla contested the elections with a Congress ticket from this constituency and lost with a huge margin of over one lakh votes. 3. Janjgir-Champa Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 3 Total electors: 17,44,201 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 8,47,967 Male electors: 8,95,524 Reserved: Yes. For Scheduled Castes Delimited: Yes. In 2008, the Janjgir constituency became Janjgir-Champa constituency. The Rampur, Katghora, Tanakhar, Sipat and Champa Assembly constituencies ceased to exist. Assembly Constituencies: Akaltara, Chandrapur, Bilaigarh (SC), Janjgir-Champa, Jaijaipur, Kasdol, Sakti, Pamgarh (SC) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: When it was a part of Madhya Pradesh in 1999, the constituency had elected Congress candidate Charandas Mahant to power. In 2004, BJP candidate Karuna Shukla won the election. Kamaladevi Patle from the BJP won the seat in 2009 and 2014. Demographics: In the Janjgir-Champa constituency, a majority of the electorate are OBCs, while at least one-fourth of them belong to the Scheduled Castes. There are over 2 lakh tribals too. Upper caste voters also form a sizeable section of the electorate. 4. Kanker Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 11 Total electors: 14,48,375 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 7,25,171 Male electors: 7,21,936 Reserved: Yes. For Scheduled Tribes Delimited: Yes. In 2008, the Gunderdehi and Kanker Assembly constituencies were merged. Sanjari was merged with Balod and Narayanpur constituency was dissolved. Assembly Constituencies: Sihawa (ST), Gunderdehi Kanker (ST), Sanjari Balod, Antagarh (ST), Keshkal (ST), Dondi Lohara (ST), Bhanupratappur (ST) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, Sohan Potai from BJP was elected MP from Kanker, when it was a part of Madhya Pradesh. In 2004, Potai again won a majority from the constituency when the state of Chhattisgarh came into place and continued to win in 2009. In 2014, BJP candidate Vikram Usendi was elected MP. Demographics: The constituency is spread across four districts of Dhamtari, Kanker, Kondagaon and Balod. This tribal-dominated constituency has been affected by Maoist violence for many years. 5. Korba Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 4 Total electors: 14,23,729 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 6,93,610 Male electors: 7,29,701 Reserved: No Delimited: Yes. The constituency came into existence in 2008. Assembly Constituencies: Bharatpur-Sonhat (ST), Rampur (ST), Pali-Tanakhar (ST), Manendragarh, Korba, Marwahi (ST), Baikunthpur, Katghora Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 2009, Charandas Mahant from Congress, who was MP from Janjgir-Champa in 2004, was elected MP from here. Banshilal Mahto from BJP won the seat in 2014 with a margin of 4,265 votes. Demographics: The constituency is spread across Korba, Koriya and Bilaspur districts in Chhattisgarh. There is a significant population of tribals in this constituency, especially in Koriya district. The Korba district is an agriculture belt where over 68 percent residents are engaged in farming. The main crop sown is paddy. The district is also known as the coal hub of the state. The Korba coalfield is one of the largest coal contributors in the country. 6. Mahasamund Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 9 Total electors: 15,16,177 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 7,58,372 Male electors: 7,57,434 Reserved: No Delimited: No Assembly Constituencies: Saraipali (SC), Mahasamund, Kurud, Basna, Rajim, Dhamtari, Khallari, Bindranawagarh (ST) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999 elections, Shyama Charan Shukla from Congress won the election when the constituency was part of Madhya Pradesh. In 2004, Ajit Jogi from Congress became the first MP from this constituency after it became a part of Chhattisgarh. In 2009 and 2014, BJP candidate Chandulal Sahu was elected MP. Demographics: Mahasamund has a population of 10,32,754, mostly rural (89 percent), according to Census 2011. Lying on the border of Odisha, this Congress bastion was lost to BJP in 2009. Congress heavyweight in the state Vidya Charan Shukla has been elected from this constituency six times. 7. Raigarh Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 2 Total electors: 16,26,949 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 8,07,437 Male electors: 8,18,167 Reserved: Yes. For Scheduled Tribes. Delimited: Yes. In 2008, the Bagicha and Tapkara Assembly constituencies were replaced by Kunkuri segment. Assembly Constituencies: Jashpur Nagar (ST), Lailunga (ST), Kharsia, Kunkuri (ST), Raigarh, Dharamjaigarh (ST), Pathalgaon (ST), Sarangarh (SC) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, as part of Madhya Pradesh, this constituency elected Vishnudeo Sai from BJP. Sai continued to win a majority in the 2004 election. In 2009 as well as 2014 elections, Sai continued to enjoy majority votes. Demographics: Spread over the Jashpur and Raigarh districts, the constituency houses power plants, steel plants as well as jute mills. According to official data from the Chhattisgarh government, the primary economy of the Raigarh district is agriculture and mining. Jashpur has almost 42 percent of forest cover on its geographical area and hence, forestry activities and forest produce collection have been its traditional economic activity. While Jashpur has a population of 8,51,669, Raigarh has a population of 26,34,200. 8. Raipur Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 8 Total electors: 19,04,460 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 9,24,453 Male electors: 9,79,107 Reserved: No Delimited: Yes. In 2008, the Raipur town Assembly constituency was divided into South, West and North constituencies. Mandirhasod Assembly constituency was dissolved. Assembly Constituencies: Baloda Bazar, Raipur Rural, Raipur City South, Bhatapara, Raipur City West, Arang (SC), Dharsiwa, Raipur City North, Abhanpur Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, Ramesh Bais from BJP held the constituency when it was a part of Madhya Pradesh. After the division of Chhattisgarh, too, Bais continued to be elected MP from the constituency in 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections. Demographics: The capital of Chhattisgarh, Raipur has a population of 40,63,872, of which 36.5 percent live in urban areas. The constituency is spread across areas that are suitable for growing paddy. It has been a BJP bastion since 1996. Raipur is also being developed as a smart city. The district is surrounded by Maoist-affected regions. 9. Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 6 Total electors: 15,91,373 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 7,93,838 Male electors: 7,97,222 Reserved: No Delimited: Yes. In 2008, the Chowki and Birandranagar Assembly segments were replaced by Pandariya and Mohla-Manpur segments. Assembly Constituencies: Pandariya, Dongargarh (SC), Khujji, Kawardha, Rajnandgaon, Mohla-Manpur (ST), Khairagarh, Dongargaon Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, Raman Singh from BJP won the election. In 2004, Pradeep Gandhi, also from BJP, won the election. Madhusudan Yadav from BJP was elected MP in 2009 elections. BJP candidate Abhishek Singh won the election in 2014. Demographics: The constituency is spread over Rajnandgaon and Kabirdham districts. The constituency holds importance as it had catapulted former MP Raman Singh to the position of chief minister. The seat is currently held by his son Abhishek Singh. Rajnandgaon district has a population of 15,37,133 and a majority of them depend on agriculture, according to the Chhattisgarh government. The region is rich in the deposit of limestone and has several extraction and mining industries. Kabirdham has a population of 8,22,526. 10. Surguja Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 1 Total electors: 15,23,022 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 751,835 Male electors: 770,954 Reserved: Yes. For Scheduled Tribes Delimited: Yes. Ramanujganj, Bhatgaon and Pratappur assembly segments were added to this constituency in 2008. Baikunthpur, Surajpur, Pal and Pilkha segments were dissolved. Assembly Constituencies: Premnagar, Ramanujganj (ST), Ambikapur, Bhatgaon, Samri (ST), Sitapur (ST), Pratappur (ST), Lundra (ST) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, Congress candidate Khel Sai Singh won the election. Nand Kumar Sai from BJP won the election in 2004. Murarilal Singh, also from BJP, won the election in 2009. Kamalbhan Singh Marabi, a BJP candidate, was elected MP from this constituency in 2014. Demographics: This tribal-dominated constituency is one of the Maoist affected areas in Chhattisgarh. Surguja came into prominence in 2014 as it became one of the few constituencies in India where NOTA stood third. Pando and Korva tribes are found all across Surguja. Both tribes, interestingly, claim descent from the Mahabharata era. 11. Durg Lok Sabha Constituency Constituency number: 7 Total electors: 18,58,922 (2014 estimates) Female electors: 9,09,476 Male electors: 9,48,077 Reserved: No Delimited: Yes. The Durg Assembly constituency was broken into rural and city constituencies in 2008. Mora, Dhamdha and Khertha segments were dissolved and Vaishali Nagar, Ahiwara and Nawagarh were added. Assembly Constituencies: Patan, Bhilai Nagar, Saja, Durg Rural, Vaishali Nagar, Bemetara, Durg City, Ahiwara (SC), Nawagarh (SC) Results in last four Lok Sabha elections: In 1999, BJP candidate Tara Chand Sahu won a majority when the constituency was a part of Madhya Pradesh. Sahu repeated his feat in the 2004 elections when Chhattisgarh had been separated from Madhya Pradesh. In the 2009 election, Saroj Pandey from BJP won the election. In 2014, Congress candidate Tamradhwaj Sahu was elected as an MP from here. Demographics: Home to the Bhilai steel plant, Durg is also an important agriculture market in the state. It is the only seat currently held by Congress. MP Tamradhwaj Sahu became the home minister of the state after the state elections in 2018. He, then, resigned from his position as MP and the seat is currently vacant. Durg has a population of 1,721,948, according to the Census 2011, of which 64 percent lives in urban areas. Lok Sabha Election 2019 Tracker LIVE updates: Speaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition grand alliance, and said that the 'mahamilawati' leaders are bound to face 'mahagirawat' (great destruction). Auto refresh feeds BJP chief Amit Shah will address rallies at Koliabor and Teok in Assam's Jorhat district in a daylong trip to the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to begin active election campaigning on Thursday with rallies in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir. All three seats go to polls in the first phase on 11 April. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will have a busy day in Haryana with five roadshows in a single day, at Jagadhri, Radaur, Ladwa, Indri and Karnal in Haryana. Newly anointed Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi has said that she is open to contesting elections. Priyanka has been campaigning at Amethi and is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Friday. Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who has been associated with BJP for about three decades, will join the Congress on Thursday and is likely to be fielded from Patna Sahib. The development came a day after, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy raised fears about possible raids on Congress and JD(S) functionaries in the state. He had claimed that CRPF personnel were brought from various parts of the country to carry out the raids in the state. In a pre-dawn swoop today, Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel carried out raids at the residences of Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju and his nephew, reported News18. In what is being considered a very youth-oriented poll plank, the SP will form a youth commission to help formulate policies. Samajwadi Party will release its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto on Thursday. The party manifesto will focus on jobs for youth, reported News18. Reports say the high command upset with the allocation of certain seats and some Congress leaders have suggested calling off the alliance. Rahul will have one-on-one meetings with senior Congress leaders. Amidst reports that discontent is brewing between the Congress and its Bihar ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal over seat-sharing, Rahul Gandhi will meet his party's Bihar unit to finalize alliance details. The state government has also cancelled the transfer of the intelligence chief. Naidu has called the EC's decision "undemocratic and one-sided". The EC's orders follow a complaint filed by Telugu Desam Party's rival, YSR Congress Party, alleging that phones of the party's leaders are being tapped by top police officials in the state. The Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh has filed a writ petition at the High Court over the Election Commission of India's orders to transfer a few top cops in the state including the state's intelligence chief. The hearing is on Thursday. A wall collapsed at Jagan's rally in Mandapet town, killing a woman and injuring 20, while Naidu's road show in Ananthpur saw 20 people injured after a wall gave away. In a strange and tragic coincidence, both Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrabu Naidu and YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy's rallies on Wednesday saw serious accidents take place. In the video, the BJP has alleged that the UPA regime had compromised on providing assistance to the Indian armed forces to make it easier for Vadra (referred to as jijaji) to get "commission". BJP has released a new campaign video, this time aimed at Congress president Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate in a land scam. "He (Rahul) has said whatever he felt like. I won't like to make any comment on it. He is just a kid. What will I say about it?" Mamata said. She also refused to comment on Rahul's minimum income promise ahead of the Lok Sabha election. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday dismissed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's allegations against her government, saying "he is just a kid". "All those deployed at such polling stations - police, election officers and other employees - will be women. These booths, an initiative towards gender equality and involving women's participation in the electoral process, will be called as 'Sakhi Matdan Kendras'," it said. As per the Election Commission's (EC) directions to set up polling stations entirely managed by women, such booths will be set up in all 40 Lok Sabha seats of the state, a release issued by the election office here said. An all-women polling booth will be set up in every Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra during the next month's polls in a bid to encourage more female voters to exercise their franchise. Speaking to a private news channel, JD(S) leader Puttaraju said three teams of Income Tax officials and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel carried out raids at his Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and his nephew's house in Mysuru. In a predawn swoop Thursday, Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel carried out raids at the residences of Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju and his nephew. JD(S) leader Madhu Bangarappa said Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy had already "spoken" about this, because he got inputs from the intelligence department and questioned why BJP leaders' houses were left unscathed, reported ANI. "This is out in the open through I-T raids. The constitutional post offer for I-T officer Balakrishna has helped the PM in his revenge game. It is highly deplorable to use government machinery, corrupt officials to harass opponents during election time," he said. 28 March, 2019 | HDK tears into BJP over raids on JD(S) minister's house, says I-T official was offered post as bribe Reports say the Congress high command is upset with the allocation of certain seats and some Congress leaders have suggested calling off the alliance. This comes amidst reports that discontent is brewing between the Congress and its Bihar ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal over seat-sharing. A meeting has begun at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's residence between the party brass and its Bihar leaders. He also touched upon the safety of women, the respect accorded by his government to idealogues Chaudhary Charan Singh and Deenbandhu Chhoturam, the allegedly false promises made by Indira Gandhi ('gareeb, gareeb hi rehe gaya') and the numerous schemes brought by his government. There is little that Modi did not speak on, when it came to issues at the Meerut rally. The prime minister spun his full repertoire of rhetorics for repeated slams on the Congress, the SP-BSP alliance and critics of his government. He, however, did give a new spin to the old 'saabka saath, saabka vikas' slogan and instead said 'saabka saath, saabka hisaab.' "They wanted to become heroes of Pakistan. Will you forgive these people?" he asked to resounding cheers. "Uttarakhand has four holy dhams to which I wish to add a fifth dham, the sainik dham," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He, once again, asked the crowds if it was okay to question whether India had indeed done the Balakot air strikes. 28 March, 2019 | Will add fifth dham for sainiks to Uttarakhand's four dhams, says Modi "If Modi ji is elected again we will ensure every infiltrator is removed from Assam," Amit Shah said at his Assam rally on Thursday. The BJP has run into choppy waters in Assam over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which has seen widespread protests, and a firm promise by the BJP chief is likely to help the party at this point. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has written to Chief Electoral Officer of Bhubaneswar demanding action against BJP for alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct 'for surrogate advertising through a TV serial broadcast on a TV channel in which the characters talk about Atal Pension Yojana, ANI reported. "There are two sets of parties today. Those who are neutral and those who are anti-BJP. I am anti-BJP, while Naveen Patnaik, according to me, is neutral. On 23 May (counting day), there will be a new prime minister. I can assure that." "Jaganmohan is a criminal. He is a cheat. BJP is supporting Jagan as they feel he will support them post polls. There is a hidden nexus between them. Both TRS and YSRCP are with the BJP... I am not in the race to be the next prime minister, but we will all sit together post polls and work out a solution. Democratic compulsions far bigger today than political compulsions. 28 March, 2019 | I'm not in race to be PM, says Chandrababu Naidu In an interview, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said, "I am not a contender for prime minister's post. I am being targeted by the BJP government through YSRCP leader Jaganmohan Reddy. ANI quoted Kumaraswamy as saying, "I-T department should work independently, but it's working under the instructions of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. After the BJP came to power, it (the situation) has become like a dictatorship. Do you think the I-T director in Bengaluru is innocent? I also have lot of records." Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, his deputy G Parameshwara, and other senior Congress-JD(S) coalition leaders are currently protesting outside I-T office against raids at residence of Karnataka minister CS Puttaraju in Mandya. He further said, "I was once travelling in a bus while your vehicle was passing by. There was a traffic jam, so I got off the bus thinking maybe you would do a dance number or two to clear the jam." The National Commission for Women has issued a notice to Samajwadi Party leader Firoz Khan over his remark on BJP Rampur candidate Jaya Prada. Khan on Thursday stirred a controversy by saying people of Rampur will get entertained in the ensuing polls, where Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan will face BJP's newly-inducted member Jaya Prada. "Evenings in Rampur will now become more vibrant during elections. Azam Khan has done enough for the people of Rampur, so they will surely vote for him. But they will leave no stone unturned in getting entertained during this one-off opportunity." Asserting that the NDA government has worked for development in every field, Shah said, "To save Assam, infiltration has to be stopped and the Congress cannot do this work." Addressing a rally in Assam's Teok, BJP chief Amit Shah claimed that he is hearing only slogans for Narendra Modi government's re-election these days. "Wherever I go, I'm hearing the same slogan: "Fir ek bar, Modi Sarkar (Once again, Modi government)." Attacking the Opposition grand alliance, he said, "The Opposition that doesn't have a prime minister candidate or a policy can't develop the country or work for the welfare of the people." " Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was an MP for 20 years from Assam. However, the Congress failed to do any development for the region," Amit Shah said while addressing a rally in Assam's Teok. According to reports, an alliance between the Congress and the NCP is unlikely in Gujarat. The NCP also released its list of star campaigners on Thursday, featuring prominent names like Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, and Supriya Sule.. According to ANI, BJP's Kozhikode Lok Sabha candidate Prakash Babu has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a Pathanamthitta court in connection with the violence in Sabarimala. According to Samajwadi Party's new list, Nasir Qureshi will contest from Moradabad, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar from Bareily,Pooja Pal from Unnao, Shyam Sunder Yadav from Jhansi and Nathuni Prasad Kushwaha from Kushinagar. Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav tweeted that he has resigned as the chief of RJD's student wing. Addressing a rally in Assam's Teok, BJP chief Amir Shah said, "Din mein to Congress ke Gogoi ji aur Ajmal (AIUDF Cheif Badruddin Ajmal) aamne saamne chunaav ladte hain. Magar jab raat hoti hai, dono ke beech mein ilu-ilu chalu ho jata hai (During the day, Congress' Tarun Gogoi and AIUDF's Badruddin Ajmal fiercely contest elections, but in the night, the two share a friendly relationship)." Addressing a rally in Jammu, Narendra Modi said that it was an honour that he got to visit Jammu on the first day of his election campaign and that he was able to seek blessings of Vaishno Devi. He further said, "After the strike in Balakot, the Congress leaders have been speaking such things that are not in the favour of the country. How can an individual find anything acceptable that is being lauded in Pakistan. They're asking for proof of the attacks, " he said. peaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress for demanding proof of Balakot air strike. "Amid the call to end terrorism, what has happened to the Congress and its allies. I simply don't understand that is it the same Congress which belong to Sardar Patel. I don't understand is it the same Congress in which Subhash Chandra Bose had dreamed of an independent India? My soul says it's not the same Congress. What is your opinion?" Narendra Modi accused the Congress, National Conference and PDP of praising the people who promote terrorism in the Valley. "They have a problem in saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' , but they are proud to hail those who promote terrorism," he said. He also blamed the three parties of stalling developmental projects in state. Speaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition grand alliance. "If the people of Jammu have faith in chowkidaar, then note it down that the mahamilawati leaders are bound to face mahagirawat (great destruction)," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "The guru of Congress naamdar (Sam Pitroda, Rahul Gandhi's media advisor), who accompanies Rahul on foreign trips, gave clean-chit to terrorists and Pakistan on television. Jab guru hi aisa hoga to chele kaise honge, aur chele ke sathi kaise honge. (When the guru is of such kind, then how would his followers be?)" Speaking on development, Narendra Modi said, "Your chowkidaar (watchman) is committed to ensuring the fulfillment of the five points of development: Education for children, income for youth, medicine for the old, irrigation for farmers, and voice of the public." In Dhaurahra, Congress workers staged a demostraction demnanding Jitin Prasad be giving ticket from the constituency. Prasada responded to it, saying, "I am a disciplined soldier of the party and will do what I am told." Samajwadi Party releases another list of candidates. Nasir Qureshi to contest from Moradabad, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar from Bareily,Pooja Pal from Unnao, Shyam Sunder Yadav from Jhansi and Nathuni Prasad Kushwaha from Kushinagar. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/OJNTRjtMA4 According to Samajwadi Party's new list, Nasir Qureshi will contest from Moradabad, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar from Bareily,Pooja Pal from Unnao, Shyam Sunder Yadav from Jhansi and Nathuni Prasad Kushwaha from Kushinagar. Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav tweeted that he has resigned as the chief of RJD's student wing. Addressing a rally in Assam's Teok, BJP chief Amir Shah said, "Din mein to Congress ke Gogoi ji aur Ajmal (AIUDF Cheif Badruddin Ajmal) aamne saamne chunaav ladte hain. Magar jab raat hoti hai, dono ke beech mein ilu-ilu chalu ho jata hai (During the day, Congress' Tarun Gogoi and AIUDF's Badruddin Ajmal fiercely contest elections, but in the night, the two share a friendly relationship)." Addressing a rally in Jammu, Narendra Modi said that it was an honour that he got to visit Jammu on the first day of his election campaign and that he was able to seek blessings of Vaishno Devi. He further said, "After the strike in Balakot, the Congress leaders have been speaking such things that are not in the favour of the country. How can an individual find anything acceptable that is being lauded in Pakistan. They're asking for proof of the attacks, " he said. peaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi lashed out at the Congress for demanding proof of Balakot air strike. "Amid the call to end terrorism, what has happened to the Congress and its allies. I simply don't understand that is it the same Congress which belong to Sardar Patel. I don't understand is it the same Congress in which Subhash Chandra Bose had dreamed of an independent India? My soul says it's not the same Congress. What is your opinion?" Narendra Modi accused the Congress, National Conference and PDP of praising the people who promote terrorism in the Valley. "They have a problem in saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' , but they are proud to hail those who promote terrorism," he said. He also blamed the three parties of stalling developmental projects in state. Speaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition grand alliance. "If the people of Jammu have faith in chowkidaar, then note it down that the mahamilawati leaders are bound to face mahagirawat (great destruction)," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "The guru of Congress naamdar (Sam Pitroda, Rahul Gandhi's media advisor), who accompanies Rahul on foreign trips, gave clean-chit to terrorists and Pakistan on television. Jab guru hi aisa hoga to chele kaise honge, aur chele ke sathi kaise honge. (When the guru is of such kind, then how would his followers be?)" Speaking on development, Narendra Modi said, "Your chowkidaar (watchman) is committed to ensuring the fulfillment of the five points of development: Education for children, income for youth, medicine for the old, irrigation for farmers, and voice of the public." Dhaurahra: Congress workers stage demonstration demanding Jitin Prasada be given ticket from the constituency. Prasada says 'I am a disciplined soldier of the party and will do what I am told' pic.twitter.com/FYfHXOHUFl In Dhaurahra, Congress workers staged a demostraction demnanding Jitin Prasad be giving ticket from the constituency. Prasada responded to it, saying, "I am a disciplined soldier of the party and will do what I am told." Lok Sabha election 2019; pre-poll trends LATEST updates: Speaking at Akhnoor in Jammu, Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition grand alliance, and said that the "mahamilawati" leaders are bound to face "mahagirawat" (great destruction). He also lashed out at the Congress for demanding proof of Balakot air strike. "After the strike in Balakot, the Congress leaders have been speaking such things that are not in the favour of the country. How can an individual find anything acceptable that is being lauded in Pakistan. They're asking for proof of the attacks, " he said. Addressing a rally in Assam's Teok, BJP chief Amit Shah said, "Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was an MP for 20 years from Assam. However, the Congress failed to do any development for the region." In an interview, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said, "I am not a contender for prime minister's post. I am being targeted by the BJP government through YSRCP leader Jaganmohan Reddy." However, he assured that on 23 May which is the counting day, India will have a new prime minister. Speaking at a campaign rally at Kaliabor in Assam, BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday recited a list of the Narendra Modi government's achievements and vowed that if Modi is elected again, the BJP would ensure every infiltrator is removed from Assam. On a day when it was widely expected that Shatrughan Sinha will join the Congress, it was announced by the party that he will join the party on 6 April. The actor-turned-politician has, however, met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. In a shorter speech than his Meerut one, Modi made it clear in Rudrapur that he is willing to rake up the Balakot air strikes in order to strike the nationalism chord when and where required. This was the second rally where he has called Rahul Gandhi "Pakistan's hero." "The people of Uttarakhand have always been with me. This is a contribution which I never forget," he said. In the rally, he also highlighted the several measures taken by his government in the state. PM Narendra Modi began the second of his three rallies of Thursday at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand by stressing that the Congress, which never thinks about the poor, sat on the Rafale deal for 10 years because they failed to make a profit out of it. Modi uttered yet another invocation of the nation's Army in the beginning when he called Uttarakhand "the land of the brave, the land of sacrifices." Reports have said that actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha who has been with the BJP for a very long time, is now headed to meet Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. The party has promised "good news" on the Sinha front soon, say reports. Minutes after Modi had stopped speaking at his first campaign rally at Meerut, Congress communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a press conference that the prime minister should apologise for comparing three political parties of the country to alcohol with his "sarab" jibe and also for "mocking the poor of the country." "It is unfortunate that when we speak of NYAY, Mr Modi mocks the poor of the country. Previously he had mocked the poor of the country during demonetisation, this shows his true character," Surjewala said. There is little that Modi did not speak on, when it came to issues at the Meerut rally. He combined the 'sa' of Samajwadi Party, the 'ra' of RLD and the 'B' of Bahujan Samaj Party together form 'SARAB'. The acronym, it is understood, stands for alcohol. The prime minister spun his full repertoire of rhetorics for repeated slams on the Congress, the SP-BSP alliance and critics of his government. He, however, did give a new spin to the old 'saabka saath, saabka vikas' slogan and instead said 'saabka saath, saabka hisaab.' He also touched upon the safety of women, the respect accorded by his government to idealogues Chaudhary Charan Singh and Deenbandhu Chhoturam, the allegedly false promises made by Indira Gandhi ('gareeb, gareeb hi rehe gaya') and the numerous schemes brought by his government. "If someone goes to the theatre to see a play, he or she expects drama, new sets. Sets is a common term in theatre. Some people who were confused, thought I meant theatre 'sets' when I said 'A-SAT'," Modi said, taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi over the latter's World Theatre Day snub of the PM's Mission Shakti announcement yesterday. India has decided, phir ek baar Modi sarkar, Narendra Modi said at his first rally in Meerut on Thursday. He kicked off the rally by remembering the Chaudhary Charan Singh and saying that he has followed in the leader's footsteps in prioritising farmers over all others. Speaking before Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Meerut, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath repeated the selfsame chant of the BJP, 'Modi hain toh mumkin hain' and said Modi has been synonymous to development by now. Fresh off the controversial speech on Mission Shakti which has also attracted ECs scrutiny after India's launch of an anti-satellite weapon on Wednesday, the prime minister will speak in rallies at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir. A meeting has begun at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's residence between the party brass and its Bihar leaders. This comes amidst reports that discontent is brewing between the Congress and its Bihar ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal over seat-sharing. Reports say the Congress high command is upset with the allocation of certain seats and some Congress leaders have suggested calling off the alliance. Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy called the raids of JD(S) minister Putturaju's house the "real surgical strike". "This is out in the open through I-T raids. The constitutional post offer for I-T officer Balakrishna has helped the PM in his revenge game. It is highly deplorable to use government machinery, corrupt officials to harass opponents during election time," he said. In a predawn swoop Thursday, Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel carried out raids at the residences of Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju and his nephew. Speaking to a private news channel, JD(S) leader Puttaraju said three teams of Income Tax officials and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel carried out raids at his Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and his nephew's house in Mysuru. The development came a day after, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy raised fears about possible raids on Congress and JD(S) functionaries in the state. Thursday promises to be a high octane day as far as developments in the road to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is concerned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hit the election trail for the first time since the dates of the election were announced on 10 March. Modi's speech has also invited censure from Opposition parties which have questioned the timing of the speech and also alleged that Modi has chosen to dramatise the achievement for polltime gains. TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the TMC will approach Election Commission to file a complaint on the speech. It is, however, up to the Election Commission to interpret it in that manner. Modi did not explicitly turn the speech into a poll pitch, but the BJP leadership did pat Modis back for the success of the mission. The partys social media team has also been strategically pointing out that Modi deserved credit for having the courage to give a go-ahead for the project, something they allege that the previous UPA government stopped short of. The poll code does bar the ruling party from using the governments achievements in a way to further political interests. For now, the Election Commission has sought an active transcript of Modis speech from the government. A committee headed by the Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena will examine the prime minister's address on Mission Shakti for possible Model Code of Conduct violation. BJP chief Amit Shah, meanwhile, will address rallies at Koliabor and Teok in Assam's Jorhat district in a daylong trip to the state. In Bihar, the BJP will be losing its longtime member, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, to the Congress on Thursday. Sinha is likely to be fielded from the Patna Sahib seat in Bihar, which he currently holds. Although not all is okay within the Congress either in the state of Bihar. Amidst reports that discontent is brewing between the Congress and its Bihar ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal over seat-sharing, Rahul Gandhi will meet his party's Bihar unit to finalize alliance details. Reports say the Congress high command is upset with the allocation of certain seats and some Congress leaders have suggested calling off the alliance. Rahul's Bihar meeting will come on a day when he will hold a whopping five roadshows at Jagadhri, Radaur, Ladwa, Indri and Karnal in Haryana. Meanwhile in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul's sister, newly anointed Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi, indicated on Wednesday that she would be open to contesting the 2019 election if the party wants her to. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party will release its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto on Thursday. The party manifesto will focus on jobs and in what is being considered a very youth-oriented poll plank, the Samajwadi Party will form a youth commission to help formulate policies. In Karnataka, meanwhile, Putturaju claimed that CRPF personnel were brought from various parts of the country to carry out the raids. "Three teams of I-T officials and CRPF soldiers comprising eight soldiers carried out raids at my Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and my nephew's residence in Mysuru," Puttaraju told a channel. The minister said he was not afraid of the raids and instead, it had instilled confidence in him. Lok Sabha elections will begin on 11 April and continue for over a month till 19 May across seven phases, followed by counting of votes on 23 May, the Election Commission announced Sunday, kick-starting a mega electoral battle where the BJP will pitch for a re-election of the Modi government amid the Opposition's efforts for a united fight to unseat it. The polling will be held on 11 April, 18 April, 23 April, 29 April, 6 May, 12 May and 19 May for 543 Lok Sabha seats across the country in which nearly 90 crore voters would be eligible to vote, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said. Assembly elections will also be held in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, the CEC said. Stating that her government had renovated several temples in the state, Mamata accused the saffron party of engaging in political rhetoric over Ram Mandir ahead of general elections. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday lashed out at the BJP for questioning her religion and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to compete with her in chanting 'mantras' (hymns). Stating that her government had renovated several temples in the state, she accused the saffron party of engaging in political rhetoric over Ram Mandir ahead of general elections. "Worship does not mean only putting a 'tilak' on the forehead. One must understand the meaning of the mantras (Hindu religious hymns). I challenge Modi-Shah to compete with me in chanting mantras," the Trinamool Congress supremo said. Mamata, one of the harshest critics of BJP, said, "There are people who question my religion. I want to say that my religion is humanity and I do not need lecture from others about religion. "They try to point fingers at me and say I do not allow puja to be conducted in Bengal. They should go and see how many 'mandir' (temples) have been constructed during the TMC regime," she said at a programme here in connection with the upcoming Holi festival. The had often questioned the chief minister's religion and accused her of following the politics of minority appeasement. "We do not believe in the religion of hatred. We believe in humanism. They only engage in political rhetoric over Ram Mandir before elections. We have renovated and redeveloped temples at Tarapith, Tarakeshwar and Dakshineshwar (in Kolkata)," she said. Banerjee said she believes in playing Holi with colours "unlike some sections (BJP) who believe in playing with blood. "I believe in playing Holi with colours and a pure mind unlike a section who believes in playing Holi with the blood of others. I do not need to learn the true meaning of communal harmony from a divisive force like BJP," she said. Banerjee called for maintaining communal harmony during 'Doljatra' (as the festival of colours is known in Bengal) and Holi, and cautioned people to be on guard against any effort to disturb peace. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Mayawati said that the BSP has a 'strong alliance' with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) to defeat the BJP in the 80-seat Assembly. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced that she will not contest the Lok Sabha election, slated for 11 April. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Mayawati said that the BSP has a "strong alliance" with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) to defeat the BJP in the 80-seat Assembly. "It is more important for us to win more seats than for me to win one," CNN News18 quoted her as saying. The development comes after Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had dealt a massive blow to the Congress, when they announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls. The SP will contest in 37 seats and the BSP in 38 of the 80-seat Assembly. The Rashtriya Lok Dal is also part of the alliance in Uttar Pradesh and will contest in three seats Mathura, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar. The BSP supremo had previously dashed any hopes the Congress may have had of joining the BSP-SP alliance. She made it clear that the BSP will not ally with the Congress in any state for the Lok Sabha election. Meanwhile, the Congress on Sunday said it would leave more than a dozen Lok Sabha seats for other parties, including seven for the SP, BSP and RLD alliance. The grand old party also said that it will leave two seats for the Apna Dal, and entered into an electoral agreement with the lesser known Jan Adhikar Party. Mayawati advised the Congress to refrain from spreading confusion over the issue. In what comes as a shocker ahead of the elections scheduled from 11 April, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced that she will not be contesting the Lok Sabha polls. More details are awaited. In what comes as a shocker ahead of the elections scheduled from 11 April, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced that she will not be contesting the Lok Sabha polls. "We have a strong alliance with RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and Samajwadi Party to defeat the BJP. It is more important for us to win more seats than for me to win one. I had earlier resigned from Rajya Sabha to keep our movement alive, but keeping in mind the current political situation I have decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections," she was quoted as saying at a press conference in Lucknow. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati: I will not contest the Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/88oGmtd6Ww ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 20, 2019 Mayawati's announcement comes days after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said that he will not contest the elections. Mayawati, along with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, had announced a BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, rejecting Congress' proposal to leave seven seats in the 80-seat Assembly for the alliance, and asked the party not to "create confusion." Pawar and Mayawati are among several other prominent leaders who are planning to give 2019 elections a miss. Incidentally, Pawar is also among several leaders whom analysts had predicted may the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition alliance. In fact, a Firstpost report had quoted senior NCP leader Praful Patel as saying in November 2017 that Pawar "can be the next prime minister in 2019." However, speaking to the media on Monday, the NCP chief said that he will not contest the election so that two of his family members daughter Supriya Sule and grandson Parth Pawar can contest instead. He also said that he has contested elections 14 times in the past. Pawar, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, is the most recent political heavyweight to have ruled himself out of the poll fray. Lok Sabha elections will begin on 11 April 11 and continue for over a month till 19 May across seven phases, followed by counting of votes on 23 May, the Election Commission announced Sunday, kick-starting a mega electoral battle where the BJP will pitch for a re-election of the Modi government amid the Opposition's efforts for a united fight to unseat it. Here is a look at other senior political leaders who have announced that they will not contest the Lok Sabha elections: Sushma Swaraj Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, one of the most recognisable faces of the present NDA government, announced in November last year that she would not contest the upcoming parliamentary polls. However, she later clarified on Twitter that she is not retiring from politics as yet. You are right, Swapan. I am not retiring from politics. It is just that I am not contesting the next Lok Sabha election due to my health issues. https://t.co/jF5GpPvVwU Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) November 20, 2018 Swaraj cited 'health issues' that she has been facing as the reason behind her decision. In November 2016, she had stated that she had been admitted to AIIMS due to a kidney failure. She is the first woman to hold individual charge of the Union external affairs ministry. Deve Gowda Another prominent political leader to have ruled himself out of the Lok Sabha battle is former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. The JD(S) leader made this announcement in March last year. He also indicated that his grandson Prajwal Revanna may contest in his place from Hassan, if public decides and no other senior leaders of the party was willing to take it up. Gowda, however, continues to be politically active, and had recently discussed seat-sharing in Karnataka with Congress president Rahul Gandhi. KC Venugopal Among those who recently announced their intention not to contest parliamentary polls was Congress leader KC Venugopal. He said on Sunday that he will not contest Lok Sabha election on account of his organisational responsibilities. Venugopal, who represents Kerala's Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, said he has communicated his decision to party leadership in the state. "It is my responsibility to perform duty for the party. Also I am in-charge of (party affairs in) Karnataka. Contesting polls in Alappuzha by sitting in Delhi will be an injustice to my voters. I am personally interested in fighting polls but party's interests are supreme. In this context, there are practical difficulties in fighting election in Alappuzha," he said. Rajinikanth Actor Rajinikanth announced on 17 February that he could not contest the Lok Sabha election. His announcement came over a year after he announced his entry into politics on 31 December, 2017. Ever since his entry into politics, Rajinikanth has been meeting people all over Tamil Nadu over various issues, including the kin of those who were killed during the anti-Sterlite protests that took place in Thoothukudi last year. After he entered politics, media articles had said that he could be a 'game-changer' for politics in the state, and wondered if would be 'the change that Tamil Nadu's politics needs'. Ideologically, Rajinikanth is said to be close to the BJP. The saffron party's warm words for him when he joined politics lent further credence to such speculations. With inputs from agencies Manila (CNN Philippines Life) In recent years, sustainability and support for local makers have become top priority for buyers, especially millennials. Nowadays, were seeing a new wave of local shoe businesses (mostly operating online) that have either drawn inspiration from or tapped the artisans of what was once a thriving shoe industry here one that floundered years ago due to cheaper imports from China. New world sensibilities and old world style come together in these emerging brands, proving that the local shoe game has gotten exciting again. Below are some of Manilas most up and coming leather shoe brands and their stories. Each El Marikeno shoe is made by and credited to a Marikina sapatero. Photo from EL MARIKENO/FACEBOOK El Marikeno El Marikeno is the brainchild of Alec Delos Angeles, Rico Agbulos, Nemo Gonzaga, and Jean Patrick Centeno. The three entrepreneurs had a single goal in mind: to provide Filipino men with shoes that are versatile and stylish. Their first visit to Marikina introduced them to the world of local sapateros, their craft, and the rich history of the city. Their most popular products include classics like Chelsea boots, penny loafers, and brogues all of which are made with genuine cow skin leather and a lightweight rubber material for the sole. Their shoes retail for around 3,500 to 4,000 depending on the style. Each shoe is made by and credited to the sapatero either Fernando, Ambrosio, or Nino who create the pair with their very hands. This practice is El Marikenos way of thanking each of their skilled artisans and abiding by their advocacy of uplifting the local industry and their craftsmen. Originally a passion project, Marquina Shoemaker now has its own brick and mortar store in Makati. Photo from MARQUINA SHOEMAKER/WEBSITE Marquina Shoemaker Marquina Shoemaker pays homage to its namesake city through timeless shoes that are made with comfort and durability in mind. Originally a passion project by founders Juancho Del Rosario, Kayne Litonjua, and Patrick Kahn, Marquina Shoemaker now has its own brick and mortar store in Makati. They also have a Walk this Way campaign, which aims not just to promote their brand, but to also promote their advocacy. The campaign doesn't only focus on the way you walk when you're wearing a pair of Marquina but a choice that you firmly support the [industry in] Marikina, says Litonjua. Men can check out their bestselling Grand Penny Loafer Line, which includes designs like the classic grand penny loafer (5,450), Grand Horsebit Loafer (which includes a buckle design), and the Grand Tassel Loafer (both for 5,650). Marquina Shoemaker also produces shoes for women. The Posh Penny Loafer, which retails for 3,450, is a no-frills kind of shoe, perfect for everyday use. Their Mod Flats, which can be bought for 2,950, are a great faux vintage find, perfect for your next themed party. Andante, which means slowly, takes the time to slowly and carefully design, create, and ensure the quality of something that can last the test of time. Photo from ANDANTE/FACEBOOK Andante Andante puts a fun, young twist on your classic loafer shoe, and a lot of what the founders Audrey Parreno, Bea Campomanes, and Larica Lim rely on is local talent. The focus isnt simply on selling a product, but taking the time to slowly and carefully design, create, and ensure the quality of something that can last the test of time. Their bestselling Modern Loafer, which comes in black, dark brown, dijon, tan, and white, retails for 2,890. Their Balmore Oxfords, which received a lot of attention even before its official launch, can be bought for the same price. Sapatero Manila is what the local industry looks like if it takes a shot of youthful energy. Photo from SAPATERO/FACEBOOK Sapatero Manila Sapatero Manila is on a mission to bring back Philippine shoemaking while veering away from stiff and plain designs of yesteryears. You can see it in their catalog online, where their oxfords, wingtips, and suede boots are sold in different colors and types of material. Check out their Blue Snakeskin Penny Loafers if youre looking for a fun, new way to spice up your outfit. Their Spectator Shoes are also cool little throwback to the olden days; show them to your lolo and even he might want to get a pair. Sapatero Manila is what the local industry looks like if it takes a shot of youthful energy. One of the things that sets Godfather Shoes apart is customizability. Photo from GODFATHER/FACEBOOK Godfather Shoes Spiffy. Thats what you might think of when you first lay eyes on shoes from Godfather. The details on each of these are beautifully crafted, with a sleek finish; shining almost, from that perfect finish. The brands founder, Aaron Angeles, said that the goal of Godfather shoes would be to produce leather goods that are on par with foreign imports the very ones that had brought Marikina down to its knees in the mid-90s. Their online catalog consists of smart-looking shoes perfectly designed for the modern man. Check out their GS 4 Double Monk Straps + Leather Soles, which retails for 6,500. They also have a GS8 Semi Brogue Oxfords + Lightweight Soles being sold for 5,500. One of the things that sets Godfather Shoes apart is customizability. You choose your preferred color for the leather and you can also choose the color for your shoes sole and midsole (the thin line on top of the sole, below the leather). You can also get your initials or your name engraved on the sides or undersides of your shoe. DMK chief MK Stalin's son Udhayanidhi, while seeking votes for his party's woman nominee, said people should not fail to send such a 'beautiful' candidate to Parliament Chennai: DMK chief MK Stalin's son Udhayanidhi, while seeking votes for his party's woman nominee in South Chennai constituency here, said people should not fail to send such a 'beautiful' candidate to Parliament as their representative. Seeking votes for 56-year old Tamizhachi Thangapandian, making her electoral debut, the DMK leader in the same breath said he did not refer to her physical appearance but only to her attributes like commitment to the people and party. Calling the candidate, Tamizhachi Thangapandian his "Akka" (elder sister), Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is also a film actor said, "I appeal to the South Chennai electorate, don't miss to send such a beautiful person as your representative (to the Lok Sabha)." "When I say beautiful, I am not referring to her physical appearance, I mean her lovely Tamil, her love for the party leadership, her principle to serve the people and commitment to the ideals of the DMK," he said after inaugurating the party's South Chennai poll work station. Udhayanidhi Stalin said the relationship between his and her families was continuing for three generations. T Sumathy alias Tamizhachi Thangapandian, daughter of late DMK leader V Thangapandian and sister of former State Minister Thangam Thennarasu, is an orator and writer in Tamil. Holding a doctorate in English literature, she was also formerly a lecturer in English in a city college. This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign with ministers, party leaders and BJP supporters prefixing chowkidar before their name on Twitter in support for the campaign. New Delhi: In the run up to the Lok Sabha polling campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday address over 25 lakh watchmen from across the country and share the "colours of Holi" with them, BJP announced on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address watchmen across the country via audio conference on Wednesday. He will address them around 4:30 pm and also greet them on the eve of Holi, BJP media head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said. This comes days after the Prime Minister launched the Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign with ministers, party leaders and BJP supporters prefixing "chowkidar" before their name on Twitter in support for the campaign. Moreover, on 31 March, Modi will speak to watchmen from 500 locations who have got associated with the Main Bhi Chowkidar movement, which began on Saturday. A day after kick-starting the Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday renamed his Twitter account to "Chowkidar Narendra Modi". Soon after, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah also renamed his Twitter handle to "Chowkidar Amit Shah". Following the footsteps of their leaders, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Harsh Vardhan and Dharmendra Pradhan added the prefix "Chowkidar" to their Twitter handles. On Saturday, the Prime Minister had tweeted a video showing how all Indians are chowkidars while flagging off the BJP's poll campaign. Exuding confidence of proving majority in the house, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said that he has the support of 21 legislators and will pass the floor test in the Assembly on Wednesday. Panaji: Exuding confidence of proving majority in the house, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said that he has the support of 21 legislators and will pass the floor test in the Assembly on Wednesday. "We have 21 MLAs and hence we are definitely confident of not having any problem in floor test, we will surely prove our majority," Sawant told ANI. Goa Legislative Assembly has a total strength of 40 members, out of which four seats are currently vacant. Refusing to comment on various allegations being made by Congress, the chief minister said, "I don't want to comment on what Congress has said. But all our coalition partners are wholeheartedly with us. We have held meetings with everybody and have formulated a strategy for the next three years with the motto of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas". Sawant also informed that he will be going to Delhi to meet the central leadership on Thursday. Speaking about the two Lok Sabha seats, North Goa and South Goa, in the state, he said: "We are definitely winning both seats in Goa in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Allies are with us and are going to support us." Earlier in the day, after assuming the Chief Ministers office on Tuesday, Sawant had said that he is confident of winning the floor test scheduled to take place on Wednesday in the Goa assembly. We are going for the floor test tomorrow. There is no problem with that. There will be two deputy CMs in this government Vijay Sardesai and Sudin Dhavalikar. And I request all the people not to congratulate me or welcome me with flowers during the seven-day mourning period, Sawant said. On Tuesday, Sawant took charge of the Chief Ministers office and kept a photo of former CM Manohar Parrikar beside him. My first priority is to take control over the administration. My second priority will be to complete all the current projects which were started by late Manohar Parrikar, Sawant said elaborating on the priorities of his government. Sawant was administered the oath of office by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha on late Monday night around 2 am. Along with Sawant, 11 other members of Goa Assembly were also sworn in as ministers of the new cabinet. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy Tuesday advised BJP president Amit Shah to instruct his party supporters to behave in public and asked if they have any decency Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy Tuesday advised BJP president Amit Shah to instruct his party supporters to behave in public and asked if they have any decency. Kumaraswamy was reacting to Shah's tweet flaying police action against those who allegedly raised pro-Modi slogans outside the venue of a function in Bengaluru on Monday at which Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was addressing entrepreneurs. "I advise Amit Shah to instruct his supporters to behave properly in public," Kumaraswamy told reporters in Bengaluru. "While some other party's programme is going on..do they have any decency?...first they have to learn about decency to behave in the public. I advise Amit Shah to instruct his BJP supporters not to disturb other party's programmes," he added. "Hugs for 'Tukde Tukde' gang and arrest of peaceful youth raising pro-Modi slogans? Where are the champions of 'Free Speech'? Yuvraj of Congress must know- time follows the course taken by youngsters. Stop intimidating the youth of India, which has rejected your brand of politics," Shah had tweeted replying to state BJP's tweet on Monday's incident. "Democracy in Danger, Police arrests few techies for raising pro Modi slogans at Manyata tech park in Bengaluru. This is the real face of democracy in a Cong-JDS ruled state. It's total dictatorship where freedom of choice & expression of citizens is suppressed," Karnataka BJP had tweeted. However, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah clarified that nobody was arrested, and as a precautionary measure a few people were taken by police and released later. Alleging that some BJP and RSS elements were behind the instigation, he said, "When Rahul Gandhi's event is going on, as an opposition party they should have some responsibility. We can also do the same, when Narendra Modi comes we can also disturb, we can also chant Rahul Gandhi's name." Raising slogans 'Modi, Modi', the protesters had put up placards asking Gandhi to leave the venue, leading to a tense situation with Congress supporters too present there. As the noise intensified, the police removed the protesters, and had detained a few of them. In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over reports of shrinking workforce, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that India's PM is a joke New Delhi: In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over reports of shrinking workforce, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his policies have "destroyed" one crore jobs last year and that "India's PM is a joke". Gandhi's criticism of Modi came after an English daily quoted a government labour document to claim that the "actual size of India's male workforce, or men who are working, has shrunk for the first time since 1993-94". "I thought India was producing 450 jobs a day. Turns out Modi's policies destroyed 1 crore jobs in 2018. That's 27,000 jobs lost every single day of 2018. India's PM is a joke," he tweeted. However, the Congress chief did not elaborate how he reached at the 1 crore figure. At a rally in Manipur, Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister had made a promise of providing two crore jobs every year but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. "This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," he alleged. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the youth, the poor and the middle-class in the country have to understand that Modi is "harmful" for employment. On the NSSO labour report quoted by the media, he said, "it is clear now that if someone has taken away jobs of the youth in the country, it is Prime Minister Modi, who claims himnself to be a chowkidar". "The youth of the country, the poor and the middle class, working class, the poor of the country have to understand and realise that Modi ji is harmful for employment", he said. Surjewala also alleged that the country's "chowkidar" is responsible for "stealing" jobs with 4.7 crore youth losing employment. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also alleged that about two crore jobs were lost since Modi came to power, citing National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. According the report, the national male workforce had shrunk from 30.4 crore in 2011-12 to 28.6 crore in 2017-18. The report has also claimed that since 2011-12, India's national workforce shrunk by 4.7 crore, more than the population of Saudi Arabia. DK Aruna joined the saffron party in the presence of party national president Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday Hyderabad: In another major setback to the Telangana Congress, its senior leader and former minister D K Aruna joined the BJP. She joined the saffron party in the presence of party national president Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday, party sources said. "She is likely to be fielded from the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat," they said. Aruna had lost the Assembly elections from Gadwal in December 2018. "We will strive to strengthen BJP in Telangana and make it an alternative to TRS. We will work for winning maximum seats for BJP in Telangana in the coming Lok Sabha elections," she told reporters. "Definitely her joining BJP will make the party stronger in Mahbubnagar district. It shows the sorry state of affairs of Congress in Telangana," BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao said. Eight Congress MLAs recently defected to the ruling TRS in Telangana. tech2 News Staff Google has been hit with a third antitrust fine in the European Union, this time for 1.5 bn, for illegal practices in search advertising. It was found that Google had restrictive contracts which were forced on customers through the AdSense business. Before this, Google has had to pay a fine of 4.3 bn last year and 2.4 bn in 2017. European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that Google had misused its market-dominant position, yet again. According to Vestager, Google's practices denied other companies the ability to compete on merit. "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites . . . The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate and consumers the benefits of competition," said Vestager. With this third fine, the sum total of fines Google has paid in the EU stands at 8.2 bn. Last year, it had to pay a fine of 4.3 bn for abusing its market dominance in mobile space and in 2017, Google had to pay a fine of 2.4 bn for manipulating shopping search results. The third @Google case: @Google is fined 1,49bn for illegal practices in search advertising brokering to cement its dominant market position. They shouldnt do that - it denied consumers choice, innovative products and fair prices. Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) March 20, 2019 According to the EU officials, since 2006, Google had prevented its AdSense customers from allowing any rival search engines on their sites. While originally, AdSense did not allow placement of rival search engines, in 2009 Google allowed that as long as Google search box was visible as well. In 2016, these terms were removed. AdSense has been losing importance over the years and accounts for less than 20 per cent of Google's total ad revenue according to Bloomberg. Reuters Alphabets Google will prompt Android users to choose their preferred browsers and search apps, a senior Google executive said on Tuesday, as the company seeks to allay EU antitrust concerns and ward off fresh sanctions. The European Commission last year handed Google a record 4.34 billion euro ($4.9 billion) fine for using the market power of its mobile software to block rivals in areas such as internet browsing. By pre-installing its Chrome browser and Google search app on Android devices, Google had an unfair advantage over its rivals, EU enforcers said. Google will now try to ensure that Android users are aware of browsers and search engines other than its own services, Kent Walker, senior vice-president of global affairs, said in a blog. In the coming months, via the Play Store, well start asking users of existing and new Android devices in Europe which browser and search apps they would like to use, he wrote without providing details. The company, which introduced a licensing fee for device makers to access its app marketplace after the EU sanction, does not plan to scrap the charge. Google could be fined up to 5 percent of Alphabets average daily worldwide turnover if it fails to comply with the EU order to stop anti-competitive practices. tech2 News Staff Motorola introduced its seventh-gen Moto G-series smartphones in Brazil last month. While the Moto G7 Power from the Moto G lineup arrived in India two weeks prior to its global debut, the Lenovo-owned brand is now prepping to bring the base version of the Moto G7 lineup. Motorola has announced that it is hosting a smartphone launch event for the Moto G7 in India on 25 March. The company took to the Motorola India Twitter handle to announce the about the Moto G7's India launch date. The Moto G7 was launched for a price of $299 (around Rs 20,700) at the global launch event last month. Reports suggest that Motorola might bring the device to the Indian market in the sub-Rs 20,000 price range. To recall, the Moto G7 Power was launched in India for a price of Rs 13,999 in India. The phone was made available via its online Moto store and e-commerce platform, Flipkart. Over the past few years Motorola has partnered with Flipkart to sell its Moto G lineup smartphones and the new Moto G7 is expected to get similar treatment when it hits India shores. The Moto G7 features a 6.2-inch LTPS LCD Full HD+ display with a resolution of 2270 x 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19:9. It has a small dew-drop style notch that accommodates the front camera. Time to put your game face on coz the power packed #motog7 is coming soon! Share a screenshot of your favourite game using #gamingmatterstoyou to win the #motog7, packed with a powerful processor! T&C apply- https://t.co/22CVVO4u1j pic.twitter.com/b3tLbKHwv8 Motorola India (@motorolaindia) 20 March 2019 In terms of internal hardware, the G7 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 SoC paired with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage. The phone has expandable storage support of up to 128 GB via a microSD card. For optics, the G7 gets a dual-camera setup at the back with a 12 MP primary camera and a 5 MP depth sensor with an LED flash. Up front, it has an 8 MP camera for selfies and video calls. The phone runs on Android Pie 9.0 OS. The Moto G7 packs a decent 3,000 mAh battery and bundles a 15 W TurboPower charger out of the box. tech2 News Staff Let those flowers bloom, let the morning breeze serenade. Say goodbye to the cold and chill, because the nights will now be shorter, and the days will last longer: Spring is upon us! On 20 March 2019, Spring officially kicks off and hence starts the bloom, the end of the winters, and the onset of the scorchy summers. But Spring is everything pleasant, with the sweet smell of flowers in the air, and that perfect nip in the weather. And to celebrate this glorious season, Google has a special doodle for the day. Marking Spring Equinox 2019, Google has a doodle on the search page, which shows earth in a baby avatar, with a flower springing off its head. It almost suggests the earth to be a seed that germinates this day. It's all about perspective though. Also, besides the Spring setting in today, there is another thing very interesting about Spring Equinox: On this day, there is almost 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness because the sun is passing directly over the equator. An equinox is popularly regarded as the time when the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun. This occurs twice each year around 20 March and 23 September. And BTW, Spring Equinox 2019 is what the Hindu culture celebrate as Holika Dahan! Happy Holi everyone. NEW DELHI (PTI): The armies of India and Sri Lanka will hold a two-week military drill beginning March 26 in the island nation with an aim to deepen anti-terror cooperation, officials said Tuesday. The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance operational cooperation, they said. The officials said the 'Mitra Shakti' exercise will involve tactical level operations to effectively deal with the challenge of terrorism as well as transnational crimes. "The exercise will go a long way in further cementing relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation at grassroots levels between both the armies," the Indian Army said. China made the remark t on the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, blamed on Pakistan-based Hafiz Saeed, in a white paper on its crackdown on militants in Xianjiang. In a rare acknowledgment, China on Monday described the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by Pakistan-based LeT terror outfit one of "the most notorious terrorist attacks". In a white paper on its massive crackdown against militants in the restive Xianjiang province, China said the global spread of terrorism and extremism over the years had inflicted agony on humanity. The release of the paper titled "The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang" interestingly coincided with Pakistan Foreign Minister's Shah Mehmood Qureshi's visit to China. Throughout the world, terrorism and extremism gravely threaten peace and development, and endanger the life and property of individuals, said the white paper released by China's State Council Information Office. The paper came days after China, for the fourth time, blocked a bid in the United Nations Security Council on 13 March to designate Pakistan-based chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" by putting a technical hold on the proposal, a move India termed as disappointing. The JeM claimed responsibility for the 14 February Pulwama attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead and escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. "Striking aggressively at terrorism and furthering the de-radicalisation effort is the common responsibility of the international community and essential to the protection of human rights," it said. China opposes all forms of terrorism and extremism and opposes double standards on fighting terrorism, said the white paper, adding that Beijing opposes linking terrorism and extremism with specific countries, ethnic groups or religions. China advocates comprehensive measures to address both the symptoms and the root causes, with the dual purposes of striking at terrorist activities and eliminating poverty, so that there will be no room for terrorism to breed, it said. In one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the country's history, 166 people were killed and over 300 injured as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) created mayhem in Mumbai on 26 November, 2008. Nine of the attackers were killed by the police, and the lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after he was handed down a death sentence by an Indian court. Perpetrators of the 26/11 attack, including its mastermind and banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Speed, continue to roam freely in Pakistan. The US has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice. China Tuesday rejected the Dalai Lama's assertions that his successor could be from India and a nominee by Beijing would not be respected, saying the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to be approved by the Communist government. Beijing: China Tuesday rejected the Dalai Lama's assertions that his successor could be from India and a nominee by Beijing would not be respected, saying the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to be approved by the Communist government. China's response came after the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate told a news agency on Monday that it was possible that once he dies his incarnation could be found in India and and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. "Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and systems," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters when asked about remarks by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959. "The Chinese government has policy of freedom of religious belief. We have regulation on religious affairs and regulation on the reincarnation system in Tibetan Buddhism. We respect and protect such ways of Tibetan Buddhism," Geng said. Dalai Lama is a title given to spiritual leaders of Tibetan people. This title is given to those who are considered among the most important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was just two years old. "The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai has also been recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the central government. So the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the national rules and regulations and the religious rituals," Geng said. Amidst the Tibetan uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India in March that year to escape a Chinese crackdown in his Himalayan abode . By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - (This story has been refilled to remove inadvertently repeated clause in paragraph 3) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his close relationship with the Trump administration on Wednesday, hosting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo three weeks before an Israeli election By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - (This story has been refilled to remove inadvertently repeated clause in paragraph 3) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his close relationship with the Trump administration on Wednesday, hosting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo three weeks before an Israeli election. Washington's announcement that President Donald Trump, a popular figure among Israelis, had invited Netanyahu to the White House for talks and a dinner two weeks ahead of the April 9 vote was also widely seen in Israel as a boost for the right-wing Likud party chief. Following a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where both men hailed U.S.-Israeli ties under Trump, a leader whom the prime minister has featured on election billboards. "We also know that our alliance in recent years has never been stronger," Netanyahu said in comments to reporters, with Pompeo at his side. Netanyahu is battling for his political survival against both a strong challenger in centrist candidate Benny Gantz and against plans by Israel's attorney-general to indict the prime minister, now in his fourth term, in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself in the election race as a leader with a wealth of international diplomatic experience that Gantz, a former armed forces chief and novice politician, cannot match. "I look forward to my visit next week to Washington, where I will meet with President Trump, and I believe we can carry this relationship even stronger," Netanyahu said. "It's getting stronger and stronger and stronger." Angering Palestinians and drawing international concern, Trump broke with decades of U.S. Middle East policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy, which Pompeo will visit on Thursday, to the city last May. Pompeo, in his remarks, said the Israeli people should have confidence that Trump - who is due to present a peace plan after the Israeli ballot - will maintain a "close bond" with Israel. "I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship," Pompeo said, addressing Netanyahu. "He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here." Netanyahu said he and Pompeo, at the start of their discussions, examined how to "roll back Iranian aggression" in the region. Pressure on Iran, Netanyahu said, must be intensified now that the United States has reimposed sanctions on Tehran following Washington's withdrawal from a 2015 deal with world powers to limit the Iranian nuclear programme. Pompeo and Netanyahu later attended a meeting in Jerusalem with leaders from Cyprus and Greece on the construction of a 2,000 km (1,243 mile) gas pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe through those countries and Italy at a cost of $7 billion. Lebanon - Pompeo's next stop - has warned its Mediterranean neighbours that the planned EastMed pipeline must not be allowed to violate its maritime borders. (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Hugh Lawson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. President Donald Trump warned that the United States could impose a lot tougher sanctions on Venezuela as he urged the country's military to depose leader Nicolas Maduro Washington: President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that the United States could impose "a lot tougher" sanctions on Venezuela as he urged the country's military to depose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro. Meeting Brazil's new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, an avowed opponent of socialism, Trump declined to predict a time-frame for the fall of Maduro, who has clung to power for nearly two months since the United States and Latin American powers declared him illegitimate. "We haven't done the toughest sanctions," Trump told a joint news conference with Bolsonaro. "We've done, I would say, right down the middle, but we can go a lot tougher if we need to do that," Trump said. "What is happening there is a disgrace. This was one of the wealthiest countries in the world and all of a sudden, it is grief-stricken, poverty-stricken -- no food, no water, no air-conditioning, no anything," Trump added. Trump renewed his call on Venezuelan security forces to desert Maduro, who still enjoys support from the leadership of the military. "We call on members of the Venezuelan military to end their support for Maduro, who is really nothing more than a Cuban puppet," Trump said. Bolsonaro, an outspoken foe of leftist ideology, said he had spoken to Trump about allowing the US military to position itself in Brazil near the Venezuelan border. Trump has repeatedly said that "all options" are open on Venezuela, although Latin American and European allies have broadly warned against the use of force. "Brazil will be more than willing and ready to fulfill this mission and take freedom and democracy to that country," Bolsonaro said. Despite Trump's threats, the United States has already imposed a wide range of sanctions on Venezuela including the key step of cutting off the regime from revenue of its state oil company - which counts on the United States as a key market through operator Citgo. A sweeping embargo on Venezuela - of the sort imposed for half a century by the United States against communist Cuba - is seen as unlikely to gain wide support in Latin America, despite frustration with Maduro. After France froze the assets of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Germany has come forward in support of listing Azhar as a terrorist in the European Union. New Delhi: After France froze the assets of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, Germany has come forward in support of listing Azhar as a terrorist in the European Union. Spokesperson for the German Embassy in New Delhi, Hans Christian Winkler, confirmed, "There is a discussion going on in the European Union on the listing of Masood Azhar as a terrorist. Germany is approaching it very positively in close coordination with France." "Final decision on security and foreign policy can only be made once all members of the EU agree to it," he added. China recently put a technical hold on Azhar's listing at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a fourth time, despite the overwhelming support of 14 of 15 members in favour of it. However, this does not bind the European Union from not listing Azhar as a terrorist. Diplomatic sources told ANI that earlier, EU could not list a terrorist or organisation that was not listed by the UN, but according to the new rules of the EU, which were modified a few years ago, it can list anyone involved in terrorism if all member states agree. Germany is optimistic that it will be able to gather the support of other members to list Azhar in the EU and is approaching discussion very positively, but the process may take time. China has also softened its position and has said it understands India's concern on Masood Azhar. After the Pulwama attack, India is appraising and sharing evidence with the international community of JeM's involvement in the incident, which claimed the lives of as many as 40 CRPF personnel. It will be a big diplomatic breakthrough for India if EU lists Masood Azhar, as this will further isolate Pakistan diplomatically. India boycotted the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in 2017 after protesting to Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) overriding New Delhi's sovereignty concerns. Beijing: India on Wednesday signalled that it will boycott China's second Belt and Road Forum for a second time, saying no country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity. India boycotted the first Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in 2017 after protesting to Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) overriding New Delhi's sovereignty concerns. Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said that next month China plans to hold a much bigger, second BRF which will also be attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Speculation is rife whether India would attend the second BRF as China has deepened its commitment to expand the $60 billion CPEC, which aims to connect China's Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar port with a host of road, rail, gas and oil pipelines. China has also undertaken a host of energy projects under the aegis of the CPEC. India's Ambassador to China Vikram Misri told the state-run Global Times that "above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects the sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations". "No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," he replied to a question about India's concerns over the BRI and whether India would take part in the second BRF meet. The Indian envoy's interview was carried by the daily on Wednesday. "To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on the BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned. "India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives. We ourselves are working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives," Misri said. "However, it is also our belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and rule of law. They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability," the Indian envoy said. India along with the US and several other countries have been highlighting the concerns over the BRI projects, leaving a number of smaller countries in debt traps. The concerns grew louder after China took over Sri Lanka's Hambantota port on a 99-year lease as debt swap. Several countries including Malaysia and even Pakistan have wished to reduce the Chinese projects over debt concerns. Asked whether India-China ties are back on track, Misri said: "the bilateral relationship between India and China is of great significance not just to the two countries, but also to the larger region and the international community". He said that the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in April, 2018 was a "milestone in bilateral relations during which the two leaders exchanged views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and elaborated their respective visions and priorities for national development in context of the current international situation". Last year, the two leaders also met on the sidelines of multilateral summits. "These meetings have reinforced strategic communication between the two countries at the highest levels and helped in elaborating a road map for continuing contacts. China is India's biggest neighbour and we assign a very high priority to this relationship," the Indian envoy said. "Unlike some 50 years ago, when our relationship had a much narrower basis and there was not much communication, today we have what one would call a full-spectrum relationship. "This has been possible because our respective leaders have realised that mutually-beneficial cooperation responds to the most urgent developmental needs of our people and these needs to be prioritised over other issues," Misri said. Asked about the impact of India's elections on India-China ties, Misri said: "my own feeling is that on foreign policy issues there is a broad political consensus in India on where our national interests lie. I do not think therefore that the outcome of the elections will impact the broad contours of India's foreign policy in general or the very important relationship with China in particular". Jagmeet Singh was elected in federal by-elections held on 25 February. Singh's first words as an elected lawmaker were about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand Ottawa: Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh has created political history in Canada when he made his debut in the House of Commons as the first non-white leader of a major opposition party in the country. The arrival of the turbaned leader into the house on Monday, cheered by all members, coincided with the induction of a senior woman member into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. Singh, 40, leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the House of Commons, the lower of house of Parliament, before the daily question period. He was elected in federal by-elections held on 25 February. Singh's first words as an elected lawmaker were about last week's terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... in Christchurch," he said. About 50 people were killed last week in the Pacific country's worst-ever mass shooting. He then launched his first question about housing in Burnaby-South. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" he said. Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. Speculations are rife that the last budget of the Trudeau government with an eye on the general elections in October is expected to have several attractions for the middle class. By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared poised to side with a black Mississippi death row inmate put on trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder who accused a prosecutor of repeatedly blocking black potential jurors, though the court's only black member sounded sceptical By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared poised to side with a black Mississippi death row inmate put on trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder who accused a prosecutor of repeatedly blocking black potential jurors, though the court's only black member sounded sceptical. Justice Clarence Thomas, who had not posed a question during an oral argument in three years, asked several in the case involving Curtis Flowers, 48, who has argued that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated. Thomas, an idiosyncratic conservative and only the second African American ever appointed to the court, signalled through his questions he might vote against Flowers, who otherwise drew broad support among the other justices, both liberal and conservative. The case is the latest to reach the nine-member court over allegations of racial bias against minorities in the American criminal justice system. Some prosecutors, including in Southern states like Mississippi, have been accused over the decades of trying to ensure predominately white juries for trials of black defendants to help win convictions. Prosecutors and defence lawyers can dismiss - or "strike" - a certain number of prospective jurors during jury selection without giving a reason. In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled that people cannot be excluded from a jury because of their race based on the right to a fair trial under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment and the 14th Amendment promise of equal protection under the law. Thomas focussed on whether lawyers for Flowers sought to exclude white people from the jury in the most recent trial, which would indicate that both sides used race as a factor in selecting jurors. First Thomas asked whether the defence struck any jurors. Then he asked, "What was the race of the jurors struck there?" Sheri Lynn Johnson, Flowers' attorney, said the jurors the defence sought to block were white, but argued that what was relevant in the case was the motives of the prosecutor, not the defence lawyer. The other justices largely sounded supportive of Flowers' claim. "We can't take the history out of this case," conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh told the state's lawyer, Jason Davies. Another conservative, Justice Samuel Alito, said "the history of this case prior to this trial is very troubling" and noted that it was "cause for concern and certainly relevant" to how the justices decide the dispute. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan questioned why prosecutors excluded a black potential juror, Carolyn Wright, who had said she supported the death penalty and had an uncle who is a prison security guard. "Except for her race, you would think that this is a juror that a prosecutor would love when she walks in the door. Isn't she?" Kagan asked. A ruling is due by the end of June. QUESTIONS FROM THOMAS Thomas not had asked a question since a February 2016 gun rights case in which he voiced concern that people convicted of domestic-violence misdemeanours could permanently lose the right to own a firearm. In another 2016 case, Thomas was the sole dissenter when the court ruled in favour of a black Georgia death row inmate who made a similar jury claim. On race issues, Thomas has been a decisive vote to restrict affirmative action programs designed to help minorities overcome past discrimination. In 2013, he was part of the majority when the court struck down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 to protect black voters in Southern states from ongoing discrimination. The justices heard Flowers' appeal of his 2010 conviction - in his sixth trial - on charges of murdering four people at the Tardy Furniture store where he previously worked in the small central Mississippi city of Winona. His lawyers accused long-serving Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans of engaging in a pattern of removing black jurors that indicated an unlawful discriminatory motive. Evans has given non-racial reasons for striking jurors. Flowers was found guilty in his first three trials but those convictions were thrown out by Mississippi's top court. Several blacks jurors participated in the fourth and fifth trials, which ended without a verdict because the jury both times failed to produce a unanimous decision. In the sixth trial, there were 11 white jurors and one black juror. The jury in the first trial was all-white. One black juror took part in each of the three other trials. Prosecutors said Flowers was upset with the store owner for firing him and withholding his paycheck to cover the cost of batteries he previously had damaged. He was convicted of killing store owner Bertha Tardy, 59; bookkeeper Carmen Rigby, 45; delivery worker Robert Golden, 42; and part-time employee Derrick Stewart, 16. All except Golden were white. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Known as Papa to many Kazakhs, the 78-year-old former steel worker and Communist party apparatchik has ruled the vast oil and gas-rich Central Asian nation since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. Almaty: Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday after three decades in power, in what appeared to be the first step in a choreographed political transition that will see him retain considerable sway. Known as "Papa" to many Kazakhs, the 78-year-old former steel worker and Communist party apparatchik has ruled the vast oil and gas-rich Central Asian nation since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. Bestowed by parliament with the official title of "The Leader of the Nation", he was the last Soviet-era leader still in office and oversaw extensive market reforms while remaining widely popular in his country of 18 million people. "I have taken a decision, which was not easy for me, to resign as president," Nazarbayev said in a nationwide TV address, flanked by his countrys blue and yellow flags, before signing a decree terminating his powers from March 20. "As the founder of the independent Kazakh state I see my task now in facilitating the rise of a new generation of leaders who will continue the reforms that are underway in the country." But Nazarbayev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he would retain key security council and party leader positions and hand over the presidency to a loyal ally for the rest of his term, which ends in April 2020. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstans acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution, Nazarbayev said. Nazarbayev has no apparent long-term successor. His decision hit the price of Kazakh bonds, while the London-listed shares of Kazakhstans biggest bank, Halyk Bank, tumbled five percent. The news also appeared to weigh on the Russian rouble. Moscow is Kazakhstan's main trade partner. The Kremlin said Nazarbayev and Putin had spoken by phone on Tuesday, but gave no details of their conversation. Smoother transition? "(Nazarbayev) will continue to some extent to oversee things, so it is not like he has cut the cord totally - he still has his fingers in the pie," said Theodor Kirschner of Capitulum Asset Management in Berlin. "That a 78-year-old wont be sticking around forever shouldnt be such a surprise to anyone, and this move makes the transition smoother. This doesnt really give us a headache." Nazarbayev, who helped attract tens of billions of dollars from foreign energy companies and more than tripled Kazakh oil output, said he would continue to chair the Security Council and remain leader of the Nur Otan party which dominates parliament. The new acting president, 65-year-old Tokayev, is a Moscow-educated career diplomat fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English and Chinese who has previously served as Kazakhstans foreign minister and prime minister. While praising Tokayev as "a man who can be trusted to lead Kazakhstan", Nazarbayev - who has three daughters - stopped short of endorsing him as his preferred heir. "We expect Tokayev to be an interim figure," said Camilla Hagelund, an analyst at consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft. "The real question is, who will be Kazakhstans third president." Kazakhstan is scheduled to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections next year. Nazarbayevs eldest daughter, Dariga, the most politically ambitious of his children, is a senator and once led a political party of her own. Another close relative, his nephew Samat Abish, is the No.2 official on the National Security Committee. The head of state security, 53-year-old Karim Masimov, is also a close Nazarbayev confidant. He has served twice as prime minister and also worked as the presidents chief of staff. But regardless of who eventually leads Kazakhstan, the transition may slow reforms, including in the key energy sector, according to GlobalData analyst Will Scargill. "Although Nazarbayev will retain some key roles, his decision to resign will doubtless slow policy-making as political dynamics are restructured," Scargill said. Uncertainty could also hurt investor appetite for Kazakhstans biggest state-owned companies, which the government planned to list as part of a privatization campaign. Balancing act Nazarbayev steered his nation, which is five times the size of France in area, to independence from Moscow in 1991. He has since managed to maintain close ties with Russia, the West, and China, Kazakhstans giant eastern neighbor. Nazarbayev won 97.7 percent of the vote in the last presidential election in 2015. International observers have long judged elections in Kazakhstan to be neither free nor fair. Nazarbayev tolerated no dissent or opposition and was criticized by rights groups who accused him of locking up his critics and muzzling the media, allegations he denied. His government recently pushed through a number of popular policies - including raising public-sector salaries and forcing utilities to cut or freeze tariffs - stoking speculation that he was preparing for a re-election bid. Members of Nazarbayevs family have stakes in some of Kazakhstans most lucrative assets, including Halyk Bank and firms in sectors ranging from telecoms to fuel trading. By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Lithuanian man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that he helped orchestrate a scheme to defraud Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google out of more than $100 million, federal prosecutors announced. Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, entered his plea to one count of wire fraud before U.S By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Lithuanian man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that he helped orchestrate a scheme to defraud Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google out of more than $100 million, federal prosecutors announced. Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, entered his plea to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison at his sentencing, currently scheduled for July 24. Rimasauskas also agreed to forfeit about $49.7 million he personally obtained from the scheme, according to a court filing. Paul Petrus, a lawyer for Rimasauskas, said the plea spoke for itself and declined to comment further. Rimasauskas, originally from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, was extradited to the United States from Lithuania in August 2017. U.S. prosecutors accused Rimasauskas and unnamed co-conspirators of bilking Google and Facebook out of more than $100 million by posing as an Asian hardware vendor and claiming that the companies owed the vendor money. The prosecutors did not name the companies, but Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc confirmed after Rimasauskas' arrest that it was the Asian vendor, and a Lithuanian court order in 2017 identified Google and Facebook as the victims. The scheme defrauded Google out of $23 million and Facebook out of $99 million, according to that order. Prosecutors said Rimasauskas contributed to the scheme by setting up a fake company and a bank account in Latvia. The scheme is an example of a growing type of fraud called "business email compromise," in which fraudsters ask for money using emails targeted at companies that work with foreign suppliers or regularly make wire transfers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in February 2017 that losses from such scams since the agency began tracking them in 2013 totalled more than $3 billion. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to 'confront' comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to "confront" comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. Erdogan - who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections - said on Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification. "Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey," Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. "He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face." Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times during public gatherings in recent days. Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker's "manifesto", which was posted online by the attacker and later taken down. "Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors," Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. "As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present." During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back "in caskets" anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul. Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad. Despite Peters' intervention, an extract from Tarrant's alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan's rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkey's ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogan's comments be removed from Turkey's state broadcaster. "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table," Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Australia's ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of Erdogan's government on Wednesday, Morrison said. Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey. Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services. Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. Visitors come to the area to honour their nations fallen on ANZAC Day every April 25. (Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Tuesday of the rapidly deteriorating situation and rights violations in Kashmir, and called for India to look again at its policies there. Beijing: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday of the "rapidly deteriorating situation" and rights violations in Kashmir, and called for India to look again at its policies there. India launched an air strike on a militant camp inside Pakistan last month following an attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy in disputed Kashmir. The 14 February attack that killed at least 40 paramilitary police was the deadliest in Kashmirs 30-year-long insurgency, escalating tension between the neighbours, and the subsequent air strike had heightened fears that nuclear-armed India and Pakistan could slide into a fourth war. Speaking in Beijing standing alongside the Chinese governments top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, Qureshi said his country appreciated the role China played once again in standing by Pakistan in these difficult times. "I also briefed the foreign minister on the rapidly deteriorating situation on the Indian side of Kashmir, intensification of human rights violations, especially after Pulwama," he said, referring to where the attack took place. "This is a concern because that leads to a reaction and that reaction at times creates tensions in the region which must be avoided," Qureshi added. I think theres a need for a new assessment on how the situation on the Indian side of Kashmir should be handled by the Indians. There are now voices within India that are questioning the efficacy of the policy that theyve followed for the last so many years, he said, without elaborating. Wang, who is also Chinas foreign minister, said China has always believed that peace and stability in South Asia is in the joint interests of countries in the region and is what the international community wishes. China appreciates Pakistans constructive efforts to ease the situation and calls on Pakistan and India to continue to exercise restraint and resolve the differences that exist via dialogue and peaceful means. The sparring after the Pulwama attack had threatened to spiral out of control and only interventions by US officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, headed off a bigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events have told Reuters. At one stage, India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan, and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile strikes three times over, said Western diplomats and government sources in New Delhi, Islamabad and Washington. A Pakistani minister said China and the United Arab Emirates also intervened to lessen tension between the south Asian neighbours. In a faxed statement to Reuters late on Monday, responding to a question on Chinas role in reining in the crisis, its foreign ministry said peaceful coexistence between Pakistan and India was in everyones interest. As a friendly neighbour of both India and Pakistan, China pro-actively promoted peace talks and played a constructive role in easing the tense situation, it said. Some other countries also made positive efforts in this regard, the ministry added. China is willing to work with the international community to continue to encourage the neighbours to meet each other half way and use dialogue and peaceful means to resolve differences, it said, without elaborating. China and Pakistan call each other all-weather friends, but China has also been trying to improve ties with New Delhi. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an informal summit in China last year agreeing to reset relations, and Xi is expected to visit India sometime this year, diplomatic sources say. Britain has asked EU leaders to delay Brexit until 30 June, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, on eve of an EU summit in Brussels London: Britain has asked EU leaders to delay Brexit until 30 June, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, on eve of an EU summit in Brussels. May said she had written to EU President Donald Tusk "informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period to 30 June". "I don't want a long extension," she said, warning that a longer delay would mean Britain having to hold European Parliament elections at the end of May. "The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable," she said. "As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June," she said. In the letter to Tusk released by Downing Street, May said she intended to bring the Brexit deal she has negotiated with the EU back to parliament even though MPs have rejected it twice by overwhelming margins. "If the motion is passed, I am confident that parliament will proceed to ratify the deal constructively. But this will clearly not be completed before 29 March, 2019," she wrote, adding that the timetable for passing the necessary legislation to allow Brexit was "inevitably uncertain". "I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period... until 30 June, 2019." US presidential candidates are trying to convince voters in early primary states that they would provide the best Donald Trump opposition. And in a large field with few variations on policy so far, each contender is using different tactics to make their case. Hemingway, SC: In the most polarised political environment in decades, Democratic voters want to know how their eventual nominee will match up against President Donald Trump in the November 2020 general election. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president. On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trumps hotels in New York City, taking her "vision of restoring Americas moral integrity straight to President Trumps doorstep," her campaign said. The backdrop for her speech underscores a defining theme of the Democratic nominating contest. Trump is present at every campaign stop not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him. Candidates are trying to convince voters in early primary states that they would provide the best Trump opposition. And in a large field with few variations on policy so far, each contender is using different tactics to make their case. Voters need to believe that a candidate can stand on stage, take a rhetoric punch from Trump and still look strong and viable, said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race. Potential and declared candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders "have likely already passed that litmus test with voters," Payne added. "Others who are less known to the public probably still have some proving to do." A February poll by Emerson College found every Democratic hopeful out-performed Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup, except when a third-party candidacy was added to the equation. At campaign events in rural South Carolina this month, Senator Kamala Harris used a simple refrain to begin answers about complicated policy questions: "We need a new president." Harris, a former prosecutor, is seeking to convince voters that her courtroom experience prepared her to be able to successfully prosecute Trump on the debate stage, a campaign aide said. But Harris does not plan to make her case using any demeaning nicknames for Trump, something the president did during the 2016 campaign to deride his opponents. They dont want someone who is going to mimic his tactics, the aide said of Democratic voters. "Democrats want someone who can confront from him." Voters focused on electability A February poll by Monmouth University found that 56 percent of Democrats would prefer a nominee who has a good shot at defeating Trump even if they do not agree on policy positions. The poll found women voters who turned out in droves during the 2018 midterm elections to help send a historic number of women to Congress were even more inclined to prioritise electability over ideology with 61 percent putting their positions aside in favour of a candidate who can defeat the president, compared to 45 percent of men. The high level of Democrats citing electability over "kitchen table" issues like jobs and the economy was surprising to Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa. But Hagle thinks it could be a product of the large field of Democrats, with voters looking for ways to whittle it down. Once the field narrows, policy issues such as immigration and jobs could again emerge as top concerns, he said. "What is different this time is the intensity about wanting to defeat Trump," Hagle said. Even candidates who are inclined not to tussle with Trump directly still talk about him a lot. In Mount Vernon, Iowa on Friday, Beto ORourke largely spoke of Trump in the context of using his campaign to try and bring people together. He criticised Trump not using his name for how the president talks about immigrants and Muslims. "Weve never been as divided as we are right now. And weve never seen the kind of rhetoric employed by this president in our history," said ORourke, a former Texas congressman. "This is absolutely wrong. And theres a consequence to this rhetoric and the policies employed by the president." Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic hopeful, insists Trump can be defeated by a candidate who offers a calmer tone instead of attacks. I know there are some fight fire with fire people out there, and God bless em, if they become the nominee, Im behind them, Booker told a group of voters at a New Hampshire pub last week. But Im willing to die on this hill because I believe that when we as Americans extend grace to one another, were not weaker, but stronger." My mom taught Sunday school, and she taught me to love my enemies, Booker said. Im not going to let anybody drag me so low as to contort my soul and make me hate them. Chesapeake Energy ( CHKA.Q ) has a history of making bold bets. While some haven't paid off, the oil and gas driller's recent decision to buy the oil-focused WildHorse Resource Development is looking a little better by the day. It certainly helps that crude prices have been red-hot this year. A gamble that seemed to backfire quickly In late October, Chesapeake Energy stunned investors by agreeing to buy WildHorse Resource Development for nearly $4 billion in cash and stock. The transaction marked a surprising departure from the company's strategy of selling off assets to pay down debt. Investors didn't like the move, leading them to clobber Chesapeake's stock on the day of the announcement. The transaction came at the wrong time because oil prices, which had already started turning lower, quickly fell off a cliff. By year-end, crude prices had crashed 40% from their peak in early October. This sell-off in the oil market made Chesapeake Energy's bold bet on oil look like a bad one in hindsight. That weighed on its shares, which plummeted 47% on the year. No longer as bad as it seemed Crude prices bottomed out in late December. The U.S. oil benchmark, WTI, which was in the mid-70s in early October, tumbled to a low of around $44.50 right near the end of the year. Oil, however, has come roaring back in 2019 and was recently above $59 a barrel. That higher price point could be a boon for Chesapeake Energy. One of the concerns with the company is that it's still not generating enough cash to fund capital expenses. Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler stated on the fourth-quarter conference call that he expects there to be a "slight outspend in 2019." However, with oil prices rising, that gap should continue to narrow as the company increases its crude output, which it predicts will surge 32% this year thanks in part to the addition of WildHorse. That has some analysts growing more optimistic. Raymond James, for example, recently boosted its price target on Chesapeake Energy's stock from $4 to $4.50 per share, which is nearly 40% above the current price. In reaffirming its bullish view, an analyst at Raymond James wrote that "while we believe that [Chesapeake] will modestly outspend cash flow in 2019, we believe that the company has a good chance of being roughly cash flow neutral in 2020, a very positive step as the firm looks to continue paring down debt." Others, though, remain cautious on the company given that it's so reliant on higher oil prices to help narrow the gap between capital expenses and cash flow. MKM Partners and SunTrust Robinson Humphries, for example, have both reiterated their ratings of neutral and hold, respectively, along with their $3 price targets. While SunTrust liked the company's "solid" budget, it's still outspending cash flow. Meanwhile, MKM is a bit concerned with Chesapeake Energy's valuation following its more than 50% rebound this year, which has it trading at a nearly 20% premium to its peers, according to its analysis. Check out the latest earnings call transcript for Chesapeake Energy. The jury is still out The quick bounce-back in oil prices makes what seemed like an ill-timed move appear much better. However, Chesapeake is more dependent on higher oil prices than most peers, which can fund their capital budgets on the cash flows of sub-$50 oil. Chesapeake has a long way to go before it's at their level, which is why it remains a high-risk, high-reward oil stock that will likely continue to be extremely volatile on any meaningful movement in crude prices. Quote: 1960fordf350 Originally Posted by Really a cool old setup! Gonna drive it with patina or paint it? Quote: The Masked Rider Originally Posted by So, looks like a 66' cab, with a 62 grille, and that looks like a chev front bumper with out the rubber bumper piece. Wonder why the 460, torque maybe? Maybe the original motor gave up and they had 460 setting around. Is the motor mounted low or the cab jacked up from the frame to match the lines of the ramp bed? No matter, I still like the truck. However, if I was going to redo that truck to haul my toys around, I think I would upgrade the system to a newer diesel and trans that could handle the highway. Maybe all kinds of electical stuff to make any journey more comfortable. Maybe a nice 'air ride' all around. OK OK, I can dream. Chad, good catch on the plug.So, looks like a 66' cab, with a 62 grille, and that looks like a chev front bumper with out the rubber bumper piece. Wonder why the 460, torque maybe? Maybe the original motor gave up and they had 460 setting around. Is the motor mounted low or the cab jacked up from the frame to match the lines of the ramp bed?No matter, I still like the truck. However, if I was going to redo that truck to haul my toys around, I think I would upgrade the system to a newer diesel and trans that could handle the highway. Maybe all kinds of electical stuff to make any journey more comfortable. Maybe a nice 'air ride' all around.OK OK, I can dream. I really like how the truck looked with all the wear but with the newer doors on there being blue and white I am going to paint the cab to match the car it will be hauling around.It's a dark plum purplish color.I have really awesome friends who enable me to make bad financial decisions. They picked it up from R.I today and we got it right into the shop and started cleaning things up.I vacuumed all the debris and mice droppings from the interior.Swapped both the doors out. Grabbed some measurements so we can start looking for some donor axles with possible brake upgrades and better gearing.Spot on with the Chevy front on it. Not sure why on the 460, it is mounted low on the frame. The mounts look very solid though. We have talked about swapping the motor with something newer or a 6BT but with the short amount of time we have that will have to wait. We will be going to the junkyard tomorrow looking for donor parts for a newer suspension setup and to get away from the 6 lug wheels. Air suspension is the ultimate dream, I hope we can make it happen The Law Schools Human Rights Implementation Centre (HRIC) and the National Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NHRC) have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to continue their cooperation to promote and support the implementation of human rights in Uzbekistan. Since 2017 the HRIC has been working with the NHRC, together with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) office in Uzbekistan, to provide advice on the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT). In December 2017 the HRIC provided training on reporting to the UN Committee against Torture, in advance of the consideration of Uzbekistans fifth periodic State party report to the UN Committee. This was followed up in August 2018 with a three-day workshop delivered by Debra Long, Research Fellow at the HRIC, to examine the opportunities and challenges for the ratification of OPCAT in Uzbekistan. These events brought together representatives from a range of stakeholders including representatives from government, law enforcement services, parliament, the Ombudsman Office and the NHRC. The memorandum of understanding builds on this work and demonstrates a continued commitment between the HRIC and NHRC to work together to exchange information and build capacity of institutions in Uzbekistan to promote the implementation of the UNCAT and OPCAT, as well as other human rights instruments. BRISTOL BOROUGH >> The Bristol Riverside Theatre (120 Radcliffe Street) brings back a holiday favorite and welcomes audiences home this holiday season. "An American Christmas Songbook," the theatres first concert in the theatre since 2019, gathers audiences December 9-19 for a heartwarming evening of favorite carols and songs performed by a cast of BRT favorites. Former BRT Artistic Director Keith... Comfort Hotels Continues Expansion as Transformation Advances ROCKVILLE, Md. - March 20, 2019 // PRNewswire // - The Comfort hotels brand, franchised by Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), continues its United States expansion with seven hotels already opening this year from coast to coast. These hotels are the latest to showcase the new Comfort logo, unveiled last May as a capstone to the brand's multi-year transformation. More than 700 Comfort hotels already feature the elevated look and feel. In addition, more than 170 hotels have installed new signs, while over 450 hotels are in the process of obtaining new signage. "The renewed Comfort brand appeals to developers and a wide range of guests across the U.S.," said Anne Smith, vice president, brand management, design and compliance, Choice Hotels. "As the transformation moves into the final phase, the investment is paying off as hotels that completed their renovations are on average experiencing a significant RevPAR lift within two quarters after refreshing." The Comforts that opened this year are: Comfort Inn & Suites in Findley Lake, N.Y. Comfort Inn & Suites in Slidell, La. Comfort Inn & Suites in Wildwood, Fla. Comfort Inn & Suites in Michigan City, Ind. Comfort Suites in Burlington, Wash. Comfort Suites in Eufaula, Ala. Comfort Suites in Humble, Texas Choice and its franchisees are investing $2.5 billion in the Comfort brand transformation to deliver a more consistent, up-to-date guest experience. More than 60 Comfort hotels are expected to open this year in major markets, such as Brooklyn, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.; Pittsburgh; San Antonio; and San Diego. In addition, there are nearly 300 hotels in the pipeline, 80 percent of which are new construction. "Cultivating relationships with our franchisees is paramount and one of our key differentiators at Choice," said Brian Quinn, head of development, new construction brands, Choice Hotels. "We are deeply thankful for their collaboration, which has been critical to the success of the Comfort transformation as evidenced by these key openings." Comfort Rested. Set. Go. The Comfort brand, franchised by Choice Hotels, has been trusted by travelers and hotel owners for more than 30 years. With Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites and Comfort Suites hotel properties nationwide, the Comfort brand family is ready to take care of guests everywhere they need to be. And with hundreds of newly renovated properties, the Comfort brand is committed to helping guests feel refreshed and ready to take on the day, whether they are traveling for business or leisure. Comfort is the largest 100 percent smoke-free hotel brand in North America with more than 1,800 properties open and operating. At Comfort hotels, complimentary amenities include a hot, hearty and healthy breakfast, free Wi-Fi, business center, and fitness center or swimming pool at most locations. Rested. Set. Go. Because behind every great day is a great night. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com/Comfort-Inn, ?www.choicehotels.com/Comfort-Suites. About Choice Hotels Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. With more than 7,000 hotels, representing nearly 570,000 rooms, in over 40 countries and territories as of December 31, 2018, the Choice family of hotel brands provides business and leisure travelers with a range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upscale, midscale, extended-stay and economy segments. The award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty program offers members benefits ranging from everyday rewards to exceptional experiences. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com. Forward-Looking Statement This communication includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including anticipated development and hotel openings.? Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including construction delays, availability and cost of financing and the other "Risk Factors" described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to be materially different from our expectations. Addendum This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 1 Choice Hotels Circle, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20850, development@choicehotels.com. 2019 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved. Media Contact: Hank Nathan 301-592-6619 Hank.Nathan@choicehotels.com SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc. ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Industry Heavyweights Combine Resources Pillar To Post Home Inspectors, EXIT Realty Corp. International Announce Partnership March 20, 2019 // Franchising.com // TAMPA, Florida - Two industry stalwarts are combining their formidable resources in a new partnership that will benefit countless homebuyers and sellers across North America. Pillar To Post Home Inspectors, North Americas leading home inspection company, has been named the Premier Home Inspection Partner of EXIT Realty Corp. International, a full-service real estate franchisor with hundreds of offices and thousands of agents across the U.S. and Canada that is at the forefront of a new paradigm that has changed the landscape of the real estate industry. The partnership will be formally announced at EXIT Southeasts Spring Training event in Nashville in April. The program will initially be launched in the Southeast and later expand across North America. Were honored to be in a partnership with such a highly respected company, said Dan Steward, president and CEO of Pillar To Post. We expect great synergy between our 800 home inspectors and the real estate agents of EXIT. Our franchisees are the people who have helped us rank Number One in the home inspection category on Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise500 list for 19 years in a row. Its a great fit. Pillar To Post, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, is North Americas largest home inspection company, with almost 600 locations and more than 800 certified home inspectors covering 49 states and nine Canadian provinces. With corporate headquarters in both Tampa and Toronto, Pillar To Post has risen to the top of its industry for one simple reason: a focus on delivering the best customer experience for both homebuyers and real estate professionals. Delivering a world-class customer experience has always been firmly rooted in Pillar To Posts business model of selecting top-quality candidates as franchise owners and providing first-rate home inspection and business operations training supported by ongoing education. Likewise, EXIT Realty Corp. International was founded in Canada in 1996 by Chairman, Steve Morris, with a unique business model that took the concept of single-level residuals prevalent in both the insurance and music industries and applied it to the real estate industry. EXIT Realty expanded to the U.S. in 1999. EXIT is expanding rapidly, focused on providing solutions for its regional owners, franchise owners, agents in the field and the consumers who trust EXIT with their real estate transactions, said Tami Bonnell, EXIT Realty Corp. Internationals CEO. Partnering with an industry leader such as Pillar To Post is one such way EXIT provides outstanding services to its associates and the general public alike. About Pillar To Post Home Inspectors ?Pillar To Post Home Inspectors has been named as Best in Category in Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise500 ranking for 19 years in a row. Long-term plans include adding 500 to 600 new franchisees over the next five years. For further information, please visit www.pillartopostfranchise.com. Media Contacts: Rhonda Sanderson Sanderson & Associates 847-612-9829 Rhonda@sandersonpr.com Susan Harrison EXIT REALTY 888-668-3948 sharrison@exitrealty.com SOURCE Pillar To Post ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Research News African refugees healthier pregnancies likely due to unhealthy U.S. culture By MARCENE ROBINSON Some of the elements of U.S. life, such as eating processed food, an increased reliance on cars or buses for transportation, extended inclement weather, a more individualistic society, and drug and alcohol use, may, in fact, contribute to African refugee women having poorer reproductive health outcomes. African refugee women experience healthier pregnancies than women born in the United States, despite receiving less prenatal care, a recent UB study found. Compared to U.S.born black and white women, African refugee women had fewer pre-pregnancy health risks, fewer preterm births and higher rates of vaginal deliveries. Surprisingly, the refugee women were more likely to delay beginning prenatal care until the second trimester. The disparity, says the researchers, may be tied to various unhealthy behaviors and practices present within U.S. culture. For African refugee women, acculturation may negatively impact health. It is often thought that refugees immigrating to the United States from war-torn nations will experience a better quality of life once here, says Kafuli Agbemenu, assistant professor in the School of Nursing and lead investigator on the study, published in February in the Journal of Womens Health. However, some of the elements of U.S. life, such as eating processed food, an increased reliance on cars or buses for transportation, extended inclement weather, a more individualistic society, and drug and alcohol use, may, in fact, contribute to African refugee women having poorer reproductive health outcomes. Reproductive health disparities between U.S.-born white and black women are well documented, says Agbemenu. However, few comparisons have been made between African refugee women and U.S.-born women. African refugee women are susceptible to numerous health disparities as a result of factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, low levels of education and language. Another risk-factor specific to their population is the high prevalence of past traumatic experiences. These risks led researchers to believe African refugee women would have poorer reproductive health outcomes than women born in the U.S. The unexpected results reveal that the healthy immigrant effect a phenomenon where immigrants experience healthier outcomes than native populations extends to reproductive health. The researchers examined electronic birth certificate data from hospitals within Erie County, an area of Western New York that resettles a large number of refugees. The data contained clinical, psychosocial, socioeconomic and demographic information, as well as the mothers country of birth. Women born in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Rwanda and Somalia were considered of refugee status for the study, due to the large refugee populations in Western New York resettled from these nations. The data contained information on nearly 60,000 white, almost 17,500 black and close to 800 African refugee women who gave birth from 2007-16. The information was limited to mothers who used Medicaid to cover medical expenses to control for socioeconomic status. Researchers discovered that African refugee women had significantly less maternal medical risk factors, such as pre-pregnancy hypertension or diabetes, compared to U.S.-born women. Refugee women experienced more vaginal births, and were less likely to undergo cesarean sections or to be medically induced into labor. Less than 1 percent of refugee women smoked or took illegal drugs during pregnancy, compared to white women (12 percent smoked, 4.5 percent took illegal drugs) and black women (15 percent smoked, 18 percent took illegal drugs). Refugee women also had the fewest preterm birth (6 percent) compared with white women (9 percent) and black women (13 percent). While most of the women from all groups began prenatal care within the first trimester, African refugee women were more likely to delay prenatal care until the second trimester. Refugee women also received higher amounts of inadequate prenatal care (27 percent) compared to white women (12 percent) and black women (24 percent). These favorable health outcomes for African refugee women also occurred in spite of the group experiencing higher rates of meconium staining, the earliest stool of an infant that when passed in the womb is a sign of fetal distress. The high rate of inadequate prenatal care for African refugee women is troubling, says Agbemenu, and indicative of the disconnect between refugee populations and the health care community. These women have reported feeling ostracized and marginalized by the medical community, says Agbemenu. They are at times hesitant to seek care, and when they do, it is typically at a time when the problem has escalated. The development of culturally targeted reproductive health education is urgently needed, she says. Health care professionals also need to understand that refugee women are likely to have histories of trauma and, therefore, need care delivered from a trauma-informed perspective. Additional investigators on the study include Nadine Shaanta Murshid, assistant professor, School of Social Work; James Shelton, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB; UB nursing doctoral student Samantha Auerbach; and Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, assistant professor of public health and community medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine. Massage Heights Celebrates 15th Year in Business with Record-breaking Revenue, Franchise Growth, and Nationwide Sweepstakes Fast-growing Massage and Facial Services Franchise Reports $104.8 Million in Systemwide Revenue in 2018 and Accelerates Growth Nationwide March 20, 2019 // Franchising.com // SAN ANTONIO - Celebrating 15 years in business, Massage Heights, a leader of professional, affordable, and convenient therapeutic massage and facial services, announced another banner year for the brand, reporting $104.8 million in revenue, as well as a new partnership with Franchise FastLane to sign 20 franchise agreements in 2019. The brand is actively recruiting single- and multi-unit franchisees to expand in major metro areas like Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, South Florida, and Las Vegas. Over the last 15 years, Massage Heights has grown from a single Retreat in San Antonio, Texas, to over 140 across the U.S. and Canada. Co-founder and president Shane Evans founded the company in 2004 with her husband, Wayne, after realizing the need for professional and affordable massage services. After experiencing years of painful, recurring back pain and being unable to find a consistently affordable, therapeutic option for massage therapy, Shane and Wayne opened the first Massage Heights location. It was so popular that they opened a second just nine months later. After realizing the growing demand for massage therapy as part of peoples everyday lives to manage chronic pain, reduce stress, and countless other symptoms, they saw an opportunity to take the brand national through franchising. As I reflect on the past decade and a half in business, the first thing that comes to mind are the career opportunities that weve been able to provide to hundreds of entrepreneurs, massage therapists, and estheticians, and the countless lives theyve transformed through affordable massage therapy and facial services, said Shane Evans, co-founder and president of Massage Heights. The continued success of Massage Heights is a direct testament to the tireless dedication of our franchise owners, leadership team, and team members at every location. Were proud to be here today and look forward to the next 15 years. Additionally, to celebrate its 15th anniversary, Massage Heights will treat one lucky fan to an all-expenses paid trip for two to The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, for a luxurious weekend of relaxation and pampering. From April 1-30, 2019, fans can visit www.massageheights.com/15thanniversary to enter for the chance to win. Additional prizes such as annual memberships and other services and products also will be awarded for a total of 15 winners selected. For the closest location, visit www.massageheights.com. About Massage Heights Massage Heights is a family-owned, membership-based therapeutic services franchise company that provides Members and Guests convenient, professional, affordable resort-quality massage and facial services that help people achieve a balanced and healthy lifestyle, in an upscale Retreat environment. Regular massage and skin therapy services help people look and feel their best from the inside out by aiding in the reduction of stress, pain management and increased relaxation, all resulting in the ability to tackle daily life with a higher level of vitality and positivity, truly elevating the everyday. Media Contact: Natalia Rodrigues Fish Consulting, LLC O: (954) 893-9150 SOURCE Massage Heights ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill Prepares To Open First Franchise Location in Texas Grand Opening Set for March 26 THE COLONY, TX - March 20, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ - The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, known for its bold flavors, fresh ingredients, healthy food options, and customer friendly service is preparing for the Grand Opening of its first franchise location in Texas. The fast-growing restaurant brand has more than 60 franchise locations in various stages of development and on March 26, the newest location in The Colony will celebrate its Grand Opening, hosted by The Colony Chamber of Commerce. The 2,200 square foot restaurant located at 3750 Plano Parkway, Suite 1000 has the capacity to seat up to 49 guests inside and will have an additional 24 patio seats. The new location is owned by franchisees, Heather and Derrick Udy. Featuring authentic Mediterranean-style favorites, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, is an award-winning concept and is an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group. From savory skewers off the grill, refreshing salads or wraps, and mouth-watering appetizers, to palate-pleasing appetizers, tender gyros, and delicious desserts, The Great Greek is a contemporary take on timeless cuisine. "My father is a retired Veteran, who was stationed in Germany while I was young. While there, my parents visited Greece and fell in love with the food and culture. They instilled a love for Greek food and culture on me, which is why we chose to open the restaurant," said Derrick Udy. "You will likely find my parents at our restaurant whenever they are in town!" Brand co-founders Nick A. Della Penna and Trent Jones assumed ownership of The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill in Henderson, NV in 2016, and by the end of its first year of operation, gross revenue increased 18 percent - undeniable proof of the brand's popular appeal and stability. With the success and popularity of the Henderson location, the co-founders opened a second restaurant in Las Vegas in 2017, and a third Las Vegas location opened in December 2018. The rapidly expanding fast-casual restaurant concept anticipates opening additional franchise locations in Frisco, TX; Troy, MI; and Port St. Lucie, FL early this year. Most recently, the brand opened its first franchise location in Westminster, CO. "We're excited to celebrate the brand's first franchise location in Texas and for what is to come with this brand," said Jim Butler, Leader of United Franchise Group's Food Division. The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is located at 3750 Plano Parkway, Suite 1000. The hours are Sunday thru Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. For More information, visit www.thegreatgreekgrill.com/locations/the-colony-tx or call 214-302-8300. About The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill is a fast-casual restaurant franchise concept featuring authentic Greek recipes, made to order, with only the highest quality ingredients, fresh products and outstanding hospitality. The original Great Greek locations were in Las Vegas, but the concept is now being franchised by The United Franchise Group and is quickly expanding across the U.S. and abroad. For franchise and area developer opportunities relating to The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, call 561-567-0258 or visit www.thegreatgreekgrillfranchise.com. About United Franchise Group Led by CEO Ray Titus, United Franchise Group is home to a variety of internationally recognized brands including Signarama, Fully Promoted, Experimax, Jon Smith Subs, Venture X, SuperGreen Solutions, Transworld Business Advisors, Network Lead Exchange, and The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill. With over three decades in the franchising industry and more than 1600 franchisees throughout the world, United Franchise Group offers unprecedented leadership and solid business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Media Contact: Kim Miller Ink Link marketing Voice: 305-631-2283 SOURCE The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Pancheros, the fast-casual burrito concept known for its fresh-pressed tortillas, perfectly mixed burritos, and fan-favorite queso, continues to grow into new markets this year, like Dallas. While Pancheros loyal following in the Midwest and the Northeast has fueled growth, franchise partners like Robert Mesite know that theres more to the story. The first thing that attracted me to Pancheros was the foodits just so much better, says Mesite, who brings more than four decades of restaurant experience to his role as a Pancheros franchise owner in Wallingford, Connecticut. The simplicity of the menu, the infrastructure and the ease of doing business it makes ownership that much better. Mesite, a multi-unit operator with 40 years of restaurant ownership experience, including several Sonic locations, has been bullish on the Pancheros brand from the start. Community is first, notes Mesite. In addition to supporting local schools, organizations, and teams, Mesite adds, Getting these people our food is important, but what's more important is to show that we care to support them as a local business. Pancheros, founded by Rodney Anderson in 1992, has grown from its roots in Iowa City, Iowa, to a thriving chain of nearly 70 locations across 13 states and has earned a loyal following throughout the Midwest and Northeast. As Pancheros is poised to strategically expand with experienced multi-unit franchise partners across contiguous markets in the Midwest and Northeast regions, the brand is seeking qualified franchisee partners with restaurant experience and a love and passion for burritos and the communities they serve. Learn about franchising opportunities with Pancheros at www.pancherosfranchise.com. News Greyhound deaths unnecessary, says industry watchdog STUART VILLANUEVA/The Daily News file photo Clouds stretch over the Gulf Greyhound Park dog track in La Marque on Thursday, March 14, 2019. Rumor has it a developer plans to buy it and transform the property. A greyhound protection group has made a formal request to the Texas Racing Commission for an investigation into the deaths of four greyhounds during Gulf Greyhound Parks most recent racing season that ran from December 2018 through February. Carey Theil, executive director of Grey2K USA, a Massachusetts-based group working to abolish greyhound racing, said reports showed 43 injuries among dogs at the La Marque race track, including 11 dogs that suffered broken legs and four that died, an increase in the total number of injuries, broken legs and fatalities over the 2017-18 season, by Theils calculations. Of particular concern was the death of a greyhound named Pizza Man Dan, who was put down after he suffered a laceration of the tongue. The injury report obtained from the Texas Racing Commission indicated the injury was discovered after the kennel master heard an excruciating scream from the dog and found the dog bleeding profusely with his tongue. The report said that blood was everywhere in the cage and repair was not possible at the track due to extensive damage. That was the first time in many years of monitoring injuries to greyhounds that Theil had been aware of a tongue laceration leading to an animals death, he said. If it was not possible to treat the animal at the track, it should have been taken to an emergency veterinary clinic in the area, he said. Pizza Man Dan was in a lockout cage when the incident occurred. Theil requested an investigation into the dogs death and the deaths of three other greyhounds at the Gulf Greyhound Park this winter. It appears the other animals were put down after breaking legs, he said. David Peck, president of the Texas Greyhound Association, a group that represents breeders and owners, said his organization has received injury reports from the commission as well, obtained by filing a public records request, and he also is concerned about what he has learned. Last year, we thought the number of injuries at Gulf was too high and we think its too high this year, Peck said. We take this kind of stuff very seriously. One of the dogs that died is one I sold to someone, so Im definitely looking into it. The greyhound association has offered to set up an injury fund to pay for treatment of any animal injured at the track, but Gulf Greyhound Park has declined to participate. We dont want to see any dogs euthanized. Period, he said. Wed be more than willing to pay for treatment. Both Peck and Theil acknowledged that from time to time, there are extreme cases in which a dog has to be put down, but that should be the rare exception, they said. A spokesman for the Texas Racing Commission acknowledged the commission has received the request for investigation into the deaths, but could not comment at this time. Gulf Greyhound Park officials couldnt immediately be reached for comment. In his letter, Theil argued the track and owners are cashing in on a hefty purse at the track, based largely on remote betting, and should be required to set aside a trust fund for treatment of injured animals. Greyhound kennels are racing their dogs for prize money that exceeds the total amount bet and comes from elsewhere, he said. Theil referred to a Texas law that states a percentage of all simulcast gambling at Texas tracks on dog racing from out of state must be used for prize money. Simulcast betting occurs over television screens at Gulf Greyhound Park and other parks, with participants placing bets on races from other tracks around the country. Live greyhound racing is generally on the wane across the country, and was particularly hard hit in November when nearly 70 percent of voters in Florida opted to shut down greyhound racing in the state by the end of 2020. As of November, 17 dog tracks remained operational in the United States and 11 of those are in Florida, meaning significantly fewer races for simulcast and a largely diminished betting pool, according to Grey2KUSA. The Florida Greyhound Association campaigned against the Florida ban and the board of the Texas Greyhound Association voted to support that effort with a gift of $50,000, according to the groups website. Meanwhile, over the past decade, live racing seasons have shortened to just a few months per year across Texas three remaining dog tracks. Gulf Greyhound Park remains the most active of the three, but is open largely for simulcast gambling rather than live dog racing. At a minimum, if greyhound breeders are to continue receiving an annual handout of some $2 million, the commission must ensure there is funding available for veterinary care for every dog that needs it, Theil said in his letter. During February, 422 dogs raced at Gulf Greyhound Park, down from some 700 to 1,000 dogs housed in the large kennel compound during the tracks heyday. The dogs raced this season for nine weeks with four performances per week. Live racing was halted at Gulf Greyhound Park in 2015 due to increased competition from casinos, unprofitability and rising costs, but resumed in December 2017. Park owners have used the massive parking lot along I-45 for various cultural events over the years, including a Chinese lantern show over the holidays and a community crawfish bash. Tagged by scientists, bluefin tuna passing submerged listening lines help reveal species' survival An array of underwater listening lines that detect passing giant Atlantic bluefin tuna previously caught and tagged by scientists has created a new system to monitor these enormous, fast, powerful and lucrative fish in the open ocean. A 10-year research project using the technology sheds light on the species' natural mortality as well as migration, important information for sustainable management of their populations. Results of the study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports (at https:/ / go. nature. com/ 2W6gpEu ) demonstrates that giant Atlantic bluefin gather in hot spots for 3 to 4 months a year to feast on their favourite snack foods -- herring and mackerel. Based on this behaviour, an international team of scientists predicted they might be able to take advantage of their homing behaviour to monitor the bluefin's coming and goings with Canada's Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) -- an array of underwater receivers on North America's east coast, including across the Cabot Strait and the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada. Additional receivers along the North American coastline logged visitation of the bluefin from Canada to the Bahamas, and as far east as Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Much like an electronic EasyPass collection system on tolled highways, the large bluefin "check in" as they pass across these acoustic "gates," providing an opportunity to monitor their behaviour in consecutive years. "Atlantic Bluefin are big animals and it took a team of fishers to catch each one individually and pull it up on the deck of their boats so scientists could electronically tag them. By carefully handling the animals, the team was able to tag each tuna with a long-term wearable device, and then record the return of mature and sub-adult Atlantic bluefin tuna for 1-5 years. "The project utilized the OTN underwater receiver technology that was deployed in strategic locations to capture the coming and goings of multiple species of fish in Canadian waters" said Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University, the leader of the project. Each tag emits a unique, coded "ping" which can be detected as an individual ID number, and stored by an array of underwater receivers - allowing them to identify the passage of an individual tagged tuna. One such receiver "gate" lies across the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence across the Cabot Straight, and a second line has been installed on the continental shelf off Halifax, Nova Scotia. Once a year, data collected on these receivers is downloaded by scientists from Canada's OTN. The data enabled the team to create a quantitative model of their natural survivorship -- a parameter difficult to directly measure empirically that provides information on how long bluefin tuna of the age class tagged (on average ~14 years old) survive in the wild. "It was a high risk project. No one was completely sure they'd come back with this precision as you have to be relatively close to the receiver to get the data," Block said. "By putting the acoustic tags out year after year in small numbers for almost a decade, and securing the tags tightly to the fish, we have been able to literally count the experimental fish coming into the Gulf of St. Lawrence in summer and detect their exit in the fall." Starting in 2009, scientists tagged 128 individual Atlantic bluefin tuna with acoustic tags. The first tags were placed on giant bluefin just as the receiver gate was constructed across the Cabot Strait, and this effort has continued ever since, with tags being deployed on approximately 4-25 fish per year and detections continuing to the present for more recent cohorts of tagged fish. Some of these fish were very large- including one whose length measurements on the deck of the vessel put it over 1,350 lbs (614 kg). Over 31,000 detections were picked up by receivers from Canada to the Bahamas, and all the way to Gibraltar. "Atlantic Bluefin have an uncanny ability to return with precision to the same ocean areas they were in the year before," said Dr. Mike Stokesbury of Acadia University. "We had observed this fidelity previously with satellite tags. We utilized acoustic tag technology created by Vemco, of Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada, to track the fish as they passed above the receiver gates." The study results provide a novel way to monitor the adult bluefin tuna populations as fisheries quotas rise. These are the fish that primarily go to spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, and contribute to the next generation of bluefin tuna. A spatially-structured Bayesian mark recapture model was applied to the acoustic detection data for Atlantic bluefin tuna electronically tagged in the GSL to estimate the rate of instantaneous annual natural mortality. This analysis showed that tagged bluefin tuna had over 90% natural survivorship one year post tagging and the technique potentially has the capacity to keep track of an individual for 5-10 years. "Not many things are eating a giant bluefin" remarked Mike Stokesbury. He adds that the experiment demonstrates that acoustic tags can provide vital fisheries independent estimates for life history parameters critical for improving stock assessment models. Atlantic bluefin tuna are fished by over 50 nations, and are currently managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Current total allowable catches (TACs) are 28,200 tonnes in the eastern Atlantic and 2,350 tonnes in the West Atlantic. Significant increases in TACs are projected in the next few years, particularly in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea where quotas are on target for 36,000 tonnes by 2020. Despite their economic importance, little is known about the natural survival of bluefin populations, a key parameter for building population models that predict their future numbers in the Atlantic Ocean. Natural survival has so far proven difficult to estimate, but this research provides a new way to refine this estimate. "The fidelity of these fish to the same spots combined with this large array of underwater receivers makes for a unique opportunity to learn about the survival of these fish under natural conditions, which is important for managing their populations sustainably" says Dr. Whitlock of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The scientists consider the project a "proof-of-concept" effort that demonstrates the strength of the technology and the novel capacity for building quantitative models that inform fisheries managers about the status of the populations. The team hopes to continue the study this coming year (dependent upon funding) and encourage an increased use of the electronic tag technology to improve modeling of tuna populations. Bluefin live a long time (~40 years) for a tuna species, and understanding the fate of the adults is important to understanding their life history. "Bluefin tuna are full of surprises, and I am fascinated with how each individual tends to have preferred routes no different than you or I. Bluefin tuna have favourite fast food hot spots where they like to go, and Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence attracts fish from both the North American and European population of tunas" Block explains. The scientists emphasize that the work would not have been possible without the enormous cooperation of a small group of commercial fishers around Murphy's pond, in Port Hood, Ca. The scientists dedicated the paper to Captain Steve McGinnis, a major participant in the study, who tragically lost his life last summer in an accident unrelated to the study, when out at sea catching Atlantic bluefin tuna with charter clients in the same area. "Stevie was an amazing fisherman and his contributions made this project the success that it has been, it's a great loss for this fishing community," Dr. Block remarked. ### Scientists participating in the study were from Stanford, Duke and Acadia University, The Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences of Sweden, and the TAG A Giant project of The Ocean Foundation, in the USA. The project also included Drs. Andre Boustany, Steve Wilson, Mr. Robert Schallert and Mike Castleton. The project was funded by a consortium of government and private funders. Fishers included Captain Dennis Cameron and Bernie Chisolm and their crews. To view the data, go to: https:/ / www. stanfordblocklab. org/ pacific-predator-tracks , click animal detectors, and pick a buoy in the Cabot Strait. This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) Reigning Miss Universe Catriona Gray got candid on Wednesday about how she broke her precious pearl-encrusted Mikimoto crown during her homecoming parade in the Philippines. "Guys, I have a confession, the Mikimoto has seen better days as a result of my dancing. I'm so sorry," she said in a Facebook video as she held up one of the feathers of her crown. A piece of her crown fell off during her homecoming parade in Cubao, Quezon City last February 24. The Filipino-Australian beauty queen, aboard a crown-inspired parade float, was greeting hoards of her excited Filipino fans when one of the seven feathers fell. Good thing she was able to catch it with her arm. She then handed the piece to Miss Universe Organization manager Esther Swan, who looked mortified. The apologetic Gray said she was carried away by the festive music during the parade. "One of the thing I love most about the parade is they'd have this moving parade. A moving band, they have drums and it makes me want to dance, so end up dancing although I am not a very good dancer," The Miss Universe Organization assured her the feather will be attached back to the crown, which reportedly costs around P13.2 million. "Don't worry! It'll be fixed in no time," it replied in the video. After winning an overwhelming majority at the snap parliamentary elections in December, Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has formed a new cabinet and presented its program. While Pashinyan enjoys a high level of public approval, probably the most serious challenge awaiting his cabinet in the coming months is withstanding the massive campaign by the former regimes proxies to undermine the governments credibility in order to avoid the prosecution of some top-level former officials and to prepare the ground for their possible return to power. Speculations about the possibility of unilateral concessions on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue have been at the center of the campaign. BACKGROUND: The bloc led by Pashinyan, who was the front figure of the Velvet Revolution in April 2018 and became Armenias Prime Minister, quite predictably won the snap parliamentary elections on December 9. In the first national election in 20 years conducted without widespread fraud such as vote buying, ballot-box stuffing, or intimidation of opposition proxies and observers, the winners received 70.42 percent of the votes and secured 88 of 132 seats in the National Assembly. Only two other parties passed the threshold: Prosperous Armenia, which received 8.26 percent of the votes and 26 seats; and Bright Armenia party with 6.37 percent of the votes and 18 seats. The formerly ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), which in October refused to lower the threshold from five to four percent (see the 11/07/18 Issue of the CACI Analyst), received 4.7 percent of the votes and is hence not represented in the newly elected National Assembly. The new National Assembly first gathered on January 14, and within a month performed the required initial set of actions, including the formation of standing committees, the appointment of a new cabinet, and approving the governments program. The number of ministries comprising the cabinet were reduced, and in addition to members of Pashinyans Civil Contract party, some technocrats who served in the first post-revolution cabinet, including the ministers of foreign affairs and defense, were reappointed. The governments program provides for de-bureaucratization, although on a really modest scale compared to probably the most profound reform in that area performed during Mikheil Saakashvilis presidency in neighboring Georgia. The program also suggests reducing state regulation of the economy, albeit carefully, and states an expectation of five percent annual growth. Although Prime Minister Pashinyan proclaimed an economic revolution in the making, the parliamentary opposition and some observers consider the governments program to lack ambition. The program became the first subject of heated dispute between the majority and the opposition, which ultimately voted against. IMPLICATIONS: A comfortable parliamentary majority and a quite stable high level of public approval allow Pashinyan to proceed with governance and judicial reforms, further anti-corruption measures, education reform, and other much needed reforms. Meanwhile, Pashinyans approach to negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has become a target for criticism from representatives of the former regime and numerous media under their control. The recent meetings between Pashinyan and Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev, as well as meetings of the two countries foreign ministers (see the 02/14/19 Issue of the CACI Analyst) have been interpreted in the already familiar context of allegations about the government plans to sell Karabakh, i.e. make unilateral concessions. Media owned by the proxies of former Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan have also spread conspiracy theories regarding the governments alleged links to George Soros, the education reform plans, and other issues; attempting to use character killing techniques against the cabinet members and to provoke conflicts between Pashinyan and his supporters outside his party. Kocharyan is under investigation for his role during the events of March 1, 2008, when police and army units attacked demonstrators after 12 days of mass protests in Yerevan following a contested presidential election, killing 10 people (see the 11/07/18 Issue of the CACI Analyst), whereas Sargsyan was ousted by the Velvet Revolution. Quite significantly, in recent months Kocharyans and Sargsyans proxies have acquired more media outlets, including television companies. Russian media have also intensified their campaign against Pashinyans government. The investigation involving Kocharyan and other former officials has been a constant target of Russian media reporting, despite Pashinyans statements and actions in favor of even deepening cooperation with Russia. However, in February Komsomolskaya Pravda, a daily notorious for its practice of publishing materials that are paid for, started calling Kocharyan a political prisoner. Within days, Russian state-run RT news accused a prominent member of the Armenian parliament of attempts to export revolution. In general, similar coverage targeting pro-Western persons in the parliament and government has become widespread. In addition, several Russian analysts, particularly those appearing on Russian TV, have also started promoting allegations about imminent unilateral concessions on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Against this backdrop, even Armenias deployment of an 83-man mission to Syria on February 8, including demining specialists and medical personnel, have not changed the mode of coverage in Russian media. The deployment was agreed in September as an attempt to reduce tensions in Armenias relations with Moscow and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu publicly thanked his Armenian counterpart for the contribution. At the same time, the U.S. strongly criticized Armenias involvement in Syria. A statement issued by the embassy in Yerevan said the U.S. do not support any engagement with Syrian military forces nor any cooperation between Armenia and Russia for this mission. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to constituting an attempt to damage Pashinyans public approval, the allegations about unilateral concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh may be intended to provoke him into making some hardliner statements on the issue in order to undermine his international image as well. It should be recalled that Kocharyan and Sargsyan utilized similar propaganda to organize their power grab in 1998. However, this is not the only issue requiring careful consideration by Pashinyans team. Pashinyan can be expected to continue his attempts to avoid antagonizing the Kremlin. However, his team needs to be aware that further concessions to Russia may actually be counterproductive. As Kocharyans trial is approaching and further investigations concerning other former officials are imminent, representatives of the former regime will keep using their considerable financial and media resources, as well as their strong connections in Russia, in order to destabilize the government. Concessions will hardly persuade Russian political circles and the media to remain neutral. As a revolutionary leader, Pashinyan cannot expect to join the close circle of Vladimir Putins friends. Also, if the deepening economic hardship in Russia results in protests, revolution exporters will become an easy target to be placed on the list of Russophobes for the purposes of Russias domestically-oriented propaganda, their attitudes towards cooperation with Russia notwithstanding. At the same time, deepened ties with Russia will likely slow down the reforms and at some point become a considerable obstacle to overcoming path dependence. AUTHORS BIOS: Armen Grigoryan is an Armenian political scientist, and the author of several book chapters and journal articles. His research interests include post-communist transition, EU relations with Eastern Partnership countries, transatlantic relations, energy security, and conflict transformation. Image Source: public domain via Wikimedia Commons accessed on 3.20.2019 Michele Ndoki Archives Human rights activists and persons of good will have been urged by Amnesty International, to sign a petition against the arrest and detention of female lawyer and politician, Michele Ndoki. The international human rights advocate group launched this call on its twitter page, where it regretted that the President of the womens wing of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party, has been unjustly locked up in Cameroon. Several international organisations and other institutions, have made similar calls for the Cameroonian government to release Ndoki ,and other CRM party sympathisers, but Biya's regime is paying a deaf ear to the calls, and rather asking some of these institutions, not to interfere into the countrys internal affairs. The prominent lawyer is behind bars, facing charges of rebellion, insurrection and hostility against fatherland, same as CRM leader, Maurice Kamto and over 150 militants, of same party. They were arrested across the national territory, after staging a peaceful protest late January, against injustices in Cameroon and electoral fraud. During the protest, Michele Ndoki sustained an injury, and later, went into hiding, following a series of arrest on other CRM members. She was later arrested on February 26, in Idenau, South West region, and transferred to Yaounde. The political activist wrote a letter from her cell in Yaounde, stating that her morale is up, despite her predicament. " You are my strength, my inspiration, the reason I keep going. You give me more, so much more than I deserve. I, poor woman, sometimes too stubborn ... Of course, I'm good. Take care of yourselves. What does not kill us, makes us stronger, we are alive, part of her letter, read. She entered into politics with Edith Kah Walla's CPP, which she left afterwards in 2014. She then embarked on actions with civil society for 2 years , before joining Maurice Kamtos party, which she defended in Court after the October 2018 , presidential elections. Mebe Ngo'o Fils Archives Two sons of former Minister of Defense, Alain Edgar Mebe Ngo'o , will be grilled at the Special Criminal Court(TCS) this evening, in connection to the embezzlement case their father, who is now behind bars at Kondengui maximum security prison. Jean Phillipe Ngo'o Mebe, who is First Assistant Senior Divisional Officer for Wouri, Littoral region and Lionel Mebe Ngo'o, are the two sons involved in the affair, with the latter identified in a video, squandering money. The video that sparked widespread condemnation, was circulated on social media, shortly after the arrest and detention of Mebe Ngo'o. A fake video of a rich Nigerian business man was also shared on social media, linking it to the lavish life of Mebe Ngo'o sons to the business man, but sources denied he was any of the former ministers sons. It was later rumoured that Phillipe Mebe Ngo'o had gone out of the country, following his fathers arrest, but his office mates confirmed he was available.However, both sons might join their parents in jail, if they fail the first test this evening at the TCS. On the night of 8 March 2019, Mebe Ngo'o, was jailed at the Kondengui Central Prison, after two days in custody. His wife, Bernadette, later joined him on March 11. The couple, along with three other persons involved, have been charged by the Special Criminal Court, which handles cases of embezzlement of public funds, for alleged corruption over the purchase of military equipment from French company Magforce. Investigations revealed that his actions had caused the Public Treasury to lose more than FCFA 100 Billion, and his two sons were also implicated in the case. Before he was promoted as the Minister of Defense, Mebe Ngo'o, was the Delegate General for National Security. He played an active role in the just launched operation sparrow-hawk, a system, put in place by President Paul Biya in 2006 to fight corruption. The British Medical Journal published this unlikely and disturbing story of a 44-year-old woman who, during an intimate moment with her partner, had a stroke. Her partner was practicing oral sex when it happened. At the moment of reaching orgasm, the woman lost consciousness, which was revealed afterwards to have been due to a stroke. She was unconscious for 3 minutes, before her partner called for help. She was taken to Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, in West London, the patient was then back to herself with a headache which she evaluated as being a six out of 10 on the pain scale. Extensive examinations revealed the presence of blood between the brain and the skull of the woman. Following a CT scan, doctors discovered that her stroke was caused by a small aneurysm, which burst during her passionate encounter. Sex increases blood pressure It is well known that sex increases the heart rate and these effects have already been observed by scientists: The monitoring of the arteries during sex, showed that during sexual intercourse, the arterial pressure and the heart rate were subjected to changes including an increase at the moment of orgasm. Finally, after two weeks of hospitalisation, the patient was able to return home. Georgian Watch Brand Tsikolia may bring the production from Switzerland to Georgia - GeorgianJournal Flipkart Honor Days Sale: Avail offers on Honor 9 Lite, Honor 9N, Honor 10 Lite, Honor 7A and more Features oi-Harish Kumar Honor days sale are back, meaning users can purchase some Honor handsets and other equally important OEMs and some gadgets at great price discounts. The sale being initiated by Flipkart is currently active and will end by 21st March 2019. Below, you will an index of a few Honor devices. During the sale, Flipkart brings in some finest deals. The users can seek no cost EMI benefits, fantastic exchange and cashback offers, extra 5% off with Axis Bank Buzz credit card, whooping amount off as an extra sum, and more. The consumers get 1-year additional warranty covering manufacturing defects & software issues. You get free pickup-drop and repair with genuine parts. While purchasing Honor devices, you also get complete mobile protection- which covers broken screen, theft, liquid damage, hardware or software issue. The portal also offers free pickup and drop services, after you have enrolled for repair services. These handsets are also very well equipped with quality feature sets which will definitely prompt you to buy some of them. Honor 9 Lite Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 5.65-inch (2160 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 659 processor with MaliT830-MP2 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB storage 4GB RAM with 64GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano+nano/microSD) 13MP rear camera and secondary 2MP camera, PDAF 13MP front-facing camera, secondary 2MP camera Fingerprint sensor 4G VoLTE 3000mAh battery Honor 9N Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 5.84-inch (1080 x 2280 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 659 processor with MaliT830-MP2 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB storage 4GB RAM with 64GB / 128GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED flash, secondary 2MP camera 16MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor 4G VoLTE 3000mAh (typical) / 2900mAh (Minimum) battery 17% off on Honor 10 Lite Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 6.21-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU 4GB RAM with 64GB storage / 6GB RAM with 64GB / 128GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.0 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 13MP rear camera and secondary 2MP rear camera 24MP front-facing camera Dual 4G VoLTE 3400mAh (typical) / 3320mAh (minimum) battery 31% off on Honor 7A Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 5.7-inch (1440 x 720 pixels) 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 with 64-bit Mobile Platform with Adreno 505 GPU 2GB / 3GB RAM with 32GB storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 Dual SIM 13MP rear camera and secondary 2MP rear camera 8MP front-facing camera 4G VoLTE 3000mAh (typical) / 2900mAh (minimum) built-in battery 38% off on Honor 7s Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 5.45-inch (1440 x 720 pixels) 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display 1.5GHz Quad-Core MediaTek MT6739 64-bit processor with PowerVR Rogue GE8100 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.1 Dual SIM 13MP rear camera with LED flash, PDAF 5MP front-facing camera with LED flash 4G VoLTE 3020mAh built-in battery 33% off on Honor band 3 Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs 0.91 inch (128 x 32 pixels) POLED display Bluetooth 4.2 LE, Compatible with Android 4.4 (or later) or iOS 8.0 (or later) Pedometer, Sleep tracker, Exercise tracker, Sedentary reminder Continuous Heart rate sensor Call and Message notification, Incoming call mute function Water and dust resistant (50 meter / 5 ATM) 105mAh battery with up to 30 days of usage time 18% off on Honor Media Pad T3 Buy This offer on Flipkart Key Specs Single-piece anodized aluminium body Blue-light filter and low-light display modes to help your eyes MS Office Pre Installed 2 GB RAM | 16 GB ROM | Expandable Upto 128 GB 20.32 cm (8 inch) HD Display 5 MP Primary Camera | 2 MP Front Android 7.0 (Nougat) | Battery: 4800 mAh Li-ion Polymer Ideal Usage: Business, Reading and Browsing Voice Call (Single Sim, LTE) Processor: Qualcomm MSM8917 Quad Core Processor Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications HMD Global dishes out Android Pie update for Nokia 5.1 smartphone News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The Nokia 5.1 smartphone runs on an octa-core MediaTek Helio P18 chipset clubbed with 3GB of RAM and a 32GB internal storage. Another Nokia smartphone is receiving an Android Pie update. This time, HMD Global has released an Android Pie update for the Nokia 5.1 smartphone. Launched back in 2018, the smartphone ships with Android 8 Oreo out-of-the-box and is now getting an Android OS upgrade as promised. Recently, the Finnish smartphone brand had also released the Android Pie update to another Nokia smartphone called the Nokia 3.1. The update rollout information was shared by Juho Sarviaks, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global. Sarvikas had tweeted the information about the Android Pie update rollout for Nokia 5.1 smartphone. The update will be dished out as standard OTA (over-the-air) and should make its way to all the Nokia 5.1 smartphones in batches. Therefore, it might take some time for the update to be available to all the devices. Besides, the update can always be checked manually. To do so, head to the Settings menu and search System updates. If the update is available, you will be able to download it, else, you will have to wait for while for it to be available. The update will bring the usual Android Pie elements such as Adaptive Battery, Adaptive Brightness, gesture-based navigation, and Digital Wellbeing etc. To recall, the Nokia 5.1 smartphone runs on an octa-core MediaTek Helio P18 chipset. The chipset is clubbed with 3GB of RAM and a 32GB internal storage which is expandable via microSD card. It comes with a single 16MP primary rear camera for imaging. At the front, there is an 8MP sensor which is used for selfies and video calls. The device packs a 5.5-inch display at the front with Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels. To keep the device's lights on, there is a 2,970 mAh battery unit under the hood. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Redmi Y3 with MIUI 10 gets Wi-Fi certification News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Redmi Y3 is likely to be launched sometime in the second quarter. After parting ways with Xiaomi, Redmi has become a standalone brand and has launched a few new smartphones. Well, the brand has launched the Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi 7 and Redmi Go. Now, a report regarding the next-generation Redmi Y series device allegedly dubbed Redmi Y3 has surfaced online. As per a report by MySmartPrice, it looks like the Redmi Y3 has received the Wi-Fi Alliance certification with the model number M1810F6G. Except for the model number, the certification database doesn't divulge any key details of this upcoming Xiaomi smartphone. But it does confirm the support for Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Android 9 Pie topped with MIUI 10 out-of-the-box. Redmi Y2 launch imminent? Given that the Redmi Y2 is called Redmi S2 in China, we can expect the Redmi Y3 to be announced initially in the company's home market with the moniker Redmi S3. Going by the launch pattern followed by the company, it looks like the Redmi Y3 will be announced sometime in the second quarter of this year. The launch in India could happen soon after its global announcement. What to expect? Well, the Redmi Y2 was launched with a Snapdragon 625 chipset, which was used by the Redmi Note 5. This time, we can expect a Snapdrago 632 SoC or the efficient Snapdragon 660 AIE. The Snapdragon 660 AIE makes sense as the Snapdragon 632 isn't a major upgrade to the one used by the Redmi Y2. As it goes with the Redmi Y series devices, this one is also expected to be a selfie-centric smartphone in the budget price bracket. It is believed to arrive with an improved camera sensor with AI features such as portrait mode, beauty mode, etc. for users to click attractive and good-looking selfies. When it comes to the alleged pricing, we can expect it to be priced under Rs. 10,000. However, an official confirmation regarding the existence of the device is awaited. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Xiaomi join hands with Flex, announces 7th manufacturing plant News oi-Priyanka Dua The company joined hands with Navitasys India Private Limited, a TDK group subsidiary to manufacture Mi Power banks locally. Chinese smartphone maker Xioami has announced its seventh manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu in partnership with Flex Ltd. Muralikrishnan B, Chief Operating Officer, Xiaomi India, shared "We are delighted to announce our new smartphone manufacturing partnership with Flex Ltd. In line with our sincere commitment to Make in India, this new association will further drive our localization efforts; ensuring that we locally design and offer our innovative products with the best specs of the highest quality to our Mi Fans in India." The new manufacturing plant is spread over across four campuses in partnership with FOXCONN, Flex, and Hipad. Meanwhile, the company joined hands with Navitasys India Private Limited, a TDK group subsidiary to manufacture Mi Power banks locally. Xiaomi has also announced the launch of its Mi Pay a UPI-based application which is integrated within MIUI interface across SMS, Contacts, Scanner, App Vault, and Settings. ICICI Bank is the payment service provider for Mi-Pay. Consumers can effectively make payments using UPI and other debit cards, credit cards and internet banking across 120+ banks and over 120 billers. The service will also allow several utility payments ranging from phone bills, phone recharges, water or electricity bill payments, making it highly convenient for Xiaomi users. Mi pay UPI has been approved by NPCI under the multi-bank API model and it has been audited by CERT-IN empanelled auditors E&Y and Lucideus. Mi-Pay provides the safest and secure transactions with all data stored locally in India servers in an encrypted format. For the unaware, the company launched Redmi Go, the company's newest addition to its smartphone portfolio. With 1GB RAM and 8GB onboard storage, Redmi Go offers support for 4G VoLTE with dual SIM support and a dedicated microSD card that can work with up to 128GB cards. All of this is powered by a 3000mAh battery, delivering a battery life that Mi Fans have come to expect of Xiaomi. Highlights Xiaomi now has a combined manufacturing capacity of up to 3 smartphones per second during operating hours. Currently, 99% of Xiaomi's smartphones sold locally are made in India. Across these seven smartphone manufacturing plants, more than 20,000 operators are employed, out of which over 95% are women employees. Xiaomi is also bringing the component ecosystem to India. early 65% of the value of the smartphone is sourced locally, highlighting the company's greater localization commitments. In addition, even smartphone chargers, USB cables, and batteries are nearly 100% locally sourced. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications The Valley County Sheriffs Office and the Glasgow Police Department have pooled resources to upgrade their electronic management systems. The upgrade will help the agencies go mobile, which, according to Sheriff Tom Boyer, will put the deputy o... Shopko announced Monday, March 18, that they will be closing all remaining stores. The move comes after Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings failed to restructure the companys debt and save the retailers remaining locations across the north-cen... NAWCAD Lakehurst Adapts Weapons Loader for F-35B Navy News Service Story Number: NNS190319-18 Release Date: 3/19/2019 3:08:00 PM From NAVAIR Public Affairs Office JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. (NNS) -- Team work and co-location at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst resulted in modified Support Equipment (SE) that gives the F-35B Lightning II more capability. When the Marine Corps chose the Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-49 weapon system for the F-35B, they needed a piece of SE to load the weapon onto the aircraft. The GBU-49 provides new capability that will enable the F-35B to engage moving ground targets. However, the conduit on the GBU-49 did not fit the current weapons loader, until a team from NAWCAD Lakehurst modified the adapter, the ADU-894A/E, and delivered it to the Marines Corps on schedule in November. "The teams at Lakehurst and Patuxent River, Maryland, did a fantastic job in finding a solution to a fleet problem quickly," said Kathleen P. Donnelly, director of the Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) SE and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) engineering department. "Their hard work and ingenuity has led to an increase in capabilities and improved lethality of our forward deployed Marines." In February 2018, the NAWCAD Lakehurst Airborne Weapons Support Equipment (AWSE) branch was tasked by the NAVAIR Direct Attack Weapons program office to develop an adapter that could not only provide loading capability for the GBU-49, but for all MK-82 "smart" bombs to be loaded on the F-35B. The goal was to develop, test, build and deliver the adapters within nine months. The AWSE branch is responsible for all equipment that transports weapons through the carrier or land-based environment, presents them to the aircraft and loads them on to the aircraft, said David Page, AWSE branch head. "For those airplanes that their missions are to fly ordnance, it's our equipment that allows those 18-year-olds out there on pitching carrier decks to safely handle thousands of pounds of weapons, bring them up to an aircraft and load them up in a short time, both day and night. It's where the rubber meets the road," Page said. The AWSE engineering team set out to modify a current adapter to connect the GBU-49 with the Single Hoist Ordnance Loading System, the primary munition loading system of aircraft weapons stations afloat. The team designed a modified adapter in their lab, and worked with NAWCAD Lakehurst's Prototyping and Manufacturing Division (PMD) to build a prototype. The co-location of the engineering team and PMD helped speed up the timeline by making sure they got their design right the first time, said Matthew Southard, principle engineer for the project. "There was a huge benefit in being able to walk over to the shops and not only say 'this is what we need to do,' but also ask the artisans for advice and see how we might be able to shrink our schedules based on certain design features," Southard said. The AWSE team simultaneously worked with their logistics counterparts at NAWCAD Lakehurst to create the required Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) Data and Technical Data documents. Logisticians leveraged legacy adapter information to support accelerated fielding of the equipment, Southard said. "All our manuals and the standard operating procedures for loading had to be in place, because you could have a perfect system but if it doesn't say it's authorized to be used for that specific weapon or platform, then it can't be used," Southard said. "Being able to put all those components in place simultaneously; the logistics documents, prototype testing and starting production in the shop, enabled us to meet the nine-month concept to deployment timeline." In May 2018, the adapter prototype was tested by the NAWCAD SE Test and Evaluation branch located at Patuxent River. Once testing was successfully completed, PMD manufactured the adapters and delivered them to the program office so they could ultimately be validated through verification testing. The adapters were delivered to the Marines in November 2018, meeting the requested nine-month turnaround time. "The support equipment team located at Lakehurst played a critical role in the rapid fielding of the GBU-49 weapon system to support an urgent fleet capability gap for our forward deployed Marines," said John L Hyatt Jr., assistant program manager, logistics for the weapons program office. "The timeline for this fielding was to be drastically accelerated as compared to a normal acquisition program." "Without the efforts of the team, the program office would not have been able to deliver this much needed critical capability to the warfighter," Hyatt said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Relatives, Survivors Await Court Ruling On Karadzic Appeal By RFE/RL March 20, 2019 Relatives who lost family members in the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica will be closely watching United Nations judges' ruling of an appeal by convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic. Judges in The Hague on March 20 are expected to rule at the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) whether to uphold or overturn Karadzic's 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. They will also decide whether to uphold the 40-year sentence he was handed down by the previous court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which closed in late 2017. Karadzic was in 2016 sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of genocide for the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. The 73-year-old Karadzic, a former poet and psychiatrist, was also found guilty of orchestrating the nearly four-year siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, in which some 10,000 people died from shelling and sniper fire. Judges are also set to rule on a request by prosecutors to reverse an acquittal on a second genocide charge and sentence the former wartime leader to life in prison for that offense. "We expect that he'll get [the punishment] he deserves," said Sehida Abdurahmanovic, who lost 30 relatives in the Srebrenica massacre. "We expect [the appeals court] to confirm the first-instance verdict and that he will not be allowed at any price to avoid the responsibility for genocide," she added. Azir Osmanovic, 36, who curates the Srebrenica memorial, survived the massacre as a child, but his older brother's remains have never been found. He said he fears that Karadzic's sentence could be lowered. "We believe that for the crimes he had organized here in Bosnia-Herzegovina he does not deserve 40, but rather 400 years in prison," he said. Karadzic does have his supporters. "I believe that, at worst, the [appeals] verdict will be much, much more favorable than the first-instance verdict," said Momcilo Krajisnik, Karadzic's political aide during the war who also received a long prison sentence related to the conflict. "If we are lucky, he will be a free man," he added. Krajisnik was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity and for persecuting and expelling non-Serbs. He served two-thirds of his sentence and was released in 2014. The Karadzic rulings will be among the last ones related to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which left over 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic is also appealing his genocide and war crimes conviction, which left him with a life sentence. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/survivors-await-hague-court-karadzic -bosnia-herzegovina-serbia/29831363.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Official: Iran Destabilizing Region, Heightening Risks Of Arms Race By RFE/RL March 20, 2019 Iran's missile program is destabilizing the Middle East and raising the risk of a "regional arms race," a senior U.S. arms control official has said. "Iran's missile program is a key contributor to increased tensions and destabilization in the region, increasing the risk of a regional arms race," Yleem Poblete, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on March 20. She added that "Iran must immediately cease activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, and halt the proliferation of missiles and missile technology to terror groups and other non-state actors." Poblete specifically cited Iran's support for Huthi rebels in Yeman and the Hizballah militant group in Lebanon. The United States has urged the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran over its recent ballistic-missile test and launches of two satellites, saying they violate the world body's resolutions. Acting U.S. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen on March 7 condemned "Iran's destabilizing activities" in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and called on Tehran "to cease immediately all activities related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." The statement cited a 2015 UN resolution that "called upon" Iran to refrain for up to eight years from tests of ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons. The United States has reimposed sanctions against Iran after withdrawing from a landmark 2015 agreement under which Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. President Donald Trump said that Tehran was not living up to the "spirit" of the accord because of its support of militants in the region and for continuing to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Tehran has denied it supports terrorist activity and says its missile and nuclear programs are strictly for civilian purposes. Poblete said Iran has provided ballistic missiles to the Huthis, who on several occasions fired them into Saudi Arabia. "We are committed to aggressively countering Iran's regional proliferation of ballistic missiles and its unlawful arms transfers," she added. Iran has denied it supplied the missiles to the rebels despite evidence presented by Washington and Riyadh indicating it had. With reporting by AP and Arab News Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-says-iran-destabilizing-middle- east-risking-arms-race/29831341.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Extends Waiver To Allow Iraq To Buy Iranian Energy Supplies By RFE/RL March 20, 2019 The United States is extending a waiver to allow Iraq to continue to buy electricity from Iran, despite sanctions imposed by Washington targeting Tehran's energy sector. The original waiver, issued in December 2017, expired on March 19. The State Department issued the second three-month exemption to help prevent a destabilization of Iraq, which has relied on Iranian gas and electricity supplies to help it deal with shortages that have led to antigovernment protests in some areas. Iraq, which receives financial and military support from Washington, has attempted to balance its relations with the United States and Iran, which carries significant influence with members of Iraq's Shi'ite population. "While this waiver is intended to help Iraq mitigate energy shortages, we continue to discuss our Iran-related sanctions with our partners in Iraq," a State Department official said. The State Department also said Washington is continuing to work with Iraq to end its dependence on Iranian gas and electricity and to achieve energy independence. By diversifying its energy supplies, Baghdad can "encourage a united, democratic, and prosperous Iraq free from malign Iranian influence." The United States has reimposed sanctions against Iran after withdrawing from a landmark 2015 agreement under which Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iraq was granted limited waivers to continue buying Iranian electricity and the natural gas needed to generate it, although the United States has called on Baghdad to form partnerships with American companies to become energy independent. Iranian President Hassan Rohani last week conducted a three-day visit to Iraq, seeking to bolster Tehran's influence in the neighboring country and expand commercial ties as Baghdad. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who arrived in the Iraqi capital ahead of Rohani's visit, thanked Baghdad for having "refused the unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the Iranian people" in reference to the U.S. sanctions. With reporting by AFP and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-extends-waiver-iraq- iran-energy-purchases/29831340.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Explainer: Kazakh President Nazarbaev Resigns, But Is He Really Leaving? By Pete Baumgartner March 19, 2019 Having ruled Kazakhstan with an authoritarian grip since the 1980s, President Nursultan Nazarbaev shocked many when he unexpectedly announced his resignation on March 19. "This year marks the 30th anniversary of my term as the supreme leader of our country," Nazarbaev said during a hastily arranged nationwide address. "[But] I have made the difficult decision to resign as president of the Republic of Kazakhstan." Nazarbaev is credited by many with turning Kazakhstan -- the world's ninth largest country -- into an energy powerhouse during his long reign, but strongly criticized for trampling upon democratic norms and freedoms while brutally suppressing all opposition to his rule. "My generation and I have done everything we could for the country," he said in the TV address. "The results are well known to you." Though leaving the presidential post, Nazarbaev will retain many other influential positions in the Kazakh government, leaving many to wonder if he's really giving up power. Still Holding The Reins? Nazarbaev, 78, will continue to head Kazakhstan's powerful Security Council, the ruling Nur Otan political party that he founded, and the country's Constitutional Council. The last Soviet-era president to leave office, Nazarbaev noted during his announcement that he was also granted the lifetime status of "Elbasy," or "leader of the nation," by parliament in 2010. "So, I am staying with you," Nazarbaev said. "The concerns of the country and the people remain my concerns." "He isn't leaving the scene but when a new president is installed, he will lose some of his power," Paul Goble, a longtime analyst of Russian and post-Soviet affairs, told RFE/RL. "I think we are in the midst of a transition that will likely take a year or more but that won't have the discontinuities which might have occurred had he left by dying." Erica Marat, an associate professor at Washington's National Defense University, thinks Nazarbaev's presence will be felt in Kazakhstan for some time. "He will remain a central political figure until the end of his days," she told RFE/RL. "His cult is likely to live for decades as well, with future leaders building their legitimacy on the notion they continue building on the legacy of Nazarbaev." Nazarbaev announced that veteran politician and diplomat Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, currently the speaker of the Kazakh Senate, would take over presidential duties as of March 20 and serve until the scheduled presidential election in 2020. As head of Nur Otan, Nazarbaev would likely select that party's candidate for next year's presidential election. And his position as head of the Security Council, which he noted in his resignation address has "serious authority," would allow him to control the country's foreign policy. Timing Is Everything Nazarbaev's resignation comes just two days before Norouz, the springtime new year's holiday that is celebrated in many predominantly Muslim countries. The timing could be seen by many as symbolic of a new beginning and give people in Kazakhstan time over the holiday to discuss and digest the big political change taking place in their country. While certainly a surprise announcement for many Kazakhs, others saw it coming. "It was both long anticipated and an abrupt change at the same time," Marat said. "Nazarbaev has been considering various options for power transition and has chosen one that will allow him to oversee the succession process and normalize the idea that Kazakhstan can also be ruled by a leader other than himself." The longtime leader had shown his hand about resigning, Goble said. "Nazarbaev signaled that he wanted to resign by asking Kazakhstan's highest court to clarify the conditions under which a president could leave office," he said. "He clearly wants to leave but to manage the transition to a new generation rather than serving until his death with unpredictable consequences thereafter." Nazarbaev said during his resignation that he wanted to "ensure the coming to power of a new generation of leaders who will continue the reforms under way in the country." He added: "Let them try to make the country better." Nazarbaev's resignation comes less than a month after he sacked the government of Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintaev for a lack of economic development. The move also comes just weeks after the early February house-fire deaths of five children in a tragedy that shocked the country and led to criticism of the government and women-led protests. Diverse Reactions The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with Nazarbaev earlier on March 19 to discuss the resignation. The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said Nazarbaev's resignation was "serious" and "unexpected" but said if it was his decision it "was necessary." She credited Nazarbaev with being behind the initiative to create the Eurasian Economic Union and said he had "bolstered cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan." William Courtney, a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, credited Nazarbaev with carrying out economic reforms and bringing in Western companies to exploit the country's energy resources. But he added that the transition of power would be a good opportunity to promote "political discourse" and to release "imprisoned journalists and [allow] peaceful demonstrations and independent political parties [to exist]." Marat said Nazarbaev's resignation could spark the largely dormant political opposition in Kazakhstan into action. "But the opposition has been weakened by Nazarbaev and no political debate has been allowed [under his rule], sono strong reserves of opposition forces exist in Kazakhstan or outside the country that could gain significant popularity in the population," she said. Goble said the lack of an opposition could lead to outside countries gaining influence. "The opposition in Kazakhstan is relatively weak. This [resignation] will certainly cause it to take notice of some new possibilities," he said. "More disturbingly, it may lead some in other countries -- read Russia but also China -- to try to get involved so as to dominate the next generation [in Kazakhstan]." Possible Successors While Nazarbaev is not leaving the scene altogether and will still hold many levers of power in Kazakhstan, the country will have a new president. But just who might that be? Interim President Toqaev, if he remains in the post until next year, will certainly have a decent chance of getting Nazarbaev's nod to run in the presidential election as the Nur Otan candidate, making him a virtual certainty to win the election. Toqaev, 65, is a Moscow-educated former prime minister and foreign minister who also served as a UN diplomat in Geneva. In announcing Toqaev as interim president, Nazarbaev said the ex-premier "can be trusted to lead Kazakhstan." Others suggest new Prime Minister Askar Mamin, 53, the former mayor of Astana who also served as transport and communications minister, could be tapped as Nazarbaev's successor. Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha, has in the past also been mentioned as a possible replacement for her father. The 55-year-old is currently a senator and formerly headed her own political party, while also serving as deputy prime minister. Another possible future leader of the country is Karim Masimov, 53, who was prime minister twice and also served as Nazarbaev's chief of staff. "I don't think we will see another Nazarbaev or Nazarbaeva in the presidency," said Goble. "[Nazarbaev] doesn't want that from what I can see. What we will see will be someone in the first instance who comes out of his entourage and whom he has groomed." Whoever ultimately succeeds Nazarbaev as president next year will certainly at least need the approval of the former steel worker and long-time Communist Party member who has ruled Kazakhstan with a steady but iron hand since 1989. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-explainer -nazarbaev-resigns/29830781.html Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address English French OTTAWA, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Budget 2019 makes a significant investment in fixing the problems of the current Phoenix pay system, but falls short in announcing new funding for the governments replacement, says the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). Despite a commitment in the Budget to replace Phoenix, the absence of any major funding to ensure it happens without delay is a serious disappointment to our members, says PIPSC President Debi Daviau. Funds to help employees with their pay problems are welcome but provide only a short-term plan to deal with what remains a three-year-old crisis. Our members need to know there is light at the end of this nightmarish tunnel. The government is still paying for the mistakes of the past rather than investing in a fix for the future. In its final budget before the next election, the federal government has also left undone much of the job of restoring the public service to levels that would ensure tax fairness and adequate investment in public science. While the Budget invests an additional $77 million a year in the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) to, among other things, combat tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, the Agencys budget remains almost $500 million less than in 2012. The Budgets investment at the CRA will not go far to address much-needed training and technological improvements to catch offshore tax cheats and enforce tax fairness, says Daviau. The government deserves praise for replenishing the ranks of federal scientists, engineers and researchers over the past three years1,500 of which positions had been lost due to cuts under the former government. But actual spending in particular, on government R&D is lower today than it was under the Harper government. Canada needs more, not less, federal government science and we are very disappointed that this budget makes little investment in government research and development, said Daviau. With collective bargaining underway and many public servants still stung by Phoenix and the impacts of Harper-era budget cuts, the government needs to do better to ensure the public service is restored and that our members demands for better pay protections, improved family leave and stronger safeguards against workplace harassment are among its own priorities. The current budget leaves a lot to be desired. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents approximately 60,000 public service professionals across Canada, most of them employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter (@pipsc_ipfpc). English French A contract worth over 150 million Alstom will supply 41 Coradia Lint regional trains to Bavaria, Germany 20 March 2019 - Alstom has signed a contract to supply 41 Coradia Lint regional trains to Transdev for operation in German region of Bavaria. The trains will be operated by Transdev subsidiary Bayerische Regiobahn GmbH (BRB) on the lines from Augsburg to Weilheim, Schongau, Ingolstadt, Eichstatt and Langenneufnach. The contract is worth over 150 million. The trains will be built at Alstom's site in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, with delivery planned by September 2022. Thanks to this new contract, Alstom will be able to celebrate the production and delivery of the 1,000th Coradia Lint regional train - unquestionably the most successful diesel multiple unit (DMU) in Europe. "This order by Transdev is another great milestone in the history of our proven and popular Coradia Lint. It is symbolic that the 1,000th Coradia Lint will be operated by the very same transport company that operated the first Coradia Lint back in November 2000. This fortunate coincidence illustrates the train's past and current performance and how the product meets the expectations of our customers and their passengers," says Jorg Nikutta, Managing Director for Alstom in Germany and Austria. The modern and environmentally friendly vehicles are powered by two 390 kW engines and reach a maximum operating speed of 140 km/h. The two-car trains can seat a total of 125 passengers and include a spacious area for the easy storage of bicycles. The trains boast an even higher level of comfort compared than the currently used trains and, by addressing the needs of people with limited mobility, the ability to offer all passengers travel with a minimum of constraints. Alstom's Coradia Lint trains have been operating in more than 30 networks in Germany, Europe and Canada since the year 2000. Thanks to continuous improvements, they offer the highest standard of safety, noise reduction and low emissions and can boast very high availability. The trains belong to Alstom's Coradia range of modular trains, which benefits from over 30 years of expertise and proven technical solutions and includes the world's first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint. More than 2,800 Coradia trains have been sold so far and around 2,300 are currently in service. About Alstom As a promoter of sustainable mobility, Alstom develops and markets systems, equipment and services for the transport sector. Alstom offers a complete range of solutions (from high-speed trains to metros, tramways and e-buses), passenger solutions, customised services (maintenance, modernisation), infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. Alstom is a world leader in integrated transport systems. The company recorded sales of 7.3 billion and booked 7.2 billion of orders in the 2017/18 fiscal year. Headquartered in France, Alstom is present in over 60 countries and employs 34,500 people. www.alstom.com Press contacts Samuel Miller - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 67 74 samuel.miller@alstomgroup.com Justine Rohee - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 18 81 justine.rohee@alstomgroup.com Tanja Kampa (Germany) Tel.: +49 5341 9007690 tanja.kampa@alstomgroup.com Investor relations Julie Morel - Tel. + 33 6 67 61 88 58 julie.morel@alstomgroup.com Julien Minot - Tel. + 33 1 57 06 64 84 julien.minot@alstomgroup.com LONDON, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMImobile today announced the availability of its enterprise cloud communications platform IMIconnect on Salesforce AppExchange. This can enable businesses utilising the Salesforce Platform to rapidly launch and orchestrate two-way, trigger-based customer communications, across 10+ communication channels including SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, In App and Push, amongst others. The IMIconnect for Salesforce App will augment the existing customer interaction capabilities of Salesforce Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Field Service Lightning to enable proactive customer engagement and reduce the cost of serving customers across touchpoints. Enterprises will be able to automate communications, such as order and delivery notifications for retailers, engineer appointment bookings for utility providers and customer welcome journeys for mobile operators, among many others, with ease of integration into Salesforce. IMIconnect for Salesforce app is now available on AppExchange at https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000FYEGIUA5 IMIconnect provides omnichannel customer communications at scale Over 80% of businesses now compete predominantly on the basis of customer experience. Two-way digital communication channels are becoming business critical for enterprises in all sectors to proactively communicate with their customers. [1] The IMIconnect customer communications platform, now integrated with AppExchange, enables Salesforce customers to orchestrate proactive, trigger-based communications across different points in the customer journey. Jay Patel, Chief Executive of IMImobile, commented, Consumers today expect the same connected experience with businesses as they have with their friends and family, through two-way digital channels using their Smartphone or tablet. The ability of businesses to provide the choice of channels to their customers with high levels of automation and integration becomes critical to deliver a differentiated customer experience and reduce operating costs. IMIconnects integration with AppExchange will allow Salesforce customers to offer a connected customer experience across communication channels. We are happy to welcome IMIconnect onto Salesforce AppExchange as they provide customers with an exciting new way to automate two-way customer interactions, said Mike Wolff, SVP, ISV Sales, Salesforce. The exponential growth of AppExchange underscores the enormous opportunity the entire Salesforce ecosystem has in creating cutting-edge solutions and driving customer success. Jay Patel continued, Salesforce is a world leader and innovator in customer engagement, who recognise that the key to successful customer communications is for businesses to adopt an omni-channel strategy. Were excited to be integrating our IMIconnect enterprise communications platform with the worlds leading customer relationship management platform. About Salesforce AppExchange Salesforce AppExchange, the worlds leading enterprise cloud marketplace, empowers companies to sell, service, market and engage in entirely new ways. With more than 5,000 solutions, 6 million customer installs and 80,000 peer reviews, it is the most comprehensive source of cloud, mobile, social, IoT, analytics and artificial intelligence technologies for businesses. Additional Resources Like Salesforce on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/salesforce Follow Salesforce on Twitter: https://twitter.com/salesforce Follow IMImobile on Twitter: https://twitter.com/imimobile Salesforce, AppExchange, Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Field Service Lightning and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. About IMImobile PLC IMImobile is a communications software provider whose solutions enable enterprises to automate digital customer communications and interactions to improve customer experience and reduce operating costs. IMImobiles enterprise cloud communications software platform manages over 42 billion messages a year across the world. Organisations that trust us to deliver smarter digital customer engagement include Hermes, Centrica, AA, O2, EE, BT, Foxtons, Pizza Hut, Vodafone, MTN, three of the major retail banks in the UK and public-sector organisations globally. IMImobile is headquartered in London with offices in Hyderabad, Toronto, Little Rock, Dubai and Johannesburg and has over 1,100 employees worldwide. IMImobile is quoted on the London Stock Exchanges AIM market with the TIDM code IMO. [1] https://blogs.gartner.com/jake-sorofman/gartner-surveys-confirm-customer-experience-new-battlefield/ JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:FCN) today announced the continued growth of its South African practice with the addition of a team of eight experts from Econex, a leading trade, competition and applied economics consultancy firm. The team will be led in Cape Town by Professor Nicola Theron, a Senior Managing Director who previously served as Econexs Managing Director. In addition, Dr Liberty Mncube, former Chief Economist at the Competition Commission and Professor of Economics at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Witwatersrand, will join as a Managing Director to lead the team in Johannesburg. The addition of these experts significantly strengthens the range of economic consulting services FTI Consulting offers clients across the region, including economic studies, competition analysis, regulatory reviews, public policy, valuations, damages assessment and expert witness appointments. They will also work closely alongside the firms experts in strategic communications, corporate finance, forensic technology and financial investigations to offer clients an unparalleled combination of advice and expertise. The team at Econex are highly regarded and experienced economists in South Africa, and I am delighted that they have agreed to join us, said Mark Bezant , a Senior Managing Director and Head of EMEA Economic & Financial Consulting at FTI Consulting. Petrus Marais , a Senior Managing Director and Head of FTI Consulting South Africa, added: The arrival of Professor Theron and her team represents a clear statement of our aspirations in this rapidly developing market and, combined with the diverse range of expertise we are now able to offer, will enable us to continue our strong growth across the region. Commenting on her appointment, Professor Theron said, I am delighted that we are joining with FTI Consulting and very excited by what the future holds. The business, legal and regulatory landscape in South Africa is evolving at pace, and companies require ever more sophisticated support and advice. Our combined services, allied with FTI Consultings large international network of offices and experts, will therefore enable us to provide the best possible service to our clients. About FTI Consulting FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organisations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political & regulatory, reputational and transactional. With more than 4,700 employees located in 28 countries, FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges and make the most of opportunities. The Company generated $2.03 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2018. For more information, visit www.fticonsulting.com and connect with us on Twitter (@FTIConsulting) , Facebook and LinkedIn . FTI Consulting, Inc. 200 Aldersgate Aldersgate Street London EC1A 4HD Investor Contact: Mollie Hawkes +1.617.747.1791 mollie.hawkes@fticonsulting.com Media Contact: Michael Rosen +44 203727 1751 michael.rosen@fticonsulting.com Wakefield, MA, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today Apache CloudStack CloudMonkey v6.0, the latest version of the turnkey enterprise Cloud orchestration platform's command line interface tool. Apache CloudStack is the proven, highly scalable, and easy-to-deploy IaaS platform used for rapidly creating private, public, and hybrid Cloud environments. Thousands of large-scale public Cloud providers and enterprise organizations use Apache CloudStack to enable billions of dollars worth of business transactions annually across their clouds. Apache CloudMonkey v6.0.0 is the latest major release since the previous major 5.x release in September 2013. CloudMonkey v6.0.0 is a rewrite of the original tool in Go programming language, and can be used both as an interactive shell and as a command line tool that simplifies CloudStack configuration and management. Some of the new features and major changes include: Rewrite in Go, ships as single binary for Linux, Mac, and Windows Drop-in replacement for legacy Python-based cloudmonkey About 5-20x faster than legacy Python-based cloudmonkey Interactive UX for parameter and arg completion and selection JSON is the default output format New column based output Enable debug mode using set debug true option, file-based logging removed Per server profile based API cache New syntax arg=@/path/to/file to pass the content of file as API argument value similar to curl Improve help docs using -h argument Removed: XML output, coloured output, several set options "This release is the work of over one year of effort and driven by the people operating CloudStack clouds," said Rohit Yadav, Apache CloudStack CloudMonkey v6.0 author, and release manager. "I would like to thank the contributors across all of these organizations for supporting this release, which reflects both the user-driven nature of our community and the Apache CloudStack project's commitment to continue to be the most stable, easily deployable, scalable Open Source platform for IaaS. Along with ease of installation, usage and availability of cross-platform dependency-free builds including Windows builds, v6.0 brings many changes and optimizations such as more interactive shell for parameter completion, faster API requests processing, server profile specific API caching, improved API help docs and a new syntax to pass content of files as API parameter argument." More on the background and story behind the CloudMonkey 6.0 effort can be found at https://blogs.apache.org/cloudstack/entry/what-s-coming-in-cloudmonkey "Apache CloudStack is a significant part of our Cloud portfolio right now we run large deployments all over the world, often supporting critical customer applications," said Robert van der Meulen, Product Strategy Lead at Leaseweb Global B.V. "CloudMonkey is an invaluable tool for interacting with CloudStack-based clouds, and it's the go-to tool that we recommend to our customers when they want to use command-line interaction with our CloudStack platforms." "CloudMonkey is an effective tool for the operators of CloudStack environments and it becomes essential in large-scale CloudStack deployments," said Giles Sirett, CEO of ShapeBlue. "It's great to see this new version of CloudMonkey: having a CLI that can run on Windows desktops as well as Linux and Mac is important as we see more enterprise adoption of Apache CloudStack." "CloudMonkey is now written in Golang, and with version v6.0 loading, speed has been drastically improved (accessing the CLI in under 0.5s)," said Pierre-Luc Dion, Cloud Architect at Cloud.ca. "This simplifies installation, deployments, updates, and operational efficiency." "After many years of managing production Apache CloudStack deployments, I consider CloudMonkey a core tool in anyone's CloudStack toolkit, and now also being available for Windows makes me really happy," said Andrija Panic, Apache CloudStack Committer. "I can certainly see major speed improvements, but also having backward compatibility is what is so great with this new release." Catch Apache CloudStack in action at ApacheCon 9-12 September 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and at numerous Meetups worldwide, held throughout the year. Downloads and Documentation The official source code for CloudMonkey v6.0.0 can be downloaded from http://cloudstack.apache.org/downloads.html. The community-maintained builds are available at the project's Github release page at https://github.com/apache/cloudstack-cloudmonkey/releases . CloudMonkey's usage is documented at https://github.com/apache/cloudstack-cloudmonkey/wiki Availability and Oversight Apache CloudStack software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, documentation, and ways to become involved with Apache CloudStack, visit http://cloudstack.apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/CloudStack About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than 350 leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 730 individual Members and 7,000 Committers across six continents successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Aetna, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Anonymous, ARM, Baidu, Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Capital One, Cerner, Cloudera, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Handshake, Hortonworks, Huawei, IBM, Indeed, Inspur, Leaseweb, Microsoft, ODPi, Pineapple Fund, Pivotal, Private Internet Access, Red Hat, Target, Tencent, Union Investment, Workday, and Verizon Media. For more information, visit http://apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/TheASF The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "CloudStack", "Apache CloudStack", and "ApacheCon" are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. # # # VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CROP INFRASTRUCTURE CORP. (CSE: CROP) (OTC: CRXPF) (Frankfurt: 2FR) announced today the following updates on its Esmeralda County THC and Nye County CBD projects. Esmeralda Cannabis THC Trenching is underway with the first shipments of building blocks delivered on site for the construction of the 40-acre perimeter wall for the 2019 outdoor cannabis growing season. Nye County Hemp CBD The ground development for the 50,000 square feet of propagation greenhouses is underway and is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. The Micropropagation Team, on site, has begun tissue culturing for task of completing 4,500,000 hemp starters. The company has placed a deposit on 2,000,000 hemp farm bill compliant feminized seeds with delivery expected next month. Nutrients and highly composted fertile soils have been layered over the projects entire 1,350 acres of planned 2019 cultivation. The company also received additional licensing permissions to operate a hemp nursery. Nevada Extraction The company has been working with a PhD in Chemistry / Post-Doctorate in molecular pharmacology and biophysics and several engineers to scale CROPs own solvent-free commercial scale extraction to handle the large amount of hemp biomass and cannabis forecast for the 2019 season. CROP has finalized designs and tender for a ~10 ton per 8-hour shift extraction equipment for its Nevada and Country wide labs. CROP CEO, Michael Yorke, stated: These updates represent major progress towards achieving our goal of what will be a very substantial Nevada operation, producing very large quantities of high value product. About CROP Crop is publicly listed company trading under symbol CROP.CSE. The company is focused on cannabis branding and real estate assets. CROPs portfolio of projects includes cultivation properties in California, two in Washington State, a 1,000-acre Nevada cannabis farm, 2,115 acres of Hemp CBD farms, and a growing portfolio of common share equity in upcoming listings within the cannabis space. CROP has developed a portfolio of assets including Canna Drink, a cannabis infused functional beverage line and 16 Cannabis brands. Company Contact Michael Yorke CEO and Director E-mail: info@cropcorp.com Website: www.cropcorp.com Phone: (604) 484-4206 Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as may, should, could, intend, estimate, plan, anticipate, expect, believe or continue, or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the expected returns from the Nevada Project; the technological effects of Nevada Project; the intention to expand its portfolio; and execute on its business plan. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding the regulatory and legal framework regarding the cannabis industry in general among all levels of government and zoning; risks associated with applicable securities laws and stock exchange rules relating to the cannabis industry; risks associated with maintaining its interests in its various assets; the ability of the Company to finance operations and execute its business plan and other factors beyond the control of the Company. Such forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in light of such factors, and the Company is not under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. RENO, Nev., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) today announced the signing of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between a subsidiary of the Company and Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA). Under the PPA, SCPPA will purchase 16MW of power generated by the expected 30MW Casa Diablo-IV (CD4) geothermal project located in Mammoth Lakes, California. SCPPA will resell the output to the City of Colton. The CD4 power plant will be the first geothermal power plant built within the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) balancing authority in the last 30 years. The 16MW of energy deliveries under the PPA will begin no later than the end of 2021 with an extension option. The PPA is for a term of 25 years and has a fixed price of $68 per MWh. Ormat intends to sell the balance of 14MW to other offtakers or at the spot market. Isaac Angel, CEO of Ormat Technologies said, This strategic PPA supports Ormats long-term plans to grow our geothermal business domestically. CD4 Project is a new state-of-the-art air-cooled binary geothermal facility that is renewable and will have no CO2 emissions, will provide resource adequacy and ancillary benefits. CD4 will allow the City of Colton to meet its clean energy standards while also ensuring grid reliability. We are delighted to be chosen again by SCPPA and greatly appreciate their confidence in Ormat. The Colton Electric Department looks forward to taking delivery of energy from a geothermal facility as the cornerstone of our renewable resources, said, Colton Mayor, Frank Navarro. CD4 will be a long-term, renewable resource with no greenhouse gas emissions and will provide resource adequacy capacity and energy at an affordable price to Coltons ratepayers. CD4 will provide almost 25 percent of Coltons annual energy supplies. This power purchase agreement with Ormat for CD4 demonstrates Coltons commitment to a green economy with affordable energy prices for our citizens while committing to zero emission sustainable resources. ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES With over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG), with the objective of becoming a leading global provider of renewable energy. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. With 77 U.S. patents, Ormats power solutions have been refined and perfected under the most grueling environmental conditions. Ormat has 584 employees in the United States and 762 overseas. Ormats flexible, modular solutions for geothermal power and REG are ideal for vast range of resource characteristics. The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed to utilities and developers worldwide, totaling over 2,900 MW of gross capacity. Ormats current 910 MW generating portfolio is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe. Ormat expanded its operations to provide energy storage and energy management solutions, by leveraging its core capabilities and global presence as well as through its Viridity Energy Solutions Inc. subsidiary, a Philadelphia-based company with nearly a decade of expertise and leadership in energy storage, demand response and energy management. ORMATS SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT Information provided in this press release may contain statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to Ormat's plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon its management's current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" as described in Ormats Form 10-K/A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) March 1, 2019 and from time to time, in Ormats quarterly reports on Form 10-Q that are filed with the SEC. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Ormat Technologies Contact: Smadar Lavi VP Corporate Finance and Head of Investor Relations 775-356-9029 (ext. 65726) slavi@ormat.com Investor Relations Agency Contact: Rob Fink Hayden - IR 646-415-8972 rob@haydenir.com Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 6:44PM It doesnt come as a surprise that there are going to be robots present at the 2020 summer Olympics happening in Japan. The Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee recently launched a Tokyo 2020 Robot Project, which will have these automatons assisting both the spectators and the crew behind the scenes. There will be robots like the one from Toyota (pictured above) that can help wheelchair-bound guests to their seats, deliver their food, and even provide information. Panasonic, on the other hand, will be providing Power Assist Suit exoskeletons for the works to help the carry everything from food, trash, to heavy cargo with ease. According to the organizers, there will be more robots coming and these will be announced at a later date. Japan is eager to show off its capabilities in the segment, with the aim to demonstrate the practical, real-life deployment of the technology. Source: Engadget Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Oceania LED and Smart Street Lighting: Market Forecast (2018 - 2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Australia and New Zealand will see significant investments in smart street lighting deployments and could become the most developed markets in the world by the end of the forecast period. Until recently, these two countries lagged behind the global leaders such as the UK and US and even today there are comparatively few LED and smart street lighting deployments, particularly in Australia. But the market has changed significantly in the past three years since the region's smart street light roadmap was first developed. Australia and New Zealand are now on pace to reach nearly full LED penetration and over 70% smart penetration by the end of the forecast period. Most notably, both Australia and New Zealand have significant regulatory drivers. In New Zealand, the government is funding 85% of smart and LED street light conversions through 2021, while Australia has set a nominal goal of achieving full smart street light penetration by 2027. To achieve this target, Australian states have been funding conversions and altering lighting codes to incentivize utilities (which own almost all the street lights in Australia) to convert to smart street lights. Meanwhile, many of the barriers that had previously held up the market are now being addressed. Prices for both LED luminaires and controls are declining (both on the global level and in Oceania, where previously small volumes had driven up per-endpoint costs). Australia and New Zealand are also now adopting international standards, which will facilitate a competitive vendor landscape and smoother conversions. Finally, as deployments have increased, so has local know-how, and models are now in place for large-scale conversions. There are still important obstacles to overcome-most notably, there are conflicts of interest for utilities that own the street lights but also generate revenue from energy sales and street light maintenance contracts. As much as there is clear momentum, most projects are still at the pilot level in Australia and regulations are still being adjusted. But with an improving framework in place, a rapidly developing market in New Zealand, and declining prices for luminaires and controls, the region as a whole looks poised to develop one of the most complete smart street light markets in the world by 2027. Key questions answered in this study How are LED and smart street light deployments advancing at the largest cities and utilities in both Australia and New Zealand? What are the market shares of both the leading street light communications and controls vendors? What cities have upcoming RFPs or have just begun street light and smart city projects? What new regulations are driving the markets in Australia and New Zealand? What is the ten-year forecast for LED and smart street lighting across all segments? Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary 1. What's new in 2018? 2. Oceania street lighting overview 3. Market forecast 4. Vendors 5. Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/shs3w5/oceania_led_and?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stefanini, a $1B global IT provider, announced today that Heidi Hagle, vice president of human resources and facilities at Stefanini, is nominated as one of the Notable Women in HR by Crain Content Studio, which highlights the most brilliant women leaders in HR who are changing the face of the industry day by day. The nominees were selected based on their career accomplishments, involvement in nonprofits and community organizations, and evidence of being a mentor to those in their field. With over 20 years at Stefanini, Hagle leads 34 people distributed in the U.S., Philippines, India, and China. The number of programs that HR implemented led by Hagle in the last few years have been outstanding and exemplifies the focus that both she and the company have on talent. Her number one focus is how decisions will impact the people, and to always strive to meet goals as a company. During the last two years, Hagle led the implementation of many initiatives that have improved the companys internal communication. By partnering with marketing, she reinforced the importance of open communication starting with leaders, and supported the creation of new internal communication channels, including the digital newsletter, mobile app, CEO videos, and town halls. In addition, Hagle launched HR Ally, an HR business partner program where HR is proactively understanding the business challenges that the employees face every day, and how they may relate to the human capital elements of the business. She also launched an internal campaign that reinforces the companys values and handles employee engagement. Heidi understands the business and uses her expertise in HR to make decisions based on what the company needs with an ever-changing strategy, as the business landscape changes, said Spencer Gracias, Stefanini CEO of North America. As a leader, shes constantly pushing her team to think outside the box and not to focus on how things are traditionally done, but rather what makes sense to do going forward. About Stefanini Stefanini ( www.stefanini.com ) is a Brazilian multinational with 30 years of experience in the market, investing in a complete innovation ecosystem to meet the main verticals and assist customers in the process of digital transformation. With robust offerings aligned with market trends such as automation, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and user experience (UX), the company has been recognized with several awards in the area of innovation. Today, the company has a broad portfolio of solutions that combine innovative consulting, marketing, mobility, personalized campaigns and artificial intelligence services for traditional solutions such as service desk, field service and outsourcing (BPO). With a presence in 40 countries, Stefanini was named the fifth most internationalized company, according to the Dom Cabral Foundation ranking of 2017. Editorial Contacts SAN ANTONIO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) (Valero) today announced that Joe Gorder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Valero Energy Corporation will attend the Scotia Howard Weil Energy Conference on March 26, 2019. About Valero Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries (collectively, Valero), is an international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels and petrochemical products. Valero is a Fortune 50 company based in San Antonio, Texas, and it operates 15 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.1 million barrels per day and 14 ethanol plants with a combined production capacity of 1.73 billion gallons per year. The petroleum refineries are located in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the ethanol plants are located in the Mid-Continent region of the U.S. Valero also is a joint venture partner in Diamond Green Diesel, which operates a renewable diesel plant in Norco, Louisiana. Diamond Green Diesel is North Americas largest biomass-based diesel plant. Valero sells its products in the wholesale rack or bulk markets in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland and Latin America. Approximately 7,000 outlets carry Valeros brand names. Please visit www.valero.com for more information. Valero Contacts Investors: Homer Bhullar, Vice President Investor Relations, 210-345-1982 Gautam Srivastava, Manager Investor Relations, 210-345-3992 Tom Mahrer, Manager Investor Relations, 210-345-1953 Media: Lillian Riojas, Executive Director Media Relations and Communications, 210-345-5002 COLORADO SPRINGS, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE American: GORO) (the Company) today announced the successful power line connection of its El Aguila Project in Oaxaca, Mexico to the Federal Electricity Commissions (Comision Federal de Electricidad or CFE) power grid. Prior to this connection, the Aguila Project operated 100% from electricity generated from more expensive and higher emission diesel fuel. Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer and explorer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nevada, U.S.A. The Company has returned $111 million to its shareholders in monthly dividends since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010 and offers its shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold and silver and take delivery. The new power line improves local infrastructure allowing for first time access to electricity to approximately 25,000 families along the route. Future expansion along the route to additional families and businesses is also expected over time. The Companys ability to also connect to this line substantially reduces its environmental impact by reducing local carbon emissions by more than 90 tonnes. About GRC: Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer, developer and explorer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nevada, USA. The Company targets low capital expenditure projects with potential for generating high returns on capital. The Company has returned $111 million back to its shareholders since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010 and offers its shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold and silver and take delivery. For more information, please visit GRCs website, located at www.goldresourcecorp.com and read the Companys 10-K for an understanding of the risk factors involved. Cautionary Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. When used in this press release, the words plan, target, "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding Gold Resource Corporations strategy, future plans for production, future expenses and costs, future liquidity and capital resources, and estimates of mineralized material. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to Gold Resource Corporation on the date of this press release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release. In particular, there can be no assurance that production will continue at any specific rate. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the Companys 10-K filed with the SEC. Governments around the nation are working to design the best vaccine policies that keep both their employees and their residents safe. Although the latest data shows a variety of polarizing perspectives, there are clear emerging best practices that leading governments are following to put trust first: creating policies that are flexible and provide a range of options, and being in tune with the needs and sentiments of their employees so that they are able to be dynamic and accommodate the rapidly changing situation. SPEED READ: Boeing has received roughly $1 billion in tax incentives and credits from Washington state over the past four years. Washington is one of 30 states that regularly evaluates corporate tax incentives. Only a few cities regularly track and assess these business deals to see if the promised results were achieved. Closing Loopholes Boeing and the Economy SPEED READ: 14 states and the District of Columbia do not cover the abortion pill in cases of rape, incest and life endangerment, according to a recent GAO report. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says it will work with states to make sure they comply with federal law. Some of the states dispute the GAO findings, while others are defending their practices. Last month, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that14 states and the District of Columbiawere in violation of federal Medicaid law as it pertains to abortion coverage. While some of those states dispute the GAO's report, others are defending their practices, and a couple are working to comply with the law.Federal money is generally prohibited from funding abortion services because of the 1976 Hyde Amendment. But in cases of rape, incest and life endangerment, Medicaid -- the nation's health insurance for the poor -- is supposed to cover anyabortion services, including abortion pills.According to the GAO, 14 states have denied coverage in these cases for the abortion pill, which is used until 10 weeks of pregnancy. One state -- South Dakota -- has been out of compliance with that law for more than 20 years, the GAO said.South Dakota only covers the abortion pill for Medicaid patients if the womans life is in danger -- not for cases of rape or incest. State officials say they dont have any plans to change that."South Dakota will continue to do what we always have done -- not cover abortion costs under Medicaid," Republican Gov. Kristi Noems office said in a statement, according to thereached out to the other14 jurisdictions named in the report to see how they're reacting to the findings. Nine responded. Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina did not.Like South Dakota, Oklahomas Medicaid office says it has no plans to change coverage. Idaho and D.C., however, say they are currently working to comply with the law."In order to make the coverage effective, we must price the drug and update our claims payment system to allow reimbursement for Mifeprex [the abortion pill]. The Department of Health Care Finance is in the process of making these changes and expects to have Mifeprex covered and reimbursable within a month," says a spokesperson for D.C's Department of Health Care Finance.Colorado, North Carolina and Rhode Island spokespersons say they believe their offices are already in compliance. Rhode Island officials even submitted a clarification letter to the GAO after the report was released.The GAO acknowledges that federal data on the number of abortions eligible for Medicaid coverage is incomplete, which "limits the [Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services'] ability to ensure proper payments and states coverage of such abortions."Meanwhile, Florida and Texas say they only restrict coverage as it applies to pharmacies -- not for medication abortion services given to a patient in a medical office. According to the GAO report, the pill is prohibited from being dispensed in retail pharmacies -- but not hospital pharmacies. Utah, in contrast, restricts it on the medical side but not in a pharmacy setting.Advocates of abortion rights say the GAO report serves as confirmation that existing laws are not being properly enforced.We knew anecdotally it was hard to get coverage -- at least now we have something documented saying states are violating Medicaid law, says Fabiola Carrion, senior staff attorney for the National Health Law Program, which advocates for quality health care for low-income patients.Enforcement of this law is up to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In an email toa CMS spokesperson saidthat the agency will work with states moving forward and will "again notify states not in compliance with the coverage and expenditure reporting requirements examined in this report and urge their compliance." Gloria Brown didnt get a good nights sleep. Her husband, Arthur Brown, 79, has Alzheimers disease and had spent most of the night pacing their bedroom, opening and closing drawers, and putting on and taking off his jacket.So Ms. Brown, 73, asked a friend to take her husband out for a few hours one recent afternoon so she could grab a much-needed nap. She was lucky that day because she didnt need to call upon the home health aide who comes to their house twice a week.Paying for help isnt cheap: The going rate in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Browns live, ranges from $25 to $35 an hour. Ms. Brown estimates she has spent roughly $72,000 on caregivers, medications and supplies since her husband was given his diagnosis four years ago.The cost can be staggering, said Jim Patterson, a Republican state assemblyman from Fresno who is the author of a bill that would give family caregivers in California a tax credit of up to $5,000 annually to help offset their expenses.A 2016 study by AARP found that the average caregiver spends $6,954 a year on out-of-pocket costs caring for a family member. The expenses range from $7 for medical wipes to tens of thousands of dollars to retrofit a home with a walk-in shower or hire outside help. A Pennyslvania Republican lawmaker resigned Monday, months after allegations of a 2015 rape resurfaced.Rep. Brian Ellis resigned effective immediately just days after a woman filed an official complaint with the state's Republican caucus, accusing him of sexually assaulting her in 2015 while she was incapacitated."It is with immense gratitude to the sacrifices made by my family, the support of my constituents, and the friendship of my colleagues that I have concluded that it is in the best interest of my family, the residents of the 11th House district, and my own health that I resign from the General Assembly," Ellis wrote in his resignation letter, acquired by the Philadelphia Inquirer.The unidentified woman, who works at the state Capitol, claims in a five-page complaint that she had been drinking with a friend in Harrisburg in October 2015 the night that she was allegedly raped."I remember starting to drink what [her friend] had handed me before she left, but I do not remember finishing the drink," the complaint, acquired by PennLive, reads. "After casually drinking that cider at Carley's, I have scant memories of the next 10 hours and was in a state of black out. I woke up in pain, injured and naked the next morning in the bed of Representative Brian Ellis."The woman claims that Ellis admitted they "had sex," then tried to have sex with her again, but she refused and was kicked out of his house.She went to the hospital a few days later, according to the complaint, complaining of injuries to her ankles, back and head.She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.In late January, House Republican leaders called for Ellis to resign after PennLive reported that he was under investigation by the Dauphin County District Attorney's office."The House Republican Caucus has zero tolerance for any instance of sexual violence or harassment," the leaders said in a joint statement. "Our caucus will fully cooperate with any law enforcement investigation, or request, and would take any allegation against one of our members with the utmost seriousness."The woman's attorney told the Daily News that her client "feels vindicated.""We see it as an acknowledgement of the credibility of her allegations," Christine Wechsler told The News. "It's an admission of the truthfulness of her complaint."The District Attorney's investigation will continue, but the House's investigation will stop now that Ellis has resigned. The Illinois Supreme Court decided Tuesday in a 4-to-2 vote that it will not order a new sentencing for Jason Van Dyke, rejecting an unusual bid from prosecutors that could have meant a much harsher prison term for the former Chicago police officer.The court's rejection means Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahon likely have exhausted their only legal avenue to stiffen Van Dyke's sentence of 6 3/4 years in prison for Laquan McDonald's murder.No explanation was given for the court's refusal to hear the case. But the decision fell largely along political lines, with the court's three Republicans -- Rita Garman, Robert Thomas, and Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier -- joining together with Anne Burke, a Democrat who is married to Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, a onetime Chicago police officer who is facing federal corruption charges.Two of the seven justices on the court, both Democrats, objected to the majority decision in full or in part, saying they believed Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan improperly relied on a dissenting court opinion when he sentenced Van Dyke for a second-degree murder conviction, not aggravated battery with a firearm."The trial court's actions here were clearly improper as a matter of law," wrote Justice Thomas Kilbride in his partial dissent.Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. agreed with Kilbride, writing in his full dissent that the court opinion on which Gaughan based his sentence was "the opposite" of the prevailing state law.Prosecutors "raise compelling questions that merit additional briefing, argument, and consideration by this court," Neville wrote. "... This dispute clearly involves a matter of the utmost importance to the administration of justice."Justice Mary Jane Theis, a Democrat, did not take part in the decision for unexplained reasons.In a written statement, Van Dyke's lead trial attorney, Daniel Herbert, said he hoped the decision "will strike a fatal blow to the political exploitation of the death of Laquan McDonald.""Our judicial system may not be perfect," Herbert said. "However, the bedrock of the system maintains that all defendants, including unpopular ones, are entitled to fair and impartial treatment. Jason Van Dyke is prepared to serve his debt to society and move on with his life in a meaningful and productive manner."Reached by telephone, Jennifer Blagg, another Van Dyke lawyer, called the high court's decision "a strong acknowledgement that Judge Gaughan's sentence was proper and in accordance with the law."A spokeswoman for Raoul's office was not immediately available for comment.When he sentenced Van Dyke, Gaughan quoted from a dissenting opinion in an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that governs which convictions should "merge" for purposes of sentencing when someone is found guilty of both murder and aggravated battery."Is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be shot by a firearm or is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be murdered by a firearm?" Gaughan asked from the bench. "Common sense comes to an easy answer on that in this specific case."The majority opinion from the case quoted by Gaughan, however, concluded the opposite.Tuesday's decision by the Supreme Court means only one aspect of the criminal charges stemming from McDonald's 2014 killing remains pending -- Van Dyke's appeal of his conviction. Blagg said that his legal team is still awaiting trial transcripts before preparing its appellate brief.A jury convicted Van Dyke, 40, in October of one count of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the 2014 on-duty shooting of 17-year-old McDonald.Due to security concerns, Van Dyke was recently transferred to a medium-security federal prison in Otisville, New York, an hour north of New York City. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons web site, he's scheduled to be released on Feb. 8, 2022.Blagg said Van Dyke's legal team was trying to set up a call with Van Dyke later Tuesday to deliver the news.A petition filed last month by the special prosecutors and the Illinois attorney general's office argued that Gaughan improperly sentenced Van Dyke on only his second-degree murder conviction.Illinois law actually makes aggravated battery with a firearm the more serious offense, carrying a maximum prison sentence of 30 years, compared to 20 years for second-degree murder, the petition noted.The petition also sought to direct Gaughan to determine which of the 16 gunshot wounds caused "severe bodily injury" and sentence him to consecutive prison terms for those counts.Prosecutors have argued that at least two of the shots caused extensive injuries, making Van Dyke eligible for a sentence of up to 18 years in prison: six years for each of those two wounds, plus six more years for the other 14 counts.After the attorney general's office last month announced it was conducting a "review" of the sentence, Herbert, Van Dyke's lead trial attorney, blasted the decision as politically motivated -- an allegation Raoul called "nonsense.""I'm not going to opine on my opinion on the length of the sentence," Raoul said at the time. "What I will opine on is whether or not the law should be followed, and I believe the law should be followed."Special Prosecutor McMahon, who had sought a prison term of 18 to 20 years for Van Dyke, told reporters after the sentencing in January that he accepted the judge's decision. He later said he was still satisfied with the sentence, but after considering the legal basis of Gaughan's ruling, he thought the legal challenge was appropriate."As we have had an opportunity to step back and kind of evaluate both the law and how the sentence was imposed, we have the benefit of some time and counsel in working with the attorney general's office," McMahon said last month. "I think the bigger message in this case is to make sure that the sentence that is imposed is a sentence that is lawful."Van Dyke shot McDonald in October 2014 as the 17-year-old walked away from police on a Southwest Side street while holding a knife. Graphic police dashboard camera video of the shooting -- ordered released by a judge more than a year later -- sparked weeks of chaos and political upheaval, exacerbating the already fraught relationship between Chicago police and minority communities.Van Dyke's monthlong jury trial last fall ended in a historic guilty verdict, making him the first Chicago police officer in half a century to be convicted of murder for an on-duty incident. Scandal renewed When the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston hired Victor Frobas in 1965, it knew he had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a child three years prior.The bishop of the diocese at the time, Joseph Hodges, decided to give Frobas, a priest, a second chance. Frobas became director of Camp Tygart, a summer youth camp now known as Camp Bosco, in 1972. While there, he was accused of sexually abusing children.After spending a few months at the "House of Affirmation" in Massachusetts, a now-shuttered institution known for treating priests engaged in pedophilia, Hodges returned Frobas to work as a chaplain in Wheeling in 1976, and then, as the chaplain at Wheeling Central Catholic High School in 1977.After a series of leaves of absence, the diocese suspended Frobas in 1987. That same year, he was indicted in St. Louis for inappropriate contact with two minors. He pleaded guilty.Such are accusations contained in a lawsuit West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court against the diocese and its former bishop, Michael Bransfield, who resigned last year following accusations that he sexually harassed adults while serving as bishop.The lawsuit, filed under the state's Consumer Credit and Protection Act, alleges that the diocese and Bransfield knowingly employed admitted sexual abusers, hired priests without performing adequate background checks, hired priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children and hired lay employees without performing adequate background checks.In a statement, the diocese refuted some of the allegations in the complaint and said it will address the litigation "in the appropriate forum." However, spokesman Tim Bishop declined to comment further."Some of the allegations of misconduct contained in the Attorney General's Complaint occurred more than 50 years ago and some are not accurately described," the statement reads.It goes on to reject any assertion that the Diocese "is not wholly committed to the protection of children." It says the diocese uses a zero-tolerance policy for employees accused of abuse and that all its employees who work with children are subject to background checks and mandatory screening.The complaint outlines five examples -- with three alleged abusers identified by name -- of the reported wrongdoing on the part of the alleged abusers and the diocese.For instance, Father Patrick Condron was employed by the diocese at St. Joseph Preparatory Seminary High School, in Vienna, from 1980 to 1987. In 1995, an unidentified former student accused Condron of lavishing him with attention and eventually "long embraces, passing through kissing, and culmination in an attempt at genital sexual intercourse," according to the complaint.When confronted by diocese leadership, Condron admitted the allegations and was placed on administrative leave and sent for evaluation and treatment at two facilities "for substance abuse and psychotherapy."Former bishop Bernard Schmitt returned Condron to active ministry, first at a parish in Wheeling, and then, at Wheeling Catholic Elementary School from 1998 to 2001."Upon information and belief, the Diocese did not advise parents of children at Wheeling Catholic Elementary School that it was employing a pedophile during the time that Condron was employed there," the suit states.The diocese also employed nonreligious teachers at its schools without proper vetting, according to the lawsuit. For instance, Ronald Cooper was hired in April 2011 to teach at Madonna High School, in Weirton.Cooper failed to disclose on his employment application that he had been convicted of third-degree statutory rape in Washington state in 1985 and had also pleaded guilty to first degree robbery.The diocese allegedly failed to conduct a criminal background check and did not discover the criminal conduct until 2013.Although his employment was terminated in December 2013, the diocese did not tell parents of students that it had employed a person convicted of sexual abuse of a child.In another instance, the lawsuit accuses Schmitt, while serving as bishop, of hiring a priest from another diocese in 2002 who had been accused of sexual abuse of a child in 1979. The lawsuit alleges that the diocese checked on this priest's background only by calling the Archdiocese of Baltimore to see if it had any complaints against him.The lawsuit also accused the diocese of hiring an unidentified man to be a principal (who eventually became an ordained priest in the diocese) of an unnamed Catholic high school. An unnamed alleged victim claimed in the lawsuit that he was sexually abused by this principal when he was a student at the high school -- an accusation the diocese reportedly found to be credible.After the diocese was made aware of other "inappropriate behavior" of this priest during the 2004 and 2005 period involving middle school and high school boys, he was sent for psychiatric evaluation, but left the program and was suspended from ministry in August 2005.The breadth of the scandal of sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic Church and the ensuing cover-ups were brought to light in a 2002 investigative series by The Boston Globe.The scandal took on new life in August 2018 when a Pennsylvania grand jury released a 1,356 page report that said more than 300 priests had sexually abused children.That report named one priest who had served in West Virginia, Father Raymond Lukac. He was assigned to the Immaculate Conception Church in Clarksburg in 1964. Before arriving, Lukac allegedly had sexually abused four females.Also prior to his arrival, Lukac attended the "Foundation House" in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Both Condron and Frobas also underwent treatment in Jemez Springs, according to Morrisey's lawsuit.In September, Bransfield offered his resignation when he turned 75, as required by the Vatican. A week later, Pope Francis said he had authorized an investigation into Bransfield in connection with allegations of sexual harassment of adults.Bransfield had been investigated for an alleged groping incident in 2007 and was implicated in court testimony in 2012 in a Philadelphia priest's sexual abuse case. Specifically, a witness at the trial testified that another priest sexually assaulted him in a New Jersey beach house owned by Bransfield. Both Bransfield and the West Virginia diocese said they had disproved the claims.In November, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston released the names of 18 priests who had been credibly accused of the sexual abuse of minors in West Virginia between the 1960s and the 2000s.Condron and Frobas appear on this list.The diocese also released the names of 13 other priests who served in West Virginia who were the subjects of credible complaints elsewhere, although not in West Virginia -- including Lukac.Last week, the five-month investigation into Bransfield ended. Its findings were sent to the Holy See."We believe an important first step for the Diocese is to come clean for what it knows," Morrisey said at a news conference. "The church should open its files to the public and disclose what happened with every credible allegation of sexual abuse that was brought to the diocese's attention, while protecting the identities of victims and their families."An excellent first step for the diocese would be to publicize the report prepared by the Archdiocese of Baltimore involving allegations of abuse against former bishop Michael Bransfield, who is one of the listed defendants of this complaint."He said his office also has been in communication with prosecutors, and is "in the process" of referring matters out.In a statement, Judy Jones, a spokeswoman with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement praising Morrisey's action and condemning the Catholic Church."Failing to conduct background checks for those working or volunteering around children is bad enough. Employing known perpetrators is far worse," Jones said. "These decisions put children at unnecessary risk and why? To save some time on paper work or make a hiring process easier? Such actions are absolutely mind-boggling." Across the political spectrum, Texas lawmakers agree that something needs to be done this year about the states bail system.Since reform efforts failed in the 2017 legislative session, federal judges have called bail practices in Texas two largest counties unconstitutional claiming the justice systems often keep poor people locked up for days or weeks before their trials while letting similar defendants with cash walk free. And more states, counties and cities are veering away from cash-based bail systems and leaning toward making pretrial jail release decisions based on an arrestees risk of posing a danger or skipping court hearings.The ongoing federal lawsuits (and the potential for new ones) and recent jail deaths have further spurred efforts in Texas to address the court rulings and help get poor people accused of nonviolent crimes out of jail. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has prioritized fixing the bail system this session, but he has focused more on making it harder for dangerous defendants to get out of jail.But when this legislative sessions first pair of major reform bills were filed last month by a Democratic senator and Republican House representative who have worked on the issue for years, Abbott was silent. Now, he appears to have thrown his weight behind a less-detailed bill with the same name. A key difference: It puts power over changes to Texas bail system directly into his office giving him control over the creation of a risk-assessment tool to be used in bail decisions.The bill was only recently filed, and advocacy groups for bail reform have acknowledged that it will likely be tweaked as it moves through the Legislature, but the legislation still has drawn concern from groups that say it doesnt properly address the problems that led to federal litigation and that it is fully unworkable in some areas.If the Legislature does not want federal courts to design local bail systems in Texas, they need to pass a bill that corrects the essential problem of people who could otherwise safely be released being jailed for no other reason than their not having money for bail, said Mary Schmid Mergler, director of the criminal justice project for the advocacy group Texas Appleseed, in an email to The Texas Tribune.She added that the first bills filed are more comprehensive and research driven.Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chair John Whitmire, D-Houston, and state Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, filed those bills in early February and seemingly sought to get the governor on board by including provisions that Abbott has backed, including having judicial officers consider the defendant's criminal history and the safety of law enforcement officers when setting bail, not just the current criminal charge.Most notably in a nod to the governor, they named their legislation the Damon Allen Act in honor of the Texas Department of Public Safety trooper whose murder pushed Abbott to call for change to bail practices last year. Allen was gunned down in a 2017 traffic stop as the man suspected of killing him was out of jail on a $15,500 bond after allegedly assaulting a sheriffs deputy.A primary piece of Whitmire and Murrs legislation would have the states Office of Court Administration create a risk-assessment tool to help judges determine an arrestees potential for posing a danger or skipping court hearings if released from jail before trial. It would also establish procedures in statute aimed at releasing poor, low-risk defendants from jail on no-cost bonds while those deemed a high risk would be detained before trial without the option of bailing out with cash. (Currently in Texas, bail release can only be denied in capital murder cases or in certain repeat felony or bail violation circumstances.)The second Damon Allen Act filed this month by state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-College Station, also includes a risk-assessment tool, but it doesnt specify how and when the tool would be used to affect bail practices. Instead, it creates a program within the governors office that would both develop the tool and recommend best practices for pretrial release decisions.I think [Abbott] and his office produced the Kacal bill, which means weve got a lot of work to do with the governors office if were going to pursue my bill, Whitmire told the Tribune last week. I know [Abbott] wants to control it.A little more than a week ago, just before the bill-filing deadline, the senator submitted a second piece of bail legislation that matches Kacals bill, putting Whitmires name at the top of two bills named after Trooper Allen. Whitmire said last week that he had not talked to Abbotts office about the new bills.Kacal confirmed to the Tribune that he worked with Abbott on his bill to "avoid tragedies like the death of Trooper Damon Allen in the future." A spokesperson for Abbott did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the issue.Although Kacals name is on the bill filed earlier this month, its not difficult to see Abbotts influence. Kacal, who represents Allens hometown of Mexia, stood behind the governor at an August press conference in Waco where Abbott first called for legislation that he said would keep dangerous people like Allens murderer off the street. The governors proposal included creating a system that considers criminal history and the safety of law enforcement when making bail decisions, and it would allow only district judges, not lower-level magistrates, to set bail for all felony and violent misdemeanor crimes.All of those pieces are included in Kacals bill.The governor also acknowledged at the time that his proposal, though primarily focused on keeping violent criminals off our streets, could become an avenue to keep poor people who aren't dangerous out of jails as well, potentially by using a risk-assessment tool.Our goal for people who are not dangerous to the community is to not house non-dangerous criminals behind bars, but put them on a pathway toward productivity and contributing back to society, Abbott said at the press conference.A risk-assessment tool is included in Kacals legislation, but it is much less specific than Whitmire and Murrs bills, which explicitly lay out how and by when judicial officers must use the tool in making bail decisions, in part nodding to the necessary changes called for by federal judges in Harris and Dallas counties. Instead, the Kacal (and now Whitmire) legislation places the power for creating the risk-assessment tool, as well as deciding on best practices for pretrial release, directly under the governor.The bill would create a Bail Advisory Program within the governors Criminal Justice Division, a grant-making arm of the executive office. The governor would appoint a director, and the program would develop a pretrial risk-assessment tool for bail decisions (with help from the Office of Court Administration), recommend best practices for bail decisions and collect data on bail practices statewide.[Abbotts] concerned about who would get out on a [no-cost] bond, and I guess he thinks if he came up with a risk-assessment model, he would be able to have more input, Whitmire said.Under the Texas Capitol, there is also a slew of other bills on the subject that have been filed, aside from the dueling Allen bills.A couple of bills mainly address the recent federal opinions that called county practices unconstitutional by requiring individual bail hearings within 48 hours for those who claim they cant afford automatically set bail amounts. Officials from the powerful bail bonds industry, which collects a percentage of the bail amount from defendants to front the total cost and which Whitmire has said killed past legislation because of fear it will cut into profits, said they could support such a proposal, but they are concerned with the risk-assessment portion of the bills. At least one other bill would default to release from jail on no-cost bonds for all defendants charged with nonviolent crimes.Advocacy groups pushing for change from both sides of the aisle said they were pleased that the issue is so prominently on the table this year.We are very encouraged that there are so many members of the legislature paying attention to the issue of pretrial reform, said Mergler. It's a testament to how broken our current pretrial justice system is.And although Whitmire and Murrs bills appear to have more advocacy support and legwork behind them, advocates across the nation have also criticized practices included in their measures, like allowing judges to fully deny bail and risk-assessment tools in general. Measures passed in California and Maryland leaned toward preventive detention for high-risk defendants as well, and in California, some advocates have since pulled their support for the legislation, claiming that risk-assessment tools can be racially biased and that judges have too much discretion to deny bail altogether and keep people locked up. In Maryland, reports have shown that a rule meant to reduce the jail population and use of cash bail led to judges opting more often to keep people in jail rather than release them on no-cost bonds.The advocates acknowledge theres a lot that needs to be worked out as the bills largely the two Damon Allen Acts move through the Legislature. Mergler and Marc Levin, vice president of criminal justice of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said there arent enough district judges to satisfy the provision in Kacals bill requiring only district court judges or their associate judges to determine bail for all felony cases, along with violent misdemeanors.Theres a lot of ideas out there, so now we need to in the next few weeks have consensus on what can pass out of both House Criminal Jurisprudence and Senate Criminal Justice, Levin said of the two committees that will hold hearings on the bills.The advocates and Whitmire acknowledged there would likely need to be changes, potentially substantial ones, in the remaining months of the session. Whitmire said he wants to be able to merge some of the items from his original legislation filed with Murr into the governor-backed bill, such as being able to deny bail for violent defendants (which would also require a constitutional amendment).But, as he indicated by filing a bill matching Kacals, he said he is willing to work with the governor on the issue moving throughout the legislative session.Anything we pass, the governor has to sign it, so that makes it pretty important that we work with the governor, he said, laughing. San Jose, Calif. Austin, Texas Wichita, Kan. Erie, Pa. Buenos Aires, Argentina Guarulhos, Brazil Belfast, U.K. Mastercards City Possible network of local governments working together on innovation projects has expanded from 16 to 23, adding new members from three continents.The network, launched in November , is leaning on the expertise of former New York City Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamino, who joined the company last year with an eye on helping cities solve problems. Thats what City Possible is about: bringing together city leaders from across the world who have the same problems, and using their collective brainpower to help tackle those issues.The seven new cities joining the network are:In a LinkedIn post , Gamino also announced that the insurance brokerage and risk management firm Willis Towers Watson is signing on as an industry partner to City Possible.What unites this tribe of urban leaders is a fundamental belief in the superpower of collaboration: the opportunity for cities to build on each others progress, Gamino wrote in the post. Whether you like or dis-like the 'smart city' moniker, I believe there is one thing we can all agree on: For thousands of years, communities have progressed by embracing diverse ideas and people from other places.Two of the earliest outcomes of the network have been the convening of an accelerator in Las Vegas through the Harvard TECH program to identify multimodal mobility options and the publishing of the city of Aurora, Ill.s technology plan. The plan, which received enthusiastic support from the mayor, also came with plaudits from outgoing Kansas City, Mo., Chief Innovation Officer Bob Bennett. (TNS) - Having spent over $50 million on Hurricane Michael, it was with great relief Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki received the news Wednesday the first FEMA reimbursement is on its way.The Federal Emergency Management Agency informed the city Wednesday their first partial reimbursement for emergency protection measures, totaling $1,862,911, is coming. The check will be the second the region has seen since the storm with Mexico Beach receiving over $2 million for their clean up in February.Having heard stories of how slow FEMA can be to process reimbursement monies, Brudnicki said he was "pleasantly surprised," by the news."I really was," he said. "People have been pushing really hard at the state level to make this happen."Since taking office, Gov. Ron DeSantis has talked about finding ways to expedite the reimbursement process for the Panhandle. His help is critical as the federal funds are funneled through the state and back into the community. DeSantis also helped convince President Donald Trump to up the federal government's share of the cost and reimburse the region 100 percent of the first 45 days of clean up, instead of the originally declared five. The deal was finalized in writing on Sunday.The first projects submitted by the city are initially being funded at the original 75-percent federal cost share rate to avoid any delays. According to officials, this and other public assistance projects were in process prior to approval of 100 percent cost share. The projects are expected to be adjusted to provide the remaining 25 percent of eligible costs.Since the Hurricane Michael, the city has taken out a $50 million loan to cover expenses, with plans in the work to take out another $25 million. Brudnicki said even with the first reimbursement, the extra $25 million will likely be necessary due to yet un-billed expenses and the continual cost of debris clean up, including the ditches.Still, "this helps," he said. "It gets the money flowing in the right direction."2019 The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.)Visit The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.) at www.newsherald.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. (TNS) Political nerds and fans of transparent government rejoice: soon live broadcasts of every single Ohio House committee will be just a few clicks away.Speaker Larry Householder and Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, during a Tuesday news conference deep in the bowels of the Ohio Statehouse, unveiled four cameras in Room 017 -- the second of nine Ohio House committee rooms to be equipped for public live broadcasts of hearings on the Ohio Channels website and TV channe l.The goal, Householder said, is to have cameras up and running in three more House committee rooms by this summer and all nine committee rooms by this fall.A number of state representatives, as well as good-government groups, have pushed for years to publicly broadcast every House committee hearing. But until Tuesday, only the House Finance Committees hearing room has been equipped with cameras.That changed following the election of Householder , a Perry County Republican, as speaker in January, thanks to support from the majority of House Democrats. One of the promises Householder made to attract Democratic votes was to live-stream the hearings of House committees, which is as far as most Democratic bills get in the GOP-dominated chamber.Householder said Tuesday that its exciting that Ohio will soon be one of only 12 states to offer live and on-demand video of its House committee meetings. Not only will the cameras allow Ohioans to have unfiltered, unedited access to Statehouse proceedings, the speaker said, but it will give lawmakers a platform to reach a maximum audience.The exact cost of installing cameras in all House committee rooms wont be known until the project is finished, said Laura Battocletti, executive director of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board.Each camera costs about $2,300, though as pro-camera lawmakers have pointed out , the House had already purchased the needed wiring and equipment years ago. Workers also have to, in most cases, drill through thick 19th Century masonry to run cables to each committee room.On the other side of the Statehouse, five of the Ohio Senates 14 standing committees have been broadcast live since 2017. Senate GOP spokesman John Fortney said in a text message that the Senate is happy to work with the Ohio Government Telecommunications, the Ohio Channels parent channel, on future plans.However, Fortney added, Much of this comes down to installing the technology and staffing. For example, he stated, there needs to be a control-room worker to monitor the video feed.The Ohio Channel did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday seeking to verify whether it would need additional employees or funding to broadcast all Ohio Senate hearings. (TNS) Recently, two 8-foot-tall black cylinders popped up on a street corner about a block from Ken Caron's home, pushing the street signs that stood there a few extra feet higher and leaving the French Quarter resident puzzled.What were those things, and what were they doing in the Quarter?As Caron and many other residents would soon learn, the cylinders were some of the first placements of the backbone for new 5G wireless devices aimed at boosting smartphone speeds throughout New Orleans.Hundreds of such devices including dozens in and around the French Quarter, according to a review of permits authorizing their construction were approved by city officials last week as part of agreements to bring the emerging technology to the city.In approving the deals, New Orleans became the latest city in the U.S. to aid companies like Verizon and AT&T in their race to implement 5G, the worlds most advanced wireless technology that is estimated to eventually make Web browsing at least eight times faster for consumers.It also became the latest city to be roiled by a debate over the cylindrical, or in some cases robotic-looking, devices placement on street signs or utility poles near homes and businesses.For the technology to work, the equipment needs to be close to street level. But some residents have safety concerns. Others say they're plain ugly.Its just monstrous, said Caron, who said the tubes pushed the one-way and stop signs at Burgundy and Gov. Nicholls streets a full story into the air. It doesnt belong in the oldest residential neighborhood in the state.Other than Caron, the president of the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates organization, others have said the devices are too close to their homes and that they had no voice in their placement.In a nutshell, 5G is made possible by "small cell" networks that have a shorter range than traditional cell towers and are made up of nodes that must be placed closer together and nearer to the ground in order to work.The small cells can increase bandwidth in dense urban areas that may not have the space for more large towers. Because the cells are nearer to consumers, the cellular service that users receive tends to be swifter.Telecom companies have promised 5G devices in at least some markets this year.Staffers in Mayor LaToya Cantrells administration and on the City Council, who have worked for years on a rewrite of the citys code governing the new technology, said it could mean swifter downloads of data in technologies the city is already using, such as its real-time crime camera network. It might also lead to more advanced technologies, like gunshot sensors."We are expecting that 5G will allow us to deliver more information faster so that we can use that information to make real-time decisions, similar to the way adding more lanes to a highway eliminates congestion," said Kimberly LaGrue, Cantrell's chief information officer.But the rules for installing the devices are different from what residents might expect. Unlike zoning changes or additions to private property, which require public hearings, the small cell nodes are being installed on public right of ways, which means the city is able to control more of the process.LaGrue said that each device is reviewed by 10 different departments to ensure that its design matches the neighborhood in which it was placed. The device near Carons home in the French Quarter, for example, appears different from one affixed to a utility pole at First and Constance streets in the Irish Channel. In that location, a cluster of boxes, wires and cones point downward from near the top of the pole.While residents can contact the Department of Parks and Parkways or Safety and Permits if they are concerned about the devices, their placement is approved by the city wholesale and is not subject to the individual reviews that property owners seeking to make significant changes to their properties would be subject to, said Keith Lampkin, chief of staff for City Councilman Jason Williams, and Erin Spears, head of the council's Utilities Regulatory Office.Still, Harvey Stern, who opposes the devices chiefly because he is concerned about the effect they may have on people's safety, said that process robs the public of its right to have a say in the devices's placement. This is a public land use issue, that the public wont get to opine on, Stern said.Residents in other cities have criticized the devices for similar reasons. Though the publics exposure to the radio frequencies the devices emit has been raised by some groups, Williams, the council president, cited statements from the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization that there is no conclusive evidence that the existing cell phone towers cause cancer.The International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified radio frequencies as possibly carcinogenic to humans a label also given to components found in coffee.Caron, for his part, isnt worried about potential health problems: From what Ive read, thats not a big concern, he said.More problematic, he said, is a process that does not give him and other residents enough say in the devices design and placement. (TNS) Thirty years after the creation of the world wide web, a majority of Erie County residents who live south of Interstate 90 still don't have access to fixed, high-speed Internet service.They struggle with digital subscriber line plans that aren't fast enough to stream more than one video at a time, or satellite Internet plans that are often expensive, suffer from delays and are prone to weather-related outages."You get outside of places like Union City, Corry and Albion, there is little to no coverage," said Erick Friedman, Erie County's director of information technology. "Even the area just northwest of Edinboro is a problem."This Internet divide will soon close for thousands of rural residents when Butler-based Armstrong Broadband provides high-speed Internet to areas of southern and eastern Erie County. Installation began in the fall and is expected to be completed this spring.Internet providers have been reluctant to extend coverage to rural areas because it has not been cost-efficient, but Armstrong received federal and state funding to expand its services in Erie, Crawford and Mercer counties.Armstrong received $2.6 million from the federal Connect America Fund and another $1.2 million from Pennsylvania's Broadband Investment Incentive Program. Armstrong is investing as much as three times that amount of its own money in the process, said Shawn Beqaj, Armstrong's vice president of regulatory policy and interconnection."We look at the cost of installing and maintaining our lines in areas with only four or five homes per mile," Beqaj said. "Typically the long-term return in areas like that make it unprofitable to operate lines in these areas. But these [funding] programs allow us to extend our services to areas with only five homes per mile."In return for the funding, Armstrong promised to provide Internet service of up to 100 megabits per second to the affected areas by the spring of 2022.Customers who live in the affected areas will be able to purchase Internet service at the same price as other Armstrong customers, Beqaj said. Armstong charges about $50 a month for 50 Mbps of service and around $65 a month for 100 Mbps."Only 25 percent to 30 percent of Erie County residents who live south of I-90 have access to a fixed Internet source that provides at least 25 Mbps, so this will help," Friedman said.In an effort to find out exactly which Erie County residents don't have access to high-speed Internet, the county is preparing a short survey. The survey is expected to be released later this month and will be available on the county's website."Anyone in the county can take the survey but we're really interested in people who have slow broadband Internet or none at all," Friedman said. "We want to know where they live and the type of Internet they use."Friedman said he hopes to include the survey in local newspapers so that people without Internet access can participate. Economic development Night and day (TNS) Some call Keller, Wash., the black hole. The Ferry County community of about 200 people on the Colville Indian Reservation has limited and slow broadband service that hurts students who rely on the Internet for schoolwork and hinders economic opportunities as businesses steer clear and residents decide to move away.With a long waitlist for addiction treatment and the nearest facilities at least an hour away, the remote tribe has wanted to build a treatment center for some time. But without a fiber-optic network that can be trusted to deliver fast Internet, the tribe is unable to take advantage of telemedicine and recruiting medical professionals has mostly been a nonstarter, said Susie Allen, a member of the Colville Business Council. The facility is expected to be built this summer and officials plan to invest in broadband to ensure strong connectivity there. measure moving through the state Legislature would create a state office to encourage and coordinate efforts to connect underserved areas. It also would establish a competitive grant and low-Interest loan program funded with $25 million in Gov. Jay Inslees budget for communities in need.But some want more money to narrow this gap between the Internet haves and have-nots.John Flanagan, a policy adviser in the governors office which requested the legislation acknowledged the funding would only put a dent in the number of Washington residents living without strong broadband. The cost to connect the entire state is unknown, he said, but could be around $1 billion.With the remote location and mountainous terrain boosting infrastructure costs, the Colville Tribe has spent $6 million to bring dependable Internet access for the tribal government, according to Allen just one example of a rural community that needs broadband, but simply cant fund it all alone.When Kathryn Witherington, economic-development coordinator for the Port of Columbia, moved to Dayton, a small town in Columbia County, her dad told her to make sure to buy a house that had Internet access. She laughed, not realizing this was still an issue in many areas.Its just so outside of what I had known and I think its easy to forget about that, said Witherington, who says she now pays probably $150 a month for Wi-Fi hot spots so her family of four can access the web. In more hilly areas, she notes, satellite Internet can cost $200, out of reach for many residents.Federal Communications Commission data show that, as of the end of 2016, 92.3 percent of Americans had broadband access at benchmark speeds , but Flanagan says those numbers are deeply flawed, and that its nearly impossible to know how many Washington residents lack reliable Internet. This sessions legislation aims to flip the structure on its head. Instead of finding communities with weak broadband, grants and loans would be distributed to communities that report having problems.Since its not profitable for providers to build up infrastructure in rural communities without many customers, it often has to be done by the communities themselves. The Chelan County Public Utility District, which covers Wenatchee, noting the importance of broadband, made a major commitment to give its customers faster Internet starting about 20 years ago.Young folks that leave, go to college, and they dont come back because they dont have the services that they need and desire in these areas, said Mike Coleman, managing director of fiber and telecommunications for the Chelan County PUD. So, your complete economic development, economic help, of a community is pretty much tied to Internet access these days.Coleman, who, like Witherington, made sure his house had broadband before buying it, said that between 2000 and 2026, when the county is expected to have 85 to 90 percent of its residents adequately served, the investment will have reached $125 million. He hopes more people from the western side of the state will buy second homes in the county knowing they will have strong Internet speeds and could telecommute for work.The legislation easily passed the Senate and House, but tweaks still need to be made before the bill makes it to Inslees desk. Rep. Zack Hudgins, D-Tukwila, prime sponsor of the House bill , which has the support of CenturyLink, said theres nothing to slow it down.CenturyLink spokeswoman Linda Johnson said in an email that her company looks forward to working with that office on a broadband strategy that efficiently uses limited taxpayer dollars by exploring public-private partnerships with existing Internet service providers. Such partnerships, she said can bring communities expertise and the ability to plan for upgrades while limiting the financial risk to citizens.In the state House, the bill passed 95-1 and its companion passed unanimously in the Senate 47-0. As for whether there just isnt enough money, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, who voted in favor of the measure, said during floor debate that its a good start but a very, very small drop in the bucket of solving the problem.The proposal sets up several goals for broadband service in the state. By 2024, all Washington businesses and residences should have access to high-speed broadband that provides minimum download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of three megabits per second.By 2026, all communities in the state should have access to at least one anchor institution, such as a school, hospital or library, that has broadband speeds of one gigabit per second. And by 2028, all should have access to at least one Internet service provider with upload and download speeds of 150 megabits per second.Last year, lawmakers passed $10 million in broadband funding for grants and loans administered by the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB).Garfield County is one region that already has won infrastructure funding as it tries to improve reliability and affordability in a place where most households are underserved, according to Port of Garfield Executive Director Diana Ruchert. The port received a loan of more than $400,000 and more than $100,000 in a grant from CERB. Combined with about $300,000 in local money, bringing broadband to homes in the small town of Pomeroy will cost upward of $800,000, said Ruchert.It will totally change our whole town, our region, said Ruchert, who said the difference between her area and Walla Walla, where many kids end up going to community college, is night and day.Ruchert said some in her community cant work from home because of unreliable broadband, so theyve had to commute 35 miles through the rolling hills, even in the recent icy conditions.Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, said in January that many in her community have been moving away because theres no economic reason to stay.Our biggest export in rural America is our kids and its time that we reverse that trend and give them economic opportunity in the places where they can be successful with our communities and rebuild our communities, Dye said.Allen says shes excited for the Colville Tribe to apply for funding, adding that it will create jobs as dozens in her community have already been training to be fiber installers. No. 1: Connect with Constituents No. 2: Understand the Citizen Journey No. 3: Leverage the Power of Proactive Chat No. 4: Protect Citizen Data No. 5: Apply CX Data to Decision-Making Advanced customer experience (CX) technologies are proliferating in the private sector, connecting customers with companies via a number of channels phone, email, live chat, and even social media quickly and easily. Thats why by 2020 , experience will overtake price as a key differentiator for consumers. Its also why citizens today expect increasingly transparent and responsive services from the public sector.Direct government-to-citizen (G2C) experiences are paramount in shaping perceptions of and building trust in public-sector agencies. Every level of government can take steps to improve G2C interactions by updating their citizen experience philosophy and adopting modern technology. One powerful example that has already proven to improve customer experience in the private sector is a live chat platform where citizens can connect with government agents directly via their website or mobile app.Some of the most frequent interactions citizens have with governments, including renewing their drivers' licenses or obtaining permits, occur at the local or state level. Since this is where the most face time occurs, upgraded technology can have a large impact on the G2C experience and provide a wealth of benefits.Implementing modern customer experience technology can be a wise investment because of the many needs it serves. Citizen interactions already happen across multiple channels, such as in person, over the phone and online. Adding live chat can help streamline that process, saving time and labor costs while meeting citizen expectations more effectively.Live chat is one example of whats going on with CX technology and how it can help. Here are other key trends to consider:Government agencies have to meet their constituents where they are. According to Conduents 2018 citizen experience report , 65 percent of citizens prefer interfacing with their local government online, and there is every reason to think this percentage will continue to climb. Some state and local governments are making moderate strides with websites and mobile apps designed for sharing transit information, traffic alerts, weather warnings and other updates that citizens need from their local governments. CX platforms bridge the gap between agency and citizen and help circumvent typical obstacles like long forms with confusing legal jargon and lengthy in-person wait lines.The citizen journey is how a person interacts with government services, from when they begin looking for information to the time the service is delivered. This journey is multi-touch, multi-channel and cross-functional in nature, and agencies that skillfully manage those experiences will see higher levels of citizen satisfaction and more streamlined and cost-effective operations. Viewing government services from a citizen-centric perspective is particularly important as citizens in different locations or of different ages, all have varying needs. Insight into the citizen journey can help local governments better serve these groups.If citizens dont know which government agency to turn to for their inquiry, they might reach out to various offices and end up being rerouted, oftentimes incorrectly. Todays CX technology has advanced functionality that can help eliminate a poor experience by automatically routing chats to the right people in the right department and, with the aid of chatbots, help qualify requests and even handle them to completion.Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence can decipher the intentions of constituents and respond without having to involve an agent. They improve access to information and can easily escalate to a human agent when a request requires their attention. No matter what a citizen needs throughout their journey from information about benefits eligibility to paying for building permits live chat and chatbots can help deliver quick and convenient access.Concerned that live chat may not appeal to certain segments of your audience, whether by age or aptitude? Fear not. A good live chat platform will offer audio and video alongside typing as a way of communicating with an agent, making it easy to have natural, high-touch conversations when needed. This is particularly helpful for agencies that deliver services to the elderly or those with disabilities.Government agencies that proactively share information with citizens will see improved levels of satisfaction while also reducing costs, diverting demand away from resource-intensive phone systems and in-person interactions. With live chat, government agencies have the ability to initiate a chat with website visitors through a pop-up invitation. For example, governments with seasonal schedules for transit systems can program proactive chat to notify website visitors of upcoming changes and invite them to chat and learn more. These invitations can be programmed to appear on the bus schedule pages, rider alerts pages, or notifications pages to deliver instant answers.Governments can also tailor multiple proactive chat invitations for different pages on their website. Other possible uses of proactive chat include providing information about buying fares (on a fares page), road closures and detours (on road construction pages) and changed operating hours (on a Contact Us page). By proactively offering this information and inviting users to chat they can reduce the volume of visitor inquiries down the line, not only saving their constituents time, but also making more efficient use of employee labor.Live chat is considerably more scalable than phone and in-person as well. It allows one agent to serve multiple customers at once. If equipped with a chatbot that can handle the more basic inquiries, the live chat system can manage even more volume, during more hours. These time and labor savings can quickly justify the initial investment in technology.Strict regulations dictate that new technologies need to pass stringent security verification processes, and for good reason: 51 percent of citizens are worried about hackers targeting their confidential information on government websites. Government agencies need to adhere to the highest standards of security and privacy. This has historically presented barriers to digital citizen engagement and caused the public sector to fall out of step with emerging technologies.A fully secure and compliant CX platform can help agencies deliver great G2C experiences without putting citizens data at risk, as state-of-the-art security protocols and encryption tools protect confidential data. The technologys flexible configuration lets governments reap the benefits of real-time communication while complying with mandated security and privacy requirements.Improving the G2C experience is a simple way for government leaders to keep a finger on the pulse of their constituents and help citizens feel more connected and trusting of their local government. Conventional customer service metrics like length or number of phone calls dont paint the full picture. Using qualitative, conversation-based data, government officials can see where citizens drop off or are left unsatisfied. Data from CX platforms can quickly give government officials visibility into points of frustration and areas for improvement without the need for lengthy and costly surveys. They can also identify where in their G2C journeys citizens may be giving up.However, capturing the data isnt enough: improving the G2C experience means that agencies need to apply these metrics to decision-making processes already in place. As with any technological investment, leaders need to invest time and resources to deliver the changes that citizens demand to modernize the public sector.Improving the G2C experience isnt easy, but modern CX technologies can have a big impact. These cost-effective, highly accessible tools have proven their worth in the private sector, and they can surely help local governments better understand and meet citizen expectations. Agencies then translate those expectations into targeted, effective service improvements will see public satisfaction go up even as delivery and engagement costs come down. Across the country, a system called online dispute resolution (ODR) is taking hold within municipal and county court systems.ODR is helping individuals resolve legal troubles without having to set foot in the courtroom. So far, its being used in small claims court settling arguments between neighbors over fences, or helping with debt collection issues, among other things as well in some divorce cases.The concept behind it is simple: A back and forth online negotiation replaces the need to appear in court, easing the load for overburdened court systems while helping residents get equitable access to justice. This removes the need to take time off work, hire a lawyer or physically spend time in a government building.The effort to facilitate the systems spread is one thats been studied, publicized and guided by nonprofit organizations . Ultimately, though, its continued growth is an effect of private-public cooperation, with private-sector companies simplifying and selling the platforms that courtrooms and other governing bodies at the state, county and local levels are buying in to.Earlier this month at South by Southwest (SXSW) the technology, film and music conference in Austin, Texas a panel was held about this very topic , during which the participants agreed that products developed by the private sector have been responsible for the quick spread of ODR, which is now being used by more than 50 jurisdictions throughout the 50 states.Judge Randall Slagle of Travis County, Texas, adopted ODR for his courtroom through a system from Tyler Technologies called Modria Online Dispute Resolution in August. Slagles court uses ODR for small claims cases of $10,000 or less. In addition to easing the burden on the court and enabling participants to handle legal issues without hiring lawyers, Slagle said another benefit has been fostering genial solutions to disputes.Many cases, I truly think, benefit not only from having their cases resolved in a faster, more expedient manner, Slagle said, but they resolve their case in a way where they can continue being neighbors. Both parties while maybe not being extremely happy are not going to hate each other.Taking the emotion out of the disagreement, or at least keeping the negotiations practical, is by design, said Jamie Gillespie general manager of ODR for Tyler Technologies. ODR is a more rigid form of online communication than something conversational like texting, which allows participants to dredge up past history and express feelings of anger. Gillespie said that Tylers Modria has predefined workflows that ask simple questions about how much money participants are willing to pay or accept, among other things.If years of conflict have built up to this, thats not relevant, Gillespie said. So were asking questions about what the the problem is and getting them to be very specific about what theyre looking for.Slagle, Gillespie and the panelists at SXSW all agreed that the future for ODR in Americas court system is a bright one, envisioning a time when it will be standard throughout the country. Elements of the Italian media are wondering if Ferrari's 2019 title hopes have collapsed after just a single race. The Maranello team dominated pre-season testing, but in Australia were outclassed by Mercedes and Red Bull-Honda. The press is not impressed. "Even Alonso in 2012 did better than Vettel in 2019," wrote Il Giornale. Corriere della Sera added: "Melbourne hides more serious ills. Binotto must make a diagnosis and then apply the therapy." There are five leading theories as to what went wrong. First, Ferrari was conspicuously slow in the speed traps in Melbourne. Jean Alesi, a former Ferrari driver, told Canal Plus that he has heard from his friends at Maranello that after reliability concerns in testing, including exhaust failures, the team turned down the power in Melbourne. That could account for a 20kph deficit in some speed traps. Team boss Mattia Binotto said: "Of course we will analyse everything including the comparison with the cars of the other teams. "But in general we lacked the balance, and this of course affects the speed at the exit of the corners." The second theory is that Ferrari simply didn't make the Pirelli tyres work in Australia. And the third theory is that Ferrari's unique front wing concept worked perfectly on the super-smooth Barcelona track, but not on the bumps at Albert Park. "Ferrari suddenly were using unusually steep wings," Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko noted, according to Auto Bild. He said of the 2019 tyres: "They are so stiff that you can hardly get them to work on a track with little grip. "We had the problem too, but once we got them to the right temperature, the performance gain is incredible." The fourth theory is that Ferrari simply got the setup wrong in Melbourne. "It's difficult to find the right setup for these new cars, and Ferrari definitely took a wrong turn but there is no fundamental problem," Mercedes' Toto Wolff is quoted by DPA news agency. Vettel agrees: "We have all the ingredients for a strong car. And not every circuit is like Melbourne." And the fifth theory is that Ferrari is lacking driver experience in 2019. "The tactics used for Vettel showed that they did not understand how the medium Pirelli worked," Maurizio Voltini, writing for Autosprint, said. "My conclusion is they lost their way during the weekend. I think they paid dearly for Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniil Kvyat not being there." (GMM) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 12) The plight of tens of thousands of waterless households in Metro Manila may be alleviated in April once the two water concessionaires for the metropolis share resources to augment supply. Maynilad Water Services, Inc., the water concessionaire for the west zone, on Tuesday said it has committed 50 million liters per day (MLD) through cross-border flow or supply sharing with Manila Water Company, Inc. to help address the latter's supply needs. In a media briefing on Tuesday, Ronald Padua, Maynilad supply operations head, said the additional supply will come from Maynilad's new water treatment plant in Muntinlupa City that harvests raw water from Laguna Lake. The plant will be fully operational by April. "Kung bibigyan ng 24 hours ang isang customer at normal consumption, ang 50 MLD ay roughly 50,000 na bahay ang pwedeng bigyan," he said. The supply sharing will help Manila Water customers in portions of Quezon City, Paranaque, and Taguig. Aside from sharing its water treatment plant, which is projected to produce a total of 300 MLD by April, Maynilad is also lending five water tankers in addition to Manila Water's 26 water tankers that go around barangays to supply water. Maynilad and Manila Water are no strangers to supply sharing. During the 2010 and 2015 El Nino episodes, Maynilad had to take in water supply from Manila Water. Padua said they used that experience to make sure the situation will be prevented in future drought or dry spell conditions. "Noong 2010, severely affected si Maynilad ng nangyaring El Nino. Since then, we've invested a lot in putting up water reservoirs, pump stations, and constructing water treatment plant. Itong mga bagay ang nakatulong sa amin to better prepare sa scenario tulad ng El Nino," he said. Manila Water said its water allocation from Angat Dam is not enough to meet the rising demand of its customers in the east zone. It said it had to tap reserves at La Mesa Dam, which has dipped below critical level worsened by lack of rainfall in the area. Meanwhile, Maynilad is augmenting supply from Angat Dam as it is using small reservoirs and the Laguna Lake as additional water sources, Padua said. Manila Water on Tuesday said aside from the help of Maynilad, it has begun drilling deep wells. Its chief operating officer, Geodino Carpio, said it could provide an additional 30 MLD by April. It is also hoping to draw 50 MLD from the treatment plant in Cardona, Rizal. Manila Water customers can expect "below-normal" water conditions throughout summer, Carpio said. Volkswagen Brand China and its Chinese joint venture FAW-Volkswagen are scaling up their cooperation in the area of digitalization and connectivity. MOS Intelligent Connectivity Technology Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Volkswagen Group China and FAW-Volkswagen, will be established in the Chinese city of Chengdu. The partners are investing a total of RMB 1 billion (US$149 million) in the company that will operate under the MOSI brand (Mobile Online Services Intelligent). The objective is to develop and offer digital services for all future Volkswagen models of FAW-Volkswagen from 2019 onwards, including vehicles based on the modular electric toolkit (MEB) from 2020. With the new joint venture, the Volkswagen brand is forging ahead with the development of its automotive ecosystem in China. Developing digital offers for our Chinese customers is one of Volkswagens key focus points. As we are starting to fully connect our models, so comes the opportunity to enrich our customers lives with high-quality digital services. Deepening the cooperation with our colleagues at FAW-Volkswagen, means Volkswagen can further integrate technical and customer knowledge, to create the best services for Chinese customers. We intend to offer a profound positive answer to their ever changing mobility needs. Dr. Stephan Wollenstein, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand and CEO of Volkswagen Brand China The establishment of MOSI marks the official arrival of the digital era for FAW-Volkswagen Volkswagen brand. In Chinese, the two characters Mo Si stand for Morse code, which endows the traditional OEM with digitization, as well as a sense of science and technology; while the two characters "Zhi Lian" stand for intelligent connectivity. With the English name MOS plus I, for intelligent, put together being the Chinese pinyin for Morse code, this also indicates the friendly partnership between China and the West. FAW-Volkswagen will further develop this company in a healthy, efficient and compliant way, and enhance capabilities in discovering and developing what customers want. With the strong support and effective cooperation existing between our two companies both in China and Germany, we will jointly keep pace with digitization, in order to meet requirements for our companys strategic presence. Dong Xiuhui, Commercial Vice President of FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd., President of FAW-Volkswagen Sales Co., Ltd., and Chairman of the BoD of MOS Intelligent Connectivity Technology Co. Ltd. (In Mandarin, the pinyin (romanization) of MOSI is Mo Si Zhi Lian ().) Chengdu is a Chinese metropolis with a strong IT foothold. Vehicle-related services will be developed in close cooperation with Volkswagens digital experts in China and Germany. Focus areas are the development of customer-centric connectivity services, the development of value-added services and the development of data-analytics competence, and to find areas for further service scope extension in order to enhance the in-vehicle customer experience. MOSIs ecosystem approach means third party service providers are an important part of the plans. Enabling and strengthening advanced connectivity technologies for holistic user experience is another area of development. Digital online services from MOSI will be available for future FAW-Volkswagen Volkswagen brand models starting towards the end of 2019. From 2020 onwards, the joint venture will concentrate more intensively on vehicles based on the MEB. Volkswagen sees a clear role for MOSI to develop into a competence center for new data-based business models in China. With the new joint venture, the Volkswagen brand will push ahead with the development of its automotive ecosystem linking the connected vehicle, the cloud-based platform and value-added digital services in China. The objective is to develop more and more digital services that customers will be able to access via the Volkswagen Automotive Connectivity Solutions. XL delivered 154 hybrid electric (HEV) GMC Savana Cargo vans to the California Vanpool Authority (also known as CalVans) to improve the fuel efficiency and sustainability of its agriculture transportation fleet. According to the company, the order represents the largest single hybrid electric van deployment in California to date. The new vans offer clean and affordable transportation to seasonal agricultural workers, who often travel up to 85 miles each way to their job sites. Since 2001, CalVans has been working to reduce its total number of vehicle miles traveled annually, while also reducing greenhouse emissions. Over the last two years, CalVans has eliminated more than 218 million miles traveled and reduced greenhouse gas by approximately 120 metric tons through their CalVans vanpools. The companys efforts will be elevated by incorporating hybrid electric vehicles into their Agricultural Industries Transportation Services (AITS) program, which provides qualified agricultural workers with safe, affordable transportation. The project, funded by the California Air Resources Board, is increasing access to zero-emission and near zero-emission transportation and mobility options for low-income residents. CalVans expects to realize a 25% increase in MPG from its XL hybrid electric vans, compared to its standard gasoline-powered fleet vehicles, saving money on fuel costs while helping to achieve sustainability goals. Hyundai Mobis is partnering with Russias biggest IT company to develop an autonomous driving platform. Hyundai Mobis a entered into an MOU for joint development of an AI-based autonomous driving platform with Yandex, one of the Europes largest Internet companies that build intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. The essence of the MOU is to jointly develop an AI-based fully autonomous vehicle platform and to provide unmanned mobility services such as robotaxis. Starting with this cooperation, the two companies anticipate to expand the scope of the mutual cooperation to include artificial intelligence technologies for voice and video recognition, as well as infotainment technologies. It is the first time that Hyundai Mobis has signed an MOU with a global IT company. Our self-driving technologies are unique and have already proven their scalability. Yandexs self-driving cars have been successfully driving on the streets of Moscow, Tel Aviv and Las Vegas, which means the fleet can be expanded to drive anywhere. It took us just two years to go from the first basic tests to a full-fledged public robotaxi service. Now, thanks to agreement with Hyundai Mobis, we will be able to move even faster. Arkady Volozh, CEO of Yandex The driving platform will be configured by Hyundai Mobis by installing autonomous driving sensors and developing vehicle control software. Yandex will integrate their AI-based autonomous driving software in this platform and will perform extensive tests. The co-developed platform will be deployed in the newest generation of Hyundai Sonata, which will serve as robotaxi. The size of the fleet will be increased to up to 100 vehicles and the services will be available throughout Russia and other countries where Yandex is licensed to operate autonomous vehicles. Connecticut earned a positive credit rating outlook Tuesday from Standard & Poors, marking the first time in 18 years, according to the state Treasurers office, that any of the big three Wall Street bond ratings agencies has raised the states outlook to positive. A positive outlook driven by the states budget reserve fund means S&P could raise the states ratings, including its A rating on the main general obligation bonds. Were still waiting for the first increase in the states actual bond rating since the first year of the millennium. Surprising that we never had an upgrade in the decent years of 2004-06, but so be it. For a state that remains beleaguered and subject to backsliding, well take what we can get. The bulging reserve fund, set to exceed $2.2 billion this summer, will amount to more than 10 percent of the budget. OK, lets call it adequately funded, but for us, thats bulging, considering it was at 1.2 percent at the end of fiscal 2017, as S&P noted. Our positive outlook anticipates at least a one-in-three possibility that Connecticut could retain high reserves through the upcoming biennium, despite weak revenue and demographic trends, or that future debt issuance could be substantially reduced, S&P said in a report. Only one-in-three? Clearly, Connecticuts shaky fundamentals remain a big worry, of course. Still, if we had online gambling, Id take those odds. The improvement could be a sign that Wall Street likes tolls, which tend to lower debt. State Treasurer Shawn Wooden said the outlook change came just days after he, Gov. Ned Lamont and Melissa McCaw, Lamonts budget chief, made presentations to the ratings agencies at the Capitol. This positive change in Connecticuts credit outlook is another significant step in the right direction, Wooden said. The next step is to follow through on plans to address our current economic challenges and continue building a stable foundation for future growth and financial sustainability. Thats easier said than done, as we learned last year when few if any of the recommendations of a growth and sustainability commission made it into the budget. The governor has proposed a budget that adds to existing reserves, but doing so in the final adopted budget might require politically unpalatable measures, such as reductions in local aid, the S&P report said. Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, credited the reserve fund increase to an insistence by Republicans that tax collections on capital gains and dividends over a certain threshold go into the reserve rather than the general fund for spending. The bipartisan budgets of the last two years put a stop to the one-party Democrat rule that hurt our state, Fasano said in a written release. This news is further evidence that now is not the time to turn back to the tax-and-spend policies of the previous administration that hurt our state for so many years. Hes right about the reserve fund but overstates former Gov. Dannel P. Malloys budget record; Malloy actually cut spending on regular government, though he increased borrowing. Now Fasano and other Republicans want to borrow to fix the states roads and bridges, starving other capital projects around the state, rather than install tolls, Lamonts preferred method. As that debate rages on, S&P seems to prefer tolls as a way to reduce debt. The governors proposal to implement new highway tolling could provide a non-tax revenue source to support Connecticuts significant transportation capital needs, the report said. Moodys and Fitch Ratings both affirmed Connecticuts credit ratings and maintained their stable outlooks, Wooden said in a release. Connecticut is set to sell $850 million in general obligation bonds this month and the rates investors demand will send a message about Wall Streets view of Connecticuts condition. The biggest issue as the state plows ahead: In order to keep debt down and avoid dipping into the reserve fund, the state must either raise taxes and risk losing more residents, or cut spending in ways that no one has figured out how to do. While todays news is welcomed, McCaw said in a written release, it carries with it a caution, as well....Many of the problems our state faces are many decades old and there are not easy fixes to resolve them, but the rating agencies have made clear those reforms and difficult choices will lead to a brighter financial future for our state. dhaar@hearstmediact.com If you're heading overseas for business or pleasure, here are a few tips I've learned (the hard way) that will help you maximize your productivity and your fun. Wherever youre going outside the US, chances are the bandwidth will suck and Google Maps will not be able to get you where you need to go. Take a few minutes to download the maps for the area youre traveling to before you leave, and youll never get lost abroad. Here's how to do it: Go into settings in the Google Maps app and find the option for Offline Maps. Choose Custom Map. Zoom out on the map to include the area youre visiting. Choose Download. If you need to download a larger area, you can repeat this process for overlapping areas, and youre ready to go! 2. Get an international data plan. (If youre stupid and rich, skip this section.) If you plan on calling, texting and using data, you must take this step before you leave the USA. Go to your carriers website and see whats covered in the places youre visiting, and find a plan that works for you. If theres a monthly fee for the plan, makes sure to cancel it right after you return home! Option two is to turn off data roaming when you travel, but then most every app (Yelp, Google Maps, Email, etc.) wont work. If you can live with that, youre leading a better life than I am! Here are links to some of the bigger carriers' international plans: Related: The Hotel Owner Who Called Out a Blogger for Asking for a Free Room 3. Find the right power adapter and bring a few -- or bring an electrician. Most electronics adapt to the difference in the voltage from country to country automatically, but youll still need to deal with the funny looking plugs. Before you leave, you should have a few adapters in your luggage. To find out what kind youll need, check out this guide. And be sure to have one in your carry-on luggage, so you can charge your phone during layovers or if your luggage gets lost. 4. Buy a portable charger -- and remember to bring it! Portable chargers are a lifesaver when traveling abroad. Phones tend to run out of battery faster when you're roaming, and its no fun being stranded with no place to charge. Choose a small but powerful portable charger, something that fits comfortably in your everyday gear, so you don't regret carrying it. And bring a longer charger cord, so you can charge your phone while youre using it. Here's one I really like. 5. See if Uber operates where youre going. Uber is an excellent choice to get around when you're traveling, especially in countries where getting a taxi might require you to go to specific locations or call ahead. Uber doesnt operate everywhere, so youll have to check their list of international cities. And make sure to create an Uber account before you leave if you don't have one already. (Seriously? No Uber account?) Are you more of a Lyft fan? Great if you're going to Canada, but other than that, you're out of luck. Related: Check Out This CIA Operative's 9-Step Hotel Safety Checklist 6. Use ATMs for cash -- but only bank ATMs. Youll probably need some local currency, even if you mostly use credit cards. It is always good to have a little local cash on hand for incidentals and tips. Just avoid the airport currency exchanges to get your dough. Using currency exchanges at the airport is a suckers bet unless you love complex fees and exchange rate manipulation. ATMs in other countries are an easy solution and typically have an option in English (Hint: Click the U.S. or UK flag when it asks!) But only use ATMs that are operated by actual banks, not by currency exchange companies. And avoid no-name ATMs found in tiny shops and all-night markets -- theyre notorious for odd fees and stealing identities. Keep all of your ATM receipts until you can crosscheck your records back home. Related: 10 Things You Need To Do If You're Flying In Bad Weather 7. Avoid the credit card hustle. Credit cards are a great way to manage your overseas spending, but here are some things to check so you don't wind up with unexpectedly huge bills. Some cards charge a fee for each overseas transaction. This can get painful in a hurry. Avoid using those cards altogether, as there are many that have no additional fees for charging abroad. overseas transaction. This can get painful in a hurry. Avoid using those cards altogether, as there are many that have no additional fees for charging abroad. Speak to American Express its a brand built on travel, and they offer a ton of cards with features and benefits for the overseas traveler. AMEX is pretty fair with respect to exchange rates and is excellent at protecting its members against fraud. One caveat: there are some merchants that dont accept AMEX, so be sure to have a backup card or some cash on hand. Pay in the local currency if you're ever presented with the option to see your total in dollars, when checking out. While its nice that the credit card machines can show the amount in dollars, the hidden exchange rate offered is typically way worse than what your credit card company will charge. Just say no, and pay in the local currency. 8. Be smart with your passport, dummy. Make two photocopies of your passport before you depart -- leave one at home with a friend and take one with you. In case you lose your passport, you can use this copy to help start the process of cleaning up this mess you're in. You should also take a good photo of the passport with your phone. Always secure your passport as soon as you arrive at your destination, like the hotel safe. And set a calendar reminder for the date and time you're leaving so you don't go to the airport without it! Related: 8 International Travel Tips From a Guy Who Lives Out of a Suitcase How to Stay Productive and on Task When Traveling for Work Why Asia Continues to Dominate the Global Travel Industry Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Lawmakers in Florida want to give residents the right to buy, possess and use marijuana recreationally. Problem is, not enough lawmakers in Florida want to give people that right. The state Legislature is controlled by Republicans and newly elected Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, is opposed to adult-use legalization. That makes passage of marijuana legalization highly unlikely, but that hasnt stopped Orlando Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Miami Beach Rep. Michael Grieco from introducing a bill that would legalize possession of marijuana for recreational use. Guillermo Smith boiled his argument down to a simple point, according to FOX 35 News in Orlando: It's just kind of a no-brainer, you know? There's no reason why the state cannot regulate cannabis in a similar way they regulate alcohol use." Related: Federal Regulators Are Blocking the Cannabis Boom but Congress Keeps Them In the Way Florida joins the 2019 state legalization trend. Proposals to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, New Mexico and New Hampshire look to have good chances of becoming law, and New York lawmakers are working hard on legalization legislature but don't expect to be done as soon as Governor Andrew Cuomo wanted. Florida and New York are significant. They are, respectively, the third and fourth most populous states in the U.S. and together have about 12.5 percent of the countrys population. California, the most populous state and home to one of every 12 Americans, already has legalized marijuana. The bill filed by Guillermo Smith and Grieco would allow those 21 or older to purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces. It would restrict using marijuana to private places. The bill also directs 5 percent of all marijuana revenue to the state Department of Health to fund grants that support peer-reviewed marijuana research. Related: Will New Mexico Be The Next To Legalize? Doomed to failure. This is the first marijuana legalization bill ever filed in Florida, according to the Miami Herald. However, there is little chance of success. In addition to opposition from DeSantis, Republican House Speaker Jose Oliva opposes even medical marijuana. Grieco told the Herald thats no concern. He anticipates changes are coming to the Sunshine State and across the nation. In Florida, voters may consider a ballot initiative in 2020 legalizing marijuana if the Legislature hasnt already done so by then. He also anticipates that Congress will at least debate New Jersey Sen. Cory Bookers Marijuana Justice Act, which would legalize marijuana nationally. As Grieco said, Even if we get pushback, it continues the conversation. For his part, Guillermo Smith told the Herald, No one is dying from cannabis overdoses, but they are getting arrested and being given criminal records for no good reason ... We expect that its always going to be a tough legislative route, but thats not a reason to stop advocating for it. Follow dispensaries.com on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: Israeli Study Finds Marijuana Has Promise for Treating Autism Symptoms Adult-Use Marijuana Is a 'No-Brainer' for Two Florida Lawmakers but Just a 'No' for Most CBD: Hazy Regulations, Huge Rewards Lure Entrepreneurs Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved CHESHIRE U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, returned to her roots Tuesday the educational kind hosting nearly 30 high school students from a number of communities that she represents. The former national Teacher of the Year held a late afternoon pancake lunch at Pauls Restaurant on Highland Avenue to update the students on what she has been doing since being sworn in two months ago as Connecticuts first African American congresswoman. She reminded the students that even though they cant vote yet, their willingness to work tirelessly for causes they believe in makes them a force with which to be reckoned. I want to create a space where I can help you leverage your values, Hayes said. Government is about the people. Its not about businesses and the economy. Hayes is devoting much of the early days of her first term focusing on educational issues. She serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor. Before arriving at the Cheshire event, Hayes was at Kennedy High School in Waterbury. There she participated in a press conference announcing legislation she has sponsored in the House that would make it clear the U.S. Department of Education can not allow school districts to use federal funds for the purpose of arming teachers. One of the reasons Hayes said she ran for Congress was that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said last year that they agency would no longer prohibit school districts from using federal funds to purchase firearms or provide firearms training for teachers. There was no way I was going to carry a gun in my classroom, she said. Hayes said after her meeting with the students that she is optimistic that Democratic controlled Congress will pass some kind legislation to help college students deal with the debt loads they are carrying into young adulthood. The congresswoman said she is still paying off her college loans. Absolutely, Hayes said when asked whether she had any college loans. I think I have more debt than everybody on the Hill. Some of the student who attended were members of the Pathways/Senderos Center, a program that is part of a part of Greater New Britain Teen Pregnancy Inc. Program co-directors Heather Mills and Nick Jakubowski said that the 60 students the program has each year really get enthused when Hayes is around them, they hang on her every word. They liked to be talked with, not at, Jakubowski said. The kids relate to her because shes a teacher and because shes like they are: She grew up poor, was an unwed mother and has still achieved all that she has been able to achieve. Also in attendance was Dan Moran, a Cheshire High School freshman who worked on Hayes campaign last fall. Moran admitted to being a little star struck when he first met Hayes. Its like she shines a light on young people, the 15-year-old said. Shes very easy to relate to. Its so rare in politics that you find someone who really excites people. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com MILFORD A fire at Silver Sands State Park that destroyed three controversial, nearly completed buildings at the beach and closed the site for at least a day remains under investigation. With visitors kept out, investigators from the state Fire Marshals Office searched the 297-acre park Wednesday to determine what caused the fire, which was reported at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Were treating it as an active and open investigation, said Capt. Keith Williams of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protections Environmental Conservation Police. As for whether the fire was suspicious, Williams said, We are looking it at that way and will not rule it out. The units were scheduled to be open for Memorial Day weekend. They are part of a contested $9.1 million construction project to create a bathhouse, concessions and office space. The park will remain closed for as long as necessary to investigate the fire and protect the safety of the public, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said. Though we are saddened by the loss of the buildings under construction, the most important thing is that no one was injured fighting the fire. Jeff Beckham, a spokesman for the states Department of Administrative Services, which was overseeing construction, said the general contractor, Scopes Construction of New Britain, was required to carry insurance. Those details are being reviewed, Beckham said. He said the project had temporary electrical power at the time of the fire, and that there had been no overnight surveillance. The buildings were close to being finished, Williams said. This is devastating for the state (and) DEEP, to put that much effort into it (and have the project) go up in flames. Milford Mayor Ben Blake said investigators were working on several theories, but added that he could not elaborate. It is a tragedy, the mayor said, describing the project as a big public investment. Blake and others from Milford had opposed the building project at Silver Sands, which annually attracts a quarter-million visitors. The mayor and other city officials did not attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony last December. Blake said he had been unaware of the event, but he admitted at the time there was tension. There are much better ways to spend $10 million, especially when the state is in dire need of funding, he said. Silver Sands was more of a natural type of environment. We were willing to work with the installation of a few bathrooms, but the size and scope of the plan became large. One of the issues the possibility of increased roadside parking in the area may have been defused by last summers initiation of the Passport to Parks program, which allows cars with Connecticut license plates to park for free at all state parks. But, Blake said in December, Overall, we still have concerns on the size, scope and need for this expansion. Friction had reached a crescendo in 2017, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy overcame legislative opposition to the long-term bonding for the project, then proposed cutting education funding for 85 affluent towns, including Milford, during a summer-long budget impasse. Milford Fire Department Battalion Chief Anthony Fabrizi said Wednesday the fire was so damaging that the only thing salvageable are the ramps and pilings. Firefighters had arrived to find two of the structures fully engulfed and a third building about half in flames, officials said. The incident was brought under control in approximately two hours, Fabrizi said. Before the project was approved, state Rep. Kim Rose, D-Milford, had proposed a bill to reduce its scope. Rose said she didnt oppose all aspects of the Silver Sands project, such as the restrooms. But she had concerns about a storage facility and office space for DEEP employees. In a written commentary about her proposed bill, Rose said, Its difficult for others who either do not live in Milford or go to Silver Sands to understand that this is an environmental issue, a pristine natural area that should remain that way. Bonding this much money is irresponsible for a project that is a luxury. Rose was at the state park Wednesday morning and said the fire was a shame, but that she was grateful no one was hurt. Yes, we opposed it, Rose said as she looked at the destruction. But it was built, and no one likes to see this happen. Staff writers Jill Dion and Linda Conner Lambeck contributed to this report. A woman has pleaded guilty to pushing her 16-year-old friend from a bridge at a popular swimming area near Vancouver. The Columbian reports 19-year-old Taylor Smith pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment Monday in Clark County District Court. Prosecutors are recommending no jail time when Smith is sentenced later this month. Smith pushed Jordan Holgerson off the bridge Aug. 7 at Moulton Falls northeast of Vancouver. Video posted on YouTube that went viral shows Holgerson being pushed. Holgerson broke six ribs and punctured her lungs in a fall of over 50 feet. She is lucky she is not paralyzed or dead. Were lucky she is going to recover and not have permanent injuries, Genelle Holgerson, Jordan's mother, told The Longview Daily News after the incident. Genelle Holgerson said she was angry with Smith. Im very upset with her. She is an adult, and Im sure she should have known better. She could have killed my daughter," Genelle Holgerson said. In an interview with KGW, Jordan Holgerson said the so-called "friend" who pushed her has apologized but that it's not enough. I couldve died, she said. It couldve ended a lot worse." In an interview on Good Morning America, Smith said she didnt consider the repercussions. Outside the courtroom, Genelle Holgerson said she and her daughter want this chapter of their lives to be over. The European Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion for misusing its dominant position on the market for search advertising. According to Margrethe Vestager, the antitrust commissioner at Brussels, said Google used restrictive clauses with partners to cement its dominance. The official press release says Google prohibited AdSense for Search clients to use adverts from competitors on its website. AdSense for Search is essentially a Google Search box on a clients website. When visitors used it, Google split the commission from the ad revenue. At first the company prevented partners from using any other search engines, but in 2009 mellowed and allowed inclusion of rivals as long as Googles had key positions. Eventually, in 2016 the terms were removed altogether. The total sum of the fine is 1,494,459,000, which is 1.29% of the company revenue for 2018. This is the third fine Google gets from the EC after the 2017 fine of 2.42 billion for misuing its dominant position with Google Shopping and after the 4.3 billion slap in the summer of 2018 for forcing manufacturers to use Chrome in order to have access to Google Play. The latest fine is relatively low due to the company cooperation in the past few years to fix its AdSense platform. Meanwhile, Google posted a press release on its blog, announcing that existing and new owners of Android devices across Europe will have the choice which browser and search apps they would like to use. This is now possible after creating new separate licenses for its app store, browser and search engine and mostly thanks to the European Commission and its antitrust regulations. Source 1 Source 2 Apple is announcing a subscription-based TV and video service on March 25, but Netflix productions wont be part of it. This was confirmed by the company CEO Reed Hastings, Reuters reports. Speaking to journalists, Hastings said Netflix prefers to let its customers enjoy its content on its own service. "We have chosen not to integrate with their service, he said. The Apple service will resell subscriptions from CBS, Viacom, Lions Gate, as well as offer original productions. The market might heat up since Walt Disney and AT&T WarnerMedia also plan to offer streaming services soon. Hastings said the biggest challenge for Netflix is to not get too distracted by rivals, but still learn lessons from them. Source Samsung Electronics held its annual shareholders' meeting and company officials announced good news for the smartphone business. DJ Koh, head of the Mobile division, is confident about a positive change of the company fortunes in China - a market where the company's market share plunged from 20% in 2013 to under 1% in 2018. The Samsung executive told shareholders, that everything has been changed - organization, people, distribution channels. The latest flagships and midrangers will bring a positive change to the Chinese market. According to Reuters, some of the cards Samsung has in its sleeve are the Galaxy Fold, the Galaxy S10 5G and other premium technologies that companies like Apple wont match until 2020. Samsung Galaxy S10 5G In order to push smartphone users to switch to Samsung, the Korean maker offers buyback deals on JD.com, the biggest online retailer in China. You can give your old phone back and get a new Galaxy S10 with up to CNY3,000 ($450) discount. According to sources, sales are two times more than the Galaxy S9 smartphones, reaching over 500,000 units in the first two weeks since the market launch. Source 1 Source 2 (in Chinese) PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Tuesday commemorated 30 years the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce brought businesses across the county together for their annual industrial trade show. The show was held at the B.E. Mac McGinty Civic Center where businesses intermingled with one another, finding camaraderie among one another to strengthen relationships and partnerships throughout the county. Austin Poole, representative with WESCO located in Moss Point said the industrial trade show provides an added visibility to alert the community of their presence in the county. I think today simply gives people the opportunity to see us and know that were here, Poole said. Anyone can utilize us whether it is Chevron, Ingalls or just a mom-and-pop business -- we offer everyone something. The show allows businesses of all sizes and many classifications to promote themselves in one location and provides the environment of face to face interaction where attendees learn about new and existing products and opportunities. Bryan Cooper of Mississippi Security Police said many of the businesses on hand at Tuesdays trade show utilized the companys services before, but added the networking potential the show provided was invaluable. Our company is here really just having a good time and mixing and mingling with everyone, Cooper said. We do business with a good deal of the businesses in here, but it is also good to see what it is they offer and help to strengthen our relationship with anyone we have not worked with before. MOSS POINT, Miss. -- Small business owners and residents want business and industry to move into the City of Moss Point to improve the citys tax base. However, according to Mayor Mario King, citizens can help do so by paying their bills on time and keeping their property up to code. Revenue has increased in the building inspections department according to King from around $500 monthly to $7,000 based on fines accumulated from property owners who have a surplus of cars in their yards, burning things other than what is designated under their burn permit or simply allowing their property to become an eyesore in the community. All of that money goes right back into tearing those houses down -- we dont take that money out of the department, it remains there, King said. The goal is to clean up Moss Point and we will hold you accountable. When discussions about tax increases are brought up, King said there are property owners who invest $200,000 per se into building homes, but homes around it for example are around $60,000 so property value on homes where a large sum of money was invested may be assessed at $100,000. King continued saying that when taxes are raised, the property owners who invested large sums of money into a home end up paying the most taxes without seeing the return on their investment. We want to build equity within the city in order to provide everyone with the same resources by holding people accountable," King said. Were trying to change the stereotype of what people think about communities that look like ours, but we have to change our mindset as well. People of Moss Point want to see increased revenue and more opportunities, not more taxes. King said for the city to come back, residents play a key role in that happening. Code enforcement is all about public safety and about providing property maintenance for our constituents and the people of Moss Point, building official Andrew Beamon said. No one wants to walk outside their front yard and look at an overgrown lot, especially when you just had yours cut. King also had Beamon generate a report to see how many business owners renewed and paid their fees for their business license and found that multiple businesses operating in the city had not paid or renewed in 10-plus years. Beamon took a Mississippi Press reporter to various dilapidated properties owned in the city where grass covered one home and according to Beamon, a woman was allegedly raped in an unkempt home. Everyone needs to look at this as a collaborative effort -- constituents, aldermen, the state and county, we are all in this together and need one another to be successful, King said. When it comes to generating revenue in the city, each department is accountable for creating its own revenue stream. Money accumulated through fines go directly to those departments where it is reinvested. Ad valorem taxes are not used to remove eyesores in the community, King said. If property owners dont respond, properties go up for tax sale and that money from the tax sale goes into the general fund, eventually becoming ad valorem revenue. We want to be a service providing organization, not an employment organization. We employ people, but our goal is to provide services in the most effective and efficient way as possible. Haiti - FLASH : Donald Trump will receive the leader of Haiti in Mar-a-Lago The press secretary of the White House in a statement informs : Text of the statment : "President Donald J. Trump will welcome the leaders of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia on Friday, March 22, 2019, for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago. President Trumps meeting with the Caribbean leaders will reaffirm our strong friendship with and commitment to these countries, and signal the importance of the Caribbean to the hemisphere. The President will discuss his vision for our diverse relationships in the Caribbean and the potential opportunities for energy investment. The President looks forward to working with countries in the region to strengthen our security cooperation and counter Chinas predatory economic practices. The President will use this meeting as an opportunity to thank these countries for their support for peace and democracy in Venezuela. The United States remains a good friend to the Caribbean and seeks to build on a proud legacy as the regions partner of choice." HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Gary Bodeau discussed about the PM with the Ambassador of France Tuesday at the Diplomatic Salon of the Chamber of Deputies, in the framework of the traditional meetings between the Ambassadors in Haiti and the Presidents of Bureau in the Parliament, the Deputy of Delmas Gary Bodeau, President of the Lower House met, with the Ambassador of France Jose Gomez. The two men discussed the electoral law, the organization of the elections, the commitment of Haiti vis-a-vis the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the national budget and the Haitian political situation. Gary Bodeau reassured the vote of the electoral law at the level of the lower house to provide the country with a legal tool that could facilitate the organization of the next election. There was also talk on the need for President Jovenel Moise, to appoint a new Prime Minister soon as the constitution of 1987 amended, informs us the communication unit of the Chamber of Deputies. HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2019/03/19 | Source Everyone is anticipating the comeback of Ji Chang-wook. Advertisement Ji Chang-wook posted a picture a while ago, wearing a rider jacket and riding his motorbike. He looks stunning. Ji Chang-wook was born in 1987 and is 33 years old this year. He debuted with the 2008 movie "Sleeping Beauty" and continued to star in "My Too Perfect Sons" and the musical "Thrill Me" which brought him to stardom. "Smile, Dong-hae" was his first leading drama in 2010. He had good chemistry with Park Min-young in the 2014 drama "Healer" and won the Best Couple Award at the KBS Drama Awards. He starred in "Suspicious Partner" last before he joined the military on the 14th of August, 2017. After finishing basic military training on September 21 of the same year, he was assigned to the 5th Artillery Brigade in Cheolwon-gun, Kangwon-do. He is in the 3rd division as an assistant trainer. Ji Chang-wook is being dischargec on the 27th of April, 2019. This past weekend, the annual Montana Seed Show was hosted at Harlem High School, marking 70 years of the Hi-Line tradition. Since 1949, the event has brought together members of the community to share expertise in a number of vocations and to compete in a slew of old traditions. In modern times, the show is a three-day blitz of agriculture, vendors, auctions, food and more, but it comes from much more humble beginnings. Seed Show Chairman Paul Rasmussen said the original seed show was a gathering of local potato farmers wishing to compare their crops in a time when potatoes were a key product in the area. "In 1949, it started as a seed and potato show," he said. "They called it the Milk River Certified Potato and Registered Seed Show. They were trying to make a place where registered seed growers could show off their seed stock. It was for potatoes, mostly, when it started, and it kind of got morphed into what it is now. It shows you how the times have changed." Rasmussen said he believes the idea for a show in Harlem was taken from a seed show in Malta that began more than 20 years prior, but with such a long history, some origins are being lost to time. "I knew they started the pie auction in 1963 because I have records that go back that far," he said, adding that other staples of the seed show, such as the bread auction, have more ambiguous beginnings. "Kenny Hansen, who was big into the seed show, had gone to an ag show somewhere and they had a pie bakeoff and he thought it would work here," he said. "Up until then they didn't have anything that made them any money, so they added the pie bakeoff. It used to be that they'd choose five finalists and those five finalists had to come back on Saturday and bake another pie. Then, they'd auction the pies off and that was a way they were bringing in money, and that's how we still make our money." Rasmussen said the pie and bread auctions are two of the biggest fundraisers for the non-profit seed show. Artists and vendors who participate, though, take home all the money from their sales, he added. "All of that money goes to the artists. The lunch counters, we don't take a cut from that, either. Today it all goes to the church, yesterday it all went to the swim team," he said. While fundraising efforts in recent years have been relatively meager, Rasmussen said the seed show board members wanted to spend a little extra to celebrate the event's 70th year. "We did a couple different things this year," he said. "Used to be, years ago, they did a kickoff dinner Thursday night, and it was for men only and they would smoke cigars and drink whisky. Friday night they had a style show and that was for the ladies." Rasmussen said a more inclusive version of the kickoff dinner was resurrected this year to celebrate the people who have been involved in running the show over the past 70 years. "It wasn't anything like what it used to be," he said. "There were a lot - a lot - of people who came before me who got (the seed show) here. I was trying to say thank you." While many of the original pillars of the Montana Seed Show are waning - there were no potatoes entered this year, and fewer seeds than in the past - the organizers still hope that newer features, like the health fair and guest speakers, will help make the show into something that survives for decades into the future. "I just want to thank the community, obviously, for helping us and supporting us for another year," Rasmussen said. "If they're not coming to help us, we won't be here. This isn't just Harlem, it's a lot of the surrounding area that pulls together to do this. We couldn't do it without the people here and around us." -- Please enjoy this video on our YouTube page: https://youtu.be/2IfaN89LEcg/. Ann Davies poses for a photograph after her contribution March 5 at the Chinook blood drive brought her total contributed to an amazing 13 gallons. Hey, Chinook, we did it again. Each blood donation can save up to three lives. Because of your generosity, 114 lives will be saved. Tuesday, March 5 in Chinook, 40 individuals showed up to donate on. With two deferrals, our total number of pints donated was 38, exceeding our goal of 35 by three. These numbers are really something to celebrate and we are grateful for each and every one of you who made our success possible. Ann Davies reached 13 gallons at this drive, Kayla Hudon and Josh Nordboe reached 2 gallons. Not pictured is our first time donor, Delmer Henry. The canteen was hosted by the American Lutheran Church and those tending to the goodies throughout the afternoon were Mildred Dawson, Millie Smith, Terry Grabofsky, Sharon LaPlant and Tammy Williams. The goodies were, as always enjoyed by all of our donors, volunteers and guests. We are all so happy to have had you participate in this important aspect of the blood drive. Pastor Jack Mattingly and the United Methodist Church once again so graciously provided the site for the drive at Wallner Hall. Setup for the drive was accomplished by Pastor Jack, Carla Jenewein and Judy Johnson. Cleanup for this drive, again, was made possible by Chrissy Downs and the Jump Youth Group. There are a lot of tables and chairs to move around and their willingness to assist is appreciated more than you know. Courtesy Photo Josh Nordboe poses for a photograph after his contribution March 5 at the Chinook blood drive brought his total contributed to 2 gallons. Door prizes were donated by the American Lutheran Church and North Central Montana Cattle Women. Taking home door prizes were Cindy Haney, Amber Huestis, Makayla Farmer, Paxtin McCann, Tuzz Langford, Elaine Hamilton, Jackie Gunderson, Karen Pike, Shellie McMaster, and Linda Thompson. Others who most certainly need to be recognized for their willingness to contribute to the smooth running of the drive each time are the ladies at the welcome table: Donna Murdy, Judy Johnson, Patti Treftz and Linda Thompson. Paulette Keller again came through and delivered the beef certificates to me promplty before the drive. To each and every one of you, my gratitude for your willingness to donate and to participate in one way or another is greatly appreciated. I apologize in advance if I have forgotten anybody. Sincerely Carla Jenewein, Red Cross Blood Drive coordinator for Chinook. Joel Schumacher and Kate Fuller from Montana State University Extension Office will present a free farm and ranch management workshop March 27-28 at Aaniiih Nakoda College in Fort Belknap. The first session begins at 9:30 a.m. March 27. The workshop is aimed at aiding and advising those on the aspect of managing risk for farm and ranch operations. Schumacher said the workshop also satisfies the borrower training requirement that the Farm Service Agency imposes as part of some loan programs. Fort Belknap is one of four reservations that have extension offices in Montana. However, Schumacher said, all of the tribal colleges offer some extension programing as well. Fort Belknap Extension Agent Liz Werk said the goal of the workshop is to provide community members, and communities as a whole, opportunities to build healthy and sustainable food systems and lifestyles. The two-day workshop provides landowners and land managers the opportunity to learn more about livestock and crop insurance and cattle production. It runs from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Registration is required by contacting Keri Hayes at 406-994-3511 or email at [email protected] Agenda: Day 1: Morning Session 9:30-9:40 a.m. Introduction to Sample Farm/Ranch Operations; George Haynes, MSU Extension 9:40-10:30 a.m. Bridging the Gap: Financial Reports to Enterprise Crop Budgets; George Haynes, MSU Extension 10:30-1:15 a.m. Mineral Nutrition Impact for Beef Cattle Production (video); Megan Von Emon, MSU Extension 11:15-11:30 a.m. Break 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Agricultural Policy Update; George Haynes, MSU Extension 12:15-1:15 p.m. Lunch on your own Day 1: Afternoon Session 1:15-2 p.m. Insurance Roadmap: Getting Started with Crop and Livestock Insurance Options; Kate Fuller, MSU Extension 2-3 p.m. Family Business Issues; George Haynes, MSU Extension 3-3:15 p.m. Break 3:15-4 p.m. Hay Production 101 (video); Emily Meccage, MSU Extension 4-5 p.m. Agricultural Outlook; Kate Fuller, MSU Extension Day 2: Morning Session 9-9:45 a.m. Pasture Leases with Sample Lease Calculation Examples; Kate Fuller, MSU Extension 9:45-10:30 a.m. Integrated Weed Management (video); Jane Mangold, MSU Extension 10:45-11:30 a.m. Managing Non-Ag Risk for Families: Life and Health Insurance; Joel Schumacher, MSU Extension 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Beef to School; Joel Schumacher, MSU Extension 12:15-1:15 p.m. Lunch on your own Day 2: Afternoon Session 1:15-2 p.m. Homegrown by Heroes Program; Ryan Lankford, R & L Lankford Farms 2-2:45 p.m. Introduction to Risk Management (Video); Eric Belasco, MSU Department of Agricultural Economics & Economics 2:45-3 p.m. Break 3-4:45 p.m. Tips for Successful Farm Transition: Retirement and Succession Planning; Joel Schumacher, MSU Extension 4:45-5 p.m. Wrap-up Last updated 3/20/2019 at 8:29am Havre Daily News staff A local group is holding a meeting Friday, March 22, to talk about creating what they call Montanas first farmer-owned hemp cooperative, and are inviting interested agricultural producers to attend. A press release said the objectives of creating a farmer-owned cooperative include: Group bargaining power Lower transaction costs in getting loans, Access to information. Power and control over production, inputs and land use, Educational classes in; production, post-harvest handling, business and out-put product marketing. The meeting wi... From NILE BILLINGS Applications for the NILE Merit Heifer program are now available for the 2019-2020 year. The NILE Merit Heifer program is a live animal scholarship, meaning the recipients are given a young, live, heifer calf. The objective is to to help youth get a start in the beef cattle business and gain knowledge about the beef industry. Program participants are chosen based on merit, future goals, and ability to care for the animal. 4-H or FFA members who are 12-16 years old may apply. Applicants are not limited to Montana residents. During the program duration, participan... Bureau of Reclamation is looking into Options for plans to modify Fresno Dam on which the bureau intends to start construction within the next two to three years as part of its Dam Safety Program. "Reclamation is currently evaluating alternatives to modify Fresno Dam," Reclamation Montana Area Manager Steve Davies said. "It's not because of damage that is there. The dam is fine, it's safe, we are under normal operations. But as part of our dam safety program, we've determined that, because of the age of the facility, the construction of the facility, we needed to make some modifications to... Jerri Lynn Denny, "Standing in Sunlight," 58, passed away due to natural causes on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, at Rocky Mountain Care in Murray, UT. Wake services began Tuesday, March 19, 2019, and will continue until her funeral service, which will take place at 10:00 a.m. today, March 20, 2019, all at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. Burial will follow in the William Denny Jr. Family Cemetery. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. Please visit Jerri's online memorial page and leave a message of condolence for her family at http://www.hollandbonine.com. Jerri was born on October 8, 1960, in Fort Belknap to William Denny Jr. and Roberta Buck. She was raised mostly in Rocky Boy, and graduated from Havre High School in 1978. Following high school, Jerri attended the College of Great Falls, majoring in liberal arts. After college, she began to travel extensively, finding work wherever she went. She was a creative woman who saw the good in everyone. As a younger woman, Jerri was a fancy shawl dancer at powwows and spoke eloquent Cree, and she taught herself to play the guitar despite her hearing loss in one ear. She recorded an album with Buddy Russette and the Cree-ations at age 17 which is still played today in Indian Country. Jerri's heart was kind and loving and her personality caused her to always remain positive. Jerri enjoyed playing her guitar and singing, writing poetry, making pottery and being around people. She was preceded in death by her father, William Denny Jr .; brother Arthur Curtis Buckles; grandparents William and Hattie Denny Sr., Emma Lame Bull and Charles Buck. Jerri is survived by her daughter, Ali Denny of Roosevelt, UT; grandsons, Arthur Webster and John Grey Cloud; mother, Roberta (Ridley Eagle Chief) Wind Chief of Utah; sisters, Wilma (Gil) Tyner of Rocky Boy and Johnna Denny of Nashville, TN; brother Clinton Denny of Fort Hall, ID; special friend Don Ruark of Utah; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and other extended family and friends. A ground breaking pancreatic cancer trial, which aims to match patients with more targeted and effective treatment for their tumours, has successfully recruited its 100th patient. Run by Precision-Panc, a research programme and clinical trials project led by the University of Glasgow with major funding from Cancer Research UK, the trial brings a precision medicine approach to pancreatic cancer treatment for the first time in the UK. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK with a 5-year survival rate of less than 3%. Around 9,800 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer per year in the UK and around 9,000 people die. In December 2017 Precision-Panc began working alongside colleagues in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board to recruit suitable pancreatic cancer patients to the Precision-Panc Master Protocol* at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The Glasgow-born project has been so successful in the last year, it has now been rolled out to 16 sites across the UK, offering potential treatment hope for pancreatic cancer patients nationwide. As part of the protocol, each patient undergoes tumour biopsy to obtain material that is then used for molecular profiling at the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory (GPOL) within the University of Glasgow. The results may then be used to help match patients to the most appropriate, currently available clinical trial. This ability to link clinical data with the patients unique molecular profiling data enables rapid new discoveries, and enhances the delivery of precision medicine to current and future patients. Professor Andrew Biankin, Chief Investigator of Precision Panc and Regius Chair of Surgery and Director of the University of Glasgow Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, said: I am extremely proud of what we have been able to achieve so far with Precision Panc. Recruiting the 100th patient is a milestone for us and signals our ability to make real changes to the lives and survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer. The success we have achieved so far including opening 17 sites across the country is testament to what we are able to achieve and deliver for patients as a team. The overall aim of PRECISION Panc is to make precision medicine a reality for more people with pancreatic cancer through building up knowledge that will ultimately allow clinicians to match patients with the most suitable treatment or clinical trial for them. The project aims to facilitate drug development, and ultimately new drug approval, allowing access and improving survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. Dr Ian Walker, Director of Clinical Research at Cancer Research UK, said: To make real progress in improving survival for people with pancreatic cancer, we need to understand which drugs will be most likely to provide benefit for individual patients. Through Precision-Panc, we are looking to do just that, and recruiting 100 patients is a huge landmark for this ambitious study. While overall survival from cancer has doubled over the last 40 years, pancreatic cancer has only seen little improvement, and too many people die from the disease each year. Innovative studies like Precision-Panc are vital to changing the outlook for these patients and we look forward to seeing how it continues to progress. About Precision-Panc and the PRIMUS Trials *The Master Protocol serves as the entry point to Precision-Panc and is the first step for patients to be recruited before enrolling onto a suitable clinical trial. Three clinical trials, funded in part by Cancer Research UK, will recruit a total of 658 pancreatic cancer patients under the Precision-Panc umbrella, with scope to add more trials in the future. Each clinical trial will test new drugs and combinations of drugs tailored to match specific patients. Precision-Panc is an ambitious programme of research that seeks to uncover the molecular profile of individual patients with pancreatic cancer, to learn more about the disease and to pave the way for patients entering clinical trials in a way that matches their tumour biology to the type of treatment. It is composed of a network of clinical trials aimed to find the right trial for the right patient matching patients to treatments most likely to work for their type of pancreatic cancer. It is designed to be comprehensive with a faster turnaround time than traditional clinical trials while advancing discovery through science and ultimately changing patient outcomes in this disease. Precision-Panc is a collaborative effort between clinicians, scientists and various other experts with key partnerships between the NHS GGC Biorepository, Molecular Genetics West of Scotland Genetic Services based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory at the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Center, University of Glasgow, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, and the CRUK Clinical Trials Unit formed to carry out tissue acquisition, storage, processing, testing and analysis. In 2017 Cancer Research UK committed 10 million investment to support Precision Panc. Other support and funding has been received from the University of Glasgow, Celgene, Wellcome Trust, Chief Scientists Office, Scottish Genomes Partnership, MRC/ESPRC Glasgow Molecular Pathology Node, NHS Scotland, The Howat Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer UK, The Scottish Precision Medicine Ecosystem/Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, NCRI and ECMC. Pancreatic Cancer UK (and Pancreatic Cancer Scotland) provide further critical support to the Precision-Panc network and generally to those affected by pancreatic cancer. PRIMUS-001 (Pancreatic Cancer Individualized Multi-arm Umbrella Study) is an adaptive Phase II/III study with an integrated biomarker evaluation in patients with metastatic disease and is currently open at 11 sites around the UK. PRIMUS-002 will aim to define biomarkers of therapeutic responsiveness in the neoadjuvant setting and opened in Glasgow in March 2019. Celgene International supports both of these studies. Additionally, PRIMUS-003, supported by AstraZeneca, is using an immunotherapy approach and is also currently recruiting patients in the metastatic setting. If appropriate, as part of the Precision-Panc Master Protocol, patients may also be helped onto other suitable clinical trials that are already up and running across the UK. The University of Glasgow In addition to potentially aiding diagnosis and prognosis, finding launches new effort to treat pancreatic cancer by inhibiting one enzyme and boosting the other Protein Kinase C (PKC) enzymes are crucial for a number of cellular activities, including cell survival, proliferation and migration functions that must be carefully controlled lest cells get out of control and form a tumor. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that another enzyme, called PHLPP1, acts as a proofreader to keep careful tabs on PKC. In pancreatic cancer, they discovered that high PHLPP1 levels lead to low PKC levels, which is associated with poor patient survival. The study, published March 20, 2019 in Molecular Cell, sets the stage for clinicians to one day use a pancreatic cancer patients PHLPP1/PKC levels as a predictor for prognosis, and for researchers to develop new therapeutic drugs that inhibit PHLPP1 and boost PKC as a means to treat the disease. The study was led by Alexandra Newton, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and Timothy Baffi, a graduate student in her lab. In 2015, Newtons team reversed a 30-year paradigm when they reported evidence that PKC actually suppresses, rather than promotes, tumors. For decades before this revelation, many researchers had attempted to develop drugs that inhibit PKC as a means to treat cancer. Their study implied that anti-cancer drugs would actually need to do the opposite boost PKC activity. Newton and Baffis latest study takes the investigation a step further by uncovering how cells regulate PKC activity. They discovered that any time an over-active PKC is inadvertently produced, the PHLPP1 proofreader tags it for destruction. That means the amount of PHLPP1 in your cells determines your amount of PKC, Newton said. And it turns out those enzyme levels are especially important in pancreatic cancer. The researchers collaborated with Gordon Mills, PhD, at OHSU Knight Cancer Institute to analyze a database of tumor protein data that also includes the patient information associated with each tumor. Among the 105 pancreatic tumors included in the database, those with high levels of the proofreading enzyme PHLPP1 had low levels of PKC. Whats more, that ratio high PHLPP1/low PKC correlated with poor prognoses: no pancreatic patient with low PKC in the database survived longer than five-and-a-half years. On the flip side, 50 percent of the patients with low PHLPP1/high PKC survived longer than that. While still in the earliest stages, Newton hopes this information might one day aid pancreatic diagnostics and treatment. If we could test a patient with pancreatic cancer and know that they have high PHLPP1 and low PKC, wed know that the prognosis is not good, Newton said. And perhaps we could inhibit their PHLPP1, restore PKC activity and ultimately improve their chances of survival. Newtons team and their collaborators plan to now screen chemical compounds to find those that inhibit PHLPP1 and restore PKC levels in low-PKC-pancreatic cancer cells in the lab. These might form the basis of a new therapeutic drug for pancreatic cancer. Co-authors of this also study include: An-Angela N. Van, UC San Diego, and Wei Zhao, University of Texas MD Anderson. This research was funded, in part, by National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (grants R35GM122523, GM43154, andT32GM007752) and PhRMA Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Pharmacology Toxicology. UC San Diego Bryant recognized for education leadership John Bryant (center) accepts the Dr. Sam Houston Leadership Award, from Houston (left) and Jack Hoke, executive director of the N.C. School Superintendents Association. John Bryant, associate superintendent for administrative services with Henderson County public schools, has been honored as the 2019 Dr. Sam Houston Leadership Award recipient for the Aspiring Superintendent Program. The annual award is presented to a graduate of the North Carolina School Superintendents Association Aspiring Superintendent Program, a program designed to empower transformational education leaders for North Carolinas public schools. Dr. Bryant has a commitment to continuous improvement, high standards of ethical conduct, strategic planning, improving student performance and meeting the needs of the 21st century workforce, said Jack Hoke, executive director of the North Carolina School Superintendents Association. The NCSSA and the North Carolina Alliance for School Leadership Development announced the award earlier this month. The award is named in honor of Dr. Samuel Houston, who is president/CEO of the North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center. Houston served as superintendent of the Mooresville Graded School District for 10 years where he opened the first year round school in North Carolina. He has been a champion for strategic planning, student performance and accountability, meeting the needs of the 21st century workforce, skills for the STEM world and building education partnerships. Before his promotion to associate schools superintendent, Bryant served in Henderson County director of human resources, elementary school principal, high school administrator and high school English teacher. John Bryant exemplifies all that is great in an educator today, schools Superintendent Bo Caldwell said. As superintendent, I know no educator more committed and dedicated to each member of the Henderson County Public School community. Dr. Bryants delightful personality and genuine kindness touch the lives of each and every person who has been a part of his. Dr. Bryants leadership skills and educational expertise are invaluable resources to our system. County commits to funding 287G program Whatever the cost, Henderson County commissioners are prepared to pay to continue partnering with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the 287G program, which aids in identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants arrested for violating state laws. That was the clear message commissioners delivered on Wednesday to Sheriff Lowell Griffin, who has said the ICE program, once considered a way to land federal money to support local law enforcement efforts, is a burden on local taxpayers that does not pay itself. The board is committed to the program that keeps criminals out of our society, board chair Grady Hawkins told Sheriff Griffin during the board's regular meeting on Wednesday. Whatever funding you think you need as we work through the budget process, this board will find it because of the impact on the safety of our community Again, as we work through the budget process, if you need additional funding, we will find it. The board summoned Griffin to appear a couple of months after residents implored the board to make sure the sheriff continued the county's partnership with ICE, which has existed for 10 years. The faction of conservatives in favor of the local-federal enforcement partnership countered an effort on the other side urging the newly elected sheriff to drop the ICE partnership. After Griffin was elected last year, a group of residents presented him with a petition urging an end the 287G program. Griffin said he would consider it because 287G was costing the county money. He has said he was reviewing it and had not yet decided whether to renew a contract that expires on June 30. Reimbursements for expenses that were part of the program initially had been discontinued, creating a funding gap that is burdensome to local taxpayers," Griffin said. "There is no funding for the local program from the federal government and continuing the current contract will require additional county funding. Commissioners quickly and unanimously committed to exactly that additional funding. Reading from a prepared statement, Griffin told the board that it has come to my attention that there have been conversations, questions and even petitions concerning the federal 287G program. The content of most of these questions and conversations detail misinformation associated with the program and ICE. I would like to set the record straight concerning operations in Henderson County. ICE detainers are placed on criminal aliens regardless of participation in the 287G program and Henderson County will continue to honor these detainers, he said. Regardless of the 287G program, the Henderson County Sheriffs office has no authority, and has never had the authority, to participate in any ICE operations outside the walls of the jail. The sheriffs office, he said, only becomes involved in matters of immigration status after the person has been charged with a state crime and is committed to the county jail. Federal ICE agents have an office in Henderson County and work routinely with jail officers, Griffin said. The most efficient way to identify the criminal illegal aliens in Henderson County is to work diligently with federal ICE agents and support them as they investigate and detain criminal agents. I intend to serve all the people of Henderson County. My priority will always be to keep the people safe and focus on getting the criminals off our streets. I refuse to offer sanctuary to the criminal element of any demographic. Griffins presentation came after public comments about 287G urging continuation of the program. Three speakers defended the program, describing it as essential to keeping residents safe. There is no better use of tax money, Jane Bilello of Hendersonville told the board. Without a physical barrier at the southern boarder (of the United States), Henderson County residents need 287G. Continue to support it as you have for the last decade. Commissioners asked Griffin about staffing and space needs at the jail. Commissioner Charles Messer asked Griffin about how much more money he would need to keep the program going, including funding that he needs immediately, not just in the new fiscal year that starts July 1. If we have to add two employees, having training for back-up employees, if I were to put a dollar figure of $250,000 on it, would that cover our needs going forward in the current or future budget cycle? Messer asked. Griffin said that amount would cover the needs just a little more than cover what I anticipate were going to need. One of the biggest challenges is bed space at the jail, Griffin said. When the county first got involved with the program, the federal government was reimbursing the county for its costs. Commissioner Michael Edney pointed out, Then the rules changed, and the money stopped coming in. Griffin said that under his predecessor, Charles McDonald, we were no longer able to house these inmates The jail population has grown so much that the formula shows the jail at capacity. We are not able to provide the beds. Griffin said the paperwork involved in processing detainees is demanding, and his officers must attend training to maintain their certifications, which costs staff time and money. I appreciate that the safety of our citizens is number one," Commissioner Rebecca McCall told Griffin. "In some cases, 287G is inhibiting the office from doing the job they need to do and causing additional work and bureaucracy that may not be necessary and may be redundant I will be in support of any funding to continue the program if that is the decision you make Our detention center is overpopulated. Its past time that we need to look at why and what we can do about that. We need to find ways to house people who are there because of drugs and other things. Hawkins said, You currently have five deputies trained in 287G. I would assume that those five would only need the one-week review (for certification renewals). So basically, the decision is yours as to whether to continue to do with what you have or whether whatever funding you think you need as we work through the budget process, this board will find it because of the impact on the safety of our community. Again, as we work through the budget process, if you need additional funding, well find it. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) A huge fire hit an informal settlers' area in Barangay Damayang Lagi in Quezon City Wednesday afternoon. The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) declared a general alarm the highest level at 2:45 p.m., almost an hour after the fire was reported at around 1:30 p.m. It prompted a region-wide reinforcement wherein 191 fire trucks responded. Government and volunteer firefighters put the fire under control at 4:04 p.m. and put it out at 5 p.m. BFP Director Leonard Banago said the fire started on the third floor of a house. A total of 250 houses were gutted as the fire spread, affecting 750 families. Banago admitted that having low water pressure in some parts of Metro Manila contributed to why the fire reached the highest alarm. "Yun nga ang isa sa dahilan din kaya naitaas sa general alarm yung ating sunog dahil medyo mahina yung water pressure natin dito sa hydrant natin. Kaya nagtawag tayo ng additional augmentation ng ating fire trucks para sumuporta dito sa pangangailangan natin na mga tubig," he said. [Translation: That's also one of the reasons why our alarm reached the highest level because of our hydrant. That's why we called for augmentation of fire trucks to support the water needs.] Nermana Gojak used ATM withdrawals and other methods to steal 41,380 A woman who stole the proceeds of the sale of a retired GP's surgery when she was working as the victim's carer has been jailed for two years. Nermana Gojak (44) worked as both a carer and a housekeeper for the 90-year-old woman for 10 years. Both the woman and her late husband had worked as GPs and the victim had opened up a deposit account with the funds from the sale of her husband's surgery when he died. Gojak stole 41,380 over five years by making ATM withdrawals, using the woman's Laser card to buy items and getting cash back at points of sale. She regularly transferred funds from the deposit account to the woman's current account to allow her easy access to the money. Cried Jobless Gojak, of Pineview Avenue, Aylesbury, Tallaght, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to theft from Ulster Bank, Dundrum, on dates between September 8, 2012, and August 8, 2017. Dara Hayes BL, prosecuting, read out the woman's victim impact statement at the original sentence hearing last December, in which she said: "I cried when I thought of how hard my husband had to work to get that money". She said the crime was deceitful, cruel and callous. The woman said she had not been to able to secure a new carer since Gojak's theft came to light and that she had had to move into a nursing home. The woman said she became fearful and worried about living in her home on her own and felt financially vulnerable. "I embraced her like a daughter," she said, adding that she went to Gojak's children's plays, dancing competitions and "celebrated all their achievements". "It was such an upheaval at this stage of my life. It will stay with me to the end of my days," she added. Yesterday, Judge Melanie Greally noted that the "most significant element" for the woman was "the immense sense of betrayal which she has experienced". "It is clear from the report that she regarded the accused as one of her family and embraced her as one of her family, introducing her to her wider family and celebrating family events with her," she added. Judge Greally sentenced Gojak to three years in prison but suspended the final 12 months on strict conditions, including that she engage with the Probation Service for 12 months. She said she had taken into account Gojak's lack of previous convictions, her pleas of guilty, co-operation, remorse and the fact that she had 2,000 in court to offer as a token of that remorse. She also acknowledged that Gojak had come to Ireland from war-torn Bosnia, and accepted that a probation report identified some mental health issues. Gojak's defence counsel, Marc Murphy BL, accepted it was an extremely serious offence. He also acknowledged that the money had not been repaid and said there was no reality of his client ever paying it back in full. He said Gojak was a devoted mother to her three children aged between 12 and 17. "She has an expectation of a custodial sentence", he said. Garda Karl O'Neill told the court that a retired accountant who was a friend of the victim had been regularly assisting her with her financial matters. On one occasion she overheard Gojak on the phone requesting a transfer from the woman's deposit account to her current account. The woman became concerned and asked her friend if she could look into her bank statements. She immediately noticed that many thousands of euro had been transferred from the woman's deposit account to her current account and that there had been numerous subsequent withdrawals. Gda O'Neill said Gojak would often go to the shop for the pensioner or accompany her to the hairdresser, where she would see her input her PIN for her bank cards. The theft was reported to gardai and Gojak was arrested in January 2018, when she made full admissions. British Prime Minister Theresa May has been given 24 hours to come up with a plan to pull the UK out of the current political crisis or face a no-deal Brexit. European leaders, including Tanaiste Simon Coveney, ramped up pressure on Mrs May to come up with a "detailed plan of action" on how the UK can end the Brexit turmoil that has paralysed Westminster. While the EU has repeatedly insisted it does not want to see Britain leave without a deal, Mr Coveney warned: "People would be very foolish to assume this is some kind of political game and that an extension will automatically be facilitated." Another senior government source said: "There is growing frustration in Europe across the EU capitals. Nobody wants another year of this." Unclear With the possibility of another vote on the divorce deal still unclear due to parliamentary rules that have been invoked in Westminster, Mrs May is expected to write to EU leaders in Brussels outlining what type of Brexit extension she wants. The bloc has said a request would need to be made ahead of tomorrow's summit to allow the EU 27 to consider it. Downing Street was last night considering its options ahead of a key 48 hours for Brexit, but as turmoil persists, the prime minister has branded the current stalemate a "political crisis", a spokesman said. A short extension until the end of June is almost certain to be sought, which would give Mrs May breathing space to try to revive her deal, which has already been rejected twice by MPs. Europe's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, set out the test that Europe expects Mrs May to meet if it is to grant an extension, warning: "We cannot prolong uncertainty without having a good reason for it." He also cautioned that a long extension would need a reset of Britain's Brexit approach. "A longer extension needs to be linked to something new, there needs to be a new event, a new political process," he said. Mr Barnier also moved to increase pressure on the UK over the threat of a no-deal Brexit, telling reporters: "Voting against no-deal does not prevent it from happening. "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario. On the EU side, we are prepared." The readiness of the bloc to cope with the shock of a cliff-edge Brexit was also made clear in Dublin following a meeting between EU council president Donald Tusk and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. "Preparations continue in Ireland and across the European Union for a no-deal scenario, which would have serious consequences for all concerned," a government spokesperson said. As the latest developments were being digested in Brussels, the Tanaiste held a series of meetings there with key figures in the Brexit process, including his British counterpart David Lidington. On a visit to Dublin, European Council president Donald Tusk expressed EU solidarity with Ireland amid Brexit talks. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed Mr Tusk in front of the media, but neither man made any reply when questioned by journalists. Gardai have increased patrols on the Edenmore Estate Extra garda patrols have been deployed at a north Dublin estate after four days of criminal mayhem, during which two people were stabbed and a bookies was held up with a shotgun. Tensions in the Edenmore Estate remained high last night after a catalogue of violence that has led to fears someone could be murdered. The most recent incident happened at around 7pm on St Patrick's Day when a 14-year-old boy was slashed multiple times by a much older man who is suspected of living nearby. Raheny gardai are investigating the incident, which happened shortly after 7pm at Lough Derg Road. Expand Close Drug dealer Zach Parker, who was shot dead in January / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Drug dealer Zach Parker, who was shot dead in January The boy was slashed on the arm, legs and back. This attacker is believed to have been trying to intimidate the boy in the minutes leading up to the attack. The young teenager suffered a number of puncture wounds in the incident, which was reported to Coolock gardai on Monday. Sources said the boy, who is from the Ayrfield area of the northside, is making a good recovery and gardai are following a definite line of inquiry. In an unrelated incident, gardai are investigating an attempted armed robbery at a bookies on Edenmore Avenue at 7pm on Friday. In that case, two men entered the shop, one of them armed with what is believed to have been a sawn-off shotgun. They threatened staff members before fleeing empty-handed. The thug with the firearm was tall, dressed in a dark green jacket, had his face covered and was wearing blue jeans and white runners, gardai said. His accomplice, who was of thin build and average height, was not armed. He was caught on CCTV wearing a light blue jacket with his hood up. His face was covered and he was wearing black runners. Terrifying "No arrests have yet been made in this case and no one was injured, but it was a terrifying ordeal for staff," a source told the Herald. In a third incident, a 32-year-old man was stabbed five times in the back in an attack on Edenmore Avenue at 9pm last Thursday. Armed gardai rushed to the scene of the attack, close to a chipper, in which the local man "lost a huge amount of blood" in a completely unprovoked attack. He was rushed to Beaumont Hospital but was discharged after being treated for non-life threatening injuries. None of the three unsolved incidents in the Edenmore estate are believed to be connected. Nor are they linked to a botched armed raid at a local takeaway in which two staff members were shot on New Year's Day. A 44-year-old local man has been charged in relation to that incident. Sources said that separately, major concern surrounds the activities of a drugs dealer who is using "severe intimidation" to retrieve money owed. The local thug, aged in his 20s, was a close associate of 23-year-old Zach Parker who was shot dead as he left a gym in Swords, where he lived, last January 17. Parker's Edenmore trafficker pal was so shocked by his death that he briefly called a halt to his considerable drug dealing and cash gathering activities in the Coolock and Raheny areas, but is now "extremely active again", according to sources. "A lot of people are very upset but none so much as Parker's pal. He was very close to him," a source said. A north Dublin GAA club is urging a group of young people who were at a monument to a 1916 Rising hero when it was damaged to come forward, saying they will not contact gardai. Around eight teenage boys were seen at the Thomas Ashe statue outside the Round Towers GAA Club in Lusk on the evening it was damaged. The pipes from the bag- pipes were broken off at around 7.15pm on Monday. "They arrived from the Dun Emer direction and then ran down Ministers Road," a club statement said. "If your teen son was out this evening, ask to see his recent photos as at least one of them took a photo of the damage. "It may also have been shared on social media. "We have CCTV footage but will wait until Friday before we take it to An Garda Siochana. Brave "In the meantime, if a young fella is brave enough to approach a committee member and try to make amends, we will look upon the matter with some leniency." Local councillor Malachy Quinn said the damage may not have been done on purpose. "What we are saying to the lads is to just come forward, own up and we'll figure out a way to deal with this," he said. "If they come forward, then there's no need to get gardai involved." Mr Quinn said the statue was unveiled in 2017 on the 100th anniversary of the death of Ashe, a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, following a local fundraising effort that included Round Towers GAA Club. "We are all very proud of it," Mr Quinn added. "They are not going to press charges if you come forward, so I would call on the young lads to just make themselves known." Ashe was a member of the Lusk Volunteers, and it is believed he founded the group. Cancer battler Robyn Smyth faced a new fight against the disease as she flew to the US for more treatment yesterday. The 14-year-old, who has had to cope with the illness for 12 years, was told her neuroblastoma cancer has returned to her bone marrow, brain, jaw, back and pelvis. Robyn, of Whitehall, Dublin, is now returning to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Michigan, where she had treatment for three years previously. "Robyn's results from her biopsy are in, and we hope to add another new type of oral medication," said her mum, Bernadette Dornan. "Please send positive thoughts, we are hoping what she's on is working as it's tolerable so far. If anyone can do a fundraiser for Robyn, we would really appreciate it. "The cost all these flights, scans and medication will add up fast." Expand Close Robyn and her mum Bernadette / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Robyn and her mum Bernadette She added that after the Michigan trip, it is hoped Robyn can get another form of ground-breaking treatment in Germany. Control "We've consulted with a hospital in Germany who are willing to take her, but they want her to be a bit stronger, so she will have to undergo chemotherapy again to get it under control if we can in Michigan," said Bernadette. "German medics can use a treatment where mine or her dad's immune system are tested to see if they are compatible with hers. "If they are, then it can be transferred to Robyn. That would be an amazing outcome. "Our journey to keep Robyn with us has taken so many different paths over all of these years. "Of course we are very upset over this latest setback, but our resolve is great, and we will get her through this again. "No part of this cancer fight, which has taken over our lives for so long, ever gets any easier. It's taken its toll on all of us." Last June, Bernadette made an emotional plea for public support to raise 326,000 for Robyn's medical treatment. The fundraising had stalled at 70,000, but after Bernadette's appeal, Erin McGregor, sister of UFC star Conor, helped start a floss dance challenge for Robyn, which raised hundreds of thousands of euro. "Our fundraising drive has been given another boost as two bloggers have chosen Robyn to benefit from a raffle which could be worth several thousand euro," Bernadette added. "We feel so bad having to ask so many people for financial help, but it's thanks to them that Robyn has been able to have all of this treatment." Donations can be made on robynslife@live.com, idonate.ie/robynslife and gofundme.com/robynslife Simon Harris said the HSE is committed to recruitment A backlog of women waiting for breast screening will leave some patients facing a delayed diagnosis, consultants have warned. The delay has been linked to the failure to recruit enough specialists, with 450 vacancies currently not filled on a permanent basis. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the warning was made by one specialist involved in cancer care as part of a survey on the impact of doctor vacancies. The IHCA recently surveyed 900 doctors about the impact of the failure to fill permanent posts. The doctors have said the failure to recruit specialists is mostly due to the fact that new entrant consultants are paid 30pc less than long-serving colleagues. This cut was imposed during the recession and has not been reversed. Consultants said they do not believe waiting times will improve in the immediate future, with 80pc of those surveyed confirming that patients will see waiting lists for outpatient appointments increase over the next 12 months if consultant posts are not filled. One of those who responded said that "waiting times are now over three years for outpatients". Another said: "It has become a new 'normality' that I need to apologise to patients for the increasing waiting period in clinics and for being unable to see those patients after commencing therapies." Other medics warned that there is a four-year waiting list for outpatients, with 80 new referrals in three weeks. Impossible One said it was "absolutely impossible to continue at this level without further staffing". "My post was unfilled for six years. Two previous candidates declined to return to Ireland," the doctor added. A further comment from a doctor said: "Our hospital is now at a tipping point with regard to consultant recruitment. "If we cannot recruit another consultant physician shortly, we are likely to have to close our doors out of hours." IHCA president Dr Donal O'Hanlon said: "These survey results are stark and overwhelming. Patient care and safety is being damaged due to Government policy, which has resulted in one fifth of the permanent consultant posts in our hospitals being unfilled. "Ultimately, patients are paying the price. "It is no coincidence that we have some of the longest hospital waiting lists in Europe, with over 500,000 people waiting for consultant outpatient appointments. "Government policy is destroying the fabric of hospital care for patients in Ireland." Health Minister Simon Harris said the HSE is committed to supporting consultant recruitment and retention, pursuing a number of initiatives including improvements to the recruitment process. "At the end of December 2018, there were 3,096 whole-time equivalent consultants working in the public health services, the highest number in the history of the State," he said. "Notwithstanding recruitment and retention challenges, the number of consultants has increased by 125 in the 12 months to the end of December 2018, and by 540 in the past five years." The coffin of Pat Laffan is carried from St Michaels Church, Dun Laoghaire Mourners at the funeral of veteran actor Pat Laffan learned how his last ever project was called Laid To Rest. "That's what we're here to do today, to lay Pat to rest," parish priest Fr Paul Kenny told the congregation at St Michael's Church in Dun Laoghaire yesterday. He said the aptly-named work was now in post-production as he hailed Laffan's acting career, which spanned decades. There were moments of humour that punctuated the sadness for mourners at the mass. Blessed "Pat might have been impatient and intolerant and not always polite, but he's been blessed with a magnificent turnout today," the congregation was told, to chuckles all around. Expand Close John Kavanagh / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John Kavanagh The comment followed a reading from a poem by one of Laffan's favourite poets, Wendy Cope. "If invited to read a poem, just read the bloody poem. "If requested to sing a song, just sing it, as suggested. "Yes, I was impatient and intolerant, and not always polite. Expand Close Geraldine Plunkett / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Geraldine Plunkett "And if there aren't many people at my funeral, it will probably serve me right." Fr Kenny told the congregation that he felt inadequate having looked back and seen the number of times that Laffan had played priests and even bishops throughout his long career. "Looking over the weekend through the catalogue of Pat's work, I felt somewhat inadequacy because I found that on at least six occasions he played the part of a priest," he said. "And twice a bishop, so I don't thing being a parish priest quite cuts the mustard." The comment was met with laughter by the scores of people who packed the church to say their final farewells. "He had a tremendous career, spanning generations," added Fr Kenny. Laffan was remembered not just for his acting career but for his directing and mentoring. "He's someone who passed on the craft in a sense to those who have come after him," said Fr Kenny. "We give thanks for the wonderful legacy Pat that has left us in so many memorable characters." The actor, best known for his role as Pat Mustard in Father Ted, was a tour de force on the small screen and stage. He died last week at the age of 79. Prayers were offered for his late wife Eileen. Actor Barry McGovern was among those to give a reading at the funeral. Glittering Actors Sean McGinley, Geraldine Plunkett, John Kavanagh along with Phelim Drew, son of Ronnie Drew, were among those to pay their respects. Colin Farrell's brother Eamon was also in attendance. Among a glittering array of films, Laffan also appeared in hits such as Warhorse, The Queen, Intermission and The General. After the funeral mass, the actor's remains were taken to Mount Jerome Crematorium. Following the news of Laffan's death, Father Ted writer Graham Linehan led tributes, writing: "Rest in peace, Pat, a pleasure to work with you." Photo: Oliver Daily News Dozens of anti-national park demonstrators gathered in front of Osoyoos Town Hall Monday demanding council support a referendum on the issue, but Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff says council has made up its mind and it's "too late" to go back to square one. Last month, Osoyoos council declined to send a letter of support to local MLA Linda Larson asking the federal government for an official vote on the issue of whether the controversial South Okanagan national park should move forward. McKortoff said the demonstrators outside yesterday's council meeting were all peaceful, though the subject of their protest was a little frustrating given that the national park issue has been going on for 17 years in the region and Osoyoos council has always been clear where they stand. "Ever since I've been on council we've supported the national park," she said, adding that the area boasts a unique ecosystem to Canada, and considering Osoyoos is a resort town, she and council see an adjacent national park as a major draw. A public response period with an online survey concluded last week which ran for three months, during which time 2,740 online submissions were received. Many in the anti-park camp do not feel the survey adequately addressed the issues they have with the potential park. Opponents are concerned about loss of access to the backcountry as well as hunting and grazing rights. McKortoff said she has been fielding calls and emails from people both for and against the park all week. She expressed frustration that the Town of Osoyoos council has ended up a target. "If these people feel very strongly about this, they don't feel they've had as much of a say as they wanted in what the park should like like or if there should be a park at all, they need to send that to Parks Canada and the federal government," McKortoff said "Why put the pressure on Osoyoos? It's a very odd situation." B.C. Premier John Horgan was in Okanagan Falls last week and expressed support for the park, and local Member of Parliament Richard Cannings has been vocal in his praise for the project since the beginning. McKortoff referenced both men to support her standpoint. She said threats from voters won't work to change her mind. "We voted unanimously to support a national park, I don't think we'd go back," McKortoff said. "Lots of people have said, well, if you don't change your mind on this, you just wait til the next election, we won't vote for you. But I can't base what I think is best for our town on whether someone will vote for me the next time. That isn't the way I deal with things." Photo: Darren Handschuh Officials with the Safe Community Unit are urging businesses not to leave piles or cardboard or pallets next to their businesses. They are not only unsightly, but they are a fire waiting to happen. Officials with the Safe Community Unit are urging businesses not to leave piles or cardboard or pallets next to their businesses. Rachel Zubick, with the SCU, said there have been several pallet fires over the past few weeks and leaving a pile of debris is just inviting trouble. There was a series of them in different places throughout the city, but predominantly in what we would consider the BIA (business improvement area) area, said Zubick. What we have seen is people are leaving out pallets and cardboard and those are excellent fuel, she said, adding none of the suspicious fires have been too bad, so far. Zubick recommends businesses secure all pallets and cardboard away from their buildings. If people can take away and secure those items then there is less chance of having an unfortunate incident. Zubick said it looks unsightly, it does make a business look untidy and understandably it does happen, but things should be secured. We have noticed there is a little bit more left around, but it would great to see they are put away properly so we don't have a situation to deal with, said Zubick. We've had pallet fires on and off over many years but it doesn't take much to thwart it. Castanet has reached out to Vernon Fire Rescue Services for comment. Photo: Royal Canadian Navy A new training facility will soon open at CFB Esquimalt for the Royal Canadian Navys elite tactical unit. The simulated combat facility will train members of Canadas Naval Tactical Operations Group, CTV News reports. The maritime commandos specialize in clandestine ship-boarding, hand-to-hand combat and tactical shooting for counter-terrorism, anti-trafficking and anti-piracy missions around the world. Were expecting to grow up to a maximum size of about 104 personnel, Lt.-Cmdr. Will Lund told CTV. The facility will include a 2,000-square-foot "close quarters battlehouse" that mimics the interior of a vessel. with files from CTV Vancouver Island 'So much we want the public to know': Meritus COVID cases surge again Photo: Contributed Dione Chambers, Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce general manager. There are items in the federal budget the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce supports, and others not so much. The chamber applauded the budgets focus on bolstering the economy and easing pressure on young families and seniors, but there are still concerns about the country's overall financial condition. Finance Minister Bill Morneaus budget makes significant investments in the forestry, tourism and oil and gas sectors, while employees will be able to take paid leave for training at 55 per cent of weekly earnings. These measures will go a long way towards supporting sectors critical to the overall economy of the North Okanagan. As for paid leave for training, this will certainly help individuals switching careers, but the program doesnt start until late 2020 and could escalate costs for employers, said Dione Chambers, Greater Vernon Chamber general manager. We also welcome the $1.7 billion for high-speed internet in rural and remote areas, and the one-time transfer of $2.2 billion to address short-term priorities in municipalities, as infrastructure, whether its roads, water lines or the internet, provides the basic building blocks for business to succeed. Another positive aspect of the budget is removal of the federal requirement that alcohol moving from one province to another be sold or consigned to a provincial liquor authority. The chamber is concerned about the $22.8 billion in new spending over the next five years coming at the same time the 2018-19 deficit is projected to be $14.9 billion and debt of $685.6 billion is expected to climb to $761.7 billion by 2023-24. We understand it takes a considerable investment to meet the needs and wants of Canadians, including business, but a home with a poor foundation puts the occupants at risk, and the same goes for a nations ability to function effectively if the financial foundation is fractured. We need the government to put its house in order, said Chambers. Photo: The Canadian Press A man using a mobile phone walks past Google offices in New York. European Union regulators have hit Google with a 1.49 billion euro ($1.68 billion) fine for abusing its dominant role in online advertising. It's the third time the commission has slapped Google with an antitrust penalty, following multibillion-dollar fines resulting from separate probes into two other parts of the Silicon Valley giant's business. The EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced the results of the long-running probe of Google's AdSense advertising business at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday. "Today's decision is about how Google abused its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than the AdSense platform," Vestager said. The commission found that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, breached EU antitrust rules by imposing restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used AdSense, preventing Google rivals from placing their ads on these sites. Google "prevented its rivals from having a chance to innovate and to compete in the market on their merits," Vestager said. "Advertisers and website owners, they had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers." AdSense is an older Google product that lets web publishers such as bloggers place text ads on their websites, with the content of the ads based on results from search functions on their sites. Microsoft filed an EU antitrust complaint about the service in 2009 and the EU Commission formally launched its probe in 2016, although it said at the time that Google had already made some changes to allow affected customers more freedom to show competing ads. Last year, Vestager hit the company with a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine following an investigation into its Android operating system. In 2017, she slapped Google with a 2.42 billion euro fine in a case involving its online shopping search results. Photo: The Canadian Press Alberta Premier Rachel Notley makes an announcement in Calgary on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. After firing up supporters at campaign kickoff events, the leaders of Alberta's two main political parties are heading out to stump for votes. NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the election Tuesday morning in Calgary before a crowd of cheering supporters, but is to start today in Edmonton with a campaign announcement. Notley is then to speak at events in Red Deer and Lethbridge. United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney spoke at a rally in Edmonton Tuesday night, urging supporters to get involved in the campaign by helping spread the party's message. Earlier in the day he told a crowd in Leduc that the UCP platform will focus on jobs, the economy and pipelines. Kenney is to head to Lethbridge today, but says he plans to spend a lot of time in Edmonton, and feels a party breakthrough is possible in the capital. The two leaders exchanged sharp criticism on the opening day of what is expected to be a bitter campaign prior to the April 16 vote. Notley says she will run on her government's record of reforms to social programs, money for health and education, and is promising to create more jobs. She says Kenney has shown he is not to be trusted because of recently revealed memos showing his campaign team worked with a fellow candidate to undermine his main rival in the party's leadership election. Kenney says Notley has failed Albertans by not standing up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on pipelines and other issues. Departmental leaders are among the most qualified public servants in the Federal Government. They are dedicated to ensuring the guidance and management necessary to support the health and well-being of the nation. Learn more about the Department's leadership: Secretary and Deputy Secretary Photo: The Canadian Press A few shoppers browse the sprawling New Horizon Mall in Calgary on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week. That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place at last this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group. The Calgary anchor tenant is The Best Shop, which operates a store described as a "Chinese Walmart" in Toronto's Pacific Mall, a similar shopping centre opened by The Torgan Group about 20 years ago. Negotiations are nearing completion for an unnamed second anchor store, which Swirsky said is in food merchandising but not a restaurant or grocery store. "It took two years with Pacific Mall to get to full occupancy and I think we're going to match the same. I think those two anchors are going to provide a major momentum for other tenants to come in," said Swirsky in an interview. Unlike most shopping centres in Canada, about 70 per cent of New Horizon Mall's retail space has been sold to individual investors who have the option of leasing to others or operating their spaces themselves. The rest of the space about 80,000 square feet is being held by the developer for anchor tenants. The mall began allowing tenants to set up their shops in May of 2018 but only nine of its 517 spaces were occupied by last September. It says The Best Shop's opening will take the total number of shops to 73. According to the mall, the store's products will include mahjong tables and an extremely small washing machine that sells for around $100, plus brands such as Haier and Midea that are popular in China but relatively unknown in Canada. It will be the second outlet in Canada. Best Shop is getting about eight months of free rent and financial help with improvements on its 15,000-square-foot space, Swirsky said, adding the mall is also offering to help unit owners cover the costs of bringing in tenants to occupy spaces they own. At the National Peoples Conference (NPC) meeting in Beijing, which concluded on March 15, Premier Li Keqiang drew attention to the grave and complicated environment confronting China. He introduced a lower target for GDP growth in 2019, within a band of 6-6.5%, which would be the lowest in several years. The slowdown is believed to be much more serious with the economy probably growing at the rate of 4-5%. What are the likely causes of this slowdown and what may be its political implications? Having grown for nearly three decades at double-digit rates, the Chinese economy is maturing and will, like other developed economies, trend towards a slower rate of growth. The earlier opportunities for rapid growth, thanks to a large and relatively cheap labour force, productivity gains from improved infrastructure and adoption of advanced technology and, importantly, easy access to an expanding global market, all these factors are losing steam. China has been a successful adopter and assimilator of technologies developed elsewhere but has not yet joined the ranks of technology generators. Its Made in China 2025, which is a blueprint for making Chinas key industries of the future, global champions has alarmed the current technology leaders, the US, Europe and Japan, who are beginning to work together to restrict Chinese access to their most advanced technologies. Since China is still heavily dependent on sophisticated, imported components for many of its high-tech industries, it is facing significant setbacks to its 2025 plan. The blueprint has not found a single reference in the NPC report though the determination of the country to push ahead in its quest for high-tech dominance will continue. Though unstated, there is no doubt that the natural slowdown in the economy is being exacerbated by the continuing US-China trade war. President Donald Trump has extended the deadline on the imposition of 25% tariffs on nearly $500 billion of Chinese exports to the US in recognition that progress was being made in ongoing trade negotiations. He has invited Chinese President, Xi Jinping, to Mar-a-lago in Florida later this month to conclude a possible deal. However, even if a deal is made, on the basis of increased Chinese purchases of US goods and the easing of investment conditions for foreign companies in China, there is unlikely to be any compromise on the technology issue. Through its National Defence Authorization Act of August 2018, the US has targeted five Chinese companies Huawei (telecom), Hikvision (facial recognition), Hytera Communications (radio receivers and radio systems) Zhejiang Dahua and Hytera Dahua (surveillance camera makers) whose products cannot be used by US government agencies, and entities using their systems cannot bid for US tenders. Chinas export success has been built on its participation in global supply chains, taking advantage of its world-class infrastructure and still relatively cheap and well trained labour force. It has progressively moved up the supply chain to more value-added processes, absorbing more advanced technologies from its developed country partners. However, these supply chains are led by Western and Japanese entities, which are reacting to the prospect of higher tariffs and regulatory disruptions by moving the Chinese component of the chains to other countries. China has tried to create supply chains led by Chinese entities, in particular through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, but this is at a very early stage. This explains why China is so keen to avoid a trade war with the US. Chinese criticism of the US has been muted. A leaked Party document contained the following directive to Party members: Do not oppose the US. Do not lead Sino-US relations into a Cold War. Open up the market. Do not yield on core interests. Another driver of slower growth is the persisting debt overhang in the economy, which has become a major vulnerability. The overall debt to GDP ratio in 2018 was 253% up from 231% the previous year. More worrying is the level of debt of local governments, which is at $ 2.74 trillion. But off balance sheet borrowings are nearly $6 trillion. Deleveraging of this massive debt overhang has been half-hearted at best and the current NPC has tried to once again shore up growth with another stimulus package though more modest in scale. This is a recipe for a financial crisis though it may be delayed because China is a State controlled economy. The ongoing trade war could well be a trigger for such a crisis. What may be the political consequences of these economic trends? For a political dispensation, which has built its legitimacy on its ability to deliver significant economic growth, popular dissent may grow quickly and threaten the regime. President Xi Jinping has gathered power into his own hands and his anti-corruption campaign has spawned many detractors who have been biding their time. An economic crisis may well crystallise the opposition and lead to a fierce power struggle and leadership change. A Chinese economic crisis will reverberate through the global economy and likely cause a worldwide recession. A China in political turmoil may prolong the ongoing era of geopolitical disruption and wrenching change. What will be the shape of the China which will emerge from this crisis? India will be deeply impacted but this scenario is not even on the nations radar. Shyam Saran is a former foreign secretary and a Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi The views expressed are personal The United States dodged its order of reparations to Nicaragua for supporting a rebellion there, while Israel cared little for its opinion on its wall in the West Bank. The United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) is widely considered a toothless tiger. And yet, 10,000 homeless islanders are hoping that an ICJ advisory issued late February on the United Kingdoms filthiest secret will embarrass London enough to leave their home, the Chagos archipelago, after squatting on it for more than half a century. The court ruled that the UKs claim over Chagos best known for its largest island, Diego Garcia is illegal and the islands be returned to Mauritius as rapidly as possible. India supported Mauritius at the United Nations General Assembly and the ICJ in its quest to regain its territory. Located roughly halfway between India and Mauritius, Chagos was once known as the oil islands, whose chief produce, coconut oil from copra, lit the lamps of Mauritius and beyond. In the 1960s, the United States wanted an Indian Ocean island for a military outpost to keep the former Soviet Union in check. In exchange for a US$14 million discount on Polaris missiles, London was happy to oblige. It granted Mauritius independence but kept Chagos on and assured the US of an unmanned archipelago devoid of the 2000-odd coconut farmers it called Tarzans and a few Man Fridays (on record in British archives ). It gassed the islanders house pets, terrified them by implying the same fate, forced them on ships, dumped them on the shores of Mauritius and Seychelles, where they live on the fringes of society to date, and handed over Chagos largest island, Diego Garcia, to the US on a 50-year lease. When the UK extended the expired lease to 2036, all parties concerned the US, the UK and Mauritius approached India for support. The two superpowers cited regional security, while Mauritius invoked old and culturally-deep bilateral ties with India The latter took precedence, with the Indian ambassador to the Netherlands underlining at the ICJ that the Chagos archipelago throughout the pre- and post-colonial era has been part of the Mauritian territory. Olivier Bancoult of the Chagos Refugees Group in Cassis, a shantytown in Port Louis,has fought and won cases against the UK even in UK courts on behalf of more than 10000 mostly poor Chagossians in Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK. But the British Foreign Office has repeatedly stonewalled verdicts by getting them superseded by empowered authorities in the name of security (in the last instance, Her Majesty, The Queen herself). Predictably, the ICJs February advisory, too, has been shrugged off by London. But this time, the face-off is not between a clutch of poor farmers and a mighty western power but between two sovereign UN member states. Mauritius is a stakeholder backed by 17 UN member states,including the regional power, India. Importantly, neither Port Louis nor the Chagossians want the Americans to leave Diego Garcia, with Bancoult even looking forward to hundreds of jobs for Chagossians, not Asians as at present, on the 4000-troop-strong US military base. Consequently, its hardly an unthinkable idea that only the title and lease deeds of Chagos and Diego Garcia change hands, while letting the tenant remain. We will hold talks with all but with Mauritius by our side, Bancoult told Hindustan Times over the phone from Port Louis.London must do the right thing now. padma.rao@htlive.com A host of celebrities were spotted in Mumbai on Wednesday. Dhadak actor Janhvi Kapoor was seen post her dance class. The actor is currently working on the Gunjan Saxena biopic and looked tired after her practice session. She will play Gunjan, the first female Indian Air Force combat pilot and first female Shaurya Chakra recipient in the film. Janhvi Kapoor spotted post her dance class. (Varinder Chawla) Malaika Arora spent the day dining with her parents and her son Arhaan. The reality show judge had walked the red carpet at the Zee Cine Awards a day before in a red silk gown. She then went on a dinner date with rumoured boyfriend Arjun Kapoor post the event on Tuesday. Malaika Arora with Arjun Kapoor at a restaurant on late Tuesday and with her parents and son Arhaan on Wednesday. (Varinder Chawla) Varun Dhawan visited his father David Dhawans office in Juhu. He is looking forward to the release of his upcoming film Kalank. MS Dhoni: The Untold Story actor Kiara Advani was spotted in vibrant co-ords at a cafe, while Total Dhamaal actor Esha Gupta was seen on an outing in the city. The media also caught a glimpse of DJ Snake of Lean On fame at the Mumbai airport. He was seen visiting the Dharma Productions office during the day. Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani and Esha Gupta spotted in Mumbai. (Varinder Chawla) DJ Snake at the Mumbai airport and then at the Dharma Productions office. Parineeti Chopra and Akshay Kumar, who are currently busy with the last-minute promotions of their film Kesari, were also spotted in the city. The film is set to release on Holi, March 21. Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan are busy with their work commitments but took out time for their son Taimur. They family was clicked by the paparazzi outside their residence. The little one was later seen playing with his cousin and Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmus daughter, Inaaya. Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan with son Taimur. (Varinder Chawla) Taimur and Inaaya spotted playing together in Bandra. (Varinder Chawla) Taimur and Inaaya spotted in Bandra. (Varinder Chawla) Follow @htshowbiz for more Shares of Jet Airways Ltd dropped about 7 percent on Wednesday as the companys distress aggravated after the government called for an emergency meeting to discuss the cash-strapped carriers woes. The government has asked state-run banks to rescue the airline without pushing it into bankruptcy, two people within the administration told Reuters. State-run banks have been urged to convert debt into equity and take a stake in Jet in a rare move to use taxpayer money to save a struggling private-sector company from bankruptcy. The two people and another source, however, said this would be transitory and lenders could sell the stakes once Jet revives itself. The 25-year-old airline defaulted on loans after racking up over $1 billion in debt, and owes money to banks, suppliers, pilots and lessors - some of whom have started terminating their lease deals with the carrier. Jet now operates only 41 aircraft, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said. Several passengers have been affected due to the grounding of Jet flights. Mounting troubles dented the stock, with shares falling as much as 6.9 percent to 213.35 rupees, in their biggest daily percentage fall in over a month. Diamond Harbour is one of 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal and represents the city of Diamond Harbour in the South 24 Parganas district. The sitting member of Parliament is Trinamool Congress Abhishek Banerjee, the second leader of the ruling party to have held the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat. Somendra Nath Mitra won the seat for the ruling party in the 2009 Lok Sabha election before Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Mitra defeated Communist Party of India(Marxist) leader Samik Lahiri by 151,689 votes. Abhishek Banerjee will contest again from the Diamond Harbour seat in the Lok Sabha election 2019. Voting in the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat will take place in the last and seventh phase on May 19. The result will be declared on May 23. ALSO READ: All about Lok Sabha elections 2019 Here are some facts about the Lok Sabha seat on the River Hooghly: State: West Bengal Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Diamond Harbour Date of voting: May 19 2019 candidates: Abhishek Banerjee (Trinamool), Nilanjan Roy (BJP), Soumya Aich Roy (Congress) Sitting MP, party: Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress Winning margin in 2014: 71,298 Runner up name, party: Abul Hasnt, CPI(M) Number of voters in 2014: 1,261,296 Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 81.06% Number of women voters in 2014: 739,655 Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,879 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was not holding any talks with the Congress for a pre-poll alliance. As far as I know, the Congress has declined an alliance. We are not holding any talks with them. We dont have anything to do with their meeting. The Congress is planting stories, Kejriwal, AAP national convener, said on the sidelines of a public meeting in east Delhis Laxmi Nagar on Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said the party will fight elections on its own and there will be no tie up with the Congress. Several senior AAP functionaries, however, said the back-channel talks with Congress leaders were still on. They said Rais announcement on Tuesday was part of a larger political strategy. While functionaries of the AAP have claimed to have proposed the Congress a 5:2 seat sharing deal (five for the AAP and two for the Congress), members of the Congress said that they will settle for nothing less than 3:3:1 - three share each for the two parties and one for an independent candidate. Asked about the backchannel negotiations, senior Congress leader and party Delhi in-charge PC Chacko said: I had my last meeting with Sheila Dikshit yesterday [Monday]. She was against the alliance. I told her once again why and how the alliance is essential to defeat BJP in Delhi. Anything about a seat-sharing ratio was not on table. It will be discussed only after Rahul Gandhi takes the final call on the alliance. For now, nobody has officially approached us with seat sharing numbers, nor have we approached anyone. On Tuesday morning, the buzz around a possible Congress-AAP alliance intensified when Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar flew to Delhi and separately met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AAPs Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh. Singh said: If the Congress wants to defeat BJP and stop the politics of hate, it has to tie up with AAP in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. We have conveyed a 5:2 seat share proposal to Congress in Delhi and reiterated the same in the meeting today with Sharad Pawar ji, who had met me after meeting Rahul Gandhi ji. But so far, there has been no negotiation on the specifics of the seat-sharing ratio in the other two states. Singh said the Delhi proposal was not negotiable. Rais categorical denial on Tuesday was, however, a U-turn on his part. So far, he had maintained that the Congress was causing damage to the fight against the BJP by not taking a firm stand on the alliance. On whether if that meant the doors (for an alliance) were totally closed, he had said, If they approach us, we will see to it. When asked if his statement was at odds with MP Sanjay Singhs statement just hours earlier, Rai simply said: There is no time for ifs and buts. Now, we will focus only on our campaign. Delhi has seven Lok Sabha constituencies and will go for the polls on May 12. The AAP has announced candidates to all seven seats. Neither the Congress nor the BJP have announced their lists. One need not be partisan to either side in Indias political theatre to see the obvious contrast in how the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are managing their campaigns. The BJP has its leadership, messaging and slogan, campaign, organisational machine, and, most significantly, a range of alliances across key states in place. These alliances particularly in Bihar, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu came at the cost of the BJPs own ambitions of growth, but it conceded for the overall objective of returning to power. But with three weeks to go before the first phase of the polls, the Congress appears to be struggling on a range of fronts. This is most stark in how long it is taking to stitch up alliances. And it could not be more ironical, for over the past year, the Congress has been at the forefront of championing the idea of a united opposition to take on Narendra Modi. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were clear they would not give the Congress more than what the two regional parties saw as its rightful share. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav regretted giving 100 seats to the Congress in the last assembly polls; BSPs Mayawati did not want the Congress to revive and capture the Dalit base riding on the back of the alliance. For its part, the Congress wanted to punch above its weight and felt that not contesting a majority of seats would impede its long-term revival. The outcome: the Congress is likely to do poorly in UP; the opposition will cut into each others votes, helping the BJP. The more worrying delays have been in Bihar and Delhi. In Bihar, the Congress is a marginal force; there is no doubt that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is the leading opposition and has a loyal vote base of Muslims and Yadavs. Here too, the Congress has been seeking more seats than the RJD is willing to give. In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been keen on an alliance with the Congress. Arithmetic suggests that together, the two forces can put up a formidable challenge to the BJP. But the Congress has been immersed in a prolonged, internal debate on whether to ally with the force it blames for discrediting the UPA-2. In Bengal, after prolonged talks with the Left, the Congress has decided to go alone although last ditch attempts are on to revive the original idea. Irrespective of the fate of the alliances, the delay has serious costs. Unlike the BJP, where the organisational machine often propels a candidates campaign, in the Congress, the candidate is all-important. And with three weeks to go, the partys candidates, supporters and wider electorate in key states do not know which seats the Congress would contest on; and who would be the candidates. Also note that the Lok Sabha constituencies are large, with many having between 1.5 to 2.5 million voters. There is barely any time for the Congress candidates in these states to cover entire constituencies. The party leadership must be more proactive, be decisive, and enter the electoral battlefield for 2019 to be a true contest. Tamil Nadu (TN) has been something of a pioneer in robust social welfare schemes, from the mid-day meal to incentives of the girl child. However, the manifestos of the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are disappointing in that they offer nothing more than a repeat of these schemes. Several of the key promises made by both parties cannot be implemented because they come under Centres domain. Both promise to release the killers of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. The TN assembly has even unanimously passed a resolution recommending it. But it is the Governor (who is appointed by the Centre) who will have to take a political decision in this regard. Both parties say that they will ensure Puducherry becomes a state from its current status as a Union Territory; but the state has no power to execute such a transition. Both manifestos also highlight the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils. The AIADMK even promises Indian citizenship to them. Even if a DMK-supported government comes to power at the Centre, this is a proposal which will not be easy to implement. The DMK also says that up to Rs 8 lakh would be exempt from income tax, a decision that is neither the state governments to make, nor to implement. However, a number of common proposals in the manifestos may be attractive to voters across three southern states.One example is the matter of interlinking rivers across states. The other is the proposal by the AIADMK, which says it will credit Rs 1,500 every month into the bank account of families that live below the poverty line. The DMK says it will fix a minimum pension at Rs 8,000. Given the clamour for some form of Universal Basic Income across the country, the states parties may be ahead of the curve on this issue. Other promises, such as a separate budget for agriculture being presented or a separate ministry for fisheries, are likely to gain traction going forward. While political analysts may say that votes are rarely cast on the basis of party manifestos and will be based on issues, personalities, caste, region and religion, the Dravidian majors have exposed the developing fault lines between the states and the Centre on who has more say in shaping voters lives. The defence ministry has cleared an army proposal for buying over 1 million hand grenades that will be made in India, two officials said on the condition of anonymity. The project was given the green light by the defence acquisition council on Wednesday to boost the capabilities of the infantry. Projects that have been recently cleared under the fast-track procedure include those for buying assault rifles and light machine guns. One of the officials cited above said the ministry has also given its go-ahead to new policy guidelines for the selection of domestic shipyards to undertake major naval programmes. Tenders worth 25,000 crore are likely to be awarded to different yards in the next one to two years, he said. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force will induct four US-built Boeing CH-47F (I) Chinook heavy-lift helicopters at a ceremony in Chandigarh on March 25, an Indian Air Force spokesperson said on Wednesday. Boeings Chinook edged out Russian firm Rostvertols Mi-26 helicopters to win the $1.18 billion deal for 15 choppers. India placed the order in September 2015. The US-built Boeing Chinooks will fill a crucial gap in the Indian Air Forces heavy-lift capabilities as it currently operates a solitary Soviet-origin Mi-26 chopper to deliver payloads to high altitudes, officials said. The Chinooks main roles include transporting troops, artillery and battlefield resupply. Boeing CH-47F (I) Chinook can carry 55 troops or 10 tonnes of freight. Fugitive diamantairie Nirav Modis arrest has become another topic for opposition leaders with which to take potshots at the BJP government. Minutes after news of Nirav Modis arrest broke, minister of state Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to welcome the news of Nirav Modis arrest. You can run, but cannot hide from the countrys #Chowkidar. As wheels of justice grind, after Vijay Mallya, fugitive Nirav Modi has been arrested in London. Clear sign that this is not the India which will allow economic offenders to loot the country & evade the long arm of law, Puri tweeted. Reacting to Puris tweet, Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the BJP and questioned whether the BJP could claim Nirav Modis arrest as an achievement of the government. When asked about Modis arrest in London, she asked, Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? (Is this an achievement? Who let him flee in the first place?). National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took to Twitter to react to news of Nirav Modis arrest. Its amusing to see the BJP falling over itself to credit the PM with the Nirav Modi arrest while completely ignoring the fact that it was The Telegraph of London & its correspondent who found Nirav Modi, not the PM & his agencies, Abdullah tweeted. Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, now they are bringing him back. They are bringing him back for the elections, they will send him back after elections. Nirav Modi was arrested in central London on Tuesday evening and produced before the Westminster magistrates court which refused his bail. Nirav Modis arrest came a day after a UK Court issued an arrest warrant against his name. The arrest warrant was issued a few days after British home secretary Sajid Javid certified Indias request to the UK asking for Modis extradition. India has asked the UK to extradite Nirav Modi, who is accused of major fiancial irregularities running into thousands of crores linked to the the Punjab National Bank. Nirav Modi has contested his extradition to India. Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian authorities on Tuesday in Holborn. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) Government officials are considering using decals, stickers or RFID tags instead of license plates for motorcycles amid outcry from riders on the new law that requires motorcycles to have larger plates on its both ends. Senator JV Ejercito told CNN Philippines' The Source that Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Edgar Galvante said in a meeting with motorcycle groups yesterday that he is open to using decals and RFID tags instead of plates for motorcycles. LTO media consultant Weng Ocfemia told CNN Philippines that it is open to all suggestions regarding the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act. The law tasked the agency to come up with the font style and size of bigger plates for motorcycles. Ejercito also clarified that plates for motorcycles do not have to be made of aluminum, as the law only requires bigger, readable and color-coded number plates which are readable from the front, side and back of the motorcycle. However, he admitted that he hesitated in supporting the measure over concerns about the plates not looking good on motorcycles and its safety. "It's a safety issue because in case the front plate comes off, loosens, it might even hit you. So it's really dangerous," Ejercito said. He added that motorcycle riders felt betrayed that he backed the measure in the Senate, as they counted on a rider like him to come to their defense. But he said he had to balance the concerns of motorcycle riders and public opinion. He also said that he supported the law thinking that it could minimize the "harassment" of motorcycle riders, especially in security checkpoints, where they will be pulled over, asked to alight the vehicle and searched. "Kung nagkamali man ako, pasensya na [If I made a mistake, I'm sorry,] but that was what on my mind, at least minimize, if not eliminate harassment or discrimination of riders," Ejercito said. Motorcycle groups have been up in arms about the Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act, which was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 8. The Luzon Motorcyclists Federation Incorporated (LMFI) said that putting two license plates on motorcycles is unsafe for riders, commuters, pedestrians and other road users, and will not end street crimes. "The two license plates to stop crimes is just a lame excuse of lawmakers who are in denial that police visibility and swift justice are the solution," the LMFI said in a statement. Motorcycle riders are set to hold a nationwide motorcade on Sunday in protest of the new law, which they had hoped Duterte would veto. The law intends to prevent crimes committed using motorcycles by requiring larger plates on both ends of the vehicle. However, motorcycle groups have pointed out that the government has failed to issue license plates to them. "Until now we never had our license plates for more than three years already and still counting," the LMFI said. The Supreme Court last year allowed the release of 300,000 license plates for motor vehicles and 400,000 plates for motorcycles after it upheld the constitutionality of the use of P3.8 billion from the 2014 budget for the LTO Motor Vehicle License Plate Standardization Program. The LTO released over 200,000 motor vehicle plates in July 2018. This covered the first batch of pending license plates from July to October 2016. Photo: The Canadian Press Memories of vomiting, diarrhea and unrelenting stomach pain as he withdrew from opioids in prison had Rob MacDonald repeatedly asking for addiction treatment before he left a maximum-security facility but despite dozens of formal complaints, he says he didn't get any help. "I was thinking, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm going out onto the street with this addiction,'" MacDonald said a week after being released on supervision from the Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B., his fourth facility in over a decade behind bars. MacDonald, 41, said he feared his 15-year opioid addiction would cause him to return to crime while using illicit drugs on the outside so he tried desperately to get treatment from the federal prison service. "I put 150 requests in, probably 70 complaints, for a 15-month period, trying to tell them, 'Put me on it. I need it before I get out. I want to get help, I don't want to go back into the community in a high-risk situation, I don't want to reoffend,'" he said from Halifax, where he lives in a halfway house. He said he complained to the warden and then appealed to the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada. One of his complaints to the commissioner was upheld but he said he was placed on a wait list because there was a limit on the number of inmates receiving treatment. When he was incarcerated at B.C.'s Kent Institution between 2017 and 2019 for drug-related offences and robbery, MacDonald said debilitating withdrawal symptoms had him seeking potentially deadly fentanyl-laced drugs that were smuggled into the prison. "At least eight guys died in the 17, 18 months I was at Kent," he said. The Correctional Service linked MacDonald to a clinic in Halifax upon his release nearly two weeks ago and he is now prescribed the opioid substitute Suboxone. But he said he should have received the medication in prison as part of the agency's treatment program, which also includes methadone, so he could focus on finding a construction job to get his life back on track. Ivan Zinger, Canada's ombudsman for offenders, said the Correctional Service has failed to provide adequate addiction treatment, programs and staff at a time when more drugs are contaminated with fentanyl. "I think when you're dealing with a large inmate population that has such a long history of substance abuse you should be providing an awful lot more treatment and programming in addition to opioid substitution therapy," said Zinger, who called for the reallocation of funding to provide those services. "It's unclear to me why the budget has remained the same and decreased in the past when clearly the number of incidents is increasing," he said of overdoses that caused 41 deaths between 2010 and 2018. Three CRPF personnel were killed Wednesday after a colleague allegedly fired at them after an altercation at their camp in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The alleged fratricide incident happened at around 10 pm when constable Ajit Kumar shot three of his colleagues from his service rifle at the 187th battalion camp of the force in the Battal Ballian area in Udhampur, they said. The officials said while three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men were killed in the firing, Kumar also shot himself and is critical in a hospital. Kumar hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and was rushed to a military hospital nearby, they said. The deceased have been identified as head constables Pokarmal R of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, Yogendra Sharma of Delhi and Umed Singh of Rewari in Haryana. The incident is said to be triggered after the jawans had an altercation, they said. Senior CRPF and police officials have rushed to the spot, they added. India has formally complained to the Pakistan government about four more instances of its diplomats and officials in Islamabad being harassed by security personnel amid downturn in bilateral ties following the Pulwama terror attack last month. In a note verbale an unsigned diplomatic correspondence submitted to Pakistans foreign ministry on March 18, the Indian high commission in Islamabad detailed the incidents that occurred last week and sought an investigation, people familiar with developments said. The note said the Indian naval adviser was aggressively tailed by two Pakistani personnel in a car while he was travelling from his home to the mission on March 15. On the previous day, two Pakistani security personnel were seen keeping watch outside the naval advisers home when he hosted a dinner, the note added. On March 14, a Pakistani personnel behaved in an intimidatory manner with a staff member of the high commission while he was engaged in certain official work. Two other personnel of the high commission had been receiving hoax calls from two different numbers, the note further said. The high commission sought an investigation into these incidents and asked that the Pakistani agencies should be instructed that similar incidents do not occur in future, the people said. The note mentioned that such incidents of harassment of officials violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In another note verbale submitted on March 13, the high commission had complained of more than 15 instances of harassment of its diplomats and officials, including aggressive tailing and a visit by security personnel to an ill official admitted to hospital. Hitting out at his political opponents over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioned why Opposition leaders are pained even as the valiant Indian armed forces have hit Pakistan badly. Interacting with chowkidars (watchmen) and security guards across India over phone, Modi lashed out at Opposition leaders who, he said, criticised Indias response to Pakistan after the Pulwama terror strike that killed 40 troopers. The BJP said he reached out to 2.5 million people. We should be proud of our security forces who are always ready to risk their lives for acts of valour. On the other hand, our Opposition parties are raising questions after the Pulwama attack. Everyone is wondering why these leaders cant digest the achievements of our forces and the way they went and bombed in the heart of Pakistan. Pakistan has been bombed, it has been hurt but these leaders in India are in pain and crying foul, Modi said, replying to a question posed by Santosh Kumar, a chowkidar from Odisha. Vaar Pakistan pe ho aur bimaar Hindustan mein ho, this cant be tolerated (it cant be that the attack is in Pakistan and the reaction, in India, Modi said. Many Opposition leaders criticized the governments inability to prevent the attack in Pulwama and accused the government of trying to reap political gains out of the air strikes in Pakistans Balakot. According to the government, the air strikes demolished terror camps and infrastructure and killed an unaccounted number of terrorists. The BJPs counter offensive on the chowkidar front came months after Congress president Rahul Gandhi coined the phrase chowkidar chor hai to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allegations of wrongdoing in the Rafale deal. Modi, during his election rallies in 2014, told people to see him as a chowkidar who would ensure no corruption happened on his watch, and not a Prime Minister. You must have seen that everywhere people are talking about you. Many countries have now understood the meaning of chowkidar, Modi told the listeners and asked them to continue to be chowkidars against terror, corruption and filth. I am seeking your forgiveness. Our Opposition leaders have raised questions about every chowkidar. If they had abused me, you would have been spared. I understand the use of such language is disturbing you. But they will not stop because impatience is in their habit. Even if a kaamdaar becomes a PM, they will still continue to abuse him, Modi said, reiterating one of his oft-repeated statements about being a kaamdar (worker) and not a naamdar (dynast). He asked chowkidars to continue their work and said they must aspire to make their children future engineers, doctors and even Prime Minister of this country. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surejwala said, Modiji is a habitual offender in credit seeking for the valour & sacrifice of our armed forces. The Iraq government is wooing major players in Indias health care sector to set up facilities in the country to cater to the tens of thousands of people who travel to India for treatment, Iraqi ambassador Falah Abdulsada said on Wednesday. About 80,000 Iraqis come to Indian cities like New Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai every year for treatment, drawn by lower costs, professional facilities and similarity in culture between the two countries. We have been talking to some Indian companies in the healthcare sector about setting up facilities in Iraq, as this would cut costs on travel and other expenses, such as hiring translators and renting accommodation when people have to stay for longer periods for treatment, Abdulsada said in an interaction with a group of Indian journalists. Some Indian firms have shown an interest, though the envoy declined to name them. It is believed Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals, which has a presence in Bangladesh and Oman, and New Delhi-based Max Healthcare are eyeing the Iraqi market. The Indian embassy in Baghdad issued around 250 visas a day last year, with a majority going to Iraqis visiting India for medical treatment, according to the missions website. Iraqi Airways operate direct flights from Baghdad to New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, while Air India resumed flights to Iraq after more than 25 years in February. Many Iraqis come to India for treatment as it is cheaper here than other countries such as Turkey. Medical facilities have high standards and the people feel more comfortable because of our similar cultures, the envoy said. Abdulsada said Iraq was also keen to attract investments by Indian firms in sectors like power generation, education, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure as the government rebuilds the war-torn country. This is the right time to get in as the security situation has improved. If you keep waiting, the space may be occupied by players from other countries and you could lose the first-mover advantage, he said. If there were one politician Id willingly and immediately cast my vote for, it is Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Actually, it would be wrong to refer to her as a politician. She should be described as a leader, in the true sense of the word, for the way she guided her country through grief in the wake of a lethal terror attack that killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch. We were hit too, not long ago, on February 14, when a bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Central Reserve Police Force convoy at Pulwama and killed 40 troopers. Indias response echoed through members of the ruling party and the Opposition stood out in complete contrast to that of New Zealand. Ardern reached out with kind words. It is okay to grieve, she said. Jaw breaking response, we said. Gun laws will change, she said. Ghar, ghar mein ghus ke marunga (We will enter their homes and kill them), we said. She comforted, soothed, calmed. We thundered, thumped our chests and sloganeered. She hugged and wiped tears, a black scarf adorning her head. We wore battle fatigues and lost no time in decorating stages with photographs of the dead. She was visibly pained; we could barely contain our glee at the advantage the Balakot strikes may yield at the hustings. We are one. They (Muslim immigrants) are us, she said. The meaning of the word Abhinandan, will change, we said, referring to the air force officer who landed in Pakistan after ejecting from a fighter plane. Ardern led a multi-party group to visit grieving families and New Zealands Muslim community members; we are still squabbling. He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety and that is why you will never hear me mention his name, she said. Who flew Masood Azhar (head of Jaish-e-Mohammed) to freedom? How did Pulwama happen, they asked the chowkidar. What did they do after 26/11? he countered. In the claims and counter-claims, amidst the he said, she said, we have to pick and choose. Slogans is what we have as of now. Chowkidar chor hai. Main bhi chowkidar. PMO is now publicity ministers office. Many more will be added as we inch closer to the election. For some of us, Jacinda Ardern summed up her response through an Indian slogan she didnt know she was borrowing from. Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas. We are one. They are us. It helped them win handsomely too. Only, in India, we last heard it in 2014. Senior Congress leader in Telangana DK Aruna joined the BJP early on Wednesday in another setback to the opposition party ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The Congress in Telangana has already lost as many as eight MLAs who have crossed over to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state. Aruna, who has represented the Gadwal assembly constituency thrice, met BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi after midnight and was formally admitted into the party. She was accompanied by Bharatiya Janata Partys general secretary Ram Madhav, who was instrumental in convincing her to join the ruling party at the Centre. There is no hope of the Congress regaining its glory in Telangana and in the given circumstances, the BJP is the only party that can fulfil the aspirations of the people, she said. The 59-year-old leader, who was associated with the Congress party since her childhood, is most likely to be the BJP candidate for Mahbubnagar parliamentary constituency. She had earlier declined the Congress partys offer of the party ticket for the same seat. Known as Queen of Gadwal, the firebrand leader is known for her aggressive politics. Her father Chittem Narsi Reddy, a former Congress minister, was killed by Maoists along with her brother while he was hoisting the national flag on Independence Day in 2005 at Narayanpet in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district. Her younger brother Ch Rammohan Reddy was a Congress MLA, but he later defected to the TRS and got re-elected in the recent assembly elections. Arunas husband DK Bharata Simha Reddy was a Telugu Desam Party MLA but joined the Congress party and her brother-in-law DK Samarasimha Reddy is a veteran Congress leader and was a minister. Her father-in-law DK Satya Reddy was also a first-time MLA and minister in the post-independence era. Aruna, who won the assembly elections for three consecutive terms since 2004, served as the information and public relations minister in the last cabinet of the undivided Andhra Pradesh. During the recent assembly elections, she was seen as the chief ministerial candidate, but she lost to the TRS, like many other senior Congress leaders. The 17 parliamentary seats in Telangana will vote in the second round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election on April 18. The result will be declared on May 23. Urdu aficionados are aghast for two reasons. One, the government plans to enlist Bollywood stars to promote the language they cannot read or write. Two, those being considered are all Muslims. The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) is an autonomous body under the ministry of human resource development (HRD). The artistes it has reportedly shortlisted to carry the banner of Urdu are: Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Their lack of familiarity with the language is well known in film circles, an Urdu scholar told this writer. Unwilling to go on record for personal reasons, he regretted that the NCPUL considered Urdu the language of a religion. If star value, and not the felicity of language, is the guiding impulse, then why Katrina, why not Deepika Padukone? Languages are of regions, not religions, argued a popular UP-based poet. Proof of that were circumstances that led to the creation of Bangladesh, where Muslims considered Bengali their language, not Urdu that was sought to be imposed on them by the political elite of West Pakistan. The Bengali cultural nationalism the language controversy stoked had its genesis in Mohammed Ali Jinnahs March 1948 speech at Dhaka University, in which he declared Urdu as the official language of Pakistan. In this backdrop, to associate Urdu with any religion or faith amounts to forgetting history apart from ignoring the languages syncretic origin: Persian script, but the grammar of North Indias Khadi Boli dialect. Moreover, in our subcontinent, Urdu has been the chosen language of progressive thinkers, the legion of its ambassadors including such famous names as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ismat Chugtai, Kaifi Azmi, Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Jagannath Azad, Sardar Jafri, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Krishan Chander and Raghupati Sahay Firaq--- better known as Firaq Gorakhpuri. In fact, the Fasana-e-Azad by Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar (1846-1903) is hailed as a novel written in most perfect Urdu of the Lucknow school. Inspired by Dickenss Pickwick Papers and Cervantess Don Quixote, it was translated into Hindi by Munshi Premchand. Practitioners and connoisseurs of Urdu, the language of poets, do not come from any one community. That the languages eclectic following has sustained generational shifts is evident from the oeuvre of Javed Aktarand that of Gulzar. The list wont be complete without a mention of the scholarly Gopichand Narang who brought the beauty of Urdu to India. Theres no dearth of non-Muslims even among the upcoming Urdu writers: Vikas Sharma RAAZ, Jayant Parmar, Swapnil Tiwari, Bakul Dev, Abhinandan Pandey and Ranjeet Chauhan to name a few. Many among them have been heard and appreciated on platforms afforded by Rekhta Foundation, a non-profit body devoted to the preservation and promotion of Urdu language and literature. As for the NCPULs choice of Katrina and the two Khans, itll be instructive for the HRD ministrys arm to know that two Bollywood thespians read and write in Urdu: Dharmendra and Manoj Kumar. The latter, as we all, know is a self-proclaimed right-winger. His love of Urdu is another proof of its secular appeal. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday ruled herself out of the 2019 Lok Sabha race to allow her to focus on getting the largest share of seats for her alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and beyond. Mayawati said it was better for the party, people and the country that she does not contest the Lok Sabha general elections at this stage. I am confident and sure that my party workers will accept this decision, she told news agency ANI. The BSP chief said that she would, if required, contest the Lok Sabha election at a later stage. Last week, Mayawati had indicated to party leaders that she will not contest the Lok Sabha polls and will instead focus on the BSPs campaign. She will start the BSPs national campaign from the Odisha capital Bhubaneswar on April 2, a party leader had said. Also read: With 38 seats, Mayawatis BSP is senior partner in UP pact with Akhilesh Yadav In 2014, the BSP had contested 503 Lok Sabha seats but won none with a countrywide vote share of 5%. In Uttar Pradesh, she will hold the first joint rally with her alliance partners, the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, in Deoband on April 7. The BSP is contesting the Lok Sabha election in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. BSP chief Mayawati and SP president Akhilesh Yadav announced their electoral arrangement in January for 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP is the senior partner in the alliance contesting 38 Lok Sabha seats. The SP is contesting 37 seats, according to the seat sharing arrangement. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is the third constituent of the grand-alliance. The RLD has got three Lok Sabha seats. Mayawati and Yadav had announced that they would not field candidates from Amethi and Rae Bareli, the constituencies represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi respectively. Also read: UP partners Mayawati and Akhilesh snub Congress over its 7-seat offer, say dont create confusion In his latest attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Indias institutions have been the biggest casualty of dynastic politics. PM Modi on Wednesday wrote in his blog that the people voted decisively in the 2014 general elections for honesty over dynasty and development over decay. As you go to vote- remember the past and how one familys desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty, he said. PM Modi further said, The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. Are they scared of accountability or do they not believe in it? Watch: People are not fools: Priyanka Gandhis counter attack on PM Modi The Prime Minister also targeted Congress for their contempt for the courts. Congress modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge, said PM Modi in his blog. This comes amid attack by the Congress alleging that the Modi government has been undermining the institutions. PM Modi has responded to the criticism saying, Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, A bunch of jokers. This comment gives you a glimpse of how Congress treats government institutions. Also read: Priyanka Gandhi says Modi govts argument to blame Congress has an expiry date He also targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi referring to the ordinance tearing incident of 2013. PM Modi said, A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference. Gandhi had intervened to stop an ordinance meant to save the convicted legislators from disqualification. He had called the ordinance a complete nonsense that should be torn up and thrown away. The Prime Minister continued with his attack citing the creation of the National Advisory Council led by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He said, The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Ministers Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions? Also read: Congress culture is anti-thesis of Gandhian thought: PM Modi Indians were tired, PM Modi writes in his blog, of the country being in the Fragile Five, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive. He said India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future. Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the worlds eyes, PM Modi PM Modi highlighted, in his blog post, the BJP-led governments achievements in the last five years. India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage (from 38% in 2014 to 98% now), banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth, he said. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a counter-attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in a blog post targeted the Gandhi family. Priyanka Gandhi said the prime minister should stop thinking that people are fools. The BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last five years including the media. The prime minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they can see through this, Priyanka Gandhi said on the last day of her Ganga Yatra in Uttar Pradesh. Watch: People are not fools: Priyanka Gandhis counter attack on PM Modi Also Read | Priyanka Gandhi says Modi govts argument to blame Congress has an expiry date In his latest blog post, PM Modi attacked the Congress and the Gandhi family saying, Institutional insult is the Congress way. The prime minister also said that the top leadership of the Congress is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam Priyanka Gandhi countered PM Modis charge and said, They think that those who speak against them are scared of them. This is not true. We are not scared of them. No matter how much they harass us, we are not scared of them. We will keep fighting them. The more they harass us, stronger will be our fight against them, she said. This comes a day after Priyanka Gandhi sought a report card of the Modi government when she said that the argument that what did they do in 70 years has an expiry date. She said, the BJP should talk about what the Modi government has done in the last five years. Both PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have been targeting the Gandhi family. In his latest blog, PM Modi said that one familys desire for power cost nation greatly. Photo: The Canadian Press The chief executive of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. says he never cited the protection of 9,000 Canadian jobs as a reason it should be granted a remediation agreement to avoid a criminal trial on allegations the company paid millions of dollars in bribes to obtain government business in Libya. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Neil Bruce said Wednesday if the engineering firm is convicted and barred from bidding on federal contracts here at home its workers would end up working for the Montreal-based company's foreign rivals. "There would be a reduction with us but these are talented folks. They'll get a job," Bruce said. "This thing that somehow they're going to be unemployed is not true because they are highly qualified, highly experienced people." Bruce's comments come as a political storm in Ottawa continues over allegations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his senior staff and others improperly pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to end a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau and his staff have said their only concern was for SNC-Lavalin's 9,000 jobs, which might be at risk if the company were convicted and then barred from bidding on federal contracts for up to 10 years The affair has so far cost Trudeau two cabinet ministers, his principal secretary and the country's top public servant, although he continues to insist no one did anything wrong. Bruce said about 75 per cent of the company's rivals have concluded deferred prosecution agreements in their host countries and are free to work in Canada. Meanwhile, Bruce said he still doesn't know why the director of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould were not open to granting a remediation agreement. He said SNC-Lavalin employees feel bruised and battered by the last six weeks since a report surfaced that government officials pressured the former attorney general to grant the company a deferred prosecution agreement. "And I think fundamentally that's unfair on our employees who had nothing to do with what went on seven to 20 years ago." While he's not surprised that politicians would make hay out of this issue during an election year, Bruce said he's concerned that policy-makers haven't been as willing as other countries to defend home-grown companies and their workers. He said there's no plans to move the company's headquarters from Montreal, adding competitors are envious of its shareholder base that is 82 per cent Canadian and led by the Caisse de depot which has helped fund its acquisition of British engineering firm Atkins. "We see ourselves as Team Canada. We are a global champion, one of few. There's not many and we're proud to be Canadian." A 14-year-old girl lit the funeral pyre of her mother, an HIV positive patient, who had died at a government hospital in Indore last week. The woman had been abandoned by her family after they got to know of her HIV positive status. The minor girl managed to perform the last rites of her mother thanks to the intervention of some social workers. The minor girl had lost her father in 2011. Soon after her fathers death, her mother was diagnosed with HIV. The girls elder brother left the mother and began living with his paternal uncle, but the girl stuck by her mother and they somehow managed to eke out a living. The mother and daughter were living in very poor conditions. Around one-and-a-half-month ago, the woman was admitted to the government hospital after her condition deteriorated. She died last week and subsequently, her body was kept in the mortuary. When the girl informed her brother and uncle about her mothers death, neither of them came forward to claim her body and perform her last rites, said Manju Chaudhary, member Childline, Indore. Since the girl was a minor, the officials could not hand over the body to her. She ended up roaming around the hospital where her mothers body was kept, said the official. On Monday, when the girl came to know that the hospital administration had decided to cremate the woman as an unclaimed body, she began crying but was afraid to approach any official. A few social workers saw her crying alone. After hearing of her ordeal and plight, they decided to help her perform her mothers last rites. But that wasnt the end of the girls ordeal. A woman had expressed interest in adopting her. We were informed about the situation on Monday as a woman, who claimed to be a friend of the deceased, showed interest in adopting the girl, Chaudhary said. The girl neither expressed her willingness or unwillingness to go with the woman. But since the girl was in obvious trauma, Childline handed the matter over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Indore, to decide the girls fate, Chaudhary said. CWC chairperson Maya Pandey said, The girls brother and paternal uncle requested us to hand the girl over to them as they didnt trust the woman who wanted to adopt her. So we sent her to her brother on Tuesday. Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested and denied bail at the Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, setting off another high-profile extradition trial involving large-scale financial irregularities in India, three months after that of businessman Vijay Mallya. Modi, 48, was arrested by Scotland Yard in the central London area of Holborn on Tuesday on Indias extradition request made in August 2018. He is wanted in India to face allegations of defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of over Rs 14,000 crore, among other charges. Modi declared in court his intention to contest the extradition request and offered to pay 500,000 pounds as security deposit for bail. But this was denied due to what the judge called the high value of amount involved in the allegations and the likelihood of Modi escaping. He will remain in custody until the next hearing on March 29. I have substantial grounds to believe that you may not surrender, judge Marie Mallon told him. The trial will be held in the magistrates court over several months, possibly extending more than a year, as it did in the case of Mallya. He was arrested and bailed on April 18, 2017 and the court pronounced its judgement, ordering his extradition, on December 10, 2018. Read more| From Forbes to London jail, Nirav Modis journey began with pair of earrings Scotland Yard said in a statement before Modi was produced in court: Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn. Modi is reported to have sought asylum, but UK officials following a long-standing policy do not confirm or deny an individuals application. Legal experts say that his arrest suggests that the application, if made, would have been rejected, since granting asylum to a person facing fraud charges in India would be an abuse of process. Both Modi and Mallya extradition cases relate to loans worth thousands of crores of rupees secured from Indian banks; from a consortium of banks that includes IDBI and SBI in the Mallya case, and the Mumbai branch of the PNB in Modis case. However, there are key differences in the nature of charges of financial impropriety. Mallyas main contention was that there is no prima facie case against him, since the inability of his Kingfisher Airlines to return loans, according to him, was due to a genuine business failure. The case was described by the judge as a jigsaw puzzle, while Mark Summers, lawyer representing India, accused Mallya of three chapters of dishonesty: misrepresentations made to banks to secure loans, what was done with the loans secured, and what he and his companies did when banks recalled the loans. Read more| Can run, cant hide: Minister on Nirav Modis arrest, Priyanka has a counter After over a year of hearings involving thousands of pages of documents and witnesses, chief judge Emma Arbuthnot in December 2018 upheld Indias case that there is a prima facie case for him to answer in India, dismissing other grounds such as risk to human rights in jail and abuse of process. In contrast, Modis case may be decided over a shorter time-frame, given the different, seemingly clearer charges of impropriety and fraud against him, his family and others, including some PNB officials, as outlined in CBIs chargesheet filed in Indian courts. Under the India-UK extradition treaty, the person requested needs to be charged with an offence that amounts to an offence in both countries (the principle of dual criminality). Modis arrest implies that the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the conduct described in Indias request is an extradition offence, including the requirement for dual criminality. As in the Mallya case, Modis defence team is likely to raise issues in court to prevent his extradition, such as risk to his human rights in Indian jails, political persecution and alleged infirmities in the Indian judicial system that prevent delivery of justice. India successfully countered such claims in the court with documentary and visual evidence in the Mallya case, including a sovereign assurance from the Union home ministry that there would be no risk to his human rights. Indias charges against Modi, as provided to Interpol, are: punishment of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker merchant or agent, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, prevention of corruption act, money laundering. Read more| ED to sell 173 paintings, 11 cars of Nirav Modi As in the Mallya case, CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials are likely to travel from India to attend hearings in the Modi case. Officials closely associated with the Mallya case say it was a learning exercise for ministries, CBI and others, when, for the first time, there was joined-up thinking and attention to detail in New Delhi and London; a similar focus is likely in the Modi case. While Modis case begins the first legal stage in the magistrates court, Mallyas case has progressed from the magistrates court (ordering his extradition) to the home secretary (also ordering his extradition), and is now in the appeals court, where a judge will consider his application challenging the home secretarys order. Until focus on the Mallya case prompted renewed attention to improve the quality of Indian evidence and paperwork, previous extradition cases used to be accompanied by bundles of poorly written FIRs and documents, many hand-written, resulting in a catalogue of failures since the India-UK extradition treaty of 1993. Response to queries regarding the arrest of Nirav Modi, a ministry of external affairs spokesperson said: We welcome the fact that Nirav Modi has been arrested by the United Kingdom authorities pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrate Court. Government of India continues to actively follow up this matter with the authorities concerned in the UK, with a view to have Nirav Modi extradited to India at the earliest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked voters on Wednesday to remember the past and how one familys desire for power cost the nation greatly. Seeking a second term in Prime Ministers office, Modi wrote in a blog that institutional insult was the Congresss way. From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way, Modi wrote. Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct. If they could do then, they can surely do now, Modi said, writing about issues such as emergency under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the tussle between the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the previous United Progressive Alliance government over its reports on the telecom scam and irregularities in coal block allocation. Modi said the Congress did not believe in internal democracy. The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes... their top leadership is out on bail. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply. When a Government works with the spirit of India First instead of Family First, Modi said, it shows in its working. India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating, he said. Reacting strongly to the Modis tweet on dynasty politics, Congress general secretary and eastern UP incharge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, The Prime Minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all this. Normal life was affected in Kashmir Valley on Wednesday as authorities imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar amid a shutdown called by separatists against the custodial death of a school teacher in south Kashmir. Rizwan Pandit, a 29-year-old school principal, was allegedly picked up by police from his home in south Kashmirs Awantipora on Sunday evening in connection with a terror case. He died in custody on Monday, triggering clashes in the Valley. A police spokesman said on Tuesday Pandit had been in custody in pursuance of a terror case investigation when he died. Pandits family alleged it was a cold-blooded murder. Most of shops, businesses and schools were closed in Srinagar while traffic movement was affected in sensitive areas. The attendance in government offices was thin. The shutdown also affected life in other district headquarters of the Valley. Mobile internet services were stopped in south Kashmir while the speed was reduced in central Kashmir, including capital Srinagar. Restrictions were imposed in places falling under five police stations of downtown while there were partial restrictions in Maisuma and Kralkhud areas, said a police official on Wednesday. The police wanted to maintain law and order. So far the situation has remained under control, he said. The separatists called a shutdown and protests while mainstream politicians such as Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti condemned the incident and demanded that the government fix responsibility. The administration has started a magisterial probe while police have also started their own investigations. There have been a demand for registration of a murder case. National Conference chief spokesman Aga Roohullah said that the death happened in state custody so responsibility falls on the governor. Some reports suggested that this teacher was in NIA custodyIn both situations whether the custody was with NIA or local police, the responsibility falls on governors office, he said. The governors rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir on June 19, 2018 when the Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support by the BJP. When the governors rule expired on December 19, 2018, Presidents rule was imposed in the state. Roohullah said that the governor must clarify under whose custody the death happened. Meanwhile, the NIA has denied reports linking it with the Rizwan Pandit case. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence awarded to seven men for the gangrape and murder of a mentally challenged woman in Rohtak in 2015. The high court bench of justice AB Chaudhari and justice Surinder Gupta also imposed a fine of 50 lakh on the accused, to be recovered by selling off their properties. The incident dates back to February 1, 2015, when the 27-year-old victim, who used to live with her elder sister on the outskirts of Rohtak town, was waylaid by the convicts, who later gangraped and murdered her. They were awarded death sentence on December 21, 2015 and a reference for the affirmation of high court was sent by the trial court, which was decided on Tuesday, along with appeals of the convicts. The convicts are Padam, Pawan, Sarwar, Manbir, Rajesh, Sunil and Sunil, alias Sheela. Another accused in the case, Somvir, had committed suicide in Delhi, days after the incident. One more accused was declared juvenile. We are shocked and aghast to see .... number of injuries and nature of injuries caused to the victim .... with the brutal and predatory acts of perpetrators of the barbaric crime, the court said while upholding the death sentence. The victim was taken to two places by the convicts, who, after consuming alcohol, raped her. They left the initial spot due to fear after a police jeep passed by. They had also bludgeoned the victim with bricks. Tsunami of cruelty What must be the excruciating pain to almost half-dead young woman! Then the animalism, torment, highest order of cruelty, rather tsunami of cruelty, made thereafter is bound to petrify one and all, the court observed on the evidence that some external object was inserted into the victims private parts. While imposing the 50-lakh fine on the convicts, the court said the imposition of heavy fine, if recovered by selling off the properties of the guilty, would prove to be an additional deterrence, and directed Rohtak deputy commissioner to identify the immovable properties of all the accused and attach them within one month. The properties are to be sold within two months and amount recovered be given to state as well as sister of the victim. Haryana additional advocate general Deepak Sabharwal had argued that the brutality was akin to the 2012 Delhi gangrape case wherein the apex court had upheld the death sentence to the accused. Unwilling to take any chances, the Congress top brass has asked state unit chief and sitting MP Ashok Chavan to contest next months Lok Sabha elections from Nanded constituency in Marathwada. Earlier, Chavan had proposed his wife and local MLA Amita Chavans name for the seat. The party is also likely to re-nominate Rajeev Satav from Hingoli and consider former Mumbai corporator Pravin Chheda for Mumbai North constituency. Chavan and Satav were the partys only two winning candidates in the 2014 elections. Meanwhile, the Congress declared seven more candidates late on Tuesday. Former MP Eknath Gaikwad will be the candidate from Mumbai South Central, while former state president Manikrao Thakre has been fielded from Yavatmal. State Congress womens wing chief Charulata Tokas will contest from Wardha. Other candidates include KC Padvi (Nandurbar), Bhausaheb Kamble (Shirdi) and Navinchandra Bandivadekar (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg) and Kunal Rohidas Patil ( Dhule). Of them, Padvi and Patil are sitting MLAs. Voting for seven seats in Vidarbha is being held on April 11 and on April 18 for ten seats in Vidarbha, Central Maharashtra and Western Maharashtra . The party is expected to field its former national youth president and Hingoli MP Rajeev Satav from the constituency. Satav, who is the partys in-charge for Gujarat in the elections, had earlier requested the party to not re-nominate him from Hingoli as he wanted to concentrate on Gujarat. The district and state level screening committee had recommended Amitas name for candidature from Nanded constituency. However, the central leadership has made it clear in a recent screening committee meeting that Chavan will have to contest the election and not his wife. The party high command is not in a mood of taking any chance, said a party leader privy to the developments. Chavan is expected to file his nomination on March 22. Chavan had announced six months ago that he would not contest the Lok Sabha elections and would like to contest the Assembly elections later this year. Meanwhile, the party is likely to offer Sangli to the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha as part of the alliance agreement. Shettis party has demanded either Sangli or Wardha after the NCP allotted Hatkangale constituency from its quota. The party has finalised Charulata Tokas from Wardha and expects a fair chance of winning it, compared to Sangli, where the party is struggling to find a strong candidate, said another leader from the party. The Sangli unit of party has, however, strongly opposed conceding the seat to Swabhimani Paksha and has announced a rebellion if a party candidate was not announced from the constituency. Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday trained his guns on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, alleging that the latter ignored underworld don Dawood Ibrahims offer to surrender and return to India. The NCP, however, ridiculed the allegations saying that the same had been made earlier and Pawar had pointed out that condition put by Dawood was not acceptable. Ambedkar, who has decided not to join the Congress-NCP led Opposition coalition, said it was time Pawar comes clean on the issue. Ram Jethmalani had told Pawar (then chief minister) that Dawood was ready to surrender and come back to India. Did Pawar apprise then then PM (PV Narsimha Rao) about this offer? Did he take this decision to disallow? If he had disallowed, then under which authority was it rejected?, questioned Ambedkar. In the past few months, Ambedkar has been constantly attacking Pawar. Even in his seat-sharing talks with the Congress, he asked them to cut ties with the NCP. The NCP has debunked Ambedkars claim, saying that Pawar had already made his stance clear. Dawood wanted royal treatment, which was not acceptable to our law enforcement agencies. How can a man accused of engineering the 1993 bomb blast that killed around 300 innocent people dictate terms to us. Such accusations against Pawar are unfortunate, said NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad. Ambedkar also claimed the VBA will under no circumstances support the BJP-led alliance after the Lok Sabha polls. We will rather sit in the opposition than support them, he added. Amnedkar has spurned the offer of alliance of Congress-NCP combine and has already announced candidates for 37 of the states 48 seats. In the initial round of talks, he wanted 12 seats, which was rejected as the combine were ready to concede two. After this, he upped his demand to 22 seats. It is likely going to be a fight between the sitting BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at the Patna Sahib parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha election on May 19 in the last phase of the national polls. Prasad is expected to get a BJP nomination for the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat. However, it is not yet clear which party Sinha will represent in the Lok Sabha polls. Sinha had last week said that he would reveal on March 22, a day after Holi festival, that which party he would contest from in the Lok Sabha election. Sinha has been critical of the BJP and the Narendra Modi government, and openly aligned with the opposition parties in the last couple of years. In the latest instance, Sinha took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modis radio address to the security guards from across the country on the eve of Holi, the festival of colours. Sir! Please address the the problems long overdue instead of addressing the Chowkidars. Lets all play Holi rather than Rafale Chor and Chowkidar, Sinha wrote on Twitter. The Patna Sahib MP had participated in two of the mega rallies organised by the opposition camp in Kolkata (January 19) and New Delhi (February 13). In both the rallies, Sinha had targeted the Modi government over Rafale deal. The disgruntled BJP MP has often referred to his proximity to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who is serving a jail term in connection with one of the fodder scam cases. The RJD and the Congress are part of the opposition alliance in Bihar. The two parties are, however, yet to arrive at a seat sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls. Mahagathbandhan (grand-alliance) is intact. Seats and constituencies will be announced after Holi. There is nothing to worry. All is fine in the alliance, news agency ANI quoted RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the younger son of Lalu Prasad, as saying on Wednesday. Yadavs comment goes in sync with Sinhas statement where he talked about revealing his candidature for the Lok Sabha polls. Sinha has, meanwhile, stated it on a couple of occasions that he would contest from the Patna Sahib parliamentary constituency. There is speculation that Sinha may seek re-election from his Patna Sahib constituency as the RJD candidate. Sinha is a two-time sitting MP from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat. In 2014, he defeated Gopal Prasad Sinha of the Janata Dal-United, the alliance partner of the BJP in Bihar. In 2009, the actor-turned-politician had won this seat after defeating television personality Shekhar Suman, who contested on the Congress partys ticket. The Bihari Babu, as Sinha is popularly known, was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayees government. He held the portfolios of health and shipping ministry during his stint as a Union minister in the government. Sinha was then a member of the Rajya Sabha, where he served for two consecutive terms between 1996 and 2008. He is set to face a challenge from his former Union cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad, the senior BJP leader. Both were part of the Vajpayee government till 2004. Both the leaders are considered as the proteges of BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani. Though, the official list of the BJP candidates has not been released. But it is likely that Prasad will seek his first election to the Lok Sabha from the Patna Sahib seat. Prasad is the Union minister for Law and justice, and information technology. Prasad shot to fame during 1990s as a lawyer, who filed a public interest litigation against Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam case. His father, Thakur Prasad was a minister in the Karpoori Thakur government of Bihar during 1970s. He has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2000. Prasad was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the third term in 2012. The National Conference and Congress on Wednesday sealed an alliance for three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and decided to go for friendly contests on three other seats. The state sends six MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Congress will not field any candidate against NC president Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar while the regional party left the seats of Jammu and Udhampur for the Congress. Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad and chairperson coordination committee for elections, Ambika Soni arrived in Jammu on Wednesday morning and finalized the deal with NC president, Farooq Abdullah after other senior leaders of the two parties ironed out the differences during a meeting Tuesday meeting. The deal was sealed three days after NC vice president Omar Abdullah had said NC candidates will contest from three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir and was open for an alliance with Congress if it agrees to leave three seats in the Valley to his party. Farooq Abdullah said that the NC and Congress leaders had threadbare discussion on an alliance in the state. We discussed how to strengthen the secular front and for this both the parties had to adopt give and take formula. We have decided to leave Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats for Congress. I will be contesting from Srinagar and there will be friendly contest on Baramulla and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats. We are also thinking on a friendly contest on Ladakh seat, said Abdullah. The National Conference patriarch said the aim is that seats should be either won by NC or Congress. Secular parties should emerge as winners. Azad praised the father and son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah and said both of them were involved in uniting the opposition. They always made efforts that on the national level secular parties should form a united front. Our decision was based on live and let live and there couldnt have been such a good arrangement. If in Jammu, NC would have fielded candidates that could have helped BJP and in Kashmir if we would have contested separately the transfer of votes would have been difficult. The places where there will be a friendly contest we wont have any cut throat competition. Our aim will be to beat third force even in Kashmir. At places where there will be friendly contest whether NC or Congress wins it does not make any difference, Azad said. Also read: NC-Congress alliance talks hit deadlock over Kashmir seats We all will campaign for Farooq Abdullah as he is a legendary leader and belongs to both the parties, the Congress leader said. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said the party high command will be naming candidates for the Lok Sabha seats. Our coalition will win all the seats, he maintained. The NC had already named three candidates from Kashmir. While Abdullah who is a sitting MP will contest from Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, former minister, Akbar Lone will be contesting from Baramulla seat. The party has named former High court judge, Husnain Masoodi from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. Under the new arrangement, the NC has to only name a candidate from Ladakh. In 2014, Congress candidate Ghulam Reza lost the Ladakh seat by 36 votes to the BJP candidate. Sources said Ghulam Ahmad Mir could be likely Congress candidate from south Kashmir and there is possibility that Salman Soz son of former J&KPCC president Saifudin Soz could contest from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. In 2014 the NC and Congress had contested elections on all six seats jointly and lost all the seats to PDP and the BJP. However, in 2017 bye-elections, Farooq Abdullah emerged victorious amid low voter turnout. With 280 rallies and 3,000 roadside meetings planned for over a month, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said it will launch its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi on March 23. AAPs election campaign will begin from March 23 with the first rally scheduled in West Delhi. A total of 280 rallies and 3,000 meetings near polling stations will be held until April 30. AAPs national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold 70 mega rallies one in each of the citys assembly constituencies, AAP Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai told reporters. With the slogan poorn rajya banao, jhadu ka button dabao (vote for AAP and get full statehood), the party said it will distribute Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwals letter explaining the need for statehood to Delhi. It promised Delhi the status within two years if AAP won all seven seats. It also promised a house in 10 years to every family in the city. Kejriwal has also promised the party would introduce 85% reservations for Delhiites in government jobs and colleges. These sops are also going to find a mention in the partys poll manifesto which is being drafted by senior leaders. The partys campaign will be a five-layer campaign and the rallies will be led by the area AAP legislator. In the four constituencies where there are MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP has assigned the areas party president and councillors to conduct such rallies and street meetings. We have divided the entire city into 260 zones. Also, our entire campaign has been divided into two phases. The first phase will be from March 23 to April 7, while the second will be from April 8 to April 30. On March 23, Kejriwal will kick-start his campaign by holding rallies at Shakurbasti and Timarpur in the evening, Rai said. Among other AAP leaders, Rai will hold 30 rallies in the first phase and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh will lead 26 rallies. Senior leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will hold 17 rallies. The party is also creating exclusive AAP merchandise that will be distributed to voters. Photo: Alan Fletcher A dead sea lion was found shot in the head on Hornby Island this week. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says the animal's death "leaves no doubt as to the abuse of pinnipeds our crew has been observing on the water," CTV News reports. The discovery follows a recent Facebook video showing a commercial fisherman tossing a "bear-banger" explosive into a group of seals off the coast of Vancouver Island. Fishermen have called for a cull of sea lions they say are interfering with the herring fishery. But Sea Shepherd says over-fishing of the herring is what has led to the sea lions swarming fishermen's nets. The group has urged the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to place a moratorium on the commercial roe herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia. with files from CTV Vancouver Island The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders launched their campaigns on Wednesday for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and 18 assembly seat by-polls. Tamil Nadu, which holds 39 Lok Sabha seats, will go to polls on April 18. While chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami began his campaign in his native district Salem, DMK president MK Stalin launched his campaign in Thiruvarur Assembly constituency, represented by father and former DMK president M Karunanidhi, who died last August. On Tuesday, both parties launched their manifestos, which included a slew of common promises including a push to recognise Tamil as a co-official language in all central facilities in the state, education to be moved from concurrent to the state list, and the release of those convicted for the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. Deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, who is also the AIADMK coordinator, launched his campaign from Madurai, the partys traditional stronghold. It is early morning, and Shyam Yadav, 35, is just opening his small grocery shop in the Bidupur bazaar of Vaishali district. He exchanges banter with some regular customers, and catches up on the morning headlines as television news plays in the background. He does not like Narendra Modi, and believes it is time for a change at the Centre. But I am not sure any more. Before the Balakot strikes, we were confident that the BJP would lose. Now, I think it has an advantage. When asked what is it that explains his disillusionment about Modi, Shyam says, What has the government done? So much hulla (noise) and such little work. He then adds, I am a Yadav. And I can tell you that the BJP and Nitish Kumar are against us. Look at how they have treated our leader. Shyam Yadav perhaps speaks for a large segment of Yadav voters across Bihar. Traditionally loyal to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), this powerful OBC (Other Backward Class) group has stayed with Lalu Prasads family and has become even more firm in its support for the party with the arrest of Prasad in the fodder scam. In travels to six constituencies in Bihar, it became clear that Muslims and Yadavs called the M-Y combination remain steadfast with the tentative alliance of RJD-Congress and smaller parties. (The seat sharing deal has not yet been sealed). This is the alliances big strength. The two groups together constitute over 30% of the population. But it is also a sign of its vulnerability because the alliance in itself does not seem to have the support of any other major caste group. It will thus end up relying on local candidates to help it cross the finishing line. The loyal base Outside a temple, a group of men are playing cards in Nalandas Mahanandpur village. Most belong to either upper caste groups or Extremely Backward Class (EBC) groups and are vocal in their support for the BJP. But among them is a lone, but strong voice of dissent. Mahesh Yadav, a small farmer, enumerates a list of failures he ascribes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Modi did note bandi (demonetisation) and it failed. Nitish did daaru bandi (prohibition) and it has failed. Modi failed in creating jobs in Delhi, Nitish has failed in creating jobs in Bihar. Modi goes against opposition in Delhi, Nitish goes after opposition in Bihar. They should lose. A similar refrain can be heard in Nalandas Giriak. Bindeshwari Yadav is a truck driver, and Manoj Yadav is his assistant. Both are critical of the BJP, believe Modi will lose, argue that Lalu Prasad has been unfairly convicted and support his son, Tejashwi Yadav. The Yadav critique of the Modi regime is bolstered by Muslims. In Gayas Dumri, Mohammed Anwar, 45, runs a small business. He believes that the Narendra Modi government has been bad for the economy and livelihoods. Think about demonetisation. Can you count one benefit? He just fools people all the time. Anwar believes that the constituency will witness a close contest, with former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi likely to be the candidate of the united opposition. Across the Muslim pockets of north Bihars Darbhanga and Madhubani, and Patnas Phulwari Sharif, it is the same refrain. Muslims across the board blame Modi for destroying livelihoods. Some argue that the BJP divides communities. And almost all blame Nitish Kumar for what they see as his betrayal by aligning with the BJP. Taj Mohammed, an auto driver in Patna, said, Nitish ji won our trust when he broke with Modi in 2013. He got our support when he allied with Lalu Prasad to defeat BJP in the state elections in 2015. And then he went and allied with BJP. He wont get any Muslim support. The challenges The fact that Yadavs and Muslims constitute almost one third of the electorate gives a united non-BJP opposition a tremendous advantage. But this is where the challenge also commences. In a triangular or four-cornered contest, these two social groups in themselves are enough to see candidates or a party through. But in a straight bipolar contest, having only two loyal groups even if they are demographically substantial will not be enough. And this is where the opposition is aware it will need to bank on smaller allies, and individual candidates, to bring in additional votes. Sitting in the RJD party office in Patna, a local leader said, We have been flexible and accommodated Jitan Ram Manjhi because we hope he can get Manjhi votes. We hope that Upendra Kushwaha will get us Kushwaha votes in many areas. We are hoping that upper caste candidates from our party and the Congress will be able to break away upper caste votes of the BJP. We are insisting on seats for candidates like Mukesh Sahni, a Nishad, from Darbhanga, because he can get us EBC votes which would otherwise have gone to the BJP. In addition, he claimed, that left parties the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (ML) have pockets of influence among landless Dalits in particular. He also suggested that there has been rising disillusionment with Nitish Kumar even among his older supporters from backward groups. This will help bring them towards the alliance, especially in the 17 seats the Janata Dal-United is contesting. This is an attractive plan on paper. But it relies on three elements. The first is, of course, that the alliance takes formal shape. At the time of writing, there persists intense wrangling between the Congress and RJD in particular, with the latter alleging that the Congress is punching above its weight. The second premise is that local candidates of the alliance, who are non-Muslim and non-Yadavs, have enough appeal within other social bases to be able to wrest away these votes from the BJP. And the final premise is that elections will primarily be about local factors and arithmetic. If winning over other social groups is one formidable challenge, the other is establishing some kind of narrative dominance. Across constituencies, the BJPs messaging of a strong leader in the form of Modi, of decisive action and revenge against Pakistan, of work in rural areas, of steps to take on corruption can be heard. This messaging has percolated to the ground due to the partys organisational apparatus, propaganda machine and mass media. An opposition leader in Bihar admits, We had and have a powerful narrative in the form of unemployment and farm distress. But we have somehow not been able to establish it strongly enough on the ground. And the final challenge for the alliance now is time. Bihar has large constituencies, many with over 1.5 million voters. Elections are three weeks away. And candidates in most seats are not even clear. Admittedly, neither is the list of candidates from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) out. But given the reliance of the opposition alliance on local candidates, as opposed to the BJPs focus on the national narrative and the organisational machine helping it, it is perhaps even more urgent for the alliance to declare its candidates. With a strong social base, and a degree of anti-incumbency against the state government, the opposition in Bihar has ground to build on. But the limits of its social coalition, alliance troubles, lack of leadership and narrative means that the NDA has an edge. With the BJP leadership yet to decide on its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, several leaders of the ruling party in Haryana are staking their claims for the Karnal ticket. Karnal is believed to be the safest Lok Sabha seat for the BJP in Haryana as chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar represents this constituency and the aspirants have got a boost since the party managed to win mayoral elections in Karnal and Panipat municipal corporations last year. After former Congress leader and two-time Karnal MP Arvind Sharma has joined the BJP in the presence of chief minister Khattar in Delhi, several local leaders of the party have become active and started lining up for the BJP ticket. Among the ticket aspirants are Kiran Chopra, wife of outgoing MP Ashwini Chopra and Sugerfed chairman Chander Prakash Kathuria. Yes, I am also an aspirant for the ticket from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, but the decision would be taken by the party leadership and we would respect that decision, said Chander Prakash Kathuria. When asked if the party ticket was being given to any outsider, he said, We would accept the decision of the party and would ensure our support to the candidate. Since sitting MP Ashwini Chopra is unable to contest due to health issues, his wife, Kiran, who runs a social organisation, has already expressed her desire to contest. If the sangh, sangathan and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar want me to contest, I am ready to contest, she said. There were even reports that Union minister Maneka Gandhi and Haryana education minister Ram Bilas Sharma have been eyeing the Karnal seat. History of electing outsiders Though there has been no official confirmation from the Maneka Gandhi and Ram Bilas Sharma side yet, local BJP leaders believe that BJPs ticket from Karnal seat is a ticket to parliament and that is why several leaders are in fray as Karnal has a history of electing an outsider. We welcome all the leaders who are joining the party and showing their strength in Karnal. But workers will support the candidate who will be fielded by the party, said BJPs Karnal president Jagmohan Anand. Arvind Sharmas roadshow in Karnal Despite no formal confirmation, Arvind Sharma has already started his campaign in Karnal by holding a roadshow wherein he toured several parts of the constituency. Many Congress workers associated with him welcomed him in Karnal and Panipat. He started his roadshow from Kundli border in Sonepat on Tuesday morning and concluded it in Karnal by the evening. We have served people for 15 years and now people are showing their love. That is why I have decided to meet my workers and supporters, he said, and added that he joined the party unconditionally and would do whatever duty the leadership assigns to him. Sharma said he would hold a rally in Karnal on March 24 and senior party leaders will be attending the event. By abusing chowkidar, theyre bringing all watchman under cloud: PM Its not the first time that I have been insulted me. It is really sad. By calling chowkidar chor, they are insulting all watchmen across the country, said PM Narendra Modi. Country shocked at Oppositions reaction after IAF strike in Pak The country is shocked at Oppositions reaction after IAF strike in Pakistan, said PM Modi Chowkidar has become synonyms with patriot: PM Modi Today, chowkidar has become synonyms with patriot: PM Modi Today every Indian is saying Main bhi Chowkidar: PM Modi You must have noticed that these days everywhere it is you who is being discussed, be it TV or social media, be it in India or abroad. Today every Indian is saying Main bhi Chowkidaar, said PM Modi. PM extends Holi greetings to 25 lakh security guards across India PM Narendra Modi extended Holi greetings to 25 lakh security guards across India via audio bridge. BJP snatched special status from northeast: Rahul Gandhi We had also provided the northeast and Tripura with special status, however the BJP snatched that away from you, said Rahul Gandhi in Tripuras Agartala. Will make sure Citizenship amendment bill is not passed: Rahul Gandhi We delivered on our promise, and stopped the Citizenship amendment bill in the Lok Sabha itself. Amit Shah has said that after the elections they will bring in the Citizenship amendment bill, however we will make sure that this doesnt happen, said Rahul Gandhi in Tripura. Even a child understands the effect of demonetisation, PM doesnt: Rahul Gandhi Ask anyone, an economy or a child, what will happen if Rs 500 and 1000 notes are banned. Even an 8-year-old can tell you that demonetisation will make the small businesses suffer, however the PM doesnt understand that, said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Tripura.. Rahul Gandhi addresses public meeting in Tripuras Agartala Rahul Gandhi addresses public meeting in Tripuras Agartala. Farooq Abdullah comments on Congress and National Congress alliance Farooq Abdullah, NC on alliance with Congress: Jammu and Udhampur will be contested by Congress, I will contest from Srinagar and there will be a friendly contest between NC and Congress in Anantnag and Baramulla. We are also discussing the Ladakh seat, reports news agency ANI. Farooq Abdullah, NC on alliance with Congress: Jammu and Udhampur will be contested by Congress, I will contest from Srinagar and there will be a friendly contest between NC and Congress in Anantnag and Baramulla. We are also discussing the Ladakh seat. pic.twitter.com/dAFhbVGdpG ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Shashi Tharoor writes to Election officer for fair elections in his constituency S Tharoor writes to Chief Election Officer, Kerala, states,Writing to file a complaint in relation to malicious attempt by BJP & Sabarimala Karma Samithi to vitiate free&fair polls in Thiruvananthapurarn LS constituency,by publicising materials in a bid to appeal to religious sentiments of voters S Tharoor writes to CEO, Kerala, states,"Writing to file a complaint in relation to malicious attempt by BJP & Sabarimala Karma Samithi to vitiate free&fair polls in Thiruvananthapurarn LS constituency,by publicising materials in a bid to appeal to religious sentiments of voters" pic.twitter.com/lcCMMW7Nyj ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Decision to bring new candidates for LS polls in Chhattisgarh was unanimous: Raman Singh Former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh: It was decided unanimously in BJP CEC meeting that the sitting MPs in Chhattisgarh will not contest the election and new faces will be brought in. The decision is to be respected by all. Former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh: It was decided unanimously in BJP CEC meeting that the sitting MPs in Chhattisgarh will not contest the election and new faces will be brought in. The decision is to be respected by all. pic.twitter.com/svskMzpzIk ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Wont allow Citizenship Bill to pass: Rahul in Imphal Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressing a public rally in Imphal, Manipur: I am committing to you here that the Congress will defend your culture and history. We are not going to allow the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to be passed, reports news agency ANI. Embedded code here. Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressing a public rally in Imphal, Manipur: I am committing to you here that the Congress will defend your culture and history. We are not going to allow the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to be passed. pic.twitter.com/nvCRpXh6Gd ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Wont contest LS elections : Mayawati Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati says she wont contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections, reports news agency ANI. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati: I will not contest the Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/88oGmtd6Ww ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 20, 2019 Priyanka Gandhi reaches Assi Ghat Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reached Assi Ghat on the banks on the Ganga on Wednesday. Speaking to people at Prime Minister Narendra Modis constituency, Priyanka Gandhi ask people to raise their voices against the negative govternment at the Centre. Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reaches at Assi Ghat in Varanasi for her 'Ganga Yatra' campaign. She started her campaign from Manaiya ghat in Prayagraj. pic.twitter.com/ABqMq2NqP1 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 20, 2019 PM Modi lacks listening skills: Rahul Gandhi PM Narendra Modi lacks listening ability, which makes him angry and does not allow him to listen peoples need: Rahul Gandhi North-east states must be given back Special Status :Rahul Gandhi We will communicate more with Manipur, will reinstate special status for the Manipur and other north-eastern states. We will not allow anyone to take away your culture, language: Rahul Gandhi Congress chief Rahul Gandhi : We will not allow anyone to take away your way of living. No one can take away your culture, language and if they try they must be stopped, Gandhi said. PMO must be called Publicity Ministers office: Rahul Addressing students in Manipur, Congress head Rahul Gandhi says that PMO must now be called Publicity Ministers Office rather than Prime Ministers Office. Priyanka Gandhi counters PM Modis Dynasty attack Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on PM Modis tweet The biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions: BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last 5 years including the media. PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this., reports news agency ANI. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on PM Modi's tweet 'The biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions': "BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last 5 years including the media. PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this." pic.twitter.com/9X4JyFHnSI ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 20, 2019 Central Government came up with only 1 university in 5 years: Rahul Gandhi We are not spending enough money in Education, central government has failed to bring up government universities. Which has made education expensive in India. From Delhi to Bihar to Maharashtra, the Congress scrambled to finalise its alliances on Tuesday, a day after the notification for the first phase of voting in the April-May Lok Sabha elections was issued, allowing candidates to start filing nominations. Suspense continued in Delhi over whether the Congress will join hands with chief minister Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar stepped in as a dealmaker, presumably after finalising the details of the alliance between his party and the Congress that are yet to be announced. In Bihar, Congress leaders familiar with the development said an alliance between the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and several smaller constituents of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) will be finalised in the next two days. But alliance talks between the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal appeared to have failed after the grand old party announced on Monday its candidates from Raiganj and Murshidabad constituencies, the bone of contention between the two sides. Both seats are currently held by the CPI(M). Analysts have previously commented on the difficulty the Congress seems to be having in finalising previously announced alliances, with the party demanding what some of the analysts see as a disproportionately high number of seats. In Bihar, for instance, where the Congress isnt particularly strong, the party has been holding out for 11 seats while the RJD is willing to give it a maximum of eight. On Tuesday, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha tweeted: Unsolicited advice to Rahul Gandhi, pl finalise your alliances in Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi and elsewhere today. It is already too late. Last week, Sinha, once one of the senior-most leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and now one of Prime Minister Narendra Modis severest critics, tweeted that the Congress and others seem to be fighting over seats they dont even hold now while the BJP seems to be willing to give up even seats it currently holds to allies. PC Chacko, the Congress partys Delhi incharge, said, I am in consultation with Congress party leaders in Delhi on the possibilities of forging an alliance with AAP. The Congress Working Committee has decided to align with like-minded parties to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. The final decision, which will be taken by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is expected soon, he said. The AAP leadership, which tried hard to form an alliance with the Congress, sent out conflicting signals. There will be no alliance with the Congress in Delhi. The way Congress has again and again refused an alliance indicates that the party is not interested in defeating the autocratic Modi-Shah rule, said Gopal Rai, the AAPs Delhi unit convener, referring to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. The AAP leader also said the Kejriwal-led party wanted to actively participate in efforts to stitch up an alliance of opposition parties at the national level, but alleged that the Congress has kept everyone confused. In the morning, Gandhi, accompanied by senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge, drove to Pawars New Delhi residence where the leaders are believed to have discussed seat-sharing between the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra. The conversation then shifted to Delhi. Later in the day, Gandhi left for the north-east for an election campaign. Soon after, Pawar reached out to Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha member of the AAP. Singh did not get into the details of his conversation with Pawar, but stressed that this is the time to save the country. The party [he was referring to the Congress] can be saved later....there will be enough time to save the party. Right now the attempt should be to save the country and democracy, he said. In mid-February, Pawar hosted a meeting of top opposition leaders, an event attended by both Gandhi and Kejriwal. There were suggestions that the two leaders should join hands for the seven seats in Delhi, which will vote on May 12. Gandhi, 48, has always been aware that many of his partys Delhi leaders are against any alliance with the AAP, which has repeatedly targeted the Congress over a number issues, including corruption. But the February meet set off some rethinking within the Congress. Over the following weeks, many Congress leaders, including senior leader Ajay Maken, who once campaigned against a tie-up with the AAP, appeared to be on board. But a section within the Congress has been steadfast in its opposition to the alliance. Last week, when the Congress leadership decided to conduct a survey on what party workers thought about the idea, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit did not hide her disappointment. She told reporters that she did not know about the survey. Dikshit followed it up with a letter to the Congress president, also signed by the city units three working presidents, warning the party that an alliance with the AAP would hurt the party in the long run. But this wasnt the only letter written. Supporting the alliance, five former Delhi Congress chiefs and 15 block presidents wrote to Gandhi. I am leaving the decision to the party high command. I will go by whatever they decide. I have already conveyed what my personal views are on the alliance. So we will have to see what they decide now, Dikshit said. The Congress has been kept out of the coalition of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the RLD in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. In Bihar, the Congress wants 11 of the total 40 seats in the state. Its ally, the RJD is expected to get 20 seats and the remaining seats will go to smaller allies. Among them are the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), led by former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha; Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular); and the Sharad Yadav-led Loktantrik Janata Dal. In Maharashtra, the Congress and Pawars NCP have almost finalised the alliance. While the Congress is expected to get 26 seats, the remaining 22 will go to the NCP. The two parties fought separately in 2014. The two parties have also identified the constituencies they will fight. The only hurdle is bringing smaller allies on board. A senior Congress leader said these problems, too, will be resolved soon. In Bengal, the Left announced candidates for 38 out of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies , leaving out four seats the Congress won in 2014. Left Front chairperson Biman Bose said if the Congress did not withdraw its candidates in the two seats at the centre of the controversy, his bloc will go ahead and name candidates for them too. The Election Commission on Tuesday issued a notice to Bharatiya Janata Partys Asansol Member of Parliament Babul Supriyo for a campaign song uploaded on social media without the commissions prior permission. The Election Commission of India, while not taking cognizance of the complaint that was forwarded to it by Asansol police, has asked the minister to explain within 48 hours why the video was circulated on social media without clearance from the election watchdog. It is prescribed in poll guidelines that anything relating to elections must be vetted by EC before it is uploaded on social media. The minister has been asked to explain by Thursday why this was not done, an EC official, who did not wish to be quoted, said in Kolkata. The Asansol MP has, however, denied uploading the video or receiving ECs notice. I have not received the show-cause notice yet. I will give my reply once I get it. However I want to clarify that I did not upload the video on any social media. The media was present when the video was shot in Mumbai. Maybe someone recorded it and make it public, Supriyo said. An organisation, claimed to be affiliated to Trinamool Congress, had lodged a police complaint alleging the song maligns the party. Meanwhile, a Trinamool Congress delegation led by the partys Rajya Sabha MP Derek OBrien told the EC, BJP leaders are openly threatening IAS and IPS officers serving in the state. Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday promised to make Manipur a bridge between India and Southeast Asia and restore the special category status to all states in the north-east, if voted to power. He also accused the Narendra Modi government of destroying 10 million jobs in 2018 alone. Addressing an election rally in Imphal, Gandhi said he was committed to the idea of Look East, aimed at building economic and strategic relations with Southeast Asian nations, and to make Manipur and the north-east a centre for job creation and manufacturing. Launched in 1991 by the PV Narasimha Rao-led Congress government, the Look East initiative was renamed as Act East policy after the Modi government took over in 2014. Gandhi also reiterated the partys opposition to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that sought to grant citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. ...Well ensure you Citizenship (Amendment) Bill does not become a law..., he said. The Congress leader also promised to restore the special category status to the northeast, before leaving for Tripura. In Agartala, Gandhi attacked the PM for failing to create employment and waive farmers loans, despite tall promises. Unemployment is the biggest problem of the country now. Last year, 1 crore (10 million) people lost their jobs. Tripura too has 750,000 unemployed persons and the BJP government did nothing..., he said at a public rally. After the announcement of poll dates on March 10, Gandhi has campaigned in 12 states in 10 days. Congress has also released six lists of 146 candidates. Reacting to Gandhis remarks, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb said, Nobody from the Congress... came to Tripura earlier. Now they have come to eat the fruits of success. People will never listen to Congress plea to reject Modi government... The torrid Indian summer seemed to have come early in the holy city of Varanasi as Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers scuffled briefly during Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadras visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modis parliamentary constituency. Priyanka Gandhi launched a sharp attack on Modi, calling him an Indian dictator (Hindustani tanashah) and compared the National Democratic Alliances (NDA) rule to the British Raj during which people were tortured and no one allowed to raise their voice. She also garlanded a statue of Indias second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of the Congress party, who, along with Sardar Patel (Indias first home minister, also of the Congress) and Subhas Chandra Bose (a Congressman till he was ousted from the party in 1939), has been adopted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which claims that none of them got the credit due to them from the Congress because they did not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Priyanka Gandhis gesture made Ramachandra Guha, one of Indias best-known historians, to wonder aloud on Twitter whether this was the first time a member of the family was acknowledging Shastri. Soon after Gandhi garlanded the statue and left, a group of BJP workers said the statue had been desecrated and consecrated it using Ganga water. Priyanka Gandhi, who addressed a Congress workers convention in Varanasi, also took a boat ride from Balua Ghat Ramnagar to Dashashwamedh Ghat, spoke to boatmen at Assi ghat , and participated in a road show from Dashashwamedh Ghat to the gate of Kashi Vishwanath temple. She also offered prayers to Baba Kashi Vishwanath at Kashi Vishwanath temple, where she spent few minutes in sanctum sanctorum. Ahead of her visit, a group of lawyers wrote the District Magistrate protesting her entry into the temple saying she was married to a Christian. At the convention, Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congresss east UP incharge, welcomed Amrita Pandey, a relative of UP BJP president Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, to the party. Gandhi said: I want a new politics which gives importance to public. We are going to practice a new politics, especially in UP, in which voice of people is heard, their problems are solved, and complaints are addressed. I dont want to give big speeches; I want to reach people in every village to know about their problems and share their pain, and also find a solution to their problems. She added that the role of the Congress workers is very important in making of this new politics. So unite and work together. Waving a copy of the poll manifesto of the BJP in 2014, Gandhi said the party made eight big promises for Varanasi, but fulfilled none. Cleaning the Ganga, beautification of the ghats, better condition of weavers and a world-class education system were among the promises made by the BJP. Reacting to Gandhis remarks, Kashi BJP region spokesperson Navratan Rathi said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi works for 125 crore people of the country continuously. He pays attention to Sabka Saath Sabka vikas. He is chowkidar of 125 crore Indians. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Thupstan Chhewang resigned as the Lok Sabha member on November 15, 2018, and also from the party, apparently because he couldnt see his cherished Union Territory status to Ladakh dream coming true. The decision to resign by the 71-year-old politician, who was a two-time MP, rattled the BJP leadership and made it rethink its strategy for this cold desert seat, which the party had won for the first time in 2014. Thuptsan, who is also a Buddhist leader, won the seat for the BJP and he, along with other leaders, had been steadfastly seeking the UT status for Ladakh. During the election campaign, he had promised voters that he will get it done during his term. Leaders close to the former MP say his failure to fulfil his promise was the main reason why Chhewang quit. His resignation pressed the panic button within the BJP top brass and with an eye on the next elections, the divisional status was granted to Ladakh, initially to be headquartered at Leh. However, after protests from people in the Kargil region, which could have been snowballed into a major controversy, the government was forced to keep the headquarters of the divisional offices at Kargil for six months. Local BJP leaders say that Chhewangs resignation acted as a catalyst in bagging the divisional status to Leh. The BJP leaders, also claim that Chhewang is not going to join any other party but had resigned to pursue spiritualism. Its not clear whether the BJP will try to woo back Chhewang. However, there are chances that somebody else could be BJP candidate from Ladakh including the current chief executive councillor of Leh Hill Developmental Council Jamyang Tsering Namgyal. After submitting his resignation, Chhewang has gone incommunicado and leaders close to him say that he is currently undergoing meditation somewhere in north India. Chering Dorjey, a member of legislative council and BJP incharge for Ladakh, said the former MP had managed to get several big projects for Ladakh, including recently announced projects worth 8,000 crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Ladakh visit. The credit will go to BJP leadership and Chhewang for that. He said, besides the 220KV transmission line, the Zojilla tunnel and also the division status to Ladakh are some big works for which Chhewang had played a vital role. Even his resignation has definitely put pressure on the Centre and projects got sanctioned. Namgyal said Chhewang contributed greatly for the development of different parts of Ladakh. His tenure was successful as he spent his MP funds on schools, hospitals, ambulances and other welfare schemes both in Leh and Kargil regions. Ghulam Reza Khan, former assembly member from Zanskar and Congress leader who lost by 36 votes to Chhewang in the last Lok Sabha elections, said projects which the BJP and its leaders were claiming to be their achievement got sanctioned during the UPA regime. Whether its transmission line, Zojilla tunnel or any other big project, all were sanctioned during the UPA government. Chhewang resigned because he knew he could not face the people of Ladakh since he could not get the Union Territory status to his constituency. He even opposed the divisional status given to Leh and Kargil as he wanted the Union Territory status and was also opposing Zojilla tunnel, he said. Reza gave credit of granting separate divisional status to Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik. Some Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders from Bathinda want sitting MP and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal to contest from the parliamentary segment again, even as the party leadership is indecisive over her candidature from there. There are speculations that the two-time Bathinda MP may contest from the Ferozepur segment. Among those who have conveyed their feelings in this regard to the party leadership are former MLAs Sarup Chand Singla, Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu and party leader Amit Rattan Kotfatta. Former minister Sikander Maluka, who is rumoured to be the SAD candidate from Bathinda if Harsimrat doesnt contest from the seat, said local leaders and party workers want Harsimrat to contest from the seat but the party will have to keep several factors in mind before taking a decision in this regard. Also Read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Key players and issues in Punjab Kotfatta, who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly polls from Bathinda (rural) segment, said, I have conveyed my own and my supporters feelings to the party leadership that we are in a strong position in Bathinda and she should contest from here. Sarup Chand Singla led a delegation of local party leaders to meet Harsimrat in Delhi last week, appealing to her to contest from the seat. Jeetmohinder said she has ensured all-round development of the segment. The workers too want her to contest from the segment, he said. Also Read | A Badal borough, Bathinda seat tough challenge for Congress Photo: The Canadian Press Celina Caesar-Chavannes has informed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that she's leaving the federal Liberal caucus and will sit as an independent MP. The Whitby, Ont., MP has been a vocal supporter of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, two cabinet ministers who resigned over the SNC-Lavalin affair. In an interview with the Globe and Mail last week, she also accused Trudeau of yelling at her angrily when she informed him that she would not be seeking re-election this fall an accusation the Prime Minister's Office has denied. In a tweet Wednesday, Caesar-Chavannes said that interview "has had unintended effects on those I care about. Although that was not the intention, it was the consequence, and I am sorry. I no longer want to distract from the great work my caucus colleagues are doing. Love and hugs, C." But Conservatives pounced on the defection, arguing that Caesar-Chavannes's exit, added to the departures of Wilson-Raybould and Philpott from cabinet, prove that Trudeau is a "fake feminist." Conservative House leader Candice Bergen said the "good old boys" in the Prime Minister's Office wanted Wilson-Raybould to avert a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin and when she refused, "she was promptly fired and silenced." "The prime minister is really good at yelling and screaming at women, as the member from Whitby knows, and he's also a very good actor. But, Mr. Speaker, he's a fake feminist," Bergen told the House of Commons. Trudeau said he'll take no lessons on feminism from Conservatives who "still want to challenge a woman's right to choose" to have an abortion. Caesar-Chavannes, first elected in 2015, has been a relatively high-profile backbencher, primarily as an advocate for the rights of black Canadians. She's gotten into several Twitter wars with Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada, who once accused her of thinking "the world revolves around your skin colour." On another occasion, she apologized to Bernier after telling him to "check your privilege and be quiet" when he questioned funding for minority groups. She also made news in 2016 when she openly talked about her battle with depression. At the time, Caesar-Chavannes, who was initially named parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, praised Trudeau's understanding of mental illness but she has since soured on his leadership. Throughout the SNC-Lavalin saga, she has used social media to send messages of solidarity accompanied by a clenched-fist emoji to Wilson-Raybould and Philpott. In January, she used a speech at Parliament's annual dinner tribute to Scottish poet Robbie Burns to take a swipe at Trudeau for moving Wilson-Raybould out of the prestigious justice portfolio to Veterans Affairs in a small cabinet shuffle earlier that month, to be replaced by Montreal MP David Lametti. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet a few weeks later, although both she and Philpott, who resigned subsequently from cabinet, remain members of the Liberal caucus. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kickstart its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi after Holi. Several public meetings by senior party leaders, including home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will be held on March 24 and 26. The decision was taken in a meeting of senior party leaders on Tuesday. The party will also form election management committees in all districts and parliamentary constituencies. All 280 mandals (which are at the ward level) will form such committees and meet on March 23. We will start the campaign after Holi, as the present period is considered inauspicious, said Rajesh Bhatia, general secretary, Delhi BJP. Rajnath Singh, along with Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, will address public meeting in northeast Delhi, while Sitharaman will be in New Delhi parliamentary constituency on March 26. Environment minister and Chandi Chowk MP Harsh Vardhan and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi will address rallies in east and west Delhi, respectively. On March 24, BJP national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Jain, party spokesperson Sambit Patra and JS Pawaiya, co-incharge of elections in Delhi, will address public meetings in North West Delhi, South Delhi and Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituencies. The local BJP units have been asked to prepare a plan for door-to-door campaign, especially in slums and illegal colonies, considered AAPs stronghold. plaint against AAP BJP MLA Vijender Gupta and South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri will file a complaint with the Election Commission against AAP for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. Gupta said, They are misusing picture of a cow and a calf and hurting sentiments of the public and inciting religious differences among different groups with intent to disturb the peace. The Aam Aadmi Party is also engaging its MLAs in field inspections during installation of CCTV cameras in different colonies and markets. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati confirmed on Wednesday that she will not be in the race for a Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general election and will focus instead on the electoral campaign across the country to ensure the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) . Yet, the fact that she wouldnt be in the Lok Sabha poll fray doesnt mean that she is giving up her ambitions of becoming prime minister, Mayawati made it clear. When I became UP CM first time in 1995 I was not member of either UP Assembly or Council, Mayawati wrote in a Twitter post, noting that a similar provision exists at the Centre, allowing a person to be elected to the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha within 6 months of holding office of minister/PM. Dont get disheartened from my decision not to contest LS poll now, she said. BSP?candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections and party workers would back her decision, Mayawati said at a press conference. After the polls, depending on the political situation, she could have one of BSP MPs vacate a seat to seek election to the Lower House, Mayawati, 63, said. Mayawati noted that she had won Lok Sabha elections four times, twice been elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly and had been chief minister for four terms. To get elected to the Lok Sabha, she would have to just file her nomination papers and her party supporters would ensure her victory, she said. Yet, to make sure of a victory for her with a large margin, BSP workers would devote their energies to her constituency, which could adversely impact the campaign. The BSP is fighting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). It is striving to remove the BJP from power at the Centre, Mayawati said, accusing the BJP of pursuing a communal and caste-based agenda; its also anti-poor, anti-labour and anti-farmer , she said. The BSP chief will kick off her partys national campaign from Bhubaneswar on April 2. Mayawati knows that riding on a wave around Prime Minister Narenda Modi, the BJP will retain power at the Centre, the BJPs UP unit spokesperson Chandra Mohan said. Political analyst AK Mishra said Mayawati was working to build the BSP into a pan-India entity, knowing that the BSP-SP-RLD alliance posed a formidable challenge to the BJP in UP... Popular character actor in Telugu films Konidela Nagababu on Wednesday joined Jana Sena Party headed by his younger brother Pawan Kalyan. Nagababu met Pawan Kalyan at the Jana Sena Party office in Vijayawada. Immediately, the Jana Sena Party chief announced Nagababu as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Narasapuram constituency in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. Incidentally, Bhimavaram assembly segment, from were Pawan Kalyan is contesting the assembly elections, falls under Narasapuram parliamentary constituency. Nagababu is the second brother of popular hero and former Union minister Chiranjeevi, while Pawan Kalyan, also a film star, is the youngest of the three. Both Nagababu and Pawan Kalyan were part of the Praja Rajyam Party floated by Chiranjeevi in August 2008, but they did not contest the elections. With Praja Rajyam Party failing to make an impact in May 2009 assembly elections, Chiranjeevi later merged it with the Congress and was elected as a Rajya Sabha member. He later became the Union minister of state for tourism, while Pawan Kalyan parted ways with his brother and floated Jana Sena Party ahead of 2014 general elections. Though Nagababu did not join Jana Sena all these years, he has been extending moral support to Pawan Kalyan for quite some time. Of late, he has been conducting meetings Jana Sena party workers and fans of his younger brother. Now, he has formally joined the party to take a plunge into electoral politics. On the other hand, Chiranjeevi, who completed his Rajya Sabha term in 2018, has been keeping away from active politics, though he has not quit the Congress, and has since returned to film industry. However, his fans associations have pledged their support to Pawan Kalyan in the ongoing general elections. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made his office a Publicity Ministers Office and that he was very good at marketing himself. The Prime Ministers Office is now Publicity Ministers Office, he told a gathering of students and professors from Manipur at the State Film Development Society in Imphal as a part of his Lok Sabha election campaigning. He (PM Modi) is very good at publicity. He is very good at marketing himself, Rahul said, before comparing him with Yoga guru Ramdev, who he said came close to the Prime Minister in terms of marketing. Attacking the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, over which there have been widespread protests in north-eastern states, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress doesnt believe in cultural imperialism and would not allow the bill to destroy the lives of the people in the Northeast. Citizenship Amendment bill is cultural imperialism. It is an attempt to crush the spirit of the Northeast. Every part of the country should be allowed to express itself. The BJP-RSS combination wants to impose one idea and crush other ideas. They are scared of other cultures. Their heavy-handedness is seen whenever there are protests, he said. Every university in the country now has an RSS man in charge. That is something we will clean up, he said, and assured that Congress, if it came to power, would restore the special status of Manipur. On the Northeast, Gandhi said tackling job crisis and increasing connectivity in the region is his partys priority. In our view, the region is a potential manufacturing hub. In the agriculture sector, food and vegetables are being wasted here due to shortage of storage space. Food processing industries can be set up in Manipur, he said. Read: Call me Rahul, not sir, says Rahul at womens college in Chennai On the personal front, Rahul said Juventus was his favourite football club, whereas he liked Real Madrid, when Ronaldo was a part of it, over Barcelona. A dog lover, Rahul said his guilty pleasures were ice cream and aloo tikki and that he had read the book I Am That several times. (With PTI inputs) The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and social media intermediaries on Tuesday agreed to draft a code of ethics for the industry in the next 24 hours after being asked to do so by the Election Commission (EC). Representatives from IAMAI and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, were called by EC to discuss how to prevent abuse of social media platforms, and reduce outside influence during elections. According to a statement issued by EC, which will conduct the general election and also assembly polls in four states beginning April 11, the meeting also focused on social media companies evolving a notification mechanism to deal with violations of Section 126 of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951 and preventing their misuse. Section 126 prohibits advertising and campaigning on TV and other electronic media during the silent period, 48 hours before voting. The issues of appointment of dedicated grievance channel for expeditious action by the organisations, and pre- certification and transparency in expenditure of political advertisements were taken up, the EC statement said. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora told the social media platforms to come up with a code similar to the model code of conduct that comes into effect from the date of the announcement of the elections, which is followed by all parties. He said the code would be used for the ongoing election process in the immediate context, and perhaps even after the elections. According to a person aware of the developments, the code of ethics is likely to introduce a mechanism using which EC can inform them of violations of Section 126. A committee set up to examine Section 126 of the RP Act recommended in its report submitted in January that all intermediaries open a special grievance redressal channel for EC and appoint dedicated teams during the elections to take quick action on receipt of a complaint.Objectionable content should be removed or disabled immediately, within an outer limit of three hours, it suggested. The report also called for intermediaries to send publicly available transparency reports to EC to improve transparency and ensure accountability and for all platforms to only carry political ads pre-approved by the media certification and monitoring committee (MCMC) of EC. Since January, companies such as Twitter, Google and Facebook have been making changes to their advertising policies in India and introducing changes to ensure transparency of political ads posted on their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Google did not respond to queries. Berges Y Malu, policy head, ShareChat, said in an emailed statement: We reaffirmed our commitment at todays meeting with CEC and look forward to working with ECI to uphold the integrity and legality of social media campaigns by political parties on our platform. The regional language social media platform is working with a fact checking agency to rein in fake news. Rahul Matthan, lawyer, tech-policy expert and author of Privacy 3.0, said, Its good to have clarity on what kind of content needs to be taken down. However, given the sheer volume of content being posted by users on social media, I dont think EC will be able to comprehensively take down everything that violates the election code of conduct. If the instructions are coming from a government official in a position of authority, social media platforms will be obliged to comply. But if the EC expects social media companies to take content down on their own accord, this might be dangerous as it will amount to giving private companies the power of censorship. Also read | Mans attempt to cross the road goes wrong. Social media cant help but LOL The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) suspects that Malaysian operators of a recently busted international embryo smuggling and illegal surrogacy racket may have links to clinics in India. The agency has already traced a connection to an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinic in Bandra. DRI officials had previously arrested Partheban Durai, a carrier who had arrived in Mumbai on February 15 from Malaysia. Durai had allegedly delivered embryos to the Indo Nippon IVF Clinic in Bandra, run by Dr Goral Gandhi, nine times over two months. DRI had raided Gandhis clinic on February 16 and seized alleged incriminating documents pertaining to smuggling of embryos. Gandhi, who has denied all the allegations, is expected to produce herself before DRI officials on Friday for inquiry. Goral is innocent. The goods recovered from her clinic were not meant for her. Further, during the search, the CCTV cameras at the clinic were switched off and the DVR has been taken away, said Gandhis lawyer Dr Sujay Kantawala, adding that no copy of the panchnama was given to his client. The DRI suspects couriers may have been delivering embryos to other clinics as well. Our officials are scanning the call history of Durai and other suspects in the case, said a senior DRI official. Durai claimed he was paid 450 Malaysian ringgit ( 7,627) for each trip to smuggle embryos. We are in the process of collecting more information on the rackets kingpin operating from Malaysia. Information will be shared with our counterparts in that country, said the official. In Malaysia, surrogacy is prohibited under Islamic law, However, India is a hub for both, legal and illegal surrogacy. The agency said that it is checking if hawala channels were used to send money from India to Malaysia. The DRI has also identified an individual in Malaysia who they believe is the mastermind behind the syndicate. A 32-year-old man employed with a cab aggregator was arrested on Monday for allegedly stalking television and film producer Ekta Kapoor over the past few months. The police said they found more than 30 different instances of Sudhir Rajender Singh following Kapoor, including to a Juhu temple and her gym. They said Singh wanted to befriend her and get a job at her firm. The police arrested Singh after Kapoors company filed a complaint. We received a complaint saying Kapoor had repeatedly tried to ignore the man, but he kept following her across the city, said a police officer. The most recent instance took place a few days ago, when Kapoor had gone to a temple in Juhu. Singh followed her and tried to approach her, but was stopped by Kapoors security guards, the police officer said. The police said the guards warned him and asked him to stay away. However, Singh enrolled at the Andheri (West) gym that Kapoor goes to, and waited for her there. On the evening of March 16, Singh tried to follow Kapoor into the gym but was spotted by her security detail, the police officer quoted earlier said. Kapoors firm then filed the complaint. The Amboli police have registered a first information report (FIR), and started looking for Singh. We used technical surveillance to track him down to Veera Desai Road. During interrogation, we found out the number of times he had followed her, the officer said. The police are also checking Singhs phone. We need to find out how he got information about Kapoors whereabouts and schedule. We will submit a charge sheet soon, the officer said. . A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Tuesday sentenced a taxi driver to seven years imprisonment for sexually abusing a 15-year-old in 2016. The incident happened on the evening on November 19, 2016, when the teenager got into the accuseds taxi at Bandra to go to a friends house. The teenager said he had finished his classes in Bandra and decided to go to the friends place, also in Bandra, since his maternal grandmother had passed away, and there were guests at his home owing to which he would not be able to study. In his complaint, the teenager said the taxi driver asked him to sit in the front seat and did not take the regular route. The driver, instead, took the taxi to a secluded area and threatened the teenager with a knife. He then sexually abused him. Later, when the driver dropped him at his destination, the teenager noted the taxis registration number. He narrated the incident to his parents and a complaint was filed with the Bandra police station. The driver was arrested in December 2016. On the basis of the boys testimony, the POCSO court held the taxi driver guilty and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment. Photo: Contributed A woman who brought a gun to an Abbotsford mall should have been under house arrest at the time. Abbotsford Police arrested Danielle Rigdon on Monday after she was tracked by her electronic bracelet to Sevenoaks Shopping Centre. During the arrest, police found a loaded handgun, drugs and cash in her handbag, CTV News reports. Rigdon was being monitored for previous weapons charges in January. She faces new charges including possession of a prohibited device dangerous to the public, and carrying a concealed weapon. with files from CTV Vancouver Facing the flak over its inability to spot and remove the livestreaming of New Zealand mosques shooting, Facebook on Tuesday said 4,000 people viewed it before being taken down. The video was viewed fewer than 200 times during the live broadcast. No users reported the video during the live broadcast, Chris Sonderby, VP and Deputy General Counsel, said in a blog-post. Including the views during the live broadcast, the video was viewed about 4,000 times in total before being removed from Facebook, Sonderby added. Strapped with a GoPro camera to his head, the gunman broadcasted graphic footage of shooting via Facebook Live for nearly 17 minutes. It was later shared in millions on other social media platforms. Fifty people were killed in the shootings at Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Avenue Masjid in Christchurch on March 15 after 28-year-old Australian national Brenton Tarrant opened indiscriminate firings. According to Facebook, the first user report on the original video came in 29 minutes after the video started, and 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended. Before we were alerted to the video, a user on 8chan posted a link to a copy of the video on a file-sharing site, said Sonderby. We removed the personal accounts of the named suspect from Facebook and Instagram, and are identifying and removing any imposter accounts that surface, he said. Facebook said it removed the original video and hashed it to detect other shares visually similar to that video and automatically remove them from Facebook and Instagram. Some variants such as screen recordings were more difficult to detect, so we expanded to additional detection systems, including the use of audio technology, Sonderby said. In the first 24 hours, we removed about 1.5 million videos of the attack. More than 1.2 million of those videos were blocked at upload, and were therefore prevented from being seen on our services, he said. Bloomberg tracks the fortunes of some 2,800 billionaires. Of those, 145 are worth at least $10 billion, making them decabillionaires. Now, the world contains two centibillionaires simultaneously. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, once the worlds richest person, has again eclipsed the $100 billion threshold, joining Amazon.com Inc.s Jeff Bezos in the exclusive club, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gatess fortune, now $100 billion on the nose, hasnt reached such heights since the dot-com boom, when Bezos was only beginning his march up the worlds wealth rankings. The Amazon founder is now worth $145.6 billion, having added $20.7 billion this year alone, while Gates has gained $9.5 billion. These two fortunes underscore a widening wealth gap in the U.S., where those with the most capital are accumulating riches the fastest. Its also a worldwide trend. Frances Bernard Arnault has an $86.2 billion fortune, equal to about 3 percent of his countrys economy. The net worth of Spains Amancio Ortega represents 5 percent of that nations gross domestic product. And then theres Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose worth about a third of Georgias GDP. The Gates and Bezos mega-fortunes may not last long. Gates has donated more than $35 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and said he intends to give away at least half of his wealth. Bezos, meanwhile, may be about to cede some of his fortune for a different reason: he and his wife Mackenzie are divorcing. Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the worlds 500 wealthiest individuals. This years biggest losers in that group include Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the massive inter-continental connectivity project worth hundreds of billions of dollars, doesnt respect Indias core concerns of sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Indian envoy to China has said. Indian ambassador Vikram Misri also virtually ruled out any Indian participation in next months high-profile second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF). Several leaders, including Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte and Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, are expected to attend the BRF, a prestige project for Xi. India had declined Chinas invite to be part of the first BRF held in Beijing in 2017 possibly the only major country not to have sent any representative to the event. China will build consensus with parties on high-quality cooperation followed the principle of consultation, cooperation, and shared benefits; champion an open, transparent and inclusive approach to Belt and Road cooperation Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi said through the forum earlier this month. In an interview to state media, Misri questioned those very principles and the BRIs openness, transparency and financial sustainability. For one, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) the pilot or flagship project under the BRI passes through Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), violating Indias territorial sovereignty. Misri was asked, during an interview with Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid with close ties with Peoples Daily, the Communist Party of China (CPC) mouthpiece, to explain Indias complicated perception of the BRI and whether it would send a delegation to the second BRF in April. Misri was clear about what India expects from connectivity projects not just grandiose words but solid proof on the ground about its aim, objectives and implementation principles. Above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects the sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations. No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said. The Indian envoy explained New Delhis very-public unease on the BRI without mentioning CPEC or PoK. To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned. India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives. We are ourselves working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives, he said. However, it is also our belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, and rule of law. They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency, and financial sustainability, Misri said. Misri, who was Indias top diplomat in Myanmar before his posting to China earlier this year, spoke about Indian goods and services getting market access here and reducing Indias $58 billion bilateral trade deficit. India has been working with the Chinese side for export of a greater number of Indian goods and services to China. There has been some progress in this regard and market access has been granted to some Indian agricultural products, even though we still need to translate this market access into actual exports so as to expand Indias export basket to China and bring down the deficit, he said. In addition, the envoy said, India also needs to address the barriers for greater access to Indian pharmaceuticals and IT products and services in the Chinese market. Many of the Chinese companies are doing good business in India. Xiaomi and other Chinese companies are among the largest distributors of mobile phones in India. We welcome these companies to set up their manufacturing bases in India, which would contribute to lowering the trade deficit, Misri said. We would also like to see more Chinese investment in infrastructure, such as roads and railways, industrial parks and in the food processing sector. Another welcome area for Chinese investment would be the hospitality sector, such as restaurants that cater to the Chinese palate, which in turn would be an attractive factor for Chinese tourists. Misri said India and China could cooperate in many, expanding fields and ensure that competition doesnt become a confrontation. India and China could also strengthen cooperation at various international forums, especially those dealing with the environment, climate change, energy security, trade, and counter-terrorism. There is considerable common ground to be explored in these areas between our two countries. After nearly three years of intense debate and talks in London and Brussels, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday admitted that her commitment to deliver Brexit by the due date of March 29 will not happen, and sought an extension until June 30. But officials in Brussels, frustrated by years of indecision in London, said the extension will need to be limited until May 23, when elections to the European Parliament are due. The final decision will be taken at the European Council summit on Thursday. A Brexit date beyond May 23 implies that the UK will need to participate in the European elections, a prospect not many are prepared to contemplate in the currently charged atmosphere in Westminster. May told MPs in the House of Commons: The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of Members of European Parliaments is, I believe, unacceptable. May sent a letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, detailing the context of parliament rejecting the withdrawal agreement twice and her inability to re-introduce it due to the speakers ruling earlier this week that only a fundamentally different motion could be re-introduced after being rejected in the same session. May, however, told Tusk that she would continue to seek parliamentary approval as soon as possible, but it would not be possible to do so before March 29, the current due date of withdrawal. She faced a difficult time during Prime Ministers Question Time in the House of Commons, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused her of leading the UK into crisis, chaos and division. Months of running down the clock and a concerted campaign of blackmail, bullying and bribery has failed to convince the House or the country that her deal is anything but a damaging national failure and should be rejected, he said. At precisely 11:48 am on December 18, 2018, a large space rock heading straight for Earth at a speed of 19 miles per second exploded into a vast ball of fire as it entered the atmosphere, 15.9 miles above the Bering Sea. From below, the only witnesses to this fiery event may have been the fish that inhabit the frigid waters between Russia and Alaska, as no human eye caught sight of it. A meteor is the luminous phenomenon that results when an asteroid or other celestial body enters the Earths atmosphere. It is commonly called a shooting star. If it does not fully vaporize and some part of it hits the Earths surface, it is called a meteorite. One of the first researchers to detect the event was Peter Brown, a meteor scientist at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario. On March 8, he was poring over December data from the system used by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization to detect atmospheric explosions caused by nuclear tests. The system is comprised of seismic and acoustic sensors capable of picking up infrasound, inaudible to the human ear, at a distance of tens of thousands of miles. Many of them detected the sound waves from this explosion, he told AFP. If you were directly under it, it would have been deafening. - 10 meters in diameter - US military satellites spotted the explosion immediately. But it was not until March 8 that the Air Force officially informed NASA, which logged the event in the database of fireballs it has kept since 1988, according to Lindley Johnson, NASAs Planetary Defense Officer. It was almost immediately published on our website, within 10 minutes, I would say, he told AFP. NASAs Center for Near Earth Object Studies calculated the energy released by the explosion to be 173 kilotons, more than 10 times as destructive as the 15-kiloton atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima in 1945. It was the most powerful explosion in the atmosphere since the fireball that burst over the Russian town of Chelyabinsk in 2013. That was 440 kilotons, and left 1,500 people injured, mostly from glass flying out of smashed windows. The event was described on Monday by scientists at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas. When he read a report on the subject on the BBC, Simon Proud, a meteorologist and specialist in satellite data at Oxford University, decided to check the archive of images collected by a Japanese weather satellite, Himawari, which his center permanently monitors. Bingo: the satellite was in the right place at the right time, he told AFP. Proud published the image on his Twitter account: what looks like an orange ball of fire above the clouds and sea, but which is in fact a cloud of dust from the meteor caught in the sunlight, Brown said. As it turns out, NASAs MODIS satellite also photographed the dust cloud, the agencys Kurtis Thome told AFP Tuesday. It doesnt surprise me, said Patrick Michel, research director and asteroid specialist at the observatory of the Cote dAzur in southern France. It is a good reminder that there are a bunch of these things that pass over our heads and that it would be good to be more concerned about them, he told AFP. It should remind us that even if it is the least likely natural risk we face, it is a still a risk that exists and will in the long term become a reality, he said. The rock was roughly 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter: the most dangerous celestial bodies for the Earth are those in excess of 150 meters. Nothing very unusual, said Rudiger Jehn, head of planetary defense at the European Space Agency (ESA). We were lucky it was over the ocean. It can happen again, and someday there will be a bigger one, he said, noting that the ESA plans to ask member states for a budget to create a better protection system against asteroids during a ministerial meeting in November. That meteor explosion is a perfect promotion for our program. And it is free, he said. Prime Minister Theresa May made an impassioned appeal to British lawmakers to support her on Wednesday after the European Union said it could only grant her request to delay Brexit for three months if parliament next week backed her plans for leaving. May had earlier asked the EU to let Britain delay its departure date from March 29 to June 30, a question that leaders of the remaining 27 member states will discuss at a summit on Thursday. European Council President Donald Tusk said it would be possible to grant Britain a short postponement if parliament next week backs Mays divorce agreement, which it has already voted down twice. Should that happen, Tusk said no extraordinary EU summit would be needed next week before the current Brexit date. Otherwise, he said he might convene the leaders again. I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, Tusk told journalists. He did not comment on the possibility - which he himself has suggested - that another option such as a longer delay might be offered to avoid a painful no-deal exit if Mays deal was voted down again. May said British lawmakers had spent long enough saying what they did not want from Brexit, and that people were tired of their infighting, political games and arcane procedural rows. I passionately hope MPs (lawmakers) will find a way to back the deal I have negotiated with the EU, May said in a televised address. She said lawmakers had a choice: leave the EU with a deal, leave without a deal, or not leave at all. It is high time we made a decision, May said, telling Britons: I am on your side. RATIFY OR EXIT Earlier, she had told a rowdy session of parliament that she could not countenance the prospect of a long delay - which could give time for notional alternative approaches to emerge, but would infuriate Brexit supporters in her own party. As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June, she said. May did not say when the next vote on her deal would happen. If she cannot win over enough reluctant lawmakers next week, Britain faces the choice of requesting a longer delay or leaving the EU as planned on March 29 - without a deal to cushion the economic upheaval. Some EU states, including Germany, had given a largely positive response to Mays well-flagged request. But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said May would need to make her case before EU leaders. Our position is to send the British a clear and simple message. As Theresa May has repeatedly said herself, there are only two options to get out of the EU: ratify the Withdrawal Agreement or exit without a deal, he told the French parliament. Mays initiative was the latest twist in more than two years of negotiations that have left British politics in chaos and her authority in tatters. After the defeats in parliament opened up the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, May told parliament on Wednesday that she remained committed to leaving in an orderly manner. Her announcement that she was asking for a three-month delay caused uproar in the chamber. The opposition Labour Party accused her of blackmail, bullying and bribery in her attempts to force her deal through, and one prominent Brexit supporter in her own Conservative Party said seeking a delay was betraying the British people. NO CLARITY Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU by 52 percent to 48 - a decision that has split the country, opening up divisive debates over the future of the economy, Britains place in the world and the nature of Britishness itself. A European Commission document seen by Reuters said the delay should either be several weeks shorter, to avoid a clash with European Parliament elections in May, or last at least until the end of the year, which would oblige Britain to take part in the elections. May asked in her statement what kind of message this would send to those who voted for Brexit. The pound fell on the uncertainty surrounding the potential delay and the fact that a no-deal Brexit remained possible, but recovered ground late in the evening. [GBP/] Nearly three years after the referendum, there is still no clarity over how, when or even whether the worlds fifth largest economy should leave the bloc it joined in 1973. When May set the March 29 exit date two years ago, she declared there would be no turning back. But parliaments refusal to ratify the withdrawal deal she agreed with the EU has thrust her divided government into crisis. The Labour Party said that, by choosing a short delay, May was forcing lawmakers to decide between accepting a deal they have already rejected or leaving without a deal. Many pro-Brexit members of Mays Conservative Party are opposed to a longer delay because they fear it could mean Brexit might never happen. They argue that Britain can do well outside the European Union - even though an abrupt departure would cause short-term pain. Half Moon Bay, CA (94019) Today Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 53F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 47F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Members representing the minority community at a provincial assembly in Pakistan walked out of the session after a PPP lawmaker said that "Hindus are our enemy" in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack. His remark was criticised by Ravi Kumar and Ranjeet Singh who walked out of the assembly session. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sher Azam Wazir, in his address in the assembly, said that "Hindus are our enemy". Wazir, however, apologised over his choice of words and said that he should have used the word "Hindustan" (India) instead. Later, the assembly members took both the protesting Members of Provincial Assembly into confidence and brought them back to the session. Kumar said that though India is hostile towards Pakistan, the Hindu community is not. Speaker Mushtaq Ghani expunged remarks of Wazir from the assembly proceedings. There are three minority members in the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in February 14. India launched a counter-terror operation in Balakot. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured its pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. -PTI Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) An irate President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday warned Metro Manila's water regulator and water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad to end the water crisis or face termination, his spokesperson said. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo described Duterte's meeting with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) executives as a "presidential monologue" that lasted for 40 minutes and ended abruptly. Present in the meeting in Malacanang were MWSS Chairman Franklin Demonteverde, Administrator Reynaldo Velasco, Chief Regulator Patrick Ty, and officials from Manila Water and Maynilad. The MWSS executives received tongue lashing from the President, who threatened to fire them for allowing the water crisis in Metro Manila and Rizal to happen in the first place. "The Chief Executive told them he was not going to listen to their explanation as to why there was a water shortage as such would be just plain excuses. They simply did not do their job. The President told them they could have simply anticipated such shortage and could have done something about it. They had to wait for him to threaten them with personally rushing to Manila from Davao to grapple with the crisis before they moved to end it. The Chief Executive bluntly told them to 'shape up or ship out!'" Panelo said in a statement on Wednesday. Velasco, a presidential appointee, said no MWSS official has tendered their resignation. He added he is working hard so he doesn't get sacked. "Ang sabi ni Presidente, 'Shape up or ship out.' Kaya inaayos ko para hindi ako tanggalin," he said. Aside from the MWSS, Duterte also warned he will terminate the contracts of private water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad for profiteering from the public. "'All they care about is get profit from the water of the people,'" Panelo said, quoting Duterte. The MWSS officials were asked to submit a comprehensive report on the water crisis and the solutions to it. Velasco said they will include a 50-year master plan on water source in their report. "The message is very clear: Fix all of these things. Ayaw niya yung nahihirapan ang tao," Velasco told CNN Philippines on Wednesday. After weeks of interruption, Manila Water said 93 percent of its customers are experiencing longer hours with water. It said although the situation is improving, the water problem will last until the end of May. On March 7, customers of Manila Water were surprised by an unannounced water interruption. Since then, its customers comprising 1.2 million households have been experiencing no water supply or low water pressure. Velasco said the water shortage was caused by the delay in the concessionaire's Cardona Water Treatment Plant, adding the water crisis was aggravated by the depleting supply at the La Mesa reservoir due to the dry spell. Groundbreaking 20 March 2019 Chartwell Hospitality LLC, an integrated hotel operations and development company, announced the groundbreaking of the 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Franklin's Cool Springs neighborhood. The property is the hotel component of McEwen Northside, a thoughtfully planned walkable mixed-use project to include retail offerings, office space and multi-family residences. Construction on the all-suite hotel is expected to be completed by spring 2020. Catering to business travelers, the hotel will offer outdoor patio seating, flexible meeting spaces and expansive guest suites. The property will also feature the brand's new exclusive furniture and decor collection from West Elm, providing unique and modern designs for the hotel's lobby and guest rooms. Each suite is designed to be multifunctional, providing a space for a relaxing getaway or tackling a big project in the in-suite workspace. The SpringHill Suites by Marriott will also feature free Wi-Fi, a fitness center and an on-site bar with a full selection of handpicked wines, local craft beers and light bites. In addition to the five-story hotel, the McEwen Northside development will include approximately 750,000 square feet of Class A office space, 100,000 square feet of restaurants and specialty retail, 580 luxury apartment and upward of 10 acres of beautifully designed green spaces to seamlessly connect the community with the hotel serving at the epicenter of the inviting 45-acre mixed-use environment. Pipeline 20 March 2019 Taking inspiration from the oasis villages that surround, Anantara Tozeur Resort rises up out of the shimmering desert, a contemporary retreat of lush palm trees and meandering swimming pools. Located in the southwest of Tunisia on the edge of the formidable Sahara, the resort provides the perfect base from which to explore. Lap up the silence of the desert, dining on local cuisine under the stars, enjoying luxury hammam rituals, and luxuriating in private villas. The nearby city of Tozeur is known for its distinctive architecture most evident in its 14th century medina. Tour the palmerie famous for its date exports by regal horse and carriage. Drive across Chott el Djerid, the Sahara's largest salt lake, that glitters in the sunlight like a mirage. Daytrips across the desert include visits to the abandoned villages of Chebika, Tamerza, and Mides, and the film set of the original Star Wars. 93 guest rooms and villas Tunisian and Thai speciality restaurants Swimming pools and fitness centre Anantara Spa with hammam Desert expeditions by camelback and 4X4 Ballroom and meeting facilities Appointment 20 March 2019 Coetzer Deysel is appointed General Manager of Anantara Mauritius Resort, opening in Q4 2019. Coetzer joined Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas in February 2016 as Cluster General Manager in the Maldives for Anantara Dhigu, Anantara Veli and sister property Naladhu Private Island. . Coetzer is no stranger to different environments and to tackling new frontiers. Having grown up in South Africa, his career in hospitality started out leading safaris in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He then returned to South Africa where he furthered his career in a number of acclaimed South African game reserves. In 2007, Coetzer joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts as Resort Manager at W Retreat & Spa Maldives, before being promoted to General Manager at W Retreat Koh Samui in Thailand. He then held various other GM positions with Starwood in China and a Vice President of Operations role for the Naked Retreats Hotel Group, based in Shanghai, China. With a focus on guest satisfaction and a knack for pleasing high end, discerning travellers, Coetzer's career has spanned over twenty years and taken him to more than seven countries. In his most recent cluster role, Coetzer also focused on introducing several sustainable initiatives such as the adoption of Solar Power and the launch of the Minor Hope programme for underprivileged Maldivian students. Supplier News 20 March 2019 DALLAS, TEXAS - Nestled in the heart of the spectacular Canadian Rockies, guests of the Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre can now enjoy the latest in guestroom access through a partnership between Coast Hotels and OpenKey. OpenKey is the industry standard for universal mobile key in hotels. The hotel located in Canmore Alberta is just minutes from the resort town of Banff and one hour west of Calgary. Every room in the hotel is designed with guest comfort and convenience in mind, including individual climate control, flat screen TVs, triple sheeting and complimentary in-room Wi-Fi that comes standard at every Coast hotel. The GreenLeaders Silver level property is a popular conference destination and also offers an indoor pool and fully equipped fitness centre. "We understand how important convenience and sustainability is for today's traveler. Whether it's for business or pleasure, our goal is to make sure our guests enjoy cozy, modern accommodations with high-tech amenities," said Charmaine Elliott, Operations Manager of the Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre. "Introducing OpenKey's mobile technology as part of our services ensures our guests get the best of both worlds." A recent Oracle global study confirmed that 88 percent of consumers surveyed want a mobile app that supports check-in, check-out and provides a relevant and personalized experience. In addition to those capabilities, the OpenKey app will provide Coast Canmore guests with dining and amenity information about the hotel as well as the Wi-Fi network and password for use during their stay. OpenKey also supports sustainability efforts in the hotel industry as keyless room access reduces the need for disposable plastic keys. "Coast Hotels has developed a magnificent portfolio of properties and the Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre is a fantastic example" stated Brian Shedd, VP Global Sales & Marketing for OpenKey. "I suspect guests will be so mesmerized by the incredible surroundings they may not notice how convenient and secure their new keyless room access is!" OpenKey continues to revolutionize the hotel industry and reshape the standard for guest service. The seamless transition from traditional key cards to keyless entry has made OpenKey the go-to choice for hotels going through renovation or looking to upgrade the guest experience. About Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre Situated in the heart of the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre offers an ideal location for business and leisure travelers. Featuring 164 well-appointed rooms, our hotel is in close proximity to some of the best attractions and activities the area has to offer. We have been awarded a 4 key rating from the Green Key Eco-Rating Program - recognizing us as a hotel that has taken significant steps to protect the environment. Strong environmental programs, best management practices, training programs and engineering solutions at the hotel benefit the environment and local community. Press Release 20 March 2019 Iberostar is the first Spanish hotel group to offer this integration, which represents a major step forward in the Group's efforts to position hotel products within artificial intelligence and voice recognition. The objective is to improve the interaction between Iberostar and its customers, enabling the company to minimize friction during the booking process and deliver an enhanced, user-friendly experience. Advertisements Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has launched an innovative option enabling guests to book rooms through voice commands thanks to an integration with Google Assistant. This is a major step forward for customers, who, from now on, will be able to explore this option from their assistant-enabled devices using voice search. When a customer says, "Hey Google, I want to book a room at," followed by the name of an Iberostar hotel, its location and the desired dates, Google will provide the details of that hotel's availability and rates and finalize the booking using Google Pay credentials. In turn, the hotel will be notified of the booking via the channel selected by the user. Photo: Iberostar Hoteles Voice bookings through Google Assistant is the latest addition to Iberostar's innovation plan to provide its guests a great experience, even before their stay. The feature is already available in English for users in the US on Android and Apple smartphones, as well as household devices. During the initial stage, customers will be able to book the following Iberostar city hotels immediately with no advance reservation restrictions in various locations around the world: Iberostar Las Letras Gran Via (Madrid), Iberostar Lisboa (Lisbon), Iberostar 70 Park Avenue (New York), Iberostar Paseo de Gracia (Barcelona), Iberostar Grand Budapest (Budapest), Iberostar Grand Mencey (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the Iberostar Berkeley (Miami). "We strive to provide our guests not only with a platform to create great memories during their stay at any of the destinations where we operate, but also with services that cater to their needs," said Javier Delgado Muerza, Iberostar Group's Chief Digital Officer. "We are working on connecting with them and facilitating their experience with us. This is a step forward in the company's current digitalization plan, which is centered on users and innovation, while remaining committed to providing an outstanding hotel experience". Iberostar has entered into a strategic alliance with Mirai for the development of this project, aimed at boosting sales thanks to multi-channel connectivity, which includes this cutting-edge voice recognition-based solution that positions the brand amongst the world's leading international chains. Press Release 20 March 2019 Autograph Collection Hotels Set to Grow in Europe by More Than 25% in 2019, Debuting in 10 New Destinations European Growth of the Independent Hotel Brand Reinforces an Increase in Micro-Trips* and the Growing Demand Among Today's Consumers for Unique Travel Experiences Advertisements Autograph Collection Hotels, Marriott International's diverse and dynamic portfolio of more than 160 independent hotels around the world, today announced plans to welcome 12 one-of-a-kind hotels to its European portfolio in 2019, each hand-selected for its distinct perspective on design and hospitality. Hotels set to debut as part of Autograph Collection Hotels this year, include: Aegon, Mykonos, a stunning beach resort complete with harmonious spa and private beach club; Hotel Universo, a sixteenth-century palace in the medieval walled city of Lucca near Florence; Schloss Lieser, a fairy-tale castle in Germany's Moselle region, an idyllic landscape famed for its wine-growing; Academia of Athens in Greece, with design inspired byGreek Philosopher Plato; and The Shelbourne, the enduringly iconic hotel that's been at the heart of Dublin society since opening in 1824. Each hotel truly is a product of passion and a personal realisation of its individual founder's vision, making each one singular and special: Exactly Like Nothing Else. Launched in 2010, Autograph Collection Hotels is a pioneer in the independent hotel space and has rapidly grown from five hotels to more than 160 in just nine years. Continuing to grow around the globe, Autograph Collection's global pipeline comprises nearly 100 hotels. "With the depth and diversity of Autograph Collection Hotels, we have the unique opportunity to create one-of-a-kind, memorable experiences for travellers," said John Licence, VP Premium & Select Brands Europe, Marriott International. "The brand's significant growth momentum throughout Europe solidifies it as an established leader in the independent hotel space, and we are thrilled to welcome 12 exceptional hotels to our European portfolio in 2019." Restored Landmarks Reborn as Boutique Hotels At a time when 53% of global travellers plan to take more weekend trips in 2019*, Autograph Collection Hotels is perfectly poised to offer travellers rich immersive moments that leave a lasting imprint, with five restored architectural gems slated to join Autograph Collection Hotels in Europe this year. Exemplified by the latest addition to Autograph Collection's portfolio of London hotels, The Dixon - just opened in January - was originally designed as a Magistrates' Court and police station in 1905 by John Dixon Butler. The building has undergone extensive restoration to restore its original features, including its spectacular grand courthouse. A stunning interior design concept showcases the hotel's passion for art with curated artworks set against a backdrop of contemporary and heritage design. Situated in the Moselle region of Germany, Schloss Lieser resides in a breath-taking castle originally built in 1885. Linked to pivotal moments in both German and Dutch history, previous owners include Clemens Freiherr von Schorlemer-Lieser, a wealthy politician who was related to the Dutch Royal Family. Over the centuries, politicians regularly gathered at the castle to discuss the future of Germany. In 2007, the castle was transformed into the independent, boutique hotel it is now. Championing Individuality through Distinct Perspectives on Design Autograph Collection hotels advocate for the original and individual through unique perspectives on design, enabling travellers to make a serious travel statement, even on the shortest of getaways. Academia of Athens, set to become Autograph Collection's third property in Greece when it opens later this year, is inspired by its namesake, historical landmarks and the vibrant culture of the contemporary city. Global design and architectural firm HOK juxtaposes the heritage of the city of Athens with a bold and modern exterior. Inside there are visual cues from ancient Greek scholar Plato's Three Orders; Science, Philosophy and Arts, with each principle brought to life throughout various spaces within the hotel. Autograph Collection Hotels Expected to Debut in 10 New European Destinations This Year Autograph Collection Hotels is set to continue adding to its existing roster of 47 properties across 17 countries in Europe, with new destinations that provide one-of-a-kind hotel stays for even the most discerning global traveller. Ten of the 12 planned openings in 2019 will mark the brand's debut in new cities and resort destinations, offering more choice and trip inspiration than ever before. New destinations include Lieser, Germany; Athens and Mykonos, Greece; Lucca, Italy; Montreux, Switzerland; Paris and Reims, France; and Seville, Spain. The planned opening of Sapphire House late in 2019 in the vibrant city of Antwerp will mark Marriott International's first hotel in the city. Expected to provide travellers with insight into the city's traditions and fascinating past in gem-trading, Sapphire House will invite guests to discover the quirks of this inconspicuous destination. Occupying the site of the city's original Royal Exchange, known as Den Grooten Robijn (The Great Ruby), Sapphire House will be a stunning addition to Antwerp's boutique hotel scene. Autograph Collection Hotels Leave a Lasting Impression with 'The Mark' Ensuring every stay is unique, Autograph Collection Hotels' handpicked portfolio of properties each offer their own unique 'Mark' - a signature moment within the hotel that is bespoke for each property and enhances the guest experience. No two hotels share the same story and therefore none share the same Mark. Scheduled to join the brand in autumn 2019, Hotel Querencia de Seville, in the Old Town of Seville will perfectly represent the Mark concept. The hotel's unique offering of music, arts, crafts, creative gatherings and artisanal workshops will bring a flare of Spanish craftmanship and everyday life to visitors, guaranteeing guests a genuine cultural experience. The anticipated spring opening of La Caserne Chanzy in the heart of Reims will provide guests with an immersive environment to explore the gastronomy of Reims. A restored firehouse will be transformed into a new restaurant - La Grande Georgette - offering reinvented local gastronomy, signature dishes and cocktails using evocative smoke, and even a food truck fashioned from an old fire engine. For further information on Autograph Collection Hotels, please visit: https://autograph-hotels.marriott.com. Notes to Editor: Expected 2019 Autograph Collection Hotels European openings: Hotel Banke, an Autograph Collection Hotel, Paris (Q1) The Shelbourne Dublin, Autograph Collection (Q2) Academia of Athens, Autograph Collection (Q2) Schloss Lieser, an Autograph Collection Hotel, Germany (Q2) Aegon, Mykonos, an Autograph Collection Hotel, (Q2) Grand Hotel Suisse Majestic, Autograph Collection, Switzerland (Q2) La Caserne Chanzy Hotel & Spa, Autograph Collection, France (Q2) Querencia De Seville, an Autograph Collection Hotel (Q3) Bernini Rome, Italy, Autograph Collection (Q3) Sapphire House, Antwerp, Autograph Collection (Q4) Hotel Universo, Lucca, Autograph Collection (Q4) The Burdock, Istanbul, Autograph Collection (Q4) Note on Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the number of lodging properties the company may add in future years and similar statements concerning possible future events or expectations that are not historical facts. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in market conditions; changes in global and regional economies; supply and demand changes for hotel rooms; competitive conditions in the lodging industry; relationships with clients and property owners; the availability of capital to finance hotel growth and refurbishment; and other risk factors that the company identifies in its most recent annual report on Form 10-Kand quarterly report on Form 10-Q; any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations we express or imply here. We make these statements as of 18thMarch 2019 and we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Press Release 20 March 2019 ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The Comfort hotels brand, franchised by Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), continues its United States expansion with seven hotels already opening this year from coast to coast. These hotels are the latest to showcase the new Comfort logo, unveiled last May as a capstone to the brand's multi-year transformation. More than 700 Comfort hotels already feature the elevated look and feel. In addition, more than 170 hotels have installed new signs, while over 450 hotels are in the process of obtaining new signage. Advertisements "The renewed Comfort brand appeals to developers and a wide range of guests across the U.S.," said Anne Smith, vice president, brand management, design and compliance, Choice Hotels. "As the transformation moves into the final phase, the investment is paying off as hotels that completed their renovations are on average experiencing a significant RevPAR lift within two quarters after refreshing." The Comforts that opened this year are: Comfort Inn & Suites in Findley Lake, N.Y. Comfort Inn & Suites in Slidell, La. Comfort Inn & Suites in Wildwood, Fla. Comfort Inn & Suites in Michigan City, Ind. Comfort Suites in Burlington, Wash. Comfort Suites in Eufaula, Ala. Comfort Suites in Humble, Texas Choice and its franchisees are investing $2.5 billion in the Comfort brand transformation to deliver a more consistent, up-to-date guest experience. More than 60 Comfort hotels are expected to open this year in major markets, such as Brooklyn, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.; Pittsburgh; San Antonio; and San Diego. In addition, there are nearly 300 hotels in the pipeline, 80 percent of which are new construction. "Cultivating relationships with our franchisees is paramount and one of our key differentiators at Choice," said Brian Quinn, head of development, new construction brands, Choice Hotels. "We are deeply thankful for their collaboration, which has been critical to the success of the Comfort transformation as evidenced by these key openings." For more information on Choice Hotels development opportunities, visit choicehotelsdevelopment.com/comfort/. Forward-Looking Statement This communication includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including anticipated development and hotel openings. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including construction delays, availability and cost of financing and the other "Risk Factors" described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to be materially different from our expectations. Press Release 20 March 2019 Strolling around Japan with a Samurai over the course of a week or greeting gorillas in Rwanda while staying at a luxury lodge are only two examples of the ever evolving (and creative) offer from hospitality businesses: how to cater to the adventurous traveler? Advertisements Through the ages, mankind has been pushing the limits of exploration: we have conquered lands, we have discovered the wonders of our planet and, pushed by our relentless thirst for knowledge, we have greatly expanded our awareness of the world we live in. Today's travelers are no different: driven by an increasing need to find meaning and purpose in their busy lives, they leave their comfort zone to venture into some of the most remote - and sometimes hostile - places in the world or venture into epic journeys. Dubbed "adventure tourism", this trend accounts for one of the fastest growing categories in the travel industry, as stated in a 2014 report by the UNWTO. How do destinations and hoteliers cater to this new breed of intrepid travelers? Unknown Thrills and Adrenaline Attract Travelers: Why? Isolation, loneliness and fear make people more susceptible to anxiety and stress. But people are still trying to find remote places to visit and new adventures to experience. Why? Turns out, the stress generated by isolation is not all that bad. A documentary produced by Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne - Going Home to the Stars - is set at the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama desert in Chile, one of the driest, most isolated places on earth. Sherif Mamdouh, who lead the documentary creation, investigated how a whole crew of scientists, specialists and hospitality workers manage to live and work together in the middle of the desert, where everything is inaccessible and scarce. The psychological aspect of his experience is fit to capture full attention. According to Mamdouh: A high level of stress can drive to a high level of satisfaction and thus, a higher sense of well-being. Stress is not just a negative force: in some instance, it can stimulate the brain and increase cognitive abilities. This may explain why people seek this kind of experience: to complete the excitement of discovery and the feeling of adventure. Unknown thrills, adventures and adrenaline attract travelers, and they are captivated by hidden landscapes and places where few have set foot before. If that means being exposed to stress and isolation, then so be it. Interested in a career in hospitality management? Learn more about our programs Who is the Thrill-Seeker Traveler? Passionate and risk-taking, adventure tourists tend to be wealthy, willing to pay a premium for exciting and authentic experiences. Adventure operators have reported an average of USD 3,000 spent per person, with an average trip length of eight days. In a 2018 report from by Intrepid, motivations to chase adventure range from decompressing (recharging one's batteries) to simply satisfying their curiosity and - interestingly enough - having something fun to share on social media. According to booking.com, the yearning for experiences over material possessions continues to drive travelers' desire for more incredible and memorable trips: 45% of travelers have a bucket list in mind and the majority of those will aim to tick one or more destinations off their list in the coming years. Most likely to appear on a bucket list are thrill seekers wanting to visit a world famous theme park, travelers looking to go on an epic road or rail journey or visiting a remote or challenging location. Age does not seem to be a key factor for adventurous travelers, as the older demographic appear just as keen to test their adrenaline limits as the younger generations. How to Cater to this New Breed of Travelers? Destinations are increasingly marketing themselves as unique, appealing to travelers looking for rare, incomparable experiences. Case in point, destinations around the world gear their slogans and messaging to attract adventure travelers. Take Norway's "Powered by Nature", Greenland's "Be a Pioneer" or New-Zealand's "100% Pure New Zealand" - they all incorporate a sense of adventure into their brand identity. Destinations that have prioritized adventure tourism frequently create regional associations to regulate the quality and safety of the tourism offer. Canada's Adventure Ecotourisme Quebec, the Brazilian Adventure and Ecoutourism Association or the Tour and Safari Association in Namibia, are few examples of those type of destination-run bodies of regulation. Hospitality businesses are also increasingly seeking to attract thrill seekers. If climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, base-jumping off a cliff in Australia or trekking through the Sahara might have once scratched the itch for adventure, the offer has now become mainstream. Hotels and travel operators have immensely benefited from technology and online tools to optimize their operations and achieve a greater marketing reach. As a result, they have greatly augmented their products, not only by offering unique accommodations, but by providing customized off-site adventure packages or making it possible for guests to immerse themselves in local communities. Strolling around Japan with a Samurai over the course of a week or greeting gorillas in Rwanda while staying at a luxury lodge are only two examples of the ever evolving offer (and creativity) from hospitality businesses. Additional resource: The hotel will be located in the Sisters Towers, a new iconic development by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in the La Defense district. Radisson Hospitality AB, part of Radisson Hotel Group, announced the signing of its first Radisson Collection hotel in France, in the La Defense business area of Paris. The Radisson Collection Hotel & Suites, Paris La Defense will bring the group's portfolio in the country to 17 hotels and more than 3,000 rooms in operation or under development. Set between the famous Grande Arche and CNIT building, the hotel will sit on the doorstep of European business while offering easy access to the French capital's many iconic landmarks and attractions. The hotel will be located in the Sisters Towers, a new iconic development by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in the La Defense district. By gathering offices, a hotel and services in the same location, the project perfectly illustrates the new generation of developments, where a greater variety of activities maximizes the use of space for users and operators. As an example, the two towers will be connected by an observation deck run by the hotel, which will include a large, versatile room that can be turned into an auditorium or a banqueting room. Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, Radisson Hotel Group, said: "The Radisson Collection La Defense will be an addition to the Parisian skyline a destination in itself. In an evolving real estate market, it's increasingly critical to have the right neighbors around a high-profile hotel asset, and the Sisters Towers development is the perfect blend combining luxury hospitality with state-of-the-art commercial real estate. We're glad to continue our strategic partnership with Unibail Rodamco Westfield the largest and strongest player in the European real estate market." Bruno Donjon de Saint Martin, Managing Director, Offices, Hotels and mixed-use Projects Europe at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of the hotel,said: "We're very happy to be partnering with Radisson Hotel Group to welcome the first French Radisson Collection hotel in the Sisters Towers. This signing illustrates the appeal of new mixed-use developments, such as Sisters Towers, with their ability to deliver value through the use of space by different audiences at different moments of the day creating virtuous circles in terms of footfall and the quality of experience. We see this as a recognition of the know-how of our teams. It also demonstrates once again the attractive nature of the La Defense district." The Radisson Collection Hotel & Suites, Paris La Defense will feature 309 rooms and apartments. Alongside its high-quality superior rooms, the hotel will offer 45 suites that include four executive suites and one presidential suite. There will also be an exceptional selection of communal areas, with a relaxing lobby bar and all-day dining restaurant offering tantalizing dishes and drinks created with and inspired by the best local produce. Guests seeking stunning views of Paris to go with their meal will be able to head to the Sky-Bar and Restaurant located on the 26th floor and creating the connection between the two towers. The hotel will offer guests a full range of leisure and wellness facilities, including a fully equipped fitness center and a spa. The star of the show, however, will undoubtedly be the indoor infinity pool on the top floor of the hotel, providing breathtaking views of the City of Lights as a backdrop to a relaxing swim. The meetings and events facilities will also deliver an unforgettable experience for business guests. The hotel's Business Center will feature a selection of multiple-use meeting rooms (including a large ballroom) with panoramic views from the top of the tower. The Radisson Collection Hotel & Suites Paris La Defense will enjoy a prime location at the center of the city's renowned business district and will be easy to access with its proximity to a major transport hub. Guests will also be able to travel to the city center in under 15 minutes by train, making it easy to access the many world-class attractions in Paris. Future developments as part of the Grand Paris project will add further infrastructure to the area, including direct links to Charles de Gaulle Airport. The Radisson Collection Hotel & Suites Paris La Defense will be operated by Radisson Hospitality under an International Management Agreement. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource CareerBuilder's Annual Survey Reveals Hot Hiring and Recruitment Trends for 2019 CareerBuilder released the findings of its annual study, which revealed that 40 percent of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in 2019, and 47 percent plan to recruit part-time workers. Hiring for full-time employees and part-time or contract workers is on par with the 2018 report, which was 44 percent and 51 percent last year, respectively. There is demand for full-time workers, as 50 percent of human resource managers say they currently have open positions for which they cannot find qualified candidates. However, there are candidates ready to take on those roles. Across all skills levels, 32 percent of workers are looking to change jobs in 2019. When asked why they left their last job, employees cited low compensation or a lack of benefits (15 percent) and poor company culture (10 percent) as the reason for leaving. "The employment outlook is positive with 40 percent of employers looking to hire full-time, permanent employees. While a skills gap has created an environment where employers are having trouble finding qualified talent, employees' and companies' mutual dedication towards competency-based training indicates we have made leaps and bounds toward eliminating these obstacles; we've found that 59 percent of employers plan to train and hire workers who may not be 100 percent qualified but have potential," said Irina Novoselsky, CEO of CareerBuilder. "Technological innovation will continue to be a driving force in defining the labor market for both in demand jobs and how companies recruit for open roles. At CareerBuilder, we're excited to be at the forefront of developing technologies to streamline the hiring process and make finding the right candidates more effective and efficient." The national surveys, which were conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from December 20, 2018 to January 16, 2019, included representative samples of 1,021 hiring managers and human resource managers and 1,010 full-time U.S. workers across industries and company sizes in the private sector. Employment and Hiring Trends to Watch in 2019 Candidates' soft skills are increasingly important when applying to jobs. Ninety-two percent of employers say soft skills, including interpersonal skills, communication abilities, and critical thinking, will be important in determining whether they will hire candidates. Eighty percent also said that soft skills would be equally or more important than hard skills when hiring candidates, since specific technical skills are necessary for some jobs. The top skills that employers will be hiring for in 2019 are the ability to be team-oriented (51 percent), attention to detail (49 percent), and customer service (46 percent). Opportunities for job seekers are available year-round. Fifty-one percent of hiring managers recruit throughout the calendar year for positions that may open up later on. Of those who continuously recruit, 55 percent say this reduces their time-to-hire and 42 percent share it reduces cost-per-hire. Companies and job seekers are willing to invest in tech training. Fifty-five percent of employers believe that, on average, 50 percent or more of all jobs include tech requirements, and 56 percent have paid for employees to get skills-based training outside the office, so they can move up to a higher-skill job within their organization. However, 66 percent of employees say their company does not offer educational opportunities or workshops outside of work hours to teach them new skills they could use in their jobs. Of those employees, 73 percent say they would be somewhat or extremely likely to participate if such opportunities were offered. Convenience and culture may be more important than compensation. Employees cite factors like location (56 percent), affordable benefits plans (55 percent), job stability (55 percent), a good boss (48 percent), and good work culture (44 percent) as more important than salary when considering a position. Compensation is on the rise. Twenty-nine percent of employers expect the average increase in salaries for existing employees to be five percent or more in 2019 compared to 2018. Recruiting Trends to Watch for 2019 The job seeker experience is paramount: HR managers (36 percent) cite improved user experiences for candidates, employees, and hiring managers as a top priority for recruitment and HR management going into 2019. Efficiency is critical: HR managers also say helping recruiters to be more efficient in filling roles faster with higher quality candidates (29 percent) and expediting background checks (24 percent) are seen as top priorities for recruitment and HR management going into 2019. Streamlined communication: Twenty-two percent of HR managers believe technology will be most beneficial in helping manage and maintain regular communication with job candidates during the application process. To simplify the process, CareerBuilder's new TD Companion App enables hiring managers to communicate directly with candidates through text message and email. Speak the same language: Recruiters speak one language and candidates speak another; it's no wonder 39 percent of HR managers say technology would be most beneficial in helping with sorting through applicants to identify top candidates and remove candidates that are not qualified. CareerBuilder has crossed the language barrier with the use of AI and semantic search to halve the applicant to hire ratio. Perfecting the process: Bad hires can negatively affect companies, and the main ways they impacted employers' businesses last year were less productivity (28 percent), they negatively impacted employee morale (25 percent), and they drove up costs for recruiting and training other workers (24 percent). Additionally, employers who have had a bad hire affect their business in the past year estimate the average cost of a bad hire is more than $18,700 . Top Areas for Hiring in 2019 As new technologies are constantly introduced, legacy industries are being transformed and the need for workers with specialized, high-tech capabilities is on the rise. In Demand Areas for Hiring Jobs tied to skilled labor: 25 percent Jobs tied to data analysis: 21 percent Jobs tied to digital marketing: 12 percent Jobs tied to cyber security: 11 percent Jobs tied to AI and machine learning: 10 percent Jobs tied to healthy living: 10 percent Hiring by Region: Where Employers Are Hiring Full-Time, Permanent Employees West: 44 percent South: 42 percent Northeast: 37 percent Midwest: 35 percent For more information, visit CareerBuilder.com. Research Methodology This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 1,021 hiring and human resource managers ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government, including 312 HR managers) and 1,010 employees ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between December 20, 2018 and January 16, 2019. Data for employers were weighted where necessary by company size and job level and data for employees were weighted where necessary by gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, income, education, and industry to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. About CareerBuilder CareerBuilder is a global technology company that provides end-to-end HR solutions to help employers find, hire and onboard great talent, and helps job seekers build new skills and progressive careers as the modern world of work changes. A known disruptor for 24 years, CareerBuilder is the only company that offers both software and services to cover every step of the Hello To Hire process, enabling its customers to free up valuable resources across their HR tech supply chain to drive their business forward. Specializing in talent acquisition recruiting platforms, employment screening and human capital management, CareerBuilder is the largest provider of AI-powered hiring solutions serving the majority of the Fortune 500 across five specialized markets. CareerBuilder is majority-owned by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC and operates in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com. About The Harris Poll: The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S. tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963 that is now part of Harris Insights Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. We work with clients in three primary areas; building twenty-first- century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Our mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible. To learn more, please visit www.harrisinsights.com. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Part renovation and part expansion, the design refreshes the interior of the existing Hotel TArshavn while adding a new wing on an adjacent lot, anticipated as around 100 rooms in total. Henning Larsen's 4,500 m2 proposal upgrades the hotel from a three-star to four-star establishment, and positions the building as an accessible pedestrian thoroughfare between two of the city center's most active streets. 4,500 m2 Hotel Torshavn modernizes the classic grand foyer, offering a new social commons in the Torshavn city center Henning Larsen has won an invitational competition to design a new four-star hotel in the Faroese capital of Torshavn with a concept that gives the hotel a more active role in city life. Henning Larsen's design stems from a commitment to improving city life. The hotel is in the heart of Torshavn, standing between the city's main cultural venues and just beneath the main pedestrian and shopping street. Its design taps into the Faroese landscape to present an iconic, locally-inspired heart of new activity in the city center. Hotel Torshavn's expansion introduces a public grand foyer and a broad staircase connecting the streets, designed as a meeting point and pedestrian thoroughfare for local and international visitors. For Osbjrn Jacobsen, Partner and Design Director at Henning Larsen's Faroese studio, the design concept draws on Faroese roots to create a hotel that reflects its local connections. "We're going back to the original idea of a grand foyer as a way to create street-level identity, and as a passageway for new connections in the city," Jacobsen said. "In our search for a symbol of an open, active venue for the foyer, we took inspiration from the sea caves along the Faroese coast, which are a striking feature of our geography. In a way, you could say our design represents the bedrock of the Faroe Islands, with the city life carving its way into the lower levels of the hotel." Part renovation and part expansion, the design refreshes the interior of the existing Hotel Torshavn while adding a new wing on an adjacent lot, anticipated as around 100 rooms in total. Henning Larsen's 4,500 m2 proposal upgrades the hotel from a three-star to four-star establishment, and positions the building as an accessible pedestrian thoroughfare between two of the city center's most active streets. Hotel Torshavn responds to the Faroe Islands' recent emergence as a global tourist destination. Following the Faroese tourist board's 2012 commitment to double the country's number of overnight stays and annual tourism revenue by 2020, the islands' air- and seaports have routinely broken standing records in tourist traffic. 2016 saw over 60,000 arrivals by cruise ship, up from around 30,000 in 2010. In 2017, the Faroe Islands' only airport recorded a 25 percent rise in arrivals by the beginning of tourist season. Hotel Torshavn delivers a boost to overnight capacity in the city center, further encouraging the country's growing tourism industry. As the Faroe Islands explore a developing role in global tourism, Henning Larsen's concept for Hotel Torshavn anticipates new visitors while benefitting longtime residents. The design rises as a new landmark in an emerging hotspot, standing as an inviting icon for guests and an active commons for Torshavn's locals. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource The hospitality group Louis T Collection is expanding its building solutions arm this month with the appointment of Scott Reid as project manager. The Brit brings with him over 20 years of experience in the construction industry and joins the company in the midst of a major renovation and repositioning of Louis T's first Australian property. The hospitality group Louis T Collection is expanding its building solutions arm this month with the appointment of Scott Reid as project manager. The Brit brings with him over 20 years of experience in the construction industry and joins the company in the midst of a major renovation and repositioning of Louis T's first Australian property. With over two decades of construction experience, Reid has worked across Europe and Asia in a variety of roles from erecting log cabins in idyllic locations to supervising multi-million-dollar construction projects for hotel developments. His most recent position was with Thai company Development Management Asia as construction project manager. In this role Reid supervised a number of large-scale refurbishments and new builds in the hospitality sector on Koh Samui, Thailand. Prior to his move to Asia, Reid worked for six years with Workspace Design, a large furniture, fittings and equipment contractor in the UK, where he managed a range of projects, including Government contracts and a hospital. Reid joins Louis T's project team as they near the completion of Quay Perth, an 80-room boutique hotel in Western Australia's capital set to open in Q2, 2019. He will assist with the project's completion and will be the main point of contact for the day-to-day running of hotel developments. He will be based out of Bangkok. "Many hotel companies merely offer technical services when it comes to a reconstruction or new build," said Robert Batrick, Louis T Collection's director of project services. "But we do more. We manage it from conception to completion, representing hotel owners throughout process. Scott's proven success in this same holistic approach to a project makes him an asset to the Louis T team." The Quay Perth project is Louis T Collection's second major rebuild and repositioning job. The company completed a multi-million-dollar renovation and repositioning to Mantra Samui Resort in Koh Samui in 2017 with Robert Batrick at the helm. Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Hotel industry news and trends. Subscribe 2021 Hotel News Resource Ariana Grande is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. She's gained a following in the hundreds of millions with people flocking to all of her new releases. The young starlet just dropped a new album and it's done extremely well, helping her break records and creep into the hearts of so many all over again. Her most recent hit single, "7 Rings," came with its fair share of controversy. At first, fans were confused how she could clear a sample as prominent as "My Favorite Things." The classical tune is vital to the mix, with Ariana switching her lyrics in the hook to flex her diamonds and jewels. Once people tuned into the video, Ariana was accused of biting Soulja Boy's flow, 2 Chainz' visual work and Princess Nokia's style. All bases were covered with the "Favorite Things" inspiration though because as it turns out, Ariana isn't even going to be making much money off the track. While 10% of her "7 Rings" earnings is probably still somewhere in the millions, it is being reported that Rodgers & Hammerstein, the songwriting group behind "My Favorite Things," is being paid 90% of the royalties from the track. Once you factor in the money that's going to the label, Grande is making a tiny percentage of money from the hit song. According to Daily Mail, "7 Rings" credits a total of ten writers, which include Rodgers & Hammerstein as well as Grande herself. An agreement was made between Republic Records and the organization that owns Rodgers & Hammerstein's catalog before the song was released to ensure they could use the song as inspiration. As reported by the New York Times, no counteroffers were made after the group asked for 90% royalties. Both sides agreed on it and the song was released. Last week, a shocking tragedy occurred in New Zealand as a man walked into two mosques in Christchurch and killed 49 people while injuring dozens more. After the incident, an Australian politician by the name of Fraser Anning released a statement blaming Muslims for the shooting. During a press conference in which Anning was speaking to the media, a teenager crept up behind him and smashed an egg on his head. Anning turned around and punched the teenager who was then arrested and freed without charge. That's how the legend of "Egg Boy" was born and on Tuesday night, Ben Simmons paid respects to the young man. https://twitter.com/_/status/1106804406828167170 The Philadelphia 76ers star is from Melbourne so his ties to "Egg Boy" are cemented in pride for his country and his people. Simmons dawned a pair of yellow Nike's with "Egg Boy" written on the side. Perhaps it proved to be a good luck charm as the 76ers went on to beat the Charlotte Hornets by a score of 118-114. https://twitter.com/_/status/1108144910123716608 Simmons and the 76ers are currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference with an impressive record of 46-25. The winter is coming to a close (thank God) and festival season is approaching. Over the past few months, major festivals have been unveiling their line-ups and getting people excited for the summer. One of the most exciting festival this year is Woodstock which will be returning for its 50th anniversary. There have been rumors about who will be performing but today, they unveil the entire line-up. Woodstock 50 is blending a bit of everything for music lovers across the board. Jay-Z has been confirmed as a headliner on the final day of the festival. Chance The Rapper will also be performing the day before HOV as well as Chance's brother Taylor Bennett. The line-up includes a heavy amount of hip-hop artists as well. Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples will both be taking the stage. Additionally, Woodstock 50 will include performances from Common, Run The Jewels, Akon, Princess Nokia, SiR, Halsey, Janelle Monae and more. Itll be an eclectic bill, festival organizer Michael Land told Rolling Stone earlier this year. Itll be hip-hop and rock and some pop and some of the legacy bands from the original festival I want it to be multi-generational. Woodstock 94 was a nice mix of young and old and thats kind of what were going for here. The festival will take place from August 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York. Peep the full line-up below. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are heading for marriage after spending two years together. Lopez revealed that they got engaged earlier this month after A-Rod popped the question during their romantic vacay in the Bahamas. Now, the two have broken their silence for the first time on the next stage of their relationship. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez spoke to about their engagement for the first time since A-Rod popped the question in the Bahamas. "Were really happy, Lopez told People Magazine. We have [an] appreciation for where we are in our lives today, and thats what were enjoying the most, adds Rodriguez. In addition to their engagement, the two revealed their first fashion partnership as a couple. A-Rod and J-Lo are the newest brand ambassadors for Quay Australia, an eyewear brand. The couple also inspired a couples collection: Quay x JLO and Quay x ARod Everything that we do, we do together, Lopez said. He knows my dreams and I know his dreams, and together we feel like were stronger. The two continue to have busy schedules. J-Lo is currently getting ready to shoot her new movie Hustlers this month and is set to his the road. Despite the hectic schedule, the two of them explained that they're always supporting each other with their respective endeavors. "Were constantly supporting each other in our individual endeavors and thinking about all the things that we can build together, Lopez says. Adds Rodriguez: We are very grateful. Will Smith has been quite generous with updates on the upcoming Bad Boys 3 since dropping off behind the scenes clips and more recently a table read, where he promised there were no spoiler alerts. The latest look at the on-set happenings for the movie comes by way of The Blast with a photo that shows Will and Martin on a tandem motorcycle with a machine gun present. https://twitter.com/_/status/1108387708664197121 With all the teasers combined, we think it's safe to say that the third installment of the film will have a lot of jam-packed action that makes it a worthy follow-up to its predecessors. As for others to star in the movie, we know that Vanessa Hudgens, DJ Khaled, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton and Nicky Jam will be taking part in the film set to hit theatres January 2020. "The film will see Lawrences character Marcus Burnett working as a private eye after a falling out with Smiths Mike Lowery, who is going through a midlife crisis as a bachelor who finally wants to mature, all while dealing with a new a young and cocky partner who is loyal to Lowery but that loyalty is not reciprocated, and finds bond with Burnett when he returns to the fray," the synopsis reads. "Lowery and Burnett are brought together again when a lean, mean, skilled, Albanian mercenary with a vendetta puts a death order on Lowery and Burnett for the death of his brother. Now the two must work together once again to bring him down." Philadelphia has encountered a record-breaking drug bust since 449 kilograms of cocaine came into the city's port, found inside duffle bags that were stuffed into a shipping container, ABC News reports. The publication details how federal and local authorities got suspicious when they saw the bolts on the container were been tampered with. The 992 pounds of cocaine is equal to a street value of $18 million, the highest amount to be seized in the city. The container was traveling from Colombia to Europe. https://twitter.com/_/status/1108125147041595397 ABC details how authorities are paying closer attention to tampered goods since cocaine is making quite the comeback since the rise of crop production in Colombia. The country is the largest producer of cocaine while America is the largest consumer. "The United States remains deeply concerned about the surge in coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia since 2013, and its impact on each of our two countries," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously stated next to Colombian President Ivan Duque in the country. "We know we must do our part to reduce demand in our country and we'll work alongside you here as well." The company responsible for this weeks black plume in Houstons sky has been accused in a federal lawsuit of dumping hazardous waste in the water during Hurricane Harvey. Intercontinental Terminal Co.s former hazardous waste specialist in Deer Park sued the company in February 2018 for gender discrimination and then in December amended her compliant to include allegations that the company intentionally released more than a million gallons of hazardous waste into flood waters during Hurricane Harvey to save money. Releasing such waste would violate both state and federal law. In documents filed in the Southern District of Texas, ITC denied the allegations. ITC declined to comment on the pending litigation. ITC, a liquid storage terminal owned by the Japanese behemoth Mitsui & Co., has stored petrochemicals for companies including Chevron, Phillips 66 and Exxon Chemical Company. It has been battling a chemical fire in Deer Park that raged from Sunday to Wednesday morning, filling the Houston skies with black smoke. But the allegations of past environmental violations undertaken as cost-saving measures have not previously been reported. ITCs environmental compliance manager, Michael J. Gaudet, Jr., informed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that an unauthorized discharge of wastewater occurred from Aug. 27 through Aug. 29, 2017. But in the report, he does not specify what chemicals were involved, how much was released or whether the discharge was intentional. Instead, he points to Hurricane Harvey as an extenuating circumstance. Please note that during the timeframe involved, ITC was experiencing tremendous amounts of rainfall associated with Hurricane Harvey, and attempting to take appropriate actions to mitigate the impact of the event to the facility, Gaudet wrote. He did not say how the hurricane caused the discharge. And TCEQ said it could not confirm or deny whether an investigation had been opened as a result of the discharge. The former hazardous waste specialist, Mary Hart, paints a different story. Far from taking appropriate actions during the disaster, ITC took advantage, she alleges. Releasing hazardous waste into the flood waters during Harvey, as opposed to treating the waste, saved ITC millions, her complaint reads. Hart, who worked at the company from 1990 to 2017, says she was working in the environmental lab when Carl Holley, at the time a vice president of the company, demanded that the lead environmental operator release the hazardous material stored in ITCs tanks into the flood. She says that despite being told the release would be illegal, Holley insisted, losing his temper. Holley is named as a defendant in Harts lawsuit. He could not be reached for comment. A thin report Once the contaminated material began pouring into the flood waters, Hart says she took photographs and sent water samples to the lab documenting the violation, although copies of the lab reports were left at ITC when she quit. One photograph showed the base of what Hart identified as a hazardous waste tank. Beneath it, a murky brown cloud can be seen spreading through Harveys waters. After the incident, the companys senior vice president and a human resources representative allegedly conducted meetings with each of the employees in the environmental department. The lawsuit asserts that the company officials said the release had not been of raw sewage and had been inadvertent. Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit advocating for more effective enforcement of environmental laws, called ITCs notice of the unauthorized discharge during Hurricane Harvey thin. Whats odd in there is in the disclosure, they dont say, We had to do it because of the storm, he said. They say, We discharged it, and we are dealing with the storm. No doubt that is true, but you are supposed to connect the dots. Schaeffer said the disclosure to the TCEQ should have made a case for why the wastewater release prevented greater harm and disclosed the quantity and contents of the release. If the release was not unavoidable due to the storm, it could be a violation of the Clean Water Act, which could cost the company penalties by the gallon, Schaeffer said. Without knowing the contents of the release, it is impossible to estimate its impact on public health and the environment. Past problems On a separate occasion, hazardous material was spilled, Hart alleged. The lawsuit says that Holley overrode her recommendation to remove the contaminated soil and instead had employees dilute the hazardous material with water and vacuum the resulting mixture. Only after multiple days and the intervention of the environmental systems supervisor did ITC properly clean up the site, Hart said. In legal filings, ITC said it cleaned up the spill properly, but denied the remaining allegations. On November 17, 2017, Hart reported ITCs activities to Texas environmental regulators. The Houston Chronicle has requested a copy of the report and any resulting investigation, but has not received any information. ITC has a history of air and water violations. Federal documents show ITC has spilled toluene, butyl acrylates and methanol in La Porte and Pasadena since 2009, resulting in one injury. It also released cyanide into the San Jacinto River Basin in 2017, resulting in $18,300 in fines from the TCEQ. The Environmental Protection Agency shows ITC has released more than the allowable limits of sulfide and chlorine since 2015; since 2009, ITC has been fined more than $14,000 for air pollution violations. Harris County has sued ITC twice. The first time, in 2007, the county sued ITC for multiple violations of the Texas Clean Air Act, Texas Clean Water Act and Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act. Two years after ITC settled for $51,750, Harris County sued again, saying ITC had not upheld its end of the agreement when more than 8,000 pounds of toluene were released into the ground, water and air. The company ended up paying $32,500 in civil penalties. Includes reporting by Matt Dempsey rebecca.schuetz@chron.com; twitter.com/raschuetz Get ready to toast with your pup the next time you dine out. The Texas senate Tuesday approved a bill that would allow restaurant owners to welcome patrons' dogs at their outdoor dining areas. Republican Sen. Kelly Hancock authored Senate Bill 476, which is reportedly based on a 2006 Austin ordinance that granted that city's restaurateurs the same privilege. SB 476 includes certain guidelines: Only restaurants where food is not prepared on the patio can file for this permit. Canines are welcome only at patios, and only if they do not have to enter through a restaurant interior in order to access the outside area. Lastly, dogs must also remain leashed the entire time they're on the restaurant's premises. LIFESTYLE: High-rises highlight pet-friendly living In Houston, a similar order was passed in September 2011: Paws on Patios. Late Houston Planning Director, Patrick Walsh, in 2010 convinced the city council to adjust its health codes for the Paws on Patios grassroots effort. PoP made it legal for food-service establishments to become dog-friendly by obtaining city permits for a one-time fee of $110 per place. That initiative put Houston on par with other Texas cities that already had a similar permit program in place. Austin led the way in 2006, Dallas in 2007 and San Antonio in 2010. For some dog lovers, the move is a long time coming, but not everyone is pleased with the bill's approval. Some critics say this is another instance of the state infringing on decisions that should be made at the local level, since this state measure would overturn some city regulations. In fact, the lone "no" vote when this legislation was sent to the House comes courtesy of Republican Sen. Kel Seliger, who said states should not have the authority to instruct cities when it comes to commerce. What do you think of the bill's approval? NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. European regulators on Wednesday slapped Google with a roughly $1.7 billion fine on charges that its advertising practices violated local antitrust laws, marking the third time in as many years that the region's watchdogs have penalized the U.S. tech giant for harming competition and consumers. Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's top competition commissioner, announced the punishment at a news conference, accusing Google of engaging in "illegal practices" in a bid to "cement its dominant market position" in the search and advertising markets. The new penalty adds to Google's costly headaches in Europe, where Vestager now has fined the tech giant more than $9 billion in total for a series of antitrust violations. Her actions stand in stark contrast to the United States, where regulators - facing a flood of complaints that big tech companies have become too big and powerful - have not brought a single antitrust case against Google or any of its peers in recent years, reflecting a widening transatlantic schism over Silicon Valley and its business practices. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In 2018, Vestager took aim at the company's Android smartphone operating system, claiming that Google pressured mobile device-makers to pre-install the tech giant's apps. A year before that, Vestager punished Google for giving its shopping-comparison service a better placement in search results over rivals' offerings. In both cases, Google has started tweaking its business practices in Europe to comply with the law while appealing the EU's decisions in court. The company's changes include a new effort, detailed Tuesday, to help owners of Android smartphones find and use competing search and web-browsing services. But the update only applies to Europe, Google said in a blog post, without elaborating if it would alter some of mobile practices in the United States. Vestager's latest punishment targets Google's relationships with third-party websites, from large retailers to small gossip blogs. Sites that participated in Google's "AdSense for Search" program could take advantage of Google's search tools on their web pages, and users who searched those sites would see results alongside ads served up by Google. But Google prohibited those third-party sites from using rival ad services, one of many restrictions on AdSense customers that led the European Commission to conclude in an initial complaint filed in 2016 that Google had acted anti-competitively. EU officials did acknowledge at the time that Google had changed its AdSense contracts to allow for "more freedom to display competing search ads." The EU's fine against Google is only its latest broadside against the tech industry. Vestager previously has acknowledged an ongoing antitrust investigation against Amazon, and earlier this month, she said the probe is in a "quite advanced" stage. Music-streaming site Spotify, meanwhile, has urged European regulators to take similar aim at Apple, alleging last week that the iPhone giant has an "unfair advantage" because of the subscription-related fees it charges certain app makers. And individual European countries - emboldened with tough online privacy laws that took effect last year - also have set their sights on Silicon Valley. A key regulatory agency in Ireland recently confirmed that it has opened 10 probes into Facebook and its data-collection practices. Google still could face additional penalties in the EU, where Vestager - who has emerged as one of Silicon Valley's toughest regulators - is set to finish her term as competition commissioner at the end of October. Regulators recently have started scrutinizing Google's handling of local search results, following a complaint brought by Yelp last year. A majority of poor children in Texas live in families where more than half of the household income goes to housing, straining budgets and creating a ripple effect that ultimately damages their health, a new national study found. This often unseen poverty has far-reaching and interconnected consequences as families become unable to buy nutritious food, seek medical care, fill prescriptions or secure reliable transportation. It also can determine where and how often children go to school, which can jeopardize future achievement, researchers and public health experts said. Where we live matters to our health, said Joe Hinton, a researcher with the 2019 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, an annual project that looks at health and demographic indicators at the county level across the United States. All people dont have the same opportunities for a long and healthy life. RELATED: New $10M effort to improve health by improving neighborhoods In Harris County, for instance, 23 percent of the countys children live in poverty more than triple the rate of Denton County, which has one of the best overall health rankings in the state, the study shows. The overall child poverty rate in Texas is 21 percent. The study also found that one in five households in Harris County face severe housing problems, which could include high costs, overcrowding or even a lack of working plumbing or functional kitchen. Compare that to nearby Fort Bend County, which reported that 14 percent of households experienced such housing issues. There is a deep divide across Texas when it comes to race and housing. Overall, 20 percent of black households face severe housing problems, twice the rate of white households in the state. RELATED: Health care takes place beyond the doctors office [Opinion] While troubling, the findings do not surprise Elena Marks, chief executive of Houstons Episcopal Health Foundation, who has long seen a connection between living conditions and health. It is a mistake, she said, to think of a communitys health solely in terms of traditional medical care. In fact, emerging evidence shows that social factors, including housing, are often better determinants. Medical care is only about 20 percent of overall health, she said. Yet it carries an outsize 95 percent share of the nations $3.5 trillion spent annually on health resources. Marks and other public health experts would like to see some redeployment of those funds to address a system they see as is set up to pay doctors and hospitals for care but not address root causes. She pointed to a case where a young boy in Houston was repeatedly landing in the emergency room for severe asthma, only to return home to the very place that was triggering his condition. There is nothing the healthcare system can do if the home is the issue, she said. In that situation, Episcopal Health Foundation funded a project that ripped out the aging carpet, replaced the mattress, and removed mold in air vents and bathroom. The boys health dramatically improved all for less the price of a single emergency room visit. Similarly, Memorial Hermann Health System now asks patients in its emergency rooms, clinics and in-patient care if they ran out of food the previous month, or feared they might. Like housing, food insecurity can be a critical determinant of overall health. If Im not sure where Im going to sleep tonight, or whether Im going to eat, Im not going to worry about my diabetes. We have to bring all of those things together, said Carol Paret, chief community health officer for Memorial Hermann. Youre never going to cure this with just a prescription pad. RELATED: To be better doctors students learn what it is to be poor The national study, released Tuesday, was the result of a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It examined a wide range of health indicators across the country at the county level, including life expectancy, birth weight, number of days with poor physical or mental health, level of education, sleep deprivation, access to healthy food, firearm fatalities and even length of commute. It also looked at the rate of uninsured. Texas leads the nation in the number and rate of uninsured. According to the studys ranking, the healthiest county in Texas is Hartley, followed by Denton, Williamson, Collin, and Fort Bend counties. The least healthy county, although not all counties reported, is San Augustine followed by Duval, Morris, Hall and Marion counties. Harris County is ranked 53rd among the 254 Texas counties. Montgomery is 11th; Bexar 121st. Sheri Johnson, acting director of County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, said in a statement that it was time for the nation to tackle the disparities. It is time to do the difficult work of coming together to undo policies and practices that create barriers to opportunity, she said. Farmers complain that consumers think their food comes from the back of the grocery store; refiners complain people think chemicals spontaneously flow up from the ground. The enormous black plume dominating the Houston skyline these past few days is a stark reminder that the glue, gasoline, nail polish, pharmaceuticals, plastics and dozens of other products we rely upon are derived from dangerous chemical processes. And those processes take place along the Houston Ship Channel. Plant employees describe their job as working inside a bomb. These facilities take crude oil, natural gas and other flammable materials and apply heat to separate and distill them. They add other chemicals and catalyze the building blocks of modern life to create new substances, liquids and gases. Every six weeks something goes wrong, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation. Folks living in Greater Houston end up breathing a little bit of something that doctors say is harmful. This past weekend, there were two fires at facilities that make gasoline. On HoustonChronicle.com: Oil companies need a nudge, or more, to stop flaring The first came at Exxon Mobil's Baytown refinery on Saturday and firefighters quickly extinguished it. As is typically the case, the fire injured no one and air quality remained within established parameters. Except for a few videos of a little black smoke posted to social media, most people would never have known a fire occurred at all. Then came the fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park on Sunday. Again, no one was injured, and officials say the pollution released does not exceed public health limits. But putting this fire out was more difficult, and days later the smoke is still hovering over Houston like something from an alien invasion movie. "Right now, what we're seeing is no elevated levels (of pollutants) because the plume is high enough that it's not affecting us here close to the ground," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Monday. What goes up, though, must come down. These black particulates will disperse at high altitudes and then settle across areas west of Houston in tiny quantities. The smoke reached Austin on Tuesday afternoon. Most gasoline and petrochemical consumers are shrugging their shoulders. They made a bargain with the oil and gas industry for affordable and plentiful liquid fuel for their two-ton motor vehicles. You agreed to accept the occasional petrochemical upset that damages the environment and endangers your neighbors. FOLLOW THE MOLECULE: How the ethane molecule changed the Gulf Coast and the world Pretending that you are not as responsible as the plants management is delusional. You believed the engineers who promised fool-proof systems while knowing the story of the Titanic. You believed the regulators who claim they are keeping watch over these facilities, even though the ITC plant has been out of compliance with the federal Clean Water Act for nine of the last 12 quarters, according to Environmental Protection Agency data. And you might even believe ITC spokesperson Alice Richardson when she said: We believe that our environment is what we're handing down to our children, even though the companys track record says otherwise. The truth is that a majority of Texas voters elected state officials who make sure the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality is a lapdog to the industry. The American people elected a president who is repealing safety regulations and systematically gutting federal agencies entrusted to make sure plants and refineries are safe. They do this because most consumers want cheap fuel prices so they can commute alone for an hour a day in an oversized, overpowered and environmentally destructive truck or SUV. On HoustonChronicle.com: Natural gas has climate change-fighting qualities That is the essence of the social contract with the oil and gas industry. Give me a cheap product, even if it means a black cloud hangs over Houston on occasion. Environmentalists and neighborhood activists will undoubtedly excoriate the executives and workers at Intercontinental Terminals Company for failing to prevent this fire. My colleagues will spend hundreds of hours investigating what happened and why. We will earnestly offer ways to reduce the risk of another fire. None of it will matter, though, if voters and consumers do not care, and politicians do not demand better. The next time you buy paint, thinner or any chemical at the big box store, remember the contents under the child-proof lid passed through a petrochemical plant. The next time you fill up the gas tank, think about the workers inside the bomb refining your fuel. Lastly, ask yourself if you are satisfied with the current social contract. Might you be willing to pay a few pennies more for fewer accidents? Do you want to negotiate a new deal? Perhaps a green one? Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy. The piece: Crescent Theater The artist: Rachel Phillips Where: In her show Ghost Light Theaters at Catherine Couturier Gallery, 2635 Colquitt, through March 30 Why: Somewhere in a storage bin of old family photographs I have a folding frame made of matboard akin to the ones Rachel Phillips has created. My grandmothers frame is not quite as elaborate as Crescent Theater; laser-cutting did not exist in her day. Phillips captures the spirit of the Art Deco age, however, and her new series of tabletop lantern-like pieces, which she calls ghost light theaters, offers a gentle respite from the digital multi-media noise that surrounds us in the 21st century. These miniatures pay homage to silent film houses, where a ghost light a single bulb was often left on when a space was empty, supposedly to allow resident ghosts to perform onstage. Each frame comes with a series of interchangeable slides and a hidden fixture that gives it a backlit glow at night. Printed on handmade Japanese paper, the slides look like relics themselves; artful, layerings of snapshots and paper silhouettes that suggest the fleeting nature of time. Phillips, who lives in Californias Bay Area, has also written intertitle slides that suggest a narrative for each series. Those get a little too Hallmark card-y; better to leave interpretive options open. But its an evocative concept. The show also includes more conventionally-framed pieces in which the theaters appear simply as artworks. molly.glentzer@chron.com It may be from a galaxy far, far away, but John Williams original Star Wars score was hardly created in a vacuum. Since saddled with the somewhat cumbersome title Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, George Lucass 1977 swashbuckling sci-fi fantasy forever changed the way movies are made and marketed. But the phenomenons origins were rather humble. According to an onstage interview Lucas gave during the 2017 Star Wars Celebration, he simply wanted to create some sort of space-opera thing. This vague idea he wound up selling to an executive at 20th Century Fox who had fallen in love with Lucass American Graffiti. Much the same way Lucass story injects mythological overtones and allusions to the Bible to John Fords The Searchers and The Wizard of Oz, Williams already a 20-year veteran Hollywood composer whom Lucass friend Steven Spielberg had recommended on the strength of his Oscar-winning Jaws music seeded his score with recurring leitmotifs, a technique perfected in the operas of Richard Wagner. In Star Wars, which the Houston Symphony will accompany live this weekend including matinee/evening doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday the best-known leitmotif is probably The Force Theme. Sometimes known as Binary Sunset, this yearning, melancholy melody appears briefly as Princess Leia records her holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi in the films prologue and reappears center stage while Luke weighs leaving Tatooine. Hes pondering the desert planets twin suns; hence, the alternate title. Speaking at an American Film Institute tribute to Lucas in 2005, Williams said, I dont think any composer has been so lucky in the history of opera or theater, or certainly in film, to have been given the opportunity to compose music and create melodic identification for such a glossary of unforgettable characters and situations. Matinee music By the mid-70s, sci-fi soundtracks were increasingly dominated by eerie electronic music of the sort created by John Carpenter in Dark Star or Jerry Goldsmith in Logans Run. But Lucas wanted Star Wars to play like the high-adventure spacefaring serials Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers he had loved growing up, and told Williams as much. John Williams was quoted saying he just thought it would be a Saturday-afternoon matinee thriller and youd just let it go, the Houston Symphonys chief audio engineer, Brad Sayles reasons. But I really think it was he and George Lucass decision to go full-blown orchestral for the first time in a long time that really gave (the film) its character. Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert with the Houston Symphony When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana Details: $29-$175; 713-224-7575; houstonsymphony.org See More Collapse The composer who was synonymous with adventure at the height of such serials popularity was Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the Austrian native whose rousing music made a perfect match for Errol Flynns onscreen exploits in The Sea Hawk and The Adventures of Robin Hood. But Korngold also scored his share of dramas, such as 1942s Kings Row, a best-picture nominee now mostly remembered for co-starring future President Ronald Reagan. The blooming brass flourishes of Korngolds main-title music echo clearly in Williams opening Star Wars theme. If you listen to it, youll be like, Oh, I get the inspiration for the main theme now thats like at the beginning of Star Wars, says Sayles, who also hosted the Houston Public Media program Music From the Movies from 2011 to 2015. Indeed, watching A New Hope with a carefully trained ear can easily turn into a game of spot the composer. C-3PO and R2-D2s trek across the desert as restless woodwinds erupt in the background and the strings create a miragelike effect feels twinned with Igor Stravinskys Rite of Spring. Luke and his fellow pilots attack the Death Star accompanied by a barrage of staccato chords and percussion a pattern that, Sayles notes, bears a striking similarity to Gustav Holsts Mars, Bringer of War. Everybody has their idea of which big, great orchestral composer they think (Williams score) sounds most like, offers Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, whose orchestra will perform Thursday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. I wouldnt say derivative, I would say those are the influences that he takes into his writing for the full orchestra. I think whats most extraordinary about John, he adds, is that combined with a real compositional voice, he also has an amazing chameleonlike sort of way of inhabiting the (world) hes trying to create. Benny Goodman in space? A onetime member of Henry Mancinis band who played piano on the famous Peter Gunn theme, Williams indulges his jazz background to the hilt when Luke and the droids meet Han Solo and Chewbacca in a shady Mos Eisley cantina. Lucas reportedly told Williams to imagine alien musicians discovering an old Benny Goodman record and going to town. The score, and Williams main-title theme in particular, managed to align with 1977s other pop-culture craze. Meco, a producer and erstwhile jazz musician who had co-produced Gloria Gaynors 1974 hit Never Can Say Goodbye, cashed in with an album called Music Inspired by Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk. At this remove, its amusing to hear Williams themes blend with the prototypical rubber-band bass and four-on-the-floor drums of disco plus blaster noises and stray creature grunts. Meco mashed Williams main-title theme and Cantina Band into a single that quickly topped Billboards Hot 100. Once the movie started to catch fire, Polydor rushed Williams original theme into stores with Cantina Band as the B-side; it reached the Top 10. The sinister music Williams created to accompany the scenes featuring Darth Vader and his Imperial minions, which he would further refine into Wagnerian Empire Strikes Back chestnuts including Imperial March and Asteroid Field, carries a strong whiff of the other 1977 movie he scored: Black Sunday, John Frankenheimers thriller about a terrorist group that attempts to attack the Super Bowl with a Goodyear blimp. Reflecting on Black Sunday now, Sayles notes, all (I) can hear in that film is the Stormtroopers running down the corridors of the Death Star. Chris Gray is a Houston-based writer. A noted author pointed out recent tumultuous occurrences both near and far, which at least momentarily diverted my thoughts from the inky smear across the Houston sky. Like plenty of others, my mind upon hearing about the fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. plant drifted to "White Noise," the novel by Don DeLillo that was published in 1985. The middle section of his lauded novel is titled "The Airborne Toxic Event," referencing an unnatural disaster at a train yard. True to DeLillo's authorial voice, some semantic debate occurs early in the chapter to comic effect: "That was the Stovers. They spoke directly with the weather center outside Glassboro. They're not calling it a feathery plume anymore." "What are they calling it?" "A black billowing cloud." "That's a little more accurate, which means they're coming to grips with the thing. Good." DeLillo's Airborne Toxic Event is a fulcrum of sorts in "White Noise." It prompts some narrative action, but serves more to suss out preexisting anxieties and fears: a cloud that bears clarity, particularly in protagonist Jack Gladney, a Hitler Studies professor at a fictional university. In "White Noise" DeLillo also picks at other themes: consumerism, addiction, and contrasts between the real and the synthetic. In tone and character development, the novel is nothing at all like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," but two similarities caught my attention: both put their protagonists through a disaster McCarthy's vague but possibly natural, DeLillo's wholly unnatural. And both take a grim view of the future, while flinching ever so slightly at the end. For McCarthy, a wasteland beetle offers some sign of natural hope at story's end, taking flight from a smokeless tobacco tin. For DeLillo, a child pilots his tricycle across a freeway. In "White Noise" DeLillo coined an enduring phrase: "American magic and dread." Reading the novel again this week, I was struck at how resistant it is to the nicks and scratches of time, and not just because I drove home two consecutive days beneath our own century airborne toxic event. And not just because a plane fell from the sky last week with a more horrifying end than the aircraft that goes down in "White Noise." To label it prophetic would be lazy. But its frank presentation of 20th century fears and anxieties is such that they're plenty applicable to the 21st, with a feathery plume err, a black billowing cloud of a metaphor for those conflicts, both internal and external. I reached out to DeLillo's publisher not expecting to get a response. Late last year DeLillo, 82, talked to The Guardian, which likely fills his quota of media time for several years. He's not a recluse, but he does largely let his fiction speak for itself. To my surprise, a response came a few hours later by email. "There are cataclysmic events taking place everywhere Houston to Mozambique, where there is a cyclone in progress, and then back to the Midwest at flood tide," he wrote. "Maybe the earth is entering a biblical phase." The broad global glance with pinpointed references, the vague biblical reference: The comment feels of a kind with DeLillo's work. He grew up Catholic, but nearly a decade ago said in an interview religion wasn't something with which he worked. "The Latin mass had an odd glamour all that mystery and tradition," he said. "Religion has not been a major element in my work, and for some years now I think the true American religion has been 'the American People.'" I can't speak of DeLillo's intent, but his emailed comment reminded me of Yeats' "The Second Coming," an allegorical poem teeming with biblical imagery penned shortly after the end of World War I. Both DeLillo's comment and Yeats' poem speak to a loosening of chaotic forces, both natural and unnatural. Not Hell so much as hell, less a place than a metaphor, like a black cloud. The Deer Park chemical fire appears to have been squelched last night after extending spring break with a three-day rager like an unsupervised teen. The absence of any information -- definitive answers about its effects, short- and long-term -- have been intriguing and maddening. A small sample of my assorted digitally-connected "friends" suggests that the fire's trail of smoke has exacerbated anxiety among the anxious, while those inclined toward business-as-usual see no cause for alarm. Because the chemicals in the fire include naphtha and xylene -- both of which are used in gasoline -- we're all complicit to a degree. But justifying the cost of doing business is a nastier cloud than seeking to do business better. And, as DeLillo pointed out, our airborne toxic event is just one part of a larger, widening gyre. Certainly its effects aren't as immediately catastrophic as those occurring in Nebraska or Mozambique. But there is a wild card quality to it: The repercussions, if any, may not be revealed soon. Another poem came to mind thinking about our cloud, Louis Jenkins' "Earl," which I heard on a Writer's Almanac more than a decade ago. Jenkins describes a practice in Sitka, in which the locals name every seal Earl, a defense mechanism because each seal stands a chance of becoming an orca's supper. "Well, how else are you to live except by denial," Jenkins writes. I highly recommend reading the entirety of his wonderful poem here. The killer whale and the seal function in a more natural order, I suppose, than an airborne toxic event. Still, both cloud and orca serve as effective and ominous metaphors. So we wait. And everything will be fine, or not. You know poetry, right? Its that thing that people in cultured clubs shout at you over a jazz saxophonist or read in classes where the books dont have dragons on the front. Youre not wrong, but there is a lot more than that, something that the new REELpoetry festival is keen to highlight. The format is cinepoetry, a film-centric expression of the medium invented by celebrated surrealist Man Ray in the 1920s. The term encompasses all the intersections of poetry and film, from biopics and concert films to more experimental expressions of poetry through a camera lens as Ray did. REELpoetry is international in scope and Houstons first poetry-film festival. It features artists from Austria, Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Scotland, Taiwan and Ukraine as well homegrown poets eager to show off what the city can do. The festival is under the umbrella of Public Poetry, which for more than seven years has been working diligently to expand the presence of verse in H-Town with monthly readings, workshops, open mics and even bringing U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinksy to town to establish a Favorite Poem Project. Film is a great way to be introduced to poetry because of the dimension it adds to it, says Public Poetry director and REELpoetry executive director Fran Sanders. Its a great way to learn about a poets lifes work or the work of people who are long dead. Thats a very unique thing film can accomplish. For poets, its another way to think about their work, what it can do and how people can engage in it. REELpoetry When: Friday-Sunday at various venues Details: $10-$30; reelpoetryhoustontx.com for full schedule See More Collapse Poetry as an art form is not well understood by the general public, Sanders adds. Its funny to me that people will say, I dont like poetry based on one experience. They would never say that about music based on one song. I hope this will be another song for people. A collection of short films opens the festival Friday at Cafe Brasil and Saturday at University of Houston-Downtown, all under five minutes and many featuring collaborations among Houstonians of multiple disciplines. Margo Stutts Toombs, known for what she jokingly calls her old lady raps, teamed up with poet Louisa Smith and artist Cookie Wells for a piece called Body Language. Wells and Smith played off each other in mutual inspiration as Toombs filmed and a dancer performed interpretations of the work, including themes of water shot during rainstorms at Evelyns Park. When youre creating something, it shows how people can make something greater than they do individually, Toombs says. The screenings will include live performances by some of the poets narrating the works. Others are more experimental, including a silent piece that uses images in metered cadence to express the poem. Think of it like speed dating for visual poetry. If you dont like it, it will be gone in a minute or two, Sanders jokes. Other screenings are more traditional films, including Robert Franks This Song for Jack, celebrating the work of Jack Kerouac through readings, and the Beat-poetry short film Pull My Daisy. The centerpiece, though, is BadddDDD Sonia Sanchez, a stirring biopic of the revolutionary poet who helped spearhead the Black Arts Movement. The movie is an exhilarating celebration of her life and words as she looks back on her long career. Plans to have Sanchez present at REELpoetry were unfortunately scuttled because of her health. Instead, the film will be accompanied with a talk by Houston poet Ayokunle Falomo. Modest in scope, REELpoetry is nonetheless a powerful entry into the citys ever-expanding arts scene. Poetry has long thrived in Houston, and the festival adds a dimension that allows audiences to appreciate the medium. Its yet another indication for the very strong arts scenes we have in Houston, REELpoetry public relations director Billie Duncan says. Its also wonderful because so much of it is collaborative. Filmmakers, artists, dancers all coming together to make these startling pieces of art. Jef Rouner is a Houston-based writer. The further I find myself from the news industry, the more I have noticed the basic Houston news tropes. No, I am not talking about tragic car accidents, smoke from Deer Park choking our skies, senseless shootings or even another big rig hitting an overpass and making you late to the office. I am talking about the same set of stories that get repeated over and over again to great effect, i.e., clicks. Sometimes all it takes is a few keywords to stop someones thumb from scrolling past. Its every outlet in town that does this. Alleged drunk driver with Houston Rockets face tattoo falls asleep in Whataburger drive-thru Well, I am sold. Where do I click? J.J. Watt posts photo on Instagram bathing in melted Blue Bell Ice Cream If it wasnt Cookies n Cream I will be livid. Viral video shows two women fighting each other over the last Coke Icee at Katy Buc-ees How has this not happened yet? Those are actually a few fake headlines generated by the Craig Hlavaty Houston News Headline Generator, all rights reserved. Try as Houston might to be known as a world-class city for the arts, food and culture, we still love a good story about a bunch of our fellow Houstonians getting into a shoving match outside a Wal-Mart in the suburbs over a parking spot. People love clicking on stories about another so-called new Astroworld, a new Blue Bell Ice Cream flavor or the Whataburger-versus-In-N-Out Burger Civil War, which, if we are not careful, might just one day turn bloody. The straight dope here is that were giving these peeps free advertising. Every time Whataburger releases a Triple Bacon Ranch Cheese Explosion and we write about it or do a live report, were doing an ad agencys work. Meanwhile, sometimes the news industry gets to highlight places such as Billys Donuts that actually do need help. The small shop in Missouri City recently went viral for a tweet sent out by the son of the owner that attracted scores of people who wouldnt know about it were it not for some big-hearted Houstonians looking to patronize a small business just starting out. These are the kind of places that need help. Places without a dedicated ad agency or social-media team. Its fun to be the bearer of great, nostalgic and sometimes fattening good news. We live in a scary world these days, and its only made scarier by the constant chaotic mortar fire that is the current news cycle. Who wouldnt rather read a few words about taco trucks or kids meeting their heroes than distressing firefighter layoffs and shady cop shenanigans? I am not here to decide what is or isnt news. The important thing is to remember to eat your veggies or, in this case, follow trusted news sources. The Basic Houston News Stories I See on a Weekly Basis 1. Anything related to Whataburger Whataburger exists, click to learn more was a common joke I had among friends in the business. A new burger, a new location or some old man celebrating his 90th birthday there is bound to attract some eyes. A crime committed at or near a Whataburger location is always catnip for readers, too. Arent you more likely to read about a sad situation at or near a Whataburger than anywhere else? Dont you want to know what the suspect or suspects ordered? Did they really turn down Whatasizing their fries? If its orange and white it leads the site. 2. You can buy something with Selenas face on it It seems once a month there is something new to buy or line up to buy with the late Selena Quintanillas face or name on it. Ive seen soda cups, shopping bags and makeup collections sell out within minutes. 3. Someone got something stolen from them and they want it back and they are sad These are particularly vexing because for every story about some poor disabled kid getting his or her wheelchair stolen out of the family van, there is another story about a guy misplacing his Houston Astros tickets or a lucky hat going missing. 4. Transplant reporter experiences Houston cultural touchstone for the first time The Astrodome, craft beer, cowboy boots, Tex-Mex, traffic, swangas, hip-hop, street art, potholes, the Heights, Montrose, Galveston. Did I miss anything? 5. Traffic is horrible and will probably just get worse Oh, look, someone calculated how much time we spend in traffic each day, as if we needed a reminder that the gas, brake, honk routine is slowly robbing us of our time here on Earth with our loved ones. The comments below these stories almost always blame Newstonians (Houstorian speak for transplants) or low-intellect drivers. Hint: Almost always its the people complaining about bad drivers who are, in fact, the worst drivers. 6. Heres a fight in a public place to gawk at Now dont get me wrong, seeing two people fighting in a viral video during the rodeo can be mighty entertaining, especially if it is shot horizontally and not vertically, but does it really need to be a news story? It always helps online traffic if said fight occurred at a concert by a big-name performer. People have always been ugly; now we just found a better way to profit from it. 7. A new, vaguely worded study is here to make you second-guess all that you hold dear I never quite understood or cared how maps of the favorite candies, firearms or sexual positions in each state were tabulated, but the return on investment was always ideal. Its always good enough to start a conversation. 8. Houston stress levels are too high: More at 10! The solution? Houstons favorite comfort-food places! Where you can go in Houston to relax! Heres how Houstonians chilled out in the 60s! If you need a vague study to tell you that you are stressed 9. Houston is somehow not at the top of this shameful list we found Remember those heady days when Houston was named the fattest city in the land and we all grimaced? I miss those days when we topped horrid lists like that. These days its all positive, like, Houston is a great place to move, Houston is secretly cool lol or, There is only a 30 percent chance your car windows will be broken after dark in downtown Houston. 10. Only in Houston! This is usually pertaining to something occurring near the BE SOMEONE sign (an evergreen gimme), a car having ostentatious swangas, something related to tacos or a local man creating a 289-pound sculpture of J.J. Watt out of brisket fat. I made the last one up, but give it some time. 11. Old Houston stuff that will make you smile and click a lot If writing about Houston nostalgia was a crime, I would be on death row in Huntsville. Nothing makes some Houstonians happier than seeing old photos of stuff they barely remember from their adolescence. You know that little reflex test that doctors do with the rubber mallet to make your knees work? Sort of like that but with video of the Greezed Lightnin in action. The thirst for nostalgia only grows stronger when for some our present is only getting worse. While we are here, lets address the use of the word iconic. Is the sex shop next to the Galleria really iconic? Is the original Frenchys Chicken location really in league with the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and the Kremlin? We love using iconic when something less regal would suffice. 12. Damn, (Houston) nature, you scary A guy found an alligator in his garage! Someones Ring home-security camera captured an animal vaguely looking like a coyote walking past their home in The Woodlands. What if there was a snake in your toilet and you sat down and it bit you? Remember its their world, too, and we are sharing it with them. 13. Houstons Reddit board uncovered something that the rest of us didnt TL;DR (internet speak for too long; didnt read) 14. J.J. Watt did ... something There is no denying he is Houstons reigning Superman and he will one day be elected prime minister of the United Regions of the Texas in 2045 after World War IV shakes out, but when J.J. tweets about breakfast cereal, does it call for the breaking news banner? 15. Heres something that you cant afford When you are low on dough or struggling to make ends meet like many of us, there is nothing quite as nice as reading about things you could never afford, be it a presidential suite at a hotel or a steak that costs as much as your mortgage payment. Its the new window shopping. Craig Hlavaty is a Houston-based writer. WASHINGTON - In refusing to release his tax returns, President Donald Trump bucked decades of tradition and set off a Democrat hunt to obtain them. Now several statehouses are looking at making their release a condition of the 2020 presidential election: Show us your tax returns, or you can't be on the ballot. Eighteen states have considered legislation this year that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to post their tax returns to appear on the ballot during a primary or general election, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Proponents of the bills, such as the one passed by the Washington state Senate this week, say they are aimed at increasing transparency and returning to the "norm" of candidates releasing their financial records. But Democratic lawmakers behind the some of the legislation have admitted they are also very much about Trump, which raises legal and political questions about how far states can - or should - go in regulating who appears on their ballot, especially in a hyper partisan climate. Trump has long insisted that he won't release his returns because they are under audit, though that would not preclude him from doing so. The documents have become something of a liberal white whale, and Democrats at federal level have been pursuing laws or legal maneuvers aimed at obtaining them. In addition to Washington, several other states, including California, Hawaii and New Jersey are considering similar bills. Many, though not all, of the legislatures considering the bills are controlled by Democrats, but even in Republican-controlled states, Democrats have put forth such legislation. Measures failed earlier this year in Mississippi, New Mexico and New Hampshire. "It is so obvious with this president that had voters known some of what seem to be his business interests, he may not have been elected president," New Jersey Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill approved by the state senate last month, told the Courier-Post. Similar attempts have been made by states since Trump was elected. In 2017, Dan Diorio, policy specialist in NCSL, noted that at least 25 state legislatures put forward such bills. "Nearly every bill has been introduced by Democrats, in reaction to President Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns as per the custom of previous presidential candidates," he wrote of the 2017 legislation. While Democrats appear to be driving these bills, Dan Weiner, a senior counsel for the Brennan Center's democracy program, told The Post that there was bipartisan support more generally for increasing transparency around presidential candidates' finances. "It is always true in American politics that these ideas are championed by perhaps the side that has more of political grievance at that particular moment," said Weiner. "That doesn't mean it's not a good idea." However, Weiner said it would be more helpful for a uniform federal law that dictates disclosures, rather than having individual states pass laws with different or conflicting requirements of candidates. And not all politicians think this kind of legislation is a good idea. In 2017, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie vetoed one bill that made it to his desk, calling it "politics at its worst." Former California governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, did the same when California's legislature passed similar measure. "First, it may not be constitutional," Brown wrote in his decision. "Second, it sets a 'slippery slope' precedent. Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards? And will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?" In 2019, both states have new governors, and their legislatures are once again considering bills that will force candidates to release tax returns if they want to appear on a ballot. States have the right to set requirements for candidates to appear their ballot, such as obtaining a certain number of signatures or abiding by campaign finance rules. But whether they can demand tax returns from a presidential candidate remains legally untested. Richard L. Hasen, an election-law expert, considered the legality and prudence of these measures in Politico Magazine. While Hasen argues that cases for and against constitutionality could be made, Democrats might be opening a "Pandora's box" by pursuing it. "Will solidly Republican states allow electors to vote only for Republican candidates for president?" he wrote. "If the tax gambit is okay, then such a law might also be constitutional. Or perhaps the GOP would retaliate with laws aimed at voter suppression or other such measures that target typically Democratic constituencies." Plus, Hasen writes, "no doubt as soon as they are enacted, such laws would be challenged in court. Trump would already have standing to challenge, as he declared his candidacy for reelection in 2020 on the day he was inaugurated. There's plenty of time for courts, even the Supreme Court, to work out the issue before 2020 ballots would have to be printed in any state." Demanding tax returns is not the only gambit that states have pursued to remedy perceived flaws in the democratic process. In recent years, some states have voted to restore voting rights to certain formerly incarcerated individuals or establish independent commissions to draw congressional districts in an attempt to crack down on gerrymandering. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a Democratic presidential candidate, called for the abolition of the electoral college this week, she put a spotlight on several states' efforts to reform that system. Twelve states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, in which states pledge to give their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote. However, not enough states have signed on for it to have an impact on the 2020 presidential election. "I think one of the things we're seeing is the resurgence in the general public's interest in democracy reform," said Rudy Mehrbani, a colleague of Weiner's at the Brennan Center for Justice. "I think this goes hand in hand with other efforts around empowering voters, increasing access to the ballot, and making sure that democracy is more responsive to constituents generally." Spring is upon us; perhaps that explains why some residents of southeast Texas have been feeling dizzy this week. Its also possible, however, that Texans are feeling dizzy as a result of an as-yet ongoing chemical fire at an Intercontinental Terminals Co. facility in the small city of Deer Park in southeast Harris County. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Monday said that those of us here on the ground have no need to worry about health impacts as a result of the blaze. Harris County officials, similarly, have offered reassuring reminders that the plume of black smoke hanging over Houston is hundreds of feet above us, high up in the sky. And Deer Park residents have been mostly stoic in the face of the blaze, which began Sunday. Sure, Texans who live in the immediate vicinity of the facility had to shelter in place for a while that afternoon and schools in Deer Park and La Porte ISDs were closed Monday. But as one such woman told the Houston Chronicle, living in a hub of Americas petrochemical industry is probably like living along a fault line certain communities are just prone to chemical fires, as others are prone to earthquakes. On HoustonChronicle.com: To Deer Park residents, fire a reminder of 'like living on a fault line' Theres something to that. The Deer Park fire wasnt the only industrial fire of note in the Houston area this weekend. There was a fire at ExxonMobils Baytown refinery Saturday afternoon, but that one was quickly contained. Thus far, there have been no explosions at the Deer Park facility; thats good news. But the chemicals burning at the Deer Park facility obviously arent good for our regional air quality. And the various officials whove been reassuring us that theres nothing to worry about might be right about that but if so, they got lucky. Officials initially expected that the fire would be over by Wednesday. At a news conference Tuesday morning, Harris County Fire Marshall Laurie Christensen revised that prediction, in light of a snafu the previous evening. Of the 15 chemical tanks at the Deer Park facility each of which can hold 80,000 barrels of chemicals six were on fire late Monday when firefighters confronted a drop in water pressure, courtesy of two malfunctioning fireboat pumps. By the time that issue was resolved six hours later, two additional chemical tanks had caught fire. By Tuesday morning, however, only five were still burning and three had been emptied as a result of the conflagration. Two were already empty. And according to ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson, the company was doing everything humanly possible to make sure that the fire didnt spread to the other five tanks at the facility. If those efforts are successful, the chemical fire in Deer Creek will end when the five tanks burn out. However, its hard to have confidence in ITCs efforts given that the company has a long history of violating clean air and clean water rules and has also been cited for failure to comply with federal risk management regulations. On HoustonChronicle.com: Deer Park plant on fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co has history of environmental violations The leaders of the states environmental agency, meanwhile, are downplaying the risks presented by the chemical fire at the Deer Park facility even as the plume of black smoke continues to spread north and west. Sensitive populations should consider limiting their exposure to the ambient particulate matter by decreasing outdoor exercise or moving into air-conditioned buildings, TCEQ said in a statement Tuesday afternoon, after its tests found that levels of particulate matter had increased slightly. All residents should avoid being directly in the smoke plume, the statement continued. That is sound, common-sense advice which people could have figured out for themselves. In fact, I noticed several people wearing air masks Tuesday around Houston, while going about their business. On HoustonChronicle.com: As petroleum exports grow, so do risks The petrochemical industry is crucial to the regions prosperity, but the concerns raised by the Deer Park fire arent frivolous, and need to be taken more seriously. Earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics, a geological phenomenon. Chemical fires, by contrast, arent inevitable or something we should accept as routine. If people who live in the Houston area have come to consider such incidents acceptable that is, in a sense, a choice we have collectively made and which we might like to revisit at some point, in light of events over the past few days. AUSTIN -- Twenty months after Hurricane Harvey ripped through the Gulf Coast and flooded thousands of people out of their homes, the state Senate approved a trio of bills Wednesday that members say will address lessons learned from the storm. The bills call for the creation of a disaster recovery blueprint for government officials, establishment of an infrastructure resiliency fund and would require the state to update mapping techniques and develop a state flood plan every five years. Gov. Greg Abbott asked lawmakers to strengthen the states response to future disasters in light of the devastation left by Hurricane Harvey. One bill, Senate Bill 6, would require training and the creation of a how-to guide for local officials to navigate their after-storm response, including contracting for debris removal, obtaining federal funding and building short- and long-term housing. When you face a natural disaster, you dont know where to start, said Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who sponsored the bill. More Information Pending legislation prompted by Harvey Senate Bill 1220 - Requires sellers of real property provide notice of property located in floodplains, flood pools or reservoirs - Awaiting hearing from Senate committee Senate Bill 443 - Extends the two-year limit for claiming homestead exemptions without living on the premises in disaster areas - Pending in Senate committee Senate Bill 500 - Funding for Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and programs - Cleared Senate, scheduled for House debate March 27 House Bill 4 - Funding Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and programs - Awaiting hearing from House committee House Bill 1650 - Funding Hurricane Harvey-related expenses and program - Awaiting hearing from House committee House Bill 2337 - Contracting guidance for debris removal - Awaiting hearing from House committee See More Collapse Related: Final report: Harveys impact on the Houston area laid out in grim detail Senate Bill 7 would establish the Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund to pay for expenses like floodplain management and projects related to Hurricane Harvey. Senate Bill 8 would organize government agencies to share flood prevention plans in an effort to make sure one municipality is not moving their flood mitigation programs to other towns or counties. Each passed the Senate 31-0. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick referred to the bills as some of the most important of this years legislative session. They will next go to the House, which will evaluate them in legislative committees. They will impact generations of Texans for years to come, he said in a statement. The bills are just a few in a collection of legislation seeking to better prepare for, and prevent, future natural disasters, including bills that would warn home-buyers when they are purchasing a home within reservoir flood pools. Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast in August of 2017 and went on to dump more than 50 inches in parts of Texas, causing disastrous flooding. Its about time we took this step, said Sen. Juan Chuy Hinojosa, D-McAllen. Weve experienced hurricanes and theyre not going to stop. andrea.zelinski@chron.com Intercontinental Terminals Company's tank facility in Deer Park has been burning since Sunday. And it has taken its toll on both nearby residents, and ITC itself. "This isn't an event we wanted, or planned," said ITC spokesperson Alice Richardson during a news conference. Choking back tears, Richardson apologized on behalf of the company, noting that numerous employees are part of the community. "Many of my employees work in the city of Deer Park. They live in Deer Park. They're out there fighting this fire the best they can." HOUSTON CHRONICLE EXCLUSIVE: Deer Park company battling fire accused of intentionally polluting water during Harvey ITC has established a claims hotline and website to help residents of Deer Park who may have damages from the incident. WHAT IS BENZENE: What to know about the chemicals in the Deer Park plant fire The claims process is available to individuals and businesses impacted by the disaster. The company told KHOU late Monday that claims had arisen from the Sunday morning incident. RELATED: Deer Park plant fire: How the weather impacts growing smoke plume Those who believe they have suffered damages or losses as a result of the incident can visit itcclaims.com. Individuals must complete the appropriate form and then submit said form to incident31719@itcclaims.com. Individuals can also submit a claim form, along with supporting documents to: ITC Claims March 17, 2019 Incident P.O Box 698 Deer Park, Texas 77536 In addition, ITC has also set up a phone number to take claims if the other options are not feasible. The number, which can be found on the website, is: 346-263-9766. As of noon, air quality levels were still at a "moderate" reading with 78 particles detected in the Houston area, according to AirNow.gov. Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Authorities are searching for a missing woman last seen inside her northeast Houston home. Maria Rico-Suaste, 73, was last seen on March 11, according to Texas EquuSearch. The Houston Police Department Missing Persons Division is investigating her disappearance. Officials with Texas EquuSearch said Rico-Suaste might be confused and show impaired rational judgment. She's described as a Hispanic female with long, wavy brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5 feet tall and weighs about 120 pounds, officials said. Anyone with information about Rico-Suaste's whereabouts is urged to call HPD at 832-394-1840 or Texas EquuSearch at 281-309-9500. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Kara Rathbones story may sound familiar to many firefighters who marched with her Tuesday along Bagby Street in downtown Houston. Rathbones husband, Austin, drives to work from their home in Bellville, about 70 miles away. A seven-year Houston firefighter, he has received scant raises since joining the department, and makes ends meet by installing irrigation systems on the side and working for a small fire department near Bellville, where about 4,300 people live. That pay is everything. We have two kids. I have to stay home with them. I have a part-time job, she said. The small amount that we get every two weeks in pay, it doesn't cover what we need. Now Playing: Houston firefighters, their families and supporters gathered in front of the Houston City Hall to protest labor dispute related to Proposition B on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, in Houston. Video: Marie D. De Jesus Fed up with the pace at which Mayor Sylvester Turners administration has carried out Proposition B the voter-approved November referendum granting firefighters the same pay as police of corresponding rank and experience the Rathbones joined several hundred others in a march on City Hall where union officials demanded full implementation of the raises and called on Turner to stop playing games with public safety. The demands by Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton came a day after Turner rolled out his plan to fund firefighters pay raises in part by laying off 400 to 500 city employees, including firefighters. Several city council members briefed on the plan last week said up to 400 firefighters could be cut. Let me reiterate this: We are going to win this fight, Lancton said to thunderous applause and cheers. Lancton also identified six fire stations he said firefighters were told the city would close as part of the layoff plan. Turner spokesman Alan Bernstein denied that. City officials did not give anyone a list of fire stations that will close or that may close, he said. Fire Chief Sam Pena confirmed in a text that no station closures had been set, noting that Turner and city council must approve any moves. Meanwhile, Turner said Monday evening that the city will send out firefighters first Prop. B-adjusted paychecks in May. Firefighters also will receive lump-sum checks covering Jan. 1 through the first part of May, the mayor said. The city plans to dip into its fund balance to cover the $31 million cost of back pay. For months, Turner has said firefighters deserve raises, but that Prop. Bs $80-to-$100 million cost is squeezing the citys revenue-capped budget because it did not come with a funding source. In an open letter earlier this month, Turner wrote that he does not believe voters, who approved Prop. B by about 18 points, intended to place our city in financial turmoil. The mayors message fell flat with the firefighters, who held signs Tuesday marked on one side with the fire union logo and the word Solidarity, and the other with phrases such as Stop Playing With Public Safety and The Voters Are Not Stupid, Mayor. Ricky Johnson, a firefighter of 25 years from Kingwood, echoed the message, arguing that Turners administration is playing politics with public safety. They're putting our lives in jeopardy and they're putting the citizens of Houston's lives in jeopardy, Johnson said. The firefighters marched from the George H.W. Bush monument at Sesquicentennial Park for several blocks until they reached City Hall, accompanied by bagpipes playing at the front of the pack. At the march were several of the firefighters political allies, including Council members Dwight Boykins and Michael Kubosh, and mayoral candidates Tony Buzbee and Bill King. Both councilmen spoke to the crowd at City Hall, along with Texas State Association of Fire Fighters President John Riddle and Sandy McGhee, vice president of the International Association of Firefighters district that encompasses Houston. Both union officials laid into Turner for the way he has handled the labor dispute and Prop. B. I'm telling you today, the IAFF does not back down from bullies like Sylvester Turner, McGhee said. If anything, the rally appeared to boost the spirits of firefighters who have experienced a range of emotions during the Prop. B saga, from excitement over the referendums passage to worry over impending layoffs. "It does affect the morale, but we're still going to do what we do, and we'll always continue to do that, said Daniel Gutierrez, a Houston firefighter. We show up, we work, we do our job." Turner has contended the fire department should bear the costs of Prop. B, citing a city-commissioned report that recommends a reduction in firefighters. The union disputes those results, pointing to a separate city report that advises otherwise. Since Prop. B passed, city and fire union officials have attempted to negotiate a way of phasing in the raises over multiple years to avoid layoffs, though the two sides have yet to come together on a deal. Without an agreement, Turner has said, he has no choice but to cut personnel, because the city must balance its budget each fiscal year. jasper.scherer@chron.com twitter.com/jaspscherer Planned Parenthood and its supporters are warning that a new Texas anti-abortion bill will lead to even fewer low-income women receiving sexually transmitted disease testing, cancer screenings, contraception and other womens health services. When the Texas Legislature in 2011 slashed funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, the womens health safety net took a severe hit, studies and other reports show. The number of patients receiving care in state-funded programs declined from a high of 320,000 in 2010 to 220,000 in 2017, the most recent state data available. About 1.8 million low-income Texans are thought to be eligible for services. Despite a slight rebound in 2014 when the state rolled out new programs, the state is still serving 100,000 fewer patients than it did in 2010 prior to the legislation. Now, Planned Parenthood has joined some Texas city and county leaders in warning that womens health will be set back yet again if Senate Bill 22 becomes law. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels and nineteen other senators, would block state and local tax dollars from going to abortion providers and their affiliates. The bill is a top priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick this legislative session, passed out of committee on a unanimous vote Monday. Taxpayers who oppose abortion shouldnt have to see their tax dollars subsidizing the industry, Campbell said. While lawmakers already block state funds from going to abortion providers and affiliates per a budget amendment, this bill would cement that restriction without the need for new amendments every budget cycle. It would also extend the funding prohibition to local governments. For subscribers: Troubled Texas nonprofit tries for more family planning money The bill would ban any governmental entity from engaging in transactions such as a sale, purchase, lease or donation with an abortion provider or affiliate. The proposed legislation would also prohibit advocacy or lobbying on behalf of the providers or their affiliates. It would not apply to a licensed hospital, a licensed physician who performs fewer than 50 abortions per year, a state hospital, a teaching hospital or an accredited residency program. SB 22 ties the hands of local government at a time when cities and counties already face significant challenges in providing access to quality, affordable health care for their residents, Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes said at a press conference prior to a public hearing on the bill Monday. The legislature has already prevented Planned Parenthood from providing care to Texas women to disastrous effect. The full scope of the bills implications is unclear. An example of a transaction threatened by the bill is Planned Parenthoods lease with the city of Austin at a $1-a-year rate thats been in place since the 70s. The city regularly provides such discounts to nonprofits, such as animal shelter Austin Pets Alive. In 2017, the Planned Parenthood facility on East Seventh Street provided services, such as cancer screenings, birth control and HIV and STD testing, to more than 5,000 people, the organization said in a press release. Mayor Steve Adler and Austin City Council members spoke in support of the partnership at a press conference held at the building Monday. The state reaching down into Austin to talk about how best to provide health care in our community is an overreach, Adler said. It is a preemption that goes against the ability of local communities to decide what is best in their neighborhoods. At the public hearing Monday, Jennifer Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, and other supporters of the bill said it aligns with their moral values. More than a dozen people spoke, all but a few in support of the bill. Time and time again, the people of Texas have made it abundantly clear that our citizens have a tremendous respect for unborn human life, Allmon said. This bill ensures our tax dollars are not used in violation of the most basic principle of our union: that all people are guaranteed a right to life. Presented with data showing womens access to care suffered after the 2011 cuts, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said at the hearing that the Legislature has invested more money in womens health to provide more services to more women than we ever have in the history of this state, and we have more providers than we ever have. According to the Legislative Budget Board, the state spent $142 million on women's health in fiscal year 2017, up from $105 million in fiscal year 2010, including federal sources. And the state has added more than 3,000 providers between fiscal years 2010 and 2016. Despite those changes, the state in 2017 served 100,000 fewer women than in 2010, state data show. Now (that) it is not flowing through an organization that some people would prefer is their problem, Nelson said. My problem and our ) problem is making sure women get the appropriate health care that they need, and we are doing that. Related: Appeals court postpones ruling on Texas ban of some abortion procedures While the cities of Houston and San Antonio said they had no direct contracts with Planned Parenthood, officials said the bill could have detrimental effects to future partnerships. Bill Kelly, Houstons director of government relations, said Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is the second-largest safety net provider in Harris County. If we were to have which is not out of the realm of possibilities a Zika outbreak or something that could typically affect women of reproductive age, the prohibition against coordinating with a safety net provider in a public health emergency just seems completely against what people would expect their government to do, Kelly said. He added that the wording of the provision banning lobbying is vague and could potentially hinder the city from advocating for nonpartisan issues like disease prevention funding. Are we going to not support additional state resources to folks with HIV/AIDS in our community simply because Planned Parenthood also agrees with us? Kelly said. It just seems like a completely nonsensical requirement. Former Sen. Wendy Davis, now-executive director of the nonprofit Deeds Not Words, known for her 2013 filibuster of anti-abortion legislation, also spoke against the bill Monday. Davis said the impact of cuts to family planning funding for providers like Planned Parenthood had dramatic effects on womens health care, such as increasing teenage birth rates and maternal mortality, harming tens and thousands of real, living, human women who went without health care as a consequence. This is not a bill that seeks to continue state defunding that has already happened, Davis said. Instead, this is a bill that seeks to interfere with a local communitys decision to make what it believes are the best health care decisions for people that live in their local communities. The ominous black plume wafting above the chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co.s Deer Park facility is enough to send shivers down the spine of every Houston resident. Not knowing if the blaze was preventable has increased that fear. After all, the metropolitan area includes more than 500 chemical plants and 10 refineries. A massive fire at any of them could similarly fill the skies with smoke. Its too early to say what caused the Deer Park fire, which has been burning since Sunday. Fire officials Tuesday didnt know how long it would take for fuel feeding the blaze to burn off. That uncertainty opened the door wider for speculation that ITC could have done more to prevent an accident of this proportion from occurring. ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson teared up Tuesday in apologizing to Deer Park residents for endangering their community. This isnt an event that was planned, she said to a reporter. Of course it wasnt planned. But could it have been prevented? ITCs record of environmental violations over the years makes trusting that the company did everything it could have a risky proposition. Records show the Deer Park facility, which stores petrochemicals for Chevron, Phillips 66 and Exxon Chemical Company, has been cited multiple times by federal, state and county regulators since 2009 for breaking clean air and clean water rules. ITCs punishment: a grand total of about $65,000 in civil penalties. Thats a slap on the wrist for a company that earns millions. Failure to ensure public safety should be worth more than what ITC paid. Failed inspections at a burger shop are one thing, but companies like ITC put human lives at risk when things go wrong. Maybe ITC wouldnt have broken so many rules had it faced serious consequences. Following the rules earlier also would have made its apology now more believable. Making sure ITC isnt spewing toxic fumes doesnt require fining it out of existence. It requires a serious commitment to safety and transparency, which are sorely lacking in this state. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has a history of lax monitoring and enforcement. And Texas has refused to require widespread public disclosure of chemical inventories and Risk Management Plans of facilities that would improve journalists ability to inform the public during a crisis. A reporter who wants to see a facilitys RMP has to make an appointment with federal marshals to view it. Patrick Jankowski, senior economist with the Greater Houston Partnership, told business reporter Jordan Blum: We need these facilities here because its how we get our products to market. Of course. But what is a booming economy without quality of life? Without peace of mind? Parents sent their children back to Deer Park and La Porte ISD schools Tuesday, but they couldnt have felt great confidence when school officials restricted outside activities. Houston ISD took the same precaution. Good to err on the side of safety, but no parent should have to fear that just walking to school might endanger their childs health. At one point, eight tanks containing gasoline components were on fire. Five tanks were still burning Tuesday. Public officials said local air quality had not been jeopardized by the ITC fire, but fog expected Wednesday morning might pull harmful particulates toward the ground. I know the cloud of dark smoke seems ominous as it spreads over parts of the city of Houston, but we want to assure that the air quality is being monitored around the clock, said Mayor Sylvester Turner. Such assurances are appreciated, but they have proven wrong before, as we saw during Hurricane Harvey. An investigation by the Chronicle and The Associated Press revealed that much higher levels of toxic materials than originally reported were released into the air and water when the storm hit Houstons petrochemical corridor. Lets not have a repeat of that with the ITC fire. The public must be kept up to date on both the progress made to put out the fire and the severity of any damage it has caused to the environment or public health. If investigations reveal regulatory violations by ITC were a factor in the fire, Texas agencies should do more than charge another paltry fine. We shouldnt have to choose between a thriving economy and our health. Responsible companies can and should deliver both. Not again. That was my first thought Sunday after a large fire at a petrochemical storage facility sent a thick plume of black smoke over Houston. It started less than 24 hours after a blaze at ExxonMobils Baytown refinery. Sadly, this March madness is a never-ending story here. The Houston Chronicle in 2016 reported that the region has a chemical fire or explosion every six weeks on average. I am sure someone will dismiss this as the unavoidable byproduct of being the nations petrochemical capital. That is simply not true. Chemical fires and explosions are largely preventable. So why do they continue to happen? It is because the state agency responsible for ensuring chemical plant safety is missing in action unable or unwilling to protect the health and well-being of Texas families. We saw it as Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc across Texas. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was slow to respond to the millions of pounds of excess pollution released into the air by oil refineries and chemical plants because of shutdowns, restarts and storm-related damage. In its absence, the City of Houston worked with Environmental Defense Fund, the nonprofit organization where I work, to help take measurements in Manchester after a reported leak at the Valero refinery nearby. We found alarmingly high concentrations of the cancer-causing chemical benzene, a gasoline byproduct, in the neighborhood. We later learned that NASA planned to fly a pollution-spotting plane over Houston after the storm, but TCEQs chief toxicologist, Michael Honeycutt, said no. He said the data would not be useful. Never mind there is no evidence that TCEQ took any measurements in the days after Harvey beyond its stationary air quality monitors, some of which were offline because of the storm. All the while, TCEQs public statements about air quality gave a false sense of security to many communities, including Manchester, Galena Park and Port Arthur, where people live near large industrial facilities. Its boilerplate responses eroded credibility and suggested that the agency was detached from the on-the-ground reality. Federal officials eventually acknowledged there were hotspots of air pollution. Nearly 20 months later, TCEQ has not taken any enforcement action against many of those responsible for the largest pollution releases during Harvey. But that is not surprising. Reports indicate the agency has penalized industry for less than 3 percent of rogue releases of harmful air pollutants since 2011. Companies know TCEQ will not hold them accountable. The agency essentially allows them to self-regulate. The people of Houston and Texas know this, too. Now we have a crisis of confidence. It was striking after TCEQ released its first statement about the Deer Park fire more than 24 hours after the blaze started that almost no one believed its assertion that everything is fine. Journalists challenged its veracity after noticing that the agencys closest stationary monitor to the burning International Terminals Company facility was offline for hours. They asked for raw data. What journalists received was a brief, misleading analysis of the monitoring data from a company contracted by ITC, which has a history of violating clean air and water rules. Once again, the city has asked Environmental Defense Fund to help take measurements to fill in the gaps. We are placing 20 monitors around the region to measure particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide. A nonprofit should not have to scrape together money to do this. Texans need a robust environmental agency laser-focused on the protection of human health. That starts with TCEQ Chairman Jon Niermann. Gov. Greg Abbott elevated him to the post in August. It is Niermanns moment to restore public faith in the agency. He cannot afford allowing his leading health scientist to refuse offers of additional data to help him make the right analysis. His agency cannot prioritize permit approvals over pollution reductions. His agency cannot look away when companies violate those permits and foul the air we breathe. His agency cannot tell people that everything is normal when their eyes and lungs tell them it is not. It is time to clean up TCEQ. State lawmakers have a role here, too. They can make risk management plans readily available so emergency responders and the public have specific information on potential hazards at chemical facilities. Right now, they are difficult to obtain in the state of Texas. They can close the loophole that allows industry to avoid penalties for unauthorized pollution releases. They can create a uniform toxic alert system because people must be aware of the risks to their health and safety in a timely manner. They can resist the industry push to make it even easier to obtain permits. Hopefully, then the madness can stop. Craft is the senior director for health and climate at Environmental Defense Fund. Look at the losers running, or considering a run, for the Democratic presidential nomination. I dont mean that pejoratively. I mean it literally. Beto ORourkes presidential candidacy is the ultimate expression of the participation trophy culture on the left. It used to be you had to win on the state level before taking the national stage. Barack Obama won a Senate seat from Illinois before immediately declaring his intention to run for president. At the time, that was considered pretty audacious. He hadnt accomplished anything in the Senate before he decided on a presidential run. But at least he won. ORourke lost his race to unseat Sen. Ted CruzR-Houston last year. He got a participation trophy. Apparently, he thinks that qualifies him to be the leader of the free world. Well, he must have some accomplishments other than almost winning a Senate seat, right? Not really. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was flummoxed when asked what ORourke had accomplished in Congress, saying he brought a great deal of vitality to his work preserving our planet and protecting our people. (In fact, ORourke passed a single bill, H.R. 5873, which renamed a courthouse in his hometown of El Paso.) Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa was questioned by Ed Henry on Fox News, What would you say is Beto ORourkes top accomplishment that he brings to the table? Hinojosa could not name a single one. Im not even talking about Congress, Henry said. What has he done in his life? Your question is meaningless, Hinojosa replied. So, if ORourke hasnt accomplished anything, he must at least have some clear ideas of what he wants to accomplish in the Oval Office, right? Nope. The Post reports that unlike candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who launched their campaigns with clearly articulated policy platforms, ORourke focuses more on sweeping calls for unity and pitching himself as the best antidote to the countrys toxic politics. The motivation for his run, apparently, is him. As Vanity Fairs Joe Hagan explains in a recent profile, ORourke cant deny the pull of his own gifts. He tells a reporter, Man, Im just born to be in it. Hes not the only statewide loser taking the national stage. Stacey Abrams lost the governors race in Georgia in 2018, yet national Democrats tapped her to deliver the official rebuttal to the State of the Union a task normally given to those who actually won their races. And now, The Post reports, she is considering a race for president as well. I think that I am a skilled communicator, she said. I think Im a very good thinker. No, I know Im a good thinker. I know I have policy chops. I have foreign policy experience. Foreign policy experience? She served as minority leader of the state House of Representatives. Her official bio lists her as former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations (a temporary membership for young people) as well as a Council on Italy Fellow, a British-American Project Fellow, a Salzburg Seminar-Freeman Fellow on U.S.-East Asian Relations, a Salzburg Seminar Fellow on youth and civic engagement and a Yukos Fellow for U.S.-Russian Relations. That might qualify her for an entry-level job at a left-wing think tank, but it hardly qualifies her to be commander in chief. Even ORourke can claim experience on the House Armed Services Committee. Democrats point out that President Trump had never won statewide office before running for president. Thats true. But he also had not run for state office and lost. He ran as a successful outsider, not as a failed insider. And unlike ORourke, he had actual accomplishments including a multibillion-dollar real estate empire. This is not to dismiss ORourkes chances. He raised a whopping $6.1 million in his first 24 hours as a candidate, just edging out Sanderss first day haul of almost $6 million. That is the best of any Democrat running for president so far. As the New York Times noted, In a single day online, he raised nearly a quarter of what Barack Obama, then a senator, did in the entire first quarter of 2007. Apparently, Democrats like losers. Well soon see if one can win the presidency. Thiessen writes a syndicated column for the Washington Post. Many high achievers, particularly women and people of color, suffer from impostor syndrome, the fear that they dont belong in the rarefied realm to which theyve ascended and that they will soon be found out. Even Michelle Obama, who is, according to a Gallup poll conducted in December, the most admired woman in America, has said that she feels it. I share that with you because we all have doubts in our abilities, about our power and what that power is, she told students in London in December. Well, maybe not all of us. Ive just finished Vicky Wards Kushner, Inc., a scintillating investigation of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trumps White House sojourn, which comes out on Tuesday. Its full of damning details: contempt for the entitled, venal couple may be the one thing that unites all of D.C.s warring factions. Still, the first daughter and her husband remain psychologically mysterious, at least to me. Why dont they have impostor syndrome, given that their total lack of qualifications for the jobs they are doing makes them actual impostors? According to Kushner, Inc., Gary Cohn, former director of the National Economic Council, has told people that Ivanka Trump thinks she could someday be president. Her fathers reign in Washington, D.C., is, she believes, the beginning of a great American dynasty, writes Ward. Kushner, whose pre-White House experience included owning a boutique newspaper and helming a catastrophically ill-timed real estate deal, has arrogated to himself substantial parts of U.S. foreign policy. According to Ward, shortly after Rex Tillerson was confirmed as secretary of state, Kushner told him to leave Mexico to him because hed have NAFTA wrapped up by October. As political actors, the couple are living exemplars of the Dunning-Kruger effect, a psychological phenomenon that leads incompetent people to overestimate their ability because they cant grasp how much they dont know. Partly, the Jared and Ivanka story is about the reality distortion field a term one of Wards sources uses about Kushner created by great family wealth. She quotes a member of Trumps legal team saying that the two have no idea how normal people perceive, understand, intuit. Privilege, in them, has been raised to the level of near sociopathy. Ward, the author of two previous books about the worlds of high finance and real estate, has known Kushner slightly for a long time; she told me that when he bought The New York Observer newspaper in 2006, he tried to hire her. She knocks down the idea that either he or his wife is a stabilizing force or moral compass in the Trump administration. White House sources told her they think it was Kushner who ordered the closing of White House visitor logs in April 2017, because he didnt want his frenetic networking exposed. Ward reports that Cohn was stunned by their blase reaction to Trumps defense of the white-nationalist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia: He was upset that they were not sufficiently upset. Still, even if you assume that the couple are amoral climbers, their behavior still doesnt quite make sense. Ward writes that Ivankas chief concern is her personal brand, but that brand has been trashed. The book cites an October 2017 survey measuring consumer approval of more than 1,600 brands. Ivankas fashion line was in the bottom 10. A leading real estate developer tells Ward that Kushner, now caught up in multiple state and federal investigations, has become radioactive: No one will want to do business with him. (Kushner resigned as CEO of Kushner Cos. in 2017, but has kept most of his stake in the business.) To make sense of their motivations, Ward told me, you have to understand the gravitational pull of their fathers. Husband and wife are both really extraordinarily orientated and identified through their respective fathers in a way that most fully formed adults are not, she said. Among the most interesting parts of Kushner, Inc., are the chapters about Charles Kushner, Jareds felonious father, and his plan to restore his reputation, with Jareds help, after getting out of prison in 2006. Part of that rehabilitation project was the purchase of a flagship building in Manhattan, 666 Fifth Ave., for which the family paid a record amount at the height of the real estate market in 2007. When the recession hit, the building became a white elephant, its debt threatening the family fortune. Wards book suggests that the search for someone who would bail out 666 Fifth has played a significant role in foreign policy during the Trump administration. Since the completion of her book, weve learned that Trump overrode intelligence officials, who were concerned about Kushner and his familys ties to foreign investors, to give Kushner a security clearance. In the end, the Kushner family seems to have gotten what it wanted. In 2018, Brookfield Asset Management, which has substantial investment from the government of Qatars sovereign wealth fund, came to the Kushners rescue. (The Qataris have denied any advance knowledge of the deal.) Youll notice that the U.S. position toward Qatar changes when the Qataris bail out 666 Fifth Ave., said Ward, adding, We look like a banana republic. Maybe thats why Jared and Ivanka appear so blithely confident. As public servants, theyre obviously way out of their depth. But as self-dealing scions of a gaudy autocracy? Theyre naturals. Goldberg is a New York Times columnist. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Canadian Independent Music Association Gets $20M From Federal Government The Canadian Independent Music Association has been awarded $20 million the federal government over the next two years for the Canada Music Fund. The CMF has been a critical source of support over the years but had been underfunded and over-subscribed for the past decade. This funding increase is fantastic news for Canadas commercial music industry. We are incredibly grateful to the Federal government and specifically our dedicated advocate, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, for showing their support of our industry. We are keen to continue to work closely with government to ensure that these dollars are invested in the most impactful way, such as providing additional support for sound recording, international export opportunities, promotion, marketing, touring and showcasing, and the domestic development of our great artists, said Stuart Johnston, President of CIMA. Were grateful to the Federal government for its deep commitment to Canadas music industry, said CIMAs Board Chair Lisa Logutenkow, Vice-President Dine Alone Records/Bedlam Music Management. Canada has always been known for its music, but it takes support and investment from entrepreneurs in all corners of the industry as well as programs like the Canada Music Fund, to make Canadian music internationally competitive. For my company, this investment could mean access to more resources to help our artists and company grow domestically and internationally. It helps us compete more aggressively in the digital world as borders become less relevant and every artist has a global plan. The Canada Music Fund ( CMF ) helps the Canadian music industry meet new challenges. A wide range of musicians and entrepreneurs who create, produce and market original and diverse Canadian music are eligible to apply. The CMF is the primary tool implementing the three major objectives of the Canadian Sound Recording Policy, From Creators to Audience, which are: to enhance access to a diverse range of Canadian music choices through existing and emerging media; to increase the opportunities available for Canadian music artists and entrepreneurs to make a significant and lasting contribution to Canadian cultural expression; and to ensure that Canadian music artists and entrepreneurs have the skills, know-how and tools to succeed in a global and digital environment. CelebrityAccess Share on: Mozambique: Death toll rises as 400,000 left homeless by cyclone and floods March 19,2019 | Source: The Irish Times Aid workers are trying to rescue victims clinging to trees and crammed on rooftops against rapidly rising waters after a cyclone unleashed devastating floods in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 238 people are dead, hundreds are missing and thousands more are at risk. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambiques recent history, said Jamie LeSueur, head of response efforts in Beira for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. At least 400,000 people have been left homeless. The rapidly rising floodwaters created an inland ocean in Mozambique, endangering tens of thousands of families, aid workers said as they scrambled to rescue survivors of Cyclone Idai and drop food, water and blankets. President Filipe Nyusi said the death toll could reach 1,000. Emergency workers called it the regions most destructive flooding in 20 years. Heavy rain is expected to continue until Thursday. This is a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour, said Herve Verhoosel of the World Food Programme. Many people are crammed on rooftops and elevated patches of land outside the port city of Beira and WFP is rushing to rescue as many as possible, he said. Mozambiques Pungue and Buzi rivers overflowed, creating inland oceans extending for miles and miles in all directions, Mr Verhoosel said. Four tons of high-energy biscuits were being air dropped as part of 20 tons of food that WFP will distribute. Dams are at 95 per cent to 100 per cent capacity. People visible from the air may be the lucky ones and the top priority now is to rescue as many as possible, he added. The extent of the damage is not yet known as many areas remain impassible. With key roads washed away, aid groups are trying to get badly needed food, medicine and fuel into hard-hit Beira, a city of 500,000 people, by air and sea. Cyclone Idai swept across central Mozambique before dropping huge amounts of rain in neighbouring Zimbabwes eastern mountains. 2019 THE IRISH TIMES Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. The Trump administration asks a judge to allow oil exploration to begin despite coastal communities' lawsuit by Kate Wheeling March 19,2019 | Source: Pacific Standard The Trump administration argued Monday in court filings that it should be allowed to begin exploratory work for offshore oil drilling while a lawsuit filed by coastal communities to block the practice is decided. The White House first announced its plans to reopen oil and gas extraction off the Atlantic Coast of the United States in 2017, and, late last year, the Trump administration approved permits for five companies to begin using seismic air guns to search for deposits of the fossil fuels beneath the sea floor. Coastal communities, state representatives, and environmental groups immediately pushed back against the proposal, arguing in a lawsuit that seismic surveys can harm marine animals and tourism. On Monday, the administration's lawyers asked a federal judge to block a preliminary injunction request from the coastal communities. The injunction would have halted the seismic testing while the lawsuit makes its way through the courts, but the administration claims that the practice would not have adverse effects on marine ecosystems or coastal communities. However, as Pacific Standard reported in 2017: Seismic airgun blasts can be harmful to fish, sea turtles, and marine mammals, causing beach strandings and hearing loss, the latter of which can spell death for whales and dolphins that rely on hearing to find food, according to Oceana, a non-profit advocacy group. Speaking to National Geographic in 2014, Oceana scientist Matthew Huelsenbeck compared the blasts to "dynamite going off in your living room or in your backyard every 10 seconds for days to weeks at a time." It's not just charismatic marine mammals like dolphins and whales that suffer: A 2017 study published in Nature found that the airgun blasts can also wipe out populations of zooplankton, the tiny animals that drift through the water column and make up the base of marine ecosystems. "It all starts with them, so if they're affected, that affects everythingincluding whales," Jayson Semmens, an associate professor at the University of Tasmania and lead author on the new study, told Pacific Standard in 2017. 2019 The Social Justice Foundation Theme(s): Others. Pakistan fisherwomen march against environmental impacts of coal power plants by Amar Guriro March 18,2019 | Source: Daily Times Hundreds of women, children from the fisher community of Karachi on Sunday thronged into the streets, and marched against the environmental impacts of coal power plants. They marched from the Arts Council of Pakistan to the Karachi Press Club. Carrying placards and banners against the negative impacts of coal on the environment, ecology and communities, women chanted slogans and demanded the government to immediately shut the coal-based power plants in order to save the environment. At the Karachi Press Club, addressing the rally, renowned river activist and Chairman, Pakistan FisherFolk Forum (PFF), Muhammad Ali Shah, underlined the need to take measures to reduce the impact of coal on the environment and focus on the healthy living of communities in the vicinity. He started his speech with the boldly highlighted words, A full stop to all Public finance to coal-related projects. In December 2018, the PFF, a civil society group which is working for the empowerment of fishermen, announced the formation of the Anti-Coal Alliance, and also marched on foot to highlight the issue at the international level. Shah further added the push for coal is the betrayal of the commitment and obligation of governments under the United Nations to address climate change and shift to the sustainable energy systems. The rally took place from the Art Council to the Press club, with marchers holding up different slogans urging protection of the environment and the community's health. There were more than 1,000 participants from the coastal belt- Kemari, port Qasim- who raised their voices against the degradation of the environment and community health, and how coal power plants were fueling climate change, and exacerbating its impacts. He added that transportation, lifting, and dumping of coal in the absence of any safety measures had badly affected the area, particularly nearby areas. He said that coal consumption is increasing by the industries and that it is being imported in huge quantity at different places i.e. Port Qasim, Karachi port trust and Hubco. Unsafe coal transportation from these areas has been affecting communities health and ruin their livelihood. Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Chilean Salmon Marketing Council launches Promise of Patagonia campaign by Cliff White March 19,2019 | Source: SeafoodSource The Chilean salmon industry will refocus its marketing efforts to highlight the Patagonia region of Chile, where much of the sectors salmon is grown. The campaign, titled The Promise of Patagonia, was unveiled on Monday, 18 March at the 2019 Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Ricardo Garcia, the chairman of the marketing Chilean Salmon Marketing Council, as well as the CEO of Camanchaca and the vice chairman of Salmones Camanchaca, said the campaign which is focused on the U.S. market and will include print, online, and out-of-home channels will aim to tie the awareness and appreciation American consumers have for the Patagonian region to its salmonid products. The mystique of Patagonia is well-known, Garcia said. We are emphasizing the pristine Patagonian region of Chile, where salmon is raised in the pure coastal Antarctic waters. As stewards of this remarkable ecology, CSMCs members proudly produce high-quality salmon using environmentally responsible and sustainable aquaculture. The campaign will be tied into the sectors pledge also made at this years Seafood Expo North America to reduce its antibiotics usage by 50 percent by 2025. 'The Promise of Patagonia' will also signify CSMC members commitment to the welfare of the regions salmon and to the environment in bringing a high-quality, reliable, and nutritious fish to market year-round, Garcia said. In comments to a gathering of more than 180 people at the campaign launch breakfast at SENA, Garcia said the industry had made the move because we wanted to seize the opportunity that we have in front of us. We have decided in 2019 to start telling the story of salmon raised in Patagonia to the U.S. market, he said. The CSMC has hired Ketchum, a global public relations firm specializing in marketing, branding, and corporate communications for the food and beverage industry, to lead the creative aspect of the campaign. We have partnered with the number-one communications agency in the U.S. for food products. The firm has a long history and many years of hard work to build up the reputation they have today, Garcia said. We wanted to partner with the best because we think we have the best product. Luis Hernan Bustos, a CSMC board member and founder of the Chilean marketing and communications firm B20, said the goal was to gain a better penetration into the U.S. market for salmon, which represents six percent of Chiles total exports, making it the countrys third-largest exported commodity by volume. Chile annually produces between 23 and 28 percent of the global output of Atlantic salmon. Our challenge is to keep feeding the world with the highest-quality protein while preserving the beautiful and pristine nature of Chilean Patagonia, he said. CSMC Director James Griffin said the campaign would highlight five core commitments the industry has pledged to work toward: producing high-quality, healthy, and nutritious salmon; preserving the pristine territory of Patagonia and supporting the communities of Chile; ensuring the health and wellness of the salmon the industry grows; using the highest processing standards and employing and supporting talent throughout the value chain; and assuring consistent availability to enable the delivery of salmon year-round to customers. Chilean salmon companies that are members of CSMC and which are participating in the campaign include: Cermaq Chile, MultiExport Foods, Australis, Salmones Camachaca, Bluemar, Ventisqueros, Salmones Austral, Marine Farm, Salmones Magallanes, and AgroSuper (which now includes Aquachile, Los Fiordos, and Verlasso following acquisitions). 2019 Diversified Communications Theme(s): Others. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) The House leadership has ordered its secretary general to "physically retrieve" the budget bill from the Senate, House appropriations committee chair Camarines Sur 1st District Rep. Rolando Andaya said. "This is in line with the Speaker's instruction to allow a last-ditch effort to break the budget impasse," Andaya said in a statement Wednesday. However, he clarified that the House is not withdrawing or backtracking on their stand that the itemization of lump sums in the budget after its ratification which has kept it from being sent to Malacanang over concerns on its legality is aboveboard. "It is just getting the book back. We are not withdrawing our previous position on the legality of our actions. We want to be able to create an atmosphere which is conducive to understanding," Andaya told CNN Philippines in a text message. He added that Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has instructed congressmen to form a three-man team from the House which will meet with senators to address contentious issues on the budget. He said they are giving themselves five days to iron out differences on the budget. Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said he, Andaya and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora will form part of the three-man House contingent. "The withdrawal by the House leadership of its endorsement to Senate President Vicente Sotto III of the enrolled appropriations bill is to show good faith for the holding of immediate meaningful and sober dialogues to finally resolve the impasse and spare the economy and the people of the detrimental and adverse effects of a prolonged reenacted budget," said Lagman, who heads the opposition Magnificent 7 bloc. The budget bill has been pending on the table of Sotto who has refused to sign it over concerns that the House amendments to the final spending bill are illegal. Senators have insisted that the House should withdraw the budget bill it sent to the Senate and stick to what was approved in the bicameral conference committee. The deadlock appeared to have been broken on Monday, when Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson announced that Zamora, who was the House's negotiator on the budget, told him that the House has agreed to recall the spending bill. However, this was refuted by Andaya and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The government has been operating on a reenacted budget for three months, causing lack of funding for certain projects, including the rehabilitation of the MRT-3 and the Metro Manila subway. CNN Philippines' Xianne Arcangel and Xave Gregorio contributed to this report. Radyo Natin Gumaca in the Philippines has struggled to secure its permits following continued harassment by Gumaca Quezon mayor. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemn the harassment against Radyo Natin and call on the National Telecommunications Commission to not be influenced by politics in the decision to grant permits. Radyo Natin operations manager Mitch Hernando complained that the station had not yet been granted its mayors permit despite the organisation completing and submitting all necessary papers. This year, Hernando said that Gumaca Quezon mayor, Erwin Caralian and his brother vice mayor, El Chor Caralian tried to conspire with the National Telecommunications Commission to harass the station. Hernando said that the stations mother network, MBC, said on March 12 that the mayor was at the NTC alleging that Radyo Natin was operating illegally, and called for the station to be closed. Two days later the station was inspected by representatives from the NTC, Business Permit and Licensing Office and the Treasury Department. After the inspection, Hernando was assured by the NTC that Radyo Natin would not be shut down. The harassment and intimidation of media houses in the Philippines is an ongoing issue. Media groups have recorded at least 99 incidents of attacks and threats against the press during the first two years of President Dutertes administration. The NUJP urges members of the media to resist these attacks on press freedom. This we will say again and again, the independent Philippines press, the Filipino journalists and the freedom-loving Filipinos will make sure that such attacks will not succeed in silencing us, said NUJP. The IFJ said: We call the government of the Philippines to immediately cease the intimidation and harassment of the media. Action must be taken to end the threats against newsrooms. We also stand with NUJP as well as our brave Filipino colleagues in all the efforts to fight for freedom of the press. Imperial Valley News Center NECC Digs into Exercise Pacific Blitz 2019 Camp Pendleton, California - Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) forces began participation in the joint Exercise Pacific Blitz 2019 (PacBlitz19), March 12. PacBlitz19 is an opportunity for U.S. forces to increase maritime readiness to be prepared for real-world crisis situations. The exercise provides realistic, relevant training necessary for effective global crisis response expected of the Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy expeditionary forces (NEF) of NECC support the Marine Expeditionary Forces and the fleet by establishing theater logistics through the development of advanced naval bases (ANB). These forces are uniquely capable of coming from the sea, and operating effectively in underdeveloped conditions ashore. During PacBlitz19, the NEF are distributed throughout installations in and off the coast of Southern California, to include Port Hueneme, Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. During the exercise, NECC forces are divided into two task elements; the first task element is led by a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5 detachment and provides direct support to 1st Marine Logistics Group in a simulated ANB on Naval Air Station Point Mugu and Port Hueneme. Task element one is composed of Underwater Construction Team 2, Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 (CBMU-303), U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 312, and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11 platoon. Task element two is led by Coastal Riverine Group 1 (CRG-1) and provides direct support to 1st Marine Logistics Group in a simulated ANB on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. It is composed of Coastal Riverine Squadrons 1, 3 and 11, NMCB-5, CBMU-303 and Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 1. Planning over the phone with Construction Battalion Mobile Unit 303 and Coastal Riverine Group 1, and then getting out here and seeing their full capability, is definitely opening my eyes to the fact that NECC has a few more toys than what the Marine Corps has, said 1st Lt. Joshua C. Geidel, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, Combat Operations Center watch officer. Their mission set is definitely applicable for this type of environment and will be relied upon as we continue to go forward. Setup for the exercise in Camp Pendleton was not without difficulty as rain showers combined with overly saturated ground proved difficult for heavy equipment and machinery to traverse. When we come out and do exercises like this, we dont always know what to expect when we hit the ground, so one thing Im very impressed with about my Sailors is their level of ingenuity and flexibility when theyre faced with different problems, said Chief Engineering Aide Zachary A. Cunningham, CBMU-303 officer in charge. They start thinking outside the box and find a way to get the job done. PacBlitz19 is comprised of Sailors, Marines and Coastguardsmen who come together as a team to complete the mission. Weve got a lot of different rates and a lot of different ideas but we all have the same goal, said CBMU-303 Builder 2nd Class Ian R. Masters. Were integrating our standard operating procedures and building that cohesion for NECC. Masters also added that training in adversity will prepare them for working in any conditions as the adverse weather has forced the different commands to overcome unexpected obstacles just as they might find in a real warfighting environment. I think this is a great opportunity because itll be more of a learning exercise than it is an exercise of things we know how to do, said Geidel. There are definitely going to be mistakes, but any steps backward will ultimately advance us forward in concept development. The NEF will be conducting field training exercises which include military base construction and maintenance, expeditionary medical facility construction and maintenance, port security, expeditionary rapid airfield damage repair, port damage assessment and repair, support to undersea warfare, and expeditionary ordnance reload. We have a mission laid out in front of us and we exhaust all efforts in getting that done, said Cunningham. Seabees have a motto and thats can do, so we dont say we cant do anything. The exercise will conclude March 26. Imperial Valley News Center SECNAV Names Future Destroyer in Honor of US Navy Medal of Honor Recipient Washington, DC - Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer has named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, DDG 130, in honor of Medal of Honor recipient, Hospital Corpsman Master Chief William Charette. Charette, a native of Ludington, Michigan, joined the Navy in 1951 and served in the Korean War in the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) as a hospital corpsman attached to Company F, Third Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. The actions of Hospital Corpsman William Charette will neither be forgotten or diminished, Spencer said. Charette put himself at extreme risk during intense combat to render aid to Marines in need. His efforts saved lives and I am honored that his legacy will live on in the future USS William Charette (DDG 130). Charette was presented the Medal of Honor for his actions on March 27, 1953, when Chinese soldiers in North Korea attacked and overran two of three Marine hill outposts. During a counterattack, an enemy grenade landed near Charette who was providing aid to a wounded Marine. Charette placed himself on top of the Marine to shield him from the explosion. The blast rendered Charette unconscious but when he awoke he continued to aid Marines, including using torn parts of his uniform in order to dress battle wounds, his own battle vest to shield a wounded Marine, and exposing himself to incoming rounds in order to carry wounded Marines to safety. All five enlisted Sailors who received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Korean War were Navy hospital corpsmen attached to the Marine Corps. Charette was the only living recipient. Charette passed on March 18, 2012, due to complications from heart surgery. Arleigh-Burke class destroyers conduct a variety of operations from peacetime presence and crisis response to sea control and power projection. The future USS William Charette (DDG 130) will be a Flight III destroyer, capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously, and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems designed to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities. The ship will be constructed at Bath Iron Works, a division of General Dynamics in Bath, Maine. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam length of 59 feet and be capable of operating at speeds in excess of 30 knots. Erik Ortega, President IID Board of Directors, on DCP Imperial, California - Imperial Irrigation District: Prepared Remarks by Erik Ortega, President IID Board of Directors, on DCP, March 18, 2019: Today in closed session, the IID Board of Directors took no action on the Drought Contingency Plan and has so advised the Colorado River Board of California, which is holding its own special meeting to take up the DCP matter later in the day. If the DCP moves forward without IID, then what the other parties are saying is that a plan that eliminates the rivers largest single water user and ignores the environmental challenges posed by the Salton Sea still checks all the other boxes for them. By forging ahead, what they are saying is that the only acceptable way to check the boxes marked IID and Salton Sea is to erase them. What theyre also saying is that getting the DCP done is more important than getting it right. The IID Board of Directors did not opt out of the DCP. That decision was made for it earlier this month when the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California rode in on a white horse to rescue the DCP by writing IID and the Salton Sea out of it. The other water contractors, along with the Bureau of Reclamation, could have rejected the MWD proposal as a cynical, short-sighted attempt to sidestep the Salton Sea issue, but they embraced it instead as an elegant solution to the problem, which is to basically pretend it doesnt exist. It was at this point that the idea of crossing the finish line together, which had been one of the foremost goals of the DCP, was quietly discarded in favor of getting the deal done and ensuring, at all costs, that it be seen as remote or disconnected from the Salton Sea. This is how, after more than four years of negotiations, the DCP process ends for IID: With a Hobsons choice that forces the board to pick either the DCP or the Salton Sea, but not both. It will surprise no one that IID has come down on the side of the Salton Sea. Thats because, for IID, the Salton Sea will always be the proving grounds of the DCP, just as it has been for the Quantification Settlement Agreement, and thus its finish line. Those who deny it, including the people meeting in Phoenix tomorrow to toast their achievement and each other, are just fooling themselves or have other agendas. IID has one agenda: to be part of a DCP that treats the Salton Sea with the dignity and due consideration it deserves, not as its first casualty. That kind of DCP is still possible if the parties take the longer view and understand that, as problems go, the Salton Sea is far easier to deal with on the front end of a historic river-sharing pact than at the back. And that is why IID stands with the Salton Sea, even when no one else will. It has become a familiar, if lonely, place to be, but its also home and that, in the end, is the biggest difference between IID and what looks to be the rest of the Colorado River community. IID doesnt believe the DCP can make the Salton Sea disappear. Joint Statement from President Donald J. Trump and President Jair Bolsonaro Washington, DC - Today, President Donald J. Trump and President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil committed to building a new partnership between their two countries focused on increasing prosperity, enhancing security, and promoting democracy, freedom, and national sovereignty. President Trump and President Bolsonaro reiterated that the United States and Brazil stand with the Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido, along with the democratically elected National Assembly, and the Venezuelan people, as they work to peacefully restore constitutional order to Venezuela. The two Presidents agreed to deepen their partnership through the United States-Brazil Security Forum to combat terrorism, narcotics and arms trafficking, cybercrimes, and money laundering, and they welcomed two new arrangements to enhance border security. President Bolsonaro announced Brazils intent to exempt United States citizens from tourist visa requirements, and the Presidents agreed to take the steps necessary to enable Brazil to participate in the Department of Homeland Securitys Trusted Traveler Global Entry Program. President Trump announced the United States intent to designate Brazil as a Major Non-NATO Ally. The Presidents further welcomed the signing of a Technology Safeguards Agreement, which will enable United States companies to conduct commercial space launches from Brazil, as well as an agreement between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Brazilian Space Agency to launch a jointly developed satellite in the near future. The two leaders agreed to build a Prosperity Partnership to increase jobs and reduce barriers to trade and investment. To this end, they decided to enhance the work of the United States-Brazil Commission on Economic and Trade Relations, created under the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation, to explore new initiatives to facilitate trade investment and good regulatory practices. The two leaders also made a number of trade-related commitments. President Bolsonaro announced that Brazil will implement a tariff rate quota, allowing for the annual importation of 750 thousand tons of American wheat at zero rate. In addition, the United States and Brazil agreed to science-based conditions to allow for the importation of United States pork. In order to allow for the resumption of Brazils beef exports, the United States agreed to expeditiously schedule a technical visit by the United States Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service to audit Brazils raw beef inspection system, as soon as it is satisfied with Brazils food safety documentation. The Presidents instructed their teams to negotiate a Mutual Recognition Agreement concerning their Trusted Trader programs, which will reduce costs for American and Brazilian companies. The two leaders announced a new phase of the United States-Brazil CEO Forum, and welcomed the creation of a $100 million Biodiversity Impact Investment Fund that will catalyze sustainable investment in the Amazon region. As leaders of two of the fastest-growing energy suppliers in the world, the Presidents agreed to establish a United States-Brazil Energy Forum to facilitate energy-related trade and investment. President Trump welcomed Brazils ongoing efforts regarding economic reforms, best practices, and a regulatory framework in line with the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). President Trump noted his support for Brazil initiating the accession procedure to become a full member of the OECD. Commensurate with its status as a global leader, President Bolsonaro agreed that Brazil will begin to forgo special and differential treatment in World Trade Organization negotiations, in line with the United States proposal. President Bolsonaro thanked President Trump and the American people for their hospitality. Repression of Human Rights in Nicaragua Washington, DC - The United States condemns the Ortega regimes continued violence and repression toward the Nicaraguan people, including the arbitrary detention of hundreds of peaceful protestors and violence against independent media on March 16. The United States will continue to urge accountability for those who have demonstrated blatant disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms. We call on the Ortega regime to release immediately and unconditionally all arbitrarily detained persons; respect Nicaraguans freedom of assembly and expression; and commit to electoral reforms and to holding free and fair elections early. We reiterate our support for the Civic Alliance and the Nicaraguan people in their quest to restore democracy through peaceful means. Now is the time for swift, just solutions and proof of good faith. Nicaraguans deserve to have a government that listens to their voices and respects their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The first trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood has been released. Starring a bustling ensemble that includes Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie, the director's ninth feature is set to be a landmark entry into his filmography - a period piece exploring hippie culture and the Hollywood studio system in late 1960s Los Angeles around the time of the infamous Manson Family Murders. Tarantino, whose most recent film was The Hateful Eight, worked on the film's script for five years and is reportedly hurrying to get the film ready in time for this year's Cannes Film Festival, which begins in May. Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood will follow a faded TV actor (DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Pitt) who strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Show all 47 1 /47 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination American Psycho (2000) Starring future Oscar-winner Christian Bale, Mary Harrons adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel in which the Vice star plays the psychopathic Patrick Bateman - didnt receive a single nomination. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Before Sunrise (1995) While the final two chapters of Richard Linklaters Before trilogy earned screenplay nominations, the film that introduced the world to future married couple Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) was criminally overlooked. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang had a number of films overlooked by the Academy; this noir, starring Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and and Gloria Grahame, was one of them. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Lebowski (1998) The Academys generosity to the Coen brothers peaked when No Country for Old Men beat There Will Be Blood in one of the ceremonys closest Best Picture races of all time. It remains surprising that one of their few films to evade any nominations is this endlessly quotable mistaken identity comedy starring Jeff Bridges as The Dude. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Blow Out (1981) Brian De Palma doesnt exactly make films in the hope of winning award, but his political thriller - based on Michelangelo Antonionis Blow Up would have deserved any Oscar it was nominated for. Filmways Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Breathless (1960) Breathless' failure to receive a nomination is proof that the Oscars cant be trusted. Despite being one of the most studied films in the world, Jean Luc-Godards French masterpiece has an Academy Award tally of zero. Films Around The World 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Bringing Up Baby (1938) The Academy rewarded many notable screwball comedies, though this Howard Hawks-directed standout starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - whod go on to hold the record for most wins - wasn't one of them. Courtesy of BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Don't Look Now (1973) Nicolas Roeg, who directed this Venice-set chiller, is one of the most unfairly overlooked directors in Oscars history. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Donnie Darko (2004) Richard Kellys science-fiction mind-bender, which made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal, was a festival favourite upon its debut in 2004. Many expected a screenplay nomination to manifest. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) It wouldnt be until the 1990s that western films found favour with the Academy. It was ironically thanks to Unforgiven, a film directed by Clint Eastwood whose career flourished after starring in this Sergio Leone film that many consider to be the genres peak. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination La haine (1995) Mathieu Kassovitzs black-and-white drama translated in English as Hate follows three young friends and their struggles living in the suburbs of Paris. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Halloween (1978) The Academy may not be frothing at the mouth to nominate horror films, but do have previous (see: The Exorcist and The Silence of the Lamb), which makes the absence of John Carpenters influential Halloween a glaring oversight. Aquarius Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Harold and Maude (1971) This offbeat romantic drama was a critical and commercial flop at the time of release, which probably accounts for its lack of Oscar nominations. Today, though, its cult following ensures it remains in good favour with film fans. Paramount Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Heat (1995) On paper, the big screen union of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Manns cop drama was a shoo-in for awards, but no Oscar nominations manifested. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination His Girl Friday (1940) Yet another Howard Hawks screwball comedy starring Cary Grant that criminally failed to secure a single Oscar nomination. L/Columbia/Koba/Rex/Shutterstock 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Insomnia (2002) While falling short of Christopher Nolans best, modest drama Insomnia made years before Batman Begins had enough strong performances (Al Pacino, Robin Wiliams, Hilary Swank) to warrant acting nominations. Alas, it received none. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Local Hero (1983) Bill Forsyths beloved comedy-drama follows the mishaps of an American man sent to buy up a Scottish village where the oil company he works for wants to build a refinery. Forsyth won the Bafta for Best Director, but the film received no such love from the Academy. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination M (1931) Youd be mistaken for thinking the M stands for masterpiece in Fritz Langs German drama that follows the manhunt for a serial killer - not that the Academy agreed. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Man Escaped (1956) Robert Bressons adaptation of Andre Devignys memoirs charts the French Resistance members time as prisoner of the Germans during World War II, and is even more enthralling considering Bresson himself was held captive years before. Gaumont Film Company 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Margaret (2011) Kenneth Lonergan would go on to win an Oscar for Manchester but he Sea, but Margaret - his three-hour plus drama featuring a searing performance from Anna Paquin - failed to secure a single nomination. Fox Searchlight Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination In the Mood for Love (2000) Wong Kar-wai set the benchmark for romance in film with his acclaimed Hong Kong drama following a man and woman (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who develop feelings for one another after suspecting their respective spouses of having an affair together. defd Deutscher Fernsehdienst 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The King of Comedy (1982) It may have taken him decades to win an Oscar, but the Academy has rarely balked at nominating Martin Scorsese films especially for films starring Robert De Niro. The King of Comedy was an exception. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Long Goodbye (1973) Robert Altmans superior thriller stars Elliott Gould as Raymond Chandlers private investigator Philip Marlowe in one of the directors most entertaining films. The director would go on to be the recipient of the Honorary Award in 2006. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Man With Two Brains (1983) He may have hosted several times, but Steve Martin has never been nominated for an Oscar. One film he deserved recognition for was Carl Reiner's 1983 sci-fi comedy, The Man with Two Brains. Warner Bros. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Matter of Life and Death (1946) The Academy Film Archive may have preserved A Matter of Life and Death in 1999, but voters failed to recognise the Powell & Pressburgers fantasy-romance at the time of its release in 1946. Eagle-Lion Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Mean Streets (1973) It may not be credited as his debut, but Mean Streets is very much the first true Martin Scorsese film. The director would go on to win a belated Oscar for The Departed in 2007, but hed have to wait until 1975 for his first nomination (Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Melancholia (2011) No Lars von Trier film has ever been nominated for Best Picture, though Dancer in the Dark came close (it settled for a Best Original Song nomination). He came close with Melancholia, but ultimately, the drama didn't get Canal+ 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Miller's Crossing (1990) Despite being revered as a Coen brothers favourite, not to mention its notable performances from Gabriel Byrne and Albert Finney, Millers Crossing is one of few Coen brother films not to receive a single Oscar nomination. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Once Upon a Time in America (1984) Though it's by no means a masterpiece, its staggering to think that Sergio Leones gangster epic - starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci - didnt acquire any Oscar nominations (the film's music was disqualified from consideration after Warner Bros accidentally omitted the composer's name from the opening credits when trimming the films lengthy running time for its American release). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paterson (2016) Critics assumed Jim Jarmuschs Paterson would have been a shoo-in for awards recognition - most notably in the Best Actor category, thanks to a quietly fantastic performance from Adam Driver - but no such luck. Amazon Studios 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paths of Glory (1957) Stanley Kubrick never won Best Director despite being nominated four times. One of his films that didnt make the Oscars cut in any category was his black-and-white anti-war film, Paths of Glory. United Artists 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Play Misty for Me (1971) Clint Eastwood would go onto become something of an Oscar darling thanks to Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, but his directorial debut was ignored by the Academy. Univeral Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Reservoir Dogs (1992) Reservoir Dogs may not touch Quentin Tarantinos best, but it remains a surprise that the filmmakers debut didnt get recognised in the screenplay category, at least. Miramax Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Rider (2018) Of all the 2018 films to be snubbed at this years Oscars, Chloe Zhaos drama - which stars a real-life rodeo cowboy and his family - smacks as the most unfair. Sony Pictures Classics 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Searchers (1956) The role of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards might be considered John Waynes best role, but the Academy didnt agree: he would win his sole Oscar for True Grit in 1970. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shining (1980) Another Kubrick film that was completely ignored by the Academy is the directors Stephen King adaptation, The Shining. Today, its considered one of his finest works as well as being one of the most revered horror films of all time. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shop Around the Corner (1953) It may have endured as one of the best loved romcoms of all time, but it has zero Oscar nominations to its name. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Still Walking (2008) Japanese director Hirokazo Kore-eda's portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the eldest son was a glaring oversight by the Academy. IFC Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Swingers Before he became Disney's go to, Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book and the forthcoming live-action Lion King) wrote this independent film about the lives of single, unemployed actors living in Hollywood, California during the 1990s swing revival. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination This Is England (2006 The 2007 ceremony would have been far better had Shane Meadows' coming-of-drama been in contention for awards. Optimum Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Three Kings (1999) The Academy deemed Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle worthy of nominations, but not David O Russells Three Kings, which remains one of his greatest films to this day. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tokyo Story (1953) Tokyo Story is deemed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece and was named Sight & Sound's best film of all time in 2012. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Welles' classic noir wasn't as well loved at the time of release as it is today. BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tyrannosaur (2011) Olivia Colman may be in contention for Best Actress at this years ceremony, but the fact she failed to earn a nomination (or Bafta, for that matter) for her role in Paddy Considines hard-hitting drama Tyrannosaur is one of the biggest oversights in awards history. StudioCanal UK 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Walkabout (1971) Another exceptional achievement in filmmaking from Nicolas Roeg that somehow failed to receive any Oscar nominations. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination You Were Never Really Here (2018) Notch it down to bad timing, but Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here - starring Joaquin Phoenix - is a sensational piece of work worthy of reward. Amazon Studio 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Zodiac (2007) Three years later, David Fincher would go head-to-head with The King Speech's Tom Hooper for The Social Network. In truth, serial killer drama Zodiac is every bit as good as the Facebook drama. Warner Bros Pictures Other stars to appear in the film include Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Damien Lewis, Lena Dunham and Bruce Dern. Burt Reynolds and Luke Perry will appear in the film posthumously. Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood will be released in the UK on 14 August. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films Show all 11 1 /11 The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films Frazer Harrison / Getty The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 10. The Revenant (2015) The film DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for. Is it his best role? No. But there's no denying DiCaprio's commitment to the cause: as Hugh Glass, the legendary explorer who was attacked by a bear and left for dead, he literally eats a raw bison liver. Ravishingly shot, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 19th-century tale is not only a brutal story of revenge and determination, but a profound meditation on man and nature. Rex The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 9. Titanic (1997) Titanic may be one of the most successful films of all time, but its also become a lightning rod for critical opprobrium in recent years. That's unfair. James Camerons big-screen retelling of the ill-fated ships sinking anchored by the love affair between Jack (DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) is the perfect blockbuster and an all-round technical marvel. 20th Century Fox The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 8. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? DiCaprios first Oscar nomination came with this slice-of-life drama following a young man (Johnny Depp) who cares for his mother and mentally impaired brother. Its themes of loneliness and desperation may not make Lasse Hallstroms film a heartwarming affair, but its breezy screenplay brought to life by Depp and DiCaprios exceptional performances makes it a compulsory one. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 7. The Departed (2006) It may lack the grit of Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong film its based on, but The Departed is still a thrilling crime drama that fizzes with chutzpah from its opening scene. Its plot, following two moles one within the Boston police force, the other as part of a fearsome mob bosss crew keeps viewers on their toes right through to its bullet-ridden final act. Warner Bros The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 6. Django Unchained (2012) Save for its flabby climax, Quentin Tarantinos revisionist take on the western genre is up there with his best. As violent as it is sublimely silly, it casts DiCaprio as the villainous slaveowner Calvin Candie a role the actor, fake teeth and all, embraces with relish. TWC The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) DiCaprios performance in The Wolf of Wall Street could well be the role of his career. As real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, he covers the whole gamut of emotions: charm (the workplace speeches), slapstick comedy (the quaalude stair-plummet) and horror (the domestic abuse). The Wolf of Wall Street slips alongside Mean Streets and Goodfellas as one of Martin Scorseses most re-watchable films. AP The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 4. Shutter Island (2010) DiCaprios fourth film with Martin Scorsese is their only collaboration to be completely shunned by awards voters (it received a grand total of zero Oscar nominations). The mist-shrouded landscape of Shutter Island is a tribute to Sam Fullers 1963 cult film, Shock Corridor, and is a shining example of Scorsese succeeding in whatever he turns his hand to. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 3. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Bouncy and gently amusing, Steven Spielberg's light drama stars DiCaprio as Frank Abergnale, a charming con artist whose life collides with that of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). Theres excitement to be had in Abergnales illicit escapades, as well as pathos when the circle eventually closes in. The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 2. Inception (2010) To call Inception a Leonardo DiCaprio film is to do a disservice to its writer-director Christopher Nolan, whose mind-bending blockbuster remains a staggering, if divisive, achievement. DiCaprio could have easily rested on his laurels, knowing the audience would be dazzled by the directors visuals, but his performance as Dom Cobb is genuinely affecting: his reaction to wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) throwing herself from a window is a devastating high point. Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 1. Romeo + Juliet (1996) Baz Luhrmann once described his update of Shakespeare's classic tragedy as "funky". That it is, and so much more. From the psychedelic tunes to the Hawaiian shirts, it's Romeo and Juliet by way of MTV: a heady, relentlessly innovative dive into the seedy metropolis of Verona Beach, Florida. This was the moment the then 21-year-old DiCaprio went stratospheric. You can find a compilation of everything we know about the film here. Colour is flooding the air across the Hindu world as the Holi festival begins. Hindus will mark the arrival of spring by taking to the streets and covering each other in colourful powder. Celebrations commence with bonfires for Holika Dahan on the eve of the festival and continue with Rangwali Holi the following morning. The festival is celebrated around the world but primarily in Nepal and India. The Independent has compiled the best pictures from this years Holi celebrations in the gallery above. Emily Maitlis has been announced as the lead host of Newsnight in a new all-female presenting lineup. Maitlis overtakes Evan Davis who stepped down as host in 2018 after being replacing Eddie Mair on BBC Radio 4 current affairs programme PM. The BBC has also confirmed that Kirsty Wark will take on an enhanced role on the programme with broadcaster Emma Barnett joining the team. Wark has been one of the main presenters on the show for more than 20 years. She said: "There is no better place to be right now on British television as we navigate great shifts in politics, international relations and the way we live our lives. "I love the fact that Newsnight is equipped with a tremendous mix of people who can deliver impact-making journalism with real flair." World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Davis hosted the show since 2014. Speaking about stepping down last year, Davis said: I would have loved to stay longer at Newsnight and will miss the team whove been fantastic, but PM is presenter heaven and jobs like this dont come along very often, and you have to grab them when you can. Newsnight has been broadcast on BBC Two since 1980. Ben & Jerrys is the mastermind behind some of the most beloved ice cream variations in the business, with flavours such as Phish Food and Chunky Monkey consistently popular among dessert-lovers. However, there are some flavours that dont make the brand, or the publics cut. These discarded flavours are eventually relegated to the Ben & Jerrys flavour graveyard, which exists both online and in-person at the companys factory in Waterbury, Vermont, and which pays homage to the ice cream flavours of the past with individual poems. These are eight Ben & Jerrys flavours that you may never know existed, but that some people wish the ice cream creators would bring back. Dublin Mudslide This flavour, featuring Irish cream liqueur-flavoured ice cream combined with chocolate chip cookies and a coffee fudge swirl, was first introduced as a limited flavour in 2004 before the ice cream company brought it on as a full-time flavour in 2005. The Ten Best Ice Creams Show all 10 1 /10 The Ten Best Ice Creams The Ten Best Ice Creams 203609.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203608.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203607.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203606.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203605.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203604.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203603.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203602.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203601.bin The Ten Best Ice Creams 203610.bin However, even that title wasnt permanent, as the flavour was officially retired 2012. The demise of the flavour was a disappointment for some, with one person tweeting to the company: Dear Ben and Jerrys, wheres my Dublin Mudslide flavour gone? I miss it and want it back please. Peanut Butter and Jelly Proving that peanut butter and jelly is better suited for a sandwich, Ben & Jerrys retired this flavour after selling it for just a year from 1989 to 1990. Despite the short-lived offering, the flavour has remained a favourite in the minds of some. I still miss Ben and Jerrys Peanut Butter and Jelly flavour, someone tweeted in 2013. Wavy Gravy A flavour made from caramel and cashew brazil nut ice cream, chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds, Wavy Gravy was sold from 1993 to 2001. Years later, the flavour is still remembered on social media as one person attempted to start a campaign to bring back the ice cream in 2011. If you loved the Ben and Jerrys flavour Wavy Gravy and want it back please retweet this, they wrote, alongside the hashtag #bringbackwavygravy. Late Night Snack An ice cream flavour dedicated to Jimmy Fallon, Late Night Snack was a combination of vanilla ice cream, salted caramel swirls and fudge-covered potato chips and was available from 2010 to 2014. Although not everyone remembers the name of the ice cream flavour, many do remember the chocolate-covered chips that made it unique. Ben and Jerrys gotta bring the flavour with the chocolate-covered potato chips back, one person tweeted. Schweddy Balls This uniquely-named ice cream was sold in 2011 as a holiday season limited edition flavour. The ice cream, which was made from vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and completed with fudge-covered rum and malt balls, was inspired by SNLs recurring character Pete Schweddy. Despite being sold for a limited time, the flavour is still remembered by some who have asked that the brand return the flavour eight years after it was sold. Vermonty Python Vermonty Python was a coffee-liqueur flavoured ice cream made with chocolate cookie crumb swirl and fudge cows. Ben & Jerry's introduce anti-Trump 'Pecan Resist' icecream The flavour was sold from 2006 until 2008, at which point it was officially retired to the ice cream graveyard. Ben & Jerrys paid tribute to the flavour with a poem inspired by Monty Python. Oatmeal Cookie Chunk Sometimes even the most classic of flavours fail in the competitive ice cream world. For Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, which was made from sweet cream cinnamon ice cream and chunks of oatmeal cookies and fudge, its first release proved a hit, when it was offered in 2003 as a limited batch. However, the flavours popularity faded after eight years, at which point it was retired in 2012. Brownie Batter This flavour was made from brownie batter ice cream with a brownie batter swirl and was also a winning combination for eight years. But in 2011, it became clear that Brownie Batter was no longer a popular choice, and the once-loved ice cream was sent to the graveyard. Fortunately, just because a flavour has been sent to the graveyard doesnt mean it is lost forever as Ben & Jerrys frequently offers people the chance to resurrect a beloved past favourite. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events If a favourite of yours is on the list, you can visit the Ben & Jerrys website, where you have the option to write in to the ice cream company and plead your case. Gemma Chan has criticised the patriarchal system, calling it rubbish and bollocks. The 36-year-old actor, who plays Doctor Minerva in Marvels first female-led movie, Captain Marvel, is no stranger to fighting for what she believes in, particularly when it comes to sexism. In 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians star attended the BAFTAs wearing a #TimesUp pin in solidarity with the movement. She was one of a handful of actors who gave the campaigns activists a voice by inviting Laura Bates the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an organisation which encourages victims of sexual harassment to share their experiences to join her on the red carpet. Now, starring on the cover of Glamour UKs March digital issue, aptly titled #EverydayIsWomensDay, Chan has spoken out about her enduring mission to fight the patriarchy, saying: Its rubbish, its bollocks. The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Show all 12 1 /12 The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Anne Hathaway The 32-year-old actress said she has already experiences job rejections because of her age. Now I'm in my early thirties and I'm like, 'Why did that 24-year-old get that part? I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it, it's the way things are, she told Glamour. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Helen Mirren On news that Maggie Gyllenhaal had been turned down for being too old, aged 37, to play a 55-year-old mans partner: Its f***ing outrageous. Its ridiculous. Honestly, its so annoying. And twas ever thus. We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger. Its so annoying. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Maggie Gyllenhaal Gyllenhaal revealed she was told by a Hollywood producer that she was too old, aged 37, to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh, she said at the time. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Meryl Streep Meryl Streep has helped fund an all-female screenwriters group called The Writers Lab to encourage more women to pen Hollywood scripts. She previously told Vogue in 2011: Once women pass childbearing age they could only be seen as grotesque on some level. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Emma Thompson The actress said she thought Hollywood is still completely s*** when it comes to treating women equally to men. When I was younger, I really did think we were on our way to a better world. And when I look at it now, it is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women, and I find that very disturbing and sad. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Elizabeth Banks Banks said she was driven from acting to directing due to the lack of roles for older women in Hollywood. "[Industry sexism] drove me to direct for sure. I definitely was feeling that I was unfulfilled and a little bit bored by the things that were coming across my desk. I mean look at Gwyneth Paltrow who has her Oscar [for Shakespeare in Love] and played fifth banana to Iron Man, she told Deadline. PA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Viola Davis I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualised role in TV or film. I'm a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualised woman. I was the prototype of the mommified role, she told The Hollywood Reporter. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Liv Tyler The Lord of the Rings actress said she only get cast in roles where she is treated as a second class citizen at the age of 38. When youre in your teens or twenties, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], youre usually the wife or the girlfriend - a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older, she told More magazine. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Cate Blanchett The actress famously called out sexism on the red carpet at the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards. When a camera operator scanned her up and down, she said: Do you do this to the guys? In her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine, she reminded the film industry that movies with leading women can still be successful. And thank you to... those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women at the centre, are niche experiences. They are not -- audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people. Gareth Cattermole/Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Ellen Page Asked if she had ever encountered sexism in Hollywood, Page told The Guardian: Oh my God, yeah! It's constant! It's how you're treated, it's how you're looked at, how you're expected to look in a photoshoot, it's how you're expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it's how you... If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Zoe Saldana The actress says she refuses roles where she has to play the generic girlfriend, wife or sexy bombshell. "It's very hard being a woman in a man's world, and I recognised it was a man's world even when I was a kid. It's an inequality and injustice that drove me crazy, and which I always spoke out against and I've always been outspoken, she told Manhattan magazine. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Charlize Theron The actress spoke to ELLE about negotiating equal pay for the Snow White and the Huntsman sequel: "This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way." Andreas Rentz/Getty Images The actor also called everyday sexism bulls***, revealing that her new role in Captain Marvel has led her to recall moments she has been treated unfairly based on her gender. I retweeted an article the other day about the winners of the Grammy Awards and it listed all the ages of the female nominees but it didnt mention the mens ages. Thats everyday sexism, she told Glamour. When I talk to my friends, there are a number of times little things that happen throughout the day can build up. They can weigh you down and they can get on top of you. That is the sad and terrifying reality that many of us women and men have to face. Chan went on to explain how she believes it is important for men to get behind the cause too, explaining she doesnt see the fight to achieve gender equality as a battle of the sexes. Its about us working together to dismantle a system that is really oppressive to all of us, she explained. It always really heartens me when a man does speak out not to just defend women but to make it clear they are an ally. It is so important...We cant do it without bringing men along for the ride. Chan also revealed that she often receives a different line of questioning from her male co-stars during press interviews, explaining that female actors are often probed about their age. (Glamour) Is anyone going to ask Jude [Law] how hes dealing with the ageing process? Actresses have to navigate this line of questioning every single day, Chan said. Discussions around ageing have been a way of controlling women, making women feel insecure about ourselves and as if they arent adequate. We need to change things, especially in the beauty industry. The ageing process is going to happen to all of us how are we going to deal with it? I think anti-ageing is a prehistoric term. Despite the obstacles she faces, Chan insisted that she feels more empowered now than ever before, revealing she plans to continue to use her platform to speak out about things that matter to her. I think there are so many people who dont have a voice and if there is anything I can do to help those who have less power than myself, then thats something I have to try and do, she said. See the full feature in the March digital issue of GLAMOUR UK, available online now. A record number of children are living with a parent suffering from emotional distress, data has shown. According to new research conducted by Public Health England (PHE), 29 per cent of children in the UK are living with a parent who has exhibited symptoms of emotional distress. This is the highest percentage to date since records on the topic first started being logged in 2010. The data showed that mothers are more likely than fathers to report emotional distress, with more than a fifth of children in the UK living in a household with a mother struggling with the mental health issue. In comparison, one in eight children in the UK live in a household with a father who has reported feeling distressed. Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Show all 18 1 /18 Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Sow Ay illustrations on mental health Around one in 28 children were found to be living in a household where both parents are in distress. The data was gathered from an Understanding Society study of around 40,000 households in the UK between 2016 and 2017. According to the survey, children have a greater likelihood of living with a parent suffering from emotional issues if both parents are out of work. "Parental emotional distress can lead to mental health problems including anxiety or depression," says PHE with regards to the research. "It is associated with an increased risk of later behavioural and emotional difficulties in children." Dr Bernadka Dubicka, chairwoman of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, explains that the impact of the mental health of parents on their children cannot be underestimated. "Mental distress among adults is clearly on the rise," Dr Dubicka says. "Not every adult with emotional distress will have a mental health disorder, but many will. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events "If we can treat their illness early, this could have significant positive effects on the wellbeing of their children." Dr Dubicka added that employers need to be more aware of workers who are struggling with mental health issues so they can provide them with adequate support. For mental health support, you can contact Anxiety UK on 03444 775 774 (helpline open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm), Mind on 0300 123 3393 (helpline open Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm) and Samaritans on 116 123 (open 24 hours, seven days a week). Google is celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi with one of its famous doodles, this time a bright, colourful illustration. Also known as the festival of colours or the festival of spring, Holi is celebrated around the world, but particularly in Nepal and India. In South Asia, it typically marks the start of long, hot months head. The Google Doodle artwork shows people splashing paint on each other, with an orange elephant trunk curling across the front. Spread over two days, Holi is split into two events: Holika Dahan and Rangwali Holi. This year they fall on 20 March and 21 March respectively. Holika Dahan is the evening before the more famous, colourful festivities. It involves the ritual burning of pyres and the lighting of bonfires to symbolise good triumphing over evil. Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Show all 20 1 /20 Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees raise their hands in prayer as they are sprayed with colour by a priest during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A girl smears her friend in colour during Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Armristar, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees celebrate Holi inside a temple in Uttar Pradesh, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees are sprayed with colour by a priest during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India AP Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours College girls pose during Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A college girl takes part in the Holi festival celebrations in Bhopal, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A young girl smeared with colour during Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Armristar, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Colour fills the air during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours An Indian man is splattered with colour during Holi celebrations in Allahabad, India AP Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees celebrate Holi inside a temple in Uttar Pradesh, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A vendor sells coloured powder known as gulal prior to Holi celebrations in Siliguru, India AFP/Getty Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours An Indian man is splattered with colour during Holi celebrations in Allahabad, India AP Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A hindu priest is smeared with colour during Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Armristar, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A student is covered in colour on a campus in Chandigarh, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Colour is sprayed from a temple during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Students smeared in colour dance during Holi celebrations in Chandigarh, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees are sprayed with colour by a priest during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Hindu devotees are sprayed with colour by a priest during Holi celebrations in Ahmedabad, India Reuters Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours A young man is smeared in colour by his friend during Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Armristar, India EPA Holi 2019 in pictures: Hindus celebrate Indian Festival of Colours Women play with powdered colours Holi festival celebrations at Durgiana Temple in Armristar, India EPA You may have seen pictures of people covered in vibrant, bright powder. These colours are key to the second part of the celebrations, Rangwali Holi, which is marked around the world. Colours are key to Holi celebrations, with different colours holding different meanings in the Hindu faith. Green, fore example, represents new beginnings. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The timing of Holi or the festival of spring depends on the moon, so the date changes every year. However you can usually expect to celebrate the day in March, which sees the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Achieving happiness is no easy feat. Happiness may mean something quite different to everyone respectively, but the founder of the International Day of Happiness believes it is a fundamental human right for all. Every year, the International Day of Happiness celebrates happiness and the right of all to strive for it. Heres everything you need to know about the International Day of Happiness 2020: When is it taking place? The International Day of Happiness takes place every year on 20 March. Its date coincides with the vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring. 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities Show all 24 1 /24 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 6. Oprah Winfrey The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free. Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 1. Demi Lovato No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things. Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 2. Bruce Lee It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials. Rex Features 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 3. Ziggy Marley Doing something that is productive is a great way to alleviate emotional stress. Get your mind doing something that is productive. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 4. Winnie The Pooh Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering. 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 5. Lena Dunham "I am certainly no self-help guru but here is what I know tonight: when you take the time and space you need, kindly and responsibly, you're suddenly available to the people you love in a whole new way." Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 7. Barack Obama If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress. AFP/Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 8. Michelle Obama One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really dont invest any energy in them, because I know who I am. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 9. Lizzo "I love you. You are beautiful and you can do anything." Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 10. RuPaul "The only thing wrong with me was that I thought there was something wrong with me." Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 11. Maya Angelou You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it's all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 12. Stephen Fry It is the useless things that make life worth living and that make life dangerous too: wine, love, art, beauty. Without them life is safe, but not worth bothering with. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 13. Meghan Markle Be able to delegate, because there are some things that you just cant do by yourself. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 14. Nelson Mandela Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 15. Haruki Murakami "And once the storm is over you wont remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You wont even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you wont be the same person who walked in. Thats what this storms all about. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 16. CS Lewis You Are Never Too Old To Set Another Goal Or To Dream A New Dream. Rex Features 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 17. Audery Hepburn Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 18. Ella Fitzgerald Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 19. Billy Porter For me, life is about being positive and hopeful, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be encouraging, choosing to be empowering. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 20. Betty White It's your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly and don't take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver. Getty Images 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 21. Drew Barrymore "Life is very interesting in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 22. Jane Fonda Its never too late never too late to start over, never too late to be happy. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 23. Jennifer Aniston There are no regrets in life. Just lessons. Getty 24 pieces of life advice from celebrities 24. Beyonce Knowles "The reality is: sometimes you lose. And youre never too good to lose. Youre never too big to lose. Youre never too smart to lose. It happens" Getty Images This is no coincidence, as the founder of the celebration specifically chose the date of the spring equinox for that of the global celebration of happiness. While delivering a speech at the World Happiness Summit in 2017, Jayme Illien described the vernal equinox as a universal phenomenon felt by all of humankind. He also described the beginning of spring as a period of renewal and new beginnings, for all, which is why its apt for the International Day of Happiness to fall on that day. How did it start? The concept of the International Day of Happiness was created by Illien, a philanthropist and a UN special advisor. Illien came up with the idea of creating an international event in order to emphasise the pursuit of happiness as a goal for all human beings. Recommended 9 experts reveal the secrets to true happiness for International His initiative was backed by Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the UN at the time. Illien also received support from all 193 UN member states to make the date an official, annual fixture on the UN calendar. On 28 June 2012, the UN resolution for the creation of the day unanimously accepted by the member states at the UN General Assembly. The first International Day of Happiness was officially held on 20 March 2013. How can you celebrate it? When the International Day of Happiness comes around on 20 March, you can expect to see Twitter, Instagram and Facebook inundated with posts promoting the jubilant day. In addition to sharing uplifting posts on social media, people usually celebrate the day by attending a variety of events across the globe. However, the coronavirus pandemic means that a number of social events will have been cancelled. What is this year's theme? Recommended 11 heartwarming examples of kindness during the coronavirus outbreak The theme for this year's International Day of Happiness is "Happiness For All, Together", the UN states. The organisation is encouraging people to take part in the "10 steps to global happiness" challenge, which it outlines on its website. These steps include sticking together, attending a virtual happiness event and staying social online. Check out the official International Day of Happiness website to learn more about the day. As spring arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, so does Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Observed by millions of people across the globe, the Iranian celebration of spring and new beginnings has been commemorated for thousands of years. It promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families as well as reconciliation and neighbourliness, thus contributing to cultural diversity and friendship among peoples and different communities, the United Nations states. Heres everything you need to know about Nowruz: When is it? This year, Nowruz is taking place on Thursday 21 March. Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Show all 43 1 /43 Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Performers take part in a fire dragon dance under a shower of molten iron sparks on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Pig, in Zaozhuang REUTERS Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Filipino-Chinese children display piggy banks at the start of celebrations for Lunar New Year in Chinatown, Manila, Philippines AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A lion dance troupe performs among visitors jostling for freebies thrown to them during celebrations for the Lunar New Year of the Pig in Manila's Chinatown district AFP/Getty Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world People buy flowers at a New Year market in Hong Kong's Victoria Park AP/Vincent Yu Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Performers take part in a night parade to celebrate Chinese New Year in Hong Kong AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Lion dancers dance around firecrackers as they explode in the street while ushering in Chinese New Year in San Francisco, California Getty Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world People look at festive New Year pig ornaments in the China Town area of London AFP/Getty Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Drummers perform in front of a mural reading "2019" at a temple fair at Longtan Park in Beijing AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A performer blows fire during Chinese New Year celebrations at Manila's Chinatown Reuters Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world (Credit too long, see caption) Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Dancers perform a Dragon dance next to revelers in Manila EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world anterns are carried through the streets to be hung on Chinese New Year in Chinatown in London Getty Images Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Diners take part in the largest yum cha meal in Sydney, Australia EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Children celebrate the Lunar New Year in Chinatown in New York Getty Images Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A crowd jostles to grab items being thrown at them during celebrations AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Performers take part in a Chinese New Year parade in Tsim Sha Tsui EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world (Credit too long, see caption) Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world (Credit too long, see caption) Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world (Credit too long, see caption) Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Girls react to a squealing Teacup pig, a rare pet in the Philippines, at the start of celebrations leading to the Chinese New Year at Manila's Lucky Chinatown Plaza in Manila AP/Bullit Marquez Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A family poses in front of red lanterns on display at the Longtan Park for a temple fair ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year in Beijing, China AP/Andy Wong Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Vendors carrying pig-shaped balloons for sale to mark the Lunar New Year in Hanoi, Vietnam AP/Hau Dinh Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A vendor packs sweets at the Dihua Street market in Taipei, Taiwan on 29 January. Taiwanese shoppers started hunting for delicacies, dried goods, and other bargains at the market ahead of the Lunar New Year AP/Chiang Ying-ying Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Women take a selfie near a tree decorated with red lanterns AP/Andy Wong Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world An ethnic Chinese-Thai man offers flowers after prayers at the Leng Nuei Yee Chinese temple AP/Sakchai Lalit Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Two divers perform an underwater Chinese Lion Dance ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations at Aquaria KLCC underwater park in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 30 January AP/Vincent Thian Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Travellers wait for their trains at a railway station in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province on 28 January. The world's largest annual migration has begun in China with millions of Chinese travelling to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year Chinatopix via AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Dancers perform the dragon dance in during new year celebrations in the Chinatown disctrict of Manila, Philippines AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Lion dancers perform on the glass deck of the King Power Mahanakhon building, Thailand's tallest, in Bangkok AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Chinese performers dressed in traditional costumes attend a rehearsal of a reenactment of a Qing dynasty (1636-1912) imperial sacrifice ritual to worship the Earth, on the eve of the Chinese New Year, at Ditan Park in Beijing EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A woman takes a photo in a sculpture made of pigs as part of celebrations for the Year of the Pig in Sydney, Australia EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Year of the Pig merchandise for sale at a market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A diver wearing a traditional Chinese outfit feeds fish on the eve of Chinese New Year in Manila, Philippines EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Fireworks explode behind the Sydney Opera House as it glows red as part of celebrations for Chinese New Year of the pig, in Sydney, Australia EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Men perform a dragon dance called Liong ahead of Chinese New Year during the Grebeg Suro ceremony in Solo, Central Java province, Indonesia Reuters Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Performers rehearse a re-enactment of a Chinese New Year Qing Dynasty ceremony at the Temple of Earth in Ditan Park in Beijing Reuters Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Lion dancers pose on the glass deck of the King Power Mahanakhon building, Thailand's tallest, in Bangkok AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A Malaysian ethnic Chinese family take a selfie a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia AP Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world Indonesian ethnic Chinese people carry offerings during Chinese New Year celebrations at a temple in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia EPA Year of the Pig: Chinese new year celebrations around the world A tourist walks under decorative lanterns ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations at Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia EPA It is customary for the festival to occur on this date, or the day before or after, every year in order to coincide with the vernal equinox. In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly officially declared 21 March as International Nowruz Day. Nowruz marks the first day of the first month on the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Whats the history of the event? Also known as the Iranian New Year, Nowruz has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years in Iran, previously known as Persia, and other countries that were formerly part of the ancient Persian empires. Translated to mean new day in Persian, Nowruz is widely regarded as a secular event that predominantly commemorates the welcoming of spring. According to archaeology site Ancient Origins, during ancient times, kings in Persia would invite people from across the Persian empire to celebrate the New Year. Those taking part in the festivities were of different ethnicities and faiths, something that has continued to this day. The festival has roots in Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic religion which originated in ancient Iran. Who observes it? When the UN announced 21 March as International Nowruz Day, it did so at the request of several countries who observe the occasion. Those countries were Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan. Nowruz is celebrated by approximately 300 million people around the world, with the aim of strengthening connections between individuals based on mutual respect and the ideals of peace and good neighbourliness. How is it celebrated? Before Nowruz comes along, its custom for those who observe it to clean their house. This process is known as shaking the house, or Khane-takani in Iranian. In addition to participating in spring cleaning in preparation for Nowruz, the festival is also celebrated by visiting friends and family, preparing symbolic foods and street dances. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A Haft-sin table is typically prepared in honour of Nowruz. This table features seven symbolic items: wheat, a sweet pudding, a Persian olive, vinegar, an apple, garlic and sumac. One of the major traditions of Nowruz is the ritual of jumping over fires, a practice thats carried out on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year. This occasion is called Chaharshanbe Suri. These fires represent enlightenment and happiness for the following year, the Iran Chamber Society outlines. The Prince of Wales has given Rihanna the royal seal of approval by describing the musician as a global style icon and one of the most influential recording artists of her generation. Prince Charles made the remarks in a speech he delivered at an evening reception hosted by the governor general in Barbados on Tuesday 19 March. The 70-year-old royal said that the country was an inspirational example of women in prominent leadership roles. The prime minister, the governor general and the director of public prosecutions in Barbados are all women. And then, of course, there is arguably the most famous living Bajan of all, he added, from her childhood in Bridgetown, Rihanna has gone on to be one of the most influential recording artists of her generation and a global style icon or so my son, Harry, tells me, anyway! Prince Charles is in Barbados for a tour of the Commonwealth Caribbean with the Duchess of Cornwall. The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren Show all 25 1 /25 The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1166050307.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1166050310.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1177177288.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1170977013.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1170964159.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1166866922.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1148521578.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-1148514717.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren urn-publicid-ap.org-4a451217af36491c827986f93182692d.jpg AP The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren ROYAL-Baby-13191419.jpg PA The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren charlotte2.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren charlotte1.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-994637952.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-970693800.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren louis2.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren louis3.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-950344514.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-898514172.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-843622114.jpg AFP via Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-675360942.jpg The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-596877820.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-523284562.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-514133580.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-479559622.jpg Getty Images The best photographs of the Queen's great-grandchildren gettyimages-479559096.jpg AFP/Getty Images During his speech, he also touched on how Barbados is setting an example with its stance on climate change and protecting the ocean. We have, at last, some might say somewhat belatedly, started to understand just how critical the ocean's health is to our survival but also, ladies and gentlemen, how vulnerable it is to climate change and over-exploitation, he said. Prince Charles went on to quote figures from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which says that global warming of 1.5C poses a severe threat to coral reefs. I was therefore delighted to learn that the government of Barbados has made significant strides in planning for a Marine Protected Area around the island which, when enacted, will do much to protect the pristine coastline upon which so much of your economy depends. The royal concluded his speech by praising the citizens of Barbados for their hospitality. You have much to be proud of, he added, and, for my part, I can only say how much pride I take in the close bond between my own family and the people of this very special island. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Since the 1970s, several members of the royal family have given birth at the Lindo Wing at St Marys Hospital in London. But for her first child, Meghan Markle chose, instead, to give birth at home in Windsor Castle, following a Buckingham Palace announcement that the couple had planned to keep details surrounding the royal birth private until they had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a family. Following the couples decision to step down from their roles in the royal family and move to the US, the duchess has given birth to their second child, born on 4 June, at a hospital in California. As of now, the duke and duchess have not shared any photos of their newborn, with it unlikely that they will participate in the posed photoshoots typical of royal parents following the births of royal babies. While royal fans wait for a glimpse of the latest addition to the royal family, it is worth looking back at some of the first moments the world set eyes on former royal babies. The royal tradition of posing on the steps outside the exclusive maternity wing began with Princess Anne in 1977, who was shortly followed by Diana, Princess of Wales in 19821 and Kate Middleton in 2013. (Rex Features) (PA) (Rex Features ) The Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton have welcomed all three of their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis into the world at the prestigious location. (Getty Images ) (Getty Images ) For each new arrival, Middleton chose a different Jenny Packham dress the first was a pale blue polka dot shift dress, followed by white floral number and a red dress that many speculated was an ode to her late mother-in-law. (Getty Images ) However, one of the most memorable moments of the Lindo Wing births came from an unlikely source. Following the birth of Prince Louis in 2018, the newborns siblings came to visit their mother and, at just two-years-old, Princess Charlotte proved she had already mastered a key element of her regal role the royal wave by confidently gesturing to the crowd. On Wednesday 22 July, Prince George celebrates his seventh birthday. George is the oldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and has two siblings - Charlotte and Louis. Princess Charlotte, the second of the Cambridges children, celebrated her fifth birthday on 2 May. The princess is two years younger than her elder brother Prince George and three years older than her younger sibling Prince Louis. The Queen has eight great-grandchildren in total, the oldest of whom is nine-year-old Savannah Phillips and the youngest of whom is 11-month old Archie. From Prince Louis debut to the world last April to Prince George singing the national anthem at Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbanks royal wedding, click through the gallery above to see a selection of the best photographs taken of the royal familys youngest children. Prince Harry and Meghan speak for first time since birth of baby Archie For all the latest news on the royal family, click here. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced the birth of their second child, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. The couples daughter was born in California on Friday morning and is now settling in at home. Her middle name is one that royal-watchers had speculated was a likely choice, as a way of honouring Prince Harrys mother. It is tradition that the royal family shrouds possible names for their children in secrecy. This was still the case for the Sussexes, even though they are no longer working members of the royal family, Here's everything you need to know about the most popular royal family names: Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Show all 11 1 /11 Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 14 January 2019 In an unusual style choice for the Duchess, who traditionally favours neutral hues, this ensemble offers a vibrant twist on the colour-blocking trend with a red Sentaler coat, matching heels and a bright purple Aritzia dress. It was a playful choice for the royal couple's visit to Birkenhead Town Hall. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 30 January 2019 The Duchess wore head-to-toe blush for her visit to the National Theatre, where she is now a patron. The ensemble is by US designer Brandon Maxwell but the suede shoes are Aquazurra. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 1 February 2019 Oscar de la Renta can do no wrong when it comes to flirty patterned dresses. This theatrical bird and rose-covered number was an apt choice for the Duchess; visit to Bristol Old Vic. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 7 February 2019 This Givenchy skirt offers some pizzazz thanks to its knee-high slit and its flattering waistline. Markle paired the look Aquazzura mules and a white collared shirt. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 12 February 2019 Who said you couldn't wear all-white everything? Markle paired her turtleneck Calvin Klein dress with an Amanda Wakeley coat for a gala performance at the Natural History Museum. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 23 February 2019 The Duchess was a lady in red for her visit to Casablanca, Morocco in this bespoke Valentino midi-dress, which she paired with nude court heels and a matching clutch. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 24 February 2019 Markle arrived at a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco in this full-coverage caped gown by Dior, which came in an opulent shade of champagne. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 25 February 2019 This billowing Carolina Herrera dress was the perfect choice for the Duchess' outing to brace the balmy climes of Rabat, Morocco, where she'd been visiting King Mohammed VI of Morocco with Prince Harry. This hypnotic sea blue gown was a custom-made number, obviously. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 8 March 2019 Proving that maternity hemlines needn't be restricted to one's ankles, Markle stepped out in this 1960s-inspired shift dress by high street label, Reiss. Paired with a black blazer and a pair of matching Manolo Blahnik pumps, it was a classic but delightfully retro look. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 The Duchess has a penchant for rich emerald green hues, and this ensemble exemplifies just how suited the shade is to her complexion. The outfit was designed by Erdem, which was a symbolic choice given she wore the Canadian designer's pieces to a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House in London. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 For the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, the Duchess wore a cream chain-print dress by Victoria Beckham, which made its runway debut just a few weeks ago at London Fashion Week. The look was topped off with a matching pillbox hat, emerald green stilettos and a satin clutch. Getty Images What are the favourite names for male royal babies? Albert is the most popular name for male members of the family. The name was bestowed on Queen Elizabeth II's great-great grandfather, Prince Albert. Since Queen Victoria's birth in 1819, there have been a total of 12 royal babies named Albert in the family. George, Charles, and Edward take places two, three and four on the list with 10, eight, and seven royals given the name, respectively. What are the favourite names for female royal babies? If the new baby is a girl, there is a chance it will be named Victoria, a moniker that has been bestowed upon nine royal babies over the last 200 years, and the name of Prince Harry's great-great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. Other popular names include Mary, of which there have been seven babies named, and Louise, and Alexandra, which are tied with six royals each given the name. The name Mary has historical significance as it was the name of the Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary. The first-time parents may also choose Elizabeth, after the baby's grandmother. In addition to the name of four other royals including the current reigning monarch, Elizabeth is also Princess Charlotte's middle name. There is also the possibility the royal couple will opt for a name with no royal history, as predictions surrounding the newest royal's name have included the names Grace, Sofia, and Spencer. The list of popular names in British royalty over the last two centuries was compiled by Expedia, according to the BBC. The full list is below: The most common royal male names Albert (12) George (10) Charles (8) Edward (7) Christian (5) Frederick (5) Louis (5) Arthur (5) William (4) Henry (4) Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The most common royal female names: Victoria (9) Mary (7) Louise (6) Alexandra (6) Elizabeth (5) Alice (4) Margaret (3) Charlotte (3) Augusta (2) Helena (2) There may some differences to the process during the coronavirus pandemic in order to safeguard staff and patients against the virus. Cervical Screening Awareness Week runs from 15-21 June 2021. Going for a cervical screening, more commonly known as a smear test, is an important and necessary experience for any woman, but theres a lot of confusion over what it actually entails. Some fear having to be examined by a male doctor while others worry about the results of the test. Meanwhile, a recent survey found that one in three women miss their appointments out of embarrassment. In fact, attendance is currently at its lowest in 19 years in England, with a 10-year low in Scotland and Wales. Like all medical tests, there is nothing to be embarrassed about during a cervical screening, especially as it is an incredibly simple, quick and fuss-free procedure. Heres everything you need to know about what happens during a smear test. The 25 best books by women Show all 25 1 /25 The 25 best books by women The 25 best books by women Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Austen remains one of historys greatest masters in two tricky literary fields: the world of romance and the world of social satire. Pride and Prejudice, then, sees her at the peak of her powers. Through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet, her sharp-witted protagonist, we witness upper-class Regency England as both a dream and a farce. Not all is as it seems, and society betrays its holloweness when it deems that money should trump love. The 25 best books by women Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston Despite the fact that Hurston was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, Their Eyes Were Watching God was largely rejected by her peers. It was during the 1970s and 1980s that her novel was essentially rediscovered, with many contemporary black feminists heralding the genius of her work. The novel focuses on Janie Crawford, a black woman who refuses to give in to bitterness or sorrow, as she navigates three marriages and a life marked by poverty. Its a story bursting with passion and soulfulness. The 25 best books by women The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson Jackson probed the darkest corners of the American psyche during the 1940s and 1950s, all thanks to her collections of ghost stories, including 1959s The Haunting of Hill House, which was recently adapted into a Netflix series. With several novels and over 200 short stories for readers to get lost in, there are very few horror writers like her. Thats especially true when it comes to (arguably) her greatest work, 1948s The Lottery, which traces a small towns annual tradition to its sinister conclusion. The 25 best books by women To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee A Pulitzer Prize winner, To Kill a Mockingbird has carved its place in history. Its depiction of racial injustice in the American Deep South was startling frank for the 1960s, in a way that undeniably had a social impact at the time it became an instant sensation and is now widely taught in American schools. Lee writes about the worlds cruelties with an honesty and compassion that still resonates, with the character of Atticus Finch becoming a enduring model of integrity for the legal profession. The 25 best books by women Kindred - Octavia E Butler Butler was a key figure in sci-fi history, expanding the boundaries of what the genre could achieve and what it could come to represent. First published in 1979, the book still feels as fresh as ever in its first-person account of a young black writer, Dana, who through strange circumstances, finds herself travelling between her own reality and a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. Its through this unusual theme that Butler can explore the lasting trauma of Americas history on African-Americans today. The 25 best books by women Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre feels, in many ways, thoroughly modern today. Although originally published under the pen name Currer Bell, it feels likes a dive into the mind of Bronte herself. The story is told through a first-person narrative that feels so psychologically intimate, its as if shes sharing the secrets of her own world with us. We follow Jane through her school years, all the way to her later employment by Mr Rochester, a tortured soul who she falls madly in love with, with many aspects of her journey reflecting elements of Brontes own life. The 25 best books by women Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Adichie, who was born in Nigeria, is considered one of the most original literary voices of her generation. You can see why this is when reading Half of a Yellow Sun, which depicts the brutality of the Nigerian Civil War of the late 1960s, as seen through four different perspectives: twin daughters of a wealthy businessman, a British citizen, a professor, and a houseboy. Its history via an achingly human lens. The 25 best books by women White Teeth Zadie Smith Smith remains a modern titan of the British literary scene, thanks partially to White Teeth, which is considered one of the most sensational fiction debuts of all time, becoming an immediate bestseller and sweeping up multiple awards. Its a tale of two men Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and Englishman Archie Jones who become friends after being stationed together during WWII. Their return to London sees the book examine British post-war attitudes to those from formerly colonised countries, although Smith ensures the subject is approached with both heart and a sense of humour. The 25 best books by women The Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector Lispector was a literary innovator. The Hour of the Star, published posthumously in 1977, invents a narrator named Rodrigo SM, who in turns tells the story of Macabea, a poor young woman who hails from Alagoas, where Lispectors family first settled when they immigrated to Brazil. However, the way Rodrigo perceives Macabea, and reckons with her story, itself creates a dialogue between the two characters, calling into question notions of identity and authorship. The 25 best books by women Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf One of literatures sharpest minds and inspiration to the feminist movement in the 1970s, Woolf not only helped pioneer the use of the stream of consciousness as a narrative device, but utilised it to speak openly about sexuality, mental illness, and gender roles. The novel largely follows the inner thoughts of two characters, Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, one a high-society woman in post-WWI England and the other a veteran suffering from shell shock. The 25 best books by women A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Flannery OConnor OConnor wrote hard stories for a hard world. Her unsentimental, sardonic use of the Southern Gothic style helped weave her own take on the parable, in which the morally weak often face violent, painful punishment for their misdeeds. That said, the door is always open for transformation and spiritual awakening by the storys conclusion, with her work frequently confronting ideas of morality and ethics through the lens of her own Catholic faith. The 25 best books by women Persepolis Marjane Satrapi At times, it seems less like Persepolis is a story. Satrapis graphic novel, published in two volumes in 2000 and 2004, feels more like an invitation, as she takes our hand and leads us through her childhood and early adult years, so that we can see through the eyes of a curious, funny, smart young girl who must face the personal repercussions of war and religious extremism in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution. Its the political seen through the personal, but its always Satrapis own spirit that shines the brightest. The 25 best books by women Frankenstein Mary Shelley Many have now come to consider Shelleys Frankenstein as the first pure work of science-fiction, with a central narrative driven a characters exploration of a world beyond what we already know. Not only is it significant for its later influence on culture, but Shelleys work, initially published anonymously, is astonishing in both its emotional vitality and its philosophical implications. Its a work where we both feel the anguish of the misunderstood, while also reckoning with the concept of mans unbridled power. The 25 best books by women Beloved Toni Morrison Beloved takes its inspiration from the true story of Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in Kentucky in 1856 and fled to Ohio, a free state. However, the story itself focuses on a protagonist named Sethe, a former slave, whose home is haunted by a malevolent presence that she believes is her eldest daughter. Its through this vivid sense of magical realism that Morrison can confront the unfathomable trauma that slavery has inflicted on the African-American collective memory. The 25 best books by women The Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood Although the book has received increased attention thanks to Hulus critically acclaimed TV adaptation, its all thanks to the fierceness of Atwoods critical analysis of gender politics. Her 1985 book, which imagines a near-future New England controlled by a totalitarian state, in which women are completely subjugated to men, has only become increasingly relevant and prescient. Her work provides a continued reminder that it doesnt take much for our world to slip into complete dystopia. The 25 best books by women Middlemarch - George Eliot Mary Anne Evans, amongst other concerns, feared that her work, Middlemarch, would be dismissed entirely due to the notion that womens writing was strictly light and romantic. And so, instead, it was published in eight instalments across 1871 and 1872 under the name George Eliot. The book is far from light; set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch, it follows a vast, sweeping narrative that encompasses subjects of religion, idealism, and political reform. The 25 best books by women Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng Ng writes about American suburbia with an astounding clarity, perhaps partially because she considers the act of writing about ones hometown as a little like writing about a relative, with an attachment that perceives both their greatest attributes and their flaws. Little Fires Everywhere is her second novel to take place in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where she grew up, and focuses on a new arrival to the town, who sense of mystery disrupts its residentss obsession with structure and rules. The 25 best books by women The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath Famous for its popularity with teenage girls, Plaths work speaks to clearly to an adolescent precisely because it makes no attempt to sugar-coat the prospect of the entrance into adulthood. The books protagonist, Esther, a young woman attempting to establish herself in New York, feels more like a front for Plath to discuss her own experiences of struggling with mental health, especially in the context of the 1950s, when womens concerns were so rarely paid attention to. There is an honesty to Esthers frustration that has been a comfort to many. The 25 best books by women My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante My Brilliant Friend is only one part of Ferrantes four-book series, known as the Neapolitan Novels. As the first chapter, it is, de facto, the most well known of the series, but its also an invitation to such raw intimacy that readers will be unable to resist delving into the rest. Ferrante serves as a pseudonym, allowing the books to illuminate with candor the friendship between two women, born in Naples in 1944, who try to find peace in a world of violence and misogyny. The 25 best books by women The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton Edith Wharton captures with vigour both the opulence and the suffocating claustrophobia of New Yorks Gilded Age, as two future newlyweds in every other way societys perfect vision of man and woman find their union disrupted by the arrival of a cousin shrouded in scandal. The Age of Innocence is a wistful, romantic novel that still succeeds in treating societys hypocrisy with an acute sense of disdain. The 25 best books by women The Color Purple Alice Walker Marking a rare mastery of the epistolary novel, The Color Purple focuses on the experiences of black women living in the US South during the 1930s. Although it deals with themes of abuse and violence, the honesty in Walkers voice is disarming in a way that opens us up to her protagonists journey towards self-realisation and personal freedom. Its no wonder that the books continued relevance saw it both adapted into 1985 film, directed by Steven Spielberg, and a Broadway musical. The 25 best books by women Rebecca Daphne du Maurier Rebecca remains one the finest examples of Gothic literature, despite the fact that du Maurier wasnt writing within the confines of some drafty Victorian castle; rather, she was examining the world of spirits during the interwar period. In its story of a woman whose whirlwind courtship with a widower turns sour when she becomes haunted by the lingering presence of her husbands first wife, Rebecca is a book filled with suppressed desires, loss, and a looming sense of threat. The 25 best books by women The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy As Roys debut novel, its an extraordinary first outing. Roy contrasts the innocence of childhood, as seen in the books protagonists, fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, with the rising political turmoil in Kerala during 1969. It also features a non-sequential approach to narrative, with the novel intricately weaving between the twinss reunion in 1993 and the lengthy flashback and sidetracks, all painted with a massive sense of scope and imagination. The 25 best books by women Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie We may know every twist and turn of Christies best works by now, but theres still a frisson to how intricately and confidently she pulls the rug from underneath readers. Murder on the Orient Express still feels like her most enthralling work, as famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot finds himself in the midst of a murder scene, after his train is blocked by the heavy snowfall and a passenger is found dead, making the rest of those on board all instant suspects. The 25 best books by women The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu The oldest book on this list, this classic of Japanese literature was written by Shikibu, a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting, in the early 11th century. Although the original manuscript no longer exists, whats been passed down to us now was translated initially into modern Japanese, with English translations being published at a later time. An account of the life Hikaru Genji, the son of the emperor, its a masterful work of psychological portraiture, which offers a rare glimpse into the cultural customs of post-classical Japan. You will receive a letter If youre registered with a GP, youll receive a letter around the time of your 25th birthday informing you that it is time for your cervical screening appointment, explains Rebecca Shoosmith, head of support services at the charity Jos Cervical Cancer Trust. Booking the appointment You then just need to call up your local surgery and book the appointment for a time thats convenient for you. If you have a regular menstrual cycle, then try not to book during your period as it could make it harder to get a clear sample of cells and dont use spermicide or lube for 24 hours before as these could also affect the results, Shoosmith tells The Independent. You don't need to wear anything in particular for your appointment, just dress in an outfit you feel comfortable in on the day. At the beginning of your appointment During your appointment, your nurse should explain a little more about cervical screening and its an opportunity for you to ask any questions that you might have, says Shoosmith. You should also see all of the equipment required laid out in front of you. This will include a speculum (a smooth tube-shaped tool made from either plastic or metal), lubrication (used to ease the speculum into the vagina smoothly), a small soft brush and a thinprep pot (which will be used as a container for your sample), explains Miss Meg Wilson, consultant at London Gynaecology. Preparing for the smear test Before the test, a nurse will give you some privacy to undress from the waist down. They will also give you a sheet to cover yourself during the test if you like, Wilson tells The Independent. Next, youll be asked to lie down in a comfortable position. This can either be on your back but some women may choose to lie on their side. The test itself The nurse will let you know when the test is about to start. When youre ready, they will put a new and clean speculum into your vagina, explains Shoosmith. Recommended One in five women wrongly believe a smear test detects ovarian cancer The speculum allows the nurse to gently open your vagina so that they can see your cervix, which is the lower, narrow part of the uterus. It might feel uncomfortable, but it shouldnt hurt. Then, using the soft brush, they will quickly take a small sample of cells from your cervix by rotating it a few times before removing the speculum. Your sample of cells will be placed into a small plastic container of liquid that will preserve them. This will then be sent off to a laboratory to be tested for abnormalities. Tips if you experience any discomfort or are anxious about taking the test If at any point you feel uncomfortable then you can ask the nurse to stop, ask for a smaller speculum or for a nurse of a different gender, adds Shoosmith. You can also bring someone you trust with you, this could be a friend, family member or someone else. Its important to know that you are in control of your test and there are steps you can take to make it easier for you. What happens next? It's normal to experience some spotting or light bleeding after your screening, but this is nothing to worry about and should go away in a few hours, states the NHS website. If you want to, you can wear a sanitary pad or panty-liner to help absorb the blood. Getting the results You should get your results within 14 days via a letter in the post. There are three types of cervical cancer screening results. Normal Most people will have a normal result, which means no further testing is needed and you will be invited for another screening three to five years later. Inadequate If the results are inconclusive, you might be asked to return for another test in three months. Abnormal If your sample came back with an abnormal result, your letter will explain what the next steps are. These could be: booking another test to look at your cervix, known as a colposcopy. Abnormal cells, if left untreated, could become cancerous. However, they may also indicate HPV, which is a common virus acquired through any kind of sexual contact. It's worth noting that you can have HPV even if you have not been sexually active or had a new partner for many years. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events You can read more about the different outcomes of cervical screenings and what they mean here. For more information on smear tests you can call Jos Cervical Cancer Trust free and confidential helpline on 0808 802 8000. No-deal Brexit remains a distinct possibility. On 29 March, the UK will simply cease to be a member of the EU if a Withdrawal Agreement or an extension to Article 50 is not agreed. One of the main changes that would immediately result on this day is that the UK will need to apply its own tariff rates on its imports. It will not be bound by the EU's common external tariffs. It will also not be eligible for zero tariffs on exports to the EU. And, it will lose the benefits of almost all of the EUs trade agreements, which cover 82 countries. To date, just seven of these trade agreements have been converted into continuity agreements, and none of these are with a major trade partner of the UK. The government has announced that, in the case of no deal, it will eliminate tariffs on 87 per cent of imports but introduce tariffs in key sectors including cars, ceramics and key meat products. The Cabinet has been divided over its tariff policy, with Michael Gove reportedly pursuing high tariffs, at least on agriculture, and Phillip Hammond preferring to opt for lower rates. Meanwhile, Liam Fox has floated the idea of unilaterally dropping all tariffs to zero. For many products, there is actually very little flexibility. Politics aside, the economic reality is that the maximum tariffs that can be set for any product will be determined by the bound rates that the UK already has in place under the WTO. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty Members of the WTO negotiate over the maximum tariffs that governments can apply and these rates must be the same for imports from all countries, with the exception of developing countries and certain trade partners with who there is a comprehensive trade agreement in place. Successive rounds of WTO negotiations have led to low maximum tariff rates on a lot of goods. The average tariff that the UK charges to WTO members is under 3 per cent. But the average rate masks a number of tariff peaks, notably for agricultural products, textiles and apparel, leather products and automobiles, where the government, if they so wish, has a lot more room to deviate from the current EU tariff policy. The government faces a trade-off when choosing tariffs: high tariffs will mean higher prices to consumers, no matter whether they buy from the EU or from the rest of the world, as the UK will have to charge the same tariffs to all WTO members under no deal. Low tariffs will expose UK producers to greater import competition and will result in reduced bargaining power in future trade negotiations. The example of food imports illustrates this trade-off. Tariffs on meat can be as high as 84 per cent, dairy produce up to 74 per cent and grains 63 per cent. At the moment, 71 per cent of UK's agricultural imports come in duty free from the EU, while the rest face these high tariffs. Jacob Rees-Mogg sees Brexit as a chance to break away from the protectionist racket of the EU and extend zero tariffs to all imports so that British consumers can enjoy lots of juicy, perhaps hormone-fed, Australian beef. Michael Gove wants to keep beef tariffs high to protect UK farmers from import competition. The governments plan is to place food items that are not produced in the UK (like oranges and sugar) on the zero tariff list and food items, like beef and lamb, that are produced in the UK on the sensitive list with tariffs. This is a sensible approach to account for consumer and producer interests - get rid of unnecessary costs to consumers where possible and try to protect domestic producers from import competition where desirable. While this logic seems sensible for unilateral trade policy actions, it overlooks the fact that tariff peaks mostly remain in sectors where trade partners are reluctant to open up their economies to imports. Take cars for instance. Most developed countries protect their auto industry, arguably because of the value addition, research and development and the high quality of jobs that it provides. Under no deal, the UK will impose a 10 per cent tariff on cars the same rate currently applied by the EU to external countries - to protect the domestic auto industry. But that's just not going to be significant enough to help the UK car industry during a time when its exports start to incur tariffs in their biggest export destination - the EU. In fact, the most comprehensive study on the projected impacts of no deal on the UK car industry suggests a 12 per cent reduction in UK car production, because the rise in domestic sales would hardly make up for the loss in sales from increased trade barriers in UK's export markets. Unilateral trade policy actions are limited in terms of what they can achieve. That's the reason trade agreements exist they enable countries to reduce trade barriers and encourage mutual economic activity by providing reciprocal market access to each other. The EU-Canada trade deal does exactly that in the auto sector both sides made concessions to each other by lowering tariffs and reducing costs arising from regulatory divergence between them. Governments rarely eliminate all tariffs unilaterally because tariffs are important bargaining chips in trade negotiations to get market access concessions from trade partners in the same or other areas. Ultimately, while the government's proposed principle of managing consumer and producer interests appears sound, it begs the same question that many have been wondering since the run-up to the referendum. Is all this tinkering over little margins of adjustment on unilateral trade policy worth the loss of deep market access with the world's largest trading bloc and the clout that goes with it in third country trade negotiations? The actual performance of the economy since the Brexit referendum suggests 'no'. The UK is now one of slowest growing OECD countries. Sterling has depreciated massively and remains low. This has already made imports more expensive, especially intermediate inputs, and there has been no export boom. New research shows workers have already borne the brunt of this. As the UK's place in global value chains has become more precarious, workers have seen slower wage growth and cutbacks in job-related education and training. This does not augur well for future productivity. Much time has been spent over tariffs and this has taken away from the bigger question of weak productivity and low real wage growth in the UK. Services, which have no tariffs, are key to this as they employ 80 per cent of the UK's workforce. The scale of the costs from no deal in services and related activities could be large. The EU is a crucial market for UK services and getting access to third markets in these sectors is even more fraught with concerns over sovereignty and quality standards. Except sectors like finance which have the clout to get special deals, much of the UK economy will have to pay a hefty cost under no deal, which could result in long-term reductions in GDP. Dr Swati Dhingra is a research leader for The UK in a Changing Europe, Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Research Associate, Centre for Economic Performance at LSE. Josh De Lyon is Research Assistant, Centre for Economic Performance at LSE, and DPhil Candidate at Oxford University. The FTSE 100s depressingly small group of female chief executives looks set to decline by one: B&Q owner Kingfisher has announced the departure of Veronique Laury alongside its full-year results. There was a certain inevitably about this mutual decision given the state of the company. As well as announcing a 13 per cent fall in last years underlying earnings, it ditched a pledge to produce an additional 500m of extra profit from the One Kingfisher turnaround plan, which always looked like a stretch. The companys troubled French arm, Castorama, is still wilting. B&Q isnt doing well either, leaving the group even more dependent on Screwfix, the trade arm thats been propping things up. We are told the engine that will spark the group into life is now nearly in place. Its going to have to go some to instil any confidence that this is a business heading in the right direction. Chair Andy Cosslett paid gushing tribute to Vero, who is just the most senior of a string of top executives walking out of what has become a rapidly revolving door at the entrance of the executive suite. Another, Steve Willett, the chief transformation and digital officer, announced his departure alongside that of Laury. She at least looks set to be with the business for some time to come because no date has been set for her exit and she says shes going to stick around until theres a replacement. Meanwhile the calls for a change in strategy to go with changes in personnel are only going to grow louder, regardless of Cossletts insistence that the change at the top wont slow us down or deflate us from our strategy. Laury going wont buy off Kingfishers critics, many of whom have been calling for a breakup. It will give added ammunition to the critics of the FTSE 100s hiring practices. Laury may have disappointed her investors, but that doesnt make her unique in an index that already has more Davids or Daves (seven) than it has women at the top. When shes gone there will be just five. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. We keep being told that executive talent is terribly rare. That being the case, youd think recruitment committees would take a harder look at the 50 per cent of the population that doesnt possess a Y chromosome. The current situation is inexcusable. But perhaps Cosslett will surprise us and appoint the second woman in a row, bringing the number back up to six. He might need to get creative because given the state of the business its not as if hell have a queue of Daves beating down his door. Much of the world concluded that Asburys the beast created by the merger of Sainsburys and Asda was basically dead in the water after the Competition & Markets Authority took a very dim view of their proposed marriage. The prospective partners have, however, sought to make it clear that they think otherwise. In an announcement to the stock exchange theyve pledged to deliver 1bn of price cuts with three years of the deals completion, good for 10 per cent off everyday items. But wait, theres more. Theres a promise to cap the profits from selling fuel and to submit to independent monitoring too. The price cuts will be paid for by an estimated 1.6bn in cost savings. So this isnt going to be a fun place to work. And it isnt going to be much fun for suppliers either. Sainsburys and Asda have also released a document summarising what they describe as the "basic" and "substantive" errors in the CMA's provisional findings, which held that their merger would damage competition and choice and lead to higher prices. The British do have a curious way of negotiating with people. They seem to think shouting and waving their fists will get the other side to say, crikey, I can see youre pretty passionate about that so I must have jolly well got it wrong. Tell you what, Ill take myself off and go and sit in the penitents corner until youre ready for me to say Im very sorry. It rarely works out that way. Just look at where we've ended up at the hands of Theresa May and her merry band of incompetents over Brexit. Im not sure it will do Asburys a lot of good with the CMA either, because the net result of this sort of sabre rattling is that it tends to get peoples backs up. Of course, it could always be that Asda and Sainsbury's are well aware of that (their executives are a lot smarter than May and company) and that this is just an elaborate face saving exercise. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. I wouldnt rule it out. But if it isnt, if theyre for real, I suppose the price offer is at least worthy of consideration. I would, however, be inclined to ask exactly what they mean by everyday items. Theres scope for a certain amount of game playing with that term. Im also told that the idea would be to have one of the big four accountancy firms monitoring Asbury's (although they'll never call it that) performance against its promises. Im not sure that will go down very well with the CMA either. Its chaired by Andrew Tyrie and he took a very dim view of those firms conduct when he was running the Treasury Committee. Still, give the Asburys bosses some credit. They have at least managed to breathe a little life back into the story, even if the chances of their consummating this shotgun wedding of theirs haven't improved much. Google has been handed a 1.5bn (1.3bn) fine by the EU regulators for stifling competition in the online advertising market which it dominates. Google has engaged in illegal practices when it comes to their search advertising brokering in order to cement its dominant poisition, European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Tuesday. It is the third largest fine that Google has received from EU regulators for flouting competition rules but could be more serious for the company as it goes to the heart of its advertising business. The European Commission said Google abused its position to stifle innovation by restricting websites ability to display adverts from rival brokers. Last year, Ms Margarethe Vestager imposed a record 4.3bn fine on Google for using its Android mobile operating system to block rivals. By preinstalling its Chrome browser and Google search app on Android devices, the company had an unfair advantage over its rivals, EU enforcers said. That followed a 2.4bn fine levied in 2017 for blocking rivals of shopping comparison websites. The European Commission said the company had used the software to unfairly expand its search engine dominance and denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition. The latest decision concerned Googles AdSense business that lets web publishers place text ads on their websites, with the content of the ads based on results from search functions on their sites. Googles contracts prevented websites from choosing adverts brokered by competitors and therefore prevented its rivals from having a chance to innovate and to compete in the market on their merits, Ms Vestager said. Advertisers and website owners ... had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers. In a bid to placate the commission, which has led the fight against monopolistic behaviour by US technology giants, Google announced on Tuesday that it would let Android users know about the wide choice of browsers available on smartphones. This will involve asking users of existing and new Android devices in Europe which browser and search apps they would like to use, the company said in a blog post. Pressure is mounting on Google, Facebook and Twitter after the EU accused them last month of falling short on promises to combat fake news. The companies have signed a voluntary code of conduct to stave off regulation. Toyota will make a new electric hybrid car at its Derbyshire plant. The announcement is a rare a piece of good news for car production in the UK, which has seen a host of manufacturers move work abroad. The Japanese carmaker will produce a new Suzuki model at the site in Burnaston, which employs around 2,600 people and produced 129,000 cars last year. The company expects production numbers to rise as it rolls out the new model later this year. Engines are to be supplied by Toyotas factory in Deeside, north Wales, using components from Japan, the company said. It comes just weeks after Toyota warned it would be impossible to avoid negative effects of a no-deal Brexit. We cannot avoid the negative impact no matter how much we prepare beforehand if Britain leaves the EU with no deal, the firms senior managing officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi said in February. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty On Wednesday, Toyotas UK managing director,Marvin Cooke said: Seeking to produce additional volume for other customers is one example of all the efforts we are making to keep our UK manufacturing operations as competitive as they can be. We have consistently said for the medium to longer term, continued free and frictionless trade and common automotive technical standards will be essential to support the international competitiveness of the UK automotive sector. The UK car industry has made increasingly impassioned pleas to the government to avoid a no-deal Brexit, which it says could prove disastrous for the sector. Facing a host of problems, including a slump in demand for diesel-engined cars, a slowdown in China and the prospect of tariffs and border checks after Brexit, several manufacturers have shifted the production of models overseas. The UKs biggest carmaker, Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover, has ramped up its presence in Slovakia while Nissan announced it would make a new X-Trail model in Japan instead of Sunderland as the company had previously pledged. Japanese car imports to the EU will see tariffs cut to zero over the next few years while those from the UK will be hit with a 10 per cent tax after Brexit unless a new traded deal is agreed. Drinking very hot tea could almost double the risk of oesophageal cancer, according to a study of 50,000 people. Cancer experts found that drinking 700ml per day of tea at 60C or higher was consistently associated with a 90 per cent higher risk of the disease, compared with people who drank liquids at lower temperatures. The studys lead author, Dr Farhad Islami, advised tea drinkers to let their beverages cool down before drinking them to reduce the cancer risk. The research, which was published in the International Journal of Cancer, studied the drinking habits of 50,045 people aged 40 to 75 in northeastern Iran. Dr Islami, from the American Cancer Society, said: Many people enjoy drinking tea, coffee, or other hot beverages. However, according to our report, drinking very hot tea can increase the risk of oesophageal cancer, and it is therefore advisable to wait until hot beverages cool down before drinking. NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, addresses demonstrators following the march AFP/Getty NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Reuters NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images Oesophageal cancer is a type of cancer that affects the gullet (oesophagus), which carries food from the throat to the stomach. If you let your tea cool down before drinking it, or add cold milk, you are unlikely to be increasing the risk of cancer. In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer the cancer agency of the World Health Organisation classified drinking very hot beverages above 65C as a probable carcinogen. The judgement was informed by studies which mostly looked at mate, a type of tea that is traditionally drunk at very hot temperatures, mainly in South America, Asia, and Africa. However, they said it was the temperature rather than the type of drink that was associated with cancer so the findings would also, in theory, apply to other types of tea. The new study did not mention mate but examined tea. The research team behind the new study, which includes researchers from the University of Cambridge, concluded: Our results substantially strengthen the existing evidence supporting an association between hot beverage drinking and [oesophageal cancer]. Georgina Hill, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: This study adds to the evidence that having drinks hotter than 60 degrees may increase the risk of oesophageal cancer. However, she added that the risk to regular tea drinkers is low so long as you are responsible. Most people in the UK dont drink their tea at such high temperatures, Ms Hill said. As long as youre letting your tea cool down a bit before you drink it, or adding cold milk, youre unlikely to be raising your cancer risk and not smoking, keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol will do much more to stack the odds in your favour. Agencies contributed to this report Organised crime appears to be succeeding where many governments have failed in stopping people from sampling the most dangerous strains of cannabis. While illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine are sold in Sicily, data revealed the capital, Palermo, was completely free of high-potency skunk. This appears to be an unexpected positive of criminal activity, given the link the research revealed between such drugs and mental health problems. Dr Marta Di Forti, who comes from Palermo, made this realisation while working on a major new study exploring the link between cannabis use and psychosis in cities across Europe. She noticed that none of the high-strength cannabis seen in cities like London and Amsterdam appeared to be a problem in her home town. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The only four people that reported in the Palermo area were four [subjects] who went on holiday to Amsterdam and tried high potency while on holiday, she said. She said this was likely the result of the quirks of Sicilys drug market. The Palermo drug market is still mostly dominated by cocaine and opiates because organised crime has got control over these or hasish, which is the type of cannabis that has got the least THC in southern Europe, Dr Di Forti explained. THC is thought to be responsible for the onset of psychotic conditions linked with cannabis, and in their study the scientists classed any form with more than 10 per cent THC as high potency. Recommended Cannabis factory discovered in underground bunker in Wolverhampton In France and Spain, herbal forms of cannabis with a low THC content are popular, but there are still cases of people using stronger forms. The study is based on data collected between 2010 and 2015, so it may be that the situation is shifting, according to Dr Di Forti. Colleagues from Palermo tell me that they are beginning to see people using high potency, but nothing like we see in London and definitely nothing at the time of the study, she said. As for why organised criminals in the city have preserved their customers health by sticking to weaker strains, she said this could be down to any number of cultural and practical reasons. You need to ask the latest mafia boss, she said. The idea that Russia was, for centuries, an empire is by no means new. Nor is the belief that it remains one even now. Knowledgeable historians calculated that it was once the greatest empire in human history, if one takes into account both the territory it controlled and the timespan its domination lasted. Adventurous political analysts have argued that in recent times Russia is inclined to regain its imperial powers. As Zbigniew Brzesinski, the former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, put it in 1997: without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire however, if Moscow regains control over Ukraine, Russia automatically again regains the wherewithal to become a powerful imperial state, spanning Europe and Asia. The annexation of Crimea is apparent evidence of this process. Yet many observers believe the present empire (ie the Russian Federation) might itself collapse once more, dissolving into different parts. Some politicians hope that it will. Nasa has revealed "unexpected" findings from the first data received back from a nearby asteroid, offering clues to the origins of the solar system and even life on Earth. The US space agency launched the Osiris-Rex (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in September 2016 and it finally arrived on 3 December 2018. It is the first mission aimed at returning an asteroid sample to Earth, though this won't be for another few years. The latest findings from the mission are reported in seven scientific papers published in Nature, Nature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience and Nature Communications this week, with one revealing the "unexpected surface of asteroid Bennu". Features of Bennu's surface suggest it may be older than expected, providing insights into different stages of the evolution of the Solar System. Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 more commonly known as WR 124 and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region The Bennu asteroid is part of the leftover debris from the formation of the solar system, and a similar space rock may once have introduced the hydrated, carbon-rich material needed for life to begin. Observations of Bennu from instruments onboard Osiri-Rex confirmed the presence of widespread and abundant hydrated materials, as well as the unexpected presence of numerous, large boulders. The Bennu asteroid passes Earth every six years and could come so close in 150 years that it hits our planet. The odds remain small but not insignificant around one-tenth of 1 per cent. Only slightly wider than the height of the Empire State Building, Bennu is not big enough to destroy Earth but could cause huge destruction. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Its size makes it the smallest body to ever be orbited by a spacecraft, Nasa said. "Studying Bennu with Osiris-Rex will allow researchers to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the sources of water and organic molecules on Earth, and the hazards and resources in near-Earth space," the space agency said. Nasa will host a media conference at 5.30pm GMT to announce further details about the agency's mission to return the spacecraft to Earth. A study of the settings used on air conditioning units in the US has provided clues about the origin of the human species, according to a team of scientists at North Carolina State University. The researchers found that the average interior climate created in North American homes, using central heating systems and air conditioning, is essentially the same as the outdoor climate in west central Kenya, a region that is rich in humanoid fossils and is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. A team of academics led by Michael Just, a doctor of philosophy and plant biology, asked volunteers to install devices in their homes that logged the temperature and air moisture every hour. They monitored the homes, which were located across the US, for more than a year, measuring seasonal changes in temperature inside houses and comparing them to outdoor climates from around the world. The study published by The Royal Society, the worlds oldest independent scientific institution, found that individuals subconsciously sought temperatures that mirrored the habitat of their ancient ancestors millions of years ago. "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Show all 38 1 /38 "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Magdeburg, Germany on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in New York on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Madrid on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Quezon City, Philippines on March 15 Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Vienna on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Dublin on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on march 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Erfurt, Germany on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lisbon on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Florence, Italy on March 15 Sign reads: there is no future without a planet, let's not sell it for money EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Vienna on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Brighton on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cambridge on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Students protest in Bangalore, India on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Students protest in Bangalore, India on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change A student protests in Lucerne, Switzerland on 15 March EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Milan, Italy on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 AFP/Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lund, Sweden on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change A poster with Greta Thunberg, who began the current children's movement at the protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh Getty Professor of applied ecology Rob Dunn, one of the authors, said: Its a preliminary report but what we see so far is in line with the idea that we are creating the conditions our ancestors would have existed in and would have felt natural for them. In the findings there were some slight variations between homes in different states. The study suggests that the internal temperatures of homes in Alaska most closely matched the outdoor climate of Namibia, while Florida homes had an internal climate that was more like Ethiopia. The academics behind the report say further studies that look at central heating systems around the world would be likely to throw up other cultural differences. In some cultures around the world communities may be unable or unwilling to control their internal environments to the same degree that North Americans do, said Dunn. Americans are willing to expend huge amounts of resources controlling internal climates to maximise their own comfort." The team from North Carolina State University believe their findings could form part of future discussions around energy efficiency. The questions we are asking could seem quite quaint, said Dunn. But if people are going to continually recreate these specific climate conditions wherever they live in the world it will have significant repercussions for global energy usage. The team say that human beings can feel comfortable in a wide range of temperatures and there is an argument for people to try and reign in the subconscious desire to tightly control temperatures in their homes. Hopefully this research will start a new debate about how much energy we really need to use to power interior climate control devices like air conditioning, said Dunn. Space heating and air conditioning accounts for nearly half of all energy use in US homes, according to the US Energy Information Administration. A yellow vest campaigner has denied assaulting a news photographer during a pro-Brexit protest and dubbed the press scumbag journalists. James Goddard, 29, also denied a public order offence of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. Manchester Magistrates Court heard Mr Goddard threatened Manchester Evening News photographer Joel Goodman, who filmed the incident in February. After arriving at court with a group of supporters and two men wearing T-shirts saying security, Mr Goddard demanded members of the press were removed and called a journalist he misidentified a far leftist. I want my family and friends in and I want the press out, Mr Goddard said. I dont want scumbag journalists in here. Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Show all 11 1 /11 Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray (left) and a pro-Brexit protester argue as they demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A pro-Brexit protester argues Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround the pro-Brexit protester after he confronted Steve Bray, a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer as he argues with a remain supporter, Steve Bray, outside Parliament PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament MPs in Parliament are to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal next week after her December vote was called off in the face of a major defeat Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A leave supporter is spoken to by a police officer PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police look on as anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament. Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police hold back a leave supporter PA Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament A police officer speaks with anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Police surround a pro-Brexit protester after he confronted a pro-European protester Getty Images Police separate clashing Brexit protesters outside Parliament Conservative MP David Davies, wearing a gopro camera, speaks to anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray Getty Images A police officer told Mr Goddard only five seats had been allocated for his supporters in the public gallery. Two court security officers sat with the police officer behind solicitors in the courtroom. Representing himself, Mr Goddard gave his nationality as English and confirmed his name but refused to state his address. When asked to enter pleas, he told the court: Not guilty because there is no case to answer. Laura Keegan, prosecuting, told the court the Crown would rely on the evidence of the complainant and two clips from his bodycam footage. She told the judge Mr Goodman received no injuries in the incident. District Judge John Temperley released Mr Goddard on bail under conditions that ban him from contacting the alleged victim. Mr Goddard said he wished to challenge additional restrictions on entering Manchester city centre, claiming it was preventing him from seeking employment and that he was being treated worse than a rapist or a terrorist. James Goddard arrives at Wesminster Magistrates court charged with harassing MP Anna Soubry He told the judge: I want to contribute to society instead of being demonised by the state. Judge Temperley also set a bail condition barring Mr Goodman from attending any organised demonstration in Manchester city centre. The defendant, of Altrincham, will return for a trial at Manchester Magistrates Court in June. The hearing came a day after chaotic scenes at a London court where Mr Goddard appeared on unrelated charges over abuse directed at MP Anna Soubry and a police officer. Some of Mr Goddards supporters joined him in the dock as fellow protesters shouted abuse at journalists and court officials from the public gallery, prompting the judge to walk out. HM Courts Service said it had mounted an urgent investigation into the incident at Westminster Magistrates Court. Mr Goddard denied all offences. Additional reporting by PA Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi has been arrested in London on behalf of the Indian authorities, British police said on Wednesday. India had asked Britain in August to extradite Mr Modi, one of the main suspects charged over a $2bn (1.5bn) loan fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). The Metropolitan Police said the 48-year-old was detained in the Holborn area of central London on Tuesday and held overnight in custody. Mr Modi was ordered to be held without bail at the end of a Westminster Magistrates Court hearing on Wednesday. District Judge Marie Mallon said there was a risk Mr Modi would not appear at future hearings because of his access to large sums of money that could help him evade the courts and his keenness to do so. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Modi refused to submit to being extradited to India and his lawyer argued he had been living openly in London since June 2018. Last year Interpol issued a red notice for Mr Modis arrest. The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Modi was arrested after its reporters tracked him down at a flat in Londons Centre Point tower. In 2018, Punjab National Bank, Indias second-largest state-run bank, said two jewellery groups headed by Mr Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi had defrauded it by raising credit from other Indian banks using illegal guarantees issued by rogue PNB staff. Mr Modi and Mr Choksi, who have both denied wrongdoing, left India before the details of the fraud became public. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Earlier this month, Indian officials blew up Mr Modis $14m mansion, which they said was in contravention of several environmental laws. More than 100 sticks of dynamite were used to destroy the 33,000sq-ft bungalow. Police are failing to identify suspects for almost half of racially and religiously aggravated attacks in parts of the UK as the offences reach a record high. Across the country, the suspects are not identified in three in 10 cases. Charities have now warned that public confidence in the criminal justice system would be undermined if offenders are not caught. The hate crime figures come amid calls to combat intolerance after the New Zealand shooting and other attacks on mosques and synagogues. Police admitted there was a lot of work to do after the government vowed to improve the response to all forms of hate crime. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell Racially and religiously aggravated offences recorded by police in England and Wales reached a record high of more than 57,600 in the 12 months to September, after jumping by 7 per cent in a year. They include physical assaults, harassment, vandalism and causing public fear, alarm or distress. Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Islamophobia monitor Tell Mama, told The Independent some hate crime victims were living in fear because of the knowledge that attackers were still at large. We totally understand there can be evidential difficulties, and we come across cases where people break a window or spray graffiti and where theres no CCTV, but there is responsibility for police forces, he added. It has significant impact on public confidence in the system, which means that people will not report in the future. If police are not able to get a grasp on it, individuals will suffer a long-term impact we have clients whose levels of anxiety and depression have increased immensely. Analysis of Home Office figures by the Press Association showed that the result of investigations varies dramatically across the country. Greater Manchester Police closed 46 per cent of hate crime probes with no suspect in the frame, and the figure was 44 per cent for West Midlands Police. Other forces failed to identify culprits in around a third of investigations, including British Transport Police, Northumbria and Sussex. North Yorkshire was the lowest, at 4 per cent, and across all forces, 28 per cent of all racially and religiously aggravated offences were assigned the outcome investigation complete no suspect identified. A police officer guards the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand (AP) This marker is used when a reported crime has been investigated as far as reasonably possible and the case is closed pending further investigative opportunities. The Equality and Human Rights Commission called the figures disappointing and said it was vital that any potential hate crimes were reported to police to ensure they were properly investigated and prosecuted. Attacking or harassing people is unacceptable in todays society and it is shameful when carried out because of their identity, said chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath. Police forces must collect accurate and comprehensive data so they can develop effective solutions to end hate crime in our society. Police leaders said the figures reflect the fact that members of the public have the confidence to report more hate crimes, but that some incidents lack vital evidence or witnesses needed for a suspect to be identified. Following budget cuts causing the loss of more than 20,000 officers since 2010, some forces have started prioritising how they respond to crime reports. The National Police Chiefs Council lead for hate crime, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, said: Unfortunately, with many cases, there are often no witnesses to these crimes and scarce evidence this may lead to police being unable to identify a suspect. The police service has no tolerance for this type of abuse but we need to be made aware that crimes are taking place so that we can investigate or better still, prevent them from happening. Police leaders have called on Sajid Javid for increased funding after years of cuts (Getty) Greater Manchester Police acknowledged it had a lot of work to do to ensure hate crimes were dealt with in the best ways that we can, while West Midlands Police said it was determined to follow all active lines of inquiry to trace suspects. Mr Mughal criticised a lack of substantive investment into online investigations. That is a gaping hole and significant problem, he added, amid renewed calls to tackle extremist content of the kind seen by the New Zealand terror suspect. The lack of investment, the lack of ability to find the perpetrator and the ongoing dispute with social media firms over legal orders mean the victim is losing out. Separate Home Office figures shows that religiously motivated hate crime rocketed by 40 per cent in a year, and more than half is now directed at Muslims. Jewish charity the Community Security Trust has reported record antisemitic incidents. Sajid Javid has appealed for Britain to stand together after a series of suspected hate incidents across the country in the wake of the New Zealand shooting. The horrific events in New Zealand are a direct attack on the values of tolerance and freedom of worship that unite us all, he said on Tuesday. Nobody should ever fear persecution of their faith and its vital we stand together to reject those who seek to spread hatred and divide us. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A Home Office spokesperson said it had refreshed a national hate crime action plan, improving the response to all forms of hate crime including anti-Muslim hatred, providing investment in communities to tackle the root causes of prejudice and racism and ensuring a robust criminal justice response. Police leaders have been calling for more funding in an upcoming government spending review to tackle rising violent crime and other issues. In the year to September, 46 per cent of all crime investigations were closed without a suspect being identified and only 8 per cent resulted in a prosecution. The Home Office has refused asylum to a Christian convert by quoting Bible passages which it says prove Christianity is not a peaceful religion. The Iranian national, who claimed asylum in 2016, was told passages in the Bible were inconsistent with his claim to have converted to Christianity after discovering it was a peaceful faith. The refusal letter from the department states the book of Revelations the final book of the Bible is filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence, and cites six excerpts from it. It then states: These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a peaceful religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge. When contacted by The Independent, the Home Office said the letter was not in accordance with its policy approach to claims based on religious persecution, and said it was working to improve the training provided to decision-makers on religious conversion. Lawyers and campaigners said the case demonstrated a distortion of logic and a reckless approach to asylum seekers lives, stemming from a tendency by the department to come up with any reason they can to refuse cases. Nathan Stevens, the asylum seekers caseworker, tweeted: Ive seen a lot over the years, but even I was genuinely shocked to read this unbelievably offensive diatribe being used to justify a refusal of asylum. Whatever your views on faith, how can a government official arbitrarily pick bits out of a holy book and then use them to trash someones heartfelt reason for coming to a personal decision to follow another faith? (Free Movement) The latest immigration statistics reveal an increase in the number of incorrect asylum refusals, with successful appeals against Home Office decisions up 5 per cent since 2015-16, now standing at 45 per cent of all of those that go to tribunal. Legal expert Conor James McKinney, deputy editor of website Free Movement, said the case was a symptom of the Home Offices tendency to come up with any reason they can to refuse asylum. You can see from the text of the letter that the writer is trying to pick holes in the asylum seekers account of their conversion to Christianity and using the Bible verses as a tool to do that, he said. The Home Office is notorious for coming up with any reason they can to refuse asylum and this looks like a particularly creative example, but not necessarily a systemic outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment in the department. Sarah Teather, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the UK, said the case was a particularly outrageous example of the reckless and facetious approach of the Home Office to determining life and death asylum cases. She said JRS regularly encountered cases where asylum had been refused on spurious grounds, adding: Some of these cases require more legal knowledge to recognise than this bizarre misquoting of the Bible, but as this instance gains public attention, we need to remember it reflects a systematic problem and a deeper mindset of disbelief, and is not just an anomaly that can be explained away. Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, meanwhile branded it wholly inappropriate for the Home Office to use theological justifications for refusing asylum applications. He added: Decisions on the merits of an asylum appeal should be based on an assessment of the facts at hand and not on the states interpretation of any given religion. Its not the role of the Home Office to play theologian. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A Home Office spokesperson said: This letter is not in accordance with our policy approach to claims based on religious persecution, including conversions to a particular faith. We continue to work closely with key partners, including the All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of religion and a range of faith groups, to improve our policy guidance and training provided to asylum decision-makers so that we approach claims involving religious conversion in the appropriate way. The Brexit delay sought by Theresa May will be conditional on MPs voting to support her deal in parliament next week, the president of the European Council has said. Donald Tusk told reporters in Brussels that that extension of Article 50 would only be finalised after the House of Commons backed the controversial plan, which has already been rejected twice by MPs. In the light of the consultations that I have conducted in the past days, I believe a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons, he said in a press statement hours before leaders gather in the EU capital for a meeting. The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension. Prime minister Mays proposal of the 30 June, which has its merits, creates a series of questions of a legal and political nature. Leaders will discuss this tomorrow. The European Council president, who represents member states collectively, suggested EU leaders could be called back to Brussels for yet another emergency summit next week in the event that one was needed. But he added that if there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week we can finalise and formalise the decision on the extension without a meeting. Recommended Brussels opposes Theresa May request for June Brexit delay It is not certain that a third vote will even take place in the Commons, however, after Speaker John Bercow this week ruled the withdrawal agreement could not be brought back again under parliamentary rules. The Government has said it plans to hold a vote anyway in defiance of Mr Bercow but it is unclear how it would be able to do this. Mr Tusk, who spoke on the phone with Ms May this afternoon, conceded that hope for a final success may seem frail, even illusory but warned: We cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution. He said the EU had conducted itself with patience and good will. The prime minister had written to the Council president at lunchtime asking him for an extension of Article 50 until 30 June. If the UK does not get an extension or revoke Article 50, it will leave the EU next Friday with or without a deal. A leaked diplomatic note which emerged earlier showed there are serious concerns in Brussels about Ms Mays 30 June proposal, however. The document, which was reviewed by the European Commission at its regular meeting today, says any extension would be a binary choice between a short extension to late May, or a long extension until at least the end of the year that would see the UK participate in European Parliament elections. The EU is concerned about the effect a middle-length extension would have on the functioning of the EU. The note said that any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections and that this is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The document, drawn up for European Commissioners, says that any other option (as for example an extension until 30 June 2019) would entail serious legal and political risks for the European Union and would import some of the current uncertainties in the United Kingdom into the EU27. It adds that any other scenario would also have direct legal and practical consequences for the election of Members to the European Parliament in 14 of our Member States. The main reason for the blocs concern is that EU member states are due to get extra MEPs in the coming European Parliament elections with the UKs old seats split up between the other countries. As a result, Brussels says it would need to know what the UK is doing by late April so that seats could be allocated properly ahead of the continent-wide vote. Following the statement, European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt tweeted: The only relevant question now is if prime minister May can muster a cross-party majority by next week. Theresa May will write to European Union chiefs today requesting a "short" delay to the date Britain leaves the EU, Number 10 has confirmed. A Downing Street source told The Independent the prime minister shared the public's "frustration" at parliament's "failure to take a decision". On Tuesday the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, issued the UK an ultimatum - present a clear plan of action for what happens next, or the EU will reject any extension to Article 50, the clause Britain triggered to start the Brexit process. As the law currently stand, the UK will leave the EU in nine days, on 29 March, with or without a withdrawal agreement. Downing Street appeared to be responding to multiple reports that Ms May would write to Donald Tusk, the European Commission president, requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiating timetable of nine to 12 months. Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Show all 9 1 /9 Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Boris Johnson Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party's right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Michael Gove Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour's no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister's. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Dominic Raab Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied "never say never" Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Rory Stewart International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Esther McVey The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May's Brexit deal AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Sajid Javid Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a "major incident" and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Jeremy Hunt Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership PA Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Andrea Leadsom Following the Prime Minister's second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which "leadership was the only topic of conversation", The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister AFP/Getty Who could succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader? Priti Patel Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent "she knows she's from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she's reminding everyone she's there." Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials PA Such a delay would mean the UK taking part in the EU parliament elections in late May - something negotiators on both sides of the Channel have said they are keen to avoid. A No10 source said on Wednesday: "PM won't be asking for a long extension. There is a case for giving parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward, but the people of this country have been waiting for nearly three years now." "They are fed up with parliament's failure to take a decision and the PM shares their frustration," they added," they added. It is hoped by Downing Street that the prime minister will secure MPs' approval for her twice-defeated withdrawal agreement within the extension period, but there is still no sign of the parliamentary arithmetic changing dramatically in favour of Ms May's plans. The decision not to request a long extension to Article 50 will be interpreted as an attempt to prevent infuriating Leave-backing Tory MPs, and avoid cabinet-level resignations from prominent Brexiteers. During a fractious cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, told colleagues: "This used to be the cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now from what I'm hearing it's not." And the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, warned that failure to deliver Brexit would mean the UK becomes a "barren land ruled by Jeremy Corbyn". A short delay, rather than a long delay, would also make the prospect of a no-deal scenario more likely - despite the strength of opinion against such an exit from the EU in parliament. Speaking on the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, the education secretary Damian Hinds, added: "I don't see how a long delay gives certainty, actually, we've had a long time already. "Unless and until a deal is finalised there remains the prospect, the risk, of no deal. "In terms of timing there has already been two-plus years to do this and I think people are a bit tired of waiting for parliament to get our act together and get the deal finalised." On Wednesday, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said he had not yet received a letter from the prime minister, but was hoping for "clarity" from the UK on the way forward. He suggested an extension might not be reached at this week's European Council summit, adding: "We will probably have to meet again, because Ms May has not got agreement for anything either in her cabinet or her parliament. "As long as we don't know what Great Britain will say Yes to, we can't come to a resolution." Close Brexit: Theresa May puts blame for what she has called a national 'crisis' on MPs Theresa May has risked the anger of MPs after she blamed them for forcing her to ask the EU for a "short delay" to Brexit. In a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, the prime minister asked for a three-month extension to Article 50 negotiation process, pushing the scheduled date to leave the EU from 29 March to 30 June. However Mr Tusk put his foot down, saying he would grant the delay but only if MPs backed Ms May's Brexit deal. Some hours later Ms May used a televised address to accuse the Commons of having tried everything to avoid making a decision on whether it wanted to leave the block with a deal, crash out without one or not leave at all. From Downing Street she told voters she was "on your side", adding that she believed "You're tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime." Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree," she said. In response the PM was accused of being "toxic" and even of risking her colleagues' safety. It meant that Ms May must now find a way of putting her deal before parliament for the third time, with no clear evidence that MPs will back it after twice voting it down by crushing margins. If the deal fails again there is a significant chance she could resign, having told MPs earlier in the day she could not be the leader to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit. See below how we covered the day's events live Almost 100 student leaders, representing 825,000 students across the country, have signed a letter calling on the government to hold a Final Say Brexit referendum, The Independent can reveal. Elected representatives from 46 students' unions from across the country have signed an open letter to parliamentarians, warning that "any politician that facilitates Brexit will be risking the support of young people and students". The letter, which was co-ordinated by youth campaign For our Future's Sake (FFS), sends a warning shot to MPs across the political spectrum who are considering backing Theresa Mays Brexit deal without giving people a Final Say. The Independent launched a campaign calling for a Final Say referendum last year and the petition has so far been signed by 1.2 million people. The letter comes days before the Put It To The People march, which will take place in London on 23 March just six days before the UK is meant to leave the European Union. A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Show all 65 1 /65 A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit An estimated 700,000 people marched through London to demand a final say on the withdrawal agreement Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Red smoke from a canister hangs in the air as around 100,000 demonstrators march through London during a People's Vote anti-brexit demonstration savings banners and placards Anti-Brexit People's Vote March for the Future in London Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Protesters wearing final Say shirts and holding placards Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit MP Chuka Umunna (left) and MP Vince Cable (right) as MP Anna Soubry (centre) addresses Anti-Brexit campaigners at a rally after the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A Peoples Vote march attendee calls for a Final Say Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators with banners 'We're with EU' during the People's Vote March for the Future in London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Protesters at Londons march for the future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Editor of The Independent Christian Broughton speaks to demonstrators in Parliament Sqaure after they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A poster at the March for the Future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 campaigner wrapped in EU flag Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators pass Trafalgar Square as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators wave Union and European flags and hold up placards as they pass Trafalgar Square, taking part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A demonstrator holds a message during a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators take part in the 'People's Vote March for the Future,' in central London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A protester brandishes an Independent t-shirt during the Brexit March Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Tens of thousands of people take part in People's Vote March for the Future in central London. The march organised by the People's Vote campaign is led by young people calling for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A similar rally in October attracted almost 700,000 people and hundreds of thousands are expected to take to the streets once again. FFS are urging MPs to join the march to show their support for young people" and Erica Ramos, vice-president of business and law at Middlesex University Students' Union and supporter of FFS, said Brexit was a generation defining issue. "We know now that the promises made by the Brexit Elite in 2016 have been entirely and repeatedly broken, and that the views of young people have been consistently ignored, Ms Ramos said. For the students I'm elected to represent, their views are clear - they want politicians to support a People's Vote, and allow them a say on their futures. That's why we will be at the 'Put it to the People' march with hundreds of thousands of other people, to make our voices heard." Bella Frimpong, student mobilisation co-ordinator for FFS, said young people would face the consequences of Brexit for the longest period. That's why over the last year, we've mobilised in 100 different youth-led organisations to call for a People's Vote - and why 23 March, thousands of young people will descend on Parliament to demand that they put it to the people, Ms Frimpong said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events For more details about the Put It To The People march and to sign up please visit peoples-vote.uk/march For updates on whats going on with Brexit, you can register here to receive our new Brexit in Brief newsletter and other benefits. If you already have a registered account with The Independent you can sign up for the newsletter via your Account details tab Jeremy Corbyn stomped out of a meeting with Theresa May and other party leaders after expressing anger at the Independent Group having been invited, MPs have claimed. The Labour leader was reportedly furious that Chuka Umunna, who quit Labour last month, was at the meeting. Ms May held talks with the Westminster leaders of Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party on Wednesday night as she prepares to travel to Brussels to seek a delay to Brexit. The Independent Group, which has 11 MPs, was also invited to attend. That is said to have angered Mr Corbyn, who reportedly claimed that Mr Umunna, the groups spokesperson, was not a proper party leader. Recommended May hints she will quit if forced to accept long delay to Brexit Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: Jeremy Corbyns kinder, gentler politics was found wanting as he stomped out of the meeting before it began rather than breathe the same air as Chuka Umunna. Asked about the row, a Labour spokesperson said: It was not the meeting that had been agreed and the terms were broken. We are in discussions with Number 10 about holding the bilateral meeting with the PM that Jeremy proposed at PMQs. In a joint statement released after the meeting, the Westminster leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party said Ms May must not be allowed to bully MPs into backing her Brexit deal. Ian Blackford, Sir Vince Cable, Liz Saville-Roberts and Caroline Lucas said: We agree that the House of Commons must formulate a plan that will give the European Union Council the confidence to agree a longer extension beyond 30 June, so that by the end of next week legislation can be in place to prevent a no-deal exit. Parliament should now sit in continuous session until it can reach a decision and set out a clear plan. We will be pushing for the House of Commons to support a referendum on remaining in the EU, others will put forward their own positions. They added: If the Commons cannot agree, as a last resort we would be prepared to take steps to secure a parliamentary vote on the revocation of Article 50. The prime minister must not be allowed to bully MPs into a choice between her bad deal and no deal. That would make Brexit a choice between disaster and catastrophe, and that would be a failure of truly historic proportions. The UK and all of its people and nations deserve better. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty It comes after Ms May announced that she would ask the EU to delay Brexit by three months angering pro-EU MPs, who insisted that a longer extension was needed to ensure the UK does not leave the bloc without a deal. The prime minister told MPs: The government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. If that vote is passed, the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed. But as prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. The UKs request for a delay to Brexit will be discussed at a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday. Theresa May has strongly hinted she will quit if forced to accept a long delay to Brexit, dramatically staking her premiership on tomorrows EU summit. As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June, she told MPs later repeating the statement to drive home the message. The comment came during a stormy prime ministers questions, during which MPs lined up to attack her plan to ask the EU for only a short extension to the Article 50 process. Ms May launched an extraordinary attack on MPs for twice voting down her Brexit agreement, accusing the Commons of contemplating its navel. But Jeremy Corbyn blamed the prime minister for causing a national crisis, saying her concerted campaign of blackmail, bullying and bribery had failed to persuade MPs or the country to back her deal. Ms May also raised the stakes by insisting a crash-out Brexit is still possible, even if delayed until June, warning MPs: This does not take no-deal off the table. Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Show all 60 1 /60 Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Anu Shukla Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Phil Watson Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr Dogs rallied in Brexit protest Hundreds of protesters gathered with their dogs for the 'Brexit is a Dog's Dinner' rally near Parliament in Westminster on Sunday 10 March 2019. Campaigners said they were concerned about the impact of leaving the EU on animal welfare. They said Brexit will make it difficult to take pets abroad, lead to a deficit in vets in the UK and increase the cost of animal healthcare. From bulldogs to whippets, dogs gathered to feast on treats and snacks at specially prepared dinner tables where they were served by their very own butler. The event was organised by the Wooferendum group, which also staged an event in August last year to demand a stop to Brexit. Ben Starr However, moments after finally sending her extension request letter to Brussels, she was forced to concede she could not say if or when MPs would approve her deal. The threat to the prime ministers position is clear, after the European Commission suggested it would agree only a shorter extension or a much longer one. It stated a long delay would require UK participation in Mays European Parliament elections, which the prime minister insisted was unacceptable. The prime minister will formally make her request to summit of EU leaders on Thursday, where the unanimous approval of all 27 remaining member states is required for any extension. However, at PMQs she was bombarded with criticism that a short delay even if granted would achieve nothing, given the logjam at Westminster. It was pointed out that the decision flew in the face of the motion, passed by MPs last week, for a long delay if as has happened the government was still unable to pass its agreement. The deal now looks even more doomed, because Brexiteer MPs are even less likely to abandon their opposition with the threat of a long extension evaporating. Furthermore, John Bercow has warned he will not even allow a third meaningful vote unless the proposal before MPs has significantly changed, which the EU has ruled out. In an unprecedented attack on the power of MPs, Ms May said: The outcome of a long extension would be endless hours and days of this House carrying on contemplating its navel on Europe and failing to address the issues that matter to our constituents. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long. It's time for this House to determine that it will deliver on Brexit for the British people. That's what the British people deserve. They deserve better than what this House has given them so far. Later, Ms Mays repeatedly failed to give a clear answer over whether her words definitely meant she would resign rather than seek a long extension. Asked if she would step down, her spokesman said: She believes that what she has set out in the letter, and what shes asking for in terms of that short extension to 30 June, is the best way of seeing the deal ratified. She believes that is manifestly in the interests of the people of this country and that is her focus. Asked again he said: I think its important that the PM sends a very clear signal about her view of the right way forward and I think that is precisely what shes done by sayingshe doesnt believe a long extension is the right thing to do, she doesnt think more navel gazing will help solve the problem, so shes sending a strongest signal about her opinion, which is we need to get this done, we need to deliver for people and that means not delaying it beyond the date. Pushed again, the spokesman said: What you should infer is her determination to get this over the line. Theresa May has set the scene to take her final shot at pushing her troubled Brexit deal through parliament next week, after a day which left her strategy and her political career teetering on the edge of ruin. In a statement from Downing Street the prime minister directly blamed the House of Commons for the UKs failure to leave the EU on 29 March, accusing it of doing everything possible to avoid a decision and saying it is now time for MPs to decide. Her statement came hours after European Council president Donald Tusk said the EU would only accept a short extension of the Article 50 period if MPs back Ms Mays deal. It means that next week, possibly on Monday, she will for the third time attempt to put the agreement she struck with the EU to a vote in the Commons and if it passes the UK will leave sometime before 30 June when necessary legislation is locked in. If it fails to pass there is a high chance Ms May could quit, after she told MPs earlier in the day she could not be the prime minister to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit. She was on Wednesday also being pushed by Brexiteers to simply take the UK out of the EU without a deal next Friday, with all possibilities still on the table after two years of negotiations and just eight days before Britain is legally due to drop out of the bloc. In her televised address Ms May said that it was a matter of great personal regret that Brexit will not go ahead on 29 March. But she then went over the heads of MPs to say: Of this, I am absolutely sure you the public have had enough. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty You are tired of the infighting, youre tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our childrens schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide. Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without parliament ever deciding what it wants Prime minister Theresa May She then doubled down on an attack she had fired directly at MPs earlier in the day, saying: So far, parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without parliament ever deciding what it wants. All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want. I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal Ive negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable. Earlier in the day, Mr Tusk said a short extension would be possible, but would be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement. Theresa May says that delay to Brexit is 'a matter of great personal regret' as she tells public 'I'm on your side' Mr Tusk said that if the deal is not approved by MPs then the EU may hold another emergency summit to decide what to do. A leaked diplomatic note which emerged earlier showed any extension would be a binary choice between a short extension to 23 May, close to Ms Mays suggested leave date, or a long extension until at least the end of the year that would see the UK participate in European parliament elections something the prime minister said would be unacceptable. Yet in the Commons earlier in the day, Ms May said: As prime minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June. She later repeated the statement to drive home the message, leading to intense speculation she would quit if forced into a position where the only way to avoid a no deal was a long delay to Brexit. Later, Ms Mays spokesman repeatedly failed to give a clear answer over whether her words definitely meant she would resign rather than seek a long extension, finally saying: What you should infer is her determination to get this over the line. Brexit: Theresa May puts blame for what she has called a national 'crisis' on MPs In a major obstacle to her strategy Commons speaker John Bercow has warned he will not even allow a third meaningful vote unless the proposal before MPs has significantly changed. The prime minister spent the evening before her statement meeting MPs in a bid to persuade them to get behind her deal, if Mr Bercow allows the crucial vote to go ahead next week. Many Conservatives were pushing her to simply let the UK drop out of the EU without a deal on 29 March if her plans fail to gain approval. Nigel Evans MP said: A lot of us believe we should just leave a week Friday anyway. Rwanda has proposed the worlds first country-wide DNA database, a project that will involve collecting samples from all of the countrys 12 million citizens in an effort to crack down on crime. The scheme has prompted concerns from human rights campaigners who believe the database could be misused by the government and violate international human rights laws. Plans for the database were announced by Rwandas Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye. Speaking in the countrys capital, Kigali, he said the project would help to fight crimes like rape and murder. He said: We think we have the technical basis now to launch into the development of a DNA database. That said, it is first of all a legal process. We will examine global best practice on the issue, propose appropriate law and implement accordingly. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty He added: I want to assure you that the ultimate goal is to have all the necessary equipment and technical know-how to provide accurate information about who is responsible for crime. Officials still need to secure a budget for the project and push legislation through parliament to permit the creation of the database, according to the Rwandan daily The New Times. Human rights organisations are wary of the new scheme as they believe that the government could potentially misuse DNA data, which can reveal a broad range of intimate medical and genetic details. Alexandrine Pirlot de Corbion, global programme lead at the charity Privacy International, said: There is an inherent risk that this kind of database could be misused in the future." Around the world we have seen instances where large sets of data have been misused for repression - allowing authorities to identify and profile groups in society that a government might want to locate. The retention of this data is also problematic from a legal point of view and, depending on its implementation, could violate legislation set out in the International Bill of Human Rights, according to the UK-based law reform group Justice. Rwanda is still suffering from tensions in the wake of the 1994 genocide when 800,000 Rwandans were killed in just a hundred days, after the countrys Hutu political elite directed the mass murder of the countrys Tutsi population. It is estimated that 70 per cent of the countrys Tutsi population were killed in the genocide. Though officials want Rwanda to be the first country to have a comprehensive DNA database that documents all of the countrys citizens several other nations have already started to implement large-scale DNA databases. There are concerns that the Chinese government is using DNA testing to oppress the countrys predominantly Muslim Uighur minority. Human rights groups say that that China has built up a vast DNA database of Uighurs living in Xinjiang province, collecting samples without consent from nearly 36 million people as part of a free medical check-ups programme. In 2014 Chinese researchers published a paper describing how to distinguish Uighurs from other ethnic groups using DNA testing. Researchers believe more than a million Uighurs are being systematically detained in what China calls re-education camps. Chinas Xinjiang government has denied that it used its medical programme to make a DNA database and also denies that Uighurs are being detained without due process. In 2015 Kuwait passed the worlds first law that required all citizens and visitors to submit samples of their DNA, but it was revoked before it came into force. It was introduced with the aim of identifying terrorists but, in 2017, the countrys Constitutional Court ruled that the law violated Kuwaits constitutional guarantee of personal liberty. The US military may be guilty of war crimes for killing large numbers of civilians in a sharply stepped-up campaign of air strikes in Somalia over the past two years, Amnesty International has said. The organisation says it had been able to document 14 civilians killed in investigations of just five air strikes, a tiny fraction of at least 110 such strikes that the US military says it has launched since June 2017. The US military rejected Amnesty's report. It says it has killed 800 militants in air strikes in Somalia over that period, but has not wounded or killed a single civilian. "We currently assess no civilian casualties have occurred as a result of any US Africa Command air strikes," the US military's Africa command AFRICOM said in en emailed response to Reuters. Brian Castner, Amnesty International's senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations, said the civilian death toll suggested that the "shroud of secrecy surrounding the US role in Somalia's war is actually a smokescreen for impunity". World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty "Members of the US government forces who planned and carried out the air strikes may have committed violations of international humanitarian law, including unlawful killings, which could amount to war crimes," Amnesty's report said. Somalia, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been in a state of civil war and profound insecurity since 1991. In recent years, the US military has been supporting a UN-backed government in Mogadishu fighting against an insurgency by the al Shabaab Islamist militant group. In March 2017, Donald Trump gave the military greater authority to carry out strikes and raids in Somalia, including without waiting for militants to attack US allies. Recommended US launches first air strikes against Isis fighters in Somalia In a statement, AFRICOM, said: "We have processes in place to ensure the safety and protection of the local population remains a top priority. "These procedures, combined with precision strike capabilities, safeguard civilians and infrastructure." A US air strike this week killed four people, an employee of mobile phone company Hormuud Telecoms and three unidentified passengers, a relative of one of the victims told Reuters on Tuesday. AFRICOM said it had killed three militants in an air strike on Monday, adding it was aware of reports alleging civilian casualties and would review the information about the incident. Amnesty's report investigated five air strikes in the Lower Shabelle region. It concluded that 14 civilians had died and eight were injured. Al-Shabaab was pushed out of the capital Mogadishu in 2011, but retains a strong presence in parts of southern and central Somalia. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The militants said US attacks inflict damage on local residents and encourage relatives of victims to join them. Abdiasis Abu Musab, an al-Shabaab spokesman, told Reuters on Tuesday: "US strikes target farmers and pastoralists many times in many places of Somalia." "People and their farms and animals perish. Their houses get burnt." Reuters The former president of Peru, wanted in his home country on allegations he took $20m (16m) in bribes, has been arrested for public drunkenness in California. But after spending the night in a police cell near San Francisco, Alejandro Toledo was allowed to walk free because US officials ruled the existence of charges in Peru was not enough to justify his continued detention in California. This was despite Peruvian authorities having previously offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Mr Toledo, 72, who developed a reputation for partying while leading Peru from 2001 to 2006, was arrested after police were called to a restaurant in Menlo Park, just south of San Francisco, after allegations were made that he was drunk and had refused to leave the establishment. He was taken into custody just before 10.30pm on suspicion of public intoxication, which is a misdemeanour offence. But no charges were filed against him, and the San Mateo County Sheriffs Office released him at 9am on Monday. The sheriffs office spokesperson, Rosemerry Blankswade, told the San Francisco Chronicle: After reaching out to Peruvian officials and Interpol, we learned that the existence of charges in Peru alone does not authorise the subjects arrest in the United States. The reward offer dates from February 2017, when a Peruvian judge issued an international arrest warrant for Mr Toledo, accusing him of taking $20m in bribes from a Brazilian construction company in exchange for a contract to build a road from Peru to Brazil. The reward was offered to anyone in the world who may be able to provide information on Mr Toledo, who has denied the bribery allegations. Recommended Peru offers reward for the capture of former president At the time it was thought Mr Toledo might be living in the San Francisco area, but the Peruvian authorities also made contact with their Israeli counterparts. Officials feared Mr Toledo might take advantage of his wifes dual Belgian-Israeli citizenship to seek refuge in Israel, which doesnt have an extradition treaty with Peru. Instead, Mr Toledo stayed in California, with the Chronicle reporting he is now living in Los Altos, in the northern Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay area. After being born into poverty in Peru, Mr Toledo first visited California as a young man, having been helped by two Peace Corps volunteers to get a partial scholarship to study at the University of San Francisco. A calf who ran loose on a New York City motorway for more than half an hour amid traffic, after escaping from a slaughterhouse has been rehomed in a farm sanctuary. The male calf, estimated to be less than a year old, was found running up the Major Deegan Expressway near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Tuesday morning with a tag in his ear. A spokesperson for Animal Care Centres of New York City said the animal was very stressed by the ordeal, during which he thrashed and kicked at the air near the concrete median as cars crawled past. He was taken into custody by the New York Police Department, which named him after his escape route of choice: Major Deegan. His escape, and the ensuing traffic jam, made him a sudden star on TV and social media. Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse Show all 6 1 /6 Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse banksy-sirens.jpg Banksy Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse banksy-sirens-2_1.jpg Banksy Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse banksy-beaver.jpg Banksy Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse web-dumbo.jpg Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse banksyheart.jpg Banksy Banksy takes cuddly farmyard toys to the New York slaughterhouse banksytruck.jpg Banksy Ms Hansen, said the number of farm animals that have turned up on the streets of New York in the last 10 days was unusually high. She described the phenomenon as both crazy and "hard to explain". In all of 2018, we got three goats, seven pigs and one sheep in the entire year, she said. So now in 10 days we have gotten a lamb, two goats and a cow. It is sort of like that movie Chicken Run, when the animals all escape. Ms Hansen said that one of the goats, which she said the agency was due to receive Tuesday night, was a slaughterhouse reject rather than a runaway. Someone showed up at a slaughterhouse looking to hand over a goat, but the butchers inside declined the offer. The slaughterhouse said, No, this isnt our goat, she said. So, the person is bringing it to us instead. The police department said the calf had wandered as far as Exit 6, about 1 mile, by the time officers from the Emergency Service Unit arrived. Police said they tranquillized the animal, took him into custody and transported him to an Animal Care Centres facility in Harlem. Animal Care Centres, a non-profit that provides animal control services for the city, also cared for another goat, which was found in the Bronx on Sunday, and a lamb, which was found on the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn last Wednesday. Ms Hansen said rescue workers named the goat Billy, and the lamb Petunia. While the calf made his way to Harlem, Ms Hansen said centre employees cleared some dogs out of a play area in the backyard and set up an area for him, complete with a mound of hay. When he arrived, the calf was led through the back gate so he wouldnt have to walk through the actual shelter and was then left to have some peace and quiet, Ms Hansen said. Escaped farm animals tend to be stressed out by their ordeal, she said. They are in new surroundings, and they have just run away from a place where they most likely sensed danger. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Now they are surrounded by unfamiliar smells, and there are no other animals that look like them around, so that is scary. Their adrenaline is probably rushing. Ms Hansen said that the calf, like the goat and the lamb before him, was sent to Skyland Sanctuary in Wantage, New Jersey. The other goat was sent on Tuesday night to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, which is well known for its association with comedian Jon Stewart. Sending an escaped animal to a nearby sanctuary is standard procedure because slaughterhouses tend to be located close together, Ms Hansen said. This makes it difficult to determine which facility may be missing an animal when they are tagged. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Allie Feldman Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights, said there are about 80 slaughterhouses in New York City. Ms Hansen said if one of them comes forward and claims an escaped animal, it is returned to them. But that rarely happens. Probably because of public outcry, she said. When people really think about what they are eating, I guess it affects them in that way. New York Times A controversial Canadian academic who once called on women to stand up against their crazy, harpy sisters, has had the offer of a fellowship rescinded by the University of Cambridge. Jordan Peterson, 56, who has starkly divided global opinion with his views on topics such as masculinity, political correctness and the gender pay gap, had expected to take up a fellowship with the Faculty of Divinity. However on Wednesday, the department said the offer had been rescinded after a further review. Peterson, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, started to earn global headlines in 2016 when he spoke out against so-called campus culture wars where he claimed social justice warrior, left-wing radical political activists were running rampant. That year, he posted a series of lectures on YouTube, titling them the Professor against political correctness. He was also a prominent and outspoken opponent of Bill C-16, a bill passed by the Canadian parliament that was designed to stop discrimination on the grounds of gender identity or expression. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty In his first lecture, Peterson, the author of several books including Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief and 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, said he would not use the preferred gender pronouns of students and faculty, as it would impact his own freedom of speech. Theres a difference between saying something you cant say and saying that there are things that you have to say, he told a public debate on the topic. I regard these made-up pronouns, all of them as neologisms of a radical PC authoritarianism. Im not going to be a mouthpiece for language I detest. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the University of Cambridge confirmed the offer had been revoked but refused to provide any further explanation. Waking Up podcast:Sam Harris in conversation with Jordan Peterson We can confirm that Jordan Peterson requested a visiting fellowship, and an initial offer has been rescinded after a further review, said a spokesperson. In the UK, Mr Peterson is perhaps best known for a energetic interview with Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News in January of last year. During the half-hour interview, Ms Newman asked Mr Peterson it doesnt bother you that your audience is predominantly male. Isnt that a bit divisive?. He replied: No, I dont think so. I mean, its no more divisive than the fact that YouTube is primarily male and Tumblr is primarily female. Supporters of the Canadian academic claimed the British journalist had sought to put words into his mouth. She received such a torrent of online abuse and threats, the channel said it had been forced to hire security specialists. Ben de Pear, the editor of Channel 4 News, wrote on Twitter at the time: Our Channel 4 News on-screen journalists expect to be held to account for their journalism but the level of vicious misogynistic abuse, nastiness, and threat to Cathy Newman is an unacceptable response to a robust and engaging debate with Jordan Peterson. He added: Such is the scale of threat, we are having to get security specialists in to carry out an analysis. I will not hesitate to get the police involved if necessary. What a terrible indictment of the times we live in. Mr Peterson did not immediately respond to enquiries on Wednesday. Cambridge University Students Union told the student publication Varsity, it was relieved Mr Petersons fellowship offer had been withdrawn. It is a political act to associate the University with an academics work through offers which legitimise figures such as Peterson, it said. His work and views are not representative of the student body and as such we do not see his visit as a valuable contribution to the university, but one that works in opposition to the principles of the university. The survival of 40 children and 10 staff members at the Mt Zion Baptist Church in Kentucky is being hailed as a miracle after a tornado ripped the building apart. The churchs preschool director Michelle Rushing told local news outlet WPSD God was definitely with us amid the twister, which touched down on Thursday in western Kentucky. The secretary and I walked through the doors just as we heard our glass breaking and felt the suction sucking the roof off, she added. The staff members rushed children into what police described as a safe room inside the Church, used during emergencies like tornadoes or other natural disasters. The twister left a path from Lovelaceville, Kentucky through the West Paducah area, according to Keith Todd, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. He said the public was being asked to avoid the area while utility crews, area fire departments, and rescue squads worked to clear utility lines, downed trees and other debris. Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Show all 15 1 /15 Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado in Dothan, Alabama on March 3 AFP/Getty Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Debris and a damaged house following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People walk amid debris in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Damage in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A funnel shaped cloud on the I-10 near Marianna, Florida on March 3. Tornado warnings have been issued across the southeast of the US AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 House debris following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A tornado in the distance at Warner Robins, Georgia on March 3 @KEITH_IRWIN/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A fallen pylon lies across Route 280 in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Fallen trees lie across a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Damaged trees seen following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People look on at clean-up efforts following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People clear fallen trees and debris from a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Fallen trees following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado in Dothan, Alabama on March 3 AFP/Getty Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Emergency responders work in the scene amid debris in Lee County, Alabama AP We had six kids in here when the alarms went off. Ms Rushing said. When it went off, we used one of their beds to get all the babies to the other side. Weather officials in Paducah said it blew past their office. The National Weather Service in Paducah tweeted, TORNADO JUST MISSED OUR OFFICE IN WEST PADUCAH. TAKE SHELTER NOW IF YOURE IN PADUCAH!!!! The tweet was posted about 9:30 am local time. Video of the Kentucky tornado was posted on social media. Jared Borum filmed the forming cyclone as it moved across a field of trees in Paducah. Mr Borum and a room full of others watched the funnel grow and whip across the field. Weather forecasters have warned numerous severe storms are possible in in the Tennessee Valley region and as far south as the northern Birmingham area following the twister. Parents said they were concerned for the wellbeing of their children after being unable to reach their teachers amid the tornado. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events People were blowing me up and asking if she was OK, Kory GioVEngo, whose daughter was in the church during the incident, told the local news outlet. Additional reporting by AP Democrat senator Kamala Harris has vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump as she runs to be president. The former California attorney general suggested her legal experience would be an asset on the campaign trail as she seeks to convince voters to oust Mr Trump from the White House. I ... believe that voters are going to want is they are going to want is that there is someone who has the proven ability to prosecute the case against this administration and this president, she said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And that is going to be about having an ability and a proven ability to be able to articulate the evidence that makes the case for why we need new leadership in this country. Ms Harris sidestepped a question about whether she would continue to prosecute Mr Trump and his associates if she was elected, telling Kimmel: Im very supportive of Bob Mueller being able to finish his process and do his job. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The California senator is seen as a strong contender for the Democrat candidacy in 2020, although CNN polling released on Tuesday put her third behind Joe Biden who has yet to announce a bid for the presidency and Bernie Sanders. Recommended Kamala and Beto should make way for the real liberals Asked if she would prefer Mr Biden to stay out of the race, she replied: I think that everyone who wants to run should run. And truly the more the merrier, because we do not lack for talent among Democrats. Ms Harris indicated she may support her Democratic competitor Elizabeth Warren's call to abolish the electoral college system, which gave Mr Trump a path to the White House despite him losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million ballots. "Im open to the discussion, Ms Harris said. Theres no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about whos the president of the United States, and we need to deal with that. The INM Leibniz Institute for New Materials presents hybrid inks for inkjet printing that contain metal nanoparticles coated with conductive polymers. The inks can be formulated in water and in other polar solvents and are suitable to print conductive structures on a range of substrates without any subsequent thermal or UV treatment. Standard metal inks require annealing after inkjet printing to become conductive. INMs new inks obviate this step, making them compatible with many substrates including thin polymer foils and paper. The developers will demonstrate their hybrid inks at stand C54 in hall 5 at this year's Hannover Messe, which takes place from April 1 to 5. Conductive inks are widely used in to print electronics. The inks presented by INM are applicable to flexible photovoltaics, lighting, touch screen electronics, wearable devices, large-area heaters, sensors, and 3D conformal antennas, among others. The inks are based on gold nanoparticles with good biocompatibility and low toxicity (FDA generally regarded as safe), suitable for health and biomedical applications. Immediate conductivity upon drying, mechanical flexibility, and good biocompatibility are important properties of our ink, explains the INM materials scientist Tobias Kraus. The hybrid inks contain a small organic polymer fraction that helps to maintain its electrical conductivity, even if the substrate material is bent, Kraus continues. This enables printing on almost any substrate, like foil, paper, or textiles, since the final annealing steps at relatively high temperatures are avoided. INM scientists have scaled the production of these hybrid inks to a level that is sufficient for small-scale production. The scaling of nanostructured products requires optimized processes in order to maintain quality while lower prices, says Kraus. Samples of the material are available for testing upon request. Senator Elizabeth Warren says that the Confederate flag is getting tossed if she becomes president. Ms Warren waded into the contentious debate during a town hall hosted by CNN, saying that she would take action as president to remove the divisive symbol regardless of the argument that the flag celebrates heritage, not hate. As a presidential hopeful, do you have any plans on addressing the removal, or lack thereof, of the reminders of the nations dark past, or have any plans on preserving the nations history in a way that explains it in a more education sense versus showing praise to the losing side? an audience member asked. Ms Warren responded forcefully, saying she would support removing Confederate celebrations from federal land and putting them in museums, where they belong. The Confederate flag has re-emerged in national debate over the past few years as advocates have urged leaders to remove the symbol, which was flown by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin The issue gained particular salience following the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, and again following the 2017 white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia. In response to the Charlottesville protest which were organised in support of a Confederate monument, and left one counter-demonstrator dead Donald Trump suggested that there were good people on both sides of the demonstrations, and refused to denounce white supremacy. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events That apparent refusal to denounce white supremacy resulted in widespread criticism, and added fuel to the effort in localities across the country to remove the monuments and symbols of hate that the confederacy often represents. Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich attempted to counter Senator Elizabeth Warrens call to discuss the injustices of slavery, and its lasting systemic impact on generations of African-Americans, by claiming that the United States does not get enough credit for ending slavery. While discussing reparations to descendents of enslaved people on Fox News "Outnumbered" on Tuesday, Ms Pavlich claimed that the US was the first country to abolish slavery. They keep blaming America for the sin of slavery but the truth is, throughout human history, slavery existed, and America came along as the first country to end it within 150 years, she said. And we get no credit for that to move forward and try to make good on that. That is simply not true. There are several countries who abolished slavery long before the US did in 1858 with the 13th Amendment. Some of those countries include Haiti in 1804, Spain in 1811, Sweden in 1813, the Netherlands 1814, the United Kingdom in 1833, Denmark in 1836, France in 1848, and Portugal in 1858. How my ancestor, James Ramsay, helped end slavery Show all 2 1 /2 How my ancestor, James Ramsay, helped end slavery How my ancestor, James Ramsay, helped end slavery 22-ancestorslavery1-NPG.jpg Force for good: James Ramsay, as portrayed by Swedish artist Carl Frederik von Breda National Portrait Gallery How my ancestor, James Ramsay, helped end slavery 22-ancestorslavery2-gtht.jpg Getty Images/Hulton Archive Despite all of this, Ms Pavlich continued to argue that giving reparations to African-Americans would worsen race relations in the country. If you want to inflame racial tension even more, start blaming people who have nothing to do with slavery for the sin of slavery, she added. That is not fair, thats not the American way, and we shouldnt be doing it. The Fox News contributors controversial comments prompted widespread backlash on social media. Journalist Soledad OBrien called Ms Pavlich a complete moron for her inaccurate remarks on slavery. Is it hard for [Katie Pavlich] to be a complete moron? Ms OBrien tweeted. The utter stupidity. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The conservative firebrand shot back while also trying to retract her comments. Should have said one of* first countries, from the point of founding. My argument stands, but please @soledadobrien please continue name calling as your argument and the smearing of America as the originator of slavery, Ms Pavlich said. But Ms OBrien had the last word. The documentary journalist suggested Ms Pavlich research a little bit before making false historical claims. Your argument is factually inaccurate, she added. Google when slavery started and ended if you dont want to be known for your ignorance. The Trump administration is committing "an unprecedented level of stonewalling, delay and obstruction" in response to congressional requests for documents and witnesses, the chair of the House oversight committee has said. Elijah Cummings, Democratic congressman for Maryland, said he had sent 12 letters to the White House on a range of topics from the "routine" to "relating to our core national security interests". In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Mr Cummings said the subjects included White House security clearances, Donald Trump's alleged hush money payments, and the use of taxpayer funds for lavish private planes. The Trump administration "has not turned over a single piece of paper to our committee or made a single official available for testimony," Mr Cummings wrote. The administration has also ignored requests by three inquiries into the administration by the House judiciary committee, which has impeachment jurisdiction. Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty The White House considers the requests by newly empowered Democrats- who took the House in November - as illegitimate, too expansive or infringing on presidential privilege, the Post reported. Administration sources told the newspaper it planned to challenge the majority of document requests. But Democrats say the White House is trying to thwart Congress's fundamental oversight role of the executive. "Trump's actions violate our Constitution's fundamental principle of checks and balances," Mr Cummings wrote. The Trump administration is expected to draft an official response over its failure to comply with the request some time in the next week. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris vows to 'prosecute the case' against Donald Trump If it continues to refuse, Democrats could sue the administration and ultimately take officials to court, where it could get caught up in litigation for years. The House judiciary committee is probing whether Mr Trump abused his power as president, obstructed justice, or engaged in corruption, while the oversight committee is looking into issues including the president's hush money payments to two women and his handling of security clearances. Additional reporting by AP Close Donald Trump escalates criticism of US war hero: 'I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be' Donald Trump has resumed his attack on George Conway, the husband of White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, after the latter questioned the presidents mental health. In response, Mr Trump called the lawyer a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell! Mr Trump has also been accused of punching at a person that cant fight back because hes dead over his feud with recently deceased Vietnam War hero and Republican senator John McCain. I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be, Mr Trump said yesterday during a press conference at the White House with Brazils Jair Bolsonaro, prompting the comment from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on the disrespect being shown to a long-serving American public servant who passed away of brain cancer last August, aged 81. The ongoing attacks on the late senator has led many to express support for the famed Arizonan, even as the president has continued to double down on his criticism of the war hero. Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Show all 20 1 /20 Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet Donald Trump's Cabinet is one the richest in American history, filled with billionaires, conservatives and several career politicians. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pence US Vice President Mike Pence has defended Donald Trump throughout his presidency while walking a fine line to avoid any public involvement in major scandals. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mike Pompeo Secretary of State Mike Pompeo replaced Donald Trump's previous appointment to the post, Rex Tillerson, and has led talks with North Korea in establishing high-profile summits between the president and Kim Jong Un. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Wilbur Ross Secretary of Commerce Wibur Ross raised controversy when he was accused of falsely claiming to have sold stock in a bank and violated a government ethics agreement. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Lighthizer US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been a fixture in Donald Trump's ongoing trade spat with China. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet William Barr Attorney General William Barr replaced Jeff Sessions as the nation's top cop in early 2019 and has refused to commit to recusing himself from the Russia probe despite an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department decrying the investigation. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Rick Perry Energy Secretary Rick Perry has held his post throughout Donald Trump's presidency despite previously undermining the need for the agency he now leads in past public statements. Ken Shipp / United States Department of Energy Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also held her post throughout the presidency, despite major backlash to her apparent undermining of the nationwide public school system and advocacy for charter programmes. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Steven Mnuchin Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has faced numerous controversies throughout his tenure as the head of Treasury, including costing taxpayers at least a million dollars in travel expenses. AP Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Wilkie was appointed after Donald Trump's White House doctor Ronny Jackson withdrew over allegations he provided prescription drugs to patients without prescriptions. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet David Bernhardt Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt took office in January 2019 after the resignation of Ryan Zinke after previously serving as Zinke's deputy. Before taking office Bernhardt worked for many years as a solicitor for the Department of the Interior. Tami Heilemann / United States Department of the Interior Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Elaine Chao Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has held her post throughout the presidency and has mostly avoided controversy, despite a report claiming her office has been in frequent coordination with her husband's, Mitch McConnell. AFP/Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Kevin McAleenan Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan took over from Kirstjen Nielsen after she resigned in April 2019. He previously worked as the executive director of the executive director of the Office of Anti Terrorism in the Customs and Border Protection agency United States Customs and Border Protection Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Ben Carson Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson was appointed shortly after Donald Trump took office and raised controversy over an exorbitant furnishing bill for his office. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Gina Haspel CIA Director Gina Haspel was appointed in 2018 and faced backlash surrounding her oversight of Guantanamo Bay. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Dan Coats Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next person to leave Donald Trump's administration over his refuting the president's claims surrounding ISIS. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Sonny Perdue Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been dogged by ethics questions throughout his tenure and faced controversy when emails showed the agency appeared willing to eagerly work with lobbyists under his leadership. Reuters Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Alex Azar Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and former drug company executive. Getty Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Mick Mulvaney Acting Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has described himself as one of the most conservative officials in the White House. EPA Trump's inner circle: Meet the members of the US president's cabinet Robert Wilkie Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie has spent his career on Capitol Hill serving in various roles in foreign affairs and defence. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve. Gene Russell / United States Department of Veterans Affairs On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Trump took a trip to Lima, Ohio, where he visited a tank manufacturing plant and expressed admiration for the "patriotism" he said was on full display in the company. Before boarding his plane to leave Washington, Mr Trump told reporters that he expects special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election to be released publicly. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mr Mueller's report is expected any day now, with many reports indicating the investigation is winding down or already finished up. The report would first be sent to the Justice Department, at which point Attorney General William Barr would determine what form of a report he would pass along to Congress for further review. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load The Trump administration has violated federal law by failing to sufficiently consider climate change as it moves to boost fossil fuel promotion in the United States, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling, by US District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Rudolph Contreras, is the first major rebuke to Donald Trumps efforts to promote American energy dominance, and puts a temporary halt to oil and gas drilling on roughly 300,000 acres of land in Wyoming. Given the national, cumulative nature of climate change, considering each individual drilling project in a vacuum deprives agency and the public of the context necessary to evaluate oil and gas drilling on federal land before irretrievably committing to that drilling, Mr Contreras wrote, essentially saying that the Interior Department had failed to understand the impact of the drilling on the nations carbon output. The decision by Mr Contreras an appointee of Barack Obama, does not void leases granted by the Trump administration in the federal lands. Instead, the Interior Department must now redo its analysis for the hundreds of projects in the state that have been deemed to ave too little analysis. Jeremy Nichols, with the WildEarth Guardians, a plaintiff in the case, told The Washington Post that the decision would force the US government to disclose how oil and gas drilling on federal land is contributing to climate change. Exclusive: BP to risk worst ever oil spill in Shetlands drilling Show all 1 1 /1 Exclusive: BP to risk worst ever oil spill in Shetlands drilling Exclusive: BP to risk worst ever oil spill in Shetlands drilling 656529.bin REX FEATURES He said that the next step for his group will be to look to block drilling leases on 560,000 acres of land that are set to be put up for auction next week. It calls into question the legality of the Trump administrations entire oil and gas program. This forces them to pull their head out of the sand and look at the bigger picture, he said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The Trump administration has been openly hostile towards studies and warnings that climate change poses a serious threat to the country and the world. Mr Trump himself has dismissed climate change as a hoax, while his administration has ignored government reports indicating climate change must be addressed in the coming decade if the US hopes to avoid disastrous consequences. The House Intelligence Committee will shift its focus into probing whether Donald Trump or any of his associates are under the influence of foreign powers, the chairman of the committee has revealed. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who leads the House investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said in a new interview that he is worried about whether Special Counsel Robert Muellers office has thoroughly probed the presidents financial ties to Russia. From what we can see either publicly or otherwise, it's very much an open question whether this is something the special counsel has looked at, Mr Schiff told NBC News in a report published on Wednesday. The chairman said those ties could be creating potential conflicts of interest in the White House, pointing to revelations about a secretive real estate project in Moscow the presidents former fixer and longtime attorney Michael Cohen made during a public testimony earlier this year. I certainly agree that the counterintelligence investigation may be more important than the criminal investigation because it goes to a present threat to our national security whether the president and anybody around him are compromised by a foreign power, Mr Schiff said. Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty He added, That's not necessarily an issue that can be covered in indictments. Mr Trumps Russia connections have stirred controversy ever since he assumed the Oval Office in 2017. That year, his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort who is scheduled to begin his nearly seven year prison sentence over foreign lobbying and witness tampering charges was forced to register as a foreign agent for his work with a pro-Russian Ukranian political party. His son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's Russian connections and foreign debts have also been a subject of scrutiny by House investigators, following his failure to include nearly 100 contacts with Russians on a security clearance application. It was later reported the president stepped in and requested Mr Kushner be granted a clearance against the advice of experts involved in handling clearance applications. Mr Trump has condemned Mr Schiff repeatedly on Twitter along with the House Intelligence investigation. In February, the president wrote, So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events He added, Unlimited Presidential Harassment." Chinese scientists have reportedly cloned what they call the Sherlock Holmes of police dogs in a programme they hope will help cut training times and costs for these dogs. The dog, named Kunxun, was cloned from a police sniffer dog by the Beijing-based Sinogene Biotechnology Company and the Yunnan Agricultural University, with support from the Ministry of Public Security, the state-owned tabloid Global Times reported. Sinogene is hoping to make it possible to achieve volume production of cloned police dogs in order to significantly reduce training times, the companys deputy general manager Zhao Jianping told the Global Times. But he added that cloning costs remain a major obstacle for the company. Kunxun, now three months old, will undergo extensive training in drug detection, crowd control and searching for evidence, and will become a fully fledged police dog when it is about 10 months old, the official China Daily reported. Training usually takes about five years and costs as much as 500,000 yuan, with no guarantee of success, the paper said, citing an animal expert at the Yunnan Agricultural University. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary The paper did not say how much a cloned dog would cost. South Korean scientists created the worlds first cloned dog in 2005, and two years later the country began employing cloned Labrador retrievers to sniff out drugs for the customs service, China Daily reported. The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 Max flight desperately scoured a handbook to find out why the jet was plummeting downwards but ran out of time before it crashed into the Java Sea, killing everyone on board. According to three people who have heard a cockpit voice recording from the aircraft, the captain and first officer on board the ill-fated flight JT610 searched through checklists in a race against time after the jet warned them it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response. It has also emerged that an off-duty pilot riding along in the aircraft just a day earlier helped another crew save the plane from the same issue. The investigation into the crash in Indonesia in October 2018, which killed all 189 people on board, has taken on new relevance since the model was grounded last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia on 10 March. According to a preliminary report issued in November, the first officer on board the Lion Air flight last year reported a flight control problem to air traffic control just two minutes after take-off and said the pilots intended to maintain an altitude of 5,000 feet. Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Show all 13 1 /13 Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Indonesia President Joko Widodo inspects the items recovered from Lion Air flight JT 610 Getty Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta A member of Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency inspects debris AP Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Rescue teams have been joined by fisherman and volunteers in the search for survivors Getty Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Lion Air CEO, Edward Sirait (centre) speaks during a press conference at Lion Air Branch office at Soekarno Hatta Airport EPA Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta No bodies have yet been discovered among the wreckage of the Lion Air flight EPA Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Indonesian search and rescue personnel prepare for a recovery mission Getty Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Rescuers searching the site of the plane crash lift a body bag onto a nearby vessel EPA Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta A relative of passengers arrive at Lion Air's crisis center at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia AP Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta In this photo released by Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency rescuers inspect debris believed to be from a Lion Air passenger jet AP Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta A relative of passengers prays as she and others wait for news on a Lion Air plane that crashed off Java Island AP Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta A rescue team member points to the location where Indonesia's Lion Air flight JT 610 had crashed into the sea, at Tanjung Priok seaport in Jakarta Getty Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Officials evacuate a body bag containing the remains of one of the victims of the crash EPA Lion Air plane crashes minutes after take-off from Jakarta Indonesian relatives of the plane crash victims cry as they wait for the news at the airport in Sukarno Hatta Airport EPA The captain, who was at the controls, asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source with knowledge of the cockpit recording said. For the next nine minutes, the jet warned the pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response. The captain fought to climb, but the computer, still incorrectly sensing a stall, continued to push the nose down using the planes trim system, which usually ensures the aircraft flies straight and level. The third source said: They didnt seem to know the trim was moving down. They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about. The pilots of JT610 remained calm for most of the flight, the three sources told Reuters, and near the end the captain asked the first officer to fly while he checked the manual for a solution. As the 31-year-old captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, the 41-year-old first officer was unable to control the plane, two of the sources said. It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75, one of the sources said. So you panic. It is a time-out condition. The Indian-born captain was said to be silent at the end before the plane hit the water, while the Indonesian first officer said Allahu Akbar, or God is greatest, a common Arabic phrase in the majority-Muslim country that can be used to express shock or distress. Forensics investigators and recovery teams at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 on 12 March 2019 in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. (Getty Images) (Getty) The cause of the crash has not been determined, but a preliminary report mentioned the Boeing system, a faulty, recently replaced sensor, and the airlines maintenance and training. Boeing Co declined to comment while the investigation is ongoing, but the manufacturer said there was a documented procedure to handle the situation. A different crew on the same plane the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists. However they did not pass on all of the information about the problems they encountered to the next crew, the November report said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Two of the sources said a captain at Lion Airs full-service sister carrier, Batik Air, was riding along in the cockpit and told the crew how to disable the malfunctioning flight-control system and save the plane. His presence on that flight, first reported by Bloomberg, was not disclosed in the preliminary report. The report also did not include data from the cockpit voice recorder, which was not recovered from the ocean floor until January. French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash that killed 157 people earlier this month showed clear similarities to the Lion Air disaster. Since the Lion Air crash, Boeing has been pursuing a software upgrade to change how much authority is given to the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS a new anti-stall system developed for the 737 MAX. Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesian investigation agency KNKT, said the report could be released in July or August as authorities attempted to speed up the inquiry in the wake of the Ethiopian crash. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the cockpit voice recorder contents, saying they had not been made public. Additional reporting by Reuters When Nirav Modi opened his first jewellery boutique on New Yorks Madison Avenue in 2015, the launch night was attended by the likes of actress Naomi Watts, the Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha and Donald Trump Jr. To mark the occasion, the shop displayed a special piece a Maharani diamond necklace and earring set valued at $1.65m (1.25m). It will all seem a long time ago to the 48-year-old diamond trader who on Wednesday was due to appear before Westminster Magistrates Court, arrested by police in London following an extradition request by India. Born in Palanpur, Gujarat, in the third generation of a diamond-selling family, Modi studied in Belgium when his father Deepak moved to Antwerp to be at the centre of the 1960s gem trade. According to a Forbes biography in 2013, when he was still described as an unknown jewellery designer breaking onto the international scene, Modi enrolled at the private Ivy League business school of Wharton in Pennsylvania before he had to drop out due to financial problems. In 1990, Modi entered the employment and mentorship of his uncle Mehul Choksi, before striking out on his own with $3m to set up Firestar Diamond, the firm that made him one of Indias richest men with an estimated $1.8bn fortune and 26 subsidiaries around the world. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The big leap for Modi was to move from simply buying, processing and selling diamonds to designing and marketing his own jewellery. Independent auctioneers at the time said Modi certainly had a flair for innovation even patenting designs that replaced metal links with interlocking crescent-shaped diamonds. Modi opened his first flagship store in Delhis upmarket Defence Colony and has gone on to see his designs worn by the likes of Watts, Kate Winslet and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra became a brand ambassador in 2017. Its not quite rags to riches, but Modi certainly ascribes to the image of a self-made man. Recalling how he started out, he told Forbes: In those days, successful diamond merchants in India had large families, substantial resources and big factories. Those were the vital factors for success, but I had none of them. Modi had his first brush with investigators in 2015 when customs agents accused him of avoiding $5.4m in taxes by importing high-quality, duty-free polished diamonds while using low-value gems to make jewellery for export to Hong Kong and the UAE. Firestar Diamond settled that case, which a spokesperson dismissed as a difference of opinion with the authorities, and even the customs officials who investigated him admitted they were impressed by his demeanour. Modi came across as someone who was very suave, cultured, humble, willing to accept a mistake, one official, who was not named, told The Indian Express. Priyanka Chopra promotes Nirav Modi jewellery in Mumbai (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) In 2017, the state-owned Punjab National Bank accused Modi and his uncle Choksi of involvement in one of Indias largest-ever bank frauds, totalling some $2bn (1.5bn). PNB said Firestar and other firms used fake guarantees written up by rogue PNB staff to secure loans from other banks and lenders. Modi has previously denied the allegations. He left India in early 2018 and has not returned since. Choksi has been in Antigua since the allegations emerged. In March, The Daily Telegraph tracked down Modi to an Oxford Street apartment and filmed him, wearing a $10,000 ostrich-hide jacket, declining to answer questions while struggling to hail a cab. One of the men who tackled 17-year-old Will Connolly also known as Egg boy after he egged an Australian senator is a convicted criminal wanted by the police. Far-right activist Neil Erikson held Mr Connolly to the ground after the teenager broke an egg on Senator Fraser Annings head after the senator had blamed Muslims for the terrorist attack in New Zealand. Anglican priest Rod Bower named Erikson as the same person who allegedly terrorised a church last year reportedly storming a service, wielding whips, carrying a sword and a megaphone and traumatising the congregation. New South Wales Police have confirmed there is a state-wide arrest warrant for Erikson following the incident in May 2018. They said Erikson failed to attend Gosford Local Court in September last year, charged with using threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties, and disturbing religious worship. John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened Show all 6 1 /6 John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened Then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is involved in a scuffle after a protester threw an egg at him on May 16 2001 PA John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened Prescott was in Rhyl to address a Labour rally for the upcoming 2001 election PA John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened Afte being hit by the egg, Prescott turned around and began throwing punches PA John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened The alleged thrower of the egg is led away by police PA John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened Prescott's popularity among the public rose following the incident PA John Prescott egged then punches man: as it happened The Lord Prescott was Deputy Prime Minister to Tony Blair between 1997 and 2007. He was awarded a life peerage in Gordon Brown's 2010 dissolution honours PA The 34-year-old has an outstanding non-custodial arrest warrant for the charges, ABC news reports. I think its sad that a senator in our nation gathers around him such people of questionable moral fibre, Father Bower told the news organisation. On Twitter, he wrote: If you see him north of the border please call police. Erikson has also previously been convicted of inciting serious contempt against Muslims when he staged a mock beheading with other far-right individuals on the steps of the City of Greater Bendigo office, in protest at the construction of a mosque. Erikson and his two co-defendants were each fined $2,000 AUD in that case. During the incident at which Mr Anning was egged, Erikson was standing at the door and controlling access to the building, he also helped mic up the senator before the news conference in which he attacked Islam. Mr Connolly was standing behind him, and is seen raising his mobile phone to film his own actions, before using his other hand to splat the egg onto Mr Annings head. Mr Anning then punched the boy twice before men including Erikson tackled Mr Connolly to the ground. Neil Erikson (left) held the teenagers head to the ground after Senator Fraser was egged. Ricky Turner has been identified as the man wearing a white cap (EPA) One of the other men, named by Australias news.com/au, as ultra-nationalist Ricky Turner, is seen putting the child in a chokehold, and heard telling him: You are nothing but a weak human f***ing being, you f***ing prick. I was just making sure the Senator wasnt punched or stabbed, Mr Turner told Daily Mail Australia. What many people dont realise was that he was hit quite hard when the egg was cracked on his head. I was flabbergasted. We didnt know what was happening, he said. Get the journalists out of here ... If you dont like, get out, Erikson said during the scuffle, according to Australias Sun-Herald newspaper. Speaking to the Daily Mail Australia, Erikson said he was controlling access to the building when the egging of Senator Anning happened and he claimed he had no idea it was a 17-year-old. I ran in and held his head down as we didnt know whether he had a knife or not. We held him down for his own protection more than anything, he said. In a later video posted to YouTube, Erikson addressed Father Bower over the charges he is faced with. If you want me to come back to New South Wales to face my accusers, come and get me, he said, before threatening to storm into New South Wales with the power of almighty god. At a later press conference, Mr Anning compared hitting the teenager to trench warfare. 15 start-ups from Europe, Australia, China, Thailand, Uganda and the USA have made it to the final of the Start Up Energy Transition (SET) Award 2019. Whether it be autonomous electric trucks, organic solar cells or energy data management with blockchain technology: the finalists offer future-oriented solutions from all areas of energy generation and supply. The award is presented by the German Energy Agency (dena) in cooperation with the World Energy Council. It goes to the companies with the most innovative and impactful business ideas for climate protection and energy transition, selected from a total of 450 applications from 80 different countries. The finalists will present their projects on April 9th at the SET Tech Festival in Berlin an international event for start-ups, established energy companies and investors. The SET Award 2019 finalists Category 1: Low-Carbon Energy Production Enapter, Germany Enapter designs and manufactures highly efficient and modular hydrogen generators. Their core technology is an Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolyser. This electrolyser technology provides safe and flexible on-site production of hydrogen gas with the highest efficiency. Epishine, Sweden Epishine works with product development and marketing of the third generation of solar cells; organic solar cells. The unique qualities of such cells includes being semi-transparent, light weight and 100% organic, resulting in a very low energy payback time. Roofit.solar, Estonia Roofit.solar modules are building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) construction elements that replace the conventional roofing and facade materials. Category 2: Intelligent Grids, Platforms & Cyber Security Envelio, Germany Envelio aspires to contribute to a cost efficient transformation of the energy system. Their Intelligent Grid Platform offers Distribution System operators a solution to automatically plan and operate flexible power grids in the digital era. FlexiDAO, Spain FlexiDAO is a cleantech start-up aiming to provide a software platform for Energy Retailers that harnesses the power of blockchain technology to provide energy data management tools needed to offer new smart energy services. Their vision is to provide the IT backbone that enables the transformation of the energy sector into a truly carbon-free, prosumer-centric and democratic market. Planet Ark Power, Australia Planet Ark Power is focused on providing comprehensive clean energy solutions that help businesses and organisations slash electricity costs and build a sustainable energy future. Their systems reduce businesses grid-supplied energy and demand charges, replacing them with clean solar power, battery storage, microgrid technology and improved efficiency. Category 3: Energy Efficiency, Smart Devices & Storage BLIXT, Sweden Blixt creates solid state miniature circuit breakers which enable numerous smart metering and smart grid solutions. These components have the potential to accelerate the transformation to sustainable, all-electric technologies worldwide, on all levels of society, like energy, mobility and industry 4.0. EcoSync, UK EcoSync is a multi-award winning start-up company of Oxford University, developing a smart temperature control system combining artificial intelligence with MIT technologies applied to real buildings. EQuota Energy, China EQuota Energy is an energy intelligent management service provider. As an AI and big data-driven energy technology company, it provides energy intelligent management services based on users life-cycle energy requirements. Category 4: Innovative Mobility Bodawerk, Uganda Bodawerk aims to become the main provider of E-mobility solutions for the African mobility and logistics sector in order to make it 100% electric powered while being economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. They offer the manufacturing of new electric motorcycles based on the common motorcycle model Bajaj Boxer 100 as well as the conversion of existing bikes by exchanging the petrol driven power train with an electric one. Einride, Sweden Einride provides transportation as a service, based on all-electric, autonomous vehicles, or T-pods. Capable of level 4 self-driving, the T-pod has no drivers cab but can be remote-controlled by an operator when appropriate. Parking Energy, Finland Parking Energy is a Finland based electric vehicle charging solution provider. They are solving the issues within electric car charging in real estate environments. Their solution provides an open platform for all electric vehicle charging manufacturers and charging operators to quickly add chargers in a standardised way. Category 5: Special Prize: Quality Access & SDG7 Divine Bamboo, Uganda Divine Bamboo is a sustainable, socially responsible forestry and biomass energy social enterprise that promotes propagation and establishment of fast growing local Bamboo explicitly for sale and production of clean charcoal briquettes respectively. OffGridBox, USA OffGridBox designs a modular and compact unit that provides affordable renewable energy and clean water in remote areas. Their innovative technology is a solution for more than 2 billion people worldwide that need energy and clean water on a daily basis. SunSawang, Thailand SunSawang is a social enterprise providing solar home systems and lanterns for rural villages along the Thailand-Myanmar border. The enterprise empowers locals through hiring and training village technicians and sales people to provide solar products and after-sales service. Start-ups meet investors at the international SET Tech Festival In addition to the live pitches of the finalists, the SET Tech Festival will primarily focus on networking: start-ups can get in touch with large energy companies, investors and potential customers on location. A total of around 800 participants are expected, including over 150 start-ups. The programme offers deep-dive workshops, keynotes and panel discussions on innovations in the energy transition and climate protection. Speakers will include Frank Thelen (Founder & CEO at Freigeist Capital), Frank Salzgeber (Head of Innovation and Ventures Office at the European Space Agency), Zoe Adamovicz (Co-founder & CEO of Neufund), Renee Bruel (Senior Associate, Energy Systems at the European Climate Foundation) and Dr. Antje Danielson (Director of Education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Energy Initiative (MITEI)). The award ceremony will take place on April 9th at the evening reception of the the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, a conference hosted by the German Federal Government together with the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar), the German Energy Agency (dena) and consultancy firm eclareon. The party of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has been suspended from the main EU conservative group following years of criticism over extreme policy positions. The European Peoples Party (EPP), which has parties such as Angela Merkels Christian Democrats among its members and dominates the EU institutions, voted by 190 in favour to three votes against to suspend Fidesz at a meeting in Brussels. Joseph Daul, the EPPs president, said: Fidesz will be suspended with immediate effect and until further notice following todays vote of EPP members. The suspension means Mr Orban will be barred from key pre-summit meetings with other EPP leaders, be given no voting rights on its positions, and will have no right to propose candidates for posts such as the EPPs candidate for the European Commission presidency, and internal EPP roles. The EPP, which is also the home party for Brussels chiefs such as Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, stopped short of expelling Fidesz, as some of its member parties had campaigned for, however. The Hungarian government has been engaged in running political battles with Brussels over alleged breaches of the rule of law, and has been accused of running antisemitic and Islamophobic campaigns against refugees and US philanthropist George Soros. Earlier in the day, European Commission president Mr Juncker himself had repeated his call for the Hungarian party to be kicked out of the alliance, telling German radio: I think that Mr Orban is a long way from basic Christian Democratic values. Hungarys government earlier this year was forced to back down over a poster campaign that targeted Mr Juncker in a negative light. It changed the focus of the campaign to Mr Junckers social democratic centre-left counterparty politician Frans Timmermans after criticism. The suspension was also endorsed by Manfred Weber, the EPPs lead candidate for Mays European Parliament elections. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Orbans chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told state news agency MTI on Wednesday that Fidesz would immediately quit the EPP if it was suspended, saying: It is about the dignity of Fidesz and the country. If Fidesz does leave the EPP, such a move would spark speculation about a potential new far-right alliance in EU politics with other figures such as Italys Matteo Salvini potentially keen to team up with Mr Orban. Theresa Mays Conservative Party, which sits in a different political group to Mr Orbans party, was criticised last year after Tory MEPs voted against triggering political sanctions against Mr Orbans government. The decision, which attracted criticism from Jewish and Muslim groups, saw the Tories isolated among most western European conservatives parties, who mostly backed the move. Sweden is to grant refugee status to all Uighur Muslim asylum-seekers from China, prompting calls for other Western governments to follow suit. The Swedish migration agency said the minority would be automatically considered at risk of persecution in Xinjiang province, where more than a million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps in a crackdown on Islam. The country had temporarily halted the deportation of Uighurs in September following an outcry over the decision to reject a familys asylum claim. Human rights groups have warned Muslims repatriated to China face harassment, arrest and detainment in internment camps, where inmates are allegedly tortured and forced to renounce their religion. We know for a fact that Uighurs who are sent back to China from abroad are sent back to these camps, Pete Irwin, programme manager of the Uighur World Congress exile group, told The Independent. Mr Irwin, whose organisation campaigns for Uighur rights around the globe, added: The primary criteria for being sent the camps, as least as far as weve gathered from reporting, is either expression of religious sentiment or travel abroad or some kind of connection abroad. Even if you have family members youre speaking to abroad you can be sent to the camps. All Uighurs who were overseas in the past two years and then returned have been sent to these camps. In the face of growing international criticism, China this week issued a lengthy report claiming it had detained 13,000 terrorists and broken up hundreds of terrorist gangs in Xinjiang internment camps. It has depicted the centres as vocational training facilities designed to counter Islamist extremism. But the report presented little evidence of any crimes, and experts believe the camps are part of an aggressive government campaign to erode the identities of the Central Asian groups who have long called the region home and erase its Islamic culture. China has pressured Uighurs living abroad to return, with authorities reportedly contacting some foreign students and expatriates on messaging apps and threatening their families. Mr Irwin said Beijings overseas embassies had stopped renewing Uighurs passports last year, forcing people abroad to choose between returning to Xinjiang or being made stateless. Germany last year halted Uighur deportations after a 22-year-old asylum seeker was returned to China due to an administrative error. In August his lawyer said he had received no sign of life since his expulsion and feared his client had been detained. Swedens announcement that it would grant refugee status to Uighur asylum-seekers cited the findings of a United Nations human rights panel, which last year said it had received credible reports up to two million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities had been forced into political camps for indoctrination. What weve seen is that there is quite far-reaching repression by the state, Carl Bexelius, deputy head of the Swedish Migration Agencys justice department, told Sveriges Radio this week. They can arrest and intern people without any criminal charges. People are put in what are described as re-education camps. This is happening arbitrarily. Mr Bexelius said he did not think the new policy would lead to an increase in immigration, adding: We have relatively few asylum seekers from China, and we made the decision not to deport these groups back in September, and didnt see an increase after that. Independent Minds Q&A session on the Middle East, Trump, Syria and Isis Steve Valdez-Symonds, director of Amnesty International UKs refugee and migrant rights programme, said: We applaud Swedens decision to grant protection to all Uighurs from Xinjiang. Uighurs have been subjected to a sustained campaign of appalling persecution at the hands of the Chinese authorities there over recent years, and we have raised major concerns about the mass-scale internment of up to a million Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in giant camps. Its clear that being a Uighur is enough to put anyone at real risk if returned to China, and so any Uighur from China applying for asylum here in the UK should be granted it. Uighurs seeking asylum in Britain are currently required to prove they are at risk of serious harm on their native country. Mr Irwin said he hoped other western governments would follow Swedens example in granting the group automatic refugee status. He added: A lot of European countries know about the situation on the ground [in Xinjiang] and its likely they wont send [Uighur asylum-seekers] back, but theres a lot of insecurity that Uighurs are facing now. The British government knows quite well about it, but we do continue to push for some sort of policy that shows more symbolic support. A UK Home Office spokeswoman said: The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and all claims are assessed on their individual merits. The images of torture at Abu Ghraib shocked the world when they emerged nearly 15 years ago. Bound and naked men piled on top of each other in a pyramid. Hooded prisoners connected to electrical cables. A barking dog held inches away from a face fixed in terror. Just as memorable as the horror of the victims were the smiling American soldiers present in many of the images. Their grinning faces symbolised a kind of unthinking cruelty that came to define the war for a generation of Iraqis. The photographs tell a story, but they do not tell the whole story. While a handful of US soldiers were punished for their role in the scandal, others were not. For the victims, there is unfinished business. Over more than a decade, a group of former detainees has been trying to sue a private military contractor they say was closely involved in the abuse at Abu Ghraib. The company, CACI Premier Technology, was contracted by the Pentagon to provide interrogators for the jail. To this day, it still has contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the US Department of Defence. The firm has fought to stop the case from being heard for more than 10 years, according to lawyers involved in the case. But now, the detainees will have their day in court. A ruling last month by a federal judge means that CACI will face trial for the first time for its alleged role in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. The case alleges torture, war crimes and inhumane treatment under international law. A hooded and wired Iraqi prisoner is seen at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad (AP) Salah al-Ejaili, a 48-year-old former journalist who was detained and tortured at the notorious prison, still lives with the emotional pain of his time there. Even now I still think about it, he says. I have nightmares where Im falling into a hole, where I have a bag over my head. It never really left me. Mr Ejaili was working for Al Jazeera in Iraq in 2003 when he went to report on the aftermath of a bomb attack. He was rounded up by the US military on suspicion of involvement with the attack and taken to Abu Ghraib, 20 miles west of Baghdad. Thousands ended up in the prison in the same way picked up at checkpoints or taken in random sweeps by the US military, having committed no crime. In the very first hour after arriving at the jail, his abuse began. His jailors called him Al Jazeera when they spoke to him, he says. They told me that either I take off my clothes or they would take them off by force, he tells The Independent by phone from Sweden, where he has been granted refugee status and been resettled. After that, they kept me naked for 10 hours with a black bag over my head. Salah al-Ejaili was detained and tortured at Abu Ghraib in 2003 (Mustafa al-Ejaili ) (Mustafa al-Ejaili) On another occasion, after he was left naked in his cell, he asked a passing American soldier for some clothes. She said, Of course. She went and came back with some womens underwear, threw it at me and started laughing. He was later held in solitary confinement for days at a time. I was scared. I was scared I would never leave. I was scared for my family. I feared for my life. I used to hear screams from other detainees, he says. You have no feeling or concept of time. Your thoughts are kind of everywhere, you cant really focus. A US soldier confronts an Iraqi detainee in 2004 (AP) Even before the Americans came along, Abu Ghraib was synonymous with torture. In the Saddam Hussein era, the jail was known as torture central. Thousands of people who ended up there never left. Amnesty International described it as a centre of torture and mass executions. Sixteen years ago, US-led forces invaded Iraq in order to remove Hussein. When that regime collapsed in the first year of the invasion, the prison was looted and its prisoners freed. The US reopened it in the same year to use it as a detention centre for Iraqis. The abuse Mr Ejaili suffered was typical of what prisoners experienced at Abu Ghraib. An internal investigation by the US military in April 2004, carried out by Major General Antonio Taguba, described sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses inflicted on detainees. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force, it was found. The report also named CACI employees as being responsible for some of the abuse. One employee allowed and/or instructed [military police], who were not trained in interrogation techniques, to facilitate interrogations by setting conditions which were neither authorised and in accordance with applicable regulations/policy. He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse, the report noted. They would do the interrogations while I was naked, with a black bag over my head ... I felt like I had completely lost control, that I was just some creature in their hands Salah al-Ejaili, former Abu Ghraib detainee The report was leaked some months later, leading to a crisis in the ongoing US war. Then president George W Bush made a public apology for the humiliations suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliations suffered by their families. A total of 11 US soldiers were convicted of crimes relating to the scandal. But because the US government claims to be immune to lawsuits, Mr Ejaili and the other detainees have never received compensation for the damage done to them. The same is not true of CACI, which detainees claim is equally responsible for the abuse they suffered. The fear would rise among prisoners when those interrogators came, says Mr Ejaili, referring to the CACI staff. They were worse than the US soldiers. They would do the interrogations while I was naked, with a black bag over my head. Sometimes out of nowhere the [military police] would just punch me, I felt like I had completely lost control, that I was just some creature in their hands. I used to ask them, What do you want me to say? What do you want from me? They never had a really clear answer. The prison became notorious for sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses (Getty) (GETTY) CACI denied the charges in the report, and the companys CEO, Jack London, took the unusual move of writing a book in response. The blurb for Our Good Name: A Companys Fight to Defend its Honor and Get the Truth Told about Abu Ghraib talks of a media frenzy rarely seen by any company in recent decades, which twisted the unsupported allegations into a guilty verdict without regard for the facts or the truth, creating a damning public perception of CACI. Our Good Name is CACIs story of facing one of the biggest scandals in recent history and coming out honorably with its head high, it goes on. In response to a request for comment from The Independent, CACI said the allegation against it was not substantiated by any evidence or proof at the time it was made, and subsequent investigations by both CACI and the US government could not confirm it. The allegation was completely unrelated to the shocking and disturbing photos seen in the press around the same time. Fifteen years on, the allegation remains totally unfounded and unproven. No CACI employee has ever been charged with any wrongdoing, the company said in a statement. CACI have always taken this allegation extremely seriously. CACI do not condone, tolerate or endorse any illegal behaviour by its employees in any circumstances or at any time. If an employee of CACI had been found to be involved in such behaviour we would have taken swift and appropriate action. In the years since, the case alleges, Mr Ejaili and the other plaintiffs have suffered severe mental distress because of their treatment. In a 54-page ruling granting the trial, which is scheduled for 23 April, district judge Leonie Brinkema said there was evidence in the record that this mistreatment has caused severe and lasting physical and mental damage to all three plaintiffs. Each has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, and each has submitted an expert report detailing how these mental illnesses have caused significant problems in plaintiffs personal and professional lives up through today, she wrote. Baher Azmy, legal director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which has taken on the case, called it a landmark judgment. The judge said that what they endured amounts to torture, he says. Thats significant because the defendants, as well as George Bush and Dick Cheney-era folks, try to minimise it. Whats a little bit of cold water, a day with underwear on your head is nothing and so on. The judge recognised that you have to look at the experience of torture holistically. Its compounded. All three of them suffer from PTSD. These people were shattered, he adds. US marines kick in a door while securing a building next to the main hospital, in central Baghdad, which was used as a temporary Iraqi police HQ in 2003 (Reuters) Mr Azmy describes the lawsuit as something of a David vs Goliath battle. Were dealing with an enormously well resourced and aggressive defendant, he says of CACI. For 10 years they have used their considerable wealth to get the case dismissed. Weve been up and down the court of appeals four times. The case argues that the chaos of the jail gave CACI interrogators authority over US military personnel, and that they used that authority to direct those soldiers to carry out abuse. We believe there was a command vacuum in Abu Ghraib. It was chaotic, not well run and not well supervised. And in that vacuum, CACI interrogators, who were older than the military police, assumed positions of authority and started directing the MPs to abuse detainees or soften them up for interrogations that they would be doing, he says. Two US soldiers were court martialed for this conspiracy, and they testified that it was CACI interrogators who told them what to do. Those soldiers spent years in jail for these crimes, but so far the co-conspirators at CACI have not been held to account. Mr Ejaili was released from Abu Ghraib without charge after 48 days in detention. Following a five-minute trial it was determined that he was telling the truth about his job as a journalist. I lost my self-confidence. I was tired mentally. I had fear of facing others, and bursts of anger. I tried to heal myself. That process of self healing was long Salah al-Ejaili, former Abu Ghraib detainee I was taken in a car with other detainees and they left me on a street. I had no money and no shoes, he says. But his ordeal didnt end there. Months later, the images of the abuse that was taking place in the prison became public. It was like throwing salt on an open wound, he says. I had that black bag on my head a lot, so some of these pictures might be me. I felt even more humiliated. I was constantly thinking people would know it was me in the pictures. It was suddenly known what had happened to me. Mr Ejaili is still affected to this day by what happened, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I lost my self-confidence. I was tired mentally. I had fear of facing others, and bursts of anger. I tried to heal myself. That process of self-healing was long, he says. The notorious jail at Abu Ghraib lies empty and abandoned today. The barbed wire around its perimeter is rusting. Its former dungeons quiet and still. But the legacy of the scandal lives on. In fact, there could not be a more fitting time for a public trial over the use of torture at Abu Ghraib. In the age of Trump, torture is no longer the taboo it once was. The president himself has openly supported the kind of abuse that caused the scandal all those years ago. And he appointed Gina Haspel, who played a key role in setting up black sites like Abu Ghraib throughout the war on terror, as director of the CIA. CACI still does an enormous amount of business with the US military. As recently as November last year, the company was awarded a $413m contract to provide support ground-based intelligence and communications systems for the US army. Gina Haspel confirmation hearing: Haspel promises not to restart CIA programme Mr Ejailis own country has changed dramatically, too. What happened at Abu Ghraib cannot be separated from what came after. As far as he sees it, a straight line can be drawn from the scandal, and others like it, to the rise of Isis. That Isis mentality was basically created in these prisons, he says. There were innocent people who came into these prisons and were tortured and turned into different people. They were schools for radicals. Indeed, it is believed that the Isis founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, spent time at Abu Ghraib when Mr Ejaili was there. Mr Ejaili says his aim is not to settle old scores or replay the war but to stop something like Abu Ghraib ever happening again. If the court rules in our favour it would be a clear message for any company or officials that torture will not be tolerated. I am not doing this for a grudge, I am doing it to get justice, he says. And not just for me, for everyone. As investigations continue into the loss of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, the possible effects of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max are becoming clearer. The US Federal Aviation Adminstration (FAA) banned the aircraft four days after the crash outside Addis Ababa on 10 March in which 157 people died. There are concerns that the software governing a stall-protection system may have been responsible for the loss of the Ethiopian aircraft as well a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max in October 2018. Many other regulations, include the UKs Civil Aviation Authority, had already grounded the latest version of the 737 in the wake of the second crash. Boeing has told airlines that it expects new software for the Boeing 737 Max to be ready by the end of March. Even if this proves correct, there is no certainty about how long it might take for the upgrade to be certified by the lead regulator, the FAA. Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures This picture taken on March 11, 2019, shows debris of the crashed airplane of Ethiopia Airlines, near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on March 10 morning en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with 149 passengers and eight crew believed to be on board, Ethiopian Airlines said. (Photo by Michael TEWELDE / AFP)MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Family members mourn the victims at the crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A page of a Boeing flight crew operations manual is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner REUTERS Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures epa07434278 Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger plane of the Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian is parked at the tarmac at Vantaa airport in Vantaa near Helsinki, Finland on March 13, 2019. - A number of countries have banned Boeing's 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet from their airspace in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. (Photo by Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP) / Finland OUTHEIKKI SAUKKOMAA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A heap of debris from the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are piled at the crash site near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STR EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A crew working with an investigative team to clear the site after the Sunday crash of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, carry debris at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo REUTERS Those planes will stay on the ground for at least several months, predicted Dominic Gates, the Seattle Times aerospace reporter who has been investigating the certification process for the Boeing 737 Max. In addition, individual countries may insist on evaluating the fix before they allow Boeing 737 Max flights in their airspace. According to the latest Anker Report by analyst Ralph Anker, Norwegian is likely to be worst affected by a protracted prohibition on the plane. The latest version of the Boeing 737 makes up a relatively small proportion of most airlines fleets, but Norwegian is heavily committed to the type. In the first two months of 2019 almost one-third of all Max flights from European airports were operated by Norwegian, says Mr Anker. Most of the departures were from Norwegians bases in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, but services from Edinburgh and Gatwick were also affected. The airline has 18 Max versions of the 737. On its links from Dublin to the US, Norwegian is deploying one of its Boeing 787s to cover for two separate flights using the 737 Max. The flight, with nearly twice the capacity of a 737, is operating to Stewart airport north of New York, with bus transfers for passengers to and from Providence in Rhode Island. Norwegian and other airlines can charter in capacity from other carriers, though with so many planes being grounded there is probably insufficient capacity. Ryanair has ordered 135 of the Boeing 737 Max jets in its own special 200 configuration, with eight extra seats. It was due to receive more than 40 over the next year, and start flying on 14 May from Stansted to a range of destinations. The Irish budget airline probably has more flexibility than other carriers. Ryanair is constantly retiring Boeing 737-800 aircraft, since it prefers to keep maintenance costs in check and sell its planes while they are still relatively young. While some will already be committed elsewhere, other planes can be kept flying longer than originally intended. In addition, Ryanair can reduce the number of standby aircraft that it keeps strategically around its network in case of mechanical problems though this increases the degree of disruption when the back-up is needed. Finally, Ryanair could thin out its flights on high-frequency routes such as Stansted to Dublin (seven daily) or Rome (five daily). With two weeks notice it can move passengers to other flights without penalty, or offer refunds. The freed-up planes can then be used on lower-frequency, higher-yield services. The only UK operator of the Boeing 737 Max is TUI Airways, which has been able to shuffle its fleet since the grounding began. This will be tougher with the onset of the Easter holidays and the main summer season from May, when planes are worked much harder. Like other airlines, it could contemplate re-jig the schedules with earlier starts and later finishes for some aircraft, and switching some day services to overnights. But short-notice changes are always unpopular with passengers. How to tell if you're on a Boeing 737 Max Turkish Airlines has a dozen Max aircraft. Mr Anker says the grounding will add an unwelcome extra dimension to the much-delayed airport move from the carriers base at Istanbul Ataturk airport. It is due to move all operations across to the New Istanbul Airport in early April. Istanbul is due to be the busiest airport for the Boeing 737 Max during the summer season, beginning on 31 March. Until the aircraft was grounded, Helsinki had the most Max operations. Worldwide, the airlines with the most Max aircraft delivered so far are in North America (Air Canada, American Airlines, Southwest) and the Chinese pair, China Southern and Air China. The more evidence that emerges from the tragic loss of the Ethiopian Airlines flight on 10 March, the more it appears that there were profound flaws in the development and certification of the Boeing 737 Max. All 157 passengers and crew aboard flight ET302 lost their lives when it hit the ground at high speed six minutes after take-off from the capital Addis Ababa. The loss of the scheduled flight to Nairobi followed a crash of the same model aircraft in Indonesia in October 2019. These are the key issues. What are investigators focusing on? A radical new anti-stall protection that was installed in Boeing 737 Max aircraft. It is known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System or MCAS. The system is designed to kick in if the angle between the wings and the airflow, known as the angle of attack, gets too steep and a stall looks feasible. Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures This picture taken on March 11, 2019, shows debris of the crashed airplane of Ethiopia Airlines, near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on March 10 morning en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with 149 passengers and eight crew believed to be on board, Ethiopian Airlines said. (Photo by Michael TEWELDE / AFP)MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Family members mourn the victims at the crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A page of a Boeing flight crew operations manual is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner REUTERS Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures epa07434278 Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger plane of the Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian is parked at the tarmac at Vantaa airport in Vantaa near Helsinki, Finland on March 13, 2019. - A number of countries have banned Boeing's 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet from their airspace in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. (Photo by Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP) / Finland OUTHEIKKI SAUKKOMAA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A heap of debris from the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are piled at the crash site near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STR EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A crew working with an investigative team to clear the site after the Sunday crash of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, carry debris at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo REUTERS It gets the information from the angle-of-attack (AOA) sensor, which is a vane fitted on either side of the nose of the aircraft. When the aircraft senses that the angle is too steep, an elevator in the tail goes up and the nose goes down. This happens without any input from the pilots. Indeed it is programmed to activate multiple times even if the captain or first officer is trying to correct the tilt down unless specific actions are taken to disable it. The initial report into the earlier crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia indicates that pilots felt they had lost control of the aircraft, and struggled vainly to save the lives of the 189 people aboard. The flight data recorder shows that MCAS activated a dozen times. The aircraft crashed almost vertically at a speed of 500mph. The Ethiopian transport minister, Dagmawit Moges, said the profile of flight ET302 was very similar. Why was the anti-stall system deemed necessary? The MAX takes a 50-year aircraft design to a new dimension with two very big, very efficient engines. In order to fit them on to a plane that sits fairly low on the ground, they are mounted very high and pushed forward, so they appear almost built into the wing. This had an effect on the balance and aerodynamics of the aircraft, which made the designers fearful that it could in some circumstances tilt upwards and risk a stall. So they installed a system which Boeing says improves the behavior of the airplane in a non-normal part of the operating envelope. But MCAS also appears to have the power to threaten what should be an ordinary, safe flight. How could something designed as a safety system go wrong? The way that it was conceived and installed appears to be potentially hazardous in two regards. First, it can activate based on the signal from one faulty instrument. This goes against the usual principle of multiple redundant systems. An AOA DISAGREE warning to pilots was an optional extra, but was not fitted to the Lion Air jet. Ideally three sensors would vote on a particular reading, and if one is seriously out of kilter with the other, it will be ignored. In addition, Boeing does not appears to have built in a straightforward measure whereby the accuracy of the sensor is checked while the aircraft is moving on the ground; if it is not zero, then the pilots could be alerted. What are the consequences of an inaccurate reading? The elevator at the tail will activate to push the nose down. According to some formidable research carried out for the Seattle Times by aerospace reporter Dominic Gates, the original plan was a 0.6-degree movement, corresponding to a gentle downward nudge. This was what the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates safety, was told by Boeing. But in subsequent tests it appeared that the aircraft needed more of a nose-down push in order to recover. The movement was increased to 2.5 degrees. Mr Gates says: At a limit of 2.5 degrees, two cycles of MCAS without correction would have been enough to reach the maximum nose-down effect. But surely pilots are trained to handle unusual circumstances like this? They certainly should be. Another question that Boeing must answer is why it did not make crystal clear that a radical new system had been installed, and provide specific training advice for MCAS. What about the role of the regulator? The FAA is responsible for certifying all new models of aircraft. But remarkably, the organisation outsourced many decisions on safety back to Boeing. So in a sense the aircraft manufacturer was marking its own homework. After speaking to a wide range of serving and former employees at Boeing and the FAA, Mr Gates contacted both organisations with his concerns three days before the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crashed. What happens now? Boeing is working on modifications to eliminate the combination of factors which may have caused the downfall of the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air planes. But there will be many questions asked about why the system was conceived and installed in the first place, why pilots were apparently uninformed about the potential of the stall-protection fix, and why faster action was not taken after the loss of the Lion Air flight. How to tell if you're on a Boeing 737 Max What are Boeing and the FAA saying? Boeings chairman, president and chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, issued a statement on Sunday 17 March a week after the Ethiopian crash. He said: As part of our standard practice following any accident, we examine our aircraft design and operation, and when appropriate, institute product updates to further improve safety. While investigators continue to work to establish definitive conclusions, Boeing is finalizing its development of a previously-announced software update and pilot training revision that will address the MCAS flight control laws behavior in response to erroneous sensor inputs. The FAA has said nothing since it grounded the Boeing 737 Max on 13 March. In that order, the organisation declared an emergency exists related to safety in air commerce because of the possibility of a shared cause for the two incidents. An off-duty pilot onboard a Lion Air flight saved a Boeing 737 Max jet from catastrophe the day before the October 2018 crash that killed 189, it has emerged. The ongoing investigation into the Lion Air incident, when a Boeing 737 Max plane crashed into the Java Sea just minutes after take-off from Jakarta on 29 October, showed that the malfunctioning jet was saved from disaster by a third pilot who was riding in the cockpit the day before. As the crew struggled to control the diving Max 8 aircraft, which was flying from Bali to Jakarta, the pilot diagnosed the problem and instructed them on how to disable the flight control system, sources told Bloomberg. Just a day later, the same problem emerged onboard the Lion Air aircraft, which quickly lost control and crashed shortly after leaving Jakarta for the city of Pangkal Pinang, just north of Sumatra. This detail hasnt previously been released, and wasnt included in the Indonesian aviation authoritys November report, which said that the plane was not airworthy and had suffered similar problems on earlier flights. Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures This picture taken on March 11, 2019, shows debris of the crashed airplane of Ethiopia Airlines, near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on March 10 morning en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with 149 passengers and eight crew believed to be on board, Ethiopian Airlines said. (Photo by Michael TEWELDE / AFP)MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Family members mourn the victims at the crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A page of a Boeing flight crew operations manual is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner REUTERS Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures epa07434278 Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger plane of the Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian is parked at the tarmac at Vantaa airport in Vantaa near Helsinki, Finland on March 13, 2019. - A number of countries have banned Boeing's 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet from their airspace in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. (Photo by Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP) / Finland OUTHEIKKI SAUKKOMAA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A heap of debris from the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are piled at the crash site near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STR EPA Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures A crew working with an investigative team to clear the site after the Sunday crash of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, carry debris at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo REUTERS Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro told Bloomberg: All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC [National Transportation Safety Committee]. We cant provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident. Read more Boeing 737 Max grounded: What is the impact on European airlines? The Boeing 737 Max jet was grounded worldwide following an Ethiopian Airlines crash on 10 March that killed all 157 onboard. Initial data suggests the two accidents followed very similar profiles, according to Ethiopias transport minister. Investigators are focusing on the new anti-stall system installed on the Boeing 737 Max jets, which is known as the Manoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System or MCAS. The system is designed to kick in if the angle between the wings and the airflow, known as the angle of attack, gets too steep and a stall looks feasible. The initial report into the Lion Air crash shows that MCAS was activated a dozen times. Theres a dangerous tendency in liberal circles to believe that Donald Trump is some sort of absurd aberration, a weird orange outcrop of extremism, isolated and friendless, a pain in the ass soon to pass. If only. Trump is, in fact, loved, worshipped and emulated by mini-Trumps all over the world (as well as his base domestically). None is more devout than Jair Messias Bolsonaro, 38th president of the Federative Republic of Brazil. A former army man, he is set on making Brazil Americas ally of choice in the region, a bulwark against the chaos in Venezuela in particular, a valuable friend and supporter. One with some heft too Brazil now ranks as the eighth largest economy in the world (just ahead of the UK, allowing for exchange rate distortions, and just behind Indonesia). The Trump of the Tropics is a nickname that no doubt Bolsonaro enjoys. Their bromance seems set to blossom. Not every brute on the planet loves Donald Trump, but an awful lot of them do, and we are witnessing an arc of authoritarianism stretching all the way from Trump and Bolsonaro, through European far-right and fascistic leaders such as Matteo Salvini and Viktor Orban, through the likes of Erdogan, Putin and Modi right across to President Xi Jinping in China and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. Figures such as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, the ayatollahs in Tehran and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel seem to be tacking towards an even tougher stance. Being a bastard is in vogue: this is geopolitics as high fashion. Not since the 1930s have democracies and liberal values been in such global retreat. Some of these countries were vibrant liberal democracies; others were not so lucky: all are now falling under the shadow of an insidious denial of civil liberties and oppression of minorities and refugees in the name of patriotism and nation first populism. Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Show all 20 1 /20 Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro waves as he drives past before his swear-in ceremony Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Supporters wait in front of the Planalto Palace, where he will take office EPA Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Jair Bolsonaro gestures at the Congress before he is sworn AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Supporters take pictures as Brazil's new President Jair Bolsonaro drives past Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Flanked by first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro waves to the crowd, as he rides in an open car after his swearing-in ceremony AP Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Jair Bolsonaro reacts as he drives past Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration The National Congress before Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is sworn in AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Jair Bolsonaro gestures at the Congress AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AP Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration EPA Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration Reuters Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil's far-right leader inauguration AFP/Getty Bolsonaro is one of the most interesting and instructive of the new authoritarians. His style of leadership has been out of fashion in Brazil for some time since the end of the military junta that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. Bolsonaro has publicly praised this dictatorship as a glorious era, a paragon of stability and progress (it wasnt), whose only flaw was that it was too soft on its critics torturing them but failing to murder them. But, like Trump, Bolsonaro got into power through a popular vote, not a military coup detat. He got elected, with support from the less well-educated and more conservative elements in society, what are called in the west the left-behind, far away from the cosmopolitan metropolises of Rio and Sao Paolo. Bolsonaro was greatly helped by the failure disgrace of his immediate predecessors. The charismatic and wildly popular leftist Lula, president from 2003 to 2010, now languishes in jail, serving a 13-year term for corruption. Brazils first woman leader, Dilma Rousseff (2011-16), was also tainted by corruption to the point of being impeached and removed from office. Last year she couldnt even win a seat in the senate. Bolsonaro has also been aided by the manifest chaos in neighbouring Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro have contrived to run an oil-rich state into a basket case a stern warning to any other electorates who might want to experiment with advanced socialism, which even Cuba is slowly emerging from. The popularity of Bolsonaro, in other words, as with those of the earlier examples such as Salvini in Italy or Le Pen in France, is built partly on the abject current weakness of progressive forces in politics, the media and wider society to put up much of a fight by which I mean reasoned, convincing argument that can reclaim and carry the political middle ground and show up the likes of Trump or Bolsonaro for the idiotic monsters they are. The centrists (broadly) that ran the world in the last decade of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st were responsible for a long period of peace and prosperity, notwithstanding the wars against tyrants that had to be fought and the financial crisis and subsequent recession. The likes of Clinton, Blair, Mandela, Yeltsin, Obama, even Lula, George W Bush and Angela Merkel (the great survivor) had their problems some grievous. Their mistakes, including a carelessness about the effects of globalisation, did help to incubate Trumpism but look back now, and it feels like a prelapsarian age of freedom. Where why did it all go wrong? Many of those who voted for Brexit were seemingly motivated by the notion that the UK had increasingly become some sort of vassal of the EU, a victim of endless meddling by faceless Europeans in Brussels who had a habit of sticking their nose into our business. What then will Brexiteers make of the latest interference by an unelected representative of a foreign state in Britains internal affairs? According to Donald Trump Jr, writing in todays Daily Telegraph, the Brexit deadlock shows that democracy in the UK is all but dead a contention that is as facile as it is provocative. He claims without any evidence that things would have been different had Theresa May listened to his father and suggests that shadowy elites (perhaps even including the prime minister) are colluding to deny the will of the people. Trumps narrative mirrors precisely that of the conspiracy theories that his father and hard Brexiteers have used to win popular support: that a global establishment is working against the interests of the common people and will do whatever it takes to cling to power. He even argues that so-called attempts to subvert the outcome of the Brexit referendum mirror attempts by deep-state operatives in the US to remove Donald Trump Sr from the White House, claiming that we mistakenly believed there would be a peaceful and respectful transition of power after the 2016 presidential election. Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty Despite the divisions left by the election result, the transition of power was peaceful, the odd protest aside, and a damn sight more respectful than his fathers campaign for high office, which was about as courteous as a Roy Chubby Brown stand-up routine. To argue to the contrary is utterly disingenuous. But then, that is a Trump hallmark, as is a penchant for sowing division. But putting the hypocrisy and the insidiousness aside, what should we make of the fact that the son of the US president is making this sudden intervention? Trump Jr was a senior member of his fathers campaign team for the 2016 election. Indeed, he has come under scrutiny for his participation in the infamous meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer, at which it was anticipated that damaging information about Hillary Clinton would be shared. That meeting has been a key focus of the ongoing Mueller inquiry, with Trump Jr denying any wrongdoing. Since his fathers victory, Trump Jr has not taken on an official, political role, concentrating instead on looking after the family business interests. Yet it is clear that he remains closely involved with Trump Srs political plans and his article in the Telegraph has to be seen as an intervention by the US administration, not a disinterested private individual. With the US national security adviser, John Bolton, popping up on Sky News yesterday, there is a co-ordinated approach at play. For Trump Jr, there is perhaps bigger prize at stake. He has hinted previously that he could run for president himself in 2024 and his op-ed is as much a commitment to the furtherance of his dads America First programme as it is a foreign grenade in the middle of Britains internal affairs. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Of course, he might face competition from within the Trump clan, let alone the rest of the Republican Party. Ivanka, unlike her brother, is officially a White House adviser, and is widely said to wield considerable influence over her fathers decisions. Then there is Jared Kushner, Ivankas husband, who also has a formal role and is attempting to bring peace to the Middle East. Any of the three might think they can follow in the footsteps of the billionaire but non-elite current president, who evidently regards familial success as an extension of his own. If we arent careful, the false battle of wills between an apparently homogenous the people and an opposing but similarly congruent establishment elite shall be made real to fulfil the will only of the Trump family and their associated hangers-on. Now that would truly be subversion. I became a Remainer in 2003 after Tony Blair dragged us into the Iraq war. If we had been more closely allied with Europe, that might have been avoided. I believed then that the executive had far too much power; nothing that has happened since June 2016 has persuaded me to change my mind. There is now only a week to go before 29 March, the planned departure date from the EU. And every day that passes (quite literally) provides further evidence that our deluded PM has no understanding that sovereignty belongs to parliament, not to her government alone. John Bercow should be applauded for making a stand against Theresa Mays outrageous attempts to manipulate parliament and put party before country by letting the ERG pull her strings. We march again on Saturday for another peoples vote. We can only hope that enough Conservative and Labour MPs get the message that ignoring us could be detrimental to their partys future. Susan Alexander South Gloucestershire Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Show all 15 1 /15 Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Pork There will be tariffs on pork in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cheese There will be tariffs in place on some cheeses including 22.10/100kg of cheddar, 19.10/100kg of processed cheese and 18.60/100kg on some blue cheeses Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Milk There will be no tariffs in place on milk Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Car Parts There will be no tariffs on car parts imported from Europe PA Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Cars However finished cars will face tariffs of 10.6% Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Alcoholic drinks There will be no tariffs on alcoholic drinks - except on some rums due to ingredients used in their distilling process Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Beef There will be tariffs on beef in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fish There will be no tariffs on many types of fish including cod, haddock, salmon and sea bass Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Fruit and vegetables There will be no tariffs on almost all fruit and vegetables Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Chocolate There will be no tariffs on chocolate or other cocoa products Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Poultry There will be tariffs on poultry in order to protect British farmers Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Ceramics There will be some tariffs in place on ceramis Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Steel There will be no tariffs on steel Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Coal There will be no tariffs on coal Getty Tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit Lamb/Mutton There will be tariffs on the meat of sheep in order to protect British farmers Getty Mounting evidence cannot be ignored Vote Leave campaign group has been fined for sending text messages sent without recipients consent. This, together with other doubtful means that have been uncovered to gain votes for one side or the other, must surely render this referendum illegal. We keep being told Brexit is what the people voted for, but the evidence is surely against this. We need a new, honest referendum in which we all know what we are voting for. Val Hatton Address supplied Whats there to worry about? If the government is so sure that a twice heavily defeated, fudged bill can be presented unchanged for a third time with apparent confidence of success, why are they so worried about a second referendum? Matt Minshall Norfolk Old-fashioned rule The speakers use of a 400-year-old precedent is entirely appropriate given that the prime minister is behaving like Charles I. A civil war is raging in this country and it is solely of her doing. Peter Farrant Blackheath, London Jacinda Ardern is an inspiration When it comes to political leadership and calling out Islamophobia, the contrast between the hugely impressive prime minister of New Zealand and our own prime minister is very stark indeed. Not only does Theresa May appear to be quite happy to ignore repeated calls for a formal inquiry into the extent of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party she is supposed to be leading, but she is obviously utterly determined to turn a blind eye to the part that fake news, and Islamophobia in particular, played a part in the 2016 referendum. Theresa May is fixated on interpreting the advisory vote of a paltry 37 per cent of the electorate as an instruction reflecting the will of the people. So what if that 37 per cent cast their vote under the sway of Nigel Farages Islamophobic Breaking Point poster and the lie that Turkey was about to join the EU and flood the UK with a potential 20 million Muslim immigrants? D Maughan Brown York Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events What a contrast between two women prime ministers of countries at opposite ends of the earth. One of them has reacted immediately to a terrorist massacre by a demonstration of national inclusiveness. Right away she has put in place a programme of new regulations to correct her nations hitherto over-lax gun laws. Her public utterances have shown humanity, sensitivity and intelligence as she has attempted to unite a multi-ethnic nation in its hour of grief. Her admirable demeanour has surely impressed everyone who has listened to her. The other prime minister has spent nearly three years doing little except pandering to a rich minority in her party while her nation struggles with poverty. She has done little to address the needs of her people while dividing her country irreparably. All she has achieved is a so-called plan to facilitate her countrys national economic suicide. Please can we have Jacinda Ardern as prime minister of the UK? Chris Payne The Philippines The dispute over LGBT+ lessons in primary schools has continued to gather pace this week. Following protests by parents at Parkfield Primary School in Birmingham, four more schools in the city have stopped teaching lessons about diversity and LGBT+ issues due to parental complaints. Leigh Trust school has said it will also be suspending the No Outsiders project, which teaches tolerance of diverse groups. To be clear, the No Outsiders project has nothing to do with sex education, it merely informs children of the existence of LGBT+ people. As part of this project, pupils are taught about the positive values of diversity, tolerance and acceptance, in a wide-ranging curriculum encompassing LGBT+ rights, same-sex relationships, gender identity, race and religion. Ofsted inspectors have deemed the lessons age-appropriate. Tensions were escalated by an intervention from local Labour MP Shabana Mahmood, who appeared to side with parents opposing the lessons. This prompted a hailstorm of interventions from other MPs, including neighbouring Labour MP Jess Phillips, who supported the LGBT+ lessons. A minority of local residents then took to the streets, reportedly chanting that homosexuality was unnatural. Leaflets were distributed discussing the sexuality of assistant headteacher Andrew Moffat, who co-authored the No Outsiders project. Now Tory MP Andrea Leadsom has got involved. Speaking to LBCs Nick Ferrari, Leadsom said it was "absolutely right" parents should be able to withdraw their children up to a certain age from LGBT+ classes. She said parents should get to decide when their children "become exposed to that information". Leadsoms use of the word exposed, as if LGBT+ people are some kind of toxic radiation, goes to the heart of why this debate has become so troubling. It reveals, with distressing and devastating clarity, just how little understanding there still is among heterosexual people about the LGBT+ existence. It also shows that this isnt just an issue confined to any one faith intolerance thrives across society. "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Show all 10 1 /10 "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents, children and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Child protesters hold signs against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching A sign outside the Parkfield Community School reads "we are a UNICEF gold rights respecting school" Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching A child protester holds a sign against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents, children and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Child protesters hold a sign against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where protests are being held against the 'No Outsiders' programme which teaches children about LGBT rights PA The culture war over LGBT+ lessons in these schools is an example of why schools should never be forced to concede to intolerance or homophobia. Because, to avoid any doubt, thats exactly what this is. If you are uncomfortable with your child being told about LGBT+ people just the fact that we exist in the world then you are being homophobic. It is really that simple. It is telling that the very people who insist children cant understand same-sex relationships are often the ones to ask five-year-old boys if they have a girlfirend yet or encourage their children to watch Disney films about heterosexual romances. The longer this information is kept from children, the more taboo it becomes. Just because parents dont want to understand same-sex relationships certainly doesnt mean their children are incapable of doing so. Each school in the UK has some LGBT+ pupils and likely some same-sex parents too. These are facts of life. To allow individual schools to protest this curriculum opens the door, as we have seen, for others to protest. It reminds people like me of the dark ages of Section 28, where my gay existence was forcefully erased from schools. It is also a reminder of the fragility of the rights weve fought so hard for, given that a vocal minority can take them away so quickly. Not talking about LGBT+ people doesnt make these people disappear. I certainly knew I was gay in primary school. My parents knew too. Erasing our existence from the curriculum will only serve to sigmatise LGBT+ children, damage their mental health and ensure that the next generation grow up more vulnerable. It is not fair that children in some areas will be deprived, while others will reap the benefits, of these valuable lessons. Teachers across the UK need to feel empowered and confident that they can mention LGBT+ people in the classroom. This protects us. For example, how will children be protected from anti-LGBT+ bullying, if even mentioning gay people becomes an issue? Children are taught in school to respect different religions from a young age. Pupils arent taught to follow religions, but simply taught about their values and why we should respect those who subscibe to them. LGBT+ inclusion lessons wont turn children gay, just like Religious Education lessons didnt turn me into a Buddhist or a Muslim. They simply educate people about those who do. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Though, crucially, this isnt just about LGBT+ children its about everyone. It benefits heterosexual children to learn that gay people are nothing to be scared of. In the long run, itll benefit their children, but their parents too if they grow up to challenge their outdated views. But that is precisely what this opposition is about: maintaining a system of silence that suppresses and damages LGBT+ people. In these schools, we are seeing what happens when rights collide. For now, it appears that the rights of homophobic parents are being prioritised over powerless children. LGBT+ children deserve to know they arent shameful and that they are normal human beings. In a world still dominated by heterosexuality, saying nothing is a form of neglect. Section 28 might be behind us, but this row shows that the battle for LGBT+ inclusion in schools is far from over. Should transgender people be sterilised before they are recognised? asks The Economist. Whats the harm in asking that, you might wonder? After all, it is just a debate. The issue of sterilisation of trans people has been around for some while. Not just in Japan (an excuse for this latest social media misstep), but much closer to home: rewind a decade and you will find this policy being applied in many otherwise liberal European democracies. France, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland, to name but a few. In Sweden, a policy originating in eugenicist thinking was finally abandoned in 2012, with those who suffered, as consequence, awarded compensation in 2017. A year earlier, France finally buckled after the European Court of Human Rights upheld a claim by three trans people that compulsory sterilisation before legal gender recognition violated their human rights. Awkward. Although not entirely unexpected, as various international bodies, including the United Nations, had for many years been pointing out that this was, indeed, a human rights issue and any country that respected international norms would need to do better. That context is useful, as it sets out where the substance of this debate sits right now. As in, there is none. When it comes to sterilising trans folk, its a done deal: stop it! Now. Or stop pretending that you respect globally accepted human rights. Because you do not. Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Show all 8 1 /8 Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Sure. Should trans people be sterilised? is a question, in the sense that it meets the syntactic, and linguistic criteria required to be such. And The Economist asked it. In a tweet, which they later withdrew and apologised for. But as linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky pointed out, grammatical correctness does not prevent a sentence being semantic nonsense. Colourless green ideas, anybody? An equally correct question though maybe not helpful for Economist sales in the Far East would be: Is Japan once more promoting eugenics? Racist? A bit. Historically accurate? Definitely: Japan has a long and less than happy history of dancing with ideas of race purity. Yet if we agree that human rights are a good thing, perhaps the better question. Meanwhile, media organisations hope you do not notice how sensational headlines serve a dual function. First up, sensation sells: forced to decide between dull and worthy versus speculative and sexy, editors will too often go for the latter. The BBC, back in the Halcyon pre-Brexit days of 2009, saw fit to ask whether homosexuals should be killed. Well, not quite. They are the BBC, after all. The exact question, responding to deliberations in the Uganda parliament was Should homosexuals face execution? This was later changed to Should Uganda debate gay execution? So that's alright then. But its not: its really not. We live in an age when a slogan on the side of a bus shapes opinion. Headlines can too. We know too that immigrants, including those born here, and minority groups from LGBT to those with a disability are targeted for violence sometimes fatally so on the back of myth. In January 2017 the BBC's Emily Maitlis promoted an upcoming Newsnight piece on trans children with a tweet asserting the issue of the day was surgery for primary school children. No, its not. Not anywhere. To her credit Maitlis removed the tweet after this was pointed out. Yet phrasing the debate in that way promotes alarm, hostility and makes it even harder for a very small minority trans children to access treatment and support that is already hard to access. Of course, we expect sensation from tabloids. But I dont believe the problems that trans people encounter with media coverage are confined to that end of the market. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events I report regularly on violence against trans folk, and I am on the receiving end of the daily hate directed at trans people on Twitter and elsewhere. The most recent was a threat, reported to the police, to come round and do me physical injury. I am in no doubt that much of the framing we see in the media does harm and incites viciousness. I dream of a time when the tables turn, when the media puts as much energy into examining the stability and motives of those who obsess about trans people. Until then I can only say: words matter. And if you think its OK to spice up your readership figures by sensationalising what are, for some people, literal life and death issues, then you are complicit in the consequences. All of them. Construction of the new National Childrens Hospital is taking place in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) The project director of the new National Childrens Hospital has handed in his resignation. John Pollock will step down from his role at the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) in June. His decision comes after the former chairman of the board, Tom Costello, stepped down last month. The new hospital, being constructed on a 12-acre site at the St Jamess Hospital campus in Dublin, has been marred in controversy over spiralling costs. Expand Close An artists impression of the new hospital (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp An artists impression of the new hospital (Niall Carson/PA) The overall cost has soared from an original estimate of 650 million euro to more than 1.7 billion euro, and it is expected to rise further. In a statement, Mr Pollock said he is very proud of what he has achieved since he took up the role in 2014. He added: The project has now moved into the final phase of construction, and with this under way I believe it is an opportune point for me to move from the project. I plan to do so later this summer. Fred Barry, the interim chairman of the NPHDB, said Mr Pollock had taken the new hospital from a vision to something that is now much closer to becoming a reality. He said Mr Pollock leaves the project with the certainty that it is on track to be completed by 2022. The new hospital is scheduled to open its doors in 2023. Expand Close Construction is ongoing at the new hospital site (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Construction is ongoing at the new hospital site (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Barry said: The board is disappointed that John has taken the decision to step down from his role at this time, however we respect his decision. The board, NPHDB team and I believe families and children in Ireland owe John a significant debt of gratitude for the personal commitment that he has shown to this project, as well as the huge skill and expertise that has brought it through the design and planning phase and the commencement of build. We are grateful to John for committing to staying until June 2019, this will ensure a smooth transition as we move to a new phase of this important infrastructural project and as the process commences to recruit a new project lead. The board thanked Mr Pollock for his commitment, dedication and unique contribution to the project and wished him future success. An independent inquiry set up to assess the cost overruns of the project had been expected to be completed by the end of this month, but it is now due to be published next month. Picture a factory in darkness, full of robots, and just the sound of their mechanical arms and processes whirring as they build their product - more robots - without any human interaction. To some it's a vision of a highly productive future. To others it's a vision of hell, where more and more humans are sidelined by advancing technology. The Fanuc robotics factory in Japan is often cited as the ultimate example of a "lights-out factory" where there is little human involvement. But its robot-building robots are only the most extreme symbol of just how different the future workplace - reinvented ever more quickly by technology - could be. Closer to home there is a growing realisation that the future of work is being transformed in sometimes unexpected ways. Tech companies pump money into expensive, largely empty data centres, shops install automatic tellers to let customers check themselves out and, at airports, check-in agents are an increasingly distant memory as travellers print their boarding cards at home. And even in workplaces where the digital revolution may seem remote, many workers face the reality that technology is rapidly wiping out one type of job even as it creates another. "Technology is bringing about a major displacement of jobs," says Peter Cosgrove, an expert on future trends and founder of the Future of Work Institute in Ireland. "The speed that it is happening at is frightening. It can be somewhat dystopian when you hear of 'lights-out' factories, but the big changes will really become apparent as artificial intelligence (AI) begins to move more and more into senior roles and functions such as taxation, law and accounting," says Cosgrove. "People tend to focus on the idea of robots replacing more manual roles, but that is not where the big savings are for companies looking to maximise profit. It's actually going to be the senior roles that get replaced. "Technology is a positive, but unfortunately it will not be a positive for everyone. The challenge is going to be that technology will move a lot quicker than governments can make decisions." It's not all bad news, says Cosgrove, especially for Ireland, A young and flexible workforce means we are well placed to change quickly as technology advances, he says. Brian Evans, head of manufacturing for business banking at Bank of Ireland, believes that Ireland is in a good place to benefit from artificial intelligence and machine learning. He works closely with a large number of small and medium-sized Irish manufacturers and says that not only are they coping with technological advances, they are actually driving them. "We've seen an increase of 36pc year-on-year from 2017 to 2018 in terms of Bank of Ireland business banking lending to manufacturing companies. For 2017 and the first six months of 2018 the investments were largely around factory construction, extending premises and fitting out, with the second half of 2018 more focused on working capital for materials and new business model development," he says. The bank has seen a big uplift in investment in automation equipment. Not just that, but a growing number of Irish companies are now providing the technology to others, says Evans. "Very often we are providing working capital to a company who are building equipment for another company," he says. A big part of the reason Irish companies are succeeding in the area, says Evans, is the availability of skilled staff and the ready market that the presence of high tech and pharma multinationals provides. "We have 6.5bn to 7bn worth of multinational investment in Ireland at the moment - including our own multinationals. Those factory facilities and processes are requiring automation, AI and machine learning and Irish companies across the country are supplying that to them here, as well as in Europe. We have the skilled workforce to develop the solutions and that is where the value is," he says. He cites the example of "a very innovative company" in the southwest that develops vision systems for autonomous vehicles. Another company in Tipperary is developing automatic guided vehicles for moving products around factories. "The machines bring the products from one factory process to the next while capturing data along the way, which is then communicated from machine to machine on the factory floor so that each process in the factory knows when the next product will arrive," says Evans. As that type of autonomous workplace becomes an increasing reality, workers will need to be agile to ensure they are not pushed aside, says independent economist Jim Power. "I don't believe robots are going to take all the jobs but the nature of work will continue to change and you will see certain industries displaced. The key to coping with that is through education and ensuring that we are producing workers for the new jobs and not the old jobs that are disappearing." All of the trends over the next 20 years and beyond are towards greater automation, says Power. But he believes that the real opportunities in the jobs market will be in creative or customer service-focused positions because of the inability of robots to compete in those roles with humans. But is the education system geared up to produce the people who will be good at those roles? The dominance of technology has meant that the powerful tech industry wants education to be ever more narrowly focused on producing technically adept workers. Earlier this month Apple boss Tim Cook met US President Donald Trump and warned him that the tech giant was seeing a "mismatch" in the skills of college graduates and what it believes it needs in the future. "We believe strongly that it should be a requirement in the US for every kid to have coding before they graduate from K-12 [high school]," said Cook. Power agrees that coding is a crucial skill but believes it is important that the Irish education system also produces people who are capable of a different type of creativity and critical thinking. "That's what will differentiate those that succeed and those that will become obsolete," he says. For this reason, says Power, a complete concentration on the maths and science-oriented so-called STEM subjects risks creating a one dimensional workforce and society. "That is why I feel so strongly, for example, about history and geography being given less importance in the syllabus. I think that is a big mistake. People need all sorts of skills to survive." And for many workers the reality is that robots are the least of their worries. It's people who are the problem. Businesses that are under severe competitive strain and constant pressure to cut costs - often because of the digital disruption that is turning so many sectors on their heads - are increasingly prone to see staff as a cost rather than a resource to be nurtured. It can too often add up to a modern workplace that is not an easy place for semi-skilled, semi-professional or manual workers, particularly after they reach a certain age, according to employee representation specialist Dermot O'Loughlin, who advises and represents a growing number of people facing workplace issues. He describes the case of a recent client who had worked in the logistics sector for a high tech company for many years. "His job involved managing and overseeing the routes that trucks would take as they shipped items across Europe. He was very experienced at it and had worked for the company for many years. But when they upgraded the software in the trucks' GPS system and it could all be done automatically they no longer needed his experience and knowledge. Instead, they hired a younger person on much lower wages to oversee it." It is an example of a modern workplace phenomenon that he says he once called "the 50-50" but now calls "the 45-45." "Older employees are more expensive," he says. "The sad reality for a lot of people is that when you hit the age of 45 or when your salary goes over 45,000 you are a target for a cost-cutting management and for being 'managed out'." O'Loughlin represents employees who face a range of problems at work, helping them to navigate the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court where necessary. "When I look at my client list I see a very strong pattern in terms of age profile. Person after person in or around their 50s. My most recent clients were 54, 58, 53, 60, 51 I could go on. They were all people who were being 'managed out' as a workplace tactic. Every one of them was being pushed out to some degree and the general tactic is to make them feel unhappy. "People will say that there is unfair dismissals legislation so a company can't get away with that, but they use all sorts tricks to get around it. For example, they might insist on putting in a performance-improvement plan that, in reality, is designed to fail. By the time they get to the WRC the individual is worn down and they'll take whatever offer they are given. That seems to be becoming more and more the reality of the modern workplace." O'Loughlin believes that it's not just an issue for those who are losing their jobs but is also something that businesses need to be wary of in a tight labour market. "Employment retention is very important and the type of environment where this happens is not one that people are going to want to remain in if they themselves can move on. If every couple of months you are having to train in new staff and then six months later they are gone there are huge costs to that. It's a recipe for disaster when you have a high turnover of staff." A survey published last week by recruitment website Jobs.ie about the retail sector - where Main Street businesses are facing severe competition from online retailers - highlights how staff dissatisfaction is a big issue in that sector. It found that 83pc of retail employers in Ireland view recruitment as a challenge, with a further 60pc facing challenges in employee retention. The survey gave a hint as to why workers might be reluctant to take jobs: when asked about their recruitment methods, 83pc of Irish retail employers said they only hire with a view for the job at hand and no expectation of employee progression or development. And 67pc of those surveyed don't have a clear career progression pathway within their business. It's little wonder so that employees are often less than satisfied with their jobs in the modern retail sector. But the problem likely extends across many other sectors too. Last year Bank of Ireland and HRM Recruit commissioned a report - conducted by Red C Research - which highlighted a significant nationwide skills gaps for Irish manufacturing SMEs. Despite 28pc of SME manufacturing companies hiring new staff since the start of 2018, more than 44pc said that maintaining and hiring a skilled workforce is a real concern for the future. While there is no doubt that some people are being left behind by the advance of technology, Brian Evans argues that the opposite too is the case and that there is a need to attract more interesting and more skillful jobs so as to keep Ireland's increasingly skillful and better educated workforce engaged. Ireland, he points out, has already exceeded an EU target to have 40pc of people between the age of 30 and 34 educated to degree level. "We have a lot of people who are overqualified for the job that they do," says Evans. "So we definitely have the available workforce to grow in this area [high skilled manufacturing]. We wouldn't be displacing jobs, we would be creating jobs that are more appropriate to the level of skills that we have in our workforce." The Government's Future Jobs Ireland 2019 report - published last week - attempts to lay out both the opportunities and the challenges that all of this brings. "The revolution in automation and digital technologies will radically reshape industry as we know it," it says. "Today's school children will be employed in jobs that do not yet exist. Given the current and accelerating move towards automation and AI, it is likely that Ireland will need to rebalance its skills mix towards the most in-demand skills, for example advanced cognitive and social and emotional skills. "Post-degree courses in AI, designed for industry, have recently commenced, as have shorter targeted diploma courses designed to inform the business community on the benefits available from digitalisation." But - despite the fact that Ireland is often trumpeted as having a highly skilled workforce - statistics contained in the government report illustrate the sheer number who are in danger of being left behind: just 48pc of the population has basic or above basic digital skills, well below the European average of 57pc. Official attitudes to the problem, according to sources, is that time will be a healer because of the increased focus on digital skills in the early years of the education system. But there is a recognition that there is a cohort in the 45 to 65 age bracket - many of whom are in employment -that need to be specifically targeted with innovative forms of lifelong learning to help prepare them for and protect them against the changes wrought by the increased pace of automation and digital transformation. Nevertheless, in an economy where all the key goals relate to generating more and more high - or even semi-skilled - jobs, there is too large a group of people in society who can never hope to properly share in the fruits of economic success. The Government's own statistics suggest that there are a large number of people who lack the basic level skills required to even apply for the jobs that government agencies are working so hard to create. For them - as technology advances - the workplace of the future could be a very difficult place indeed. Despite the fact that Ireland is often trumpeted as having a highly skilled workforce, statistics contained in a government report illustrate the sheer number who are in danger of being left behind Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May looks set to gamble on challenging MPs to choose between her divorce deal or a crash out Brexit. The embattled Tory leaders strategy has been shored up by the EUs response today who have warned that a short extension to Brexit is conditional on the House of Commons ratifying the deal next week. In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, President of the EU Council Donald Tusk said. The deal has been rejected twice by large majorities in Westminster and must also meet a high parliamentary test to be put to another vote following a ruling by the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. Mrs May must be able to prove her deal is substantially different from what has already been voted on twice by parliament. Mr Tusk said he does not believe an emergency summit of EU leaders - who will gather in Brussels tomorrow - is necessary at the moment, but did not rule one out if it becomes necessary. Expand Close Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at church in Sonning, Britain March 17, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at church in Sonning, Britain March 17, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls In a boost to Mrs Mays position he said: if the hope for a final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution. But the EU remain resolute that there will be no more re-negotiations on the deal. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was now time for the EU to cut the UK government some slack. "I think it's time now to cut them some slack to cut the British Government some slack - when it comes to their request for an extension and when it comes to their request that the Strasbourg agreement (to extend Brexit) be ratified formally by the European Council over the next two days," he said. Despite the ultimatum Mrs May looks set to offer MPs between her deal and a crash out he insisted that he still believes a no deal is unlikely. "Theres one thing that is certain...and thats that nobody wants a no deal, he said. He said there is a risk that an accidental no deal could happen which would be a tragedy. A package of supports for businesses and farmers - which was expected to be signed off today - is still being finalised by the government and the EU, but Mr Varadkar said they would be in place if needed next week. Expand Close Speaker John Bercow, speaking truth to power. Picture: PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Speaker John Bercow, speaking truth to power. Picture: PA He also said he does not have a definitive view on the possible length of an extension. Mrs May has asked for a delay until June 30 but there are concerns that that may be too long due to the timing of mays European elections. In what will be seen as a gaffe however Mr Varadkar told reporters he understood the prime minister was to make an address to the country tonight. However, his comments came hours before Downing Street confirmed that Mrs May will speak at 8.15pm. He refused to be drawn on what the plan is if Mrs May cannot pass her deal which has been twice rejected by large majorities. Mr Varadkar said there is a growing frustration in Europe that Brexit is still dominating the agenda at the expense of other issues. Expand Close Dublin talks: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar greets European Council Donald Tusk. Photo: Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dublin talks: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar greets European Council Donald Tusk. Photo: Getty Mrs May earlier told the House of Commons that she had written to Mr Tusk to request an extension to the Article 50 Brexit negotiations to June 30. European leaders, including Tanaiste Simon Coveney, last night ramped up pressure on Mrs May to come up with a detailed plan of action on how the UK can end the Brexit turmoil that has paralysed Westminster. Mr Varadkar today said he expected Mrs May to outline that plan later. She is meeting with Opposition leaders in Downing Street, including the DUP leader Nigel Dodds. The Northern Ireland party will again become key in the Brexit next steps as their support for the deal is seen as crucial to convincing rebel Tory and Labour MPs to back it. It was another dark day for Theresa May (PA) Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is seen outside Downing Street in London, Britain March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay Theresa May has requested a 'short extension' to delay Brexit until June 30. In a televised address from 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said that it was "a matter of great personal regret for me" that Brexit will not go ahead on March 29. She blamed MPs for failing to agree a means to implement the result of the 2016 referendum and said she believes voters just want this stage of the Brexit process to be over. And she told voters: "I am on your side." Mrs May said: "Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide." Mrs May said that she has written to Donald Tusk to request an extension to Article 50. "Today I have written to Donald Tusk to request a short extension to Article 50 up until 30 June. "But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June." Earlier, European Council president Donald Tusk said he believed a short delay "would be possible" after he spoke to the Prime Minister following her formal request for an extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process to the end of June. The PM made the request in a letter to Mr Tusk exactly 1,000 days after the 2016 referendum which delivered a 52pc-48pc majority to quit the EU. Initially Downing Street declined to comment on reports the PM would be making a statement but Taoiseach Leo Varadkar let the cat out of the bag. Speaking in Dublin, he said: "That will be an opportunity for her to set out her plan, her timeline, as to how an extension would work." "We always said we'd be open to an extension if there was a purpose to it and I think it's important that we hear from her first and we'll respond as 27, as the European Union, in the next couple of days." Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn pulled out of talks with other opposition party leaders and the Prime Minister after members of the breakaway Independent Group turned up to the meeting. Chuka Umunna, the Independent Group spokesman, said it was "extraordinary behaviour in a national crisis" by the Labour leader. A Labour spokesman said it was "not the meeting that had been agreed" and that they were in discussions with No 10 about a separate bilateral meeting between Mr Corbyn and Mrs May. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the talks with Mrs May had been "courteous" but she had offered no new thinking. "We were just going round in circles," he said. Mr Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, told a press conference in Brussels: "In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. "But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. "The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension." Expand Close Dublin talks: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar greets European Council Donald Tusk. Photo: Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dublin talks: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar greets European Council Donald Tusk. Photo: Getty Mr Tusk indicated that it should be possible for leaders of the remaining EU 27 to approve his plan at a summit in the Belgian capital starting on Thursday. He said that while he did not foresee the need for another "extraordinary" summit next week, he would not hesitate to call one if necessary. "If the leaders approve my recommendations and there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week, we can finalise and formalise the decision on extension in the written procedure," he said. "However, if there is such a need, I will not hesitate to invite the members of the European Council for a meeting to Brussels next week." Mr Tusk added: "Even if the hope for final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking until the very last moment a positive solution - of course without opening up the Withdrawal Agreement. "We have reacted with patience and goodwill to numerous turns of events and I am confident that also now we will not lack the same patience and goodwill at this most critical point in this process." Earlier, during a stormy session of Prime Minister's Questions, Mrs May sparked speculation that she may step down if either MPs or Europe demand a longer extension to the Article 50 negotiation process. "As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30," she said. If the delay is approved by the EU leaders, Mrs May will rush legislation through both Houses of Parliament next week to remove the March 29 leaving date from Brexit laws. She told MPs she intends to table her Withdrawal Agreement for a third time in the Commons, in the hope of overturning massive defeats inflicted on it in January and March. Aides declined to name a date for the third "meaningful vote" - known in Westminster as MV3 - but said it would happen "as soon as possible". Earlier European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned the PM that Brexit would have to be complete before May 23 or the UK would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament beginning that day. Mrs May said involvement in the elections would be "unacceptable", but appears to regard the July 1 date when new MEPs will take their seats as the effective deadline. Aides said Mrs May will "passionately" make her case for a three-month delay on Thursday to the leaders of the remaining 27 EU states, whose unanimous approval is required for any extension. But an unconfirmed report in French news magazine Le Point suggested that President Emmanuel Macron will argue against any postponement beyond March 29. Only six days ago, Mrs May's effective deputy David Lidington warned that a short delay would be "downright reckless". And a motion tabled by the Government last week appeared to keep a longer extension of nine months to a year on the table. But Leave-backing ministers are understood to have piled on pressure at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting to keep any delay short. Downing Street aides said the final form of Mrs May's letter to Mr Tusk was not decided until Wednesday morning. Asked if the decision had the backing of Cabinet, a Number 10 source would say only: "There was a long discussion on Brexit at Cabinet yesterday." In her letter to Mr Tusk, Mrs May said it remains the Government's policy to take the UK out of the EU "in an orderly manner" on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed in November and supplemented by documents agreed with Mr Juncker last week. The agreement was rejected by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Monday he would not allow the same motion to be brought again during this session of Parliament, unless it was substantially changed. But Mrs May told the Commons: "The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. "If that vote is passed, the extension will give the House time to consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Mrs May of "running down the clock" on Brexit in. He told the Commons: "This Government has led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division." Additional reporting from PA Need a quick Brexit update? We have the answers to five questions you may have. How did this total mess come about? After two huge defeats for Theresa May's draft EU-UK divorce deal, on January 15 and March 12, the speaker of the Westminster parliament intervened. He said there cannot be a third vote on the same thing during the current parliamentary term. Mrs May had hoped to re-run the vote before going to an important EU summit tomorrow in Brussels. The vote ban was a major blow. But it was not clear whether Mrs May had persuaded enough Brexiteers to change their minds and back her deal anyway. What does it all mean for Brexit? As things stand, Brexit will happen automatically - without a deal in nine days' time on March 29. But some kind of extension is likely. In the medium term, a no-deal Brexit, meaning economic calamity for Ireland, cannot be ruled out. We are in a period of huge UK political instability which can only get worse. Will the EU member states grant the UK an extension? EU governments are weary of UK dithering and all 27 must agree any extension unanimously. Nothing will be given easily. France and some inside the EU Commission feel a delay will only postpone the inevitable and that London only became serious when a deadline loomed. But ultimately, a delay will be seen as better than a crash-out by the EU's second largest economy. The leaders may delay an extension decision until next week to see if Mrs May can overcome her technical problems and re-run that parliamentary vote. What length of Brexit extension is likely? Mrs May had been talking about three months until June 30, extendable if necessary up to two years. Reports from Downing Street this morning do indicate that Mrs May will request a short delay to Brexit in a letter to the European Union today. The bloc has said a request would need to be made ahead of tomorrows summit to allow the EU 27 to consider it. A short extension would give May breathing space to try and revive her deal, which has already been rejected twice by MPs. The EU has said a longer extension would require the UK to organise European Parliament elections on May 23. EU lawyers argue that if the UK is still in the EU, the parliament would require UK MEPs, so it can be lawfully constituted. Failure on that could mean all new EU laws would be invalid. Holding elections for an entity the UK is about to leave really sums up this total mess. But there are arguments for a long extension which would allow negotiations on a post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal. Are there other options? Yes. Mrs May could quit and the Conservatives would elect a new leader. There could be a general election - though it is not clear the rival Labour Party, which backs a soft Brexit, can win. Things might even drift to another referendum that might reverse Brexit. But public opinion is hugely divided on the prospect of another vote after three years of inconclusive wrangling. The UK's fiscal watchdog has compared the shock of a no-deal Brexit to the collapse of Lehman Brothers that sparked the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. Charlie Bean, a member of the UK's Office for Budget Responsibility, told British MPs it was "almost completely impossible" to accurately predict the shock waves that would be sent through the country's economy should the UK crash out of the EU without a deal. He said that, as with the collapse of Lehmans in 2008, the actual havoc wrought by the shock would only become clear as events unfolded. In a hearing with the Treasury Select Committee at Westminster yesterday, Mr Bean - a former deputy governor of the Bank of England - warned that uncertainty would continue to hold back business investment for several years, even in the event that a deal is struck. "The thing about these disruptive events is it's easy to talk about in an abstract, but actually working out how they permeate through the economy is almost completely impossible. "It's exactly like the aftermath of the collapse of Lehmans, in many ways. "A lot of the linkages you don't realise until you're actually living through it and in that sense there's a limit to how much a business can do to prepare for it. "Even if you take some of the worst downside tail risks off the table, there's still going to be some uncertainty," he warned. The calf trade in the marts remains extremely difficult, with shipper demand being hit as a result of cancelled sailings due to the continuing poor weather. The marts reported reduced shipper activity at ringside, with poorer-quality lots back 10/hd. However, managers felt the peak of the Friesians had been reached, with more coloured calves due to come into the rings from next week on. In Fermoy last week, calves for the Dutch market generally sold for 10-45/hd, while those for the Spanish market made 50-100/hd. Farmer-type Friesian bulls sold for 70-130/hd, with the best of the Angus and Hereford bulls making 250-280/hd. However, the plainer Angus and Hereford bulls out of the dairy herd were a more difficult sell, making as low as 50/hd. A wide variation was also evident for Hereford and Angus heifers, with prices ranging from 30 to 230/hd. Similar price levels were reported in Kilmallock where the bulk of the Friesian bulls for export made 30-70/hd. There was a strong trade for coloured calves, with good-quality bulls generally making 250-350/hd, and up to 400/hd being paid for Charolais bulls. In contrast, young Jersey-cross and Kiwi-cross calves were described as unsaleable in the marts and are generally making less than 10/hd. The trade for calves out of farmyards has also been hit. Shippers have not been as keen for numbers because of the backlog that has built up due to the sailing difficulties. The bulk of the Friesians for shipping are being bought for 30-50/hd. Farmers in calf-to-beef systems have also been paying less, with 70-80/hd given for three-week-old calves in the south. The farmer last year received 150/hd for similar calves. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) The anti-graft court has allowed former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles to seek an outright dismissal of their plunder charges while trial is proceeding in connection with the pork barrel scam. In separate resolutions, the Sandiganbayan's Fifth Division on Wednesday granted Estrada and Napoles's motions for leave of court to file a demurrer to evidence. A demurrer to evidence is an option for the accused to seek dismissal of a case for lack of evidence halfway through the trial, based on evidence presented by the prosecution. "After a careful examination of the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution, both testimonial and documentary, the court resolves to grant the present motion of the accused, to sufficiently provide him an opportunity to challenge the sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence establishing the material elements of the offense charged to support a judgment of guilt," the court said in the resolution on Estrada. Estrada and Napoles have said the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to arrive at a conviction. They have ten days to file their respective demurrers challenging the prosecution's evidence. "Thereafter, the incident shall be deemed submitted for resolution," the court said. Estrada, who is seeking a Senate comeback, is out on a 1-million bail for his plunder and graft charges. He was detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame for three years. He was accused of receiving 183 million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), also known as pork barrel or funds set aside for lawmakers' pet projects. The Supreme Court has declared PDAF unconstitutional. Napoles, meanwhile, is detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. She faces charges for allegedly funneling 10 billion in lawmakers' funds into fake nongovernment organizations. THE Government is delaying plans to unveil a package of emergency financial supports for farmers and small business owners who will be severely affected in the event of a disorderly Brexit. The measures were aimed at providing much-needed relief for farming communities, especially the beef industry - which faces being wiped out if the UK crashes out of the EU. However, the Cabinet is now putting off plans to announce the vital emergency aid package in the wake of on-going Brexit chaos in the British parliament. It is understood the package of financial measures has been drafted, but yesterday it was decided they should not be discussed by ministers at Cabinet this afternoon, as originally planned. A senior source said the Government wants to see the "severity" of the Brexit the country is facing before publishing the supports. "We want to see how things play out in the coming days before we decide how much funding might be need for the supports," the source said. The change of strategy follows on-going confusion within Westminster over support of Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement. However, the delay in unveiling the State's financial aid is likely to cause concern among the farming industry. During his state visit to the US, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that the Cabinet would today sign-off on crucial 'no-deal' Brexit supports for the sectors facing financial turmoil. "On Wednesday at the Cabinet meeting, we will be in a position to sign off on a package of support for business, for farmers, for the agri-food sector, for exporters, for anyone who may be adversely affected by a no-deal Brexit," Mr Varadkar had said. "The package of supports that we will put in place for hundreds of millions of euro and will support and protect incomes and jobs in those most exposed sectors, particularly in the agri-food sector and will also help other businesses and other exporters to be orientated away from the UK markets to other markets," he added. Tanaiste Simon Coveney also told the Cabinet he would provide them with details of the no-deal Brexit plans for farmers facing financial ruin. 500m aid package Ireland is in line for a major share of a 500m package in EU farm supports if a no-deal Brexit happens, EU Commissioner Phil Hogan has said. The sign off will come following a stark warning from the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed when he signalled to his fellow EU agriculture Ministers that if Irish beef, in particular, loses its competitive position in the United Kingdom market, it could be dumped on the EU market. However, Commissioner Hogan said that 'regrettably' the EU a lot of experience in agriculture of dealing with a market disturbance. "We have experience from foot and mouth disease and the BSE outbreak. We have been preparing for the consequences of a no-deal Brexit,"he said in Brussels on Monday. We are prepared for all scenarios but we cannot show our hand until we know the outcome of the negotiations, Mr Hogan told the Farming Independent. But he again urged Irish farmers not to panic as he believes even in a no-deal scenario demand for premium Irish products like beef and cheese in the UK will remain steady. We have had assurances from the UK that they will maintain EU food standards as a minimum. The British shopper is a discerning individual and they will not suddenly abandon quality Irish produce because of price increases due to tariffs, the Commissioner said. The Agriculture Commissioner said the EU has a five-point support plan for the farming sector in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This includes intervention buying, aids to private storage, a relaxation of state aid rules to support farms, mobilising low-interest loans from the European Investment Bank, and additional promotions in emerging markets. Mr Hogan said the global figure for market supports is 500m but there will be an emphasis on keeping product moving rather than a return to the bad old days of large intervention stockpiles. He said expanding markets in China, Japan and Mexico are among the possibilities here. Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed told a meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers on Monday that an outcome which results in a disorderly Brexit, will have a profoundly negative effect on both the Irish and the UK economies. "The Irish agri food sector will be uniquely affected, with beef particularly exposed. The impact is likely to be immediate, and without support, at least in the short term, many of our beef farmers will struggle to survive. "If Irish beef loses its competitive position in the United Kingdom market, there will inevitably be knock on consequences, with significant displacement to elsewhere in the European Union," he warned. He said the full suite of measures under the Common Market Organisation Regulation will be required, including the more traditional market support measures, and the exceptional measures provided for under the 2013 reform, in order to provide a targeted measure to provide vital liquidity on family farms facing an unprecedented challenge. NORSK HYDRO, one of the world's biggest aluminium producers, suffered production outages after a ransomware attack affected operations across Europe and the US. The Norwegian company called the situation "quite severe" and said it was still working to contain the effects of the attack. It couldn't detail how much output had been impacted, but said the so-called potlines, which process molten aluminium and need to be kept running 24 hours a day, had switched to manual mode. Some operations at plants where metal is fashioned into finished products for use in cars, planes and other manufactured goods, have been temporarily stopped, said a spokesman. The company is doing everything possible to fix the problem, but isn't ready to give any forecasts yet, he said. Aluminium futures were little changed on the London Metal Exchange. On a conference call with reporters, chief financial officer Eivind Kallevik said the company didn't know the identity of the hackers and that it has cyber insurance. The shares slid 1.1pc to NKK35.44 (3.66) by early afternoon in Oslo. The attack is the latest to hit the commodities sector, where disruptions can quickly cascade down the supply chain. Prior to Norsk Hydro, companies from zinc smelter Nyrstar to Saudi and Russian oil giants Aramco and Rosneft PJSC, shipping company AP Moller-Maersk and agriculture trader Archer-Daniels-Midland had been also hit by cyber attacks. Hydro is a leading supplier of aluminium products in North American and European markets, providing highly-specialised parts to industrial customers. Bloomberg EUROPEAN Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen said on Tuesday that Washington's "selfish" approach to trade was not sustainable, but it was too early to say that EU-US trade talks were doomed to fail. The Trump administration has imposed stiff tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium and set off a trade war with China in a bid to redress what it sees as unfavourable terms that contribute to a US trade deficit of over half a trillion dollars a year. The Commission, which negotiates trade agreements on behalf of the 28-nation European Union, has been in talks with US authorities since last July, seeking to clinch a deal on industrial goods trade. EU governments are now discussing the details of a negotiating mandate for the Commission, while Washington has until mid-May to decide whether to make good on President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on imports of European cars. "It is too early to say that our trade discussions are doomed to fail," Mr Katainen told a regular news briefing. "There are discussions going on on several levels and... we can end up having some sort of an agreement with the US on trade, but let's not go deeper than this," he said. He added that the scope of negotiations had to be clear and that a deal would require a lot of good will and political capital on both sides. Asked about a reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Mr Katainen said it was problematic. "Japan, China and the EU are willing to reform the WTO, the US has not been that interested, but they are willing to cooperate," he said. "Even though the US authorities may think that selfishness is better than cooperation, it is not a sustainable way of thinking," he said. Reuters Forecourt retailer Applegreen is reviewing its newly-acquired hotel operation in the UK with all options on the table for the business. It's also involved in initial discussions in the United States that could see it further expand its footprint there. Applegreen acquired 29 hotel premises in the UK when it bought just over a 55pc stake in UK motorway service operator Welcome Break last year in a 440m deal. Applegreen has an option to lift its stake to 70pc within six years. But the hotels, operated under the Ramada and Days Inn brands, are outside Applegreen's core competencies. "It's not a sector we know a whole lot about," said CEO Bob Etchingham. "We are learning, and we do anticipate coming to some conclusions on that before the year is out." Mr Etchingham told the Irish Independent that it's "a little bit early" to speculate as to the likely outcome of the review. "The first phase of this work is for the management team to get to know the sector and it isn't a business that we've been involved in at all," he said. "The second stage will be starting to look at the options. We're at the very beginning of the process. I don't want to pre-judge anything. You can imagine the full range of potential outcomes here, and I genuinely don't know where it's going to end up." Applegreen chief operating officer Joe Barrett also confirmed that the group is in initial talks with US-based CrossAmerica on foot of a deal the American firm did late last year to acquire 192 forecourts from Circle-K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard in an asset swap. CrossAmerica indicated last year that it was already in talks with unnamed operators in relation to the 192 forecourts it will acquire over the next two years from Couche-Tard. Applegreen has done previous deals in the US with CrossAmerica. Most recently, it signed a deal with CrossAmerica to lease 43 filling stations in Florida, expanding the Irish group's US presence. Applegreen has 121 outlets along the eastern seaboard in the United States, in South Carolina, Massachusetts and New York's Long Island. "We're in discussions, but these things, they take time," Mr Barrett said. Mr Etchingham added: "There's nothing that I can say to you now with any real confidence about something that might happen in the second half of the year. "It could happen, but then again it may not happen." Applegreen is also constructing a $3m (2.6m) trunk road service area in Massachusetts - its first in the US. The group yesterday said that, excluding the Welcome Break acquisition completed last October, its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) rose 20pc last year to 47.8m. Revenue was 32pc higher at 1.9bn. Including Welcome Break, the figures were 58.1m and 2bn respectively. Target: Imagine, led by CEO Sean Bolger, says it will bring high-speed broadband to a million rural homes Canadian investment giant Brookfield paid $10m (8.8m) for its 31pc economic interest in Irish telecoms firm Imagine, according to its annual report. The deal gave Brookfield and its investment partners a 55pc voting interest in the group, which is headed by Sean Bolger. Brookfield's newly-published annual report also shows that the firm incurred about $2m in acquisition costs related to the Imagine deal. The Canadian firm and institutional investors completed the Imagine transaction in October last year. They acquired a 50.1pc interest in the Irish firm, along with the 31pc economic interest, and the 55pc voting interest, giving it control of the telecoms company. Brookfield said it acquired $6m (5.2m) of goodwill as part of the deal, which represents the growth the partnership expects to receive from the integration of the operations. It also acquired $23m (20.2m) in intangible assets, primarily comprised of customer relationships and a licence. Had the Imagine acquisition been effective from January 1 last year, Brookfield said that the partnership would have recorded $6m in revenue from Imagine, and a net loss of $5m. "Our recent acquisition of a provider of a high-speed fixed wireless broadband company in rural Ireland, Imagine, provides with us an initial entry point into technology services," Brookfield told shareholders in its annual report. "Our investment will fund additional capital as Imagine completes its rollout to customers. The technology sector is an area of huge potential growth for us, given the scale of opportunity and increasing number of opportunities." Imagine's most recent publicly-available accounts show that it made a pre-tax loss of 15.8m in 2017. That was despite revenue increasing 12.6pc to 17.5m that year. Last month, Imagine said it would spend 300m bringing high-speed broadband to one million rural homes in Ireland over the next 18 months. Delays: An employee organises photographs of models at the Asos HQ in London the fashion retailer said a jump in US demand led to a significant dispatch backlog Asos fell the most since December after second-quarter sales growth fell short of its already reduced full-year target. It's the biggest fall since the online fashion retailer issued a profit warning following a "significant deterioration" in November sales, cutting its full-year guidance to 15pc growth from a range of 20pc to 25pc. Retail sales rose 11pc in the three months ending February 28, leaving it playing catch-up. The restrained update from an online retailer that competes with Amazon and has furnished fashions to the likes of British royal Meghan Markle, shows the UK's retail crisis is not just hitting bricks-and-mortar stores. Shares fell as much as 13pc to 2,790 pence in London trading, though they recovered to more modest losses later in the session. "Asos's first-half trading statement isn't as reassuring as might have been hoped following its shock downgrade in December," wrote Paul Hickman, an analyst at Edison Investment Research. "This leaves a task for the second half to get back to the guidance, which is not an ideal message for a business which has already lowered targets." Asos said it's looking to improve its US business after unexpectedly high demand caused "a significant short-term dispatch backlog" at its Atlanta warehouse. It's looking to cut prices and raise marketing spending, particularly in its largest markets, France and Germany. Own-brand sales - 35pc of its total goods - only slightly improved, said CEO Nick Beighton. Asos maintained its full-year outlook. Bloomberg Dublin-listed Greencoat Renewables has raised 147.7m in an oversubscribed share placing. In all 140 million placing shares will be issued at the price of 1.055 per placing share, increasing the total issued share capital of the company to 520 million ordinary shares. The group had previously intended to issue 100 million shares, however it increased the figure due to "substantial excess demand." The funds will be used to pay down the companys existing revolving credit facility, freeing up capital to fund further acquisitions in Ireland. The group said the secondary wind market in Ireland remains very active, with the company involved in a number of attractive processes totalling more than 250MW in aggregate capacity. This includes the potential acquisition of a high-quality operating asset already under exclusivity, with a headline enterprise value of 76m. The deal is expected close at the end of March 2019, the group added. Ronan Murphy, chairman of Greencoat Renewables, said: We are delighted with the response from both existing and new shareholders to the placing. Due to demand substantially in excess of 100 million shares, we have agreed to upsize the placing to 140 million shares and conclude the share issuance programme launched in July 2018. The net proceeds of the placing will enable us to execute further value accretive acquisitions. Irish-owned Critical Healthcare has signed a 10m deal with Danish emergency services company Falck. The Westmeath-based group provides a range of medical products and services to the pre-hospital market and ambulance providers in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. Critical Healthcare will become Falck's service provider for medical consumables, and will have responsibility to manage some of Falck's key manufacturers and producers. In addition, it will roll out Medlogistix, its award-winning procurement platform, for Falck across four countries - Denmark, the UK, Germany and Spain. The deal is estimated to be worth 2m per year over five years. The contract means Critical Healthcare's export sales will increase from 1pc of its business three years ago to 60pc in two years' time. On the back of the increased demand the company plans to more than double its staff from the current 22 over the next five years. Dr Anne Cusack, managing director and co-founder of Critical Healthcare, said the company was "thrilled" with its collaboration with Falck, and that it is looking forward to a "long and fruitful relationship with them". "The impact of this collaboration is an important milestone in the company's progression and represents significant growth for us over the coming years," Dr Cusack said. "We have 22 directly employed staff in Westmeath, where our business is growing strongly. But with the new Falck deal, and other ongoing work, that number is set to increase further - by around 30 new hires over the next five years." Headquartered in Denmark, Falck has operations in 35 countries and its 2,500 ambulances respond to four million emergency calls each year. The company also provides a large number of other prehospital services, including emergency helicopters and rapid response units with paramedics, nurses and doctors. Dublin hotels experienced a fall in revenue per available room last month, following over two years of positive growth. Outside the capital the figure remained positive, new figures show. This comes on the back of a controversial Vat hike in the last Budget as well as increased competition. Dublin revenue per room fell 1.6pc in February, with occupancy down 1.0 percentage points. In Regional Ireland, revenue increased 3.5pc last month, while occupancy edged up 1.3 percentage points. Despite intensive lobbying and dire predictions that it would result in job cuts and unprofitability, the Government decided in last October's Budget to return a special 9pc Vat rate it had introduced during the downturn for certain sectors, to 13.5pc. Despite the headwinds in 2019, Joseph Quinn, analyst at Davy Stockbrokers, said he believes Irelands largest hotel group, Dalata, should "outperform" the broader market. "Additionally, Dalatas FY18 results outlook comment that Quarter One trading across our three regions is in line with our expectations further supports this view," Mr Quinn added. In London both revenue and occupancy was up marginally in February. While in the rest of the UK there was a fall in both revenue per available room (down 2.7pc) and occupancy (down 0.3 percentage points). In this new book they write, Humankind has been turning to booze to help summon up creative inspiration since the days of Bacchus. Temperance zealots over the years may have decried the evils of drink, but there are considerable examples in the canon of literature to suggest, at the very least, a connection between alcohol and great writing. Boardroom reshuffle: Martin Gilbert who stepped down as co-CEO of SLA to become group vice-chairman Standard Life Aberdeen said it has won a legal battle to stop Lloyds cancelling a 100bn (116bn) investment management contract early - a decision which could cost the bank hundreds of millions of pounds in extra fees. Lloyds had argued the 11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management to form SLA in 2017 allowed it to end Aberdeen's 2014 contract to manage a large slice of its pension assets because it considered insurer Standard Life as a "material competitor". But after a lengthy arbitration process, a tribunal ruled Lloyds was not entitled to give notice in February 2018 to terminate the deal, raising questions over the status of a new Lloyds partnership with BlackRock and a wealth management tie-up with Schroders. SLA's victory also raises the prospect that Lloyds will have to pay some or all of the 390m the asset manager would have earned under the terms of the contract due to expire in March 2022, even if it continues to transfer assets to BlackRock and Schroders. These charges will come on top of the fees promised to the new partners. "The ruling does not allow any right of appeal. We would expect Lloyds to have to pay compensation. This is likely to be in the order of around 300m," KBW analyst Edward Firth said in a note to clients. SLA said it was considering appropriate next steps, while the prospect of a payout had lifted its shares by 1.4pc at 8.14am, while Lloyds shares were up 0.2pc. For Lloyds, "the sums are broadly irrelevant in the context of the group", KBW's Firth said, flagging an 'outperform' rating and 67 pence a share target price on its shares. A spokesman for Scottish Widows said the Lloyds-owned insurer was "disappointed" with the ruling but it would press ahead with plans to transfer assets to BlackRock and Schroders. "We will continue to work closely with Standard Life Aberdeen to ensure there is no disruption to performance or service," the spokesman said. Lloyds awarded BlackRock a contract to manage 30bn in assets in October, to be invested using the US company's index strategies in one of Europe's biggest investment contracts of last year. Previously Lloyds said the BlackRock deal would begin after the arbitration process or when the existing contract expires. Reuters Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are now getting down to the finer details of just how a takeover could actually work. With talks expected to last at least four weeks, there's a mountain of thorny detail to work through. Cost cuts - and where to make them - and balance sheet risks are set to take a central role, people with knowledge of the matter said. The potential for savings, or massive cuts, could be significant as the firms compete in the same markets, have their headquarters in Frankfurt and a large presence in Germany. Goldman Sachs said in a report in October that similar deals have been able to slash the target's cost base by as much as 39pc. Savings of that magnitude may also be achievable for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, people close to the talks said. The discussions are open-ended and - as the banks themselves have said - a merger is not a done deal. Here are key questions the talks may focus on: Where to cut? As many as 30,000 jobs will be up for discussion. Other options include overlapping branches, as well as call and processing centres. Commerzbank has been pulling back its markets business, recently selling its market-making unit to Societe Generale. Who is the buyer? There's usually no such thing as a merger of equals, and as the bigger of the two, Deutsche Bank is expected to be the dominant force in a deal, one person close to the talks said. Another scenario would be the creation of a completely new entity that would combine both banks or at least parts of it, another person said. Previous talks in 2016 envisaged Commerzbank merging with Deutsche Bank's German retail unit, according to a person involved at the time. Valuation dilemma? Commerzbank has large holdings of Italian bonds, which may need to be revalued. On the other hand, Deutsche Bank's US political exposure and the future of its trading unit will be tough questions, too, one person said. Then there's the question of goodwill - or the amount the acquirer is willing to overpay to make a deal happen. Typically, that's an expense, but the banks have the lowest share prices relative to their book values among large European peers. If Commerzbank were bought below its book value, that could lift Deutsche Bank's capital, according to Goldman. Cash call or sale? The banks would probably need several billion euro to pay for the restructuring and revaluations - either by issuing new shares or selling assets. That could lead Deutsche Bank to consider divesting asset manager DWS Group, though the bank is reluctant to do so, according to two people. Commerzbank could look at business such as internet retail bank comdirect, its Polish subsidiary mBank or its leasing business Commerz Real, said one person. No such action has yet been taken and it's not clear the bank will, said another person. Who stays on top? It's too early to answer that question, people familiar with the matter said. But one person close to the talks said that, with Deutsche Bank the potential acquirer, a possible scenario would be for chief executive Christian Sewing to keep his CEO role. That would leave the question about the futures of Commerzbank's management, led by CEO Martin Zielke, who has arguably had more success than Deutsche Bank with his restructuring. Officials for the banks declined to comment. Bloomberg DIY: The B&Q chain is owned by the UK-based Kingfisher group Retail profits fell 11pc to 753m (880m) at B&Q owner Kingfisher in the 12 months to 31 January 2019. Underlying pre-tax profit fell 13pc year-on-year to 693m (810m), according to annual results from the group. Meanwhile, revenue for the period rose 0.3pc year-on-year to 11.7bn (13.6bn), slightly below Davy Stockbrokers forecast of 11.8bn (13.8bn). In like-for-like terms revenue fell by 1.6pc. The performance was impacted by its Castorama arm in France, which the company said had been "disappointing". In the UK and Ireland group sales were up 1.1pc to 5bn in the context of what the group described as "a weak consumer backdrop". In like-for-like terms sales declined 0.8pc in the UK and Ireland. Meanwhile, retail profit in the market was up 6pc to 399m. Kingfisher operates from eight stores in Ireland. The group said it plans to open Screwfix outlet in the Republic of Ireland this year. Veronique Laury, CEO of Kingfisher said: "During the year, the UK, Poland and Brico Depot France performed well, leveraging the benefits of our transformation." "However, Castorama France has been disappointing and we are implementing a clear plan to sustainably improve its performance." Looking ahead, Kingfisher expects gross margins to be flat in the new financial year. Elsewhere, and the group said its CEO, Veronique Laury, was stepping down. A departure date for Ms Laury, has not yet been decided. Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party looks on during a fringe meeting on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, north-west England on October 6, 2009. ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images Irish people are trolling a British journalist and Conservative politician with their 'alternative' versions of Irish history. Using the hashtag #HannanIrishHistory people are sharing their increasingly hilarious and inventive takes on key events in Ireland's history, the origins of our political figures, and more. The hashtag was spawned following an article by Daniel Hannan for The Telegraph in which he argues that politicians have sacrificed their positions and split their parties in order to "advance deeper integration" with the EU. "In Ireland, for example, Bertie Ahern, then the Taoiseach, who was at the time mired in corruption allegations, fell on his sword rather than allowing those allegations to prejudice the proBrussels cause in the 2008 referendum on the Lisbon Treaty," he writes. Expand Close Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party looks on during a fringe meeting on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, north-west England on October 6, 2009. ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party looks on during a fringe meeting on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, north-west England on October 6, 2009. ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images) "When his side lost anyway, his successor, Brian Cowen, took the catastrophic decision to rerun the vote. In doing so, he predictably ended not only his own career but also his partys hegemony. Fianna Fail, which had won every Irish election since 1932, was destroyed. But the European project carried on." Some Irish and UK commentators have taken issue with Hannan's arguments, pointing to the banking crisis as the main reason Fianna Fail lost the 2011 election, and questioning Hannan's statement that the party "had won every Irish election since 1932". Steve Peers, Professor of EU, Human Rights & World Trade Law at the University of Essex first used the hashtag #HannanIrishHistory, which has now been trending for more than 24 hours. Here are some of the responses: Come out ye Dan Hannans, Come out and fight me like a man. Tell your Wife you Double Firsted down in Oxford. #HannanIrishHistory Paul Reynolds (@PaulFedayn) March 19, 2019 The Irish Potato Famine was introduced by the EU in 1996 as a punishment for Ireland rejecting Nice I. Only the UK stood by the Republic of Eire, loaning them potatoes in their hour of need. #HannanIrishHistory Donal OKeeffe (@Donal_OKeeffe) March 19, 2019 #HannanIrishHistory St. Patrick is actually the Patron Saint of Brexit. He came from leave-voting Wales. And he kicked the snakes out of Ireland to show his contempt for EU regulations on biodiversity Abie Philbin Bowman (@AbiePB) March 19, 2019 Irish rebel leaders James Connolly and Constance Markievicz (1916, colourised) #HannanIrishHistory pic.twitter.com/8iMuLKe3Pn Maurice J Casey (@MauriceJCasey) March 19, 2019 40% of Irelands renewable energy is generated by the cast of Riverdance. #HannanIrishHistory Dara de Brun (@DaraDeBrun) March 19, 2019 The statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Parliament commemorates the Nobel peace prize which Cromwell won for ending the Irish Civil war #HannanIrishHistory pic.twitter.com/oKh3ylnXt4 Steve Peers (@StevePeers) March 19, 2019 The people of Cork lit many BBQs around the city to celebrate the arrival of stag party from Bristol in 1920 #HannanIrishHistory pic.twitter.com/eJGh0ZupHu Eoin Kelleher (@eoinyk) March 19, 2019 Snakes were driven out of Ireland in 1905 by the famous Saint Jack, pictured here with the Olympic gold medal he won for hurling #HannanIrishHistory pic.twitter.com/4wsfAL0jQB Steve Peers (@StevePeers) March 19, 2019 The Black and Tans were so called due to their part in the fake tanning craze sweeping early 1920s Ireland. Their cultural impact can be seen to this day with the Orange Order and full make up re-enactments on most Saturday nights in the clubs of Belfast. #HannanIrishHistory Joseph (@scarypancakes) March 20, 2019 The modern ambulance siren was invented in Nenagh, County Tipperary. #HannanIrishHistory Seamus O'Corcorain (@dohville) March 19, 2019 Fionn mac Cumhaill burned his finger on the Salmon of Knowledge because of EU regulations on food labelling #HannanIrishHistory Dean Van Nguyen (@deanvannguyen) March 19, 2019 And it is providing a welcome break from Brexit coverage for many... Video of the Day #HannanIrishHistory The best # event in a long time, Im crying with laughter and a *I* got a D in Honours History in the Leaving, so I know me onions!! Mary Beare Aust (@marybaust) March 20, 2019 First trailer drops for Tarantinos Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Matt Crossick/PA) Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio star in the first trailer for Quentin Tarantinos new crime film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Set in the late 1960s in Los Angeles it tells the story of Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), an actor in a western TV series, and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt), who are trying to make a name for themselves in the film industry. It also stars Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, a Hollywood actress married to director Roman Polanski who was one of five people murdered by the cult led by Charles Manson in August 1969. The first trailer sees Dalton a neighbour of Tate and Booth being introduced in a TV interview, where DiCaprios character is asked what a stunt double does. While smoking a cigarette, he says: Actors are required to do a lot of dangerous stuff. Cliff here is meant to help carry the load. Pitts character is questioned over his response, and replies: What, carrying his load? Yeah, its about right. Robbie is seen in various clips as Tate, with other scenes showing Hollywood as it was 50 years ago. The film, Tarantinos ninth, has an A-list supporting cast including Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Damian Lewis, Lena Dunham and Austin Butler. It also features Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry, who died earlier this month aged 52 after a stroke. Video of the Day Perry plays Wayne Maunder in the film, an actor who co-starred in the western television series Lancer. He had completed all of his scenes before he died, and the film marks his final role on the big screen. Acclaimed director Tarantino was six years old and living in Los Angeles at the time of the Manson murders. He has worked on the screenplay for five years. His previous films include Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood will be released August 14. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has called for an overhaul in the training of priests. Picture: John McElroy Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said Ireland is in the grip of a "crisis of faith" and called for the number of dioceses to be reduced. In a wide-ranging speech on the future of the Church, he also spoke about the "fundamental fault lines" in the current structure of Catholic schools which see teachers at times "teaching something of which they are not convinced". Acknowledging a decline in Church attendance, he told an audience in Limerick last night that "numbers may be reduced but perhaps in the past we placed far too much trust in our numerical presence". He said he does not believe that people "have a true sense of the crisis of faith that exists in Ireland". In a bleak picture of the future of the Church in Ireland, he added that while there are many "residual elements of faith in our society", these are being weakened with the passage of each generation. Dr Martin said the Church faces major challenges in the area of women's issues and sexual morality, "where the Church's teaching is either not understood or is simply rejected as being out of tune with contemporary culture". He said that the Church must represent lay, clerical and religious, women and men, young and old. "We all agree on this, but nothing seems to happen. The alienation of so many women only increases," he warned. He called for a reduction and rationalisation in the number of dioceses and the "revision of the arcane workings of the Irish Episcopal Conference" as well as an overhaul in the training of priests. In a call for action, he said: "We need to take a radical new look at the formation of future priests. A culture of clericalism is hard to eliminate. It did not come out of nowhere and so we have to address its roots in seminary training. There is no way we can put off decisions regarding the future." On the issue of Catholic education, the archbishop, who has been a strong advocate for divestment of Catholic patronage, admitted that the Church had "invested in structures of school-based religious education that despite enormous goodwill are not producing the results that they set out to achieve". Describing himself as "a strong proponent of denominational education", Dr Martin said Catholic education had a solid track record and he saw an important future for it alongside other vibrant forms of education, including that of minority churches. Paying tribute to the "great teachers" in faith schools, he also sounded a note of concern over the fact that the system at times requires teachers, who do not share the faith, to teach something they don't believe. "There are fundamental fault lines within the current structure for Catholic schools that are not being addressed and unattended fault lines inevitably generate destructive energies," he warned. A coroner has called for more to be done to warn of the dangers of swimming in the sea on a night out after an Irish dad drowned during Storm Callum. Brighton and Hove assistant coroner Gilva Tisshaw said extra steps must be taken to make the public aware of the risks of going into the water after drinking or taking drugs as she ruled David Dooley's death an accident. The 38-year-old Irishman was swept out to sea after a night out in Brighton on October 13, while being almost four times the drink-drive limit. He was spotted "waving his arms and making attempts to return to shore" in the "very rough" sea with "high winds and large waves" before he fell lifeless and his body was seen floating. An inquest on Tuesday heard revellers spilling out of seafront nightclubs, heading onto the beach and venturing into the sea after a night drinking was a common problem in the East Sussex city. Born in Dublin, Mr Dooley lived in Tullamore, Co Offaly, before moving to Chiswick, west London. He is survived by his wife Khrystyna and son Brandon. He had recently moved to Sussex for work before he died, having arranged that day to meet an old friend in Brighton and they ended up on the beach after spending the evening drinking. A post-mortem examination found he died from drowning, but "serious intoxication" was a contributing factor. Toxicology reports also showed he had traces of cocaine in his system. Expand Close Stock picture / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock picture Last month, Ms Tisshaw adjourned the inquest while she investigated "matters of concern" over whether Mr Dooley could have been saved. Police were first called at 1.21am and saw him in the water two minutes later. He had stopped moving around 20 minutes later and his body was pulled out of the water at around 2am. Officers were ordered not to go into the rough seas because Mr Dooley had drifted too far out and the weather was so bad it was unsafe to try to rescue him, the inquest previously heard. The police on the scene did not know where to find life rings which are stored along the beach - although at least two had been close by, resulting in delays in attempts to reach him. Instead they tried to get closer and shout instructions as he was battered by the waves and rapidly dragged west by the current. Experienced surfer and swimmer Chris Ingall, the council's seafront office manager, told the court a shingle bank had built up on the beach that night and there were "extremely powerful" crashing waves of up to three metres high hitting the shore every four to seven seconds, adding: "The sea is very unforgiving at the best of times." Sussex Police Sergeant Paul Nellis said he had "never seen the waves so bad" in his 10 years working for the police in the city, adding: "It was my honest opinion at the time that if anyone else had entered the sea, they would have been swept away." While Pc Anastasia Dart said she feared for the safety of officers after feeling "shocked at the momentum of the sea" and "surprised that the waves were so aggressive." Ms Tisshaw said: "I believe there was nothing further the police could have done." In making the report to prevent future deaths - where coroners can tell public bodies to take action, Ms Tisshaw said: "I believe steps should be taken to increase police awareness of the locations of life rings. "Steps should be taken to increase public awareness of the risks of the sea when having consumed alcohol or drugs". Mr Dooley was one of two people to die as the storm wreaked devastation across western parts and coastal areas of the country that weekend. Corey Thomas Sharpling, 21, of Newcastle Emlyn, was killed near the village of Cwmduad in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, on the same day. A murder accuseds barrister has likened his clients situation at the time of the killing to that of Michael Corleone in the Godfather III, when he was trying to get out of crime but kept being pulled back in. John Shortt SC was giving his closing speech this morning in the trial of a drug dealer, who fatally stabbed another drug dealer after an accumulation of incidents including one in which the deceased had attacked the accused with a knuckle duster. Rihards Lavickis stabbed Akadiusz Arik Czajkowski in broad daylight outside Longford Shopping Centre. Hes admitted that he went out with a knife that day to get him for threatening his family and breaking their windows. The 26-year-old, originally from Latvia but with an address at Annaly court in Longford, is charged with murdering the Polish father-of-two on November 1 2016 at Rue Noyal Chatillon, Townspark in the town. The father-of-one has pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter, and is on trial at the Central Criminal Court. Mr Shortt reminded the jury of evidence that the accused owed the deceased money for drugs and that the deceased had attacked his client with a knuckle duster months before the killing. He recalled that the accuseds familys window had been broken about five times during those months, the most recent time being in the early hours of that morning. The accused had called gardai and nominated the deceased as a suspect, telling the officers that he would get him. They had warned him not to, that they would deal with it. However, he had gone out with a knife looking for the deceased. He later saw him, chased him and stabbed him three times. Mr Shortt argued that his client had lacked the necessary intent to kill or cause serious injury when hed chased him and stabbed him that morning. If you were going to murder someone, its highly unlikely youre going to set up the killing in broad daylight on a main thoroughfare, he said. Yes he ran at him with the knife. That does not either suggest that he intended to kill him or cause serious harm. He noted that his client had decided to stop striking him after stabbing him for the third time. We know that when the deceased was at the accuseds mercy on the ground, the accused stopped, he said. He walks one direction and it appears the deceased gets up and walks the other direction. Mr Shortt said that if the jury believed that his client did have the necessary intention for murder, it could then look at the issue of provocation. This can reduce murder to manslaughter if the accused completely lacked self control by being provoked by the deceased. He said that the drug debt had been reduced to a lesser sum on the basis that his client would not make a formal garda complaint about the knuckle duster incident. However, the deceased was not inclined to let go of this issue, he said. So, its an accumulation of incidents that lead to a total loss of self control at the time, said Mr Shortt. Its almost like the scene in the Godfather III, where Michael Corleone is sitting there. Hes trying to get out of crime but somethings happened and he says: Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. He asked the jury to reach a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Patrick McGrath SC, prosecuting, said that if a person sticks a knife into the chest of another, then the natural and probable consequences are death or serious injury. The presumption arises that the accused intended to cause death or serious injury, he said, explaining that the intention to cause either of these was enough for murder. He went out with a knife, to take revenge on him for what he perceived hed done to himself and his family, he said of the accused. He ran across the road with the knife raised in an aggressive manner, he continued, reminding the jury of the CCTV footage, which showed the chase but not the stabbing. Hes chasing after him to kill or cause serious injury, he suggested. He said that taking the law into ones own hands, brooding over perceived wrongs and deciding to put an end to troubles was not provocation. He tells the gardai that when the first two stabs didnt seem to be working, he pushed it further in the next time, clear evidence of intention and preplanning, being in control of what he was doing and not being out of self control, he said. When he pushes it in further. Its planned and calculated. Because it is, whatever the background, its not provocation. He said that having a bad history with someone was not enough for provocation. Its not enough if theyve been threatening to your family and you decide youre going to take matters into your own hands, he said Thats vigilantism and would ultimately lead to the law of the jungle. He said the killing was planned and not done when the accused was out of control. He said that hed had plenty of time between discovering the broken window at 8am and 11.40am, when he carried out the stabbing. A lot happened in that time, including him planning the attack, inconsistent with him acting at a time he was out of control, he said. He suggested that it was the jurys obligation to return a verdict of murder. Mr Justice Michael White has now begun charging the jury of eight men and four women, who will then retire to consider the verdict. The Chief Justice has complained to the Justice Minister over "a leak to the media" of a letter containing proposals to bring down awards for minor injuries such as whiplash. The letter was sent by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to Mr Justice Frank Clarke last month, but its contents appeared in newspapers before it had been received. In a strongly worded note, a copy of which has been obtained by the Irish Independent, Mr Justice Clarke told the minister it was "particularly disconcerting" to read the contents of the letter before it had arrived. "The only conclusion which I can reach is that there has been a leak to the media of the letter," he wrote. "While I am sure that the leak did not come from you, I am afraid I must conclude that it did come from someone on the Government's side. I have to say that I find it particularly unhelpful that someone on the Government's side has seen fit to leak the letter before it has even been received. "Such action does nothing to foster a spirit of co-operation on matters of mutual interest." The episode is something of an embarrassment for the Government, which is under pressure over the slow pace of insurance cost reform. Mr Flanagan asked the Chief Justice if it was possible for a small number of judges with expertise in personal injuries to join a group which would include representatives of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and, possibly, the Department of Justice, with a view to revising guideline award levels. Mr Justice Clarke was particularly irked by one newspaper article which suggested he would respond favourably to the proposal. He said he could only conclude this briefing "came from the Government side as well". "I will, of course, consider and respond to any correspondence which I actually receive," he wrote. "However, I feel that it is incumbent on me to express, in strong terms, my dismay at the actions of whichever person or persons organised the leak and briefing in question." The minister wants the group put together as an interim measure until stalled legislation allowing for a Judicial Council can be passed by the Oireachtas. Marriage: Ciara Quinn, daughter of Sean Quinn (right) after her wedding to solicitor Niall McPartland (left). Photo: Collins The children of former billionaire Sean Quinn Snr used the Quinn Group as "their personal bank" and took 1.95bn out of the company, the High Court has heard. The cash was used to cover significant losses from share speculation, property purchases and lifestyle expenses, a lawyer for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) has claimed. Paul Gallagher SC said while the children drew modest salaries and portrayed themselves as living modest lifestyles, the reality was "very different". He said one example of this was the 1m spent on Ciara Quinn's wedding at the then Quinn-owned Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan. The money was never repaid after the hotel was taken over by IBRC. The barrister said that of 1.95bn taken out of the company, some 1.6bn came out in 2007. The children were the shareholders at the time. Mr Gallagher also alleged the children engaged in "a sophisticated and devious fraud" by taking assets out of the family's international property group at a time when such assets were part of the security for massive borrowings. Counsel for IBRC also claimed significant transactions in the Quinn Group accounts were falsified with the intention of misleading banks and bondholders about the solvency of the group. His comments came as IBRC opened its defence of an action by the five Quinn siblings, Sean Jr, Ciara, Colette, Brenda and Aoife, against IBRC, and its liquidator Kieran Wallace. The siblings say they should not be held liable for 2.34bn in loans advanced by Anglo in 2007 and 2008 to fund losses stemming from their father's disastrous speculation on stock market shares. They also claim the security on the loans is invalid and unenforceable. A key plank of their case is that they were unduly influenced by their father, even though it was they who held the shares in Quinn Group at the time. They allege Anglo behaved in a "morally reprehensible" manner towards them when they signed guarantees for loans. The children say they were never informed of the perilous state the bank was in and were never advised by the bank to take independent legal advice. Sean Quinn Snr began investing in contracts for difference (CFDs) in September 2005. These are financial instruments which allow someone to bet on the performance of a share without actually owning it. Mr Quinn soon concentrated almost exclusively on Anglo shares, but when the bank's share price collapsed he suffered massive losses. Large sums of money were loaned by the bank to companies owned by the Quinn children to fund "margin calls" as the share price dropped. The loans were also intended to prop up Anglo's share price. Mr Gallagher told Mr Justice Garrett Simons the case being brought by the Quinn siblings was "extraordinary". He said the plaintiffs had many opportunities to complain the loans were invalid, but had remained silent and continued to approve the transactions. Mr Gallagher said they had sought to portray themselves as "naive and unsophisticated", when the opposite was true. The barrister said they "knew what they were signing" and "had expert help" when they signed various guarantees and other documents related to the loans. "They had the most experienced and capable people who knew about all of these documents," he said. Mr Gallagher said it "beggars belief" that these would have been signed without the siblings knowing what they were about. The case continues. If you go, though, you will see Thebus reading from a script. And I dont mean glancing down for guidance, but operating as if this were a staged reading or an early rehearsal. Which this otherwise is anything but. On the contrary, its otherwise quite a dynamic little production from the director John Gawlik, starring Michael Patrick Thornton as the priest under suspicion. As is often the case with Thornton in these kinds of roles, he embodies a terrifying kind of certitude. When we all first saw Doubt, which was first produced in 2004, it felt like a piece about the moral dilemma of not being sure about something that might well cause harm. Subsequent events have had the effect of removing the doubt from Doubt. It now feels like a cautionary tale. Siblings: The Quinn children, from left, Aoife, Brenda, Ciara, Colette (partially hidden) and Sean Jr, at the Four Courts. Photo: Collins Courts Two former Quinn Group executives are said to be "very reluctant" witnesses in a High Court action following "threats and actions of violence towards them". Both Dara OReilly and Liam McCaffrey have been joined by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) as third parties in proceedings it and liquidator Kieran Wallace are facing from the children of former billionaire Sean Quinn. The children dispute liability for hundreds of million euros in loans given to Quinn companies by IBRCs predecessor, Anglo Irish Bank. Mr OReilly and Mr McCaffrey now work as chief financial officer and chief executive respectively for Quinn Industrial Holdings, a company made up of elements of the former Quinn empire. Their barrister Ross Gorman told the High Court they were very reluctant witnesses. He said Mr OReillys car had been burnt out before Christmas and boiling water was thrown in his face last month. The barrister told Mr Justice Garrett Simons his clients accept they had been agents of Quinn Group and for Sean Quinn. However, they say they had not been agents for the five Quinn children, who owned the shares in the group. Mr Gorman told the court Mr OReilly had said in a statement he received instructions from Sean Quinn and that he understood Mr Quinn was authorised to act on behalf of his children. The barrister said no allegation had been made by IBRC that either of his clients had done anything wrong. The case is due to hear evidence of how the children, Sean Jr, Ciara, Colette, Brenda and Aoife Quinn, came to sign guarantees and share pledges related to loans for hundreds of millions of euro from Anglo in 2007 and 2008. Some 2.34bn was loaned to Quinn Group companies to fund losses arising from their fathers disastrous speculation on contracts for difference, financial instruments which allow a person to speculate on the performance of a share without buying it. The children claim they should not be held liable for loans of 415m and that they were unduly influenced by their father, who they say controlled the business even though they were the owners. They also alleged Anglo behaved in a "morally reprehensible" manner towards them when they signed loan guarantees, and that they were never advised by the bank to take independent legal advice. The claims are denied by IBRC, whose counsel Paul Gallagher SC said the children were "attempting to rewrite history". Mr Gallagher said it was clear the children had signed and authorised loan guarantees and share pledges. In court yesterday, he went through various transactions involving the children, which he said clearly demonstrated their deep involvement in the running of the business. He told the court the IBRC had identified "a multitude of documents" relating to borrowings, guarantees, shareholdings, pledges, charges and powers of attorney. Mr Gallagher said none of these were being challenged in the proceedings and no issue had been raised about them, yet the Quinns sought to challenge similar documents relating to the Anglo loans. "These were people used to dealing in enormously large transactions and giving people power of attorney," said Mr Gallagher. "They knew what these things were." The barrister also queried claims the children had modest lifestyles. He said that far from having no assets, the children owned the home where their parents lived and had been able to give them gifts worth 12m. The first of the children to give evidence, Brenda Quinn, is due to take the stand tomorrow. The case is expected to last up to six months. A GARDA manhunt is underway for a violent inmate who is on the run after escaping from a Dublin hospital this morning. The 22-year-old man, who is serving a lengthy jail term for a serious knife attack on a homeless man, fled from St Jamess Hospital in the south-inner city at around 8am. He was receiving treatment and being escorted by two prison officers when he managed to escape. Gardai were notified immediately and are currently carrying out searches for the inmate. The Irish Prison Service has also launched an investigation into how he managed to escape. A spokesman for the IPS said: The Irish Prison Service can confirm that a prisoner has escaped from lawful custody while on escort to St James Hospital this morning. An Garda Siochana were notified immediately and provided with all the relevant information in relation to the prisoner. The Irish Prison Service is currently investigating the circumstances of the escape, the spokesman added. The on-the-run inmate is serving a partially suspended 10-year sentence at Mountjoy Jail after an unprovoked attack on a homeless man in the capital. The victim was left with life-altering injuries and required close to 50 stitches as a result of the stabbing. Hundreds of patients, including children, had to endure a wait of at least nine hours before a bed could be found for them yesterday as the hospital trolley crisis surged, leading to serious levels of overcrowding. This morning, 580 patients were on trolleys across the country, according to INMO's 'Trolley Watch'. Some 429 are waiting in the emergency department, while 151 are in wards elsewhere in the hospital. Ten patients are under the age of 16. The worst hit hospitals this morning were University Hospital Limerick with 54 patients on trolleys, while University Hospital Galway had 50 patients. Cork University Hospital also had 47 people waiting for bed. Although trolley gridlock has not reached the peak of last winter, patients are continuing to suffer the indignity of gruelling delays for a bed. Some 557 patients were on trolleys yesterday with Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway also struggling with an overflow of patients following the St Patrick's weekend. A spokesman for University Hospital Limerick confirmed closure of a 17-bed ward but said staff were fully involved. A new fracture clinic was opened to reduce "wait times and improve patient experience", he said. He insisted it was offset by the opening of other services, including a 12-bed surgical stay unit. Health Minister Simon Harris insisted that over the past 18 months, an additional 241 beds had been opened nationally. The HSE winter plan included the opening of an additional 75 beds early this year, including five acute inpatient beds in Letterkenny University Hospital. Preparation was also under way to provide for 202 extra beds, to be operational early next year, he added. Meanwhile, the Government has again delayed a decision on the proposed downgrading of the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise which would see it lose its 24/7 A&E department and be replaced with a local injuries unit. The proposal, contained in a draft report drawn up three years ago, is a political hot potato because it is in the constituency of Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. Mr Harris said significant work had been undertaken to strengthen and stabilise current arrangements for services at the hospital to ensure that services that are not sustainable are discontinued and those that are, are safety assured and adequately resourced. "Funding has increased by 42pc relative to the 2012 budget and staffing levels have risen by 31pc from the 2014 base. "Governance and management arrangements in Portlaoise hospital have been strengthened, additional clinical staff have been appointed and staff training, hospital culture and communications have improved. "As I have outlined previously, no decision has been made yet on the draft action plan for Portlaoise hospital," he added. "I am committed to ensuring that local clinicians and the community will be consulted with before a decision is made. I have decided that a comprehensive consultation exercise should be undertaken by the HSE, with an external facilitator, with the key stakeholder groups involved in the Portlaoise hospital. "The consultation will involve key stakeholders and local community representatives and provide an opportunity to listen to and address the issues and concerns the stakeholders have highlighted. "The consultation will also provide an opportunity to set out clearly the immediate priorities for service development and improvement in the hospital. The appointment of an external facilitator for the consultation process is being finalised. The outcome of the consultation process will be a submission from the Department of Health." A hotel owner has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after three teenagers died in a crush outside a St Patrick's Day disco. Michael McElhatton (52) is the owner of the Greenvale Hotel, in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. His spokeswoman confirmed last night that he was one of two men arrested by the PSNI. It is understood the other suspect, aged 40, is a member of the nightspot's door staff. Students Lauren Bullock (17), from Donaghmore, Connor Currie (16) and Morgan Barnard (17), both from Dungannon, in Co Tyrone, perished in the crush outside the hotel on Sunday night, with eyewitnesses describing chaotic scenes. James Bradley, father of Morgan, said the loss of his son had left his family devastated and heartbroken. The teenager's mother, Maria Barnard, is 17 weeks pregnant. "I'm not sure how we'll get through, hour by hour, day by day. "Maria, me, the family, we're devastated, broken," said Mr Bradley. Speaking outside the family home at Springdale, in Dungannon, yesterday, Mr Bradley also revealed how Morgan's mother was struggling to come to terms with the death of her son. "She has chosen not to believe it at the moment. "The first we knew something was wrong was when we got a phone call from his cousin saying there had been a terrible accident at the Greenvale Hotel. "We made our way to the hospital and we knew by the reaction of the police there was someone dead in there. We knew there was something terribly wrong. "I can't really say anything more right now. Everyone knows we've lost a son and there are no more words we can find right now." Up to 400 people were present as the tragedy unfolded, and detectives said it was fortunate more people were not killed. Police confirmed some young people were trampled underfoot as they waited to enter the disco. The PSNI said last night that detectives investigating the deaths of the three teenagers arrested two men on suspicion of manslaughter. Yesterday, tearful well-wishers embraced tightly after laying flowers at a shrine to the dead beside a police cordon. Books of condolence across the county filled with page upon page of tributes for the three students. "This is an event that should have been a celebration and it has turned into every parent's worst nightmare," PSNI Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray said. He said that officers had already spoken to more than 160 witnesses but they believe as many as 400 could have been at the event. Youngsters will not face police action for being under-age if they come forward, prosecutors pledged, in a bid to encourage people to tell their stories to officers. Chief Supt Murray praised those in the crowd who worked hard to get party-goers who had fallen down back on their feet when others were tumbling on top of them. Gardai simulate a petrol bomb attack pictured during a training excercise for the Garda Public Order Unit at Gormanstown Military Camp this afternoon Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Gardai tackled a man armed with a hatchet and faced petrol bomb 'attacks' - all in the name of public order policing training exercises. Gardai have been undergoing weeks of training to qualify in public order policing to cope with withstanding missiles, petrol bombs and physical attacks. Exercises involve resistance to garda units from peaceful protesters, and controlled and staged violence which includes withstanding missiles, petrol bombs and physical attacks. Officers must also go through a number of intense fitness tests wearing full protective and fire retardant uniforms, and human rights training, to qualify for the unit. Pressed on whether Brexit has led to concerns over public order, gardai said such training takes place every year and they have "no big announcement" on the issue. Gardai highlighted increasing cases of violent, deranged persons (VDP), who may have mental health or drug problems and take hostages in a home or lash out against themselves. Expand Close 20/03/'19 Gardai tackle a man armed with a hatchet pictured (Gardai wearing bibs are simulated hostiles) during a training excercise for the Garda Public Order Unit at Gormanstown Military Camp this afternoon Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 20/03/'19 Gardai tackle a man armed with a hatchet pictured (Gardai wearing bibs are simulated hostiles) during a training excercise for the Garda Public Order Unit at Gormanstown Military Camp this afternoon Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Inspector John Egan said it is often family members who are forced to call in the gardai, and such call-outs are a traumatic experience for both officers and witnesses. He said: "Unfortunately it is more common, a lot of the times it's at home, it's very unnerving for families. "My officers have to be trained, and be able to look after themselves, it might look aggressive at the outset, but if you have a knife or a samurai sword coming at you, you need the training and equipment to deal with that scenario, and for the safety and human rights of that person, they deserve full human rights, that's not them on a normal day and we have to remember that. "A lot of it is down to drug-taking, a lot of different drugs are available at the minute and people are taking prescribed and non-prescribed drugs." During the annual courses, garda members are trained and tested in their competence in public order policing skills. On a day-to-day basis, the unit deals with protest removal and policing of crowds at events like royal visits or St Patrick's Day. Expand Close Gardai tackle a man armed with a hatchet pictured (Gardai wearing bibs are simulated hostiles) during a training excercise for the Garda Public Order Unit at Gormanstown Military Camp this afternoon Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai tackle a man armed with a hatchet pictured (Gardai wearing bibs are simulated hostiles) during a training excercise for the Garda Public Order Unit at Gormanstown Military Camp this afternoon Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin An upcoming visit by US President Donald Trump will see the unit's officers heavily involved. For protests, gardai say the Public Order Unit is only deployed when normal policing has failed. Officers from the unit have travelled to France, the US and a number of other countries, and work with organisations like Interpol to decide on best practice. Gardai have faced criticism in the last year for their handling of certain events, with particular scrutiny of the handling of an eviction in Dublin involving a private security company which saw some protesters hospitalised. Mr Egan added: "That's a matter for the Government, and is before the Government at the moment. "Gardai have a role in the public forum, not in the eviction of people." Lauren Bullock (17), Morgan Barnard (17) and Connor Currie (16) were killed in the tragedy The father of one of the teenagers who died at a St Patrick's night party in Co Tyrone said the loss of his son has left his family devastated and broken. James Bradley's boy Morgan Barnard (17) was one of three to die tragically last Sunday night while queuing for a disco at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown. "I'm not sure how we'll get through, hour by hour, day by day," said Mr Bradley. "(My partner) Maria, me, the family, we're devastated, broken." The funerals of the three young people will all take place this Friday. Lauren will be laid to rest after a funeral at her late residence in Donaghmore at 10.30am followed by Mass in St Patrick's Church in Donaghmore at 11am. Interment afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. A funeral for Morgan will take place at his home in Dungannon followed by Requiem Mass at St Patrick's Church in Dungannon for 10am. He will be buried in Carland Road cemetery. A funeral for Connor will take place at his home in Dungannon followed by Requiem Mass at 2pm st St Malachy's Church in Edendork. He will be buried in the adjoining cemetery. Expand Close Undated handout issued by St. Patrick's Academy Dungannon of Morgan Barnard,17, who died in the crush outside the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, in Northern Ireland during a St Patrick's Day party. St Patrick's Academy Dungannon/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Undated handout issued by St. Patrick's Academy Dungannon of Morgan Barnard,17, who died in the crush outside the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, in Northern Ireland during a St Patrick's Day party. St Patrick's Academy Dungannon/PA Wire Speaking outside the family home at Springdale in Dungannon yesterday, Mr Bradley also revealed Morgan's mother Maria Barnard, who is 17 weeks' pregnant, is struggling to come to terms with her loss. "She has chosen not to believe it at the moment," he said. "The first we knew something was wrong was when we got a phone call from his cousin saying there had been a terrible accident at the Greenvale Hotel. "We made our way to the hospital and we knew by the reaction of the police there was someone dead in there. We knew there was something terribly wrong. Expand Close Connor Currie / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Connor Currie "I can't really say anything more right now. Everyone knows we've lost a son and there are no more words we can find." Morgan's immediate family, including siblings Calvin, Robyn, Regan and Elyssa, are being supported by relatives who also live in the estate. Morgan and another victim, Connor Currie (16), attended St Patrick's Academy in the town. The school said it was a time of "profound sadness". Morgan was an "ambitious, charismatic" young person with an abundance of potential, studying mathematics, digital technology, business studies and his "absolute passion" of Irish. Expand Close Lauren Bullock / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lauren Bullock "He lifted the mood everywhere he went; everyone benefited from Morgan's energetic, positive zest for life. It was contagious," the school said. "His smile was bright and when Morgan was around, fun and laughter always followed." Connor, from Edendork, was a "kind-hearted, loyal friend" who was always willing to help others and was "courteous, mannerly and compassionate", teachers said. "He had a great sense of team spirit and his warm, caring nature endeared him to all and earned him much deserved respect." The third victim, Lauren Bullock (17), was described as a "ray of sunshine, a bright and bubbly cheerleader who lit up the lives of her friends" by close friend Alice Lambert, also 17 and from nearby Coalisland. "I feel gutted for her about it," Alice said. "She was such a nice person; she was like a ray of sunshine. "She made you happy - you saw her on a night out and she would have made you happy." Alice wrote a personal message in the memorial book at the Burnavon Arts and Cultural Centre in Cookstown. "The moment I found out I was completely broken down," she said. "Greenvale was a complete shock to everybody and came out of nowhere and it really hurt me and for one of my friends to be affected by it, it just kills you." She added: "She was really fun, really bright. She was a lovely person, a really nice person, it is really bad that she is gone," she said. Lauren was a pupil at St Patrick's College in Dungannon. Principal Catherine McHugh described her as a "shining light". Cervical cancer screening advocate Laura Brennan has passed away at the age of 26. The young Clare woman was diagnosed with cervical cancer stage 2B at just 24. She was an outspoken advocate in favour of the HPV Vaccine and spoke out recently on the Late Late Show. A statement released from her family read: "Laura was a light in the life of everyone who knew her; a wonderful daughter, sister and friend. We are lost without her." Expand Expand Previous Next Close 9/10/2017 Laura Brennan(25), Hillview, Clarecastle, Co Clare with Bailey. Photograph Liam Burke Press 22 Laura Brennan has been diagnosed with terminal cancer / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 9/10/2017 Laura Brennan(25), Hillview, Clarecastle, Co Clare with Bailey. Photograph Liam Burke Press 22 "We are all incredibly proud of the work she did in the last 18 months to help protect other young women like herself from the cancer that has taken her life today. "Laura used her voice, her generosity and her energy to help parents to make informed choices and protect their daughters from cervical cancer. "She wanted to make a difference, and use the time that she had to right what she felt was a great wrong. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this sad time. Campaigner Vicky Phelan said that had "no words". "I am only now finding out about Laura's death. I have no words, just tears and emptiness at the loss of another young woman who used what was left of her time to campaign so that others would NOT suffer her fate. Please, please vaccinate your children," she wrote on Twitter. Laura previously spoke of the devastating impact of the illness. "This illness is devastating and its going to take my life but the good news is theres a vaccine that you can get that prevents it. HPV caused my cancer. I just wanted parents to know there is an alternative," she said. Since Laura contacted the HSE in 2017, uptake of the HPV vaccine has increased almost 20 percentage points, from 51pc in 2017 to 70pc today. Laura also had a inspirational effect when she appeared on the Late Late Show. Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy said "Laura Brennan was one of those extraordinary people who shine brightly and make friends easily with whoever they meet by sheer force of personality and natural kindness. "She had these traits in abundance. I met her a number of times and walked away utterly taken aback by her verve and commitment to help people throughout her campaigning. "The world will be quieter and sadder without her. My thoughts are with her family for whom a bright light was cruelly prevented from shining but her legacy will not be forgotten." Claire Byrne tweeted: "Laura Brennans bravery and dignity in the face of her devastating illness was inspiring. When she appeared on our programme, she was so mindful of the impact of her campaign on her family and I think that was the remarkable thing about her, she always thought of others before herself. My thoughts are with her family, Lauras death is such a sad loss but I hope they take comfort in her huge achievements and the impact she had on people all over the country and beyond." Laura said last year that she believed many women were afraid in the wake of the CervicalCheck controversy, and doesn't want to see anyone risking their future by not going for tests. She began working alongside the HSEs HPV Vaccine campaign, launching an online video campaign. In the video, published just last week, Laura said: "I wish the vaccine had been available to me, of course I do. Don't get swayed by rumours about the vaccine's safety - get the vaccine." She was honoured at many events over the last year, receiving the inaugural Patient Advocate Medal from the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and most recently being named Clare Person of the Year. She was conferred with an honorary doctorate by UCD in acknowledgment of her advocacy work. The World Health Organisation (WHO) invited Laura to extend her advocacy of the vaccine across Europe, and she has visited the WHOs European headquarters in Copenhagen to discuss her advocacy of the vaccine. Minister for Health Simon Harris paid tribute to Laura Brennan saying he was "deeply saddened to learn of Laura's passing." "Laura was an incredible young woman and a powerful campaigner. Despite her illness, she continued her advocacy and thanks in no small part to her sheer determination, the uptake of the HPV vaccine has increased among young women. The State owes her a debt of gratitude." He said: "As a person, she was kind, funny and full of life. Her enthusiasm was infectious. Every time I met Laura or spoke with her, I was inspired by her. Amazing doesnt do justice to her or her courage. I want to extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends." Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society, Averil Power said she wished to extend deepest sympathies to the Brennan family on behalf of the organisation. "In the past year Laura showed tremendous strength and bravery in talking about her cervical cancer. Her selfless honesty inspired us all. Through her steadfast determination she influenced parents to make an informed decision to give their daughters the HPV vaccine and protect them against an illness which was to take her life," she said. "Lauras legacy is already clear. In many homes across the country, parents will have her to thank for saving their daughters lives. "Through vaccination and the best possible screening programme for women, Ireland can potentially eliminate cervical cancer within a generation. In memory of Laura and her tireless work, we must work towards this goal with more determination than ever." Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that "Laura was incredibly generous with her time, even when she knew it was limited". "Cervical cancer took Lauras life but her powerful advocacy will save many lives. Her bravery was matched by her determination to prevent others from getting this terrible disease. "Our thoughts and sympathies go to Laura's family and friends." President Higgins said that he was "greatly saddened". "Laura impressed so very many with her campaigning and her work as a patient advocate has had a real and positive effect on countless young women across the country," he said. "On behalf of the people of Ireland, I send my condolences to her family and friends, and to all those who have shared Ms. Brennans journey." Anne OConnor, Interim HSE Director General, also expressed her sincere condolences to the family and friends of Laura Brennan. "Laura has contributed enormous time and energy campaigning to support HPV vaccination and preventing cervical cancer since March 2018," she said. Speaking on behalf of the HSEs Leadership Team and all HSE staff, she said: "We are all deeply saddened to learn of Lauras death, and we feel immense gratitude and admiration for her and her family. Laura has defined courage and generosity as she supported our work to ensure girls get the HPV vaccine, and are protected from this terrible cancer." "Laura came forward when she was first diagnosed with terminal cancer and our mission became hers. We know that Laura has made a difference, and will have saved lives through her great effort and her tremendous generosity of spirit." Paul Connors, HSE National Director of Communications, said: "Laura, her parents and brothers have given everyone in Ireland a remarkable gift. At a moment when her time was most precious, she chose to stand in the public eye and tell her story, in order to help others. "She has reached many thousands of families, through her remarkable videos as part of our advertising campaign, by telling her story in the media on television, radio, print and online, and by speaking at events all over the country. "Lauras message has also spread outside Ireland; she was invited by the World Health Organisation to Copenhagen, to prepare for an EU-wide campaign that was launched recently, and she also addressed a cervical cancer event in Boston in 2018. "Lauras personal story, her leadership and her warm and vivacious personality provided many parents in Ireland with the understanding they needed to protect their daughters with the HPV vaccine. Uptake rates have risen dramatically, and we know they will increase further, saving many lives, thanks to Laura, and Lauras family." Living by the sea can have a positive impact on an older person's health and reduce the risk of depression Why is it that some older people seem to defy their age while others succumb to frailty and age-related cognitive impairment? Why is it that some older people need a daily pharmacopoeia of medication while others get by with a multivitamin and the occasional aspirin? These are some of the questions researchers at The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda) have answered and, before you ask, it's not just a matter of having good genes. Founded in 2006, Tilda is a large scale longitudinal study of ageing led by Trinity College Dublin. Over 8,500 Irish people aged 50 and older were selected randomly and they have been interviewed and examined regarding many aspects of their lives across four 'waves' so far. Tilda researchers have gleaned considerable data and now, in partnership with the GAA, they'll be sharing what they consider to be the secrets of successful ageing through a series of public seminars. For principal investigator Professor Rose Anne Kenny these seminars present an opportunity to "take new knowledge out to the Irish people" and open up an important conversation. It's an opportunity to debunk some myths - and when it comes to the ageing process, myths abound. One of the most persistent myths about ageing is the idea that quality of life dwindles after the age of 50. On the contrary, researchers at Tilda found that quality of life continues to improve after the age of 50 until age 68. It then starts to gradually decline, reaching the value observed among 50-year-olds at age 80. "In other words, you can have the same quality of life you had at 50 at the age of 80," explains Kenny. Another well-worn myth is that ageing starts when we are 50, 60, 70 or 80. Actually, it starts decades earlier. Research shows that adverse events in childhood (the death of a parent, physical and sexual abuse, alcoholism in the home) trigger an inflammatory process which is implicated in age-related diseases such as heart disease, dementia and arthritis. Tilda's vision is to make Ireland "the best place in the world to grow old", but one of the biggest challenges, says Kenny, is widespread ageism. "It's prevalent and it cuts across the life course. Everybody I speak to about this has their own story about being discriminated against in the workplace, in the family or in society because of their age. "And this is important because it influences the way an individual ages." Professor Kenny will be discussing this topic through public seminars. For now, here are five key findings from Tilda's four waves of research: 1. Attitude is everything The old adage about only being as old as you feel bears some truth. Researchers at Tilda found that older adults with negative attitudes towards ageing had slower walking speed and worse cognitive abilities two years later, compared to older adults with more positive attitudes towards ageing. Says Kenny: "If you are a certain chronological age, but you perceive yourself to be younger than that number, then you are younger - physically and mentally. You live longer by seven years if you have a positive attitude to ageing. Looking at it that way, it's more important than treating blood pressure and cholesterol." 2. Get to know your neighbours Community spirit is a major contributor to positive ageing, according to Tilda's research. Adults who reported high neighbourhood 'social cohesion' - how "neighbourly" people feel - tended to rate their health as better than those with low neighbourhood social cohesion. Geography plays a part too, with 54.3pc of participants living in rural areas reporting high social cohesion compared to 18.6pc of participants living in Dublin city or county. There is also evidence to suggest that living close to 'blue space' can have a positive impact on health. ESRI research which linked data from Tilda with data from the Ordnance Survey Ireland, found that older people whose homes had extensive sea views had a significantly lower risk of depression. 3. Volunteer your time There are high rates of volunteering among older adults in Ireland, with 56pc giving up their time at least once in the last year, and almost one-in-five doing so on a weekly basis. Taking part in these activities is associated with better quality of life and fewer depressive symptoms. "Having a sense of purpose is really important after retirement. If doesn't matter how you do it, so long as you have a reason to get up in the morning," says Kenny. 4. Aerobic exercise with resistance training Researchers at Tilda discovered that a large proportion of older people in Ireland are physically inactive (45pc on average do not get 150 minutes per week of activity). Meanwhile, after the age of 50, muscle mass is lost at rates of up to two per cent per year. Tilda's research also found that three in five people aged 75-plus and one in two people aged 80-plus are classified as "robust or pre-frail". In other words, frailty isn't inevitable; it's preventable. "Sarcopenia [muscle loss with ageing] is the background cause of frailty," explains Kenny. "So if you can prevent sarcopenia, you can prevent people from becoming frail. "Resistance exercise [any exercise where you lift or pull against resistance, whether it's body weight or a barbell], coupled with at least an adequate protein intake, will work for preventing sarcopenia," she adds. "This doesn't mean aerobic exercises aren't good. They're important for cardiovascular function and brain function. If you're going to think seriously about exercise - and everyone should after the age of 40 - it has to be mixed." 5. Increase your social network Increased social integration is associated with higher quality of life in older people. However, when it comes to social networks, quality is more important than quantity, with those reporting "positive supportive" relationships with friends also reporting higher quality of life relative to those with "less supportive" relationships. There is also evidence to suggest that social connections with younger people can have a positive impact. Half of Irish adults aged 54 to 74 years provide regular childcare for their grandchildren and this is significantly associated with better mood and quality of life. "There's an emerging wealth of research showing the benefits of not segregating older people and younger people," says Kenny. "And the benefits are bidirectional. As a society, we need to take this on board in the way we structure living environments, housing environments, etc. For example, new apartment blocks could include a nursery and residential accommodation so that you have a whole life-course transition in one area. That's very popular in other countries, but we haven't embraced it here yet." The 'How to Age Well: Evidence from Tilda' seminar series, brought to you by the GAA, Tilda and Irish Life, is in Limerick on March 20, 7pm-9pm at the Woodlands House Hotel and Donegal on March 22, 2pm-4pm at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology. Cork and Mayo dates TBC. For more details on the seminars, see gaa.ie/community. Theres definitely an implicit bias in the system, she told me. There are shows that have a revolving door diversity slot they hire a new diverse writer from one of the diversity programs every year, immediately let them go as soon as they are no longer free, and repeat. Instead of actually investing in the diverse writers they hire, these shows cycle diverse writers, usually POC, in and out, with no intention of actually promoting them, slowing down the advancement of their careers. Its a disgusting abuse of a system that was put in place to promote diversity, and it needs to stop. It is a vivid case of back to the future for Lars-Erik Aaroy. While we grapple with the multifaceted advent of electrification, he has seen it all before - well nearly all. Where? In Norway. He was Toyota market boss for six years as the oil-revenue rich country set a searing pace towards electrification. Now with Toyota Ireland, he is struck by the similarity of trends, population and market forces between the two countries. In an interview with 'Motors', Lars-Erik (56) admits he is "a little bit Irish" too as he's married to Brenda from Belfast. He is now two years into his role as commercial director with Toyota Ireland. Expand Close Lars-Erik Aaroy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lars-Erik Aaroy He is at pains to point out how we can learn and profit from Norway's experience. It is not going to be easy. It will take time and, judging by his research figures, a massive amount of investment is still badly needed to make this an EV country. With so much yet to be done, he is not unduly worrying about a threat to soaring hybrid purchases (now the bulk of Toyota sales). "I don't lose any sleep over them. Maybe in a few years but not now." He says this without any hint of arrogance. Rather he is trying to convey how the time for Toyota is not here yet when EVs are their major sellers. But that time will come and when it does, when the infrastructure is properly in place and when there is a much wider choice of EVs, he says his company will be ready. His words echo what senior Toyota executives from Japan and Europe have told me in response to questions about why Toyota, as a major player, appears to be way off the pace on electrification. For now hybrid is king for them. Lars-Erik has worked right across Europe in different capacities in a variety of countries and companies. He's had a "very good schooling". While so much of the talk is about EVs, he reckons nigh on eight-in-10 of their sales on the Irish market right now are hybrids (76.1pc so far in 2019 despite some supply issues). He sees nearly 100pc Toyota hybrid sales being a realistic outcome in the near future. "My old colleagues in Norway are selling 95pc," he says. Despite that high market penetration, he keeps tabs on EV developments but reiterates the business case Toyota has adopted: the time is not right for a major EV push now. Especially not with hybrids in such demand. "EVs are now more usable but there are so many decisions needed to make them attractive for many users. It will happen over time but the infrastructure is not ready. Without incentives it doesn't work," he adds. As an indication of the task facing us he quotes a couple of Norwegian statistics. "There are 200,000 EVs in Norway. There are 12,000 charging points. But still there are queues. There are not nearly enough for 200,000 EVs." If that is not a wake-up call about the scope of investment needed then nothing is. Last time he checked, Norway had 2,800 fast chargers. We have 70 or so. (A new study by Verve Search shows there's one electric car to every 1,788 Irish person, while there's one-to-30 in Norway. There's one charging point every 100km on Irish roads, compared with 23km in the Netherlands.) Back to Lars-Erik: in Norway, VRT is based on three elements: weight of car, C02 and NOx emissions, as opposed to here where it's CO2-based. But there are positives for Ireland: our 10,000 EV incentive, 0pc BIK, 7,500 aid with plug-ins, 1,500 for 'self-charging' hybrids are all helping the exodus from fossil fuels. However, current measures do not go far enough if the Norwegian experience counts for anything. Lars-Erik has some interesting headline numbers. He prefaces them by saying: "This is what it takes to get there." Norway has zero VAT or VRT on electric cars; there is an 84pc road tax discount, 40pc BIK discount (it's a price-capped 100pc in Ireland), mostly free tolls, ferries, parking, battery charging and access to bus lanes. He reckons the total subsidy on an EV compared with a RAV4 hybrid over five years, including road tax, tolls etc (but not BIK, parking or charging) comes to a substantial 28,050. That's nearly 6,000 a year. See what he means about how far we need to travel? Another important perspective: He links concern over, and monitoring of, air quality as a core driver of the push to zero emissions in Norway. We're not that excited about it here. Yet. But they are. So much so, he can pinpoint a defining moment in the huge swing from diesel. It was the morning Oslo banned many commuting diesel cars from entering the city because air quality was so poor. That made people think: "I can't get to work in a diesel." Imagine driving towards Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford centres and being told your diesel will not be allowed. Along with Norway's incentives is it any wonder EVs went from 1pc of the market in 2011 to 31pc in 2018? Or why diesel went from 80pc to 18pc over the same period. Hybrids, meantime, shot from 2pc to 11pc with PHEVs from 0pc to 18pc. Lars-Erik is also adamant there will still be "great space" for Toyota and hybrids even when EVs start arriving in far greater numbers. Among his reasons are: *Electric range is not for everyone in a rural country. *CO2-driven taxation helps hybrids. *Increased issues with local air quality. *Hybrid is the only workable alternative for many (taxis). *Running costs are competitive. But, he emphasises: "When Europe, outside Norway, is ready to take EVs in volume, Toyota will be ready to deliver." In the meantime he is getting on with selling more and more hybrids while the rest of us should probably pause and ponder what he is telling us about the road ahead. Theresa May's Brexit shambles has now become so bad she can't even put her deal to a vote - never mind win one. It was apt that around the world at the weekend, as Mrs May desperately attempted to stitch her dead deal back together, St Patrick's Day was celebrated. There are those who write off the annual exodus of Irish ministers, as they go abroad to join parades, as mere junketeering. But the extent of the celebrations, in every corner of the world, shows how far Irish influence has seeped. All that handshaking and plamasing clearly works. For a small country, Ireland has friends in high places - and they don't like to see us get kicked around. Most recently, this support was manifest in the statements of US congressmen who vowed to derail any trade deal between the UK and US if it came at the cost of a hard Border. If the prime minister wants to do a deal with the United States, it will not come at the price of peace and security on this island. Mrs May just can't escape the Irish. There is a reminder everywhere she turns. So it must have been galling to see London festooned in tricolours and shamrocks over the weekend - a visceral reminder that it is the Irish issue that has foiled her. Mrs May, and her cabinet, refused to treat the problem of the Irish Border with the level of attention it deserved, assuming the Paddies would just eventually get into line, and now she is reaping the reward for that error. Ireland, and the EU, stood firm against the ignorance being spewed by those who insisted unnamed technological solutions could answer the question of the Border. Irish diplomats have brilliantly communicated the necessity of the backstop to other EU leaders, meaning there has been no deviation from the joint EU position. Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Europe Minister Helen McEntee have taken part in numerous media interviews in the UK in order to advance the Irish argument, enduring much ignorant commentary in the process. Mrs May, for her part, declined to explain the requirement of the backstop to her own party members and now, as a result, can't get her deal over the line. Her lack of foresight, in failing to realise she would not only have to get a deal but then sell it to the House of Commons afterwards, is extraordinary. There had been a danger that Brexit would reduce Ireland to roadkill, as the UK bulldozed its way out of the EU. That danger has now receded. Ireland, instead, has been bolstered by this process - as other countries have come to our defence and never wavered in their support. For the UK, its dreams of Brexit glory have been an unmitigated disaster. In fact, the prospect of Brexit occurring, a little over a week from its March 29 deadline, looks as remote as ever. The British infamously voted for Brexit to take back control, but they are now in dire need of a designated driver. In more than two years, Mrs May and her government have failed not only to deliver Brexit, but even to define it. There is still not an agreed consensus on what Brexit means and no attempt, thus far, to find one. Mrs May thought she could beat the House of Commons into submission by holding repeated votes on her deal until it eventually passed. But, thanks to Speaker John Bercow, that plan is now as dead as her deal. Mr Bercow caused a sensation on Monday when he ruled out the possibility of endless votes in parliament on the same deal, thereby scuttling Mrs May's masterplan. Yesterday, at her cabinet meeting, the prime minister refused to even express an opinion on whether she would advocate a long extension or crash-out next week - because her position is too weak to advance either cause. Remarkably, Mrs May has managed to irritate and alienate almost everyone. Neither Brexiteers nor Remainers in her government are happy with her, but no one else wants the poisoned chalice of leadership. So she limps on, with no real power or authority. EU negotiators have said the UK has to outline a credible way out of this morass before an extension beyond March 29 can be granted. But, given the ongoing political crisis, that is expecting too much. No one in the UK, clearly, has the first clue about what they are doing, what they want or how to get it. They preferred to resort to empty sloganeering, like Brexit means Brexit, rather than engage in fine detail, and are now hopelessly deadlocked as a result. The nosedive into which British democracy has sunk may yet be terminal. The government has no plan and has now lost all control, but the opposition is similarly stymied. There are no answers to the Brexit mess among the Labour benches. Meanwhile, this once great nation has been reduced to a laughing stock on the world stage as it becomes increasingly clear they couldn't negotiate their way out of a paper bag. Even the French are now openly mocking Britain's very public meltdown, with their Europe Minister, Nathalie Loiseau, announcing she had named her annoying cat Brexit. "He wakes me up every morning, meowing to death because he wants to go out. Then when I open the door he stays put, undecided, and glares at me when I put him out," she explained. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel could only sigh and witheringly say yesterday that she "wasn't aware of the rules of procedure of the British parliament from the 17th century" - which have been employed by Mr Bercow to prevent Mrs May having yet another meaningful vote. EU negotiators may want a signal of intent from the British before they extend the negotiating period, but the harsh reality is that time is rapidly running out and no one can agree a way forward. Any lengthy extension will require the UK to hold EU elections in May and the deadline for having those candidates in place is April 11 - a few short weeks away. There will be recrimination over the coming week as exasperated EU negotiators berate the British for failing to have any credible plan B, but they will ultimately grant an extension. When the alternative is the carnage of a no-deal exit, which would damage the economies of a large number of European countries, including our own, then some stalemate will be cooked up at the last minute. But decision time is fast approaching. The UK either wants in or it wants out. More importantly, it needs to elect a government that has a mandate to deliver a plan and the votes to see it passed. If Theresa May wants to do one last act of service for her country, she should resign and use the resulting election as an excuse to extend the Article 50 deadline. Otherwise, there will just be continued chaos. You will not replace us, Jews will not replace us. This was the somewhat confusing chant from Charlottesville that echoed in news reports from the far-right march in August 2017. We have now seen its most recent manifestation in the Christchurch mosque massacre. The murderous potential of such replacement conspiracy theories is as clear as the only viable response: true internationalism. In 2012, before the so-called alt right had begun to draw together white nationalists across the world, Richard Spencer fashioned himself an academic. He had taken over the National Policy Institute and formed the Radix Journal, the first (and only) print issue of which he titled The Great Erasure. A well-worn refrain, Spencers trope drew on ultranationalist themes of a great replacement that have inspired mass shootings in the years since, including the latest in New Zealand. This was the myth of how a once great people was vanished from the earth first went honour, then their legitimacy, and finally their persons. Radix couched its hate in rhetoric plucked from Germany philosophy and critical theory, and gleaned from right-wing polemicist Renaud Camuss assertion that immigration was diluting white populations, also known as the great replacement. By branding his alleged manifesto with that phrase, the alleged Christchurch shooter lent his 79 pages a resonance for those seduced by that narrative. The alleged shooter's screed reflects the way that white nationalists re-imagine themselves: the real holders of diversity, standing tall against a globalist force that wishes to wash away identity and distinction. Such delusions of grandeur conjured up by cowards who glorify the slaughter of women and children expose the self-evident emptiness of their claims. Their hatred of Muslims comes not from some ambiguous European culture (influenced as it has been by continuous contributions from the Muslim world) but from the need for a scapegoat that arises when lazy people seek to claim responsibility for hundreds of years of historical advances they had no hand in, simply by dint of their skin colour. The mosque and its worshippers, equal parts foreign peoples and foreign religion, are seen by the alleged shooter as invaders, washing away a country's identity rather than contributing to it. Following on from lone-wolves of the decades before him, the suspected shooter takes the deterioration of the public white nationalist movement as tantamount to the decline of Western civilisation and chooses to stand against time and take direct action. Such a horrifying outcome is, in many ways, the ultimate and absurd outcome of an ideology that draws on and creates hate and alienation. The source of this desperation comes from within not just the white nationalist movement but white communities themselves. We believe that a form of cultural panic has set in among some white communities, preserved through white flight and gentrification and fear of an encroaching minority status. The most extreme version of this panic finds a voice in the white genocide myth the idea that, starting in South Africa, whites are being forced out of existence, either through acts of violence or through demographic replacement. It is true that, in the US, census projections based on current trends have whites ceasing to be an absolute majority of the population by 2045. In Britain, Muhammed has become one of the most common baby names, comparable to staples like John or Oliver. But for the alleged shooter, the world isnt just changing, his people are losing. Instead of opening up to the conditions and possibilities of the modern world, the alleged shooter and others who espouse his vicious and deadly ideology seek to retrench their own invented identity. And there is no paucity of people willing to espouse those views. For Donald Trump, the Alternative for Deutschland, the Austrian Freedom Party, or the Front National, immigrants are portrayed as an invading horde. By connecting latent racism and Islamophobia to resentment over austerity, the far right has parlayed the influx of refugees from the war in Syria and other Middle Eastern conflicts into huge gains. The white nationalist and nativist movements scorching the West right now have fostered a desperate situation in the minds of their followers who see violence as the only logical conclusion not just because they have lost the capacity to reason but because they loathe reason on principle. To oppose this movement of fear and shame, we must build an internationalist movement of liberation with equality at its heart. The only response to the hallucinatory realm of white rage is a return to reality. Expand Close Members of New Zealands Muslim community and officials watch as graves are prepared at a Muslim cemetery (Mark Baker/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Members of New Zealands Muslim community and officials watch as graves are prepared at a Muslim cemetery (Mark Baker/AP) We must work hard to break through the isolation that leads people to believe that disharmony and ethnic violence will actually bring about a better world. Through the hard work of community organising in rural and remote areas, where opinions on world events are often shaped more by demagogic news spin than personal experience, we can locate real needs, improve on community connectivity, and promote freedom and equality against alienation and ignorance. This means meeting people where they are, while also facilitating community conversations about racism, sexism, and Islamophobia that expose and repudiate the distortions of the far right. At no time in recent history has it been clearer that the menace of fascism and its accompanying conspiracy theories must be opposed publically and in every forum. We can brook no compromise with the ideology of hard borders and accompanying myths of white genocide and the great replacement. The attack at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques is terrifying not just because it is the high water mark of the shocking string of racist attacks that have become our new normal, but because it only represents the current limit. The climate of white anxiety has reached a fever pitch, and as this rhetoric escalates (and the organised white nationalist movement declines) we can expect to see more lone-wolves; more horror; more fear. It has never been more important that internationalism prevails, and whether it does or not is entirely up to us, how veracious we decide to be in confronting a white nationalist movement and whether or not we choose to be one community in defence of one another. I still can't stop thinking about it. That extraordinary moment on Monday, when Conservative MP James Cleverly protested to John Bercow about his decision to block a third vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal. The speaker, complained Mr Cleverly, should have made this announcement before the second vote was held. Because, he whimpered, if MPs had known that it was the last time the deal would come before them, they might have voted for it. Poor MPs. You've got to feel for them. After all, how were they supposed to know that the meaningful vote would be meaningful? Yesterday was a strange one. Nobody in Westminster seemed to have quite recovered from Mr Bercow's bombshell. Parliament was dazed, jittery, and eerily quiet. In the Commons, Brexit was barely mentioned. Remarkably, no one from any party tabled an urgent question about it. Not even 'Look, what in the name of all that's holy is going on here?', or 'Does the government actually realise that we're now only 10, that's 10, days away from leaving without a deal by accident?' Theresa May held a meeting of her cabinet to discuss asking the EU to delay Brexit. Yet, according to one attendee, she didn't actually specify how long a delay she would request, or what reason she would give for requesting it. Perhaps she doesn't know. "Dear Brussels, please may I have a nine-month extension to decide how long an extension I want and why I want it?" In Brussels, Michel Barnier - the EU's chief negotiator - held a brief press conference. He exuded an air of quiet long-suffering, like a father preparing for the umpteenth time, and with little hope of success, to tell his feckless teenage son to make a start on the homework that was meant to have been handed in a week ago. If Mrs May wanted an extension, he explained patiently, she had to say what it would be for. It had to have a concrete purpose. "An extension needs to be linked to something new," he sighed. "There needs to be a new event..." He didn't reveal what sort of event he had in mind, so we can only speculate. A referendum, perhaps? One with Remain on the ballot paper? Or even one with only Remain on the ballot paper? (Well, Mrs May does keep saying she wants to end the uncertainty.) Ultimately, it will be the leaders of the 27 EU states, not Monsieur Barnier, who will decide whether or not to grant Mrs May an extension. But if they're as weary of the whole business as he seems to be, her prospects don't look good. "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario," said Mr Barnier - before pointedly adding: "On the EU side, we are prepared." Imagine if they turn her down. The Brexit process began with the UK deciding to leave. It could end with Brussels refusing to let it stay. How much does the European Union actually care about keeping the UK inside the Union? I ask this because, after House of Commons Speaker John Bercow's historic ruling on Monday, the UK's destiny now lies in the hands of 27 "foreign" governments, the UK's partners in the EU. Assuming - and as things stand, it is reasonable to do so - that Theresa May fails again to win support in the Commons for her "deal", then things move, once again, into Brussels' court. Mr Bercow has, in effect, hit the reset button. The European Council then has a choice. It can offer the UK a short extension to the Article 50 process to sort out the details of a Brexit deal that hasn't actually been agreed - with little chance Mrs May will be able to put it to the Commons anyway. Or it can offer Mrs May a far longer delay - 21 months, say - in which, basically, to start again. Of course, some Brexiteers will find that unpalatable; yet others will reflect that they will live to fight for Brexit another day. They know that the existing blindfold Brexit deal keeps the United Kingdom in the customs union anyway, and fails to solve the "trap" of the Irish backstop, with the terms of the future deal completely unknown. Whatever your point of view, it would be much easier for all concerned to know those. Some Brexiteers might prefer to have them negotiated by a new British prime minister. Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson may have an interest in this approach - the Ctrl-Alt-Delete option, where we just reboot the process but get things the right way around this time. Today we face the absurdity of a hard Brexit in about a week's time. The EU and the Commons agree on one thing - they do not wish this to happen. So, one way or another, it will not. If hard Brexiteers are rational, they will opt for a delay - however long it takes to get it right (on their terms, that is). The one novel option that is now emerging from the fog of Brexit war is the grand compromise of a second referendum coupled with conditional approval of the May deal. This is the so-called Kyle-Wilson amendment which has won the, albeit confused, support of Jeremy Corbyn (who wants to vote Leave in the subsequent referendum, but on Labour terms which do not, of course, exist). It is "substantially different" from previous meaningful votes because it has a national referendum attached to it - a big move by anyone's standards. Anyway, the politicians can leave some of the trickier questions about campaigning and the ballot paper to the Electoral Commission, and just get on with choosing between the only deal that actually exists in real, non-mythical form, and staying in. If they want they can put "hard Brexit" on the ballot paper as well, as a theoretical possibility - maybe with preferential voting. This would end the Farageists' charge of "Brexit betrayal". As a democrat, I'd be content to see it on the forms, and to live with it if the country actually wanted it. Besides, Mrs May might even win. The truth is that this option could be placed before the Commons this week under Mr Bercow's ruling and win a majority - and a huge one if Mrs May, reluctantly, admitted she needs to take her case to the country. She could then go to the European Council and ask for a delay long enough to hold a democratic vote - something they have indicated they would grant. Ideally, she would also ask for them to turn her woolly "political declaration" into a proper UK-EU Trade and Security Treaty. This way the UK would be voting with all eyes open on a complete deal and not a leap in the dark - blindfold Brexit. Thus, the UK would come round, as it always does, to the need to break the deadlock in the most efficient and democratic way possible - a Final Say referendum, sooner or later. The UK has a right to vote on its future, and has had it as a constitutional fact once the 2016 referendum transferred sovereignty to the British people. The House of Commons effectively then put itself out of business as a "sovereign" body, and has once again shown itself unable to summon up the energy and ingenuity to regain its historic role. The UK's future should not be in the shaky hands of the MPs or of EU heads of government. It is time to let us lot - the poor old voters - sort Brexit out, once and for all. ( Independent News Service) People return to Praia Nova Village, one of the most affected neighbourhoods following a cyclone in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. Families are returning to the vulnerable shanty town following cyclone high winds and rain. More than 1,000 people are feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the southern African country. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) People return to their homes following a cyclone, and heavy rain in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. More than 1,000 people are feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the southern African country destroying vulnerable residential areas. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by the International Red Cross, a woman hangs a cloth to dry in a sea of rubble after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi says that more than 1,000 may have by killed by Cyclone Idai, which many say is the worst in more than 20 years. Speaking to state Radio Mozambique, Nyusi said Monday, March 18 that although the official death count is currently 84, he believes the toll will be more than 1,000. (Denis Onyodi/IFRC via AP) A woman makes her way to a school building being used as an emergency shelter for some 300 local people who are unable to return to their homes following cyclone force winds and heavy rain in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by the International Red Cross, people carry their personal effects after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. (Denis Onyodi/IFRC via AP) In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by the International Red Cross, a man searches through the rubble after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique.(Denis Onyodi/IFRC via AP) A man carries loaves of bread across a collapsed bridge in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Livestock is seen at a washed away bridge along Umvumvu river following Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo A man looks at a washed away bridge along Umvumvu river following Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo Police keep a close watch as a loader clears the road in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A general view shows destruction after Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambique, March 16-17, 2019 in this still image taken from a social media video on March 19, 2019. Care International/Josh Estey via REUTERS Children stand near a makeshift shelter after a cyclone went through the area in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Soldiers carry injured survivors from a helicopter in Chimanimani about 600 kilometres south east of Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, March, 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) A man looks at a washed away bridge along Umvumvu river following Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY An elderly woman stands next to a collapsed bridge in Chimanimani, about 600 kilometers southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) In pictures: Over 200 dead in Mozambique after Cyclone Idai, millions hit Close The number of people killed in a powerful cyclone and flooding in Mozambique has risen above 200, more than doubling the country's death toll from a storm that could rank as one of the worst weather-related disasters in the southern hemisphere. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised statement following a cabinet meeting on the disaster on Tuesday that the death toll after Cylone Idai now stood at more than 200, up from 84. Winds of up to 170 kph (105 mph) and flooding swept across southeastern Africa, including Zimbabwe and Mozambique, affecting more than 2.6 million people, United Nations officials said on Tuesday. Rescue crews were still struggling to reach victims five days later, while aid groups said many survivors were trapped in remote areas, surrounded by wrecked roads, flattened buildings and submerged villages. The Red Cross said at least 400,000 people had been made homeless in central Mozambique alone. "This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's history," said Jamie LeSueur, who is leading rescue efforts in Beira for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The organisation said large areas to the west of the port city of Beira were severely flooded, and in places close to the Buzi and Pungwe rivers flood waters are metres deep, completely submerging homes, telephone poles and trees. LeSueur had said earlier on Tuesday, when the death toll was 84, that the full human impact of the disaster remained unclear, and that the figure was likely to rise. While the official count has increased, it remains well below the 1,000 deaths Nyusi had estimated after flying over some of the worst-hit zones, witnessing submerged villages and bodies floating in the water. Expand Close In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by the International Red Cross, people carry their personal effects after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. (Denis Onyodi/IFRC via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by the International Red Cross, people carry their personal effects after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. (Denis Onyodi/IFRC via AP) The cyclone hit land near Beira on Thursday and moved inland throughout the weekend, leaving heavy rains in its trail on Tuesday. More rural areas remained unaccessible. Studies of satellite images suggested 1.7 million people were in the path of the cyclone in Mozambique and another 920,000 affected in Malawi, said Herve Verhoosel, senior spokesman at the U.N World Food Programme. He gave no figures for Zimbabwe. In Maputo, Mozambique's capital, people worried about missing relatives. Telma fa Gloria, a street vendor, said she had not heard from her mother, who she usually speaks to every day, or her siblings, for days. Her mother's neighbourhood was in one of the worst-hit areas. Expand Close A woman makes her way to a school building being used as an emergency shelter for some 300 local people who are unable to return to their homes following cyclone force winds and heavy rain in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A woman makes her way to a school building being used as an emergency shelter for some 300 local people who are unable to return to their homes following cyclone force winds and heavy rain in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP) "I'm stitched up, with nothing to do," she said, adding she was thinking of going to Beira to find out what had happened. "I don't have the strength to get the news I don't want to hear, and I don't wish anyone to hear." WORST FEARS Heavy rains preceded the cyclone, compounding the problems. "If the worst fears are realised ... then we can say that it is one of the worst weather-related disasters, tropical-cyclone-related disasters in the southern hemisphere," said Clare Nullis of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. Expand Close Children stand near a makeshift shelter after a cyclone went through the area in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Children stand near a makeshift shelter after a cyclone went through the area in Chimanimani, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, March 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Droughts are classed as climate-related not weather-related. In Beira, a low-lying coastal city of 500,000 people, Nullis said the water had nowhere to drain. "This is not going to go away quickly," she said. Mark Ellul, a 31-year-old British doctor from Manchester who was working at the Beira hospital when the storm hit the city on Thursday, was trapped in a hotel room. He said the hospital suffered significant damage. "It was pretty terrifying during the storm, extremely noisy, frightening and you can hear the flying debris outside," Ellul said. "It felt like the windows were going to break, like the storm was going to come into the room." Beira is also home to Mozambique's second largest port, which serves as a gateway to landlocked countries in the region. Expand Close A man looks at a washed away bridge along Umvumvu river following Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A man looks at a washed away bridge along Umvumvu river following Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY The control room of a pipeline that runs from Beira to Zimbabwe and supplies the majority of that country's fuel has been damaged, Zimbabwe's Energy Minister Jorum Gumbo told state-owned Herald newspaper on Tuesday. "We, however, have enough stocks in the country and I am told the repairs at Beira may take a week," he was quoted as saying. AID ON THE WAY The European Union announced on Tuesday an initial emergency aid package of 3.5 million euros ($3.97 million) to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe for logistical support to reach affected people, emergency shelters, hygiene, sanitation and health care. Britain has pledged up to 6 million pounds ($7.96 million) in aid. Citizens in Zimbabwe are mobilising donations, including cash, food and clothes to help thousands of families whose homes were wrecked by the cyclone. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who visited Chimanimani on Tuesday, told reporters that Tanzania and the United Arab Emirates were also sending donations while neighbours, including South Africa, Botswana and Angola, would also help. Stranded: People on a roof surrounded by flooding in an area affected by Cyclone Idai in Beira, Mozambique. Photo: Rick Emenaket / AFP Families clung to trees and rooftops in Mozambique yesterday, trapped by rapidly rising flood water in the wake of what could prove the deadliest cyclone ever to hit southern Africa. With entire villages wholly submerged and one of the country's principal cities all but wrecked, aid workers said they were in a race against time to rescue thousands from an expanding "inland ocean" created by Cyclone Idai. Filipe Nyusi, Mozambique's president, made an emotional appeal for emergency assistance from the international community, saying he had witnessed "bodies floating" in the flood water when he had flown over the worst affected areas. "It's a real humanitarian disaster of large proportions," he said, adding that he had seen several villages wiped out after two rivers had burst their banks. Although the official death toll in Mozambique stands at 84, Mr Nyusi said the final figure could surpass 1,000. More than 100 people are also feared dead in Zimbabwe and Malawi. The United Nations and western aid agencies attempted to coordinate a rescue operation from the airport in Beira, a city of 500,000, where 90pc of houses had either been destroyed or damaged, according to rescuers. But there is even greater concern for rural communities whose fate remains largely unknown. Some 1.7 million people in Mozambique lived in the cyclone's path and aid workers said helicopters were urgently needed to rescue survivors before it was too late. "There's a sense from people on the ground that the world still really hasn't caught on to how severe this disaster is," said Matthew Cochrane of the International Federation of the Red Cross. "The full horror, the full impact is only going to emerge over coming days." Although the fury of the cyclone, which made landfall last Thursday night, has largely dissipated, rivers continue to burst their banks. The flooding of the River Buzi in the past 24 hours has left a 30-mile stretch of land under water and government officials warned that the town of Buzi, where 20,000 people live in mostly single-storey dwellings, was likely to be -entirely submerged. "In many places, no roofs or treetops are even visible above the floods," said Machiel Pouw of Save the Children. "In other areas, people are climbing to rooftops, desperately waiting to be rescued. "It is a race against the clock to save children's lives. This is especially true in Buzi, where we may have less than 24 hours to get people out." The cyclone and flooding are the worst to strike Mozambique since at least 2000, when 700 people were killed and 400,000 made homeless by Cyclone Eline, dealing a devastating blow to the country as it attempted to emerge from years of civil war. Experts say this week's disaster is likely to be the most devastating in recorded history. Even if the waters recede, it will take affected areas years to recover, with hundreds of thousands left homeless and harvests in some of Africa's poorest regions wiped out. There were also concerns about an epidemic of waterborne diseases, while the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was worried about a general health emergency because many medical facilities were under water. "Medical activities in Beira hospital, in local health centres and throughout the community have ceased completely," the group said in a statement. The number of wolverines in the wild is decreasing(Zoological Society of London/PA) A rare addition to UK species has been captured on camera at Whipsnade Zoo following the birth of two wolverines. The pair are the first to be born at the zoo as part of a European-wide breeding programme, with the numbers of wolverines in the wild decreasing. The gender of the kits, currently nicknamed Logan and Hugh, is not yet known. They were born to three-year-old mother Fi and 10-year-old father Puff on February 18. The species, also known as gluttons or skunk bears, is under threat in the wild due to habitat loss and hunting. Fi arrived at Whipsnade last September and keepers soon observed positive signs between her and Puff. But despite the pair playfully chasing each other around their enclosure, it was difficult to predict when any new arrivals could be expected. Expand Close Keepers said mum Fi has been protective over her newborns(Zoological Society of London/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Keepers said mum Fi has been protective over her newborns(Zoological Society of London/PA) Keeper Donovan Glyn said: We were delighted when we discovered that Fi had given birth to twins last month and have been carefully observing mum and her babies. Were one of only three zoos in the UK to look after wolverines and we are so excited to have our first ever wolverine kits born here at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. They have not yet opened their eyes but will do any day now, and weve seen Fi taking meat for the kits to lick and try the beginning of the weaning process. Pressure is building on Facebook and other social media platforms to stop hosting extremist propaganda including terrorist events, after last Friday's deadly attacks on two mosques in New Zealand were live-streamed. Australia's prime minister has urged the G20 to use a meeting in June to discuss a crackdown, while New Zealand media reported the nation's biggest banks have pulled their advertising from Facebook and Google. "We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and what is said is not the responsibility of the place where they are published," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told parliament yesterday. "They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility." Facebook said it had been working directly with New Zealand police and across the technology industry to "help counter hate speech and the threat of terrorism". The lone shooter accused of killing 50 people in the New Zealand city of Christchurch live-streamed the murders, with the video continuing to be widely available on a range of platforms hours after the attack. The suspect, an Australian, uploaded his hate-filled manifesto online shortly before launching his assault. It's the latest example of social media companies struggling to keep offensive content from sites that generate billions of dollars in revenue from advertisers - a problem that's seen Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg grilled by US Congress. The shooting video was viewed fewer than 200 times during its live broadcast, and no users reported the video during that time, Facebook vice-president and deputy general counsel Chris Sonderby said in a blog post. It was reported to the company 29 minutes after the video started and viewed 4,000 times before being removed, he said. The G20 should discuss the issue at its Osaka summit in June, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday in an open letter to this year's host, Japan counterpart Shinzo Abe. The group should work to ensure technology firms implement appropriate filtering and remove terrorist-linked content, and show transparency in meeting those requirements, he said. "It is unacceptable to treat the internet as an ungoverned space," Mr Morrison said. "It is imperative that the global community works together to ensure that technology firms meet their moral obligation to protect the communities which they serve and from which they profit." Ms Ardern's government will look at the role social media played and what steps it can take, including on the international stage. Previously she vowed to seek talks with Facebook, which said it blocked the upload of 1.2 million video clips and removed another 300,000 within 24 hours. Ms Ardern yesterday also vowed never to refer to the Christchurch mosque attacker by his name, as she said he would face "the full force of the law". But Ms Ardern said she wanted to ensure that the killer did not enjoy any publicity as a result of the shooting and that attention should instead focus on his victims. "He sought many things from his act of terror but one was notoriety," she said. "That is why you will never hear me mention his name." She also implored others "to speak the names of those who are lost, rather than the name of the man who took them". Relatives of the victims say they have been overwhelmed by support from New Zealanders, who have flocked to vigils in Christchurch following Friday's attack. Janna Ezat, whose son Hussein died as he charged at Tarrant in an attempt to save lives, said he was wearing white instead of mourning black because he was so proud of him. Meanwhile, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish president, called on New Zealand to reinstate the death penalty in response to the massacre. Mr Erdogan has faced criticism for using footage of the shootings and extracts from Tarrant's manifesto to drum up domestic support among Muslim voters. She said her husband, who does not have autism, embraces her quirks and has told her that he loves that shes tenacious, relentless in pursuing her goals, and always trying to learn and do her best. She works in sales and also acts; shes currently working on the pilot episode of a TV crime drama, Conrad, which she created and stars in. The next step, she said, is to get a network to order episodes and provide additional funding. Donald and Melania Trump with their son Barron (Carolyn Kaster/AP) US President Donald Trumps youngest child Barron has turned 13. Barron, who attends a private school in Maryland, and his mother Melania are keeping to tradition and spending the spring break holiday at their home in Palm Beach, Florida. Happy Birthday BWT pic.twitter.com/uN8hECMk2P Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) March 20, 2019 The Republican president was in Washington, with plans for a trip to Ohio later. There was no word on plans for a birthday celebration for Barron, whose full name is Barron William Trump. But the first lady tweeted a photo of a gold-tone Mylar balloon in the shape of 13 and a caption that said Happy Birthday BWT followed by three hearts. President Barack Obamas daughters Malia and Sasha also turned 13 in the White House. Interiors of "Under", a semi-submerged restaurant beneath the waters of the North Atlantic which will be open to public on March 21, 2019 is pictured in Lindesnes, south west of Oslo, Norway March 19, 2019. Picture taken March 19, 2019. NTB Scanpix/Tor Erik Schroder Europe's first underwater restaurant opens in Norway on Wednesday with more than 7,000 customers booked in to eat among the fish. Situated on the southern tip of Norway, the restaurant looks like a large concrete tube partly submerged in the North Sea. It is called Under, which also means "wonder" in Norwegian. It was designed by Norwegian architecture firm Snoehetta, which also created the Opera house in Oslo and the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York. "The fascination is just this movement from above water to underwater through the building ... The big window exposes the underwater not like an aquarium, it's the real thing," Snoehetta's founder Kjetil Traedal Thorsen told Reuters. Expand Close "Under", a semi-submerged restaurant beneath the waters of the North Atlantic which will be open to public on March 21, 2019 is pictured in Lindesnes, south west of Oslo, Norway March 19, 2019. Picture taken March 19, 2019. NTB Scanpix/Tor Erik Schroder via REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp "Under", a semi-submerged restaurant beneath the waters of the North Atlantic which will be open to public on March 21, 2019 is pictured in Lindesnes, south west of Oslo, Norway March 19, 2019. Picture taken March 19, 2019. NTB Scanpix/Tor Erik Schroder via REUTERS Entering Under initially feels like going into a sauna, as wooden planks cover its upper section, but an eight-metre flight of stairs leads down to a large dining area that sits about 40 guests, walled by a gigantic transparent window to the ocean. Traedal Thorsen said the construction can cope with very harsh weather and is shaped in such a way that it can withstand what he called "the wave of the century". The restaurant is laid out so there are minimal reflections in the glass wall, which fills the room with natural light during the day, filtered by the greenish colour of the water. A full 18-course meal, based on local ingredients and seafood, can cost up to 3,700 crowns ($430) per person including drinks. "The goal is to get 50 percent of the guests who eat there to spend the night in the hotel as well... We expect around 12,000 people eating dinner every year," said Gaute Ubostad, one of two brothers who own the restaurant and a nearby hotel. Under opens on Wednesday for friends and family of the owners and the first paying guests will be able to visit from early April. There are only a handful of underwater restaurants around the world, mainly found in tropical waters like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. International aid has started trickling into the east African countries of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to ease the humanitarian crisis created by floodwaters from Cyclone Idai. Relief efforts that were initially stifled by airport closures slowly gained pace, and foreign governments began pledging aid to help the region recover from the worst flooding in decades. Everyone is doubling, tripling, quadrupling whatever they were planning, said Caroline Haga of the Red Cross in Beira, Mozambique, referring to supplies and aid workers. Its much larger than anyone could ever anticipate. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambiques recent history. It is a humanitarian catastrophe for the people of Central Mozambique." More updates from the team in #Beira as humanitarian needs emerge following #CycloneIdai https://t.co/GtVM97uBkf pic.twitter.com/5cC67r8uwy IFRC Africa (@IFRCAfrica) March 20, 2019 The European Union released 3.5 million euros (3 million) in emergency aid, and the UK pledged up to 6 million. Neighbouring Tanzanias military airlifted 238 tons of food and medicine. Matthew Pickard of the humanitarian organisation Care said the response to Idai has been similar to previous natural disasters. Local authorities and international non-governmental organisations worked their way to the area in the first days, with additional aid destined to arrive soon after. The slow-moving catastrophe of the flooding and the inability to access some of the hardest-hit areas has limited the ability of some to see the scale of the cyclone, but aid will spike as the details become clearer, Mr Pickard said. Over the next few days well learn just how big it is, he said from Malawi. These are countries that are not usually making headlines and theyre making headlines. With the story comes peoples intent to respond empathetically. Sacha Myers of Save the Children, speaking from Mozambique, described rising floodwaters, rivers and dams bursting their banks and a death toll in the hundreds and rising. She was awaiting the arrival of a cargo plane carrying 51 tons of emergency supplies, but said getting them where they needed to go remained difficult with roads washed away or submerged and few options for storage in dry areas. Tropical Cyclone Idai has ripped through Mozambique, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. Donate now to our Emergency Fund to help us protect children affected by this cyclone, and other disasters like it around the world >>https://t.co/Be27vRSohF#Mozambique #CycloneIdai pic.twitter.com/oP4gqgWd8P Save the Children UK (@savechildrenuk) March 19, 2019 Were having an unfolding crisis thats getting worse and worse, she said. The United Nations is deploying resources too, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said, but logistics remained challenging and the hardest hit areas remained inaccessible. #CycloneIdai: With humanitarian emergency in Mozambique intensifying by the hour, UN agencies sparing no effort to deliver aid, including food rations & emergency health kits. https://t.co/AWBuw1lOYe United Nations (@UN) March 19, 2019 As better data emerges from the disaster zone, donors will be standing by to make money and other resources such as medicine available, said E Anne Peterson of the non-profit health organisation Americares. Its early and a really big disaster gets attention fast, and the more media covers it, the more people realise there is a need and the more likely we are to see them getting engaged, she said. Ilan Noy, chairman in the economics of disasters at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, said aid was likely to flow from dozens of countries to the African nations. How much is pledged and when, he said, correlates to the media coverage a disaster gets, not to mention factors such as the geostrategic interests and previous colonial ties of an affected country. Ultimately, the figures that are announced can bear little meaning, with the numbers typically stand-ins for the value of salaries and supplies sent overseas. They dont have enough helicopters or they dont have enough doctors, Mr Noy offered as an example. In that emergency phase, it doesnt really matter how you count it. You need resources. You dont need cash. Facebook has said it recovered most of its money (Dominic Lipinski/PA) A Lithuanian man who duped Google and Facebook into transferring more than 100 million dollars (75.7 million) into accounts he controlled has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Evaldas Rimasauskas entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan. Judge George Daniels set a July 24 sentencing date. The charge could carry as many as 30 years in prison and a fine of as much as one million dollars or twice the crimes proceeds. Expand Close Google said it has recouped its money, whileFacebook said it recovered most of its money (PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Google said it has recouped its money, whileFacebook said it recovered most of its money (PA) Rimasauskas was extradited to New York from Lithuania in 2017. He has been detained since. According to court documents, Google sent more than 23 million dollars (17.4 million) and Facebook nearly 100 million dollars to bank accounts he controlled. Google, of Mountain View, California, has said it has recouped its money. Facebook, of Menlo Park, California, has said it recovered most of its money. Israeli forces on Tuesday killed a Palestinian suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing and shooting attack in the occupied West Bank two days earlier, the Israeli Shin Bet security service said. The assailant was killed after he opened fire at Israeli forces who had come to arrest him, the Shin Bet said. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed a person had been killed in the clash, but provided no further details. In what appeared to be a separate incident, the Palestinian health ministry said two more Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Nablus. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the report was being looked into. On Sunday, a suspected Palestinian assailant fatally stabbed a soldier at an intersection on a busy West Bank highway and opened fire at the scene using the conscript's rifle, killing an Israeli rabbi and wounding a second soldier. Palestinians, many of them people without links to armed groups, carried out a wave of attacks in the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016 but the frequency of such incidents has since decreased. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek to establish a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014. Czech model Tereza Hluskova weeps after the court decision to sentence her to eight years and eight months in prison for attempted heroin smuggling, in Lahore on March 20, 2019 A Czech model has been sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison in Pakistan on charges of drug trafficking. Tereza Hluskova, 22, was sentenced at a court in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. According to the court, Hluskova was arrested in possession of 8.5kg (19lbs) of heroin in January 2018 at the Lahore airport from where she was heading to Ireland via Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Since her arrest, Hluskova has told investigators that she came to Pakistan to work as a model but that someone put narcotics into her luggage. Expand Close Czech model Tereza Hluskova weeps after the court decision to sentence her to eight years and eight months in prison for attempted heroin smuggling from Lahore to Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Czech model Tereza Hluskova weeps after the court decision to sentence her to eight years and eight months in prison for attempted heroin smuggling from Lahore to Dublin Her lawyer Sardar Asghar Dogar said she will appeal. Hluskova was convicted during a court appearance last week. Her sentence also includes an 800 dollar (605) fine. The story first gained attention when Miss Hluskova was captured smiling and posing for photos with Pakistani investigators after she was arrested at the airport. She has previously said she was in Pakistan for a modelling contract and told authorities she did not know how the heroin ended up in her suitcase. In a video, released online, a Pakistani customs official is shown 'discovering' the drugs hidden in the suitcase while Miss Hluskova looks on. She then puts her head in her hands. Two other men were also arrested and were due to face drug trafficking charges after police went through the model's phone. US President Donald Trumps son said Theresa May should honour her promise to take Britain out of the EU next Friday. Donald Trump Jr accused Mrs May of ignoring his fathers advice and claimed that elites control London from Brussels and democracy in the UK is all but dead. Mr Trump Jr, who is the president's son but does not hold a political position, said that the "will of the people is likely to be ignored" because of "elite" politicians. "Mrs May ignored advice from my father, and ultimately, a process that should have taken only a few short months has become a years-long stalemate, leaving the British people in limbo," Mr Trump Jr wrote in a column for the Daily Telegraph. Expand Close Donald Trump Jr (Sue Ogrocki/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Donald Trump Jr (Sue Ogrocki/AP) "Now, the clock has virtually run out and almost all is lost - exactly as the European elites were hoping. "Some pro-Brexit politicians even suggest that Mrs May is trying to sabotage Brexit, by insisting that Parliament agree to a deal that essentially keeps Britain bound to the EU indefinitely. "With the deadline fast approaching, it appears that democracy in the UK is all but dead." Mr Trump Jr, who is executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, drew parallels between delays in delivering Brexit and the investigations into his fathers alleged links with Russia. In a way, you could say that Brexit and my fathers election are one and the same, he wrote. The people of both the UK and the US voted to uproot the establishment for the sake of individual freedom and independence, only to see the establishment try to silence their voices and overturn their mandates. What were seeing now in Washington, London and Brussels is the desperate, last-gasp attempt by those previously in power to cling on to what was once theirs in the face of an overwhelming mandate for change. Last week, US President Donald Trump and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar clashed on Brexit in Washington. Mr Trump also used Mr Varadkar's visit to the White House to warn Ireland and the EU the US is "going to tariff a lot of their products coming in because the European Union treats us very, very unfairly". Police have a 24-year-old suspect in custody in the slaying of reputed Mafia boss Francesco 'Franky Boy' Cali in New York City, authorities have said. Cali (53), who was shot to death last Wednesday outside his Staten Island home, was allegedly the head of the Gambino family, one of the five Italian-American Mafia families that have historically dominated organised crime in New York and New Jersey. Police apprehended Anthony Comello in New Jersey and expect to charge him with murdering Cali. Surveillance video of the killing showed a man, allegedly Comello, crash his car into Cali's parked SUV, drawing Cali outside. ABC News reported that the two men spoke and shook hands before the suspect pulled out a gun. The suspect shot Cali as many as 10 times, the NYPD said. By Candace Jordan | Candid Candace The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center celebrated its 10th anniversary Humanitarian Awards Dinner on March 13 at the Hyatt Regency before a sellout crowd of 2,035 business, civic and community leaders that included over 200 Holocaust survivors. Former President Bill Clinton joined Gov. J.B. Pritzker onstage for a Q&A following an evening of music, dinner, moving videos and emotional tributes. In the grand ballroom, the Chicago Sinfionetta's Project Inclusion Quartet set the tone for the evening, playing soulful music from the film "Schindler's List" as a video honored survivors and those who supported them during the Holocaust. The Chicago Children's Choir then filled the stage with special interpretations of "One Day" (by Matisyahu) and "Hallelujah" (by Leonard Cohen). Emcee Bill Kurtis recognized the late Barbara Steiner and Aaron Elster, Holocaust survivors and museum co-founders. Their families offered the Hamotzi, the blessing of bread, before dinner began. Remarks were delivered by Sam Harris (Holocaust survivor and museum president emeritus), John Rowe (chair, board of trustees), Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Jeffry Pfeffer (chair, board of directors), David Golder (museum board member and former board chair) and museum CEO Susan Abrams, who shared a video about the technical advancements at the museum that will include a 3D virtual reality tour. Fritzie Fritzshall, museum president and Holocaust survivor, described her fears about anti-Semitism and the sad fact that it's still with us today. She urged the audience to "look out for your neighbors, speak out and never forget the Holocaust." Fritzshall spent two years at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where her mother, two younger brothers and other family members were gassed. John Ettelson, president and CEO of William Blair, was the recipient of the Humanitarian Award. He spoke about the museum's mission to "remember the past and transform the future" and extolled its virtues. Philanthropist Lester Crown introduced Pritzker and Clinton. Their 30-minute conversation touched on who helped shape Clinton's life (his maternal grandfather, who taught him about civil rights); his greatest accomplishment while in office ("inclusive prosperity"); his biggest regret (not doing more to intervene in the Rwandan genocide); and his biggest fear for our country (cyber security). The event raised approximately $3 million for the museum, which honors the memory of those who were killed during the Holocaust through educational events, in-depth exhibitions and public programs, using the latest technology and survivors' personal stories. Freelance writer Candace Jordan is involved in many local organizations, including some whose events she covers. More coverage: Find more photos and events at www.chicagotribune.com/candidcandace . Visit Candid Candaces website at www.candidcandace.com , or follow her on Twitter @ CandidCandace In the wake of the far-right terror attack on two New Zealand mosques, footage has resurfaced of Donald Trump promoting a fake story about a US general who executed 49 Muslim "terrorists" using bullets dipped in pig's blood. The video, which is being widely shared on social media, shows Mr Trump tell supporters during a 2016 presidential campaign rally in South Carolina about the supposed atrocity ordered by US general John Pershing in the early 20th century. "General Pershing, did you ever hear? Rough guy, rough guy. And they had a terrorism problem," Mr Trump said, apparently in reference to a rebellion by the Muslim Moro people during the Philippine-American War. "And there's a whole thing with swine, and animals, and pigs, and you know the story, OK? "They don't like that. And they were having a tremendous problem with terrorism," he said, adding the story was in few history books because "they don't like teaching this". He continued: "He took 50 terrorists, and he took 50 men, and he dipped 50 bullets in pig's blood. "You heard that right? He took 50 bullets and he dipped them in pig's blood, and he had his men load up his rifles, and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people and the 50th person, he said, 'You go back to your people and you tell them what happened'. "And for 25 years there wasn't a problem." But historians who have studied Pershing have said there is nothing to indicate the story is true, and the claims were never verified in the general's memoir. It did not stop Mr Trump alluding to the story again, however, following a 2017 terror attack in Barcelona. Tweet "Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!" he tweeted at the time. Last week, 50 people were killed by a gunman who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, citing in a manifesto published online his white supremacist and Islamophobic views. Critics have claimed Mr Trump's hostile rhetoric and policies towards Muslims has been a contributing factor to a rise in the far-right and a normalisation of racist views. ( Independent News Service) The average American will earn $1.4m (1.23m) in their lifetime. Last week, Beto O'Rourke announced his candidacy for president and raised $6.1m (5.37m) in 24 hours. Why the astonishing interest? He has accomplished very little; he inherited millions and married billions. He's been arrested for trespass and driving under the influence. According to the 'New York Times', his apartment was once robbed while he was sitting in it. He's famous only for losing a Texas Senate race last year and... I'll stop right there. He's hot: that's why he's rolling in donations. He's got a Kennedy smile and looks great in jeans. I've never seen a candidate get such bad press in their first days of running, but that's because most journalists and nearly all conservatives are ugly - average-looking at best - so we're predisposed to dislike him. It's jealousy. Sex distorts politics as it distorts life. That's why it tends to be liberal activists who have the hots for pretty rich kids. Think Macron, Trudeau, both Kennedys - crucially, none of them socialists. The liberal playboy doesn't represent an insurgent working-class, as Bernie Sanders tries to, but a patrician bourgeoisie which, like Beto, reaches across the boundaries of class to help their fellow man. Even the nickname is post-racial. "Beto" was christened Robert Francis. As he charges across America with charming enthusiasm the press, lost for a category, calls him a centrist, a word ringing with privilege in a politics obsessed with identity. Centrist means Bill Clinton, means big business, means power, means winner. Beto is good-looking. He must be a centrist! He must be the man to beat Donald Trump in those bellwether states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Right-wing commentators are not so sure. They're suspicious of sex. The Republicans are happy to nominate a rich white man, of course - but looks are far less important than character or common sense. (Remember, they were gaga for Rick Perry in 2012 until he opened his mouth in a debate and his support mysteriously disappeared.) The GOP has enjoyed electoral success since the 1960s by pitching itself as the party of Mr Average, what Norman Mailer called "The Wad": middle-class, low-brow, homely. It was in the 1960s, as liberals went weak at the knees for Robert Kennedy's Irish eyes, that the Democrats morphed into the party of the "beautiful people": well-educated, attractive kids allied with the fashionable causes of race, war and inequality. You can look at US politics as a battle of the rich and the poor on one side, the Wad on the other - and Beto could canvass every member of the Wad with a candlelit dinner and I'm not sure he'd challenge that dynamic. He didn't in Texas. Everyone applauds him for doing better than any Democrat for a long time, but he ran against a very unattractive candidate in a very anti-Republican year in a state that is changing thanks to a growth in urban areas and immigration (Ted Cruz, who is himself a Latino, won 65pc of whites but O'Rourke won 63pc of Hispanics). Maybe Beto did reach out to some swing voters, but he also mobilised the state's growing liberal base. One more problem stands in his way: too few Democrats have listened to what he's saying. That often happens with good-looking people. While they rabbit on about education or healthcare, all you can hear is the crashing of waves and Beto running across the beach. But if you pay attention, you'll hear that he's very left-wing on the environment, healthcare, immigration and guns. He called the capitalist economy "racist". The Democratic contest ought to be a debate on strategy: do they beat Trump from the left, by galvanising that coalition of top and bottom, or from the centre by appealing to the middle? The media interprets the primaries through this prism and mistakenly casts Beto as a moderate because it assumes a white male candidate will do better in Ohio than, say, a black woman (Kamala Harris) or Jewish socialist (Mr Sanders). But in reality, the Democrats have shifted so far to the left and so completely embraced identity battles, that the contest is just as likely to be fought between tribes as philosophies or strategies, as demonstrated by a deeply uncomfortable moment when America was mourning the innocents killed in New Zealand and a student accosted Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Hillary, and accused her of racism because she had denounced anti-Semitism. Chelsea looked confused. Welcome to the illogical politics of radical purity. The Democrats seem more like the fractured party of the 1960s and 1970s than any time since, and Beto is no Bobby Kennedy, although they apparently share an affinity for the classics. Kennedy could quote Aeschylus, and Beto has likewise looked deep into that pool of self-knowledge and found enlightenment. "The Greeks got me, man," he once said. What giants walk among us! ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked a diplomatic spat with New Zealand and Australia by portraying the Christchurch mosque shooting and a First World War battle as targeting Islam. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison summoned Turkeys ambassador and demanded Mr Erdogan take back comments suggesting that Australians and New Zealanders had sent troops to fight Turkey in the First World War Gallipoli campaign motivated by an opposition to Islam. In more inflammatory comments made as he campaigns for votes in local elections this month, Mr Erdogan also said Australians and New Zealanders travelling to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would be sent back in coffins, like their grandfathers were in the Gallipoli campaign. Expand Close Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the graves of fallen Turkish soldiers in Canakkale on Monday (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits the graves of fallen Turkish soldiers in Canakkale on Monday (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) Mr Morrisons government issued a travel advisory warning people visiting the Gallipoli battlefields for remembrance ceremonies during the anniversary of the campaign next month to exercise caution. Mr Morrison said all options are on the table if Mr Erdogan does not withdraw his comments. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu later held a telephone conversation with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said. Ignoring widespread criticism, Mr Erdogan has been screening at his campaign rallies excerpts of a video taken by the gunman who killed 50 people in mosques in Christchurch, to denounce what he calls rising hatred and prejudice against Islam. He has also been showing parts of a manifesto said to have been left by the gunman in which he threatens Turks and Mr Erdogan himself. On Wednesday, Mr Erdogan inaugurating a theme park in Ankara as part of his campaign for the March 31 elections called for votes for his ruling party candidates as a response to occupiers who attempt to threaten our nation from tens of thousands of kilometres away. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic enters the courtroom of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, Netherlands (Peter Dejong, Pool/AP) United Nations appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. In increasing the sentence, Judge Joensen said Karadzics original 40-year sentence underestimates the extraordinary gravity of Karadzics responsibility and his integral participation in the most egregious of crimes. Expand Close Judges enter the courtroom of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague (Peter Dejong, Pool/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Judges enter the courtroom of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague (Peter Dejong, Pool/AP) Defence lawyer Peter Robinson said Karadzic vowed to fight on to clear his name. He says that politics triumphed over justice today, Mr Robinson said. The appeals chamber whitewashed an unjust trial and an unfair verdict. Mr Robinson said Karadzic felt moral responsibility for crimes in Bosnia, but did not believe he was criminally responsible. He had appealed against his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his countrys devastating 1992-95 war Europes bloodiest conflict since the Second World War. Expand Close Radovan Karadzic at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague (Peter Dejong, Pool/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Radovan Karadzic at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague (Peter Dejong, Pool/AP) The former leader is one of the most senior figures tried by The Hague war crimes court. His case is considered as key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left more than 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. Judge Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence, given what he called the sheer scale and systematic cruelty of Karadzics crimes. Applause broke out in the public gallery as Judge Joensen passed the new sentence. Families of victims who travelled to The Hague welcomed the verdict. Expand Close The hearing is broadcast in the city hall in Sarajevo (Darko Bandic/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The hearing is broadcast in the city hall in Sarajevo (Darko Bandic/AP) Mothers of victims, some elderly, wept with apparent relief after watching the ruling read on a screen in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic was also awaiting an appeal judgment of his genocide and war crimes conviction, which earned him a life sentence. Both men were convicted of genocide for their roles in the slaughter by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnias eastern Srebrenica region in July 1995. Prosecutors had appealed against Karadzics acquittal on a second count of genocide, which saw Serb forces drive out Muslims and Croats from Serb-controlled villages in a 1992 campaign. Judges rejected that appeal. Expand Close Munira Subasic, of the Mothers of Srebrenica, outside the building which houses the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Peter Dejong/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Munira Subasic, of the Mothers of Srebrenica, outside the building which houses the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Peter Dejong/AP) At an appeals hearing last year, prosecution lawyer Katrina Gustafson told a five-judge panel that Karadzic abused his immense power to spill the blood of countless victims. Justice requires that he receive the highest possible sentence a life sentence. Karadzic has always argued that the Bosnian Serb campaigns during the war, which included the bloody siege of the capital Sarajevo, were aimed at defending Serbs. After his indictment by the tribunal in The Hague, Karadzic remained at large for years before he was arrested in Serbia in 2008 disguised as a new-age therapist. 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Dezan Shira & Associates employs over 300 professionals, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, and business specialists from across the world. Our expertise is based on this teams experience collaborating across 25 offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. Local experts at the firm provide services tailored to the unique challenges facing international businesses in Asia. The firms services help decision makers manage the legal, tax, and operational challenges facing multinational businesses in China, ASEAN, and India. Our services in Asia include: The Catawba Nation is looking forward to a brighter future with a proposed gaming facility on its homelands in North Carolina. Chief Bill Harris told The Kings Mountain Herald that the project would generate between 4,000 to 5,000 jobs. He called it a "game changer" for the tribe, whose economic development options have been limited due to restrictions in its land claim settlement act. The economic impact of this project will be huge for the Catawba Indian Nation; it will be a game changer for us," Harris told the paper. "That same economic impact will be felt by Kings Mountain and Cleveland County. The tribe asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs more than five years ago to place the site for the casino in trust. But a decision has never been made due to a lack of clarity about the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act , The Cherokee One Feather reported. "Congress always intended for the Catawba Tribe to be able to make mandatory land acquisitions in North Carolina in a service area they have historically occupied," a spokesperson for Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) told The One Feather. "But, because of unclear language in the law itself, the Catawbas claim is still being disputed 25 years later." The Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel in Murphy, North Carolina. Photo: Warren LeMay The uncertainty prompted Burr to sign on a co-sponsor to S.790 . The bill, which was introduced on March 13, clarifies that the BIA can approve the tribe's land-into-trust application and that the land can be used for a casino, The One Feather reported. The casino would be located Kings Mountain, which is about 30 miles west of Charlotte, the most populous city in North Carolina. Tribal headquarters are about 47 miles away, across the border in South Carolina. Despite the distance and the border, the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act includes six counties in North Carolina as the service area for the Catawba Nation. But the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is claiming that area as its "aboriginal lands," Chief Richard Sneed said in response to the legislation. "This action circumvents the existing process for the Catawba Indian Nation to acquire lands in South Carolina, is unprecedented in US history, and a federal government bully-tactic that should not be part of modern governing," Sneed said in a March 14 statement The Eastern Band, incidentally, is seeking approval from Congress to reacquire some of its aboriginal lands in Tennessee. H.R.453, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act , was introduced on February 5 after a prior version failed to get over the finish line during the last session. The bill passed the House only to be stall in the other chamber. In a February 8 story , Chief Sneed told The One Feather that Sen. Burr "basically told us hes going to block it at the Senate level." The Eastern Cherokees operate the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort , about 130 miles west of King's Mountain, and the newer Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel , about 190 miles. Both are in the far western part of North Carolina. Read More on the Story Join the Conversation Related Stories Continue to share and talk, we are still working to bring Aubrey home. Thank you everyone for the amazing support! Authorities in Oklahoma are investigated the disappearance of Aubrey Dameron , a citizen of the Cherokee Nation Dameron, 25, was last seen at her home on March 9, The Grove Sun reported. There has been a potential sighting of her at a casino owned by the Quapaw Nation , an investigator in Delaware County told the paper, and supporters said they have been told the same "She loves life and loves people," Dameron's aunt Pamela Smith told The Sun. Dameron, who is transgendered, stands approximately 5-foot, 9-inches and weighs 130 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes, with a triquetra symbol tattooed on her back, and a tattoo reading "shorty" on her upper left arm. She has been reported as missing in the National Crime Information Center, according to The Sun. That system is separate from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, also known as NamUs landmark study from the Urban Indian Health Institute found that only 116 American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls were entered into NamUs even though there were 5,712 such reports with the National Crime Information Center. Anyone with information is urged to call the Delaware County Sheriff at 918-253-4531. Dameron's case is Number 2019-0302. Read More on the Story Join the Conversation By Acee Agoyo The U.S. Supreme Court issued its first Indian law decision of the current term on Tuesday, delivering a slim but strong victory in a treaty rights case. By a vote of 5-4, the justices confirmed that citizens of the Yakama Nation are not required to pay a fuel tax to the state of Washington. A treaty signed with the United States in 1855 "pre-empts" the tax, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in the judgment from the court "In our view, the state of Washingtons application of the fuel tax to Cougar Dens importation of fuel is pre-empted by the treatys reservation to the Yakama Nation of 'the right, in common with citizens of the United States, to travel upon all public highways,'" Breyer wrote in the 18-page ruling, quoting from the government-to-government agreement. Cougar Den is a business on the reservation that challenged the tax at issue in the case. The state told the owner, who is a Yakama citizen, to pay $20 million in back taxes and penalties but that's no longer on the table as a result of the high court's ruling. The courts have previously told the state that it cannot tax on-reservation sales, and it cannot place the burden of these taxes on reservation," attorney Mat Harrington said in a press release . "But the treaty also exempts the Yakama from paying import taxes which burden their right to travel. In todays ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court honored the solemn promises made by the U.S. government," Harrington said of the case, known as Washington State Department of Licensing v. Cougar Den Chairman JoDe Goudy of the Yakama Nation stands outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., and offers a prayer after he was denied entry into arguments for a case affecting his tribe's treaty rights. Photo courtesy of the Yakama Nation Though the Yakama Nation itself wasn't a party to the case, the tribe also welcomed the development. Chairman JoDe Goudy, who was barred from attending the hearing in the case because he wouldn't remove his traditional headdress and regalia, said the ruling confirmed how the treaty was understood by those who signed it. Yakamas conducted trade and commerce long before the formation of the United States, let alone the Washington states existence," Goudy said in a news release . "Our historical chiefs negotiated for that right to be maintained and it was memorialized within the articles of the Yakama Treaty of 1855 between the Yakama Nation and the United States. While Breyer announced the court's judgment, Goudy was heartened by the concurring opinion in the case. It was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose strong background in Indian law led tribes to support his nomination two years ago. "Really, this case just tells an old and familiar story," Gorsuch observed in the 11-page opinion . "The state of Washington includes millions of acres that the Yakamas ceded to the United States under significant pressure. In return, the government supplied a handful of modest promises." "The state is now dissatisfied with the consequences of one of those promises. It is a new day, and now it wants more," wrote Gorsuch, who was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump. "But today and to its credit, the court holds the parties to the terms of their deal. It is the least we can do." But Trump's other pick for the court wasn't in support of the Yakama Nation's treaty rights. Justice Brett Kavanaugh , whose nomination was opposed by some tribes, joined a dissenting opinion and, if that weren't enough, wrote his own and accused his colleagues of "rewriting the law in 2019," some 164 years after the agreement was signed. "The courts newly created right will allow Yakama businesses not to pay state taxes that must be paid by other competing businesses, including by businesses run by members of the many other tribes in the state of Washington," Kavanaugh contended in his six-page dissent "In addition, the courts newly created rightif applied across the boardwould seem to afford Yakama tribal members an exemption from all manner of highway regulations, ranging from speed limits to truck restrictions to reckless driving laws," he asserted, raising fears that tribal citizens will try to avoid following other laws. According to the Yakama Nation, however, the court's "strongly worded decision" merely affirms the rights of tribal citizens to travel on public highways and bring goods to the market without interference. Chairman Goudy said the state's attempt to tax such activity represented an act of domination that was rightfully rejected by a majority of the justices. "The dominating act to eliminate, overregulate, and or restrict our ability to conduct trade and commerce would have continued to dehumanize our nation, Goudy said. "Our nation will move forward and continue to seek and initiate actions to address the wellbeing of those things that cannot speak for themselves, our resources, as well as our enrolled members young and old for generations to come." Cougar Den represents another loss for the state of Washington at the nation's highest court. Just last year, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, was unable to overturn a victory won by tribes in another treaty rights case In both instances, Ferguson's actions were met with derision from tribal leaders and advocates, with one prominent Indian law attorney characterizing the appeal in Cougar Den as an abuse of power The decision also marked a rebuke to the Trump administration. When asked for its views in the matter, the Department of Justice told the Supreme Court that the Yakama Nation's treaty did not pre-empt the fuel tax. Cougar Den is the first Indian law decision to emerge from the Supreme Court's current term, which began last October. Three cases of interest have been heard by the justices -- and all of them deal with treaty rights and treaty issues. "Having these three treaty rights cases before the court," attorney Joel Williams of the Native American Rights Fund told leaders of the United South and Eastern Tribes at their recent meeting in the nation's capital, "tees it up for the court to say some significant things in this area. Oral arguments Cougar Den took place on October 30 and were the first of the current term. They were followed by a hearing in Carpenter v. Murphy on November 27. At issue in Carpenter is whether the reservation of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation continues to exist. The reservation in Oklahoma had been set aside by a treaty signed in 1866. The third Indian law case is Herrera v. Wyoming , whose outcome will determine whether citizens of the Crow Tribe can be prosecuted for hunting on off-reservation treaty territory in the state of Wyoming. Arguments took place on January 8. Decisions in Carpenter and Herrera are expected before the court wraps up its current term, usually at the end of June. Washington State Department of Licensing v. Cougar Den Supreme Court Documents Indianz.Com on SoundCloud Jam out with the justices! Listen to lawyers! No, really, these are important U.S. Supreme Court cases Join the Conversation Related Stories Indian incarceration rates surpass white rates by far By Richie RichardsNative Sun News Today Correspondent RAPID CITY On March 5, Racing Magpie in downtown Rapid City opened its doors for a talking circle to discuss incarceration rates and the circumstances of Native Americans in the criminal justice system in South Dakota. As part of a larger movement, the group met as part of The National Day of Empathy. This day was a day of action to generate empathy on a massive scale for millions of Americans impacted by the criminal justice system, according to cut50.org The discussion panel in Rapid City was primarily regarding the incarceration of tribal members in South Dakota and the disproportionate numbers of male and female inmates in state prisons who are Native American. Part of the mission of the Day of Empathy is to create a safe space for former-inmates and families of past and present inmates to come together and discuss the impact of their lives in the community. Victims and those affected by criminal behavior were invited to talk about the impact of being a family member to an incarcerated individual and the burden the family bears. This was a discussion based on the criminal justice systems effect on tribal families. Lakota leaders incl @ChaseIronEyes speak out on #DayOfEmpathy for Criminal Justice Reform for Native people. Responding to call from @VanJones68 and @cut_50, we held Talking Circles in Rapid City, Pine Ridge, and Standing Rock. Share vid & sign petition! https://t.co/4XPUMUGySB pic.twitter.com/HHDNyRixNx Lakota Law Project (@lakotalaw) March 13, 2019 Racing Magpie has been a central meeting place for Urban Indians in the Rapid City area to meet and discuss topics of politics, social issues, community challenges, art and other movements related to tribal members in the Black Hills town. Among these issues is the high incarceration rate of Native Americans in Pennington County Jail and the South Dakota Department of Corrections. Nearly thirty individuals gathered at Racing Magpie whom represented several organizations in the area; including Community Conversations, One Rapid City MMIW He Sapa , and others for the event sponsored by Lakota Peoples Law Project The Day of Empathy discussion was put on by Chase Iron Eyes, Daniel Nelson and Robert Horse, all of Lakota Peoples Law Project. Horse led the discussion and opened remarks regarding his own incarceration in the South Dakota state penitentiary system; he was released in February, 2019, after serving nearly twenty years. Family members and former inmates discussed the impact of serving time and having to take on the responsibilities of the incarcerated individuals. Tears and laughter was shared in a safe space for sharing stories of deep tragedy and family challenges. Prayer and traditional songs helped to heal the wounds opened during the talking circle. Robert Horse, 35, has hit the ground running since being released from prison last month. Using spiritual, physical and emotional health practices, Horse has maintained his traditional ways learned in prison by going to sweat lodge ceremonies and community events which empower tribal needs in Rapid City. We joined a national organization called, Day of Empathy. Basically, what we are doing is bringing awareness to the mass incarceration to people across the country. But more particularly, in the state of South Dakota, we are here for Native incarceration rates, Horse said. Currently, we have a state population (Native American) of between 8 and 10 percent. The male prison population is between 29 and 33 percent and the womens prison is at 63 percent, Horse said of the high numbers of tribal members in state prisons. These numbers obviously do not represent the state population and Horse feels this needs to be addressed legislatively. I feel the numbers alone dont tell the whole story. Horse said he would like to see some type of reform brought on a state, county and tribal level which will help to reduce these high incarceration and recidivism rates. His focus since coming out of prison has been to bring re-entry programs for inmates into discussion in the community. He feels that there are not enough being done to serve inmates being sent back into society following years of incarceration; many times these inmates have not been rehabilitated, educated, and prepared for life outside of prison. Contact Native Sun News Today Correspondent Richie Richards at richie4175@gmail.com Copyright permission Native Sun News Today Join the Conversation By Acee Agoyo The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is hosting its first field hearing of the 116th Congress, focusing on public safety in tribal communities Tribal, federal and state officials are at the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Wednesday morning for the hearing. North Dakota is the home state of Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), the committee's leader. As chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Im committed to improving public safety in our tribal communities, Hoeven said earlier this year of his law and order priorities. Those efforts include the S.211, the Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment (SURVIVE) Act . The bill requires 5 percent of the national Crime Victims Fund to go to Indian Country. Currently, very little of the funds make it to tribal communities despite high rates of victimization of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Last year, a temporary set-aside of $110 million was provided by Congress but the SURVIVE Act would make it permanent. Another priority is S.210, the Tribal Law and Order Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2017 . Based on recommendations from Indian Country, the bill makes critical updates to the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, the law that paved the way for the landmark tribal jurisdiction provisions in the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. For too long, critical public safety resources have dried up before making it to Indian Country," Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), a co-sponsor of the SURVIVE Act, said when the committee approved both measures at a business meeting on January 29. "These bills will give Native American communities the resources they need to crack down on crime and help survivors heal. PANEL 1 The Honorable Douglas James Bergum Governor State of North Dakota, Bismarck, ND The Honorable Wayne Stenehjem Attorney General State of North Dakota, Bismarck, ND PANEL 2 Ms. Jill Sanborn Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations U.S. Department of Justice, Minneapolis, MN Mr. Richard Salter Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration U.S. Department of Justice, Omaha, NE Mr. Charles Addington Deputy Bureau Director, Office of Justice Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC PANEL 3 The Honorable Jamie Azure Chairman Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Belcourt, ND The Honorable Mike Faith Chairman Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Fort Yates, ND The Honorable Myra Pearson Chairwoman Spirit Lake Nation, Fort Totten, ND The Honorable Ella Robertson Chairwoman Sisseton Wapheton Oyate Nation, Agency Village, SD The hearing is Bismarck is not being webcast but the testimony will be made available for the record. The witness list follows: Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Notice Join the Conversation Generations have passed but the conspiracy theories surrounding the the mysterious death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri havent died. Hailed as the modern Indias icon, Lal Bahadur Shastri, who led the country during the Indo-Pak war of 1965 the man whose slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan became popular during that time was in Tashkent when the incident took place. CulturalIndia.net At around 4pm on Jan 10, it is said, that he signed the Tashkent accord and returned to his villa provided by his Russian hosts. Thereafter in the evening, he ate a light meal prepared by Jan Mohammad, the personal cook of TN Kaul, who was the Indian ambassador to Moscow. assettype.com At 11:30, he had a glass of milk prepared by Jan Mohammad. He was fine when his staff left his room. There were Russian butlers in the villa too. Twitter At around 1:25, he woke up coughing severely. It was supposedly a heart attack. By the time his personal doctor RN Chugh arrived, he had breathed his last taking Lord Rams name. Twitter From doubts of poisoning to the fact that no post mortem was later carried out on his body, a lot of theories about Lal Bahadur Shastris mysterious death have been doing the rounds. Now, a film helmed by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who is known for his right-wing leanings and controversial statements, will reportedly unravel the real reason behind Lal Bahadur Shastris death. in.com Titled The Tashkent Files, the movie will hit the screens on April 12. The man you know, The mystery you don't, the makers wrote in the caption as they released the poster of the movie. It is said that the filmmaker and his team researched on the subject for about three years for this film. In 2018, Vivek Agnihotri had asked people on Twitter to share whatever information they have about Shastris mysterious death. Because there are no documents left in the government records, it is said that Vivek has crowd-sourced the movie. TOI The movie stars Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Shweta Basu, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Mandira Bedi, Pallavi Joshi, Ankur Rathee and Prakash Belawadi among others. How will the truth unfold? Only time will tell. The movie is releasing on April 12. The Maharashtra forest department is once again in the news for its lack of preparedness when it comes to rescuing tigers. Last year, protests against shoot-on-sight order of T1 tigress Avni by the Maharashtra government had rocked the nation. Five-year-old tigress was declared a man-eater by the government and was ultimately killed by controversial shooter- Shafath Ali Khans son named Asghar Ali. In the most recent incident, an injured T4 tigress has died in a failed attempt of tranquilisation by Maharashtra forest personnel. The tigress was frail and weak when she was tranquilised, local media reported. The incident took place in Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary (180 km from Pandharkawada) and is reported to be the sixth such incident in the state since January this year. Photo: BCCL/T1 Tigress Avni The tigress was first spotted on September 11, 2017 with a nylon rope in her neck. It was observed in the sanctuary area during night till May 05, 2018 after which she wasnt sighted. After 18 months, the tigress was seen again on Saturday. The fresh camera trap images revealed that the tigress was really weak. On Sunday evening, the tigress was seen again and in a haste operation, the forest department attempted to tranquilise her. Without the presence of any senior forest officials, a Livestock Development Officer (LDO) Dr Udarraj Nakade from Jamb, eight guides and a driver named Suraj Mahakulkar attempted to catch T4. The guides tried to capture T4 using a net when she attacked two guides named Irfan Sheikh and Ashwin Bakamwar. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pramod Panchbhai told TOI, Her reflexes were weak and movement was sluggish. Hence, we decided to dart the animal so that it can be treated. Dr Nakade prepared the dart and Mahakulkar fired it at 6.30pm. Photo: BCCL/Representative Image It is believed that the wild cat died of a drug overdose. Before an animal is tranquilised, its body weight has to be assessed however, that wasnt done in the current situation. The driver fired two darts at the tigress who is not a trained professional. Such operations need a skilled team comprising wildlife managers, biologists, trained veterinarians, and most preferably an individual specializing in animal anaesthesia. However, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Panchbhai defended the drivers actions by saying that he used to get training at base camps. He argued that T4 was so serious that it would have died the following day and he was guiding the team along their way to the sanctuary, though he wasnt present at the spot. The DFO added that the snare around her neck had caused a lot of injury and it was infested with maggots. The incident reminded the killing of T1 tigress Avni which had created a lot of controversy over alleged violation of standard operating protocol. It was alleged that no attempts were made to tranquilise her and she was directly shot at from a very close distance. Moreover, the veterinary drugs were handled by non-professionals. 1845 N. Orchard St., Chicago: $5,989,888 | Listed: Nov. 9, 2021 This six-bedroom home has six full bathrooms, two half baths, and a carved limestone and brick exterior. The Christopher Peacock kitchen has Waterworks fixtures, a farmers sink and two Subzero refrigerator/freezers. It also opens to the living room, which leads to an outdoor area with a full kitchen, seating areas, and a wood-burning fireplace. On the second floor, the primary bedroom suite features a dressing room and morning kitchen and an en suite bath with a separate shower and soaking tub. Three additional en suite bedrooms are also on the second floor. Other features include a wine cellar, a library, a media room with a Savant projection and audio system and an attached four-car garage with extra storage. Agent: Carrie McCormick, @properties, 312-961-4612 *Some listing photos are virtually staged, meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options. To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribunes Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com. Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news. March 20 is World Sparrow Day, a day dedicated to the small chirpy bird which is considered the most human-friendly. Once seen in plenty across cities, towns and villages among the human settlers, the number of the birds have been falling rapidly in recent years, to the point where they have almost disappeared especially in cities. The rate at which sparrows are disappearing is much faster than other common birds. The loss of habitat, the spread of concrete towers and cell phone radiation, the disappearance of native plants, rampant use of pesticide all have affected the sparrow population over the years. BCCL World Sparrow Day is aimed at creating awareness among masses about the need for conservation of the birds. As part of the day, a number of initiatives have been launched across the country, by citizens and environmentalists. BCCL In Haryana, the Forest and wildlife department is celebrating World Sparrow Day for the first time. The event will be held Bir Shikargah wildlife sanctuary in Panchkula, which also houses the internationally acclaimed vulture breeding and conservation center. Haryana already has proposals to set up two Sparrow Rescue and Research Centres (SRRC), one at Jodhpur village in the foothill of Shivalik hills and another at Bhondsi village of Sohna tehsil in Gurugram district in the foothill of Aravalli hills. BCCL Another major reason for the decline in sparrow population is the loss of nesting places. A group of traders in Kerala have come up with an initiative to help the sparrows build their nest by putting up pots on their shop walls under a campaign called Kuruvikku Oru Koodu (a nest for sparrow). BCCL In Bengaluru, activists plan to distribute bird feeders and nest boxes at Cubbon Park for Bengalureans to welcome sparrows into their homes and help conserve the species. BCCL In other places too, people have been encouraged to do their bit - by leaving a bowl of water and some grains to help them quench their thirst and feed themselves. According to the NSSOs Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, for the first time since 1993-94, the actual size of Indias male workforce, or men who are working has shrivelled. Read more Here's more top news of the day: 1) Scamster Nirav Modi Arrested In London, Bail Denied; In Custody Till 29 March Nirav Modi, one of India's most wanted economic offenders was arrested by the Scotland Yard on Thursday. Read more 2) Neither Images Of Jawans Nor Places Of Worship Can Be Used For Poll Campaign, Well Done Election Commission BCCL With the election battle in full swing, cutting across party lines candidates and leaders are leaving no stones unturned to garner maximum political mileage in the polls which is scheduled to begin next month. Read more 3) CRPF Not To Celebrate Holi As Mark Of Respect To Jawans Killed In Pulwama Terror Attack AFP/Representational Image The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will not celebrate Holi this year as a mark of respect and tribute to its soldiers who were martyred in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir on February 14. Read more 4) World Sparrow Day Reminds Us That We Need To Act Soon Before These Homely Birds Vanish BCCL Once seen in plenty across cities, towns and villages among the human settlers, the number of the birds have been falling rapidly in recent years, to the point where they have almost disappeared especially in cities. Read more 5) Father, Son Fled Syria To Come To World's Safest Nation But Became Victims To New Zealand Mosque Shootings AFP A father son duo had fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners on Wednesday, the first two funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that horrified a nation known for being welcoming and diverse. Read more The Christchurch mosque shootings killed at least 50 people in what is considered as one of New Zealands darkest days. Atleast two gunman entered mosque and started random firing at innocent worshippers and devotees. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the cowardly attack and said that most of the victims were migrants who were a part of New Zealand. She said that gunmen like these had no place in the country. A company in the United Arab Emirates said that an employee was fired and deported after he allegedly celebrated the mosque shootings, Reuters reported. Photo: AFP Atleast seven Indians were also killed in the ghastly attack that took place on March 15. One of the gunmen had even attached a camera to his rifle and posted the attack live on social media. Following the mass shooting, four people including three men and one woman were taken into custody. Security company Transguard said in a statement to Reuters, Over the weekend, a Transguard employee made inflammatory comments on his personal Facebook account celebrating the deplorable mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. The companys Managing Director Greg Ward said that the organisation had a zero tolerance policy for inappropriate use of social media which is why the employee was immediately turned over to the authorities. Transguard, an Emirates Group brand, did not disclose the alleged comments. The name, nationality, and position of the employee were also not disclosed. Photo: AFP/Mourners carry the coffin of a victim killed in the March 15 twin mosque massacre during a funeral at the Memorial Park cemetery in Christchurch on March 20, 2019 A 28-year-old suspect named Brenton Harrison Tarrant was arrested in relation to this incident who is believed to be an Australian national. He has been charged with court of murder though, officials said that more charges against him were forthcoming. Before the attack, the shooter posted extensively about his extremist views on both Facebook and Twitter with no censure, even going so far as to post photos of his armaments, with some of the victims' names painted on them, just before the attack. He then went on to livestream the massacre on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. On Wednesday, the bodies of victims from New Zealands mosques mass shooting were carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent at Christchurchs Memorial Park Cemetery- the first burials of the 50 victims. The majority of victims from Fridays attack in the South Island city were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. In the terrorist attack in Christchurch last week, where a religious extremist shot and killed around 50 Muslims praying in mosques, he was able to livestream the incident for at least 15 minutes before it was taken down. Now, New Zealand's PM wants answers. AFP On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lambasted social media companies for their inability to police the services they offer, calling for them to take responsibility for what is published on them. "We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published," Ardern said in a speech to Parliament. "They are the publisher, not just the postman. It cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility." Before the attack, the shooter posted extensively about his extremist views on both Facebook and Twitter with no censure, even going so far as to post photos of his armaments, with some of the victims' names painted on them, just before the attack. He then went on to livestream the massacre on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In the wake of the shooting, we also wondered about social media's role in propagating the terrorist's ideologies. The video of the shooting and his manifesto spread like wildfire across social media and YouTube, with moderation teams barely able to keep up with blocking them. Now, 38-year-old Ardern is taking social media to task. She acknowledges that the likes of Facebook and Twitter may not have caused the horrific incident, but they're certainly responsible for allowing that kind of vitriol to spread in the first place. People gather to pay respects outside the Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch - Reuters "There is no question that ideas and language of division and hate have existed for decades. But the form of distribution, the tools of organization, they are new," she said. "Where racism and hatred are given a voice, violence flourishes." Now, Facebook has announced it's working in close coordination with local police in New Zealand to "help counter hate speech and the threat of terrorism." A little too late to show remorse guys, you're "sincerity" isn't fooling anyone. As we gradually move towards adopting 5G, it's not about just letting you access Instagram faster or browse for access more dank memes. The new Internet standard could improve everything from IoT to smart cars, and it was just demonstrated by a doctor. Images courtesy: People's Daily China A surgeon in China just used 5G to perform the world's first remote brain surgery. He used camera systems and remotely operated equipment to perform surgery on a patient's brain from over 3,000 km away. Dr Ling Zhipei was performing the surgery from Sanya City in Hainan, while his patient was in Beijing. The procedure involved giving the patient, who has Parkinson's a deep brain stimulation (DBS). All told, the operation lasted three hours, according to local media. "I take turns working in Beijing and Hainan, and the operation took place during my Hainan rotation," Dr Zhipei said. "A patient with Parkinson's in Beijing needed surgery and couldn't fly to Hainan. The 5G network has solved problems like video lag and remote control delay experienced under the 4G network, ensuring a nearly real-time operation. And you barely feel that the patient is 3,000 kilometers away." The patient has recovered from the surgery and is reportedly "feeling good". Just a few weeks ago was when the first ever remote surgery on a human was carried out over 5G, at a demonstration during MWC 2019. There Dr Antonio de Lacy was guiding a team of doctors in an operation theatre 5 km away. In Dr Zhipei's case however, he was manipulating the instruments himself, which makes it all the more impressive. Not to mention how much more complex brain surgery is. It's another demonstration of how much 5G can benefit other industries. In medicine, it could help bring top-level healthcare to people in remote areas, or to critical patients that can't be shifted. 5G has much less latency than 4G, making it not only easier to keep pace with remotely manipulated instruments, but also a faster process in general. Using it, doctors at the best of hospitals can attend to patients in need hundreds of miles away, without having to uproot themselves. We're already able to consult doctors online through websites and apps. But with the proper infrastructure and adoption of 5G, we could be getting treated online in a few years too. Indian-origin Jagmeet Singh has made political history in Canada by entering the House of Commons as the first Non-White opposition leader. Twitter Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party, placed his hand over his heart as he walked into the Commons before the daily question period. Cheers and applause erupt as NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh enters the House of Commons for the first time as a sitting MP. Watch question period LIVE here: https://t.co/K1M7SapzWm #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/oIKl2sjLFJ CTV News (@CTVNews) 18 March 2019 He was elected in federal by-elections held on February 25. The 40-year-old's first speech addressed the victims of horrific New Zealand shootings. "I want to begin by expressing our solidarity with the people of New Zealand who are mourning the attack on Muslim brothers and sisters... in Christchurch," Singh said. Sworn in & officially in this. Now we double down on fighting for the help that Canadians need from ensuring everyone has a place to call home to making sure healthcare covers us the way it should I'm determined & ready to make life easier for people. Let's get it. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/nNjrBKt7nl Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) 17 March 2019 Singh won his new Burnaby South seat in a February by election after the departure of former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, who ran for mayor of Vancouver. Reports state that the New Democrats are hoping Singh's presence in the House of Commons marks the start of a new era for the party. Singh used his first question as leader to press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the issue of housing. "I met a mom in Burnaby. She bought a home, but cannot afford to live there anymore. Her daughter has a good job, but only gets by because she lives in the basement. Her son does not see a future. Like too many Canadians, he has lost all hope," Singh said. "However, the prime minister is telling families like theirs to wait for help. I believe that better is possible. Will the government commit to building half a million new affordable homes?" Prime Minister Trudeau responded by congratulating Singh for his entry into the Commons, before touting the government's record on fighting poverty. Singh's remarks echoed the mood of the House on a crucial day when the prime minister beleaguered by the resignations of his two key cabinet colleagues. People capture the most unusual things on camera and this incident is no different. This drone captured volcanic crater footage which is located in Turkmenistan, known as the Darvaza gas crater. Also known as the Door To Hell,' it is hidden deep in the Karakum Desert. It was found by the Soviet scientists who were hunting for oil. After they found the crater, they were worried that dangerous gases would be released into the atmosphere, so they set it alight, thinking that it would burn off in a few weeks. Clearly, that wasn't the case, as it is still going strong. Dont believe me? Look at these amazing picture yourself: Google Maps The crater is 69 metres-wide and 30 metres-deep, and was found over 40 years ago. Here are some more pictures of the crater captured by travellers: 1. Instagram 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A Mumbai TV serial scriptwriter was allegedly nabbed by police with a bag full of fake currency notes worth more than Rs 5 lakh, Mid-Day reported. The scriptwriter is identified as Deokumar Patel, who lives in Nalasopara. pixabay According to the Mumbai crime branch, they received a tip-off about Patel - that he is dealing in fake currencies after which they ordered their officers to form a team and solve the matter. The cops nabbed Patel when he arrived with the notes in Jogeshwari, Mumbai. He was suspected of smuggling Indian currency notes said the Mumbai crime branch. The officials told Mid-Day, We found a bag with him which had Rs 5.78 lakh but all denominations were fake. We have sent the sample to Nashik laboratories. Representational Image- AFP They found bundles of fake currency notes of Rs 2000, Rs 500, Rs 200, and Rs 100 in his bag. According to the police, Patel was into money laundering to maintain his two wives, one is a model and the other one is a housewife. He had allegedly distributed these fake currency notes in a rural area in Madhya Pradesh as it was easier to circulate fake notes there. A woman in Delhi has accused an Uber cab driver of making lewd comments and misbehaving with her. Amrita Das, a Delhi journalist took to Twitter to share her ordeal and called for action against the driver. Das said that she was with her husband when the incident took place. Rude and creepy driver. I demand action. First, he refused to turn on the air conditioner, then says garmi lag rahi hai to aage mere godi me baith jao [If you are feeling hot then come and sit on my lap]. He also ended the trip, moments after starting to drive and forced me out. This is when I was with husband, Das Tweeted. @Uber_Delhi @Uber @Uber_Support rude and creepy driver. I demand action. First he refused to turn on ac then says garmi lag rahi hai to age mere godi me baith jao. He also ended trip moments after starting to drive and forced me out. This is when I was with husband. @DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/qE40ib3B5d Amrita D (@amritadas) March 19, 2019 Responding soon after her tweet, Uber support said, We're so sorry to hear about this. Our team has recently responded via email. Please reply there if you have additional questions. We're so sorry to hear about this. Our team has recently responded via email. Please reply there if you have additional questions! Uber Support (@Uber_Support) March 19, 2019 Meanwhile, people started responding to the post and tagged Delhi Police, demanding action against the driver. Here are some of the tweets: 1. Worst part is..Uber doesn't have an emergency contact number in India.. happened to us as well...hope you are okay.. Naren (@shipsdeet) March 19, 2019 2. @Uber_Support Taking this particular driver as reference, I'd like to know how do you ensure something like this does not happen again? Is he going to be let off with a warning? Or sacked? Or sensitised? What are the concrete steps you're taking to make your riders feel safe? Abhishek Sinha (@raptorhands) March 19, 2019 3. Sick and tired of @Uber_Delhi drivers. No action taken even after having multiple harrowing experiences. Sack this driver! Dylan San Delo (@theparambhole16) March 19, 2019 4. Uber has gone worst in NCR. If ud ask to turn on AC, theyll lecture you on whether. Cab drivers in their prime category are even worst. Piyush Hans (@HansPiyush) March 19, 2019 5. That's why girls still hesitate to travel alone.. When will this change Divya Sharma (@DivyaSh92292336) March 19, 2019 6. Why @DelhiPolice u aren't responding U must learn from @MumbaiPolice who are prompt in responding to public calls, they respond to even every smallest tweet s (@arieotic) March 20, 2019 7. This is serious. No response from @DelhiPolice @DelhiTrafficPol ? Don't hesitate in filing a police complaint. @Uber_Support Do you not verify drivers' credentials before hiring? @Uppolice and @uptrafficpolice also need to look into the matter, since the car has no. plate of UP Half Expert (@akul_nishant) March 19, 2019 8. The drivers of Uber don't get licence after a proper training. Delhi commercial license you get after a proper training. They get license as free without training and join Uber to serve you. At least they should take license from Delhi. Susu (@Susu63700964) March 20, 2019 9. 10. This is genuinely a very common occurrence. Uber should definitely suspend such drivers. AARUSHI005 (@Aarushiwith2As) March 20, 2019 While Uber has sacked the driver, Uber spokesperson said in a statement, Whats been detailed has no place on our platform. We have removed the individuals access to the app pending a full investigation. But still, the questions that arise after this incident is: women, married or not, continue to feel unsafe in Delhi. When will this end, and what are the chances that this is the last such incident? Picture Credits: Twitter/Uber In his next, Bhuj: The Pride of India, Ajay Devgn will be essaying the role of Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik (right), who was in charge of the Bhuj airport during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. (photo provided) The meeting and the report are by and for journalists. But the ripple effects are far-reaching. The voices you hear, the stories that are amplified, what you know about the world you live in and the people you share it with all of thats influenced tremendously by the media and how we do our jobs. The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund announced that Baldev Singh has retired from his post as executive director, with Kiran Kaur Gill taking over the post. The Indian American entrepreneur has been selected among the Best 50 Women in Business by NJBiz and listed among the top 40 Entrepreneurs under 40 by NJBiz the same year. (saldef.org photo) We now offer lithium prices and coverage free for reference. Click here to read all about it. Join our growing community of participants who want to learn more about electrification and how this market is developing. Tronox may finally have reassured the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it can meet anti-trust concerns over its purchase of rival TiO2 producer Cristal. Tronox announced on March 18 that it was presenting its proposed divestment of Cristals North American assets to the FTC. A day later,... Insurance fraud seems like it might be an easy thing to do. Insurance companies are often so huge, one wonders how they might not even notic... Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. First youve got to find out who did it, said Wilson. There are (security) cameras around those churches, and city cameras all over the place. So you play whats on the cameras and youll find whos putting hate flyers on the cars. When looking for a new partner to build the business, Envest provide us with the support we need to take the business to the next stage in our lifecycle, Montano said. We look forward to collaborating with a great group of likeminded brokers within the Aviso Group and who are aligned with our values and future goals. Greg Mullins, Envest managing director, said Western is a well-established business with a tremendous reputation in Country Victoria. Western has a clear plan to continue to grow a progressive and entrepreneurial business, Mullins said. It aligns with Envests strategy of building businesses that create value for customers, suppliers, and shareholders. This view is shared by Craig Robson, Aviso Group CEO, who said Western aligns with the Aviso culture and long-term strategies. Western fits geographically, has a fantastic reputation, and some niche products and schemes that will contribute to the broader group, Robson said. Aviso Group is made up of insurance brokers Aviso WA (Formerly IC Frith WA), Fitzpatrick & Co Insurance Brokers (VIC), Eagle Insurance Brokers (NSW), Acumen Insurance Brokers (NSW), MacMurray Insurance Brokers (TAS), Allsafe Insurance Brokers (QLD), Insurance Aid General Brokers (QLD), QSure Insurance Brokers (QLD), and now Western Insurance Brokers (VIC). Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) It will be hard for olive branches to be extended between Senator JV Ejercito and his half-brother Senator Jinggoy Estrada while they are still in politics. That was what Ejercito told CNN Philippines' The Source on Wednesday when asked if he and plunder accused Estrada would be reconciling anytime soon. "Maybe not now. When both of us are no longer in politics. Baka, you know, looking back pagtatawanan namin [we'll laugh about it.] But probably, while we are still both in politics, it might be hard," Ejercito said Wednesday. Ejercito and Estrada are both running for senator in the May 2019 polls something which has not sat well with the incumbent senator. It has prompted him to bolt out of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, the political party of their father, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Ejercito cited his disapproval of political dynasties in criticizing Jinggoy's senatorial bid, but also admitted that having a half-brother run alongside him for the same position is detrimental to him. But for Ejercito, there is no escaping Estrada: They are both backed by Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the regional party of presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. The tiff between the two reached yet another high last week during a campaign stop in Albay, where their staff got into a scuffle. "That's not good. We're in front of many people na magkakaroon ng pagiging provoked. In fact, one of the staff, ganun din. Hindi ko na lang pinatulan, ako mismo ang prinovoke," Ejercito said. [Translation: That's not good. We're in front of many people and there was provocation. In fact, one of the staff, the same thing. I just didn't retaliate, even I was being provoked.] While mending ties between him and his half-brother seems unlikely for now, Ejercito has patched things up with his father after around five months of not talking to him. Meanwhile, on Jinggoy's end, the former senator has appealed to voters to make Ejercito "number one," while he settles for "number two." RELATED: Bong Go now number 3 in Pulse Asia latest senatorial survey But his call seems to have fallen on deaf ears for voters, as Jinggoy has maintained a steady lead in pre-election surveys, while Ejercito has dropped out from the list of possible winners in two consecutive polls by Pulse Asia. Should the survey ring true and he loses his re-election bid, Ejercito said he would just relax and ride his motorcycle around the Philippines. "I can go to the most beautiful places. I'll try to, I don't know how I can push my advocacies but we'll try to find a way," he said. RiteHealth is a boutique employment benefits brokerage firm with over 20 years of experience in offering clients employee benefits and consulting services. The firm is owned and operated by Rachel Zeman. Read more: Hub acquires Wisconsin-based Integrated Risk Solutions Following the acquisition, Zeman will join Hub Colorado as a senior employee benefits consultant, a release said. Read more: Hub scoops Maryland agency This is Hubs third acquisition for the month of March. Previously, the insurance brokerage acquired commercial insurance/employee benefits agency Integrated Risk Solutions in Wisconsin, and independent insurance agency The Insurance Exchange in Maryland. Positive train control is a GPS-based system that, if it works properly, will prevent head-on collisions and will slow a train automatically if the engineer is moving the train at higher speeds than they should in certain areas, said David Adamczyk (pictured), global head of railroad at Aspen Insurance, which concentrates on Class II and Class III railroads, otherwise known as the regional and shortline railroads that act as the feeder lines into the largest Class I railroads. Nonetheless, railroads across the board face similar risks, such as the commodity mix. Theres less emphasis on coal, for example, and from an insurance standpoint, we prefer to insure railroads that move coal because if you have a derailment and it falls to the ground, its easy to scoop up and put right back into the cars, so theres not much environmental damage, said Adamczyk. The concern we have is the fastest growing commodity for railroads is chemicals, and that creates a much higher exposure than moving coal. Thats where youre getting into the large, what we like to call front page news derailments and accidents, where a location might be evacuated or the area has significant environmental damage. With railroads in all classes relying on dispatch and signal systems, the threat of cyber is also on the radar. Adamczyk predicts that there will soon come a time when all railroads will need to purchase their own cyber liability insurance. Read more: Revealed - the hot new issue that's impacting cyber insurance If there was a cyberattack in a railroads dispatching process, for instance, it could cause a derailment, it could cause a delay in shipping times, and it could also create lost commodities. So much of that is tracked by technology and if something was to happen to the system, it could create many problems, he said. Competition with the trucking industry as fuel prices fluctuate, the dwindling number of millennials choosing a career in the rail industry, and reregulation of the sector that has spurred the growth of shortline and regional railroads are other top priority issues for these transportation systems and their insurance providers. In some cases, railroad infrastructure also faces physical hazards when tracks are exposed to the effects of weather events. Railroads are one of the most capital intensive industries out there. Unlike trucks that operate on public roads, railroads run on their own railroad tracks and they are responsible for maintaining that track. Depending on where that train operates, infrastructure costs can be much higher than other railroads due to situations of extreme temperatures or flooding areas, said Adamczyk. We see more situations where 100-year floods occur every five years, and track is laid alongside bodies of water quite a bit rivers, creeks, and lakes and once that water covers the infrastructure, track lays on ballast and that ballast gets washed away, so theres nothing to hold that track into place. Read more: Major, but not mega events placed 2018 in the top five years of insured losses In other climate news, regions that previously didnt experience extreme temperatures are seeing mercury rise, which presents a threat for railroads that in turn fall victim to sun kinks, or the buckling of track. As the perils facing railroads mount, companies are putting more emphasis on safety and new technology, while allocating more funds and energy to strengthening infrastructure. Railroads lobby Congress once a year to keep tax credits available. Its called the 45G Tax Credit, and that money is being used to upgrade their infrastructure, explained Adamczyk, adding that technology is being used to train talent coming into the industry with the use of app-based training modules that animate various procedures, which holds the attention span of younger employees and helps them to better retain the information. On the insurance side, any company thats providing coverage to the railroad industry has a manuscript form that covers bodily injury and property damage. The Federal Employers Liability Act is a federal law that [means] if an employee is injured, they can sue their employer for damages, he told Insurance Business. They dont get statutory limits for a specific injury, and whereas in workers comp, you might be given a half-million dollars for a significant injury, those damages to the railroad could be in excess of a million and, in some cases, multi-million dollars, depending on the jurisdiction and the laws in that state. Along with this coverage, Aspen Insurance offers coverage extensions for pollution coverage, evacuation expenses, and coverage for the care, custody and control of railcars, as well as the product thats inside those cars. Meanwhile, the railroad insurance market is experiencing its own evolution. Adamczyk started his career in railroad insurance back in 1983, and has seen the marketplace for these accounts contract in the past few years. More and more railroads are being acquired by the holding companies out there. Whereas when I started my career, there were many more independently-owned railroads, over time holding companies were created and they started to purchase these other railroads, he said. With that, there are fewer and fewer risks out there for insurance companies to cover, therefore reducing the premium base that is out there. Given that this is such a potentially volatile industry, it has kept the markets stable throughout because there are only so many markets that could survive underwriting shortline and regional railroads. As one avenue for money launderers is shut, another one may be opening. In Denmark, home to Danske Bank A/S, the authorities are now taking a closer look at companies that provide payment services. The worry is that the chain of processes behind each payment is becoming so complex that criminals might be able to hide their illicit transactions. Danish Business Minister Rasmus Jarlov says the goal is to all the time be ahead of the criminals. Because theyre trying to exploit any loophole and any weakness in the financial system. The decision to focus on payment service providers comes as the industrys growth catches many off guard. On Monday, markets woke up to news of a mega merger as Fidelity National Information Services Inc. agreed to combine with Worldpay Inc. for about $43 billion, including debt, marking the biggest deal ever in that sector. September Deadline Banks in Europe face a September deadline to give payment service providers access to their accounts. The idea is to let such third-party firms carry out transactions on behalf of customers, provided they give their consent. Ideally, such service providers should add a layer of competition to the payments market, which has been dominated by banks. But banks in the Nordic region, many of which have been targeted by money laundering allegations that are now being investigated, are protesting. They argue that the development leaves them with less visibility over whats flowing through their systems. Jarlov is part of a government that is still reeling from allegations that the main bank in his home country was at the center of one of the worlds biggest money laundering scandals. Danske has itself admitted that much of about $230 billion that flowed through a tiny branch in Estonia until as recently as 2015 was probably illicit. Thats amid accusations that the bank became a European bridge for criminals from Russia to get their money into the West. The scandal surrounding Danske, which is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department, among others, has left Denmark in a state of shock. Jarlov, as the minister in charge of financial regulation in Danskes home market, is now going out of his way to push some of the toughest anti-money laundering rules in Europe, including raising maximum fines eight-fold to $4.5 billion and making it easier to throw bank executives in jail. The financial system is so complex that there could be so many ways of exploiting it that we have not even thought of, Jarlov said in an interview in Copenhagen this month. Russia, Cyprus Julie Galbo, head of risk management at Nordea Bank Abp, says shes seen evidence that, in some cases, the money going through such providers flows from, for instance, Russia to, for instance, exotic places that are not known for their high tax payments in the EU Cyprus, Malta and nice islands in the Caribbean. Payments can go through multiple service providers but the information is owned by the payment service provider, so banks cant see all of it, Galbo said. Like banks, payment service providers must vet customers, but they dont pass on their information to the banks, she said. Security has become a rising concern amid efforts to establish large, cross-border systems for processing payments instantly. Nordic banks are working toward creating a region-wide network while the European Central bank launched a similar settlement system in November. Samuel Haskins, a financial services experts at PA Consulting, points out that there are now fewer transactions being processed by single organizations as the payments industry evolves. Thats making it harder for banks to monitor suspicious behavior, he said. Under sanctions we can block suspicious transactions if we concretely can specify that they are violators of the sanctions list, but that is just the sanctions list, Galbo said. And these are not necessarily sanctioned, and we can only see part of the chains. I am looking at the next problem, she said. There are definitely super-good payment service providers. But then there are a few bad apples, and my concern is that those bad apples have a different incentive structure than banks. Related: Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Topics Europe Russia After only a year into his job as CEO and president of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, Roy Wright is setting the place on fire. The IBHS conducted a demonstration in early March simulating an active wildfire for media and guests by casting embers at a structure inside its massive test chamber in Chester County, S.C. The test structure was a small house built and landscaped on one side as a wildfire-resistant structure, while the other side was created with common building and landscaping materials used when wildfire resistance is not a consideration. A set of giant ember generators showered the structure with chunks of hot particles. Within two minutes a flame had ignited. Inside of five minutes ignition of wood mulch occurred, then the next vulnerable layer lit up, moving up the siding into the eaves, inside the attic vent area, and then total desolation of one side of the structure What the demos showed is that you can build in a way to defend against these wildfires, said Wright. IBHS has learned that during wildfires, as many as 90 percent of homes and buildings damaged or destroyed are first ignited by embers or other fires set by embers, and not the main wildland fire front. The organization stresses that there are practical, affordable steps many home and business owners can take to help reduce the risk posed by these flying embers. Wright, who assumed the role as head of the research and information arm for the insurance industry in April 2018, was previously deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Hes held posts with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management. Wright spoke with Insurance Journal about the difference the right building materials and landscaping can make in resisting wildfires. This has been edited for brevity and clarity. Insurance Journal: Can you talk about your role with IBHS and about the March wildfire demonstration? Roy Wright: Just under a year ago I joined the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. I have spent, not just this last year, but the preceding couple of decades, focused on the impacts that severe weather have, the way that they disrupt lives, displace families, and drive financial loss, and IBHS offered me an opportunity to join an absolutely amazing team where the science drives that resilience. We do a lot of work on hurricanes and wind-driven rain. I think we, in many ways, are viewed as weve written the book on hail. But this past month, weve been focused on the wildfire dimensions. Clearly, weve had catastrophic events play out in both 2017 and 2018, largely in the California context. Although, if you go back over the last decade, you would see wildfires from South Carolina to Tennessee, Colorado Springs, Texas all play into that same conversation. So, we had the science. We did quite a bit of the work on ember transport here. Weve looked at defensible space and how flames spread. So, this month we looked particularly at what does it look like to see that speed of ignition from embers. Most folks dont fully realize, because theyve watched on TV a fire, but flames spread. That flame coming up against the side of your house, thats only responsible for about 10 percent of building ignitions. The other 90 percent are from embers. Embers can be the size of a fingernail. They can be the size of a whole. But they can also be the size of a hand, or the size of the entire expanse of your hands. We looked at that, and so this particular event looked at a duplex, built side by side, where on one side we have a well-built home that has made the right choices as it pertains to wildfire defenses, and the other side using more conventional approaches. So, you start down at the very top of the house, the way that the eaves are done. So, on a well-built home, with a fire defense, will have those eaves that are closed versus open eaves. You look at fiber cement board for siding versus wood shingle. You look at dual-pane tempered glass windows versus a single pane. You look at the way that the decks are constructed. And then you start looking at things related to that defensible space. What do those elements begin to look like? We put that on full display. We turned on the ember generators, so this test chamber, which is the size of an airplane hangar, with turbines that are each six feet across, we use those to really rev up all the way to a Cat 4 hurricane. In this instance, we kept that down at 12 miles an hour. IJ: What did the demos show or prove? Wright: What the demos showed is that you can build in a way to defend against these wildfires. You watch the video of this home, the same amount of embers are hitting the good side, the gray side, of the house, as is hitting the wood shingles. On the good side, that defensible fire approach withstood just as much force of fire as the house that caught on fire. So first and foremost, you can build this way. Secondly, the importance of defensible space, that first five feet, how you deal with your mulch, whether youre dealing pine straw or wood, which is the worst answer, or youre dealing with rock, but then you also begin to look at where are the bushes, where are the hedges at, because those can feed the fire. When things lit up, yes, we saw the mulch catch fire, but the piece that really began to fan this flame up was a small hedge bush there at the corner of the house. That corner point is one of the most vulnerable places on the house. The stark relief showing you what you can do from a retrofit perspective, maybe more importantly what you can do for new construction, is on display. Secondly, we got to show people what happened. So many people who evacuated during these fires in 2017 and 18, showed back up and had to sift through the ash. And they dont really understand the story of how that occurred. And I think this has given folks the images they need to be able to understand that. Hopefully, from where I sit, that turns to driving even better behavior, better choices, and better construction. IJ: You mentioned building materials. Can you give a little bit of depth on that? Better materials, worse materials? Wright: Yeah, so lets start from the ground up. First, we deal with the kind of mulch that goes around the house. The best materials from a fire defense perspective are going to be some kind of rock mulch, some kind of rounded rock that can sit around there. You can still grow things with the right kind of space. Depending on what part of the country youre in, oftentimes people choose wood mulch, leaf mulch, sometimes even pine straw as the mulch that they lay down. It helps guard against the weeds that they dont want coming up around their house. Yet, what they dont appreciate is theyre inviting that ignition to happen right there. Staying there on the ground, we deal with the bushes and the other kind of hedges and things that you would put around your house. They need to be 5-feet away, not up against the house. If they were to catch, you want them to be able to catch and not ignite the structure. I look at decks. It has a lot to do with the materials theyre constructed out, how the joists are spaced, because the embers can come in and lodge between each one of those joists or boards. Maybe even more important is whats directly underneath that deck that can also ignite and fan that flame up through. I then turn to windows and door closings. You need dual-pane windows. For the same reasons you would need them for energy (conservation), you want to see that also play out because that will also guard against that type of temperature differential and help guard against the window cracking. I look at the door. You want a fiberglass door, not a wood door. The wood door catches. We then look at the siding. Siding, youve got some options that are there. Particularly, in wooded areas, and people look at cabins as well as the way the construction is done quite a bit in the Northeast, folks love that wooded shingle look. It is the worst thing that you can put on the side of your house. Youre far better to put a fiber cement board on the side of your home. Whats important, and this is important in new construction, that fiber cement board is actually cheaper to install, and a far safer way to approach fire defense. I then go up, you look at the eaves, sometimes called the soffits, that area, that overhang of your roof. You want to see that area closed in so that youre not seeing the joists protrude out. Those open eaves allow the embers that pick up and move to fly and lodge themselves inside the attic space. Next, Im going to look at the attic vents, and, frankly, these are the same things we look at in terms of venting below grade areas as well. What you want on those attic vents is a way that when the heat kicks up, that they literally melt shut so that those embers arent coming inside the attic where they can create quite an explosion. Finally across the roof itself, you pay attention to the kind of debris, or various kind of organic material, that can gather near dormers, right up against the side there, because as that material sits there over time, it becomes dry and susceptible to catching on fire. And then finally, those gutters that sit around. Are they metal versus the plastic, PVC approaches? Those PVC approaches will melt in and of their own right. And then secondly, whats in those gutters? You want to make sure those gutters are cleaned out when youre dealing with a major rainstorm so that the water flows where its supposed to. Similarly, youve got to do that. You do not want leaves and other organic material to accumulate there. IJ: Do you think enough people associate the IBHS with wildfire safety and prevention? Wright: Theres a set of people who do. Primarily, we act as an amplifier of information. So, we pose these pieces and work first with the insurance industry so that theyre pushing them out through their companies and agents, down to their policyholders. Those agents are usually some of the most trusted actors in a community and supporting homeowners. And so, we want to make sure that they have the information to act on it. We then do push out, through our disastersafety.org website, information to community officials as well as homeowners. Related: Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Construction Brightway Insurance has kicked off its new Independent Agent Program with its first group of seven new Independent Agent Owners. Brightway Insurance, a national property/casualty insurance retailer selling through a network of franchised independent agencies, unveiled a no-upfront cost program for independent insurance agents that offers a path to ownership of their own Brightway agency back in January. Describing it as going all in on the independent insurance agency channel at a time when some are questioning its future, Brightway Insurance Co-Founder & CEO Michael Miller said the new distribution model is designed for agents who have dreamed of being their own boss and owning their own agency but dont have the financial resources to get there. We are 100 percent committed to the independent agent channel, Miller said. Were betting everything that there are fantastic people who work in insurance today who would love to build their own business, be their own boss and have an organization like Brightway support them and were excited to do it. Since then, the following agents have launched their agencies nationwide: Gary Weintraub opened Brightway, The Gary Weintraub Agency in Pooler, Ga. Andrew Gutierrez opened Brightway, The Andrew Gutierrez Agency in Topeka, Ks. Sandeep Rao opened Brightway, The Rao Agency in Wilmington, N.C. Aquarius Johnson opened Brightway, The Aquarius Johnson Agency in Humble, Texas. Austin Vannoy opened Brightway, The Vannoy Agency in Valdosta, Ga. Jeremy Hill opened Brightway, The Jeremy Hill Agency in New Orleans, La. Maria Puente opened Brightway, The Maria Puente Agency in Tucson, Ariz. Brightway Independent Agents have access to the same after-the-sale service as franchise owners as they qualify for a fully financed, lower-cost entry fee into the companys new franchise model in which a Brightway location can operate out of a professional office space. As a national property/casualty insurance distribution company, Brightway is focused on providing a platform that helps business people become insurance entrepreneurs. It offers its agency owners support including customer service, carrier relationships, marketing, accounting and technology. Brightway Insurance writes more than $572 million in annualized written premium. Topics Agencies A Travis County body shop owner has been sentenced to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to reporting wrecks that never took place and damaging vehicles to increase insurance payouts, the Texas Department of Insurance reported. The fraud took place over about five years, according to TDI investigators. During that time, Elias Zapata changed the body shops name several times to avoid bad reviews. Zapata pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony in February. He was sentenced March 13 to probation and ordered to repay more than $76,000. The case was prosecuted by Travis County Special Assistant District Attorney Brian Chandler, one of six prosecutors employed by TDI who work in district attorneys offices across the state to fight insurance fraud. TDI investigators are certified peace officers and work closely with law enforcement authorities around the state when investigating fraud cases. Source: TDI Topics Texas Auto Fraud A licensed insurance agent out of Orlando, Fla., was arrested this month for allegedly submitting fraudulent insurance applications to multiple carriers, according to a statement from Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis. Sheila De Lima Torres Tecchio with Enterprise Insurance Agency, Inc. is accused of preparing and submitting fraudulent insurance applications to multiple insurance carriers in an effort to defraud her customers out of insurance coverage and steal $16,763 in commissions Fraud detectives with the Florida Department of Financial Services discovered that Tecchio was writing and submitting fraudulent insurance applications to multiple insurance companies. Tecchio allegedly misclassified the vehicles as either personal use or limited business purpose vehicles without the owners knowledge. Tecchio then submitted the fraudulent applications resulting in her receiving commissions of approximately $16,763 for 39 vehicles between March 12, 2017, and March 30, 2018. Because of these actions multiple consumers went without insurance coverage, Patronis said. Tecchio surrendered to the Orange County Jail and was arrested on March 6. Tecchio faces counts of scheme to defraud, false and fraudulent motor vehicle insurance application and grand theft. If convicted, Tecchio could face up to 70 years in prison. Source: Florida Department of Financial Services Topics Agencies Florida Fraud The Kentucky Court of Appeals has overturned a $21.7 million judgment against a helicopter company regarding a crash that killed three people. Three people died in June 2013 when an air ambulance crashed as it was returning from a trip to an eastern Kentucky hospital. Pilot Eddy Sizemore, flight paramedic Herman Lee Dobbs and flight nurse Jesse Jones were killed. A federal investigation blamed the crash on pilot error. But eight family members of the victims blamed the crash on a defect in the main rotor blade of the helicopter. A Clay County jury sided with the victims families, ordering Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. to pay them $21.7 million. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the appeals court overturned that judgment, saying the judge assigned to the case improperly barred some evidence. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Kentucky A North Carolina city has paid the family of a man who was hit and killed by a speeding police car in 2017. The Charlotte Observer reports the city of Charlotte paid $950,000 in December to the family of James Michael Short, who was trying to cross a street on July 8, 2017, when a police vehicle being driven by officer Phillip Barker struck and killed him. At the time, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Barker was traveling at speeds that reached around 100 mph (160 kph). Police say Barker was responding to an emergency and had his lights and siren on. Barker was charged with involuntary manslaughter and is awaiting trial. His attorney, Michael Greene, says Barker is on unpaid administrative leave from the police force. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Law Enforcement North Carolina Since California implemented its workers compensation formulary last year, an increasing share of drugs prescribed to injured workers are either Exempt from prospective utilization review or Not Listed in the formulary, while Non-Exempt drugs that require UR before they can be dispensed account for a declining share of the prescriptions, a new stud shows. The California Workers Compensation Institute study released on Wednesday looks at the impact of a Assembly Bill 1124 passed in 2015 requiring that the California Division of Workers Compensation to adopt a formulary that meets evidence-based medicine standards. After two years of development, the Medical Treatment Utilization Schedule Prescription Drug Formulary took effect on Jan. 1, 2018. The intent of the formulary was to improve quality of care by ensuring that drugs provided to injured workers meet evidence-based medicine standards in terms of frequency, duration, strength, and appropriateness; reduce the amount spent on drugs in the system; and reduce delays and frictional costs associated with prescription drug disputes. The formulary adopted by the DWC includes Exempt and Non-Exempt Drug Lists, based on the need for prospective UR, while drugs that are not on either list (Not Listed) are allowed if the treating physician can show that their use for the specific injury is supported by the MTUS or other applicable guidelines. The authors of the CWCI study compared pre-formulary data from prescriptions filled in the first half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 to post-formulary data from prescriptions dispensed to injured workers in the first half of 2018 to examine the formularys impact on the mix of drugs used in California workers comp and the distribution of prescription drug payments. The 658,057 prescriptions in the study sample were grouped by fill date and formulary classification: Exempt, Non-Exempt, or Not Listed; with the Non-Exempt drugs further segmented to identify Special Fill drugs (a four-day supply of which is exempt from prospective UR if prescribed at an initial visit within seven days of injury); and Perioperative drugs (a limited supply of which is exempt from prospective UR if prescribed four days prior to a surgery to four days after a surgery). Among the findings, the study showed that after the formulary took effect: Exempt drugs, which are available without prospective UR, rose to 38.5 percent of all prescriptions, up from 33.2 percent and 35.2 percent prior to the formulary. Non-Exempt drugs, which require prospective UR, fell to 45.1 percent of the prescriptions, down from 54.3 percent and 52.9 percent in the pre-formulary periods. Not Listed drugs rose to 16.4 percent of the prescriptions, up from 12.4 percent and 11.9 percent before the formulary took effect. The mix of prescription drug payments also changed, as Exempt drugs declined from about 22 percent of the payments to about 19 percent; Non-Exempt drugs fell from more than half of the payments to 42 percent; and Not Listed drugs increased from about a quarter of the total drug spend to nearly 39 percent. CWCI has issued its study in a Spotlight Report, which includes additional analysis and tables showing the changing distributions of prescriptions for the top 20 drug ingredients overall and for the drugs on the Special Fill and Perioperative drug lists. The report can be downloaded from the Research section at www.cwci.org. Related: Topics California Workers' Compensation Drugs Munoz, who was appointed to his seat by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1993, is the citys longest-tenured Hispanic alderman, but he announced in July that he would not seek re-election. At the time he said he was retiring because he was having fun writing the next chapter of my life. CALGARY, ALBERTA - March 20, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Westleaf Inc. (TSX-V: WL) (OTCQB:WSLFF) ("Westleaf"), is pleased to announce it has executed a term sheet with Xabis Inc. (Xabis), whereby Xabis has agreed, subject to execution of a definitive agreement, to provide expertise to the Companys Calgary cannabis extraction and production facility. The facility formerly known as Delta West, will be rebranded The Plant by Westleaf Labs (The Plant) after Westleaf consolidated its interest in The Plant to 100%. Provided Health Canada issues the applicable license for The Plant, the extraction and production facility under construction in south east Calgary is expected to produce cannabis derivative products and, after legalization of such products which is expected later this year, consumables, topicals and other cannabis infused products, subject to and in compliance with provincial and federal regulations. Xabis is a Colorado-based cannabis processing company which provides turnkey operations for companies in the mid-stream of the cannabis industry. With more than 150 years of collective experience, Xabis's team of PHDs and scientists manage, what in Westleaf's view, is the most technically difficult processes in the cannabis life-cycle, all aspects of the extraction and manufacturing of cannabis infused products. Highlights Tapping into Industry Leading Expertise - Xabis is an industry leader in design, construction and management of cannabis extraction and manufacturing facilities, as well as product development: Xabis has run facilities in various states in the US for a total of 8 years of cumulative operating experience; and Xabis has developed more than two dozen different form factors (delivery systems such as vape pens etc.) and concentrate types with more than two hundred individual product SKUs, including oil based oral solutions, gummy edibles, hard pressed tablets, water soluble powders, oil-based capsules, body melt capsules and suppositories. - Xabis is an industry leader in design, construction and management of cannabis extraction and manufacturing facilities, as well as product development: Focus on High Margin Products - Upon legalization of the broader set of derivative cannabis products, Westleaf believes a diversified offering of derivative cannabis products will account for the majority of consumer demand. Westleaf is focused on differentiated product formulations to produce vape cartridges, edibles, beverages, and topicals to meet this expected demand in accordance with applicable regulations. - Upon legalization of the broader set of derivative cannabis products, Westleaf believes a diversified offering of derivative cannabis products will account for the majority of consumer demand. Westleaf is focused on differentiated product formulations to produce vape cartridges, edibles, beverages, and topicals to meet this expected demand in accordance with applicable regulations. Developing Products for the Global Market - The Plant is being built to EU Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) specifications to ensure compliance regulations in Canada (one of the largest emerging cannabis markets), and for export capabilities. Strategically located in Calgary, the facility is not only in the largest retail market in the prairies, but also has easy access to transportation services to the rest of Canada and to global markets. - The Plant is being built to EU Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) specifications to ensure compliance regulations in Canada (one of the largest emerging cannabis markets), and for export capabilities. Strategically located in Calgary, the facility is not only in the largest retail market in the prairies, but also has easy access to transportation services to the rest of Canada and to global markets. Scalability - The Plant includes an approximately 60,000 square foot complex with Phase I (~15,000 sq. ft.) designed to include R&D, processing, extraction, manufacturing and order fulfillment. Construction is expected to be complete in summer 2019. It is anticipated that the facility will be capable of producing the full suite of new derivative product lines in preparation of Health Canada's anticipated legalization of derivative and consumable products, expected to occur on October 17, 2019. - The Plant includes an approximately 60,000 square foot complex with Phase I (~15,000 sq. ft.) designed to include R&D, processing, extraction, manufacturing and order fulfillment. Construction is expected to be complete in summer 2019. It is anticipated that the facility will be capable of producing the full suite of new derivative product lines in preparation of Health Canada's anticipated legalization of derivative and consumable products, expected to occur on October 17, 2019. Multiple Revenue Streams - The Plant is designed to produce a diversified offering of cannabis derivative products under Westleaf's brand portfolio. Additionally, Westleaf plans to offer white labeling services to produce finished products for third parties, as well as contract manufacturing services for raw extract and distillation. - The Plant is designed to produce a diversified offering of cannabis derivative products under Westleaf's brand portfolio. Additionally, Westleaf plans to offer white labeling services to produce finished products for third parties, as well as contract manufacturing services for raw extract and distillation. Truly Vertically Integrated Company - Westleaf is one of the few truly vertically integrated companies in the Canadian cannabis industry, with assets owned and under development across each vertical of the business, including cultivation, extraction, processing & manufacturing, distribution and wholly owned retail. Westleaf believes that being vertically integrated provides significant optionality and defensively positions the company to protect margins across the life cycle of the industry. "We are entirely focused on the plant-to-product portion of the value chain," explains Dale Zink, CEO of Xabis. "From the end of the grow to the final processed product shipping out to the retail store or dispensary, we apply our expertise to help companies create the industry's best and most profitable processes and systems." Zink leads a group of PHDs with extensive experience in biotechnology and chemical engineering, including experience in the extraction industry, the pharmaceutical industry and academia. The move by Xabis into the Canadian market under an exclusive relationship with Westleaf is the company's first foray into the largest single legalized recreational market. Xabis has designed, built, and operated facilities in five (5) US states where medical or recreational cannabis has been legalized. "This partnership is another part of the execution on Westleaf's strategy of becoming a significant vertically integrated player in the Canadian cannabis industry," said Scott Hurd, President and CEO of Westleaf. "We believe a diversified offering of derivative cannabis products will account for a major shift in consumer demand once legal. We are positioning to formulate unique, high quality derivative products and bring in the best minds in the industry to help leverage our expertise in building and running these types of facilities." Artist's rendering of The Plant in SE Calgary. The Brand Story The Plant derives its name from the origin story of the company: a plant is not just a source of life; at Westleaf, it's our source of inspiration. Not only nature's ideal version of growth, to us, it's also a place of progress and production. A place to press forward. To build on our foundation, extract our most potent ideas, and to optimize everything we do. It's not where we cultivate, it's where we innovate. In order to ensure we provide the absolute best our country has to offer and fulfill our mandate to be at the forefront of cannabis research, development and technology. This is our place of constant growth. About Xabis Xabis brings scientific discipline, sound business principles, and professionalism to the cannabis industry by delivering turnkey processing operations for the commercial scale transformation of cannabis from plant to product. Xabis is led by seasoned business professionals and scientific experts, including some of the industry's leading chemical and biological PhDs and engineers. For more information, please visit www.Xabisinc.com. About Westleaf Inc. Westleaf is a vertically integrated cannabis company focused on innovative retail experiences and engaging cannabis brands as well as cultivation, production and extraction of cannabis products. Westleaf is rolling out a national retail footprint for its retail concept Prairie Records, with stores planned for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and potentially Ontario. The retail concept leverages the instinctual tie between recreational cannabis and music and redefines the cannabis purchasing experience. The Company also has two significant production facilities under construction and scheduled for completion in 2019. For more information, please visit http://www.westleaf.com or www.prairierecords.ca. More Information: Bruce Leslie, VP Corporate Communications Bruce.leslie@westleaf.com 403-801-7612 Lauren Steeves, NorthStrategic Lauren.steeves@northstrategic.com 306-717-3253 Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release Cautionary Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. This news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: (i) the execution of a definitive agreement with Xabis; (ii) development of The Plant facility, the quality of the facility, the products to be produced at the Facility and the expected opening date thereof; (iii) the legalization of derivative products and the resulting market therefor; (iv) Westleaf's ability to market and sell its products across different markets, including globally; (v) approval of Health Canada for The Plant; and (v) the business and operations of Westleaf. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder, court or regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, Westleaf assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. 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Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Marijuana / Hemp / Cannabis Stocks at Cannabisinvestorideas.com and Investorideas.com Vancouver, British Columbia - March 20, 2019 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Rise Gold Corp. (CSE: RISE) (OTCQB: RYES) (the "Company") is pleased to announce additional assay results from on-going diamond core drilling at the Idaho-Maryland ("I-M") Gold Project. The exploration drill program at the Idaho-Maryland continues to be successful. Recent drilling intersected the Idaho #1 Vein below historic mining areas and intersected the 52 Vein area prior to reaching the Idaho #1 Vein target. A shallow vein was also intersected at 259 m. TABLE 1 - New Drill Hole Intercept Highlights *The Company is not able to estimate true widths for the intersected mineralization until further drilling is completed. Very high-grade gold mineralization was encountered in drill hole I-19-13A which assayed 90.4 gpt gold over 4.27 m (2.6 oz per ton / 14 feet). Rise Gold has interpreted this intercept to represent a significant down-dip extension of the historic Idaho #1 Vein. The intercept in I-19-13A is near the elevation of the lowest haulage level of the mine accessed by the existing vertical mine shaft. FIGURE 1 - Visible Gold in Drill Intercept I-19-13A (in retained half core) The Idaho #1 Vein was the most productive and highest-grade vein of the I-M Mine. Historic production from the Idaho #1 Vein is estimated at 935,000 oz of gold with an average head grade of 38.7 gpt (1.12 opt) gold. Total historic production from the Idaho Veins is estimated at 1,621,000 oz of gold with an average head grade of 28.4 gpt (0.74 opt) gold. Idaho #1 Vein Drilling The mineralized intercepts in drill holes I-19-13 and I-19-13A consist of a quartz shear vein and extensive zones of quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration in the walls of the vein. Drill hole I-19-13A was wedged from drill hole I-19-13 and the holes are offset approx. 1.5 meters apart at the vein intersection The vein in I-19-13 assayed 5.5 gpt gold over 5.12 m (0.16 opt / 16.8 ft) The vein in I-19-13A assayed 90.4 gpt gold over 4.27 m (2.64 opt / 14.0 ft) The weighted average of both holes is 44.1 gpt gold over 4.69m (1.29 opt / 15.4 ft) I-19-13A includes a sample which assayed 458 gpt gold over 0.84 m (13.36 opt / 2.7 ft) The vein in I-19-13A contains coarse visible gold in some samples of retained half core A 40 m wide zone of alteration surrounds the vein with an average grade of ~1.5 gpt gold and individual samples assaying up to 12 gpt gold Drill hole I-18-11 intersected the Idaho #1 Vein approx. 525 m along strike to the north-west and 200 m below I-19-13A. The intercept consists of a quartz shear vein and extensive zones of quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration in the walls of the vein. The vein in I-18-11 assayed 3.6 gpt gold over 2.47 m (0.11 opt / 8.1 ft) A 100 m wide zone of alteration surrounds the vein with an average grade of ~1.1 gpt gold and individual samples assaying up to 8 gpt gold Additional drilling in the area of I-18-11 may reveal coarse gold similar to I-19-13A Drill hole I-18-13A and I-18-11 are located 120 m and 320 m vertically below the I2400 level, the lowest level of exploration on the Idaho #1 Vein. Historic drifts were driven from each end of the vein and reported to be in gold mineralization at the time the mine was shut down. I2400L West: historic channel samples of the vein and wallrock averaged 19.9 gpt gold over 1.93 m (0.58 opt / 6.4 ft) for a distance of 165 m to the final shutdown face Channel samples include assays up to 481 gpt gold over 1.16 m (14.0 opt / 3.8 ft) I2400L East: drifting in the Idaho #1 Vein was reported to be "well mineralized" over a distance of 76 m to the final shutdown face Drill hole I-18-12 was designed to test the down-dip extension of the mineralization encountered in I-18-11 but significantly deviated and did not reach the intended Idaho #1 Vein target. Rise Gold is currently drilling the Idaho #1 Vein target between I-19-13A and I-18-11 and utilizing directional drilling to improve the accuracy of drilling and expedite the next intercepts. A summary of drill hole assay results from recent exploration diamond drilling on the Idaho #1 Vein target are presented in Table 1 and illustrated in Figure 2. A photo of coarse visible gold in drill hole I-19-13A is displayed in Figure 1. The Isometric drawing (Figure 2) showing the recent drill hole intercepts in the Idaho area can be downloaded from the following link. https://riseg.sharefile.com/d-s8bc52c537474e41a FIGURE 2 - Idaho Vein Intercepts - Isometric View 52 Vein Area Drilling Drill holes I-18-11 and I-18-12 drilled though the 52 Vein area en route to the Idaho #1 Vein target. Important gold mineralization related to the 52 Vein was intersected in drill holes I-18-11 & I-18-12. The 52 Vein intercepts are located approximately 242 m and 125 m north-east of the previous drill intercept in drill hole I-18-10. A similar style of mineralization to I-18-10 was encountered with a wide flat lying shear vein and high-grade extensional veins in the walls of vein. Drill hole I-18-10 assayed 149.3 gpt gold over 6.8 m, including 2,190 gpt gold over 0.47 m and was previously reported by news release on Dec 13th 2018. https://www.risegoldcorp.com/uploads/content/Dec13RiseGoldIntersects149gptgoldover6.8metersatIdahoMaryland.pdf The current drill program is focussed on the Idaho #1 Vein target and therefore the 52 Vein intercepts are incidental to the Idaho #1 Vein drilling. The 52 Vein represents a large and compelling target for a focussed drilling program in the future. A summary of drill hole assay results from recent exploration diamond drilling on the 52 Vein target are presented in Table 1 and illustrated in Figure 3. FIGURE 3 - 52 Vein Intercepts - Plan View Quality Control and Assay Methods Richard Lippoth, M.Sc, CPG, the qualified person for the exploration drill results disclosure contained in this news release, has studied the drill core discussed in this news release and has reviewed the analytical and quality control results. Mr. Lippoth has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical contents of this news release. Benjamin Mossman, P.Eng, CEO of Rise Gold, is the qualified person for the historic production disclosure contained in this news release. Historic production at the Idaho-Maryland Mine is disclosed in the Technical Report on the Idaho-Maryland Project dated June 1st, 2017 and available on www.sedar.com. Rise has implemented a quality control program for its drill program to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of the drill core. This includes the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates and certified standards. HQ- and NQ-sized drill core is saw cut with half of the drill core sampled at intervals based on geological criteria including lithology, visual mineralization, and alteration. The remaining half of the core is stored on-site at the Company's warehouse in Grass Valley, California. Drill core samples are transported in sealed bags to ALS Minerals analytical assay lab in Reno, Nevada. All gold assays were obtained using a method of screen fire assaying. This procedure involves screening a large pulverized sample of up to 1 kg at 100 microns. Any +100 micron material remaining on the screen is retained and analyzed in its entirety by fire assay with gravimetric finish and reported as the Au (+) fraction result. The -100 micron fraction is homogenized and two sub-samples of 30-50 grams are analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish. If the grade of the material exceeds 10 gpt the sample is re-assayed using a gravimetric finish. The average of the two results is taken and reported as the Au (-) fraction result. All three values are used in calculating the combined gold content of the plus and minus fractions. About Rise Gold Corp. Rise Gold is an exploration-stage mining company. The Company's principal asset is the historic past-producing Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine located in Nevada County, California, USA. The Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine is a past producing gold mine with total past production of 2,414,000 oz of gold at an average mill head grade of 17 gpt gold from 1866-1955. Historic production at the Idaho-Maryland Mine is disclosed in the Technical Report on the Idaho-Maryland Project dated June 1st, 2017 and available on www.sedar.com. Rise Gold is incorporated in Nevada, USA and maintains its head office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Benjamin Mossman President, CEO and Director Rise Gold Corp. For further information, please contact: RISE GOLD CORP. Suite 650, 669 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6C 0B4 T: 604.260.4577 info@risegoldcorp.com www.risegoldcorp.com The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitation, obtaining all necessary approvals, meeting expenditure and financing requirements, compliance with environmental regulations, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information contained in this release. Rise undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Household debt remains at elevated levels but may be partly due to a growing population and an expanding economy, Department of Finance research suggests. In its Analysis of Private Sector Debt in Ireland, researchers weigh the best methods to measure both Irish household and corporate debt which remain among the highest in the EU over a decade after the property and banking crash. Michael Noonan, the former finance minister, said he is confident Irish exporters will be able to cope in the event the UK crashes out of the EU with no Brexit deal. Mr Noonan said uncertainty generated by the British parliament over its plans to exit the EU by March 29 is bad for business, bad for investment, and bad for trade. However, he said he believes Irish exporters can ride out a no-deal storm, adding that Ireland should not be overly concerned about Brexit. Its disappointing, but that being said, Irish industry is very resilient the export side is very resilient. And something that has never been discussed is the fact that when the (Brexit) referendum took place, the pound sterling was trading at around 72 pence, he said. Sterling has since slumped to 86p which means that Irish firms selling into Britain have already weathered a huge devaluation. Mr Noonan said: What Im saying is that a devaluation of sterling is almost the equivalent of a tariff of the same magnitude, and yet the Irish exporting (industry), and thats an awful lot of people, have succeeded in holding their position, and increasing their position in the English market. So we are resilient, we are able to cope. Speaking at the opening of a new office building in Limerick, Mr Noonan said that apart from the food industry, Brexit wont be catastrophic for the Republic. Mr Noonan said he believed British Prime Minister Theresa Mays negotiations with the EU didnt appear to be smooth or efficient, but added that she does not deserve to take all of the blame. Im sure there was a lot of people at fault. She was in a difficult position, and she still is, he said. Mr Noonan said he is confident the EU would not cave in at the 11th hour. Ill tell you this much, the EU wont cave in anyway. I know those people very well, I worked with them for years. Therell be no cave in, he said. Mr Noonan also said that an early general election is unlikely. The Government is three years in office and theres another two years to go. Thats not what [Fianna Fail leader] Micheal Martin tied the confidence and supply (agreement) to. He said he wouldnt have an election now because of Brexit, but he tied the period of the Government to one more budget, so that carries it on, he said. His definition of a budget is not only the announcement on budget day, but the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill and they wont be through until next Christmas. So, it seems to me that no one is thinking about an election at the moment. Meanwhile, with just 10 days to go before the UK is set to leave the EU and no divorce deal in place, markets are getting optimistic that a crash-out Brexit will be avoided and that a second Brexit referendum may be on the cards. Consensus appears to be buying into our view that a no-deal is increasingly unlikely to materialise, said Barclays analysts. We believe that investor sentiment towards UK exposure could continue to improve. Meanwhile, Societe Generale strategist Kit Juckes said: The betting market is convinced that there will be an extension, thinks a no-deal exit is highly unlikely, and is warming to the idea of a second referendum. Additional reporting Bloomberg The Government has been urged, by a gas exploration company active in Irish waters, to clarify its long-term position on offshore drilling or risk losing inward investment. Predator Oil and Gas said the Government needs to give more clarity on the future shape of Ireland's exploration industry and speed up its process of awarding licences; warning that investment will go elsewhere if nothing changes. "It is time the politicians made it clear whether Ireland is open for business for investment in developing indigenous gas or not, and if so took the practical steps to enact the rhetoric," said Predator's founder and chief executive Paul Griffiths. Predator is active offshore Ireland and onshore in Trinidad and Morocco - where it has just agreed terms on a phased eight-year exploration programme. Here, the company is solely focused on gas exploration. It has two licensing options; one in the Celtic Sea and one near the Corrib gas field off the north-west coast. Paul Griffiths Predator recently described the Celtic Sea asset - which contains an estimated one trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas - as being a potential "game-changer" for Ireland. The company's frustration lies with the length of time it has been waiting to get approval to convert its Irish licensing options into full exploration licences. Mr Griffiths said Predator has been waiting nearly eight months for a frontier exploration licence decision on its Corrib South option. As a result, he said the company has missed the chance to potentially drill in 2020. He added that the delay is also hampering Predator's chances of landing development partners for its Irish assets, who may instead seek to acquire UK or Norwegian oil and gas assets instead. "There is no understanding of commercial issues whatsoever. Investment funds go elsewhere for us to Morocco where security of gas supply and a greener energy mix is seen as strategically and commercially important and the government there works very hard to be supportive in a practical way," he said. The position in Morocco is not dissimilar to that in Ireland concerns over security of gas supply and a commitment to reducing C02 emissions. "The difference is that Morocco is proactive in encouraging indigenous gas exploration as gas is seen as the energy bridge to a greener energy mix by replacing coal-fired power generation," Mr Griffiths said. A silent auction of rare film memorabilia has raised more than 20,000 for the creation of a film hub in West Cork. The auction, which included eye-catching pieces such as signed script pages of Star Wars: Rogue One and Hercule Poirots moustache, was in aid of the creation of a film centre in Schull. The project aims to transform the old AIB bank in the heart of the village into a state-of-the-art film centre. The landmark building was gifted to the Fastnet Film Festival and could cost as much as 1.5m to refurbish. The festival organisers plan to transform it into a world-class performance centre, including a 120-seater auditorium with a stage, cinema, and rooms for workshops, archives, greenscreen, editing, and more. In total, the silent auction saw 90 items auctioned off, with some 22,000 raised. Among the items was a framed Hercule Poirot moustache, worn by David Suchet in 1993. The framed moustache, created by Patricia Coogan ODell, Davids personal make-up artist on the original Poirot television series, sold for 550. The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar helped to launch this year's Daffodil Day, but someone wasn't happy about it. Mr Varadkar called on the public to give generously on Daffodil Day this Friday, March 22, when he was at today's launch along with breast cancer survivor Sarah Murray. Ms Murray, from Malahide, brought along her children, Sadie (aged 5) and nine-month-old Sean. While the Taoiseach put a flower into his lapel, little Sean cast a wary eye in his direction. However, when Mr Varadkar offered little Sean a daffodil, he didn't get the reaction he wanted. [gallery]67[/gallery] Luckily, Averil Power, Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society, was on hand to calm things down. Sean's mother Sarah is the face of the Daffodil Day campaign this year and she described how difficult the emotional impact of cancer is. She was diagnosed with cancer aged 32 when her daughter was just one. Sarah noticed a swelling under her arm that turned out to be breast cancer. She had a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She said: The chemo and radiotherapy were very tough, but it was the period after treatment I found the most difficult. People expect you to go back to normal. "But for me, thats when the reality of what I had gone through really hit me. I was very anxious and depressed and found it hard to cope. I felt my body had betrayed me and was constantly worried about the cancer coming back. I got a lot of support from the nurses on the Irish Cancer Societys free Nurseline and in their Daffodil Centre. It helped so much to talk to someone who understood what I was going through and could answer my questions. I called the Nurseline again recently when I was worried about my check-up and it helped calm me down. Talking is so important, because recovery isnt just physical, its mental too, said Sarah. Averil Power said: Thanks to our fantastic supporters, Sarah had someone to turn to when she was struggling to cope. Unfortunately, increased demand means not everyone who needs our help is getting it. Each day in Ireland, 150 people are diagnosed with cancer. "We want to be there for every one of them with free support from our nurses and counselling sessions in local cancer centres nationwide. But as 98% of our funding comes from donations, we cannot do that without a strong Daffodil Day. "Thats why this Friday were calling on communities all over Ireland to come together, support cancer patients and ensure no-one has to go through cancer alone. Bernadette Lavery, MD of Boots Ireland said many of their 87 stores will be holding fundraisers and customers can buy a daffodil pin instore or add a donation to their bill to help raise funds. To support Daffodil Day you can buy a pin from a local volunteer, your local Boots store, or donate at www.cancer.ie. A woman in her 70s has been left badly shaken after a burglary at a house in Belfast. Two masked men entered the house in the Castlecoole Park area of the city, just after 8.20pm last night. A new public awareness campaign launched to coincide with European Media Literacy Week (18-22 March) has been unveiled to encourage people of all ages to check that information they see, read or hear across any media platform is reliable. Evidence cited by those leading the campaign shows that 83% of Europeans think so-called fake news a term popularised by US President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. A further 63% say they come across fake news at least once a week. Brown has been charged in the shooting death of Deputy Jacob Jake Keltner, who was working with a federal task force. He pleaded not guilty to charges that were included in an indictment announced Tuesday: killing an officer of a federal agency performing official duties, illegal possession of firearms by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The first charge carries the possibility of the death penalty if Brown is convicted, though prosecutors have not formally sought the punishment. Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) has linked up with Dell to introduce virtual reality (VR) technology in its classrooms to help students design industry standard VR games using cutting-edge technology. Implementing the new technology has allowed teaching staff to gain an extra 40 minutes of classroom instruction time each day, they said. It has already been used to create projects to help patients with Parkinson's and individuals being released from prison. In introducing new technology, including VR, for students, CIT was hindered by outdated technology. Old workstations and supporting infrastructure were unable to support the programmes required to roll out modules on gaming, VR, animation and application design. To overcome these challenges, CIT collaborated with Dell in a programme of updating design labs. New technology, including state-of-the-art workstations and gaming desktops, have given the students the tools to use VR in their learning. In giving students access to VR technologies, CIT is responding to a growing demand for the use of cutting-edge computer technologies in the workplace. Rose McGrath, head of media communications in CIT said: "In recent times, outdated technology has meant we have been unable to meet the needs of students and teachers who increasingly undertake intensive VR projects as part of their digital media and e-learning curriculum. "Our partnership with Dell has proved pivotal in enabling our students to be more creative and use VR to push the boundaries of what they can do with graphics. Without the improved performance from the Dell workstations and Alienware gaming desktops, we wouldnt have been able to regain 40 minutes of classroom instruction time every day." Aisling Keegan, vice-president and general manager of Dell EMC Ireland, said that the technology will help to prepare the students for a digitally-focused working environment. "Students have used our devices to create projects ranging from therapeutic activitybased video games to assist patients with Parkinsons disease, to a VR immersive programme that helps prepare individuals in prison for release," she said. This story was originally published on March 20, 2019 at 3:55pm. Gardai are investigating the death of a man in his 40s in Co Laois. They were called to attend an incident at a house in Wolfhill today at around 3pm. The health minister has thanked the project director of the National Childrens Hospital Development Board (NCHDB) for the significant role he played in progressing the flagship project. John Pollock announced his intention to resign on Tuesday, less than two months after the boards chair, Tom Costello, announced his resignation. Mr Pollock, a civil engineer, had been in the job since August 2014 and will remain on until June. The Department of Health said a process will be put in place to appoint his successor. The department is also in the process of appointing a new chair, Fred Barry. A spokesperson said that Health Minister Simon Harris intends to bring a Memo for Information to Government, following which Mr Barry will be formally appointed as chairperson by the minister. The board has had a succession of chairs. In 2010, the first chair, Philip Lynch resigned citing significant and fundamental differences with then health minister Mary Harney over the choice of the Mater Hospital site for the childrens hospital. The Mater site was subsequently ruled out by An Bord Pleanala. Mr Lynchs successor, businessman John Gallagher, lasted less than six months, after questioning if he had any mandate. Tom Costello was appointed in January 2013, but resigned in February after it emerged the cost of building the hospital had escalated by 450 in the space of four months last year. Construction costs increased from 987m in 2017 to more than 1.4bn. The department said with the project on St James's Hospital campus is now moving into the final phases of construction, and that Mr Pollock indicated his belief that this is an opportune point for him to move from the project. The seven-storey above ground works for the hospital began in January 2019. Mr Pollock said in a statement that he was very proud of what has been achieved. Tributes have been paid to Dick Sadlier, a founding member of the Progressive Democrats, who showed courage in helping attempt to broker peace between rival gangs while he was mayor of his native Limerick. Mr Sadlier, 68, who passed away yesterday following a short illness, was mayor three times, including from 2001-2002 and 2003-2004 at the height of the Limerick gang feud which led to over 20 killings. He first became mayor in 1994, as the first chaiman of the Progressive Democrats party in the old Limerick East constituency, having been first elected to Limerick City Council in 1991. In March 2004, during his second mayoral term, and having defected to Fianna Fail, he was approached by then junior minister for justice, Willie ODea, to accompany him to a meeting in a city hotel to help mediate peace talks between rival gangs. Those talks were attended by leaders of the Dundon McCarthy/Ryan gang, as well as the Collopy gang. The Keane gang, who were closely associated with the Keane clan, did not attend, however. Mr ODea yesterday said Mr Sadlier was very brave to have attended the meeting. It took guts for him to come into that meeting, he said. I told him Id understand if he didnt want to come, but he said he felt it was for the good of Limerick, and that it might help reduce the tension and the violence. I was approached to intercede between them, to prevent them shooting each other, and to prevent innocent people getting caught in the crossfire. I spoke to the police and told them what was happening and I brought Dick along, as a witness who could verify what actually happened at the meeting. There are very few people, even if they were mayor, who would have wanted to participate in a meeting like that. Mr Sadliers political roots were in Fianna Fail, but he helped launch the Progressive Democrats until he resigned from the party in 1998, after the leadership dismissed a proposal from him calling for a Fianna Fail/PD merger. Retired state solicitor for Limerick Michael Murray, who was a personal friend of Mr Sadlier, said that he had been a man of commendable integrity with a steadfast loyalty to his own high standards. He very often stuck to his guns in a way that wasnt always popular, he added. He certainly didnt follow the popular line. Mr Sadlier is survived by his wife Mary, son Eoghan and daughter Aoife. He will be buried Wednesday in Kilmurry Cemetery, Castletroy. A man is entitled to pursue claims that new procedures for determining workplace disputes breach the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, the Supreme Court has ruled. The High Court previously decided Tomasz Zalewski lacked legal standing to continue with his constitutional challenge in light of the Workplace Relations Commission's acceptance that an adjudication officer's dismissal of his complaints of unfair dismissal involved an "administrative error" and would be quashed. He appealed the legal standing ruling and a five-judge Supreme Court unanimously allowed his appeal today, with the effect his constitutional challenge will proceed in the High Court on a date to be fixed. Mr Zalewski, North Strand Road, Dublin 3, had claimed he was unfairly dismissed from his job as assistant manager at Buywise Discount Store in 2016, where he had worked since March 2012. He denied claims of alleged gross misconduct, including failing to follow policy for robbery prevention and having no interest in the success of the workplace. In May 2016, he complained to the WRC alleging unfair dismissal and non-payment of wages in lieu of notice and maintained it would be necessary for him to give evidence in support of his claim and to cross-examine Buywise witnesses. A hearing at the WRC before an adjudication officer on October 26, 2016, lasted about 10 minutes, involved no oral evidence or opportunity to cross-examine and the officer accepted written submissions and documents from the sides, it was claimed. The officer stated in December 2016 she had decided against him and in a written decision dismissed his complaint. He got leave for High Court judicial review in February 2017, including to challenge the constitutionality of provisions of the 2015 Act, introduced following the abolition of the previous Employment Appeals Tribunal system for adjudicating claims under the Unfair Dismissal and Payment of Wages Acts. Peter Ward SC, for Mr Zalewski, argued the 2015 Act is constitutionally flawed because hearings before adjudication officers are held in private, evidence is not heard on oath, there is no penalty for any person who gives false evidence and adjudication officers are not required to have any legal qualification or experience. In April 2017, solicitors for the WRC wrote saying the officer's decision had, due to an "administrative error", been filed as a "decision to issue" rather than "adjourned to further hearing". The WRC consented to court orders quashing the officer's decision, remitting the complaint for rehearing before a different officer and to paying Mr Zalewski's costs. The WRC then asked the court to overturn the grant of leave for the constitutional challenge, saying, because it had conceded the officer's decision must be quashed, Mr Zalewski no longer had legal standing to pursue that. The High Court ruled, because the WRC had conceded the decision must be quashed, Mr Zalewski had no legal standing to pursue the constitutional challenge. Giving the Supreme Court judgment overturning that ruling, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan said Mr Zalewski, in line with the applicable legal test set out in the 1980 Cahill v Sutton decision, has legal standing to pursue the constitutional challenge. The challenge is to the statutory scheme which subsists independently of anything permitted by the relevant statutes governing what an adjudication officer might or might not do, she said. It could not be said the issues between the sides had been finally decided by the WRC decision to have the matter heard by another adjudication officer as Mr Zalewski remains in the position of having his claims potentially decided under a statutory scheme which he alleges is unconstitutional, she said. Pessimistic forecasting, an urban focus, and too many weather warnings are among the most frequent complaints from members of the public to Met Eireann. Transcripts of complaints sent to the national forecaster released under a freedom of information request show that a wide range of issues was raised by the public throughout 2018. Some of these related to how the forecasts were delivered, including complaints about the redesign of the Met Eireann website and where forecasters stand during television broadcasts, but the majority were motivated by specific weather events, including Storm Emma in March. Much of the correspondence focused on the frequency of colour-coded weather warnings, with some suggesting that their impact is reduced by issuing warnings too often. A complaint submitted on February 6, 2018, read: I would like to know why there are a huge amount of weather warnings of late sometimes 3/4 all in the one day. What is the purpose of this consistent warning drive of Met Eireann? Most of the time there is absolutely no reason for a warning. On February 8, a comment read: We are an island in the north Atlantic. We know we have to deal with bad weather. Dozens of messages were received between February 26 and March 2 relating to Storm Emma. The blizzard conditions left Ireland covered in snow for days. However, some were not convinced by the forecasted red warning. One correspondent said: You have helped to create a sense of crisis in the country by overestimating the effect of the forecast weather so far. My research indicates we will have snow but it wont be as bad as you have forecast. The recent forecasts follow a pattern of overly pessimistic forecasts in my opinion leading to an inflated sense of crisis. Several others raised the opposite concern though, claiming the warnings werent comprehensive enough. A Westmeath resident said they were dealing with 11in of snow: I feel as though the larger cities such as Dublin, Cork and Waterford are being prioritised and catered for in terms of weather alerts. The warnings have come in for criticism from business owners, who claim they can have a detrimental impact on trade. On November 28, an irate trader hit out at Met Eireann for costing business in Galway, describing the forecaster as snake oil salesmen. They said: Do you have any idea how much trade is lost in my shop thanks to you f**kers hyping up yourselfs. A similar email was sent on December 15: The forecasts broadcast last night and this morning contained dramatic use of language and confusing yellow/orange levels for wind and rainfall which has led directly to the loss of approx 6,000 for the park today in comparison to other years. For small to medium businesses like ourselves, this can be the difference in survival. Karen Brown, the 31-year-old partner of Katie Taylors father, Pete, yesterday settled a 60,000 damages claim against a motorist who, it was claimed, rear-ended them two years ago. Ms Brown, who was listed in her proceedings as having two addresses, at Camaderry Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, and Wyattville Road, Ballybrack, Co Dublin, was a passenger in Mr Taylors car on March 5, 2017, when Enda Currans car collided with it at Upper Glenageary Road, Co Dublin. Paul Gallagher, counsel for Ms Brown, told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that her claim had been settled following talks with the defendants legal team and could be struck out with an order for her costs. Details of the settlement were not disclosed to the court and it was not stated if a similar whiplash injury claim had been lodged or was being made on Mr Taylors behalf who was driving Ms Brown at the time. Mr Taylor accompanied Ms Brown to the Four Courts for the proceedings but neither of them had to attend in the courtroom. Mr Taylor was with Ms Brown, a marketing and sales consultant, throughout settlement talks outside Circuit Civil Court No 28. In one example, a priest who reportedly was ministering at St. Stanislaus Church in south suburban Posen between 1963 and 1964 was named in the Pennsylvania report. According to the grand jury report, the Rev. Raymond Lukac, who died in 2000, had a history of misconduct, including an allegation from when he served in the Diocese of Gary in Indiana. The report said the Archdiocese of Chicago requested information about Lukac in August 2006 after receiving a complaint that Lukac had sexually abused an 11-year-old girl between 1962 and 1964 in the St. Stanislaus rectory. If youre still nursing a sore head from the weekend festivities, you might want to sit down for this. After House of Commons speaker John Bercow warned British prime minister Theresa May on Monday that a four-century-old law prevented her from tabling her Brexit deal for a third time unless it was substantially changed, the already Rubik cube-esque row became even more complicated. During a divisive British cabinet meeting yesterday morning, just 10 days out from the March 29 Brexit deadline, Ms May outlined two remaining options to avoid no deal. The prime minister said she could ask the EU for a two-year extension, with a three-month delay escape clause if MPs somehow back her deal next week. Alternatively, she said she could ask for a simple three-month extension. The prime minister said she would write to European Council president Donald Tusk before tomorrow Thursday and Fridays EU summit to formally request the options. However, the fact that this amounts to asking the EU to decide on any potential extension while still being in the dark about the reasons for giving one an extension has complicated matters even further. Why is Ms Mays letter important? Hasnt she said this before? It may sound like a side-point, but this is the first time Britain will have formally asked the EU for any kind of delay, turning it from a Brexit unicorn into a living, breathing horse. After the cluster of House of Commons votes last week, Ms May did say Brexit is likely to be delayed by 20 months, with the only alternative being a delay up to June 30 on the condition MPs back her deal. However, until now, she has not formally requested the EU to back such a move. Does this automatically mean Brexit has been delayed? No, or at least not yet. The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier, and Tanaiste Simon Coveney, made it clear on Tuesday yesterday that a long-term delay will only be allowed if Britain can explain what it will do with the extra time, with Mr Barnier giving an election or a second referendum as pointed examples. Similarly, they said a short-term, three-month delay could only happen if the existing deal is passed by MPs. When Ms Mays letter arrives, it will be discussed by EU leaders before they, not Ms May, decide whether any delay will be allowed. So what happens next? What is the EU going to do? Expect the EU summit to be focused on making it abundantly clear that Britain will only be allowed to delay if they can explain how it will be used. After the standard saber-rattling, the odds suggest Ms May will be given her extension if an adequate explanation is provided. Sources say the EU may also give her a written procedure that would allow a delay to be quickly signed off next week if she finally drags her battered Brexit deal through Westminster next week. And Britain? What will Ms May, Brexiteers, and MPs do? After she writes to Brussels, Ms May will likely tell MPs that despite Mr Bercows warning of a veto to any third Brexit deal vote, she will table it again next week to prevent a cliff-edge Friday, March 29, Brexit nightmare. However, this latest gamble will hinge entirely on whether the EU says it will allow any extension if the deal is passed. Brexiteers have already warned they may pull the plug on the prime minister completely and are now pushing for a nine-month delay truce. As for MPs, they get to either vote on the same deal for a third time or explain to their constituents what went wrong. Far from easy options. Okay, all joking aside, when is this going to end? Oh thats an easy one March 29, of course, because until an extension is agreed that is the legally imposed deadline. Or in three months, if MPs finally back Ms Mays deal. Although it could be nine months, if Brexiteers get their way. And the EU does seem rather fixated on that two years target. Sure, look, its only exactly 1,000 days since the June 2016 Brexit referendum, you cant rush these things... An indecisive raider pulled out a knife at an off-licence and declared this is a robbery, but a moment later he clarified that it was not a robbery after all. Jamie Condon was more decisive in his plea of guilty yesterday to the charge of attempted robbery at ODonovans off-licence in Blackpool, Cork. Condon, aged 29, from 4 Rock Cottages, Commons Road, Cork, admitted the offence of attempted robbery at the premises at 8.30pm on January 31, 2018. Sgt Gearoid Davis said that on that evening, a lone male entered ODonovans on Thomas Davis St, Blackpool. He had his face covered with a neck-warmer. He said: This is a robbery, but the shop assistant informed the man that he recognised him. At that stage, the suspect pulled the neck-warmer down off his face and said it was not a robbery and he was only joking and he left the premises, Sgt Davis said. A week later, on February 6, the defendant was arrested in relation to the incident and admitted that was him who entered the off-licence with the knife. The man said at the time that his memory of the incident was very vague and that it was not his intention to carry out a robbery, but he could not explain his behaviour. Donal Daly, defence solicitor, said that in the period of more than a year since this occurred the young man had taken significant steps to turn his life around. This included a 28-day rehabilitation programme followed by a five-month period in a residential programme in Bruree, Co Limerick. He is off alcohol and all substances and is in full-time employment, Mr Daly said. He also wrote a letter of apology to the member of staff who was present at the time. Judge Olann Kelleher said he would put sentencing back for two months to see how the defendant would behave and the case would be finalised then. While the defendant had two theft convictions, Mr Daly said Condon had nothing for attempted robbery or anything of that nature. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the extradition to the United States of Eric Eoin Marques a man accused of being the world's biggest facilitator of child porn. The decision brings to an end a lengthy battle by Mr Marques before the Irish courts aimed at preventing his extradition. This morning, the five-judge Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Marques' appeal against a decision of the High Court that he be surrendered to the US authorities. That decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal. Now aged in his early thirties Mr Marques is wanted by US authorities to face charges relating to conspiring to distribute and advertise child pornography, and advertising and distributing child pornography. He is alleged to be owner and administrator of an anonymous hosting site known as Freedom Hosting. Mr Marques, with an address at Mountjoy Square, Dublin, has been in custody since his arrest in August 2013 after being refused bail over concerns including he represented a flight risk and may interfere with evidence. Last year the Supreme Court agreed to hear Marques' appeal on the basis that it raised points of law that were of public significance. The appeal, aimed at halting his surrender, centred around the DPP's decision not to prosecute him in Ireland for the same offences the US authorities want to prosecute him for. His lawyers asked the Supreme Court whether the Minister for Justice was under an obligation to seek reasons from the Director of Public Prosecutions as to why Mr Marques was not being prosecuted in Ireland for the offences he is accused of. The court was also asked if the reasons given by the Minister in making the decision to extradite Mr Marques were adequate. The State, represented by Ronan Kennedy Bl, had argued that the appeal be dismissed. Giving the court's decision Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the Minister for Justice "was not under an obligation to seek reasons from the DPP as to why a suspect is not being prosecuted in Ireland." The Minister, who under the 1965 Extradition Act can refuse to order a suspect's extradition, has a separate function from the DPP, he added. In addition, Mr Justice Charleton said that the reasons given by the Minister in the circumstances of this case not to seek reasons from the DPP were adequate, the Judge added. Mr Justice William McKechnie, Mr Justice John McMenamin, Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley and Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan all concurred with Mr Justice Charleton's decision. The court then lifted the stay on the extradition order made by the lower courts clearing the way for Marques' surrender to the US authorities. Mr Marques was not present in court for the judgement. With Ireland chosen to host a major exhibition on European craft, were treated to everything from unconventional ceramics and traditional basket making, to the application of new technology, writes Carol OCallaghan. RT is open to interpretation, the applied arts included, but can an exhibition about crafted design possibly have Brexit influences? Its not a thought to typically cross the mind when visiting an exhibition like Monumentality/Fragility, currently taking place across two locations in Kilkenny the contemporary interior space of the National Design & Craft Gallery and the majestic medieval interior of Kilkenny Castle. On the contrary, one would expect it to provide soul-soothing relief from day-to-day life, much like channel flicking from the stressed faces of Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker to the mental chewing gum of back-to-back reruns of Friends. Its actually what Louise Allen, president of the World Crafts Council-Europe, event co-organiser, says in the publicity material which side-tracks from a potentially beautiful experience. As we navigate our way through uncertain times, this exhibition seeks to remind us of the fragility of our shared European community. Hosting this exhibition at the National Design & Craft Gallery provides an environment for exchange and dialogue that contributes to our shared understanding of how culture can help to build community and bring cohesion It is a fine exhibition of new work by some of the most prominent craft makers in Europe. Out of an initial application by 600 makers, 74 were chosen from across 19 countries as part of the European Prize for Applied Arts programme. Seven are Irish basket-maker Joe Hogan, silversmith Coilin O Dubhghaill, ceramicist Nicola Kelly, textile artists Caroline Schofield and Niki Collier, and jewellers Eimear Conyard and Annemarie Reinhold. Willow and a found piece of ash wood are fashioned into basketmaker Joe Hogan's 'Primal Energy' piece. O Dubhghaill is a fearless craftsman, taking traditional silver-making skills and developing them with new technology. His silver objects take the notion of a tulipiere, a vase used traditionally to hold or grow tulips. In these two pieces I have used the form of a tulipiere vase as a starting point for this investigation of form and a reflection on the relationship between object and value, he explains. Tulipiere are an intriguing example of specialised product design. They originate in the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania. Im interested in them as monuments to excess from a time that parallels more recent fragile economic bubbles. Textile maker Caroline Schofield's 'Transitory' wall hanging in fabric and metal. Joe Hogan has spent the last 40 years making baskets from willow he grows in Clonbur, Co. Galway, often with found pieces of wood incorporated into the finished piece. He explains, I have tried to make a form with monumentality and yet it is from humble material. The ash wood could have been burned for fuelwood if it had not made its way to me. Now it has a second life for a while but nothing is permanent. A monumental stack of 512 porcelain cups refers to the number of days my partner survived from diagnosis to death, says maker Nicola Kelly. I have used the very fragility of this material as my subject matter to represent a state of extreme tension that indicate and threaten a sickening inevitability of impending destruction. Often repetition is used as a visual device to overcome issues of scale and that can facilitate grand visual gestures. Felt fabric naive-style designs from textile maker Niki Collier are inspired by viruses viewed under a microscope. The theme provides for a sobering moment. Textile artist Niki Collier offers a comforting image in what appear to be cuddly felt objects, but turn out to be killer viruses viewed through a microscope. The exhibition is hardly benign in its subtext comfortable/uncomfortable might equally describe it. But, above all, what the craft makers have done is risen to the challenge of conveying the stretch between monumentality and fragility in a, sometimes, deeply personal way, while illustrating along with 67 other exhibitors the level of skill in contemporary craft making. This is the lure of the exhibition, along with what Karen Hennessy, CEO of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, the other co-organiser, describes simply as opportunity to share the stunning work of a diverse group of European artists with the public, and to display the very best of modern craft practice. Monumentality/Fragility takes place at Kilkenny Castle and the Design and Craft Gallery of Ireland, Kilkenny until June 23; www.ndcg.ie Jordan Peele follows up Get Out with the horror Us, about a family terrified by their doppelgangers, writes Georgia Humphreys Jordan Peeles directorial debut, Get Out, redefined the horror genre. A socially-conscious thriller, it explores what it means to be black in America, and in 2018, it won the Academy Award for best original screenplay. The plot involves a young black man uncovering a disturbing secret while meeting the family of his white girlfriend. New Yorker Peele is back with Us, another original nightmare that he has written, directed, and produced. I wanted to explore something other than race, and to show the wide range of horror films that I have, the 40-year-old says. I have this fear of a doppelganger. And so, when you have a real fear, as a horror movie creator/director, then you know you have something that you can nurture and exploit for an audience. Us follows Adelaide Wilson (played by Lupita Nyongo), as she returns to her North Carolina home for a summer getaway with her husband, Gabe (Winston Duke), and their two children, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex). Adelaide starts to feel paranoid that something bad is going to happen to her family. And, sure enough, they return from the beach one day to find silhouettes of four figures in their driveway. But the creepiest thing? The monsters are doppelgangers of themselves. One draw of the role for Nyongo, 36, was that the role is different from anything audiences will have seen her in before. Jordan was asking me to go to places Ive never been, and giving me two, well-rounded, three-dimensional women to play at complete opposite ends of an argument, says the actress, who won an Oscar for her film debut, 12 Years A Slave. And so, to be asked to see something from one perspective and then, the next day, have to see it from the exact opposite perspective I mean, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. And just this imaginative monster that he was creating, actually articulating a world from inside his head; I felt very, very fortunate to have that kind of task in front of me. And also very intimidated! Furthermore, Us is about a middle-class black family, and that isnt common in cinema. Nyongo says: I loved how unremarkable it was that they were black, because I often feel quite unremarkable; I dont live my life always considering the colour of my skin. And it was nice to have that, a family that we could project our own understanding of a family onto, no matter what colour our skin is, and that the paradigms to which they were navigating this particular monster had nothing to do with the colour of their skin. Yeah, thats refreshing. Duke, 32, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, agrees that a middle-class black family being at the centre of the film is, in itself, a large statement. Theyre also a family, he says, wrapped in what we would call the American dream, this idea of American normality and class and privilege. Its a layered film, with many thematic elements. So, what other messages did Duke whose breakout role was MBaku in Marvels Black Panther, followed by Avengers: Infinity War personally take from inhabiting this role? For me, it was a lot of cultures of power; privilege, power, luxury. What is it and whats the cost of that? Its about the speechless and the people you render invisible in your shadow, who carry the burden of your actions. For me, that really spoke volumes; it really made me question myself and see my experiences of privilege. I come from a historically oppressed background and I dont really see my life as one that is privileged, until you put it in the context of people who dont have as much as you, people who have to suffer to make your life as privileged as it is. So, it really put me into a different category of how I see myself. Star Wars actress Nyongo, who also appeared alongside Duke in Black Panther, was taken aback by the script when she first read it. She made sure to pick Peeles brain about the imagery, and the social commentary on the US that is woven into the story, before going on set. And it seems the idea of recognising the monster in the man in the mirror is one that has really stayed with her. Theres a duality in all of us, theres a darkness that we often suppress and it is in suppressing that side of ourselves that it can become destructive, because we project it out of ourselves and onto other people and onto other things, she says. So, especially in this time when people are pointing a lot of fingers to the other the other gender, the other country, the other political faction, the other religion, the other ethnicity we often fail to recognise the monster in ourselves, and this was a film that was anthropomorphising that monster. Us is released in cinemas on Friday The impact of Blue Planet II has been astonishing, writes Gemma Dunn.The BBC One series a follow-up to David Attenboroughs 2001 The Blue Planet has reached millions of people across the globe. One year on and the channels Natural History Unit welcomes a further spell of programming, starting with spin-off shows Blue Planet Live and Blue Planet UK. Its a commendable effort to tackle significant subjects, remarks presenter Chris Packham, 57. The programmes will still be celebratory, he vows, keen to ensure its an optimistic watch. From my point of view, if you want people to help, youve got to get them to engage with the subject. But youre trying to get them to engage with the subject from a detached point of view theyre not with you in the water, so youre using their awe to connect with them, to build an affinity so that they care. And then the next job, not that of the BBC, as its not a campaigning organisation, is to get them to act. During the week-long run of Blue Planet Live, Southampton-born Packham will celebrate the diverse wildlife living in the seas around us, as the naturalist pairs up with scientists at the worlds biggest whale nursery in Mexico. I am heading to Baja California, Sea of Cortez, which between December and April is the worlds primary birthing site for many of the whale species, he details. Also, Steve Backshall and Liz Bonnin will probe the Bahamas and Australias fragile Great Barrier Reef respectively. Its the younger audience thats really taking note, Packham insists. The schools climate strike is indicating that young people are fed up with the pace of change, he begins. They are realising they need to take matters into their own hands and I find that tremendously exciting. They are better educated. I was talking to some young people just yesterday and telling them that when I was their age, my environmental awareness was only beginning to come together in a cohesive understanding of what the problems were. And the older generation? Well, vote them out! Packham quips. And Im not talking party politics, Im talking that generation of people who basically dont understand the issues nor the urgency to take action upon them. Weve got a new generation of dynamic, well-informed, determined young people, and this is the sea change, the shift, because then our generation can vote for people who we can trust to make decisions that need to be made, and do it quickly. Its no fault of our politicians think back 25 years, they didnt need to know anything about climate change, it wasnt such a big issue. Now, they do. Next, Packham will present a one-off film that will explore the perils of human population growth. The BBC Two show, which will feature as part of the channels Horizon strand, asks the question: What does a world of 10 billion people look like, and what pressures would it put on resources? It is, in my opinion, singularly the most important thing to talk about, states Packham. As a species, we are enormously intelligent and adaptable and we will survive the impact of climate change - although the changes that we undergo will be catastrophic and life will be nothing like it is now. But, he adds, with the population set to continue to rise, were just running out of resources on this he references forecasts that suggest by 2050 there will be more than 10 billion people on the planet. This is a conversation that very desperately needs to be had, he says. Is he optimistic about the future? Ive got a sneaking suspicion that the best part of the human species time on earth is yet to come, Packham confides. I think at the moment were the rowdy teenager thats running before it can walk and were making lots of mistakes and at this point were just recognising that and beginning to address them. We will, perhaps, get back to a time when we can live in harmony on this planet. Thats my Utopian dream. Blue Planet Live will air on BBC One from Sunday next An Irish author has been shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize, an annual British award celebrating the best new books that illuminate how health, medicine and illness touches our lives. The six shortlisted authors are from the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia and India. The Irish entry is Mind On Fire: A Memoir Of Madness And Recovery. Written by Arnold Thomas Fanning, this searing memoir is a harrowing insight into the consciousness of someone living with mania, psychosis and severe depression. Fanning had his first experience of depression during adolescence, following the death of his mother. In his 20s, he was overcome by mania and delusions, was often suicidal, increasingly disconnected from family and friends, and sometimes in trouble with the law. Drawing on his own memories, the recollections of people who knew him when he was at his worst, and medical records, Fanning has produced a beautifully written, devastatingly intense account of madness and recovery, to the point where he has not had any serious illness for over a decade. Mind on Fire is the gripping, sometimes harrowing and ultimately uplifting testament of a person who has visited hellish regions of the mind and survived. Chosen by award-winning author Elif Shafak and her fellow judges, the six titles on the shortlist range from memoir to comic novel in an exploration of gender, identity and mental health. Mind On Fire is also one of two titles on the shortlist that explores mental health and mortality. The other is Heart: A History, written by Indian-American cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar which draws on both his professional expertise and his personal medical history to give an insight into how organ works and the importance of facing our own mortality. Shortlist for the tenth Wellcome Book Prize: Kya deLongchamps explains what Bauhaus is, and why it matters today. Bauhaus is one of those words writers, designers and interiors magazines throw around to impress (look, Im doing it now!). As the movement is 100 years old this year, we thought a primer on the essentials of Bauhaus would be useful to impress your more pompous friends when they start waffling on the B word. How can the work of a relatively small clutch of German art schools (the Staatliches Bauhaus), mean so much in the world of art, architecture and design today? As an institution, Bauhaus had a relatively short lifespan from 1919 to 1933 when the last school closed and the public liberties of the Weimer Republic gave way to the crueller intentions of the National Socialist German Workers Party. In the late 19th century, a number of important and restless artistic movements came together. Artisan crafting was struggling against the impact of industrial manufacture but in some respects, the factory cogs provided the traditional craft sector with a renaissance. With the rise of consumerism, the public recognised that there was a break taking place between the talent and skill of the individual and the objects actually being made Influencers across the design world, including William Morris (1834-1896) and his peer Philip Webb (1831-1915) of the Arts & Crafts movement, were speaking up in defence of the handmade, bespoke thing. Along with an appreciation of craft and fine art, there was the increasing belief among leading commentators that art and design should be democratised and enjoyed by all, rather than being compartmentalised for the rich, entitled, and educated. By the outbreak of WWI in 1914, together with societal and political revolution, the jaded Edwardian look in the home was being picked apart by new trends in modernism. In Germany, Jugendstil, or the young style was proving itself dynamic and thrilling with the public, pushing aside large lumpy furniture and classicism. Prompted by the work of visionary artists, writers, designers, and architects, The abstract, avant garde, truly modern thing be it a textile, or a ceramic or an odd piece of furniture was moved out of the gallery to centre stage in the market. Its hard to explain just how revolutionary Art Deco was to an ordinary householder in Cork in, say, 1920. We do know that there was clearly a hunger for the new, clean, radical look. Contemporary, functional and beautiful this was a brave new world. Its true that some members of the public found the vanguards of modernism ugly, too plain or just too confronting. Everyday buyers who might never have visited an art exhibition (where these ideas were often first seen), were startled by new builds, furniture, and styles of decorating shown in magazine illustrations and on the big screen. They soon voted with their wallets, and the house of the mid-century would be radically changed as a result, inside and out. Industrialist soon realised that without the individuality of commissioned or in-house designers tailoring new, worthy, enticing pieces, their products would be derided or cloned. Mass manufacture needed art and design to survive. The Bauhaus, or Building House, was a natural extension of all these fertile shifts. It was multi-disciplinary, rolling up art, architecture, craft, design and even theatre as one matter. There were three schools in all: one in Weimar (1919-1925), one in Dessau (1925-1932), and a brief fling in Berlin (1932-1933). By the mid-1930s the schools were snuffed out as hotbeds of dangerous, communist intellectualism by the Nazi party. The educational principles at Bauhaus were high-brow stuff. Cutting through the worthy theories around the school and its influence, it demonstrates a point where architecture and industrial design jumps up and joins fine art in terms of respect and public notice. Despite their being no architectural school in its first years, Neues Bauen, the new, startling German-led modern architecture, was championed and given exhibition room at the Bauhaus schools. The ideas of total design where an architect actually designated most of the fixtures, fittings, and even the furniture was fascinating. I can hear some of you groaning at all this history. Look up the German concept of Gesamtkunstwerk if you really want to know more. Lets leap straight to the signature and surviving Bauhaus look in design and decorating today. Think of cubism, geometry and a spare confident sophistication. Lets focus on a single piece of furniture the Wassily Chair (Model B3 c.1925) by Marcel Breuer (1902-1981). In terms of Bauhaus, it says it all. Closely associated today with the older Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, Breuer was a tender 22 years old when he mocked up this icon. Walter Gropius (1883-1969), who founded the Bauhaus, recognised Breuers talent and put him straight into the school as head of cabinetmaking in Dessau. With its chrome-plated angularity, sling eisengram (cotton) seat and (most importantly) being factory-made, Wassily is the perfect synergy of art and industry. Just put this gripping dandy against even a cloud-backed Art Deco club chair, nevermind a polite, leather chesterfield. You imagine just what a little raver it must have been in some bright young things London studio flat. The pipe-like sections, the architectural quality, its airy line and flair Breuer was walking the progressive galleries, and riding his light tubular steel bicycle when he came up with the design, not reaching back in history for a something plump and stuffed with horse hair. Bauhaus embraced modern materials and design but demanded a high-quality finish, even when it came to this mass-produced chair. Bauhaus is trending on the high street right now, with gentled industrial pieces from round mirrors with attached metal rail shelving to prints of primary blocks of colour hung on black scaffold-like supporting lines based on the work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). For all its Nordic origins, IKEA has a hefty Bauhaus flavour, and the less-is-more principle is not universal to Scandi-chic. To be honest, its hard to avoid buying in Bauhaus traces in modern, mid-century led furnishings, and the return of lean, brutalist architecture is bristling with it. If you want to try the look out at home, rather than buying a Cubist rug or a Paul Klee print, why not go DIY (how Bauhaus!)? In celebration of the centenary of the movement, in the How To Bauhaus series on YouTube, Berlin architect Van Bo Le-Menztel, shows you step-by-step how to build a wooden Bauhaus block, a stool and a table lamp. That will shut up those pompous friends up for good! Brown had been wanted on warrants out of Champaign, McLean and Sangamon counties. In one case, he allegedly fled police investigating a burglary and crashed his car, injuring at least two people. At the time, Brown was on parole after serving time for a series of burglaries in McLean and Macon counties in 2011. He had been arrested then by a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force. Brown was sentenced to 13 years in prison and, with credit for good behavior, was released in January 2018. He also had served prison time in the 2000s for convictions of unlawful restraint, violating an order of protection and illegally possessing a firearm, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. CONSTRUCTION work will roll from one block to another at Cork citys largest ever office scheme, Navigation Square, over the next three years, pledged developer Brian OCallaghan this week. But, with scope to host 3,000 jobs, in 350,000 sq ft of office in four blocks on Corks Albert Quay and the first of over 600 Clearstream employees due to move into Block One in May, he once more warned about the lack of residential accommodation, and affordable apartments, to house the citys growing workforce and population. Developer Brian OCallaghan with Navigation Square in the background. The economics of building apartments just dont stack up right now, said Mr OCallaghan, who said if they were viable to construct, to sell and to rent to a ready market and at affordable prices, his company OCallaghan Properties (OCP) had sites capable of delivering many hundreds of units, such as at Andersons Quay which could take 250 apartments. He called on Government to tackle the clearly-signalled shortage and cost issues, such as addressing the 13.5% Vat rate on new housing, as well as other levies and charges. And, he also suggested some incentives to apartment investors should be considered, similar to the success of the Help to Buy scheme for First Time Buyers. The shortage of residential accommodation is obvious in Cork city, where the population is forecast to rise by 125,000 by 2040 under Government strategies to counter-balance Dublin, against a backdrop where Navigation Square will be able to accommodate 3,000 workers when complete in three years time, in tandem with other large office schemes such as at Penrose Dock and Horgans Quay/HQ. Even Dublins delivery of apartments is out of kilter with the pace of office development and take-up, and may soon serve as a brake on the arrival of new, internationally mobile FDI jobs. Mr OCallaghan instanced the fact that just two of the 117 tower cranes currently visible on Dublins skyline were for apartment buildings, and one of those two in the capital sites is delivering apartments to rent at up to 3,500 a month. The cost of building apartments needs to come down, to increase supply and bring down rents to sustainable levels, argued the second-generation developer who acknowledged recent Government/Department changes in lifting locally-imposed height restrictions and other apartment design alterations. OCP are actively building apartments in London, which are zero rated for Vat, and the company is also delivering around 200 new houses a year in its Cork heartland at Ballincollig. But, it last built apartments in Cork city in the mid 2000s, at Lancaster Gate where it still has an undeveloped portion of the former Jurys site to complete. It also built apartments at Lavitts Quay, and at Opera Lane above the retail street. However, the buyer/investor model that was around at that time to purchase, often via company and pension investments, just doesnt exist any more, that market has disappeared, said Mr OCallaghan, who reckoned their Andersons Quay site (which currently has an offices planning grant) could take up to 250 apartments, under the new building height guidelines. Other city sites earmarked for Build to Rent apartments, but where no work has yet started, include Horgans Quay where BAM/Clarendon have the hotel element of their mixed use project next to Kent Station under construction, while Glenveagh Properties are expected to go for planning shortly for up to 1,000 units on the Live at the Marquee site. Developers JCD are also looking at apartment options for some of their sites, according to sources, including possibly on the Careys/Sextant site, between JCDs One Albert Quay and OCPs Navigation Square. Retained limestone facade at Navigation Square. Fit-out work is advancing at OCPs 90m Navigation Squares 150,000 sq ft Block One, now about 75% let, with the first of Clearstreams c 600 financial sector workers due at their desks from May, and Block Two is due for fit-out by August, with space under negotiation to as-yet undisclosed users, Mr OCallaghan indicated. The financial exchange group Clearstream is taking 80,000 sq ft at Block One, at ground and the top three floors, typically with 20,000 sq ft floor plates, with provision for a further 45,000 sq ft, if yet-further Clearstream jobs are confirmed. The development has a double basement with 250 car parking spaces, and 350 bicycle spaces, with showers, and a bicycle service station, while a series of specially commissioned art works and murals, as well as a model depicting the citys streets and outline in the 1890s, spread across the first blocks internal levels. The Henry J Lyons-designed building, with jaunty top floor canopy, was constructed by BAM behind the retained limestone facade of Navigation House, which appropriately had an original 19th century use as a trading and exchange house for Corks interntional shipping trade. A view of the foyer at Navigation Square. OCPs Brian OCallaghan said exchange trading Clearstream had up to 25 nationalities among its Cork workforce (it is relocating from the Cork Airport Business Park, where its former offices are for sale for 7.5m) and he added that the company, which is part of the Deutsche Bourse Group, was very successful in recruiting, with most new jobs so far going to graduates, already in the Cork region. The next ten years has the potential to transform Cork city, and OCP is active in looking at other future development sites as docklands development on both the south and north docks is becoming a reality, and the company would like to develop for residential and hotels, as well as commercial/offices, to create a sense of place, stressed Mr OCallaghan. Sheila Lavery is planning to run Lady Kaya in the 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown next month ahead of a possible tilt at a fillies Classic. The daughter of Dandy Man holds entries in both English and Irish 1,000 Guineas, after showing she was one of the best of her generation as a juvenile. She put up best her performance to finish second to Skitter Scatter in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh, and was only beaten two and three-quarter lengths when sixth to Fairyland in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on her latest start. Lady Kaya is on track at the moment and looks well. If the ground is right for her, the aim will be the Guineas Trial at Leopardstown. Shes in both Guineas, but shell tell me how she is, said Lavery. Shes an easy filly to train as she is so relaxed. She just eats and sleeps and pricks her ears when you put her out in the paddock. She has bulked up a bitm but is not a typical Dandy Man and is more Singspiel (her dams sire). Evan Williams is looking forward to stepping Silver Streak up to two and a half miles in the Betway Aintree Hurdle, after the grey was the first British-trained runner past the post in the Champion Hurdle. Silver Streak gave a career-best to belie his odds of 80-1 to finish third behind the Irish-trained pair of Espoir DAllen and Melon - just five months after starting the winter campaign with a handicap success that was Welsh Champion Hurdle. The six-year-old is now set to head to Merseyside on April 4 for a second crack at a Grade One. It was a very good run. It was an outstanding run, really. The winner was impressive, but we held our own quite beautifully, said Williams. Every time we step him up in class, he never lets us down. Hes just going the right way. Hes a tough and genuine horse. Hes grand, hes very good and we are thinking of Aintree. He could appreciate a step up in trip and the most logical place to try that is at Aintree. I would say, as things are, thats where we will be keeping an eye on. Michael Stoute, Karl Burke and Tim Easterby will have horses this year for King Power Racing, which is widening its spread of trainers after appointing champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa as retained rider. Among the six horses who Stoute has received is the Qipco 1,000 Guineas hope Queen Power, winner of her only start at Newmarket last October when trained by Ralph Beckett. A general 33-1 chance for the Newmarket Classic, the daughter of Shamardal cost 500,000gns as a yearling and the form of her debut win over a mile has already been advertised with the second and third going on to win next time. Details of the Cork County Boards fundraising match for Kieran OConnor were confirmed today Cork hurlers will face Kilkenny in Pairc ui Rinn on Wednesday, March 27th at 7.30pm, with tickets priced at 10 (adults) and 5 (concessions). Announcing the fixture, Cork GAA chairperson Tracey Kennedy paid tribute to the work already done by the Friends of Kieran campaign, which has been raising money for the All-Ireland winner, who is battling Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The campaign has now raised over 300,000 in less than two weeks, following a well-attended Walk for Kieran in Aghada last Monday. Kieran was a tower of strength on the field for many years, and I know he is dealing with his illness with the same fortitude and determination, Kennedy said. It cant be an easy time for his family, but Kieran is lucky to have the love and support of Sinead, the children and his extended family too. Our thoughts are with them all at this difficult time. "Mondays walk really highlighted the community aspect of the GAA, and it has been wonderful to witness the extent of the support shown for Kieran from far and wide over the past two weeks. We are hoping for a bumper crowd on March 27 to continue that support. Tickets will be available on the night and will also be sold online and at participating Centra/SuperValu stores. A bucket collection will also be taken up outside Pairc ui Chaoimh ahead of the Cork v Tipperary senior and minor hurling games on May 12th. The Cork County Board has also made a contribution to the Friends of Kieran fund. Donations to the fund can be made online here. The subject of Crimea has been on the radar of politicians and mass-media ever since it rejoined Russia on March 18, 2014, as a result of a freely-expressed will of its people. The most common and false cliche about that development used in some Western capitals notably in Washington and London has been an allegation that Russia annexed and occupied Crimea. On the one hand, it is so obviously a misleading statement that its only practical use could be in the context of the current propaganda war against Russia which is at least understandable, even if deliberately ill-intentioned. It is, however, a completely different matter when such propaganda is used as a basis for serious political analysis, making it self-serving and a dangerous miscalculation. Lets face the facts. Five years ago, on March 16, 2014, a referendum was held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol situated on the peninsula, which was attended by 83.1% of voters in Crimea and 89.5% of voters in Sevastopol. 96.77% of the voters in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voted in favour of reunification with Russia. The backdrop for that distinctively peaceful manifestation of popular intent was tragic. Following the armed coup detat in Kiev in February 2014, the situation in Ukraine was greatly destabilised clashes began at the building of the Ukrainian parliament. State institutions, constitution, law enforcement agencies didnt mean anything any longer. Given a wave of radical nationalism which enveloped the country, events in Ukraine got a strongly destructive character. In this situation, the Crimean parliament appealed to the Ukrainian parliament to stop the forced displacement of power in the regions and to protect the Crimean autonomy, but all efforts were in vain. The deaths of the Crimeans in a series of tragic events in Kiev provoked a radical turn in the minds, leading to a so-called Crimean Spring. The public sentiment became a determining factor in making decisions on what to do next, because lives of the people of the peninsula were at threat. No one could doubt that the Republic would resist any radicals trying to dictate their will in Crimea. The decision to hold the referendum was taken in stages, maturing in peoples mind gradually. To understand it in a proper way one should bear in mind that Russian sentiment is endemic for Crimea. The peninsula has always been a part of Russia, and only in 1954 due to a capricious decision of the Secretary General of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev the region was administratively transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The decision never went down well with the people in Crimea, nor was it applauded in Russia itself. But, nobody cared since the administrative boundaries in the Soviet Union didnt matter much. That changed in 1991 with the break-up of the Soviet Union. The Crimean people wanted to be where they belonged in Russia and organised the first referendum on January 20, 1991. This had results of 93.26% in favour of autonomy from Ukraine and consequently of rejoining Russia. The second attempt to proclaim state independence was made in May, 1992. At that time their wish was blatantly disregarded both by the newly independent Kiev authorities and, unfortunately, by the Russian government of president Boris Yeltsin. It is no surprise a peoples meeting in Sevastopol in February 2014 showed unanimous rejection of the Ukrainian parliaments decision on the change of power and underlined a firm demand to protect the rights and interests of the autonomy of Crimea. After all the people of Crimea had spoken on March 16, 2014. The Crimean government filed a request for reunification with Russia, and on March 18, 2014 an interstate treaty on the accession of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation was concluded. The new entities the Republic of Crimea and federal city of Sevastopol were formed within the boundaries that existed at the date of accession of the peninsula to the Russian Federation. Maritime demarcation of the Black Sea and Azov Sea was carried out on the basis of norms and principles of international law. Five years after the vote the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol are fully integrated into political, legislative and economic life of Russia, demonstrating one of the highest rates of economic growth in the country. Positive dynamics is observed in all main sectors, especially in industrial and agricultural spheres, as well as tourism. Implementation of the Federal special programme of social and economic development until 2022 with a budget of about 1 trillion rubles (1.366 billion) has already resulted in a pronounced upgrade of the living standards of the population of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by boosting dynamic economic growth, building a network of motorways and ports, ensuring transport communication with mainland Russia, as well as harmonising inter-ethnic relations. Unfortunately, the so-called anti-Crimean restrictions, introduced by a number of countries, are hitting primarily the ordinary residents of the peninsula. The visa refusals, as well as the non-recognition of higher education documents, can be actually seen as the segregation policy that punishes the population of the peninsula for its choice in favour of Russia. The politically motivated nature of the information campaign launched against our country concerning the alleged human rights problems in Crimea is obvious. The interests of all national minorities are safeguarded in Crimea. The multinational population of Crimea fully enjoys its rights to freedom of speech and assembly and mother-tongue education. By the decree of the Russian president all three major languages Russian, Ukrainian, and Tatar are established as equal state languages of Crimea. Fabricated stories about the alleged suppression of the Crimean Tatars and violation of their rights are a nothing more than outright distortion of the realities of life of these people. Relevant measures for socio-economic support have been taken and are functioning effectively; political rehabilitation programs are being implemented. In general, the standard of living and the quality of life of the Crimeans have significantly increased in comparison with the Ukrainian period. The results of March 2018 Russian presidential elections in Crimea confirm the expression of its peoples will in 2014. The high turnout (71.43% of electoral list) and Vladimir Putins landslide victory (92.2% or 986.700 of votes) vividly demonstrate the stability and mass support by Crimean residents for the course of the federal Centre. You dont have to be a legal scholar or political wizard to recognise the simple fact five years ago Crimea and its people made their choice exercising the right to self-determination embodied in the UN Charter by means of a free and peaceful vote in conformity with all international standards. This article is the personal view of Yuriy Filatov, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Ireland British prime minister Theresa May has been warned her last-ditch plea to extend next Fridays Brexit deadline will be rejected within 48 hours unless she can explain exactly how the extra time will be used. Tanaiste Simon Coveney and the EUs chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier issued the threat last night with Mr Barnier openly citing a British election or second referendum as reasons to allow a delay. In a dramatic development with just 10 days to go until the current Brexit deadline, Ms May yesterday told her cabinet she has run out of road and will write to European Council president Donald Tusk seeking a divorce date delay. Her letter which is due before tomorrows two-day EU summit in Brussels is understood to focus on a request for a two-year Brexit delay with an escape clause if she can pass her battered Brexit through parliament next week. The move has divided opinion in Britain, with Brexiteers insisting it is an attempt to force them to accept the existing deal, yellow vest protesters charging the UK attorney general Geoffrey Coxs office, and Remainers saying it could spell the end of Brexit. However, in a move that risks torpedoing the offer, Irish and EU leaders said Ms Mays plea will be rejected unless she can explain exactly how any further delay will end the long-running stand-off. Speaking in Brussels, Tanaiste Simon Coveney said while the EU is open to an extension, there are concerns a two-year delay with no clear details will risk more political and economic damage. Warning its important the British government gets the message, he said people would be very foolish to assume an extension will automatically be facilitated. In a separate EU General Affairs Council meeting, sources told the Irish Examiner Mr Barnier said Ms May must give reasons for how a delay would be used specifically citing a British election or a second referendum. He later said that while a written procedure could be given to Ms May allowing a delay to be quickly passed next week if MPs finally back her Brexit deal, this will not happen unless she offers something new. The stand-off is set to dominate this mornings cabinet meeting just a day before Taoiseach Leo Varadkar travels to Brussels for the EU summit. Knez was the second sailor stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes to be hit with federal criminal charges in the past year. Last April, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Aaron Booker was accused of possessing 20 military-grade grenades that had been stolen from a San Diego-based Navy destroyer explosives that were later found abandoned on the side of a freeway in Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Wednesday, March 20th, 2019 (9:43 am) - Score 1,712 Full fibre builder Cityfibre has announced that they will invest 75m to expand the reach of their 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband ISP network across the cities of Bournemouth and Northampton, which will join the other 10 cities confirmed under Phase One and take their coverage to 1 million UK premises. So far Cityfibre, which is being supported by ISP partner Vodafone, has said that their wider 2.5bn investment (details) will aim to deploy Gigabit capable full fibre broadband infrastructure to cover around 1 million premises in 10 UK cities by the end of 2021 (phase one costing c.500m), before rising to 5 million premises across 37 cities and towns by the end of 2024. The investment levels for the first 10 cities under Phase One have already been confirmed (see link above), while both Bournemouth and Northampton initially appeared to form part of the future roll-out plan. However todays announcement states that both will now form part of the Phase One roll-out to reach 1 million premises, instead of future phases. At this point its worth noting that Bournemouth already has a legacy FTTH network via local ISP Gigler, which Cityfibre acquired some years ago following the collapse of the i3 Groups defunct Fibrecity scheme. In the past it was said that this network covered 21,000 premises (echoed again today), although Gigler has been in limbo for awhile but the local network will give them a good starting point. However we suspect that the kit used in Bournemouth will need an upgrade, which may explain why todays press release talks about work already being underway to align it with Cityfibres national network architecture before being activated for service. Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: At CityFibre we are leading the charge to switch over the UK from the copper wires of the past to the fibre of the future. Full fibre is the only infrastructure fit to power our economy in the digital age. With the addition of Bournemouth and Northampton to our previously announced Gigabit City projects, we have now identified over 1 million UK homes that will benefit from world-class connectivity. Our roll-outs are gathering momentum and were now focusing on selecting the next wave of cities in the programme. John Beesley, Leader of Bournemouth Council, said: Bournemouth is firmly established as a thriving digital town with a world-leading digital sector. An investment of this size strengthens our position of becoming a first-class, smart and connected digital place supporting the future needs of businesses and residents. We shall be working closely with CityFibre to ensure the roll out programme is as smooth as possible and that everyone is kept fully up-to-date with their plans. Jonathan Nunn, Leader of Northampton Borough Council, added: Its been very exciting to work on this with CityFibre and we absolutely welcome their investment, which places Northampton at the forefront of the UKs full fibre roll-out. The future is digital, therefore having the right infrastructure in Northampton is essential for us to remain competitive. The roll-out expansion in Bournemouth is due to begin later this summer 2019, while work in Northampton is due to begin soon after during the autumn 2019. We should point out that Cityfibre already has a 45km long Dark Fibre network in Northampton, although its currently only used to serve public sector sites and specific businesses. Out of the 12 cities announced so far as part of Phase One, building work is now underway in seven of those (Aberdeen, Coventry, Edinburgh, Huddersfield, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Stirling) and Vodafones Gigafast Broadband packages have gone live in four of them (Aberdeen, Coventry, Milton Keynes and Peterborough). The Gigafast Broadband packages from Vodafone tend to go live a few months after construction starts. Prices currently start from 28 per month for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric speed) package on an 18 month contract, including free installation (you also get a good wireless router), and this rises to 48 per month for their top 900Mbps (Gigabit) tier. As an interesting side note, anybody with a long enough memory may recall that when Cityfibre first acquired Bournemouths legacy FTTH network they actually pledged to cover the entire city by around mid-2013 (roughly a two year roll-out plan). Obviously that never materialised but then those were very different times with different challenges. Better late than never. Bournemouth and Northampton are also quite competitive cities with strong coverage of both Virgin Medias 500Mbps cable network and near universal FTTC from Openreach. A little G.fast and FTTP can also be found in both but theres clearly room for Cityfibre to do a lot more. Wednesday, March 20th, 2019 (8:40 am) - Score 2,603 The City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire UK has announced that the 9.2m of public funding secured from the Governments Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme will be used to install ultrafast broadband across city via a new 96km long full fibre (FTTP) network from Swedish operator VXFIBER. At present the local authority has already worked with VXFIBER on a pilot project (here), which last year made a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network available to the Etruria Valley area of the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone; this is a 140 hectare site used by local businesses (around 1,000 people work in the area). Under that pilot the local council retained complete ownership of the city ring fibre network (they already own the main ducts across the city) and at the time it was suggested that these could also be utilised to connect all parts of the city. Meanwhile VXFIBRE lit the fibre and used it to supply the platform for ISPs to build and launch their own services to run over the network (open access). The good news is that this approach is now set for a major expansion, which the local authority says could result in tens of thousands of homes and businesses gaining access to full fibre broadband across the city. All of this stems from last weeks confirmation that Stoke-on-Trent had secured 9.2m of new funding from Wave 3 of the LFFN programme (here). Councillor Daniel Jellyman, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: A fast broadband connection is now an essential service for residents and businesses and with these plans Stoke-on-Trent will be leading the way nationally helping us to attract even more top companies, jobs and investment. The new network would have a huge, long-term impact, helping to future proof our city and transform communities with improvements such as better access to employment, education and healthcare. The revenue from the ownership of the broadband network would also provide income for the council which can help us to fund the vital services which residents rely on. This is a major project for Stoke-on-Trent and will play a key part in our plans for Stoke-on-Trent to become a smart city using infrastructure, information and technology to improve life for everyone who lives, works and visits here. Margot James MP, UK Minister for Digital, said: Were building a Britain thats fit for the future, and our plans for a national full fibre broadband network underpin our modern Industrial Strategy. This 9.2 million boost for gigabit speeds in Stoke-on-Trent will build on the tremendous work already being done by the city council, and I congratulate them on what they have already achieved. At present the city doesnt have much in the way of full fibre coverage (excluding private leased lines etc.) and most local premises can only get access via slower ADSL2+ or Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) services from Openreach (BT), although Virgin Medias 500Mbps capable EuroDOCSIS cable network does have good coverage around much of the city. Given the level of funding available, as well as the fact that Stoke-on-Trent is home to a population of more than 260,000 (2016 figure), we suspect that the 9.2m being made available would not by itself be enough to extend FTTP to cover all of the citys homes and businesses. The press release talks a lot about improving residential connectivity, although digging deeper it sounds more like Cityfibres tentative earlier models where they built a Dark Fibre network to serve public sector sites and a bigger businesses first (more recently they have moved to reach homes too, but only thanks to a massive increase in private investment). Extract from Council Report The City Councils business model is based on capital funding of approximately 9.2m from Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) LFFN Challenge Fund for a Stoke-on-Trent Full Fibre Network. The delivery partner will provide match funding for the hardware required to activate the fibre network ready for delivery through an open access service provider portal. The Challenge Fund provides the Council with an opportunity for a citywide scale proposal for Public Sector Asset reuse that utilises the Councils own Stoke-on-Trent Private Optical Network (SPON) ducting to provide the basis for a Citywide, Council owned gigabit fibre network funded through a combination of DCMS Challenge Fund and private sector investment. The project will run fibre through the Council owned SPON ducting and address areas of the duct network that may be congested; the SPON network will then be extended to all of other remaining City Council owned public buildings. The pilot scheme for the broadband programme in the City is being delivered in the Etruria Valley area of the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone and the Final Business Case will set out the proposed areas for project delivery and implementation citywide. Much like Cityfibres earlier work, we can see the potential for Stokes new network to reach homes as part of a citywide roll-out in the future (major extension), but at present wed take all talk of that with a pinch of salt because it doesnt appear to be part of this phase. No doubt if it was then rivals would be very unhappy at being overbuilt by an operator using public investment in a dense urban area (i.e. conflict with state aid rules). Otherwise the roll-out is expected to start on 1st April 2019 and be completed by 31st March 2021. The councils report predicts that it will boost local jobs, support future 5G mobile services, help business productivity, make the city more attractive for wider investment, improve community engagement, deliver savings for health care providers and improve education etc. The City Council, as owners of the main fibre network, will also receive a revenue income stream from the project in relation to customer sign-ups to the network, the level of income will be dependent upon the volume of sign-ups and the level of fibre ownership. Given how unpopular the penny tax was, does he have sway with voters? Well, you know, in big races like this every person, every group that steps up like this adds up to a victory. There are some people who look at it and might say, I believed in him when he was (in office) and if he thinks this is the best person, then maybe it is. I dont expect to get the whole South Side and West Side to back her. But he says he still has a following. US Government officials have warned that the way Britain is going about building its 5G networks could be a threat to its national security if it used equipment from Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies. A report in London's Financial Times said senior American officials had criticised the UK's method of testing Huawei gear before it was used, claiming that it would be sufficient to avoid threats to the telecommunications system. For nearly two years, the US has been pushing countries it considers allies to avoid using equipment from Chinese companies, Huawei foremost, in 5G networks. But the US has produced no proof to back up its claims that these products could be used to spy for China. Only Australia and New Zealand have fallen in line with Washington's dictates, but Wellington has now indicated that the initial refusal for telco Spark to use Huawei gear is not the end of the matter. Huawei sued the US on 7 March, seeking to be reinstated as a telco supplier in the country. The FT quoted one official as saying that Britain's testing method may have been sufficient in the past, but claimed that since 5G was based on software, changes could be effected by software updates after the equipment had been installed after testing. This individual said: One analogy that we can often use is, one minute youre holding a 5G coffee cup that is transmitting back telemetric data on what the temperature is what the actual liquid is inside. And then the next moment that object can turn into something radically different. While a huge opportunity, it is also deeply concerning to us from the perspective of national security." When the American official was asked about the UK National Cyber Security Centre which carries out tests on Huawei gear alongside employees of the company in a test centre built by the Chinese firm, he dismissed it as a "technical mandate". And he added: Ours is a much broader question about how trust is changing in the way in which 5G networks will work in the future. Right now, back doors exist by definition, thats how the manufacturer runs the network. We understand that there are a number of different opinions about that. Thats the concern we have and we are making that very clear to our partners. Last month, as iTWire reported, Ciaran Martin, the head of the NCSC, said that any likely risk posed by Huawei was manageable. "Because of our 15 years of dealings with the company and 10 years of a formally agreed mitigation strategy which involves detailed provision of information, we have a wealth of understanding of the company," Martin said. "We also have strict controls for how Huawei is deployed. It is not in any sensitive networks including those of the government. Its kit is part of a balanced supply chain with other suppliers. Our regime is arguably the toughest and most rigorous oversight regime in the world for Huawei." iTWire has contacted Huawei for comment. Satya Nadella has been the chief executive of Microsoft for more than five years but how many times has he uttered the word "ransomware" when waxing eloquent about the company he heads? It is the height of irony that on a day when Microsoft is trumpeting its release of a cyber security service in Australia to protect against election interference, one of the bigger aluminium companies in the world, Norsk Hydro, has been taken apart by an attack of Windows ransomware known as LockerGoga. If Microsoft Australia and New Zealand External and Legal Affairs corporate director Tom Daemen, who announced the release of the security service in Australia today, made a visit to Norway right now, he would be greeted with eggs, not flowers. No matter what the technology industry says, there is one common threat to practically all ransomware attacks: Windows. So why doesn't the ever-polite Nadella talk about this threat and try to address it, instead of avoiding any mention and going on about Azure, and Linux ad infinitum? Despite Windows being, by a massive margin, the major attack interface, few in the tech industry will recommend getting rid of Windows to keep out ransomware. One can ask till one is blue in the face, but so-called tech experts will do everything but say the obvious. You would think that if eating a certain type of food caused humans to vomit, the best way to avoid spilling one's innards on the footpath would be to avoid that food. Nope, tech experts will tell you to continue eating that same food and then take an anti-emetic. There is one reason for this: Windows has spawned a multi-billion-dollar anti-virus industry that does not want to eat its own breakfast. The more Windows threats come along, the better the bottomline for these industries. Why would one try to kill off the goose that lays the golden eggs? Microsoft is unwilling to deal with its security issues to the extent that it refuses to do even the most basic thing: insist that anyone starting out with a fresh install of Windows create a user account first, and then an admin account. This has been recommended on more than occasion, with the security firm Avecto at pains to point out year after year that removing administrator rights would mitigate 80% of the critical vulnerabilities found in Microsoft products. In 2019, when people are talking about advances in technology, the majority of the world uses an operating system that still resembles Swiss cheese. The advice that one should keep patching and updating in order to stay safe while using Windows is of no use. It is terribly expensive and time-consuming for a big organisation to update, especially given that something like a few gigabytes of updates are released by Microsoft on the second Tuesday of each month. Microsoft has no credibility when it comes to security. Rather than indulging in PR exercises like its release of the so-called AccountGuard today, it should first clean up the mess it has created all these years. Lobby group, the Regional, Rural and Remote Communication Coalition, has welcomed $220 million in funding for regional Australian communications, describing it as a win for bush communications across the country. The funding allocation has been announced by the Australian Government as part of its response to the 2018 Regional Telecommunications Review. The RRRCC says an additional $160 million for two new rounds of the Mobile Black Spot Program will be life-changing for the regional communities selected for funding, allowing them to access reliable communications on the go and in emergencies. "Most of us now use mobile phones to keep in touch with family and friends whether were at home or travelling," said Australian Communications Consumer Action Network director of Policy, Una Lawrence. "Its heartening to see that the government is supporting our regions to do the same with this welcome investment into new, reliable mobile infrastructure." Lawrence said the $60 million Regional Connectivity Program has the potential to further improve communications for those predominantly serviced by the Sky Muster satellite service, and the RRRCC welcomed the funding and its intent to close the digital divide between country and urban communities. National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said in the NFF submission to the 2018 Regional Telecommunications Review, the RRRCC called for investment in assisting regional consumers to improve their digital literacy. Particularly when it comes to satellite Internet, the technology is complex, but having a better understanding of how it all works, can go a long way to improving consumers connectivity experience. The commitment to developing a tech hub to improve digital literacy will be valuable, he said. The Coalition also welcomed the governments acknowledgement of issues raised during the reviews public consultation regarding satellite and fixed wireless performance and access, and said it was pleased to see that they were being addressed. The RRRCC has publicly called for an independent measurement of the speed performance of fixed-wireless and satellite NBN services to determine where the issues may lie. While the RRRCC is pleased that the governments response to the 2018 Regional Telecommunications Review, and acknowledges the need for consumer safeguards for regional and remote communities, the group is waiting for a response to Part B of the Consumer Safeguards Review, and would like to see Part C of the Review released as a priority, the Coalition said in its statement, issued on Wednesday. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager: "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites." The European Commission has hit search giant Google with a third fine, related to abuse of its AdSense advertising service, and told the company to fork out 1.49 billion (A$2.38 billion) for breaching EU anti-trust rules. The EC, the executive arm of the European Union, said on Wednesday that Google had abused its market dominance by imposing restrictive clauses on agreements it made with third-party websites, preventing its rivals from advertising on these sites. European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement: "Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts. "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. Google is contributing more net income per year to the EU in fines, than 25 of the 28 EU countries do in required contributions. Carl Gottlieb (@CarlGottlieb) March 20, 2019 "This is illegal under EU anti-trust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate, and consumers the benefits of competition. The EC said AdSense worked as an intermediation platform for online search advertising and Google was, by a big margin, the biggest player in the European Economic Area with market share of more than 70% between 2006 and 2016. "In 2016, Google also held market shares generally above 90% in the national markets for general search and above 75% in most of the national markets for online search advertising, where it is present with its flagship product, the Google search engine, which provides search results to consumers," it said. Competitors, such as Microsoft and Yahoo!, were unable to sell advertising space in Google's own search engine results pages and, thus, third-party websites constituted an an important entry point for them to increase their market share and try to compete with Google. The Commission said it had reviewed hundreds of agreements between Google and major publishers in the course of its investigation and found that: "From 2006, Google included exclusivity clauses in its contracts. This meant that publishers were prohibited from placing any search adverts from competitors on their search results pages. The decision concerns publishers whose agreements with Google required such exclusivity for all their websites. "As of March 2009, Google gradually began replacing the exclusivity clauses with so-called 'Premium Placement' clauses. These required publishers to reserve the most profitable space on their search results pages for Google's adverts and request a minimum number of Google adverts. As a result, Google's competitors were prevented from placing their search adverts in the most visible and clicked on parts of the websites' search results pages. "As of March 2009, Google also included clauses requiring publishers to seek written approval from Google before making changes to the way in which any rival adverts were displayed. This meant that Google could control how attractive, and therefore clicked on, competing search adverts could be." The AdSense fine has been expected since November 2017. The EU has already imposed two, much larger, fines on the search firm. In July last year, the EU fined Google 4.3 billion for allegedly breaching anti-trust rules over its Android mobile operating system. Google has challenged this fine. In June 2017, Google was fined 2.42 billion for allegedly abusing its search engine dominance to give illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service. The company has appealed against this fine too. Graphic: courtesy European Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced that it will hand down its final decision on the proposed merger between TPG Telecom and Vodafone Hutchison Australia on 9 May. TPG chief executive David Teoh had complained about the delay in the ACCC issuing a final verdict on the proposal, during the release of the company's half-year results on Monday. At the time, TPG said it expected the ACCC decision in relation to the application for informal clearance of the merger to be made in May. In December last year, the competition watchdog had issued a preliminary report on the proposed merger, saying that the disappearance of TPG, which it viewed as being on the way to becoming a fourth mobile competitor in Australia, from the fray through its merger with Vodafone would substantially lessen competition in the sector. It also said it would scrutinise the impact of removing Vodafone as a competitor in the fixed broadband market. But subsequently, TPG announced in January that it was cancelling plans for the mobile network due to the Australian Government ban on the use of equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies. The company, which reported a 76.4% drop in profits for the first half of fiscal year 2019 due to the mobile network plan being cancelled, said, however that its fixed-line business would continue to be strong even if the merger was blocked. "If the merger doesn't proceed, our board has to look at the various options. At TPG we still have our strengths. If you look at our fibre infrastructure, it is enormous. We still provide the best speeds," Teoh said. Malvertising definition Malvertising, a word that blends malware with advertising, refers to a technique cybercriminals use to target people covertly. Typically, they buy ad space on trustworthy websites, and although their ads appear legitimate, they have malicious code hidden inside them. Bad ads can redirect users to malicious websites or install malware on their computers or mobile devices. Some of the worlds most popular websites, including those of the New York Times, Spotify and the London Stock Exchange have inadvertently displayed malicious ads, putting their users in jeopardy. Whats worrying is that people can get infected even if they dont click on the images: Often its enough if they just load. This method is called drive-by download, because all a victim has to do is drive by a web page. Cyber criminals use malvertising to deploy various forms of money-making malware, including ransomware, cryptomining scripts or banking Trojans. Some schemes install scripts that execute click-fraud operations in the background. For attackers, this endeavor can be very profitable. Today, malvertising groups are highly organized businesses, says Jerome Dangu, co-founder and CTO of Confiant, a company that develops solutions against bad ads. Malvertising vs adware Malvertising is sometimes confused with adware. Malvertising refers to malicious code initially included in ads, which affects users who load an infected website. Adware is a program that runs on a users computer. Its often installed hidden inside a package that also contains legitimate software, or lands on the machine without the knowledge of the user. How common is malvertising? Malvertising is growing at a fast pace. Confiant calculates that 1 in every 200 online ads is malicious, while GeoEdge, which sells anti-malvertising solutions, estimates that up to 1 in 100 ads is not safe. In 2017, Google blocked 79 million ads that attempted to send people to malicious websites and removed 48 million ads that suggested the installation of unwanted software. Users face multiple threats through bad ads. The most common attacks are auto-redirects, where the user is thrown out of the page into a different location, in which he or she is exposed to many threats: phishing scams, malware ransom attacks, malicious ads leading to exploit kits and auto file downloads, says Tobias Silber, vice president of marketing at GeoEdge. Auto-redirects accounted for 47.5% of all malvertising in the last quarter of 2018, according to GeoEdge. Meanwhile, malicious ad pre-clicks (drive-by-downloads or malicious code embedded in the main scripts of a page) made up 25% of incidents. Additionally, malicious ad post-clicks (after users click on the ad, they get infected directly or get redirected to a malicious website) accounted for 7%. Malvertising groups will continue to prosper, because often its difficult to bring them to justice, says Michael Tiffany, president & co-founder of White Ops. At the end of 2018, his company worked with Google and a few dozen other organizations and law enforcement agencies to take down one of the most sophisticated ad fraud operations, called 3ve (pronounced Eve). The group created fake versions of websites and fake visitors to make money. In this case, the perpetrators were arrested, but thats not what usually happens when it comes to ad fraud. Bringing consequences to the bad guys is still rare, Tiffany says. 3ve was the first time consequences of that magnitude were brought down on sophisticated cybercriminals doing ad fraud. How malvertising works Malvertising has continued learning new tricks since it was first seen in the wild in late 2007 or early 2008. Back then, a vulnerability in Adobe Flash allowed attackers to distribute malicious advertising through several websites, including MySpace. A few years later, in 2011, one of the first cases of a drive-by download was uncovered. Spotify was at the center of a malvertising attack that used the notorious Blackhole exploit kit, which was available for rent for a few hundred dollars a month. Throughout the years, however, malvertisings modus operandi has remained the same. Typically, attackers buy ad space from ad agencies and then submit infected images hoping not to get caught. Sometimes, they start by sending a legitimate ad first, and insert malicious code later. After they infect enough people, they can clean up after themselves and remove the bad code. These cybercriminals often take advantage of the complex mechanisms used by the advertising industry. In many cases, there can be a long supply chain between the advertiser and the publisher that includes an ad network and one or more resellers. As recent malvertising attacks have shown, this entire supply chain can be manipulated. Security company Check Point Software Technologies noticed that a legitimate online advertising company might have been at the center of a malvertising scheme. In July 2018, Check Point researchers uncovered a massive operation that distributed malvertising to users who drove by thousands of compromised WordPress websites. The ads had malicious JavaScript code that exploited unpatched vulnerabilities in browsers and browser plug-ins, including Adobe Flash Player. These attackers used multiple exploit kits, including the prolific RIG, which combines different web technologies (DoSWF, JavaScript, Flash and VBscript) to obfuscate attacks. Check Point noticed something even more alarming. AdsTerra, a famous ad-network company, has been purchasing traffic from a known cybercriminal posing as an ordinary publisher, which obtains its traffic via malicious activities, Check Point wrote on its website. Dangu has noticed that malvertisers build relationships with the most reputable ad platforms. There's a growing awareness in the ad tech industry that it is infected by malvertisers at its core, he says. Whenever a malicious ad gets served to a user, it evaded multiple layers of detection through the ad tech ecosystem. Sometimes, cybercriminals dont even need to go through this whole process if they can hack large websites directly, tricking them into serving people with malicious ads. It happened, for instance, to Equifax right after its notorious breach, security blogger Randy Abrams discovered. From a regular users perspective, malicious ads are compelling because they often provoke strong emotions and promote calls-to-action. They can also promise products at a bargain, including an iPhone for just $1, tricking users into giving their credit card data. Confiant found that malvertising activity is 36% higher during weekends, the preferred day of the week for malvertisers to attack being Sunday. The holidays or shopping seasons such as Black Friday when people are actively looking for discounts also see a spike in malvertising. What is state of malvertising today? The malvertising industry is getting more sophisticated when it comes to its malware delivery methods. The beginning of 2019 brought an increasing number of drive-by malicious ads that dont require a users click, says Phil Cowger, researcher at cybersecurity company RiskIQ. Currently, the most common attack is the gift card scam, says Confiants Dangu. At the end of 2018, the company uncovered a massive malvertising campaign targeting iOS devices owned by U.S. citizens. The cybercriminal group known as ScamClub hijacked 300 million browser sessions in just two days. Attackers collect vast amounts of private data willingly shared by victims, thinking they will receive a reward, Dangu says referring to the free Amazon gift card scam. The data collected includes buying intent, health-related data, and is resold to data providers by the attackers. Another group, eGobbler, also targeted U.S.-based users. The massive operation was connected to Presidents' Day weekend. When victims clicked on an ad, it redirected them to malicious websites, many of which invited the victims to enter personal and financial data. Dangu says that the complex mechanisms of the advertising industry hold part of the blame. One of the most recent eGobbler campaigns was served via direct relationships with seven ad platforms, he says. This is a staggering number and shows how deeply rooted [malvertising groups] are in the ad tech environment. eGobbler targets HTML5 libraries like CreateJS and GreenSock to hide its malicious code, making it very difficult for security analysts to find and for automated scanners to detect. The group leverages sophisticated anti-bot techniques to hide from scanners, according to Dangu. Polyglot images and steganography One of the tools malvertising groups like to use is steganography. The concept of concealing a message inside another text or an image is at least 2,500 years old, and a couple of examples were mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories. Malvertising groups often use the same approach the embed malicious code into an unseen image hidden in an ads image. The number of such incidents has been growing exponentially in the last quarter of 2018 and into 2019, according to GeoEdge. One of the victims was Experian, a multi-billion-dollar global information services company. One of their ads was innocently targeted with a second image, one that was not visible to the user but hidden inside the ad request, which called up the embedded malicious code, says Silber. Once the ad appears on a users desktop or phone, the malicious code is enabled. In this instance, the malicious code was an auto-redirect to a phishing site targeting U.S. users. Steganography was also employed by a malvertising group called VeryMal, which targeted Mac users, according to a report. In this case, JavaScript malware was hiding inside image files. Criminal groups are always looking to improve, so steganography recently got an even more clever sibling: polyglot images. Researchers at Devcon discovered a cybercriminal group that used this sophisticated technique. Steganographic exploits use data hidden in an image by altering a few pixels. A typical user looking at it wouldnt suspect a thing, but steganography requires some extra JavaScript (not in the image) to know the patterns and offsets to find the exploited pixels and reassemble them into executable JavaScript, Devcon wrote on a blog post. Polyglot exploits go one step further: They can be seen as both an image and valid JavaScript at the same time, hence the name. Another feature is that they dont need an external script to extract the payload. In this case, the malicious actor employed BMP images and played with the files hexadecimal bytes. It manipulated them so that instead of the image size, the computer could read the character codes for /** -- the combination of characters that creates a comment in JavaScript. When the JavaScript Interpreters sees that, it ignores everything written in-between. The attacker added the sequence = and then the payload string. After this, the file could run in the browser in two ways: as an image ignoring the JavaScript or as a script, ignoring the image data. Mobile malvertising Smartphones and tablet PCs are becoming increasingly attractive for malvertising groups because users tend to worry less about these devices security. Its also common to accidentally tap an ad when youre using a smartphone. Recent malvertising campaigns have targeted both Android and iPhone users. One such example is PayLeak, caught at the end of 2018. A Pulitzer Prize-winning publication based on the American West Coast served its readers with malicious ads. When the user clicked on it, the ad called a malicious domain registered in China. This malware was interested, for instance, in finding out what kind of device the victim was using, if it was protected by antivirus, and whether the victim was in motion or at rest. Android users were lured with an Amazon gift card which redirected them to a phishing site. Meanwhile, iPhone users received successive popups, which included fake instructions to update their Apple Pay account. Mobile malvertising is in its infancy, says Michael Covington, vice president of mobile security company Wandera. Attackers are still trying to determine what they can do with these often-unprotected channels to the device, he says. Mobile malvertising tends to fall into three general categories of intent. The most prevalent use of malvertising is to deliver very clever in-app phishing attacks, Covington says. Cryptojacking (using someone elses computer to mine cryptocurrency) via the ad channel comes second. Wandera noticed that the number of devices impacted by cryptojacking grew by almost 300% month-over-month in late 2018. The third type of malvertising campaign is one thats designed to deliver malware payloads to the device. While this is typically the least successful attack via ads, the attackers are constantly on the hunt for new means of sending bad apps to unsuspecting users, says Covington. In November 2020, The Media Trust reported it had found new mobile malware, called Trickstack-3PC, that was delivered through compromised tags attached to ads. The tags are actually JavaScript code that creates a JavaScript object that uses the victim's computer to commit ad fraud. In a statement, SIU professor John S. Jackson, a co-director of the Simon Poll, said future voter attitudes toward Pritzker can go either way depending on how he is perceived to be handling the office of the governor and dealing with the enduring budgetary problems that have faced the state for a generation. Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter. Register The massacre has shocked the world not only because of its scale - the shooter continued his rampage for more than 30 minutes at a second mosque before he was arrested - but also for the brazenness in which it was live-streamed on Facebook. Dozens commented, cheering him on, while others watched horrified as social media giants struggled to prevent the 17-minute video from being downloaded and re-shared over and over again. But two of his trials the only ones in which more than one African American sat on the panel resulted in hung juries. In three other trials, convictions were overturned because misconduct on the part of District Attorney Doug Evans violated the Supreme Court's ruling in Batson v. Kentucky, which says that jurors may not be dismissed because of their race. For a better experience on our website and avoid any trouble, we strongly recommand to activate Javascript ( click here ). Hello and welcome to Journal des Palaces You are a communication or the PR manager? Click here You are an applicant? Check out our questions and answers here ! Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) Malacanang has terminated the appointment of government's peace panel members negotiating with the communist rebels. The Palace confirmed Wednesday the release of the termination letters, which were signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. Among those who received the letter were Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello, and panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad, who confirmed to CNN Philippines. Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, said in a Thursday statement that they anticipated the cancellation of the panel members' appointment. He said President Rodrigo Duterte "has no interest in the peace negotiations because he has always schemed to use the armed conflict as an excuse for carrying out martial law nationwide and for railroading charter change to a bogus kind of federalism in order to realize and impose fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people." He said Duterte has repeatedly ignored the Left's openness to peace talks. "It is totally the responsibility of Duterte that he gives no choice to the people's revolutionary movement but to single-mindedly wage and intensify all forms of struggle against his treasonous, tyrannical, corrupt, brutal and swindling regime," Sison said. In the past, the government and the rebels accused each other of violating ceasefires, prompting Duterte to terminate the peace talks aimed at ending the communist group's five-decade insurgency, one of the longest running in Asia. The government also seeks to tag the New People's Army, the CPP's armed wing, as a terrorist group, but that bid is still pending in court. "It's reaching a point of boredom for all of us. McCain is getting some kind of amusement out of it that he's still in the guy's head somewhere," Salter said. "It doesn't help him, but he can't control himself. He obviously resents John. He obviously craves the admiration that John received in life. He may excoriate the establishment and fake news and everything else, but he craves its approval." TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xanadu Mines Ltd (ASX: XAM, TSX: XAM) (Xanadu or the Company) is pleased to report that preliminary testwork on diamond core from shallow oxide gold mineralisation at the Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia has returned excellent results (Figure 1). Gold mineralisation at Golden Eagle is hosted in the oxide cap above a deeper and significantly larger copper-gold porphyry (Xanadus ASX announcement 16 January 2017). A new Exploration Target and metallurgical tests confirm the presence of significant, leachable oxide gold at Golden Eagle, one of eight zones known to contain significant shallow oxide gold mineralisation. HIGHLIGHTS Excellent gold recoveries up to 92.56% achieved in gravity and leach tests for Golden Eagle; The Exploration Target confirms the presence of a substantial oxide gold system measuring ~500m in strike and up to 375m in width at surface, which is mineralised to at least 200m depth and remains open; Seven other zones also contain significant shallow oxide gold mineralisation and provide project optionality and support for the companys ongoing exploration strategy at Kharmagtai; Oxide gold may provide additional and or alternative options for the development of the project; Further development of metallurgical performance will be targeted with additional testwork. Xanadus Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Stewart, said These early stage gravity and bottle roll results on composite samples from Golden Eagle are outstanding. The above average results, achieved at a moderate grind size, indicate high gold recoveries. Standard crushing, grinding and leaching is all that will be required to extract gold from the oxide cap mineralisation at Golden Eagle. While further drilling is required across the resource as the project advances, previous intersections of significant widths of shallow oxide mineralisation in bedrock drilling highlight the potential and show that we have literally just scratched the surface in terms of the broader resource potential. Further, it represents the opportunity for a low cost, high-value gold leach operation which could be run early in the development life of Kharmagtai, injecting significant cash into the project to offset the cost of developing a large-scale copper-gold mine. These positive metallurgical test results provide more confidence, with drilling underway to expand the resource by targeting shallow gold mineralisation above the current copper and gold resources. METALLURGICAL TEST RESULTS RETURNED FOR GOLDEN EAGLE Results of metallurgical testing on three composite samples taken from Golden Eagle at Kharmagtai have now been finalised. The aim of this test program was to assess the suitability of Golden Eagle mineralisation for gravity concentration and/or cyanidation processes. Three composite samples were selected for the work, based on grade ranges across a variety of rock types within a conceptual ~20Mt open pit. Each composite consisted of 10 individual two-metre sample intervals of drill core and coarse reject material from previous assays representing mineralisation of the following grades (2.35g/t Au, 1.32g/t Au and 0.5g/t Au). Composites were submitted to MAK, Technological Research Centre in Ulaanbaatar for comminution, gravity concentration and bottle roll cyanidation tests at different grinds. Table 1 shows the head grades measured for each composite. Table 1: Composite Head Grades Composite ID Grade, g/t Au g/t Ag g/t Cu ppm Zn ppm GE-01 2.35 1.79 1732 148.3 GE-02 1.32 1.15 1842 176.6 GE-03 0.50 1.54 968 183.1 Gold Recovery Testwork Each composite was submitted for bottle roll cyanidation before and after gravity concentration as shown in the flowsheet below: Bottle roll cyanidation of each composite sample was conducted over 48 hours at three different grinds, namely 80% -150 m, 80% -100 m and 80% -70 m. A 1kg charge and a 2:1 liquid:solid ratio was used for all tests. pH was maintained at 10-11 and cyanide was added throughout the test to maintain 1.0 gpl concentration. Table 2: Cyanidation Results No Gravity Composite ID P 80 , m Reconstituted Grade (g/t Au) Residue grade Au Recovery (g/t Au) (%) GE-01 150 2.42 0.96 79.34 100 2.47 1.01 81.78 70 2.74 1.13 82.48 GE-02 150 1.66 0.63 75.90 100 1.29 0.56 86.82 70 1.44 0.64 88.89 GE-03 150 0.81 0.33 81.48 100 0.55 0.22 80.00 70 0.66 0.28 84.85 A gravity concentration test was conducted on each composite using a Knelson MD3 laboratory-scale concentrator to produce an intermediate gravity concentrate which was subsequently cleaned on a laboratory scale Wilfley table. Gravity tests used a 10kg subsample from each composite that had been ground to 80% -150 m in a laboratory ball mill. The flowsheet for this work can be found in Figure 4. Integrated gravity results from the three composites can be found in Table 3. Table 3. Gravity Test Results Whole Ore Test Product GE-01 GE-02 GE-03 Mass Au grade Au recovery Mass Au grade Au recovery Mass Au grade Au recovery % g/t % % g/t % % g/t % Table Concentrate 0.43 119.20 22.86 0.19 35.35 5.36 0.36 21.70 14.68 Table Mids - - - 0.46 3.90 1.47 - - - Table Tailing 0.99 7.98 3.53 1.36 4.41 4.88 0.98 3.72 6.92 Knelson Tailing 98.58 1.67 73.62 97.99 1.11 88.29 98.66 0.42 78.41 Total (Feed) 100.00 2.24 100.00 100.00 1.23 100.00 100.00 0.53 100.00 Knelson Concentrate 1.42 41.63 26.38 2.01 7.16 11.71 1.34 8.51 21.59 Three comparative bottle roll tests were then conducted on each composite, using 1kg charges of Knelson tailing material taken from the gravity concentration testing using similar conditions to the cyanidation testing of primary mineralization samples. Results for this comparative work are summarised in Tables 4 and 5. Table 5 displays the integrated gravity separation and leach results. Table 4: Cyanidation Gravity Tailing Composite ID P 80 , m Reconstituted Grade (g/t Au) Residue grade (g/t Au) Au Recovery (%) GE-01 150 1.93 0.89 92.23 100 1.90 0.88 92.63 70 1.88 0.89 94.68 GE-02 150 1.07 0.46 85.98 100 1.06 0.48 90.57 70 1.21 0.56 92.56 GE-03 150 0.50 0.20 80.00 100 0.48 0.19 79.17 70 0.49 0.20 81.63 Xanadu notes that the recovery data given in Table 4 relates only to the recovery of gold remaining in the gravity test tailings. If the gravity test results are combined with the gravity tailing cyanidation results, then the performance of an integrated gravity + cyanidation flowsheet is implied. The integrated results are given in Table 5. Table 5: Integrated Gravity Concentration and Cyanidation Results Composite ID Au Recovery by gravity (%) Gravity Tails P 80 , m Gravity Tailings Recovery Total recovery, % Au % GE-01 22.86 150 92.23 90.76 100 92.63 91.05 70 94.68 92.56 GE-02 5.36 150 85.98 81.27 100 90.57 85.32 70 92.56 87.08 GE-03 14.68 150 80.00 77.41 100 79.17 76.75 70 81.63 78.69 These preliminary metallurgical testwork results provide a very good indication of the viability of a simple and efficient gold recovery process at Golden Eagle using SAG or ball milling to a grind of approximately 80% -100m whilst using gravity concentration to recover the larger gold grains and then using cyanidation (Carbon in Pulp) to extract the finer gold. The testwork suggests gold recoveries in the range of 76% to 92%. Comminution Testing Bond abrasion tests and Bond ball mill work index tests were completed on all three composites to determine the crushing and grinding properties of mineralisation at Golden Eagle. Bond abrasion testing was conducted on -19.0 + 12.5 mm sized composite samples. Table 6 summarizes the test results, along with an interpretation of abrasivity. Table 6: Bond abrasion results for Golden Eagle Parameter Composite ID GE-01 GE-02 GE-03 Product average P80, mm 12.00 14.00 15.26 Bond Abrasion index, g 0.133 0.068 0.051 Ore type Slightly abrasive Not abrasive Not abrasive All samples were found to have low abrasion indices, with only GE-01 being slightly abrasive. Bond ball mill work index testing was conducted on -3.35 mm sized composite samples using the sieve with opening size 106m. Table 7 displays the results of these tests, along with an interpretation of hardness. Table 7: Bond Mill Work Index results for Golden Eagle Parameter Composite GE-01 GE-02 GE-03 Feed F80, mic 1897.05 1825.50 1877.82 Product P80, mic 71.82 83.15 82.32 Total cycle 14 10 8 Grinding, g/rev 0.96 1.33 1.33 Bond Work index, kWh/t 18.22 15.41 15.20 Hardness classification Hard Hard Hard With BWi results in the 15-20 kWh/t range, all samples were found to be hard. SHALLOW GOLD POTENTIAL AT KHARMAGTAI EXPLORATION TARGETS DEVELOPED A review of the shallow gold potential of the Kharmagtai lease has been conducted with the aim of assessing the potential for a low-cost, high-value gold project to deliver cash into the early stages of a larger scale copper-gold development. Eight gold targets across the lease have been reviewed in detail and exploration targets developed for each of these prospects. This work informs a decision point for drilling and further metallurgical work. These targets include sparsely drilled oxide gold above the existing resources at Copper Hill and Stockwork Hill, oxide gold potential above Golden Eagle, disseminated free gold and electrum within Golden Eagle and numerous carbonate base metal epithermal gold veins previously drilled while targeting porphyry mineralisation (Table 8). The location of each target is summarised in Figure 5. The Exploration Target is conceptual in nature as there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource under the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, the JORC Code (JORC 2004). The Exploration Target is not being reported as part of any Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve. Table 8: Kharmagtai oxide gold exploration targets Target Name Gold Style*1 Length*2 Width*3 Depth*4 Density*5 Tonnage Range*6 Grade Range*7 Metallurgical Recoveries*8 Potential Oz Range including metallurgical factor*9 Golden Eagle (0.3 to 0.6g/t Au) Oxide gold cap and disseminated free gold and electrum 400 to 500m 300 to 375m 200m 2.76 66Mt to 103Mt 0.3 to 0.6g/t Au 77 to 92% (average 85%) 1MOz to 1.32MOz Golden Eagle (0.6 to 1g/t Au) Oxide gold cap and disseminated free gold and electrum 200 to 350m 75 to 100m 150m 2.76 6.2Mt to 14.5Mt 0.6 to 1g/t Au 78 to 92% (average 85%) 170KOz to 240KOz Copper Hill Oxide Gold Oxide gold cap above Copper Hill 150 to 200m 50 to 100m 30m 2.75 0.62Mt to 1.65Mt 1 to 2g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 34KOz to 45KOz Stockwork Hill Oxide Gold Oxide gold cap above Stockwork Hill 200 to 400m 85 to 100m 30m 2.75 1.4Mt to 3.3Mt 1 to 2g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 77KOz to 90KOz Zaraa Vein One and Two C.B.M Oxide Epithermal Gold 2 X 200 to 400m veins 2 to 3m 45 2.75 99.5Kt to 195Kt Vein one 2.5 to 18g/t Au Vein Two 1 to 3g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 15KOz to 32.75KOz Wolf Vein One and Two C.B.M Oxide Epithermal Gold 2 x 400 to 500m 1.5 to 2m 45 2.75 148Kt to 248Kt 2 to 4.5g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 16KOz to 22KOz Badger Vein C.B.M Oxide Epithermal Gold 280 to 500m 1.5 to 2m 45 2.75 52Kt to 124Kt 2.8 to 5.7g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 9.5KOz to 10KOz Seventeen One and Two C.B.M Oxide Epithermal Gold 2 X 400 to 500m 1.5 to 2m 45 2.75 128Kt to 248Kt 1 to 1.5g/t No metallurgy assumes 85% 5.2KOz to 6.8KOz Target Two C.B.M Oxide Epithermal Gold 400 to 500m 2 to 3m 45 2.75 100Kt to 185Kt 1 to 3g/t Au No metallurgy assumes 85% 5KOz to 8.2KOz 1* - Each style of gold mineralisation will manifest (size, shape, gangue minerals) differently and perform differently within metallurgical plant 2* - Length of the exploration target is defined as a conservative maximum and minimum length estimation based off the distances over which drill intercepts are observed and geological or geophysical characteristics associated with the mineralisation are observed 3* - Width of the exploration targets is taken from drill intercepts and expressed as a range 4* - Depth information is gained from drill intercepts. The oxide/weathering zone is often taken from geochemical data from drilling, i.e. sulphur often helps define the base of oxidation as it is readily weathered and does not commonly exist in the weathering profile. The base of oxidation is interpreted to be the depth that sulphur appears within the drill hole 5* - Density data is taken from drilling or assumed to be the average rock density in the Kharmagtai dataset (2.75) 6* - Tonnage range is estimated as a calculation of the maximum and minimum length, width and depth. 7* - Grade range is taken directly from drill results 8* - Metallurgical factor is either taken from existing metallurgical results or assumed to be 85%. 9* - Potential Oz range is estimated from a calculation of tonnage ranges and grade ranges. Larger tonnage with lesser grade range and smaller tonnage with higher grade range. ABOUT GOLDEN EAGLE Golden Eagle was discovered in early 2017 when drilling the first geochemical target generated from the top of basement drilling program returned a significant intercept of high-grade gold (Xanadus ASX announcement 16 January 2017). KHDDH395 returned 220m grading 0.64g/t Au and 0.15% Cu from 42m, which included a shallow zone of supergene gold enrichment of 26m grading 2.27g/t Au from a depth of 42m. A total of 4,965.1m of diamond drilling and 1,837.5m of shallow PCD drilling has been completed at Golden Eagle, mostly targeting large scale Au-Cu porphyry mineralisation. Gold and copper mineralisation at Golden Eagle is hosted by a series of monzodiorite dykes intruding a hornblende, plagioclase phyric monzodiorite stock. Mineralisation occurs as free gold and electrum grains, within and on the margins of pyrite and chalcopyrite grains disseminated throughout the rock mass. Higher grade mineralisation appears to occur associated with uni-directional solidification textures UST which typically form in the carapace of a crystallising porphyry intrusion at the palaeosurface within the basement, where supergene enrichment has occurred (Figures 6, 7 and 8). OXIDE POTENTIAL OF COPPER HILL AND STOCKWORK HILL Drilling at Copper Hill and Stockwork Hill has been focused on sulphide mineralisation and not shallow oxide gold potential. During the recent resource upgrade and the preliminary economic assessment currently underway this material was highlighted as being sparsely drilled, despite the presence of free gold in the soil above both deposits. This gap in drill data is driven by the need to drill diamond drill holes at a dip of 60 to 70 degrees, meaning holes need to be stepped back from the top of the orebody to best intersect mineralisation further down. Figures 9 and 11 show the oxide cap potential and drill spacings at Copper Hill and Stockwork Hill respectively, demonstrating the lack of drilling and Figure 10 shows core trays from Copper Hill demonstrating the type of material found with high grade free gold. EPITHERMAL GOLD AT KHARMAGATAI Epithermal gold veins have been encountered regularly at Kharmagtai while drilling for porphyry mineralisation. These veins take the form of carbonate base metal veins or breccias where free gold is disseminated throughout a gangue of dolomite, calcite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite (Figure 12). In the oxide zone these gangue minerals are weathered leaving iron oxides and free gold. Veins range from 30cm to 5m wide, run between 1/g/t Au to 200g/t Au and can extend for kilometres as they are hosted within large scale contiguous faults crossing the Kharmagtai lease. These faults represent the same plumbing system used by the porphyry systems and during the cooling phase of porphyry mineralisation epithermal gold has been deposited. Figure 13 shows the epithermal gold exploration targets defined to date with the data used to classify their dimensions and grades. The epithermal potential of Kharmagtai has never been assessed systematically as the focus for exploration has been for large scale porphyry mineralisation. When the surface geochemical data (rockchip data) is assessed there are many opportunities for additional epithermal systems that are yet to be prioritised for drilling (Figure 14). COMPETENT-QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT The information in this announcement that relates to metallurgical testwork is based on a summary of results compiled by Andrew Holloway who is responsible for metallurgical and process engineering aspects of the project. Mr. Holloway, who is a principal of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. (Toronto, Canada) and is a Professional Engineer in Ontario, Canada, has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking to qualify as the Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and the National Instrument 43-101. Mr Holloway consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears. The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr Andrew Stewart who is responsible for the exploration data, comments on exploration target sizes, QA/QC and geological interpretation and information. Dr Stewart, who is an employee of Xanadu and is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists, has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking to qualify as the Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and the National Instrument 43-101. Dr Stewart consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears. COPPER EQUIVALENT CALCULATIONS The copper equivalent (CuEq) calculation represents the total metal value for each metal, multiplied by the conversion factor, summed and expressed in equivalent copper percentage. Grades have not been adjusted for metallurgical or refining recoveries and the copper equivalent grades are of an exploration nature only and intended for summarising grade. The copper equivalent calculation is intended as an indicative value only. The following copper equivalent conversion factors and long-term price assumptions have been adopted: Copper Equivalent Formula (CuEq) = Cu% + (Au (ppm) x 0.6378). Based on a copper price of $2.60/lb and a gold price of $1,300/oz. CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGUARDING EXPLORATION TARGETS The Exploration Target is conceptual in nature as there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource under the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, the JORC Code (JORC 2004). The Exploration Target is not being reported as part of any Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve. For further information, please contact: Andrew Stewart Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer T: +612 8280 7497 M: +976 9999 9211 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.xanadumines.com APPENDIX 1: KHARMAGTAI TABLE 1 (JORC 2012) 1.1 JORC TABLE 1 SECTION 4 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF ORE RESERVES Set out below is Section 1 and Section 2 of Table 1 under the JORC Code, 2012 Edition for the Kharmagtai project. Data provided by Xanadu. This Table 1 updates the JORC Table 1 disclosure dated 31 July 2018. 1.2 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 1 - SAMPLING TECHNIQUES AND DATA Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (eg cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling. Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used. Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. In cases where industry standard work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. The resource estimate is based on diamond drill core samples, RC chip samples and channel samples from surface trenches. Representative core samples were split from PQ, HQ & NQ diameter diamond drill core on site using rock saws, on a routine 2m sample interval that also honours lithological/intrusive contacts. The orientation of the cut line is controlled using the core orientation line ensuring uniformity of core splitting wherever the core has been successfully oriented. Sample intervals are defined and subsequently checked by geologists, and sample tags are attached (stapled) to the plastic core trays for every sample interval. RC chip samples are splits from one meter intervals using a 75%:25% riffle splitter to obtain a 3kg sample RC samples are uniform 2m samples formed from the combination of two split 1m samples. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc.) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). The Mineral Resource estimation has been based upon diamond drilling of PQ, HQ and NQ diameters with both standard and triple tube core recovery configurations, RC drilling and surface trenching with channel sampling. All drill core drilled by Xanadu has been oriented using the Reflex Ace tool. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed. Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples. Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. Diamond drill core recoveries were assessed using the standard industry (best) practice which involves: removing the core from core trays; reassembling multiple core runs in a v-rail; measuring core lengths with a tape measure, assessing recovery against core block depth measurements and recording any measured core loss for each core run. Diamond core recoveries average 97% through mineralization. Overall, core quality is good, with minimal core loss. Where there is localized faulting and or fracturing core recoveries decrease, however, this is a very small percentage of the mineralized intersections. RC recoveries are measured using whole weight of each 1m intercept measured before splitting Analysis of recovery results vs grade shows no significant trends that might indicate sampling bias introduced by variable recovery in fault/fracture zones. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography. The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. All drill core is geologically logged by well-trained geologists using a modified Anaconda-style logging system methodology. The Anaconda method of logging and mapping is specifically designed for porphyry Cu-Au mineral systems and is entirely appropriate to support Mineral Resource Estimation, mining and metallurgical studies. Logging of lithology, alteration and mineralogy is intrinsically qualitative in nature. However, the logging is subsequently supported by 4 Acid ICP-MS (48 element) geochemistry and SWIR spectral mineralogy (facilitating semi-quantitative/calculated mineralogical, lithological and alteration classification) which is integrated with the logging to improve cross section interpretation and 3D geological model development. Drill core is also systematically logged for both geotechnical features and geological structures. Where drill core has been successfully oriented, the orientation of structures and geotechnical features are also routinely measured. Both wet and dry core photos are taken after core has been logged and marked-up but before drill core has been cut. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken. If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry. For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique. Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples. Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling. Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. All drill core samples are core splits from either PQ, HQ or NQ diameter cores. A routine 2m sample interval is used, but this is varied locally to honour lithological/intrusive contacts. The minimum allowed sample length is 30cm. Core is appropriately split (onsite) using diamond core saws with the cut line routinely located relative to the core orientation line (where present) to provide consistency of sample split selection. The diamond saws are regularly flushed with water to minimize potential contamination. A field duplicate core sample is collected every 30 th sample to ensure the representivity of the in situ material collected. The performance of these field duplicates are routinely analysed as part of Xanadus sample QC process. sample to ensure the representivity of the in situ material collected. The performance of these field duplicates are routinely analysed as part of Xanadus sample QC process. Routine sample preparation and analyses of DDH samples were carried out by ALS Mongolia LLC (ALS Mongolia), who operates an independent sample preparation and analytical laboratory in Ulaanbaatar. All samples were prepared to meet standard quality control procedures as follows: Crushed to 75% passing 2mm, split to 1kg, pulverised to 85% passing 200 mesh (75 microns) and split to 150g sample pulp. ALS Mongolia Geochemistry labs quality management system is certified to ISO 9001:2008. The sample support (sub-sample mass and comminution) is appropriate for the grainsize and Cu-Au distribution of the porphyry Cu-Au mineralization and associated host rocks. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total. For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc. Nature of quality control procedures adopted (eg standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (ie lack of bias) and precision have been established. All samples were routinely assayed by ALS Mongolia for gold Au is determined using a 25g fire assay fusion, cupelled to obtain a bead, and digested with Aqua Regia, followed by an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish, with a lower detection (LDL) of 0.01 ppm. All samples were also submitted to ALS Mongolia for the 48 element package ME-ICP61 using a four acid digest (considered to be an effective total digest for the elements relevant to the MRE). Where copper is over-range (>1% Cu), it is analysed by a second analytical technique (Cu-OG62), which has a higher upper detection limit (UDL) of 5% copper. Quality assurance has been managed by insertion of appropriate Standards (1:30 samples suitable Ore Research Pty Ltd certified standards), Blanks (1:30 samples), Duplicates (1:30 samples core duplicate) by XAM. Assay results outside the optimal range for methods were re-analysed by appropriate methods. Ore Research Pty Ltd certified copper and gold standards have been implemented as a part of QC procedures, as well as coarse and pulp blanks, and certified matrix matched copper-gold standards. QC monitoring is an active and ongoing processes on batch by batch basis by which unacceptable results are re-assayed as soon as practicable. Prior to 2014: Cu, Ag, Pb, Zn, As and Mo were routinely determined using a three-acid-digestion of a 0.3g sub-sample followed by an AAS finish (AAS21R) at SGS Mongolia. Samples were digested with nitric, hydrochloric and perchloric acids to dryness before leaching with hydrochloric acid to dissolve soluble salts and made to 15ml volume with distilled water. The LDL for copper using this technique was 2ppm. Where copper was over-range (>1% Cu), it was analysed by a second analytical technique (AAS22S), which has a higher upper detection limit (UDL) of 5% copper. Gold analysis method was essentially unchanged. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel. The use of twinned holes. Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. Discuss any adjustment to assay data. All assay data QAQC is checked prior to loading into XAMs Geobank data base. The data is managed by XAM geologists. The data base and geological interpretation is managed by XAM. Check assays are submitted to an umpire lab (SGS Mongolia) for duplicate analysis. No twinned drill holes exist. There have been no adjustments to any of the assay data. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation. Specification of the grid system used. Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Diamond drill holes have been surveyed with a differential global positioning system (DGPS) to within 10cm accuracy. The grid system used for the project is UTM WGS-84 Zone 48N Historically, Eastman Kodak and Flexit electronic multi-shot downhole survey tools have been used at Kharmagtai to collect down hole azimuth and inclination information for the majority of the diamond drill holes. Single shots were typically taken every 30m to 50m during the drilling process, and a multi-shot survey with readings every 3-5m are conducted at the completion of the drill hole. As these tools rely on the earths magnetic field to measure azimuth, there is some localised interference/inaccuracy introduced by the presence of magnetite in some parts of the Kharmagtai mineral system. The extent of this interference cannot be quantified on a reading-by-reading basis. More recently (since September 2017), a north-seeking gyro has been employed by the drilling crews on site (rented and operated by the drilling contractor), providing accurate downhole orientation measurements unaffected by magnetic effects. Xanadu have a permanent calibration station setup for the gyro tool, which is routinely calibrated every 2 weeks (calibration records are maintained and were sighted) The project DTM is based on 1 m contours from satellite imagery with an accuracy of 0.1 m. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. Whether sample compositing has been applied. Holes spacings range from <50m spacings within the core of mineralization to +500m spacings for exploration drilling. Hole spacings can be determined using the sections and drill plans provided. Holes range from vertical to an inclination of -60 degrees depending on the attitude of the target and the drilling method. The data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish anomalism and targeting for porphyry Cu-Au, tourmaline breccia and epithermal target types. Holes have been drilled to a maximum of 1,300m vertical depth. The data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish geological and grade continuity, and to support the Mineral Resource classification. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type. If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. Drilling is conducted in a predominantly regular grid to allow unbiased interpretation and targeting. Scissor drilling, as well as some vertical and oblique drilling, has been used in key mineralised zones to achieve unbiased sampling of interpreted structures and mineralised zones, and in particular to assist in constraining the geometry of the mineralised hydrothermal tourmaline-sulphide breccia domains. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Samples are delivered from the drill rig to the core shed twice daily and are never left unattended at the rig. Samples are dispatched from site in locked boxes transported on XAM company vehicles to ALS lab in Ulaanbaatar. Sample shipment receipt is signed off at the Laboratory with additional email confirmation of receipt. Samples are then stored at the lab and returned to a locked storage site. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. Internal audits of sampling techniques and data management are undertaken on a regular basis, to ensure industry best practice is employed at all times. External reviews and audits have been conducted by the following groups: 2012: AMC Consultants Pty Ltd. was engaged to conduct an Independent Technical Report which reviewed drilling and sampling procedures. It was concluded that sampling and data record was to an appropriate standard. 2013: Mining Associates Ltd. was engaged to conduct an Independent Technical Report to review drilling, sampling techniques and QAQC. Methods were found to conform to international best practice. 2018: CSA Global reviewed the entire drilling, logging, sampling, sample shipping and laboratory processes during the competent persons site visit for the 2018 MRe, and found the systems and adherence to protocols to be to an appropriate standard. 1.3 JORC TABLE 1 - SECTION 2 - REPORTING OF EXPLORATION RESULTS Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings. The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Project comprises 1 Mining Licence (MV-17387A). The Kharmagtai mining license MV-17387A is 100% owned by Oyut Ulaan LLC. Xanadu has an 85% interest in Mongol Metals LLC, which has 90% interest in Oyut Ulaan LLC. The remaining 10% in Oyut Ulaan LLC is owned by Quincunx (BVI) Ltd (Quincunx). The Mongolian Minerals Law (2006) and Mongolian Land Law (2002) govern exploration, mining and land use rights for the project. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. Detailed exploration was conducted by Quincunx Ltd, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd and Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd including extensive surface mapping, trenching, diamond drilling, surface geochemistry and geophysics. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. The mineralisation is characterised as porphyry copper-gold type. Porphyry copper-gold deposits are formed from magmatic hydrothermal fluids typically associated with felsic intrusive stocks that have deposited metals as sulphides both within the intrusive and the intruded host rocks. Quartz stockwork veining is typically associated with sulphides occurring both within the quartz veinlets and disseminated thought out the wall rock. Porphyry deposits are typically large tonnage deposits ranging from low to high grade and are generally mined by large scale open pit or underground bulk mining methods. The prospects at Kharmagtai are atypical in that they are associated with intermediate intrusions of diorite to quartz diorite composition; however the deposits are significant in terms of gold:copper ratio, and similar to other gold-rich porphyry deposits. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: Diamond holes, RC holes and trenches are the principal source of geological and grade data for the Project. easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole down hole length and interception depth hole length. Timing RC Holes Metre DDH Holes Metre RC & DDH Metre Trench Metre Drilling <2015 155 24553 252 88511 0 0 106 39774 Drilling >2015 68 13107 116 57876 22 5323 17 5618 Total 223 37660 368 146387 22 5323 123 45392 See figures in main report. If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated. Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high grade results and longer lengths of low grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail. The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. Weighted averages have not been used in this work Some compositing has been used in this resource but with statistically relevant techniques that do not include internal dilution The following metal equivalent calculations were used: CuEq = Cu% + (Au g/t x 0.51139) Formula is based on a $3.1/lb copper price and a $1,320/oz gold price. A relative gold to copper recovery factor of 82.35% was used (85% copper recovery and 70% gold recovery), gold to copper conversion factor of 0.62097 was applied. All prices are in USD. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results. If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported. If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. down hole length, true width not known). Mineralised structures are variable in orientation, and therefore drill orientations have been adjusted from place to place in order to allow intersection angles as close as possible to true widths. Exploration results have been reported as an interval with 'from' and 'to' stated in tables of significant economic intercepts. Tables clearly indicate that true widths will generally be narrower than those reported. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. See figures in main report. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results. Resources have been reported at a range of cut-off grades, above a minimum suitable for open pit mining, and above a minimum suitable for underground mining. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. Extensive work in this area has been done and is reported separately. See the company website for significant announcements and milestones. Work that has been done includes; relogging of core, structural studies, alteration studies, geotechnical studies and preliminary metallurgical test works. The project has been subject to various geophysical studies including aeromagnetic, radiometric surveys and electromagnetic surveys over discrete targets. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (e.g. tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling). Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. The mineralisation is open at depth and along strike. Current estimates are restricted to those expected to be reasonable for open pit mining. Limited drilling below this depth (- 300m rl) shows widths and grades potentially suitable for underground extraction. Exploration is on-going. 1.4 JORC TABLE 1 SECTION 3 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF MINERAL RESOURCES Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Database integrity Measures taken to ensure that data has not been corrupted by, for example, transcription or keying errors, between its initial collection and its use for Mineral Resource estimation purposes. Data validation procedures used. The database is managed using Micromine Geobank software. Data is logged directly into an Excel spread sheet logging system with drop down field lists. Validation checks are written into the importing program ensures all data is of high quality. Digital assay data is obtained from the Laboratory, QA/QC checked and imported. Geobank exported to CSV TEXT and imported directly to the Micromine software used for the MRE. The combined database was provided for the MRE. Validation of the data import include checks for the following: Duplicate drill hole or trench names, One or more drill hole collar or trench coordinates missing in the collar file, FROM or TO missing or absent in the assay file, FROM > TO in the assay file, Sample intervals overlap in the assay file, First sample is not equal to 0 m in the assay file, First depth is not equal to 0 m in the survey file, Several downhole survey records exist for the same depth, Azimuth is not between 0 and 360 in the survey file, Dip is not between 0 and 90 in the survey file, Azimuth or dip is missing in survey file, Total depth of the holes is less than the depth of the last sample, Total length of trenches is less than the total length of all samples. Negative sample grades. No logical errors were identified in the analytical data. Site visits Comment on any site visits undertaken by the Competent Person and the outcome of those visits. If no site visits have been undertaken indicate why this is the case. Warren Potma, an employee of CSA Global, visited the Kharmagtai project, located in Mongolia, over 4 days from 18th to 22nd September 2018. The site visit was required for the purposes of inspection, ground truthing, review of activities, and collection of information and data. Geological interpretation Confidence in (or conversely, the uncertainty of ) the geological interpretation of the mineral deposit. Nature of the data used and of any assumptions made. The effect, if any, of alternative interpretations on Mineral Resource estimation. The use of geology in guiding and controlling Mineral Resource estimation. The factors affecting continuity both of grade and geology. Geological data has been collected in a consistent manner that has allowed the development of geological models to support the Mineral Resource estimate. Copper and gold mineralisation is controlled by porphyry phases, oxidation zone, level of veining, breccia, country rocks and barren dykes. Full geological models of all major geological formations were developed for each deposit, and the block models were domained accordingly. Domaining of the deposit mineralisation was based on the current understanding of the deposits geology. All major geological formations were wireframed by Xanadu geologists using Leapfrog software, including porphyry phases, country rocks, barren dyke, base of oxidation surface and breccia bodies. All geological formations were domained by the level of development of stockwork - <0.5% veining, 0.5-1.5% veining and >1.5% veining. All provided wireframe models were imported into Micromine software and validated by CSA Global. Geological interpretation and wireframing were based on sampling results of drill holes and trenches, which were logged at 2 m intervals (average). No alternative interpretations were adopted. Lithological logging was mainly used to interpret and to wireframe the geological formations. Geological logging of veining was used to wireframe the stockwork and breccia domains. Dimensions The extent and variability of the Mineral Resource expressed as length (along strike or otherwise), plan width, and depth below surface to the upper and lower limits of the Mineral Resource. Altan Tolgoi: The strike length of the mineralised zone is about 1,200 m. Width is up to 800 m, no plunging, traced down dip to 1,030 m. Mineralisation is outcropped at the surface. Tsagaan Sudal: The strike length of the mineralised zone is about 1,200 m. Width is up to 730 m, no plunging, traced down dip to 1,080 m. Mineralisation is outcropped at the surface. Zesen Uul: The strike length of the mineralised zone is about 630 m. Width is up to 150 m with apparent plunging to SW at about 40 degrees. traced down dip to 420 m dipping 70 degrees to SE. Mineralisation is outcropped at the surface. Estimation and modelling techniques The nature and appropriateness of the estimation technique(s) applied and key assumptions, including treatment of extreme grade values, domaining, interpolation parameters and maximum distance of extrapolation from data points. If a computer assisted estimation method was chosen include a description of computer software and parameters used. The availability of check estimates, previous estimates and/or mine production records and whether the Mineral Resource estimate takes appropriate account of such data. The assumptions made regarding recovery of by-products. Estimation of deleterious elements or other non-grade variables of economic significance (e.g. sulphur for acid mine drainage characterisation). In the case of block model interpolation, the block size in relation to the average sample spacing and the search employed. Any assumptions behind modelling of selective mining units. Any assumptions about correlation between variables. Description of how the geological interpretation was used to control the resource estimates. Discussion of basis for using or not using grade cutting or capping. The process of validation, the checking process used, the comparison of model data to drill hole data, and use of reconciliation data if available. The MRE is based on surface drilling and trenching results using Ordinary Kriging (OK) to inform 20 m x 20 m x 20 m blocks. The block model was constrained by wireframes modelled for the geological formations of the deposits and coded and domained by the level of oxidation and level of veining. The OK interpolation was carried out separately for each geological domain of each deposit. Hard boundaries were used between the interpreted geological domains. The drill hole and trench data were composited to a target length of 2 m based on the length analysis of raw intercepts. Top-cuts were estimated separately for gold and coper grades for each modelled domain and applied to sampled intervals before length compositing. Interpolation parameters were as follows: Image removed and available in the link below http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8a876db0-010f-4bf7-b198-088d039620c6 Previous JORC-compliant Mineral Resources were estimated by Mining Associates, and the estimate was available for review. No current mining is occurring at the Kharmagtai project. No by-products are assumed at this stage. Estimated molybdenum and silver grades appear to be sub-economic to extract at this stage of the project evaluation. Sulphur grades were interpolated into the models to establish their potential affect to metallurgical processing. The optimal parent cell size was selected in the course of block modelling. The linear parent cell dimensions along X- and Y-axes were 20 m x 20 m. The vertical parent cell dimension was 20 m. Block grades were interpolated using parent cell estimation. Nominal drill spacing was about 40 m x 40 m at the central parts of the deposits. It was assumed that a 20 m x 20 m x 20 m parent cell approximately reflects SMU for large scale open pit mining. No assumptions about correlation between variables were made. Geological interpretation was based on the results of detailed geological logging, which resulted in the development of wireframe models for all major geological formations for each deposit, which control copper and gold mineralisation (country rocks, porphyry phases, barren dyke. Logging of the level of veining and level of oxidation was used to develop wireframe models for the stockwork development (<0.5% veining, 0.5-1.5% veining and >1.5% veining) and also for breccia pipe and surface for the base of oxidation surface. The wireframe models for stockwork, breccia and oxidation were used to sub-domain the main geological formations of each deposit. All wireframe models were developed by Xanadu geologists using Leapfrog software. Top-cutting was applied separately for each geological domain and sub-domain based on the results of the classical statistical analysis. Grade estimation was validated using visual inspection of interpolated block grades vs. sample data, alternative interpolation methods and swath plots. Moisture Whether the tonnages are estimated on a dry basis or with natural moisture, and the method of determination of the moisture content. Moisture was not considered in the density assignment and all tonnage estimates are based on dry tonnes. Cut-off parameters The basis of the adopted cut-off grade(s) or quality parameters applied. A cut-off grade of 0.3% CuEq was used to report the Mineral Resources for open pit mining within the limits of ultimate undiscounted pit shell, and a cut-off of 0.5% CuEq was used to report the Mineral Resources for underground mining below the ultimate undiscounted pit shell. Mining factors or assumptions Assumptions made regarding possible mining methods, minimum mining dimensions and internal (or, if applicable, external) mining dilution. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider potential mining methods, but the assumptions made regarding mining methods and parameters when estimating Mineral Resources may not always be rigorous. Where this is the case, this should be reported with an explanation of the basis of the mining assumptions made. No mining factors have been applied to the in-situ grade estimates for mining dilution or loss as a result of the grade control or mining process. The deposit is amenable to large scale bulk mining. The Mineral Resource is reported above and outside of an optimised ultimate pit shell (Lerch Grossman algorithm), mineralisation below the pit shell is reported at a higher cut-off to reflect the increased costs associated with block cave underground mining. Metallurgical factors or assumptions The basis for assumptions or predictions regarding metallurgical amenability. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider potential metallurgical methods, but the assumptions regarding metallurgical treatment processes and parameters made when reporting Mineral Resources may not always be rigorous. Where this is the case, this should be reported with an explanation of the basis of the metallurgical assumptions made. No metallurgical factors have been applied to the in-situ grade estimates. Metallurgical recoveries were used when copper equivalent grades were calculated in the model. The applied recoveries were 85% for copper and 70% for gold. Relative gold to copper recovery was 82%. Environmental factors or assumptions Assumptions made regarding possible waste and process residue disposal options. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider the potential environmental impacts of the mining and processing operation. While at this stage the determination of potential environmental impacts, particularly for a greenfields project, may not always be well advanced, the status of early consideration of these potential environmental impacts should be reported. Where these aspects have not been considered this should be reported with an explanation of the environmental assumptions made. An environmental baseline study was completed in 2003 by Eco Trade Co. Ltd. of Mongolia in cooperation with Sustainability Pty Ltd of Australia. The baseline study report was produced to meet the requirements for screening under the Mongolian Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Procedures administered by the Mongolian Ministry for Nature and Environment (MNE). Bulk density Whether assumed or determined. If assumed, the basis for the assumptions. If determined, the method used, whether wet or dry, the frequency of the measurements, the nature, size and representativeness of the samples. The bulk density for bulk material must have been measured by methods that adequately account for void spaces (vugs, porosity, etc.), moisture and differences between rock and alteration zones within the deposit. Discuss assumptions for bulk density estimates used in the evaluation process of the different materials. A total of 4428 measurements for bulk density are recorded in the database, all of which were determined by the water immersion method. The average density of all samples is approximately 2.75 t/m3. In detail there are some differences in density between different rock types. Therefore, since the model includes all major geological domains, density values were applied separately for each domain: Image removed and available in the link below http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/206959b3-dd9b-419c-be9c-f4ef5910f342 Average bulk density values were applied for each geological domain, though there could be variations in density values due to presence of sulphides or level of alteration. Classification The basis for the classification of the Mineral Resources into varying confidence categories. Whether appropriate account has been taken of all relevant factors (i.e. relative confidence in tonnage/grade estimations, reliability of input data, confidence in continuity of geology and metal values, quality, quantity and distribution of the data). Whether the result appropriately reflects the Competent Persons view of the deposit. The Mineral Resource has been classified based on the guidelines specified in the JORC Code. The classification level is based upon an assessment of geological understanding of the deposit, geological and mineralization continuity, drill hole spacing, QC results, search and interpolation parameters and an analysis of available density information. The following approach was adopted: Measured Resources: Not reported. Indicated Resources: It was decided that Indicated Mineral Resources be assigned to blocks which were explored with the drill density not exceeding approximately 65 m x 65 m with at least two mineralization intersections on exploration lines. Geological structures are relatively well understood and interpreted. Inferred Resources: Inferred Mineral Resources are model blocks lying outside the Indicated wireframes, which still display reasonable strike continuity and down dip extension, based on the current drill hole and trench intersections. The following approach was adopted: Data quality, grade continuity, structural continuity and drill spacing were assessed by CSA Global to form an opinion regarding resource confidence. The classification reflects the Competent Persons view of the deposit. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of Mineral Resource estimates. The Mineral Resource block model was peer reviewed internally by a Principal Resource Geologist employed by CSA Global and the conclusion was made that the procedures used to estimate and classify the Mineral Resource are appropriate. Discussion of relative accuracy/ confidence Where appropriate a statement of the relative accuracy and confidence level in the Mineral Resource estimate using an approach or procedure deemed appropriate by the Competent Person. For example, the application of statistical or geostatistical procedures to quantify the relative accuracy of the resource within stated confidence limits, or, if such an approach is not deemed appropriate, a qualitative discussion of the factors that could affect the relative accuracy and confidence of the estimate. The statement should specify whether it relates to global or local estimates, and, if local, state the relevant tonnages, which should be relevant to technical and economic evaluation. Documentation should include assumptions made and the procedures used. These statements of relative accuracy and confidence of the estimate should be compared with production data, where available. Industry standard modelling techniques were used, including but not limited to: Classical statistical analysis, Interpretation and wireframing of main geological formations, Top-cutting and interval compositing, Domaining of the model using level of logging veining, breccia and zone of oxidation, Geostatistical analysis, Block modelling and grade interpolation techniques, Model classification, validation and reporting The relative accuracy of the estimate is reflected in the classification of the deposit. The estimate is related to the global estimate of the deposit suitable for subsequent PFS or further exploration at the deposit. No historical production data is available for comparison with the MRE. The Mineral Resource accuracy is communicated through the classification assigned to various parts of the deposit. 1.5 JORC TABLE 1 SECTION 4 ESTIMATION AND REPORTING OF ORE RESERVES Ore Reserves are not reported so this is not applicable to this report. TORONTO, March 20, 2019 /CNW/ - Guyana Goldfields Inc. (TSX: GUY) ("Guyana Goldfields" or the "Company") shareholders (the "Concerned Shareholders"), together owning not less than 5% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company, have engaged an independent, international consulting practice specializing in the resource sector to provide a third-party review and analysis of the resource model at Guyana Goldfields' Aurora Gold Mine ("Aurora"). The Concerned Shareholders are aware that the Company has contracted RPA Ltd. to review the resource model and that the Company's board of directors (the "Board") intends to announce its revised mining plan later this month. However, given continuing concerns over the Company's seemingly misleading disclosures and general market skepticism, the Concerned Shareholders want to ensure that an independent review is conducted. The Concerned Shareholders believe that their third-party review will serve as a check and balance against the Company's resource model, especially if the Company tries to use its resource model to excuse management's poor performance. "We want to ensure that the current Board and management aren't manipulating data to justify their poor results. Over the past year alone, the Company's missed production and cost guidance have left shareholders with market losses exceeding $500 million," said Patrick Sheridan, one of the largest shareholders and former Executive Chairman and former director of the Company. "We believe that the root cause of the Company's problems is poor execution, poor planning, and poor mining practices not the resource model. It's important that shareholders, the market, the Government of Guyana, and the public at large have credible and reliable information as we head towards the Company's annual general meeting in May." Growing List of Excuses for Poor Performance During 2018, the current management of Guyana Goldfields twice lowered production guidance by a cumulative 25% and increased their projections of their all-in-sustaining costs by 20%. Public disclosure by the Company's management provided shareholders with several different reasons for these repeated failures: When they said it: What they said (underlining added for emphasis): Q1, 2018 MD&A April 30, 2018 "The mill head grade was lower at 2.18 g/t Au. which is a function of mine sequencing." Q2, 2018 MD&A July 30, 2018 "Gold production was below planned levels primarily due to slower than anticipated ramp-up in mining rates, which limited access to higher- grade ore during the quarter." Q3, 2018 MD&A (amended version) October 30, 2018 "2018 gold production guidance is revised downward to 150,000 to 155,000 ounces as grades have not rebounded as quickly as anticipated" Analyst & Investors Site Tour Presentation November 13, 2018 While admitting that the mine grade reconciled very well in 2016 and 2017, the negative grade variance in 2018 is explained as follows: "2018 LOM (life of mine) plan assumed ore mined > ore processed of 0.2 Mt in 2018, i.e., only medium & high grade processed and low grade sent to stockpile" "Slower mining rates YTD has resulted in ore mined < ore processed of 0.3 Mt, resulting in processing of low grade ore & low grade stockpiles - delayed access to high grade ore originally expected in 4Q 2018" In addition, a Scotiabank analyst present on the November 13, 2018 tour, made the following comment: "While we wonder if previous operational disappointments may not have had a grade reconciliation component, the [C]ompany reiterated that poor performance of year-to-date production was due to execution issues, most notably the slow mobilization of the new contractor. " A New Plan, Vision for Guyana Goldfields Recognizing that geological models are refined over time, which will influence the distribution of gold within the deposit, the Concerned Shareholders firmly believe there are no substantial issues with the resource model at Aurora. Instead, they believe the missed guidance and increasing costs plaguing the Company are the result of poor management (including the engaging of an unqualified contractor) and lack of oversight by the Board. In the coming weeks, the Concerned Shareholders will present a new life of mine plan ("LOM Plan") for Aurora that, if executed with the proper oversight, should allow the Company to realize the full potential of Aurora and build value for shareholders. The new LOM Plan will focus on ensuring the long-term viability of the mine and thus ensure the continued support of shareholders, the Guyanese government, and employees of the Company. Learn More about the Concerned Shareholders and their Plan to Fix Guyana Goldfields Shareholders are encouraged to visit FixGuyGold.com to learn more about the Concerned Shareholders and about their plan to stop the massive value destruction at Guyana Goldfields. Patrick Sheridan, on behalf of the Concerned Shareholders, welcomes the opportunity to engage with fellow shareholders. Mr. Sheridan can be reached at 416-628-5904 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Advisors Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic shareholder, communications and proxy advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP and Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP are acting as legal advisors to the Concerned Shareholders of Guyana Goldfields Inc. Additional Information Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation The information contained in this press release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although the Concerned Shareholders have delivered the requisition, shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of the Concerned Shareholders' nominees (the "Nominees") or any other resolution set forth in the requisition. In connection with the meeting, the Concerned Shareholders may file a dissident information circular in due course in compliance with applicable securities laws. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Concerned Shareholders are voluntarily providing the disclosure required under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations ("NI 51-102") and section 150(1.2) of the Canada Business Corporations Act in accordance with Canadian corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. In connection therewith, certain information regarding, among other things, the Nominees has been provided by the Concerned Shareholders in its press release dated January 10, 2019, (the "Nominee Announcement") under the section entitled "Information Concerning the Nominees". The Nominee Announcement has been filed by the Concerned Shareholders and is available for review on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Since the Nominee Announcement, Nominee James White has advised the Concerned Shareholders that he now beneficially owns, controls or directs (directly or indirectly) 61,700 common shares of Guyana Goldfields. The information contained herein and any solicitation made by the Concerned Shareholders in advance of the meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by the Concerned Shareholders and not by or on behalf of the management of Guyana Goldfields. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by the Concerned Shareholders, provided that, subject to applicable law, the Concerned Shareholders may seek reimbursement from Guyana Goldfields of the Concerned Shareholders' out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of Guyana Goldfields' board. The Concerned Shareholders are not soliciting proxies in connection with the meeting at this time. The Concerned Shareholders may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of the Concerned Shareholders. The Concerned Shareholders have retained Kingsdale Advisors ("Kingsdale") as its strategic shareholder, communications and proxy advisor. Kingsdale's responsibilities will principally include soliciting shareholders should the Concerned Shareholders commence a formal solicitation of proxies, providing strategic advice and advising the Concerned Shareholders with respect to the meeting and proxy protocol. Any proxies solicited by or on behalf of the Concerned Shareholders, including by Kingsdale or any other agent, may be solicited pursuant to a dissident information circular or by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications and by any other manner permitted under Canadian corporate and securities laws. Any such proxies may be revoked by instrument in writing executed by a shareholder or by his or her attorney authorized in writing or, if the shareholder is a body corporate, by an officer or attorney thereof duly authorized or by any other manner permitted by law. The registered address of Guyana Goldfields is located at 141 Adelaide Street West, Suite 1608, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 3L5. A copy of this press release may be obtained on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia unleashed a series of bitter wars marked by atrocities, genocide and massacres that left more than 130,000 people dead. Here is some background to the Balkans wars, one of the darkest periods in Europes post-World War II history. Bickering after Tito dies Communist Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics: Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Following the death of autocratic leader Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the federation plunged into crisis with bickering between ethnic groups and surging nationalist sentiment. The first multiparty elections in the republics in 1990 resulted in crushing victories for their nationalists. But the largest republic, Serbia, wanted to create a single Serb state. It rallied fellow Serbs throughout the rest of Yugoslavia, notably in Bosnia and Croatia, towards this goal. Slovenia, Croatia independence wars In June 1991 the parliaments of the most prosperous republics, Slovenia and Croatia, declared independence, triggering an immediate reaction by the Serbia-controlled army (JNA). After a 10-day conflict with local armed forces and police, the JNA withdrew from Slovenia. But in Croatia Serbian-dominated JNA troops sided with ethnic Serb rebels who opposed independence, launching what would become a four-year war against Croatian forces in which 20,000 people were killed. The eastern town of Vukovar was razed during a siege by Yugoslav forces in autumn 1991 while the medieval Adriatic town of Dubrovnik was severely damaged. War erupts in Bosnia In Bosnia, the most ethnically and religiously diverse republic, the Muslim and Croat population organised an independence referendum in February-March 1992. The vote was fiercely opposed by its Serbs, who made up about 30 percent of the total population. They boycotted but 60 percent of Bosnias citizens still voted for independence. Bosnia won international recognition as an independent republic, including admission into the United Nations. But in April 1992 war broke out, pitting Bosnias Serbs against its Muslims and Croats. The Serbs were led by Radovan Karadzic and armed by the JNA; they declared that territories under their control belonged to an entity called Republika Srpska under the authority of Karadzic. Soon after, Bosnian Croats turned against the republics Muslims. Siege of Sarajevo, Srebrenica massacre Almost from the very beginning of the war, Bosnian Serb troops enforced a siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo which lasted 44 months. The citys 350,000 residents struggled to get basic necessities and at least 10,000 were killed by sniping and shelling by Serbs. In July 1995 Bosnian Serb forces took over a UN-protected safe area of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and massacred some 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Described by international courts as genocide, it was the worst mass killing in Europe since the end of World War II. NATO strikes, peace deal In August 1995, amid spiralling atrocities, NATO unleashed air strikes on Bosnian Serb positions. In November 1995, the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia agreed to a peace deal following three weeks of talks in the US city of Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Peace Accords put an end to the devastating wars and divided Bosnia into the Serb Republika Srpska and a Muslim-Croat Federation, both falling under a central government. In December 1995, a NATO peacekeeping force deployed to the fragile country. Kosovo conflict War then broke out in 1998 in Serbias southern province of Kosovo between ethnic Albanian rebels seeking independence and Serbian armed forces. The fighting ended in 1999 after an 11-week bombing campaign by NATO, by which time some 13,000 people had been killed and hundreds of thousands had fled their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008. It is recognised by around a hundred countries, but not by Serbia, five European Union countries, and Russia and China. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will on Wednesday hear the final judgment on his role in the bloody conflict that tore his country apart a quarter of a century ago. In one of the last remaining cases from the break-up of Yugoslavia, UN judges in The Hague will rule on his appeal against his 2016 conviction for genocide and war crimes, and his 40-year jail sentence. Once the most powerful Bosnian Serb political figure, Karadzic, now 73, was notorious for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the worst bloodletting on European soil since World War II. I think this verdict is historical for justice, Munira Subasic of the Mothers of Srebrenica victims association told AFP, adding that they wanted Karadzic to get a full life sentence. If Karadzic does not get what he deserves it means that there is no justice in this world and that it is possible to commit crimes without risking penalties. The ruling is due to start at 1300 GMT at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which deals with cases left over from now-defunct courts for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Karadzic, who has been in detention for 11 years, was calm ahead of the verdict, the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti on Wednesday quoted his brother Luka as saying. I spoke to Radovan two or three days ago, he is feeling good and he believes justice will be done, Luka Karadzic said. He has reawoken our hope that this trial will end well. The paper also published several cryptic aphorisms written by Radovan Karadzic including one which said: A man who swallows his honour for breakfast may have something for dinner. Im afraid A former psychiatrist and amateur poet turned brutal political leader, Karadzic was arrested in 2008 in Belgrade after nearly 13 years on the run during which he posed as a new age healer called Dragan Dabic. In 2016, Karadzic was found guilty on 10 counts including orchestrating a nearly four-year siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, where more than 10,000 people died in a campaign of sniping and shelling, according to prosecutors. He was also found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb troops slaughtered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in eastern Bosnia, which was supposed to be under UN protection, and buried their bodies in mass graves. Karadzic has appealed the sentence on 50 grounds and accused judges of conducting a political trial against him. Karadzics case still bitterly divides the country he helped drive to war, with widows of Srebrenica hoping he dies in prison even as Bosnian Serbs have honoured him with a university dorm in his name. Families of the victims of Srebrenica will watch the verdict at the Women of Srebrenica association building in the town of Tuzla. Believe me Im afraid, said Hajra Catic, whose husband and son were killed at Srebrenica. Im afraid since they asked that judges be changed and they put (in) those who suit them. Im afraid for Srebrenica also, what will be in the verdict and whether they will say that it was not a genocide. Unfair trial The case also comes at a crucial time for international courts as they come under attack from quarters including the administration of US President Donald Trump, and reel after a series of mistrials. Karadzics lawyer Peter Robinson said his client fervently believed that the Trial Chamber judgement was wrong and the product of an unfair trial. He (Karadzic) is an optimistic person by nature, Robinson said. Karadzic represented himself at his trial, but has Robinson assisting him. Prosecutors, however, said Karadzic and others including his military alter-ego, former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, wanted to permanently remove Muslims and Croats from territory claimed by Bosnian Serbs at the time. United Nations prosecutors also asked judges to reverse his acquittal on a second charge of genocide in Bosnias municipalities and hand him a life sentence. Mladic, 76, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, is currently appealing a life sentence on similar charges. He has previously refused to testify at Karadzics trial, calling the UN tribunal satanic. Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzics long-time patron during the war, was on trial at the ICTY until his death in 2006. burs-jhe/dk/wdb Democratic Republic of Congo has acknowledged for the first time that local officials played a role in sparking the slaughter of hundreds of people last December. At least 535 civilians were killed on December 16 and 17 in three villages in Yumbi, a remote territory in western DR Congo on the banks of the Congo River some 350 kilometres (200 miles) north of Kinshasa. The ethnic bloodletting went largely unnoticed at first because it coincided with the runup to long-awaited presidential elections. Days passed before details began to trickle out, and it took a month before the scale of the killing emerged. What happened in Yumbi in December 2018 is not a source of pride for my country, DRC Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa said in Geneva on Tuesday. Local political and administrative actors manipulated the massacre, unfortunately leading to the nightmare we are describing today, Mushobekwa said, characterising the conflict as essentially linked to land. Atrocities included the killing and disembowelment of pregnant women and genital mutilation, she said. The minister was speaking at the United Nations human rights council following the publication of a UN investigation carried out from January 17 to 26. When AFP visited the scene in late January, local sources said the massacre had been a carefully planned attack on the Banunu community by members of the Batende ethnic group. The attack was carried out using military-style tactics, with some assailants dressed in army uniforms, the sources said. Some of the sources implicated members of the armed forces and the local authorities in the massacre. After the bloodshed, the government replaced several territorial officials, including the police and intelligence chiefs, army staff and administrative personnel. UN investigators last week said they found that the various episodes of violence, which were preceded by a dispute over the burial of a Banunu customary chief, were strikingly similar. Their report detailed horrific abuse, including an account of a two-year-old thrown into a septic tank, and a woman reportedly raped after her husband was killed and their three-year-old child was decapitated. The attacks could amount to war crimes, the investigators said. The probe said it was unable to establish any state responsibility for the massacre. However, the responsibility of the state is involved to the extent that the inquiry was able to establish that national and provincial authorities had been informed of the high risk of violence but did not take any preventive measure, it said. Mushobekwa said that the DRCs newly elected president, Felix Tshisekedi, had ordered an investigation into what happened and its report would be sent to the UN rights panel in the next few days. Those who carried out these massacres are going to be, and must be, brought to Congolese justice to reply for their acts. We are fully aware that without justice, there will be no sustainable peace in the DRC. Former Bosnian Serb strongman Radovan Karadzic had his sentence raised to life on Wednesday for war crimes during Bosnias 1990s war. The bloody conflict between Bosnias Serbs and its Muslims and Croats was part of a series of wars in the Balkans that erupted in the wake of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia after the fall of communism. Here is a rundown of the fate of some of the key players in the Balkan wars, which also involved Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia and claimed more than 100,000 lives. Appeals underway Karadzic: The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found him guilty in 2016 of genocide and nine other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking. His appeal hearing opened in April 2018. The genocide conviction arose from the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia in which almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. Karadzic, now 73, evaded capture for 13 years until he was arrested in 2008 on a Belgrade bus, wearing a bushy beard and masquerading as a New Age healer. Ratko Mladic: A former Bosnian Serb military leader dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, he was arrested in 2011 after 16 years on the run. Mladic, now aged 77, was convicted for genocide and war crimes, including over the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre, and sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2017. He appealed in March 2018 and the case is still to be resolved. Jailed Biljana Plavsic: Former president of the Serbs self-declared Republika Srpska and the only woman to be convicted by the ICTY, she pleaded guilty to war crimes and was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003. Now 88, she was granted early release in 2009. Vojislav Seselj: UN judges in 2018 found the radical Serb parliamentarian, 64, guilty on appeal of crimes against humanity, sentencing him to 10 years. As he had already spent almost 12 years in detention in The Hague between 2003 to 2014, he remained at liberty. An ally of Serbias former president Slobodan Milosevic, the court found Seselj was behind the murder of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs, as well as mass forced deportations. Acquitted Ante Gotovina: The retired Croatian army general, considered a war hero by many Croats, was initially sentenced to 24 years in jail for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Now 63, he was acquitted on appeal in 2012. Deceased Milosevic: The former president died in his cell at the ICTY in 2006, aged 64, while on trial for 66 counts including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. An official report said he had suffered a heart attack. He was accused of fuelling ethnic conflict and mass murder in the former Yugoslavia during his 13-year rule. Franjo Tudjman: The Croatian president, whose war of independence from the Yugoslav federation claimed about 20,000 lives, died from cancer in 1999 aged 77. The ICTY said he would have been indicted for war crimes had he lived. Zeljko Arkan Raznatovic: The head of the feared Serb Tigers paramilitary outfit, he was indicted in 1997 by the Hague court for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia in 1995. He was gunned down aged 47 in January 2000 in a Belgrade hotel. Slobodan Praljak: A former Bosnian Croat military commander took his own life at age 72 in the full glare of media cameras by drinking cyanide in court in November 2017, just after appeal judges upheld his 20-year jail term. Never tried Hashim Thaci: Kosovos president since 2016, he was once the political leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought for independence from Serbia. There has been speculation he could face a special Hague-based court that was set up in 2015 to try war crimes allegedly committed by the KLA. The court has yet to announce its first indictment. The government of the Central African Republic and armed groups that had joined it in a peace deal have reached an agreement to form an inclusive government, the African Union said Wednesday. The Central African authorities and the 14 armed groups (that) signed the peace accord negotiated in early February in Khartoum agreed to an inclusive government in Addis Ababa, the AU said. The deal is the eighth attempt to bring peace to the conflict-wracked, impoverished state since 2012. Signed in the CAR capital Bangui on February 6 after negotiations in Sudan, it brings together the CAR government and 14 armed groups who control most of the country. The agreement called for a series of confidence-building measures, such as establishing joint patrols and the creation of a truth and justice commission within 90 days. Two students receive Critical Language Scholarships from U.S. State Department Wednesday, March 20, 2019 MANHATTAN Two Kansas State University students have received Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State and American Councils for International Education to study abroad this summer. Lauren Ailslieger, sophomore in open option, Topeka, will study Russian in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Katelyn Tietzen, doctoral student in history, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, will study Arabic in Amman, Jordan. "The national applicant pool for the Critical Language Scholarships is surprisingly large and really competitive, so this is an impressive recognition for Lauren and Kate," said Jim Hohenbary, director of the university's Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships. "In addition to being a great opportunity for language study, the program affirms and builds upon their prior accomplishments." The scholarship program requires students to only speak the target language for the duration of the program. Each student will be immersed in the language by attending up to five hours of language class a day for five days a week in addition to cultural excursions and staying with a host family. "This program is going to really push my language abilities to the next level and will allow me to go much deeper in my study of Russian language through independent study," Ailslieger said. Ailslieger started studying Russian in high school and developed a passion for the language after she visited Russia in 2016. Since that time, she's taken all levels of Russian language classes at Kansas State University and is looking forward to being immersed in the language and culture. "Aside from all of the practical reasons to study Russian such as its role in the global economy and U.S.-Russia relations it is a beautiful language," Ailslieger said. "It's this huge puzzle and it's so fascinating putting all of those pieces together." Ailslieger is a member of Alpha Delta Pi, where she serves as chapter foundation ambassador. She also is president of Creators and incoming vice president of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association hunt seat team. She graduated from Washburn Rural High School and she is the daughter of Kris and Rhonda Ailslieger, Topeka. Tietzen started learning Arabic in 2014 to read documents written in the language as part of her graduate research on Iraq in the Cold War. She traveled to Oman for Arabic training in summer 2018 and said she is excited to visit another Arabic-speaking country. "The Critical Language Scholarship program will not only help me continue my language development and improve my proficiency, but also give me that edge later when I started applying for jobs," Tietzen said. "Whether the jobs are academic or nonacademic, this program is extremely selective and highly respected in both camps." In addition to the Critical Language Scholarship, Tietzen has received the Hoover Institution and Archives Silas Palmer Research Fellowship, Smith Richardson Foundation World Politics and Statecraft Dissertation Fellowship, The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations' Michael J. Hogan Foreign Language Fellowship, and the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and her master's degree from Clemson University. She is the daughter of John and Janet Tietzen and a graduate of Kelowna Secondary School in Kelowna, British Columbia. Kansas State University students interested in applying for the Critical Language Scholarships or any nationally competitive scholarship can visit Hohenbary in 215 Fairchild Hall or contact him at 785-532-3422 or jimlth@k-state.edu. SBA announces Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster initiative at university Wednesday, March 20, 2019 The Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster, which is led by the Kansas State University Technology Development Institute, serves the entire state of Kansas and western Missouri and joins a portfolio of programs supported through the Small Business Administration's Regional Innovation Cluster program. MANHATTAN The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced the addition of the Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster, or Great Plains TMC, initiative to the programs it supports through the nationwide Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. The program has been awarded $500,000 for the first year with a four-year option for a total award of up to $2.5 million over five years. The Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster, led by the Kansas State University Technology Development Institute, serves the entire state of Kansas and western Missouri and joins a portfolio of programs supported through the SBA's Regional Innovation Cluster program, which is designed to support geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers, service providers and related institutions in a particular industry or field. The goal of this new initiative is to assist manufacturers and technology entrepreneurs, particularly in rural regions, in making the critical connections to innovation resources required to protect, develop, launch and grow new products and businesses in the service region. The Great Plains TMC is partnering with a wide range of economic development entities, including the Kansas Department of Commerce, NetWork Kansas, the Kansas Small Business Development Centers and a number of rural regional development offices across the service region to increase awareness, connectivity to resources and collaboration across the Great Plains. Jeff Tucker, executive director of the university's Technology Development Institute said, "We are extremely pleased that the Small Business Administration has chosen to support our efforts to expand the connectivity of technology and manufacturing entrepreneurs and other small business across the state to the technical resources needed to be competitive in today's global economy. Whether it be education, engineering, business planning or a combination of all these, our mission is to ensure that individuals and organizations are aware of and have access to the resources available to assist them." "We are pleased about the collaborative effort and economic impact this cluster initiative will have, including opportunities for Kansas businesses to develop new products, expand their businesses and increase the size of their skilled workforce," said Patty Clark, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce. "The collaboration between our agency and the Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster initiative will help to continue the modernization and growth of businesses in Kansas." Additional information about the Great Plains Technology and Manufacturing Cluster initiative can be found at greatplainstmc.org. CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. The review of a police investigation into a deadly shootout near Cave Junction in early November has now concluded, according to the Josephine County District Attorney's office a shooting that apparently stemmed from one man's ire over a motorcycle. On November 2 of 2018, Oregon State Police (OSP) said that 38-year-old Richard James Ocoyne drove up to a house on Ken Rose Lane and began firing at the house. A man inside the house began firing back, hitting and killing Ocoyne. Now the DA's office report reveals more details about the events that lead up to the deadly shooting. According to the DA's office, Ocoyne had been driving around in a Ford Expedition in the early hours of the morning on November 2, with another man riding in the passenger's seat. Around 7:31 a.m., the DA's office said that Ocoyne drove up to the "R-Hogg-Farm" motorcycle shop (listed online as Rhogfarm). The investigation found that Ocoyne fired a gun from inside his vehicle, hitting the shop's front door. "The bullet entered through the front door of the motorcycle shop, struck a glass case inside the motorcycle shop, exited the glass case and traveled toward the back of the shop. The bullet did not appear to exit the backside of the motorcycle shop," the DA's report said. Police investigation found evidence that Ocoyne had a "prior dispute" with the owner of the shop over a motorcycle inside, apparently providing motivation for the shooting. Next, the report said that Ocoyne drove to the home of Christopher Lorne at 162 Ken Rose Lane. The investigation found that Ocoyne and Lorne were acquainted in fact, Ocoyne had lived with Lorne at the Ken Rose property until Lorne asked him to move out, and the same motorcycle from the shop factored into the dispute. Parking about 10-15 feet from Lorne's front window with Lorne himself asleep in bed just on the other side the DA's report said that Ocoyne hefted an "Anderson Manufacturing M-15 rifle" and fired two shots at the house. Lorne woke up, saw Ocoyne with the rifle, and fished for a .45 caliber handgun near the bed. Lorne then fired four shots in reply. "Multiple shots fired by Christopher Lorne struck the vehicle of Richard James Ocoyne. One of the shots fired by Lorne struck Ocoyne in the head, killing [him]," the DA's report said. Lorne then called 911, prompting a multi-agency emergency response. Meanwhile, the passenger in Ocoyne's vehicle claimed that he had been asleep until just before the shooting at Lorne's house. "The passenger reported that he was awoken by Richard James Ocoyne yelling profanities at the residence and handling his M-15 rifle," said the DA's office. The passenger told investigators that Ocoyne had fired two shots at the house before someone inside returned fire. When the answering shots came, the unnamed passenger jumped out of the vehicle "to avoid the gunfire" and escaped without injury. In reviewing the OSP investigation, the DA's office concluded that Lorne was justified in using deadly force in the encounter that saw Ocoyne killed. Ocoyne's justifications for firing at the motorcycle shop and Lorne's house are somewhat harder to fathom. "The evidence suggests that Richard James Ocoynes motivation for shooting at the residence of Christopher Lorne was the dispute over the motorcycle," said the DA's report. According to the DA's office, tests of Ocoyne's urine later revealed the presence of "methamphetamine, cyclobenzaprine, cannabinoids, and LSD." SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Oregon lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a permanent ban on offshore drilling as the federal government forges ahead with a plan that could open up the Pacific for exploration. The House voted 47-8 on Tuesday to prohibit drilling and exploration on state marine waters. The measure indefinitely extends a 10-year ban on the practice that was set to expire next year. It also outlaws any activities and infrastructure that would support drilling in federal waters off the Oregon coast. The bill now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature. The governor issued an executive order to block offshore drilling last year after the Trump administration proposed dozens of potential oil leasing sites off the Pacific coast, including one off the coast of Oregon and Washington. The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil and gas interests in Western states, notes there is currently no oil production or refinement in Oregon, on or offshore. 343 Shares Share Last month on February 3, 2019, we celebrated National Women Physicians Day (NWPD). Created in 2016 by the Physician Mom Group (PMG) in collaboration with Physicians Working Together (PWT) and Medelita, NWPD honors the first female physician in the U.S., Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and highlights gender inequality in medicine. The day is a social media holiday of sorts, with timelines flooded with inspirational posts of women in white coats declaring #IamBlackwell. The posts are motivational and create a sense of unity, saying we female physicians are all in this together, doing our individual parts to change the landscape of medicine. The posts also remind us how much is yet to be done related to gender disparities within the physician workforce. There is also another hashtag we should note: #IamCrumpler. But who is Crumpler? Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first African American female physician in the United States. Born on February 8, 1831, in Delaware, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was raised by her aunt who was known as the community nurse, caring for the sick and shut-in of the neighborhood. It is this early exposure to medicine that Dr. Crumpler credited as her inspiration for practicing as a nurse and then entering medical school in 1860. In 1864 Dr. Crumpler graduated from the New England Female Medical College, becoming the first African American woman physician in the U.S. Ironically, Dr. Crumpler was also the only African American physician to graduate from the medical college since it closed in 1873. Initially, Dr. Crumpler practiced in Boston, MA, however after the Civil War ended she relocated to Richmond, Virginia and set up practice caring for newly freed slaves with the Freedmens Bureau. Not only was she the first black female physician in the U.S., but she also was one of the first African Americans to publish a medical text. In 1883 she published A Book of Medical Discourses, a two-part guide on infant and womens health. Reports regarding Dr. Crumplers later life are sparse, with records showing she later moved back to Massachusetts with her husband and died on March 9, 1895. To put into perspective Dr. Crumplers accomplishments, in 1860, the year in which Dr. Crumpler matriculated into medical school only 300 of the 54,543 physicians in the U.S. were female. Thats less than one percent. How far have we come since Crumpler? Some would say quite far, others would say not far enough. Currently, approximately 35 percent of practicing physicians are female. However, just two percent of practicing physicians are black females. These numbers are substandard considering 51 percent of the U.S. population identifies as female, and approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population is black and female. The statistics underscore what we already know. The physician workforce does not reflect the diversity of this nation. While the reasons for the underrepresentation of minorities and women in medicine are complex, the solution is even more complex consisting of improved recruitment, retention and inclusion. Holidays like NWPD and the #WhataDoctorLooksLike, a social media campaign in response to biased employees prohibiting black doctors from responding to in-flight emergencies, are important parts of combating the implicitly biased view that physicians are white males. These campaigns aim to increase the visibility of women and minorities in medicine and challenge stereotypes that narrow the perspective of what a doctor looks like, further enhancing diversity and inclusion in medicine. Kristyn J. Smith is an emergency medicine resident. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 40K Shares Share I started my medical career late. Really late. By that time, Id lived a few lives. Id earned a boatload of initials. Id changed husbands, languages, and continents. Id written a useless novel, and Id been a Mary Kay lady. One day over lunch as I was looking for something to do with myself, my husband suggested medicine. I spent the next nine years immersed in my medical training, feeling guilty every time I spent time with my family, but I digress. The day I landed in my emergency department, I was on the wrong side of forty, sporting a short copper-red haircut not a color not yet seen in humans and an accent that still takes my patients mind off their misery (theyll spend their last hard-fought breath to ask where Im from). My rural ED is hours north of where normal people call north, where winters are long, people are sturdy, and the geese speak mostly French. Surprisingly, my nurses were guarded at first. They eventually accepted me in spite of my quirks, hair, accent and all. And they started teaching me the ropes: 1. The cold chills are worse than the chills, mainly because the chills dont exist per se. Theyre either cold or hot, and youd better figure out which. Cold chills are worse. 2. Eh? is not a question for the hard of hearing, but a marker of nationality. 3. Bavarian cysts hurt. A lot. They usually grow in the ovaries. 4. When an experienced nurse asks: Are you sure you want to give that? you probably dont. 5. If they ask: Doctor, would you like to give some vitamin K? youd better check the med list for the coumadin you missed. 6. A fit is not trying on a new costume, its LOC. Of some sort. 7. When a nurse overheads you to a room, get up and go or run away whichevers easier. Twelve years later, my nurses and I had many good shifts and more bad shifts. We saved patients, we lost patients, and we wondered what happened to the patients we lost sight of. We learned to trust each other and have each others backs, whether we liked each other or not, whether we shared the same patients or not. We work in teams in my ED, almost like parallel EDs, but when the going gets tough, we do whatever it takes. When she asks me, Ill go to her patient with a heart rate of 160, even if he isnt mine. Shell come to put an IV in my two-month-old, even if he isnt hers. Like soldiers fighting the same war, were all on the same side, fighting the fight against death. We muddle our way through shifts, skipping lunch, drinking stale coffee, seeing patient after patient on a full bladder. We get cursed, bit and spat at. We laugh at things normal people wouldnt laugh about just to keep ourselves from crying. A few years ago my friends, the ED nurses, started leaving. Some retired. Some moved to winter-friendly places where ice only lives in cocktail glasses. Some went into travel nursing to see the world. Most of them, however, didnt go far. Their only point was to leave the ED. They went to the ICU, to surgery, to administrative jobs, to NP school. Few of todays ED nurses were here five years ago. Even fewer were here before me. The young ED nurses are lovely. They are lively and funny and smart. They work hard and learn fast. They advocate for their patients. They are lots of fun to work with. But, unlike my old friends, they havent been through 20-plus years of challenging patients, rare diseases, extreme situations, new doctors. When things dont happen like they should, when the equipment fails, when the patient is like no other, when the doctor is overwhelmed, theyre at a loss. How could they not be? Theyve never seen it before. How does it feel to be the most experienced person in the room, you ask? Not good. I miss my old nurses like crazy. When the systolic drops under 70, when I ask for the tracheal hook and meet only blank stares when nobody knows where the jet ventilator is nobodys seen it for 20 years wouldnt you really like to have somebody in the room who knows better than you do? I would. What happened? Why are they leaving? Where are they? I polled them on Facebook, expecting some answers. I got a ton. It was a deluge of answers, most of them sad, many angry and some hopeless about the sorry state of emergency nursing today. I got answers not only from my ED but from the south, the west, Canada, even from cruise ships all over the world loaded with well-fed passengers expecting American-style nursing from the cruise ship medical staff. Here are a few of the answers: Lack of resources, lack of support and reimbursement for continued education, certification, lack of ability to be promoted, archaic practices/policies supported by admin, unsafe staff/pt ratios, most likely unit to be assaulted/lack of admin support when assaulted, pt satisfaction guided care versus evidence-based practice, lack of support for time off to attended national conferences, national professional association functions. I am an educated licensed professional, but I cant have a drink or a cell phone. A CEO makes $3.2 million; I cant afford a two bedroom apartment. Abuse. At the hands of patients, family, either in the form of physical or psychological harm. RNs are sick of feeling disrespected, unheard and dismissed by doctors. The system is broken. Equipment doesnt work. You have a critical patient who speaks Farsi, and the translation devices dont work, and you cant communicate with patients. This is nothing new. Nothing changes. In the ER you see the worst side of people and society. You see people in pain and distress, and they lash out at you to fix them right now. In our evolving society where instant gratification is becoming more prevalent, people expect to go to the ER and to be given answers for long-term problems. The patients are demanding and want all your attention on them. Our culture has turned to emphasize customer service and caters to those who complain because of fear of a bad review. Management puts more demands on nursing staff to satisfy patient complaints quickly. Nursing feels they can no longer provide quality, critical thinking care to those in true need for fear of discipline. I have been out of nursing for a couple of years. I was watching a show last night on Asian food. It struck me as odd that it would take this Taiwanese restaurant six months training on making the noodles that you find in dim sum. It started me thinking that our local ER gave six weeks training then kicked you out of the nest. Hmmm! I will tell anyone that I would rather stand naked on I-95 than ever return to ER nursing. Health care continues to change, primary care continues to retire older providers and were are overwhelmed, patients without true emergencies are seen in climbing numbers and congesting the ER we are expected to work long hours day after day; our job is so regimented lets not look at the idea that you may have just provided the best hands-on care and saved a life, but you didnt check this box or this one. Oh, and granny down the hall complained you didnt smile. It doesnt matter that it took FIVE (!!!) years working there before I was approved a single day off without having to call in sick. You never have a moment to breath just keep trucking to the next. The institution as a whole does not value any employee as an individual; rather you are simply a number, and someone else will come along. Trickle-down effect, as more experienced nurses leave the unit the more I personally feel unsupported and have fewer and fewer people I can go to with questions. Fewer experienced nurses on the unit makes me feel like its unsafe and I start to worry about my license. I like my job, and I dont want to leave, but I also dont want to feel unsafe. Like it or not, this is emergency nursing today. They are burned out. They feel overworked, undervalued, abused, unappreciated and not supported. I agree. What should we do about this? You, me, the other doctor, the other patient? Whether you are an ED doc or not, this affects you. Your family. Your neighbors. YOU. What should we do about it? What will you do about it? Rada Jones is an emergency physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, RadaJonesMD, and on Twitter @jonesrada. She is the author of Overdose. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Coca-Cola wants to capitalize on America's obsession with flavored sparkling water, so it launched yet another seltzer line, this time from its premium Smartwater brand. The company is releasing three sparkling flavors for its Smartwater brand in North America: Fuji apple pear, strawberry blood orange and raspberry rose. The new flavors will hit shelves later this month. Smartwater began dabbling with flavored sparkling varieties in Europe a few years ago. Now Coca-Cola has its eye on the American market. American consumers have increasingly sought drinks that have functional elements, like nutritional value or a jolt of caffeine. They also want healthy, low-sugar or sugar-free offerings. Sparkling water ticks a lot of those boxes, and American consumers are buying more of it. Research company Mintel estimated that retail sales of seltzer in the United States more than doubled from 2013 to 2018 Coke is benefiting from the seltzer surge. The company's North American sparkling water sales spiked 19% last year, according to Nielsen data cited by Coca-Cola. Flavored sparkling water is an important part of the trend. "Unsweetened flavored sparkling water is a dynamic and exciting category as we look at our long-term growth plans," Brad Spickert, senior vice president of hydration for Coca-Cola North America, said last year, adding that it's "a huge growth engine." Coca-Cola already has a fairly robust line of other sparkling water beverages. There's Dasani sparkling, which comes in several flavors, as well as Topo Chico sparkling mineral water and Seagram's club soda and sparkling seltzer water. But vapor-distilled Smartwater, infused with electrolytes and pitched by celebrity spokeswoman Jennifer Aniston, is a more premium product than Coke's other brands. Flavored versions should help the company compete with the likes of San Pellegrino and Perrier, rather than La Croix or PepsiCo's Bubly. The company has already rolled out variants of Smartwater, including the unflavored sparkling line, which was announced in 2015. Last year it unveiled two other versions, Smartwater Antioxidant and Smartwater Alkaline. Water with health benefits, like protein or antioxidants, are trending among US Millennials, Mintel noted. The latest, flavored line of Smartwater "gives you hydration, it gives you a sparkling essence, it gives you a flavor and it even has a nice smell, an aroma, when you open it," Nancy Quan, the company's chief technical officer, told CNN Business. "Those are all really critical to make sure that the consumer is as interested in this as something that's got full sugar." New product launches like this one can also help Coca-Cola reach its goal of becoming a total beverage company. It recently acquired UK-based Costa Coffee, which gave it a stake in retail coffee. Earlier this month, Coca-Cola launched a Odwalla Smoobucha a smoothie-kombucha drink in three flavors. The company is also testing out a line of non-alcoholic beverages inspired by cocktails, like spiced ginger mule and sangria. LYONS, Ore. Evacuations have been ordered as a fire continues to grow in Lyons, the Oregon Department of Forestry said. ODF's public information officer said the fire is active on the northeast side of North Santiam State Park. Linn County is now under Level 2 evacuation, however, Marion County is still under Level 3. So far, 20 percent of the fire is contained within the 60 acres that was burned. RELATED: Mari-Linn School turns into fire evacuation center in Lyons Officials said it was reported Tuesday afternoon near the North Santiam State Recreation Area off Highway 22. Strong east winds caused the fire to jump the Santiam River. ODF is working with the Lyons Fire Department and the Linn County Sheriffs Office on the fire. Level 3 GO evacuations were in place Tuesday for residents west of Neighbors Lane, including 25th Avenue, River Loop and Oak Lane. About 35 homes and 30 outbuildings were threatened as of Tuesday night, but no structures have been lost. The Red Cross has identified Mari-Linn Elementary School as an evacuation center. For more information about the evacuations, contact deputies at 541-967-3950. Our partners at the local level along with our ODF resources have done an outstanding job during initial attack today, ODF Incident Commander Blake Ellis said. We appreciate the teamwork of all agencies involved." Crews from the Mill City and Sublimity fire departments, and other local agencies, were also assisting in firefighting efforts. The North Santiam State Recreation Area is closed. Lightfoots campaign quickly downgraded her what if? to the status of crazy hypothetical notion, explaining that she was speaking broadly about the need to train officers in or close to the communities they serve. Along the way she just happened to mention the option of potentially repurposing some of the already closed CPS facilities. So goes campaigning, where controversial remarks or poorly worded statements get renounced faster than suggestions to extend dibs until August. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The parent company for The Oregonian/OregonLive has reached a settlement with former first lady Cylvia Hayes that reduces the $128,000 in legal fees a judge ordered her to pay after her unsuccessful lawsuit to stop the release of her emails. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports terms of the settlement were read into the record of Hayes' bankruptcy proceeding this week. A judge in the 2015 suit released most of the emails and ordered Hayes to pay legal fees. After the Oregonian filed a lien against her home, Hayes filed for bankruptcy. Ethics investigators concluded that Hayes abused her access to Governer John Kitzhaber to land consulting work that paid over $200,000. The scandal led to Kitzhaber's resignation. The settlement says Oregonian's parent company will accept $15,000 to satisfy the debt if paid within one year; or $20,000 if paid within five years, or $25,000 if paid within nine years. Earlier this month, state ethics commissioners rejected a proposed settlement with Hayes for breaking ethics laws 22 times. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A jury has found a man guilty of murdering 19-year-old Larnell Bruce Jr. by intentionally driving onto a sidewalk and hitting him in the Portland suburb of Gresham in 2016. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the jury also found Russell Courtier guilty Tuesday of the hate crime of second-degree intimidation after the prosecution argued the 40-year-old was motivated by white supremacist beliefs in killing Bruce. Courtier additionally was found guilty of hit-and-run driving. As Multnomah County Circuit Judge Jerry Hodson read the verdict, members of Bruce's family breathed deeply as tears filled their eyes. The jury deliberated for just over a day after an eight-day trial. Authorities say Courtier and Colleen Hunt were in a Jeep driven by Courtier and that he, with encouragement from Hunt, drove into Bruce following a fight with him at a convenience store. Hunt has pleaded guilty to manslaughter. CRESWELL, Ore. --One man is hospitalized and another was detained by law enforcement following a shooting in rural Creswell Wednesday morning, Oregon State Police said. OSP said the man who was shot, 23-year-old Logan Linderman of Eugene, sustained non-life threatening injuries and was taken to RiverBend Hospital in Eugene. OSP said 29-year-old Kayln Simpson of Creswell was detained and is cooperating with the investigation. The shooting happened at about 7:30 a.m. outside a residence at 82270 North Pacific Highway, south of Creswell. Arriving deputies located the two men on the property. A woman who lives on that block told KEZI 9 News the victim was on her property, jumped the fence onto her neighbor's land and was then shot. Police did confirm that two addresses were involved in the shooting. James Gilvin says he lives 500 feet from where it all took place and rushed over the minute he heard about the shooting to make sure everyone was okay. He said a man in his seventies lives there with his two sons who are in their forties or fifties. "I'm under the assumption that someone came onto his property and he probably dropped him," Gilvin said. He said although everyone looks out for one another in their community, people are starting to react to the increase in crimes. "There's been a lot of thefts around here, a lot of people stealing, a lot of drug activity that's not normally in this area, so people are getting tired of it is what it is," Gilvin said. Oregon State Police and the Lane County Sheriffs Office are investigating the incident, and OSP is leading the investigation. Stay with KEZI for updates. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) Members of the Social Security System (SSS) and their employers will start paying higher contributions this April. The state pension fund on Tuesday announced that the increase in contribution rates from 11 percent to 12 percent will be implemented starting April 1. That means that for an employee earning 10,000, 400 will be slashed from his or her pay check an increase of 36.70 from the current 363.30. The employer, meanwhile, will now pay 800 instead of 736.70, an increase of 63.30 for its share. The SSS said this 1 percentage point hike is just "reasonable," stressing that it will enable members to save more for retirement. "We all want a comfortable retirement and to do that, those who are in their productive years must work hard to save more," SSS Officer-In-Charge Aurora Ignacio said in a statement. The minimum and maximum monthly salary credits will also be adjusted to 2,000 and 20,000 respectively. "The good news is that those who will save more with SSS under the new maximum Monthly Salary Credit of 20,000 will have higher amount of benefits and loan privileges as the Monthly Salary Credit is one of the main factors used in the computation of benefits and loan privileges," Ignacio added. She explained that under the new scheme, an employee earning 20,000 monthly can enjoy a 600 sickness benefit per day, up from the current 480. That employee's monthly basic pension will also increase to 8,000 from 6,400. The Social Security Act of 2018, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February, allowed the SSS to increase the monthly contribution of its members. It will further increase by 1 percent every other year until it reaches 15 percent in 2025. The law is expected to generate an additional 31 billion for the pension fund, the SSS said, adding 13 more years to its fund life up to 2045. Critics say the SSS should improve its collection first before implementing any contribution hike but the state pension fund said its collection capabilities have improved under the Duterte administration. READ: SSS cites improvement in collections amid impending contribution hike Resigned SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Dooc told CNN Philippines last month that only 16 million out of around 38 million registered SSS members were actively paying. He explained that some members usually stop paying premiums when their employment ends, but added that this could be addressed now that the new law enables the government to give unemployment benefits. He said this cash assistance will help the members find new jobs. Why, just Wednesday morning, he responded to criticism from the husband of one of his top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, by dignifiedly tweeting: George Conway, often referred to as Mr. Kellyanne Conway by those who know him, is VERY jealous of his wifes success & angry that I, with her help, didnt give him the job he so desperately wanted. I barely know him but just take a look, a stone cold LOSER & husband from hell! 1 of 2 Study: Digital media linked to depression in young adults Increased use of digital media may be partly responsible for the growth in the percentage of young adults experiencing certain types of mental health disorders in the US over the past decade, suggests new research. More US adolescents and young adults in the late 2010s, versus the mid-2000s, experienced serious psychological distress, major depression or suicidal thoughts, and more attempted suicide, said lead study author Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University in the US. These trends are weak or non-existent among adults 26 years and over, suggesting a generational shift in mood disorders instead of an overall increase across all ages, Twenge added. For the study, the researchers analysed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative survey that has tracked drug and alcohol use, mental health and other health-related issues in individuals aged 12 and over in the US since 1971. Read More... Ride-sharing may be hurting the CTA, but safety factors are hurting it, too. As a senior who uses a cane, I don't feel safe riding the L trains. I remember too well when a woman died from a fall at a station after a teen robbed someone of a cellphone. There have been other violent episodes. I also remember when the Brown and Purple lines worked better. When the Brown Line was known as Ravenswood, there were A and B stops. The trains were faster and divided up the ridership. The Purple Line was once known as the Evanston Express, which made no stops between Howard and the Merchandise Mart. Now it stops at every Brown Line station south of Belmont, and Brown Line riders stuff themselves into northbound Purple Line trains and force riders who need to get to Howard and beyond to wait 15 minutes or more just to board a train. Kilkenny primary schools have been in action at the inaugural ESB Science Blast at the RDS. More than 6,000 students from 259 schools presented the results of their chosen projects. All 82 judges were suitably impressed as they walked the 10 isles, filled with hundreds of experiments, and thousands of energetic children. ESB Science Blast nurtures STEM skills through entire primary school classes investigating a simple question about the world around them. Its a great way to learn science in a fun, non-competitive and hands-on method, that has many proven benefits. Realta Leach and Leah Fogarty from Cholmcille NS, Kilkenny and their project What is Friction at the inaugural ESB Science Blast at the RDS Research conducted on behalf of the RDS reveals most parents of primary school students in Leinster want to see an increased focus on science education, as they believe it will give their children an advantage in their future careers and be beneficial for society. This research was commissioned to coincide with the ESB Science Blast Limerick event and conducted by iReach amongst 500 parents. Developed and delivered by the RDS, ESB Science Blast Limerick will host over 3,600 primary school students from more than 140 schools over two days. The Limerick event follows the first of three that took place in Dublin this month. Later this year will be the third and final showcase event, which is taking place in Belfast, and will see over 2,000 students participating. The deadline for applications to participate in the Limerick showcase has been moved to April 3 to accomodate as many schools as possible. See www.esbscienceblast.com. Editor's Note: Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news stories and expert opinions that moved the precious metals and financial markets. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Australias government policies are pro-mining, and the nation hosts a variety of mineral reserves, attracting miners from all over the world, said David Grabau, Senior Investment Specialist of Resources & Energy at Austrade. Were really encouraged by the policies we have to help mining, to assist mining investors across both the Commonwealth of Australia but also in state and territory levels. We also know that mining is a huge part of the Australian economy; $217 billion worth of exports last year, Grabau told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto. MADRID (Reuters) - Spains foreign minister said on Wednesday an agreement by the European Union to extend Brexit may only happen next week, just before March 29, when Britain is due to leave the bloc. You know in Europe we always get a solution at the last minute, Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told Reuters, adding there will be another occasion next week for taking the definitive solution. Borrell said the outcome will depend on what British Prime Minister Theresa May tells a summit of European leaders on Thursday. Maybe tomorrow is not going to be enough and we have to jump over ... to just before the deadline, he said. He was speaking shortly before May requested on Wednesday a three-month delay to Brexit after failing to get her deal to leave the EU ratified by parliament. Borrell said Spain was ready to give more time to Britain and Madrid would look for every possibility to avoid a hard Brexit without an agreement. Frankly, it would be very disappointing if we are not able to reach it (an agreement), he said. WASHINGTON/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazils right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro won glowing praise and conditional promises from U.S. President Donald Trump on his visit to the White House this week, yet Brazilian negotiators came away grumbling about their hosts driving a hard bargain. Diplomats and other officials said Brazil got few immediate concessions in return for granting a unilateral visa waiver for U.S. visitors, a tariff-free quota for wheat imports and easier access for U.S. space launches from Brazil. Bolsonaro, an outspoken Trump admirer who seemed eager to please at their first meeting, failed to win more room for Brazils sugar exports or overturn a U.S. ban on fresh Brazilian beef - both major objectives of the countrys farm sector. If this is the way forward, we might as well stay put, said a Brazilian official directly involved in the negotiations, who requested anonymity to speak freely. They asked for everything, but didnt want to cede on anything. Reactions among Brazilians focused largely on the symbolism of the visit, with Bolsonaro supporters calling it a vindication for the iconoclastic leader and critics cringing to see him so cozy with Trump. Yet the frustration of the Brazilian delegation reflects the deeper difficulty of overcoming trade barriers and agribusiness competition between the two countries, even as their presidents find common ground in their brash style and conservative views. Bolsonaro celebrated his visit as the start of a new era of U.S.-Brazil friendship, playing up his admiration of Trump and their shared disdain for political correctness and fake news, as they often call unfavorable press coverage. The presidents also found common ground in condemning Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and cooperating on public security and military development. Designating Brazil a major non-NATO ally will ease U.S. arms sales to the Brazilian armed forces, while a new technology safeguard agreement will help U.S. companies to conduct commercial space launches in Brazil. However, in more transactional areas such as trade, the Brazilians goodwill offerings, such as an annual import quota of 750,000 tonnes of tariff-free wheat, were not met in kind. If this reciprocity does not occur, Bolsonaros preference for the U.S. will look naive in the future, said Welber Barral, a former Brazilian foreign trade secretary. Brazils new openness to wheat imports will mainly benefit U.S. exporters and was a slap in the face to neighboring Argentina, another major trade partner, Barral said. He also warned that Brazil stands to face more setbacks on trade if it gives up the benefits of developing country status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) the U.S. condition for supporting Brazils bid to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a policy forum for wealthier nations. That conditional endorsement concrete WTO concessions in return for symbolic OECD membership left Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes visibly annoyed after his meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Thats no exchange. Hes making that demand, he told journalists. Addressing an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Guedes also gave a hint of the sticking points that stood in the way of broader trade agreements. You want to sell pork? Okay, buy my beef. You want to sell ethanol? Buy my sugar. Beef for pork, ethanol for sugar, wheat for auto parts. Theyre little things, he said. None of the exchanges he suggested were formalized in talks. Guedes reminded the audience that China, Brazils top trading partner, would be ready to pick up the slack if the United States did not engage. They are moving in, trying to invest, Guedes warned. BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to pass legislation by the end of 2019 to create a state-owned fund that can protect key companies from takeovers by Chinese and other foreign firms, government sources said, in a marked shift from its hands-off approach to business. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier proposed the fund in February as part of a more defensive industrial strategy and three officials told Reuters the government was now working on draft laws so the fund could be up and running next year. Two senior government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the idea was for the state-owned investment fund to work with the private sector when buying company stakes to foil unwelcome takeovers. One official said the state could buy a stake initially and then sell it on as soon as possible to private investors while the other official said in some cases the fund could work with private investors from the start. In the past, Germany was too reluctant to define its national interests. This is changing now, the first government official said. We see that we cannot lean back anymore and let everything be decided by the free play of market forces, he said. And this means more protection from the state. Long an ardent advocate of free markets, Germanys move is a response to Chinas state-driven metamorphosis from customer to competitor and U.S. President Donald Trumps threats of unilateral trade sanctions and higher tariffs, the sources said. For decades, German politicians followed the ordoliberal principles of post-war economy minister Ludwig Erhard who said free markets should decide winners and losers, with the state only providing a framework for fair competition. The German move also comes at a time the European Union as a whole is reconsidering the blocs industrial strategy and relations to China in the face of increased investment in critical sectors by Chinese state-owned enterprises. The European Commission has urged the bloc to back its ideas to curb Chinese companies and EU leaders are due to discuss the issue at a summit in Brussels this week. WAKE-UP CALL In Germany, the Chinese takeover of robotics maker Kuka (KU2G.DE) in 2016 was the wake-up call for the government that underlined the urgency for the state to become more active, the officials said. An attempt by China's State Grid last year to buy a stake in power grid operator 50Hertz also focused German minds. After Berlin failed to find an alternative private investor in Europe, German state-owned bank KfW www.kfw.de/kfw.de-2.html stepped in to keep the Chinese out. Thats why the German government is now aiming to pass new laws creating the investment fund by the end of the year so it can be ready for use in 2020, the first official told Reuters. Ideally, there will be stake acquisitions together with private investors, the official said, adding that Berlin had no plans to intervene in daily business decisions. Its not about the state becoming entrepreneurial. The state-owned fund could be managed by KfW, or be an altogether new entity empowered to hold company shareholdings, the second official said. The plan goes hand in hand with a decision by the government in December to lower the threshold for screening, and even blocking, purchases of stakes in German firms in strategic areas by non-European investors. An economy ministry spokesman said investment by the state fund would be limited to very exceptional cases and stakes would only be bought for a restricted period. Such cases would mainly involve the protection of critical infrastructure where the government viewed a non-European investor as a threat to Germanys national interests, the ministry spokesman said. The idea and its possible implementation are being discussed now in the further process of the industrial strategy, said the spokesman, who declined to comment on the funds expected size. ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY Altmaier said in February after presenting Germanys industrial strategy for the next decade that key sectors were steel and aluminum, chemicals, machine and plant engineering, optics, autos, medical equipment, Green technologies, defense, aerospace and 3D printing. Among the companies whose survival Altmaier described as crucial for the economy as a whole were marquee names such as Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE), Siemens (SIEGn.DE) and Germanys big carmakers. Altmaier told Reuters in an interview that his aim was to safeguard global competitiveness and technological leadership of German industry for the coming decades. This should also be a top priority for the next European Commission, he said. With this, we will secure jobs and prosperity in Germany and Europe. And, above all, its what will give Europe its economic sovereignty and independence. Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the euro zone, are liaising closely on how the EU could overhaul its competition and state subsidy rules to support European champions that can compete on a global level. Following a decision by Brussels to block a rail deal between Siemens (SIEGn.DE) and Alstom (ALSO.PA) - a merger that was meant to counter Chinese competition - German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to put reform of Europes competition laws high on the agenda during Germanys EU presidency in 2020. BUSINESS BACKLASH While Germany's powerful BDI english.bdi.eu industry association has welcomed the government's plan to tackle a more assertive China, support national champions and reform competition law, it has criticized the idea of a state investment fund. New instruments for state ownership should not be used to fend off company takeovers, they should only support projects of new technologies, BDI director general Joachim Lang said. In light of growing unease among coalition lawmakers and industry groups, Altmaier is trying to reassure critics that Germany will remain open for foreign direct investment and that the government wants to intervene as little as possible. However, there can be exceptional cases in which the state must take action to avoid severe disadvantages for the economy as a whole and the countrys national welfare, Altmaier told Reuters. For example in cases when our critical infrastructure is at stake or when it comes to game changer technologies. Carsten Linnemann, deputy leader of Merkels conservatives in parliament and head of the blocs business-friendly Mittelstand wing, said the governments focus on national champions was problematic. We shouldnt confuse size with competitiveness, Linnemann told Reuters. He said Germanys hidden champions - mostly family-run firms that are market leaders in niche segments - were a good example that innovation is often driven by small enterprises. Linnemann also rejected the idea of state intervention. The state simply doesnt have more knowledge than the market. This basic rule hasnt changed in times of big technological disruptions, in fact rather the opposite. Asked if parliament would block legislation for a state investment fund, Linnemann said coalition lawmakers were still in the process of forming an opinion. He said they generally shared the governments goal to support the industrial sector. But we wont achieve this by copying the industrial policy of China, the United States and France. ($1 = 0.8829 euros) LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Sterling fell by a third of a percent on Wednesday as investors remained wary about the prospects of the British currency as Prime Minister Theresa May requests a short delay to Brexit after her failure to get a divorce deal ratified. Though markets have raised expectations that a delay was inevitable, a likely extension leaves the Brexit divorce uncertain, with options including leaving with May's deal, a longer delay, a disruptive exit or even another referendum. The British currency fell a third of a percent to $1.3224 but remained well within trading ranges this week. The British currency rallied to a 9-month high against the greenback of nearly $1.34 last week, as investors largely priced out a no-deal Brexit scenario. Against the euro, the pound weakened by a third of a percent at 85.75 pence. "Until some clarity emerges, we do not advocate taking directional views on sterling and advise hedging downside risks, but we note that sterling has tended to react positively to events that point to a substantial delay," UBS strategists said in a note. Just nine days before the March 29 exit date that May set two years ago by serving the formal Article 50 divorce papers, May is due to write to European Council President Donald Tusk to ask for a delay. Various gauges of market volatility in the pound remained firm even as other gauges, such as one-month euro volatility indexes ticked lower. (Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Jon Boyle) * GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Zinc prices rose on Wednesday as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses hit fresh lows, but other industrial metals dipped on uncertainty over global demand. Low inventories of many metals in LME-registered warehouses are helping to bolster prices despite weak economic data from top metals consumer China, said Ross Strachan, senior commodities economist at Capital Economics in London. "The exchange stocks being at very low levels are understandably keeping many market participants on edge about the outlook when there has been speculation that a (U.S.-China) trade deal is near," he said. "We're still expecting very sluggish demand growth across the metals and we think that will be a major drag on prices. In fact, you could see exchange stocks rise significantly later in the year." Prices may also be gaining some support from investors betting on a dovish statement by the U.S. Federal Reserve later on Wednesday, some analysts said. Benchmark zinc was the biggest LME gainer, rising 1.6 percent to $2,863 a tonne in closing open outcry activity. * ZINC/NICKEL STOCKS: LME zinc inventories , down 55 percent this year, touched their lowest since October 2007 and LME nickel stocks fell to their lowest since June 2013, LME data showed on Wednesday. Inventories in China, however, are more plentiful. * AMBATOVY: Nickel gained support from Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp announcing that it was forced to shut its Ambatovy nickel plant in Madagascar for about two weeks in early February and could miss its revised annual production target. LME nickel was untraded in final rings and was bid 0.1 percent firmer at $13,200. * NORSK HYDRO: LME aluminium hit a three-month peak of $1,951.50 a tonne before sinking into the red and ending down 0.5 percent to $1,937. Prices came under pressure after major producer Norsk Hydro said it had made some progress in restoring operations after it was hit by a ransomware cyber attack. However, the company was not yet back to normal, it said. * ALUMINIUM OUTPUT: Global primary aluminium output fell to 4.92 million tonnes in February from a revised 5.411 million tonnes in January, data showed on Wednesday. * TRADE: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday a trade deal with Beijing is coming along, with U.S. trade negotiators going to China soon. * LEAD TECHNICALS: LME lead , which closed up 0.3 percent at $2,044.50 a tonne, could break through support at $2,011, Commerzbank technical analyst Axel Rudolph said in a note. "We will retain our immediately bearish forecast while the price of lead remains below the mid-March high at $2,131," he said. * PRICES: LME copper ended barely changed, down 0.03 percent at $6,457 a tonne, while tin rose 0.5 percent to $21,375. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Eric Onstad Editing by Jan Harvey and David Goodman) Reuters Messaging: eric.onstad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))LME price overview COMEX copper futures Base metals news All metals news All commodities news Foreign exchange rates SPEED GUIDES )) Thomas said the village board needs to be aware of the needs of the school district when looking at new developments. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showcased his close relationship with the Trump administration on Wednesday, hosting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo three weeks before an Israeli election. Washingtons announcement that President Donald Trump, a popular figure among Israelis, had invited Netanyahu to the White House for talks and a dinner two weeks ahead of the April 9 vote was also widely seen in Israel as a boost for the right-wing Likud party chief. Following a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo met Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where both men hailed U.S.-Israeli ties under Trump, a popular figure among Israelis and a leader whom the prime minister has featured on election billboards. We also know that our alliance in recent years has never been stronger, Netanyahu said in comments to reporters, with Pompeo at his side. Netanyahu is battling for his political survival against both a strong challenger in centrist candidate Benny Gantz and against plans by Israels attorney-general to indict the prime minister, now in his fourth term, in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing and portrayed himself in the election race as a leader with a wealth of international diplomatic experience that Gantz, a former armed forces chief and novice politician, cannot match. I look forward to my visit next week to Washington, where I will meet with President Trump, and I believe we can carry this relationship even stronger, Netanyahu said. Its getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Angering Palestinians and drawing international concern, Trump broke with decades of U.S. Middle East policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy, which Pompeo will visit on Thursday, to the city last May. Pompeo, in his remarks, said the Israeli people should have confidence that Trump - who is due to present a peace plan after the Israeli ballot - will maintain a close bond with Israel. I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship, Pompeo said, addressing Netanyahu. He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here. Netanyahu said he and Pompeo, at the start of their discussions, examined how to roll back Iranian aggression in the region. Pressure on Iran, Netanyahu said, must be intensified now that the United States has reimposed sanctions on Tehran following Washingtons withdrawal from a 2015 deal with world powers to limit the Iranian nuclear program. Pompeo and Netanyahu later attended a meeting in Jerusalem with leaders from Cyprus and Greece on the construction of a 2,000 km (1,243 mile) gas pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe through those countries and Italy at a cost of $7 billion. Lebanon - Pompeos next stop - has warned its Mediterranean neighbors that the planned EastMed pipeline must not be allowed to violate its maritime borders. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he does not mind if the public is allowed to see the report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing about his investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any possible links to the Trump campaign. Let it come out, let people see it, thats up to the attorney general ... and well see what happens, Trump told reporters at the White House. Well see if its fair, he added. Mueller is preparing to submit a report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on his findings, including Russias role in the election and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction. Russia has denied interfering in the election. Barr already is coming under pressure from lawmakers to make the entire document public quickly, though he has wide latitude in what to release. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 420-0 last week on a non-binding resolution calling for Muellers report to be released both to Congress and to the public, but it is not clear how the measure will fare in the Senate. Asked if the public should be allowed to see the report, Trump said: I dont mind. He said he had no idea when it would be released. As he has before, Trump questioned the legitimacy of Muellers investigation. I had the greatest electoral victory - one of them - in the history of our country, tremendous success, tens of millions of voters and now somebodys going to write a report who never got a vote, he said. Mueller was appointed to handle the Russia investigation in May 2017 after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who had been overseeing the effort. Mueller has previously held several senior positions in the Justice Department, including FBI Director. Editor's Note: Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news stories and expert opinions that moved the precious metals and financial markets. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Yukon was ranked 9th in the world by the Fraser Institute for investment attractiveness in 2018, and according to Ranj Pillai, Deputy Premier and Minister Of Energy, Mines and Resources of Yukon, much of the strides made can be attributed to government policies. Yukon has done a good job of telling its story, nationally and internationally, and we continue to support those initiatives. From a policy development and a policy focus, its really been about government to government relations with our indigenous governments, Pillai told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto. Maajid Nawaz writes: The anti-Muslim terrorist attack at two mosques in New Zealand marked perhaps the lowest point for Muslim communities in the West since the Bosnia genocide. It has left no doubt that far-right extremism is on the march once more. But the sheer human tragedy of this attack against my Muslim communities has not deterred extremists from those other two ends of our political spectrum, the far left and the theocratic Islamists, from seeking to exploit it for their own nefarious purposes. Just as a visibly pregnant Chelsea Clinton was accosted at an NYU vigil and faced unwarranted blame for the attack, others too have found themselves caught in the unforgiving crosshairs of ideologues seeking to settle scores. This was unsurprising. If the daughter of a Democratic president and a Democratic presidential candidate was fair game, what chance would those with lesser liberal bona fides have of being spared? Some on the left seem to be in a competition as to who can blame the most people for it. You know it has got insane, when Chelsea Clinton is being blamed. Last month I was racially attacked in the Soho area of London. I was punched in the face as my assailant shouted f***ing Paki, and my forehead was punctured with an unknown object. I will probably be scarred for life. So I know how tempting it can be to succumb to the forces of vengeance and division in times like these. In my youth, as an angry 15-year-old Muslim witnessing the Bosnia genocide, I once succumbed to this temptation and promoted extreme Islamism myself for a few years. I know what giving in to hate feels like, and I know the lasting damage it can cause. But that is exactly the reaction that extremists want, and exactly why it must be resisted with all our might. Nawaz is a former Islamist. Opportunistic Islamist and far-left extremists began calling for a purge of people whose politics they disagree with, and started publishing McCarthyite lists of personae non grata to target. The interesting thing in NZ is that the usual suspects have gone for the easy targets but none of them have had the balls to go after the politician who has been the most strident and consistent opponent of immigration. After the multiple jihadist terror attacks Western cities have faced to date, it has been these same far-left and Islamist voices resisting the call to name the ideology behind these attacks as Islamism, and to distinguish it from the religion of Islam. They have taken the view that talking about the Islamist ideology unfairly stigmatises all Muslims. They have preferred to beseech us all to understand the grievances that fuel the anger of jihadists, and have encouraged instead hug a Muslim campaigns. Yet, after New Zealand, these same voices paradoxically insist on directly addressing white nationalist ideology; they hounded a pregnant Chelsea Clinton; they have taken to compiling blacklists of individuals they do not like; and they are calling for the deplatforming of right-wing pundits and protests against right-wing media. Consistency has been sorely missing. This is dangerous, despicable and disingenuous. Only the extremist seeks to erase all opposition. Extremism comes in many forms. Just as it would be wrong to blame critics of Western foreign policy generally for jihadist terror in the West, it should be unacceptable to use this latest attack to to blame critics of Islam or immigration, or to seek to silence the political right generally. Doing so will only make matters worse and is precisely what the accused New Zealand terrorist explicitly told us he wanted, in his diatribe commonly referred to as a manifesto. In fact, there is an entire section in which [deleted by DPF] muses over pitting the American left against the American right in order to sow chaos. Falling for this trap is to allow ourselves to be trolled by a terrorist Wise words. To confuse hating all Muslims with critiquing the doctrines of Islam, is akin to confusing anti-smoking campaigns with hating all smokers. I will do a separate post on this issue in a week or so. Mark Steyns column is also a good read. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr The decision not to run again was difficult. I think my work, some health issues and the four-year commitment all contributed, Ruffolo said. I have appreciated the tremendous amount of support shown to me by the community and the school district during my eight years on the board and hope that everyone feels I've left the district in a better place than I found it when I started my service. You sit down and are hypnotized by the film, and you are laughing and crying and you dont know where the story is heading, and towards the end you are completely taken, he said. I want people to come out with more hunger for life. To come out inspired to live more and do more things. I hope Glorias vitality can offer that. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Windy with snow showers this afternoon. Morning high of 58F with temps falling sharply to near 35. Winds WSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of snow 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 28F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. UIC researchers find hidden proteins in bacteria Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have developed a way to identify the beginning of every gene -- known as a translation start site or a start codon -- in bacterial cell DNA with a single experiment and, through this method, they have shown that an individual gene is capable of coding for more than one protein. Historically, the generally taught scientific premise has been that each gene has one unique start site and is responsible for the creation of only one protein. However, the study, which is published in Molecular Cell, a leading journal on the topic of cellular processes, shows that some genes have more than one start site and can specify production of more than one functional protein. Their method of identifying gene start sites relies on a common prescription drug called retapamulin, a topical antibiotic. Retapamulin, they showed for the first time, works by causing the ribosome, which reads genetic code, to become stalled at these start sites, inhibiting translation, a key part of the process by which the genetic code in DNA is used to create proteins. UIC's Alexander Mankin and Nora Vazquez-Laslop led the research, which looked at E. coli cells in response to retapamulin in in vitro and in vivo experiments. "First, we understood the antibiotic's mechanism and then we applied that knowledge to identify the special 'start' gene signals the cell uses to regulate protein synthesis," said Mankin, the Alexander Neyfahk Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the UIC College of Pharmacy. "In the past, these start codons were identified by rather difficult processes -- proteins often needed to be isolated and studied to discover where the start sites of their genes are located in the bacterial genome. Now, in a single experiment, we can profile the starts of all the thousands of bacterial genes in a more forward manner." Mankin and Vazquez-Laslop say using retapamulin to aid in bacterial gene translation profiling opens many new avenues for research. Using the antibiotic, the researchers from Mankin and Vazquez-Laslop's lab, which included Sezen Meydan, James Marks, Dorota Klepacki and Amira Kefi, were able to identify "cryptic," or alternative start sites within some bacterial genes. "We saw that many previously hidden proteins were initiated at sites in the middle of the gene and that those proteins were functional and that initiation at alternative start sites is widespread in bacteria," said Vazquez-Laslop, research professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at the UIC College of Pharmacy and the Center for Biomolecular Sciences. The researchers found more than 100 E. coli genes, out of around 4,000, that could initiate protein synthesis at more than one site. "Proteins initiated at these unknown sites may constitute a previously hidden fraction of the proteome -- the entire set of proteins that can be expressed -- in bacteria and their initiation at these sites may play a role in the life of the cell," said Mankin, who is also director of the Center for Biomolecular Science. "By better understanding the cell and the mechanisms of antibiotic action, we can apply that knowledge to learn more about what makes bacteria become pathogenic." "We can also apply that knowledge to better understand how to prevent or stop bacteria from causing harm," Vazquez-Laslop said. ### Additional co-authors on this research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation (MCB1615851), include T?nu Margus of Umea University in Umea, Sweden; Virag Sharma of Technische Universitat Dresden in Dresden, Germany; Pavel Baranov of University College Cork in Cork, Ireland; and Andrew Firth of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom. This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) The hearing for Senatorial Antonio Trillanes IV's rebellion case will still push through. This, after the Court of Appeals (CA) on March 18 decided not to give the lawmaker a temporary restraining order (TRO). "We may not temporarily restrain or preliminary enjoin the prosecution of the criminal action for rebellion at this stage because to do so would be to grant the principal prayer for certiorari, prohibition and/or injunction without benefit of a hearing," the CA said in the decision. The CA further directed the respondents of the case to file a comment or opposition within 10 days of receiving the decision, and then furnish a copy to Trillanes who - should he be willing - will have five days to file a reply. In December 2018, Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda denied Trillanes' plea to reverse its earlier ruling upholding the legality of President Rodrigo Duterte's proclamation that voided the amnesty granted to the senator in 2011. The hearing for the solon's rebellion case has been moved to May 27-- due to a conflict in schedule of Trillanes' lawyer Atty. Reynaldo Robles. He also represents former Bureau of Corrections Chief Franklin Bucayu, who is meanwhile involved in a drug case alongside Senator Leila de Lima. In a statement Wednesday, Robles thanked the court for acting on their camp's petition. He added an injunctive relief may not be necessary for now after the rescheduling of the case hearing. "We will evaluate whether or not there is a need to apply for injunctive relief when the time comes, after the respondents in the case shall have filed their comments. We are hoping that the Honorable Court of Appeals will already be in a position to rule on the merits of said application at that time, after hearing the parties in that regard," the lawyer said in his statement. "We are hopeful that the Honorable Court of Appeals will eventually uphold the merit of our Petition in due time," he added. The local court in September 2018 granted the government's plea to issue an arrest warrant and travel ban against Trillanes. It argued that the senator failed to prove that he applied for amnesty and admitted his guilt over the incident. Trillanes, however, escaped the arrest after posting a bail worth P200,000. READ: Prosecution affirms inciting to sedition charge against Trillanes, junks coup d'etat charge CNN Philippines' Anjo Alimario contributed to this report. Nairobi, Mar 20 (AFP) US forces have "dramatically increased" the number of air strikes in Somalia with several civilians killed by the powerful missiles, Amnesty International said Wednesday, reports denied by the military. Amnesty calculates that there have been more than 100 strikes by US drones and manned aircraft in the past two years, more than the number of US airstrikes in Yemen and Libya combined during the same period. Researchers who investigated five airstrikes in detail reported at least 14 civilians had been killed -- raising fears the total dead in the scores of attacks may be far higher -- even though the US military insists there have been no civilian deaths. "The attacks appear to have violated international humanitarian law, and some may amount to war crimes," Amnesty said in the report, titled "The Hidden US War in Somalia". The study is based on 150 interviews including witnesses, family members of those killed and security experts. Their reports were corroborated by satellite imagery, photographs of the deep craters of the explosions, as well as munition fragments collected from the sites. US strikes, which included missiles fired by manned aircraft as well as drones, targeted Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked insurgents, Al-Shabaab. The US military said it had carried out 110 airstrikes in Somalia since June 2017, killing 800 people. But it insisted they had all been legitimate targets as members of Al-Shabaab, and that the Amnesty report was incorrect. "Since June 2017, AFRICOM conducted 110 airstrikes in Somalia, eliminating more than 800 terrorists," US Africa Command said in a statement, adding that "our assessments found that no AFRICOM airstrike resulted in any civilian casualty or injury." AFRICOM added that it was "in the interest of the terrorist group al-Shabaab to untruthfully claim civilian casualties." Amnesty said it had carried out detailed investigations into five attacks, where they found that at least 14 civilians were killed. "The civilian death toll we've uncovered in just a handful of strikes suggests the shroud of secrecy surrounding the US role in Somalia's war is actually a smokescreen for impunity," said Brian Castner, Amnesty's military expert. "Our findings directly contradict the US military's mantra of zero civilian casualties in Somalia." The findings were shown to AFRICOM but the US military denied civilians had been killed, Amnesty said. US strikes in Somalia surged in April 2017, after President Donald Trump declared southern Somalia an "area of active hostilities", Amnesty said. According to Amnesty, US forces carried out 34 strikes in 2017 following Trump's declaration, more than in all the previous five years since 2012 combined. In 2018, the number of strikes rose to 47 while there have been 24 already in the first two months of 2019 alone. The Shabaab have been waging an insurgency against Somalia's foreign-backed government for over a decade, and while it has lost ground, continues to stage deadly attacks in the country as well as neighbouring nations such as Kenya. (AFP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) As tied in as I am to the high-tech zeitgeist, I must admit that until I spent a weekend bingeing on two documentaries about the disastrous Fyre Festival of 2017, the whole culture of social media influencers had flown under my radar. Fyre, it may be recalled, was a music festival that was supposed to take place over two spring weekends in the Bahamas. It may not have started as a fraud, but over time it became indistinguishable from one; its chief organizer, Billy McFarland, is currently serving a federal prison term for fraud as a result of the scheme. Hundreds of festival-goers paid thousands of dollars for deluxe accommodations and catering, only to be stranded in the rain without transport home and fed stale cheese sandwiches. For the record: An earlier version of this column referred to Lori Loughlin as Lori Laughlin. What makes this relevant to the influencers culture is that Fyre was all about the marketing, which took place almost entirely on Instagram and other social media, chiefly through a coordinated campaign of posts launched on Dec. 12, 2016. Kendall Jenner, perhaps the most prominent influencer in the world, was reportedly paid $250,000 for a single posted contribution to this campaign. We live in this world of celebrity.... Its all just part of the fantasy lifestyles that regular people want to live. Marketing executive Michael Blatter Advertisement Fast-forward to March 12, when dozens of wealthy parents were arrested by federal agents and charged with paying bribes and committing fraud to get their kids into elite universities. Among them were Lori Loughlin and J. Mossimo Giannulli, who allegedly paid $500,000 to bribe their daughters way into USC as purported rowing stars. The younger daughter, Olivia Jade, 19, is a prominent influencer who promptly incorporated her college lifestyle into her commercial pitch. Its been a few weeks since I moved into my dorm and I absolutely love it, she attested on Instagram. Surrounded by new bed linens and makeup accoutrements, she wrote, I got everything I needed from Amazon with @primestudent. See how this works? We live in this world of celebrity, says marketing executive Michael Blatter, who claims to have coined the term influencer in 1994, when he was paying New York bartenders to hand out Camels to patrons desperate for a smoke. Marketers are buying product exposure by affiliating with Jenner or Giannulli, Blatter told me. What makes an effective influencer is mass popularity and a continual personal narrative where they party, who they date, where they shop. Its all just part of the fantasy lifestyles that regular people want to live. So far, this sounds like advertising as it has been through the ages celebrities telling the rubes that they can live the good life if they smoke the right brand, wear the right clothes, drive the right car, use the right toothpaste. After all, marketing always has evolved to match the dominant platform of its time. When picture magazines such as Life were big, ads were bold and glossy, with elegant stars showing off their minks; television created pitchmen and women who projected a certain homeyness, sometimes but not always with a slight touch of glamour, like Betty Furness posed next to a refrigerator or Dinah Shore singing an ode to the Chevrolet. They were being invited into your living room, after all. Yet theres a subtly different quality to influencer culture on social media sufficiently so to have raised the hackles of the Federal Trade Commission. Concerned about the ease with which Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms blurred the line between ordinary people offering informal reviews and opinions and representatives endorsing products for pay, the FTC in 2017 issued warning letters to more than 90 influencers. The letters reminded them that they were legally required to disclose business or family relationships, monetary payments, the receipt of free products or any other material relationships tying them to the products they were pitching online. Moreover, the disclosures had to be clear and conspicuous meaning that they couldnt be hidden at the bottom of a post where consumers might not see them, but within the first three lines. They also had to be explicit: Many consumers will not understand a disclosure like #sp, Thanks [Brand], or #partner in an Instagram post to mean that the post is sponsored, the FTC wrote. The rise of the social media influencer has dovetailed neatly with that other cultural phenomenon, the rise of the celebrity famous for being famous. Kendall Jenner had no identifiable skills or achievements outside of modeling; her true claim to fame was membership in the Kardashian clan, who were featured in a reality television series. Lately she has topped lists of the most followed models on social media. Lori Loughlins daughter Olivia Jade used her entry to USC as a freshman in her Influencer gig for Amazon. But can it outlast the accusations about her admission? (Instagram) As for Olivia Jade, she seems almost to have been raised to become an influencer as surely as a cell is cultured in a laboratory petri dish, starting with a YouTube channel at age 14. (We reached out to Olivia Jade via her Twitter and Facebook accounts but received no reply.) From the outside, being and becoming an influencer looks easy and the rewards stupendous. Louise Linton, the actress spouse of Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, appeared to be going for the gold in August 2017 when she released an Instagram post commemorating her landing in Kentucky with Mnuchin for an official government event and draping it with shout-outs to fashion designers Roland Mouret, Tom Ford, Hermes and Valentino. Linton blew the effort, however, when she got into a crass and condescending exchange with an online critic she called adorably out of touch. Today she has a measly 14,200 followers on Instagram; thats not close to critical mass when Olivia Jade has 1.4 million followers and Kendall Jenner 106 million. As Blatter and others attest, creating an online influencer persona that merchandisers want to associate with can be labor-intensive, expensive and uncertain. The half-life of influencers can be short, in part because the target audience can get sated with endless pitches for products. The very concept was lampooned as far back as 1964 in a scene in A Hard Days Night in which George Harrison encounters a TV producer offering to introduce him to Susan Campey, our resident teenager. Shes a trendsetter. Its her profession. Shes a drag, a well-known drag, George replies. We turn the sound down on her and say rude things. Modern influencers may even face having their jobs taken away by automation. Computer-generated influencers have recently broken into the big time, including Lil Miquela, a CGI figure fashioned as a 19-year-old Brazilian American model, who has 1.5 million Instagram followers and a marketing relationship with Prada. Lil Miquelas creators at Brud, a Los Angeles media studio, have endowed her with a continuing life narrative, including a purported falling-out with the creative team that resembles the feuds that wrestling impresario Vince McMahon staged with his wrestlers. The Instagram post that rocked a nation: Louise Linton snits back at an Oregon mother. (Instagram) Real life also can intrude on the marketability of genuinely human influencers. After Olivia Jade Giannullis parents were arrested and charged with fraud, she was dropped by the cosmetics firm Sephora. Because Fyre was such a train wreck, Blatter says, and hit the popular zeitgeist so loud, brands are definitely more aware that you have to be super careful. When consumers see posts, theyre a little bit more conscious that they [influencers] could be paid too. Theres a level at which Fyre was the perfect brand to be sold via social media influencers. It was a product that never existed in reality, promoted by pitchmen and pitchwomen who had scarcely more substance. But whether Fyre, or any other fiasco, really can put an end to the influencer culture is doubtful. Consumer marketing feeds on itself, and the ecosystem of influencers, influence marketers and brands seeking notice in a fragmented media world today is large and thriving. Social media as we understand them may disappear over time, but something else will surely emerge to take their place, and new platoons of influencers trained in their peculiarities from a very young age will be there to use them for profit. Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com. Return to Michael Hiltziks blog. A Lithuanian man admitted he helped trick Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google into sending more than $100 million through a phishing scheme. The scheme netted about $23 million from Google in 2013 and about $98 million from Facebook in 2015, according to a person familiar with the case, who asked not to be named. Google said it detected the fraud, promptly alerted authorities, and has recouped the funds. Facebook said it recovered the bulk of the funds shortly after the incident and has been cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation. Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge George Daniels on Wednesday under an agreement with prosecutors and will forfeit $49.7 million. Rimasauskas was extradited to New York in August 2017. He faces as many as 30 years in prison when he is sentenced July 24. Advertisement Prosecutors alleged that Rimasauskas, along with some unidentified co-conspirators, helped orchestrate a scheme in which fake emails were sent to employees and agents of the two tech giants. The thieves pretended to represent Taiwanese hardware maker Quanta Computer. They told Facebook and Google workers that the companies owed Quanta money, and then directed payments be sent to bank accounts controlled by the scammers. Rimasauskas thought he could hide behind a computer screen halfway across the world while he conducted his fraudulent scheme, but as he has learned, the arms of American justice are long, and he now faces significant time in a U.S. prison, U.S. Atty. Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement. Dressed in tan prison clothing and speaking in Russian through a translator, Rimasauskas told the judge he took part in the scheme from October 2013 to October 2015, posing as a Quanta employee, creating fake bank accounts in Latvia and Cyprus to receive the scammed proceeds, and signing fake contracts and documents that were submitted to banks to support the wire transfers. I fully understood that my actions were fraud, Rimasauskas said. Daniels asked Rimasauskas why the victims wired the money and whether they were promised anything in return. Im not sure 100% because I was asked to open bank accounts, Rimasauskas said. After that I did not do anything with these accounts. Assistant U.S. Atty. Eun Young Choi told the judge that prosecutors dont allege that Rimasauskas was the one who directly induced the companies to send the money. He created the infrastructure to further the fraudulent transfers, Choi said. As the Lion Air crew fought to control their diving Boeing Co. 737 Max 8, they got help from an unexpected source: an off-duty pilot who happened to be riding in the cockpit. That extra pilot, who was seated in the cockpit jumpseat, correctly diagnosed the problem and told the crew how to disable a malfunctioning flight-control system and save the plane, according to two people familiar with Indonesias investigation. The next day, under command of a different crew facing what investigators said was an identical malfunction, the same jetliner crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 aboard. The previously undisclosed detail on the earlier Lion Air flight represents a new clue in the mystery of how some 737 Max pilots faced with the malfunction have been able to avert disaster while the others lost control of their planes and crashed. The presence of a third pilot in the cockpit wasnt contained in Indonesias National Transportation Safety Committees Nov. 28 report on the crash and hasnt previously been reported. Advertisement The so-called dead-head pilot on the earlier flight from Bali to Jakarta told the crew to cut power to the motor driving the nose down, according to the people familiar, part of a checklist that all pilots are required to memorize. All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC. We cant provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident, Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro said by phone. The Indonesia safety committee report said the plane had had multiple failures on previous flights and hadnt been properly repaired. Representatives for Boeing and the Indonesian safety committee declined to comment on the earlier flight. The safety system, designed to keep planes from climbing too steeply and stalling, has come under scrutiny by investigators of the crash as well as a subsequent one less than five months later in Ethiopia. A malfunctioning sensor is believed to have tricked the Lion Air planes computers into thinking it needed to automatically bring the nose down to avoid a stall. FULL COVERAGE: Boeing 737 Max planes grounded in U.S. and around the world following 2 deadly crashes Boeings 737 Max was grounded March 13 by U.S. regulators after similarities to the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash emerged in the investigation of the March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. In the wake of the two accidents, questions have emerged about how Boeings design of the new 737 model was approved. The Transportation Departments inspector general is conducting a review of how the plane was certified to fly and a grand jury under the U.S. Justice Department is also seeking records in a possible criminal probe of the planes certification. The FAA last week said it planned to mandate changes in the system to make it less likely to activate when there is no emergency. The agency and Boeing said they are also going to require additional training and references to it in flight manuals. We will fully cooperate in the review in the Department of Transportations audit, Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said in an email. The company has declined to comment on the criminal probe. After the Lion Air crash, two U.S. pilots unions said the potential risks of the system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, hadnt been sufficiently spelled out in their manuals or training. None of the documentation for the Max aircraft included an explanation, the union leaders said. We dont like that we werent notified, Jon Weaks, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn., said in November. It makes us question, Is that everything, guys? I would hope there are no more surprises out there. The Allied Pilots Assn. union at American Airlines Group Inc. also said details about the system werent included in the documentation about the plane. Following the Lion Air crash, the FAA required Boeing to notify airlines about the system and Boeing sent a bulletin to all customers flying the Max reminding them how to disable it in an emergency. Authorities have released few details about Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 other than it flew a very similar track as the Lion Air planes and then dove sharply into the ground. There have been no reports of maintenance issues with the Ethiopian Airlines plane before its crash. If the same issue is also found to have helped bring down Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, one of the most vexing questions crash investigators and aviation safety consultants are asking is why the pilots on that flight didnt perform the checklist that disables the system. After this horrific Lion Air accident, youd think that everyone flying this airplane would know thats how you turn this off, said Steve Wallace, the former director of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administrations accident investigation branch. The combination of factors required to bring down a plane in these circumstances suggests other issues may also have occurred in the Ethiopia crash, said Jeffrey Guzzetti, who also directed accident investigations at FAA and is now a consultant. Its simply implausible that this MCAS deficiency by itself can down a modern jetliner with a trained crew, Guzzetti said. MCAS is driven by a single sensor near the nose that measures the so-called angle of attack, or whether air is flowing parallel to the length of the fuselage or at an angle. On the Lion Air flights, the angle-of-attack sensor had failed and was sending erroneous readings indicating the planes nose was pointed dangerously upward. Google was fined $1.7 billion on Wednesday by the European Union for thwarting advertising rivals, marking a third rebuke of the tech giant by the EU antitrust chief and one that could barely come at a more politically sensitive time domestically. The latest fine brings the total that Google has been ordered to pay to $9.4 billion in a series of EU antitrust investigations over the last decade that have taken aim at the Alphabet Inc.s subsidiarys popular software for Android phones and searches related to shopping. The EU in July fined the company 4.3 billion euros ($4.92 billion) and demanded that it change the way it puts search and web-browser apps onto Android mobile devices. A year earlier, Google received a then-record 2.4-billion-euro ($2.74-billion) penalty after regulators accused it of skewing results to thwart smaller shopping search services. Advertisement As European regulators have sought to crack down on perceived oversteps by U.S. technology companies, U.S. politicians are also upping their critiques. This month, presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for far stricter oversight of the tech industry and even went so far as to lay out a plan for breaking up Google and other Silicon Valley tech giants that she says are thwarting competition. Europes action will increase pressure on U.S. policymakers to scrutinize Google, but its still unclear whether theres a strong antitrust case here, said Gene Kimmelman, a former chief counsel for the U.S. Justice Departments antitrust division who now leads the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. The pressure to increase tech platform accountability will only grow, and its simply a matter of time before Congress will weigh in to limit discrimination in the marketplace. Wednesdays fine stemmed from Googles role as an ad broker for websites, targeting exclusivity agreements for online ads with its AdSense for Search product. That service places text advertising on websites. The problematic contracts were all dropped by 2016, when the EU escalated the investigation. As a condition of using the service, Google required that third parties prioritize its own advertisers over rivals. For instance, the commission found that Google restricted third parties from displaying advertisers from rival services altogether in some cases. Other times, third parties were required to reserve a premium spot for Google advertisers as well as allow the company to alter the way that rivals advertisements were displayed. These are some of many restrictions on AdSense customers that led the European Commission to conclude in an initial complaint filed in 2016 that Google had acted anti-competitively. EU officials did acknowledge at the time that Google had changed its AdSense contracts to allow for more freedom to display competing search ads. Google is by far the biggest internet advertising broker, setting up searches on customers websites, and that allows it to control how most consumers start shopping, said Margrethe Vestager, the EUs aggressive chief antitrust regulator. Its an entry point, Vestager said at a news conference. By gaining a foothold in advertising brokering, competitors could grow their business and then challenge Google in general search advertising. The advertising revenues that fuel profits for Google and Facebook Inc. are increasingly coming under antitrust scrutiny, often prompted by complaints from media companies as advertising spending shifts to the web. Frances competition authority has flagged the scale of Googles ad business as a potential concern. Germany started an inquiry in February, and Dutch regulators have been looking at how media companies generate ad revenue. Britain recently signaled it plans to start its own inquiry. Kimmelman said, though, that it is more difficult for U.S. regulators to bring an antitrust case. The U.S. generally places a higher burden of proof on enforcers than Europe, making it more difficult to bring a case, he said. However, Warren is seeking legislation that would radically change how giant tech companies are regulated in the United States. The Democratic lawmaker said her administration would first appoint regulators committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers, including Amazons purchase of Whole Foods, Facebooks tie-up with WhatsApp and Instagram, and Googles ownership of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick. Second, Warren said she would push legislation that would label key services such as Amazons marketplace for goods and Google search as platform utilities, which would have to be spun off from those tech giants other businesses. This is exactly why we need to #BreakUpBigTech. Companies like Google have too much power and fines alone wont fix the problem, Warren tweeted Wednesday. In response to Wednesdays fine, Google said it has already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the commissions concerns, Kent Walker, the companys senior vice president for global affairs, said in an email. Over the next few months, well be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe. On Wednesday, however, Vestager gave the company hope it could avoid fresh fines by saying she didnt see a non-compliance issue over how Google is obeying antitrust orders related to Android and shopping searches. When I cite the numbers that we have now and the intentions from Google in the Android decision, we dont have a non-compliance issue as of now, she said at the news conference. Shopping search rivals are becoming more visible in Googles results, she said, and Googles plans to prompt users to pick alternative search and browser apps had the potential to give users a real choice, she said. Google has said EU investigators lack evidence. The AdSense case cites just a few complaints to justify broad legal claims, one of the companys top lawyers said in a 2016 blog post. The Danish EU commissioner has rejected claims shes singling out U.S. tech giants for special treatment, despite a series of high-profile decisions targeting American companies, including Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Times staff writers Laurence Darmiento and Johana Bhuiyan and Washington Post writers Tony Romm and Brian Fung contributed to this report. Any entity created on this planet comes into the world with a star chart, dominated by a sun sign, reflecting the motion of the spheres above at its moment of birth. Facebook, for instance, is an Aquarius, while Google, Snap and Netflix are all Virgos. Microsoft and Twitter both Aries. Amazon? Classic Cancer. For the record: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated 2015 as the year in which Steph Koyfman launched the Daily Hunch website. Koyfman launched the site in 2017. Sanctuary, a digital astrology start-up backed by $1.5 million in venture capital, made the considered decision to launch its service on Wednesday the dawn of the new astrological year, when Pisces gives way to Aries in the astral cycle. And with private equity veterans, celebrity astrologers and one of Snapchats earliest employees on board, its investors foresee fortunes. Advertisement Theres always been money to be made in cosmic guidance. The ancient king Croesus, whos credited with inventing minted money itself, gave a 500-pound lump of gold to the Oracle of Delphi as tribute for good forecasts. Tycho Brahe, the Renaissance scientist whose observations of the stars laid the groundwork for Galileos breakthroughs, made his living as a royal astrologer. More recently, the phone psychic network behind Miss Cleo raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in the 90s, and was fined by the Federal Trade Commission for unfair business practices. Astrology.com recently told Digiday its revenues are in the low eight figures and growing, based mostly on ad revenue. In 2018, Americans spent $2.2 billion on mystical services, according to research firm IBISWorld. And the internet, especially social media, is awash in astrology. Influencers pose with crystals, memes about Mercury in retrograde (a supposedly inauspicious time of tumult) ripple across Instagram, and horoscopes have reemerged as a mainstay of womens sites such as the Cut, Bustle and Broadly. Astrology has been around for a very long time, and it really adapts to the vernacular that people are speaking, said Aliza Kelly, Sanctuarys astrologer in residence and a horoscope writer for Cosmopolitan magazine. Today, the language is technology and memes and connectivity. The business models adapt too. Kelly leverages her media success and Instagram following to sell 60-minute phone readings for $149 a pop and is booked solid through early May. Steph Koyfman, an astrologer who runs the website the Daily Hunch as a side job (her main gig is at language-learning start-up Babbel), said the demand for an astrologers interpretive skills has stayed strong since she launched the site in 2017. In response to the stream of private messages from followers who had urgent questions to ask, Koyfman said she updated her list of services at the beginning of the year: Im offering a $10 Google cant help me reading, if you just want to get a really short answer. The IBISWorld report found that the market was split among more than 88,000 separate businesses, most of which are run by solo practitioners like Kelly and Koyfman (and most of whom are women). The team behind Sanctuary is betting on the idea that they can become a central platform to unify this fragmented market and cater to those customers willing to pay for instant astrological gratification. Investors get really excited about the size of the addressable market, the growth potential, the fact that its so fragmented, and that theres no established or well-known brand, said Ross Clark, Sanctuarys chief executive. The app itself is built around the experience of texting: After users download Sanctuary and enter their exact time and place of birth, they get access to the kind of free astrological content common across the web a daily horoscope, and some background information on the more esoteric corners of the star chart, delivered in a chatty back-and-forth format. The business model hinges upon a monthly subscription fee. For $19.99, users can chat with a live astrologer once a month for a 15-minute birth chart reading, during which they can ask for specific insights into their lives based on their star charts. Right now, the company has 30 astrologers lined up for readings, who work as independent contractors, and a small back-office staff of five. Even though customers arent guaranteed to speak to the same astrologer each time, the beta phase of Sanctuary convinced Clark that a strong corporate brand can make up for any decrease in personal affinity. Like many who seek guidance from the cosmos, Sanctuary took some time to find its true path. It began as a project within the incubator of Lorne Michaels Broadway Video Ventures. David Birnbaum, then the operations president, had taken a look at the online astrology market at the turn of the century when he was working in private equity with Apax Partners. Back then, we actually looked at rolling up a bunch of astrology sites these companies were very antiquated, very web 1.0, mostly marketplaces to connect consumers to shady-looking people, Birnbaum said. But I realized it was a massive market, and these companies were making fortunes. Clark joined as a chief executive and started playing around with business models. They tried out paid star chart readings on Facebook messenger and saw demand keep ticking up. Sixty percent of users came back at least once per week, Clark said. I was sort of blown away when I saw those results. Their seed round brought in money from the private equity firm Greycroft and Shari Redstones personal venture outfit, Advancit Capital, and brought Kelly on board for astrological expertise. And Chloe Drimal, who was Snapchats 14th employee and has gone on to start a company called Yoni Circle, which creates guided meditation-like experiences for women in Los Angeles, came on as the companys West Coast advisor. Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel recruited Drimal right out of college after she wrote an article praising the nascent disappearing message app for a Yale University newspaper. After a stint leading the companys corporate group therapy program, known as Council, Drimal ran Snaps ambitious Our Story product, which stitched together user videos from around the world into travel guides and breaking news reports. I was the girl at Snapchat that had sage on her desk and crystals, Drimal said. She sees Sanctuary as a way to democratize the desire to trade cash for cosmic reassurance. I met this one woman when I was 11 years old who told me I was a Sagittarius, Drimal said. I researched everything, I wanted to understand it, and I found an astrologer it cost $100, $125, and that is on the lower end. I had to save up. When asked whether they believe in the product theyre pushing, the entrepreneurs behind the company describe astrology as more of a spark for self-reflection, or social connection, than a manifestation of cosmic destiny. I believe in anything that provides people with meaning and optimism in their daily lives, Birnbaum said. For me, it might be going to my therapist on a weekly basis, which I do; for others its talking to astrologers. That said, Im an Aquarius, so Im always skeptical. sam.dean@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter: @samaugustdean Mexicos president on Tuesday defended the decision to allow just a handful of foreign companies to bid on construction of a new oil refinery, saying they are the ones best qualified to complete the project. Theyre the worlds best. The four (participants in the auction) were selected based on a study, an investigation. These four have built 150 refineries apiece on average, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City. Two consortia - the United States Bechtel with Italian-Argentine Techint and Australias WorleyParsons with US-based Jacobs Engineering Group - and a pair of sole participants, US-based KBR and United Kingdom-based TechnipFMC, have been invited to bid on the construction of the Dos Bocas refinery in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, Mexicos government said Monday. Theyre the ones that have the most experience with refinery construction, the leftist president said, adding that those companies were chosen because with these very important projects we dont want the company to not have the professional capacity. He added that these companies also have the ethical dimension, thus ensuring the project is not marred by schemes similar to the Odebrecht scandal or by unfinished works. Odebrecht, a Brazilian-based global construction conglomerate, and its petrochemical unit Braskem reached a settlement in late 2016 with authorities in the US, Brazil and Switzerland arising out of their schemes to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to government officials around the world, the US Justice Department said then. As part of that settlement, they pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a combined total penalty of at least $3.5 billion. Lopez Obrador, however, said domestic companies will likely be involved in building the $8 billion refinery, which will be Mexicos seventh and be owned and operated by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). There a strong chance that there will be domestic companies (taking part in) this same refinery, but the projects will be led by a foreign company or consortium. The idea is for the refinery to be built in three years, and its a big refinery, the president said. A day after marking the 81st anniversary of the nationalization of Mexicos oil industry, Lopez Obrador said the ultimate aim was to strengthen Pemex (whose production monopoly was ended in a landmark 2013 energy-sector overhaul) and the national oil industry. Pemex, which held around $106 billion in financial debt at the end of last year, is in a difficult situation due to, among other reasons, a steep drop in production to an average of just 1.71 million barrels per day in December (down from an average of 3.38 million bpd in 2004). According to official estimates, the refinery will create 23,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) The government has demolished a resort on Boracay Island as part of efforts to rehabilitate and ensure the cleanliness of the world-famous destination, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Wednesday. The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force on Tuesday destroyed structures of the Boracay Plaza Beach Resort, located at Station 1 on the island, DENR said in a press statement. The resort was among the 10 non-compliant establishments that the government warned last month to self-demolish within two weeks because they were within the 30-meter easement zone. Since the island's rehabilitation began in April 2018, the no-build zone on Boracay has been extended to 30 meters from the shoreline. "All 10 establishments, including Boracay Plaza, were the last remaining structures along the White Beach to be demolished, making the area fully compliant to the 30-meter beach easement law," the DENR said in its statement. The nine other establishments had either partially or completely demolished their structures on their own, the DENR said. The Boracay Plaza was also found to be operating without the required permits, the DENR said, adding that it has issued three orders for the resort to vacate the land and self-demolish. "The owner defied all three orders," the DENR said. Boracay Island was shut down in April last year for a six-month rehabilitation period ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte, who called it a "cesspool." It reopened in October 2018, with officials enforcing strict rules to tourists and local businesses. Carlos Izcaray was planning the American Youth Symphonys season when the thought occurred: Why not make this the year of the woman? Izcaray, who took over as music director of the Los Angeles-based AYS in 2016, didnt stop at one season. Faced with the reality that most of the classical canon was written by men, he figured that, at least when programming music by living composers, he could even the score. So he made a pledge: From now on, 50% or more of new music performed by the youth orchestra will be the work of female composers. SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: Critics recommendations on theater, art, music and more Advertisement These are just the composers that I follow, Izcaray said. You know, like Joan Tower, Jennifer Higdon. A year ago he conducted the AYS in Higdons Blue Cathedral at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the very first piece he conducted in his full-time gig as music director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra was Towers Tambor. Izcarays interest in gender equality in the concert hall ties into his broader passion for human rights, integral to his own personal story as a cellist and conductor. In 2004, the native Venezuelan was imprisoned and tortured by the countrys national guard, he said, for being a bystander to a political protest. For more than 24 hours, he was electrocuted, smothered with tear gas and struck hard on his right elbow his bow arm which has affected his mobility ever since. One of the things that they told us when they released us was, If anybody speaks out and says anything, well kill you, he said. Izcaray has been a vociferous critic of the current Venezuelan regime of President Nicolas Maduro and of its human rights violations, speaking out to journalists, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Congress. This is a dictatorial regime, he said. Theyve silenced all political dissent and voices, but most importantly, theyve created conditions for people that are oppressed, that are going hungry now. People are dying. Izcaray grew up in Caracas and attended the school named after Emil Friedman, a Jewish Czech musician who fled Europe during the rise of Hitler and founded the K-12 school with the motto: There is no culture without musical culture. Seeds for Venezuelas famed El Sistema music education program were planted at that school, and the ideology about musics strength to unite and power a fair society runs through Izcarays veins. His father, Felipe Izcaray, is a prominent conductor and music educator, and his mother, Norma Pinto, works in arts administration. Both were in the first generation of musicians in a youth program in Carora that predated El Sistema and was founded by Izcarays great-uncle, Juan Martinez. I grew up parallel with this, like the bread and butter not just literally for my family, but it was also an existential thing, he said. I believe in this as a way to move society forward. American Youth Symphonys music director, Carlos Izcaray. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) How is the symphony orchestra relevant in a 21st century world? Carlos Izcaray Izcaray studied cello at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then at the New World School of Arts in Miami. Gorgias Sanchez, a clarinetist in the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, was Izcarays roommate and close friend there in the mid-90s. He remembers the young cellist as a laid-back, sociable guy with baggy shorts and a ponytail. Izcaray had no interest in conducting at the time, but Sanchez could tell he was a natural. I always teased him about it, Sanchez said by phone from his home in Caracas. He always had a few batons in his room, and he would stand in front of the mirror and conduct, and had a very clear gesture. They roomed together again at Indiana University graduate school, where Izcaray continued to avoid the podium to avoid competition with his father, Sanchez surmises. He knew so much music, Sanchez said. Any Brahms symphony, he knew it by heart, or any Beethoven symphony. Hes somebody who heard The Rite of Spring since he was born. This is something special. So I always tried to push him a little into that direction. DREAMERS: Immigrant-themed oratorio gets its premiere Izcaray finally answered the call after returning home to Venezuela. After a fellowship at the Aspen Conducting Academy and a few guest engagements with orchestras, he was plucked up by the Alabama Symphony in 2015. When the American Youth Symphony came courting soon after, it was a no-brainer. The AYS consists of about 100 musicians ranging in age from 15 to their late 20s students from high schools, the Colburn School, USC, UCLA and elsewhere mixing with young professions who may have already finished with their MFAs and PhDs. On March 31, the orchestra performs a world premiere by Nico Muhly, a co-commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the National Childrens Chorus. Its more of an open book when youre working with young musicians, he said. On one end, I have to be the best role model I can be. But on the other end, also supporting individual, entrepreneurial initiatives that might come from young minds, that are looking at the world and want to try new things. It serves a little bit like a lab, to discover: How is the symphony orchestra relevant in a 21st century world? Sounds About Town Who: American Youth Symphony conducted by Carlos Izcaray, with the National Childrens Chorus, soprano Jessica Rivera and pianist Gloria Cheng What: A Nico Muhly world premiere; Gabriel Faures Messe Basse ; Igor Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms and Alexander Scriabins Symphony No. 5; Prometheus, Poem of Fire Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. When: 7:30 p.m. March 31 Tickets: $33-$45 (subject to change) Information: (310) 470-2332, aysymphony.org Support our coverage of local artists and the local arts scene by becoming a digital subscriber. See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. Oh, to be in love like Cory Booker is in love. Though his universal love campaign is lagging in the polls, the Democratic presidential hopefuls heart was charging full speed ahead as he talked about his actress girlfriend Rosario Dawson with Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday. She is just a deeply soulful person and has taught me a lot of lessons about love already, Booker said. That sometimes you show the greatest strength when you make yourself vulnerable. She has this nurturing spirit thats made me more courageous, not just in the love that I project and want to see in our country, but even in our personal relationships, to love more fearlessly. Im very blessed to be with someone who makes me a better person. Advertisement We havent seen him this excited since he was eyeing roasted cauliflower. Dawson and Booker, who according to Page Six have been dating since December, were keeping their relationship quiet until last week when, as he put it, she got TMZd at the airport after visiting him in D.C. But it was wonderful nonetheless, he said. Because Dawsons just that incredible. That would be an amazing wedding to have in the White House, DeGeneres speculated. I mean, if you go in single and then you have a wedding in the White House, we would watch. That would be like our royal wedding. Would you help preside over the wedding if we did it? Booker asked her. Yes, Id be a big part of that, DeGeneres said, shaking hands with Booker to seal the deal. cdz@latimes.com @theCDZ on Twitter and Instagram In 1946, after World War II had finally come to a close, the German city of Hamburg was in ruins. Over 100,000 citizens had been killed during the air raids and, in the months following the war, millions of people were homeless and without food. The British government occupied Hamburg, its officers requisitioning the grand homes throughout the city and evicting the inhabitants. This is the setting for The Aftermath, a new film now in theaters from director James Kent that centers on the idea of compassion for an enemy. Its a period of history not normally depicted on-screen, but for all involved the moment of reconciliation in Europe resonates strongly today. There were two things I just adored about the story, says Kent, who previously tackled a lesser known aspect of World War I in 2014s Testament of Youth. The first was that its a universal story of compassion and forgiveness. ... The second was this incredible moment in history, which speaks so loudly to us now. It had been a moment of great anger and conflict and devastation, but actually what were focusing on is the moment of great unity and generosity and efforts to try and help this nation get back on its feet. In this world were now in, which I think has become more nationalistic, its great to remember just how it was at a time when we could have been really vengeful. Advertisement The resonance of the story may come from the fact that its based in truth. Novelist and screenwriter Rhidian Brook took the idea from his own grandfathers history. When Col. Walter Brook, an English officer, went to Hamburg, he refused to evict the German family living in the house he requisitioned. Instead, he shared the home with his former enemy for five years, a gestured that inspired Brook. The concept was sold to Ridley Scotts Scott Free at the same time Brook scored a book deal, so he worked on the screenplay and the novel simultaneously. When the novel version of The Aftermath was released worldwide in 2013, Brook requested that Scott Free bring in new eyes to look at the screenplay. Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse came onboard, followed by Kent, but the film really took on life when Keira Knightley was cast in the lead role of Rachel Morgan, the wife of a British officer who comes to live with him in a German home in Hamburg after the war. Jason Clarke, left, Keira Knightley and director James Kent on the set of The Aftermath. (David Appleby / Twentieth Century Fox Film) Ive done various films set in the Second World War, but Id never seen anything dealing with this specific period, says Knightley, who felt an immediate interest in the script. It just made me realize Id never even thought about it. And you think about that in terms of OK, the English and the Germans had been killing each other for six years and the propaganda had been demonizing the other so that they could kill each other for six years. How do you see and come to terms with each other as human beings after that? Thats a question, even now, we cant fully answer. How do you physically rebuild these cities, but also how on earth do you forgive? How on earth do you move forward? The film, which differs slightly from the novel, is largely about Rachels journey as she arrives in Hamburg to join her husband, Col. Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke). She finds him in a requisitioned house previously owned by an architect named Stephan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgard), who remains living in the attic with his daughter. Rachel, who lost her child during the bombings in England, is hardened against the Germans, seeing the entire country of people as only an enemy. As she and Lewis struggle to rebuild their marriage, she finds common ground with Stephan, a man also caught up in post-war grief. Rachel learns, throughout the film, that empathy for the other is essential to our survival, an idea far grander than the storys specific characters. Ive read a lot of World War II scripts, and I feel its often from a British or American point of view, Skarsgard says. And Germans are portrayed, 99 percent of the time, as evil Nazis. The moral compass is completely straight. In reading the script and Rhidians novel, it was so interesting to see this character who is not an active member of the Nazi party, but hes also not a hero. Hes been compromised. Hes guilt-ridden. [I loved] the idea of animosity of the two sides and how through acknowledging the pain in the other person, the person youre trying to loathe, you can connect and feel your own pain and slowly mend each others heart. Its relevancy to today is probably why it really stirred something in me, Knightley adds. Because of course thats what we have all over the world today they dont look the same and they dont sound the same and therefore theyre the enemy. People are dehumanized. Our rhetoric right now is very much part of that. But what that [WWII] generation proved was that there was life and a lot of positivity after that, after a great, horrific trauma. How extraordinary that human beings actually managed to get over that. That we have the potential to get over that, even though its not easy. Keira Knightley and Jason Clarke in The Aftermath. (David Appleby / Twentieth Century Fox Film) Theres empathy in recognizing yourself in others, adds Clarke, who read extensively in preparation for the film after accepting the role of Lewis. Its not that were different. Its that I am you. Theres the idea that after so much destruction, do you want to destroy more or do you want to rebuild? For Kent, who studied history in school, the importance of retelling moments from our past is in identifying how little has actually changed over the years. He sees The Aftermath as less of a love story and more of a tale of compassion, affirming that humans in any time period have the potential to connect after a conflict or tragedy. The past is beautiful to watch, but I think if its well done it should have universal truths, the director says. Its important to realize were not so different from our forebears because then you realize we can keep making the same mistakes as our forebears if were not careful. And actually this film is a warning from history about working as individuals towards reconciliation. We shouldnt leave it to our masters and our governments; we need to do it as individual people. The undercurrent of The Aftermath is the formation of the European Union, created after World War II and now threatened by the U.K.s impending withdrawal March 29. When Brook wrote the story, he wasnt thinking about Brexit since it didnt exist yet, but he acknowledges that the film has taken on a new significance by coming out in 2019. Flora Thiemann, left, Alexander Skarsgard and Keira Knightley in The Aftermath. (Fox Searchlight Pictures) The film isnt didactic about one thing or the other, Brook says. It just happens to show a moment in time, and that moment was a time when Europe had a choice about how it was going to go about things. The choice then was not for revenge or occupation forever; it was to give the people their freedom so they can rebuild their lives. The EU was formed out of that. It was born of We will never fight like this again. The parallels exist in multitude, depending on where youre coming from when you view the film. For some, it may evoke the split of Brexit. For others, it may bring up the other-izing rhetoric of the wall in the U.S. In many ways, The Aftermath is about making a decision to understand someone who is not like you instead of creating a division. That theme resonated deeply with the actors, who have continued to consider the story long after they finished filming. I obviously do a lot of period films, but the thing I tap into, as somebody who does actually live in 2019, is How do I find this relevant? Knightley says. Sometimes its escapism, but mostly its tapping into something I think is still happening or I still feel. And this one where were at a point where everyone is trying to build walls and break things apart its interesting to see a film about people trying to put things back together again and how difficult that is once its all been broken apart. We forget that. We talk about victories. We talk about beating people, but you dont talk about the consequences of those actions. Whats more extreme than a German and a Brit six months after the war? Skarsgard adds. If they can find each other and find a way to understand the other side, damn it if we cant. calendar@latimes.com Walt Disney Co. finalized its acquisition of much of 21st Century Fox late Tuesday in a landmark deal that made Mickey Mouse and Bart Simpson corporate cousins. Disney, which had already made high-priced acquisitions of Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar, spent a whopping $71.3 billion to add the Fox assets to its library. The giant media takeover included Foxs movie and TV production studios and the rights to major properties including Avatar, Modern Family and the Alien and Predator franchises, among numerous others. The owner of ESPN and ABC also acquired the FX and National Geographic channels, a controlling stake in streaming service Hulu and Foxs international television portfolio. Disneys Fox acquisition: Everything you need to know Advertisement Notably, the globally recognized brand also reunited the previously splintered Marvel library. Foxs Deadpool, the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties are now again owned by the same company that wields the rights to the Avengers and the Marvel Cinematic Universe they abide in. But Disneys prowess and what it means for Hollywood wasnt exactly celebrated by all. Many skeptics on Twitter were quick to highlight the Disney digs Fox has gotten away with over the years, as well as the less wholesome, off-brand quips in productions such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There was a trove of critical fan art circulating online, Disney now owns memes and several calls to make Disney princesses of The X-Files Agent Scully, Aliens Ellen Ripley and Anastasia. Celebrities were unusually quiet about the merger Wednesday, though a few did chime in to react to the deal. Former ABC showrunner Adam Horowitz suggested the merger, had it come sooner, could have meant major changes for his series Once Upon a Time. And actor Ryan Reynolds resurfaced an image of his Deadpool wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Heres a look at some of the other notable reactions on Twitter: Feels like the first day of Pool. pic.twitter.com/QVy8fCxgqr Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 19, 2019 If this whole acquisition thing had happened just a few years sooner we coulda had Hoffa on #OUAT. Oh well. #DisneyFox Adam Horowitz (@AdamHorowitzLA) March 20, 2019 My favorite Disney princesses. pic.twitter.com/UBn5nGymTi Mike Dougherty (@Mike_Dougherty) March 20, 2019 Disney right now, owning Fox. pic.twitter.com/Q4Cx9SQEiT Brandon Davis (@BrandonDavisBD) March 20, 2019 *whispers* happy disney owns percy jackson day https://t.co/fSOS6OjEiz The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical (@LTMusical) March 20, 2019 Disney just bought the comic I made in high school WTF pic.twitter.com/bJmg51i1NR Brian Lynch (@BrianLynch) March 20, 2019 My new favorite Disney Princess!!! pic.twitter.com/rf43iceaTj Jorge R. Gutierrez (@mexopolis) March 20, 2019 So many people calling Disney a "monopoly" today. pic.twitter.com/leI9ykpAQU Jeremy Conrad @ SDCC (@ManaByte) March 20, 2019 I wanna congratulate Disney on outbidding me for Fox. I realize now that my offer, $13,000 and an IOU for $81-billion scrawled on a Arby's bag in crayon, was unrealistic and whatnot. George Wallace (@MrGeorgeWallace) March 20, 2019 This morning I tried to walk my dogs and they told me that they are now owned by Disney Kelvin Yu (@InternetKelvin) March 20, 2019 Twitter: @NardineSaad Warning: This post contains lots of spoilers. If youve made your way through the final season of Catastrophe by now, you probably have some questions about the ambiguous way the Amazon series ended. In the finale, Sharon and Rob (played by Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney) find their relationship a passionate fling that unexpectedly led to marriage and kids in crisis. Sharon discovers she is pregnant, and Rob, grieving the death of his mother, wants to accept a job offer back home in the United States. A bitter fight ensues. The next day, Rob and Sharon sit on an idyllic New England beach, making up and reiterating their commitment to each other. Sharon spontaneously strips down to her bra and underwear and dives into the water, and Rob follows her in, despite signs warning of rip tides. Advertisement I thought you didnt want to swim, she says. I didnt like seeing you there drifting on your own, he replies. They kiss and turn back. A wide aerial show shows attempting to swim toward safety, but theyve drifted far from the shore. Interpretations of the scene have varied. Some view it as a metaphor for marriage in keeping with the central themes of the series. Others see it more literally and offered detailed theories about why Rob and Sharon are actually dead, a twist that wouldnt be entirely out of character for a show that has often contemplated loss and mortality (and, well, is called Catastrophe). The inconclusive ending has invited comparisons to the notorious finale of a very different kind of show, The Sopranos, which left Tony Sopranos fate hanging in the balance with an abrupt fade to black and still fuels heated debate 12 years after it aired. During a recent trip to New York, Delaney and Horgan, who also created and wrote the series, opened up about the ending. It is sort of a write-your-own ending scenario, Horgan said, noting that even she and Delaney went back and forth about the meaning of the final scene in the editing room. I think it depends on your state of mind. If youre nihilist or an optimist, you know? It depends on the person viewing. Rob Delaney, left, and Sharon Horgan are the creators, writers and stars of Catastrophe. (Rick Loomis / For The Times) See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Initially, the writers wanted to end in water, Delaney said, because Rob is a fish out of water when he goes to London, and then, we end four seasons later with Sharon in America, out of her element. The episode as a whole strikes a dark, fatalistic tone and builds to the crisis in Rob and Sharons marriage. It opens as they land in Boston for what is supposed to be a family holiday, only to learn that Robs mother, Mia (played in previous seasons by the late Carrie Fisher), has died suddenly. Robs deadbeat father an alcoholic who thinks the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax, is turning yellow from cirrhosis and once drunkenly broke Mias jaw shows up unannounced at her funeral and defends his history of domestic violence by saying, I hit her way less than my dad hit my mom. Rob, grieving and angry at his father, lashes out at Sharon, whos just realized shes probably pregnant: Youre mean and youre selfish and nobody likes you. While the goal of Catastrophe was always to entertain and elicit a high number of laughs, Delaney said, we also never really tried to make the show easy viewing. And it also never provided an easy answer, even if some fans have found it frustrating. My mom and sister called me after they saw an early cut, and they were freaking out, and telling me to explain to them exactly what happened, Delaney recalled. I remember saying to my sister, Well, its up to you, and shes like, Its not up to me, its up to you! You made the thing! Tell me. meredith.blake@latimes.com Follow me @MeredithBlake Emily Alpert Reyes covers public health for the Los Angeles Times. She previously reported on Los Angeles city government and politics, as well as on the census and demographics, tracking how our lives are changing in Los Angeles, California and the country. Before joining The Times, she worked for the pioneering nonprofit news website voiceofsandiego.org, winning national awards for her reporting on education. She has also traveled to Bolivia as a fellow with the International Reporting Project and survived the University of Chicago. Louis Sahagun is a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times. He covers issues ranging from religion, culture and the environment to crime, politics and water. He was on the team of L.A. Times writers that earned the Pulitzer Prize in public service for a series on Latinos in Southern California and the team that was a finalist in 2015 for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news. He is a CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California board member, and author of the book, Master of the Mysteries: the Life of Manly Palmer Hall. Jack LeGros, a helicopter door gunner during the Vietnam War, was on his way into the Veterans Affairs Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center on Tuesday afternoon when I asked him what he thought about President Trumps continued attacks on late Sen. John McCain of Arizona. I think hes an I cant complete that sentence in a family newspaper, but Im sure you can hazard a pretty good guess as to how LeGros finished his thought. The veteran, 77, walked with a limp. He said he thinks exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam is causing his pain. Advertisement My foot started getting hot, like it was in hot sand, and it steadily progressed up my legs, said LeGros, who has also been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder for many years. Obituary: John McCain, war hero, political maverick and GOP standard-bearer, dies at 81 LeGros said he doesnt care much for Trump, period. But even veterans who support the president told me they cant understand why the president would speak with such contempt about a man who devoted his life to public service, endured years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down in Vietnam, and died of brain cancer seven months ago. Just last weekend Trump, who was in a particularly cranky mood, tweeted about his political issues with McCain and said, incorrectly, that McCain finished last in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy. I dont like it, said Rubin Elfman, a World War II Army veteran who served in Germany and told me he will turn 93 next month. Elfman said he likes Trumps politics but doesnt understand his McCain obsession. Listen, Elfman said, the man served his country. In 1999, I briefly rode with McCain on his Straight Talk Express as he traveled through New Hampshire in a run for the presidency. His politics werent mine, but I couldnt help but admire the man, who had trouble raising his arm high enough to comb his hair due to the wartime torture he had suffered. A short time later, in Hanoi, I visited the dank, miserable cell where McCain spent much of his five-plus years in captivity. I once foolishly thought Trumps relentless insistence that the first black president of the United States was African would doom him as a crank, but it didnt. I thought that mocking the looks of a female opponent and the wife of another opponent in the presidential primary would be the end of him, but it wasnt. I finally realized Trump wouldnt lose his base of supporters by saying things that were cruel, undignified, racially offensive or patently false. But a war hero? Especially one now dead who happened to be in Trumps own party? Of course, Trump might dispute that assessment. Our president, who did not serve in the military, infamously said of McCain: Hes not a war hero. Hes a war hero because he was shot down. I like people that werent captured. Trump survived that, as vile as it was, which may be why he felt emboldened to take another poke at McCain over the weekend. He should let it go. In this case, no one cares what he thinks about John McCain, said Vietnam veteran Terry Barker, who added that he voted for Trump and otherwise likes his politics. Im offended, said Carlos Gonzalez, who served in the Army after the Vietnam War. He was a dodger. Yeah, said Tony Rushing, who was in the Navy in the late 1960s. A draft dodger. To be precise, Trump had several deferments for being in college and another for bone spurs on the heels of his feet. The daughters of a New York podiatrist said in December that their father offered the diagnosis as a favor to their landlord, Trumps father. What is a bone spur? Vietnam veteran Andrew Sanchez asked me in the lobby of the VA. Im not sure he was expecting an answer. He asked if I served and I said no, I didnt. When I was of age, the Vietnam War was ending and a draft lottery was in place. My number didnt come up. John McCain, front right, with his squadron in 1965. The late senator, who died of brain cancer in August, was long lauded as a U.S. war hero after being a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. (Library of Congress) Edie Koller, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, told me how she felt about the president maligning a war hero. I find it offensive as a veteran, she said. Emperor F. Seidl, who served in the Marines and the Army, and spent time in Vietnam, called himself a solid Trump supporter. But regarding the Trump comments, Seidl said, Id like to take him in the back room and kick his behind. I dont know if it would be fair to beat up a man with bone spurs. After leaving the Valley, I decided to make a phone call to a veteran who has spent many a day in VA hospitals. Ron Kovic, author of the bestselling wartime memoir Born on the Fourth of July, was paralyzed by combat injuries and later took to the streets as a leader of the anti-war movement. Kovic, who has been in a wheelchair for half a century, told me he once debated McCain and he had quite a few political differences with him. But he also had a great deal of admiration for McCain himself. The one thing I always respected was his dignity as a human being, as a man, and the fact that he served, and sacrificed, and suffered greatly. And he came home. He came back from that and he gave everything, said Kovic. These attacks against him are just outrageous, especially where theyre coming from from someone who never wore the uniform, who never served his country, never put his life in danger, and its just unconscionable. Its as if hes kicking John McCains coffin. Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez The suspected gunman who caused a panic among shoppers at the Westfield Century City mall on Friday was a disgruntled Amazon employee who now faces eight charges, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday. Nicholas K. Oates, 25, who was arrested Saturday night after officers spotted him at the Venice Beach Boardwalk, faces six counts of arson and one count each of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, Moore said. Citing the ongoing investigation, Moore revealed few details about Oates but said he came from Missouri and had yet to establish a residence in Los Angeles. Prosecutors charged Oates on Tuesday, Moore said. Mr. Oates confessed to having involvement in the event, Moore said at an afternoon news conference. This was a premeditated act. He will face the consequences for his actions. Advertisement On Friday, police responded to initial reports of a man with a gun inside the malls Amazon store about 12:40 p.m. Chaos broke out as some shoppers ran outside. Some believed an active shooter roamed the mall. Other shoppers sheltered in place and evacuated several hours later. Officers couldnt find the gunman and determined that a suspicious package found in the Amazon store did not contain an explosive. Moore said Oates set fires in the childrens book section and pointed a handgun at an employee. The weapon believed to be used in the incident has not been found. The chief praised police and firefighters for rushing inside to possibly encounter an active shooter. Moore credited the mall owners for having state of the art cameras at the shopping center. The technology helped investigators track the suspect before and after the incident, Moore said. It also allowed them to release a surveillance camera photo on social media of the gunman early Saturday. The upscale mall recently completed a $1-billion renovation. It reopened Friday evening. The California State University Board of Trustees on Wednesday announced that Framroze Fram Virjee, who has been interim president of Cal State Fullerton since January 2018, will stay in the post. Virjee becomes the sixth president of Cal State Fullerton. He succeeds Mildred Garcia, who was appointed president of the American Assn. of State Colleges and Universities in November 2017. We conducted a national search that included many exemplary candidates, and it became apparent that the best person to be the next president of CSUF was already serving the campus, said CSU Trustee Silas Abrego, chairman of the search committee. In his time leading CSUF, Fram has demonstrated unbridled energy and passion for the campus and students, and under his leadership CSUF will reach even greater heights. From January 2014 through December 2017, Virjee was executive vice chancellor, general counsel and secretary to the CSU Board of Trustees. In that capacity, he led a staff of attorneys, paralegals and support personnel, and oversaw all legal services for the 23-campus California State University system. Advertisement Virjee also served as chief legal officer to the trustees, advising them on all legal issues, including open meeting laws, board rules and procedures, and education code compliance. Before joining CSU, Virjee was an attorney in private practice for almost 30 years at OMelveny & Myers, the oldest law firm in Los Angeles, where he specialized in labor and employment law with an emphasis in representing educational institutions in the areas of collective bargaining, education code compliance, and discrimination and employment litigation. Joining the Titan family has been the most rewarding professional experience of my career, Virjee said. I am thrilled at the opportunity to continue working alongside the tremendously talented faculty, staff and administrators to further the great work enabling student achievement and degree completion that weve started, and to chart the path forward for CSUF. Virjee holds a bachelors degree in political science and sociology from UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of the UC Hastings College of the Law. The father of three and his wife, Julie, are the founders of Yambi Rwanda, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the people of Rwanda. The man ran through the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw shopping mall, armed with a foot-long kitchen knife. It was a Tuesday evening, and the mall was crowded with shoppers. When he wouldnt drop the knife, two Los Angeles police officers began shooting at the man. After he fell to the ground and tried to get up, still gripping the knife, each officer sent one more bullet his way. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled that the last round fired by each officer in the fatal shooting of Grechario Mack on April 10 violated department policy to use deadly force only when protecting oneself or others from imminent injury or death. Advertisement The unanimous decision by the five-member civilian oversight board contradicted Chief Michel Moore, who had concluded that all five shots from one officer and all nine shots from the other officer were in policy. Moore will now decide what discipline the officers should face, and L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey will determine whether they are to be criminally charged. Shortly after Macks death, then-Police Chief Charlie Beck said a beanbag shotgun would have been the most appropriate tool for this. Its an unfortunate incident that of course we would have liked to have avoided, Beck told the Police Commission. Unfortunately, we were not able to get less lethal in place in time to do that. Police Commission President Steve Soboroff said he could not comment on the decision, because it was reached in a closed-session meeting. Macks family celebrated the commissions decision with Black Lives Matter activists outside LAPD headquarters on Tuesday. Quintus Moore, Macks father, said he is pleased with the out-of-policy finding for the final shots. He wants the officers to face criminal prosecution. Id like them sitting in jail with the people they put in jail and think twice about what they do, he said. Mack, 30, had two daughters and loved fishing so much that he was buried near a creek, his father said. The commission has ruled the use of deadly force in some controversial shootings as out of policy, as in the 2014 death of Ezell Ford. But in others, including Charly Leundeu Keunangs 2015 death on skid row, the commission decided that the fatal shots were in line with LAPD policy. The union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers defended Sgt. Ryan Lee and Officer Martin Robles, identified by the department as the two who shot Mack. The officers involved strived to resolve this situation without using force but the suspect continued his aggressive and threatening behavior, the Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors said in a written statement. They were forced to take split-second actions and based on witness statements at the time, mall patrons feared for their own safety because of the obvious harm this suspect presented to their lives. David Winslow, an attorney who represents both officers, said they were concerned that Mack would enter a store and slash the customers with the knife a decision-making process that encompassed the last shots. They had to act quickly, decide whether to shoot or not, how to protect the public from a threat, Winslow said. A report to the Police Commission by Moore describes a chaotic situation in a mall full of shoppers, with Mack appearing to be in a state of agitated delirium. Two sergeants repeatedly ordered Mack, who was African American, to drop the knife, according to the report. They discussed using a Taser, but after an officer with a beanbag shotgun arrived, a sergeant shouted to use the less-lethal weapon. Mack then ran toward stores with shoppers inside, the report said. The sergeant involved in the shooting fired four shots with his handgun. I wasnt going to allow this guy, or the suspect with a knife, to run into one of these stores and hurt anybody that was in those stores, or hurt any officers that were coming up and they were approaching, the sergeant told LAPD investigators. He explained his final, fifth shot: I realized that after he went down, he was trying to get back up And he was also in front of a very large retail store with numerous patrons inside. And so I fired again to stop the threat. The officer who shot nine times was equipped with a semiautomatic rifle. After Mack fell to the ground, the officer said, hes 10, 15 feet away from me and the people behind me. And it looks like hes getting ready to charge at me. So I take another shot at him as Im giving him commands to drop the knife, not to grab it, and because I think hes going to come up and slash us again. After the Police Commission announced its decision, Macks mother, Catherine Walker, danced and prayed while waving a purple heart case containing her sons ashes. Black Lives Matter activist Paula Minor declared the decision a success, not a victory, pointing to what she described as unfair treatment of blacks by police. For someone who is having a mental episode while holding a knife, the penalty should not be death, she said. An actor best known for his role on the Showtime series Ray Donovan was sentenced to three years of probation Tuesday for driving under the influence of alcohol with his 2-year-old son on his lap in Burbank last year. Marion Pooch Hall, 45, of Sherman Oaks pleaded no contest to driving with a blood-alcohol content over the legal limit of .08% and child endangerment, both misdemeanors, during the court hearing Tuesday as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. In addition to probation, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge also ordered Hall to complete a three-month residential alcohol treatment program and attend one year of parenting classes. His drivers license was suspended for six months, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. Authorities say Hall was driving in Burbank with his son on his lap on Oct. 3, when his car swerved and crashed into a parked vehicle about 7:30 p.m. in the 200 block of North Buena Vista Street. Advertisement Witnesses reported seeing the driver of a Chrysler 300 sedan weaving through traffic with a child on his lap. One witness told officers the child was holding onto the steering wheel, Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman for Burbank police, said at the time. Green said Hall displayed obvious signs of alcohol intoxication, could not perform any field sobriety tests and his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Times Community News staff writer Andy Nguyen contributed to this report. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry San Franciscos Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $13.1-million settlement for a man who spent six years in prison after police officers framed him for murder. Jamal Trulove was convicted in the 2007 killing of his friend, but a state appeals court overturned the conviction in 2014 and he was acquitted in a retrial in 2015. A federal jury last year awarded Trulove $14.5 million in damages, according to the Associated Press. At the time, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that jurors found the two lead homicide inspectors on the case had violated Truloves rights by fabricating evidence against him and withholding evidence that might have helped him. The settlement was on the board of supervisors consent calendar and was approved unanimously without comment, the Associated Press reported. Advertisement Alex Reisman, one of Truloves lawyers, told the AP that Trulove spent six years in maximum security prisons hundreds of miles from family and that he also was stabbed. After the settlement was approved Tuesday, Trulove wrote on Instagram, And trust me Im not done with them by a long shot!! And trust me Im not done with them by a long shot!! After what these cowards of the law did to me, I will lit my freedom ring through every platform I get to show what injustice really looks like. Me! #JamalTrulove #LifeAfterLife #Reform #SanFrancisco And Sand still i rise pic.twitter.com/ON3sR3uBgf jamal trulove (@10millimilli) March 20, 2019 Trulove was an aspiring actor before he was sent to prison and has returned to his profession since his acquittal. He appears in the film The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival this year. javier.panzar@latimes.com @jpanzar The mother of 9-year-old Trinity Love Jones, whose body was found in a duffel bag along a trail in Hacienda Heights this month, was charged Wednesday with murder in connection with her daughters slaying. Taquesta Graham, 28, a former Long Beach resident, has been in custody without bail since March 8 on a warrant unrelated to her daughters death. She was extradited from Texas to California last week to answer investigators questions about Trinity. Grahams boyfriend, Emiel Hunt, 38, has also been charged with murder in the childs death. If convicted, Hunt faces up to 55 years to life in prison. Graham faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison if convicted. Authorities say Hunt killed Trinity on March 1 and dumped her body on the trail. Advertisement The girls body was found five days later inside a large duffel bag that had been abandoned in light brush a short distance from the 60 Freeway. Her head and part of her torso were protruding from the bag. Authorities have not said how she was killed. After the gruesome discovery, Los Angeles County sheriffs investigators sought the publics help to identify the girl and released a sketch of her. An informant, whom police have not identified, told authorities that the sketch of the girl resembled Trinity. The person expressed concern, but did not know the whereabouts of Trinity or her mother, the Sheriffs Department wrote in a news release. Investigators looked into Graham and Hunts criminal histories and began searching for them as possible suspects in the case. Court records show Hunt was convicted of felony child abuse in San Diego County in 2005 and sentenced to 12 years in state prison. Graham has a prior conviction for involvement with a minor in prostitution. Detectives at the time still werent positive about the girls identity. On March 8, Hunt and Graham were stopped in Hunts black Nissan Armada at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas. Graham was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant, and Hunt was released. After his girlfriend was arrested, Hunt drove back to California. Detectives arrested Hunt a day later after they found him sleeping in his SUV, which was parked in a lot near San Diego International Airport. Family members met with coroners investigators March 10 and formally identified the dead girl as Trinity. Graham, Hunt and Trinity moved from a family members home in Long Beach in May. Extended family saw or heard from the couple and the girl on only a few occasions over the last 10 months, and investigators discovered they had been homeless just before the girls death. They had been sleeping at a motel in Santa Fe Springs or in their car, authorities said. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @Hannahnfry An Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday agreed to a womans request to pause her civil lawsuit against a Newport Beach surgeon who she alleges drugged and raped her in 2016. The plaintiff asked Judge Walter Schwarm to stay proceedings in the suit until the doctors related criminal case concludes. Attorneys representing Dr. Grant Robicheaux, his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, and a couple who partly own the Newport Beach home where the assault allegedly occurred argued that they have the right to depose the plaintiff and other witnesses to mount a defense, adding that the motion to stay the case amounted to a ruse by the plaintiffs attorney to wait and see what evidence becomes public during the criminal proceeding. We cant have a situation where someone can sue and then not allow discovery because of Marsys Law, said Robicheauxs attorney, Thomas Ferlauto. Advertisement The plaintiffs attorney, Alexis Bastedo, said her client is asserting her rights under Marsys Law, which allows alleged crime victims in California to refuse defendants requests for interviews or pretrial testimony. I dont find the assertion of constitutional rights to be a ruse, Schwarm said. The Constitution of the state of California and U.S. Constitution, these documents are important to us. The plaintiff in the lawsuit says she was in her mid-30s when she was introduced to Robicheaux and Riley through a mutual acquaintance at a Halloween party in 2016. Prosecutors allege the couple drugged the womans drink with GHB and raped her in the bedroom of their home. Civil cases brought against criminal defendants by alleged victims typically wait until after the criminal proceedings conclude. But the plaintiff in the case against Robicheaux and Riley filed her lawsuit last year to beat a filing deadline under the statute of limitations. Robicheaux and Riley were accused last year of drugging and sexually assaulting several women. They are charged with 17 felony counts, including five counts of rape. They have denied all accusations of nonconsensual sex. Katharine Spaniac, an attorney representing homeowners William and Jennifer Robicheaux Ward, requested that the judge further examine her clients ability to at least request documents and other evidence from the plaintiff because they are not a part of the criminal case. The documents could be vital in defending her clients against the plaintiffs claims of $12.2 million in damages, she said. Schwarm asked attorneys on both sides to provide additional briefings on the matter and return April 30. Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News. Norman Hollyn, a respected film and music editor who worked on such movies as Sophies Choice, The Cotton Club and Heathers, has died in Japan, where he was lecturing cinema students. He was 66. Hollyn died Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest while in Yokohama, where he was meeting with students from Tokyo University of the Arts. His loss is devastating, Elizabeth M. Daley, dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, wrote on Facebook. Beyond his work in Hollywood both in film and television, Hollyn was a professor at USCs film school, where he had led the editing department for more than 10 years before recently stepping down. He also helped the university strengthen relationships with a diverse stable of companies, including Apple and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Advertisement Hollyn was a prolific writer as well and a public speaker who traveled the world to work with cinema students and aspiring filmmakers. Born May 11, 1952, in New York, Hollyn graduated from Stony Brook University and got an early break in the film world working as an apprentice sound editor on Lenny, the 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic. It was heady company for a young editor. The films director was Bob Fosse and the lead actor was Dustin Hoffman. He also worked as an uncredited apprentice editor on Sidney Lumets Network, the 1976 media satire that went on to win four Academy Awards. Life as a film editor, though, made for uneven employment. Jobs lasted months, occasionally a year. When I took a job, I knew it wouldnt last, he wrote on his web page. I knew that my life was going to be made up of simultaneously working and looking for work. Sometimes he was a film editor, sometimes he was asked to edit the music. On Sophies Choice and Cotton Club he was the music editor. On Heathers he was the film editor as he was on Oliver Stones television miniseries Wild Palms. Hollyn had a hand in dozens of films and television shows. His most recent editing project was on Shot, a 2017 film about the consequences of an accidental shooting. At the time of his death, Hollyn was on sabbatical from USC so that he could travel to Japan, South Africa, Estonia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, both to teach and to conduct interviews for a planned revision of The Lean Forward Moment, his book on storytelling. He was also writing a new edition of The Editing Room Handbook, his must-read textbook for aspiring film editors. For five years, he hosted editing workshops at the Sundance Film Festival. He also worked as a consultant for DreamWorks and Pixar. His wife, Janet Conn, said in an email that while her husband was a classic workaholic, he also had a bountiful life away from work. He and I spent endless hours going to museums and galleries -- we loved art -- the cultural changes occurring in L.A. that allowed us to do what we had done during our years in New York. The two had recently moved from Santa Monica to be closer to downtown so they could enjoy a more diverse part of the city, she said. All of us at the USC School of Cinematic Arts are profoundly saddened by the passing of Norman Hollyn, who was an extraordinary film, television and music editor, and was the inaugural holder of the Michael Kahn Endowed Chair in Editing here at SCA. pic.twitter.com/GUExLrHQYM USC Cinematic Arts (@USCCinema) March 19, 2019 She said her husband had an enthusiasm for even the simple things in life, such as their weekly dinners with their daughter. A renaissance man with vast intelligence, a huge heart and who gave and received immeasurable pleasure from his life, she said. Along with his wife Janet, Hollyn is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Conn-Hollyn. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got an invaluable election season boost Wednesday when Americas top diplomat arrived with a handshake, lavish praise and a photo op. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo flew from Kuwait City to Jerusalem as part of a three-nation Middle East tour aimed at countering Iran and shoring up Netanyahu ahead of a tough April 9 race to hold on to office. One recent poll showed Netanyahu trailing challenger Benny Gantz. Pompeo said his first trip to Jerusalem as secretary of State had been long planned and the U.S.-Israeli relationship transcends national politics. Theres always an election, Pompeo told reporters traveling with him. Im going to Israel because of the important relationship we have.... Leaders will change in both countries over time. That relationship matters no matter who the leaders are. Advertisement But Netanyahu is not wasting the symbolism. After he shows Pompeo around Jerusalem on Thursday, with visits to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall and with cameras in tow, he heads to Washington at the end of the month. There, Netanyahu is sure to be bestowed an Oval Office greeting. Israel is one of the few places in the world where being associated with President Trump is often an asset. A look at the historic sites President Trump visited in Jerusalem Pompeo said the focus of his two-day visit was to coordinate with Israel steps to take against what he called radical Islam, and especially Iran. The threats in the region are real, Pompeo said, and time sensitive. Later, as he received Pompeo at his office, Netanyahu was effusive in his embrace of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, saying the alliance had never been better, and also gave emphasis to dangers he said were posed by Iran. One topic that does not appear at the top of the secretarys agenda is forging peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Trump administration is preparing what it describes as a comprehensive plan to end the decades-old conflict. Pompeo and the State Department, however, have been largely sidelined, with Trump handing the task to his son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, and his former attorney Jason Greenblatt They have struggled to find support for the plan among key players in the region, including Saudi Arabia. Some regional leaders believe the plan makes too many concessions to Israel while shortchanging the Palestinians. The tortuous issue was further complicated when Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, despite Palestinian aspirations to count on part of the holy city as the capital of a future independent state. The Palestinian leadership has boycotted all talks with Washington since, and, in response, the administration slashed most financial aid to the Palestinians. While in Kuwait City, reporters tried to pin Pompeo down on how the administration now views Israels occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The State Department dropped the word occupied as a description of the areas in its annual human rights report this year and last year. Pompeo refused to answer a direct question on the status of the West Bank and the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Jordan and Syria, respectively, during its war with them in 1967. There has been no change in the policy, he said at a brief news conference in the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry. Netanyahu has been pushing for the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territories, and the efforts have received some support from U.S. conservatives. Later Wednesday evening, with Pompeo at his side, Netanyahu declared that the Golan Heights will be part of the Israeli state forever. For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter The Border Patrol released 250 migrants here on Tuesday and Wednesday and expects to free hundreds more in coming days because there is no room to hold them. Normally, the agency would transfer the migrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be processed and in many cases placed in detention facilities. But officials said Wednesday that a recent influx of Central American families has led to a severe shortage of space. Immigrant advocates suggested the releases were intended to sow confusion at the border and further President Trumps argument that there is a national emergency there. They are doing this deliberately so they can release a ton of people at once and create chaos, said Efren Olivares, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which sent lawyers to the McAllen bus station to monitor developments. The government is trying to do this. Advertisement He pointed out that the federal government has dealt with bigger influxes of migrants in the recent past. A Border Patrol official who spoke on the condition that he not be identified denied that the release was a political stunt and said crowded facilities threatened agents and migrants. It is a crisis, he said. Its not a self-proclaimed crisis. The agency plans to make similar releases along other parts of the border, he said. In February, the Border Patrol caught 66,450 migrants, a 38% increase from January and one of the highest monthly totals of the last decade. More than half of those arrested were parents and children, and 40% of those were in the Rio Grande Valley. The number of families arriving in the Rio Grande Valley sector since October has jumped nearly 210% over the same period in the last fiscal year, according to Customs and Border Protection reports. Still, migrant apprehensions are far below levels seen for decades until the mid-2000s, when they reached more than a million per year mostly adult Mexican men before falling dramatically. That hasnt stopped Trump from declaring a national emergency at the southern border in order to tap into billions in federal funding for his long-promised border wall. Three ICE family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania with more than 3,000 beds have been full for a month, said an agency official speaking on background. It reached a breaking point, the official said. Last week, ICE unions sent a scathing letter to Trump calling for Border Patrol to release migrants directly to clear space. This week, the Border Patrol began doing just that, with 50 migrants released Tuesday and another 200 released on Wednesday, according to Carols Diaz, a spokesman for the agency. All were given notices to appear in court and turned over to Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which operates a local respite center. Sister Norma Pimentel, who runs the shelter, said 600 migrants arrived Wednesday, joining 900 who were already there. Three additional sites were opened to handle overflow. Pimentel said the Border Patrol officials had given her warning of the release, saying their central processing center had filled with 5,000 migrants, some of whom they planned to start dropping at the downtown bus station. She and McAllen Mayor Jim Darling said they persuaded them to bus migrants to the shelters instead. I dont understand why they let the numbers go up so high, Pimentel said. The main shelters halls were standing room only. Migrants who had not bathed in days clutched manila envelopes of immigration court paperwork. Volunteers helped them arrange bus tickets to join family or friends across the U.S., then took them to the station. Some migrants said they and their children had been detained by the Border Patrol in crowded, chilly cells they called hieleras, or iceboxes. Others said they were held for nearly a week behind chain-link fences in the processing center, which they referred to as la perrera, or the kennel. They slept on pallets that lined the concrete floor. Border Patrol provided medical care, but many of the children developed coughs, colds and fevers, migrants said. Its uncomfortable, said Kerlin Lopez, 21, who was released with his 3-year-old, fever-stricken daughter Tuesday after four days in the icebox and planned to join family in Los Angeles. They dont have enough space. Jose Soriano, a 29-year-old farmworker from Honduras who was with his 3-year-old son, said the crowding grew worse during the three days they were held. Thats why they sent us out so quick: No space, he said agents told him. On Wednesday, he and his son made their way from the shelter to the bus station. They were headed to Atlanta to stay with a friend. They are scheduled to appear in immigration court there on March 27. Volunteers in the area are already accustomed to helping large numbers of newly released migrants. Elizabeth Cavazos, a leader of the migrant advocacy group Angry Tias & Abuelas of RGV, said ICE typically releases 300 to 500 migrants a day in McAllen. But additional releases in large numbers by the Border Patrol are likely to strain the system, she said. I feel like theyre trying to put some stress on the volunteer and advocacy groups, all of us touting Theres no crisis down here, Cavazos said. Maybe its for them to save face because theyve been calling this a border crisis and everythings peachy keen down here. Thats what it feels like. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was scheduled to visit McAllen Thursday. It is not the first time the federal government has released large numbers of migrants. During the Christmas holiday, ICE officials dropped more than a thousand migrants in downtown El Paso, straining local churches and nonprofit shelters, which had to pay to house migrants in hotels. Many more migrants remain in detention awaiting court hearings on asylum claims. Record numbers of asylum seekers have contributed to a backlog of 830,000 cases. In January, the Trump administration began forcing asylum seekers along the southern border of California to return to Mexico while their cases are pending, and on Wednesday it implemented the same policy in El Paso. On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco is scheduled to hold a hearing on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that argue the policy is illegal. Hennessy-Fiske reported from McAllen. OToole reported from Washington. Crooked admissions schemes arent the only problem plaguing colleges and their students these days. The cost of a degree from a private college continues to rise, moving well beyond what most families can dream of paying, even with financial aid. Most colleges assume students will take out loans to make ends meet, and they figure that borrowing into their calculations when they make financial awards. As a result, Americans ages 19 to 29 have amassed $1 trillion in debt, according to a February report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, mostly in the form of student loans. The biggest debt holders are not the students who attend the nonprofit and public institutions that dominate in higher education, but those who go to for-profit colleges. These students account for only about 13% of all college students, but they are responsible for more than half of all student loan defaults. One reason for the high level of defaults is that many for-profit colleges promise students far more than they deliver in marketable skills, leaving them without the careers they had expected. Taxpayers shouldnt be footing loans for institutions that resemble Trump University. Advertisement For better and worse, President Trump addressed both of these issues in a plan for higher education announced Monday. The details are sketchy at this point, but there are enough good ideas to start a discussion in Congress and enough worrisome elements to merit caution. Among the most promising requests by the administration requests, because they would need congressional approval are the ones that would streamline both the application and repayment for federal student loans. There would be one income-driven repayment plan for each level of higher education: Undergraduates would pay 12.5% of their discretionary income for 15 years; anything unpaid at that point would be forgiven. Thats a reasonable pace, and allows them to finish five years earlier than current plans do. But graduate students would pay for 30 years at the same rate, five years longer than they currently do. Borrowers would also receive more financial aid counseling at the front end, so that they understand the terms of their loans and also the chances that they wont be able to pay them back, enabling them to make more informed financial decisions. Of more concern is the proposal to limit the amount that students can borrow in federal loans for graduate school; there is currently no restriction. The goal is partly to reduce some of the crushing debt much of which ends up being a load on taxpayers. The administration also hopes that if graduate students cant borrow up to the full cost of the program, as they can now, graduate schools will have less incentive to continually raise prices. The effect of this change on students, however, could be drastic, especially for low-income students. Rather than reducing their borrowing, many students and their families would probably turn to private, rather than federal, lenders, receiving less favorable terms. Low-income families might not be able to get these loans at all, limiting the ability of the people who need the most help to attend graduate school. Reduced federal borrowing could ultimately reduce the load on students, but only if it is accompanied by Pell-type grants for low-income graduate students. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute Another proposal on the Trump administrations list would allow Pell grants for people leaving prison, which should have happened long ago. Another would establish short-term programs to train people for vocational certificates and licenses rather than degrees. Thats a fine idea, as long as theyre legitimate job-training institutions, not like the many for-profit colleges that have persuaded students to take loans they cant afford for programs that dont lead to jobs. The majority of loans at for-profit colleges go into default, yet Trump has gone out of his way to free the schools from Obama-era regulations intended to crack down on shady marketing and low performance. Trumps emphasis on efficient, short-term vocational training is welcome; not everyone needs to go to college. But loans should be provided only for accredited programs with strong records of sending their students on to successful careers. The president surely should know the difference between that and the kinds of programs that should not qualify for federal loans; he ran a real estate training business that closed after paying $25 million to settle lawsuits claiming misleading marketing practices. Taxpayers shouldnt be footing loans for institutions that resemble Trump University. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. A venerable Moreton Bay fig tree cracked open and fell at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument earlier this month. Replacing such a landmark tree one that had, for 144 years, enthralled and shaded countless Angelenos offers the city the chance to consider what our urban forest should feature in the next century. When that tropical fig tree was planted, Los Angeles was looking for horticultural inspiration that would attract newcomers, especially those from the eastern United States. Boosters used imported flora to give the growing town a familiar postcard-ready landscape. The evergreen and fast-growing fig fit the bill. A shipment of them arrived in San Pedro in 1875 to be handed out to anyone who came down to the dock. The fallen fig was one of four planted that year by Missouri native Elijah Hook Workman as part of a city beautification drive. Plants from all over the world began to take root in yards and parks, a trend that accelerated after the Los Angeles Aqueduct brought more water for irrigation. As a result, many of L.A.s most familiar and dramatic tree species are from other continents. Like the Moreton Bay fig, the eucalyptus comes from Australia. Our iconic palms and jacarandas arrived from tropical South America. Stone pines and olive trees hail from the Mediterranean. A coast live oak in El Pueblo plaza would make a statement about the communal life we continue to create in this state. Advertisement Today, as we look to nurture more sustainable landscapes, the local trees that were relegated to bit parts for a century need to get some starring roles, like at El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Replacing the lost tropical fig with a native tree, specifically a coast live oak, would be a powerful statement that Los Angeles is now embracing the unique nature of California. California native plants like coast live oaks can see us through our hotter summers and unpredictably wet winters. They are resilient in the face of the changeable climate, as our weather has always been variable, while many imported trees are adapted to more consistent conditions. Once established, many natives are the epitome of water-wise landscaping, requiring infrequent irrigation. Oaks are beautiful icons of the Golden State. With their small, water-saving leaves and ample acorns, oaks speak to both conservation and abundance. Their architectural branches exude strength and character. The majestic size of a coast live oak up to 60 feet tall and 100 feet wide will create a compelling centerpiece in the plaza, drawing people to its shade and beauty and connecting us to our past and future. Coast live oaks were common companions to the original inhabitants of California, sustaining people and other animals for thousands of years. Historically, they grew throughout much of Los Angeles County. Although development felled many thousands of local oaks, particularly during the postwar building boom, their dominant presence is reflected in countless place names. The words encino and roble as in Encino and Paso Robles are both Spanish words for oak. Now is the time to bring oaks back into our city to inspire and support us once more. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion There are some who argue that California native trees have few natural defenses against invasive insects and therefore should be barred from our urban forest. It is important that the city not use this justification to turn its back on our native trees. UC Riverside research shows that the coast live oak can withstand attack from some of our new tree pests, especially fungus-carrying beetles such as the polyphagous and Kuroshio shot hole borers. Evidence also indicates that well-watered, coddled trees are the easiest prey for the borers, so a tree in a public plaza, surrounded by paving and generally pretty hard-grown, is relatively safe. The city of Los Angeles already defends all native oaks by requiring a permit for their removal. Planting an oak in the plaza would take that protection further by educating visitors about the vital role of native trees: supporting pollinators, thriving in our climate, and providing incomparable beauty. A coast live oak in El Pueblo plaza would also make a statement about the communal life we continue to create in this state. The plaza has long served as a gathering place to celebrate all that diverse cultures add to Los Angeles. In fact, the Moreton Bay fig fell during a Chinese lantern festival on March 2. A replacement native tree expresses what everyone who lives here shares: the amazing environment that is California. Plant a California tree, surrounded by California shrubs, and bring every Angeleno closer to a sustainable California. Kitty Connolly is executive director of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, a nonprofit founded in 1960 that promotes California native plants. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook The Pentagon last week released its latest policy memo on transgender military service, an effort to bring President Trumps tweeted ban in line with court rulings that had blocked the administration from implementing it. There are numerous problems with the policy, but one, in particular, ought to bring the entire edifice tumbling down: It is based on the wholly deceptive claim that allowing transgender individuals to serve would mean giving them special accommodations a reprise of the religious rights strategy of opposing gay rights by calling equal rights special rights. In reality, it is the Trump policy that imposes a separate standard. The previous policy the one that has successfully allowed open transgender service for the last three years genuinely applied the same standard to all troops. In testimony before a congressional committee in February, James Stewart, the Pentagons top personnel official, laid out the administrations case for the ban, which, with rare exceptions, prevents individuals from serving in the U.S. armed forces if they are diagnosed with gender dysphoria and a need to transition from one gender to another. The inclusive policy from the Obama era, Stewart argued, treats transgender people differently from other troops by allowing them to opt out of the sex-based standards associated with their biological sex. Such exemptions, he said, undermine the sense of fairness and uniformity thats critical to readiness and cohesion. The new policy simply ends the special accommodations and ensures equal application of military standards to all persons regardless of gender identity. Transgender troops and those wishing to serve are asking only for equal treatment. Advertisement The Pentagon memo spells out how the policy works in more detail: Anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria (except for service members grandfathered under the previous policy) will be denied entry or will be discharged unless he or she is willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with his or her biological sex. In other words, gender dysphoric people can serve only if they decline to transition, even when doing so is considered medically necessary. Because the policy doesnt prevent those who identify as transgender from serving, the Pentagon is trying to claim that it is not a transgender ban. The trouble with this claim is that the Pentagon wrote the standard specifically to target transgender people. By adding the requirement that everyone must adhere to the standards of their biological sex, it has made transgender people, alone, unable to qualify. Its a reflection of the Trump administrations commitment to transgender erasure, which insists that a trans man is not actually a man, and a trans woman is not actually a woman. The Pentagons policy is like a decree from the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. Everyone, even those who are transgender, must behave as though they are not transgender, and only in such an upside-down world could the military call this an equal application of standards. This is a lot like saying that barring attendance at Mass is not a ban on Catholics. After all, everyone, Catholic or not, would be equally banned from Mass. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute The Trump administration has the double-standard issue exactly backward. It is not the inclusive policy that treats transgender and non-transgender troops differently, but the new rule. To see this clearly, consider how it deals with individuals who need identical medical treatment but have different gender identities. Under the new policy, a woman who needs hormone treatments may enlist in the military unless shes a transgender woman taking hormones as part of her medically necessary treatment for gender transition. A woman who has had breast reduction surgery may be qualified to serve but a transgender man who has had breast reduction surgery is banned. Targeting transition-related medical care as disqualifying could make sense if that care posed genuine risks to troops ability to do their jobs. Yet medical and military experts across the board have said thats not the case. The American Medical Assn. and several other major medical groups say there is no medically valid reason to ban transgender troops from service; six former surgeons general released a statement repudiating the ban, saying transgender troops are as medically fit as their non-transgender peers and that there is no medically valid reason including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to exclude them from military service. All five military service chiefs have testified that transgender inclusion has caused no problems with cohesion or readiness. And five military professors said in a statement that Pentagon officials misled Congress when they asserted that allowing transgender service meant giving transgender troops special accommodations. Suitability for military service rests on whether someone is fit for deployment. According to the Pentagons own figures, transgender troops including those with a history of gender dysphoria and gender transition are fully fit. Nearly 400 service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria have deployed to the Middle East, and since the open-service policy went into effect in 2016, only one could not complete deployment for mental health reasons. Transgender troops do not need their own set of standards when they are already subject to and easily meeting the same standards applied to everyone else. Transgender troops and those wishing to serve are asking only for equal treatment. When the administration effectively bans them from service instead, it should at least be honest about it. Nathaniel Frank is a senior research consultant at the Palm Center, a San Francisco think tank. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. Stories dont usually survive very long in the swift churn of news these days. But the college admissions criminal scandal has legs, probably because it has everything a big story needs: famous people, rich people, the FBI, renowned universities and major-league cheating, including the irresistible detail about Photoshopping kids heads onto real athletes bodies. Its one thing for the rich and renowned to leverage their fame and fortunes into better stuff wouldnt we all want that? but another thing altogether when it comes to breaking the law to advantage their own kids, at what looks like the expense of everyone elses. An Oakland woman a mother and former teacher has already filed a half-trillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the defendants, saying that their kids got into top schools but students like her son didnt, not because he failed to work and study hard enough but because wealthy individuals felt that it was OK to lie, cheat, steal and bribe their childrens way into a good college. Jerome Karabel, a sociology professor at UC Berkeley and author of the book The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, has parsed what were getting wrong and right about this new iteration of privilege thats as old as our universities themselves. Click here for the full archive of "Patt Morrison Asks" podcasts When you heard this news, knowing what you know, were you shocked? I was a little shocked about I guess the flamboyance of the fraud. And I was shocked in particular by the scheme of pretending to be athletes and getting in via a sport that you'd never even played. That said, I was not at all surprised that parents would go to great lengths to try to get their children into elite colleges. These are children who already have all the advantages in the world. On the other hand, you could have all the advantages in the world and still find it hard to get into one of these schools. Some of these schools have rejection rates of 95%, even a bit higher. And so the underlying reality here is that many highly privileged children are unable to get into highly selective colleges. Where does this scandal fit in the arc of the research that you have done about the difficulty in admissions, in the gaming of the system that's gone on for who knows how long? There's always been a lot of anxiety around college admissions; at least over the past half-century or more there's been a lot of anxiety around college admissions. But as the society has become more unequal which is to say as the rewards at the top have gotten remarkably high, and as the situation of people toward the bottom has deteriorated the anxiety has intensified. I think what we see here is parents, even privileged parents, kind of desperate to preserve the privileges of their family for their children. If you look at the United States compared to other countries, if you end up at the top, the rewards are nowhere greater. If you end up toward the bottom, your situation is worse than in other wealthy democratic countries. The desirability of college, the democratizing of college, is also something recent what, since the G.I. Bill? The democratization of higher education is mostly a post-war phenomenon, and certainly the G.I. Bill contributed to that. It also was centered not in the growth of highly selective private institutions, but in the growth of public universities and colleges. So by around 1970, about half the college-age population was attending college of one sort or another. That was historically unprecedented, not only in the United States but in any country in the world. We heard so much about access to college as proof of upward mobility, that people could pick and choose their careers, their paths, their futures, and college was what unlocked that. Is that all a lie? I would say that's largely a myth. The children of the privileged have always had much greater access to college, much greater access to the elite colleges and much greater access to the better jobs. The system gives a veneer of meritocracy to a society that reproduces privilege from generation to generation. What has changed is not so much the distribution of opportunity, but the sense that because the people at the high end have gone to good colleges and are supposedly smart, that their privileges are legitimate. This is a kind of insidious aspect of the meritocracy, in that it has invested the status quo with the legitimacy that it probably didn't have in the same way before. Is this scandal then just a matter of degree and not of kind? The scandal is a real scandal in the sense that there was outright fraud and there was overt illegality. But I think the deeper scandal is what is legal. For example, it is legal to donate money to a university and get special consideration for your child. During the press conference announcing the indictments, [U.S. Atty. Andrew Lelling] distinguished between something that's legitimate, like donating a building, and something that is illegitimate, like falsifying a transcript. I think there was even a character on The Office whose family did that to get him into Cornell. This was like saying, Well there are legal ways to buy your way in, and then this is an illegal way. That's exactly right. I think the scandalous character of this is revealed if you look at what would happen if someone tried to get into a leading university in Japan or in France through money. That would be considered a crime that could land you in prison The fact that it's not only done here, but it's taken for granted and a U.S. attorney could cite that as an entirely legitimate practice, reveals the underlying pathology of the process here. When it comes to donating buildings as a means of greasing the skids for your offspring to get into a college or university, the argument is: Look, this benefits everybody, unlike Photoshopping your child's head on some athlete to get to get him or her into college. Is that a legitimate argument? I think that is an untenable argument for places like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton all of which have endowments over $20 billion. For lesser institutions, the argument has plausibility, but I think on the face of it, it's a form of corruption. It's the allocation of a reward not on the basis of legitimate criteria but on the basis of bribery. It speaks to the underfunding of public higher education in the United States. Some of the reasons this is not an issue in a lot of other countries is that they have better funded public higher education than the United States. In your book, you found that aspects of what we've considered to be the democratization of colleges and the idea of American meritocracy that those were not the motives when African Americans started getting admitted to the Ivy League, when women started being admitted to formerly male-only colleges. The old system was overtly unmeritocratic, that is to say, the old system had quotas limiting the number of Jews; the old system had a very small number of scholarships, so finances were a big factor in determining whether you could attend; the old system gave quasi-automatic admission to the children of alumni. That old system was different from the system that came to prevail in the 1960s. And in some sense, the system that has emerged now is, in limited ways, more meritocratic. Harvard recently revealed that there was massive favoritism for the children of alumni, so-called legacies. At the same time, the statistics revealed that two-thirds of the legacies were rejected. This is certainly very different from what would have happened 50 or 60 years ago. If these evidently liberal institutions were not motivated in the 60s and 70s by broadening the demographics, by opening up or giving access to these ladders of success to minorities and to women, why did they do it? If you look, for example, at the admission of African Americans to these institutions, it's a quite recent phenomenon. As late as 1960, less than 1% of the freshman class at Harvard, Yale and Princeton were African American. What happened was, America went through a great deal of turmoil in the 1960s, and if you look carefully at the timing, you will see that the increase in enrollments of African Americans came after the race riots of the mid- and late 1960s. And if you look at the internal documents of the universities during that period, they had discussions, and concluded that the existing order was endangered unless it opened up. So they decided that it was necessary to have at least a decent representation of African Americans, given that the social fabric was falling apart. In the case of women, it certainly related to the woman's movement. Its been a while since I've heard people so angry about a story that is not specifically White House or Congress-related. Given that were cynical, what has made people so angry? I think people are angry because this is such a flagrant violation of how things are supposed to work in America. You're supposed to get ahead through hard work and high achievement, and these people used wealth and privilege to bypass hard work and achievement. For the great majority of the population that doesn't have wealth and privilege, the idea of people abusing their privileges to get more privileges still is deeply offensive, and understandably so. At the same time, I think there is a lot of mythology around how things actually work in America the whole rags-to-riches ideology. Its always been mythical but it has always had a special place in American popular culture. And then I think a further exacerbating factor is from things like the YouTube video of the student at USC [Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of Lori Loughlin] who said she didn't really care about school. People are asking themselves, Well, my kid worked really hard. My kids really put in a tremendous amount of time and effort. And my kid didn't get in, and that kid does get in? This is unfair. In the long term do you think this is going to change the way that admissions which is a fairly secretive process are done? There may be some changes at the margins but these institutions are very powerful; they have long-established ways of doing things. They have a vested interest in maintaining the opacity of their admissions process. And I think it's a hard system to change. But I guess what I would point to is that you could change some things in these institutions. Concretely, you could eliminate preferences for alumni children. You could separate the development [fundraising] office from the admissions office. You could reduce the degree of preference for recruited athletes, which is remarkably high. But as far as the underlying system, I think it's not going to change fundamentally, because the way that the society is organized pretty much ensures that the children of the privileged will be judged as more meritorious than the children of working-class and poor people. These elite colleges have failed to democratize opportunity, but they've been quite successful in democratizing anxiety, By holding out the promise that anybody can get in if they are sufficiently meritorious, that has raised the possibility of getting in, and also implied that if you don't get in you are somehow deficient in merit. I would also say that you can't understand this whole crisis in college admissions without understanding that American society is peculiar in a few ways: Its peculiar in how hard it is to be poor or working class; its peculiar in the immensity of the rewards; its peculiar in the extent to which money penetrates university admissions. I think theres a longstanding belief in society that if you want to get to certain high places, your chances will be massively enhanced if you go to one of these schools. Part of the backdrop to this is that it is a winner-take-all society. If youre a winner, the rewards are great. If you're a loser, your situation is really rough. And because it's a winner-take-all society, it is to a great extent a win-by-any-means society. People are willing to use fair means and foul to succeed, because it's a society that totally values success and is in some ways contemptuous of failure. There's a great quote from the German sociologist Max Weber. The quote reads: The fortunate are rarely satisfied with the fact of being fortunate; beyond this they need to know that they have a right to their good fortune. They want to be convinced that they deserve it, and above all, that they deserve it in comparison with others. Good fortune thus wants to be legitimate fortune. And that was written over a century ago! It speaks to the situation today, that we have an insecure elite whose privileges are under some social and political assault and they want to feel that their privileges are justified. Support our journalism Already a subscriber? Thank you for your support. If you are not, please consider subscribing today. Get full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS Guess what? The rich really are different from everyone else and it aint pretty Have tech companies like Facebook tricked us into abandoning our humanity? Ken Burns on making his Vietnam War documentary: 'I was humiliated by what I didn't know' To the editor: The front-page article casting convicted murderer Douglas Stankewitz in a sympathetic light was deeply offensive. This man claims he was framed for a murder that took place 41 years ago, yet two separate juries have found otherwise. Whether he fired the gun that killed 22-year-old Theresa Graybeal is immaterial. What has been established beyond any reasonable doubt is that Stankewitz was one of the four individuals who abducted Graybeal, and that she was ultimately murdered. Stankewitz is fortunate that he hasnt been executed. Hopefully, prosecutors will not waste court time and taxpayer money on another penalty trial and will instead agree to a commuted sentence of life without parole. When Stankewitzs significant other Colleen Hicks talks of his ultimate freedom and waxes poetic about her belief that living with her will be his antidote to incarceration, I can only feel disgust and anger, thinking of the victims young life, senselessly ended 41 years ago. Advertisement Marcia Goodman, Long Beach .. To the editor: The death penalty is a charade in California because the system allows a passionate minority to delay and obstruct each sentence and then cite these same delays as a basis to suspend further executions. Any reasonable person understands that the objections to the process (inequity and the type of drugs, for example) are really just a subterfuge and that the real goal is to eliminate the process completely. In issuing his moratorium on executions, Gov. Gavin Newsom invalidated the victims, the juries, the prosecutors and the judges who all worked within the system, as ordered by state law, to render these verdicts. Since the Democrats have a legislative supermajority in California, perhaps they should find the political courage either to eliminate the death penalty and write fair and equitable statutes that address the most heinous crimes, or fix the existing system and eliminate the delays and flaws cited by the opponents of capital punishment. Tim Mayeda, Yorba Linda .. To the editor: At the heart of the pro-death penalty argument, there seems to be the fallacious belief that the taking of one life demands the taking of another. The word justice is used when the appropriate term is revenge. Another word often heard is closure upon the execution of a prisoner. There is, of course, no real closure to the death of a loved one. Most certainly, the memory of the victim is ill served by the taking of another life. Norm Levine, Santa Monica Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Rupurt Murdoch is dismantling his trailblazing empire after attacking and dismantling ours. (Rupert Murdoch, scrappy Fox mogul who transformed media, begins his Hollywood goodbye, March 17) He is an Australian immigrant who made his fortune in part by broadcasting right-wing bigotry that demonized immigrants, misinformed an electorate in order to build a blindly loyal media cult, poisoned civic debate with propaganda, helped elect a malevolent man president, and sent our democratic institutions into a tailspin, all to make a buck. I dont like what Australia has been exporting. Elle Kranen, Carlsbad Advertisement .. To the editor: Murdoch cant say goodbye after the breakup of a 21st Century Fox empire fast enough, as far as Im concerned. He may have built up value in his many companies, but what he doesnt have is values. The creation of Fox News has been the biggest disruptor of democracy in my lifetime. Talk about fake news calling that organization fair and balanced was the biggest lie ever perpetuated in the news industry. One can trace the hideous partisan divide in this country directly to the rise and influence of this dangerous behemoth. Peggy Jo Abraham, Santa Monica .. To the editor: Murdoch may well deserve his reputation as a ruthless oligarch, but I well remember his writing and hiring me as an Illinois journalism grad in 1968 to be a reporter in Sydney at one of his papers, changing my life forever. Would many executives even bother replying to a 21-year-old on the other side of the world? Kurt Sipolski, Palm Desert Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. To the editor: Only a person who is insecure, cowardly, empty and devoid of any kind of human feelings or emotions would pick a fight with a man who died and cant answer back. In President Trumps warped mind, its actually a win-win situation. (Veterans to Trump: Enough already with the attacks on late Sen. John McCain, column, March 20) Whatever beliefs you hold politically, you must acknowledge that the late Sen. John McCain was a genuine war hero who truly loved this country and served it well. While this president watches TV and fritters and twitters his life away in his ivory tower, his grip on reality seems to be loosening each day. Frances Terrell Lippman, Sherman Oaks Advertisement .. To the editor: By all accounts, the vast majority of Republicans thinks Trump is doing a good job. Every one of these people must read the 50 tweets Trump sent out over the weekend. Try ignoring the fact that Trump wrote these tweets, and ask yourself if this is a person who is fully in charge of his faculties. The obvious answer to that question is no. Trump is clearly not fit to hold any position of responsibility, let alone the presidency. Phil Kirk, Encinitas .. To the editor: Kudos to columnist Steve Lopez for writing about the disgust expressed by veterans over Trumps attacks on McCain because McCain voted against the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2017. For this, Trump said he was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be. Theres the old idiom that says never kick a person whos down. Here, Trump not only kicks a decorated veteran, but he also kicks someone whos dead. However, the dead will speak up in the 2020 election. Perhaps the salient words of the English writer G.K. Chesterton capture my sentiments: Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. Democratic traditions encourage us to support the good people of our country. Tom Kaminski, Manhattan Beach .. To the editor: Why arent more Republican members of Congress condemning Trump for his continued attacks on McCain? It took Joseph Welsh admonishing Sen. Joseph McCarthy Youve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? to stop that demagogue. Trumps obsession with the late American war hero should prompt Republicans to ask him that question. Barbara Stern, Palm Desert Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook With his states economy roaring and Democrats having just retaken seven governorships nationally in no small part because of his efforts, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has a lot on his resume around which to build a traditional presidential candidacy. Yet he is taking a leap of faith. He will run not on economic fairness or bolstering access to healthcare or equal rights. His campaign will instead be focused on the single issue that Inslee argues preempts all others the climate crisis. Inslee, who is expected to officially enter the race in the coming days, would be the first candidate of a major party to focus a presidential run on an issue that is increasingly capturing the attention of voters, even as the politics of it remains full of peril. If I get into this race, it will be on this reason, for this reason, by this reason, said Inslee, who speaks with the caveats of an undeclared candidate, even as members of his team acknowledge a launch is imminent. Advertisement It is going to be for defeating climate change. It will be the first thing I say. It will be the launch vehicle for the rocket, he said in an interview. I will be the first candidate in history to say this has to be the No. 1 priority in the United States. This has to be the paramount duty of the United States. Washington state is a sturdy platform from which to build that case. The state has aggressively pursued climate action during Inslees tenure, advancing renewable energy goals, electric-car innovations, and efficiency requirements. The states economy continues to boom even as the transition to clean energy proceeds rapidly, making it a compelling counterpoint to arguments from President Trump and other Republicans that climate action is too costly, burdensome and destabilizing. Yet Inslees experience as governor over the last six years also reflects the pitfalls of climate politics. He helped lead two failed crusades for far-reaching clean-energy ballot initiatives in 2016 and again in 2018. The measures aimed to restructure Washingtons economy around measures to combat climate change through either a tax on carbon or a market-based cap and trade system. Thats the kind of action climate activists say will be crucial to keep warming below the threshold that climate scientists warn would be catastrophic. Voters balked. A parallel legislative effort championed by Inslee has also fallen short, although he argues that there is now renewed energy behind the measures after climate-conscious Democrats flipped several legislative seats in November. Social change takes time, Inslee said during the interview in Washington, D.C., where he had just participated in a news conference touting the plans of the seven new Democratic governors he helped elect while chair of the Democratic Governors Assn. And during that period of time you lose, and you lose and you lose, and then you win. The governor, who is the author of a book about climate change and worked with former California Gov. Jerry Brown to establish an alliance of 21 states committed to reaching the goals in the Paris agreement on climate change, said the urgency of the problem requires it have the full attention of the White House now. It is the place to call America to a higher horizon of achievement, Inslee said of the presidency. We have never had a president to call America to this mission statement. We have got to have that. The strategy stands out to some as eccentric at a time Democratic voters are more focused on finding a candidate who can demonstrate a clear path to extracting Trump from the Oval Office rather than taking a bold political risk that could go sideways in the general election. But it gives the governor, who built his political career on climate action, a signature issue with which to stand out from a crowded field. As Democratic presidential candidates glad-hand and speechify their way through Iowa, New Hampshire and other states early on the primary calendar, climate is already emerging as a bigger concern than in any prior election. A new poll commissioned by the liberal Center for American Progress found the warming climate to be virtually tied with healthcare as the top issue Democratic voters are concerned about in five early primary states, including California. That is a notable shift in public opinion compared with previous years, when climate ranked substantially lower among voter priorities. It has taken on a much more important role, said Geoff Garin, one of the pollsters who conducted the survey. Democratic voters see climate not only as an existential threat, but also see President Trump as doing real damage to the countrys climate policies. They are motivated on this. That could create an opening for Inslee. The moment may be ripe for a climate first candidate, Garin said. Especially in a large and crowded field, somebody who sees climate as the kind of existential crisis that deserves this kind of focus may really stand out. Voters notice when candidates single out an issue and attach greater importance to it than any other issue. Inslee, though, doesnt have a lock on climate voters. Whether his agenda will be bold enough to satisfy them also remains to be seen. He will be running against several candidates who embrace a Green New Deal that demands full decarbonization on a schedule that the Washington governor has suggested may not be realistic. Like other dark-horse presidential candidates before him particularly those who occupy a governors office Inslee compares himself to former President Carter, who was the relatively unknown governor of Georgia when he jumped into the 1976 race. But he says he has something Carter didnt: more experience than arguably any of his competitors in confronting an emergency that voters increasingly see as not just urgent, but existential. When I walked through Paradise, Calif., it looked like an apocalypse from a Hollywood movie, said Inslee, who traveled to the California town destroyed by wildfire that global warming has exacerbated. But it was a real town of 25,000 people. Donald Trump cant pronounce the name of that town, but we can demonstrate how devastating his climate denial has been. You cant just wipe that away from the nightly news. This is real. People are seeing it with their own eyes. The latest look at the Trump administration and the rest of Washington More stories from Evan Halper The Supreme Court justices sounded ready on Wednesday to overturn a Mississippi murder conviction because of racial bias in selecting jurors. It marked the latest chapter in an extraordinary case involving a small-town white prosecutor who had repeatedly barred most or all black jurors from serving in six separate trials of Curtis Flowers, an African American defendant accused of killing four people. From the opening moment of Wednesdays argument, the Mississippi state attorney ran into sharp skepticism, not just from the courts liberals, but from new Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh as well. We cant take the history out of this case, Kavanaugh said. The white prosecutor moved to strike 41 of 42 black prospective jurors, he noted. How do you look at that and not come away thinking that a blatant racial bias was at work, he asked. Advertisement The prosecutor, Doug Evans, had repeatedly used his allotted juror challenges to exclude black people. Three convictions were overturned by Mississippis high court because of misconduct or racial bias by the prosecutor. Two others led to mistrials after the juries deadlocked. In 2010, he won a murder conviction on all four counts with a jury that had one African American and 11 whites. The Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Flowers vs. Mississippi. The argument featured a rare question from Justice Clarence Thomas. In his first question in open court since 2016, Thomas who in the past has been skeptical of cases seeking to show racial bias in jury selection asked whether the defense attorney in the Flowers trial had also excluded jurors, and what the race was of those potential jurors. The history of racism in Mississippi loomed over the argument, and the only question for the justices seemed to be whether to focus narrowly on the jury in the last trial or more broadly on the pattern of racial discrimination that played out over all six. In July 1996, four employees of a furniture store were found shot to death in Winona, Miss. Evans charged Flowers with the killings in part because he had been fired from the store a few days before. The case made legal history in Mississippi. Not only has it resulted in six separate jury trials, but the saga was also the focus of a well-regarded podcast, In the Dark, that raised questions about the evidence against Flowers. Cornell law professor Sheri Lynn Johnson, who represented Flowers, urged the justices to set aside the conviction yet again because the prosecutor has shown he will not abide by the law when it comes to selecting a jury. The history is relevant, she said. It is a history of a desire for an all-white jury, a history of willingness to violate the Constitution, and a history of willingness to make false statements to a trial court. She argued that even if the justices focus just on the sixth trial, they should be highly skeptical of the prosecutors reasons for excluding black prospective jurors. Under the 1986 decision in Batson vs. Kentucky, prosecutors are required to explain why they sought to strike a black person from a jury if there appears to a pattern of racial bias. When selecting juries, Evans had peppered potential black jurors with numerous questions in an effort to find a nonracial reason to exclude them, Johnson said, but accepted potential white jurors after asking only a question or two. Justice Elena Kagan agreed with the defense lawyer, citing as an example Carolyn Wright, a black woman who was struck from the jury in Flowers sixth trial. Ms. Wright is a perfect juror for a prosecutor, right? Kagan told the states attorney, Jason Davis. She strongly favors the death penalty. Her uncle is a prison security guard. Her relative is the victim of a violent crime. Except for her race, you would think that this is a juror that a prosecutor would love when she walks in the door. But Evans excluded her nonetheless and explained that she may have owed money to the furniture store at one time. For the high court, it is the latest of many efforts to remove race as a controlling factor in choosing jurors. Part of Batson was about confidence of the community and the fairness of the criminal justice system, Kavanaugh said. That was against a backdrop of a lot of decades of all-white juries convicting black defendants . Can you say you have confidence in how this all transpired in this case? I have confidence in this record, the states attorney replied. The justices did not sound convinced. Several asked why Mississippis attorney general had not stepped in and appointed a new prosecutor to try the case against Flowers. Davis agreed that idea sounded good, but he explained the state may intervene only if the local prosecutor asks for a change. State officials may still get a chance to take over the case. If the Supreme Court overturns the conviction because of misconduct by the prosecutor, the case will go back to the state to decide whether to prosecute Flowers for a seventh time. The latest from Washington More stories from David G. Savage President Trump flew to Ohio on Wednesday to claim credit for keeping a government tank plant open, but distracted from his economic message with his harshest, lengthiest attack yet on Sen. John McCain, seven months after his death. After several familiar complaints against McCain, including blaming him for wars in the Middle East, Trump expressed a new grievance: I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve, he said, as the factory workers remained hushed. I dont care about this I didnt get a thank you. Thats OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasnt a fan of John McCain. While Trump ad-libbed his comments after days of anti-McCain statements and tweets, his attacks on the late senator a 38-year member of Congress, 2008 Republican presidential nominee and Navy veteran who endured five-and-a-half years of captivity and torture in Vietnam date to early in Trumps campaign, when he said McCain was no hero because hed been captured. Advertisement The president started his attack by claiming a lot of people are asking me about McCain. He then spent five minutes, at a lectern with the presidential seal, grousing that McCain gave the FBI a dossier alleging Trump is compromised by the Russian government, hoping to put me in jeopardy, that hed betrayed the party by opposing a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that he bore responsibility for the Iraq war. Not my kind of guy, but some people like him and I think thats great, Trump said. Republican leaders have been loathe to criticize Trumps rhetoric, given the presidents support among core party voters. Many, including longtime McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have responded by praising McCain without rebuking Trump. Only a few expressed anger with the president. Its deplorable what he said, Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told Georgia Public Broadcasting. Isakson said he respects the presidency regardless of who the president is, but Trumps tweets and public comments about McCain show a lack of respect for his service, and I just dont think thats appropriate. Though Wednesdays speech in Lima, Ohio, was billed as an official presidential address and paid for with taxpayer dollars, not campaign funds Trump spoke repeatedly about the 2020 election, expressing confidence in his reelection prospects and using familiar political insults against Democrats, including Crooked Hillary Clinton and the racial slur Pocahontas to mock Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate. Trump opened his remarks by telling the cheering factory workers, You better love me I kept this place open. We have gotten so many things done and this plant is one of our great achievements, Trump added, holding up a packet of colorful charts on the economy while complaining that the media had not given him credit. Trumps appearance was an effort to smooth over economic trouble signs in a politically crucial state where his trade war is hurting manufacturing. As the presidents tariffs, and those that other nations have imposed in retaliation, have taken a toll on jobs and confidence, Trump has tried to compensate with an infusion of military spending. The tank factory he visited, which is government-owned but operated by General Dynamics, nearly closed six years ago. Army officials told Congress that they didnt need any more of the heavy M-1 Abrams tanks it produces because the vehicles are less suited for modern wars against insurgents. But Trump signed a spending bill authorizing more than $2 billion for the tank, adding hundreds of jobs in a town long heavily dependent on the defense industry. After his plant visit, Trump had a fundraiser in Canton. But he bypassed Lordstown, the site of a General Motors plant that is shutting down, to keep the storyline on job gains rather than losses. Before Trumps arrival in Ohio, trade advisor Peter Navarro wrote an opinion piece in Wednesdays New York Times, claiming, The story of the day may be about how the Trump administration saved the Lima plant from a near-death experience under President Barack Obama. Late last year, GM Chief Executive Mary Barra cited Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs, which have cost her company and Ford roughly $1 billion each, when announcing the closure of the Lordstown plant in northeastern Ohio. The result was a loss of 1,600 jobs there and hundreds of others more at suppliers. Earlier Wednesday, as Trump left the White House for Ohio, he gave no indication that the trade war with China would end soon, after months of hinting that negotiations for a deal were in the final stages. He has said he is likely to hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign an agreement, but the date has slipped from his initial suggestions of a February meeting. Recently Trump suspended a March 1 deadline for increasing auto tariffs to 25%. Referring to existing 10% tariffs, the president told reporters, Were talking about leaving them and for a substantial period of time, because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China, that China lives by the deal. In his campaign-style speech, he continued to pressure GM to reopen the Lordstown plant, and again blamed union leaders as well for its shuttering. Whats going on with General Motors? he bellowed. Open it, or sell it to somebody who wants it. Trumps reelection prospects would take a blow if he is not able to win Ohio, a longtime electoral bellwether that favored him in 2016. Since he took office, Trump has seen his net approval rating in Ohio drop by 19 percentage points, according to a Morning Consult tracking poll. In January, the most recent month for which data is available, the states jobless rate was at 4.7%, more than a point above the national unemployment figure. Times staff writer Sarah D. Wire contributed to this report. The latest from Washington More stories from Eli Stokols California lawmakers have unveiled a far-reaching package to stem the states housing affordability crisis, including new protections against surging rents and evictions as well as more apartments near public transit and in coastal communities. The proposals could reshape the states housing landscape and they all come from Bay Area politicians. The chairmen of the Legislatures two housing committees, Democrats Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman David Chiu, are both from San Francisco. They have a powerful ally in Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of the city, who has made housing one of his top priorities. And a cadre of powerful Bay Area interest groups has united behind the legislation, providing a level of unity unmatched by any other part of the state. It makes sense that the Bay Area would take the lead in crafting affordability solutions, since it is saddled with the nations highest housing costs. But the Bay Area has distinct characteristics, such as an extensive transit system, that could complicate any universal solution to housing problems. Elected leaders and activist groups from outside the Bay Area fear the regions lawmakers will push legislation that doesnt account for the challenges faced elsewhere. Advertisement Those fears stem from recent history. At Gov. Newsoms urging, California will sue Huntington Beach over blocked homebuilding Last year, many Los Angeles activists felt blindsided by legislation written by Wiener to increase housing construction near transit. They worried that it would have undermined recently enacted plans aimed at preventing gentrification and displacement in their communities, and their opposition helped sink the bill. While lawmakers from outside the Bay Area have been part of the Legislatures housing debates, some acknowledge they must be more forceful in protecting their constituents interests. There is a need for us in Southern California to be more aggressive about developing the housing that is absolutely needed and that reflects the needs of our constituencies, said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Democrat who represents neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles. We have got to push really hard on any dollars that are expended in the state of California to match the communities that we represent. (Los Angeles Times) By housing costs alone, the Bay Areas affordability problems stand apart from the rest of the state. Median home values are the highest in the country with those in Silicon Valley topping $1.2 million and San Franciscos close behind, according to real estate website Zillow. Monthly rental costs are also significantly higher than in Southern California, with Silicon Valley rents averaging $2,213 a month in 2017 compared to $1,476 in Los Angeles, per U.S. census data. And while theres been strong job growth across much of the state since the recession, the Bay Area has seen new employment surpass new homebuilding at a rate unmatched elsewhere, exacerbating a shortage of homes in the region. Even as we in Southern California are experiencing strong gentrification and displacement pressures, theyre nothing compared to what has happened in Northern California, said Manuel Pastor, a sociology professor at USC. Large swaths of Northern California are out of reach to the average renter and home buyer. Wiener and fellow Bay Area lawmakers are setting the states agenda on housing policy a push aided by interest groups from the region. Over the last 18 months, officials from Bay Area cities, nonprofits, developers, labor groups and others wrote a plan to address the regions affordability crisis. The idea, called the CASA Compact, relies on numerous changes to state law. In response, Bay Area legislators have introduced bills including proposals that would provide tenants with legal counsel and prevent them from being evicted without cause, and allow homeowners to more easily build second housing units, or casitas, on their properties. Nearly all the proposals would affect the entire state, which could require other perspectives to weigh in. (Lorena Elebee / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles and San Diego legislators still retain substantial sway over housing policy. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly are from Southern California, as are those in charge of key budget and fiscal committees. Lawmakers from Los Angeles have put forward legislation on rent control and to end restrictions on public housing, among other plans. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) worked in low-income housing consulting before joining the Legislature and has written major legislation to help fund new projects. At the end of 2018, she put her stamp of approval on Wieners aggressive approach to tackling housing problems by creating a new Senate housing committee and naming him the chairman. While high housing costs are one reason its difficult to afford living in the state, low wages are another. The median household income in the Los Angeles region is below $70,000, which is lower than the state average and just 60% of Silicon Valleys. In the Bay Area, the fundamental problem is different than in Southern California, said Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. In Southern California, its as much of an income problem as it is a housing problem. The socioeconomic divide between the areas was underscored last year when Wiener introduced the bill that would have made it easier to build apartments near transit stops. Activists in Los Angeles had just finished a decade of work on a development blueprint for historically black and Latino South Los Angeles and a plan to boost density near transit lines. Concerned that Wieners bill would override their efforts and displace longtime residents, they opposed it, helping torpedo the bill in its first committee hearing. Mariana Huerta Jones, campaign and communications manager for Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles, said Wiener took the groups criticisms to heart and incorporated many of its ideas including stricter prohibitions against demolishing rental housing into Senate Bill 50, a new version of the legislation hes introduced this year. The measure would allow for four- or five-story apartment complexes and condominiums near transit. Her organization has yet to take a position on the bill but is speaking regularly with Wieners office about further changes, Huerta Jones said. The senator really is genuine and wants to do something about the housing crisis, she said. We really appreciate that, and its exciting hes being bold. But being bold also means being humble and appreciating how what youre proposing could have impacts across the state all the way down to San Diego and into rural areas. This years version of Wieners bill, as well as others in the suite of Bay Area housing legislation, could disrupt some policies that have strong backing outside the region. In the 1970s, San Diego voters implemented a 30-foot height limit for construction along the citys coastline and required a public vote to build taller. Wiener intends for his bill to override that rule for housing near transit. Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has introduced Senate Bill 330 to do away with many city and county restrictions on homebuilding for a decade a response, shes said, to the scope of the states housing challenges. San Diegos coastal height limit would be suspended for new homes should the bill pass, a spokesman for Skinner said. While still early in the legislative process, Skinners bill also could affect how much the city of Los Angeles could charge developers through a fee passed in late 2017 that aims to raise millions to build low-income housing and is a key plank in Mayor Eric Garcettis housing agenda. Wiener said it is vital for Bay Area lawmakers to understand other areas of California and pointed to his efforts to incorporate feedback from Los Angeles activists into SB 50. But he said many housing concerns are the same throughout the state, noting he often receives the same pushback to his ideas that propose changes to neighborhoods in San Francisco and Los Angeles alike. Its not so different when it comes to education policy that affects the whole state, Wiener said. Chiu, the housing committee chairman in the Assembly, said its possible Bay Area legislators could scale back their housing bills so that they only affect that region. But sometimes, he said, housing problems are best tackled by those on the outside. Last year, Chiu wrote legislation to withhold state housing dollars from any community that allowed its City Council members to block homeless housing developments in their districts before a formal vote. Chiu introduced the bill to stop the practice in the city of Los Angeles, where council members had recently stymied projects in their districts by holding back support before a council hearing. Chiu said activists in Los Angeles asked him to carry the bill because it was too politically fraught for a legislator from Southern California to do so. Both houses of the Legislature approved the measure unanimously, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law. There were many significant leaders in Los Angeles that were happy to see it pass, Chiu said. liam.dillon@latimes.com @dillonliam Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and mayors from 10 other large California cities lobbied Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, asking for hundreds of millions in additional funding to combat homelessness in their communities. The request followed a successful effort last year from big-city mayors, including Garcetti, San Diegos Kevin Faulconer, San Joses Sam Liccardo and others, to push for $500 million in state grants for homelessness prevention efforts under then-Gov. Jerry Brown. Garcetti said that major cities have already committed three-quarters of the money allocated to them and that the spending shows cities can help additional homeless residents with more resources. The need is out there, Garcetti said. Its proof that we can put this to work right away. Advertisement Gov. Gavin Newsom threatens to cut state funding from cities that dont approve enough housing The city of Los Angeles has set aside more than half of the $85 million it received for its proposal to build homeless shelters citywide, including one in each council district. So far the money has gone to 11 projects with a total of 849 beds once the projects are complete. The city has also put $20 million toward homelessness prevention efforts on skid row. In his January budget announcement, Newsom set aside $500 million for regional and local homeless programs. Of that money, $200 million would go to cities and counties to use for any purpose, including those unrelated to housing, if they boost efforts to build new homeless housing projects and shelters. There is no way to realize our state goals unless they are realized at the local level, Newsom said at a news conference after the 45-minute meeting with the mayors. That means our partners are the ones on the front lines that have to be supported. The group of mayors praised Newsom for dedicating money for homelessness prevention in his initial budget; Brown, in contrast, did not agree to a full allocation of funds until he reached a final budget deal with the Legislature. But Garcetti and the other mayors hope Newsom will increase funding, with more of it going directly to cities rather than being routed through regional agencies. Newsom seemed open to their request. The budget just changed, he said. This was an important meeting. I did not just listen. I took notes and Im taking direction. The governors office did not provide details on how Newsom planned to change his homeless housing plans. Newsom will unveil a revised budget proposal in May and must reach an agreement with the Legislature on a new spending plan by mid-June. The states nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office has estimated the state would need an additional tens of billions of dollars a year to provide new housing for the neediest Californians. Though Newsoms proposed spending to address homelessness doesnt come close to that amount, state homeless funding has increased in recent years, most notably when voters approved a $2-billion bond to build housing last fall. Californias homeless population decreased slightly last year, to almost 130,000 residents, according to federal statistics. liam.dillon@latimes.com @dillonliam Local residents gathered Tuesday night at Burbank City Hall to remember the 50 shooting victims who lost their lives during terrorist attacks at two mosques in New Zealand last Friday. The Burbank Human Relations Council, or BHRC, sponsored the event, which included supporters of the effort speaking at the start of the City Council meeting, followed by the lighting of candles outside City Hall. The human relations council released a statement Tuesday morning. The BHRC extends our heartfelt condolences to all our Muslim friends. We wholeheartedly denounce the atrocity. It is truly horrific what happened in New Zealand and it is too eerily reminiscent of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting not many months ago here in the States, according to the statement. As we bemoan the hatred that appears to be consuming the world by abhorrent words and acts, we must continue to be more visible by working together in the pursuit of peace. We invite all people of goodwill to seek unity in our great American diversity. Together, we are Jews, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, secular humanists and atheists, and together we stand against hate, racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, the statement added. mark.kellam@latimes.com Twitter: @LAMarkKellam Urban Press Winery in downtown Burbank is more than just another wine bar that serves alcoholic beverages to its patrons. While owner Giovanni DAndreas main goal is to provide the Media City and surrounding area with quality wines, he also wants to educate people about the various grapes that can be used to create different varietals of wine. DAndrea has several employees at his Burbank business who are well-versed in wine a few of them certified sommeliers to teach patrons about the wine they are drinking and how different types can be blended together. I try to see the world through their eyes and try to take the mystique and the fear factor out of wine tasting, said Bob Henry, a staff member at Urban Press. My whole ambition is to create a welcoming, hospitable and fact-based learning environment where they feel comfortable having wine as part of their lifestyle. 1 / 6 Urban Press Winery owner Giovanni DAndrea shows off his barrel 2015 Merlot at the winerys location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. The portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6 Urban Press Winery offers a wide variety of Rhone varietals like, from left, Sauvignon Blanc, Rose and a Tre Vigne (Super-Tuscan like red blend), at their location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. Their portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6 Urban Press Winerys tasting room, at their location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. Their portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6 Urban Press Winerys portfolio of Rhone varietals at their location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. Their portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6 Urban Press Winery offers four varieties of white wine (Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc) that can be blended together, at their location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. Their portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6 Urban Press Winerys Mezzanine view, at their location, 316 N. San Fernando Rd., in Burbank, on Friday, April 28, 2017. Their portfolio includes white, red, rose, sparkling and dessert wines. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) Henry, whose knowledge of wine stems from influential Los Angeles Times wine critic the late Robert Lawrence Balzer, said he talks with patrons about the grapes used in the wine theyre drinking and breaks down with them the smells and flavors they should be getting as they take their sips. Well properly pronounce the names of the grapes for them so they dont feel awkward about it, Henry said. Well talk about the history of where those grapes come from, and well talk about what kind of smells and flavors you should be getting out the bottle. And well use, by way of analogy, simple words like the vocabulary of food to describe them. DAndrea, who originally hails from Montreal, started making wine about 20 years ago when he moved from Canada to Los Feliz, where he would make craft wines in his garage. He always had an ambition to own his own winery, but DAndrea said that purchasing property in Wine Country in Napa and Sonoma counties could limit what kinds of wine he can produce. So, instead of having his own property in Northern California, DAndrea contracts with several wineries in that region to produce wine he provides the grapes, and the wineries take care of the rest. That recipe has proven to be a success for Urban Press, which opened its doors in November and now has more than 300 members in its wine club. Its really a lot about educating the people, making good wine and teaching them everything there is to know about wine, DAndrea said. We can do that slowly. Were taking them from a Chardonnay or a Sauvignon Blanc to a world of French wines, like a Grenache, and varietals theyve never heard of. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio Julen Ucar founded Julens Ausome Sauce, but at his small, family-run company, hes known as the chief sauce officer. The name ausome is a play on the words autistic and awesome. Ucar, 20, of Huntington Beach, is both. Julens Awesome Sauce is used daily at Ways & Means Oyster House in Huntington Beachs Pacific City. One dollar from the sales of dishes that use the sauce benefits a group of Ucars choice, including the New Vista School, which specializes in teaching students with autism. Ucar attended the Laguna Hills school for several years before graduating from Fountain Valley High School. Julens Ausome Sauce comes in two FDA-approved, locally made, preservative-free flavors: Off the Charts and Non-Verbal Herbal. The former is appropriately spicy, the company says, and good on meats. Ingredients include soy sauce, ketchup, salt, spice, brown sugar and dried red chili flakes. The latter is too good for words, according to its bottle description. Ingredients include extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, dried basil and oregano, garlic powder and salt. Non-Verbal Herbal was inspired by Ucars love of salads. He used to avoid using his moms salad dressing in favor of his own, which used a vinegar from Spain. For more Orange County news and entertainment, follow us @timesocofficial It took dozens of tries to get them right. Lots of trial and error. I love coming up with different recipes, he said. His mother, Michelle Ucar, added, He loves to eat, thats for sure! Michelle told me that her son, whos now studying culinary arts at Orange Coast College, always seemed to have a knack for finding the right flavor. At home, they had get-togethers, where they would cut chicken and a variety of vegetables, then assemble every sauce and spice available in the kitchen. Next came applying the right combination of those assorted sauces and spices before putting the creations on the grill. Their one rule: Everyone would have to try everyone elses finished dish. Ucar always won. This was the beginning of our thought process for Julens Ausome Sauce, she said. The company also sells a T-shirt that implores wearers to Find Your Ausome and a necklace with a square design and gemstone called Outside the Box. Ucar visits Ways & Means Oyster House weekly to make his sauces during the kitchens prep time. Jennifer Delcham, co-founder of Ways & Means, said after meeting Michelle at a local event, she soon became eager to aid their cause. I wanted to help give their story a larger audience and potentially raise more funds to help raise awareness about autism, she said in an email. Our partnership with Ausome Sauce is the ethos of Ways & Means, which is to create relationships in our own backyard. As we grow and expand that will remain one of our core values as a business, and when Julen spends time in our kitchen, its a reminder of why thats so important to us. Bottles of Julens Ausome Sauce are available at Ways & Means and julensausomesauce.com. Bradley Zint writes about food for TimesOC. Follow him on Twitter at @BradleyZint and follow @timesocofficial for more news about Orange County. Jurors heard opening statements Tuesday in the case of a Costa Mesa man accused of speeding through an Irvine intersection and murdering a 2-year-old girl and her grandmother in a hit-and-run crash. Whitney Bokosky, an Orange County senior deputy district attorney, argued that Alec Scott Abraham recklessly raced another car in his Ford Mustang through a red light and broadsided a family in a Chevrolet Cruze headed home after an evening of shopping in Costa Mesa on June 10, 2015. Katherine Hampton, 54, of Lake Forest died at the scene and her granddaughter Kaydence later died in a hospital. Abraham could face 30 years to life in prison if convicted of two counts of murder. Alec Scott Abraham is charged in the 2015 deaths of Katherine Hampton, 54, of Lake Forest and her granddaughter Kaydence. (Irvine Police Department) In no world is this an accident, Bokosky said in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. In no circumstances is it an accident to go 76 mph through a red light. Megan Hampton, Kaydences mother, led the prosecutions list of witnesses Tuesday, crying on the stand as she looked at a photo of her own mother holding the 2-year-old. Hampton was sitting in the front passenger seat as her mother drove her, Kaydence and her then-7-year-old son, Nathaniel, home after going wedding dress shopping for her two soon-to-be sisters-in-law. Megan Hampton said the last thing she remembers before the collision was her mother asking whether Kaydence was asleep in the back seat. She turned around to see her daughter in her booster seat looking out the window. Megan Hampton suffered a fractured jaw in the crash, and Nathaniel suffered a broken collarbone, according to prosecutors. Defense attorney Houman Fakhimi acknowledged that the Hampton familys pain will never go away. Everything that I will put forward to you through the next week is not in any way meant to diminish what happened or minimize the two lives that were lost, Fakhimi said. But he also challenged an eyewitness statement about seeing the car Abraham is accused of racing, adding that there were no skid marks, security camera footage or other corroborating evidence. Jurors also heard from a motorist who said she was stopped at a red light at Barranca and Alton parkways on her way to her night job as a security alarm dispatcher when her car was hit by the Mustang. She said she got out of her vehicle to help and noticed that Abrahams hand was bleeding. Through the Mustangs onboard collision alert system she asked a 911 dispatcher to send an ambulance. Irvine police Officer Kevin Von Luft, the first officer on the scene, testified that the Mustangs airbag was deployed and drops of blood were spattered throughout the interior. Bystanders called him to the Cruze, where he found Megan Hampton crying in the front passenger seat. The 20-year Irvine Police Department veteran wiped tears from his face when he described trying to help Katherine Hampton. Her eyes were open but she wasnt responsive when I tried to communicate with her, Von Luft said. He said someone offered to let Abraham borrow a cellphone after the crash and then reportedly watched Abraham walk away toward a nearby strawberry field. Investigators said they quickly identified Abraham as a suspect in the hit-and-run when they found four traffic citations with his name on them in the wrecked Mustang. Abraham was arrested at a Costa Mesa park the day after the crash. Bokosky closed the prosecutions opening statement by playing a cellphone video that police said Abraham texted to friends in November 2014. In the video, the Mustangs engine revs as its driven and the speedometer hits 140 mph before the camera pans to Abrahams face as he shouts Wooo! Katherine and Kaydence had to pay with their lives because of his stupidity, Bokosky said. Abraham is out of custody on $1-million bond, according to court records. Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News. Boeing Co. is moving closer to selling part of its Huntington Beach campus as the aerospace company works to scale down some of its facilities by 2020. Kellee Fritzal, Huntington Beachs deputy director of business development, said Wednesday evening that Boeing is in discussions with firms interested in buying about 30 acres of the companys more than 120-acre site. Fritzal declined to identify the firms but said Boeing plans to close the deal by the summer. The city initially said in a city managers report Tuesday that the highly coveted Boeing site had been sold to a yet-to-be-disclosed buyer, but Boeing spokeswoman Tiffany Pitts said the company is working with interested parties and identifying suitable buyers. The campus, at 5301 Bolsa Ave., recently vacated two buildings on the southwest side that encompass about 30 acres being prepared for sale, Pitts said. Boeing plans to scale down many of its facilities, including the one in Huntington Beach, by a total of 4.5 million square feet. Leanne Caret, president and chief executive of the companys defense, space and security unit, said in 2016 that in order to push ourselves further and win more business, we need to make the most of our resources and talent. These steps will help us be a stronger partner for our customers worldwide. More than 2,000 jobs from the Huntington Beach facility are moving to other plants, including in Seal Beach, El Segundo and Long Beach. Some employees are being shifted to other buildings in Huntington Beach, Pitts said. Fritzal said Boeing has been very open to the city since the 2016 announcement about downsizing by hosting ongoing meetings between city officials and aerospace representatives. The area being sold will remain zoned as industrial, she added. Its been the citys desire and its been clear since Day 1, she said. Thats also Boeings desire, so were just ecstatic. They arent going to bring someone on that is counter to what they believe in. The property will be a prime location for new industrial development, according to city officials. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella A Newport Beach activist who prevailed in a lawsuit filed by residents and supported by Councilman Jeff Herdman is following up with a complaint to the state alleging Herdman omitted required identifying language in his email newsletters. Bob Rush filed a 32-count complaint this month with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that he appended with copies of Herdmans blog posts which the councilman also sends out as email blasts from 2018 and early 2019 that were missing Paid for by disclosures and an individual mailing address. Rush revealed the complaint to Herdman at the March 12 City Council meeting, telling the Balboa Island councilman that he was giving him a down payment on payback after Herdman piled on to the 2018 lawsuit against Rush. The suit was an unsuccessful attempt by a group of former Newport Beach council members to get their argument opposing a local ballot proposition into informational pamphlets for Novembers election and bump Rushs argument. Herdman submitted a declaration supporting the plaintiffs former mayors Keith Curry, Rush Hill and Mike Henn and former mayor pro tem Jean Watt. Id like to thank you for your involvement in that lawsuit, Rush told Herdman, who sat quietly at the dais. It was because of your screwy affidavit submitted that I won. Later, Herdman said of his emails: Apparently I am leaving off some information that is required. If that is the case, I thank Mr. Rush for pointing out this possible error so that I can make the correction for future blogs. Councilman Jeff Herdman, pictured in 2016, says his blog posts and email blasts apparently are leaving off some information that is required. (File Photo) Among the arguments in the lawsuit and Herdmans declaration was that Rush didnt actually oppose Measure T, which asked voters to approve an amendment to Newports city charter to require 55% voter approval whenever the council wants to spend at least $50 million on capital projects using a financing method known as certificates of participation. However, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled that Rushs argument against the measure could stand and that the plaintiffs had to pay Rushs attorney fees. The proposition cruised to victory in the election with about 80% of the vote. A man was fatally shot by officers and a woman was arrested following a chase in Huntington Beach early Thursday, police said. The pursuit began about 12:30 a.m. when officers tried to pull over a car that had been reported stolen, but the driver didnt stop, according to Huntington Beach police Officer Angela Bennett. The chase ended near 12th Street and Palm Avenue, where two suspects a man and a woman ran from the car, Bennett said. Police shot the man multiple times, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Bennett said. No officers were injured in the shooting, she said. It wasnt clear what prompted police to open fire. Authorities said a gun was found at the scene. The woman was taken into custody. The suspects names were not released. Residents told reporters at the scene that they were startled by gunshots just outside their homes. Rudy Mikaelian, a 40-year Huntington Beach resident, said he was watching television when he heard at least five shots. Its the way the world is, he said. Police work the scene where a man was fatally shot by officers and a woman was arrested following a pursuit in Huntington Beach early Thursday. (OnScene.TV) Bryan Lowe, who moved to Huntington Beach four months ago, said he had stayed up to welcome out-of-town guests when he heard what he described as a vehicle impact, followed by gunshots. When he went out to see what was going on later Thursday morning, it was a much larger investigation than I expected, Lowe said. Upon learning there had been an officer-involved shooting, it kind of all made sense, he added. Neighborhood resident Meegan Sheppard said she heard cars whipping past but that it didnt occur to her something was amiss until she heard gunfire. She said she heard eight shots in quick succession. There was no hesitation, which was off to me, Sheppard said. It was like he emptied his clip. As she walked toward 12th Street, she saw police officers preparing to barricade the area. Sheppard said she saw the woman sitting on a curb, slumped over. She must have been crying, she said. Sheppard said it was a long time, at least 10 minutes, before she saw an ambulance arrive, leading her to believe there were no serious injuries. Nobody was frantic, she said. Later in the morning, when I saw someone died, I thought, Are you kidding me? she said. Tire marks crossed the intersection near the suspects silver-blue Mercury, which had come to rest at the southwest corner of 12th Street. Police fatally shot a man and arrested a woman after a chase ended near 12th Street and Palm Avenue in Huntington Beach. (Daily Pilot) The front driver- and passenger-side doors were open, with articles of clothing spilling out of the car from the drivers side. At least six evidence markers were placed on the street and on the sidewalk on the west side of the 600 block of 12th Street. At 9 a.m. Thursday, Clint Guth, a nearby resident, went to check on a home close to the scene that belongs to friends who were away. He scanned the front of the house for bullet holes but found none. Guth said he was asleep at the time of the shooting but that his wife heard 10 to 12 shots. It was the first officer-involved shooting in Huntington Beach this year. The Police Department had seven such shootings in 2017, including two in which a suspect was killed. Last years total exceeded any other year this decade, according to department archives. Sclafani is a Daily Pilot staff writer. Fry writes for the Los Angeles Times. The suspects vehicle is surrounded by police cruisers on 12th Street near Palm Avenue in Huntington Beach after Thursday mornings officer-involved shooting. (Courtesy of Clint Guth) julia.sclafani@latimes.com UPDATES: 1:15 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional details and comments. This article was originally published at 7:05 a.m. The Laguna Beach City Council took a preliminary step Tuesday night in acting on a local survey indicating a deep need for affordable creative spaces. Artspace, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that consults on artist work/live spaces, presented the council with the survey results. About half of the 366 people who responded to the survey were interested in artist housing, said Teri Deaver, vice president of consulting and strategic partnerships for Artspace. Of those, 58% currently live in Laguna Beach, she added. Those who have left would love to return if they could afford space, Deaver said. The study indicated a need for 58 new units of artist live/work housing in a variety of styles, including single-family homes, multi-family projects and above storefronts. At least half the units would need to cost $1,200 a month or less, according to the survey. The council approved the results of the study and directed the city manager to start on the studys action plan sharing the results with local developers, adopting an amnesty program to let artists in non-permitted spaces stay while the spaces are adapted to work/live codes, develop a concept for a multi-use art space and help developers who are interested in offering affordable creative spaces. Local artist Kathy Jones said she was delighted that several ideas from the study promote retaining local artists. I am ... a believer in our eclectic, interesting, odd, keep-Laguna-weird community, Jones said. Those of us who are artists are really part of the weird factor. Mayor Bob Whalen pointed out that increased funding for affordable housing is expected to be funneled to the city from Sacramento, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has made new affordable units a priority of his administration. I dont know how much of that is directed at the arts, but I presume well try to keep our finger on that and try to look for opportunities there, Whalen said. Earlier in the meeting, the council approved several temporary art installations around the city, including downtown, Heisler Park, the City Hall lawn and the Village Entrance project. Heritage Committee appointment In other business Tuesday, the council chose resident Doug Cortez to serve on the Heritage Committee, which oversees implementation of the citys historic preservation ordinance. He was selected from among three applicants on a 4-1 vote, with Iseman voting for Trudy Josephson. Cortez, who has owned historical homes in Laguna Beach and Palm Springs, previously served on Lagunas View Restoration Committee. The Orange County Museum of Art cleared a major hurdle Monday in its long-running quest for a new home when Costa Mesa planning commissioners unanimously approved its master plan to build at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The 53,875-square-foot museum will be the latest addition to the Segerstrom Center, which includes other well-established cultural and performance spaces such as the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater and Judy Morr Theater. The OCMA building designed by architect Thom Mayne and his firm, Morphosis will include permanent and special exhibit space, a glass-fronted exhibition corridor facing a walkway along Avenue of the Arts, a cafe, a museum shop and a landscaped outdoor terrace. The structure will more than double the exhibit capacity that OCMA, an acclaimed venue for modern and contemporary art, had at its former home at 850 San Clemente Drive in Newport Beach, which closed in June after 41 years. The master plan also calls for a 10,000-square-foot expansion sometime in the future. I think to have the visual arts represented in such a dynamic way really kind of puts the exclamation point on the citys more-than-credible reputation as a world-class arts center, said Planning Commission Vice Chairman Byron de Arakal. Im very proud to support this project and Im looking forward to it becoming a reality very soon. Officials have said they expect to open the new facility in 2021. Until then, the museum is operating at an interim space at South Coast Plaza Village in Santa Ana. OCMA is committed to enhancing Costa Mesas designation as the City of the Arts by constructing a world-class home that sets a new standard for architecture in the region while complementing the existing aesthetics of the [Segerstrom] center and the area, museum director and Chief Executive Todd Smith said, referencing the citys official motto. It will do so, he said, by serving as the premier venue for the visual arts of the 20th and 21st centuries, by providing access to the wonders and potential of our visual world, by educating and entertaining students of all ages and by adding to the richness of life in Costa Mesa and the region. The commissions vote on the master plan is final unless appealed to the City Council within seven days. Commissioner Carla Navarro Woods called the museum the perfect addition to an already perfect space. Im super excited about this project, she said. What a great way to start the new year for Costa Mesa. OCMAs move has been in the works for more than a decade. Museum officials announced their intent to relocate in June 2008, saying they had received legal title to a donated 1.64-acre parcel at the Segerstrom Center. Smith and Terry Dwyer, president of the Segerstrom Center, said Monday that the two agencies are putting the finishing touches on an official land-transfer agreement. In 2016, OCMA agreed to sell its Newport Beach property to Related California, a developer that proposed building a 25-story, 100-unit condominium tower called Museum House on the site. Proceeds from the sale would have helped pay the museums relocation costs, which have been estimated at $50 million. However, the Museum House project drew a public challenge in the form of a referendum petition, prompting the Newport Beach City Council to revoke its approval of the plan in February 2017. OCMA later agreed to sell the site and an adjoining parcel to Vivante Newport Center LLC, a subsidiary of Nexus Development Corp. Though the museums Costa Mesa location is still years from opening, Mondays commission meeting provided a preview of sorts in the form of a scaled-down replica that sat on a table in front of the commissioners. Its nice seeing the model, but, man, its going to be great someday to see the building there and be able to go with my family to experience art in Costa Mesa, said commission Chairman Stephan Andranian. An Orange County Superior Court judge agreed Tuesday to a womans request to pause her civil lawsuit against a Newport Beach surgeon who she alleges drugged and raped her in 2016. The plaintiff asked Judge Walter Schwarm to stay proceedings in the suit until the doctors related criminal case concludes. Attorneys representing Dr. Grant Robicheaux, his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, and a couple who partly own the Newport Beach home where the assault allegedly occurred argued that they have the right to depose the plaintiff and other witnesses to mount a defense, adding that the motion to stay the case amounted to a ruse by the plaintiffs attorney to wait and see what evidence becomes public during the criminal proceeding. We cant have a situation where someone can sue and then not allow discovery because of Marsys Law, said Robicheauxs attorney Thomas Ferlauto. Plaintiffs attorney Alexis Bastedo said her client is asserting her rights under Marsys Law, which allows alleged victims in California to refuse defendants requests for interviews or pretrial testimony. I dont find the assertion of constitutional rights to be a ruse, Schwarm said. The constitution of the state of California and U.S. Constitution, these documents are important to us. The plaintiff in the lawsuit says she was in her mid-30s when she was introduced to Robicheaux and Riley through a mutual acquaintance at a Halloween party in 2016. Prosecutors allege the couple drugged the womans drink with GHB and raped her in the bedroom of their home. Civil cases brought against criminal defendants by alleged victims typically wait until after the criminal proceedings conclude. But the plaintiff in the case against Robicheaux and Riley filed her lawsuit last year to beat a filing deadline under the statute of limitations. Robicheaux and Riley were accused last year of drugging and sexually assaulting several women. They are charged with 17 felony counts, including five counts of rape. They have denied all accusations of nonconsensual sex. Katharine Spaniac, an attorney representing homeowners William and Jennifer Robicheaux Ward, requested that the judge further examine her clients ability to at least request documents and other evidence from the plaintiff because they are not a part of the criminal case. The documents could be vital in defending her clients against the plaintiffs claims of $12.2 million in damages, she said. Schwarm asked attorneys on both sides to provide additional briefings on the matter and return April 30. Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News. In a sudden development, Terrence Dwyer is out as president of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa after 12 years on the job. His departure was revealed Friday evening in a news release that shed little light on the circumstances of Dwyers exit, though it said he announced he will pursue other opportunities. The centers board of directors thanks him for his many years of service, the statement added. The center is sincerely grateful for his many accomplishments during his tenure, the release stated, citing the opening of the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities, the Center for Dance and Innovation and the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza. Dwyer expressed his gratitude for the time he has spent with the center, said he has been honored to have served the center and wishes the center every future success, according to the statement. Dwyer and a Segerstrom Center spokesman could not be reached for additional comment Monday. Executive Vice President Judy Morr and Chief Financial Officer Brian Finck will lead operations while the center searches for a replacement for Dwyer, according to the center. Meanwhile, Jennifer Turner, the Segerstrom Centers executive vice president and managing director, has been named the next president and chief executive of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, according to a report last week by the Nashville Tennessean. She will start there in May. Im extremely excited about the diversity of programming that TPAC offers, both on the stage and working throughout its community, Turner said in that report. The Segerstrom Center is home to some of Orange Countys best-known cultural and performance spaces, including the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater and Judy Morr Theater. Last month, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission approved a master plan to build the new location of the Orange County Museum of Art on the Segerstrom campus, as well. However, Dwyer in his capacity as Segerstrom Center president appealed that decision to the City Council, citing concerns about site access, parking, outdoor activity space and building design and use and whether the museum would be sufficiently integrated with existing facilities. The appeal is still pending, according to the city. UPDATES: This article was originally published at 4:35 p.m. It was later updated with additional information. They traveled for hours on the railroad squeezed tightly into cattle cars, thinking they would travel for six or seven hours and arrive in Germany. When the train finally stopped 3 1/2 days later, Renee Firestone was among the thousands of people who poured out of the cattle cars where Nazi soldiers and their growling dogs were standing outside. While exiting the train, Firestone lost sight of her parents in the crowd, but clung to her younger sister. She was 20 years old then, born and raised in Czechoslovakia, where she lived a peaceful life until that point when she arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Now 92, Firestone shared her story of survival with students at Glendale Community College on Wednesday. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone, 92, talks about her experience in a German concentration camp, at Glendale Community College in Glendale on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016. (Raul Roa / Glendale News-Press) Before they went to the train station, Firestone had been told she and her family would travel to Germany to help the German Army by harvesting food or working in factories. I remember, I went to my father and I asked him whether he trusts the Germans and [if] thats what were going to be doing, and my father says, Honey, dont worry. America and England [are] already occupying more than half of Germany. The war is coming to an end. I guarantee you, in four months, were going back home. They were told they could pack a small suitcase. When they arrived at the station, they didnt find any passenger trains. They tell us we should pack in these cattle cars, and now the Jewish people are questioning: You know, were going to Germany to help them out. At least they could take us in a regular train. The cattle car I was in, maybe there was 120 of us. There was absolutely no room to sit down. Six or seven hours later, around the time they expected to arrive in Germany, the train kept going, and it didnt stop until the Nazis had rounded up thousands of Jewish people from across Europe. We hear, outside, yelling in German. Jews! Jews! Out! Out! This is the first time the train stopped at daytime, Firestone said. I grabbed my little sister and I said to her, We dont know where we are. I want you to hold onto me. I grabbed my little sister and I said to her, We dont know where we are. I want you to hold onto me. Renee Firestone The men and women were told they would take a refreshing shower before receiving their work assignments. Scanning the landscape, she saw a village surrounded by barbed wire with countless rows of wooden barracks each divided by barbed wire. What I hear sounds OK, but what I see doesnt make any sense, she said. Im trying to figure out, what kind of village is this? I see some human skeletons walking around in gray striped pajamas. Those pajamas, they remind me of prisoners uniforms. Maybe this is not a village. Maybe this is a prison. But what kind of work am I going to do in prison? As she entered the camp, Josef Mengelea, a German Schutzstaffel officer and physician at Auschwitz, directed people one way or another, to work or to be gassed. Firestone would learn later her mother was among those who were gassed. Meanwhile, she and her sister, along with other women, were directed to take a cold, one-minute shower. They were puzzled and distraught. We came out naked, wet from the shower with these dogs barking and biting and growling at us. We were standing there til about midnight, she said. This marked Firestones first hours of the 13 months shed spend in the concentration camp that would ultimately be liberated by the Russians. Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone, 92, talks with Glendale Community College students Daniela Luna, center, and Desiree Nieto, right, after speaking about her experience at a German concentration camp at the college in Glendale on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016. (Raul Roa / Glendale News-Press) Her sister survived the next six months, but it was decades later when Firestone learned her sister was shot to death after being forced to undergo medical experiments performed on Jewish women and children. She was 16. In 1948, Firestone moved to Los Angeles with her husband and became a successful fashion designer. She lives in Beverly Hills today and said shes determined to speak about the Holocaust for as long as shes able. When I was liberated from the camp, I really thought the world learned a lesson. This was such a horrendous event. Well, how wrong could I be. The world today is in worse shape than it was before the Holocaust. People are still killing each other for no reason, she said. Firestone asked those in attendance to teach children to put their telephones into their pockets and start talking to each other. She asked, How can they respect one another when they dont know each other? Its not only the children, but most adults are the same. We dont communicate. We dont respect one another. Thats why Im going to be speaking about the Holocaust for as long as Im here because it showed us what can happen if we dont learn to respect one another and help each other. -- Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan Angela Guanzon was promised a good job and a good life if she emigrated from the Philippines to the United States, but after arriving in 2005, she was subjected to eating table scraps and sleeping in hallways. Guanzon told her story of being an exploited worker during a presentation on human trafficking hosted last Thursday by Soroptimist International of Glendale. The event, held at Glendale Community College, featured speakers from the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. Guanzon is a member of the organizations Survivor Leadership program. People think that trafficking is always someone undocumented, she said. I came with a legal visa to work in the United States. According to Ima Matul, a program coordinator with the coalition and a survivor of human trafficking herself, Los Angeles is one of the top destination cities from trafficking. She said roughly 50% of the people the coalition helps in Los Angeles County were victims of labor trafficking, 46% were victims of sex trafficking, and 4% were victims of both. One factor that makes people susceptible to exploitation is poverty, according to Matul. Poverty is a huge issue everywhere, not just Third World countries, she said. When she arrived in the U.S., Guanzon said the woman who convinced her to come took her passport and locked it away for safekeeping. She was then made to work as a caregiver in an elder-care facility in Long Beach for 18 hours a day, seven days a week. At the facility, Guanzon and another caregiver were not given a room to themselves. Instead, they slept on floors or anywhere we [could] get comfortable. They had no place to store their belongings and subsisted on whatever uneaten food was left over at the facility. In return for their work, they were paid $300 a month. I get paid and [the woman] told me I owed her $12,000 for my transportation and visa, she said. I had to work for her for 10 years, even though we didnt have a contract. Since we were both Filipino, I trusted her. The woman told Guanzon that, if she tried to escape, she would call the police, tell them she stole something from her and would have her sent to jail. In our country, when you say jail you end up dead, beaten or raped, she said. Eventually, a neighbor living near the facility noticed the long hours Guanzon was working and became concerned about her well-being. That brought her predicament to the attention of the FBI. When an agent attempted to contact her, she didnt believe it at first. I thought it was my trafficker just testing me, so I didnt reply, Guanzon said. Eventually, figuring she had nothing to lose, she replied to the agent and met with authorities to help build a case against the woman. The woman was eventually caught in a sting operation set up by the FBI, and Guanzon testified against her in court. The woman received a five-year prison sentence. By sharing her story, Guanzon said she wanted to show others that there is hope for trafficking victims, that its not the end of the world and there are people out there willing to help. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc An actor claims he and his girlfriend were racially profiled by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department last Wednesday after the two were wrongfully detained at the Americana at Brand, and now they plan to sue the agency. Darris Love and Ayesha Dumas had just finished a trip to the Apple Store and were about to drive away from the mall when they realized they forgot to get their parking ticket validated. Love got out of Dumas Honda Civic and sprinted back to the store to get the validation when he was surrounded by officers from the Glendale Police Department with their guns drawn. He said he was thrown to the ground, had a knee pressed onto his neck and was placed in handcuffs. Love, who has had roles in multiple television series including ER and The Secret World of Alex Mack, gave the details of his arrest during a press conference on Tuesday at the Cochran Law Firm in Los Angeles. Its been hard sleeping, having a gun pulled [on you], he said. It wears on my peace of mind. Brian Dunn, a lawyer at Cochran, said the two were targeted by authorities because theyre black. There can be no explanation other than race, he said. There was absolutely nothing about my clients demeanor, about their actions or about their manner in dealing with law enforcement that would have suggested criminal culpability to a reasonable police officer. The officers had been in the area searching for three burglary suspects who had fled to Glendale after sheriffs deputies had staked out a home in Tarzana that had been ransacked. At around noon, authorities tried to stop a black BMW connected to the burglary near Hayvenhurst Avenue and Vanowen Street in Van Nuys, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. It sped away, passing through North Hollywood and Burbank before turning into a parking structure at the Glendale Galleria. Los Angeles police officer Carlos Zaragoza said at the time the suspects abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene on foot. At about 12:50 p.m., officers arrested a man reportedly matching the description of one of the suspects at the Americana. That man turned out to be Love. He asked the arresting officers to check the malls security camera footage, which would show him shopping with his girlfriend at the time of the burglary and chase. They refused, he said. Love was then taken to the Galleria, where the suspects abandoned the BMW. A sheriffs deputy at the scene subsequently told officers Love was one of the burglars. The sheriff identified me as the actual suspect that he saw come out [of] the house, jump into the car and did the high speed chase with, and he said book him, Love said. Meanwhile, officers approached Dumas, who was waiting for Love to return, and told her to get out of the vehicle. There were cars in front of where I was, but I was the only one held at gunpoint, with a canine dog barking at me, she said. Dumas said officers detained her for more than an hour as they searched through her vehicle. Love, on the other hand, said he was detained for seven hours before being released. He said it was the work of two Los Angeles police officers, Daryl Scoggins and another, who helped get him out of custody. It was those two who checked the malls security footage and confirmed his innocence, according to Love. They pulled the tapes from Apple. They pulled the tapes from Americana they did it, Love said. A statement from the Los Angeles Police Department said Love was mistakenly identified by the L.A. County sheriffs department and that he was in the departments custody for less than three hours and was released after it was determined he was not a suspect. Sheriffs department officials said Love was arrested because he was seen running away not far from the area where the pursuit terminated toward an illegally parked vehicle, according to a statement. During the detention, LAPD officers conferred with major crimes detectives who initially identified Mr. Love as one of the burglary suspects seen leaving the residence. Love said he has not heard from the sheriffs department since his arrest and has not received an apology for the incident. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc UPDATES: 6:05 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department This article was originally published at 5:10 p.m. Coca-Cola has frequently been referred to as refreshing and bubbly by its supporters but sweet and fattening by its detractors. One description not often given is that its enriching. Yet, thats exactly the case for Crescenta Valley High Schools Elaina Marriott. The senior overcame astronomical odds in recently winning a scholarship from Coca-Cola worth $20,000. Marriott was one of 150 winners nationwide out of a pool of 95,715 applicants, making her chances of victory about one-fifth of 1%. This means so much to me, she said. The Coca-Cola scholarship is so unique because it means that I get to join a community of service-oriented, driven people. I feel so grateful for this opportunity to represent my community and my school. Along with the $20,000 scholarship, Marriott will join the other 149 winners, 14 from California, at a 2019 Scholars Weekend from April 4 to 7 at Cokes headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. Ill get to meet all the other amazing Coke scholars and kind of network with all of them and learn about leadership and all their accomplishments through service, she said. Marriott is the Glendale Unifieds second consecutive Coke scholar, following Hoover High graduate Amira Chowdhury. Coca-Cola released the list of winners on March 7, and Marriott found out about her selection on campus that morning. However, Marriott did not tell the big news to her family until her mother, Lisa, father, Marc, and siblings Alden, Jane and Julia, were all together. When it came time to share the honor with her family, she pulled out a Mexican glass bottle of Coke. She kept the secret all day, and then she waited until our whole family was together, which didnt happen until 9 at night, Lisa Marriott said. She came home carrying a bottle of Coke and she had that look, and I just said, What, you got it? It was a very exciting moment, Lisa Marriott said. According to Coca-Cola, its scholar program recognizes students for their capacity to lead and serve, as well their commitment to making a significant impact on their schools. Perhaps Marriotts most noteworthy contribution was helping with the construction of a library and reading room at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar last fall. I have always been very passionate about reading, and I think literacy is a super important thing, Marriott said. So, I set out to help them. According to Marriott, she spent seven months coordinating with government agencies until a green light was given for the library. Marriott collected hundreds of paperback books from local businesses and the community. We brought in books, we brought in furnishings, and Im so happy with how it turned out, She added, My whole community came together to support the project. We had all of the libraries in our area donate books and all the clubs in my school, she said. Along with the library, Marriott was the founder of a high school economics club during which students digest and de-stress about economics while eating cereal. I [am] so proud of my daughter, Lisa Marriott said. She has taken a heavy load this year, but shes still taking time to serve others. andrew.campa@latimes.com Twitter @campadresports After learning a residential drug and alcohol detox center was being planned for a home on Green Lane, a group of neighbors complained to the La Canada City Council Tuesday, only to learn the citys hands are tied by state law. In a packed council chambers, residents expressed their concern with the opening of Ridgeview Ranch III, a six-client residential detoxification center leasing a property at 915 Green Lane. Many learned of the new arrival after reading crime reports in local newspapers last week describing a July 24 burglary that had occurred in the still-vacant house. For the record: An earlier version of this story stated that Dan Khatchaturian is a Princess Anne Road resident. He resides on Valley Crest Street. Valley Crest Street resident Dan Khatchaturian was among a group of about 40 residents, many of whom shared in public comments worries about increased crime rates, addicts walking the streets and the potential depreciation of home values in the surrounding area. Its really going to mess up things for us, Khatchaturian said, publicly naming the owners and lessors of the Green Lane property as residents of a home on the 5100 block of Princess Anne and calling on them to evict the new tenants. Theyve told us they are not aware of this drug rehab center I dont believe them. Fellow neighbor Matthew Renshaw said the property owners, who used to occupy 915 Green Lane, told him they thought the group moving in was related to a church. If the operator misrepresented to the ownership what the use was, they could terminate the lease, Renshaw told the council. I just find it hard to believe a family in our neighborhood would want to have that use in their own neighborhood. Community Development Director Robert Stanley told residents Tuesday the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) oversees the licensing of such facilities. The states health and safety code dictates treatment and recovery centers with six or fewer residents be considered a residential occupancy and not be subject to conditional use permits or zoning variances. The state does not require them to notify the city or any of the neighbors in the neighborhood that this facility is going in, Stanley added. Anticipating Tuesdays discussion, city staff provided a handout of frequently asked questions about residential treatment facilities and their licensing and regulation. Councilman Greg Brown encouraged local residents to take their complaints to state lawmakers, who have the power to enact legislation requiring advanced notification or the creation of more restrictive city ordinances. Theyre the only ones who can change this, Brown said. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge), whose office was contacted by some of the upset residents, turned out to Tuesdays meeting to share news of proposed legislation that aims to restore some measure of local control. Currently stalled in the states Senate Appropriations Committee, SB-786 would prohibit the over-concentration of recovery or treatment facilities in one geographic area and demand the DHCS or county planning department notify local planning agencies at least 45 days prior to approving applications for new facilities. I cant promise you something magical is going to get through the system, Portantino said. But I will tell you that Ill work with the city attorney and my former colleagues and friends on the City Council to try to come up with some tool for the toolbox. Ridgeview Ranch III will be operated by Ridgeview Ranch Drive, LLC, an Altadena-based company that describes itself and the services it provides on three separate online directories as substance abuse disorder rehabilitation, accounting and tax services, and a small organization in the animal farms industry. Ridgeview Ranch Drive currently runs two other residential treatment facilities in Altadena that, according to the companys website, offer therapies ranging from yoga to equine therapy for men and women ages 18 to 60. sara.cardine@latimes.com Twitter: @SaraCardine The Angels could propose a plan to develop the Angel Stadium parking lot in two to four months, Anaheim city manager Chris Zapata said Tuesday. The Angels have retained Brooks Street, a development company based in Newport Beach, as a consultant on a potential Anaheim project. The city hopes the Angels might agree to build restaurants, shops, offices and/or homes in the stadium parking lot, with the team using development profits to pay for a new or renovated stadium. Zapata said he believed negotiations with the team were in the bottom of the first [inning]. He said he and Mayor Harry Sidhu had met Monday with John Carpino, the Angels president, and a Brooks Street executive. The Angels stadium lease expires after the 2020 season. The team is negotiating with Anaheim and Long Beach, which would like to lure the Angels to a waterfront site. Advertisement The Long Beach City Council also discussed the Angels situation in its meeting Tuesday, but in closed session rather than in public. Mayor Robert Garcia has repeatedly declined to comment on the citys pursuit of the Angels. Several members of the Anaheim City Council expressed frustration that the Angels engaged in talks with Long Beach after the team agreed to a one-year lease extension in Anaheim, without which the Angels would have had no place to play beyond this season. Councilman Jose Moreno, who in January had failed to get his colleagues to make the lease extension contingent on the city getting exclusive negotiating rights, asked city staff to please not panic over the emergence of the Long Beach option. He also noted that the Angels had agreed Tuesday with star outfielder Mike Trout on a new contract worth $426.5 million. Clearly, theyre not in need of money, Moreno said. Sign up for our daily sports newsletter bill.shaikin@latimes.com Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin The date is set and the chefs announced for the second Vegas Unstripped by Locals, a one-night culinary event that showcases Las Vegas top independent chefs. Sixteen off-Strip chefs are to participate in the dine-around event, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. May 11 in the downtown Las Vegas Arts District. The date coincides with Vegas Uncorkd by Bon Appetit, another popular annual food and wine festival that takes place at resorts along the Strip. Uncorkd brings a lot of attention to the Strips restaurants and celebrity chefs, but it overlooks many of Vegas talented chefs who helped make those restaurants successful, then left to strike out on their own, said Eric Gladstone, the founder of Unstripped. We created Vegas Unstripped to celebrate those chefs and their off-Strip restaurants. Its a way to help locals and visitors in town for Uncorkd discover that our citys culinary talent extends way beyond the Strip. Advertisement Participating chefs include Jamie Tran (the Black Sheep), Jason Olson and Mike Plourde (Paid in Full), Khai Vu (District One, Mordeo), Sheridan Su (Fat Choy, Flock & Fowl), Chris Decker (Metro Pizza, Lulus Bread & Breakfast), Gina Marinelli (La Strega), Ralph Perazzo (bBds), Saipin Chutima (Lotus of Siam), Yuri Szarzewski (Partage), James Trees (Esthers Kitchen), Brian Howard (Sparrow & Wolf) and Oscar Amador (EDO). Each chef is asked to serve two dishes, one from their restaurants current menu and another that will be exclusive to the event. Im sure Lotus of Siam will do something interesting, and I plan to do a play on Hong Kong dim sum, said Sheridan Su, a current James Beard Award nominee who once helmed popular Strip kitchens such as Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand, Wazuzu at Wynn and the now-closed Comme Ca at the Cosmopolitan Resort before striking out on his own in 2011. The local culinary scene has exploded in the last ten years, Su said. We used to be cheap buffets and free cocktails. The next wave was celebrity chefs and their hotel restaurants. People didnt usually leave the security of a high-paying Strip job to do their own thing, but as diners have become more sophisticated about food, they want interesting new restaurants. Now, a lot of talented chefs are opening independent restaurants and turning out food and beverages as good as anywhere in the world. Tickets to Vegas Unstripped will go on sale April 2 through the events website, vegasunstripped.com. A part of the $75 ticket fee is earmarked for local charities assisting the citys growing homeless population. Info: Vegas UnStripped travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Wearing identical white nylon track jackets, seemingly impervious to the swampy afternoon heat, the half-dozen candidates breezed through a sprawling covered market on the outskirts of Bangkok and waved to a smattering of shoppers. Days before Thailands first national elections in eight years, party workers raced ahead to distribute long-stemmed roses to shopkeepers. The merchants then politely handed the flowers to the candidates members of Palang Pracharat, a brand-new party representing Thailands ruling military junta with brief bows and smiles for the accompanying cameras. Casting a sideways glance from behind bagfuls of onions and green chiles, shopkeeper Harit Wichachai was unimpressed. It seems they have the election in their pocket, Harit, a 29-year-old from rural northern Thailand, said of the pro-military party. Everything is already decided. Advertisement Since seizing power in a 2014 coup, the army has repeatedly pledged to restore democracy. But many Thais see the vote, being held Sunday after numerous delays, as likely to extend military rule. With curbs on free speech, legal moves against opposition groups and new election rules that weaken major parties while reserving one-third of parliamentary seats for military appointees experts say the army has virtually guaranteed that it will hold on to power despite minimal enthusiasm for its repressive policies and lackluster economic growth. How the CIAs legacy of torture lives on in Thailand, home of the agencys original black site Former Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta leader who has been serving as prime minister since being appointed by a handpicked legislature, is bidding to remain in office as the candidate of Palang Pracharat, formed four months ago to serve as the militarys political vehicle. The partys public events and rallies have drawn middling crowds. But even if anti-junta parties scrape together a majority in the 750-seat legislature, some analysts say that a judiciary and election commission loyal to the army could block the formation of a civilian-led government or appointment of a new prime minister. This election will be utterly unfair and free only up to a point in view of the juntas likely manipulation and coercion to get outcomes it wants, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkoks Chulalongkorn University. The balloting marks the culmination of a more than decade-long, military-backed project to prevent the return of one man: Thaksin Shinawatra, an exiled former prime minister and telecommunications tycoon who is Thailands most polarizing political figure. Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has led his opposition political movement from exile after being ousted in a 2006 military coup. (Frank Franklin / AFP/REX/Shutterstock) Pro-Thaksin parties have won every national election in this Southeast Asian kingdom since 2001. But his populist policies, self-aggrandizing style and efforts to exert authority over the security services made him a bogeyman for Thailands conservative establishment, which saw his rise as a threat to the monarchy. After massive street protests, Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and his party dissolved by the courts. His sister Yingluck Shinawatra won election at the helm of a new party, only to be driven from office in 2014. For many Thais, a way out of the cycle of military takeovers and popular unrest appeared, as if from above, in February. A widely admired former princess, Ubolratana Mahidol, the eldest child of Thailands late king and sister to its current monarch, announced one morning that she was running for prime minister as a member of Thai Raksa Chart, one of several parties formed as proxies of Thaksin. The possibility was tantalizing. In Thailand, where the monarchy is revered as nearly godlike, a rapprochement between the royal family and the countrys most popular politician could have united 70 million Thais ahead of the kings coronation in May. Ubolratana Mahidol, sister of Thailands king, shown here at a tourism fair in Germany, was briefly a candidate for Thai prime minister until her brother called her entry into politics inappropriate. (Soeren Stache / AFP/Getty Images) Officially, the royal family floats above politics, but in practice the monarchy has often pulled strings behind the scenes. With army supporters livid that a royal would join forces with the hated Thaksin, Ubolratanas brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, issued an extraordinary late-night decree that deemed her candidacy extremely inappropriate. She withdrew the next day. This month, a court banned the party and disqualified its candidates, dealing a significant blow to the pro-Thaksin groupings already slim chances of assembling a parliamentary majority. For about 24 hours, it was one of the single most politically significant moves in modern Thai history, said Benjamin Zawacki, a Bangkok-based analyst and author. It looked like a brilliant move by Thaksin an X-factor that would have shifted the landscape. I saw her as unbeatable. And then it was over, and what had been inevitable became even more inevitable. The military government has banned foreign election observers, but few expect Thailand to pay a price diplomatically. The generals have courted investment and arms deals from China, potentially threatening the long security partnership between the U.S. and Thailand. In Washington, criticism of the junta has been muted: The U.S. cut some military funding after the coup and scaled back an annual joint military exercise known as Cobra Gold but only temporarily. The juntas supporters say it has ended the paralyzing, sometimes deadly street protests that drew pro- and anti-Thaksin camps, and sometimes army tanks, into the streets, scarring the countrys image as a tourist-friendly Land of Smiles. At a party office in Sai Mai, a working-class Bangkok suburb, Wilaiwan Ponsawat, the 38-year-old owner of a dress shop, said she was participating in politics for the first time to volunteer for Palang Pracharat. The country is peaceful, she said. When we had protests in the middle of Bangkok in 2010, I had to close my shop for one month. Now my business is booming. Addressing supporters, party leader Uttama Savanayana, a former minister in the military government, said that only Prayuth could ensure Thailands stability. How many people can you think of who can lead the country to peace? he said. If he doesnt win, I can assure you, there will be a lot of conflicts. Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist and advisor to the deputy prime minister in the military government, said the new electoral rules which allow greater representation for smaller parties in the 500-seat House of Representatives were designed to move Thailand out of a long crisis between two dueling political factions. Its not a Western, liberal democracy, but it represents a halfway approach, he said. A simple majority electoral system failed Thailand in the last two decades. Still, enthusiasm for the election remains high, and some forecasters project that more than 80% of Thailands 51 million eligible voters will cast ballots. About 7 million Thais will be able to vote for the first time. The young demographic has fueled the rise of an upstart anti-junta party called Future Forward, led by a 40-year-old businessman-turned-politician, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who has captivated fans with his down-to-earth style, fervent opposition to military rule and made-for-TV looks. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a telegenic businessman-turned-politician with a strong social media campaign, has developed a large following among young Thai voters. (Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press) The judiciary has gone after Thanathorn: He faces criminal charges related to a Facebook Live post last year in which he criticized the juntas use of the Palang Pracharat party to retain power. Other opposition politicians have been hit with sedition and computer crimes charges for speaking or writing online posts against military rule. The legal cases and the dissolution of the former princess party might actually have galvanized anti-military voters, said Tyrell Haberkorn, a Thailand expert at the University of Wisconsin. My sense is this has made even people who were uninterested in politics before become interested, she said. I think that the growth and the excitement about Future Forward that has happened in the last few months is remarkable. Narumol Phoket, a 37-year-old co-owner of a street-side Bangkok cafe who supports Thaksin, said she lost hope and briefly considered not voting after the former princess was barred from running. But then I thought more about it, she said. We have waited a long time for this election. At the end of the day, I have to exercise my rights. -Olakunle Churchill, estranged husband of Tonto-Dikeh, has made new revelations about his failed marriage to the actress. -He made it known that he met her at a night club and debunked claims of ever squatting with her. -Churchill also revealed that she does not have full custody of their son. Nigerian philanthropist Olakunle Churchill, who was the former husband of talented screen diva Tonto Dikeh, recently opened up on some new revelations bothering on where he met his wife and the issue of their sons custody. He made this known in an interview with Azuka Oguijuba of THISDAY. Answering a question about the state of his mind concerning the many allegations leveled against him by his ex-wife, he made it known that he was bothered at the onset, but had brushed it off when he realized that the whole case was just like a movie script. When asked about where he had met the actress and if he had truly squatted at her apartment at the initial stage of their relationship, Churchill labelled the claim as ridiculous and made sure to state that he was already one of the most successful young millionaires in the continent when he met Dikeh. READ ALSO: Power couples who are still adored by the public decades after He said: "You mean squatting? This is ridiculous. Before I met the Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh, I was already one of the most successful young millionaires in Africa. I met her at a night club, during my brothers birthday party in 2014 and it was about the same time I acquired the latest Benz cars. Three months after we met, she got pregnant. I have never really stayed in Nigeria for too long, because I do business in Ghana, although I have an office at Ikoyi. She visited me in Ghana several times and when she broke the news of her pregnancy three months into the relationship, I decided to visit her in Nigeria. I had to visit her often, because she was carrying my child. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda "I have never squatted or lived with her and the only time we stayed together was after the birth of my son, which came with the approval of her parents, after I had completely satisfied the traditional requirements for her dowry. I flew her to the United States to deliver my child in one of the best hospitals in America. "She stayed at my family house in London few months after delivery, before she returned to Nigeria. On her arrival, I had already prepared a well-furnished exquisite apartment for us this was the first and only times we lived together until the divorce. We only lived together for six months. "Still on the issue of squatting, it will interest you to know that Tonto will never marry or date a man who lacks prospects or is unsuccessful. She likes to live the life. We broke up in 2016 at a house I newly acquired for my mother in Lekki, Lagos State. "Our marriage was plagued with several frivolous claims of falsity, ranging from domestic violence to false allegations and all what not. I never laid my hands on her. I have never done that in my life before. She made up those things to discredit my philanthropic works. I am from a proper disciplined Yoruba home. I was well trained and brought up under the fear of God. "Marriage isnt by force and so I encourage the entire public to shun the baseless sponsored social media propaganda which the actress has continued to fuel. It would eventually settle in the water-low." On the issue of the custody of their song King Andre, Churchill dismissed his former wifes claim. He said it was simply a sponsored attempt by her to mislead the public. PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app Churchill said: "Well, that was a sponsored publication from a cheap blackmailing blogger. It is not only false but absolutely misleading. Following an in-dept investigation by my legal team, it was revealed that there was no such judgement granted as the fake information which emanated from one blogger Cutie Juls, was a desperate move to defame my personality. This has been a continuous occurrence in the past three years to blackmail and justify the bidding of her paymaster. Its important to note also that my legal team has debunked and discredited the false publication of the alleged judgement by a customary court in Abuja granting my ex-wife full custody of our son. This was made known through an official disclaimer that stated that the frivolous report was just a mere attempt to distract me and create baseless relevance. Interestingly, the standing court judgement ordered that all documents of our son must bear the fathers surname by right and that the international passport of King Andrea must be kept in the bank and shall not be released except with a written consent of both parties. But she violated the court order by fraudulently obtaining another passport for my son bearing her surname to fly the little boy outside the country. This illegal acquisition of fresh passport for King Andrea with Dikeh as a surname, is not only illegitimate but against the instruction of the court. The public is by the disclaimer of my lawyers advised to disregard the fake news making the rounds on social media about the full custody of King Andrea Churchill granted by the court as its not only misleading but geared towards scoring cheap social relevance." PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously gathered the report of radio girl Toke Makinwa, who had taken to social media with an advice for people trying to deal with ex-lovers from broken relationships. She made it known that such people should simply move on with their lives, as it was the only way to achieve true growth. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better EXCLUSIVE: 17 Years After Their Marriage. Ramsey Nouah Has This to Say About His Wife | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng It is a new era in Nigerian politics and we have the 2019 elections to thank for that. Basically, power has changed hands and with a new powerful position comes greater responsibilities. Come May 29, some new faces will take over the coffers of power. All these new faces will be coming with their families and by default, their wives will become First Ladies, taking over another important section of power and influence. It might sound minute in the grand scheme of things but be reminded that according to a wise African saying; a woman is the neck and a man is the head and without the neck, the head cannot stand or in this case, function. READ ALSO: Nigeria's 'most beautiful girl in the world' now an international model These women will represent the silent power and not only will they command respect but they will earn it with their style, beauty and grace. Fashion is not only about looking good. It is also about commanding admiration and these ladies have what it takes to turn heads as well as have them bow. Legit.ng presents top four incoming First Ladies to watch out for. 1. Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu Dr. Ibijoke is the delectable wife of Lagos state governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. During his campaign, she could be seen standing by her husband and showing support in every way she could. As First Lady, there is hope that she will use the new position to make a difference. 2. Mrs Ebere Ihedioha A woman and a half, Lady Ebere is the gorgeous wife of Imo state governor-elect, Emeka Ihedioha. Ebere is what the world defines as a graceful woman. She is not only beautiful but also carries herself with class. Throughout the campaign period, Ebere directed her attention to the women, reminding them that her husband's reign is a promise of good governance. The important factor is that a woman who supports her husband's ambition is a virtuous one and for that reason, Mrs Ihedioha makes the list. 3. Mrs Bamidele Abiodun Talk about beauty, grace, class and Bamidele Abiodun will come to mind. The elegant lady is the stunning wife of Ogun state governor-elect, Dapo Abiodun. Not only does she look many years younger than her actual age, she reminds many women that standing by your husband when he decides to serve the nation takes strength. READ ALSO: Olakunle Churchill speaks on failed marriage with Tonto Dikeh, says he met her at a night club 4. Mrs Tamunominini Makinde PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Mrs Tamunominini is a lovely mother of three and the delectable wife of Oyo state governor-elect, Seyi Makinde. Like most of the incoming First Ladies, she also did not relent in supporting her husband's ambition to be governor. In most outings, the ebony beauty could be seen reechoing her husband's message to restore hope in the state of Oyo. There you have it the list of incoming First Ladies to look out for. Who do you think is the most stylish? Did you know? NAIJ.com (naija.ng) is now-> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better. PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app Nigeria News: Aisha Buhari Backs President Husband on Legit TV: Source: Legit - A Chinese restaurant based in Lagos state has been called out for being racist against Nigerians - It was alleged that the restaurant does not allow Nigerians into the premises - Some victims of the racism also claimed that the restaurant only allows Nigerians who are accompanied by a Chinese person Legit.ng has come across the story of racism from a Chinese restaurant based in Nigeria. Allegations against the Lagos-based Chinese restaurant were made by affected victims on Facebook and also on Google reviews. A Facebook user identified as Otite Dafe had shared a post on his page, claiming that the Chinese restaurant which also has a karaoke bar does not allow Nigerians into the premises. Dafe also claimed that the restaurant only allows Chinese people into the premises and Nigerians who are are accompanied by a Chinese person. READ ALSO: Nigerian Lady narrates how her dead friend came back to life after she prayed for her The Facebook user called for the restaurant which is located at Allen, Ikeja, to be shutdown. He also asked that the owners should be sent out of the country. He said: "A Chinese restaurant and karaoke bar in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria that is not open to "unaccompanied black customers", management policy. Deserves to be shut down and the management and owners run out of the country. Racist against Nigerians inside Nigeria?" PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app Lagos-based Chinese restaurant accused of racism against Nigerians Facebook source: Otite Dafe Source: Facebook PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group Facebook source: Otite Dafe Source: Facebook READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that a survey conducted late last year by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights revealed that being black in the European Union means experiencing racism, living in overcrowded houses and finding it difficult to get good jobs. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better Nigerians protest against Xenophobia - on Legit TV Source: Legit Nigeria Nollywood actor, Babatunde Omidina aka Baba Suwe, recently paid a courtsey visit to the minister of health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, following his discharge from the Lagos State Teaching Hospital. The veteran actor who was reportedly down for a couple of months, received medical treatments at the instance of the minister of health, Prof. Isaac Adewole. Through his support, the actor was able to get back on his feet and plans for further medical treatments abroad are in the works. To show his appreciation, Baba Suwe paid a visit to Prof. Isaac Adewole with family and friends. In the photos shared by the president of the Theater Arts and Motion Picture Producers Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), Bolaji Amusan (Mr Latin) on Instagram, Baba Suwe is seen exchanging pleasantries with the minister and others at the office. READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (former NAIJ.com) See photos: PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News App The minister also shared photos from the actor's visit to his office. He wrote on Twitter: "Popular comedian, Babatunde Omidina, (Baba Suwe) had some health challenges of recent. His condition was brought to my notice by his colleagues and I directed that he should be taken to @luth for treatment. He is back on his feet and was at LUTH yesterday to appreciate them." Good to see the veteran actor back on his feet once again! HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better Our herbs can cure so many ailments if you follow instructions| Legit TV Source: Legit Newspaper - The Edo state government seems not to be resting on its oars in the fight against menace of lassa fever - The state government has built a new lassa fever treatment centre in Benin City, the state capital worth N100 million - The state commissioner for health, David Osifo, said that this was driven by the need to make treatment of the disease more accessible to the people The Edo state government said it has established a new lassa fever treatment centre in Benin City, the state capital, to make treatment of the disease more accessible to the people. The state commissioner for health, David Osifo, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday, March 20. READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Osifo said that the idea was to decongest Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) which offers treatment for the disease. He said the centre, located at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, would handle most of the cases in Edo south. The commissioner said that the state planned to build another treatment centre in Auchi to carter for patients in Edo north senatorial district. We have built another centre at Stella Obasanjo centre to make treatment more accessible to the people because Irrua is far from town. We are building another one in Auchi in Edo north and it will be completed soon. We plan to duplicate the equipment we have in ISTH at the Auchi treatment centre. This means that each of the three senatorial districts in Edo will have a treatment centre. By the time we put all these facilities in place, we are sure that the high mortality rate in the state will drop, Osifo said. According to the commissioner, the state government has spent over N100 million to procure equipment for the control and treatment of Lassa fever at the ISTH in 2019. He said that the amount was used to procure two dialysis machines, mobile x-ray machine, ventilator, personal protective equipment and drug. Osifo noted that the governor, Godwin Obaseki, was working tirelessly with his team to ensure that Lassa fever was completely eradicated from the state. He also urged Edo residents to ensure that they kept their environment clean always to discourage the breeding of rodents. Osifo commended the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for its timely interventions and support which had drastically reduced the rate of spread of the disease in the state this year. PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet! He also commended NCDC for supplying the state with Ribavrin, the drug used in treating lassa fever patients. NAN reports that Edo is one of the states in the country that are endemic for lassa fever with over 700 suspected cases, about 184 confirmed cases and 29 deaths recorded. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! Monkeypox has no known cure, Nigerians should be careful - Doctor warns | Legit TV Source: Legit Pennsylvanias flu season has seen a second surge in the last few weeks that may just be its peak, but a Lehigh Valley infectious disease expert warns this season might pack an unusual late season punch. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health released its weekly report tracking the number of confirmed flu cases in all 67 counties through March 16. When a positive lab test is reported to the state, its logged as a confirmed flu case. The report shows a spike in positive flu tests in recent weeks that may be about to subside. This is also reflected in rapid flu testing in Lehigh Valley Physicians Group offices; results are not included in the states weekly tally. Many seasons I say are like a humped camel, up and then down, Lehigh Valley Health Network Chief of Infection Control Dr. Luther Rhodes said. (This season) is like a double hump camel two surges and down. But the strain of flu type B that at one point last year was the dominant strain, has been noticeably absent this season. Of the 71,349 lab-confirmed flu cases reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, only 3.4 percent have been the B strain. We could still have a spring surprise, Rhodes, who is hospital epidemiologist as well, said. It is not at all impossible for a spring type surge of Type B. (Type) A has already gone through the community. Nationally, the rate is 2.8 percent of positive flu tests have been Type B, according to CDC tracking, which lags a week behind Pennsylvanias system. That is really amazing, Rhodes said. That is like not at all, when last year it was 50/50. Pennsylvania is still seeing widespread activity that is above epidemic threshold, according to the state. As the flu season trudges on, the statewide flu rate is up to 557 per 100,000 people. The flu season officially gears up at the start of October and lasts into May, but the illness typically peaks in winter months. All regions of Pennsylvania reported high flu activity in the last week, but the north central and northwest portions of the state have been hardest hit. In neighboring New Jersey, flu activity remains high for the week ending March 9. A fourth New Jersey child has died from flu complications this season, according to state health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal. The northern New Jersey toddler died in a hospital in early March and had several underlying medical conditions. I am deeply saddened for the family of this young child, Elnahal said in a news release. We are still seeing high flu activity across the state. Its not too late to get a flu shot to protect yourself and others who may not be able to get vaccinated for medical reasons. More than halfway through the flu season, influenza complications have led to the deaths of 89 Pennsylvania adults and two children, one who died in the last week. The vast majority of those who have died have been 50 or older. When looking at the flu rate across Pennsylvanias counties, Northampton and Lehigh are among the hardest hit. It has been an interesting flu season for the Lehigh Valley Health Network team of nurses and doctors who meet weekly to track flu cases and craft the networks response to the virus. They have a wealth of new data because this is the first year doctors offices are offering on-site rapid flu testing. Most people with flu go to their doctor if they go anywhere, Rhodes said. The vast majority of people who contract the flu never get tested or go to the doctor. So, the health department cautions its case counts actually only represent a faction of the flu in the state at any time. It is estimated that five to 20 percent of Pennsylvanians, or 600,000 to 2.4 million people, get the flu each year and 120 to 2,000 die from flu-related complications. Thats why this new dataset was so exciting, Rhodes said. For the first time, Lehigh Valley health officials can actually quantify what it means when the state report says the flu is widespread. What does that really mean in your Lehigh and Northampton county areas?" Rhodes queried. "About 300, 400, 500 cases outpatient for that week. That gives you a really good sense of what widespread looks like in your area. That was our first look. Nobody had an idea just what that looked like. When health officials say the flu is widespread, it means there are confirmed outbreaks or increases in confirmed cases of the flu in at least half the regions of the state. It is not an indicator of severity. Mapping the flu We analyzed the Department of Healths available confirmed flu cases data to find which of Pennsylvanias 67 counties have been hardest hit this flu season. The data covers from the start of the flu season in October until March 16. Click or tap on a county to see the total number of flu cases and its flu rate per 100,000 people. Here are the 15 hardest hit Pennsylvania counties: The statewide flu rate was 557 cases per 100,000 people. 15. Beaver County Flu rate: 848 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 1,435 14. (tied) Centre County Flu rate: 852 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 1,356 14. (tied) Lehigh County Flu rate: 852 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 3,057 13. Lycoming County Flu rate: 870 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 1,012 12. Northampton County Flu rate: 880 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 2,645 11. Warren County Flu rate: 923 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 375 10. McKean County Flu rate: 1,061 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 452 9. Clearfield County Flu rate: 1,165 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 946 8. Bradford County Flu rate: 1,283 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 793 7. Wayne County Flu rate: 1,396 per 100,000 people. Total cases: 716 6. Jefferson County Flu rate: 1,398 cases per 100,000 people. Total cases: 623 5. Fulton County Flu rate: 1,399 per 100,000 people. Total cases:205 4. Crawford County Flu rate: 1,426 per 100,000 people. Total cases: 1,241 3. Cameron County Flu rate: 1,893 per 100,000 people. Total cases:91 2. Elk County Flu rate: 2,019 per 100,000 people. Total cases: 628 1. Potter County Flu rate: 2,715 per 100,000 people. Total cases: 468 Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter@sarasatulloandFacebook. Findlehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Last year marked the closings of retails giants like Toys R Us and The Bon-Ton. This year all of the Payless, Gymboree, Crazy 8 and Charlotte Russe stores in North America will close. Hundreds of Sears, Kmart, Family Dollar and Things Remembered stores will also close this year as well. The closings of these national retailers have been felt at several Lehigh Valley shopping centers. The retail apocalypse has been going on for several years and unfortunately it wont stop in 2019 as thousands of stores are expected to close. Heres our list of retailers that plan to close stores in 2019: Macys - 8 Macys is closing eight stores this year but none of them are in Pennsylvania, according to Business Insider. J.C. Penney - 18 Longtime retailer J.C. Penney has announced it is closing 18 of its traditional stores this year. The retailer, which has closed stores in past years, hasnt publicly announced which stores are closing, although it says that three of the locations were announced previously. And although it hasnt announced the exact stores that are closing, the company confirmed by e-mail that none of the stores are in Pennsylvania. Christopher & Banks - 40 The retailer is planning to close 30 to 40 stores over the next two and a half years, according to moneywise.com. Abercrombie & Fitch - 40 On March 6, the company said it would close up to 40 stores this year, primarily in the U.S. The company has not announced which stores it will close. Lowes - 51 Last year, the retailer announced it would close 51 underperforming stores -- 21 in the U.S. and 30 in Canada. The stores were expected to close by February. One of the stores is in Pennsylvania. Lowes closed its store at 250 S. Conestoga Drive, Shippensburg Township. Victorias Secret - 53 L Brands Inc., owner of the lingerie chain, announced earlier this month that it plans to close about 53 Victorias Secret stores in North America in 2019. It is not clear if any of the stores are in Pennsylvania. The company said at this time it isnt releasing a list of the stores that are closing. The Childrens Place - 144 (Not all in 2019) The Childrens Place said previously that it is closing 144 stores by the end of 2020, according to Business Insider. Starbucks - 150 Starbucks said it will close 150 stores this year. Gap Inc. - 230 Gap Inc. will close roughly 230 of its namesake stores, according to USA Today. Gap announced on Feb. 28 that the company was splitting into two independent companies. Old Navy will form one company and the other Gap brands would be part of the other company. On March 4, Gap announced it had purchased Janie and Jack, a childrens fashion store, from Gymboree Group Inc., saving that brand from closing. Chicos - 100 White House Black Market - 90 Soma - 60 The company intends to close at least 250 stores in the U.S. over the next three years. Under this plan, the company expects to close approximately 100 Chicos, 90 White House Black Market and 60 Soma locations over the next three years, with the majority of the closings occurring in 2020 and 2021. This year, the closures are expected to include approximately 60 to 80 stores. H&M - 160 The retailer plans to close 160 stores in 2019, although it plans to open more than 300 stores during the same time frame. Things Remembered - 274 Enesco LLC has purchased Things Remembered Inc,, the longtime retailer where you can buy gifts and have them engraved. The purchase includes 176 of its stores. Things Remembered filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy last month. The 40-year-old company is a much smaller version of itself. At the time it filed for bankruptcy, it had 450 stores. Among the retailers 176 stores will include seven stores in Pennsylvania including stores in the Wyomissing, Langhorne, Whitehall and Springfield areas and three stores in Pittsburgh. However, stores at the Colonial Park Mall in Lower Paxton Township and at the Capital City Mall in Lower Allen Township were not part of the list. Family Dollar - 390 Discount retailer, Dollar Tree will be closing as many as 390 stores. The announcement was part of the retailers earnings reports earlier this month. The stores that are closing are Family Dollar stores. The two companies merged back in 2014. Dollar Tree says the stores are under-performing stores, and the total number of stores closed may change. The company hasnt announced which stores will close. There are numerous Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in the midstate. Dollar Tree lists 23 stores within 25 miles of Harrisburg, on its website. While the Family Dollar website lists 17 stores within 25 miles of Harrisburg. Sears and Kmart - Hundreds Sears Holdings announced last year that it would close 80 stores by March 2019 including the store at the Park City Center in Lancaster (auto center will close in January). Other closings in Pennsylvania include: Kmart, 996 West View Park Drive, Pittsburgh Kmart, 2873 W. 26th St., Erie Sears, 5256 Route 30, Greensburg (auto center will close in January) Sears, 5580 Goods Lane, Ste. 1005 Altoona (auto center will close in January) Sears Holdings announced in November that it would close 40 stores by February 2019. Among the 40 stores, four are in Pennsylvania. Those stores include: Kmart - 7101 Roosevelt Blvd., Philadelphia Kmart - 1901 Lincoln Highway, North Versailles Sears - 1665 State Hill Road, Wyomissing Sears - 344 Stroud Mall, Stroudsburg Sears Holdings announced in December that it would close 80 stores by late March 2019. The auto centers at all three stores closed in January. Among the stores in Pennsylvania are: Kmart - 996 West View Park Drive, Pittsburgh Kmart - 2873 W. 26th St., Erie Sears - 200 Park City Center, Lancaster Sears - 5256 Route 30 Greensburg Sears - 5580 Goods Lane, Suite 1005, Altoona Gymboree - Hundreds Crazy 8 Childrens clothing retailer, Gymboree will close all of its Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores after the Gymboree Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company said in January it anticipates the store closures will mostly take place over the next few months including stores at the Capital City Mall in Lower Allen Township, the York Galleria Mall in Springettsbury Township and at the Park City Center in Lancaster as well as Gymboree Outlet stores at The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg in Mount Joy Township, Adams County; Tanger Outlets Hershey in Derry Township and at The Shops @ Rockvale in East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County. The Childrens Place Inc. announced on March 4 that it had purchased the worldwide rights to the names Gymboree and Crazy 8 and other intellectual property, including trademarks, domain names, design rights, and customer databases. There are Crazy 8 stores in the Park City Center and at The Shops @ Rockvale. Charlotte Russe - More than 500 Womens clothing retailer, Charlotte Russe is closing all of its stores. Last month, the retailer said it would close the 94 stores and find a buyer that would keep the stores open. But, those plans fell apart when liquidator SB360 Capital Partners won an auction in bankruptcy court for Charlotte Russes $160 million worth of inventory, and other assets, according to a CNN report. Going out of business sales began on March 7. Walgreens/Rite Aid - 600 stores (Not all this year) Walgreens plans to close about 600 drugstores over an 18 month period which began in the spring of 2018, according to USA Today. The company told the paper that most of the closings will be Rite Aid stores, and the vast majority will be within a mile of another store in the Walgreens network. Ascena Retail Group (Ann Taylor, Loft and Dress Barn) - 667 (Not all in 2019) Ascena Retail Group said previously that it would close up to 667 stores through 2019, according to Business Insider. Ascena will close stores from the following three brands: Ann Taylor, Loft and Dress Barn. Payless ShoeSource - 2,500 Payless which has been in business for more than 60 years recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is closing approximately 2,500 store locations in North America. The company has shut down its e-commerce operations as well. Payless has numerous stores in the midstate including locations at the Colonial Park Mall in Lower Paxton Township, the Harrisburg Mall in Swatara Township, the Capital City Mall in Lower Allen Township, a store on Simpson Ferry Road in Lower Paxton Township and a store at High Pointe Commons in Swatara Township. The approximately 2,500 stores are currently holding liquidation sales and will close between the end of March and the end of May. An Easton family grappling with the murder of one of its youngest members is working to bring the 2-year-old boy home for his final resting place. Kaija Derohn was pronounced dead on Saturday after being found unresponsive by his mother and her boyfriend in their Canton, Ohio home. Antonio Hardeman, the boyfriend, is accused of abusing the toddler, leading to his death. Canton police said Hardeman became angry when the boy had an accident on the couch, according to News 5 Cleveland. Police believe Hardeman is the man on a 911 call reporting that he and the mother had just awakened and found the toddler stiff and not breathing, our sister website cleveland.com reported. The boys mother is heard crying in the background of the call. Hardeman is charged with murder, felonious assault and endangering children, and is being held on $1 million bail. Hundreds of miles away, in Easton, Kaijas family is still reeling from the news and trying to support his mother, Crystal Derohn. Its even harder (being so far away). Its hard knowing I cant be there for my sister right now. Its crazy, said Tonya Derohn, Crystals sister and Kaijas aunt. All of Crystal Derohns family is based in Easton. Tonya Derohn has planned a balloon release in honor of Kaija for 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, at the park behind the public housing development off Elm Street in the city. (Kaija) just loved everybody. He was always smiling, always giving a silly face, Tonya Derohn said. Her Facebook page has photos of the happy boy, including from Facetime calls where we wouldnt even speak, we would just make silly faces. This little boy looked up to (Hardeman) for guidance and protection. To turn around and do some crazy things to him, its unbelievable, Tonya Derohn said. Crystal Derohn started a $10,000 GoFundMe campaign, to pay for a small service in Ohio, transport her son back to the Lehigh Valley, and to pay for his funeral and cremation services here. Please help me lay my beautiful baby to rest who was so senselessly stolen from us, she wrote on the campaign page. #JusticeForKai Momma's losing her mind without you bubba...just come back to momma Posted by Crystal Derohn on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. UPDATE: 5-year-old who died after fall from 4th-floor window is identified INITIAL POST: A 5-year-old girl died Tuesday evening after she fell from a fourth-floor window of an Allentown apartment building, authorities report. Officers rushed the child about 6:45 p.m. from Livingston Apartments at 1411 Hamilton St. to nearby St. Lukes Hospital, city police Assistant Chief Gail Struss said. The child was soon transferred by EMS to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, Struss said. Lehigh County Chief Deputy Coroner Eric Minnich about 9:45 p.m. confirmed a childs death at the hospital as a result of a fall in the 1400 block of Hamilton. Struss said it was the same case. An autopsy is scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday with more information to follow, Minnich said. A stairwell was taped off to the rear of the apartment building and officers were making measurements from the open window to the ground and taking photographs, according to a report from the scene. A 5-year-old girl fell from a fourth-floor window about 6:45 p.m. March 19, 2019, at an Allentown apartment building at 1411 Hamilton St., police say. (Mike Nester | lehighvalleylive.com contributor) It appears to be accidental but its an ongoing investigation, Struss said. Freelance photographer Mike Nester contributed to this report. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. An online fundraiser seeks to help the family of a 5-year-old girl who died after falling from a fourth-floor window Tuesday evening in Allentown. The gofundme.com page for the family of Ahnelly Grave Rivera had raised nearly $4,000 of its $30,000 goal as of late Wednesday afternoon. Ahnellys aunt set up the page. Please find it in your hearts to help this family with the unexpected financial burden of having to put Ahnelly to rest, it says. The donations from this fund will go directly to her father, Juan (Moe) Rivera, to assist with the cost of the service and the burial. Ahnelly was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m. Tuesday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. An autopsy was performed Wednesday and the coroners office ruled her death from blunt force head injuries was an accident. She had been rushed to nearby St. Lukes Hospital after the fall about 6:40 p.m. where she lived at Livingston Apartments at 1411 Hamilton St., city police said. She was then was transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital, police said. The Morning Call of Allentown reported that Ahnelly was a kindergartener at Seven Generations Charter School in Emmaus. The principal and CEO there described her as a delightful young girl, the Call reported. The girls aunt says on the gofundme.com page that the family just six weeks ago also lost their cousin, Jennifer Irigoyen. The New York Post on Feb. 8 reported that a Jennifer Irigoyen was stabbed to death in her Queens apartment. She was five months pregnant. Her boyfriend is charged with the killing, per the Posts report. Authorities seized more than 1,185 pounds of cocaine at the Port of Philadelphia on Tuesday morning, the second major drug bust there in as many weeks. Video from 6abc.com shows law enforcement officers from various agencies surrounding open crates around 10:30 a.m. A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection wouldnt confirm what was found, though sources say cocaine with a street value of about $14 million was confiscated. A multi-agency inspection discovered alleged contraband inside a shipping container at a Philadelphia seaport, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement emailed to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday morning. "The case was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations. As a matter of policy, we do not discuss details of an investigation until it is appropriate to do so. The cocaine reached Philadelphia aboard the MSC Desiree, a container ship which originated in Colombia and was bound for Europe, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported. Among the other agencies assisting Tuesday were the U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Delaware State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Philadelphia police and the Nether Providence (Pa.) police, the CBP spokesman said. Last week CBP announced more than 600 pounds of marijuana bound for New Jersey was seized from a shipping container at the Port of Philadelphia last week. And in late February, authorities found more than 3,200 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $77 million inside a shipping container that arrived at Port Newark. It was the largest drug bust in Newark in about 25 years. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Irish Rail has issued an update on the fire at Portarlington train station which caused extensive disruption for commuters and damaged part of the station compound. It is also understood that arson has not been ruled out as a potential cause of the blaze at a building at the busy station on Tuesday, March 19. Fire crews from Laois and Offaly were on the scene into the night after the fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon just before the rush hour commute. The company confirmed later Tuesday evening that the station had fully reopened. Portarlington Station now fully reopened following earlier fire adjacent to station building - trains to and from Dublin have resumed serving Portarlington Iarnrod Eireann (@IrishRail) March 19, 2019 An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire. It is understood that the blaze was centred on a carriage which contained waste material. An initial inspection showed no obvious cause of how the fire started. Arson has not been ruled out. No stops by trains were permitted at Portarlington for a number of hours to the fire in a building adjacent to the station. By the time the fire was extinguished the building was badly damaged. Read also: FIRE SERVICE ON THE SCENE IN PICTURES Portarlington is one of the busiest commuter stations in the midlands. It is also a junction of train lines that serve Galway, Mayo, Cork, Limerick and Kerry. A telecoms mast that met strong objection by a Laois community group is now going to be relocated, following discussions with the company that installed it. Durrow Development Forum and Cignal have agreed that a telecoms pole on the Barn Hill/Kilkenny Road entrance to the village, home to the Scarecrow Festival, will now be relocated. The 15 metre tall pole went up without warning in early March. They are classed as communications infrastructure on a public road and so do not require planning permission or public notification, but instead are licenced by the local authority. The installation of the pole on a hill at the entrance to Durrow was met with anger and disappointment from the forum. "Structurally it is an eyesore on a gateway into our village, a village which has been working over the past number of years to preserve and enhance same as a Heritage and Tourism destination. If Cignal Communications and Laois County Council had communicated with DDF and the community of Durrow, an alternative and more suitable location could have been found". the forum posted online. Since then several meetings were had between the CEO of Cignal, who lives in Laois, and the forum. This Wednesday March 20 Cignal made a statement to say a new location is being sought. "The poles purpose is to allow mobile phone and broadband operators offer a higher quality and higher speed service to Durrow residents. The current pole will remain in place until the new location is found to ensure there is no interruption to service delivery. Evelyn Clancy is Chairperson of the Durrow Development Forum. We have had several constructive meetings with Cignal who have been proactive in trying to find a solution that is acceptable to local residents. I am very pleased they have agreed to move the pole to a more suitable location that will not have the visual impact of the current site. We are very aware of the need for better mobile and broadband reception in Durrow, and look forward to this pole helping to deliver better services," she said. She refuted a suggestion made by Cllr John King in a media interview, for Cignal to make a donation to the Scarecrow Festival if the pole could not be moved. I would also like to take this opportunity to rebut a suggestion in a recent local newspaper article that there were discussions in relation to a donation to the DDF to allow the pole to remain in its location. This is untrue and never formed part of our discussions which were solely based on the visual impact of the pole where it currently stands. Colin Cunningham is Chief Executive of Cignal. We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with the Durrow Development Forum in relation to the location of the pole. We are working hard to find an alternative location that will still be suitable to ensure the pole will improve broadband speeds and mobile phone reception for Durrow residents. "We have delivered on our commitment to take feedback from the local community seriously, and to work collaboratively to find a mutually acceptable solution. I am grateful for the way the DDF have listened to our explanations and helped us to find a way forward. he said. The company has bought 300 existing masts from Coillte and is installing 300 more around Ireland in a 25 million investment to improve mobile and broadband coverage, for use by various service providers. It is installing ten around Laois, most recently in Mountmellick on Bank Holiday Monday. See story here. Exciting times are ahead for the Down Syndrome Ireland Laois branch, including a Field of Dreams employment training centre in Abbeyleix for adults with intellectual disabilities. The committee and members gathered in their Family Centre at Gort Na nOir Abbeyleix for their AGM recently to hear a review of activities as well as future plans. The chairperson Margaret Miron gave an overview of the previous year and thanked the whole committee for all their hard work. She said that the branch provides a huge amount of heavily rebated therapies and supports to its members over the years. She gave a review of excitingplans for the coming year that include holiday time camps and parties, their Santa Train and talks for members. For fundraising they will have church gate collections and their annual tractor run in Ballacolla. There was praise for young adult members Maryclare Shaughnessy and Emer Sinnott who were congratulated on their undertaking training with Alphaparf as hairdressers. The women will receive training at hairdressers in Abbeyleix and Mountmellick. The adult training was organised as part of Down Syndrome Ireland's national office which is focusing on adult employment training. It also proves the value of being part of the Down Syndrome Ireland organisation of 26 branches around the country, said Ms Miron. The PRO Michael Gorman gave an overview of their Field of Dreams. A four acre site in Abbeyleix has been leased from Laois County Council, and it will be developed in the coming years. The branch will focus on fundraising for it this year. The families are very excited about these plans which will help to deliver our Cradle to Grave philosophy, adopted by the branch some years ago, Mr Gorman said. The secretary Myra Drennan was congratulated on her hard work, and treasurer Michael Greene produced an excellent set of yearly accounts. A new committee was elected by all members present. Two committee members stepped down due to other commitments, while they hope to be available when needed. The new committee is as pictured above: member Karen Walsh, treasurer Michael Greene, member Ashley Whelan, PRO Michael Gorman, member Kevin Lawlor, vice secretary Kathleen Maher, vice PRO Ray Harte, chairperson Margaret Miron, members Jackie Whelan and Amy Lalor, Vice Treasurer Antoinette Dowling, secretary Myra Drennan. Missing from pic is vice chairperson Conor Glynn. A landlord's nephew found an assault rifle and a large amount of drugs in the base of a bed whilst clearing out his uncle's house, just days after gardai had carried out a search of the premises, the Special Criminal Court has heard. Michael Brady ,54, with an address at Blackrock, Co Dublin is charged with possessing 1.5 million worth of cocaine, 1.26 million worth of heroin, an assault rife and more than 180 rounds of ammunition at a property at Sallins Bridge, in Sallins, Co Kildare on January 24, 2017. He has pleaded not guilty to all nine counts on the indictment. It is the State's case that forensic evidence links Michael Brady to some of the items found at Sallins Bridge and to the address itself. The landlord, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC that he entered into a tenancy agreement with Declan Brady for the house at Sallins Bridge in February 2015. Last month Declan Brady ,52, a brother of the accused, pleaded guilty to possessing 15 firearms and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition at Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co Dublin on January 24, 2017. He is awaiting sentence. The owner of the property said he was informed by neighbours in early 2016 that Declan Brady had not been around Sallins Bridge much and another man called Michael Brady was living there. The owner of Sallins Bridge said he needed access to his house in December 2016 in order to get it valued and he had met the accused Michael Brady on this occasion. I found the Bradys to be really nice people including Michael and Declan so I just want to mention that, he added. The witness said he got a phone call from a neighbour on January 24, 2017 telling him that the gardai had been at his home. The court has previously heard that two rounds of ammunition were found by gardai at the back of a chair in the dining room of Sallins Bridge on January 24. The landlord said he went to Sallins Bridge on January 25 to see what maintenance work needed to be carried out and returned again with his sister and nephew on January 28 to clear out stuff. I felt I needed some help and support as I was petrified going in by myself, he explained, adding that they began by clearing out the kitchen and living room. The witness said that his nephew went downstairs at one stage to clean out the box bedroom before he called them in. The man said the bed was on its side against the wall when he went into the bedroom and there was a cardboard box on the ground. The man agreed with Ms Murphy that he knew by looking at the box and the way the items were wrapped that there were drugs in it. His nephew showed him a rifle which was wrapped in a red tablecloth as well as five magazines. The homeowner said he rang Detective Garda Maria OHara and informed her what had happened. Under cross examination by Dominic McGinn SC, defending, the witness agreed that Michael Brady had told him previously that he was at Sallins Bridge to help with the dogs. The homeowner agreed that he did not have a key for the house but he rarely needed access as the Brady's were very good tenants. The landlord told Mr McGinn that Declan Brady and his son had signed the tenancy agreement. The man further agreed with the defence that he did not have permission from the Brady's to be at Sallins Bridge on January 25 and 28 and had gained access from a neighbour who had a key to his property. The nephew of the previous witness told the prosecution that his uncle owned Sallins Bridge and he had gone there with his mum on January 28. The witness said he had cleared-out a small bedroom in the house and tried to lift the bed in order to make more room but it wouldn't lift. He then moved the couch up a bit as he thought it was preventing him from moving the bed, which he knew to be light. However, as he turned the bed on its side, a cardboard box fell out from underneath it, he said. The witness agreed with Ms Murphy that he could see bricks, which were wrapped in clingfilm and he presumed these were drugs. He called his mother and uncle and showed them the cardboard box when they came into the bedroom, he said. The man agreed with the prosecution that he had seen a red tablecloth in the box, lifted it out and saw there was a rifle in it. There were also magazines in a pillow case inside the box, he added. The witness further agreed that the brown packets were covered in brown tape inside a shoe box and had King written on them. Todays evidence was heard in voir dire or a trial wthin a trial to assist the judges determine the lawfulness of the search conducted by gardai on January 28. Mr Justice Paul Coffey, presiding, sitting with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh, will give their ruling tomorrow morning. A decision on whether to accept the recommended route of the Naas inner relief route may be pushed out for a month. The nine councillors representing the Naas area (Naas Municipal District) were due to vote on the route - which will take traffic off Dublin Road at the existing racecourse junction and end at Blessington Road (near the AIB centre) - on April 16. But at a NMD meeting yesterday Kildare County Council official Peter Minnock said if the councillors feel they needed a further four weeks beyond the April date the space and time is there. Elections for a new Kildare County Council are due to take place on May 24 and Kildare County Council feels that a decision should be made by the current councillors. Mr Minnock said a new council would not be as familiar with the issue as the current councillors. He was responding to criticism by Cllr Darren Scully who said the issue is one of the most important decisions to be made for the town especially for residents of the north eastern part of Naas. Cllr Scully described the timeline surrounding the planning process for the road as a rush job. And he suggested that Kildare County Council believes it would rather deal with the sitting councillors than a newly elected group, following the election. He claimed that the time allocated to the planning procedure, known as a Part 8 process, as the bare minimum, adding it does not provide much time for submissions from those with a view on the project. The issue has sparked controversy with residents living close to the route objecting strongly while KCC says it will alleviate traffic congestion. The closing date for submissions is April 10. READ ALSO Estates in the greater Naas area to be taken in charge READ ALSO Naas man wins two medals at World Special Olympics A former soldier has settled his damages action against the State over health problems he claimed he suffered as a result of being prescribed the anti-malaria drug Larium. Patrick Fedigan brought proceedings over what he claimed were the effects of taking the drug while he served with the defence forces during UN peacekeeping deployments to Africa that occurred between 2001 and 2009. The claims were denied. On Tuesday John Gordan SC, appearing with Bruce Antoniotti S, John Nolan Bl instructed by Kenty Carty Solicitors, for Mr Fedigan told Mr Justice Bernard Barton that following out of court talks between the parties the action had been resolved. Counsel said that case could be struck out. No further details of the settlement, which are understood to be confidential, were given to the court. The state defendants, represented by Eoin McCullough SC, Declan Buckey SC, Garreth Cooney BL and Joe Jeffers Bl, had denied negligence or were liable for any injuries suffered by the plaintiff. The defendants had also argued that Mr Fedigan had delayed in bringing his claim, meaning that his action was statute barred. Mr Justice Barton welcomed the settlement. The action is one of several similar actions brought against the state by members of the Defence Forces who claim they suffered various illnesses as a result of being prescribed the drug. In his action Mr Fedigan from Lobinstown, Navan, Co Meath claimed that he was prescribed Mefloquine Hydrochloride (Larium) when he served in Eritrea in 2001, Liberia in 2002 and Chad in 2010. The 51-year-old claimed that as a result of his exposure to Larium he has suffered from various conditions including loss of balance, anxiety, panic, insomnia, vertigo, and memory problems. He claimed the Minister for Defence, Ireland and the Attorney General were negligent and in breach of their duty towards him on grounds including he was not a suitable person to be prescribed Larium. His prior medical history had not been ascertained before he was prescribed Larium and the defendants did not provide him with adequate support, treatment or management when he made complaints of symptoms of being prescribed the anti-malaria drug he claims. He further claimed that the defendants failed to provide him with a safe system of work, and exposed him to risk of injury which they out to have known. He retired from the defence forces in 2013. The case, had it proceeded, was expected to take up to ten weeks to hear. We're sorry that the ministry you were looking for is no longer available on LightSource.com. However, below are some great ministries that offer related content. Enjoy the inspiration, encouragement, and Biblical challenge from these LightSource.com ministry partners! A PROMINENT Limerick restaurateur and publican has told Limerick District Court how he is trying to save one of his ailing businesses, following repeated objections to its licence. A PROMINENT Limerick restaurateur and publican has told Limerick District Court how he is trying to save one of his ailing businesses, following repeated objections to its licence. Padraic Frawley, of the Cornstore restaurants in Limerick and Cork, said he has invested over 100,000 in Aubars over the past 12 years, but its trade has now been seriously depleted, from doing breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week to just two opening days. The business is now operating at 50% of what it was, and for the rest of the week its virtually empty with the exception of Saturday night, he said. Mr Frawley took to the witness box in the courthouse, following a sole objection to the dance license of Aubars by one of the upstairs tenants and owners. The businessman claimed the couple, who have made numerous objections to licenses attached to the premises, are now clutching at straws after making continuous objections year after year. Mr Frawley said the objectors husband has attached a camera to the front of the building, which covers the smoking area, and also stands and stares into the smoking area with a camcorder, which he believes is an invasion of privacy and has been the subject of complaints from staff and customers. He had agreed to buy the top three floors of the Thomas Street building during the boom for 400,000, but the sale was secured by Christine Kirwan and her husband, who live with their three children above Aubars and Paddy Frawleys pub. The couple, through their solicitor Ted McCarthy, claim that the premises is not abiding by the conditions of the licence set out by the court, but they have no objection to it being a licensed premises and continuing to operate. Mr Frawley outlined to the court that under the terms of the license the music in the downstairs nightclub is turned off by 2pm, and the smoking area is vacated by 2.30pm. He said he has stepped up security measures to implement this, and no one is allowed into the smoking area with a drink after 2pm, or in the minutes leading up to that time. But Mr McCarthy said this is not being adhered to, and in addition that music is being played in outside speakers attached to the premises after 7pm. Mr Frawley conceded the music is occasionally being played outside at a relatively low level. He said the premises is cleared away as quickly as possible and there is CCTV footage to prove that. The premises is licensed to hold 475 patrons, and he estimated that during busy periods only 10-15% of that - or up to 70 people - are in the smoking area. Its a busy street, with takeaways across the road and with the best will in the world we cant take people off the street, he told Judge Eugene OKelly. The objectors stated they also had been subject to aggressive noise after 3am, during the clean-up period, but most of these works are now done on Sunday afternoon, Mr Frawley said. Each party was asked to choose three dates within the last six months to view CCTV footage from outside the premises on these occasions. The judge ordered them to narrow down their material, saying: Im not going to look at three hours of nightlife on the street. Mr Frawleys defence pointed out that there has been no objection by the gardai to any of the licenses attached to the premises. The hearing has been adjourned to December 13 next. THE MINISTER for Health has been urged to intervene in the closure of a 17-bed ward at University Hospital Limerick, as it endures one of the highest levels of overcrowding ever recorded. Daily figures published by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation showed that there were 76 patients being treated on a trolley at UHL this Tuesday morning. This was the highest level of overcrowding in the country so far this year, and was just four patients short of matching the overall record (80), which was set by UHL on March 22, 2013. Just hours after the INMO published these figures, its Mid-West spokesperson strongly criticised the UL Hospitals Group for planning to close the 17-bed Ward 1A in Dooradoyle. The union wrote to the CEO, Prof Colette Cowan on March 6, objecting to the closure of the short stay unit. INMO Mid-West industrial relations officer Mary Fogarty said that the closure of the beds will worsen the trolley crisis at UHL and will lead to compromised treatment and patients being forced to wait on public corridors. Limerick is the most overcrowded hospital in the country. Overcrowding is endemic and we already see unacceptable numbers of patients forced to wait without a proper bed. It simply does not make sense to close further beds when faced with such a problem. We need to be going in the opposite direction. Ms Fogarty added that the hospital management has since refused to review its decision. The UL Hospitals Group explained that Ward 1A is to close to facilitate the completion of works on a new fracture unit. This is in accordance with the overall plan to redesignate the space occupied by the old emergency department at UHL, a spokesperson said. He said that staff were fully involved in the process, and that the outcome of this process was to open a new fracture clinic in a part of the old emergency department. This will have a significant benefit for patients attending our busy fracture clinic in terms of reduced wait times and improved patient experience. When the old ED was vacated in May 2017, the short stay unit opened a temporary basis. He added that the plan to close the unit is offset by recently-opened 12-bed surgical short stay unit; three extra cardiology beds opened last week; five bed spaces are being looked at the vacated former acute medical assessment unit; and examining the opening of the 15-bed 4C on weekends. UL Hospitals Group can confirm that the above plans in respect of Ward 1A were shared and discussed at meetings with the trade unions, including the INMO, in the third quarter of 2018. Management is happy to meet the INMO in respect of matters raised in their letter to the CEO on March 6. Labour TD Jan OSullivan called on Minister Simon Harris to intervene in this issue. The Minister cant allow the beds to close. UL hospital Limerick continues to break all records for all the wrong reasons: losing another 17 beds would make an intolerable situation for patients and staff. Whatever the reason for the planned closure, it must be averted. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan said the decision beggars belief. The loss of these 17 inpatient beds can only add further pressure to the overcrowding in the hospital. This closure has been decided by the management of the hospital and I would urge them to immediately review that decision. He added: Our health service is in crisis and Minister Harris has failed to deal with the issues that are causing this emergency. LEGENDARY jockey Martin Molony, a giant of the Irish and UK racing scene, has passed away this Monday. The former jockey from Crecora, aged 91, and his late brother Tim swept all before them in the saddle in the 1940s and 1950s. Martin was a six-time champion jump jockey in Ireland, won the Irish Grand National three times and a Cheltenham Gold Cup. He even rode on the flat and won three Classics. Tim, who died in 1989, was champion jump jockey in Britain five times. After retiring from the sport, Martin returned to County Limerick to run Rathmore Stud, which continues to be successfully run by his son Peter. In 2014, a gala ball was held in the Dunraven Arms Hotel to honour Martin and Tim. A huge sum was raised for the Injured Jockeys Fund and for a bronze statue of the Molonys. It was unveiled in 2015 and Martin, a very modest man, was there to see it. His son Peter said at the time: He kept asking me why were all the people there and I said they were there for him. It is a smashing statue, he loved it. Peter tweeted this Monday: So sad to announce the passing of my father & Champ Martin Molony today, peacefully, just short of his 92nd birthday. So sad to announce the passing of my father & Champ Martin Molony today, peacefully, just short of his 92nd birthday pic.twitter.com/vpylUPM86l Peter Molony (@Pmolony1Peter) July 10, 2017 No funeral arrangements have been announced. May he rest in peace. A CONTACTLESS debit card was used at seven different locations in Limerick city within minutes of it being stolen, gardai have said. According to investigating gardai, the victim had his wallet in the rear pocket of his pants when it was taken from him. The incident happened in recent days. The thieves then went on to use his card at seven different locations in the city by using the tap facility on the card, said Sergeant Ber Leetch. On each occasion, the card was used to buy goods which were worth less than the 30 limit which applies for contactless cards. I was under the impression that I could only use the tap facility three times and then I had to put in my four digit (pin) code but now I realise that it depends on the bank. Its no harm to be aware of this and its another reason to keep your property very safe and close to you, she added, appealing to men not to keep wallets in their back pockets. "Gentlemen, the back pocket of your trousers is not the safest place in which to keep your wallet, the front pocket of the trousers or an inside jacket pocket is safer," she said. A YOUNG man who was arrested by gardai who responded to reports of a fight near a busy a roundabout was sentenced to two days imprisonment for giving them a false name and address. Darran OBrien, 18, of Ashgrove, Carbury, Edenderry, County Offaly appeared before Limerick District Court after he was charged in connection with an incident at Castleconnell Roundabout, Lisnagry on March 14, last. Sergeant Sean Murray said the fight was finished when gardai arrived but that they observed a man on the ground waiting for an ambulance. He said Mr OBrien who was very intoxicated and stumbling onto the road was evasive when questioned by gardai. He gave four different names and addresses, he said. Judge Mary Larkin was told the defendant, who has a background of bench warrants, gave his correct details following his arrest. Solicitor Sarah Ryan said her client, who is a member of the Traveller community, has connections with Newcastle West and found himself at the roundabout on the day. She added that he sustained multiple cuts and scrapes during the fight. Judge Larkin imposed a two day prison sentence in relation to the false name. A fine of 150 was imposed in relation to the public order offence. TRIBUTES have been paid to an inspirational University Hospital Limerick cervical cancer patient and vaccine campaigner who passed away this Wednesday at the age of 26. Laura Brennan, who fronted a World Health Organisation campaign on the importance of children availing of the HPV vaccine, passed away at the hospital in Dooradoyle earlier this Wednesday. Health Minister Simon Harris has led tributes to the amazing campaigner, who has been credited with helping to boost the recent uptake in the HPV vaccine among young women. Laura was an incredible young woman and a powerful campaigner, Minister Harris said. Despite her illness, she continued her advocacy and thanks in no small part to her sheer determination, the uptake of the HPV vaccine has increased among young women. The State owes her a debt of gratitude, he added. "As a person, she was kind, funny and full of life. Her enthusiasm was infectious. Every time I met Laura or spoke with her, I was inspired by her. Amazing doesnt do justice to her or her courage. I want to extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends. Laura Brennan, from Ennis, was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer in 2017 when she was 25. In a statement, the HSE said: "We are all deeply saddened to learn of Laura Brennans death, and we send our deepest condolences to her family and friends. Thank you Laura for all you have done." Following her diagnosis, Laura worked with the HSE as a staunch advocate for the HPV vaccine, which vaccinates against the four strains of the HPV virus that cause cervical cancer. For her work, she was awarded several honours including an honorary doctorate from UCD and the inaugural Patient Advocacy Medal from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. We are all deeply saddened to learn of Laura Brennans death, and we send our deepest condolences to her family and friends. #ThankYouLaura for all you have done. https://t.co/iFpiQh7W6p pic.twitter.com/W8Rxd2aocv HSE Ireland (@HSELive) March 20, 2019 She was also named the Clare Person of the Year for 2019. While promoting the campaign, Laura said: This illness is devastating and its going to take my life but the good news is theres a vaccine that you can get that prevents it. HPV caused my cancer. I just wanted parents to know there is an alternative. She was too old to get the vaccine when it was first rolled out in Irish schools. I wish the vaccine had been available to me, of course I do. Dont get swayed by rumours about the vaccines safetyget the vaccine, she added. A LIMERICKMAN who denies dangerous driving causing the death of an elderly couple nearly four years ago had nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, Limerick Circuit Court has heard. A LIMERICKMAN who denies dangerous driving causing the death of an elderly couple nearly four years ago had nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, Limerick Circuit Court has heard. Michael Harty, 30, of St Marys Terrace, Askeaton, has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Maurice Hartnett, 61, and his wife Margaret, 59, from Gurteen, Ballingarry, on July 29, 2009. Dr Ned Barrett, consultant clinical biochemist at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, told the court that a toxicology reading from the defendant after the collision showed that he had a reading of 153.9 mg of alcohol per millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 mg/100ml. Dr Barrett said that even though the accused suffered a loss of blood during the accident this would not affect the blood/alcohol level. A leak does not change the composition of the remaining blood, he said. Kevin OConnell, a laboratory manager in the hospital, was accused by the defence in court of breaching the National Hospitals Office code of practice in relation to healthcare records management. Mr OConnell was asked by investigating gardai at Askeaton station to supply a medical report for the injuries sustained by Mr Harty, after gardai submitted a consent form from the accused. However, the lab manager also included the accuseds biomedical report, which disclosed the confidential toxicology results. Anthony Sammon, SC, for the defence, said it would seem that Mr OConnell breached this code of practice. There was nothing from Mr Harty to say that his medical chart was part of this. A medical report of his injuries was what he consented to, said Mr Sammon. Mr OConnell said he understood that the laboratory report forms part of the medical file. Kerry McAuliffe, a nurse in the A&E department of the Regional, took five sample of blood from the defendant. Now the hospital manager at night, she testified under cross-examination that staff are governed by a code of ethics, which includes the confidentiality of medical records. She said she wouldnt hand out such details if asked to, even by gardai or a barrister. In relation to the analysis of blood samples in the biochemistry laboratory, the court heard the Regional processes in the region of two million of these a year. The defence maintained that staff can be liable to make errors, and that the software and machinery used to break down samples into different components for analysis can also break down. Mr OConnell conceded that the error rate is probably less than 0.1%, further explaining that this would amount to some 54 erroneous samples out of several thousand per day. The jury of seven men and five women has heard that the collision involves a Volkswagon Caddy van, driven by Mr Hartnett, and a Toyota 4x4, driven by the accused, at Ardtomin, Askeaton on the main road between Askeaton and Rathkeale. It is the prosecutions case that the collision happened on a bad stretch of road where there are a number of bad bends. Judge Carroll Moran heard this Wednesday that this was not a head-on collision, with the Toyota hitting the VW at the drivers side, and the footwell area in the deceaseds car was completely obliterated as a result. Gardai believe that both vehicles may have been marginally across the continuous white line. Sergeant Kevin Burke told the court that he performed numerous tests on that stretch of roadway, where the speed limit is 80k/hr. However, he said this was not a comfortable speed when he drove in the centre of the road. Gardai believed that both victims were not wearing their seatbelts at the time. The defendant was wearing his seatbelt at the time. There was no evidence of faults in the vehicles or defects in the road, though the road was wet at the time. The speeds of both vehicles at the time could not be calculated due to the damage caused. The impact between both vehicles was described as colossal. The 4X4 was airborne as a result of the collision, while the VW got stuck in a ditch, after leaving a gouge of some 20 metres long in the roadway behind it after the point of impact. The trial is likely to conclude this Friday. THE doors to an auction in Limerick had to be locked over a disturbance caused by a disgruntled bidder, Limerick District Court has heard. THE doors to an auction in Limerick had to be locked over a disturbance caused by a disgruntled bidder, Limerick District Court has heard. Shane ONeill, a member of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, had to be pepper-sprayed by gardai after trying to barge his way back into the auction. Youre not real guards. F**k off, Mr ONeill had told the plain-clothes officers who were trying to apprehend him. Mr ONeill, a 41-year-old father-of-two from Shanacastle, Kilmichael, Macroom, County Cork, pleaded guilty to obstructing gardai on December 12 last. He had been at an auction at the Limerick Auction Rooms on the Ballysimon Road when, shortly before 12 noon, Garda Mick Dunne and Garda Sean Dervan were alerted to his behaviour. He was very agitated and vocal and shouting at members of the public. Ultimately the gardai decided he would have to be arrested but he refused to comply with the arrest, said Sgt Donal Cronin. Mr ONeill had instead pushed and barged his way past the two gardai as well as other members waiting outside the auction rooms in a bid to be readmitted. He had continued to violently resist efforts to arrest him, Sgt Cronin said, and pepper spray had to be used. Solicitor John Devane said that his client had not been aware that the two people who approached him were in fact members of An Garda Siochana. The officers had been in plain clothes and Mr ONeill believed them to be private security hired by the auction rooms. As he was being, he felt, jostled to the ground, he was calling 999 unaware that these same people were the gardai, Mr Devane said. Mr ONeill told Judge OKelly that he had successfully bid for four or five lots during the auction but that when he had gone to collect them, they refused to give him the items. But gardai had been told by Limerick Auction Rooms that Mr ONeills bids had been considered unrealistic and ignored. Mr ONeill said he believed he had been tackled by gardai because they thought he was part of a demonstration being mounted by up to 40 people, including members of the Socialist Workers Party. This group was protesting against the sale of a Limerick Soviet banknote. I was not shouting. There were protestors shouting but I was not in their party, Mr ONeill told Judge OKelly. But gardai dont lightly go around and pepper spray people, the judge said. Sgt Cronin said the Garda evidence was clear that Mr ONeill had been roaring and shouting outside the auction rooms. The doors of the auction rooms had been locked in order to keep him out. When the organisers momentarily opened the door to admit a number of people, Mr ONeill had tried to barge his way in, nearly knocking people over. He had also tried to barge gardai out of the way even after they warned him he was at risk of being arrested, Sgt Cronin said. Judge OKelly remarked that whether the people he barged out of the way were gardai or not, he has no right to behave in that way. He caused considerable disruption at a public auction to such an extent that the doors had to be locked, he added. The judge expressed surprise on learning that Mr ONeill was himself a member of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, remarking that if he had a legitimate grievance over the auction, he would have been aware of a civil remedy rather than resort to this kind of behaviour to such an extent where gardai have to use incapacitant spray. Mr ONeills suitability for 200 hours community service in lieu of five months in prison is to be assessed. GARDAI investigating the discovery of a womans body near the banks of the river Shannon in Limerick city have requested the assistance of the State Pathologists Office. GARDAI investigating the discovery of a womans body near the banks of the river Shannon in Limerick city have requested the assistance of the State Pathologists Office. The body of the partially clothed woman, who is believed to be in her late 40s, was found in undergrowth close to the water in an area known locally as Donellans field at New Road, Kileely. The grim discovery was made shortly before 9.30am by a man who was out walking his dog. A pathway near where the body was discovered remains cordoned off this afternoon as forensic examinations are continuing. The womans body was removed from the scene shortly before 11.30am Speaking at the scene, Insp Brian Sugrue said gardai have not yet established the identity of the woman. We are appealing for any witness or persons that may be able to assist us as to the identity of this lady or any other information that they may have to contact us, he said. Insp Sugrue added there is no evidence to suggest foul play at this stage but said gardai are investigating every aspect of the womans death. Gardai at Mayorstone garda station can be contacted at (061) 456980. LIMERICK Red Cross, whose volunteers attended over 230 events in the city and county last year are looking for new volunteers who will be joining the 600 already in 10 branches in Limerick. LIMERICK Red Cross, whose volunteers attended over 230 events in the city and county last year are looking for new volunteers who will be joining the 600 already in 10 branches in Limerick. They are holding an open night on Thursday January 26 next at their offices in Henry Street at 7.30. At present 250 of the volunteers in Limerick are involved in First Aid, 150 are youth members from 13-16 and another 150 are involved in Community Defibrillation groups (CFR groups) in Glin, Kilmallock, Kilfinane, Doon, Cappamore Limerick Red Cross want to recruit new members across a range of activities including First Aid Volunteers where no previous training necessary as it will be provided. People who already hold qualifications such as OFA, EFR and EMT will be very welcome. They are also looking for drivers for their ambulance and minibus fleet. Volunteers must be aged over 25 and have a full B or D1 (minibus) licence. Red Cross volunteers in Limerick cover a vast amount of events from Munster rugby matches and concerts at Thomond Park to Community Games, Equestrian Shows, Car Rallies and Public Gathering. The total number of hours that Limerick members contributed on a voluntary basis covering events in 2011 was 9,553 hours. This was at 230 events across City and County. The Irish Red Cross is one of the largest organisations providing First Aid Training services in Ireland. We have many years of experience and pride ourselves on providing top quality training to all of our clients. The Irish Red Cross is recognised as a training institution by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, explained Hilary Parkinson, spokesman for the Limerick group. People requiring further information can ring 061-468417 (9am to 12 noon) at Red Cross Hall. The Niger state police command have arrested one Umar Tambari, for allegedly beating his wife simply identified as Hauwa to death. A statement by the police command spokesperson, Mohammed Abubakar, says the suspect murdered his wife for alleged acts of disrespect at their home in Emiworo village in the Wushishi local government area of the state on February 26th. According to Mohammed, the suspect had asked the deceased to fetch water for him to bathe, but she allegedly refused. They started an argument which later degenerated into a fight which sadly led to her death. The suspect, however, accused Hauwa of looking down on him. Mohammed said Tambari hit his wife with a stick several times, and she died on the way to the hospital, adding that the suspect had been charged to court. Boomplay, the largest music streaming and download service in Africa, has signed a direct licensing agreement with Warner Music to bring the record companys diverse global roster of music to the region. The terms of the partnership allow Boomplay to distribute Warner Musics extensive catalogue of more than one million songs to its community of listeners in ten countries; Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The deal will provide Warner Musics artists with direct access and exposure to Boomplays millions of users in the region, while bringing Boomplay one step closer to its goal of bringing all music from around the world to Africa. Joe He, CEO of Boomplay, says: Major deals with internationally recognized partners such as Warner Music continue to push us closer to our aim of building the largest and the most reliable online music distribution platform in Africa. We want every music lover in the region to be able to access any song or video, anytime and wherever they are. We are looking forward to a successful partnership and business continuation with WMG in what are truly exciting times for the African Music Industry. On the deal, Dele Kadiri, Boomplay s General Manager in Nigeria says: I am totally excited about our licensing deal with Warner Music Group. This partnership brings about a huge increase to our catalogue thereby making a variety of music available to hundreds of millions of Nigerians. Alfonso Perez Soto, EVP, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Warner Music, adds: Were happy to partner with Boomplay to bring our amazing artists music to millions of listeners across Africa. The streaming service already has tremendous reach across the continent, yet they continue to expand exponentially. Its an opportunity that cant be missed for our artists to make a whole new legion of fans. Perez-Soto continued: Id like to thank Warner Musics Charlie White, Marc Latilla and Reni Adadevoh for their unstinting support in helping pull this deal together and get it over the line. In the past year, Boomplay has been on the crest of a wave, announcing landmark deals with global major labels, acquiring millions of new users monthly and releasing an iOS version in December 2018. With major labels coming on board, Boomplay is now in a strong position to further improve its service offerings and defend its leading position in Africa. Boomplay, which has more than 42 million users as of February 2019, boasts an expansive catalogue consisting of five million songs and thousands of videos from local and international acts. About Boomplay Boomplay (formally known as Boom Player) is a music and video streaming & download service developed and owned by Transsnet Music Limited. Boomplays vision is to build the largest and most reliable digital music ecosystem for artistes and content creators in Africa. The Boomplay app, which won the Best African App at the 2017 AppsAfrica Awards, has over 42 million users as of February, 2019. It is currently the biggest and fastest growing music app in Africa with a catalogue of 5 million songs and videos, which is still growing day by day. Users can stream songs and videos online free of charge, subscribe to one of the daily, weekly or monthly plans to save songs and videos to play whilst offline or purchase content to download. The service is currently available on Android, iOS and Web. The Lagos Zonal Office of EFCC on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, arraigned Olamide Salvador and Richard Olusegun Olatunji before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offence Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos on a five-count charge bordering on stealing, forgery and conspiracy to the tune of N24, 183, 120 (Twenty Four Million, One Hundred and Eighty-Three Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty Naira). The first defendant, Salvador, allegedly conspired with the second defendant, Olatunji, a manager in Stanbic IBTC, and some others now at large to defraud one Foster Ene of the said sum of money. One of the counts reads, that you, Olamide Salvador, trading under the name and style of Stringent Global Concept; Richard Olusegun Olatunji trading under the name and style as Richard Ventures, Tiwa Onoja (now at large) and Mary Osagie Abiodun (now at large) sometime in December 2016, in Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, conspired to steal the sum of N18, 183, 120 (Eighteen Million, One Hundred and Eighty - Three Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty Naira) only property of Foster Ene, being part of the money he paid to you to secure the United States Dollars and committed an offence contrary to Section 409 of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. Another count reads, that you, Olamide Salvador, trading under the name and style of Stringent Global Concept, Tiwa Onoja (now at large) and Mary Osagie Abiodu (now at large) sometime in December 2016, in Lagos within the Ikeja Judicial Division, dishonestly converted to the use of Kenechukwu Okafor, the sum of N6, 000, 000. 00 (Six Million Naira Only) property of Foster Ene, being part of the money he paid to you to secure the United States Dollars and committed an offence contrary to Section 278 (1) (b) and (2) (f) of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them. In view of their plea, the prosecution counsel, G.C. Akaogu, asked for a trial date and prayed that the defendants be remanded in prison custody. However, counsels to the defendants, I. T. Oyedepo and Abdulrahman Dirisu respectively informed the court of bail applications on behalf of their clients. Oyedepo, counsel to Salvador, (first defendant) prayed the court to grant his client bail in liberal terms in an application dated March 8, 2019. Dirisu, counsel to Olatunji, (second defendant), also pleaded same for his client, pending the determination of the case. Justice Solebo granted each of the defendants bail in the sum of N10, 000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) and two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be resident in Lagos with proof of residence, proof of employment and tax payment in the past three years. One of the two sureties for each of the defendants must also be a property owner in Lagos, which will be verified by the registrar of the court. Justice Solebo, however, ordered the defendants to be remanded in prison custody pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions and adjourned the matter to April 29 and 30, 2019. A bus driver of Senegalese descent hijacked his own vehicle and set it on fire in Italy while more than 50 children, whose hands he had bound, were on board. The 47-year-old driver said he was acting in revenge for the thousands of migrants, many of them African, who have drowned in the Mediterranean in recent years while trying to reach Europe from Libya. The man, named as Ousseynou Sy, was driving 51 children from their middle school near the city of Cremona to a sporting event when he started making threats, brandishing a knife. He had also bound the hands of the children so they could not leave the bus. In an ordeal that lasted around 40 minutes, he started driving towards nearby Milan. He rammed the bus into cars on a busy highway before it came to a stop at a roadblock set up by police. He then doused the bus in petrol and set it on fire. According to police, he said, "No one will survive," as he set the bus alight. "He shouted 'Stop the deaths at sea, I'll carry out a massacre'," said Marco Palmieri, a police spokesman. Police succeeded in smashing the windows of the vehicle to allow the children to escape. Mobile phone footage taken by passing motorists showed children screaming in panic as they ran away from the vehicle. At least 12 children were taken to hospital for bruises, smoke inhalation or because they were suffering from shock. Francesco Greco, a prosecutor from Milan, said: "It was a miracle, it could have been a massacre. The carabinieri (police) were exceptional in blocking the bus and getting all the children out. They broke the windows and managed to get all 51 kids out." One of the children told reporters that the driver had threatened to pour petrol on them and set them alight. "He handcuffed us and threatened us. He said that if we moved he would pour out the petrol and set fire to it. "He kept saying that people in Africa are dying and the fault is Di Maio and Salvini's" a reference to Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini, the leaders of the two parties that make up the populist coalition, Telegraph UK reports. A 12-year-old boy who was interviewed by Italian television said the driver claimed that three of his children had drowned at sea while trying to reach Italy by boat from North Africa. "He said he had lost three children, that many children die at sea, so we should die too, by being burned. I was afraid I would die," the boy said. Police said the suspect, who obtained Italian citizenship in 2004, had a criminal record, with convictions for sexual molestation and driving while drunk. The bus driver was arrested on Wednesday and is likely to face charges of kidnapping, attempted mass murder, causing a fire and resisting arrest. Prosecutors said he could also be charged with terrorism offences. (CNN) Amnesty International accused the US military on Tuesday of causing civilian casualties in a series of airstrikes in Somalia in 2017 and 2018, claims the U.S. military denies. The strikes in question came after President Donald Trump eased restrictions on the use of airpower in the East African nation. US Africa Command, which oversees US military operations on the continent, firmly rejected the allegations, saying it has made efforts to ensure the safety of civilians and that it had reviewed the allegations and found no evidence to support them. RELATED: U.S. conducts airstrike in Somalia after troops come under attack While Africa Command acknowledged conducting strikes in four of the locations and times identified in the report, it said it had reviewed the allegations and found the targets to have been affiliated with Al-Shabaab. The Amnesty International report, released Tuesday night, alleges that 14 civilians were killed and eight were injured in a series of five airstrikes in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, a hotbed of Al-Shabaab militant activity. Because of the security situation in the targeted area neither the Amnesty team nor the U.S. military was able to do on-the-ground investigations into the results of the strikes. "In the incidents presented in this report, civilians were killed and injured in attacks that may have violated international humanitarian law ... and could, in some cases, constitute war crimes," the report alleges, saying that several of the strikes had killed civilians who were near suspected Al-Shabaab militants. The dates of the strikes range from October 2017 to December 2018. "We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously regardless of their origin," Africa Command said in a statement following the report's release, saying it had reviewed Amnesty's allegations prior to the report's publication. "Our assessments found that no AFRICOM airstrike resulted in any civilian casualty or injury. Our assessments are based on post-strike analysis using intelligence methods not available to non-military organizations," the statement added. Africa Command said that many of the allegations involved claims made by media outlets affiliated with Al-Shabaab, and that "it is in the interest of the terrorist group al-Shabaab to untruthfully claim civilian casualties. It is also in the interest of al-Shabaab to coerce community members to make untrue claims." Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, Africa Command director of operations, said in a conference call with reporters, "I'm not going to go into the specifics of the sources and methods that we use to characterize targets but I will tell you that it is a process that unfolds over time as we look at things like pattern of life, as we look at things like all source intelligence and then fuse together a picture that provides us a standard that is appropriate under international humanitarian law. And that accounts for the information available at the site before any decision to strike is made." There has been a significant increase in U.S. airstrikes in Somalia since Trump authorized the military to carry out precision strikes targeting Al-Shabaab in March 2017 in an effort to bolster the Somali government. Prior to that, the US military was authorized to conduct airstrikes only in defense of advisers on the ground. At least 252 fighters from the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab have been killed in 28 airstrikes so far in 2019, with no civilian deaths, according to figures released by US Africa Command. The most recent strike took place Tuesday in the vicinity of Awdheegle, Lower Shabelle Region, and killed three "terrorists," according to a statement Tuesday by Africa Command. The statement said the U.S. military was aware of reports alleging civilian casualties from Tuesday's airstrike and that as with every allegation, Africa Command "will review any information it has about the incident, including any relevant information provided by third parties." In 2018, the U.S. conducted 47 airstrikes targeting Al-Shabaab, killing about 338 militants. In 2017, the US carried out 35 airstrikes, and in 2016 it conducted 15. U.S. defense officials have told CNN that the recent increase in the pace of strikes is due to successes that local Somali security forces have been having in combating Al-Shabaab. The U.S. military estimates that Al-Shabaab commands over 4,000 fighters. The U.S. has 500 to 600 troops in Somalia, primarily in advisory roles. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Amnesty International accuses US of causing civilian deaths in Somalia." A fresh measles outbreak has killed 13 children in Borno State. A statement by Eva Hinds, a Communication Specialist with United Nations Childrens Fund said the Nigeria 2017 Demographic Health Survey, revealed that only 65 per cent of eligible Nigerian children receive their first dose of measles vaccine every year, lamenting that in Borno State, this low coverage has led to the deaths of at least 13 children in the current measles outbreak. The statement said in order to tackle the growing cases of measles, the Nigerian Government is working with UNICEF and the World Health Organisation. The statement read in part, Following a growing number of reported cases of measles, the Government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the United Nations Childrens Fund and World Health Organisation, will conduct a vaccination campaign in Borno to protect 1.7m million children aged 6 months to 10 years against measles. The statement disclosed that the campaign will run from March 21 25, 2019. A Ukrainian woman is facing15- years in prison after she allegedly cut her three-week-old daughters throat because she thought her husband loved the baby more than her. Mail Online reported that the 21-year-old mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, killed her child when her husband left their apartment in the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraines Rivne Oblast region for a few minutes. Police said in a statement that the woman attacked her baby when her husband, 26, had briefly stepped out. When he returned to the apartment he saw that his wifes hands were covered with blood. Unclear to him what could have occurred, he rushed into the bedroom to check on his newborn daughter and saw her in a pool of blood and quickly called emergency services. According to emergency services who arrived at the scene, the woman was heard asking her husband: Why are you crying? Police found the murder weapon in the kitchen sink. The knife was still covered with the childs blood. Police spokesman Anton Kruk said: The child died of the knife wound to its throat. The mother could not explain why she did it. She could not even remember what she was doing during the day. But the mans mother Maria Momot said: He [her son] went out for a few minutes and she grabbed a kitchen knife and cut the childs throat open. According to Mrs. Momot, her daughter-in-law was jealous of the baby because she thought that her husband loved the child more. She said: My son and I loved the child very much. We gave her all our thoughts and care. The report also revealed that the suspect was suffering from meningoencephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. But the disease is believed to have affected the woman's mental health, and she recently underwent treatment. She was discharged from the mental facility on March 3, shortly after giving birth, as doctors believed she was okay. The mother has been taken into custody and will undergo a psychiatric evaluation. If the examination shows the mother was responsible for her actions at the time of the criminal act, she will be charged with premeditated murder of a minor. The suspect faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, has raised an alarm over what she described as new tricks employed by human traffickers. Okah-Donli who was speaking during an interactive meeting with the Edo State Task Force against trafficking in Benin City, lamented that the menace appears to have heightened despite measures to curb it. A team of operatives of the EFCC, led by the Uyo Zonal Head, Abdulkarim Chukkol on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base FOB at Ibaka Town in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, took delivery of a vessel, MV SWORD FISH V, its 12 crew members and illegally bunkered diesel, (Automotive Gas Oil AGO), which were arrested by the Nigerian Navy. Speaking at the handing over of both the vessel and crew members, the Acting Commanding Officer, Navy Captain R.O. Adoki disclosed that the vessel, its captain and his crew members and the illegally bunkered petroleum product were arrested at Monipulo Nigeria Limited Platform at Agbani Oil Field by a team of naval officers on patrol. The arrested sailors onboard the vessel are: Bakpa Yerinmene (Captain), Aremu Temiloluwa (Chief Mate), Marvel Douye Prince (Deck Cadet), Bakumo Uyatede (Chief Engineer), Izamohi Samson(Engr Cadet), Jonathan Tuoyo (AB 1), Iyaragba Ebimayenimigha (AB 2), Abejuwa Clever (AB 3), Pius Ziko (AB 4), Omoniyi Oba Joseph (Oiler 1), Imangbe David (Oiler 2) and Jumbo Anthony (Cook). Speaking to journalists, Chukkol condemned the action of the illegal bunkerers and promised swift and thorough investigation which he said will be carried to a logical conclusion, adding that the arrested suspects will face prosecution if they are found culpable. Different observations of the same reality (in photons) may both be correct, according quantum mechanics. Can two versions of reality exist at the same time? Physicists say they can at the quantum level, that is. Researchers recently conducted experiments to answer a decades-old theoretical physics question about dueling realities. This tricky thought experiment proposed that two individuals observing the same photon could arrive at different conclusions about that photon's state and yet both of their observations would be correct. For the first time, scientists have replicated conditions described in the thought experiment. Their results, published Feb. 13 in the preprint journal arXiv, confirmed that even when observers described different states in the same photon, the two conflicting realities could both be true. [The Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics] "You can verify both of them," study co-author Martin Ringbauer, a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, told Live Science. Wigner's friend This perplexing idea was the brainchild of Eugene Wigner, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963. In 1961, Wigner had introduced a thought experiment that became known as "Wigner's friend." It begins with a photon a particle of light. When an observer in an isolated laboratory measures the photon, they find that the particle's polarization the axis on which it spins is either vertical or horizontal. However, before the photon is measured, the photon displays both polarizations at once, as dictated by the laws of quantum mechanics; it exists in a "superposition" of two possible states. Once the person in the lab measures the photon, the particle assumes a fixed polarization. But for someone outside that closed laboratory who doesn't know the result of the measurements, the unmeasured photon is still in a state of superposition. That outsider's observation their reality therefore diverges from the reality of the person in the lab who measured the photon. Yet, neither of those conflicting observations is thought to be wrong, according to quantum mechanics. Altered states For decades, Wigner's mind-bending proposal was just an interesting thought experiment. But in recent years, important advances in physics finally enabled experts to put Wigner's proposal to the test, Ringbauer said. "Theoretical advances were needed to formulate the problem in a way that is testable. Then, the experimental side needed developments on the control of quantum systems to implement something like that," he explained. Ringbauer and his colleagues tested Wigner's original idea with an even more rigorous experiment which doubled the scenario. They designated two "laboratories" where the experiments would take place and introduced two pairs of entangled photons, meaning that their fates were linked, so that knowing the state of one automatically tells you the state of the other. (The photons in the setup were real. Four "people" in the scenario "Alice," "Bob" and a "friend" of each were not real, but instead represented observers of the experiment). The two friends of Alice and Bob, who were located "inside" each of the labs, each measured one photon in an entangled pair. This broke the entanglement and collapsed the superposition, meaning that the photon they measured existed in a definite state of polarization. They recorded the results in quantum memory copied in the polarization of the second photon. Alice and Bob, who were "outside" the closed laboratories, were then presented with two choices for conducting their own observations. They could measure their friends' results that were stored in quantum memory, and thereby arrive at the same conclusions about the polarized photons. But they could also conduct their own experiment between the entangled photons. In this experiment, known as an interference experiment, if the photons act as waves and still exist in a superposition of states, then Alice and Bob would see a characteristic pattern of light and dark fringes, where the peaks and valleys of the light waves add up or cancel each other out. If the particles have "chosen" their state, you'd see a different pattern than if they hadn't. Wigner had previously proposed that this would reveal that the photons were still in an entangled state. The authors of the new study found that even in their doubled scenario, the results described by Wigner held. Alice and Bob could arrive at conclusions about the photons that were correct and provable and that yet still differed from the observations of their friends which were also correct and provable, according to the study. Quantum mechanics describes how the world works at a scale so small that the normal rules of physics no longer apply; over many decades, experts who study the field have offered numerous interpretations of what that means, Ringbauer said. However, if measurements themselves aren't absolutes as these new findings suggest that challenges the very meaning of quantum mechanics. "It seems that, in contrast to classical physics, measurement results cannot be considered absolute truth but must be understood relative to the observer who performed the measurement," Ringbauer said. "The stories we tell about quantum mechanics have to adapt to that," he said. Originally published on Live Science. People who use marijuana on a daily basis may be at increased risk for developing psychosis, particularly if they use high-potency marijuana, a new study from Europe suggests. The study analyzed information from more than 1,200 people without psychosis living in 10 European cities and one city in Brazil, and compared them with 900 people living in those same cities who were diagnosed for the first time with psychosis. (Psychosis means a person experiences a loss of touch with reality.) The researchers found that people who reported using marijuana daily were three times more likely to have a diagnosis of first-episode psychosis, compared with people who reported never using the drug. What's more, those who reported using high-potency marijuana on a daily basis were five times more likely to have a diagnosis of first-episode psychosis, compared with those who never used it. [25 Odd Facts About Marijuana] In addition, the study is the first to suggest that the pattern of marijuana use in a given area may contribute to the rate of psychosis in the population. For example, in Amsterdam, where high-potency cannabis is widely available, those who reported using high-potency cannabis on a daily basis were nine times more likely to develop psychosis, compared with those who didn't use marijuana. (In the U.S., high-potency marijuana is also much more common today than several decades ago.) "As the legal status of cannabis changes in many countries and states, and as we consider the medicinal properties of some types of cannabis, it is of vital public health importance that we also consider the potential adverse effects that are associated with daily cannabis use, especially high-potency varieties," lead study author Dr. Marta Di Forti, of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience at King's College London, said in a statement. Still, it's important to note that the study found only an association, and cannot prove that using marijuana actually causes psychosis. The study was published yesterday (March 19) in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry. Marijuana and psychosis Previous studies have suggested a link between heavy marijuana use and an increased risk of psychosis. But these studies couldn't determine how this link affected rates of psychosis in the general population. In the new study, the researchers found that about 30 percent of patients with psychosis reported daily marijuana use, compared with just 7 percent of controls (people without psychosis); and 37 percent of patients reported high-potency marijuana use, compared with 19 percent of controls. The study also found that the rate of cannabis use among the controls in a given location was linked with the rate of psychosis in that location. So the more people who used the drug daily; and the more who used high-potency marijuana, the higher the rate of psychosis. The researchers estimate that, overall, about one in five new cases (20 percent) of psychosis across the 11 study cities may be linked to daily marijuana use; and one in 10 new cases of psychosis (12 percent) may be linked to the use of high-potency marijuana. Future research The new study is "in line with a lot of research over the last few years showing an association between use of marijuana and onset of psychotic illness," said Dr. David Roane, chairman of psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved with the study. It's "increasingly evident that [marijuana use is] a risk factor" for psychosis, Roane told Live Science. Still, the new study cannot rule out "reverse causation," meaning it could be that people with psychosis are more likely to use marijuana than people without the mental health condition, according to Suzanne Gage, of the University of Liverpool's Department of Psychological Sciences, who wrote a commentary accompanying the article. Even though the study included people who were diagnosed with their first episode of psychosis, they may have experienced less severe symptoms prior to their diagnosis, Gage noted. Future research should aim to identify people whose use of marijuana could put them at particularly high risk for psychosis, Roane said. In the meantime, Roane recommends that people be aware of the scientific link between marijuana use and psychosis. "It might be one of the strongest reasons to consider delaying use of marijuana," smoking less frequently, avoiding high-potency marijuana or avoiding marijuana entirely, he said. Originally published on Live Science. A rare navigational tool has snagged a Guinness World Record as the oldest mariner's astrolabe. The astrolabe dates to between 1496 and 1501; it sank to the bottom with a shipwreck in 1503 near the coast of the island of Al-Hallaniyah, in what is now Oman. The find is one of only 104 historical astrolabes in existence. "It is a great privilege to find something so rare, something so historically important," David Mearns, an oceanographer at Blue Water Recovery, said in a 2017 statement after the astrolabe was first analyzed. Mearns, who led the archaeological excavation of the wreck, added, "It was like nothing else we had seen." [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] A maritime disaster Mariner's astrolabes are circular devices that sailors used to measure the altitude of the sun or stars, which allowed them to calculate their ship's latitude. The instrument that was just inducted into the Guinness World Records was discovered under a layer of sand in the Arabian Sea in 2014. The astrolabe went down with a ship under the command of a Portuguese commander named Vicente Sodre, who was the uncle of the famous explorer Vasco da Gama. Sodre and his brother, Bras Sodre, were commanding a subfleet of five ships in the 4th Portuguese India Armada in 1503. The two men were supposed to be patrolling off southwestern India, protecting a couple of trading outposts. Instead, the commanders went rogue and headed to the Gulf of Aden, where the officers and their men looted several Arab ships. The brothers then headed to Al-Hallaniyah and stopped to make some repairs. In May 1503, an enormous wind blew in, smashing two of the ships, the Esmeralda and the Sao Pedro, into the rocks of the island. Vicente Sodre died in the wreck; Bras Sodre also died on the island although historical records do not provide the cause of death. The disaster was famous because the ships went down laden with cargo and left Portugal's trading outposts open to an attack by Indian forces. In 1998, archaeologists surveyed the area where the ships were thought to have sunk and found what looked to be a wreck site. It wasn't until 2013, however, that the Oman government and researchers could arrange an excavation in the remote area. Over the next two years, archaeologists recovered almost 3,000 artifacts from the site, including a ship's bell inscribed with the year 1498. Navigation by the stars The astrolabe was found under 1.3 feet (0.4 meters) of sand in a natural gully near the wreck site. The artifact measures 6.9 inches (17.5 centimeters) in diameter and is festooned with the Portuguese coat of arms and an armillary sphere a representation of the position of celestial objects around Earth. (The armillary sphere was a common Portuguese emblem and is still part of the country's flag.) The metal used in making the astrolabe is an alloy made mostly of copper, with a little zinc, tin and lead. A 3D-laser scan of the astrolabe reveals tiny, eroded-away etches in the top right quadrant that would have allowed navigators to measure the altitude of the sun or stars to determine their ship's latitude. (Image credit: University of Warwick) Years of damage by saltwater and tides erased most of the other markings on the astrolabe. To uncover what could no longer be seen by the naked eye, researchers at the University of Warwick in England used laser scanning to detect the tiniest grooves and etchings on the disk. Their results, published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, revealed 18 scale marks on the upper right of the disk, which would have allowed the navigator to measure the angle of the sun or stars. The first recorded use of an astrolabe was on an expedition by a Portuguese explorer in 1481, the researchers wrote, but the earliest versions were likely wood and did not survive the ages. The Sodre astrolabe had to be made before February 1502, when the squadron left Lisbon. The armillary sphere was an emblem of Dom Manuel I, the king of Portugal from late 1495 to 1521; the astrolabe was probably manufactured during his reign, at around 1496 at the earliest, the researchers concluded. The 1498 ship's bell and the dates of coins found at the wreck site all support that date range, they wrote. According to the University of Warwick, that ship's bell will also be taking a place of honor in the Guinness World Records as the oldest ship's bell ever discovered. Originally published on Live Science. String theory is an attempt to unite the two pillars of 20th century physics quantum mechanics and Albert Einstein's theory of relativity with an overarching framework that can explain all of physical reality. It tries to do so by positing that particles are actually one-dimensional, string-like entities whose vibrations determine the particles' properties, such as their mass and charge. This counterintuitive idea was first developed in the 1960s and '70s, when strings were used to model data coming out of subatomic colliders in Europe, according to a website about string theory created by the University of Oxford and the British Royal Society. Strings provided an elegant mathematical way of describing the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe, which holds together atomic nuclei. [8 Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life] The topic remained marginal for many years, until the "string theory revolution" in 1984, when theoreticians Michael Green and John Schwarz produced equations that showed how strings avoided certain inconsistencies plaguing models that described particles as point-like objects, according to the University of Cambridge. But this first flowering left researchers with five different theories explaining how one-dimensional strings oscillated in a 10-dimensional reality. A second revolution came about in 1995, when physicists showed that these differing ideas were all related and could be combined with another theory called supergravity, which worked in 11 dimensions. That approach generated the current incarnation of string theory. Unraveling mysteries String theory is one of the proposed methods for producing a theory of everything, a model that describes all known particles and forces and that would supersede the Standard Model of physics, which can explain everything except gravity. Many scientists believe in string theory because of its mathematical beauty. The equations of string theory are described as elegant, and its descriptions of the physical world are considered extremely satisfying. The theory explains gravity via a particular vibrating string whose properties correspond to that of the hypothetical graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that would carry the gravitational force. That the theory bizarrely requires 11 dimensions to work rather than the three of space and one of time we normally experience has not dissuaded physicists who advocate it. They've simply described how the extra dimensions are all curled up in an extremely tiny space, on the order of 10^-33 centimeters, which is small enough that we can't normally detect them, according to NASA. Researchers have used string theory to try to answer fundamental questions about the universe, such as what goes on inside a black hole, or to simulate cosmic processes like the Big Bang. Some scientists have even attempted to use string theory to get a handle on dark energy, the mysterious force accelerating the expansion of space and time. A never-ending pursuit But string theory has lately come under greater scrutiny. Most of its predictions are untestable with current technology, and many researchers have wondered if they're going down a never-ending rabbit hole. In 2011, physicists gathered at the American Museum of Natural History for the 11th annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, to discuss whether it made sense to turn to string theory as a viable description of reality. "Are you chasing a ghost, or is the collection of you just too stupid to figure this out?" teased Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the museum's Hayden Planetarium, who pointed out that progress on string theory had been patchy in the previous years. The most recent challenges to string theory have come from the framework itself, which predicts the existence of a potentially huge number of unique universes, as many as 10^500 (that's the number 1 followed by 500 zeroes). This multiverse landscape seemed to provide enough possibilities that, should researchers explore them, they would come across one that corresponded to our own version of reality. But in 2018, an influential paper suggested that not a single one of these myriad hypothetical universes looked like our cosmos; specifically, each lacked a description of dark energy as we currently understand it. "String theorists propose a seemingly endless amount of mathematical constructions that have no known relationship to observation," Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany who has been critical of string theory, previously told Live Science. Other researchers maintain that string theory will one day turn up results. Writing in the Physics Today magazine, physicist Gordon Kane of the University of Michigan suggested that with upgrades currently being conducted, the Large Hadron Collider could yield evidence of string theory in the near future. But the theory's ultimate fate is, as yet, unknown. Additional resources: Did the analysis of a silk shawl just provide a major clue in one of London's coldest cases, the identity of Jack the Ripper? No. It doesn't. Not at all. That's according to two experts, a geneticist and a Ripperologist (a Jack the Ripper historian), who spoke with Live Science about the new study. In fact, this study has so many holes in it including the provenance of the shawl, contamination of genetic material on the shawl, and the methods used to analyze this genetic material that it's a wonder it was published at all, said Turi King, a reader in genetics and archaeology at the University of Leicester, who was not involved in the study. [10 Biggest Historical Mysteries That Will Probably Never Be Solved] Jack the Ripper is notorious for killing and mutilating five women in London in just three months during 1888. According to the new study, a silk shawl was found by the body of Catherine Eddowes, a victim killed by Jack the Ripper during the early morning hours of Sept. 30, 1888. Acting Sgt. Amos Simpson reportedly took this 8-foot-long (2.4 meters) shawl from the crime scene; the shawl was reportedly passed down through his family for generations until it was sold in 2007 to amateur sleuth Russell Edwards, who made it available to scientists for study. Soon after, descendants of Eddowes and one of the top suspects, Aaron Kosminski, who at the time was a 23-year-old Polish barber, were located by study lead researcher Jari Louhelainen, a senior lecturer of molecular biology at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. Then, with study co-researcher David Miller, a reproduction and sperm expert at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, Louhelainen looked at mitochondrial DNA (genetic material passed down by mothers) on the shawl. The researchers found the genetic material on the shawl matched the descendants of Eddowes and Kosminski. The analysis also revealed, the researchers claim, that the killer was a man with brown hair and brown eyes, which matches an eyewitness account from that time. "Although these characteristics are surely not unique, they fully support our hypothesis," the researchers wrote in the study, published online March 12 in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. It's unknown how common brown eyes and hair were in 1888, but today in England blue eyes are more common, the researchers noted. These results were initially made public five years ago in Edwards' book "Naming Jack the Ripper" (Lyons Press, 2014), but this is the first published study on the analysis. Fishy shawl First and foremost, it's doubtful that the shawl belonged to Eddowes, Jack the Ripper's fourth victim. London has two police forces. Most of the Jack the Ripper murders happened under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Service, a force that operates out of Scotland Yard. But Eddowes was killed in an area overseen by the City of London Police. Acting Sgt. Simpson worked for Scotland Yard, so it's unclear why he would have been working on Eddowes' case, given that it was a City of London Police case, said Paul Begg, a U.K.-based author who has written six historical books about Jack the Ripper, and was not involved with the new study. What's more, Simpson's patrolling area wasn't anywhere near the spot where Eddowes was murdered, so it's strange he would have gone out of his way to travel to the scene of the crime and take the shawl, Begg said. [Crime Scene Photos: These Items Came from UK's Most Infamous Cases] On top of that, "there's no evidence that a shawl was connected with Catherine Eddowes' murder anyway," Begg told Live Science. "Effectively, the provenance of the shawl is extremely bad." He added that this particular eyewitness account of Jack the Ripper is dubious. Three men who had just left a social club saw a woman talking to a man in the same location where Eddowes was found dead shortly thereafter. But it's unknown if this man and women were in fact Jack the Ripper and Eddowes. Moreover, only one of those men got a good look at the mystery man, Begg said. The researchers of the study did not respond to a request for comment. Genetic contamination The genetic analysis of the shawl is also unconvincing, said King, who is known for her work sequencing the whole genome of King Richard III. The shawl has been handled by countless people over the years, meaning that their DNA got on the shawl, contaminating it, King said. It's her understanding that the descendants of Eddowes and Kosminski, who took part in the new study, were in the presence of the shawl. "So, all you need to do is breathe anywhere near the shawl and they could end up putting their DNA on it," King said. In the study itself, the researchers are vague on how they did the analysis. It's key that scientists describe their methods clearly, as it allows other scientists to assess them and even try to reproduce the results, King said. Furthermore, it's strange that the researchers say they looked at a maternal descendant of Kosminski, given that men can't pass on mitochondrial DNA. In fact, the researchers didn't say how the descendants were related to Eddowes and Kosminski (even though the descendant of Eddowes was named by The Independent in 2014), nor did they publish these people's full mitochondrial DNA sequences, citing privacy reasons. That's problematic, King said. The researchers claimed to have the entire mitochondrial DNA genome, but they only looked at a couple of mitochondrial DNA segments. And they did it at such low resolution, the results could be similar in large swaths of people. "At that low resolution, it could be that thousands and thousands and thousands of people share the mitochondrial DNA types that they're finding," King said. "The fact that there's a match with a relative, who may or may not have breathed on the shawl in the first place statistically, that's not very strong evidence." As for privacy reasons, the researchers weren't sensitive to the fact that by naming Kosminski, they were associating his living relatives with a notorious murderer, King said. In King's study of Richard III, she used genetic material from two of his living female-line relatives, both of whom gave their informed consent that their mitochondrial DNA be made public. King wonders if the researchers explained the science and asked for the informed consent at all. Plus, given that these particular mitochondrial DNA analysis was so vague, it wouldn't have identified the descendants anyway, King said. With all of these caveats, does the new paper offer any clues on the Jack the Ripper case? "No, sadly not," King said. "For all we know, Kosminski was Jack the Ripper, but this paper unfortunately does not tell us that." Originally published on Live Science. Now that the Deer Park fire has been extinguished and the plume of black smoke is dissipating, one early verdict is in: there was no great impact on people's immediate health. An informal survey of Houston area hospitals and clinics, including those in Pasadena and Baytown, found none reporting visits by patients experiencing respiratory or other symptoms related to the three days of smoke. A man was arrested Monday for allegedly assaulting a female juvenile. Carlos Ancira Jr., 18, was served with a warrant for assault, family violence. He was released on bond on Tuesday, according to Webb County Jail records. The case unraveled March 4, when the juvenile and her mother arrived at Laredo police headquarters to file an assault report. READ ALSO: Laredo man found guilty of assaulting woman at homeless shelter The juvenile stated that a male she knew had assaulted her, causing injuries to her arms and back, according to police. LPD's special investigations unit took over the case. Detectives identified the suspect as Ancira through the investigation. Authorities presented their findings to an assistant district attorney, who approved the issuance of a warrant for Ancira. Fresenius Care North America will host an open house for their new kidney-care facility in Livingston on March 21 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The business is located at 101 W. Park Drive, Livingston. Residents are encouraged to take a tour of the facility as medical professionals will be available to discuss patient services and the latest dialysis treatments, including in-center and at-home dialysis care. The new clinic can take up to 72 in-center patients per week. In addition to over 2,400 facilities nationwide, Fresenius Care North America has more 100 locations in Texas. For more information, contact Clinic Manager Kimii Chatman at 936-327-0036 or email kimii.chatman@fmc-na.com. Dayton clinic offers several different services Total Care opened a new location in Dayton last year The Dayton facility is Total Cares second clinic in the Greater Houston area. Their first location is situated in Bridge City. Total Care-Dayton is operated by Nurse Practitioner Mark Teague and is located on 101 S. Prairie, Dayton. Both locations offer pre-employment testing, educational courses, immunizations, primary care services, diabetic care, lab services, weight loss programs and other services. Katrina Brown, marketer for the Dayton clinic, said Total Care expanded into Dayton because they saw the growth in population due to things such as the construction of the Grand Parkway and other economic factors. Total Care currently accepts all forms of insurance except for Medicaid. For more information on how to receive services from Total Care visit their website or call the Dayton location at (833)698-6825. New Caney taco shop expands Tacos El Norteno in New Caney will open a new outdoor seating area near its food truck this month. The eatery is celebrating that with an event from 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday, March 16 at 20085 FM 1485 W. Road. There will be a DJ and giveaways at the event. An available offer on the day is 15 percent off of two gorditas. Tacos El Norteno specializes in Mexican specialties such as tacos, sopes, tortas, menudo, hamburguesa and more. The business has a Facebook page (tacoelnorteno) and can be contacted at 281-736-1290. Snowflake Donuts one week Snowflake Donuts at 501 Roman Forest Blvd., Ste. B in New Caney has been open since Wednesday, March 6. The business serves donuts, croissants, burritos and boudin rolls. It is next to a Shell gas station. Snowflake Donuts is open from 4:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. seven days a week. Its phone number is 281-622-5408. kaila.contreras@chron.com A public housing site in Galveston that has sat vacant since being bulldozed more than a decade ago could now be redeveloped as part of a long-delayed commitment to build back public housing units destroyed by Hurricane Ike. In a letter sent on March 11, Susan Wilson, the director of the Office of Urban Revitalization in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), recommended that the Galveston Housing Authority submit proposals to redevelop the site of the former Oleander Homes on 53rd Street and Broadway into a mixed-income development that would include many of the remaining 287 public housing units the city lost to Ike. Fewer than half of Galveston's 569 public housing units have been rebuilt since Hurricane Ike laid waste to the island in 2008. The city is required by state and federal mandate to rebuild every unit, but construction has been delayed for myriad reasons, from a lack of financial capital to limited land options for redevelopment. In her letter, Wilson explained that a previous plan the housing authority submitted last year by to build back the 287 units as "scattered site" housing throughout Galveston -- including 50 units built on the mainland in Texas City -- would be too expensive for the authority to manage on its own. Wilson recommended developing at least some of the remaining public housing units on the Oleander site, and consider whether retail and commercial development on the land as well. "We're in the process of thinking about exactly what it is we'd like to present to (HUD) and what type of plan," said Melvin Williams, the chairman of the Galveston Housing Authority's board of directors, adding the plan has to include details on how the development would be financed with the remaining federal money available. The Texas General Land Office has earmarked $66 million via federal disaster grant money for the remaining 287 units, with the Galveston Housing Authority owning and maintaining those properties indefinitely. That money must be spent by the end of 2019, or the island risks losing the ability to build back its public housing entirely. Real estate developer McCormack Baron Salazar, which the city contracted to build back its public housing units in 2012, will help develop any proposal for the Oleander site, housing authority officials said. Local housing advocates have long expressed support for redeveloping the Oleander site despite its location in a low-lying area of the island prone to flooding. Leon Phillips, head of the Galveston County Coalition for Justice, which supports the rebuilding of public housing, said the Oleander site could be a major component of a revitalization of Broadway, Galveston's main thoroughfare connecting to the island's causeway and the I-45 freeway. "(Oleander) gives us a chance to really become something that's eye-appealing to people who are coming here," Phillips said. "I just want to see this jump off as fast as possible. Once they start turning the soil, I'll be comfortable it's happening." Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com The alert from the University of Michigan on Saturday was depressingly familiar, using the same words that have terrified people across the country. "Active shooter in Mason Hall," the university announced through a mass alert system that blasts warnings to students, faculty members, staffers, alumni and others. "Run, hide, fight." Trained by massacres in Parkland, Florida, Pittsburgh and elsewhere, people ran - scattering in all directions, hiding under tables and posting panicked messages on social media. Among those fleeing were people attending a vigil on the school's Ann Arbor campus for the New Zealand mosque shootings just a day earlier. But their fears were unfounded. The false alarm was prompted by "balloons popping in the area," according to Eddie Washington, a former Michigan state police director who leads the school's Department of Public Safety and Security. Such incidents have occurred periodically nationwide, fueled by Americans on heightened alert in the era of shooter training and lockdown drills. The false alarms have been caused by a malfunctioning water heater at a North Carolina school, crushed bottles at a festival in New York and popping balloons at a Florida mall. Though they don't involve gunfire, the incidents can spark stampedes and major police responses, causing trauma and, in some cases, injuries for the people who live through them. On Saturday in Ann Arbor, Shivani Bhargava, a 19-year-old sophomore, hid in the library behind a makeshift barricade of tables and chairs with more than a dozen other students. When she heard footsteps, Bhargava thought: "This is it, the shooter is walking towards us." Even after students got the all-clear, she said, that fear lingered. "I don't feel safe going to the library anymore," Bhargava said. In San Francisco last month, a performance of the musical "Hamilton" devolved into chaos when people believed there had been a shooting. Authorities received calls about a shooter, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department. Three people were injured while fleeing, he said. One person had a heart attack. Last year in New York, a loud noise at a festival in Central Park attended by tens of thousands of people gave way to a panicked stampede. In August 2016, false alarms of gunfire set off frantic evacuations just weeks apart at international airports in New York and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles International Airport alarm came three years after a gunman actually opened fire there, killing a Transportation Security Administration officer and injuring three other people. For law enforcers, the potential of that type of danger looms over how they respond to worried calls. "If people are reporting a critical incident or being descriptive in terms of someone shooting, (saying) there's an active shooter - especially since we've had something significant occur here in the past - we're responding as if it's real and preparing to deal with that particular threat," said David Maggard, chief of police at the Los Angeles and Van Nuys airports. Sometimes these alarms end with injuries. Popping balloons sparked fears at the Florida Mall in Orlando in August 2016, leading to "mayhem" that ended with 10 people being treated at the mall and four being taken to the hospital, according to Orange County Fire Rescue. Just two months earlier, the region had experienced a real deadly threat: A gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub about 6 miles from the mall. Lockdown procedures and the "run, hide, fight" tactics urged in Michigan's alert have been drilled into minds of students and workers across the country. In some cases, that preparedness has saved lives. Officials said "a horrific bloodbath" at a California elementary school in 2017 was averted because the school locked down as the gunman arrived. When one opened fire in a country-music bar in Thousand Oaks, California, last year - killing 11 people - patrons inside smashed windows to climb out, ran out of doors and hid in whatever spaces were available. "Unfortunately, our young people, people at nightclubs, have learned that this may happen," said Geoff Dean, then-sheriff of Ventura County, California, after that shooting. "They think about that. Fortunately, it probably saved a lot of lives that they fled the scene so rapidly." A Washington Post analysis last year found that, during the 2017-18 school year, more than 4.1 million students went through at least one lockdown, events that can overwhelm and terrify the young students worried about what lurks outside their classroom doors. Experts said false alarms likely increase anxiety. Joan Cook, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, said she has not seen research on how false alarms specifically can affect people, but the fear of potentially imminent death is "an important moment that stays with you, oftentimes for life." Even the way people at Michigan responded Saturday - mistaking popping balloons for gunshots - "suggests heightened anxiety," said Jessica Stern, a research professor at Boston University and an expert in trauma and terrorism. "We're all impacted, even when there's an attack on the other side of the world," she said. "Just the image of somebody doing something that terrible affects people. . . . I hear a loud noise and I put the thought of a gunshot out of my mind. The fact that I have to do that is interesting. The fact that I have to tell myself, 'That's a balloon.' " Students at Northwestern University experienced this fear last year with a false report of a man with a gun on campus. "It took away my ability to feel safe at Northwestern," Karli Goldenberg, a 22-year-old senior, said a little more than a year later. "It just made me a more nervous person. It was a harsh reminder that even though it was a hoax, it very much could have been real." At the University of Michigan, school officials said authorities received up to 20 calls "reporting shots being fired" in Mason Hall, a stately 81-year-old building. Leor Rosen, a 21-year-old sophomore, said she was at a vigil for the New Zealand victims when a campus police officer ran toward the crowd and shouted: "Run, move!" Washington, the school's public safety and security director, said in an online message that he knew living through the false alarm was "a terrifying and traumatic experience." He thanked people on the campus for how they reacted and emphasized that, despite the false alarm, officials still want people to report anything they think is suspicious or dangerous. "Police officers can not be everywhere, at all times, (and) we rely on our community to alert us to suspicious activity," Washington wrote. "When in doubt, make the call. We will always err on the side of safety." Experts have pointed to similarities between the Lion Air crash six months ago and last week's Ethiopian Airlines crash, which killed all 157 people on board. Both were Boeing 737 Max 8 planes that were equipped with the same automated flight software and both crashed minutes after takeoff. The Ethiopian minister of transport said preliminary data recovered from the black boxes of the crash in Ethiopia showed similarities to the Air Lion crash. But the investigation is ongoing. Following the Ethiopian Airlines crash -- the second crash of a 737 Max 8 plane in less than five months -- countries and airlines around the world grounded their 737 Max planes. Boeing insists that the 737 Max 8 is safe to fly. "Safety is Boeing's number one priority and we have full confidence in the safety of the Max," Boeing said in a statement on March 12. "We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets. It is also important to note that the Federal Aviation Administration is not mandating any further action at this time, and based on the information currently available, we do not have any basis to issue new guidance to operators." According to The Associated Press, the Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau intends to release a preliminary report within 30 days. DOJ keeping tabs on Boeing jets U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing's 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. The Justice Department probe will examine the way Boeing was regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is not public. A federal grand jury in Washington sent a subpoena to someone involved in the plane's development seeking emails, messages and other communications, the person told The Associated Press. The Transportation Department's inspector general is also looking into the FAA's approval of the Boeing 737 Max, a U.S. official told AP. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported on the probe Sunday said the inspector general was looking into the plane's anti-stall system. It quotes unidentified people familiar with both cases. The anti-stall system may have been involved in the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air jet off of Indonesia's coast that killed 189 people. It's also under scrutiny in the March 10 crash of the Ethiopian Airlines jet that killed 157. The Transportation Department's FAA regulates Chicago-based Boeing and is responsible for certifying that planes can fly safely. The grand jury issued its subpoena on March 11, one day after the Ethopian Airlines crash, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the inspector general said Monday they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any inquiries. The FAA would not comment. "Boeing does not respond to or comment on questions concerning legal matters, whether internal, litigation, or governmental inquiries," Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said in an email. Straight from the cockpit Back in October when the doomed Lion Air Flight 610 crashed, reports indicate it wasnt the first-time pilots were struggling to maneuver the jetliners, according to CNN. An off-duty pilot in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet jumped in to help crew members disable a malfunctioning flight-control system as it experienced difficulties in October, according to Bloomberg. The next day, with a different crew, the same plane crashed into the sea off Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board. Reuters cites the information from three people with knowledge of the contents of the cockpit voice recorder that has never been made public. Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has refused to comment to CNN on the content of the voice recorder as the investigation is still ongoing. Boeing also refused to comment to CNN on the matter Wednesday. Indonesian authorities found the cockpit voice recorder in the Java Sea on Jan. 14, and said it could take up to a year to publish a full report into the crash. The revelation that an extra pilot saved the plane the day before the crash has never been reported before, according to Bloomberg. Aviation analyst and editor in chief of Airlineratings.com, Geoffrey Thomas, said it was not unusual for off-duty pilots, known as dead heads, to fly in the cockpit of planes. "It could well be that the flight is full and he needs to get back to Jakarta -- so as long as he is authorized to do so -- then it's absolutely fine," he said. However, the presence of the third pilot in the cockpit did not appear in the National Transportation Safety Committee's (KNKT) November preliminary report into the crash. Thomas said this fact should have been reported "as you could argue that the pilot was a distraction or an assistance," he said. CNN contacted Lion Air group captain Daniel Putut for comment and he directed questions to the KNKT. Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a U.S. Supreme Court argument for the first time in three years, questioning a defense lawyer seeking to overturn her client's death sentence because the prosecutor repeatedly excluded black people from the jury. Thomas' questions came in the final minutes of a one-hour argument Wednesday over Curtis Flowers, a Mississippi murder defendant. Thomas asked Flowers' lawyer, Sheri Lynn Johnson, whether the attorney who defended him at trial eliminated any prospective jurors. When Johnson said yes, Thomas followed up: "And what was the race of the jurors struck there?" Johnson said the defense lawyer excluded only white jurors. "But I would add that her motivation is not the question here," she said. "The question is the motivation of Doug Evans," the prosecutor. Thomas' questions came after his colleagues indicated they were inclined to throw out Flowers's conviction for killing four people. Flowers has been tried six times for the same offense. Three of those trials ended in convictions that were thrown out on appeal, once because the prosecutor excluded blacks from the jury. Two other prosecutions ended with mistrials. The jury that convicted Flowers in the sixth trial included 11 white people and one black person. Evans, the district attorney, struck five black prospective jurors. Thomas, 70, a member of the court since 1991, has said he thinks his colleagues ask too many questions during court sessions. He once went 10 years without speaking up at an argument. The court's only black justice, he intervenes most commonly during cases involving race, including a 2003 argument over university affirmative action and a 2002 clash about cross burning. His last questions came on Feb. 29, 2016, when he asked almost a dozen questions in a case over a federal law that bars firearm possession by people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. - - - Rubin reports for Bloomberg Law. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump plans to nominate former airline executive Stephen Dickson to head the Federal Aviation Administration, according to a White House statement on Tuesday. Dickson, a former executive at Delta Air Lines, would replace acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell. The FAA has been under interim leadership since January 2018, following the departure of Michael Huerta, whose five-year term had expired. The announcement comes as the agency faces increasing criticism and scrutiny over what some viewed as its slow response to the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jetliner and questions over whether it did enough to ensure the aircraft involved in the crash, a Boeing 737 Max 8, was safe to fly. The March 10 crash, which killed all 157 people aboard, was the second involving the Boeing 737 Max 8 in less than five months. Also Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who had been a supporter of Dickson getting the permanent post, asked her department's Office of Inspector General to launch an audit to "compile an objective and detailed factual history"of activities that led the FAA to certify the 737 Max 8. Chao's announcement of the request emphasized that Boeing had applied for its certification for the plane in January 2012, and that the FAA granted it in March 2017 - shortly after she took over as secretary. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who heads the aviation subcommittee, on Tuesday also asked the Inspector General to examine questions concerning the FAA's approach to certifying the 737 Max 8. Among them: how new automated features of the plane were "tested, certified, and integrated"; what safety assumptions "led to the FAA's decision not to revise pilot training programs and manuals" to reflect the automated features; how the FAA's delegation of authority to Boeing may have impacted the certification process; and what corrective actions have been taken since the initial accident in October 2018. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Chao's request "inadequate and incomplete." He asked the inspector general to investigate the Trump administration's "lackluster" response to an earlier crash in Indonesia last year, as well as whether FAA or Boeing employees had engaged "in any unethical, improper or criminal activity during the certification process." A spokesman for the inspector general said the office is preparing to launch an audit. Asked what time frame and areas of inquiry would be covered, the spokesman said the "scope and objectives"of the review are being determined. Elwell, a former American Airlines pilot, has been acting administrator since Jan. 7, 2018. He also served as deputy administrator and in other capacities at the FAA. Some critics have questioned why it has taken so long to fill such an important job. Trump wanted his longtime personal pilot, John Dunkin, at the helm of the agency, but the president lacked the needed support on Capitol Hill for the nomination, which contributed to delays in nominating a permanent administrator, according to a former FAA official. "He wanted his guy there. There's no question about that. It became something of a standoff," according to the former official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the process. Dickson, who must be confirmed by the Senate, previously served as an airline captain and senior vice president for flight operations at Delta Air Lines. In that role, he was responsible for the safety and performance of the airline's global flight operations. He was also an Air Force pilot. Dickson graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, and also holds a law degree from the Georgia State University College of Law. The Justice Department's criminal division is looking into the Boeing 737 Max 8, though the parameters of that inquiry remain unclear. Apart from the audit, the Inspector General's Office of Investigations, which handles criminal and other matters, has also sought details about FAA's certification of the plane and its training materials, according to a person with knowledge of that effort. Chao said the audit she requested is necessary "to help inform the Department's decision-making and the public's understanding, and to assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively." "Safety is the top priority of the Department, and all of us are saddened by the fatalities resulting from the recent accidents involving two Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircraft in Indonesia and Ethiopia," Chao said. NAIROBI - For years, the U.S. military has denied that any of its airstrikes in Somalia against the extremist group al-Shabab have resulted in civilian casualties, but a new report released Tuesday by Amnesty International alleges that 14 civilians were killed in five airstrikes in 2017 and 2018. The accuracy of the U.S. military's drone strikes in Somalia has come under increased scrutiny since President Donald Trump relaxed rules of engagement there in March 2017, when he declared the southern part of the country an "area of active hostilities." Since then, the number of strikes - carried out by Reaper drones and manned aircraft - has dramatically increased, as have worries about a possible civilian toll. U.S. forces have carried out 28 airstrikes in Somalia this year, on pace to triple the 47 acknowledged strikes it carried out in 2018. A large portion of the strikes are carried out in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, where Amnesty did its investigation, which included more than 150 interviews and analyses of satellite imagery and munition fragments. In response to the report, U.S. Africa Command released its own assessments of the five highlighted strikes and maintained that they caused no civilian casualties, arguing that Amnesty's capability to gather intelligence in a war zone couldn't compare to the military's. The report says the civilian casualties it documents resulted from strikes that "may amount to war crimes." "The civilian death toll we've uncovered in just a handful of strikes suggests the shroud of secrecy surrounding the U.S. role in Somalia's war is actually a smokescreen for impunity," Brian Castner, Amnesty International's senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations, said in a statement released with the report. "Our findings directly contradict the U.S. military's mantra of zero civilian casualties in Somalia." A spokesman for U.S. Africa Command, commonly known as AFRICOM, said in a statement: "In only 4 of the 5 allegations were we able to correlate some of the data AI provided with AFRICOM strikes, but found no civilian casualties resulted from those strikes. In one allegation, we did not conduct a strike on that date, in that location." In a written response to the report, AFRICOM maintained that it goes to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid civilian casualties and said it conducted post-strike analyses "using intelligence methods not available to non-military organizations." It said that in 110 strikes since June 2017, 800 al-Shabab fighters had been killed. The statement also appeared to accuse Amnesty of falling for al-Shabab propaganda. "It is in the interest of the terrorist group al-Shabaab to untruthfully claim civilian casualties. It is also in the interest of al-Shabaab to coerce community members to make untrue claims," it read, in part. AFRICOM acknowledged three ongoing "civilian casualty assessments," including one from a strike that took place Monday in Lower Shabelle. The Reuters news agency spoke with a cousin of one of the victims, who said his relative, an employee of Somalia's main telecommunications company, was "totally burnt." Al-Shabab once controlled much of Somalia, imposing a strict version of sharia law, but since 2011 it has lost control in most urban areas. It still controls much of Somalia's rural south. The United States has about 500 troops based in the country, and an African Union-sponsored coalition has more than 20,000 troops in a constellation of bases. U.S. drones fly from bases in Somalia as well as from a much larger base in neighboring Djibouti. Somali human rights advocates have documented alleged civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes for years, but many lack the resources of a large international organization such as Amnesty International. Still, many say that more airstrikes mean more civilian casualties because al-Shabab fighters live among civilians in rural areas. "Drones will never finish off al-Shabab," said Mahat Abdi Dore, a member of Parliament from Lower Shabelle. "They are among the people. You cannot kill them all without killing many regular people. The people of Lower Shabelle are suffering from al-Shabab but also from what I might call American hit-and-runs." Federico Borello, executive director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said it was unclear how AFRICOM determines which people are "sufficiently affiliated" with al-Shabab "to warrant inclusion in lethal targeting decisions." "Considering all military-age males in areas held by al-Shabab as enemy combatants is not a smart policy, and many civilians are hurt and killed," said Mohamed Mubarak, executive director of the Hiraal Institute, a think tank focused on Somalia. "This policy could end up making its own assumption true by further radicalizing those living in areas held by al-Shabab." March 17, 1959: As of March 6 there had been 108 Hale County farms designated for the B cotton plan, John Martin, county ASC office supervisor, said. --A jury in Hale County Court this morning found Jess Guill guilty on a charge of driving while intoxicated and assessed him a $150 fine and three days in jail. The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers are asking for assistance in identifying a man and woman involved in a theft from Beall's. The individuals entered the store on Feb. 9 and took several clothing items, according to a post on the Crime Stoppers' Facebook account. The Plainview Area Retired School Personnel Association (PARSPA) held its March meeting at Plainview Adult Activity Center. Linda Murphree, co-president, welcomed Pat and Judy Buchanan as new members. She then led the group in pledges to the United States and Texas flags. Beth Finley, Program Chair, introduced the program presenter, SuNell Pyeatt, executive director of Plainview's Compassionate Care Pregnancy Center (CCPC). Pyeatt began by quoting the organization's 3-point mission statement: "Compassionate Care Pregnancy Center is a Christian outreach ministry whose mission is (1) To present the gospel of Jesus Christ in both word and deed to women in crisis pregnancy situations; (2) To present God's view of sexuality and premarital abstinence; and (3) To aid in the healing of women who have experienced the trauma of prior abortions." Finley said the CCPC does not duplicate services provided by another organization. Services provided by CCPC include free, confidential pregnancy tests; counseling in the areas of crisis pregnancies, abstinence, second virginity and post abortion; and providing benevolence services to clients who need new-baby essentials. "The abortion rate in Hale County has decreased by 40 percent since we opened our doors 25 years ago," Finley said. "We are seeing 42 percent fewer clients in the 15-19 age range. Recently, the Health Department and Chamber of Commerce reported going three months without seeing a high school student--a first! During the last 12 school years, 8,419 students have committed to abstinence. We have a 99.99 percent approval rating from our clients." So what is the organization planning for the future? Pyeatt presented two goals with a sense of excitement in her voice: "First, we hope to start 'fatherhood classes' in high school; secondly, we are looking into offering free sonograms once or twice a month. We are making a difference--one client/student at a time. Our country/community benefits from the younger population making good choices." Pyeatt reminded the group that CCPC operates on donations only--primarily from individuals, churches, grants and special fundraisers in the spring and fall. The staff consists of Pyeatt, two part-time employees, nine Board members, and 10 volunteers with three in training. The group was invited to the next annual banquet scheduled for April 29 6:30 p.m. at Harvest Christian Fellowship. An added feature will be a musical presentation by "The Royal Priesthood" of Happy Union Church. To receive an invitation, give your name and address to CCPC, P.O. Box 189, Plainview. Murphree conducted the business meeting, announcing that nominated officers for the new year would be voted on and installed at the April meeting, which would also be the last meeting until September. An officer training meeting will be held at the Lubbock Education Service Center on May 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with free lunch provided. Murphree reminded everyone that dues totaling $45 are still payable--but hurry! Murphree will be representing PARSPA in Austin on April 1-2 to vote on amendments and other issues as listed in THE VOICE. The meeting was adjourned. A former special education co-teacher arrested for indecency with a child at a North Side school posted bond and was released Tuesday. Gabriel Charles Ginithan, 49, was indicted on the charge March 12 in connection with an incident involving a former student at Lopez Middle School, North East Independent School District officials confirmed. A San Antonio woman convicted for the second time of orchestrating the murder of her ex-boyfriend received an even stiffer sentence this time around: life in prison. Vanessa Cameron, 38, was given 70 years in prison when she was first convicted in 2012 for the death of her childs father, VIA bus driver Samuel Allen Johnson Jr., 26. Cameron, the daughter of a now-retired San Antonio police officer, took the stand during the sentencing phase of her trial Wednesday so that jurors could get a full picture of her role in Johnsons killing in January 2010. It was his wish to die, Vanessa Cameron told jurors during the sentencing phase of the trial Wednesday. He came up with the idea, and I said, OK. Her testimony gave just minutes after her wife testified that she couldnt imagine Cameron plotting the violent acts described by prosecutors. But Cameron told jurors that her ex-boyfriend had been suicidal and talked about staging his own killing. Instead of trying to stop it, she told jurors, she helped make it happen so she could collect a hefty life insurance payout. I told him, yes, that was the best plan hed ever come up with, she said, adding that looking back she wishes she couldve stopped the killing. On ExpressNews.com: Woman guilty in plotting ex-boyfriends murder The jury found Cameron guilty the second time around on Tuesday. Cameron original conviction and 70-year prison sentence was thrown out because of a technicality during jury selection. Her attorneys argued that her constitutional right to a public trial was violated when her relatives couldnt find a place to sit in a crowded courtroom because all the seats were already taken by the jury pool. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed, overturning the conviction and granting Cameron a new trial in 2014. Related: Appeals court overturns murder conviction of police sergeants daughter San Antonio held its annual observance of the Battle of the Alamo this month, a solemn tribute to the outnumbered defenders who gave their lives for Texas independence. This years ceremonies were the first to take place since the city of San Antonio and the Texas General Land Office entered into a lease agreement that took effect Jan. 1, along with an associated master plan to close streets to public traffic, restrict pedestrian access and displace longtime local businesses. Decades before the state took an interest in making Alamo Plaza a tourist destination, San Antonio entrepreneurs invested their time and money to create a vibrant mix of stores and attractions that extended what was often a brief visit to the Alamo into a daylong experience, with its attendant economic benefits for our city. These local businesses added a dose of fun to a serious and somber Texas history lesson, making a trip to the Alamo both educational and entertaining for families. My company owns and operates three businesses on Alamo Plaza Guinness World Record Museum, Ripleys Haunted Adventure and Tomb Rider 3D. Over the course of Spring Break, thousands visited these attractions. The Alamo and nearby businesses are at the heart of San Antonios tourism industry, which, according to Visit San Antonio, now exceeds $15 billion annually in economic impact. Our three venues are part of a larger network of 18 businesses in and around Alamo Plaza. Together, we employ over 465 San Antonio residents and report $6 million in annual payroll. We generate more than $3.6 million in city, county and state taxes, and nearly $30 million in gross annual revenue. More people pay to visit these attractions and shops than visit the Alamo free each year. When Bexar County and the city of San Antonio worked to earn a World Heritage Site designation for the Alamo and other missions, we supported those efforts because it was good for the Alamo and for the community. And when the city and the state brought forward a master plan to re-envision Alamo Plaza and the Alamo experience, for the same reasons we did not object even though that vision involved displacing many of the local businesses that have sustained Alamo Plaza for so long. As good corporate citizens, that was the right thing to do. But there were also explicit discussions during the planning process about making sure that affected businesses didnt simply go away. In fact, because many of these businesses have long-term leases that run to the end of the next decade, the Alamo plan cant move forward in a timely fashion without a resolution of this issue. City officials have done their part to communicate with local businesses. But somewhere between the city of San Antonio and the General Land Office in Austin, there is a breakdown of communication and a lack of action. The Alamo and the proposed Alamo master plan arouse the passion of Texans, as they should. One Texas lawmaker has gone so far as to introduce a measure that would prevent the state from moving the Cenotaph as part of that plan. The public and elected officials ought to have just as much concern for private enterprise and private businesses that invested millions of dollars in Alamo Plaza long before there was a plan to invest public funds. Remembering the Alamo also means remembering the surrounding private interests that have supported the historic mission and the citys tourism industry. Davis Phillips is president and CEO of Phillips Entertainment Inc., which operates tourist attractions in two Alamo Plaza buildings now owned by the state of Texas. The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results Danville, WV (25053) Today Rain likely. Thunder possible. High 71F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. What's popular in the music scene changes from year to year, but any band that can hold it together and change with the timee is one worth listening to. The 4 Of Us have been a steadfast part of the Irish music industry for 30 years now following their rise to fame towards the end of 1989 with their debut album Songs for the Tempted, which featured massive hits Mary and Drag My Bad Name. Formed and fronted by Newry-born brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy, The 4 Of Us have developed a unique musical identity which has produced original and award-winning records, as well as a large loyal fan base. And the pair are planning a trip to Longford this Saturday, March 23 for an incredible Backstage Theatre gig that is not to be missed. In late 2017, The 4 Of Us were listed at number 7 in TV3's Top 10 Best Irish Bands Of All Time, featuring alongside other greats such as U2 and Thin Lizzy. To date, the Murphy brothers have notched up an enviable catalogue of timeless songs, including six top 20 Irish charting albums. Their music has also been featured extensively on American, UK and Irish TV soundtracks. Really the song that gave us a career was Mary. Weve been playing ever since, Brendan Murphy told the Longford Leader last week. Weve had a very exciting career over the last 30 years but were just warming up. I think we know what were doing now, so were really enjoying it. Sugar Island is the latest album by The 4 Of Us and has received plenty of positive attention since its release in 2016. The album centres around growing up in the north during the 70s when all hell was breaking out. Its probably our most narrative album and it really tells our story before we formed the band, Brendan explained. Read also: Eimear Reynolds channels her inner Dolly Parton for St Mel's Musical Society, Longford It's an uplifting album that touches on themes of childhood, family and the passing of time against the backdrop of one of the North's darkest periods in history. Saturday night's gig will feature some songs from the new album, but the audience can also throw back to 30 years ago as the Murphy brothers will perform some of their most well-loved songs from their career. We have quite a large fanbase in that neck of the woods because weve gathered fans over the last 30 years and the show will be a real mixture of songs that punctuate every decade in our career to date so anyone at the show on Saturday can expect to hear any of the big songs weve done over the years, said Brendan. And its an interactive show. We talk to the audience and the audience talks back to us. Itll be a really good night and were really looking forward to it. Tickets at 25 each can be purchased at backstage.ie or 043 33 47888. Read also: Making theatre available to everyone in Longford Download Image: Web Lycoming College welcomes guest lecturer Jane Dailey, Ph.D., for the 46th annual Robert H. Ewing Lecture. Daileys presentation, White Fright: Sex, Race and the African American Freedom Struggle, will be held on Monday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m., in the Mary Lindsay Welch Honors Hall on the Lycoming College campus. The event is free and open to the public. In her presentation, Dailey will examine the history of racially-restrictive marriage laws and the state-enforced systems of racial identification that sustained Jim Crow segregation. Her research reveals why bans on interracial marriage were the last piece of the white supremacist regime to fall. Dailey is an associate professor of American history at the University of Chicago, where she is also an associate faculty member of the Law School. Dailey has published multiple books on American history and the African American experience. Daileys first book, Before Jim Crow: The Politics of Race in Postemancipation Virginia, analyzed the conditions that facilitated, and ultimately undid, interracial democracy in the postwar South. Her most recent book, Building the American Republic: A Narrative History from 1877, is the second of a two-volume history of the United States. Written for a broad audience, both volumes are available as e-books free of charge at www.BuildingTheAmericanRepublic.org. Considering her expertise in these subject matters, she has been invited to appear numerous times on C-SPAN, and has been a guest on many radio programs. She has written a number of posts on American history for the Huffington Post and was a featured consultant in the new Netflix docuseries, Medal of Honor, released in November. Dailey has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Academy in Berlin, the Alphonse Fletcher Foundation, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. She is currently finishing a book on sex, race, religion and the civil rights movement from the emancipation era to the present. She received her Ph.D. in history from Princeton University in 1995 and her A.B. from Yale in 1987. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts wants Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins to make good on her promise to not prosecute certain low-level crimes. Rollins made national headlines during the campaign for her pledge to not prosecute some 15 misdemeanors and low-level felonies, ranging from trespassing to receiving stolen property. After she was sworn in, Rollins said she was taking a hard look at the list before implementing the proposal, according to the Boston Herald. Now a report analyzing county prosecution data from 2013 and 2014 suggests that more than half of those low-level crimes identified by Rollins were dismissed at the time by then-District Attorney Dan Conley. The report suggests police disproportionately filed charges against people of color, particularly black residents. Our analysis begs the question: Why are people being charged for crimes that are not being prosecuted? said Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. Diversion is an important tool at the disposal of law enforcement officials, but many of these cases should have never been brought in the first place. The ACLU of Massachusetts called for Rollins to not only implement her campaign pledge but also make structural changes to her agency to make sure her prosecutors follow the policy. The organization also called for structural changes to police departments to curb arrests for low-level offenses. Rene Algarin, a Rollins spokeswoman, said in a statement that the data reveals the list targets crimes that were already bring dismissed without causing an increase in crime. In fact, crime has been declining over several years, Algarin wrote. Scaling back the prosecution of low-level, non-violent offenses even further and relying instead on treatment and diversion can achieve even better results. Nearly 60 percent of all crimes that Rollins put on her proposed Decline to Prosecute list were dismissed in 2013 and 2014, according to the report. The ACLU suggests that this pattern means over half of the charges werent worthwhile prosecution and served only to target minorities. According to the report, black people were charged with offenses such as trespass, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct three times as often as white people. Black people were charged for driving offenses four times as much as white people. If there were a significant public safety concern, an overwhelming majority of these cases would likely be prosecuted to an adverse disposition, the report states. It also affirms the proposed practice Rollins intends to implement. The ACLU of Massachusetts recommended changes for agencies beyond the Suffolk County District Attorneys office. The report calls for research across the Commonwealth examining how assistant prosecutors pursue cases on a weekly basis, including the cost, benefit and efficacy of prosecuting the 15 low-level crimes. It also calls for community-led alternatives to prosecution that would involve cooperation between the Suffolk County District Attorneys office and local stakeholders such as community organizers, small business owners and healthcare advocates. The ACLU called for police departments not only to enact Decline to Arrest policies similar to Rollins campaign pledge, but to also examine their arrest records for potential racial disparities regarding the 15 types of offenses. The list stirred controversy during her campaign. A group called the National Police Association filed a complaint against Rollins to the Office of the Bar Counsel claiming the Massachusetts lawyer violated several rules of professional conduct, including promising to implement policy positions that are illegitimate, contrary to law, contrary to her ethical obligations as an attorney and further a clear and immediate danger to the publics overall health and well-being. That controversy seems to have died down since Rollins took office. Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said earlier this year that he was not concerned with the list, but implementing such a policy at local police departments could prove difficult. Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes told the Herald he was optimistic about working with Rollins but was concerned about any policies related to drug dealing. Her campaign website lists drug possession and drug possession with intent to distribute as two of the crimes she would decline to prosecute under the policy. Meanwhile, CourtWatch MA is advocating for Rollins to implement the program and address racial disparities involving those 15 offenses. The community project analyzes municipal court cases each week to understand how those offenses are handled. The most recent report states that 38 cases, or 42.2 percent, moved forward as criminal matters between Feb. 6 and Feb. 12. Another 38 cases were dismissed at arraignment and 14 were diverted to community service, drug treatment or some other outcome. Daniel Medwed, a Northeastern University law professor, told WGBH on Tuesday that while groups should hold local prosecutors accountable, Rollins is just getting started. Shes an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, he said. She knows the best way to win over the hearts and minds of the law enforcement establishment is not through dramatic change, but through incremental reforms that can get buy-in from people. A 24-year-old Malden man accused of sexually assaulting someone in Bostons South End over the weekend was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation at his arraignment Tuesday. Anthony Smith-Pacheco was arrested on a warrant for assault and battery, indecent assault and battery, and assault with intent to rape in connection with a sexual assault. Police say someone was sexually assaulted inside on a business on Harrison Avenue in the South End at about 2 p.m. Sunday. Judge Richard Sinnott ordered Smith-Pacheco to undergo a 20-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. Assistant District Attorney Brian LeBlanc filed a motion for a dangerousness hearing that will likely be considered on April 18, prosecutors said. The Boston Police Department is asking for the publics help identifying the person responsible for a string of vandalisms to memorials throughout the area. Authorities said several memorials at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan were found vandalized on Tuesday a day after the World War II Memorial at Castle Island was found splashed with oil. The vandalisms in Mattapan appears to be similar in nature, according to a photo posted by the department. Among the vandalized memorials is a monument dedicated to fallen Boston police officers, which also appeared to be splashed with oil. How incredibly distasteful and disheartening it is to learn about the damage done to the memorials at the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, Police Commissioner William Gross said in a statement. Clearly, these memorials are meant to honor and show great respect to those, whether they be veterans or police officers, who spent a lifetime in dedicated service to our city and nation. I find it beyond reprehensible and wrong that anyone would think it okay to damage and desecrate such hallowed grounds. Gross said he hopes that the vandal will be identified quickly and held accountable. Anyone with information is asked to contact District B-3 Detectives at 617-343-4712. Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of all those who wish to help this investigation in an anonymous manner. More than a dozen people were left homeless early Wednesday morning after a fire broke out in a triple-decker in Revere. The 4-alarm fire destroyed the multi-family home on Thornton Street and displaced at least 19 people, including children, according to NBC Boston. The fire was first reported around midnight. Officials told the television station that no one was injured, but the building was deemed a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (CNN) The last remaining Soviet-era head of state has stepped down. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his resignation Tuesday, after nearly three decades in office. The former Communist Party official is the last of the leaders who were running the 15 Soviet republics when the USSR collapsed in 1991. In a nationally televised address, Nazarbayev, 78, alluded to Kazakhstan's transition to independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union, precipitated by the signing of the Belovezh Accords and a botched coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. "I have decided to terminate my powers as president," Nazarbayev said, according to a transcript of remarks carried by Russian state news agency TASS. "This year marks my 30th year in office as the supreme leader of our country. I was given the great honor of my great people to be the first president of independent Kazakhstan." Nazarbayev is not as well known internationally as the man who runs the country to Kazakhstan's north: Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he has dominated political life in his country in a way that even the Kremlin leader cannot match. Thirty years in power The Kazakh President vaulted to power as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, geographically the largest of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. With independence, Nazarbayev found himself running a country that sat atop vast reserves of oil and minerals, drawing the attention of both international energy companies and policymakers in Washington. Kazakhstan also inherited a nuclear arsenal. With the collapse of the USSR, the newly formed country had over 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads on its territory. The country was also the home to one of the USSR's major nuclear testing grounds, Semipalatinsk, where the Soviets tested their first atomic bomb. Nazarbayev oversaw the transfer of nuclear warheads to Russia, and his country renounced nuclear weaponry, a history he recounted in his book, "Epicenter of Peace." While the Kazakhs never had operational control of those weapons, the Kazakh leader was able to cast himself as a visionary leader who had reduced the threat of nuclear proliferation. The President also cast himself as a relatively enlightened ex-Soviet leader, at least in comparison with some of his more despotic Central Asia neighbors. Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, for instance, presided over a bizarre personality cult that included a rotating gold statue and renaming days of the week. Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan was known for brutally incarcerating and torturing his political opponents. Still, Nazarbayev ran Kazakhstan like a classic autocrat. The State Department's 2018 human rights report noted Kazakhstan's 2015 presidential election, in which Nazarbayev received a whopping 98% of votes cast, "was marked by irregularities and lacked genuine political competition." Nazarbayev will remain in the picture Nazarbayev's powers as president are to be transferred to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, chairman of the Kazakh Senate, until the expiration of the current electoral term. But don't expect Nazarbayev to stay out of the picture: The Kazakh leader said he would remain the chairman of the country's Security Council. He retains the title of Elbasy (Leader of the Nation). The Kazakh leader's aspirations to grandeur often sound like the stuff of parody: Take, for instance, his relocation of the capital to Astana, a futuristic city on the frozen steppe of northern Kazakhstan. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen made a career of poking fun at (a very fictional version of) Kazakhstan. But Kazakhstan is also located in a region that is changing quickly, and unexpectedly. Uzbekistan, the most populous nation in former Soviet Central Asia, has undergone a political thaw after the death of Karimov. Peace talks have raised hopes of an end to conflict in Afghanistan, which borders several countries in the region. And then there's Kazakhstan's strategic location as a potential new trade corridor between China and European markets. Nazarbayev has welcomed Chinese investment in new infrastructure as part of Beijing's One Belt, One Road initiative. That initiative, sometimes described as the creation of a 21st-Century Silk Road, also has potential to spur great-power competition in the region. This story was first published on CNN.com, "The last of the Soviet-era bosses makes his exit in Kazakhstan." The first China book center in the Philippines was unveiled on Monday in University of the Philippines, aiming to promote cultural exchange between the two countries. Located in the Asian center of the University of the Philippines Diliman, the China book center was jointly established by the Chinese embassy in the Philippines, China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the University of the Philippines (UP). Tan Qingsheng, Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese embassy, said he hoped the China book center will provide the teachers and students in UP with a window to a whole picture of China and give them an insight of China's history, culture, and development. "I also hope more Filipino scholars and students could be the ambassadors of friendship and cooperation between China and the Philippines," He said. In the China book center, around 1,000 books in English and Chinese are available to local readers. All books, covering Chinese politics, economy, culture and ecology, are donated by CIPG. Chen Shi, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of CIPG, said the China book center in UP is the first one in the Philippines and the second one in Southeast Asia. The other one is at Bangkok University in Thailand. Chancellor of University of the Philippines Diliman Michael Lim Tan expressed his gratitude during the unveiling ceremony of the China book center. Tan said the books can be a bridge and will boost the mutual understanding between the two countries. There are just so many activities on Chinese culture in UP and the unveiling of the China book center will be a very effective measure for understanding China further, he added. UP is one of the most famous universities in the Philippines with a history of more than one 100 years. UP has established close ties with China in recent years, including the academic exchange programs with Peking University and Tsinghua University. Police across Cape Cod are searching for Darren Patrick Devine, a 27-year-old with 91 priors on his criminal record who is wanted on several charges, including assault and battery on a police officer. Devine is wanted by the Provincetown Police Department on warrants including assault and battery on a police officer, breaking and entering, and destruction of property. The Yarmouth Police Department issued a wanted Wednesday bulletin for Devine, saying that he is is dangerous and mentally unstable with a long violent criminal history in Massachusetts. On Facebook, Yarmouth police wrote, The YPD is very familiar with this wanted Career Criminal and mentally ill man who has attacked people and Police Officers in the past multiple times. Devines current address and location are unknown. Yarmouth police said Devine is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Provincetown police were trying to arrest Devine recently when he struck one of the officers in the face, according to CapeCod.com. Police used a Taser on Devine, who was able to run away despite being struck by the Taser. Devine was is out on bail for an alleged breaking and entering in Wellfleet and did not show up for a recent hearing at Orleans District Court, according to the website. Last year, Devine threatened suicide by cop after police stopped him for putting license plates on an unregistered car, according to the Cape Cod Times. In 2016, Devine was accused of wrestling a police officer to the ground before stealing his badge and running off. Police eventually arrested Devine after ordering him to the ground at gunpoint. Devine faced charges including assault and battery on a police officer in that case, the Cape Cod Times reported. Anyone with information about Devines location is asked to call 911, the Provincetown Police Department at 508.487.1212 or Yarmouth Police Detective Division Commander Michael A. Bryant at 508-775-0445 extension 2122. Brookline Village businesses foresee the recreational marijuana dispensarys opening bringing thousands to the historic neighborhood on Saturday. They may pack the Green Line trolley or circle the block looking for open parking spaces only to spend hours waiting to buy marijuana products at the New England Treatment Access dispensary on Washington Street. Some see potentially nightmarish traffic jams. Neighboring businesses see dollar signs. Maybe somebody needs an oil change. They can drop their car off and park there the rest of the day, said Keith Warren, assistant manager of the Midas auto shop down the street from the dispensary. New England Treatment Access at 160 Washington Street, which sits on the corner of Boylston and Washington streets, plans to begin adult-use sales when it opens at 9 a.m. Saturday. The Brookline shop currently serves medical marijuana patients. Its Northampton shop sells both medical and recreational marijuana. When marijuana dispensaries open, residents often think of the Cultivate dispensary opening in Leicester in November. The shop was so popular that cars lined up for hours in the Central Massachusetts town, blocking some residents driveways. Jen Ziskim, who owns La Morra restaurant with her husband, said she hopes to deliver Italian food to customers waiting in line on Saturday. We want to embrace the crowds more than anything, Ziskim said. La Morra plans to start offering lunch on weekends in part due to NETAs expansion into retail. NETA already asked customers online to take public transportation because parking is limited. Customers can take the D branch of the Green Line, though the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority started running shuttle buses on weeknights starting at 8:30 p.m. from Kenmore to the Reservoir, starting March 11 through April 5. The company encouraged Brookline customers to use the reserve ahead platform to browse the menu and reserve products online before theyre ready for pickup at the dispensary. Across the street from the shop, an electronic message board warns motorists about the Saturday opening and the limited parking. Roxanna Myhrum, artistic director at the Puppet Showplace Theater, said her only concern is whether families and people with disabilities will have trouble getting to the theater for its two showings of Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup Saturday afternoon and the adult Puppet Showplace Slam later that night. We support them having a medical dispensary, and there hasnt been an impact on the business or neighborhood, Myhrum said. Weve been hearing about the traffic, but we are still hopeful that we are going to be able to have families come and park. The Puppet Showplace Theater owns no parking spaces, but it sits across the street from the Brookline Village T stop. Roxanna Myhrum, right, discusses plans for Saturday's shows at the Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline Village. The shows are the same day as start of NETA's recreational marijuana sales, which could bring thousands to the neighborhood and create traffic. Venugopal Mergu, manager of the nearby Blue Moon Smoke Shop, said he hopes the large crowds mean more people looking for bongs and other accessories he sells at his 18+ shop. Most of the people who buy from NETA come here for the devices, Mergu said. But he sees neighboring restaurants and cafes getting a boost in customers, not just his smoke shop. Theyre definitely going to want to have some food or get coffee somewhere, Mergu said of NETAs new recreational customers. Its a win-win situation for everybody. Chelsea Roffman, 26, works at the Kookoo Cafe across the street from the station and often greets NETA employees. She said the medial marijuana providers have become a part of the community. If the dispensarys retail operations create a ripple effect for other local businesses, she said, all the better. I heard it could bring thousands of people, said Roffman, who works under owner Jamie Siracusa. Im excited for this business, for the cafe and for Jamie." NETA plans to be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. Victor Pena, the man accused of abducting a 23-year-old woman in Boston in late January, was held without bail in Suffolk Superior Court on Wednesday as investigators revealed the horrific details of the alleged kidnapping in which the victim feared for her life. Pena, 38 was arraigned on one count of kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Authorities say Pena kidnapped the young woman on Jan. 19 after she had spent a night out with friends at Hennessys in Boston. An investigation, using phone tracking and surveillance footage from the Faneuil Hall area and MBTA, led police to Penas public housing apartment on Walford Way in Charlestown three days after the alleged kidnapping. Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said in court Wednesday the victim was highly intoxicated on the night of her disappearance. She and another man were escorted out of Hennessys bar that night. That man later left with friends, leaving the woman walking alone in the snow. The victim has no recollection of what came next, according to the prosecutor. He said she encountered Pena when she crossed Congress Street, which police observed on surveillance footage of the area. The suspect was with another man who told Pena to leave the woman alone. Shes drunk, the man allegedly told Pena, according to Polumbaum. Pena reportedly ignored the mans comments and continued to walk around the area with the woman, the prosecutor said. An investigation found that Pena took her in a circle around upper Washington Street and then on the MBTA Orange Line. From a distance it might have looked like they were walking arm and arm," Polumbaum said, adding, But up close on video that was discovered, it was obvious she was out of it and unable to walk on her own. A witness on the MBTA told investigators that Pena was propping the woman up on the seat next to him, her eyes fluttering. He then took her to his apartment in Charlestown, authorities said. The victim next remembered waking up on a bare mattress...in a filthy apartment, Polumbaum said. When she tried to gather her things and leave, Pena allegedly threatened her. The suspect also stole her phone, according to the prosecutor. [Mr. Pena] stopped her, ordered her to be quiet or hed kill her, Polumbaum said. Pena reportedly told her he was glad he had rescued her and that the two were going to start a family together, mentioning that he had not seen his own daughter in a decade, according to the prosecution. In following days, Pena allegedly subjected the victim to various acts against her will, including forced sexual acts, authorities said. He made her drink alcohol, fed her canned pineapple, demanded she read the Bible out loud in Spanish and take selfie photos with him. The victim knew Spanish, which is how they communicated, the assistant district attorney said. The victim thought of ways to escape, like hitting Pena with an object or stabbing him with a utensil, but feared what might happen if she tried and failed. A deadbolt on the door locked in both directions, Polumbaum said. The investigation, aided by the victims twin sister and friends who used the Find My Friends phone application to locate the victims location in Charlestown, led authorities to Penas apartment, which was guarded by an illegal deadbolt lock. A locksmith began to drill down the lock on Jan. 22 before Pena opened the door for police, according to various authorities. Police immediately saw the victim, shaking, visibly frightened with a dazed look, Polumbaum said. Pena struggled with police officers when they detained him in the apartment, the assistant district attorney added. The suspect later said police rushed in and beat him up." Polumbaum said that when Pena appeared in court last month, when news cameras were present, Pena played up symptoms of possible incompetency, though later medical evaluations said those symptoms were not genuine. After he was arrested, Pena spent more than a month at Bridgewater State Hospital undergoing mental competency evaluations. Professionals there determined he was mentally fit to stand trial. In a search warrant of Penas apartment, investigators gathered various evidence that corroborates aspects of the victims account, Polumbaum said. The prosecution said Pena has a history of accosting women at MBTA stations in past years, and has a history of alleged abuse by former girlfriends. The suspects brother, Jose Pena, hired Medford-based attorney Bill Barabino to represent his sibling. Jose Pena has said his brother is a hoarder and has the mental capacity of a 13 or 14-year-old but is not aggressive. He does not believe his brother is guilty of the kidnapping and rape allegations. The search for the young woman who had recently moved to Boston sparked nationwide attention and a swift police investigation. Her family thanked the public for amplifying the message that she had gone missing, and requested privacy after she had been rescued by police. Pena is next due in Suffolk Superior court for a dangerousness hearing at 2 p.m. on April 10. A 19-year-old who was living in Palestine faces several federal charges after he allegedly lied about a gunshot wound investigators say he sustained in a fight at the Gaza-Israel border to secure a visa. Waad Alzerei, who federal prosecutors describe as a stateless national of the Palestinian Authority, was charged Wednesday with fraudulent procurement of a U.S. visa and making false statements regarding acts of violence he committed against the Israeli Defense Force along the Gaza-Israel border, according to United States Attorney Andrew E. Lellings office. He is currently in ICE custody and will appear in a Boston federal court Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors said. Alzerei arrived at Bostons Logan International Airport on flight from Paris, France on Feb. 27. The flight originated in Cairo, Egypt, according to court documents. Shortly after he landed two Customs and Border Patrol officers interviewed Alzerei near baggage claim with the help of an Arabic translator. He told the officers he was a citizen of Palestine and presented a non-expired B1/B2 tourist visa, according to court documents. Alzerei said he was traveling the United States to receive medical treatment, but could not produce any documentation to verify an appointment, according to prosecutors. He instead presented medical paperwork from 2018. The officers discovered that he came to the United States in 2017 for a six-month stay. Alzerei, who had his leg amputated above the knee, was fitted for and provided with a prosthetic leg at the time, according to the court documents. In a second interview at the airport, Alzerei told the officers he lost his leg on Oct. 23, 2015 after he was shot by a stray bullet from Israeli Defense Force while he was picking olives in a field near the Gaza-Israel border. He told the officers there were no protests going on during the shooting. I was shot by a sniper. I wasnt doing nothing. I was walking, Alzerei said, according to a transcript of the interview filed in court. The officers asked Alzerei if he had ever been involved in any border riots, rallies, or demonstrations in his life. He said No, according to the court documents. Waad Alzerei, 19, poses at border with Israel. The officers searched Alzereis cell phone and found photos and videos that seemed to show Alzereis affiliation with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas. These groups have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the United States government since 1997, according to prosecutors. Officers also found photographs of Alzerei hurling large rocks at Israeli Defense Force members on Oct. 23, 2015, the day he was shot in the leg near the border. The officers showed Alzerei the photos, and he smiled and laughed, according to the court paperwork, and then admitted it was him. He then told officers he was rioting with protesters at the border when he was shot by Israeli troops, according to court documents. Alzerei said he lied to the United States consulate because he did not want to be arrested by Israelis and because he knew he would not get a U.S. visa if he was truthful, according to the court documents. Joel Embiid is a defensive monster. The Philadelphia 76ers are 4.9 points worse per 100 possessions when hes off the floor and, coupled with is offense, 10.5 points better overall when hes on the floor. However, Embiid has struggled against the Celtics. Even if hes putting up decent scoring numbers, he has struggled mightily with his matchup against Al Horford. There are a lot of reasons why. Part of it is undoubtedly mental by this point, as Embiid will spend a lot of time focusing on his one-on-matchup with Horford. Embiid is a beast, but Horford is deceptively strong, and he can often hold his own in the post, so the Celtics dont have to send double-teams like other teams do. Allowing Horford to defend Embiid solo generally means Phillys shooters have less space and opportunity to get themselves going. However, Embiid can be neutralized on the defensive end as well, and Bostons ability to do so begins with Al Horfords ability to regularly hit the 3. Heres a look at a simple pick-and-pop play from earlier this season. The set-up is simple: Horford sets a pick for Terry Rozier with three shooters on the floor keeping their defenders occupied. Horford reads the defense and pops out to the 3-point line. As he does, he forces Embiid to hesitate, and thats where everything breaks down for Philadelphia. Here's a quick look at Horford in a pick & pop vs. Philly. The key part, to me, is in the middle where Embiid knows he needs to get to Horford but he's abandoning the lane if he does. That little weight shift gives Rozier the lane he needs to keep Embiid engaged & leave Al open pic.twitter.com/THGr5x76d2 John Karalis (@RedsArmy_John) March 20, 2019 In a weird twist, its Horfords ability to hit the 3 that forced Embiid to stay in the lane. His responsibility is to protect the hoop first, and because he was pulled off balance by the threat of Horford, he was out of position for his primary responsibility. Horfords long-range accuracy his supported by his ability to put the ball on the floor and dribble past defenders. Again, Embiid is worried about Horfords ability to make the shot, so he bites on the fake. While other centers have the ability to hit a 3 from time to time, they dont usually have ball-handling skills and quickness to blow by someone on a fake like this. Horford chose to drive to the rim, but getting into the paint drew all sorts of help, and he ended up with Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart as passing options in either corner. The combination of both his shooting and ball-handling create situations where Embiid has to respect both. Knowing Horford can dribble past him, Embiid has to hope his length is enough to bother Horfords shot here. Beyond that, though, one of the leagues best shot blockers is now 25 feet away from the rim. Embiid doesnt have great lateral quickness, so this is not the most comfortable nor the most effective way for him to be used defensively. The Sixers moved Embiid off Horford in last years playoffs. They might try to do the same tonight or in a potential playoff matchup this year, but they dont have any better options. Boban Marjanovic is way too slow to keep up with Horford. Tobias Harris or Mike Scott will get taken into the post, where Horford is especially comfortable scoring and passing. Ben Simmons can take some turns on Horford, but that puts Philadelphia at risk of losing him to foul trouble. There is a lot more nuance to this matchup, but Horfords ability to spread the floor and take advantage of the weakest part of Embiids game is the biggest reason why Horford is 13-3 against the Sixers as a member of the Boston Celtics. Unless Philadelphia figures out a new plan for guarding Horford on the perimeter, you can expect Boston to hammer that matchup over and over again tonight. PHILADELPHIA -- At shoot around prior to the Boston Celtics game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, Celtics star Kyrie Irving said he would definitely take games off before the postseason. It just makes no sense to put emphasis on these regular-season games when you know youre gearing up for some battles coming in the playoffs," Irving said. Irving isnt alone. Brad Stevens told reporters the team expects Al Horford to take time off as well, with scheduled rest nights between Wednesday and April 9 when the team wraps up its regular-season slate against the Washington Wizards. At this point, even with Wednesdays head-to-head matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics are somewhat unlikely to catch Philly for the No. 3 seed in the postseason. Boston trails by three games with 12 games remaining. If the Celtics, who are missing Gordon Hayward, come up short on Wednesday, they will need a real collapse by Philadelphia and a hot stretch to rise to the No. 3 seed. Thats probably fine, or even good for the Celtics at this point. Getting Indiana in the first round would be a tough draw in the 4/5 pairing, but staying in Milwaukees side of the bracket would likely be preferable to Toronto, even given how great Giannis Antetokounmpo has been this season. Toronto is a difficult matchup for Boston. Irving said the Celtics just need to get to the postseason. As long as we get in there, Irving said. I dont think our focus is in seeding, thats pretty clear. As long as we get there, Im happy. While in Los Angeles on the recent Boston Celtics road trip, Terry Rozier sat down with Kristine Leahy for a conversation on her FS1 interview show Fair Game. Bostons difficulties this season came up in the interview, and Rozier reiterated a problem other Celtics have admitted to this season. When youre playing on a team youre dealing with different types of personalities, but now youre dealing with so many different guys that feel like they the man, and now its like, how do you handle that? he said. Im talking for myself too so its like you got a lot of guys who feel like theyre on that level of rising or already there so its hard to put all that and make all that into one. So I feel like thats surprised me most this season. Its tough because its a long season and we havent been doing as good as everyone expected. When asked how to to fix things, he put it pretty simply. Win. Its like the cure it all goes away," he told Leahy. "A week ago we was he talk, all the negativity now we win two games and everybody love us. Thats just how it go. .@T_Rozzay3's solution to being on a team with "different" personalities? "We fix it by winning. It's the cure-all way." pic.twitter.com/6HQTWiiGQj Fair Game (@FairGameonFS1) March 19, 2019 He was also asked about Kyrie Irving, and he said Kyries attitude can have a big impact on the team. I learned so much about his attitude how much his attitude affects how we play, Rozier said. When hes a happy camper, when everything is going good for him, were rolling, everything else is good. Sometimes when he wants to apply that pressure, when he wants to get mad, whatever his reasons being, everybody gets so uptight, so its like, were going to go as far as he takes us." Among the other topics was a conversation about his sister, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby. She wasnt supposed to survive, but she did, and she texts him every day. Here he is talking about her. .@T_Rozzay3's sister was diagnosed as a baby with Cerebral Palsy wasn't supposed to live past 2 months old. He tells @KristineLeahy how she's defied all odds and has become his biggest source of inspiration : pic.twitter.com/uTAI8WvAEu Fair Game (@FairGameonFS1) March 19, 2019 Rozier doesnt talk about his personal life much, so this was an interesting look at some of his family life and influence. PITTSFIELD - Two out-of-state men were arrested Tuesday in Pittsfield, following a police pursuit through multiple communities that began with a disturbance at the Walmart in North Adams, according to police. The two men, Arnold Chapman and Shannon Brown, were facing multiple charges. Each also is wanted by police in Florida and Arizona. Police were called to the WalMart just after 2 p.m. after the store reported two men were attempted to return items at the store in exchange for cash. The items, valued at more than $2,000, had previously been reported stolen. As police arrived, the two men apparently got spooked and fled in a pickup truck with Florida plates, said State Police spokesman David Procopio. Local police chased the truck for approximately 15 minutes before losing it in the area of Hancock Road in Pittsfield. The chase involved police with North Adams, Adams, and Cheshire. A short time later, police learned two men matching the description of the suspects were seen inside the Enterprise Rent-a-Car location on East Street in Pittsfield. When a state trooper arrived to investigate, the two men ran out different exits and took off in different directions. The trooper attempted to stop Brown, but he assaulted her, managed to break free and ran off in the direction of Cove Street and then Root Road. State police set up a perimeter and with the assistance of state police and Pittsfield K-9 teams eventually found him hiding on Cove Street at around 4:30 p.m. He told police his name was Alstin Guice and supplied a Florida drivers license with that name. A check of his fingerprints confirmed his identity to be Brown. He was also carrying more than $4,200 in cash and told troopers as he was being booked that he was unemployed and passing through Massachusetts. Brown, 33, from Tampa, is charged by Massachusetts State Police with charged with assault and battery on a police officer, providing a false name to a police officer and being a fugitive from justice. He was found to be wanted in Arizona for as a suspect in crimes of fraudulent schemes, artifices, and theft. Procopio said they have been in contact with Arizona law enforcement, and they said they are interested in getting him back through rendition to stand trial. Chapman is charged by Pittsfield police with larceny of more than $1,200 by false pretenses, and a fugitive from justice warrant issued in the state of Florida. Each is due to be arraigned Wednesday in Berkshire District Court. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically for postpartum depression, a condition said to affect one in nine women in the U.S. after they have given birth. The drug brexanolone, which will be marketed as Zulresso by Cambridge-based Sage Therapeutics, Inc., which was granted approval for it, is an injection approved for the treatment of PPD in adult women. In trials involving women with moderate to severe PPD, the company has said it showed a reduction in depression severity at the end of 60 hours. Its delivery over two-and-half days by intravenous infusion must be in a health care setting certified in the FDAs program known as the Risk Management and Evaluation Strategy so the patient is monitored for any adverse effects, something noted in the FDAs March 19 release on its approval. Postpartum depression is a serious condition that, when severe, can be life-threatening. Women may experience thoughts about harming themselves or harming their child. Postpartum depression can also interfere with the maternal-infant bond. This approval marks the first time a drug has been specifically approved to treat postpartum depression, providing an important new treatment option, said Dr. Tiffany Farchione, acting director of the psychiatry products division in the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Because of concerns about serious risks, including excessive sedation or sudden loss of consciousness during administration, Zulresso has been approved with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) and is only available to patients through a restricted distribution program at certified health care facilities where the health care provider can carefully monitor the patient. The release notes that patients must be enrolled in the program prior to administration of the drug and that during the 60 hours it takes for the drug to be delivered IV, oxygen levels will be monitored in their blood and they must be accompanied during interactions with their child(ren). The release describes PPD as a "major depressive episode that occurs following childbirth, although symptoms can start during pregnancy. " As with other forms of depression, it is characterized by sadness and/or loss of interest in activities that one used to enjoy and a decreased ability to feel pleasure (anhedonia) and may present with symptoms such as cognitive impairment, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, or suicidal ideation, the release states. According to the New York Times, quoting Sage Therapeutics, the one-time use drug costs $34,000 before any discounts and insurers are evaluating coverage. The FDA said the therapeutic effect of Zulresso was shown in two clinical studies in participants who received a 60-hour continuous intravenous infusion of Zulresso or placebo and were then followed for four weeks. One study included patients with severe PPD and the other included patients with moderate PPD. Zulresso was said to demonstrate superiority to the placebo in improvement of depressive symptoms at the end of the first infusion and that the improvement in depression was also observed at the end of the 30-day follow-up period. The most common adverse reactions reported by patients treated with Zulresso in clinical trials, the FDA said, included sleepiness, dry mouth, loss of consciousness and flushing. Sage in a release said that a reduction in depressive symptoms was also seen as early as 24 hours in the trials and that it expected the drug to be available in late June following scheduling by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration which it expected to occur within 90 days. PPD has said to be a condition that often goes undiagnosed in women and can last a long time if not treated. We are proud to be a part of this important moment in mental health, creating the opportunity for an unprecedented change in the way postpartum depression is thought about and treated moving forward, said Dr. Jeff Jonas, chief executive officer of Sage, in a prepared statement on the biopharmacutical companys website. We are grateful for the patients, researchers, healthcare providers, advocates, caregivers and Sage employees who helped secure the approval of the first medicine specifically for postpartum depression. Not only do we believe Zulresso will address an important need for womens mental health, the impact of PPD is multi-generational, and we look forward to bringing Zulresso to patients in urgent need of a new treatment option. We believe Zulresso will be a catalyst in starting a new dialogue emphasizing the importance of womens mental health, and the importance of diagnosing and treating PPD. The drug was evaluated by the FDA under Priority Review and was given Breakthrough Designation status in 2016. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, current treatments for PPD include counseling as well as anti-depressants, but it notes that many anti-depressants can take a few weeks to be most effective. HOLYOKE The City Council has tabled a ballot question that would gauge voters interest for residential high-speed internet service with Holyoke Gas and Electric as the provider. A citizens petition drove the initiative, which gained the recommendation of the councils Charter and Rules Committee. The question, if approved, would appear on the Nov. 5 municipal ballot. Ward 2 Councilor Terence Murphy, who chairs the committee, on Tuesday night noted that the ballot question is nonbinding and has no legal enforcement. Councilor David Bartley said James Lavelle, HG&Es general manager, opposed the ballot question. He asked the council to table the motion followed by a City Law Department. City Clerk Brenna McGee concurred with Bartleys assessment. She also asked for a legal review, particularly how the question was constructed and the language used. James Leahy said a citizens petition should hold more than a few dozen signatures for a question to appear on a ballot. Residents who attended last weeks committee meeting, including Laura Clampitt, a Locust Street resident, said HG&E should conduct a feasibility study on a slow roll out high-speed internet for residents. The petition also called for the council to review the studys findings by April 2022 or earlier. HG&E offers a commercial version on its fiber-optic network, which also serves the Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center. The east-to-west network runs the length of the state, which includes a branch for Holyoke. Comcast is the citys sole internet provider. The cable giant signed a 10-year agreement with the City of Holyoke in 2014. Lavelle said a residential rollout would cost upward to $30 million. He told the committee HG&E currently does not have the funding for a residential buildout. We have been, for the last several months, looking at a gradual build out to see if that would be viable, Lavelle said. Theres a lot of work that needs to be done. Lavelle cited that HG&E spent $75 million in the past five years upgrading hydroelectric generating plants and substations, which left little funding to expand the high-speed network for residential use. Councilors Joseph M. McGiverin and Jossie Valentin were not in attendance. As the musical "School of Rock" drew the curtain in Shanghai Sunday after 29 performances, Kempton Maloney, 10-year-old Australian drummer in the play, has gained a huge popularity in China. The musical, based on a hit movie of the same name, is composed by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Shanghai is the first stop of its three-month China tour. Kempton is among a dozen teenage players in the musical. They are required to be accompanied by their guardians during the tour. He said it was the first time for his mother and him to travel this far, which made it more exciting. Without home duties, his mother had time to explore places in Shanghai with him. In the play, the lead character gets little support from his parent to support his musical dreams. However, in real life things are a little different for Kempton, who has huge parental support. The performing trip does not mean he can avoid study. In order to catch up with their studies, he and other young actors take online courses backstage. At the end of each week, teachers review their study online. Kempton's mother Simone Maloney said like many parents in China, she considers school important. But taking her son to China in a professional musical was worthwhile. "I want him to choose his own journey, and I want him to do what he loves most. We haven't experienced it before, so it's been a lot of learning all along the way," she said. "The response of audience in the theater has been really lovely." Zhang Yifei is the only teenage player who has Chinese background in the troupe. Her mother was born in Shanghai. The mother, Zhu Cailun, said the journey in China was an opportunity that many parents could not even dream of for their children. She hopes the experience will help her daughter become more confident and professional on the stage. The musical has helped boost cultural exchange among youngsters. Over 39,000 Chinese have watched the show. Ahead of the performance, Shanghai SMGLive organized a series of campus activities to brief middle school and primary school students on western musicals and operas. SPRINGFIELD Melvin Jones was sentenced Tuesday to two years in the Hampden County Correctional Center after being found guilty of possession of PCP, subsequent offense. Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara adopted the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney Kerry Beattie in sentencing Jones to two years. Ferrara added a recommendation that Jones serve his sentence at the Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center in Springfield. A jury on March 15 found Jones guilty of possession of PCP, although originally he had been charged with possession of PCP with intent to distribute. Jones, who seven years ago won a $499,000 settlement in a police brutality lawsuit, was charged with the drug dealing count after a traffic stop on June 23, 2017, in Springfield. Defense lawyer Aliki Recklitis asked Ferrara for a sentence of two years to the Ludlow facility, but she wanted him to only have to serve 151 days and have the rest suspended with two years probation. Beattie disputed the 151 days Recklitis said Jones has credit for as time served awaiting trial. Beattie said Jones was serving other sentences during that time. Jones is a bad candidate for probation, Beattie said, having violated probation in a number of other cases. Advocates for prisoners are celebrating small changes the Department of Correction made to its prison visitation rules, even as they continue to press for far more significant shifts. Some may say that this is a small little change, but we think its incremental change that says a lot about how we can impact rehabilitation, said Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, chair of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. The Department of Correction in March 2018 put in place strict new visitation rules, which spurred outrage and lawsuits - from prisoners advocates and families. Until March, state prisoners were allowed to have an unlimited number of visitors during set visiting days and hours. The 2018 rules limited visitors to those people on an inmates preapproved list. Maximum security prisoners were only allowed to include five people on their list, with eight visitors allowed for a medium security prisoner and 10 for someone in minimum security. The list could only be updated twice a year. No more than two adults could visit a prisoner at one time, and each visitor could only receive approval to visit one prisoner in the system other than an immediate family member. The Department of Correction said the rules were meant to prevent the smuggling of contraband, including drugs. But inmates and their advocates said the policies make it harder for inmates to maintain a support system in the community, which could help them reintegrate into society upon release. On March 1, 2019, the Department of Correction again updated its policy, slightly loosening the rules. The department increased the number of allowed visitors from five to eight for maximum security inmates. It kept in place an existing policy where an inmate who has more immediate family members than that, and whose list includes only immediate family members, can ask for an exception. The department also now allows inmates to update their list three times a year in March, July and November rather than twice a year. Rep. Chynah Tyler, D-Boston, called the more frequent updates a first step in the right direction to create strong, long-lasting support systems for those who are or have been incarcerated. Attorneys for prisoners filed several lawsuits challenging the visitation policy. The cases were consolidated and are pending in Suffolk Superior Court. The prisoners argue against the policy on constitutional and regulatory grounds, contending that the rules are arbitrary and capricious. Correction Commissioner Thomas Turco filed a motion to dismiss the case, and a hearing on the motion is schedule for later this month. Elizabeth Matos, executive director of Prisoners Legal Services of Massachusetts, which represents some of the prisoners in the lawsuit (others are representing themselves), said she is happy to see the Department of Correction engaging with the Black and Latino caucus and making a positive change. Black and Latino prisoners make up 50 percent of the population in state prisons, according to a 2017 report. Matos said it shows the department recognizes the importance of someone maintaining contact with family and friends to their rehabilitation. We very much hope there are more changes to come, Matos said. Legislatively, Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Boston, and Rep. Marjorie Decker, D-Cambridge, have filed a bill that would make prison visitation more accessible. The bill would eliminate caps on numbers of visitors, ensure that no visitor is excluded solely because they have volunteered in a jail or because they were previously incarcerated, allow prisoners to update their lists of preapproved visitors whenever they want, ensure that critically ill prisoners are allowed to see family and friends, and only allow visitation to be restricted for up to 15 days as punishment for a disciplinary offense. A visitor could be restricted if there is a reasonable individualized suspicion that their visitation poses a threat to institutional security. Under the bill, visitors would be allowed to hold and play with minor children and to engage in physical contact with visitors when feasible. The bill would bar unreasonable dress codes for visitors. The bills sponsors say prisoners who have frequent visitors have fewer incidents of misconduct and better morale, and they are less likely to reoffend because they have a support system outside the jail when they are released. SPRINGFIELD From checking for high blood pressure and cholesterol to a persons body mass index, the Roadmap to Health mobile program is making its way across Massachusetts offering services to communities that may have limited access to health care facilities. Health screenings are a vital part of identifying warning signs of health problems and chronic diseases, but there can be obstacles in accessing these resources. I commend the Roadmap to Health program for addressing this issue and making its first Massachusetts stop in the great city of Springfield, said Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield. Gonzalez, Rep. Michael Finn, D-West Springfield, and Springfield Ward 1 City Councilor Adam Gomez joined the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and grassroots organization We Work for Health Massachusetts at Riverview Senior Center in Springfield for the first Massachusetts stop of the program on March 14. I hear directly from my constituents regularly that their health is one of their top concerns. Its great to partner with PhRMA and Riverview Senior Center to bring free Roadmap to Health screenings to the Springfield community, Finn said. Gonzalez, said the newly created mobile health fair program is bringing educational tools, resources and health screenings free of charge to communities across New England. Roadmap to Health was developed in response to the rising rates of chronic disease in the United States. According to the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, 4 million Massachusetts residents had at least one chronic disease in 2015, and the number of people living with multiple chronic diseases continues to grow. In Springfield, residents face health challenges including high rates of asthma, cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease, according to the Division of Prevention and Wellness at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. PhRMA launched Roadmap to Health because we know that many people face challenges in accessing health care, and we believe that providing information and resources can empower individuals to take charge of their health, said Laura Perloff, senior director of Advocacy and Strategic Alliances for PhRMA. Many seniors have difficulty with transportation or limited mobility and getting these health screenings taken care of right in their backyard is a big help. At Riverview Senior Center, we see first-hand the prevalence of chronic diseases and the importance of screening and prevention," said Cindy Coughlin, senior program coordinator at Riverview Senior Center. "We are grateful to Roadmap to Health for providing this resource so that our seniors can be informed about their health. Roadmap to Health will continue its road trip across New England in the coming weeks and months, and will partner with community organizations, faith-based centers and others to reach communities with these resources. As the program makes its way to other communities, additional screenings may be added. LONGMEADOW Residents of Western Massachusetts will have the opportunity to weigh in on plans by Tennessee Gas Pipeline to expand its natural gas infrastructure in the region. The facilities including a metered point of connection at the Longmeadow Country Club and a new pipeline loop and compressor upgrade in Agawam would in turn support plans by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts to build its own new pipelines to expand service to the Pioneer Valley. The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board announced this week that it will hold a public hearing Wednesday, March 27, at 7 p.m. at the Longmeadow High School auditorium. The hearing is focused on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline plans. The public is invited, and anyone may testify. Usually, the board holds its hearings in Boston. We are grateful to Sen. Eric Lesser and Rep. Brian Ashe, because they pushed for this Western Massachusetts hearing, said Michele Marantz, a founder of the Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group. This graphic shows existing and proposed natural gas infrastructure in the Springfield area. The Longmeadow group is one of several environmental organizations working to stop the dual Columbia Gas and Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion plans. Progress is not using a fuel of the past, said Marantz. The future of the planet relies upon making a clean energy transition. Marantz said that the Longmeadow group does not want to take away your gas, but seeks to ensure safety for residents. This is a dense residential neighborhood, she said. Reached by telephone, Ashe acknowledged that the infrastructure plans are controversial, considering last years fatal Columbia Gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley. But he said that facts and transparency are important whether one is for or against the projects in Hampden County. This will be an opportunity for people on both sides to share their concerns and get some answers to their questions, said Ashe. This is a significant project in a residential area, and people deserve to have a say. This hearing will be a much-needed opportunity for our residents to have their voices heard on a project that has the potential to really change our community. Im grateful that the people of Longmeadow, especially the activists who have been involved in this for a long time, are standing up to ensure that our local community is consulted before the state makes its decision. Action should always come from the bottom-up, not the top-down, said Sen. Eric P. Lesser. In order to build its Agawam and Longmeadow facilities, Tennessee Gas Pipeline will need approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The state siting board has no authority over the matter, but acts in an advisory capacity and plans to represents the interests of Massachusetts in the federal proceeding. Conversely, if and when Columbia Gas, a NiSource subsidiary, seeks permits for its new pipelines, the authorization will take place on the state level. The Tennessee Gas Pipeline plans are known as the 261 Upgrade Project. Separately, the expansion plans by Columbia Gas are known as the Greater Springfield Reliability Project. The two companies are working hand-in-glove to advance the linked projects, and reference each other in public documents. If you go What: Public hearing on Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion in Agawam and Longmeadow Where: Longmeadow High School, 95 Grassy Gutter Rd. When: March 27, 7 p.m. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has filed a motion to suppress evidence in his solicitation case, according to a report from ESPNs T.J. Quinn. Quinn notes the evidence in question includes video that authorities allege shows Kraft twice receiving sex acts on January visits to the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter, Florida. The 77-year-old billionaire faces two first-degree misdemeanor charges of soliciting another to commit prostitution in Palm Beach County. Krafts attorneys are currently negotiating with prosecutors over a potential plea deal and the viability of the states case. The longtime owner will reportedly reject any plea deal that includes an admission of guilt. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday, Kraft and the 24 other men caught in the Jupiter sex sting operation have been offered a pre-trial diversion program so long as they admit they would have been found guilty if tried. His arraignment is set for March 28. Robert Kraft news: he just filed a motion to suppress the evidence (notably the video evidence). This is in case theres no deal reached that would automatically seal it. T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) March 20, 2019 According to Quinn, the video evidence would also be sealed if Kraft accepts the prosecutors offer. The deal would eliminate any chance of jail time. The maximum penalty for Krafts alleged crimes is one year in jail, a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service per charge, plus enrolling in an educational course on the dangers of prostitution and sex trafficking. However, according to local legal experts, first-time offenders like Kraft are unlikely to receive jail time. Kraft was ensnared during a larger investigation executed by Florida authorities over several months and Florida counties. He was one of 25 men charged by Jupiter police. Reportedly more than 300 arrest warrants have been issued as a result of the operation. Power 4 Puerto Rico, a coalition of organizations and leaders committed to addressing issues that impact Puerto Rico, urged 2020 presidential candidates Wednesday to endorse a comprehensive policy platform that seeks to put the island on a path to greater sustainability, self-reliance and empowerment. With Puerto Rico and its residents still recovering from Hurricanes Maria and Irma and bankruptcy proceedings, organizers issued an open letter to White house hopefuls asking them to publicly and specifically state how they will help displaced families, as well as address imminent fiscal cliffs in public health, education, public pensions and nutritional assistance, among other things. Power 4 Puerto Rico Director Erica Gonzalez said the effort seeks to ensure that the issues facing the island are addressed with substantive action plans in the 2020 election cycle. The letter, which has been distributed, includes detailed policy prescriptions that address many of the issues our people have been facing for decades -- pre-Maria, as well as after the hurricane. Throughout this election cycle we will be monitoring what the candidates say about Puerto Rico, or what they dont, she told reporters during a morning conference call. We will also report back the public periodically on where the presidential candidates stand. Melissa Mark Viverito, interim president of the Latino Victory Project, added that the coalitions latest push aims to build on momentum from the 2018 election, keep Puerto Rico at the forefront of leaders agendas and help more Latinos win elected office. She noted that the open letter comes in addition to a January summit, in which activists and newly announced Democratic White House hopeful Julian Castro discussed issues facing Puerto Rico and laid out their vision for the 2020 presidential cycle. The 2020 election will determine the soul of nation. Our presidential candidates must engage in the Puerto Rican community and ensure that their well-being is a top priority, she said. So this open letter that were releasing is a call to action -- its a step further to ensure that we get a concrete blueprint from presidential candidates and that it goes from a call to action to a plan of action. We want all of these candidates to adhere to the plan they lay out. Viverito, who noted that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- a Massachusetts Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate -- visited Puerto Rico after the summit, stressed that "the road to the White House goes through the Latino community. Now, more than ever, we need to know whos on our side and will fight alongside us for whats morally right," she said. Warrens campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the coalitions open letter. The senator, who led a delegation of Massachusetts congressional lawmakers in traveling to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, however, has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trumps response to the damage and his administrations recovery efforts. She has further called on Congress to pass legislation that would provide longer-term housing supports to hurricane evacuees and others impacted by natural disasters, as well as backed legislation to establish an independent, 9/11-style commission to examine response to the Puerto Rico hurricanes. Need to Impeach continued to pressure U.S. Rep. Richard Neal Wednesday to immediately request President Donald Trumps tax returns, unveiling three billboards targeting the Springfield Democrat and delivering thousands of petitions to his congressional office. The progressive organization, which billionaire Tom Steyer founded to push for the presidents impeachment, announced a $10,000 billboard campaign urging Neal to use his power as the House Ways and Means Committees chairman to get Trumps taxes now. The three billboards, which will be displayed for a month on both sides of Interstate 90 at Baskin Drive, as well as on Interstate 91 near Chicopee, come in addition to Need to Impeachs six-figure digital buy and television ads it has deployed in the 1st Congressional District targeting Neal. Steyer, meanwhile, traveled to Agawam last week for a Need to Impeach town hall-style event where he made his case to Western Massachusetts voters for impeaching Trump and questioned why Neal has yet to formally seek the presidents tax information. In addition to unveiling the billboards, Need to Impeach staff and volunteers delivered more than 95,000 petition signatures -- including those collected at the town hall -- to Neals Springfield office Wednesday to demonstrate the wide-spread support for impeachment in (Massachusetts 1st Congressional District) and urge Rep. Neal to make Trumps tax returns public. Officials noted that more that 23,000 of the congressmans constituents have signed on to support impeachment. Margaret Boyle, a spokeswoman for Neal, noted that the congressman "has said time and time again that the request for President Trumps tax returns will be made." However, as it is such a complicated case and we foresee a long court battle, staff and attorneys on the Ways and Means committee are compiling a strong case without any holes before doing so, she said in a statement. "Our office gladly accepts these petitions from concerned constituents and reassures them about Chairman Neals plans. Neal, who officially took over the Ways and Means Committee in January, has rejected calls from Need to Impeach and other progressive groups for him to speed up his effort to request Trumps tax information. He told The Republican earlier this month that his committee is still working with congressional counsel on how to correctly seek the presidents tax returns. PITTSFIELD -- Weeks after pressing U.S. Rep. Richard Neal to meet with constituents at a Holyoke town hall, a newly formed coalition representing Western Massachusetts progressive groups called on the Springfield Democrat Wednesday to take part in another town hall-style event -- this time in Berkshire County. The CD-1 Progressive Coalition, which is comprised on groups from across Neals expansive congressional district, invited the congressman to attend a Saturday forum at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. The afternoon event will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Officials noted that, similar to last months town hall in Holyoke, the upcoming forum will focus on issues important to 1st Congressional District voters, including: health insurance alternatives, the Green New Deal and Neals efforts as the House Ways and Means chairman to request President Donald Trumps tax returns. The forum will also allow constituents the opportunity to voice their questions and concerns -- things which the coalition said it will relay to the congressmans office. The coalition is respectfully urging Chairman Neal to meet with his constituents, in every corner of his district, to help them understand whats going on in Washington and to listen to their concerns, organizers said. The coalition noted that the Pittsfield event is scheduled to take place during a congressional break. Neal said in a statement that although he appreciates the invitation to join the CD-1 Progressive Coalition town hall, his schedule prevents him from attending. I look forward to reading their letters and comments on the current state of affairs in Washington and here in Massachusetts. It is through their advocacy and use of collective voice that real change is made," he said. "I thank them for their steadfast dedication to ensuring that our country moves ahead in the right direction and I remain steadfast in my commitment to protect our rights on the national stage. The Pittsfield event comes just over a week after Tom Steyer, a hedge fund manager and billionaire behind the Need to Impeach campaign, renewed his call for Neal to immediately request Trumps tax returns at an Agawam town hall-style event. The congressman, who has stressed hes working with House counsel on the tax information request, meanwhile, is set to hold a roundtable discussion on retirement and pensions at the Massachusetts State House on Thursday. The day before authorities announced a major update in the investigation of Worcester Firefighter Christopher Roys death, police sat outside a West Boylston home watching the man they believed to have set the fatal blaze. They watched as 21-year-old Momoh Kamara picked up the mail and went back inside. That surveillance occurred the day before Kamara was indicted on murder and arson charges in the death of Roy, as detailed in a search warrant affidavit on file in Worcester District Court. The affidavit also indicates Kamara was on polices radar before the announcement of charges against him was made Friday afternoon, citing arrests and searches in the month of December. Worcester Police Detective George Adams said surveillance was conducted outside Kamaras residence at 157 Hartwell St. in West Boylston before the arrest, according to the affidavit. Adams, who diligently worked with other law enforcement to investigate why Roy was killed Dec. 9 while fighting a fire inside 5-7 Lowell St., wrote in the affidavit that police were watching Kamara the day before he was arrested. Kamara previously lived at 5-7 Lowell St., but had not lived there for months at the time of the blaze, his defense attorney said. Investigators saw Kamara on March 14 open the door to his residence at 157 Hartwell St. in West Boylston, walk out and get the mail. They watched as he went back inside. The following day, police showed back up, but this time it wasnt to watch. It was to place Kamara in handcuffs. The search warrant was specifically sought to locate and arrest Kamara on Friday morning. A Worcester County Grand Jury indicted Kamara on charges of second-degree murder, arson of a dwelling, armed burglary and malicious destruction of a motor vehicle Friday. It had been months after the Lowell Street blaze claimed the life of Roy, a 36-year-old father of a 9-year-old girl who worked as a firefighter in Worcester for two and a half years. Kamara is accused of heading to the Lowell Street three-story building and setting fires in the basement in the early morning hours of Dec. 9. Prosecutors said he had disagreements with former roommates. Roy became trapped on the second floor of the six-unit building as firefighters battled the blaze. Other firefighters were able to escape, but Roys air tank ran low and he couldnt get out. After fellow firefighters pulled Roy out of the burning building, he succumbed to his injuries. It appears, based on the affidavit, Kamara was on their radar for something early on. Adams wrote that Kamara had two arrests in December, one for allegedly vandalizing a car at 7 Lowell St. in March 2018 and the other for a motor vehicle violation in Central Massachusetts. The malicious destruction of a motor vehicle indictment, handed up Friday, is in connection with the March 2018 incident. The second-degree murder, arson of a dwelling and armed burglary charges are in connection with the Dec. 9 fire. During both December arrests, police knew Kamara was living with his mother at the Hartwell Street address in West Boylston. Police executed a search warrant at that address 10 days after the fatal fire, the affidavit shows. They collected personal belongings of Kamara. The search warrant allowing police to pick up Kamara was issued on Friday, the same day the indictments against him were handed up by a grand jury. Kamara pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. He is scheduled to return to court on April 24. Prosecutors said on the morning of the fatal fire, Kamara took an Uber that dropped him off near Clark University in Worcesters Main South neighborhood. Police tracked Kamaras movements from there by utilizing surveillance video, which showed him entering Lowell Street around 2:30 a.m., authorities said. Inside 5-7 Lowell St., Kamara allegedly set several fires in the basement while residents were inside the 100-year-old building. The fire was reported at 3:58 a.m. The residents escaped. The Worcester Police Department arrived at the scene at 4:04 a.m. Firefighters arrived one minute later. Worcester District Attorney prosecutor Jeffrey Travers said surveillance video picked up images of Kamara leaving Lowell Street near the intersection with Main Street within four or five minutes of police and firefighters arriving at the fire. Kamara then walked away and took a Lyft ride out of Worcester. A presentation of the book "China, Eurasia and SCO" by former Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary General Muratbek Imanaliev was held here Tuesday. The book introduced history, modernity, and the cooperation potential between Kyrgyzstan and China, as well as the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Eurasia and the SCO in the new geopolitical conditions. Speaking at the event at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen said Imanaliev had done a lot to promote Kyrgyzstan-China relations and to the development of the SCO. "In his book, the author analyzes the perspectives and patterns of the relations between China and the countries of Central Asia. He sincerely shared with readers his understanding of the BRI and the role of the SCO," said Du. "Without a doubt, the book will help readers better understand and learn about China, the SCO, and the Chinese-Kyrgyz relations." She stressed the importance of the fact that the presentation of the book took place on the eve of important events both in bilateral relations and in the framework of the SCO. "In April this year, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov will visit China to participate in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and the SCO Summit will be held in Bishkek in June," Du said. She noted that the BRI has become one of the most popular projects of international cooperation which is useful for relevant countries and peoples. "Kyrgyzstan was one of the first to support this initiative," said Du. "China is ready to strengthen cooperation in the economic, social and cultural fields for the benefit of the Chinese and Kyrgyz peoples." Private enterprises are looking to play a bigger role in promoting China's Belt and Road Initiative to realize more benefits in foreign and domestic markets, according to industry experts. Nan Cunhui, chairman of Chint Group, China's leading industrial electrical equipment and new-energy enterprise, said the BRI is bringing "huge" opportunities in foreign markets. "Currently, more than 10,000 Chinese companies are doing business in Africa. Among them, 90 percent are private ones," said Nan. These private firms are providing African countries with strong support in infrastructure including roads, railways, airports and ports. Such efforts will play a critical role in improving local employment, tax revenue as well as living conditions, he said. As a private provider of high and low voltage products, Chint has offered such products and services to 80 percent of the BRI markets including Pakistan, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia and Russia. Nan added that countries and regions involved in the BRI are the company's expansion focus this year. "While we are beefing up our presence in the BRI markets, localization as well as mergers and acquisitions will continue to be our major strategies," he said. "Most of our staff in these countries are local people and there are indeed many good companies abroad. We can leverage these strategies to better localize in BRI countries and regions." To date, the Wenzhou, Zhejiang province-based firm has established manufacturing bases, research and development centers and logistics hubs in around 140 countries and regions. It has also built more than 100 photovoltaic power plants overseas. In the past five years after the BRI was proposed, China has made significant achievements with the countries and regions involved in the initiative. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic regulator, total trade volume between China and the countries and regions involved in the BRI have exceeded $6 trillion. The nation has already signed 171 cooperation documents with 29 international organizations and 123 countries. During this process, Chinese private firms are also bringing advanced skills and management expertise to BRI economies. China Communication Technology Co Ltd, a private provider of satellite services, started offering private satellite services to the Philippines from last year, after acquiring G Telecoms Inc, the third-biggest telecom operator in the local market. "In the past, we could cooperate only with local telecom carriers in foreign countries through equipment sales. But with the BRI, we are changing our profile from a 'seller' to an 'operator' in the overseas markets," said Wu Guangsheng, president of CCT. Wu said that some 75 percent of the Philippines' 100 million population are aged 25 years or under, thereby having a voracious demand for communication services. The Shenzhen-based company is currently offering services and products in Europe, the Middle East and nine other countries and regions that are participating in the BRI. It has also secured a number of orders from civil aviation and public security departments in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. "Notably, our overseas forays are also of benefit to Chinese companies as well," he said, "With more Chinese enterprises tapping opportunities in BRI regions, there is a huge need for communication services to maintain contact with offices at home and that's where we can offer help," Wu said. In Pakistan's Gwadar Port, for instance, smooth communication could be hard to achieve due to weak infrastructure there. The problem could be solved if the area has a well-established satellite communication network. Shi Guilu, vice-president of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, pointed out that with the BRI being promoted on a bigger scale and at a higher level, private businesses are playing an increasingly "irreplaceable" role. "Major State-owned enterprises are better in leading big projects while private businesses are more flexible," Shi said. A commentator in Norway said Tuesday that Europe should not follow the United States in boycotting Chinese telecoms giant Huawei in its deployment of the next generation of wireless services. "Why should Norway and Europe pay the cost, take the risks and gamble with their economic development and growth?" questioned Arild Vollan, Norwegian commentator and partner in Arctic Development, a company that is engaged in business development in the High North, in his comments published in Norway's leading financial newspaper DN. Following the United States will have major consequences for business growth and will delay the development of artificial intelligence and the next generation of wireless services, Vollan said, noting "All this will just support the United States' new policy of protectionism." The 5G network, he said, is an extension of 4G and if Huawei is not used, the existing 4G network must first be dismantled, and this would be a huge undertaking, costing enormous sums of money. Norway currently has about 14,000 Huawei base stations, and the cost of dismantling a Huawei 4G base station and replacing it with a Nokia or Ericsson base station is about 600,000 Norwegian kroner (70,000 U.S. dollars) per station, Vollan said. Vodafone UK recently issued a warning that if Britain wants to stop using Huawei, the roll-out of 5G will be seriously delayed at enormous cost to the country. And ultimately it is British subscribers who will have to foot the bill for boycotting Huawei, Vollan said. He also noted that U.S. President Donald Trump has recently pointed out that the United States would not boycott Huawei if the U.S. gets a good trade deal with China. "The statement reveals what this is really all about -- Huawei is being used as a means of pressure in the new U.S. protectionist policy," Vollan explained. He noted that the U.S. has so far not been able to produce any evidence that Chinese 5G technology poses a security risk, and Huawei is now taking legal steps against the U.S. administration as a result of the way they have been treated. The main argument of the U.S. against Huawei is that Chinese law obliges individuals and companies in China to cooperate with the Chinese state, which China has refuted as "mistaken and one-sided interpretations of relevant Chinese laws." According to China, its National Intelligence Law stipulates not only the obligations of organizations and citizens to support the work of national intelligence within Chinese laws, but also that state intelligence should abide by laws, respect and protect human rights, and safeguard the rights and interests of individuals and organizations. As Vollan viewed it, most countries have similar legal requirements, including the United States, which in certain circumstances imposes far-reaching obligations on its own citizens and companies. Meanwhile, Ericsson and Nokia, the other two major technology companies that are developing 5G, also have one thing in common - much of their equipment is produced in Chinese factories, the Norwegian commentator said. "Even if Europe opts for Ericsson or Nokia, we will still be using Chinese 5G products," Vollan said, concluding "So it is a paradox that the United States insists Europe cannot use Huawei equipment." The market for augmented reality in healthcare is evolving pervasively mainly due to the proliferation of smart connected devices with the integration of AR. Moreover, factors such as the increasing investments in the AR technology by companies to make various medical devices and advent surgical procedures escalate the market on the global platform. Acknowledging the pace at which the market is climbing up pervasively, Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report asserts that the global augmented reality in healthcare market will garner a valuation of approximately USD 1.32 BN by 2023, registering a striking CAGR around 23 % throughout the forecasting period (2017 2023). Get Free Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5236 The extensive uptake of AR technology, increasing demand for more surgical treatments along with the increasing penetration of connected devices in the healthcare sector boosting the growth in the market to an extent. Also, the increasing investments in the augmented reality by companies to make various kind of devices such as handheld, head-mounted display, and others are fostering the growth of the market. Additional factors propelling the market growth include rapidly increasing population and the improving economic conditions, worldwide that are increasing healthcare expenditure and the number of healthcare centers. Furthermore, market penetration of smartphones, increasing numbers of mobile app stores, and growing investments in smart devices fuel the growth of the market. On the other hand, lack of technical awareness and technology restrictions are some of the key factors that are acting as a headwind to the growth of the augmented reality in the healthcare market. Key Players Some of the major players in global augmented reality in healthcare market include Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Google LLC. (U.S.), DAQRI (U.S.), Wikitude GmbH (Austria), Mindmaze (Switzerland), Medical Realities (U.K), Augmedix (U.S.), Atheer (U.S.), Oculus VR (U.S.), Philips Healthcare (the Netherlands & U.S.), CAE Healthcare (U.S.), 3D Systems (U.S.), VirtaMed (Switzerland), Blippar (U.K), HTC (Taiwan), Magic Leap, Inc. (U.S.), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), Osterhout Design Group (U.S.) and Virtually Better (U.S.) among others. Augmented Reality in Healthcare Markets Segments The MRFR analysis is segmented into four key dynamics for enhanced understanding. By Component : Hardware, Software and others. By Device Type : Head-Mounted Display, Handheld Device, and others. By Application : Fitness Management, Medical Training & Education, and others. By Regions : Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest-of-the-World. Browse Full Reports @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/augmented-reality-in-healthcare-market-5236 Augmented Reality in Healthcare Markets Regional Analysis The North American region, heading with the vast technological advancements and high per capita healthcare expenditures will continue its dominance over the global augmented reality in the healthcare market. Factors encouraging the growth of the regional market include the huge demand led by the increasing adoption of consumer electronic devices. Moreover, factors such as the presence of the best medical facilities alongside the vast technological advancements and high per capita healthcare expenditures lead the regional market. The presence of several well-established players that are well-capable of delivering a range technological solution and the substantial investments made by them are undoubtedly impacting the market growth positively. The augmented reality in healthcare market in the European region is expected to account for the second-largest market, following the North American market closely. Factors escalating the growth of the regional market include technological advancement and the augmented adoption of smart connected devices among healthcare providers mainly in the UK, Germany, and France. The resurging economy in Europe is playing an important role in the growth of the market, increasing consumers purchasing power and per capita healthcare expenditures. The Asia Pacific region, heading with the high uptake of technology, is rapidly emerging as a profitable market for the augmented reality in healthcare. The ongoing trend of digitalization of patient records among healthcare organizations is one of the key driving forces behind the growth of the market in this region. The market in India, China, and Japan heading with the augmenting demand for augmented reality in healthcare, increasing healthcare expenditures, and the increasing number of healthcare software solution providers predominantly contributes to the growth of the regional market. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, nearly 2 million new cases of Breast Cancer were Reported Globally in 2018. After Skin Cancer, Breast Cancer Has The Highest Prevalence among Women Across the Globe. Retractors are the devices employed to hold the wound open and hold back the underlying tissues and organs to enable access to the body parts under examination by the surgeon. Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on Global Breast Surgery Retractors Market Insights, to 2025 with 155 pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the Study you will find new evolving Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market stakeholders. The growth of the Breast Surgery Retractors market is mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world. Some of the key players profiled in the study are B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Integra LifeSciences (United States), Accurate Surgical & Scientific Instruments (United States), Hayden Medical Inc. (United States), Novo Surgical (United States), Black & Black Surgical (United States), Mediflex Surgical Products(United States), CooperSurgical, Inc. (United States) and Medtronic PLC (Ireland). According to AMA, the Global Breast Surgery Retractors market is expected to see growth rate of 3.2%. Scope of the Report of Breast Surgery Retractors Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/85709-global-breast-surgery-retractors-market The Breast Surgery Retractors Market report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail. According to the Regional Segmentation the Breast Surgery Retractors Market provides the Information covers following regions: *North America *South America *Asia & Pacific *Europe *MEA (Middle East and Africa) The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc. Have Any Questions Regarding Global Breast Surgery Retractors Market Report, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/85709-global-breast-surgery-retractors-market The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below: The Study Explore the Product Types of Breast Surgery Retractors Market: Single-arm Retractors, Double-arm Retractors Key Applications/end-users of Global Breast Surgery Retractors Market: Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Gynecology Clinics Usage Types: Disposable Retractors, Re-Usable Retractors Procedure: Mastectomy, Lumpectomy, Breast Reconstruction, Plastic Surgery Retractors: Lighted Retractors, Non-Lighted Retractors Top Players in the Market are: B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Integra LifeSciences (United States), Accurate Surgical & Scientific Instruments (United States), Hayden Medical Inc. (United States), Novo Surgical (United States), Black & Black Surgical (United States), Mediflex Surgical Products(United States), CooperSurgical, Inc. (United States) and Medtronic PLC (Ireland) List of players also available in Coverage: Thompson Surgical (United States) and OBP Medical Corporation (United States) Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=85709 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia. About Author: Advance Market Analytics is Global leaders of Market Research Industry provides the quantified B2B research to Fortune 500 companies on high growth emerging opportunities which will impact more than 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Our Analyst is tracking high growth study with detailed statistical and in-depth analysis of market trends & dynamics that provide a complete overview of the industry. We follow an extensive research methodology coupled with critical insights related industry factors and market forces to generate the best value for our clients. We Provides reliable primary and secondary data sources, our analysts and consultants derive informative and usable data suited for our clients business needs. The research study enable clients to meet varied market objectives a from global footprint expansion to supply chain optimization and from competitor profiling to M&As. Contact Us: Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager) AMA Research & Media LLP Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ New Jersey USA 08837 Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218 sales@advancemarketanalytics.com Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) are cancerous cells that break off from the original site of the cancer and spread throughout the body through the vascular system. These cells thus act as the seed for cancer metastases. The highly adverse prognosis for cancer with metastasis has resulted in an increasing interest in circulating tumor cells, as they can act as an early warning system for cancer metastasis. The clinical significance of circulating tumor cells was first recognized in 1869, but serious medical research within the context of the modern structure of the healthcare sector began in the 1990s. These studies were inspired by calculations that showed that even small cancerous growths shedding cells at a small rate of less than 1% per day would produce enough circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream to be detectable. Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Key Players Some of the eminent leaders of the market include Greiner Bio-One International GmbH, Ikonisys Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, STEMCELL Technologies, SRI International, Miltenyi Biotec, QIAGEN Hannover (QIAGEN), Menarini Silicon Biosystems, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Fluxion Biosciences, Inc., NanoString Technologies, Inc, GE Healthcare, Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (Bio-Techne Corporation), ApoCell, Celltraffix Inc., and Epic Lifesciences. Get Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1362 Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Segments The Global Circulating Tumor Cells Market is segmented by technology, application, end use, and region in the report. The global circulating tumor cell market is segmented on the basis of technology into CTC enrichment, CTC detection, and combined enrichment and separation of CTC. On the basis of application, the global circulating tumor cell market is segmented into clinical, research, and drug development. By end use, the CTC market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, research & academic institutes, and diagnostic centers. Industry/ Innovation/Related News: In May 2018, CellMax launched a new clinical trial in an effort to validate its CTC screening test for colorectal cancer in the U.S. September 17, 2018 Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (US) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the study of a mechanism for characterizing the function of rare tumor cells which they have developed. These researchers have created a quick and effective mechanism to measure how these cells perform functions that drive the disease, such as producing proteins that degrade tissue. Their findings could lead to more personalized treatments for people with cancer. September 19, 2018 ApoCell, Inc. (US), a leader global in specialty clinical Research Company involved in the capture and analysis of CTC, unveiled the biomarker results from the BEACON Phase 3 clinical trial utilizing Apocells proprietary circulating tumor cell enrichment system, ApoStream. It is one of its own kind of publication that shows changes in a therapeutic target biomarker detected in CTCs that impacts overall survival in an important subset of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Global Circulating Tumor Cell Market Geographical Analysis The North American region leads the circulating tumor cell market globally; the growth is largely supported by the U.S. with the increasing prevalence of types of cancer as consequences of the wrong lifestyle. Besides, technological advancements getting transpired in the medical science and biotechnology alongside the substantial healthcare expenditure support the market growth. The European region stands as another lucrative market for the circulating tumor cell. The market is growing owing to the increasing number of cancer patients in the region. Furthermore, the proliferation of advanced treatment facilities alongside the availability of skilled medical professionals, and the government support for research & development drives the market in the region. Moreover, factors such as technological advancement and well-spread awareness among people towards cancer and its consequences drive the growth of the regional market. The CTC market in the Asia Pacific region is emerging as a promising market owing to the increasing number of cancer patients. Factors substantiating market growth include the increasing prevalence of cancer, spreading awareness among people about cancer, and the availability of new treatment methods. Proliferating markets in China and India majorly contribute to the market growth in the region. Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/circulating-tumor-cell-market-1362 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com Favorable reimbursement for ENT procedures and funding policies is one of the key factors driving the ENT devices market. For instance, Medicare national average payment for Nasal/sinus endoscopy is USD 569, for Adenoidectomy is USD 940 and for Septoplasty or submucous resection is USD 940. Rising cases of hearing loss is the key factor driving the ENT devices market. As per the 2017 study published in The Hearing Journal, nearly 44 million US adults over the age of 20 are expected to have hearing loss by 2020. Various other factors such as favorable reimbursement for ENT procedures, high prevalence of chronic sinusitis, geriatric population, technological advancements, growing adoption of minimally invasive ENT procedures, and high demand for cosmetic ENT procedures are also expected to propel the growth of the market. However, low high cost of CO2 lasers, and high cost of devices can hinder the market growth over the forecast period. Global ENT Devices Market Key Players Some of the key players in the global ENT devices market are Atos Medical AB, Cochlear Limited, Hoya Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Karl Storz Gmbh & Co. Kg, Medtronic PLC, Olympus Corporation, Rion Co. Ltd, Siemens Healthcare, Smith & Nephew PLC, Sonova Holding AG, Starkey Laboratories Inc., Stryker Corporation, Widex A/S, William Demant Holding A/S, and others. Get Free Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/7197 Global ENT Devices Market Regional Analysis The Americas dominated the global market for ENT devices owing to the presence of major market players, increasing cases of hearing loss and developed economies like US and Canada within the region. In 2017, it was estimated that Europe stood second in the global ENT devices market. This can be attributed to the rising research and development investments and increasing technological advancements. Asia Pacific was projected to be the fastest growing region in 2017. Increasing healthcare expenditure drives the regional markets of the Asia Pacific region. According to the data suggested by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia spent nearly USD 181 billion on health in 20162017. On the other hand, the Middle East and Africa held least share in the global ENT devices market due to the low per capita income, especially within the African region. Global ENT Devices Market Segmentation The Global ENT devices market is segmented based on product, end user, and region. The Global market for ENT devices, by product is segmented into diagnostic devices, surgical devices, hearing aids, hearing implants, Co2 lasers, and image-guided surgery systems. The diagnostic devices segment is further classified as endoscopes and hearing screening devices. The endoscopes further segmented as rigid endoscopes and flexible endoscopes. The rigid endoscope segment includes otoscopes and sinuscopes. The flexible endoscope segment includes rhinoscopes, laryngoscopes, pharyngoscopes, and nasopharyngoscopes. The surgical devices segment is further classified as powered surgical instruments, radiofrequency (RF) handpieces, handheld instruments, balloon sinus dilation devices, ENT supplies, ear tubes, voice prosthesis devices. The handheld instrument segment includes rhinology instruments, otology instruments, laryngeal instruments, head and neck surgery instruments and others. The ENT supplies segment includes packing material, nasal stents & splints. Based on end user, the market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory settings, ENT clinics, research and academic institutes, home care settings, and others. Browse Complete 90 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ent-devices-market-7197 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members. Contact: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India +1 646 845 9312 Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com The growth of the global gene therapy market is driven by an increase in prevalence of cancer, high R&D investment in gene therapy, and growing awareness concerning gene therapy in particular. Additionally, the untapped potential for emerging markets would create lucrative opportunities for new market players. However, high cost associated with gene therapy and unwanted immune responses as a result of treatment hamper market growth. A recent report published by Allied Market Research states that the Global Gene Therapy Market generated $393.35 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $6,205.85 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 34.8% during the forecast period, 2019-2026. Download PDF Report Sample @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2841 The report segments the global gene therapy market by vector type, gene type, application, and geography. Based on vector type, the report bifurcates the market into viral and non-viral vector. The viral vector segment accounted for the highest revenue in 2016 and is expected to continue its dominance through 2023. However, the non-viral vector segment is projected to garner the highest growth rate during the forecast period, owing to technological advancement that contributed to positive results for such therapies. Based on gene type, the market is categorized into antigen, cytokine, tumor suppressor, suicide, deficiency, growth factors, receptors, and others. The antigen segment dominated the overall market in 2016, occupying two-ninths of the total share. Based on application, report categorizes the market into oncological disorders, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, infectious disease, and other diseases. The oncological disorders segment generated the highest revenue in 2016 and is expected to maintain its dominance through the forecast period. Regionally, North America contributed the highest revenue to the global market in 2016, owing to high prevalence of cancer, presence of high disposable income, and high R&D research funding. The region is poised to continue its dominance through 2023. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2023, on account of rise in cancer incidences, surge in healthcare expenditure, and an increase in government initiatives to improve healthcare infrastructure. The report also profiles key players involved in the global gene therapy market, such as Novartis Kite Pharma Inc. GlaxoSmithKline PLC Spark Therapeutics Inc. Bluebird bio Inc. Genethon Transgene SA Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation Oxford BioMedica NewLink Genetics Corp They have adopted various strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, collaborations, partnerships, and others to gain a strong position in the industry. Make an Enquiry before Buy @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2841 About Us:- Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of Market Research Reports and Business Intelligence Solutions. AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact Us:- David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Interface Biologics Inc (IBI) is a company from Toronto, Ontario, Canada that develops innovative materials for both Medtech and Pharmaceutical applications. Their Surface Modification Technology is called Endexo, which are fluorine-based additives which migrate to the top 10 nanometers of device surface and prevent platelet adherence and activation in blood contacting devices and reduce bacterial adhesion and biofouling in non-blood contacting devices. The Endexo additive technology has significant advantages over competitive technologies including heparin coatings. These include manufacturing advantages (no change in the manufacturing process, low cost technology, compatibility with a wide range of polymers) and device advantages (permanent presence on all device surfaces, no impact on device functionality) The innovative material technology came out of the University of Torontos Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) and the labs of Professor Paul Santerre in the 90s. Currently, Endexo is used commercially in AngioDynamics BioFlo vascular access catheters and Arkis CerebroFlo ventricular drainage catheter. Endexo has also been licensed to Fresenius Medical Care for their chronic and acute dialysis systems but these are not yet on the market. IBIs first commercial product, the AngioDynamics BioFlo PICC, was FDA cleared in 2012 through the 510(k) pathway. The BioFlo PICC Catheters with Endexo have been shown clinically to reduce deep vein thrombosis by over 50% and infections by 90%. To give you insight into this company, here is a timeline of the development: 1990s: IBI in utero, when Paul Santerre trained in hematology and polymer science. 1995: Patent for surface modifying molecules at University of Toronto. 2001: Interface biologics formed, with seed capital from Genesys Capital. 2002: IBI rated top 10 life science companies as selected by the Ottawa Life Sciences Council. 2004: IBI raised $12M with BDC, Covington, Vengrowth. 2005: IBI moved into MaRS 10,000 sqft and 5 different labs. 2008: Tom Reeves joined as new President/CEO. 2009: Commercial deal with Navilyst Medical. 2010: Commercial deal with Fresenius Medical. 2011: First products approved using Endexo by Health Canada. 2012: FDA clears AngioDynamics BioFlo with Endexo. 2015: Series B financing including DSM Venturing. 2019: $5 million annual revenue, 600,000 catheters placed, 19 patents. We caught up with Tom Reeves, the CEO of Interface Biologics, to learn about the challenges of running an early stage biotech company. He told captivating details of the ups and downs of the Toronto business, bringing it back from the edge in 2008, and highlighted tips and tricks to maximize a biotech companys chances for success. Ben Ouyang, Medgadget: The BioFlo PICC is clearly better than the competition. Why isnt it the gold standard? Tom Reeves: There are a number of reasons. One is that its always difficult with a new technology to unseat the biggest player. With PICCs, the biggest player is Bard Medical (now owned by BD). They have 60-65% of the market share and are very good at protecting their business. The second and more important issue with PICCs is that AngioDynamics does not currently have a tip location navigation system which has become increasingly important because the majority of PICCs are now placed by nurses. They hope to address that in the next few quarters. Medgadget: Why not partner up with Bard and BD? Reeves: Actually, IBI originally did some work with Bard in 2007/2008. At that point, Bard wasnt hungry for new technology because they already had dominant market share so we felt like they would just shelve the technology vs. actively try to get it on the market. Weve had more recent discussions with BD about using Endexo in PIVC products, but now that they have merged with Bard it probably doesnt make sense for them to have Endexo in only part of their product line. Medgadget: If the navigation system is the main advantage of Bard over AngioDynamics, what about building your own navigation system? Reeves: AngioDynamics is exploring that option but there are a lot of patents to negotiate around in order to build a new navigation system. So its not as easy as saying just build your own. The thing is you dont need the Bard PICC to work with the Bard tip location navigation system. You could use the Bard navigation system with the AngioDynamics PICC. but Bard doesnt sell them separately. AngioDynamics has filed a lawsuit against Bard arguing that this practice is anti-competitive and that doctors and hospitals should be able to buy the Bard navigation systems and use them with other PICCs. That lawsuit is still in the courts. Medgadget: How are the other BioFlo products doing? Reeves: AngioDynamics BioFlo ports and dialysis catheters are doing really well with double digit growth rates over the last few quarters. BioFlo midlines have also done very well. None of these products have the same navigation system constraints so there havent been the same barriers to growing market share. I also think that as more and more clinical data is collected on these different product lines it will help them to sell more effectively. Medgadget: Whats been your goal with OEM (original equipment manufacturer) licensing? Reeves: The ideal partner for an OEM licensing deal is to have the largest player in a specific field who is hungry for innovation. Thats what we have with Fresenius Medical Care and dialysis systems. If the largest player is not focused on innovation, then the next best option is to have a mid-tier player that is looking for new technologies to differentiate themselves and grow market share. AngioDynamics fits that profile. Medgadget: Why did you choose to do OEM instead of making your own products? Reeves: I think the OEM approach is more suited to our surface modification technology than making our own products. The differentiation we provide with our materials is important but there are a number of other features of a medical device which make it competitive. For us, the OEM model is also very capital efficient which is important for an early stage company. When we license our material to an OEM manufacturer, they pay for all of the pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory, operational and sales/marketing costs, which can be significant. We generate some initial income through milestone payments based on regulatory or commercial achievement, but our primary source of income is a percentage of sales on the products that use our material. So we are successful if our partners are successful we are totally aligned. Medgadget: IBI was near collapse in 2008. What made you join? Reeves: There were a number of reasons. First, I really thought the technology had big potential. My early discussions with Professor Santerre and his technology vision were compelling. I also liked the fact that as a platform technology, there were multiple shots on goal which was a contrast to other companies I was considering. Second, I felt that the company was on the cusp of commercial opportunity which is the right stage for my skillset. Third, I really liked the team including the three investors at the time and I felt like I could work well with them. Medgadget: How did you go from having one year to prove commercial value to okay, were signing with Navilyst? Reeves: To be fair, there was a lot of legwork that was done before I joined and we thought there were 2-3 opportunities to sign commercial deals. My main role was to focus our efforts on securing an agreement and fortunately we were able to close the Navilyst deal in that timeframe. We were also very conservative with cash, so that the 1 year financing lasted longer than a year. Medgadget: Do you have advice on financing? Reeves: Never run out of money! It sounds simple but once youre out of money, youve got very few options. There is also a balance between raising too much or too little. While raising too much increases your dilution, I would always err on the side of raising more than you think you need. In early stage companies, you cant always control all of the variables and programs inevitably take longer and cost more than you think they will. So having a financial cushion is vital. Medgadget: If you had advice to give to graduate students and professors with a new technology, what would it be? Reeves: First and foremost you have to make sure your technology works well and is both solving an unmet clinical need and someone is willing to pay for it. You cant fall too much in love with your own story. Weve had problems historically where we thought we had a great solution to a particular clinical problem but partners werent interested. In that situation you have to ask yourself well, if nobody else is interested, then maybe we need to challenge our assumptions. Second, you need to figure out how youre going to fund your technology. Ideally in the initial stages you can finance through grants and other non-dilutive funding (friends and family) as much as possible before you have to bring in professional money. That way youll retain a greater ownership percentage for longer. Third, if youre not commercially minded, consider partnering with someone who has more commercial experience so that you can focus on the technology. Finally, be patient. Developing and commercializing new technologies is by definition difficult and time-consuming. Be prepared for the ups and downs that are inherent in early stage companies and dont be discouraged. If your technology is something that can make a difference then persevere and you will be successful. Medgadget: What do you avoid when joining a company? Reeves: As a professional manager hired to drive commercialization, Id want to ensure that the scientific founder was supportive. If the founder is opposed to bringing in a new CEO, then youre pushing the ball uphill. Id also want to make sure that the investors had a similar vision with respect to the amount of capital and time required to be successful. I wouldnt want a situation where there were unrealistic investor expectations as then youre doomed for failure. Medgadget: Why biotech? Reeves: I fell in love with the complexity and the learning opportunities. At IBI, we combine materials sciences (chemistry and chemical engineering) with device development, clinical evaluation, regulatory approvals, and reimbursement assessments in addition to the normal business issues of sales, marketing, operations, finance, etc. Its intellectually stimulating and I feel like I learn something every day at work. I also like the fact that in our industry more than any other, if you are successful you really are helping people. Medgadget: Why Toronto? Reeves: I was running the English subsidiary of an international computer products distribution company in England in 1994 and was transferred to Toronto to take over the Canadian operation. I thought Id be here for 2-3 years and then move on but that was almost 25 years ago! Im American and my wife is English so when we moved here it was kind of cool that Canada became our country together and we are now both dual citizens. This is a great place to raise kids and our three children all grew up calling Toronto home. I also like the incredible tapestry of cultures, religions and beliefs that is Canada in general and Toronto in particular. Everyone is welcome here and while everyone maintains a connection to their heritage, they are also very loyal Canadians. I guess that describes our family as well! Link: Interface Biologics Inc China on Tuesday signed an agreement with Morocco to provide 100 million yuan (about 14.9 million U.S. dollars) to finance public projects in the north African kingdom. This deal was inked by Morocco's Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Benchaaboun and Chinese Ambassador to Morocco Li Li. Benchaaboun thanked the Chinese government for its continuous support for Morocco's economic and social development, while expressing his satisfaction with the quality of the projects undertaken in Morocco with the financial support of China. He also commended the excellent China-Morocco relationship in various areas, highlighting the remarkable increase in Chinese investment in Morocco and the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the kingdom since the implementation of the visa exemption policy. For his part, the Chinese ambassador said that this financial contribution by China will help create important projects in Morocco covering several key sectors such as information and communications technology, and education. Li also reiterated China's readiness to further cement the strategic partnership between China and Morocco. Global Intra-cranial Pressure (ICP) Monitor market, although in its embryonic stage, is still witnessing an outstanding growth over the past couple of years. This growth attributes to the ability of these monitors in the field of neurosurgery in processes such as the external ventricular draining, CSF circulation, and CSF functions among others. Furthermore, traumatic brain injuries and diseases that are impacting the brain health such as intra-cerebral hemorrhage, meningitis, and neurological damages among others are fostering the market growth to an extent. The neurology sector has been witnessing the emergence of many advent devices over the past few years which is increasing the market size with the huge demand for ICP monitors, increasing applications of these monitors. Resultantly, the ICP monitor market is escalating on the global platform. Acknowledging the traction, this market is vibrating with currently; Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report giving asserts that the global intra-cranial pressure monitor market gaining further prominence will register a spectacular growth by 2022, growing at an impressive CAGR during the review period (2016 2022). Get Free Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2042 Additional factors substantiating the market growth include increasing government funding and programs primarily in the developing regions to support the R&D activities undertaken to bring more advancements and inventions in these monitors. Technological advancements in the field of telehealth, telemetric monitoring, and in smart and connected devices along with penetration of ubiquitous technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are fostering the market growth of ICP monitors. Furthermore, factors such as the increasing prevalence of neurological diseases and disorders of the nervous system such as Schizophrenia, Parkinsons disease, and Cerebral Palsy alongside the changing lifestyle led by the growing urbanization and industrialization are fostering the market growth. Undoubtedly, improving economic conditions are supporting the market growth enabling access to quality care and improved healthcare worldwide To respond to the growing demand for futuristic monitors, manufacturers are developing devices with advanced technologies. To identify the unmet clinical needs, some caregiving facilities are aiming to have high-quality screening (monitoring) available in their facilities. On the flip side, factors such as high costs of ICP monitors along with the low or no awareness among consumers towards the availability and advantages of these monitors are obstructing the market growth. Nevertheless, new product development alongside services made available in the developing and developed countries by the matured market players are some of the factors expected to support the market growth during the anticipated period, filling up the demand and supply gap. Global Intra-cranial Pressure Monitor Market Competitive Analysis Global intra-cranial pressure monitor market appears to be competitive & fragmented owing to the several small & big players accounting for a substantial market share. Through strategic initiatives such as partnership, acquisition, collaboration, expansion, product & technology launch, these players try to gain the competitive advantage in the market. Key Players: Some of the eminent leaders of the market include Compumedics Limited (Australia), Covidien Plc. (Ireland), Natus Medical Incorporated (US), Codman & Shurtleff, Inc. (US), Integra LifeSciences Corporation (US), Raumedic (USA), and Vittamed. Industry/Innovation/Related News: October 04, 2018 IRRAS AB (Sweden), a medical technology company involved in development and commercialization of innovative brain surgery solutions announced that it has completed its initial review of the IRRAS recertification application for its Notified Body, LNE/G-MED, associated with the CE Mark of the IRRAflow catheter. May 31, 2018 Branchpoint Technologies (US), a company dedicated to providing accurate, reliable and cost-effective mobile solutions for ICP monitoring announced receiving of FDA approval its AURA ICP Monitoring System, including a completely implantable and wireless ICP sensor that enables truly mobile ICP monitoring in brain-injured patients. The AURA ICP Monitoring System also enables reliable telemetric monitoring of parenchymal ICP such as continuous ICP waveforms, weaving off the need to have additional capital equipment investments. Global Intra-cranial Pressure Monitor Market Segmentations MRFR has segmented its analysis into four key dynamics for enhanced understanding. By Techniques : Invasive and Non-Invasive among others. By Methods : Intra-Ventricular Catheter, Subdural Screw, and Epidural Sensor among others. By Applications : Traumatic Brain Injury, Intra-Cerebral Hemorrhage, and Meningitis among others. By Regions : Europe, North America, APAC and Rest-of-the-World. Access Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/intra-cranial-pressure-monitor-market-2042 Global Intra-cranial Pressure Monitor Market Geographical Analysis Globally, North America is dominating the global Intra-cranial pressure monitor market. Furthermore, factors such as extensive demand and uptake of technologically advanced monitoring devices in medical, increasing public & private organizations support for R&D activities and high healthcare expenditures substantiate the market growth include. With the growing prevalence of neurological disorders, the North American ICP monitor market is expected to evaluate phenomenally by 2022. The European region is another lucrative market for ICP monitors. Increasing focus on the development of advent monitors alongside rising government support for R&D activities is contributing to the market growth. Also, the increasing numbers of specialty services offered by various healthcare providers foster the growth of the market in Europe. The Asia Pacific region is rapidly emerging as a promising market for ICP monitor, growing rapidly. Increasing incidents of neurological disorders are fuelling the market growth. Moreover, factors such as the augmenting demand for quality equipment and proliferating healthcare technology are projected to provide impetus to the market growth, leading to the increasing the uptake of ICP monitors. Contact Us: Market Research Future Office No. 528, Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road, Hadapsar, Pune 411028 Maharashtra, India Phone: +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 20, 2019 The subject of not naming the shooter in a mass killing last came up in the TV Blog in June 2016. That was in the aftermath of the shooting at a predominantly gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 dead (not counting the shooter himself). The TV Blog concerned itself with Anderson Cooper's declaration on CNN that he would refrain from uttering the shooter's name in his reports. He explained that this personal policy was based on his belief that repeatedly identifying him by name on CNN would award the killer with a notoriety he did not deserve. Moreover, Cooper felt that naming the shooter -- i.e., dignifying his existence with a name -- diminished or was even insulting to the memory of the 49 who perished at his hands and whose names deserved to be remembered far more than his. advertisement advertisement It was a noble sentiment and apparently within Cooper's power to declare and to practice (although if memory serves, this did not become the adopted policy of CNN generally). Here in the present day, the prime minister of New Zealand echoed Cooper's 2016 declaration when she vowed this week to refrain from naming the killer in the mosque shootings that killed at least 50 worshipers (as the death toll is being referred to in news reports) last Friday in Christchurch. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless, said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a speech to the New Zealand Parliament on Tuesday. And to others, I implore you. Speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name. Viewers of the TV news coverage of the story have likely noticed that when the shooter appeared in a New Zealand courtroom, his face was pixelated so as not to be recognizable (as in the screen grab from The Today Show on NBC, above). According to the BBC, this pixelation had nothing to do with the prime minister's speech but with a judge's order that the shooter's face be obscured in photos and videos obtained in his court appearances to preserve his fair trial rights (in the words of the BBC). This pixelation order had nothing to do, apparently, with any wish on the part of the court or the New Zealand legal system at large to deny the man his notoriety -- which everyone assumes he craves and motivated him, at least in part, to carry out this attack. This is the core belief that animates these occasional declarations that revealing the name of this or any other heinous killer merely works to the killer's advantage for it grants him the fame that he so obviously seeks. When a public figure such as New Zealand's prime minister states an intention to refuse to name a shooting suspect in public, the implication is that the public figure wishes others to follow suit -- such as the news media, for example. This has definitely not happened in the case of this New Zealand massacre. Even in the stories about the prime minister's speech, the man -- Brenton Tarrant, 28 -- was mentioned by name along with a photo of his face. Whether it be the prime minister of New Zealand or Anderson Cooper and James Comey -- the then-FBI director in 2016 who also announced a policy to refrain from naming the Orlando shooter -- these gestures certainly seem heartfelt. But they are futile, of course. News media and social media today are too numerous to somehow keep Brenton Tarrant's name out of the public consciousness. In addition, the idea that a mass killer somehow benefits from all that exposure is debatable. Certainly, the killer himself might feel satisfied that he achieved his ambition to become world famous for some fringe cause. But these people are delusional anyway. For the rest of us, identifying a killer gives evil a face and a name. Rather than rewarding these people with fame, mass exposure rewards them with ill-fame. And where the news media is concerned, the question of naming or not naming comes down to standard practices in journalism. People have names, and names are facts. Since newspeople are in the fact business, keeping these people's names out of news stories is simply not appropriate. And this is why, Anderson Cooper notwithstanding, this just is not done. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 20, 2019 The European Commission on Wednesday ordered Google to pay $1.7 billion for suppressing competition, ruling that the Alphabet subsidiary prevented rivals from competing and innovating fairly when it comes to online advertising. At times, the contracts Google's AdSense for Search had with online publishers breached antitrust rules by unfairly restricting how third-party websites could integrate ads sold by Google competitors into the search results on those sites and specific pages. Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites, stated EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of competition. advertisement advertisement The ruling explained that Google's practices amount to an abuse of its dominant position in the online search advertising. And while market dominance is not illegal under EU antitrust rules, these companies have a responsibility not to abuse their power. The decision by the EU, made on Wednesday, is the last of three such charges for similar cases that has cost the company about $9.3 billion. The company began making changes to its practices in 2009 after in 2006 it began making exclusivity clauses in its contract, which meant online publishers were prohibited from placing any search advertisers from competitors on the same search results page. Based on the EU ruling, Google will make other changes and add features during the next few months, explained Kent Walker, senior vice president of global affairs at Google, in a blog post. After the Commissions July 2018 decision, we changed the licensing model for the Google apps we build for use on Android phones, creating new, separate licenses for Google Play, the Google Chrome browser, and for Google Search, Walker wrote. In doing so, we maintained the freedom for phone makers to install any alternative app alongside a Google app. Google also recently began testing a new format it calls Comparison Listings. The listings provide direct links to comparison shopping sites, along with specific product offers from merchants. These links are in addition to Shopping ads that serve up on Google general search results pages. Those searching for items can switch between the Products view, which shows Shopping ads, and the Comparison sites view, which shows Comparison Listing ads. by Wayne Friedman , March 20, 2019 Nexstar Media Group has made good on efforts to divest its TV stations to meet federal guidelines. It's all part of the company's deal to buy Tribune Media -- selling 19 stations to Tegna and E.W. Scripps, Nineteen stations in 15 markets will pull in a cash price of $1.32 billion. Tegna will acquire 11 stations in eight markets for $740 million, with Scripps buying eight stations in seven markets for $580 million. The biggest TV station markets to be sold -- WPIX New York, KASW Phoenix, WSFL Miami, and KSTU Salt Lake City -- will go to Scripps. In addition, Nexstar says it is in active negotiations to sell two stations in Indianapolis, Indiana. In December 2018, Nexstar inked an agreement to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billion. The planned divestiture of 19 stations is part of that agreement, in compliance with FCC rules. The $1.32 billion in sales will help to lower debt around the deal. The Wednesday morning stock price of Nexstar was up 0.1% at $105.74, while Tribune Media was down 0.1% to $46.05. Scripps was down 1.3% to $22.19; and Tegna was off 2% to $14.14. by Sara Guaglione , March 20, 2019 In a Wall Street Journal interview, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong reveals he wants to reach 5 million digital subscribers. That's equal to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journals digital subscribers combined. The New York Times had 3.4 million digital subscribers by the end of 2018, three times what it had three years ago. The Wall Street Journal had 1.71 million digital subscribers, more than double what it had at the end of 2015, according to the business publication. The New York Times has also set a high target: 10 million digital subscribers by 2025. Since the biotech billionaire purchased the Los Angeles Times from Tribune Publishing in June 2018 for $500 million, the newspaper has doubled its subscriber number to 150,000, an impressive feat but far from the millions. advertisement advertisement Publishers are increasingly building out their subscription businesses to make up for lost ad revenue scooped up by tech giants like Google and Facebook. Vox Media, which ownsVox, The Verge, SB Nation, Eater, Curbed and Recode, will introduce paid membership tiers later this year, for example. Conde Nast announced a few months ago it would put all of its titles behind paywalls by the end of 2019 (The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired already have paywalls). Though Soon-Shiong did not tell The Wall Street Journal in the interview when he hopes to hit the 5 million mark, he made it clear it was a goal to ensure the success of the company. I have made a decision to invest what it will take to make sure that the Los Angeles Times remains a viable business for at least another 100 years, he said. If we get to 5 million ultimately, that will make that possible. Soon-Shiong said he is focused on Californias 40 million residents, rather than trying to compete for a national audience. He is looking to expand the L.A. Times reach closer to its home base: into nearby states, Mexico, western Canada and other countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean, he told WSJ. Soon-Shiong has already invested an additional $150 million into the company since he bought it last summer. The deal also included the San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as a number of other Southern California newspapers. Since the acquisition, the LAT has made over 100 hires and moved to new headquarters in El Segundo. by Sara Guaglione , March 20, 2019 Salem Media, the California-based Christian conservative radio and digital media company, will addto the portfolio of its affiliate, Townhall Media, which includesand Salem Media operates 117 radio stations in 38 markets. Townhall Media vice president-general manager Jonathan Garthwaite said the company's "reach at a critical point in our nation's history grows tremendously with PJ on our team." The company claims the addition of PJ Media will increase Townhall Medias reach to over 15 million unique readers each month. PJ Medias former CEO Aubrey Chernick said the transaction is an opportunity to continue to expand PJ Medias voice and brand and distribute its content to an even bigger audience. advertisement advertisement PJ Media was founded in 2004 by novelist and screenwriter Roger Simon and blogger Charles Johnson. David Evans, Salems president of new media, stated: In an age where many are struggling to figure out what a successful business model for online journalism looks like, we are continuing to grow and adapt in the changing environment. Salem Media recently sold Human Events to Raheem Kassam, the former editor in chief of Breitbart London, and lawyer Will Chamberlain. They pledge to bring new life to the conservative site. Some conservative media companies have dealt with recent changes in the landscape. TheBlaze and CRTV merged in December 2018, and its audience has surged 143% over the past year. It is now the second-largest right-wing political news source in the nation, behind Fox News. The Weekly Standard was shuttered a few months ago, while its sister publication Washington Examiner is expanding for national distribution. Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at National Review, and Stephen Hayes, former Weekly Standard editor-in-chief, are creating a conservative media company that will begin publishing newsletters this summer, with a website coming in September. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, March 20, 2019 The Supreme Court Wednesday sent a long-running privacy class-action against Google back to the lower courts, with instructions to decide whether the company harmed people by transmitting their search queries to publishers. If the answer is no, the lawsuit would be dismissed, under the ruling issued Wednesday. The court's move marks the latest twist in a battle dating to 2010, when Google was sued for allegedly violating users' privacy by including their search queries in "referer headers" -- the information that's automatically transmitted to sites users click on when they leave Google. Some queries, like people's searches for their own names, can offer clues to users' identities. (Google no longer transmits search queries when people click on links in the results.) Google agreed to resolve the allegations by donating $5.3 million to six nonprofits and schools -- including at least one that previously received money from Google. The settlement also requires Google to pay more than $2.1 million to the attorneys who brought the lawsuit. advertisement advertisement Ted Frank, founder of the Center for Class Action Fairness, challenged that deal. He argued that it should have been rejected because it didn't compensate Google's users. When the Supreme Court heard Frank's challenge last October, several judges questioned whether the people who sued should have been allowed to proceed at all. Neil Gorsuch specifically asked why leaking a name was actionable. Is there any evidence that his personal information, for example, wasn't already available through the white pages and otherwise published so that there is no injury in fact? he asked. Stephen Breyer also asked what concrete injury was suffered by the people who sued. He referred to allegations by Anthony Italiano, one of the two class representatives named in the case. Italiano alleged that his searches included his name paired with the word bankruptcy, as well as his name with foreclosure, and his name with his home address. What concrete injury was there because somebody might discover through Google that he made those searches? Breyer asked at the October hearing. I don't quite see how this is some kind of secret or private or information. The Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that consumers can only proceed in federal court if they can prove they suffered a concrete injury. That matter involved a consumer's allegations that the online data aggregator Spokeo displayed inaccurate biographical information about him. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently ruled that the consumer could proceed. by Fern Siegel , March 20, 2019 Spirited Media has sold The Incline, one of its three local news sites targeting millennials. WhereBy.Us, which currently owns sites in Miami, Seattle, Portland (Oregon) and Orlando, bought The Incline, which debuted in 2016 to cover Pittsburgh. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The WhereBy.Us properties post a weekday morning newsletter. The Incline, which had been sending a seven-day-a-week newsletter, will scale back to five. Spirited media previously sold Denverite to Colorado Public Radio in early March. Billy Penn, which focuses on Philadelphia, is still for sale. The Incline will still be Incline-y. Weve still got our sass and Pittsburghese, The Inclines staff wrote in a post. Well keep monitoring the city, highlighting bright spots and challenges " advertisement advertisement Rossilynne Culgan, the site's food and culture editor, has been named director. Former director Lexi Beculfine moves to The Philadelphia Inquirer. WhereBy.Us claims more than 75,000 daily subscribers across its network, reaching over 3 million people each month cross-platform. Since launching in 2015, it has raised more than $2.5M to support growth and generated $1 million-plus in annual revenue. Chris Krewson, Spirited Media's vice president of strategy, tweeted it was a bad time to raise money as a local media company. Instead, the company will move to the consulting side of the business. by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, March 20, 2019 Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has appointed agency and media company veteran Jacki Kelley to the newly created position of president, chief client officer, Dentsu Aegis, U.S. Kelley will report to Dentsu Aegis Network Americas CEO Nick Brien and will join both the Dentsu Aegis Network U.S. Executive Team and the Dentsu Aegis Network Global Senior Leadership Forum. The appointment marks the addition of yet another former senior level media executive from Mediabrands, part of Interpublic, where Kelley help several top roles before joining Bloomberg Media in 2014 as chief operating officer. She was elevated to COO Bloomberg LP in 2017. Prior to Bloomberg Kelley was the CEO, North America, and president of global clients for IPG Mediabrands as well as Global CEO, Universal McCann (UM). Earlier she held senior posts at Yahoo and USA Today. advertisement advertisement In her new role Kelley is tasked with delivering on DANs brand promise of an integrated and simplified client experience across the network which includes agencies mcgarrybowen, Carat, iProspect, Merkle, 360i and Isobar. Shell also help define partnership opportunities with sell-side platforms and media owners and advise on Dentsus M&A strategy. Stated Brien: Jacki Kelley is a proven senior marketing executive with recognized leadership expertise and deep operational skills. Her diversified range of career experiences across the media, marketing and agency sectors is equally unusual and extremely valuable, as we seek to deliver more integrated marketing solutions for our clients. In addition to Kelley, the roster of former Mediabrands executives now at DAN includes Henry Tajer, Brian Monahan, Tim Spengler, and Kris Magel. Former Mediabrands CEO Matt Seiler also joined DAN, in early 2018, but is no longer with the company. by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, March 20, 2019 The battle of the light beer brands is starting to feel interminable even to some beer fans, judging from social media threads. As all the media-connected world knows by now, the feud was set off by Bud Lights Super Bowl spots dissing Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup in brewing. Just days after MillerCoors launched a March Madness promo featuring a Coors Light-branded tap handle that detected Bud Light ads and triggered free Coors Lights for bar patrons, the companys Miller Lite has fired another volley. Miller Lite today posted two satiric ads on its social channels that seem to show actors and production workers shooting some new Bud Light medieval-themed spots, but choosing to drink Miller Lite on their breaks. advertisement advertisement One (below) takes place on an ad shoot troubled by a faulty snow machine. The other, Aftermath, specifically spoofs the Bud Light Super Bowl spot co-produced with Game of Thrones. Both DDB-produced videos end with the assertion: In the real world, more taste is what matters, and a shot of a Miller Lite with the screen message: More taste & half the carbs of Bud Light. Miller Lite will be running the spots throughout the NCAA Tournament--the brand's two heaviest advertising weeks of the year--across TV, digital and social channels. But in a turnabout reminiscent of the classic Mad magazine comic strip Spy vs. Spy, Anheuser-Busch InBev was ready with a Bud Light reply video to post on its own social channels. Called Imitation, that video, from Wieden + Kennedy New York, has Bud Lights medieval king character suggesting that if Miller is this set on imitating our kingdom, it should also consider imitating Bud Lights move to put its ingredients list on its outer packaging. The ad ends with screen messaging stating that Bud Light is brewed with no corn syrup. In alerting the press to their latest ads, each brand offered stats. Miller Lite says it's picking up share "not only in its segment, but across the entire beer category, per Nielsen." Bud Light says it's seen "share trend improvement" in the premium light segment," per IRI. Another suggestion: Wake us when the war is over. You are here: Business Israel's computer chip exports to China jumped 80 percent in 2018 to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, the Israel Export Institute (IEI) said Tuesday. According to IEI's annual developments and trends report, the exceptional increase in chip exports was the main reason of a 50-percent jump in Israeli exports to China in 2018 to 4.7 billion dollars. Electronic components, Israel's main exports to China, took up 56 percent of Israel's total exports to China in 2018, the report said. According to the report, Israel's exports of goods to China are more than its total exports to Germany, the Netherlands or Turkey, which are among Israel's five largest export destinations. In the industrial measurement and control equipment sector, which mainly includes equipment for the electronics industry, Israeli exports to China rose by 64 percent in 2018 to 450 million dollars. by Wayne Friedman , March 20, 2019 Viacoms stock closed sharply down on Wednesday after issuing a warning that its networks could be dropped from DirecTV this Friday. Viacom, which owns MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, was down 5.5% to $26.01. It has accused AT&T, which owns DirecTV, of unfair marketplace leverage after buying Time Warner. The company stated: AT&T is abusing its new market position by favoring its own content which significantly under-performs Viacoms to stifle competition. AT&T-DirecTVs behavior is also consistent with a recent pattern of gouging their customers by charging them higher prices for an inferior product with fewer channels. According to MoffettNathanson Research, in January, Viacom amassed an average 2.05 million prime-time 18-49 viewers in Nielsens C3 metric -- the average commercial-minute rating plus three days of time-shifted viewing. This was down 15% from the same month in 2018. advertisement advertisement By comparison, AT&Ts WarnerMedia networks were collectively down 21% to 1.88 million 18-49 Nielsen C3 viewers. DirecTV is the second-biggest U.S. pay TV provider with 20 million subscribers; Comcast Corp. is the biggest with 22 million. Analysts have been wary of Viacom and other cable TV network-focused companies such as Discovery Inc. and AMC Networks when it comes to declining cable subscribers. Overall, cable TV networks continue to see average annual subscriber reductions of 2% to 3% over the last few years. For its part, Viacom says it has renewed its network pay TV distribution deals in more than half its subscriber base over the last two years. Analysts also worry about lower prospects from new virtual pay TV providers pursuing low-cost skinny bundles of live, linear TV networks. Many big legacy cable TV companies have 10 to 15 or more networks in their group rosters. Could taking good care of gums and teeth also help to protect the brain? A recent study has added to growing evidence of a link between severe gum disease, or periodontitis, and a raised risk of dementia. Share on Pinterest New research suggests that keeping your gums healthy may prevent dementia. Using data from an extensive national health insurance screening program, investigators from Seoul National University in South Korea examined the relationship between chronic periodontitis and dementia. In a paper that now features in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the researchers describe how they found a modest link between severe gum disease and dementia, which is consistent with some previous studies. The researchers also point out that their retrospective cohort study is likely the first to establish that lifestyle factors, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and exercise, did not appear to have any effect on the connection. The term dementia describes a decline in mental capacity such as increasing difficulty with memory and reasoning that becomes so severe that it disrupts daily living. Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia. Need to reduce dementia risk factors A joint 2012 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimers Disease International stated that dementia is a global public health priority . The report stated that there were 35.6 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2012. It also estimated that the global prevalence of dementia would increase threefold by 2050. In their study paper, the researchers discuss the potential impact that reducing dementia risk factors could make to this projected massive burden. The researchers cite a 2014 study that suggested that decreasing dementia risk factors by 20 percent could reduce the anticipated 2050 prevalence of dementia by more than 15 percent. One such risk factor, they suggest, is chronic periodontitis. Periodontitis is a common human disease in which the gums and the structures that support the teeth become inflamed due to bacterial infection. It usually starts as gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums. Although the human mouth is home to a wide range of bacteria, when conditions are right, the bacteria populations can increase dramatically to cause inflammation. This usually happens when bits of food and bacteria deposit on tooth surfaces to form plaque. The bacterial colonies in the plaque grow and produce toxins that trigger inflammation responses in the gums. If untreated, the inflammation becomes persistent and destroys bone, causing tooth loss. Higher risk of developing dementia Several animal and human studies have suggested links between chronic periodontitis and dementia. The authors of the new study refer to a retrospective investigation that found participants with chronic periodontitis had a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimers disease than those without it. However, they also note that these previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, and by the fact that they did not consider forms of dementia outside of Alzheimers disease. For the new investigation, the team analyzed 20052015 health data on 262,349 people aged 50 and older from South Koreas National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort. The analysis revealed that people who had received a diagnosis of chronic periodontitis had a 6 percent higher risk of developing dementia than those who had not. The risk was particularly significant for those who developed Alzheimers disease. Due to the studys design limitations, the findings cannot prove that periodontitis causes dementia; they can only suggest a link. This leaves open the possibility of reverse causality. For example, could it be that pre-diagnosed early stages of dementia cause lapses in oral hygiene that lead to gum disease? India's aviation industry is among the fastest growing worldwide and airlines like IndiGo and Spicejet have been posting positive financials for quite some time. The industry relies heavily on dynamic fuel prices and there was a slight dip at the end of 2018, but the phase was temporary. The market is extremely price-sensitive and the low-cost model has worked out well. But the same can't be said for Jet Airways, India's oldest private airline. It celebrated 25 years of operations in 2018 but has barely managed to post a profit all this time. The airline is a full-service carrier and competes against Vistara and Air India. The industry has slim margins and full-service airlines are having a hard time going up against their low-cost competitors. Vistara is a Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture and Air India has taxpayers, but who is looking after Jet? Utkarsh Thakkar / @vimanspotter Jet Airways is reeling under a debt of over Rs 8,000 crore and has been defaulting on loan repayment and interest thereof. The crises started brewing from the second half of 2018 when it announced the need for an urgent bailout. In simple terms, the airline has no money left and has a huge debt to cover up. Adding to this, the current investors of the airline are not capable or keen on putting in more money. The airline has grounded a total of 60 aircraft out of 119 and is operating with half its fleet. This is because it doesn't technically own all the planes and leases them out from companies like GECAS. Since the airline has no cash, it cannot pay the lessors, and in turn, the lessors have grounded the equipment. Utkarsh Thakkar / @vimanspotter Jet used to operate more than 4,000 flights every day but is now down to 900. Brand new aircrafts like the MAX 8 have been grounded for weeks and the airline has more than 200 of them on order. Boeing has also stopped delivering new aircrafts to the airline. This has lead to large scale cancellation of flights from important cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. The airline says the cancellation is to improve operational efficiency and it is accommodating passengers on other flights or refunding them in full. But, last moment cancellations mean the passenger cannot book a flight on another airline for the same price. Utkarsh Thakkar / @vimanspotter The current investors include the promoter Naresh Goyal, Etihad Airways (UAE), and shareholders. A bailout plan has been in the works for months and an SBI-led banking consortium has agreed to pump in more money in return of equity. This would mean that Goyal's 51 per cent share shall be diluted down and Etihad has the option of either putting in more money to maintain its stake or get diluted as well. Initially, Etihad was expected to provide a small lifeline to the airline but the company is now looking to back out and sell its share. This means a new investor needs to come and not only purchase Etihad's holding but also further pump money into the airline. Goyal is a majority stakeholder and has failed to bring in a new investor. There have been reports that the Tata Group was also analysing an investment option but the deal couldn't materialize. Utkarsh Thakkar / @vimanspotter The government has asked state-run banks to rescue the private airline according to Reuters. Even if banks bailout Jet, the airline will be classified as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) since it hasn't paid its dues for more than 90 days. This eventually will be a challenge for the banks who are desperately trying to fend off NPA's and improve their portfolio. Meanwhile, dissatisfied employees are protesting against the airline over pending salary. Pilots at the airline have threatened to go on strike starting April 1 if Goyal fails to come up with a resolution plan. DGCA has asked Jet Airways' pilots, cabin crew and ground staff who have reported any kind of stress to not report for duty. Utkarsh Thakkar / @vimanspotter Taking advantage of the situation at Jet, rival airlines who are facing pilot shortage are asking employees to jump ship. Even the aircraft lessors have offered 50 of the airlines' new generation Boeing 737 aircraft to budget carrier SpiceJet. Following the MAX 8 grounding, Spicejet is trying to normalize its operations and is in need of aircrafts immediately. Jet needs a bailout immediately and the government cannot afford to have a Kingfisher-like landing in an election year. Experts have been blaming Goyal's reluctance of reducing his share and leaving executive control of the company. Reuters Airfares are expected to rise in the coming months since Jet had a major load carrying capacity and the supply of seats has reduced. Spicejet is also in a pickle due to 13 grounded MAX 8 aircraft. We suggest that our readers take caution when booking a flight on Jet Airways till the airline is able to figure out a solid restructuring plan. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris received a delegation of academics from Polish institutions of higher learning yesterday afternoon, who are carrying out a three-day visit to Greece. The delegation, which was accompanied by Polish Ambassador Anna Barbarzak, her deputy and her collaborator on issues of academic cooperation, is visiting Greece in the context of the initiative Poland-Greece: Exchange study opportunities Erasmus+ and beyond in the framework of the Joint Action Plan between Poland and Greece, celebrating the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Mr Bolaris proposed collaboration on an academic, scientific, research, and business level, as well as an exchange of students between Greek and Polish university institutions. On their part, the representatives of the Polish universities briefed the Deputy Minister with regard to the ongoing work and the future prospects for collaboration with Greek institutions of higher learning of the same order. Moreover, the importance placed on publicizing the opportunities and possibilities for inter-university cooperation was stressed. Firmenich, the world's largest privately owned perfume and taste company, plans to further its efforts to better meet the growing customer demand in China and eyeing further growth opportunities, after opening its largest flavor manufacturing plant in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone in Jiangsu province. The first phase of the new plant has an investment of $75 million and an annual capacity of 12,000 metric tons. It will provide Chinese consumers with a broad range of local flavors in products like dairy drinks, tea and noodles. "This strategic investment, representing our biggest operational investment in the last few decades, is the most concrete sign of our deep commitment to China. As our largest flavor plant in the world, Zhangjiagang confirms our firm commitment to best support customer growth in this strategic market," said Gilbert Ghostine, chief executive officer of Firmenich. According to Ghostine, the Zhangjiagang plant has a total designed annual capacity of 25,000 tons, which "not only benefits the Chinese market, but also Firmenich globally". China's consumption of flavor and fragrances has soared significantly along with the nation's economic development and growing middle-income group, said Cai Zhihao, a researcher from the Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based Qianzhan Industry Research Institute. Such market in China surged from 13 billion yuan ($1.94 billion) in 2005 to 33.85 billion yuan in 2015, according to data from the China Association of Fragrance Flavor and Cosmetic Industries. According to Qianzhan data, China's annual sales revenue from flavors and fragrances for 2018 is expected to be around 40.32 billion yuan in 2018, accounting for 24 percent of the global consumption. Olegario Monegal, president of Firmenich China, said initiatives like the Healthy China 2030 and the Belt and Road Initiative will have a positive effect on business. As a result of the government push, as well as better education, consumers are asking for more high-end, high-quality and healthier products. At the same time, China is getting ready not just to supply products for internal consumption, but also finished products to countries and regions related to the BRI. China has become the secondbiggest market after the United States for the Geneva-based Firmenich. "We see China as the biggest growth opportunity for Firmenich. That is why our investment here is the biggest that we have done in the last three decades," said Ghostine. He added that Firmenich is the only company in the fragrance and flavor industry to have a major center of research in China. In 2006, Firmenich opened its second-largest research center (after the one in Geneva) in Shanghai. According to Boet Brinkgreve, chief supply chain officer of Firmenich, the new plant with an automation rate of 70 percent, will help boost customer services, with international standards of quality, safety and sustainability. The new facility complements Firmenich's existing manufacturing sites in Shanghai and Kunming and extensive network of commercial facilities from Shanghai and Beijing to Guangzhou. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris today met with Singapores Senior Minister of State, Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, on the occasion of the latter's visit to Athens. The Deputy Minister expressed Greeces interest in promoting cooperation with Singapore in the fields of culture, tourism, and shipping, expressing, at the same time, his certitude that the two peoples, through their differing historical experiences, have shaped cultural values and traditions able to contribute to the cooperation between the two countries. For his part, Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman praised the Greek Government's efforts to strengthen the national economy and reassured the Deputy Minister about his governments intention to enhance collaboration between the two countries in the fields of culture, shipping, air links, tourism, and logistics. Finally, he briefed the Deputy Minister on the initiatives that his country has undertaken on a UN level related to the signing of the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, and extended an invitation to the Deputy Minister to visit Singapore in the near future. Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Sia Anagnostopoulou participated in the General Affairs Council which was held today in Brussels, ahead of the meeting of the European Council of Thursday and Friday, 21-22 March. Upon the conclusion of the proceedings of the GAC, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs made the following statement: "The General Affairs Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs was held today. Its final session was dedicated to Brexit. European Chief Negotiator, Mr. Michel Barnier, briefed us on the latest developments, as well as the scenarios with regard to what is going to happen going forward. Extensive discussion took place among the Ministers of the 27 member-states. A final decision was not made, but what was noted by everybody, that is Mr. Barnier, as well as the ministers of the member-states was, first of all, that the EU must exhibit unity, concord, and stability; second, that there will be no renegotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement. Scenarios that were examined included a disorderly withdrawal. If the British Prime Minister is unable to get the Withdrawal Agreement passed by the House of Commons, then there will be a disorderly withdrawal on 29 March. However, none of the member-states agree to a disorderly withdrawal, because this will lead to great economic, political, and fiscal problems for the EU, as well as for the UK of course. Almost all member-states agree on this point. As you can understand, Greece agrees, because it is a small country, and it will be affected by such a disorderly withdrawal. Of course, I must mention here that Greece has prepared itself accordingly, precisely because it considers this risk, which can continue to exist up to the last moment, though it is not so evident, but just a scenario. Just today in Parliament, a provision was introduced, an amendment, whereby the rights of citizens are protected: of Greek citizens who reside in the UK and of British subjects who reside in Greece, as well as the interests of our enterprises that are active in the UK. What I mean is that Greece is prepared. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has created a website containing all the instructions required by citizens as well as enterprises. It would be beneficial for interested parties to consult it, because it is updated continuously, according to the developments. The second scenario that was discussed was a short-term extension, in other words until the end of June, for technical reasons: that is in the event that Prime Minister Theresa May manages to get the Withdrawal Agreement passed by the House of Commons, and requests a short extension for technical reasons. This scenario does not seem too plausible. And the third thing, which is also the most probable, is a long-term extension on substantive grounds. But in this case, all 27 member states agreed that in order for a long-term extension to be granted, Prime Minister Theresa May must provide substantial grounds and the reasons for which she is requesting this extension, as well as what is going to happen during the extension period. The decision that will be made will of course be a political one and will be discussed at the European Council of the heads of the member-states the day after tomorrow, on Thursday and Friday." G. KATROUGALOS: Dear Minister, my dear friend Nikos, thank you for the warm welcome, for your kind words. The first visit carried out by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs is always to Cyprus; thats because we share a common outlook, because we perceive national interests in the same way, and because, in fact, this is not an instance of bilateral contact, since we all feel we are on the same side, defending the same values, the same interests. And as Nikos stated with regard to the issues we examined, the Cyprus issue couldnt be but the first issue, which we perceive as an issue of violation of International Law, an issue that must be approached from that dimension, of occupation of the territory of a sovereign country. These are the issues that we wish to emphatically broach during talks with Turkey, precisely to build upon the progress made at Crans-Montana. During this week, I am going to visit Turkey, where I will discuss the Cyprus issue with my Turkish counterpart through the prism I mentioned earlier, attempting also to look into the intentions of the other side. Because we would like - both Cyprus and Greece - the Cyprus issue to have been resolved yesterday. We feel that not only there is delay, but a 40-year delay with regard to resolution of the issue. We will attempt to resolve it, to the extent we are able to, based on the decisions of the UN and International Law. We also discussed the other significant initiatives that the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Cyprus have taken in the recent past. These trilateral cooperation schemes, which we hope to expand on with the presence also of other powers, are precisely a concrete example of the upgrading of the diplomatic capabilities of Greece and Cyprus. Without turning against any other party, we are bolstering our interests in the region in the best possible way, not only on the level of defending our economic interests, but above all defending our geostrategic and geopolitical interests. Finally, we also discussed Europe. The Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Cyprus always defend the values of the European idea, open societies, and democratic principles. And at a time when these principles are put into question even within Europe, it is always helpful to discuss matters, so as to see how we will be able to defend them, much more so since many developments on a European level are also related to our national issues. For example, we discussed why Turkeys european perspective should not be cut short, with the understood condition of respect of International Law, good neighbourly relations, as well as the fact that it is indeed in the interest of the European Union and Turkey, as well as in the interest of our two countries, for the latters European path to remain open, on the conditions I mentioned. Therefore, whats obvious and self-evident was essentially reconfirmed: the fraternal relations between the two countries, the full common outlook with regard to interests, and forging of practices and strategy. JOURNALIST: Is the fact that theres a non-binding decision by the European Parliament to suspend negotiations for Turkey's accession to the European Union considered to lead to additional tension in Greek-Turkish relations? G. KATROUGALOS: As I mentioned earlier, theres full convergence of views on this issue. We feel that it is in the interest of the Turkish people, it is in the interest of our two countries, and it is in the interest of the European Union, for an anti-European, hostile Turkey not to exist at the Unions Eastern border but rather, on the contrary, for its European path to remain open, on the condition, obviously, that the existing acquis of European legal culture will be fully respected on its part, on all levels. And, additionally, we are not against the pointing out of violations of the rule of Law, violations of Democracy, we are against the cultivation of a climate of islamophobia by numerous sides, which goes against the practice of open societies that Europe has always promoted, that goes against European legal culture itself, which has its own values and also includes the respect of others. Therefore, I believe that we will continue the same practice which, in the end, will benefit our interests without harming the interests of anybody else. JOURNALIST: Two questions: the first has to do with the Cyprus issue and the Minister's visit to Turkey. What are the specific messages which will be sent, given that we find ourselves in a period of mounting tension on the part of Turkey? And the second: theres an escalation of provocations, of questioning of sovereignty in the Aegean and the EEZ on the part of Turkey. Daily episodes, daily verbal threats... G. KATROUGALOS: My message will be specific and will pertain both to substance and process. I already referred to the process at the end of my speech. We look for progress in the Cyprus issue. We dont wish for a resolution tomorrow. We would like for it to have been resolved yesterday. And for this to happen, we want an honest discussion to begin, and to have specific answers from the other side as regards Greece, as regards the international dimension of the Cyprus issue. Therefore, I will ask for specific views from the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, because the other side has not yet laid out its cards with regard to how it envisions the substitution of the unacceptable system of guarantees by a mechanism in which the colonial characteristics, as well as the characteristics that go against International Law of the previous legal status, are not repeated. In any case, a preliminary discussion must begin, initially informal, so that theres progress which will permit us, when substantive negotiations begin, to take advantage of the progress that has been made in recent negotiations, especially at Crans-Montana. With regard to tensions, I would like to tell you that one of the main goals of the Prime Minister's visit to Ankara and the discussion he had with President Erdogan was aimed at exactly that, at reducing tension in the Aegean. We have truly seen an effort to reduce tension recently, though with no lack of violations. The second part of my discussion with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs will precisely involve the establishment of a roadmap to reduce tensions which, obviously, do not benefit either side. JOURNALIST: Tomorrow, there is a trilateral meeting, which will become quadrilateral with the presence of the U.S. And it is estimated that a qualitative difference exists in the progress of these trilateral meetings with the presence of the U.S. What importance do you place on this, and in what aspects of collaboration do you expect for results to exist? G. KATROUGALOS: As my friend Nikos already mentioned, we have made significant progress with regard to strengthening the diplomatic capability and standing of the two countries, thanks to the development of those trilateral forms of cooperation. And my colleague also had significant discussions, that were qualitatively much different and deeper than in the past, with our American counterparts in Washington last year; and I had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural Strategic Dialogue between Greece and the U.S. What has been acknowledged in these discussions is what Nikos also said at the end of his previous response; that our countries are not just pillars of democracy and stability, we are exporters of stability within a triangle of instability whose one vertex is the Eastern Mediterranean, the other is Libya, and the third of course lies north in the Ukraine. The Hellenic Republic therefore aims, as does the Republic of Cyprus, to contribute to the region's stabilisation. The economic diplomacy that we exercise serves this broader geostrategic goal, and the participation of the US Department of State in this trilateral meeting constitutes, at the same time, confirmation of this new upgraded geostrategic role of Cyprus and Greece, as well as guarantee that the exploitation of resources the Republic of Cyprus is entitled to draw from its EEZ possesses will be honoured, because this is what International Law dictates. JOURNALIST: There was an announcement this morning by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which characterised the response of Athens, following the statements by Turkey's President Erdogan in Izmir regarding infidels, as completely negative. Any comment? G. KATROUGALOS: Listen, our statement pointed out, something which is undeniable by any bona fide observer, that external policy must not be instrumentalised for reasons of domestic consumption, and that there should be full respect of the history and dignity of neighbouring peoples. That was our statement. These things are unquestionable and generally accepted, not simply by International Law, but by the legal and political culture that exists in Europe. I dont wish to comment on the statements by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs because, as I told you, our goal is not to escalate tension, but to de-escalate it. And let me clarify something, because the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs states this at its conclusion, that when we declare that our objective is to improve relations, we ought to corroborate this in practice. Thank you very much. President Xi Jinping stressed firm implementation of major reforms at the seventh meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform Tuesday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chairman of the Central Military Commission and head of the central committee for deepening overall reform, presided over and addressed the meeting. Xi stressed efforts to fix the problem of formalities for formalities' sake at the grassroots level through reform, continue to strengthen people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security, and unswervingly promote the implementation of major reform policies and measures. Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the reform committee Li Keqiang, Wang Huning and Han Zheng also attended the meeting. Participants agreed that to reach a new stage in the large-scale development of the western region, measures should be taken to focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness. The meeting decided to prioritize ecological and environmental protection and stick to a new path featuring environmental protection and green growth in the western region development. With joint development of the Belt and Road playing a leading role, the country should accelerate cross-border route and regional hub construction as well as improve the infrastructure network, for a high level of opening-up and economic development. The meeting also stressed efforts to promote high-quality development and coordinate economic and social development of the population, resources and environment in the western region. Stating that higher education and research institutes serve as important forces in the process of implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and making China a country of innovators, the participants underlined efforts to streamline management procedures for science and technology projects and reform the system on approval and enforcement of major science and technology projects. Participants agreed that efforts should be made to promote further integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy, deepen reform and innovation, optimize the institutional environment and boost the innovation vitality of enterprises. The meeting also stressed strengthening and improving rural governance, calling for the establishment of a law-based modern rural social governance model under which Party committees exercise leadership, the government assumes responsibility, non-governmental actors provide assistance, and the public gets involved. Efforts are needed to deepen the integration and sharing of public resource trading platforms, innovate the transaction supervision system, and improve the efficiency and fairness of public resource allocation. The meeting stressed promoting reform in the operation mechanism of the oil and natural gas pipeline network. The country will set up oil and gas pipeline network companies that are state-owned capital controlled and with diversified investors. The country will also work to improve the oil and natural gas resource allocation efficiency and ensure a stable supply of resources. The meeting stressed speeding up the building of a modern public legal service system that covers urban and rural areas with high efficiency, convenience, and equitable access. As for reform on firefighting law enforcement, the meeting stressed efforts to develop new ways of regulation and supervision, strengthen management at the source, further streamline administration and delegate powers, and resolutely remove various unreasonable barriers. The participants called for efforts to defuse prominent tensions and problems and push forward reform in a steady and orderly way as this year will face more challenges and risks in reform and development. A number of documents were reviewed and adopted at Tuesday's meeting. You are here: China School officials, from senior executives to headmasters, will be required to dine with students in canteens in China's middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens, according to a notice jointly issued Tuesday by the Education Ministry, State Administration for Market Regulation, and National Health Commission. The new rule will take effect April 1, 2019. Over the past three years, Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co Ltd has shut down about one-third of its production capacity as well as four chemical waste discharge flues along the Yangtze River. The moves are in line with government calls for improving ecological protection and cleaning up China's "mother river", which has faced severe environmental challenges in recent years. Central government bodies and provincial authorities along the river have been prioritizing the protection of the Yangtze since 2016, when President Xi Jinping highlighted environmental restoration and protection in and around the country's longest waterway. Li Guozhang, chairman of Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co, said the company took the lead in shuttering plants near the river in 2016. He said that despite strong opposition from management, "we formed an understanding that lagging production capacity had to be eliminated and updated. The relocation was a challenge, but it was an opportunity if we grabbed the chance to upgrade our products." Three years after relocation projects began, the group has not laid off any employees but instead added 1,300 workers as its new operationsmicroelectronics and organic silicongained momentum, Li added. With an investment of about 2 billion yuan ($298 million), new business has taken up about 20 percent of Xingfa's overall operations. Xingfa is one of the petrochemical companies that shut down polluting production, and it has relocated production to new areas of Yichang, Hubei province, that are away from the river. The petrochemical industry has fueled strong growth in Yichang for years. Last year, Yichang achieved strong recovery, with GDP growth climbing to 7.7 percent from 2.4 percent in 2017. Its GDP reached more than 400 billion yuan. The transformation and update of traditional industries for a city like Yichang is a must, not an option, said Zhang Jiasheng, mayor of Yichang and a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature. "Only by taking initiatives will lagging industries have more opportunities," he said. Last year, the city continued its efforts to relocate petrochemical enterprises and close outdated production facilities. Two companies moved into industrial parks and three optimized their production structures. The city took the lead in the province in shutting down its coal mining industry, which had operated for about 200 years. This year, an additional four petrochemical companies will be closed, 18 will be updated and 14 relocated, Zhang said. The city government has set up a subsidy fund of 500 million yuan that from 2018 to 2020 is helping petrochemical companies relocate and optimize structures, with another 20 million yuan to develop technology to more efficiently extract phosphogypsum, the waste product of phosphorus-related production, to help reduce pollution. Innovations have stimulated the city's development and smoothed transformation to high-end and environmentally friendly industries, he added. The city has fostered biological medicine, electrical information, new materials and equipment manufacturing to drive its new economic growth. In 2018, the four sectors have taken up 38.1 percent of its industrial gross production value. Jiang Chaoliang, Party secretary of Hubei province and an NPC deputy, said Hubei has the longest stretch of the Yangtze, and is also home to the Three Gorges Dam, so a vibrant ecology and green development are top priorities in guiding the province to achieve high-quality development. In 2018, across the province, more than 100 petrochemical companies along the Yangtze were closed and relocated. To better preserve the ecology along the Yangtze, a systematic and national-level management network integrating related government sectors should be established to plan, regulate and guide the process, said Niu Xinqiang, head of the Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design and Research. Overfishing and shipping have also contributed to the degradation of the fishing industry in the river, said Niu. Lack of proper waste disposal treatment is also a grave threat to the river. Cities along the river have to strengthen new infrastructure, better process sewage and enhance water conservation, he added. China and the EU established diplomatic relations in 1975 and although their historical contexts were very different, both sides started to gradually increase collaboration to further their interests. Following the end of the Cold War, their relationship continued to flourish. Despite disagreements on issues such as the arms embargo, Beijing and Brussels found several areas where they could cooperate on. China's opening-up and reform process had perhaps contributed the most to this process and benefited both sides. On the one hand, China was keen to build a stronger reciprocal relationship with the Western world, and European companies too began to discover unprecedented opportunities in the Chinese market. In recent years, however, the initial enthusiasm of the EU has been dampened by many opponents. Supranational European bodies such as the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) believe member-states should be more careful when cooperating with China. This approach isn't necessarily supported by all its member-states. The Italian government, for example, had made preparations to sign an agreement on the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative with China. Several other European countries such as the ones participating in the 16+1 format also see China as a crucial partner and are skeptical on the growing Western perception of China as a threat. The general view of the European Commission and the EEAS is that a coherent European policy vis-a-vis Beijing will help the EU better deal with these challenges. This position is gaining ground among European policy-makers in Brussels, but also affects the work of research organizations, think tanks and journalists operating from within the EU's capital. A growing anti-China sentiment is being fostered and member-states are expected to follow suit, even if it goes against their own political assessment. While the Belt and Road Initiative had initially been considered an opportunity for the EU to foster growth especially in debt-ridden countries it is now associated with Beijing's alleged hegemonic aspirations. Chinese policy-makers downplay this argument, but both the European Commission and the EEAS are not convinced. Recently, the former proposed 10 action points to be part of the agenda of ongoing Sino-European consultations. However, the joint communique brings nothing new to the debate because the recently-launched EU-Asia Connectivity Strategy had already encapsulated the thinking of the European Commission and the EEAS vis-a-vis China. Against this backdrop the Chinese government commented that the two sides should maintain constructive dialogue in the areas described in the 10 action points. What can be expected in the next few months is that the EU might reconsider some of the terms and conditions in the existing legal framework and proceed to make some modifications. The aim will be to give the opportunity to European companies to better compete with Chinese state owned enterprises. The recent EU decision to block the rail merger of Alstom-Siemens was not welcomed in Germany and France but a new European legislation will possibly be drafted soon to allow mergers like these in the medium-term. More importantly, the pressure on EU member-states to link Chinese investments with security implications will grow. This does not mean member-states will be forced to reject offers by Chinese companies, as the nature of the new European screening mechanism still remains consultative. It remains, however, that their actions will be keenly scrutinized by the European Commission. In addition, the EU is regularly asking for reciprocity in its economic relations with China, which seems to suggest that knowledge of Chinese affairs in Europe remains limited. It is questionable whether the new foreign investment law has, in fact, been carefully studied by European policy-makers. Of course, the content of the new law cannot fully satisfy European demands and in the same way, expected changes in EU legislation cannot be fully in line with Chinese economic interests. China is now being demonized by some European policy-makers who are keen on transferring the responsibility of the EU's current economic and political problems to external factors. Important questions concerning the source of future investments, should Chinese companies continue to be suspiciously treated, remain unanswered. The Chinese government is carefully monitoring the situation by continuously viewing the relationship with the EU from a strategic and long-term perspective. It will continue its dialogue with Brussels because the ongoing engagement with Europe is in its interests and explore some possible solutions. Given this, it is doubtful that these differences will seriously jeopardize the vitality of the Sino-European partnership, which now goes beyond investments and trade and touches on global prosperity, development and security as well as climate change. George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, 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. Flash Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his sudden resignation on Tuesday after nearly three decades of leadership in the Central Asian country. "As the founder of an independent Kazakh state, I see my future task in ensuring a new generation of leaders coming to power who will continue the transformations being carried out in the country," Nazarbayev said in a statement before signing a decree terminating his presidency from March 20. He said he would retain the post of the head of the country's Security Council and leader of the Nur Otan party, and remain a member of the Constitutional Council. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstan's acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution, Nazarbayev added. Nazarbayev, 79, had been serving as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. DETROIT The Canada Lynx that was captured on a farm near Harbor Beach and taken to the Howell Nature Center this week, is being transported to the Detroit Zoo for further evaluation. (Wednesday), it was in the process of being transported to the Detroit Zoo, said Dan Kennedy, the DNRs endangered species coordinator. Its no longer at the Howell Nature Center. The reason for that transfer is because the Detroit Zoo has the expertise and the facilities to do a fantastic job of taking care of the lynx. The Howell Nature Center reported on Tuesday that the lynx was doing well in their care, but additional resources were needed to include a full physical and behavioral assessment. Kennedy said the goal, for right now, is to have the Detroit Zoo's wildlife veterinarian do a thorough evaluation of the lynx. " ... and once we have that in hand, the Michigan DNR will confer with the Detroit Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine the next steps. We want a better understanding of the animals health before we make any decisions on whats best for the lynx. Kennedy noted there were no significant health issues with the lynx but he was waiting on results from the zoo's evaluation. It appears to be healthy, but were still waiting to see and let a professional wildlife veterinarian do a thorough evaluation of the animal. Hopefully that will happen either today or tomorrow," he told the Tribune on Wednesday. "Its my understanding from field reports that the animal was doing OK. While the lynx will be receiving care from the Detroit Zoo, it is unlikely it will be staying there permanently, as the DNR is working on the next steps toward releasing the animal back into the wild. The Canada Lynx is not naturally from the Thumb of Michigan, as there is not a large enough prey-base for the animal to survive, so the DNR is unsure of where it may be released. I havent had any conversations about where the appropriate place is, if we do release, Kennedy said. Right now, were just focused on getting the animal the best care that it needs. Once that evaluation is done, and we know that the lynx is healthy, then we will start talking about where the appropriate location would be to release it. We would like to find a location that has the best chance for this animal to survive. Where that is? I dont know. While it was reported that the lynx is female, and that there is another male lynx in the area, Kennedy said the DNR is working on confirming both of those facts. We dont know that the one that was captured was a female, Kennedy said. I know that the folks that caught it, thought it was, but I would say that were waiting to do an analysis because it can be difficult to determine the gender of a lynx because they have such thick fur and that can make it a little difficult. Well take a look at that and once the veterinarian does the analysis, well be able to determine the gender of the one that is currently on its way to the Detroit Zoo. Were not sure that there is a second one, he added. We understand that there were some reports from folks that they saw two, but we are currently gathering some additional evidence. Our staff is currently working in the area, continuing to evaluate and monitor whether or not there is a second lynx. Pictures of two different lynx were captured in the Harbor Beach area by a photographer, Doug Regentin, over the weekend. Those were published by numerous news outlets, including the Huron Daily Tribune. Flash Downing Street confirmed Tuesday that British Prime Minister Theresa May will write to European Council President Donald Tusk asking for Britain's departure from the bloc to be delayed. The latest development came after the bombshell decision by the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow to stop May putting her Brexit deal to politicians for a third time. Media in London quoted an official Downing Street spokesman as saying it has plunged Britain into a constitutional crisis. Worldwide media converged on Westminster expecting May to present her deal to politicians for a third time on Tuesday or Wednesday. It had already been defeated by a record 230 at the first attempt, and 149 at the second. Instead there was an urgent Cabinet meeting of May's most senior ministers to discuss the crisis at 10 Downing Street. Bercow ruled Monday that he would block May presenting her deal for a vote by MPs unless it was substantially different to the deal already rejected. After the urgent Cabinet meeting, May's official spokesman confirmed the prime minister will write to Tusk seeking to extend Britain's departure date beyond March 29. The spokesman would not elaborate on the length of a delay May will ask for. But May said last week she would like an extension running until June 30, or a longer period if her deal is not ratified by the British Parliament. May's spokesman insisted the prime minister has an "absolute determination" to make sure Britain leaves the EU with a deal as soon as possible. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said at a press conference in Brussels Tuesday that May that should not take it for granted that the EU will agree to an extension of Britain's departure date, scheduled in just 10 days. At the press conference in Brussels, Barnier said delaying Brexit could bring economic and political costs, and the EU would want reasons for an extension. Any extension will need the support of the other 27 EU members. May will meet the leaders of the other 27 EU members at an EU summit taking place on Thursday. May is due to take questions Wednesday at her usually PMQ's, Prime Minister's Questions, in the House of Commons when she could be asked to comment on the latest EU situation. The next major Brexit debate is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons on Monday when MPs will be told the result of May's talks. Under current legislation Britain's membership of the EU will come to an end next week, on May 29, unless a change is made to the law that set the departure date. UPPER THUMB Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the first case of confirmed measles in the state has occurred in Oakland County. The Center for Disease Control has put together a list of the most important facts about measles. Measles (Rubeola) can be serious. Some people think of measles as just a little rash and fever that clears up in a few days, but measles can cause serious health complications, especially in children younger than 5 years of age. There is no way to tell in advance the severity of the symptoms your child will experience. About 1 in 4 people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized. 1 out of every 1,000 people with measles will develop brain swelling, which could lead to brain damage. 1 or 2 out of 1,000 people with measles will die, even with the best care. Some of the more common measles symptoms include: Fever, rash, runny nose and red eyes. Measles is very contagious. Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is so contagious that if one person has it, 9 out of 10 people around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected. Your child can get measles just by being in a room where a person with measles has been, even up to two hours after that person has left. An infected person can spread measles to others even before knowing he/she has the disease from four days before developing the measles rash through four days afterward. Your child can still get measles in United States. Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 thanks to a highly effective vaccination program. Eliminated means that the disease is no longer constantly present in this country. However, measles is still common in many parts of the world, including some countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Worldwide, 19 cases of measles per 1 million persons are reported each year and 89,780 people, mostly children, die from the disease. Even if your family does not travel internationally, you could come into contact with measles anywhere in your community. Every year, measles is brought into the United States by unvaccinated travelers (Americans or foreign visitors) who get measles while they are in other countries. Anyone who is not protected against measles is at risk. You have the power to protect your child against measles with a safe and effective vaccine. The best protection against measles is measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. MMR vaccine provides long-lasting protection against all strains of measles. Your child needs two doses of MMR vaccine for best protection: The first dose at 12 through 15 months of age The second dose 4 through 6 years of age If your family is traveling overseas, the vaccine recommendations are a little different: If your baby is 6 through 11 months old, he or she should receive 1 dose of MMR vaccine before leaving. If your child is 12 months of age or older, he or she will need 2 doses of MMR vaccine (separated by at least 28 days) before departure. If you believe that you have come in contact with someone with measles, please do not hesitate to see your primary care provider or call Huron County Health Department at 989-269-9721 or Tuscola County Health Department 989-673-8117. There are measles exposure treatments available for all ages and pregnant women so please do not hesitate to call. Ella Briggs, now 11, will never forget the day she got sent to the naughty chair in kindergarten for putting pants on her gingerbread person. Her teacher had told the girls to put a skirt on their construction paper cutout, while boys could go with pants. But Ella, who had spent some time dressing and thinking of herself as a boy, wasnt having it. Im like, heck to the no, I want to put a bow tie and pants on my gingerbread man, Ella recalled recently. When she did just that, her teacher threw out her gingerbread person and sent her to the naughty chair, which is where her mom found her when she came in to volunteer that day. The road hasnt always been easy for Ella Briggs, the states first openly gay Kid Governor. The exuberant, poised fifth grader was sworn in on Jan. 18, at a ceremony at the Old State House. There were plenty of dignitaries on hand that day to praise her, including the newly-elected, grown-up governor Ned Lamont and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, along with dozens of Ellas peers. Not only was Ella openly gay, she ran on a platform supporting LGBTQ rights, which would have been unimaginable for an elementary-aged child not that long ago. And while there was much talk of Ellas election being a symbol of the nations growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community, its also clear from Ellas own experience that theres a long distance to go, perhaps especially for young children. Although Ella was elected by 6,400 fifth-graders from 87 schools across the state and feels accepted at her current school, the Ana Grace Academy of the Arts Elementary Magnet School in Avon, there have been more than a few low points in her journey as an openly gay child. She was targeted for harassment at her old school, and the parents of a few of her current classmates refused to allow their children to attend her inauguration. But Ella prefers to focus on the bright side. Im just so happy that most kids in my class came, Ella said shortly after the ceremony. There were some kids who pulled out but you cant do anything about that. Haters going to hate. Its just so amazing being in a room full of people who accept me. It feels really good. At her former elementary school in East Hampton, where her family still lives, she said some of the kids called her a dyke and other hurtful names when they found out that she identified herself as a lesbian. She remembers days in third and fourth grade when kids moved their desks away from her and didnt want to be friends with her. I think they were just scared of me, Ella said. They were afraid to touch me. She even had children tell her that their parents said she would go to hell. For Ella, the resistance of some people to granting respect to the LGBTQ community was part of what motivated her campaign, along with her desire to help other kids who might not be as comfortable with their identities. A lot of kids dont feel comfortable with who they are and that makes me really sad, she said in a recent interview, because I just want everyone to be happy and be themselves. I like being myself. I wouldnt change one thing about me and I wouldnt change one about anyone else in the whole world. Its harder and it shouldnt be While Ella is comfortable telling the world that she is a lesbian and announced plans at the inauguration to become the first lesbian president, her openness made life difficult for her when she attended East Hampton public schools. I just told some kids and then kaplouie, Ella said, recalling how her third grade classmates pushed their desks away from her. Another time, when she mentioned to a substitute teacher that she was a lesbian, Ella said the teacher immediately shut her down saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are not talking about that right now. That is not school appropriate. Someone else? It really hurt my feelings, Ella said. I cried in the bathroom and I dont want kids to feel like that because like I already didnt feel like I fit in at that school. Her big sister Riley, 13, said she and their parents, Chris Briggs and Kendra Dickinson, have to be extra supportive of Ella because other people arent always. Im not saying I wish it to be any other way. I dont want her to change any other way, Riley said. Shes perfect the way she is, but it is harder, you know. Its harder and it shouldnt be harder. Ellas mother said the day she found Ella in the naughty chair, she initially wasnt too concerned. Im a public school teacher, said Dickinson, so she wasnt totally blindsided to learn her kindergartner had made a mistake. But when she found out why Ella was being punished, it was heartbreaking, Dickinson said, and disturbing enough that, coupled with some previous experiences, she and her husband withdrew Ella from the school. They homeschooled both children for a while and then decided to try the local school system again. The second experience was not much better, they said, so they transferred Ella to the Avon magnet school. (Riley goes to the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Magnet Middle School where both her parents teach.) East Hampton superintendent Paul Smith expressed concern this week when told of Ellas experiences in the local schools. Im sorry if these are her experiences. I cant give you information on how they were handled internally. What I can say is that as superintendent now, if something like that came to my attention, we would treat it with severe discipline for the faculty, Smith said. And, I would like to think that with our emphasis on kindness and caring in schools that would not happen. Smith said the system is concerned about school climate and hopes to soon provide training on LGBTQ issues to elementary school teachers. I would welcome a sit-down with our Kid Governor to listen to her and get any advice she has, Smith said, on how to make our schools, and any school in Connecticut, a safer place for students Ella would likely have lots of suggestions. As Kid Governor, she has pledged to help kids set up Gay Straight Alliances in their schools, raise awareness about the need for foster homes for LGBTQ youth who are kicked out of their homes, and train teachers to help them better understand how to work with LGBTQ students. Her experience has been very different at Ana Grace, where she enrolled in September as a fifth grader. About two months into the school year, she decided to tell her classmates about herself. Every day we have a morning meeting and we say our goals and Im like, My goal for the day is to come out to my class. So Im gay, and then everyone started clapping. Patricia Phelan, principal of Ana Grace, said the school has had experience with transgender students and that students have been very accepting, adding, We love everybody here for who they are and where they are coming from and thats really all there is to it. Phelan said the school is walking the line, supporting Ellass platform one hundred percent, while knowing that Ella is a little girl. Shes a fifth grader, not a full grown woman, speaking her truth from where she is right now. Love is love, was one of her main campaign messages Some see Ellas election as kid governor by her peers as a milestone, illustrating just how far the acceptance of LGBTQ identities has come, even among very young children. And they see Ellas experience as reflective of the growing number of children who are coming forward, some, as young as pre-schoolers, to indicate in some way to their parents and peers that they are gay or transgender. Experts say there are no good numbers on how many of the countrys youngest children are gay or transgender, but a 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says that 14.6 percent of high school students are gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure. When she heard about Ellas election, May Tuscano, a licensed marriage and family therapist who does trainings in schools for staff and teachers on LGBTQ issues, said she thought: This is it. This is the world weve been fighting for all these years. What an incredible marker of progress. Tuscano and other experts say they dont believe the numbers of children who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or queer is any larger than it was years ago, but just that identifying this way has been de-stigmatized. Now kids can verbalize whats there, said Tuscano, and parents are more likely to listen. In the past, she said, if a young girl asked, Can I marry a woman? All the adults in the room had a fit. The child would get the message, Tuscano said, and conclude, I guess I shouldnt do that. But as very young children have come forward with a variety of gender expressions, schools have found themselves faced with some thorny issues. Its evolved. It was just a high school thing 20 years ago, said Tim Sullivan, superintendent of the CREC magnet schools, including Ana Grace. Then high school and middle schools. Now we are ready to acknowledge that it needs to be addressed in elementary schools. There are students who identify themselves as LGBTQ in elementary schools and we need to make sure they have safe spaces where they can go and talk about what it is like to be that. Ella has known since she was three or four that she wasnt drawn to boys. I dont want to marry a daddy, but I want a baby. How do I do that? she would ask her mother. She later insisted on cutting her hair short like a boys and wanted to wear boy clothes when she was seven. Yeah, I identified as a male for a long time, I remember, Ella said. I was kind of feeling like, OK, so I like girls I didnt like think to myself or maybe Im just like gay or lesbian or whatever. Im like nope, Im a boy. Cant like girls if youre a girl. But when she was about eight, Ella said she began to figure out that she liked being a female. Its a lot more fun, she said. On a family trip abroad, Ella she saw a billboard that proved revelatory. It showed two women two moms welcoming their baby home from the hospital. I looked at it like for an hour, Ella said. And then I said to my mom, Mommy, I think that I want to do that when I grow up. Its the law in Connecticut The Connecticut law that says schools cannot discriminate against LGBTQ students was strengthened in 2017 when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order ensuring students right to use the bathroom or locker room of their identity. That move came after President Donald Trumps order rescinding federal protections allowing transgender students to use a public bathroom associated with their gender identity. At the time, Malloy said the state remains committed to ensuring that every student has access to a high-quality education in a safe, supportive and welcoming environment. However, as clear as the law may be, Tuscano said, school officials are sometimes unsure how to respond when a parent shows up and says they are uncomfortable with a transgender girl using the same bathroom at their daughter. Most often, I provide a pretty easy framework, Tuscano said. I put it in the context of: You should treat any instances of homophobia, misgendering of students just like racism, classism. If a parent said no child of mine will share a bathroom with a disabled child or a black person, the school would say thats your problem. Tuscano said that when she describes a schools obligation in this way the worry just melts away, because the schools role becomes clear. Sullivan said that at CREC there is no question that under the law LGBTQ children are a protected class with the same rights based on their sexual orientation and gender identify as kids have based on their race, ethnicity or religion. What we have to figure out is to what degree are we going to promote equity and diversity I think we are preparing at CREC to kind of push the envelope to be more proactive and go further than other districts. We are in the middle of the conversations, but my general sense is that CREC is ready and willing to be more bold in our protections and our advocacy for protections. Institutions are aware that they have an obligation to teach people about micro-aggressions and institutional bias when it comes to race and ethnicity, Sullivan said. Should we be evaluating with the same level of sensitivity issues of LGBTQ youth as we are race and ethnicity? I think the answer is yes, Sullivan said. For example, Sullivan said, CREC has recently adopted a new statement of inclusion that mentions gender identity and sexual orientation as well as race and ethnicity. And, books have been ordered for LGBTQ youth and their families so that students have a chance to read a book about a family with two mothers or two fathers just as the school libraries contain books about black, brown and Asian youth. That doesnt happen by accident, he said. That happens deliberately. Editors Note: This story and video were a collaboration between The Connecticut Mirror and Connecticut Public Radio. ROCKY HILL - The Rocky Hill man charged in the town's first murder in more than a decade is claiming self defense, according to Fox 61. Kenton Dalton, 39, of Rocky Hill, allegedly stabbed another man about seven times Monday night in a Century Hills apartment complex unit after the two men had a sexual encounter, Fox 61 said. 5 1 of 5 Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5 MIDDLETOWN A firefighter suffered a minor shoulder injury and nine residents were evacuated from their homes Tuesday night following a fire at a six-story high rise on Route 66. The alarm came in at 4:55 p.m. from the two-building Sagamore Hills Apartments located just past the Middlefield town line at 1151 Washington St., Middletown Deputy Fire Chief Al Leary said Wednesday. NORTH HAVEN An accomplished British long-distance runner on spring break from Quinniapiac University is toward the end of a feat only a few have completed: retracing the steps of Connecticuts fabled Leatherman. Lee-Stuart Evans, 42, planned to hike for a week along a 365-mile loop that began in Ossining, N.Y., on March 13, and will take him through 41 Connecticut towns. Speaking by phone while 4 miles north of North Haven Wednesday, Evans, who has been written about by countless media outlets, revealed exclusively to Hearst Connecticut Media his intention to create a race course along the entire route. Its a formidable challenge that will surely excite avid runners who would relish the opportunity to participate. It would also include shorter distances, he said. The anniversary of the day the Leatherman died was Wednesday when Evans originally planned to finish. His route is taking a bit longer, he said Wednesday afternoon, 100 miles behind schedule due to an injury on his left shin, which he suspects may be a stress fracture, possibly cutting Evans journey short. Im taking some painkillers and strapping my leg up, so well see what happens, he said. Meanwhile, hes nursing the injury and adjusting his schedule for shorter daily miles and more rest time. He hopes to complete his mission by Saturday morning. Evans, a masters degree candidate in education, originally from Guildford, a large town in Surrey, England, is living in New Haven on a two-year visa. The Leatherman was known for the leather clothes he made by hand, which he wore on the annual loop he traveled for six years, said Evans, who paused in his conversation every 2 minutes to check his phone for where to turn along the way. Evans, also a pilot, diver and TEDx speaker, will only cover 1 percent of the 24,000 miles the Leatherman walked in his lifetime. He was inspired by a time when he was out running trails and came across a note on a map that said Leatherman cave. I just assumed it was a tannery. Of course, what you do is go on Wikipedia and 10 hours later, you fall out the other side of a conundrum within a mystery. And the more you dig, the less you know, he said. When he got to Branford, hed go straight north, all the way to North Haven and Mt. Carmel, where Sleeping Giant is, and then avoid New Haven, Evans said, of the Leatherman. A few others have completed the loop, including Hartford Courant reporter Steve Grant in the early 1990s. From about 1857 to 1889, the Leatherman, whose identity was incorrectly said to be Jules Bourglay of Lions, France, was an unknown vagabond, Evans wrote on his The Air Land and Sea blog. The Leathermans route encompassed 41 towns in Connecticut: Ridgefield, Redding, Danbury, Woodbury, Watertown, Thomaston, Terryville, Bridgewater, Waterbury, Bristol, Forestville, New Britain, Berlin, Old Saybrook, Guilford, Branford, East Haven, New Haven, Stratford, Bridgeport, Trumbull, Norwalk, New Canaan, Stamford, Greenwich, Somers, Derby, Woodbridge, Naugatuck, Hamden, Southington, Burlington, Middletown, Meriden, Portland and Wilton. And in New York State: Brewster, North Salem,White Plains, Armonk, Chappaqua, Ossining, Bedford Hills, Pound Ridge, Yorktown, Peekskill and Georgetown. Evans said the only true and unbiased account of the local legend is The Old Leather Man by the late Dan W. Deluca, a former Meriden Record-Journal reporter. He was [5 feet, 7 inches tall], blue eyes, about 11 stone (154 pounds), the same description for me. I naturally see some of the parallels, said Evans, who stopped for pizza in Salem the other day. He knew he was quite a vision for patrons there with leggings on and a strange accent. As I sat down and people were looking at me, I felt quite uncomfortable. It dawned on me that must have been exactly how it felt for him. He was almost a freak show, but hes not a freak at all, hes just a product of his environment, Evans said. The Leatherman eventually died of mouth cancer, attributed to chewing tobacco. Trail life defined him but also killed him, Evans said. Evans has discovered the Leatherman camped in caves close to water. Hes found flat stones he supposed the itinerant used for a table, and big piles of logs he used to stave off the brutal cold. Evans has a theory about the Leatherman. This isnt a crazy man with a bottle of cider shouting at the pigeons in the park. This was a very adept man living in a very peaceful way. His beard was reasonably well-cut, he had a snuff bag, he always seemed relatively washed, incredibly meticulous, he said. The Leatherman, who avoided eye contact and talking, didnt like to have his photo taken. I would say there are lots of pointers there that he might have been autistic, but Im not a psychologist, said Evans, who has taken courses on teaching students with special needs. I feel like this is your first analog social media celebrity. He was #leatherman. There was an enormous hubbub, despite the fact he never said anything and they didnt know anything about him they didnt even know his name, said Evans, who said the Leatherman spoke in grunts and very few words. Evans has been astonished at the views on the trail. Its more stunning than anything Ive seen in the world. It was something. Im at a loss for words, he said. On St. Patricks Day evening, East Hampton author and historian Marty Podskoch checked the GPS map and decided he was going to find Evans. I thought, this is my chance, he said. Podskoch found Evans and a Connecticut Forest and Parks Association volunteer from Berlin two headlamps in the dark, walking along Route 66 in Middletown. Podskoch bought him and his companion a meal at Starbucks in Middletown. What a treat to hear of some of his adventures and his passion for the history of the Leatherman, he said. Doe Boyle, vice president of the Madison Historical Society, has had somewhat of a lifelong fascination with the Leatherman. What fun to see him coming along just a lone man with a small backpack and a pair of walking sticks no entourage, no camera crew, and not a bit unnerved to find a hist-soc groupie coming at him with a big grin and a gift bag of trail superfood, she said of Evans. Hes quite an affable guy, I have to say: full of cheer and mountains of information, Boyle said. Evans is walking to raise money for three charities the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Connecticut Forest and Parks Association and Connecticut Cancer Foundation. He has set up three GoFundMe pages: Leatherman Cancer, Leatherman Trails and Leatherman Home. For information, including a GPS track of Evans travels , visit theairlandandsea.com . You are here: World Flash U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen, Stephen Dickson, a former Air Force pilot and executive for Delta Air Lines, to be the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the White House announced on Tuesday. Trump is planning to nominate Dickson, who oversaw flight operations at Delta, to be the FAA administrator for a term of five years and to be the chairman of the Air Traffic Services Committee under the Department of Transportation. Dickson must be confirmed by the Senate. Daniel Elwell is overseeing the FAA on an acting basis. The nomination comes amid growing scrutiny over the FAA's approval of Boeing 737 Max jets. French aviation investigators said Monday there were "clear similarities" in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 earlier this month and a Lion Air jet last year. Earlier Tuesday, Elaine Chao, the U.S. transportation secretary, sent a memo to the department's inspector general, formalizing a request for an audit of the FAA's certification of the Boeing planes. Boeing said in a statement that it will fully cooperate in the audit. Dickson retired from Delta as senior vice president of flight operations last year. In the role, Dickson was responsible for the safety and operational performance of Delta's global flight operations, as well as pilot training, crew resources, crew scheduling, and regulatory compliance. He also flew in line operations as an A320 captain, and previously flew the B727, B737, B757, and B767 during his career. The White House called him "a strong advocate for commercial aviation safety." A former U.S. Air Force officer, Dickson is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and F-15 fighter pilot. ESSEX State Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, discussed a number of important legislative priorities while appearing on iCRV Radios Town Spotlight program recently. In a wide-ranging interview which aired on the Ivoryton-based station, Needleman discussed topics, including legislation that could have a positive impact on the 33rd District with host David Williams, according to a press release. The state of farming is improving, but more needs to be done, Needleman said, discussing his support for legislation supporting the legalization of growing hemp in Connecticut, according to the media release. Hemp is a fast-growing crop that can be used in a wide variety of products, Needleman said, adding that a number of local farmers support its legalization. I will vote yes on any bill that broadens the base of farmers being able to grow hemp. Needleman and Williams discussed school efficiency, in light of several bills that have been proposed that would change how schools might operate statewide, the release said. How do you make government better? You use empowerment, with reins on that empowerment, allowing people to have creative solutions, Needleman said. He noted that Essex, Deep River and Cheshire, all towns in his district, have partly regionalized, but there are still limits on their shared services, which he would like to see expanded. The conversation also touched on Needlemans status as chairman of the Energy & Technology Committee, where he mentioned some of his priorities. Those include substituting some of the states fossil fuel load, finding new options to reduce the cost of renewable forms of energy and proactively bringing tech firms and next-generation businesses to Connecticut. Im hopeful that Governor Lamont will help. He surrounds himself with business people and could start developing a new vision, Needleman said. Audio from the interview is available on ICRV Radios website archives at icrvradio.com/programs. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visits to Italy, Monaco and France are expected to inject new impetus into China-EU relations, a senior official said Wednesday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Xi would pay state visits to the three European countries from March 21 to 26, at the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco Albert II and French President Emmanuel Macron. Xi's visit to Europe will be the first overseas trip in 2019 by the Chinese head of state, also the top leader of the Communist Party of China, bearing historic significance for the development of relations between China and the three countries, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao told a press briefing. Noting that Italy is an important member country of the G20 and Europe Union, Wang said this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, and next year will mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. "Bilateral relations of the two countries are faced with important opportunities." Xi's visit to Italy will be of historic significance in building on the past and opening up the future for the bilateral relations, Wang said. During his visit to Italy, Xi will hold talks with President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, meet with presidents of the Senate of the Republic and the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and the two sides will exchange in-depth views on China-Italy, China-EU relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. "President Xi and Prime Minister Conte will jointly witness the signing of intergovernmental cooperation documents in fields of diplomacy, economy and trade, culture, as well as commercial agreements in infrastructure, machinery and finance," Wang said, adding that the two sides would strengthen Belt and Road cooperation. Xi will also visit Palermo, the capital of the island of Sicily, Wang said. Noting that China and Monaco have set an example of friendly relations between countries of different sizes, Wang said Xi's visit to Monaco, the first-ever one by a Chinese president, will be of historic significance to bilateral relations. Xi will hold talks with Prince Albert II during his visit to Monaco and they will exchange views on issues such as politics, economy, humanities and environmental protection, and jointly open up a new era of China-Monaco relations, Wang said. Hailing that France was the first major Western country to establish official diplomatic ties with New China, Wang said current China-France relations have maintained sound, stable and high-level development and have distinct strategic, contemporary and global characteristics. The two countries have made steady progress in jointly building the Belt and Road and third-party market cooperation, as well as in cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, aerospace, agriculture, finance and sustainable development, Wang said. The two sides have also maintained close coordination in safeguarding multilateralism, improving global governance and dealing with climate change, and witnessed increasing people-to-people exchanges, he added. Wang said Xi's state visit to France, his second within five years, will coincide with the 55th anniversary of China-France diplomatic ties, and is of special significance to bilateral relations. During his visit, Xi will hold talks with President Macron, meet with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Speaker of the Senate and President of the National Assembly, according to Wang. The leaders of the two countries will exchange in-depth views on the China-France relations, China-EU relations, and international and regional issues of common interest, and witness the signing of cooperation agreements covering energy, transport, agriculture, finance, culture and technology. Wang said Xi's visits will bring the pragmatic cooperation between China and the three countries to a new height, inject new impetus into China-EU relations in the new era, and open up new space for jointly building the Belt and Road. HARTFORD Following fierce backlash, Gov. Ned Lamont has softened his stance on consolidating school districts and administration, releasing a new legislative proposal Wednesday that strikes any mention of redistricting. The revised bill would create a Commission on Shared School Services that shall develop recommendations, not a plan. Those recommendations will cover how school districts can find additional collaborations by sharing services like software or transportation contracts and staff like superintendents between them, instead of consolidating entire school districts. But the governors revisions do not change a part of the bill that states in 2020 the commissioner of education can withhold funding from some school districts that do not share a superintendent with another district. Those districts would be in towns with fewer than 10,000 people, that have one or two public elementary schools or have fewer than 2,000 students. The bill still prioritizes projects that are part of school or district consolidation for school construction grant funding from the state. It would still require towns or school districts to submit reports on their shared and consolidated services to the state before 2020. The truth is that our students and teachers are not getting the adequate resources they need in the classroom, Lamont said in a written statement Wednesday. Sharing certain back-office administrative services and purchasing costs is more efficient for certain schools, and my bill is intended to highlight and incentivize those efficiencies. Earlier this month, hundreds of small-town residents voiced their opposition to any state-ordered redistricting at the Capitol. A Facebook group called Hands Off Our Schools created in reaction to the proposal now has almost 10,000 members. Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, was dismayed that Lamonts revisions did not extend to the punitive measures of the bill regarding superintendents and school construction grants. She said she and other opponents to sharing property tax revenue outside town lines will remain vigilant. I thank the governor for being responsive, but I still have concerns, she said. She wondered why there was a need for legislation using Lamonts watered down language on a Commission on Shared School Services at all. A bill that would get the obstacles out of the way for voluntary regionalization would be really useful, she contrasted. In February, Lamont held a closed door meeting with dozens of concerned Fairfield County municipal leaders and pledged that his proposal was a carrot, not a stick to encourage regionalization. Ive also heard the concern that school districts need independence to make the decisions they feel are best, Lamont said Wednesday. My revised proposal seeks to strike that balance through a collaborative process that preserves the feisty independence of our towns while providing them the tools they need to accomplish our shared vision of focusing resources on the classroom. Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, coordinated the governors meeting with Fairfield County town leaders and met with Lamont several times about the proposal. Im enormously proud that Governor Lamont has amended his legislation to reflect the concerns of my district, he said Wednesday. The new language protects Wiltons schools by eliminating language about the number of elementary schools. It also clarifies and underscores that the recommendations of the commission are just that recommendations. They are non-binding and simply advise small districts about potential opportunities for cost-savings. The Connecticut Council on Small Towns also applauded Lamonts retreat. If you do the math and review the studies that have been done, it is clear that top-down, forced consolidation simply does not work, said Betsy Gara, executive director of COST. The redrafted proposal focuses on assisting school districts and towns explore options to collaborate and share services in ways that will produce cost savings and enhance the quality of education. The legislatures Education Committee is now considering the governors new proposal and the Planning and Development Committee is examining similar language. emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson The Pentagon is pushing back on a new Amnesty International report that alleges the Defense Department is responsible for civilian casualties that occurred in a ramp-up of air strikes in Somalia over the last two years. United States Africa Command says that there have been no civilian casualties as a result of U.S. air strikes targeting the al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group al-Shabaab. "Our assessments found that no AFRICOM air strike resulted in any civilian casualty or injury," the command said Tuesday in a release. "Our assessments are based on post-strike analysis using intelligence methods not available to non-military organizations." During research for its report, the London-based human rights organization originally submitted 13 allegations of civilian casualties in October 2018 and February 2019, AFRICOM officials said. Officials said the group corresponded with the command regarding eight air strikes that occurred between 2017 and in 2018 that Amnesty International says directly contributed to civilian casualties. The final Amnesty report investigated five incidents in the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia between April 2017 and December 2018 "where civilians allegedly were killed by U.S. air strikes," the group said. The five incidents were carried out with "[MQ-9] Reaper drones and manned aircraft in the region largely under al-Shabaab control outside the Somali capital Mogadishu," the report said. The report, "The Hidden U.S. War in Somalia," details how 14 civilians were allegedly killed and eight more injured in just five of the 100-plus strikes in the past two years. The group interviewed 65 witnesses and survivors of the five alleged U.S. strikes and another 77 witnesses and survivors "of other alleged U.S. air strikes in Somalia which are not detailed in this report." The findings "directly contradict" AFRICOM's zero-casualty claim, and the incidents "appear to have violated international humanitarian law, and some may amount to war crimes," Amnesty said. "We work with all information reasonably available at the time prior to taking any decision to apply lethal force against al-Shabaab in support of our Somali partners," a Defense Department official said during a phone call with reporters Tuesday. "But we do take allegations of civilian casualties seriously regardless of their origin," the official said, adding that officials investigate all civilian casualty reports including those that surface on social media. "We have the ability immediately after the event to continue our assessment of the military conditions [and] the social media environment in using all the information available to us" for a post-strike assessment, the official added. Related content: Since June 2017, the Pentagon estimates it has killed 803 al-Shabaab militants in strikes. AFRICOM has independently investigated eighteen civilian casualty reports, including those reported through its own internal military channels in that timeframe. Amnesty International has been tracking the reports, and has raised concerns over the ramped-up pace in air strikes. The organization has claimed that the U.S. military's strike count in Somalia has tripled under the Trump administration since 2016, outpacing strikes in Yemen and Libya combined. "U.S. forces have carried out 34 strikes in Somalia in the last nine months of 2017 -- more than in the entire five years from 2012 to 2016. This increased again in 2018, to 47 strikes; and there have already been 24 in the first two months of 2019 alone," Amnesty said. On Tuesday, AFRICOM conducted its 28th air strike this year, DoD officials said in a separate announcement. In addition to the remotely piloted aircraft like the MQ-9, the manned AC-130 gunship -- either the AC-130W Stinger or AC-130J model -- is likely used in the escalated targeting, the group noted. The AC-130 "has been outfitted with long range precision guided weapons, evidence in this report indicates the AC-130 is now being used in Somalia in a role that had been filled by drone aircraft," Amnestys report said. The group has also scrutinized whether other American aircraft, such as drones piloted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Army's Grey Eagle drone or the Marine Corps' KC-130J aircraft outfitted with a "Harvest Hawk kit" may have contributed to recent strikes. DoD officials on Tuesday would not comment on what U.S. assets are conducting strikes in the region. The officials on the call noted that the Kenyan and Ethiopian militaries also carry out air strikes in Somalia, but did not discuss whether the countries may have contributed to the alleged civilian casualty count. The U.S. militarys pressure on al-Shabaab will continue, the DoD official said Tuesday. "If the enemy presents us opportunities to support this strategy, we're going to take advantage of those opportunities," the official said. "AFRICOM has a continent-wide responsibility to apply the resources where they make the most sense." There are 500 to 600 U.S. troops in Somalia at all times, the official said. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. The late Sen. John McCain's widow and daughter have found themselves the targets of disturbing tweets following President Donald Trump's recent disparaging comments about the former decorated Navy POW. Early Wednesday, Cindy McCain posted a screenshot on Twitter of a message she received from a woman calling her late husband a "warmongering piece of sh--," and using a four-letter obscenity to refer to her daughter, Meghan McCain. Cindy McCain said she was posting the note so the woman's "friends and family could see. I want to make sure all of you could see how kind and loving a stranger can be." On ABC's "The View" Wednesday, Meghan McCain said that her father would have laughed at Trump's latest attacks on his character and reputation. "I think if I had told my dad, 'Seven months after you're dead you're going to be dominating the news and all over Twitter,' he would think it's hilarious that our president was so jealous of him that he was dominating the news cycle in death as well," McCain said. She added, "This is a new bizarre low. I will say attacking someone who isn't here is a bizarre low. My dad's not here, but I'm sure as hell here." In a series of tweets, and during a joint appearance at the White House Tuesday with President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, Trump renewed a feud with McCain and his legacy that began during the presidential campaign, when Trump disparaged McCain's war service. "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured," Trump said in July 2015 at a Family Leadership Summit for conservative activists in Iowa. McCain died of brain cancer in August 2018. At his direction, Trump was not invited to the funeral at Washington National Cathedral, at which former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered eulogies. The president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, attended. In his latest criticisms, Trump called McCain's vote against repealing and replacing Obamacare "disgraceful." At the White House Tuesday, Trump said "I was never a fan of John McCain and never will be." In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump said "So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) 'last in his class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage." McCain often joked about being fifth from last in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain also maintained that he turned over the dossier from former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to the FBI, but only after the November 2016 election, and he denied being the source of the leak of the dossier to BuzzFeed. Republicans have mainly steered clear of the renewal of the Trump-McCain feud, but Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told the conservative outlet "The Bulwark" Wednesday that Trump's criticism "drives me crazy." "The country deserves better, the McCain family deserves better, I don't care if he's president of United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world," Isakson said. "Nothing is more important than the integrity of the country and those who fought and risked their lives for all of us." Isakson renewed his criticism of Trump in an afternoon interview on Georgia Public Radio. "It's deplorable what he said," Isakson said of Trump. Isakson said he was particularly concerned about the remarks as committee chairman and "one who remembers the Vietnam war and [how] the country got torn up" in the aftermath. "We can talk about the politics of the military any way we want to, but we don't talk about our veterans in any way but to brag on them for the service they rendered, the job that they do," Isakson said. Other Republican senators followed suit Wednesday, but did not directly criticize Trump. Instead, they praised McCain. In a tweet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said he misses McCain "today and every day." "It was a blessing to serve alongside a rare patriot and genuine American hero in the Senate," McConnell said. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, who now holds McCain's Senate seat, said in a tweet that "John McCain is an American hero and I am thankful for his life of service and legacy to our country and Arizona." "Everyone should give him and his family the respect, admiration, and peace they deserve," McSally said. Trump later showed no signs of letting the McCain dispute fade away. At a rally at a tank plant in Lima, Ohio, Trump said that McCain as senator let veterans down, although he did not give specifics. McCain "didn't get the job done for our great vets in the VA," Trump said, renewing his criticism of the senator's healthcare vote. "I have to be honest, I never liked him much and I probably never will," Trump added. He also suggested that the McCain family was ungrateful for his permission to have the funeral in Washington. "I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which, as president, I had to approve, and I didn't get a thank-you," Trump said. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com. YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- A U.S. Coast Guard cutter tasked with enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea completed a patrol of the East China Sea earlier this month. The cutter Bertholf arrived March 3 at Sasebo Naval Base, according to a statement issued Monday by U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area. The U.N. Security Council has imposed a number of economic sanctions on North Korea in response to its developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The Coast Guard helps enforce those sanctions by keeping a lookout for prohibited ship-to-ship transfers of fuel, such as coal, and goods. The Coast Guard did not say whether the Bertholf had interrupted any illicit transfers. The Bertholf, first of the Coast Guard's new National Security cutters, left its homeport of Alameda, Calif., with its crew of 170 on Jan. 20 for deployment in the Western Pacific. The cutter's presence also reinforces the U.S. commitment to keeping the East China Sea open to navigation, according to the Coast Guard. "The United States is a Pacific nation," Vice Adm. Linda Fagan, commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area, said in the statement. "We have deep and long-standing ties with our partners in the region, and more importantly, we share a strong commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, governed by a rules-based international system that promotes peace, security, prosperity and sovereignty of all nations." Prior to its patrol in the East China Sea, the Bertholf hosted Japan Coast Guard officers aboard the ship during a visit to Yokosuka. "The U.S. Coast Guard is proud to operate with our Pacific counterparts," Fagan said. "Together we are dedicated to enhancing our capabilities and strengthening maritime governance and security while promoting individual sovereignty." The Bertholf is operating under the tactical command of the 7th Fleet during its Pacific deployment. YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- The Navy has enacted nearly all the changes recommended in two 2017 reports it ordered after two fatal collisions at sea involving U.S. warships, the vice chief of naval operations recently told Congress. Of the 117 changes the reports recommended -- later trimmed to 103 -- 91 were put in place, according to a Feb. 25 memorandum to Congress by Adm. William Moran. Those changes were meant to address years of underfunded operations, an increased pace of operations and an erosion of safety standards, according to the reports. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer ordered the reports to identify problems that led to the separate tragedies involving ships of the Japan-based 7th Fleet. He tasked the Navy with conducting a comprehensive review in August 2017 and the following month asked an independent team of subject matter experts to conduct a separate strategic readiness review. The USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine container ship in June 2017, killing seven sailors. Two months later, the USS John S. McCain ran into a Liberian merchant vessel, resulting in the deaths of 10 sailors. Both destroyers sustained millions of dollars in damages. A little more than year after the reports came out, Moran in his memo declared the service "currently safe to operate and a more effective Navy than we were a year ago." While the memorandum provides the most detail yet on the changes made after the tragic collisions, some in Congress are pushing for more information to ensure safety standards are being met. In a heated exchange last month, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, challenged Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, for more detail about the progress of the implementation of the recommendations. "I would like to see specific data on where we stand with issues like certification of sailors and personnel on the ships, training rules, staffing levels -- and I want real numbers," King told Davidson at an Armed Services Committee hearing Feb. 12. "I don't want general, 'we're working on staffing or we're working on more training' because these were avoidable tragedies." Davidson directed King to Moran's report and said those numbers "were all readily available." The report highlighted several recommendations that have been implemented and offered some numbers, but Moran did not list all changes in his memo. Moran broke down the recommendations into three tiers of importance: safety, followed by operations effectiveness and, finally, "strengthening the culture of operational excellence." Safety issues At the time of the collisions, ships were sent to sea to keep up with a fast pace of operations despite having fallen behind on required maintenance and mandatory training for their crews. The practice of waiving those requirements -- called Risk Assessment and Mitigation Plans -- was eliminated in October 2017 while the reviews were underway. In their place, the Navy conducted Ready-for-Sea Assessments to evaluate the manning levels, training certifications and equipment status on operational vessels. In Japan, 15 of 18 ships passed these assessments, while three were "sidelined for additional training and maintenance prior to getting underway." The report did not identify the sidelined ships, and 7th Fleet officials declined to release their names for security reasons. The November 2017 comprehensive review also recommended changing crew sleep schedules to better accommodate circadian rhythms and reduce fatigue, which Navy reports identified as a contributing factor in both collisions. Moran in his memo said all ships reported implementing the suggested sleep schedules since the policy was rolled out in November 2017, but "anecdotal feedback indicates uneven compliance during manpower-intensive operation scenarios." Effectiveness and culture To reduce workloads, the Navy last year put the need for manpower on ships and on shore in overseas locations ahead of the need at U.S. bases, Moran's memo states. That meant assigning some personnel to temporary duty overseas and putting some operations on hold to make sure forward-deployed ships "went to sea with the manpower they needed," he wrote. Moran said that on average, 100 percent of overseas billets are filled, compared to the Navy-wide 95 percent. However, a Government Accountability Office official told Congress in December that ship manning still needed improvement. GAO Defense Capabilities and Management director John Pendleton said many sailors on two Yokosuka-based ships he visited on a research trip last fall reported heavy workloads and 100-hour workweeks. "I'm concerned that this reveals an underlying problem still facing the Navy -- that it simply is not putting enough sailors on the ships to cover the workload," Pendleton said at a Dec. 12 congressional hearing. Meanwhile, the Navy increased incentives for sailors to remain overseas longer to boost stability, and in May 2018 increased the standard tour length by one year for Japan, Guam and Spain. Incoming sailors at those locations are now serving up to four years. When Vice Adm. Robert Burke, chief of naval personnel and deputy chief of naval operations, announced the change last year at a townhall meeting in Yokosuka, he said the intent was to avoid having commands "in a state of continuously having to train up their people and not having a seasoned, experienced crew that can train up the new junior folks." In the past year, the Navy has also issued several assessments of leadership, including fleet-wide officer-of-the-deck competency checks. Results revealed "deficiencies in practical applications of the Maritime Rules of the Road," but 91 percent of test takers passed the assessments, according to the memorandum. As a result, the Navy developed two new junior officer-of-the-deck courses for training. Another assessment of surface warfare officers was improved to better gauge the proficiency of prospective commanding officers. Of the 103 officers who were assessed, five were removed from the command pipeline, according to the memorandum. More information wanted King, after reviewing the report, continues to seek out more data related to the Navy's changes. In a March 10 interview with Defense News Weekly, he said the Navy has "made a good-faith effort to respond" to him and that officials had met with him at the Pentagon. He also commended the service for being "responsive to this tragedy." Still, King wants more specific data instead of "general reassurances." "My age-old question is 'does it work and how do you know?' And until I see ship specific data, I'm not going to be satisfied that we're really making the progress that we should be," he told Defense News Weekly. Airmen Have Five Days to Get Immunized After Vaccine Exemption Is Denied or They Face Punishment, Air Force Says The service required all active-duty troops to become fully vaccinated by Nov. 2 after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in... The second annual Michigan Comic Convention isnt until August, but it just landed Val Kilmer as one of its featured guests. The actor known for Batman Forever, Top Gun, Tombstone," Heat and The Doors will be at the pop culture event happening at Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit from Friday, August 16 through Sunday, August 18, 2019. He will sign autographs and take pictures with fans at the event. Star Treks Walter Koenig and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers star Walter Jones have also been announced for Michigan Comic Convention so far. This will be the second time in two years Kilmer has been at a comic con in Michigan. The actor appeared at Motor City Comic Con in 2018. MLive did an exclusive interview with Kilmer at the event about his exclusive line of custom Funko Pop toys. Tickets for Michigan Comic Convention are $30 for Friday, $40 for Saturday and $30 for Sunday. A weekend pass is $60. Kids 12 and under are free. Along with celebrity guests, the event will feature artists and vendors, cosplayers, panel discussions and more. HEAD TURNING COSPLAY FROM THE INAUGURAL MICHIGAN COMIC CONVENTION Flash Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took office as Kazakhstan's interim president on Wednesday following the sudden resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev who had served as the country's president for nearly three decades. "I solemnly swear to faithfully serve the people of Kazakhstan, to strictly observe the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens, to fulfill in good faith great duties of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan entrusted on me," Tokayev said at a parliament meeting. Nazarbayev, who served as Kazakhstan's president since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Tokayev had been the speaker of the upper house of Kazakhstan's parliament since September 2017. A U.S. Court Of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday, March 19 that a 2015 lawsuit against Salem Township and its supervisor can proceed. The lawsuit was filed by a former candidate for township clerk who claimed she suffered retaliation after running for office. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Salem Township Supervisor Gary Whittaker is not protected by immunity laws that in some cases shield government officials from civil liability. Carol Liogghio, a then-full-time administrative assistant to the township supervisor, mounted a losing campaign for township clerk in 2012. Liogghios running mate was Whittakers political foe, former Township Supervisor Robert Heyl, whom Whittaker defeated in that election. The lawsuit claims Whittaker, before taking office, asked Heyl to let Ligghio go, which Heyl refused to do. Whittaker is accused of telling township resident ONeill Muirhead he wouldnt fire Liogghio, but planned to force her to quit. Whittaker in a sworn 2017 deposition said statements made by Heyl and Muirhead supporting the claims were untrue. The lawsuit says Whittaker reduced Liogghios hours and shifted her duties once he took office. In July of 2013, Liogghio took several months leave following a back surgery. Upon her return, Whittaker permanently hired a new administrative assistant, according to the lawsuit. Soon after, Liogghio quit working under a doctors recommendation and accused Whittaker in a letter of making her working conditions intolerable so that she would resign, the lawsuit says. U.S. District Judge Denise P. Hood in July denied a motion filed by Whittaker requesting the judge dismiss him as a defendant, due to qualified immunity," which states elected officials cannot be held civilly liable for actions they take in the normal course of their job. Whittaker appealed the ruling to the 6th Circuit. Courts have long recognized that a public employer may not retaliate against an employee for her political activity, the Court of Appeals panel found in its unanimous ruling. Thus, under the district courts determination of the facts, a reasonable officer in Whittakers position would have known that he was violating Liogghios constitutional rights. Hence we must affirm the denial of qualified immunity. The judges strongly denied a request made by Liogghio and her attorney, Jamil Akhtar, requesting sanctions against Whittakers legal team for frivolous court actions. The court called Liogghios motion more frivolous than any argument Whittaker has made. If the ruling is not appealed to a higher court, it is likely to return to the U.S. District Court for litigation. Were going to file a motion for an immediate trial, Akhtar said. Liogghio is looking forward to getting the case resolved, her attorney said. MLive requested comment and was awaiting response from Whittaker and his attorney. While former Chicago Bear Charles Tillman admits he has a fear of water and has never built anything before, the retired cornerback will build his own boat and row across Lake Michigan for cancer research. The Associated Press reports that his August trip across the lake will raise money for pediatric cancer research, and to help support families of pediatric cancer patients. A big fear of mine is big bodies of water, Tillman told the Chicago Tribune. "I think a shark is in everything. I could swim in a pool and I would think a shark is in it. Im a huge Shark Week fanatic. The worst thing Ive ever seen on Shark Week was that a bull shark could live in fresh water. A.P. reports that Tillman plans to row from St. Joseph to Chicago in August as part of the Row4Kids rowing, charity adventure. The former NFLers Cornerstone Foundation and the Beckley Foundation are helping with the planning and charity aspects of the event. There is not a specific date set yet, but the news organization reports that Tillmans self-made boat will come in at 22-feet long and 5-feet wide. Related: Calvin Johnson once ruptured Charles Tillmans tricep Every dollar out of our pocket is a dollar not going to our causes, Jacob Beckley, a marketing executive who rowed across Lake Michigan three years ago, told the Chicago-based newspaper. So we immediately rule that were going to build our own boat. Im not sure he was extremely confident that we could, but I think after he saw it come together, he was like, I think we got this. As school teachers and administrators prepare for year-end evaluations that rely more heavily on student test scores, some Michigan lawmakers are working to revert to the previous threshold for incorporating state and local assessments into a school officials overall grade. Since Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation in 2015 enacting a new framework for teacher evaluations, 25 percent of a teacher or administrators year-end score has been based on student growth and assessment data. Starting the 2018-2019 school year, that category is set to increase to 40 percent of the overall evaluation score, with half of that measurement coming from standardized test scores and half from local assessments. But many teachers have balked at the prospect of seeing their annual reviews become more closely tied to student test scores. Some local school districts have had trouble coming up with local assessments to accurately measure student growth in certain grades, advocates say, and state standardized test scores might not even be relevant to teachers of subjects like art or music. Senate Bills 122 and 202, sponsored by state Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, would continue the 25 percent assessment threshold through the 2018-19 school year, although he said he hopes lawmakers will ultimately make the change permanent. Legislation to base 25 percent of evaluations on student growth into perpetuity passed the House 105-5 last session, but didnt make it to the governors desk. Horn said the increasing reliance on student growth as a major part of teacher evaluation is unethical and unfair to both the student and the teacher," and suggested deregulating the system at the state level could bring up student growth numbers on its own. Were feeding the system deep-fried cheese and blocking the arteries of the education system, Horn testified in committee. Our teachers can barely push their talent and their passions through these arteries. Horns bills were reported from the Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee Tuesday. To change the evaluation system for the current school year, the legislation would have to be signed into law by early May. The bills would have to be passed by the full Senate, full House and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to become law. Bob Kefgen, legislative director for the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, said if the bills dont pass, teachers and administrators could have a significant chunk of their evaluations be based on assessment data thats at least two years old. He said the new evaluation system has caused tension and fear among the school employees hes spoken with. They are more likely to be evaluated not for what they did but for factors outside of their control, he told lawmakers. Oftentimes, children are bearing witness to or experiencing trauma at home - and teachers efforts to help them in the classroom arent necessarily reflected in the test scores, Tammy Daencer of the Michigan Education Association told lawmakers this week. Teachers are being told to teach to the test, and theyre really struggling with their ability to balance academic needs with social and emotional needs, she said. Some groups are opposing the legislation, including the Grand Rapids and Detroit Regional Chambers of Commerce and Business Leaders for Michigan, on grounds the new 40 percent number should stand. In testimony presented to the committee, Brian Gutman of the Education Trust-Midwest wrote the legislation would weaken the framework of the states evaluation system enacted in 2015, arguing the nations most effective education evaluation systems are rooted in hard data. Michigan still has a ways to go for providing all educators with relevant and timely feedback, and greater support for improvement, Gutmans statement reads. But lessening the use of data is a mistake and ultimately holds educators less accountable for student learning. Teacher evaluations gained importance under teacher tenure reform laws adopted in 2011, which implemented annual evaluations to determine whether a teacher was highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective. The law requires those rated ineffective for three years in a row be terminated. Gas prices in Michigan are up by about 10 cents in the last week and by more than 25 cents in the last month and, unfortunately, there seems to be no near-term relief in sight. As of Wednesday morning, March 30, AAA and GasBuddy each report that the average cost for a gallon of self-serve unleaded gasoline is going for about $2.74. Michiganders lead the U.S. with a 75 cent difference between its lowest and highest prices at the pump in 2019. Patrick DeHaan, the fuel-tracking websites head of petroleum analysis, referred to 2019 as nothing short of madness at the pumps in the Great Lakes. Excess inventory of winter gasoline paved the way for deep discounts in some states after the holidays, and now with the transition to cleaner, more expensive summer gasoline underway, supply has tightened, and those previous deep discounts have vaporized, DeHaan writes in a post on GasBuddys website. The news doesnt get much better either: motorists can expect the jumps at the pump to continue into April, and perhaps even lasting up to Memorial Day, when the transition to summer gasoline and refinery maintenance have generally wrapped up. Thanks to yesterday's broad hike in #gasprices in the Great Lakes, the national average is now $2.56/gal, a new 2019 high, and will keep climbing, perhaps hitting $2.60/gal in the next 5-8 days. Patrick DeHaan (@GasBuddyGuy) March 19, 2019 As of about 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, GasBuddy reports that the cheapest gas in the state can be found at $2.19 (cash only) in Lincoln Park and $2.26 per gallon (cash only) in Dearborn. Outside of those two cash only stations, the Sams Club in Southgate is next in line at $2.32 per gallon. On the national side of things, AAA reports that gas prices are at the exact same point as they were one year ago at $2.56 per gallon. Prices at the pump are up by about 7 cents in the last week, and by 22 cents in the last month across the U.S. Since early February, gasoline demand has been steadily increasing while stocks have been gradually decreasing causing more expensive pump prices across the country, Jeanette Casselano, a spokesperson with the auto club, said in a news release. The good news is most motorists are not paying more than they were a year ago to fill up. See below for a rundown of average gas prices from across Michigan as of Wednesday morning: GRAYLING, MI For years, the economic fortunes of Grayling have been tied to two things: Abundant clean water and a sprawling military base. Now, one of those is threatening the other. Contamination seeping from the Camp Grayling National Guard base is polluting local lakes, groundwater and threatening the iconic Au Sable River, an internationally recognized trout fishing mecca and one of the largest tributaries of Lake Huron. Known as PFAS compounds, the chemicals bioaccumulate in humans and animals and dont break down in the environment. Theyve been linked to diseases like cancer, thyroid disease, hormone disruption, developmental problems in children and more. Groundwater pollution isnt good for the health of any community, but officials in Grayling and Oscoda a downstream Au Sable River town also struggling with PFAS are concerned the persistent nature of PFAS will also manifest as a long-term economic drain. Would you buy a house somewhere your well could be contaminated? said Lacey Stephan, Grayling Township manager. The concern is not unique. Across Michigan, municipalities are now either budgeting for PFAS response where chemicals are found in drinking water or wastewater, or casting a worried eye as the number of contaminated sites continues to climb. The majority of contaminated sites in Michigan are linked to industrial sources, both active businesses and others that folded up long ago. But in Grayling and Oscoda, the contamination was caused by the military, meaning the U.S. government itself is the polluter. That presents unique challenges, as the military has fought Michigans efforts to enforce state environmental laws by invoking sovereign immunity protections, and has been lobbying the White House to raise the threshold for remedial action by more than six times its present level. In Oscoda and Grayling, the military has provided either bottled water, filters or a municipal hookup to some properties, but local officials say more homes need that than the Department of Defense is willing to acknowledge. Thats forcing both communities to shoulder the burden of expanding infrastructure to provide PFAS-free water themselves. In Grayling Township, officials are now taking steps to build an entirely new municipal water system to serve residences with drinking water contaminated by PFAS either at levels below what the military considers worrisome enough to warrant spending tax dollars to fix, or outside the existing regulatory framework for the class of so-called forever chemicals. According to state data, PFAS was detected in the water at 565 homes around the Grayling Army Airfield and nearby Lake Margrethe, but only about 20 of them were above the Environmental Protection Agency advisory level of 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA, which are only two of numerous PFAS compounds showing up in test results. The EPA stands behind that threshold, but a growing number of public health advocates, independent scientists and state toxicologists argue that it isnt protective enough, citing human studies and an analysis by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) that suggests levels should be much lower and cover more compounds. In both communities, a PFAS chemical called PFHxS has been found in many samples. The long-chain compound is closely associated with fluorochemical plumes caused by the type of AFFF foam used for decades by the military to train for emergencies with. According to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, PFHxS has been detected in 369 residential wells around Grayling, ranging in concentration up to 1,040-ppt. Neither the state nor federal government regulate PFHxS, although theres been some groundwork laid toward that outcome. That means, for now, neither the DEQ nor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can force the Department of Defense to take action to address PFHxS found at any level in drinking water. When contaminants arent defined as hazardous by state or federal law, that make it much more challenging, said Oday Salim, director of the Environmental Law & Sustainability Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. The Michigan DEQ has some options it could pursue to designate contaminants like PFHxS as hazardous, but those are not quick or simple steps to take. The state would have to make a scientific assessment that those substances satisfy the characteristics of a hazardous substances even if theyre not already listed, Salim said. Thats a hurdle. In Oscoda, local officials estimate it could cost $10 million to bring municipal water to all areas affected by contamination from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. The U.S. Air Force has connected a couple Oscoda homes to municipal water, but, as in Grayling, the military wont run pipes to homes that test below 70-ppt. That has forced local officials to seek grants and cobble together money to try and get the job done. Were sinking a lot of time into handling this problem when weve got other issues to handle, said Aaron Weed, Oscoda Township supervisor. Weed gets daily phone calls about the PFAS problem and said its eaten up between 30 to 90 percent of his work time over the past couple years. As a single issue, its an order of magnitude larger than anything else happening in the township, he said. Oscoda Township has a $6 million to $7 million annual budget, most of which goes to fund local fire and law enforcement. Weed said real estate values are falling and the township is having trouble enticing businesses to invest in the area due to the contamination. Really, the Department of Defense needs to take care of this problem, Weed said. Instead, they seem to be trying to avoid as much (responsibility) as possible. My impression is the Air Force legal team feels that if they contribute something to helping Oscoda, then they have to do that everywhere. Were not asking to be treated special, Weed said. We just want the problem taken care of. The militarys rigid adherence to minimum requirements for taking action has bred some resentment among those in a military-friendly area. Some must juggle feelings of support for the armed forces with frustration at the Pentagon, which has pinched pennies and generally moved at a sluggish pace when investigating or cleaning up contamination. Reluctance to allocate more resources toward Michigan are seen as reflective of budgeting concerns as PFAS contamination mounts at current and former bases across the globe. Stephan said many in Grayling want Congress to allocate additional funding for military cleanups rather than redirect conventional defense spending. Many are also frustrated the military isnt more generous with the money it does have. They are responsive, but when you start bringing up the cost of covering this expense, its like running into a brick wall, Stephan said. In Grayling, officials are concerned that, as work progresses, the military wont install water system mains large enough to serve more than the small number of homes on its list. Stephan and township leaders began meeting with engineers this month to develop a feasibility study on a new municipal system; a $15,000 expenditure that could double if they want to use the study to pursue state or federal grants to defray the project cost. If the system ends up serving homes around Lake Margrethe, which is a couple miles west of the affected homes around the airfield, Stephan said the total cost could increase. A new water system could mean an increase in property taxes, which is sure to be unpopular. People dont make a lot of money up here, he said. This is northern Michigan. We try to do everything we can to not spend their money. This story was reported in conjunction with Detroit Public Televisions Great Lakes Now initiative and was produced with the financial assistance of the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. With three spacewalks scheduled to take place outside of the International Space Station in the next three weeks, NASA is ready to provide in-depth coverage of the entire process for each. The U.S. space agency says live coverage of all three spacewalks will start at 6:30 a.m. on each respective day on its website, social channels and on NASA TV, which can be found on its website and YouTube account. There were eight spacewalks in 2018, 10 in 2017 and four in 2016. See below for a live stream of NASA TV, while there might not be a spacewalk taking place the channel features views from the ISS in addition to other programming: The first spacewalk will feature U.S. astronauts Nick Hague and Ann McClain on their quest to replace nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries for the orbiting laboratorys solar arrays. This venture outside the space station is expected to start at 8:05 a.m. March 22. NASA says this spacewalk continues the work it started back in January 2017 to improve the space stations power system. Then on March 29, McClain will join Michigan native Christina Koch on the first all-women spacewalk that will continue with the second scheduled battery replacement mission. This will feature Koch, McClain in addition to lead flight director Mary Lawrence and lead flight controller Jackie Kagey. Related: Michigan astronaut launches to space station ahead of historic all-women spacewalk Koch graduated from the NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center back in 2001, and was selected as part of the 2013 astronaut class. She will serve as the flight engineer for Expeditions 59 and 60 once she arrives to the orbiting laboratory. While she is a Grand Rapids native, she now calls Jacksonville, North Carolina home. Spacewalks allow astronauts to work outside their spacecraft while still in space. One job astronauts do on a spacewalk is science experiments, the space agency explains on its website. "Experiments can be attached to the outside of a spacecraft to see how the space environment affects different things. Astronauts place the experiments outside their spacecraft during a spacewalk. They go back outside to get the experiments when the tests are over. Astronauts also can test new equipment and make repairs to satellites or to their spacecraft while in orbit. By going on spacewalks, astronauts can repair equipment that might otherwise have to be brought back to Earth for repair. The third and final spacewalk scheduled to take place in the next month will feature Hague and Canadas David Saint-Jacques as the two aim to lay out jumper cables between the Unity module and the S0 truss, at the midpoint of the stations backbone. Related: Michigan astronaut successfully launches to space station ahead of spacewalk Spacewalk assignments may be adjusted if the flight operations team deems it necessary. These will be the 214th, 215th and 216th spacewalks in the history of International Space Station assembly and maintenance, NASA writes on its website. LANSING, Mich. -- A 6-day-old baby was found dead in her missing mothers car Tuesday and police say theyre still searching for the mother, according to the Associated Press. Police discovered the baby in a Toyota Camry belonging to Ashley Shade, 35, a day after she and the baby were reported missing. Lansing police department spokesman Robert Merritt said an autopsy would be performed, but it is too early in the process to know how the baby died. He went on to say the focus now is trying to find Shade. Merritt also said the baby and Shade were in need of medical attention following the birth last week. Michigan residents are already paying to address the states PFAS contamination even as officials work to get a handle on the depth of the problem. The price tag to municipalities so far: Millions, with no end in sight as more contaminated locations are identified while debate continues over setting enforceable health and cleanup standards. Across Michigan, municipalities are confronting expenses they didnt anticipate just a few years ago. Theyre now paying to extend new water lines, upgrade water system filters, hire legal advice and buy bottled water to deal with a problem caused by chemicals once considered safe. Some communities now are hiring haulers to bring solid wastes to the only hazardous waste landfill in the state. Others look at missed opportunity costs for redevelopment and worry that property values will fall. Between undiscovered contamination and the potential for unfunded mandates from the state or federal government, Michigan residents may be in line to underwrite the fixes to PFAS pollution for years to come. In Ann Arbor, where officials spent at least $1 million in 2018 to filter PFAS from its drinking water, the city is considering what that means to ratepayers. Well need to figure this cost into the amount that we ultimately charge, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor. Ann Arbor is not alone. Officials in Plainfield Township, north of Grand Rapids, wonder if the community will have to pay up to an estimated $62 million for new water lines to reach a 25-square-mile contaminated zone in northern Kent County. Grayling Township in northern Michigan this spring is spending $15,000 on initial steps to develop its own municipal water system, following concerns that the Michigan Air National Guards cleanup commitments wont offer long-term safe water solutions for an estimated 400 residents now on wells. The city of Lapeer finally is close to reducing the PFOS in its wastewater going into the Flint River. But now its grappling with what to do with polluted sludge and several expensive options. Those situations illustrate the range of experiences among the dozens of Michigan municipalities that are learning that per- and poly-fluorinated compounds not only are infiltrating water and wastewater systems while threatening public health they also bring unanticipated costs to already strained budgets. A lot of costs have been shifted to public dollars, said Kathleen Schuler, strategic adviser to Safer States, a national coalition to advocate for clean water. Thats a problem. Neither the state nor municipal advocacy groups in Michigan are tracking PFAS spending by community. There also is no national comprehensive system for tracking the costs to citizens and ratepayers for PFAS contamination, according to Safer States At least 10 other states are looking at millions in PFAS-related municipal spending, Safer States found. Still more states face costs stemming from PFAS migrating from Department of Defense installations. Among them: Up to $40 million to extend a water line in Bennington, Vermont, after contamination from a factory that once coated fabric with Teflon. The company agreed to pay $20 million. An estimated $3.5 million for a GAC system in Moose Creek, Alaska. $16 million in Stuart, Florida, where the city is drilling more and deeper wells after contaminated ones were closed. But without comprehensive reporting on the costs of PFAS, there is no national scope for how much of the costs of contamination cleanup and health safeguards shift to the public. Safer States wants the EPA to track it. Governments or citizens end up paying a lot of the costs that should be on the backs of the corporations that caused the pollution, Schuler said. Big-ticket items Do you still want us to sample these 11 industries? It is so expensive. That question is from a Wayne County wastewater employee and written to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in September 2018. At that time, the states largest county was still trying to finalize its reporting of probable industrial sources of PFAS moving through the wastewater system. Each laboratory test costs an estimated $300 to $500. The potential of spending just a fraction of the countys annual budget was enough to make officials question the value in their pursuit of PFAS. But state taxpayers are funding millions after Michigan decided to prioritize finding PFAS by early 2018. Officials dedicated $14.8 million to the DEQs efforts that year and almost $15 million in 2019. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services received similar amounts. Health efforts go toward staffing, exposure assessments, lab testing and public health response like the bottled water rushed to Parchment in July, when the drinking water system abruptly was shut down. The DEQ continues to test for PFAS, moving from public and school drinking water systems this year to industrial sources, landfills and airports. The work reached a critical mass in 2018, when the DEQ spent $4.7 million toward opening its own testing lab later this year. While the state responds to emergencies and contributed a well-publicized $750,000 grant to Plainfield Township for its new GAC system it doesnt have the resources to fund each of the PFAS expenses in the state. Plainfield Township, for example, spent $1.2 million beyond that grant on engineering, labor, communication and other costs after a well was found with 60-ppt of PFOS. The costs mount elsewhere, too. Oscoda Township is looking at $10 million to run water lines to everyone affected by the contamination at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, a cleanup complicated by the involvement of the Department of Defense. Ionia is working with Ventra, a division of Flex-n-Gate, after the company was found to be discharging high levels of PFOS into the citys wastewater plant, which in turn sent it to the Grand River. The company is setting up a new filter system, but the city had to find a new option for the residual biosolids until the company gets into compliance. The cost: An estimated $300,000 to haul three loads to Metro Detroit, on top of $176,763.08 paid to the US Ecology Inc. hazardous waste landfill. Lapeer, where the state traced downstream Flint River contamination to the citys wastewater treatment plant in 2016, already has paid $750,000 as it attempts to rid its system of PFAS. Officials estimate theyll spend $2 million by the time they resolve it. The part that bothers me most is the city of Lapeer shouldnt have to pay that bill, said City Manager Dale Kerbyson. Beyond Michigans municipalities Municipalities arent the only public bodies affected. Some Michigan schools also face PFAS readings that force safety decisions. Staff at Robinson Elementary in the Grand Haven Schools learned in late October that drinking water tested at 110-ppt for PFOS and PFOA, above the 70-ppt threshold used by the state for emergency action. Total PFAS reached 171-ppt on a repeated test, prompting immediate action. Superintendent Andy Ingall sent a letter home to parents of the schools 300 children that day, after buying 600 bottles of water. Ottawa County ended up buying 33,000 bottles for the school, a supply that should last until the end of the year. That was provided to us at no cost, Ingall said. Were grateful. But looming beyond that estimated $3,500 in water savings stands the need to find a permanent water solution for the building with a PFAS- tainted well. That could mean a whole-building filter system. The district already spent $7,000 on an initial consultation as it weighs options, staying conscious of costs. Ingall is raising questions about grants to cover a portion of the work, but theres nothing in place at this point. The district could end up using existing bond fund. Schools with PFAS tests below the 70-ppt marker also are making choices. At Emerson School, a private elementary near Ann Arbor, total PFAS reached 15-ppt last fall. That number represents two compounds PFHxA and PFBA that the EPA announced in February will be studied for toxicity assessments. With no mandate to act on those chemicals at that level, Emerson decided its PFAS was too high. I dont think anyone is happy with any level of PFAS in water, said John Huber, head of school. Like at Robinson Elementary, Emerson officials immediately bought bottled water to offer staff and students. The school is now looking at installing a granular activated carbon (GAC) filters and drilling a new well. The bottled water is the smaller of the costs, Huber said, estimating a solution could reach $50,000. Beyond dollars Dollars spent by Michigans cities and townships are only part of PFAS costs incurred by the state. Less easy to calculate are intangible tolls. Theres an emotional cost, said Robert Britigan, mayor of Parchment who faced waves of fearful questions during the citys water emergency. He said he heard questions like: How long have I been drinking it? What are the long-term effects? What can I do? Do I have PFAS in my blood? Similar questions reach municipal leaders across the state as residents wonder what the contamination means for them. Britigan said that in Parchment, city officials urgently had to deal with their primary responsibilities, which included getting bottled water to 3,000 residents in the short-term, then planning to close the contaminated well, and then hook up to the neighboring Kalamazoo city water system. The emotional reactions, he said, are out of our bailiwick, but were dealing with a lot of known unknowns. Parchment, like other areas, also is dealing with potential stalled redevelopment opportunity. Communities like Flint, Lansing, Ypsilanti Township and Livonia await new owners on the industrial property now controlled by RACER Trust, along with corresponding economic development. Unclear is the role of PFAS in potential transactions for the hundreds of acres listed for sale. In Oscoda Township, the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Authority runs the former U.S. Air Force base airport, where it is trying to attract more private business to its 166,000 square feet of buildings and hangars for lease and vacant 470-plus acres. At the same time, PFAS contamination is moving from the base to Van Etten Lake and reaching Lake Huron. The airport authority will be spending money on baseline environmental surveys this year, said township Supervisor Aaron Weed, to make the facility more attractive and increase employment opportunities. Otherwise, Weed said, why should they move or create an operation at Wurtsmith with all of the liabilities they could take on? Individual property owners also wonder what the impact will be to the thousands of homes in and near plumes of PFAS. Oscoda home prices were flat in 2018, according online sales data, compared to an overall increase approaching 9 percent for Michigan. Some deals have fallen through, Weed said, and some cottage rental owners say business slowed last year. Questions about assessments, which would affect municipal revenue, persist in areas with the highest contamination. Most communities do not have sales data to support declines in taxable values, officials said. But residents still worry that their home prices may suffer. The psychological impact or stigma thats the piece you have to get over, Britigan said. The question of who pays In the cases where the source of the contamination is known, municipalities are making a range of financial decisions. Some are looking for state and federal help. Parchment will spend $410,000 on dismantling its water plant and hopes to recover that from the state. So far, few have turned to litigation or collected from a polluter. Some are considering it, they said, but when the polluter is a major employer and itself just discovering the extent of the impact the value may be tempered. Wixoms wastewater treatment plant sent high levels of PFOS into the Huron River, DEQ officials determined in summer 2018. The contamination was traced to one of the Tribar Manufacturing facilities in the city northwest of Detroit. The PFOS from Wixom is believed to be the source of the contamination affecting Ann Arbors drinking water and the reason for a do not eat fish advisory for most of the 1,000-acre watershed across five counties to Lake Erie. Wixom City Manager Steve Brown estimated costs so far at over $12,000, including sampling costs of approximately $8,000. While Tribars new filter system improved its PFOS readings, the city still is trying to get levels of its effluent down to 12-ppt. Tests showed it at 53-ppt in February. Filtering or other options could be in the citys future, with Brown saying, Were actively looking at it internally. Ionia water customers arent seeing rate hikes, said Ionia City Manager Jason Eppler. The city is funding the work through reserves, and it hopes costs diminish once the PFAS is cleared. The cooperation of Ventra means that, while cost recovery is an option, Eppler said Ionia is not pursuing that. Were fortunate that they have resources, Eppler said of Ventra. They want to be a good corporate partner. Thats what weve seen so far. Bronson, a community of 3,000 in southwestern Michigan, also has high levels of PFOS in its wastewater plant due to a single company. The citys $1.2 million annual budget absorbed $18,000 in legal fees and testing bills as it tries to reduce contamination from Bronson Plating, said City Manager Brandon Mersman. Were working to have the company responsible reimburse us, he said. Mersman would not disclose more, and company representatives wouldnt comment. Plainfield Townships expenses include $137,000 in legal fees so far, in part because it is hoping the courts will help it recoup some costs. Both Plainfield and neighboring Algoma Township joined the states lawsuit against Wolverine World Wide, filed in early 2018 by the DEQ over contamination originating with company waste. WWW said its spent $30 million so far on mitigation, but township officials say they need a long-term solution. More litigation to recoup costs is possible in Michigan. Attorney General Dana Nessel is bringing actions against entities that have contaminated Michigans waters with PFAS, and is evaluating her options in a plan to take action against 3M and other manufacturers, said spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney. In the interim, making sure public health is protected where PFAS is found is the first priority. This story was reported in conjunction with Detroit Public Televisions Great Lakes Now initiative was produced with the financial assistance of the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The Great Lakes Now special The Forever Chemicals will air at 9 p.m. March 30 on Detroit Public TV. Go here for more on the special and related content. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A 22-year-old man who killed a young father with 10 bullets has been sentenced to a minimum 40-year prison term. Deandre Lamar-Dante Johnson was sentenced to 40-75 years Tuesday, March 19 in Kent County Circuit Court after being convicted of second-degree murder. Prosecutors said he he shot and killed 22-year-old Daran Adams-Jackson in October 2017 at Cambridge Square Apartments on Mason Street NE. An autopsy showed Adams-Jackson was shot 10 tines in the head, torso and right arm. The victims mother Cynthia Jackson, talked about her son during an emotional court statement where she confronted Johnson. My son was a man of dignity and pride, she said. Everyone loved my son. You took my sons life, you coward, she said. It was low down and dirty, Cynthia Jackson said. He deserved to have a full life until God took him home, not of your choice. GRAND RAPIDS, MI A handful of community leaders and activists have voiced frustration with the way a teachable moment escalated to the point of two teenage males having a gun pulled on them after they were stopped last week for walking in the street. Earlier this week, Interim Grand Rapids Police Chief David Kiddle said the officer acted by the book on Monday, March 11, when he arrested the teens for failing to comply with his orders to identify themselves and keep their hands out of their pockets. Kiddle said the teens were responsible for escalating the encounter, but some in the community say the officer unnecessarily harassed the teens until the situation got out of hand. Police need to understand that when they approach someone who hasnt committed a crime, they will instantly feel like theyre being harassed, said Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack. They didnt intend to commit a crime but then police overreact to the point that they feel like theyre being harassed. Cle Jackson, president of the Grand Rapids NAACP, said the encounter should have ended after the officer asked the teens to walk on the sidewalk and explained the city ordinance against walking in the street where theres available sidewalk. I was disappointed in Chief Kiddle when he basically blamed the victims in a sense when he made the comment about the officers actions being dictated by the actions of those two young men, Jackson said. If he wanted to flex his muscles, (the officer) could have given them a warning or a ticket for the civil infraction. He continued to ask for their names and other information, and it spiraled out of control. The March 11 incident began when a Grand Rapids police officer noticed two teens 15 and 16 years old walking in the street in the 600 block of Lynch Street SW. The officer got out of his vehicle, ordered the teens to the sidewalk and explained the ordinance. From there, the officer asked the youths for their names, and repeatedly told them to get their hands out of their pockets. After repeatedly not providing basic info, following instructions, or removing hands from their pockets and attempting to walk away, the officer decided to arrest them for their failure to cooperate or provide basic information, Kiddle said. The officer informed them multiple times that they werent free to leave. When the officer tried to detain the teens, they resisted and Kiddle said one of the teens struck the officer to release his grasp. When the officer believed one of the teens might be reaching behind his back to grab a weapon, he pulled out his firearm, pointed it at the teens, and ordered them to get down on the ground. He keeps reaching for his waistband, the officer can be heard saying to an assisting officer in body-cam video footage released by the police department Monday, March 18. On Wednesday, Commissioner Womack told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that the officer missed a teachable moment. He said its now an opportunity for the police department to pursue more sensitivity training and for the community to educate youth on how to interact with police. You do have to give them your ID, you do have to listen to the police, and you do have to be excused to leave when theyre talking to you, Womack said. But that could have been a teachable moment. I dont agree that young teens should have been handcuffed and had a gun pointed at them for walking in the street. We dont stop everybody who walks in the street. Jackson took it a step further. He said he and many others hes talked to in the community dont believe that the same result would have occurred with two young white males or females walking in the street in their neighborhood. The leader of the local NAACP chapter added a reminder to the community that the street is not the place to fight with police. There are remedies and organizations if you feel youre being harassed in any way by law enforcement," Jackson said. "We can take the battle up for you, and theres a complaint process within the Grand Rapids Police Department called internal affairs. To Jeremy DeRoo, director of the local, non-profit advocacy group LINC Up, Kiddles summary and reaction to the use of force incident sounded like the cookie-cutter response the police department has given regularly over the past few years. I see it as highly connected to the story weve heard again and again, DeRoo said. A police officer escalates a situation and caused a crime to occur based on their handling of a situation. Walking in the street is a frequent occurrence. They were compliant getting out of the road and it was the officer then that caused the problem. DeRoo said officers are unnecessarily aggressive in pursuing members of the community and there appears to be a presumption of guilt that drives some officers. To an extent, the actions of the youth are almost irrelevant to the necessary conversation, he said. Look at incidents like this one its children being approached in a manner by an officer that assumed they were doing something worse than they were and the officers pursuit of that assumption caused significant challenges and consequences for the youth involved. On Tuesday evening, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights announced it will hold a hearing on March 28 to look at potential discrimination issues with the Grand Rapids Police Department. The hearing is meant to explore police interactions with minority members in Grand Rapids, according to Civil Rights Department Director Agustin V. Arbulu. Jackson said having the neutral agency come listen to public testimony with respect to police harassment and brutality is very significant. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After two recent controversies involving arrests of minorities, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights is scheduling a hearing to look at potential discrimination issues with the Grand Rapids police. Civil Rights department leaders on Tuesday, March 19 said they were scheduling a tentative March 28 hearing. The time and location is not set. The hearing was announced a day after interim Grand Rapids Police Chief David Kiddle called a press conference to talk about two different incidents. The first was March 11 when an officer pulled out his service weapon after two teens, ages 15 and 16, failed to cooperate with police after they were stopped for walking in the street. Kiddle defended the action because one teen appeared to be reaching behind his back and they earlier were not complying with demands to take their hands out of their pockets. The second incident was March 17 when an officer used force to help arrest a man pulled from a vehicle following a traffic stop. In the traffic stop, the driver would not provide a valid drivers license, tell the officer his name or get out of the vehicle when instructed. Instead, police said the man started his vehicle, rolled up his window, honked his horn and reached around in the vehicle. Police ended up breaking a window to unlock a door. One of the officers used curse words and struck the drivers thigh up to 30 times to get him to comply. The officer was placed on administrative leave. Both incidents were captured on cell phone video by citizens and posted to social media. In a news release, Civil Rights Department Director Agustin V. Arbulu said the upcoming hearing is to explore police interactions with minority members in Grand Rapids. The recent videos of interactions between members of the Grand Rapids Police Department and residents are unacceptable, Arbulu said in the release. I was appalled by what I saw." Arbulu said he wants to determine whether police interactions amount to a pattern of racism. At the March 28 hearing, residents are encouraged to speak up about any interaction with Grand Rapids police they want to share. In a phone interview, Arbulu said the two recent incidents add to past controversies involving Grand Rapids officers and minorities. One of those was the December 2017 handcuffing of 11-year-old Honestie Hodges at gunpoint. In that case, police were looking for a woman suspected in an attempted murder and she was ordered out of a house. Police soon after developed a new policy to guide officers in their interactions with youth. Prior to that, in March 2017, five young men ages 12 to 15 were walking home from playing basketball at the Kroc Center when they were stopped at gunpoint by police, handcuffed and questioned. Police said the youths fit the description of a group with a gun -- but the five youths stopped were innocent. There seems to be a culture there that creates certain kinds of outcomes, Arbulu said. JACKSON, MI Convicted in early February as a four-time violent habitual offender, Leandrew Martin was facing a long prison term for opening fire outside a Jackson club last summer, no matter what happened in court on Wednesday. Circuit Judge Susan Jordan sentenced Martin on March 20 to serve a mandatory 25 to 50 years in prison for assault with intent to do great bodily harm. The law mandates a minimum sentence, but in reality, he would have received half the sentence he is getting today if it werent for the mandatory minimum, Martins attorney Phillip Berkemeier said. He was trying to be a peacemaker. Hell be my age by the time he gets out of prison. A jury on Feb. 6 convicted Martin, 40, on nine felony charges stemming from the shooting at about 1 a.m., July 22, behind Kingstons Lounge, 629 E. Michigan Ave., and the neighboring Avenues Gentlemans Club in Jackson. He was convicted of one count each of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent and four counts of felony firearm. He was sentenced to serve two years on each of his felony firearms charges and six to 15 years on the remaining charges. Martin was originally charged with assault with intent to murder which was downgraded during the trial. The jury gave him a gift when they didnt convict him on the intent to murder charge, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kelsey McKinnie said. Witnesses testified there were several people at the club celebrating a family member being accepted into college when an unknown man started an argument with someone outside. As the argument continued, someone threw a brick at the group, now consisting of about 20 people, and a fight ensued, witnesses said. Prosecutors played a security camera recording from Avenues Gentleman's Club that captured the fight showing Martin pulling out a handgun and opening fire at individuals less than six feet away. Police recovered 10 shell casings from a 40-caliber handgun at the scene. The only reported victim from the shooting was a 31-year-old man who was struck in the foot, police said. Martin contends he made a mistake and was only trying to break up the fight. He said he did not mean to hurt anyone. KALAMAZOO, MI -- A day after a 16-year-old student brought a loaded handgun to a Kalamazoo school, district officials are discussing disciplinary policies, emergency protocols and reminding parents about the best practices in these situations. The student, who police did not identify, was arrested Tuesday, March 19, after bringing a handgun to Kalamazoo Central High School. State law says a student who brings a firearm to school is expelled, Kalamazoo Public Schools spokesperson Alex Lee said. The student is entitled to a due process hearing, which is run through the districts student services department, Lee said. The Kalamazoo Township Police Department alerted the public to the incident Tuesday afternoon in a joint press release with the district, while parents were notified through a robocall at about 2:35 p.m. after students had left the building, Lee said. I think we handled the situation very well, Lee said. The district is continually working on safety and security. Police assisted school staff after the district received a report of a gun. The student was questioned and a gun was found on the individual, Lt. Scott Jackson said in an interview with MLive Tuesday. There was no evidence the student meant harm to the school community, and the weapon was not discharged, Jackson said. The district declined to give further information on the matter, which they said was an ongoing police investigation. The Kalamazoo Township Police Department could not be reached Wednesday, March 20, to answer questions about the details of the incident. Social media response to news report of the incident included parents questioning the districts response and criticisms for not alerting students at the time of the incident. Board of Education member Jermaine Jackson visited Kalamazoo Central Wednesday morning to offer support to the staff after Tuesdays incident, he said in an interview with MLive. As a trustee, safety of our students is a top concern, Jackson said. If we dont have safe students, we dont have graduating students. Jackson said the news of a fully loaded handgun on school grounds was quite disturbing," and as a parent himself, he understood the parent concern. He said he understood why parents were worried, but said the security staff did what was right by getting the situation under control before issuing the robocall to parents. I dont want to take away the anxiety of the parents, he said. But, the most important thing in the moment is the safety of the students. The students and staff are safe, Jackson said. Thats of course how we want this story to end. Jackson volunteers as a mentor in the countys juvenile home, he said. As an advocate for youth in the community, Jackson felt a responsibility to respond to the incident. Jackson said he was impressed during his school visit Wednesday by the schools surveillance system, which allows school staff to keep eyes on student activity throughout the building. Additional safety measures in the district include a 24-hour-a-day tip line the district announced in May 2018 as a way for the community to let the district know of any security threat or issue affecting the school. The tip line can be reached at 269-488-1019. Voicemails are sent to Student Services and Campus Safety, Superintendent Michael Rice said at the time of the announcement. Callers should say the name of the school, persons involved and type of activity that is alleged in their voicemail. School safety was also motivation behind part of the $96.7 million bond passed for the district with 70 percent support in May. More than $4 million was assigned toward improvements in security measures, including additional secured entrances and security equipment throughout the district. KALAMAZOO, MI The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners voted to deny an appeal of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that the county partially denied related to a Michigan State Police investigation of the county treasurer. At a meeting on Tuesday, March 19, commissioners voted 8-2 to deny a FOIA appeal filed by Ted Seitz of Lansing law firm Dykema Gossett seeking any and all documents related to the police investigation of Treasurer Mary Balkema. The original FOIA request was granted in part and denied in part, with the county cited attorney work product, attorney-client privilege and investigative records interfering with law enforcement proceedings as reasons for the partial denial. Commissioner Michael Seals made the motion to deny the FOIA appeal Tuesday, and Tracy Hall seconded the motion. Commissioners Ron Kendall and Stephanie Moore voted against the motion. The vote came after two attorneys sat before the board, Seitz, who represents the treasurer, and Gordon Love, representing the county board. Seitz told the board he received some information he requested through FOIA, and argued Tuesday that the board earlier waived its privilege that would allow the county to withhold the information in question. Members of the board disagreed that the board waived the privilege. Seals said the information could include the identities of people who reported things to police and they need to be protected. Until the investigation is over we cannot divulge information that has to do with the people who have talked about it," Seals said. When the time comes maybe that will become public. But for now, thats in the hands of the Michigan State Police and I dont believe that they would want us to send out any information that would name people who have been involved. The county has released some investigative documents to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act, that show Republican Treasurer Mary Balkema paid a single contractor almost half a million dollars for work on properties since 2011, allowed contractors to avoid paying sales tax by using county credit accounts and used proceeds of property sales to buy thousands of dollars in outdoor furniture, clothing and transportation to a conference in Wisconsin. Balkema has said previously that concerns about her actions are misplaced. MUSKEGON, MI The city of Muskegon has slashed the sale price of the skeletal downtown Ameribank building from $425,000 to $150,000, according to a new purchase agreement recently approved by the Muskegon City Commission. That amounts to a more than 64 percent drop in price from what the city initially wanted for the building that stands as a gutted shell of its former self. The new agreement between the city and Core Development, led by entrepreneur John Essex, was approved by city commissioners on March 12. The city currently owns the building at 880 First St. which it purchased for $150,000 in December 2015. Selective demolition work, abatement and site preparation cost the city an additional $350,000. A previous purchase option would have seen the city sell the property to Essex for the larger amount in the hope that the city could recoup the cost of buying the building and stripping it down to its bare bones. That purchase option expired, and Essex and the city now have until June 15 to finalize the new purchase agreement. Muskegon City Manager Frank Peterson said the city decided to cut the price by $275,000 because the new deal includes a 100 percent Brownfield development reimbursement for eligible expenses. Brownfields" are defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as underused or previously contaminated industrial or commercial buildings that would be burdensome to redevelop. The state of Michigan has several incentives available to help developers, including tax increment financing. In the case of Ameribank, the city would capture taxes on the building that were designated for the Downtown Development Authority once the building is complete, Peterson said. Those taxes would first reimburse the city for its pre-development work, which included abatement, and would later reimburse Essex for any other eligible expenses. We anticipate recovering all of that remaining $425,000 through Brownfield capture, so we will recoup it, it will just take a few years, depending on what the value is," Peterson added. To us, it didnt matter if we recouped the money over five years or at the time of closing. Essex has estimated that redeveloping the Ameribank building would cost around $6 million. His plans include a mixed used commercial space on the first floor and market-rate residential dwellings on the remaining floors. The construction costs for Ameribank are (going to be) extremely high, Essex said. So whats happened is the cost per square foot to do that project doesnt self liquidate. The city knows the struggles and theyre familiar with the numbers in terms of trying to make sense of this financially. (Reducing the price) was a help on the citys part to say, If we can at least recover our purchase cost, at least were made whole on that piece. Aiding Essex with the development is a contingency agreement for the city to cap the buildings property taxes at their current rate for 10 years through a rehabilitation exemption certificate. Hed also receive a federal incentive covering 20 percent of eligible construction costs. Essex said both incentives would help him give new life to the building, which he said may be more difficult since the city had the building stripped down to a husk of concrete and steel. The five-story building needs interior and exterior walls, windows, floors, plumbing electrical and everything else. Peterson said while Essex or another developer may have wanted to keep the skin on the building, the outdated curtain glass windows and inadequate HVAC equipment needed to be replaced either way. Gary Post of Port City Construction acted as the citys demolition contractor and had an option to buy the property for $1. Post had put down $20,000 of earnest money on the property that would have been refunded once the deal was finalized. The option agreement with Post was drafted in May 2016, but the city in August 2018 terminated the agreement. Post said then that he was disappointed with the citys decision and that he hoped Essex would share Posts initial interest to see the downtown develop. Essex is partnering on the Ameribank project with Smith Equities and 616 Development, according to city documents. They are expected to get started within 120 days of purchase, and complete construction after about nine to 10 months. The property is in the citys Downtown Development Authority boundaries, which means that any additional property tax growth would also eventually benefit the DDA, according to city documents. The 54,122-square-foot building was erected as Peoples State Bank in 1923, and was later known as Liberty Bank Building in addition to Ameribank. It was extensively remodeled in 1972, and its historic facade was replaced with stucco that covered most of its ground floor windows. Essex, a Muskegon native, is involved in several other downtown Muskegon developments. He owns a parking lot on West Western Avenue and is readying to open NorthTown 794, a business center at the former Al Perri furniture store. The downtown area is experiencing fast-paced growth with the opening of several housing and mixed-use projects, including Highpoint Flats apartments, Heritage Square, Berkshire senior living and Terrace Flats apartments at Terrace Plaza. Projects under construction include Lakeview Lofts and the Watermark. In the planning stages are The Leonard and Hartshorn Village. The downtown is also seeing a surge or restaurant offerings, including Rad Dads Tacos and Tequila, Cafe 557, Morats Bakery, 18th Amendment, Dr. Rolfs Barbeque, Nipotes Italian Kitchen, Redmons Kitchen & Bar, Capones Speakeasy and Pizzeria, and others. A new brewery is also in the works. A grocery store is expected to open pretty soon. The Health Hutt recently opened a location in the Century Club building. MUSKEGON, MI Nearly 40 acres of former industrial property with Muskegon Lake frontage near downtown Muskegon are pending sale. The purchase of four neighboring parcels that are part of the industrial legacy of the citys waterfront and considered key to the citys redevelopment is expected to close next month. The move comes as more and more of the shoreline is converted to residential, recreational and commercial uses. In total, the 38-acre site is listed for $6.2 million. The sale is expected to close on April 15, according to Capstone Real Estate LLC, which was contracted to sell the properties. Its unclear how much the accepted offer is for, or what will be done with the property. The parcels are the former homes of Michigan Steel, Anaconda Wire and Cable Co., and Westran Austin Trailer Division. Those buildings have been removed, but some industry remains today. Dennis Kirksey of Kirksey Development Co. has owned the parcels at 1204 and 1133 W. Western Ave. since 1991, he said. The combined 17.9 acres, featuring 3,000 feet of Muskegon Lake frontage, are listed for $3 million. The 20 acres at 1148 and 1195 W. Western Ave. are listed for $3.2 million and owned by Vaughn Makary of Shipyard Properties LLC. Makary did not return a call for comment. Kirksey declined to discuss details of the sale, including the identity of the buyer, the amount of the accepted offer and the development plans. In the past, Kirksey has flirted with the idea of redeveloping his property himself. It was once home to Westran Austin Trailer Division and Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. Now, its occupied by West Pack manufacturing, Waterfront Storage LLC, Camcar Plastics storage, warehousing for Blended Furniture and more. In 2017, Kirksey told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle that he planned to work on it "a bite at a time. His vision included high-density residential and a marina. I have interest in the development, but you have to have some pretty deep pockets to pull it off, he said during an interview on Wednesday, March 13. The buyer will likely develop the front and back ends of the property first, which wouldnt much affect the businesses there, he said. Kirkseys property at 1204 W. Western Ave. is the former site of Westran Austin Trailer Division. It abuts Makarys former Michigan Steel property at 1148 W. Western Ave. Kirkseys property at 1133 W. Western Ave. is the former Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. site, and it shares a property line with Makarys 1195 W. Western Ave. The Anaconda building was demolished at the end of 2016. Michigan Steel was demolished in 2014. The combined site, near Coles Quality Foods and Fricano Place, has been eyed by the city as a key site for mixed-used development since before the buildings were demolished. The Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. was formed in 1919 to produce copper wire. It moved to the site on West Western in the early 1920s and employment peaked at around 400 through the 1960s. But demand for copper declined and the factory closed in 1981. Michigan Steel went out of business and closed in April 2013. Makary acquired the former West Michigan Steel Foundry through bankruptcy court in 2002. The foundry previously had operated as Westran Corp. and traced its roots all the way back to 1912 and the founding of the Muskegon Steel Casting Co. About 120 people worked for Michigan Steel, though staffing soared to as high as 200, company officials had reported. The development would join others on the Muskegon Lake waterfront, including Windward Pointe, The Docks, Hartshorn Village, Terrace Point Landing, B.C. Cobb power plant, which are all in progress. The waterfront development complements the revitalization of downtown Muskegon that ongoing since the demolition of the Muskegon Mall - more than a decade ago - but has accelerated in the past few years with projects like Highpoint Flats, Berkshire Muskegon senior living, Heritage Square town homes and Heritage Square Commons, and Lake View Lofts; ongoing renovations of the L.C. Walker Arena and Holiday Inn; the upcoming construction of a convention center; and the planned Leonard building and Foundry Square. BAY CITY, MI While Michigan Sugar Co. is happy with a state appellate courts dismissal of a class-action lawsuit against the company, an attorney representing people who filed the suit is weighing the options on how to pursue the matter. Two residents living within a mile and a half of the sugar beet processing facility at 2600 S. Euclid Ave. in Monitor Township filed suit in Bay County Circuit Court in November 2016. In it, they alleged the plant was producing noxious odors that were invading their properties. Plaintiffs Debra Burton and Samantha Achtabowski contended the odors interfered with their enjoyment of their properties and diminished their values. Michigan Sugar Co. moved for a summary disposition of the suit in January 2017, asserting the plaintiffs had no standing due to a three-year limitation period and that they had failed to show physical injury to themselves or their properties. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran denied granting the company motion for dismissal. The sugar company then appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals. In a March 14 ruling, a three-member panel agreed with the company that the plaintiffs had missed the three-year window to file suit. Plaintiffs factual allegations in their amended complaint also indicated that the wrong caused injury to plaintiffs dating back many years before November 7, 2013, the date three years before plaintiffs filed this lawsuit, the ruling reads. We find that plaintiffs allegations plainly reveal that they and other local residents complained of the wrong and the resulting noxious odor emissions numerous times many years before November 7, 2013. Because plaintiffs filed this action after the expiration of the applicable three-year limitations period, their claims were time-barred and should have been dismissed. The appellate court reversed Sheerans decision to not dismiss the suit and remanded the matter for an order of dismissal. In a 2018 ruling, the Michigan Supreme Court stated affected parties must file a suit within three years of a problem beginning. That ruling pertained to a Saginaw County lawsuit involving Dow Chemical that began in 2003 when dozens of property owners along the Tittabawassee River claimed their properties had depreciated due to dioxin contamination in the soil. After the state Supreme Courts ruling, Saginaw County Circuit Judge Patrick McGraw ruled the Dow contamination began before 2003 and dismissed the case. Representing the plaintiffs in the Michigan Sugar case, attorney Laura L. Sheets of Detroit-based firm Liddle & Dubin, told MLive she disagreed with the courts ruling. We were saying our claims were within the three-year period, she said. We filed in 2016, which directly coincides with this extreme uptick in complaints and NOVs (notices of violations) that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued against the defendant. Our whole argument was that we understand there are some odors inherent to the operation of the facility; thats not what we were suing on. Those odors didnt damage anyone. It wasnt until it became to substantial and egregious that people could literally not use or enjoy their property. The defendant and the courts seem to believe we were essentially suing for their very existence, which is not the case. Sheets added she had complaints from 647 area households regarding the facilitys odors in recent years. She penned a letter informing all of those of the appellate courts ruling, which she also forwarded to MLive. In it, she cites a 700 percent increase in odor complaints against the facility, which prompted the Michigan DEQ to issue numerous violations and file its own lawsuit against the company. Sheets said shes surveying her options on how to proceed. We may have a couple of routes, she said. Were not certain which well take yet, but we do have some time to make sure were making the right move. Michigan Sugar spokesman Robert Clark said the company is pleased with the appeals courts decision. The company had no additional comment, he said. Earlier this year, Michigan Sugar Co. settled a lawsuit with the Michigan DEQ that had alleged the factory violated air and water quality regulations. The settlement saw the company agreeing to pay a $300,000 fine and support or create two environmental projects totaling $262,500. In 2003, Liddle & Dubin filed a lawsuit against Michigan Sugar Co. alleging nuisance odors. That case was settled in 2005 and, as part of it, the company was required to invest $2 million in its facility to reduce emissions. SAGINAW TWP, MI The Saginaw Township Police Department has become the first in the state to offer a new app providing real-time crime and safety information to residents. Those in the community can now download the free Neighbors app by Ring to their smartphones and tablets, announced Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr. at a Wednesday, March 20 press conference. Citizens can download the app by texting saginawtwp to 555888 or by visiting download.ring.com/saginawtwp. The Neighbors app can be used by anyone, Pussehl said. You dont have to have (Ring) products. You dont even need to have any type of surveillance equipment at their home. They can take a look at what is going on in various neighborhoods and be aware of what to look for and hopefully trying to prevent crime or to help solve a crime. The Santa Monica-based Ring is a home security corporation. It introduced the Neighborhood app in May 2018 and have thousands of users in major cities, Pussehl said. The app will allow us to send alerts to those that have the app on their phone, he said. If we have an incident thats occurring or were looking for someone that may be involved in an incident, detectives can send a text message to the users of the apps. And likewise, the users can share information through the app that will go out to everybody thats using it. Police have no direct access to users information or videos, Pussehl said. It is strictly anonymous and up to users to share whatever theyd like with police. The departments partnership with Ring comes at no cost to taxpayers, Pussehl said. Also, for every 20 apps downloaded, Ring will supply the department with a camera doorbell that can be distributed in the township. As a demonstration, Detective Sgt. Chad Brooks displayed video footage recorded by a Neighbors user, showing a suspicious truck revving its engine on a Saginaw Township street. He also showed footage recorded years ago by a Ring doorbell which captured a clear image of burglar, who later received a lengthy prison term due in part to the footage. The Neighbors app will provide yet another tool to facilitate communication between residents and law enforcement that will help us prevent and deter criminal activity in Saginaw Township, added Detective Sgt. Scott Malace, supervisor of the departments Crime Prevention Unit. SAGINAW, MI With a jury looking on Wednesday, two teens testified that a Roman Catholic priest had sexually assaulted them. Testimony in the first of three trials for Robert J. Father Bob DeLand began the afternoon of Wednesday, March 20, before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson. DeLand, 72, is a longtime priest who worked in the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. After Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Hoover and defense attorney Alan A. Crawford gave their respective theories on the case via opening statements, Hoover called a now-19-year-old man to the stand. The teen said he had known DeLand as a greeter at Freeland High School. In that capacity, he said DeLand would often make him uncomfortable. He would shake my hand sometimes, he said. He would do it very tight, wouldnt let go. Hed hug me really, really tight and breathe in my ear every now and then. Very uncomfortable. On May 14, 2017, the teen said he and his father attended a memorial service at St. Agnes Church for a classmate of his who had died by suicide earlier that day. The service was organized by DeLand. As his father mingled with other attendees, the teen was called out to by DeLand, who asked him how he was doing with the recent death. The priest then called him into a coatroom where they were alone, he said. After briefly making small talk, DeLand made an untoward gesture, the teen said. He went in for his normal handshake, but it was very low, he said. Much lower than I would have expected it to be. He reached forward towards my penis and I caught his hand very close to it and shook his hand and he held it very close and wouldnt let go. Is it possible he was reaching for something else and you were mistaken? Hoover asked. Theres no way, the teen stated emphatically. He then demonstrated how he said DeLand had reached toward him, with his palm up and arm ascending. The teen testified he quickly left the room once DeLand let go of his hand. He found his dad and urgently told him they had to leave. He refused to tell his dad why he wanted to leave until they reached their car. Hoover asked him why he waited. Because I didnt want him to do anything that he would regret, he said, adding that once he told him, his dad wanted to go back inside and confront DeLand. The teen said he didnt report the incident to police or to the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, adding his father was employed by the church and didnt want him to suffer fallout. Hoover asked him what he had felt at the time. Betrayed, he replied. I had known him almost four years. And very terrible. I didnt understand why he would do that. I just didnt understand why. It didnt make sense. Hoover then asked if the incident continued to affect him. Ive had two or three dreams about fending him off, he said. Like struggling and trying to get away from him. Do you still have these dreams? My most recent one was, I think, about a month ago. Under cross-examination by Crawford, the witness said he didnt speak with police until after DeLands was arrested in February 2018. Crawford then asked the teen about the attendance the memorial service. He said it was packed and the mood was somber. When you got out in the hallway with these 500 people you didnt say, Father Bob just tried to touch me? Crawford asked. I told my dad and we left, he replied. In the moment it was shocking, but I didnt think much of it and kind of just wanted to forget about it. Crawford also asked if the witness had hired a civil attorney before or after speaking to police. Hoover objected; the judge sustained. The teen said he felt that if he had contacted police, the church would have fired his dad, something he didnt want to see happen. Whats the difference now? Crawford asked him. I guess now I would just rather see (DeLand) in prison. Exactly. During breaks in the days proceedings, DeLand approached people in the courtroom gallery and thanked them for their presence. He is free on bond. Something wasnt right For the prosecutions second witness, Hoover called the first witnesss father. He recalled on the day of the May 2017 memorial service, he saw his son approaching him quickly, saying, We have to leave now, now, now. He asked what was wrong, but his refused to say until they got to the car. I knew something wasnt right, he said, getting emotional and tearing up. When he told you what had happened, what was your initial thought? Hoover asked. To make it a very bad day on Father DeLand, he replied. He said his son kept him from going back in as he was afraid hed do something that would land him in prison. He said he later addressed the issue with a nun. Sir, is there a reason you did not go to police immediately? Hoover asked. Yes, there is, because I work at the diocese and I just had a feeling, he said. After news broke of DeLands arrest, the dad spoke with same nun again. When she wasnt at work, he called police, he said. Under cross-examination, Crawford asked the man if his son finished the school year after the coatroom incident. The man said his son finished up the last few weeks of the school year. You sent your son back into an environment where he would come face-to-face with his alleged abuser? Crawford asked. The man said his son avoided DeLand and his wife took him to school late every day to help accomplish this. Third witness Speaking in a soft, barely audible voice and wearing a gold cross around his neck, a now-18-year-old man took the stand as the prosecutions third witness. He said that in 2017 he had attended Freeland High School and on May 14, he had been at friends house consuming alcohol when his friend fatally shot himself. Thereafter, he was charged with and pleaded guilty to minor in possession. He was court-ordered to perform 25 hours of community service under DeLands supervision. He said he knew DeLand from him being a hallway monitor at his school. He said DeLand would make him uncomfortable, grab his hand, step on his feet, and call him upwards of 20 times per day. On Nov. 16, 2017, DeLand pulled the teen out of class, took him to an unoccupied room, and gave him $20. As they walked out of the room, the priest put his arm around the teens shoulder, slid his hand down his back, and touched his left buttock, the teen said. Hoover asked how the deed made him feel. Very uncomfortable and very angry. I wanted to hit him," the teen testified. Crawford asked the teen if he and his parents had visited with Tittabawassee Township Police Detective Brian J. Berg in November 2017 before DeLand touched his buttock. The teen replied he had and that hed agreed to work in an undercover capacity for the police. He further admitted that he had attendance issues in school, but said he began skipping his first couple classes of the day because of DeLand. Why did you agree to help police? Hoover asked. Multiple reasons, the teen said. For one, I had a very bad feeling about him. I wasnt sure if that could have been correlated with my friends death, the reason why he killed himself. Also, if he had done that to other people I wanted to make sure he didnt do it to other people. Detective Berg Hoovers last witness of the trial was former Detective Berg, the lead detective in the DeLand case who lost his job with the township for unspecified reasons in October 2018. Berg currently works as a part-time patrol officer with St. Charles police, operates a private investigator firm, and does investigations for prominent Southfield attorney Geoffrey N. Fieger. While still employed as a detective in Tittabawassee Township, Berg said the second teen and his parents had made a complaint to him against DeLand on Nov. 2, 2017. They had concerns he was grooming their son, he said. They used that word and then they gave me several examples of what they thought was grooming. Berg said he had not been involved in prior investigations of the Catholic church, nor had he ever met DeLand. He opened an investigation into the familys claims and started researching DeLand. Father DeLand was very well-liked by township staff, most of the citizens, Berg said. I wanted to find out the facts. He told the alleged victim to stay in contact with him and to report any additional incidents, but that his safety was paramount. During the alleged Nov. 16 incident, the teen was not equipped with recording equipment. Berg said the teen had texted him after what had allegedly transpired. Berg then contacted the Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (BAYANET) and requested their assistance with recording devices. Thereafter, either Berg or Michigan State Police detectives were nearby monitoring the teen when he had interactions with DeLand, Berg said. Detective, Im just going to come right out and ask: Did you have some sort of agenda to destroy the defendant? Hoover asked. No, absolutely not, he replied. I was actually hoping we would not find evidence on him, that Id be able to clear him. Hoover then asked Berg if his employment with Tittabawassee Township police was later terminated. Berg said it was. I am a Christian and I will not have my integrity compromised, he said. Sometimes, that rubs employers the wrong way. I was officially told I did not pass the probationary period. Crawford asked Berg if he had written in a police report that it appeared the Catholic church had a systemic habit of abuse and coverup. Based on my research, yes, Berg replied. He added he previously had been Catholic but ceased being so when he married a Methodist. Did you investigate these sexual assaults because you wanted to take down the Catholic church? Hoover asked. No. After Berg stepped down at about 4 p.m., Hoover rested the prosecutions case. Judge Jackson ordered the jury to return at 10 a.m. Thursday. 'A man of God Jury selection began Tuesday morning with a pool of 72 potential jurors. A jury of 10 women and four men was seated about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. In his opening statement Wednesday, Crawford asserted DeLand stood before the jury as a man of God, who has dedicated his life to helping others. He told the jurors they would clearly see this isnt about a search for justice. This about an agenda, an agenda to destroy Father Robert DeLand. This was a desperate and deliberate attempt to destroy Father Robert DeLand. DeLand is charged with six felonies and one misdemeanor involving two male teens and one young man. The cases are proceeding in three separate trials, with the first trial involving two alleged victims. In the first trial, DeLand faces charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing personal injury and attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct. DeLand in September 2018 pleaded no contest to all charges against him. About a month later, he withdrew his plea because he did not want to accept the potential sentence he faced, said Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gaertner. HARBOR BEACH, MI The Michigan trapper who captured a rare lynx after it killed a farmers pet geese says he wanted to release the animal back into the wild and regrets that state officials took it to a nature center. He also says hes faced social media criticism for trapping the animal and some people are wishing him dead. Jordan Cook, 29, is a beekeeper by trade who lives in Applegate, a village of about 250 people in Sanilac County, along Lake Huron. Hes also a self-taught trapper. Cook says the owner of McCoy Honey Co. in Harbor Beach, Joseph McCoy, asked for his help after spotting two apparent lynx on the property, at least one of which attacked and killed McCoys pet geese and a duck. Cook was out to dinner with his girlfriend, Stacey Pattee, on Friday, March 15, when McCoy called. He swore up and down that it was a lynx or a bobcat and I said, I dont know, Joe, no ones ever caught one around here." Cook found a grisly scene at McCoys farm. I shined the field and I saw the dead geese. There was blood all over the goose coop," he said. It looked like a murder scene, you know?" He said he then saw cat eyes in the darkness. Cook contacted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and explained the situation. After watching a lynx attack another goose Saturday, the men set traps, as directed by DNR officials. By 6 a.m. Sunday morning, March 17, they had captured what biologists would later confirm to be a female Canada lynx. This is the first verified sighting and capture of a lynx in Michigans lower peninsula since 1917, according to the DNR. It comes about a month after an apparent lynx was seen on a video shot in nearby Lexington. The DNR has not confirmed McCoys account of a second lynx roaming the area. Pattee captured video of the lynx in the leg trap as Cook and several others released the lynx from the trap and transferred it to a waiting dog cage. Cook called the DNR again to let officials know they had captured the cat. Cook said he wanted to release the lynx back into the wild, in a remote, swampy area in the Thumb, away from McCoys farm and away from people, but officials told him to keep it in the cage. DNR officials later relocated the lynx to Howell Nature Centers Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, where it was evaluated. Cook said he wouldnt have turned the cat over to the state if he knew it would end up in captivity. But wildlife experts say the cats behavior was unusual and veterinarians must evaluate it before potentially releasing it back into the wild. Howell Nature Center, where the lynx was being cared for, posted an update on its Facebook page Tuesday, March 19. It read, in part: "The Canada Lynx brought to us yesterday by the DNR is doing well under our care! Our goal at the Howell Nature Center is to offer the best possible outcome for animals brought to our Wildlife Clinic. According to a DNR representative, this is the first live lynx captured in the state in more than 40 years. At this time, it has been determined that additional resources are needed to include a full physical and behavioral assessment. As such, this animal will be transferred to the Detroit Zoological Society later this week. It is not yet clear if the lynx is a released/escaped illegal pet or is in fact, truly wild. After the evaluation, a determination by the DNR will be made if it can be released back to the wild. Dan Kennedy, endangered species coordinator for the Michigan DNR, confirmed state officials gave Cook permission to trap and then cage the animal. The Detroit Zoo has the staff, the equipment and the expertise and facilities to do a thorough evaluation to let us know the lynxs overall health, Kennedy said. "Once we get that information from them, then well sit down with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine an appropriate course of action. I never thought it would be lynx Since he caught the lynx, Cook said hes received positive feedback and messages of support, but hes also received vitriol from some hunting and trapping critics. Some people have wished him dead, something he says has happened before in response to his trapping-related posts on social media. A lot of them are upset with the idea of trapping in general," he said, noting that there are misconceptions about trapping and the types of traps used today. The trap he used to capture the lynx did not injure the animal, he said. "Thats just a big misconception about what I do and what trappers do. Were here to conserve nature and maintain healthy populations of animals. That, and I was wearing a Make America Great Again hat (in the video), Cook continued. "I think if it wasnt for that hat, a lot of them wouldnt be saying what they are and treating me how they are. Cook has been trapping as a hobby for the past decade, a tradition he was first introduced to as a young boy that he now shares with his own children. I ran my great-grandpas trap line with him when I was very young," Cook recalled. I have two little girls that absolutely love it and they were born into it. Cook said he runs about 50 to 100 traps for coyote, beaver, muskrat, mink, just about anything with fur in Huron County," but I never thought it would be lynx. Kennedy couldnt confirm whether or not the lynx was uninjured in the trapping process but said, I know that it can look rough on the video, but, he was also, you have to consider human health concerns as well while handling a wild lynx. You have to use that pole and theres certain protocols to follow while doing that. He added, The animal appears to be doing OK right now, but were waiting on the veterinarians to do a thorough evaluation." The progress in restoring normality in Syria is being hampered and downplayed in the West, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said, during talks with Bashar Assad, to whom he delivered a message from President Putin. Shoigu and Assad met in Damascus on Tuesday to discuss the joint anti-terrorist efforts as well as issues around Russian humanitarian aid to Syria and the return of refugees, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The two countries have achieved significant results in tackling the international terrorist threat since Syria requested Russias help in 2014, the minister said. The main thing is that we have managed to preserve the Syrian state and create conditions for the people to return to peaceful life. However, not everybody is pleased with such a situation, as the Western states are trying to minimize all the positive developments in Syria and create new obstacles to the conclusion of the crisis. Assad in turn said that some countries only fought terrorism in their statements but in reality supported armed militants and are to blame for the large number of civilian casualties during the conflict. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Pakistans alleged buildup of F-16 fighters along its frontiers as cross-border tensions rise between the regional rivals. An increasing number of armed sorties along the borders with Pakistan is taking its toll on the shelf life of Indian Air Force (IAF) ammunition. In order to maintain battle readiness and match Pakistans air fleet expansion on its doorstep, the IAF is seeking to acquire additional air-to-air missiles, Indias Economic Times has learned. Also on rt.com Nuclear-armed India & Pakistan vowed missile strikes during Kashmir standoff report These missiles have a certain life, a top government source told the publication. The life of the missile depends on the number of sorties being undertaken. So we need fresh replenishments. As India looks into the acquisition of additional weapons for their pilots, Pakistan has reportedly moved more of its F-16 jets to the border. While the Economic Times claims that Islamabad had moved all its F-16s upfront, Zee News reported that Pakistan has built an additional air squadron at Mushaf Airbase. The new unit will aid another Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16 squadron already serving at the base. Also on rt.com US looks into claims Pakistan misused F-16 fighter, as media war over Kashmir clash heats up New Delhi maintains that Pakistans use of US-made F-16 jets against India potentially violates the terms of the American transfer agreement. So far, Islamabad has yet to confirm any additional air-power deployment to its border with India. PAF fighters, however, did carry out landing and takeoff exercises across the countrys motorways and highways on Monday. Pakistan and India have maintained high-level of alertness following the IAFs counter-terrorism operation in Balakot against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants on February 26. The raid deep inside Pakistani territory came in retaliation for the Pulwama attack on February 14, in which a Kashmiri member of a Pakistan-based militant group killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in a suicide bombing. An Italian politician who has spoken out against legally mandating vaccination has been hospitalized with chickenpox, leading to an outpouring of I told you sos on social media no matter how much he protests hes pro-vaccine. Massimiliano Fedriga, governor of Italys Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, met with a torrent of ridicule when he revealed that hed been hospitalized with chickenpox last week. The right-wing La Liga politician had denounced the Lorenzin decree, which made vaccination mandatory in 2017, as Stalinist, arguing authorities should instead form an alliance with families to convince them to vaccinate their children against the 12 diseases, including chickenpox, mandated by the new law. Despite his support for voluntary vaccination, Fedriga has nonetheless been denounced as an anti-vaxxer and told hes gotten what he deserves for spitting in the face of scientific progress. Even though his kids are vaccinated, and the chickenpox vaccine didnt exist when he was a child, the temptation to use his (admittedly ironic) illness as a punchline was too great. Fedriga was released from the hospital on Monday and thanked his well-wishers, including (especially?) the ironic ones, including prominent vaccine advocate Roberto Burioni, who had used him as a teachable moment, warning that he could have infected a pregnant woman, possibly causing birth defects. Also on rt.com No vaccine, no school: Italy starts punishing parents who refuse to immunize their kids The mandatory-vaccination policy, which bars unvaccinated children from preschool and daycare and slaps non-compliant parents of school-aged kids with fines up to $560, was adopted in Italy after a measles outbreak. Both parties in the ruling coalition La Liga and Five Star initially opposed the implementation of the law before forming the new government last year but have since backtracked, allowing it to take effect earlier this month. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Contracts for the purchase of troubled Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have been suspended indefinitely by a number of Russian airlines, according to Vladimir Afonsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Construction. He told TASS, with a reference to Deputy Transport Minister Aleksandr Yurchik, that these were contracts for the supply of several dozen aircraft to UTair, Ural Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and S7. Also on rt.com Substitute for Boeing Max? Russian MC-21 passenger jet to debut at MAKS 2019 Air Show The indefinite suspension will last until the circumstances of this situation [the two recent crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX planes] were ascertained, Afonsky said. Ural Airlines had ordered 14 MAX aircraft from Boeing, with the first jet expected to arrive in October. Pobeda Airlines (part of the Aeroflot Group) was planning to buy 30 planes. It has not sealed a firm contract yet but had already made an advance payment for the aircraft. Also on rt.com Profit v passenger safety: Why the US was the last to ground troubled Boeing jets Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev said earlier that the company could refuse operating twenty MAX planes ordered for Pobeda. Earlier this month, Boeing 737 MAX planes were grounded worldwide after two similar crashes just months apart. Last October, a Lion Air jet crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. On March 10, another crash killed 157 people in Ethiopia. For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section The driver of a school bus filled with children has been arrested by Italian police for setting fire to the vehicle near Milan. The Senegalese man reportedly called for an end to deaths in the Mediterranean during the incident. Miraculously all 51 passengers managed to escape the fire without injuries, although several were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation, according to RaiNews24. The 46-year-old Senegal-born driver reportedly spilled gasoline down the aisle of the bus while shouting that he wants to stop deaths in the Mediterranean Sea before igniting the blaze. "I want to end it, the deaths in the Mediterranean must be stopped," the Italian news outlet reports. Footage of the blaze show firefighters at the scene and the remains of the completely burned vehicle on the side of a busy road. The driver was reportedly known to police and has been arrested for the arson attack. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Taiwan president to make stopover in US during Pacific trip reports Taiwan president to make stopover in US during Pacific trip reports Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen will make a stopover in the US on her way back from visiting three Pacific nations this month in a move sure to irk Beijing, AFP said on Wednesday, citing sources. Tsai will leave for Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands on Thursday in a trip to shore up ties amid growing concerns about Chinas increasing clout in the region, according to the report. She is scheduled to transit through Hawaii on March 27 on her way back to Taipei, the sources said. Taiwan is typically low-key in announcing its leaders specific itineraries, fearing China will use its power to disrupt. Tsais last state visit was to Paraguay and Belize in August with US transits. The trip prompted an official protest from Beijing after she gave a speech in Los Angeles - the first time in 15 years that a Taiwanese leader spoke publicly on American soil.Source : RT - Daily news Turkey, Iran commanders agree to continue operations against PKK Ankara Turkey, Iran commanders agree to continue operations against PKK Ankara Turkish and Iranian military commanders agreed in a phone call to continue joint operations against militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for some time, according to Turkeys Interior Ministry. Tehran earlier this week denied a Turkish announcement that the two countries were carrying out a joint operation against the PKK. However, Turkeys Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the countrys Gendarme Commander Arif Cetin and Iranian Border Forces Commander Qassem Rezai discussed the joint operations. In a separate phone call, Turkish and Iranian deputy interior ministers welcomed the stage reached in the joint operations, the ministry said. Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey and Iran were carrying out a joint operation against the PKK, describing it as the first of its kind. An source said the countrys armed forces were not part of the operation, Reuters reports.Source : RT - Daily news Bella the stray dog was a favorite with local residents in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg, until two people tortured and stabbed her to death. They said they wanted to try dog meat, believing it would cure tuberculosis. Teenagers were shocked to discover Bella bleeding in the basement of an empty building. Despite a vets best efforts to save her life, the dog died from her wounds the next day. Locals undertook to find the people who tortured and killed their four-legged friend and bring them to the police. According to law enforcers, the 32-year-old man and his 30-year-old pregnant girlfriend, who were intoxicated, lured the dog into an empty building, where the man tied up the animal and stabbed it multiple times, leaving it for dead. Also on rt.com Dog gulag owner arrested for leaving 70 animals to eat each other or die while he went on vacation Both animal abusers pleaded guilty, but couldnt explain the motivation behind their crime. While the woman mumbled about wanting to eat dogs meat to cure tuberculosis, her partner spoke of an urge to kill someone. According to the police report, they tortured the animal to cause it extreme suffering. The court sentenced the man to three-and-a-half years in prison for animal cruelty, while his female accomplice was convicted to a one year community service. The story caused understandable indignation among internet users, who blasted the cruelty. I hope they get ripped by stray dogs when they get out prison! one commenter wrote. They deserve the worse sentence! wrote another. Some users admitted that street dogs are a problem in Russian cities, but said that killing them isnt a solution. Last year, Russia introduced new legislation banning the mistreatment of animals, including poisoning and killing stray dogs and cats. The bill also requires owners to take good care of their pets, and prohibits wild animals being kept in flats and residential homes. The initial animal welfare legislation was submitted to parliament in 2010 and has taken almost eight years to be finalized by lawmakers. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! UN to hold conference in Libya in April to discuss way out of conflict UN to hold conference in Libya in April to discuss way out of conflict The United Nations will hold a conference inside Libya in April to discuss a way out of the countrys eight-year conflict, a UN envoy said on Wednesday. However, it is not clear whether powerful factions will attend. The forum will be open to all Libyans and take place in the southwestern town of Ghadames on April 14-16, envoy Ghassan Salame said at the UN compound in Tripoli. We hope it will be a new opening for the country for stability, Salame said, adding that up to 150 participants would join. The envoy had unveiled the idea of a national conference in November to prepare the ground for elections. An initial plan to stage a vote on December 10 had proved unrealistic given a lack of understanding between the main conflicting camps, Reuters said.Source : RT - Daily news A giant turtle will join Ho Chi Minh in Vietnams pantheon of embalmed national heroes, forever preserved at the legendary site where a heroic 15th century emperor is said to have returned a divine sword to a turtle god. Like Uncle Ho, the heroic giant reptile Cu Rua serves as an important symbol of Vietnams struggle against a foreign invader. The Yangtze giant softshell turtle came to represent the golden turtle god who, according to legend, gifted warrior-emperor Le Loi a magic sword named heavens will, which he used to drive out an invading Chinese army. The ornate mausoleum was constructed on The Lake of the Returned Sword, where Le is believed to have given back heavens will; it is also the place Cu Rua spent the better part of her 200 years before dying in early 2016. Thanks to the embalming process, she will now be able to continue to inspire new generations like some kind of 372 pound (168kg) green Lenin. Fittingly enough, the lake is only a short drive from Ho Chi Minhs eternal resting place. Cu Rua was not only important in terms of her connection to the legend, she was also one of the last of her species. The lake was originally home to several of the giant turtles before they slowly died off, one them now being displayed alongside Cu Rua. There are now only four remaining Yangtze giant softshell turtles in the world, none of which have distributed any mystical weapons. Also on rt.com Trump-Kim summit failure no surprise as only nukes deter US regime change in N. Korea Gabbard Both Ho and Cus resting places are located in Hanoi, the location of President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-uns recent unsuccessful meeting. Kim took the opportunity to pay his respects to Vietnams revolutionary hero, no stranger to the practice of preserving national leaders given that his father and grandfather are displayed in a similar manner back in Pyongyang. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Port Vila Lord Mayor Albert Daniel (centre) and Dumbea Deputy Mayor Gerard Piolet, representatives from AFD, la Sic, French Embassy, and the PVMC Town Clerk and councilors. The Australian PM has demanded the withdrawal of "offensive remarks" by the Turkish president, who invoked the deaths of soldiers form Australia and New Zealand in the Ottoman Empire when criticizing the Christchurch mass shooter. Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently campaigning for his party ahead of local elections on March 31, referred to the mass killings of Muslims in New Zealand during several rallies. Last week, a self-avowed white supremacist from Australia killed 50 people attending two mosques in the city of Christchurch and injured almost as many in what became the deadliest instance of political violence in the country's modern history. 'Your grandparents returned in caskets' Since the weekend, the Turkish president showed supporters blurred footage of the massacre, which was livestreamed by the attacker, along with parts of the manifesto he had published before going on a gun rampage. Erdogan said the terrorist attack in Christchurch was motivated by hatred of Islam, which, he implied, parts of the Western establishment condone or secretly endorse. Turkey, a Muslim country, is in the crosshairs of this hatred, he warned. "They are testing us from 16,500km away, from New Zealand, with the messages they are giving from there. This isn't an individual act, this is organized," he said, without elaborating. Erdogan also said that people who want Turkey conquered and turned into a Christian nation like it was during the times of Byzantium which was one of the goals stated by the Christchurch shooter in his manifesto won't get what they want. "We have been here for 1,000 years and will be here until the apocalypse, God willing," Erdogan told a rally on Monday. You will not turn Istanbul into Constantinople. "Your grandparents came here... and they returned in caskets," he added, referring to the ill-fated 1915 Gallipoli campaign, in which British-led Entente forces, which included soldiers from Australia and New Zealand, were defeated by the Turks. The two nations lost over 10,000 lives in the campaign, which are commemorated each year on April 25, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day. 'Reckless and highly offensive' Erdogan's remarks and the use of the shooting video, which social media have been fighting hard to suppress, was criticized by both Australian and New Zealand officials. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said he found the Turkish president's words "highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment." Morrison summoned the Turkish ambassador for explanations and said later that he didn't accept the "excuses" he was offered during the conversation. "I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn... I expect that to occur," said the prime minister, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks. He also accused Erdogan of betraying the promise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk the father of modern Turkey who sought reconciliation between his country and those that fought against it during World War I. Also on rt.com New Zealand shooting suspects worldwide trips investigated New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her foreign minister will confront Turkish officials about Erdogan's remarks when he travels to Turkey. "He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face," she said of the visit by Winston Peters. Peters earlier condemned the display of the footage, saying it may endanger the lives of New Zealanders abroad. 'No different than ISIS' Erdogan also addressed the Christchurch massacre in an opinion piece published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. In it, he argued that the travel records of the accused murderer, which included several Muslim-majority nations, and anti-Turkish sentiments expressed in his manifesto, were of great concern for him. The Turkish president said the terrorist's call to reconquer Istanbul and make it in Christian again was no different in essence to the calls by ideologues of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) to destroy Turkey. The two carried similar responsibility for taking innocent Muslim lives. The difference, he said, is that some Western politicians, like Australian Senator Fraser Anning, chose Islam rather than ignorance and hatred as the cause of violence. Western societies and governments must reject the normalization of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, which has been on the rise in recent years. It is crucial to establish that such twisted ideologies, such as anti-Semitism, amount to crimes against humanity. "Moreover, we must shed light on all aspects of what happened and fully understand how the terrorist became radicalized and his links to terrorist groups to prevent future tragedies," Erdogan wrote. He also praised New Zealand's PM Ardern for embracing Muslims living in her country and called on other Western leaders to follow her lead. Like this story? Share it with a friend! Shishir Asthana Moneycontrol News The worst possible scenario in the Jet Airways saga is coming true. Since the time the company started defaulting on its debt repayments, lenders have been knocking loudly on its door. Aircraft lenders have grounded its fleet and now even its partner Etihad is ditching the company at a time Jet Airways needs it the most. The rats are deserting the ship. Etihad desperate to eject Reports say that the Etihad has informed State Bank of India, Jet Airways... Moneycontrol News Naresh Goyal-led Jet Airways' insolvency is the last problem state-owned bankers would want with a resolution plan still not in sight for the embattled airline. According to a government official, the Centre doesn't want Jet Airways to get into insolvency via the National Company Law Tribunal, and instead favours a domestic investor to hold controlling stake in the Jet Airways. "The government is in favour of an Indian player having majority stake in the airline," he said. After Etihad Airways decided against any capital infusion, banks are likely to be the capital providers. Lenders have the option to pump in money on behalf of the major stakeholders pledging shares," a senior government official said. He said that the former will have to, later, reduce its stake. Sources in the aviation ministry, however, said that it wasn't an "ideal" situation for state-owned banks to convert their debt to equity. The airline is sitting on a debt mount of Rs 8,000 crore and has continuously defaulted on its loan repayment. A lenders consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) was in talks with Etihad Airways, minority stake holder of 24 percent shares in Jet, to infuse extra capital worth Rs 750 crore. The Abu Dhabi based airline has, now, decided to walk out of the airline completely and sell off its stake to lenders. Being a shareholder, often without full control, but providing financial and human resource assistance in an environment where you cannot derive fair and reasonable benefit, simply does not work. I think there is a valuable learning point from it but the thesis that suggests Etihad just goes it alone is one that is equally flawed," Tony Douglas, group CEO, Etihad Airways recently said in an interview to industry association IATA. Eithad Airways' plan to own majority stake in Jet Airways would run into India's foreign direct investment (FDI) rules, which caps any foreign airlines stake in a local carrier at 49 percent. Bankers, however, "want either Etihad or Jet to push in funds to retain the board position," making the situation tricky. All the lenders held a late evening meeting on the resolution plan for Jet Airways but could not hammer out a mutually agreeable resolution. Banks want to avoid taking the cash-strapped airline to NCLT under insolvency code (IBC) as "banks have given loan to the airline against no collateral". "The loan was given against brand value and no tangible collateral. If the airline goes into insolvency, banks would not be able to recover any value," a source said. Jet Airways has brought back horrors of the now grounded Kingfisher Airlines, which too went bust in 2012 due to non-repayment of loan. The airline's closure led to numerous job losses, monetary loss to aircraft lessors and pile up of bad loan in bank's accounts. The same is feared to be repeated with Jet as closure of the airline will add burden to already ailing banking system and will lead to job losses to over 23,000 people. Moneycontrol reported on March 19 that lessors of Jet Airways' aircraft have already approached SpiceJet for 50 Boeing aircraft, grounded by Jet, to be leased for a short term period of one to three years on dry lease. Jet Airways has grounded 78 of its aircraft from a fleet of 119 and has withdrawn 603 domestic and 382 international flights. Aviation watchdog, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), held an emergency meeting with the airline on March 19 to take stock of its financial health, flight schedule and booking cancellation. DGCA said in its statement that government was closely monitoring the situation and will take appropriate steps by the end of this month. Representative image live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Moneycontrol News In what could be another blow to the beleaguered Jet Airways, 260 pilots of the airline appeared for a walk-in interview session organised by SpiceJet. Sources told Moneycontrol that 260 pilots, including 150 captains, came for the interviews organised at Mumbai for Boeing 737 rated captains, non-type rated captains and first officer with frozen airline transport pilot licence (ATPL). Jet is sitting on a pile of Rs 8,000 crore debt and has been unable to furnish instalments for loan repayment. This has led to the grounding of 78 of 119 aircraft in its fleet and withdrawal of close to 1,000 flights. Financial troubles have also led to non-payment of salaries to its employees, including pilots, since December, who have now threatened to stop flying from April 1 if their dues are not cleared by March-end. The decision was taken at the annual meeting of the airline's domestic pilot body, which represents around 1,000 pilots at the airline. A new resolution process for the cash-starved airline is being worked out by lenders after minority stakeholder, Etihad Airways, decided against the infusion of Rs 750 crore as capital and walking out of the airline completely. Tony Douglas, group CEO of the Abu Dhabi-based airline met SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar on March 18 and offered its (current) 24 percent stake in the airline in order to get out of Jet Airways. Kumar met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on March 20 along with Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, and Principal Secretary to PMO, Nripendra Mishra to discuss the new resolution plan. "We have not reached a point where Jet Airways will be taken through insolvency and bankruptcy code... An effort is being made to keep the airline running," Kumar told reporters after the meeting. He added that "dialogue with Etihad" is on, who want to manage the airline "without any interference". According to top finance ministry sources, the government has suggested lenders pump in funds against the pledged shares of the majority stakeholders holders, whereas bankers want to keep "either Naresh Goyal or Etihad at the board". "We are not ruling out the possibility of bringing in a new investor," Kumar said. Media reports have also suggested banks could ask Goyal to step down with immediate effect. Apart from pilots, the budget carrier may also get Jet Airways' grounded Boeing fleet as lessors of the latter have approached the former to take such aircraft on lease. "Lessors of Jet have offered SpiceJet to take its grounded fleet for a short term dry lease of one to three years," sources said who added that lessors fear losing their money as Jet has been unable to pay their fee due to the financial crunch. It must be noted that both the airlines operate the same fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft. SpiceJet currently needs 12 Boeing aircraft after Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) decided to ground B737 Max series planes owing to safety concerns. Apart from SpiceJet, Indigo too tried to woo pilots of Jet Airways in a roadshow, organised on March 12, by offering them a job and their "overdue salary as joining bonus". IndiGo had cancelled numerous flights during February and March due to a shortage of pilots. Pramod Mittal, the younger brother of ArcelorMittal owner LN Mittal, has cleared dues of Rs 2,200 crore owed to State Trading Corporation of India. While the payment settles proceedings filed by CBI and Enforcement Directorate against Pramod Mittal, it also ensures that brother LN Mittal's planned acquisition of Essar Steel doesn't have any hiccups. Numetal, the VTB Bank-led consortium that was in reckoning for Essar Steel till last year, had raked up the issue of loan defaults by Pramod Mittal and had asked if LN Mittal was a promoter in any of his brother's firms. According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, promoter of a defaulting company is barred from bidding for stressed assets. In an order earlier this week, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal gave conditional approval to ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000-crore proposal for Dues cleared A statement, released by Pramod Mittal firms Global Steel Holdings and Global Steel Philippines, said: "All the proceedings have been resolved/settled pursuant to orders dated December 6, 2018 and March 12, 2019 passed by the Honble Supreme Court of India and all the aforesaid proceedings, including various criminal cases, proceedings instituted against, inter alia, GSHL, GSPI, Mr. Pramod Mittal and Balasore Alloys Limited by the Enforcement Directorate and FIR registered by the CBI, have been quashed." "Mr. Pramod Mittal has paid and /or caused to be paid an aggregate sum of Rs. 2,210 crores to STC, inclusive of the aforesaid Rs. 1,605 crores as well as post award interest, in full and final settlement of STCs claim. In the circumstances, no amount is due and payable to STC by GSHL, GSPI or Mr. Pramod Mittal," said the statement. These firms had bought raw materials from STC, but had not paid dues after the global meltdown during 2008-2010. Though after a conciliation proceeding it was agreed that Rs 1,605 crore will be paid, the two companies didn't do so. The Exim Bank has extended a USD 800 million line of credit (LoC) to the Maldives for financing developmental projects in the island nation. Projects covered under the LoC include various infrastructure development projects, the banks said in a statement on March 20. With this agreement, the Exim Bank has so far extended three LoCs to the Maldives taking the total value of such instruments to USD 880 million, the external trade development institution said. It has now in place 245 LoCs, covering 63 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the CIS, with credit commitments of around USD 24.24 billion, available for financing exports from the country. The LoC agreement was signed between Ibrahim Ameer, the finance minister of the Maldives, and Sudatta Mandal, the chief general manager of Exim Bank. The agreement was exchanged during the visit of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to the Maldives recently. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More With Etihad Airways willing to give up its stake rather than pour more money in the debt-ridden Jet Airways, lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) are in a race against time as the threat of the account losing its standard status looms. In absence of a solid plan B, and lack of emergency funding, Jet Airways may be forced to ground more flights from the present nearly 80 and banks fear that the account may turn bad by end of this month. As per regulatory norms, a resolution will have to be sought from NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Lenders will then have to make do with deep haircuts on the outstanding loan of over Rs 8,000 crore. On Tuesday night, lenders held an emergency meeting in Mumbai, but the talks were inconclusive. This followed a meeting between Etihad CEO Tony Douglas, and top officials of SBI. Douglas is said to have offered to sell its 24 percent stake, and also its holding in Jet's loyalty program. In case the lenders try to keep Jet Airways fleet operations, they will have to bear double the burden of bringing in all the emergency money as Etihad has refused to invest its share of Rs 750 crore. According to the resolution plan that was cleared by Jet's board and shareholders, a fresh allotment of shares would be followed by investment from Etihad, banks and Naresh Goyal. Etihad has offered Rs 150 a share for its stake. While Goyal has knocked at the doors of Qatar Airways, the airline though is yet to warm up to the offer to replace Etihad. In order to save the airline, the government has also asked the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to buy stake in the beleaguered airline. Jet Airways is facing its worst crisis ever, with only 41 operational plans left in its fleet and the pilots threatening to go in strike from April 1 if the resolution plan is delayed. On March 19, aviation minister Suresh Prabhu asked his secretary to hold an emergency meeting with the airline due to rising cancellations and grounding of planes. Representative image Jet Airways' lenders have worked out an alternate rescue plan for the debt-ridden airline that involves taking majority control and reconstituting the entire board of the countrys second largest carrier. With just 11 days left to the end of this financial year, lenders are in a rush to seal a resolution plan. They have asked promoter Naresh Goyal to step down immediately and make way for a new management. As per the plan, Goyal's stake will likely be capped at 10 percent by diluting the rest at a nominal value. "Nothing else is working out, so they (lenders) will take control and then once things stabilise, they will engage with the new investor," said a senior banking official, who did not wish to be named. "Any new investor will also be interested only when there is a change in management and stakeholders." While there are talks of new investors including Tata Sons being approached, another source said it will take at least a couple of months to bring them in, as regulatory norms require due diligence on the part of the lenders too. Tata Sons spokesperson was unreachable for comment. Questions sent to Jet Airways were not answered until the time of publishing this story. It will be updated once the companies respond. Sources said SBI and Punjab National Bank, which have the highest exposure in the consortium, will get representation on the new board. The independent directors will be nominated by lenders. Jet Airways has a debt of Rs 8,200 crore to a consortium of 7-8 lenders, led by SBI. Lenders wish to take full control of the airline before making any further investments. "The consortium will not run the airline but only hold majority stake as financial creditors, a position that will arise out of the restructuring. Essentially, there will be professionals to run the airline, lenders will only monitor the financials," the official said. "Lenders will get in a competent person, maybe for a short time and then look for a somebody capable for the long run because the new investor will also like to have a say in it," the official said. On March 19, the consortium held a meeting to discuss the alternate plan after Etihad Airways CEO Tony Douglas, in his meeting with the SBI head a day ago, expressed the intent to exit the Indian airline. Etihad holds 24 percent stake in Jet Airways and is unwilling to bring in any more funds. The draft resolution plan required Etihad to invest Rs 750 crore as part of an emergency funding. On March 20, SBI chief met with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Aviation Secretary Pradeep Kharola to present the alternate resolution plan. "The government has given us no direction. We have taken a decision in commercial interest. The resolution plan is almost ready," SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters in New Delhi. He said resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was the last option as it will lead to grounding of the airline. Jet is in a precarious condition, with just 35 of its 119 planes flying by the end of the week. Lessors have grounded most of the aircraft. Jet pilots and engineers have been paid for three months and about 1,000 flights have been cancelled. Jet pilots have threatened to go on strike if a solid resolution plan is not in place by March 31. What do banking regulations say? The resolution plan should be implemented within 180 days from the date of first repayment default, failing which large borrower accounts with exposure of Rs 2,000 crore and above will be referred to the IBC. Lenders are required to file the insolvency application under IBC within 15 days from the expiry of the timeline. The account will be classified as a non-performing asset that attracts higher provisioning on the outstanding balance. If there is restructuring or change in ownership implemented within the 180 days period, the account should not be in default at any point during the implementation of the resolution plan. To meet this criterion, at least 20 percent of the outstanding principal debt as per the plan and interest capitalisation should be repaid. Defaulting in this period will also trigger insolvency proceedings by lenders. The norms also stipulate that the new promoter shall have acquired at least 26 percent of the paid up equity capital of the borrower entity and shall be the single largest shareholder of such an entity. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Construction engineering company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) acquired the 20.32 percent stake of local coffee baron VG Siddhartha and firms related to him in Mindtree. It has also made an open offer for an additional 31 percent stake in the midcap IT services company, which is being categorised as a 'hostile takeover'. An acquisition can either be amicable or hostile. When one company sells its shares to the interested party wilfully, it is a friendly acquisition. However, if the target company is resistant and the buyer approaches the shareholders of the company directly by making an open offer, it is termed as a hostile takeover. In India, there have not been many hostile takeovers in the corporate sector. Only two of the very few became successful. London-based NRI Swaraj Paul wanted to take over two Indian companies in 1983, Escorts and Delhi Cloth Mills (DCM) by acquiring their shares from the stock market. Paul was not successful and withdrew his bid, but the threat of a takeover shocked the companies and the Indian market. India Cements (ICL) wanted to buyout Raasi Cements in 1998 and pursued a similar route. It made an open offer at Rs 300 per share, when the share price on the BSE was just Rs 100. The promoters sold their shares to the acquiring company, so there was no scope of tendering their stake during an open offer. ICL went on to buy out financial institutions in the open offer and increased its holding to 85 percent. In October 2000, Abhishek Dalmia of the Dalmia Group made an open offer to acquire 45 percent stake in Gesco Corporation at Rs 23 per share. The promoters of Gesco resisted, but later reached an agreement with the Dalmia Group. Dalmia bought out their 10.5 percent stake for Rs 16 crore, at Rs 54 per share. Emami and Zandu were also engaged in an unfriendly acquisition when the former acquired 24 percent stake in the latter from its co-founders at Rs 6,900 per share. They also made an open offer for an additional 20 percent stake. The remaining co-founders gave up their 18 percent after trying to save the company for four months. Emami ended up with 72 percent share in the company. In 2012, Essel Group wanted a controlling stake in Iragavarapu Venkata Reddy Construction (IVRCL), an infrastructure company, where the promoters only held 11.2 percent stake. After buying a 10.7 percent stake, Essel Group changed its mind and exited the company in haste. Here are stocks that are in the news today: Muthoot Capital Services: Company completed a securitization transaction of Rs 236.36 crore. Future Enterprises: Brickwork Ratings India has re-affirmed AA (SO) rating on NCDs with stable outlook. ONGC board meeting March 23 to consider interim dividend Cox & Kings: Company owned Meininger opens hotel in Budapest, Hungary. V-Mart Retail: Company opened a new store in the state of Assam. Bodal Chemicals: Company starts production at Gujarat plant. DLF: Company's joint venture with Hines to invest upto Rs 1,900 crore to develop 2.9 million square feet in Udyog Vihar, Gurugram, their second joint venture. Jindal Saw's independent director Devi Dayal resigns with immediate effect due to personal reason Tata Steel BSL allotted Non-Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares worth Rs 6500 crore to Tata steel HCL Tech and Xerox expand Strategic Partnership to accelerate operational Transformation Jet Airways: An additional six aircraft (include one aircraft of Jet Lite (India) Limited) have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements. Himalaya Food International: Board meeting is scheduled on March 25 to discuss the status of OTS (one time settlement) proposal with consortium of Banks led by SBI. Rallis India: Company announced suspension of operations at Ankleshwar unit due to flash fire during transfer operations. Talwalkar Better Value's promoter acquired 0.70% stake from open market on March 18 IDBI Bank: Board approved rupee bond borrowing limit of Rs 4,000 crore to be borrowed in one or more tranches comprising of Basel III compliant Tier II Bonds and Senior Bonds (not more than Rs 1,000 crore) by way of private placement during FY 2019-20. Viaan Industries: Company agreed to acquire equity stake in Avalance Technology Private Limited (a company proposed to be incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013) for a cash consideration. The said investment upon completion will translate into 50 percen equity stake in Avalance Technology Private Limited on a fully diluted basis. Newgen Software: Company secured another patent for its invention- Integrated and Automatic Generation of Carbon Credits. Datamatics Global Services: Company acquired additional 10 percent equity stake in Datamatics Digital Limited (earlier known as Techjini Solutions Private Limited), the subsidiary company. Fortis Healthcare: Board approved the appointment of Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi as Managing Director designating him as MD & CEO of the company. Adhunik Industries: Bikash Roy Chowdhury has resigned from the post of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel (KMP) due to some personal reasons. Avenue Supermarts: Company has issued commercial paper of Rs 100 crore. Rushil Decor: Company intimated fire accident at factory located at Chikmagalur, Karnataka. Eris Lifesciences: Himanshu Shah, Executive Director of the company has resigned from the membership of the board. Centrum Capital: Company sold its entire equity holding in its wholly-owned subsidiary company, Centrum Capital Holding LLC alongwith its subsidiary i.e Centrum Securities LLC (step-down subsidiary of CCL). Bulk Deals on March 19 NSE Agro Phos India: Ambe Securities Private Limited bought 1,45,000 shares of the company at Rs 72.78 per share. CG Power & Industrial Solutions: Bharti SBM Holdings Private Limited purchased 56,64,181 shares of the company at Rs 46.11 per share. Keerti Know & Skill: Mandeep Tradelink Private Limited sold 42,000 shares of the company at Rs 70.45 per share. LEEL Electricals: Alpha Leon Enterprises LLP sold 2,40,000 shares of the company at Rs 21.31 per share. M K Proteins: Bhavishya Investserve Private Limited purchased 24,000 shares of the company at Rs 77.09 per share. Man Coat Metal: Palash Machineries Private sold 3,49,183 shares of the company at Rs 6 per share. Noida Toll Bridge Company: Jaliyan Trading Private Limited bought 13,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 5.35 per share. Ruchi Soya Industries: Disha Foundation sold 22,48,143 shares of the company at Rs 7.26 per share. Shaival Reality: Wealth First Portfolio Managers Limited sold 1,08,000 shares of the company at Rs 26.7 per share. BSE Bharti Infratel: Promoter Bharti Airtel sold another 15 crore shares of the company to its subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited at Rs 332.25 per share. (For more bulk deals, click here) Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings OCL Iron and Steel: Board meeting is scheduled on March 22 to consider issue of equity and convertible/non convertible securities or other equity linked securities along with secured/unsecured loan. KEI Industries: Company's officials will meet Motilal Oswal Financial Services on March 25. NOCIL: Investor / Analysts will be visiting the companys plant at Dahej on March 20. Tata Steel: Company's officials will meet B&K Securities on March 20. MT Educare: Company's officials will meet Khambatta Securities on March 20. Coffee Day Enterprises: Board meeting is scheduled on March 22 to consider the issuance of unlisted, unrated, secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) for an amount upto Rs 200 crore in one or more tranches. The issue of NCDs is for the purpose of re-financing the existing debt. S Chand and Company: Company's officials will meet analysts/investors on March 25. MIRC Electronics: Company's officials will meet analysts on March 20. Mahindra Lifespace Developers: Company arranged conference call on April 23. Atlanta Infrastructure and Finance: Board meeting is scheduled on March 27 to consider resignation of Managing Director & CFO Sailesh Mulraj Ved. Colgate Palmolive (India): Board meeting will be held on March 29 to consider the declaration of dividend (if any). : Company will be attending Elara Morpheus Investor Conference on March 20. Microfinance sector has demonstrated resilience and offers enormous growth potential- CreditAccess Grameen, the latest to list MFI, is a unique rural financial services play operating at the heart of rural India- Robust loan growth and superior return ratios make it a worthy contender- Reasonable valuation add to the stocks attractiveness ---------------------------------------------------- Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have truly come of age. The segment emerged relatively unscathed by the liquidity crisis that engulfed the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) since September 2018. That doesnt come as a surprise as MFIs are well placed on liquidity front as compared to other segments of the non-bank finance sector. One, unlike many other NBFCs, average asset maturity tenure is generally lower than the average liability maturity tenure for MFIs. Two, most MFIs rely on banks for their liquidity needs, which is relatively a stable funding source as compared to mutual funds. While most NBFCs were busy managing liquidity or raising funds in the last 4-5 months, MFIs continued to focus on growth. The same is evident in total gross loan portfolio of non-bank MFIs (NBFCs-MFIs), which grew 44 percent year-one-year to Rs 60,694 crore as of December 31, 2018. Growth registered by NBFC-MFIs makes us scout for an idea in this space and we zeroed down on CreditAccess Grameen (CAGL), the third largest MFI in terms of loan book size as of March 31, 2018. CAGL, which listed in August last year, is a unique rural financial services play operating at the heart of rural India. It provides finance to the unserved masses at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. But before getting into financials of CAGL, what's behind our interest in the microfinance sector, which historically have been on a roller coaster ride? The microfinance sector has come a long way from just a 'not-for-profit' endeavour to a business model of sustainable growth with positive returns. The remarkable journey has been marked by many highs and lows. The exponential growth of the sector was halted by the Andhra Pradesh crisis in 2010. The evolution of regulatory framework after the crisis helped the sector mature, while attempting to protect the borrowers interest by regulating product pricing. While demonetisation disrupted the sector once again at 2016-end, MFIs speedily resumed the growth path, shrugging off the impact of demonetisation. Rural India, comprising two-third of households, contributes around 47 percent of GDP. However, rural areas account for only 10 percent of the outstanding bank credit, indicating low credit penetration. This offers enormous growth potential to MFIs. In addition to sectors demonstrated resilience and growth potential, some of the structural changes has made microfinance a promising sector. The sector is thriving with eight MFIs converting into small finance banks (SFBs) and one of largest MFI (Bandhan Bank) transitioning into universal bank. Moreover, acquisition of Bharat Financial the largest MFI -- by IndusInd Bank has added to the dynamism of the sector. The marginal profile of borrowers, unsecured nature of lending and political risks remains key concerns for the sector. CAGL is an established player in the microfinance industry with over 19 years of operations. CreditAccess Asia NV, promoter of the company, holds 80.3 percent stake after the initial public offering (IPO). The Netherlands-based CreditAccess provides financial services to micro and small businesses and self-employed people, through controlled companies, in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. CAGL has significant rural presence with close to 82 percent of the customers in rural areas. It primarily provides income generation loans to rural customers through the joint liability group (JLG) mechanism. Credit risk, which is inherent in any financing business, is generally lower in case of lending through JLG. The access of personal information of each group member and social pressures are the key reasons for the same. However, the JLG model can prove to be a double-edged sword containing risks in good times, but triggering large-sale defaults during a crisis. Karnataka accounts for around 54 percent of the companys portfolio, exposing it to risks associated with a significant regional concentration. However, CAGLs regional concentration will continue to reduce as it scales up through its district-based expansion strategy. What we like about CAGL? Despite slowing down in FY17 due to demonetisation, CAGLs loan book grew 57 percent compounded annually between FY14 and FY18. In FY19, its loan portfolio increased to Rs 6,085 crore as at December 31, 2018, growing 49 percent YoY. The management has guided to end FY19 with a gross loan portfolio of Rs 7,300-7,500 crore. Despite the high growth, CAGL has been able to maintain superior profitability with return on assets (RoA) of six percent in Q3 FY19, mainly supported by healthy net interest margin, controlled operating expenses and low credit costs. In the past, CAGLs profitability was impacted with RoA falling to 2.3 percent in FY17 from 3.6 percent in FY16 on account of additional provisioning arising out of steep deterioration in its asset quality post-demonetisation. However, with an increase in currency circulation and the managements focused collection efforts, asset quality improved in FY18. With gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at 1.2 percent as at December 31, 2018, asset quality is currently reasonable. However, its asset quality remains highly vulnerable due to exposure to low income group. But predominantly, its week collection model, prudent customer on-boarding and monitoring provides comfort to an extent. While microfinance is a relatively riskier asset segment, with weak borrower profile susceptible to socio-political issues and the resulting unhealthy credit culture, few in the industry can boasts of a track record as CAGL. At the current market price of Rs 474, the stock is trading at 2.4 times FY20 estimated book value. Given the strong earnings growth and ability to generate RoA of over 3-3.5 percent, valuations looks reasonable. Incidentally, the valuation of the last deal in this space between Bharat Fin and IndusInd Bank was at 3.8 times one-year forward book. Though on a relative basis, valuation appears at a premium when compared to SFBs like Ujjivan Financial Services and Equitas Holdings' operating in the micro-lending space. While investors can play the sector through SFBs, a lower cost structure, higher returns and potential to convert or being acquired by a bank makes a pure-play MFI like CAGL a worthy contender and should support the stock's relatively higher valuation. Long-term investors, with the ability to shoulder inherent risks associated with microfinance business and looking for high-quality business operating at the bottom of the pyramid, should buy the stock. Follow @nehadave01 For more research articles, visit our Moneycontrol Research page Moneycontrol Research analysts do not hold positions in the companies discussed here Diamantaire Nirav Modi has been arrested in London after a warrant was issued against him on March 18. He will be produced at the Westminster magistrates' court on March 20. JUST IN: UK police say fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi was arrested in London on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/w35OKW5BFd Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) March 20, 2019 According to Reuters, the fugitive billionaire was arrested on Tuesday (March 19). A London court had issued the arrest warrant against Modi, the main accused in the PNB scam case, in response to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) request for his extradition in a money laundering case. The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are investigating Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others for alleged money laundering and corruption to perpetrate the alleged scam in the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai that was unearthed in early 2018. Modi, 48, is currently living in a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block in London, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000, The Telegraph of the UK had reported. He has been chargesheeted by both the agencies and the ED has also attached his assets worth Rs 1,873.08 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and has also seized assets linked to him and his family worth Rs 489.75 crore. Parizad Sirwalla The Supreme Court (SC) on February 28, 2019, delivered a judgement (disposing off multiple appeals) on whether the special allowances paid by an establishment to their employees would form part of basic wages and consequently attract Provident Fund (PF) contributions. Although there have been past rulings by the SC on this subject, this judgement is extremely relevant as it elaborates on certain important principles for determining the salary on which PF is to be contributed by establishments and their employees. The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the PF Act) defines basic wages as all emoluments paid in cash to an employee in accordance with the terms of their contract of employment, subject to certain exceptions. The employer, under the PF Act, has a statutory obligation to deduct the specified percentage (currently 12 percent) of the contribution from the employees salary and make a matching contribution. In spite of various judgements (of SC and various High Courts) in the past, there was still a certain amount of ambiguity prevailing among establishments on whether certain components are to be included in the definition of basic wages. Over a period of time, many establishments/employers had introduced various elements of allowances/reimbursements/components in the compensation structure of the employees. Hence, there was extensive litigation on whether these components should be included under basic wages for the purposes of PF contributions. In this judgement, the SC has once again relied on the principles of universality and contingency as laid down in the earlier judgements and pronounced the following principles to test the applicability of PF to different allowances (by whatever name called): whether an allowance is linked to any greater output from the employee/linked to an incentive; whether an allowance is by nature, variable; whether an allowance is paid only to those who avail the opportunity; whether an allowance is being paid across the board to all employees in a particular category. The SC ,in the instant cases, noted that no material had been placed by the establishments to demonstrate that the allowances in question (i.e. travel allowance, conveyance canteen allowance, management allowance, special allowance, education allowance, medical allowance, etc.) were either variable or the allowances in question were not paid across the board to all employees in a particular category. Hence, the test of universality (i.e. allowances paid to all employees/all employees in a particular category, etc.) and whether the allowance paid in question is linked to specific/additional performance, become the guiding principles for all establishments. The principles elaborated by the SC would need to be applied by the establishments in determining the salary on which PF is being contributed. Also, the SC was not required to specifically comment on the aspect that if the salary for PF contribution already exceeded statutory wage obligation of Rs 15,000 per month, whether the employers will be required to contribute on the higher amount. In this context, in another SC ruling in the case of Marathwada Gramin Bank [AIR 3567 SC (2011)], it was held that employers cannot be compelled to contribute beyond the statutory liability. This new judgement by the SC would also be relevant for establishments employing foreign nationals qualifying to be International Workers (i.e. other than Indian passport holders) where the statutory wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 per month does not apply. While there are still certain areas (e.g. retrospective applicability of the SC judgement, impact on other retiral payment, etc.) which warrant further deliberation, establishments may start re-evaluating their employee compensation policies and documentation in this regard to ensure compliances with the regulations under the PF Act. This is especially relevant in the context that the PF department has already issued a circular directing its field officers to utilise this ruling in defending other similar cases and taking necessary action in view of this judgement. The GST Council has now permitted real estate developers to exercise one time option between old GST rates and the new ones for under-construction residential projects to help resolve issues pertaining to input tax credit. This, as per real estate experts, will provide flexibility to realtors to go for the best possible tax option . What this means is that builders will now get a one-time option to continue paying tax at the old rates (effective rate of 8 percent or 12 percent with Input Tax Credit or ITC) on ongoing projects (buildings where construction and actual booking have both started before April 1, 2019, but which will not be completed by March 31, 2019). These changes made by the GST Council would have substantial impact on real estate sector as realtors would now have to work out which option works best. The new tax rate of 1 percent for affordable houses and 5 per cent for others, without ITC, will apply on new projects. What this means is that the new composition rates would be mandatory for all projects for which construction starts after 1 April 2019 and hence such tax blockage would need to be factored at time of budgeting. In an attempt to revive housing sales and address complaints received from homebuyers that some developers were not passing on the benefit of input tax credit, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on February 24 had slashed tax rate on under-construction residential properties, making the effective tax rate 5 percent for the normal category and 1 percent for the affordable housing category. In both cases, no input tax credit (ITC) can be claimed by developers. The new rate will be applicable from April 1, 2019. Most developers had not reacted positively to last months announcement of the new GST rate minus ITC. That was because they were worried about its impact on the input stock which they had already bought before as part of their long-term purchases. Related stories This, say experts, will help address apprehensions as well as potential disputes on various computational and transitional issues such as the loss of input credits. It is a smart move by the government, as now the developer, will choose an option which is beneficial and may not compel homebuyers to pay an additional amount on account of the changes. They cannot charge incremental basic sale price from the buyers due to the flexibility offered to them for ongoing projects and bookings before April 1, 2019. With the option to under-construction properties for transitioning to new rates, it is time to go back to spreadsheets and undertake a quick input tax credit vs. lower tax rate cost-benefit analysis. said Harpreet Singh, Partner, Indirect Tax, KPMG. Deloitte India Partner M S Mani said the pragmatic move to segregate under construction projects from new projects would provide relief to builders who were worried about the loss of input tax credit, adding "This would also enable them to price the loss of input tax credits in the new projects. Builders with healthy sales traction expected to continue to earlier regime Giving developers a choice of tax regime for ongoing projects has brought some reprieve to developers concern on the loss of Input Tax Credit (ITC) in the new regime. The choice of selecting the GST regime would depend on the respective project dynamics. The ones with healthy sales traction are likely to continue with the earlier regime to maintain their profitability. The consumers nonetheless will expect developers to charge lower GST rates in line with the new tax regime, which might affect margins. However, for projects with slower sales velocity, the developers may change course as the stimulation of demand will far outweigh the adverse impact of ITC withdrawal on developer margins, explains Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India. CREDAI national president Jaxay Shah says that the sector is happy that the Government has taken all precautions to ensure a smooth and easy transition to the new regime of rates, and allowed the option to follow the existing rates for ongoing projects. 15 percent commercial space within a residential project to be treated as residential property The council also clarified that projects with up to 15 per cent commercial space such as office, shops etc. will be given the same tax treatment as residential property. This will resolve issues faced in cases where buildings have commercial amenities such as clubs and restaurants as well as in case of residential-cum-commercial projects. This decision has been taken keeping practical issues in mind as most of these commercial establishments within a residential society have been set up to primarily serve the residents of the residential complex. 80% of raw material procurement should be from registered vendors A condition to avail the lower GST rate that has been imposed is that 80 per cent procurement by developers should be from registered dealers. The new tax rates of 1 per cent (on the construction of affordable houses) and 5 per cent (on other than affordable houses) shall be available subject to the condition that input tax credit shall not be available and that 80 per cent of inputs and input services shall be purchased from registered vendors. Any shortfall in purchases according to these norms would be levied a reverse tax of 18 per cent. Tax on cement purchased from unregistered person shall attract a 28 per cent duty. Making it mandatory for developers to purchase raw material from registered vendors is an attempt by the government to formalize one of the key unorganized sectors in the country. Eventually, with more vendors forced to get registered in the future, instances of black money transactions may also come down, say experts. Will prices increase? One apprehension being raised post the February 24 announcement was on the possible price rise due to new tax structure. Most developers reacted to last months announcement of the new GST rate minus ITC with trepidation. There was justifiable worry about what would happen to the input stock which they have accumulated much before as part of their long-term purchases. For them, this new move will be beneficial. However, developers choosing to go with the second option of new GST rates may not be able to hike property prices in the immediate future. The possibility of prices being hiked was a matter of concern for aspiring buyers, but the fact is that developers can ill afford to test the currently fragile market sentiment by raising rates immediately, says Anuj Puri, Chairman ANAROCK Property Consultants. Concurs Deepak Kapoor, director, Gulshan Homz and ex-President, CREDAI Western UP, the sector has to work fast to make sure they are ready to implement the new rate cut after finalising their cost of project and sale price. The biggest challenge would be to communicate to the customer about the revised pricing. We do not expect that rates will change drastically looking at the market situation, but we are sure of the positive effects that this change will have on the overall sentiments of the real estate market, he says. Finally, the GST Councils transition plan announced on Tuesday has also clarified that all transfer on development rights (TDR), FSI and long term leases will not be liable to tax provided the 1 percent and 5 percent GST have been paid for as per the rules for the houses that have been constructed within the residential complex. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Keynotes Financial Opiniery's research report on Menon Bearings Menon bearings ltd is engaged in the manufacturing of auto components. The Company's products include bi-metal engine bearings; bushes and thrust washers for light and heavy automobile engines; two wheeler engines, and compressors for refrigerators, air conditioners and others. Its bearing products include bearings for connecting rods, bearings for crank shafts, flanged bearings and trimetal bearings. It offers truncated bushes for connecting rods; ball indented bushes; bushes for connecting rods; cam shafts; rock shafts, and rocker arms. Its thrust washers include washers with thrust face contours and ring type thrust washers. Its aluminum products include engine components, gear case covers, clutch assembly, cylinder heads for automobile engines, break parts, engine parts, portable tools and fuel pump parts. The Company exports its products to the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, China, Mexico and Brazil, among others. Outlook On the basis of Discount Cash Flow Valuation Method, we are recommending Buy for the stock. Since the stock offers good opportunity, we initiate a BUY signal on the stock with 12-month price target of Rs 105/- share an upside of 15% from current levels. Read More Representative Image live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Share price of Newgen Software Technologies gained over 9 percent in the early trade on March 20 after the company secured another patent for its invention - integrated and automatic generation of carbon credits. The company in a BSE release informed about the issuance of Patent Number 309368, entitled Integrated and automatic generation of carbon credits. The patent is granted by the Indian Patent Office (Chennai) administered by the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM), part of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The said patent is valid till June 10, 2029. The company has filed for 44 patents till date, out of which 11 have been granted. And, there are 3 patents under examination in the US. Diwakar Nigam, Chairman and Managing Director, Newgen Software said, "At Newgen, we have continuously strived to drive innovation across all our products. The patent recognizes our efforts and invention." "The invention enables organizations to manage carbon credits, thereby helping them reduce carbon footprint and encouraging environment-friendly business operations, he added. At 0940 hours, Newgen Software Technologies was quoting at Rs 319.70, up Rs 24.50, or 8.30 percent on the BSE. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Share price of Vodafone Idea tumbled 7 percent intraday on March 20 after company board approved rights issue of Rs 25,000 crore. The board in its meeting held on March 20 approved to issue equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 at Rs 12.50 per equity share as rights issue aggregating up to Rs 25,000 crore, as per company release on BSE. The board also fixed April 2 as the record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders who will be eligible to apply for the issue The rights issue entitlement ratio is 87 shares for every 38 shares held by the eligible shareholders of the company on the record date. The issue will open on April 10 and will close on April 24, 2019. At 1231 hours Vodafone Idea Limited was quoting at Rs 30.45, down Rs 1.55, or 4.84 percent on the BSE. For more market news, click here live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Two years after signing an agreement, Japanese giants Toyota and Suzuki have increased their sphere of partnership to now include joint production, the popularization of electrified vehicles, the sharing of engines and the inclusion of more commonly used car models. In addition to supplying the Brezza and Baleno to Toyota, domestic car market leader Suzuki will also supply the Ciaz and Ertiga. These will also be sold under the Toyota brand in India as well as in the African markets, which would be served from India. Toyota will also adopt Suzuki's newly developed engines for its compact vehicles, to be sold in Europe. Such engines are to be supported by Denso and Toyota, and will be manufactured at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland. In return, Suzuki will get Toyotas hybrid system that Maruti Suzuki will use in making an affordable range of strong hybrid cars that the company has aimed to price at Rs 2.5 lakh more than their petrol variants. The local procurement of hybrid electric vehicle systems, engines, and batteries will also help keep cost pressures low. Suzuki will also get electrified vehicles built using Toyota platforms, RAV4 and Corolla Wagon, which will be then sold in Europe. The two companies will also develop a C-segment multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) for Toyota which it will also supply to Suzuki for the Indian market. This product will be in the premium category, whose pricing would be on par with a mid-size sedan like the Honda City. While a Toyota-badged Suzuki Baleno will hit Indian showrooms later this year, the re-badged Toyota Brezza will hit the market in 2022. Both models are runaway hits, with Suzuki clocking more than 30,000 units a month. Moving forward, as long as Toyota and Suzuki continue to fairly and freely compete against each other, both companies intend to consider further collaboration to realize a sustainable future mobility society while respecting all applicable laws, a joint statement stated. Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, When it comes to vehicle electrification, which is expected to make further inroads, hybrid technologies are seen as playing a huge role in many markets, as from before. Widespread acceptance is necessary for electrified vehicles to be able to contribute to Earths environment. Through our new agreement, we look forward to the wider use of hybrid technologies, not only in India and Europe, but around the world. At the same time, we believe that the expansion of our business partnership with Suzukifrom the mutual supply of vehicles and powertrains, to the domains of development and productionwill help give us the competitive edge we will need to survive this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation. We intend to strengthen the competitiveness of both our companies by applying our strong points and learning from each other, Toyoda further added. Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki said, At the time we announced our scope of cooperation in May last year, I said that we will strive for success globally. I have seen progress in the partnership since then, and it is my pleasure to be able to make this announcement today regarding the status of partnership on a global basis, including Europe and Africa. In addition, we appreciate the kind offer from Toyota to let us make use of their hybrid technology. We will continue our utmost efforts." Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lacerated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for "destroying" one crore jobs and unleashing "politics of division and hatred", insisting while these were happening the PM was busy "marketing" himself. Addressing election rallies in Manipur capital Imphal and Khumulwng in Tripura in the Northeast, where his party's last standing citadel fell to rival BJP's ally Mizo National Front in Mizoram in November 2018, Gandhi accused the saffron party of abandoning its 'act east policy' and attacking the culture and ethos of the people of the region. Unsparing in his assault on Modi, Gandhi also wondered whether the prime minister ever studied at a university, and alleged educational institutions were undergoing saffronisation under his watch. Attacking Modi over alleged loss of employment opportunities, the Congress leader said the prime minister had claimed on taking over the reins of the government that two crore jobs will be created every year, but one crore jobs were lost in 2018 alone. Over 30,000 jobs were lost on an average every day, he claimed. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed one crore jobs. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving two crore jobs," Gandhi told the well-attended rally in Imphal. A Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report had recently claimed 1.09 crore jobs were lost in the country in the past one year. The Modi government is under fire from opposition parties as also allies like the Shiv Sena over alleged job loss. "Modi has reduced the Prime Minister's Office to the status of Publicity Minister's Office as he is busy marketing himself," he earlier said during an interaction with students in Imphal, where he also accused the Centre of saffronising educational institutions. During the interaction, he claimed nobody knew whether Modi ever went to a university. "We still have no access to his university degree. Nobody actually knows if he went to university or not. There is an RTI (application) in Delhi seeking PM's degree but it has not been responded to," Gandhi said, adding "the prime minister is imposing mediocrity on a sophisticated country". Speaking about the unrest at the Manipur University last year after students and teachers demanded removal of the then vice chancellor AP Pandey over his alleged "anti-academic activities", Gandhi said he was happy that the people of Manipur succeeded in forcing him out. The protests for the ouster of Pandey, who allegedly had RSS links, had led to the closure of the university for three months. "He (Pandey) was imposed on you. The only qualification to run a university (now) is to wear a pair of shorts, wield a 'lathi' (stick) and spread hatred," Gandhi said, in an oblique reference to the RSS. Gandhi said an ideological battle was being fought in the country between the "politics of hatred and policy of love", with the BJP and the Congress on rival sides. "There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is politics of division and hatred of BJP, and on the other hand there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of Congress. "I call upon all party supporters and common people to wage this ideological battle against BJP and help the Congress in forming the government at the Centre," he told a rally in Khumulwng, 25 km from Agartala. As he attempted to retrieve the ground the Congress has ceded to the BJP and its allies in the Northeast, Gandhi, while addressing election rallies in Manipur and Tripura, called the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill an "onslaught on the "land, language, culture and history" of people living in the region. Targeting BJP president Amit Shah over his assertion that the Citizenship Bill will be re-introduced if his party forms the next government, the Congress leader dubbed it as an attack on the culture of the Northeast. "His (Modi's) party president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed...it will never become a law," he told the Imphal rally. Accusing the Modi government of neglecting the Northeast, the Congress leader said, the prime minister's words do not match his acts. "Don't only look east, but act east," he said. Addressing the election meeting in Tripura, the Congress leader alleged the prime minister was "complicit" in aiding the "theft" of public money by fugitive economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi. Gandhi's remark came on a day when Nirav Modi, the main accused in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case, was arrested in London, in a major boost to India's efforts to bring back the fugitive diamantaire. Mallya also faces the prospect of extradition to India to face trial on money laundering charges after the Westminster Magistrates Court rejected his plea against the move. "All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged, as he targeted the prime minister over the note ban. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Domestic air passenger growth has lost the high double-digit momentum with a growth of 5.62 percent in February--which is a 53-month low--with the airlines flying 11.34 million passengers compared to 10.74 million, according to the DGCA data released Wednesday. The last time such a low growth was reported in July 2014 when incremental traffic grew 7.19 percent, while in August 2014 the same was at 8 percent. Since September 2014 the market has been clipping at double-digits which lasted till December 2018. Come January 2019, the growth rate slipped to 9.1 percent. Significantly, almost all major carriers operated a truncated schedule, mostly led by the crippled Jet Airways and budget carrier Indigo which had to cancel hundreds of flights in the month due to a host of reasons. These include cash-crunch, pilots shortages, NOTAMs (notice to airmen) at various airports and a reduced capacity due to grounding of some planes, among others. Indigo retained its top position with a market share of 43.4 percent, carrying 4.93 million passengers in February, while the cash-strapped Jet along with its subsidiary Jetlite slipped to a distant fourth position carrying 1.28 million passengers and had a combined market share of 11.4 percent. Both Spicejet and national carrier Air India flew more passengers than Jet at 1.55 million and 1.45 million, and had market share of 13.7 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively. Another budget carrier Goair, which garnered 9 percent market share with 1.02 million passengers, continued to outperform on punctuality from the four major airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, recording an average 86.3 percent followed by Vistara at 81.6 percent in the month. However, Indigo, slipped to fifth position in OTP (on-time performance) at 76.2 percent during the month, while Spicejet's retained its leadership in average seat occupancy at 94 percent. The passenger load factor or seat occupancy has shown increasing trend primarily due to airlines offering promotional fares resulting in increased demand, DGCA said. Air India topped the list of flight cancellations with 8.15 percent, followed by AirAsia India and Jet at 2.4, and 2.31 percent, respectively. The BJP on Wednesday finalised its seat-sharing deal with the BDJS and Kerala Congress in the southern state for the Lok Sabha polls, party leaders said. The BJP will field candidates in 14 seats in Kerala, while the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) will contest in five seats and PC Thomas-led Kerala Congress will fight in one, said Muralidhar Rao, national general secretary of the BJP. Announcing the seat sharing pact, Rao said the BJP-led NDA is getting support from all sections in the state. The three parties have also finalised the seats they want to contest, he said. Sources said former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan is likely to be BJP's candidate from Thiruvananthapuram against Congress' Shashi Tharoor. BDJS chief Thushar Vellapally is likely to be candidate from Thrissur, they said. Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and the state will vote on April 23. The BJP is aiming to open its account in the state, where its ideological mentor, the RSS, has a significant presence. In the state polls of 2016, the BJP made inroads in parts of Kerala, which has alternatively been ruled by the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. Representative image Amid continued tensions between India and Pakistan, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has asked the government to urgently purchase fresh ammunition for its fighter jets as Pakistan has deployed all its F-16s to forward bases along the Indian border, according to a report by The Economic Times. "The F-16s have been distributed all across Pakistani airbases and are still trained at us. They are continuing to undertake night flights and have their air defence network on alert," sources told the newspaper, adding that Indian jets too remain in position to deter any misadventure. After the Pulwama Attack on February 14 where around 40 CRPF jawans were killed, India retaliated with an air strike in Balakot on the camps of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan is now said to have moved terror camps out of IAF reach to the far west in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Read: In 5 years, death of jawans in terror attacks rose by 106% in J&K Ever since the Pulwama attack, India has continued to maintain high operational alertness. It has been flying several fully-loaded additional sorties of its fighters, which inevitably reduces the ammunition's shelf life. "These missiles have a certain life, which is counted in terms of the age of the system in years. But when fighter jets are operationally deployed, the life of the missile depends on the number of sorties being undertaken. So, we need fresh replenishments," top government sources told the newspaper. The ammunition that are required include air-to-air missiles that jets on patrol have been carrying to counter the Pakistani air force. Read: Surgical Strike 2.0 | Biggest JeM camp in Balakot destroyed, many terrorists killed: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale Pakistan's move to deploy its F-16s at forward bases all along the border with India comes even after hectic consultations with the US after the Balakot strike. Moneycontrol couldnt independently verify the report. Pakistani airspace has also not been fully opened for civilian traffic even though normal flying has resumed on the Indian side, sources told the newspaper. India has in place frontline fighter jets, including the Sukhoi Su-30MKIs and Mirage 2000s, for quick reaction. IAF has also increased fighter strength at its air bases in Jammu & Kashmir. Even after the 2016 surgical strikes, the Indian armed forces had made emergency purchases to stock-up ammunition owing to the looming risk of a full blown conflict with Pakistan. Representative image With the election season gaining momentum ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making all efforts to retain power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all BJP leaders have been actively campaigning across the nation. They are reaching out to the masses to promote the work done by their government in the last five years and appeal to again vote for the party in the upcoming general elections. All 29 states and seven union territories will vote between April 11 and May 19 to elect the fresh government. The counting day is scheduled on May 23. All states will contribute to making the next government, but the results of eight states will keep separate importance for the BJP. Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were the eight states that put 216 out of 282 Lok Sabha seats into the BJPs kitty in 2014 elections. BJP will again pin the hope on these states in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as if they repeat their performance, this will be a huge contribution in the possibility of the party retaining the power. However, a lack of this performance will surely impact BJPs overall poll result. This possibility cannot be ruled out considering the fact that the political scenario has become different in some states. In Uttar Pradesh, where it had won 71 out of 80 seats, the political situation is different from last election. The two major parties of the state Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have made a pre-poll alliance, while BJPs main opponent Congress has changed the leadership in the state by inducting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia. In Maharashtra, the party had contested with an alliance with Shiv Sena and other regional parties and won 23 out of 48 seats in 2014. The alliance is the same in the upcoming polls but the political condition is not. Factors like anti-incumbency on both Centre and state levels would impact the result. The Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), which has a good hold in western Maharashtra, has also broken alliance with BJP and in talks to join the Congress-led alliance in the state. Also read | LS polls a fight between PM Modi, Amit Shah and nation: Raj Thackeray Bihar politics has majorly changed from 2014 to 2019. The BJP which won 22 seats in the state, is now contesting on 17 seats only, in alliance with Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United). Whether the party repeats good performance in the state or lacks it, the result will definitely impact its final tally. Also read | Congress-RJD yet to finalise seat-sharing in Bihar even as Phase 1 nominations begin In Jharkhand, the Congress, with a multi-party alliance, is hoping to erase the memories of the 2014 election when it drew a blank. However, the BJP has also made an alliance with the All-Jharkhand Students Union Party ahead of the polls. This is the first time that the AJSU has formally entered into a pre-poll alliance in Jharkhand with the BJP. Also read | BJP to hold Vijay Sankalp rallies in all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan BJP has received a major setback in three of these states Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in last Assembly elections, where people voted out its government. In Gujarat, the last assembly polls result was not as impressive as earlier. Its seat share dropped to 99 in 2017 from 115 in 2012. June 02, 2019 / 09:01 AM IST Welcome to the Lok Sabha election 2019 coverage. This blog tracks the latest developments from the general election. The BJP reacted with jubilation at the exit polls, which forecast a return of the NDA government, saying that they show a huge positive vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but opposition parties rejected the forecast. Narendra Modi is returning to power with a bang, Fugitive billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi was, in an unprecedented move, denied bail by the United Kingdoms Westminster Magistrates Court on March 20. He is now going to be in UK police custody till the date of the next hearing, which is March 29. Nirav was arrested on March 19 from London's Holborn Tube metro station by the Scotland Yard. He is the main accused in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case. Nirav was caught walking the streets of London by a UK-based daily, The Telegraph. Even though the journalist persistently asked questions, Nirav gave the same two words as the response No Comment. The 48-year-old is currently said to be living in a three-bedroom apartment in Londons posh Centre Point tower and has travelled in and out of London at least three times since his passport was cancelled by the Indian authorities in February 2018. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are investigating Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who has fled to Antigua, for money laundering and corruption to perpetuate the scam in the Brady House branch of the PNB in Mumbai that was unearthed in early 2018. The ED had requested for Niravs extradition in the money laundering case. UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid had certified Indias extradition request for Nirav Modi earlier this month, kick-started by the issuance of a warrant and triggering the legal process in courts. The Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice to Nirav in June 2018 after appeals made by CBI. On March 19, the CBI sources had even confirmed that the Ministry of External Affairs has expedited efforts to extradite the fugitive. The process of extradition can, however, be long and tedious, just as in the case of beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya. The extradition process involves a number of steps: Step 1: The request for extradition will be made by India to the UKs Secretary of State. Step 2: The Secretary of State certifies the request and sends it to courts, where the judges decide whether to issue a warrant. Step 3: The person wanted is arrested and brought before the court and an extradition trial ensues. Step 4: Once the extradition hearing begins, the judge needs to be satisfied with the following parameters: a) Conduct amounts to an extradition offence (dual criminality) b) None of the statutory laws barring extradition applies c) There is prima facie evidence of guilt (in accusation cases) d) Whether extradition would breach the persons human rights Human rights form a very crucial part of the process, hints of which were visible during Vijay Mallyas trial. The liquor baron had contested his extradition on grounds of the inhospitable conditions in the Arthur Road prison, where he is bound to be lodged after being sent back to India. Step 6: The judge sends his verdict to the Secretary of State. The accused can appeal the decision in a higher court. Extradition is prohibited if: a) The person could face the death penalty b) If the person is prosecuted for offences other than the offences for which they have been extradited c) The person has already been extradited to the UK from a third state or transferred from the international criminal court If none of these prohibitions applies, the Secretary of State formally orders extradition. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is seeking to return to power for the fifth consecutive time, owns assets worth over Rs 63.87 crore but has only Rs 25,000 cash in hand. His car - an Ambassador of 1980 model is valued at around Rs 8905, as per an affidavit submitted by Patnaik along with his nomination for the coming assembly election from Hinjili seat. The chief minister filed his papers at Chhatrapur earlier in the day. The assets worth over Rs 63.87 crore owned by Patnaik include movable properties of Rs 2326554.52 and immovable inherited properties valued at over Rs 636415261, according to the affidavit. The immovable properties include those owned by Patnaik jointly with his brother and sister. Patnaik has shown his total annual income as Rs 21,17,223 in his Income Tax return for 2017-18. In 2016-17 and 2015-16, his annual income stood at Rs 14,84,617 and Rs 12,96,944 respectively. The sources of his income are bank interest and salary, the affidavit said. The BJD supremo has two bank accounts with the Bank of India branch here and at the SBI, Parlaiment branch in New Delhi which have Rs 6,52,378. He has Rs 6,50,648 in his bank account here and only Rs 1730 in his account in the Delhi bank. Patnaik possesses jwellery weighing 45.770 gram worth about Rs 2,12,252. The BJD president has shown a farm land and building at Tikri Khera in Faridabad. The total area of the land is 22.7 acres which has a current market value of Rs 10,75,51,071. In addition, Patnaik owns two-third share of Naveen Niwas, his house here and 50 per cent share of a property situated at APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi. While the market value of Naveen Niwas, which is spread over 2.133 acres, was around Rs 9.52 crore on August 18, 2017, the approximate value of the property on 1111.19 sq meter land at APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi is Rs 43,36,18,000, the affidavit said. Patnaik has no pending criminal case in his name in any court, it added. He is also contesting from Bijepur seat in Bargarh district. Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian High Commissioner to lodge a strong protest against the acquittal of all four accused, including Swami Aseemanand in the 2007 Samjhauta terror attacks that left 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, dead. A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others in the case. The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit". Pakistan's Acting Foreign Secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria today to lodge Pakistan's strong protest, the Foreign Office said in a statement. The Acting Foreign Secretary stressed that Pakistan had consistently raised the "lack of progress and the subsequent, concerted attempts by India to exonerate the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act in which 44 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives". The issue was raised repeatedly, including at the sidelines of the Senior Officials, Heart of Asia Meeting in 2016. Formal demarches were also lodged regularly with India on the lack of progress and acquittal of the accused in other cases, the statement said. The blast in Samjhauta Express took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday urged people to wage an "ideological battle" against what he called was "politics of division and hatred" unleashed by the BJP. Addressing a public rally at the Khumpui Academy Grounds near Agartala in Tripura, Gandhi said that unlike the BJP, the Congress follows the policy of love, unity and solidarity. "There are two things going on in the country simultaneously. On one hand, there is politics of division and hatred of the BJP and on the other, there is the policy of love, unity and solidarity of the Congress. "I call upon all party supporters and people to wage this ideological battle against the BJP and help form a Congress government at the Centre by voting for the party in the Lok Sabha elections," he said. Identifying unemployment as a major issue in the country, the Congress chief said 30,000 people were losing jobs on an average everyday. "One crore people lost jobs in 2018 alone. In Tripura, there are 7.5 lakh unemployed youths. Nothing is being done for them," he alleged. Gandhi reiterated his promise of introducing a minimum income guarantee scheme for every poor person in India if the Congress is voted to power in the general elections. He described the now-lapsed Citizenship Amendment Bill as an onslaught on the land, language, culture and history of the people living in the north east. "If the Congress forms government at the Centre, we would scrap the bill forever," Gandhi asserted. The Congress president also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of abetting fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. "All the thieves of India have turned their black money into white by depositing them into banks during demonetisation. They did this with the help of Narendra Modi," Gandhi alleged. He said there was massive corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal, and claimed the prime minister and industrialist Anil Ambani would land in jail if the issue is investigated. Gandhi also exuded confidence that the Congress would return in power in Tripura "very soon". He added that if the Congress forms the next government, it would reinstate special category status for the northeast, make Tripura more connected with the rest of the country and ensure direct funding from the Centre for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday invoked the legacy of his late father M Karunanidhi to assure people that poll promises will be fulfilled unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi who did not raise farmers' income. Hitting the campaign trail here in the Cauvery delta heartland after announcing his party candidates on March 17, Stalin announced crop loan waiver for all sections of farmers and not only small and marginal sections. "I have come here only after asking the party manifesto panel to release an amendment incorporating loan waiver for all sections of farmers," Stalin said. Tiruvarur is the birthplace of Karunanidhi and Stalin's meet here marked the first poll campaign after DMK and its allies including the Left parties named their candidates a few days ago. Invoking the legacy of Karunanidhi, who led the party for half a century till his death last year, he said, "Thalaivar (leader) Kalaignar implemented what he promised during polls." Free electricity for the farmers was his one such promise which he implemented successfully, he said. In 2006, Karunanidhi promised loan waiver for farmers to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore and fulfilled it, he recalled. "I ask you in the name of Kalaignar, the path we tread is that of Kalaignar, I am his son, I will do what I promise," he said seeking their votes for his party candidate Poondi Kalaivanan in the bypoll to the Tiruvarur Assembly seat and CPI's Selvaraj for Nagapattinam Lok Sabha constituency. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi he asked: "Modi promised a two-fold increase in the income of farmers. Did he do that?" The DMK chief alleged that Modi captured power only by "lying" during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, the Prime Minister was now trying to come back to power by giving several "false promises." "Did he fulfil at least one of his promises," he asked and blamed the Prime Minister for not bringing to India the black money that he promised. The two crore jobs assurance too was not implemented, he said. The DMK chief alleged that the BJP top leader visited Tamil Nadu "two to three times," in the recent past only due to elections. Stalin also ridiculed Modi, saying the Prime Minister after claiming to root out graft joined hands with Chief Minister K Palaniswami who allegedly "ran a corrupt government" and asked "Is Modi going to eradicate graft by aligning with him?" Two Maharashtra SSC papers were allegedly leaked via WhatsApp about 30 minutes to an hour before the examinations were held. The Mumbai divisional board has asked the Bhiwandi police to file an FIR based on a complaint by an NGO called Samvaad Foundation. The Algebra and Science papers were possibly released on WhatsApp, the NGO said. Ankit Goel, deputy commissioner of police (zone 3) of Bhiwandi Police said the process of filing the FIR has begun. "Our officials have visited Bhiwandi and are looking into the issue. While we have received a few images, we do not have the technical expertise to validate whether they are genuine," said Krishnakumar Patil, the chairperson of the Mumbai divisional board, as quoted by Hindustan Times. Govind Sharma, the president of Samvaad Foundation, had alerted the board on March 14 after he received the Algebra paper via acquaintances. Sharma named a teacher, school and WhatsApp group in the complaint, according to a Times of India report. He alleged that the papers were leaked before the exams began and answers were made available to students. Screenshots taken by the NGO show that the Algebra paper was likely circulated at 10.13 am on March 11, less than an hour before the examination was held, according to the Hindustan Times report. Samvaad has also sent emails to the board regarding a likely leak of the Science I and Science II papers which were held on March 15 and 18 respectively. Contradictory signals have emerged from Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regarding its alliance with the Indian National Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. AAP National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 19 said the Congress had refused to forge an alliance with his party and that the two sides were not in talks with each other. Talking to mediapersons, he claimed that reports stating that talks between the AAP and the Congress had been finalised were planted by the Grand Old Party. However, according to a report in The Indian Express, AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh said a '5-2 seat sharing deal' had been offered to the Congress. This was done via Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who has been mediating between the two sides. Singh told the newspaper that if Congress is serious about defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it should agree for alliances in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, insisting that Punjab and Haryana will also have to be part of the deal. Former Chief Minister and Congress Delhi unit chief Sheila Dikshit had said that she was against the alliance but if the high command decides to go for an alliance, we will automatically accept it. There has been a prolonged back and forth between the AAP and the Congress over an alliance. While the Kejriwal-led party was keen on an alliance, Congress local leadership in Delhi expressed that they did not want it. Back then, a 3-3-1 seat-sharing formula was reportedly proposed in which AAP and Congress would contest three out of Delhis seven seats each. An independent candidate supported by both sides would be in the seventh seat. However, talks broke down subsequently. Having waited for a response from the Congress, AAP has already announced candidates for all seven seats: Atishi (East Delhi), Guggan Singh (Northwest Delhi), Balbir Singh Jakhar (West Delhi), Raghav Chadha (South), Dilip Pandey (Northeast), Pankaj Gupta (Chandni Chowk) and Brijesh Goyal (New Delhi). In 2014, the BJP had swept all seven seats in Delhi. Delhi will head for voting in a single phase on May 12 Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha on March 19 tweeted some unsolicited advice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and leaders of all Opposition parties: Stop bickering over forging alliances ahead of the upcoming general elections. Unsolicited advice to Rahul Gandhi," pl finalise your alliances in Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi and elsewhere today. It is already too late. Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) March 19, 2019 A strong critic of the ruling BJP, Sinha's advice to Rahul Gandhi was to finalise his alliances in Bihar Jharkhand, Delhi and elsewhere at the earliest. The Congress is yet to take a decision on alliances in the three states which consist of a total of 61 Lok Sabha seats. In Bihar, the Congress is still mulling over a seat-sharing agreement with ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is a part of the Grand Alliance. The leaders of the alliance are said to have held a few rounds of talks but havent reached a consensus due to the Grand Old Party reportedly insisting on fighting from 11 on 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar. In Yashwant Sinhas home state Jharkhand, the Congress is in alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and the RJD. The parties have finalized a broad agreement, however, the number of seats havent been officially announced. The Congress is likely to contest from seven on 14 seats in Jharkhand. In Delhi, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are stuck in political limbo, with both parties indecisive on seat sharing in Delhi. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is said to hold parleys with both leaders in order to arrive to a consensus. The veteran leader also asked leaders of Opposition parties to stop speaking against each other in public and sort out differences privately. Unsolicited advice to all leaders of opposition parties, "stop speaking against each other in public. Sort out your differences privately." Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) March 19, 2019 The statement comes in the wake of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati reprimanding the Congress after the party said they left seven seats in Uttar Pradesh for the SP-BSP alliance. Later, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav also reiterated Mayawatis sentiment despite making statements in the past that clearly indicated Congress support to the alliance. Later, Congress UP general secretary Priyanka Gandhi clarified on the matter, saying there was no reason to get angry as both parties shared the common goal of defeating the BJP. The BJP's central election committee (CEC), which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday evening as part of its deliberations to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, is expected to release the first set of nominees after the meeting, party sources said. This will be the third meeting of the CEC, BJP's highest decision making body, on selection of candidates. On Tuesday evening, it had held a seven-hour-long discussion to deliberate upon the names of party's candidates in various states. The meeting, besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was attended by top brass of the BJP, including party chief Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The sources said the party is expected to release its first list of candidates Wednesday evening. The CEC has already held wide-ranging discussions on selection of its candidates for Bihar, Maharashtra, Anadhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chattisgarh and all eight north-eastern states. Though the Congress has announced candidates for 146 Lok Sabha constituencies so far, the BJP is yet to officially make any announcement on its nominees. Sources in the party suggested that most of the ministers in the Union Cabinet, who are sitting Lok Sabha MPs, are likely to be fielded from same seats. On Tuesday, the party had announced that it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces, a decision that comes in the wake of the party's drubbing in the recent assembly elections. If a person disagreeing with the government is a "compulsive contrarian", can someone who always agrees with it be called "his master's voice", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram asked on Wednesday, hitting back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The finance minister has slammed 108 economists and social scientists as "compulsive contrarians" for raising concern over "political interference" to influence statistical data. In his blog published on Tuesday, Jaitley had said these "compulsive contrarians" have repeatedly signed memorandums of what he said was manufactured political issues against the present government. Responding to Jaitley, Chidambaram tweeted: "According to Mr Jaitley, one who disagrees with the government is a 'compulsive contrarian'. Can we then say that anyone who always agrees with the government is 'His Master's Voice'?" As many as 108 economists and social scientists, including Jean Dreze (Allahabad University), Emily Breza (Harvard University), Satish Deshpande (Delhi University), Esther Duflo (MIT, US) and Jayati Ghosh (JNU), had made an appeal last week, expressing their concern over "political interference" in influencing statistical data in India. Rajesh Kumar The upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Opposition never tires of telling us, is no ordinary election. According to them, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's policies are undermining the secular consensus of the past seventy years. It is, so the opposition says, a momentous battle against the pernicious ideology of the Sangh Parivar, a fight to save the soul of the nation. That was why unity was so important, claimed Opposition leaders. But curiously, nothing of that sort seems to be happening. The idea of a united fight was at best utopian and at worst a cynical attempt to woo the voter. In fact, even as the last date of filing nominations for the first phase of election is just a few days away, the Congress party is still in the process of finalising alliances in states such as Bihar and Jharkhand. The talks with the Left are said to have hit a roadblock in West Bengal. The party has been left out of a formidable alliance of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh (UP). In Andhra Pradesh, the Chandrababu Naidu led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has parted ways with the Congress. The making and breaking of alliances highlight at least three important things about the state of the Opposition. First, the idea of a grand alliance or Mahagathbandhan is simply not feasible. If opposition parties are not able to come together in the present political environment, if they are unable to close ranks now at what they say is a crucial time, it is difficult to argue that it can happen in the future against a party like the BJP. One of the reasons for this could be that, while most of the Opposition want to see the Narendra Modi-led NDA defeated, they are not able to find sufficient common ground to work together. The fact that there is no strong leader who could bring most opposition parties on a common platform is also affecting the possibilities for the Mahagathbandhan. Second, Opposition parties are more worried about their own short-term interest. For instance, the SP-BSP alliance in UP did not include the Congress party. It is likely that the alliance would have benefited if Congress was a part of it. However, the Congress party would have gained more and affected the post-poll possibilities for the SP and the BSP. In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP decided to go alone after the alliance with the Congress did not work in Telangana. This is in sharp contrast to what the BJP did in Bihar, for instance. The party decided to leave seats that it had won in 2014 for its alliance partners. Though this is bound to affect the morale of local workers, the party has made a calculated move, despite being in a stronger bargaining position. Friction with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) would have affected the narrative and, perhaps, led to a bigger overall loss. This kind of flexibility is missing in the Opposition camp. All the tall talk of a common ideological purpose is hokum. Third, the road ahead for the Congress remains bumpy. One of the reasons why some of the parties are reluctant to work with Congress is that it has not been able to recover from the 2014 defeat. This is the main reason why it is not in a strong bargaining position. The party doesnt seem to have made much progress in building the organisation in important states such as UP and Bihar. Things would get more difficult for the Congress if it doesn't recover considerably in this Lok Sabha election. The party gained ground after the victory in the December 2018 assembly elections but has not been able to build on it. This election would also test the campaigning and vote-catching ability of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. So, there is a lot at stake for the party. To be sure, it could have done more to bring the Opposition together in a meaningful way. That it hasn't been able to do so underlines its weaknesses. Overall, the kind of Mahagathbandhan rallies that the Opposition conducted and the noise that it made, especially over the last few months, doesn't seem to have translated into alliances on the ground as parties would have expected. The Opposition could have played its cards better. Accusing the Congress of insulting institutions, including Parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces, when it was in power, Prime Minster Narendra Modi Wednesday urged people to think wisely before casting their vote in the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11. His government has changed things as it puts institutions above everything else, the prime minister said in a blog post. "As you go to vote - remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now," Modi wrote. "Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way." "Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct," he said, taking a dig at the principal opposition party. India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating, he said. Referring to parliamentary proceedings, he said, "The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party [has a] higher number, its tendency to work more is visible ... which were the forces disrupting the House and why." Discussing the freedom of expression, the prime minister alleged that dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. "No wonder, the very first constitutional amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent," Modi wrote. He pointed out that the UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. "A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail ... the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power," he said. Modi said he wants to tell the Congress that "no amount of intimidation" will change the ground realities. "Curbing freedom of expression will not change people's poor impression of the party." Referring to Emergency, he said it was imposed to "safeguard" the interests of a "dynasty". "The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed," he wrote. Referring to the judiciary, he alleged that Congress' contempt for courts "is anyway legendary". "It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a 'committed judiciary', which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution," he claimed. This pursuit of a committed judiciary, Modi said, made Congress overlook several respected judges while appointing the chief justice of India. "Congress' modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge," he said apparently referring to moves to impeach then CJI Dipak Misra. He said from CAG to the erstwhile Planning Commission, Congress never respected institutions. "In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr Manmohan Singh, 'A bunch of jokers'," he said. The CBI, he alleged, became the Congress Bureau of Investigation and was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. "A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference," he said. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi tearing a copy of an ordinance which sought to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on immediate disqualification of a lawmaker upon conviction. "The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?" he asked. Referring to defence preparedness, Modi alleged the Congress has always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved. "After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family." "When a top Congress leader calls the Army chief a 'gunda' and is subsequently promoted in the party rank and file, it shows their scant regard for the forces," he wrote. Continuing his attack, he said, "When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing 'Khoon Ki Dalali.' When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too." In an opaque reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra's appearance before investigating agencies, he said, "The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply." He also accused the Congress of lacking "internal democracy", saying if a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out. Modi said, in 2014, the people voted for honesty over dynasty, development over decay, security over stagnation, opportunities over obstacles and vikas (development) over vote-bank politics. Modi's attack against the Congress came on a day its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accused him of undermining every institution in the country. "The prime minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part," Priyanka Gandhi told reporters in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. The Congress and the National Conference on Wednesday announced an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha polls, saying it is in national interest and will help strengthen secular forces. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC patron Farooq Abdullah jointly told the media while the Congress will contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Anantnag and Baramulla seats, they said. Abdullah said the two parties are also discussing an arrangement for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. The state sends six MPs to Lok Sabha. "The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J&K as the state faces threat from Pakistan," Azad told reporters. "Live and let live. This is the best decision taken in national interest. If either the Congress or National Conference wins, it is a win-win situation for both," he said. Azad said the tie-up will ensure there is no division of secular votes and BJP doesn't benefit. He said all Congress leaders will also campaign for Abdullah, who will be the joint candidate from the Srinagar Parliamentary seat, which he currently represents. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on March 20 hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "dynastic politics" attack on the Congress, saying the PM himself comes from the Sangh Parivar without whose blessings no one in the country can occupy any public position. He said the prime minister should introspect and instead of talking about dynastic politics, should focus on issues confronting people. "What is the PM talking about? No one in the BJP can occupy any public position without the support of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). The Sangh Parivar is the biggest parivar in the world. Without their blessings no one can hold any public position in the country, be it the position of a PM, a minister, governor or chief ministers," Sibal told PTI. Sibal's remarks came in response to Prime Minister Modi's attack on the grand old party in a blog published earlier on March 20. Modi urged people to think wisely before casting vote, saying that from the press to Parliament, from soldiers to free speech, from the Constitution to the courts, "institutional insult is the Congress way". "India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating," he said. Reacting to the remarks, Sibal asked the prime minister to look within and focus on addressing the issues concerning the country such as farm crisis, joblessness, shortage of drinking water, education, health and pollution challenges. "Is the PM so busy in the campaign that he has forgotten all about the people of India. He's only worried about dynasty," the former HRD minister said. Sibal added that there is no one in the BJP, barring a few, who have not come from the RSS background. The prime minister, governors, chief ministers and ministers all belong to the RSS. He also alleged that about 2 crore jobs were lost since Modi came to power, citing a National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data. He said the national male workforce had shrunk from 30.4 crore in 2011-12 to 28.6 crore in 2017-18. Though the Congress faced embarrassment when its senior leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's son joined the BJP, it would also not be a cakewalk for Sujay Vikhe Patil in the Lok Sabha poll, feel political observers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently said he will recommend the name of Sujay Vikhe Patil, a neurosurgeon, as the BJP candidate from Ahmednagar seat, but the road ahead would be tough for him, they say. This is so because, according to them, former Union minister and sitting BJP MP from Ahmednagar, Dilip Gandhi, enjoys the support of Jain community members, numbering around 1.75 lakh, in the constituency. They say there are also murmurs in Ahmednagar that the BJP would give ticket to Sujay Vikhe Patil from the seat provided his parents, both of whom are Congress leaders, also join the the saffron party. Sujay Vikhe Patil joined the BJP after the NCP refused to exchange the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat with the Congress. As per the current seat-sharing formula between the two opposition parties, the Congress will contest the Shirdi Lok Sabha seat (previously known as Ahmednagar-North), while the NCP will field its candidate in Ahmednagar (previously Ahmednagar-South). The NCP is likely to give ticket to its Ahmednagar MLA Sangram Jagtap or his father Arun Jagtap, who is an MLC. Incidentally, Sangram Jagtap is the son-in-law of BJP MLA from Rahuri, Shivajirao Kardile. Similarly, BJP MLA from Ahmednagar's Shevgaon- Pathardi seat, Monika Rajale, is a close relative of Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, seen as a rival of Vikhe Patils. Thorat last week also asked his senior party colleague to make his stand clear on his son joining the BJP. "In such circumstances, Sujay Vikhe Patil's winning chances on the BJP ticket appear tough," an observer said. There are around 2.5 lakh Muslim voters in Ahmednagar and if he had contested as an Independent or on the Congress/ NCP ticket, these votes could have gone to him, he said. Earlier, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil had expressed disappointment over the NCP's refusal to exchange the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat with the Congress. The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly also said since Sharad Pawar despised his family, he would not campaign for the NCP candidate from Ahmednagar. Pawar recently alluded to how he ensured the defeat the LoP's father Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (in an election in early 1990s) and that he also remembered the lawsuit the late Congress leader filed against him. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, a former Union minister who died in 2016, had rebelled against the Congress in 1991 and contested then as an Independent, a party leader from Ahmednagar said. However, he was defeated by the Congress candidate, who enjoyed Pawar's support. Later, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil moved the high court against the Congress candidate and Pawar, accusing them of electoral malpractice and maligning his image, he said. "The high court then suspended the contesting rights of both leaders (Pawar and the winning candidate) for seven years," the Congress leader said on condition of anonymity. He said Pawar, during his tie-up with the Congress for next month's Lok Sabha polls, could have swapped the Ahmednagar seat with any other where both parties stood a winning chance. "But, it looks like Pawar hasn't forgotten the past," he said. Representative image Nine sitting MLAs of the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and Opposition Congress headed UDF are in the poll arena in Kerala, waging a do-or-die battle to secure maximum seats for their parties in the Lok Sabha polls. Both the fronts have finalised their candidates and have already hit the campaign trail. However, the Congress leadership is yet to officially release the names of candidates of two constituencies-- Vatakara and Wayanad. Polls in 20 parliamentary seats in Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 23. The BJP, which has only one MLA, has slammed this trend of fielding legislators for the general election, saying it amounted to "mocking" the people of the state. Kerala, which has witnessed bipolar polity since its formation in 1956, is all set for a highly-charged electoral battle this time with the BJP hoping to open its account to the Lok Sabha from the southern state. The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded the most number of MLAs -- six. With K Muraleedharan being expected to be fielded from Vatakara, the number of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) MLAs has gone up to three. The LDF MLAs in fray are: A Pradeep Kumar (Kozhikode), M Ariff (Alappuzha), CPI's Chittayam Gopakumar (Mavelikkara), Veena George (Pathanamthitta), P V Anwar (Ponnani) and C Divakaran of CPI (Thiruvananthapuram). Hibi Eden (Ernakulam), Adoor Prakash (Attingal) are the two other MLAs of the UDF in the poll arena. BJP state chief P S Sreedharan Pillai said in a release that the decision to field sitting MLAs before the end of their term amounts to "a mockery of democracy and the Legislative assembly". He also alleged that the trend was due to the lack of good candidates for the Left and the UDF in the state. The upcoming Lok Sabha elections is a fight between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country, MNS chief Raj Thackeray said. Slamming the BJP-led government, Thackeray asked how was India was in a position to fight Pakistan when the Centre was "begging" for money from the Reserve Bank of India. "Nobody is ready to answer my questions. They do not have the answers to the questions the country is asking and, therefore, are indulging in gimmicks like 'chowkidar'. What happened to the promise of providing two crore jobs?" he said while addressing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers here. Thackeray, who has already announced that the MNS will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, asked his party workers to get ready for Maharashtra Assembly polls later this year. "Fourteen thousand farmers in the state have committed suicide since 2014. The Prime Minister does not have time to meet their families," he claimed. Thackeray claimed Modi had shown a false picture of Gujarat's development prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections of 2014, which caused him to support the BJP then. "The person called Modi changed, so I changed my stand," he said. "Where is the money to fight Pakistan? The government is begging RBI for money. Then how were they planning for war against Pakistan? The Centre had asked RBI for Rs 3 lakh crore, out of which it was given 28,000 crore. This was not acceptable to (former RBI governor) Urjit Patel so he resigned," he said. "This fight is not against any particular party, but against Modi and Shah. The country is in danger," he said. Thackeray claimed the BJP will indulge in giving poll bribes during the run-up to the elections, and asked his party workers to accept the money since the ruling party had looted the country in the last 5 years. Representative image The Maharashtra chief electoral office has received as many as 400 complaints of violation of the model code of conduct through its app cVIGIL, an official said on March 20. The Election Commission in July last year launched the Android-based mobile application, using which a person can secretly send to it geo-tagged videos and photos of illegal money being distributed or a hate speech being made during polls. The application called 'cVIGIL', which stands for "citizens' vigil", is available on Google Play Store. The model code of conduct for next month's Lok Sabha polls came into effect on March 10 and most of the complaints were received by the state election office after that, the official said. "Around 400 complaints have been received through cVIGIL across Maharashtra. The local team gets an alert once the complaint is lodged and our people reach the spot and verify the details. If the complaint is valid, we record the details and initiate an enquiry," he said. He said the maximum number of 85 complaints were received from Pune, followed by Thane-61, Solapur-44, Mumbai suburban-40, Mumbai city-39 and Nagpur-26. Most of the complaints were pertaining to banners put up without permission, the official said. "There are no complaints so far of comments inciting violence or casteist remarks as hardly any public rallies have been held in the state," he said. Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra will be held in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29 while results will be declared on May 23. Representative Image The Mizoram assembly on March 20 unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Centre not to reintroduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in any form in future. The civil societies, churches, political parties and the people of the state are against the bill, Home Minister Lalchamliana said after moving the resolution. The people of the northeastern region are also against the bill, Lalchamliana added. The state cabinet on January 10 had also opposed the bill, he said. Chief Minister Zoramthanga had informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that the people of Mizoram and the state government opposed the passage of the bill, Lalchamliana said. Zoramthanga also attended a meeting of political parties of the Northeastern region on January 29, in which chief ministers of the regional states and other leaders opposed the move of the Centre on the bill, he said. Leader of Opposition Zodintluanga of the Congress supported the resolution and said the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) should sever ties with the BJP, as the MNF is a constituent of the NDA. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said there is no '220 club' in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hoping for a reduced tally, which could see the emergence of an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking to The Times of India, Gadkari rejected any discussion of a possible alternative candidate and asserted that the party will return to power with a full majority under PM Modis stewardship. Gadkaris name has often been the subject of speculation as an 'acceptable' candidate if the saffron party falls significantly short of majority. The Union minister for Road Transport & Highways told the newspaper: I dont do such calculations or have any such expectations, I am a worker of the party. I am sure that the work done under PM Modi will result in a full majority. No such situation is going to happen. Gadkari expressed confidence that the development work done by the government would enthuse people to support the BJP and give them a second term. Most opinion polls between November 2018 and February had shown the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) failing to secure a majority on its own. However, recent opinion surveys, conducted after the Pulwama terror attack and Indian Air Force (IAF)s air strike at Balakot, show the NDA crossing the half-way mark on its own steam. For months now, reports have suggested that Gadkari -- who is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- could be a consensus candidate within the BJP, if the party is required to seek external support to form the government. Speaking to the newspaper, Gadkari rejected the speculation. Read: Opinion | Can Nitin Gadkari get ahead of Narendra Modi? Recently, the Member of Parliament (MP) from Nagpur, played an important behind-the-scene role in ensuring the BJP retained power in Goa after the death of then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. In 2017 too, after the BJP failed to attain majority in the state Assembly polls, Gadkari had flown down to help the BJP cobble up an alliance with smaller parties in the coastal state, after which a government was formed under Parrikar's leadership. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of destroying 1 crore jobs in 2018 alone despite promising to create 2 crore jobs annually. Addressing a public rally in the Manipur capital, Gandhi said the job losses under the Modi government were to the tune of 30,000 per day through 2018. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed 1 crore jobs in the country. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving 2 crore jobs," Gandhi alleged. Slamming the Centre's demonetisation move of 2016, Gandhi said it shattered people's lives. "One fine morning, he (Modi) got up and decided to carry out demonetisation. Is this a joke? Destroying people's lives," he said. Gandhi claimed that whenever the prime minister visited Manipur, he "insulted your culture, your history". "His (party) president (Amit Shah) says Citizenship Amendment Bill will be imposed on the people of Manipur and the Northeast. These people are attacking your culture. We did not allow the bill to pass. The Congress will defend your culture and the bill will not be passed," he told a huge gathering here. Gandhi alleged Modi did not match words with action when he said "don't look east but act east". He sought to know what action the Centre has taken to make the Northeast a bridge between Southeast Asia and India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through everything, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday. The Congress leader, who is incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, is on a three-day boat journey down the Ganga, meeting people living on the banks of the holy river as part of her outreach ahead of the general election beginning on April 11. "The prime minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part," Priyanka Gandhi told reporters. "So I think the PM should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all this," she added. The Congress general secretary went on to say that she is not afraid of being "harassed". "Even if anything is done, and we are harassed, we will not feel afraid. We will continue our fight against them. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be our fight," she said. Speaking at a 'chaupal' near a temple in the city late last evening, Gandhi blamed the Modi government for "not doing anything" for the development of the country. "This government has given only lollipops," she charged. She said politics should be done for the development of the country. Talking about employment created during the Congress-led dispensation, she said, "The Congress government had given the biggest employment guarantee programme MGNREGA." But under the BJP government, she alleged, machines were replacing labourers. "If the Congress is voted to power, it would work for farmers and the poor," she asserted. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has relegated the PMO to a "Publicity Minister's Office" by indulging in "mediocrity" in a highly sophisticated country. Gandhi, who arrived here on Tuesday evening from Arunachal Pradesh, was interacting with the students of Manipur State Film Development Society in the state capital. "The Prime Minister's Office is now Publicity Minister's Office," Gandhi told the students. He said the Congress doesn't believe in "cultural imperialism" and it is of the view that one part of the country should not rule other parts as each state has its own voice which should be respected. However, this was not the case with the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. "Every part of the country should be allowed to express itself. The BJP-RSS combination wants to impose one idea and crush other ideas. Their heavy-handedness is seen whenever there are protests," he said. On the Northeast, Gandhi said tackling job crisis and increasing connectivity in the region is is his party's priority. "In our view, the region is a potential manufacturing hub. In the agri sector, food and vegetables are being wasted here due to shortage of storage space. Food processing industries can be set up in Manipur," he said. For the first time in around two decades, the ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha is finding the coming assembly and Lok Sabha polls an uphill task in the face of tough challenges from the BJP and the Congress, besides the discontentment within. The Naveen Patnaik-led regional party won four consecutive assembly elections since 2000 with its seat tally rising every time, but the poll scenario in the state is different this time. In 2014, the BJD had bagged 117 out of the 147 assembly seats in Odisha, followed by the Congress (16) and the BJP (10). In parliamentary polls too, which were held simultaneously, the BJD dominated the poll turf winning 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP managed just one. In 2009, when the BJD went to polls alone after snapping ties with its decade-old ally BJP, the regional party tasted victory in 103 assembly constituencies, while Congress candidates won 27 seats and BJP had to be content with six. The poll scenario was different in 2000 and 2004 when the regional party fought the elections in alliance with the BJP, but still the BJD enjoyed supremacy. While the BJD won 68 and 61 assembly seats in 2000 and 2004 respectively, BJP nominees were victorious in 38 and 32 constituencies on these occasions. However, the four-phase simultaneous polling next month is going to be an acid test for Patnaik as both the BJP and the Congress appeared to have gained strength in the state. Coupled with the opposition surge, disgruntled leaders leaving the BJD has come as a major setback to the ruling party, which once looked invincible. Anti-incumbency factor has also added to its woes. Senior BJP leaders claim, the ruling BJD will be "wiped out" after 2019 polls and that the government will "collapse" under the weight of anti-incumbency. BJP Odisha in-charge Arun Singh has claimed that the countdown of the Patnaik government has started. BJP's optimism notwithstanding, BJD president and Chief Minister Patnaik, who is seeking re-election for the fifth term, claims his party will perform "very well" in both Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Despite Patnaik's confidence, a host of BJD leaders have quit the party due to varied reasons, including fear of denial of ticket or differences with the leadership. Sitting Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi and Nilagiri MLA Sukant Nayak resigned from the BJD recently, alleging they were ignored and neglected. Majhi, who later joined the BJP, claimed he was "cheated" after being made to quit a job in the railways and lured into poll fray in 2014, while Nayak alleged he was "mentally tortured and harassed" and kept outside discussions on major issues pertaining to his area. Trinath Gomango, BJD MLA and brother-in-law of former Congress chief minister Giridhar Gomango, too has joined BJP. Voices of discontent among BJD leaders are also being heard in Jharsuguda and Sundargarh following induction of Congress legislators Naba Kishore Das and Jogesh Singh who represented these assembly seats respectively. Old-timers who were denied party tickets openly aired their anger. While senior leader from Sundargarh, Kusum Thete, resigned from the BJD, accusing the party leadership of cheating her, former assembly speaker and ruling party leader from Jharsuguda, Kishore Mohanty, has been sulking for sometime. BJP stalwarts, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, have undertaken whirlwind tours of the state to boost their party's poll prospects. The saffron party is also trying to attract known loyalists of the legendary Biju Patnaik, father of the current chief minister. The recent induction of former MP Baijayant Panda and ex-minister Damodar Rout into the BJP is considered a part of this strategy. Both the leaders are from the coastal belt, home to around 68 assembly seats where the BJP is not so strong. BJP state in-charge Arun Singh claimed several BJD leaders are keen to join his party. Challenge from the Congress is also no less formidable with party chief Rahul Gandhi undertaking back-to- back visits to the state. Optimistic after its victories in assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Congress is making efforts to galvanise its base in the state where it is out of power for 19 years. BJD leaders such as state Finance Minister S B Behera and Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya, however, said party hopping is nothing unusual during elections. People leaving the BJD and joining other parties will have no impact on poll prospects of the ruling party, they said adding the "good work" done by the government will have support among people. The chief minister on Monday announced his decision to contest from two assembly seats his home turf Hinjili in the southern Ganjam district and Bijepur in the western part of the state. Western Odisha is considered important for the BJD as the region has five Lok Sabha and 35 assembly seats. Of the five Lok Sabha seats, BJD had won four in 2014 polls. However, the situation appeared to have changed since then with the BJP consolidating its base there. In 2017 panchayat polls, the saffron party put up an impressive show in western Odisha by bagging 126 of the 209 Zilla Parishad seats, while the BJD had won only 56 seats and the Congress 22. While the BJD feels Patnaik contesting from western region will boost its prospects in western Odisha, the BJP dubs the move as a "panic" reaction. Congress leader Arya Kumar Gyanendra claimed the decision will boomerang on the BJD. In another major setback to the Telangana Congress, its senior leader and former Minister D K Aruna joined the BJP. She joined the BJP in the presence of party national president Amit Shah in Delhi Tuesday, party sources said. "She is likely to be fielded from the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat," they said. Aruna had lost the Assembly elections from Gadwal in December 2018. "We will strive to strengthen BJP in Telangana and make it an alternative to TRS. We will work for winning maximum seats for BJP in Telangana in the coming LoK Sabha elections," she told reporters. "Definitely her joining BJP will make the party stronger in Mahbubnagar district. It shows the sorry state of affairs of Congress in Telangana," BJP MLC N Ramchander Rao told PTI. Eight Congress MLAs recently defected to the ruling TRS in Telangana. Suspense remains on whether BJP patriarch L K Advani will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls or hang up his boots. The 91-year-old, who served as home minister and deputy prime minister of the country, has won the Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar seat six times. Advani, credited for crafting the BJP's rise to a pre-eminent position in the late 80s and 90s after it won just two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 Lok Sabha polls, has remained on the sidelines since he voiced his reservations on the nomination of Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate in 2014. Asked whether Advani was keen on contesting the poll considering his age, his personal secretary Deepak Chopra told PTI, "It is not yet decided...he will decide when something (offer) comes." Party sources said there is no age bar for candidates and winnability will be the criteria when candidates are finalised by the party's central election committee. Asked if the party has urged Advani to contest from the Gandhinagar seat, Chopra said, "Neither has the party approached him nor has he approached the party so far." A section of Gujarat BJP leaders is of the view Advani may himself decide not contest the elections due to the age factor. Advani did not make any representation to stake claim for his traditional Gandhinagar seat before the BJP observers here. "At his level, we do not need to do this," Chopra said. Advani brought a paradigm shift in Indian politics through his Rath Yatra in 1992 in support of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and played a key role in the BJP's evolution State BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said the final decision about Gandhinagar will be taken by the party's parliamentary board. "Only the parliamentary board of the party can decide if Advaniji will fight or not," he said. A section of party workers has demanded that a national leader like president Amit Shah should contest from Gandhinagar seat in place of Advani, sources said. "During our meeting with party leaders and workers, no local leaders submitted their bio-data to contest the polls from Gandhinagar seat. They have demanded that our national leader should contest from here," BJP observer for Gandhinagar seat Nimaben Acharya said. After contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar seat for the first time in 1991, Advani retained the constituency in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. Advani did not contest the elections in 1996 citing the Babri Masjid demolition case against him. However, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested from the seat, as well as from Lucknow, and won. Advani became the face of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that shaped, and continues to define the saffron party's electoral and political fortunes. It was under Advani's leadership that the BJP grew from a fringe party to a contender for power. Although Advani was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate in 2009, the party lost to the Congress. Before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP made Modi, Advani's one time protege, its prime ministerial candidate, a move which apparently did not go down well with the party veteran. Advani was made a member of 'margdarshak mandal' (group of mentors) after the BJP came to power in 2014, seen as an attempt to ease him out of any key decision-making process. The Mandal hasn't met once since it was set up. Moneycontrol News In a list of achievements during its two years in power, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh listed the checking of the exodus of Hindus from the western part of the state, according to a report by The Hindustan Times. The report states that the government's attempt to stop the exodus will be one of the issues during the election campaign in the region. Western UP has been a volatile region so far as communal tensions are concerned, with the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in the region altering the voting pattern in favour of the BJP. The chief minister, who assumed power in 2017, said the exodus of Hindus was caused by "those who were patronized by those in power then". "Those who had set up signboards, saying their 'houses were up for sale' have now returned," Yogi said, according to reports. Adityanath was reportedly referring to the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was in power in the state when the riots happened. "In 2012, as many 227 major riots took place, followed by 247 major riots in 2013, 242 in 2014, 219 in 2015 and 100 plus riots in 2016 in which scores of innocents were killed and massive damage done to property. In last two years of our rule, not one riot has taken place, nor has any acid attack or abduction for ransom been reported," Adityanath said, adding that over 8,000 criminals have arrested in over 3,000 encounters in the state. "(In these encounters) 1,000-plus have been injured, 73 killed, 12,000 got their bails cancelled and surrendered, though we also lost about six of our policemen," Adityanath said, underlining his point that due to such "proactive policing", exodus of Hindus and traders has stopped. The CM also said managing law and order in Uttar Pradesh resulted in attracting more investment in the state, thus creating jobs. "In just two years, investment proposals of more than Rs 5 lakh crore have been received, out of which Rs 1.5 lakh crore has already been implemented," he said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not be handing out tickets to any of its sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) or candidates who lost the recently held assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, according to a report by The Indian Express. The report states that it is unclear at this point whether former Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is a legislator, will be given a ticket. However, senior state leaders of the party, including Abhishek Singh, son of Raman Singh and MP from Rajnandgaon, and MP from Raipur, Ramesh Bais, might be affected by the decision. Party sources told the newspaper that this tactic might be implemented in other states which had gone to polls recently and where the BJP had lost, including Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This template, however, according to the report, may not necessarily be used for the selection of candidates for the upcoming polls in any of the other states. "In order to give a new face, new zeal to the party in Chhattisgarh, the BJP has decided not to field 10 of its sitting MPs or any of those defeated in the 2018 assembly elections," BJP general secretary Anil Jain told the newspaper. Jain said "fresh faces" will be fielded in 11 constituencies of the state, and the list "will reflect the mandate the party got in the assembly elections". A party leader told the newspaper that the strategy would ensure a victory for the party in Chhattisgarh's 11 Lok Sabha constituencies. However, the leader said the decision might lead to angry BJP workers protesting against the party. While the party is already battling infighting within the state, Pankaj Jha, a BJP leader, had earlier told Moneycontrol that "infighting keeps happening", saying a BJP worker is more emotional and passionate. "It keeps on happening, it happens in families too. BJP is a family and these are fights within the family," Jha had said. The saffron party had lost the assembly polls to Congress, winning only 15 of the 90 assembly seats in the state and its vote share dropped to 32.9 percent. The state is scheduled to go to polls in three stages on April 11, April 18 and April 23. Four men arrested by Delhi Police cyber cell for stalking me, sexually abusing me, sending me nude/D#ck pictures and in one case threatening to kill me. However this is not over. I have listed ten more numbers in my FIR and before a magistrate. Will follow till each one jailed barkha dutt (@BDUTT) March 20, 2019 The cybercrime cell of Delhi Police arrested four men for harassing veteran journalist Barkha Dutt online. She took to Twitter to confirm the arrests. "Four men arrested by Delhi Police cyber cell for stalking me, sexually abusing me, sending me nude/D#ck pictures and in one case threatening to kill me. However, this is not over. I have listed ten more numbers in my FIR and before a magistrate. Will follow till each one jailed." Shortly after, #Barkhadutt started trending on Twitter, where many other industry veterans backed her. However, there were some who decided to point out her double standards as one of the accused turned out to be a butcher based in Surat. Now, what makes his identity controversial is that the journalist was quick to comment that her harassers are nationalists. Speaking to The Indian Express, a police officer said: "A team was formed and police, using technical surveillance, arrested the men, identified as Rajiv Sharma (23), Hemraj Kumar (31), and Aditya Kumar (34) from Delhi, and Shabbir Gurfan Pinjari (45), a resident of Surat." While standing by her for taking a strong stand against trolls, Twitterati had pointed out how she had politicised a rather sensitive issue surrounding sexual harassment. Many even asked her how she could decipher the political leanings of a person. On February 21, the journalist had registered an FIR with the cops, stating she was receiving obscene messages and pictures, and even death threats from random people for proposing to help Kashmiris. It was later learnt that someone had shared her number on social media for escort services. "I appear to have been made a victim of some fake news propaganda and my number has been shared on all social media platforms. I have been sent nude pictures and sexually abusive text messages. I fear for my well-being, security and life as this is a coordinated assault by a violent mob," she had mentioned in her FIR, according to The Indian Express report. Barkha Dutt had also mentioned in the FIR that she fears for her well-being and security as she had also received a message that said: Goli maar denge (will shoot you). However, she wasnt the only one. Several journalists had complained of receiving threatening calls and messages on Twitter and WhatsApp after the Pulwama terror attack. In 2016 also, Dutt had tweeted about an abuse campaign that was started to target her; her coordinates were shared en-masse, and her inbox was filled with death threats and expletives. Chinas 'two sessions' of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) finally ended on March 15. Both conferences are significant for China and the world at large. Premier Li Keqiang delivered the Government Work Report to the second session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 5. According to media reports, the NPCs secretariat received 491 proposals 487 proposed legislations and four regulatory recommendations to be handled by the top body. Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the NPCs Standing Committee, pledged to move forward with revising urgently needed laws for deepening market-based reforms. Some of the deliberations could be significant for India as trade between both India and China has grown to $100 billion. More importantly, several Chinese companies have been investing heavily in India over the last few years. Notable among them are heavy machinery firm Sanyi in Maharashtra, electrical appliances firm Mediya (and could become a competitor to China-headquartered Haier). Mediya is reported to have already invested $1 billion in Maharashtra. The biggest investment would possibly relate to Huawei, which has around 5,000 employees in India. Another investment of interest is by Nuntung Construction Company, which is building the countrys tallest building in Bengaluru. Other major investments relate to Xiaomi and Lenovo. For China, modifying its investment and corporate tax laws is crucially important for two reasons. First, many of the Western countries are likely to follow the US in raising trade barriers the matter could come up before the World Trade Organisation (WTO) soon. Second, China needs more investors and has begun pursuing this objective with greater focus than India has. During current deliberations, China hopes to approve tax laws, simplifying the process and reducing social insurance contributions of enterprises by nearly two trillion yuan ($298.3 billion) in 2019 as part of its broader push to promote manufacturing and the growth of small and micro businesses. The government is also expected to deepen the value-added tax reform, reducing the current rate of 16 percent in manufacturing and other industries to 13 percent, and lower the rate in the transportation, construction, and other industries from 10 to 9 percent (it must be noted that value-added tax is smaller in scale compared to the Goods & Services Tax, which is a tax on the entire sum invoiced). This is significant because China wants to become more business friendly on account of the global slowdown. Since profit margins of businesses are bound to shrink, the governments decision to reduce taxes is a welcome move. There are other moves being made as well: - China is looking to push rural students into better enrolment, thus reducing dropout numbers. It also wants to incentivise them with quotas in institutes of higher education. This will make the educated elite in China more inclusive and gradually improve the lot of rural families. It is a good move both socially and politically. - By expanding the scope of its care for the elderly, it plans to reduce the inevitable stress that an ageing population will face in the coming years -- people aged 60 and above stands around 250 million. In some ways, China has the most amazing care centres for the elderly. This correspondent visited a few such centres in Shanghai. China compels children to look after their parents. They have old peoples homes, but not like the ones in the West, or even those advocated in India. These are day-care centres to which people can bring their aged parents, if both husband and wife are working. The centre has meals, peer company, gym, play room, and social workers to look after the aged. Children must pick-up their parents on their way back home, so that parents and children always stay together. Tax breaks and incentives are also being planned. - There is a move to reduce rates for internet and broadband, which will help further popularise the information highway for its people. That will be of crucial significance in the coming two decades. This year, average broadband service rates for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be lowered by another 15 percent, and average rates for mobile internet services will be further cut by more than 20 percent. Collectively, these moves should consolidate Chinas capabilities in areas relating to web services and telecommunications. The moves by Huawei must therefore be seen in this context. The biggest market for China will be 5G networks. It is forecast that 5G connections will reach one billion worldwide in mid-2023, taking less time than 4G to reach this milestone. By 2022, China is expected to account for more than half of all 5G subscribers. In the US, it is Verizon, which is struggling to push its 5G solutions. Analysts believe that India could partner with China in promoting 5G. If that happens, China and India together could create a new global standard for both web services and telecommunications. At these discussions, China has already reduced its GDP targets to between 6 percent and 6.5 percent as the country pursues higher-quality development, amid mounting uncertainties in the international economic landscape. The country will also raise its fiscal deficit target to 2.76 trillion yuan ($410 billion), or 2.8 percent of GDP, this year from 2.6 percent in 2018. Total government expenditure is budgeted over 23 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion), up by 6.5 percent from last year. In laws related to investments, China has sought to streamline its foreign investment law that would assure foreign companies of treatment that is fair and equal to that of domestic enterprises and promote the opening of the domestic market. Hao Mingjin, Vice-Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said, The draft law would confirm Chinas determination to further open up, and it is also a process to push forward market-oriented economic reform." Added Wang Xiang, Deputy Head of the Office for Economic Law of the NPCs Legislative Affairs Commission, The new law will be the foundation to promote, protect and manage foreign investment in China. Chinese worries on this front are understandable. Its global FDI declined more than 40 percent in the first half of last year, according to a report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. But China could take solace from the fact that FDI dropped even more sharply -- by nearly 70 percent -- in developed countries. Despite this decline, data from the Ministry of Commerce in China shows that it enjoyed FDI of over 880 billion yuan in 2018, a record high and an increase of 0.9 percent from a year earlier. Expect changes in Chinas Foreign Investment Law as well. China plans to further open up its markets to foreign businesses and address complaints that have been prevalent among foreign investors. Its draft patent law includes provisions for higher penalties for patent infringement; extending the term of patents to 15 years, up from 10 years currently; and clarifying a shift of the burden of proof to the defendant under a duty to cooperate in providing relevant information. Clearly, China is determined to remain more relevant to the changing world than ever before. India will obviously have to present foreign investors a prettier face, if it wants to ensure that more foreign investments come its way. US President Donald Trump reaffirmed that "all options" are being considered in his drive to bring down Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro. "All options are on the table," he told reporters in the White House. "It's a shame what's happening in Venezuela -- the debt and the destruction and the hunger." Trump spoke at a meeting where he hosted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has backed the US-led campaign to pressure Maduro. In response, the Venezuelan foreign ministry accused Trump and Bolsonaro of being apologists for war, and described their statements as "dangerous" and a "threat to international peace and security." "No neofascist alliance will succeed in overcoming the independent and sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, nor will it succeed in its aim to spread hatred and war strategies," it said. The United States and more than 50 other countries, including Brazil, recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as Venezuela's rightful president. The White House said Trump would also discuss the Venezuela crisis with Caribbean leaders -- including from the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia -- at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday. Representative Image An extra pilot on a Lion Air flight helped avert a disaster on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 just a day before the jet crashed into the Java Sea, according to a Bloomberg report. The pilot, who was seated on the cockpit jumpseat, gave the flight's crew instructions on disabling on a malfunctioning flight-control system, sources told the news agency. On October 29, 2018, the next day, a Lion Air Flight under a different crew crashed while flying from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang in Indonesia, killing all 189 people aboard. Investigators believe the two flights experienced identical malfunctions, the report said. The "dead-head" pilot told the crew to cut power to the motor driving the plane's nose down, the report added. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the news. "All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC. We can't provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident," Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro told Bloomberg. A report by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) had mentioned that the plane experienced multiple failures previously, which were not fixed. Representatives for Boeing and the Indonesian safety committee declined the news agency's request for comment. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 has come under further scrutiny after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed on March 10, 2019 and killed all 157 people on board. India, Indonesia, US, UK, Argentina, Singapore and several other countries have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft following the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Ethiopian authorities have found similarities between the two fatal plane crashes. Germany has initiated a move at the European Union to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, days after China blocked a bid at the United Nations to ban him, diplomatic sources said. They said Germany was in touch with several member nations of the European Union for listing Azhar as a terrorist which will result in his travel ban as well as freezing of his assets in the 28 countries of the bloc. Germany has floated a proposal to ban Azhar by the European Union, but no resolution on the issue has been moved yet, diplomatic sources said. They said all 28 member countries of the European Union (EU) will have to support the move to ban the Pakistan-based terrorist as the bloc decides on such issues under the principle of consensus. On March 15, France imposed financial sanctions on Azhar and said it will work with its European partners for putting the JeM chief's name on the EU list of persons and entities involved in terrorist acts. The decision by France came two days after China put a hold on a fresh move to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council supported the proposal, but China was the only country which did not go with the move. File image India and Pakistan held a meeting of technical experts on the Kartarpur corridor during which its alignment, coordinates, and other engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points were discussed, sources said. An Indian delegation will visit Pakistan to take the discussions further at a meeting on April 2 on the Pakistani side of the Attari border. The meeting comes days after the two countries held talks to finalise the modalities for the corridor linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in the Pakistani town of Kartarpur with the Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The technical meeting at the level of experts, including engineers and surveyors, was held at "proposed zero points" in the follow up to the decision reached on the March 14 meeting, the sources said. India had been seeking this meeting for a long time and had even suggested holding it on February 15. Pakistan, however, linked it to the meeting on the draft agreement. The experts did a site survey and discussed the alignment of the corridor, the coordinates, and the engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points, the sources said. Zero point is the point at which the Indian side of the corridor and the Pakistani side of the corridor will be meeting. India had shared the coordinates with Pakistan earlier this year but the Pakistani side gave alternate coordinates. Meanwhile, a Pakistan Foreign Office statement on the meeting said that both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the proposed zero points and discussed the technical details, including finished road level and high flood level etc. "The two sides agreed on some technical aspects and expressed the hope of finalising the other modalities at the earliest," it said. The Pakistan Foreign Office also said the meeting was held in a "positive and constructive" environment. A joint statement issued after the meeting on March 14 at the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border had said both sides held detailed and constructive discussions on various aspects and provisions of the project and agreed to work towards expeditiously operationalising the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor (KSC). The meeting had come amid heightened tensions between the two neighbours following India's air strike on a terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Pakistan's subsequent retaliation. India has asked Pakistan to allow pilgrims to travel on foot, if they wish. It also urged that another 10,000 pilgrims be allowed access on festivals like Baisakhi and Gurupurab. Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Two days later, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal, 125 km from Lahore. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will return to Beijing next week as the United States and China inch toward resolving their trade war, a senior administration official told AFP. The renewed shuttle diplomacy is a sign of progress in the talks after several weeks in which momentum toward a resolution appeared to have slowed. Following the renewed talks in Beijing, Chinese trade envoy Liu He will return to Washington the following week, with talks in their final stages, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters the talks were going "very well," reiterating the positive message of recent months. But he also said last week he was in "no rush" to strike a bargain, insisting any deal had to do more than make cosmetic changes. US and Chinese officials in recent weeks have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that they have much to do before reaching a final outcome. On Friday, China's rubber-stamp parliament approved a foreign investment law to strengthen protections for intellectual property -- a central US grievance -- but foreign businesses said they were not given enough time add input. The report helped lift Wall Street on Tuesday after stock prices had begun to sag, following a Bloomberg report that some US officials believed China was reneging on earlier trade concessions. US officials are demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese industrial policy -- including an end to massive state intervention in markets, subsidies and the alleged theft of American technology -- and insist that any agreement must be enforceable. China has been willing to increase purchases of American exports but analysts say they will be reluctant to accede to American demands in ways that could weaken the communist party's hold on power. The two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade. Lighthizer has declined to state publicly whether Washington would lift the tariffs it has imposed so far if both sides reach a deal. This simple app marries an old-fashioned calculator, with tape, to a Notepad. You simply do your calculations as normal and the tape that flows out shows exactly what you have entered. If you have made a mistake, just go to that figure and amend it and your final calculation is just updated! Did you miss a figure? No problem: Just insert it in the right place easily by entering a new line. Just like a spreadsheet with a calculator interface. Did you miss a figure? No problem: Just insert it in the right place easily by entering a new line. Just like a spreadsheet with a calculator interface. Besides, you can add text next to each figure, to remember what it is, and also save the entire calculation as a note in the professional version. The pro version also helps you create templates for your most often used calculations and create your own keyboard layouts. This app is a musthave. It is your companion for all daily calculation needs and easily masters all scenarios you can imagine. While the number of fraudulent withdrawals from banks have declined, in value terms, it has more than doubled to Rs109.56 core in FY17-18, the Rajya Sabha was informed. Last month, replying to a question asked by Sukhram Singh Yadav, the then finance minister Piyush Goyal, said, "As per information furnished by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with the proliferation of information technology (IT) and usage of related services, there has been an increase in the absolute number of complaints of withdrawing money illegally from bank accounts. As per RBI, the amount of automatic teller machine (ATM) or debit card, credit card and internet banking frauds of Rs1 Lakh and above, reported by scheduled commercial banks and select financial institutions (FIs) during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 are Rs40.20 crore, Rs42.29 crore and Rs109.56 crore, respectively." Strangely, when asked whether it is also a fact that the amount withdrawn illegally by cyber criminals from the accounts has to be borne by the account-holders only and not by the banks, the minister replied in the negative. Mr Goyal cited a circular issued by RBI on 6 July 2017 on limiting liability of customers in unauthorised electronic banking transactions. This circular was issued by the central bank following a persistent battle by Moneylife Foundation. RBI acted within two days of a unique #TweetMorcha, held to protest against banks treating customers unfairly, where protection in case of digital fraud was the first demand. The appeal was directed at the prime minister Narendra Modi with the hashtag #BankSeBachao. Read: Moneylife #TweetMorcha, #BankSeBachao Impact: RBI limits customer liability in digital transaction ) Making banks responsible to prove liability of the customer in such cases, in the circular, RBI says, in case of contributory fraud or negligence or deficiency from the bank, the customer will have zero liability irrespective of whether or not she reports the unauthorised transaction. In case of third-party breach, where there is no liability on bank or the customer, and the customer reports it to the bank within three days, then also she is entitled to zero liability, RBI says. ( Mr Yadav, the member of Parliament (MP) also asked about the number of lapses of cyber security which happened due to carelessness by banks. However, the minister said, the central bank did not maintain this information. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, has reportedly asked Jet Airways' chief Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita to step down from the carrier's board of directors. Quoting sources, a report from ET Now says, the lender has asked the Goyals and their nominees, including Nasim Zaidi, non-independent director, and Gaurang Shetty, executive director of Jet Airways, to step down from the board. #ETNOWExclusive | Sources on @JetAirways to @NayantaraRai: SBI asks Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal to step down from the board pic.twitter.com/spPxudY7qQ ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) March 20, 2019 According to a report from Reuters , after meeting with government officials, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters that putting Jet Airways into bankruptcy is the 'last option' and that its lenders are making every effort to keep the airline flying. We believe that it is in everybodys interest that Jet Airways continues to fly, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters after a meeting with government officials, adding that placing Jet into bankruptcy would mean grounding the airline. At an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in February 2019, shareholders of Jet Airways had approved, by an overwhelming majority, a proposal to convert a part of the company's loans into shares. This was a significant development as the approval was required to go ahead with the bank-led provisional resolution plan (BLPRP) led by the consortium of the lenders. As part of the plan, public sector lenders would become the largest equity owners of the airline, virtually making it a nationalised carrier. Etihad, however, abstained from voting on various proposals during the EGM. "The BLPRP currently estimates a funding gap of Rs8,500 crore, including proposed repayment of aircraft debt of Rs1,700 crore, to be met by appropriate mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring, sale or sale and leaseback or refinancing of aircraft, among other things," Jet Airways had said in a regulatory filing. Both SBI and Punjab National Bank (PNB) were said to have agreed to provide Jet Airways with Rs500 crore interim funding to continue operations until a long-term restructuring plan is worked out for its Rs8,000-crore debt. Earlier, Jet Airways chairman Mr Goyal had asked Etihad, which has 24% stake in the airline, to bring in Rs750 crore demanded by lenders as promoter contribution. Etihad, however, expressed that it was willing to sell its 24% stake if it got a price of Rs150, which is much lower than the current price of Rs236. Lenders are willing to provide support but unwilling to hold more than 49% equity through debt conversion. Fugitive Indian diamantaire Nirav Modi, wanted in the Rs13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, is arrested in the UK. His bail plea was rejected when he was produced in the local court at London. The next hearing in this matter would take place on 29 March 2019 before the chief magistrate and, until then, Nirav Modi will remain in custody. Last week, the Westminster Court had issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are under probe by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED filed money laundering cases against them and others on 15 February 2019 on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by the CBI. Accused in the Rs13,500-crore PNB fraud case, Nirav Modi is living openly in a three-bedroom flat, occupying half the floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, The Telegraph had reported. The report also claimed he was involved in a new diamond business, run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his apartment. The new business was incorporated in May 2018, said the report. The Interpol had issued a red corner notice against Nirav Modi in July 2018 on the request of the ED and the CBI. An extradition request against him has been pending before the UK authorities since last September. The ED, on 26 February 2019, attached properties of Nirav Modi and his associate companies worth Rs147 crore in connection with the PNB fraud case. In a statement, the ED had said, "The ED has provisionally attached movable and immovable properties located in Mumbai and Surat, having market value of Rs147.72 crore consisting of eight cars, plant and machinery, consignments of jewellery, paintings and immovable property, owned by Nirav Modi and his group companies, namely Firestar Diamond International Pvt Ltd, Firestar International Pvt Ltd, Radheshir Jewelry Co Pvt Ltd and Rhythm House Pvt Ltd." The ED claimed that, during the investigation, it was revealed that substantial proceeds of crime obtained fraudulently by the Nirav Modi-owned group of firms Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds, Diamond RUS from PNB were diverted to the absconding diamantaire, his relatives and entities controlled by him. The ED had earlier attached properties in India and abroad to the tune of Rs1,725.36 crore. Besides the properties, the ED had also attached gold, diamond, bullion, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs489.75 crore. The All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has demanded the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reconsider its decision to categorise IDBI Bank as a private entity. In a letter to the RBI on Wednesday, AIBEA's General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam conveyed the union's opposition to RBI's decision. "IDBI and IDBI Bank have been created to be Banks under public sector. Due to huge bad loans to the corporates, the Bank has been facing problem of recovery and consequently its financial performance," Venkatachalam said. According to him, it is ironical that RBI instead of taking action against the private sector corporate borrowers it seeks to protect the bank from Right to Information Act (RTI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and others by recategorising IDBI bank. "Even though Government's stake has come below 51 per cent, LIC, which is the main share-holder is also a 100 per cent Government's corporation and hence, the re-categorisation is unwarranted and motivated against public interest," the letter notes. The RBI recently classified IDBI Bank as private sector bank. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article. Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, agreed on Wednesday to process any request from the Election Commission to take down content within three hours during the 48-hour period before voting days. The agreement was arrived at a meeting between the Election Commission and Internet companies as part of a conduct code for the staggered Lok Sabha elections starting on April 11 and also for the future, informed sources said. Also taking part in the meeting were representatives of WhatsApp, Google and ShareChat. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Since this time last week, 88 Energy Limited [ASX:88E] shares have fallen in price by a further 12%, after a 36% drop during trading last Wednesday, triggered by poor final report on their winx-1 project. When we last covered 88E, we alluded to the chance that good news on their potential farm-out arrangements could turn the plummeting share price around. Today, the company has indeed released an update on the Alaska projects, which has helped the share price remain steady through trading today. Some progress made in farm-outs According to the announcement, the farm-out process for Project Icewine Conventional has progressed to the next stage. After requests were made by potential farminees for more time to evaluate the opportunity which the company granted, the company have now selected a preferred bidder and discussions have begun. The update also revealed the upcoming selling of an Oil Search option (set to expire in June) which the company acquired in 2017. As per the announcement, this option includes acreage near Winc-1 and Project Icewine. Other project highlights include a planned farm-out launch for Project Icewine Unconventional in mid-2019, as well as near-completed interpretation and resource evaluation on the Yukon Leases. What this tells us about 88 Energys potential While Project Icewine Conventional seems to have made the most progress out of the Alaska projects, the success of its bidding discussions are in no way confirmed. As the company reported in the announcement: There is no guarantee that the parties will agree to terms and close out the transaction. A further announcement will be made in due course on the outcome of the ongoing negotiations. And as reiterated by 88 Energys Managing Director, David Wall, no deal is done until it is done. Also, as for the underperforming Winx-1 project, all that has been said on the drilling is that further evaluation of the remaining resource potential of the acreage is underway, with several working theories as to its true value. As such, the stagnant nature in todays price for 88 Energys shares may be a clear reflection of the markets patience while further concrete details are yet to be announced. We will keep you updated on any future announcements. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, For Money Morning PS: If this update has made you question the potential of Aussie mining stocks, worry not! Read this free report by expert analyst Jason Stevenson on the Top 10 Mining Money-Makers to Buy Now to find out which Aussie mining companies you could add to your portfolio today. Download now. Over at Money Morning Trader, we dont issue specific trade recommendations. Instead, we look at the background of listed companies and profile their stories. This provides information on useful trading ideas and charts for your own study and risk analysis. Today we look at a mining company that changed directions a number of times after listing. It tried its hand at exploring in a couple of regions around the world before focusing on assets back home in New South Wales. FREE report: Why Nano Metal could soon be Australias most valuable export. A closer look at Augur Resources After developing a proprietary licensed extraction method, it changed direction again. Back in 2007, a junior miner raised $5 million via an IPO and listed as Augur Resources Ltd [ASX:AUK]. It wanted funds to explore its copper/gold and nickel/cobalt tenements in central New South Wales. The GFC quickly arrived and the bust of the mining boom soon followed. After listing at 20 cents, the share price sank to one cent during the GFC. It rallied to 46.5 cents during the mining boom in 2011, but the company was yet to reach production. By 2015, the share was back down to one cent and remained near this level for a couple of years. Along the way, Augur picked up some gold mining projects in Chile and Indonesia. It sold off the Becker gold project in Chile last year and retains a 45% interest in the Wonogiri gold/copper project in Indonesia. Its actively looking to sell its remaining interests there. This leaves it with a nickel/cobalt/scandium project in the Collerina region of New South Wales. In May 2017, shareholders recognised the importance of the major asset and unanimously approved a change of name to Collerina Cobalt Ltd [ASX:CLL]. The drilling program proceeded with significant discoveries of aluminium, nickel and cobalt. These materials are all used in making batteries and other technology products. The company worked diligently on developing processes to remove impurities and deliver higher grades of its metals. Preliminary tests using proprietary technology in November 2017 achieved recoveries of 98% nickel and 97% cobalt. An important breakthrough Around the same time, the company applied its proprietary technology to refining aluminium. It was able to achieve purity in the range of 99.984%99.991%. This was an important breakthrough. High purity alumina (HPA) is a processed premium product characterised by its level of purity. Grades of at least 99.99% are classified as 4N, while grades of 99.999% are classified as 5N. HPA has superior properties. Its resistant to corrosion and scratches, has high brightness and can withstand extreme temperatures. Its the critical ingredient for making synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used as a base material in making light emitting diodes (LEDs); sapphire glass for smart phones, televisions and watch faces; the separator in batteries; semiconductor wafers in electronic components; and various components in the space and aeronautics industry. There is no substitute for HPA in making synthetic sapphire. Management of Collerina Cobalt decided to change direction. Its HPA First process initially came from the development of the nickel/cobalt project. It now wants to move ahead with HPA production first and develop the mine later on. Another name change Recognising the shift in direction, shareholders unanimously voted for yet another name change. In December last year, the company changed its name to Alpha HPA Ltd [ASX:A4N]. Managing Director Rimas Kairaitis said its proprietary technology uses a solvent extraction process. Theres no acid leach component and the process doesnt use vessels under pressure. Its performed under conditions of atmospheric, or normal, pressure. This means theres a lower risk and a relatively lower cost. Lets bring up the daily chart over the last couple of years: Source: Optuma [Click to open new window] Alpha 4N is a fairly thinly traded stock with a market cap of $62.4 million. The share price rocketed from two cents to a high of 17.5 cents after the company announced test results from its HPA First process. The company completed a rights issue last year and in October, Kairaitas said it had about $3 million in the bank. He said this was enough to fund the pilot plant and proceed through to the completion of the affinity feasibility study. Alpha HPA has already proven it can produce 4N purity HPA. This can fetch healthy prices of US$25,000 per tonne and higher. Theres still a way to go before the company reaches commercial production. A pre-feasibility study highlighted capital expenditure of $215 million for the HPA First project. The company will need to raise some serious capital. I think its more likely to look for a partner. The study said the project is expected to deliver annual EBITDA of $248 million and similar free cash flow. The current market for HPA is around 25,000 tonnes per annum. Its expected to more than triple by 2025 with growth in the use of LEDs and a stronger uptake of electric vehicles. For now, this stock remains confined in a trading range. Support at nine cents held on a number of occasions last year. The market recovered from a brief break below the same level in January. Well keep watching for a break and a strong close above 16 cents. This could be a sign of good news to come. Regards, Terence Duffy, Editor, Money Morning Trader PS: Find out why this hated resource could rise from the dead in 2019 (free report). Download now. At time of writing, the share price of Fluence Corporation Limited [ASX:FLC] is up 7.59%, trading at 42.5 cents. Its been a choppy 12 months for the stock, with peaks in April, August and October: Source: tradingview.com The latest news out of the company is that it has been awarded a contract to help design and supply parts for a desalination plant in Egypt. Free Guide: How to Invest in the Massive Infrastructure Boom. Download now. Fluence share price responds positively to the news The share price of Fluence warmed to the news immediately on opening, going as high as 43 cents in early trading. As per the announcement released this morning, through its Egyptian joint venture, IWSI, Fluence will provide the technology, design the process and supply a range of equipment for the plant for a total contract share of $20 million. Local works will be undertaken by their partner Hassan Allam and the plan is to have the plant ready in 18 months. When the plant has been completed it will provide 40,000 m3/day of potable water to New Mansoura city, with the potential for future capacity of 80,000 m3/day. This will provide water for 250,000 people. New Mansoura is a city currently being built near the sea-side tourist hub of Gamasa on the Mediterranean. Fluences Managing Director and CEO hailed the contract win, saying: The New Mansoura plant will be among the larger desalination plant references for Fluence to date and, if expanded, one of the largest in all of Egypt. Together with the US $7.6 million NIROBOX Smart Packaged desalination plant order IWSI secured in Egypt in October 2018, this contract reinforces Fluences growth strategy. The structure of the deal is likely advantageous for Fluence, as they dont have to deal with the regulatory complications associated with completing local works in Egypt. What is the outlook for Fluence? For the moment, it looks relatively rosy as a growth opportunity. Its most recent results announcement outlines that revenue for ordinary activities is up 204.9% to just over US$100 million. However, it still posted a loss for the year of around US$63 million, due in large part to a goodwill impairment of US$56 million. It has cash and cash equivalents of around US$38.7 million on hand. The company has big plans for growth in China and has released guidance for, sustainable EBITDA profitability by Q4 2019 on the basis of continued strong growth in sales of Smart Products Solutions. With the market for water hardly going awayever, Fluence may be well positioned to deliver projects in places such as Egypt and China going forward. Regards, Lachlann Tierney, For Money Morning PS: Population growth is booming find out here how you can make the most of a massive global infrastructure rush in this free report Four Ways You Can Cash in on Australias $70 Billion Infrastructure Mega Boom. Answer a few emails, text your kids, watch a few videos and read the news. This is probably what most of you do on the internet. I wont mention the other activity. Its too early in the day for that. You only have to go back three generations, though, to see an entirely different world. A world without Twitter and YouTube. A world where you might grow up on the farm, sheltered in a community that knows only what the local paper and passers-by tell them. Today, you have the world at your fingertips. You can work from anywhere. You can find answers to almost any question. Its amazing what weve seen in a little over a lifetime. But its just the beginning. So says the father of the web Find out why this hated resource could rise from the dead in 2019 (free report). Were still in our infancy stage Back in 1991, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was a researcher at CERN, a research institute in Switzerland. He came up with an idea that would allow fellow scientists to share information. It didnt matter if they were in the next room or on the other side of the world. Andyou know what happened next We saw everything from e-commerce to social media spring up out of this information sharing plan. I want you to take a look at our connected world for a moment. Greater than 90% penetration is not uncommon Source: We Are Social [Click to open new window] The data we consume is rising every year Source: We Are Social [Click to open new window] In fact, you can go to this website: https://www.vpnsrus.com/data-consumption/ and you can see how much data is being consumed each second youre on the web page. Within the minute I was there, the world consumed 2.2 billion megabytes worth of data Source: VPNS R US [Click to open new window] And being social creatures, we increasingly use our connective infrastructure to reach out to others Source: We Are Social [Click to open new window] But Berners-Lee says this is all early days stuff. In a Quartzs interview, Berners-Lee said: Its the utopian vision growing up When it was 19 years old, it felt a little bit adolescent. When it was three, it might have had a very simple, star-spangled vision of itself. When it was small enough not to have been noticed by criminals, it was a wonderful time. When the National Science Foundation didnt allow commercial use of it, we didnt have to worry about advertising, because until they changed the acceptable-use policy, advertising wasnt allowed. It was, in a way, in a protected, embryonic state before the NSF policy change. At that point, [the web] was in transition to growing up. And it continues to grow today. Were still seeing an adolescent connectivity infrastructure finding its feet. Just look at whats happening over in China The tech race rages on Had you told General Moa about supercomputers, hed have no idea what you were talking about. He was too busying making the farmers in China pump out useless scrap metal. But today, China speeds along in their tech race with the US, developing such computers. South China Morning Post (SCMP) writes: China is aiming for its newest Shuguang supercomputers to operate at about 50 per cent faster than the current best US machines, which assuming all goes to plan should help China wrest the title back from the US in this years rankings of the worlds fastest machines, according to people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. Unlike their name, supercomputers are not just big, superfast computers. They work in an entirely different way. They use parallel processing instead of serial processing. The difference between the two is like doing one task after another versus splitting that task into multiple smaller tasks and working on them all at once. Source: Explain That Stuff [Click to open new window] In some circumstances, many of these supercomputers will be linked together, via the internet. This means you can spread the processing power across many machines. But why develop them in the first place? SCMP explains: The ability to produce state-of-the-art supercomputers is an important metric of any nations technical prowess as they are widely deployed for tasks ranging from weather predictions and modelling ocean currents to energy technology and simulating nuclear explosions. Demand for supercomputing in commercial applications is also on the rise, driven by developments in artificial intelligence. And with time, even these futuristic computers will be old news. Technology like driverless cars and supercomputers, aided by our expanding connective infrastructure, might become as mundane as Twitter and YouTube. Of course, I can only guess what the Internet 2.0 world might look like. All I can be sure of is that it will look different from today. Your friend, Harje Ronngard, Editor, Money Morning PS: Download your free report to learn Three Golden Rules for Investing in Pot Stocks. Download the free report now. March 20, 2019 WaPo Gives Campaign Space To Main Sponsor Of ISIS Who Also Jails More Journalists Than Anyone Else Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses the recent terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand to whip up support for local elections in Turkey: It begins with dramatic music, edited in for effect. Then stills of the manifesto posted by the gunman in New Zealand before his terror attack, highlighting and translating the sections targeting Turkey. The video streamed live by the attacker comes next, shooting his way into a Christchurch mosque, before blurred images with the sound of automatic gunfire. And then a cut to Turkey's opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, talking of "terrorism rooted in the Islamic world". The crowd boos wildly, galvanised by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has now shown the footage during at least eight election rallies. In a Washington Post op-ed published today Erdogan goes further. bigger Erdogan compares the Australian terrorist who killed 50 people in a mosque in Christchurch with the Islamic State: The Christchurch massacres alleged perpetrator attempted to legitimize his twisted views by distorting world history and the Christian faith. He sought to plant seeds of hate among fellow humans. ... In this regard, we must establish that there is absolutely no difference between the murderer who killed innocent people in New Zealand and those who have carried out terrorist acts in Turkey, France, Indonesia and elsewhere. There is of course a big difference. While the murderer in New Zealand, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, visited fascist groups in many countries including Turkey, he was not part of a larger organization or even a terrorist state. There is no evidence so far that he had any big sponsors. The Islamic State and the ten-thousands of fanatics who established it had by contrast a large sponsor who enabled its killings. His name is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Researchers of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) recently interviewed an ISIS emir, Abu Mansour al Maghrebi, who essentially served as the ISIS ambassador to Turkey. Abu Mansour, an electric engineer from Morocco, was captured 1.5 years ago and is held in Iraq: My job in Raqqa was dealing with the international cases, Abu Mansour al Maghrebi recalls of his three years serving ISIS. My issue [duties] was our [Islamic States] relationship with Turkish intelligence. Actually, this started when I was working at the borders, he explains, harking back to the first job he undertook for ISIS before becoming an ISIS emir and, seemingly, their ambassador to Turkey. ... [My job was] guarding the borders between Syria and Turkey and to receive the fighters, Abu Mansour explains, smiling at being recognized as more powerful than he was originally conveying. I oversaw reception at Tal Abyad, Aleppo, Idlib, all their borders, he answers. Some 40,000 foreign fighters came to Syria via Turkey. Most of them joined the Islamic State. It was also Turkey that cared for wounded ISIS fighters: There were some agreements and understandings between the Turkish intelligence and ISIS emni about the border gates, for the people who got injured, Abu Mansour continues. I had direct meeting with the MIT [the Turkish National Intelligence Organization], many meetings with them. ... When we ask who exactly in the Turkish government was meeting ISIS members, he states, There were teams. Some represent the Turkish intel, some represent the Turkish Army. There were teams from 3-5 different groups. Most meetings were in Turkey in military posts or their offices. It depended on the issue. Sometimes we meet each week. It depends on what was going on. Most of the meetings were close to the borders, some in Ankara, some in Gaziantep. Turkish intelligence sent cars to the border to accompany the ISIS ambassador to the various meetings in Turkey. These meetings included high level people: [A]s he continues, we learn that his diplomatic reach on behalf of ISIS extended even to the president of Turkey himself. I was about to meet him but I did not. One of his intelligence officers said Erdogan wants to see you privately but it didnt happen. For Turkey ISIS was useful to suppress the Kurds and to achieve Erdogan's bigger aim of annexing the north of Syria to Turkey. There are many more details in the interview about Turkish support for ISIS. Some of them may be wrong but most are supported by a large volume of other reporting. Foreigners reached the Islamic State through Turkey. Its weapons and other supplies came from their. ISIS' main income source was oil that Turkey bought. There was direct coordination between Turkey and ISIS in several large operations against the Syrian state. Without Turkish support the Islamic State in Syria could not have been formed or existed. That Jeff Bezos' blog, the Washington Post, allows Erdogan to spew lies about Turkey's relations and his personal support for ISIS is bad. That it does so shortly before the strongly contested elections in Turkey is even worse. Why is it promoting a Muslim Brotherhood fanatic opposed by a secular opposition? Last year the Committee to Protect Journalists found that Turkey incarcerates more writers than any other state: Even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the fiercest critic of Saudi Arabia for the murder of Khashoggi, his government continued to jail more journalists than any other on the planet. [...] For the third consecutive year, every journalist imprisoned in Turkey is facing anti-state charges. The Washington Post's slogan, seen above Erdogan's op-ed, is "Democracy Dies in Darkness". The hypocrisy of publishing his screed stinks to high heaven. Posted by b on March 20, 2019 at 17:03 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page A US woman who was once told she would never be able to have children has welcomed a baby that has broken hospital records. Joy Buckley from New York gave birth to her daughter Harper, who weighed in a whopping 15 pounds and 5 ounces (6.9kg). Arnot Odgen Medical Center believe the 23.2 inches long baby is the largest on hospital record, and could potentially be the largest in New York state record. I knew she was gonna be big, but I didnt anticipate no 15-pound baby, said Joy. Allan Nichols: Last October, Comcast acquired Sky in the U.K. for about 15 times enterprise value. We thought this was excessive, but it shines a light on how undervalued the rest of the U.K. sector is. We've been big proponents of convergence, and BT has, with the acquisition of EE, become the converged operator, meaning that they own both fixed line and wireless networks. We think this will be a big advantage to BT. Convergence has also been important to Telefonica and Vodafone as competitors in other markets. Telefonica is the largest converged operator in Spain, which shows its value there. Likewise, Vodafone has agreed to pay 11.5 times EBITDA to Liberty Global for operations in four countries, which again shines value on these companies. Liberty Global itself only trades at 8.7 times EBITDA despite selling off part of its operations, and it owns Virgin Media, the largest cable operator in the U.K. A version of this article was published in the December 2018 issue of Morningstar ETFInvestor. Download a complimentary copy of Morningstar ETFInvestor by visiting the website. Narratives have been used to lure investors for centuries. Simple, compelling stories tap into our emotions, hijack our ability to think rationally, and persuade us to pursue investments that are unlikely to perform well. Persuasive narratives are prevalent with thematic exchange-traded funds. These funds attempt to capitalize on the growth of popular trends like cybersecurity or the spending habits of millennials, but they face several obstacles that might prevent them from delivering attractive performance. Over the next two years, the Island should outpace nearly every other province in the country when it comes to its rate of population growth. Consequently, the construction industry is set to surge this year, thanks to new housing developments on the Island, the Board stated, as quoted by The Canadian Press. Add to that the impressive tourism prospects and the elevated demand for P.E.I. products boosting exports and manufacturing, and economic growth in the province should continue to outpace the Canadian average -- a feat that P.E.I. has achieved every year since 2015. Read more: Mortgage delinquency in Atlantic Canada is at comfortable lows The Board also cited service-sector stability and growing export volume as boost factors for New Brunswick (economy predicted to expand 1.4% this year and 1.3% next year) and Nova Scotia (1.6% growth in 2019 and 2.1% in 2020). Meanwhile, rising oil production will contribute to Newfoundland and Labradors renewed robustness, which is likely to lead to 2.7% economic growth this year. If needed, we might go there, but right now were using different tools that we have to make sure we have this balance of creating social and affordable housing. But for that, I need both provincial and federal help. Plante noted that this circumspect approach as necessary, as despite record price growth, Montreal is still considered affordable compared to other Canadian and U.S. markets. We are this big city, but people can still afford to live downtown and I do want to protect that as mayor of Montreal, she said. A lot of investors are interested in Montreal, and so I need to find the right balance. So yes, I want to welcome those investments but at the same time, how do we make sure that anyone can afford to stay in the city? Read more: Chinese property buyers veering away from Toronto, Vancouver The city has long outstripped Toronto and Vancouver in terms of home price growth, according to February numbers from the latest edition of the TeranetNational Bank of Canada House Price Index. February saw a moderate drop in foreclosures marking the eighth consecutive annual decrease in foreclosure activity, according to ATTOM Data Solutions recent Foreclosure Market Report. The report showed a 3% drop from the previous month and an 11% year-over-year downturn from 2018. Only 54,783 US properties were listed as bank possessions, default notices, foreclosure filings or scheduled auctions. Banks repossessed 11,392 of these properties in February, down 7% from January and 12% from last year. In addition, 29,735 US properties began the foreclosure process in February, increasing 1% from January but still 9% below the level from a year ago. For all the advanced technologies Drillinginfo offers the oil and gas industry, the company knows there are times a glowing computer monitor just won't suffice. Sometimes the company's customers prefer an old-fashioned paper map. To fill that gap, the Austin-based company has turned to Midland Map Co. and is acquiring the 69-year-old Midland-based company. Tim Canon, Midland Map Co. manager, told the Reporter-Telegram in a conference call about the acquisition that he had been receiving emails from customers as word of the deal spread. "They asked if they can still purchase paper maps," he said. "They still like to roll out paper maps on their desk or the conference table or pin them up on the wall." Paper maps still will be available for purchase via Drillinginfo's website, said Silas Martin, the company's general manager of land products. That will be part of what he called multiple phases that will make Midland Map's treasure trove of maps and data instantly accessible online or through mobile applications. Martin said the acquisition is seen as supplementary and complementary to work Drillinginfo has already done and will bring contextual information to its platform. RELATED: Deal creating chain of oilfield man camps has closed "Our leasing and ownership information was not as strong," he said. "This will leverage 60-plus years of work, unlock the value of the information that has been in Midland Map's vaults. We can put that back to work." The combined entity will now be able to answer such customer questions as how to cure a gap in title research; which leases were taken adjacent to a subject tract for a given time period; when was the target tract partitioned and what did it look like before partition; and who may have owned property on or around the subject tract that the customer should know about. Canon said the company's primary focus will remain creating hand-generated maps of 70 Permian Basin counties -- whether they're maps showing lease and ownership, producing zones, wildcats or base maps. "Drillinginfo has made it clear they plan to keep everyone in place," he said. "They value our employees and have been so respectful of everyone." "Having Drillinginfo behind Midland Map has pushed us onto the world stage not just the Texas stage or the U.S. stage, he said. "We have worldwide exposure with the Drillinginfo name and presence." Martin - who on his first day on the job as a landman colored in a map created by Midland Map - said Drillinginfo has rolled out an online store. Customers can order digital or hard copies of Midland Map maps through its checkout process. Another phase will be PDF versions of Midland Map Co. lease and ownership maps dating back to the 1950s. They will be available on different platforms for customers running title searches. Yet another phase will be making these legacy maps available as layers on Drillinginfo's Web App. "Silas has a vision of this that he brought to the acquisition," Canon said. "He was a visionary and saw the opportunity with these legacy maps we have here to utilize them and offer them to landmen, geologists and engineers to help them fill the gaps in titles that are missing from county clerks' offices. The project is already started, and we're getting them up on the website as soon as possible. I'm excited to see how they're received." Drillinginfo also is bringing in new equipment to Midland Map, at 106 N. Marienfeld St., to try and fulfill a wish list, Martin said. He said the company is also expanding its Midland footprint by establishing a training center in the building so Drillinginfo customers or potential customers can come in, brush up on their skills on existing programs or preview new programs the company will roll out. A centuries-old kernel of corns journey lets us explore the Carbon, Water and Soils Lab, where samples are graphitized for radiocarbon dating. What secrets can a tiny corn kernel hold? How did a shell, likely from the Gulf of Mexico, end up in a 400-year-old refuse pit in Illinois? These are questions radiocarbon dating can solve. In the early 17th century, before European explorers made contact with the Oneota Nation, members of the tribe inhabited a village in what is now Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, Illinois. Skip forward to present day. Archaeologists from Notre Dame University excavating the site unearthed the kernels of corn and shells, which they sent to the Carbon, Water and Soils Lab for radiocarbon dating, hoping to learn more about mobility, trade and land use of the people who occupied the land. The Carbon, Water and Soils Lab is housed in the USDA Forest Services (USFS) Northern Research Station in Houghton, Michigan and is the graphitization lab for the Radiocarbon Collaborative, a partnership between Michigan Technological University, USFS and the W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility at University of California, Irvine. From a sample excavated at an archaeological site (large glass vial) to a piece of pure carbon (small glass vial). The Collaborative is much more than a lab running samples, however. Were an outreach organization. Were also responsible for educating people about the proper application of radiocarbon because its often misinterpreted or misapplied, said Kate Heckman, USFS research biological scientist and primary administrator of the Radiocarbon Collaborative. The Collaboratives goal is improving researchers access to radiocarbon analysis, and assisting those researchers with interpretation and publication of results. How does radiocarbon dating work? Radiocarbon is a radioactive isotope of carbon (14C), which is constantly created by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The radiocarbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to create radioactive carbon dioxide, consumed by plants during photosynthesis. Scientists can measure the amount of radiocarbon in an organic sample to determine the age of the sample and infer when the plant (or animal that ate it) died. The older the sample, the less radiocarbon is detected, because radiocarbon decays over time. Radiocarbon dating can be used for samples up to about 50,000 years old. Beyond that, there is not enough detectable radiocarbon. Kate Heckman is the administrator of the Radiocarbon Collaborative. Radiocarbon abundance of a sample will tell you a samples age this is helpful if you happen to be an archaeologist interested in dating how old what youve unearthed at a dig is, Heckman said. In earth systems science, radiocarbon dating is used to track how carbon cycles through the biosphere, such as carbon turnover in soils and its transport into lakes and oceans from streams. However, radiocarbon is not evenly distributed around the globe. Urban centers, with their increasing amounts of carbon dioxide pollution, are considered radiocarbon dead because the increased carbon creates a reservoir effect in organic tissues. The reservoir effect influences the radiocarbon signature, which means researchers could be hundreds or thousands of years off in their estimations. You dont just stick the sample in the machine and it tells you when the Los Angeles basin was first occupied, Heckman said. Samples must be analyzed within the context of how the sample was created and where it came from. The Radiocarbon Collaboratives goal is to help people understand the science behind radiocarbon dating to help people do better science by avoiding inaccurate dating. And because a picture (or in this case, video) is worth a thousand words, in the Live Lab Tour video, lab technicians walk viewers through the process of graphitization. Play Carbon, Water and Soils Lab Tour video Carbon, Water and Soils Lab Tour Expand The graphitization process But before a sample can be dated, it must be graphitized, which turns the organic material into solid carbon, through a process that involves a spectacular show of fire and ice. Paula Zermeno, the Carbon, Water and Soils Lab manager, estimates she has prepped more than 100,000 samples during her career. I think Ive graphitized a sample of just about everything that contains carbon, including everything from eyeball lenses and Viking toes to atmospheric carbon dioxide and soil organic matter, Zermeno said. The process to purify the samples by stripping away any modern carbon is straightforward: First Zermeno performs acid and base washes of the sample in this case, corn kernels before weighing the sample into a glass vial and adding copper oxide as an oxygen source. She takes the vial to the torching station, where she places it onto a vacuum line to remove any atmospheric carbon dioxide from the sample vial. Then she seals off the vial with a hydrogen-oxygen torch; the bright-white light of the extremely hot torch requires special safety goggles to avoid human eye damage. Once a sample is isolated, Zermeno slips the glass vial into a ceramic tube, which she places in a combustion furnace. She bakes the sample at 900 degrees Celsius for about four hours, during which time the sample combusts to carbon dioxide. Then Zermeno puts the glass vial onto a vacuum line where it is cracked open to release the carbon dioxide to the vacuum line. The vacuum line is fitted with various cold traps, used to further purify the carbon dioxide and move it down the vacuum line. First, a mixture of isopropanol and dry ice is used to freeze out water vapor that formed during sample combustion, separating water from carbon dioxide. Zermeno processes a sample on the vacuum line using liquid nitrogen. Using liquid nitrogen which, when spilled, skitters across the table like a hundred sparks Zermeno can freeze down the carbon dioxide to measure its mass (approximately 1 mg) and capture it in a reactor which contains an iron catalyst. Hydrogen gas is then added to the reactor. When heat is applied to the reactor, carbon dioxide is converted to solid graphite, which precipitates on the surface of the iron catalyst. The graphite and iron mixture is then pressed into the hole of an AMS (accelerator mass spectrometer) target. The sample is then shipped off for AMS analysis. And that's how a kernel of corn that lay inside a refuse pit for hundreds of years is converted to pure carbon in the form of graphite. And by analyzing that graphite, an archaeologist sees into the past. By the Numbers 50,000 years: Age of oldest sample that can be dated at the Carbon, Water and Soils Lab. 900 degrees Celsius: Temperature at which samples are combusted to convert organic material to carbon dioxide. 1 mg: Size of a graphite sample adsorbed to 5 mg of iron powder. 100,000: Number of samples Paula Zermeno has processed during her career. Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure. CHICAGO The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a prison sentence of less than seven years for a white Chicago police officer convicted of killing black teenager Laquan McDonald that many criticized as far too lenient. The 4-2 majority provided no explanation for its decision, which denies a rare bid by the Illinois attorney generals office and a special prosecutor to get the states highest court to toss a lower courts sentence. One judge dissented and one offered a partial dissent. McDonald was carrying a small knife and moving away from officers when Jason Van Dyke shot him in October 2014. Police video of the shooting that the city released in 2015 under court order showed Van Dyke firing 16 bullets into McDonald, many of them after the 17-year-old fell to the ground. Jurors in October convicted Van Dyke of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. The former carries a maximum 20-year prison term. Each count of aggravated battery carries up to 30 years. Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke for second-degree murder only, citing guidelines. Van Dyke likely would have received a stiffer sentence if hed been sentenced on the 16 counts of battery. The February request by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Kane County States Attorney Joseph McMahon argued that Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan got the guidelines wrong in his sentencing in January. Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. noted in his dissent that Gaughan pointed to a key 2004 Illinois Supreme Court case in justifying the sentence, but that he referred only to a dissenting opinion. A dissenting opinion is not the law of Illinois, Neville wrote. Indeed, it is the opposite. He added that allowing a sentence thats not grounded in the proper law undermines the publics sense of justice. The Illinois Supreme Courts decision was the latest chapter in a saga that has included massive protests, the firing of the police superintendent and the ouster of Cook Countys top prosecutor by voters a few months later. For the third time in as many years, President Trump has proposed a federal budget that slashes funds for the Environmental Protection Agency by 30 percent. Public health officials, climate scientists and other scientific experts have long warned about the dire consequences for human and environmental health that would result from a grossly underfunded EPA. And as he has since the earliest days of his administration, Trump is ignoring them. The Trump administrations open contempt of science and facts, and scientific institutions in America and the world over, is hardly limited to EPA Trumps budget proposal also called for draconian cuts to the National Science Foundation, NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and many more. But Trumps relentless attacks on the environment are particularly brazen. He routinely spreads false information about climate change. He has hired industry insiders and lobbyists for essential EPA positions. And his attacks on public health and environmental safeguards are so extreme as to arouse opposition even from industry. Among his transgressions: He appointed a former coal lobbyist to lead the EPA. He appointed to a top EPA scientific advisory position a toxicologist who argued with a straight face that air pollution isnt harmful. His has appointed former oil and gas lobbyists to key advisory posts in his administration. He appointed a prominent climate change denier to lead EPAs transition team. The American Pediatric Association warns that mercury pollution can cause birth defects and brain damage in children. Trumps EPA put childrens health at risk by attacking mercury rules for power plants. Every major power company association opposes the attack. A diverse coalition of science and environmental groups has voiced strong support for maintaining clean car standards in the United States that lower pollution, all while saving American families money. Trump is ignoring their advice and moving to roll back the rules. Even auto manufacturers are raising concerns with his decision. EPA and other federal agencies rely on the counsel of scientific experts to ensure policies are developed with sound science. Trump is eliminating essential science positions at EPA and other agencies. Trumps indifference to the consequences of human exposure to chemical hazards is readily apparent in his administrations woefully inadequate implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act. Trumps disregard for climate science is even more pronounced. Every major scientific organization in America NASA, the American Medical Association, the American Meteorological Association, to name just a few all agree climate change is real and caused by human activity. But Trump appears unmoved, and claims he does not know if its manmade. He routinely dismisses the increasingly dire climate reports released by the nations top climate scientists. His administration has even gone so far as to scrub mentions of climate change from federal agency websites. It is hard to overstate how much Americans need strong environmental protections to protect human health. Up to 10 million homes across America still get their drinking water through lead pipes in Flint, Michigan, and across the nation. According to the American Lung Association, 125 million Americans live in counties with unhealthy air quality. We need more, better protection from pollution, not less especially children, the elderly and others who are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of pollution. Meanwhile, recent reports from top scientific organizations make it abundantly clear that aggressive action is needed to address climate change. All of these pressing environmental problems continue to be ignored by the White House. And so long as Trump remains president, we can expect attacks on science-based environmental safeguards to continue. Thats why we need Congress to roundly reject his proposed cuts to EPA and fully fund this agency that is tasked with protecting human and environmental health. Settled science should transcend politics. Americans deserve environmental protections based on sound science. Anything less is unethical, and unacceptable. Ben Schneider is senior communications manager for Environmental Defense Fund. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) spoke at a hearing on the need to secure consumers personal data from breaches and cyberattacks and reiterated her support for the California Consumer Privacy Act. Feinstein was Wednesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are her words: I want to be clear, I think protecting individual privacy is critical and we must do all we can to give people control over their data. The two laws that were reviewing today are the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation and Californias Consumer Privacy Act. Our goal in this hearing should be to understand what impact these laws are having and how well theyre protecting our consumers. Its useful to remember, I think, what has brought us to this point. In the past few years, hundreds of millions of consumers have had their sensitive personal data stolen as a result of data breaches. The Equifax breach in 2018 compromised data for 146 million individuals. The Yahoo! breach in 2014 and the Marriott/Starwood breach in 2018 each affected half a billion people worldwide. Consumers are now just becoming aware just how insecure our personal information is with the expansion of smartphones, online services and even appliances in our homes and offices that we regularly use. For example, programs on smartphones can use geographic information to figure out where we are at any given moment and then sell it to nearby retailers and restaurants, vying for business, that want to promote coupons and discounts to entice individuals to buy from them. This can be a good thing if its done with the approval of the consumer. Last year, the New York Times revealed that there is now a thermometer to collect fever and symptom information from families and then sell that user data, and it was sold to Clorox. Clorox identified which zip codes were showing increases in fevers, and directed more ads for products like disinfecting wipes to those areas. While this kind of targeting may have a benefit for consumers, it also has serious implications for personal privacy especially when the data involves medical information. The reason this was in the news at all is that it crosses a murky line on how we reasonably expect online services to use very sensitive information that we entrust to them. I represent the state of California, birthplace to some of the most innovative companies in the world at the heart of the Internet revolution. California, though, is also home to some of the most heavily criticized companies for their collection of personal data. And as a result, California is home to the strongest state privacy law in the nation. In fact, one of our panelists, Alastair Mactaggart, seated before us today, assisted with the drafting of this law. Europes law went into effect last year, impacting virtually every company of any size operating in Europe. Companies are also gearing up to comply with Californias law which will go into effect next year, and that must happen. There has been some pushback against these laws with companies saying the requirements are too cumbersome to comply with and the penalties too stiff for even unintentional violations. In addition, some complain that the opt-in consent requirements in the European law result in confusion to consumers. Others have complained that Californias law is too narrow and does not go far enough to limit abuses by companies that collect data from the consumer directly. Let me say again, its my belief that individuals should have as much control as possible over their personal data. I commend the California law for protecting most California residents. But I also believe affirmative opt-in consent should be the standard, and thats a position I have taken for years not opt-out. Companies should also be required to protect their customers personal data with a heightened degree of care, and should be held responsible should that data directly or through cyber breach end up in the wrong hands. I will not support any federal privacy bill that weakens the California standard. I also believe that any federal legislation should include data breach notification requirements. I have had legislation on this issue Mr. Chairman, going back to 2003, and we cant get it through and thats notifying people when their data is breached. Consumer data privacy is a fundamental issue facing all of us. I welcome the discussion from our panelists to hear about their views on the pros and cons of these laws. And Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for this hearing and having the Judiciary Committee begin to hear more about this important topic. You know, as all of the high tech spreads, the protection for peoples rights increases and medical data protection, I think, heads the list. Thank you very much. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. Plainview Police are searching for a male suspect believed to be connected to two local Allsup's robberies within the past three weeks. A robbery was reported at the Allsup's location at 2620 Olton Road on Friday just before 1:30 a.m. Beto O'Rourke's ability to win the White House could be built on a fund-raising process from his 2018 Senate race in Texas. Shortly after entering the 2020 Democratic field for president earlier this month, his campaign announced it had raised more than $6.1 million online within a day of his campaign announcement. That is the highest first-day amount reported by any 2020 presidential candidate. O'Rourke spokesman Chris Evans also tweeted that that monetary return came "without a dime" from political action committees, corporations or special interests. Click through the gallery above to see how which states made the highest number of contributions to Texas House and Senate races through ActBlue from Jan. 2017 to Oct. 2018. So, how did O'Rourke get off to a fiscally advantageous start in the race? Part of the answer is ActBlue, a non-profit that, according to the organization's website, seeks to "democratize power and help small-dollar donors make their voices heard in a real way." Even though it did not end in victory, Beto O'Rourke's 2018 campaign is proof of the national fund-raising organization's ability to raise tens of millions of dollars for Democratic candidates. From Jan. 2017 through mid-Oct. 2018, the congressman from El Paso raised roughly $61.6 million in individual campaign donations (according to data from the Federal Election Commission). 73 percent of that amount (roughly $45.4 million) came through ActBlue (according to information the organization filed to the Federal Election Commission). And 48 percent (almost $22 million) of that $45.4 million came from states other than Texas. Those figures were determined through financial analysis by fivethirtyeight.com. The website also explains that "because ActBlue operates as a legal conduit a federal political committee that passes contributions through to other committees it does have to disclose the donors who give to federal political committees through its platform, regardless of the size of the contribution, which provides a window into the small-donor boom." And the organization didn't just help O'Rourke. The slideshow above shows the top 10 states that provided the highest number of individual contributions to Texas Senate and House races (from Jan. 2017 to mid-October of 2018). Those figures are based on calculations and analysis performed by fivethirtyeight.com. Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. After voicing the invocation, Regent Corky Terrell called the Mary McCoy Baines Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to order at the Plainview Country Club on March 13. A seated luncheon followed. Terrell led the group in the opening ritual. She then read the President General's message on "Spring Renewal and Change." April 9 marks the 80th anniversary of Marian Anderson's historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial brought about by DAR policy of allowing only white artists to perform in Constitution Hall. This became a milestone in the civil rights movement when the policy was changed. Changes will also be evident on June 26-30 when the Continental Congress is held. All DAR members are urged to attend. Chairman Shirley Scott gave the National Defense Report on the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers founded in 1779. Today it is one of the largest engineering operators in the world. It controls 25 percent of United States hydro power, military construction and the waterways of the U. S. In report of officers, Registrar Shirley Scott said that all of Renee Williams' supplements were approved. The chapter has others still pending. Librarian Carolyn Courtney presented a book entitled "Massachusetts and Maine in the American Revolution," which will be presented to Unger Library in memory of Ramona Roberts. In other business, Terrell reminded members of the Caprock Genealogical Conference on April 6 at the Plainview Country Club. She also said that a new PDF application form is available on the DAR Members' Website. The program was presented by Terrell dressed in period costume as Martha Washington. In her monologue, Martha related the life of her husband from his youth as a member of colonial aristocracy through his path to becoming "father of his country." Terrell thanked hostesses Cornelia McDonough and Sheila Massie. The next meeting will be April 10. As a petrochemical fire in Deer Park continues to blaze after tanks caught fire over the weekend at the Intercontinental Terminals Company, billows of smoke are visible including on radar images. Though employees at one surrounding chemical company were sent home Tuesday, the air quality readings in the area are below hazardous levels, an ITC spokesperson said. Amid a winter marked by heavy rain, a profusion of California poppies has blanketed the hills of Riverside County, and you can even see their eye-popping orange color from a plane inflight. An SFGATE reader captured the spectacular floral display from aboard a plane that took off from Los Angeles International Airport at around noon on March 15, and the images are going viral in the My Home is California Facebook group where members share photos showing off the Golden State's beauty. The so-called "super bloom" is centered around the small town of Lake Elsinore, and it turns out the best way to see the wildflowers might be from an airplane or in the photos above. The town has been overwhelmed by Disneyland-size crowds and on some days traffic has come to a complete halt on Interstate 15 passing by the flowery hillsides. On Sunday, the crowds swelled to "unbearable" levels and the city temporarily closed access to the flower-viewing area. "We have brought in all available staff, as many outside traffic controllers that we could, more shuttles, and our small City can not sustain crowds of this magnitude," the City of Lake Elsinore shared on Facebook on Saturday, before the closure. "The wait times are increasing, the shuttles are stuck in traffic, and we encourage you to consider waiting for another day." ALSO: 'Unbearable': California town reopens access to super bloom after closure due to massive crowds Rain is a key ingredient in the recipe for spectacular wildflower displays, and this winter all of California was drenched as storm after storm swept the state. Botanists predicted wildflowers would pop up, especially in Southern California, because the desert landscape has fewer invasive plants and grasses that push out wildflowers. Lake Elsinore was the first place to see a so-called "super bloom," a colloquial term describing wildflower spectacles that exceed a typical season. Anza Borrego was the second spot to experience an abundance of flowers, including Bigelow's Monkey Flower, purple Sand Verbena, white and yellow Evening Primrose and desert lilies. The bloom in Lake Elsinore started the last week of February, and now the hillsides are carpeted in velvety orange. "The color is super vibrant," Jonathan Reinig, the natural resources manager for Riverside County Parks, told SFGATE. "You fee like you need to shade your eyes from it." Photos of the display flooded social media, and Reinig says the county posted signage encouraging shutterbugs to tread lightly around the flowers. "People love to get out there and get their Instagram photos," he says. "They'll plop themselves in the middle and trample the flowers. People need to stay on the path." The super bloom was originally met with excitement in the community, which is about a 90-minute drive from both Los Angeles and San Diego. But problems began surfacing, including people leaving trails and trampling flowers. I like pizza. You like pizza. We all like pizza. But who would expect to find a slice from an international competition winner at a food truck parked along Interstate 35 in Selma? Well, now I do. Mia Marcos Pizza is fresh off a big win at the International Pizza Challenge, the competition segment of the International Pizza Expo held in early March in Las Vegas. Hometown heroes and Mia Marcos co-owners Derek Sanchez and Joey Hernandez bested a whole slew of competitors in the Roman pizza category this year. Mia Marcos Pizza previously took top honors in the USA Caputo Cup, another pizza baking competition, for its traditional cheese pizza in 2017 and 2018. The Mia Marcos operation is an impressive sight: The trailer is equipped with a brick oven so heavy it had to be fitted with dual rear axles; a second pizza oven is mounted in a pickup truck that hauls the trailer. Customers dont seem to mind the unconventional approach a line 40 people long formed within minutes of the business opening on my recent visit. Sanchez is a spine and joint physician by day, and brings serious academic research credentials to pizza. For him, it begins with the dough, which undergoes a slow, seven-day fermenting process before baking. The effort yield a feathery crust with just the right balance of tender chew and thin, crispy edges. I ordered a pie called the Hotta Soppressata, which is topped with cured pork, cheese, fresh basil and a ribbon of fiery chile-infused honey. Its one of about a dozen combinations Sanchez and Hernandez sling from their mobile ovens, and more than enough reason for me to hang out in Selma more often. Mia Marcos Pizza is open from 5 to 11 p.m. every Thursday at Old Main Ice House at 110 N. Main St. in Cibolo. The truck is at 15939 Interstate 35 in Selma from 5 to 10 p.m. every Friday and Saturday and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Sundays. More at 210-667-8441, miamarcos.com or Facebook: @miamarcospizza. NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the locations of the truck. Paul Stephen is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen By Scott Reeves, China Daily | Mar. 20, 2019 The US departments of transportation and justice are reportedly reviewing how Boeing Co's 737 Max aircraft was certified for commercial flight prior to fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, both of which might be linked to inadequate pilot training on the plane's anti-stall system. Dennis Tajer, spokesman for American Airlines' pilots union, told the news website Quartz that training for the use of the anti-stall system was limited to "an iPad lesson for an hour". Since the Lion Air crash of a Max 8 in Indonesia in October, pilots have met with instructors and "requested, if not demanded, simulators" for training, Tajer said. American Airlines, which flies the 737 Max, said, "pilots were required to receive some additional training on the Max 8, which included an hour lesson on some differences. Additional training wasn't required, as the 737-800 and the Max 8 have 'same type' certification." James Hall, former chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates plane crashes and other accidents, said pilots weren't trained on flight simulators in the use of the anti-stall device. "The simulator is the fundamental tool for training pilots," Hall, now an aviation consultant in Washington, told China Daily. "At present, there is not an approved simulator for this equipment," he said. "So we ended up with pilots getting training on a hand-held device. I think that will be one of the things carefully looked at and it may delay the return of this plane to service." The transportation and justice departments' investigations, apparently proceeding on civil and criminal tracks, could raise questions about the growing use of Boeing's employees to certify the safety of its own aircraft with limited oversight from federal regulators, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing "people familiar with the matter". The newspaper said the subpoena seeking documents listed a prosecutor from the Justice Department's Criminal Division as a contact. The US Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Justice didn't return calls from China Daily seeking comment. A grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena on March 11 seeking information on the development of the jetliner, as well as related documents and correspondence. The Justice Department's Criminal Division wants the documents turned over to investigators this month, the Wall Street Journal reported. A spokesman for Boeing declined to comment. Separately, the Seattle Times reported on Sunday that federal regulators had delegated much of the plane's safety review to Boeing and that the company's analysis contained key flaws. In an opinion piece published last week in The New York Times, Hall questioned the US aircraft industry's use of its own employees to certify the safety of an airplane, a departure from previous practices at the FAA. Hall told China Daily on Monday that the same lack of government oversight may have led to problems with Boeing's 737 Max. "The certification process is at the heart of the aviation industry's safety culture," Hall said. "The US government is built on checks and balances, and if we don't have checks and balances in the aviation industry, we have problems. "I think the process may have outstripped the ability of Congress to maintain a strong regulatory system," he said. "We put a man on the moon and we're looking at self-driving vehicles - we can (solve this problem) and we need federal oversight." Flight recorder data recovered from the planes show "clear similarities" between the crash on March 10 of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 that killed 157 people and the crash in October of a Lion Air flight, also a Boeing 737 Max 8, that killed 189, Ethiopian transportation officials said on Sunday. While the causes of the crashes have not yet been determined, both planes flew erratically after experiencing difficulty with the planes' anti-stall system shortly after takeoff. Pilots said they first learned of potential difficulties with the new anti-stall system after the Lion Air crash. The FAA then ordered 737 Max manuals to be updated, and Boeing issued information telling pilots how to override the system. The US and 42 other nations, including China, have grounded the plane following the two crashes. It doesnt matter how perfect your home is if your listing photos dont stand out, potential buyers wont come by to take a look. In our series "Lessons From Listing Photos," we dissect the smart updates sellers have made to their homes, and how their listing pics highlight the homes best assets. This Houston home was built in 1989, and it showed. Its interiors checked all the boxes of bad design cliches of the '90s, including brass accents, shabby chic touches, and a color palette of beige tones. But it got a total makeover in 2016, and in 2018 it sold for $300,000 more than what the owners paid in 2015. Boo-ya! To find out how they pulled it offand how you can make that kind of profit on your remodel we went to the experts. Here's where they say the owners made the biggest impact. White it out: The biggest difference in the bathroom is a simple change in wall color; it's amazing how a few coats of white paint can modernize a space. "This bathroom received a very notable update just by repainting the walls white. Out with the old yellow walls and in with a fresh and clean palette of travertine, granite, and white," says Emma ODonnell of Coolabah Designs. "The fixtures in matte black suddenly pop with this new update." Property stylist Karen Gray-Plaisted of Design Solution KGP agrees: "Although the finishes are the same, this is a great example of how impactful color is when you sell." As for staging tips, O'Donnell also notes that the owners made a wise decision to nix the tchotchkes. "They removed all the decorative elements the flowers, the plate, and the old-fashioned rug and let the room speak for itself," adds O'Donnell. Big bedroom improvements: The blah-colored carpet and light yellow walls in the original bedroom were enough to make the space look dated. O'Donnell notes that the fresh light-gray paint and repainted ceiling fan do a lot to liven up the room. The new, wall-to-wall sisal carpet was a good replacement for the '80s-era brown carpeting, and it goes well with the natural bamboo blinds. Tiffany Cobb of Tiffany Rene Interior Design is a big fan of the new carpeting. "There are so many underfoot options out there these days, and its refreshing to see when homeowners venture away from the typical high-pile carpet installations to exploring more natural fiber, wall-to-wall alternatives," she says. "They're eco-friendly and a durable option for high-traffic areas." Good riddance to the rug: The den got a new color scheme and a new railing around the balcony, but the biggest triumph is the change in flooring. "This spacious den received a dramatic update with a fresh and clean, light gray and white motif. The old paintings and decorative elements are put away and replaced with a state-of-the-art smart TV above the newly tiled fireplace," says O'Donnell. "Most importantly, the oversized red and blue Persian rug, which overwhelmed the room, is gone, to highlight beautifully updated wooden floors." Gray-Plaisted was also happy to see the rug go away. "Reducing the size of the rug allows buyers to see how spacious the area is," she says. "A less formal style allows buyers to feel more at home." Modernizing the kitchen: One of the biggest and perhaps most important updates was in the kitchen. "Taking the kitchen from the 1990s to what buyers are looking for today was a smart move," says Gray-Plaisted. "The 'after' transformation shows a huge improvement to the flow of the kitchen and connecting rooms." O'Donnell says the new rectangular island and lighter walls did a lot to bring the kitchen into this decade. "The '90s light fixture was replaced with two transitional pendants, which instantly modernize the space," she adds. Cobb was impressed by the streamlined cabinetry. "Raising the cabinetry height to the ceiling maximizes the drama and visual interest of the field tile," she says. Curb appeal: "After all the updates on the inside of the house, the exterior needed to showcase the same design sensibility," says O'Donnell. "The brick was painted white, black-painted shutters were added to the front windows, and suddenly the house was a modern and refreshed version of itself." But the painted brick wasn't the only exterior enhancement that makes a difference. The landscape also got a major overhaul, and O'Donnell says that likely impressed buyers, too. "The front yard was further opened up by removing the old philodendrons and other smaller bushes. Those were replaced with pampas grasses, which require less maintenance and allow more light into the downstairs of the house," O'Donnell says. The post Lessons From Listings Photos: A Home Stuck in the '90s Gets a Major Glow-Up appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. UPDATE: Shelter-in-place alert issued for Deer Park after high benzene levels detected 6:50 p.m. update A fireball erupted at the Intercontinental Terminal Co. several hours after fire crews extinguished the days-long petrochemical blaze, causing black smoke to rise from the industrial site once again. An ITC spokeswoman attributed the soaring flames to a flare-up in a tank containing xylene, which was one of the first storage containers to catch fire. There was likely a break in the foam being poured on the tank, she said. Vapor can then ignite when it hits hot metal, she added. Deer Park Emergency Services Director Robert Hemminger said the fire was extinguished within 30 seconds. A strip of smoke, thinner than what had stretched across the Houston region since Sunday, poured out of the terminal site for several minutes before dissipating. The spokeswoman said similar flare-ups could continue to happen as crews spray foam among the razed chemical tanks. Earlier story below The cause of the dayslong chemical fire at a Deer Park plant remains under investigation as emergency crews douse what's left of the now-extinguished blaze and prepare for clean-up, company officials said Wednesday. Fire crews extinguished the blaze at Intercontinental Terminals Co. about 3 a.m., almost four days after it started on Sunday morning and which caused a plume of black smoke to linger over the Houston area. How long the cleanup will take is unclear. Firefighters are continuing to spray foam on the 15 tanks in the affected area to prevent the blaze from sparking again and steam and smoke may still be visible from the area. Eleven of the tanks, many containing gasoline components, were affected by fire. "Reignition is possible, but with every passing hour, our risk of that is reduced," ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said Wednesday. "Our goal is to be good neighbors good neighbors to our industry, good neighbors to our community. We're sorry for what has happened." ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Deer Park company battling fire accused of intentionally polluting water during Harvey No serious injuries have been reported since the fire started at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Air quality levels were still at moderate levels Wednesday morning, according to AirNow.gov. The Environmental Protection Agency is conducting air and water quality tests at the fire site and in the plume, EPA on-site coordinator Adam Adams said. The most concerning materials are particulates and "volatile organic compounds," but no hazardous levels have been found. "Had we gotten some significant results that were hazardous, we would share that information with our stakeholders in the community as soon as possible to take action," Adams said at a news conference Wednesday morning at ITC's Pasadena plant. The EPA is also looking into the potential impact at the Houston Ship Channel, Adams said. Water quality tests there have not yet been returned, determining what chemicals might have infiltrated the runoff. Adams declined to comment on whether the EPA would spark its own investigation after the fact and said the organization is more concerned with the immediate monitoring for now. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: In Deer Park, 3 days of burning and a round of golf The difference-maker between Tuesday morning when officials walked back earlier estimates and declined to say when the fire would be snuffed out was an offensive approach to the firefighting, Richardson said. "They continued that proactive attack, tank by tank, and it was successful," she said. It's unknown how full the 11 damaged tanks were prior to the fire, and how full they are now. The tank that sparked the incident 80-8, a tank of naphtha in the middle of the 15-tank block was the fullest, with 72,000 barrels. Another had 60,000 barrels, and several others were well below that, said David Wascome, vice president of operations at ITC. The tanks are able to be filled to 80,000 barrels. The tanks that burned contained gasoline blends, base oil, pyrolysis gasoline, naptha and xylene. Two of the tanks were empty, officials said. The foam that is being sprayed in the plant is effectively creating a seal covering the chemicals, Wascome said. "We're treating it as if those could be VOCs (volatile organic compounds)," he said. The amount of damage to the tanks is unknown. Many of them will have to be demolished, Wascome said. Investigators with the Harris County Fire Marshal's office are on site to help determine the cause of the fire, Richardson said, Nicole Hensley contributed to this report Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. While petrochemical fires weren't his specialty, thick, black smoke over Houston from the ITC fire in Deer Park brought back memories of the city's own superhero Paul "Red" Adair. That fire was declared extinguished early Wednesday morning after about three days of burning. Adair, who died in 2004, was a well-known oil well firefighter, whose rise to fame in the 60s came as he developed new technology to cap off (up until then) uncontrollable oil well fires. DEER PARK: Emergency crews prepare for cleanup A 2016 Houston Chronicle feature on Adair highlighted the Houstonian's life. The firefighter grew up poor in Houston's Heights, dropping out of Reagan High School (now Heights High School) in 1929 to support his family by working at a drug store and laying down railroad tracks. Those jobs left him unfulfilled, so he started working in oil fields with Otis Pressure Control Co. In 1938, he joined firefighting pioneer Myron Kinley, but World War II called him away for the next eight years. He returned to work for Kinley in 1946. More than 10 years later, Adair formed the Red Adair Co. He and perfected a technique using dynamite to subdue flames. Because of this, he became the world's premier oil well fire fighter. POSSIBLE CAUSE: Anonymous ITC worker reveals how blaze potentially started He went to the Sahara Desert in 1961 to fight a raging fire later named the Devil's Cigarette Lighter. He flew to the North Sea in 1977 to battle the Ekofisk blowout, for which he was reportedly paid $6.6 million, though he later denied the sum. Eleven years later, he was off the coast of Scotland, grappling with a huge explosion on the Piper Alpha rig. Adair's reputation grew with every headline, and the nature of the work inevitably lent itself to hyperbole. His red hair - and insistence on outfitting everything from his firefighting gear to his office furniture in that color - made for an easy nickname. "Send for Red Adair!" ran one headline in November 1962. A few months prior, the Wall Street Journal featured Adair: "A Red-Haired Texan Does Brisk Business Taming Wild Oil Wells." In 1972, the Associated Press declared Adair loved to "outsmart danger." The public's biggest recollection of Adair is possibly the 1968 movie "Hellfighters," which featured John Wayne's portrayal of Adair. The two quickly became close friends as Adair oversaw production. In 1993, after 34 years, Adair sold his company but remained an active consultant until his death in 2004, at the age of 89. Reporting from Lauren Caruba was included in this article. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message By Aaron Chong, Channel NewsAsia | Mar. 19, 2019 Malaysian low-cost carrier group AirAsia is looking to diversify its business and working towards being a tech and services company. Group chief executive Tony Fernandes said that in order to achieve this, AirAsia must boost its ancillary businesses - particularly on its website, its main booking platform. "AirAsia.com is more than just selling airline tickets. We had a record number of hotel rooms being sold last week. So now I'm pushing the very powerful AirAsia platform, which we are seeing online travel agents do - that I can be an online travel agent as well," he told Channel NewsAsia on the sideline of a regional fintech event on Tuesday (Mar 19). Mr Fernandes described that it is hard to predict what percentage of the airline's revenue will come from its ancillary business, but he admitted that AirAsia can improve its sales on services such as car rentals and holiday packages via its website. "We now have the same potential to sell hotel rooms. I can do some crazy things. I can say I can buy hotels, book a hotel room (with us) and I can give you a free flight. Hotels can be as large as AirAsia tickets," he said. Mr Fernandes cited Indonesian ride sharing firm Gojek, which he said "has showed him the way" where previously they only sold rides, but now have other services as well. On the AirAsia's operations, he said that its long-haul sister carrier, AirAsia X, could launch a new service from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles via Osaka "within the year" after it takes delivery of its first Airbus A330neo aircraft. At present, AirAsia X's only United States destination is to Honolulu, which is also served via Osaka using A330-300s. Within Malaysia, Mr Fernandes said that AirAsia "has never looked at what Malindo or Malaysia Airlines are doing" and is confident of further growth in the Malaysian market. "We looked at what the market can take in terms of growth and we have just added capacity. I should not focus on my competitors, but instead on what is the growth potential of the Malaysian market and we still think the growth potential is very large," he said. Today, AirAsia and its various subsidiaries carry about 100 million passengers each year. "The passengers are there. It's about getting the right product and the right model." Authorities on Wednesday identified the soldier found dead at Fort Sam Houston on Monday night. Sgt. Cody L. Bowman, 25, was found dead in his car near Salado Creek Park around 10 p.m., according to a news release from Joint Base San Antonio. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Bowman was assigned to the Brooke Army Medical Center's Warrior Transition Battalion. His death had initially prompted a lockdown after authorities a suspicion device next to his body. That device was later determined to be an inert grenade training simulator, according to the news release. No foul play is suspected in Bowman's death, but authorities said Wednesday the case is still under investigation. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he's taken on a more direct role in the department's disciplinary process during a press conference called in the wake of more deputy misconduct. He also announced Wednesday the terminations of Sgt. Wesley Anderson and Lloyd H. Mickens, a probationary deputy. Anderson was fired after deputies became aware of an alleged assault he was involved at an H-E-B in August 2018. The criminal case against him is still pending. Over the weekend, Mickens was involved with an off-duty disturbance that also involved assault allegations, Salazar said. Mickens was terminated because he was uncooperative with the sheriff office's internal investigators, Salazar said. "I'm not tolerating it," Salazar said. "We terminated him effective immediately." FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox That follows the arrest of a jailer, Corporal Ryan Storm Ferrell on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on St. Patrick's Day. Salazar delivered a notice of termination to Ferrell shortly after the arrest and then mentioned in a news release that on Friday he fired Vanessa Flores, a dispatcher, and deputies Adrian Parra and Joseph Martinez for their own alcohol-related troubles. All of the deputies, besides Mickens, can appeal the terminations and potentially return to service for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Salazar has been open about deputy misconduct since he's been elected in 2016, but the issue has been pervasive. In 2018 alone, 23 deputies were arrested on a variety of charges ranging from DWI to family violence. "We recognize the need to arrest deputies sometimes," Salazar said. "However, that's not my only approach to things." RELATED: Bexar County jailer convicted in 2016 excessive force incident Salazar has taken several steps to curb the arrests, like making stricter hiring requirements and and hiring a psychologist to help deputies with personal issues. He has also increased training and recently sent some of the trainers to New Orleans to learn about EPIC, a police peer intervention program there that stands for Ethical Policing is Courageous. "We're doing the things as a command staff that we need to head in the right direction," he said. Salazar has also become more involved with the disciplinary process since Chief Deputy Don Tijerina announced his retirement. "I'm more directly involved, I was the final say-so on (the recent terminations)," Salazar said. "While that wasn't part of the process before, it is now." Because of his extensive career in law enforcement, Salazar said he was not caught off-guard by the problems plaguing the sheriff's office. "It's going to happen at any law enforcement agency, you're going to have people run afoul from the law," Salazar said. "What separates you from the pack is how you handle it. you don't sweep it under the rug, you confront it head-on, you deal with it openly and honestly." Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA A 19-year-old New Braunfels man will likely not be criminally charged after he fatally struck a pedestrian pushing a shopping cart on Wednesday, according to police. New Braunfels police responded to the crash in the 2100 block of Interstate 35 southbound frontage road around 1:15 a.m., officials said. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in locating Andreen McDonald, the 29-year-old San Antonio woman who went missing earlier this month and is believed to be dead. McDonald was last seen alive on Feb. 28. She was reported missing March 1 after she didn't show up to work. Her husband, 40-year-old Andre Sean McDonald, is a suspect in her disappearance. On March 3, the Air Force Major was arrested on a tampering with evidence charge and booked into the Bexar County Jail, where he remains on a $2 million bail. His attorneys recently filed a motion for his bail to be reduced to a more appropriate amount for the third-degree felony charge. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has said McDonald is believed to be dead. Her blood and hair were found in the couple's master bathroom, and search warrants revealed Andre McDonald purchased a shovel, ax, trash bags, gloves and gasoline shortly after her disappearance. Burn pits were also found in the backyard of the McDonald's home. "It led us to believe that these were implements that were going to be used to dispose of a body," Salazar said previously. On Express-News.com: Attorneys seeks reduced bail for husband as search continues for missing woman Search parties scoured areas around the McDonald home and near Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis. Volunteers have not discovered any signs of her body. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867. Crime Stoppers may pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect responsible for McDonald's disappearance. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns Two people were arrested Wednesday in connection with a months-long car burglary scheme in which they stole $20,000 worth of property, San Antonio police said. Xandria Rodriguez, 32, and Steven Ramirez, 31, face felony vehicle burglary charges. The duo is accused of committing at least eight vehicle burglaries on the West Side near Loop 1604, Culebra Road and Bandera Road since October, police said. Over the course of the burglary spree, Rodriguez and Ramirez acquired a multitude of personal property and power tools, police said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox "I'm talking everything you need to build a house," San Antonio Police Officer Carlos Ortiz, a spokesman for the department, said. Of the $20,000 in stolen property, $8,000 has been returned to its owners, Ortiz said. San Antonio police and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers secured arrest warrants for the two suspects and arrested them during a traffic stop on Wednesday. RELATED: SAPD: 2 armed suspects at large following robbery spree, shooting on NW side A search warrant for the couple's residence later revealed the hoard of stolen items. Any residents who believe they have been victimized by Ramirez and Rodriguez and have filed a police report are asked to call SAPD's Property Crimes Unit at 210-207-8326. Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns San Antonio police made a rare arrest in a credit card skimming case after finding a suspect's DNA on one of the devices, authorities said. Walter Leyva-Galindo, 31, was charged with unlawful use of an electronic device and possessing a criminal instrument, jail records showed. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Police found the skimmer on Sept. 12, 2018, at a Circle K gas station located at 16555 Huebner Road, according to Leyva-Galindo's arrest affidavit. The device was processed for DNA and sent to a crime lab, according to the affidavit. On Jan. 28, investigators were notified that there the DNA was a match for Leyva-Galindo. After ensuring he did not work for the gas station or the company that services the pumps, authorities arrested Leyva-Galindo. His bail was set at $20,000. Skimmers are devices that attach to a gas pump's or ATM's card-reading fixture. They pull customers' credit card information, which thieves can usually retrieve via a bluetooth connection and use to commit fraud. On ExpressNews.com: SAPD: Gas pumps the 'weak link' in threefold spike of credit card skimmers They are installed within the pay terminal so most are not visible to customers. San Antonio police and the Secret Service work together on skimming cases. Though the coordination has led to a handful of arrests, they don't happen as frequently as police would like, San Antonio Police Lt. Marcus Booth previously said. "They're tough cases to make," Booth said. "Catching them (installing skimmers) in real-time is hard, and video is either nonexistent or lousy." In 2018, police found 235 credit card skimmers. In the first two months of 2019, police have found 36 skimmers at gas stations across the city. Click through the slideshow to see where police found skimmers in February 2019. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA How do you answer hatred? How should you respond when your political opponents assault you with insult, stereotype and contempt? Thats the moral question we all have to answer during this election campaign. Hatred has become the defining emotion of our political life. As my colleague Thomas B. Edsall reported last week, according to a recent paper, 42 percent of the people in each party regard their opposition as downright evil. Nearly 20 percent of both Democrats and Republicans believe that their political adversaries lack the traits to be considered fully human they behave like animals. Roughly 20 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans say that the world would be better off if large numbers of the other party died. Some people believe that fire can be fought only with fire. If the other side is going after you with full viciousness, youve got to find a leader who can do the same to them. This is a knife fight. This is the argument white evangelicals made in deciding to back Donald Trump. Were under siege. Hell fight for us. And this is the argument many of the Democratic campaigns are already making. Republicans are irredeemable. Racism is ubiquitous. Capitalist greed is ubiquitous. We need someone who can match Trump blow for blow the indignation of Bernie Sanders, the confrontational, prosecutorial style of Kamala Harris. Other people are in the as-they-go-low-we-go-high camp. People in this group argue that if you meet fire with fire all you will do is unleash an inferno that will destroy everything you care about. People in this camp believe that after Trump, Americans yearn for a moral cleansing. You succeed politically when you appeal to voters basic decency. So far, Cory Booker is the candidate who has placed the biggest bet on this latter argument. He agrees with many of his rivals on policy, but he argues that how you behave is just as important as what you propose. Three emotions run through Bookers campaign. The first is an unabashed patriotism, and with it the conviction that despite our differences, Americans are still connected by sacred bonds. Patriotism is love of country, and you cannot love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women, he told an Iowa audience in February. Republican or Democrat we are brothers and sisters under the skin. The second is the dogged but radical hopefulness that he inherited from the black church. Booker uses religious categories more naturally than any other candidate: grace, faith, sacrificial love, the command to love your neighbor as yourself, the awareness that love has a redemptive power to cast out fear. Love means that I see you, I see your worth, I see your dignity, Booker said at that rally last month. Your destiny is my destiny. The third emotion is simple gratitude. Booker had to overcome challenges in life, and he has seen many more, but his family story is a success story. The church raised money for his grandmother to go to school. His parents worked at IBM. He was elected class president in high school before going off to Stanford and Yale Law. Others see Americas institutions as systems of oppression, but Booker calls the founders imperfect geniuses. America needs reform, but our inheritance is a precious one. The knife-fight view is correct if you believe that war is our permanent state if you believe that our evolutionary roots sentence us to inevitable tribal conflict and the only choice is conquer or be conquered. But Id say that Booker has a fuller and more realistic view of our situation. Fanaticism is a disease that grows out of existential anxiety. It grows when people fear that they are being delegitimized. It grows when people are isolated and insulated from one another. The disease is in our context and not in our souls. And that context can be changed with better leadership. I write this to you from Nebraska City, Neb., just over the Iowa line. I had lunch with 15 locals, many probably Trump supporters and some probably not. But it didnt come up. The idea that any of these good people are downright evil because of some political affiliation is ridiculous and a sign of how deranged our discourse has become. When youre in the midst of everyday life, the idea that you can deal with one group or another only through condemnation and attack is absurd. You dont build a better society by turning yourself into a rotten human being. China Aviation Daily | Mar. 19, 2019 Japan Airlines Co., Ltd., ("JAL") and Travelport Worldwide ("Travelport"), a leading travel technology company, today agreed to form a joint venture to take ownership of Travelport Japan K.K. ("Travelport Japan") and JAL's 100% owned subsidiary, Axess International Network, Inc. ("Axess"). Under the unified Travelport Axess brand, the joint venture will operate a Global Distribution System (GDS) tailored to the needs of the Japanese travel industry. The proposed joint venture, which will operate under the brand name Travelport Axess, will combine Axess' expertise in Japan and Travelport's global technology leadership. Travelport Axess will continue to offer travel agents services through Axess' GDS platform, "Axess", and enable access to Travelport's GDS platforms, "Apollo" and "Galileo". The proposed joint venture will provide online, mobile and corporate travel propositions including global booking and expense management tools as well as access to New Distribution Capability (NDC) content, offering Japanese travel agencies and their customers the best of locally developed products with best in class global connectivity and capabilities. Travelport has worked closely with and provided core systems to Axess under technical collaboration arrangements since 2012 and has established a trusted relationship with JAL. JAL is pleased to partner with Travelport in this joint venture due to Travelport's focus on meeting the needs of its travel agency customers, demonstrating JAL's strong commitment to continue to work closely with Japan's travel agents. For Travelport, this joint venture will strengthen its position in Japan's growing international travel industry 1 .Travelport Axess will benefit from a team of Japan-based service agents and product specialists uniquely able to deliver products tailored to customer needs. Through combining the strengths of the two companies, Travelport Axess aims to build a strong position and plans to become the leading GDS provider in Japan. Yoriyuki Kashiwagi, Japan Airlines` Executive Officer of International Passenger Sales, said, "We believe that the future of travel will be transformed by technological innovation. I am confident that Travelport Axess will be able to help Japanese travel agents to respond to growing global demands by offering services based on state-of-the-art technology." Gordon Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Travelport, commented, "This announcement and our ongoing partnership with Japan Airlines is a significant advance in the provision of state-of-the-art technology for the Japanese travel industry. We are very excited about the growth opportunities it presents for our mutual travel agency customers." Stephen Shurrock, Travelport's Chief Commercial Officer added, "Through a forward-thinking combination of Axess' local expertise and Travelport's API-based commerce platform technology we'll bring greater choice and exceptional performance to our Japanese customers and travelers." Under the planned agreement, Travelport will hold a majority stake in Travelport Axess, with JAL controlling the remaining stake and playing an active role in the joint venture. Following the signing of a definitive agreement between Travelport and JAL, the new joint venture is expected to be formed on June 1, 2019. Initially, Travelport Japan and Axess will continue to operate independently, with a gradual program of integration to combine the two organizations commencing later this year. Glossary of Terms An API, or Application Program Interface, is a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications which will specify how software components should interact A Global Distribution System is designed for travel professionals, including travel agents, online travel agents and corporate travel management companies to shop, book and manage integrated travel itineraries for travelers including airline seats, hotel rooms and rental car reservations where consumers want choice as well as managing travel agency workflow processes and data requirements New Distribution Capability is the IATA defined API protocol which is being progressively deployed by the industry to enable improvements in how airline offers, content and other products are presented and sold. Travelport was the first GDS company to be level three certified by IATA as an aggregator for the NDC API capability. 2 [1]The number of international travelers to Japan topped the 30-million mark for the first time in 2018, a three-fold increase over the past 5 years, according to the Japan National Tourism Agency (JNTO) while departures by Japanese outbound travelers totaled nearly 19 million in 2018, the fourth year of growth, according to Japan Travel Bureau (JTB). [2] https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/airline-distribution/ndc/Pages/default.aspx Contributed by Japan Airlines By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Trade Trump says hes talking about leaving tariffs on China for substantial period of time' [MarketWatch]. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, ahead of a trip to Ohio, told reporters on the South Lawn that he would leave tariffs on China for a substantial period of time. We are not talking about removing them, we are talking about leaving them, he said. We have to make sure that if we do the deal with China, that China lives by the deal, he said. Trump said the deal is coming along nicely.' Politics But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51 They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune 2020 Biden (1): Joe Biden is about to ruin his reputation [Ryan Cooper, The Week]. The most immediate problem for Biden personally is that he has #MeToo written all over him. As my colleague Matthew Walther writes, there are already vast compilations of footage of him being far too handsy with women in public settings. Setting personal history aside, Bidens actual policy record is probably almost as big of a potential problem. The Democratic Party has shifted markedly to the left over the last decade, as the consequences of the partys policy record from the mid-1970s to 2008 have become clear. This turn is to a great extent a response to Bidens very career, because he was personally involved in almost every bad policy decision of the last 40 years. Ouch! Biden (2): Everybodys Chum [Nathan Robinson, Current Affairs]. Joe Biden is widely considered a likable man. Genial Uncle Joe, he of Onion stardom and buddy cop fan-fiction. But in Washington, being too friendly can result in indefensible actions. You might be a perfectly nice person, but if those you spend time around are a group of segregationists, then your niceness is hurting people. Sometimes, being friends with one group means throwing another group under the bus. If you are determined never to say anything mean about anyone, and then you are asked to give Strom Thurmonds eulogy, then you will end up fabricating history. You can be everybody in Washingtons best buddy, or you can move the country toward justice, but you cannot do both. This is because there are powerful political figures standing in the way of justice, and the steps you need to take are going to alienate them. Gravel: Mike Gravels Viral 2020 Campaign Is the Brainchild of a New York Teen [Splinter News]. That in and of itself is weird, and kind of cool, but the story gets stranger. Gravels account is being run by a group of students in Westchester, New York who, as one of them told Splinter in an interview, convinced the former senator to think about running again. An example of their work: Mike Gravel 2020 starter pack pic.twitter.com/E8OIJD2AD4 Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 20, 2019 More: [High school David Oks] said the exploratory committee sure is real, and Gravel is on board with it. (Gravel said the same thing to a Politico reporter on Tuesday night.) Oks, a high school senior who has previously run for mayor of his small New York town, told Splinter that he and several friends are avid listeners of the Chapo Trap House podcast, which mentioned Gravel in a recent episode. About a week ago, he and a couple friends reached out to Gravel and asked if he would consider making another run for president. Their pitch was clear. My friends and I were encouraging him to consider running for president with the idea being that he would not try to contest any primaries, he would just try to get into the Democratic debates, he said. I think this is brilliant and I am here for the Gravel campaign. Gravelmentum! Klobuchar: Klobuchars senator next door strategy collides with Betomania [Politico]. At every stop in Iowa last weekend, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar reminded voters that shes from just up the river and likes to go south, to Iowa, for the winter, even riffing on the title of her book, The Senator Next Door. Klobuchar and ORourke both headlined canvass launches here for a state Senate special election candidate, but only ORourkes crowd was so large that it spilled out of the Black Hawk County headquarters into a parking lot, where the Texan spoke from a truck bed. Klobuchar attracted a standing room-only group of her own, but they stayed comfortably inside. Its part of a long shift in Iowas long famous living room-to-living room politics; voters are still vetting candidates in person but the introductions are online. I rather like the picture of ORourke swerving into the centrist lane and creating mayhem, before crashing out himself. ORourke (1): The Privilege of Being Beto [Lisa Lerner, New York Times]. Robby Mook, Mrs. Clintons campaign manager in 2016, said that Mr. ORourke stands apart as a politician who can drive his own news, independent of Mr. Trump, alluding to his history of social media-ready flourishes on the campaign trail. Its not just a matter of being authentic, Mr. Mook said. Its authentically taking on Trump and challenging political norms.' In the photo, Beto is, of course, sweating. ORourke (2): Medicare for America, Beto ORourkes favorite health care plan, explained [Sarah Kliff, Vox]. In his early days as a presidential candidate, Beto ORourke has walked away from supporting single-payer Medicare-for-all* and into the arms of another health care plan: Medicare for America. That plan, introduced last year by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), was founded on the previous work of the Center for American Progress and Yale professor Jacob Hacker**. It is the Democratic establishments alternative to the single-payer approach favored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the democratic socialist left. As Ive been saying, ORourke is a darker figure than we think. NOTES * Mushy though that support was. ** Hacker was absolutely instrumental in the liberal Democrat public option bait-and-switch operation in 2009, that (designedly) sucked all the oxygen away from single payer. Unsurprisingly, liberals are running the same play again. Sanders (1): Sanders names women to majority of top campaign posts [The Hill]. Sen. Bernie Sanderss (I-Vt.) campaign announced a senior 2020 campaign team that includes 10 women among the 15 most prominent roles. And centrist Twitter loses its mind Sanders (2): Unlike Some People, Bernie Hasnt Evolved' [Jacobin]. In 1993, twenty years after his involvement with the Liberty Union Party, Bernie brought his first single-payer bill to Congress. Our system is not in need of band-aids or patchwork or such concepts as managed competition. We are in need of a new system, he said as he introduced it. Some called him crazy, but he was on a mission. The American people believe that healthcare must be a right of all citizens and not just the privilege of the wealthy. His message stayed consistent for the next two decades. Trump: What Do We Know About Trumps Re-election Chances So Far? [FiveThirtyEight]. Discussion. Nate Silver: If you incepted Trumps brain and made him stop doing dumbass shit, hed be a favorite for re-election, but Im not sure the actual Trump is. Incept seems to be a synonym for ingest, so Im not sure exactly what Silver is saying here. Health Care Democrats on the take: New DCCC Chair is a best friend of health insurers [Tarbell]. Heres a headline you can bet my former colleagues in the health insurance business were thrilled to see last week: DCCC chief: Medicare for All price tag a little scary. [Of those] House Democrats who received campaign contributions from the political action committees of all five of the biggest for-profit health insurersAetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group. [DCCC head Cheri Bustos was those] PACs favorite Democrat in Congress. Ka-ching. Realignment and Legitimacy Unlikely Journeys [The Baffler] Democrat campaign memoirs. A candidates book may be PR, but so is everything else they touchtheir debate one-liners, their Twitter clapbacks, their policy platforms, even their voting histories and signature accomplishments. Anyone who runs for president has almost of necessity lived their entire life as a kind of public-relations campaign, sandblasting their biographies and forsaking their freedom of choice, so that one day, if only for a few sweet years, they might have the kind of Jovian power of which any normal person lacks the temerity to so much as dream. Of such a person it makes no sense to ask the question, Who are they, really, on the inside? By the time they hit the campaign trail, there is no longer an inside.' Opinion: We Confronted Chelsea Clinton At The Christchurch Vigil. Heres Why. [Buzzfeed]. We were shocked when Clinton arrived at the vigil, given that she had not yet apologized to Rep. Omar for the public vilification against her. We thought it was inappropriate for her to show up to a vigil for a community she had so recently stoked hatred against. We were not alone in feeling uncomfortable many students were dismayed to see her there. Stats Watch MBA Mortgage Applications, week of March 15, 2019: Rose on top of last weeks surge. till, year-on-year the index is up only 1 percent [Econoday]. [I]n a continuing sign that rising housing demand is lopsided toward high-end buyers, the average loan size is up for a third straight week. And: Rates would have to fall further for a significant increase in refinance activity [Calculated Risk]. Manufacturing: Exclusive: Lion Air pilots scoured handbook in minutes before crash sources [Reuters]. This is interesting: The U.S. Transportation Departments inspector-general now plans to audit the FAAs certification of the Boeing 737 MAX, while European and Canadian regulators say they want to make up their own minds whether a promised software upgrade is adequate. Good. Manufacturing: Capt. Sullenberger on the FAA and Boeing: Our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged' [Chesley Sully Sullenberger, MarketWatch]. For too many years, the FAA has not been provided budgets sufficient to ensure appropriate oversight of a rapidly growing global aviation industry. Staffing has not been adequate for FAA employees to oversee much of the critically important work of validating and approving aircraft certification. Instead, much of the work has been outsourced by designating aircraft manufacturer employees to do the work on behalf of the FAA. This, of course, has created inherent conflicts of interest [gasp], when employees working for the company whose products must be certified to meet safety standards are the ones doing much of the work of certifying them. There simply are not nearly enough FAA employees to do this important work in-house. Thank you, neoliberalism! The Bezzle: Inside Airbnbs Guerrilla War Against Local Governments [WIRED]. Similar dramas are playing out around the country. From Nashville to New Orleans to Honolulu, Airbnb is battling local officials over requests to collect occupancy taxes and ensure that the properties listed on its site comply with zoning and safety rules. In the past five months alone, the company has spent nearly $1 million to overturn regulations in San Diego and has sued Boston, Miami, and Palm Beach County over local ordinances that require Airbnb to collect taxes or remove illegal listings. Elsewhere, Airbnb has fought city officials over regulations aimed at preventing homes from being transformed into de facto hotels and requests from tax authorities for more specific data about hosts and visits. Airbnb is engaged in a city-by-city, block-by-block guerrilla war against local governments, says Ulrik Binzer, CEO of Host Compliance, which helps cities draft and enforce rules for short-term rentals, sometimes putting it at odds with hosting platforms. They need to essentially fight every one of these battles like it is the most important battle they have.' I dont understand why Airbnbs reputation isnt the same as Ubers; they have the same business model and theyre run by crooks. The Bezzle: The lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are aiming at Realtors and their 6% fee [MarketWatch]. The suit was filed in Chicago on behalf of anyone who sold a home through one of 20 of the largest listing services in the country over the past five years. It charges that the mighty Washington-based lobby National Association of Realtors, as well as the four largest national real estate brokerages, and the Multiple Listing Services they use, have conspired to require anyone selling a home to pay the commission of the broker representing their buyer at an inflated amount, in violation of federal antitrust law. The economic rent is too damn high! Tech: Optimize What? [Commune]. One paragraph: Back on campus, the AI and machine learning takeover of industry is fully reflected in course enrollment numbers. At Huang Engineering Center, just a few hundred feet from where Boyd lectures on optimization, Andrew Ng teaches CS 230: Deep Learning, a course that enrolled eight hundred students in the 2017-18 year, and yet is the smaller of Ngs two courses. Ng is something of a celebrity in machine learning, a Twitter hype man for AI. In a scene that has become all too typical, he walks onstage to deliver the first lecture of the course, then disappears for several weeks to tend to his self-driving car startup . For most of the quarter, the lectures are doled out by a graduate student, who does a commendable job given the circumstances. Ng probably breeds llamas or crafts didgeridoos in his spare time. Tech: DeepMind and Google: the battle to control artificial intelligence [1843]. But human intelligence is limited by the size of the skull that houses the brain. Its power is restricted by the puny amount of energy that the body is able to provide. Because [Artificial General Intelligence] will run on computers, it will suffer none of these constraints. Its intelligence will be limited only by the number of processors available. AGI may start by monitoring nuclear reactions. But soon enough it will discover new sources of energy by digesting more physics papers in a second than a human could in a thousand lifetimes. Human-level intelligence, coupled with the speed and scalability of computers, will make problems that currently appear insoluble disappear. With singularity loons doing the programming. What could go wrong? Concentration: Google hit with 1.5bn fine from EU over advertising [BBC]. Google has been hit with a 1.49bn (1.28bn) fine from the EU for blocking rival online search advertisers. It is the third EU fine for the search and advertising giant in two years. The case accuses Google of abusing its market dominance by restricting third-party rivals from displaying search ads between 2006 and 2016. In response, Google changed its AdSense contracts with large third parties, giving them more leeway to display competing search ads. Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU anti-trust rules, said EC commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The Biosphere Forget Tesla, Its Chinas E-Buses That Are Denting Oil Demand [Bloomberg]. By the end of this year, a cumulative 270,000 barrels a day of diesel demand will have been displaced by electric buses, most of it in China, according to a report published Tuesday by BloombergNEF. Thats more than three times the displacement by all the worlds passenger electric vehicles (a market where Tesla has a share of about 12 percent.). Antibiotics set to flood Floridas troubled orange orchards [Nature]. Public-health researchers worry that the spraying plan might spur resistance in some human pathogens. Its a reasonable concern; a fungicide used to control a tulip blight in the Netherlands, for example, has triggered a rise in treatment-resistant aspergillosis in people with compromised immune systems. Growers are willing to try anything, however. Citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing, caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus), has crippled the Florida citrus industry: almost half the acreage that was in production before the disease arrived has been abandoned and, by some estimates, 90% of the states citrus trees are infected. The level of desperation is high, says Rick Dantzler, chief operating officer of Floridas Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) in Lake Alfred. Monoculture fighting to hold on This is how climate change takes a toll on the heart [Anthropocene]. n = 27,310. A team of German researchers has found evidence that heat-induced heart attacks are increasing, suggesting that climate change poses a risk to cardiovascular health. Schneiders team found that the heat-related heart attack risk during 2001-2014 was especially prominent among people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or high cholesterol. The prevalence of these biological risk factors has increased in the population over time, illustrating that the health effects of climate change dont occur in isolation. Climate change can be a health risk in itself, but can also exacerbate other public health problems. Health risks from extreme heat are often portrayed as mainly affecting people living in stifling cities. But the researchers found that people in rural areas around Augsburg were at greater risk of heat-induced heart attack than those in the city itself. Lower socioeconomic status and a higher prevalence of pre-existing chronic diseases in the rural population could contribute to the greater vulnerability to heat-induced heart attack among rural residents, the researchers say. The findings add heft to an emerging body of research suggesting that people living in non-urban areas could have similar or even higher heat-related mortality risks compared to city dwellers, they write. Health Care Care of acute conditions and chronic diseases in Canada and the United States: Rapid systematic review and meta-analysis [Journal of Public Health Research]. A meta-analysis. From the abstract: This study tested the hypothesis that socioeconomically vulnerable Canadians with diverse acute conditions or chronic diseases have health care access and survival advantages over their counterparts in the USA. In aggregate and controlling for specific conditions or diseases and typically 4 to 9 comorbid factors or biomarkers, Canadians chances of receiving better health care were estimated to be 36% greater than their American counterparts Contrary to prevalent political rhetoric, three studies observed that Americans experience more than twice the risk of long waits for breast or colon cancer care or of dying while they wait for an organ transplant. Who knew Testimony: Everyone complains about government healthcare being so terrible. After serving 10 years in the US Navy I can say.youd love it of you had it. No copays, no premiums, no out of pocket max etc..just get taken care of for any and all medical issues therealshakdiesel (@shakdaddy3) March 19, 2019 #MedicareForAll is too centrist Go for the full NHS? Because everybody loves their private health insurance plan: New survey finds that among adults who were insured all year, 29% were underinsured in 2018, up from 23% in 2014. People in employer plans saw the biggest erosion in coverage. https://t.co/RC6CBxZuIx pic.twitter.com/dE3sDywMyS Commonwealth Fund (@commonwealthfnd) February 7, 2019 Black Injustice Tipping Point Fearing for His Life [The Verge]. >Ramsey Orta filmed the killing of Eric Garner. The video traveled far, but it wouldnt get justice for his dead friend. Instead, the NYPD would exact their revenge through targeted harassment and eventually imprisonmentOrtas punishment for daring to show the world police brutality. Concluding: I am 10 minutes from [a prison visit with Orta] when [Ortas girlfriend] Deja calls me. As soon as Id left, Orta was given a ticket for his braided hair, which was apparently not in regulation. This meant a possible 30 more days in solitary. Theyre mad when he talks to journalists, she says. But of course I hadnt told anyone at the prison that I was a journalist. Look in a mirror. They know why youre there.' Disgusting, and also could have been filed under Police State Watch. Petrochemical Giants Are Slowly Killing Black Louisiana Communities [Portside]. While researching the proposal [for a new plastics plant], environmentalists discovered that a 2014 comprehensive plan produced by the St. James Parish government had designated the Welcome and St. James portion of 5th District as an industrial and residential/future industrial on map detailing future land-use. About 1,500 people live in the area, and over 90 percent are Black, according to census data. The fact that a longtime residential community tracing its roots back to freed slaves would be labeled industrial set off alarm bells among residents and environmentalists. I could have sworn we were here first, Stephanie Cooper, a local schoolteacher, told the council. So much is right out in the open, if you know where to look. Class Warfare Cedric Johnson and the Other Sixties Nostalgia [New Politics]. The table below shows the prison population for 2016. What we see is a wildly disproportionate representation of blacks, Latinos, and other people of color composing together almost 70% of the prison population. That black middle-class professionals and politicians played a contradictory and even reactionary role in demanding or developing these policies, as Johnson argues, is undeniablealthough it is most certainly a subordinate role in terms of federal and state policy and practice. Indeed, whether in the old ghetto or todays leafy black neighborhoods, the black middle class and petty bourgeoisie have always played a contradictory role in the long struggle for black freedom. None of this refutes the existence of both underlying structures of racial inequality or the practice of racism in the criminal justice system as countless studies have shown. The escalation of incarceration is not simply a matter of controlling the surplus population, as Johnson argues. It is, as I stated above, a class project, but one with racist assumptions and practices. Those who are sentenced to prison are not primarily from the surplus population. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the prison population were employed prior to incarceration. 49% of all prisoners were employed full-time and another 16% in part-time work before entering prison, while another 8% were students, retired, or permanently disabled according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics. Judge: Baystate Franklin hospital engaged in union busting [Daily Hampshire Gazette]. While former Baystate Franklin Medical Center President Cindy Russo was named in the complaint, and her involvement in the matter was central to the overall case, she was not found directly guilty of any of the charges. Russo left the hospital in January 2018 after a year and a half at the post; she said at the time it was the right personal decision for me to explore other health care leadership opportunities.' Other leadership opportunities is almost as good as spend more time with my family. News of the Wired News you can use: Teen Unvaccinated For Chickenpox Sues Kentucky Health Department After Being Banned From School Extracurriculars [Newsweek]. The Right To Infect * * * Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (LP): LP writes: Witch-hazel now blooming in Washington, DC. Always be sure to look up at the sky! Even in mud season! * * * Thanks to JB in the Netherlands for their contribution; my mail mail thanking them keeps bouncing. Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So do feel free to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor that trickle in when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click below! (The hat is temporarily defunct, so I slapped in some old code.) Or Subscribe to make a monthly payment! Even by the standards of Brexit, things are such a mess that its hard to know where to begin. Nevertheless. As the Brexit clock runs down, the Government lost a day by getting caught up in yet another internal row. May had planned to send a letter to the EU saying what she wanted in the way of an extension. But that didnt happen because her ministers got in a 90 minute row over the idea that she would seek anything more than a short extension. Reports vary as to what May sought. Some said she wanted to try to get an extension till anywhere from April to June but also have the option of a long extension if she couldnt get her Withdrawal Agreement approved. For instance: 1. Cabinet sources say PM is writing letter to EU today asking for extension frustration that she is going to ask for end date of June 30th, with proviso of up delay of up to 2 years Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) March 19, 2019 Cakeism is alive and well in the UK! The BBC reported May didnt actually pose a concrete plan (sadly plausible): There was alarm among Brexiteer cabinet ministers after May reportedly failed to outline a definitive decision on her approach to Article 50 at Tuesdays cabinet. Leave cabinet ministers held talks at Westminster on Tuesday night to agree a joint position. Some cabinet ministers are expected to resign if the prime minister requests a lengthy extension to Article 50. The Daily Mail says May wanted nine months: Theresa May is preparing to to abandon her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay after furious cabinet ministers told her the Tory party would only accept a three-month wait. May has apparently capitulated to the demands of her ministers and will seek only a short extension. The Telegraph reported just after 7:00 AM London time that: Theresa May will not seek a long extension to Brexit, Number 10 has reportedly stated. According to the statement, the Prime Minister shares the countrys frustration over Parliaments failure to take a decision. The EU is talking tough and likely would have rejected a long extension. The spectacle of the Parliament and the Government flailing about as if March 29 didnt matter isnt endearing the UK to EU leaders. EU officials appear to have decided in the interest of time that they need to constrain the UKs options before the summit Thursday and Friday, so the messages have become far more pointed. Reading between the lines, it also appears that the idea of a long extension, which came from Donald Tusk, wasnt an EU view. It now appears Tusk was freelancing and perhaps also hoping to give support to the MPs who wanted a second referendum, since it would clearly take a very long runway for that plus the resulting course changes. But even if there had been some willingness on the EU side to consider a lengthy extension, Parliaments decisive rejection of a second referendum eliminated the biggest reason for granting the UK a lot ore time. We had pointed out specifically that Macron didnt sound like he was bluffing when he said, in effect, that the UK better present a damned good reason for seeking an extension. That reading looks to have been correct. From the Financial Times: The EU has told Britain there are no guarantees it can delay Brexit, raising the risk that Theresa May will leave a crucial summit this week with no assurances that the UK will be able to stay in the bloc beyond the scheduled departure date of March 29. Michel Barnier, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, voiced his concern on Tuesday about a protracted delay, a prospect Mrs May is relying on to convince recalcitrant MPs that Brexit could be lost unless they vote for her deal An extension will be something that extends uncertainty and that uncertainty has a cost. We cant do it without having a good reason for it, Mr Barnier said, after briefing a meeting of ministers in Brussels. EU leaders will need a concrete plan in order to be able to make an informed decision.. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is placing great importance on the reasons Britain gives. There is nothing obvious or automatic about an extension, a senior French official said. We are at the eleventh hour. Even if the EU agrees to a short extension, even that might not be as long as the UK wants. This mornings reports suggest that May plans to ask for a June 30 drop dead date. That might not fly. From the BBC: Opinion is hardening in the EU against a lengthy extension to Article 50, Newsnight has learned. The EU is looking at making 22 May the definitive UK exit day with no further extension at that point, according to sources in Whitehall close to the talks. A key element in the EU thinking is that Theresa May will not give her support to a credible process to allow parliament to find an alternative Brexit deal. Brussels also has concerns about how future EU budget negotiations and trade deals would be conducted if a reluctant UK hung around in the EU. We already have a timetable train wreck: EU not set to make a decision in time for UK to change Brexit date. The too-clever hard coding of the Brexit date in UK legislation means the EU needs to settle on the extension date this Thursday. That throws a big spanner into the idea of falling back on an emergency EU summit on March 29-29. Unfortunately, like the Erskine May rule against putting the same matter more than once in a Parliamentary session, this constraint seems to have been overlooked by the Government. Im not sure Robert Peston is quite right about this Thursday being the last day to reach agreement with the EU, but next Monday does seem to be the last date for starting the UK legislative process for changing the exit date. And as well see shortly, the EU has just said its not likely to make up its mind this week. Of course, we are charitably assuming the EU does intend to reluctantly grant an extension, but expects to need time to get eye to eye with the UK on the exact date and conditions, say a financial payment and firm language that this will be the only extension. First, Pestons tweets: Here is a very learned legal blog which shows that the UK could find itself in the grip of legal chaos or in breach of its international treaty obligations if the government does not on Monday start the process to amend the EU Withdrawal Act so that EU exit day is no longer Robert Peston (@Peston) March 19, 2019 29 March. There are two big problems with doing that. 1) EU is signalling it will almost certainly NOT have agreed to delay Brexit by then (see my note of earlier today https://t.co/2nDSZOMaQY). 2) Tory and other Brexiters will go nuclear if May simply removes from the Robert Peston (@Peston) March 19, 2019 Withdrawal Act a date for repealing the European Communities Act, in the absence of the EU agreeing a new date, because they will fear that means UK will never actually Brexit. This is the kind of scenario in which there could be a no-deal Brexit on 29 March by accident Robert Peston (@Peston) March 19, 2019 I am not kidding. Brexit is a mess that only gets messier. We have all got to hope @theresa_may and her advisers are aware of this looming legal cliff edge and have a cunning plan. I dont think EU leaders will take kindly to being told Robert Peston (@Peston) March 19, 2019 they have to agree a new Brexit date this coming Thursday or else. https://t.co/GWGiVDr0BE Robert Peston (@Peston) March 19, 2019 Heress the post Peston mentioned, from the Hansard Society. Key section: If exit day cannot be amended until after the UK has reached an agreement on extension with the EU, but the amendment must apply by 29 March, time will be of the essence. Exit day may not be amended by an SI [statutory instrument made under the urgency procedure available under Section 5 of Schedule 7 of the EU(W)A. Beyond the JCSIs preferred scrutiny timeline, the draft affirmative procedure is not subject to any particular deadlines or scrutiny periods. Normally, from laying to making the SI, the draft affirmative procedure takes around six weeks. However, given the steps outlined above, the process could be accelerated. We see no insuperable procedural obstacle to proceedings on the exit day SI being completed by 29 March if the draft SI were laid, for example, on Friday 22 or Monday 25 March. Contrast this timetable with a fresh story in the Guardian, Brexit delay decision unlikely this week, says Juncker: Theresa May will ask for only a short extension to article 50 delaying Brexit by less than three months, after a revolt among pro-leave cabinet ministers and MPs that threatened her premiership However, the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on German radio on Wednesday morning that a decision on a delay to Brexit was unlikely at this weeks EU summit and the blocs leaders may have to meet again next week. Juncker told Germanys Deutschlandfunk radio: My impression is that this week at the European council there will be no decision, but that we will probably have to meet again next week. Junckers assistant issued this tweet: .@JunckerEU @DLF #Brexit Havent received yet letter from @theresa_may. #EU did everything we could to accommodate requests of UK but still no backing for #WithdrawalAgreement. #EUCO could meet next week again but patience wearing thin.#WithdrawalAgreement wont be renegotiated Mina Andreeva (@Mina_Andreeva) March 20, 2019 Unless the UK clears its throat and tells the EU it needs a decision, including above all the exact date if there is an extension, I dont see a fudge here. If this prognosis is correct, it would resemble Lehman weekend. Recall that Barclays was set to buy Lehman but abandoned the deal on September 14. It later emerged that a key impediment was that Barclays would need 30 days to get shareholder approval, a requirement that the US side hadnt been aware of. Barclays said the US needed to guarantee Lehmans trading positions until the deal closed, which the US was not willing to do. And if the Hansard Society is right, there arent ready finesses. The statutory instruments were apparently drafted so as to require a calendar date, as opposed to, say, allowing for a substitution like to be determined: While the day on which the UK leaves the EU and exit day in UK law are conceptually distinct, they need to be the same date. This is because of the role of exit day as the date on which the ECA [European Communities Act] is repealed. The ECA was required by, and gave effect to, the UKs EU membership. If the ECA were to be repealed before the UK leaves the EU, the UK would be in breach of its international legal obligations, under the EU Treaties, to be giving effect to EU law as long as it remains a Member State. Equally, in the theoretically possible scenario in which exit day in UK law were amended to fall later than 29 March but the UK left the EU on 29 March anyway, legal chaos would ensue because of the unclear status of the EU Treaties with respect to the UK. Exit day in UK law can therefore only be amended when the date on which the UK is leaving the EU is known. Any amendment to exit day needs to have force by 29 March, otherwise the current 29 March definition will apply. And exit day does need to be defined in law as a specific, alternative date, rather than the 29 March definition simply being removed, because of the many other legal provisions some of which are already in force which rely on the exit day concept Section 20(1) of the EU(W)A defines exit day as a specific date: 29 March 2019 at 11.00pm. It was unusual and controversial for a specific date to be defined in primary legislation (i.e. an Act of Parliament) in this way: it would have been more usual just to give ministers a power to use an SI to make the definition. If I read this correctly, even if the Withdrawal Act hadnt set a specific date, the UK would still need the same lead time to pass the needed statutory instruments, so the same de facto next Monday drop dead date would still apply. Vlade argued (not having read the Hansard Society analysis) that the UK could push everything through as primary legislation in a day under emergency procedures. Our Clive cites the Parliamentary procedure for expedited primary legislation, which allows for it to pre-empt other business and take place in a day. Clive argues that a single piece of legislation could get through if the process started as late as early PM on the 29th. But the Hansard Society suggests that other legislation references the exit day, so if you dont use the process of a statutory instrument, my impression is youd need to pass new primary legislation in each and every case. Keir Starmer, Labours Brexit secretary, said youd need to change ~50 pieces of legislation to prevent a crash out. I have not seen any independent verification of Starmers assertion, but if he is correct, youd need as an alternative procedure to ram through 50 replacement pieces of primary legislation. Is that even remotely possible if the EUs plan is a second emergency summit on March 28 and 29? Even if the UK can pass a single bill on an emergency basis in a day, how many can it push through and not run afoul of procedural requirements? You can be sure the ERG will not allow any corners cutting and will also be trying (to change metaphors) to jam the controls. Mind you, we are charitably assuming the EU grants an extension. The cool tone from Barnier and Juncker and the stern words from Macron sound as if they are prepared to say no or attach stringent conditions if May doesnt handle herself well. Diplomacy is notably absent among her skills. Of course, the other way out would be for May to revoke Article 50, which she is authorized to do in light of Parliaments no no deal' motion earlier this month. One wag, shtove, said in comments yesterday said it would still be Mays bottle of whiskey & revolver moment. But as our Richard Smith pointed out, thats long overdue. Originally published by Inter Press Service With the Washington Consensus from the 1980s being challenged, President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and China pursuing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), most notably with its own initiatives such as the multilateral Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the political and economic landscape in East Asia continues to evolve. Jomo Kwame Sundaram was interviewed about likely implications for developing countries in the region and beyond. Belt and Road Initiative What do you think of world growth prospects and Chinas Belt and Road Initiative? Although there are some hopeful signs here and there, there are few grounds for much optimism around the North Atlantic (US and Europe) for various reasons. Unconventional monetary policies, especially quantitative easing (QE), have helped achieve a modest recovery in the US, but appears less likely to succeed elsewhere. Such measures have also accelerated massive wealth concentration, which is why a few of the worlds richest men own more than the bottom half of the worlds population. The situation is more promising in East Asia due to Chinas diminished but sustained growth, and its almost unique rising labour share of national income. Most importantly for others, China has been willing to finance massive infrastructure projects, although this has given rise to a host of problems. For example, Chinese contractors are known for using Chinese material and human resources as far as possible, minimizing multiplier benefits for host economies. A few years ago, Chinas ambassador to Tanzania publicly apologized for the conduct of Chinese firms in Africa, but most others tend to see all Chinese in monolithic terms. Meanwhile, US, European, Japanese, Indian and other competition for influence has helped increased options for other developing countries. However, it is not yet clear that Chinas BRI and alternative globalization will be enough to sustain rapid progress in the region. Trade Liberalization? You once said that If PresidentTrump lives up to his campaign rhetoric, all plurilateral and multilateral free trade agreements will be affected. Now, with the US having withdrawn from the TPP, why are the Japanese, Australians and Singaporeans still pushing for the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive TPP) with all the others without the US? It must be emphasized that the US, the EU and Japan have done little to advance trade multilateralism and keep the promise of the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, flawed as they are against developing country interests. Meanwhile, the Japanese, Australians and Singaporeans are trying to hype up the CPTPP as a political counterweight to China. But as a trade agreement, it will not do much except to strengthen foreign corporate power and further weaken governments, e.g., through its investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. Why will the CPTPP have little impact on growth, but will strengthen the power of foreign enterprises? Let us be clear that even with the original TPP, all projections, including the most optimistic ones by the Peterson Institute, projected very modest economic growth attributable to trade liberalization. US government projections were much more modest. About 85 percent of the Peterson Institutes projected growth gains were attributed to non-trade measures, mainly broadening and strengthening intellectual property rights (IPRs) and foreign corporate legal rights against host governments with its ISDS provisions, which they are promoting as features for so-called 21st century free trade agreements. So, for example, if stronger IPRs raise the prices of medicines, the value of trade will also rise! With ISDS, if a government decides to ban the use of a toxic agrochemical to protect farm workers and consumers for instance, it will have to compensate the supplier for loss of profits! International Financial Institutions Do you think the Washington Consensus is threatened by South-led financial institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and New Development Bank? Although still very influential, the Washington Consensus is acknowledged to have been superseded by new policy prescriptions. Despite recent ethno-nationalist Western reactions, all too many developing country governments still believe that further trade liberalization will boost growth. Meanwhile, financial globalization continues despite its adverse effects for growth, stability and equity. Now, digital globalization is supposed to have wonderful progressive effects when it has clearly accelerated concentration of power and wealth, albeit with the rapid ascendance of innovative new players able to quickly consolidate lucrative monopolies. I wish the new multilateral development banks would be bolder, but thus far, they have largely chosen to work within the dominant framework shaped by the Washington Consensus, probably to secure market confidence. Credit from Chinas banks, usually benefiting Chinas corporations, is far more important than what the AIIB and NDB offer. Of course, lending by Chinas banks has undermined the BWIs monopolies, and this has already been reflected by new policy initiatives by the West and Japan, e.g., to more generously provide infrastructure finance. Meanwhile, the World Bank has aligned itself more closely with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals in order to provide its new initiatives to promote market-based private finance such as securities and derivatives besides public private partnerships. Capital Controls You have pointed out that both portfolio investment inflows to developing countries have in recent years. Do you think it appropriate to resume capital controls, as Malaysia did during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, to counter capital outflows? With even China reintroducing capital controls, it is important to consider such options. I have long advocated counter-cyclical capital account management to smoothen financial cycles, rather than to only impose controls after a crisis, as effective capital account management must be pro-active, agile, and flexible. Almost by definition, capital account management is context specific. There are few one size fits all rules. What I specifically called for in the early and mid-1990s is probably no longer relevant or appropriate. The challenge is not to expect the last crisis to recur, but to protect national economic progress from likely future threats. Capital inflows to sustainably enhance the real economy should be prioritized, not portfolio flows which tend to be speculative, easily reversible, and do not enhance the real economy. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. Nature has manufactured the perfect machines. Only the fastest, toughest, and most cunning creatures have endured. We examine how animals have evolved and how we can benefit from their evolution. Sundays from 8:30pm AEDT. Levan Izoria, the Georgian Minister of Defence, opened the 3rd Multinational Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Workshop in Tbilisi, on 19 March 2019. Entitled Developing an Educated NCO Corps, the event was organised by NATOs Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) together with the Partnership for Peace Consortium. In his welcome address, the Minister emphasised the importance of the workshop and underlined the necessity for NCO education. Alongside the NATO-Georgia Exercise 2019, today we started another important NATO activity. Namely, within the Defence Education Enhancement Programme, we have presented our success in the development of an NCO corps to our partners. The achievements in this field are truly remarkable and have been noted in the framework of the workshop. Such activities once again underline the fact that our cooperation with NATO has never been as strong as it is today. The Georgian Chief of Defence, Major General Vladimer Chachibaia, and Command Sergeant Major of the Georgian Defence Forces, Koba Tsirekidze, also welcomed the participants. More than 50 representatives from 15 countries are attending the workshop, including sergeant majors from NATO member states and partner countries as well as the Command Senior Enlisted Leaders of Allied Command Operations and Allied Command Transformation. The aims of the 3rd Multinational Workshop are to produce a framework document on NCO corps development for partner countries as well as to discuss the interoperability of national NCO education programmes and initiatives, and their implementation in bilateral formats with NATO. Georgia also hosted the two previous DEEP workshops on NCO professionalisation. In 2016 and 2018, participants discussed NCO education, as well as the challenges that armed forces are facing in the 21st century. (Natural News) Public outrage continues to boil over concerning the various college admissions scandals that are sweeping the nation, reiterating the disturbing fact that getting into college is still largely contingent upon having enough money, influence, and power to grease the wheels of acceptance. But are these corrupt, pay-for-play schemes within the realm of higher education really any different than what takes place in American politics every single day? As celebrities like Lori Loughlin have been quietly funneling loads of cash into schools like the University of Southern California (U.S.C.) so their sub-average children can keep up with the Jones, politicians have been going around lying about their ancestries and pretending to be for the people when theyre really just the same old corporate whores as all the others. American politics is all about pretending to be someone youre not, it turns out, as wannabe public servants parade around their fake accomplishments and virtues in desperate bids to gain more supporters. Its exactly whats being going on at college and university campuses nationwide except, as of yet, there hasnt been a single corrupt politician whos been arrested by the F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation) in the same way as Lori Loughlin. Basically, almost every politician is a college admissions fraudster, in the political arena, yet they are never arrested by the F.B.I. for lying to the public, faking their accomplishments and even taking bribery money to hand out political favors, says Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, about the striking parallels between the two. Celebrities who cheated to get their children into prestigious schools are the subjects of a new class action lawsuit As for the corrupt celebrities, it doesnt appear that theyll be getting off the hook anytime soon. Jennifer Kay Toy, a former employee within the Oakland Unified School District, recently filed a $500 billion class action lawsuit against two Hollywood actresses, as well as dozens of other wealthy parents, whom she says are directly responsible for undermining her own son Joshuas ability to get admitted into college, despite maintaining an impressive 4.2 G.P.A. Two Stanford University students have similarly filed a federal class action lawsuit against U.S.C., as well as the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.), the University of San Diego, (U.S.D.), the The University of Texas at Austin, Wake Forest University, Yale University, and Georgetown University, for similar reasons. It was also recently reported that U.C. Berkeley is under fire for accepting fake S.A.T. scores as part of its own massive admissions scam which, similar to the one involving Lori Loughlin at U.S.C., implicates a rich parent for making not just one, but two $50,000 bribery payments to U.C. Berkeley officials in order to get his son into the school. The Trump administration has indicated that its planning to investigate the matter further, and root out any and all corruption that it can find at these and other institutions throughout the country. Some schools could even lose their federal funding if its determined that faculty members broke federal law by accepting bribery money in exchange for admissions priority. Every student deserves to be considered on their individual merits when applying to college and its disgraceful to see anyone breaking the law to give their children an advantage over others, stated Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in a recent statement, indicating that her agency is looking closely into whether or not any federal education regulations were violated as part of these elaborate schemes. To keep up with the latest news on all the rampant corruption both in politics and higher education, be sure to check out Corruption.news. Sources for this article include: LATimes.com NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com LATimes.com (Natural News) No ones too old to dance. In fact, dancing can be beneficial to seniors, especially older women. Researchers from Japan and Korea report that dancing can greatly reduce the risk of disability for activities of daily living in older women. Exercise has been known to reduce the risk of disability, but the degree of associations between particular exercise types and such risk remains unknown. Therefore, the study looked at the potential effects of 16 different types of exercise may have in reducing disability for activities of daily living (ADL) in older women. In conducting the study, the researchers enrolled 1,003 community-dwelling older Japanese women without ADL disability. They defined ADL disability as dependence in at least one everyday task, such as bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, or walking. Before the actual study, all participants underwent a face-to-face interview in which they were asked whether or not they participated in any of 16 exercise types. The results of the study showed that after eight years of follow-up, 130 participants were reported to have a disability for activities of daily living. Those who participated in dancing were 73 percent less likely to develop disability for activities of daily living. However, the researchers did not find any significant links between other exercise types and activities of daily living disability. The reason behind this remains unknown, but the researchers argue that dancing has various elements that may have contributed to the effect. Dancing requires not only balance, strength, and endurance ability, but also cognitive ability: adaptability and concentration to move according to the music and partner, artistry for graceful and fluid motion, and memory for choreography, said Yosuke Osuka, lead author of the study. Published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, the study concluded that dancing may help older women maintain their ability to perform daily tasks. Other studies have shown that dancing offers other physical benefits, such as improving strength and balance, reducing joint pain and stiffness, and supporting the heart health of older adults. The social, mental, and cognitive benefits of dancing in older people In addition to physical health, dancing also improves the social and emotional health of older people. In a study, researchers asked 30 women over 60 years old on how their line dancing hobby affected their life and found that the women were enthusiastic about the activity. Most of the participants agreed that dancing helped them become more sociable, be more involved in their communities and participating in charitable and group activities. Dancing also gave them a space for self-expression and personal development. Even those with poor mental health can benefit from dancing. Research has shown that social dancing promotes positive feelings, behavior, and communication among people with dementia. Other studies have reported that dancing can improve mood and reduce depression, as well as help stave off dementia. (Related: Go dancing! Study shows it prevents age-related decline better than traditional exercise.) There is also evidence that dancing can improve the cognitive health of seniors. A study has shown that dancing increases brain activity, which helps form new neural connections and improves thinking speed and agility. Another study has revealed that contemporary dance, in particular, may enhance concentration and improve the ability to control shifts in attention. This is because contemporary dance focuses more on improvisation instead of memorizing movements. Some studies have also shown that although dancing may not improve the cognitive ability of people with Parkinsons disease, especially those in nursing homes or senior living communities, it may improve the quality of their lives. Visit MindBodyScience.news to read more news stories and studies on how dancing helps older adults. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com AgingCare.com YourCareEverywhere.com (Natural News) The Trump administration doesnt win much in lower federal courts when it comes to the presidents efforts to enforce all immigration laws. But thanks to the opportunities he has had to fill two vacancies on the nations highest court, his administration and the American people, including those who dont like or support him are getting some assistance in that area. On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the administration has the authority to detain and deport illegal aliens who have served their time in prison and have been released. The ruling reverses lower court decisions in where else? the 9th Circuit claiming that the government had to detain them right away or they are exempt. Specifically, as Fox News White House correspondent Kevin Corke noted in a tweet, the majority restricted when deportable aliens can secure bond or parole to contest removal proceedings, especially those who may be a risk to commit certain dangerous crimes if released. #NEW #SCOTUS A 5-4 ruling for the #Trump administration on #immigration. Justice #Alito joins majority restricting when deportable aliens can secure bond or parole to contest removal proceedings, especially those who may be a risk to commit certain dangerous crimes if released. Kevin Corke (@kevincorke) March 19, 2019 The Washington Examiner added: Justice Samuel Alito delivered the majority opinion for the court, and he was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. Justices Steven Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented. Alito wrote that in the past, the court has held time and time again, an officials crucial duties are better carried out late than never. Alito and the majority also dismissed the argument from lawyers on behalf of immigrants involved in the case that they are only subject to mandatory detention if they are arrested on the day he walks out of jail. The example given was when state and local officials sometimes rebuff the governments request they give notice when a criminal alien will be released. In other words, when state or local officials are observing a sanctuary policy of ignoring detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which sounds like just another Leftist attempt to keep illegal aliens from being sent back home. And for the record, ignoring ICE detainer requests happens all the time, not sometimes especially throughout the 9th Circuits jurisdiction which includes the sanctuary state of California. A blow to cheating sanctuary cities and states The case involved Mony Preap and Bassaum Yusuf Khoury, both of whom are in the U.S. lawfully as permanent residents. Both were convicted of crimes and went on to serve their sentences, but they were not picked up by immigration officials so they could be removed from the country until years after they were released. At issue is a federal law stating that the Department of Homeland Security is able to detain immigrants convicted of specific crimes when the alien is released from jail. Lawyers for both Preap and Khoury argued they should be exempt from being detained due to the gap in time between their release and subsequent detainment for deportation proceedings. Judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the argument in 2016, ruling that the word when in the law conveys immediacy, and that any immigration detainment following criminal custody must then occur directly after the immigrant is released. But how is that possible when sanctuary city policies prevent local police from responding to detainer requests from federal immigration officials, which then turns the immediacy clause of the law on its head? Agents deprived of information as to when aliens are going to be released cant very well show up to immediately detain for deportation, can they? (Related: Confirmed: California is protecting over 5,000 illegal alien criminals by refusing to hand them over to federal authorities.) The Trump administration argued before the high court that the government has the power to detain immigrants as they go through their deportation proceedings, even if they are picked up years after being released from serving time for a crime. Thankfully, a majority of justices agreed. Read more about Democrat open borders efforts and policies in the face of a migrant invasion at OpenBorders.news and InvasionUSA.news. Sources include: WashingtonExaminer.com TheNationalSentinel.com (Natural News) The Green New Deal (GND) peddled by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) and her followers may appear to be named as such for the environmentalist ideals it promotes. But the reality is that a war on carbon dioxide is ultimately a war against life on Earth. With a growing number of climate experts are speaking out about the rampant fraud within the climate change industry, many questions about the true purpose of the Green New Deal are arising. As many pundits have declared, the GND is more focused on creating enviro-socialism than it is on environmental health. Indeed, it appears that AOCs plan is intent on dismantling the United States as we know it, in order to give rise to a new socialist utopia. And just like past and current socialist regimes, America under the GND is sure to face food shortages. Only this time, it might be because the Green New Deal destroyed the ecosystem. Banning CO2 will destroy plant life For decades, enviro-terrorists have been blaming the worlds ailments on carbon dioxide (CO2). Yet, this humble molecule is actually essential for plant life to exist. While proponents of climate change are loath to admit it, CO2 is a key part of photosynthesis the way plants make energy. CO2 is essentially food for plants. Without CO2, water and sunshine, plants cant grow. And when plants cant grow, people starve. It is highly concerning that alleged environmentalists are promoting drastic reductions in CO2 as the only solution to climate change (a heavily fabricated theory to begin with). Without photosynthesis, there can be no life on Earth. Recent research confirms that carbon dioxide has contributed to global regreening. Estimates suggest that increasing CO2 levels has led to a substantial increase in farmable land worldwide. Experts say farmable land has risen by 17 percent, and that overall biosphere productivity has gone up 14 percent since 1982. Research also demonstrates that global crop yields have increased by 185 percent worldwide and scientists say these increases show no signs of slowing. Indeed, it would seem that so-called global warming has actually been good for the planet. And as Mike Adams, founder of Natural News and Brighteon.com, contends, warring against CO2 is a war against life itself. As Adams explains, burning fossil fuels actually provides plants with more fuel: Burning fossil fuels, by the way, means combusting hydrocarbons to release energy. One of the byproducts of burning fossil fuels is the release of CO2 into the atmosphere, providing fresh CO2 that plants are starving to harvest from the air. CO2 levels in the atmosphere right now are at near-emergency low levels of barely above 400 ppm. Forests, food crops and indigenous plants across the globe would flourish at double or triple the current level of CO2. If we had, for example, 1200 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere,the Earth would be greener and more lush. The leftist call to eliminate carbon from the atmosphere is a suicide mission. In 2017, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Scott Pruitt even stated that he did not believe CO2 was a primary contributor to climate change. There is no shortage of reasons to be skeptical of climate change in and of itself, given the numerous instances of fraud and faulty data. Ultimately, the idea that CO2 is a vehicle of climate change is a hypothesis and a poorly thought out one, at that. Destroy the planet, dismantle the United States It is no wonder that skeptics now believe that climate change fear-mongering and the GND have nothing to do with environmental concerns and everything to do with ushering in a New World Order. The GND even spells it out for us, with AOC and her minions promising a massive transformation of our society with clear goals and a timeline. The GND is further described as a 10-year plan to mobilize every aspect of American society at a scale not seen since World War 2 to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and create economic prosperity for all. If thats not a dog whistle for a new socialist regime, I dont know what is. The Green New Deal would kill the U.S. economy, American freedom and the environment in one fell swoop and this is what the Left wants people to think progress looks like. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com CarbonDioxide.news Investors.com TheFederalist.com RealClearPolitics.com Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 (Natural News) If youre a cubicle jockey sitting in front of a computer monitor all day or a confirmed couch potato obsessively texting with your smartphone, experts say that your health and vitality could be at risk. Fortunately, taking a short break in the non-action could not only benefit your well being, it could also improve productivity, mood, and even cognitive ability. In the study, researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus looked at the benefits of an hours worth of exercise, broken up, at least to start, into five-minute incremental walking breaks. A previous report has already revealed that sitting for at least eight hours a day could increase the risk of premature death by up to 60 percent. The BBC also recently reported that more than 5 million deaths a year are linked to sedentary lifestyles. In our technology-dominated world, it seems that a desk job could be rapidly becoming the new smoking, as similar numbers of lives lost are reported. An inactive lifestyle may be causing even more deaths than obesity, although it would seem that they both go hand in hand. The study, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, focused on 30 sedentary adults, who were initially screened with a physical exam, as well as various tests. In a clinical setting that was meant to simulate a work day, the participants first sat at a desk for six hours other than bathroom trips reading, using a computer, or watching TV. In a second visit, they engaged in moderate-intensity treadmill walking for 30 minutes after they arrived, followed by more than five hours of sitting. On a third occasion, they went for a five-minute, moderate intensity walk every hour, on the treadmill. The test volunteers indicated that they felt more peppy when exercising either all at once or incrementally rather than when they were glued to their workstation seats. But the findings also suggest that the short breaks spread out through the day (described as microbursts or bouts of activity in the study) could be more effective than getting exercise all at once. On other measures, though, the five-minute walks were more potent than the concentrated 30-minute version. When the workers rose most often, they reported greater happiness, less fatigue and considerably less craving for food than on either of the other days. Their feelings of vigor also tended to increase throughout the day, while they often had plateaued by early afternoon after walking only once in the morning, the New York Times reported about the results. The authors of the study also added that while having some form of activity spread throughout the day is beneficial practical, even other alternatives like standing desks offer similar benefits. However, they pointed out that not all offices can allow these types of furniture making them cumbersome and costly. In this laboratory-based trial, we have demonstrated that introducing exercise microbursts across the day can reduce fatigue and improve energy level and mood, while maintaining usual cognitive performance, the journal paper concluded, adding that more large-scale studies are necessary to confirm the findings about the benefits of frequent microbursts for sedentary office workers, or sedentary individuals generally for that matter. Learn more about ways to stay in shape even while youre at work at Slender.news. Sources include: IJBNPA.BioMedCentral.com NYTimes.com (Natural News) As usual, there has been no shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding the horrific shootings of Muslim worshippers last week in New Zealand. The most prominent one was offered by the alleged shooter himself, Brenton Tarrant, according to This Is Insider: At its center is the disturbing white genocide conspiracy theory, which has increasingly been referenced in popular culture and politics. The white genocide conspiracy theory claims that through government policies pertaining to immigration and birth control, certain populations and groups are attempting to replace white people and European culture in majority white countries. Conspiracy theorists refer to it as a form of genocide against the white race. The fact that its a popular conspiracy means far too many people subscribe to it. Its difficult to imagine ridding the world of whites in an act of mass genocide in the way that Hitler attempted to exterminate all Jews. But there are some indications that the Left is working to subjugate white culture throughout the West by aiding in supplanting it with Islamic culture and ways. Case in point: Christina Laila, a reporter for The Gateway Pundit, notes that the Leftist social media platforms which began banning conservatives last year ahead of the 2018 midterms are now punishing anyone who is critical of Islam and of Muslims: Coming soon: Americans will be charged and prosecuted for cyber terrorism crimes for online posts that are critical to Islam. Social media companies are already bowing to Sharia law and banning/shadowbanning users who dare speak the truth about Islamic terrorism and the various forms of jihad. She writes that she was recently warned by Twitter speech Nazis that one of her tweets calling for burqas to be banned throughout the United States was a violation of blasphemy lawsin Pakistan. These warnings are just the beginning The specific Pakistani blasphemy laws that the tweet violated are punishable by life imprisonment or death and Twitter happily delivered the threat, she wrote. And yet, most posts critical of Christianity dont elicit similar warnings from Twitter or outrage from the American and Western Left. [T]hese warnings are just the beginning, Laila writes, noting that American-based Muslim apologist groups are pushing to have U.S. social and traditional media outlets implement Sharia law on their behalf by punishing free speech. Terror-tied CAIR is working w/social media companies to ban ppl who dare question or criticize Islam. This is their 1st step. The next step will be to categorize any criticism of Islam as "cyber-terrorism" so they can have Americans arrested for exercising their 1 A rights. Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) March 16, 2019 Make no mistake, terror-tied CAIR is working to criminalize all speech that criticizes Islam as part of their plan to install Sharia law in the US. It is our 1st Amendment right to criticize & question actions inimical to our interests, yet they are working to silence Americans. Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) March 16, 2019 Meanwhile, there is rising hostility on the Left towards anyone who is seen as being critical or unsympathetic to Muslims when there is an act of violence committed against them. Over the weekend, a pregnant former first daughter Chelsea Clinton was verbally accosted by students at New York University when she attempted to attend a vigil at the school on behalf of victims of the New Zealand act of terror. Why? Clinton, whose husband Marc Mezvinsky is Jewish, tweeted approvingly of the condemnation of anti-Semitism so routinely perpetrated by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that it earned her a rebuke from Congress, sort of, last week. (Related: Why did it take the Democrat-controlled House an entire WEEK to pass an anti-hate bill?) Co-signed as an American, Clinton tweeted in response to a tweet condemning Omar. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures do not traffic in anti-Semitism. That very reasonable, very rational sentiment joining in condemnation of another form of religious hatred and bigotry was not acceptable to a Leftist NYU student of Palestinian heritage, who actually accused her (and that comment) of stoking Tarrants attack (though he admitted he planned it for months). Here is a pregnant Chelsea Clinton being accosted in public by NYU students blaming her for the New Zealand massacre. You are free to have your opinion, but how you express yourself matters. Note how Clinton never shuts down or stops listening, despite not deserving any of this. pic.twitter.com/V6XcC3lWCB Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) March 16, 2019 By comparison, the Left expresses no similar outrage when violence is committed by Muslims either against each other or another religious group. The Democrat-aligned mainstream media is similarly silent when the victims, for example, are Nigerian Christians brutalized and butchered by Islamic terrorists in their own country. Read more about the Leftist outrage mob and Islamic terrorism at OutrageDepot.com. Sources include: ThisIsInsider.com NaturalNews.com TheGatewayPundit.com TheGatewayPundit.com Breitbart.com (Natural News) A recently published study refuted the long-standing belief that the aging process will slow down or even stop once a person has reached a certain age. Instead, it declared that there is no such thing as an aging plateau people were going to continue getting older as the years went by. Researchers came up with the aging plateau theory after evaluating the risk of death during every certain year of life. They noticed that people who turn 90 years old are much more prone to dying compared to those who are 75 years old. However, if a person managed to reach the ripe old age of 105, his or her chances of dying did not appear to get much higher than during their 90th year of life. This phenomenon was formally called late-life mortality deceleration. It theorized that the aging process which increased mortality rate with every passing year more or less halted at that point in a persons life. Based on that premise, a person would not get any older past a certain point called the aging plateau. He or she would put on more years, but the body was not going to age any further. (Related: Getting your leafy greens every day slows brain aging by a decade or more, scientists discover.) A recurring statistical error could be responsible for the aging plateau phenomenon However, a researcher from the Australian National University Acton (ANU Acton) claimed that the aging plateau theory was a big mistake. Specifically, it was a statistical error that somehow kept getting repeated. Saul Justin Newman came up with a list of errors that could be committed when aging data were being gathered and evaluated during earlier studies. These mistakes could supposedly account for the evidence of an aging plateau in people. He noted that many researchers accepted the idea of an aging plateau. Yet these same experts could not agree upon a biological reason for the existence of the plateau. Newman argued that the pro-plateau researchers assumed the age data derived from scientific databases were completely accurate. He, on the other hand, believed that at least some of the data were incorrectly entered. For example, some of the participants could actually be 75 years old, but the database could have listed them as 85. Likewise, there could be participants who were actually much older than the age given to them. Are research databases recording peoples ages incorrectly all this time? Newman said that there were many more younger participants compared to older ones. Statistically speaking, the average participant therefore stood a greater chance of getting incorrectly entered into the database as having died at an older age than he or she actually did. He added that the errors did not need to take place very often. A small number of incorrectly recorded ages of death were enough to cause what most researchers considered an aging plateau. A separate paper, also published by Newman, challenged the findings of a 2018 study by Sapienza University of Rome. The Sapienza study drew from an Italian database of peoples lifespans and claimed to have found evidence supporting the existence of an aging plateau. Newmans counter-study dismissed the findings of the Italian study. The Australian researcher said that if one person out of every 500 participants in the database was listed under an incorrect age of death, the results would match the findings of the Sapienza researchers. He added that the human body will only last for so long before its functionality finally gives out. Aging does not stop in old age, he concluded in his study. Your biological machinery will get relentlessly worse from puberty until death. Sources include: LiveScience.com Journals.PLOS.org Science.ScienceMag.org (Millbrook, NY) In the Americas, primate species likely to harbor Zika - and potentially transmit the virus - are common, abundant, and often live near people. So reports a new study published today in Epidemics. Findings are based on an innovative model developed by a collaborative team of researchers from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and IBM Research through its Science for Social Good initiative. Lead author Barbara Han, a disease ecologist at Cary Institute, explains: "When modeling disease systems, data gaps can undermine our ability to predict where people are at risk. Globally, only two primate species have been confirmed positive for Zika virus. We were interested in how a marriage of two modeling techniques could help us overcome limited data on primate biology and ecology - with the goal of identifying surveillance priorities." The recent Zika epidemic in the Americas was one of the largest outbreaks in modern times, infecting over half a million people. Like other mosquito-borne flaviviruses, Zika circulates in the wild. Primates can serve as disease reservoirs of spillover infection in regions where mosquitoes feed on both primates and people. By analyzing data on flaviviruses and the primate species known to carry them, and comparing these traits to 364 primate species that occur globally, the model identified known flavivirus carriers with 82% accuracy and assigned risk scores to additional primate species likely to carry Zika virus. The end product includes an interactive map that takes into account primate geographic ranges to identify hotspots where people are most at risk of Zika spillover. Primate species in the Americas with Zika risk scores over 90% included: the tufted capuchin (Cebus apella), the Venezuelan red howler (Alouatta seniculus), and the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus) - species adapted to living among people in developed areas. Also on the list: white-fronted capuchins (Cebus albifrons), commonly kept as pets and captured for live trade, and spider monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis), which are hunted for bushmeat in parts of their range. "These species are geographically widespread, with abundant populations that live near human population centers. They are notorious crop raiders. They're kept as pets. People display them in cities as tourist attractions and hunt them for bushmeat. In terms of disease spillover risk, this is a highly alarming result," says coauthor Subho Majumdar. Adding to the concern: the mosquito species most likely to spread Zika are commonly found near humans, and are able to thrive in natural and altered landscapes. The model To overcome data gaps, the team combined two statistical tools - multiple imputation and Bayesian multi-label machine learning - to assign primate species with a risk score indicating their potential for Zika positivity. The pathogens Traits of six mosquito-borne diseases were assessed: yellow fever, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, Zika virus, and West Nile virus. Three of these had known primate reservoirs. The primates Biological and ecological traits of the 18 primate species that have tested positive for any mosquito-borne flavivirus were compared to the traits of 364 primate species that occur globally. 33 features were assessed - including things like metabolic rate, gestation period, litter size, and behavior. Features were weighted for importance in predicting Zika positivity. Han explains: "Like all pathogens, Zika virus has unique requirements for what it needs in an animal host. To determine which species could harbor Zika, we need to know what these traits are, which species have these traits, and which of these species can transmit the pathogen to humans. This is a lot of information, much of which is unknown." A statistical method called Multiply Imputed Chained Equations (MICE) was used to overcome data limitations. MICE sets computer algorithms to the task of searching through datasets of organism traits to draw connections between organisms with similar or related traits. When the algorithm encounters a missing data entry, it uses these connections to infer the missing information and fill the 'blanks' in the dataset. Machine learning was applied to this 'filled in' dataset to predict primate species most likely to carry Zika virus. The model produced a risk score for each species by combining flavivirus infection history and biological traits to predict the likelihood of Zika positivity. This method could help improve forecasting models for other disease systems, beyond Zika. Senior author Kush Varshney from IBM Research explains, "Data gaps are a reality, especially in infectious diseases that originate from wild animal hosts. Models like the one we developed can overcome some of these gaps and help pinpoint species of concern to fine-tune surveillance, forecast spillover events, and help guide efforts by the public health community." With Varshney adding, "Conducting machine learning on small-sized, incomplete, and noisy datasets to support critical decision making is a challenge shared across many industries and sectors. We will surely use the experience gained from this project in many different application areas." Han concludes, "This research was made possible by innovations provided by the broader scientific community. We relied on primate and pathogen data collected by hundreds of field researchers, and the base machine learning and imputation methods that we adapted in this research already existed. Partners at IBM Research took on a lion's share of the math and coding. It was an incredibly successful interdisciplinary collaboration - the kind we need more of if we want to find new solutions to complex problems." Police in Petaluma are searching for at least four suspects in a brutal beating that left a 60-year-old man's face disfigured and sent him to the hospital Saturday night, according to the Petaluma Police Department. The assault is being investigated as a possible hate crime, police said. Just after 9 p.m. Saturday, a woman called police and reported her domestic partner had just been attacked by four or five African-American men near the intersection of Mary Street and Petaluma Boulevard North, police said. Officers responded immediately to the scene and found the victim, who is white, on the ground suffering from numerous facial injuries. He was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The couple told police they were walking west on Mary toward their car after dinner at a nearby restaurant. Along the way, they passed several black men in their 20s standing around an emerald-green Honda Civic, police said. One of the men then hurled profanity at the victim and referred to the victims race. The victim turned around and saw one of the men rushing at him, swinging his arms, so he grabbed the man, brought him to the ground and pinned him, police said. The other men by the Honda then repeatedly kicked the victim in the face before getting into the car and fleeing the scene. The man suffered a left orbital fracture, a nasal fracture and other abrasions and facial swelling, police said. He spent two days in the hospital. The woman was unharmed. Police haven't been able to find witnesses or video footage from nearby businesses that might help identify the suspects. The Honda had no front license plate and a possibe partial rear plate of "611," police said. Anyone with information about the incident should contact Officer Ron Flores at 707-778-4372. The doctor and operator of a South Bay clinic have been charged with insurance fraud yet remained open and continued to see patients this week. Dr. Farzaneh Tabrizi and her husband, who own and manage Los Gatos Urgent Care Clinic, have been accused of overbilling patients and billing patients for services they didn't receive. It's a case sparked by a couple several years ago after they were overbilled by thousands. In that incidence, Bruce Richardson, who went to the clinic after stepping on a sea urchin days earlier in Hawaii, was given a penicillin shot and a pair of foam slippers. He got a bill for $700. Weeks later, his wife Lainey got a stunning call from their insurance company. "They said, 'We are not going to cover the $15,000 penicillin shot,' and I said, 'What?'" Lainey recalled. "When we got the itemized bill, it was charged $700, and we looked on eBay, the slipper was a $10 or $20 purchase." Lainey sounded a warning, contacting the insurance commissioner, the California Medical Board and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. Now, several years later, the DA's office has charged Dr. Tabrizi and her husband, Ali Moayed, with insurance fraud. The DA says the couple had a 100 percent error rate for billing, including falsely claiming a more serious injury or illness and billing for services not rendered. Investigators say one patient came in for a pre-employment drug test, and her insurance company ended up being billed $425 for a nonexistent urinary tract infection. In a statement, deputy district attorney Julie Sousa said: "People go to medical clinics to get care, not conned. The district attorneys office has no tolerance for those in the medical profession who take advantage of ill and injured clients to defraud them and their insurance companies." Dr. Tabrizi and her husband did not respond to requests for comment. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges. Moayed surrendered his medical license in 2007 after being convicted of elder abuse and insurance fraud. He falsified reports to make it appear three patients had prostate cancer when they didnt. "They were obviously looking more at money than care of the people," Bruce Richardson said. Tabrizi and Moayed are due back in court May 16. If convicted, they could face paying back tens of thousands of dollars in restitution and jail time. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state's budget towards housing and homelessness issues has changed after a meeting with big city leaders. The governor met with the mayors of Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento on Wednesday to talk about funding for homelessness. "We haven't been doing enough to support cities," Newsom said at a news conference. "The budget just changed. This was an important meeting. I did not just listen, I took notes and I'm taking direction. And it's not just about more money, it's about reprioritizing some of those investment." Newsom previously secured $500 million in state budget to combat the most populous state's homeless problem. The governor and mayors did not go into details about how the budget changed but Assembly Budget Chair, D-San Francisco, Phil Ting said the half-billion has been used to provide resources to cities. Mayor London Breed, who wasn't at the meeting, used the funds to build navigation centers and shelters, Ting said. Mayor of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg, who Newsom placed as a leader on homelessness issues, said that the focus will be equally on sheltering and on early intervention and prevention. "We are committed as ever to reducing this unacceptable social condition throughout California," Steinberg said. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said that state funds are being used to resolve the encampment issue in the city with the Cabin Community program and expand the city's service to more than 600 unsheltered residents per year. Another Bay Area mayor presented at the meeting was San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "We're in construction now on tiny homes that will enable hundreds of homeless individuals to get back on their feet with transitional housing and supportive services," Liccado said. What to Know Edwin Hardeman, 70, is the second plaintiff to go to trial of thousands who claim Monsanto's weedkiller caused their cancer In August, a jury awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Another trial against Monsanto's Roundup is expected to begin Monday in Oakland A jury in federal court in San Francisco has ruled that Roundup weed killer was a factor in causing a California man's cancer in a weeks-long trial that started last month. Edwin Hardeman of Sonoma County, 70, is the second plaintiff to go to trial of thousands around the country who claim agribusiness giant Monsanto's weed killer causes cancer. Hardeman won the first liability phase, proving that the Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The second phase of the trial will involve discussing punitive damages, his lawyers said. Monsanto says studies have established that the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is safe. A San Francisco jury in August awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A judge later slashed the award to $78 million, and Monsanto has appealed. The outcome of bellwether cases can help attorneys decide whether to continue fighting similar suits in court or settle them. A jury verdict in favor of Hardeman and the other test plaintiffs would give their attorneys a strong bargaining position in any settlement talks for the remaining cases before Chhabria, said David Levine, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law who has followed the Roundup litigation. Thousands of other Roundup lawsuits are pending in state courts around the country. Many government regulators have rejected a link between cancer and glyphosate. Monsanto has vehemently denied such a connection, saying hundreds of studies have established that the chemical is safe. Monsanto developed glyphosate in the 1970s, and the weed killer is now sold in more than 160 countries and widely used in the U.S. The herbicide came under increasing scrutiny after the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a "probable human carcinogen" in 2015. Lawsuits against Monsanto followed. Monsanto has attacked the international research agency's opinion as an outlier. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions. Hardeman started using Roundup products to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his 56-acre Sonoma County property in the 1980s and continued using them through 2012, according to his attorneys. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015. Another trial against Monsanto's Roundup is expected to begin Monday in Oakland. Alva Pilliod and his wife, Alberta, are also alleging that long term exposure to herbicide caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Vice President Mike Pence visited the Bay Area early Tuesday for a private meeting with a number of Silicon Valley CEOs. The meeting took place at Oracle's headquarters in Redwood City for two hours. Neither Oracle or the White House would say anything more than a meeting between executives and the vice president took place. Pence arrived at the Moffett Federal Field in Mountain View and several streets around the Oracle building were briefly shut down as he arrived. NBC Bay Area's Scott Budman has more in the video report above. A San Francisco police officer was hospitalized after being injured in an altercation with a woman in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood on Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said. At 6:37 a.m., the officer contacted the woman, who police spokesman Officer Robert Rueca described as being "in crisis" and trespassing at a property in the 200 block of Turk Street. An altercation ensued that led to injuries to the officer, who was eventually taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, Rueca said. The officer called for assistance and other officers arrived around 7:20 a.m. The woman was taken into custody but will be cited and released for trespassing, according to Rueca. Her name was not released. Officers were clearing the area and reopening the street as of shortly after 8 a.m., Rueca said. South Bay law enforcement officers met with community members Tuesday to discuss a relatively-new California law that gives the public access to police records in an effort to increase transparency. San Jose resident Rosie Chavez lost her nephew Jacob Dominguez in a police shooting in 2017. The investigation found he was unarmed but it was ruled justified last week. Now, Chavez wants the case records to be released. "Our heartbeat is racing to receive anything and everything on the officers involved in our loved ones death," Chavez said. The organization People Acting in Community Together (PACT) worked to make public records accessible to the public and the law went into effect in January. Officials reviewed the new law Tuesday with the top brass from the sheriff and police from San Jose, Morgan Hill, Sunnyvale and Campbell. "Were going to comply with that law and anything that can build community trust," said Campbell Police Chief David Carmichael. "Were here to help advocate for that." Its not cut and dry in each case, but the law generally allows the public access to the records in officer-involved shooting, certain uses of force, if an officer committed sexual assault and if an officer lied. "It helps us trust what police are telling us when they dont file charges when they say officers have been cleared," said PACT volunteer Yeme Girma. Multiple police unions across the state have filed a lawsuit over the new law about what records they need to disclose and more. The SJPD Deputy Chief said they are waiting to see the outcome in courts. Meanwhile, Chavez will continue pushing for records in her nephews case. "We want answers, we want transparency," she said. "We want that bridge to be built between the community." UC Berkeley is investigating troubling claims a student's parent paid someone else to take a college entrance exam that eventually helped admit him into school. Jordan Sidoo spent four years on the campus and received his college diploma last year. His father, Vancouver businessman David Sidoo, pleaded not guilty Friday to paying $200,000 to have someone take the SATs for Sidoo and his brother. David Sidoo appeared in federal court last week in Boston and was released on a $1.5 million secured bond. He is one of 50 people charged in a sweeping college admissions cheating scam announced by authorities last week. While the indictment does not flat-out say that Jordan Sidoo was aware of the alleged scam, prosecutors say that he did not take the SAT test before the test-taker took it on his behalf. Prosecutors said Jordan Sidoo used the near perfect SAT score on his college applications to Yale, Georgetown and UC Berkeley, which he ended up attending in 2014. Jordan Sidoo has since left the Bay Area for Vancouver, where he is working on a startup with his brother. He responded to requests seeking comment and said he cannot talk because his father is under investigation. Several asylum seekers who are being forced to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration court told a judge Tuesday that they are afraid to return to Mexico as they await their next hearing a development that introduces a new wrinkle to a major U.S. policy shift. The seven cases being heard in a downtown San Diego courtroom are among the first to advance under the Trump administration policy that calls for people seeking asylum in the U.S. to be held in Mexico. The initial appearances came three days before a federal judge in San Francisco is set to hear arguments by advocacy groups to halt the policy. Attorney Robyn Barnard asked for access at least by telephone to any interviews conducted with her Honduran client with U.S. officials about whether his fears of returning to Mexico are well-founded. Jason Aguilar, an attorney for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, didn't object but deferred the request to other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. Customs and Border Protection said it wouldn't comment due to pending litigation, and Citizenship and Immigration Services had no immediate comment. The developments raised more questions about the administration's new approach to handling the claims of people who say they fear returning to their homelands because of danger related to race, religion, political beliefs, nationality or membership in particular social groups. The administration hopes that making asylum seekers wait in Mexico will discourage weak claims and help reduce an immigration court backlog of more than 800,000 cases. Currently, families are typically released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court and can stay until their cases are resolved, which can take years. Critics say asylum seekers are forced to wait in unsafe environments and will struggle to find legal advice while in Mexico. Tijuana had more than 2,500 homicides last year. The policy shift was introduced as families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador arrive at the U.S. border to seek asylum. Five of the seven people who were scheduled to appear Tuesday were represented by attorneys. Six were Honduran; one was Guatemalan. Gerson Alonzo Beltrand of Honduras, who had Barnard speak on his behalf, expressed fear of returning to Tijuana, but the government attorney's response left unclear whether Homeland Security would grant his request. A judge scheduled an Aug. 6 hearing on the merits of his asylum claim. "Sir, we made significant progress in your case this afternoon," Rico Bartolomei, chief immigration judge in San Diego, told him. The Associated Press witnessed one of the seven cases in the small courtroom before security guards cleared the aisles of an overflow crowd. Lisa Knox, an attorney for two Honduran men, was in the courtroom and said three asylum seekers had expressed fear of returning to Mexico. Knox said the judge continued her cases to early May to give her more time to prepare. One man failed to appear because he was in U.S. custody in another part of the country. The policy change, which followed months of high-level talks with Mexico, has been introduced slowly with an average of 40 people a week being returned to Tijuana from San Diego in the first six weeks. Mexico agreed to accept up to 120 a week. U.S. officials began returning people to Mexicali, Mexico, from Calexico, California, last week and say they intend to sharply expand such activity across the entire border. Mexicans and children traveling alone are exempt from the policy. U.S. and Mexican officials characterize the policy change as a unilateral move by the Trump administration. Mexico has said it will allow asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for humanitarian reasons. AP photographer Gregory Bull contributed. The family of a dual Saudi-U.S. citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for more than a year are claiming that he has been subjected to routine torture and is on the verge of an emotional breakdown. After months of quietly trying to secure his release, the family of Dr. Walid Fitaihi is now seeking to publicly pressure both the Saudi government and the Trump administration on the issue. "There is an American citizen being tortured in a Saudi prison," said Howard Cooper, a lawyer working with the Fitaihi family. "He has been not only psychologically tortured but physically tortured and he can't hold out much longer." In seeking to publicize the issue, Cooper and the Fitaihi family will have to contend with the extremely tight public relationship between President Donald Trump and powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, popularly referred to as MBS. Fitaihi gained his American citizenship while studying and working in the U.S. for years. He received undergraduate and medical degrees from George Washington University and a master's in public health from Harvard, said Cooper a Boston-based attorney who has known Fitaihi for more than 10 years. He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2006 to help found a hospital built by his family and also became a popular motivational speaker on television. In November 2017, Fitaihi was one of about 200 prominent Saudis detained in a mass roundup and held prisoner in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton hotel. The Saudi government described the mass arrests as a crackdown on corruption; critics, however, decried it as a move to consolidate power by Prince Mohammed and claimed the detainees were being tortured. Most of those detainees were eventually released after agreeing to pay massive financial penalties, but Fitaihi and a small handful of others were instead transferred to a prison in Riyadh. Cooper said Fitaihi was recently moved to a different prison in the coastal city of Jeddah and that he was now in the prison hospital after suffering "an emotional breakdown" after months of physical and psychological torture. Trumps relationship with Saudi Arabia has already been tested by last year's grisly murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Trump however stood firmly by Prince Mohammed; in the face of widespread international skepticism, Trump repeatedly backed the official Saudi explanation that the murder was a rogue operation that took place without the crown prince's knowledge. Despite the Kashoggi controversy, the relationship remains strong and the Trump administration continues to depend on Prince Mohammed as a key regional ally. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with Prince Mohammed last week to discuss Kushner's plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. National Security Adviser John Bolton was briefly asked about Fitaihi's case during a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union." Bolton said he knew only that American diplomats had recently met with him in prison. "Beyond that, we don't really have any additional information at this point," Bolton said. In response to an Associated Press query, the State Department released a statement confirming that U.S. diplomatic representatives have met with Fitaihi and have "raised his case" with the Saudi government. "We take all allegations of abuse and torture extremely seriously. We urge the Government of Saudi Arabia, and all governments, to ensure fair trial guarantees, freedom from arbitrary and extrajudicial detention, transparency, and rule of law," the statement said. "We also call on the Government of Saudi Arabia, and all governments, to treat prisoners and detainees humanely, and to ensure that allegations of abuse are investigated quickly and thoroughly." The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compared himself to Jim Crow-era lynching victims in a surprise speech Sunday, as he resists widespread calls to resign prompted by allegations of sexual assault. Fairfax strongly defended himself and lashed out at his critics from his rostrum in the state Senate as the 2019 legislative session was coming to a close. "I've heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever, and we rue that," Fairfax said, referencing legislation the General Assembly passed expressing "profound regret" for lynchings in Virginia between 1877 and 1950. "And we talk about hundreds, at least 100 terror lynchings that have happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia under those very same auspices. And yet we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing," Fairfax said. When he finished his five-minute impromptu speech, stunned senators sat in awkward silence. Fairfax, who is black, has been accused by two women of sexual assault. Both of the alleged victims are African American. Earlier this month, Vanessa Tyson publicly accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Her lawyer said last week that Tyson plans to meet with prosecutors in Massachusetts to detail her allegations. Meredith Watson has also publicly accused Fairfax of sexual assault. She issued a statement accusing him of raping her 19 years ago while they were students at Duke University. The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women have come forward voluntarily. House Republicans announced plans Friday to hold a public hearing where Fairfax, Tyson and Watson can testify, a move that Fairfax and some Democrats have panned as a political ploy. Fairfax has indicated he won't participate in the hearing, leaving it an open question whether Republicans will try to compel him to testify. Fairfax has said the accusations should be investigated by law enforcement. Republican House Majority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert said Fairfax's comments about lynchings were highly inappropriate. "That is the worst, most disgusting type of rhetoric he could have invoked," Gilbert said. "It's entirely appropriate for him to talk about due process and we would intend to offer him every ounce of it, and he's welcome to take advantage of that anytime he would like." But black lawmakers did not object to Fairfax's speech. "He said what he needed to say," said Sen. Mamie Locke. Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Del. Lamont Bagby said he's heard similar rhetoric from his constituents, who have expressed concerns that Fairfax is being treated unfairly because of his race. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats and both white, are embroiled in their own scandal after acknowledging they wore blackface in the 1980s. Northam has also resisted widespread calls to resign and instead said he intends to devote his remaining years in office to addressing the state's deep and lingering racial divisions. The trio of scandals has rocked Virginia politics and exposed deep divides among Democrats. State Democrats have expressed fear that the uproar over the governor could jeopardize their chances of taking control of the GOP-dominated Virginia legislature this year. The party made big gains in 2017, in part because of a backlash against President Donald Trump, and has moved to within striking distance of a majority in both houses. At the same time, the Democrats nationally have taken a hard line against misconduct in their ranks because women and minorities are a vital part of their base and they want to be able to criticize Trump's behavior without looking hypocritical. When Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam refused to resign last week, he did so in the shadow of a Capitol built by a founding father and a slave owner, in the former seat of the Confederacy still wrestling with what to do about statues that honor those who fought to preserve slavery. The 35-year-old photo on his yearbook page of a person in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan robe has brought about a stunning reversal of fortune in Northam's political career and laid bare for the nation just how deeply racist behavior remains interwoven in American culture, institutions and politics. In rejecting calls to step down, the 59-year-old white son of Virginia came across to many African-Americans as displaying a sense of white privilege. "What we have learned over the last 24 hours along with all the incidents of the last two years brings front and center the need for this nation to deal with the question of race once and for all," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in an interview Saturday. "Because we have (President Donald) Trump in the White House, who has created a political landscape of intolerance and racial hatred, this has exposed a wound that has been festering for a while now." The incident came on the first day of Black History Month and as Virginians prepare to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the settlement of Jamestown. "I think a lot of black folks are tired of apologies and talking," said Wes Bellamy, a councilman in Charlottesville, Virginia, who has worked for the removal of Confederate statues in the city. "This is another ugly stain on our state's history. We are going to have to commit ourselves to making this right not just with our words, but with our resources." Should Northam, a Democrat, ultimately step down, Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax would become the second black governor in the South since Reconstruction. Last month, Fairfax, the only black statewide official, sat down in protest as the Virginia Senate recognized Lee-Jackson Day, which honors Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Virginia is still healing from the racial wounds inflicted in August 2017, when white supremacists marched on Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of Lee. Many of the mostly white men who converged on the city chanting racist slogans and burning torches were about the same age that Northam would've been as a student at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Northam's age belies the assumption that their actions reflected the tenor and tone of the era. In 1984 when the photograph was included in Northam's yearbook page, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson was running for president. Pioneering black entertainer Bill Cosby was the star of one of America's most popular television shows. African-Americans were climbing the nation's social, professional, political and economic ladders at unprecedented speed. In his initial apology, Northam said that the photo does not represent who he is now. A day later, he denied being in the photograph and admitted to wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson impersonation. The incident is the third in recent weeks: Last month, Florida's secretary of state resigned after photos from a 2005 Halloween party showed him in blackface dressed as a Hurricane Katrina victim. Also last month, videos surfaced of people in blackface at the University of Oklahoma, including a man walking near campus. Two students withdrew from the university and apologized. Such incidents are not only hurtful; they can be harmful when they happen at institutions of higher learning and are perpetrated by people who go on to impact the lives of people of color as decision-makers from politicians to doctors. A recent University of Virginia study showed that black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white patients, and that white laypeople and medical students and residents hold false beliefs about the biological differences between the races beliefs that can affect the perception and treatment of black patients. The trust Northam, a pediatric neurologist, established with his patients was not unlike the faith he sought from voters. In running for governor, many people including the 87 percent of black voters who supported him saw Northam as a candidate who belongs to a party associated with justice and equality, who ran against an opponent tied to a president who has been accused of racism. Their vote for Northam was, in part, a rejection of those views and beliefs. The governor's defiance amid the roar for him to step aside among even his Democratic colleagues, black and white, takes away the voters' choice over what the consequences for his actions should be and casts doubt on his ability to represent them going forward, said NAACP President Johnson. "If we cannot recognize African-Americans are full citizens entitled to humane treatment by our public policy makers, how can we expect public policy to meet the needs and interests of those communities being portrayed as less than human?" Johnson asked. It also raises a critical question: In politics, should sincerity and repentance for a racist past matter more than the hurt feelings of Americans who live on the receiving end of racism? Northam's lieutenant governor doesn't think so. "I have worked closely with Ralph Northam over many years. He has been a friend to me and has treated my family and me with hospitality and respect," Fairfax wrote in a statement Saturday, noting that he is a descendant of people enslaved in Virginia. "While his career has been marked by service to children, soldiers and constituents, I cannot condone the actions from his past that, at the very least, suggest a comfort with Virginia's darker history of white supremacy, racial stereotyping, and intimidation." Fairfax has not called for Northam's resignation, but by Sunday, he was one of the few democrats who had spoken publicly and not called for him to step down. "He doesn't want to go down on something he doesn't think he did," said Anthea Butler, a University of Pennsylvania religion professor who has written about politics. "I don't know how he thinks he can show up in the black community. He's hobbling what he can do for his African-American constituents, and we're asked to do the labor of forgiveness and healing. We're over it. Why should he be allowed to stay?" His stance illustrates how many Americans have come to view racism since the end of legally-enforced segregation, defined by only the most egregious, blatant examples like using the N-word or the Ku Klux Klan. "That's the boundary. Everything else is not," said Carol Anderson, Emory University African American studies professor and author of 'White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide.' "Unless you're burning a cross, you're not racist," Anderson said. "But racism since the Civil Rights Movement is deceptively structural." Back in Iowa as a full-fledged presidential candidate, Democrat Elizabeth Warren took aim at President Donald Trump on Sunday, saying he "may not even be a free person" by next year's election. The Massachusetts senator also urged fellow candidates to avoid letting Trump define the contours of the election with his personal and provocative attacks. "Every day there is a racist tweet, a hateful tweet something really dark and ugly," Warren said as she opened an event in Cedar Rapids. "What are we as candidates, as activists, as the press, going to do about it? We're going to chase after those every day?" Warren has been a frequent Trump target. Hours after she formally kicked off her campaign on Saturday, the president renewed his criticism of her past claims of Native American heritage. In a tweet, Trump called Warren "Pocahontas" and said he would see her "on the campaign TRAIL." The White House didn't explain what the president was referring to in his tweet, though some Democrats accused him of making light of the Trail of Tears the forced removal of Cherokee and several other Native American tribes from their lands in the 1830s. Warren's campaign wouldn't say what the senator believes Trump was referencing. Warren emerged as one of the Democratic Party's fiercest and most effective Trump critics during the 2016 election, campaigning vigorously for Hillary Clinton. But she's largely avoided talking about Trump since she began testing the waters for a presidential campaign more than a month ago, hewing more closely to the populist economic message that has long made her a favorite of liberals. That shift made her sharp, though brief, shot at Trump on Sunday all the more notable. "By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person," she said. Warren told reporters her comments were a reference to the multiple investigations that have shadowed Trump's presidency. Asked if she supported impeaching Trump, Warren was noncommittal, saying only that special counsel Robert Mueller needs to be allowed to finish his investigation and make his report public. "If we go down that path, we're going to need to help pull this country together and have as many people as possible understand it was a legitimate process based on facts," she said. Trump has not been charged with any crimes, but several of his former advisers have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. The president's ability to create controversies and drive debate poses a challenge for Warren and other Democrats. While Democrats are eager for candidates to show they can handle Trump's aggression, they also risk overshadowing their own visions for the country if they respond to every attack or provocation. Warren's campaign launch has been shadowed by the controversy surrounding her past claims to Native American heritage. She's apologized for claiming Native American identity on multiple occasions early in her career. Trump has frequently taken digs at the senator by calling her Pocahontas, a reference to the native woman who lived in present-day Virginia in the 1600s and agreed to marry an English colonist to help ensure peace and protect her people. Voters in Cedar Rapids did not ask Warren about the controversy during a question-and-answer session, focusing instead on her stances on issues including tariffs and student loan debt. The death of a 6-month-old girl at a day care facility in Rutland, Vermont highlights several broad concerns for child welfare, say advocates and physicians. Even over-the-counter medications can be dangerous, warned pediatric critical care physician Dr. Becca Bell of the University of Vermont Medical Center. Following the January death of Harper Briar at a licensed home day care facility, provider Stacey Vaillancourt, 53, is now facing charges of manslaughter and cruelty to a child. We would enter a plea of not guilty on each of the counts, defense attorney Robert McClallen said during Mondays court arraignment for his client. Court documents show the parents of little Harper told investigators after her death that she was a poor sleeper. In late January, following Harpers second day in Vallaincourts home, the baby girls mom thought something seemed wrong. Harper seemed tired and not as smiley, detectives wrote in an affidavit filed with the court. The next time at day care brought a frantic trip to the emergency room, according to police. Harper wasnt breathing, investigators said. According to prosecutors, Harper was poisoned with more than one dose of an over-the-counter antihistamine and sedative, when Vallaincort was the sole person caring for the baby. To the point that baby could not lift her head, and died, Rutland County States Attorney Rose Kennedy said in court Monday, as sounds of sobbing came from a large group of people gathered in the courtroom, wearing pink T-shirts with Harper Briars picture on them. Bell said she does not want to see parents or caregivers turn to cold or allergy meds from the drugstore without a doctors specific orders, because of the risk for poisoning. We dont recommend that infants or toddlers receive these medications, Bell told necn and NBC10 Boston. Courtney Farrell is the director of child and family services with Lund, a non-profit that aims to strengthen Vermont mothers, children, and families. She would not comment on the accusations in the Rutland case, but acknowledged caring for kids can be stressful. Being able to do it on your own is really challenging, Farrell said. Farrell urges adults to ask for help if they need it, including from a state-wide network of parent/child resource centers. A list of those resource centers is available here. Youre not alone and you dont have to be alone, Farrell said. Vallaincourt was released on conditions that included she not have contact with young childrenaside from supervised contact with a grandchild. Neither Vallaincourt nor the babys family commented to reporters after Mondays arraignment. The suspects attorney said the day care facility shut down shortly after Harpers death. Two people were arrested after a 2-year-old boy died of child abuse injuries Monday morning in Washington Park on the South Side. Jahir Gibbons suffered multiple injuries inside a home in the 6000 block of South Prairie Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. He was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m. Monday. His death was ruled a homicide on Tuesday, the medical examiners office said. Chicago police did not immediately provide further details about his death but said two persons of interest have been taken into custody. Charges are pending. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Service is conducting a full investigating of this death to understand how and why this occurred, the agency said in a statement. DCFS has a history of previous contact with the family that dates back to 2010. The previous involvement concerned allegations of abuse and neglect related to the young boys siblings, DCFS said. Starting in October, the agency began investigating an abuse allegation involving Gibbons and his mother, DCFS said. The agency then provided a variety of services to the family, including home visits, individual therapy sessions for the mother and speech and developmental therapy for Gibbons, DCFS said. The most recent visit happened Saturday, when an agency contracted by DCFS reported that Gibbons and his siblings were safe. The death of Jahir Gibbons is an unacceptable loss and all of us at DCFS are deeply saddened by this tragedy, DCFS said. The Iowa Attorney General's Office is suing to shut down what it describes as a national puppy-laundering ring that sells dogs from illegal breeding operations at inflated prices while pretending the animals are rescues. The lawsuit filed Monday seeks an injunction to dissolve breeder J.A.K.'s Puppies, and nonprofits Hobo K9 Rescue and Rescue Pets Iowa Corp, Attorney General Tom Miller's Office said in a news release . The lawsuit also alleges four ringleaders Jolyn Noethe, Kimberly Dolphin, Megan Peterson, and Russell Kirk violated Iowa's consumer fraud act. The operations sold almost 1,300 animals in California, Illinois, Florida and New Jersey for more than $700,000 from 2016 to 2018, the lawsuit said. None of the puppies including Pomeranians, Shar-Peis, Alaskan Malamutes, Poodle-Yorkies were re-homed in Iowa. "No matter where they live, consumers should not be misled about the source of the pets they buy," Miller said. "Puppy laundering obscures the identity of breeders who may have animal welfare violations or other problems." The state is seeking $40,000 in fines per violation, plus reimbursement to defrauded customers. Kirk, who is the president of Rescue Pets, declined to comment to the Des Moines Register. Noethe, Dolphin, Peterson are all officers with Hobo K9 and J.A.K.'s. The newspaper was unable to reach them for comment. J.A.K.'s acquired the animals from puppy mills then sold them to Hobo K9, which sold them for profit, the lawsuit said. Animal welfare groups say puppy mills are cruel; they breed the animals constantly and force them to live in cramped, often dirty conditions. Miller's office began investigating the groups in June 2018, prompting the alleged ringleaders to create a "brand-new sham charity" called Rescue Pets Iowa Corp. in December last year, the lawsuit said. The nonprofit's fees are "extravagant" and the animals being sold were all puppies, a vast departure from legitimate rescues that typically charge minimal fees and primarily offer older animals, the state said. What to Know A petition for a writ of mandamus asks the Illinois Supreme Court to review whether Van Dyke's 81-month sentence was "proper under the law" Judge Vincent Gaughan last month sentenced Van Dyke to nearly seven years in prison for second-degree murder The filing argued the judge should instead impose a sentence on each of the 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a bid to challenge the legality of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke's prison sentence. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor in Van Dyke's trial, filed a petition last month for a writ of mandamus, asking the Illinois court to review whether Van Dyke's 81-month prison sentence for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald was "proper under the law." That petition was denied by the court, according to documents Tuesday. "The majoritys denial, without explanation, does not confirm whether Judge Gaughans sentence is consistent with Illinois law," Raoul said Tuesday during a press conference. "Nonetheless, we recognize and respect the Courts authority, which it can exercise without a specific request." Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced former Chicago police officer Van Dyke to nearly seven years in prison in January. Before deciding on a sentence, Gaughan first had to determine if the case fell under the one act, one crime doctrine, allowing Van Dyke to be sentenced on only the more serious of the two crimes he was charged with. Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated battery in a trial last year. Prosecutors, citing precedent, argued if Van Dyke was sentenced for only one of the two charges, it should be for the aggravated battery charge, which carried a higher sentence. Defense attorneys countered that second-degree murder was the appropriate charge, despite the possibility of probation. Ultimately, Gaughan chose to sentence Van Dyke for second-degree murder, giving him the 81-month sentence. Is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be shot by a firearm or is it more serious for Laquan McDonald to be murdered by a firearm? Gaughan said while making his ruling. Raoul's filing called on the Supreme Court to direct Gaughan to vacate Van Dyke's sentence for second-degree murder and instead impose a sentence on each of the 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. The judge would then need to determine which of those counts involved "severe bodily injury," allowing for consecutive sentences. It is important that a police officer was held accountable for criminal conduct, McMahon said in a statement. But we argued at the sentencing hearing that Jason Van Dyke should be sentenced for the aggravated battery with a firearm convictions. The ability for the prosecution to challenge a sentence is very narrow, but this might be one of those situations. Van Dyke's appeal attorneys, Darren O'Brien and Jennifer Blagg, said in a statement the filing would open up "a Pandora's box of legal issues that, in the long term, could result in grossly excessive, unjust sentences for defendants that follow in the wake of this request." "We are extremely pleased with the Illinois Supreme Courts decision to deny the challenge to the sentence imposed by the trial court in this case," his attorney Dan Herbert said in a statement Tuesday. "We hope that the decision will strike a fatal blow to the political exploitation of the death of LaQuan McDonald." A collection of letters written by Albert Einstein is set to go to auction next week, offering a new glimpse at the Nobel-winning physicist's views on God, McCarthyism and what was then the newly established state of Israel. The five original letters, dated 1951 to 1954 and signed by Einstein, reveal a witty and sensitive side of the esteemed scientist. They were sent to quantum physicist David Bohm, a colleague who fled the United States for Brazil in 1951 after refusing to testify about his links to the Communist Party to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Bohm's widow's estate put the documents on the block after she passed away last year. One of the yellowing pages, bearing Einstein's signature and embossed seal, and a handwritten general relativity equation, opens at $8,000 and is expected to sell for at least twice that. In all, the collection is expected to fetch over $20,000. Einstein and Bohm became friends when they both worked at Princeton University. Their letters touch on quantum physics, the nature of the divine and Bohm's miserable time in Brazil. "If God has created the world his primary worry was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us," Einstein assured Bohm in February 1954, a year before his death. In another letter from February 1953, Einstein compares "the present state of mind" of America gripped by McCarthyist anti-Communism to the paranoia in Germany in the early 20th century under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s led a hunt for alleged communist traitors he believed worked in the government and the army. Bohm, who left the United States in the midst of the so-called Red Scare, conveyed dismay and displeasure about living in Brazil, where he was working at the University of Sao Paulo. He said he had trouble adjusting to the local food. Einstein, then 75, offers sympathy to his younger colleague for the "instability of your belly, a matter where I have myself extended experience." He suggested getting a good cook. Einstein said the foreseeable future didn't portend a "more reasonable political attitude" in the United States, and that Bohm ought to hold out in Brazil until he gets citizenship before leaving for a more "intellectual atmosphere." One idea that came up was relocating to Israel, which had declared independence in 1948. But despite Einstein's ties to Israel's Hebrew University, he believed the country offered limited opportunities. Einstein himself declined an offer in 1952 to become Israel's president, though he served remotely on the Hebrew University's first Board of Governors and left his papers to the school in his will. "Israel is intellectually active and interesting but has very narrow possibilities," the Nobel laureate wrote. "And to go there with the intention to leave on the first occasion would be regrettable." Despite Einstein's counsel, Bohm, who was Jewish, left Brazil for Israel in 1955, where he taught at Haifa's Technion Institute of Technology for two years. There he met his wife, Sarah Woolfson. They married in 1956. A year later the couple moved to the United Kingdom, where Bohm taught at Bristol University until his death in 1992. Mrs. Bohm returned to Israel after her husband's death and resided in Jerusalem. She died in April 2016 and her estate put her husband's letters from Einstein up for sale at Winner's auction house in Jerusalem. Roni Grosz, curator of the Albert Einstein Archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, home to the world's largest collection of Einstein material, said copies of the Bohm letters were already in the archive and that there was "nothing extraordinary" about them. But he said anything connected to Einstein tends to generate interest. "There's today tremendous interest in all things Einstein. Einstein documents, letters, drafts are being on sale all the time," he said. "There's barely a month that passes with no Einstein documents in auction or in sale." The auction, which includes copies of other letters sent by Einstein and correspondence by fellow Nobel laureate Louis de Broglie, will be held on June 20, though early bids are being accepted online. Israel's attorney general on Thursday recommended criminal charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a series of corruption cases, shaking up an already tumultuous election campaign and threatening to end the Israeli leader's decades-long political career. The potential charges stretch across an array of embarrassing scandals that have painted Netanyahu as a hedonistic, and sometimes petty, leader with a taste for expensive gifts and an obsession over his public image. They include allegations he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of champagne and cigars from billionaire friends, and allegedly used his influence to help a wealthy telecom magnate in exchange for favorable coverage on a popular news site. While a final decision on charges is still months away, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's recommendations threatened to hurt Netanyahu's standing in the heat of a tight re-election battle. Netanyahu quickly faced calls to immediately step aside while he deals with the distraction of trying to clear his name. Appearing on national TV late Thursday, Netanyahu dismissed the allegations as an "unprecedented witch hunt" by political opponents intent on seeing him lose the April 9 election. He called the timing of the recommendations "outrageous" and accused prosecutors of caving in to pressure from "the left." Appearing emotional at times, he called the case a "blood libel," said he would debunk all charges and vowed to remain prime minister for many years. "This house of cards will collapse," he said as he addressed voters. "Don't let this witch hunt affect you." Mandelblit announced his recommendations after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations by police, legal experts and financial regulators. "The attorney general has reached his decision after thoroughly examining the evidence collected during the investigations," his statement said. Netanyahu was not formally charged. Under Israeli law, he is entitled to defend himself at a hearing before charges are officially filed. That process is expected to take many months and be completed long after the election. Tomer Naor of the Movement for Quality Government, a watchdog group, said the hearing process could take about a year. While charges are not guaranteed, he said most of the cases, particularly the bribery case, appeared to be solid. The recommendations nonetheless plunged Israel into uncharted legal waters, marking the first time in its history that a sitting prime minister is so close to facing criminal charges. While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while simultaneously running the country could increase calls, even from his allies, to step down. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who spent time in prison for corruption, stepped down a decade ago, months before police completed an investigation against him. As opposition leader, Netanyahu called on Olmert to step down before his indictment, saying he could not devote his full attention to governing. Netanyahu has a solid base of hard-line, nationalist and religious voters who are likely to rally behind him. For now, Likud officials and his current coalition partners are also supporting him. But polls have indicated that the upcoming vote, in which Netanyahu is seeking a fourth consecutive term, could be swayed by a small number of voters who abandon him in favor of a new centrist party headed by a popular former military chief, Benny Gantz. Those voters could well be turned off by Netanyahu's lengthy rule and never-ending scandals. Gantz, whose campaign has focused heavily on Netanyahu's character, late Thursday called on Netanyahu to resign immediately to deal with his legal problems. He said Israel could not afford to have a "part-time prime minister." "Let's imagine our reality when the prime minister needs to divide his time between court and dealing with the critical issues facing the state of Israel," he said. Even before Thursday's announcement, Netanyahu's campaign had shown signs of trouble. The alliance formed by Gantz and Yair Lapid, another centrist leader, has been welcomed by voters. Their "Blue and White" alliance enjoys a slight lead in opinion polls, making them the first credible threat to Netanyahu's decade-long rule. Lapid also called on Netanyahu to step down. "This is a sad day for the state of Israel," he said. "If Netanyahu loves the state of Israel as he always says he does, then he needs to do what's best for the country. He needs to resign, immediately." Netanyahu has also come under fire, both in Israel and abroad, for forming a partnership with the political heirs of an ultranationalist party that was banned for its racist views toward Arabs. The campaign now appears to be morphing into a referendum on Netanyahu as he seeks to become the longest-serving premier in Israeli history. Netanyahu has been prime minister since 2009 and served a previous term between 1996 and 1999. Netanyahu had previously tried unsuccessfully to persuade Mandelblit to delay publication of his recommendations until after the election. And on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the Likud Party to block publication. The most serious allegations against Netanyahu involve his relationship with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israel's telecom giant Bezeq. Mandelblit recommended a bribery charge in the case based on evidence collected that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq. In exchange, they believe Netanyahu used his connections with Elovitch to receive positive press coverage on Bezeq's popular news site Walla. A related charge against Netanyahu's wife, Sara, was dropped. Mandelblit's statement said there was a unanimous opinion among investigators that the relationship between Netanyahu and the Elovitches was "give or take," constituting bribery. Mandelblit also filed breach of trust charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, including over $300,000 worth of champagne and cigars from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan. The second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a major newspaper in return for favorable coverage. Mandelblit's office said the timing of Netanyahu's hearing would be set in the near future in coordination with the prime minister's lawyers. President Donald Trump, with whom Netanyahu has forged a close connection, offered the Israeli leader a boost earlier Thursday. "I can say this: that he's done a great job as prime minister. He's tough, he's smart, he's strong," Trump said in Hanoi, where he was holding a summit with the leader of North Korea. Yohanan Plesner, a former lawmaker who now heads the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent think tank, said he does not expect any dramatic changes in voting patterns, but there could be small enough shifts "that can actually make the difference." Plesner said from a "practical standpoint," Netanyahu should step down due to the severity of the charges. "But this will probably not happen," he said. CORRECTION (Feb. 28, 2019, 1:05 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Netanyahu had been charged. Charges were recommended but a final decision will only come after a hearing. Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider "all options" to resolve Venezuela's crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting at potential U.S. military involvement. Guaido's comments late Saturday came after a tumultuous day that saw President Nicolas Maduro's forces fire tear gas and buckshot on activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid in violent clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured. For weeks, the U.S. and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela's borders in anticipation of carrying out a "humanitarian avalanche" by land and sea to undermine Maduro's rule. With activists failing to penetrate government blockades and deliver the aid, Guaido announced late Saturday that he would escalate his appeal to the international community beginning with a meeting Monday in Colombia's capital with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of an emergency summit of leaders of the so-called Lima Group to discuss Venezuela's crisis. He said he would urge the international community to keep "all options open" in the fight to restore Venezuela's democracy, using identical language to that of President Donald Trump, who in his public statements has repeatedly refused to rule out force and reportedly even secretly pressed aides as early as 2017 about the possibility of a military incursion. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also stepped up the belligerent rhetoric, saying on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Maduro's "days are numbered." Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who visited the border last week and has Trump's ear on policy toward Venezuela, tweeted out pictures of anti-American strongmen including Panama's Manuel Noriega, Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu at the height of their power and then tragic downfall the not so subtle suggestion being that Maduro himself could suffer a similar fate. A close Guadio ally, Julio Borges, the exiled leader of congress who is Guaido's ambassador to the Lima Group, was even more explicit in urging a military option. "We are going to demand an escalation of diplomatic pressure ... and the use of force against Nicolas Maduro's dictatorship," he said Sunday. It's a prospect that analysts warn risks fracturing a hard-won coalition of Latin American nations who've come together to pressure Maduro's socialist government. Most Latin American governments, even conservative ones like those in neighboring Colombia and Brazil, are on the record opposing a military solution and would face huge dissent should they back any military action led by the U.S., whose interventions in the region during the Cold War remain an open wound. "These governments know they would face a huge tide of internal opinion greatly offended by a U.S.-led invasion for historical and political reasons," said Ivan Briscoe, the Latin America director for the Crisis Group, a Belgium-based think tank. It also could split what has until been bipartisan support for the Trump administration's policy toward Venezuela. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, over the weekend warned about a "potential trap being set by Trump." "Cheering humanitarian convoys sounds like the right thing to do, but what if it's not about the aid? What if the real agenda is laying a pretext for war?" Murphy said on Twitter. At the same time, though polls say Venezuelans overwhelmingly want Maduro to resign, almost an equal number reject the possibility of a foreign invasion to resolve the political impasse. Resting at the foot of the Simon Bolivar bridge as work crews in Colombia began removing debris left by the unrest, Claudia Aguilar said she would support a military invasion but worries it would lead to more bloodshed. The 29-year-old pregnant mother of three said she crossed illegally into Colombia on Sunday to buy a bag of rice and pasta for her family after Maduro ordered a partial closure of the border two days earlier. "We're with fear, dear God, of what will happen," she said standing near the dirt trail she took to sneak across the border. "More blood, more deaths. The president of Venezuela does whatever he wants." In addition to weakening multilateral pressure against Maduro, analysts say the opposition saber rattling also risks undermining Guaido's goal of peeling off support from the military, the country's crucial powerbroker. The 35-year-old Guaido has won the backing of more than 50 governments around the world since declaring himself interim president at a rally in January, arguing that Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate because some popular opposition candidates were barred from running. But he's so far been unable to cause a major rift inside the military, despite repeated appeals and the offer of amnesty to those joining the opposition's fight for power. "How many of you national guardsmen have a sick mother? How many have kids in school without food," he implored Saturday night, standing next to a warehouse where 600 tons of food and medicine have been stockpiled on the Colombian border. "You don't owe any obedience to a sadist ... who celebrates the denial of humanitarian aid the country needs." Maduro has deftly courted support from the military since becoming president in 2013, offering top commanders key posts in his cabinet, including the presidency of state-run oil giant PDVSA, the source of virtually all of Venezuela's dollar earnings. More than 100 members of the security forces, most of them lower-rank soldiers, deserted and took refuge inside Colombia during Saturday's unrest, according to migration officials. But none of them was higher ranked than a National Guard major, and there's been little suggestion any battalion or division commanders are willing to defect despite almost daily calls by Guaido and the U.S. To be sure, there's no indication the U.S. is planning a military invasion and Trump has made a habit of threatening friends and foes alike China, North Korea and Canada among them only to dial back the rhetoric down the road. Washington still has more diplomatic tools available, including extending oil sanctions to punish non-American entities that conduct business with Maduro's government in much the way such sanctions strangled communist Cuba for decades. Still, as early as 2017, Trump reportedly raised the possibility of a U.S. military incursion in Venezuela similar to the 1989 invasion that led to the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, both in an Oval Office meeting with then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other aides, as well as at a session with leaders of four Latin American allies on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, according to a senior administration official who has since left the White House. In both cases Trump abandoned the war talk at the urging of his advisers and allies in the region. Prior to the current crisis, there was never any war planning by the military, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private conversations. Still, momentum toward a confrontation seems to be building as hopes for a quick crumbling of Maduro's government fade. "It acts like a magnet," said Briscoe of the possibility of a U.S.-led intervention. "As Plan A and B fail, it's where everyone seems to be going. But the further you move in that direction, you weaken the multilateral approach and reduce the possibility that large parts of the military will turn against Maduro." ___ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and AP writer Christine Armario reported in Cucuta, Colombia. Back in 1979, Karen Schneider was an entry-level copy editor in her 20s when a senior editor at her newspaper offered her a ride after some late-night drinks with colleagues. At her destination, he locked the car door and forcibly kissed her. Terrified, she managed to get away. She subsequently told her boyfriend about what happened and no one else. "I didn't know what sexual harassment was. I didn't know that what he did was actually illegal," Schneider recalled in a recent phone interview. "All I knew was that I was scared and deeply worried about my career, because this man was in a position of authority and I was a very eager young journalist." The recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations, costing dozens of prominent men their jobs and reputations, shows that experiences like Schneider's remain common in American workplaces. But even as the problem persists, there is far more public awareness now of sexual harassment and far more recourse for victims, compared with the decades before the 1990s. Schneider remained at the Hartford Courant for five more years after the kiss, keeping her secret. She later worked for other news and advocacy organizations and is now vice president of communications for the National Women's Law Center, which is assisting women speaking out about harassment. "There has been greater recognition that sexual harassment is against the law and should not be tolerated," Schneider said. "But there are many industries and offices where people are still afraid to speak out." Technically, sexual harassment became illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act's ban on sex discrimination, but it took three more decades of court rulings to establish the current concepts of what it entails and how to address it. Gillian Thomas, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who has written on the topic, said the term "sexual harassment" wasn't even coined until 1975. A turning point in public awareness came in 1991, when sexual harassment was the focus of Anita Hill's testimony during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings. There also were pivotal Supreme Court rulings, including one in 1986 declaring that a "hostile working environment" could constitute sexual harassment, whether or not an aggrieved employee suffered economic harm by being fired or denied promotion. In 1993, the high court said employees could prevail in harassment cases without having to prove they suffered psychological damage. In 1998, a pair of Supreme Court rulings prompted many employers to adopt anti-harassment policies and formalize mechanisms for employees to lodge confidential complaints. The legal system remains tilted in favor of the employer, Thomas said, "but at least there's a vocabulary now for talking about these issues." There was no such vocabulary in New York City's all-male fire department in 1982, when a lawsuit filed by Brenda Berkman forced the department to revise its physical exam so it was possible for women to pass. Berkman, who retired in 2006 with the rank of captain, said she and the other 39 pioneering women encountered harassment even during probationary training. "There was abuse not only by instructors, but also by our fellow male trainees," Berkman said. "That's beyond the pale these guys are on probation and felt they had a license to assault their peers." In the early '90s, Berkman went public with allegations that a fire department physician had groped her breasts during an exam. Other women lodged similar complaints, but it took more than a year before the doctor was charged with misconduct and resigned. "Whether it was 20 years ago or 20 minutes ago, whenever sexual assault happens, one of the hardest things for the women who survived is that nobody believes them," Berkman said. The fire department, over 35 years, has made modest strides in accommodating women there are now 68, the highest number ever, out of a force of 11,000. Another veteran of the sex-harassment wars is Teresa Wilson, a 65-year-old nurse in Nashville, Tennessee. It was her case, alleging sustained sexual harassment by her boss in the mid-1980s, that led to the important 1993 Supreme Court ruling. Wilson, at the time named Teresa Harris, was a manager at Forklift Systems, a construction equipment rental company. She alleged that Forklift's president often subjected her to sexist remarks and sexual overtures, sometimes in the presence of other employees. The most hurtful incident, she recalled, was when he asserted in crude language that her sales figures were good because she was having sex with her customers. Lower courts rebuffed the lawsuit, agreeing with the company that the boss's behavior did not affect Wilson psychologically or impair her ability to work. When the case reached the Supreme Court, its first female justice Sandra Day O'Connor authored a unanimous opinion rejecting the premise that harassment can be penalized only if proven to have caused substantial psychological harm. Thanks to that ruling, Wilson obtained an out-of-court settlement with Forklift; the terms have not been released. Wilson is heartened by the multitude of harassment victims now speaking out. "It's about time," she said. Harassment and sexism were problems in many sectors, including academia. Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, says relatively few women had that job back in the early 1970s. When they'd get together at conferences, conversation would inevitably turn to which male colleagues acted inappropriately. "We had what we called a lech list, men who would prey on women," MacManus said which colleagues would try to grab women at bars, which married men sought to hook up for casual sex during conferences. MacManus said she never was physically harassed but felt gender discrimination in regard to promotions and opportunities. As a graduate student, she said, one of her professors came on to her. She still sees such behavior male professors exploiting their best students because they have power over them in terms of grades and recommendations. "I'm very sad that women still have to put up with this," she said. The world of Star Wars is coming from a galaxy far, far away to become the largest single-themed land created in a Disney park. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is an adventure through the grungy planet Batuu where guests can build their own droids and lightsabers, interact with aliens and climb into the cockpit of the massive Millennium Falcon, where you will discover your mission and engage in a dogfight with Tie Fighters. 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc./Lucasfilm Ltd. The sprawling 14-acre land is set on a remote world in the newest "Star Wars" trilogy so don't expect appearances by Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. But some familiar faces including Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and fan-favorite Chewbacca will be a part of the adventure as visitors explore the immersive world. Galaxy's Edge is set to open this summer at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, then in the fall at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. The lands at both parks are nearly identical and offer a mix of trading outposts, a cantina and even a wooded area where Resistance fighters have set up camp. Entry is included with a park ticket, but it'll cost more for guests who want to create their own lightsaber or purchase their own droid modeled on R2-D2 or BB-8. TELEMUNDO 40 Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek said guests inside Galaxy's Edge will have persistent interaction with Star Wars elements, whether it's Stormtroopers barking orders or the up-tempo, swinging music of a grimy cantina that yes, serves Star Wars-themed alcohol. "You will not think you're in a theme park," he said. "Every cast member will be in character, the food and beverage and language will be in story. The merchandise inside the shops won't be in boxes that say Disney on them. Everything is very, very immersive." [NATL-LA-updated 030619] Look From Above: New Photos of Disneyland's Star Wars Land and More In a behind-the-scenes look, park officials took The Associated Press on a tour of Batuu, an uncharted region of lush trees and spires. The land is also filled with smugglers and traders hoping to avoid the First Order, the successor of the evil Galactic Empire. Galaxy's Edge is still under construction, but its buildings, shops and main attractions are in place. Right now the focus is on "cosmetics and making sure the equipment is working properly," said John Larena, executive creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering. Here are some of the land's key features: MILLENNIUM FALCON: SMUGGLERS RUN Selfie opportunities will be abundant inside and out of the "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy." The spaceship is the exact replica of the ship from the films, measuring more than 100 feet long. Inside the cockpit, a team of six people operate the spacecraft during an interactive experience that, just like the movies, that will get a little bumpy. An encounter with First Order fighters put guests in the role of pilots, gunners or flight engineers to ensure their mission is completed. While others wait their turn, they will walk the halls of the Falcon or hangout in the area where R2-D2 played a round of the holographic chess-like game called Dejarik against Chewbacca in the original film. The big hurdle the ceremony would have to overcome: Balance the fun without ignoring an industry still addressing #MeToo and #TimesUp RISE OF THE RESISTANCE This is where it gets real. On a full-size starship, guests play as new Resistance recruits and go on a journey. A hologram image of Rey will appear with a message before guests board their ship and take off from Batuu and head into the orbit. But the starship runs into some trouble: It's intercepted by a nearby Star Destroyer. This sets up a climactic battle against military members of the First Order, who will probably give you a piece of their mind. "They'll bark at you," Larena said. "They might say 'Move along, move along. You're going into detention." A pharmaceutical company is recalling birth control pills mislabeled in a way that could result in an unplanned pregnancy. Resistance guests will be thrown into a detention cell where they could run up against Kylo Ren. "You have to figure your way out of the ship," Larena said. "There's always a way out." SAVI'S WORKSHOP Even though Skywalker, Vader and Yoda won't show up in "Galaxy's Edge," their lightsabers will. Guests will be able to purchase their popular weapon or hand-build their own. Bring plenty of credits: the price for the hilt is around $109 and the blade costs $49 depending on the type. Park officials say they understand guests want to enjoy their new lightsabers, but they ask that they remain stowed when on attractions and around crowds for the safety of others. DROID DEPOT Who doesn't want their own personal R2 unit? Guests for an undisclosed cost can either purchase a pre-built droid or build one in the colors of their choosing by picking pieces off a conveyor belt. They're not just pretty to look at. Park official says the droids will be controllable by guests. TASTE OF STAR WARS There's no such thing as chicken in "Galaxy's Edge." That's Tip Yip, and the cornbread that you might eat with it is blue, gravy is green and cauliflower is orange. Much of the food is plant based with dairy-free mash potatoes and vegan meatballs. OGA'S CANTINA While talkative DJ R-3X spins music, bartenders pour beverages. The cantina will be the first location to serve alcohol to the general public in Disneyland's 60-plus year history. It's the place to come and unwind, but officials say it's also known to have some of the most disreputable characters in the galaxy. And yes, droids are allowed. PLAY DISNEY PARKS MOBILE APP Galaxy's Edge is the first land within a Disney park designed to integrate with the app. It can help translate Star Wars languages and scan crates to discover contents within them. The app can also be used to interact with droids, media screens, door panels and drinking fountains. President Donald Trump reached an audience of 45.6 million people for his first State of the Union address, not enough to give him bragging rights over his predecessor. But that didn't stop Trump from saying his address had more viewers than any other. "Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history," Trump said on Twitter Thursday morning. The Nielsen company said former President Barack Obama drew 48 million people for his first State of the Union in 2010. And presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton both gave two addresses that reached more viewers, Bush's 2003 speech before the Iraq war getting the most ever: 62 million. Trump's audience was down from the 47.7 million people who watched his address to the joint session of Congress last February. Fox News Channel earned the top spot among the individual networks, with 11.5 million viewers during the speech. It was the first time that Fox News, home of Trump-friendly opinion hosts like Sean Hannity, beat all of the networks for the State of the Union, although Fox also was the network of choice for Trump's address to Congress last February. NBC (7.1 million) and CBS (7 million) fought for second place. The Fox broadcast network had 3.6 million, CNN had 3.1 million and MSNBC had 2.7 million, Nielsen said. Students at Central Connecticut State University are toasting a new pilot program that will allow those 21-years-old or older to have and drink alcoholic beverages in their dorm rooms. I think its a good idea in general just bring more students on campus, Nicky Florestal, a CCSU sophomore, said. For decades students have not been allowed to bring booze into the dorms. We want to keep our older students on campus. They serve as great mentors to our younger students, Michael Jasek, CCSU Student Affairs vice president, said. Thats part of why Jasek says for years the school has been considering changes to the alcohol policy. Soon eligible students can request to live in two dorms where drinking will be allowed with exceptions starting this fall. That limit is within the residents room. Its not in the hallways or any common areas, such as lounges, kitchens, Jasek said. Students can only keep a six-pack of beer, a bottle of wine or a small liquor bottle. Jasek says any potential problems will be handled like they are now, including with Resident Assistants or police. Were hoping by doing this were providing a safer environment for our students. Theyre not driving around as much. Theyre staying on-campus where its safer for them, Jasek said. Along with this Jasek says there will be opportunities to teach young adults about drinking responsibly. Questions remain if the change will in fact keep older students in the dorms. Sophomore Emma Sullivan is moving off-campus next year and says the new option isnt changing her mind. I dont think so. I think we just like to have our own home, Sullivan said. School staff say in a year they will evaluate how the program is going. Were told Southern has a similar policy and its going well there. The Better Business Bureau says nationwide employment scams top the list of riskiest scams because of potential for huge financial loss and compromised personal information. A Cheshire man who almost fell victim to one reached out to NBC Connecticut Responds to share his cautionary tale. Thomas Riccitelli is unemployed and searching for a job. He thought signing up with a Secret shopper program would be a fast way to make some cash. What attracted me to it was the fact that I would be dealing with people, said Thomas Riccitelli. The job required Riccitelli to evaluate the layout, products and customer service of local shipping companies like the US Postal service or Fed-Ex. I said great, you know, he said. Riccitelli was instructed through email to deposit $1,700 cashiers check, then, deduct $200 for his assignment, $50 for Fed-Ex shipping charges, and mail the remaining $1,500 in money orders to a Houston address. That was a red flag. I started to research the information on the check, and to look forumthings like watermarks on the checkaddresses, said Riccitelli. While the initial offer sounded good, Riccitelli didnt fall for it. But according to the Better Business Bureau, in 2018 dozens of Connecticut residents did Unfortunately, a lot of those secret shopper jobs and work from home jobs that seem to pay a lot and dont take a lot of skill, those are more high risk for an unemployment scam, said Luke Frey of the BBB CT. Riccitellis complaint comes on the heels of the BBBs riskiest scam report released last week. The Better Business Bureau is providing information on the riskiest scams across the country. Frey says the BBB saw an 86 percent rise in people most likely to be scammed between the ages of 18 to 40. It seems like a real opportunity. A real job, said Frey. Riccitelli considers himself lucky that he wasnt a victim. He worries about others. There may be some people out there that are getting the same type of thing, said Riccitelli. It looked so official. There are some reputable online jobs. But before you apply do your research, ask for references, dont give social security numbers, banking information or drivers license information and never send money in the mail. New Britain police have arrested a woman months after finding a crocodile monitor and two emaciated dogs in a home that officials said was in such poor condition that the New Britain Health Department condemned it. Officers responded to a home on Chestnut Street in New Britain on June 19 after someone reported a foul odor and flies coming from the residence, according to police. Officers could not reach anyone when they responded and feared someone might be dead inside so they went in through a window, according to police. Inside the apartment, officers found a crocodile monitor, which Connecticut residents are prohibited from owning. The estimated black market value for the reptile is approximately $15,000. The Central Florida Zoo describes the crocodile monitor as "one of the longest lizard species in the world," close in length to the Komodo dragon. Police said they also heard dogs barking from a separate room, police said. Police described the apartment as filthy and said there was feces throughout, it smelled of urine and was hot with no fans or air conditioners to cool the animals. New Britain Animal Control obtained a search warrant to seize the crocodile monitor and the dogs and determined that no person was living in the apartment, police said. They said there was water, but no food for the animals. Several aquariums and cages were piled up inside as well, according to police. Police said the property owner identified the renter of the apartment as 26-year-old Eileen Rodriguez, of Newington. They said she and her boyfriend, 33-year-old Carlos Colon were believed to harboring the animal in the apartment under filthy conditions. Colon was arrested on Nov. 21 and charged with three counts of cruelty to animals. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on April 17, according to online court records. Police said Rodriguez immediately relinquished ownership of the two dogs to the New Britain Animal Control and the Crocodile Monitor was turned over to the Connecticut Environmental Police. Rodriguez was arrested by warrant on March 19 and charged with two counts of cruelty to animals and illegal possession of prohibited species without a permit. Harvard University has "shamelessly" turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves' descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for "wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation" of images she says depict two of her ancestors. Her suit, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos, acknowledge her ancestry and pay an unspecified sum in damages. A message was left with Harvard seeking comment. At the center of the case is a series of 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photo, taken of two South Carolina slaves identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. Both were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. The images are believed to be the earliest known photos of American slaves. They were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the U.S. The lawsuit says Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially "pure" slaves born in Africa. "To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens," the suit says. "The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered." The suit attacks Harvard for its "exploitation" of Renty's image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It says Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a "hefty" licensing fee to reproduce the images. It also draws attention to a book Harvard sells for $40 with Renty's portrait on the cover. The book, called "From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery," explores the use of photography in anthropology. Among other demands, the suit asks Harvard to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for the humiliation of Renty and Delia, and that Harvard "was complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery." A researcher at a Harvard museum rediscovered the photos in storage in 1976. But Lanier's case argues Agassiz never legally owned the photos because he didn't have his subjects' consent, and that he didn't have the right to pass them to Harvard. Instead, the suit says, Lanier is the rightful owner as Renty's next of kin. The suit also argues that Harvard's continued possession of the images violates the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. "These photographs make it clear that Harvard benefited from slavery then and continues to benefit now," civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, one of Lanier's lawyers, said in a statement. "By my calculation, Renty is 169 years a slave. When will Harvard finally set him free?" Lanier says she grew up hearing stories about Renty passed down from her mother. While enslaved in Columbia, South Carolina, the suit says, Renty taught himself to read and later held secret Bible readings on the plantation. He is described as "small in stature but towering in the minds of those who knew him." The suit says Lanier has verified her genealogical ties to Renty, whom she calls "Papa Renty." She says he is her great-great-great-grandfather. "For years, Papa Renty's slave owners profited from his suffering -- it's time for Harvard to stop doing the same thing to our family," Lanier said in a statement. Lanier alleges that she wrote to Harvard in 2011 detailing her ties to Renty. In a letter to Drew Faust, then Harvard's president, Lanier said she wanted to learn more about the images and how they would be used. She was more explicit in 2017, demanding that Harvard relinquish the photos. In both cases, she said, Harvard responded but evaded her requests. The school has used the photos as part of its own effort to confront its historical ties to slavery. At the 2017 conference called "Universities and Slavery: Bound by History," referenced in the lawsuit, Harvard printed Renty's portrait on the program cover and projected it on a giant screen above the stage. In the image, Renty stares hauntingly into the camera, his hair graying and his gaunt frame exposed. Lanier, who was in the audience at the event, said she was stunned by a passage in the program that described the origins of the photo but seemed to dismiss her genealogical findings. It said that the photo was taken for Agassiz's research and that "while Agassiz earned acclaim, Renty returned to invisibility." The suit alleges that "by contesting Ms. Lanier's claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans' genealogy by a century's worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves' family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy." A Connecticut lawmaker who supports eliminating the religious exemption from vaccinations for public school students says he had no choice but to cancel a planned forum on the science behind vaccines. Democratic Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden says he called off Tuesday's planned event at the Legislative Office Building after most of the panel's medical experts canceled. Elliott says there was concern among the participants about including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, on the panel, saying it would be "legitimizing debunked and bogus claims" about vaccines. Kennedy still appeared at a separate event organized by two Connecticut lawmakers who question vaccine safety. It drew a large crowd who oppose ending the religious exemption. Kennedy says his late father taught him that "people in authority lie." There's no money, no sex and nothing illegal happened. This is what passes for a scandal in Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump has been engulfed in allegations involving possible collusion with Russia and secret payments to buy the silence of a porn star. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a controversy that seems trivial by comparison, but it could topple him in elections later this year. Two high-profile women ministers in Trudeau's Cabinet, including Canada's first indigenous justice minister, resigned in protest, and his top aide and best friend quit too. The former justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, says Trudeau and senior members of his government pressured her in a case involving a major Canadian engineering company accused of corruption related to its business dealings in Libya. Trudeau reportedly leaned on the attorney general to instruct prosecutors to reach the equivalent of plea deal, which would avoid a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, because he felt that jobs were at stake. "People south of the border would be astonished to think that this is the type of scandal that they have in Canada," said Eddie Goldenberg, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Many countries would be jealous of a scandal that went no further than a prime minster asking another minister to do something she is legally entitled to do, Goldenberg said. "I just don't really see it as a scandal," he said. "There is a political correctness here. Nobody wants to go after an indigenous woman minister. It's become politically incorrect to question the former minister." Trudeau has said he asked Wilson-Raybould to revisit her decision not to instruct prosecutors and said she agreed to consider that. He denied applying any inappropriate pressure, saying he and his officials were only pointing out that prosecution could endanger thousands of jobs. SNC-Lavalin has pleaded not guilty to fraud and corruption charges related to allegations it paid about $35 million (CA$47 million) in bribes to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011. "It's a pseudo-scandal. It's crap. What the hell? You are doing business in Libya and you are not bribing?" said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto. "It does suggest to me that the director of public prosecutions ... is also nuts. And so is Wilson-Raybould. These people are delusional." Wilson-Raybould was demoted from her role as attorney general and justice minister in January as part of a Cabinet shuffle by Trudeau. She has testified that she believes she lost the justice job because she did not give in to "sustained" pressure to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin. That solution would have avoided a potential criminal conviction that would bar the company from receiving any federal government business for a decade. The company is a major employer in Quebec, Trudeau's home province. It has about 9,000 employees in Canada and more than 50,000 worldwide. The company publicly led the lobbying charge for a law that allows for deferred prosecution agreements as a way to resolve the criminal charges it faces. The new attorney general has not ruled out approving a settlement. Wilson-Raybould has said herself that the pressure from Trudeau and others was not illegal and that she was not explicitly instructed to do a remediation agreement. Gerald Butts, Trudeau's former principal secretary and best friend who resigned, said nothing inappropriate was alleged until after Wilson-Raybould left the Cabinet, suggesting she felt sour grapes about losing her dream job. Opposition Conservative Andrew Scheer leader has demanded that Trudeau resign, saying he tried to interfere in a criminal prosecution. Canadian media have covered the story as intensely as American networks have covered Trump, noted Nelson Wiseman, a professor at the University of Toronto. "Trudeau would not be able to get away with what Trump does because the political cultures and the state of political polarization of the two countries are still quite different," Wiseman said. The differences among Canadian media outlets, for example, are "relatively narrow compared to the chasms between Fox and MSNBC or CNN. The American media are reporting on two different worlds. The Canadian media are reporting on the same Wilson-Raybould-Trudeau story," Wiseman added. Daniel Beland, a politics professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Trudeau has framed himself differently than Trump. Trump said sympathetic things about Russia during the campaign and was elected despite that and other controversies, giving him "the sense that he can do anything and his base will still follow him." Trudeau, meanwhile, promised transparency while describing himself as a feminist who was also determined to right the wrongs against Canada's indigenous people. Women make up half of his cabinet. "He depicted himself as a feminist, as someone who believes in indigenous reconciliation, and then you have two of his top female Cabinet ministers resign, and they are depicting him in a very different light," Beland said. Trudeau said he tried to foster an environment where his lawmakers can come to him with concerns, but one of his female Liberal party colleagues, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, took issue with that, tweeting, "I did come to you recently. Twice. Remember your reactions?" "When you add women, please do not expect the status quo. Expect us to make correct decisions, stand for what is right and exit when values are compromised," she also tweeted. Caesar-Chavannes, who is not running for re-election, has issued messages of support for Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, a respected Cabinet minister who said she lost confidence in how the government has handled the affair. "It is a fundamental doctrine of the rule of law that our Attorney General should not be subjected to political pressure or interference regarding the exercise of her prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases," Philpott wrote in the resignation letter to Trudeau. Other Liberal lawmakers have expressed confidence in Trudeau. The federal election is in October. Antonia Maioni, McGill University's dean of arts, said citizens of every democracy will look at the Trump scandals and say everything else is small potatoes. But, she added, "I'm not sure Trump is a good reference point here. Leaders fall in parliamentary systems for many other reasons beyond personal scandal." Florida's acrimonious U.S. Senate contest is headed to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over Thursday, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded on Election Night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that "it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted." The recount has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. "We gave a heroic effort," said Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered this past weekend to conduct a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see if there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. It's time for Nelson "to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served," the governor's statement said. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. "We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this," Walker said at a hearing Thursday. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had the equipment to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he couldn't extend the recount deadline because he didn't know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush v. Gore decision, by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. Six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee, and at least one in state court. Walker also ordered voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they haven't been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will now be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge refused the request as "inappropriate." Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was 0.41 percent. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelson's campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Associated Press writers Tamara Lush and Kelli Kennedy contributed to this report. A Massachusetts man has won a $1 million jackpot in the state lottery just months after his wife won her own $1 million prize in a different contest. Lottery officials say Robert Goodwin, of Randolph, won the money Monday after buying a $5 instant ticket for the $1,000,000 Platinum Payout game. He chose to accept the lump sum prize totaling about $650,000. Goodwin said he purchased his winning ticket at Fast Lane Convenience in Holbrook. The store will receive a $10,000 bonus for the sale. Goodwin's wife, Jane, won $1 million in the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes in August. She said she found out as she disembarked from a ferry in Plymouth after a day trip to Provincetown with a friend. "Just got lucky, just got very lucky," said Jane Goodwin. "We made some gifts, and we paid off all our bills." The Goodwins are a patient couple. Theyve been sitting on Robert's winning ticket since November, but waited to cash it in just this week. "Definitely because of tax reasons," said Robert Goodwin. The tax burden on $2 million in the same year, is a tough hit to the bottom line. So now, theyre finally celebrating and planning on moving into a new house, being reminded again, life is way too short. "Which is why we took the lump sum," said Robert Goodwin. "You want a 20-year payment, Ill be lucky if i make another five." The Goodwins say they will use their winnings to buy a home in an over-55 community where they won't have to shovel snow. Lottery officials say four additional $1 million prizes remain in the $1,000,000 Platinum Payout instant game. Duncanville police say they removed hundreds of pounds of CBD products from two stores, along with more than 30 pounds of what they described as marijuana, in what the stores owners described as a big misunderstanding. They say the goods seized are, instead, derived from hemp, another member of the cannabis family that can look and smell like marijuana, but does not produce a high. The Friday afternoon police raids, at the GM Tobacco stores in Duncanville and Lancaster, left employees stunned. "I noticed two officers come in. One really aggressively ordered me basically away from my register," said one clerk in Lancaster. Amy Wazwaz, who owns the stores with her husband, said police seized more than $50,000 worth of CBD products. "They took everything that was remotely related to CBD," Wazwaz said, adding that she would have allowed the police to test anything in her stores, if theyd simply asked. Police have made no arrests, but noted in a statement that the investigation is still ongoing and evidence is being processed. Experts say CBD from hemp contains no THC, or just trace amounts of THC, the substance that produces a high in marijuana. "This isn't a drug dealer. These aren't drug dealers. This isn't a drug house," said the owners' attorney, Daniel Sullivan, standing next to his client at the store in Duncanville. But in a statement to NBC 5 Investigates, Duncanville police said they "seized over 30 pounds of marijuana," along with "hundreds of pounds of CBD oil in various forms, weapons and other evidence pertinent to the case." Prior to the raids, police conducted undercover buys at the stores, and subsequent lab tests showed that some of the products were "identified as marijuana," a search warrant affidavit said. The affidavit, however, did not list the percentage of THC found in those products. Wazwaz told NBC 5 Investigates that anything that looked like marijuana was, instead, CBD hemp flower buds from the hemp plant that look like marijuana, but contain little or no THC. A police inventory list that was left with the shop owners said the goods seized included bags of what was described as "apparent marijuana products labeled (as) hemp flower." "If you come into the shop looking to get high, you are going to leave disappointed," said Sullivan, the owners' attorney. "There is nothing in the shop that would get you high," he said. In Texas, the laws on CBD and hemp are murky, with the state still not authorizing the farming of hemp, even though federal law now allows it. In addition, some district attorneys consider hemp-derived CBD as illegal, while others say they will not prosecute until the law becomes clearer on how to deal with the fast-growing CBD craze, which supporters say can treat a multitude of ailments. A bill is currently pending in the state legislature that would legalize hemp and CBD. But even as lawmakers and law enforcement debate the legalities of CBD, shops selling the product have already opened up throughout the state, selling to people looking to treat pain, anxiety and other ailments. At the tobacco shop in Duncanville, Wazwaz said her business is paying the price for the confusion that surrounds the selling of hemp and CBD. "They took all the money from the cash register, all the money from our safe," she said of the police. But the Duncanville Police Department is offering no apologies, with Assistant Police Chief Mark LiVigni, noting in a statement: "Marijuana is illegal in the state of Texas." An Englishman has died after the four-wheeler he was driving collided head-on with another all-terrain vehicle at a North Texas off-roading event known as "Rednecks with Paychecks Spring Break," a sheriff's official said Wednesday. After the crash early Saturday, Steven Fairbairn was airlifted about 70 miles from the grounds of the four-day festival in Saint Jo to a Fort Worth hospital, Montague County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jack Lawson said. Fairbairn died at the hospital around 10:35 a.m. Saturday of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office. His death was ruled an accident. The 25-year-old's mother, Lynne Fairbairn, told the Associated Press that her son grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the northeast of England. He had been living with his fiancee in Duncan, Oklahoma, Lawson said. Deputies are investigating the crash, which Lawson said happened on a wide dirt road on the event's expansive private campus in the small town near the Oklahoma state line. He did not provide further details on the crash. The organization also has not responded to an Associated Press phone message seeking comment. Lawson said the group's owner, Derrick Morse, has been cooperating with the investigation. On Facebook, organizers of Rednecks with Paychecks describe the event as "four days and nights of mud, rocks, music, camping, and friends." The group's promotional material features scantily clad women gyrating and bearded men maneuvering ATVs through deep mud as American and Confederate flags wave in the background. It states that only people 18 and older can attend, and that everyone must sign a waiver before arrival. Deaths have been reported at the events in previous years. Authorities say a drop in water pressure caused a large fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal to intensify overnight Monday and spread to additional storage tanks. The Deer Park Office of Emergency Management said the fire spread early Tuesday to two additional tanks, bringing to eight the total number of tanks overwhelmed by flames at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles southeast of Houston.[[507355252,C]] Tuesday evening, the La Porte ISD announced that classes would be canceled on Wednesday due to a shift in winds that could push the smoke plume towards the district. Two of the tanks were empty but the others contain components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. The water pressure later normalized and authorities said the fire could continue to burn for at least another day. 1:30 p.m. Tuesday Authorities say a plume of pitch-black smoke from a fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal is traveling thousands of feet into the atmosphere and lessening concerns about air quality in the region. Harris County's top administrator, Judge Lina Hidalgo, said at a news conference Tuesday that the plume is moving at least 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) into the air and staying high enough so that the air quality is not cause for alarm. Officials say the fire that began Sunday at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, southeast of Houston, remains intense enough to create its own micro weather system, causing shifting winds in the area. Harris County Health Authority Dr. Umair Shah says "there continues to be low risk to our community," but explains that vulnerable groups such as the elderly should be cautious. There have been no reports of injuries from the fire. 11:30 a.m. Tuesday Officials say it's unclear how long it will take to extinguish a fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility where a large blaze is burning several storage tanks filled with gasoline components. Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said at a news conference Tuesday that she doesn't know how long it will take for the fire to burn itself out. Officials previously said the fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company facility in Deer Park could burn itself out by Wednesday. The fire started Sunday. Authorities say a drop in water pressure caused the fire to intensify overnight and spread to additional storage tanks. Company officials said Tuesday that five tanks are still burning and three have burned out. Two tanks that didn't have anything in them have collapsed. 9:40 a.m. Tuesday Authorities say a drop in water pressure caused a large fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals terminal to intensify overnight and spread to additional storage tanks. The Deer Park Office of Emergency Management says the fire spread early Tuesday to two additional tanks, bringing to eight the total number of tanks overwhelmed by flames at Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Houston. Two of the tanks were empty but the others contain components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. The water pressure later normalized and authorities say the fire could continue to burn for at least another day. Students returned to classes Tuesday but outside activities will be restricted as the fire continues to emit a huge plume of smoke that can be seen for miles. Harold Brown, who as defense secretary in the Carter administration championed cutting-edge fighting technology during a tenure that included the failed rescue of hostages in Iran, has died at age 91. Brown died Friday, said the Rand Corp., the California-based think tank which Brown served as a trustee for more than 35 years. His sister, Leila Brennet, said he died at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Brown was a nuclear physicist who led the Pentagon to modernize its defense systems with weapons that included precision-guided cruise missiles, stealth aircraft, advanced satellite surveillance and improved communications and intelligence systems. He successfully campaigned to increase the Pentagon budget during his term, despite skepticism inside the White House and from Democrats in Congress. That turbulent period included the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian hostage crisis. An effort in April 1980 to rescue the hostages failed when one of the helicopters on the mission struck a tanker aircraft in eastern Iran and crashed, killing eight U.S. servicemen. "I considered the failed rescue attempt my greatest regret and most painful lesson learned," Brown wrote in his book "Star Spangled Security." Brown faced numerous obstacles when he took the job as Pentagon chief, including pressure to reduce the defense budget both from within the administration and from influential congressional Democrats. "When I became secretary of defense in 1977, the military services, most of all the army, were disrupted badly by the Vietnam War. There was general agreement that the Soviet Union outclassed the West in conventional military capability, especially in ground forces in Europe," he wrote later. Wary of the growing Soviet threat, Brown sought to withstand the pressure to cut defense and, gradually, managed to increase spending. "The constant Cold War competition raged hot during the Carter administration and preoccupied me throughout the four years," Brown wrote. He noted later that "the Defense Department budget in real terms was 10 to 12 percent more when we left than when we came in," which he said was not an easy accomplishment. And he cited the technological advances in defense systems, especially weapons systems such as precision-guided cruise missiles, stealth aircraft and advanced satellite surveillance. "Some of these came to visible fruition 10 years later during Desert Storm, which reversed Saddam Hussein's occupation of Kuwait," he wrote. "The Carter administration initiated and developed these programs, the Reagan administration paid for their acquisition in many cases, and the George H.W. Bush administration employed them." Brown later maintained that his extensive work with the Soviets on the arms race was not wasted. "We also reached a specific strategic arms control agreement with the Soviet Union," he wrote. "Though never formally ratified, the agreement was adhered to by both parties and limited Soviet threats that our other conventional and nuclear weapons programs were designed to counter." The acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, said in a statement Saturday that Brown's "steady leadership piloted our nation through a consequential segment of the Cold War. His focus on deterrence through a strong nuclear triad facilitated long-term peace and stability in the United States and Europe." Shanahan praised Brown for his "devoted leadership and lifetime of service." Brown was born in New York City on Sept. 19, 1927, attended public schools and went to Columbia University on an accelerated wartime schedule, receiving an undergraduate degree in physics in 1945 "when I was not quite 18," then going to graduate school at Columbia, receiving a doctorate in physics. Not long after graduation he moved to California and went to work on projects that related to the development of plutonium. He then went to work at a nuclear weapons lab. He worked his way up to director of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at Livermore in 1960. In 1961, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara invited him to be director of defense research and engineering in the Kennedy administration. In 1965 he became secretary of the Air Force during the Johnson administration and, as he described it later, "served in that role through some of the most difficult and divisive parts of the Vietnam War." After the 1968 election put a Republican, Richard Nixon, back in the White House, Brown accepted the position of president at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena serving until he went back into government work and was a delegate to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in the 1970s, Carter nominated Brown to be defense secretary in 1977. He was quickly confirmed and served throughout Carter's term. During the 1980 campaign Brown actively defended the Carter administration's policies, speaking frequently on national issues in public. After leaving the Pentagon, he remained in Washington, joining the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies as a visiting professor and later the university's Foreign Policy Institute as chairman. He remained active in matters of national security, including service on the Defense Policy Board, which meets quarterly to offer perspectives to the current secretary of defense. He served as a consultant to many corporations, often serving as a member of the board of directors. Carter awarded Brown the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Bill Clinton gave him the Energy Department's Enrico Fermi Award for achievement in science and technology. At a farewell address from his job as defense secretary, Brown said: "Most satisfying of all is that for four years our nation remained at peace despite the world tensions and turmoil that constantly pose challenges to our interest and peace." Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is requesting that President Donald Trump make the Sunshine State the home of the Space Force. DeSantis proposed the Space Force agency be headquartered at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. "This is part of Florida's history and is a logical fit for our state," DeSantis wrote in a Twitter post on Tuesday. DeSantis also announced Tuesday he has named Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez the chair of the Space Florida state agency. "Her bold leadership will lead the agency to greater heights in this exciting new age of space exploration," DeSantis wrote on Twitter. Trump is moving closer toward his goal of creating a Space Force, just not as the separate military department he envisioned. He signed a directive Tuesday establishing the Space Force. If approved by Congress, the Space Force would be part of the Air Force, just as the Marine Corps is part of the Navy. It would not have its own full-blown bureaucracy, including a civilian secretary. It would instead have a Senate-confirmed undersecretary for space within the Air Force. It would be the first new uniformed military service since 1947, when the Air Force was created after World War II. The unexpected delay in Michael Flynn's sentencing raised a new wrinkle in the Russia probe. The former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador, had expected to face no jail time after prosecutors vouched for him, saying he had provided substantial assistance in their investigation. But when a federal judge lambasted Flynn and raised the prospect of prison, Flynn decided to postpone the hearing and keep cooperating to get as much credit as he can. What we learned at Tuesday's hearing: COOPERATION COUNTS BUT SO DOES THE CRIME There was no argument from either side about the extent and value of Flynn's cooperation. But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan made clear that he was still hung up on the crime itself, repeating multiple times his distress over the fact that Flynn had lied to the FBI on the grounds of the White House. Though Sullivan gave Flynn an opportunity to reset the process and earn additional credit for his cooperation, it's not clear that he'll get past the underlying crime itself. MUELLER WANTS TO REWARD COOPERATORS Even as it became clear the judge was going to call out Flynn for lying to the FBI, the Mueller team signaled it was still OK with seeking little to no prison time. Prosecutor Brandon Van Grack told the judge that he continued to believe Flynn accepted responsibility even though a sentencing memo filed by his lawyers last week raised the prospect that he was less than remorseful. For Mueller, a sentence of probation to reward cooperators is an important incentive for others who are contemplating admitting guilt and working with the government. Van Grack also noted that Flynn had already provided the "vast majority" of the information he could and he has already committed to fulfilling any other cooperation needed. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR TRUMP? Flynn took the legs out of some of President Donald Trump's most recent attacks on the Russia investigation. Trump, who regularly attacks the Mueller probe as a witch hunt, has wrongly stated that the FBI said Flynn "didn't lie." In recent comments at the White House, Trump said Flynn's guilt was now in dispute and "I think it's a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation." Look into it, Sullivan did. And after repeated questioning Tuesday, Flynn never wavered: He lied, he accepted responsibility for doing it and he wasn't withdrawing his plea. Asked specifically if he was entrapped or if any FBI misconduct led to Flynn's false statements, Flynn attorney Robert Kelner said, "No." NO ANSWER YET FOR WHY FLYNN LIED It remains the enduring question about Flynn: Why did he lie about his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.? Neither Flynn nor Mueller has said in court papers. And Tuesday, Flynn's hearing was cut short before he was asked or had an opportunity to tell the judge why he had committed the crime. So the wait continues. The Trump administration is changing the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody backing off a requirement that all people in the house are fingerprinted. The fingerprint requirement began in June amid the zero-tolerance policy at the border that led to the separation of some 2,400 children from their parents. The children taken from parents were placed in shelters until a sponsor, often a parent or other family member, could be found and evaluated before releasing the children to that sponsor. But the addition of fingerprinting has slowed the process and clogged the shelters. Some potential sponsors have said they couldn't get people in their homes to be fingerprinted because they were afraid. The information is shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and officers have arrested some 170 sponsors and others on immigration violations using the fingerprint data. More than 49,000 children crossed the border alone during the 2018 budget year. While overall number of children coming to the U.S. is down from a high in 2016, minors are staying in shelters longer and the total number of children detained at once is at an all-time high. The average length of time that children spend in shelters has increased from 40 days in fiscal year 2016 to 59 in fiscal year 2018, according to federal data. There are currently more than 14,000 children in 137 government shelters around the country. Austin, Texas-based Southwest Key Programs operates facilities to hold immigrant children in Arizona, California, and Texas, including one facility in an old Walmart. It has greatly expanded its operations this year as more children have been held for longer periods. "We are greatly encouraged by this," Juan Sanchez, the agency's chief executive officer, said of the change. "This will help all care givers reduce the time these children stay in shelters and give them the foundation they need to thrive and prosper." U.S. Health and Human Services officials say fingerprints will still be required for sponsors and will be cross-checked with the FBI databases and U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrest records. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency that manages the children, will do public-records checks on all adult household members. Fingerprints for those adults will still be required in certain circumstances, including if the records check uncovers disqualifying factors, like a history of child abuse, a documented safety risk for the child or the child is especially vulnerable. The requirement change could result in the release of many more children from the centers. A series of tents that opened in June to house older children in Tornillo, Texas, was to close later this month. The space originally had 400 beds, but it expanded twice and now holds roughly 2,700 minors. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mark Weber, said on Tuesday afternoon that the agency had yet to make a decision about whether Tornillo will close by year's end. Health and Human Services officials say their focus is the health and safety and best interest of the child, and they treat that responsibility with care. But Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., was unmoved by the policy shift. "Rather than prioritizing the well-being and safety of children, the Trump administration continues to use them as bait to round up and deport their family members," he said in a statement. The New York Civil Liberties Union and other firms sued over the fingerprint policy last month, arguing it had slowed the process for releasing migrant children. During the zero-tolerance policy over the summer, Health and Human Services was not accustomed to managing families with children who came to the border and had no system in place to track families together. The parents were criminally charged with illegal entry. Because children can't go into criminal custody with their parents, they were separated at U.S. Border Patrol facilities. The Border Patrol must transfer children to Health and Human Services custody within 72 hours, and if parents returned before then, they were reunited with their children. If not, they became unaccompanied minors who stay in shelters are given access to education, food and health care and exercise. The summertime separations resulted in worldwide outrage, and President Donald Trump stopped the separations. A federal judge required the government to reunite the families. The U.S. military is preparing to announce that annual large-scale joint exercises conducted with South Korea every spring will no longer be held, two U.S. defense officials told NBC News. The move is part of the Trump administration's effort to ease tensions with North Korea, according to the officials. Exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle will be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training, they said. President Donald Trump has often complained about the large-scale exercises, saying they're too costly. But some experts on North Korea questioned whether they can be suspended without significantly affecting troops' ability to counter threats. U.S. officials insist the exercises and scenarios need to adapt to adjust to the changing situation in the region. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment. Former San Antonio Mayor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Julian Castro made a campaign stop in Dallas on Tuesday. The former cabinet secretary under President Obama met supporters at St. Petes Dancing Marlin, a Deep Ellum restaurant. In recent days questions have swirled as to whether fellow Texan Beto ORourkes entrance into the race may be overshadowing the Castro campaign. But when asked if he feels 'overshadowed' Castro told reporters "Not at all." "I didn't grow up a front-runner, there are a lot of people who didn't grow up a front-runner and I'm going to go talk to them and I'm confident that by the time the voting comes around in February of 2020 I'm going to do very well," Castro said. ORourkes campaign has said they were able to raise over $6 million online in the first 24-hours after he announced he was running for President. Castro said he feels confident in his campaign's ability to raise money and repeatedly said he's in the race for the long haul. "I can tell very clearly that when I get in front of people in Iowa, New Hampshire, all of these states that I gain good traction," he said. Castro cited his experience as a qualifier that he believes separates him from a still growing Democratic field. Arizona is trying to catch up to 10 states with laws allowing electronic monitoring and other technology aimed at deterring abuse of vulnerable people at long-term care facilities, following the rape of an incapacitated Phoenix woman who later gave birth. Cameras are most commonly used, but they pose privacy issues, and advocates and experts disagree about their effectiveness. Some say video surveillance can help in criminal cases but may not stop attacks, while others have seen improvements and urge any effort to safeguard those who are aging, sick, disabled or otherwise unable to protect themselves. The Arizona House is considering a measure that would let certain facilities install video surveillance in common areas. The providers would have to detail how to avoid privacy violations. "We're looking into how to make it so parents have more reliable ways to ensure their loved ones are safe," Republican Rep. Nancy Barto, the measure's sponsor. "I'm learning a lot of group homes already do this. Some of those policies are actually working." Arizona would join Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington with laws or regulations allowing surveillance equipment inside nursing homes, assisted living centers and other group residential settings. Most of those laws place the option and cost of electronic monitoring on residents and their guardians. A majority of the laws say residents or their surrogates can put a camera or monitoring device in their rooms but must notify the facility, among other conditions. Carole Herman, founder of the advocacy group Foundation Aiding the Elderly, is not sure cameras would have helped her aunt, who died of bedsores in a nursing home but said that they might be useful in other cases. Cameras in hallways can show who is at a patient's bedside and how often the patient is getting care, she said. She questions why any facility would oppose them. "The industry doesn't want it obviously," Herman said. "But if they care about these people, what's the resistance to these cameras?" Nicole Jorwic, director of rights policy at The Arc, a national advocacy group serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, cautioned that cameras are not a "magic pill." "Even if the law's written perfectly well, it's not going to capture every form of abuse and neglect," Jorwic said. While cameras could help catch abusers, it's not clear they're effective at preventing violence, said Brian Lee, a former Florida long-term care public advocate who heads the advocacy group Families for Better Care. "As far as prevention, I don't know," Lee said, "but I've seen it used for prosecution." But one expert says a properly designed closed-circuit TV system with multiple monitoring points can be a good deterrent. A common mistake is to have one monitoring area that nobody is watching, which makes cameras reactive instead of proactive tools, said Steve Wilder, president of Sorensen, Wilder & Associates, an Illinois-based health care safety and security consulting group that works primarily with hospitals and senior living communities. "A lot of facilities think cameras give the message of 'We're not a safe facility.' Nothing could be further from the truth," Wilder said. Details were not known about the security system at the Phoenix facility, where a licensed nurse is accused of sexually assaulting a 29-year-old woman who had a baby boy Dec. 29. Hacienda HealthCare said Thursday that it was closing the intermediate care facility that serves young people with intellectual or developmental disabilities and would work with the state to move patients elsewhere. After the birth, the Arizona Department of Health Services implemented new safety measures at Hacienda, including more monitoring of patient care areas but not video cameras. The department declined to comment on the surveillance legislation Thursday. In Texas, a 2013 law allowing facilities to install and operate video surveillance equipment in common areas has made an impact, health officials said. Devices can only be placed in the state's 13 intermediate care facilities, which serve nearly 3,000 patients with intellectual disabilities. Cameras have both confirmed and cleared staff in allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation. "There was an initial rise as (the Department of Family Protective Services) was able to confirm cases more readily, but since then, the rates have fallen," Carrie Williams, a Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman, said in an email. New Jersey has taken a different approach. Its "Safe Care Cam" program aims to catch abuse or neglect by allowing residents to borrow a hidden camera. A loaner camera led to the January arrest of a caretaker at an assisted living facility. The attorney general's office said footage showed her slapping a 90-year-old bedridden woman on the hand and roughly pushing her head back onto a pillow several times. The victim couldn't communicate verbally because of a stroke. In Arizona, the lawmaker behind the camera legislation said it has "a good chance" of passing. As chairwoman of the House Health & Human Services Committee, Barto can likely get the measure a hearing. Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, is usually skeptical of regulations and has touted his record of rolling them back, but the Republican has ordered agencies to improve protections for people with disabilities. Arizona also is considering legislation that would require facilities like Hacienda to get a state license and conduct background checks of employees that care for clients. So far, neither bill is scheduled for a vote. Associated Press national writer Matt Sedensky contributed to this report. Lalo Ojeda has lived with hurricanes all his life. The Houston Chronicle reports he was 14 when Hurricane Carla inundated Galveston Island in 1961. He evacuated as Hurricane Rita barreled toward the coast in 2005, then rode out the devastating Hurricane Ike in his Galveston home in 2008. But Ojeda is watching the Atlantic hurricane season that begins Thursday with more concern than usual. The retired Coast Guard employee worries that rising sea levels could make the next hurricane more destructive than those he's lived through. "That's really scary to me," the 70-year-old said. A study released in May shows that rising sea levels threaten to make storm surges more dangerous, seemingly reinforcing Texas officials' push for federal funding for a storm-surge barrier, or Ike Dike, to protect Galveston. "Every storm surge today reaches higher because it starts from a higher level, because sea level is higher," said study co-author Ben Strauss, a scientist who is vice president for sea level and climate impacts for Climate Central, a group of scientists and journalists dedicated to climate change awareness. "A small amount of sea-level rise can lead to an unexpectedly large increase in damages to most kinds of structures." Brian Streck, 62, a retired Galveston firefighter, has watched high tides creep into the streets around the house at the edge of West Galveston Bay, where he has lived for 37 years. He has no patience for climate-change deniers who doubt seas are rising. "I've witnessed it," Streck said. High tides once flooded the streets around his home about twice a year; the flooding in the last decade has increased to a dozen times a year. "I've considered selling this place because eventually I'm going to have a lake house," he said. Scientific studies have established an acceleration in sea-level rise because of a warming atmosphere. Coal and oil burning and the destruction of tropical forests have increased heat-trapping gases that have warmed the planet by 1.8 degrees since 1880. Earth has been losing 13,500 square miles of ice annually since 1979, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sea levels are generally rising faster along the Texas Gulf Coast and the western Gulf than the average globally, according to a January study by NOAA. "The western Gulf is experiencing some of the highest rates of relative levels of sea-level rise in the country," said NOAA oceanographer William Sweet, lead author of the study. "The ocean is not rising like water would in a bathtub." Sea-level rise is making storm surges larger, said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist at Texas A&M University in College Station. "Compared to a storm that would have hit, say, 30 years ago, the additional storm surge we are talking about is on the order of ... about 7 inches," Nielsen-Gammon said. The NOAA study found sea levels rising at more than double the rate estimated during the 20th century, increasing to more than 0.13 inch annually. NOAA made six projections of sea-level rise, from low to extreme, and found the global mean level under the lowest projection could rise 2.3 inches by 2020 and 3.5 inches by 2030. The extreme projection shows a 4.3-inch rise by 2020 and a 9.4-inch rise by 2030. The rate of sea-level rise even under the lowest projection would increase the chances of severe flooding on the Texas Gulf Coast from storm surges or other causes from once every five years to once every two years by 2030 under the extreme projection, and 2060 under the low prediction. "We're not talking much longer than a mortgage cycle," Sweet said. "I just bought a house, I've got a 30-year note. That's 2047." By 2100, sea level is expected to rise between 1.3 feet and 31 feet, the NOAA study predicts; Galveston Island and most of the Texas coast would be swallowed up under the latter scenario. Sweet said the lower levels were more likely, but added, "We ultimately don't know how much heating will occur." He warned there was no guarantee rising sea level wouldn't match the extreme prediction. The effects will be felt as far away as Austin, according to a recently released study by Mathew E. Hauer, who heads the Institute of Government's applied demography program at the University of Georgia. Hauer's study found that sea-level rise would force thousands from their homes along the Texas Gulf Coast as well as coastal areas nationwide. The study estimates Houston and Austin each would absorb 250,000 refugees from sea-level rise by 2100. The hardest hit would be Galveston County, where Hauer estimates 124,000 people could be forced from their homes. Rising water would force about 108,000 from their homes in Jefferson County, 42,000 in Brazoria County and 30,000 in Harris County, Hauer said. The Climate Central study estimated 14,000 homes in Galveston could be inundated by sea-level rise. Apart from sea-level rise, climate change is expected to cause hurricanes to be more intense and produce more rain, according to the NOAA. "In our view, there are better-than-even odds that the numbers of very intense hurricanes (Categories 4 and 5, with winds of 130 mph or more) will increase by a substantial fraction," according to an overview of research by NOAA scientists. The number of hurricanes each season would likely remain the same or decrease, the overview determined. Funding for efforts to slow or halt sea-level rise generated by climate change was slashed in a recently released President Donald Trump administration budget. Trump has called climate change a hoax, but a White House official said Friday that his views were evolving after recent talks with European leaders. His budget cuts Environmental Protection Agency funding by 30 percent, more than any other agency. Texas officials have asked Trump to put a proposed $15 billion storm-surge barrier on his list of infrastructure improvements, but there is no guarantee Congress will fund the project. Even if Congress pays for the barrier system -- which would shield Brazoria, Galveston, Harris, Chambers, Jefferson and Orange counties -- work couldn't begin until 2021 at the earliest. NOAA is predicting 11 to 17 named storms this season, which runs from Thursday to Nov. 30, five to nine of them hurricanes and two to four Category 3 or higher hurricanes. According to emergency officials in Galveston and Brazoria counties, little can be done to offset the increasingly larger storm surges and reduce the likelihood of more destructive hurricanes. Forecasts of hurricane frequency don't matter, said Garret Foskit, Galveston County's emergency management coordinator. What matters is if one hits your community, Foskit said. "One is the unlucky number," he said. No matter the predictions, people who live in a hurricane's path "are still going to have to do the same things," Foskit said. "They are still going to have to leave, they are still going to have to move their stuff." Ojeda said he learned the hard way during Ike that it's important to prepare. "I'm a true believer that you learn by your mistakes," he said. "I told the wife to buy more canned goods, dry stuff." He owns two emergency generators after going for nearly two weeks without electricity after Ike. If a major hurricane approaches, he plans to evacuate. Said Ojeda: "If a 200 mph hurricane hits this island, there is not going to be (anything) left." The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday directed all departments to stop using a popular weed killer until more is known about its potential health and environmental effects. Supervisor Kathryn Barger recommended the moratorium on glyphosate -- a main ingredient in the herbicide brand Roundup. "I am asking county departments to stop the use of this herbicide until public health and environmental professionals can determine if it's safe for further use in L.A. County and explore alternative methods for vegetation management," Barger said. Roundup was developed decades ago by Monsanto Co., now owned by Bayer, and is believed to be the most widely used herbicide worldwide. The motion, co-authored by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, cites "a growing body of scientific study" of herbicide safety and the potential for negative impacts. "In a 2015 study led by 17 experts from 11 countries, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that glyphosate should be classified as 'probably carcinogenic to humans,'" Kuehl said. "That conclusion makes it imperative that we question any long-term use of this controversial herbicide, and that's exactly what this motion calls for." The WHO finding has been disputed by Monsanto, and other governmental agencies have stopped short of reaching the same conclusion. The federal Environmental Protection Agency says the weed killer has low toxicity for humans and concluded in 2017 that it is not likely to cause cancer in humans. California disagreed and tried unsuccessfully to force the company to label the weed killer with a warning. The European Food Safety Agency does not agree with the WHO. However, a recent court ruling requires EFSA to disclose the details of its own studies. A jury in a federal lawsuit brought against Bayer by a Sonoma man concluded that his non-Hodgkins lymphoma was caused by exposure to Roundup, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. That panel will now hear evidence related to whether the company should be held liable. The Board of Supervisors directed the Department of Public Works to coordinate with public health and other personnel to survey current use of the chemical and explore alternatives, including identifying best practices followed by other jurisdictions. A report is expected back in 30 days. What to Know State officials alleged Judith Gil deceived dozens of immigrants into believing she could secure legal residency for them. Those who wish to claim work permits, green cards or social security cards should contact the State Bar at (213) 765-1644. The State Bar of California announced Tuesday it is trying to locate people who have yet to claim dozens of valid work permits, green cards and social security cards seized from an unauthorized Los Angeles-area immigration consultant. State Bar investigators found work permits, green cards and social security cards among thousands of active client files it seized from the offices of Judith Gil, whose office was shut down last month and who is facing charges filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. The Los Angeles Superior Court granted a Feb. 11 order assuming jurisdiction over the law practice and delegating the duties of shutting it down to the State Bar. "We haven't been able to locate the rightful beneficiaries of these valid working permits because Gil put her office address on them," said State Bar Executive Director Leah T. Wilson. "That's why we're putting out this appeal. We are asking these individuals to contact the State Bar and get what's rightfully theirs." The State Bar moved to have Gil's unauthorized law practice shut down after the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs found that she allegedly deceived dozens of immigrants into believing she could secure legal residency for them by holding herself out as an attorney. Gil also is accused of falsely representing that she had special connections at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. City Attorney Mike Feuer charged Gil with multiple criminal counts, alleging she preyed upon individuals seeking residency, asylum, and other forms of legal status in the United States. The charges range from grand theft and immigration consultant statute violations to the unauthorized practice of law. Gil, who is alleged to have charged thousands of dollars while posing as an immigration consultant and offered false information and improper legal advice, is scheduled to arraigned April 18 in downtown Los Angeles. Those who wish to claim valid work permits, green cards and social security cards, which were collected from Gil's office, should contact the State Bar at (213) 765-1644. Thousands of people were expected to come together for an emotional Friday prayer service led by the imam of one of the two New Zealand mosques where 50 worshippers were killed in a white supremacist attack. Two more of the victims were being buried Thursday as authorities identify and release more of the dead. Imam Gamal Fouda said he is expecting 3,000 to 4,000 people at Friday's prayer service, including many who have come from abroad to be with members of Christchurch's Muslim community and to attend funerals. Fouda said he has been discussing plans for the prayer with city officials and lawmakers and expects it will take place in Hagley Park, a city landmark across from Al Noor mosque, where at least 42 people were killed. Members of the Linwood mosque, where the gunman killed at least seven people, also would attend the joint prayer, he said. Al Noor workers have been trying feverishly to repair the destruction at the mosque, Fouda said. "They will bury the carpet," he said. "Because it is full of blood, and it's contaminated." Fouda said that he expects the mosque to be ready to open again by next week and that some skilled workers had offered their services for free. "The support we have been getting from New Zealand and the community has been amazing," he said. During Friday prayers last week, Fouda had just finished the Khutbah, a sermon delivered in Arabic, and was translating it into English in when the gunman burst into the mosque and methodically gunned down worshippers. Fouda said his sermon had been about cooperating with each other, doing good and stopping evil. Two funerals on Thursday were for 14-year-old Sayyad Ahmad Milne, a Cashmere High School student known as an outgoing boy and the school's futsal goalkeeper; and Tariq Rashid Omar, 24, a recent graduate of the school and beloved soccer coach of several youth teams. He also played during the summer. In a post on Facebook, Christchurch United Football Club Academy Director Colin Williamson described Omar as "a beautiful human being with a tremendous heart and love for coaching." Families of those killed had been awaiting word on when they could bury their loved ones. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said authorities have formally identified and released the remains of 21 victims. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. Police said Wednesday that they believe the gunman was on his way to a third mosque when officers ran him off the road and arrested him. Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, livestreamed the attack on Facebook and said in his manifesto he planned to attack three mosques. Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder and is next scheduled to appear in court on April 5. Police have said they are certain Tarrant was the only gunman but are still investigating whether he had support. Ardern has said changes to New Zealand's gun laws would be announced next week and an inquiry would look into intelligence and security services' failures to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. New Zealand's international spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, confirmed it had not received any relevant information or intelligence before the shootings. Scuffles broke out between protesters and police in central Paris on Saturday on the sidelines of a largely peaceful demonstration, during the fifth straight weekend of protests by the "yellow vest" movement. Riot police fired small amounts of tear gas to disperse groups of protesters who headed down the side streets off the French capital's famed Champs-Elysees boulevard, some with traffic still flowing. About 8,000 police and 14 armored vehicles were deployed in Paris for the demonstration, after similar protests in recent weekends turned violent, with protesters smashing and looting stores and setting up burning barricades in the streets. Saturday's protest was far calmer in the morning, with riot police blocking off groups of protesters who attempted to disperse in side streets. At least 21 people were detained in Paris before the protests began, police said. Some protesters voiced anger at being restricted to a few blocks by police. "We're surrounded by CRS," said protester Lionel Toussaint, 53, who works in the heritage industry, referring to riot police. "I'm not armed. I only have Kleenex." The "yellow vest" movement, which takes its name from the fluorescent safety vests French motorists must all have in their vehicles, emerged in mid-November as a protest against fuel tax increases. It soon morphed into an expression of rage about the high cost of living in France and a sense that President Emanuel Macron's government is detached from the everyday struggles of workers. Without any clear form or leadership, the movement has attracted a wide range of disgruntled people across the political spectrum, including some violent militants. "Respect my existence or expect my resistance," read one banner held aloft by protesters who converged on the Champs-Elysees. Pierre Lamy, a 27-year-old industrial worker wearing a yellow vest and with a French flag draped over his shoulders, said the protests had long stopped being about the fuel tax and had turned into a movement for economic justice. "We're here to represent all our friends and members of our family who can't come to protest, or because they're scared," he said as he walked to the demonstration with three friends. "Everything's coming up now. We're being bled dry." Max Werle, a 56-year-old father of nine, said the protests were his first-ever demonstrations. "I'm here for my children," he said, adding that his daughter had given birth in a fire truck on Monday because the local hospital in Loiret outside Paris had closed years ago. The office administrator said the protesters were there "to defend our cause. ... It's not a left and right thing." "Yellow vest" protests were also being held in other parts of France, with no violent incidents reported by mid-day. On Friday, Macron called for calm during the demonstrations, and the French government reiterated the call online for demonstrators to remain peaceful. "Protesting is a right. So let's know how to exercise it," the government tweeted from its official account, with a 34-second video which begins with images of historic French protests and recent footage of "yellow vest" protesters rallying peacefully before turning to violence. "Protesting is not smashing. Protesting is not smashing our heritage. Protesting is not smashing our businesses. ... Protesting is not smashing our republic," the video says. Macron acknowledged in a speech earlier this week that he is partially responsible for the anger displayed during the protests, and has announced measures aimed at improving workers' spending power. He has so far refused to reinstate a wealth tax that was lifted to spur investment in France. But on the streets of Paris, some protesters were saying the president still didn't understand them. "I think that Macron isn't in touch with what the yellow vests want. I think the yellow vests need to continue speaking out and the problem is that in the countryside," said Julie Verrier, a protester from Picardie in Normandy in northern France who had been participating in protests there for the past three weeks and had travelled to Paris for Saturday's demonstration. "Local city halls are closed so we can't go there to express and write our complaints and our wishes," she said. "So coming here is the only way we have to say that French people need to be heard." Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke is making his first trip to Iowa of the 2020 campaign, visiting the state that kicks off presidential voting amid intense speculation that he'll enter the race for the White House. A spokesman says O'Rourke will visit the University of Northern Iowa on Saturday to campaign for Eric Giddens, the Democratic candidate running in a state Senate special election there. O'Rourke released a video Monday night from Texas backing Giddens and wearing a Northern Iowa cap. O'Rourke had previously failed to answer invitations to visit Democrats in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early nominating states and hasn't yet made major staffing moves in those places. He says he's decided on 2020 but has provided no further details except that he'll make his plans known soon. You name the adventure and Casey Holladay has done it. Snowboarding, wakeboarding, hiking and power yoga with his girlfriend were his passions. So when he was on the Royal Caribbeans Mariner of the Seas in February, he figured he was a natural for an adventure attraction the cruise line calls the SkyPad. "We were really excited because we had seen a commercial that Royal was promoting for this Skypad, this awesome experience in the sky," Holladay told NBC 6. The ride is promoted as a trampoline and bungee jump in one. He says he was enjoying himself until something happened that caused him to crash and drop an estimated 20 feet to the ground. "I just felt the momentum release from my body that I wasnt being held by anything anymore," he said. "When I hit all I really remember is the hit and the noise and the fear." His girlfriend was recording on her mobile phone when it happened. After his fall, she rushed to where he was being treated on the ships deck. "It's kind of one of those cliche moments when your life changes in the blink of an eye," Holladay said. Royal Caribbean shortened the cruise and brought Holladay back to Miami where doctors performed several surgeries to repair his broken pelvis. He also dislocated his shoulder. He spent nine days in a South Florida hospital. A month after the fall, we saw Casey at his Sarasota home pulling himself up out of bed, using a walker, and wheelchair. "My life got changed without me having a say," he said. "I am fearful that I am not going to be able to enjoy the day-to-day like I'm used to." Holladay is now suing Royal Caribbean in federal court in Miami using maritime attorney Brett Rivkind. "He suffered very severe debilitating injuries," Rivkind told NBC 6. "This is a life changing accident that never ever ever should have happened." Holladay's lawsuit against Royal Caribbean says the operators gave him no warnings and failed to inspect and maintain the support ropes. "These are activities that were designed to be operated on land by experienced amusement park operators. They really do not have the experience to do a proper analysis of the safety risks of putting these types of activities on a cruise ship," Rivkind said. Royal Caribbean declined NBC 6's request for an interview about what is seen in the video or alleged in the lawsuit. In an email, the cruise line wrote, "We operate all our ships safely, professionally and responsibly. We do not comment on pending litigation." Holladay is also upset about what he found out later happened when he was lying on the deck. One of his friends was attempting to record what was happening, but a cruise line worker is holding out his hand in an attempt to prevent the recording. "100 percent - all staff should have been attending to me," Holladay said. "They just had the most horrific incident around." Rivkind was also surprised by what he saw. "The video shows there was a stronger interest in preventing other passengers from videotaping and preserving the evidence than paying attention to Casey. That's appalling," Rivkind said. Holladay has been told he has months of rehabilitation ahead and wants others to know what happened. "Thats the scariest part. It could have happened to anybody," he said. Rivkind questions Royal Caribbeans move placing rides like the SkyPad on a moving ship. "A passenger may have a false sense of security in believing that the activities offered on board a cruise ship are safe because they are being operated by a big cruise ship company," he said. "You should be aware; it may not be the case." Rivkind also says that rides like those are operated by the ship's hotel staff, something he says brings into question the level of training and experience they have and could add to the risk. What to Know Its Wednesday, March 20th and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day. Its Wednesday, March 20th and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day. Weather wise, showers linger for the morning hours with rain chances becoming slimmer as the day goes on ahead of morning temperatures in the high 50s by Friday and Saturday. No. 1 - Police are hoping to find the killer of a 23-year-old man who was shot early Tuesday at his Pembroke Pines apartment. The shooting happened before 1 a.m. at the Bella Grande community in the 10300 block of NW 8th Street, police said. Family members identified the victim as Kadeem Smith. No. 2 - A South Florida woman is seeking justice against a Miami-Dade police officer, saying he went too far and abused his power during an aggressive arrest caught on camera. Dyma Loving recalled the March 5 takedown from Officer Alejandro Giraldo in an exclusive interview with NBC 6. Officers responded to SW 201st Street after 26-year-old Loving and her friend, Adrianna Green, called police about a neighbor who allegedly pointed a gun at them. Police allege the situation escalated when Loving became irate and uncooperative with officers. No. 3 A Florida man is suing Royal Caribbean after he was injured earlier this year after falling from one of the Mariner of the Seas attractions. Casey Holladay said he was enjoying himself on the Skypad attraction until something happened that caused him to crash and drop an estimated 20 feet to the ground. No. 4 - Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is expected to make a major announcement today at Florida Memorial University. Some are speculating that it could be a presidential announcement from the man who narrowly lost the race for Governor last year. No. 5 - A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners Wednesday, the first funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that horrified a nation known for being welcoming and diverse. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police have now formally identified and released the remains of 21 of those killed. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. No. 6 - Get your lucky numbers in order as the Powerball jackpot drawing will take place tonight. You could walk away with $550 million as no one matched all six numbers in Saturdays drawing. A South Florida woman is seeking justice against a Miami-Dade police officer, saying he went too far and abused his power during an aggressive arrest caught on camera. Dyma Loving recalled the March 5 takedown from Officer Alejandro Giraldo in an exclusive interview with NBC 6. "I'm not going to let them kill me out here like they want to," Loving said. "I'm not about to be the next Trayvon Martin or Sandra Bland or anybody else. I have three kids and they need me." Officers responded to SW 201st Street after 26-year-old Loving and her friend, Adrianna Green, called police about a neighbor who allegedly pointed a gun at them. Police allege the situation escalated when Loving became irate and uncooperative with officers. Cellphone video filmed by Green shows Giraldo aggressively pulling Loving to the ground as other officers handcuffed her. Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez called the video "deeply troubling." "Do not touch me, do not touch me," Loving repeatedly says. "Why are you doing that?" Green is heard screaming at officers. Body camera footage of the arrest was released soon after. Loving suffered a minor injury to her elbow but did not seek medical attention and was taken to jail. "The bodycam didn't even show enough damage on how he just ran up and manhandled me," Loving told NBC 6. "I literally thought he crushed my neck ... it was that bad." Giraldo was placed on paid administrative leave. But Loving and her attorney believe he should be arrested. Loving also wants to press assault charges against the other officers involved in the arrest, her attorney said. "With Officer Alejandro Giraldo, the fact that he's still on the force, that fact that also if you look at that video, the officers that were there with him encouraged him to continue with his roguish actions, shows that there's a fundamental breakdown within the Miami-Dade Police Department," Justin Moore said. The video also struck a nerve with the NAACP. "This shows that this officer was very culturally insensitive and just really insensitive overall, and I think what cowardice is for a man to manhandle a woman like that, and Im very concerned on how these things are happening now to black women in our community," said Ruban Roberts of the Miami-Dade NAACP. Loving said she also plans to sue the department and the man she says pointed a gun at her. The police department declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation. A judge has revoked the bond of the 60-year-old ex-boyfriend of a Florida real estate executive who was found dead in their home after he removed his GPS tracking device. A warrant was issued Tuesday for Alejandro Aparicio and the Miami Herald reports a judge deemed him a flight risk after the GPS device's last known location was in the middle of the Everglades. Aparicio was arrested last month on charges of stealing $547,000 from his on-and-off girlfriend. The arrest came 18 months after he told investigators he found Andrea Greenburg unresponsive on the couch. A toxicology report blamed her death on fentanyl. He was released on bond Feb. 13 after surrendering his two passports and agreeing to wear the tracking device. Prosecutors don't know his whereabouts. What to Know Court documents are shedding light on how investigators found 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose, who vanished after leaving a Boston bar. The suspect, 38-year-old Victor Pena, has been ordered to undergo a full mental health evaluation for 20 days ahead of his next court date. Detectives used her iPhone's location, in addition to surveillance images, to find Ambrose in a Charlestown Housing Project apartment. Investigators used cell phone location data and surveillance footage from various locations to track down a Boston woman who disappeared from a bar Saturday night and the man suspected of kidnapping her, according to court documents. Authorities found Olivia Ambrose alive Tuesday in the apartment of Victor Pena, where she allegedly was being held against her will. Pena, 38, was arrested and charged with kidnapping. At a Wednesday hearing in Charlestown District Court a judge ordered Pena to undergo a full 20-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. He is being held without bail. Joseph Perullo, an attorney for Pena, said after Wednesday's hearing that it's too early to comment on the specifics of the case, but Perullo said he's happy that Ambrose is back home with her family, the Associated Press reported. Court documents released Wednesday shed light on how investigators traced Ambrose's steps after she vanished, using a digital trail left by her iPhone along with surveillance images to make their way to Pena's Walford Way apartment in the Charlestown Housing Project. That's where police found Ambrose, standing next to her alleged kidnapper and "crying with a horrified look on her face," court documents said. According to notes included in the document release, police obtained various surveillance videos from Saturday night, including footage that appeared to show Pena and another man, who was not named and has since been cleared by police, approach an apparently inebriated Ambrose on the street. Notes describe video that showed Ambrose leaving Hennessy's bar on Union Street near Fanueil Hall at 11:08 p.m. on Saturday. She was caught on camera again at 11:37 p.m. on Union and North streets near White Bull Tavern, according to documents. Notes said she appeared intoxicated in the video and had trouble walking. A minute later, documents said, another surveillance camera caught Ambrose near North and Congress streets, where she apparently encountered Pena. The footage allegedly showed Pena and the other man watch Ambrose as she walked unsteadily across the street and then follow her on Congress toward State Street. Footage also allegedly showed the men approach Ambrose as she crossed the street. Then, just after midnight, MBTA surveillance cameras caught Pena "with his arm wrapped around" Ambrose, "guiding her as she walked" with him, according to documents. Minutes later, her phone pinged her location on Main Street in Charlestown. Around 12:06 a.m., the pair was seen on camera and by an eyewitness walking by the Whole Foods on Austin Street, with Pena seen "holding onto" Ambrose, "guiding her as she is having difficulty walking," documents said. The final surveillance footage that caught Pena and Ambrose on camera came from a home security system on Green Street and showed them walking toward Bunker Hill Street. Pena was still holding onto Ambrose, court documents said. The next day Ambrose's sister used the Find My iPhone app to approximate her location, which placed her at Walford Way and Corey Street, the police report said. On Tuesday, a task force was convened and worked on canvassing the housing project where her iPhone sent its last ping. Detectives on the ground spoke with residents and showed them surveillance photos of the suspect. The residents said the person in the photo looked like the person who lived in Apt. 625 Pena's apartment and a detective then went to Boston Housing Authority management to get information about the apartment's tenant. Meanwhile, other detectives got a booking photo for a previous charge against Pena and ran CharlieCard the payment method used for public transit in Massachusetts information for Walford Way, eventually finding a person who looked similar to the suspect in the surveillance photos. As they were ascertaining that Pena was the suspect in the surveillance photos, detectives learned that Ambrose's phone had been turned on and "she was sending messages to her mother," according to documents, and that the phone's location pinpointed it to the apartment building at Walford Way and Corey Street. When detectives arrived at Pena's door, they found that it had been outfitted with a private lock, despite housing authority's rules against doing so, court documents said. Police requested a Boston Housing Authority maintenance worker to come to the apartment to remove the lock. Detectives knocked on Pena's door "numerous times" for about 20 minutes as they waited for the maintenance worker, who arrived with keys and a drill to remove the lock. "Once the top lock was dismantled ... detectives heard the [lower] locks opening from inside," the police report read. The detectives immediately saw Ambrose in the apartment, and as they tried to handcuff Pena, the suspect allegedly started to resist arrest. After she was evaluated at Massachusetts General Hospital, Ambrose told investigators that Pena had taken her phone and "refused to let her leave the apartment for the entire time she was held there." Hours before they found Ambrose, Boston police had released a timeline and a photo of a person of interest, whom investigators say is Pena. Pena's next court date is Feb. 11. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors unanimously approved paying $13.1 million to a man city police framed for a friend's murder. The board approved the settlement Tuesday as part of its consent agenda and with no comment. The payment to Jamal Trulove settles a civil rights lawsuit he filed against four officers and the city. A federal jury last year determined two homicide detectives fabricated evidence, coerced a key eyewitness and withheld vital information that may have exonerated Trulove. A federal jury awarded Trulove and his lawyers $14.5 million, but the city appealed. The city agreed to drop its appeal in exchange for the lower payout. Trulove was an aspiring actor and hip-hop artist when a jury convicted him of murder in 2010. An appeals court overturned the conviction and he was acquitted in a 2015 retrial. The two detectives have retired. Democrats' gains in state legislatures didn't end with last November's elections. Over the past two months, as lawmakers were sworn in and this year's statehouse sessions got underway, Republicans in California, Kansas and New Jersey switched their party affiliations to become Democrats. They cited various reasons, but the party-switchers have one thing in common: They say the GOP under President Donald Trump has become too extreme. "The Republican Party, for all of its statements of having a big tent, continues to limit the tent," said Kansas state Sen. Barbara Bollier, of Mission Hills, one of the switchers. "Those of us who were moderates are clearly not welcome." Bollier was one of four moderate Republicans from the Kansas City suburbs to switch parties. The latest party-flip came this week in New Jersey. Republican state Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego, who represented a suburban Philadelphia district in southern New Jersey for nearly a decade, left the GOP, the minority party in both houses of the Legislature. She cited the desire to "be a part of the discussion" in the Democratic majority but also hinted that the national Republican Party is no longer recognizable. "My core values that originally drew me to the Republican Party have not changed, but the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists," she said in a statement announcing the change. Her announcement came just days after California Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, who represents San Diego, left the GOP. He said he differs with his former party on immigration, health care, gun control, abortion and gay rights. The defections come after the Democratic Party won control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections and gained seats in 62 of the 99 state legislative chambers, according to data provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures (Nebraska is the only state with a single legislative chamber). They also come at a time when the president's approval ratings are dipping. "This is largely a product of the Trump phenomenon," said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "President Trump has blown the lid off of this party. It starts to look like a personality cult." In Democratic-leaning states such as California and New Jersey, the defections add to the GOP's challenges. Republicans will have to focus on state issues to regain relevance and votes, said Jack Ciattarelli, a former New Jersey Republican lawmaker who says he is planning to run for governor in 2021. In New Jersey, that means focusing on underfunded public pensions and affordability. "In this era, there will always be those whose intense disdain for Donald Trump will determine their vote," he said. "But I still believe there are a majority of New Jersey independent-unaffiliated voters and even some soft Democratic voters that will vote for the party that's going to solve the various crises." The political landscape in the party-switchers' seats has been changing for some time, which also helps explain the shifts. In New Jersey, Addiego beat her Democratic opponent with 63 percent of the vote in 2013. By 2017, her winning percentage was cut to 52 percent. And last November, Democratic Rep. Andy Kim defeated then-incumbent Republican Tom MacArthur in the 3rd U.S. House district, which includes all the towns Addiego represents in the state Senate. Maienschein's Assembly District has become more Democratic since his first election, when it was considered safe for Republicans. Republicans had 38 percent of registered voters to Democrats' 30 percent in 2012. Registration is now roughly even. Statewide, independents now outnumber Republicans in California. In Kansas, the four defectors were all from a congressional district that Trump narrowly lost in 2016 and that elected Democrat Sharice Davids last year. Unlike the lawmakers in California and New Jersey, they went from the majority to the minority party. Republicans in Kansas pointed to the fact that the lawmakers were moderates who voted mostly with Democrats, anyway. Republicans in New Jersey and California criticized the lawmakers for their switch, characterizing it as a ploy to hold on to power. "People will view Addiego's party change for what is an attempt at political survival," Ciattarelli said. But voters were split on how they viewed her defection from the GOP. Dick Bozarth, a 79-year-old retiree from the construction industry, said at a diner in Medford, New Jersey, in the heart of Addiego's district, that the change sends a bad signal. "She wants to be with the radicals right now?" he asked. "Is that what she wants to do?" Bozarth said he's voted for Addiego before but will not do so again. Dave DeAngelis, a 65-year-old retired auto repair shop owner who recently moved to Berlin, a town just outside of Addiego's district, said he's supported her over the years. He said that because of her long political experience in local and state office, her political party isn't important to him. "If she still holds her opinions, I don't think that would make a big difference," he said. The change could help her get more done: "It's very difficult to be a Republican in this state," he said. "She wouldn't get anything through the state Assembly because she doesn't have the votes." Party switching can go in both directions. In Oklahoma, state Rep. Johnny Tadlock, who represents a rural district in the state's southeast corner, switched to the GOP. Democrats have been losing seats there over the last two decades. Associated Press reporters Geoff Mulvihill, John Hanna, Don Thompson and Sean Murphy contributed to this report. Hundreds of pages of court records made public Tuesday revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller quickly zeroed in on Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, in the early stages of his Russia probe. The heavily blacked-out records, released by a judge at the request of news organizations, show that Mueller had been investigating Cohen since at least July 2017 far longer than previously known. That was two months after Mueller was appointed to investigate possible Russian election interference and six months after Trump took office. The full scope of Mueller's interest in Cohen is not clear from the documents, which include search warrant applications and other records. More extensive files from the special counsel investigation remain under seal in Washington. But the documents made public Tuesday show that Mueller's investigators early on began looking into possible misrepresentations Cohen made to banks to shore up his financially troubled taxi business. They were also initially interested in money that was flowing into Cohen's bank accounts from consulting contracts he signed after Trump got elected. Prosecutors were looking into whether Cohen failed to register as a foreign agent. Some of the payments he received were from companies with strong foreign ties, including a Korean aerospace company, a bank in Kazakhstan and an investment firm affiliated with a Russian billionaire. By February 2018, though, the records show Mueller had handed off portions of his investigation to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. And by the spring of 2018, those prosecutors had expanded their investigation to include payments Cohen made to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy centerfold, both of whom claimed to have had affairs with Trump. The newly released documents indicate authorities continue to probe campaign violations connected to those hush money payments. Nearly 20 pages related to that matter were blacked out at the direction of a judge who said he wanted to protect an ongoing investigation by New York prosecutors. Where that investigation is headed is unclear. But prosecutors have said Trump himself directed Cohen to arrange the hush money. The president has denied any wrongdoing. Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over those payments. He also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to banks and lying to Congress about Trump's plans to build a skyscraper in Moscow. He was not charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. He is scheduled to begin serving a three-year prison sentence in May. Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said Tuesday that the release of the search warrants "furthers his interest in continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump Organization to law enforcement and Congress." The FBI raided Cohen's Manhattan home and office last April the first public sign of a criminal investigation that has proved an embarrassment for Trump. The newly released records show that nearly a year earlier, in July 2017, Mueller's office got a judge to grant him authority to read 18 months' worth of Cohen's emails. In their investigation, Mueller's prosecutors also obtained Cohen's telephone records and went so far as to use a high-tech tool known as a Stingray or Triggerfish to pinpoint the location of his cellphones. FBI agents also scoured Cohen's hotel room and safe deposit box and seized more than 4 million electronic and paper files, more than a dozen mobile devices and iPads, 20 external hard drives, flash drives and laptops. Both Cohen and Trump cried foul at the time over the raids, with Cohen's attorney calling them "completely inappropriate and unnecessary" and the president taking to Twitter to declare that "Attorney-client privilege is dead!" A court-ordered review ultimately found only a fraction of the seized material to be privileged. Tuesday's release of documents came nearly six weeks after U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III partially granted a request by several media organizations, including The Associated Press, that the search warrant be made public because of the high public interest in the case. But he ordered certain material withheld, acknowledging prosecutors' concerns that a wholesale release of the documents "would jeopardize an ongoing investigation and prejudice the privacy rights of uncharged third parties." "The unsealed records provide significant insight into the investigations of Michael Cohen and serve as an important safeguard for public accountability," AP's director of media relations, Lauren Easton, said Tuesday. David E. McCraw, vice president and deputy general counsel for The New York Times, which initiated the request for the documents, said he is hopeful Pauley will approve the release of additional materials in May after the government updates the judge on its investigation. The U.S. said late Monday that it is pulling its last remaining diplomats from Venezuela, saying their continued presence at the country's embassy in Caracas had become a "constraint" on U.S. policy as the Trump administration aggressively looks to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro. The announcement came from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a tweet shortly before midnight comes as Venezuela struggles to restore electricity following four days of blackouts around the country. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State updated its Travel Advisory on Venezuela at "Level 4: Do Not Travel" since late January by stating "U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Venezuela should depart." The U.S. has led an international effort to replace Maduro with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who vows to hold a new presidential election. Guaido is backed by some 50 countries, while Maduro maintains support from countries such as China, Russia and Cuba. Maduro ordered all U.S. diplomats to leave Venezuela in late January because of its support for Guaido, but he later retreated and allowed them to stay. The U.S. still withdrew the bulk of embassy personnel, leaving a skeletal staff led by career foreign service officer James Story. Pompeo said the remaining diplomats would be out of Venezuela by the end of the week but gave no indication of future policy steps despite past warnings that "all options" including the use of military force are on the table for removing Maduro. The move came after another day of chaos as power outages that began Thursday evening continued to cause problems for Venezuelans, leaving them with little power, water and communications. People converged on a polluted river to fill water bottles in Caracas, and scattered protests erupted in several cities A 3-year-old girl with a brain tumor languished in a Caracas hospital, awaiting treatment after doctors started surgery but then suspended the operation when nationwide power outages first hit on Thursday, said the girl's fearful mother, who only gave her first name, Yalimar. "The doctors told me that there are no miracles," said Yalimar, who hopes her daughter can be transferred Tuesday to one of the few hospitals in Venezuela that would be able to finish the complex procedure. The girl's story highlighted an unfolding horror in Venezuela, where years of hardship got abruptly worse after the power grid collapsed. On Monday, schools and businesses were closed, long lines of cars waited at the few gasoline stations with electricity and hospitals cared for many patients without power. Generators have alleviated conditions for some of the critically ill. President Nicolas Maduro said on national television Monday night that progress had been made in restoring power in Venezuela. He also said two people who were allegedly trying to sabotage power facilities were captured and were providing information to authorities, though he gave no details. Guaido, who heads the opposition-controlled congress, and the United States say Maduro's claims that the U.S. sabotaged the power grid with a "cyberattack" are an attempt to divert attention from the government's own failings. There have been acts of kindness during Venezuela's crisis: People whose food would rot in refrigerators without power donated it to a restaurant, which cooked it for distribution to charities and hospitals. The blackouts also have hit the oil industry. The country hasn't shipped $358 million in oil since the power failures started, and "the whole system is grinding to a halt," said Russ Dallen, a Miami-based partner at the brokerage firm Caracas Capital Markets. Two large tankers are sitting empty at the Jose offshore oil-loading dock, and at least 19 other ships are waiting their turns there, Dallen said. Engineers have restored power in some parts of Venezuela, but it often goes out again. There have been a few protests in Caracas and reports of similar anti-government anger elsewhere. Guaido tweeted about reports of looting in some cities, but details were difficult to confirm. Security forces in the city of Maracaibo dispersed "criminals" trying to take advantage of the power cuts, Mayor Willy Casanova told local media. However, numerous videos posted on social media that purported to be from Maracaibo showed crowds roaming the streets and people running from looted, damaged buildings with no police in sight. In Caracas, some people reported more sightings of "colectivos," a term for armed groups allegedly operating on behalf of the state to intimidate opponents. The mood in Caracas was desperate. Marian Morales, a nurse working for a Catholic youth group, and several colleagues handed out diapers and food from a car parked near a hospital. Police and men in civilian clothing ordered them to leave, saying they didn't have permission. Morales said the needy are cautious about approaching to collect the handouts because of the presence of security forces. Early Monday, an explosion rocked a power station in the Baruta area of Caracas. Residents gathered to look at the charred, smoldering equipment. Guaido said three of four electricity transformers servicing the area were knocked out. He has blamed the blackouts on government corruption and mismanagement. Winston Cabas, the head of Venezuela's electrical engineers union, which opposes the government, disputed government allegations that the country's main hydroelectric dam was sabotaged last week. He blamed a lack of maintenance as well as the departure of skilled workers from the troubled country over the years. "The system is vulnerable, fragile and unstable," he said. Spain's airline pilots union asked for Spanish airline Air Europa to stop flying to Venezuela after one of its crews was attacked at gunpoint in Caracas. The Sepla union said two pilots and eight more crew members of a flight from Madrid were assaulted on Saturday while going from the airport to their hotel in the Venezuelan capital. None of the crew members was injured. Air Europa responded by ordering the crews of flights to Venezuela to not spend the night in the country, according to the union. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on a Moscow-based bank jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies, alleging it tried to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the South American country. The U.S. said it is targeting Evrofinance Mosnarbank for supporting Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company previously targeted by sanctions in January. Evrofinance said it was carrying out its activities normally despite the announcement and pledged to "meet its obligations to the clients and partners in full." The U.S. and the other governments that recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim president say Maduro wasn't legitimately re-elected last year because opposition candidates weren't permitted to run. Maduro says he is the target of a U.S. coup plot. ___ Associated Press writer Christopher Torchia contributed to this report. What to Know A one-month-old baby boy died after being taken from his Bronx apartment Monday night with head trauma, police say The child, Aiden Rodriguez, was taken to a hospital in serious condition shortly before midnight; he was pronounced dead when he got there The baby's 24-year-old father has been arrested in connection with the boy's death; he smirked as he was led out of a police precinct UPDATE: Smirking Father Arrested in NYC Baby's Death The father of a 1-month-old Bronx boy who died after he was found with head trauma in his apartment Monday night has been arrested, police say. Police responding to a 911 call from a hospital about possible child abuse learned emergency crews had gone to the apartment on East 137th Street shortly before midnight and found the baby, Aiden Rodriguez, in serious condition, officials say. Aiden was taken to Lincoln Hospital, but his injuries were so severe he was transported to the trauma unit at Columbian Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police on Tuesday said they'd arrested the boy's 24-year-old father, Christian Rodriguez, 24, in connection with his death. Rodriguez smirked as he was led out of a police precinct Tuesday night, but declined to say anything to reporters. He has been charged with assault causing injury through risk of death, reckless assault of a child involving a brain injury, assault causing injury to a person less than 11 years old and assault causing injury to a person less than 7 years old, according to police. His attorney information wasn't immediately available Tuesday. Another child who was in the home was taken into the custody of the Administration for Children's Services. Details on that child weren't clear. "Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City," ACS said in a statement. "We are investigating this case and we have taken action to secure the safety of the other child in this home." The medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine how Aiden died. The investigation is ongoing. The child was so young that residents of the public housing where the infant was found did not even know he existed, although they knew his parents. "I mean I've seen them coming in an out, but I didn't even know they had a baby," neighbor Kenneth Moore said. What to Know At least two people died and dozens of passengers were hurt when a charter bus bound for New York flipped on a highway ramp in Virginia 57 people, including the driver, were on the bus, officials said; no other vehicles were involved in the accident The driver, a 40-year-old Staten Island man, has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, state police say One of the two people killed when a charter bus bound for New York flipped over on a Virginia highway ramp Tuesday has been identified as an 81-year-old woman from Queens. Virginia State Police said Wednesday her name was Janetta Cumberbatch, and she lived in Jamaica. One other person, an adult male, also died in the crash. Authorities identified him as Su Feng Xu, 37, a Chinese national. Dozens more, including kids, were hurt. Bus driver Yui Man Chow of Staten Island has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the crash, Virginia State Police said Tuesday. The Tao's Travel Inc. bus traveling from Florida to New York with 57 people aboard rolled when it ran off the left side of an Interstate 95 exit ramp in Prince George County about 5:22 a.m., state police said in a statement. Images from the crash scene showed crews working around the overturned bus in foggy conditions. It wasn't immediately clear if weather was a factor in the crash, state police spokeswoman Sgt. Keeli Hill said. But officials said fog prevented rescuers from using a helicopter to transport victims. Monique Berry, of Harlem, described the crash for news outlets at a reunion center for survivors. "All I know, I went to close my eyes and we were moving too fast," she said. "It swerved like a roller coaster. We tumbled five or six times. It wasn't less than that." As the bus overturned, Berry said, she remembers thinking "that was it" and when she came to, a man grabbed her and they crawled out a window. In the chaos after the crash, people were lying in the mud and screaming, she said. "I made it. I just want to get home," she said. The bus departed from Orlando, Florida, and stopped in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, to switch drivers, police said. It was headed to New York City when it crashed. A representative of the Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is on scene and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified, police said. Online FMCSA records show that the Middleton, Massachusetts-based company with four vehicles and eight drivers logged 900,000 miles last year. Records show no crashes reported in the past two years but list five violations in that period, including speeding and defective or no emergency exit windows. A man who answered the phone at Tao's Travel on Tuesday morning declined to comment. What to Know A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for 'the safest country in the world' were buried before mourners in New Zealand The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically developed for severe depression after childbirth Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers will headline one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the groundbreaking Woodstock festival Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here. New Zealand Holds First Funerals for Mosque Shooting Victims A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for "the safest country in the world" were buried before hundreds of mourners, the first funerals for victims of shootings at two mosques in New Zealand that horrified a nation known for being welcoming and diverse. The funerals of Khalid Mustafa, 44, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, came five days after a white supremacist methodically gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch a massacre that he broadcast live on Facebook. Hamza's high school principal described the student as compassionate and hardworking, and said he was an excellent horse rider who aspired to be a veterinarian. Those present included Hamza's younger brother, 13-year-old Zaed, who was wounded in an arm and a leg during the attack. The boy tried to stand during the ceremony but had to sit back in his wheelchair, one mourner said. The Mustafas had moved to New Zealand last year, after spending six years as refugees in Jordan. Nominee to Lead FAA Will Face Challenge on Boeing Oversight President Trump has tapped a former Delta Air Lines executive to lead the Federal Aviation Administration as the regulator deals with questions about its approval of a Boeing airliner involved in two deadly crashes within five months. The White House said Trump will nominate Stephen Dickson to head the FAA. The agency has been led by an acting administrator since January 2018. Separately, the Transportation Department confirmed that its watchdog agency will examine how the FAA certified the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, the now-grounded plane involved in two fatal accidents within five months. The FAA had stood by the safety of the plane up until last week, despite other countries grounding it. Fire Extinguished at Southeast Texas Chemical Plant The large fire that burned for several days at a Southeast Texas petrochemicals storage facility and sent a plume of pitch-black smoke thousands of feet into the atmosphere has been extinguished, plant officials say. The fire was extinguished by about 3 a.m., officials with Intercontinental Terminals Co. in the Houston-area suburb of Deer Park, announced in an early morning news release. The statement said crews will continue to spray foam and water on the tanks to facilitate cooling and prevent any further fires from being sparked. Steam and smoke may still be visible in the area and there's still a possibility of additional fires being reignited, officials said. Authorities had said an overnight drop in water pressure caused the flames to intensify and spread to additional tanks. FDA Approves Drug for Treating Postpartum Depression The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically developed for severe depression after childbirth. The agency approved Sage Therapeutics' Zulresso, an IV drug given over 2 days. Sage said Zulresso will cost $34,000 without insurance, plus costs for staying in a hospital or infusion center. Whether the treatment gets covered by insurance is determined by each insurance company, which also sets the out-of-pocket costs, depending on the plan. In a company-funded study of new mothers with moderate or severe postpartum depression, half the women given Zulresso had depression end within 2 days, about double the rate of those in a comparison group given dummy treatments. Postpartum depression affects about 400,000 American women a year. It often ends on its own within a couple weeks, but it can continue for months or even years. It can be treated with antidepressants, which can take six to eight weeks to work and don't help everyone, or with counseling. Monsanto Was a Factor in Sonoma County Man's Cancer, Jury Rules A jury in federal court in San Francisco has ruled that Roundup weed killer was a factor in causing a California man's cancer in a weeks-long trial that started last month. Edwin Hardeman of Sonoma County, 70, is the second plaintiff to go to trial of thousands around the country who claim agribusiness giant Monsanto's weed killer causes cancer. Hardeman won the first liability phase, proving that the Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The second phase of the trial will involve discussing punitive damages, his lawyers said. Monsanto says studies have established that the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is safe. A San Francisco jury in August awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A judge later slashed the award to $78 million, and Monsanto has appealed. Jay-Z, Dead & Co, the Killers to Perform at Woodstock 50 in New York Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers will headline one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the groundbreaking Woodstock festival this summer. Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang announced Miley Cyrus, Santana, Imagine Dragons, Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, the Black Keys and Chance the Rapper will also perform at the Woodstock 50 Music and Arts Fair, which will take place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York, about 115 miles northwest of the original site. The event is separate from an anniversary concert planned at the site of the original festival in 1969. Tickets for the three-day festival pushing the message of peace, love and music go on sale April 22, which is Earth Day. Lang said though Woodstock took place 50 years ago, today's world and 1969 are somewhat parallel. Actor Kristoff St. John's Death Ruled Accidental Actor Kristoff St. John, who starred in the long-running soap opera "The Young and the Restless," died from heart disease, the coroner's office announced. St. John was found dead at his home in the 23000 block of Morea Way in the Woodland Hills area about 2 p.m. Feb. 3, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The results of an autopsy indicated the cause of death was "hypertrophic heart disease," the coroner's office reported. "Other significant conditions: myocardial bridging of left anterior descending coronary artery and effects of ethanol," the coroner's office reported. "The manner of death has been certified as an accident." "Ethanol" refers to alcohol in this context, coroner's spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani said. Law enforcement sources told TMZ.com that a friend of the 52-year-old actor went to check on him and found the body. What to Know A woman was arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of her 9-year-old daughter was found in a duffel bag along a horse trail. Taquesta Graham, 28, is expected to be charged with murder on Wednesday, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said. Prosecutors last week charged Graham's boyfriend, Emiel Hunt, with murder in the killing of Trinity Love Jones. Update (Wednesday, 10 a.m.): Taquesta Graham, 28, was charged Wednesday morning with murder in the death of her 9-year-old daughter. A woman was arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of her 9-year-old daughter was found in a duffel bag along a suburban horse trail near Los Angeles, authorities said Monday. Taquesta Graham, 28, was expected to be charged with murder on Wednesday, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said. Prosecutors last week charged Graham's boyfriend, Emiel Hunt, with murder in the killing of Trinity Love Jones. The dead girl was found March 5 at the bottom of an embankment in the suburb of Hacienda Heights. She was wearing pants with a panda pattern and a pink shirt that said, "Future Princess Hero." There were no obvious signs of trauma on her body. Authorities have not revealed a cause of death or motive. Graham was extradited from Texas to California last week and was initially held on an unrelated warrant. Graham was in custody Monday and could not be reached for comment. Hunt, 38, has a previous child abuse conviction from 2005 in San Diego County, according to prosecutors. His arraignment is scheduled for April 16. Friends and family members described Trinity as a joyful and talented girl who did well in school. A memorial near where her body was found featured stuffed animals, heart-shaped balloons, dozens of votive candles and notes expressing love for Trinity and one that said "Rest in heaven, Princess." Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, slashed its flights to the United States by 20 percent Wednesday, blaming a drop in demand on tougher U.S. security measures and Trump administration attempts to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority nations. The Dubai government-owned carrier's decision is the strongest sign yet that new measures imposed on U.S.-bound travelers from the Mideast could be taking a financial toll on fast-growing Gulf carriers that have expanded rapidly in the U.S. Dubai was one of 10 cities in Muslim-majority countries affected by a ban on laptops and other personal electronics in carry-on luggage aboard U.S.-bound flights. Emirates' hub at Dubai International Airport, the world's third-busiest, is also a major transit point for travelers who were affected by President Donald Trump's executive orders temporarily halting entry to citizens of six countries. The latest travel ban suspended new visas for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and froze the nation's refugee program. Like an earlier ban that also included Iraqi citizens, it has been blocked from taking effect by the courts. Emirates said the flight reductions will affect five of its 12 U.S. destinations, with the first cutbacks starting next month. "The recent actions taken by the U.S. government relating to the issuance of entry visas, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins, have had a direct impact on consumer interest and demand for air travel into the U.S.," the carrier said in a statement. Emirates does not provide financial data for its U.S. operations or individual routes, but said it had seen "healthy growth and performance" there until the start of the year. Since Trump has been in office, however, there has been what it called "a significant deterioration in the booking profiles on all our U.S. routes, across all travel segments." It said it is responding as "any profit-oriented enterprise would" and will use the capacity freed up by the culled routes elsewhere on its network. The Americas region, which also includes routes to Canada and Latin America, accounted for 14 percent of the $22.75 billion in revenue Emirates pulled in during the fiscal year through the end of March 2016. Emirates' half-year profit fell 75 percent to $214 million in the last period the company has disclosed, through last September before the U.S. election. Executives cited increased investments including aircraft purchases and the repayment of bonds, and said a "bleak" economic outlook in many parts of the world was reducing travel demand. Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in Port Washington, New York, said business travel between the U.S. and the Middle East has clearly been hurt by the ban on gadgets, while the attempted visa bans have put a damper on leisure travel from the countries targeted. "Neither factor is a good thing for the Middle Eastern carriers who are primarily affected," he said. The cuts will reduce the number of U.S.-bound flights from Dubai to 101, down from 126 currently. Twice daily Emirates flights to Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle will fall to once a day. Daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando will be pared to five per week. Andrew Lannon, a Canadian attorney based in Dubai, arrived in Fort Lauderdale for vacation on an Emirates flight Wednesday and said passengers had to check their electronics, which made the 18-hour flight difficult because he couldn't work. Passengers were then told upon landing they would have to wait on the plane for an hour while their bags were checked, but were then let off after 20 minutes, Lannon said, adding that it took another hour for most passengers to clear customs. Kevin Mitchell, head of the Business Travel Coalition in the U.S., said all the Gulf carriers are probably losing business because of the security measures and attempted travel bans, and that will hurt consumers. "For consumers it means higher prices, fewer choices, less connectivity," Mitchell said. Like its smaller Gulf rivals Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Emirates has ramped up its U.S. presence and recently launched a new service to Newark via Athens. Several big U.S. carriers and their pilot unions have bristled at the Gulf airlines' U.S. push, accusing them of flooding the market with capacity while receiving billions of dollars of unfair government subsidies. Emirates and its Gulf rivals deny the allegations. Despite a vigorous lobbying and public relations campaign, the U.S. carriers were unable to persuade the Obama administration to block further expansion by Gulf airlines. But U.S. airline executives made a personal pitch to restrict their access during a White House meeting with Trump earlier this year. Jill Zuckman, a spokeswoman for the "Partnership for Open & Fair Skies" campaign opposing more U.S. routes for the Gulf carriers, was quick to seize on Emirates' decision. "The fact is, market demand has never played a role when the Gulf carriers decide where to fly. It is well known that the Gulf carriers, including Emirates, lose money on most of their flights to the United States and are propped up by billions of dollars in government cash," she said. The U.S. travel industry, already fretting that the ban on travelers from a number of Muslim-majority nations is affecting foreign travel generally to the United States, expressed fresh concern after Emirates' announcement, however. "The aftermath of 9/11 taught us that we can't take either global understanding or U.S. market share for granted," said Jonathan Grella, executive vice president the U.S. Travel Association. "Every limiting security message needs to be offset by a sincere welcome to legitimate, lawful travelers." Associated Press writer Joan Lowy in Washington, David Koenig in Dallas and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale contributed reporting. Warning: The details of this story are extremely graphic and could be disturbing to some readers. Family members of a 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl who was gagged, raped and murdered said in court Wednesday that they remain haunted by her torture and excruciating death. They described for jurors their unrelenting pain at a hearing that will determine whether Grace Packer's killer will face life in prison or the death penalty. "It sickens me to know that Grace was abused, tortured and literally thrown away like she was a piece of trash," her cousin, Karie Heisserer, with whom Grace lived for a time in 2015, said in court. "Grace is in a better place now, free from evil and pain." Jacob Sullivan, 46, pleaded guilty to the July 2016 rape, murder and dismemberment of his girlfriend's daughter. Grace's adoptive mother, Sara Packer, pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors painted a nightmare scenario inside the family's Quakerstown home. They said Sara Packer hated Grace, shared a rape-murder fantasy with Sullivan, watched as he sexually assaulted and strangled her in a hot attic outside Philadelphia, and helped hack up her body and dispose of it months later. Sara Packer took the stand Wednesday and said Grace had a tendency to be a "very difficult child. Grace had become, for lack of a better word, a non-entity, Packer said. She didnt exist anymore. I wanted her to go away. Sara Packer, who wore a red prison jumpsuit, also said she has a degree in psychology and an IQ over 140. Earlier in the week, Amy Adam, Grace's guidance counselor, said the teen got excellent grades but required emotional support. She said that a few months before Grace's death, Sara Packer had threatened to send her to foster care or to a residential center. That prompted Grace to write a "good-bye letter" to her family, Adam said. The letter was displayed for the jury. "I know that you guys are at your breaking point and I understand," Grace wrote. "I love you guys I always have and I always will." Jurors saw photos of the bubbly but troubled teen in happier times: Sitting in the cab of her uncle's big rig, frolicking in the sand at her first trip to the beach, delighting in birthday cake at a pool party. But all of that happened with relatives, not with Sara Packer, a former county adoptions supervisor who, prosecutors said, spent years physically and mentally abusing the little girl she fostered and then adopted. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub told the jury that he agreed to a life sentence for Sara in exchange for her confession and guilty plea because the physical evidence against her was weak, because it was Sullivan who raped and killed Grace, and because her crimes did not qualify for the death penalty. In a confession to police, Sullivan said he and Sara Packer plotted Grace's death. Sullivan admitted he punched and raped Grace as Sara Packer watched, bound her hands and feet with zip ties and stuffed a ball gag in her mouth. I got wrapped up in Jakes fantasy, she said. I didnt think I could tell him no without losing him. Prosecutors said Sullivan and Packer also gave the teen what they intended to be a lethal dose of over-the-counter medication and left her to die in a sweltering attic. Grace eventually managed to escape some of her bindings and spit the gag out, but was unable to make it out of the house before Sullivan and Packer returned overnight some 12 hours later and Sullivan strangled her as Sara Packer watched. The couple stored her body in cat litter for months, then hacked it up and dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it in October 2016, prosecutors said. Sullivan told police he wanted the torture and death "to be fun" for the teen. Grace's younger brother, Josh Packer, now 14, told jurors the only way he can bear his loss is if adults know her story and then act to prevent child abuse. He said in a statement read by a detective that if his big sister was told she could save other kids' lives by giving her own, she would ask, "What do I have to do?" "Watch out for all the kids so that a loss like Grace's loss never happens again," Josh wrote. "Do your best to help kids who can't help themselves." That's not what happened in Grace's case. Sara Packer and her husband at the time, David Packer, adopted Grace and Josh in 2007. Their biological parents lost custody of the children because they could not provide a safe home for them due to mental illness and her husband's intellectual challenges, The Morning Call reported. The Packers, meanwhile, cared for dozens of children before David Packer was sent to prison for sexually assaulting Grace and a 15-year-old foster daughter at their Allentown home. Sara Packer lost her job as a Northampton County adoptions supervisor in 2010 and was barred from taking in any more foster children. But child welfare authorities did not remove Grace from the home, despite evidence of abuse. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services launched an investigation after Grace's murder. Its findings have not been made public. Both Sara Packer and Sullivan survived suicide attempts in the months following the murder. After heavy rain led to a flood risk in neighborhoods across the Philadelphia area Thursday, the on and off precipitation will continue through Friday morning, as will gusty winds. The heaviest rain totals will be across northern Delaware, Philadelphia, north and west suburbs, Berks County and the Lehigh Valley. Our First Alert continues through 9 a.m. Friday. Friday will feature morning rain, gusty winds, and then another round of afternoon and evening rain showers. A few wet snow flakes may even mix in north and west of Philadelphia across the Lehigh Valley and Poconos. Highs Friday reach the lower 50s. Winds could gust over 40 mph. Our weekend starts brisk, chilly and windy. Highs on Saturday only reach the upper 40s. Sunday will feature plenty of sunshine, less wind, and highs around 60. Looking ahead to next week, rain will sweep through Monday evening. Chilly winds are around Tuesday. Opening Day for the Phillies Thursday looks beautiful with plenty of sunshine with temperatures in the mid-50s. FRI: Early morning rain tapers off, gusty winds develop along with a changeable sky. A few additional scattered afternoon and evening showers possible. High 52 SAT: Sunny skies and breezy. High 49 SUN: Sunny and milder. High 60 MON: Afternoon and evening rain. High 55 TUE: Mostly cloudy and blustery. High 43 What to Know Low-paid workers "get kicked the most in the recession, and they generally benefit more later in the boom," says one economist Amazon's announcement will likely embolden labor activists and unions that have been pressing large fast-food and retail chains to raise pay Shares of retail companies fell sharply Tuesday in a sign that investors expect them to have to raise pay to compete with Amazon After years of sluggish pay gains, the economy may be starting to work for America's low-wage workers. Amazon's announcement Tuesday that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour will intensify pressure on other companies to lift their pay levels as well. Among the most likely to do so: Amazon's rival retailers and warehouse operators, many of which are facing the prospect of staff shortages as they ramp up for the holiday shopping season. "This is going to be a big deal for very low-wage workers," said Ben Zipperer, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. "It's going to compel other businesses to raise wages as well." Low-wage workers typically receive higher pay from an expanding economy only after higher-income people have benefited, economists note. Now, with the unemployment rate near a 50-year low and the number of job openings exceeding the number of unemployed, more lower-income Americans are finally receiving meaningful raises. Low-paid workers "get kicked the most in the recession, and they generally benefit more later in the boom," said David Neumark, an economist at University of California, Irvine. Accordingly, retailers, who employ a sizable share of the nation's lower-paid workers, have been stepping up pay increases. Average hourly wages for retail workers, excluding managers, rose 4 percent in August compared with 12 months earlier. Amazon's announcement will likely embolden labor activists and unions that have been pressing large fast-food and retail chains to raise pay, provide more reliable work schedules, and allow for union representation. Among the critics Amazon has faced over its pay and work conditions, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has noted that some of its workers receive food stamps and other benefits that are geared for the poor, while its owner Jeff Bezos has become the world's wealthiest person. "Now that activists have succeeded, they can now take that demand to other employers," said Marshall Steinbaum, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. "You say you can't afford this, but your competitor obviously can." Indeed, shares of retail companies fell sharply Tuesday in a sign that investors expect them to have to raise pay to compete with Amazon, a step that would potentially slow their profits. Best Buy's share price dropped nearly 5 percent; Kohl's Stores fell 3.9 percent. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, also said Tuesday that it will lobby to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour, though it did not say what figure it would push for. The impact of a higher federal wage, though, would likely be modest, because more than 20 states have minimum wages above the federal level. A higher federal minimum wage could intensify pressures on smaller businesses that don't have the financial resources that Amazon has to raise pay significantly. Historically, large companies have been a driving factor in pushing up the minimum wage, Steinbaum said. Once they start to raise pay in response to competitive forces, they typically lobby to push others to follow suit, to prevent other companies from undercutting them. Darren Moscato, who owns an Express staffing agency in Buffalo, New York, where Amazon has built a warehouse, said the higher pay offered by Amazon "will make it harder for local businesses to compete for workers." Moscato noted that smaller companies typically spend more on labor than does Amazon, which uses more automation. "This is why Amazon is also pushing for a higher national minimum wage," Moscato said. "It will give them a competitive advantage." Other retailers and shipping companies are likely to feel the brunt of Amazon's decision as well, analysts said. The pay increases would apply to about 100,000 Amazon seasonal workers. That's equal to roughly 16 percent of the 623,800 retail jobs that the economy added in October and November last year. "We've already seen just how much pressure there is I think this is only going to increase it," said Judy Conti, director of government affairs at the National Employment Law Project. An advocate for higher minimum wages, Conti added that Amazon would likely benefit if $15 an hour became the new baseline. Any small businesses that compete with larger companies by providing better service rather than by matching every price cut should also manage fine, she said. Companies like UPS, FedEx and XPO Logistics typically hire tens of thousands of seasonal workers to meet the crushing demands of online shopping during the winter holidays. Amazon plans to add 100,000, many of them at the higher $15 wage, which takes effect Nov. 1. "The crisis in warehouse and shipping personnel is very real, and there's going to have to be a meaningful increase in wages to attract and increase talent," said Steve Barr, consumer markets leader at PwC. Iesha Townsend, who works as a McDonald's cashier in Chicago, said she hopes other companies follow suit. Townsend, 32, plans to demonstrate for higher pay on Thursday as part of the Fight for $15 movement. "Why shouldn't we get it too?" she said, referring to Amazon's raise. "We work so hard, and we get less." AP Writers Anne D'Innocenzio and Josh Boak contributed to this report. A body that was found covered in mud and debris south of San Ysidro after what may have been days in the Tijuana River, prompting a cross-border homicide investigation, has been identified. The San Diego Police Department believes the body of Francisco Pulido-Amaro, 48, a citizen of Mexico, may have pushed across the U.S.-Mexico Border due to recent storm runoff. The man's body was found on March 14 in the Tijuana River Valley south of the Las Americas Premium Outlets. It was not clear exactly when Pulido-Amaro may have died but SDPD believes he died while in Mexico. SDPD said, "the man appeared to have been there for some time." Mexican authorities are being contacted to coordinate an investigation south of the border, police said. SDPD refused to release details surrounding the circumstances of Pulido-Amaro's death but did say traumatic injuries were found during an autopsy that prompted their homicide investigation. SDPD and Mexican officials have not been able to locate any of Pulido-Amaro's relatives to inform them of the death. Anyone with information was asked to call SDPD's homicide unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. What to Know The Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District adopted a resolution on April 10 to apply for dissolution. The Registrar of Voters validated protests from 26% of the registered voters in the district's area. In December, the Local Agency Formation Commission asked the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to call an election. Julian residents took to the ballot box to decide the fate of their all-volunteer fire department in a special election. A yes majority on Measure A would make fire protection for the area Cal Fire's duty, while a no vote would mean the volunteer department would stick around. As of 8 p.m., 55 percent of the 1,296 votes counted approved the measure. The Registrars office said final results would be available March 27. Residents in the unincorporated Julian and the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park regions lost their volunteer fire department when the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District (JCFPD) was dissolved in early 2018 due to financial struggles and aging facilities. The plan was to transfer all fire protection and emergency medical services to the San Diego County Fire Authority after the JCFPD board voted to dissolve the department last year. But, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, 26 percent of the 2,410 registered voters in the district sent in written protests to the proposed transfer. Those board members have since been voted out and replaced by members who are for keeping the department around. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors decided in December to hold a special election and asked voters to decide on Measure A. Some community members told NBC 7 they feel they wont get the same service as their volunteer fire department, which is dedicated to the area. They also say their department is better equipped than Cal Fire to handle structure fires, as well as medical calls. Julian resident Kristine Greenlee disagrees, and says she'd feel safer if Cal Fire were in charge. "No disrespect intended, but the volunteers are not going to have the quality of training that the county and state firefighters do," Greenlee said. JCFPD board member Bill Everett says the department is actually better trained than Cal Fire. "Their mission is fighting wildland fires. They're not, fundamentally, an organization that goes to vehicle accidents or medical calls, or even structure fires. That's what we do. We're trained to state standards," Everet said. The JCFPD chief says his 60 volunteers are all certified, and says at least six are kept at the 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Cal Fire Spokesman Chief Jon Heggie disagreed with Evert's assesment of Cal Fire's capabilities when it comes to structure fires and medical calls. The county is offering less expensive service with better fire protection. We are trained at or above any state standards to handle all emergency situations. The county has invested millions of dollars in upgrades and equipment that far exceeds what the volunteers have. Cal Fire officials say the Cuyamaca Station 51 will remain staffed year round and they say they can bring in staff from other stations. Cal Fire Chief Tony Mecham said in December the ability of anyone to continue an all-volunteer fire department with minimal funding is questionable. The fact that the county is bringing $1.6 million to provide services in Julian is a sign of what it costs to run a modern fire department, Mecham said. Residents voted against a measure that called for a $150 per household annual increase in funding for the department. JCFD board member Bill Everett says with $700,000 in the bank and $6 million in assets, the department is on solid footing and can fund itself without increasing residents yearly fee. Voting took place at the County Registrar of Voters' office in Kearny Mesa. Some voters also mailed in their ballots. He has survived eight years of war and billions of dollars in money and weapons aimed at toppling him. Now Syrian President Bashar Assad is poised to be readmitted to the fold of Arab nations, a feat once deemed unthinkable as he forcefully crushed the uprising against his family's rule. Gulf Arab nations, once the main backers of rebels trying to oust Assad, are lining up to reopen their embassies in Syria, worried about leaving the country at the heart of the Arab world to regional rivals Iran and Turkey and missing out on lucrative post-war reconstructive projects. Key border crossings with neighbors, shuttered for years by the war, have reopened, and Arab commercial airlines are reportedly considering resuming flights to Damascus. And as President Donald Trump plans to pull out America's 2,000 soldiers from northeastern Syria, government troops are primed to retake the area they abandoned in 2012 at the height of the war. This would be a significant step toward restoring Assad's control over all of Syria, leaving only the northwest in the hands of rebels, most of them jihadis. It can seem like a mind-boggling reversal for a leader whose military once seemed dangerously close to collapse. But Russia's military intervention, which began in 2015, steadily reversed Assad's losses, allowing his troops, aided by Iranian-backed fighters, to recapture cities like Homs and Aleppo, key to his rule. Assad rules over a country in ruins, with close to half a million people killed and half the population displaced. Major fighting may still lie ahead. But many see the war nearing its end, and the 53-year-old leader is sitting more comfortably than he has in the past eight years. "Rehabilitation by Arab states is inevitable," said Faysal Itani, a resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. A key motive for Sunni Muslim Gulf countries is to blunt the involvement of their Shiite-led foe, Iran, which saw its influence expand rapidly in the chaos of Syria's war. "Saudi Arabia tried briefly to help overthrow him when he seemed most vulnerable using proxy militants," Itani said. "With his regime likely to survive, however, Saudi Arabia would prefer to try and exercise influence over Assad to balance against Iran while avoiding escalation with Iran itself." After Assad led a crackdown on protesters in 2011, Syria was cast out as a pariah by much of the Arab and Western world. It lost its seat at the Arab League and was hit by crippling sanctions by the international community, as the U.S. and European diplomats closed their diplomatic missions. But Syria's isolation was never complete. China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa maintained diplomatic ties. In the Arab world, Lebanon, Iraq and Algeria never broke ranks with Syria. Propped up by Russia, China and Iran, Assad never really felt the pinch politically. A Saudi attempt to patch up relations with Assad would be a public acknowledgement of the kingdom's failure to oust him. At the same time, the involvement of Gulf Arab governments and private companies is crucial for any serious reconstruction effort in Syria. Reconstruction costs are estimated between $200 and $350 billion. Last month, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, himself an international outcast, flew to Damascus on a Russian jet, becoming the first Arab leader to visit Syria since 2011. The visit was largely seen as a precursor for similar steps by other Arab leaders. On Dec. 27, the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus with a public ceremony, in the most significant Arab overture yet toward the Assad government, almost certainly coordinated with Saudi Arabia. The Bahrain Embassy followed the next day. The debate now appears to be about when, not whether, to re-admit Syria to the Arab League. At a meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said Syria's return to the League is connected to developments on the political track to end the crisis. Some officials in Lebanon insist Syria should be invited to an Arab economic summit the country is hosting next week, although final decision rests with the League. "It could happen slower or faster, but if Assad is going to stay where he is, then obviously countries in the region are going to try to make the best of that situation," said Aron Lund, a fellow with The Century Foundation. "American politicians can sit in splendid isolation on the other side of an ocean and pretend Syria isn't what it is," he said. "But King Abdullah of Jordan can't." The Arab overtures come amid a shifting landscape in the Western world. The planned U.S. pullout from Syria is part of Trump's "America First" policy. He has repeatedly said he was not interested in removing Assad from power or keeping American troops involved in "endless wars" in the region, most recently describing Syria as "sand and death." Right-wing parties and populist movements on the rise in Europe are also on friendly terms with Assad, seeing him as a secular bulwark against Islamic extremists. Even Turkey, whose president in 2012 famously vowed to pray at Omayyad Mosque in Damascus after Assad's ouster, has signaled it would consider working with Assad again if he wins in free and fair elections. For Syrians who rose up against Assad's rule, it can seem like the country is right back where it started eight years ago, only with half a million dead and cities in ruins. Analysts believe Syria under Assad will likely continue to face conflicts and sputter on in limbo for years to come, with only a partial recovery. But he will likely cling to power and do business with anyone who will do business with him. "I don't imagine Assad's Syria becoming a fine upstanding member of the international community, but nor do I think it will languish in isolation," Itani said. Bitter cold is setting in after a major winter storm blanketed a wide swath of the country in snow, sleet and rain this weekend, creating dangerously icy conditions that promise to complicate cleanup efforts and make travel challenging on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Some of the coldest temperatures felt so far this season started to set in across the Midwest and Northeast Sunday and are expected to plunge further overnight. Wind chills will bring temperatures into teens in the New York City area and down to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in upstate New York, the National Weather Service predicted. In New England, they'll fall to as low as 20 F (29 C) below zero around Boston and as low as 35 F (37 C) below zero in parts of Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire, the service said. Temperatures across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic will drop 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit below average, the service said. "It's life-threatening," said Ray O'Keefe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany. "These are dangerous conditions that we're going to be in and they're prolonged, right through tomorrow." The freeze will follow the weekend's run-ins with power outages, canceled trains and planes, overnight stays at the airport and traffic jams. Local officials warned residents to limit their time outside to prevent frostbite and to avoid treacherous travel conditions. They also said places could see strong wind gusts, flooding and further power outages. Utilities in Connecticut reported more than 20,000 customers without power by Sunday afternoon. "We had more freezing rain and sleet than we expected," Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Sunday as public works crews across the state raced to clear and treat major roadways before dangerous black ice could form. Amtrak canceled trains across the Midwest and Northeast over the weekend, but promised full service would resume Monday. Boston's transit system urged commuters to allow 10 to 15 minutes of extra travel time and warned of icy conditions for pedestrians come Monday. The storm caused by the clash of an Arctic high-pressure system with a low-pressure system coming through the Ohio Valley wreaked havoc on air travel and other forms of transportation all weekend. More than 1,500 flights were canceled nationwide Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking company. Among the hardest hit was Boston's Logan Airport, where stranded passengers lingered Sunday as typically bustling security lines, ticketing counters and baggage claims were largely deserted. Xavi Ortega, a 32-year old engineer from Spain, said he and his wife slept overnight at the airport after their Saturday night flight home to Barcelona was canceled. He said the couple hoped to board a flight Sunday night. "We've been sleeping, playing Candy Crush," Ortega said when asked how'd they been passing the hours. A ferry service route across Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York was also closed Sunday and flights were mostly cancelled at major airports in Vermont and New Hampshire. In the Midwest, where it dumped 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow in parts, the storm caused a plane to skid on a slick runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Saturday, though no injuries were reported. In Kansas, a snowplow driver was killed when his vehicle rolled over, and in southeastern Missouri, slippery conditions caused a 15-vehicle crash on Interstate 55 on Saturday. One saving grace of the storm: heavily populated coastal communities from New York to Boston largely escaped major snowfall after days of sometimes dire predictions. Manhattan saw mostly rain while places along Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts' coast recorded 2 to 5 inches (5 to 13 centimeters) of snow. Mountain regions saw significantly more, to the delight of ski resort operators. New York's Adirondacks registered up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) while western Massachusetts' Berkshires saw as much as 10 and parts of northern New England were on track to approach 24 inches of snow. Nicholas Nicolet and his 6-year-old son Rocco welcomed the fresh powder as they cross-country skied on the sidewalks of Montpelier, Vermont early Sunday morning. "We think it's great," Nicholas Nicolet said during the storm. President Donald Trump urged Americans affected by the winter storm to "be careful" in a tweet early Sunday. But, as he's done in the past, Trump conflated the short-term weather phenomenon with longer-term climate change. The White House's own National Climate Assessment recently rejected the idea that a particular plunge in temperatures can cast uncertainty on whether Earth is warming. "Amazing how big this system is," Trump tweeted. "Wouldn't be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!" Associated Press reporters Bob Salsberg, Deepti Hajela and Lisa Rathke contributed to this story. The Trump administration has targeted an Obama-era regulation credited with helping dramatically reduce toxic mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, saying the benefits to human health and the environment may not be worth the cost of the regulation. The 2011 Obama administration rule, called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, led to what electric utilities say was an $18 billion clean-up of mercury and other toxins from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. Overall, environmental groups say, federal and state efforts have cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 85 percent in roughly the last decade. Mercury causes brain damage, learning disabilities and other birth defects in children, among other harm. Coal power plants in this country are the largest single man-made source of mercury pollutants, which enters the food chain through fish and other items that people consume. The proposal Friday from the Environmental Protection Agency challenges the basis for the Obama regulation. It calculates that the crackdown on mercury and other toxins from coal plants produced only a few million dollars a year in measurable health benefits and was not "appropriate and necessary" a legal benchmark under the country's landmark Clean Air Act. The proposal, which now goes up for public comment before any final administration approval, would leave the current mercury regulation in place. However, the EPA said it will seek comment during a 60-day public review period on whether "we would be obligated to rescind" the Obama-era rule if the agency adopts Friday's finding that the regulation was not appropriate and necessary. Any such change would trigger new rounds in what have already been years of court battles over regulating mercury pollution from coal plants. This move is the latest by the Trump administration that changes estimates of the costs and payoffs of regulations as part of an overhaul of Obama-era environmental protections. It's also the administration's latest proposed move on behalf of the U.S. coal industry, which has been struggling in the face of competition from natural gas and other cheaper, cleaner forms of energy. The Trump administration in August proposed an overhaul for another Obama-era regulation that would have prodded electricity providers to get less of their energy from dirtier-burning coal plants. In a statement, the EPA said Friday the administration was "providing regulatory certainty" by more accurately estimating the costs and benefits of the Obama administration crackdown on mercury and other toxic emissions from smokestacks. Hal Quinn, head of the National Mining Association, charged in a statement Friday that the Obama administration had carried out "perhaps the largest regulatory accounting fraud perpetrated on American consumers" when it calculated that the broad health benefits to Americans would outweigh the cost of equipment upgrades by power providers. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, condemned the Trump administration's move. The EPA has "decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" after the successful clean-up of toxins from the country's coal-plant smokestacks, Carper said. He and other opponents of the move said the Trump administration was playing with numbers, ignoring what Carper said were clear health, environmental and economic benefits to come up with a bottom line that suited the administration's deregulatory aims. Janet McCabe, a former air-quality official in the Obama administration's EPA, called the proposal part of "the quiet dismantling of the regulatory framework" for the federal government's environmental protections. Coming one week into a government shutdown, and in the lull between Christmas and New Year, "this low-key announcement shouldn't fool anyone it is a big deal, with significant implications," McCabe said. Over strong objections from prosecutors, a federal judge on Monday took the rare step of letting a 25-year-old man charged with plotting to bomb a Chicago bar avert trial and move on to sentencing without ever saying he did anything wrong. Adel Daoud entered an Alford plea at the end of a three-hour hearing in U.S. District Court, telling Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman he maintained his innocence but that he simultaneously acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him had he gone to trial. Agents arrested Daoud in an FBI sting in 2012, after he pressed the button on a remote he was told would ignite what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in a car, just blocks from the federal courthouse. Daoud said he wanted to kill at least 100 people, government court filings allege. Daoud's case has dragged out for six years, delayed in part by his statements that the judge was "a reptilian overlord" and that his own lawyers were in cahoots with the Illuminati. After he received treatment for schizophrenia, Coleman earlier this year declared him fit to stand trial. Dressed in orange jails clothes Monday, Daoud at times seemed unsure about the right words to use in a plea that's rare for federal cases and rarer still for federal terrorism cases. Standing before Coleman, he paused and remained quiet when the judge asked: "You are saying you didn't do anything illegal or wrong in this case?" Daoud said he accepted the "factual basis" of the charges against him. But he added, "I deny culpability and maintain my innocence." Daoud, of the Chicago suburb of Hillside, Illinois, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he learns his punishment next year. His sentencing will be April 29. Though Daoud didn't enter standard guilty pleas, Coleman explained to him that a judgment of guilty will be entered in the record for nine counts two related to the bomb plot case and seven regarding charges brought while he was in prison. In objecting to the Alfred plea, prosecutor Barry Jonas alluded to statements from Daoud's lawyers that they intended to put "the FBI on trial" for entrapping Daoud. Jonas said that taking the case to a jury would allow the government to show that's not what happened. "I consider this an FBI success story," Jonas said about the case. "The public has a right to know that." Daoud also entered Alford pleas Monday on the seven other counts. Those included charges that, while behind bars, he solicited the killing of a FBI agent who participated in the sting and that he attacked a fellow inmate with a shank fashioned from a toothbrush after the inmate drew a picture of the Prophet Muhammad. In accepting the Alfred pleas, Coleman cited both Daoud's mental health and concerns the defense had raised about what she said was "the overall environment when (the word) 'terrorism' is mentioned." She didn't elaborate. Daoud's lawyers and other critics have argued for years that federal stings tend to snare psychologically vulnerable youth, not committed would-be terrorists. But in the lead up to Monday's hearing, prosecutors sought to dispel the idea that agents roped Daoud into a bomb plot he never would have contemplated on his own. In a 19-page description of the evidence against Daoud recently filed with the court, prosecutors alleged Daoud expressed an interest in acts of violence for months before undercover FBI agents ever engaged him online. Jim Mattis ended one of history's more turbulent tenures as defense secretary on Monday by re-emphasizing a key difference with President Donald Trump and encouraging Pentagon employees, civilian and military, to "hold fast" in safeguarding the nation. Mattis, who submitted his resignation on Dec. 20 and was, in effect, fired by Trump three days later, spent the day in his third-floor Pentagon office preparing to hand off his duties at midnight to Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, will be acting defense secretary until someone is nominated for the post. In a written farewell message, Mattis urged all employees to "keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes." Mattis sees allies, including NATO, Japan and South Korea, as central to U.S. foreign and security policy, a point on which he differed from Trump, who denigrated allies as unworthy freeloaders. In 711 days as defense secretary, Mattis wrestled with a series of surprise, sometimes sudden and often confusing, decisions by Trump, including a July 2017 presidential tweet saying he would ban transgender people from serving in the military. Mattis also disagreed with Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. He counted as a victory his persuading Trump to abandon, at least temporarily, his stated instinct to withdraw from Afghanistan. Earlier this month, Trump reversed himself and ordered a partial withdrawal, overriding Mattis' objections. Mattis also was set back by Trump's tweet Dec. 8 announcing he had picked the Army chief of staff, Gen. Mark Milley, to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This not only left the current chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, in a lame duck status until his scheduled retirement next fall, but it also marked an unusual rejection of advice from his own secretary of defense. Mattis had recommended Air Force Gen. David Goldfein for the job. The disagreements accumulated, and when Trump decided to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, Mattis submitted a resignation letter he had written some days earlier. His decision to quit stunned many in the Pentagon and around the world. Trump himself seemed taken aback, and three days later, he tweeted that Shanahan would replace Mattis on Jan. 1, cutting short Mattis' announced plan to stay until Feb. 28 to ensure a smooth transition. When he announced Mattis as his choice to lead the Pentagon shortly after his November 2016 election victory, Trump referred to him by his nickname, "Mad Dog," suggesting he valued an unpredictable, intimidating approach to defense policy. This turned out not to match the Mattis style, which emphasized respectful collaboration with allies and partners. In his farewell note, Mattis quoted a one-sentence telegram that President Abraham Lincoln sent to the commander of Union forces, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, on Feb. 1, 1865, in the final weeks of the Civil War. It said: "Let nothing which is transpiring, change, hinder, or delay your military movements, or plans." On that date, Lincoln signed a joint congressional resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. Mattis said he's confident Pentagon employees will remain "undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution while protecting our way of life." Mattis has not said publicly what he intends to do next. He has mused about returning to his roots in Washington state. He was born in Pullman and raised in Richland. He graduated from Central Washington University in 1971 and then entered the Marine Corps, where he began as a second lieutenant and rose to the rank of four-star general. Mattis is the first retired general to serve as defense secretary since George Marshall in 1950-51. His confirmation by the Senate required passage of legislation overriding a prohibition against former U.S. service members who have been out of uniform fewer than seven years from holding the Defense Department's top job. Mattis retired from the Marines in 2013. David Maxwell, a retired Army colonel who served 30 years in uniform, said the farewell and resignation letters together will "be studied and examined ... for years to come" for lessons in leadership. Maxwell is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Mattis, 68, has not publicly commented on his reasons for resigning, beyond what he wrote in his resignation letter, in which he expressed pride at having served with the men and women of the Defense Department but did not directly thank Trump. He wrote that the president has "the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with" his. "My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues," Mattis wrote. Shanahan, who has been the Pentagon's No. 2 official since July 19, 2017, had worked for Boeing Co. since 1986. His views on strategic issues such as U.S. alliances and the wars in Afghanistan and Syria are largely unknown to the public. During his Senate confirmation hearing in June 2017, he drew the ire of Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona for equivocating on whether he favored providing defensive weaponry to Ukraine in response to Russian military intervention. Although he will have the title of acting secretary, Shanahan will hold all the executive and command authorities of a Senate-confirmed secretary, according to his spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Joe Buccino. It is rare for the Pentagon to be run by an acting secretary; the last was William H. Taft, who served in that capacity for about 60 days in 1989 after President George H.W. Bush's initial choice to be defense secretary, John Tower, became mired in controversy and ultimately failed to be confirmed by the Senate. Dick Cheney then was nominated and confirmed. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday he hopes to extend his high-stakes nuclear summitry with President Donald Trump into 2019, but also warned Washington not to test North Koreans' patience with sanctions and pressure. During his televised New Year's speech, Kim said he's ready to meet with Trump at any time to produce an outcome "welcomed by the international community." However, he said the North will be forced to take a different path if the United States "continues to break its promises and misjudges the patience of our people by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure." Kim also said the United States should continue to halt its joint military exercises with ally South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets to the South. He also made a nationalistic call urging for stronger inter-Korean cooperation and said the North is ready to resume operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort. Neither of those is possible for South Korea unless sanctions are removed. Some analysts say North Korea has been trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul while putting the larger burden of action on the United States. Pyongyang over the past months has accused Washington of failing to take corresponding measures following the North's unilateral dismantlement of a nuclear testing ground and suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests. Washington and Pyongyang are trying to arrange a second summit between Trump and Kim, who met in Singapore on June 12. "If the United States takes sincere measures and corresponding action to our leading and pre-emptive efforts, then (U.S.-North Korea) relations will advance at a fast and excellent pace through the process of implementing (such) definite and groundbreaking measures," said Kim, who delivered the speech sitting on a leather chair, wearing a black suit and gray-blue tie. "It is the unwavering position of our party and the republic's government and my firm will that the two countries as declared in the June 12 joint statement ... take steps to establish a permanent and stable peace regime and push toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said. "Therefore, we have already declared domestically and internationally and took various actions showing our commitment that we will no further create or test nuclear weapons and will not use or spread them." Adam Mount, a senior analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said Kim appears to be hinting at an agreement that falls short of a full disarmament, but could still represent a major limitation of the North Korean threat a cap that essentially freezes the North's rudimentary nuclear capability from growing or advancing further. In exchange, the United States would have to offer major inducements, including sanctions relief. "U.S. negotiators should move decisively in the new year to find out how far Kim is willing to go toward a verified cap on his arsenal. Discussions on reducing or eliminating that arsenal come later," Mount said in an email. However, Kim's statement could prove problematic if there's ongoing evidence the North's nuclear and missile facilities continue to run. Private analysts have accused North Korea of continuing nuclear and missile development, citing details from commercial satellite imagery. "Over the last year, signs of continued work on the arsenal were alarming but not duplicitous, because there was never a commitment to stop those activities," Mount said. "That may no longer be true, raising the risk that the White House feels cheated rather than just stonewalled." Kim's speech also points toward a difficult year for the U.S.-South Korean alliance with their military cooperation coming under pressure from Pyongyang, Seoul's process for inter-Korean engagement, and Washington's current inability to reach an agreement on cost-sharing for the U.S. military presence in South Korea. It will be critical for the allies to develop a firmer policy as it's clear the issue of joint drills is coming to a head, Mount said. In the speech, Kim hailed the results of the North's diplomatic activities in 2018, including his three meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim said an inter-Korean military agreement reached in their last summit in September to reduce conventional military threats was "realistically a non-aggression declaration." Kim also emphasized the development of the North Korean economy and, without elaborating, mentioned nuclear power as part of the country's plans to boost electricity production. South Korea's government in a statement welcomed what it described as Kim's commitment toward peace and said Seoul plans to work closely with the international community for the denuclearization of the peninsula while also advancing inter-Korean relations to an "irreversible level." North Korean leaders traditionally use New Year's statements to issue major policy goals for the year ahead. Kim used his New Year's speech a year ago to start a newfound diplomatic approach with Seoul and Washington, which led to his meetings with Moon and Trump. Kim also met three times with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which boosted his leverage by reintroducing Beijing Pyongyang's main ally as a major player in the diplomatic process to resolve the nuclear standoff. But nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled in recent months as they struggle with the sequencing of North Korea's disarmament and the removal of U.S.-led sanctions against the North. The North has also bristled at U.S. demands to provide a detailed account of nuclear and missile facilities that would be inspected and dismantled under a potential deal. The hardening stalemate has fueled doubts on whether Kim will ever voluntarily relinquish the nuclear weapons and missiles he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival. In his meetings with Trump and Moon, Kim signed vague statements calling for the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur. But North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, with Pyongyang vowing to pursue nuclear development until the United States removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan. The North used a blunt statement last month to reiterate its traditional stance on denuclearization, saying it will never unilaterally give up its weapons unless Washington removes what Pyongyang describes as a nuclear threat. The statement jarred with Seoul's claim that Kim is genuinely interested in negotiating away his nukes and suggested that the North will potentially demand the United States withdraw or significantly reduce the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, a major sticking point in any disarmament deal. Washington and Pyongyang have yet to reschedule a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean officials after the North canceled it at the last minute in November. There are views that North Korea wants a quick second summit because it thinks it can win major concessions from Trump that they probably couldn't from lower-level U.S. officials, who are more adamant about the North committing to inspections and verification. Pakistan's military said Wednesday it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured a pilot, answering an airstrike a day earlier by Indian fighter jets inside Pakistan and raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in two decades. Within hours Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television urging peace talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying both countries needed to step back from the brink and warning that "miscalculations" could drag their two countries into a war that neither side would benefit from. "Let's sit together to talk to find a solution," Khan said. There was no reply from Modi, but India acknowledged one of its air force planes was "lost" in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was "missing in action." Pakistan's military later circulated a video of a man with a mustache who identified himself as the Indian pilot, sipping tea and responding to questions, mostly by saying, "You know I can't answer that." He appeared in good health as he was questioned about his hometown, his aircraft and his mission. The downing of the Indian aircraft came on a chaotic day that also saw mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier dividing the two sectors of Kashmir kill six civilians and wound several others. A helicopter crash in the region also killed six Indian air force officials and a civilian on the ground. Pakistan responded by shutting down its civilian airspace. The Indian warplanes went down Wednesday morning in Kashmir, a mountainous region claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. One of the downed planes crashed in Pakistan's part of Kashmir while the other went down in an Indian-controlled section of the Himalayan region, Pakistan's army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said. He said Pakistani troops on the ground captured the Indian pilot. He had said earlier that two pilots were captured, but did not explain the discrepancy. "We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm," Ghafoor said. India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Raveesh Kumar, said one of India's MiG-21 fighter aircraft was missing and India was still "ascertaining" whether its pilot was in Pakistan's custody. He said one Pakistani aircraft was shot down, something Pakistan denied. Meanwhile, Indian police said officials recovered seven bodies from the wreckage of the Indian air force chopper that crashed in an Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir, including six Indian airmen and a civilian on the ground. They gave no cause for the crash. Senior police officer Munir Ahmed Khan said the chopper crashed close to an airport in the Budgam area, on the outskirts of the region's main city of Srinagar. The Srinagar airport, which was shut along with two other airports for civilian flights in the region, is also an air force station. Witnesses said soldiers fired in the air to keep residents away from the crash site. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said the country's air force was carrying out airstrikes Wednesday from within Pakistani airspace across the disputed Kashmir boundary but that this was not in "retaliation to continued Indian belligerence." Ghafoor, the Pakistani military spokesman, said the strikes were aimed at "avoiding human loss and collateral damage." The shelling earlier Wednesday by India hit the village of Kotli in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, killing six civilians, including children, local police official Mohammad Altaf said. Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. Though Pakistani and Indian troops in Kashmir often trade fire, the latest casualties came a day after tensions escalated sharply following a pre-dawn airstrike and incursion by India that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in northwestern Pakistan. The strike Tuesday was India's first inside Pakistan since the two nations' 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh. Pakistan said Indian warplanes dropped bombs near the Pakistani town of Balakot but there were no casualties. The violence Wednesday marked the most serious escalation of the long-simmering conflict since 1999, when Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir at Kargil. That year also saw an Indian fighter jet shoot down a Pakistani naval aircraft, killing all 16 on board. Residents on both sides of the de-facto frontier, the so-called Line of Control, said there were exchanges of fire between the two sides through the night into Wednesday morning. Hundreds of villagers fled border towns in both India and Pakistan. In New Delhi, Indian officials said Wednesday at least five of their soldiers were wounded in firing by Pakistani troops along the volatile frontier. Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, said Pakistani soldiers targeted dozens of Indian military positions across the Line of Control throughout the night. An Indian military statement said that "out of anger and frustration," Pakistan initiated an "unprovoked cease-fire violation." The statement said Indian troops "retaliated for effect" and claimed to have destroyed five Pakistani posts. It accused Pakistani soldiers of firing mortars and missiles "from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields." On Wednesday, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, told state-run Pakistan Television he was in touch with his counterparts across the world about the "Indian aggression," adding that New Delhi had endangered peace in the region by Tuesday's airstrike inside Pakistan. India's external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, said Wednesday her country does not wish to see further escalation of the situation with Pakistan and that it will continue to act with responsibility and restraint. She said the limited objective of India's pre-emptive strike inside Pakistan on a terrorist training camp Tuesday was to prevent another terror attack inside India by the Jaish-e-Mohammad extremist group. The latest wave of tensions between Pakistan and India first erupted after Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing on Indian paramilitary forces on the Indian side of Kashmir that killed more than 40 troops. India long has accused Pakistan of cultivating such militant groups to attack it. Pakistan has said it was not involved in that attack and was ready to help New Delhi in the investigations. Thirteen people were shot while they were attending a house party in Bridgeport, Connecticut, early Sunday morning. Police responded to a report of shots fire at 19 Plymouth St. at 1:27 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, 13 people, 11 males and two females, were located with gunshot wounds. Ten victims were treated at Bridgeport Hospital and three were treated at St. Vincent's Hospital. Eleven of the victims sustained non-life threatening wounds to the lower extremities. One male sustained a gunshot wound to the face. One female is in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the face. Eight of the victims have been released from the hospital, Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez confirmed at a press briefing Sunday. Four remain under observation and one remains critical. Most of the victims are between 18 and 24. None of them have been publicly identified at this time. According to police, and party-throwers attempted to apply for a permit for the event but it was denied. It was denied because they wanted to sell alcohol and charge for the party. So we frown upon that and did not allow this party to go on, Perez said. Investigators believe the party appears to have been for profit and there may be charges against the people who threw it. The party went on without a permit, and the 13 victims were injured when at least two shooters fired through the hedges from the backyard at 31/33 Plymouth St. and struck the victims at 19 Plymouth St. Police said it was a confusing scene and witnesses said at first they didnt realize what was happening. We had what we believe in excess of 100 party goers, said Bridgeport police Capt. Brian Fitzgerald. So people initially thought was fireworks. By some accounts even the DJ said dont worry about it, its fireworks until people started realizing they were shot. Police recovered 10 shell casings from a large-size caliber handgun, and its possible other weapons without casings were also used. Right now police are still looking for a motive. Perez said the department has stepped up patrols in the area while detectives investigate. I am very confident and I say this with full confidence because I believe in the Bridgeport police department, the men and women that work here, were going to have an arrest in this matter in the very near future, Perez said. Anyone with information should contact the police at (203) 576-8477. Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim and US Senator Richard Blumenthal, who both also attended the media briefing, praised police efforts. Blumenthal said he had a meeting with ATF earlier Sunday afternoon and promised federal assistance in the case if needed. A flurry of lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump's decision to chop up two large national monuments in Utah could finally bring an answer to the much-debated question of whether presidents have the legal authority to undo or change monuments created by past presidents. Until that question is answered months or years from now, the fate of the contested lands in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments will remain unresolved. Proclamations signed Monday by the president allow lands no longer protected as a national monument to be opened up in 60 days to mining, but conservation and tribal groups will likely try to keep that from happening. Mark Squillace, professor of natural resources law at the University of Colorado-Boulder, said he doubts the federal government would permit mining so quickly after Trump's announcement because it would be bad politics, especially as the legal battle mushrooms. Outdoor retail giant Patagonia joined the lawsuits Wednesday, filing one on behalf of several other organizations to block Trump's reductions to Bears Ears. The California-based company said in the lawsuit that Trump's proclamation shrinking the monument by 85 percent exceeds the president's authority and strips much-needed protections from sacred tribal lands. Patagonia also replaced its usual home page with a stark message, "The President Stole Your Land." The post drew a strong rebuke from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke who called it "nefarious, false and a lie." Three lawsuits already had been filed involving Utah's monuments. And more are expected especially if Trump follows Zinke's recommendations to shrink two other monuments Gold Butte in Nevada and Cascade Siskiyou in Oregon. Supporters of Trump's move welcomed the fight, saying it will answer longstanding questions about presidential power involving the protection of land. "Hopefully, we can have some closure on what the president can and cannot do," said Mike Noel, a Republican state representative in Utah who was on stage with the president during his proclamation signing in Salt Lake City. Past presidents have trimmed national monuments and redrawn their boundaries 18 times, according to the National Park Service. Legal experts disagree on whether the 1906 Antiquities Act allowing presidents to create a monument also lets them reduce one. The question has never been settled in court, but conservation and paleontology groups and Native American tribes launching lawsuits are preparing to argue that Trump doesn't have that authority and his move jeopardizes a wealth of Native American artifacts, dinosaur fossils and rugged spaces. "Gee whiz, it sounds like there are going to be a lot of attorneys making a whole lot of money," quipped Noel. "For every organization, there's a lunch ticket for a group of attorneys to exist." Noel plans to intervene himself, filing a court brief to show support for the president's actions. Donald Kochan, a professor of natural resources, property and administrative law at Chapman University in Orange, California, believes Trump's action is likely legal and the separate lawsuits allow each group to show supporters they're speaking up. Squillace said the lawsuits will likely be merged into one case for each monument. He thinks a court will try to focus on the overall question of whether Trump has the authority to reduce the monuments something Squillace doesn't think the president has the legal authority to do. While the legal battles play out, Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has introduced a bill that would prevent presidents from designating monuments larger than 85,000 acres and give states and local officials the power to veto a monument larger than 10,000 acres. Bishop's bill is awaiting a vote on the House floor. ___ Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report. A beloved Virginia business owner was shot and killed when he went to make a business transaction Sunday, according to state police. Jeffrey B. Evans, 72, of Bluemont drove to a gravel lot just off Route 7 in Clarke County near the Shenandoah River and the Loudoun County line about 11:15 a.m. Sunday. Witnesses say they saw a man standing near his pickup truck. Minutes later, police say, Evans had been shot in the head and chest. After he was shot, Evans drove his pickup truck across Route 7 into an embankment, police said. Witnesses said a man ran across the four lanes of Route 7 to the truck, but when police arrived, he was gone, and Evans was dead. Friends Melissa Reddy and Susan Carter stopped by the scene Tuesday to pay respects. Were in shock and we just wanted to be here because he was just such a great person, Reddy said. She and Carter first met Evans as clients of his auto service shop in Aldie, but they soon became friends. I just cant even imagine who would want to do this to him, Carter said. He was that guy that was always there and now hes not, Reddy said. And its weird. Its very weird. Anyone with information about case or who may have seen another vehicle in the gravel parking or on Route 7 should contact Virginia State Police at 540-829-7400, 1-800-572-2260 or questions@vsp.virginia.gov. An elderly woman who was killed in a devastating 2-alarm fire in McLean, Virginia, on March 9 was identified Wednesday. Lucy Berkebile, 73, had been missing for hours at her home in the 1400 block of Brookhaven Drive in McLean as firefighters rushed to put out the flames, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue said. During the firefight, officials said they looked for Berkebile after neighbors said she was likely home. UPDATE 1400 block of Brookhaven Drive in McLean: Fire investigators have confirmed one fatality. An autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death. The investigation is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/j2RsXKA4YT Fairfax Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) March 9, 2019 Firefighters from a collection of other Northern Virginia agencies responded as well, including from Dunn Loring, Alexandria and Vienna. No firefighters were injured, but Berkebile was found dead. Neighbors also reported hearing an explosion while the fire consumed the home. "It was like when you are at a concert and your heart just pounds, that's what it sounded like," Charlie Stallmer, a neighbor, said at the time. "It was just a ton of smoke rising up, black smoke, all the way to the sky. It was crazy." The cause of the fire remains under investigation and damages were reported to be about $298,750. A man has been found guilty of raping and killing a North Carolina artist who was found bound and stabbed to death inside a row house in Northeast Washington in 2017. A jury found El Hadji Toure guilty of all 13 charges against him in the death of Corrina Mehiel, including first-degree murder while armed and first-degree sexual abuse while armed. It feels like justice, said her father, Ron Mehiel. I only hope that he dies in prison. So I guess thats the rest of his life, and the sooner the better as far as Im concerned. Prosecutors said Toure broke into Mehiel's basement apartment on March 20, 2017, bound her and sexually assaulted her. He then stabbed her and took her car and debit card, according to prosecutors. Mehiel, 34, was found unconscious inside her apartment the next day. She was pronounced dead after midnight March 22, 2017, one day before her birthday. Prosecutors presented evidence of Toures DNA on Mehiels body. Surveillance video showed Toure using Mehiels ATM card at several locations around the area, prosecutors said, withdrawing more than $2,000 in the days before and after her death. Surveillance video also showed Toure walking in Mehiels block the morning of her murder and driving away in her 2004 Toyota Prius, prosecutors said. He was arrested March 27, 2017, after someone reported seeing him sitting in a Ford Taurus on the 1700 block of Hamlin Street NE. The defense argued police failed to thoroughly investigate and follow up on other leads. They told jurors two weeks before Mehiel's death, another victim survived a similar crime, and police said Toure did not commit that crime. No arrest was made. The jury deliberated for two days before returning with the verdict. If we were on the jury we would have taken about five minutes to convict, but obviously, the jurors were more methodical than we perhaps were, so it was tough," Ron Mehiel said. "It was tough sitting around waiting for the verdict, not knowing how it was going to turn out. We feel very grateful to all of the people who have worked so hard on this case, and we honor them for their dedication to their job, and we understand that the job is brutal, and we cant thank them enough, said Mehiels stepmother, Lari Mehiel. The prosecution did a great job, the police of D.C. were fantastic, the jurors took their time and made their decision, and Mr. Toure cannot hurt anyone else again. Hell be in prison. Mehiel was an artist and art teacher who was working at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. Mehiel, who originally was from Burnsville, North Carolina, was living in D.C. temporarily. She specialized in art that engaged communities and was working with the artist Mel Chin. Corrina was the daughter of my heart, and she was an impassioned and fabulous, smart, dedicated woman, her stepmother said. She was dedicated to making the world a better place for everyone, so we will miss her forever. A 16-year-old boy took a gun and marijuana to school in Maryland Tuesday, according to the Charles County Sheriffs Office. A teacher noticed a student who appeared to be on drugs about 10 a.m. at La Plata High School, according to the sheriffs office. The teacher called an administrator, who found a loaded gun and a container of pot brownies in the students possession, according to the sheriffs office. Kristopher Alexander Raul McDonald was charged as an adult with several charges, including possession of a weapon on school property, possession of drugs with intent to distribute while armed, loaded handgun on person and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon. So far, the investigation has found no evidence McDonald intended to use the gun, according to the sheriffs office. Anyone with information about the case should call authorities at 301-932-2222. What to Know The Tao's Travel bus was traveling from Florida to New York when it crashed in Prince George, VA, early Tuesday Police say 57 people were aboard when the bus overturned on an exit ramp at the 45-mile marker of I-95, killing two people Yui Man Chow, 40, of Staten Island, New York, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter A survivor described a bus swerving "like a roller coaster" and tumbling "five or six times" as it overturned early Tuesday along a Virginia interstate, killing two passengers and injuring others aboard. Bus driver Yui Man Chow of Staten Island, New York, has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the crash, Virginia State Police said in a news release. The Tao's Travel Inc. bus traveling from Florida to New York with 57 people aboard rolled when it ran off the left side of an Interstate 95 exit ramp in Prince George County about 5:22 a.m., state police said in a statement. Images from the crash scene showed crews working around the overturned bus in foggy conditions. It wasn't immediately clear if weather was a factor in the crash, state police spokeswoman Sgt. Keeli Hill said. But officials said fog prevented rescuers from using a helicopter to transport victims. One person died at the scene and a second died hours later at a hospital, police said. Numerous other passengers were still being treated midday at area hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious. Police said the 40-year-old driver wasn't injured. Monique Berry, of Harlem in New York, described the crash for news outlets at a reunion center for survivors. "All I know, I went to close my eyes and we were moving too fast," she said. "It swerved like a roller coaster. We tumbled five or six times. It wasn't less than that." As the bus overturned, Berry said, she remembers thinking "that was it" and when she came to, a man grabbed her and they crawled out a window. In the chaos after the crash, people were lying in the mud and screaming, she said. "I made it. I just want to get home," she said. The bus departed from Orlando, Florida, and stopped in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to switch drivers, police said. It was headed to New York City when it crashed. A representative of the Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is on scene and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified, police said. Online FMCSA records show that the Middleton, Massachusetts-based company with four vehicles and eight drivers logged 900,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) last year. Records show no crashes reported in the past two years but list five violations in that period, including speeding and defective or no emergency exit windows. A man who answered the phone at Tao's Travel on Tuesday morning declined to comment. Washington, D.C.'s neighborhoods have experienced intense gentrification, resulting in the displacement of more than 20,000 African American residents from 2000 to 2013, a study released Tuesday said. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition's study of that 13-year period found that the District had the highest percentage of gentrifying neighborhoods out of all the cities analyzed. Washington also experienced the highest "intensity" of gentrification in the country, according to the researchers who examined changing housing markets, population demographics, and levels in income and education in major U.S. cities. Gentrification is the social and economic process in which economic development, new residents and rising housing costs can drive out longtime neighborhood residents, disrupt pre-existing cultural dynamics and transform communities. Among the study's key takeaways were that 40 percent of D.C.'s lower-income neighborhoods experienced displacement because of both development and increased housing costs and that 32 percent of Washington's black population was displaced between 1990 and 2010. The study's authors Jason Richardson, Bruce Mitchell and Juan Franco said that black displacement in Washington is especially "notable" and that seven cities, including Washington, accounted for half of the country's gentrification. They also provided examples of communities that have experienced tremendous demographic transformations. "In Arlington, Virginia, a large rental community of 3,000 mostly Hispanic immigrants drawn by a robust Washington, D.C., economy is uprooted when the property is sold, bulldozed and replaced by a mix of luxury and affordable apartments, which are neither truly affordable nor plentiful for the former tenants," the authors wrote. And in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood, historically Black institutions have been forced to change, like the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ, which dissolved in 2018 "as its membership drops to just 20 congregants." The authors also explained that gentrification is controversial because it results in "cultural displacement" when newcomers' social norms replace those of older residents and erase "historically and culturally significant institutions for a community." "It can disrupt the familiar and established ties of a place, creating a disorienting new locale," the study said. "For people displaced as the neighborhood becomes unaffordable, this is more than just nostalgia or discomfort with the unfamiliar. Often, they must accept longer commutes and a disruption of the support structures provided by their old neighbors and family." Gentrification has been a long-standing problem for the District, which has seen a population boom in the past decade, though that growth has slowed recently. Cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco were also included in the NCRC study. Friends of a Virginia store manager killed in a brutal attack last summer say they do not believe the defense's argument that the man accused in his murder was having a psychotic episode and believed the victim was a werewolf. Pankaj Bhasin, 34, is charged with murder in the July 13 death of Bradford Jackson. The defense began to lay out its case that Bhasin be found not guilty by reason of insanity and said Bhasin believed Jackson was a werewolf. "I dont buy it. I mean, he parked around the back. He walked to the front and he's trying to say he's killing a werewolf?" Jackson's friend Erin Kennedy told News4 outside the courthouse Tuesday. Jackson had a large circle of friends in Alexandria. Tuesday's testimony brought some of them to tears. "Unfortunately, he was an innocent victim. It's a shame, but we just have to hope that everything comes out right at the end," Andrea Milliken, another friend of Jackson's, said outside the courthouse. Prosecutors said Bhasin stabbed Jackson numerous times with a box cutter and also used a dry-erase marker in the attack at the victim's store, Window Universe, in Old Town Alexandria. Some of Jackson's friends left the courtroom Tuesday when attorneys displayed autopsy photos. Bhasin was found nearby, naked inside a Mercedes-Benz, and arrested in Jackson's killing. Jurors heard testimony Tuesday from the driver of the Mercedes, Julie Lucas, who said Bhasin opened the back passenger-side door and jumped into the backseat. I turned...and started screaming at him, Get out of my car! Get out of my car! Lucas testified. She and her daughter got out of the car and repeatedly locked it, while sounding the car alarm. I was yelling, "Somebody help! Help! Somebody please call 911! Lucas said. According to his lawyers, Bhasin began to show signs of severe mental illness in the weeks and months before the killing. They say he suffered from bipolar disorder and attacked his own family before having a complete psychotic breakdown. The defense asked the lead detective Tuesday if he knew what Bhasin was saying when he was taken to the hospital after the killing. "He made references to wolves and dinosaurs?" an attorney asked. "I was told that," Detective Loren King replied. "There was some reference where he said something about killing the wolf?" "Thats what I was informed," King said. Bhasin had checked out of a psychiatric hospital when he left his New Jersey home and went to Alexandria, according to his attorneys. There was no connection. This was ... completely random ... there was no rhyme. There was no reason. There was no motive, the defense said during opening statements on Monday. Prosecutors have pointed to the use of the marker in the crime as evidence of malice. Jackson's friends described him as kind and mild-mannered. "Wrong place, wrong time. Brad was a great guy. He would have never instigated anything with anyone. I would never ever see that coming from him. And to have this guy beat the life out of him, stab him post mortumly is disgusting," Kennedy said. U.S.-backed Syrian forces on Tuesday seized control of an encampment held by ISIS in eastern Syria, after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, a spokesman said, signaling the group's collapse after months of stiff resistance. A group of suspects involved in a January bombing that killed four Americans in northern Syria were among militants captured by the Kurdish-led forces. The taking of the ISIS camp was a major advance but not the final defeat of the group in Baghouz, the last village held by the extremists where they have been holding out for weeks under siege, according to Mustafa Bali, the spokesman for the Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. Still, fighters from the force were starting to celebrate anyway. "I'm happy it's over. Now I know my people are safe," said a fighter who identified himself as Walid Raqqawi who fought in the camp Monday night. He said he is returning to his hometown of Raqqa to rest. Comrades from his unit sang and danced in celebration at an outpost in Baghouz, all saying they were looking forward to going home. An unknown number of ISIS militants still clung to a tiny sliver of land trapped between the Euphrates River and the encampment now held by the SDF, officials in the force said. The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their notorious propaganda machine working even on the brink of collapse. On Monday, ISIS issued a video showing its militants furiously defending the encampment, a junkyard of wrecked cards, motorcycles and tents. In the footage, they shoot nonstop with AK-47s and M-16s from behind trucks, vehicles and sand berms. A group of children could be seen at one point amid the fighting. "My Muslim brothers everywhere, we did our best, the rest is up to God," a fighter says as black smoke rises from behind him. The complete fall of Baghouz would mark the end of ISIS' self-declared territorial "caliphate," which at its height stretched across much of Syria and Iraq. For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign to tear down the "caliphate." But even after Baghouz's fall, ISIS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten a continuing insurgency. The battle for Baghouz has dragged on for weeks and the encampment has proven a major battleground, with tents covering foxholes and underground tunnels. The siege has also been slowed by the unexpectedly large number of civilians in Baghouz, most of them families of ISIS members. Over past weeks they have been flowing out, exhausted, hungry and often wounded. The sheer number who emerged nearly 30,000 since early January according to Kurdish officials took the Kurdish-led SDF by surprise. In the last two weeks, many ISIS militants appeared to be among those evacuating. But SDF commanders have stopped speculating when the battle may finally be over. Commanders say they don't know how many more may still be left, hiding in tunnels beneath the war-scarred village. In the seizure Tuesday of the encampment, hundreds of wounded and sick militants were captured and have been evacuated to nearby military hospitals for treatment, Bali, the SDF spokesman, said in a Twitter post. Still, he cautioned, "this is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight." There were conflicting reports from SDF commanders on the ground about the extent of the ISIS surrender. Commander Rustam Hasake told The Associated Press that SDF forces advanced on four fronts Monday night and were inside the camp when the last ISIS fighters surrendered at dawn. He said the last fighters were pushed out of the camp and were now in an open patch of land by the Euphrates River and were being processed and detained. Another commander, however, said some ISIS militants continue to hold a tiny area in an open patch of land in the village, outside the encampment. AP journalists in Baghouz reported sporadic gunfire echoing in Baghouz and jets circling overhead. At a command post in Baghouz, a Humvee pulled up and unloaded weapons captured from ISIS on Tuesday, including sniper and hunting rifles, pump action shot guns and grenades and ammunition. Five trucks hauling 10 trailers full of people were seen coming out of Baghouz. A child could be heard wailing from inside one of them. At least 100 people, nearly all of them children, have died in the truck trips from Baghouz on the way to a camp in northern Syria, or soon after reaching it, according to the International Rescue Committee a sign of how miserable conditions were inside Baghouz during the siege as supplies ran out. Bali, in a separate Twitter post Tuesday, said the SDF captured a group of suspects involved in a January suicide bombing that killed four Americans in the northern town of Manbij. He did not elaborate on the number of suspects or whether they were among the most recent militants to surrender. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast outside a popular restaurant in Manbij, which killed at least 16 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians. It was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces went into the country in 2015. As they make their final stand, the ISIS militants have issued a string of statements this month claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the SDF. In an audio posted online Monday, the ISIS spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajer, issued his first message in six months, calling for revenge attacks by Muslims in Western countries in retaliation for the shooting attack on two New Zealand mosques that killed 50 people. He also ridiculed U.S. declarations of the defeat of ISIS, calling the claim of victory a "hallucination." But SDF fighters celebrated as if the final collapse were imminent. At the SDF outpost in Baghouz, a commander danced with his soldiers. Fighters said remaining ISIS militants didn't put up much resistance. "We fired on them with our rifles and heavy weapons and they didn't shoot back. So we walked into the camp and they didn't shoot at us," said Orhan Hamad, from the northern province of Hassakeh. "I tell the martyrs, it wasn't for nothing. With God's permission, we've finished Daesh." Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed reporting. Two staff members at an Illinois preschool have been placed on administrative leave after they were accused of making children stand naked as a form of punishment, the university that operated the program said Tuesday. Students were allegedly asked to take off their clothes then stand in a closet naked as a way to discipline them, NBC News reported. University police began investigating the accusations Thursday after a young boy told his parents about the supposed punishment, Schmoll said. A 26-year-old Head Start teacher is said to have introduced the punishment in February at the program where she has worked for the last three years, according to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Police Department. Both the teacher and the 41-year-old teacher's aide have been placed on administrative leave while authorities investigate. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the stage earlier this month at this city's ornate Orpheum Theatre, Tricia Currans-Sheehan posed a pointed question to the expected presidential contender. "Why did you undergo the DNA testing and give Donald Trump more fodder to be a bully?" the Iowa college professor asked, referring to a genetic analysis the Massachusetts Democrat released last fall to rebut President Donald Trump's repeated jabs about her Native American ancestry. Warren had a simple response: "I can't stop Donald Trump from doing what he's going to do." After another woman in the crowd retorted, "Yes, you can," Warren gently reiterated that "I can't stop him from hurling racial insults. I don't have the power to do that." The scene demonstrates the challenge Warren, who has launched a presidential exploratory committee, and dozens of other White House hopefuls will face as the Democratic primary gets underway. They must decide how and whether to respond to Trump's pugnacious and insensitive attacks on his political opponents. If they punch back too hard, they could be accused of playing Trump's game. If they ignore him entirely, they risk appearing unprepared to take on a president who knows few boundaries. Warren was tested again late Sunday when Trump seized on one of her social media videos to issue a tweet that made light of two massacres of Native Americans. South Dakota's two Republican senators distanced themselves from Trump's comment, which drew condemnation from Native American officials. But Warren herself didn't immediately engage. In an interview this week, Warren called the tweet "disgusting" for mocking "one of the darkest moments in American history," the deadly assault on hundreds of Native American women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Yet she also hinted at a bigger reason for not responding right away. "He needs to focus on getting the government open, on doing his job," she said. "He hopes that he can draw attention elsewhere, but it's not working." Others considering 2020 campaigns also indicate that, whenever possible, they plan to ignore Trump's personal needling and focus on issues. "I don't want to waste my time on negativity" when voters "want to hear positive," Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in an interview in which he also commended Warren, his likely rival for the Democratic nomination. "What's more important is what Sen. Warren is talking about, and she's putting great ideas out there," Booker said. "Why let anybody distract from the compelling things she's saying and how she's presenting herself?" But Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, another potential 2020 candidate, suggested Democrats face a tricky challenge. "You have to stand your ground" in response to Trump, she said in an interview, but also take care about "how you do it, because he wants you to go down in the rabbit hole. He wants to define the agenda every single day." While "everyone makes their own decision" on replying to a Trump taunt, she added, "I think it is very important to put it in its place and, while you respond, you do not spend weeks talking about him. Because that is exactly what he wants." Other possible Democratic candidates haven't hesitated to tangle with Trump. Sen. Sherrod Brown recalled that when Trump slammed him over the closure of a General Motors plant in his home state, he poked the president for seeking "an Ohio Democrat to blame" while the GOP held power in the state. Asked how he would respond if Trump got more personal, Brown didn't shrink. The president "talks like an idiot," Brown said. "And I don't think that serves anybody well to answer every time he says something stupid, or something that's a lie." Democrats, he added, should "talk about the issues that matter to the public." Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is mulling another presidential campaign, said last March that he would have "beat the hell out of" Trump if they were in high school together, citing Trump's now-infamous 2005 comments about assaulting women with impunity. Inside the White House, Trump's Sunday tweets mocking Warren were widely joked about by staff weary from the government shutdown, according to two aides, and the president repeatedly mocked Warren's video in private conversations with aides and outside advisers. White House officials and Trump allies said the president is already an active participant in the Democratic race. The aides spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House dynamics. Attention from Trump can drive up fundraising and elevate a candidate above a crowded field. But responding to attacks also distracts from a candidate's message, as Trump's rivals in the 2016 GOP primary learned as he bedeviled them with name-calling. Trump goaded Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida into making a thinly veiled insult of his manhood that quickly backfired, and weeks later sucked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz into a brutal back-and-forth about an insult he leveled at Cruz's wife. Beyond Warren, Trump has hurled insults at other Democrats, labeling Sen. Bernie Sanders as "crazy." Trump once asked a crowd to choose between two demeaning names for Biden and deployed innuendo when saying Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York "would do anything for campaign contributions." In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was the subject of a near-daily barrage of personal attacks from Trump. Her team decided she would ignore personal insults and criticisms of her husband and of the Clinton Foundation, according to her 2016 communications director Jennifer Palmieri. However, Clinton publicly defended parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq and former Miss Universe Alicia Machado after Trump criticized them. Those instances were aimed at standing up for others, Palmieri said, while a candidate who responds to a personal taunt risks appearing small and distracted from the more important issues facing the nation. "It comes across as very self-absorbed. Then the campaign ends up in this tit-for-tat with Donald Trump, and not about the voters," Palmieri said. Responding to an attack on someone else in "defense of inclusivity or some larger truth" is a good idea, Palmieri said, but "don't do it in defense of yourself. Then you're sinking to Trump's level." Warren's release of the DNA test remains a concern for some voters as she hits the trail. Tricia Currans-Sheehan, the Iowa teacher who asked Warren about it in Sioux City, drew a contrast between what she described as Warren playing "into Trump's hand" and the "poise" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi displayed in another showdown with the president in December. Retired Sioux City teacher Colleen Sernett-Shadle said after Warren's event ended that "I worry" the Democratic candidate might "give in" to Trump on other attacks. Other Iowa activists shared the call for discretion. "We're wrong if we're going to go out and be as visceral as Trump is," said Nancy Bobo, a Des Moines Democrat and early 2008 backer of former President Barack Obama. "It's going to come down to soft skills to pull off a win. By that, I mean style, someone who can show real strength to be a counter to all the divisiveness." Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report. President Donald Trump keeps changing his story in the swirling investigations into Russia election interference and hush money payments to women who say they had affairs with him. He insists that payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign were "private transactions" and that any crime committed would be the fault of his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, not him. That's a change from what the president said before. Trump previously had denied knowledge of payments and dismissed any hint of a crime. In the special counsel's probe into contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign, Trump tried to cast doubt on whether his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had lied to the FBI. Flynn in fact pleaded guilty to doing just that. Over the past week, Trump also made a flurry of false or unsupported statements about immigration. He said, with no evidence, that migrants are plagued with disease. He asserted that Mexico has in effect agreed to pay for his border wall, even as he threatens a partial government shutdown if Congress doesn't approve billions of dollars to build it. He twisted federal statistics to claim the recent arrest of 10 terrorists who don't exist. A look at the claims: COHEN TRUMP: "Remember, Michael Cohen only became a 'Rat' after the FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable & unheard of until the Witch Hunt was illegally started. They BROKE INTO AN ATTORNEY'S OFFICE!" tweet Sunday. THE FACTS: It was not a break-in. The FBI executed a search warrant obtained from a judge in conducting the raid and seizing records on a variety of matters, among them a $130,000 payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels by Trump's lawyer, Cohen. The application for the warrant was approved high in the Justice Department. Former FBI director James Comey tweeted in response Sunday that Trump is "lying about the lawful execution of a search warrant issued by a federal judge." TRUMP: "I never directed him to do anything wrong. Whatever he did, he did on his own." interview Thursday with Fox News. TRUMP: "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law ... many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance." tweets Thursday. TRUMP: "So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama's - but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer's liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced." tweets Dec. 10. THE FACTS: Whatever the truth, his account is evolving. Trump's description of the payments as a "simple private transaction" which he couples with his insistence that "did nothing wrong" with respect to campaign finance laws is not how he explained it just a few months ago. In April, Trump issued a blanket denial that he knew anything about reports of $130,000 in hush-money paid to Daniels, saying reporters would "have to ask Michael Cohen." A month later, he then acknowledged the payments as a "private contract." Trump is now saying if something criminal happened, it would be solely Cohen's fault as his former attorney. Both Cohen and American Media Inc., the company that owns the National Enquirer tabloid, say they made hush-money payments to Daniels and McDougal for the purpose of helping Trump's 2016 White House bid, a campaign finance violation. Both women alleged they had extramarital affairs with Trump, which the White House denies. Federal prosecutors say the payments were made at Trump's direction. For the payments themselves to be a crime rather than a civil infraction, prosecutors would need to show that Trump knew that what he was doing was wrong when he directed Cohen to pay the women and that he did so with the goal of benefiting his campaign. It's unclear what federal prosecutors in New York will decide to do if they conclude that there is evidence that Trump himself committed a crime. In the meantime, Trump's changing version of the truth is running head-on into facts agreed to by prosecutors. RUSSIA INVESTIGATION TRUMP: "Wow, 19,000 Texts between Lisa Page and her lover, Peter S of the FBI, in charge of the Russia Hoax, were just reported as being wiped clean and gone. Such a big story that will never be covered by the Fake News. Witch Hunt!" tweet Saturday. THE FACTS: The Justice Department's watchdog, in a report released Thursday, found no evidence the FBI intentionally destroyed text messages of former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who were involved in the Hillary Clinton email investigation when they worked for the bureau. The inspector general faulted an FBI-wide software failure that has resulted in large portions of FBI text messages not being archived. The report examined a gap in messages from December 2016 through May 2017 from the phones of Strzok and Page. The FBI ultimately managed to recover thousands of the messages. Some congressional Republicans had suggested the messages were intentionally deleted. The inspector general report said there was no evidence Strzok and Page circumvented protocol. Strzok was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation after anti-Trump texts were discovered. He has since been fired. Page resigned. TRUMP: "Well the FBI said Michael Flynn, a general and a great person, they said he didn't lie. And Mueller said: 'Well, maybe he did.' And now they're all having a big dispute, so I think it's a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation. It's an honor for a lot of terrific people." remarks Thursday. THE FACTS: That's not what the FBI said. And Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, has agreed that he lied to the FBI. He pleaded guilty to it and is to be sentenced this week the first White House official punished as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia investigation. The idea that Flynn didn't lie to the FBI picked up steam after Republicans on the House intelligence committee issued a report this year that said ex-FBI director James Comey, in a private briefing, told lawmakers that agents who interviewed Flynn "discerned no physical indications of deception" and saw "nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them." But Comey called that description "garble" in a private interview with House lawmakers this month. Comey, in essence, said Flynn was a good liar, having a "natural conversation" with agents, "answered fully their questions, didn't avoid. That notwithstanding, they concluded he was lying." As for Trump's comment that the judge is looking into the matter, it's true U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has asked for documents related to the agents who interviewed Flynn. It's not clear from Sullivan's order whether he considers there to be a dispute to resolve or if he just wants to see the underlying documents as he decides Flynn's sentence. BORDER SECURITY TRUMP: "The Democrats policy of Child Seperation (sic) on the Border during the Obama Administration was far worse than the way we handle it now. Remember the 2014 picture of children in cages - the Obama years." tweet Sunday. THE FACTS: Democratic President Barack Obama did not have a separation policy. The Trump administration didn't, explicitly, either, but that was the effect of his zero tolerance policy, which meant that anyone caught crossing the border illegally was to be criminally prosecuted, even those with few or no previous offences. The policy meant adults were taken to court for criminal proceedings and their children were separated. In most cases, if the charge took longer than 72 hours to process, which is the longest time that children can be held by Customs and Border Protection, children were sent into the care of the Health and Human Services Department. Zero tolerance remains in effect, but Trump signed an executive order June 20 that stopped separations. Trump also misrepresents 2014 photos of children in holding cells. They did not involve family separation. The photos, taken by The Associated Press during the Obama administration, showed children who came to the border without their parents and were being housed at a Customs and Border Protection center in Nogales, Arizona. The photos were identified as such but wrongly described online as illustrating imprisonment under Trump. TRUMP: "People with tremendous medical difficulty and medical problems are pouring in, and in many in many cases it's contagious. They're pouring into our country. We have to have border security." statement in Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Democratic leaders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. THE FACTS: Trump provided no evidence that people coming into the country, including the caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border, are carrying contagious diseases at a higher rate than the U.S. population. Medical screening is part of the process for vetting people who seek asylum. A study published this month by the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health called scares about contagion one of the most pervasive myths about migrants. The study found no evidence that migrants pose a significant public health risk to countries such as the U.S. that have good health systems. In fact, migrants themselves face health threats from arduous journeys, violence along the way, or overcrowding in shelters or camps, the Lancet commission said. While some may come from regions where certain diseases are common, the report noted that international tourism and movement of animals spread illness, too. As for the caravan and other migrants from the south, World Bank statistics show Mexico and Central America vaccinate most children against measles, sometimes at a bit higher rate than the U.S. Along the border between Mexico and California, public health departments have long had a system in place to watch for signs of outbreaks of a variety of illnesses, whether they're immigration-related or not. TRUMP: "Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way." tweet Tuesday. TRUMP: "We need border security. People are pouring into our country, including terrorists. We have terrorists. But we caught 10 terrorists. These are over the last very short period of time 10. These are very serious people." statement in Oval Office meeting. THE FACTS: Trump contradicted himself, declaring the border secure and insecure on the same day. And Trump is wrong about the government recently catching 10 terrorists. His statement is a mangling of federal statistics showing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped an average of seven to 10 people a day in the 2017 budget year who were denied entry to the U.S. because they were on a watch list. That average applied to all points of entry, and overwhelmingly from airports, and was not specific to the southern border. The standard for placing someone on the list is reasonable suspicion, a lower bar than the probable cause needed to arrest someone for an alleged crime. The statistics do not show how many might have been arrested or charged with anything. In any event, Trump rendered a daily average as 10 recently captured terrorists in the flesh. As for border security, U.S. arrests on the Mexican border jumped 78 percent in November from a year earlier to the highest level in Trump's presidency. Increased arrests indicate that more people are trying to cross the border illegally. JOBS PELOSI: "We came at a place to say, 'How do we meet the needs of American people who have needs?' The economy has people are losing their jobs." Oval Office meeting. TRUMP: "Well, we have the lowest unemployment that we've had in 50 years." Oval Office meeting. THE FACTS: Trump is correct about jobs. There may always be some layoffs even if the economy is strong. General Motors, for instance, said last month it would cut as many as 14,000 workers in North America in a restructuring aimed at generating cash to spend on innovation, even though U.S. auto sales are near historic highs. But the U.S. economy has now added jobs for a record 98 straight months, dating to October 2010, during the Obama administration. The Labor Department reported the unemployment rate in November stayed at 3.7 percent, a five-decade low, for the third straight month. The job gains are pushing down unemployment rates to historically low levels for a variety of groups. The unemployment rate for men aged 20 and above fell last month to 3.3 percent, the lowest in 18 years. The rate for Americans with just high school diplomas dropped to 3.5 percent, the lowest since December 2000. The African-American jobless rate declined to 5.9 percent, matching May's figure as the lowest on record. That's making it more challenging for businesses to find the workers they need. Employers have posted 7 million open jobs, outnumbering the ranks of the unemployed, which fell last month to just under 6 million. THE WALL TRUMP: "I often stated, 'One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.' This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!" tweet Thursday. THE FACTS: This is a face-saving statement to mask the fact that Mexico refused to pay for a U.S. border wall, Trump gave up trying to make it do so and U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for it. In essence, Trump is arguing that new terms of trade with Mexico will increase economic growth in the U.S. and produce more tax revenue. That's what everyone hopes trade agreements will do. As part of that, he hopes for a lower trade deficit with Mexico. Neither outcome is assured. The deal negotiated with Mexico and Canada is an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement he railed against, not a transformative pact. The three countries will continue trading in an environment of mainly low or no tariffs, with improvements here and there for all three partners. There is no credible way for Trump to forecast additional growth covering costs that are being charged to U.S. taxpayers if the wall is built. Trade balances depend on too many factors consumer tastes, exchange rates, overall economic performance, and the choices of thousands of companies among them and some are well outside any government's control. Trump specifically promised in the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall. That is not the same as trying to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which is about the exchange of goods and services among private entities rather than payments between governments. Nor is a trade deficit necessarily a penalty on consumers. It is the result of consumers buying things made in another country. He wants some $25 billion from Congress for wall construction over five years and promises a partial government shutdown if he does not get a $5 billion or so portion in the next week. Congress may or may not give him that. If it does, it will not be because lawmakers expect a refund to the treasury in future years from extra growth produced by a trade deal. TRUMP: "Tremendous amounts of wall have already been built." statement in meeting Tuesday with Pelosi and Schumer. TRUMP: "People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built." ''We have already built large new sections & fully renovated others, making them like new." tweets. THE FACTS: Tremendous portions of the wall have not been built. Yes, some barrier renovation has happened, but little wall construction has been completed under Trump. Congress allocated roughly $1.4 billion in the spring a bit more than 5 percent of what Trump wanted for border security and specified that the money was not to be used for construction of the prototype wall sections that stand near San Diego. Instead, the money is to strengthen or replace existing fencing with more secure fencing. Altogether, Trump promised in the campaign that he'd build a 1,000-mile (1,600 kilometer-) wall, as high as 40 feet or 12 meters (and have Mexico pay for it, which isn't happening). If some 650 miles (1,050 km) of existing fencing are considered in the equation, that leaves him with about 350 miles (560 km) of wall to build. Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire, Eric Tucker, Chad Day, Lauran Neergaard, Josh Boak, Matthew Daly, Colleen Long and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report. An Ethiopian Airlines jet faltered and crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff from the country's capital, carving a gash in the earth and spreading global grief to 35 countries that had someone among the 157 people who were killed. There was no immediate indication why the plane went down in clear weather while on a flight to Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. The crash was strikingly similar to that of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the sea off Indonesia minutes after takeoff last year, killing 189 people. Both accidents involved the Boeing 737 Max 8. The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in African skies, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent's largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa. "Ethiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage we cannot rule out anything," CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters. He visited the crash site, standing in the gaping crater flecked with debris. Black body bags were spread out nearby while Red Cross and other workers looked for remains. As the sun set, the airline's chief operating officer said the plane's flight data recorder had not yet been found. Around the world, families were gripped by grief. At the Addis Ababa airport, a woman called a mobile number in vain. "Where are you, my son?" she said, in tears. Others cried as they approached the terminal. Henom Esayas, whose sister's Nigerian husband was killed, told The Associated Press they were startled when a stranger picked up their frantic calls to his mobile phone, told them he had found it in the debris and promptly switched it off. Shocked leaders of the United Nations, the U.N. refugee agency and the World Food Program announced that colleagues had been on the plane. The U.N. migration agency estimated some 19 U.N.-affiliated employees were killed. Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and many people were on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference set to begin Monday in Nairobi. The Addis Ababa-Nairobi route links East Africa's two largest economic powers. Sunburned travelers and tour groups crowd the Addis Ababa airport's waiting areas, along with businessmen from China, Gulf nations and elsewhere. A list of the dead released by Ethiopian Airlines included passengers from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India and Somalia. Kenya lost 32 citizens. Canada, 18. Several countries including the United States lost four or more people. Global nonprofit organization Save the Children said one of its employees Tamirat Mulu Demessie, who worked at the group's U.S. headquarters in Connecticut was killed in the crash. Georgetown University confirmed that a third-year law student from Kenya, Cedric Asiavugwa, was killed in the crash. He was on his way home to Nairobi following the death of his fiancee's mother, according to a statement from the university. Ethiopian officials declared Monday a day of mourning. At the Nairobi airport, hopes quickly dimmed for loved ones. "I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it," said Agnes Muilu, who had come to pick up her brother. The crash is likely to renew questions about the 737 Max , the newest version of Boeing's popular single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world's most common passenger jet. Indonesian investigators have not determined a cause for the October crash, but days after the accident Boeing sent a notice to airlines that faulty information from a sensor could cause the plane to automatically point the nose down. The Lion Air cockpit data recorder showed that the jet's airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights, though the airline initially said problems had been fixed. Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known about Sunday's disaster. The Ethiopian Airlines CEO "stated there were no defects prior to the flight, so it is hard to see any parallels with the Lion Air crash yet," said Harro Ranter, founder of the Aviation Safety Network, which compiles information about accidents worldwide. The Ethiopian plane was new, delivered to the airline in November. The Boeing 737 Max 8 was one of 30 meant for the airline, Boeing said in July. The jet's last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours. The plane crashed six minutes after departure , plowing into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) outside Addis Ababa, at 8:44 a.m. The jet showed unstable vertical speed after takeoff, air traffic monitor Flightradar 24 said. The senior Ethiopian pilot, who joined the airline in 2010, sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport, the airline's CEO told reporters. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration said it would join the National Transportation Safety Board in assisting Ethiopian authorities with the crash investigation. Boeing planned to send a technical team to Ethiopia. The last deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger flight was in 2010, when a plane went down minutes after takeoff from Beirut, killing all 90 people on board. African air travel has improved in recent years, with the International Air Transport Association in November noting "two years free of any fatalities on any aircraft type." Sunday's crash comes as the country's reformist young prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has vowed to open up the airline and other sectors to foreign investment in a major transformation of the state-centered economy. Speaking at the inauguration in January of a new passenger terminal in Addis Ababa to triple capacity, the prime minister challenged the airline to build a new "Airport City" terminal in Bishoftu where Sunday's crash occurred. At least 19 people were forced out of their home early Wednesday after a 4-alarm fire destroyed a multi-family house in Revere, Massachusetts. The roaring blaze was reported at about midnight at a home near 2321 Thornton St., according to fire officials. The tenants, which included several children, were able to escape the flames safely. Smoke alarms alerted the residents of the danger, according to Deputy Chief Anthony Giampietro. Fire crews said the blaze started in the rear of the three-story house. They believe it may have sparked in the basement but that is still under investigation. No injuries were reported in connection to the fire, but the building was deemed a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation. A coastal storm moves through New England late Thursday into Friday. This brings in the threat of rain south, heavy snow north, gusty wind and a chance for minor coastal flooding. A First Alert is up for the mountains on Friday due to the snow and wind. Before the storm arrives, highs will be in the upper 40s Thursday with increasing clouds. Temperatures stay in the low 50s even through Friday as the low passes over southern New England and drives milder air and tropical moisture in from the south. Timing: Spotty showers spread in from southwest to northeast Thursday night. Scattered rain falls across southern New England, southern New Hampshire to coastal Maine Friday morning through afternoon. There's a chance for an isolated storm as the warm front lifts northward around midnight Friday. Expect a soggy start to Friday, with lingering showers in the afternoon between dry spots. It will be all rain south, but heavy snow north in the mountains will bring several inches of accumulation through Saturday. High pressure builds in for late Saturday into Sunday, so expect a dry weekend. Precipitation Totals: Rainfall amounts across Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts will be around 1 inch through Friday night. Localized urban and small stream flooding is possible, depending on where the heaviest rain sets up. Snowfall through Saturday will be about 6-12 inches in the Berkshires, Green, and White Mountains, higher elevations over a foot, less snow in the valleys. Wind: The coastal low moves through southern New England on Friday, gusts between 20-30 mph at times. Friday morning along the coast we may see some 40 mph gusts from the south. Once the storm heads away from us Saturday morning, the wind will become strong from the west, with gusts in the 40s which may lead to pockets of damage or outages. Coastal Flooding: Several higher high tides are forecast the next few afternoons due to the super worm moon Wednesday night. Wind direction will be from the southeast for the Thursday afternoon high tide, so we don't expect many issues for that tide, maybe splashover along the south facing beaches. The highest wave heights will be Friday morning with a southwest wind on the south coast, and an east wind on the eastern Massachusetts coast through Maine. Offshore waves about 5-15 feet occurs Thursday night between the highest tides. Friday afternoon may bring the chance for splashover and minor pockets of flooding along the coast with the higher tide. We're still uncertain on when the low moves into the Gulf of Maine to change the wind direction to offshore. Weekend: The backside of the storm brings in gusty west wind and more mountain snowfall to begin the weekend. Gusts may reach 40-50 mph, with stronger gusts in the mountains Saturday. Snow showers linger there, while southern New England clears out and highs stay in the low 40s. Sunday will be more pleasant with warmer temperatures in the mid-50s and sunshine. 10-Day: Next week will be interesting. A cold front will move through from the northwest and may bring in scattered rain, switching to snow Monday into Tuesday. Colder air accompanies this next system as we go from the 50s Monday to the low 40s Tuesday into Wednesday. Another rebound in temperatures arrives Thursday into Friday, nearing 60 to round out the next work-week. [NATL] Extreme Weather Photos: Record Heat Threatens Europe A Massachusetts man has been indicted for the alleged sexual assault of a child, enticing another to create child pornography for him, and sharing graphic images of minors through a smartphone app, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins. A Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments Tuesday charging Domenic D'Amore, 29, of East Boston, with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14; four counts of trafficking in persons for sexual servitude; four counts of dissemination of matter harmful to a minor; three counts of posing a child in a state of nudity; eight counts of dissemination of child pornography; two counts of possession of child pornography; and two counts of possession with intent to distribute child pornography. The indictments move the case to Suffolk Superior Court. Authorities say an investigation began in December when workers at a Revere pawn shop called police after they allegedly found images depicting child pornography on a phone D'Amore had sold. An examination of the phone allegedly revealed hundreds of graphic images and videos of children being sexually abused or posed in a sexual manner, according the district attorney. Prosecutors said D'Amore had shared and received similar images through the Kik app on multiple occasions. In messages sent on the app, D'Amore allegedly made statements that he had sexually abused a young child who was known to him. According to the district attorney, the victim underwent a forensic interview and admitted abuse by D'Amore. Authorities say D'Amore is also charged with trafficking persons for sexual servitude for allegedly enticing a teenage victim to create child pornography via text messages. "These charges are disturbing and represent some of the worst crimes against children," Rollins said. "Survivors who have been exploited through child pornography may never be fully able to put these offenses in the past, because the images of their abuse live on. They bear the pain of knowing that individuals across the globe and possibly even in their own community are viewing photos and videos of the most painful and degrading moments of their lives." D'Amore was arraigned in January in Chelsea District Court in connection with the case. His arraignment on the indictments in Suffolk Superior Court are expected at a later date. A fire has destroyed three buildings that were part of a multi-million dollar construction project at Silver Sands State Park in Milford and the park is closed as officials investigate the cause of the fire. Firefighters were called to the park around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday after getting a report of a large fire. When crews arrived, they found two of the buildings fully involved and a third building was nearly 50 percent involved. Firefighters battled the fire and brought it under control in approximately two hours, fire officials said. The buildings that were destroyed were part of a multi-million dollar construction project. The buildings housed a concession stand and dining area, public restrooms and an office to serve visitors of the park, according to fire officials. Construction began on the buildings in 2018. The nearly completed buildings were scheduled to be open for Memorial Day weekend. The fire was so intense it was picked up on weather radar. Large fire at Silver Sands SP in Milford is so intense our weather radar is picking it up. #nbcct pic.twitter.com/Oh0ySDtjyP Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) March 20, 2019 No injuries were reported. The park is closed on Wednesday while investigators work to determine the cause of the fire. EnCon Police, the State Fire Marshal and other agencies are investigating. It is unclear when the park will reopen. Officials from the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the construction, is already coordinating meetings with the contractor and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to determine the next steps for the project, DEEP said in a release. On Wednesday, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes released a statement about fire saying in part: DEEP is grateful for the efforts of the Milford Fire Department and other responding agencies. The park will remain closed for as long as necessary to investigate the fire and protect the safety of the public. Though we are saddened by the loss of the buildings under construction, the most important thing is that no one was injured fighting the fire. What to Know Victor Pena, 38, of Charlestown has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape. He's accused of kidnapping a woman who was reported missing in January after she left a downtown Boston bar. Boston police say they found the woman after establishing a timeline with the help of surveillance videos, tracing her digital trail. Disturbing new details about the alleged kidnapping and rape of a 23-year-old woman were revealed at the suspect's arraignment on Wednesday. Victor Pena, 38, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Superior Court and was ordered held without bail pending a detention hearing April 10. He was indicted by a grand jury last week on one count of kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape in connection with the January incident. Prosecutors said Wednesday the victim told investigators she woke up on Pena's mattress and he told her to be quiet or else he would kill her. He also told the woman he "rescued" her and that they were "going to start a family together." "What she remembers next is waking up on a bare mattress in the suspect's apartment with a stranger next to her," said Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum. Pena made the woman drink whiskey and vodka and read the Bible in Spanish while holding her in his Charlestown apartment for three days, prosecutors said. They said he made the victim pose for selfies with him and sexually assaulted her several times during the time she was held captive. "He put sunglasses on as if they were at the beach together, told her to pose and kiss him and smile," said Polumbaum. Pena's attorney, William Barabino, said his client suffers from mental health issues. "Does he deny making her drink alcohol, sexually assaulting her, taking photos? I would say without a doubt yes," said Barabino. Pena has been held without bail since his arrest on Jan. 22 in connection to the disappearance of a woman who was last seen leaving a bar three days earlier in Boston. She was found in Pena's apartment after authorities established a timeline with the help of surveillance videos and traced a digital trail she left behind. Pena's family has defended his actions and said he "didn't do it." "Only thing he said is, he said 'She was drunk, she asked me for help, I helped walk her, I went to my place, and I didnt even touch this girl,'" Jose Pena told NBC10 Boston back in January. He also said he doesn't believe his brother is competent to stand trial. Police said surveillance video helped them establish a timeline from the night the woman went missing, from the moment she left Hennessys Bar to when she got on the MBTA with Pena. The pair was then seen again on surveillance in Charlestown, leading police to the building and unit where the woman and Pena were. But Jose Pena has said he believes it was all a misunderstanding. "My brother is slow," he said in January. "He's 38 but mentally he's 17, 18, so he's like a teenager." Barabino also said his client has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old and they are working to get him evaluated. Police in Florida are still searching for a Maine woman who was last seen in the state several weeks ago. Friends of 52-year-old Judith Therianos say she has been missing since March 11, but police say she was last seen March 14, according to necn affiliate WCSH, Therianos was traveling with a friend and was dropped off in Tampa. She ultimately went to another friends house in the New Port Richey area. Therianos is around 50 tall and around 110 pounds and has red hair and brown eyes. Police say she is known to frequent bars and spend time with unknown males. She was last seen at a bar with a man named Charlie, who is 70, 510, with long white hair and a beard. Anyone with information should contact police. A former Massachusetts State Police trooper has been found guilty of 14 charges related to the domestic assault of his then-girlfriend, who was also a trooper with the department. Robert Sundberg, 48, was convicted of two counts of rape, five counts of assault and battery on a household or family member, three counts of assault and battery, as well as single counts of strangulation, stalking, assault with intent to rape and malicious damage of a motor vehicle. When the allegations first came out against him in April of 2016, Sundberg was a 14-year veteran of the Massachusetts State Police. The victim told police she endured years of verbal and physical abuse by Sundberg, who she claims was fueled by alcohol. She said Sundberg choked her multiple times in their Boxborough home and threatened her if she ever told anyone. "Immediately upon receiving the victim's report of sexual and physical assaults against her by Department member Robert Sundberg, the Massachusetts State Police reviewed the evidence, arrested the defendant, suspended him without pay, and began working with Middlesex County prosecutors to hold him accountable in a court of law," the department said in a statement. "We hope today's verdict provides justice to the victim. The Department now will immediately move to terminate the defendant. We have absolutely no tolerance for domestic violence, and hope this case makes clear that any such allegations will be swiftly and decisively investigated." State police also said its employee assistance unit aided the victim, a member of the department. In the past, Sundberg's attorney accused the alleged victim of making the story up because his client was about to break up with her. Sundberg is due to be sentenced March 26. New Hampshire gave Donald Trump his first presidential primary victory. Some prominent New Hampshire Republicans aren't so sure he deserves a second. Steve Duprey, who represents New Hampshire at the Republican National Committee, won't say whether he'll vote for Trump in 2020. Former GOP chair Jennifer Horn, who led the party during the president's first run, is actively working for a Trump primary challenger. And former Republican Sen. Gordon Humphrey is calling for Trump's impeachment. Even among the detractors, few believe Trump will lose New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary next year. But in sharp contrast to Republicans in other states, some New Hampshire GOP leaders are actively encouraging or at the very least failing to discourage Trump primary challengers. That's even as the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee aggressively works to prevent a serious primary challenge for fear that it would hurt the president's re-election chances. Duprey, in an unusual move for an RNC member, lashed out at Trump this week for continuing to criticize John McCain, who was popular in New Hampshire and died last August of cancer. "President Donald Trump isn't worthy to carry even John McCain's navy cap," Duprey wrote on Facebook. "In no measure is he the patriot or public servant that John McCain was. Ever." In a subsequent interview, Duprey refused to say whether he would vote for Trump in next year's election, citing the state's tradition of staying neutral in primary elections to help preserve its first-in-the-nation status. "My first allegiance is to the presidential primary," Duprey said. "All candidates should be treated equal whether they're the incumbent or not." Trump hasn't visited New Hampshire since March 2018, when he delivered a speech about opioids. Vice President Mike Pence visited shortly afterward to fundraise for New Hampshire Republicans. And as Trump ping ponged around the country to help Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, New Hampshire never made the cut. Republicans narrowly held the governor's office, but suffered devastating losses elsewhere. Democrats won both of the state's congressional races and seized control of the state House, Senate and state executive council for the first time in nearly a decade. While Trump has avoided the state for a year, the president's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, a senior campaign adviser, is set to be the special guest at a New Hampshire GOP event early next month. That'll be followed by an appearance from the president's former campaign manager, New Hampshire resident Corey Lewandowski, at a county Republican dinner days later. "They've been creating the kind of environment that attracts a challenger, not one that heads one off," said Fergus Cullen, another former state Republican Party chairman who opposes Trump. The state's No. 1 Republican, Gov. Chris Sununu, told The Associated Press that he would vote for Trump's re-election, but he isn't discouraging a Trump primary challenge either. The New Hampshire governor shared the stage at a recent event with former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a Republican, who has launched a committee to explore a possible Trump primary challenge. Sununu said he'd be equally welcoming to prospective primary challengers such as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan or former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who are openly weighing primary bids. "I don't think a Republican primary would hurt the president at all," Gov. Sununu said. He praised some of Trump's policies, but looking at 2020, he condemned the kind of slash-and-burn politics the president regularly employs against opponents. "It can't be about personal attacks, it can't be about you know trying to just tear people apart for your own personal political opportunism and game at the end of the day," Sununu said. He added: "The media and certain folks don't like how he says things and whatnot. And I agree with that. I don't like how he says things either sometimes. I'm a big believer that sometimes how you say something is just as important as what you say. It is a very different style, and we don't mesh with our styles." A University of New Hampshire poll found late last month that roughly 80 percent of New Hampshire Republicans approve of Trump's job performance, which is consistent with national polling. Yet there were clear warning signs for the Republican president. Just 56 percent of New Hampshire Republicans plan to vote for Trump in a 2020 Republican primary; 44 percent say they'll vote for another candidate or are undecided. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is getting a vocal supporter in the state Republican Party headquarters, where former Trump state campaign chairman Stephen Stepanek, was recently elected to serve as the state GOP chairman. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Stepanek has been far less supportive of a Trump primary challenge than the longer established Republican leaders in the state. In a recent interview, he dismissed Weld's chances in 2020. "I don't anticipate that anybody's going to come in and be able to generate the kind of support the president has here," Stepanek said. "But they're more than welcome to test the waters." Horn, who held Stepanek's job during the 2016 campaign, now works as an adviser to Weld. "There's no doubt he's been the most destructive, most divisive president in modern times," she said of Trump. Weld is also getting help from Stuart Stevens, a former top adviser to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. While Romney, now a Utah senator, has stayed out of the 2020 primary debate so far, another former Romney senior aide, Russ Schriefer, is advising Hogan, who recently told the AP he would only run if he has a legitimate path to victory. Despite all the Trump criticism, however, few New Hampshire Republicans expect Trump to lose the 2020 GOP primary, which will likely be held in February. A sense of hopelessness has settled in among some of Trump's GOP critics. Bob Purcell, a 68-year-old business owner from New Hampshire lived in Massachusetts during Weld's time as governor and spoke glowingly of the Republican. That doesn't mean he thinks Weld has much of a chance against Trump. "If I were spending my own money and I were Bill Weld, I would not run," Purcell said. A primary challenge against Trump would be "daunting," added Tom Rath, a longtime RNC delegate and former New Hampshire attorney general, who backed Kasich in 2016 and would likely do so again if he runs. A determined effort to unseat a sitting president of one's own party, Rath said, takes money, effort and a strong sense of commitment. "There's a sense among a lot of people, 'What's the use?" Rath said. (CNN) New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern opened her first address to Parliament since the Christchurch terror attack by praising the "extraordinary courage" demonstrated by mosque worshipers and police during on of the country's "darkest days." "There have rightly been questions around how this could have happened here. In a place that prides itself on being open, peaceful, diverse. And there is anger that it has happened here," Ardern said Tuesday. Ardern said that New Zealand authorities remain vigilant and on "high alert," though there is no specific threat. "We have seen in countries that know the horrors of terrorism more than us, there is a pattern of increased tension and actions over the weeks that follow that means we do need to ensure that vigilance is maintained," she said. Her calls for unity and vigilance came amid a rare statement from ISIS spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, accusing Ardern and other Western leaders of shedding "crocodile tears." Al-Muhajir called upon ISIS supporters to "take vengeance" in the aftermath of the attack in an almost 45-minute audio recording. It's believed to be the first recording released by al-Muhajir in months. Fifty people were killed last week when a 28-year-old Australian gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch. Another 50 were injured, nine of whom remain in critical condition in intensive care, health officials said Monday. On Tuesday, the bodies of six victims were returned to families, New Zealand Police confirmed to CNN in a statement Tuesday. "12 victims have been identified to the satisfaction of the Coroner and six of those identified victims have been returned to their families," said a police spokesman. Police say they are working with families to return the other six identified victims. Parliament members gathered in the House on Tuesday to share condolences for the victims. They will meet again on Wednesday, the same day Ardern intends to return to Christchurch. On Saturday, she visited members of Christchurch's Muslim community wearing a hijab in what observers lauded as a meaningful gesture of compassion and respect. A pledge to overhaul gun laws In her speech Tuesday, Ardern hinted at major changes to come in light of the terror attack, especially when it comes to social media and New Zealand's gun laws. The Prime Minister had previously announced that a government inquiry will look into the circumstances leading up to Friday's attack. The inquiry will investigate what agencies knew -- or should have known -- about the gunman's access to weapons or any impediments into the sharing of information, she said. Australian Brenton Harris Tarrant, 28, was charged with murder on Saturday. He is believed to be the only person responsible for the attacks. Tarrant lived in the southern city of Dunedin, around 225 miles from Christchurch. Officials said he had no criminal history in New Zealand or Australia and had not drawn the attention of the intelligence community for extremist views. Authorities said the assailant obtained the firearms used in the attack through legal means. Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters Monday evening announcement that the cabinet has agreed to changes to New Zealand's gun laws "in principle," but the exact measures have not been revealed. While acknowledging that "for a short period" the planned amendments might create uncertainty for some gun owners, Ardern said she believes "the vast majority" of New Zealand's gun owners agree that change is needed. Tech companies face increased scrutiny Some of Ardern's toughest rhetoric was reserved for social media and its ability to quickly disseminate "ideas and language of division and hate." "We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published. They are the publisher. Not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit no responsibility," she said. "This of course doesn't take away the responsibility we too must show as a nation, to confront racism, violence and extremism. I don't have all of the answers now, but we must collectively find them." Addressing the gunman, Arden said she would do everything in her power to prevent him gaining attention. "He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety. And that is why you will never hear me mention his name," said Arden. "Speak the names of those who were lost, rather than name of the man who took them. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name." Facebook has come under heavy scrutiny for its handling of the case. The gunman live-streamed online. Facebook eventually took down the page and Twitter deleted the alleged perpetrator's profile; but not before the video had spread like wildfire across social media. Facebook Vice President and deputy general counsel Chris Sonderby said in a statement Tuesday that fewer than 200 people viewed the stream live, and none of them reported. The video was viewed about 4,000 times before being removed, the statement read. Facebook also said in the first 24 hours after the attack, it removed about 1.5 million videos of the attack. More than 1.2 million of those videos were blocked at upload. "We remain shocked and saddened by this tragedy and are committed to working with leaders in New Zealand, other governments, and across the technology industry to help counter hate speech and the threat of terrorism," said Sonderby. "We continue to work around the clock to prevent this content from appearing on our site, using a combination of technology and people." This story was first published on CNN.com, "New Zealand's Prime Minister calls for unity as first bodies are returned to families." Hundreds of students at a Massachusetts high school walked out of class Wednesday morning to protest how school administrators have handled allegations of sexual assault. The walkout at North Andover High School comes after a senior, Eliezer Tuttle, was charged with raping a New Hampshire girl twice on the same day and amid reports from The Eagle Tribune that school administrators had placed Tuttle on probation in connection with an assault against a classmate in April 2018. School administrators also reportedly had accusers sign contracts sign so-called "Safety Plans" that require the students reporting assaults to stay away from the alleged perpetrators. Five-hundred students who thought the policy was fundamentally unfair decided three days ago to organize the walkout, which started at 10:07 a.m. "I've been in the school system for 12 years, and I think there needs to be a change on the way that this school handles situations like this. This isn't a minor thing, it's huge, and it happens to people every day and the school just has a tendency to sweep these kinds of things under the rug and it needs to stop," student organizer Ava Gilboard said. "We are very disappointed in our school system for that," fellow student organizer Lexi Regan said, who added that the students' goal was to supporting survivors and asking for change in policies. North Andover Superintendent of Schools Gregg Gilligan released a statement saying: "I understand the concern parents have when it is reported that one of our high school students has been charged with a crime. I want to assure you that the safety and well-being of our students drive every decision we make and every action we take as a district." A Maine man is facing charges in connection with the stabbing death of his roommate, according to state police. Authorities say Dustan Bentley, 40, of Old Orchard Beach, was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with the murder of William Popplewell. The 65-year-old was found dead at an apartment on Boisvert Street at about 10:30 p.m. Monday. The Maine Medical Examiner's Office said Popplewell died from stabbing and blunt force trauma. Authorities say Bentley and Popplewell had lived together for the past two months and had known one another from previous stays at the Oxford Street shelter in Portland. Bentley is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at York County Superior Court. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said on Wednesday she's open to using a subpoena to investigate President Donald Trump's tax returns for potential connections to Russia. Collins, a Republican who has served as a U.S. senator from Maine since 1997, sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. She appeared on Maine Public radio to talk about issues including the investigation. Collins was asked if the committee would subpoena Trump, who's also a Republican. She said she hopes for "voluntary cooperation" but is open to using a subpoena if necessary. "This is a counter-intelligence operation in many ways. That's what our committee specializes in," she said during the radio appearance. "We are used to probing in depth in this area." Trump's refusal to disclose his tax returns is a break with presidential tradition. He has said he would be happy to release them after the completion of an Internal Revenue Service audit. Using a subpoena to get access to the tax returns would be a more aggressive move than members of Congress have taken on the subject so far. House and Senate leaders have thus far shown no interest in taking such a step. Last week, House Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to use an obscure law to obtain the tax returns from the IRS. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee tried to frame the issue as a matter of national security, questioning whether Trump has any investments in Russia. Collins also said during the radio appearance that she and other intelligence committee members will call for former national security adviser Michael Flynn to testify before the committee. Flynn resigned following reports that he had misled officials about his contacts with Russia. Collins said the committee is in the midst of a "broad investigation" about Russian interference and it's too early to speculate about the results. She touted the "bipartisan" nature of the committee's probe and pledged: "We will get to the bottom of this." Meanwhile, Collins has been getting heat in her home state for declining to hold a town hall. Republican members of Congress around the country have had their town halls interrupted by protesters in recent weeks. More than a year after a deadly shooting in Lowell, Massachusetts, a suspect has been arrested. The Middlesex County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that 22-year-old Joseph McGillicuddy of Lowell had been charged with murder in the shooting that left 24-year-old Anthony Luna of Lowell dead. The shooting happened around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 17, 2018, at the intersection of O'Connell Street and Fay Street. Prosecutors said Christian Tripp-Kirwin and Joseph Luna, both 21, of Lowell and known to the victim, faced firearms charges after the shooting but authorities continued investigating the shooting. On March 7, McGillicuddy was indicted by a grand jury. State police assigned to the DA's office arrested him Wednesday in Tewksbury. He is expected to be arraigned on the murder charge Thursday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. The Pentagon's inspector general has formally opened an investigation into a watchdog group's allegations that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has used his office to promote his former employer, Boeing Co. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint with the Pentagon's inspector general a week ago, alleging that Shanahan has appeared to make statements promoting Boeing and disparaging competitors, such as Lockheed Martin. Shanahan, who was traveling with President Donald Trump to Ohio on Wednesday, spent more than 30 years at Boeing, leading programs for commercial planes and missile defense systems. He has been serving as acting Pentagon chief since the beginning of the year, after James Mattis stepped down. The probe comes as Boeing struggles to deal with a public firestorm over two deadly crashes of the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner within the last five months. And it focuses attention on whether Trump will nominate Shanahan as his formal pick for defense chief, rather than letting him languish as an acting leader of a major federal agency. Dwrena Allen, spokeswoman for the inspector general, said Shanahan has been informed of the investigation. And, in a statement, Pentagon spokesman Tom Crosson said Shanahan welcomes the review. "Acting Secretary Shanahan has at all times remained committed to upholding his ethics agreement filed with the DoD," said Crosson. "This agreement ensures any matters pertaining to Boeing are handled by appropriate officials within the Pentagon to eliminate any perceived or actual conflict of interest issue(s) with Boeing." During a Senate hearing last week, Shanahan was asked by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., about the 737 Max issue. Shanahan said he had not spoken to anyone in the administration about it and had not been briefed on it. Asked whether he favored an investigation into the matter, Shanahan said it was for regulators to investigate. On Wednesday, Blumenthal said that scrutiny of Shanahan's Boeing ties is necessary. "In fact, it's overdue. Boeing is a behemoth 800-pound gorilla raising possible questions of undue influence at DOD, FAA and elsewhere," said Blumenthal. Shanahan signed an ethics agreement in June 2017, when he was being nominated for the job of deputy defense secretary, a job he held during Mattis' tenure. It outlined the steps he would take to avoid "any actual or apparent conflict of interest," and said he would not participate in any matter involving Boeing. The CREW ethics complaint, based to a large part on published reports, said Shanahan has made comments praising Boeing in meetings about government contracts, raising concerns about "whether Shanahan, intentionally or not, is putting his finger on the scale when it comes to Pentagon priorities." One example raised by the complaint is the Pentagon's decision to request funding for Boeing 15EX fighter jets in the 2020 proposed budget. The Pentagon is requesting about $1 billion to buy eight of the aircraft. Shanahan, 56, joined Boeing in 1986, rose through its ranks and is credited with rescuing a troubled Dreamliner 787 program. He also led the company's missile defense and military helicopter programs. Trump has seemed attracted to Shanahan partially for his work on one of the president's pet projects creating a Space Force. He also has publicly lauded Shanahan's former employer, Boeing, builder of many of the military's most prominent aircraft, including the Apache and Chinook helicopters, the C-17 cargo plane and the B-52 bomber, as well as the iconic presidential aircraft, Air Force One. This is only the third time in history that the Pentagon has been led by an acting chief, and Shanahan has served in that capacity for longer than any of the others. Presidents typically take pains to ensure the Pentagon is being run by a Senate-confirmed official, given the grave responsibilities that include sending young Americans into battle, ensuring the military is ready for extreme emergencies like nuclear war and managing overseas alliances that are central to U.S. security. Samsung launches Galaxy A30 and A50 phones in Nepal, which are an enhancement of its mid-range smartphones lineup. The phones support features available in flagship phones like a full view screen, multiple cameras, and an on-screen fingerprint sensor. So, Samsung A30 and A50 phones are getting more popular in the Nepali market. Find more specs and price of Samsung A30 and A50 below. We have also made a comparison of Samsung A50 and A30 in their key features. We at Samsung are consistently committed to introducing meaningful innovations that enhance the way people connect with each other, said Pranaya Ratna Sthapit, Head of IM BIZ, Samsung Electronic Nepal. Our latest Galaxy A smartphones offer the coolest new action phones that are specially designed for young millennials and Gen Z. Centered around the generation on-the-go, Galaxy A offers capabilities to shoot videos in UltraWide, Slow-Mo and Hyperlapse modes. These features will transform the way consumers use smartphones by allowing real-time content creation and sharing. We recommend you to have a look at the latest price and information of all the Samsung Mobile Price in Nepal. Although A30 and A50 look and feel more or less the same, they differ in some key specs. Samsung A30 is the lower mid-range phone which has a dual rear camera whereas A50 is the higher end with a triple rear camera. Similarly, the Samsung A50 has an on-screen fingerprint sensor whereas A30 has a fingerprint sensor in the rear. Samsung A50 is also the most affordable phone with an on-screen fingerprint sensor, that you can find in Nepali market. Samsung A50 also have curved back with a body made up of Glastic (plastic that looks like glass). A50 also supports 240 FPS slow-mo video. Processor Samsung A30 and A50 also differ in the processor that powers them. Samsung A30 is powered by a 14nm Exynos 7904 processor (which is the same as that of M20). Whereas Samsung A50 has a 10nm Exynos 9610 processor. Exynos 9610 is more powerful than Exynos 7904 in terms of processor speed, power efficiency, AI capability, Graphics, and Cellular connectivity speeds. Although there are different RAM variants of both the phones, Samsung Nepal has brought 4GB RAM versions for both A30 and A50. Similarities Both the phones, A30 and A50 has a 6.4-inch infinity U display with full HD+ resolution. Infinity U display comes from the U shaped notch (aka teardrop notch) in the phones. A30 and A50 phones also have the same powerful battery size of 4000 mAH. The front camera in both the phones is 16 MP. Both the phones also support Dual 4G, Dual VoLTE for dual nano-SIM. VoLTE network is still not available in Nepal but Ntc seems to be testing the service with their new 4G network. ALSO READ: Samsung S10 now available in Nepal, Price, and Specs Both the phones have an ultra-wide lens that allows you to capture the panorama like shot with the same wide view on the screen. This captures the world almost exactly as you see it, especially when it comes to unrestricted wide-angle photos. They also support 123-degree ultra-wide Video. The phones also have a comfortable sleek design, lightweight, and smooth curved shape, making it look alluring. Samsung A30 Specs 6.4-inch infinity U Super AMOLED display with full HD+, 19.5:9 aspect ratio Exynos 7904 processor, Octa Core 1.8 GHz, 14 nm fabrication Dual Rear camera of 16MP main camera (F1.7) + 5MP (F2.2) The front camera of 16MP (F2.0) 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage External SD slot expandable up to 512 GB. Samsung One UI over Android 9 Pie The fingerprint sensor in the back. 4000 mAH battery with 15 W fast charging and USB type C Blue, Red and black color Price (MRP): Rs 25,990 Rs 23,899 Samsung A50 Specs 6.4-inch infinity U Super AMOLED display with full HD+, 19.5:9 aspect ratio Exynos 9610 processor, Octa Core 1.8 GHz, 10 nm Triple Rear cameras of 25MP main camera (F1.7) + 8MP Ultra wide lens (F2.2) + 5MP depth sensor (F2.2) The front camera of 16MP (F2.0) 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage External SD slot expandable up to 512 GB. Samsung One UI over Android 9 Pie On-screen fingerprint sensor. 4000 mAH battery with 15W fast charging and USB type C Blue, and black color Price (MRP): Rs 29,490 26,699 Availability Samsung A30 and A50 phones are now available in the Nepali market in 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage variants. Samsung A30 costs Rs 23,899 whereas the price of Samsung A50 is Rs 26,699. The MRP price differs by only Rs 5000 for A50 being the higher end (better processor, triple camera, and on-screen fingerprint sensor). Please ask for an additional discount on the MRP price as they have got some margin to discount for people if they demand it. The phones have already got cheaper but the additional discount makes it more appealing. If you are looking for a phone with flagship specs in an affordable price range, then we recommend buying the A50. Otherwise, for a simple user, A30 wont ever dissatisfy you. There are S versions of both the phones namely A30s and A50s which you should check before buying Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Viber to get latest news, information about Ntc, Ncell, Smart Cell and phones in Nepal. Recommended: 'I shouted at someone who went past at at least 80mph to slow down and they got angry with me' REPORTS of motorists driving across Hungerford Common at speeds of up to 80mph have prompted fresh demands for traffic calming. The licensee of The Downgate, at the top of Park Street, said vehicles have been taking chunks out of the concrete posts by the cattle grid outside her pub. Lauren Weir said: They go flat out over there and are using it as a rat-run. The speed limit should ideally be 20mph, but speed bumps or build-outs would certainly help, too. In a few weeks the cows will be turned out to graze and there will be children playing. Our pub terrier has nearly been knocked down and someone was injured in a hit-and-run not long ago. I shouted at someone who went past at at least 80mph to slow down and they got angry with me. I couldnt believe the nerve. The hit-and-run incident to which Ms Weir referred happened in November and the victim needed surgery. Thames Valley Police spokesman Jack Abell, said this week that, although a man in his 20s had been voluntarily interviewed, no one had been arrested and the investigation remained ongoing. In 2015, a cow had to be put down following a hit-and-run incident. The culprit did not stop, as required by law, and appeared to have been exceeding the 40mph speed limit, from a skid mark left at the scene. Town mayor Helen Simpson has said the town council was aware of the ongoing problem, but added that West Berkshire Council was the highways authority with the power to take action. She has advised those concerned about the issue to attend the annual Hungerford Town Meeting in the Town Hall at 7pm on Wednesday next week and to lobby representatives from West Berkshire Council and Thames Valley Police, who will be present. Meanwhile, the common will soon be home to grazing cattle again. Both commoners and farmers, who buy rights to graze their cattle from the Town and Manor, produce a summer grazing herd of about 175 cattle. The Hungerford neighbourhood police team has previously said in a statement: We have had several incidents on the common involving injuries and the death of cows caused by undue care and attention of drivers. They condemned the totally unacceptable behaviour of drivers and pleaded with motorists to observe the speed limit. They also reminded them: If you do have an accident with a cow you must report it to the police. Failure to do this is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Office Outlet goes into administration Office Outlet, Greenham Road, Newbury The future of a Newbury store is in doubt after Office Outlet went into administration this week. The company has a store on Greenham Road, which was previously Staples. Office Outlet is owned by Hilco, the former owner of HMV, who bought all UK Staples stores from the US-based stationery firm in 2016 and renamed them. More than 1,200 jobs in the 90 stores across the country are now in jeopardy after two partners from Deloitte were appointed joint administrators on Monday. They said that the stores would remain open while they tried to find a new buyer and blamed the decline in UK retail for the move. They added that they were hopeful a buyer could be found in the coming weeks. Gunn Memorial Library in Washington will present a program with playwright Sarah Ruhl March 23 at 11 a.m. Ruhl, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award nominee and co-author, will sign copies of her recently released book Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship, named as a Kirkus Best Book of 2018, at the Wykeham Road library. In 2012, Sarah Ruhl met Max Ritvo, a student in her playwriting class at Yale University, an exuberant, opinionated, and highly gifted poet. He was also in remission from pediatric cancer. Over the next four yearsin which Ritvos illness returned and his health declined, even as his productivity bloomedthe two exchanged letters that spark with urgency, humor, and the desire for connection. The book showcases the friendship between the two, and a shimmering exploration of love, art, mortality, and the afterlife. Registration is required by calling 860-868-7586. Iodine-containing contrast medium is a chemical used in iodine perfusion studies to enhance images taken during body scans such as X-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans. Increasingly, dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) scanners are being used to produce iodine perfusion maps of the body. These maps are useful in the diagnosis and detection of abnormal processes that may be related to a disease. What is an iodine contrast media? A contrast media is a chemical substance introduced into the body prior to a diagnostic scan. The most common type of contrast media is an iodine-containing contrast medium (ICCM), which can be administered through a small needle into a vein or in some cases, an oral solution. When injected into the blood, contrast media moves into the stomach, bowel, blood vessels, and even in the cerebrospinal fluid. This can be observed through X-ray images and can be useful for understanding whether there are any blockages or abnormalities in the blood vessels supplying an organ. What are the applications of iodine contrast media? An iodine-containing contrast medium helps doctors give a definite diagnosis from a routine medical scan. This allows the treating physician to start an early and more accurate treatment plan. Common diagnostic tests that use contrast media include angiograms and angiography, which are tests used to show images of blood vessels, as well as arthrography, which shows the inside of a joint, and myelography, a test used to visualize cerebrospinal fluid. What are the side effects and contraindications of iodine contrast media? Contrast medium is generally safe for use in humans, however, some patients may experience side effects, including hives, rash, or itching. Gastrointestinal side effects include nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Other side effects are general dizziness, fever, or headache. Its important to report any allergic symptoms that arise after the administration of a contrast medium to prevent harmful adverse effects. In some patients, contrast medium is not recommended, such as those with a history of asthma, cystic fibrosis, pregnancy, dehydration, kidney diseases, an intestinal blockage or any perforation. Mapping iodine perfusion in the body Increasingly, iodine maps created utilizing dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) scanners are used to help in image interpretation to diagnose a disease. Iodine perfusion maps have been utilized in the diagnosis of a multitude of diseases. Usually, mapping of iodine perfusion via a DECT is used in patients who are suspected to have a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially life-threatening disorder. In fact, PE is the most common acute cardiovascular disease, after a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or stroke. When pulmonary embolism is detected early and properly, treatment can be successful, and the associated mortality can be reduced. Two of the most useful diagnostic tests are DECT and CT angiography. Thanks to the emergence of DECT, doctors can now get iodine perfusion maps of the lungs, which can allow them to detect and evaluate perfusion changes. It can lead to a better pulmonary CT angiography, detecting the presence of pulmonary embolism. Many physicians and experts suggested that DECT can be a potential surrogate for perfusion computed tomography (CT). But, it has never been compared directly with perfusion CT in humans. Iodine maps created using DECT scanners are used to help in image interpretation of Computed Tomographic Pulmonary Angiography (CTPA) studies. Iodine mapping can also be used in other diseases such as cancer and bowel disease. For instance, in one study by scientists in Boston, they found that DECT and iodine perfusion mapping have been useful in evaluating bowel disease among patients. DECT and iodine mapping can qualitatively improve the conspicuity of diseased bowel using iodine-selective images. Also, iodine maps help in evaluating gastrointestinal bleeding. Further Reading Travelling to a new destination can be an exhilarating experience; however, travelling also means different food, different water, different time-zones and definitely a very different climate. All these take a toll on our body and often lead to health issues especially pertaining to the digestive system. Food poisoning and travelers diarrhea (TD) are two such conditions which can cause you to become sick on your trip. Bloating and constipation are some other common problems that may occur during a trip. Bacteria Bifidobacterium, gram-positive anaerobic rod-shaped bacteria which are part of normal flora of human intestine are used as probiotics and in yoghurt production. 3D illustration. Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock Probiotics your savior during travel Probiotics can help you ward off these uncomfortable digestive disorders and can thus act as a lifesaver during your travel days. Probiotics contain friendly bacteria, most of which occur naturally in our gut. By interacting with the bodys immune cells, probiotics help to maintain a healthy gut. Taking probiotics can thus help build a strong immune system and enable the smooth functioning of the digestive system. Probiotics are usually a mix of different bacteria, among which Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Saccharomyces are the most popular ones. Numerous studies have provided evidence that probiotics are effective in yeast infections, food poisoning and diarrhea, especially travelers diarrhea. A meta-analysis published in the journal Epidemiology and Health in 2018, provides high-quality evidence that probiotics are an effective option for preventing TD. Probiotics are safe for use in infants and children. Their availability in a variety of forms such as drinkable, capsules and sprinkles make them easy to administer to little ones too. How do probiotics help us when travelling? Probiotics keep constipation at bay. Probiotics form a protective barrier over the mucous lining of the intestinal tract and protect against the entry of any pathogenic bacteria into the body via food or water. When should one take probiotics? Probiotics should be started at least two weeks prior to your planned travel. This helps in seeding the helpful bacteria in the gut. This, in turn, will optimize immune function and help ensure good health while travelling. However, it is important to continue taking the probiotic throughout the travel. It should be continued for at least two weeks after returning home from travel. Which probiotics are most suitable for travel? The following points should be considered when selecting the appropriate probiotic for your travel. The probiotics need to be shelf-stable probiotics. Those that require refrigeration may not be travel-friendly. The best by date of the probiotics should be always checked. They should remain viable during your entire travel. CFU or colony-forming unit should also be considered before selecting the appropriate probiotic. For travel, probiotics with a CFU of 30 billion are generally recommended. Probiotics with diverse species should be selected, such as a formulation containing Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Even though probiotics seem like a sustainable option to have a safe trip, additional care should always be taken. Avoiding local water, ice and fruits can act as additional precautions. A vaccine against traveler's diarrhea is also recommended when travelling to high-risk regions. Further Reading Henry Ford Cancer Institute is the first in Michigan to offer a needle-free, patient-controlled tissue expansion system for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy. The FDA-approved AeroForm Tissue Expanders eliminate the need for weekly saline injections at the physician's office, improves patient comfort and may decrease the rate of expander infection. Instead, the system fills temporary implants with small doses of carbon dioxide triggered by a "medical wand" that patients can control at their own rate and comfort. Jessica Linders is a Henry Ford breast cancer patient who used the AeroForm Tissue Expanders. Because Linders had a genetic mutation, known as BRCA2, she decided to have a double mastectomy after she was diagnosed with an invasive and aggressive lobular breast cancer that had metastasized to the lymph nodes in her armpit. She is one of more than 100,000 women each year in the U.S. who have surgery to remove one or both cancerous breasts. Like 42 percent of women, Linders opted for reconstructive surgery after mastectomy - a process that often starts immediately at the time that the breast is removed. In her case, a temporary expander was inserted under the chest muscle to stretch the skin and the muscle in preparation for an eventual permanent implant. Traditionally, to stretch the tissue, patients would need to visit the plastic surgeon's office for weekly fills with saline injections. In Linders's case, AeroForm Tissue Expanders gave her control of her expansion process under the direction of her physician. There were no injections, no large weekly boluses of fluid, minimal pain, and decreased visits to the plastic surgeon's office. In addition to anxiety related to enlarging a recent surgical site, painful cramps may occur when chest tissue is expanded quickly by saline injections. "It can feel torturous if a doctor gives 75 cc's or more of saline during one office visit. And the sensitive area can remain painful and tight for 48-72 hours," says Dunya Atisha, M.D., director, of Breast Reconstruction and Microsurgery at Henry Ford. But if the patient controls the process, it is less painful, she says. The woman regulates how much air is used and on what days it is used. Patients can pump themselves up a little each day, or they can take a break for a day or two. When Dr. Atisha explained how the new air-expander technology worked and compared it with saline expanders, Linders chose the air expander. "It was a done deal. Just knowing I didn't have to have another needle stuck in my chest helped me make the decision," says Linders. The concept of using expansion devices which did not require injections into a tissue expander was generated by a Silicon Valley plastic surgeon. Dr. Dan Jacob was concerned about his cancer patients who required needle injections to fill their saline expanders. "This technology revolutionizes the expansion process," says Dr. Atisha. "The needle-free alternative is the first major change in breast tissue expansion in more than 40 years. This new system is the future of our field. It offers patients enhanced comfort and convenience, and it also provides women with a sense of control as they navigate their recovery from breast cancer. "In addition, it theoretically decreases the risk for infection as there is no need to inject a needle through the patient's chest skin to get to the expander. It also minimizes the patient's need to take time off from their day to day function due to several appointments and the recovery process of weekly saline injections." Results from the XPAND clinical trial show that patients using the AeroForm device completed tissue expansion in a median of 21 days, compared to a median of 46 days for patients undergoing saline expansion. Also, women who used the AeroForm device progressed to breast implantation one month faster on average than the saline group. However, expansion varies depending on the size of the woman, the amount of volume needed and the patient's comfort level. "Everyone's experience is different and the time it takes someone to get to their goal varies," says Dr. Atisha. To gradually stretch the skin on the chest wall using AeroForm Tissue Expanders, the woman holds a wireless device near her chest, and she presses a button to activate electronics inside the temporary implant. From a reservoir in the implant, compressed carbon dioxide is gradually released in small amounts into the expander. The process can be repeated three times a day. "It was cool that I could wave a medical wand over my breast and control the air flow as I expanded myself," says Linders, a 41-year old Fenton resident and transition specialist for special education students. "It's a little like blowing up a balloon. You can see the expansion and feel a little of the air pressure." "I've been 98 percent satisfied," she says. The only downside was that a small amount of air was released each day, but it wasn't a significant reduction. The released carbon dioxide is not harmful. Carbon dioxide is actually a byproduct of what we exhale with every breath, says Dr. Atisha. Linders used the AeroForm AirXpanders to stretch the skin on her chest for four weeks, and then the expansion process was complete. After chest expansion, the average patient will keep the expander implants in place for 2-3 months from says Dr. Atisha. However, patients who need chemotherapy and radiation will retain the implants for 9-12 months. "I would recommend this device to anyone undergoing breast reconstruction," says Linders. Powerful gene editing tools could soon face global regulations on their use on human embryos, sperms or eggs. There have been instances of outrageous use of these powerful tools on modifying the DNA of sperm, eggs or embryos that would go on to become live human beings by rogue and unethical researchers. This call for stricter regulations comes in the wake of such instances. The world leading researchers have said that they wish to put a stop to any such ongoing research and also mandate all nations to register and declare any such experiments being conducted. An international body speculated to be run by the World Health Organisation (WHO) may soon be created to look at all such research activities. They have also said that broad public support would be necessary before any such research could be undertaken. What we want to see are wise and open decisions. We want to make sure that countries dont do things secretly, that we declare what were thinking, discuss it openly, and be prepared for debate and disagreement. Eric Lander, MIT and Harvard Lander was a co-chairperson of Barack Obamas council of advisors on science and technology. He is joined by 16 other researchers. The research was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature. Two of the researchers on the team were Emmanuelle Charpentier and Feng Zhang who were also part of the team that created the powerful gene editing tool called the CRISPR/cas9. A few months ago, a Chinese researcher He Jiankui had announced the result of his experiment to rewrite the DNA of twin baby girls embryos that made them resistant to HIV. He had disabled the CCR5 gene to provide a natural protection against the virus. The babies Lulu and Nana were born healthy after which the announcement was made. There was a global outrage after the announcement with He being removed from his position at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen. He was criticized for his unethical experiment. There are a substantial number of experts who believe that tools like CRISPR could help in the treatment of genetic medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and some forms of genetic blindness etc. It could be used for germline editing of the DNA and also knowledge and screening of the donor eggs, sperms or embryos. However a large number of researchers believe that we know little about the multiple effects of genetic alterations and genetic editing may not be understood as of now as 100 percent safe. Although techniques have improved in the past several years, germline editing is not yet safe or effective enough to justify any use in the clinic. There is wide agreement in the scientific community that, for clinical germline editing, the risk of failing to make the desired change or of introducing unintended mutations (off-target effects) is still unacceptably high. US National Institute of Health has backed this effort and said so in a statement. We have to make the clearest possible statement that this is a path we are not ready to go down, not now, and potentially not ever, said NIH director, Francis Collins. In an accompanying letter to Nature, the Royal Society, the US National Academies of Science and the US National Academy of Medicine also said that they had similar concerns regarding gene editing. The Royal Society has been particularly reluctant to go down this path because of a concern that it might in some way slow down research that ultimately could be valuable, speaking of their reluctance to call for the moratorium. He added, They risk being seen as self-serving, as scientists who want to do science and dont want to have others say: No, for now, you shouldnt. We have not had the beginnings of a serious discussion about going down this path of modifying our own instruction book. Of all the things that science has made possible in the past several decades that would have massive consequences for humanity, this has to be top of the list. Francis Collins, NIH Director Lander added in explanation, In this case, random bad actors will not ruin the world, the choices that nations make are whats important. Were trying to plan the world were going to leave for our children. Is it a world where were deeply thoughtful about medical applications, and were using it in serious cases, or is it a world where we just have rampant commercial competition? The researchers write, We recognize that a moratorium is not without cost. Although each nation might decide to proceed with any particular application, the obligation to explain to the world why it thinks its decision is appropriate will take time and effort. Certainly, the framework we are calling for will place major speed bumps in front of the most adventurous plans to re-engineer the human species. But the risks of the alternative which include harming patients and eroding public trust are much worse. It's an epic journey for a tiny bird. For the first time, University of Guelph biologists have tracked an annual migration of up to 20,000 kilometers made by the 12-gram blackpoll warbler, one of the fastest declining songbirds in North America. The bird's trek between its breeding grounds in the central and western boreal forest of North America and its winter home in the Amazon Basin - one of the longest songbird migrations recorded -- is the topic of a new paper by a research team headed by U of G biologist Ryan Norris. The paper was published today in the journal Ecology. Describing a "great circle route" arcing across North America and including a transoceanic flight to South America, the study confirms an epic migration journey that scientists had long suspected but not yet proved. In 2015, Norris and other biologists were the first to show that blackpolls breeding in the Maritimes and New England complete a non-stop transoceanic flight of up to three days and about 2,700 km along the eastern coast of the United States. For this new study, they looked at the full migration of birds from central and western breeding populations. "It's amazing," said Norris, who worked on the study with Hilary Cooke, associate conservation scientist with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. "A bird weighing a couple of loonies travels from the western edge of North America all the way to the Amazon basin - and, in between, traverses the Atlantic Ocean." Other co-authors were integrative biology professor Amy Newman and U of G grad students Bradley Woodworth, Nikole Freeman and Alex Sutton, as well as researchers from other universities, conservation groups and national parks in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. For the study, researchers tracked birds outfitted with tiny geolocators from four boreal forest sites across northern Canada and Alaska. Total southward migration took about 60 days on average over distances ranging from 6,900 km for birds breeding in Churchill, Manitoba, to 10,700 km for populations on the western edge of the continent in Nome, Alaska. Blackpolls from Nome took 18 days to fly across North America to the Atlantic coast of the Carolinas. There, the birds spent almost a month fattening up to double their body weight before a non-stop, 2 -day flight across open water to overwintering grounds in northern Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. They covered between 2,250 and 3,400 km for that transoceanic hop. Norris said scientists had long believed that blackpolls followed the great circle route. Few of the birds have ever been found in the central or western States during fall migration. He said population numbers have fallen in recent years, perhaps caused by habitat loss and declines in insect prey related to climate change. "To understand what's causing the decline, we need to know their full annual cycle," he said. In their paper, the researchers say climate change may make extreme coastal weather events more frequent and more extreme, with unknown impacts on long-distance migratory birds. "As a conservation scientist, what strikes me most is that in a single year a blackpoll warbler has to navigate 20,000 kilometres across land and ocean, facing risks of cat predation, storms and collisions with buildings and vehicles, all while trying to find islands of habitat to rest and refuel in our human-dominated landscapes,"said Cooke. "In comparison, the boreal region of northern Canada provides safe and high-quality breeding habitat for this declining species. Protecting Canada's boreal forest is critical to saving this amazing songbird." Linda Popplewell, Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences, and world-renowned Professor George Dickson, from the School of Biological Sciences, both at Royal Holloway, will lead a team looking for a treatment for NF1, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve tissue. The tumors are usually non-cancerous (benign). The funding has been made possible thanks to the Gilbert Family Foundation in America which was set up by Dan and Jennifer Gilbert, whose eldest son, Nick, suffers from NF1. The Gilbert Family Foundation's goal is to accelerate the development of curative therapies that address the underlying genetic abnormalities in NF1 patients. NF1 is caused by a faulty gene which creates uncontrolled tumors developing in the nervous system. In over half the cases, the faulty gene is passed from a parent to their child. Dr Linda Popplewell, alongside Professor Dickson, is part of Royal Holloway's Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy, and said of the research and grant: "We are very excited to be able to research into curing Neurofibromatosis type 1 and to be working alongside the Gilbert Family Foundation and esteemed colleagues at the University of Alabama. "The three year grant will allow us to take a deeper look in to this rare disease to help the 10s of thousands of people who suffer from this across the world." The UK, actor, presenter and campaigner, Adam Pearson, and his identical twin brother, Neil, both have NF1. Adam said: "As someone who is both effected by NF and considers the Gilbert Family as friends and fellow NF warriors, I could not be more excited about this grant. "It will go on to fund pioneering research into NF1, seeking to improve to lives of those effected by the condition, be it directly or through proximity. "I'm equally excited because, in the field of medical research, it is far too easy to boil things down to rudimentary numbers, medical jargon and desirable outcome - we depersonalise the process. This, however, feels different. This feels highly patient focused with a clear ideology, that whilst we are undoubtedly operating in the medical sphere, we all still hold humanity in highest regard. "It's that humanity, that common characteristic, coupled with an unwavering passion and desire to end NF that makes these next three years an exciting journey to be a part of." The Gilbert Family Foundation believes that directly repairing, replacing or bypassing the NF1 gene mutation is important to find a cure for NF, as Dan Gilbert said: "We are committed to funding revolutionary and big-idea research. The teams we have partnered with share this vision, and our family is honored to be working closely with this talented group of researchers and physicians." Mutualisms, which are interactions between members of different species that benefit both parties, are found everywhere -- from exchanges between pollinators and the plants they pollinate, to symbiotic interactions between us and our beneficial microbes. Natural selection -- the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring -- predicts, however, that mutualisms should fall apart. Individuals that gain from the cooperation of others but do not reciprocate (so-called cheaters) should arise and destabilize mutualisms. Yet to date, surprisingly little evidence of such cheating or destabilization exists. A team of biologists at the University of California, Riverside, has now found strong evidence of this cheating. Focusing on the interaction between nitrogen-fixing bacteria, or rhizobia, and their legume hosts spanning about 530 miles of California habitat, the researchers found that natural selection in their study populations favors cheating rhizobia. The study, appearing in Ecology Letters, is the first to uncover cheater strains in natural populations and show how natural selection favors them. The researchers used a previously published database to quantify the landscape abundance of different rhizobial strains. They focused on naturally occurring populations of rhizobia in the genus Bradyrhizobium and the native annual plants, Acmispon strigosus, that these bacteria inhabit. Within these datasets they found that the fewer benefits the rhizobia provide to their host plants, the more common the rhizobia are. "Our data show that natural selection favors cheating rhizobia, and support predictions that rhizobia can often subvert plant defenses and evolve to exploit hosts," said Joel Sachs, a professor of biology in the Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology, who led the research team. Sachs explained that beneficial bacteria are increasingly appreciated to be key for human health as well as the productivity of crops and livestock. Little is understood, however, about how much these bacterial services vary in natural systems and the forces that modulate them. "In crop plants, in particular, agronomists have attempted -- and failed -- for several decades to design crop biofertilizers based on beneficial bacteria," he said. "Similar challenges have been faced in applying bacteria in other host systems -- probiotics, for example, which rarely affect host microbes. Our dataset suggests a potential flaw in these approaches; the bacteria, with their own evolutionary interests, can destabilize these interactions." In their paper, the researchers show how benefits of bacterial symbionts vary over space and time, and how rapidly these systems can evolve. "We often view the services of bacteria as fixed, but this is not at all true," Sachs said. "Just as each human varies a great deal in almost any trait we can measure, bacterial populations are even more highly variable. Understanding this variation and its drivers will be key to usefully harnessing these bacteria for our own purposes." Already, his team is actively working to better understand how beneficial bacteria can be applied to improve plant growth. Preliminary data show that it is crucial to carefully select among bacterial variants to avoid using harmful strains. "Simply applying beneficial bacteria to a crop is often not going to be sufficient since exploitative strains are expected to be lurking within these populations," Sachs said. Source: https://www.ucr.edu/ Around a fourth of NHS cancer patients have to wait a worryingly long amount of time to start treatment, according to a new NHS England report. The new figures reveal that the health service has not been meeting targets of on-time health care delivery to cancer patients for over 1000 days. Similar figures have emerged from the A&E department performance. For patients diagnosed with cancer, the UK government recommends that treatment should begin within 62 days. At least 85 percent of the patients should be seen during this time. January figures, however, reveal that only 76.2 percent of the patients are seen within this time frame. January 2019 marks five years since the 62-day cancer target was first missed and, despite the best efforts of hard working NHS staff, more than 127,000 people have been left waiting too long to start vital treatment throughout that time. Dr Fran Woodard, Macmillan Cancer Support A spokeswoman from the NHS said, "More people than ever before are coming forward for cancer checks, with a quarter of a million more people getting checked for cancer this year and thousands more being treated within the two-month target. NHS England is investing an additional 10m this year to treat extra people and the NHS Long Term Plan sets out a range of ambitious measures to catch more cancers earlier, which will save thousands of lives every year. Waiting time has not been looking good for the A&E department as well says the report. Only 84.2 percent of the patients are seen within the four hour target time. The recommended numbers of 95 percent have not been met since July 2015, says the report. An NHS spokeswoman said to this, Despite significant increases in demand, almost a quarter of a million more people have been seen and treated within four hours in A&E this winter compared to last year. Ambulance services are responding to life threatening calls faster, with fewer ambulance handover delays at A&E, and significantly more people have got the support they needed to avoid a long stay in hospital. The Royal College of Surgeons has issued a statement saying that 227,569 patients are kept waiting for over six months for a planned procedure. At present 4.16 million people are waiting to start on their treatment says the report. The backlog of patients waiting to start treatment continues to grow. There are now over 100,000 more patients waiting longer than 18 weeks to start treatment when compared with the same time last year. Professor Derek Alderson, President, Royal College of Surgeons. Labours shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth in a statement said, Todays statistics will do little to allay frontline concerns that targets will be changed not on the basis of clinical consensus, but because of political pressure from Tory ministers. He called the situation shameful. The CEC has already held wide-ranging discussions on selection of its candidates for Bihar, Maharashtra, Anadhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chattisgarh and all eight north-eastern states. Though the Congress has announced candidates for 146 Lok Sabha constituencies so far, the BJP is yet to officially make any announcement on its nominees.Meanwhile, intensifying his 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' (I too am a watchman) campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with watchmen across the country today.Earlier, the Congress and the National Conference announced an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha polls, saying it is in national interest and will help strengthen secular forces. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC patron Farooq Abdullah jointly told the media while the Congress will contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Anantnag and Baramulla seats, they said. Abdullah said the two parties are also discussing an arrangement for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat. The state sends six MPs to Lok Sabha.Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati today announced that she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, stressing that it was more important for the SP-BSP alliance to win. I know I can win from any seat, all I have to do is file my nomination and my party workers will take care of the rest. We have a strong alliance with RLD and SP to defeat BJP and it is more important for us to win more seats than for me to win one. I had earlier resigned from Rajya Sabha to keep our movement alive but keeping in mind the current political situation I have decided not to contest LS elections, she said.Rebel BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha is likely to contest on a Congress ticket in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Patna Sahib seat. Earlier reports had said the BJP was set to drop Sinha and replace him with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Shatrughan Sinha has been critical of the party's top leadership on several occasions in the past.Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the BJP had systematically attacked every institution in the last five years, including the media. The PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this, she said in response to Modis blog where he attacked the Congress for dynastic politics. Priyankas attack was followed by senior party leader Kapil Sibal who said the RSS itself was a dynast. It is the biggest dynasty.... if you want to become a CM then you have to be a member of RSS, he said.Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of destroying one crore jobs in 2018 alone despite promising to create two crore jobs annually. Addressing a public rally in the Manipur capital, Gandhi said the job losses under the Modi government were to the tune of 30,000 per day through 2018. "In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed 1 crore jobs in the country. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving 2 crore jobs," Gandhi alleged. Slamming the Centre's demonetisation move of 2016, Gandhi said it shattered people's lives. The grand old party also released its sixth list of nine candidates, seven from Maharashtra and two from Kerala, for the Lok Sabha elections. With this, the party has so far released names of 146 candidates for the polls starting April 11.The opposition Mahagatbandhan in Bihar, which was expected to announce its seat-sharing formula on Sunday, hit a roadblock after RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav asked the Congress to rethink its seat tally to offer better numbers to the other allies. The dispute erupted after Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samata Party demanded to contest on five seats , while it was being offered three. Other allies, Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM and Sharad Yadav's LJD, were also not satisfied with the seat-sharing pact, following which the grand alliance had to rework their formula. They were expected to announce their final distribution of seats today but it has now been delayed to March 22.On the eve of Holi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address over 25 lakh watchmen through audio bridge medium as he steps up his 'Main bhi chowkidar' campaign in the run up to the Lok Sabha campaign.Party's media head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said Modi will share the "colours of Holi" with watchmen across the country in the address on Wednesday. The prime minister is also scheduled to interact with people, who have pledged their support to the 'Main bhi chowkidar' (I also am a watchman) campaign, from 500 places in the country on March 31.Noting that watchmen work round-the-clock without taking any leave, Baluni said Modi's initiative is aimed at highlighting the works of people like them and added that it was an important step for improving the lot of the last man in line with the BJP's credo of 'sabka saath sabka vikas' (With all, development for all). People from different walks of life have lent their support to the 'Main bhi chowkidar' campaign, he asserted.The Congress Tuesday took a swipe at "Main Bhi Chowkidar" campaign, alleging that PM Modi is trying to befool the people by pretending to be a "chowkidar". Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Modi government does not have anything to offer to the people after being in power for five years and therefore, was resorting to such a campaign."Modi is trying to resell his brand which has already flopped and is thus changing its packaging, name and colour to achieve his goal," he told reporters. Surejwala claimed that in 2013, Modi had promised to bring back 80 lakh crore of black money stashed abroad and putting Rs 15 lakh into the accounts of every individual. "In 2014, just ahead of the elections he promised the people of bringing 'achche din' (good days) in the country and in 2015, changed it to 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Sorry! This content is not available in your region New Delhi: Japans Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation Wednesday announced strengthening of their collaboration, including manufacturing of Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza at Toyotas plant in India from 2022. The two partners have agreed to extend their collaboration to Europe and Africa over and above their partnership in India. As part of considering a concrete collaboration in new fields, Suzuki will supply Ciaz sedan and Ertiga multi-purpose vehicle to Toyota in India in addition to the already agreed supplies of premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza. Moreover, Suzuki will supply its India-produced vehicles -- Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz, Ertigato Toyota for the African market as well, the companies said in a joint statement. Toyota on the other hand, will provide Suzuki its hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies in India through local procurement of HEV systems, engines, and batteries, while also supplying THS (Toyota Hybrid System) to Suzuki in the global markets. Commenting on India specific collaboration, the two firms said the partnership will focus on the fields of technological development and production leveraging on each others strength. As part of the programme, Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza will be produced at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) plant from 2022, it said.Moreover, drawing upon Suzukis expertise in developing vehicles in India, the partners plan joint development of a Toyota C-segment MPV and OEM supply (of the same) to Suzuki. Commenting on the development, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said:Through our new agreement, we look forward to the wider use of hybrid technologies, not only in India and Europe, but around the world. At the same time, he said,we believe that the expansion of our business partnership with Suzuki from the mutual supply of vehicles and powertrains to the domains of development and production will help give us the competitive edge we will need to survive this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation. Suzuki Motor Corporation Chairman Osamu Suzuki said since the announcement of scope of cooperation in May last year, the partners had envisaged to strive for success globally. I have seen progress in the partnership since then, and it is my pleasure to be able to make this announcement today regarding the status of partnership on a global basis, including Europe and Africa, Suzuki said. In addition, he said,we appreciate the kind offer from Toyota to let us make use of their hybrid technology. We will continue our utmost efforts. As part of the new plans, in Europe, Toyota will adopt newly developed Suzuki engines for compact vehicles. Such engines will be supported by Denso and Toyota, and will be manufactured at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland. On the other hand, Toyota will supply two new electrified vehicles built on its platforms (RAV4, Corolla Wagon) to Suzuki in Europe. Moving forward, insofar as Toyota and Suzuki continue to fairly and freely compete against each other, both companies intend to consider further collaboration to realise a sustainable future mobility society while respecting all applicable laws, the statement said. In March last year, the two Japanese companies had concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other in the Indian market. As per the agreement, Suzuki supplies premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota supplies sedan Corolla to Suzuki. In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki concluded an agreement towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components. Subsequently, in November 2017 the companies announced an MoU to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in India around 2020. New Delhi: Fugitive billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested in London on Wednesday. Nirav Modi was arrested from London's Holborn metro station, UK Police was quoted as saying by ANI. He is produced in Westminster court at 11.20 am local time. The next hearing in the case in Westminster court will take place on March 29 before Chief Magistrate The provisional arrest warrant against the billionaire, who was recently spotted on the streets of London wearing an Ostrich skin jacket worth almost Rs 10 lakh, was issued by the Westminster court. On March 18, the court had issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition from the UK in a money laundering case. "Nirav Deepak Modi was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities this afternoon (Tuesday, 19 March) in Holborn. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court tomorrow (Wednesday, 20 March)," Scotland Yard said in a statement. The Congress, however, said that Nirav Modis arrest was an attempt by the NDA government to win the Lok Sabha Elections. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that, Modi government had sent Nirav Modi outside India, now it is bringing him to win elections. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added. It would seem that his arrest is on an extradition warrant, details of which would become clear when he appears before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London The prime accused in the $2 billion PNB fraud case, Modi was given Gold Visa by the UK government for his stay in London. Living in a palatial 8-million-pound apartment, Nirav Modi had allegedly already started a new business called Diamond Holdings. The details, which have been reported by the Times of India on Saturday last week, show that the absconding diamantaire is not affected by any probe back home in India. According to the report, the Gold Visa, which was introduced by the UK government in 2008, allows a person to stay, set up business or study in the country for period of five years. The only prerequisite is that the candidate must give 2-million-pound investment commitment to the authorities. This means that for roughly Rs 18 crore (calculated on the current exchange rates), the man behind Indias biggest banking scam was living without any trouble in the UK. The development comes a day after PTI quoted CBI sources saying that expeditious efforts are being made to get absconding jeweller Nirav Modi extradited from the United Kingdom. Nirav Modi had fled after allegedly siphoning off about Rs 13,0000 crore from Punjab National Bank using Letters of Undertaking. The 48-year old Nirav Modi was recently spotted in a tony neighbourhood of London wearing a 10,000 Pound Ostrich hide jacket by the London-based newspaper The Telegraph. On Tuesday also, several Indian channels spotted him in the area. After fleeing from the country in the first week of January last year, he was seen in a Press Information Bureau group photograph of CEOs and top brass of Indian corporate sector with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. The CBI registered an FIR against him on January 31 on the basis of complaint against him. It was followed by another FIR by the agency against him. The CBI, in its chargesheets filed on May 14, had alleged that Nirav Modi, through his companies, siphoned off funds to the tune of Rs 6,498.20 crore using fraudulent LoUs issued from PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. It is alleged that Nirav Modi and his associates through their companies availed of credit from overseas branches of Indian banks using fraudulent guarantees of the PNB given through LoUs and letters of credit which were not repaid, bringing the liability on the state-run bank, the officials said. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who was arrested in London in Rs 13,000-crore PNB scam case on Wednesday, told the Westminster Magistrates' Court that he is currently employed by Diamond Holdings Ltd the UK capital for a monthly salary of 20,000 pounds (more than Rs 18 lakh) and pays his council tax regularly. The court was told that Modi arrived in London in January 2018 before any of the allegations emerged and has maintained a very "visible" presence and offered to cooperate with the UK authorities since his arrival. The diamantaire also showed salary slips of 20,000 pounds and his National Insurance (NI) number as proof that he was paying tax. The court on Wednesday remanded Modi in custody till March 29, saying there are "substantial grounds" to believe that he would fail to surrender if granted bail. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48, was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said. His arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition in a money laundering case. Modi was produced before the Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, where he contested his extradition to India. District Judge Marie Mallon, presiding over the hearing, said she was not inclined to accept Modi's bail plea due the "high value amount" attached to the allegations against him and that he would have "every incentive" to evade surrendering before the court. "There are substantial grounds to believe that you would fail to surrender before the court if bail were to be granted," the judge said and remanded Modi in custody till next hearing on March 29. He is likely to be held in a separate cell in Her Majesty's Prison Wandsworth, which is one of the largest prisons in western Europe. Modi, dressed in a plain white shirt and trousers, appeared in the dock where he spoke only to confirm his name and also to formally decline consent to be extradited to India. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), representing the Indian authorities in court, told the court that Modi was wanted in India for fraud and money laundering amounting to the tune of USD 2 billion. Under UK domestic law, the CPS said he is liable on charges of conspiracy to fraud, which has a maximum jail term of seven years, and conspiracy to conceal, which could result in anywhere between seven, 10 and life term in jail. "We do object to bail because there are substantial grounds to believe the requested person (Modi) would fail to surrender," said Barrister Jonathan Swain, appearing for the CPS and on behalf of the Indian government. Modi's legal team was headed by Barrister George Hepburne-Scott and his solicitor, Anand Doobay, is the same legal expert hired by former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya in his extradition proceedings against India in the UK courts. Modi's team made their case for bail, offering 500,000 pounds as security and an offer to adhere to stringent conditions. "He strongly contests all the allegations and is prepared with comprehensive arguments to support his case...his legal team has had months contact with the extradition squad and expressed his willingness to cooperate," Hepburne-Scott said. It emerged in court that Modi was arrested from a Metro Bank branch in London by uniformed officers Tuesday, when he went there to open a new bank account. A bank clerk alerted Scotland Yard as a result of the "high publicity" surrounding the case and police officers arrived to execute the arrest. This over-rode a previous arrangement made between Scotland Yard's extradition unit and Modi's lawyers for him to surrender by appointment at a central London police station on Monday, something his legal team blamed on the nature of publicity surrounding the case. The location of the arrest indicates that Modi, wanted in India in connection with the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank scam case, was arrested from where he is believed to have been living in a plush apartment in Centre Point in the West End. It also emerged in court that Modi was in possession of three passports, all since revoked by India. The court was told that Modi arrived in London in January 2018 before any of the allegations emerged and has maintained a very "visible" presence and offered to cooperate with the UK authorities since his arrival. He is currently employed by Diamond Holdings Ltd in London for a monthly salary of 20,000 pounds and pays his council tax regularly, his lawyers said. In New Delhi, ED sources said they expect a "faster" process of extradition in Modi's case, as compared to Mallya, as this is a instance of "clear defraud" of bank loan money. They said the ED and the CBI have already sent in "good amount of evidence-based documents" for the courts in UK to peruse. Unlike Mallya, who was granted immediate bail on his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 on fraud and money laundering charges, Modi's case will now take a slightly different course as he remains in custody while court proceedings take place. UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid had certified India's extradition request for Modi earlier this month, triggering the legal process in the courts, which led to the issuance of a warrant last week. News of the certification of India's request came just as Modi was tracked down to a three-bedroom flat in the Centre Point tower block of luxury apartments in the West End of London. Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. Modi is one of India's richest men, worth an estimated USD 1.75 billion, according to Forbes. He launched his own eponymous brand in 2010 and he soon had stores across India, as well as in New York, London and Hong Kong. His diamond-encrusted designs were worn by Hollywood stars like Kate Winslet, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Naomi Watts, while the Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra-Jonas appeared in advertisements for the brand. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a veiled attack at the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the Congress on Wednesday said fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi's arrest in the USD 2 billion PNB scam case is an attempt by the ruling party to derive a political mileage in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. Speaking to reporters, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Modi government had sent Nirav Modi outside India, now it is bringing him to win elections". "They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country and they will send him back after elections," Azad added. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress on Nirav Modi arrested in London: They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, now they are bringing him back. They are bringing him back for the elections, they will send him back after elections. pic.twitter.com/JNYGnJYlkP a ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Reacting strong to BJP's claim that Nirav Modi's arrest in London is an achievement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked "Is this an achievement? Who allowed him to flee the country?" Nirav Modi's arrest by London's Scotland Yard in connection with the infamous PNB scam case comes days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," it added. The BJP government at the Centre has been recieving a wide backlash ever since a report published by a British daily The Telegraph claimed that the billionaire diamantaire was living openly in a lavish 8-million-pound apartment in London's West End and started a new diamond business in Soho. With this, the Congress accused the Modi government of having "slept and snoozed" while Nirav Modi set up a diamond business in London after fleeing the country with the support of a firm linked to the Panama Papers. It asked the government why it could not trace him globe-trotting, despite having the resources of all the probe agencies at its disposal. To bolster its point, the party produced a timeline of Nirav Modi's travels to several countries after he fled from India on January 1 and after revocation of his passport by the Indian government on February 23. The party also pointed out how Nirav Modi has been able to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in London, where he was spotted on March 9 by The Telegraph team, wearing a 10,000 pound ostrich hide jacket. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate will sell 173 paintings and 11 vehicles "beneficially owned" by Nirav Modi after it obtained permission from a special court in Mumbai on Wednesday, officials said. The same court, they said, also issued a non-bailable warrant against his wife Ami after the ED recently filed a supplementary charge sheet underlining her role in the USD 2 billion PNB scam. The ED will put on sale the 173 paintings of Modi which are valued at Rs 57.72 crore and eleven vehicles that include Rolls Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota Fortuner. A public auction will be held later this month, the officials said. The court, they said, also allowed the Income Tax Department to sell another 68 paintings seized by it as part of its separate probe against the absconding diamantaire. Earlier today, Nirav Modi was arrested from London's Holborn metro station, UK Police was quoted as saying by ANI. He will be produced in Westminster court later today. The provisional arrest warrant against the billionaire, who was recently spotted on the streets of London wearing an Ostrich skin jacket worth almost Rs 10 lakh, was issued by the Westminster court. On March 18, the court had issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition from the UK in a money laundering case. Enforcement Directorate gets permission from PMLA court in Mumbai to sell 173 paintings (in pic-one of the paintings). 11 cars to also be auctioned. NBW has been issued by PMLA court against Ami Modi, wife of #NiravModi: ANI quoting ED sources Full story: https://t.co/87JWvRNsEt pic.twitter.com/8npSRRLkLd News Nation (@NewsNationTV) March 20, 2019 Today Special Court (PMLA) Mumbai was pleased to allow ED to auction 11 vehicles (Rolls Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota Fortuner etc.) owned by Nirav Modi in #bankfraud case. 1 pic.twitter.com/dSXmEEReu5 ED (@dir_ed) March 20, 2019 The Congress, however, said that Nirav Modis arrest was an attempt by the NDA government to win the Lok Sabha Elections. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that Modi government had sent Nirav Modi outside India, now it is bringing him to win elections. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added. Also read: Nirav Modi, fugitive diamantaire, arrested in London, to be produced in Westminster court shortly It would seem that his arrest is on an extradition warrant, details of which would become clear when he appears before Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. The prime accused in the $2 billion PNB fraud case, Modi was given Gold Visa by the UK government for his stay in London. Living in a palatial 8-million-pound apartment, Nirav Modi had allegedly already started a new business called Diamond Holdings. The details, which have been reported by the Times of India on Saturday last week, show that the absconding diamantaire is not affected by any probe back home in India. According to the report, the Gold Visa, which was introduced by the UK government in 2008, allows a person to stay, set up business or study in the country for period of five years. The only prerequisite is that the candidate must give 2-million-pound investment commitment to the authorities. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi is on high alert following a specific input by the intel agencies for a terror attack on Holi tomorrow. News Nation has learnt that the sleeper cell of the terror outfits will try to mingle in the public disguised as Holi revellers to carry out the attack. Delhi DCP Chinmay Biswal told News Nation that security has been beefed up across the city. More police force has been deployed at the sensitive locations. The PCR vans of Delhi Police are also making public announcements to spread awareness among the general public. Biswal said that the cops stationed in all 15 districts of the National Capital have also increased the patrolling in their respective areas. Forces have been on high alert since the Pulwama terror attack. Last year, the NIA had carried out massive anti-terror raids across Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Fresh raids were also carried out in January this year. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had conducted fresh raids on eight places in western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in connection with its probe against an ISIS-inspired module Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam. The group was allegedly planning suicide attacks and serial blasts, targeting politicians and government installations, in the national capital and other parts of north India. The fresh raids come five days after the counter-terror probe agency arrested Muhammad Absar (24) from Hapur on January 12. The agency had earlier said it had seized a locally made rocket launcher, material for suicide vests and 112 alarm clocks to be used as timers besides recovering 25 kg of explosive material -- Potassium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, and Sulphur. The group had allegedly purchased remote-controlled cars and wireless doorbells to use their circuits in assembling remote-controlled improvised explosive devices. Besides, the NIA had also seized steel containers, electric wires, 91 mobile phones, 134 SIM cards, 3 laptops, knife, sword, ISIS-related literature during the searches conducted earlier. New Delhi: Amid reports of severe strain with the Congress, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has come out in support of the Mahagathbandhan and said that the alliance is intact. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Yadav said that all is well. When quizzed about the impending announcement of the candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said that it will be done after Holi on Friday. Amid reports of severe strain with the Congress, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has come out in support of the Mahagathbandhan and said that the alliance is intact. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Yadav said that all is well. When quizzed about the impending announcement of the candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said that it will be done after Holi on Friday. Earlier, there were reports that the seat sharing among constituents of the Oppositions "mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) in Bihar for the Lok Sabha polls will be announced on March 18. The statement was made by Hindustani Awami Morcha (Secular) president Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Saturday last week. On Thursday, Bihar Congress Campaign Committee chairman Akhilesh Prasad Singh had said the seat sharing would be declared on Sunday. "I had a talk with Jitan Ram Manjhi who said (RJD leader) Tejashwi Prasad Yadav will not be available tomorrow in the state capital. So the seat-sharing among partners in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats will be announced on Monday," state Congress president Madan Mohan Jha told PTI. The 'mahagathbandhan', as the grand alliance is called in local parlance, comprises old allies like the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, besides new entrants such as Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP, the HAM(S), Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal and the Vikashsheel Insaan Party, a fledgling outfit floated by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni. "Two rounds of talks among the grand alliance partners have been held in Delhi and another round will be held in Patna tomorrow," Manjhi said. An agreement has been virtually reached on the number of seats the HAM(S) would contest, Manjhi said without divulging details. He said his party wanted to contest in five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Earlier in the day, Manjhi's son Santosh Kumar Suman, an MLC and the party's parliamentary board chairman, said an agreement over 3-4 seats have been reached and the deadlock over the other seats will be resolved Sunday. After the RJD, the HAM(S) has the strongest support base among the grand alliance partners in the state and it is not less than that of the Congress, he asserted. When pointed out that the Congress has been given 11 seats and the HAM(S) only five, Manjhi said the Bihar Congress had demanded 11 seats, but it has not been finalised. The state Congress chief said, "It is difficult to satisfy everyone, given a large number of partners. But everyone would be in a comfortable zone". Everything has almost been finalised with regard to seat sharing in the alliance, RJD spokesperson Mriyunjay Tiwary said. Polling in Bihar will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. New Delhi: Congress and National Conference have sealed alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections. National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said Jammu and Udhampur will be contested by Congress. I will contest from Srinagar and there will be a friendly contest between NC and Congress in Anantnag and Baramulla. We are also discussing the Ladakh seat, he said. Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad said, alliance has been finalised in the national interest, to strengthen secular forces in Jammu and Kashmir as the state faces threat from Pakistan. Clarifying on the friendly contest thing Azad said, friendly contest means that there will be no cut-throat contest between us on these two seats (Anantnag and Baramulla). If either Congress or NC wins, it's a win-win situation for both of us. NC parliamentary board had on Monday decided to field party president Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency and senior leader and former Speaker of the state assembly Muhammad Akbar Lone from the Baramulla-Kupwara Lok Sabha constituency. The NC has not yet announced the candidates Jammu region and one in the Ladakh region of the state. Earlier, there were speculations that the pre-poll alliance between NC-Congress have hit a dead-end after National Conference announced its candidate for the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency. Anantnag Lok Sabha seat has been a bone of contention between the NC and Congress. National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah had set a precondition to contest all three seats in Kashmir for any alliance to take place. In exchange, NC was willing to support Congress in the two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh. However, Congress had insisted on contesting from four seats, two from the Jammu region, one from Ladakh and from Anantnag. On Tuesday, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti dismissed reports of an alliance with the Congress and said the party is preparing to contest all the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. "We are preparing to contest all the six seats," Mehbooba told reporters late Tuesday night. "We had no talks with Congress (on alliance). It is mere speculation. If they want to have an alliance with the National Conference, that is their internal matter," she said. Mehbooba Mufti will also chair a meeting on Wednesday here to finalise the partys candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi: A girl student wearing a 'Namo' t-shirt was allegedly harassed by Congress workers at AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's rally in Varanasi on Wednesday. Speaking to a TV channel the girl said that she wears the particular t-shirt whenever she likes. She also said that when she went and tried to meet Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress workers allegedly manhandled her and accused her of being a BJP supporter and staging the whole scene. Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the guilty would surely be brought to task. The incident took place on Day 3 of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's Ganga Yatra. She visited the Vindhyavasini Devi temple in Mirzapur. Priyanka, who is considered as second most important face in Congress after her brother and party President Rahul Gandhi, performed 'aarti' at the temple. Later, she visited the Dargah of Maulana Ismail Chisti in Bhadohi's Kantit area and interacted with people there. From Bhadohi, the Congress leader will then again be back to steamer ride from Mirzapur. She will interact with advocates at Kachahri Ghat in the district and then visit Bhatauli village and meet people there. New Delhi: Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, son of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Vijaysinh Mohite Patil who was himself a former MP of the party, joined the BJP on Wednesday. The development comes as a massive jolt to the Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra, where NCP chief Sharad Pawar has already declared that he won't be contesting the general elections. Ranjitsinh is all set to contest from Madha set as a BJP candidate. His decision to quit the NCP comes days after Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, joined the BJP to contest from Ahmednagar seat, in the wake of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP spurning the Vikhe Patil senior's request to leave aside Ahmedanagar Lok Sabha seat for his son. Vijaysinh had served as a deputy chief minister in the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government. The Mohite Patil senior said he was "in agreement" with his son's decision. It is not known immediately whether Vijaysinh will also join the BJP, as is being speculated. Ranjitsinh, who reportedly held talks with Fadnavis and also with state minister Girish Mahajan before announcing his shift, heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Nitin Gadkari for "working to solve problems of farmers". NCP sources said Vijaysinh, one of the five MPs of the party from Maharashtra, is feeling sidelined in the party. He had requested NCP chief Sharad Pawar to contest from faction-ridden Madha seat. However, after keeping NCP leaders and workers guessing whether he would enter the Lok Sabha fray from Madha, Pawar, in a U-turn, announced that he was not keen to contest. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday asked the political parties to desist during their Lok Sabha poll campaigns from indulging in any propaganda involving actions taken by defence forces. Earlier on March 9, the poll panel asked parties and their candidates to not use pictures of defence force personnel in their campaign material. "...Parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the advisory issued on Tuesday said. The commission said the new advisory is in continuation to its earlier one on use of pictures of defence personnel in campaigning. The latest advisory of the EC comes against the backdrop of complaints against parties for using the armed forces for political gains, especially in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack and the February 26 air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) deep inside Pakistan. The EC's direction came after a picture showing a hoarding with images of IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and leaders of a party. The poll panel also asked parties and religious leaders to refrain from using places of worship for propaganda and also not indulge in activities that may cause tensions between different castes and communities. The poll body's directions come days after the BJP requested it to appoint special observers at mosques to prevent attempts to "polarise voters on religious lines" during the elections. "As per the Model Code of Conduct, the use of caste and religion during the election campaign is strictly prohibited," a statement issued by Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer said. It said no political and religious leader or any other person is "allowed to indulge in any activity that aggravates existing differences or cause tension between different caste or communities, religious or linguistic". The Election Commission had on March 11 warned parties in Kerala against using the Sabarimala temple matter in their campaigns, saying "citing or invoking" religious propaganda on the issue is a clear violation of the model code of conduct. In January 2017, the Supreme Court had outlawed seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, race, community or language. The Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 11 and continue till May 19 across seven phases. The Model Code of Conduct is in place since March 10 when the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha poll schedule. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: After National Conference announced its candidate for the Anantnag Parliamentary constituency, hopes of a pre-poll alliance between NC-Congress have hit a dead-end. NC on Tuesday fielded former Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi from the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. The 65-year-old former judge, who retired from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in January 2016, is currently serving as the chairman of Selection-cum-Oversight Committee under the Juvenile Justice Act. NC has now announced candidates for all three seats in the Valley. "The party has decided to field Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi from the Anantnag-Pulwama parliamentary constituency," NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar told reporters at party's head office at Nawai-Subha. Anantnag Lok Sabha seat has been a bone of contention between the NC and Congress. NC parliamentary board had on Monday decided to field party president Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency and senior leader and former Speaker of the state assembly Muhammad Akbar Lone from the Baramulla-Kupwara Lok Sabha constituency. The NC has not yet announced the candidates Jammu region and one in the Ladakh region of the state. National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah had set a precondition to contest all three seats in Kashmir for any alliance to take place. In exchange, NC was willing to support Congress in the two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh. However, Congress had insisted on contesting from four seats, two from the Jammu region, one from Ladakh and from Anantnag. NCs candidate from Anantnag, Justice Masoodi, in October 2015, had ruled that Article 370, granting special status to the state, is permanent. "Article 370 though titled as 'Temporary Provision' and included in Para XXI titled 'Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions' has assumed place of permanence in the Constitution," a division bench of justices Hasnain Masoodi and Janak Raj Kotwal had ruled. "It is beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation, in as much as Constituent Assembly of the State before its dissolution did not recommend its Amendment or repeal," the bench had added. New Delhi: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday dismissed reports of an alliance with the Congress and said the party is preparing to contest all the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. "We are preparing to contest all the six seats," Mehbooba told reporters late Tuesday night. "We had no talks with Congress (on alliance). It is mere speculation. If they want to have an alliance with the National Conference, that is their internal matter," she said. Mehbooba Mufti will also chair a meeting on Wednesday here to finalise the partys candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir. Peoples Democratic Party has only named one candidateformer trade union leader, Abdul Qayoom Wanifrom Baramulla seat. The partys chief spokesperson Muhammad Rafi Mir said candidates for the remaining seats will be finalised at a meeting, to be chaired by Mehbooba, on March 20. There are speculations that Mehbooba Mufti might herself contest the election from southern Kashmir. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister, began the campaign trail from north Kashmirs Kupwara district but other party leaders stayed put in south Kashmir, holding a party convention in Kulgam district. The PDP campaign strategy seems to be a mirror image of the NC strategy as the party has focussed on areas where they have lost ground over the years. Sajad Gani Lones Peoples Conference has made major inroads in the past five years in Kupwara district while the PDP managed to win only one of the four seats in Kulgam district in the 2014 assembly elections, in spite of a strong wave in its favour at that time. Replying to a question on the death of a teacher in police custody in Kashmir, she said the incident was unfortunate. "It will further take children towards violence and terror, as you all know what happened recently in Pulwama, where a youth attacked a CRPF vehicle and brought India and Pakistan to brink of war," Mufti said. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said top industrialists run away with huge money when 'chowidar' kept watching. Varanasi: The three-day long 'Ganga Yatra' of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary of Uttar Pradesh (east), concluded on Wednesday after she offered prayers at Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was her fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj on Monday. Priyanka, who is incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, was on a three-day boat journey down the Ganga, meeting people living on the banks of the holy river as part of her outreach ahead of the general election beginning on April 11. She started her day with interaction with party workers at the Chunar Fort and later paid tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri at the Shastri Chowk and Shastri Memorial, the house of the former Prime Minister in his ancestral village Ramnagar. Party workers followed her around raising slogans like "Gali gali me shor hai, chowkidar' chor hai" and "Dahan karne Modi ki Lanka, aa gai behen Priyanka". Meanwhile, a minor scuffle broke out between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress supporters when BJP leaders objected to the slogan. BJP supporters had also raised pro-Modi slogans when Priyanka visited the Vindhyavasini Temple in Mirzapur's Vindhyachal on Tuesday. She also took the boat ride from the Ramnagar Ghat to Assi Ghat, where she interacted with the locals - mainly fishermen, people of the Jain community and women. Earlier, she attacked PM Modi and said that he should stop thinking that people are fools. "The prime minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part," Priyanka Gandhi told reporters. "So I think the PM should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all this," she added. The Congress general secretary went on to say that she is not afraid of being harassed. "Even if anything is done, and we are harassed, we will not feel afraid. We will continue our fight against them. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be our fight," she said. On the first day of her visit, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal on the second day of her campaign. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. New Delhi: Disgruntled BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha is likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar on a Congress ticket, according to sources. The development comes amid the BJP, during the Chief Election Committee meeting, deciding to drop Sinha from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency from where he is currently a sitting MP, they added. According to reports, the decision was taken in the meeting which was chaired by BJP president Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihars Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and partys Bihar unit chief Nityanand Rai. Also, Sinha is likely to be replaced by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib seat. Last week, Sinha had hinted that he would not be working under Narendra Modi anymore, tweeting an Urdu verse that implied the Prime Minister may not have dearth of admirers but the dissident BJP leader would not be one of them. Though he did not mention Prime Minister Modi in his tweets, the wordings made it clear who he was referring too. In his tweets, Sinha often refers to the Prime Minister as "sir". Associated with the BJP since the 1990s, Sinha fell out with the party's leadership in the recent past, complaining it has become a "one-man show and two-man army"-- a reference apparently to the Prime Minister and his trusted aide and party president Amit Shah. Sinha has repeatedly asserted he would seek a re-election from the Patna Sahib seat though it may be as a candidate of a different party. Sinha had served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and is serving his second consecutive term as MP from Patna Sahib. He has also indicated that an announcement on which of the opposition parties he will be joining was likely next week. highlights In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the state and won all the 5 seats. The BJP won 57 seats in the 2017 Assembly polls. The Congress won 11. Trivendra Singh Rawat became the chief minister in 2017. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has finally sounded the poll bugle and declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on March 10. The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11. The results will be declared on May 23. 91 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 11, followed by 97 constituencies in the second phase on April 18. The third phase will be held on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. 115 constituencies will go for polls in the third phase, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. We are also gearing up for the elections and are coming up with a series: 2019 Lok Sabha Election Analysis: What happened in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls? What will happen this year? Let us look at the political scenario in the state of Uttarakhand. The BJP swept the state in 2017 and decimated the Congress party in the Assembly elections. Trivendra Singh Rawat became the chief minister beating several senior contenders such as Bhagat Singh Koshyari, BC Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party emerged victorious on all the 5 parliamentary seats. The party repeated its performance in the 2017 Assembly elections also. The BJP ruled the state from 2000 (formation year) to 2002 and lost the state at the hands of the Congress. Nityanand Swami was the first chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2001 and was replaced by Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Veteran Congress leader Narayan Datt Tiwari then had an uninterrupted reign from 2002 to 2007. In 2007 Assembly polls, the BJP made a comeback in the state and formed its government under the leadership of Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri. However, Khanduri was replaced by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in 2009 after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. The party lost all the five seats in the state. However, Khanduri again became the chief minister just before 5 months of the Assembly elections. The party lost the elections in a very close fight with Congress. The saffron party managed to win 31 seats in the 70-member Assembly whereas the Congress got 32 seats and cobbled up a coalition with the BSP, the UKD and some independents to form the government in the state. Vijay Bahuguna became the chief minister but was later removed by the party after the mismanagement of 2013 Uttarakhand floods. Harish Rawat replaced Bahuguna in 2014. Let's discuss state politics in detail. Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will you vote? Know poll dates of your seat here Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will Uttarakhand vote? Uttarakhand will vote in a single phase on April 11. Polling will be held on Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Almora, Garhwal and Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar seats in the first phase. What happened in Uttarakhand in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections? In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the state and won all the 5 seats in Uttarakhand. The BJP received 24,29,698 votes with a whopping vote share of 55.93 per cent. The Congress drew a blank in the yet another state and received 14,94,440 votes with a vote share of 34.40 per cent. The BSP got the vote share of around 5 per cent in the elections. BJP's Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah defeated Congress candidate Saket Bahuguna, son of Vijay Bahuguna, by over 1,90,000 votes in Tehri Garhwal constituency. In Garhwal constituency, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri defeated Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat by over 1,80,000 votes. BJP's Ajay Tamta defeated Congress candidate Pradeep Tamta by over 95,000 votes in Almora. In Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar seat, Congress candidate KC Singh Baba was humbled by BJP's senior leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari by a massive margin of over 2,80,000 votes. Even Harish Rawat's wife Renuka Rawat couldn't win the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat and lost at the hands of BJP's Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank by over 1,75,000 votes. Several senior Congress leaders like Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat and Satpal Maharaj revolted against Harish Rawat and joined the BJP before the polls. According to our analysis, the BJP was ahead in 63 Assembly segments during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress was leading on just 7. The 2014 Lok Sabha polls was a complete reversal of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls when the Congress party won all the 5 seats in the state. What was the result of Uttarakhand Assembly Elections in 2017? The BJP carried forward its Lok Sabha success in the Assembly elections also in Uttarakhand and defeated the ruling Congress in the state. The BJP won 57 seats in the state and received 23,14,250 votes with a vote share of 46.5 per cent. The total strength of the Uttarakhand Assembly is 70. The Congress was reduced to 11 seats in the state with a vote share of 33.5 per cent. The party received 16,66,379 votes in the state. The BSP managed to get 7 per cent votes in the polls. In 2012 Assembly polls, the Congress won 32 seats whereas the BJP was successful in 31 seats. What is the current scenario in Uttarakhand in 2019? The BJP and the Congress are the two principal parties in Uttarakhand with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as a third force in the state. According to reports, the BJP is not going to give tickets to its veteran leaders Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshyari this time from Garhwal and Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituencies respectively. The party is likely to field Tirath Singh Rawat and Ajay Bhatt from these two constituencies this time. The saffron party, however, may retain its sittings MPs Ajay Tamta, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. In a big jolt to the BJP, BC Khanduri's son Manish Khanduri joined the Congress party in the presence of Rahul Gandhi and is likely to be fielded from Garhwal seat. The party may opt for Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh from Haridwar and Tehri Garhwal seats respectively. Congress president Rahul Gandhi with former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat. (File photo: PTI) The BJP has won the Almora Lok Sabha seat 6 times since 1991 barring 2009 when it lost the seat to the Congress. The saffron party has won the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat 5 times since 1991 and lost the seat in a row in 2004 to the Samajwadi Party and in 2009 to the Congress. The party was successful on Tehri Garhwal seat for 5 consecutive times from 1991 to 2004 and 7 times overall. The party lost the seat to Congress leader Vijay Bahuguna in 2007 bypoll and 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have forged an alliance in Uttarakhand replicating their Uttar Pradesh pact in the state also. The BSP will announce its candidates for four seats, while the SP will field its candidate on a single seat. However, there is no third force in the state as such and the battle is likely to be fought between the two national parties in Uttarakhand. What is News Nation Opinion Poll verdict in Uttarakhand? According to News Nation Opinion Poll, the BJP is likely to get 42 per cent of vote share in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Congress may get 34 per cent of votes, predicts the poll. The BJP may win 4 seats, the Congress can win 1 seat in 2019. So, the BJP is projected to lose a seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Uttarakhand. According to the poll, the Congress can open its account this time in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a massive double-digit lead over Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Uttarakhand when the respondents were asked about their favourite Prime Ministerial candidate in 2019. Modi got the backing of 52 per cent people, while only 23 per cent chose Rahul Gandhi. New Delhi: Akshay Kumar starrer war drama, Kesari will hit the theatres this week and the actor is seen busy with the promotions of the movies. Recently, during a promotional interview, Akshay expressed his desire to see the battle of Saragarhi on which the movie is based to be included in school syllabus. Bombay times quoted, "People celebrate Saragarhi Day in Britain, but here, our children have no idea about the war where 21 Sikh soldiers fought 10,000 invaders, knowing that they will die. They managed to kill 900. We are happy to see fictitious war films but dont celebrate our real stories of bravery. I hope that the Battle Of Saragarhi will now be added to our history books. Sunir Kheterpal of Azure Films who has co-produced the film said that they have got the films idea at Saragarhi Memorial at Ferozepur. The Battle of Saragarhi was fought between the British Indian army's Sikh Regiment and Afghan tribesmen on September 12, 1897. Saragarhi was a tiny village in the then North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). The British Indian contingent comprised 21 Jat Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikhs who were stationed at an Army post and were attacked by 10,000 to 12,000 Afghans. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the Sikhs chose to fight to the death, in what is touted by some military historians as one of history's greatest battles ever fought. Akshay Kumar will be next seen in Housefull 4 and Sooryavanshi. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: India on Tuesday again issued a Note Verbale to Pakistan Foreign Ministry saying Pakistani agencies are "harassing and tailing" Indian diplomats, including a Naval adviser, in Islamabad. Even on Tuesday, issued a similar Note Verbale. According to the note on Tuesday, India cited 13 instances of harassment in the month of March itself and asked Pakistan to stop such incidents and investigate the matter. News agency ANI reported that on March 8, a first secretary was aggressively tailed by Pakistani security agency personnel in a car while proceeding from the Chancery to the bank. On the same day, the Naval adviser was aggressively tailed by Pakistani security agency in a car while proceeding from Chancery to his residence. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The blackbox data of the Mirage 2000 which crashed in Bengaluru in February 2019, killing both the pilots, suggests that it was not due to the pilots error, but indicates towards technical malfunction related to sensors. A court of inquiry will ascertain cause of accident is still going on. The black box of the Mirage-2000 trainer aircraft was sent to France's Dassault Aviation, the Original Equipment Manufacturer, for decoding of its data. A black box collects in-flight information and decrypting it gives insights about the aircraft's activities. Usually the decoding of the black box takes place in India, but this black box was sent to France because it was badly burnt in the crash on February 1, the official added. Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and Squadron Leader Siddhartha Negi, both from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, were killed in the crash at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport in Bengaluru. They were conducting an acceptance sortie of the newly upgraded Mirage-2000 trainer jet. Several reasons -- such as mechanical failure in the aircraft -- have been cited as possible reasons for the crash and the black box is a vital link to determine the exact cause. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Indian Air Force are jointly investigating the reasons behind the crash. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Special NIA Court in Panchkula on Wednesday acquitted all four accused, including Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary, in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case. It came soon after the court dismissed an application filed by Pakistan national Rahila Wakil, who had requested the court to examine eyewitnesses from her country. During the hearing, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier objected to the application moved by Wakil on March 11 to allow her to appear as a witness. The agency told the court that Wakil was not among 13 verified witnesses who were summoned by the court. In a last-minute application to the anti-terror court, Wakeel, the daughter of blast victim Muhammad Wakeel of Hafizabad district in Pakistan, sought examination of eyewitnesses from her country and contended that her co-nationals either did not receive proper summonses from the court or were denied visas by authorities to appear before it. Samjhauta Blast Case: Visuals of Aseemanand from Panchkula Court. He and three others were acquitted by Court. #Haryana pic.twitter.com/chjsCm28IS a ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 The case pertained to the criminal conspiracy which resulted in bomb blasts in the Attari or Samjhauta Express train near Panipat. The NIA, in investigations over a period of almost one year, had held that the entire conspiracy was hatched between 2005 and 2007 by Aseemanand, Joshi and their associates at different places including Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It further had said that Aseemanand was upset with terrorist attacks on temples -- Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan Mandir (Varanasi). He used to "give vent to" his feelings while discussing it with Joshi and his associates. As a result, Aseemanand propounded a "bomb ka badla bomb" (Bomb for a bomb) theory, according to the NIA. The Samjhauta train was chosen as most of its passengers are Pakistani citizens, it said. The Samjhauta Express, also called Attari Express, is a bi-weekly train that runs on Wednesdays and Sundays - between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A CRPF jawan allegedly shot dead three of his colleagues from his service rifle and later shot himselfA after an altercation at their campA in Jammuas UdhampurA on Wednesday evening. The alleged fratricide incident happened at around 10 pm when constable Ajit KumarA killed head constable Pokarmal, resident of JhunJhunu in Rajasthan, head constable Yogender Sharma, resident of Maujpur in Delhi and head constable Umeed Singh, resident of A Rewari in Haryana,A at the 187th battalion camp of the force in Udhampur. The officials said while three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men were killed in the firing, Kumar also shot himself and is critical in a hospital. The incident is said to be triggered after the jawans had an altercation. Senior CRPF and police officials have rushed to the spot, officials said. J&K: 3 CRPF personnel of 187th battalion shot dead by another jawan at battalion's headquarters in Udhampur's Battal Ballian earlier tonight. Harinder Kumar, Commandant 187th Battalion CRPF says, "3 jawans have died, the one who shot them dead is critically injured." pic.twitter.com/bIhHLOPwQs a ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2019 Kumar hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and was rushed to a military hospital nearby, they said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Following the death of school principal in police custody protests and clashes were reported across Kashmir. Rizwan Pandit, 28, a resident of Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district, died during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. Pandit, who was a teacher at a private school, was picked up by the security agencies three days ago in connection with a terror case. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered under section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Police. The CrPC section pertains to inquiry by a magistrate into cause of death, including when any person dies while in the custody of police. Rizwans father said, It is cold-blooded murder. How could they kill my son and then ask me to take the body home? Rizwan was the principal at a local private school where he also taught chemistry and ran a tuition centre in the main market of Awantipora, barely a kilometre away from their two-storey house. Rizwan taught at the government polytechnic college in Awantipora last year, where he was hired as contractual lecturer, The Wire quoted Rizwans brother Mubashir as saying. Rizwan had completed an MSc in chemistry from Dehradun and was planning to apply for a PhD at Kashmir University, said Mubashir. The teacher's death in police custody was condemned by several politicians who demanded a time-bound probe into the matter and punishment to the guilty. Demanding exemplary punishment to the accused, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said, I had hoped custodial deaths were a thing of our dark past. Exemplary punishment must be handed out to the killers of this young man. Innocent men hauled up from their homes for interrogation return home only in coffins now. GoIs repressive approach leaves young educated men vulnerable who are forced to take up arms. Stop using Kashmir to exhibit your sick chauvinistic nationalism. We have suffered enough (sic), PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said. PDP leader Naeem Akhtar asked Governor Satya Pal Malik's administration to come clean on the incident. "Disturbing reports of custodial death of youth from Awantipora in Srinagar's Cargo Camp. As per media he was picked up by NIA few days ago & was lodged in CARGO camp of (SOG). @jandkgovernor administration should come clean on this (sic)," Akhtar, a former minister, tweeted. Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq tweeted, Distraught at the brutal custodial killing of young Rizwan Ahmed of Awantipora. The brutal killing once again exposes the, helplessness, vulnerability and insecurity of the lives of Kashmiris as impunity to the authorities keeps rising. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Amid tension with Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, several experts had pointed out that Indian armed forces have poor inventory. In wake of such scenario, the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday passed a crucial defence project. According to news agency ANI, Nirmala Sitharaman-led defence ministry has cleared a major project for the Indian Army. The project will result in acquisition of 10 lakh 'made in India' multi-mode hand grenades. The new hand grenades will replace the existing inventory. The more than Rs 500 crore proposal is critical as the government has already taken care of the main personal weapon requirements of the Army soldiers by signing two contracts for modern rifles. A proposal for buying 10 lakh hand grenades from an Indian firm would be considered by the Defence Ministry at a high-level meeting to be chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this week, government sources had told ANI. In 2017, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had said that around 40% of the Indian Armys ammunition will not last more than 10 days in a war. The CAG report also noted that a Defence Ministry plan chalked out in 2013 to meet the deficit in the Armys artillery by 2019 had not been implemented yet. Some of the Army Headquarters requests for ammunition, which date back to 2009, have not been acted on yet either, it added. Before this, Sitharaman had approved the first batch of reforms in the Army which include relocation of 229 officers from the Army headquarters, creation of a new post of deputy chief for military operations and strategic planning, and setting up new wings for vigilance and human rights issues, official sources said. Finalised after 12 independent studies, the transformative reforms in the Army are being implemented to make the 1.3 million-strong force leaner and meaner as well as to enhance its combat capabilities. The defence minister has approved the first batch of long-pending reform measures in the Army, the sources said. They said the number of officers being moved out is 20 per cent of the total officers in the Army headquarters in the National Capital, and they be deployed in forward locations along the borders with China and Pakistan. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Five Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) dropped five S-2000 laser-guided bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammeds terror camps in Pakistans Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on 26 February causing major damage to the targets, reported ThePrint. According to the report, radar and satellite images procured by India from its own satellites and from neighbouring countries show that two of the three intended targets, including Jaishs biggest terror camp in Balakot, were conclusively hit in the pre-emptive non-military action by the IAF. The damage inflicted to the third target, a guest house suspected to have housed trainers and JeM chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, could not be ascertained as the satellite view was blocked by the heavy tree-cover on the hilltop. Contrary to reports that bad weather conditions on the day of the strike prevented clear pictures, ThePrint quoted top defence sources saying that India has managed to get multiple high-resolution pictures of the structures, including of those of repairs being carried out on the roof of one after the attack. The report further claimed that the satellite images clearly show that Israeli Spice 2000 bombs, each of them weighing around 1,000 kg, did drop on at least two targets. The images show small black holes in the roof of two of the targeted buildings that appear to be the entry points of the bombs, which are meant to take out heavily-fortified and underground command and control centres. Just a week after carrying out the strike, the IAF had given the government radar and satellite images showing bombing of the intended targets at the Jaish camps, causing significant damage. The news report, which drew a comparison between an April 2018 image of the camp with that of an image taken on March 4, 2019, to show it is practically unchanged, also came amid raging debate over the number of human casualties in the Balakot air strikes. The report cements governments claims of the airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force causing significant "internal damage" to Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Pakistans Balakot. Amidst media reports suggesting minimal damage during these air strikes, opposition parties have been clamouring for clarity. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Grammar aficionado and politician Shashi Tharoor, who in all likelihood seems to have the Oxford dictionary byheart, posseting out words like afarragoa, arodomontadea, alacunaea among many others making us fumble through the good old dictionary might be a naivetA when it comes to millennial dictionary. Comedian Hasan Minhaj, for the latest episode of his Netflix show, Patriot Act, tests Shashi Tharooras knowledge in millennial vocabulary and the video is just priceless watching the verbose politician at a loss of words.A A aYou seem to know a lot of words, I wanna test you of how deep your vocabulary is,a Hasan tells the MP in the video. The comedian then asks Tharoor to spell and define millennial internet terms like athicca, afleeka and 'snacc". Watch the video here: While this time, it is Mr. Tharoor getting school, Tharoorians are all in praise the politician and for being a good sport. A For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kabul : War-torn Afghanistan has delayed its presidential election until September 28, officials announced Wednesday, the second time the ballot has been put back and five months later than it was originally scheduled to be held. The announcement by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) comes after speculation that the vote would be postponed to create space for US-led efforts to end the 17-year war with the Taliban. The presidential ballot was originally scheduled for April 20, then delayed to July 20. Many observers had considered both dates unrealistic given the Independent Election Commission (IEC) is still finalising results of Octobers shambolic parliamentary elections. The IEC said in a statement Wednesday that the vote had faced numerous problems and challenges ... therefore holding the elections based on the timelines previously announced is not possible. In order to better implement the rule of election law, ensure transparency as well as voter registration, the presidential election, provincial council election as well as the parliamentary election of Ghazni province will be held on September 28, the statement said. The election should go ahead, it added, provided all relevant sides, especially the government and the international community, provide the IEC with the required budget on time. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, who plans to seek re-election, said the government respects the decision and is fully prepared to cooperate with the IEC. The statement did not mention the ongoing talks between the US and the Taliban, which have caused unease in Kabul as Washington seeks a way out of its longest war. Afghan officials have voiced frustration at being sidelined in the process, complaining it undermines the legitimacy of the government in Kabul, which the Taliban dismisses as a puppet regime. Earlier this month a close Ghani aide sparked a diplomatic spat with Washington by criticising the talks. We dont know whats going on. We dont have the kind of transparency that we should have, Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistans national security advisor, told media during a visit to Washington. The last people to find out are us. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the talks for Washington, said after the latest round ended in Doha earlier this month that real strides had been made but no agreement was reached on a timetable for a troop withdrawal. He spoke of an agreement in draft on the issues of counter-terrorism, assurances from the Taliban and troop withdrawal, and suggested the next phases would be intra-Afghan dialogue and a ceasefire, but stressed that nothing was finalised. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Heavily armed Taliban terrorists attacked a remote security check post in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, killing at least six paramilitary personnel and wounding over a dozen others, an official said on Wednesday. The Pakistani Taliban -- known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan -- claimed responsibility for the attack which took place in the mountainous Lal Khattai area of Ziarat district. The terrorist organisation said in a statement in Urdu that the attack was in retaliation to several deaths of its activists by the paramilitary forces. Qadir Bakhtakani, Ziarat district deputy commissioner, said the militants started the operation late night and exchange of fire continued for a while. "They attacked a Levies checkpoint and came heavily armed," he said. An investigation into the killing of six soldiers was underway, he said, adding that the injured have been shifted to different hospitals. Several terror groups operate in Baluchistan, including the Pakistani Taliban which continues to target security forces and installations in the province. Last month, they killed six frontier corp personnel in the Kech district of Baluchistan after ambushing a convoy. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: China on Tuesday denied that its projects under the US dollar 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are leaving Pakistan in a debt trap. "It has been more than five years since we started the CPEC. We have made important positive gains," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in his joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi after their first strategic dialogue. The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). "During the dialogue, the two sides undertook in-depth discussions on all aspects of bilateral relations, including China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, trade, investment and economic cooperation, people-to-people contacts and regional and international issues," read the statement. Wang said 22 early harvest projects have been quite successful and have significantly improved transport and infrastructure and power supply in Pakistan. "It created tens and thousands of jobs in Pakistan. They are playing increasingly important role in social economic development of Pakistan enhancing people's well-being," he said. Answering a question over the criticism of the CPEC projects amid reports that Pakistan government plans to slash certain projects over concerns of debt burden, Wang said that Chinese projects have not resulted in enhancing Pakistan's debt. "Among Pakistan's foreign debt, more than half of it comes from multi-lateral agencies. More than 80 per cent of them use direct investment from China or Chinese grants. None of these contribute to debt in Pakistan. Only 20 per cent CPEC projects uses Chinese loans. So instead of adding to debt burden to Pakistan, the CPEC projects have contributed to greater strength, vitality of Pakistan's economy," Wang said. He also said the CPEC projects have spread to all most all parts of the Pakistan, refuting criticism by some of the provinces that projects are being garnered by the dominant Punjab province. As for the concerns expressed in some media, the CPEC has already entered all parts of Pakistan rather than limited to specific areas, Wang said. "While rejecting the negative propaganda against CPEC, they expressed a strong resolve to safeguard CPEC from all kinds of threats," said the foreign affairs ministry in the statement. "According to our plan future development of the CPEC, there will be more projects in other parts in Pakistan including western part of Pakistan which will benefit Pakistan people," he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: The Indo-Pak tensions following the Pulwama terror attack became the focal point of the first strategic dialogue between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China on Tuesday as Beijing urged the global community to take a "fair perspective" of Islamabad's commitment to fight terrorism. Pakistan is facing intense international pressure to rein in the terror groups operating from its soil in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) suicide bomber on February 14 that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. JeM is one of the terror groups operating from Pakistan. The meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi came days after Beijing foiled for the fourth time the efforts to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council. After the meeting, Wang said that China will firmly support Pakistan in upholding its sovereign independence, territorial integrity and dignity. Heaping praise on Pakistan's counter terrorism efforts, Wang said, "China commends Pakistan's recent strong counter terrorism measures taken at home. We fully support Pakistan in carrying out its counter terrorism campaign." "We also discussed the situation emerging out of the Pulwama incident," Qureshi said during a joint press conference where both sides took two selective questions. References to the involvement of JeM in the Pulwama attack as well as China blocking the US, UK and France proposal to list Azhar as global terrorist by the UNSC were conspicuously absent in their press interaction. "As Wang was suggesting both sides have to show restraint. I think the world has noted that Pakistan did exercise restraint and responsibility," Qureshi said. He also said Pakistan is always ready for an engagement to "resolve all our outstanding issues." "We did discuss the impact this (Pulwama) incident had on Pakistan-India relations and the impact this could have risen to different level of escalation and impact it could have had on the peace and stability of the region," he said. "I briefed Wang about steps Pakistan had taken to safeguard our territorial integrity and the steps we had taken to de-escalate (tensions with India). Pakistan appreciates the role China had played once again in standing by Pakistan in these difficult times," he said. Qureshi also raked up the Kashmir issue at the press conference saying that he also briefed Wang "on the rapidly deteriorating situation" in Kashmir. He said the reaction at times creates tension in the region and it must be avoided. In his comments, Wang said China and Pakistan have agreed to step up counter terrorism cooperation. "We call on the international community to adopt a fair perspective of the commitments made by Pakistan to combat terrorism over the years. We think a peaceful and stable South Asia is in the common interest of the regional countries and meets the expectations of the world and China," he said. "China commends efforts made by Pakistan to ease the situation. We call on both Pakistan and India to exercise restraint and peacefully resolve their differences through dialogue. The purpose UN charter and norms of the international law must be observed in earnest," he said. "We firmly support Pakistan's independent choice of development paths according to its national conditions, support its efforts towards national stability development and prosperity and support greater and more constructive role for Pakistan in international and regional affairs," he said. Earlier, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan told Qureshi when he called on him that China supports Pakistan in seizing opportunities and tackling challenges, and properly handling relations with its neighbours, to achieve stable development. Qureshi told the vice president that Pakistan appreciates China's constructive role in moderating tensions between India and Pakistan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after the Pulwama attack. China early this month rushed its Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou to Pakistan to discuss the Indo-Pak tensions, as it called for the creation of an "enabling atmosphere" for its close ally Pakistan to cooperate with "other parties". Addressing the media, Foreign Minister Wang said both sides reviewed their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership during the first strategic dialogue, which was set up after Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit last year. "We agreed that Pakistan-China special friendship has been made rock solid and vibrant despite changes in the international landscape. Our two sides are strengthening dialogue and win-win cooperation and building China Pakistan community of shared future in the new era. This also not only meets the common interests of our two people but also good for peace stability and prosperity of the region," he said. Asked what steps Pakistan has taken to curb terrorism, Qureshi mostly spoke about the crackdown on militants linked to al-Qaeda and those of East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), who are active in China's Xinjiang, in the country's tribal areas, without referring to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM which carry out attacks in India. China has been pressing Pakistan to specially crackdown on ETIM militants and their camps in the tribal areas. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday extended his greeting to the country's Hindu community on the occasion of Holi. Khan was joined by other Pakistani political leaders in wishing the minority community on Holi. "Wishing our Hindu community a very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours," Khan said in a tweet. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), took to twitter to wish people on Holi. "Happy Holi to all my Hindu brothers and sisters. On the happy occasion of Holi, let us spread the wonderful massage of peace and happiness," he wrote. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shehbaz Sharif also tweeted to felicitate Hindus on Holi. "Wishing the Hindu community on the festive occasion of Holi - the festival of colours. May this day be a source of peace and happiness for all!" he said. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal also extended his greeting to Hindus. "A very happy and peaceful Holi, the festival of colours, to all those who celebrate it," he said in a tweet. The festival of Holi marks the end of winter and the start of spring. The festival is also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love". The Hindu community in Pakistan celebrates the festival by playing with colours. They also burn logs of wood to symbolise the victory of good over evil and observe Holi Pooja. According to Pakistan Hindu Council, the Hindus constitute about 4 per cent of Pakistan's total population of 200 million. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. The Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) in co-operation with its partners and Gulf Air marked the successful conclusion of Bahrain International Airports (BIA) 16th full-scale emergency exercise, demonstrating co-ordination among diverse stakeholders to handle crisis scenarios and the execution of the Airport Emergency Plan. The bi-annual exercise plays a major role in improving overall airport safety by accessing the capabilities, readiness, and effectiveness of BIAs emergency and rescue services. This years mock crisis simulation was centered on a cargo apron fire causing different types of injuries. A full-scale emergency alert was activated and teams from BAC and the Ministry of Interior (MOI) took coordinated action to achieve a successful outcome. The exercise involved 180 participants, including actors playing the part of injured passengers, eight ambulances, and three helicopters. BAC Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah said: I would like to thank everyone involved in the planning and coordination of this exercise for the spirit of teamwork, and all participating agencies for exhibiting the highest levels of professionalism. With just months to go until the inauguration of the new Passenger Terminal Building, this was the most significant drill to date. It provided an excellent opportunity for all to test procedures, roles, and responsibilities before key changes regarding emergency planning will be implemented through the new terminals Operations Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) trials. Top technological events MEET ICT, and the Bahrain International Technology Exhibition (BITEX) got underway yesterday. Under the patronage of the Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal Ahmed, the events ran parallel at Gulf Hotel. Top government officials including Chief Executive Officer of the Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA), Mohammed Ali Al Qaed attended the event. Speaking at the event, Mr. Al Qaed stressed that the ICT sector is a key segment in the Kingdom and will remain a pillar of the development process of Bahrain. He said the sector is able to attract foreign investments and bring in more international companies to operate within the sector. Over 50 local, regional and international exhibitors are participating in BITEX. The theme of this years Meet ICT Conference is Innovation and Adaptation in Digital Transformation and includes the participation of over 30 speakers from all around the world This gathering represents a good opportunity to highlight Bahrains efforts in the field of ICT, especially with the continuous efforts in digital transformation, and other newly introduced technologies such as artificial intelligence applications, cloud computing migration and more, Mr. Al Qaed said. The presence of such a large number of technical experts from Bahrain and the region in MEET ICT, in addition to BITEX exhibitors, will enhance the co-operation between Bahrain with rest of the region and the world countries in various fields of information and communication technology, he explained. Speaking at the opening of the conference, United States Ambassador to Bahrain, Justin Siberell, praised Bahrains progress in its digital transformation, pointing out that this progress will positively impact Bahrain-US trade co-operation. BETHEL Residents largely supported Tuesday evening the plan to allow a construction company to use the old police station during the renovations to Rockwell and Johnson elementary schools. The handful of residents at a public hearing said renting the building for $1 a year to Rizzo Corporation, the company renovating the schools, would reduce traffic at the school campus. Rizzo plans to use the former headquarters as its office, allowing workers to park at the Plumtrees Road building, instead of at the nearby school. This would help the school district keep traffic under control, especially at the beginning and end of the school day, officials said. Whatever we can get off the site here would be a lot better for us, said Bob Germinaro, supervisor of facility and security operations for the district. Parent drop-off is New York City. Construction on the track and field center at the high school has affected parking, so avoiding extra congestion would be helpful, resident Bob Legnard said. This is a bonus, he said. Youre not going to have the congestion up there that we have right now at the high school. Without the use of the old police station, Rizzo would charge the town for construction trailers based on the school campus. It just is going to drive the cost of the project up, which means youre taking dollars away from the schools, said Josh Adams, chair of the Public Site and Building Committee. Originally, Rizzo had hoped to store machinery at the old police station, but this would violate Bethels zoning laws, town attorney Marty Lawlor said. He said this language has been removed from the proposed lease. Resident Billy Michael questioned why the town is only charging a $1 a year for the two-year rental and why Bethel would have to cover the cost of sewer, water and fuel. Were getting killed on the sewer and water, he said. But if the town had Rizzo pay these costs, the construction company would bill the town anyway, Selectman Rich Straiton said. But even Michael said renting the station to Rizzo is a good idea. Im glad theyre using the building, he said. BRIDGEPORT The city has halted a two-year-old sidewalk repair program to review and rebid the contract awarded to a company recently named in a federal subpoena. It was a good decision, said City Council President Aidee Nieves. As of last week, Council members were preparing to authorize G. Pic and Sons Construction to perform another round of sidewalk work, even though G. Pic in February was named in a federal subpoena of municipal documents. The city recently halted upgrades to Fairfield Avenue in Black Rock because Vaz Quality Works, which won that bid, was also named in the subpoena. Nieves had previously said that G. Pic would be allowed to complete a pending list of 38 repairs because the city could be legally liable should a pedestrian trip and injure themselves at those locations. The councils Public Safety Committee on March 5 approved that work, totaling $182,586. But when the pending project list came before the full council Monday for a vote, members sent it back to committee for further discussion. Councilwoman Michelle Lyons, who co-chairs Public Safety, cited the controversy with the subpoenas as one reason more discussion was needed. The FBI over the winter launched an ongoing criminal probe into anonymous allegations of illicit scrap metal sales and potential contract-steering by Department of Public Facilities employees. Neither G. Pic nor Vaz have been accused of wrongdoing, but the FBI subpoenaed four years worth of documents and communications from the city involving those companies plus Seaview Equipment, started by the Vaz family, as part of the investigation. Lyons added that questions have also been raised over the costs of the sidewalk work, which, since 2017 have been split with residents as part of a 50/50 cost-sharing initiative under Mayor Joe Ganim to overhaul hazardous walkways. The majority of the properties on the current list of 38 repairs would be charged in the $1,500 to $3,500 range. A few are closer to $6,000 and $9,000, with Success Village Apartments responsible for $75,627 worth of sidewalk upgrades. Councilwoman Eneida Martinez, a Public Safety Committee member, said the sidewalk program was to benefit homeowners in a hardship who cannot afford a sidewalk. She also said she believes the estimates her constituents in the lower income East End have received from the city and G. Pic are too expensive. Were looking to remove G. Pic as the contractor and put this back out to bid, Martinez said. I think the correct and right thing to do (is) look at the contract and rebid it, Lyons said. No end date The city set aside $3 million dollars for the experimental 50/50 sidewalk repair program, which was being overseen by former Public Facilities Director Jose Tiago. Ganim recently fired Tiago for unspecified wrong-doing following an internal review of the scrap metal scandal. Tiagos union is fighting the termination and Tiago has also hired a criminal defense attorney. According to municipal documents obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, G. Pic, Vaz and Anthony Julian Railroad Construction Company bid on the sidewalk contract in late 2016. Vaz was rejected for failing to submit all of the necessary paperwork. In an Oct. 20, 2016, memorandum, Public Facilities Director John Ricci wrote that G. Pic and Anthony Julian were the two lowest, responsive, responsible bidders and would receive a two-year contract, with the possibility of a one-year extension. Anthony Julian, however, never participated. They went out of business, Ricci said Wednesday. G. Pic emerged as the only qualified bidder. But contrary to Riccis 2016 memorandum, the sidewalk contract awarded G. Pic makes no mention of expiring after two years. Instead the document remains in effect until the services are completed .. or until the earlier termination of this agreement. Ricci said Wednesday there was no end date in the contract. He said he did not know why the wording was different from his recommendation, but that the contract would have been drafted by the citys Legal and Purchasing departments. With more than $2.45 million of the $3 million budgeted for the sidewalks remaining, G. Pic could, conceivably, keep working until that amount was spent down. Council members are citing another section of the sidewalk contract which specifies the city may terminate for convenience. The city can end it at any time, Martinez said. Although the Public Safety Committee has not reconvened on the sidewalks, Ricci said he is already working with the Purchasing Department on a rebid. He said he hoped to attract three qualified contractors who could divvy up the future work. And, Ricci added, there is nothing preventing G. Pic from submitting a new bid. Martinez said she would also like residents to have the option of finding their own contractor, then splitting the costs with the city. Ricci said the council would need to amend the rules of the 50/50 program to allow it. We have people saying, Geez, I could get my own (contractor) and get a better price, Ricci said. Perhaps its more fair to let them. David W. Harple / File Photo DANBURY Residents in need of smoke alarms will be able to get one from the citys fire department, thanks to an anonymous donor. The City Council voted March 5 to accept an anonymous donors $1,000 gift to the fire department for the purchase of smoke alarms to give to residents who need them. BETHEL Some residents urged support Tuesday night for school funding, while their neighbors called for curbed spending as the town faces a nearly 2.5 percent tax rate increase. The proposed $78.5 million operating budget would raise spending by 5.2 percent, making it the largest spending increase since 2010. Meanwhile, the capital budget calls for borrowing $1 million to replace the high schools aging boilers. A $1.1 million growth in the grand list helped keep the tax rate from ballooning, but some of the estimated 70 residents at Tuesdays public hearing called for all around cuts to reduce taxes. For you guys to put up this large of an increase during these hard times is outrageous, so something needs to happen, said one longtime parent of schoolchildren. Most of the proposed spending increase is due to school costs and debt from the police station project and elementary school renovations, which makes up $5.2 million of the potential $32 million municipal operating budget. This is about 2 percent of the proposed tax rate increase. This budget has as an underlying assumption that town made investments ... in the police and school renovations, said Bob Manfreda, chairman of the finance board. The assumption is, in addition to that, you all want the typical level of services. Rising enrollment and changing demographics at the schools drove up the proposed education budget by nearly 3 percent to $46.5 million. The plan includes money for three new teachers and a custodian. The district is down about 15 positions since the 2007-08 school year, when enrollment was about the same as it is now. The proposed world language teacher and teacher for English-language learners at the high school are required by the state. We have to have that position, Superintendent Christine Carver said. If were cut, then something else has to go. Thats the bottom line. Most parents said they supported the school proposal, with some suggesting the Finance Board restore the $200,000 the selectmen cut from the education boards request. We are stretching every dollar thin and we are not wasting a penny, said Amy Mannion, a resident and school counselor. Other parents stressed the need to replace the band uniforms, a $50,000 purchase that could be made if the budget passes. The existing uniforms are unusable, said one mother, Kate Fortier, whose daughter is a senior in the band. Every single weekend during marching band season, we are fixing uniforms with safety pins and duct tape and anything else we can find, she said. Some of the uniforms are beyond repair. One resident called for the budget to include money for a turf field at the high school. Parents and students advocated last year for this funding to be added to the capital plan, but residents rejected the idea. Since then, supporters have raised money for the project. Last year, voters initially rejected municipal operating and capital plans, but approved the school budget in the first referendum. In a second referendum, voters settled on a $1.1 million capital and $74.6 million operating budget, which rose spending by 2.3 percent and decreased the tax rate by 0.03 percent. The Finance Board will consider residents feedback and potential budget revisions at a 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting in town hall. A town meeting will be held early next month to discuss the budget again and send it to referendum. GREENWICH A Greenwich employee who took and shared photos of the body of a murder victim found in town will be allowed to return to work following completion of an investigation into his conduct. James Clifford, a foreman for the Greenwich Department of Public Works, will not face any criminal charges but will face punishment from his employer, including demotion from his position as foreman for a minimum of six months, suspension without pay for five days and loss of five vacation days, according to a statement issued by officials Wednesday. Clifford also must complete a sensitivity training program. Clifford was disciplined for taking and sharing images of the body of Valerie Reyes, a 24-year-old resident of New Rochelle. Her body was found on Feb. 5 inside a suitcase that had been left in Glenville. Another town employee found the body and Clifford responded to the scene. His attorney, Lindy Urso, has called Cliffords actions an error in judgment but said his client had no ill will or bad intention and tried to assist police with their investigation. He said Clifford had been stunned and devastated by what he encountered that morning near Glenville Road. On Wednesday, Urso expressed surprise that the town announced the sanctions against Clifford, who has worked for Greenwich for more than 26 years. Although Mr. Clifford likely did not violate any town policies, he agreed in good faith to certain sanctions, which will remain confidential, to avoid a protracted legal battle and to get back to work, Urso said. I am surprised at the towns interpretation of those sanctions and I am frankly stunned that they think it is appropriate, or even legal, to publicly disclose personnel information when it knows full well that Mr. Clifford has already been identified in the press. Its wrong on every level. In the statement, town officials said the DPW worker admitted taking the photos, but it was determined has actions did not involve any criminality. The town never released Cliffords name, but Greenwich Time independently confirmed he was the employee. He has been on paid suspension while the town Department of Human Resources conducted the investigation. On Wednesday, First Selectman Peter Tesei said the statement spoke for itself and he did not add to it. In February, Tesei said, this thoughtless and insensitive behavior by an employee is inexcusable. Javier Da Silva, a former boyfriend of Reyes, was arrested last month in connection with her death, and charged with kidnapping resulting in death. When her body was found in Greenwich, her hands and feet were reportedly constrained with tape and twine and she had suffered a severe injury to her head. Da Silva told police Reyes fell to the floor and hit her head, after which he panicked, according to court documents. He faces the possibility of life in prison or even the death penalty if convicted of the crime. Da Silva has not yet entered a plea in answer to the charge. A hearing in federal court in White Plains was postponed last week. He has not yet been given a new court date. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com A Washington state deputy was shot and killed Tuesday night during an attempted traffic stop, authorities said. The deputy's name has not been released. The incident happened in Kittitas County about 115 miles southeast of Seattle. A city of Kittitas police officer was airlifted to a Seattle medical center after being shot. That officer's name also was not released. At 7:42 p.m., deputies attempted to stop a vehicle related to a driving complaint, according to a Kittitas County press release. The suspect failed to stop and led police on a pursuit. The suspect eventually stopped, exited their vehicle and exchanged gunfire with authorities. KOMO-TV is reporting that the suspect was transported to a hospital and later died. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. This year, Connecticut lawmakers face a choice: to fully legalize cannabis, or to continue enforcing harmful drug laws that unfairly burden the sick, the poor, people of color, and veterans like me. There has been robust debate in the state over the merits of legalization of adult-use cannabis. Missing from many of these conversations, however, are veterans, who have much to gain from full legalization. Veterans are more likely to suffer from PTSD, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) than the general population, and many have found relief from service-related symptoms through cannabis. Research shows that cannabis can be an effective therapy for individuals suffering from PTSD and chronic pain, and synthetic cannabinoids have promise as palliative treatments for TBI. In addition, individuals with access to cannabis are less likely to self-medicate with more dangerous substances like opioids and alcohol. At a time when opioid use is increasing among veterans and one in 15 veterans report a substance use disorder, cannabis is a far safer and more effective treatment option. Since returning from Iraq myself and struggling deeply with PTSD and suicidal ideation, I have heard again and again from fellow veterans about how cannabis allowed them to recover and get themselves back from the brink. Despite cannabis recognized benefits, Connecticut veterans often face the highest barriers to accessing it. While medical cannabis is legal in Connecticut, it is still illegal at the federal level, and VA physicians cannot prescribe it to their veteran patients. Connecticut veterans suffering from service-related conditions have to find medical cannabis outside the VA, paying hundreds of dollars for the cost of a state medical certification and fees to a prescribing doctor whom they do not know. For veterans struggling with mental health conditions or chronic pain, this is an unjust additional burden, and for those living paycheck to paycheck, it can be a complete barrier to entry the program. When veterans cant get medical cannabis, they often pay an even higher price by seeking it on the street or, more recently, traveling to a neighboring state. Despite the decriminalization of small amounts of cannabis, obtaining enough for personal medical use over state lines can easily put veterans with service-related conditions over the limit. It is estimated that Connecticut law enforcement arrests some 100 veterans each year for cannabis-related violations. Connecticut currently does nothing to help veterans get this potentially life-saving treatment. Our neighboring states, including Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont, have already legalized recreational cannabis, making it easier for veterans to access cannabis when they need it, and ensuring they do not get arrested when they use it. Veterans and low-income residents in states like Oregon and Rhode Island pay little or nothing to register for medical cannabis. In Illinois, veterans with diagnosed qualifying conditions are not required to obtain a physicians signature for certification. There is no reason Connecticut cannot do the same. Previous efforts in Connecticut to ease veterans access to the medical marijuana program have failed over cost concerns. Adult-use cannabis, however, generates the revenue that other states have used to fund veterans access to medical marijuana. Several legalization bills introduced in Connecticut this session could allow a portion of the revenue to subsidize access to the medical program for patients in need of treatment, including veterans. Critically, the legalization package would also allow for the erasure of criminal records for marijuana possession. Veterans forced to self-medicate by a misguided VA cannabis policy should not have their reintegration into our state held back by criminal records. As veterans continue to return from war overseas and the veteran suicide rate continues to rise, we must do everything we can to ensure that our veterans get the support and treatments they need to build their lives here in Connecticut. A majority of Connecticut residents and post-9/11 veterans nationwide support legalizing and taxing cannabis. We are ready to start treating people with chronic conditions, communities of color, and veterans with fairness and decency. The question is whether Connecticuts elected officials are ready to join us. Steve Kennedy is the founder of the Connecticut chapter of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA-CT), a veterans advocacy group that represents thousands of post-9/11 veterans statewide. As one of the largest employers of youth in the country, McDonald's Canada and its franchisees are committed to leveraging technology to build new ways to apply, learn and grow at McDonald's. This new approach to recruiting is one of the ways McDonald's Canada is bringing mobile-first innovation to its guests and employees. Later this month, the brand will also be launching a first-in-Canada partnership with Google Voice. Canadians will be able to discover local offers available in the MyMcD's app through asking their Google voice-activated devices. Quotes: "We wanted to offer a convenient and flexible application process to attract more young people through our one-day virtual hiring event," says Stephanie Hardman, Chief People Officer at McDonald's Canada. "From youth applying for their first jobs, to experienced candidates, Snapplications is a new and exciting way for people to kick-start a career at McDonald's Canada." "As a leader in the Quick-Service industry we know that technology is a critical driver of success. Our partnerships with Snapchat and Google Voice are examples of how we're bringing first-to-market innovation to our guests," says Lara Skripitsky, Chief Technology Officer at McDonald's Canada. Additional facts: While interested applicants are encouraged to submit their Snapplications on March 27th , job applications can still be submitted through traditional methods. To find out more, visit McDonalds.com/ca/en-ca/careers. , job applications can still be submitted through traditional methods. To find out more, visit McDonalds.com/ca/en-ca/careers. In Canada , Snapchat has over 12 million daily users and more than 82 per cent are millennials. , Snapchat has over 12 million daily users and more than 82 per cent are millennials. McDonald's together with its franchisees are one of the largest employers of youth in our country; 83 per cent of its nearly 100,000 employees are millennials. 50 per cent of McDonald's franchisees started as crew and have gone on to build exciting careers as very successful entrepreneurs. Over the past decade, McDonald's has consistently ranked among Canada's 50 Best Employers. 50 Best Employers. McDelivery, McCafe Mobile Rewards, MyMcD's App and Mobile Offers are a few recent examples of McDonald's Canada's commitment to evolving its digital offering. ABOUT McDonald's Canada In 1967, Canadians welcomed the first McDonald's restaurant to Richmond, British Columbia. Today, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited has become part of the Canadian fabric, serving close to three million guests every day. Together with our franchisees, we proudly employ nearly 100,000 people from coast-to-coast and more than 90 per cent of McDonald's 1,400 Canadian restaurants are locally owned and operated by independent entrepreneurs. Of the almost $1 billion we spend on food, beverages and packaging, more than 85 per cent is purchased from suppliers in Canada. For more information on McDonald's Canada visit McDonalds.ca. SOURCE McDonald's Canada For further information: Media requiring more information or wishing to arrange an interview please contact: Laura Munzar, [email protected], 416-446-3656 Improved control of big power in little motors Little motors power everything from small comforts, such as desk fans, to larger safety systems, like oven exhaust systems - but they could be more precise, according to a research team from Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. An international collaboration from Japan and Massachusetts unveiled an improved algorithm to track motor performance and speed estimation in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica. Induction motors are powered through an alternating current delivered through equipment known as a drive. A rotor is suspended through a stacked cylinder of metallic windings that, once powered, create a magnetic field forcing the rotor to rotate. The speed depends on the power and variability of the drive. Without sensors to detect the speed of the drive, the speed of the rotor is incredibly difficult to estimate. There are some methods to determine the speed, but, according to Wang, they're lacking. "Rotor speed estimation for induction motors is a key problem in speed-sensorless motor drives," wrote Yebin Wang, Senior Principal Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass, and first author of the paper. "Existing approaches have limitations such as unnecessarily assuming rotor speed as a constant parameter," Wang wrote. He also noted that some approaches tradeoff between estimation bandwidth and measurement robustness, but they offer simple designs that could be expanded upon. The rotor speed could be treated as a state variable, rather than a constant variable. State variables are assumed to be true for the whole motor system, unless some outside force manipulates them and they change. Wang and his team took the state variables and changed their coordinates to allow the system to remain stable, relative to itself. By allowing system variables to stay in sync but moveable as a whole, the scientists could perform mathematical experiments to manipulate the system and determine specific speed variations and changes. "Experiments demonstrate the potential effectiveness and advantages of the proposed algorithm: fast speed estimation transient and ease of tuning," Wang wrote. "This paper also reveals a number of issues." One major issue is that to better estimate the speed, all of the variables of the system must be known. In real-world scenarios, it's unlikely that every variable will be precisely identified. Wang and the team plan to further develop more systematic solutions to address the system stability and to generalize their proposed algorithm to account for uncertainties within the system. ### The team includes Scott Bortoff, a Distinguished Research Scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories; Lei Zhou, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Akira Satake, a group manager, and Shinichi Furutani, a researcher, both with the Advanced Technology Research and Development Center at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in Amagasaki City, Japan. Fulltext of the paper is available: http://www. ieee-jas. org/ article/ doi/ 10. 1109/ JAS. 2018. 7511252?viewType= HTML&pageType= en https:/ / ieeexplore. ieee. org/ stamp/ stamp. jsp?tp= &arnumber= 8476635 IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica aims to publish high-quality, high-interest, far-reaching research achievements globally, and provide an international forum for the presentation of original ideas and recent results related to all aspects of automation. Researchers (including globally highly cited scholars) from institutions all over the world, such as NASA Ames Research Center, MIT, Yale University, Stanford University, Princeton University, select to share their research with a large audience through JAS. JAS has its latest CiteScore as 3.18, which ranks it among top 18% (40/224) in the category of "Control and Systems Engineering", and top 19% (48/251, 32/168) both in the categories of "Information System" and "Artificial Intelligence". JAS has entered the 1st quantile (Q1) in all three categories it belongs to. Why publish with us: Fast and high quality peer review; Simple and effective online submission system; Widest possible global dissemination of your research; Indexed by IEEE, ESCI, EI, Scopus, Inspec. JAS papers can be found at http://ieeexplore. ieee. org/ xpl/ mostRecentIssue. jsp?punumber= 6570654 or http://www. ieee-jas. org This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. China announced plans to invest 81.2 billion yuan (US$12 billion) in four new nuclear reactors for the first time since 2016. CNNPs reactors are planned in Zhangzhou city, Fujian province, while CGN will build the other two in Huizhou city, Guangdong province. The companies will adopt Chinas domestically developed nuclear reactor design, namely the Hualong One third-generation reactors. It has been developed by CNNP and CGN based on the ACPR1000 and ACP1000 designs, derived from the French technology. India and USA Agreed to Build Six New Nuclear Reactors On Wednesday, the United States and India agreed to building six U.S. nuclear power plants in India. Westinghouse received strong support from US Energy Secretary Rick Perry for its India project, which envisaged the building of six AP1000 reactors in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The previous plan to build these reactors was thrown in to doubt because of financial problems at Westinghouse. SOURCES- South China Morning Post, Reuters Written by Brian Wang In 1271, Marco Polo traveled from his home in Venice to China via the Silk Road. The Travels of Marco Polo had huge influence. Italy is now signing agreements to join Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. China is investing in a new Venice port and in three other ports in Italy. This can boost trade between China and Europe and provide economic benefits. Four ports in Italy may be in line for Chinese investment under Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. There is a good analysis by Liu Rui, senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. In February 2017, China Communications Construction Company signed a contract with Italy for the design of Phase 1 of Venice Offshore Port with 4C3. This will be a 20-meter deep offshore port will be built in the sea area 15 kilometers from the Malamocco Port and the offshore terminal project will be able to handle large container ships holding 18,000 to 22,000 TEUs. Chinese companies are fixing the port of Trieste. Trieste is opposite Venice. These ports could revive the role Italy played during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy will be the first of the G7 countries to participate in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Italy has debt problems, an aging population and a sluggish economy. Sea trade between Europe and Asia is developing rapidly. 63 percent of the total trade between China and Europe is by sea. Chinese firms have done business at an important Greek port. China has a 35-year franchise right to the No.2 and No.3 container terminals of the Piraeus port and own 67 percent stake in the port. The Greek port has rapidly revived and has become one of the most active logistics centers. The port has contributed significantly to the local economy. The re-emergence of the Greek port has posed a challenge to Italy. Italian ports are superior to Greek ports. The Greek ports are located at the edge of Europe, while Trieste and Venice are closer to the heart of Europe. If freighters could go up the Adriatic Sea to Venice and Trieste, it will be quicker for them to get to the heart of Europe by road and rail. Italy has stronger industrial and logistics capabilities than Greece. The countrys ports have the potential to build warehouses and trade processing zones. SOURCES Global Times, South China Morning Times Written By Brian Wang. Nextbigfuture.com HAMDEN A woman says her grandson was bullied by a school resource officer, and the police and administration have failed to do anything about it. Marnie Hebron, whose grandson attends Hamden Middle School, has filed complaints with the Police Department, the Board of Education, NAACP and the State Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, saying her grandson was discriminated against based on his race and special needs designation. The complaints relate to an Oct. 16, 2018, incident when Hebrons grandson was called to Assistant Principal Jessica Coffeys office. When Hebrons grandson arrived at the office, he asked to call his grandmother, Hebron said, because that was the action plan she had discussed in a planning meeting with Coffey and other administrations about a week before for whenever he gets worked up. She told them about her grandsons situation at the meeting so the school could be supportive of his needs, but in this incident, Coffey didnt let the student call his grandmother, Hebron said. School resource officer Craig Appleby was incidentally in the office doing paperwork for another case when Hebrons grandson arrived. Hebron said Appleby should not have been in the room because her grandson had a right to privacy, but Appleby allegedly taunted him by saying her grandson couldnt be in the office for anything good after he asked why the boy was there. Hebron alleged Appleby had previously taunted her grandson in the hallways, saying he would be arrested and has an undesirable future. According to Hebrons complaint to Hamden police, her grandson told Appleby it wasnt his business why he was called in, and it set Appleby off. He allegedly threw a balled-up paper at the student and continued to make unwanted comments toward him, Hebron said in her complaint. Appleby and Hebrons grandson then began yelling back and forth when Coffey called Hebron, she said. While on the phone, Hebron said the boy was crying for her to come pick her up when the phone disconnected because Appleby had taken it from him. According to Applebys report, Hebrons grandson was cursing and yelling racial slurs at him when Coffey let him use the phone, so Appleby grabbed the phone from (Hebrons grandson) and gave it to Principal Coffey to call his grandmother because the decision was made by Coffey to send him home for the day. Hebron said when Appleby took the phone from her grandson, Appleby pressed his body up against the student and had his hand on what the student thought was a Taser, taunting the 13-year-old to hit him. She called the school back and was told by Coffey to come pick up the boy, which she did, Hebron said. According to Applebys report, he activated his Axon body camera after grabbing the phone and told Hebrons grandson he did so in case the student were to fight with him. Applebys report goes on to say that Hebrons grandson was being verbally abusive, then started getting emotional and crying. The body camera remains on when the student says several profanities toward Appleby and Coffey, according to the report. It concludes when Hebron arrived at the school to take her grandson without incident. After what happened, the boy withdrew from everybody and everything, Hebron said, not showering, not going to school. He didnt tell her until days later about the incident in the office, Hebron said. She filed complaints with police and Hamden Public Schools Oct. 19, 2018, based on what her grandson had told her. Its important to know the type of children that are being targeted, Hebron said. Acting Police Chief John Cappiello said the ethics and integrity units investigation is closed and the complaint against Appleby was not sustained, meaning it wasnt proven or disproved. Because the case involves a juvenile and pending action against the town, Cappiello declined further comment. I communicated with the Acting Police Chief at length because Im concerned whenever I hear of something related to Hamden students, Mayor Curt B. Leng said in a text message. In this instance, I strongly feel its best for both sides to have the full opportunity to talk with the unbiased officials, allowing them to hear everything, to review all the evidence and talk with the multiple witnesses, before anyone makes any assumption or judgements. Leng said the formal complaint restricts him from commenting further as he normally would. Hebron received a letter from Capt. Ronald Smith, who heads the ethics and integrity unit, saying the allegations werent sustained, but Hebron received the letter Jan. 16, before the ethics and integrity interview with Hebron and her grandson, she said. Smith video recorded the interview and Hebron said her grandson identified the beeping sound of the camera as the same one he heard the entire time Appleby was in the office, beginning before he took the phone. The fact that you say he was being verbally aggressive and since you took the phone from him, you were supposed to be recording, she said. Either you have (the recording) and arent willing to produce it, or you used it improperly. Officers are required to activate their body cameras as soon as practical once it has been determined in the officers use of sound judgment that an incident is to be recorded, including any consensual or non-consensual encounter while an officer is engaged in the execution of official police duties, or as deemed necessary by the officer, according to the departments general orders. Hebron requested the complete body camera footage, but was told the only footage that exists begins after Appleby grabbed the phone, and doesnt show what led up to her grandson crying, which is in accordance with the police report. Hebron said she hasnt received any communication about the investigation since the interview with Smith. After the incident, Hebron asked that Appleby and Coffey have no involvement with her grandson or any access to his records, but Coffey still signs the students disciplinary reports, she said. Further, Hebron said the school told her the discipline referral Coffey was supposed to file for sending her grandson home that day didnt exist. In another incident, Hebrons grandson was in the cafeteria when a student hit him for saying something, she said, and her grandson hit the student back. Hebron was called by police about the incident, not the school, asking her if she wanted to press charges, she said. When she arrived at the school, Principal Michelle Coogan said Hebrons grandson would be suspended for 10 days. Hebron said she received a letter from the Board of Education saying it would conduct a manifestation determination to see if the boys actions in the cafeteria had anything to do with his disability. The manifestation says that if its determined that a students actions are related to a disability, he cant be suspended. Hebron said they determined her grandsons actions were related to a disability, but suspended him anyway when they werent supposed to. At that point, her grandson had already been away from school for 10 days. Hebron said since the day in the office, seeing Coffey and Appleby has become a trigger for her grandson and all the school and police have done is try to protect the officer and the principal. When he sees them it gets him angry because nobody has done anything about it, she said. And it makes her angry too. I want them fired, she said. If you want it swept under the carpet, you swept it under the wrong carpet, because I keep a tidy house. Coffey declined comment and Board of Education Human Resources Director Gary Highsmith did not return a request for comment. Hebron said the town has refused communication with her after she filed the complaint with the CHRO on Feb. 8. The town has until April 1 to respond to it. NEW HAVEN A psychiatrist hired by prosecutors testified Wednesday that LeRoya Moore, who is charged with murdering her two children, was not in a psychotic state at the time of their deaths. Dr. Catherine Lewis, a professor of psychiatry at the UConn Health Center, said she had diagnosed Moore with having an anti-social personality disorder. Lewis conclusion differed significantly from that of the psychiatrist hired by the defense team, Dr. Paul Amble, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. He testified earlier in the trial that Moore was in a psychotic state when she allegedly killed her kids and that she continues to suffer from schizoaffective disorder. Moore, 39, allegedly committed the crimes four years ago at their home on Strong Street in East Haven. Police found the bodies of 6-year-old Aleisha Moore and 7-year-old Daaron Moore in the house on June 2, 2015. Police and medical examiners believe they had been killed before that day because their bodies had been decomposing. Moores two attorneys, who are mounting a defense of mental disease or defect, are scheduled to cross-examine Lewis on Thursday. Lewis said she interviewed Moore for a total of about 10 hours at York Correctional Institution in order to conduct a psychiatric evaluation. Moore, who is being held at the prison in lieu of $2 million bond, listened to Lewis testimony in court without showing any emotion. This has been her demeanor throughout the trial, which was suspended for three weeks because one or more of the judges on the three-member panel had scheduling conflicts. I did not see evidence of a mental defect at the time of the alleged offense, Lewis testified. I saw no evidence of a psychotic disorder at the time of the alleged offense. Lewis told Senior Assistant States Attorney Stacey Miranda that Moore was angry and upset at the time of the homicides because she felt betrayed and abandoned by her husband, Michael Moore. By that time they were divorced. She kept saying, I cant do it alone anymore, Lewis testified. She said she didnt want to be a single mother again. (Moore had three older offspring who by 2015 were living elsewhere.) She wants to be loved but the relationships are chaotic, Lewis said. Shes left alone. Lewis also said of Moore: She cant sustain relationships. Its not psychotic. But its sad. According to Amble, Moore said she was suffering from the delusion that God was telling her she was supposed to kill herself and Aleisha and Daaron so the three of them could be together in heaven. She told Amble she drowned her daughter and son in order to baptize them, then tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists. But Lewis testified, I didnt find any delusion. She said the objective evidence from her evaluation and abundant medical records doesnt support a psychosis. When Miranda asked if Moore could appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions, Lewis said she believed that she could. I dont believe she had a serious mental illness so that she couldnt control herself. She was angry and upset. Lewis testified that for a long time during the evaluation process she wondered what drove Moore to allegedly kill the children she loved more than anyone else. Lewis said she had been baffled and had asked herself: What caused this anger? But Lewis said when she read the text messages between Moore and her boyfriend at the time, I finally understood what could have triggered this anger. Lewis said the crucial text was sent by the boyfriend to Moore on May 27, 2015 the day before the children died, according to what Moore reportedly told Amble. Lewis read aloud that text: Its been weighing on my mind. My hearts not in this relationship anymore. Shes angry, Lewis said of Moore. She asks: Are you seeing somebody else? He says: No. But he says: Its done. Lewis said Moore told her the idea of poisoning her children came to her while she was shopping at Walmart. Amble had testified she told him she bought sleeping aids there so the children would be asleep and relaxed when she baptized them. Lewis testified Moore told her she gave the kids desserts with the medication hidden inside. She said she took her daughter to the bathroom and got her ready for a bath, Lewis stated. She pushed her head under the water. She said she baptized her daughter in the name of Jesus Christ and held her down until she stopped breathing. She said her daughter was drowsy and did not suffer. Lewis recalled Moore telling her that her son was more drowsy than her daughter when she brought him into the bathroom. She said she baptized him and asked God to take his soul. But Lewis testified, Her baptism story makes no sense. She said she asked Moore if she had been baptized and she replied she had not. So how can you go to heaven with your children if you havent been baptized? Lewis testified. Lewis added, Its not clear they were drowned. Dr. Gregory Vincent, an associate in the office of the states chief medical examiner, testified earlier that Daarons cause of death was acute intoxication of diphenhydramine, which has the brand name Benadryl. Vincent said Aleishas cause of death was acute intoxication of diphenhydramine and alcohol. Miranda called Vincent back to the witness stand Wednesday to state there was fluid in the kids lungs that might have been the result of drowning. But Vincent said there were other possible reasons for that fluid being there. He concluded there was nothing to prove or disprove the children had drowned. During Lewis testimony, she said Moore had never said anything to her about having hallucinations or delusions that she had heard the voice of God, as she had told Amble. Lewis said that if somebody is having such delusions, you look distracted, you look impaired, you tell people about it. Lewis said this was not true for Moore. Lewis described Moores actions in the days before the homicides, including doing lengthy internet searches on what medications to use, and how much, in order to kill a child. Lewis said Moores thinking and computer research was organized and multi-step. Lewis also said Moores suicide note was coherent and organized, with no typos. Lewis said the tone was angry toward her ex-husband but there were no references to baptisms and no evidence she was in a psychotic state. Lewis said she saw no evidence in Moores life of substance abuse, but she did drink. Lewis noted, At the time of the homicides, photos show empty alcohol containers in the bedroom. Lewis said Moore told her she had consumed alcohol before and after the kids died, including a large bottle of vodka as well as Patron Tequila and Southern Comfort. Lewis began her testimony by documenting Moores early years of aggressive behavior. She said Moore recounted threatening a teacher with a pair of scissors in the sixth grade, being expelled from two schools for violent outbursts, fighting daily with other children at school, punching a foster mother so hard that she broke her nose and killing a cat because she didnt like it. Lewis said Moores arrest record shows repetitive acts of physical aggression. Would you say she has a long history of aggressive and violent behavior? Miranda asked. Lewis replied: Yes. Lewis said Moore was repeatedly evaluated by social workers and psychiatrists throughout her life but not one of them found a major mental illness until after her kids homicides when doctors at the Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and York diagnosed her as psychotic. In the years before that, Lewis said, the experts who evaluated her concluded she needed help with managing anger. They said, She gets angry and lashes out. randall.beach@hearstmediact.com NEW HAVEN The camera pushes in on Ediths eyes as she describes the first time she heard about the German death camps as a young girl in Czechoslovakia in June 1944. Her family members, devout Jews, were urged to flee. In some miraculous way, we thought we were never going to go (to the camps). Its impossible, she said during that 1985 interview. Her family was not that fortunate. They were taken to Auschwitz. Through a series of fortuitous circumstances, Edith survived the camps. Many members of her family did not. Ediths telling is powerful and immediate. The camera is unforgiving, capturing her pain and her courage. I am going to survive and tell my story one day, Edith said of her thoughts during her darkest moments in Auschwitz. For 40 years, an organization housed at Yale University called the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies has been collecting raw survivor stories, like Ediths. The archive now houses over 4,400 testimonies in circa 20 languages, amassing more than 12,000 hours of recorded material. There has always been an impulse and an effort to record what happened. It is part of the Jewish tradition. We are a people who always recorded our history, said Joanne Rudof, the former archivist at the Fortunoff Archive for over three decades. And now, the archives 40th anniversary will be recognized with a yearlong series of lectures, workshops, panel discussions, screenings and performances. Arguably the series most prominent event is a screening of the original four testimonies, taking place on May 2 40 years to the day since the interviews were captured on film in a small office on Howard Avenue. The screening will take place at 7 p.m. at the Whitney Humanities Center. But the first events take place starting Monday, March 25, and include lectures and panel discussions. The culmination of the weeks offerings will be Saturday, March 30, with a concert of songs once sung in ghettos, labor camps and concentration camps that were recorded in the testimonies and later arranged by musicologist D. Zisl Slepovitch. The concert will take place at Sudler Recital Hall in William Harkness Hall on the Yale Campus at 8:30 p.m. We are trying to balance encouraging scholarship in the collection, said Stephen Naron, the archives director, while keeping one foot planted in the community. First-hand testimony about the Holocaust began during World War II, and survivor testimony projects are reasonably common. The Fortunoff Archive is unique for one particular reason. What we are is the first organization to record survivor testimony on videotape in a sustained manner, Naron said. In February 1979, the New Haven Jewish Federation and television station WTNH Channel 8 met to consider doing a documentary about the dedication of a Holocaust memorial on Whalley Avenue, the first in the nation to be set aside on public land. The project, initially called The Holocaust Survivors Film Project, was immediately embraced by the greater New Haven survivor community. By 1981, the project fell under the aegis of Yale University. It was started by people who knew this was important, Naron said. It was embedded in the survivor community from the beginning. It wouldnt have survived without it. Through the first years, interviewers tweaked their methodology. However, the core principle of the project was codified. The first interviewers involved in the project, documentarian Laurel Vlock and Dori Laub, a child survivor and psychotherapist, wanted to give survivors the space to talk of their entire lives in the way they wanted, without the interference a journalist or oral historian might have on the telling. They were handing agency (power) back to the survivors, Naron said. We wanted to give them the opportunity to speak. They clearly began to understand that if they let the survivor talk, it would happen, said Rudof. They ended up with something extraordinary. As Holocaust survivors die out, the emphasis of the archive has naturally shifted away from the collection of material to research. Up to 2015, access to the archive was only possible by visiting New Haven. The collection has now been distributed to universities and research institutions throughout the world. Weve seen an enormous increase in the research in the collection. We hope this will increase exponentially over the next five years as we make the collection more accessible, Naron said. What the archive ultimately says is that there is no common Holocaust story. Each survivors experience is unique. Even now new information emerges, details that shed light on the horrors of the event. The archive plays a crucial and ongoing role in adding to humanitys collective understanding of the Holocaust. The thing that has been clear to me, that the ideas that fed Nazi Germany and their allies to commit genocide, these ideas didnt go away entirely. At most they hibernated. They went under the surface. We need to remain vigilant. We have to fight these battles again and again. Its never over, Naron said. For more information about the event series, visit https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/events. Steven Scarpa is a freelance writer. WEST HAVEN Training Officer Scott Kleinknecht recently sued the city and the Police Department, alleging that officials, including Chief John Karajanis, ignored an attempt by now-retired Sergeant David Tammaro to smear his reputation and those of other members of his division with false sexual harassment allegations. In the complaint filed in the case, Kleinknecht said Tammaro filed false complaints in an effort to counteract allegations raised by Captain Robert Proto, the head of the training division, that he was receiving fraudulent overtime payments. In preceding months, Proto had discussed an increasing number of complaints from employees under his supervision concerning the belief that Sergeant Tammaro was receiving overtime pay for work he had not performed with Karajanis, according to the complaint, then submitted a memo detailing these concerns on Jan. 19, 2018. Tammaro then alleged that Proto and other members of the training division, including Kleinknecht, were engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct toward female co-workers, including those under his supervision, according to the complaint. Kleinknecht said he attended a meeting Jan. 26 with Karajanis and Proto in which these allegations were discussed, including one specifically levied against him. Karajanis allegedly told Kleinknecht he should not be concerned over the allegations made by Tammaro, because Karajanis viewed the allegations of sexual harassment to be merely part of an attempt on the part of Tammaro to deflect attention... with regard to the suspicions and allegations of overtime fraud, attorney William Wescott said on Kleinknechts behalf in the complaint. Chief Karajanis thus knew, or in the proper exercise of his duties as Chief of Police should have known, that (Kleinknecht) was a person likely to incur professional and personal harm if Tammaro was fabricating allegations of sexual harassment against (him) as part of an effort... to distract Captain Proto and others from pursuing information about Tammaros fraudulent overtime pay, Wescott said in the complaint. In subsequent weeks, according to the complaint, Kleinknecht spoke with male and female co-workers who alleged Tammaro had asked female officers under his supervision to make false sexual harassment and misconduct complaints. Karajanis declined to take any action regarding the allegations raised by Tammaro, according to the complaint. Kleinknecht alleged he brought the matter to Commissioner of Human Resources Beth Sabo on Feb. 26, expressing his dissatisfaction with the failure of Chief Karajanis to properly investigate and take action in response to abundant information indicating that (his) professional reputation was suffering as a result of a deliberate campaign on the part of Tammaro to discredit (him) and other members of the Training Division, according to the lawsuit. Sabo did not open an investigation, Kleinknecht alleges. Kleinknecht alleges that the city and police department were negligent in their response to Tammaros accusations, thus defaming and slandering his character and causing him emotional distress. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys fees and other relief deemed proper by the court. The city and police department have not yet responded to the allegations in court, according to judicial records. Corporation Counsel Lee Kennedy Tiernan said some of the allegations in Kleinknechts complaint were simply not true Wednesday. For example, he said that Sabo did investigate Kleinknechts human resources complaint and found that it was without merit. He said he did not wish to attack Kleinknecht or litigate the case in the press; he was unsure why he had chosen to include such allegations. Tiernan said the case would be processed like any other. Kleinknecht is not the first police officer to file a complaint and would not be treated differently than any other citizen. Itll go the natural route, said Tiernan. Attorney Donn Swift of Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, who agreed to accept papers on behalf of the defense in an appearance form, directed a request to comment for Tiernan Wednesday. In response to a Wednesday Freedom of Information request, West Haven released a letter from Karajanis to Tammaro dated Feb. 14, 2018 and an April 20, 2018 memo from Tiernan to Karajanis concerning an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. The letter indicates that Tammaro, in a Jan. 26 memo, had alleged that female school resource officers were concerned that a male form looking through binoculars posted in the window of the training division had been seen, and that members of the division had looked out the window as female school resource officers exited their vehicles at the end of the day. Tammaro had supplied speculative possibilities about why training division members may have looked out the window, Karajanis said, inferring that they are looking at them in a compromising position or that they are the topic (of) office conversation. Karajanis said that a depiction of a man looking through binoculars had been placed in the window. An officer, who was not a member of the training division, had been admonished for his infantile behavior by a Captain, Karajanis said. The depiction was removed. Karajanis said that, as the supplied motivation for training officers looking out the window was, speculative, with no foundation, or basis in fact, an inquiry was not warranted. The memo said that Sabo and the Corporation Counsels office had been alerted of a potential situation and allegation concerning the events referenced in Karajanis Feb. 14 letter and conducted an investigation, reviewing documentation and interviewing five female West Haven police officers. We received no information that female police officers working in the WHPD are or have been made to feel uncomfortable by actions of the WHPD that they... would deem harassing, sexual or inappropriate. That concerns the incident or any incident, Tiernan said in the memo. Tiernan recommended that no further action be taken in the memo. The memo, after mentioning that the officer who placed the depiction of the man looking through binoculars in the window had been disciplined, notes that officers, the union or department, may want to re-visit the allocation of overtime assignments. Tammaro was arrested and charged with 87 counts of forgery in October. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in connection with that matter, according to state judicial records. His case has been statutorily sealed; the status of the case is listed as awaiting disposition / referred to adult probation. The case was continued to April 4, according to state judicial records. An external investigation report into Tammaros case and the departments handling of it concluded that the officer inflated overtime hours and compensatory time to himself and the school resource officers he supervised. It also concluded that Tammaro used several Facebook aliases, deleted department Facebook posts and installed a passcode on his work cellphone to make it inaccessible to investigators. The report listed 17 recommendations for the police department to correct deficiencies in order to promote accountability and improve morale within the department. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com NEW HAVEN In 2018, Yale Universitys drivers ignored parking meter limits, parked in bus stops, no-standing zones and on sidewalks, resulting in bills from the city totaling $85,195. That bill, averaging $7,099.58 a month, was mostly for parking at an expired meter, which carried a fine of $20 until July 1, when it increased to $25. The New Haven Register received the 2018 and 2019 invoices from the citys corporation counsels office on Friday afternoon. So far in 2019, the universitys vehicles had been tagged for a total of $27,040. As of Friday, Yales outstanding bill was $5,595. Yale is part of the citys fleet-management program, so it is billed monthly for all of its vehicles violations. The records show that Yale pays its monthly bill, so it is not technically a scofflaw, said Doug Hausladen, director of the citys Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking. But he said it is not unusual for large fleets to receive numerous tickets. Were nondiscriminatory. We give everyone a parking ticket, he said. Yales monthly bills far outweigh those of the citys biggest individual parking scofflaw, who as of March 18 was Marissa Vasilakos of Stratford. She owed $1,470 on 14 outstanding tickets, according to information from the citys Finance Department. Yales overall total does not show up in that list. As of March 18, the university was listed at 38th, at $500. The reason for the discrepancy could not be determined late Friday. Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart wrote in an email on Tuesday, We understand from our administrators that this has been resolved. Neither Peart nor spokesman Tom Conroy responded when asked why Yale drivers appear to regularly violate the citys parking ordinances. Vasilakos, who could not be reached for comment, sits atop a list that totals $13 million in lost city revenue, an amount that is frustratingly hard to reduce, according to Doug Hausladen, the citys director of transportation, traffic and parking. The amounts are as high as they are because the fines double after 15 days and triple after 30 days, although one ticket for illegal parking, stopping or standing cannot be increased to more than $250, according to the city ordinances. Fines range from $20 to $150, depending on the offense. City spokesman Laurence Grotheer wrote in an email, the day-to-day balance on any one of these accounts depends upon timing within that billing/invoicing/payment cycle. Yale routinely keeps current with the city in terms of paying its parking ticket invoices. However, in its earlier report, sent to the Register on March 11, Yales $1,500 total was based on $500 in tickets issued, meaning that the fines had not been paid within at least 15 days of the ticket being issued. As of Monday, the top 50 scofflaws, according to the citys list, owed $34,134 for 469 tickets. None of the top 10 debtors could be reached for comment. Whether people are overstaying their limit at a parking meter (a $20 penalty) or committing the most egregious violation, parking in a handicapped-only space (a $150 fine), if they do not pay the fine, they are depriving New Haven of money it could use to improve the transportation infrastructure of the city, Hausladen said. Parking is a complex topic in a dense city like New Haven, with time limits and pricing at meters, garage spaces, bike lanes and bus routes all affecting the number of empty spaces left on the street for drivers. People who dont pay the meters or let them run out, or who violate other regulations parking within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, parking less than 25 feet from the corner, crosswalk or stop sign, blocking a driveway or taking up space at a bus stop are inconveniencing others, threatening public safety and holding the city back from making improvements that would benefit everyone, Hausladen said. If the 50 worst offenders owe less than $35,000 out of an outstanding $13 million loss, that means there are an awful lot of people who are trying to beat the system and park for free or who arent paying out of anger because they got back to their car five minutes after the meter ran out and found a ticket on their windshield. The list of 50 includes drivers from Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, Texas and Quebec. All have gone over 15 or 30 days with at least one of their tickets and each has received at least seven. The rest of the Top 10 scofflaws are William Palmieri of New Haven, 17 tickets, $1,410; Giesi Rodriguez of New Haven, 14, $1,260; Theresa Katz of Hamden, 17, $1,200; Luilly Gomez of New Haven, 13, $1,170; Larkins Flooring LLC of Bridgeport, eight, $1,060; Marc Arotsky of Woodbridge, 13, $1,050; Stranja Perrin of Ansonia, nine, $900; and Carmen Figueroa of North Lauderdale, Florida, eight, $885. There are a lot of details to the rules of parking in New Haven. For example, while there is a limit of two hours at most downtown parking meters, which must be fed until 9 p.m., that limit is lifted after 5 p.m., so that you can pay for up to four hours, have dinner and not have to worry about running out to find a new parking space once your meter expires. In fact, its a violation to feed a meter to keep a parking space. Those who do so are called meter repeaters and are subject to a $20 ticket. Youre not supposed to park within 500 feet once you hit the time limit, Hausladen said. Thats roughly one block-length. The purpose of short-term on-street parking is short term. There is a right-size parking location for every parking need. Numerous garages and parking lots are scattered all over downtown. We now digitally chalk tires to make sure the vehicle hasnt overstayed its limit, Hausladen said. We dont do it every day; its pretty time-consuming. But while police and the citys 21 parking-enforcement officers do make a note of cars that havent been moved, It is harder for us to enforce meter repeating than it is a meter violation, he said. Its possible that those further down the list were the victims of imperfect meters, which do break occasionally, but there is the right of appeal. The number of people who tell me directly that they had a problem with their meter is insane, Hausladen said. About twice a week, once a week, a credit card gets stuck in a meter. And people have their reasons for why they didnt deserve the ticket they received. Everyone who drives will park so were all mild experts, Hausladen said. Its really important to approach the work with the empathy that anyone can be a scofflaw, from your law-abiding grandmother to the one whos evading parking tickets, he said. Fines add up Of $13.8 million in outstanding parking tickets, $10.5 million is owed by Connecticut residents, but $2.9 million of that is owed on vehicles with unknown owners. Out-of-state drivers owe $3.1 million, only $1.2 million of which is owned by known vehicle owners, Hausladen said. The balance is from unknown drivers. The city collected $5.29 million from parking fines in fiscal 2018, compared with $6.5 million from the meters. Of 203,000 tickets that are outstanding, the average amount owed after escalators, after everything, is about $68, Hausladen said. In the year ending June 2018, 135,096 tickets were processed. Scofflaws face more than the fines they owe if theyre caught. Anyone who owes more than $200 can have their car booted, and owing more than $400 will get the car towed. The boot fee is $55 and the cost of getting a towed car back is $77 ($88 during a snow emergency). Thats in addition to paying for the tickets, towing fees and outstanding taxes, and theres a $20-a-day storage fee. The fine for violating a snow emergency parking ban is $100, and its $150 for parking in a handicapped space without a permit. If that doubles [it] can get you in the boot, Hausladen said. Another way scofflaws can get caught is when they try to register their vehicles with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, but theyll be kept from registering only if they have more than five outstanding tickets, and the city only reaps about $40,000 a year that way. That represents 0.29 percent of the delinquency, Hausladen said. And the city actively looks for scofflaws, Hausladen said. Crown Towing has a contract with the city to have someone drive around the city, shooting photos of license plates with a camera that then dings the scofflaws it finds. Its not easy to track down people who owe the city money. Our methods of collection are limited by statute and by ordinance, Hausladen said. Collection notices and photographing license plates can go only so far. The challenge of course is that our contractor drives only in the city of New Haven so, once you leave the city of New Haven, our power is diminished considerably. Another ng fact No. 2: There are between 1,000 and 1,200 street spaces downtown, where the object is to churn, as Hausladen calls it, keeping people moving so others can stop to shop or eat. But there are 20,000 spaces in the 24 garages and lots in or close to downtown. On-street parking is a limited common good, Hausladen said. Theres only so much of it and everybody has access to it at some level. But, he added, theres psychologically something about being able to see your destination from your parking space. My job is to equitably distribute this limited common good and my only mechanisms to do this distribution are price, duration and regulations. Then theres the ghost of Concetta Penney Serra. Hausladen did not live in New Haven on July 16, 1973, when Serra was stabbed to death in a 10th-floor stairwell of the Temple Street Garage. But he knows the name well. Her killer was not caught and convicted until 2002, and the crime made the garages less attractive as parking spots than they might otherwise have been. In a dense downtown, parking meters and other strategies serve to keep traffic moving and to make sure its not too difficult to reach the shops, restaurants, theaters, churches and other activities New Haven is known for. Hausladen also wants to encourage people to use mass transit, bike and walk. So having to pay for parking serves a purpose beyond bringing revenue to the city. When its zero dollars, everyone drives, he said. Ideally, downtown parking spots would be about 85 percent full, Hausladen said. When you turn the corner, one or two spaces should be available to you, he said. But Hausladen believes planners need to get away from the notion that there has to be a space for everyone who comes into the city to live or work. Seattle added 40,000 jobs, I believe, to downtown in the last 15 years and theyve added zero cars, he said. This perpetuation of designing for storage of vehicles as a zoning requirement is anti-human. Relying on the ideas of Donald Shoup, a Yale University graduate and author of The High Cost of Free Parking, Hausladen said he would make several changes if he could: He would remove rules for minimum off-street parking spaces for new buildings and he would re-examine the charges for parking. In some places rates would go up; in some places rates would go down, he said. Hausladen would like to target the fines from parking tickets to the areas they come from. I would take the revenue from the system that we create and I would reinvest it in the district that it came from, he said. He would spend the money on streetscape, pedestrian lighting, curbs, bump-outs, bus shelters and benches, all of which would make city living that much more pleasant, he said. edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382. An Alabama sheriffs investigator says a man pretended to help search for the 11-year-old girl hes accused of strangling. Al.com reports a judge ruled Monday that prosecutors have probable cause in the capital murder case against 33-year-old Christopher Wayne Madison, whos accused of killing Amberly Alexis Barnett. The Georgia child had been staying with her aunt, a neighbor of Madisons. A wrong-way crash that killed three members of a Mason family near Dayton is being investigated as vehicular homicide, police said in a statement on Tuesday. The crash took place just after 8 p.m. Sunday in the southbound lanes of I-75 between Dryden Road and South Dixie Drive. Police said a 21-year-old woman, now identified as Abby Michaels, of Xenia, Ohio, was driving a Kia Forte northbound in the southbound lanes. Investigators said her car hit a Toyota Camry head-on, killing the family of three from Mason that was inside. Investigators also confirmed the woman crossed over the median through lanes restricted for authorized and emergency vehicles. The Montgomery County Coroner's Office identified the victims as 51-year-old Timmy Thompson, 50-year-old Karen Thompson and 10-year-old Tessa Thompson. Police said Timmy and Tessa were pronounced dead at the scene and Karen was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Michaels was taken by medical helicopter to the hospital and is currently listed in stable but serious condition at Miami Valley Hospital. Police said they believe she may have been impaired. "At this time, we do believe alcohol was a factor. To what extent, we're not sure yet, but we are investigating that," Sgt. Andrew Parish, of the Moraine Police Department, said. According to a report from the Police Department, Michaels was "wearing a festive St. Patrick's Day shirt, multiple green, plastic shamrock necklaces and she had a temporary tattoo on her right cheek of an apparent beer mug." The report also states that she had a frothy liquid coming from her mouth, which medics apparently identified as beer. Police said the incident is still under investigation, and they are in the process of investigating where Michaels was prior to the crash. Anyone with information is asked to call 937-535-1166. WEST HAVEN After moving here from New York three years ago, Martha Lojano and her family couldnt find enough healthful places to eat out. So she took control and opened her own place, where the vegetables are cut fresh daily and only olive oil is used for cooking. Lojano, who lives in West Haven with her husband, Carlos Buestan, and three boys, ages 8-17, hails from Ecuador. But she made her Chiquita Queen restaurant at 215 Saw Mill Road in a small plaza authentic Mexican, bringing in a Mexican chef to come up with the menu because she thought Mexican food would be more popular than Ecuadorian, she said. Lojano said through a translator that she Gives thanks to God that I continue to work, and shes so happy she didnt give in to people who said she couldnt do it and listened instead to the encouraging words of her husband. While someone else does the cooking and the menu is Mexican tacos of beef, chicken and lamb and burritos, quesadillas, fajitas Lojano offers some specialty Ecuadorian dishes on weekends that she learned to cook from mom, including, Guatita, an Ecuadorian tripe stew, ribs, roast pork; Morocho, a spiced corn pudding and more. Her sons are trying to get her to offer more Ecuadorian food, Lojano said. She worked in a Mexican restaurant in New York. The homey restaurant with mostly Mexican music playing comfortably in the background opens at 9 a.m. because they offer many breakfast dishes American and Mexican, the latter including eggs with rice and beans, chorizo, a type of pork sausage. I like it when the customers are happy with their food, she said through a translator. I want them to feel satisfied. Shes been open a year and has lots of regulars, taking that as a good business sign. The business has received glowing reviews on various Facebook and other social media sites. I like the food. I come on my day off, said lunch customer Picante Wallace. The family had lots of ideas for names, but her 8-year-old had good reasoning in coming up with Chiquita Queen, she said: Chiquita means small and Lojano is tiny and the Queen comes from her being the only woman in the household, and therefore queen. Her husband, Buestan, whom she met as a child in Ecuador, is in the demolition field in New York. They chose to live in West Haven rather than stay in New York because the cost of living is more manageable, she said. The atmosphere in the restaurant is bright and cheerful with papel picado brightly colored cutout designs on plastic and paper strung across the ceiling. The designs, considered Mexican folk art, are in yellow, purple, pink, green, blue, white. There are also lots of sombreros and Mexican shawls around. Lojan, who speaks little English, said some people discouraged her from opening, saying it would be tough and indeed she almost gave up during the frustrating red tape stage of opening. She had a Mexican chef devise the dishes and always in the forefront for her is that food is healthful and fresh. The vegetables are cut the day theyre used many restaurants prep days ahead . Her husband whom she describes as great husband and father and their three boys help on weekends, with her oldest taking a shining to cooking. In 1935, the tomb of Jesus Christ was allegedly discovered in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. Although no local residents actually believes the Messiah rests in their community, they hold a Christ Festival at the site every year. I learned by chance of Christs Grave in the village of Shingo, Aomori Prefecture. As I drove westward along Route 454 from Hachinohe to Lake Towada the words Tomb of Christ printed on a road sign caught my eye as I passed through the community. As a researcher of pilgrimages, I had to pay a visit. I pulled off the narrow thoroughfare and made my way to Christs Village Park, where the grave is located, situated atop a small hill by the roadside. There I found a pair of round burial mounds topped with crosses. Coming across the tomb of Jesus in rural Japan was unusual enough, but two graves? According to a nearby park notice, Jesus Christ had come to Japan at the age of 21 in the pursuit of divine knowledge. At 33, he returned to Judea, where he tried to propagate his teachings. Unsuccessful, he was condemned to crucifixion. The signboard then tells that his younger brother Isukiri saved him by taking his place on the cross, and Christ himself returned to Japan via Siberia. The unlikely tale finishes with Jesus settling in the village of Herai (now Shingo) and living to the ripe old age of 106. One of the graves is for Christ, while the other is said to contain a lock of Isukiris hair. A small museum near the burial site displays photographs of local descendants of Christ alongside exhibits of traditional agricultural implements and clothing. There are also various items alleging a connection between the village and Judea along with what purports to be Christs will. Written in Japanese, the document states that after escaping crucifixion, Jesus changed his name to Toraitaro Daitenku, married a woman from the village, and raised three daughters. It goes without saying that the grave is not Christs. The tomb of Jesus is commonly believed to be in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, although there is no archaeological evidence even within Israel as to its actual location. The most compelling argument, from both academic and religious standpoints, is that no such grave exists as the Bible states quite clearly that Jesus ascended to heaven three days after his death by crucifixion. A Secret History The story behind the Aomori grave dates back to 1934. At that time, the village head of Herai was looking to take advantage of a movement to turn the area around nearby Lake Towada into a national park. He hired a painter by the name of Toya Banzan to conduct a survey of the region with the aim of establishing a deep connection between the lake and a section of the village called Mayogatai. Toya was fascinated with famous texts known as the Takeuchi manuscripts, a set of apocryphal documents written in a strange script that Takeuchi Kyomaro (18751965), the founder of a Shinto-style new religion, claimed had been passed down through his family. Although the texts were obviously a hoax, Takeuchi contended they recorded the secret history of Japan prior to the reign of the legendary Emperor Jinmu. According to the manuscripts, luminaries like Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Mencius, and Moses had all undergone religious training in Japan, thus placing the cultural roots of China and the West, one an ancient paragon of art and culture and the other an exemplar of modernity, firmly in Japan. In the summer of 1935, Toya invited Takeuchi to take part in the survey in Herai, where he miraculously discovered Christs grave. He is said to have made a silent prayer before the burial mounds before yelling something to the effect of I knew it was here! Takeuchis findings came as a surprise to villagers, who had never heard of any tradition related to Christ. Up through the end of World War II, a time rife with anti-Western sentiment, residents seemed not to appreciate the association, and one of the village employees even told me that members of a local revitalization project had been rebuffed by locals when they went around asking for items related to the site. The lack of interest continued after the war and the grave was forgotten for a time. An Offbeat Tourist Spot Then in the 1970s an occult boom in Japan brought renewed interest in the site and it became regular fodder for magazines and fantasy fiction. Well-known authors of popular fiction like Takahashi Katsuhiko and Saito Sakae were among those to include the grave in their works. The fact that the village had no Christians merely added to the mystery. Nowadays, the village holds the Kirisuto matsuri, or Christ Festival, each year in early summer. The local chamber of commerce launched the event in 1964, but eventually passed on its running to the local tourism association. The celebration includes a Shinto-style ceremonya priest approaches the grave and recites norito ritual prayers while guests offer ceremonial branchesa shishimai lion dance, and traditional bon odori performed by kimono-clad dancers around the gravesite. The atmosphere is subdued, and government and opposition politicians sometimes attend. The sight of women in kimono gracefully dancing to the folk song nanyadoyara around two great crosses has a tremendous impact. Television programs and guidebooks have featured the event, spinning it as one of Japans many idiosyncratic festivals. More recently, social media has boosted Shingos profile, drawing attention to it as an offbeat tourist spot, and every year the Christ Festival draws hundreds of visitorsa considerable turnout for a community of 2,500. Respecting Community Traditions None of the villagers I spoke with thought the grave was genuine, although a small fraction of visitors seemed to believe in its authenticity. This raises the obvious question of why the local community continues to hold the festival. Is it just a way to draw tourists? The priest who leads the festival told me he felt it was important to conduct a memorial service regardless of who actually occupies the graves. Even if by chance Jesus Christ is buried here, he explains, this is no problem for Shinto, with its myriad gods. The municipal workers who assist in the event agree, reasoning that either way the grave holds a village ancestor and it is their duty to carry on the longstanding tradition of making offerings. Prior to Takeuchi declaring the site Christs tomb, villagers believed that an unknown forebearer was interred on the hilltop. For generations people have handed down the responsibility of tending the site, a tradition that residents today continue to observe. Although it takes the form of the Christ Festival, it is an age-old community practice unrelated to religious faith or doctrine. Not About Belief This is actually true for Japanese religion in general. Many Japanese people visit shrines in the New Year, get married in pseudo chapels in Christian-like ceremonies, and hold Buddhist funerals. Many houses also have both Buddhist and Shinto altars. Some people see Japans jumbling of religions as unprincipled while others view it as a form of atheism. Funerals in particular have come under criticism for merely going through the motions of a religious ceremony. I would ask, though, whether religion really is a question of belief alone. The idea of a faith centered on codified doctrine derives from Western Protestantism. Shinto has no clear doctrine, while Japans version of Buddhism differs considerably from Gautamas teachings, which provide no room for venerating ancestors and graves in its tenet that salvation is found by cutting ties with the secular world. This does not mean that religion in Japan is false. It is based on actions rather than beliefs, and is grounded in community. Japanese people do not visit shrines or hold funerals avidly believing in the existence of the sun goddess Amaterasu, the Pure Land, or Hell. Instead, they are following community traditions. It is because Christs Grave in Shingo is so patently fake that it demonstrates how Japans religious culture lies separate from a framework of belief and unbelief. (Originally published in Japanese on March 6, 2019. Banner photo courtesy Aomori Prefectural Tourist Association.) A public works employee in an Atlantic County town has been arrested on several charges after investigators found he had more than 1,000 images of children being sexually exploited and abused, authorities said Tuesday. Mark J. McGurk, 25, was arrested Friday at his Ventnor home and charged with first-degree possession and distribution of at least 1,000 images depicting the sexual exploitation of children, according to a statement from Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner. McGurk was also charged with first-degree storing or maintaining the images using a file sharing program and a second-degree charge of possession, the prosecutor said. NBC Philadelphia reported that an Instagram user tipped off police that child porn was being shared on the social media platform. The information led to McGurk, the station said. Ventnor City Mayor Beth Holtzman told NBC that McGurk was suspended without pay. McGurk was held in the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A month before the trial is set to begin in the 2018 ambush shooting of two undercover cops in Camden last year, the actions the officers took to return fire and defend themselves was formally deemed justified, authorities said Wednesday. The two detectives, whose names were not released because they work undercover, were stopped at a red light at Broadway and Walnut streets in Camden on Aug. 7 when a white van approached and two gunmen got out and opened fire, according to the prosecutors office. The gunmen fired 21 shots, authorities said. One of the officers was able to bail out of the bullet-riddled car and fire at the van during the barrage, as it sped toward and then past the police car before fleeing the scene, authorities said. However, the shots fired by the detective did not hit anyone, authorities said. The male detective who had returned fire was shot in the bicep and forearm. The female detective was shot in the hand. They have not returned to work, the police department said. As required in New Jersey, incidents in which a police officer discharges a weapon are reviewed to determine if the use of force was justified. The review by the Camden County Prosecutors Office found no reason to present the case to the grand jury and the state Office of the Attorney Generals independent review agreed. The ambush led to a massive manhunt for the suspects. Police used witness statements, surveillance video and photos released to the public to help them identify and catch the suspects. Alexander DeJesus, 19, Ammar A. Hall, 26, and Juan M. Figueroa, 21, were indicted on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy and weapons offenses. They are scheduled to be tried together starting April 29. The Attorney Generals Office concluded the detectives decision to fire on the alleged attackers even as the van was fleeing the area was justified because he believed he had to do so to protect himself and others from injury, according to prosecutors offices statement Wednesday. The detective stated that as the van took off he did not know if they were trying to come back at him or if they were going to stop, the prosecutors office said in a statement. The detective also did not know if the shooters would see that he and his partner were still alive and continue to shoot at them. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips U.S. Sen. Cory Booker heaped praise upon the object of his affection, actress Rosario Dawson, during an appearance on Ellen." In an interview airing Wednesday afternoon on NBC, Booker gushed about the lessons Dawson has taught him in their relationship. The couple have been linked since at least December. When the presidential hopeful wasnt talking about bringing light, decency and grace back to politics and thanking Ellen DeGeneres for being a leader who is decent, good and kind (I understand what youre saying, but I will not be your vice president, DeGeneres told him), he was complimenting Dawson, who recently confirmed the two were an item. The actress and activist got ambushed by TMZ at the airport after visiting him in Washington, D.C., he said. I suddenly get this little video from her saying, I got TMZd. I dont have makeup on,'" Booker, 49, told DeGeneres. But she was wonderful. Shes just an incredible human being. She is just a deeply soulful person, and has taught me a lot of lessons about love already and that sometimes you show the greatest strength when you make yourself vulnerable," Booker said. She really has this nurturing spirit thats made me more courageous, not just in the love that I project and want to see in our country, but I think even in our personal relationships, to love more fearlessly. Im very, very blessed to be with someone who makes me a better person. DeGeneres then went on to dream up a White House wedding for Dawson, 39, and Booker. The senator first revealed he was dating someone in February and Dawson made the confirmation to TMZ this month. I mean, we would watch, she said. That would be like our royal wedding. It would be great. So youre saying if Rosario and I get there, wait," Booker said. "Dont do the marriage before January 2021. For sure," DeGeneres said. Wait and have a big thing, and sweeps ... it would be really important. Would you help preside over the wedding?" Booker asked. I would be a big part of that, yes, DeGeneres said, giving her promise. She then asked Booker to repeat an earlier promise he made that whether or not he gets the Democratic nomination for president, he will help get a woman into the White House, for either president or vice president. First of all, I wanted there to be a woman president in 2016 and its unfortunate there wasnt, Booker said. If I am elected as the nominee, I am going to make sure theres gender diversity on the ticket, he said. So there would be a woman vice president? DeGeneres asked, holding him to the original question. You did not answer my question. After a small hesitation, Booker replied. Yes ... there will be gender diversity on the ticket. DeGeneres aso asked Booker about President Trumps recent inflammatory tweets, which included more insults of the late Sen. John McCain. The senator fondly remembered McCain and defended him from slings Trump hurled in his direction. Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Its a fact most of us already know, but now a food expert has agreed: If youre looking for real-deal Portuguese food, head to Newark. Newark, New Jersey, has some of the best Portuguese food in the world, including Portugal," says John Stanton, a professor of food marketing at St. Josephs University, in a story for Business Insider. Thats because all of the Portuguese sailors came over and were fishing out of the port there. And they set up all these Portuguese restaurants. Newark was singled out in an article that focused on American cities that have the best European cuisine. The website noted the Ironbound section of the city has had a thriving Portuguese community going back to the 1960s, and many of those families opened restaurants, bakeries and cafes. The article also notes that Newark has impressive Spanish and Brazilian restaurants as well. The story lists nine other European cuisines, with Stanton giving his advice on where in the U.S. to find them: For Basque cuisine, visit Boise, Idaho; for Italian, try Little Italys in Boston, San Fran, New York and Chicago; for Greek, its New York and also Detroit. There are also a few lesser celebrated European cuisines mentioned, including Bosnian food (get thee to St. Louis) and Nordic cuisine (the Twin Cities, natch). See the full list, here. Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Eight alumni and two teachers have been chosen for the first induction into the Delaware Valley High Schools Hall of Fame for the Arts. This new Hall of Fame is our way of celebrating the talent and achievements of students who lit this place up -- along with the teachers and directors who cultivated that talent, said principal Adrienne Olcott. The inductees: Clinton Ambs, who teaches English and performing arts at Del Val, made his directorial debut at Del Val with the 2008 production of Once Upon a Mattress, and has directed every musical since, including this years Urinetown. He is adviser to the International Thespian Society. Amalia Crevani, Class of 2017, starred in Anything Goes as Reno Sweeny and in 9 to 5 in the role of Judy. She was the witch in Into the Woods. She also sang in the school choir. She is a sophomore at DePauw University where she is studying vocal performance, theater, acting, piano, musical composition and dance. She is in the university chorus and the Improv Club, sews theatrical costumes and has had major roles in operatic, musical theater and ballet productions on campus and off. Misha Dhanoolal, Class of 2016, was a skilled photographer at Del Val. But over the past three years, she has turned toward digital art and design as well as branding. She is majoring in communication design at Parsons School of Design and interning with GANNI, a Danish fashion company, helping with their visual merchandising department. Over the past year, Dhanoolal helped bring a small 3D printing start-up to life and help brand the business, while building its social media presence. The first inductees to Del Val Hall of Fame for the Arts include (clockwise from top left) Jordan Reina, Class of 2017; Justin Fiaschetti, Class of 2017; Clinton Ambs, teacher and director; Sheryl Keiper, retired teacher and director; and Paul Zdepski, Class of 1981 (photo by Rick Foster, courtesy of Museum of the Shenandoah Valley). Justin Fiaschetti, Class of 2017, excelled in woodworking, his magnum opus being a Maloof rocking chair, which won a Del Val Golden Hammer Award. Wooden bowls of improbable thinness were a specialty of his, and one of his bowls won best in show, high school division, at the national woodturners convention in Las Vegas in 2017. He is a sophomore at Boston University majoring in mechanical engineering. Still a woodworker, his creation of a desk modeled after Bostons Zakim Bridge over the Charles River, was the subject of a university documentary. He has also been working with the university to supply gifts for notable alumni. Lee Anne Hagon-Kerr, Class of 2003, played clarinet in the marching band and was drum major her senior year. She also played in an advanced woodwind quintet and was a Concert Band concert master. She played the piano in the Jazz Band and accompanied the choral ensembles, in addition to singing in them. She won awards at the Virginia Festivals of Music and played in the Pioneer Band of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Since high school, Hagon-Kerr has pursued a career as a pianist, choral conductor and educator with degrees from Westminster Choir College and The Hartt School. She has performed extensively in North America and Europe, released a CD titled Playing with Color, produced and directed numerous benefit concerts and currently teaches music at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Sheryl Keiper taught performing arts and directed plays at Del Val between 1972 and her retirement in 2006. She started in theater as assistant director of the musical Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which won the Rider College drama festival, energizing the Del Val theater program. She was adviser to the International Thespian Society circa 1988-2004, and taught performing arts 1988-2006. She directed about 60 plays, mostly one-acts. Living in North Carolina, she writes with Coastal Carolina Writers, sings in a gospel choir, and amuses her karaoke fans with her Mick Jagger parodies. Michelle Miklosey Gregory, Class of 2002, acted in the fall and spring plays and was a member of the International Thespian Society. Her favorite production was The Real Inspector Hound. She studied theater performance in college and continued her theatrical and film work in New York City and Los Angeles. In 2009, she traveled to Romania to act in the feature film Walking With the Enemy. Now living in Memphis, she has appeared in several local productions, including A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she won Best Supporting Actress at a professional theater awards ceremony. Shannon OConnell, Class of 2008, draws with archival markers in a style shaped by the Japanese and American animation that influenced her as she grew up. She took every art course available at Del Val and went on to graduate summa cum laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, where she focused on printmaking. After school, she taught art to homeschoolers and spent four years as a gallery assistant at the Schmidtberger Fine Art Gallery in Frenchtown. Cards showing her Frenchtown pictures are sold in local stores. OConnell works at the River Valley Waldorf School in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, where she uses art to stimulate creativity in the preschoolers. The first inductees to Del Val Hall of Fame for the Arts include (clockwise from top left) Shannon OConnell, Class of 2008; Michelle (Miklosey) Gregory, Class of 2002; Lee Ann Hagon-Kerr, Class of 2003; Amalia Crevani, Class of 2017; and Misha Dhanoolal, Class of 2016. Jordan Reina, Class of 2017, began and ended her high school career with the leading roles in the annual musical as Elle in Legally Blonde and as Doralee in 9 to 5. In between, she was Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes and Cinderella in Into the Woods. She also sang in the school choir. She is a sophomore at Virginia Tech, where she performs in an a cappella group, the TechNotes. Paul Zdepski, Class of 1981, is a painter, cartoonist, illustrator and university professor who applies his skill and sense of humor to editorial cartoons, comics and paintings. He also sculpts, designs furniture, and works in metal and wood. He holds an MFA in illustration from the University of Hartford and teaches graphic communication at the University of Maryland University College in Adelphi. He also lectures at Shenandoah University, the Shenandoah Arts Council, and various schools. He lives in Virginia. His work has been widely exhibited. The luncheon induction will take place at the school at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 18. For reservations, send an email to RichardEpstein@dvrhs.k12.nj.us. A Trenton man found guilty of killing a 13-year-old girl in a drive-by gang-related shooting had another attempt to appeal his 39-year prison sentence rejected. Lamar Warren appealed an initial denial of his post-conviction relief, arguing his counsel had been ineffective during his 2013 plea agreement. But an appellate court affirmed the lower courts denial in a decision Tuesday. A member of the Sex Money Murder gang, Warren was 18 when he shot into a crowd at a Trenton block party in 2009. The move was revenge after a rival gang had shot one of the Sex Money Murder members. But the bullet hit 13-year-old Tamrah Leonard in the back as she was leaving the party, killing her. Warren was charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses, but pleaded guilty to lesser offenses of aggravated manslaughter and unlawful possession of a handgun in exchange for a 39-year sentence handed down in 2013. At sentencing, Warrens attorney argued that he was a low-ranking member of the gang, unlikely to commit another offense, and had fallen under the influence of older members. The attorney argued the decades-long sentence was unjust, compared to the lesser ones handed down to higher members of the gang who had ordered the shooting and supplied the weapon, according to court documents. But a judge rejected those arguments, noting Warrens role in helping to plan the shooting, and argued Warren would likely return to the gang upon release. The 39-year sentence was upheld. In an amended post-conviction relief petition, Warren argued his counsel was ineffective and had failed to investigate the case or present witnesses that would help his case, like friends and family. He also contended his counsel had failed to argue against all aggravating factors found by the court. The appeal was denied without an evidentiary hearing, as a judge who reviewed statements from family and friends of Warren found the statements only restated his counsels arguments at sentencing, and were inconsistent with the facts, according to court documents. Seven people were convicted in the shooting, including Warrens older brother, Keith Warren, who was driving at the time and got a 20-year sentence. James James, the gangs leader, admitted to ordering the shooting in exchange for a maximum sentence of 12 years. Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. A foreign national wanted for aggravated murder was deported this month, immigration officials announced Tuesday. Yermin Alexander Diaz-Chavarria, an El Salvadorian national was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol on Aug. 23, 2015, at Hidalgo, Texas, for entering the country illegally, according to a release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2017, El Salvador issued a warrant for Diaz-Chavarrias arrest for aggravated murder and affiliation with criminal organizations, ICE said. After he didnt show up for his Feb. 13, 2018 immigration court hearing in Newark, an immigration judge ordered him to be deported to El Salvador, the release stated. Diaz-Chavarria was eventually caught on Feb. 11 in Newark by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers and on March 8, he was deported and turned over to Salvadorian authorities, officials said. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. By Timothy Levi Adkins-Jones On Thursday, March 7, I had the honor of standing with black legislators, clergy, and civil rights leaders to announce a series of public hearings regarding the disproportionate use of force by police on African Americans in New Jersey. This is a coordinated and passionate attempt by people who love our community to ensure we take steps to reduce and to prosecute the unnecessary and arbitrary use of force. Although we are demanding meaningful and effective community oversight, unified standards of reporting, removal of problematic officers, the eradication of a culture that condones abusive behavior, body camera requirements, and better training; we are aware that the real problem is rooted deeper than protocol and procedures can address. Deeply felt pain and trauma exists in African-American communities due to excessive force, and meaningful healing in our communities wont happen without a process and space to faithfully deal with the history of abuse. Sadly, the abuse identified in the Force Report could have been anecdotally described by almost any black person without any reporting. This traumatic experienced recollection is a symptom of decades of maltreatment. Historically, African Americans have experienced violence in the name of law, order, and control. This history originates with beating slaves, to the lynching of free blacks during Jim Crow, to the current excessive use of force during the age of mass incarceration. Not only must we create policies that will stop the abuse, we must deal with the accumulated effect of this trauma on the psyche and soul of our communities. Included in our collective response, is a call for a process that will allow the entire community, everyone affected by this abuse, to partner with the government to create the space for healing. Our first step toward creating this space comes Thursday, on March 21, at Bethany Baptist in Newark where we will host the first of many hearings across the state. As pastor of Bethany, I believe that it is important that we open our house so that the community might feel comfortable expressing the depths of their pain, and so we can begin the difficult work of healing. I believe that any place where the community has the space and feels comfortable to express their emotional wounds is holy ground. We consider it a chief aspect of our identity to create sacred space for people to express what is embedded in their hearts. According to the Force Report in Newark, based on arrests, black people are 203 percent more likely to have force used on them than white people and based on population, black people are 133 percent more likely. Bethany, in Newark then is not only a safe place to have this conversation, but a necessary place to have it, to give voice to those that have experienced abuse in our area. I have no doubt that emotions will be high and that it will not always be pleasant. In order to heal, people must be given room to speak, vent, cry and scream about what theyve experience and witnessed. If we really want to be made well, we have to pick up our own mats and take the first steps towards reconciliation and tell the truth to one another. The community must have a place free of critique or limit to testify to their pain. This is not a new process. Truth and reconciliation has been a major part of the restorative work in communities as varied as South Africa, Greensboro in North Carolina, Maine, and Canada. We need to do it here in New Jersey as well. If we can get to the truth, we can get to the healing we so desperately need. The truth is we need each other. Our search for restorative justice rests on the bedrock understanding of our existential interrelatedness. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it like this in his letter from the Birmingham jail, In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.... The hope for our communities lies in our embrace of this tenet. We must reconcile, the police and the people, the government and the grandmas, the legislators and the church ladies, the Attorney General and the agitators, Black Lives Matter and the boys and girls in blue, we all must find truth, face the truth, be held accountable to the truth and then be reconciled if we have any hope for justice. Join us this Thursday, March 21st at 6 p.m. as we begin this journey. Rev. Timothy Levi Adkins-Jones is the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark and a member of the NJ Black Multi-Faith Alliance. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox.Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Last week in New Zealand, a self-avowed white supremacist targeted two mosques and streamed his bloody killing spree on social media. There are at least three condemnations that should result from the massacre. The first condemnation is for the act itself. The callous slaughter of people at prayer is part of an age that has devalued life, from unrestricted abortions, to street shootings and other terrorist attacks. That some of these assaults are motivated by twisted views of religion, or in this case, a white supremacist opposed to immigration, is all part of the same piece. Murder and hate should not be categorized. The second condemnation goes to politicians and special interest groups who blame President Trump and the NRA, seeking to make political hay out of an action that had nothing to do with either. That the shooter mentioned the president as "a symbol of white supremacy" does not make him one. Critics will use anything in an attempt to discredit and weaken Trump's appeal before next year's election. Shame on them. The gunman, whose name shall not be mentioned here, posted online a 74-page manifesto and details of his evil intent. Reports say he sent it to the prime ministers office and media outlets just nine minutes before launching the attack. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns office said the message came too late for police to respond. Since the shooter had made his racist beliefs known in previous social media postings, why did no one take him seriously and monitor him as a walking time bomb? If police failed to take his threats seriously are authorities also in danger of condemnation? Did no one see it? If someone did, why didn't they call police? If they did call, why did the police not pay him a visit? Social media is often quick to take down "inappropriate" postings. How did the gunman manage to escape censors for a heinous act far worse than offensive speech? Press reports say the shooter had also planned a terror attack on Muslims last December. Did no one hear about that? If they did, why weren't police contacted? Again, if they were, why didn't they visit the man's home? Ardern promised to strengthen her country's gun laws. Would stronger laws have deterred a man intent on mass murder? The police mainly determine who is qualified to own a gun. The New York Times reported: "While New Zealand's laws governing the purchase of semiautomatic rifles are more restrictive than those in the United States, the country is much freer with firearms than Australia is, allowing most guns to be purchased without requiring them to be tracked." The prime minister can start there. Investigators will find how the shooter, who is a gun club member, obtained his weapons and whether he was licensed to possess them. Meanwhile, houses of worship are finding it necessary to employ armed guards, which is a judgment on our increasingly anti-life culture. More guards will likely be hired in the aftermath of the mosque shootings. New Zealand is the popular location for film companies. Perhaps the most famous film series produced there is "Lord of the Rings," based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. In "The Fellowship of the Ring," there is this quote: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement." The shooter dealt death in his judgment. New Zealand no longer imposes capital punishment. If ever there was a person who deserves the death penalty it is this shooter, and not just because it might deter others. More importantly, capital punishment imposed on this monster would exact justice for those innocent people who were killed or wounded and for their families. This year marks Cal Thomas 35th year as a syndicated columnist. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Officials in Clifton will open an independent investigation after 17 city police officers who are also in the military alleged they were discriminated against and harassed by their superiors over their military service. Clifton city manager Dominick Villano said Wednesday requests for proposals will be sent out to hire an investigator to check into cops claims that they were made to feel they had to choose between being a police officer and serving their country. I want (the investigation) to be fair and open, said Villano, who emphasized that no one with any connection to the city will be hired to investigate. I dont want it to be skewed in any way. I want these officers to feel free to speak with the investigators and not worry about retaliation. Villano apologized to the officers and their families at Tuesdays city council meeting. He added said the city has backed off a previous inappropriate demand made by city Chief Financial Officer Joseph Kunz that the officers produce seven years of military pay stubs to prove they were actually deployed overseas. When the 17 officers have commitments for weekend military exercises, the city will also reimburse them for the difference in pay between their police and National Guard salaries, Villano said. Officers will also be paid in full while serving in foreign countries. While Villano said he was not copied on the correspondence sent by the city to the officers about the pay stubs, he took responsibility. You say how does the CEO not know whats going on?' I can understand why the families were upset. To get a letter like that around the holidays. It was taken out of context and rightly so. These folks are scrambling with their loved ones overseas. It was inappropriate. Thats why I apologized for what we put them through. I take the blame for it. Im not going to pass the buck," Villano said. Cathy Elston, a Wall-based attorney who said earlier this month the 17 officers plan to sue the city and the department didnt return a message Wednesday seeking comment. The officers union, Clifton PBA Local No 36, also couldnt be reached for comment. The letters sent to the officers in November a week after Veterans Day were the first of, in some cases, three memos sent to officers with a demand to produce documentation that they were serving in the military on the days they claimed, Elston said earlier this month. Officers were already required to provide things like drill schedules, pay scales and military orders. Officers are paid the difference between their military pay and their police department salaries when deployed. No officers were denied any money, Elston said. The attorney previously said some officers were mocked when they returned from a tour of duty with a few sometimes snidely being told, I see youre back from vacation." Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Albert J. Alvarez says he was declared guilty of rape before anyone looked at the facts. Now with the release of criminal files that he says revealed significant discrepancies in what his accuser told a state legislative committee and the public, the former Gov. Phil Murphy administration official said he plans to go to court to seek justice for himself. In an exclusive interview with NJ Advance Media, Alvarez said he was wrongfully terminated by the state after Katie Brennan, another high-level administration staffer, accused him of sexual assault in the midst of Murphys 2017 campaign for governor. Ive been maligned in the press. I was forced out of a job. I have a family. I have commitments and obligations. Ive become a pariah in the public and that makes it difficult to find a job, Alvarez said. I have very strong feelings that I have multiple causes of action to pursue against multiple parties, and Miss Brennan is just one of them. Brennan has already filed her own civil lawsuit against Alvarez, the state of New Jersey and the Murphy campaign. Alvarez, who is unemployed, said he is being helped by friends and family to pay his mounting legal fees. The allegations against Alvarez came under a renewed spotlight last week after his lawyers successfully argued before state Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas in Middlesex County for the release of the files of the Hudson County and Middlesex County prosecutors offices. Both offices had investigated Brennans allegations, and declined to press charges. Alvarez said he sought the files because there are a lot of misconceptions and falsehoods being made." But some have questioned the legal move, questioning why a judge agreed to the demand without a hearing that included the alleged victim, or a protective order to prevent the release of confidential information. In an hour-long interview in the Cranford office of his attorney, Stacy Ann Biancamano, Alvarez said there were contradictions between her testimony, what she told reporters, and what was in those files. But he said the allegations against him were so salacious that people immediately believed her. According to the prosecutors files, investigators told Brennan long before she publicly accused Alvarez that DNA recovered from her underwear did not match Alvarez. It matched her husbands DNA. There were traces of DNA on her neck and breast but not enough to make a conclusive match, according to a lab analysis. Brennan had also claimed that Alvarez offered her a $15,000 settlement under the condition that she sign a non-disclosure agreement about what happened that night. While Alvarez did make that offer, his lawyers said it was a counter-offer to a demand by Brennans former attorney threatening a lawsuit against Alvarez unless he agreed to pay $1.5 million as restitution for the significant damages Ms. Brennan has incurred due to Mr. Alvarezs actions, according to a January 2018 letter shared with NJ Advance Media. Her inaccurate statements are what led to the situation that were in today, he said. She created the political firestorm that were living in right now. That Im living in right now. Joanna Klonsky, the accusers friend and spokeswoman, said in a statement that Brennan never misled. She described facts that led her to believe that, at a minimum, they would present her case to a grand jury because once he said it was consensual, it was he-said/she-said, rendering the DNA evidence moot. But there was forensic proof of someone elses saliva on her body where she said it would be as she described the attack. Unfortunately, as she described and as can be seen in the video, there was not enough saliva to make a match, Klonsky said. As for the $1.5 million settlement demand that was never mentioned, Klonsky declined to address the question directly, saying that when the criminal justice system fails, survivors only option is a civil suit. Regardless of what was demanded, Al Alvarez would condition settlement on a monetary offer with absolute confidentiality and Katie would not agree to any confidentiality under any circumstance, she said. Survivors must not be silenced. Brennan, currently chief of staff to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, went public with her allegations in October, when she went to a reporter for the Wall Street Journal to say she had been sexually assaulted by Alvarez, and had spent more than a year trying to get law enforcement authorities, and then the administration, to take action against him. At each turn, Ive just felt so disappointed, Brennan told the Journal. I tried everything. And none of it worked. If I cant get any justice, I just dont seriously know who can. In her dramatic testimony in Trenton before a legislative oversight committee created in the wake of her allegations, Brennan in December said: I had access to the highest positions of power, and at each turn my pleas went unanswered. Somehow it wasnt a priority to address my sexual assault until it impacted them. Alvarez, a lawyer himself, had served in the Murphy campaign as outreach director for Muslim and Latino communities. He said campaign manager Brendan Gill brought him on to the campaign. He was later hired to a $140,000-a-year state position that grew to $170,000 as chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority after the governors election. Who hired him for that job has been an ongoing focus of the legislative committee, which still does not have an answer to the question. Both Brennan and Alvarez, who had known each other previously through political circles, came across each other during a campaign staff party at a Jersey City bar in April 2017. The investigative reports released by Alvarezs attorney included sworn statements by many of the governors senior campaign staff who had been at the party as well. Several recalled seeing Brennan, then 29, and Alvarez, who was 42, dancing and laughing together throughout the night. After the evening began to wind down, Brennan said Alvarez offered her a ride home. Once there, she claimed Alvarez asked to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Then inside her apartment, Brennan alleged that he forced himself on her, pushing her onto the couch, and pulling off her pants and underwear. I said why are you doing this? Stop doing this. Why are you doing this? I got very clinical about it, Brennan said in her video-taped interview with investigators. I literally uttered the phrase, this is not consensual. How many times do I need to say no? I am going to utter something that is so clear. This is not okay. But Alvarez, who spoke to the same investigators, told them that what happened that night was entirely consensual, and repeated that again in his interview with NJ Advance Media. At no point did I feel uncomfortable with anything that we did together. Everything, everything, everything in her body language, even her verbal. She never said stop until the very end. She never said to me Al, this is uncomfortable. Al, you are hurting me. She never went to strike me, she never went to push me away or move away from me at any point. Even when we were on the couch. And she has a small couch, he told investigators. Albert J. Alvarez with his attorney, Stacy Ann Biancamano, after he testified last week before the joint legislative select oversight committee. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Alvarez, in his interview with NJ Advance Media, said when he left her apartment, he had no idea she would file assault charges. I was thinking that there was regret there. There was remorse on her part for having engaged with me in her apartment where her and her husband lived, he said. So I felt bad that I was a contributing factor into that. I felt bad that she felt bad. At the same time, he said the legislative committee had come to the conclusion that he was guilty without hearing his testimony or seeing the reports of the prosecutors who investigated the case. It became obvious to me that this was becoming a political witch hunt and that I was being used as some sort of proxy to damage the governors administration, he said. Alvarez said he had known Brennan was married before they ended up in her apartment. Its not something Im very proud of, he said of his pursuit of her that night. But the divorced father of two again maintained that the events of that night were consensual, and that it ended when she said no. While her supporters say he is lying, Alvarez responded that he knew he was telling the truth. Miss Brennan pursued a criminal accusation against me. She availed herself of the criminal process. She had every right to, he said. The allegation was thoroughly investigated. Not once but twice. Two separate prosecutors offices. Two separate set of investigators reviewed thoroughly her claim. And the release of the files, he said, showed no corroboration and no credible evidence to support her claims. I expect to file a robust pleading where I will further pursue justice in this case for myself, he said. NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. When Ridgefield Mayor Anthony R. Suarez was arrested and charged with political corruption in New Jerseys biggest federal undercover sting operation, he became a pariah. The governor demanded his resignation. People he thought were friends turned away from him. A recall effort was mounted in his small Bergen County community. And then he was acquitted breaking a decade-long streak by the U.S. Attorneys office of more than 200 public corruption convictions, and exposing a weakness in a high-profile case that depended on the testimony of a fast-talking informant with an unsavory past. Today, 10 years after sitting down for a business lunch at Patsys Restaurant in Fairview and becoming the unwitting target of a secretly taped meeting that sought to ensnare him, much has changed. While most of the more than 40 people arrested the 2009 case including elected officials, Orthodox rabbis, and a guy selling black market kidneys ultimately pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial, Suarez emerged with his reputation restored. His nearly $300,000 in legal bills were covered by insurance (which he said led to changes in municipal policy coverage that will make it harder for the next innocent public official to collect). He is far more careful to have the township attorney with him when he meets potential developers. He has no love for former Gov. Chris Christie, who green-lighted the sting operation that ultimately led to his arrest. And the waiter who can be seen in the surveillance video at Patsys is no longer working tables. He ran for office, said Suarez, and is now a councilman. And as for Suarez, he remains the mayor of Ridgefield. But he said what happened took a major toll on his life. It was scary. It was a nightmare, said the 52-year-old Democrat, who has just written a book about the ordeal he went through: Politically Indicted: The Real Story Behind the Jersey Sting. Suarez was arrested in July 2009, in the wide-ranging sting operation that stretched from Brooklyn to Jersey City, following a three-year undercover investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office that became known as Bid Rig III. The linchpin that held it all together was Solomon Dwek, a failed real estate investor who agreed to cooperate with authorities after he was caught in a $50 million bank fraud. Dwek, posing as a corrupt developer by the name of David Esenbach, set up dozens of elected officials, who were captured surveillance video taking cash bribes. The sting also led to charges against five Orthodox rabbis accused of using synagogues and religious charities to launder millions of dollars in illicit funds through exchanges set up by Dwek and the FBI. And in one of the more bizarre aspects of the investigation, a Brooklyn man was caught on tape brokering black-market kidneys for a fee. The arrests garnered worldwide attention and Suarez stood out when he showed up for his court appearance in white shorts and a Ridgefield Police T-shirt. He writes in the book about how he had been at the Jersey Shore when the arrests came down and had gotten a call on his cell phone from the FBI while out for a morning bike ride that there was a warrant for his arrest. I never got arrested before. You have to turn yourself in, he said, looking back at that day. I didnt have dress clothes. I was with wife and kids. I didnt know what was going on. When he received the call, he said he asked the female agent why he was being arrested. She just told him: Put on the television set. "Just turn on your TV," the FBI told Suarez. A few hours later, he was among more than 40 people arrested in a wide-ranging corruption scandal. He was later acquitted of all charges at trial. AP He soon learned that he had been accused of taking a $10,000 bribe from Dave Esenbach through former Guttenberg councilman Vincent Tabbachino, who set up the lunch meeting with Dwek at Patsys as part of a scheme to get the mayor to use his influence to help with building permits. Suarez maintained his innocence and refused to resign as mayor, despite heavy pressure by Gov. Jon Corzine and others who pushed for his removal. At trial, he told jurors that he never cashed the check that Tabbachino had pushed upon him, and gave it instead to his attorney. He was found innocent of all charges. Tabbachio went to prison. Suarez,said he began writing a book as a catharsis of sorts. After the trial was over, I was able to gather my thoughts. I wasnt able to sleep well. I would jot down things. After a while, I started putting it together as a book, he said. I wanted to get what I knew on the record. Told from his side of an episode that for him remains raw, he still has hard feelings in the book for the prosecutors who went after him, for political opponents who tried to dig an early grave for him, and for the way he was portrayed by the media. I dont know about criminal sting operations. Its not my field, said Suarez, an attorney who practices municipal law. But it seems to me these were not ongoing crimes. This was a guy sent out to create the crimes. Law enforcement is supposed to arrest people committing crimes. He called Dwek a mini-version of Bernie Madoff, essentially getting away with a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme until he was caught red-handed and the FBI set him up as an informant, dangling a chance to get a more lenient sentence. Still, Suarez today says he doesnt carry the anger of the past. He remains as mayor, and continues to practice law. Im just happy to be where I am right now, he said. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. They choose careers that allow them to live the life they desire, busy with afterwork activities, including philanthropic involvement. Multitasking is their way of yeezy boost 350 v2 life. And then I eat it: the dream is dispelled and all I'm left with is a mouthful of compacted, slabshaped sawdust and major, major disappointment. Building on the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999), Security Council resolution 1373 (2001), calls on States to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism, inter alia, by criminalizing the collection and provision of funds for terrorist purposes, and urges them to set up effective mechanisms to freeze funds and other financial assets of persons involved in or associated with terrorism, as well as to prevent those funds from being made available to terrorists. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also developed detailed recommendations on countering terrorism financing. The significant sums raised by terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da'esh) and the funding of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) underscore the importance of targeting terrorist resources. 61 codons code for 20 amino acids. Three codons do not code for any amino acids. They function as stop codons to end https://www.yeezybooststock.com/ protein synthesis. Les jeunes filles, souvent entranes par une copine ou un copain, s'inscrivent sur les rubriques rencontre de sites de petites annonces. Et elles peuvent aller jusqu' intgrer des rseaux de prostitution chapeauts par des proxntes. Three years later, Ruan signed up with the Lianhua Film Company, also known as the United Photoplay Service. What does New Jersey owe somebody for the years they spent in prison, on parole or probation or registered as a sex offender for a crime they did not commit? Republican and Democratic state lawmakers agree the answer is more than current law allows. But beset by budget negotiations and political wrangling over legalized marijuana, a bill advocates say would fix New Jerseys broken system for compensating the wrongly convicted is crawling through the Legislature. Under New Jersey law, those exonerated from crimes they did not commit can sue the state to recoup money for time they spent locked up, but under rules pushed by former Gov. Chris Christie, the program is not available to anyone who entered a guilty plea. Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Bergen, has sponsored legislation (A1037) that would wipe away that restriction and expand access to compensation for those who spent years on sex offender registries or on probation or parole. Its up to the state to assure those who have been wrongfully convicted are compensated, and hopefully get their lives back on track, Johnson told an Assembly committee this week. Unfortunately, our current system, our laws, do not align with our judicial system the one that we all believe in so much," added Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, R-Monmouth, another sponsor. The committee heard testimony from supporters including the Innocence Project, the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Princeton-based Centurion Ministries and the Hotel Trades Council. It also heard from Dion Harrell, one of just a handful of people whose lives could immediately change if the bill passed. Harrell served four years of an eight-year sentence for a 1988 rape he didnt commit, and spent nearly three decades as a registered sex offender before he was exonerated thanks to DNA evidence. I still feel that Im still locked up, he told lawmakers at the Assembly Judiciary Committees Tuesday hearing. What happened to me is still stuck with me. Nobody testified against the measure, but the committee did not act to advance it. Under current law, exonerated inmates can sue the state Treasury for either double their annual income or up to $50,000 for each year they spent locked up. The new measure would also allow them to recoup up to $25,000 for years spent on parole, probation or as a registered sex offender. Advocates estimate the proposed law would cost about $1.4 million to pay former inmates currently not eligible for compensation. Theres probably nothing in ones life which would be more horrible than to have the government array its entire force against an innocent person and deprive them of their liberty on that grounds, said Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, who told his colleagues he would likely support the measure. Carroll said he objected to the provision allowing people who pleaded guilty to recover money when they are later proven innocent. Later, Michelle Feldman, the state campaigns director for the Innocence Project, noted that false guilty pleas are common in a justice system geared toward making plea deals instead of going to trial. Feldmans group says one in every 10 DNA exonerations involve cases where a person pleaded guilty under pressure from prosecutors. Carroll also objected to another quirk of New Jerseys system. You shouldnt have to sue, he said during the hearing, arguing that state compensation for the wrongly convicted should be mandatory. The measure was introduced last year but has yet to receive a vote in either house of the Legislature. Johnson told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday that legislative leaders were preoccupied with a little thing called marijuana and a six-letter word called budget, but that he was confident itll be on the board the next voting session. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The production and writer team of McCarter Theatre and contemporary American playwright Ken Ludwig are at it again with the world premiere production of The Gods of Comedy, which is being billed as a hilariously divine new play filled with madcap mayhem, a touch of romance, and lots of laughs through March 31 at the Matthews Theatre of Princetons McCarter Theatre Center. Ludwig and McCarter have teamed before for other world premieres like a slightly slimmed-down adaptation of Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express which required the crime-solving skills of Hercule Poirot and Baskerville, an irreverent take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyles The Hound of the Baskervilles featuring the sleuthing team of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Ludwigs new play might be considered on equally familiar ground. Something about the gods of ancient Greece used to be taught in schools although that might not be true anymore. But those gods and what mortal writers have said about them are very real and prominent for two of the characters in Ludwigs new comedy. Once upon a time, the storyteller confided to the expectant listeners, there was a university professor whose life and work were almost totally involved with Greek classics and those unpredictable gods of ancient Greece. Coincidentally, a word which often occurs in comedies and in hits like the musical Crazy for You which had a book by Ludwig or in Lend Me a Tenor, Ludwigs most often produced play, theres another, younger teaching assistant of the opposite sex who shares the professors work and interests. However, and heres what Ludwig builds on, they run into a problem, a serious problem which could scuttle their lifes work as well as their budding friendship. Theres a one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable manuscript that goes missing, and this professor, lets call him Ralph because thats his name, and his young assistant, lets call her Daphne, must find it. Theyre intelligent, caring people, but all roads lead nowhere, and frustration and failure are around at every corner. Even Aristide, the local Greek merchant who usually has all the answers, is at a loss. What to do? Why not say a prayer? And to whom shall Daphnes heartfelt plea be directed? Certainly, to those ancient gods whose dabblings in the lives of mortals provided the fodder for so many Italian muscle-man spectacle films of fifty years ago. But which of those many gods will answer Daphnes fervent prayer? Well, since its a comedy, the answer is obvious: the wrong ones. Shay Vawn, who plays Daphne, and Jevon McFerrin, who plays Ralph, wont talk much about plot beyond the setup. Both advise prospective audience members to experience the story first hand. Both are making their McCarter debuts, and both come to McCarter with a knowledge of the importance of this theater in the world of theater. When I told my parents that I got this gig, my father said, O yeah, nice place. I played there once. Good people and I certainly agree, said McFerrin whos the son of jazz musician Bobby McFerrin who has 10 Grammy Awards so far. The younger McFerrin recently ended a stint as an understudy in the current Broadway mega-hit Hamilton where he understudied four of the shows leading roles and played them in over 200 performances. Here at McCarter, its a whole different ballgame; its my first show when Ive been in on the ground floor. When I joined Hamilton, the show was set and up and running. It took about four weeks for me to get all four of those roles, including Hamilton, under my belt because its a big, difficult show. Once I had them, I admired each of those very different men, and I appreciated how each contributed to telling the story. Each was a completely different character, all of them based on real people. Here at McCarter, I got to be part of the creative team, and I appreciated the differences, said McFerrin. Of course, we started with the script, and one of the things I like so much about it is how each of these characters is so well written and how Amanda Dehnert, our director, understands them so well. The playwright too was right here with us, to explain, to answer questions. He left us from time to time because hes such a busy man, but he was here for previews and other events. Like us, he wanted everything just right. Ralph is, like many young faculty members, a go-getter, said McFerrin, and a manuscript from a very famous writer falls into his hands, but then it goes missing. Some people might consider Ralph straight-laced, but he does some quirky things when he is under pressure. Maybe if youre really passionate about what you do as Ralph is, you are bizarre, but with him, its bizarre in a positive way. Im a huge Star Wars fan, so I let him look at his thing like I look at mine. And, of course, some things in Star Wars are taken from Greek mythology as well, so theres a connection. For Shay Vawn, a recent graduate of NYUs Graduate Acting Program whos been to Greece and appreciated its antiquities, this is her first major professional engagement, and shes thrilled that all these special people were willing to take a chance on me. I love how community oriented this theater is and what a team theyve created for this! One of my favorite plays had its premiere here, so Im honored to be on this stage and to be Daphne Lane. Shes exceptionally bright as well as kind and considerate. Shes shy and has trouble letting things out. Shes putting on Medea, but she has trouble letting out her own inner Medea. Shes not afraid to break the rules if she thinks its the right thing though. Theyre in Naxos, Greece, and Daphne has buried herself there in her work, said Vawn whod someday like to play the title role in Hamlet and cant wait to see Glenda Jackson on Broadway as King Lear. Thanks to those gods of comedy she encounters in answer to her prayer, she sheds her shell. And when she receives an amulet that holds secret power, she uses it, but, perhaps more importantly, she discovers the secret power within herself. IF YOU GO The Gods of Comedy When: through March 31, Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Where: Matthews Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton How much: Tickets $25 - $85 Contact: (609) 258-2787 or online at mccarter.org. Follow NJ.com on Twitter @njdotcom. Find NJ.com on Facebook. American Queen Steamboat Co. will debut a new riverboat in New Orleans in 2020. American Countess, which is currently being built in Houma, will have room for 245 passengers and offer Mississippi River itineraries, ranging from six to 15 days, according to a news release. The riverboats inaugural trip is set for April 2020. American Countess will join American Queen and American Duchess, two other riverboats operated by American Queen Steamboat Co. The Indiana-based company also operates American Empress in the Pacific Northwest, and M/V Victory I and M/V Victory II as part of its Victory Cruise Lines brand. American Countess will have four decks and 123 staterooms in four categories, as well as a sun deck, theater, grand dining room, card room, fitness center and gift shop, according to the release. The boat will offer travelers cabins with a sleek, modern design and the perfect place to relax and recharge in between delicious dining, premier shore excursions, Broadway-caliber performances and more, the release said. Fares start at $1,699 a person for the boats eight-day itinerary, and $4,399 for a 15-day trip. The riverboat is currently being built at Gulf Island Shipyard in Houma using the hull of a former gaming vessel. The gaming vessel, formerly called the Kanesville Queen, was built in 1995. Crews have been working on lengthening the original hull, adding a 60-foot mid-body section. The boats bow and mid-body were pieced together March 8, a key step in the renovation process, the release said. American Countess follows the 2017 debut of American Duchess. American Queen Steamboat Co. unveiled the 166-guest luxury riverboat in August 2017 at a celebration at New Orleans Julia Street cruise terminal. American Duchess was also built using an existing hull from an older riverboat. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up American Cruise Lines, a separate company, has also updated its Mississippi River fleet, last year debuting its design for a new, modern riverboat without a paddlewheel. In a statement, American Queen CEO John Waggoner said American Countess will follow in Duchess footsteps, and raise the bar on U.S. river cruising. Itineraries for American Countess go on sale in February 2020. The riverboats inaugural trip will be an eight-day tour of the Antebellum South, starting in New Orleans and ending in Memphis. It is set to sail April 5, 2020. Correction: A previous version of this article reported American Queen Steamboat Co. was based in Memphis, Tennessee. It is actually based in New Albany, Indiana. Also, itineraries for American Countess sailing go on sale in February 2020, not this year. See inside the American Duchess, New Orleans' newest luxury river cruise boat Jennifer Larino covers residential real estate, retail, tourism and other consumer and business news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Reach her at jlarino@nola.com or 504-239-1424. Follow her on Twitter @jenlarino. A sixth suspect in the 2013 robbery and killing of an armored truck guard in Uptown New Orleans has been arrested in Texas. Robert Lil Rob Brumfield III, one of the FBIs most wanted fugitives, was arrested Monday (March 18) in the Houston area in Harris County, Texas, Constable Mark Hermans office reported. Deputies made the arrest after receiving a tip that Brumfield was at a home in the area, the office said in a Facebook post. Brumfield tried to flee when deputies arrived, but he was captured quickly, according to Hermans office. 6 charged, with 1 on the lam, in 2013 killing of armored-truck guard Brumfield and the others are accused of the ambush holdup and shooting that killed Loomis guard Hector Trochez, 45, on Dec. 18, 2013, outside the Chase Bank at South Carrollton and Claiborne Avenues. Three masked men fired at least 15 shots toward Trochez as he delivered cash to the bank, authorities have said. Others charged in the case are: Lilbear Bear George, 29; Chukwudi Chuck Ofomata, 31; Curtis Blow Johnson Jr.; Jeremy Pipe Esteves; and Jasmine Theophile. Prosecutors said last year they intend to seek the death penalty if they win convictions against George, Ofomata and Johnson. In the death penalty notices, prosecutors allege that Ofomata intentionally killed Trochez. They also accused George and Johnson of intentional participation in the killing. A four-year investigation led to a federal indictment against the six suspects in November 2017. Ofomata also is also charged in New Orleans with two counts of second degree murder in the April 2008 killing and dismemberment of a young couple. The bodies of Jarnell Sanders and Candice Guillard were found inside the back of a rented, burned out-SUV in New Orleans East near Michoud Boulevard and Interstate 10. A former Mississippi police officer has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after leaving her daughter in a hot patrol car for hours while she had sex with a supervisor, AL.com reported. Cassie Barker, 29, who worked for the Long Beach Police Department, had been indicted on a second-degree murder charge in the September 2016 death of her 3-year-old daughter, said the news report Tuesday (March 19). Barker told investigators she had the car running and the air conditioner on when she left her daughter strapped in her car seat. But when Barker returned to the car four hours later, Cheyenne Hyer was unconscious and had a temperature of 107 when taken to a hospital, where she later died, according to the report. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence. Sentencing is April 1. Read the full AL.com report. Dozens of volunteers spend hours baking breads and cookies and preparing pasta milanese in preparation for St. Josephs Day (March 19) in the New Orleans area. St. Joseph Day altars, which pay tribute to the St. Joseph the patron saint of Sicily, were built at more than 75 churches, schools, bars, restaurants, hotels and grocery stores throughout the greater New Orleans area. Throughout the day, the faithful and the curious have lined up to view the altar laden with intricately decorated cakes that serve as memorials to deceased family and friends, the golden brown breads woven and shaped to look like carpenters tools and the thousands and thousands of cookies. It may not be too late to visit an altar. At St. Catherine of Siena, 1643 Metairie Road in Metairie, and at the International House Hotel, 221 Camp St. in New Orleans, the altar may be viewed until 7 p.m. The one at Irenes restaurant, 529 Bienville St. in the French Quarter, is on display from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. And, at 18 Rouses Markets, the altars will remain up throughout the evening. Check the guide below to see which ones are still open this evening. Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up St. Joseph Day altars 2019: More than 75 to visit in New Orleans area The altars tradition began in the Middle Ages in Sicily. The Sicilians created the displays to give thanks to St. Joseph for relief for famine. Sicilian immigrants brought the tradition to New Orleans. It thrives today. Many altars ask for a small donation. Each visitor is offered a gift of Italian cookies, a blessed dried fava bean and a holy card. Many altars also serve meals. What is a St. Josephs Day altar, and where can I find one in New Orleans? The CEO of the charter network that runs Edna Karr High School said a recent fundraiser that appeared to leave students with the option of buying a fish fry plate for lunch or eating a meager turkey sandwich provided by the school was not authorized and should not have occurred. His comments come after photos showing the sandwiches circulated on social media, prompting outcry. Parents and students alike have voiced concern after the photos showing a few deli slices of turkey meat on pieces of white bread surfaced on Facebook. The photos, reportedly taken at Karr, surfaced online late last week. The schools Facebook page shows a fundraiser benefitting students was held last Friday (March 15) during school hours. People were encouraged to visit Karrs gymnasium to buy $10 lunch plates with fried fish, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, peas, cake and a soft drink. Last Friday, posts from several Facebook users claimed Karrs lunch staff was used to cook the fundraiser food. Meanwhile, only plain turkey sandwiches were provided to students who didnt buy plates, one post claimed. Some questioned whether the sandwiches met nutritional standards for school lunches. On Tuesday (March 19), Jamar McKneely, CEO of InspireNOLA Charter Schools, which runs Karr, provided a response amid mounting questions about the fundraiser. In a written statement, McKneely noted the event was intended to benefit Karr students in multiple ways. However, it was not authorized by InspireNOLA and should not have occurred, he said. Unfortunately, and on this same school day, our food service provider provided a lunch menu selection that did not meet our Second to None standard, McKneely said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Alice Harte school in running for $50,000 national award for teacher support McKneely said the turkey sandwiches served to students last Friday will not be on the lunch menu in the future. He added staff members and adults involved in the meal selection for students as well as those involved in planning the unauthorized fundraiser have been held accountable. McKneely noted numerous students addressed the incident by contacting school officials and requesting the removal of that menu option. He applauded their efforts. He said future fundraisers will face more scrutiny from school officials. We will continue to support our team, club, and other extracurricular fundraising efforts, but will ensure that these occur during appropriate times and in the correct venues, McKneely said. Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles. Johnny Rivers, best-known for his hits Secret Agent Man,'' Baby I Need Your Lovin''' and "Poor Side of Town'' will fill Jerry Lee Lewis spot at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the fest announced on social media. Rivers will perform on April 28. A New York native, Rivers family moved to Baton Rouge when he was 8 years old. He attended school there until he dropped out at 15 to pursue a recording career. In 2010, The Associated Press reported that Rivers returned to his Baton Rouge high school and the auditorium where he grew up watching performances including a very young Elvis Presley. Lots of memories in that building, said Rivers at the time, who did a benefit performance that year at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. Lewis, the Louisiana-born rock and roll pioneer, is in rehab after spending two weeks in the hospital following a stroke, his publicist, Zach Farnum, told CNN. Because of his illness, Lewis will cancel three upcoming shows, including one on April 28 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Lewis performed at the Acura Stage at Jazz Fest in 2015. Jerry Lee Lewis, in rehab after stroke, cancels Jazz Fest appearance A dog that was rescued form flooding during Hurricane Matthew in Lumberton, N.C., in 2016. A Florida senator has authored a bill making it illegal for owners to abandon restrained dogs outside during disasters in that state. The 11th UNO-Japan summer study abroad program at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan, will be held May 26-June 29; and the online Intro Session will be May 15-25. The program will offer five classes: Intermediate Japanese Each student takes two classes, Monday through Thursday. Credits earned on the program are fully transferable. Cultural activities will include calligraphy, ikebana, origami, kendo and more. UNO students, age 18 or older, as well as students from around the U.S., are eligible to apply. The tuition is $4,595 for UNO students, and &5,095 for guest students. The fee covers six credit hours, tuition, housing, lunch on campus, 30-day bus pass in Kyoto, study abroad health insurance, cultural activities, guided city tours, participation in Tomodachi and more. Tomodachi means friends in the Japanese Language. It is a unique lunch program to connect UNO-Japan students with Doshisha students. Optional field trips in Kyoto, Osaka and Nara are available for an additional cost. The program intends to offer a well-rounded experience. Combining academic learning, inquiry with social and cultural experiences and free time to travel, said Jennifer Torres, new program coordinator, UNO-Japan Summer Study Abroad Program. We also hope you will follow us to Japan through social media and start considering joining us in 2020. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Japan will be more accessible and interesting. Applications for the 2020 UNO-Japan program will open at the end of October, said Torres. For further information, go to http://New.uno.edu/studyabroad/Japan. China and the Philippines will be included and featured in the 21st Childrens World Fair, presented by the Louisiana Childrens Museum, on March 23, at the museum. The Early Explorers Party will be 10 a.m. to noon. All the adventurers are welcomed to join the fun at noon. The fair provides children, ages 2-12 with an appreciation of the unique and universal customs of our global community in an interactive learning environment. At the China Pavilion, the visitors will make panda bookmarks, play Chinese checkers, take a picture at the Great Wall, visit a fortune teller, search for hidden pandas around China. For STEM experiment, the children will explore the Albedo effect and use the terrain of China to learn about how different terrains effect our climate and temperature. On central stage, the visitors will enjoy an interactive martial arts demonstration from the Shaolin Institute. In addition, the visitors will learn how to use chopsticks and sample shrimp fried rice. Visitors to the pavilion of the Philippines, will play the popular Filipino game of SIPA, create their own fishing lines, decorate fishes, practice fishing skills, and make puppets of Tamara, an endangered dwarf buffalo that can be found only in the Philippines. The Philippines Archipelago comprises about 7,641 islands. For STEM experiment, the children will learn about how the islands form and become volcano builders and harness the earths power to create new islands. In addition, the visitors can taste a juice from a calamondin citrus tree, pancit, fried noodles, and abode, a dish consisting of marinated meat, seafood or vegetables. The Asian community is important fabric of New Orleans over the past 20 years. The Childrens World Fair has showcased the beauty of many Asian countries, their rich customs and unique traditions. Each year, children are introduced many contributions of the Asian community in an engaging and dynamic celebrations, said Julia Blanc, CEO, Louisiana Childrens Museum. Tickets are $16 per person for LCM members, and $20 per person for non-members. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.lcm.org or call 504.266.2415 For information of the Childrens World Fair and/or Louisiana Childrens Museum, also visit www.lcm.org or call 504.266.2415. Tina Soong writes about people and events of interest to the Asian American community. To reach her, email tsoongtotherim@aol.com. There are so many ways to take the measure of a person. But this tells you something about Winfield Ledet: He attended the funerals of more than 200 of his former students, even though he once said that was the hardest part of his job as an educator. He lived his career," longtime friend and Pearl River High School colleague Mike Winkler said. He didnt just teach. He was deeply involved. Winfield Henry Ledet, Winnie to his family, helped break barriers as one of the first black teachers at Pearl River High School, where he taught for nearly half a century. He will be remembered during a memorial from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday (March 23) in the schools gym. Mr. Ledet died Feb. 13. He was 85, his brother, Malcolm Ledet, said. He was an icon," said Winkler, a former Pearl River High principal and current St. Tammany Parish School Board member. The community loved him. When you met him, it felt like you knew him your whole life." St. Tammany Parish Schools Superintendent Trey Folse said he cannot recall a time when Mr. Ledet didnt have a smile on his face or an encouraging word to offer. He will be missed by many people in our school system, Folse said. Born in St. Martinville, Mr. Ledets journey to St. Tammany Parish was circuitous and included stops at a seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and further theological studies in Pennsylvania and New York. Realizing the priesthood was not for him, Mr. Ledet made his way back to Louisiana and Southern University, where he earned an education degree in 1964. He taught at St. Tammany High School from 1964-1969 and joined the staff at Pearl River High in August 1969. He quickly became a favorite among students and fellow teachers and spent the next 43 years at Pearl River High School, teaching social studies, history, civics and French. Winkler was working as a social studies teacher at another school decades go when he first met Mr. Ledet. They were at a social studies fair, and Winkler said he was a bit in awe. Winfield was a master at that. He always had students in those competitions, Winkler said. The two became friends and, later, colleagues, when Winkler joined the staff at Pearl River High. Michele Blanchard, who graduated from Pearl River High in 1994, said even if you werent in Mr. Ledets class, you knew who he was, and he made sure to know who you were. He thought every student was his student, said Blanchard, who went on the become a lawyer and is currently a member of the St. Tammany Parish Council. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up At Pearl River, Mr. Ledet helped organize trips for students to historic places such as Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., his family wrote in his obituary. He was accompanying students on a tour bus in Washington in 1981 when a gunman tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan nearby. Outside the high school, Mr. Ledet was a popular presence in the town of Pearl River. Each year the town holds a Christmas program, and each year Mr. Ledets rendition of the song, Oh Holy Night," was a highlight of the holidays. Hes been singing since its been going on," Pearl River Mayor David McQueen said. He was somebody everybody looked forward to seeing every year. He had a deep voice, a nice voice. Winkler said Mr. Ledets rendition of Let There Be Peace on Earth was a staple of the schools annual Veterans Day program. Malcolm Ledet said he is Mr. Ledets last surviving sibling, with two sisters and two other brothers preceding him in death. He was a good brother and a good man," Malcolm Ledet said. He never wanted praise. He was very modest. Although Mr. Ledet lived in Slidell, he would travel to St. Martinville nearly each weekend to spend time with his family, his brother said. We worried about him making that drive," Malcolm Ledet said. Wed say, Winnie, do you think youd want a cell phone? In case theres an accident or something? Hed say, No, I say the Rosary the whole time. He never had a cell phone. Mr. Ledet retired from the school district in 2012. In 2013, he told a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Daily Iberian, that the hardest part of his teaching career had been knowing that 207 of his former students had died. But, he said, he had gone to nearly all of their funerals. Blanchard found that level of devotion touching, and it made her want to make the 150-mile drive from St. Tammany to Mr. Ledets funeral at Notre Dame Catholic Church in St. Martinville on Feb. 22. If he cared enough to stop what he was doing and go to all those funerals, I thought the least I could do was take a morning and go to his Mass," she said. An ugly fight over an audit that found the city of Zachary paid two vendors $3.5 million without having contracts in place has died down some, but the city councilman most upset about the matter has made clear he is not giving up on his quest for Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market by System (Air Conditioning System, Temperature Control Systems, Aircraft Pressurization Systems), by Component (Heat Exchanger, Water Separator, Temperature Regulator, Pressure Regulator), by End-User (Commercial, Defense) and Region - Forecast till 2023 Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market Overview: The aircraft environmental control system (ECS) helps provide air supply, thermal control and cabin pressurization for passengers as well as the crew. Smoke detection, avionics cooling, and fire suppression are also considered part of an aircraft's environmental control system. The global market for aircraft environmental control systems will be growing in size at an impressive CAGR of 4.50% starting from 2018 to 2023 (forecast period), according to the new report by Market Research Future (MRFR). The market was estimated at USD 3460 Million in 2017. It is forecasted to surpass that value and reach the amount of USD 4506 Million by 2023. The market growth is likely to soar due to factors such as growing air traffic in the regions of the Asia Pacific and Europe, and resultant elevation in aircraft deliveries. Moreover, rapid technological advancements in the field are likely to propel the growth of aircraft environmental control systems market in the forthcoming years. To the contrary, existing backlogs in aircraft deliveries could be a challenging factor for the market growth in the coming years. Also, worth noting are factors like augmented production of commercial aircrafts, like B737, B787, A320, and A350; expected emergence of upcoming aircraft like C919 and E-2 jets, and increasing electric content in aircraft. These could provide a vast opportunity for the market, setting in motion the tremendous expansion of the market in the coming years. Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market Segmentation : The aircraft environmental control systems market has been segmented based on system, component, and end-user. By system, the market depends on three key segments, which are air conditioning system, which holds the largest share in the global market, other segment being temperature control system, and the third being aircraft pressurization systems, which is touted to grow at the fastest rate. An increasing number of airports coupled with affordable air transport has given significant leeway to the air conditioning system market. Component-wise segments in the global market are heat exchanger, water separator, temperature regulator, and pressure regulator. Where in the heat exchanger segment has the largest market share. Meanwhile, the pressure regulator is the fastest growing segment among the components. The heat exchangers market benefits from the emission of CO2. Depending on the end users, the market segment is the fastest growing market in the global market. Commercial aviation has developed significantly since the Second World War as various ex-military aircraft were crudely modified to transport cargo or passengers. Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market Regional Analysis Geographically, the aircraft environmental control systems market covers the recent trends across the key regions of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Among these, the North American region covers the largest share of global aircraft environmental control systems market. The growth in the region can be credited to the need for single-aisle aircraft, as well as single-aisle aircraft-fuel-efficient and equipped with the new technology which is based on the More Electric Architecture (MEA). Moreover, the region of Asia is the fastest growing in the global market, with Europe and Latin America being important markets in the global market. The main reason behind this growth can be attributed to the increasing air passenger traffic. Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market Key Players: Curtiss-Wright Corporation (US), Liebherr-International AG (Switzerland), Honeywell International (US), Fimac Spa (Italy), United Technologies Corporation (US), Mecaer Aviation Group (Italy), Jormac Aerospace (US), Meggitt PLC (UK), Aero Space Controls Corporation (US), and Air Innovations (US), and others. Aircraft Environmental Control Systems Market Research Methodology: Market Research Future, backed by an acute understanding of various markets, offers comprehensive coverage of various industries to its clients. Our research model has an insight into the nuances of the same time, promoting consistently distinctive interpretations of every aspect. Apart from this, primary and secondary data collection methods have been used, which includes primary interviews and data-collection from various credible sources. Accuracy forms the foundation of thorough research, with the pillars of both top-down and bottom-up approaches to market estimations as well as validations. Get Free Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6730 North Augusta, SC (29841) Today Foggy early. Then periods of showers this afternoon. Thunder possible. High 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Cloudy. Periods of rain early. Thunder possible. Low 48F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. March 20, 2019: This report focuses on the global In-App Advertising status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the In-App Advertising development in United States, Europe and China. In-app advertising is a form of advertising through smartphones wherein the advertisements are integrated into the mobile applications. With adaption of digital marketing and smartphones penetration worldwide, there are lucrative opportunities for in-app advertising worldwide. The global in-app advertising market is primarily driven by the increasing smartphone penetration and increased use of various smart phone applications, which the consumers use regularly such as Facebook, WhatsApp among others. Among various smart phone applications, the messaging applications will have a significant effect on the in-app advertising market as the consumers use the messaging applications on a regular basis compared to other smartphone applications. Download sample Copy of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-in-app-advertising-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025/request-sample It is expected that the smartphone messaging applications will gain a billion new users in the next few years, which in turn will drive the market for in-app advertising market globally. Moreover, the increase in the number of smart phone applications downloads from google play store, iOS store will also drive the market for in-app advertising market globally. However, the technicality issues like the testing of advertisements for in-app advertising for different smartphone software's like android and iOS are time-consuming as both software's display contents differently which might pose as a restraint to the in-app advertising market globally. In 2017, the global In-App Advertising market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025. Access This Full Report @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-in-app-advertising-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025 The key players covered in this study Chartboost Flurry Inmobi Millennial media Mopub Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Standard Banner Ads Interstitial Ads Hyper-local Targeted Ads Rich Media Ads Video Ads Native Ads Market segment by Application, split into Messaging Gaming Online Shopping Ticketing Others Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global In-App Advertising status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the In-App Advertising development in United States, Europe and China. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of In-App Advertising are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025 About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. For More Information, Visit Radiant Insights Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Blog URL: http://ictmarketforecasts.wordpress.com Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. March 20, 2019: This report focuses on the global E-learning Corporate Compliance Training status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the E-learning Corporate Compliance Training development in United States, Europe and China. The global corporate compliance training market is highly competitive, fragmented, and diversified due to the presence of a large number of regional and international vendors on a global level. Many vendors are increasingly focusing on designing solutions for specific requirements such as compliance consultancy, advisory services, and compliance-related database requirements and are providing compliance training packages, which are aimed at offering maximum protection while maintaining a proactive approach. Moreover, large players are investing significantly on training and developmental activities, developing content internally that is specific to their needs, and investing in developing newer and unique products and methods of delivering training to stay ahead of the competition in terms of knowledgeable workforce. Download sample Copy of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-e-learning-corporate-compliance-training-market/request-sample In terms of geography, North America accounted for the majority market share during 2016 and will continue to dominate the market during the forecasted period. The market is experiencing a high growth rate in the region due to the availability of technology-enabled corporate training and delivery methods, compliance training through mobile devices using synchronous and asynchronous methods, and videos, games, and simulated content besides the textual format. Furthermore, the increasing preference for custom-built compliance training solutions due to the changing regulations will also fuel the market's growth prospects. In 2017, the global E-learning Corporate Compliance Training market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025. Browse Full Report With TOC @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-e-learning-corporate-compliance-training-market The key players covered in this study Skillsoft Blackboard GP Strategies SAI Global Cornerstone Saba NAVEX Global City&Guilds Kineo CrossKnowledge LRN 360training Interactive Services Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Blended Online Market segment by Application, split into Information Security Training Regulatory Compliance Training Sexual Harassment Training CoC and Ethics Training Cyber Security Training Diversity Training Other Compliance Training Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central & South America The study objectives of this report are: To analyze global E-learning Corporate Compliance Training status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. To present the E-learning Corporate Compliance Training development in United States, Europe and China. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies. To define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of E-learning Corporate Compliance Training are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025 About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. For More Information, Visit Radiant Insights Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Blog URL: http://ictmarketforecasts.wordpress.com In Europe, Chinese funding for a proposed undersea rail tunnel linking Finland and Estonia is raising concerns in both nations. The tunnel, which would span the Gulf of Finland and link the Finnish capital of Helsinki with the Estonian capital of Tallinn, has for years been a topic of discussion between the two countries. The rail would cut travel time between the two capitals to about 20 minutes from the current two-hour ferry ride. There is frequent cross-border travel between the two countries. Tens of thousands of Estonians commute across the Gulf of Finland to work in the Helsinki area, while the Estonian capital is a popular tourist destination for Finns. Currently, Finnish businessman Peter Vesterbacka and his company, FinEstBay Area Development, is heading the effort to build the tunnel, which is expected to cost between 15 billion to 20 billion euros ($17 billion to 23 billion). The company envisions that the tunnel, consisting of a rail for freight and another rail for passenger transport, be operational by the end of 2024. In December last year, FinEstBay Area secured external funding of 100 million euros ($113 million) from Dubai-based construction company ARJ Holding, according to Reuters. On March 8, FinEst Bay Area announced on its website that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for 15 billion euros ($16.8 billion) in financing from Touchstone Capital Partners, a UK-based investment firm that specializes in doing business with China. As a result of the deal, Touchstone would become a minority shareholder in the project. Kenny Song, Touchstones chairman and founder, described the tunnel as a common focus between Estonia and Finland on Asia-Europe. According to Reuters, FineEstBay Area has yet to secure approval from the Finnish and Estonian governments, or the European Union. More details about the Touchstone financing and the negotiations leading up to the signing of the MoU was published in a March 8 article by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (HS). According to HS, negotiations between FineEstBay Area and Touchstone began when Yan Jinxiu, deputy director of Chinas Chinese Railway Academy, which is subordinate to the state-run company China Railway Group, visited the Finnish city of Vantaa to participate in a local tunnel seminar in September last year. Yan is also currently a member of the Academys Chinese Communist Party committee, according to the Academys website. Concerns Touchstone would finance the construction of the tunnel through its $100 billion One Belt One Road (OBOR) fund, according to HS. According to the companys website, it established the investment fund to help connect Chinese state-owned firms with international companies to jointly invest in OBOR projectswith a particular focus on renewable energy, high-technology, infrastructure, real estate, and tourism industries. Touchstone is capitalizing on Chinas OBOR initiative, which began in 2013 with the goal of building Beijing-centered land and maritime trade networks by financing infrastructure projects throughout Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Touchstone boasts that its inked strategic agreements with many Chinese state-owned companies that can act as engineering and construction contractors to carry out OBOR projects. In terms of financing, the company points out that it has agreements with Chinese leading investors, such as trust, private, and government funds. The company also claims to have access to capital from Chinese policy banks, such as China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, and Industrial and the Commercial Bank of China. Touchstones intentions for investing in the tunnel have since been questioned by Jyrki Kallio, senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, according to his March 12 opinion article published in Finnish business newspaper Kauppalehti. From Chinas perspective, the tunnel project would be understandable, if the tunnel had a connection to a harbor on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, Kallio stated. But this tunnel project doesnt seem to fit into Beijings agenda for OBOR, he added. As part of OBOR, China has expressed interest in creating a new shipping route that goes through the Arctic, taking advantage of the melting Arctic ice sheet. The route, called the Northern Sea Route by Beijing, would save money and time compared to the traditional shipping routes through the Suez Canal. Kallio warned that since there are strategically important state-owned companies behind the financier, so this is mostly about Chinas state-operated action. Uusi Suomi, a local Finnish daily newspaper, ran an editorial on March 9, called out Touchstone as a Communist Chinese tool for implementing One Belt, One Road. It also pointed out should the deal go through, China could end up taking control of the tunnel because it would be the creditor. Urmas Paet, Estonias former foreign minister and currently a member of the European Parliament, also issued a warning in a statement to the Estonian News Agency, saying that the risks connected to using money from Chinese state companies are too high, according to New Europe, a weekly English-language newspaper based in Brussels. Paet urged the Estonian government to try to secure funding from the European Union instead. From The Epoch Times Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Global Automotive Crankshaft Market report is encompassed of unique market dynamics that support the industry growth along with the various market issues such as trends, growth path, revenue, prediction, and market size analysis which directly impact the market dynamic. The information is obtained and analysed from the past and current year to forecast the market covering in the next coming years. The Automotive Crankshaft industry experts were interviewed across the globe to gather the data which is then validated based on the secondary data. In-depth study of market segmentation and active major players involved in the Market has been outlined in the report. The report also discloses the demand consumption along with the current and future market environment. Besides, it also throws light on the various regional market scenario which gives important information to gain a competitive edge. Moreover, the report also throws light on a strategy adopted by the top players followed by the wide range of service with the recent statistical data that help to understand the Market scenario. Also, this report gives an idea about the potential consumer in the market across the various industry which will definitely help to cater the consumer needs and expectations. Download Free Sample Report of Automotive Crankshaft Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-6134 First, the report provides a basic overview of the Automotive Crankshaft industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Secondly, the report states the global Automotive Crankshaft market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed. Third, the Automotive Crankshaft market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies. Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the Automotive Crankshaft industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered. Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Automotive Crankshaft Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/6134-automotive-crankshaft-consumption-industry-market-report Table of Contents Snapshot 1 Industry Overview of Automotive Crankshaft 1.1 Definition and Specifications of Automotive Crankshaft 1.1.1 Definition of Automotive Crankshaft 1.1.2 Specifications of Automotive Crankshaft 2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive Crankshaft 2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Automotive Crankshaft 2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Automotive Crankshaft 3 3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales and Sale Price Analysis of Automotive Crankshaft 3.1 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Automotive Crankshaft 2011-2016 3.2 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Automotive Crankshaft by Regions 2011-2016 More Related Report By DecisionDatanases.com @ Global Automotive Crankshaft Industry 2016 Market Research Report Global Automotive Crankshafts Industry 2016 Market Research Report About Us: DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed. For More Details: DecisionDatabases.com E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com Phone: +91-90-28-057900 Web: https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics. Founded in March of 2004, The Cascadia Advocate has been helping people throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond make sense of current events with rigorous analysis and thought-provoking commentary for more than fifteen years. The Cascadia Advocate is funded by readers like you and trusted sponsors. We dont run ads or publish content in exchange for money. Help us keep The Cascadia Advocate editorially independent and freely available to all by becoming a member of the Northwest Progressive Institute today. Or make a donation to sustain our essential research and advocacy journalism. Your contribution will allow us to continue bringing you features like Last Week In Congress, live coverage of events like Netroots Nation or the Democratic National Convention, and reviews of books and documentary films. Become an NPI member Make a one-time donation The second phase of the case, which begins Wednesday, will focus on whether Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer AG last year, should be held liable for partly causing Mr. Hardemans cancer, said his lawyer, Jennifer Moore. Ms. Moore said lawyers would seek to prove that Monsanto manipulated public opinion and science to play down Roundups health risks. Lawyers will argue that Monsanto knew or should have known that Roundup causes cancer, Ms. Moore said in an interview Tuesday. Mr. Hardemans team will ask that the jury have the company pay his medical bills and an undetermined amount of damages, she added. We feel confident based on the evidence that a jury, when presented with all of the evidence, will see that Monsanto has committed 40 years of corporate malfeasance, Ms. Moore said. Bayer said in a statement Tuesday that it was disappointed in the jurys verdict and that the evidence in phase two will show that Monsantos conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardemans cancer. We have great sympathy for Mr. Hardeman and his family, but an extensive body of science supports the conclusion that Roundup was not the cause of his cancer, Bayer said in the statement. Bayer stands behind these products and will vigorously defend them. The water is saved, for now. Seven Western states have agreed on a plan to manage the Colorado River amid a 19-year drought, voluntarily cutting their water use to prevent the federal government from imposing a mandatory squeeze on the supply. State water officials signed the deal on Tuesday after years of negotiations, forestalling what would have been the first federally enforced restrictions on the rivers lower basin. But any victory may be short-lived. Climate change promises to make the American West increasingly hot and dry, putting further pressure on the Colorado and the 40 million people who depend on its water. We all recognize were looking at a drier future, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. The water in Lake Mead, the vast reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam that supplies the lower basin, has dropped to levels not seen since the 1960s. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, another reservoir on the river, are essential sources of water for Southern California and Arizona, and sit at less than 40 percent full. [Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter.] The slaughterhouses of New York City have witnessed one daring escape after another in recent days, as first a lamb and then a goat and now a calf have managed to break free and make a run for it. The male calf was found trotting north up the Major Deegan Expressway near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Tuesday morning with a tag in his ear and a look of panic in his eye. Animal rescue workers estimated him to be less than a year old. A spokeswoman for Animal Care Centers of New York City said the animal was very stressed by the ordeal, during which he thrashed and kicked at the air near the concrete median as cars crawled past. He was taken into custody by the Police Department, which named him after his escape route of choice: Major Deegan. His escape, and the ensuing traffic snarl, made him a sudden star on TV and social media. He told me that few people realize that he listened to those students for more than two hours, and that they hadnt intercepted and surprised him: He went out to meet them, knowing how angry they were. I felt that I had to model the principles that I believed which is that I am committed to free and open expression, he said. I hardly could cower in my house . Although he stayed calm which he attributes to years of training in karate and its premium on self-control he was rattled, deeply, by the encounter. He soon took his first sabbatical ever. He read books about equanimity in the face of injustice. I did not want to become a different person, he said. I certainly did not want to become embittered. His work on Blueprint was already long underway, and he lost himself in it, devoting my heart and soul and all my learning. It shows. The book is a hefty, dazzlingly erudite synthesis of history, philosophy, anthropology, genetics, sociology, economics, epidemiology, statistics and more. It uses everything from shipwrecks to the primatologist Jane Goodall to make its pro-kindness case, and it inadvertently shames you into realizing that while most of us, standing at the buffet of knowledge, content ourselves with a pork chop and rice pudding, Christakis pillages the carving station and the omelet station and the soup array and the make-your-own-sundae bar. Blueprint and its theory about the evolutionary origins of virtue became his balm. Thats clear in the book itself, which makes unmistakable allusions to the Yale ugliness. I have seen the effects of overidentifying with ones group and witnessed mass delusions up close, he writes. He rues Americas intense polarization, which perhaps makes this an odd time for me to advance the view that there is more that unites us than divides us. But advance that view he does. His reasoning, oversimplified, is this: Complex societies are possible and durable only when people are emotionally invested in, and help, one another; wed be living in smaller units and more solitary fashions if we werent equipped for such collaboration; and human thriving within these societies guarantees future generations suited to them. Yes, there are hideous wars and horrid leaders. But if that were the sum of us, how to explain all the peace and progress? Christakis urges a wide angle and the long view. To accept this belief that human beings are evil or violent or selfish or overly tribal is a kind of moral and intellectual laziness, he told me. It also excuses that destructiveness. The way to repair our torn social fabric is to say: Wait a minute, thats not quite right. On Wednesday, President Trump will visit Lima, Ohio, to tour the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, one of Americas premier defense facilities and the last tank factory in the Western Hemisphere. The story of the day may be about how the Trump administration saved the Lima plant from a near-death experience under President Barack Obama. The story for the history books, however, is about how the factory perfectly encapsulates President Trumps maxim economic security is national security. The Lima factory, operated by General Dynamics, builds the M-1 Abrams, the Armys main battle tank. This heavily armored war horse played a key role in both the liberation of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war in the early 1990s and the Iraq war beginning in 2003. It remains a stalwart of Army operations today. In 2012, the Obama administration sought to close the Lima plant as part of the mandated budget sequestration process. Fortunately, the Republican-led Congress rejected that move and appropriated enough funds to keep the factory in business but the number of employees fell sharply, to just 75. Enter President Trump, with a far different view of the role of a strong military in both defending our homeland and revitalizing our manufacturing base. As part of his significantly increased defense budgets for 2019 and 2020, the president has requested an additional $11 billion to buy combat vehicles like the Abrams, as well as the Stryker combat vehicle, also manufactured in Lima. For years, Facebook has made the pitch to customers that its wealth of user data from birthdays to favorite television shows allows it to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time. These capabilities helped Facebook, along with its rival Google, to take in most of the more than $100 billion in annual online ad spending. But Facebooks access to the data that powers this revenue model may be starting to dry up. Last year, a new rule in the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation, forced internet companies to comply with stricter safeguards in handling user information. And as customers become more hesitant to share their own data, Facebook and other digital-media companies are moving to regain their trust through additional protections. Now, some of Facebooks efforts to appease critics who complain of discriminatory practices may further chip away at the model. In the interview, Ms. Sandberg conceded that the changes could make advertising on Facebook less efficient for some customers who had used the targeting practices in a very fair and nondiscriminatory way, but added, We believe that that was a cost well worth bearing. Under the new approach, Facebook will require advertisers in the areas of housing, employment and credit to use a separate portal that will not include gender or age as targeting options. It will also preclude selecting an affinity group of people interested in a race, ethnicity or religion. The company has generally allowed advertisers seeking to reach members of a race or religion to aim at such affinity groups. The company will continue to allow advertisers in other areas to deliver ads on the basis of age, gender or any affinity groups. Even in the less sensitive areas, advertisers cant exclude groups associated with race, religion or ethnicity from seeing ads. They can only affirmatively aim ads at them. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Global Urban Rail Connector Market was valued at USD 741 million in 2017, and is expected to grow at CAGR of 5.87% by 2025. The demand is primarily observed in Europe and North America. For Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.orianresearch.com/request-sample/731256 Increasing focus on transportation infrastructure development in developed as well as developing economies is considered as a major factor for growth of Urban Rail Connector market. Key players are focusing on emerging economies such as China and India to explore untapped opportunities. The industry is anticipated to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period from 2018 to 2025. The global Urban Rail Connector market has been segmented based on type, application, and region. Global Urban Rail Connector Industry 2019 Market Research Report is spread across 121 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector. Order Copy of this Report 2019 @ https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/731256 Report Covers Market Segment by Manufacturers: TE Connectivity, Amphenol Corporation, Molex Incorporated, Smiths Interconnect, and Others. Key Benefits of the Report: Global, Regional, Country, Application Type, and Types Market Size and Forecast from 2014-2025 Detailed market dynamics, industry outlook with market specific PESTLE, Value Chain, Supply Chain, and SWOT Analysis to better understand the market and build strategies Identification of key companies that can influence this market on a global and regional scale Expert interviews and their insights on market shift, current and future outlook and factors impacting vendors short term and long term strategies Detailed insights on emerging regions, Types & application Type, and competitive landscape with qualitative and quantitative information and facts Target Audience: Urban Rail Connector providers Traders, Importer and Exporter and Exporter Raw material suppliers and distributors Research and consulting firms Government and research organizations Associations and industry bodies Inquire more about Urban Rail Connector Market reports @ https://www.orianresearch.com/enquiry-before-buying/731256 Research Methodology The market is derived through extensive use of secondary, primary, in-house research followed by expert validation and third party perspective like analyst report of investment banks. Secondary technical research, technical journals, trade magazines, and paid data sources.third partyperspective like analyst report of investment banks. Secondary technical research, technical journals, trade magazines, and paid data sources. For forecasting, regional demand and supply factor, investment, market dynamics including technical scenario, consumer behavior, and end use industry trends and dynamics, capacity types, spending are taken into consideration.end use industry trends and dynamics, capacity types, spending were taken into consideration. We have assigned weights to these parameters and quantified their market impacts using weighted average analysis to derive the expected market growth rate. The market estimates and forecasts have been verified through exhaustive primary research with the Key Industry Participants (KIPs) which typically includes: Original Equipment Manufacturer Component Supplier Distributors Government Body & Associations Research Institute Table of Content 1 Executive Summary 2 Methodology And Market Scope 3 Urban Rail Connector Market - Industry Outlook 4 Urban Rail Connector Market By End User 5 Urban Rail Connector Market Type 6 Urban Rail Connector Market Regional Outlook 7 Competitive Landscape End of the report Disclaimer About Us Orian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our repository reports of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We are constantly updating our repository so as to provide our clients with the most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our clients. Contact Us: Ruwin Mendez Vice President - Global Sales & Partner Relations Orian Research Consultants US: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27 Email: info@orianresearch.com Website: www.orianresearch.com/ Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13281002/ WASHINGTON For years, the Pentagon has maintained that no civilians have been killed in American airstrikes and raids in Somalia. Amnesty International, in a new report released on Tuesday, put the death toll at 14 since 2017 alone. The report linked the killings to President Trumps decision to relax rules for preventing civilian casualties during American counterterrorism strikes in Somalia. Amnesty said it examined five airstrikes that killed 14 civilians and injured eight. In the incidents presented in this report, civilians were killed and injured in attacks that may have violated international humanitarian law and could, in some cases, constitute war crimes, the report said. It called into question repeated claims by United States Africa Command that there have been no civilian casualties from American strikes against the extremist Islamist group known as the Shabab. The report also attributed the discrepancy to failures by the American military and the Somali government to adequately investigate claims that civilians were killed in airstrikes and raids by United States forces. MAPUTO, Mozambique Rescue workers struggled Tuesday to reach areas devastated by a huge cyclone in Mozambique, as heavy rains swelled rivers and further isolated flooded communities in what aid agencies called the worst natural disaster in southern Africa in two decades. In central Mozambique, the area hit hardest by Cyclone Idai, overflowing rivers created an inland ocean where countless people were still marooned, a United Nations official said. Rescue workers reported seeing people on rooftops and in trees days after the storm struck. In areas near the rivers, homes were submerged, with water rising near the tops of telephone poles. We took an aerial survey, and as far as the eye can see, there was flooding, and deep as well, said Jamie LeSueur, who was leading rescue efforts in central Mozambique for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. What we are now facing is large-scale flooding on top of an area already devastated by the cyclone. LONDON Wrapped in a turban and a mink-lined robe, the old man sits in his opulent home, smiling wryly. The pouch in his hand is full to bursting. Gold coins are scattered across his desk. The elderly figure is pictured at the center of a board game called the New and Fashionable Game of the Jew, which was popular in early 19th-century England. An 1807 original is on view at an exhibition running through July 7 at the Jewish Museum in London called Jews, Money, Myth. The show explores the ways in which Jews have been associated with money over the past 2,000 years. Displays include objects that belonged to British Jews buried medieval coins, tally sticks used as proof of loans, soup-kitchen tokens and representations of Jews in painting; in literature, such as Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice and Charles Dickenss Oliver Twist; in caricatures; and in fascist propaganda. On the first floor of the American Museum of Natural History, a diorama depicts an imagined 17th-century meeting between Dutch settlers and the Lenape, an Indigenous tribe inhabiting New Amsterdam, now New York City. It was intended to show a diplomatic negotiation between the two groups, but the portrayal tells a different story. The scene takes place in what is now known as the Battery, with ships on the horizon. The tribesmen wear loincloths, and their heads are adorned with feathers. A few Lenape women can be seen in the background, undressed to the waist, in skirts that fall to midcalf. They keep their heads down, dutiful. In front of a windmill are two fully clothed Dutchmen, one of them resting a firearm on his shoulder. The other, Peter Stuyvesant, colonial governor of New Netherland, is graciously extending his hand, waiting to receive offerings brought by the Lenape. Critics have said the diorama depicts cultural hierarchy, not a cultural exchange. Museum officials said they had been aware of these implications for a while, and now they have addressed them. The narrative, created in 1939, is filled with historical inaccuracies and cliches of Native representation, said Bradley Pecore, a visual historian of Menominee and Stockbridge Munsee descent. These stereotypes are problematic, and theyre still very powerful. They shape the American publics understanding of Indigenous people. AMSTERDAM A cathedral in Germany has agreed to return a Nazi-looted painting to the heirs of Gottlieb and Mathilde Kraus, an Austrian Jewish couple from whom it was stolen in 1941, according to the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which has spent the last eight years negotiating the restitution. The painting, View of a Dutch Square, attributed to the Golden Age painter Jan van der Heyden, was one of about 160 looted from the Kraus family in 1941, retrieved by the Allies after the war and returned to the Bavarian State. But instead of ensuring its restitution to the family from which it was stolen, the Bavarian government sold it back to the heir of the Nazi official who bought it during the war. Im excited and happy that its coming to a resolution, but Im struck both by the weight of my family and the solemnity of the occasion, John Graykowski, an American great-grandson of the Krauses, said in a telephone interview from Xanten, Germany, where church officials were expected to turn over the painting on Thursday. AUSTIN, Tex. When she was around 11, Lupita Nyongos parents brought home a cassette tape that changed her life. It was of the song Regulate by the West Coast hip-hop dynasts Warren G and Nate Dogg. Nyongo and her five siblings, then living in a suburb of Nairobi, could only partially savor the lyrics of the song a hearty, slang-ridden narrative of a thwarted mugging, topped with a soupcon of ceremonial group sex. But the music was hypnotic and evocative, suggesting an absorbing pocket universe. Nyongo remembers wearing the tape out, rewinding it over and over until she knew all of the words by heart. Of the many apparently effortless but difficult-to-emulate things the 36-year-old star of Us, the new psychological horror film from Jordan Peele, has done in front of a camera, its worth taking a moment to consider the rapping. Shes done it twice, both times in videos filmed in the back seat of a car and posted on Instagram: the first to celebrate her three millionth follower and the second with her Black Panther co-star Letitia Wright, on the week of the films premiere. No one would call Nyongo the next Warren G, but something about watching her rap disturbs an inner accountant. Here is a person whose very first appearance in a feature film, as the unforgettable Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013), made her the seventh black woman and first black African to win an Academy Award for acting; a person whose doll-like facial symmetry and frictionless skin has landed her four solo appearances on the cover of Vogue; a person who speaks four languages and holds a graduate degree from Yale. And this same person, wearing dark sunglasses and facetiously calling herself Troublemaker, reveals that she also can rap, with appropriate levels of insouciance and conviction, and while remaining on beat. One suspects the divine dealer of dereliction of duty. Who is Gomez? Nobody knows. The person who issued this cryptic statement was none other than Gomez himself Leonel Gomez Vides, a coffee farmer from El Salvador who showed up in Southern California on the doorstep of the poet Carolyn Forche in 1977, with a bundle of papers under his arm and his two young daughters in tow. Within a few days he persuaded Forche to make her first trip to El Salvador, just as the country was on the verge of civil war. In What You Have Heard Is True, Forche traces how this initial encounter with a stranger irrevocably changed the course of her art and her life. Forche was 27 at the time, a Midwesterner living in San Diego, with a budding reputation for her work. She had heard Gomezs name before, when she traveled to Spain to translate the poems of his cousin Claribel Alegria, though nobody could say for sure whether Claribels cousin was working with the Salvadoran guerrillas or with the C.I.A. Until the publication of this memoir, Forches experiences in El Salvador seven extended stays between 1978 and 1980 have mostly stayed distilled in her poetry. The Colonel, collected in The Country Between Us (1981), begins with an elegant dinner at a colonels home (rack of lamb, green mangoes) and ends with him emptying a grocery sack full of human ears onto the table ghastly trophies from a dirty war. Taking its title from the first line of that poem, Forches memoir starts off slowly, as she describes in minute detail how she made the fateful and seemingly inexplicable decision to follow a mysterious strangers directive to take such a perilous trip. But once Forches story gathers momentum, its hard to let the narrative go. What You Have Heard Is True is billed, per its subtitle, as a memoir of witness and resistance. Thats fair enough, but it does this riveting book a mild disservice; the memoir I read was more intricate and surprising than such an earnest descriptor lets on. The retail workers union played a leading role in resisting the deal that would have brought a second Amazon headquarters to Queens in exchange for nearly $3 billion in public subsidies. The union said it was opposed to the project unless Amazon established a fair process for allowing warehouse workers in the city to unionize, although it said it was willing to negotiate what that meant. At a meeting with labor leaders and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last month, Amazon officials agreed to continue discussing the matter, but the company abandoned the Queens project the next day. There are no unionized Amazon warehouse employees in the United States. Last year, some workers at a warehouse in Minnesota became the first in the United States known to have negotiated with management. The employees, many of them originally from Somalia and elsewhere in East Africa, were upset about strict productivity targets that some said made it hard for Muslim workers to pray at work. Amazon has said it saw this not as a negotiation but as an exercise in community engagement. Amazon already offers what unions are requesting for employees, said Ashley Robinson, an Amazon spokeswoman. We encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to other retailers and major employers. The unions action on Mr. Longs behalf is its first for a worker at the Staten Island warehouse. The union has also been involved in efforts to organize workers at Whole Foods Market, which Amazon owns. Ford Motor Company said on Wednesday that it would build its first autonomous vehicles at a $50 million production center in Michigan as part of an earlier pledge to invest $900 million in manufacturing operations in the state. Production of the self-driving vehicles is expected to start in 2021, with hybrid vehicles being shipped in to be fitted with driverless technology, the carmaker said. Ford said the work would be done in the Detroit area but did not specify where. Kelli Felker, a spokeswoman for the company, said the hybrids would not be an existing model. In addition to the autonomous vehicle production center, Ford said it planned to expand its production capacity at an existing plant in Flat Rock, Mich., where it will continue to make its Mustang car. The company said it intended to invest more than $850 million in the Flat Rock factory and start production on new electric vehicle models there by 2023. The effort will create 900 new jobs in the next few years, the vast majority of them at the Flat Rock plant, the company said. Last year, Ms. Vestager fined Google a record 4.34 billion for using its ownership of the Android mobile operating system to unfairly undercut rivals in the mobile phone market, a decision that also forced the company to change how it bundled its apps on smartphones. In 2017, the company was fined 2.4 billion euros for unfairly favoring its own shopping services over those of rivals. The two previous rulings have not had a big impact on Googles financial health, but they have forced the tech giant to adjust some business practices. After the Android ruling last year, Google for the first time began charging handset makers to pre-install Gmail, Google Maps and other popular applications for Android devices in the European Union. Perhaps in an attempt to head off additional inquiries, Google announced a number of further changes to services across Europe on Wednesday, after rivals complained that it continued to benefit from anticompetitive business practices. For the first time, the company said, it will ask Android phone users in Europe if they want to switch to a web browser and search engine not owned by Google. To allow more competition when customers shop with Google, it will give other shopping sites more prominence in its search results, the company also said. Google said it would do the same with local search queries in Europe, such as when a person searches for a restaurant, a move that could help companies like TripAdvisor and OpenTable. Outside of its review of practices by Google and others, the European Union has adopted tough new privacy rules that many countries outside Europe now view as a template. Regulators here have also investigated tech companies tax practices and called for more scrutiny of artificial intelligence. The decision on Wednesday against Google will be one of the final major antitrust rulings in the five-year term of Ms. Vestager, whose crackdown on Silicon Valley while competition commissioner has made her a minor celebrity in the often-staid world of European politics. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Sleeping AIDS market reports offer comprehensive insight into development policies and plans in addition to manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report displays the cost structure, sales revenue, sales volume, gross margin, market share and growth rate. For Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.orianresearch.com/request-sample/758992 The rising use of portable sleep apnea devices, increased demand for sleeping pills attributed to stressful modern lifestyle, and increasing geriatric population driving the Global Sleeping Aids market. The adverse effects of Sleeping Aids can hinder the growth of the Global Sleeping Aids market. The Global Sleeping Aids market leads to increase in awareness about sleeping disorders. Based on offering, the Global Sleeping Aids market is categorized into sleep apnea devices, medication, mattress and pillows, sleep laboratory services, and others. Mattresses and pillows dominated this market. This is attributed to the fact that mattresses and pillows are a cost-effective solution, due to which these are widely adopted. Global Sleeping Aids Industry 2019 Market Research Report is spread across 121 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector. Order Copy of this Report 2019 @ https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/758992 Report Covers Market Segment by Manufacturers: Koninklijke Philips N.V., Merck & Co., Sanofi, DeVilbiss Healthcare LLC., Pfizer Inc., SleepMed, Compumedics, Natus Medical Incorporated, GlaxoSmithKline plc, and Cadwell Industries, Inc.. Key Benefits of the Report: Global, Regional, Country, Application Type, and Types Market Size and Forecast from 2014-2025 Detailed market dynamics, industry outlook with market specific PESTLE, Value Chain, Supply Chain, and SWOT Analysis to better understand the market and build strategies Identification of key companies that can influence this market on a global and regional scale Expert interviews and their insights on market shift, current and future outlook and factors impacting vendors short term and long term strategies Detailed insights on emerging regions, Types & application Type, and competitive landscape with qualitative and quantitative information and facts Target Audience: Sleeping Aids providers Traders, Importer and Exporter Raw material suppliers and distributors Research and consulting firms Government and research organizations Associations and industry bodies Inquire more about Sleeping Aids Market report @ https://www.orianresearch.com/enquiry-before-buying/758992 Research Methodology The market is derived through extensive use of secondary, primary, in-house research followed by expert validation and third party perspective like analyst report of investment banks. Secondary technical research, technical journals, trade magazines, and paid data sources.third party perspective like analyst report of investment banks. The secondary research forms the base of our study where we conducted extensive data mining, referring to verified data sources such as white papers government and regulatory published materials, technical journals, trade magazines, and paid data sources. For forecasting, regional demand and supply factor, investment, market dynamics including technical scenario, consumer behavior, and end use industry trends and dynamics, capacity types, spending are taken into consideration.end use industry trends and dynamics, capacity types, spending were taken into consideration. We have assigned weights to these parameters and quantified their market impacts using weighted average analysis to derive the expected market growth rate. The market estimates and forecasts have been verified through exhaustive primary research with the Key Industry Participants (KIPs) which typically includes: Original Equipment Manufacturer Component Supplier Distributors Government Body & Associations Research Institute Table of Content 1 Executive Summary 2 Methodology And Market Scope 3 Sleeping Aids Market - Industry Outlook 4 Sleeping Aids Market By End User 5 Sleeping Aids Market Type 6 Sleeping Aids Market Regional Outlook 7 Competitive Landscape End of the report Disclaimer About Us Orian Research is one of the most comprehensive collections of market intelligence reports on the World Wide Web. Our repository reports of over 500000+ industry and country research reports from over 100 top publishers. We are constantly updating our repository so as to provide our clients with the most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, and products. We specialize in custom research in situations where our syndicate research offerings do not meet the specific requirements of our clients. Contact Us: Ruwin Mendez Vice President - Global Sales & Partner Relations Orian Research Consultants US: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27 Email: info@orianresearch.com Website: www.orianresearch.com/ Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13281002/ ATHENS Less than a year after Greece emerged from a multibillion-euro international bailout, Athens is witnessing an investor boom. Hip new hotels with Acropolis views are dotting the skyline. Construction workers are tearing into dwellings owned by Greeks needing cash and converting them swiftly to short-term rentals, Airbnbs or fancy new homes for foreigners. Thousands of visa-seekers, a significant portion of them Chinese investors looking for bargain real estate, are coming to this capital city as well as the islands of Santorini and Corfu in search of homes that will give them a European base. Local homeowners, pressed by Greeces lengthy financial crisis, are trying to take advantage of the investor bonanza, selling apartments or renting their homes to tourists in a frenzy that is quickly changing the housing market. The newcomers are chasing Greeces so-called golden visas, which other crisis-hit countries like Portugal and Spain have used for years to lure investors in a bid to stoke an economic recovery. Spending a minimum of 250,000 on a home in Greece secures a five-year renewable visa. Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter. WASHINGTON The Obama administration violated federal law by failing to adequately take into account the climate change impact of leasing public land for oil gas drilling in Wyoming, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. But the decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia could also present a legal threat to President Trumps agenda to quickly expand oil and gas drilling and coal mining across the nations public lands and waters. Thats because the decision amounts to a road map that could be used to challenge hundreds of Trump administration leases as well. However, experts said that, while the decision could lead to legal delays for the drilling expansion envisioned by Mr. Trump by tangling them in litigation, it was unlikely to halt it entirely. Tuesdays decision by Judge Rudolph Contreras, which applied specifically to an Obama-era plan by the Interior Departments Bureau of Land Management to lease several thousand acres of land for drilling in Wyoming, also concluded that the agency was legally required to consider the climate impact of all such lease sales for fossil fuel development. On Tuesday the designer and filmmaker Tom Ford was the second-highest trending topic on Twitter for a reason that had nothing to do with the actual news he was making. He was trending because of a quote that had been attributed to him stating Melania Trump was a glorified escort and that he was refusing to dress her. His office, however, was quick to point out that he had never said any such thing. Rather, in a 2016 interview on The View, he said that (at one pre-campaign time) he had been approached to dress Mrs. Trump, but he declined because she wasnt really his image and besides, he believed the first lady should wear American and wear affordable and his clothes were neither of those things. This matters not so much because it is yet another example of the nefarious ways false information spreads over the internet (though it is that) but because on Tuesday Mr. Ford also became chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the industry lobbying group, watchdog and, occasionally, scapegoat. That makes him the effective face of the industry. And that means that what he says, or what he is said to have said, and what he stands for, will become even more fraught, because he no longer simply speaks for himself, but for American fashion. He succeeds Diane von Furstenberg, who held the post for 13 years, making her the second longest-serving leader in the groups history (her predecessor, Stan Herman, lasted 16 years). LATEST PROJECT Mr. Davies has established his own restoration business and is designing and manufacturing a regulator clock with a moon phase. But his focus is not so much on selling his services as on building a portfolio of work, and eventually he wants to accept commissions. I want to keep developing my designs and manufacturing techniques, he said. Then people can look at my work, see different aspects, and from there I can work with them on designs that they want. NEXT THING Although he made most of the Equilibrium clock himself, Mr. Davies said he is eager to work with others and already has been collaborating with a furniture maker. Glassblowing also fascinates him, he said Birminghams glassmaking quarter is close to his workshop and is brainstorming a co-creation. Think a mantel clock but on a glass stand, with the movement set within, he said. MAKING CLOCKS COOL Mr. Davies hopes that, by working with other artisans, he can help to change the traditional idea of clocks. A lot of people say they dont like clocks and find them boring. But Id like to change peoples view and make it more contemporary to turn a clock into a mechanical piece of art. LONDON He has been called the father of modern watchmaking and the Picasso of watches and now Gerald Genta has an official foundation in his name, too. Founded last month by his widow, Evelyne, the Gerald Genta Heritage Association aims to continue the legacy of the designer, who created such icons as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus and Omega Constellation, in addition to his own brand and numerous designs for brands like Cartier, IWC, Hamilton and Van Cleef & Arpels. Mr. Archibong said he examined the Panerai Luminor, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the TAG Heuer Monaco and the Rolex Oyster Perpetual traced them and made a black silhouette, removing the straps so it was just the case. Then I sat with Philippe and he just named them off, one by one. If you have an iconic case shape, then youll be able to identify exactly what it is from far away. He said that Hermes hadnt steered him toward its equine roots; he settled on the stirrup-shaped case himself after spending time at the house archives. Hermes was started upon the idea of creating a better harness for attaching the horse to the carriage, he said. If you look at the logo, theres this negative space in the harness connecting to the horse. I started with that and realized that the brands story was about hardware and about aerodynamics, speed, efficiency and travel. He described spending six hours with the company historian on one occasion, learning how early Hermes designs were approached. I saw all the stirrups that Emile Hermes collected, and thats when the stew started cooking, he said. Thats how I design in my head. I just fill it up with stuff until something comes out, and when it comes out its the whole thing, its a whole idea. He accepts only private orders, so customers may pick their own edo-kiriko patterns, such as Mount Fuji, if they wish. I can personalize it with their initials engraved, so its one of a kind, he said. It takes eight months to complete a watch, which costs 5,580,000 yen ($49,970). As a watchmaker, Mr. Makihara had a bit of an unusual start. While he was studying at the Hiko Mizuno watchmaking school in Tokyo in 2009, he participated in a local TV program in which people can meet a person they admire. His choice was the Swiss watchmaker Philippe Dufour (who has achieved cult status in Japan, where craftsmanship is highly valued). I had the chance to meet him and spend time with him. I learned to polish, said Mr. Makihara, whose home atelier is in Saitama, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Mr. Makihara went to Mr. Dufours atelier in Le Solliat, Switzerland, and spent two days just learning to polish under the masters tutelage. Asked whether Mr. Dufour had seen the chrysanthemum watch, Mr. Makihara said that he had seen it during one of his frequent trips to Japan. He said the polishing was good, Mr. Makihara added with a smile. In 2012 the A.H.C.I. delegates were making a visit to Shenzhen, and they read in some local media about my work, so they paid me a visit, Mr. Lin said. They saw one of my watches, which I named No. 4, and they immediately said that this was an original watchmaking design. No. 4 was Mr. Lins fourth watch, a design inspired by his love for vinyl records, with a dial that looked like a turntable and a hand that resembled a phonograph needle. I was inspired by the era where music still sounded authentic, he said. These days, you just download your music from a computer or a cloud, but a record is such a beautiful thing. It reminds me of one of my favorite bands, the Beatles. I love their music. The quirkiness of the No. 4 was matched by the design of his Dragonfly Man, whose hours and minutes displays are on two separate disks, resembling the eyes of a dragonfly. With a skeleton back, it was crafted in 18-karat gold with a leather strap. I try to imagine the gracefulness of a dragonfly skimming across a pond, he said. Another model was inspired by a spider web. Podcasts have become very popular. According to The Infinite Dial Study 2019, published this month by the New Jersey-based Edison Research and Triton Digital, a Los Angeles digital audio technology company, more than 50 percent of all Americans older than 12 have listened to a podcast and one-third of the population, or about 90 million, had listened to one within the past month. Even as online listening reached a high, social media usage stalled: The study found that the percentage of Americans who used Facebook had dropped to 61 percent from 67 percent in 2017, a decline of about 15 million people. The watch industry has been picking up on this. In the last couple of years, a new breed of horology podcasts has popped up, created by online magazines, retailers and independent voices. And some have been reporting strong listening numbers. LE BRASSUS, Switzerland A simple wristwatch, with a case the size of a quarter, consists of hundreds of tiny pieces, and there are people who specialize in making each and every one of them. Including the rubies. Everyone appreciates that rubies can dazzle on someones neck, ears or wrist. But only watch geeks probably recognize the essential role they play in making a watch work: Hidden inside each movement is anywhere from 17 to 50 tiny rubies. They are such an important part of the watch that the number is engraved on the movement, 21 Jewels being most common. The more rubies used, the more expensive the watch. Those rubies are so minuscule, as small as 0.5 millimeters (0.02 inches), that magnification is required to work on them. Each tiny ruby grain must be cut and faceted in a variety of ways, each cut made for a specific purpose. Some act as shock absorbers, while others are pierced with a hole so they can be placed on an axis and reduce friction. GENEVA In his business manual Relationology, the author and international speaker Matt Bird wrote that the true currency of business is relationships, not money. Its a slogan the new generation of watch chief executives seem to have taken to heart. For example, Louis Ferla, the 44-year-old chief executive of Vacheron Constantin said, Of course, success is financial, but there is also human success, he said. Watches are the fruits of a human adventure so its about the human touch. Mr. Ferla said Vacheron Constantin had about 1,200 global employees, but its the individuals that make up a company work force. Ten years from now, he said, you will remember if your boss and your colleagues were inspiring, if you had a good time, if you learned things, or whether you went to the office with a knot in your stomach more than whether you got your X percent increase. How has this played out at the companys Geneva headquarters? I dont have any ego, Mr. Ferla said. I often say to my colleagues that they can say no if they disagree. What should prevail is the best idea, not your role or your job title. We can argue on almost everything what I dont want us to argue about is having to improve. He may be wearing a black ceramic Defy El Primero 21, and promoting a Defy El Primero 21 Full Diamond, but Mr. Chans love of watches began quite humbly, with a cheap plastic Superman watch that he got as a child (I was able to choose it, he said rather triumphantly). His second watch also was a no-name plastic one that his mother gave him. It was not expensive, he said, but it was printed with a sentiment in Chinese that he translated roughly as Take it easy. (My mother, he said, is the representation of wisdom.) It took another woman in his life to prompt him to start collecting watches, though: the woman who would become his wife, the actress Hilary Tsui. When they were dating, she bought matching Rolex Submariners (no plastic watches for her; she later co-founded the fashion retailer Liger.) Something clicked. Soon, he was buying all the rest Rolex had to offer: the Explorer I and II, the Daytona, the Deepsea, the GMT Master II. When he went shopping for an engagement ring for Ms. Tsui, I was in the jewelry store and bought myself a nice present, a German Temption watch. Mr. Chan, who earned a degree in architecture in England (my father worked for the British government in Hong Kong, so we got a price break, he explained), said his studies continued to color his views. Whether a building, a song or a watch, what appeals to him is taste, and the artistry of taking something from scratch and making it into a masterpiece. A Colombian woman has given birth to a baby whose abdomen contained the tiny, half-formed but still growing body of her own twin sister. This type of birth, an example of fetus-in-fetu, is very rare but not unprecedented. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.] The condition was described in a British medical journal in 1808 and is thought to occur in about one in every 500,000 births. In recent years, similar births have occurred in India, in Indonesia and in Singapore. The latest case was even more unusual, because doctors clearly identified the fetus-in-fetu during the pregnancy, said Dr. Miguel Parra-Saavedra, a high-risk pregnancy specialist in Baranquilla, Colombia, who oversaw the birth. In 2018, the United States executed 25 people and over 2,700 prisoners remain on death row. It is one of only 56 nations in the world that still practice capital punishment. Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on capital punishment in his state. Watch the one-minute video above announcing his decision. Should the United States as a country stop using the death penalty? Is it ever justified, such as for the most heinous crimes? Or do you think it is always cruel and unusual punishment? Alternatively, do you think it should be suspended for practical reasons, such as because it is costly or sometimes unfairly administered? In California Death Penalty Suspended; 737 Inmates Get Stay of Execution, Tim Arango writes: LOS ANGELES Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on capital punishment on Wednesday, granting a temporary reprieve for the 737 inmates on the states death row, the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The move is highly symbolic because legal challenges have already stalled executions in California; the last one was in 2006. But death penalty opponents hope that because of Californias size and political importance, the governors action will give new urgency to efforts to end executions in other states as popular support for the death penalty wanes. Mr. Newsom, a longtime opponent of capital punishment, cited its high cost, racial disparities in its application and wrongful convictions, and questioned whether society has the right to take a life. I know people think eye for eye, but if you rape, we dont rape, he said. And I think if someone kills, we dont kill. Were better than that. He continued, I cannot sign off on executing hundreds and hundreds of human beings, knowing knowing that among them will be innocent human beings. Supporters of capital punishment said the move went against the will of the states residents. California voters have rejected an initiative to abolish the death penalty and in 2016, they narrowly approved Proposition 66 to help speed it up. I think this would be a bold step and I think hes got to be aware of the political downside, said Michael D. Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, an organization in Sacramento that favors the death penalty and helped draft the ballot proposition, speaking before the governors announcement. Voters have had multiple opportunities in California over three decades to abandon the death penalty and theyve shut them down at every chance. The article continues: After the news of Mr. Newsoms decision broke, Mr. Trump said on Twitter: Defying voters, the Governor of California will halt all death penalty executions of 737 stone cold killers. Friends and families of the always forgotten VICTIMS are not thrilled, and neither am I! Speaking several hours later, Mr. Newsom said he had met with families of victims and they had expressed passionate but conflicting views on capital punishment. But the governor made it clear that his decision came down to his own conscience, prodded by impending decisions such as whether to support the states lethal injection protocol. An executive order Mr. Newsom signed on Wednesday does three things: grants reprieves to the inmates currently on death row they will still be under a death sentence, but not at risk of execution; closes the execution chamber at San Quentin prison; and withdraws the states lethal injection protocol, the formally approved procedure for carrying out executions. Three out of four nations in the world know better and are doing better, Mr. Newsom said. Theyve abolished the death penalty. Its time California join those ranks. The article concludes: Opponents of the death penalty, including Mr. Newsom, have long argued that the practice is rife with racial disparities and is not justified by the high cost to state taxpayers. One study, in 2011, found that California pays $184 million a year to sustain capital punishment or close to an accumulated $5 billion since the practice was reinstituted in 1978. In February, Mr. Newsom intervened in a high-profile death row case that for years activists have claimed was a prime example of racial injustice. Kevin Cooper, a black man who was convicted of four brutal murders by stabbing in 1983, has long maintained his innocence. His supporters have put forward evidence that he was framed by San Bernardino officers. Mr. Newsom ordered DNA testing in the case, something that state officials had refused to do in the past. The possibility of wrongful convictions nationally, more than 150 people on death row have been exonerated since the mid-1970s, according to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has also energized the opposition movement, around the country and in California. Last April in California, a man who had been on death row for 25 years for murdering a young girl, a former farmworker named Vicente Figueroa Benavides, was freed after a court determined that testimony given at his trial was false. Students, read the entire article, then tell us: Do you support or oppose the use of the capital punishment? Should it be abolished in the United States? Do you think the death penalty serves a necessary purpose, like deterring crime, providing relief for victims families or imparting justice? Or is capital punishment cruel and unusual punishment and therefore prohibited by the Constitution? What is your reaction to Gov. Newsoms moratorium announcement? Which of his arguments for a moratorium do you find most persuasive? Which are the least? The article states: But in 2016, Californians doubled down on the death penalty, approving a measure that streamlined the appeals process, which has typically taken about 25 years in California for condemned prisoners. The initiative, which was backed by many law enforcement officials and prosecutors, passed with 51 percent of the vote, belying Californias national image as place where politics was steadily moving to the left. It was approved at the same time that voters legalized marijuana. Do you think Mr. Newsom was right to issue a moratorium despite recent votes in support of the death penalty by Californias residents? Do you think it violates the will of the states residents, or should he follow his own conscience? Should public opinion matter in cases like capital punishment? How concerned should we be about wrongful convictions? Do you have concerns about the fair application of the death penalty, or about the possibility of the criminal justice system executing an innocent person? Do the recent cases of Kevin Cooper and Vicente Figueroa Benavides, cited in the article, affect your views? Every day, as he worked on his masters degree in documentary photography and photojournalism, he practiced the furtive art of street shooting wherever he went. My camera was a reason to explore more, walk more, observe more and learn more about the city, he said, and specially about East London. He also honed his craft as he peeled back East Londons layers. He discovered that the East Ends angles and architecture made magic with light and shadow, and that its colors and multiculturalism offered a trove of artistic possibilities. More than five years and thousands of images later, Documenting East London reveals his part of the city and his confident visual style. The play of light and shadow and the highlighting of single images within a frame make his photos look almost like oil paintings. (In fact, he considers the Baroque master Caravaggio, who combined human scenes with dramatic chiaroscuro lighting, a major inspiration.) Im Jordan Peele. Im the writer, producer, and director of the movie Us. Theres a family in our driveway. So here we have the scene where the tethered family arrives at the Wilson house for the first time. Jason, of course, says theres a family in our driveway. A line designed, giddily, to attempt to be an iconic line, like theyre here from the Poltergeist movie and sort of help congeal this sense of an Amblin-esque predicament with a black family in the center of it. - [heavy breathing] What? Zora, give me your phone. Im not on it. Zora! This is the point in the movie where I want the terror to really kick into a new gear for the audience. One of the techniques that I utilized to get that terror was that all of a sudden we go into real time. The movie before this has been going from some time dashes here and there. When we get into this moment where the four family members are standing holding hands outside, then we go into this sort of fluid we use a lot of the Steadicam with very few edits. Really trying to subliminally signal to the audience that this sort of relentless, real time event has begun and is taking place. Wait, wait, wait, just one sec Gabe. So we see Gabe leave. He goes out. Hes the dad, hes got to deal with it. This is kind of like probably pulled from my own anxieties of being a father and realizing, yeah, you got to man up sometimes. Hi. Can I help you? One of the things in this scene that really inspired me was the scene in Halloween where Michael Myers has the ghost sheet over him. And no matter how many questions hes asked, he just doesnt respond. The less response you get, the more impending and physical, I think, the threat gets. Probably after the second time someone doesnt respond, you know one of yous got to go down. [laughing] Aight, I asked you nice. Now I need yall to get off my property. One of the pieces of this scene that works really well is weve got Winston to this spot where hes code switching. You know, he goes back to some of his roots, as it were, to try and intimidate this mysterious family out there. That maybe if sort of reasoning with them doesnt work, a good old fashioned low register, throwing some bass into his voice, coming out with a little swagger and a bat might work. O.K., lets call the cops. Winston is just remarkable in this scene, and the audience really I think is in this tug of war between feeling the tension ratcheting up and the fear of whats to come and the little bit of a comic relief of watching this kind of goofy dad whos in over his head. Gabe. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. All right. Gabe! I got this. The goal, in most cases, is to avoid what is commonplace and legal in New York: Elected officials spend their day meeting with lobbyists in the Capitol to discuss pending legislation and the budget, and then spend their night collecting checks from many of the same people. Yet that two-step is part of the culture in Albany, especially in the weeks before a new state budget is officially ironed out, when opportunities to win influence are abundant. The scene is on repeat 10 one night, eight another. Political veterans in Albany call it the circuit. Youre up there, the potential donors are up there, the room is available and its just an easy thing for people to put together, said Rory I. Lancman, who represented neighborhoods of Queens in the State Assembly, and now does so in the New York City Council. For a lot of people, its probably the easiest, quickest way to raise some money. Although legislators may not so much as discuss their fund-raisers in the Capitol, they can hold fund-raising events in the Albany Room, a private venue virtually inside of the Capitol. Just pass through the security turnstiles into an underground concourse and its a few steps away. With almost always another fund-raiser to get to, the food and drink at these events are mostly ignored; if a lobbyist spends more than 15 minutes at an event, that likely means a missed opportunity elsewhere. Im not on the circuit; Im just at one party, James E. McMahon, a lobbyist with the nickname Cadillac, insisted, as he milled about an event for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee at the Fort Orange Club. Its like the Grand Hotel: people come and people go, but nothing ever happens. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] The police officers who patrol New York Citys transit system are constantly scanning subway stations looking for a familiar set of faces: repeat sexual offenders who have arrest records. The officers follow them through jam-packed platforms and onto crowded trains, waiting to see if they grope, grind, molest or indecently expose themselves again. Because only then can the police intervene and make an arrest or eject them from the subway system. The authorities have long been frustrated by not being able to keep known subway sexual harassers from returning to the scene of their crimes. But now, lawmakers and police officials are pushing a dramatic measure: On Monday, a city councilman, Chaim M. Deutsch, introduced a bill that would bar repeat sexual offenders from the subway system for life. What are the solutions for reducing disparity? The main focus is on the test. With the stroke of a pen, Mayor Bill de Blasio could change the admission criteria for the five elite schools created by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Stuyvesant is not one of them). Mr. de Blasio said that option would create a confusing two-tiered system. He wants state lawmakers to change the rules for all the elite high schools. But that path is all but dead in Albany, where the focus is on more popular progressive issues. Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker, previously said his conference had not raised the matter because it was divisive: The schools alumni organizations and Asian-American families had argued that any change would undermine academics or discriminate against the low-income Asian-Americans who attend the specialized schools in large numbers. (On Tuesday evening, Mr. Heastie wrote on Twitter that the Assembly might hold hearings on the issue in May.) Is just fix the K-8 schools a possibility? This is what every leader in New York City has tried to do for the last 70 years. Its not as if the city isnt trying to improve all schools. Thats the explicit goal of the Department of Education. That is the work that is going on every hour of every day. Fix the education system is not the whole story. What would any changes to admissions criteria be trying to achieve? More racial diversity at elite high schools. This is a question about who deserves the scarcity of these excellent seats, and how you determine that. And whatever changes are made, Asian-Americans stand to lose a large number of the seats they hold. Might this be an issue in the 2021 mayoral election? [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] Subway officials in New York City held a news conference recently to celebrate the systems progress. The on-time rate for trains hit 76 percent, they boasted, signaling a renaissance for the floundering system. But that figure masks a surprising disparity. While the numbered lines have seen a notable boost in reliability, many of the lettered lines are still delivering poor service. The F train has a miserable on-time rate of about 50 percent the lowest in the system. It seems like theres always something, from a sick passenger to signal problems, said Paul Galloway, an F train rider who lives in Brooklyn and works at the Museum of Modern Art. It just seems like a cursed line to me. It is clear that the subway is improving after hitting rock bottom in the summer of 2017, when a train derailed in Harlem and the on-time rate dipped below 65 percent the worst of any major transit system in the world. The subways leader, Andy Byford, has won accolades for making the system more reliable. Andre Williams, who carved out a place in the 1950s rhythm-and-blues scene with earthy songs distinctively delivered, then fell on hard times as a result of addiction before enjoying a late-career resurgence, died on Sunday in Chicago. He was 82. His son Derrick Williams said the cause was cancer. In a decade when mainstream white audiences were watching Father Knows Best on television, Mr. Williams was recording provocative songs like Jail Bait (1957), a sly warning to men inclined to date teenage girls. It ends with a narrator pleading with a judge for leniency and promising to abandon his lecherous ways: I aint gonna bother none 15, I aint gonna bother none 16, I aint gonna bother none 17, I aint gonna mess with none 18, Im gonna leave them 20-year-old ones alone too, Gonna get me a girl about 42. Mr. Williamss best-known song was probably Shake a Tail Feather, written with Otha Hayes and Verlie Rice, which was first recorded in 1963 by the Five Du-Tones (a version heard in the 1988 John Waters movie Hairspray) and also turned up in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers performed by Ray Charles. He sang of the joys of poultry, pork, prepubescent flesh and being The Only Black Man in South Dakota, the writer and radio personality James Marshall said by email, referencing another Williams song, yet he never sounded trite, cliched or banal. Mr. Williams didnt sing so much as speak his lyrics, in a casual sort of growl, and as a result he is sometimes called a harbinger of rap. Though he was never a household name or a million-selling artist, his style influenced garage bands and punk rockers, as well as performers like Ike and Tina Turner, who also recorded Shake a Tail Feather. Barbara Hammer, an experimental filmmaker who began celebrating lesbian sexuality and history in her work in the 1970s, and who in her last years turned her battle against cancer into cinematic art, died on Saturday in her partners home in Manhattan. She was 79. Florrie Burke, her partner, said the cause was endometrioid ovarian cancer. Ms. Hammers filmmaking took a radical turn in 1970 when she came out as a lesbian. She was 30 and divorced from her husband when her first female lover helped her rediscover herself. Her leg touched my own and I felt this incredible rush erotic rush just through our knees, and I thought, Oh, my God, Ive never felt this for a woman before, she said in an oral history interview for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art last year. And I decided right then I can act on this or ignore it. I decided to act on it. Bernard Krisher, an idealistic, driven journalist who founded Cambodias first English-language daily newspaper and, as a philanthropist, established a hospital, an orphanage and hundreds of schools around Cambodia, died on March 5 in Tokyo. He was 87. His death was reported on Monday by his newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, which quoted family members as saying the cause was heart failure. In a long career that included 13 years as Tokyo bureau chief for Newsweek magazine, Mr. Krisher became a fixture of Asia journalism, specializing in exclusive interviews with figures like President Sukarno of Indonesia and Emperor Hirohito of Japan. He founded The Daily in 1993, one year after the founding of its rival, The Phnom Penh Post, which was originally published every two weeks before becoming a daily years later. Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. It was hardly the first affront. They had grown up in a segregated Alaska: separate schools, hospitals, theaters, restaurants and cemeteries. But for Elizabeth Peratrovich and her husband, Roy, Tlingit natives, the sign they spotted one day in late 1941 in Douglas, just across the channel from downtown Juneau, was the final straw. No Natives Allowed read the notice on a hotel door. The proprietor of Douglas Inn does not seem to realize that our Native boys are just as willing as the white boys to lay down their lives to protect the freedom that he enjoys, they wrote in a letter to Ernest Gruening, the territorys governor, signaling the start of their campaign to fight discrimination in Alaska. Calling such open bias an outrage, the couple continued, We will still be here to guard our beloved country while hordes of uninterested whites will be fleeing South. Gruening agreed with the Peratroviches, and they joined forces. In 1943, they attempted to usher an antidiscrimination bill through Alaskas two-branch Territorial Legislature. It failed, with a tie vote of 8-8 in the House. That chance alone, however, doesnt explain this new trend. Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, which researches abortion, noted that the recent cluster of heartbeat bills is also a reflection of the fact that these states have done everything but ban abortion. Kentucky lawmakers, for instance, have already passed laws that heavily restrict private insurance coverage of abortion, ban insurance coverage of the procedure for public employees, require a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion and mandate parental consent for minors. The state also has just one abortion clinic. For an anti-abortion lawmaker who wants to signal to his base that he remains committed to the cause, theres little left to do but to try to outlaw the procedure. It was not hyperbole for the American Civil Liberties Union to declare on Friday that Kentucky just banned abortion. These are effectively full abortion bans. For one thing, many women dont realize theyre pregnant before six weeks of pregnancy, which is about two weeks after a missed menstrual period. But even the best case scenario is difficult to imagine: A woman who has very regular menstrual cycles and notices right away that shes late would have less than two weeks to purchase and take a pregnancy test, decide that she wants an abortion, schedule one and pull together money for travel costs, child care and the procedure itself. Things would get even more Kafkaesque in states with few clinics and mandatory counseling and waiting periods. Take Missouri, where a heartbeat bill passed the state House last month. If that bill were to be enacted, a woman hoping to have an abortion in Missouri would have to travel to the states lone abortion clinic for state-mandated counseling during which she would be discouraged from terminating. Then she would have to wait 72 hours before making a second trip to the clinic to get the procedure. Some physicians wont even perform abortions before around six weeks of pregnancy; an embryo at that stage is so small that it might not be visible on an ultrasound, which is used to ensure that a pregnancy is not ectopic, or growing outside the uterus. This is the sixth installment in an eight-part philosophical tour of the ancient city by the author. The entire series can be found here. ATHENS Since we began our little tour I have tried to take you to some of the less obvious sites around the ancient city, often at the periphery. But now I want to head right to the center of it: the Agora. This was a large public square, humming with human activity shopping, gossip, dramatic performances, military and religious processions and surrounded on all sides by buildings, including many of the key institutions of Athenian democracy. Excavations since the 1930s have uncovered the Agora, an open green area, about 30 acres sloping down northwest from the rock of the Acropolis. What I most like about it is its feeling of space, the sense of absence that triggers the imagination and allows one to conjure the ruined city in the minds eye. The reason for coming here on this particular day was entirely selfish: It was my birthday and I wanted to return to my favorite site in Athens and visit the ruins of the house of the source of my name : Simon the Cobbler. He also pretended to be a philosopher of sorts. Paul A. Sracic, a political scientist as Youngstown State University, emailed me: ORourkes vague, We all need to come together message will not resonate with people who see life as a battle. Working class voters believe in pugilistic politics. And I suspect that ORourkes punk rock background will seem odd to working class voters. These voters want to feel as if their candidates are one of them. Negative coverage in the press has been abundant: The Unbearable Male Privilege of Beto ORourke" (The Daily Beast). He voted for Republican legislation (The Wall Street Journal). He put his adolescent fantasies into print (The Resurgent). Hes a wealthy dilettante (The National Review), an empty shell (The New Republic), a teenage hacker (USA Today), a master class in male entitlement (The Guardian). At the same time, ORourke has captured the imagination of millions of voters and donors. Frank Wilkinson, a former colleague of mine, wrote at Bloomberg: ORourke is not the only candidate modeling decency as an antidote to Trumpism. But hes the one who has best harnessed the anxiety and rage generated by Trumpisms assaults on democratic values and transformed them into willful, defiant optimism. Don Fowler, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, captures this feeling: He clearly possesses a charismatic charge, a spark that few others have. Still, Fowler goes on to enumerate ORourkes liabilities: His impressive campaign for the Senate in Texas was a combination of luck and a damaged opponent. His ability to conduct an effective national campaign is totally unknown. His recent tour of the country was essentially by himself a very poor way to test a candidates national potential in a crowded, competitive field. As to issues, the same unknown quality of his organizational potential characterizes his policy and ideological stances. Both major prongs of a national campaign are truly unknown and must be tested in the public crucible. Only time will tell on both policy and operational scores wait and see. A Texas Democratic operative lavished praise on Beto, on background, in order to speak freely: ORourke has an intangible energy that goes beyond the litmus test. On a national scale that could be monumental. Its emotional. Its not tangible. Beto tapped into something with nontraditional voters. People who never publicly supported a campaign were putting Beto signs in their yard. LeBron James wore his logo on a hat. I first saw the momentum in late spring 2018, reports the Republican strategist Scott Reed: I live in Dallas and saw the yard signs popping up, all in front of large homes and mansions that would traditionally have been straight G.O.P. It almost became a badge of courage for many of the limousine liberals in Dallas. Reed, who ran Bob Doles 1996 presidential campaign, went on: His Willie Nelson event in Austin drew 50k folks and was also a strong signal to young voters even though very few voted. His performances in the debates was exceptional and added to his momentum. Cruz was the #1 G.O.P. fund-raiser and he got swamped every quarter. I see a little Bobby Kennedy in him. Richard Murray, a political scientist at the University of Houston, was also impressed. He emailed: His appeal in Texas is a combination of an attractive persona with animated mannerisms that come across as cool and authentic to many (especially those under 35); boundless energy plus exceptional verbal skills that enable him to weave stories from folks hes encountered on the campaign trail into compelling narratives (a rare skill) displayed in an environment where voters in our very diverse and fast growing metropolitan areas have soured on the far right turn of Texas GOP leaders like Ted Cruz and Dan Patrick. How about a national campaign? Will this combination work in a national primary featuring the most diverse set of competitors in the nations history? I do not know, nor does anyone else. But the retail politics states of Iowa and New Hampshire are great places to test his road show outside the Lone Star State. Murrays son, Keir Murray, a Democratic political consultant in Texas, added more praise: My own sense is his appeal was based, in part, on being a natural foil to Cruz (who is pretty much loathed by all but true conservatives in Texas) and by extension to Trump. ORourke is self-effacing, low-key guy, who comes across as fundamentally decent. I dont think most Democrats, liberals or everyday Texans knew much about his policy positions, or cared much. They liked him. People sensed he was being himself not perfect, not having all the answers but honest and good-hearted. Robert Stein, a political scientist at Rice, is upbeat on ORourkes prospects. He wrote me: Shortly after the November election progressives hit him hard for not backing their issue positions on guns and energy. My sense is that he is looking to avoid being defined on a left/right dimension/continuum. It seems like he is trying to define his candidacy as humane, pragmatic and capable of beating Trump. Stein argues that he is sufficiently retail for places like Iowa and New Hampshire and if he can survive the rush before Super Tuesday, he should come out of the March primaries in the upper echelon of remaining candidates. Although ORourke lost the Texas Senate race to Cruz by just under 3 percent, exit polls show that he won among women, 54-46; among voters under 45, 59-40; minorities, 69-31; college graduates, 51-48; moderates, 65-34; and voters who say they are not white born-again or evangelical Christians, 61-38. While suffering from some hostile media impressions, ORourke has gotten his share, if not more so, of favorable press: Hes authentic, full of energy, and stripped of consultant-driven sterility (Vanity Fair). Will Beto ORourke Become President? (Texas Monthly). Beto ORourke Rivals Trump on Social Media (Newsweek). Beto ORourke could lead a blue wave in Texas (Vox). Beto ORourke blows up the 2020 Democratic primary (Politico). Opinion Debate Will the Democrats face a midterm wipeout? Mark Penn and Andrew Stein write that "only a broader course correction to the center will give Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond. write that "only a broader course correction to the center will give Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond. Tory Gavito and Adam Jentleson write that the Virgina loss should "shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics." write that the Virgina loss should "shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics." Ezra Klein speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fear that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging. speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fear that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging. Ross Douthat writes that the outcome of the Virginia gubernatorial race shows Democrats need a new way to talk about progressive ideology and education. At the same time, some of the strongest opposition to ORourke reflecting schisms within the Democratic Party has come from womens rights advocates, many of whom took offense at a comment he made to Vanity Fair: Man, Im just born to be in it. Natasha Korecki, a Politico reporter, captured the feminist opposition to ORourke in her March 15 story, Not one woman got that kind of coverage: Beto backlash begins. The 2019 Economic Report of the President is out, and everyone is having fun with the bit at the end that acknowledges the help of student interns a list that includes Peter Parker, Aunt May, Bruce Wayne, and Jabba the Hutt: Image Super interns Credit... Economic Report of the President The White House is passing this off as a deliberate joke. More likely, someone slipped superheroes in to see whether anyone in charge was actually paying attention, and proved that they werent. But the bigger news from the report involves the supposed economic payoffs from the Trump tax cut. Even the White House now acknowledges that the tax cut wont do all they said it would their wildly optimistic economic projections depend on the claimed payoff to other economic policies that they themselves havent specified. So tax cuts will do wonders for growth, as long as you do a bunch of other stuff, details to come later. This puts me in mind of what Voltaire said about witchcraft: It is unquestionable that certain words and ceremonies will effectually destroy a flock of sheep, if administered with a sufficient portion of arsenic. But beyond that, even the claimed positive effects of the tax cut itself are things we can already see arent happening. To the Editor: Afghan Leaders Anger Over Peace Talks Is Focused on the U.S. Diplomat in Charge (news article, March 16) did not fully capture the concerns of Afghans over the talks between the United States and the Taliban. We Afghans are getting angry, frustrated and worried. We are angry that a monumental deal about the future of our country is being made without our presence. Our elected government and our people are being sidelined from the peace talks. We are frustrated that the United States is considering agreeing on a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops in exchange for the Talibans empty promise to oppose international terrorist organizations in Afghanistan. The Talibans ambitions for an Islamic emirate, a theocratic totalitarian government, have not changed. We are worried that American taxpayers frustration over the expensive and unending Afghan war will push their leaders to make a rushed decision with dire consequences for Afghanistan. A precipitate withdrawal of American troops without a successful peace deal between the United States, the Afghan government and the Taliban will lead to a protracted civil war. To the Editor: Re Our Brother, Our Executioner, by Omer Aziz (Sunday Review, March 17): That the massacre began with ideas, and ended with violence astutely sums up the killing of innocent Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand. We must ask, What allowed those ideas to take root and spread in this part of the world? As a New Zealand citizen and longtime resident of Christchurch, I am acutely aware of the presence of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in the region. They have had public rallies in the city center. They actively post racist messages on the internet. Why wasnt the government adequately monitoring these groups and their hate speech? Worse, the white supremacists were surely valorized and galvanized by politically opportunistic xenophobia. New Zealands current deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, has made a career out of mocking, intimidating and excluding Asian and Muslim migrants. In 2014 he publicly mocked Asians with his two Wongs dont make a right remark. In 2017, he asked Muslim communities to clean house, implying that they were letting terrorist attacks happen. In 2018, he talked about making New Zealand great again. This kind of racial derision and nationalistic rhetoric certainly fed the hate that led to the Christchurch massacre. To the Editor: Re Capitalism Needs Elizabeth Warren (column, March 17): Even as David Leonhardt praises Elizabeth Warren for championing bold and ambitious policy initiatives, he issues a caveat: The nominee should be, and most likely will be, the candidate who best inspires voters. Maybe that will be Warren, or maybe it will be someone else . Position papers and problem-solving proposals ignite interest and admiration, but the ability to inspire poses a different challenge. Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York, once noted: You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose . I dont hear a lot of poetry being spoken on the stump these days as Democratic rivals jockey for position in a crowded field. All too often, their full-throated convictions stream forth in a torrent of words with no heed to well-paced rhetorical ebbs and flows. Our current president is bereft of both eloquence and wisdom and the saving grace of humor. The person who will unseat him must find his or her poetic voice while marshaling the common touch in pursuit of the common good. Barbara Allen Kenney Santa Fe, N.M. To the Editor: Plan in Place, Bidens Army Awaits Biden (front page, March 8) refers to Mr. Bidens penchant for praising Republicans . To the Editor: More to Fear for Yeshiva Students (editorial, March 8) is critical of the Orthodox Jewish community. Its allusions to politics, lobbyists and other tropes are a diversion from the troubling new State Education Department guidelines that are its subject. Those guidelines dictate what classes private schools, including yeshivas, must teach, how and for how long they must be taught and even who can teach private school students. That is why they are being challenged by every sector of New Yorks private school community. Decades ago, the New York Court of Appeals struck down a less invasive effort by the states Education Department to regulate private schools, declaring that it would b e int olerable ... to hand over to any official or group of officials an unlimited and undefined power to make such regulations. Nothing has occurred in the intervening years to empower the state to impose invasive mandates on private schools. While all of this was going on, the Supreme Court was in the midst of a revolution in its own jurisprudence, recognizing a constitutional right on the part even of indigent criminal defendants to pursue appeals of their convictions and sentences, and invigorating a raft of new substantive constitutional protections that could be invoked in such appeals. Finally, in 1983, Congress tied these two threads together, giving the Supreme Court direct appellate jurisdiction, for the first time, over the military justice system. But Congress limited the Supreme Courts power over courts-martial to those cases that had been heard by the Court of Military Appeals which, like the Supreme Court, generally has the power to pick and choose which cases it hears. Last year, for example, that court (now known as the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces) heard arguments and handed down opinions in just 35 of the 360 petitions for review that it received. If it were clear that the military appeals court agreed to hear every case that might potentially be worthy of the Supreme Courts review, that would be one thing. But a 2016 study by a military lawyer found that most of what the court did was to correct case-specific errors that dont broadly affect the military justice system, while denying review to cases that could . Earlier this month, the military appeals court turned away an Army staff sergeants request to summarily affirm his conviction (rather than deny review) so he could take his case to the Supreme Court. His case turned on whether his lack of access to potentially exculpatory evidence would require a new trial, a question that has divided the federal courts of appeals. Worse still, the government routinely takes the position that the Supreme Court can review only the specific issues the military appeals court decides, and not the entire case it hears. Last month, for example, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging whether the Constitution allows the military to court-martial military retirees for offenses committed after leaving active duty. The government had argued that, even though the military appeals court had agreed to hear the case, the Supreme Court could not review it because the military court had not agreed to consider that specific issue. The result of these developments is that only a tiny minority of service members convicted by court-martial are entitled to appeal their conviction to the Supreme Court. In that regard, service members are not only treated worse than every other criminal defendant in state and federal courts, theyre also treated worse than the noncitizen enemy combatants being tried at Guantanamo. Under the Military Commissions Act of 2009, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, and his fellow military commission defendants have a statutory right to appeal any conviction not just to the civilian courts, but ultimately to seek review by the justices themselves. I had forgotten all about Charlie by the time the darkness started closing in. We had been friends as kids. I liked to make him laugh. Once, hanging out in the biology lab after school, I borrowed the bow from Charlies violin and used it to play a hand saw a weird vibrating music like something from a synthesizer or a theremin. I remember playing Over the Rainbow for him, while he looked on with equal measures of horror and wonder. One time, he explained to me how hed taken a household clock apart, gear by gear. I like disassembling things, he said, and then putting them back together. Eventually, Charlie went off to Brown, and I headed to Wesleyan. While we were at college, his family moved away, and we lost touch. By the time I arrived in my 50s, I was living in Maine, teaching at Colby College. I married; we had children. I was, by some measures, doing just fine. But sadness crept up on me now and again, especially as I got older. For a naturally gregarious person, I found it hard to talk to people sometimes. I had the feeling that the universe I lived in was getting smaller, and darker. Stephen M. Ross, the billionaire developer, was taking a victory lap at last weeks V.I.P. opening of the Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards, a day before the $25 billion neighborhood-in-a-box opened to the Instagram masses. Its the largest project ever done in America, Mr. Ross, the chairman of the Related Companies, said on the red carpet, with evident satisfaction. What Im wondering is, Im 78, what can I do next? But what of criticism that the gilded precinct, with its multi-million-dollar penthouses and mall full of luxury boutiques and pricey restaurants, is affordable only to fellow billionaires? When youre building something new, of this quality, obviously its not for those. , said Mr. Ross, choosing his words carefully. It obviously takes a high income to afford it. Already, some sure things, like certain Daytonas, are looking like slightly less than a sure thing. The market for Daytona just got a little silly for awhile, Mr. Clymer said. We saw references worth $20,000, $25,000 in 2011 to 2015 all of a sudden worth $50,000, then all of a sudden worth $80,000. And now those same references are worth $65,000. Thats still significantly higher than they were, but theyve come down from the stratosphere. During the bear market of 2008 to 2009, too, prices for some high-flying vintage models, including Paul Newmans, dipped by 30 to 40 percent, said Matthew Bain, a dealer of fine watches in Miami Beach. But, like stocks, they bounced back to new highs. The rebound may seem intoxicating. But people who think of their watch collection as an alternative to an E-Trade account may be in for a rude surprise when they discover that watches often come with sizable dealer fees, not to mention substantial outlays for insurance, secure storage and other hidden costs, Mr. Khoo said. Investors are not collectors, and collectors are not investors, Mr. Khoo said. His Watch Fund has a database of more than 9,000 watch collectors worldwide, he said, and I have never met someone who bought hundreds of watches that he liked, and sold 100 percent of them for a net absolute gain. In other words, newcomers to the watch world may want to heed the warning attached to brokerage advertisements on television: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Or, they may just want to buy whatever looks cool and leave it at that. If you didnt scoop up a $200,000 Paul Newman-model Rolex Daytona a couple of decades ago, when they were selling for a tenth of that price, you missed your chance. You can read all about how wealthy people use watches to grow wealth here. All is not lost, however. W e asked prominent dealers and experts to identify six up-and-coming vintage watches that are still reasonably priced at least by high-end watch standards and that stand a chance to outperform as investment assets. Vintage Seiko divers models such as the 6105, the 6217 and the 6309 offer a tremendous bang-for-the-buck proposition, with prices from around $1,200 to $4,000. With classic no-nonsense tool-watch looks and tough-as-nails Japanese mechanical movements, these watches are high on style and value, as well as offering some rich history in a field dominated by their Swiss counterparts which, of course, come with much higher price tags. The key in collecting here is to make sure youre buying untouched, honest examples. The market is rife with refinished dials and aftermarket components. James Lamdin, founder, Analog/Shift, New York The Camaro had a distinctive cushion shape that seems like a perfect companion to the fashion of the late 1960s and 1970s. Designed and produced by Piquerez, a famed manufacturer of watch cases, it was introduced in 1967, and seems to be a clear predecessor of the celebrated Monaco, the famous square watch Steve McQueen wore in Le Mans. While other Heuer models such as the Autavia and Carrera have gotten serious attention from collectors, the Camaro remains a model that has quietly gained its own cult following. Eric Wind, founder, Wind Vintage, West Palm Beach, Fla. Deap Ubhi is a restless guy. At 26, he quit his job in private equity in Northern California, where he had grown up and gone to college, and then moved to India to found Burrp!, a local search site similar to Yelp. He sold the company in 2009 and along with other alums became what they called the Burrp! mafia, seeding and growing other start-ups in India. Fast and is extremely straightforward, one Indian entrepreneur wrote about Mr. Ubhi in an online reference. Not for the faint of heart. After returning to the West Coast, he joined Amazon in 2014 to encourage start-ups to adopt the companys cloud-computing products. But in less than two years, Mr. Ubhi left to start a company that provided technology to restaurants, inspired by his familys experience running an Indian-Jamaican-Mexican fusion joint. He then shifted his career in a new direction, taking his Silicon Valley mentality to the heart of the Washington bureaucracy. He joined a Pentagon effort to recruit techies, and turned the restaurant start-up into a side hustle. He wanted to use his skills not to make a search engine more performant, or help a box of stuff get to a customer faster; but rather towards service of the American people, Mr. Ubhi later wrote. At night, visit the cafes in Les Trois-Ilets, like La Pause, which is set up in a large courtyard under a giant umbrella. At Le Bistrot den Face, with club music playing low, dozens of conversations almost exclusively in French unfolded across the crowd, as waiters sprinted around with dishes like calamari and moules gratinee. The food at Le Pause was not particularly good generally we preferred the local Creole restaurants than the French-styled bistros. But again, what was most striking the evening we visited was how much it felt like we were in mainland France itself. It is a piece of France, right here on this island, said Alain Vallaud, from Normandy, who was traveling across Martinique on a rented motorcycle with his girlfriend, Isabelle Patry. But if you dig down, it is a very distinct place that really captures you. Jump across the island to La Caravelle and you leave behind the bistro scene, as this peninsula itself is a nature reserve. As you enter the peninsula, you pass through a few miles of sugar cane fields, and then rolling green countryside, with trees and grass as far as you can see, until your eyes hit the Atlantic. La Caravelle is perhaps best defined by the surfer crowd that has adopted its outermost point, as this is the rougher ocean side of the island, where there are fewer hotels, and people, but still a lot of beautiful spots to admire and idly pass a few days. There are at least two hiking trails on the peninsula, with some tremendous views of the ocean and island landscape. We met Fabian Engel, a fit surfer there. He was visiting from Portugal with his wife and whose only complaint was that the wind was blowing in a fashion that day that was knocking down the waves. Like many others, his own summary of the place: The Caribbean, with a taste of Europe. We stopped that day to visit Chateau Dubuc, which was once home to a sprawling sugar and coffee plantation. Today the ruins of the estates manor house, as well as a carousel cattle mill and sugar house, former slave dwellings and other structures, have been restored (or at least the ruins have been stabilized) with funding from the European Union. You can walk down from the ruins of the chateau to a mangrove swamp and continue into the nearly empty hillsides on a hiking path that offers tremendous views of the vast landscape and choppy waters of the Atlantic. However, those charges were dropped in under 24 hours, because the law under which Ms. Daniels was arrested applied to people who regularly appear nude or seminude at a particular establishment, and Ms. Clifford had not appeared at the club consistently. Still, the episode raised the possibility that the arrest of Ms. Daniels, who by that time had gained nationwide prominence for her allegations that she had had an affair with President Trump, had been politically motivated and caused some to wonder why undercover vice officers had been sent to the strip club in the first place. The police chief at the time, Kim Jacobs, quickly acknowledged that a mistake was made and promised to review the motivations behind the officers actions. (An internal review later found that allegations that there had been a political motivation behind the arrest of Ms. Daniels were not sustained, but the review did determine that the arrest was improper.) Mr. Mitchell, a 31-year veteran of the Division of Police, was not one of the four detectives involved in Ms. Danielss arrest on July 11, the police spokeswoman, Sgt. Chantay Boxill, said on Wednesday. Sergeant Boxill said the arrest was one of several episodes that drew attention to the vice unit and eventually prompted an investigation into it. In August, Mr. Mitchell was investigating a prostitution complaint when he fatally shot 23-year-old Donna Castleberry, the police said. According to police reports, Mr. Mitchell shot Ms. Castleberry multiple times while she was in his car after she stabbed him in the hand. (An investigation into Ms. Castleberrys death is expected to go before a grand jury in April.) In September, the vice unit, which at the time consisted of about 20 officers and supervisors, paused operations for a month while the division conducted an internal review of the unit. Asked at a news conference at the time whether the strip-club episode involving Ms. Daniels or the fatal shooting of Ms. Castleberry had resulted in the pause, Chief Jacobs said that everythings related to it. As the four-week review period came to a close, Chief Jacobs requested that the F.B.I.s Public Corruption Task Force take over the review a request the bureau accepted. The pause on the vice units work remained in effect, the police division said at the time. Based on the F.B.I.s initial findings, three officers, Steven Rosser, Whitney Lancaster and Mr. Mitchell, were, at various points late last year, stripped of their guns and placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation, Sergeant Boxill said on Wednesday. She added that the investigation was continuing. We all know, living between two rivers, that something like this can happen, said Heather Garcia, who has not been able to return to her flooded house since Monday when she fled with her son and dog and pretty much nothing else. But its our home. And we just keep going. Im not really sure how to explain it. John Hayes, another resident, was more pessimistic: I have a gut, bad feeling that this might be the end of this little town. Riverfront living in Hamburg has seemed more precarious than ever since 2011. Thats where the beloved levee came in. The town had long been protected by an approved levee as high as 18 feet designed to block floodwaters. But when still higher waters were threatening the town in 2011, residents and the United States Army Corps of Engineers topped off the levee with a cobbled-together emergency addition: eight or nine more feet of protection. A sheriff in Oklahoma, five of her deputies and several other staff members resigned this week in protest of a judges order to reopen a county jail that they had deemed unsafe. The sheriff, Terry Sue Barnett of Nowata County, said the jail had deteriorated past a point where it could safely house inmates and members of law enforcement. She pointed in particular to a carbon monoxide leak that sent four employees to an emergency room late last month and prompted the jail to temporarily transfer its inmates to another facility. The condition of the jail is such that it does not comply with constitutional standards, Sheriff Barnett said at a news conference on Monday announcing that she, the five deputies, the county undersheriff, the head dispatcher and the canine ranger were stepping down. (She also said the canine rangers paw friend had resigned, adding, when people did not laugh, That is supposed to be funny.) The carbon monoxide leaks cause has still not been determined, Sheriff Barnett said, adding that there were other day-to-day safety problems plaguing the jail in Nowata County, which is about 40 miles north of Tulsa, in northeastern Oklahoma. Good Wednesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recommended designating Irans Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization. It would be the first time the United States designated a unit of another governments military as a terrorist group, and some American officials caution it could put troops and intelligence officers at risk. President Trump hosted Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, at the White House on Tuesday. Mr. Bolsonaro is a brash nationalist whose populist appeal comes from his use of Twitter and his history of making crude statements. The Trump administrations $1.5 trillion tax cut in 2017 promised sustained economic growth. But while the cuts have activated some aspects of the economy in the short term, officials now concede they will not be enough to deliver the 3 percent annual growth the president promised over the long term. Consider this: A parody account pretending to be an imaginary cow owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican, is more popular on Twitter than the congressman, a day after he sued the account (and Twitter) for $250 million. This is how politics and humor now play out in the strange world of social media. The parody account @DevinCow had only 1,200 followers on Monday, but it ended Wednesday afternoon with 467,000, surpassing Mr. Nuness account with its 395,000 followers. And the count was still growing. By Thursday evening, after news coverage, the gap had widened, with the fake cow at 600,000 followers. But theres more. A website now sells Devin Cow T-shirts. Twitter users have been celebrating with cow-themed items and jokes. Even Mr. Nuness fellow legislators showed their support for the errant beast. Ted Lieu, a Democratic congressman from Southern California, told Mr. Nunes on Twitter to lighten up, dude. WASHINGTON The Defense Departments inspector general said on Wednesday that it was investigating complaints that the acting defense secretary, Patrick M. Shanahan, had been promoting his former employer, Boeing, and disparaging its military contractor competitors. The investigation will examine complaints filed last week by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Dwrena K. Allen, a spokeswoman for the inspector generals office, said that investigators had informed Mr. Shanahan of the inquiry. [Sign up for the weekly At War newsletter to receive stories about duty, conflict and consequence.] Mr. Shanahan told lawmakers last week that he supported an investigation. The investigation complicates what is already an uphill battle for Mr. Shanahans effort to become the next permanent defense secretary. As recently as last week, Defense Department officials believed that President Trump was about to formally nominate Mr. Shanahan for the job left vacant by Jim Mattis, who resigned in December. WASHINGTON President Trump said on Wednesday that the last territory in Syria held by the Islamic State would be gone by tonight, despite reports of continuing fighting between the extremist group and American-backed local forces in Syria. It was the second time over the last month that Mr. Trump was ready to declare the liberation of the extremists self-declared caliphate an area once roughly the size of Britain across Iraq and Syria. In February, at a military base in Alaska, he said the Islamic States territory in Syria had been 100 percent reclaimed; the group no longer controls land in neighboring Iraq. In Syria, officials with the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces near the last pocket of extremist-controlled territory said on Wednesday that a group of Islamic State fighters still controlled a sliver of land along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, where they were holed up with women and children. As long as that area was still under the Islamic States control, it would be weird to expect an announcement in the next day, said a Syrian Democratic Forces official, who was not authorized to respond to Mr. Trumps comments and spoke on the condition of anonymity. LIMA, Ohio It is an obsession he cannot seem to shake. Senator John McCain of Arizona has been dead for seven months, but President Trumps feud with him is very much alive, and in front of a military audience at a tank plant here in Lima, Ohio, on Wednesday, he took it to a new level. He said he gave Mr. McCain the funeral he wanted, and I didnt get thank you, exaggerating the role he played in honoring the senators death four days before his 82nd birthday. He blamed him for a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard. He said that McCain didnt get the job done for our great vets and the Department of Veterans Affairs. And he was blunt in saying that his animosity toward Mr. McCain was not going to change. I have to be honest: Ive never liked him much, Mr. Trump said, about 10 minutes into a freewheeling speech that was ostensibly about the resurgence of manufacturing jobs. Hasnt been for me. Ive really probably never will. WASHINGTON Two years ago, some of Americas largest corporations were tearing up their business plans to accommodate President Trump, fearful that he could send their shareholders and customers fleeing with a tweet. Now they have a new strategy: Ignore him. This week, General Motors became the latest recipient of a barrage of tweets from Mr. Trump, who is angry about the companys closing of a plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The president told the company to reopen the plant or sell it fast to someone who would. He suggested that G.M. shutter a factory in China or Mexico instead. Whats going on with General Motors? Mr. Trump said on Wednesday during a speech at a tank factory in Lima, Ohio. Get that plant opened or sell it to somebody and theyll open it. G.M. has not budged. After Mr. Trumps tweets over the weekend, the company issued a terse statement noting that it was relocating workers and that it would be discussing plant closings with the United Auto Workers union. It made no mention of the demands of Mr. Trump. In the past, G.M. has blamed the presidents trade war, including tariffs on steel and aluminum, for raising the companys costs. The lawsuit says the images are the spoils of theft, because as slaves Renty and Delia were unable to give consent. It says that the university is illegally profiting from the images by using them for advertising and commercial purposes, such as by using Rentys image on the cover of a $40 anthropology book. And it argues that by holding on to the images, Harvard has perpetuated the hallmarks of slavery that prevented African-Americans from holding, conveying or inheriting personal property. I keep thinking, tongue in cheek a little bit, this has been 169 years a slave, and Harvard still wont free Papa Renty, said Mr. Crump, who in 2012 represented the family of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager killed by a community watch member in Florida. Ms. Lanier is also represented by Josh Koskoff, a lawyer who represents families of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre victims. Renty and Delia were among seven slaves who appeared in 15 images made using the daguerreotype process, an early form of photography imprinted on silvered copper plates. The pictures are haunting and voyeuristic, with the subjects staring at the camera with detached expressions. The daguerreotypes were commissioned by Louis Agassiz, a Swiss-born zoologist and Harvard professor who is sometimes called the father of American natural science. They were taken in 1850 by J.T. Zealy, in a studio in Columbia, S.C. Agassiz, a rival of Charles Darwin, subscribed to polygenesis, the theory that black and white people descended from different origins. The theory, later discredited, was used to promote the racist idea that black people were inferior to whites. Agassiz viewed the slaves as anatomical specimens to document his beliefs, according to historical sources. MAPUTO, Mozambique The fierce winds and torrential rains slammed into three of the poorest countries on earth, upending the lives of more than one million people in a matter of minutes. Then the floods from Cyclone Idai came and stayed. Nearly a week after southern Africa was hit by one of the worst natural disasters in decades, it was all rescue workers could do to try to reach the victims, let alone count them. People were clinging to trees, desperately waiting for some form of rescue. Around them, the remnants of homes sat in piles, collapsed as easily as if they had been houses of cards. Hundreds of thousands of people in Mozambique alone were displaced. And everywhere there was a vast inland sea where once there had been land. This is now a water operation, a fellow aid worker told Matthew Cochrane, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia Ethiopian Airlines surpassed many carriers by becoming one of the first to install a simulator to teach pilots how to fly the new Boeing 737 Max 8, but the captain of the doomed Flight 302 never trained on the simulator, according to people close to the airlines operations. The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Ethiopian Airlines had not authorized disclosure of the information, said the carrier had the Max 8 simulator up and running in January, two months before Flight 302 crashed. Boeing has said that experienced 737 pilots needed little training for the new Max 8, an assertion that has now come under close scrutiny by regulatory officials and pilots at other airlines. Two of the planes have fatally crashed in the past five months, and regulators around the world grounded all Max 8s last week. The pilot of Flight 302, Yared Getachew, who had 8,000 hours of flying experience including on the 737, took a refresher course on a different simulator in late September and early October, according to one person familiar with the airline, and was not due for another round of simulator training until after the crash on March 10. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand Azaam Afaan did not want to be late. The first funeral since Fridays terrorist attack was about to begin, and though he had no idea who was being buried, he just knew he needed to participate. Staring through dark sunglasses at the cemeterys fringe fighting back tears for a slain friend, as hundreds of mourners approached a hilltop of dirt cut open with row after row of graves he said he wanted to be part of someones goodbye. Its like youre short of breath, he said, explaining what it has been like to wait so long for the burials to begin after a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Now we can breathe freely. Theyre going to the place theyre supposed to be. Islams rituals of death prioritize immediate burial and a joyful departure. But as the first six victims were laid to rest on Wednesday in a city where flowers and police tape still fill intersections, the opportunities for relief continued to be elusive, drawing out sorrow, allowing time for relatives to arrive from abroad and delivering closure in spare droplets. TAIPEI, Taiwan Taiwans president, Tsai Ing-wen, will travel to the South Pacific on Thursday to shore up ties with three island nations that still recognize Taiwan as a country, in an effort to offset Chinas expanding influence in the region. Only 17 countries recognize Taiwans government, and among those, Ms. Tsai will be visiting Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands. China has been pouring aid and investment into the Pacific islands, raising the question of whether Beijing could strip Taiwan of more of its few remaining diplomatic allies and shrink the self-ruled islands international presence. The Trump administration has sought to push back against Chinas reach in the South Pacific and Latin America. Australia is also concerned, and last year set aside more money in its budget for Pacific aid. HONG KONG Vladimir Lenin. Mao Zedong. And now: a giant reptile. Vietnam has embalmed a turtle that many saw as a symbol of the countrys independence and longevity until its death in 2016, the state-run news media reported. The move catapults the animal, known as Cu Rua, or Great-Grandfather Turtle, into an elite club of famous figures embalmed and put on display by Communist regimes. That list includes Lenin, Mao, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il of North Korea, and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnams own revolutionary hero. The extremely rare giant turtle has been plastinated and lodged in a temple at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, the capital, where it once lived, the news site VnExpress reported on Tuesday. Plastination, a method of preserving bodies by infusing them with resins, was developed by a German anatomist in the 1970s. In plastic as in life, Cu Rua carries immense spiritual and cultural significance in Vietnam. A Vietnamese legend says that in the 15th century, a nationalist hero borrowed a magic sword, used it to drive out occupying Chinese forces and returned it to a turtle that surfaced in Hoan Kiem, the Lake of the Returned Sword. A turtle shrine was built on a small island in the lake in the 1880s, and the great-grandfather that died there in 2016 was widely thought to be the earthly embodiment of the ancient legend. The first members of the Womens Land Army were volunteers; it wasnt until the last male farmers were called to the front that conscription began, in 1941. Because the male sawyers and fellers who had been reserved to maintain the valuable timber industry were some of the last to be drafted , the lumberjills were not formed until 1942 . Touting the idea that joining the corps was a chance to take a country vacation, the press cheered the image of the bare-armed and betrousered woodswoman, flourishing in the sunshine. Perhaps the happy communal life in some of Britains loveliest forests adds glamour to the work, or maybe their invariable improvement in health and good looks makes them appreciate woodcraft and fresh air, mused The Times reporter Muriel Laurence. This idyllic description, however, overlooked the discomforts of working outdoors during dark winters , fingers lost to squealing circular saws , bronchitis caused by sawdust inhalation , and the women who were killed when a rogue tree fell in the wrong direction . Lumberjills earned, on average, significantly more than a typical Land Girl. And once they joined the corps, they were prohibited from withdrawing from the vital timber industry . They were not the only workers who couldnt leave. In addition to the 6,000 lumberjills, the British had thousands of prisoners of war working in timber . At one point, the P.O.W.s received a new order of Wellington boots before the female workers were outfitted. He then gave zip ties to the three adults, ordering them to tie each childs wrists together as he drove. As they went back the rows of seats, the adults left the zip ties progressively looser, another prosecutor, Francesco Greco, said. Police in two carabinieri cars, tipped off by the phone call, forced the bus to stop on the Paullese provincial highway, but Mr. Sy rammed the cars again and again. While some officers tried to speak to him, others from a third military police car forced the buss side door open and broke the windows at the back to allow the passengers to flee. At that point, Mr. Sy apparently ignited a lighter he was holding, officers said, and the bus caught fire as the hostages were escaping. Italian television stations showed images of the charred skeleton of the bus, completely destroyed. Asked why the adults did not try to overpower the driver, Warrant Officer Palmieri said that he could not speak for them, but that the threat was very real. Mr. Sy was born in Senegal in 1972, investigators said, and became an Italian citizen in 2004. His wife, from whom he is separated, is Italian, and the couple have two children. Mr. Sy had been working for the Autoguidovie bus company for 15 years, a company official, Corrado Bianchessi, said. He never gave any particular signal to indicate what he had planned, Mr. Bianchessi told the Italian channel of Sky News. We are amazed, he said. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also Italys interior minister and a major opponent of illegal immigration, posted a tweet in which he said that Mr. Sy had a police record for driving under the influence and sexual assault. Others called the ejection incomprehensible and demanded an apology from the speaker. Danes are used to great flexibility to balance work and family, with a year of paid parental leave, paid days off for parents when their children are ill, and subsidized kindergartens. Still, some say that they struggle to be dedicated employees (or lawmakers) and parents at the same time, and expect some leniency when they bend tradition. Ms. Abildgaard explained in her post that she would not normally bring her child to the chamber but had chosen to return to work early in order to serve democracy. A vote had unexpectedly required her presence and her husband could not make it to Parliament in time to take care of their 5-month-old daughter, Esther Marie. The girl had been silent and in a good mood with a pacifier in her mouth in the chamber, Ms. Abildgaard said, who added that she had made arrangements for her secretary to take the baby if she began making noise. We obviously did not want to disturb the meeting! she wrote. There are no regulations on babies access to the chamber, but the Parliaments rules say it is the duty of the speaker to maintain order and provide room for dignified discussions. Ms. Kjaersgaard took to Twitter on Tuesday to defend her decision, saying she had quietly asked a secretary to tell Ms. Abildgaard that its not good to bring babies to the chamber, adding that it had been a minor issue. LONDON President Trump has offered the British prime minister advice on Brexit. The presidents son said this week that she should have followed it. Donald Trump Jr. accused the European elites of trying to sabotage Britains withdrawal from the European Union, in an op-ed in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday. He put some of the blame on Prime Minister Theresa May, and declared that democracy in the U.K. is all but dead. Next Friday, March 29, is supposed to be the British peoples Independence Day, Mr. Trump wrote. But because the elites control London from Brussels, the will of the people is likely to be ignored. It is unclear what expertise Mr. Trump has in British and European politics and government, or whether Britons care about what he has to say. But his views appear to align with his fathers. BUDAPEST Fidesz, the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, was suspended from the European Unions most powerful political coalition on Wednesday, endangering an alliance that has shielded him from serious repercussions as he has dismantled or co-opted nearly every check on his power. Over nine years, as Mr. Orban has created in Hungary what amounts to a soft dictatorship within the European Union, lawmakers in Brussels have largely stood by and watched. There have been speeches condemning his assault on fundamental human rights and threats of sanctions for undermining the core democratic values of the union, but Mr. Orban has continued to act with the swagger of a made man, confident that he was protected no matter how bold his provocation. One reason for that was that Fidesz plays a key role in the European Parliaments largest political grouping, the generally center-right European Peoples Party. His trial, followed by the three years of appeals, was the most important in the 23-year history of the United Nations tribunal, and was widely seen as a test of whether the modern international criminal justice system could impose accountability on wartime leaders. The proceedings thoroughly investigated the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, which tore apart Yugoslavia, ravaged several of the smaller nations that emerged from it and left more than 100,000 people dead. Among the Balkan combatants Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Croatia millions of people were displaced, many of them forced from their homes in campaigns of ethnic cleansing. The tribunal has tried many figures for crimes in the wars that broke up Yugoslavia. Mr. Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander, are the most senior figures to be convicted. Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian president whose extreme nationalism instigated and enabled the bloody conflict, died in 2006 in his cell in The Hague before the end of his trial. The genocide conviction of Mr. Karadzic dealt with the Srebrenica massacre, when 8,000 Bosnians, mostly men and boys, were rounded up and systematically murdered. Members of the Mothers of Srebrenica, an organization of survivors of Srebrenica and a nearby village, Zepa, were present at The Hague on Wednesday. At the Potocari Memorial Center, close to the scene of the Srebrenica massacre, local residents, including relatives of the victims, gathered to watch the tribunals result through an online video stream. The appeals were little covered by the news media in Serbia, where The Hagues tribunal is widely viewed as anti-Serb and many Serbs see Mr. Karadzic as a hero. LONDON Top officials of the European Union tossed Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline on Wednesday, saying they would allow Britain to push back its departure date from the bloc, but only if Parliament endorsed her withdrawal plan. Lawmakers have twice already rejected Mrs. Mays plan emphatically, but in the unlikely event they changed their minds, Britain would still need an extension. The March 29 deadline is so near, there is no way lawmakers can pass the supporting legislation needed to put any withdrawal plan into effect. In offering an extension but tying it to a vote in Parliament, the European Union officials appeared to be trying to strengthen Mrs. Mays position and pressure British lawmakers to fall into line behind her plan, which would allow Britain to exit the bloc but maintain its trade ties until at least the end of 2020. If they dont, the alternative may be an outcome many of the lawmakers like even less than the prime ministers plan: a break from the bloc with no provisions for cushioning its economic impact a so-called no-deal Brexit or an even lengthier delay. And that could potentially mean no withdrawal from the bloc at all. When the Islamic State raised its black flag over the Syrian city of Raqqa in early 2014, it began its transformation from fringe regional player to fearsome global threat. By the end of that year, it had seized large stretches of territory in Iraq and Syria, creating a rogue state the size of Britain. Now, the last of that territory a sliver of land along the Euphrates River in southeastern Syria has been retaken. Thousands of fighters remain in the region, but they have gone underground, carrying out quick strikes in the region and continuing to promote their ideology worldwide. Here are some of the major moments in the groups evolution: A fringe group rises to major player. The Islamic State traces its roots to Al Qaeda in Iraq, an offshoot of the terrorist group that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The Iraqi affiliate started an insurgency that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007, before it suffered defeat at the hands of American troops and local militias. By 2013, remnants of the Qaeda affiliate had rebranded themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and had identified opportunities in Syria, which was in the third year of its civil war. The Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi, was the architect of the groups push to seize territory and declare its own state. UMM AL-FAHM, Israel With three weeks to go, the Israeli election is so close that Arab voters, who make up only a fifth of the population, could help bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus long career to an abrupt end. Mr. Netanyahu has been fanning the flames of anti-Arab sentiment almost daily. He has warned Israelis that his main challenger, the retired army chief Benny Gantz, would hand over parts of the homeland to the Arabs and that he would make alliances with Arab parties that want to destroy Israel. Mr. Netanyahu has also joined forces with a racist faction whose leaders support expelling Arab citizens and call them the enemy. Such appeals have worked for Mr. Netanyahu in the past. This time they might backfire. Small Arab communities like the Druze, who prize their loyalty to the state and often vote for right-wing parties, show signs of deserting Mr. Netanyahu en masse, according to a new poll from the University of Maryland. The poll also suggests that Mr. Netanyahus racial provocations may spur turnout among Arab voters motivated to usher him out of office. [Read our overview of the Israel elections.] If the race between Mr. Gantzs Blue and White party and Mr. Netanyahus Likud remains a nail-biter, the swing of a single seat in Parliament could be decisive. JERUSALEM Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed the United States to recognize Israeli governance of most of the Golan Heights during a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday. His efforts underscored the growing possibility that the Trump administration may change the American stance on the territory. Mr. Netanyahu has pushed repeatedly for the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the western Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed. There are recent signs that the Trump administration could be moving in Mr. Netanyahus direction. An annual human rights report released last Wednesday by the State Department used the phrase Israeli-controlled rather than Israeli-occupied to describe the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza, counter to the tradition. The Trump administration has also pushed back against United Nations condemnations of Israels occupation. Mr. Netanyahu will visit Mr. Trump next week, the White House announced on Wednesday, a trip that could offer the prime ministers troubled re-election campaign a lift. Mr. Netanyahu also plans to speak at the annual conference of Aipac, the pro-Israel lobbying group. SELAMAT DATANG DI MESINSLOT. SITUS JUDI CASINO DAN SLOT TERBAIK DI iNDONESIA - Pemeliharaan Terjadwal: Global Gaming pada 2021-02-26 dari 10:00 AM sampai 2031-02-26 10:00 AM (GMT + 7). Selama waktu ini, Global Gaming permainan tidak akan tersedia. Kami memohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan yang mungkin ditimbulkan. - Pemeliharaan Terjadwal: Asia Gaming pada 2021-04-07 dari 1:00 PM sampai 2021-04-08 11:00 PM (GMT + 7). Selama waktu ini, Asia Gaming permainan tidak akan tersedia. Kami memohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan yang mungkin ditimbulkan. - Pemeliharaan Terjadwal: S128 Cockfight pada 2021-02-26 dari 12:00 PM sampai 2031-02-26 12:00 PM (GMT + 7). Selama waktu ini, S128 Cockfight permainan tidak akan tersedia. Kami memohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan yang mungkin ditimbulkan. He Yuhong, a 27-year-old beauty blogger from China, has become an online sensation thanks to her amazing ability to transform herself into a doppelganger of celebrities and iconic characters, using makeup. He, who posts photos and videos of her work on various social networks under the pseudonym Yuyamika, shot to fame last year, when she used her makeup skills to turn herself into a real-life version of Leonardo Da Vincis Mona Lisa. The video of her remarkable transformation got tens of millions of views on Chinas Weibo platform alone, and quickly went viral on Western social networks as well. Since then, Yuhong has been entertaining her growing fan base with more makeup magic, turning herself into doppelgangers of celebrities like Johnny Depp and Taylor Swift, as well as Albert Einstein or the Girl with a Pearl Earring. Photo: Yuyamika/Instagram Weve seen makeup artists use their faces as a canvas for remarkable art before, but the degree of realism in He Yuhongs transformations is simply unprecedented. In fact, some of her projects turn out so well that they leave viewers wondering if the artist is using some sort of digital editing tool to achieve the uncanny resemblance to her inspiration. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on May 8, 2018 at 2:40pm PDT The young beauty blogger started her chameleonic career by turning herself into doppelgangers of celebrities, but her career really took off when she accepted a fans suggestion to tackle famous artworks as well. Thats how her famous Mona Lisa project came to be, which she followed up with a nearly perfect reproduction of Lady with an Ermine, and then Girl with a Pearl Earring. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Feb 9, 2019 at 4:48am PST I love oil paintings myself, Yuyamika told Daily Mail last year. So, when I saw the great response on the Mona Lisa video, I went on to create Lady with an Ermine to continue the Da Vinci theme. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Feb 11, 2019 at 8:24am PST Makeup artists concentrate mostly on trying to recreate the looks of celebrities. Few came up with the idea of transforming into figures from oil paintings. I did it, she told China Daily. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Nov 10, 2018 at 10:29pm PST He, who hails from Chongqing, in Southwest China, spends between 4 to 6 hours on each project and post her best work on Miaopai, a popular video platform in China, as well as on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Nov 11, 2018 at 11:07pm PST View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on May 20, 2018 at 7:12pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on May 8, 2018 at 2:38pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Jul 11, 2018 at 4:15pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by YUYAMIKA (@yuyamika7) on Jul 11, 2018 at 9:52am PDT Felicity Huffman Former Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman has hired The TASC Group, New York-based crisis/strategic communications firm, to handle media surrounding her alleged involvement in the college admissions cheating scandal. TASC is noted for its media work on behalf of the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African-American who was gunned down by George Zimmerman in Sanford, FL in 2012. A jury acquitted Zimmerman on second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in 2013. Caught up in Operation Varsity Blues, Huffman is charged with donating money to a sham charity that fixed her daughters SAT score. The 56-year-old actress, who is free on $250K bail, could face five years in jail. TASC founder Larry Kopp and Alastair Pearson, who handled press for Our Future, Our Choice part of the Peoples Vote campaign before joining TASC, represent Huffman. The firm has worked for David Lynch Foundation, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Refugees United, Russell Simmons, Islamic Circle of North America, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, National Japanese-American Memorial Foundation, Matt Dillon, American Center for Democracy and Mira Sorvino. Abernathy MacGregor has inked a three-month contract worth $100K to support the US communications efforts of the Embassy of Spain. The Havas Group unit is to identify and prioritize issues affecting the image of Spain in the US, according to its contract with the Spanish diplomats. It will facilitate contacts between the Washington embassy and key media platforms and communications groups, monitor and establish an overall social media strategy and arrange formal/informal meetings between Spanish representatives and media, politicians and prescriptors/influencers. The agreement is part of the Ministry of Affairs push to foster the image of Spain in the world and to counteract the effects of so-called fake news. AbMac has a separate pact with London-based Overseas Solutions Ltd, on behalf of Spain. That six-month agreement went into effect Feb. 1 and is pegged at $90K monthly. In support of Spains strategic communications goals in the US, AbMac is to promote the strengths and guarantees of the country's democratic system. It may get involved in detailed mapping of stakeholders (journalists, editors, opinion leaders, think tanks, jurists), meeting set-up, spokesperson training, and immediate reaction to pressing needs for local action. "While we have been asked for a proposal by the Embassy, we had not yet finalized a written contract. We will be happy to engage in this project if finally awarded with it," reads a statement from AbMac. "We were in discussions about a project being led by a private entity, but the contract has been cancelled. We have already informed the registry so that the file can be updated." The country was sad to learn of the death of Irish actor Pat Laffan last week, the man behind two of the most fondly remembered Irish characters; Father Ted milkman Pat Mustard and The Snapper's Georgie Burgess. Following his death, the actor was trending on social media as people shared their memories of some of his more memorable roles and quotes, especially as promiscuous milkman Pat Mustard in the hit Channel 4 series. Mustard has become a bit of cult hero among Father Ted fans as somewhat of a loveable rogue who in fact tried to kill Dougal on a milk float in a particularly memorable episode. His memory reached as far as Edenderry on St Patrick's Day when one exhibitor paid homage to one of his most daring quotes and the show's most outrageously funny scenes. PICTURED: Pat Laffan's rude Pat Mustard character is remembered at Edenderry's parade CREDIT: Jeremy Simpson The vintage tractor was emblazoned with a banner saying, "Can I put my big tool in your box," reminiscent of the scene where Pat Mustard asked Mrs Doyle if he can store his spanner in her toolbox. It was all innocent, well fairly innocent, in the end, as the infamous scene proves. Well played, lads! You can view Jeremy Simpson's other photographs from Edenderry's St. Patrick's Day parade by visiting his Facebook page, Jeremy's Photo Collection. THE Orthopaedic team at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore recently welcomed International expert Dr Erik De Witte Orthopaedic Surgeon, of ASZ Hospital in Belgium who shared his expertise on the area of minimally invasive surgery of the hip. THE Orthopaedic team at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore recently welcomed International expert Dr Erik De Witte Orthopaedic Surgeon, of ASZ Hospital in Belgium who shared his expertise on the area of minimally invasive surgery of the hip. Dr De Witte is one of the pioneers of muscle and nerve sparing surgery in hip replacement. Since 2004 he has performed 3,500 of these operations. Theatre staff watched intently as the hospital Orthopaedic Surgeons completed the evolving surgery under the guidance of Dr de Witte which reduces the recovering time for the patient and the length of time required for the patient to spend in hospital. Mr David Cogley Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore stated, Erik is a wonderful teacher and is enthusiastic in sharing his expertise and spreading techniques of less invasive hip replacement with us to the benefit of all of our patients. Without a doubt the future of hip replacement surgery has arrived in the Midlands allowing patients less pain around the time of surgery and much faster recovery. Mr Eoin Sheehan who has joined the Orthopaedic Department from Thomas Jefferson hospital in Philadelphia having specialised in hip and knee replacement surgery said, It is important that the midlands and particularly Tullamore Hospital pioneers this new method of hip replacement surgery. Our ambition is to create a centre of excellence in rapid recovery tissue sparing and high quality hip surgeries. Hopefully we can put Tullamore on the world stage as a centre for high quality surgery and serve the people of midlands with a high standard of care, he added. Speaking about the visit, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr James Sproule who recently returned from Canada, where he completed two years of advanced specialist training in knee, foot and ankle surgery said, The Orthopaedic Department is delighted to be endorsed by such a high profile international specialist as Dr Erik de Witte. In our current climate of fiscal prudence, it is essential that the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore examines all avenues to contain expenditure. Having gained valuable exposure while working abroad I am only to well aware of the importance of delivering healthcare in a productive and cost-efficient manner and this evolving surgery is a positive step in the right direction. The addition of Mr Eoin Sheehan and Mr James Sproule to the hospital orthopaedic team with their experience combined with that of the other members of the team Ms. Dorothy Niall, Mr John Lunn, Mr David Cogley and Mr Refaat Zaki complements the range of orthopaedic services available in the Midlands. The pioneering development at the Midland Regional Hospital at Tullamore is part of ongoing developments in the Orthopaedic Department which centres on successful pre-operative assessment clinics permitting greater daycase surgery and same day surgery admissions which mean a greater number of patients can be seen and treated within shorter timeframes. An Offaly man is to re-appear in court in Kenya in two weeks facing a charge relating to an alleged visa breach in the Africa country. Tullamore native Rory Bracken had been preaching in the African country with the Testify World Ministries group and had performed ceremonies and healings, attracting thousands of followers and spectators. He was thrown in prison in February and first appeared in court on Thursday, March 7. The trial was put back on that day to March 20 but has now been put back to a date in early April. ABOVE: Mr Bracken performing a healing ceremony It's understood the prosecution brought one witness on March 7, an immigration official, but appealed to the judge for a week's grace to acquire a statement from a second witness. The case, which has attracted national media attention in Kenya came before the courts again this week where Rory was expected to learn his fate but the case was hit with another two-week delay. The Tullamore native claims that he was sent to prison due to a "false charge of breaking a visa" and his lawyers are "confident" he will be vindicated in court. He also believes a number of individuals have a "vendetta" against him and resent him preaching in Africa. Last week he described the "inhumane" conditions he experienced having spent 22 days in jail in Kenya. Rory says that now having seen the conditions of the prison, he will "stand and fight" for the rights of criminals, "especially if I receive compensation." Rory is a former CBS Tullamore student who has spent many years preaching in Africa, as well as Pakistan. He is married to a woman in Uganda and claims that if he is unsuccessful in court and deportation is ordered, he will be fighting to be deported to Uganda. He is due to appear in court facing visa-related charges in April. CIARAN Cannon, Minister of State in the Department of Education and Skills recently launched a Community Education position paper Community Education, Enhancing Learning, Fostering Empowerment, Contributing to Civic Society in Athlone. CIARAN Cannon, Minister of State in the Department of Education and Skills recently launched a Community Education position paper Community Education, Enhancing Learning, Fostering Empowerment, Contributing to Civic Society in Athlone. The paper was developed by the Community Education Facilitators Association and presents its views on the way forward for community education. The association consists of personnel employed by local VECs who work with community groups promoting and delivering informal education across the Republic of Ireland. Chairperson of the Community Education Facilitators Association Nuala OBrien acted as MC and welcomed everybody to the event and expressed her pleasure at the large attendance with some travelling from as far away as Donegal and Kerry. She especially thanked the representatives of community groups who had come to the launch to exhibit some of their work and to convey to the Minister what community education meant to them as individuals and as groups. Minister Cannon visited each display, spent time chatting to community representatives and admiring their work. From Offaly, Belmont Mens Group showcased the research they have compiled in relation to Belmont and the surrounding areas with some photographs and receipts dating back to the 1880s. The Mens Group are now in the process of compiling a book detailing the history of Belmont. Ferbane Art Group exhibited a number of their eye catching paintings which included striking landscape and portrait scenes. Belmont Womens Group displayed the large range of activities they have undertaken under Community Education, including art, photography, computer training, personal development, ballroom dancing, yoga, floristry and interior design. Co. Offaly VEC Community Education Service provides programmes in response to local requests in an informal supportive setting where there is no pressure on attaining accreditation or formal assessment. For further information, please contact Michelle Shanahan, Community Education Facilitator, Co. Offaly VEC on 057 93 49424. Before Nirav Modis arrest, how ED, CBI worked behind the scene India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 20: Fugitive businessman Nirav Modi was arrested in London after a Westminster Court issued a warrant against him. Ever since he was spotted last week, the legal process moved at quite a rapid pace. CBI and Enforcement Directorate officials tells OneIndia they were monitoring the developments taking place. Further, both agencies extended all legal assistance in a bid to take forward the extradition request. Nirav Modi arrested from Holborn metro station in London, to be produced in court A British daily recently published a report and video showing Modi walking on the streets of London and said the fugitive diamantaire was living in a swanky 8-million pounds apartment in the city's West End and that he was involved in a new diamond business. While the ED was accused of inaction, the agency clarified that no such formal or communication was received by the ED from UK authorities in March, 2018 or at a later date, informing that Nirav Modi was in the UK. The ED added that the National Central Bureau of Manchester, the nodal agency of the UK for dealing with Interpol notices and cooperating with other countries, had instead asked Indian agencies to "provide it" with intelligence inputs that suggested Modi was in the UK. It said the UK government's "consistent stand" had been that a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against an accused could only be executed through an "extradition request" and not through letters rogatory (LR) or the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). Hence, it said, the extradition request for Modi could only be sent after a chargesheet was filed against him, which was done by the agency in May last year. "An extradition request cannot be sent at the stage of investigation. Accordingly, upon initiation of investigations by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in February last year against Nirav Modi and others, the first NBW was issued on March 5, 2018 and that was not acted upon by the UK government," the agency said. The ED obtained a fresh NBW against Modi from a Mumbai court after filing the chargesheet and sent it to the Interpol, which notified the "red warrant" for arrest against the fugitive diamantaire on June 29 last year, and subsequently, a fresh request for extradition was sent to the UK government, the agency said. It added that it had also sent a supplementary MLAT request in October last year for execution of an order of attachment of the UK-based assets of Modi. "In response to these MLAT requests, the UK authorities had raised queries from time-to-time, which were promptly examined, and detailed replies were sent by the ED. These MLAT requests are yet to be executed by the UK authorities," the central probe agency said. "It is reiterated that the ED has been proactively following up all the issues relating to the Nirav Modi case with authorities of various countries, including the UK. The directorate has also been making necessary efforts for successful extradition of Nirav Modi," it said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 15:45 [IST] Extradition process against Mehul Choksi underway: Sources India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 20: The extradition process against absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi has begun in Antigua, official sources said Wednesday. They said Indian investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have sent across documents to authorities in that country to peruse and send back Choksi to India, accused in the USD 2 billion PNB fraud case along with his nephew Nirav Modi and others. Nirav Modi was arrested by the London police on Tuesday as part of a similar extradition request India sent against him to the United Kingdom authorities. The extradition process against Choksi is on and we are hopeful of a positive response from the authorities of Antigua and Barbuda, they said. The legal processes are on and the probe agencies are looking forward to the next intimation by the authorities of that country, they added. Nirav Modi in possession of three passports, UK court told Choksi took Antiguan citizenship last year after he surrendered his Indian passport. In August last year, India handed over Antigua a request for Choksi's extradition. The businessman, who left India last year, is wanted by the CBI and the ED, which are probing the PNB fraud case, the biggest banking scam in the country. PTI Kejriwal slams Modi for 'chowkidar' campaign, asks vote to AAP for good education India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 20: Taking a dig at BJP's 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said Wednesday that if people want their children to become watchmen, they should vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And if they want good education, they should vote for Aam Aadmi Party, he said. Kejriwal, in a tweet in Hindi, said Modi wants the whole country try to become 'chowkidar' (watchman). "If people want their children to become chowkidar, they should vote for Modi but if they want their child to get good education and become doctor, engineer or lawyer, they should vote for AAP," he said in his tweet in Hindi. Congress to field Shatrughan Sinha from Patna? On Saturday, Modi had urged his supporters to take the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' (I too am watchman) pledge, saying he is not alone in the fight against graft and social evils. Since then, the BJP has stepped up its 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' campaign with the prime minister and other party leaders, including its president Amit Shah, prefixing the word 'chowkidar' to their names in their Twitter profiles as they sought people's support in the Lok Sabha elections. PTI Is this achievement asks Priyanka Gandhi; Who allowed Nirav Modi to flee? India oi-Vikas SV Varanasi, Mar 20: In a veiled but bitter sarcastic jibe at the BJP-led Centre, Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday asked how can fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi's arrest in London be claimed as an achievement. Diamantaire Nirav Modi, an accused in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, was arrested in central London on Tuesday after the Westminster Court issued a warrant against him. Ever since he was spotted in London last week, the legal process moved at quite a rapid pace. Nirav Modi arrested from Holborn metro station in London, to be produced in court Even before any top BJP leader could comment on the development, Congress General Secretary for Eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra trained gun at the ruling government and asked "Who allowed him flee" in first place. "Ye achievement hai? Jaane kisne diya tha? (Is this acheivement? Who allowed him to leave?)," she told reporters in Varanasi where she is wrapping up her three-day campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Nirav Modi fled the country in the first week of January last year. Then in February 2018, his passport was cancelled by the India. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the prime accused in the Rs. 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam involving fake guarantees in the name of the state-run lender to secure loans overseas. Earlier this month, the 48-year old Nirav Modi was recently seen walking on the streets of London by a reporter of the British newspaper The Telegraph. While the ED was accused of inaction, the agency clarified that no such formal or communication was received by the ED from UK authorities in March, 2018 or at a later date, informing that Nirav Modi was in the UK. The ED added that the National Central Bureau of Manchester, the nodal agency of the UK for dealing with Interpol notices and cooperating with other countries, had instead asked Indian agencies to "provide it" with intelligence inputs that suggested Modi was in the UK. The extradition request for Modi could only be sent after a chargesheet was filed against him, which was done by the agency in May last year. Before Nirav Modi's arrest, how ED, CBI worked behind the scene The ED obtained a fresh NBW against Modi from a Mumbai court after filing the chargesheet and sent it to the Interpol, which notified the "red warrant" for arrest against the fugitive diamantaire on June 29 last year, and subsequently, a fresh request for extradition was sent to the UK government, the agency said. He was tracked down to a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor in an upscale tower block of luxury apartments, where rent is estimated to be around 17,000 a month, the newspaper reported. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 18:35 [IST] Who was MP Abani Roy? The senior RSP leader who passed away at 84 It's advantage BJP, TMC in Bengal as Congress decides to go solo India oi-Deepika S Kolkata, Mar 20: The West Bengal Congress has called off seat-sharing talks with the CPI(M)-led Left Front forcing a four-cornered contest in which the main contenders-the Trinamool Congress and the BJP-are in an advantageous position to consolidate the voters in their favour. The CPI(M)-Congress seat-sharing talks failed after the latter accused the Left of insulting it by unilaterally announcing 25 candidates in the state, which has 42 Lok Sabha seats. West Bengal becomes a new addition to the list of states where the Congress failed to clinch a seat-sharing deal to take on the BJP. Tthe political landscape in West Bengal has changed dramatically in favour of these two parties. While the TMC dominated the rural polls, the BJP emerged second in bypolls. Both parties increased their vote share at the expense of the Left Front and Congress, which were decimated in every bypoll they contested separately since the 2016 Assembly elections, for which they had entered into an electoral understanding. Lok Sabha election 2019: TMC won Balurghat, a Left bastion, for first time in 2014 The cross currents of the failure to clinch the opposition alliance will be felt directly in 15 seats spread across north and south Bengal, a TMC leader said. "Although the breakdown of the opposition alliance has its benefits, it has taken away the buffer from us. Now the maximum anti-TMC votes would be bagged by the BJP, which might alter lot of equations in various seats," another senior TMC leader said. "Had the alliance been there, the anti-TMC votes would have been divided between it and the BJP, which would have helped us," he told PTI on the condition of anonymity. The TMC will now be directly pitted against the BJP in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Raiganj, Balurghat, Malda South in north Bengal; and Murshidabad, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Basirhat, Barrackpore, Asansol, Purulia, Jhargram, Bankura and Midnapore seats in south Bengal, sources in the party said. The development has brought cheer to the BJP camp, which has emerged as the main challenger of the TMC in the past few years. The party will be in a better position to find favour with a sizeable portion of the refugee voters in the border districts following its efforts to bring in the citizenship bill. Besides, a section of the Hindu voters, who are unhappy with the "appeasement politics" of the TMC, will support the BJP, said a leader of the saffron party. The refugees have for the past several decades been a trusted vote bank of the Left. The electoral history of Bengal shows that it is the ruling party and the main opposition which become the main beneficiaries in the event of a four-cornered contest. In 2014, the state again witnessed a four-cornered election in which the TMC won 34 seats, the Congress four and the Left and BJP two seats each. The TMC had then secured 39.05 per cent votes, the CPI(M)-led Left Front 29.71 per cent, while the BJP and the Congress had secured 17 percent and 9.5 per cent respectively. The CPI(M)-Congess seat sharing deal in the 2016 state assembly polls had failed to halt the return of the TMC to power, but it was successful in stopping the march of the BJP to an extent. But the alliance fell apart after the poll as the CPI(M) decided to part ways with the Congress since its central committee vetoed it. Since then the BJP has steadily taken over the opposition space in various by-elections and has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling TMC. Lok Sabha polls will be held in the state in seven phases from April 11. (with PTI inputs) Just for elections': Opposition slams Centre over Nirav Modi arrest India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Mar 20: Opposition leaders on Wednesday called diamond merchant Nirav Modi's arrest mere symbolism ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Modi, who is wanted for allegedly duping the Punjab National Bank of over Rs 13,000 crore, was arrested in London on Tuesday. "They (BJP) had only helped him flee the country, now they are bringing him back. They are bringing him back for the elections and will send him back after elections," senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. London court rejects Nirav Modi's bail plea, will be in custody till March 29 Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: Its amusing to see the BJP falling over itself to credit the PM with the Nirav Modi arrest while completely ignoring the fact that it was The Telegraph of London & its correspondent who found Nirav Modi, not the PM & his agencies. Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 20, 2019 Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, however, hailed the arrest as an achievement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "You can run, but cannot hide from the country's #Chowkidar. As wheels of justice grind, after Vijay Mallya, fugitive Nirav Modi has been arrested in London. Clear sign that this is not the India which will allow economic offenders to loot the country & evade the long arm of law (sic)," Puri tweeted. The BJP has been consistently under attack from the Opposition after Niram Modi managed to flee the country weeks before investigating agencies opened probe. Fugitive jeweler Nirav Modi, prime accused In the Rs. 13,000-crore PNB fraud case, has been denied bail after his arrest in central London's Holborn area today. He will be in custody till March, 29--the next date of hearing. Nirav Modi, and his uncle Mehul Choksi are wanted in India's biggest scam of over Rs 13,500 crore. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 18:51 [IST] As Mamata Banerjee takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi, Cong says such posturing for personal ambition will help BJP Rahul Gandhi in centre of Cong posters for Jaipur rally; call for him to become party chief again Lok Sabha Elections 2019 updates: Anti-BJP front gains momentum, Naidu meets Sonia Gandhi India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, May 19: Andhra Pradesh Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, continuing his efforts to put together a coalition to form the next government at the Centre. He reached Lucknow after meetings in New Delhi with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, CPI leaders G Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and LJD leader Sharad Yadav. The Telugu Desam Party chief has already held several rounds of discussions with various opposition leaders, including TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his two-day visit to Uttarakhand today with a visit to Kedarnath shrine. The prime minister is also expected to offer prayers at Badrinath tomorrow before returning to Delhi in the afternoon. The prime minister's visit to the holy shrine came a day before the last phase of the marathon Lok Sabha elections. Fifty nine parliamentary constituencies, including Varanasi, will go to polls in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections and the results will be announced four days later, on May 23. Stay tuned for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 UPDATES: Election expenditure: How much did BJP, Congress, DMK, CPI, TMC, AIADMK receive funds and spent during polls? Opposition front not possible without Congress: Shiv Sena leader Raut after meeting with Rahul Gandhi Mamata Banerjee's TMC gives yet another jolt to Congress in Meghalaya; 11 members switch sides Goa Congress hit by several resignations on day of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's visit LS polls 2019: Resentment hits Congress, BJD candidates India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Bhubaneswar, Mar 20: A day after the ruling BJD and opposition Congress released the list of candidates for the Lok Sabha and Odisha assembly elections, discontent voices came to the fore on Tuesday in both the camps. Some of the senior leaders of both the parties have already resigned, while a few others made clear their intention to join the rival camp. BJD's sitting MP from Kanadhamal, Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh, who has been denied a party ticket for the 2019 polls, said she would either join another party or contest the polls as Independent. "I have told the party chief (Naveen Patnaik) about my willingness. If I don't get a chance to contest from Nayagarh, I may think of joining another party or contest the polls as Independent," Pratyusha, the successor of erstwhile Nayagarh rulers, told reporters. She said that Nayagarh was the bastion of her late husband Hemendra Singh. Patnaik has named Achyut Samant as the BJD candidate for Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat. Lok Sabha Elections 2019: BJD releases first list of candidates for Odisha Kalahandi MP Arka Keshari said he has also written a letter to the chief minister, expressing his "displeasure" over denial of party ticket. Arka and his wife Malvika Devi had met Patnaik a few days before the release of the candidate list. "We feel betrayed as I am not consulted before fielding a new candidate in my place," Keshari said. Patnaik had on Monday announced the name of Dharmagarh MLA Pushpendra Singhdeo as the party candidate for the Kalahandi seat. Two other BJD leaders, Kusum Tete and Pramod Patnaik, also tendered their resignations from the primary membership after being denied party tickets to contest the assembly elections. Tete, who quit as chairperson of the Sundargarh Special Development Council (SDC), on Tuesday indicated that she will contest the polls from the Sundergarh seat as an Independent candidate. In the Congress fold, former MLA Sadhu Nepak resigned from the party after being refused a ticket from the Bargarh assembly segment. The candidate list named Nipan Das for Bargarh. Congress' Jeypore MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati also expressed his displeasure over the move to not renominate all the sitting MLAs of the party as per the "earlier" decision. "There are two to three aspirants for one post. In the process, one person gets the seat and others oppose. We give priority to the winnability and nothing else," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said. Meanwhile, its Mahila wing president Sumitra Jena said: "We are disappointed that only one woman candidate figures in the list of 42 names declared by the party so far. We are waiting for the final list. If adequate women are not made candidates, there will be resentment. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:19 [IST] Farooq Sahab suggested me to speak with Pakistan but I will speak to the youth: Amit Shah in Srinagar NC-Congress finalise seat-sharing; 'Friendly contest' in Anantnag, Baramulla India oi-Vikas SV Srinagar, Mar 20: After a brief disagreement over the sharing of seats in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the National Conference (NC) on Wednesday reached at an understanding under which Farooq Abdullah would fight the Lok Sabha election from the Srinagar seat. While in the Anantnag and Baramulla seats, which was the reason for disagreement the two parties, both would lock horns in a "friendly contest". Jammu and Kashmir has six Lok Sabha seats and the talks of a pre-poll alliance between the two parties hit a bumpy road when the NC put forth a condition that it wants to contest from all the three seats in the Kashmir valley. NC had said that it would support the Congress in the two seats in Jammu and one in Ladakh. No pact with Congress, NC to contest all six seats in J&K The talks seemed to hit a dead end after a brief disagreement between the two parties over the Anantnag seat in south Kashmir. NC then asked senior leader an patron Farooq Abdullah to take the final call on alliance. "Jammu and Udhampur will be contested by Congress, I will contest from Srinagar and there will be a friendly contest between NC and Congress in Anantnag and Baramulla. We are also discussing the Ladakh seat," Farooq Abdullah told the media today. "Friendly contest means that there will be no cut-throat contest between us on these two seats (Anantnag and Baramulla). If either Congress or NC wins, it's a win-win situation for both of us," said Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad. In Lok Sabha elections 2014, three seats were won by the BJP and three by the People's Democratic Party (PDP). The National Conference is already part of the Mahagathbandhan, an emerging united 'federal front' to counter the BJP. Masood Azhar ban blocked: Omar Abdullah says Modi surrendered to China Both the Congress and the NC fought the Lok Sabha polls together for the first time in 2009. Then, the Congress won two seats of Jammu region, but lost the Ladakh seat to an NC rebel who contested as an Independent candidate. The NC managed to win all three seats in the Kashmir Valley in 2009. Goa govt likely to allow restaurants to open at 50 per cent capacity from July 5 Will bring an end to 'dirty politics' in Goa: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Goa gangrape case: Heavy police force in CM's Sanquelim town as Cong tries to take out march against him Cultures of MGP, TMC do not match: Goa BJP on their pre-poll alliance New BJP govt in Goa wins floor test, CM Sawant proves majority India oi-Madhuri Adnal Panaji, Mar 20: The BJP government in Goa led by newly appointed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has won the floor test on Wednesday by winning 20 votes while the Congress polled only 15. Sawant, who was sworn in on Monday night following the demise of Manohar Parrikar, said he was confident of a victory, with the support of 21 MLAs in the House - 12 from the BJP, three each of allies Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents. The strength of the 40-member house has been reduced to 36 due to the death of Manohar Parrikar, BJP legislator Francis D'Souza and resignations of two Congress lawmakers Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte. The Congress had attempted to meet Governor Sinha on Friday to stake a claim over the government hours after news of Parrikar's deteriorating health emerged. Following this, they submitted two letters to Sinha over the same claim but didn't receive a response. Here are the Highlights: Newest First Oldest First Upcoming parallel bridge on Zuari River in Goa to be named after late Manohar Parrikar. Two huge pillars will have his photographs displayed, says Deputy Chief Minister (CM) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) Sudin Dhavalikar tells Assembly. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant gets 'emotional' while paying condolence to late Goa CM Parrikar in the house. The BJP government in Goa led by newly appointed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has won the floor test. 20 MLAs voted for the motion (11 BJP, 3 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, 3 Goa Forward Party, and 3 Independents) and 15 MLAs opposed the motion (14 Congress and 1 Nationalist Congress Party). New Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant is seated in Manohar Parrikar's traditional seat in the House. In his traditional seat, which was that of the Speaker's, is now Michael Lobo. Congress has 14 MLAs while BJP - on its own - has 12. Sawant expressed confidence before walking into the Assembly a while back. Vote of confidence held after condolence motions to honour Manohar Parrikar. The proceedings for the floor test in the Goa Assembly has begun wherein the new government will have to prove its majority. Floor test for new Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant begins. Newly elected Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will go for a floor test today. Mr Sawant expressed confidence that they would win the trust vote "100 per cent". Newly elected Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will go for a floor test today. Mr Sawant expressed confidence that they would win the trust vote "100 per cent". Floor test for new Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant begins. The proceedings for the floor test in the Goa Assembly has begun wherein the new government will have to prove its majority. Vote of confidence held after condolence motions to honour Manohar Parrikar. Congress has 14 MLAs while BJP - on its own - has 12. Sawant expressed confidence before walking into the Assembly a while back. New Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant is seated in Manohar Parrikar's traditional seat in the House. In his traditional seat, which was that of the Speaker's, is now Michael Lobo. The BJP government in Goa led by newly appointed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has won the floor test. 20 MLAs voted for the motion (11 BJP, 3 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, 3 Goa Forward Party, and 3 Independents) and 15 MLAs opposed the motion (14 Congress and 1 Nationalist Congress Party). Chief Minister Pramod Sawant gets 'emotional' while paying condolence to late Goa CM Parrikar in the house. Upcoming parallel bridge on Zuari River in Goa to be named after late Manohar Parrikar. Two huge pillars will have his photographs displayed, says Deputy Chief Minister (CM) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) Sudin Dhavalikar tells Assembly. After hectic parleys, how Pramod Sawant was chosen as Goa CM Sawant won the 2012 and 2017 Assembly elections from North Goa's Sanquelim constituency, which used to be a Congress stronghold. After Parrikar's demise on Sunday both the state Congress and BJP, who had already held several rounds of meetings, acted quickly. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari flew in on Sunday night to meet with the MLAs of the BJP and their allies for a round of negotiations and parleys which would last till Monday night. It was around 2 am that Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the CM following hectic parleys and negotiations. Also initiated were two deputy chief ministers, Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtra Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar, and nine other ministers. BJD not to hold rallies, campaign meets for May 13 Pipili by- polls: Patnaik More than 1,000 govt schools in Odisha will be transformed with modern facilities: CM Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik files nomination from Hinjili India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bhubaneswar, Mar 20: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday filed his nomination for Hinjili assembly constituency in Ganjam district. This is the fifth consecutive time that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president is seeking election from Hinjili. Patnaik, who would contest from two seats for the first time, has also been the party nominee for Bijepur. The chief minister said he will submit his nomination papers for Bijepur very shortly. Lok Sabha Elections 2019: BJD releases first list of candidates for Odisha Patnaik is the first BJD candidate to file nomination for the assembly elections to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in four phases next month. Patnaik, announcing the Biju Janata Dal's first list of 54 legislature and nine parliament candidates on Monday, said he would be contesting from the usual Hinjili in Ganjam and Bijepur in western Odisha. Western Odisha where the Bharatiya Janata Party gets it's best result from might see a tough contest this time. The scheduling of the simultaneous polls, over four phases instead of two, the BJD believes is unjustified and advantagous to the BJP which may have otherwise had its resources spread thin in in it's countrywide campaigning. PM Modi to address 25 lakh 'chowkidars' today India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Mar 20: On the eve of Holi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address over 25 lakh watchmen through audio bridge medium as he steps up his 'Main bhi chowkidar' campaign in the run up to the Lok Sabha campaign, the BJP said Tuesday. Party's media head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni said Modi will share the "colours of Holi" with watchmen across the country in the address on Wednesday. The prime minister is also scheduled to interact with people, who have pledged their support to the 'Main bhi chowkidar' (I also am a watchman) campaign, from 500 places in the country on March 31. Why BJP decided to drop 10 incumbent MPs for Chhattisgarh LS polls Noting that watchmen work round-the-clock without taking any leave, Baluni said Modi's initiative is aimed at highlighting the works of people like them and added that it was an important step for improving the lot of the last man in line with the BJP's credo of 'sabka saath sabka vikas' (With all, development for all). People from different walks of life have lent their support to the 'Main bhi chowkidar' campaign, he asserted. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 9:54 [IST] If normalcy to be brought in Kashmir, Article 370 has to be reinstated: Farooq Abdullah President Ram Nath Kovind awards Shaurya Chakra to Kashmir teen for fighting militants India oi-Shubham Ghosh New Delhi, March 20: India's policy towards Kashmir has come under criticism from various quarters of late. However, one recent development did a favour to India's image in the disturbed state and it was President Ram Nath Kovind conferring a 16-year-old boy from the Valley with the prestigious Shaurya Chakra Award for fighting militants in the state's Shopian district. The move is expected to bolster the image of India's inclusiveness and discourage youths in the Valley from joining militancy. The teen, Irfan Ramzan Sheikh, was conferred the third-highest peacetime gallantry award that is generally given to armed forces and para-military personnel for showing courage against the militants. The extremists had surrounded Irfan's house on the intervening night of October 16-17 in 2017. His father Mohammad Ramzan was a sarpanch with links with the People's Democratic Party that was in power then in the state along with the BJP. Gallantry Awards 2019: President Kovind honours armed forces personnel President Kovind presents Shaurya Chakra to Irfan Ramzan Sheikh. He exhibited courage and maturity and fought off militants, safeguarding the life of his father and other family members in Jammu & Kashmir pic.twitter.com/FVnWkOaOja President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 19, 2019 "Sensing that the militants could harm his family, he exhibited highest degree of courage and faced the militants for sometime so as to avoid their entry inside the house. In meantime, his father came out and the militants pounced on him, resulting in scuffle," the citation of Irfan's award read. He rushed to his father's rescue without caring for his life. Though his father eventually succumbed to injuries, the boy continued to fight the militants, causing injury to one of them as well. He succeeded in chasing away the other militants who left their injured mate behind, according to a PTI report. "Irfan Ramzan Sheikh exhibited the extraordinary show of bravery and maturity at such a small age," the citation read. A student of Standard 10, Irfan aspires to become an IPS officer some day. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 10:13 [IST] Priyanka hits out at PM says 'Modi has attacked every institution, media knows it well' India oi-Madhuri Adnal Varanasi, Mar 20: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is campaigning for the grand old party in eastern Uttar Pradesh for Lok Sabha elections 2019, arrived in Varanasi on Wednesday. Notably, Varanasi is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency. On Tuesday, she faced cries of "Har Har Modi" in Mirzapur district, which is around 75 km from Varanasi. In her address from Prime Minister's home turf Varanasi, Priyanka Gandhi slammed Narendra Modi for "attacking every institution". She said "People are afraid of speaking against PM Modi but we will fight him. Reacting to PM Modi's blog post in which he had slammed Congress saying that "the biggest casualty of dynastic politics are institutions, Priyanka said,'' the BJP has systematically attacked every institution in last 5 years including the media. PM should stop thinking people are fools and understand that they see through this.'' Meanwhile, the BJP is likely to announce its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections after its Central Election Committee (CEC) met for the second time yesterday to finalise names. In Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP, which is part of the ruling coalition, received a jolt after several party members quit and joined its partner National People's Party (NPP) late on Tuesday. BJP's publicity looks good, but the reality is different: Priyanka Gandhi The Congress's general secretary kicked off her party's campaign in Uttar Pradesh on Monday by offering prayers at the Lette Hanuman temple near Sangam. On Tuesday, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was left red faced as BJP supporters gathered outside a temple in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh raised pro-Modi slogans while the Congress general secretary was offering prayers. If reports are to be believed, hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers started shouting slogans hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gandhi got out of her car outside the Vindhyavasini Devi Temple, eight kilometres from Mirzapur. Reports claimed that the slogans continued even as Gandhi entered the famous temple to pray. Polling will be held in seven phases in Uttar Pradesh from April 11 to May 19. Results will be announced on May 23. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 10:54 [IST] RBI turns down IDBI Bank's proposal to change name India pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 20: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has turned down IDBI Bank's proposal to change its name following the transfer of controlling 51 per cent stake to insurance behemoth LIC from the government of India. The board of IDBI Bank had last month sought RBI's approval for change in the name of the lender to either LIC IDBI Bank or LIC Bank following the takeover by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). "The board of directors has in its meeting held on March 19, 2019, taken note of RBI's communication conveying their inability to accede to bank's request for change of name of IDBI Bank Limited," IDBI Bank said in a regulatory filing. However, the bank did not elaborate on the reasons for denial by the regulator for changing the name. Earlier this month, RBI changed the categorisation of IDBI Bank to a private sector lender from public sector lender following acquisition of majority stake by LIC. Following the stake transfer, the government holding came down to 46.46 per cent from nearly 86 per cent in September 2018, while LIC stake increased from about 8 per cent to 51 per cent earlier this year. In January, the insurance behemoth completed the acquisition of 51 per cent controlling stake in IDBI Bank, marking the entry of the over 60 years' old state-owned insurer into the banking space. [No data on demonetised 500, 1,000 notes used at petrol pumps: RBI] In August last year, the cabinet had approved the acquisition of controlling stake by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) as a promoter in the bank through a combination of preferential allotment and open offer of equity. LIC had been looking to enter the banking space by acquiring a majority stake in IDBI Bank, as the deal is expected to provide business synergies despite the lender's stressed balance sheet. For the third quarter ended December 2018, IDBI Bank posted widening of loss by nearly three fold to Rs 4,185.48 crore as bad loans surged. The bank had reported a net loss of Rs 1,524.31 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Total income decreased to Rs 6,190.94 crore for the quarter, compared with Rs 7,125.20 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. PTI Pakistan unlikely to exit 'grey' list of global terror funding watchdog until June The importance of setting up a terror funding, fake currency cell in the NIA Terror funding: ED attaches properties worth crores in J&K India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 20: Furthering its probe into the terror funding case, the Enforcement Directorate has attached dozens of assets in Jammu and Kashmir. The central probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach 13 properties, worth Rs 1.22 crore, in the state. The ED said the properties belonged to Mohammad Shafi Shah, a resident of Bandipora, and six other residents of Jammu and Kashmir, who allegedly worked for the terror outfit. The agency said it filed a criminal case of money laundering in this instance after taking cognisance of a National Investigating Agency (NIA) chargesheet filed against Salahuddin, Shah and others under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Action (UAPA) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. Kashmir to Delhi, ED set to attach properties of Separatists worth Rs 9 crore "Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the most active terror outfit in Kashmir, has been responsible for funding terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir." "Headed by Syed Salahuddin, its self-styled commander based out of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, it funds terrorism on Indian soil through monies organised by a trust called JKART (Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust) in alleged connivance with the ISI and other Pakistan-based entities," the ED said in a statement. It said the probe found that "terror funds" were being sent to India through hawala - illegal way of routing money by skirting banking channels, barter trade and human carriers. "The funds are illegally distributed to the next of kin of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, active and dead," it said. The US government had in August, 2017 designated Hizbul Mujahideen as 'foreign terrorist organisation'. Besides heading Hizbul Mujahideen, Salahuddin is the chairman of the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of terrorist outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley. The NIA had arrested Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid Yousuf in this case in 2017 and the J&K government had later suspended him from service as he was working in the state agriculture department. Shah and three others are lodged in the Tihar jail in the national capital in connection with this terror funding case, the ED said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:03 [IST] Madhya Pradesh crisis over for now? Six back, four MLAs still missing Uttarakhand: CRPF jawan who was returning home for Holi goes missing, phone not reachable India oi-Vikas SV Dehradun, Mar 20: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan from Uttarakhand who was posted in Kolkata took leave for Holi to visit hometown Shyampur. But the jawan is said to have gone missing and even his mobile phone is not reachable. The family members of the missing jawan, Jayendra Singh Pundir, have informed the local police and efforts are underway to find him, said an Amar Ujala report. The report further quoted Inspector RS Kapruwan, the police officer handling the case, as saying that Jayendra Singh Pundir hails from Shyampur and was posted in Kolkata. Pundir went missing under suspicious circumstances, the cop said. The family members have been trying to call his mobile, but the phone is not reachable. They have even contacted his friends but to no avail. Why are women staying away from the Armed Forces Inspector Kapruwan said that they have started a probe in the matter. A process to track the last location of the missing jawan's mobile phone has been initiated. A similar incident had come to the fore in February this year. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan who was transferred to Telangana from Jammu and Kashmir went missing. Saldeep Kumar, was among 14 CRPF personnel who were transferred from Jammu and Kashmir to Telangana. Saldeep Kumar hailed from Swankha village in Ramgarh, in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. The team of 14 men boarded the Telangana Express in Delhi. While 13 CRPF personnel got down at Secunderabad Railway Station, Kumar was missing. As per some reports, Saldeep had a habit of consuming alcohol. Ashok, SP, GRP, Secunderabad district, had on February 23 said, "We have registered a missing person case and also issued a look out notice, further investigation on." Why BJP decided to drop 10 incumbent MPs for Chhattisgarh LS polls India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 20: The BJP has decided to drop all its 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019. The decision appears to have been taken in the wake of the recent drubbing the BJP faced in the recently concluded Chhattisgarh assembly elections. She gets facial, dyes her hair to look young: BJP MLA makes sexist remark against Mayawati BJP general secretary Anil Jain, also the party affairs incharge for the state, made the announcement as the BJP's Central Election Committee, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders, met here to deliberate over its candidates for the polls. "We have decided to fight the elections with new candidates and new zeal," Jain told reporters. The party decision means that Union minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union minister Ramesh Bais will not be fielded in the polls. The announcement underscores the BJP's bid to wrest its lost territory back from the Congress, which handed it a massive defeat in the assembly polls last year. J&K BJP to hit campaign trail from Friday; Modi, Shah to be star campaigners The Congress had won 68 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the state for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two parties was a huge 10 per cent. The BJP is also considering not fielding any family member of these sitting MPs, sources said. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the likely candidature of former chief minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:08 [IST] What we know about first case of Omicron reported in the US Company run by Trump's son-in-law accused of flouted rules International pti-PTI New York, Mar 20: A New York City councilman accused the Kushner family real estate company on Tuesday of putting tenants in danger by allowing several of its buildings to avoid safety inspections. New York Oversight Committee Chair Ritchie Torres said his investigation showed that the firm once run by President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been renting apartments to hundreds of tenants in nine buildings with certificates of occupancy that expired months or years ago. Torres also said that the company has been trying to push low-paying tenants out of its buildings and didn't want the regulatory scrutiny that comes with inspections required to renew the certificates. "The goal here is a concerted campaign to evade scrutiny," said Torres at a news conference outside the Kushner Cos.headquarters at 666 Fifth Avenue. "The company is engaged in what I call the weaponization of construction the use of construction as a weapon for harassing tenants out of their apartments." But a city regulator that oversees landlords called the expired certificates cited by Torres and tenant watchdog group, Housing Rights Initiative, "paperwork lapses" and blasted the findings as "pure grandstanding." Our "top priority is safety and indeed, we have inspected all these buildings or renovated units and deemed them safe to occupy," said Buildings Department spokesman Andrew Rudansky in an emailed statement. The Kushner Cos. said that the problems with the certificates stretch back to its previous owners. Certificates for two of the nine buildings expired while Jared Kushner was CEO. [Trump got lavish diplomatic gifts from foreign leaders] "Similar to many other landlords, we inherited from prior owners certificates of occupancy with various issues," it said in an email. "Kushner will continue the long and detailed process to work with our consultants and the Department of Buildings to correct every issue outstanding." The city requires a certificate of occupancy whenever significant renovation is done such as changing the layout of a building or of its fire exits. Most of the nine Kushner buildings cited are in the East Village section of Manhattan and appear from city records to have undergone substantial renovation and faced several violations. The Kushner Cos. was fined $210,000 by city regulators last year after an Associated Press report found that the company had submitted paperwork to regulators that claimed it had no low-paying, rent-stabilized tenants in dozens of its buildings when it, in fact, had hundreds. The false paperwork allowed the company to avoid inspections and other scrutiny during construction work that critics have said are often used by landlords to chase low-paying renters out. The Kushner Cos. has said that the paperwork was handled by another firm and mistakes were corrected when they came to its notice. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that the Kushners have hired a broker to sell five apartment buildings in the East Village as their company comes under public and media scrutiny. It is not clear if those are among the nine buildings with expired certificates of occupancy. Jared Kushner stepped down as the head of his family firm two years ago to become a White House adviser. He still owns stake in Westminster Management, the Kushner Cos. subsidiary that oversees its residential properties. A financial disclosure filed with federal ethics regulators shows he earned $1.5 million from the holding last year. At Tuesday's news conference, the head of Housing Rights Initiative said that many landlords, not just the Kushners, were flouting the rules and regulators need to crack down. "A certificate of occupancy is essentially like a driver's license for landlords," said Aaron Carr, executive director of the group. Ignoring the lack of one is like "a police officer pulling someone over and forgetting to check their license." PTI Several evacuated, some by chopper, from New Zealand floods Dont blame me for NZ attacks, says US President Trump International oi-Shubham Ghosh Washington, March 20: US President Donald Trump on Monday, March 18, tweeted saying that he is being unfairly blamed for the horrific shootings in two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand on February 15 that left 50 people dead. In a tweet, Trump lashed out at the "Fake News Media" accusing it of working overtime to blame him for the terror attack. He said those who were accusing him would find it hard to prove their charges. Over 1.31 lakh people liked his tweet. Venezuela crisis: Trump reaffirms that US considering 'all options' The gunman who carried out the attacks left a document in which he referred to himself as a white nationalist and called Trump "a symbol of renewed white identity". The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand. They will have to work very hard to prove that one. So Ridiculous! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2019 Trump though expressed sympathy for the victims but he did not buy the viewpoint that white nationalism is a threat across the world. He said he didn't consider it a rising threat despite data showing that it's on the rise. Mick Mulvaney defends Trump, calls him 'defender of religious minorities worldwide' A top source in the White House had said earlier that Trump "is not a white supremacist" and efforts to link him with the alleged shooter were "absurd". Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney called the shooter, an Australian, a "disturbed individual" and "evil person" and said it was unfair to show him as a supporter of the American president. Company run by Trump's son-in-law accused of flouted rules He also praised Trump as a defender of religious minorities worldwide but his words failed to convince the Democrats. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who has won hearts for her compassionate handling of things post the tragedy said that while speaking to Trump in the wake of the shooting, she had asked the American president to send love for the Muslims. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 14:07 [IST] Pakistan to allow India to send wheat to Afghanistan through its territory: PM Imran Khan Indian firms invest in Afghanistan healthcare; contract worth $6.5 million signed International oi-Shubham Ghosh Kabul, March 20: Three Indian health bodies have entered agreement with an Afghan health firm at Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health to facilitate quality healthcare across the country, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a statement on Sunday, March 17. According to a report in Afghanistan's TOLO News, the contracts worth $6.5 million aim to set up a fully equipped diagnostic centre, an advanced dialysis centre and a manufacturing plant for the production of pharmaceuticals in the Afghan capital. These agreements have grown over the initial talks in the USAID-sponsored Passage to Prosperity: India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Show held last year. The quality of secondary and tertiary healthcare is yet to improve in Afghanistan despite an overall progress in the sector and as a result, several Afghans go for medical treatment abroad. What after US departs? Afghanistan troops flee battle with Taliban, go missing The Afghan government is thus encouraging regional and international investment to better healthcare facilities in the country. Ferozuddin Feroz, Minister of Public Health, praised the Indian investment, saying: "The private health sector is an integral part of Afghanistan's health system and plays a crucial role in meeting the demands of Afghans for healthcare. The partnerships between the Afghan health businesses and Indian organizations that we witness today will help fill the gap in service delivery in the country." He also invited other international bodies to invest in the areas in Afghanistan that are in need. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 7:11 [IST] London Court rejects Nirav Modi's bail plea, to stay in jail till March 29 International oi-Madhuri Adnal London, Mar 20: The bail plea of fugitive businessman Nirav Modi, the main accused in the PNB scam case, was rejected by a London court on on Wednesday. Fugitive Indian diamantaire Nirav Modi was arrested from Holborn metro station on Tuesday in London, UK. He will be produced before a District Judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London to be formally charged, following which he is expected to seek bail. "I have substantial grounds to believe that you may not surrender", judge Marie Mallon told him while rejecting the bail. "Nirav Deepak Modi, 48 (Date of Birth 24.02.71), was arrested on behalf of the Indian Authorities on Tuesday, 19 March, in Holborn," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 20 March," the statement added. The case will then follow a similar pattern through the UK courts as that of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017. Mallya's case is in its final stage with UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid ordering his extradition last month. A top court in London, UK had issued a warrant to arrest Nirav Modi who is accused in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The order came in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his extradition to India to face charges in the money laundering case, officials said on Monday. Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are the prime accused in the Rs. 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam involving fake guarantees in the name of the state-run lender to secure loans overseas. Both left India in January last year before the CBI started investigating the PNB scam. Earlier this month, the 48-year old Nirav Modi was recently seen walking on the streets of London by a reporter of the British newspaper The Telegraph. In a two-minute clip shared by the newspaper, the billionaire was spotted in a tony neighbourhood of London wearing a 10,000 Pound Ostrich hide jacket. On Tuesday also, several Indian channels spotted him in the area. The British newspaper said Nirav Modi has started a new diamond business in Soho, a part of the posh West End area in London. The newspaper, quoting government sources, reported that Nirav Modi has been given a national insurance number - needed to legally work in the UK - and has been operating bank accounts online while being wanted by India. He was tracked down to a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor in an upscale tower block of luxury apartments, where rent is estimated to be around 17,000 a month, the newspaper reported. The revelation of Nirav Modi's whereabouts in London comes a day after his 30,000 sq. ft seaside mansion at Kihim beach in Maharashtra was demolished by authorities using explosives. After fleeing from the country in the first week of January last year, he was seen in a Press Information Bureau group photograph of CEOs and top brass of Indian corporate sector with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. Nirav Modi has been chargesheeted by both the agencies and the ED has also attached his assets worth 1,873.08 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and has also seized assets linked to him and his family worth 489.75 crore. Is China the reason why Pakistan opted to skip Summit for Democracy hosted by Biden? Pakistan: Cops find woman in deep sleep next to body parts of 70 year old man 'Protecting hindu terrorists': Pak summons Indian envoy to protest Samjhauta verdict International oi-Deepika S Islamabad, Mar 20: Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad to protest against the acquittal of all four accused in Samjhauta Express terror attack case. Pakistan's Acting Foreign Secretary summoned Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria today to lodge Pakistan's strong protest, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. "Pakistan had consistently raised the "lack of progress and the subsequent, concerted attempts by India to exonerate the perpetrators of this heinous terrorist act in which 44 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives, the statement said. Samjautha express blast: Pak woman's plea to examine witnesses rejected "The issue was raised repeatedly, including at the sidelines of the Senior Officials, Heart of Asia Meeting in 2016. Formal demarches were also lodged regularly with India on the lack of progress and acquittal of the accused in other cases," Pakistan said in a statement on Wednesday. The acquittal, Pakistan said, "makes a travesty of justice and exposes the sham credibility of the Indian courts and belies the rampant Indian duplicity and hypocrisy where India reflexively levels allegations of terrorism against Pakistan, while protecting with impunity, terrorists who had publicly confessed to their odious crimes." The Pakistani government has further accused India of being insensitive to the plight of the 44 families of the deceased Pakistanis and alleged that the verdict was reflective of "Indian state policy of promoting and protecting Hindu terrorists." A special court in Panchkula in Haryana acquitted Aseemanand and three others in the case. The verdict came after NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit". The blast in Samjhauta Express took place near Panipat in Haryana on February 18, 2007, when the train was on its way to Attari in Amritsar, the last railway station on the Indian side. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 21:48 [IST] Get out of Venezuela, Trump warns Russia; says all options open to make it happen Venezuela crisis: Trump reaffirms that US considering 'all options' International pti-PTI Washington, Mar 20: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reaffirmed that "all options" are being considered in his drive to bring down Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro. "All options are on the table," he told reporters in the White House. "It's a shame what's happening in Venezuela -- the debt and the destruction and the hunger." Trump spoke at a meeting where he hosted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has backed the US-led campaign to pressure Maduro. In response, the Venezuelan foreign ministry accused Trump and Bolsonaro of being apologists for war, and described their statements as "dangerous" and a "threat to international peace and security." "No neofascist alliance will succeed in overcoming the independent and sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, nor will it succeed in its aim to spread hatred and war strategies," it said. [Massive electricity blackout across Venezuela, Maduro blames US] The United States and more than 50 other countries, including Brazil, recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as Venezuela's rightful president. The White House said Trump would also discuss the Venezuela crisis with Caribbean leaders -- including from the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia -- at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday. PTI Is China the reason why Pakistan opted to skip Summit for Democracy hosted by Biden? US using democracy as 'weapon of mass destruction' to stoke confrontation: China slams Summit for Democracy We will approve the next Dalai Lama says China International oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Beijing, Mar 20: China has rejected the Dalai Lama's assertions that his successor could be from India and a nominee by Beijing would not be respected, saying the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has to be approved by the Communist government. China's response came after the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate told a news agency on Monday that it was possible that once he dies his incarnation could be found in India and and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected. "Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and systems," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters when asked about remarks by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959. "The Chinese government has policy of freedom of religious belief. We have regulation on religious affairs and regulation on the reincarnation system in Tibetan Buddhism. We respect and protect such ways of Tibetan Buddhism," Geng said. US to oppose China's effort to impose its own Dalai Lama on Tibetans Dalai Lama is a title given to spiritual leaders of Tibetan people. This title is given to those who are considered among the most important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935, the current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was just two years old. "The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai has also been recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the central government. So the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should follow the national rules and regulations and the religious rituals," Geng said. Amidst the Tibetan uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India in March that year to escape a Chinese crackdown in his Himalyan abode . For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:13 [IST] JKSSB SI Recruitment 2021: Last date to apply for 800 Sub Inspector posts, direct link here CTET December 2021 admit cards to be out shortly: How to download Delhi: Man held for smuggling iPhones, branded shoes at IGI New Delhi pti-PTI New Delhi, Mar 20: A man has been arrested by the customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country iPhones, branded shoes and bags worth over Rs 32 lakh at Delhi airport. He was intercepted after his arrival from Muscat, Oman, on Thursday, a statement issued by the customs department on Wednesday said. "His personal search resulted in recovery of 42 iPhones, branded bags and shoes, etc. having market value of Rs 32.06 lakh," it said. [Delhi: Man held with 45kg of prohibited wood at IGI airport] During further enquiry, the passenger, who is a resident of Delhi, admitted smuggling of goods like clothes, shoes and cosmetics among others worth Rs 37 lakh in his past visits, the statement said. He has been arrested and the goods seized, it said. PTI JKSSB SI Recruitment 2021: Last date to apply for 800 Sub Inspector posts, direct link here CTET December 2021 admit cards to be out shortly: How to download Robbers flee with entire ATM machine New Delhi oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa New Delhi, Mar 20: Robbers fled with an entire ATM machine which contained around Rs 30 lakh near the Nawada metro station in Dwarka, the police said. Police said the incident took place on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. The robbers covered the CCTV cameras with grease. The manger of the Corporation Bank filed a complaint on Tuesday in which he said the bank operates from 9 am to 9 pm and after which, the security guard on duty pulls the shutters down on both- the bank and the ATM. On Monday, the guard forgot to pull the shutter down of the ATM, a senior police officer said. In the complaint, he said when the staff came to the bank on Tuesday, the ATM machine was missing, the officer said. SBI YONO Cash facility for customers: Check How to Withdraw Money without ATM Card The bank has a software which enables the CCTV cameras placed inside the room with the ATM to go on sleep mode till next morning, police said. Police officials said they are not ruling out the involvement of the bank staff in the incident. There is suspicion on the guard as how he forgot to pull the shutter. It will be clear once the investigation is completed, police said. Initial investigation revealed that the accused, suspected to be two robbers, cut the wire of the CCTV which was placed outside the machine after covering its lens with grease. After that they removed the machine, the officer said. Police said they have got some clues about the accused persons after checking the footage of the CCTV, the officer said, adding two men have been suspected who visited the ATM before the robbery took place. The manager said they had put Rs 16 lakh in the ATM on Monday at around 3.30 pm and the total amount in the machine was Rs 30 lakh, police said. "A case has been registered under section 380 (Theft ) and 457 (Trespass) of the Indian Penal Code and investigation has been initiated. Police have formed two teams to nab the accused persons," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6:58 [IST] We're sorry but this episode is no longer available on Oneplace.com. However, you might want to check out these other episodes from Answers with Ken Ham. Free Resources Stay Connected with your favorite Ministry Newsletters and Devotionals Wisdom for the Heart Episode Reminder Broadcast Reminder! Get a sneak-peek into each new show, delivered straight to your inbox! A Wisdom Retreat Waters of refreshment for the despondent, restoration for the delinquent, and reflection for every disciple who seeks to know God more deeply In addition to your newsletter(s), you will receive email updates and special offers from Oneplace.com. Betinvest's Lottery Platform Certification from Gaming Associates, Ltd. Could Revolutionise Gaming Published March 20, 2019 by Lee R Betinvest Lottery's new certification accelerates adaptation of new gaming technologies by jurisdiction. A key certification has been issued for emerging lottery supplier Betinvest Lottery. Landmark Certification Betinvest's proprietary lottery platform has been certified by leading UK laboratory Gaming Associates Europe Limited, accredited in the EU zone and as well as the free zones including Isle of Man and Gibraltar. Paving the Way The certification paves the way for Betinvest to supply in-house Lottery solutions to online as well as retail gaming operators in EU countries where local regulators do not require companies to carry out their own compliance checks. Bet Invest VP Speaks Betinvest Lottery's VP of Business Development Valentyn Kyrylenko confirmed his organisation's in-house commitment to compliance: All of our games are developed in accordance with the applicable regulations and requirements. We are delighted to have been approved by Gaming Associates Europe Limited because the requirements that must be met to be granted UK certification are some of the most complicated. This confirms that our product is fair, secure, and has been tested to the appropriate standards. Initial Results Since the certification took place, Betinvests Lottery solutions have already been integrated into the Stanleybet platform in Romania, with Kyrylenko calling the results of the few first weeks of implementation very impressive and said operators can soon look forward to certification of the remainder of the company titles, including Magic KENO, Roulette Lucky Wheel and Book of Six. Global Standard of Quality The certification is meant to indicate a standard of product quality. Certificates are issued by each regulating market upon completion of designated laboratories testing to ensure compliance with the technical requirements set by software, algorithms and rules. About Gaming Associates Gaming Associates Europe Limited is an internationally recognised Accredited Testing Facility offering serving Australia, Asia, Europe and North America as an independent global testing program. Outlook The BetInvest Lottery certification transcends the lottery vertical, and opens the door for widespread testing of new gaming technologies by a globally recognized testing body which can increase transparency and legitimacy of certified gaming technologies for all operators, stakeholders, and the public. Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The assets under management (AUM) of the global hedge fund industry stood at $2,316.7bn as of February 2019, up roughly 1.1% year-to-date, in contrast to how the industry lost 6.3% of its assets in 2018. Final asset flow figures for January showed that hedge fund managers generated performance-based gains totalling $32.8bn, offset by investor redemptions of $6.8bn, said Eurekahedge hedge fund performance commentary. Following a similar trend, preliminary data for February showed that the industry saw $6.7bn of performance-driven gains, counterbalanced by $8.3bn of net investor outflows, it said. The global hedge fund industry saw performance growth totalling $39.5bn over the first two months of 2019, supported by the global equity market performance since the beginning of the year. Despite the positive performance figures, net investor redemptions stood at $15.1bn over the same period. Quant strategies continued to fall out of investors' favour, with the CTA/managed futures mandate seeing investor redemptions totalling $29.0bn in 2018 and $4.0bn as of February 2019 year-to-date. The Greater China hedge fund industry's asset currently stands at $28.7bn, marginally up from the $28.0bn figure by the end of 2018. Hedge fund managers focusing on the region were hit particularly hard by the aggressive Fed rate hikes and the US-China trade friction in 2018, as indicated by the $2.3bn of performance based losses recorded during ...................... To view our full article Click here Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Launched in 2011, the ABN AMRO Amsterdam Investor Forum (AIF) is a landmark event in the Netherlands for the Alternative Investment Industry and organized by ABN AMRO Clearing. One highlight of the conference is the popular "AIF Factor", a competition where 5 shortlisted funds are given the floor for a 3-minute pitch, to present their proposition to 250+ professional investors and managers. Delegates then cast their votes, appointing the most convincing pitch as the 2019 AIF Factor winner. The competition is open to all funds regardless of size, location, investment strategies. ABN AMRO's AIF is a non-profit event, attendees are invited to make a donation to one of the proposed charities/foundations when registering. This year, Alternatives for Children and Khazana Foundation are being supported. In a very close vote, the 2019 AIF Factor Award went to Mumbai, India based Greenland Investment Management, a systematic asset manager focusing on global arbitrage strategies. Greenland IM was founded by Anant Jatia who was formerly an analyst at AQR Capital. Jatia was also a co-founder of Forefront Capital, India's first domestic hedge fund, which later was acquired by Edelweiss Group, an investment and financial services company. Jatia is a Wharton graduate and has 11+years of systematic investing experience. New fund will be...................... To view our full article Click here Photo Kiosk Market Size, Share, Development by 2024 Top Key players like Kodak,Mitsubishi,FUJIFILM,Inc. https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/343573/global-photo-kiosk-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/343573/global-photo-kiosk-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com Market Research Report Store offers a latest published report on Photo Kiosk Market Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 91 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables:A Photo Kiosk or Photo printing kiosk is an interactive kiosk which allows users to print pictures from their digital images. With rapid growth in digital cameras and camera phones, the photo industry has not remained the same as it was about 10 years ago. Today people are shooting pictures at a frantic pace and they have more photos to print in a month than what they used to do in 2 to 3 years. Naturally, this has propelled the demand for self-service kiosks where customers can get the print outs quickly at affordable prices.The photo kiosk market is growing fast since its appearance. The Southeast Asia market volume of photo kiosk is mostly related to downstream demand. The appeal of the Picture Kiosk is universal. Almost everyone takes pictures, and more people are using their smartphones and tablets for their pictures than ever before. Photo kiosks aren't just for pharmacies anymore. Historically, many of these units have been placed in pharmacies and drug stores. However, the size of the pie is growing and we are seeing a much wider interest are occurring in non-traditional locations like electronic stores, college bookstores, UPS-type shipping centers, gift shops, grocery and convenience stores, hospitals, scrapbook stores, tourist attractions and hotel lobbies.The worldwide market for Photo Kiosk is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2024, from xx million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversKodakMitsubishiDai Nippon Printing (DNP)FUJIFILMHiTiMarket Segment by Type, coversMini Photo Printing KiosksStand-Alone Photo KioskMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoDrug StoreGrocery and Convenience StoresElectronic and Phone StoresOtherFor More Information On This Report, Please Visit @Related Information:North America Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024United States Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024Asia-Pacific Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024Europe Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024EMEA Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024Global Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024China Photo Kiosk Market Growth 2019-2024Customization Service of the Report :Market Research Report Store provides customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About Us:Market Research Report Store (MRRS) is a professional organization related to market research reports in all directions .To provide customers with a variety of market research reports, MRRS cooperates with a large of famous market report publishers all over the world. Owing to our good service and the professional market reports in the wide range, MRRS enjoys a good reputation in the market. In pace with the development of MRRS, more and more customers and market report publishers choose to cooperate with us. As a specialized platform, MRRS upholds the supremacy of customers and aims to provide customers with better service and richer select.Contact USMarket Research Report StoreE-mail: info@marketresearchreportstore.comTel: +86-15521064060 00852-58197708(HK)Add: 17890 Castleton Street Suite 218 City of Industry CA 91748 United StatesWebsite: What's driving the Unified Communications & Collaboration market Share ? Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft, Mitel, Nextiva, Verizon, Unify https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/467684/?utm_source=openpr.com-AN https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/467684/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/unified-communications-uc-market https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/unified-communications-market-by-platform-telephony-unified-messaging-conferencing-others-by-deployment-model-on-premise-cloud-based-by-end-user-bfsi-it-telecom-healthcare-retail-education-travel-and-hospitality-others-by-region-market-size-forecast-2017-2026/?utm_source=openpr.com-AN https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Unified Communications & Collaboration Market 2019 2025 research report providing information and data By Platform, By Deployment Model, By Application, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 300 Pages with table and figures in it.The Asia Pacific UCC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during the forecast timeline. The market growth is driven by the adoption of cloud-based UCC solutions and various government initiatives for modernizing ICT infrastructure. For instance, the South Korea Ministry of Science and ICT along with the major carriers in the country have drafted a plan to set up a nation-wide infrastructure by 2020. The huge penetration of low-cost smartphones in countries including China and Japan will also contribute toward market growth.Request a sample of this premium report at:With the increase in digitization, organizations are now focusing on geographic expansion due to which managing business communication processes has become a difficult task. The need for the UCC system is to consolidate communication processes under a unified framework that can be managed easily. This reduces operational cost for organizations and their expansion globally. With the rapid adoption of cloud computing, they are constantly involved in modernizing their communication infrastructure to enable business communication across diverse geographical business units.Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) market is projected to surpass USD 60 billion by 2025. The market growth is attributed to factors such as penetration of smartphones and the growing need among organizations to streamline their business communication process flows. The rising usage of smartphones globally has compelled the UCC vendors to create mobile unified communications that will enable enterprises to access UC applications through a single interface. Moreover, the growing investments in 5G networks will also support the adoption of modern enterprise communication solutions.Another factor driving the UCC market growth is the rising trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The trend has added to the complexity of handling different communication channels in enterprises. To address this challenge, UCC solutions are widely being deployed by organizations to streamline communication functions easily.Conferencing platforms are expected to witness the highest growth of over 12% during the forecast period. The platforms, such as audio and video conferencing, ease communication process among businesses and provide various benefits such as improved competitive advantage, improved productivity & employee satisfaction, and improving the demand for these platforms over the forecast period.In the telephony market, the IP PBX market is projected to witness the fastest growth rate with a CAGR of over 8% from 2019 to 2025. The major factor driving the market is its easy support and reduced network latency. The majority of the hosted IP PBX providers have already started offering customized services, allowing users to connect to other servers without getting disconnected.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The on-premise deployment model held a dominant UCC market share of over 55% in 2018 and is expected to maintain its dominant share by 2025. As the on-premise model offers enterprises with the complete software and hardware service control, enterprises are widely using this model to have accessibility to equipment anytime for troubleshooting while managing disaster recovery.Furthermore, in November 2017, Beijing 263 Enterprise Communications Co., Ltd., one of the leading providers of enterprise SaaS services in China, and Arkadin, a provider of cloud communications (including UCC solutions), entered into a partnership to provide improved cloud communication solutions in the Chinese market. By joining forces to combine their respective expertise, the companies offer high-quality services including video/audio/web conferencing, unified communications, and web events. In October 2017, Ricoh, a global unified communications provider, partnered with Videxio, a provider of cloud-based video conferencing solutions, to extend its ?Ricoh Unified Communication System (Ricoh UCS) Advanced? to the Japanese market.The BFSI market is expected to register the fastest growth rate from 2019 to 2025 with a CAGR of over 11% due to the rapid adoption of UCC solutions to improve their profitability and way of conducting business. The financial institutions are using tools, such as mobile messaging and video conferencing, to personalize their relationships with customers to improve customer satisfaction. The growing use of such tools to facilitate seamless communication process and benefit from multichannel communications internally & externally will foster the UCC market growth in the BFSI sector.Table of content:Chapter 1. Methodology & ScopeChapter 2. Executive SummaryChapter 3. UCC Industry InsightsChapter 4. Competitive Landscape, 2018Chapter 5. UCC Market, By PlatformChapter 6. UCC Market, By Deployment ModelChapter 7. UCC Market, By ApplicationChapter 8. UCC Market, By RegionChapter 9. Company ProfilesMore Details on this Report At:Related Report:Unified Communications Market [By Platform (Telephony, Unified Messaging, Conferencing, Others); By Deployment Model (On-Premise, Cloud-Based); By End-User (BFSI, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Retail, Education, Travel and Hospitality, Others); By Region]: Market Size & Forecast, 2017 ? 2026North America generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. The presence of established telecom and cloud infrastructure in this region, and growing trend of BYOD drive the market growth in the region. The growing demand of mobile devices, and technological advancements further support market growth in the region. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to growing demand of effective enterprise communication technologies in the developing countries of the region.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: Unified Communications & Collaboration Market Astonishing Growth | Microsoft,8x8, ALE, Avaya, BT, Cisco, Genesys, Huawei, IBM, Mitel, NEC, Nextiva https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/467684/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/467684/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/unified-communications-uc-market https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-mobile-unified-communications-and-collaboration-sales-market-report-2018/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Unified Communications & Collaboration Market 2019 2025 research report providing information and data By Platform, By Deployment, By Application, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 300 Pages with table and figures in it.Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) market is projected to surpass USD 60 billion by 2025. The market growth is attributed to factors such as penetration of smartphones and the growing need among organizations to streamline their business communication process flows. The rising usage of smartphones globally has compelled the UCC vendors to create mobile unified communications that will enable enterprises to access UC applications through a single interface. Moreover, the growing investments in 5G networks will also support the adoption of modern enterprise communication solutions.Request a sample of this premium report at:The Asia Pacific UCC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during the forecast timeline. The market growth is driven by the adoption of cloud-based UCC solutions and various government initiatives for modernizing ICT infrastructure. For instance, the South Korea Ministry of Science and ICT along with the major carriers in the country have drafted a plan to set up a nation-wide infrastructure by 2020. The huge penetration of low-cost smartphones in countries including China and Japan will also contribute toward market growth.The BFSI market is expected to register the fastest growth rate from 2019 to 2025 with a CAGR of over 11% due to the rapid adoption of UCC solutions to improve their profitability and way of conducting business. The financial institutions are using tools, such as mobile messaging and video conferencing, to personalize their relationships with customers to improve customer satisfaction. The growing use of such tools to facilitate seamless communication process and benefit from multichannel communications internally & externally will foster the UCC market growth in the BFSI sector.With the increase in digitization, organizations are now focusing on geographic expansion due to which managing business communication processes has become a difficult task. The need for the UCC system is to consolidate communication processes under a unified framework that can be managed easily. This reduces operational cost for organizations and their expansion globally. With the rapid adoption of cloud computing, they are constantly involved in modernizing their communication infrastructure to enable business communication across diverse geographical business units.Conferencing platforms are expected to witness the highest growth of over 12% during the forecast period. The platforms, such as audio and video conferencing, ease communication process among businesses and provide various benefits such as improved competitive advantage, improved productivity & employee satisfaction, and improving the demand for these platforms over the forecast period.The on-premise deployment model held a dominant UCC market share of over 55% in 2018 and is expected to maintain its dominant share by 2025. As the on-premise model offers enterprises with the complete software and hardware service control, enterprises are widely using this model to have accessibility to equipment anytime for troubleshooting while managing disaster recovery.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The key players operating in the UCC market are focusing on various business growth strategies such as new product developments and partnerships. This enables them to expand their existing portfolio and help them to increase their geographical reach to offer solutions to the uncaptured market segments. For instance, in July 2016, Arkadin Singapore, an NTT Communications company, launched Arkadin Total Connect, a Microsoft Skype for Business hosted service. The UCC portfolio for an all-in-one cloud solution offers an integrated UCC ecosystem equipped with web/audio/video conferencing, Office 365, and contact center.Table of Content:Chapter 1. Methodology & Scope1.1. Methodology1.1.1. Initial data exploration1.1.2. Statistical model and forecast1.1.3. Industry insights and validation1.1.4. Scope1.1.5. Definitions1.1.6. Methodology and forecast parameters1.2. Data Sources1.2.1. Primary1.2.2. Secondary1.2.2.1. Paid sources1.2.2.2. Public sourcesChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. UCC industry 360 degree synopsis, 2014 - 20252.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Regional trends2.1.3. Platform trends2.1.3.1. Telephony trends2.1.3.2. Collaboration trends2.1.3.3. Unified messaging trends2.1.3.4. Conferencing trends2.1.4. Deployment model trends2.1.5. Application trendsChapter 3. UCC Industry Insights3.1. Introduction3.2. Benefits of UCC3.3. Industry segmentation3.4. Industry landscape, 2014-20253.5. Evolution of UCC technology3.6. Industry ecosystem analysis3.7. UCC architecture analysis3.8. Technology & innovation landscape3.9. Regulatory landscape3.10. Industry impact forces3.11. Industry news3.12. Porter's analysis3.13. PESTEL analysis3.14. Growth potential analysisChapter 4. Competitive Landscape, 20184.1. Introduction4.2. Competitive analysis of key market players4.2.1. Avaya4.2.2. Cisco4.2.3. Mitel4.2.4. Microsoft4.3. Competitive analysis of other prominent vendors4.3.1. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE)4.3.2. BT4.3.3. 8x84.3.4. RingCentralChapter 5. UCC Market, By Platform5.1. Key trends, by platform5.2. Telephony5.2.1. Telephony market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.2.2. IP phones5.2.2.1. IP phones market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.2.3. IP PBX5.2.3.1. IP PBX market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.3. Collaboration5.3.1. Collaboration market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.4. Unified messaging5.5. Conferencing5.5.1. Conferencing market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.5.2. Audio conferencing5.5.2.1. Audio conferencing market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.5.3. Video conferencing5.5.3.1. Video conferencing market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.5.4. Web conferencing5.5.4.1. Web conferencing market estimates and forecast, 2014-20255.6. Services and tools5.6.1. Services and tools market estimates and forecast, 2014-2025Chapter 6. UCC Market, By Deployment Model6.1. Key trends, by deployment model6.2. On-premise6.2.1. On-premise market estimates and forecast, 2014-20256.3. Cloud6.3.1. Cloud market estimates and forecast, 2014-20256.4. Hybrid6.4.1. Hybrid market estimates and forecast, 2014-2025Chapter 7. UCC Market, By Application7.1. Key trends, by application7.2. IT & telecom7.2.1. IT & telecom market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.3. BFSI7.3.1. BFSI market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.4. Public Sector7.4.1. Public sector market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.5. Retail7.5.1. Retail market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.6. Healthcare7.6.1. Healthcare market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.7. Education7.7.1. Education market estimates and forecast, 2014-20257.8. Others7.8.1. Others market estimates and forecast, 2014-2025Chapter 8. UCC Market, By RegionChapter 9. Company ProfilesMore Details on this Report At:Related Report:Global Mobile Unified Communications and Collaboration Sales Market Report 2018In this report, the global Mobile Unified Communications and Collaboration market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: What's driving the Dental Implants Market Share ? Dentsply Sirona, Danaher Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Zimmer-Biomet, Glidewell Laboratories, Osstem Implant, Henry Schein, Biotech Dental https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1230572/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1230572/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/dental-implants-market/?utm_source=Openpr.com-SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog Market Study Report LLC adds 2018-2024 Global Dental Implants market report that offers an exhaustive coverage of the industry with brief analysis, data charts, figures, statistics that help take business decisions, company profiles and more.U.S. dental implants market valued USD 1,159.1 million in 2017 and is forecasted to grow at a high rate over the projected period. Dental implants are being widely accepted and adopted across U.S. geriatric population. Growing dental patient pool in America is undergoing implant dentistry and similar trend is projected to continue throughout forecast period. Moreover, availability of technologically advanced products resulting into high success rate of procedures will increase industry growth in near future.Request a sample of this premium report at:Dental Implants Market will exceed USD 5.2 billion by 2024; as per a new research report. Rising number of people with missing tooth will lead to high adoption of dental implants over the forecast period. Increasing dental problems such as either single, multiple or complete loss of teeth as a result of smoking, high sugar intake or old age should augment demand for dental implants in near future. For instance, based on a survey by American College of Prosthodontists, about 178 million U.S. population are missing single tooth whereas 40 million of them are completely edentulous. Hence, rising edentulous population coupled with increasing risk factors will assist market growth during upcoming years.Advancement in implant dentistry technology will favor business growth owing to high efficacy and precision of implant treatment. For instance, CAD/CAM technologies offer improved imaging of patients? oral cavity that assists in accurate placement of the dental implant will result into high success and accuracy rate, thereby significantly increasing adoption of dental implants.Tapered dental implants market accounted for USD 2,895.5 million in 2017 and is estimated to grow at a remarkable rate over the forecast period. Growth is attributable to benefits such as laser-lok surface technology and primary stability. Tapered implants possess anatomically tapered implant body. Moreover, high wear-out rate of dentures and bridgework will result in more preference for tapered implants.Dental clinics business segment accounted for 60.8% segmental share in 2017 due to increased number of clinics in developing countries in recent years. Extensive outreach and treatment of vast range of dental disorders cater to large number of patient population. In addition, growing burden of oral disorders coupled with favorable reimbursement policies in some countries will stimulate segmental growth during the forecast timeframe.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:Germany dental implants market held for 18.4% revenue share in 2017 and will show robust market growth throughout forecast period. High quality implants are available at affordable rates in Germany. Dental tourism and availability of dental experts in the country will drive increase in the market of Germany dental implants. Furthermore, presence of established market players across the nation should favor industry growth in upcoming years.Few of the prominent market players involved in global dental implants market are Dentsply Sirona, Danaher Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Zimmer-Biomet, Glidewell Laboratories, Osstem Implant, BioHorizons, ADIN Dental Implants Systems, Henry Schein, Biotech Dental, A.B. Dental Devices Ltd., Avinent Implant Systems, CAMLOG Biotechnologies AG, Bicon LLC and Cortex Dental Implants Industries Ltd. Major industry players are focusing on strategic collaborations and partnerships to improve market position. For instance, in January 2015, Henry Schein Dental and A-Dec signed a partnership agreement to expand distribution of A-Dec?s dental products. This strategy will strengthen the firm?s distribution channel, thus increasing customer base.Table of Content:Chapter 1. Methodology1.1. Methodology1.2. Market definition1.3. Forecast parameters1.4. Data sources1.4.1. Secondary1.4.1.1. Paid sources1.4.1.2. Unpaid sources1.4.2. PrimaryChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Dental implants market industry 360 degree synopsis, 2013 - 20242.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Product trends2.1.3. End-use trends2.1.4. Regional trendsChapter 3. Dental Implants Market Industry Insights3.1. Industry segmentation3.2. Industry landscape, 2013 - 20243.3. Industry impact forces3.3.1. Growth drivers3.3.1.1. Increasing elderly population worldwide3.3.1.2. Growing prevalence of dental disorders across the globe3.3.1.3. Rising demand for cosmetic dentistry in North America and Europe3.3.1.4. Advancement in implant technology in developed countries3.3.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges3.3.2.1. Limited reimbursement policies3.3.2.2. High cost of dental implant treatment3.4. Growth potential analysis3.4.1. By product3.4.2. By material3.4.3. By end-use3.5. Regulatory landscape3.5.1. U.S.3.5.2. Europe3.5.3. China3.6. Reimbursement scenario3.7. Porter's analysis3.8. Competitive landscape, 20173.8.1. Strategy dashboard3.9. PESTEL analysisChapter 4. Dental Implants Market, By Product4.1. Key segment trends4.2. Tapered implants4.2.1. Market size, by region, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)4.3. Parallel walled implants4.3.1. Market size, by region, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)Chapter 5. Dental Implants Market, By MaterialMore Details on this Report At:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: What's driving the Assisted Reproductive Technology Market Size Key Players are: Cooper Surgical, Hamilton Thorne, Irvine scientific, Merck and Thermo Fisher Scientific https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/467746/?utm_source=marketwatch-VarsHL https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/467746 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/assisted-reproductive-technology-art-market https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog The Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Market report add detailed competitive landscape of the global market. It includes company market share analysis, product portfolio of the major industry participants. The report provides detailed segmentation of the Global Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) market based on product segment, technology, end user segment and region.Global Assisted Reproductive Technology Market size is expected to reach USD 31.4 billion by 2023; as per a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Key driving factors include increasing prevalence of infertility owing to increase sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and stress.Request a sample of this premium report titled atKey industry players include Irvine Scientific, Origio a/s, Vitro Life, Esco Micro Pte. Ltd., IVFtech ApS, Cook Medical, Research Instruments, Genea Limited, Smiths Medical, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. etc.Frozen nondonor procedures accounted for USD 4.9 billion in 2015, and is expected to exhibit a significant growth up to 2023. As reported by U.S. CDC in 2012, 97% women younger than age 35 used their own eggs (nondonor) while about 3% of women used donor eggs. Delayed parenthood decisions and increased patient awareness about advanced contraceptives and adoption of ART services expected to boost assisted reproductive technology market.According to WHO, one in every four couples in developing countries have been found to be infertile and overall infertility prevalence in women has remained similar from 1990 to 2010. As reported by U.S. CDC, infertility prevalence rate is 10.9% in 2010. ART industry is also projected to witness substantial growth due to cultural shift of infertile patients towards advanced procedures such as IVF, ICSI, GIFT, ZIFT.As per the Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Europe assisted reproductive technology market size is approximately 55% of all reported ART cycles. Over 600,000 cycles were reported from 33 EU countries in 2014. Regulatory trends, particularly in Europe and the U.S. will play a critical role in industry evolution and penetration.U.S. assisted reproductive technology market share accounted for 95% of total North America revenue in 2015. Advanced healthcare facilities in and education among the patients enables propel demand.Key insights from the report include:Global assisted reproductive technology market size generated revenue of USD 22.3 billion in 2015.North America is driven by favorable reimbursement policies on advanced ART procedures and high infertility prevalence.Asia Pacific is expected to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period due to increase in disposable income, increase in the health care infrastructure. APAC is led by Japan, China, India. Japan assisted reproductive technology market, accounting for more than 45% of sales revenue in 2015.Increasing infertility prevalence is a key driver for Europe, led by UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Germany reproductive technology market size was responsible for over 28% of regional sales in 2015, with more than 5% growth anticipated by 2023.Brazil reproductive technology market share was USD 0.62 billion in 2015, which is set to continue being the fastest growing industry in LATAM.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report titled atReport ContentChapter 1. Methodology1.1. Methodology1.2. Market definitions1.3. Forecast parameters1.4. Data sources1.4.1. Secondary1.4.1.1. Paid sources1.4.1.2. Unpaid sources1.4.2. PrimaryChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Assisted reproductive technology industry 360 degree synopsis, 2013 - 2024 (USD Million)2.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Procedure trends2.1.3. Technology trends2.1.4. End-use trends2.1.5. Regional trendsChapter 3. Assisted Reproductive Technology Industry Insights3.1. Industry segmentation3.2. Industry landscape, 2013 - 20243.3. Industry impact forces3.3.1. Growth drivers3.3.1.1. Rising prevalence of infertility3.3.1.2. Demographical shift3.3.1.3. Rising awareness about assisted reproductive technology3.3.2. Industry pitfalls and challenges3.3.2.1. High cost of procedures3.3.2.2. Social barriers and lack of advanced infrastructure in emerging countries3.4. Growth potential analysis3.4.1. By procedure3.4.2. By technology3.4.3. By end-use3.5. Porter's analysis3.6. Competitive landscape,20173.6.1. Strategy dashboard3.7. PESTEL analysisChapter 4. Assisted Reproductive Technology Market, By Procedure4.1. Key segment trends4.2. Fresh donor4.2.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)4.3. Fresh nondonor4.3.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)4.4. Frozen donor4.4.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)4.5. Frozen nondonor4.5.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)4.6. Embryo/Egg Banking4.6.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)Chapter 5. Assisted Reproductive Technology Market, By Technology5.1. Key segment trends5.2. In-vitro fertilization (IVF)5.2.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)5.2.2. IVF with Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI)5.2.2.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)5.2.3. IVF without ICSI5.2.3.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)5.3. Artificial Insemination - Intrauterine Insemination (AI-IUI)5.3.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)5.4. Frozen Embryo Replacement (FER)5.4.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)5.5. Others5.5.1. Market size, by region, 2013-2024 (USD Million)Complete report titled atAbout Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: Global Tactical Fiber Cable Market Top Manufactures Prysmian,HTGD,Furukawa,Corning,YOFC,Futong,Fujikura,Sumitomo,Tongding,CommScope,Sterlite,FiberHome,Jiangsu Etern,ZTT 2018-2024 2019 https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2956713?utm_source=sa&utm_medium=HV&utm_campaign=sa https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2956713?utm_source=sa&utm_medium=HV&utm_campaign=sa https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/global-tactical-fiber-cable-report-2019-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2024-market?utm_source=sa&utm_medium=HV&utm_campaign=sa An Tactical Fiber Cable is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair Optical fibers are used most often as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than electrical cables.Request Sample At:Scope of the Report:The worldwide market for Tactical Fiber Cable is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2024, from xx million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.This report focuses on the Tactical Fiber Cable in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Enquire About Report At:Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Prysmian,HTGD,Furukawa,Corning,YOFC,Futong,Fujikura,Sumitomo,Tongding,CommScope,Sterlite,FiberHome,Jiangsu Etern,ZTTMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Access Full Report@The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:Chapter 1, to describe Tactical Fiber Cable product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Tactical Fiber Cable, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Tactical Fiber Cable in 2017 and 2018.Chapter 3, the Tactical Fiber Cable competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.Chapter 4, the Tactical Fiber Cable breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 12, Tactical Fiber Cable market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Tactical Fiber Cable sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.About Us:Our prime objective is to cater to research requirements of organizations, investors, stakeholders, and new entrants by serving them with appropriate reports within their budgetary constraints. Our advanced search algorithms on the website will guide you in finding the reports you are looking for through a systematic approach. Along with offering appropriate research studies that align with the growth targets and strategies, we closely work with clients to understand their customization needs and publishers to convey the requirements and serve better.Contact Us:Mr. Abhishek Paliwal5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United StatesDirect:+1-971-202-1575Toll Free:+1-800-910-6452email help@bigmarketresearch.com Fly Ash Market Study Offering Deep Insight Related to Growth Trends until 2026 || Key Player - Boral Ltd., CEMEX S.A.B. De C.V., Lafarge Holcim Ltd., Waste Management Inc., Charah LLC. MRRSE https://www.mrrse.com/sample/17678 https://www.mrrse.com/fly-ash-market-2018-2026/toc https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/17678 https://www.mrrse.com/ Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently updated its massive report catalogue by adding a fresh study titled Fly Ash Market Study Offering Deep Insight Related to Growth Trends until 2026. This business intelligence study encapsulates vital details about the market current as well as future status during the mentioned forecast period of 2026.The report also targets important facets such as market drivers, challenges, latest trends, and opportunities associated to growth of manufacturers in global market for Fly Ash Market. Along with these insights, the report provides the readers crucial insights on the strategies implemented by leading companies to remain in the lead of this competitive market.Request Free Sample Report @This report analyzes and forecasts the fly ash market at the global and regional level. The market has been forecast based on revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (million tons) from 2018 to 2026. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global fly ash market. It also covers the impact of drivers and restraints on demand for fly ash during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the fly ash market at the global and regional level.The report comprises a detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global fly ash market. The Porters Five Forces model for the fly ash market has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape in the market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein fly ash types and applications are benchmarked based on their Market Value, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view of the global fly ash market by segmenting it in terms of type, application, and region. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes current and forecast demand for fly ash in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The report also encompasses demand for individual application segments in all the regions.The study includes profiles of major companies operating in the global fly ash market. Prominent players functioning in the fly ash market include Lafarge Holicim, Cemex S.A.B. De C.V., and Boral Ltd. Market players have been profiled in terms of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.The global fly ash market is primarily driven by the expansion of end-use industries such as construction and mining, implementation of stringent regulations related to dumping of fly ash, and rise in focus on sustainable construction. Governments across the world are striving to manufacture environmentally sustainable products in order to lessen the effects of global warming. Companies operating in the construction industry are continuously making efforts to develop new and sustainable solutions.Production of one ton of cement releases one ton of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Use of waste materials such as fly ash can significantly lower the carbon footprint of the construction industry. This factor is anticipated to drive the global fly ash market in the near future.The report provides an estimated Market Value of the fly ash market for 2017 and forecast for the next eight years. The size of the global fly ash market has been provided in terms of revenue and volume. Market numbers have been estimated based on key application and regional segments of the fly ash market. Market Value and forecast for each major segment have been provided in terms of global and regional/country markets.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Key Takeaways of StudyExtensive analysis of the fly ash market trends and shares from 2017 to 2026 to identify market opportunities and industry developmentConsumption of fly ash by region and list of manufacturersKey factors responsible for upcoming opportunities for the fly ash market at the global, regional, and country levelComprehensive analysis with respect to investments and price trends that are likely to impact the market outlook and forecast of the global fly ash market between 2018 and 2026Market opportunities for various stakeholders in the value chain and detailed competition landscape for key players dominating the market to understand competition levelPorters Five Forces analysis that highlights the potency of buyers and suppliers to enable stakeholders to make profit-oriented business decisions and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of competitors in order to gain strategic position in the marketThe global fly ash market has been segmented as follows:Global Fly Ash Market, by TypeClass CClass FGlobal Fly Ash Market, by ApplicationCement & ConcreteStructural FillsMiningWaste StabilizationRoad ConstructionOthersGlobal Fly Ash Market, by Region/Country/Sub-regionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanySpainUKFranceItalyRussiaRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaAustraliaJapanSouth KoreaRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa (MEA)South AfricaGCCRest of Middle East & AfricaEnquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite: New Approach to Facial Aesthetics Market 2023 Research Technology Expand Business Activities | Allergan, Anika Therapeutics, Contura, Merz Pharma, Nestle Facial Aesthetics Market https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/report-sample/HC071070 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/send-an-enquiry/HC071070 https://www.crystalmarketresearch.com/check-discount/HC071070 This report provides strategic study of the Global Facial Aesthetics Market, and the growth forecast for the period 2014 to 2023. The scope of the report includes competitive analysis of various market segments based on key trends, competitive landscape analysis and key regional development status.This study provides insights about the Facial Aesthetics Market in regards to its uses, benefits and in-depth look at Research. This Report provide in-depth updated information latest market trends, schematic representation of those worldwide businesses making use of their prime progress, mergers and acquisitions, prices and arrangements, expansions and investments that is beneficial in decision making regarding business investments.Kindly request for Sample Copy of Report @Competitive Analysis:The leading players in the market are Allergan, Anika Therapeutics, Contura, Merz Pharma, Nestle and others. The major players in the market are profiled in detail in view of qualities, for example, company portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, recent developments, and share of the overall industry.Industry Outlook and Trend Analysis:The Facial Aesthetics Market is expected to witness considerable growth over the forecast period. Consumers are progressively concentrating on individual prepping and decide on stylish items, for example, botulinum poison, dermal fillers, substance peel, and microdermabrasion. Factors, for example, expanded awareness through internet based life, broad promoting of these strategies, and expanded media scope, will help their reception in Brazil, USA, and Venezuela. Moreover, expansion in restorative treatment among buyers would be one of the essential development factors for the facial aesthetics market. Notwithstanding the expanding discretionary cash flow that drives the acquiring intensity of purchasers, the non-obtrusive nature and speedier recuperation period drive the interest for tasteful items and techniques.Market Segmentation:By Product:Botulinum toxinDermal fillersOther ProductsRegional Area Covers:1. Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)2. North America (U.S, Canada, Mexico)3. Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe)4. Asia-Pacific (Japan, China, Australia, India, South Korea, Rest of Asia-Pacific5. Rest of the World (Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Others)For any enquiry Please click On the Link @Drivers and RestraintsIn order to achieve more success rates, specialists are joining different careful and non-surgeries procedures. Joined surgical approaches increases the proficiency and take into account the particular prerequisites of individual patients. Additionally, the savvy and lucrative bundles offered draw in more clients. Various tasteful suppliers are consolidating different stylish systems to satisfy the developing customer prerequisites and requests. The rising development of mix medications will drive the development of the facial aesthetics market till the finish of conjecture period.Major TOC:1. Introduction2. Executive Summary3. Industry Overview4. Market Analysis by Regions4.1. North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)4.2. Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Rest of Europe)4.3. Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Rest of Asia-Pacific)4.4. South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Rest of South America)4.5. Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Rest7. Company Profiles7.1. Contura7.1.1. Business Overview7.1.2. Product Portfolio7.1.3. Strategic Developments7.1.4. Sales, Revenue and Market Share7.2. Allergan7.2.1. Business Overview7.2.2. Product Portfolio7.2.3. Strategic Developments7.2.4. Sales, Revenue and Market Share7.3. Merz Pharma7.3.1. Business Overview7.3.2. Product Portfolio7.3.3. Strategic Developments7.3.4. Sales, Revenue and Market Share8. Global Facial Aesthetics Market Competition, by Manufacturer8.1. Global Facial Aesthetics Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)8.2. Global Facial Aesthetics Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2016-2017)8.3. Global Facial Aesthetics Price by Region (2016-2017)8.4. Top 5 Facial Aesthetics Manufacturer Market Share8.5. Market Competition Trend9. Facial Aesthetics Market Forecast (2018-2023)9.1. Global Facial Aesthetics Sales, Revenue (Millions USD) and Growth Rate (2018-2023)9.2. Facial Aesthetics Market Forecast by Regions (2018-2023)9.2.1. North America Facial Aesthetics Market Forecast (2018-2023)What Our Report Offers:1. An in-depth analysis of the marketing strategy, encompassing the marketing channels that prominent manufacturers adopt to market their products.2. Our research study methodologies are designed in such a way that our clients are able to find the answers theyre looking for, in the way they want.3. Analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.4. To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.To avail Reasonable Discount of Report @About Crystal Industry Research:Crystal Offers One Stop Solution For Industry Research, Business Intelligence, And Consulting Services To Help Clients Make More Informed Decisions. It Provides Both Syndicated As Well As Customized Research Studies For Its Customers Spread Across The Globe. The Company Offers Industry Intelligence Reports Across A Broad Range Of Industries Including Healthcare, Chemicals & Materials, Technology, Automotive, And Energy.Contact Us:Judy S,304 South Jones Blvd, Suite 1896,Las Vegas NV 89107,United StatesToll Free: +1-888-213-4282Email: Sales@CrystalIndustryresearch.Com Transplant Diagnostics Market 2026: Global Trend, Demand, Growth Analysis By leading Players - Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Qiagen N.V., F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Immucor, Inc. Transplant Diagnostics https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1335 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1335 Transplant diagnostics involves assessing compatibility between organ donor and receiver so as to predict any future organ rejection episodes and have contingencies in place. Number of tests are performed such as ABO blood group compatibility, tissue typing, cross matching, panel reactive antibody test, serology screening, and testing for infectious diseases. Increased understanding of the organ rejection phenomenon has led to identification of robust biomarkers along with development of robust biomarker identification tests. Technological advancements in the molecular and non-molecular assays such as PCR, and NGS has increased the data throughput.Some major players operating in the transplant diagnostics market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Qiagen N.V., F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Immucor, Inc., Becton Dickinson and Company, bioMerieux S.A., Illumina, Inc., CareDx, Inc., and GenDx.Download the PDF brochure :Market DynamicsRising prevalence of chronic diseases leading to multiple organ failures; benefits offered by transplant diagnostics, which can predict organ rejection episodes and help in preparing a contingency plan; increasing government initiatives for organ donation awareness; and research and development by leading players to enhance transplant diagnostic products is expected to boost growth of the transplant diagnostics market over the forecast period. For instance, Natera, Inc. and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), announced a research collaboration in 2016, to study DNA markers of Kidney Transplant Rejection. Furthermore, in 2016, the U.S. government announced plans to invest US$ 200 million to shorten the waiting list of organ transplant patients. These factors are expected to aid in growth of the market over the forecast period.Advent of new diagnostic tests have improved medical outcomes associated with organ transplants. Organ rejection rate can be minimized by matching the donor and recipient compatibility before transplantation. Conventional techniques in transplant diagnostics include analysis of human leukocyte antigen (HLA). HLA analysis is done in high-throughput laboratories with a limited staff, which is time consuming. However, presence of molecular assay technologies, such as sequencing techniques and PCR-based assays have proved to be efficient. Genetic information can be interpreted on a large scale by using advanced next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies at an affordable price.For instance, Illuminas MiSeq system offers high-resolution HLA typing and uses next generation sequencing technology, which can be used by any laboratory.Increasing number of transplantation is expected to increase demand for transplant diagnostics, in order to reduce episodes of organ rejection. Various organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO) and World Health Assembly have implanted action plans such as WHA57.18 to increase awareness regarding transplantation. National Health Service (NHS) Blood & Transplant funded a living transplant initiative in 2016, which was led by the National BAME Transplant Alliance, to increase the number of living transplants from black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.Request For A Sample Copy Of This Research Report:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Over-the-Counter Drugs Market - Global Competitive Analysis And Demand By 2026| Pfizer, INovartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Bayer AG, Sanofinc., Over-the-Counter Drugs Market www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1443 www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1443 Over-the-counter drugs, also known as non-prescription drugs, are available in pharmacies and other retail stores and can be used without being prescribed by a doctor. These drugs are critical components of the pharmaceutical industry as they are highly potent and have the capability to show effective results for simple diseases. The number of competitors diving into the large pool of pharmaceutical industry are increasing day-by-day making the industry a promising venture for new comers to capitalize upon. This review will help to attain a competitive analysis of developments such as strategic alliances, mergers and acquisition, joint ventures as well research and innovation leading to product development with respect to over-the-counter drugs market.Get A Sample Copy Of This Research Report:The top 10 players operating in the global over-the-counter drugs market include:Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Bayer AG, Sanofi, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Merck KGaA, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Boehringer IngelheimPfizer, Inc. - Pfizer, Inc. is a global leading manufacturer and distributor of over-the-counter drugs, managing its commercial operation through two major business segments namely, Pfizer Innovative Health and Pfizer Essential Health. OTC drugs contribute to a major part of Innovative Health Segment, comprising annual revenue of US$ 29,197 million in 2016. The company OTC drugs portfolio includes over 40 products, whereas the leading OTC brands that generated significant revenue for Pfizer included Advil (Ibuprofen capsules for migraine) and Centrum (Multivitamin Tablets), in 2016. Moreover, the company collaborated for the license of Nexium OTC rights under the exclusive agreement with AstraZeneca Plc made in 2012, Pfizer paid US$ 93 Mn to AstraZeneca in April, 2016 as accrued milestone payments as per the norms of the agreement. Pfizer, Inc. adopts strategies such as entering into partnerships and collaborations with companies that adopts incorporation of novel, proprietary drug-delivery technologies as well as unique ingredients of the OTC drugs to expand their OTC product portfolio to retain their significance in global over-the-counter drugs market.Novartis AG - Novartis AG, is widely known for its research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of healthcare products across the globe. Novartis operates its drugs business through two major operating channels Innovative Medicine and Drugs manufactured by Sandoz which is a subsidiary of Novartis, has contributed to positioning the company as one of the top players in global Over-the-counter drugs market. In March 2015, Novartis OTC and GlaxoSmithKline Plc created a combined consumer healthcare business named GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings Ltd, as a completely new entity, for which Novartis has an interest of 36.5% in the investment and profit shares and the resulting pre-tax income from this alliance was valued at US$ 5.9 billion in 2016.GlaxoSmithKline Plc - GlaxoSmithKline, one of the renowned giant in pharmaceutical industry and over-the-counter drugs market is a global science-led company headquartered in Europe, which develops and manufactures pharmaceutical products, including vaccines, health-related consumer products, and over-the-counter medicines. The consumer healthcare business of GlaxoSmithKline is operated through its subsidiary named GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings Ltd. the subsidiary is split into two equal businesses, namely Over-the-counter Medicines and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), across four major categories of Oral Health, Wellness, Skin Health, and Nutrition.Bayer AG - Bayer AG is a global life science company that has a history of over 150 years in areas of healthcare and agriculture. The company operates its business through four major segments namely, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Crop Science, and Animal Health. Over-the-counter drugs contribute to a major revenue share of the consumer health segment, which accounted for US$ 7,179.19 million in 2016.Sanofi - Sanofi is a global life science company based in France (Europe) that is aimed towards improving healthcare access to people. The company operates its business through two major segments namely, Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines. The company operates its over-the-counter business as a part of a major business segment named Consumer Healthcare (CHC). Sanofi focuses on partnerships and acquisitions to expand its consumer healthcare business.For More Details Download the PDF brochure:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.com U.S. Energy Storage Market is set to exceed an annual deployment of 3,000 MW by 2024 Notable industry players include Duke Energy, E. ON, East Penn Manufacturing, EDF Renewable Energy https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2952 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2952 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/us-energy-storage-market https://www.gminsights.com https://gminsights.wordpress.com http://allnewsmyway.com U.S. Energy Storage Market size will exceed USD 4 billion by 2024, as reported in the latest study by Global Market Insights, Inc.Growing regulatory focus toward minimizing carbon emissions while increasing the share of renewables on the grid will drive the U.S. energy storage market size. Key states including California, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon have adopted legally defined energy storage capacity to be integrated into the electric grid. In December 2017, the New York government introduced a new law mandating a state-wide energy storage deployment target of 1,500MW by 2025.Request for Sample Copy of this research report @U.S. energy storage market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of MW and USD from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:U.S. Energy Storage Market, By Deployment Residential Non-residential UtilityU.S. Energy Storage Market, By Technology Lithium Ion Lead Acid Sodium Chemistry Flow Vanadium Flow Zinc OthersThe U.S. residential energy storage market will witness robust expansion on account of increasing penetration of solar PV levels along with introduction of supportive policies and energy storage subsidies. California and Hawaii constitute the sizeable proportion of the overall residential energy storage sector in the country with fresh participation anticipated from Arizona and Massachusetts in the near term. The industry growth is further stimulated by growing implementation of time-of-use rates by utilities coupled with reduction in net metering compensation.Lithium ion energy storage market will witness growth on account of continued downturn in battery costs driven by enhanced manufacturing capacity. Li-ion batteries are utilized in a wide array of energy-storage applications, including residential systems with rooftop photovoltaic arrays and grid ancillary services amongst others. High charge/discharge efficiency and appreciable energy density are some of the key features that will continue to boost the technology adoption over the conventional counterparts.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The U.S. utility energy storage market size will exceed USD 1.5 billion by 2024. Strengthening need to build a disruption-proof grid with the implementation of increased efficiency, resilience, and sustainability will favor the industry growth. Growing concerns over climate change and aging grid infrastructure will further favor the business scenario.Increasing share of renewables in the national grid facilitated by several fiscal incentives and ventures will stimulate the U.S. energy storage market size. The share of renewable in the California energy mix has been growing exponentially, thereby supporting the industry growth. In addition, legislative mandate to increase renewable generation to achieve emissions reductions targets will positively influence the industry outlook.Key industry participants active in the U.S. energy storage market comprise Duke Energy, East Penn Manufacturing, E. ON, EDF Renewable Energy, GE Power, EnerVault, LG Chem, Fluence Energy, Invenergy, Johnson Controls, Tesla, SolarEdge, and ABB amongst others.Browse key industry insights spread across 140 pages with 34 market data tables & 29 figures & charts from the report @The research process begins with extensive data mining, using authentic sources such as trade magazines, technical publications, independent studies along with paid avenues such as ICIS, Hoovers, etc. Primary objectives of data mining include: Definition and scope of research Market dynamics, growth drivers and industry pitfalls Regulatory and political guidelines for the industry Demographics and statistical dataAbout Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary researchContact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:Explore Our Blog @ What's driving the Medical Marijuana Market Key Players are : Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and MedReleaf Corp Medical Marijuana Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2836 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2836 http://news-researchers.com/ Medical marijuana pain management market segment is estimated to expand at 36% CAGR during the forecast period. Growing number of population affected with pain all around the globe is propelling the segment growth. In addition, medical marijuana has become an increasingly widespread alternative to traditional pain-relieving opioids which have lethal side-effects; thus, various advantaged associated with the use of cannabis for medical purpose will augment the medical marijuana pain management market growth.Topical medical marijuana market segment valued USD 349.1 million in 2017. Increase in demand for marijuana topical creams, ointments and patches for the treatment of various skin-related conditions will boost the demand for the same. Moreover, rising epidemiology of skin diseases with rapidly increasing ageing population will also lead to the marijuana demand proliferation.Request sample copy of this report @The medical marijuana dispensaries market segment will witness substantial growth, expanding at a robust 36.2% CAGR over the forecast period. Increasing number of dispensaries set-up in various countries for the sale of legal medical marijuana products will create ample market growth opportunities in the near future.Canada medical marijuana market is estimated to expand at 32% CAGR from 2018-2024. Presence of large number of medical marijuana companies such as Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Aphria, Inc. and CanniMed will enhance growth of the region. In addition, Canada is one of the countries that has completely legalized the production, sale and consumption of medical marijuana, thereby boosting sales in the coming years.Germany medical marijuana market valued USD 805.5 million in 2017. Germany, being the largest economy of the European Union, have started covering medical marijuana patients. This move has resulted in maximum patient enrolments for health insurance reimbursements, hence augmenting Germany medical cannabis industry growth.Make Inquiry about this report @Prominent industry players in medical marijuana market include Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and MedReleaf Corp. Companies are opting for innovative strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to expand product portfolio, as well as enhance geographic reach for improving their position in the overall market place.Medical Marijuana Market size is set to exceed USD 55.0 billion by 2024; according to a new research study published by Global Market Insights, Inc. The global burden of pain-related diseases increased tremendously affecting more than 1500 million people worldwide; therefore, more cannabis approval for medical purpose are on horizon. With increasing number of product approvals in various regions across the globe, the medical marijuana industry size will expand significantly in upcoming years.Growing demand for marijuana application in the treatment of chronic pain caused by neurological disorders, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and arthritis will drive the global medical marijuana market growth. Moreover, increasing preference of marihuana over opioid narcotics that cause various side lethal side effects will accelerate medical cannabis demand over the coming years.Medical marijuana market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Medical Marijuana Market by Application Pain Managemento Neuropathic Paino Cancer Paino Others Muscle Spasms Nausea Anorexia Seizures OthersMedical Marijuana Market by Route of Administration Inhalation Oral TopicalMedical Marijuana Market by Distribution Channel Dispensaries OnlineThe above information is provided for the following regions/countries: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo Italyo UKo Czech Republico Franceo The Netherlandso Rest of Europe Latin Americao Argentinao Chileo Peruo Colombia Rest of the Worldo Australiao IsraelGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comBlog : As Per New Analytical Report on Protein Engineering Market Grooming In Worldwide to 2025 with Major Renowned Key Players: Agilent Technologies, AB-Sciex, Bio-Rad Laboratories, GE Healthcare, Perkin Elmer, Waters Corp Protein Engineering Market https://www.reportconsultant.com/request_sample.php?id=17197 https://www.reportconsultant.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=17197 https://www.reportconsultant.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=17197 www.reportconsultant.com Protein Engineering is the process of developing useful or valuable proteins. It is a young discipline, with much research taking place into the understanding of protein folding and recognition for protein design principles. It is based on the use of the recombinant DNA technology for changing the amino acid sequence. It is also a product and services market, with an estimated value of $168 billion by 2017. The Protein Engineering Market is expected to witness a CAGR of +15% during the forecast period.A new informative report titled as the global Protein Engineering Market has recently published in the extensive repository of Report Consultant. It compiles exhaustive information which has been sourced by using data exploratory techniques such as primary and secondary research. Due to the usage of scientific investigation methods, it offers an accurate analysis of business perspectives.Get a Sample Copy of This Report@Top Key Players:Agilent Technologies (U.S.), AB-Sciex (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Bruker Corp. (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Perkin Elmer (U.S.), Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific (U.S.), Waters Corp. (U.S).Furthermore, it offers detailed data based on the target market, competitive study, key regions, key players and various market segments. Additionally, it offers internal and external factors which are fueling or hampering the growth of the Protein Engineering MarketProtein Engineering Market segment by types: Instrument Reagents Services & SoftwareMarket Segment by applications includes: Food and detergent industries Environment applications Medical applications, Biopolymer production Nano biotechnologyProtein engineering market by End users includes: Academic research institutes pharmaceuticals and bio-technology companies contract engineering organizationsIn this Report, we analyze global Protein Engineering Market from 5 geographies: Asia-Pacific[China, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Korea, Western Asia], Europe[Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland], North America[United States, Canada, Mexico], Middle East & Africa[GCC, North Africa, South Africa], South America[Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Peru].Ask For Discount@The major objective of protein engineering is to produce biological compounds which include a synthetic peptide, storage protein, and synthetic drugs which will be superior to a normal one and create an enzyme which is superior in its properties to produce high-value chemicals in large quantities.Industry outlook has been provided by illustrating some significant strategies adopted by them. The Global Protein engineering market has been analyzed through industry analysis techniques such as SWOT and Porters five-technique. The notable feature of this research report is, it offers proper insights into the businesses by explaining drivers, restraints, and opportunities in front of the businesses.At the same time, we classify Protein Engineering according to the type, application by geography. More importantly, the report includes major countries market based on the type and application. Finally, the report provides detailed profile and data information analysis of leading Protein Engineering Market.Ask our expert, before buying this report@About Report Consultant:Report Consultant A global leader in analytics, research and advisory that can assist you to renovate your business and modify your approach. With us, you will learn to take decisions intrepidly. We make sense of drawbacks, opportunities, circumstances, estimations and information using our experienced skills and verified methodologies.Our research reports will give you an exceptional experience of innovative solutions and outcomes. We have effectively steered businesses all over the world with our market research reports and are outstandingly positioned to lead digital transformations. Thus, we craft greater value for clients by presenting advanced opportunities in the global market.Contact us:Rebecca Parker(Report Consultant)Akasaka biz tower,5-3-1 akasaka minato-ku,Tokyo, JapanContact No: +81-368444299sales@reportconsultant.com Long-Term Care Insurance Market - Strategic Analysis of the Top key Derivers like Cigna Corporation, AIA Insurance Group, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Allianz SE, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., AXA, Aviva plc, Aetna, Inc. https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=193920 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=193920 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=193920 www.researchnreports.com A Long-term care insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an insured. According to the insurance premium received by the insurance company, the insurance company agrees to pay a sum of money according to the insurance conditions. The Indian insurance market is very mature. However, the digitization of insurance is a late development of the country. Insurance policies are broadly divided into traditional insurance and ULIP insurance.Over the next five years, Market Analysts predicted the Long-Term Care Insurance Market is likely to exhibit a strong +2% CAGR and the market is expected to Growth worth of USD + $135 Billion by 2025.Advances in Internet infrastructure and rising insurance policy costs are major factors paving the way for Long-Term Care Insurance. As public entities such as LIC enter the online insurance market, the credibility of online insurance is strengthened. As a result, sales and insurance policy updates have been added through online media.Leading Key Players of the Long-Term Care Insurance Market:Cigna Corporation, AIA Insurance Group, UnitedHealth Group Inc., Allianz SE, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., Express Scripts Holding Company, AXA, Aviva plc, Aetna, Inc., Apollo Munich Long-Term Care Insurance, International Medical Group, Aet Inc., Anthem, Humana Inc, Sun Life Financial, State Farm, NerdWallet, ForbesGet Sample Copy of this Report @:The Long-Term Care Insurance market is characterized by a number of opportunities for aggregating websites and insurance companies to capitalize and develop. Insurers have introduced new insurance products specifically for online buyers, and the possibility to explore innovative, easy-to-use, cost-effective, portable and power-independent technologies has driven the industry. As more and more people demand better insurance products with quality insurance, insurance and claims, technological advances and cost-effective products become an urgent need for insurance companies and aggregating websites.Global Long-Term Care Insurance Market Segmentation: On the basis of Types: Partnership long-term-care Insurance Indemnity long-term-care Insurance Reimbursement long-term-care InsuranceApplications: Age 60 AgeRegions:United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast AsiaThe new IRDA compliance provides a comparison between insurance products and unbiased information, and is cost-effective due to increased competition, which has become a major focus for Indian web aggregators. In addition, funding issues and channel conflicts are also major challenges in this market. While India's high Internet penetration rate has helped increase Long-Term Care Insurance penetration, health, travel, automotive and scheduled insurance programs have been continually being demanded.The current growth and development patterns of this market have also been encapsulated in this study. After studying key companies, the report focuses on the startups contributing towards the growth of the Long-Term Care Insurance market. Possible mergers and acquisitions among the startups and key organizations are identified by the report's authors in the study.Avail Upto 40% discount on this report:As leading companies take efforts to maintain their dominance in the global Long-Term Care Insurance market, the right way to do so is by adopting new technologies and strategies. The report highlights major technological developments and changing trends adopted by key companies over a period of time. For a stronger and more stable business outlook, the report on the global market carries key projections that can be practically studied.Table of ContentsGlobal Long-Term Care Insurance Market Research Report 2019-2025Chapter 1: Industry OverviewChapter 2: Long-Term Care Insurance Market International and China Market AnalysisChapter 3: Environment Analysis of Market.Chapter 4: Analysis of Revenue by ClassificationsChapter 5: Analysis of Revenue by Regions and ApplicationsChapter 6: Analysis of Long-Term Care Insurance Market Revenue Market Status.Chapter 7: Analysis of Industry Key ManufacturersChapter 8: Sales Price and Gross Margin Analysis of Market.Chapter 9: Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Market.Chapter 10: Development Trend of Long-Term Care Insurance Market 2019-2025.Chapter 11: Industry Chain Suppliers of Market with Contact Information.Chapter 12: New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Market.Chapter 13: Conclusion of the Long-Term Care Insurance Market Industry 2025 Market Research ReportFor More enquiry:* If you need anything more than these then let us know and we will prepare the report according to your requirement.About Research N Report:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Global competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact us:(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin - 77064,Sunny Denis(Sales Manager)+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com Live Attenuated Vaccines Industry 2019 Insights with Top Industry Players are Merck & Co. (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline, and plc. (U.K.), Pfizer, Inc. (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), Astellas Pharma, etc Live Attenuated Vaccines Industry www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1101 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/live-attenuated-vaccines-market-1101 MRFR Provides Appropriate Analysis of Global Live Attenuated Vaccines Market by Geographical Analysis, Scope, Applications, Products, Prominent Audience, End Users, and Market Players for Global, and Country Level Market Segments, etcMarket Overview:The Live Attenuated Vaccines (Lav) Market is growing at a rapid pace; mainly due to the increasing prevalence of bacterial and viral diseases. Moreover, rapidly spreading awareness towards the healthcare and the availability of various effective vaccines are escalating the market on the furthering heights. In 2016 The LAV market had evaluated at USD 34.2 BN.Acknowledging the exponential accruals the market witnesses today, Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report asserts that the global live attenuated vaccines market will reach USD 45.2 BN by 2023 with a CAGR of approximately 10.7% during the forecast period (2017-2023).Request Free Sample copy atInitiatives taken by the governments for vaccination against diseases such as influenza and others, alongside the excellent management of public awareness programs are some of the major driving force behind the accelerating market growth. Furthermore, increasing awareness about vaccination, and growing government funding for vaccination programs along with the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases act as a tailwind propelling the market growth of LAV.The live attenuated vaccines market is one of the fastest growing markets. Huge funding is being transpired in the research & development of LA vaccines. The growth of the market is expected to be driven by rising R&D funding, increasing awareness due to the prevention programs, and the growing number of new entrants in the market. Also, the improving healthcare infrastructure, increasing demand for LAV, and the emphasis on prevention of diseases foster the market growth.Top Players:Fervent players leading the global live attenuated vaccines market include Merck & Co. (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline, plc. (U.K.), Pfizer, Inc. (U.S.), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan), CSL Limited (Australia), MedImmune, LLC (U.S.), Sanofi (France), Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (U.S.), and Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (India).Competitive Players:The successful development of live attenuated vaccines almost positively depends on the involvement of both, private and public sectors from around the world. Currently, most of the government companies have the resources and encouragement to take on the challenge of developing live attenuated vaccines alone. Within the public sector, the development of live attenuated vaccines is important for a number of different agencies, which includes health concerns and the economic growth.Substantial investments are being transpired by the key players into R&D to develop safe, effective, and affordable vaccines that can prevent various infections in uninfected people with the research priority giving its game-changing potential for controlling and ultimately ending the pandemics.Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:November 18, 2018 InDevR (US), a leading global biotechnology company involved in the development of life science instrumentation along with assays for analysis of viruses and other microorganisms announced its plan to pursue proof of concept development for new VaxArray potency assays for measles (M) and rubella vaccines. The long-term objective is to create in vitro measles and rubella potency assays in order to deliver high-quality MR vaccines to market faster and with lower production costs. A more accurate potency assay for each of these live attenuated virus antigens would minimize risks and reduce expensive lot rejections.Segmentation:MRFR has segmented its analysis into four key dynamics for the convenience of understanding;By Types: Bacterial (BCG vaccine) and Viral Vaccines (oral polio vaccine (OPV), measles, rotavirus, and yellow fewer and others).By Vaccine Developments: Tissue Culture, Embryonated Eggs, and Live Animals among others.By End-Users: Hospitals, Clinics, Diagnostic Centers, and Research Institute among others.By Regions: Europe, North America, APAC and Rest-of-the-World.Regional Analysis:The North American region accounts for the dominating market for live attenuated vaccines. Countries like Canada and the U.S. play important role in the growth of this market. Major factors such as the augmenting demand for effective vaccines to control the growing prevalence of viral infections. High per capita health care expenditures along with the rising funds invested into R&D for the development of new vaccines are supporting the growth of the market in the region. Furthermore, Initiatives taken by the government for vaccination against diseases like influenza, as well as excellent management of public awareness programs are acting as a tailwind propelling the growth of the market for LAV.The European region is the second-largest market for live attenuated vaccines which is estimated to witness extensive growth throughout the forecast period. Growing emphasis and growing emphasis on R&D and the government financial support for research and development activities drive the market growth of LAV in the region.The live attenuated vaccines market in the Asia Pacific region is emerging as one of the lucrative markets, globally. Growing prevalence of bacterial and viral diseases alongside the increase in the prevalence of communicable diseases are few of the key driving forces pushing up the growth of the LAV market in the region. Owing to the large advancements in medical technology, India is emerging as the fastest growing market for LAV.Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 30+ Respective Tables and Figures atAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages Market | Top key player - Van Pur S.A., Nestle S.A., Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., CHI Ltd., Royal Unibrew A/S mrrse https://www.mrrse.com/sample/17949 https://www.mrrse.com/non-alcoholic-malt-beverages-market https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/17949 Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently updated its massive report catalogue by adding a fresh study titled Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages Market Analyzed for the Projected Period of 2018-2028. This business intelligence study encapsulates vital details about the market current as well as future status during the mentioned forecast period of 2026.The report also targets important facets such as market drivers, challenges, latest trends, and opportunities associated to growth of manufacturers in global market for (Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages Market). Along with these insights, the report provides the readers crucial insights on the strategies implemented by leading companies to remain in the lead of this competitive market.Request Free sample report @This report provides forecast and analysis of the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market. It provides estimated data for 2018, and forecast data up to 2028 in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The report also includes macroeconomic indicators, along with an outlook on non-alcoholic malt beverages for the global market. It includes the drivers and restraints of the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market, and their impact on each region during the forecast period. The report also comprises the study of current issues with consumers and opportunities for non-alcoholic malt beverage products. It also includes supply chain analysis.In order to provide the users of this report with a comprehensive view of the market, we have included a detailed competitiveness analysis and key players, and a strategy overview of the non-alcoholic malt beverages market. The dashboard provides a detailed comparison of non-alcoholic malt beverage manufacturers on parameters such as total revenue, product offerings, and key strategies. The study encompasses non-alcoholic malt beverages market attractiveness analysis by product type, flavor type, packaging type, distribution channel, and region.The report includes company profiles of the non-alcoholic malt beverages market, and the total revenue generated from companies across North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and MEA. By product type, the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market is segmented into dairy-based and carbonated and soda drinks. By flavor type, the non-alcoholic malt beverages market is segmented into natural/ classic, apple, peach, berry, citrus, pomegranate, mixed fruit, coffee/ cocoa, and others (vanilla, tea, etc.). Furthermore, by packaging type, the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market is segmented as bottles, cans, and liquid cartons. Also, on the basis of distribution channel, the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market is segmented as hypermarkets/supermarkets, convenience stores, discount stores, specialty stores, and online retail. For the calculation of market size, the per capita consumption of non-alcoholic beverages was calculated region-wise, and side-by-side, the portfolio and revenues of companies were tracked. This was followed by evaluating the market share for the companies in the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market in terms of both, value and volume. The prices of non-alcoholic malt beverages were tracked at the manufacturer level, and the volume was evaluated.Browse Complete Report with TOC @A number of primary and secondary sources were consulted during the course of the study. Secondary sources include Factiva, Hoovers, and company annual reports and publications.This report covers market dynamics related to non-alcoholic malt beverages that include the drivers and trends driving each segment, and opportunities in the non-alcoholic malt beverages market. The report also includes analysis and insights into the potential of the non-alcoholic malt beverages market in specific regions. Detailed profiles of providers are also included in the scope of the report to evaluate their long-term and short-term strategies, product portfolio of non-alcoholic malt beverage manufacturers, and recent developments in the non-alcoholic malt beverages space.The report provides detailed competitive and company profiles of key participants operating in the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market. Some of the major companies operating in the global non-alcoholic malt beverages market are Van Pur S.A., Nestle S.A., Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., CHI Ltd., Royal Unibrew A/S, United Dutch Breweries B.V., United Dutch Breweries B.V., and Harboes Bryggeri A/S.Global Non-alcoholic Malt Beverages Market By Product TypeDairy-basedCarbonated & Soda DrinksGlobal Non-alcoholic Malt Beverages Market By Flavor TypeClassic/ NaturalApplePeachCitrusBerryPomegranateMixed FruitCoffee/ CocoaOthers (vanilla, tea, etc.)Global Non-alcoholic Malt Beverages Market By Packaging TypeBottlesCansLiquid CartonsGlobal Non-alcoholic Malt Beverages Market By Distribution ChannelHypermarkets/SupermarketsConvenience StoresDiscount StoresSpecialty StoresOnline RetailGlobal Non-alcoholic Malt Beverages Market By RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ)JapanMiddle East & Africa (MEA)Enquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559 Paclitaxel Injection Market 2019 Poised for Further Growth - Players Shaping Industry include Hospira, Biological E., Taj Accura Paclitaxel Injection https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/62108 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/62108 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/reports/paclitaxel-injection-market-research-2019 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/62108 www.upmarketresearch.com An Exclusive Market Reports Global Paclitaxel Injection Market Size Status and Forecast 2025, the report classifies the global Paclitaxel Injection Market in a precise manner to offer detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Paclitaxel Injection Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Paclitaxel Injection Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019 2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Paclitaxel Injection Market analysis & forecast 2019- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.For More Information on This Report, Please Visit @Paclitaxel Injection Market Segmentation covers:Region- wise Analysis: North America, Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)Major Players Reported Are:Bristol-Myers SquibbCelgene CorporationHospiraBiological E.Taj AccuraKhandelwal LaboratoriesLuye PharmaBeijing YoucareBeijing UnionHaiyaoChuntchProduct Segment Analysis:30 mg/5 mL60 mg/10 mL100 mg/16.7 mL150 mg/25 mL300 mg/50 mLApplication Segment Analysis:Ovarian CancerBreast CancerCervical CancerPancreatic CancerOthersRead More details Paclitaxel Injection Market Analysis and Forecast 2019- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase:- To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Paclitaxel Injection Market and its commercial landscape.- Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations.- To understand the future outlook and prospects for Paclitaxel Injection Market analysis and forecast 2019- 2025.If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States. Global Clinical Alarm Management Market Size, Share, Major Players, Strong Application, Top Region, Industry Investment Analysis and 2023 Forecast Clinical Alarm Management Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/7510 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/clinical-alarm-management-market-7510 The global clinical alarm management market is expected to register a CAGR of 30.4% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2023Clinical alarm is an essential facility that are followed and undertaken in various healthcare centers. These devices help to create a connection between the patient and healthcare staff.There is a high demand of clinical alarm management in hospitals, clinics, intensive care units (ICU), and other healthcare facilities. The key factors contributing for the market growth are growing awareness about the patient safety, rising demand for best practices in hospitals and healthcare centers, and rising government regulation regarding patient safety boosts the market growth.Get Sample Copy @Clinical Alarm Management Market Segmentation:The global clinical alarm management market is segmented on the basis of product, component and end user.On the basis of the product, the global clinical alarm management market is categorized into nurse call systems, physiological monitors, EMR integration systems, bed alarms, ventilators, mobility solutions, central monitoring systems and clinical decision support tools.On the basis of the component, the global clinical alarm management market is segmented into solutions and services.On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into hospitals, long-term care centers and ambulatory care centers & home care settings.On the bases of region, the market is segmented into Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The Americas is expected to hold the largest market share and the Middle East and Africa with the low market share during the forecasted period.Clinical Alarm Management Market Key PlayersKoninklijke Philips N.V., Medtronic, Baxter, Vocera Communications, Mindray Medical International, GE Healthcare, Ascom Holdings, Spok, Inc. (Subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc.), Masimo, Connexall, Drager, Bernoulli Enterprise, Inc., Capsule Technologie (Subsidiary of Qualcomm Life, Inc.), Mobile Heartbeat (Subsidiary of Hospital Corporation of America) are some of the major players for global clinical alarm management market.Clinical Alarm Management Market Regional AnalysisEurope is second in the global clinical alarm management market owing to increasing government support for healthcare sector and the awareness programs about the clinical alarms conducted by different foundation contributors in promoting the market across the globe.Asia Pacific region is the fastest growing market owing to the increasing patient population, rising demand for various healthcare facilities for better treatment and increasing healthcare expenditure drives the market with the region. The Middle East & Africa has the least share in the global clinical alarm management market owing to the presence of poor economies and low per capita income, especially in the African region.The Americas dominate the global clinical alarm management market. Increasing healthcare infrastructure, rising awareness about the patient safety methods and innovation by healthcare companies drives the market growth within the region.Browse Complete Report Details @Table Of Content1. Report Prologue2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationTOC Continued.!About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market 2025 Global Analysis by Key Players -3M Company, Honeywell International Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Pentair PLC, Panasonic Corporation, Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market 2025 Global Analysis by Key Players -3M Company, Honeywell International Inc., Koni https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/65025 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/65025 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/reports/point-of-use-water-distillation-systems-market-research-2019 https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/65025 www.upmarketresearch.com Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market 2019 report provides a comprehensive analysis by Key players and regions. This report also displays the 2025 production, Consumption, revenue, Gross margin, Cost, Gross, market share, types, applications, and Market influencing factors.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019 2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market analysis & forecast 2019- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.For More Information on This Report, Please Visit @Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market Segmentation covers:Region- wise Analysis: North America, Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)Major Players Reported Are:3M Company, Honeywell International Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Pentair PLC, Panasonic Corporation, Unilever PLC, Lg Electronics, Coway Co. Ltd., Best Water Technology (BWT), AGAlticor Inc.Product Segment Analysis:Tabletop PitcherFaucet-Mounted FiltersCounter-top UnitsUnder-the-sink FiltersOthersApplication Segment Analysis:ResidentialNon-ResidentialCommercialIndustrialHealthcareEducational InstitutesOthersRead More details Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market Analysis and Forecast 2019- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase:- To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market and its commercial landscape.- Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations.- To understand the future outlook and prospects for Point-of-Use Water Distillation Systems Market analysis and forecast 2019- 2025.If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States. Isomolded Graphite Market: Competitive Dynamics & Global Outlook 2024 Top Key players like Top Key players like Toyo Tanso,Tokai Carbon,Mersen,Inc. https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/354007/global-isomolded-graphite-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com/reports/354007/global-isomolded-graphite-market https://www.marketresearchreportstore.com Market Research Report Store offers a latest published report on Isomolded Graphite Market Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 91 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Click to view the full report TOC, figure and tables:Nowadays Isomolded Graphite is quite popular material that is in great demand in the photovoltaic industry and is indispensable in semiconductors production.The worldwide market for Isomolded Graphite is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2024, from xx million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversToyo TansoTokai CarbonMersenIBIDENSGLNTCEntegrisGraphite IndiaGrafTechChengdu CarbonBaofeng Five-starLiaoning DahuaHemsunDelmer GroupGuanghan ShidaMarket Segment by Type, coversCIP MethodVibration Molding MethodMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPhotovoltaic IndustrySemiconductor IndustryElectrical Discharge MachiningFoundry & Metallurgy FieldOthersFor More Information On This Report, Please Visit @Related Information:North America Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024United States Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024Asia-Pacific Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024Europe Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024EMEA Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024Global Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024China Isomolded Graphite Market Growth 2019-2024Customization Service of the Report :Market Research Report Store provides customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About Us:Market Research Report Store (MRRS) is a professional organization related to market research reports in all directions .To provide customers with a variety of market research reports, MRRS cooperates with a large of famous market report publishers all over the world. Owing to our good service and the professional market reports in the wide range, MRRS enjoys a good reputation in the market. In pace with the development of MRRS, more and more customers and market report publishers choose to cooperate with us. As a specialized platform, MRRS upholds the supremacy of customers and aims to provide customers with better service and richer select.Contact USMarket Research Report StoreE-mail: info@marketresearchreportstore.comTel: +86-15521064060 00852-58197708(HK)Add: 17890 Castleton Street Suite 218 City of Industry CA 91748 United StatesWebsite: Vacuum Cleaner Market is projected to reach USD 13648 million by 2022 | Dyson, Electrolux, TTI, Shark Ninja (Euro-Pro), Miele, Bissell, Nilfisk, Philips, Bosch, SEB, IRobot, Karcher, Panasonic. https://www.researchcosmos.com/reports/vacuum-cleaner-market-report-2017-global-industry-analysis-trends-and-market-overview/10791011 https://www.researchcosmos.com/request/vacuum-cleaner-market-report-2017-global-industry-analysis-trends-and-market-overview/10791011 https://www.researchcosmos.com/inquire/vacuum-cleaner-market-report-2017-global-industry-analysis-trends-and-market-overview/10791011 www.researchcosmos.com https://acutemarketinsights.com https://marketreportsweb.com/ Vacuum Cleaner Market Size and Growth Rate:According to our research report, the Vacuum Cleaner Market is estimated to be USD 12791 Million in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 13648 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 4.02% from 2017 to 2022.Vacuum Cleaner Market Overview:Increasing industrialization has led to an increase in the demand for fast cleaning methods for homes. Busy lifestyles have led customers to opt for faster methods of cleaning like the vacuum cleaners.Browse details of 116 numbers of pages research report developed on Vacuum Cleaner Market @Vacuum Cleaner Market Drivers and Restraints:The global vacuum cleaner market is expected to experience growing demand due to developments, innovations and greater efficiency. Growing hygiene needs in residential and commercial applications are expected to drive demand during the forecast period. Automatic and programmable vacuum cleaners are expected to be the main drivers of revenue over the next seven years. The robotic product helps reduce labor, reduces labor and provides a cleaner environment in industrial environments and warehouses. It is also expected that technological advances, such as the use of touch control technology and speech recognition to enhance the user experience, which will drive revenue growth. In addition, it is expected that the growing preference for automatic and smart vacuum cleaners, such as robotic vacuum cleaners, will significantly contribute to the global market.The high cost and low battery life can be a challenge for the growth of the industry. Failure to effectively clean up the complex structure is expected to hamper market growth over the forecast period.Industry players should invest in research and development to provide an innovative solution that can further increase opportunities over the next seven years. The vacuum cleaner market includes end-use for residential and commercial purposes. The increase in disposable income is also expected to increase demand over the forecast period. Innovative space memory technology is expected to drive the growth of the residential segment.Vacuum Cleaner Market Regional Analysis:The global market is analyzed in four regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and LAMEA, as well as their major countries. Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the market due to the growing consumer preference for replacing conventional cleaning techniques with automated cleaning solutions. Increasing disposable income and increasing awareness of the benefits of vacuum cleaners are other factors contributing to market growth. North America and Europe are expected to be a key region during the forecast period due to increased disposable income, increasing concern for hygiene, and reduced time spent on household chores. The Asia-Pacific region can also show significant growth due to the presence of market participants in Japan.Ask Free Sample of the report @Vacuum Cleaner Market Key Market Players:Some of the leading key players are Dyson, Electrolux, TTI, Shark Ninja (Euro-Pro), Miele, Bissell, Nilfisk, Philips, Bosch, SEB, IRobot, Karcher, Panasonic, LG, Arcelik, Zelmer, Gorenje, Hanool Robotics.Vacuum Cleaner Market Segmentation:Type Cylinder Upright Hand-held Vacuum cleaning robotApplication Household IndustrialRegion North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East and AmericaFor any queries, inquire more @About Us:Research Cosmos is a provider of standard and customized market research, business intelligence and consulting services across more than 100 domains in different industries of the world. We host the trending market reports of the worlds top-notch publishing companies, offering services to a wide range of customers from students to fortune 500 companies and discloses the hidden opportunities in every leading industry of the world.Contact:Kevin StewartGlobal Sales ManagerResearch CosmosBlog:Blog: Paper Straws Market Growth, Trends, Historical Analysis 2013-2018 and Forecast 2019 - 2027 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/paper-straws-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=44574 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/44574 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=44574 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com http://www.techyounme.com/ Transparency Market Research delivers vital insights on the paper straws market in its report titled Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Historical Analysis 2013-2018 and Forecast 2019-2027. In terms of value, the global paper straws market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 13.8% during the forecast period.Paper straws are single-use disposable products manufactured from raw materials such as virgin kraft pulp and recycle paper. Due to its compostable, biodegradable, and recyclable nature paper is one of the best alternatives to plastic. In the report, TMR proposes that the foodservice end-use segment is expected to drive the paper straws market during the forecast period.The increasing number of food outlets across the globe is boosting the growth of the foodservice industry substantially. Besides, the rising demand for eco-friendly foodservice disposables is likely to offer enormous growth opportunities for the global paper straws market during the forecast period.Preview Report @Governments Supporting Sustainable Drives by Introducing Reforms Favorable for Non-Plastic GoodsNorth America is a significant shareholder of the global paper straws market and is expected to expand with a noteworthy CAGR during the forecast period. Due to the saturation of plastic waste, and the subsequent harm to the environment, the US. government has taken an initiative to ban the usage of single-use plastic straws.Also, the consumer demand for eco-friendly straws, which are hygienic and single-use, is expected to drive the growth of the paper straws market during the forecast period. The US is expected to be highly attractive in terms of market share and growth rate of paper straws during the forecast period, owing to a vast consumer base and robust growth of the foodservice industry.Increasing government reforms and campaigns to ditch plastic straws and the rising awareness among consumers regarding its environmental impact are likely to generate substantial growth opportunities for paper straws during the forecast period. Also, initiatives of various brands to ban plastic straws in Europe, such as Marriott UK, Starbucks, and others are expected to push the growth of the paper straws market during the forecast period.Request A Sample -U.K and Germany are together expected to hold more than 1/3rd of the European market share by the end of the forecast period. Overall, the European paper straws market is anticipated to expand with a notable CAGR during the forecast period.Presence of high growth economies, expansion of the foodservice industry, and government reforms regarding the use of plastic straws in the Asia Pacific region can shape the market in favor of paper straws. Also, the shift in on-the-go consumers preference from convenience only to convenience with sustainable options is expected to shoot up the demand for paper straws during the forecast period.India is expected to outpace other countries in terms of growth rate, while China is foreseen to remain dominant in terms of paper straws market share during the forecast period. ASEAN Countries and Australia & New Zealand are projected to expand with a remarkable CAGR of paper straws during the forecast period.Get TOC @Latin America and Middle East & Africa are substantial shareholders of the global paper straws market and are expected to be promising regions for the growth of the paper straws market during the forecast period. Rapidly growing foodservice industry in these regions is expected to represent substantial incremental opportunities for the paper straws market during the forecast period. Mexico and GCC Countries are expected to be highly attractive in terms of CAGR of the paper straws market during the forecast period.Key Manufacturers Focusing on Appealing, Customized Paper StrawsPaper straws are available in product types such as printed paper straws and non-printed paper straws. Paper straws are widely accepted in end-use industries such as foodservice, institutional, and household. Availability of paper straws in various sizes such as 15 cm fulfil the requirements of various end-use applications. The sales channels of paper straws include manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and e-retail. Customized and specialized paper straws are the ongoing trend in the global paper straws market.Request Customization @The manufacturers in the paper straws market are focusing on capacity expansion for fulfilling the growing demand, improving production efficiency, and channelizing efforts to offer cost-effective paper straws to their customers. Major players in the market are also expanding their reach by means of mergers and acquisitions.Key players operating in the global paper straws market include Huhtamaki Oyj., Hoffmaster Group Inc. (Aardvark), Biopac UK Ltd., Vegware Ltd., U.S. Paper Straw, The Paper Straw Co., Austraw Pty Ltd T/as Bygreen, Footprint LLC, Okstraw, Transcend Packaging Ltd., PT. Strawland, TIPI Straws, MPM Marketing Services Pty Ltd., Canada Brown Eco Products Ltd., Aleco Straws Co. Ltd., Zhengzhou Gstar Plastics Co., Ltd., YIWU JinDong Paper Co., Ltd., Sharp Serviettes, GP Paper Straw Sdn Bhd, and The Blue Straw among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Blog: Oil Refining Pumps Market Prognostications Highpoint Positive Revenue during Forecast Period, 2018-2028 | Key Players - Xylem, Flowserve Corporation, KSB SE & Co. KGaA, Weir Group, Sulzer Ltd., GRUNDFOS https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2434 https://www.factmr.com/report/2434/oil-refining-pumps-market https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2434 https://www.factmr.com/ https://factmrblog.com/ https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ The global demand for oil refining pumps is expected to surpass 3 million tons by 2018 end, according to a latest Fact.MR report on oil refining pumps market. Rising oil and gas production, and increase in petroleum-based power generation are driving oil refining pumps demand. The oil supply has sharply increased from Russia, Middle East, and the US, compensating for fall in oil production in Iran and Venezuela.Get Sample of this research report @The demand for centrifugal pumps is constantly rising in upstream oil and gas industry in multiphase or tri-phase pumping application. With the increasing demand for oil, especially in developing regions, transporting a large amount of liquid has become necessary to ensure operational efficiency. This is driving the demand for centrifugal pumps to transport a significant amount of liquid in a short period.APAC to Continue Strong Position in Oil Refining Pumps MarketThe Fact.MR study projects that APAC continues to register significant growth in the oil refining pumps market and is likely to account for over 40% of total demand by 2018 end. The positive outlook in the region can be attributed to the growing demand for diesel and gasoline in emerging nations like India and China.The upgradation of existing oil refineries and robust investment in the construction of new oil refineries is fueling the growth in the oil refining pumps market in the region. Rising oil demand and faced with strict emission regulations, India is also moving towards development of new and modern refineries.According to the International Energy Agency (IEAs) latest World Outlook Projection, Indias refining capacity is likely to grow by two-thirds in the next 25 years. This is expected to make India worlds third largest refining center by 2040, following the US and China.Major oil companies in Southeast Asia are also investing in increasing their refining capacity. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand are likely to see growth in new refining capacity in the coming years. The development of new and advanced oil refineries in APAC is expected to create growth opportunities for oil refining pumps manufacturers.Browse More Information about this Report @Energy Transition Emerging as Serious Challenge for Oil Companies and Oil Exporting CountriesGlobal oil companies and oil exporting countries are likely to face a challenge with the rise in energy transition. The biggest challenge for oil companies make changes in their business model and integrating low-carbon assets in their portfolios. With the growing trend of renewable energy sources, oil exporting countries with good reserves-to-production ration are facing the risk of loss in export revenues and monetizing their large reserve base.Penetration of renewables has increased in Europe to meet the energy demand, resulting in reduced oil demand. Moreover, regulation by national governments and European Union is likely to further reduce refined oil demand in the region. Oil refineries in Europe are unable to find buyers, resulting in constant drop in profit margins. Inability to find buyers and drop in profit margins is forcing oil refinery operators to shut down the plants.More refinery plants shutdown expected in the coming years in Europe is likely to impact the oil refining pumps market in the region. Moreover, key oil companies across various regions are also planning to invest more in low-carbon energy sources with aim to reduce carbon footprints.The Fact.MR report tracks the oil refining pumps market for the period 2018-2028. According to the report, the oil refining pumps market is expected to reach 2.9% CAGR during 2018-2028.Make an Enquiry before buying this report @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at - Diabetes Devices and Drugs Market Growth, Opportunities and Development 2024 Key Players Novo Nordisk A/S, AstraZeneca plc, Sanofi, Merck Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and others https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/sample/HnM/QBI-CMR-HnM-54168 https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/enquiry/HnM/QBI-CMR-HnM-54168 https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/buy/HnM/QBI-CMR-HnM-54168/ https://www.qurateresearch.com/ The Diabetes Devices and Drugs Market was worth USD 32.82 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach approximately USD 58.97 billion by 2023, while registering itself at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.74% during the forecast period. Diabetes mellitus, frequently eluded as diabetes, is an unending condition that outcomes when there are high levels of glucose in the blood. High blood glucose levels happen when our body cannot deliver any or enough of the hormone insulin or utilize it viably. Insulin is created in the pancreas and is a basic hormone for transporting glucose from our circulation system into the body cells where it gets changed over into vitality.Get Free Sample Copy of This Report@The absence of insulin or the powerlessness of the cells to react to insulin prompts large amounts of blood glucose, or hyperglycaemia, which causes diabetes. If diabetes is undiscovered and treatment for it is not taken accurately, it prompts harm of other body organs and improvement of dangerous wellbeing inconveniences, for example, neuropathy, cardiovascular infection, nephropathy and eye ailment, prompting retinopathy and visual impairment.Drivers & RestrainsThe essential main thrust of the worldwide diabetes devices and drugs market is the developing commonness of diabetes in the world. Raising diabetic populace brings about expanding interest for diabetic care. Aside from a variety of existing medications and devices, broad research and development ventures for new diabetic investigative and treatment techniques has given the business a lift. Different factors, for example, mechanical advancements and aggressive valuing procedures by new members in the market add a positive acceleration. Untapped areas, for example, investigation of non-invasive techniques for diabetes administration are certain to help the development of the diabetes devices and drugs market. However, the fundamental requirements that happen are mind-boggling expense of finding and treatment, poor repayment strategies, and troublesome section for new players into the diabetes devices and diabetes drugs market.For Enquiry OR Any Query? Ask to our Expert @Regional Outlook and Trend AnalysisNorth America held the biggest share of the market in 2016. This is credited to developing economy and propelled medicinal services framework combined with familiarity with populace in regards to the treatment of diabetes and related illnesses. In North America and Europe the glucose monitoring device portion of diabetes device and drugs market contributes the greatest offer. Asia Pacific may demonstrate a promising business sector for the diabetes device business as a result of expanding populace and expanding social insurance offices and developing economy. Also the Asia pacific, South America districts are concentrating on expanding diabetes facilities which will drive the market amid conjecture period.Competitive InsightsThe leading players in the market are Novo Nordisk A/S, AstraZeneca plc, Sanofi, Merck Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and others. Many Key players are depending on methods, for example, agreements & joint ventures, collaborations, and advancements to build the visibility of their products and fortify their product portfolios.Buy This Report@ (Priced at USD 3800)The Diabetes Devices and Drugs Market is segmented as follows-By Devices:Diabetes Monitoring and diagnostic devicesAnalog glucose meterGlucose Test stripsLancets and Lancing devicesContinuous glucose monitoring devicesOthersInsulin Delivery DevicesInsulin SyringesInsulin PensInsulin PumpsInsulin InjectorsBy Therapy:InsulinShort-acting insulin derivativesIntermediate-acting insulin derivativesLong-acting insulin derivativesRapid-acting insulin derivativesPremixed insulin derivativesOral anti-diabetes drugs classSulphonylureasBiguanidesMeglitinidesThiazolidinedionesAlpha-glucosidase inhibitorsDPP-4 inhibitorsSGLT-2 inhibitorsNon-insulin injectable anti-diabetes drugsGLP-1 analogsBy RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyUKFranceRussiaItalyRest of EuropeAsia-PacificChinaJapanSouth KoreaIndiaSoutheast AsiaRest of Asia-PacificSouth AmericaBrazilArgentinaColumbiaSouth AfricaRest of South AmericaMiddle East and AfricaSaudi ArabiaUAEEgyptNigeriaSouth AfricaRest of MEAAbout Us:Qurate Business Intelligence delivers unique market research solutions to its customers and help them to get equipped with refined information and market insights derived from reports. We are committed to providing best business services and easy processes to get the same. Qurate Business Intelligence considers themselves as strategic partners of their customers and always shows the keen level of interest to deliver quality.Contact Us:Nehal ChinoyRunwal Platinum,Ramnagar Colony, Bavdhan,Pune, Maharashtra, India-411021IN +919881074592info@qurateresearch.com Medical Carts Market Growing at CAGR of 15.4% by 2024 Top companies like AFC Industries, The Bergmann Group, Life-Medic HealthCare Supplies Pte Ltd., Harloff Company, Armstrong Medical, Capsa Solutions LLC., Omnicell Inc https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/sample/HnM/QBI-GRS-HnM-205561 https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/enquiry/HnM/QBI-GRS-HnM-205561 https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/buy/HnM/QBI-GRS-HnM-205561/ https://www.qurateresearch.com/ Global Medical Carts Industry was valued at USD 1.95 Billion in the year 2019. Global Medical Carts Industry is further estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% from 2019 to reach USD 4.73 Billion by the year 2025. Expanding reception of the electronic medical records and expanding rates of musculoskeletal injury and technological advancement are a portion of the central point driving the development of the worldwide medical Carts advertise. Be that as it may, expanding value rivalry among producers are ruining the development of this industry.Get Free Sample Copy of This Report@Medical carts is a portable device, which comprises of a lot of racks, plate, compartments, and drawers for emergency clinic use and restorative settings. It conveys, apportion, and transport crisis drugs, meds, medical gadgets, and restorative instruments. Carts are a critical part of restorative guide as it gives putting away, recording, and administering medications, supplies, and patient data alongside patient consideration. Numerous Carts are intended to supply different careful and crisis needs relying upon the operating room and other medical settings.North America dominates the medical carts industry with the US accounted large share in overall industry in 2017. The rising frequencies of musculoskeletal damage and innovative progression are a portion of the significant driving elements driving the development of this industry in North America. The Asia-Pacific restorative Carts advertise is ready to develop at the most elevated CAGR amid the figure time frame attributable to improving human services foundation and rising rates of musculoskeletal damage in the district. The expanding appropriation of the electronic restorative records in the Asia-Pacific medical Carts advertise is another factor driving its development. Moreover, rising nations, for example, India and China gives huge development chances to the medical truck industry.For Enquiry OR Any Query? Ask to our Expert @Major market players in Medical Carts Industry are InterMetro Industries Corp., AFC Industries, The Bergmann Group, Life-Medic HealthCare Supplies Pte Ltd., Harloff Company, Armstrong Medical, Capsa Solutions LLC., Omnicell Inc., Medline Industries Inc., ITD GmbH, Midmark Corporation, Jegna, Herman Miller Inc., Zhangjiagang Bestran Technology Co. Ltd., Merino International, BiHealthcare, Tianjin Xuhua Medical Equipment Factory, Medical Master, Hua Shuo Plastic Co. Ltd., Joson-Care Enterprise Co. Ltd., and Tonglu Rex Medical Instrument Co. Ltd.Medical Carts Industry Segmentation:Medical Carts Industry Overview, By ProductMobile Computing CartsMedication CartsMedical Storage ColumnsWall-Mounted WorkstationsBuy This Report@ (Priced at USD 2990)Medical Carts Industry Overview, By End UserHospitals and clinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersOthers (If Any)Medical Carts Industry Overview, By TypeComputer Medical CartEmergency CartAnesthesia CartProcedure CartMedical Carts Industry Overview, By Material TypeMetal TypePlastic TypeMedical Carts Industry Overview, By RegionNorth America USA CanadaEurope Germany U.K. France Italy Rest of EuropeAPAC China India Japan Rest of Asia-PacificRoW Latin America Middle East & AfricaAbout Us:Qurate Business Intelligence delivers unique market research solutions to its customers and help them to get equipped with refined information and market insights derived from reports. We are committed to providing best business services and easy processes to get the same. Qurate Business Intelligence considers themselves as strategic partners of their customers and always shows the keen level of interest to deliver quality.Contact Us:Nehal ChinoyRunwal Platinum,Ramnagar Colony, Bavdhan,Pune, Maharashtra, India-411021IN +919881074592info@qurateresearch.com Digital TV Market 2018-2023 Global Leaders: Hisense, Sony Corporation, Vizio, Haier Group, Dish Network, Verizon Fios, Samsung Group, At&T https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/3936 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/digital-tv-market-3936 Market Research Future published a research report on Global Digital TV Market Research Report- Forecast 2023 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Digital TV Global Market - OverviewThe Global Digital TV market is growing with the rapid pace; mainly due to the advent of automation and high adoption of internet of things in automotive industry. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, the global market of Digital TV is booming and expected to gain importance over the forecast period. The market is projected to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2022, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2016 2022).The digital television is the new evolution in the TV industry that achieve superior picture and sound quality with minimum transmission bandwidth. It is basically digitally encoded format which captures, distributes, and broadcasts the programming across the world. The digital television is integrated with the analog and digital functions in a single design and offers high level of viewing experience to their users. The major driving factor identified in this report are high disposable income around, pricing and increasing market of digital content whereas major challenges to this market are privacy and lack of digital infrastructure in the emerging countries.Get Free Sample of Report @Digital TV Market is expected to witness rapid growth in the upcoming years. Increasing disposable income and in Asian countries majorly in China and India is expected to drive the global market. Also, rich supply chain and integration of analog and digital components in the digital TVs gives superior viewing experience which is expected to drive the overall market. Whereas factors such as privacy issues and lack of technological infrastructure in emerging countries are major challenges to the market growth.U.S. is one of the biggest market for digital TV and also have high disposable income compared to the other countries around the world. Also, Europe is one for the largest market, creating huge demand for digital TVs in 2018. In Europe, high disposable income of countries such as Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, U.K. and Italy is leading to high demand for digital TV.Key Players:The prominent players in the Digital TV Market Samsung Group (South Korea), Sony Corporation (Japan), Vizio Inc. (U.S), Haier Group Corporation (China), Hisense Co., Ltd. (China), Lg Corporation (South Korea), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), At&T Inc. (U.S), Dish Network (U.S), Verizon Fios (U.S) among others.Digital TV Market SegmentationThe global digital TV market is segmented based on type, resolution, and size. Based on type, the segment is further classified into HDTV, SDTV, EDTV and others. Based on resolution, the segment is classified into 720p, 1080p, 4K and others. And by size the segment is sub-segmented into 11- 32, 33-42 and 44- 50.Regional AnalysisGlobal Digital TV market, by region is led by North America in 2016. The reason attributed to the growth of this region include high impact of technological advancement, growing market for digital content and economies of scale. Also, early adoption of digital technology is one of the major booster for the highest revenue growth of digital TV market in the North American region. Europe has accounted for the second position in Digital TV market globally with a market share of 29% in 2016. Whereas, digital tv market in Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing segment due to increasing disposable income, low prices of televisions and growing demand of technologically advanced consumer electronics products. However, Middle East & Africa digital tv market is expected to grow with a slow growth during forecast period 2017-2023.Industry News British multi-channel broadcaster UKTV is gearing up to launch a new regional branch in Leeds. The move is aimed at creating a technology hub. The branch will be initially opened with a team of 10 staff members, which will be responsible for improving UKTVs content distribution capabilities. Netgem TV, a TV technology company is set to partner with Amazon Prime and Channels Island telco JT to offer JT customers a Netgem SoundBox in association with Amazon Prime for its existing and new subscribers.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Raw material providers Digital TV manufacturers Original equipment manufacturers Distributors and traders Research institutes and organizations Technology standards organizations Technology investors Research institutes, System Integrators Research/Consultancy firmsAbout Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Rice Wine Market 2019 | Major Key Players : Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd, Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Co.,Ltd, Shaoxing Nverhong Wine Co.,Ltd - Analysis & Forecast 2025 Rice Wine Market - 2019 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3775972-global-rice-wine-market-research-report-2019 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3775972-global-rice-wine-market-research-report-2019 https://wordpress.com/view/jitendra0077.wordpress.com http://www.wiseguyreports.com Rice Wine Market - 2019Wiseguyreports.Com Adds "Rice Wine -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2025" To Its Research DatabaseDescription :Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rice wine is made from the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Microbes are the source of the enzymes that convert the starches to sugar.The global Rice Wine market is valued at xx million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.This report focuses on Rice Wine volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Rice Wine 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.The following manufacturers are covered:Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co.,LtdKuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Co.,LtdZhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Wine Co.,LtdShaoxing Nverhong Wine Co.,LtdShandong Jimo Rice Wine PlantZhejiang Jiashan Rice Wine Co.,LtdJiangsu Zhangjiagang Wine Co.,LtdZhejiang Shanhao Wine Co.,LtdJiangsu Nantong Baipu Rice Wine Co.,LtdShanghai Jinfeng Wine Co.,LtdRequest For sample Report Segment by RegionsNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSegment by TypeGlutinous Rice WineOthersSegment by ApplicationBeveragesCookingIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Rice Wine are as follows:History Year: 2014-2019Base Year: 2019Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025Available CustomizationsWith the given market data,Researcher offers customizations according to the companys specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Rice Wine market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Click Here For Complete Report Major Key Points in Table of Content:1 Rice Wine Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Rice Wine1.2 Rice Wine Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Rice Wine Production Growth Rate Comparison by Type (2014-2025)1.2.2 Glutinous Rice Wine1.2.3 Others1.3 Rice Wine Segment by Application1.3.1 Rice Wine Consumption Comparison by Application (2014-2025)1.3.2 Beverages1.3.3 Cooking1.4 Global Rice Wine Market by Region1.4.1 Global Rice Wine Market Size Region1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.5 Global Rice Wine Market Size1.5.1 Global Rice Wine Revenue (2014-2025)1.5.2 Global Rice Wine Production (2014-2025)2 Global Rice Wine Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Rice Wine Production Market Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)2.2 Global Rice Wine Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)2.3 Global Rice Wine Average Price by Manufacturers (2014-2019)2.4 Manufacturers Rice Wine Production Sites, Area Served, Product Types2.5 Rice Wine Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Rice Wine Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Rice Wine Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Rice Wine Production Market Share by Regions3.1 Global Rice Wine Production Market Share by Regions3.2 Global Rice Wine Revenue Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)3.3 Global Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)3.4 North America Rice Wine Production3.4.1 North America Rice Wine Production Growth Rate (2014-2019)3.4.2 North America Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)3.5 Europe Rice Wine Production3.5.1 Europe Rice Wine Production Growth Rate (2014-2019)3.5.2 Europe Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)3.6 China Rice Wine Production (2014-2019)3.6.1 China Rice Wine Production Growth Rate (2014-2019)3.6.2 China Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)3.7 Japan Rice Wine Production (2014-2019)3.7.1 Japan Rice Wine Production Growth Rate (2014-2019)3.7.2 Japan Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Rice Wine Business7.1 Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd7.1.1 Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.1.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.1.3 Zhejiang Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.1.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.2 Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Co.,Ltd7.2.1 Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.2.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.2.3 Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.2.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.3 Zhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd7.3.1 Zhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.3.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.3.3 Zhejiang Tapai Shaoxing Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.3.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.4 Shaoxing Nverhong Wine Co.,Ltd7.4.1 Shaoxing Nverhong Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.4.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.4.3 Shaoxing Nverhong Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.4.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.5 Shandong Jimo Rice Wine Plant7.5.1 Shandong Jimo Rice Wine Plant Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.5.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.5.3 Shandong Jimo Rice Wine Plant Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.5.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.6 Zhejiang Jiashan Rice Wine Co.,Ltd7.6.1 Zhejiang Jiashan Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.6.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.6.3 Zhejiang Jiashan Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.6.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.7 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Wine Co.,Ltd7.7.1 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.7.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.7.3 Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.7.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.8 Zhejiang Shanhao Wine Co.,Ltd7.8.1 Zhejiang Shanhao Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.8.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.8.3 Zhejiang Shanhao Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.8.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.9 Jiangsu Nantong Baipu Rice Wine Co.,Ltd7.9.1 Jiangsu Nantong Baipu Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.9.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.9.3 Jiangsu Nantong Baipu Rice Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.9.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.10 Shanghai Jinfeng Wine Co.,Ltd7.10.1 Shanghai Jinfeng Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production Sites and Area Served7.10.2 Rice Wine Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.10.3 Shanghai Jinfeng Wine Co.,Ltd Rice Wine Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.10.4 Main Business and Markets ServedContinued For Similar Reports @About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028. Medical Imaging Devices Market 2026 Full Market Analysis and Key Players Siemens AG,GE Healthcare,Philips Healthcare,Fujifilm Holdings Corporation Medical Imaging Devices https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1125 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1125 CoherentMarketInsights.com Publish a New Market Research Report On Medical Imaging Devices Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players Siemens AG,GE Healthcare,Philips Healthcare .The competitive analysis for companies operating in the medical imaging devices market includes top 10 players based on their 2016 revenue - Siemens AG, GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Hitachi Ltd, Shimadzu Corporation, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Hologic, Inc., Samsung Medison, and Carestream Health.Philips HealthcareCompany Description - Philips Healthcare is engaged in manufacturing and selling a wide range of products, which includes healthcare IT solutions, diagnostic imaging systems, patient monitoring, and cardiac devices. Philips Healthcare operates as a subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips.Philips Group 2016 revenue - US$ 29,083.3 millionDiagnostic Imaging revenue US$ 59.2 millionKey highlights - Company is focusing on increasing its share and profitability in the global medical imaging devices market. For this, it is offering products in oncology and radiology segments, which comprises smart devices, software, and services. Company is also focused on developing ultrasound products in general imaging and gynecology/obstetrics. In 2014, the company received U.S. FDA approval for spectral imaging system (IQon Spectral CT). The IQon Spectral CT is a leading, new, high standard for medical imaging. According to the Radiological Society of North America study in 2013, conducted on the Philips IQon Spectral CT and traditional imaging methods, the Philips IQon Spectral CT system exhibited enhanced diagnosis in up to 70% cases compared to traditional imaging methods.Access PDF Template Copy of this Report at:GE HealthcareCompany Description - GE Healthcare is engaged in manufacturing of cardiac devices, patient monitoring devices, and medical imaging systems. GE Healthcare is a subsidiary of GE Electrical. The company offers a wide range of products and services, which includes patient monitoring and diagnostics, software and IT, drug discovery biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, and performance improvement solutions.General Electric 2016 revenue US$ 123, 693 millionSegment revenue (Healthcare) US$ 18,291 millionKey highlights - The healthcare systems, which includes diagnostic imaging and clinical systems accounted for 70% of the GE Healthcare revenue in 2016. The U.S. and Europe accounted for 66% of the healthcare revenue. Company is focusing on building mobile- and cloud- based apps as a part of its product expansion strategy. For instance, in 2015, the GE Health Cloud and apps was launched in the U.S. The new cloud system is expected to aid in connecting over 500,000 GE imaging machines, which is expected to help clinicians to deliver better outcomes.Siemens AGCompany Description - Siemens Healthcare a subsidiary of Siemens is a medical technology and healthcare company that manufacturers clinical diagnostics and therapeutic systems. The companys Healthineers segments operate through six different business segments namely diagnostic imaging, laboratory diagnostics, advanced therapies, ultrasound, point-of-care diagnostics, and services.Siemens AG 2016 revenue - US$ 83,909.7 millionSegment revenue (Healthineers) - US$ 14,259.9 millionKey highlights - Company is focusing on research and development so as to integrate advanced medical technologies for in vitro diagnosis. Healthineers profit growth was mainly driven by diagnostic imaging business and accounted for the largest share in the Healthineers overall profit.Carestream HealthCompany Description: Carestream Health provides medical imaging and healthcare information technology solutions. Companys product portfolio includes analog X-ray, radiography systems, ultrasound, cone beam CT, and healthcare IT solutions.Key highlights - In 2016, Carestream Touch Prime Ultrasound Systems received Health Canada license. The system provides wireless connectivity and rapid transfer of images and data. It also enhances clinicians access to critical imaging information. Furthermore, the new system is useful for imaging of overweight and obese patients as the system provides deep penetration of the abdomen. Company is developing 3D and 4D technologies for better images in order to improve diagnostics in radiology. In 2016, Carestreams OnSight 3D Extremity System that uses cone beam CT (CBCT) technology received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance. The system reduces the dose as compared to traditional CT systems. It also provides high-resolution 3D images.Fujifilm Holdings CorporationCompany Description: - Fujifilm and its subsidiaries are engaged in manufacturing and selling of a wide range of information solutions and medical imaging. Through its healthcare segment, the company offers medical imaging systems.Fujifilm Holdings Corporation 2016 revenue - US$ 22,344.2 millionHealthcare segment revenue US$ 3,800 millionKey highlights - The sales of the CALNEO series a DR cassette digital X-ray imaging diagnostic system and a digital mammography system contributed for growth of the healthcare segment. In January 2017, Fujifilm Medical Systems received pre-marketing U.S. FDA approval for Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT). The digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is an optional software upgraded for its Aspire Cristalle digital mammography system. The radiologist using the Aspire Cristalle digital mammography system with DBT will be able to enhance the clinical efficiency and provide diagnostic accuracy when compared to use of full-field digital mammography (FFDM) alone.Get Customized Report in your Inbox within 24 hours @Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Explore Latest Trends in Data Center Automation Market Global Outlook Report to 2027 | Industry Key Players - Abb Ltd., Apstra, Bmc Software, Cisco, Chef, Dell, Fujitsu Limited, Microsoft, Puppet, Vmware, Data Center Automation Market | Premium Market Insights https://www.premiummarketinsights.com/sample/TIP00009600 https://www.premiummarketinsights.com/buy/TIP00009600 Premium Market Insights has Published New Market Research Report on -Data Center Automation Market Global Industry Share, Size, Overview, Trends, Growth and Forecast by 2019 - 2027.Data Center Automation Market research report is an expert compiled study which provides a holistic view of the market covering current trends and future scope, trend, Comprehensive Analysis, demand, growth opportunities and outlook with segmentation by product/service, type, application, geography / region and top industry companies.Request SAMPLE Copy at:Companies Covered in this Report are:1. ABB Ltd.2. Apstra3. BMC Software, Inc.4. Cisco Inc.5. Chef6. Dell Inc.7. Fujitsu limited8. Microsoft Corporation9. Puppet10. VMware, Inc.Data center automation facilitates unattended implementation of critical processes and workflows on the servers or data equipment. It also helps in scheduling regular data center processes, configuration of standardized infrastructure resources, proper monitoring on components of the data centers and automatically sending an alert. Data center automation automate the services and offers consistency while lowering human error.MARKET DYNAMICSThe enterprises are seeking for advanced automation solutions for their data centers. In addition, suppliers are also building their offerings which includes enhanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to modify the processes. These factor are heavily influencing the data center automation market to propel over the years. Moreover, rapid use of cloud computing big data, online gaming, and other social websites are increasing vast amount of data which requires adequate automation to business activities. Therefore, high use of internet based applications is forecasted to offer ample of opportunities to the players operating in the data center automation market.MARKET SCOPEThe "Global Data Center Automation Market Analysis to 2027" is a specialized and in-depth study of the technology, media and telecommunication industry with a special focus on the global market trend analysis. The report aims to provide an overview of the data center automation market with detailed market segmentation by solution, deployment type, application, and geography. The global data center automation market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading data center automation market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Data Center Automation Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and ForecastsBy Solution Storage Network ServerBy Deployment Type Cloud On-PremiseBy Application IT and Telecom Government Manufacturing Healthcare Energy and Utilities Retail OthersREGIONAL FRAMEWORKThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides an overview and forecast of the global data center automation market based on various segments. It also provides market size and forecast estimates from the year 2017 to 2027 with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. The data center automation market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers the analysis and forecast of 18 countries globally along with the current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.The report analyzes factors affecting the data center automation market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics affecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South & Central America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors affecting the data center automation in these regions.MARKET PLAYERSThe reports cover key developments in the data center automation market as organic and inorganic growth strategies. Various companies are focusing on organic growth strategies such as product launches, product approvals and others such as patents and events. Inorganic growth strategies activities witnessed in the market were acquisitions, and partnership & collaborations. These activities have paved way for the expansion of business and customer base of market players. The market payers from Data center automation market are anticipated to lucrative growth opportunities in the future with the rising demand for data center automation in the global market. Below mentioned is the list of few companies engaged in the data center automation market.The report also includes the profiles of key companies along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies in the data center automation market. In addition, the report focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, components, and services offered, financial information of the last 3 years, the key development in the past five years.To Purchase This report details at:Table of Contents:1. INTRODUCTION1.1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY1.2. THE INSIGHT PARTNERS RESEARCH REPORT GUIDANCE1.3. MARKET SEGMENTATION1.3.1 Data Center Automation Market - By Solution1.3.2 Data Center Automation Market - By Deployment Type1.3.3 Data Center Automation Market - By Application1.3.4 Data Center Automation Market - By Region1.3.4.1 By Country2. KEY TAKEWAYS3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY4. DATA CENTER AUTOMATION MARKET LANDSCAPE4.1. OVERVIEW4.2. PEST ANALYSIS4.3.1 North America - Pest Analysis4.3.2 Europe - Pest Analysis4.3.3 Asia-Pacific - Pest Analysis4.3.4 Middle East and Africa - Pest Analysis4.3.5 South and Central America - Pest Analysis4.3. ECOSYSTEM ANALYSIS4.4. EXPERT OPINION5. DATA CENTER AUTOMATION MARKET - KEY MARKET DYNAMICS5.1. KEY MARKET DRIVERS5.2. KEY MARKET RESTRAINTS5.3. KEY MARKET OPPORTUNITIES5.4. FUTURE TRENDS5.5. IMPACT ANALYSIS OF DRIVERS AND RESTRAINTSContinue....About Premium Market Insights:Premium Market Insights is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.The market research industry has changed in last decade. As corporate focus has shifted to niche markets and emerging countries, a number of publishers have stepped in to fulfil these information needs. We have experienced and trained staff that helps you navigate different options and lets you choose best research solution at most effective cost.Contact Us:Name: Sameer JoshiOrganization: Premium Market InsightsEmail: sales@premiummarketinsights.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876 Chondroblastoma Treatment Market 2017-2025| Improving Cancer Diagnostic Techniques, Technological Advancements In Surgery Such As Advanced Bone Graft Material https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/7709 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/toc/7709 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/it-and-telecommunication/7709/chondroblastoma-treatment-global-industry-market-research-reports http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on "Chondroblastoma Treatment Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025".The global chondroblastoma treatment market is majorly driven by increasing incidences of this type of bone cancer and therefore the need for treating and managing this cancer. The global market for chondroblastoma treatment is growing on account of favourable policies implemented by governments across various nations across the globe to fight cancer and its different forms. Favourable reimbursement policies are also helping the market to grow. In addition to this, increasing awareness among patients about this form of cancer and urgent need to treat it will also help the development of this market.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @The untapped markets in underdeveloped nations are expected to provide lucrative growth opportunities for market players within the global chondroblastoma treatment market. These nations lack proper treatment infrastructure and awareness levels and therefore, improving cancer diagnostic techniques and implementing advanced technology in the treatment procedures of chondroblastoma will greatly enhance the growth of this market. However, the market is regulated by stringent regulations regarding the procurement of draft and this difficulty is expected to pose a challenge for the global chondroblastoma treatment market. In addition to this, the high cost of surgery is expected to be a problem for cause sensitive nations. Lack of awareness among the patients in underdeveloped nations will also act as a restraining factor and hamper the growth of the global chondroblastoma treatment market.Competition is increasing the pharmaceutical industry as a large number of players are entering the market and this in turn is expected to bode well for the global chondroblastoma treatment market as each player tries to outdo the other by developing better treatment option and investing extensively in research and development which in turn are resulting into effective treatment methods. Growing investments by government and other bodies for cancer research will also help the global chondroblastoma treatment market to flourishChondroblastoma is a type of bone cancer. It develops in the cartilage which lines the pelvis, shoulder, arms, ribs, and thigh. In severe cases, chondroblastoma develops in soft tissues such as nerves and muscles of the limbs. The disease can develop in an individual form an already existing non-cancerous tumor and spread through affected tissue to cartilage and bones across the body to other tissues and vital organs of the affected individual. When chondroblastoma spreads to the breast, it is called metastatic breast cancer. The disease generally affects adults who over 40 years of age. In the U.S., chondroblastoma accounts for nearly 1% of all bone tumors. Nearly 95% of cases occur between the ages 5 and 25, nearly 98% located in epiphysis, 30% near knee, and in some cases it could also occur in calcaneus, talus, and temporal bone.Request For TOC @Symptoms of chondroblastoma are severe pain, swelling, formation of lump, enlargement of existing growth, difficulty in movement of the affected limb, and formation of pelvic tumors. The onset of these symptoms does not necessarily indicate the onset of chondroblastoma, but one has to get a health examination for proper diagnosis of the disease. Diagnosis of chondroblastoma is carried out using X-ray, ultrasound, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), blood test, biopsy of the affected tissue, and CT scan (computed tomography).Surgical treatment aims at removing the tumor, thus preventing further damage to the affected area. Surgical treatment comprises curettage and bone grafting. Bone grafting is the most common treatment for chondroblastoma. The procedure involves scraping of the tumor from the affected bone using specialized instrument, curette, which has a loop present at its tip and is incorporated with a cavity for donor tissue. Once the graft is placed in the area it takes around two to three months to heal. In some cases, surgeons perform extended curettage to remove additional layers of cells around the affected area to reduce the chances of reoccurrence of the disease. In order to restore structural integrity of the bone, a surgeon places pins and internal fixators. The treatment of chondroblastoma is generally carried out through medical therapy and surgical treatment. Chondroblastoma medical therapy is carried out using percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA), which acts as an alternative to surgery in treating the disease. The chances of reoccurrence of chrondroblastoma is approximately 20% after undergoing treatment. Therefore, one has to regularly follow up with the physician. The follow-up care for chondroblastoma includes physical examination and imaging scans.Major drivers of the global chondroblastoma treatment market are improving cancer diagnostic techniques, technological advancements in surgery such as advanced bone graft material and grafts for replacing the affected area, and increase in mergers and acquisitions by major companies to increase their geographical footprint. Restraining factors of the market are less awareness regarding the disease in underdeveloped countries, high cost of surgery, and difficulty in procurement of graft due to stringent regulations.In terms of region, the global chondroblastoma treatment market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to be the largest market for chondroblastoma treatment due to higher awareness, presence of major allograft manufacturers, better health care reforms in terms of patient care, and reimbursement. Europe held the second largest market share. Asia Pacific is expected to provide a lucrative opportunity in the chondroblastoma treatment market largely due to increase in disease burden, rise in cancer research, and surge in competitive landscape in the pharmaceutical industry as large number of global players are expanding their business in the region through strategic collaborations with regional manufacturers and research institutes. The chondroblastoma treatment market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is anticipated to be driven by increase in health care infrastructure and public-private collaborations.Major companies in the global chondroblastoma treatment market are Stryker Corporation, Zimmer, Medtronic, Baxter International, DePuy Synthes, Nuvasive, Inc., and Wright Medical Group, among others.MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources.View Full Report @The report provides the following information:Tailwinds and headwinds molding the markets trajectoryMarket segments based on products, technology, and applicationsProspects of each segmentOverall current and possible future size of the marketGrowth pace of the marketCompetitive landscape and key players strategiesThe main aim of the report is to:Enable key stakeholders in the market bet right on itUnderstand the opportunities and pitfalls awaiting themAssess the overall growth scope in the near termStrategize effectively with respect to production and distributionMRR.BIZ is a leading provider of strategic market research. Our vast repository consists research reports, data books, company profiles, and regional market data sheets. We regularly update the data and analysis of a wide-ranging products and services around the world. As readers, you will have access to the latest information on almost 300 industries and their sub-segments. Both large Fortune 500 companies and SMEs have found those useful. This is because we customize our offerings keeping in mind the specific requirements of our clients.About UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Tobacco Harvester Market: On-Going Trends, Industry Growth, Future Prospects and Forecast 2025: Asia Technology, Somaref, Spapperi, Littau Harvester, Moresil, World Tobacco https://inforgrowth.com/discount/201196/global-tobacco-harvester-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 https://inforgrowth.com/enquiry/201196/global-tobacco-harvester-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 https://inforgrowth.com/enquiry/201196/global-tobacco-harvester-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 The Tobacco Harvester market report gives CAGR value, Industry Chains, Upstream, Geography, End user, Application, Competitor analysis, SWOT Analysis, Sales, Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Market Share, Import-Export, Trends and Forecast. The report also gives insight on entry and exit barriers of the industry.Order a Copy of Tobacco Harvester Report and Get Discount Upto 50% atThe Tobacco Harvester market report covers major Manufactures Asia Technology, Somaref, Spapperi, Littau Harvester, Moresil, Oxbo International, World Tobacco.Initially report provides information about Tobacco Harvester Market Scenario, Development Prospect, Relevant Policy and Trade Overview to current demand, investment and supply in the market. It also shows future opportunities for the forecast years 2019-2025.Report provides Tobacco Harvester Market Breakdown Data by its type like Self-propelled, Walk-behind as well as by Applications such as Farm, Rent Then it gives Tobacco Harvester Production Breakdown Data by Region United States, Europe, China, Japan, Other Regions.The study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Tobacco Harvester status and future forecastinvolving, production, revenue, consumption, historical and forecast.To present the key Tobacco Harvester manufacturers, production, revenue, market share, and recent development.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.HAVE ANY QUERY OR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT? ASK TO OUR INDUSTRY EXPERT @Major Points from Table of Contents1 Study Coverage2 Executive Summary3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers4 Breakdown Data by Product5 Breakdown Data by End User6 North America7 Europe8 Asia Pacific9 Central & South America10 Middle East and Africa11 Company Profiles12 Future Forecast13 Market Opportunities, Challenges, Risks and Influences Factors Analysis14 Value Chain and Sales Channels Analysis15 Research Findings and Conclusionand MoreList of Tables and FiguresFigure Tobacco Harvester Product PictureTable Tobacco Harvester Key Market Segments in This StudyTable Key Manufacturers Tobacco Harvester Covered in This StudyTable Global Tobacco Harvester Market Size Growth Rate by Type 2019-2025 (K Units) & (Million US$)Figure Global Tobacco Harvester Production Market Share 2014-2025Ask Your Queries to our Analyst regarding Tobacco Harvester Report atAbout InForGrowth:We are a market-intelligence company formed with the objective of providing clients access to the most relevant and accurate research content for their growth needs. At InForGrowth, we understand Research requirements and help a client in taking informed business critical decisions. Given the complexities and interdependencies of market-intelligence, there is always more than one source to explore and arrive at the right answer. Through our smart search feature and our reliable & trusted publishing partners, we are paving way for a more simplified and relevant research.For all your Research needs, reach out to us at:Address: 6400 Village Pkwy suite # 104, Dublin, CA 94568, USAContact Person: RohanEmail: sales@inforgrowth.comUS: +1-909-329-2808UK: +44 (203) 743 1890 Tissue Paper Industry Insights on Trends, Drivers and Opportunities by 2022 & key players Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Clearwater paper Corp, Kimberly Clark SCA, Sofidel Group, Hengan, Unicharm. https://www.researchcosmos.com/reports/global-tissue-paper-industry-research-report-market-analysis-industry-trends-and-forecast-2017/1923302 https://www.researchcosmos.com/request/global-tissue-paper-industry-research-report-market-analysis-industry-trends-and-forecast-2017/1923302 https://www.researchcosmos.com/inquire/global-tissue-paper-industry-research-report-market-analysis-industry-trends-and-forecast-2017/1923302 www.researchcosmos.com https://acutemarketinsights.com https://marketreportsweb.com/ Tissue Paper Industry Size and Growth Rate:According to our research report, the Chromatography Reagents Market Size expected to reach USD XX Billion by 2022 from USD XX Billion in 2017, at a CAGR of XX%.Browse details of 179 numbers of pages research report developed on Tissue Paper Industry @Tissue Paper Industry Growth Drivers and Restraints:Tissue paper, a common everyday item, has become one of the most essential commodities of daily life. Tissue paper products are generally made from three main types of raw materials like wood-free (or chemical) pulp, wood-containing (or mechanical) pulp and recovered paper. Growing health and hygiene awareness, together with flourishing hospitality and tourism industry are the primary end users of tissue paper products, and the primary growth factors driving the global tissue paper market. The rise of tissue paper industry has also been supported by an exponential rise in the women workforce globally, who are also the primary consumers of tissue paper products.The cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and low penetration of tissue paper substitutes are other significant factors driving the tissue paper industry growth substantially. Various tissue papers products are widely used in many forms such as paper towels, napkins, toilet rolls and many more. The thriving tourism and hospitality industry across the world are also responsible for the growth of the market. Hotels and spa centres are registered to be the primary consumers of tissue papers. The high occupancy rates boost the growth of the hospitality industry in many developed regions.Tissue Paper Industry Regional Analysis:Geographically, the market is spread across North America, Asia Pacific, South America, Latin America and rest of the world. North America holds a higher market share in comparison to its competitive partners owing to high focus on hygiene and a thriving hospitality sector. Closely following is Europe, which is also composed of highly developed countries. Asia Pacific is comparatively lower in market share but is growing owing to the rising urbanization and focus on hygiene. Due to high population of the Asia Pacific, the region is expected to provide a significantly large market to the Household tissue paper products especially.Ask Free Sample of the report @Tissue Paper Industry Key Players:Some of the leading players in the Global Tissue Paper Market are Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Clearwater paper Corp, Kimberly Clark SCA, Sofidel Group, Hengan, Unicharm, Kruger Products, MPI Papermills etc.Tissue Paper Industry Segmentation:Types Handkerchief Paper Napkin Kleenex OtherApplication Household Commercial OthersRegion North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East and AfricaFor any queries, inquire more @About Us:Research Cosmos is a provider of standard and customized market research, business intelligence and consulting services across more than 100 domains in different industries of the world. We host the trending market reports of the worlds top-notch publishing companies, offering services to a wide range of customers from students to fortune 500 companies and discloses the hidden opportunities in every leading industry of the worldContact:Kevin StewartGlobal Sales ManagerResearch CosmosBlog:Blog: Payments Landscape in Australia: Opportunities and Risks to 2022 - Commonwealth Bank,Westpac,ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Citibank, Tyro, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard Payments Landscape in Australia Market www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012265602/sample www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012265602/buying "Payments Landscape in Australia: Opportunities and Risks to 2022", report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Australian cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cards, cash, direct debit, credit transfers, and cheques during the review-periodTop Companies Player:Commonwealth Bank,Westpac,ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Citibank, Tyro, eftpos, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners ClubGet More Information Download Sample Copy @The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, transaction values and volumes during the review-period and over the forecast-period (2018e-22f). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes.This report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into the Australian cards and payments industry, including--Current and forecast values for each market in the Australian cards and payments industry, including debit, credit, and charge cards.-Detailed insights into payment instruments including cards, cash, direct debit, credit transfers, and cheques. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.-E-commerce market analysis and payment methods.-Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing the Australian cards and payments industry.-Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit, and charge cards.Scope-To offer enhanced convenience and encourage electronic payments for even low-value transactions, in February 2018 the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and its Payments System Board rolled out a new payments infrastructure known as the New Payments Platform (NPP) that allows customers with accounts with different banks to make payments and transfer funds in real-time. It is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Developed by SWIFT in collaboration between 13 members of Australias financial services industry, the platform provides an addressing service known as PayID, which allows users to enter only the recipients mobile phone number or email address to transfer the money.-The advent of digital-only banks is likely to stir competition in the Australian banking sector over the coming years. Volt Bank received a Restricted ADI (RADI) license from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) in May 2018, enabling it to offer a limited number of products and services, before a full banking license is given. Fintech startup Xinja is also seeking a full banking license and hopes to break into mainstream banking. Other challenger banks named 86 400 and Up are to be launched soon.-Growth in the Australian credit card market is likely to slow in the coming years in the wake of several regulatory overhauls by the government. In February 2018 the Australian parliament passed a new bill that aims to crack down on credit card providers unfair practices. As a result, from July 2018 financial services providers are required to analyze the affordability of a credit card based on a consumers capability to repay the limit within a reasonable duration. The bill also calls for additional reforms from January 2019, including a ban on unsolicited invitations from banks to increase credit limits, and simplified interest calculation. In addition, banks will be mandated to offer the option to cancel a card or reduce the credit limit online. Previously, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) banned all businesses, including large and small merchants, from collecting excessive surcharges on credit and debit card payments. The new rule, which is effective from September 1, 2017, is applicable to all businesses based in Australia or that use an Australian bank.Reasons to buy-Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the Australian cards and payments industry and each market within it.-Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the Australian cards and payments industry.-Assess the competitive dynamics in the Australian cards and payments industry.-Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Australia.-Gain insights into key regulations governing the Australian cards and payments industry.Else Place Inquire before Purchase Payments Landscape in Australia-Opportunities and Risks to 2022 Available @Table of ContentsMarket OverviewExecutive SummaryCard-based PaymentsMerchant AcquiringE-commerce PaymentsMobile Proximity PaymentsAbout us:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishersContact us:Phone : +1-646-491-9876E-Mail : sales@reportsweb.com Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market Share, Growth And SWOT Analysis By Key Players : Tyco Retail Solutions, Tekno Electro Solutions, Ketec , Hangzhou Century Co Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/1160 https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/electronic-article-surveillance-eas-systems-market https://www.reportsanddata.com/make-enquiry-form/1160 The Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market is expected to grow from USD 1,723 million in 2018 to USD 2,156 million by 2026, at a CAGR of 2.80% during the forecast period. Growth in the number of theft or shoplifting incidents reported at retail stores of merchandise & books, increasing profits in the retail markets, growing need for better merchandise management, logistics control, and customer experience, which increases the profit margin, and the operational processes in the retail stores, emergence of walk-in shopping complexes in place of traditional stores and need for better security systems across various industries and applications against thefts are some of the driving factors of the market.High initial investments and low-cost substitutes of EAS systems available in the market may restrain the growth of the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems market.EAS system is an anti-theft technology to prevent shoplifting, by attaching an electronically detectable tag to products. Whenever there is an unbilled item passing through the gates of the store, an alert is issued for the retailers through the electronic gate sensors.Request a Sample Report Of Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market Directly@Further key findings from the report suggest The Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems market is segmented by type into magnetic systems, acousto-magnetic systems, microwave systems and radio frequency systems. The radio frequency segment dominates the market with an approx. CAGR of 3.92% in the forecast period, since is relatively cheaper, making it an economical choice for small and mid-level retailers. Moreover, the smaller sized tags and labels can be another bane to the RF systems market. The Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems market is segmented by application into supermarkets, apparel stores, cosmetics/pharmacy, and fashion accessories stores. The market for supermarkets segment is expected to witness highest growth of CAGR 3.72% during the forecast period, maximum reports of theft and uplifting reported in thie s segment. The Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market is segmented by Geography into North, America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. North America, since has started an early adoption of the EAS systems, is expected to witness the highest growth in its CAGR 4.14% during the forecast period. Moreover, APAC leads the market, with a market share of USD 430.75 million in the base year, due to the domination of China, which is the home for some leading manufacturers of EAS systems. Key players with in Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems market are Sentry Technology Corp, Checkpoint Systems Inc., Tyco Retail Solutions, Tekno Electro Solutions, Ketec Inc., ALL-TAG Security Americas Inc., Hangzhou Century Co., Ltd, Nedap N.V., Universal Surveillance Systems and Tag Co.Read More@For the purpose of this report, the market has been segmented on the basis of type, applications, business model, components and regional analysis.Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market by type (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2026)o Magneto-Harmonico Acousto-Magnetico Radio Frequencyo MicrowaveElectronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market by applications (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2026)o Supermarketso Apparel Storeso Cosmetics/Pharmacyo Fashion Accessories StoresElectronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market, by components (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2026)o Electronic Antennao Deactivator/Detachero Electronic TagElectronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems Market Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2026)o North America USo Europe Germany France UKo Asia Pacific China Japan Indiao Middle East & Africao Latin America BrazilMake An Enquiry at:Reports and Data. is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. Our solutions purely focus on your purpose to locate, target and analyze consumer behavior shifts across demographics, across industries and help clients make a smarter business decision. We offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a multiple industries including Healthcare, Technology, Chemicals, Types, and Energy. We consistently update our research offerings to ensure our clients are aware about the latest trends existent in the market.40 Wall St. 28th floor New York City, NY 10005 United States Acne Vulgaris Treatment Market: Views Sought On New Approach Pfizer Inc., and Novan Inc, Allergan plc, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Valeant Pharmaceutical International Acne Vulgaris Treatment www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/1260 www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1260 According to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2015, 9.4% of global population was estimated to be affected by acne. Moreover, globally, acne is the eight most prevalent disease. The U.S. is the largest market for acne vulgaris treatment products. According to study by National Institute of Health (NIH), in 2013, over US$ 3 Billion was spent for treating acne vulgaris in the U.S. In 2014, according to American Academy of Dermatology, the number of acne vulgaris patient aged 25 years and above, especially women, is rising significantly. Furthermore, low awareness regarding the factors causing acne is another factor leading to increasing prevalence acne vulgaris.Download PDF Brochure @Treatment for acne on an average lasts for two years, therefore companies capitalize on this and earn sustainable revenue from acne treatment products. Majority of the population suffering from acne prefer OTC products as first line therapy. However, some have to visit dermatologist to cure acne vulgaris on account of ineffective result from OTC products.Key players in the acne vulgaris treatment market are focusing on collaboration, acquisition, and new product development strategies in order to enhance their product offerings and sustaining their position in the market. For instance, in 2017, LOreal a global beauty company signed an agreement with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. to acquire its skin care brands portfolio which includes anti-acne brand AcneFree at US$1.3 billion. Also, in November 2017 Novan Inc., announced its plans to conduct phase three clinical trial for its new anti-acne molecule.Novan has unique nitric oxide technology, Nitrici, through which a timed release of nitric oxide from chemical entity is possible. This is beneficial as nitric oxide has natural ability to revitalize tissue, kill invading microorganisms, prevent clotting, regulate inflammation, and even aid in removing cancer cells. Moreover, in 2017, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. signed an agreement with Haitong International Zhonghua Finance Acquisition Fund I, L.P, to sell its Obagi Medical Products business for US$ 190 million in cash. Obagi Medical Products have high presence in acne treatment products market.Key players in the global acne vulgaris treatment market are Allergan plc, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc., F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Mylan, N.V., Bayer AG, Janssen Pharma Inc., Galderma Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Novan Inc.Get Exclusive Sample Copy @Acne Vulgaris Treatment Market Taxonomy:On the basis of product type, the global acne vulgaris treatment market is segmented into:MedicationsBenzoyl peroxidesRetinoidsSystemic and topical AntibioticsHormonal AgentsOthers (Salicylic Acid, Azelic, Dapsone, and Alternative therapy)DevicesLaser devicesHeat extraction devicesOthersAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154 Belladonna Market Shares, Strategies and Forecast Worldwide, 2018-2028 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=791 https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=791 https://www.factmr.com/report/791/belladonna-market www.factmr.com/ http://insiderstribune.com/ Despite the ambiguity about the negative effects of belladonna on the human health, recent discoveries of exotic medicines, including belladonna, in the healthcare industry is giving rise to the belladonna market. However, there is no scientific evidence to the positive effects of belladonna on any health condition, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Belladonna is considered unsafe when taken orally, and can cause dry mouth, fever, or even hallucinations in severe cases, which may hamper the demand for belladonna as a medicine. This will ultimately impede growth of the belladonna market.Nevertheless, various research institutes across the world are conducting research on the unique medicinal properties of belladonna leaves to discover innovative drugs. Recent discoveries on the effectiveness of belladonna in curing infections caused due to food poisoning bacteria can bolster its pharmaceutical applications, boosting growth of the belladonna market in the upcoming years.In addition, growing demand for complementary and alternative medicines is creating a potential for growth in the belladonna market. Leading pharmaceutical companies are investing heavily on research and development to discover modern medicines or recreational drugs by using belladonna. Increasing penetration of complementary and alternative medicines and a mounting number of healthcare companies investing in the alternative medicine industry is likely to augur well for the belladonna market in the upcoming years.Request For Brochure @Global Belladonna Market: SnapshotThe belladonna market is envisaged to increase its growth with popular medicinal uses of the herbs two chemicals, viz. atropine and scopolamine. Doctors may use atropine to dilate the eyes of patients for medical examination. The chemical is also used as an antidote to chemical warfare agents and insect poison. Just as scopolamine, it could help reduce bodily discharge. However, it may not be as effective in heart rate control and as a muscle relaxant. On the other hand, scopolamine could be used to help with acid reflux and nauseas as it can reduce stomach acid.Although belladonna is marred with the tag of poisonous plant, throughout history, it has been used in many different ways. The herb can be used to treat a range of diseases, provided it is prescribed by a doctor. Pink eye, Parkinsons, diverticulitis, excessive nighttime urination, and stomach ulcers can be treated using the herb. Extra caution could be required to store medicines with belladonna. It can be a safe bet for use in regular medicinal practices, only if it is used in appropriate doses. Infants and children could be at risk even if a small amount of the berries or leaves is consumed.Popularity of Complementary and Alternative Medicines to Drive Belladonna MarketIntercultural changes attributed to globalization has led to the increased use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in both, developed and developing countries. Consumers attitude towards the empowering and holistic aspects of treatments involving alternative medicines is the primary reason why the penetration of belladonna is increasing across the globe. Belladonna is mainly used in homeopathy, which acts as an alternative medicine and a recreational drug. The belladonna market is growing at a steady rate, as the popularity of various CAM therapies involving belladonna is increasing across the world.Request For Sample @Most often, it is noticed that CAM therapies are accepted without having detailed information and knowledge about the alternative medicines. In order to address this issue, the World Health Organization established a cooperation plan with regional governments to spread knowledge about various CAM therapies and techniques. Governments of various countries have developed policies to promote the appropriate adoption of alternative medicines such as belladonna for curing several health conditions.Most governments are providing funds to encourage more research in the field of traditional medicines and CAM therapies. Increasing investments in the alternative medicines industry may contribute to the expansion of the belladonna market. As a result of the implementation of these policies, the awareness about health benefits of belladonna as an alternative medicine is increasing among consumers. It may boost the growth of the belladonna market in the upcoming years.Growth Prospects of the Homeopathy Product Industry to Influence the Belladonna MarketHomeopathy is practiced in many countries and homeopathic products are witnessing decent demand across the globe. Homeopathy industry is Europe is witnessing healthy growth, especially in the Central and Eastern Europe. According to the European Coalition on Homeopathic and Anthropological Medicinal Products, the European market for homeopathic and anthropological products surpassed US$ 1700 Mn in 2013. As these medicines are being used by over 60% of the European population, the demand for homeopathic and anthropological medicines is expected to increase in the upcoming years. As belladonna is used in many homeopathic medicines, growing demand in Europe will complement the growth of the belladonna market in Europe.However, FDA recently proposed a risk-based enforcement approach towards all the human drug products labeled as homeopathic that are distributed in the region without the FDA approval. Certain categories of homeopathic medicines can pose a higher risk to public health and hence, the FDA is imposing rules and regulations on the manufacturing and distribution of these products. Recently, teething tablets manufactured by Homeolab USA, a homeopathy company in Canada, were found to contain belladonna more than the amount mentioned on the label, which made the tablets poisonous. FDA sent a warning letter to the company summarizing the violations of regulations and withholding approval of any new products by the company as a drug manufacturer. The increased stringency of regulations on homeopathic products can impact the applications of belladonna and ultimately, the growth of the belladonna market.Rising Awareness of the Side Effects of Belladonna to Hamper its DemandBelladonna finds a wide range of applications across industries such as pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetics, and personal care. Although, belladonna exhibits various health-benefitting properties, its severe side effects are restricting its use in various applications. Consumers are becoming more health-conscious and aware of the ill effects of belladonna when taken by mouth. As it can prove to be toxic and highly unsafe for pregnant and lactating mothers, the demand for medicines containing belladonna can decline in the near future. With the warning issued by FDA against the teething products containing belladonna, the growth of the belladonna market may be hampered in the upcoming years.Report Analysis @This analytical research study imparts an all-inclusive assessment on the market, while propounding historical intelligence, actionable insights, and industry-validated & statistically-upheld market forecast. Verified and suitable set of assumptions and methodology has been leveraged for developing this comprehensive study. Information and analysis on key market segments incorporated in the report has been delivered in weighted chapters. A thorough analysis has been offered by the report onAbout Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Read Industrial News : EDA Tools Market for IC Market Is Expanding To Significant Growth Potential By 2024 :Agnisys Technology, Aldec, Altium, Ansys, Arm Holdings, Cadence Design Global EDA Tools Market for IC Market https://www.researchformarkets.com/sample/global-eda-tools-market-480921 https://www.researchformarkets.com/buy-now/global-eda-tools-market-480921/one https://www.researchformarkets.com/inquiry/global-eda-tools-market-480921 With a devotion and commitment of supreme level of resilience and integrated approaches, this EDA Tools Market for IC market research report has been structured. The EDA Tools Market for IC report also puts a light on growth opportunity assessment (GOA), customer insights (CI), competitive business intelligence (CBI), and distribution channel assessment (DCA).The highly competitive environment required players to focus on efficient manufacturing techniques. In addition, the penetration rate of Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) is rising, and global demand for sophisticated EDA tools is increasing. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the market for the forecast period expected to be followed by Europe. The EDA tool market is growing in adoption rates across many industries worldwide. The increase in vendor-specific Big Data analysis and artificial intelligence implementation is contributing significantly to the growth of the EDA tools market for the IC industry.Request Sample Copy of the Report @An increasing list of EDA tool vendors expected to drive market growth during the forecast periodThe growth of EDA tools is directly or indirectly related to the growth of Electronic Computer Aided Design (E-CAD), as most vendors provide EDA tools as an add-on to the entire E-CAD solution. The adoption of EDA tools by SMEs is increasing primarily due to limited capital investment needed for subscription-based (cloud) services as well as cost efficiency. The adoption of cloud-based EDA tools in your organization to reduce costs and save time (process optimization) can help drive market growth through trends that are expected to persist during the forecast period.This Report Focuses On Top Manufacturers In Global Market:Agnisys Technology Pvt Ltd., Aldec, Altium Ltd, Ansys Inc., Arm Holdings, Cadence Design Systems Inc., Keysight Technologies Inc., JEDA Technologies, Mentor Graphic Corporation, MunEDA, Siemens PLM Software Ltd., Synopsys Inc., Zuken Inc.The main reason for the increasing demand for the system of the chip is that the cost per function of the IC declines. Recent significant developments in the IC field enable significant design changes in microprocessors and microcontrollers, allowing the incorporation of a variety of patterns within a single chip. In addition, the advent of the Internet of Things is a global market leader. Demand for the Internet of Things is expected to increase after the cost of connected devices has decreased. This will again facilitate the expansion of the EDA tool market.Product Type Segmentation Solution ServicesApplication Segmentation Design Simulation VerificationBuy This Report @North America remained dominant in the IC industry's EDA tools market in 2017, which accounted for nearly a third of the world market share and is expected to remain at the forefront throughout the forecast period. This is because many small and medium-sized companies are leaning on EDA tools. The Asia Pacific region had the second largest market share in 2017, the fastest growth in 2017 as the adoption rate of EDA tools for the semiconductor industry grew. However, the Asia-Pacific region is hampering the growth of the EDA tools market for the IC industry. Factors such as multiple regulatory compliance and limited availability of an effective Internet connectivity infrastructure are seen as key causes of potential growth slag.Table Of ContentSection 1 EDA Tools Market for IC DefinitionSection 2 Global EDA Tools Market for IC Market Major Player Share and Market OverviewSection 3 Major Player EDA Tools Market for IC Business IntroductionSection 4 Global EDA Tools Market for IC Market Segmentation (Region Level)Section 5 Global EDA Tools Market for IC Market Segmentation (Type Level)Section 7 EDA Tools Market for IC Market Forecast 2019-2023Section 8 EDA Tools Market for IC Segmentation TypeSection 9 EDA Tools Market for IC Segmentation IndustrySection 10 EDA Tools Market for IC Cost AnalysisSection 11 ConclusionMake an Enquiry before Buying @RFM regularly interviews technology and business professionals to keep track of the latest developments in each area. This ongoing research is stratified by company size and industry sector and is weighted to reflect the global market. All data is collected continuously through structured questionnaires delivered over the web or over the phone. This gives the RFM team the opportunity to request detailed question sets, complex skip patterns, and real-time calculations, helping respondents to respond to questions related to numbers and percentages. Respondents receiving an interview as an expert are selected and qualified according to specific criteria in addition to decision-making authority and activities within the organization.Key reason to Purchase the report1. To describe and forecast the EDA Tools Market for IC market, in terms of value, by process, product type, and industry.2. To strategically profile key players and comprehensively analyze their market position in terms of ranking and core competencies, and detail the competitive landscape for market leaders3. To describe and forecast the market, in terms of value, for various segments, by region North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Rest of the World (RoW)4. To provide detailed information regarding the major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges) influencing the MID market growth5. Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various trocars across geographies.6. To strategically analyze micro markets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contribution to the overall marketNote: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.com Probiotics Gummies Market Will Witness Growth Based On Increased Prevalence Technical Sector Till 2024 : Digestive Advantage,Walgreens,CVS Pharmacy,Renew Life,Natures Bounty,Fortify Global Probiotics Gummies Market https://www.researchformarkets.com/sample/global-probiotics-gummies-market-477905 https://www.researchformarkets.com/buy-now/global-probiotics-gummies-market-477905/one https://www.researchformarkets.com/inquiry/global-probiotics-gummies-market-477905 Probiotics Gummies market report is an excellent report that makes it possible to the Probiotics Gummies industry to take strategic decisions and achieve growth objectives. The analysis of this report has been used to examine various segments that are relied upon to witness the quickest development based on the estimated forecast frame. This report also provides the company profile, product specifications, production value, contact information of manufacturer and market shares for company. The report helps Probiotics Gummies industry to divulge the best market opportunities and look after proficient information to efficiently climb the ladder of success.There are hundreds of bacteria inhabited by humble humans, and they are not living there but working for themselves. Intestinal flora accounts for 70-80% of the human immune system. Adding good bacteria called probiotics protects the digestive tract from harmful bacteria in sugar, pesticides and saturated fats. Too many bacteria can irritate and destroy the intestinal wall, enter the bloodstream, and cause health problems such as constipation, depression, skin problems, autoimmune diseases and bad breath. probiotics can be integrated the RFM.Request Sample Copy of the ReportProbiotic supplements are available in many different forms, including capsules, chewable tablets, powders, liquid drops and gummies. Capsules are the most common and convenient form of probiotic supplements. With these products gaining in popularity, there is still a relatively limited range of probiotic supplements available today.The price of the Probiotic gummy varies from company to company and the quality of the Probiotic gummy is different from the other companies.Digestive Advantage, Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy, Renew Life and Nature's Bounty are renowned for their amazing performance of Probiotic gummy and related services. More and more manufacturers will plunge into this industry to meet the large and growing demand.This Report Focuses On Top Manufacturers In Global Market: Digestive Advantage Walgreens CVS Pharmacy Renew Life Natures Bounty Fortify Natures Way Rainbow Light Smarty Pants Jamieson Olly Nordic Naturals Rexall SundownAll the data, statistics, and information collected in the report has been studied and analyzed with the demonstrated tools and techniques such as SWOT analysis and Porter's Five Forces analysis. The report provides a profound overview of product specification, technology, product type and production analysis considering major factors such as Revenue, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin. Probiotics Gummies market report acts upon systematic gathering, recording and analysis of data for the concerns linked to the marketing of goods and services and thereby serve the ABC industry with an excellent market research report. Granular market information assembled in this Probiotics Gummies report will be helpful to A Probiotics Gummies industry to take competent business decisions.Product Type SegmentationDigestive Support, Immune SupportApplication SegmentationFor Child, For AdultNow Buy This Report:By region, the Global Probiotics Gummies Technologies Market can be categorized as North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, the Middle East and Africa.Table Of ContentSection 1 Probiotics Gummies DefinitionSection 2 Global Probiotics Gummies Market Major Player Share and Market OverviewSection 3 Major Player Probiotics Gummies Business IntroductionSection 4 Global Probiotics Gummies Market Segmentation (Region Level)Section 5 Global Probiotics Gummies Market Segmentation (Type Level)Section 7 Probiotics Gummies Market Forecast 2019-2023Section 8 Probiotics Gummies Segmentation TypeSection 9 Probiotics Gummies Segmentation IndustrySection 10 Probiotics Gummies Cost AnalysisSection 11 ConclusionMake an Enquiry before Buying @RFM regularly interviews technology and business professionals to keep track of the latest developments in each area. This ongoing research is stratified by company size and industry sector and is weighted to reflect the global market. All data is collected continuously through structured questionnaires delivered over the web or over the phone. This gives the RFM team the opportunity to request detailed question sets, complex skip patterns, and real-time calculations, helping respondents to respond to questions related to numbers and percentages. Respondents receiving an interview as an expert are selected and qualified according to specific criteria in addition to decision-making authority and activities within the organization.Key reason to Purchase the report1. To describe and forecast the Probiotics Gummies market, in terms of value, by process, product type, and industry.2. To strategically profile key players and comprehensively analyze their market position in terms of ranking and core competencies, and detail the competitive landscape for market leaders3. To describe and forecast the market, in terms of value, for various segments, by region North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Rest of the World (RoW)4. To provide detailed information regarding the major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges) influencing the MID market growth5. Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various trocars across geographies.6. To strategically analyze micro markets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contribution to the overall market.Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.com Contact Lenses Market Outlook with Is Expected To Grow US$ 10500 million Till 2023 | Analysis by Novartis, CooperVision, Bausch + Lomb, St.Shine Optical, Menicon, Hydron Contact Lenses Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/140876 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/140876/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/140876 Contact Lenses Market research report 2019 - 2023 provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.Global Contact Lenses Market Synopsis:According to Market Analyst, The Global Contact Lenses Market is expected to grow at an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2019 to 2023.If you want to know more about Contact Lenses, Get Sample Copy of Report @The Contact Lenses industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Contact Lenses market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 0.0371372893366 from 7000.0 million $ in 2014 to 8400.0 million $ in 2018, Market analysts believe that in the next few years, Contact Lenses market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023, The market size of the Contact Lenses will reach 10500.0 million $.Increase in incidence and prevalence of vision disorders among the young generation due to unhealthy lifestyle, along with new product development and technological innovation are expected to drive the global contact lens market during the forecast period.The global contact lens market has been segmented based on technology, product, design, and region. In the product segment, Contact Lenses Market has been sub segmented into soft lenses and gas permeable lenses. The soft contact lenses segment is projected to account for major market share during the forecast period.In terms of design, the global market can be classified into spherical, toric, multifocal, and others. The spherical segment is expected to capture major market share during the forecast period.In case of geographical region, North America is projected to account a major share of the Contact Lenses Market followed by Europe. Increase in product launches and expansion strategies adopted by major manufacturers in the contact lens market are attributed to the dominance of North America and Europe during the forecast period.Complete report on Contact Lenses Market spread across 125 Pages and No. of Table of contents. Buy Research @The Market is segmented and projected on the basis of major key players:1 Novartis2 CooperVision3 Bausch + Lomb4 St.Shine Optical5 Menicon6 Hydron7 Weicon8 Bescon9 NEO Vision And MoreMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Request a Discount on standard prices of this premium report @Key Questions Answered in this Report:1 What is the global market size for Contact Lenses market in different countries?2 Which key developments are expected to have a long-term impact on the water filters market?3 What will be the global Contact Lenses market size in 2023?4 Who will be the top vendors in Contact Lenses market?5 Whats going to be the growth speed?6 Which are the most potential countries and markets?TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Contact Lenses Definition2 Global Contact Lenses Market Major Player Share and Market Overview3 Major Player Contact Lenses Business Introduction4 Global Contact Lenses Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Contact Lenses Market Segmentation (Type Level)6 Global Contact Lenses Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Contact Lenses Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Contact Lenses Market Forecast 2019-20239 Contact Lenses Segmentation Type10 Contact Lenses Segmentation Industry11 Contact Lenses Cost Analysis12 ConclusionAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Dental X-ray System Market 2019: Developments and Analytical Data, Shares, Key Players like Sirona, Danaher, Planmeca, VATECH, FONA, YOSHIDA | Forecast to 2023 Dental X-ray System Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/138102 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/138102 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/138102/single Global Dental X-ray System Market Report 2019 offers elaborated knowledge on the market parts like size, Key Regions, growth, trends, dominating firms, Major Manufactures. The Dental X-ray System report introduces market competition situation among the vendors, revenue, product & services, latest developments and business strategies.Global Dental X-ray System Market Overview:According to market analysts, Global Dental X-ray System Market is projected to grow at a high CAGR value from 2019 to 2023.Sample Copy of Global Dental X-ray System Market Report Available @According to Market Analysts Global Dental X-ray System Market size is to maintain the average annual growth rate of .0178684435454% from 540.0 million $ in 2014 to 590.0 million $ in 2018. Market analysts believe that Dental X-ray System Market size will be further expanded, the market size of the Dental X-ray System will reach 620 million $ by 2023.The market for dental X-ray system mainly driven by the factors such as increasing dental diseases, rising demand for dental digital X-rays in oral disease treatments, numerous technological advancements that have revolutionized the obsoleteimaging modalities, and other demographic determinants.Dental digital X-ray is a preventive as well as diagnostic approach in which X-rays pass through any soft tissue as in the gum and get absorbed by dense tissues that produce an image. Digital dental X-rays have become a preferred modality recently, as they are safer and more convenient when compared to conventional imaging techniques. Dental digital X-rays enable dentists to diagnose common dental problems such as cavities, disorders associated with the gums, and dental infections.The Dental X-ray System Market is segmented based on Product Types, Type, Applications, End User and Regions. On the basis of product type, the market is sub-segmented into Digital X-Ray Systems and Analog X-Ray Systems. By application, the market is divided into Diagnostic, Therapeutic, Cosmetic and Forensic.Regionally, In terms of value, North America was the dominant regional market for dental X-ray systems in 2017 and is expected to grow at a high CAGR over the forecast period.Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Key Regions:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Top global key service provider companies covered in the study include:1 Sirona2 Danaher3 Planmeca Group4 VATECH5 FONA6 YOSHIDA7 Air TECHNIQUES8 MORITA and More..Purchase this report online along with table of contents @Key Questions Answered in this Report:1 How has the Dental X-ray System market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?2 What are the price trends of Dental X-ray System?3 What is the structure of the Dental X-ray System industry and who are the key players?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Dental X-ray System market?5 What are the latest market trends?Table of Content:1 Dental X-ray System Definition2 Global Dental X-ray System Market Major Player Share and Market Overview3 Major Player Dental X-ray System Business Introduction4 Global Dental X-ray System Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Dental X-ray System Market Segmentation (Type Level)6 Global Dental X-ray System Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Dental X-ray System Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Dental X-ray System Market Forecast 2019-20239 Dental X-ray System Segmentation Type10 Dental X-ray System Segmentation Industry11 Dental X-ray System Cost Analysis12 ConclusionAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Online Dating Services Market to Set Phenomenal Growth by 2023 | Potential Revenue Analysis by Match.com, PlentyofFish, OkCupid, Zoosk, EHarmony, JiaYuan, YouYuan, NetEase Online Dating Services Market https://www.businessindustryreports.com/sample-request/101357 https://www.businessindustryreports.com/buy-now/101357/single https://www.businessindustryreports.com/check-discount/101357 Global Online Dating Services Market Report 2019 report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Global Online Dating Services Market Overview:The Global Online Dating Services Market has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Online Dating Services market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 2.81% from USD 716 Million in 2014 to USD 778 Million in 2018, market analysts believe that in the next few years, Online Dating Services Market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023, The market size of the Online Dating Services will reach USD 864 Million.Available Exclusive Sample Copy of this Report @According to the market report analysis, Online Dating Services offer a platform that helps individuals to quickly learn what the other person is looking for. Online Dating Services have become extremely credible with increasing number of users accepting the idea of meeting a random stranger through online dating services. Also, the verification processes are tightened due to which there are very few fake profiles, which make online dating service a safe environment for the users.The Global Online Dating Services Market is segmented on the basis of Type, Application and Region. Based on the Type, the Global Online Dating Services Market is sub-segmented into Casual, Socialize, Marriage and others. On the basis of Application, the Global Online Dating Services Market is sub-segmented into Ordinary and LGBT.In terms of the regional analysis, the Online Dating Services Market is witnessing growth in the Americas due to the rising popularity of Online Dating Services in North America. People in this region consider Online Dating Services to be the most trusted source for finding a partner. South America is also experiencing an increase in the demand for internet dating services due to the growing internet penetration in the region.This is an expert and top to bottom examination on the present condition of the Online Dating Services Market. The report gives a fundamental review of the business including definitions, arrangements, applications and industry chain structure. The Online Dating Services Market investigation is accommodated the worldwide markets including advancement patterns, focused scene examination, and key districts improvement status. Improvement strategies and plans are additionally examined and producing procedures and cost structures broke down. Online Dating Services Market import / send out utilization, free market activity figures and cost and creation esteem net edges are additionally given.Purchase this report online with 125 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Online Dating Services Market Report 2019 @Major Key Players:1 Match.com2 PlentyofFish3 OkCupid4 Zoosk5 EHarmony6 JiaYuan7 BaiHe8 ZheNai9 YouYuan10 NetEase and More................Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @What Information does this report contain?1 A detailed analysis of regulatory trends, drivers, industry pitfalls, challenges and growth opportunities for participants2 Which are the leading market products, applications & regions and how will they perform by 2023?3 What are the technologies & innovation trends, how will they evolve by 2023?4 Which companies lead the industry, how are they positioned in the market in terms of sustainability, competency, production capacity and strategic outlook?In the end, this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production, market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Online Dating Services Market.Major Points in Table of Contents:Global Online Dating Services Market Report 20191 Online Dating Services Product Definition2 Global Online Dating Services Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview3 Manufacturer Online Dating Services Business Introduction4 Global Online Dating Services Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Online Dating Services Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)6 Global Online Dating Services Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Online Dating Services Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Online Dating Services Market Forecast 2019-20239 Online Dating Services Segmentation Product Type10 Online Dating Services Segmentation Industry11 Online Dating Services Cost of Production Analysis12 ConclusionAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940 Global SD-WAN Router Market Growth Analysis, Challenges and Industry Key Players Cisco Meraki, VeloCloud, Riverbed, CloudGenix, Talari, Viptela, Peplink | 2019-2025 Global SD-WAN Router Market 2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3822676-global-sd-wan-router-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/3822676-global-sd-wan-router-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3822676-global-sd-wan-router-market-insights-forecast-to-2025 SummaryWiseguyreports.Com Adds Global SD-WAN Router Market Insights, Forecast to 2025" To Its Research DatabaseSD-WAN Router Market 2019-2025Description: -Global SD-WAN Router market size will increase to Million US$ by 2025, from Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for SD-WAN Router.Scope of the Report:This report researches the worldwide SD-WAN Router market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like United States, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.This study categorizes the global SD-WAN Router breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.Free Sample Report @The major manufacturers covered in this reportCisco MerakiVeloCloudRiverbedCloudGenixTalariViptelaPeplinkVersa NetworksCloudGenixNokia NuageCitrixSilver PeakFatpipeRiverbedCradlepointAryakaNuage NetworksSD-WAN Router Breakdown Data by TypeOn-prem-onlyCloud-enabledCloud-enabled plus backboneSD-WAN Router Breakdown Data by ApplicationResidentialCommercialSD-WAN Router Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsSD-WAN Router Consumption Breakdown Data by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaThe study objectives are:To analyze and research the global SD-WAN Router capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast;To focus on the key SD-WAN Router manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years.To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Leave a Query @Major Key Points in Table of Content:1 Study Coverage1.1 SD-WAN Router Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global SD-WAN Router Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 On-prem-only1.4.3 Cloud-enabled1.4.4 Cloud-enabled plus backbone1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global SD-WAN Router Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Residential1.5.3 Commercial1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global SD-WAN Router Production2.1.1 Global SD-WAN Router Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global SD-WAN Router Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global SD-WAN Router Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global SD-WAN Router Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 SD-WAN Router Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key SD-WAN Router Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: Evolution.8 Manufacturers Profiles8.1 Cisco Meraki8.1.1 Cisco Meraki Company Details8.1.2 Company Description8.1.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.1.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.1.5 SWOT Analysis8.2 VeloCloud8.2.1 VeloCloud Company Details8.2.2 Company Description8.2.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.2.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.2.5 SWOT Analysis8.3 Riverbed8.3.1 Riverbed Company Details8.3.2 Company Description8.3.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.3.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.3.5 SWOT Analysis8.4 CloudGenix8.4.1 CloudGenix Company Details8.4.2 Company Description8.4.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.4.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.4.5 SWOT Analysis8.5 Talari8.5.1 Talari Company Details8.5.2 Company Description8.5.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.5.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.5.5 SWOT Analysis8.6 Viptela8.6.1 Viptela Company Details8.6.2 Company Description8.6.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.6.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.6.5 SWOT Analysis8.7 Peplink8.7.1 Peplink Company Details8.7.2 Company Description8.7.3 Capacity, Production and Value of SD-WAN Router8.7.4 SD-WAN Router Product Description8.7.5 SWOT AnalysisContinued......For Detailed Report @Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk) Digital Banking Market Growth rate, Cost Structures and Forecasts to 2024 | Urban FT, Kony, Backbase, Technisys, Infosys, Digiliti Money, Innofis, Mobilearth, D3 Banking Technology, etc Digital Banking Market https://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012310587/sample https://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00012310587/discount https://www.reportsweb.com/buy&RW00012310587/buy/1800 Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual and remains ongoing, and is constituted by differing degrees of banking service digitization. Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include APIs enabling cross-institutional service composition to deliver banking products and provide transactions. It provides the ability for users to access financial data through desktop, mobile and ATM services.Digital Banking Market provides an in-depth insight of Industry covering all important parameters including development trends, challenges, opportunities, key manufacturers and competitive analysis. In contrast to the traditional banking business model, Digital Banking is the move to online banking where banking services are delivered over the internet. It has all the same functions as a head office, branch office, online service, bank cards, ATM and point of sale machinesDigital Banking market: Company Coverage:Urban FT, Kony, Backbase, Technisys, Infosys, Digiliti Money, Innofis, Mobilearth, D3 Banking Technology, Alkami, Q2, Misys, SAP.Get Sample Copy of this Report atReports has published an innovate data titled Digital Banking Market. The effective statistics about facts and figures are presented by using effective methodologies. Collectively, it focuses on historical records, and current trends along with future predictions. Different key players are aggregated on the basis of their manufacturing base and productivity.Digital Banking market: Product Type Coverage: PC, Mobile.Digital Banking market: Demand Coverage: Retail Digital Banking, SME Digital Banking, Corporate Digital Banking.Digital Banking market: Region Coverage: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa.Get discount on Purchase report atThe study objectives of Digital Banking Market are:To analyze and research the global Digital Banking status and future forecast involving, production, revenue, consumption, historical and forecast.To present the key Digital Banking manufacturers, production, revenue, market share, and recent development.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.Table of Content:1 Industry Overview2 Digital Banking Market by Type3 Global Market Demand4 Major Region Market5 Major Companies List5.1 Urban FT (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.2 Kony (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.3 Backbase (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.4 Technisys (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.5 Infosys (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.6 Digiliti Money (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5.7 Innofis (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)6 ConclusionApart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Digital Banking Market is also explained. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption tables and figures are also given.Purchase a Copy of Report atAbout UsReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.The market research industry has changed in last decade. As corporate focus has shifted to niche markets and emerging countries, a number of publishers have stepped in to fulfil these information needs. We have experienced and trained staff that helps you navigate different options and lets you choose best research solution at most effective cost.Contact UsPhone : +1-646-491-9876E-Mail : sales@reportsweb.com Know About Payments Landscape Market by New Platforms and Tools 2019| Lloyds Bank Plc, Barclays Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC Holdings Plc, Tesco Personal Finance Plc, Visa, Mastercard, American Express Company https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=5275 https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=5275 https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=5275 www.itintelligencemarkets.com The idea of exchange is money and payment has greatly developed since its foundation. From metal coins to paper, bank accounts to wallets, money comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and forms. Over the past decade, the payment industry has grown strongly every year with new suppliers, new platforms and new payment tools. The increase in digital payment methods and the innovation of overseas payments will provide new opportunities for the market in the future.The Payments Landscape is expected to grow at a CAGR of + 11% for the forecast period, according to a new report. Due to steady growth in the Internet market, market research is expected to become more active. Over the past few years, Internet penetration has been growing well and we expect the same trajectory to continue as the investment of Internet service providers increases.Get Sample copy of this Report:Top key player profiled in this report: Lloyds Bank Plc, Barclays Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland (Royal Bank of Scotland Group), HSBC Holdings Plc, Santander UK Plc (Banco Santander S.A.), Tesco Personal Finance Plc, Visa Inc., Mastercard, American Express Company, Diners Club International Ltd. etc.The report on the Payments Landscape market contains important plans that can actually be studied. This report shows key technology developments and trends adopted by key engineers over a period of time. To achieve this, we use a number of criteria to investigate the Global Payments Landscape Market and classify it into sub-segments. Growth forecasts for each segment are included in the report.By Mode of Payment: Point of Sale Online SaleBy Application: Retail Banking and Financial Service Telecommunication Government TransportationGet discount on this premium report:Key Questions Answered in Report:What are major factor which lead this market to next level?What will the market Demand and what will be Growth?What are the latest opportunities to Payments Landscape market in future?What are the strengths of the key players?What are the key of Payments Landscape market?According to It Intelligence Markets the Global Payments Landscape Market has been examined across the globe. North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe have been examined on the basis of different business terminologies.Finally, researchers throws light of data analysis technologies such as SWOT and Porters five analysis.Enquiry Before Buying:Major factors covered in the report: Global Payments Landscape Market Overview Economic Impact on Industry Market Competition by Manufacturers Production, Revenue (Value) by Region Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type Market Analysis by Application Cost Analysis Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders Market Effect Factors Analysis Global Payments Landscape Market ForecastIT Intelligence Markets:At IT Intelligence Markets, we model all our work on our core philosophy that believes in customer satisfaction. We serve a global clientele by supplying market intelligence research reports after conducting exhaustive research. Our reports are replete with productive insights & recent market dynamics as the healthcare industry is constantly undergoing changes like ever-changing consumer preferences, supply channels and latest technologies. Our market research analysts not only investigate the market for drivers, restraints & challenges but also gauge the overall progress of the market by comparing chief market players. Our report forms a crucial piece of intelligence using which our clients can unleash their potential & tap their capacity to harness the correct technologies & surpass their competitors.Contact:IT Intelligence MarketsErika Thomas(Sales Manager)+1 (888) 312-3102sales@itintelligencemarkets.com The best Oracle Database platform Oracle Exadata is a full-stack solution that improves the performance, scale, security, and availability of an enterprises Oracle databases. It incorporates more than 60 unique features, such as Smart Scan SQL offload, that are coengineered with Oracle Database to accelerate OLTP, analytics and machine-learning applications. Exadata also reduces capital costs and management expenses by enabling IT departments to consolidate hundreds of databases onto a single system. Organizations can deploy Exadata on-premises, in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or as a Cloud@Customer solution, and use Autonomous Database to simplify and accelerate digital transformations. Features People want to see themselves in books. For people with disabilities, the search to see themselves in the pages has been long and is not always fruitful. There arent a lot of stories by, about and for differently abled people, said Domi Shoemaker, a writer who manages the Corporeal Writing center, a space in downtown Portland for writers, classes and workshops. Owned by writer Lidia Yuknavitch, it is fully accessible for people who use mobility devices, like Shoemaker. Corporeal will have a booth at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, meeting this year March 27 through 30 at the Oregon Convention Center. The conference has 24 disability-related events this year and has conducted disability audits with the intent of improving its accessibility. Its so important to increase representation in the literary world, said Colleen Cable, a spokeswoman for the conference. Portland-based authors, booksellers and their customers are taking steps to do just that. Green Bean Books, a childrens bookstore in Northeast Portland, has a disability section. Bookseller Earl Dizon said, Everyone wants to belong somewhere and just be accepted for who they are. Books, in other words, can be a powerful mirror. Earl Dizon, a bookseller at Green Bean Books in Northeast Portland, shows preschool teacher Quinlyn Wright the book "Alphabet," by Matthew Van Fleet, which Dizon says is good for students with sensory processing issues. (Jenn Director Knudsen/Special to The Oregonian) At A Childrens Place Bookstore, also in Northeast, R.J. Palacios Were All Wonders, whose main character has a facial deformity, shares shelf space with Silent Days, Silent Dreams, by Portlands Allen Say, which chronicles the true story of a deaf and non-verbal autistic man with a special talent. Also on display are recipients of the American Library Associations Schneider Family Book Awards, which honor authors and illustrators for an artistic expression of the disability experience for a child and adolescent audiences. Gregory Lum, director of Jesuit High Schools Clark Library, helped select the 2018 winners. Opportunities are changing for students to see themselves or see others, and I think books are a good avenue for that, he said. Demand, too, is a good avenue. As customers desire for books featuring differently abled people has increased, so have the offerings and their quality, said Kira Porton-Jones, a manager and buyer at A Childrens Place. There was a long period of time when I was seeing more mediocre books about disabilities than good ones, so it was difficult when people asked for them, Porton-Jones said. She believes the current political climate has stoked the desire for more diverse books in general. Authors and publishers really got the hint that these books are needed, and they have responded, Porton-Jones said. Tigard author Kate Ristau's "Clockbreakers" series has an 11-year-old protagonist who happens to use a wheelchair. They include Kate Ristau, 37, a Tigard author whose 2016 middle grade novel Clockbreakers One: Asterions Curse introduced 11-year-old Charlie, a time traveler who relies on a wheelchair as she searches for her father inside a Greek myth. Charlie rolls into the labyrinth, she doesnt walk into it, Ristau said of her protagonist, who returns this spring in Clockbreakers Two: Morrigans Revenge. Ristau knows children with disabilities, including her son, who was born with a heart defect, and her experiences affected her outlook as an author. Why are there none of these books where they can see themselves? shed wondered. So she set to writing a book that had a protagonist who was disabled but that wasnt about the disability. She first encountered skepticism. One editor said, Does she have to be in a wheelchair? Ristau recalled. While kids, teens and young adults with disabilities today see themselves in books more frequently, thats not yet so for adults. Diverse adult books swing more heavily toward race, gender and sexuality, as opposed to disabilities, said Anne Pearson, a buyer for A Childrens Place. Shoemaker, at Corporeal Writing, said, I hope theres going to be a sea change. Wed been conditioned not to tell our stories but now were being conditioned to tell our stories. And were the best sources for them. Community members, particularly minorities, are distrustful of Portland police. They dont believe the Portland Police Bureau is well-managed or does an effective job reducing crime in the city. Most officers believe the community doesnt understand the job of a cop. They feel theres a disconnect with City Hall and that the mayor is more swayed by politics than whats best for the bureau. They doubt change is possible in the bureau. The views from both community members and police on the state of policing in Portland came from online surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews done by consultants between last June and November and are outlined in a new report released late Tuesday. Corragio Group, a local consulting firm, held focus groups with a total of about 165 people, 35 interviews with city officials, police staff, city commissioners and members of the citys Independent Police Review division, surveyed about 3,100 residents online and held three public meetings. The information is intended to help the bureau develop a five-year strategic plan. The conversations showed residents want police to drop what they perceive as an us versus them mentality on the job and be more effective following up with victims of crime. Communities of color feel police enforce laws selectively based on race. Local residents surveyed seek a consistent and visible police presence, where officers take time to get out of their cars, do more foot patrols and build real relationships in the neighborhoods they serve. Ninety-five percent of officers surveyed say theyre less willing to stop and question people who seem suspicious because theyre worried about how their actions will be reviewed and investigated. Among the studys findings: -- 71 percent of community members indicate that they dont have a high level of trust with the Police Bureau. This lack of trust grows in communities of color to 85 percent of black residents surveyed who lack trust in police, 87 percent in Asian communities, 77 percent in multi-ethnic communities and 75 percent in Native American communities. -- Community members appreciate the risks officers face every day and understand that isolated poor performance shouldnt characterize the broader organization. But most or 91 percent - of officers surveyed believe that the public doesnt understand what it means to be a cop. -- More than half of officers feel burnt out, frustrated and emotionally exhausted by work. -- 79 percent of community members surveyed believe the Police Bureau only sometimes, rarely or never does a good job at reducing or preventing crimes in Portland. The PPB needs to understand that sometimes quality of life crimes, such as vandalism, the defacement of public property, illegal homeless camps on public property, auto theft and vandalism, are the most important in gaining the trust of the public and its cooperation, one resident wrote. -- 67 percent of community members feel police response times to emergency calls need to improve. -- 63 percent of community members believe that having a police Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team officer respond to a call involving someone in a mental health crisis is useful toward resolving the situation. The team officers receive additional training beyond the 40 hours of crisis intervention training that all officers must complete. -- 92 percent of officers believe effectively responding to mental health calls is a priority for the bureau. -- 75 percent of community members would welcome a more relationship-based approach to policing. -- 49 percent of officers are afraid to blow the whistle on things they find wrong within the agency. -- 46 percent of the sworn officers are skeptical that change is possible in the bureau. -- 71 percent of the community respondents are unsure or disagree that the bureau is well-managed by professional leaders. -- Most police staff dont think the bureaus leaders communicate effectively with the media and public. -- 56 percent of officers dont think the bureaus goals are clear and say their leaders dont set clear expectations. -- 75 percent of bureau staff members feel they have too much work to do and that prevents proactive policing. -- Some officers believe that important trainings on shoot/dont shoot scenarios and less-lethal force have taken a back seat to de-escalation, mental health and implicit bias training due to political and community pressures, while community members believe additional training hours should be spent on the latter topics. -- 76 percent of officers believe the bureaus Employee Information System is ineffective in identifying officers at risk of getting into trouble. -- Over half of police civilian staff questioned feel their work isnt appreciated as much as the work of sworn officers. -- At times, the publics perception of the Police Bureau can be discouraging for officers as many believe they give more than they get back on the job. Many understand theyre in a service-oriented job, but at times say it can seem thankless. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Prominent tax dodger Winston Shrout was supposed to surrender to prison earlier this month, but is now accused of dodging his 10-year prison sentence by failing to turn himself in to the federal Bureau of Prisons as ordered. Shrout was scheduled to start serving his sentence March 4, the first Monday after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request to remain out of custody pending his appeal of his conviction and prison term. The appeals court upheld U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones ruling that Shrout would pose a danger if he were to remain in the community. The next day, federal authorities issued a warrant for Shrouts arrest. On Wednesday, a federal prosecutor urged the appeals court to dismiss with prejudice Shrouts appeal because of his fugitive status. Dismissal with prejudice would mean Shrout wouldnt be able to file an appeal at a future date. The government noted that Shrout filed the opening brief for his appeal on Monday, while he was a fugitive. Katie Bagley, tax division attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, wrote to the 9th Circuit that Shrouts lawyer noted only that the Bureau of Prisons website indicated Shrout wasnt in custody and didnt provide any information that would excuse Shrouts failure to surrender to prison. "Defendant has repeatedly attempted to delay serving his sentence. Having exhausted those efforts, defendant has now chosen to defy the court, Bagley wrote. This is precisely the kind of heads I win, tails you lose gaming of the system that the fugitive disentitlement doctrine is intended to prevent. Shrouts lawyer, in the effort to keep his client out of prison pending the appeals outcome, argued that Shrout wasnt likely to flee or endanger the community. The 70-year-old has significant family and community ties to Oregon, had followed conditions of supervised release for the past three years and had no prior criminal record, defense lawyer Ruben Iniguez said. Shrout was sentenced Oct. 22 after a federal jury convicted him of six misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file tax returns and 13 felony counts of producing, presenting and shipping fictitious financial instruments. Shrout, a sovereign citizen, made and issued more than 300 fake "International Bills of Exchange'' on his own behalf and for credit to third parties. The government said Shrout falsely claimed the bills had value and purported that they were worth more than $100 trillion. Shrout also testified at trial that he stopped paying income tax or filing income tax returns well over 20 years ago. The government proved at trial that from 2009 through 2014, Shrout received over $500,000 in gross income through pension payments, speaking fees at seminars where he espoused his theories abroad, royalty payments for the sale of DVDs and other products he sold and for private client consultations through his business Winston Shrout Solutions in Commerce, yet never filed a single tax return. Judge Jones, asked by the appeals court to explain his reasoning for denying Shrouts release pending his appeal, wrote, in part: Shrout spent over a decade selling scams to hundred, if not thousands, of gullible people. He told them if they followed his advice, they could avoid paying taxes and that the government and banks would give them millions of dollars. Even after he was convicted in this case, he continued to advertise his for-profit seminars until I explicitly forbade him to continue. Even then, he told his followers that he would be back once the government changed. If he remains on release, he may well continue his illicit efforts. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Free agent running back Kenjon Barner has signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons, the team announced. The former Oregon Ducks star will earn a total salary of $895,000 for the 2019 season, according to a report. RB/RS Kenjon Barner's full contract with Falcons: 1-year, $895,000. Base salary of $805,000. $40,000 signing bonus. Roster bonus of $50,000 due first week of the season. Cap number of $735,000 vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) March 19, 2019 Barner, 28, played for both the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers during the 2018 season. Barner rushed a combined 19 times for 71 yards while appearing in nine games with both teams in 2018. Barner has experience as a return specialist, returning 37 punts for 288 yards and he has gained 718 yards on 31 kickoff return attempts. Barner is expected to be the Falcons primary return specialist in 2019. The Falcons lost running back Tevin Coleman, who signed a reported two-year, $10 million free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers. Barner will provide depth at the position with presumed starter Devonta Freeman, along with Ito Smith, Brian Hill and Jeremy Langford. -- Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold You probably dont know what youre going to do when the climate apocalypse arrives. But this much you do know: Youll still want to look good. And so the designer facemask is now a thing. Entrepreneurial companies around the world are getting in on this trend, writes the news website Vox, and in the U.S. the top dog is a California outfit called Vogmask. Vogmask saw sales of its brightly colored filtration masks leap up during last years devastating Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. But the inspiration for its masks actually came from celebration rather than destruction. Company co-founder Wendover Brown told Vox that their designer facemask was born at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. When we first conjured the idea, we were wearing bandanas to protect ourselves from the dust, Brown said. And other people were wearing white painters masks, and it occurred to me to make real dust masks that looked as nice as bandanas. Thanks in part to various factors related to urbanization, ranging from increasing ground temperatures to decreasing cloud cover, wildfires are becoming more frequent and more intense, climate scientists say. In Oregon, persistent wildfires and smoky conditions have become increasingly normal. Gov. Kate Brown this week announced the formation of the Oregon Wildfire Response Council to address the growing problem, Bends Source Weekly reported. "Every fire season since I first became governor has been a historic fire season, and each season, we've seen unprecedented damage to our homes, livelihoods and Oregon's natural environment," Brown said in a press statement. "We need to be prepared and proactive to get ahead of this threat." It is looking like anti-pollution masks, whether high-fashion or purely functional, should be part of that preparation. Oregons 2019 fire season has already started. A wildfire southeast of Salem was reported Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders and school cancelations in the area. Read the Vox story about the rise of designer facemasks. -- Douglas Perry @douglasmperry Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. As he pulled the car up to his house, Bill Breuning spotted his former lover lingering on the front walk. The Portland police lieutenants stomach plummeted. He knew that look on her face. Sure enough, Anna Schrader was ready for a fight. She rapidly approached the vehicle, and Breuning noticed something flashing in her hand. A gun. The cop threw the car door open, hitting Schraders arm and causing the weapon to fire into the ground. He leapt out and grappled with the woman, trying to get a hold of the pistol. As a result, The Oregonian would report in the next mornings newspaper, another harmless shot was fired. The shots hardly were harmless. The gunfire launched the biggest police scandal Portland had ever seen, ultimately ruining Breunings career and possibly -- just possibly -- leading to Schraders brutal murder and dismemberment more than a decade later. Schrader cried as she sat in a jail cell that August night in 1929, and not just because Breuning had broken a couple of her ribs when he jumped on her. Her life had suddenly fallen apart. Her all-consuming love affair was over, and now she faced a charge of assault with intent to kill. She disputed Breunings account to anyone who would listen, insisting that she had the gun only because she was afraid of the burly officer. It is silly to say I wanted to kill him, she said. Had she wanted to kill the police lieutenant, she added, I could have done it any number of times. I had only to let my husband come home and catch him. Thats right, Schrader was married to another man. And Breuning to another woman. But the extramarital affair wasnt the worst of it. Schrader had served for years as an informant for Breuning, and so she had become a familiar sight around the citys police stations. She was friends with other officers and had learned how the department operated. And this being Prohibition, it operated on corruption. Many Portland cops -- all the way up to Chief Leon V. Jenkins -- may have been worried about having Schrader locked up and desperate. Breuning trained her to be an informant, to spy for him, and he trained her well, says Theresa Griffin Kennedy, co-author of the 2016 book Murder & Scandal in Prohibition Portland. It didnt take Schrader long to show her hand. She wanted Chief Jenkins to publicly exonerate her and slap down Breuning. And if the chief didnt do so? She told the press she had information that would rock Portland. Portland Police Chief Leon V. Jenkins takes the oath of office in 1946. (The Oregonian) *** For years Anna Schraders relationship with William Breuning had run hot even without gunfire. Breuning pursued her relentlessly, Schrader said. He would call for me and ask me out to dinner and everywhere. Schrader didnt put up much resistance. Night after night she and the police officer ended up in the little bedroom at the Schraders Southeast Portland home, while Annas husband, Edward, worked at a nearby railyard. In the eight years their relationship went on, she said, Breuning rarely missed a night at my house. This was dangerous, of course, and four or five times Edward came home while Breuning was there. Each time the cop managed to escape unseen out the back because Anna had reacted quickly, throwing on a shift and intercepting her husband as he entered. The couple clearly enjoyed the adventure of it. When Edward was at home, Anna and Breuning would hole up in a downtown hotel room -- or he would take her in his police car. Lieut. Breuning, she said, told me repeatedly that he loved me better than anyone else in the world. She did have that effect on men. The small, dark-haired Anna Tierney had been married at 18 in her hometown of Madelia, Minnesota, but, for reasons lost to history, soon found it necessary to leave the state on her own. Landing in Portland in 1910, she built a new life, marrying Edward Schrader and making a name for herself as a local norms-breaker as women across the country were pushing for the vote and other basic rights. She served as secretary of the 1916 Oregon campaign for Charles Evans Hughes, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who faced President Woodrow Wilson in the presidential election. On Christmas Day of that year, she earned press attention by swimming in the icy Willamette River on a dare. That a member of the weaker sex would do such a thing brought out a crowd. Mrs. Anna Schrader performed her stunt as scheduled in the afternoon, a reporter wrote. ... She got into the water at the foot of Salmon street and remained for some time. Quite an audience witnessed her performance. Then in 1921 she met Breuning and began working as an informant for him. She reportedly told the cop she was 29. She was actually 37. Prohibition was now the law of the land, and millions of Americans -- including police officers -- flouted the new ban on alcoholic beverages. When Schrader wasnt in bed with Breuning, write Griffin Kennedy and J.D. Chandler in Murder & Scandal, she was gathering evidence on illegal drinking for either prosecution or blackmail and participating in frame-ups and other dirty tricks. But after eight years of sex and dirty tricks, Breuning decided hed had enough of Schrader. Maybe hed grown weary of her demand that he leave his wife and children for her. Maybe he discovered that shed lied to him about her age. Whatever the reason, he broke off their relationship -- and she didnt like it. Someone, a woman, phoned Breunings wife and told her he was sleeping around on her. Breuning realized he had to get out in front of the situation. He met with Chief Jenkins, and together they cast Schrader as an unstable woman. He said that she was infatuated with him, and that she insisted on his keeping appointments with her, Jenkins later said of the meeting with Breuning, adding that the lieutenant claimed the sexual relationship was entirely in Schraders head. This infuriated Schrader. She had believed Jenkins liked and respected her, once calling her the departments angel. She knew he was aware of her affair with Breuning and had even approved of it. The former police informant who had participated in frame-ups said it broke my heart that Breuning and the chief were trying to ruin my reputation. She feared that the department was rallying behind Breuning, lying for him, doing everything it could to put her in a bad light. It appears she was right. Breunings colleagues reportedly swooped down on hotels where the couple had stayed and tore pages out of the registry books. When reporters asked officers about Schrader, the response typically was: Who? Almost the whole police force knew about this affair for years, but if they were called in here now they would know nothing, she said during a court hearing. A grand jury refused to indict Schrader for assault, but it didnt end there. Threatening counter-charges against Breuning, she stayed on the front pages of the citys newspapers, which described her as a comely wife and an ex-candidate for Rose Festival Queen, though the Rose Festival has no record of her participating in the annual contest. I have never asked for anything but vindication from false stories, and I am going to have it, she said outside court. Schrader promised, as one newspaper account put it, Police Exposure and an Inside Scandal. But if she had any evidence of police malfeasance, she kept it to herself, possibly as insurance, and stuck with laying out the details of her affair with Breuning. At a November 1929 public hearing in a packed city-council chamber, Schrader related the times and places that she said they were together, The Oregonian reported, how she had moved from one apartment to another to be near a police box so Breuning could call in easily, how they had walked through snow and cold together, how they had ridden about town and visited parks and how they had gone to various hotels as man and wife. I know I have done wrong, she said. He was so nice to me in those early days, saying that he loved me, that I became infatuated with him. Sure, I was madly in love with him, she added. Of course I loved him. She composed herself, remembering where she was -- and who else was there. She asked that her husband be taken from the room before she continued. There is no use torturing him any more, she said. He has been tortured enough. *** Chief Jenkins no doubt believed that he, too, had been tortured enough, for he knew Schrader had many more secrets she could tell. Like so many police departments during Prohibition, his had been corrupted. Patrolmen took bribes from bootleggers, and the bribes went up the food chain. In some instances, the police and gangsters worked together, bringing illegal booze into the city and distributing it. On April 17, 1930, with the sex scandal still roiling, a police captain named Frank Ervin wrote to Chief Jenkins after learning Schrader had a Police officer who was her friend, who was working in the record bureau, who kept her advised as to when Police officers and other persons left the Police station, carrying liquor. The confidential letter, recently unearthed from the city archives, pointed out that the department had spent weeks trying to find out who was supplying this information to Schrader. Ervin closed by saying he was looking forward to the time when we will be relieved of her dirty, rotten talk and the guilty ones punished. Letter from Capt. Ervin to Chief Jenkins (Courtesy of Theresa Griffin Kennedy) Only Breuning and Schrader ended up being punished. Though Jenkins had initially supported the lieutenant, the bad publicity proved too much. After Schrader revealed love notes he had written to her, Breuning was drummed out of the police department. His ex-lovers reputation also was thoroughly shredded. Schrader had prided herself on her work with the police, but those days were gone for good. Portlands newspapers had spent months reporting on the scandal, but as the Great Depression took hold in 1930, they found more pressing subjects. The former police officer and his former informant returned to ordinary lives out of the spotlight. In the years that followed, Anna Schrader remained married to Edward and occasionally worked as an assistant in downtown offices. Breuning, meanwhile, declared bankruptcy and struggled to find employment. He finally managed to land a job as a security guard. Then, on April 12, 1946, two men and a woman walking along the Willamette River in Milwaukie noticed a large burlap sack bobbing in the water. They pulled it ashore, opened it up -- and found the torso of a woman. The head and limbs had been crudely sawed off. In the weeks that followed, more parts of the womans body were found in the river, wrapped in newspaper and bound by wire. Portland police worked long and hard on the case, even seeking possible links to the Torso Murders in Cleveland that famous gangbuster Eliot Ness had spent years investigating. But Portlands torso would never be identified and no one was ever charged in the death. *** The now-72-year-old torso case is one of Portlands coldest. Yet the answer to it, Chandler and Griffin Kennedy realized during their research, could be right there in The Oregonian. A week before the waterlogged torso was found, a classified ad in the newspaper stated: Anyone knowing whereabouts of Ann Schrader please write N472 Oregonian. The ad ran again nine days later. In late March or early April of 1946, Anna Schrader, at that point widowed for five years, had mysteriously disappeared. 1946 newspaper classified ad seeking Anna Schrader (The Oregonian) The victims vital statistics suggest the torso very well could belong to the former Portland police informant. Height, weight, even bra size -- they all fit. The timing of her disappearance also makes her a logical possibility. I know its her, Griffin Kennedy says. I just know it. Theres one more compelling circumstantial link: Leon Jenkins returned as Portlands police chief in 1946, a dozen years after leaving the post. For all those years, through the Great Depression and World War II, Schrader had kept quiet about the revelations she had once said would rock Portland. But Jenkins unexpected reinstatement as chief might have angered her, making her decide to dig out her little black book and once again issue threats, Chandler and Griffin Kennedy believe. I think Breuning and Jenkins were involved [in her death], because she had a lot of information, Griffin Kennedy says. Well almost certainly never know at this point. But it is conceivable that Schrader renewed her threats against Jenkins. After all, the only thing shed wanted when the scandal broke in August 1929 was to be believed. She hated being portrayed as a crazy woman who had invented a police lieutenants obsession with her. She wanted Breuning to acknowledge the affair -- and Jenkins to admit he knew about it. Breuning never owned up to the sexual relationship, though in the end the court of public opinion voted against him. Jenkins, for his part, also admitted nothing. He kept his comments about Schrader brief, and made clear that her personal weaknesses didnt have anything to do with him. I have known Mrs. Schrader for many years, for she has done private work for the department, Jenkins said in 1930, referring to her time as a police informant. I know nothing about her except through her operations as a detective. Sixteen years after the chief made that careful statement, Anna Schrader vanished. Despite her former association with the department -- or perhaps because of it -- the police did not investigate her disappearance. -- Douglas Perry @douglasmperry Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. A customer at Kachinka, the popular Russian restaurant on Southeast Grand Avenue in Portland, carved a swastika in one of the bathroom mirrors over the weekend, the restaurants owners said in a Facebook post. Bonnie Morales, co-owner of Kachka and sister restaurant Kachinka, is the daughter of immigrants from the Soviet Union, which they fled because of anti-Semitism. It felt like a violation at such a deep level, that someone who we welcomed, fed and took care of would do something like this to us, the restaurant wrote on Facebook. This is the last thing we expected to experience here in Portland. The hateful graffiti was cleaned up by Tuesday, but Morales told KOIN News, she felt it was important to get the word out. "It's so important to not normalize this and to not sweep this under the rug," she said. "We all have to be up in arms anytime anyone does anything hateful like this." -- Kale Williams kwilliams@oregonian.com 503-294-4048 @sfkale Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Subscribe to get the Morning Briefing newsletter delivered to your email inbox weekdays at 7 a.m. Todays stories OBAMA VISIT: Former first lady Michelle Obama begins her Portland visit with a book club at Broadway Books. Read more. TEEN SLAIN: A jury finds Russell Courtier guilty of murdering a black teen with a Jeep. Read more. BLAZERS BEAT: CJ McCollum avoids serious injury, but the Portland Trail Blazers are prepared to finish the regular season without him. Read more. DEADLY CRASH: A pedestrian is killed in a Southwest Portland hit-and-run, police say. Read more. ATTACK AT MARKET: Citizens detain a man after an assault at an Estacada market. Read more. BELOVED BURGERS: Has Stanichs burger bar reopened? Read more. NOTORIOUS CASE: A 20/20 special explores the notorious case of Oregon child-killer Diane Downs. Read more. STANDOFF ENDS: A southern Oregon man has been arrested after a weekslong standoff stemming from a custody dispute. Read more. TOP WORKPLACES: Heres a second chance to nominate your employer for Top Workplaces 2019. Read more. REAL ESTATE: Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen had a condo in downtown Portlands KOIN Center. Why? Read more. GUN IN SCHOOL: A Portland woman whose gun went off in a school cafeteria gets probation. Read more. OREGON WEATHER: Portland hits 70 degrees for the first time in 2019. Read more. COURT BATTLE: Cylvia Hayes settles with The Oregonian/OregonLive over legal fees. Read more. NEW DIRECTOR: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announces its new artistic director. Read more. MEASLES OUTBREAK: Marion County confirms a second diagnosis. Read more. PERS Q&A: Would an early retirement program save money or cut the deficit? Read more. WHALE WATCH: Gray whales are making their spring break migration past the Oregon coast. Read more. More news Hillsboro Hops will become Dreamers for four games this season Bottle-wielding John Doe accused of carjacking Portland podcast host in Burgerville drive-thru Dear Abby: They met online and are in love, but he doesnt want to meet in person. Red flag? Ask Amy: Overheard at the coffee shop: boyfriends sexual proclivities and abilities Carolyn Hax: Mother-in-law poisons relationship by trash talking an ex family member Find more at oregonlive.com Todays comics Click here to see today's comics Todays obituaries Click here to find area deaths reported recently Today in history AROUND THE WORLD: On March 20, 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members. By Doreen Dodgen-Magee OPINION Dodgen-Magee is a psychologist in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of Deviced!: Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World. Last summer, the World Health Organization recognized internet gaming as a diagnosable addiction. This was an important step in aligning practice with research, but we need to go further. Psychologists and other mental-health professionals must begin to acknowledge that technology use has the potential to become addictive and impact individuals and communities - sometimes with dire consequences. The research is clear: Americans spend most of their waking hours interacting with screens. Studies from the nonprofit group Common Sense Media show that U.S. teens average approximately nine hours per day with digital media, tweens spend six hours and even our youngest - ages zero to 8 - are spending 2 1/2 hours daily in front of a screen. The average adult in the United States spends more than 11 hours a day in the digital world, according to research by the Nielsen Company. When people invest this kind of time in any activity, we must at least start to ask what it means for their mental health. Both a correlational and causal relationship between tech use and various mental-health conditions has been established. Research from the University of Pittsburgh found higher rates of depression and anxiety among young adults who engage multiple social media platforms than in those who engage only two. Author and psychologist Jean Twenge finds that the psychological development of adolescents is slowing down and depression, anxiety and loneliness, which she attributes to tech engagement, are on the rise. Multitasking, a behavior encouraged and reinforced by technology, is consistently correlated with poor cognitive and mental-health outcomes. Finally, the University of Pennsylvania recently published the first experimental data linking decreased well-being to Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram use in young adults. Clearly, our technology use is affecting our psychological functioning. As a psychologist and researcher, I have been examining this interplay between technology and mental health for nearly two decades. While technology can do incredible things for us in nearly every area of life, it is neither all good nor benign. When the mental-health community resists fully exploring the costs associated with constant tech interaction, it leaves those struggling with compulsive or potentially harmful use of their devices few places to turn. Recently, a woman scheduled a consultation with me because she was concerned about her inability to focus. A self-described Type A personality, she found herself simultaneously interacting with three or four screens at a time for nearly 20 hours a day, determined to instantly stay on top of every demand. When it came time for her biannual revision of an important procedural manual, she found that she couldn't focus on the single task for the time required to do it effectively. She is far from alone. Technology now reaches deep into our psyches and our lives. Our constant interaction with the digital domain shapes the way we learn; the way we form relationships with others and ourselves; the way in which we offload our own bodily "message indicators" onto things such as fitness trackers; and the way in which we are rewarded for focus and regulation or lack thereof. Our attention spans are short. Our ability to focus on one task at a time is impaired. And our boredom tolerance is nil. We now rely on the same devices that drive so much of our anxiety and alienation for both stimulation and soothing. While, for many of us, these changes will never roam into the domain of addiction, for others they have. In fact, in a recent Common Sense Media poll, 50 percent of adolescents reported already feeling that their use had become addictive and 27 percent of parents report the same. If Americans were interacting with anything else for 11 plus hours a day, I feel confident we'd be talking more about how that interaction shapes us. Mental-health professionals must begin to educate themselves about the digital pools in which their clients swim and learn about the impact of excessive technology use on human development and functioning. It is too easy for therapists to assume that everyone's engagement with the digital domain looks just like their own and to go merrily from there. We would serve our clients well by understanding the unique way in which many platforms encourage addictive patterns and behaviors. We should also create non-shaming environments in which they can candidly explore how their tech use impacts them. Its time to put our phones down and begin an informed conversation about how technology is impacting our mental health. Our clients health and the well-being of our communities may depend on it. We must reject bigotry and support the countrys Muslim community after a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last Friday. To our Muslim brothers and sisters, my heart goes out to the victims and their families, our Muslim community and the people of Christchurch. President Trump doesnt think white nationalism is a threat. Hes wrong. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned in a 2017 intelligence bulletin that white supremacist groups had carried out more attacks in the U.S. than any other domestic extremist group over the past 16 years. As Joe Biden said, Silence is complicity. President Trump needs to have the courage to talk against hate. We must stand against all forms of hatred and bigotry. James Kelly, Portland Kelly is the former president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. By Margaret Sullivan OPINION As amorous embraces go, few could be more ardent than the one Beto ORourke got this month from Vanity Fair magazine. The perfectly timed cover treatment was the full monty: Rugged-glam photo by the legendary Annie Leibovitz, the former Texas congressman's earnest Kennedy-esque gaze, and the ripe-for-parody headline including this immortal quote: "I'm just born to be in it." Most Americans wouldn't see the magazine itself, of course, but the rest of the news media - including network evening news - helped spread the image around as they gave over-the-top coverage to O'Rourke's kickoff. Does soft-focus treatment like this help a candidate's cause? It sure doesn't hurt. His campaign raised more than $6 million its first day, edging out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' impressive one-day fundraising a few weeks earlier. A few days later, the website PredictIt ("the stock market for politics") listed as its top three presidential contenders: former Vice President Joe Biden (who hadn't even declared yet), Bernie Sanders and Beto O'Rourke. Somehow, despite a remarkably diverse Democratic field - which includes a record number of women, a gay man and several people of color - the B-Boys (that is, Beto, Biden and Bernie) - were off and running. The news media undoubtedly was part of the equation. With more than 18 months to go before the 2020 election, the love and attention was not being dished out in equal measure. As author Rebecca Traister described it, she woke up one morning this week thinking about the flawed notion that being a white man is actually a disadvantage, given this diverse field. The reality is quite the opposite, she wrote on Twitter: "Early metrics would show it to be an extremely powerful polling & fundraising boon, as it has always, always been." Author Linda Hirshman told me how frustrated she felt this week after watching "brilliant" town-hall appearances featuring Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. The candidates offered detailed policy proposals and came off as smart and appealing. "But I woke up to still more media fixation on Beto," she said. (Warren did capture some prominent headlines for saying she'd like to see the end of the electoral college in favor of a system where "every vote matters.") The reason for this, Hirshman posits, is the almost cartoonish way in which the national media depicts candidates: as characters in a drama. "The national media is most interested in telling stories, in an almost novelistic way," said Hirshman, whose book "Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment" will be published in June. This gives candidates like the B-Boys a "structural advantage," she said. Traditional fiction, after all, likes to depict a woman in peril and the caped male avenger swooping in to save the day. While local news media tend to focus on policy that would affect their communities, national media look for - and endlessly repeat - the broad-brush caricature: Gillibrand is the mean woman who unfairly took down former Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.; O'Rourke is "tall and cute" and wants to heal a divided country. Robert Leonard, news director of two Iowa radio stations, told me in an email exchange that he's been impressed by the enthusiastic welcome that candidates including Gillibrand, Sen. Kamala D. Harris, D-Calif., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are getting in his state. "I think the women have lots of traction - especially Warren and Harris," Leonard said. He described the Massachusetts senator as "electric," attracting a huge crowd and exuding personal warmth. (A far cry from the fretting about whether she is likable enough.) "People love (Sen.) Cory Booker (D-N.J.), too." Having talked to Iowa supporters of every candidate in the race (and some who aren't yet), Leonard sees the contest as wide open and offers this caution: "Poll numbers that show Biden and Sanders up top only tell us about the past, not the future." But, one might argue, doesn't it make good sense to give the most coverage to those candidates who seem to have the most early support? Well, that depends on what the coverage aim is. Is it the "horse-race" model that attempts to say who's ahead and who will ultimately win the nomination and the presidency? You might recall from 2016 that - despite all the honing of this skill - prognostication is not the media's forte. Or is it a citizens-first model that attempts to inform the electorate so they can make the best decisions? The horse-race model seems, as usual, to be out ahead by more than a few furlongs. And so, we hear a lot about the B-Boys. In polling, in fundraising, in media ardor, they begin to seem inevitable. Invincible. It's early, of course. And these patterns may well change. But right now, these three almost seem to have the whole thing sewn up. And, when many Democratic voters put sheer electability (unseating President Donald Trump) as the top priority, this media-driven momentum takes on even more power. That's potentially dangerous. It would be a shame - and counterproductive - if premature judgments end up transforming all this diversity and talent into a shrugged-off bunch of also-rans. Margaret Sullivan is The Washington Posts media columnist. Previously, she was the New York Times public editor, and the chief editor of the Buffalo News, her hometown paper. The Washington Post editorial board Ideology is not constrained by geography, especially in the Internet age, so it is unsurprising that white nationalism is less national than the name suggests. Notions of ethno-supremacy have always had their roots in transnational traditions of racism, and now online communities allow for actors in any state to draw inspiration from those in another. The Christchurch massacre is a case in point: allegedly carried out by an Australian, in New Zealand, in the image of a Norwegian and an American. The shooting revealed serious shortcomings in how governments confront right-wing radicalism. In the United States, Islamist extremism, even when it is homegrown, is considered international terrorism - and law enforcement treats it that way. Right-wing radicalism, on the other hand, is called domestic terrorism if it is called terrorism at all. Sometimes, crimes motivated by the same set of values are classified as hate crimes or gang violence instead. Right-wing radicalism kills more Americans than Islamist extremism, and government should pursue the threat with more vigor. Doing so will require grappling with its domestic and global dimensions alike. The first step to fighting white-supremacist extremism is to understand it, but that's not possible now, because the Justice Department does not reliably collect the relevant information. Even hate-crime reporting is voluntary - and undercounted. A requirement for annual reports on all prosecutions of domestic terrorism and hate crimes, with relevant details, would go a long way toward assessing the problem. From there, the government should reallocate resources, which today are devoted disproportionately to fighting Islamist terrorism even as right-wing attacks rise. President Donald Trump pushed in the wrong direction when he shut down an interagency task force on countering violent extremism and ended relevant grants. Just as tackling right-wing extremism domestically will require federal, state and local government agencies to coordinate, authorities confronting white supremacy's global reach will need global partners. The United States and its closest allies share classified intelligence about al-Qaida and the Islamic State. They should do the same regarding right-wing extremism, identifying links between terrorist networks, as well as information on how and where people are getting radicalized and who is radicalizing them. Sometimes, this will require sharing specific information about individuals or threats. Though white nationalism is not strictly national, many groups are centered in the United States, forcing authorities into a constitutional balancing act. Law enforcement will have to distinguish between legal, if abhorrent, speech and violence or incitement to violence. Internationally, too, governments must take care not to impinge on legitimate organizing even as they investigate terrorist communication across borders - which will present a particular challenge where prominent political parties have nationalist leanings themselves. These are difficult lines to draw. But knowing where to draw them will first require treating white supremacism as the worldwide killer it is. Update at 3:58 p.m. The Nampa Police Department said Alissa Helmandollar has been found safe and the Amber Alert has been canceled. No other information has been released by police. ------------------ An Amber Alert was issued in Oregon Wednesday seeking the publics help in finding a 10-year-old girl who police say was abducted from Idaho by her mother and may have been spotted in eastern Oregon. Alissa Helmandollar is believed to have been taken from a hotel in Nampa, Idaho, by 41-year-old Brooke A. Helmandollar, according to the Nampa Police Department. The mother is believed to be driving a silver 2018 Nissan Sentra with Idaho license plates 1A909DF, and they may be heading to the Portland area, Nampa police said. The girl may be in danger because her mother has recently been exhibiting threatening behavior toward her, police said. The girl is described as 4-foot-10, 80 pounds with brown hair and eyes. Oregon State Police said she may have been seen in Hermiston around 11:15 a.m. Brooke Helmandollar is described by Nampa police as standing 5-foot-4, weighing 125 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Police didnt have any description of the clothes the two may be wearing. Authorities ask anyone who spots the girl, the woman or the car to call the Oregon AMBER Alert tip line at 866-526-2375 or call 911. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. A man accusing Oregon Democratic donor Terrence Terry Bean of sexually abusing him as a teenager has filed a lawsuit against his former attorney, alleging she committed legal malpractice by negotiating settlement deals without his consent and pocketing most of the money. The man, now in his 20s and identified in the suit by his initials, is suing Lori Deveny for $1.2 million in damages. The suit also alleges breaches of contract and fiduciary duty. He claims Deveny tried to settle a prior sex abuse case against Bean without his permission, forged his signature on a settlement agreement that he refused to sign and advised him not to answer a subpoena to testify for trial. After a judge rejected the proposed settlement, Deveny secretly negotiated a second deal not to testify and kept the $20,000 proceeds for herself, the lawsuit contends. The man said Deveny made him and his legal guardian stay at friends homes, out-of-state hotels and other areas to avoid coming to Lane County Circuit Court for trial in September 2015 until the cases against Bean and Lawson were dismissed, the lawsuit said. Deveny then negotiated a third, undisclosed agreement with Bean for $200,000 in exchange for not showing up to court, which led the sex abuse charges to be dropped, the suit says. The former client said between 2016 and March, Deveny only gave him $5,000 of settlement funds, according to the suit. Deveny is no longer an attorney. She surrendered her Oregon law license last year after the state bar asked the Oregon Supreme Court to disbar her. An investigation of complaints from former clients found she settled their personal-injury cases without approval, cashed settlement checks without their knowledge and didnt transfer the settlement money to some clients until years later. Deveny did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday. Bean, a 70-year-old real estate developer and prominent political fundraiser, was indicted again in January on charges stemming from the alleged abuse. The alleged victim has said Bean and former boyfriend Kiah Lawson sexually abused him in a Eugene hotel room when he was 15 years old. Bean and Lawson, now 29, were initially indicted by a Lane County grand jury in November 2014. But the cases were dismissed in 2015 after the boy, then 17, refused to testify. Deveny told Lane County prosecutors that the boy would not appear to testify despite a subpoena, according to a motion dismiss the case. State attorneys said they didnt want to seek an arrest warrant to ensure the boy would attend the trial. The prosecutors said the boy had provided consistent information and never recanted his accounts of the abuse he said he endured. Prosecutors have not said why they decided to revive the case earlier this year. Bean and Lawson now face charges of third-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sodomy. The man has also filed a $6.15 million lawsuit against Bean, claiming hed been illegally offered cash to not testify against Bean. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. SALEM Fireworks wouldnt just be for the Fourth of July in Oregon anymore under a bill introduced Wednesday at the Oregon capitol. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, would allow licensed fireworks retailers to sell their goodies in the days leading up to New Years Eve, the Chinese New Year, and the Hindu holiday Diwali. Gorsek said he was approached by a lobbyist representing wholesalers and retailers, who said that Oregonians of south and east Asian descent were asking to be able to purchase fireworks closer to the dates their holidays are celebrated.Currently, Oregon law permits fireworks to be sold only from June 23 through July 6. There are no restrictions on when those fireworks can be lit. Gorsek said he introduced the bill in the name of cultural inclusivity. I just think its important to expand this and allow different cultural groups the chance to fully support and celebrate their particular holidays, he said. Diwali is a harvest festival thats sometimes called the Festival of Lights. Its typically celebrated in late October or early November. The Chinese New Year falls anywhere from late January to early February. Gorseks bill would allow fireworks to be sold in the five days preceding each of those holidays. It would also allow the sale of fireworks from December 15 through January 2. Gorsek emphasized the measure would not change what kind of fireworks could be sold, just the time of year that sales could take place. This bill doesnt make it legal to fire off bottle rockets and all of that, so all of the prohibitions that we have about things that fly through the air would still remain in force, he said. Of course, bottle rockets and fireworks with greater fire power than are legal to buy in Oregon would still be widely available by crossing the state line. While the city of Vancouver has banned the sale and discharge of all fireworks, most other Clark County locations follow Washington state law, which allows fireworks sales for eight days around Independence Day and during the five days leading up to New Years Eve. Unlike Oregon, the state of Washington restricts the discharge of fireworks to the holiday period for which they were sold. Oregons largest business association says the $2 billion business tax hike sought by Gov. Kate Brown and Democratic lawmakers is too large, and taxes should only be raised in conjunction with cost-saving reforms to the states public pension system. In a letter to lawmakers, Oregon Business & Industry President Sandra McDonough wrote that $2 billion in new taxes on the business community is too much. Democrats want to raise at least $2 billion per two-year budget cycle to pump into K-12 and other education improvements. McDonough sent the letter to Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, and Rep. Nancy Nathanson, D-Eugene, late Tuesday, after the two lawmakers sent their own letter to the business group last week pressing it for an answer on which type of business tax it prefers. Hass, who along with Nathanson is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Student Success Subcommittee on Revenue, said on Monday that he would like to get a tax hike bill out of the committee by the first week of April. New revenue without cost control will quickly be absorbed by the rising cost of PERS, McDonough wrote on Tuesday. While the Legislature promises new investments in education, you will do little to help schools if you dont start with addressing the structural budget deficit that has kept money out of Oregon classrooms for decades. In fact, analysis by the Oregon Business Council recently reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive suggests she is correct, at least down the road. While rising costs of the Public Employee Retirement System for schools would eat up only about 20 percent of a $2 billion infusion in 2019-21, if PERS isnt changed, by the 2023-24 school year, schools rising pension costs would take up almost half the new money. The states full pension obligations on behalf of state agencies and higher education as well as schools are projected to eclipse nearly 80 percent of the tax increase by mid-2021. Oregon Business & Industrys opposition to the proposed tax hike without pension reforms is the same position business groups took in 2017, when they dug in their heels against Democrats attempt to pass a so-called gross receipts tax, which is calculated based on a business sales. Democrats blamed businesses for torpedoing that attempt to raise business taxes. In response to McDonoughs letter, Hass wrote in a text message Wednesday morning that he plans to stay the course and the legislative committee will continue its work looking at economic models of different combinations of different (tax) rates and exemptions under different (tax) schemes. McDonough did say Oregon Business & Industry would be willing to work with the Legislature to help develop a particular type of business tax, known as a value-added tax, which is calculated on a business sales minus inputs. Her group favors that type of tax, rather than a tax on all gross receipts, believing it to be the most fair. Gross receipts taxes, while more common, mean, in one simple example, that a business pays a higher cost when it buys raw materials that have been taxed, then pays the tax when it sells the final product, a phenomenon referred to as pyramiding. Opting for the value-added approach puts Oregon businesses in a better position relative to competitors from other states than would be the case if they were subject to the pyramiding effects of the (gross receipts tax), McDonough wrote. McDonough pledged her group will oppose any effort by lawmakers to pass a gross receipts tax. Hass and Nathanson proposed exempting banks and insurance companies from the tax and instead roughly doubling the corporate income tax to 14.79 percent on those companies. Hass said they proposed doing so because it could be difficult to tax banks and insurance companies fairly under a value-added system. McDonough said Oregon Business & Industry opposes increasing the corporate income tax on banks and insurance companies to 14.79 percent, although she did not explain why. McDonough said late Wednesday that she met with Hass and they agreed their exchange of letters means we will continue working together in good faith. Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. With support from Gov. Kate Brown, Oregon lawmakers are preparing to ask voters in November 2020 whether to change the state constitution to limit money in politics. Theres a catch: The lawmakers plan to have the measure preempt campaign contribution limits Oregon voters already enacted in 2006. The 2006 restrictions are on the books but unenforceable. The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that the state constitution protects campaign contributions as free speech. Lawmakers are working to change that. They could ask voters to simply change the constitution and explicitly make donation limits legal. That would allow the 2006 initiative, Measure 47, to take effect. Instead, Brown and the Legislature are proposing to preempt it. Beneficiaries of campaign cash -- lawmakers -- would then get to write their own campaign finance controls. A separate voter initiative specifying limits also could head to the ballot in 2020. Today, Oregon is one of five states with no limits on campaign donations. Corporations, unions, interest groups and wealthy individuals can give as much as they want. No one gives more than corporations. A recent investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that the lack of limits has turned Oregon into one of the biggest money states in American politics. Allowing Measure 47 to take hold would dramatically curtail contributions, giving Oregon some of the nations most restrictive limits. Killing it would let lawmakers or voters decide anew what limits should be. Dan Meek, a campaign finance reform advocate who backed the 2006 measure, called the current legislative effort a direct insult to all voters. It will solidify the reputation of the Oregon Democratic Party as highly retrograde on campaign finance reform, Meek said. Theyve had majorities or supermajorities for years and a Democratic governor since 1986 and havent done a thing. State Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, ran on reforming the states campaign finance laws and is chairman of the Senates newly created Campaign Finance Committee. Golden said a measure that would allow past restrictions to take effect would not have enough support. When the 2006 measure was on the ballot, liberal groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, Planned Parenthood and the states powerful teachers union led the opposition. My informal reading of the building is that would be harder to pass out of here, Golden said. Im wary of things that would reduce support for that. The measure that lawmakers are preparing to send to voters, Senate Joint Resolution 18, would change the constitution to state explicitly that campaign finance limits are allowed. An amendment posted Wednesday says the measure would only apply to limits created after January 1, 2016. The cutoff date would disqualify Measure 47, which won 53 percent of the vote. It capped donations at $500 for statewide office and $100 for legislative races. An earlier version of the proposal would have set the cutoff date at December 3, 2020. That would have preempted measures passed by sweeping majorities in Portland and Multnomah County in the past three years. Lawmakers changed the date after The Oregonian/OregonLive inquired about Meeks concerns. Nikki Fisher, a spokeswoman for Brown, said the governor is committed to working with local entities to ensure the campaign finance reform measures adopted by voters can continue to create transparency in their local communities. Molly Woon, deputy director of the Democratic Party of Oregon, said before any proposal became final there would be a full discussion of ways to protect the Portland and Multnomah County initiatives. But neither Woon nor Fisher addressed why legislators arent working to allow Measure 47 to take effect. The 2006 ballot measure prohibits corporations and unions from donating except through committees solely funded by individuals. The law has lived in suspended animation for 13 years because voters rejected a companion measure to make it constitutional. Oregons Supreme Court has ruled that the measure could take effect as soon as the constitution is changed to allow it. If a majority of voters approve the 2020 constitutional change, lawmakers might set higher limits. One lawmaker, Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has proposed capping donations at $5,000. Thats five times as much as Washington allows, and 50 times what Oregon voters allowed under Measure 47. Voters could also set limits at the ballot. If Measure 47 is preempted, Meek said, he will again head to the ballot. We will go much lower than the legislators want, he said. The Senate Campaign Finance Committee held a hearing on the measure Wednesday but took no action. Rob Davis rdavis@oregonian.com 503.294.7657; @robwdavis Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. SALEM A proposal moving through the Oregon Legislature would give state regulators the authority to license county-run residential programs for children in foster care and the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority. Currently, only privately operated youth treatment and care institutions are required to meet state licensing standards. As The Oregonian/OregonLive has reported, Oregon child welfare officials are increasingly looking to unlicensed county-run institutional programs to house and treat some of the most traumatized and difficult to care for children in the states foster system. Douglas, Klamath, Josephine and Multnomah County already house children in group quarters under contract with the state. Gov. Kate Brown wants lawmakers to issue $12 million in debt to expand Klamath Countys program to serve more teenage girls. The disparity in licensing standards has come under criticism. The question is, why do we have this one set of programs that isnt subject to the same set of rules as everybody else? Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, said at a Feb. 19 hearing. In order to obtain federal reimbursement for payments to the unlicensed county programs, Oregon has been issuing letters of approval to the county programs, Department of Human Services Child Care Licensing Manger Tom Vanderveen told lawmakers in February. Vanderveen said state regulators inspect the programs as they would licensed facilities, prior to issuing letters of approval. (We) essentially have been holding these counties to the same standard but its very unofficial, Vanderveen said. For counties that already meet the states letter of approval standards, Vanderveen said the primary change under Senate Bill 181 would be that they would be held accountable to a much broader definition of abuse and neglect. If such abuse or neglect occurs, a facility could be disciplined with consequences up to having its license revoked. Individual employees could also face consequences up to being barred from ever working in an Oregon child caring facility. Even under the current, more limited definition of abuse and neglect, at least one county-run program is still operating after the state substantiated two reports of neglect, including case in which a young person was sexually abused by a fellow youth. Privately run programs that care for children are already subject to that more rigorous definition of abuse and neglect, under a bill passed in 2016. For example, under the new law, neglect is defined to include failure to provide the care, supervision or services necessary to maintain the physical and mental health of a child in care. For children living with their families, by contrast, neglect is defined in more physical terms including whether the family is failing to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter or medical care that is likely to endanger the health or welfare of the child. The Senate Committee on Human Services unanimously approved Senate Bill 181, which would add county-run programs to the list of child caring agencies that require licensure, last month. It is now at the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. It has not yet received a floor vote in either chamber. Klamath County Juvenile Department director Dan Golden said in a recent interview that he is not concerned about Senate Bill 181. I think its just a natural progression of state law, Golden said. In Douglas County, which has state contracts to care for more foster children than any other county, Juvenile Department Director Aric Fromdahl said he supports the idea of licensing county programs but opposes imposing the stricter definition of abuse and neglect. He said that being subject to the stricter standard can derail the career of employees who simply miss a scheduled check-in on youth. Even without the tighter standard in place, Douglas Countys programs had two substantiated findings of neglect in the last two years, according to public records obtained from the state. In both cases, children in a county residential program engaged in sexual activity when they were left alone for extended periods of time because staff failed to conduct required check-ins. In April 2017, an unidentified county staffer failed to provide the required supervision of two youth while in their bedroom which resulted in one of the youth sexually offending the other. Although staff twice failed to document that they were conducting required room checks that month, the county was unable to figure out who was at fault due to its failure to assign specific staff to this duty, according to the state. It was unclear from the state report whether any managers faced consequences for failing to track which staff should have been completing the checks. In May 2017, two youth in an unspecified Douglas County residential program used hairspray and nail polish as inhalants and engaged in sexual activity over a period of two hours, according to a state document. During this time staff were to be conducting surveillance checks every 15 minutes and room checks every 30 minutes, none of which were conducted. After a state investigation found the two county staffers actions constituted neglect, both employees lost their Department of Human Services approval to work with children, according to the state. What the argument is from our perspective and I think a lot of (child caring agencies) is that situation may not rise to the level of destroying somebodys career, Fromdahl said of the impact on employees. Fromdahl said Douglas County is waiting to see whether the Legislature passes Senate Bill 181 before making a decision whether to open a 25-bed residential program for children ages 6 to 12. We want to make sure were not just setting up our employees for the ability of some folks to apply the new definition of neglect for some things that we dont feel is abuse, Fromdahl said. Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. UPDATED Wednesday, March 20: Portland police have identified the man arrested Tuesday as 25-year-old Robin Sanford Bay. He had been given the moniker of John Doe because officers werent immediately able to identify him, police said. *** Police arrested a man Tuesday on accusations that he carjacked a podcast host in a Southeast Portland Burgerville drive-thru and later stole a pedestrians cellphone. The man has been given the moniker of John Doe because officers werent immediately able to identify him, according to Portland police. He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Greg Nibler, who hosts Digital Trends Live and co-hosts the Funemployment Radio podcast, has since retrieved his 2003 green Ford Ranger. But the pickups keys, along with his work and personal laptops, are gone. The whole thing is surreal, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive while waiting for a tow truck to move his pickup. I still cant believe this happened to me in broad daylight as I was trying to buy a burger. Nibler said he drove his pickup to the Burgerville at Southeast 12th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard around 11:30 p.m. during a lunch break between recording podcasts. He was waiting at the back of the line with his drivers window open when a stranger walked up to the truck and demanded that Nibler buy him a burger. Nibler said the man was holding a glass bottle and threatened to hit him unless he gave him food. Nibler refused. The thing is, if he had asked nicely and not held a bottle over my head, I probably would have bought him a burger, Nibler said. The stranger then demanded the truck, climbed into the truck bed and started tossing things out of it. Nibler said he had a cooler, tarps, camping equipment and other items there. Nibler got out of his pickup and asked the man what he was doing. The man jumped down, ran toward Nibler and pushed past him into the drivers seat. Nibler said he tried pulling the man out but did not succeed. Nibler said the man reversed the truck in an apparent attempt to hit him. Then Nibler watched as the man drove his truck away. He called 911 as he lost sight of his truck. Officers spoke to him for about 20 minutes until they received a call about a pickup matching Niblers description that had been abandoned in another area of Southeast Portland. According to Portland police, officers tracked down the abandoned truck after receiving reports that a man had left the pickup in a driveway near the 600 block of Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard. Witnesses also told police that they saw the man steal someones cellphone. Police havent found that victim. Police called Nibler when they confirmed the truck was his and drove him to his pickup. Officers brought him to a patrol car where the suspect was sitting, and Nibler said he confirmed the man in the car was the person who stole the pickup. Nibler said hes glad officers took his case seriously and found the man. He hopes his laptops are found. In the grand scheme of things, Im OK and things could have been much worse, Nibler said. Portland police asks anyone with information on John Does identity, the alleged cellphone theft or any other information related to the carjacking to contact Detective Hiedi Housley at 503-823-1063 or hiedi.housley@portlandoregon.gov. Nibler said he had to cancel an episode recording of Funemployment Radio because of the carjacking, but he plans to discuss what happened on Wednesdays show. -- Everton Bailey Jr. ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Multnomah County on Wednesday opened its new $94.1 million Gladys McCoy Health Department Headquarters in Old Town. The building replaces the Health Departments current headquarters at 426 S.W. Harvey Milk St. in downtown Portland, which the county board voted to vacate because it was cramped, inefficient and technically obsolete, county Chair Deborah Kafoury said. The old building was also vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake. The new building, at 619 N.W. Sixth Ave., is designed to survive a major quake, though its not built to a high enough standard that it could be expected to be in working order in the immediate wake of the disaster. The new building will house administrative offices, as well as three specialty clinics, a central laboratory and a pharmacy to serve the countys other clinics scattered throughout the county. Its ground floor includes a command post for use during a public health emergency, such as last weeks water main break that spread potentially contaminated floodwater through a Northeast Portland neighborhood. The countys 500 health workers will move into the new building in April. It sits in a section of Old Town thats likely to change dramatically in coming years. It shares a block with Bud Clark Commons, a homeless services and housing center. The block is surrounded on three sides by sites owned by Prosper Portland, the citys economic development agency. The city agency plans to launch a major redevelopment effort in the area that could also include the adjacent Greyhound bus depot. -- Elliot Njus enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Goose Creek, SC (29445) Today Generally cloudy. High 77F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Overcast with showers at times. Thunder possible. Low near 55F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's first budget contains a proposed 45-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase that aims to fix Michigan's roads. Within this recommendation, the governor is speeding toward the highest state gas tax in the country. In 2015, legislators approved a gradual road funding plan expected to generate over a billion dollars by 2021. It was a solution tailored to our state's economic well-being and practical in relation to what Michigan residents could afford. The revenue amassed in the governor's plan would indeed be a large number, but it's too large and immediate of an ask for people on fixed incomes, those with long work commutes and Michigan families who are living paycheck to paycheck. It's not good policy. All of that is merely the upfront sticker shock of this deal. It's important and natural to wonder where exactly all of this estimated $2.5 billion of your money would be going. Analysis of the proposal revealed that an estimated 40 percent would not go to roads at all. Instead, it would reimburse the general fund for money already going to roads. The freed up money in the general fund would then be used to fund other priority projects laid forth by the governor. What's left of the remaining revenue for road repairs would be carved up based on road usage and "economic importance," not the current formula already in law directing revenue sharing between state and local road agencies. A centralized board would instead hold all the power and decide what gets fixed. This alternative method does not follow the notion of local control and would be paving a road to an inequitable use of what is raised at the pump through the tax. Residents of Isabella and Midland counties will simply pay more with no real guarantee of any distribution funds for repairs. Why would residents entrust $2.5 billion to the state and stomach at least $5 more each trip to the gas station for such a vague proposition? I want to see the full implementation of our current road funding plan before charging people 45 cents more per gallon. If the current plan ultimately shows to be ineffective in terms of a needed fix, I will be happy to work alongside the governor and hammer out a new way forward. Instead of steamrolling fresh asphalt in parts of Central Michigan, the proposed plan will really be steamrolling the pocketbooks of Central Michigan residents. Rep. Roger Hauck of Union Township is in his second term in the Michigan House, serving residents in the 99th District, which includes Isabella County and portions of Midland County. Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union says it is ready to help Algeria overcome its political challenges and to hold inclusive and transparent presidential election Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The Tunisian city of Hammamet is hosting, from March 18-28, an international training session for 200 Taekwondo referees from five continents Many of us have become fairly numb since the 2016 election, our sense of normalcy upended like a cow tipped unceremoniously in a field. And like that field, everything smells like bullsh*t right now, primarily the lack of information coming out of the White House in response to requests from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Try to shake yourself out of that numbness today, because the White House is engaged in an unprecedented level of stonewalling, delay and obstruction, according to a Washington Post op-ed penned by Oversight Committee chair Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. This is a serious threat to our democracy. Cummings writes that, while the committee has been allowed to view certain documents (some of which are blacked out or unrelated to the subjects being investigated), the White House has not turned over papers or produced witnesses: I have sent 12 letters to the White House on a half-dozen topicssome routine and some relating to our core national security interests. In response, the White House has refused to hand over any documents or produce any witnesses for interviews. Let me underscore that point: The White House has not turned over a single piece of paper to our committee or made a single official available for testimony during the 116th Congress. For contrast, consider the 20,000 pages regarding Hurricane Katrina turned over to the Oversight Committee by George W. Bushs administration, or the plethora of witnesses and documents provided by the Obama White House about Benghazi. That is the norm. Presidents on both sides of the aisle understood the importance of the Oversight Committees role in enforcing the checks and balances in the government. Now, though, we are dealing with a goddamn conman who is testing the strength of those power checks built into our system. The investigations led by the Oversight Committee cover a number of different topics, including White House security clearances (with Trumps administration claiming Congress is not entitled to information about individuals such as Michael Flynn and his successor John Bolton, both of whom have shady ties to Russia), Trumps undisclosed hush money payments to women prior to the 2016 election and allegations that the commander-in-chief has destroyed documents, thus violating the Presidential Records Act. Trumps attempt to stonewall congressional oversight led to Cummings piece and, as the chair writes, forthcoming subpoenas. The Maryland Democrat states: President Trumps actions violate our Constitutions fundamental principle of checks and balances. If our committee must resort to issuing subpoenas, there should be no doubt about why. This has nothing to do with presidential harassment and everything to do with unprecedented obstruction. Looks like were in cow pie city, folks. This week, President Donald Trump waded for the first time into a long-running, one-sided Twitter fight with the husband of one his most senior advisers: Lawyer George Conway, husband of Kellyanne. Trump tweeted at Conway yesterday, and after Conway fired back, went at him again this morning. Here are those tweets, in order of appearance: If youre not familiar with Conway, hes been an influential institutional conservative operative for decades, but over the last year has made a much more prominent name for himself by trolling Trump relentlessly on Twitter. In the process, Mr. Conway has sparked rumors about the tenability and nature of his marriage to Kellyanne, and has ingratiated himself to resistance Democrats: His Twitter follower count currently numbers over 400,000, and his tweets about Trump this week have all clocked tens of thousands of likes. But these people either arent informed about Conways past, or have in a desperate enemy-of-my-enemy frenzy been willing to overlook it. Im sorry to break it to you, but George Conwaywho has done a sketchy favor for Trump, worked with Ann Coulter to impeach President Bill Clinton; attended a party with Trump thrown by Rebekah Mercer, offered the President free legal advice, and affirmed it would be a good idea for Trump to fire SDNY chief attorney Preet Bharara is, despite his stunning ability to say what tens of millions of Americans say every daythat there is something wrong with Donald Trumps brainGeorge Conway is not your hero. First, some background. George Conway is the son of a Filipino organic chemist (Omarosa Manigault wrote in her book that Trump has in private called Conway a goo-goo, a racial slur for Filipino that traces back to the beginning of the 1900s; Conway called her story absurd) and a Raytheon defense contractor. He was 20 when he graduated from Harvard, and he went on to lead the Federalist Society at Yale. Conway first came on the D.C. scene in the 1990s, when he played a quiet, but important role in what Hillary Clinton would later call the vast right-wing conspiracy to bring down her husband. Conway offered free legal advice to some of President Clintons accusersmost prominently Paula Jonesas well as setting up Linda Tripp with an attorney when she decided to go forward with her tapes of Monica Lewinsky. According to a profile in The Washington Post, Conway worked on the smear project elbow-to-elbow with Ann Coulter, and when Clinton and Jones seemed ready to settle their dispute out of court, they tried to stop it: It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the president, Coulter said of that work. Conway and Coulter then passed lewd details about the former President to Drudge Report, including Joness infamous allegation about the Presidents curved penis. If she is correct, Conway wrote, then Clinton has a urological condition called Peyronies disease. George married Kellyanne in 2001, and a few years later the two bought a condo in Trump World Tower. While there, George helped resolve a dispute Trump was having with the Trump Tower condo board, for which Trump expressed much gratitude. (More on that later.) In New York, Conway worked as a lead attorney at prominent conservative law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, but more or less stayed out of politics until Kellyanne took over as Trumps campaign manager when Paul Manafort stepped aside amid allegations that he was laundering money in Ukraine. The night Trump was elected, Conway reportedly cried tears and shouted: She did it! She did it! She made history. He said later, No one was prouder than I was that she was able to elect this man president despite his obvious flaws. She took a campaign that the candidate had run into the gutter. After the election, George and Kellyanne literally moved to D.C. with Trump, taking their belongings with them on a flight with the President-elect to Washington for an inaugural dinner. (Conway also told the Post he rode in a black SUV with Trump, Kellyanne, and Stephen Bannon to a costume party at the home of Rebekah Mercer, Trumps largest financial backer and overall lunatic.) But until March of last year, Conways Twitter account had been more or less dormant, save for a few tweets here and there about sports. But that month something triggered something, and he tweeted or retweeted several cutting critiques of his wifes boss, including a retweet of a CNN (FAKE NEWS!) reporter with a comment its tough to see as not pointed straight at his own home: Conway has since deleted that tweet among others expressing similar feelings. But he hasnt let up. Most recently, Conway has been sounding the alarm about Trumps mental state, calling out the Presidents brazen, pathological mendacity, said a serious inquiry needs to be made about this mans condition of mind, shared a screenshot of the entry for Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and advised that all Americans should be thinking seriously now about Trumps mental condition and psychological state, including and especially the media, Congressand the Vice President and Cabinet (a not-so-veiled reference to the 25th Amendmenta constitutional mechanism for removing the president from power which Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein also reportedly raised in discussions after Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey). Last December, after Kellyanne went on CNN to defend Trumps lies about hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, George took to Twitter to contradict her, writing: Given that Trump has repeatedly lied about the Daniels and McDougal paymentsand given that he lies about virtually everything else, to the point that his own former personal lawyer described him as a f****ing liarwhy should we take his word over that of federal prosecutors? Mr. Conway also wrote a 3,500-word essay on Lawfare defending Special Counsel Robert Mueller from Trumps allegation his appointment was unconstitutional. And in response to Michael Cohens statement on ABCs Good Morning America that I gave loyalty to someone who, truthfully, does not deserve loyaltyConway tweeted Truer words were never spoken. (Again, when you read that exchange from Kellyannes perspective, its hard not to see it doubling as a shot at her.) And Conway said earlier this March that if, as news reports alleged, Trump directed senior White House official Gary Cohn to pressure the DOJ to block the budding AT&T-Time Warner merger, the president should be impeached. If youre interested in reading more of this stuff, theres plenty of it out there. But to make it perfectly clear: Conway thinks Trump is crazy. But to move on, Conways performance almost immediately raised questions about his home life with his senior Trump aide betrothed. Last August, The Washington Post ran an incredible profile on the power couple, drawn largely from on-the-record interviews in their home. The Conways, like the rest of the country, it reads, have been jolted by the Trump presidency. They love each other, are exasperated by each other, talk about each other behind each others backs. They share a roof and live in different bunkers. But considering Georges past, this raises questions of its own: If George truly feels this strongly about Trumps general unfitness, and if Kellyanne truly feels as strongly about defending him, how can they possibly tolerate each other? Their high profilesand especially her position in the administrationcompound the conundrum. Its easy to conjure thoughts of conspiracyor at best, wild hypocrisywhen you consider the fact that Kellyanne has been alleged in several accounts now as the source of the leaks she goes on TV to call lies. Is George a pressure valve for her true feelings? Do his tweets double as her messages to Trump? Is George trading cynically on Kellyannes image to heighten his own public profile? Who knows. But no matter the motive, we should think twice before canonizing Conway. His response to Trumps Twitter attack shone a light on why. Perhaps out of deference to Kellyanne, Trump had until yesterday refrained from going after her husband on Twitter, though its been reported hes wanted to do so for a while. But it seems Conways most recent rants about his mental state were a bridge too far. On Tuesday morning Trump tweeted Conway was a total loser! However direct that might seem, Trump still put a layer between himself and Conway (or the Conways): Trump didnt tweet the attack out of the bluehe cited a tweet from current campaign manager Brad Parscale. Here that is again: It doesnt take a linguistics degree to surmise Trump wrote Parscales tweet himselfprobably so he could put a layer between himself, these false statements, and Conway (both of them, really). This would have offered Trump a fairly cowardly excuse for quoting it the next day, but also could have been a menial protective measure for Kellyanneor, to take it a step further, possibly orchestrated with her approval. Trumps sophomoric Wednesday morning follow-up, however, was unadulterated, invoking Kellyanne by name: George, of course, responded almost immediately. In a Tuesday afternoon interview with the Post, he disputed Parscale/Trumps allegations, describing multiple interactions with Trump going back more than decade. They werent insubstantial. For instance, after George and Kellyanne married in 2001, they took up residence in New York Cityin a Trump World Tower condo. In 2006, George stuck up for Trump in a disagreement with the condominium board when some members floated the idea of taking Trumps name off the building. Conways argument pleased Trump, who Conway said invited him to join the board. (Conway passed the offer to Kellyanne, who accepted it.) Most interestingly, Conwayin his rush to prove Trump told yet another insane lieshared with the Post a letter from Trump in the wake of the dispute. In that letter, Trump thanked Conway for his help ridding Trump World Tower of some very bad people. Those very bad people, obviously, were the dissenters on the board. That slimy closeness in itself is kind of surprising, given Conways stentorian distaste for Trumps personality, but, perhaps more interestingly, that same board dispute also prompted Trump to hire another Trump Tower resident, Michael Cohen, because Donald Trump Jr. had failed to negotiate a settlement. Trump rewarded Cohen for his favor by hiring him. Seems Trump also rewarded the Conways. Conway said more, though. According to his Post, interview, during that transition-era flight to D.C. with his wife and Trump, the President asked Conway what he thought about firing Preet Bharara, who at the time was lead U.S. attorney for SDNY. This was a highly controversial moveTrump eventually fired Bhararaand raised early questions about abuse of power, but by Conways own account, he gave Trump his blessing: I said in general, its better to have your people in terms of important positions than others. (SDNY has since named Trump as Individual 1 in a federal indictment, and is pursuing a number of criminal cases involving Trump, his businesses, the inaugural committee, his foundation, and several associates including Michael Cohen.) But wait, theres more. Conway, in an effort to dispel Parscales claim that Trump didnt know him, told the Post that in Spring 2017, Trump offered him the position of Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, at the Justice Department. Conway turned it down, saying hed just seen Trump attack multiple DOJ officialsincluding then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reportedly done to Conways faceand fire FBI Director James Comey. Conway said he wasnt interested in involving himself in what appeared to be an upcoming long-term battle between Trump and the DOJ. Sounds great, right? HOWEVER. George also said that after Trump fired Comey (and before Conway turned down the job), Kellyanne arranged a phone call with him, Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Jared Kushner, who wanted his advice on selecting lawyers to defend Trump in the Mueller investigation. He wanted to know my opinions on a variety of lawyers who were being considered to be his outside counsel, Conway told the Post. He asked me for my opinions on each of them. The attorney made another point clearthere were all these people in the room making it a non-privileged conversationhowever, Conway didnt clarify to the Post what advice he actually gave the President. Conway said he then spoke with Trump at Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchins wedding in June 2017. Trump came up to him, according to Conway, and congratulated him for choosing not to work under Sessions: He said to me, I remember it clearly, you were smart not to work for that guy. He is so weak. Apparently Trump groused for several minutes about Sessions recusal from all investigations involving the campaign (a recusal Conway endorsed). Its telling of Trump, though, that he wasnt hurt by Conways rejection, and had instead turned it inside-out to see it as an insult of a perceived common enemy. (Trump would around this time pressure White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Sessions.) Its also pretty clear that Parscale soon realized Trump had boondoggled him into making false claims in his tweet: A spokesman for the campaign manager said Trump had told Parscale he didnt remember ever being in a room with George Conway (!), and that Trump first met Kellyanne Conway during the election. (Again, she was on the Trump World Tower condo board.) But all available recent reporting suggests the Conways seem bound for a rough landing. According to the Post, last month, Kellyanne reportedly ripped into her husband in front of several guests at a British Embassy party thrown for members of Congress. The media-savvy White House official knew full well what she was doing: several of those present were high-profile journalists, including New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, NBCs Andrea Mitchell, and former Post political writer Sally Kohn. She went on. She claimed George preferred to spend his time in front of his computer, while she preferred to socialize, the attendees said. She blamed the press for elevating her husbands profile, and claimed Georges friends had asked him to stop the tweets. According to those present, Kellyanne said they wouldnt like it if their marriages played out under such a spotlight. Conway also reportedly told them that both she and Trump believe George envies her, and that Trump trusts and wants to protect her. George told the Post, I made it possible for her to be where she is today. So theres that. Its not about jealousy. Its about reality. Who this man is, and whether hes fit for public office. Which, as Ive said, he isnt. In response to Trumps unvarnished Wednesday morning attack calling him a husband from hell, Conway had three words: Well theres a headline I never knew I so badly wanted to write. According to Variety, Nicolas Cage will star in the film adaptation of the comic series Jiu Jitsu, in which he will pummel invading aliens with his bare freakin hands. The synopsis of the comic, and thus the film, is summed up as such: Jiu Jitsu centers on an ancient order of expert Jiu Jitsu fighters facing fearsome alien invaders in a battle for Earth every six years. Cages character and his team of Jiu Jitsu fighters band together with Moussis character to defeat the Brax. We have so, so many questions here. Why is Brazilian jiu jitsu Earths chosen means of defense? Why do these death tournaments happen every SIX years, which seems like an arbitrary (and rather short) amount of time? Will the majority of each fight be scrabbling on the mat, as you see in most UFC ground-fighting, as the jiu jitsu fighters spend 20 minutes tiring each other out and trying to establish a dominant position? Oh, and theres this: How did Nic Cage manage to convince someone that he would be able to capably perform jiu jitsu in a film? I mean sure, the majority of Mandy was him covering himself in other peoples blood, but most of that was done via the use of weapons. Cages Mandy character was a man who was pushed too far. This Jiu Jitsu character, on the other hand, is apparently supposed to be a professional fighter. Who looks at 55-year-old Nic Cage and thinks This is the body of a professional fighter? According to Variety, the film also stars Alain Moussi of the Kickboxer franchise, and is directed by Dimitri Logothetis, who directed Kickboxer: Retaliation in 2018. According to Logothetis, Jiu Jitsu is guaranteed to satisfy the millions of martial arts and science fiction lovers across the globe with world class martial artists, stunt men go-to expert Alain Moussi joining superstar Nicolas Cage for some formidable, no holds barred fight sequences set in exotic Burma. You heard it here first! Nic Cage will go through no-holds-barred fight scenes against ALIENS, set in exotic Burma, although shouldnt we be saying Myanmar? We eagerly await more information (and especially a trailer) for Jiu Jitsu. Now in its eighth year, Treefort Music Fest will take over downtown Boise beginning Wednesday, March 20, through Sunday, March 24. More than 400 bands, both emerging and established artists, will invade Idahos capital city for a long weekend full of music, food, talks, art installations and more. Fresh off the plane from Austin, Paste will be heading out into the musical wilderness once again to cover all the action in Boise. Here are 10 artists were really excited to see. For the entire lineup, visit the Treefort website. Dream pop is an abundant commodity in todays music economy, but happening upon both great songwriting and great instrumentation within the same band is a rare occurrence in the genre. So I was tickled to discover Anemone, a group from Montreal who stirred up a ton of buzz at South By Southwest last week. Led by frontwoman and project mastermind Chloe Soldevila, Anemone make hooky, hazy pop tinged with 60s girl group vibes. And we hear theyre a real treat to see live. Ava Lunas 2018 album Moon 2 is an escape from reality. Band members have described Ava Luna as being more of a place than anything else, and that place isnt of this earthits a whole other glitchy, groovy galaxy, one that at times feels like Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space and, at others, a David Bowie deep cut. Rhythm rules on Moon 2, and Ill be fascinated to see how those sounds translate to a live setting. Be Forest make beautiful, immersive shoegaze that instantly recalls My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. The Italian trio specializes in massive walls of sound that a clunky pair of noise-cancelling headphones just cant do justice. Theyre already on their third album, Knockturne (out in February), though theyre only just breaking out in the U.S. On her 2018 LP LONER, a follow-up to 2014s I Will Not Be Afraid, Caroline Rose makes the huge leap from country/folk to dark pop satire, which she executes marvelously. LONER is chock-full of humor and absurd characters, like Jeannie (below), but Rose herself might be the most intriguing personality of them all. Shes constantly, and exclusively, clad in red, wooing her 16,000 Instagram followers with consistently hilarious updates from the road. Her music is oodles of fun, and her live show promises to be much the same. Following the disintegration of her longtime band, Alex Niedzialkowski knew she wasnt done being a songwriter. From those ashes came her 2018 album Comfort World, a project brought on by some very uncomfortable happenings: a breakup, job loss and family illness among them. So Niedzialkowski rounded up her musician friends and created her own comfort. She sings with an assured air, the result of a lot of time in my bedroom, writing these songs to get me through it. A big part of Treefort is music discovery, but sometimes you just cant resist a legacy act, especially when that artist is Liz Phair, one of musics most iconic feminists and a professional badass. Phair is still touring and riding the press train from last years reissue of Exile in Guyville for a 25th anniversary box set, Girly-Sound To Guyville, and we cant say were complaining. Mike Krol knows his way around a power chord, so much so that he named his new album Power Chords. Krols Merge release was an early 2019 favorite, packed with good ol fashioned shred and thundering electric guitar solos. Were happily packing our earplugs. Pinky Pink are an L.A. trio who formed high school, then making appropriately youthful garage rock and channeling girl group sounds. Fresh off a SXSW stint, Anastasia, Isabelle and Eva are sliding into Boise to once again show off their groovy style. Anastasia gets extra points for acting as drummer and lead vocalisthandling both the sticks and the mic is tricky business, but marvelous to behold. Sudan Archives, a.k.a. L.A. songwriter and self-taught violinist Brittney Parks, made waves last year with her excellent EP, the atmospheric Sink. Inspired by the Sudanese fiddlers for whom shes named, Sudan Archives weaves luscious folk sounds with synthetic beats to create her own beautiful brand of electro-instrumentation. Sister trios like Haim and Joseph have captured us with their gracious rock n roll and sweeping harmonies, but TEEN are doing something else entirely. Teeny, Lizzie, and Katherine Lieberson recently shared their eclectic new album Good Fruit, and its a weird and wild traipse into an electronic jungle. Charged at times and more subdued at others, Good Fruit is a sweet listen all the way through. I would be willing to bet good money that a plurality of electoral college defenders (less than a third of Americans) are not aware that the electoral college was widely disagreed upon by our supposed god-like founderseven though many electoral college defenders claim they created a perfect, seemingly unamendable constitution. So many rush to cite The Founderswhich is kind of adorable in its child-like naivetegiven that most subjects of Americas founding were fervently disputed by the Founding Fathers. They were anything but a monolith. There was not much broad consensus on the topics that govern our lives today. They fought constantly and bitterly, as anyone who has seen Hamilton can attest. The man known as the father of the constitution, James Madison, has a reality check for folks who make the standard the electoral college exists to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority defense. We know that Madison said this thanks to his journal documenting the debate in the 1787 Philadelphia Conventionwhich is one of the few historical resources we have that confidently puts us inside the room where the constitution was drafted. Tyranny of the majority is not why the electoral college is in there (well, it is, but because of a different kind of tyranny of the majority). Per Madison: The people at large was in his opinion the fittest in itself. It would be as likely as any that could be devised to produce an Executive Magistrate of distinguished Character. Translation from 1700s-speak: the majority of people should probably choose the president. Madisons central, extremely 1787 context-dependent reservation about a simple majority vote in the new world? There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. Youll never believe what Madison said the solution was to fusing a practical union between slave-owning and non-slave-owning states. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections. Apologies folks, but Ive got to scream this summary of all that 1700s-speak so the Esoteric Jeffs of the world can hopefully hear it: THE FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION SAID MAJORITY RULE IS BEST TO PICK PRESIDENTS AND THE REASON WE SUBSTITUTED ELECTORS WAS BECAUSE OF THE SLAVE-OWNING SOUTHERN STATES! The reason Im writing this column is because Elizabeth Warrencurrent frontrunner of the Democratic policy primary, if not the polling onecalled for the abolition of the electoral college in her CNN town hall on Monday night. This has sparked a raft of completely ahistorical takes from electoral college defenders, led by the dummy at the top, who assert that minority rule is good actually, because majority rule is why Athens fell, or something (we all know why most GOPeople really defend it). Seriously, look at Esoteric Jeff. This is, more or less, why the 17th Amendment is the only Amendment of the Constitution that should be repealed. Senators should return to being appointed by state legislatures, not voted on by the people. More important in our demotic age than ever. Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) March 19, 2019 The actual, documented history of the electoral college has less to do with the relative power of states and far, far more to do with the relative power of slave-owning states. How do I know this? Because Ive read Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3 of the United States constitution: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. Take a wild guess at who the founders were talking about when they mentioned three fifths of all other Persons. This part of the constitution is what is commonly known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the reality behind it is what the father of the constitution was speaking of when he said the substitution of electors obviated this difficulty. The electoral college exists because slave-owning states wanted representation in the constitution relative to their population, but they did not want their entire population to be represented in the constitution. Enslaved people comprised 40% of Virginias population. This was no small issue (further cementing James Madisons status as the father of the constitution: he owned slaves in Virginia). You cannot look at pre-Civil War America through any primary lens other than slavery. It was the defining issue of the day. I was taught this stuff as a freshman political science major in college. Its not exactly a secret. The first thing Mississippi wrote in their declaration of secession was why they were leaving the union along with a bunch of other slave-owning states: Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world. The notion that slavery has nothing to do with flaws in the constitution is as absurd as the notion that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War. These two events are directly linked. The South fought to preserve the institution of slavery while slave-owning politicians fought to enshrine it in the constitution in the decades before it. People fighting for the greatest material interest in the world created a system that gave you and me loser presidents in George W. Bush and Donald Trump, who then put (at least) four loser justices on the nine-person Supreme Court that will make most of the major decisions for most of the rest of our lives (fun fact: we have nine justices thanks to a law from 1869, the constitution gives Congress power to increase or decrease the size of Supreme Court whenever it wants, so long as the president signs the bill). The constitution is flawed. Many founders said so. Thats why they gave us the power to amend it, some hoping that we could use amendments to eventually reverse course from our original sins of state-sanctioned slavery and genocidebacked by the full force of the United States constitution (per the United States constitution). Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. Korean news sites report today that Samsung Electronics painted a gloomy outlook for its business in 2019, Wednesday, saying its three business units device "solutions" (DS), consumer electronics (CE) and IT & mobile communications (IM) will grapple with intensifying competition, falling demand and other unfavorable conditions. Kim Ki-nam, Kim Hyun-suk and Koh Dong-jin, the respective heads of the DS, CE, and IM divisions, made the remarks during a general meeting of stockholders at the tech company's Seocho office in southern Seoul. Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics who heads their Device Division stated that "The Device Division is expected to have a difficult year as the smartphone market, which has driven demand for semiconductors and parts, is slowing down, and data centers have reduced their investment." Kim added, "We believe there should be opportunities despite a crisis," Kim said, vowing to focus efforts on developing next-generation products such as sixth-generation V-NAND. Koh Dong-jin, president and head of their Mobile Division, said the growth of the smartphone market this year is expected to be stagnant due to the slow global economy. Further, Koh stated that "Samsung Electronics will also enhance its leadership in the premium smartphone market to create growth momentum." Koh added that the mobile division will create a new segment by launching a 5G-enabled foldable smartphones. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus. Patna: Police in Patna on Thursday arrested three men from near Bakhtiarpur area who had been wanted in the March 19 armed robbery of a private finance company getting away with Rs. 68,000 along with in a host of other criminal cases. Acting on a tip-off, police carried out raids in Bakhtiarpur and Athmalgola areas and apprehended three men who were identified as Sadhu Singh, Saurabh Kumar, and Guddu. A fourth man was able to give police the slip. Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said the men were wanted in the armed robbery of a finance company that took place on March 19 along with a number of other robbery, loot, kidnapping, and shooting cases. Police recovered several firearms, bullets, Rs. 11,000 in cash, and half kilogram of ganja from their possession. In a separate case, police arrested two more criminals from near Hanuman Mandir under Kotwali police station in Patna and recovered two pistols, live cartridges, and a sophisticated video camera gear used mostly by professional news reporters. Patna: Authorities in Patna on Tuesday, acting on a tip-off, stopped a truck in Jaya Prakash Nagar under Jakkanpur police station and seized 250 cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMLF) for a total of 5808 bottles while also arresting three men involved in transporting the illegal consignment. The retail value of the liquor seized today is said to be in excess of Rs. 60 lakh. Arrested men were identified as Vikki, Deepak, and Arvind. Based on their statements, police are raiding a number of places in Patna and elsewhere where they expect to find more illegal liquor brought to Bihar from other states. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Garima Malik, talking to reporters, said that the police had been informed of a suspicious truck parked in Jaya Prakash Nagar with two men guarding it. Several plain-clothed policemen were dispatched to monitor activities near the truck. As police continued to keep an eye on the truck, a man was seen driving a tractor and parking it near the truck. Soon the three men opened the back of the truck and began unloading cartons of liquor on the tractor when policemen emerged from their hiding places and took them in custody. They seized the truck and the tractor along with 250 cartons of liquor. The SSP said the truck was coming from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh and the sender of the consignment was one Pradeep Gupta, a liquor mafia goon with connections in Bihar. A team of Patna police is expected to leave for Jaunpur soon to further investigate the matter, SSP Malik said. There were plenty of donuts Tuesday morning in a Philadelphia neighborhood, but no one was eating. Instead, many were angrily changing tires to donuts after a tire-slasher flattened the wheels on an estimated 71 vehicles. As 6ABC in Philly reports, it happened along a seven-block stretch of Media Street in West Philadelphia. Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Milillo of Southwest detectives told 6ABC an early Tuesday morning count of the slashed tires indicated 71 cars had been struck. (Story continues below) Some jerk slashed tires on about 70 cars in West Philly. Along Media St. between 51st and 61st. Residents left to fix flats. @6abc pic.twitter.com/sSx0JIHXzB TaRhonda Thomas (@TaRhondaThomas) March 19, 2019 Later, Philadelphia police confirmed 47 cars had at least one tire slashed. That is because by the time police began taking official reports, some people had changed tires and went to work, Milillo told 6ABC. Police expect the count to go higher as more owners file reports at their convenience. As for who slashed all those tires, the hunt is on: Milillo told 6ABC police have located some video from about 1 a.m. in the 5700 block of Media Street. Surveillance video shows two men walking westbound and they appear dipping down as if they may be puncturing tires, the news station writes. Meanwhile, residents were left to fume and change those tires. (Story continues below) Residents are trying to get answers after dozens of vehicles were damaged by a tire-slashing vandal in West Philadelphia. https://t.co/iVkSKbjjj7 Action News on 6abc (@6abc) March 19, 2019 As 6ABC points out: tires with slashed sidewalls cannot be repaired. The station quoted one tire shop worker as saying the replacement cost of a passenger car tire could range from $60 for a used tire to three times that amount for a new one. And for what? Resident Katrina Wilson summed up the neighborhoods anger for 6ABC, saying: Its ridiculous. A couple of cars with two tires that are slashed. I am glad I have only one. But its ridiculous to come out and go through this. Legislation that ensures Pennsylvanias elected officials and public employees who commit serious job-related crimes lose their pensions is on its way to Gov. Tom Wolfs desk for enactment. By a 44-0 vote, the state Senate on Wednesday approved House changes to a pension forfeiture bill that seeks to broaden the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act to cut off the pensions of those public officials and employees who commit felonies or offenses punishable by more than five years imprisonment. Wolf has indicated he would sign this government reform measure. In talking about the bill on the Senate floor, Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, the bills sponsor, said, Passing this bill today is a significant step forward for government reform. We are sending a clear message for the people of Pennsylvania that we are serious about restoring public trust in government." DiSanto said over the past 10 years, the state and school employees pension systems identified potentially hundreds of instances where officials and employees exploited a loophole in the law by pleading guilty to a non-pension forfeiture felony to preserve their pensions. Among them was a former longtime state Sen. Bob Mellow of Lackawanna County, who won a favorable decision in 2017 from the State Employees Retirement System board to restore his $245,000 a year pension despite his guilty plea and serving prison time on federal conspiracy charges - which currently is not considered a pension forfeiture crime. "Its obvious to me and all the honest hardworking citizens of Pennsylvania that lawbreakers violating the public trust should not receive lifetime pension benefits from taxpayers, DiSanto said. The measure passed the House on Tuesday by 194-1 vote with Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, casting the lone opposing vote. The legislation further strengthens the forfeiture law to include federal offenses as well as offenses that occur in another state that are substantially the same as ones that happen in the commonwealth as pension forfeiture crimes. They include such crimes as sexual offenses, theft, forgery, bribery, and wagering on an official action, among others. It also clarifies that the forfeiture begins on the day the public official or employee pleads guilty or no contest or is found guilty. The courts have interpreted the current law to mean that the forfeiture didnt occur until the official or employee was sentenced by a judge, which can be may months after an individual admits guilty or is found guilty. Similar legislation has been offered in past legislative sessions but none of those bills ever completed the legislative process to reach the governors desk. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Start your day in the know. Sign up for Good Morning, Pennsylvania Leonard W. Bocchicchio was 17 when he killed a 75-year-old businessman with a bowling ball during a robbery. A state Superior Court panel has decided Bocchicchio can spend a bit more time behind bars to ponder his crimes. It issued that in decision an opinion by Judge Anne E. Lazarus denying Bocchicchios appeal of a new prison term imposed upon him by a Blair County judge last year. Bocchicchio, now 55, had been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of beating owner Elwood Figard to death with the bowling ball on Dec. 6, 1980 at the Penn Classic Bowling Lanes in Altoona. His resentencing was mandated by the U.S. Supreme Courts 2012 ruling barring the imposition of automatic life prison terms on juvenile killers. This past April, county President Judge Elizabeth Doyle resentenced Bocchicchio to 35 years to life in prison on his first-degree murder conviction, plus a consecutive 2- to 4-year term for robbery. In appealing to the state court, Bocchicchio argued that his new sentence was illegally long. He insisted the robbery sentence should not have been tacked onto his sentence for the homicide. At the time he was resentenced, Bocchicchio already had served 35 years behind bars. If not for the additional robbery sentence, he would have immediately been eligible for parole, although his release still would not have been guaranteed. In denying Bocchicchios appeal, Lazarus noted the county judge considered many factors, including a defense psychologists finding that Bocchicchio has a low propensity for future violence. Doyles decision to imposed separate, consecutive jail terms for the murder and robbery convictions rests on solid legal ground, Lazarus found. A conviction for first-degree murder does not require proof that a defendant intended to commit a theft and, conversely, the crime of robbery certainly does not require proof a human being was unlawfully killed, she wrote. Our courts have consistently held the crimes of robbery and first-degree murder do not merge for sentencing purposes. An Arizona man is accused by police of shooting his wife, then staging her body to make it look like it was a suicide. The woman is a native of central Pennsylvania. Trevor Draegeth, 37, faces a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife, 40-year-old Laurie Draegeth, Arizona Daily Star reports. LancasterOnline reports Laurie Draegeth, formerly Laurie Zug, was a 1996 McCaskey High School graduate Police in Oro Valley responded to the couples home on the night of Feb. 12. Trevor Draegeth told police his wife shot at him twice before she shot herself, according to Arizona Daily Star. Officers arrived to find Laurie dead of a gunshot wound, as well as two bullet holes in one of the walls of the master bedroom. Trevor Draegeth told police he and his wife were arguing about finances earlier that evening before the supposed shooting happened. He also told police he laid with Laurie for about 10 minutes, and eventually manipulated her body in an attempt to make her look pretty,'" according to the report. Trevor Draegeth then called 911 about an hour after the shooting. Investigators later learned Laurie wanted to leave Trevor, and that she was recently kicked out of their house, according to the report. They also learned Laurie was not suicidal, and that she was looking forward to a trip planned with her daughters, according to the report. A coroner later ruled Lauries manner of death was homicide. A Dillsburg man died early Monday morning, days after suffering injuries in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash on Friday night, according to the York County Coroners Office. John Kauffman, 48, was identified as the man who was driving the motorcycle on Friday night, the coroner said. Kauffman was traveling in the area of Pa. Route 194, approaching the intersection of East Lake Meade Drive in Washington Township, when he attempted to negotiate a right curve and lost control, state police reported to the coroner. Kauffman was not wearing a helmet, and crashed just before midnight on March 15. Kauffman was flown from the scene of the crash to York Hospital, with severe head injuries, the coroner said. He died around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the coroner said. State police are investigating the crash, but the coroner said no autopsy will be done. East Berlin Fire Department and Latimore police assisted at the scene. The lawyer for a special-needs student who was molested by former Susquehanna Township High School Assistant Principal Shawn Sharkey is insisting the girl deserves at least $500,000 in damages as compensation for the abuse. That is twice as much as a federal magistrate judge is recommending Sharkey be ordered pay to resolve a lawsuit filed by the ex-pupil. A total damages award of $250,000 does not accurately reflect the emotional pain and suffering (the girl) experienced and the punishment a sexual predator like Sharkey deserves, attorney Dennis E. Boyle wrote. He made that argument in opposition to the $250,000 damage recommendation issued by U.S. Middle District Magistrate Judge Joseph F. Saporito Jr. Although the girl also sued the school district, Sharkey is the only remaining defendant in the civil case and so would bear sole responsibility for paying any damage award. He never responded to the lawsuit and a default judgment was entered against him. The final decision regarding how much Sharkey, now 50, of Abington, must pay is up to Middle District Judge Yvette Kane. Sharkey was arrested in September 2013 and later pleaded guilty in Dauphin County Court to charges of institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor. He was sentenced in 2015 to 6 to 18 months in the county work-release center and was paroled in September of that year. Police said Sharkey began molesting the then-16-year-old soon after being hired by the district in early 2013. She would sneak out of her home and Sharkey would pick her up and drive her to a motel for sex. Boyle claims that happened at least 10 times. Due to the actions of Sharkey, (the girl) completely lost her innocence, self-esteem and joyfulness and will always remember her high school years as a depressing and traumatizing episode in her life, Boyle wrote. He insisted Sharkey knew the teen had anxiety and severe emotional issues when he began preying upon her. Rumors about the molestation spurred a social media assault on the girl by fellow students who called her a whore and a home wrecker, Boyle wrote. Indeed, he added, there was never an apology or recognition of wrong by Sharkey until after the criminal case was instituted. The girl continues to be plagued by emotional outbursts and depression, Boyle said. There events had a life-altering impact on (the girl) and her family, he wrote. She has suffered and will continue to suffer from the psychological damage and emotional distress she endured for the unforeseeable future, and maybe for the rest of her life. The Sharkey case sent shock waves through the school district as well. It contributed to a major shake-up of the administration and prompted a county grand jury investigation of how district officials handled the initial allegations against Sharkey. The Diocese of Harrisburg has made a substantial change to eligibility requirements for its victims compensation fund. On Wednesday, Bishop Ronald Gainer announced he would waive the requirement that survivors of clergy abuse must have identified themselves to the diocese by Feb. 11. Under the revised guidelines, survivors of abuse who had not previously come forward to the diocese are eligible for the program. Gainer rolled out the change after recently completing a series of meetings with parishioners across the diocese. In a written statement, diocesan officials noted that the bishop had made the change based in part on the feedback from those sessions. Our goal is to help as many survivors of clergy sexual abuse as possible and we encourage you to come forward and contact our fund administrators, Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. (CMCI)," Gainer said in the statement. "Again, in my name and on behalf of the Church, we extend our prayers, heartfelt sorrow and apologies to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The diocese in February rolled out the so-called Survivor Compensation Program, which will pay out millions of dollars to victims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese has not disclosed a specific dollar amount for the fund, or details on the size of individual amounts that will go to victims. The program will be administered by Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. and was effective immediately for three months. Private settlements to individual victims will be determined by the fund administrator. The diocese said it has set aside a substantial amount of money in the millions to fund the compensation program. Within 14 days of the close of the claims period, the fund administrators will notify all claimants as to their eligibility. The claims period will run for 90 days, from Feb. 12 through May 13. Settlement offers will be made on or before June 28. Five other dioceses across the state and the Philadelphia Archdiocese have established compensation funds for victims. The dioceses rolled out the programs in the wake of a scathing grand jury report released in August 2018 detailing the horrific and widespread sexual abuse of thousands of minors over seven decades by hundreds of priests in six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg. Nearly identical patterns of abuse were previously found several years ago in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by a local grand jury investigation. Information on the Survivor Compensation Program is available at: Eligibility for the program include: Persons alleging childhood sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse means sexual molestation or sexual exploitation of a child (a person under the age of 18) and other behavior by which an adult uses a child as an object of sexual gratification, including attempted behavior. The allegation is against a priest, deacon, or seminarian of the diocese; or the allegation is against a priest or deacon from another diocese who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse; or the allegation is against a priest or brother from a religious order who had faculties in the diocese at the time of the abuse. Claimants not eligible include: It would take time and money to upgrade all of Harrisburgs polling locations to meet federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, which is why the director of the Dauphin County Board of Elections said the city should also improve its election districts while the county is meeting federal requirements. The changes shouldnt occur until after the 2020 census and presidential election to avoid any voter confusion, Jerry Feaser explained Tuesday to council members at their work session. No action was taken on the matter. Councilman Westburn Majors asked how many of the citys election districts were ADA compliant. Of the ones the Department of Justice checked, only one passed, Feaser answered. He told council that the bureau is seriously looking for new locations. We need to find places that are compliant, he said. Councilman David Madsen suggested partnering with area school districts. Feaser agreed. Were going to be trying to move many of our polling places to schools, Feaser said. We wouldnt even have to do anything. The districts would maybe have to close schools for the day, but they are willing to work with us. The county has been making changes elsewhere, like in Highspire and Steelton, where they successfully merged election districts. The changes didnt affect voter turnout. "Wards are based on populations, Feaser said. Election districts are based on registered voters. Changing the wards to reflect the five magisterial districts and realigning election districts could attract voters, he continued. City council members have two maps to mull over: The existing map of 28 election districts, based on 15 wards and related precinct splits of some of those wards; or new lines that define five wards established by the City, which would then be subdivided by the County Board of Elections into five precincts within each of the five wards, for a total of 25 election districts. These proposed wards and precincts would then be the basis for the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas to realign the Magisterial District Judge boundaries. These proposed wards would even out the population among the five Magisterial Districts, and the precincts would even out the voter numbers for each of the election districts, Feaser said. Four decades ago, there were 42 election districts in the city, he explained. There are 28 today. As those district lines were altered, merged and reshaped over 40 years ago, we have arrived at a situation where some of the election district lines dont make sense, he continued. Feaser said the new maps would offer the following improvements: "Voters no longer have to cross State Street to get to their polling place. In listening to concerns of pedestrian safety, it doesnt make sense why this major thoroughfare would serve as a dividing line of one election district rather than a boundary not intended to be crossed by voters going to the polls. Therefore, when developing the suggested ward lines, we would propose that State Street become a boundary line. "Nearly all of the residents of Hall Manor would be in one election district rather than split down the middle into two election districts as it is presently. "Shipoke, for which I presently am seeking an American with Disabilities Act compliant polling place, is added to other areas within easy and safe walking distance that could serve as a new and ADA compliant polling place. Two areas presently part of Harrisburgs 2nd Ward/1st Precinct and 9th Ward/1st Precinct that lie on the western side of the railroad tracks will no longer have to cross the Mulberry Street Bridge to get to their polling place. This will enable voters to more easily walk to the polls. The bureau is not looking to make dramatic changes, Feaser said. Election laws would still be followed in terms of communicating to voters where their polling location is located, he added. We should avoid making significant changes to election districts that would take effect during the 2020 presidential election, Feaser said. However, it is never too early to begin the discussion phase. The law spells out a series of events that need to happen before ward maps or election districts can be changed. While City Council has the authority to begin the process, voters would decide the outcome of any pending change in a ballot referendum. Car crashes killed 19 pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists in Harrisburg in the past five years. An additional 105 of those vulnerable road users were injured by vehicles during that same time period. Thats unacceptable and requires immediate change, according to city officials, who released an action plan Tuesday for the citys Vision Zero program. The plan comes after months of analysis, surveys and public meetings. The individuals killed and injured on Harrisburg streets were exercising what should be fundamental rights, such as commuting to work safely and having the ability to walk around the neighborhood, go shopping, and visit various businesses in a safe manner, the action plan said. The city launched the program nearly one year ago, after four pedestrians and a bicyclist died within 17 months along less than a mile of State Street. The program aims to zero out fatalities and serious injuries from crashes by the year 2030 through better engineering, education, collaboration and enforcement. Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse is planning a news conference Wednesday morning to discuss the action plan and how the city plans to accomplish its goal of making city streets safer. The effort comes amid an increase in pedestrian deaths in Central Pa. (highest level in at least 21 years) and a steady increase nationally. The citys action plan focuses its efforts on the streets that log the most serious crashes, which is known as the high-injury network. Heres a preview of some details and proposals from the report: Red light in Downtown Harrisburg Red light cameras? City officials should pursue automated enforcement such as red light cameras, according to the action plan. A change in law would be required as current law only allows the cameras to be used in first-class cities. Harrisburg is a third-class city. The report did not go into any details about adding red-light cameras or other devices but noted that speeding was the top reported dangerous behavior and running red lights or stop lights came in second. Proposed changes to Cameron and Maclay streets. Cameron and Maclay Cameron and Maclay streets reports the second-highest number of crashes of any intersection in the city, based on data from 2013 to 2017. City officials would like to reconstruct the intersection using urban smart channels, which are designed to slow vehicle speeds, improve entry angle sight lines, and improve visibility of pedestrians and pedestrian crossings. Well-designed right-turn slip lanes provide a tighter radius over a conventional channelized right-turn lane thereby reducing turning speeds, improving pedestrian visibility, and decreasing the head turn for drivers making right turns, according to the report. City officials already have designed the intersection and have applied for federal grant money to pay for the improvements. Market and Dewberry When people leave the Strawberry Square shopping complex in downtown Harrisburg toward Market Street, they face an intersection with no marked crosswalk. After several pedestrians were struck at Market and Dewberry, officials from Harristown (the owners of Strawberry Square) began working with the city to design a raised crosswalk similar to ones near the Capitol Complex. The crosswalk would match the height of the curbs and be clearly marked to better protect pedestrians. The project is ready to be put out for bids this year and is likely to be included in the citys 2020 budget, according to City Engineer Wayne Martin. Changes already have been made to State Street near Reservoir Park High Injury Network Sixty-six percent of the citys most serious crashes, including fatal ones, involving pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists occur on just four percent of the citys streets. The city is focusing on improving those streets first to try to have the most impact. Readers can see the citys High injury network for themselves at the citys Vision Zero website. Other statistics from the report include: 48 percent of fatalities and major injuries occurred on streets with speed limits over 35 mph and 55 percent of the fatalities and major injuries involved aggressive driving. Police Strike Team Improved enforcement is one of the key components to reducing dangerous crashes. To that end, the action plan calls for limited police resources to be devoted to a strike team that could focus on top crash locations. The officers would be highly visible and use a combination of education and enforcement to change behavior. Members of the Strike Team would provide monthly reports of deadly or serious crashes to the city engineer for review. The action plan also calls for the Vision Zero curriculum to be incorporated into police training. More parking enforcement could improve pedestrian safety, according to the action report. More parking enforcement The police department should boost parking enforcement and city officials should consider increasing parking ticket fines for violations that negatively impact pedestrian safety. That means if new ordinances were passed, vehicle owners could face costlier penalties for parking in a crosswalk or blocking the sidewalk, both of which can force pedestrians to walk in a lane of traffic. Walking audits Similar to the increased parking enforcement, city officials plan to boost their oversight of severely damaged or blocked sidewalks through walking audits instead of relying simply on public complaints. City officials should walk along streets in the high-injury network, looking for mangled concrete or tree branches that might prevent people from using a sidewalk, according to the action plan. Violation notices with photos documenting the problems then would be sent to property owners with a request to fix the problems. City officials also should assess safety in school zones, including pick-up and drop-off areas. The city should coordinate efforts with the school administration to identify the top three highest risk locations. Short-term solutions include maximizing compliance with traffic laws such as speeding, use of crosswalks, parking. Residents participated in public meetings on road safety. Land development plans Instead of simply considering a projects impact on traffic, which is the current status, the citys land development process should be expanded to include a comprehensive review considering other modes of transportation. The action plan calls for a change to the citys ordinance that would provide options for multimodal use. If a project could potentially increase traffic, for example, instead of simply adding another lane of traffic or a turning lane, city officials and property owners should consider: are there other ways to divert traffic flow, such as employing flexible hours for workers? Less off-street parking The citys current ordinances require a certain amount of off-street parking with every new project. But the citys action plan calls for that to be removed. Alternatively, consider whether to rezone more corridors for Commercial Neighborhood (CN) designation, which does not require off-street parking. It doesnt make sense to automatically require off-street parking for some projects, including low-income housing, where residents may not own vehicles, City Engineer Wayne Martin said. Instead, he said, if the parking was uncoupled from the project, the resulting homes would cost even less. The requirement is a vestige of dated, auto-centric ordinances, Martin said. City officials and property owners should not be encouraging more people to drive, Martin said. Instead, they should be encouraging all sorts of modes of transportation. The company Web FX on Front Street, for example, provides free Uber rides for employees to get to and from work. State Street in Harrisburg. Work group Instead of working for changes in state laws alone, the city of Harrisburg should link up with other cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to pursue policy changes that could make urban environments safer for travel for everyone. Harrisburg officials already have reached out to Philly officials, Martin said. Survey results for 2nd Street conversion. Transformation of Second Street Design work began last year to convert North 2nd Street from one-way northbound to two-way operations from Forster Street to Division Street. As part of the effort, city officials conducted surveys and public meetings that showed residents supported enhanced pedestrian safety and a desire for additional grocery and restaurant options. Residents and non-residents who participated in a survey agreed with many of the top changes proposed for Second Street: improved crosswalks, business development, lighting and pedestrian signals. Construction for that project is likely to begin next year or in 2021. Harrisburgs Vision Zero Action Plan in its entirety is available on the citys website. A Perry County jury has acquitted a Shermans Dale man who was accused of murder for the 1983 death of his wife. It took the panel more than 4 hours Tuesday afternoon to decide that Carl Rodgers, 63, was not responsible for the death of 23-year-old Debra Rodgers. Debra Rodgers body was found in Tuscarora State Forest on April 24, 1983. Her death was a cold case until November 2017 when her husband was charged with homicide. Prosecutors Kelly Sekula and Heather Castellino claimed during the six-day trial that Carl Rodgers beat his wife, sliced her wrists to mimic a suicide and dumped her body in the woods. Defense attorney Geoffrey McInroy argued that Debra Rodgers had committed suicide. A few muted gasps could be heard when the jury foreman announced the verdict just before 5 p.m. Afterward, some of Carl Rodgers relatives hugged. Rodgers himself showed little reaction. He had been in prison since his arrest after the state attorney generals office revisited the nearly 36-year-old cold case. The case is one of the oldest cold cases ever to be brought to trial in central Pennsylvania. Debra Rodgers The jurors reached their decision about a half-hour after asking President Judge Kathy A. Morrow for the definitions of first- and second-degree murder. Sekula and Castellino were seeking a first-degree murder conviction that would have sent Rodgers to prison for life. McInroy contended during the six-day that Debra Rodgers was despondent about her work and home life when she went into the forest, slit both of her wrists and then fell onto the rocky forest floor. That impact caused the skull fracture and other injuries that the prosecutors claimed were indicative of an assault. As soon as the jurors filed out of the courtroom, Morrow declared Carl Rodgers a free man. Thats all I was going to ask, McInroy replied. Hes free to go home today, the judge said. A bank robbery in York City is being investigated Tuesday afternoon, according to police. The York City Police Department said around 1:26 p.m., they were dispatched to a bank robbery at the Peoples Bank at 1 West Market Street. A suspect fled the bank with an undetermined amount of cash, police said, before police arrived on scene. The suspect was riding a bicycle. Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact the department through any of the following methods: Text information to yorktips at 847411 (TIP411) Call York County Crime Stoppers at 755TIPS York City Police Tip Line at 717-849-2204 York City Police Department at 717-846-1234 or 717-849-2219 Accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious teenager, a Harrisburg man now faces a half dozen criminal charges, including felonies. In a criminal complaint, Lower Paxton Township police said Chase J. Eckenrode, 18, sexually assaulted the 16-year-old girl sometime between Feb. 23 and 24. According to the complaint, the 16-year-old was rendered unconscious when Eckenrode kissed her neck and used his hand to sexually assault her. Police said Eckenrode "knew the victim was unaware the indecent contact was occurring. Online court documents show that Eckenrode faces felony charges of aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault of an unconscious person and unlawful contact with a minor. He also faces misdemeanor charges of indecent assault of an unconscious person, corruption of minors and indecent assault without consent. Eckenrode was arraigned on his charges Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge William C. Wenner, and he is to appear for a preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. April 4. Eckenrode is free from incarceration after positing $15,000 cash bail. There is no threat to the public after an officer-involved shooting in State College on Wednesday, police said. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the shooting that occurred involving one or more State College police officers on Old Boalsburg Road, police said. The scene is secure, police said. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a State College Police Officer involved shooting on Old Boalsburg Road in State College Borough. The scene is secure and there is no threat to the public. State College Police (@StateCollegePD) March 20, 2019 The Centre Daily Times reported the following statement from State College police Lt. Gregory Brauser, who spoke with media at the scene: Police were investigating a missing person and as a result of that investigation there was an officer-involved shooting with an individual. Pennsylvania State police are now on the scene and theyre going to take over this investigation and thats all we have at this time. Theres no threat to the public; everything has been contained at the scene. State College School District released a statement saying two schools were put on lockdown at the request of police. The incident did not involve the schools, and the students and faculty are safe, the district said. A Harrisburg man is suing a trucker he claims drove a too-high semi under a too-low bridge on Interstate 83 in Dauphin County. The resulting crash at the Paxton Street overpass crushed his pickup truck and left him with lasting injuries, Willie Traynham contends in the federal case. Traynhams suit, filed in U.S. Middle District Court, focuses on an accident Lloyd Shaw of Newport News, Va., was accused of causing on April 2, 2018. Traynhams lawyer Scott B. Cooper claims that when Lloyds rig struck the overpass the impact dumped his load onto Traynhams Toyota Tundra. The five-vehicle crash, which occurred in the northbound lanes in Swatara Township, closed the highway for some time. Traynham claims he suffered spinal injuries in the crash and suffers daily from headaches of varying severity. He is suing Shaw and Shaws employer, Mercer Transportation of Collinsville, Ill. County court records show state police cited Shaw, 51, for exceeding the height allowance for his rig, improperly displaying a registration plate and operating unsafe equipment. Shaw pleaded guilty to the latter two counts and was ordered by District Judge Michael J. Smith to pay $360 in fines and costs. The Turkey Hill Dairy business will soon be under Texas-based ownership, according to a Tuesday announcement that the iconic regional brand has been sold. Then, officials at The Kroger Co., its current owner, announced that they have reached an agreement to sell Turkey Hill to Peak Rock Capital, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm. The price of that purchasing agreement was not revealed. According to a Turkey Hill news release, Peak Rock Capital will keep Turkey Hill operations in Conestoga, Pa., where an existing facility employs about 800 workers. Turkey Hill is known for its ice cream products, fruit drinks, milks and frozen treats. The company was founded in 1931. We believe this is the right step to ensure the Turkey Hill business can meet its full potential and continue to grow its successful ice cream and beverage brands, Kroger Manufacturing Vice President Erin Sharp said in a statement. Officials first announced a possible sale of Turkey Hill in August. Kroger officials said they expect to close on the sale within this years first fiscal quarter. The after-tax proceeds will be used to reduce debt, Kroger officials said. Robert Pistilli, managing director of Peak Rock, called the Turkey Hill purchasing agreement an exciting opportunity to invest in a premier brand with an established reputation for quality. We are impressed with the accomplishments of the business under the stewardship of Kroger and look forward to completing a seamless transition," his statement reads. Over the last two decades, Pennsylvania has seen steady progress in serving people with mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Even with recent trends such as the opioid epidemic and an increase in suicides, more Pennsylvanians are receiving more and better behavioral health care than ever before. A key reason for this progress has been the success of Behavioral HealthChoices (BHC), a statewide program through which counties deliver mental health and drug and alcohol services to vulnerable Pennsylvanians enrolled in the Medicaid program and to their families. BHC was created 21 years ago and has strengthened into one of the most successful models in the country for delivering care to those seeking mental health and drug and alcohol services and supports. The program helps to deliver recovery-oriented services of treatment and counseling, resource coordination, shelter, and other services for 2.9 million Pennsylvanians and their families. The cornerstone of this program is its commitment to local control and expertise. Under BHC, each county can choose to manage its own program or work with other counties to form collaborative partnerships. Each county has the right and the responsibility to identify what specific services their constituents need. Through this approach, county leaders, treatment and recovery professionals, and individuals and families in need of help have all worked together to develop stronger and better coordinated human services systems. Given this record of success, its puzzling that anyone would want to dismantle it. But that is exactly what has been suggested by some in Harrisburg. Legislation has been proposed to eliminate Behavioral HealthChoices and replace it with a sweeping "one size fits all" system run by large national insurance companies, in some cases by for-profit corporations. If these bills are enacted, progress could come to a screeching halt, jeopardizing the health of the Pennsylvanians of all ages, children through older adults, and their families served through the program. This effort to replace BHC with managed care organizations ignores the history of how the program developed in the first place. BHC was created because every stakeholder, including state and local elected officials, advocates for those dealing with mental health and drug and alcohol issues and the people themselves, recognized that behavioral health services were not being delivered effectively under the states Medicaid program. Prior to the launch of BHC, at least half of the taxpayer-funded behavioral health payments did not reach the behavioral health consumer. Instead, they became part of the MCO's direct profit margin. In addition, decisions were not being driven by people with the most experience with this fragile population or with close connection to their neighbors in need of these services. This led to people with serious behavioral health disorders lacking access to the care they needed from an inadequate behavioral health service system. BHC was created precisely because the state learned from that painful experience. Both supporters of the current system, which includes advocates for individuals and families facing mental health and drug and alcohol issues, and those who want to change it share a common goal: to better integrate behavioral and physical health care delivery so professionals are treating the whole person. But the BHC model is already driving efforts to do that. There are countless examples of integrated and coordinated county-managed human services tailored to meet local needs and challenges that produce quality, accessible, cost-effective care. As a result, consumers and family members have consistently given high satisfaction ratings to their local county BHC services. This is a critical point and bears repeating: surveys of our fellow citizens who rely on these services show that they are satisfied with the system that is in place because it works. Dismantling the system would undermine the treatment and care received by those striving for recovery from addiction and mental health challenges. Pennsylvania should celebrate and build on the programs success, taking it to the next level, not trying to tear it down and dismantle it. We cannot afford to slide back. Lawmakers should reject these reckless proposals. Lynn Keltz is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers Association, a statewide membership organization engaged in systems advocacy, offering education on mental health related topics, fighting stigma and providing information and referrals to people who are receiving services or in recovery from a mental illness in Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.pmhca.org. Well-oiled machine: Eta Nu's Dress for Chill program continues to provide warmth, smiles Thanks to the Boyne Eta Nu Charities' "Dress for Chill" program, a total of 187 Boyne City students will be dressed warmly this winter season. Sonia Sanchez has been awarded the inaugural Leadership Award by the American Academy of Poets. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer Read more Score another big honor for Philadelphia poet Sonia Sanchez. She is among the winners of the Academy of American Poets inaugural Leadership Awards, to be given at a Lincoln Center gala in New York City on April 24. It will be populated by poetry fans including the actors Josh Charles and Gretchen Mol, the dancer Savion Glover, and the philanthropist David Rockefeller Jr. The awards were announced Wednesday. The unique awards go to a publisher, a partner, a patron, and a poet, according to a statement from the organization. Michael Jacobs, chair of the academy, said in the statement that in the past five years the readership of poetry has nearly doubled, a dramatic growth due in part to the work of the awardees. Andrews McMeel Publishing, an innovator in young-adult poetry, was the publisher awarded. The partner was the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, located in a castle in Umbria, Italy. And the patron was Eunice Nicie Panetta, former chair of the academys board of directors and overseer of many prominent poetry initiatives. Sanchez has published at least a dozen poetry collections, as well as plays and childrens books. She has been publishing poetry since the late 1950s, being among the Broadside Quartet of young black poets in New York City. She has been associated at different times with the Black Arts Movement and the spoken-word movement. (She is often credited with being one of the progenitors of modern rap and hip-hop poetry.) Her poetry books include Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems of 1999 and her well-received 2010 volume, Morning Haiku. This is the second major award Sanchez has gotten from the academy in six months: In August, she was awarded the $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award for demonstrated mastery in the poetic art. Previously, Sanchez was also awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Titled Poetry & the Creative Mind, the gala will be a Poetry Month affair featuring readings of favorite poems by the Emmy-winning journalist Ann Curry and the other celebrity guests. The poet Elizabeth Alexander is another boldface name attending. Two senior executives have departed Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) amid a broader management overhaul at the South Philadelphia refinery, less than a year after emerging from bankruptcy, Reuters reported on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for PES, owner of the largest and oldest refinery on the U.S. East Coast, confirmed that Thomas Scargle, president and chief operating officer, will retire and John Sadlowski, chief commercial officer, had chosen to leave PES. Refining veteran Mark Smith replaced Greg Gatta as chief executive following the bankruptcy, and Smith has reshuffled the executive team in recent months. A University of Pennsylvania report in September warned that the troubled South Philadelphia refinery complex may be shut down in the next few years and that the city should prepare to deal with a 1,300-acre industrial property fouled by more than a century of fuel production. The Reading Eagle, partly owned by two of the richest families in America, filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday afternoon as the local-news industry continues to be battered. Peter D. Barbey, chief executive officer of the Reading Eagle Co., disclosed the news of the filing to the staff Wednesday. The company is expected to continue to publish the 37,000-circulation daily and 50,000-circulation Sunday Eagle and operate other parts of the company as it seeks a buyer. The Reading Eagle Co. also owns the WEEU-AM radio station, the weekly South Schuylkill News, and the event-promotions firm Pretzel City Productions, employing 236 staffers in all. The Eagles filing is the latest distress signal for newspapers and the news industry in eastern Pennsylvania, with the free tabloid Metro laying off most of its Philadelphia reporting staff two weeks ago, and Spirited Media disclosing this month that it would sell its online news site Billy Penn in Philadelphia. The Eagle was founded by Jesse G. Hawley and William S. Ritter in 1868 and has been owned by Hawleys descendants since then. In the 1950s, author John Updike worked several summers as a copyboy at the Eagle and also wrote several feature articles. Eagle employees were informed Tuesday that there would be a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the newspaper building. "People knew that something like this was coming, said one employee, who described the mood as glum but requested anonymity because of not being authorized to speak to the media. The company retained the media broker Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April to find buyers. Our employees have worked very hard to support our company and our community, Barbey said in a statement. The family is incredibly grateful." According to court documents, Barbey and members of the DuPont family own minority stakes in the Reading Eagle Co. In 2015, Forbes magazine ranked the Barbey family as the nations 48th-richest, worth $6.1 billion. The fount of the familys wealth was jeans and other clothing manufacturing. Peter Barbey, through his Black Walnut Holdings, bought the Village Voice in New York City in 2015, the New York Post reported. Barbey shut down the iconic weekly last August. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. European Union regulators have hit Google with a 1.49 billion euro ($1.68 billion) fine for abusing its dominant role in online advertising. Read more BRUSSELS (AP) Europe's antitrust regulators slapped Google with a big fine Wednesday for the third time in less than two years, ordering the tech giant to pay 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the amount in fines the European Union has imposed against Google. And it underscores the increasing regulatory pressure and political attacks that big tech companies are facing worldwide over not just competition but privacy infractions, online misinformation, hate speech and other abuses. Still, the latest penalty isn't likely to have much effect on Google's business. It involves practices the company says it already ended, and the sum is just a fraction of the $31 billion in profit that its parent, Alphabet, made last year. The ruling applies to a narrow portion of Google's ad business: when Google sells ads next to search results on a third-party website. Investigators found that Google inserted exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google's rivals. As a result, advertisers and website owners "had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers," said the EU's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager. Anyone who suffered from Google's behavior can seek compensation through national courts, she said. EU regulators opened their investigation in 2016 seven years after Microsoft filed a complaint though by that time, Google had already made some changes to give customers more freedom to show competing ads. For that reason, regulators did not require a specific remedy to restore competition. But Vestager said it appeared rivals haven't been able to catch up, and some are "quite small." By contrast, the EU said Google has more than 70 percent of the European market for selling ads that run alongside search results on third-party websites. Google did not say whether it would appeal. "We've already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the commission's concerns," Google's senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a statement. "Over the next few months, we'll be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe." E-marketing analyst Bill Fisher noted a "growing wave of sentiment" toward curbing the influence of Big Tech and said that even if the EU's rulings apply only to Google's European operations, Google should "begin to open up, become more transparent and possibly look to alter some of its business practices" worldwide. Earlier this month, a British expert panel recommended the government curb the dominance of giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google. In the U.S., Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up the biggest American tech companies, accusing them of wielding too much power. This week, as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other activists, Facebook agreed to overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads. The EU has led the way in promoting tougher regulation of big tech companies. Besides cracking down on antitrust breaches by Microsoft and Intel, it has enforced stricter data privacy rules that affect Facebook and other social media companies. U.S. regulators haven't been as tough, though the Federal Trade Commission recently created a task force focused on anti-competitive behavior in the industry. Last year, Vestager fined Google a record 4.34 billion euros ($5 billion at the time) for forcing cellphone makers using the company's Android operating system to install Google search and browser apps. In 2017, she penalized Google 2.42 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for manipulating online shopping search results and directing visitors to its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping, at the expense of its rivals. Google, which is appealing those two earlier fines, has said it has since made adjustments to its shopping results and will start asking European users of Android phones if they want to use other search or browser apps. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of technology at https://apnews.com/apf-technology and of social platforms at https://apnews.com/Socialplatforms ___ Chan reported from London. Tali Arbel in New York contributed to this report. In the time it takes a hummingbird to flap its wings, a Wall Street guy with an algorithm and a good data connection can make a fortune and also say Screw you to a competitor whose set-up is a millisecond slower. This is my way of explaining the context of The Hummingbird Project, loosely based on the frenzied competition that peaked about five years ago to bring the fastest trading speeds to big-time traders. Fiber-optic cable made financial transactions much faster, and some firms discovered that a millisecond advantage would allow them to trade enormous blocks of stock (or commodities) at lightning speed, so that even tiny profits multiplied exponentially by computer trades could yield handsome (and maybe unethical) profit. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Vincent, a fast-talking trading firm hotshot who recruits his coworker and software genius cousin Anton (Alexander Skarsgard, made up to be bald and frumpy) to join his endeavor to run a high-speed fiber optic system from the Midwest data center to Manhattan. Vincent handles the hardware (using the kind of horizontal drilling rigs used for fracking), and Anton is working on the software, hoping to shave off those tiny increments of time. Hummingbird allows the frenetic Eisenberg and reserved Skarsgard to play to their strengths, although one of Skarsgards strengths is being handsome, and if you want to see him in that mode, youll have to wait until next week, when you can see him stare with smoldering eyes at Keira Knightley in The Aftermath. Salma Hayek has fun here as their hard-driving ex-boss, a woman who also wants to win the high-frequency trading war. She regards the abrupt Vincent/Anton exit as a betrayal, and sees the competition not only as a means to profit, but as a satisfying route to personal revenge. Though mired in arcane subject matter, the movie is always lucid and reasonably engaging maybe unintentionally so for Pennsylvanians, who can have fun trying to guess the locations Hummingbird used as stand-ins for rural parts of the state. Those mountains are beautiful, but they are not the Appalachians. Writer-director Kim Nguyen gives the story an admirably ambitious framework. He looks at not just the obvious ethical implications of firms using speed to gain an advantage unavailable (at the time) to average-joe investors, but larger questions about the moral virtue (to borrow a phrase from Adam Smith) of such activity. The computers dont know, or care, about what they are trading. There is no consideration of the worth of the underlying investment, certainly no consideration that a stock or commodity is an expression of important human endeavor. Nguyen is not always subtle in bringing these matters to our attention. Vincent, for instance, hits a serious roadblock when his fiber-optic pipeline is blocked by an uncooperative Amish gentleman who wants to know how the high-speed cable, or the money he would derive from it, would help him serve God. In the end, Hummingbird wonders if the expensive and ultimately Pyrrhic high-frequency trading wars bringing speed to trades that were already fast, liquidity to markets already liquid served anyone. The Hummingbird Project. Directed by Kim Nguyen. With Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgard, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, and Sarah Goldberg. Distributed by The Orchard. Parents guide: R (language) Running time: 11 minutes Playing at: Ritz Five. This image released by Universal Pictures shows Lupita Nyong'o in a scene from "Us," written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele. (Claudette Barius/Universal Pictures via AP) Read more Jordan Peeles new movie Us opens with a passage informing viewers that beneath our nation is a warren of abandoned tunnels, subway lines, service corridors, and mines. Be it known, that for a horror connoisseur like Peele, a mine is a terrible thing to waste. That pun dates to roughly 1986, when Us opens. A girl is with her folks at a Santa Cruz beach when she wanders off alone into an amusement park, and we fear the worst not least because shes wearing a Michael Jackson T-shirt. Remember, this is Jordan Peele, not Norman Vincent Peale. Anyway, she ends up in a hall of mirrors, and her encounter with a distorted version of herself (Peele keeps it off camera, and up to the viewers imagination) leaves her wide-eyed, traumatized. Cut to 30 years later, when the girl is now a thirtysomething woman named Adelaide (Lupita Nyongo) with a family of her own a shy boy (Evan Alex), a tween girl (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and a goofy husband named Gabe (Winston Duke), who suggests the family take a quick trip to Santa Cruz. She resists and relents, but is ill at ease the entire day. On the sand, she watches her children like a hawk, beset by a chronic sense of dread that Peele wants us to share. The camera angles, the music, the references to Jaws, all feed our sense of disquiet. As is his way, Peele changes pace with comedy. Adelaide makes small talk with her catty friend Kitty (Elisabeth Moss), whos at the beach with her yuppie husband (Temple alum Tim Heidecker). Kitty is on her third glass of wine, and looking forward to vodka oclock. She is in danger of descending into what Peele might call The Drunken Place. Its too much for Adelaide, who takes her family home early. At night she tucks them into to bed, but she cant shake her gnawing fear and abruptly demands the family leave immediately. Too late. Her son wanders in to the room to announce that theres a family in our driveway, and there is. A mirror-image family of grunting, murderous doppelgangers setting the stage for a home invasion drama that grows broader in scope and theme, and much, much bloodier. Us, next to Peeles directorial debut Get Out, can be more comfortably tucked into the horror genre, but its just as ambitious, and eager to function as social commentary. The doppelgangers dont say much, but when they do Were Americans were encouraged to think about who and what these usurpers (ignored, mistreated, aggrieved) represent. What is there connection to us," and why do they come with scissors? Peele also packs the movie with so many references the head spins. The shout-outs to Spielberg and Lewis Carroll are evident. Less obvious and more unsettling is what appears to be a nod to Michael Hanekes excruciating Funny Games, a movie that took barely disguised pleasure in the torture of wealthy characters. There is a hint of that in Us. Its not enough someone gets their throat slit. There must be gurgling. This coexists awkwardly with Peeles periodic stabs at macabre humor. I think it was the fourth or fifth mangled woman that had me looking forward to closing credits. (As this is both a doppelganger movie and a bogeyman movie, there is a multiplier effect, by my count one actress had three death scenes). Having said that, the movie is an effective showcase for Oscar winner Nyongo, whose doppelganger inverse is allowed to develop as a character, giving the actress a chance to cover a great deal of ground (sometimes literally). She has a decisive role to play in the films finale, which shows another influence M. Night Shyamalan. Peele shares his knack for cramming the screen with details that can be decoded on repeat viewings, and he favors perspective-shifting endings. What Peele conjures here in the final moments is clever enough to remind us that he was telling an intricate story all along, and not just piling up bodies. Us. Directed by Jordan Peele. With Lupita Nyongo, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss. Tim Heidecker, Anna Diop and Yahya Abdul Mateen II. Distributed by Universal Pictures. Running time: 116 minutes Parents guide: R (violence) Playing at: Area theaters. There arent a lot of guys who can hide a coin in the palm of his hand, while simultaneously knowing the history of black magicians like the back of his hand. Magician RanD Shine, who has appeared on the CWs Penn and Teller: Fool Us and has performed in over 20 countries, is determined to share the stories of black magicians. Like Henry Box Brown, a pre-Houdini magician who was born a slave in Virginia and shipped himself to Philadelphia (and freedom) in a crate. I am very proud to be an African American magician, Shine said. Shine will perform his Heart and Soul of Magic Show twice in the area in the coming weeks, including a sold-out benefit for the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County on Saturday. The Inquirer talked to Shine about when he knew he wanted to be a magician, African Americans in magic, and what to expect at his show. Can you tell me how you got into magic? During graduate school at Penn State, students in the student union were showing me some card tricks. It immediately sparked my interest. Shortly after, I was conducting post graduate research, after receiving my Masters Degree, at the University of the Western Cape, in CapeTown South Africa. I then returned to Drexel, where I was working toward my Ph.D in public health, and told [my adviser] that I had another passion, which was magic. She told me to give it some time, but I never gave it a second thought. There was no doubt in my mind, that I wanted to pursue magic as a full-time career. Can you tell me a little about the International Association of Black Magical artists? I am the cofounder and past president. The reason why we formed it was because a lot of black magicians in the world were rarely heard from. It is a great way to communicate with each other. Did you know that the first American-born magician was an African American illusionist named Richard Potter, who was born in New England? Not only was he the first American-born magician, but he was also a successful ventriloquist. Last year, a book about him was written, which is entitled Richard Potter: Americas First Black Celebrity. Do you have any inspirations? I have no idols, just people who inspire me. The majority of them are not known like Kevin Bethea from Jersey, who toured the world performing. Hes such a deep thinker when it comes to magic, and that inspires me. It is cool to have him in close proximity him being in Jersey, and me being from Philadelphia. Another inspiration of mine is Hiawatha Johnson Jr., who is a great sleight-of-hand magician from Virginia. He was the first African American magician I had ever heard of. I saw him on the cover of Genii Magazine, a trade magazine for magicians, and got inspired because I saw a magician who looked like me. We met at the Theory of Art of Magic Conference in 1999 and are good friends to this day. Can you talk about what its like being one of a few black magicians? I feel like that is a misstatement, because we are not given a platform, we are creating our own platform with organizations like IABMA. Some [other black magicians] are local and international, like Michael Vincent from the U.K., who has won multiple awards doing close-up [magic]. It feels good to be a magician of color, but its more [about] being a person of color that does other things besides singing and dancing. I am proud to be one of those. We as black magicians, people, and actors even, have to break that glass ceiling. Instead of being marginalized, we have to let people know that we are out there. Tell me about your show, Heart and Soul of Magic. When did you start that? I started it in 2001 because I hadnt seen a magic show that featured a predominantly black group of magicians. The first one was at the African American Museum of Philadelphia. I have done 14 so far. There are usually about four to five magicians with different styles, and I am generally the host. We have Paris, who is a juggler; Jamahl Keyes is a magician that fuses jazz music, from the Harlem Renaissance, tap dancing and Magic; and Kid Ace, who once bedazzled Steve Harvey. It was created to showcase to the world, that there are several outstanding black magicians, and that we are very talented. How do you use your magic to help charities? How is money raised? During the month of October I usually donate money from my college and corporate shows and or time to various nonprofits, schools, and social organizations in Philadelphia. In the past I have given to Bebashi: Transition to Hope, sponsored an essay contest for senior students at The Philadelphia School for Creative and Performance Arts on the topic What is your Magic? Students had to write about what they were proud of, and what made them unique. The top three winners won a book scholarship for college. Last year I taught magic for an after-school program at Hope Partnership for Education. I use magic as a tool to teach the students creativity, public speaking, and collaboration. Next month I will be reading books about magic for children for the West Philly Alliance for Children, which is a nonprofit organization that reopens previously closed libraries in Philadelphia public schools. MAGIC RanD Shines Heart and Soul of Magic 6 p.m. Saturday, Farmhouse at Peoples Light, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, sold out, dvccc.org 8:30 p.m. April 3, Widener University, Alumni Auditorium, One University Place, Chester, 610-499-4000, widener.edu 2:45 p.m. April 10, Haverford Township Free Library, 1601 Darby Road, free, Havertown, 610-446-3082, haverfordlibrary.org. For more information you can go to RanDs website at www.RandyShine.com Rouge's new dining room has lost the drapery in favor of upholstered surfaces. Read more How do you rejuvenate a landmark? This week, we visit Rouge, which reopened this week on Rittenhouse Square after a makeover that is at once subtle yet dramatic. Also this week, editor Alison Smith brunches on the Main Line and finds an impressive Bloody Mary bar, while critic Craig LaBan goes down to Georgia actually a Georgian restaurant in Northeast Philly. If you need food news, click here and follow me on Twitter and Instagram. Email tips, suggestions, and questions here. If someone forwarded you this newsletter and you like what youre reading, sign up here to get it free every week. Michael Klein Rouge 2.0 Long before Parc and Devon Seafood Grill, Rouge ushered in the citys era of sidewalk dining two decades ago when it flung open French doors to Rittenhouse Square across 18th Street. Rouge needed a face lift, and its reopened after a 10-week renovation under the eye of its original designer. It is serving dinner only, from 5 p.m., but on Thursday, March 21 adds lunch, from 11 a.m. Weekend brunch begins March 30. The results are actually subtle. It feels like Rouge. Designer Meg Rodgers kept the Parisian vibe that she and founder Neil Stein sought back in 1998. But part of the goal was revenue. More bottoms in seats is better for the bottom line. Owner Rob Wasserman, the late Stein's son-in-law, added 22 seats to the 40 seats in the microscopic 750-square-foot dining room as Rodgers repositioned the bar to the rear wall under the existing chandelier. New chef Sean McPaul started with a clean slate. The only menu holdover is the signature 12-ounce, gruyere-topped burger. I run down the menu and the cocktails (created by Hop Sing Laundromats Le) here, and chat with Rodgers about the new look here. This Weeks Openings Alpen Rose | Washington Square West Michael Schulson goes the boutique steakhouse route at 116 S. 13th St., next to Double Knot and Sampan. Opens March 27. Ants Pants Cafe | Southwest Center City (reopening) March 21 is the target date for this bruncherie's opening from renovations, at 2212 South St. Halal Guys | University City The syndicated Middle Eastern fast-casual rolls out a new branch March 23 at 3816-36 Chestnut St. Rouge | Rittenhouse (reopening) See above. 20th Street Pizza | Rittenhouse Mark Mebus sets March 20 for the soft opening of his vegan slice shop at 108 S. 20th St. It's running noon till whenever Wednesday to Saturday for the first few weeks. Village Bar & Kitchen | Queen Village The Plenty Cafe at 705 S. Fifth St. has been retooled into more of a neighborhood bar. Its open for dinner only through March 22. Weekend brunch starts March 23. On March 26, it goes full-bore, opening daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. This Weeks Closings St. Stephen's Green | Fairmount Details are said to be forthcoming, but this popular taproom at 17th and Green Streets is shuttered at least for now after a death in the family. Where were enjoying happy hour The Post at Cira Garage 129 S. 30th St., 267-353-8521, thepostphl.com The Post, on the ground floor of the Cira parking garage, is a beer hall-game parlor mashup, and its huge: 7,000 square feet of space. The idea is to do it better than the other guys, Branden McRill told bar columnist Samantha Melamed. "Anyone can phone it in with bad bar food and get away with it, because a lot of times people are drunk. Its a gesture of hospitality to say were not going to phone this in. "It's a highly programmed space," Melamed writes, advising that you check social media for the best times for Quizzo, shuffleboard and live music. And what to order? She advises you try a pile of barbecue chicken sliders (three for $8) and a heap of pickle fries ($6) for the table, and a pint of local IPA from Levante, Victory, or Dogfish Head ($6 to $8). Read her full column With the arrival of the Post, Philly has officially reached peak beer hall here. Where were eating Paramour 139 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne; paramourwayne.com Paramour, on the ground floor of the Wayne Hotel, serves it all lunch, happy hour, dinner but we stopped by for brunch, served on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Our reason (though does one need a reason for brunch?) was a birthday meal, and we weren't alone two other tables seated at the same time were celebrating another trip around the sun. Its a celebratory place. There were fun twists on traditional brunch foods (smores waffles, $15; eggs Benedict with default smoked salmon rather than Canadian bacon, $16), and a complimentary appetizer bar. But the interactive highlight was the build-your-own Bloody Mary bar (pictured above; $10.) Pick your vodka, then go crazy with add-ins like candied bacon, shrimp, a variety of hot sauces, and of course multiple kinds of olives. One note: Lots of fun for those of us who knew what we liked in a Bloody Mary (spice; bacon), but less so for the people who werent natural bartenders. So go easy on the Worcestershire, and taste as you go. Alison Smith Georgian Bakery & Cafe 11749 Bustleton Ave., georgianbakerycafe.wixsite.com/georgianbakerycafe Talk about a workplace hazard: Baker Giorgi Gvelesiani leans deep into a tone oven up to 500 times a day to bake shoti bread at Georgian Bakery & Cafe. The oven is 900 degrees, Craig LaBan writes in his two-bell review, and Gvelesiani resembles a gymnast as he half-flips himself over the side wall deep into the dome-shaped furnace to smack the oblong dough against the searing hot stone. Of course, you must try the shoti, one of Georgias essential dishes. But LaBan says the restaurant dedicates an entire menu section to other dough products, and the cheesy khachapuri breads "are the real showstoppers." It's BYOB, and it's very loud, LaBan warns. So sit close if you want to chat over your khachapuri. Read his full review here. Dining Notes Questlove will sell a plant-based cheesesteak at Citizens Bank Park, made with Impossible meat. Don't forget to get your free water ice today! PrimoHoagies now has hoagie chips, which they say they spent months developing. (Theyre actually really good, our tester said.) Swimming teacher Sylvie Moran works with Patch Burke at the Bancroft School, in Mt. Laurel,which has a therapeutic pool on campus and has partnered with the local YMCA to provide swim lessons to all the students with autism or other intellectual disabilities. Read more Decked out in a stylish pair of bright-red board shorts, Esteban DeJesus was one of the first into the pool for his swim lesson at the Bancroft School in Mount Laurel. The 15-year-old was completely at ease during the warm-up drills and when it came time for a kick set, he didnt hesitate to take the board and blast down the length of the pool like a dolphin. But it was a different story back in May when the pool first opened, and DeJesus, who has autism, wanted nothing to do with water. He didnt like to be splashed; he didnt like to have water in his face, said Sylvie Moran, the schools swim teacher. That fear of water could have been deadly. One of the leading causes of accidental death for children with autism is drowning. In general, many children in the United States have little or no ability to swim, according to a 2017 study. Just a week ago, police in Bucks County issued an alert for a 7-year-old boy with autism who had gone missing in Warminster Community Park, where there is a pond. The child, who was later found safe, had a history of hiding in woods and was attracted to water. The challenge is complicated by the fact that half of those with autism wander or bolt from supervision. Of those kids who disappeared long enough to cause concern, 24 percent were in a place where they could be in danger of drowning, according to a 2012 study published in the journal Pediatrics. Lindsay Naeder, director of the Autism Speaks Safety Initiatives and the Autism Response Team, said many children with autism are drawn toward water. Though they may fear being in the water, from a distance it can look inviting, not threatening. Unfortunately, the core characteristic of autism may impact their ability to understand a sense of danger, Naeder said. Getting pool time and affordable lessons for those kids isnt always easy, she said. Flexibility is an important component to make sure children with autism can be included, Naeder said. Instructors need to know how to adapt to the needs of a child with autism who may have communication or behavioral challenges, she said. The overall number of swim programs for those with autism is increasing, but more opportunities are needed, Naeder said. Autism Speaks does its best to maintain a list of facilities that offer lessons and they also offer quarterly grants for scholarships, training and equipment needed to teach swimming and water safety, she said. At Bancroft, a school for 250 students on the autism spectrum, creating an aquatics program was important to the students parents. The school partnered with the YMCA of Burlington County, which supplies the lifeguards. "We wanted to make that time in the pool worthwhile, said Moran, who has been with the school for 17 years. It is not just recess; it is not just playtime. We wanted it to have educational value. That has been our driving force, that children be safe in the water, said Judith Brown, principal. On average, most of the 250 students who range in age from 8 to 21 have swim lessons every other week. Being in the water also helps students who have mobility or coordination challenges develop their fitness and balance, she said. It has made all the difference for 13-year-old Elliot Ferrell. Ferrell has low muscle tone, fine motor problems, and balance issues common problems for kids with autism all of which swimming helps, said Amber L. Ciccanti, his mother. Swimming was a major part of growing up for Ciccanti and her husband, Matthew Ferrell. They expected it would be the same for their son, Elliot. They even have a pool at their Burlington City home. Hes been in the pool since he was 6 months old, she said. He is like a little fish. Even knowing that Elliott is comfortable around the water and can keep afloat if he cant touch the bottom, the couple installed locked gates to the pool fence, and alarms on the back door that go off when it is opened, she said. As responsible parents we do not leave him alone in the pool, she said. It was good that they had a pool because Elliot wouldnt be able to really be himself at a swim club without fear of being judged by others, said Ciccanti. Ciccanti said she applauds how Bancroft reached out to safety experts when they were designing the pool area at their new 80-acre campus in Mount Laurel and kept those with autism in mind. The 22-foot ceilings, sound-absorbing materials, soothing colors, and tall, wide windows that bring in natural light can help calm students with sensory issues. The water is kept at a warm 88 to 89 degrees to make sure no one is cold during the lessons. A splash pad located at one end of the pool deck can help acclimate students who are tentative about getting into the water. The splash pad also acts as incentive to encourage students when it is time to get out of the pool. Moran starts the swim lessons by reinforcing some of the skills the students are learning in their behavioral or occupational classes. The students are also accompanied into the pool by an aide. She breaks swim skills down into small, attainable goals, such as putting their face in the water, sitting on an underwater bench, floating, blowing bubbles, and being able to dunk underwater, come back up and not panic, she said. After the formal swim instruction was over, DeJesus got to work dunking a ball in a floating hoop, happily bouncing up and down during free play time. Now, he is a lot more confident and comfortable in the water," Moran said. Sometimes I like to participate," DeJesus said about the swim lessons. That was really good. The family of a 78-year-old woman with dementia who wandered from a Northwest Philadelphia retirement community and fell to her death sued the facility and its security firm on Wednesday, accusing them of negligence and wrongful death. According to the suit, filed in Common Pleas Court, Barbara Jones-Davis, who was visually impaired because of glaucoma and had a history of wandering, left Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley, also known as Stapeley Hall, in Germantown through a side door on July 8, 2018, at 5:36 p.m. Video surveillance shows her walking alone outside for 23 minutes. While off camera, she apparently fell from the then-unfenced Stapeley property to a concrete sidewalk along West Washington Lane, 15 feet below. A passerby found her and called 911. Jones-Davis skull was fractured and there was bleeding in her brain, in addition to several other broken bones, the suit says. She died of her injuries that night. The civil suit, filed by Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, a Philadelphia firm, was brought by Jones-Davis daughters, Heather Davis-Stukes, a Philadelphia nurse, and Pamela Davis-Edwards, vice principal of a school in Massachusetts. U.S. Security Associates Inc. of Roswell, Ga., which provides security at the facility, was also named as a defendant. At a news conference at his firm Wednesday, lawyer Daniel Jeck called Jones-Davis death totally preventable. While the suit seeks monetary damages, Jeck said his clients primary interest was in learning exactly what happened and improving safety at Stapeley. No family should have to suffer what our family has suffered, Davis-Edwards said. The lawyer for Wesley Enhanced Living did not comment directly, but his firm forwarded a comment from Wesley: At Wesley Enhanced Living, we are committed to the safety and well-being of our residents and staff. We remain deeply saddened by this residents passing, and we have expressed our condolences to her family. Out of respect for the family, and because this is a legal matter, we cannot provide additional details. Jay L. Edelstein, who represents U.S. Security, said the company never comments about ongoing litigation. According to its website, Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) that offers multiple levels of care. Jones-Davis was in personal care, in which people have a degree of independence but need help with some daily activities, such as taking medicine or getting dressed. Jones-Davis, who had five children, moved unwillingly to Stapeley in August 2017, her daughters said. Her glaucoma was worsening, as was the dementia, which her children first noticed in 2010. They toured Stapeley in 2015, but their mother, who collected bills for Sears, Roebuck & Co. for more than 30 years and then sold fine jewelry at Strawbridge & Clothier, resisted the move from her Olney home. By 2017, they believed she had to have more supervision, because she was wandering near her house and neighbors often had to bring her home. The sisters said they chose Stapeley, which cost $4,349 a month, because it was beautiful and offered lots of activities. They thought their mother, who had grown increasingly withdrawn, needed more socialization. Soon after the move, Jones-Davis was found outside the building. There was discussion about moving Jones-Davis to the more-secure memory care section, her daughters said, but they said employees at Stapeley later told them that their mothers behavior had improved enough after treatment for a urinary tract infection (a condition that can affect cognition) that she could stay in personal care. The suit mentions other times when Jones-Davis was found wandering inside the facility, and alleges that the staff at Stapeley was aware that she needed supervision. She had not been issued a wander guard, a wrist or ankle band that can trigger door locks or alarms when people with dementia try to leave a facility. Jeck said he believes the door Jones-Davis used would have caused an alarm security officers would have received, but would not have sounded a general alarm that everyone could have heard. Jeck said that a December 2016 report on Stapeley from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services noted that three residents had wandered outside. That report would have applied only to the nursing home level of care, a department spokesman said. The case is similar to one involving a woman with dementia who wandered from a suburban independent-living facility on a frigid night in 2017 and died. Her sons lawyer, Robert Snyder of King of Prussia, said Shannondell at Valley Forge in Audubon has settled, but the security company, Universal Protection Service LLC, has not. That part of the case is headed for court. Along with exercising daily, laughter is the best medicine. For decades, health researchers and doctors have agreed that laughter relieves stress, helps you relax, reduces pain, and even boosts your immune system. There are literally volumes of scientific research confirming that laughter is healing. I suggest you start with the groundbreaking classic Anatomy of an Illness by Norman Cousins. Cousins was an editor at the Saturday Review when he fell ill with a chronic inflammatory disorder (ankylosing spondylitis) characterized by crippling arthritis and severe pain. In Anatomy of an Illness, he illustrates how, through laugh therapy, patient participation, and conventional medicine, he healed himself and lived well and merrily into his 80s. Cousins amazed his doctors with a miraculous recovery. Every day, he watched videos like Candid Camera, The Three Stooges, and the Marx Brothers and his pain began to diminish. In the end, he became totally healed and returned to work. Ironically, the doctors had given him little hope for recovery. With the healing power of laughter, Cousins won his life and health back. Laughters healing power Bradley J. Willcox, Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki, authors of the Okinawa Program, also agree that laughter is healing. According to the authors, During laughter, muscles throughout your body tense and relax in a way that is strikingly similar to stress-reduction techniques. Laughter keeps muscles supple as well as relaxed. It also has been shown to stimulate the immune system. Laughter lowers blood pressure Lee Berk and Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University in California have been researching laughters immune system benefits for decades. According to their research, laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, boosts immune function, activates the release of endorphins (the bodys natural painkillers), and generates an overall sense of well-being. Laughter is good for your lungs The secret to deep, diaphragmatic breathing is laughter. Nope, you cant hold your stomach in when you are really laughing, therefore; when you laugh, you spontaneously empty your lungs fully taking a real, cleansing breath. Laughter improves your mood This one is obvious, right? Everybody knows that laughter improves your mood as well as social bonding. Laughter is often that secret sauce that keeps us keeping on. So, lighten up and laugh it up. Can you think of a better prescription-free way to boost your spirits and improve your health? It may sound silly, but in the long run, you could laugh and smile your way into wellness. Like Norman Cousins, you might be able to help heal yourself of some debilitating condition or better yet, prevent it all together. Its worth repeating, Laughter helps the body to stay disease-free and fight colds and the flu, and is beneficial to the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, central nervous and endocrine systems. Sure, these are challenging times for many (if not most) of us. But lets maintain a good sense of humor, and laugh our way through these tough times. Make it a habit to get a daily dose of giggles, knee slapping, and uproarious laughter. Adrian Rivera-Reyes draws the number one ballot position in the Democratic primary for Council at-large in room 676 of City Hall, in Philadelphia, Wednesday March 20, 2019. Holding the can is Kevin Kelly, acting supervisor of elections. Read more An old-school Philadelphia practice doled out some newcomer luck, as a 26-year-old gay democratic socialist and the first transgender woman to run for City Council pulled the number 1 and number 2 ballot positions. Adrian Rivera Reyes wore his lucky socks the ones that say I got this on the bottom as he drew the first ballot position in a crowded field for City Council at-large. Im ecstatic. Im getting all the texts and Im just trying to process this, Reyes, a cancer researcher and first-time candidate, said after the drawing Wednesday. Its going to be a big bonus for me." Reyes would be the first openly gay City Council member and its youngest if elected. In Pennsylvania, ballot position is assigned randomly through a lottery, and in Philadelphia, candidates gather for a political spectacle to pull numbers out of an old Horn & Hardart coffee can. The can itself has become something of a celebrity, with a Twitter account teasing the event like a municipal primary Selection Sunday. On Wednesday the can of destiny dished out hope and heartbreak to candidates, specifically for City Council at-large, where 34 Democrats and seven Republicans are vying for seven seats, the most candidates since 1983. Ballot position, research has shown, affects how voters pick candidates, especially in crowded fields when there isnt a lot of information and in primaries where they cant just default to their preferred party. Of course money, endorsements, and party support also matter. Theres not a lot of resources in the campaigns to get out the information, and what happens is individuals are affected by other things like what comes across their eyes first," said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College. Deja Lynn Alvarez, a longtime public-health and LGBTQ activist, who is also the first transgender woman to run for City Council, pulled the number 2 spot for Council at-large. Its kind of crazy when you think about it, that you pull a number out of a coffee can, in todays day and age, and ... it can change things in such a positive way," Alvarez said. She said her phone had been ringing nonstop in the hour after the drawing. Especially in crowded races, many groups or individuals wait to back candidates until they see where they land on the ballot. I think more people are going to be willing to take a chance on a trans woman, whereas many people werent willing to do that before," she said. And thats OK. Im all for building bridges. Of the at-large Democratic incumbents, Councilwoman Helen Gym got the number 3 ballot position, Councilman Allan Domb picked lucky number 13 he kept a photo of his dog, who recently passed away, on his cell phone for good luck. Derek Green, who picked number 1 when he was first elected in 2015, picked number 28 this time around. Republican incumbent Al Taubenberger will have the number 1 position on the GOP ballot. Fellow Republican David Oh was less lucky, drawing the number 5 spot in a field of seven. Green thinks the high pick will bring a sense of urgency to his campaign. Having a high number, it allows me to go back to people who keep saying, Youre going to be OK, youre going to win. This gives me the opportunity to get some more energy and get more people on board and focused on my campaign, Green said. Both Green and Domb said afterward they want to try to change the system, which would likely require an amendment to state election code. I dont think this is the right way we should be picking candidates, said Domb, who is the first at-large candidate to air TV ads. The whole system seems a little crazy to me. Democratic Candidates for City Council At-Large Pos. Candidate. Pos. Candidate. 1. Adrian Rivera Reyes 18. Bobbie Curry 2. Deja Lynn Alvarez 19. Isaiah Thomas 3. Helen Gym (incumbent) 20. Vinny Black 4. Willie Floyd Singletary 21. Wayne Edmund Dorsey 5. Ogbonna Paul Hagins 22. Edwin Santana 6. Fernando Trevino 23. Mark Ross 7. Eryn Santamoor 24. Devon Cade 8. Joseph A. Dorio 25. Melissa Robbins 9. Hena Veit 26. David H. Conroy 10. Billy Thompson 27. Sandra Dungee Glenn 11. Beth Finn 28. Derek S. Green (incumbent) 12. Latrice Y. Bryant 29. Janice Tangradi 13. Allan Domb (incumbent) 30. Wayne Allen 14. Katherine Gilmore Richardson 31. Justin DiBerardinis 15. Erika Almiron 32. Fareed Abdullah 16. Mike Stack 33. Asa Khalif 17. Sherrie Cohen 34. Ethelind Baylor Republican Candidates for City Council At-Large Pos. Candidate Pos. Candidate 1. Al Taubenberger (incumbent) 5. David Oh (incumbent) 2. Dan Tinney 6. Drew Murray 3. Matt Wolfe 7. Irina M. Goldstein 4. Bill Heeney The ballot-drawing event always takes on a conflicting air, held in a stately sixth-floor City Hall courtroom but attended by a jittery crew of incumbents and challengers whose sharp intakes of breath, cheers, and groans at times sound more like a circus crowd watching a high-wire act. Candidates brought totems of luck or children to pick for them. Beth Finn, a candidate for Council at-large, who drew number 11, had practiced picking out of a Horn & Hardart can her staff ordered online. She carried around a little number 2 ball in her pocket for a week hoping it would bring good juju. Why number 2? One seemed greedy, she said. Erika Almiron asked her mother to come along and bring all the rosaries. She wound up with number 15. Lucky quinceanera, Almiron said after the drawing. Some picks were collectively celebrated or bemoaned. Applause and cheers followed Tracey Gordon, a former deputy city commissioner, picking number 1 in her bid to unseat longtime Register of Wills Ronald Donatucci. Willie Singletary, a former Traffic Court judge who served jail time for lying to federal investigators in a corruption probe, got the number 4 Democratic position for Council at-large, drawing groans from the crowd. Singletary is one of many candidates facing legal challenges to getting on the ballot. Justin DiBerardinis, who pulled the 31st spot on the Democratic at-large ballot, predicted some candidates were playing the lottery, hoping for a low number but planning to drop out of the race if that didnt happen. I think there were some people whose campaigns were completely built around getting lucky today, DeBerardinis said. I would have rather had 3 or 1. But I think its better to be at the bottom than in the middle. It will not be hard to find me. For the less crowded races, picks werent as emotionally charged. Joe Lynch, an administrator at the Board of Elections who called up candidates for the draw, encouraged Democrat Jeanette Geter to pull a number even though her first spot on the Democratic primary ballot for City Councils 4th District was already locked in. You want a photo op? Lynch said, encouraging Geter along. Go ahead, pull a number from the can. Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., the 4th District incumbent, who already had drawn the third ballot spot for the primary, gave a mirthful shake of his head while leaving the courtroom. What a spectacle, he sighed. Former Camden Mayor Aaron Thompson (right) with the current mayor, Frank Moran. Read more Aaron A. Thompson, 88, a retired telephone serviceman who became the second African American mayor of Camden in the early 1990s, died Tuesday, March 19, the citys current mayor, Francisco Moran, announced Tuesday. No details about his death were immediately available. Mayor Thompson was an honorable public servant, Moran said in a statement. He was often known to be unassuming, but he carried himself with quiet confidence. He was retired from AT&T after 31 years when he was elected to Camden City Council in 1989. Mr. Thompson had served only five months when he was picked by his fellow Council members in 1990 to serve as acting mayor, replacing Melvin R. Randy Primas, the citys first African American mayor, who had quit to take a state job. Mr. Thompson officially ran for the office in a special election later that year and won. Im a college dropout and former telephone installer, he said in a 1993 interview with The Inquirer while running for re-election. Im a dying breed. I see other mayors, and I see their academic achievement. I see less and less politicians come up through the ranks." Mr. Thomson was an affable and gregarious man who makes an effort to be accessible and even answers his own telephone at times, the story said. He was initially regarded as beholden to the city and county Democratic bosses who installed him. But whatever relationship he had with them soured, and they backed another Democrat, Arnold Webster, who defeated Mr. Thompson in the 1993 primary. The history of the city is that you just dont have the resources to fight the machine, Mr. Thompson said after his loss. They did what they felt they had to, and I did what I felt I had to do. While he was mayor, he presided over the opening of the New Jersey State Aquarium, now called the Adventure Aquarium. As with all major urban areas during this time, Camden was plagued by the explosion of crack cocaine. The city also suffered from its worst period of Oct. 30 Mischief Night vandalism, with more than 100 arson fires in 1991. After leaving office, Mr. Thompson remained largely out of the public eye. He was just living a normal life, said city spokesperson Vincent Basara, who noted that Mr. Thompson participated in the citys senior bowling league. Moran said the city will fly flags at half-staff until the day of Mr. Thompsons funeral, which is set for Saturday, March 30, at St. Augustines Episcopal Church, 525 Royden St., Camden. A viewing will be from 9 to 10:45 a.m. with a service at 11. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Park, Pennsauken. Staff writer Melanie Burney contributed to this article. Fast food and retail workers march through Center City to kick off the campaign for "Fair Workweek" legislation in February 2018. It's one of three worker-protection laws the city will be in charge of enforcing in 2020. Read more >> UPDATE: Low-wage workers score win with bump in funding to enforce labor laws For the month that Ana spent selling cell phones at the Boost Mobile on Washington Avenue, she never got a paycheck. After she quit, she asked her boss for the $840 she was owed. But, she said through an interpreter, he told her he needed her Social Security number even though Ana, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and mother of two whose last name is being withheld because of her status, told him when she got hired that she would use her taxpayer identification number instead. Still, he refused to pay her, until Ana turned to a lawyer for help. Anas experience is common, said her lawyer, Seth Lyons, of Community Legal Services. Thousands of low-wage workers in Philadelphia are victims of wage theft for example, according to a 2015 report from the Sheller Center for Social Justice at Temple Universitys law school, more than 36,000 workers every week dont get paid minimum wage. And employers who violate wage laws often think, incorrectly, that employee protections dont extend to undocumented immigrants. Whats not common is how Ana eventually got her money: with the help of the citys labor enforcement office. In the summer of 2016, the citys wage-theft law went into effect. It was designed to crack down on wage theft workers not getting paid for overtime or employers taking a portion of workers tips, for instance by increasing the penalties for scofflaw employers. In the spring of 2015, after a three-year battle, the city began to implement another worker-protection law: paid sick leave. Both laws, championed by Council member Bill Greenlee, aimed to protect some of the citys most vulnerable workers. But since then, the three-member enforcement unit, housed in the Mayors Office of Labor, has not seen much use. In about three years, from 2016 to 2018, it received 67 complaints regarding wage theft and paid sick leave, according to data from the mayors office. Out of 24 wage-theft complaints, three including Anas were resolved. Of the 43 paid sick leave complaints, nine were resolved. The rest couldnt be resolved for a number of reasons: The city couldnt get in touch with the worker who filed the complaint, the employer never responded to a request for more information, or the complaint was invalid. According to an Inquirer review of all complaints, with names of complainants redacted, here are some examples of the issues and their resolutions: A line cook and dishwasher who spoke to the city through a Spanish interpreter whose employer, a Fairmount pub, stopped paying him after five months, resulting in more than $1,700 in unpaid wages. Six months after his initial complaint, he got a settlement of nearly $2,000. A food worker whose employer, a supermarket in Rhawnhurst, wasnt giving employees paid sick days. Three months after the initial complaint, the supermarket gave the one worker $188 in retroactive pay. A server and cashier at a university whose employer, a food service company, wasnt giving workers paid sick leave. In that case, the worker was not covered by the law because the person was a member of a union. Out of the nine wage-theft complaints that included data on the amount stolen, the average was $1,000. One-quarter of the paid sick leave complaints were from health-care workers, including a paramedic, a hospital receptionist, and a nurse. In the 12-month period ending September 2018, the city received about 200 inquiries workers or employers asking anything from whether theyre covered by the law or if they have to change their employee handbooks. By comparison, Seattles Office of Labor Standards, considered one of the national leaders in this sort of enforcement, resolved 76 paid sick leave investigations and 62 wage-theft investigations in 2018 alone. That year, Seattle, which is smaller and wealthier than Philadelphia, received more than 2,000 inquiries. The minimal enforcement of the wage theft and paid sick leave laws to date is due not to a lack of commitment by this administration, but a lack of resources, Rich Lazer, deputy mayor for labor, said in a statement. Lazer said his office has been developing a plan over the last year to improve enforcement, including the hiring of a new director in December. As Philadelphia turns to more workplace laws to fight poverty, such as the recent adoption of the citys Fair Workweek scheduling law for retail, hotel, and fast-food workers; a $15 minimum wage for city contractors and subcontractors; and a potential Bill of Rights for domestic workers, attention to enforcement has become increasingly important. Often forgotten after the initial push for a law, enforcement is now one of the main issues that two progressive coalitions the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia and MLK Dare are campaigning for during this seasons primary. And there are signs that the citys enforcement office will improve, pushed in part by organizers and advocates working to ensure the laws theyve won have teeth. An enforcement office at its best Lyons, Anas lawyer, first tried to resolve the issue by sending a letter to Anas former employer, demanding that she get paid. Lyons followed up with a phone call, saying his next step would be to file a complaint with the citys enforcement office. After five months, he filed a formal complaint with the city in September 2018. Five days later, the city contacted the employer, requesting Anas time sheets and Boost Mobiles employee agreement, city records show. Shortly after, Lyons said, Anas employer settled, paying Ana about $250 in penalties on top of the $840 she was owed. That, Lyons said, is a perfect example of how the enforcement office should work. Even small actions, such as requesting documents (rather than, say, threatening to pull a business permit), are often enough to get an employer to settle. The settlement, between Ana and her former employer, was also preferred for Ana because she didnt have to take her complaint through the court system, a path that undocumented immigrants often fear because it becomes a matter of public record. Its important to create a process that makes undocumented workers feel safe coming forward, Lyons said. Sprint, which owns Boost Mobile, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A vision for the offices future In an interview last fall, Manny Citron, chief of staff to Lazer, said the office has grappled with many tough issues in its start to address enforcement. Sometimes, he said, the city requests documents from an employer as part of an investigation and doesnt get a response. The city has the power to revoke a business license for a wage-theft violation, but, he said, is it a valid use of city resources to shut down an employer when most thefts constitute modest amounts? (The city has never done that, he said.) The city has also made some changes to improve enforcement, including amending the wage-theft law in March 2018 to ensure the city would be able to pursue cases related to the states wage law. While those amendments were being developed, the enforcement unit was referring its wage theft cases to the state. For the city, enforcement is a last step, Lazer said. Educating employers about the laws is the offices primary goal, he said, adding that most businesses that violate the laws do so because they dont even know the laws exist. The new director of the enforcement unit, Amanda Shimko, says shell prioritize education and outreach, to both businesses and the vulnerable communities these laws are meant to serve. A lawyer who most recently enforced union contracts in her role at the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, Shimko hopes to partner with groups that are already serving these kinds of workers. Its a model that has been proven by Seattles Office of Labor Standards, a team of 28 that currently enforces eight protections and spends 40 percent of its $6.6 million budget on contracts with community groups for education and outreach. Philadelphias own office, which also enforces the citys prevailing wage law for city contractors, had a 2019 budget of $740,000. (This number accounts for salaries of Lazer and Citron, who work across the entire Mayors Office of Labor, not just the enforcement unit.) Mayor Jim Kenney is proposing an increased budget of nearly $996,000 in 2020 to cover the cost of Fair Workweek implementation. Some, like Council member Helen Gym and the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia coalition, have called for a new office, separate and apart from the Mayors Office of Labor, that would solely enforce worker protection laws. The Pennsylvania Domestic Workers Alliance is suggesting an enforcement board comprising workers and city officials as part of its proposed domestic workers bill of rights. And OnePA, which led the charge for Fair Workweek legislation, is setting its sights on enforcement as its next campaign. Its an acknowledgment, as OnePA organizing director Cecily Harwitt said, that if there isnt political pressure to enforce worker legislation, it doesnt usually get enforced. Often, in any organizing campaign, we act like winning the policy is the end of the story," she said, but, in fact, its really the middle of the story. Philadelphia Media Network is one of 21 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at https://brokeinphilly.org The Reverend Pam Willams berated Philadelphia City Council about its treatment of the black community in terms of gentrification during a council session last year. The pressures on minority communities from a surge of outside investment can be intense. Read more Seven cities account for nearly half of the gentrification in America and Philadelphia stands prominently among them, according to a national study released this week. The city also ranked high in the intensity of changes that have pushed many low-income people of color out of their longtime neighborhoods. A major transformation is occurring in the most prosperous American cities, the authors of the study conducted by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition wrote, and that has disproportionately hurt African Americans and Latinos who were pushed away before they could benefit from increased property values and opportunities in revitalized neighborhoods. In Philadelphia, gentrification has generated contention and controversy. Recent local studies have found that homeowners here are not as threatened by displacement as in other places, due to the emergence of programs aimed at keeping people in their houses, and to relatively low property taxes, at least as compared with other locales. But renters, who make up nearly half of all city residents, have faced an eviction crisis as neighborhood investment surges. The new study identified more than 1,000 neighborhoods in 935 cities and towns where gentrification took place between 2000 and 2013. Rapidly rising rents, property values, and taxes forced more than 135,000 residents to move out. In Washington, D.C., 20,000 black residents were forced out, and in Portland, Ore., 13 percent of the black community was displaced during a decade. Nearly 12,000 African Americans in Philadelphia moved out of gentrifying neighborhoods. The study, Shifting Neighborhoods: Gentrification and Cultural Displacement in American Cities, relied on Census Bureau and economic data. The authors said it lent weight to what critics describe as a concentration of wealth and wealth-building investment in a handful of the nations biggest cities. Meanwhile, other regions of the country languish, as poorer towns and rural areas starve for investment. For Kensington resident Sandra Rivera-Colon, the endless hammering of construction crews on new apartment buildings is the staccato sound of trouble. You hear the noise and feel sad, said Rivera-Colon, 22, a community organizer and single mother of a 4-year-old girl. You cant do anything about the changes. Gentrification in Kensington has raised the rents of existing apartments, making life that much harder. She used to pay $500 a month for a two-bedroom place, Rivera-Colon said. Now she and a roommate split $900 for a same-size apartment. And thats not including utilities. In Kensington and other areas of the city, gentrification has churned with life-changing force, allowing people with means to move into a neighborhood that then changes in character and income. For instance, the Graduate Hospital area, once a largely African American neighborhood, saw a huge influx of middle- and upper-middle-class renters and home buyers gentrify the neighborhood between 2006 and 2017, federal census figures show. During that period, average incomes rose from $60,424 to $91,445, making the area the highest-ranked in the city in terms of income. Similarly, the Point Breeze area saw incomes jump from $29,342 to $37,879 in the same time frame. In Northern Liberties/Fishtown, incomes rocketed from $59,280 to $81,889. For some who must scramble to find new places to live, activists say, the changes feel like discrimination. >>Read more: In one chaotic courtroom, free counselors and attorneys have saved 11,000 Philly homes from foreclosure Gentrification expert Emily Dowdall, policy director at the Reinvestment Fund, said that neighborhoods just outside Center City, as well as University City and part of North Philadelphia near Temple, have seen dramatic changes in the last 15 years. She likened gentrification to water flow: Neighborhoods downstream from well-off areas keep changing. The high prices flow down from Rittenhouse Square to Washington Avenue and then, like a wave, flood over to Point Breeze, Dowdall said. While it seems that nearly every area of the city is gentrifying, thats not so, she said. Philadelphia experiences nothing like the high-profile, large-scale displacement of a place like San Francisco. The story of gentrification in Philadelphia has long been the tale of African Americans not being able to choose where to live, Dowdall said. While its hard to compare eras, the 1960s may have been a time of even greater gentrification. About 100 years ago, Society Hill was considered to be among the only places in Philadelphia where black people could live. But within 10 years in the 1960s, Dowdall said, hardly any African Americans lived there at all. At the same time, largely black neighborhoods in University City were cleared as Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania built up, she said. Gentrification is a topic in which almost everyone has an interest or opinion but in which different studies focused on different areas have produced different findings. For instance, a study published in 2018 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia examined the connection between tax delinquency, homeowner mobility, and gentrification during the previous two years. >>Read more: Getting a home improvement loan in Philly is harder when youre low-income or a minority, study shows Researchers found that while tax delinquency is about 4 percentage points higher in gentrifying neighborhoods than in those that saw no steep rise in household income, homeowners are not moving out any more rapidly than in nongentrifying areas. The new NCRC study defined gentrification as what occurs when lower-income neighborhoods receive massive new investments that raise home values and bring in new, higher-income residents. Nationally, the new study said, gentrification and displacement are most intense in the nations biggest cities but rare elsewhere. The Washington-based NCRC, an association of 600 community groups that promote access to affordable housing, banking, and jobs for working-class families, found that most low- to moderate-income neighborhoods did not gentrify or revitalize during the studied time. They remained impoverished, untouched by investments that occurred in major cities, the study said. Washington was the most gentrified city, as judged by the percentage of eligible neighborhoods that experienced gentrification. New York City was the most gentrified city by sheer volume. The study considered neighborhoods as eligible to become gentrified if in 2000 they were in the lower 40 percent of home values and family incomes in that metropolitan area. New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Baltimore, San Diego, Chicago, and Philadelphia together accounted for nearly half of all gentrification, the report said. Philadelphia's past is marred by decisions that pushed low-income people out of their neighborhoods, fostered residential segregation and stripped wealth and opportunity from low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, Beth McConnell, policy director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, wrote in an essay accompanying the report. These were deeply racialized decisions that had an outsize negative impact on people of color, and which resonate in the persistent poverty and inequality of today's Philadelphia. >>Read more: Philadelphia to launch low-interest loan program that will help residents fix aging homes Now, as wealth and opportunity flow back into the city, she wrote, its up to policymakers to embrace ideas that halt the deepening of inequality and begin to compensate for past errors. Philadelphia has taken steps but needs to move quicker amid growing development, she wrote. McConnell wrote that Philadelphia policymakers have sought to help homeowners who face unaffordable property taxes that threaten their ability to stay in their homes. Two programs let property owners freeze their real-estate taxes to prevent future increases. One is the Senior Freeze program for low-income homeowners older than 65. The other is the Longtime Owner Occupant Program, known as Loop, for those who have owned and lived in their home for at least 10 years and saw increases of at least 300 percent in tax assessments from one year to the next. More than 29,000 Philadelphians have enrolled in these programs, earning them $21 million in property-tax relief, she wrote. An additional 13,161 homeowners have enrolled in Owner Occupied Payment Agreement, known as OOPA. Property owners who face losing their homes to tax foreclosure can enter into monthly payment agreements, with the amount set at 10 percent or less of their monthly earnings. Unfortunately, Philadelphia has few programs to help renters who are facing displacement due to rising costs, she wrote. Resources are still inadequate to ensure housing stability for all low-income Philadelphians. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Kuwait, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. (Jim Young/Pool Photo via AP) Read more JERUSALEM (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday lauded the White House's warm ties with Israel during a visit to the country and promised to step up pressure on Iran, giving a public boost to Israel's prime minister at the height of a tight re-election campaign. The White House meanwhile announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be welcomed in Washington over two days next week with Israel just two weeks from the April 9 polls. Standing together, neither Netanyahu nor Pompeo made mention of the heated Israeli election campaign. But Netanyahu, facing a tough challenge from a popular former military chief and reeling from a series of corruption allegations , has repeatedly sought to focus attention on his foreign policy record and strong ties with President Donald Trump. Netanyahu thanked Pompeo for the Trump administration's strong stance against Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat. The prime minister also accused Iran of attempting to set up a terrorist network to target Israel from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967. He used the incident to repeat his goal of international recognition for Israel's claim on the area. "You could imagine what would have happened if Israel were not in the Golan," he said. "You would have Iran on the shores of the Sea of Galilee." Pompeo did not mention the issue, but the administration is considering recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan. Last week, in its annual human rights report, the State Department dropped the phrase "Israeli-occupied" from the Golan Heights section, instead calling it "Israeli-controlled." Israeli and U.S. officials say they expect an announcement on U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan could come as early as Netanyahu's visit to Washington next week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been made public. While Pompeo avoided the issue of sovereignty over the Golan, he touted last month's Mideast conference in Poland , where he said dozens of countries discussed ways "to stop Iran's regional rampage." Accusing Iranian leaders of seeking the "annihilation and destruction" of Israel, he pledged continued American support. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparalleled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," he said. Netanyahu considers Iran to be Israel's greatest threat. In recent years, Israel has carried out many airstrikes in Syria to halt what it says are Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah militant group, and to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in the country. Iranian and Hezbollah forces have been supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops since the early days of the eight-year civil war. Netanyahu said he was working closely with the U.S. "to roll back Iranian aggression" in the region and around the world. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions," he said. He also welcomed last year's U.S. withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Iran, as well as tough U.S. sanctions that were re-imposed on the country. "This pressure is working," he said. "We need to increase it. We need to expand it." Netanyahu is one of Trump's strongest backers on the global stage. Since taking office, Trump has upended U.S. policy and taken a series of steps welcomed by Israel, most notably by recognizing contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. The step prompted the Palestinians to sever ties with the White House. Trump also has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians and shuttered the Palestinians' de facto embassy in Washington. The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected a peace plan the White House is said to be preparing, saying that the Trump administration is unfairly biased toward Israel. The White House said Netanyahu would be welcomed next Monday and Tuesday with both a working meeting and a dinner with Trump. Netanyahu said he was looking forward to making the relationship "even stronger" during the visit. Pompeo arrived in Jerusalem after a stop in Kuwait, where he renewed calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between Qatar and four other Arab nations, all of them America's partners in the Middle East. Kuwait has been attempting to mediate an end to the crisis. Pompeo said the dispute, which has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years, is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations. In Israel, Pompeo also attended a summit of Mediterranean natural gas producers Israel, Cyprus and Greece. From Israel, he is to travel to Lebanon. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman contributed to this report. U.S. soldiers embark from a CH-47 Chinook military helicopter to take part in the ground opening of Lashkar Gah's PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, in this March 19, 2005 file photo. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File) Read more Less than two years into a helicopter program that was to keep workers at the Philadelphia areas biggest industrial complex busy for the next 20 years, the Army says it is canceling its commitment to upgrade hundreds of Chinook 47 helicopters, threatening layoffs for many of the 4,600 mechanics and other staff at Boeings Ridley Park, Delaware County assembly plant. Suppliers and testing centers in the region are also at risk from the cutbacks. The Armys new budget request scratches the Chinook upgrade, stops production of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and reduces planned purchases of Joint Strike Force vehicles, .50-caliber machine guns and forklifts, among other familiar war tools. Instead, the military plans to spend billions more on new assault helicopters, robotic vehicles, digitally connected weapons, space communications, and short-range missile defense, among other priorities to cope with improved Chinese missiles and Russian missile-defense and cyber-attack, Army undersecretary Ryan McCarthy said in a talk at the Brookings Institution last week. Although Chinooks were deployed in the Vietnam War more than 50 years ago, the heavy-lifting helicopters are now the youngest fleet in the Army, given previous upgrades, McCarthy added. The Army has over 10 percent more Chinooks than required. Work is to continue on Special Forces Chinook helicopters now being upgraded at Ridley Park. UPDATE 3/22: Boeing is also going ahead with plans to move production work on V-22 Osprey military tilt rotor aircraft across Pennsylvania Route 291, to a new 350,000 square-foot factory next to the Chinook assembly line, said Boeing spokeswoman Kelsey Swanson. The $100 million complex will also house the V-22 ... assembly line. Boeing officials still want to save the program. Delaying CH-47F Block II production funding would have significant detrimental impacts for fleet readiness, the defense industrial base, and taxpayers, and hamper soldiers abilities to carry critical payloads, the company warned in a statement sent in an email from spokesman Andrew Africk. Defending the plants contracts kept former U.S. Reps. Patrick Meehan and Curt Weldon, both Pennsylvania Republicans, riding to the rescue over the last couple of decades to save Chinook upgrades and construction of Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. If a major conflict were to break out over the next several years, how would the Army move equipment, such as the Armys larger, newer vehicles and artillery, that older helicopters cannot handle? U.S. Sen. Patrick Toomey (R., Pa.) asked McCarthys boss, Army Secretary Mark Esper, in a March 1 letter, acknowledging the pressure the Army feels to cut costs so it can buy newer weapons. U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) is recruiting the regions congressional members to appeal to House Appropriations Committee leaders to reconsider, said spokeswoman Gabby Richards. UPDATE 3/26: Republicans running for Delaware County Council seats against Scanlons Democratic allies, after visiting Boeing workers at UAW Local 1069 on Monday, sent the freshman Congresswoman suggestions for securing continued Congressional funding" for the biggest industrial employer in the region. This not partisan advice from Jim Raith, Kelly Colvin, and Mike Morgan includes: - Bring Democrats and Republicans who represent the area in Congress to the Boeing plant, reminding members of the regional economic impact as well as the loss to military readiness and our nations industrial defense base" if the Trump budget cuts Chinook 47 upgrades as planned. Follow with a bi-partisan meeting to develop a regional strategy for protecting the funding." - Encourage Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., chair of the House Armed Service Committees Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee, to hold a hearing at Boeings Ridley facility, where defense industry scholars and experts" can focus on the cuts long-term negative impact on military readiness" and the defense industry. - Ask U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., chair of House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, to visit Boeing in Ridley so the two can meet with company and union leaders, since (Viscloskys) subcommittee will essentially be driving this issue. - Prepare her own staff to monitor and respond in realtime to Trump Administration and Congress proposals that would hurt the regional economy. EARLIER: McCarthy said at Brookings that military leaders had reviewed Chinook upgrades and hundreds of other programs before deciding what to cut. Nothing was sacrosanct, he said at Brookings. In all, he said, the Army cut or reduced 186 programs, including some at Army headquarters. The retreat on Chinooks appears to have developed just this winter. The Army announced in January it was set to award a contract for low-rate initial production of a maximum 14 CH-47 Block II aircraft in fiscal 2021 and 22, but no award was made, Inside Army, a publication that covers military contracting, reported earlier this month. The Ridley Park plant completes work on about four Chinooks and one to two Ospreys a month, for the United States but also for allied military forces from countries including India, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. UAW local president Mike Tolassi was in a plant meeting and unavailable for comment at midday Wednesday, his assistant said. Former Pa. state Sen. Robert Mellow, whose pension was restored despite a federal conviction in a corruption case. (Associated Press) Read more HARRISBURG Pennsylvania is poised to enact a law that would require more public officials convicted of crimes to forfeit their taxpayer-funded pensions. The measure, which passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly this week, is designed to close loopholes that allowed some former lawmakers to keep their five- or six-figure annual pensions, despite convictions on public corruption charges. Pennsylvania law currently requires state officials to automatically forfeit their pensions if they are convicted of nearly two dozen specific state crimes or federal crimes that are substantially similar. The new law would expand the list of crimes that prompt people to lose the perk to include felonies, other crimes that carry a prison sentence of more than five years, and many forms of conspiracy. Gov. Tom Wolf said he was eager to sign the bill into law likely the first hell be approving in 2019 but also called on the General Assembly to continue pushing ethics reforms. Providing lifelong benefits to those who have committed serious crimes, especially those related to their elected office, is a betrayal of the publics trust, Wolf said in a statement, adding later: Public officials should be held to the highest possible standard and we should expect more out of them and our government. Philadelphia has had its share of felonious legislators. Former State Sen. Vince Fumo forfeited his six-figure state pension, minus his own contributions. Former House Speaker John Perzel, on the other hand, received a lump sum pension payment of just under $204,000 before he pleaded guilty in the Bonusgate" scandal, but stopped receiving annual $85,000 payments after sentencing. More recently, four state representatives from Philadelphia Michelle Brownlee, Harold James, Ronald Waters, and Louise Williams Bishop were ensnared in a sting case that used an undercover operative to offer cash or gifts in exchange for official action. They struck deals to keep their government pensions. Each of them pleaded either guilty or no contest. Former Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, however, fought the sting charges and lost her state pension when she was convicted last year after 48 months of delays. Its unclear how many people with criminal convictions are receiving a government pension. Forty-six people have forfeited their pensions run through the State Employees Retirement System over the last five years. Under the new proposal, convicted officials would be able to keep their personal contributions toward their state pensions but lose the taxpayer-funded portion. Sen. John DiSanto (R., Dauphin), who introduced the new measure, has said he wanted to close a loophole that allowed former Sen. Robert Mellow, a Democrat, to keep his $245,000 annual pension, despite serving a prison sentence on a federal corruption charge. Mellow was convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and to defraud the United States. He lost his pension but won it back in 2017, when the board of the State Employees Retirement System narrowly decided to reinstate it on the ground that it did not closely enough mirror a state conviction that would trigger pension forfeiture. Mellow is not the only lawmaker to keep his pension. For far too long, these criminal employees have exploited a loophole whereby they plead guilty to a non-pension forfeiture felony so they can keep a pension," DiSanto said on the Senate floor Wednesday, just before the chamber gave the bill final passage. He added, Lawmakers who have violated the public trust should not receive lifetime benefits. Staff writer Angela Couloumbis contributed to this report. Three years ago Pennsylvania officials agreed that it is unconstitutional to keep mentally ill criminal defendants in prison for more than 60 days before transferring them to a facility for proper treatment. That was when state officials settled a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. And yet, this year, at least 56 defendants had languished in eastern Pennsylvania county prisons for more than 60 days before they were transferred to Norristown State Hospital for treatment, according to the ACLU. So the civil rights group on Tuesday asked the federal judge in Harrisburg overseeing the 2016 settlement to order the state to reduce the defendants wait time to seven days by Sept. 1. In previous cases in Oregon and Washington, federal appeals court judges have ruled that forcing mentally incompetent defendants to wait more than seven days violates constitutional protections. Its egregiously illegal, but its also just cruel to keep somebody who is severely mentally ill in a cage, said Witold Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and one of the lawyers in the litigation against the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, which regulates and pays for behavioral health services. Under the Constitution, they are not allowed to be punished. They cannot be imprisoned, and youre keeping them there not just a few days longer [than allowed under the Constitution], but literally months longer," Walczak said. Meanwhile, a psychiatric prison unit in Philadelphia where defendants are held pending placement at Norristown has had significant regulatory trouble after the deaths of two inmates since early 2018. One death was the result of gross negligence, while the second was a suicide, attributed to inadequate treatment. The suicide occurred in January 2018 in the prison systems Inpatient Forensic Psychiatric Unit at 7901 State Rd., despite the victim having a recent history of a serious suicide attempt and documentation of recent serious mental illness, according to an inspection report by the states Department of Human Services. The inmate warranted an emergency admission to Norristown because of the significant risk, but that risk is not reflected in the inmates diagnosis, treatment plan, or interventions, the summary said. A prisons spokesperson on Tuesday did not know if that person was officially on the wait list for Norristown State Hospital, which serves 19 eastern Pennsylvania counties. Torrance State Hospital, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, has a forensic unit for the remaining counties. Last July, an inmate in the prison systems Psychiatric Services Health Wing died in his cell of a perforated ulcer in his small intestine more than two days after he first complained of the pain without receiving further medical assessment or intervention, according to an inspection summary on the death. A psychiatrist suggested that the pain might be psychosomatic or related to medication. The man was not on the wait list for transfer to Norristown, the prisons spokesperson said. He had only been there a week, she said. As a result of those deaths, the prison systems forensic unit is on its second consecutive provisional license. If it gets to four, the state would revoke the units license. As to the renewed litigation, the state Human Services Department said it was surprised and disappointed that the ACLU has chosen to return to court after months of successful negotiations. Although we regret that communications have not been more timely in recent weeks, and apologized to the ACLU before it filed the motion, DHS has been moving forward to implement the provisions of the settlement agreement that the parties were negotiating, even though an agreement has not been signed. Walczak acknowledged the states progress. The good news is that the wait times are down from over a year to four or five months," he said. "The bad news is that the wait times are still four to five months, when they shouldnt be more than about a week. There are now 187 forensic beds for criminal defendants in Norristown alone, compared with 200 statewide in 2015, when the ACLU originally filed its lawsuit, according to Tuesdays court filing. The number of defendants on the wait list statewide is 120, down from 220 in 2015. Were moving in the right direction, said Gregg Blender, of the Defender Association of Philadelphias mental health unit, but the state needs to make more resources available in the community. The Comcast Technology Center dominates the Philadelphia skyline as seen from the Belmont Plateau in West Fairmount Park on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. Read more Philadelphia has a reputation for having high taxes which it does, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts that compared revenue and spending in 30 of the most-populous U.S. cities. Driving the citys relatively high taxes and expenditures, the report said, were that Philadelphia is both a city and a county, so it is responsible for more government services than some other cities; it has a relatively weak tax base; and it has a high need for services, due to its high poverty and crime rates. We really started with two questions: One is, we wanted to see if Philadelphias reputation as a city with a high tax burden is valid, said Larry Eichel, project director of the Pew Charitable Trusts Philadelphia research initiative. "And if that is the case, what spending and other factors were behind it. How does Philly compare to other cities? Philadelphia, the sixth-largest city in the country, ranks fifth among the 30 cities for its local tax collections, raising $3,004 per capita in fiscal year 2015, which Eichel said were the most recent data available when the research began. In expenditures, Philadelphia ranked No. 8 overall with per-capita spending of $6,209. Mike Dunn, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said the administration applauds Pew for looking at the root causes of the city tax burden. But Dunn said listing Philadelphias spending alongside cities that are not also counties was problematic. The Pew report does compare specific spending categories to address that issue. Why does this comparison matter? Eichel said he believed the report is the first of its kind that looks at all areas of local governments and places them in the context of factors that influence taxes and spending in Philadelphia. Were not really comparing city hall to city hall," he said. "Were looking at all units of local government that serve each city. The report broke down spending in different areas of local government: municipal services, which include police, fire, trash collection, highways, and parks; county functions, including health, hospitals, corrections, and judicial departments; education, or spending on local schools; and a category labeled other," which includes public transit, housing, and other government administration. Philadelphias overall municipal spending was very close to the median for other cities. Broken down further by category, spending on police and waste management in Philadelphia was relatively high while spending on highways and parks and recreation was relatively low. Philadelphias education spending, at $1,689 per capita, according to the report, was higher than the 30-city median of $1,545. What factors influence Phillys taxes and spending? Philadelphia is its own county, whereas many cities in the report such as Chicago, which is part of Cook County are in larger counties that include suburban tax bases. Compared with other states, Pennsylvania delegates more funding of county services to the counties themselves, Eichel said. And compared with other cities, Philadelphia has high poverty and crime rates and a weak tax base, which can explain some of the spending figures. Such a perspective is needed for comparative analysis because of the wide variation in how local governments are organized, the report states. Three of Philadelphias major tax bases personal income, assessed property value, and retail sales are weak compared with other cities, the report found. The citys market value of taxable property per capita in 2015, for example, was 22 percent lower than the median of the comparison cities. The Kenney administration said it hopes state lawmakers will take note of the differences between the burden Pennsylvania places on counties compared with other states. Pews conclusion is one that we hope resonates in Harrisburg, because the commonwealth has a responsibility to fund certain county functions, such as the First Judicial District, Dunn said. The failure of the commonwealth to do so means Philadelphia taxpayers are paying more than if this city were part of a larger county. Have these comparisons changed over time? Much has changed in Philadelphia since fiscal year 2015 the year Pew used for its report. That years budget, during Mayor Michael Nutters tenure, included $3.83 billion in spending. Spending has increased steadily since then, and Kenney has pushed for his own spending priorities since he took office and proposed his first budget for fiscal year 2017. Kenney proposed a $5 billion spending plan this month for the citys 2020 budget. Eichel said estimates of where Philadelphia stands today compared with other cities is outside the scope of this Pew report. We have a sense of how local numbers changed, he said. But we have no sense of how the numbers changed in other places. Campaign buttons from decades of Philadelphia elections are collected on a bulletin board at the Board of Elections in City Hall March 12, 2019, as the deadline looms for candidates to file nomination petitions to get on the May 21 primary ballot. The staff locks the office door at 5 p.m. sharp. Read more The Philadelphia Board of Elections had to call for backup staff Tuesday as legal challenges to candidates nomination papers piled up. One candidate for Council at-large even filed to block from the ballot 30 of the 33 other Democrats against whom hes running. A filing cart and extra hands arrived right after the deadline at 5 p.m, though the board wasnt quite sure what to do with Devon Cades mass challenge. The most notable challenge was against Council President Darrell L. Clarke in the 5th District, though its unclear if it will stand. Attorney Sam Stretton filed against Clarke on behalf of opponent Sheila Armstrong, but the challenging petition to Common Pleas Court was not concurrently served to the Board of Elections as required. (Challenges must be filed with both the Prothonotarys Office and the Board of Elections.) That is just one of many confusing things about the intricate Pennsylvania rules that govern qualifications to be on the ballot. Armstrong, in turn, faces a challenge from attorney Charles Gibbs, on behalf of a voter, to the validity of 518 of her 1,025 submitted signatures. A run for district Council seats requires 750 valid signatures from registered voters in that district. Its unclear how many of those challenged by the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline worked with a political consultant who is alleged to have botched several petitions for judicial candidates, prompting at least one to drop out of the race Tuesday. Councilman Mark Squilla was challenged by his 1st District opponent. Democrat Lou Lanni, who formerly ran for state representative and before that for Council as a Republican, was convicted on insurance fraud charges but pardoned by the governor in 2016. He claims 1,780 of Squillas 2,047 signatures are bogus. In a move that required a lot of paperwork, Cade, who lists his occupation as philanthropist, filed identical challenges against 30 opponents for Council at-large. In each case, he offered an affidavit of forgery," a document Board of Elections staff said they had not seen before. Not helping matters: Cades motion was filled with redactions. Cade did not challenge Helen Gym, who is seeking a second at-large term, or Sherrie Cohen or Wayne Allen. Allen faces another challenge, as do at-large candidate and former Lt. Gov. Mike Stack III and former Traffic Court Judge Willie Singletary, a convicted felon. Both Democrats running against Councilwoman Cindy Bass in the 8th District were challenged. Patrick Jones, dropped out of the race the same day a petition was filed that claimed 738 of his 1,261 signatures filed were no good. Tonya Bah, who remains in the race, is accused of failing to file her statement of financial interest with the Department of Records. If weird wildlife roams around in the Philadelphia forest and it doesnt have its own Twitter account, does it make a sound? The Radnor Township Police Department issued an alert Tuesday telling residents about a coyote spotted in the area between Abrahams Lane and Church Road in Wayne. It hasnt yet been caught, so police warned residents to be careful letting out their pets. And like clockwork, by 8 p.m. Tuesday, @RadnorCoyote was born, gracing the Internet with Wile E. Coyote gifs and Wawa jokes. @RadnorCoyote joins the ranks of a menagerie of Twitter accounts dedicated to weird wildlife and/ or escaped farm animals bopping around the Philly area. Lets review: Theres the pretty active West Philly Turkey, which has a cult following of just over 2,300 followers and joined Twitter way back in 2013 when there were, yes, wild turkeys spotted in West Philadelphia. Wild turkey sightings arent uncommon in Philadelphia and have been seen everywhere from Cobbs Creek to Pennypack Park. (Experts say they might be descendants of birds from Mexico that were brought here intentionally.) @WPhillyTurkey has long been pretty sassy -- its bio is: My brother threw me out, so Im looking for a new spot in West Philly. Let me know if youve got a room or a couch I can crash on. Its lately taken on a decidedly leftist personality, tweeting fowl language about prominent Republicans, including President Donald Trump, conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham. Dont worry. Theres still plenty of turkey content. Beyond the turkey, who could forget the sightings of a black bear in Bucks County in 2013? That spurred two accounts dedicated to this guy (these guys? gals?): @BlackBearSpoted and @RealBucksBear. Feel free to argue in the comments about which account is the real deal. But, for what its worth, @BlackBearSpoted tweeted through 2015. Most of the tweets either had to do with the bears mom or its ex, Carl. And never forget: In December 2017, the Twitterverse was introduced to Stormy the Escaped Nativity Cow, AKA @stormy_the_cow, an account which was an homage to, well, a big ol cow that escaped a live nativity scene and had to be captured *twice* once while it was running around on I-95 and again when it was found in an Old City parking garage. The cow was nicknamed Stormy (a full month before the Wall Street Journal revealed a $130,000 payment to that Stormy) and was safely returned to the Roxborough farm from where she escaped. The heifers Twitter account is a mix of cow nihilism and live-tweeting normal cow behavior such as: And: Stormy still tweets from time to time and is particularly passionate about cow social justice and has launched a relentless push for cows getting religious exemptions for nativity scenes. She doesnt wade too far into politics, unlike her cow Twitter counterpart @DevinCow, which is now among one of the most popular Twitter accounts dedicated to an animal in the country. The account pokes fun at U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican and the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Nunes, who comes from a line of dairy farmers, this week filed a $250 million defamation suit against Twitter, naming two parody accounts that he claims spread defamatory information about him: @DevinNunesCow and @DevinNunesMom. @DevinNunesMom appears to have been suspended, but @DevinNunesCow, which refers to the politician as a lil treasonous cowpoke, lives to moo another day. Sure seems this account, which now has more than 350,000 followers, is going to milk the attention for all its worth. Celeste and Tom Revelli at Urban Village Brewing. The Revellis managed to pay down six figures in student debt and get married, while Tom opened Urban Village brewery with a co-owner. Celeste works as director of financial planning at eMoney Advisor. Read more When it came to paying for college, Celeste Hernandez Revelli wishes she could go back in time and tell her younger self to avoid all those mistakes. Revelli is now the director of financial planning at eMoney Advisor in Radnor, and she creates interactive plans for financial advisers to help their clients avoid the errors she made. Revelli grew up in Voorhees, the daughter of a nurse who emigrated from the Philippines. My mom actually wanted a career in finance, but that wasnt a traditional career path for women there," Revelli said. "So she became a nurse, and supported me and my brother and put us through college in the United States. To pay for college, her mother, a single parent trying to do the right thing, went to a local bank and took out a federal Parent Plus loan. What we didnt know was how much it would cost down the road, said Revelli, who graduated from Loyola University, a private Jesuit college in Maryland, in 2008 with $90,000 in debt. Looking back, Revelli, 32, would have done things very differently. I would have researched all the options for college instead of loans such as grants, scholarships, and financial aid. Or perhaps I should have gone to a community college for two years. I would have looked much more closely at the costs ahead of time, calculated the loan repayment schedule. Now thats what I do for financial advisers" at eMoney Advisor, she said. When she met her husband, Tom Revelli, he had a balance of $60,000 in school loans from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Neither of their parents had college savings plans set up, and so we had to figure out how to properly apply on our own, and we struggled with debt for years after, she said. Obviously, we would have made better choices about the schools we chose and the tuition we paid if we only knew more. In about a decade, the couple have almost entirely paid down their combined $150,000 in school loans. Tom, 37, has just a few monthly payments left, and in 2017, he and a partner opened Urban Village brewery in Northern Liberties. How did they do it? A lot of money that we would normally have been saving went toward paying down more debt each month," Celeste explained. She contacted her lenders and initially went on an income-based repayment plan. And after she started working, she put extra money toward her loans from a second job, which she kept until 2016. She worked in financial services while also tending bar on nights and weekends. Now, every dollar that comes in to our household has a job, she said. She also got a higher-paying full-time job at eMoney Advisor. We both nearly tripled our incomes between then and now, she added. Prioritize Saving was key. We knew wed have to save to get married in 2017, and a week later the brewery opened, she said. Tom and I just only recently started going on trips out of the country together. Before, we would take road trips and other things like that, but I have always wanted to travel more and never really had the means or the time to do so since we prioritized work, helping out our families, the wedding, and the brewery, Many millennials think that they should be doing all these things right, like having a grand wedding, buying a house, and taking amazing trips, because it is what they see on social media, when in reality, to pay for these things on your own, it takes hard work," she said. "For years, Tom and I both worked on weekends, many times with no days off. I would work at Buddakan or Landmark Americana [restaurants] after working my day job during the week, too. We missed family get-togethers and nights out with friends, but in the end we ... knew that we wanted to be in a better place financially. Savings as a percent of income may not be realistic at first Instead of beating yourself up for not saving, start with as little as you want even $5 a month to get in the habit, she said. Another method is to consult with counseling companies, such as Student Loan Hero and PayForEd, which promotes less borrowing to start out, and budgeting apps such as EveryDollar. When we budget every dollar, I started using sealed envelopes for funds," Revelli said. "For example, one envelope had student loans, one dedicated to vacation, rent, a new car, computer. Then I had a second job, so I did it in my bank account, or different accounts that allow you to name your goals. I paid off my loans in eight years, instead of the typical 10 or 20 years. Her student-loan servicer, Navient was just OK, but I definitely had to do all the reaching out to them. I never got a note that I paid off my loans. So I had to call them to make sure. Parents, ask a financial adviser before borrowing Consider tackling the student loan with a financial adviser before you borrow. Some may offer help, while others may have no experience, but you should at least request a road map. Some advisers arent used to this discussion, and, typically, they dont have experience, said Adam Holt, founder of Asset-Map.com, a software start-up for financial planners. I tell my clients that mortgaging their own retirement for kids to go to expensive schools isnt a plan," said Holt, who is based in Philadelphia. Its not yielding clear results in terms of their kids making more money. I ask them, Can you afford another $1,200-a-month loan payment on top of your mortgage, and your spouse not working? If they cant, then they are dis-saving for their own life. Also, sometimes paying for college instead of saving for retirement sets up a damaging future family dynamic. We walk parents through the scenario: Youre 65 and have to sell your house to fund your retirement. You do that because you paid for your kids college. If you ask the now-adult child, Was it worth it?, the kid may say, You shouldnt have done that for me. Now the kids have to support you financially. Thats the fallout Im seeing, Holt said. Holt, 45, was accepted to Bucknell, with no scholarship money, and to Drexel on a full scholarship. But I wanted to row Division 1 crew at Rutgers. So my grandparents paid one quarter, each parent paid one quarter, and I paid a quarter. I paid by working full time for four years at the campus center information booth, and rowed crew. He then went to Drexel for an executive MBA, which I paid for myself on my Amex card while I was working and making a salary. In 2003, I consolidated that debt and my Rutgers debt into one loan at 1.5 percent. Im still carrying those student loans because the cost of that debt makes sense all day long compared with investments, say, which can return 5 percent annually. His $14,000 balance is now down to $7,000. Know the true costs not just the sticker price While the median tuition and fee price for full-time students attending private nonprofit four-year institutions in 2018 to 2019 totals $36,890, 11 percent of full-time students attend institutions with prices below $15,000. And an additional 20 percent attend institutions charging $51,000 or more, according to the College Boards latest Trends in Pricing. Alex Bottom of Los Angeles, co-founder of LoanBuddy.us, says the "We are empowering financial advisors and CFPs, certified financial planners, with technology to help their clients with their student loan debt. Understanding what happens over the life of the loan in a federal income-based repayment plan is complicated and LoanBuddy has made this simple through automation with our advisor-facing technology. The software start-up is also about to launch a direct-to-consumer version to help parents and students. As for Revelli, she stresses some basics. Even a tiny savings account will pay off in the long run, forming the habit now and auto-saving, or adding a company match, she said. Many millennials think they cannot save anything right now, and are focused on debt and living expenses, which is so understandable, as I was definitely not saving anything during my first year or two after college," she said. "But pay yourself, too [into savings], along with everything else, and eventually with hard work and perseverance, you will end up earning more money, having less debt, and will have even more to save. Composer Vince Mendoza leads a rehearsal of his composition "Constant Renaissance," commissioned by Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, with the Temple Studio Orchestra at the school's performing arts center in North Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. The piece features soloists Terell Stafford on trumpet and Dick Oatts on alto saxophone a both jazz professors at the college a and will premiere Sunday at the Kimmel Center. Read more Coming of age in the 1970s, the American jazz great Vince Mendoza considered the Sound of Philadelphia the lush soul style pioneered at Kenny Gamble and Leon Huffs Philadelphia International Records an integral part of the soundtrack of his life. Invited to write a new piece for the Temple University Studio Orchestra, the Grammy-winning composer/arranger immediately flashed back to the Philly Sound. As he thought about the great music that has come out of the city, he realized the City of Brotherly Love has played host to countless musical innovations over the decades. That revelation led to Constant Renaissance, a piece that pays homage to three great jazz artists who once called Philly home: Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and John Coltrane. Thinking about the jazz musicians that passed through Philadelphia before the phrase The Sound of Philadelphia was crafted in the 70s got me focused on that other sound of Philadelphia, Mendoza says. Philly was at the forefront of the development of contemporary jazz sounds, not to mention integrated jazz clubs and the cultural celebration of that music. The city is constantly reinventing new forms of expression, he says, "and I think that is extraordinary. All three artists honored in Mendozas piece made profound musical discoveries in Philadelphia that proved transformative to their sounds and therefore to the evolution of jazz itself. Billie Holiday was born in the city and returned often throughout her life. The pieces second movement aims to capture the haunting beauty of her melancholy voice. Dizzy Gillespie was a brash 18-year-old when he arrived and took up residence at the Downbeat Club on Ludlow, where he formed the ideas that became bebop. After leaving the Miles Davis Quintet in 1956, John Coltrane returned to his Strawberry Mansion home, where he kicked heroin and underwent the spiritual awakening that resulted in his most innovative music. The Temple Studio Orchestra, which will premiere the piece on Sunday as part of a program of student performances at the Kimmel Center, combines the top orchestra and jazz band students from the universitys Boyer College of Music and Dance. Breaking down the walls between jazz band and symphony orchestra has been a key mission for Terell Stafford, a classically trained jazz trumpeter who leads both disciplines at Temple as director of jazz studies and chair of instrumental studies. Its been a dream of mine to merge these groups together, Stafford says. Its incredible to see the students from the two disciplines come together so that everybody just plays music. Thats what its all about. Mendoza, who will conduct the Kimmel premiere, is an ideal choice to compose for such a blended orchestra. From 2005 to 2013, he was chief conductor of the Metropole Orkest, a hybrid ensemble in the Netherlands combining jazz big band and symphony orchestra. Hes now based in Los Angeles. His arrangements and compositions have earned him six Grammy Awards and dozens of nominations. In addition to conducting the Studio Orchestra, Mendoza is working with the students throughout the week leading up to the world-premiere performance. Its an invaluable experience for our students to rehearse, perform, and record new works, says Robert T. Stroker, dean and vice provost for the arts at Temple. Having a composer of Vince Mendozas reputation and stature on campus for a week gives our music students a unique opportunity to learn from one of the best composers in the field. Constant Renaissance will also shine the spotlight on two key members of Temples faculty: Stafford and saxophonist Dick Oatts, both of whom will be featured in the performance. Mendoza wrote the piece with those two stellar instrumentalists in mind, considering their artistry and educational efforts central to continuing the citys legacy of artistic reinvention. Terell and Dick are prime examples of whats happening there in Philly, Mendoza says. They both have extraordinary individual voices and incredible technique, and theyve worked with so many different musicians. Jazz is a very social music, and we feed off of each others energy and creativity. Theyre the perfect people to play on a piece like this. Stafford is looking forward to digging into Mendozas music, which he says is as daunting and exciting for him as it undoubtedly is for his students. The group is challenged in every movement, he says. Hes the kind of writer that makes us pay close attention to detail. Theres so much texture and richness to his writing, and hes a master of orchestration. Working with an artist of Vinces caliber brings the program together and really makes it grow. JAZZ PREMIERE Constant Renaissance Vince Mendozas new piece will be played by the Temple University Studio Orchestra as part of a Temple student program 8 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at the Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St. The Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Choirs will perform other works, including Jennifer Higdons "The Singing Rooms and Leonard Bernsteins overture to West Side Story. Tickets: $20-$35. Information: 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org. HARRISBURG State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown resigned from office Tuesday, saying she was leaving public service under protest as she appeals her conviction on bribery and other charges. In her resignation letter, the Philadelphia Democrat highlighted the words of the Dauphin County judge who last month sentenced her to 23 months of probation, noting that he expressed concerns about the undercover sting investigation that led to her conviction and downfall. Nonetheless, Brown wrote, she recognizes that the state constitution prohibits anyone convicted of bribery, perjury, and other infamous crimes from serving in the legislature. The courts finding that the investigation and prosecution carried overtones of racism and political animus is only the first step in the ultimate vindication of my God-given and constitutional right to be treated fairly under the law," Brown, 52, wrote in her letter to Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny). She added: Emboldened by the civil rights giants that have gone before me, and with the love and support of my family and friends, I live to fight another day against injustice and racism." Brown, who was reelected last month to another two-year term, had faced mounting pressure to leave office. Typically, public officials found guilty of corruption crimes step down on the day they are sentenced. Brown was sentenced Nov. 30 and had not since publicly explained her decision to remain in office. She had signaled that she would not seek to be seated in the House when lawmakers return to the Capitol on Jan. 1 to be sworn into office after her Republican and Democratic colleagues said they would vote to prevent her from taking the oath of office. On Tuesday, House officials said Turzai would set a date early next year for a special election for Browns seat. The earliest date would be in March. Browns resignation followed a legal maneuver by prosecutors to force her out. Late last week, Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo, whose office prosecuted Brown, asked her trial judge to amend the probationary sentence and require her to resign within 24 hours, and repay any salary or expense reimbursement she had received since being sentenced. Brown had not been paid for December, according to House officials. On Monday, Browns lawyers asked the judge, Scott Evans, to throw out her conviction, citing Evans' words at her sentencing that the investigation that ensnared her and other Philadelphia Democrats was troubling and laden with racial overtones. Javier Lopez , 4, from Mexico, now living in Philadelphia, leads a demonstration for immigration reform. Read more Low-income immigrant mothers are skipping the chance to get nutritious foods and help for their infants from a federal program because they fear deportation, or the loss of their children, according to the agencies that distribute those benefits. People are saying they are scared to ask for WIC services, said South Philadelphia community organizer Claudia Peregrina, referring to clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. They believe their children will be taken. WIC enrollment nationwide has been declining since around 2011, federal figures show. While the decrease is partially attributed to overall lowered birthrates and a drop in poverty in some areas, administrators say they are witnessing an unprecedented number of people withdrawing from the WIC program since the Trump administration proposed changes in immigration rules last fall. Worries about immigration have been going on since the election, said the Rev. Douglas Greenaway, president and CEO of the National WIC Association, the nonprofit education arm and advocacy voice of WIC. It most particularly mushroomed after the president made it clear he was targeting immigrants, and now this rule change is creating all kinds of fear that immigrants are being targeted. Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, WIC provides nutrition education, nutritious foods, breastfeeding support, and health-care referrals for low-income women who are pregnant, or postpartum, and low-income women with infants and children up to age 5. Throughout the country, WIC enrollment dropped from more than 7.2 million people in fiscal year 2017 to 6.8 million in fiscal year 2018, federal figures show, a more than 5 percent drop. In Philadelphia where the poverty rate is not declining as it is in many other places enrollment fell from around 52,000 to more than 50,000 in the same time period, state Department of Health figures show. Overall, Pennsylvania enrollment declined by around 3.5 percent between the fiscal years of 2017 and 2018; in New Jersey, the drop was 4.5 percent. While there are no numbers documenting the recent pullout from WIC, Greenaway and others describe advocates across the nation sounding the alarm that immigrants now believe that participating in WIC means a one-way ticket out of America. Camden Mayor Dana Redd, left, listens during a meeting of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority Thursday, July 10, 2014, in Trenton, N.J., where a vote was taken on a $260 million tax break over 10 years for a manufacturing firm that wants to do business in Camden. Politicians need to question if breaks for corporations end up benefiting most New Jersey residents, writes activist Caroline Wong. Read more After living in New Jersey for more than two decades, I was compelled to return to activism last year. Threats to the Affordable Care Act, and concern about a lack of transparency for voters, galvanized me in a way I hadnt experienced since growing up in the Jim Crow South of the 1960s. As a teenager observing the segregation, humiliation, and disparities, I felt a need to get involved. I participated in voter registration, worked with the Anti-Poverty Program, and believed I was contributing to a better world. As we began to see progress in the civil rights movement, I stepped away from activism to tend to my career, confident our country was moving in the right direction. Yet the election of Donald Trump, and his hateful rhetoric toward immigrants and women, reawakened my activist spark, especially after finding out that Republican congressmen from my state were allies of the president. I joined other progressives across South Jersey to unseat Rep. Tom MacArthur, a South Jersey Republican who led the fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act in Congress. Our work led to his replacement with Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and energized me to get further involved in my community. But while we have had success in electing to Congress people who represent our states progressive values, we now need to make sure that our officials are held accountable to these same principles. Around the time of the midterm elections, I learned of a proposal to build a new township administration building in Cherry Hill in the new township master plan. I attended community meetings and asked whether options had been researched. I became disillusioned when I learned that rather than pursuing cheaper options that included renovating the existing structure, township officials were considering spending millions of dollars in new construction. Officials were dismissive when residents started showing up to public meetings with questions. Rather than empowering citizens like me to get involved in local government, our leaders and their staffs marginalized our concerns. While the township, facing a public backlash, has since wavered on the proposal, the battle left a deep impression on me. After realizing it was difficult to get involved locally through the Democratic Party, I instead put my energy toward local progressive organizations, such as South Jersey Women for Progressive Change, and other civic groups, such as Cherry Hill United. I have followed stories about growing disenfranchisement with concern. This problem isnt confined to wealthy suburbs like Cherry Hill. The tentacles of the South Jersey machine extend into nearby Camden one of Americas poorest big cities and the playground of local power brokers, who are reshaping the city by steering billions of dollars in corporate giveaways. For example, projects funded under the state Economic Opportunity Act were meant to preserve and create jobs while revitalizing struggling urban centers like Camden. A performance audit released Jan. 9 by the New Jersey comptroller found that state officials had failed to perform basic oversight of projects that resulted in nearly $11 billion in tax credit incentives. It reported a lack of policies and procedures to monitor awardees performance. As taxpaying residents, the very least we are entitled to is full accountability on how our taxes are spent. Yet state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat, has continued to support the programs, chalking up the problem to failed oversight by the Economic Development Authority rather than asking whether corporate handouts are worth protecting in the first place. We didnt battle for change in New Jersey only to see our own party the Democrats act in ways that remind us of President Trump and his support of big business. We need public servants who are focused on lifting up our communities all of our communities. We need public servants who, no matter their party, govern for all and not just the privileged few. Caroline Wong is a resident of Cherry Hill and has worked as a licensed clinical social worker for more than 20 years. Mayor James Kenney pauses as he makes his budget address to City Council in Philadelphia, PA on March 7, 2019. Read more Chicken or egg? Education or economic growth? Its essentially the same question, with the same answer: It doesnt matter which comes first. To move Philadelphia and Pennsylvania forward, we need higher-achieving schools and more economic prosperity. We need both. When it comes to preparing our children to become productive citizens in a world-class city, we cannot afford to pit these issues against one another in a zero-sum game where supporting growth is seen as being against public schools. What we need is an achievable plan that helps attract and expand jobs while also incorporating long-term support for public education and workforce development. Ideally, the state and the city should work together to enact a pro-growth agenda that lowers tax rates, eases regulations, and invests in infrastructure. Expanding Philadelphias tax base through higher employment is the only sustainable, long-term means of funding our schools. It would also make Philadelphia a more powerful economic engine for the entire state. The reality is that Pennsylvania ranks 10th among states in total K-12 school spending on a per-pupil basis. Yet Pennsylvania ranks only 26th in economic growth since 2008, and our average annual growth rate is below the national average. We must do better. It may seem counterintuitive that reducing taxes improves education funding. Look no further than Mayor Jim Kenneys plan to increase funding for city schools by $33 million in the 2020 city budget. In addition to increasing funding for public schools, the mayor calls for a cut (albeit a small one) in the job-killing city wage tax. Lets follow the mayors lead: A pro-growth agenda need not come at the expense of public education. Regarding inequitable school funding between districts, there are two inconvenient truths: the inequity itself and the difficulty in overcoming it. Since 2016, the states school funding formula has doled out new education dollars to school districts on a per-pupil basis, with extra weights for at-risk factors, such as poverty. In a perfect world, we would apply that formula to the entirety of state-level investments in education. That would help Philadelphia, but would hurt many other school districts, making such a solution politically implausible. Which brings us back to the need for a multifaceted solution: Grow Philadelphias employment sector and tax base, while working to expand access to good schools. To get there, school advocates must join businesses in supporting not just workforce development but job creation. Even with Kenneys proposal to reduce the wage tax, it remains the highest tax of its kind in America. To make matters worse, Pennsylvania has the highest effective corporate income tax in the nation, so its no mystery that were at a competitive disadvantage. We can do this. We can improve the citys ability to attract new businesses, investments, and jobs, while also providing a great education to every student. But it has to be we." Democrats and Republicans have to work together for the Commonwealth. A comprehensive solution should include support for more equitable state education funding, especially in urban districts where generational poverty has created special challenges. But we cannot create disincentives for business and job growth. As a practical matter, with a legislature firmly in Republican control, addressing school-funding challenges with a pro-growth agenda is the only viable path. A pro-schools, pro-growth agenda requires hard choices. It all starts with recognizing that school quality and economic growth are two sides of the same coin when it comes to building our future. Think of it as the chicken and egg solution. Mark Gleason is executive director of the Philadelphia School Partnership, a nonprofit that makes grants to support the launch and expansion of charter, district, and Catholic schools. mark.gleason@philaschool.org Tom Morphet sat on the couch in the living room of his family home on War Trophy Lane in Middletown, taking stock of what his brother John had left behind. On Friday morning John had gotten up from the same couch, where he had been sleeping in recent months, and where he had slipped into depression and paranoia. And as the sun rose, John left his wallet, his keys, his cell phone, and his headphones, which, as a drummer, he was rarely without. He walked out, and, his family fears, into the woods. No one has seen him since. Now, the Morphet house has become home base for the search for John, 54, a cook, a father, and, forever, the drummer of Jimmy Shoe and The Shine, which for a time in the late 80s and early 90s were a mainstay of club listings, playing gigs on South Street and all through Center City and Media and beloved by connoisseurs of their Delco-rock-ska-punk-reggae sound. They had a real following, said their former sound engineer, C. Thompson, now an editor at Bloomberg News, who had not seen John in 25 years but went to the house this week to search. There was an army of people who loved this band and followed them everywhere. At least in the five-county region. The Morphets have suffered an almost unimaginable parade of losses in recent months. John and Toms father died this winter of pancreatic cancer. Then their brother Paul, a foreman on the loading dock at Dee Paper Box Co. in Marcus Hook, died by suicide. Two weeks later John went for his walk. Even before the deaths of his family members, it had been a hard year for John. His cherished dog, Boston, died John used to take him on hours-long tramps through his favorite patches of woods and streams at Smedley Park and Ridley Creek. Johns health was declining, and for a time, he had no health insurance. A popular cook in Delco restaurants, he had left his job, and his apartment, decamping for the family couch. He wasnt doing the things he loved, Tom said. But he had begun to open up to Paul, in long conversations about their lives. He seemed to unravel after his brothers death. He fell into a cycle known to many whose loved ones have suffered depression. As Tom put it: Indecision, immediate regret, remorse, self-loathing. At the same time, his family was trying to navigate a mental health care system whose inadequacies are well-known to anyone familiar with such issues. The Morphets told doctors at an emergency room how hed been expressing dark thoughts if not explicitly suicidal. Doctors asked two questions, Tom said: Do you want to hurt yourself? Do you want to hurt anyone else? John said no, and was told his insurance wouldnt cover a hospital stay. Friday, Tom woke up to an empty couch. The familys only solace is the outpouring of support from friends and band members eager to help search the woods and the paths that John loves. Tom, a former newspaper editor and current assemblyman in Alaska, is posted at the house with Johns daughter, Nicolette OHara, 21, answering calls and directing searchers. Two people who didnt know John have reported possible sightings. State troopers are investigating the disappearance as that of a disabled missing person. The family is asking for volunteers to help search or just to look at the Facebook page they created, John Morphet Search. He has been a very present father," Nicolette said. Hes the most rational person I know, even when Im struggling. So it came as a shock that his mental health could change in a matter of months. And Jimmy Shoe and The Shine have showed up. Theres Jimmy Ziegler, the frontman, whom John called Friday morning shortly before he left the house, the family believes. John called Jimmys work number, so he wouldnt pick up, and left a message. I love you, Jimmy, he said. Bruce Scott, the bassist, came too, because the band is family, and John was at once the emotional, passionate little brother of the band and like any good drummer the one who kept them all on pace. And Thompson rushed to the house after seeing a story on John in the Delaware County Daily Times. He checked in with Tom and has spent the days since walking the woods. Tuesday, he pulled up to a spot in Ridley Creek State Park where the band once used an old house for rehearsal space, playing into the night and throwing parties that scared away the deer. The house, Thompson discovered, is gone now, demolished some years ago. He looked at the void for a long time. And then he walked farther into the woods. Postscript: Wednesday night, the family called: Johns body had been found nearby in a secluded area. Authorities told them his death was an apparent suicide. He was a sweet guy, Tom Morphet said of his brother through tears. He tried to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wanted happiness for everyone and lost sight of his own. HARRISBURG Years after he went to federal prison for corruption, the longtime Democratic leader of the state Senate will get his $245,000 annual pension back, a state board has narrowly decided. It's the only time in at least 11 years that the board of the State Employees' Retirement System has returned someone's pension to them after it was taken away for a criminal conviction. Former State Sen. Robert Mellow had appealed that initial decision. It was a close matter, the board voting 6-5, with some members arguing that it would set a bad precedent to give the perk back to the former Scranton-area lawmaker. "The board struggled with this decision as evidenced by the split nature of the vote, including the filing of dissenting opinions, which does not happen often," board spokeswoman Pamela Hile said in an email. At the center of the case was a question about whether Mellow's federal conviction for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and to defraud the U.S. closely enough resembled any of a number of state crimes that require state employees to automatically forfeit their pensions. Board members either declined comment or did not respond to calls all 11 were contacted. Written opinions filed in the case offer some hints as to why they voted the way they did. Mellow, who served as a senator for 40 years and was for many years the highest-ranking Democrat there, pleaded guilty in 2012 after prosecutors charged him with using taxpayer-funded staff to raise money and work on political campaigns. Staff at the State Employees' Retirement System determined that Mellow's conviction required him to lose his pension, and he appealed twice, resulting in the latest ruling. State law requires employees to forfeit their pensions if they are convicted of or plead guilty to certain state crimes or federal crimes that are "substantially the same as" state crimes on the list. Mellow contended nothing was comparable to his crime. The majority opinion, attached to an order signed by chairman David Fillman, compares Mellow's conviction to the state crime of theft by deception. The majority wrote that a theft by deception conviction would have required Mellow to "actually obtain money and property of the Senate" and that was not an element of the federal conspiracy charge to which he pleaded. The five dissenting members, in an opinion written by state treasurer Joe Torsella, said that the majority's opinion was "an abrupt departure" from one of the board's previous decisions. They cited a case in which a district judge who had been charged with federal mail fraud lost his pension. The majority's conclusion allows Mellow "to avoid the financial consequences of criminal conduct to which he pled guilty, creates a record of inconsistent determinations by the Board and undermines the deterrent effect of the Forfeiture Law," according to the dissenting opinion. A board order dated Nov. 6, after all members had cast their ballots, calls for Mellow to receive his $20,510 monthly pension (more than $245,000 a year), plus payments and interest for the time it was forfeited. A portion of that will go to his ex-wife, Diane Mellow, as part of the couple's divorce settlement. Diane Mellow had also appealed the decision to strip Robert Mellow of his pension. Sal Cognetti, the attorney representing Robert Mellow, said he believes the board's ruling is consistent with what he learned in continuing legal education classes. "I am pleased that the law was followed, and I'm sure he is too," Cognetti said. Diane Mellow's attorney, Terry McDonald, said she was similarly pleased with the board's decision. The ruling, he said, allowed her to keep her home. Voting to restore Mellow's pension were Fillman, Glenn E. Becker, Rep. Robert Godshall (R., Montgomery), Sen. Vincent Hughes (D, Philadelphia), Sen. Charles McIlhinney (R., Bucks) and Michael Puppio. Voting against that were Torsella, Rep. Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny), T. Terrance Reese, Mary Soderberg and Stephen Aichele, who wrote a second dissenting opinion saying he would have liked to have seen the courts provide "further clarity on these important issues." A bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Petri (R., Bucks) would expand the list of crimes that require state employees to lose their pensions. That bill passed through the House in May and is in a Senate committee. In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Read more WASHINGTON - Prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller's team on Tuesday cited the "press of other work" in asking a judge to give them until April 1 to respond to the court about a request from The Washington Post to unseal records in Paul Manafort's criminal case. In a two-page filing, Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben and prosecutor Adam Jed wrote, "Counsel responsible for preparing the response face the press of other work and require additional time to consult within the government." A response was to be due Thursday. The filing did not detail the nature of the consultation. The Post has objected to the abundance of sealed and redacted records in Manafort's Washington case and petitioned the judge in his case, Amy Berman Jackson, to open them to public view. The news outlet's motion, filed on the eve of Manafort's recent sentencings in the District of Columbia and Virginia, cited "the profound public interest in these proceedings," arguing that the integrity of the country's elections "goes to the core of the interests protected by the First Amendment." The special-counsel filing seeking the extension comes amid several public signs that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is winding down and amid heightened speculation that Mueller could any day transmit his final report to Attorney General William Barr. Mueller's team, once filled with 17 lawyers, will soon be down to 10. The special counsel's office confirmed in recent days that Zainab Ahmad's detail has ended, and Andrew Weissmann will soon be leaving for the private sector. No one has been charged by the special counsel since longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was indicted in January for allegedly lying to Congress. Lawmakers, meanwhile, have been taking steps to urge the Justice Department to make Mueller's findings public, although it is unclear whether and to what extent that will happen. The House last week voted overwhelmingly to urge the Justice Department to publicly release Mueller's entire report, with 420 Democrats and Republicans supporting the measure and not a single person voting no. The special-counsel regulations do not require Barr to release Mueller's report, and in most circumstances the Justice Department does not make public information about those it investigates and does not charge. But the political pressure on the attorney general is expected to be enormous, and legal analysts say the Justice Department might be hard-pressed to resist lawmakers' demands for transparency. Barr has vowed to be as open as possible while also noting that department policies generally do not support his telling all. Manafort, 69, was sentenced to a combined 7 1/2 years in prison earlier this month after being convicted in August at trial in Alexandria on bank- and tax-fraud charges and pleading guilty in September in Washington to two conspiracy counts of hiding millions of dollars he earned as an unregistered lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians over a decade and attempting to tamper with witnesses. The Post asked Jackson to unseal or unredact records after giving the government 10 days to respond, specifying filings, sentencing memos, hearing transcripts and more than 800 pages of exhibits submitted after the special counsels office alleged in November that Manafort voided his cooperation agreement by lying to prosecutors. Prosecutors at the time said the materials were sealed or blacked out to shield the privacy of uncharged individuals and because of a need to keep secret ongoing criminal investigations, including grand-jury matters. The Post has asked that Jackson require prosecutors to notify the court within seven days once any related pending investigation ends to consider further unsealing of materials, and that prosecutors tell the court every four weeks their justifications for continuing to keep remaining material sealed. Prosecutors in their filing said attorneys for The Post did not oppose the request for an extension beyond the original March 21 deadline. The Post's attorney, Laura Handman of the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm, said the government's filing spoke for itself. A spokesman for the special counsels office declined to comment. The interior of a former Airbnb in Collingswood. The owner of the property, Christina McLean, recently moved out of Collingswood, in part because she was issued a cease-and-desist letter for running an Airbnb. Read more Nearly a year and a half after Collingswood began cracking down on short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway, the South Jersey borough has finally drafted an ordinance aimed at regulating the rental properties. The proposed legislation, which was posted on the boroughs website this month, marks Collingswoods first attempt to legalize short-term rentals since last year, when public outcry emerged after local officials began shutting listings down. In late 2017 and early 2018, Collingswood zoning officials sent at least four cease-and-desist letters to short-term rental hosts, drawing ire from residents who criticized officials quick actions without having a formal policy on the books. Yet Collingswoods draft ordinance which is 15 pages long and includes a lengthy list of requirements has not satisfied many of those residents who favor short-term rentals, either. In the roughly two weeks since Collingswoods three commissioners published the draft for public feedback, some residents have, in interviews and on social media, called it nonsensical and onerous" and criticized the ordinance as being so restrictive that it would make hosting too difficult. Others who object to having short-term rentals in their neighborhood, meanwhile, have praised the boroughs proposal even as other residents have urged for a total ban. The debate that Collingswood is experiencing underscores the difficulty that towns across the country have faced when trying to regulate short-term rentals in the ever-expanding sharing economy. From Santa Monica to Miami, officials have attempted to carve out regulations to scale back home-sharing platforms, only to face resistance from residents who operate them or the companies behind the platforms themselves. Two-square-mile Collingswood, which has a population of roughly 14,000, does not currently face the same issues that major cities such as Paris and New York City have with home-sharing. Many of these larger, denser cities have accused companies, including Airbnb and HomeAway (which owns VRBO), of putting pressure on housing affordability, with New York Citys Controllers office, for example, publishing a report last year asserting that Airbnb caused renters citywide to pay an extra $616 million in total additional rent in 2016. Airbnb, in response, called the report deeply flawed," saying that it wrongly targeted middle-class New Yorkers who share their homes on Airbnb. In small towns such as Collingswood, short-term rentals currently present a far greater threat to quality of life than to housing affordability, according to residents and officials who oppose the idea. Collingswood, though just seven miles from Philadelphias City Hall, is the kind of place where picturesque homes are walking distance from boutiques and galleries, and where residents bump into neighbors on Saturdays at the farmers market. Short-term rentals, critics in Collingswood have said, add uncertainty about who is next door and exacerbate parking problems, and would create public safety concerns if an emergency were to occur. This has been decades of work to make this a place where you would choose to live, said Joan Leonard, one of Collingswoods three borough commissioners. ... I dont want to be a neighborhood of hotels and boarding houses. I think that represents where we used to be, and I dont want it to be our future. Leonard, an elected Collingswood official for two decades, called the boroughs ordinance the most restrictive that we could come up with," while still allowing short-term rentals to operate. The ordinance could potentially be altered before it is formally introduced this spring. No major hotel companies operate inside Collingswood. Currently, Collingswoods draft would restrict home-sharing hosts from renting their properties for more than 24 days a year. Renters would have to stay for a minimum of three days but no more than 14 days. In addition, all short-term rental units would have to be registered with the borough annually, have designated parking, and have hardwired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors if the property were rented while the owner was not home. Before each rental, the property owner would have to inform the fire department of the number of tenants who would be inside, as well as their ages. The name, address, and phone number of the person who rented the property would have to be included. Further, Collingswood residents would be eligible to list their properties on a site such as Airbnb or FlipKey only if the home were a single-family detached dwelling meaning that duplexes or multifamily buildings would be excluded. Homeowners would have to be current on taxes. Each short-term unit would have to be inspected annually by agencies authorized by the borough, with homeowners paying the inspection fee. The ordinance also would give borough officials, accompanied by medical or emergency responders, the right to enter and inspect short-term units between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., with or without notice to the landlord, if officials were notified that the property was in violation. Some Collingswood residents who have operated short-term rentals say the new regulations would put them out of business. All the rules and regulations that they want ... would make it nonsensical for everyone to even do it, said 67-year-old Collingswood resident Suzanne Cloud, who rented her house on Airbnb for 4 years before receiving a cease-and-desist letter in 2017 after a neighbor complained. Limiting the amount of days you can rent to 24 days a year wouldnt help anyone pay their taxes here, Cloud continued. I would be totally disqualified because I dont live in a single-family home I live in a twin. For Cloud, who began renting three rooms in her 1,600-square-foot twin property in 2014 while still living there Airbnb provided an opportunity for extra income and community after her husband died and their sons moved out. She hosted medical students on rotation for a month at a time at Camdens Cooper University Hospital and former residents returning to see friends. Together, it earned her as much as $10,000 a year money she said she used to pay her living expenses. According to June 2018 data provided by Airbnb, Collingswood had 20 Airbnb hosts, who rented to 610 guests, in 2017. The typical Collingswood host made $1,700 a year, Airbnb said, and rented for an average of six nights a month. About a quarter of all hosts were seniors. Airbnb could not provide updated figures. VRBO, one of Airbnbs largest competitors, did not respond to a request for comment. Not all residents have embraced short-term rentals. Collingswood resident Michelle Quigley, in contrast, cautioned local officials and residents to carefully examine the experiences other cities and towns have had once allowing Airbnb-type short-term rentals in their communities. Theres a completely natural and understandable tendency to look at the Airbnb issue in Collingswood in terms of wanting to support our neighbors who are just trying to make ends meet, Quigley said. ... but our commissioners and residents really need to look at the bigger picture. Additional short-term rental units ... create additional safety concerns and workload for fire, police, and administrative personnel: More policing and inspections, more nuisance and parking complaints, more paperwork overall for town administrators," Quigley said. In a statement, an Airbnb spokesperson said the company is deeply concerned" that Collingswoods regulations will not strike a balance that addresses local concerns and protects the rights of local hosts to open their doors to visitors. We have expressed our concerns to Collingswood officials, the statement continued, and provided guidance on regulations that would support their regulatory goals while also supporting hosts. In towns both big and small, Airbnb has successfully lobbied officials to craft regulations. Philadelphia, for example, became the largest U.S. city to legalize Airbnb when it did so in 2015, with legislation that authorizes rentals for up to 180 days a year. Spafford, N.Y., meanwhile, a 1,700-person town near the Finger Lakes, allowed short-term rentals for 120 days annually. Others have tried banning short-term rentals or severely limiting them, only to spend months or even years fighting Airbnb, the $31 billion Silicon Valley giant. Airbnb has sued Boston, Miami Beach, and Santa Monica, Calif., over policies it viewed as too restrictive, with varying degrees of success. Earlier this month, a U.S. court of appeals sided with Santa Monica, which requires that primary residents be present when renting out their homes for fewer than 30 days. For now, Collingswood officials say they are collecting feedback and will formally introduce the ordinance "when we feel we have a workable plan, said Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley, who has been credited for transforming the borough by launching a program that provided residents with resources to convert duplex and triplexes back into single-family homes. Commissioner Rob Lewandowski said the ordinance, after more public input, will likely be introduced in May. The living room of Unit 10 in the condo building at 200 Christian St. in Philadelphia's Queen Village section. The condo is on the market for $575,000. Read more When Anthony Abbonizio bought his Queen Village condo in 2014, he was drawn to three things: high ceilings, lots of sunlight and parking. The Queen Village and Southwark neighborhoods also appealed to him. Its a great, established neighborhood, Abbonizio said. The three-bedroom unit is part of a condo community dating to 1919. Abbonizios unit features three full bathrooms and a powder room. The property includes a parking space in the surface lot attached to the building. Despite the light, parking and optimal location, Abbonizio said, the unit needed a lot of work when he bought it. It was a full gut of the entire house, he said. The new design includes hardwood flooring, a new kitchen with stainless steel appliances, new marble bathrooms throughout, a laundry room with state-of-the-art appliances, and a den that could be converted to a fourth bedroom. Abbonizio said the den, currently being used as a media room, is his favorite part of the home. Now that hes decided to list the unit for sale, he thinks it wont be the only thing luring new buyers to the property. Great neighbors and walk score, he said. Philly Java and Petes Sake Pub are on the corner. Although hes decided to sell the property, he wont be far away. Im downsizing 2,133 square feet is too large, Abbonizio said. Ill probably purchase a one-bedroom 800 square feet in Queen Village. The property is listed with Mike McCann at Keller Williams for $575,000. Starting in 2021, U.S. citizens will need a special authorization -- called ETIAS -- to visit most European nations (the countries in blue). Read more News that U.S. citizens will soon need special authorization to visit most European nations has been met with alarm and confusion. Some of this consternation has resulted from early reports that called the authorization a visa (it is not), incorrect information floating around the internet, and confusion regarding which countries are involved. Here are answers to some common questions, from information currently available on the European Commission website and also from correspondence by email with a commission spokesman. What is new requirement? It is an authorization called an ETIAS, which stands for the European Travel Information and Authorization System. (Both the system and the authorization seem to be called ETIAS pronounced A-tee-as.) Who needs to get it? Initially, citizens of 60 countries, including the United States. When does this go into effect? The target launch date is Jan. 1, 2021. What will it cost me to get an ETIAS? This has not been decided yet. The ETIAS information site says suggestions range between 14 and 60 euros (about $15 to $70). The money will go to the EU budget. What does ETIAS authorize me to do? It authorizes you to enter and to travel in the EU Schengen Area for up to 90 days. What is the Schengen Area? It is a group of 26 European countries that banded together to form one entity for the purposes of passport and border control. Citizens of a Schengen zone country can visit the other countries passport- and visa-free. Is the Schengen area the same as the European Union? Not exactly. It includes EU member countries Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden, as well as nonmember countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, plus the microstates of Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City. Which EU countries are not in the Schengen Agreement? The United Kingdom and Ireland, which have chosen not to be part of the agreement, and Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Cyprus, which are expected to eventually join. How long will my ETIAS be valid? Three years. You can visit Europe for up to 90 days at a time, which is also the maximum in a 180-day period. How do I get an ETIAS authorization? You apply online. You need a valid passport that will not expire within three months of your travel to the EU; if you are staying 90 days, it should be valid for six months. You will also need a credit or debit card and email address. You will have to provide your name, age, gender, nationality, date and place of birth, passport information, address, and contact information and the first Schengen country you plan to visit. (You are not obliged to visit that country first or at all.) You will also have to answer background and security questions. How long will it take to get this authorization? It will take about 20 minutes to fill out the online form and pay. Your application will then be cross-checked against European border security and criminal databases. If there are no problems with your application, you should receive authorization by email within minutes. If there is a problem, you will get an email within 96 hours stating the reasons for refusal and providing instructions for appealing. An appeal should be decided within four weeks. With documentation beyond that email, will I get to prove my ETIAS authorization? You will not receive anything physical because, said a European Commission spokesperson, "the ETIAS is an authorization issued in an IT system." Who will check that I have this authorization? Your ETIAS status will be checked electronically before you board an airline and at borders. The spokesperson said the airline check will usually "be carried out at the check-in time. Air carriers will automatically send a query to ETIAS and will receive, in a matter of seconds, a reply whether the person has or not a valid travel authorization." At Schengen area border crossing points, your ETIAS status will be checked by the European Entry/Exit System (EES), an IT system that is in development. The EES will replace the manual stamping of passports at entries and exits to and from the Schengen area, the spokesperson said. (This will be a disappointment for travelers who take pride in possessing a well-stamped passport.) What about children? Everyone visiting the EU will need ETIAS authorization. Guardians of children under 18 can fill out the forms for them. There is no fee for children under 18 or people older than 70. How does this differ from a visa? A visa is required to remain in a Schengen zone country for more than 90 days. A visa requires much more information than ETIAS, such as including photos, a copy of your itinerary, and proof you can financially support yourself. Visas for the purpose of employment or studying require even more information. How will Brexit affect this? From an American standpoint, not at all. Regardless of whether the United Kingdom stays in the EU, it is not part of ETIAS, so you will not need an ETIAS to visit there. It appears that U.K. residents will have to obtain an ETIAS to visit countries in the Schengen Zone. Will this kill any spur-of-the-moment visits to Schengen countries? It does not have to. The authorization is good for three years. If you have it, you can pounce on a good airfare. The European Union recommends that travelers request an authorization from ETIAS before making concrete travel plans," the spokesperson said. Information: etiasvisa.com National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29 honors the men and women who served and sacrificed during the longest conflict in United States history. It was on March 29, 1973, when combat and combat support units withdrew from South Vietnam. Generations later, Veterans of this time period are gaining the respect that was not so freely given upon their return. Involving five U.S. presidents, crossing nearly two decades and 500,000 U.S. military personnel, it left an indelible mark on the American psyche. Returning Veterans did not always receive respectful welcomes upon their arrive on Am... WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (March 13, 2019)During his address March 12, National Farmers President Paul Olson at National Farmers Convene 19 in West Des Moines, Iowa, he highlighted commodity price volatility, dairy member growth in the Northeast and National Farmers consistent yearly cattle sales increases. Olson compared and contrasted commodity prices during the past eight years, citing challenges posed by volatility, and low dairy and grain commodity prices right now. But prices for cash corn were $5.32 in March 2011, and $24 for milk in June 2014. Further, even with relatively high co... Daniel "JungleMan" Cates Visits Tokyo & Roasts Dan Bilzerian March 20, 2019 Eric Mertens It's been an interesting couple of weeks for Daniel "junglemandan" Cates. The American high roller garnered some attention for a variety of reasons, starting with a prop bet gone awry at Triton Jeju. And while Cates doesn't usually share much in the way of personal adventures or get entangled in twitter battles, last week was an exception as he had time on his hands in Tokyo. High Costs for Side Bet Before his trip to Tokyo, Cates visited Jeju to compete in the Triton Poker Series. During one of the events, Cates got a bit distracted with a side bet idea that affected his play in a pretty significant way. Watch the action unfold below: Well that side bet didn't go according to plan for the @junglemandan ## Come back to the table please Daniel Cate https://t.co/q4TZCXsTUd Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) Following Jeju, Cates took a trip to Tokyo, evidently to sample some food, animals and culture. He shares photos from his trip via Instagram. Roasting Bilzerian While in Tokyo, Cates saw an opportunity to needle Dan Bilzerian on Twitter. @DanBilzerian Wasn't it because of social media that you became famous in the first place? Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) Sarcasm breeds sarcasm, and Sam Panzica added his two cents. @bestindabiz51 @DanBilzerian Lol, not at all... but he is exceptional in other ways Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) Bilzerian returned fire and Cates ended things on an agreeable note, albeit a sardonic one. @DanBilzerian @bestindabiz51 Doubt there are many at all who are winning more at poker or at life than you (including myself) really Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) 948 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who was fired by the president in 2017, revealed on Tuesday that he considered secretly recording a conversation with Donald Trump. In an interview with MSNBCs Ari Melber, Bharara said he didnt trust the president and, when Trump broke protocol and sought to speak with him on the phone, the former U.S. attorney thought of taping the discussion to protect himself. I wanted to make sure, because I had a certain amount of mistrust. It was an odd phone call to be making, it would be my word against him if he decides to say something inappropriate, he said. Video: Preet Bharara says he understands why Rod Rosenstein and others considered recording their conversations with Donald Trump. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/X3ajNb7fMC PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 19, 2019 Bharara said: In that moment we actually considered and it sounds not as crazy as it did back then becuase now we know about Michael Cohen recording the president and Omarosa recording the president. We considered taping the president in that phone call because I wanted to make sure because I had a certain amount of mistrust it was an odd phone call to be making. It would be my word against his, if he decides to say something inappropriate. Thats why this whole debate about whether Rod Rosenstein was joking when he said Ill wire up against the president or not sort of rung in my ear a little bit. I tend to believe that he was not joking. Because theres been a certain kind of conduct that happens. And when youre used to seeing someone tell untruths about what happens in a conversation and you care about your own integrity, I didnt want anybody to say you had some side conversation with the president of the United States. So, we didnt do that ultimately. We thought that was a bridge too far. We talked about it. The Southern District of New York is becoming Trumps worst nightmare While Preet Bharara never returned the presidents call, he is still at a loss about why Trump called him, according to The Guardian. Of course, given what we now know about whats happening in the Southern District of New York, its no surprise that Trump wanted to bring Bharara under his wing. As PoliticusUSAs Jason Easley noted earlier on Tuesday, both Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are now under criminal investigation in New York. The question of whether or not the SDNY will try to indict Trump while he is in office is back on the table, Easley wrote. There is nothing stopping prosecutors from indicting Donald Trump Jr. Investigators in New York continue to investigate potentially criminal behavior related to Trumps businesses, his campaign, his foundation and his inaugural committee. Ultimately, the more we learn about the ongoing investigations, the less surprising it is that Trump was trying to put the former SDNY attorney on a leash. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter 1.1k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the U.S. governments authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime potentially even years after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing President Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies. The court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could place such immigrants into indefinite detention anytime without the possibility of bail, not just immediately after they finish prison sentences. The ruling, authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, left open the possibility that some immigrants could challenge their detention. These immigrants potentially could argue that the use of the 1996 federal law involved in the case, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, against them long after finishing their sentences would violate their due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. Most of the plaintiffs in the case are legal immigrants. The law states the government can detain convicted immigrants when the alien is released from criminal detention. Civil rights lawyers in the case argued that the language of the law shows that it applies only immediately after immigrants are released. The Trump administration said the government should have the power to detain such immigrants anytime. In dissent, liberal Justice Stephen Breyer said the ruling raises serious due process questions. It runs the gravest risk of depriving those whom the government has detained of one of the oldest and most important of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, Breyer wrote. But Alito wrote that it is not the courts job to impose a time limit for when immigrants can be detained after serving a prison sentence. Alito noted that the court has previously said that an officials crucial duties are better carried out late than never. Alito said the challengers assertion that immigrants had to be detained within 24 hours of ending a prison sentence is especially hard to swallow. It marked Trumps latest immigration victory at the court. The conservative justices also were in the majority in June 2018 when the court upheld on a 5-4 vote Trumps travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority countries. Tuesdays decision follows a February 2018 ruling in a similar case in which the conservative majority, over liberal dissent, curbed the ability of immigrants held in long-term detention during deportation proceedings to argue for release. MOST EXTREME INTERPRETATION American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Cecilia Wang, who argued the newly decided case for the challengers, said that in both rulings the Supreme Court has endorsed the most extreme interpretation of immigration detention statutes, allowing mass incarceration of people without any hearing, simply because they are defending themselves against a deportation charge. Wang said the ACLU is looking into follow-up litigation along various avenues. Trump has backed limits on legal and illegal immigrants since taking office in January 2017. Kerri Kupec, a U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman, said administration officials were pleased with the ruling. The cases plaintiffs included two legal U.S. residents involved in separate lawsuits filed in 2013, a Cambodian immigrant named Mony Preap convicted of marijuana possession and a Palestinian immigrant named Bassam Yusuf Khoury convicted of attempting to manufacture a controlled substance. In the two detention case rulings, the Supreme Court reversed the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a liberal leaning court with jurisdiction over a large part of the western United States that Trump has frequently criticized. In both cases, litigation against the federal government started before Trump took office. In the latest case, the administration had appealed a 2016 9th Circuit ruling that favored immigrants, a decision it said would undermine the governments ability to deport immigrants who have committed crimes. The 9th Circuit had ruled that convicted immigrants who are not immediately detained by immigration authorities after finishing their sentences but then later picked up by immigration authorities could seek bond hearings to argue for their release. Other regional federal appeals courts that have addressed the issue did not rule the same way as the 9th Circuit and were more in line with the Supreme Courts ruling. That means immigrants in those regions who were subject to mandatory detention already were not entitled to bond hearings. Under federal immigration law, immigrants convicted of certain offenses are subject to mandatory detention during their deportation process. They can be held indefinitely without a bond hearing after completing their sentences. In April 2018, conservative Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch joined the courts four liberals in a 5-4 ruling that could hinder the administrations ability to step up the removal of immigrants with criminal records, invalidating a provision in another law, the Immigration and Nationality Act. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Will Dunham) 980 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Donald Trump has been attacking Bob Muellers special counsel investigation for nearly two years, calling it a witch hunt and a hoax. But according to the Associated Press, he may try to claim victory and upend Robert Muellers report no matter what it says. Mueller may issue a report any day now, and as we wait the president and his Republican allies are saying that they expect it to show no clear evidence of Trump wrongdoing. They continue to maintain that the Trump campaign did not conspire (or collude) with Russia during the 2016 campaign which gave Trump a surprising victory. Trump and his GOP congressional allies seem strangely confident that he will be exonerated despite Muellers findings. In fact, they are now saying that the Muller report will be used for Trumps political advantage. The AP reported: One scenario would have seemed downright implausible until recently. The president will take the findings and run on them, rather than against them, by painting the special counsel as an example of failed government overreach and Trump himself as the victim who managed to prove his innocence. Muellers investigation is clearly not a witch hunt in that it has so far led to the indictments of 34 people, including six Trump associates. The special counsel has issued lengthy indictments and other court documents which have described a massive campaign by Russia to interfere in the U.S. presidential election on behalf of the president. And there is evidence that the former reality TV star and his family and associates were eager to take advantage of Russias help. Trump, however, continues to assert that the Mueller probe is an effort to undermine him by his deep state political enemies in the federal government and the Democratic Party. And his defenders in the GOP and right-wing media plan to exploit weaknesses in the Mueller report to claim the president is innocent of all charges of collusion or conspiracy. Newt Gingrich, a strong Trump supporter, explained: Trump can say, here is the report, I didnt fire Mueller, I didnt interfere with him. If you want to keep investigating me, it just shows that it is purely partisan. Trump and His Allies Will Try to Weaponize the Mueller Report Trump has reportedly told his inner circle of advisers that he will use Twitter to gloat if Mueller cannot directly tie him to a Russia conspiracy. He has been setting the stage for nearly two years by claiming dozens of times there was no collusion. According to the AP, Trumps own advisers and consultants will work with pro-Trump political groups and conservative media such as Fox News to portray the Mueller investigation as a failed attempt at a coup. Trump and his surrogates will then apparently attempt to connect the Mueller report to the various investigations being conducted by Democrats in the House. They hope this will turn independents and conservative-leaning Democrats against those probes and give Trump a political advantage. They think that voters who voted for him in the last election but have become disillusioned since then may return to the fold if convinced he has been unfairly targeted according to the AP. The Evidence Will Prove Trumps Crimes Donald Trump and his allies are living in a fantasy world in which Trump never did anything wrong and he will be completely exonerated. But soon they will all have to face up to the reality of evidence that will be released by Bob Mueller and other federal prosecutors. And this evidence will show that Donald Trump is a criminal and an illegitimate president. 364 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig said on CNN this morning that the statement by Robert Mueller that he is too busy to comply with a request to unseal redacted documents has revealed something big is in the works at the special counsels office. Special Counsel Robert Mueller included a mysterious note in a court filing Tuesday that suggested his team of world-class prosecutors is working on a major project that will soon end. The filing came in response to a request from the Washington Post to unseal the redacted records in Muellers case against Paul Manafort. The former Trump campaign chairman was sentenced to over seven years in prison for crimes uncovered in the special counsel probe. Mueller was supposed to respond to this legal motion by tomorrow. Instead, Mueller requested in yesterdays filing that the deadline be extended to April 1. He added that attorneys for the Post did not objected to the delay. So Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted the request. What caught peoples attention is that Mueller said members of his team who would respond to the Posts request face the press of other work and require additional time to consult within the government. On CNN, Honig explained how very surprising it is to see Muellers team argue that it faces the press of other work and requires additional time to consult within the government before unsealing the documents. When I was raised as a prosecutor, we were raised with the mantra, The government is always ready, Honig said. So even if a judge said to you, Youre starting trial Monday, and you knew in your head theres no way I can do it, youd always say, The government is always ready. So it is very rare to say we cant get it done in time. Honig then speculated on the potential significance of what Mueller could be working on that is taking up so much time, saying: It could be a report, it could be more charges. I still think there are other people, other shoes yet to drop, so they could be getting ready for that. What is keeping Muellers team so busy? Muellers filing is highly unusual. It is a clear indication that something big is coming, and there are other shoes yet to drop. But what are those shoes? There are two likely possibilities: They might be ready to issue more indictments, or They could be working on the final Mueller report . There has been extensive speculation for months about both of these topics. In fact, both could be true. And both could require additional time to consult within the government. We have been waiting a long time for indictments to be issued against such likely suspects as Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner. Does Muellers request for a delay mean that he is finally ready to unseal indictments against the presidents own family? Its very possible. It also may be that they are finishing a report from the special counsel that will be released by the end of March, and they need to consult with Attorney General William Barr once it is finished. Nobody knows for sure what is going on, but we can be sure that Mueller and his team are busy doing something important, and when we find out what it is there will be shock waves felt all throughout Washington, D.C. and the entire world. CLICK HERE to watch the Honig interview on CNN 4.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Trump is enriching himself off of the presidency in multiple ways including taking millions of dollars of donor money and putting it into his pocket. Forbes reported, Donald Trump has charged his own reelection campaign $1.3 million for rent, food, lodging, and other expenses since taking office, according to a Forbes analysis of the latest campaign filings. And although outsiders have contributed more than $50 million to the campaign, the billionaire president hasnt handed over any of his own cash. The net effect: $1.3 million of donor money has turned into $1.3 million of Trump money. In December, Forbes reported on the first $1.1 million that President Trump moved from his campaign into his business. Since then, his campaign filed additional documentation showing that it spent another $180,000 at Trump-owned properties in the final three months of 2018. Trump and his kids have been running a number of scams. From skimming and overcharging during the inauguration to Trumps DC hotel which serves as the mechanism for foreign governments to bribe and buy access to the president, the Trump family is engaging in numerous corrupt ventures that are all designed to use the presidency to make money. Donald Trump is taking money that his supporters are sending him to build the wall, or whatever the latest fundraising email suggests is the cause of the day, and putting it in his own pocket. For Trump, the presidency isnt about governing. This president doesnt care about passing laws or improving the lives of citizens. Trump is in office for the money, and he cares about is abusing his office to make a buck. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook Charleston, SC (29403) Today Mostly cloudy skies. High 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 56F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations. The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication. Political Reporter Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work. Assistant Columbia bureau chief Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill. Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach. RED WING U.S. Rep. Angie Craig brought her "boss" to rural Goodhue County on Friday to answer questions from farmers about the Farm Bill, trade agreements and the outlook for agriculture policy in Washington, D.C. Craigs "boss" is Rep. Collin Peterson, the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, who represents Minnesotas 7th District. A freshman in the House, Craig serves on the Agriculture Committee as well. "Wed like it if they put their differences aside and got something done," said farmer Brad Hovel of the partisan bickering in Washington. Hovel is a member of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association board who farms near Cannon Falls. Hovel implored both members of Congress to get the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade treaty, the replacement to NAFTA, finalized. "I think itll get done," said Peterson. "What I told the administration is just dont screw up what we have with NAFTA. And they didnt screw it up." Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, had another priority for the representatives: Finish the Farm Bill. Peterson offered a response when asked about the Farm Bill as well, pointing out that the Farm Bill has real solutions for dairy farmers in the form of commodity price support. "The best part of this Farm Bill is the dairy provisions by far," Peterson said. "But Im worried people are going to give up before this gets in place." The bill supports a minimum milk price of $18 to $18.50 depending on feed costs, he said, covering a farmers first 5 million pounds of milk, or roughly the output of 220 cows. Best of all, the price support is retroactive to Jan. 1, so if the bill isnt finalized until June which Peterson gave as his best guess the price support will cover the whole year. "This is what we need to save the small dairy farms," he said. Peterson said theres a changing nature to how members of Congress view the Agriculture Committee, especially the subcommittees. Today, theres more interest in the horticulture, organic and local food subcommittee than the subcommittee dealing with crop insurance. "There are fewer and fewer of us who represent farm districts," he said, adding that the number of Democrats from farm districts in the heartland is dwindling. Both Craig and Peterson discussed the health care system, with the pair advocating for transparency on pricing for services. Both praised the Veterans Administration health care system as the best in the country. Craig added that a big cost saver, which would impact so many farmers who use the system, would be allowing Medicare to negotiate its drug prices. Another question from the crowd of about 50 farmers and farm advocates dealt with providing crop insurance for niche crops. "You cant subsidize everything," Peterson said. "The difference between corn and soybeans and some of these other crops is they rot, and corn and soybeans dont." Peterson added there were programs in place to help support niche agriculture, including programs to help market the goods from value-added programs. Another person asked if there would be any updates to the H2A visa program that brings farm labor from overseas and across the border. "No one wants to do the ag-labor jobs," asked a man who said he worked in the apple industry. "What can you give us that we can have a stable workforce?" Peterson said a big sticking point in Washington is the idea that the migrant laborers want to use the program to become citizens. "Most of these folks working in dairy farms, working in fruits and vegetables they dont want to be citizens. Instead, he said, most migrant workers want to be able to come to work, send money home to Mexico, go home at Christmas or if someone is getting married, and "not have to worry about going to jail if they come back." Craig said the issue is part of the rabid partisanship infecting Congress. "The worst thing in the world is to have your crops, have your apples out there, and no one to pull them off," Craig said. "Youve got to have the labor to do the work." Dave Preisler from the Minnesota Pork Board said while finishing and fixing trade agreements is a priority, he is concerned about foreign pork coming to America and bringing disease with it. He complimented efforts to keep pork from China that is tainted with swine fever out of the U.S. marketplace. Preisler also addressed the labor issue, saying farmers are facing a labor shortage right now. "We have record-low unemployment," Preisler said. "Id like to see some sort of guest worker visa program and include people for year-round work." But you havent indulged in beer until youve indulged in beer: a 98-degree bath filled with hops, yeast, herbs and, yes, beer. The beer soak, as it is called at Piva Beer Spa, is a transcendental moment in a day of beer-fueled relaxation. It dazzles every sense: the warmth of the water, the wafting herbal-floral aroma, the cool 16 ounces of Pilsner Urquell sitting at your side, providing a refreshing counterpoint to the soak. Piva Beer Spa "piva" means beer in many Slavic languages offers an array of treatments, from facials to massage to a salt chamber meant to vitalize the respiratory system. But the highlight is undoubtedly the beer soak. It happens in one of eight larch wood tubs in the basement of the spa that opened late last year in Noble Square. The soak is included in four different packages, available for singles and couples, ranging in price from $155 to $550. Its from Europe Father-and-son founders Edin and Dino Sarancic launched Piva Beer Spa based simply on what they perceived as a hole in the market for a concept not uncommon in Europe. A handful of American spas claim to do beer treatments, usually invoking beer as an ingredient in a scrub or a facial. Piva is one of the few to go all in, just as youd find in, say, Prague. Beer purportedly lends hydration and acts as an antioxidant for skin and hair. But mostly, its a novel getaway in the middle of Chicago. I booked a platinum package at Piva Beer Spa one chilly Monday afternoon. It was supposed to last three hours and 15 minutes but stretched closer to four hours (at no extra charge). Dino Sarancic, burly and with a shaved head, greeted me from behind the counter as sounds of plucked acoustic guitar filled the spa. Its not a large space, but enough has been squeezed in for a getaway: a gleaming new steam room, a handsome sauna, a couple of rooms for massage, four soaking rooms (two tubs in each) and small changing rooms. Sarancic pointed to a sliding wood door. Behind it, he said, I would begin my day in the halotherapy room. He slid the door open to reveal a long narrow room, all white, but tinged violet from lights in the ceiling. A handful of reclining chairs were lined up on top of a couple inches of salt spread across the floor. A machine on the wall pumped light, salty mist into the air. After a quick change from street clothes into Pivas spa gear a blue cotton waffle robe and plastic shower shoes it was off to that salt chamber for 45 minutes. My busy 21st-century brain defaulted to the obvious question: Should I bring my phone? What will I do for 45 minutes if not checking Twitter?! I resisted the impulse. (Sarancic said many people dont resist, and he doesnt judge. "Its whatever you want to do," he said.) Beer in balance The salt room was warm and comforting and only modestly salty. As I reclined in the violet haze, I could feel a light saltiness on my lips. The most memorable sensation was squishing my feet in the salt spilled across the floor like sand, but cleaner and finer. I closed my eyes and nearly dozed off amid the gentle hum of the salt machine. I didnt miss my phone for a moment. Next was the steam room for 15 minutes. Then the sauna for another 15. Then the highlight: the beer soak. Piva Beer Spa doesnt say exactly how much beer is mixed into the tub a six-pack? 12-pack? A case? but Sarancic pegs it as "about 15 to 20 percent" of the warm mixture. So, no, its not a pure beer bath. "Its a fine balance between having the hydrating and antioxidant component, but not enough to make people feel sticky and nasty when they leave here," Sarancic said. The beer? That he will reveal. Although father and son investigated partnering with a brewery from Chicagos booming craft beer industry, they wound up aiming to replicate the Czech experience by employing that countrys most famous export: Pilsner Urquell. The spa technician led me to the lower level, where the CTAs Blue Line rumbled by every 10 or so minutes on the other side of the wall a reminder that the city continued to stir. The soaking tub waited on the other side of the wood door, filled with gray-green water where hops floated on the surface. Beside the tub was a plate of nibbles: apple slices, two kinds of cheese (asiago and brie), dark rye bread and green olives. It was a delightful surprise, but the most delightful surprise of all was that glass of Pilsner Urquell, in a wood mug imported from Europe. I slid in and deeply inhaled the herbal-floral mix. Then sipped the beer and nibbled the cheese. And repeat. The 45 minutes ended far too soon. Next it was back upstairs for the relaxation room and application of a beer mask. The bed, oddly enough, was a wooden slat covered in hay similar to what youd find in Eastern Europe, Dino Sarancic said. It was blissfully comfortable rustic, yet cozy. The spa technician covered my eyes and began dabbing a paste on my face made in the Czech Republic that, sure enough, features beer in the mix. Finally came the full body massage. Warm and woozy It was Edin Sarancic who had the idea to create a beer spa in Chicago after experiencing one in Prague. Father and son spent three years creating it, during which it seemed all the more appropriate as Chicago grew into one of the nations brewing capitals. "That was kind of a plus and a validation for us," Dino Sarancic said. After nearly four hours at Piva Beer Spa, I had no idea how much of a difference the beer made in the experience: the soak, the mask, the 16 ounces. But I left with unmistakable satisfaction warm, loose and a touch woozy and quite pleased to be at that warm intersection of deep-muscle relaxation and beer. Piva Beer Spa, 1052 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-570-9280. Packages, available for singles and couples, range in price from $155 to $550. Salt room ($35 for 45 minutes or available cheaper as part of multi-session packages) and massage (ranging between $45 and $120, depending on length) are available a la carte. INSIGHTS Why is it that we Americans seem to need a war to be happy? Its not that we start the wars exactly, but we embrace them with a strange fervor Read more UPPER POTTSGROVE Non-uniformed employees of the township will more than $1,700 each year for their pension benefits as the result of a split vote by the township commissioners Monday night. The board voted 3-2 to increase the contribution which had stood at 2 percent. Police employees pay 5 percent of their salary, the maximum allowed by the state. There are eight non-uniformed employees and nine police (uniformed) employees in the plans, according to a worksheet prepared by Commissioner Elwood Taylor and provided to The Mercury. The approved motion will increase the non-uniformed employee contribution by one percentage point a quarter until it is at 5 percent as well by the end of the year. The motion, which was opposed by Taylor and Commissioner Martin Schreiber, was supported by Commissioners Chairman Trace Slinkerd, Vice Chairman France Krazalkovich and Commissioner Renee Spaide. Krazalkovich said the combined uniformed and non-uniformed pension plans have $1.2 less than they should to be fully funded. According to Taylors worksheet, the pension has 3,414,684 in assets but $4,621,462 in liabilities. Taylor pointed out that increasing the contribution for non-uniformed employees will not come anywhere close to closing that gap, a fact Slinkerd acknowledged. According to Taylors worksheet, the increase imposed on the non-uniformed employees will only add $14,238 to the pension fund, far short of the shortfall. But it will cost each non-uniformed employee an additional $1,780 this year, a 150 percent increase for them, while the township will contribute no additional money. It is money which they will get back, as Slinkerd pointed out, but not for dozens of years, Taylor replied, and all to make a drop in the bucket to a much bigger problem. He calculated the increased cost to the non-uniformed employees will bring the combined pension fund from 73.9 percent funded to 74.2 percent funded. Further, said Taylor, the townships contribution to the police pension fund dwarfs its contribution to the non-uniformed employee pensions, whose 2 percent contribution was until last night matched by a 2 percent contribution by the township. For non-uniformed employees, they paid $1,186 at 2 percent and will pay $2,966 as a result of the vote, while the township contribution stays as $1,106. For the police, on the other hand, the employees pay 5 percent and the township contributes 18 percent. That means each police officer contributes $3,713 each year and the township contributes $13,605 for each officer each year. Additionally, police can start collecting their pension at 55 whereas the non-uniformed employees must wait until they are 65, Taylor pointed out. More befuddling is it was not entirely evident that the board has a grasp of the full scope of the problem, or of its ultimate cause. Figures from the previous year showed the pension plan had a surplus. The plan is being audited and Krazalkovich said the township has put out requests for a new fund manager. It is a solution, by the way, that it is not clear the townships pension committee comprised of two township appointees and one pension plan member recommended or is even aware of. According to the Upper Pottsgrove Township Code: The general administration and management of the plan shall be under the direction of a Pension Committee, as appointed by the Township Board of Commissioners. The Committee shall consist of two duly appointed Township representatives and one pension plan member. However any decisions of the committee are subject to approval by the board of commissioners. Schreiber made a motion to table to the vote to find out the pension committees position on the matter, and Taylor seconded it, but it was defeated by the same 3-2 split. And when Taylor asked if the pension committee had made a recommendation for the motion, Slinkerd looked at him, blinked, and turned his head and asked if there were any other questions. Then they voted. In an email reply to a Mercury question, Township Manager Michelle Reddick said the pension committee includes Officer James Crawford, Siobhan Klinger and myself as Township Manager. Our last meeting was held on January 15, 2019. We do not have minutes from that meeting as we are not required to keep minutes of those meetings. We do not have another meeting scheduled as the Pension Committee typically meets on an annual basis. Asked if the pension committee was aware of the increased contributions for non-uniformed employees, or had made a recommendation, Reddick replied I do not recall whether the increase in pension contributions for non-uniformed employees was discussed at that meeting. POTTSTOWN When it comes to making a difference in peoples lives, the Montgomery County Public Defenders Office sure spends a lot of time in Pottstown. Officials were in town again Wednesday to present the Herbert Morris Making the Difference Award to the YWCA TriCounty Area. The award is named after Herbert Morris, who worked for the Montgomery County Community Action Development Commission and set up a program for fathers who are in prison called the Fatherhood Initiative. The Fatherhood Initiative taught incarcerated fathers how to be better role models, and better husbands, said Dean Beers, chief of the Montgomery County Public Defenders Office. And it was a program Morris continued to foster even after he retired, in fact, until he passed away from cancer a few years ago. So when the Public Defenders Office decided to create the award, they named it after him and perhaps it was no surprise that the first award went to CADCOM, said Beers. But the other two have both been awarded in Pottstown; last year to Pressly Day, who set up a program that helped family and friends help those accused in criminal cases. The program was called Participatory Defense Hubs and Day was on hand Wednesday when the third award was presented again in Pottstown to the YWCA. According to Beers, the Public Defenders Office is expanding to be more of a proactive force in the community and fostering partnerships with community organizations. The child development work the YWCA s doing almost by itself is enough to warrant this award. If we truly want to eliminate the schools-to-prison pipeline, this is where we start said Beer. That is just a start considering the help the YWCA provides with housing, job training, nutrition and other services. The work you do here is monumental, youre changing the world, Beer said. This award is really for all the staff, all of the team that does the work and helps to foster peace, justice and dignity for all, said YWCA TriCounty Area CEO Stacey Woodland. Todays Washington Post includes a story about a meeting among Muslim and Jewish Democratic members of Congress that took place on March 5. The story got a lot of play, but it included an extraordinary erroran error that was mostly covered up, rather than revealed, by the correction the Post subsequently ran: CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story did not make Rep. Rashida Tlaibs position on Israel clear. The story has been updated to explain that she is critical of the Israeli governments treatment of the Palestinians. Rashida Tlaib is the newly-elected Michigan Congresswoman who is, among other faults, viciously anti-Israel. But the Posts correction didnt explain what, exactly, was wrong with the original story. That was left to Omri Ceren, and to a commenter who who published a screen shot of the original article on Twitter: The Washington Post, in a double bylined article that would've also been touched by at least one editor, just floated that Israel is "a Jewish-only state" https://t.co/4maEUuNwx1 Omri Ceren (@omriceren) March 18, 2019 Here is the commenters screen shot of the original WaPo story: Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East is well aware that Israel is not a Jewish-only state. Arabs not only live in Israel, but play a prominent role in Israeli political life. For a long time, Israel was the only place in the world where Arabs could vote. Now it is Israel and Iraq. It doesnt really matter whether Tlaib or the Washington Post reporters (there were two on the story) originally came up with the description of Israel as a Jewish-only state. The Post printed that characterization as though it were a fact rather than a ridiculous lie. And the Posts correction papered over, rather than acknowledging, the reporters and editors ignorant error. Its just another day in the world of media bias, i.e., the world we all live in. It is reasonable to estimate that more than 99% of the presss mischaracterizations of current eventssome subtle, many notgo unacknowledged and uncorrected. Fox News has added Donna Brazile, former interim chair of the DNC, as a commentator. It has also appointed Former House Speaker Paul Ryan to the board of Fox Corp., the newly formed parent company of Fox News. Ive always kind of liked Brazile, and her commentary is likely to be worthwhile (she actually is a Democratic strategist), at least by the standards of news channel talking heads. However, when she was working for CNN, Brazile tipped off Hillary Clinton as to the questions she likely would be asked during debates and town hall meetings carried by that network. CNN fired her for this offense. Fox News probably doesnt have to worry about Brazile reprising that role in this cycle. The Democrats wont allow Fox to host its debates and town halls. Nonetheless, I believe Braziles ethical breach should have disqualified her from commenting on the presidential race for Fox News, just as it caused CNN to fire her. The knee-jerk liberal reaction to Ryans appointment to the Fox Corp. board is that it formalizes the merger of Fox News and the Republican party. However, Ryans selection is probably less than palatable to President Trump and his hard core supporters. For better or for worse, Fox News is the gatekeeper of conservative thought for millions of Americans. Thus, its a matter of great moment whether the network is dominated by establishment types or by Trumpians. At this juncture, Ryan is a quintessential establishment Republican and, though he often worked with Trump as Speaker, I dont think hes a fan of the president or of the populist wing of the GOP. Well see whether, from his position on the board, he will want to change the political bent of the commentary on Foz News and, if so, whether hell be able to. STEVE adds: I met Donna Brazile once in a TV green roomI think at CNNabout ten years back, and we ended up having a long conversation that extended out onto the sidewalk outside the studio after our respective segments (we werent on the same show) were over. I found her perfectly pleasant, and we had what can only be described as a delightful argument, which is very different from a typical experience before, during, or after most cable news shows. I am glad Fox is picking her up. Sure, shes a partisan liberal Democrat, but I think she shoots straight most of the time, and as such will most likely give us some original and honest opinions and not just DNC talking points. Scott has encouraged me to weigh in on the lawsuit Rep. Devin Nunes filed against Twitter and Liz Mair. Before doing so, I should say that Im not an expert in defamation law. I did defend a few cases that alleged defamation, but this was in the pre-social media age, and the defenses we raised dont intersect with most of the defenses applicable in Nunes case. Turning now to that case, I agree with Scott that Nunes claims against Twitter seem highly problematic. The Communications Decency Act of 1995 appears to protect Twitter from suits over information published on its platform by another content provider. Indeed, as a matter of public policy, I dont believe Twitter should be required to investigate every tweet to determine whether its true. As for the shadow-banning of Nunes, this is, in effect, a statement by Twitter that at least some of Nunes content doesnt meet community standards. But that statement is too subjective to constitute defamation, in my view. Nunes case against Mair is also problematic. After Nunes tweeted that nothing surprises him anymore, Mair responded: To be fair, I think the @fresnobee writing up your investment in a winery that allegedly used underage hookers to solicit investment an allegation youve known about for years, during which youve stayed invested in it, I might add did surprise you. Stating that Nunes is invested in a winery he knows uses underage hookers would be defamatory, I think. But Mair didnt tweet that. She tweeted that Nunes is invested in a winery that allegedly used such hookers and that he knows of this allegation. Im not sure thats defamatory. In any event, Nunes is a public figure. Thus, he must show that Mair tweeted with actual malice i.e., that she knew the statement was false or had a reckless disregard for its truthfulness. Mair seems to have been relying on a story in the Fresno Bee, and she was careful to note that the use of underage hookers was only an allegation. It seems unlikely, therefore, that Nunes can prove actual malice. However, some of the statements by other Twitter users Devin Nunes cow and Devin Nunes Mom may be actionable. Many of the statements cited in the complaint might pass as statements of opinion or as satire. But some of the statements at page 16 of the Complaint might not. For example, Devin Nunes Mom accused Nunes of putting up a Fake News MAGA sign outside a Texas Holocaust museum. This statement, unless true, arguably casts Nunes in a false light and might be actionable on that basis. The fact that Nunes is a public figure might not matter. Unless the publisher of this accusation can point to a good faith basis for believing that Nunes put up the Fake News MAGA sign outside the Holocaust museum, a jury could, I think infer actual malice here. Other vile accusations against Nunes by the same publisher, whether actionable in themselves or not, would be further evidence from which malice could be inferred. Im not sure how much loss of reputation Nunes suffered as a result of allegations like the one discussed above by ridiculous publishers with ridiculous Twitter handles, but its possible that he suffered some. Moreover, Nunes sues not only for defamation, but also for insulting words, under a Virginia Code section with which Im not familiar. Thus, even in the absence of damage to reputation, Nunes may be able to recover damages for mental suffering. Like Scott, Im sympathetic to Nunes. The attacks against him by Devin Nunes Mom and Devin Nunes Cow are disgusting. Twitters shadow-banning of Nunes, if thats what happened, is abusive. Whether any of this gives rise to a one or more sustainable cause of action is a different question. The answer remains to be seen. Liberals apparently chose the polar bear as a poster child for global warming because the bears are considered cute, although no one who had a close encounter with a polar bear would describe it that way. Why global warming would be harmful to polar bears was never persuasively explained, nor was there any explanation of how the bears had survived many climatic changes over hundreds of thousands of years. In any event, its time to call the whole thing off. Polar bears are thriving: Polar bear numbers could easily exceed 40,000, up from a low point of 10,000 or fewer in the 1960s. In The Polar Bear Catastrophe that Never Happened, a book published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Dr Susan Crockford uses the latest data as well as revisiting some of the absurd values used in official estimates, and concludes that polar bears are actually thriving: My scientific estimates make perfect sense and they tally with what the Inuit and other Arctic residents are seeing on the ground. Almost everywhere polar bears come into contact with people, they are much more common than they used to be. Its a wonderful conservation success story. Of course, success stories are the last things liberals want to hear, unless they relate to Cuba or Venezuela. Dr. Crockford, like others who blow the whistle on liberal hoaxes, has been viciously smeared. Crockford also describes how, despite the good news, polar bear specialists have consistently tried to low-ball polar bear population figures. They have also engaged in a relentless smear campaign in an attempt to silence her in order to protect the story of a polar bear catastrophe, and the funding that comes with it. *** For the first time, youll see [in Crockfords book] a frank and detailed account of attempts by scientists to conceal population growth as numbers rose from an historical low in the 1960s to the astonishing highs that surely must exist after almost 50 years of protection from overhunting. There is also a blunt account of what truly abundant populations of bears mean for the millions of people who live and work in areas of the Arctic inhabited by polar bears. You can buy the book at Amazon. The Washington Post reports that a Bernie Sanders rally held in the gym of a black church in North Charleston, South Carolina drew more than 1,600 people. Fewer than 40 were black. Sanders has a problem with black voters, especially in the South. As one South Carolina Democratic leader, a Sanders supporter, said: Its not just that hes a Yankee. Its not just that hes old and that he sounds like a professor. Its all of those things. Its more. Sanders is uncomfortable with identity politics. He preaches socialism. Ive seen no evidence that socialism holds any special attraction for blacks, as compared to white Democrats. A great many, I assume, are impressed with capitalism and just want to make out better under it. Elizabeth Warren also has a problem with African-Americans. The same Post article describes an event in Greenville, South Carolina held at a politically active church. More than 800 people attended, but only about a dozen black faces were visible. Unlike Sanders, Warren is fine with identity politics. Indeed, shes a practitioner of it. But her attempt to prove her status as part-Indian made her a laughingstock. I doubt many blacks were impressed. Moreover, Warren, like Sanders, is old and sounds like a professor. In fact, she was one not all that long ago. Its difficult to see either Sanders or Warren competing successfully for black votes against a riveting African-American stump-speaker like Cory Booker, or even the less than riveting Kamala Harris. And if Joe Biden enters the race, he should do best among black voters willing to back a white contender, given his connection with former President Obama. For me, the interesting question is how Sanders or Warren would fare with black voters in the general election, should they make it that far. Would either approach Obamas performance with this group or would they more or less replicate Hillary Clintons less impressive showing? My sense, for what its worth, is that if the economy holds up, President Trump will capture a significantly larger percentage of the black vote than he did in 2016. On the other hand, black turnout might well be significantly higher than that year, even if Democrats nominate Sanders or Warren. But it might be higher still if they dont nominate either of these two. Did you know there are more white students than black students at highly competitive Stuyvesant High School in New York? Admission is color-blind and depends on taking a test. But New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman isnt fooled; she explains that it is nevertheless a case of white supremacy. White students generally have more means with which to prep for this test, some doing it for years. Yes its a test, no it is not an equal playing field. https://t.co/2s0TwkKwHV Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 19, 2019 But, as Steve Sailer points out, Ms. Haberman is missing most of the picture: The New York Times main White House correspondent explains that the poor representation of blacks (1%) at Stuyvesant HS in NYC is due to whites (18%) having White Privilege. Granted, Asians make up 74% of the Stuyvesant student body, but NYT reporters dont possess concepts like Asian Supremacy, so who can remember random numbers like that? Why is there no such concept as Asian Supremacy, given that Asian-American incomes substantially outpace white incomes? There is no possible explanation for such a disparity other than discrimination or privilege, right? Last time I checked the Census Bureaus numbers, whites were, as an ethnic group, somewhere around number 20 in median household income. Iranian-Americans earn, on the average, considerably more. And the income gap between Jews and Gentiles is wider than the gap between whites and blacks. More privilege at work, no doubt. It must be tough to be an aging left-wing reporter whose world-view has fallen hopelessly behind the times. PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:22:35 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1007 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Alchemist Mining Inc. (CSE: AMS) ("AMS" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release dated September 25, 2018, it has entered into an asset purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire (the "Acquisition") the Oddysee Software Platform ("Oddysee") from Green Rush Consulting LLC ("Green Rush").About OddyseeOddysee is a software-as-a-service platform focused on the automation of city and state cannabis license applications. Oddysee also assists with investor qualification and vetting for its clients' cannabis business ventures. Oddysee's core team is a group of experienced industry professionals based in Oakland, CA with a successful track record of helping entrepreneurs obtain cannabis business licenses throughout the United States since 2011. It is expected that the Oddysee software platform will be available in Q3 of 2019 for California cannabis business operators as they begin to apply for city and state licenses under new California state regulations. Sign up now to learn more at www.oddysee.com The TransactionPursuant to the Agreement, in exchange for a 100% interest in Oddysee, the Company has agreed to (i) issue Green Rush 20,000,000 common shares (each, a "Consideration Share") at a deemed price of $0.05 per share, subject to adjustment in the event of a consolidation or split of the Company's shares, and (ii) pay Green Rush US$3,750,000 (the "Cash Price") over a four-month period commencing on the closing date. The Consideration Shares will be subject to statutory hold periods as well as an escrow agreement pursuant to which 10% of such shares will be released on closing and an additional 15% of such shares will be released every six months thereafter.In connection with the Acquisition, Zeta Ceti, the principal of Green Rush, has agreed to serve on the board of directors of AMS and Green Rush has agreed to provide ongoing software development services to AMS to ensure a successful transition for Oddysee.Paul Mann, CEO of AMS, commented: "We are excited to have formalized our agreement with Green Rush and to have taken this significant step towards re-defining our Company as a technology solutions provider for the burgeoning cannabis sector. We also look forward to the continued engagement of Green Rush as well as Zeta's future involvement on our board of directors following the Acquisition." The Acquisition is considered a change of business under the rules and policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") and, accordingly, remains subject to CSE approval and approval by the Company's shareholders, which the Company intends to seek by way of written consent resolution. Trading of AMS's shares has been halted in connection with the Acquisition and is not expected to resume until the CSE has approved certain documentation relating to the Acquisition, including a Form 2A Listing Statement which is currently being prepared by the Company and Green Rush.Share ConsolidationThe Company is also pleased to announce that the Company's board of directors has determined to consolidate the Company's issued share capital on a ratio of one (1) new post-consolidated common shares for every four (4) old pre-consolidated common shares (the "Consolidation"). The Company currently has 58,911,900 issued and outstanding common shares and, on completion of the Consolidation, the Company will have approximately 14,727,975 issued and outstanding common shares.On Behalf of the Board,Paul Mann, CEOAlchemist Mining Inc.For further information on this release, please contact:Investors@ alchemistinc.ca 604-601-2093About Alchemist Mining Inc.Alchemist's goal is to be a global provider of technology solutions to the cannabis sector. We are primarily focused on investing and building a sustainable portfolio of business entities, by actively identifying opportunities in the developing global cannabis market, through a combination of acquisitions, incubations and investments, with a goal to create shareholder value.Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Notice Regarding Forward Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "intends", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding: the proposed Acquisition; expected timing for when Oddyssee will be commercially available; payment of the Cash Price; Zeta Ceti joining the AMS board of directors following completion of the Acquisition; Green Rush providing ongoing software development services to AMS following completion of the Acquisition; approval of the Acquisition by the CSE and shareholders of the Company; and completion of the Consolidation. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including: that the Acquisition will not complete; that Oddyssee will not be commercially available as or when expected; that the Cash Price will not be paid; that Zeta Ceti will not join the AMS board of directors following completion of the Acquisition; that Green Rush will not provide ongoing software development services to AMS following completion of the Acquisition; that the Acquisition will not be approved by the CSE or shareholders of the Company; that the Consolidation will not complete; that the Company will not be able to execute its proposed business plan in the time required or at all due to regulatory, financial or other issues; that the Company's competitors may develop competing technologies; changes in regulatory requirements; and other factors beyond the Company's control. Additional risk factors are included in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis, available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com . The forward-looking statements are made as at It elucidates a careful summary of Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications advertise subject to the focal parameters. End clients, stocks, territories and numerous different subdivisions are arranged and illustrated. Artificial Intelligence for Automotive Applications PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:16:42 Press Information Research N Reports Contact: Sunny Denis (Sales Manager), (Research N Reports) 10916, Gold Point Dr, Houston, TX, Pin 77064, +1-8886316977, sales@researchnreports.com, www.researchnreports.com Sunny Denis Sales Manager +1-8886316977 email http://www.researchnreports.com # 556 Words Contact:Sunny Denis(Sales Manager),(Research N Reports)10916, Gold Point Dr,Houston, TX, Pin 77064,+1-8886316977,sales@researchnreports.com,www.researchnreports.comSales Manager+1-8886316977 Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which use data and algorithms to mimic the cognitive function of the human mind and can learn and solve problems independently, are rapidly being put into various industries and use cases. The automotive industry is one of the forefront industries that use artificial intelligence to mimic, augment, and support human behavior while at the same time leveraging advanced response times and the precision of machine-based systems. Indeed, today's semi-automatic vehicles and future fully autonomous vehicles will rely heavily on artificial intelligence systems.The Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications market report, the market is expected to be valued at USD 782.9 Million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 10,573.3 Million by 2025, at a CAGR of +38% between 2019 and 2026.A comprehensive investigation of the state of Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications showcase has been finished in this shrewdness report. It contains the examinations done on the past advancement, progressing market circumstances and up and coming conjectures. An exact data of the stocks, methodologies and market supplies of driving organizations in this particular market is announced.For Sample duplicate of this report: https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=151498 Major Key Players in this report are: AImotive, Argo AI, Astute Solutions, Audi, and BMWIt elucidates a careful summary of Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications advertise subject to the focal parameters. End clients, stocks, territories and numerous different subdivisions are arranged and illustrated. A short lived thought regarding the dynamic powers which help make the market more prosperous are pondered with a specific end goal to enable client to value the future market circumstance. Anticipated income movement as far as limit regarding the Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications advertise for the prospective years have been expressed top to bottom.Avail discount on this report: https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=151498 The Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications business showcase report depends on the definitions, determinations, applications, and arrangements of Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications. In this report, the industry chain structure of different Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications is featured in the report. It additionally centers on the business arrangements and significant districts. This report features the assembling cost structure incorporates the cost of the materials, work cost, deterioration cost, and the cost of assembling strategies. Value investigation and examination of gear providers are likewise done by the investigators in the report.On the other hand, one of the new difficulties for the worldwide Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications showcase is to take care of the purchaser's demand. Makers who acquire imaginative items available that meet the characterized rules and bring issues to light about it are required to increase significant ground amid the gauge time frame. Topographically, the report thinks about the local and nation markets for Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The most noticeable exporter of Artificial Intelligence For Automotive Applications items, serving the request that is created from the created nations is additionally said in this report.For more enquiry: https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=151498 The report provides comprehensive analysis of: Key market segments and sub-segments Evolving market trends and dynamics Changing supply and demand scenarios Quantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecasting Tracking current trends/opportunities/challenges Competitive insights Opportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthrough PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 06:52:50 Press Information RESEARCH REPORT INSIGHTS Research Report Insights (RRI) 42 Joseph Street Port carling P0B 1J0 Muskoka, Ontario1 Phone - +1-631-721-4201 Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com BISHU T.L 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 638 Words Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.comEmail: sales@researchreportinsights.comT.L6317214201 With increasing number of people suffering from diabetes, managing and controlling diabetes has become critical. Hence being user-friendly and portable, artificial pancreas systems are gaining popularity across the globe. Ensuring the effectiveness and safety of medical devices, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is helping in the development of innovative artificial pancreas system device. FDA is also making it sure that the device monitors blood glucose level automatically and provide proper insulin doses. However, along with basic features, manufacturers are also trying to develop high-end artificial pancreas systems to improve diabetes management.According to the report by Research Report Insights (RRI), type 1 diabetes is estimated to exceed $250 million by 2026 in Europe and North America artificial pancreas systems market. It is also anticipated to increase to 12.9% CAGR during 2016-2026. While type 2 diabetes is expected to register 4.1% CAGR between 2016 and 2026 in artificial pancreas systems market in Europe and North America. Conventional CGM devices and insulin pumps are large in size, hence people are opting for artificial pancreas systems.North America and Europe artificial pancreas systems market: segmentation:By Distribution Channel: Hospitals; E-Commerce; By Disease Indication: Diabetes Type 1, Diabetes Type 2; By Region: North America, Western Europe, Eastern EuropeRequest For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114860/Artificial-Pancreas-Systems-Market Emerging technologies to offer better artificial pancreas systemsManufacturers are focusing on developing smaller, more reliable and streamlined artificial pancreas systems. For instance, Cellnovo, a France-based mobile diabetes firm recently raised 17.5 million to develop fully automatic artificial pancreas. The company is focusing on introducing a system that can measure glucose level and provide the right amount of insulin without input from humans. These fully automated artificial pancreas are expected to also reduce long-term complications associated with diabetes.Companies are also entering into partnerships to develop and test artificial pancreas systems. For example, Roche, a pharmaceutical and medical device company has joined hands with Senseonics and TypeZero to develop a long term artificial pancreas automated system and conduct clinical trials of the system. Companies are developing artificial pancreas also referred as a closed loop diabetes management system. The new system would include insulin injection and glucose monitoring through algorithms. The system will also include Roches Accu-check insight insulin pump. A system including CGM sensor, lasting up to 90 days, smart algorithms and a discreet insulin pump is first of its kind.Request Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114860/Artificial-Pancreas-Systems-Market Artificial pancreas for childrenWith increasing cases of diabetes among children, especially type 1 diabetes, manufacturers are also introducing artificial pancreas systems for children. Medtronic, a Minnesota-based medical device company has developed MiniMed 670G system for children suffering from type 1 diabetes. The system was also approved by FDA. This system includes a sensor to monitor glucose level in fluids under the skin, and based on the levels the device delivers and provide insulin.Technological Advancements to Boost Artificial Pancreas SystemsManufacturers of artificial pancreas systems are focusing on treating type 1 diabetes, in which pancreas produces very little or no insulin. According to the American Diabetes Association, type 1 diabetes patients are not more than 10%.While a recent study has also shown that artificial pancreas can better control condition of children with type 1 diabetes. The study found that children with artificial pancreas had lower average blood sugar level and they were more within the normal blood sugar range, without an increase in low blood sugar or hypoglycemia.One of the largest company in North America & Europes artificial pancreas systems market has been identified as Illinois-based medical device manufacturer Medtronic plc. With it, the UK-based Cellnovo is also being recognised as a prominent manufacturer of artificial pancreas systems. Other key players in the artificial pancreas systems market across North America and Europe include, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Dexcom Inc., Insulet Corporation, and Tandem Diabetes Care IncReport Analysis https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114860/Artificial-Pancreas-Systems-Market An autonomous robot can perform work with a high degree of autonomy (autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions). This robot is mainly used in spaceflight, waste water treatment household maintenance, and delivering goods and services. Autonomous Robot Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:19:03 Press Information About Absolute Markets Insights strives to be your main man in your business resolve by giving you insight into your products, market, marketing, competitors, and customers. By enabling you to make well informed choices, absolute markets insights will help you to develop a successful marketing grand design. Confront ourselves to think about new ways of collecting, analyzing and reporting data. We publish more than 500 prime studies a year offering you authentic, complete and trusty business intelligence, industry analysis and structure. Deep-rooted research, allows you to understand consumer preferences and drivers and to develop superior products that consumers value and buy over and over again. We convert complex data and findings presented by researchers from some of the most conflict challenged markets in the world into explicit market research reports. Our market studies covers a market size of over 30 sectors ranging from agriculture to IT & Telecom, from consumer goods to machinery and equipment and so forth. Market Research is often overlooked by companies, who tend to invest undue time and money on marketing and sales. We believe that market research is harmfully important to win market share. Absolute markets insights seeks to uniquely combine market research with adept and involved consultative support to companies to create great ideas for how they might take our knowledge and transform to create more value for clients and shareholders alike. Our offering is a highly targeted market research which invests behind a specific strategy of finding great marketing services, application of syndicated research data for front or back-room improvement, sales effectiveness, and overall marketing impact. Address: 1 st Floor, The Work Lab, Model Colony, Pune, Pin - 411016 Shreyash Tanna Sales Manager 91-740-024-2424 email https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com # 477 Words Address: 1 st Floor, The Work Lab, Model Colony, Pune, Pin - 411016Sales Manager91-740-024-2424 An autonomous robot can perform work with a high degree of autonomy (autonomy is the ability to make your own decisions). This robot is mainly used in spaceflight, waste water treatment household maintenance, and delivering goods and services. Autonomous robots are like humans, they have capability to take their own decisions and then perform an action accordingly. The Global Autonomous Robot Market, in terms of revenue, was valued at US$ 4725.56 Mn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 9071.41 Mn by 2022. Global Autonomous Robot Market (USD MillionSome of the primary players of global autonomous robot market are Aethon Inc, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd., Bluefin Robotics, Cimcorp Automation, Ltd., Clearpath Robotics Inc., Fetch Robotics, Inc., GeckoSystems Intl. Corp., Hi Tech Robotics Systemz Ltd., Locus Robotics, Oceaneering International, Inc., SAAB, Seegrid Corporation, Vecna Technologies, Inc., Mobile Industrial Robots ApS and SMP Robotics amongst others.Get Sample Copy for this Report@ https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com/request_sample.php?id=68 The autonomous robots have the capability to serve in several locations that has increased the demand of autonomous robot in many industries. Automation driven by digital healthcare technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence could heavily contribute to the long-term sustainability and profitability of healthcare systems. These factors will increase the sale of autonomous robots in the near future.Leading players in this Autonomous robot Market are outlined in the report to apprehend their role in the market and to also analyze their upcoming strategies. The manufacturing base of each important player and their minimum share in the market have been labeled in the report. It turned out be very informative. Numerous marketing channel and strategies are likely reaping what they sowed in the 2019 - 2026 period and have rendered in the data report to help patrons articulate their winning strategies.Get Reasonable Discount on this Report @ https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=68 A comprehensive analysis of the Global Autonomous robot Market has been conducted in this intelligence report. It includes the investigations carried out on the historical progressions, ongoing market scenarios, and future prospects. An accurate data of the products, strategies and market shares of leading companies in this particular market has been mentioned. This report presents a comprehensive overview of the competitive scenario of the global market. The report further projects the size and valuation of the global market throughout the forecast period. The report also presents a thorough qualitative and quantitative data affecting the projected impact of these factors on future prospects of the market.By Regional Outlook (U.S., Rest of North America, France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia Pacific, GCC Countries, Southern Africa, Rest of MEA, Brazil, Rest of Latin America) Global Insights, Growth, Size, Comparative Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2019 2026For More Information: https://www.absolutemarketsinsights.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=68 PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 10:23:06 Press Information research report insights Research Report Insights (RRI) 42 Joseph Street Port carling P0B 1J0 Muskoka, Ontario1 Phone - +1-631-721-4201 Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/ Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com bishu CEO 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com/ # 433 Words Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comCEO6317214201 BOPP products can be segmented on basis of their applications into electronics, food packaging, insulation, cosmetics, lamination and printing. Applications for these finely metalized films are numerous; including heat-sealant insulation and element-resistant food packaging for meat, chips, biscuits and other food products.Biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films are thermoplastic polymers that find extensive applications in the packaging industry. Polypropylene (PP) is one of the key polymers used in the manufacture of BOPP films and is a derivative of petroleum. One of the primary factors propelling the growth prospects for this market is the rising demand for packaged food in the last few years. Most consumers have become increasingly conscious about the way food products are packaged, and are, therefore, looking for improved and cost-effective methods for food preservation.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124834/BOPP-Films-for-Packaging-Market The geographical region includes in the BOPP Films for Packaging market reports are: North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Central & South America, Brazil, Rest of Central & South America, Middle East & Africa, GCC Countries, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa.As consumers are continuously changing their purchasing and eating behavior and to store food for months in and even out of the refrigerator are the major factors which are rising the demand of high barrier BOPP film market. These films provide the conditions for a high-barrier layer against gas, moisture, and aromas and the advantage to keep food products fresh for a longer period.High barrier BOPP films are also used for delicate products that require an extended shelf life thereby boosting up the demnad for high barrier bOPP film market. As countries such as Vietnam are foreseeing a change in the consumer perceptions regarding food consumption, a noteworthy number of consumers stress on nutritious food along with suitable packaging solutions that improve the shelf life of the packaged food products. Growing consumer awareness regarding packaging, coupled with a shift in the preference for flexible packaging solutions is anticipated to catapult the development of the global BOPP films for packaging market. BOPP films have even lower density than Polypropylene. The low density leads to higher yield than films of other plastics.Request Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124834/BOPP-Films-for-Packaging-Market Major companies operating in the global BOPP market include Cosmo Films Ltd., Polyplex Corporation Ltd., Manucor S.p.A., Innovia Films Limited, LC Packaging International BV, National Industrialization Company, and Jindal Poly Films Limited., among several others.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124834/BOPP-Films-for-Packaging-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 10:27:11 Press Information Research Report Insights (RRI) Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada T: +1-631-721-4201 Email: admin@researchreportinsights.com Web Site: http://www.researchreportinsights.com Phone - (+91) 7875758555 email Published by Ethan Taylor +44-631-787-4201 e-mail https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com # 650 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, Ontario, CanadaT: +1-631-721-4201Email: admin@researchreportinsights.comWeb Site: http://www.researchreportinsights.comPhone - (+91) 7875758555Ethan Taylor+44-631-787-4201 The worldwide market for broadcast equipment is considered to be driven by different aspects, for example, the changeover from simple to advanced broadcasting, expanding concentration on generation automation, developing acknowledgment of HD globally and increasing figure of digital stations. In addition, the content prerequisite at numerous places, expanding utilization of broadcasting equipment in worship places, sports, corporate conferences, and news production is additionally fuelling the expansion of broadcasting equipment at some level.Report For Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124761/Broadcasting-Equipment-Market One of the main aspect adding to the market expansion is the expanding the requirement for HD programming and better approaches to disperse the content, for example, mobile TV and internet protocol television (IPTV) is rapidly deploying and developing. Besides, the market for broadcasting equipment has additionally been seeing the growing preference of the individuals in the direction of multi-screen services in addition to rising D2C offers by multi-channel networks and OTT services in emerged economies. Government regulations are enforced with respect to digitalization is likewise anticipated to fuel the market.Moreover, with the immense expansion in several tablets and smartphones, the development prospects of video services have expanded extensively recently. This is because of the way that recently, there is a growing habit amid the consumer for watching a movie, sports, and shows through their cell phones without trading off about the nature of the services.Although irregularity in content circulation, higher cost of broadcasting equipment, for example, audio-video mixers, cables and cameras, the vast capital cost is required while putting in the new broadcast facility along with the absence of standardized ways in content circulation are a few of the aspects that are limiting this market. Moreover, rivalry among the sellers in the worldwide market has expanded remarkably. This is because of the fall in cost and new entrants in the market that is further impeding the expansion.There is a global preference in the direction of the software-based solutions that are high on speed also could be IP connected so that updating might be probable with little hardware replacement. North America and Europe are considered to be the most lucrative market owing to the adoption of advanced technology as well as more of the organizations involvement in R&D programs to maintain peace with the competition. APAC in the approaching years holds new prospects owing to developing economies, growing awareness amid individuals regarding internet browsing as well as higher utilization of electronic items, for instance, tablets, smartphones, and television.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124761/Broadcasting-Equipment-Market In April 2014, ARRIS declared it acquiring of Mississauga, Ontario-based SeaWell Networks one year after its noteworthy acquirement of Motorola Mobility's Home division. SeaWell's ABR (adaptive bit rate) streaming technologies in addition to the ability of its network & cloud business were integrated into ARRISs. This collective portfolio of ad insertion solutions, multiscreen and IP video enabled the advertising services and next-gen TV. These solutions helped to enhance IP video by reaching new levels of personalization and interactivity. They are moreover streamlining video distribution all over several devices, whilst minimizing the complexity and cost of manifold IP streaming programs for multiple device types.The prominent market players leading the overall market are ARRIS Enterprise Inc., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Cisco Systems Inc., Brightcove Inc., Harmonic Inc., Ericsson A.B., SeaChange International Inc., Microsoft Corp. along with ZTE Corp. A few other market players operating in the overall market are Anevia, Alticast Solutions, Azuki Systems Inc., Ateme, Elemental Technologies, Edgeware AB, Imagine Communications, Envivio Inc., Seawell Networks Inc., Minerva Networks, UTStarcom Inc., Thomson Video Networks and Verimatrix Inc. These market players are contributing to research and development activities integrate compression techniques and new technologies in their systems in addition to develop novel products to boost their market share in the worldwide broadcast equipment market.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124761/Broadcasting-Equipment-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 14:01:34 Press Information Research Report Insights Contact Us: Research Report Insights (RRI) 42 Joseph Street Port carling P0B 1J0 Muskoka, Ontario1 Phone - +1-631-721-4201 Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/ Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com BISHU TL +1631721420 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 526 Words Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comTL+1631721420 Steady growth of the global market for bulletproof security glass can be attributed to increased security concerns worldwide. Rising incidences of crime and terrorist attacks have increased deployment of modules that deliver safety and security. With this, growth of the global bulletproof security glass market is projected to generate revenues of worth US$ 2,000 million by the end of 2026, as forecasted by a new report available with Research Report Insights.Bulletproof security glass finds application in multiple end-user industries including financial services, commercial services, institutional construction, residential construction, aviation industry and automotive industry among others. Based on the application in end- user industry, the bulletproof glass is used in the banks, ATM booth, armored cash trucks, residential buildings, premium vehicles and display cases. Thickness, weight, transparency, and level of bullet resistance are few of the prime prerequisites considered in the manufacturing of the bulletproof security glass.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114875/Bulletproof-Security-Glass-Market With the help of advanced manufacturing and processing technologies, manufacturer of bulletproof glass as well as providers of building materials have introduced a variety of entities. For instance, bulletproof glass manufacturers deliver different bullet resistant barrier systems that include bullet resistant transaction windows and doors, bullet resistant frames, and ballistic counters among others. All these bullet resistant systems are highly deployed in new construction projects of financial services, schools, vehicles and other crime prone locations.The financial community remains dynamic due to consistent merger and acquisition activities and sometimes institution failures. However, integrations of one or more entities lead to prominent infrastructure changes in the financial institutions. As these institutes are prone to crimes and terrorist attacks, demand for bulletproof security glass has dramatically increased in this industry.Request Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114875/Bulletproof-Security-Glass-Market According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the numbers of new residential construction have increased steadily in past decade in the United States. Owing to increased numbers of breaches and crimes, construction industry is adopting bulletproof security glass in the construction projects, particularly in different educational institutions as well as residential buildings. With the increasing numbers of construction projects, and intensified security concerns, bulletproof security glass are likely to witness steady demand in the construction industry.Across the globe, terrorist attacks continues to generate concerns of human safety. Highly vulnerable regions to terrorist attacks such as Israel, Iraq and Syria, have witnessed incremental demand for bulletproof security glass in automotive as well as construction industries. Apart from these industries, military and defense sectors have also increased installation of bulletproof security glass.Despite being a highly sought after material for security, bulletproof security glass may experience hindrance of adoption in automotive industry. Challenges to reduce the weight of bulletproof glass and increasing demand for light and fuel efficient vehicles do not support adoption of heavy bulletproof security glass. Further, stringent government regulations on the use of bulletproof security glass can obstruct utilization in specific world regions. For instance, the government of Philadelphia has passed a bill to regulate use of bulletproof security glass in different constructions.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114875/Bulletproof-Security-Glass-Market Research Report Insights PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:07:31 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario T: +1-631-721-4201 Vikas Bahurupi Manager 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 429 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, OntarioT: +1-631-721-4201Manager6317214201 Epoprostenol sodium drug is used in human vascular tissue. It is acidic in nature with molecular weight of 374.45 and is used to treat pulmonary hypertension. This drug is also used in clinical research and diagnosis. It belongs to the well-known class of drug called vasodilators which helps in improving tiredness, shortness of breath, and infection.Epoprostenol sodium drug is used in healthcare sector for blood thinning and thus prevents blood clotting. Its haemodynamic effects are also used to delay the need for transplant surgery. Therefore, its demand has been consistently rising in the healthcare sector thereby facilitating the growth of the market. Apart from this, cost effectiveness is another factor which is driving the growth of this market. However, usage of epoprostenol sodium drug have some side-effects like chest pain, headache, bone pain, slow heart-beat rate, muscle pain, stomach pain, anxiety, nausea, jaw pain, hypotension, nervousness, vomiting, and dizziness. Yet, growing need of high quality epoprostenol drug to improve survival and quality of life is expected to reduce the impact of the limitation during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124903/Epoprostenol-Sodium-Drugs-Market Although, Epoprostenol sodium drug is being preferred in several healthcare applications, it is anticipated to find increased opportunities in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in several countries across the world. In this case, it widens the blood vessels in lungs and lowers the blood pressure.Global epoprostenol sodium drugs market can be segmented on the basis of type, product type, application, and region. By type, the epoprostenol sodium drug market can be segmented into purity greater than 98% and purity less than 98%. By type, the epoprostenol sodium drugs market can be segmented into 0.5 mg and 1.5 mg. By application, the epoprostenol sodium drugs market can be segmented into injection and others.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124903/Epoprostenol-Sodium-Drugs-Market On the basis of region, the epoprostenol sodium drugs market can be segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America. Amongst all, Europe is expected to be the most lucrative epoprostenol sodium drug market owing to favorable government initiatives and increasing demand in drug development in the region. In Europe, U.K. and Germany are anticipated to hold a significant market share throughout the forecast period and drie its growth.Key players operating in the global epoprostenol sodium drugs market include Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Pfizer CentreOne, Inc., Sanofi SA, Ausun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Actelion Pharms Ltd, and Glaxosmithkline Llc, among others.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124903/Epoprostenol-Sodium-Drugs-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:15:36 Press Information QYReports Miami, Florida, USA Jones John Sales Manager +(1) 786-292-8164 email https://www.qyreports.com/ # 495 Words Miami, Florida, USASales Manager+(1) 786-292-8164 Healthcare Artificial Intelligence mainly uses computer technology to perform clinical diagnosis and suggest treatment. Artificial intelligence has the ability to detect meaningful relationships in datasets and has been widely used to diagnose, treat, and predict results in many clinical situations. The purpose of this special issue is to demonstrate the potential of the many intelligent approaches used in the field of medical informatics, technology and applications. Submission to this special issue should be a unique task that covers topics related to medical artificial intelligence, expert systems, data mining, machine learning, and image processing.A recent market research report added to the vast research report portfolio of QY Reports analyzes the global market. The report is titled Global Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market Report by 2026.Ask for sample copy: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=96635 Top Key Players Included in This Report: NVIDIA (US), Intel (US), IBM (US), Google (US), Microsoft (US), AWS (US), General Vision (US), GE Healthcare (US), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), Medtronic plc (US), Johnson & Johnson (US), and Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands)The research lists key companies operating in the global market and also highlights the key changing trends adopted by the companies to maintain their dominance. By using SWOT analysis and Porters five force analysis tools, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of key companies are mentioned in the report. All leading players in this global market are profiled with details such as product types, business overview, sales, manufacturing base, competitors, applications, and specifications.Get Discount on This Report: https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=96635 For a detailed competitive analysis, the Global Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market is segmented on the basis of region, application, and product type. By region, the global sales market is divided into Asia-pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and North America. Major industries are concentrating on distributing their products and services across various provinces. Moreover, acquisitions and unions from some of the leading administrations are on the cards in the near future. Efforts are being taken by most of the companies to improve their research and development activities to introduce innovations. Governments of many nations are also contributing towards the growth of the global market by increasing their funding. All these factors are predicted to propel the Global Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market.The competitive landscape section of the report also covers the solutions, products, services, business overview, recent developments, and company profiles of the main players operating in the market.Get more information: http://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=96635 Table of ContentsChapter 1 Global Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market OverviewChapter 2 Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Market Forecast PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 14:14:53 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights (RRI 42 Joseph Street Port carling P0B 1J0 Muskoka, Ontario1 Phone - +1-631-721-4201 Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/ Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com BISHU CEO 6317214201 email http://www.. # 449 Words Research Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comCEO6317214201http://www.. researchreportinsights.com 5G also referred as 5th generation wireless systems, are enhanced wireless network advancements positioning them in 2018 and later. On the other hand, early inclusion of organizations in the market could profit them from numerous points of view and network equipment makers would have created mature products before the business arrangement of 5G starts.The worldwide market for 5G network equipment is likely to foresee a market estimate of more than US$ 1,100 Million in 2019 and is projected to grow over US$ 18,200 Million by 2025 end. The global market is projected to expand at a remarkable 59.3% CAGR all through the duration of 2019-2025.Market SegmentationIn terms of the component type, the worldwide market includes macro cell, small cell, RRU, AAU, RF filter, BBU, phase shifters and energy supply equipment. Amid these components, the worldwide market is likely to foresee an increase in the number of small cells category. Although the macro cells have been used until now, the category offered radio coverage to a broad geographical area as well as small cells was dependent and connected to macro cells.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114878/5G-Network-Equipment-Market In terms of the region, the worldwide market includes APAC, Europe, North America, MEA and Latin America. In growth rate terms, Europe regional market is anticipated to remain the largely attractive region in the worldwide market for 5G network equipment. The region is estimated to record an increase at a remarkable CAGR of 65% all through the six years forecast period 2019-2025. In the Europe regional market, nations, for example, the U.K., France and Germany are dominating in contrast to other regions for before time commercialization of the 5G services. On the other hand, the overall market share of Asia Pacific (APAC) regional market is considered to remain the biggest in the years to follow.This regional market is estimated to dominate the worldwide market with a market evaluation of more than US$ 10,300 Million towards the end of the calculated year 2025. This is moreover an outcome of the regional concentration on the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) inclination with the intention of improving workforce efficiency by the flexible employment of enterprise resources to fulfill the rising business requirements. The expansion of the 5G network equipment market is also likely to be rapid in nations of the Middle East.Request For Reprot discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114878/5G-Network-Equipment-Market Key Market PlayersThe major companies functional in the global market includeSamsung Electronics Co., LtdQualcomm Technologies, Inc.Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.NEC CorporationNokiaZTE CorporationCisco Systems, Inc.CommScopeEricsson ABAirspan Networks, Inc.Hitachi, Ltd.QorvoEquinix, Inc.OthersReport Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114878/5G-Network-Equipment-Market Research Report Insights PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:07:52 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario T: +1-631-721-4201 Vikas Bahurupi Manager 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 437 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, OntarioT: +1-631-721-4201Manager6317214201 Patient telemonitoring system is a wireless system that monitors remote patients outside of the standard clinical settings. It helps the doctors to monitor parameters such as ECG, blood pressure in real time by using sensors. Due to the healthcare facilities provided at home, early detection of any chronic disease reduces number of emergencies during hospitalization and hospital visits. Routine tests and test results to a doctor are done using mobile medical device in real time without any necessity of visiting health care center. This helps chronically ill people to spend more time at home with their families than at hospitals. Hence, counselling of sick people can be done online without waiting for the appointment date.Request For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124905/Patient-Telemonitoring-System-Market Patient telemonitoring system provides uninterrupted long term monitoring thereby saving time and reducing healthcare cost. Furthermore, rising adoption of smart and connected medical devices is enabling real-time monitoring in the telemonitoring system, aiding in the growth of this market. However, patient telemarketing system require good broadband connectivity which is difficult to achieve for healthcare centers and hospitals in rural areas. In spite of this, owing to technological developments and growing demand for effortless medication, the impact of this limitation is expected to reduce during the forecast period.Global patient telemonitoring system market can be segmented on the basis of component, mode of delivery, application and region. On the basis of component, the patient telemonitoring system market can be segmented into hardware and software. On the basis of mode of delivery, the global patient telemonitoring systems market can be segmented into web based and cloud based. On the basis of application, the global patient telemonitoring system market can be segmented into Chronic Obstrutive Pulmonary disease (COPD) monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, glucose monitoring, cardiovascular disease monitoring, and others.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124905/Patient-Telemonitoring-System-Market On the basis of region, the global patient telemonitoring system market can be segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America. Amongst all, Europe is expected to be the most lucrative patient telemonitoring system market owing to favorable government initiatives and increasing demand for research and development in healthcare sector in the region. In Europe, U.K. and Germany are majorly driving the growth.Major players operating in the global patient telemonitoring system market are Ntouch Technologies Company, Cisco Systems Inc., Honeywell Lifecare Solutions, Medtronic Plc., AMD Global Telemedicine Care Innovations LLC, Abbott Laboratories Inc., General Electric Company, and Koninklijke Philips N.V. among others.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124905/Patient-Telemonitoring-System-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:50:26 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 411 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 A new SEO and digital marketing platform has been announced by Informargin Digital in Houston, TX. The team uses an 80-step proprietary process to ensure the best ranking results and ROI for clients.HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / Informargin Digital has announced the soft launch of its new platform serving Houston, Texas clients with expert SEO, digital marketing and online ad services. The ''Results in Advance Guaranteed ROI Digital Service Division'' will give non technical and local businesses a no-risk on-ramp into digital marketing.More information can be found at: https://informargin.com The site explains that the new, fully integrated platform released by Informargin Digital is designed to serve the millions of local and non-technical SMBs by delivering risk free transition into digital marketing.Many small and medium sized businesses know the importance of digital marketing in today's competitive landscape. However, they often don't know the most effective strategies for ensuring success online.This is where getting in touch with Informargin Digital can help. Through the team's cutting edge platform, clients can establish themselves as leaders in their field, improve local search rankings, bring in more leads and make more sales.One of the key benefits of the services provided is that the SEO solutions on offer are ''pay per result.'' This means that if the client doesn't see good results on their campaign, they don't have to pay.In this way, the new platform offers a great opportunity for new and growing businesses to transform their web presence. It is a risk-free chance for clients to engage with customers in new ways, generate great SEO-optimized content, and get advanced advertising campaigns running for their business.The team states: ''What do you do when you want to find a cool new restaurant, or find a bed and breakfast in Paris, or shop for an A/C repair service? Imagine someone looking for services you deliver. Where are they looking? Online. On their computer. On a search engine. Anytime, 24/7 when convenient for them, and the felt need is greatest.'' In order to get the best SEO results, Informargin uses an 80-step proprietary search engine optimization process that is continually re-written to ensure it evolves with Google's changing algorithms.Full details of the services provided can be found on the URL above.Contact Info:Name: CJ CoolidgeEmail: Send EmailOrganization: Informargin DigitalAddress: 5612 Darling Street, Houston, TX 77007, United StatesPhone: +1-832-462-7446Website: https://informargin.com SOURCE: Informargin Digital The Smart Parking Software helps car users find the nearest parking space and provides information on whether parking spaces are available in the parking space. The Smart Parking Software market includes sensors, real-time data and smartphone-based automatic payment systems, allowing users to reserve parking spaces in advance. Smart Parking Software PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:18:11 Press Information QYReports Miami, Florida Jones John Sales Manager +91 740-024-2424 email https://www.qyreports.com # 493 Words Miami, FloridaSales Manager+91 740-024-2424 The parking system requires a variety of technologies and equipment for a variety of parking lots. Parking technology can be designed and modified according to the requirements of various parking spaces. Residential buildings and complexes have limited flow of cars and SUVs, but in many places such as hospitals, shopping malls, and corporate hubs, there are many vehicles that frequently access parking spaces. As a result, there is a significant increase in demand for Smart Parking Software.Get Sample copy of this Report: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=105417 Top key player profiled in this report: Streetline, Inc., Smart Parking Limited, Amano McGann, Nedap N.V., Cisco System, Inc., Urbiotica, Parkmobile LLC, ParkMe, Inc., Skidata AG, Swarco AG, Worldsensing etc.Smart Parking Software use well-crafted technology and equipment for consistent operation during the forecast period (2019-2026). The system is expected to extend to a variety of platforms, from parking in malls and corporate parks to a variety of platforms, including public parking, which provides real-time, cost-based parking information. In addition, Smart Parking Software play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions and help transport traffic in cities more efficiently.Key trends observed in the global smart parking market include consumer preferences for comfort and luxury that lead to high levels of competition among OEMs to provide advanced driver assistance systems. This system allows users to replace daily manual cash payments with account invoices and pay for applications over the phone.Smart Parking Software are widely adopted in major cities and universities, particularly in Europe and North America. In European and North American railway platforms, airports, public places and corporate complexes, authorities plan to build a Smart Parking Software that better manages parking spaces and traffic congestion.Get Discount on this Premium Report: https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=105417 Government efforts to adopt Smart Parking Software are one of the key drivers of the Smart Parking Software market. Demand for the upcoming Smart City is expected to lead the global market. As the number of hospitals, shopping complexes and corporate hubs increases, the demand for Smart Parking Software is increasing. Another important factor driving the market is the easy accessibility of the Smart Parking Software, its economic nature and its ability to reduce atmospheric carbon footprint.Access and map the status of free parking spaces from anywhere via mobile-based apps or web browsers. This significantly reduces the risk of finding parking spaces and reduces the unnecessary travel time of vehicles across the city's full parking slots. Smart Parking Software reduce city CO2 emissions by helping car owners search for empty parking lots, manage parking availability properly, and reduce traffic congestion.Get Complete Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/report/global-smart-parking-software-market-size-trends-applications-status-analysis-and-forecast-reports-2019-to-2026-105417/ The market for Smart Parking Software is categorized by components, parking sites, applications, and geographic areas. The component segments included in this market are hardware and software. Parking site segments include off-street and on-street. Applications include commercial, personal, transportation and aviation, and government. Microbial Identification Market: Food & Beverage Testing Applications to Represent Moderate Revenue Growth: Global Industry Analysis (2012 - 2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017 - 2022) Microbial Identification Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 08:57:24 Press Information Published by Abhishek Budholiya +1-347-918-3531 e-mail http://www.futuremarketinsights.com # 600 Words Abhishek Budholiya+1-347-918-3531 Future Market Insights has recently published an exclusive forecast report on the global market for microbial identification. In the foreseeable future, improvements in techniques adopted by microbiologists for identifying pathogens and examining microbial cultures will factor developments in microbial identification systems. From healthcare to food & beverage, the vital use of microbial identification in applied research projects will continue to boost the growth of the global microbial identification market. By 2022-end, microbial identification systems are pegged to become a global market worth US$ 1.4 billion. During the forecast period, 2017-2022, the global market for microbial identification will be registering a robust growth at 6% CAGR. The report has analysed a slew of factors influencing the dynamics of microbial identification markets across several regions.North America to register steadfast adoption of microbial identificationA key discernment from the regional analysis delivered in the report exhibits the dominance of North America in the global microbial identification market. Considering how healthcare marketplaces in the US and Canada are robust, compared to other developed markets, and taking into account the rising contribution of North American academic institutes in developing research studies of medical microbiology, the adoption of microbial identification systems will be widespread in this region. Towards the end of forecast period, North Americas microbial identification market will be worth around half a billion dollars, soaring robustly at a CAGR of 6.4%. Europe and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) will also be observed as lucrative markets for expansion of microbial identification.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5077 Key Findings from the ReportIn 2017, over two-fifth of revenues anticipated to be procured in the global microbial identification market will be accounted by sales of bacterial identification systemsTowards the end of forecast period, global sales of microbial remuneration systems will procure an estimated US$ 310 million in revenuesThroughout the forecast period, bacterial resistance identification systems will represent the fastest-selling product in the overall microbial identification marketPharmaceuticals and biotechnology industry will remain the largest end-user of microbial identification by 2022The end-use of microbial identification systems in water and environment sector will remain steady in 2017 and the following yearsBetween 2017 and 2022, the end-use of microbial identification across independent research laboratories in the world is anticipated to create an incremental opportunity of more than US$ 50 millionIn 2017 and beyond, the use of microbial identification methods in blood banks will be subparDiagnostics remains to be a key application for microbial identification, revenues from which are anticipated to register above-average growthWhile detection of harmful microbes is viewed as a necessary measure for bolstering quality control in production of food items and drinks, the application of microbial identification in food & beverage testing will register a moderate CAGR in terms of revenues over the forecast periodOn the basis of technologies, phenotypic microbial identification methods are anticipated to remain predominant in terms of adoption, albeit, genotypic technologies will register a marginally high CAGR during the assessment periodNeed more information about Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-5077 The report has further profiled companies that will be actively manufacturing microbial identification systems in the global market. Key players in the global microbial identification market include, Bruker Corporation, Danaher Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Siemens Healthineers, QIAGEN N.V., Merck & Co Inc., bioMerieux S.A., Becton, Dickinson and Company, and Biolog, Inc. Many of these companies are expected to focus on developing microbial identification systems that befit the advancements in the field of medical microbiology. Specific requirements of microbiologist working in leading microbial identification projects will also influence the manufacturing techniques exercised by these companies. Software-defined security is a type of security model in which information security in a computing environment is managed and controlled by security software. Most security controls, such as intrusion detection, network segmentation, and access control, are automated and monitored through security software. Software-defined security is the majority of time used in IT environments that use services in the cloud. Software-Defined Security PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:18:22 Press Information IT Intelligence Markets Blairsville, GA, USA Erika Thomas Sales Manager +1 (888) 312-3102 email https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com # 536 Words Blairsville, GA, USASales Manager+1 (888) 312-3102 Therefore, whenever a new device accesses the cloud environment, it is automatically controlled and controlled by a software-defined security protocol. As a result, the cloud's security system is thoroughly automated, reducing human intervention and reducing the scope of unwanted activities. Software-defined security systems are cost-effective and straightforward compared to traditional security models. As the adoption of cloud services and infrastructure grows, the software-defined security market is seeing healthy growth.Request report sample pages prior purchase@ https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=606 Top key player profiled in this report:Check Point Technologies (Israel)Cisco Systems (California)Intel Corporation (California)VMware, Inc. (California)Symantec Corporation (California)EMC Corporation (Massachusetts)Fortinet, Inc. (California)Juniper Networks (California)Palo Alto Networks (California)Versa Networks(California),etc.As the market for cloud-based infrastructure grows, it is expected to lead the software security market. As the demand for security and unstructured data management of virtualized infrastructures grows, we expect to lead the SDSec market. This approach helps organizations automate and deploy network security management. SDSec's capabilities, such as integration with other technologies such as identity and access management, data loss prevention, and other software-defined networking technologies, are expected to drive the software-defined security market in favor.Objectives of global Software-Defined Security Market:1. To provide a regional analysis of the Software-Defined Security market based on different countries.2. To provide the country level analysis based on several market segments.3. To provide an analysis of various influencing factors such as drivers, trends, restraints.4. It offers systematic ways to increase the global customers rapidly.5. To analyze the global Software-Defined Security market based on Porters five and SWOT analysis.Request report Discount on this Premium Report@This is anticipated to drive the global Software-Defined Security market over the forecast period. This research report covers the market landscape and its progress prospects in the near future. After studying key companies, the report focuses on the new entrants contributing to the growth of the sector. Most companies in the global Software-Defined Security market are currently adopting new technological trends in the sector.Global Software Defined Security markets can be categorized by architectural principles, distribution models, end users, and geographies. Based on the architectural principles, the SDSec market can be categorized as abstraction, orchestration, automation, API usage, and automatic expansion. Based on the deployment model, you can divide the market into on premises and the cloud. You can also use security as a service option for your enterprise through cloud deployments. Software-defined security markets based on end users can be categorized as communication service providers, cloud service providers, and enterprises.Table of Contents:Global Child Care Services Market Research Report 2019-2026Chapter 1: Child Care Services Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Child Care Services Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type.CONTINUED FOR TOCRequest report Complete Report@Finally, the researchers throw light on different ways to discover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The feasibility of the new report is also measured in this research report. PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:50:52 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 382 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 PetBiz Profits is offering fast-mover Pet Businesses a 3-fold exclusive bundle of services in each US city or town, including a main TV Channel offer, complimentary $70,000 Bonus Package and a Cost Recovery program.PORTLAND, OR / ACCESSWIRE / March 19, 2019 / PetBiz Profits, a specialist Pet Business marketing firm, has announced an initiative that allows one Vet Clinic, Animal Hospital or Pet Store to have their own dedicated 24/7 TV Channel in each US city.Within weeks of signing up, a pet business can have multiple TV Programs, with their own brand and content, appearing on the family TV in front of over 30,000,000 households, in the US alone.''Imagine being the only fast mover pet business in town to grasp this moment, before it disappears,'' says Brian Richards, CEO of PetBiz Profits.''After sign up, we'll immediately start partnering with and supporting this one pet business in each region,'' states Richards.As part of this exclusive support, PetBiz Profits is delivering a 3 fold opportunity, what they're calling a ''3 Unfair Advantages Bundle''.While the first component of this bundle is the main TV Channel offer itself, the second component is a comprehensive suite of professional, enterprise-level marketing services, customized for pet businesses.This complimentary Platinum Profit Booster Bonus Package has a value of $70,000 and will be provided to the first 10 cities who take up this offer.Richards elaborates, ''Many of the services included are exclusive to us and are additional ways to boost and reinforce the 'Visible Expert' authority positioning of the fortunate few pet businesses who get in first.'' The third component is another exclusive, proprietary service, called the ''Found Money For Pet Businesses'' Program. This is a Cost Recovery initiative, implemented immediately after sign up.The purpose of this exercise is to immediately look for thousands of dollars in savings, cost recoveries and tax benefits in each pet business.Richards says, ''In this way, we seek to immediately facilitate a substantial profit on your TV Channel purchase, quickly and easily.'' For more information on PetBiz Profits and the ''3 Unfair Advantages Bundle'', please visit https://www.petbizprofits.net or email brian@ petbizprofits.me Contact Info:Name: Brian RichardsEmail: Send EmailOrganization: PetBiz ProfitsAddress: 11923 NE Sumner St STE 687470, Portland, Oregon 97220, United StatesWebsite: https://www.petbizprofits.net SOURCE: PetBiz Profits PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 14:03:00 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 310 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 The Honorable Judge Kathleen O'Malley to receive NYIPLA Outstanding Public Service AwardNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Am Law 100 firm Polsinelli's Peter G. Thurlow, a Shareholder in the firm's New York office and current President of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA), will preside as host at NYIPLA's 97th Annual Dinner in honor of the federal judiciary on Friday, March 22nd at the New York Hilton Midtown.The NYIPLA Annual Dinner is one of the premier events in the legal industry and is expected to be attended by more than 2,300 attorneys and nearly 100 federal judges, as well as members of Congress. The Honorable Kathleen M. O'Malley, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, will be presented with the 17th Annual Outstanding Public Service Award. The evening's keynote speaker will be Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jon Meacham.Polsinelli's Thurlow commented: ''It's an honor to host this prestigious event as NYIPLA President in celebration of the federal judiciary and its administration of justice in the areas of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and other intellectual property law. Judge O'Malley is celebrating 25 years on the federal bench, and has served with great distinction and has elevated the federal judiciary by her presence.'' About PolsinelliPolsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 850 attorneys in 22 offices. Ranked #30 for Client Service Excellence1 and #10 for best client relationships 2 among 650 U.S. law firms, Polsinelli was also named among the top 30 best-known firms in the nation3. The firm's attorneys provide value through practical legal counsel infused with business insight, and focus on health care, financial services, real estate, intellectual property, mid-market corporate, labor and employment, and business litigation.12019 BTI Client Service A-Team Report22017 BTI Industry Power Rankings32018 BTI Brand EliteFor more information, contact:Cathy Loos at cathy@ adam-friedman.com , 347-334-4135SOURCE: Polsinelli Insurance software is designed to allow insurance companies, agencies, or brokers to manage their daily business. From an administrative standpoint, these systems can help you track policy and claim information and manage teams. There are client-side software that allows customers to log in, view policy information, fill out forms, make online payments, and more. Insurance Software PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 19:17:32 Press Information IT Intelligence Markets Blairsville, GA, USA Erika Thomas Sales Manager +1 (888) 312-3102 email https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com # 435 Words Blairsville, GA, USASales Manager+1 (888) 312-3102 The global insurance software market provides product and scope summaries to specify product types and provide step-by-step information on market dynamics. A closer look at the analysis follows, and the perspective and insurance software report consists of the revelations and attributes of this market in terms of sales and sales volume, revenue and growth rate. The Insurance Software Market Report provides a basic overview of the industry, including definitions, applications and manufacturing technologies. In addition, the Insurance Software Industry Report scrutinizes international major market players.Request report sample pages prior purchase@: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=166 Top key player profiled in this report: Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Acturis, Automated Workflow, Buckhill, Computer Professionals, Computer Sciences Corporation, Dell, Ebix, EIS Group, Guidewire Software, Hyland Software, Insly, Insurity, Lexmark, MedinyX, Pegasystems, Sapiens, SAS, Solartis, Transactor, Vertafore etc.This research provides detailed information about competitors that work well in the market, including product / service contributions, manufacturing processes, import details, capacity, new product launches, acquisitions, partnerships and business outlines. SWOT analysis tells about key estimates of key market participants. It also provides quantitative and qualitative knowledge that drives the expected outcome of these factors on the future growth potential of the market.Market segment by Type: On-premises SaaS-basedMarket segment by Application Commercial P&C insurance Personal P&C insurance Health and medical insurance Life and accident insurance Insurance administration and risk consulting AnnuitiesRequest report Discount on this Premium Report@: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=166 On the basis of regional outlook, the global market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The market is also segmented on the basis of geography, application and type. The emergence and adoption of big data is expected to drive the market in Insurance Software during the forecast period or even before for a market share has increased rapidly.An all-inclusive exploration of the condition of Insurance Software market has been completed in this astuteness report. It comprises the examinations done on the previous innovation, ongoing market situations and upcoming forecasts. An accurate information of the merchandises, approaches and market stocks of leading businesses in this specific market is declared.Enquiry before buying: https://www.itintelligencemarkets.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=166 Major factors covered in the report: Global Insurance Software Market Overview Economic Impact on Industry Market Competition by Manufacturers Production, Revenue (Value) by Region Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type Market Analysis by Application Cost Analysis Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders Market Effect Factors Analysis Global Insurance Software Market Forecast Research Report Insights PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:08:37 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario T: +1-631-721-4201 Vikas Bahurupi Manager 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 456 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, OntarioT: +1-631-721-4201Manager6317214201 Ultrasonic probe covers are the sterile covers which provide imaging solutions. They are applied on the transducer that is used for scanning and diagnosis. They are used to provide distortion-free images for use in applications such as urology, radiology, cardiology, gynaecology, neurosurgery, etc. They are largely used by radiologist on transducers to carry out ultrasound procedures and image organs including stomach, intestinal walls, pancreas, gall bladder etc. Ultrasonic probe covers are made of high quality natural rubber. They are generally lubricated with water based lubricant and act as hygienic protection for patient during ultrasonic examination. Furthermore, they are reliable and convenient to use.Request For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124910/Ultrasonic-Probe-Covers-Market Increasing awareness regarding health has led to considerable increase in full body checkups per year. Furthermore, endocavity examinations across the world have also significantly rose. Ultrasonic probe covers largely serve as a viral barrier for transrectal and transvaginal ultrasound procedures. Thus, rising endocavity examinations are directly driving ultrasonic probe covers market. Furthermore, mandatory government regulations regarding single-use disposable probe covers is another major factor facilitating the growth of the market. For e.g. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) proposes use of new probe cover for a probe for each patient. The association also recommends every new cover to be highly disinfected.Ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented on the basis of type, sterility, product type, material, application, and region. On the basis of type, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into linear, curvilinear and phased array. On the basis of sterility, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into sterile and non-sterile. On the basis of product type, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into latex-free. On the basis of material, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into rubber, polyethylene, polyurethane, and others.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124910/Ultrasonic-Probe-Covers-Market On the basis of application, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into urology, radiology, cardiology, gynaecology, neurosurgery, and others. On the basis of region, the ultrasonic probe covers market can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America. Amongst all, North America is expected to be the most lucrative ultrasonic probe cover market owing to high personal hygiene awareness, favorable government initiatives, and increasing investment for healthcare equipment in the region.The major players operating in ultrasound probe covers market are CIVCO Medical Solutions Co., Inc., Cone Instruments Inc., Vermed (Nissha Medical Technologies), Fairmont Medical Ltd, GE Healthcare Ltd., Parker Laboratories Inc., Protek Medical Products Ltd, PDC Healthcare Inc., Ecolab Ltd, and MedXL Ltd among others.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124910/Ultrasonic-Probe-Covers-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 14:02:30 Press Information Research Report Insights Contact Us: Research Report Insights (RRI) 42 Joseph Street Port carling P0B 1J0 Muskoka, Ontario1 Phone - +1-631-721-4201 Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/ Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com BISHU TL +1631721420 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 542 Words Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comTL+1631721420 Digital forensic comprises integration of computer science with laws that are needed for the purpose of investigation of crime. It comprises complete recovery and then interpretation of data that is present in various digital devices to be presented in the courts of law and mostly involves various cyber-crimes. Investigation in digital forensics is carried out in three different stages which include display acquisition, investigation and analysis together with reporting of crime.In accordance with the research report on the world market for Digital Forensics by Research Report Insights (RRI), it has been anticipated that strong growth would prevail in the said market. The world market for digital forensics market stood at a valuation of around US$ 2.87 bn in the year 2016 and is estimated to be worth around US$ 6.65 bn by the year 2025, thereby rising at a CAGR of 9.7% from 2017 and 2025.Request For Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114870/Digital-Forensics-Market North America is forecasted to Continue with Regional Supremacy over the Period of ForecastThe world market for digital forensics has been regionally segmented into the geographies of South America, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Europe. The region of North America is quite likely to continue with market dominance in the international market for digital forensics. North America is expected to be trailed by Europe as it stood as a major regional segment of the said market. Asia Pacific accounts for a substantial revenue in the world market for digital forensics. The growing trend of internet of things technology and cloud based solutions in many of these regions is acting as the major growth driver in these geographies.Increased Growth of Cloud Services to Encourage Growth of the MarketOwing to the rampant growth of cloud devices and services with in-built facilities of Internet-of-Things, cyber criminals have undue advantage of dealing with leaking of customer information. Such characteristics might augment the risk of viruses and malwares thereby making computer systems prone to hacking.Another reason for the improvement of the said market is the possible tracing of hacking activities to their source. These activities are traced by forensic agencies by making use of the right forensic methods. Thus, such evidence-based investigation for the purpose of recovery of information has been a prime factor for the rise of the market for digital forensics. The rise in demand for digital solutions and forensics tools is also fueled owing to the fact that multiple channels are utilized for the purpose of hacking confidential information from various organizations and companies.A few of the crucial companies in the digital forensics market comprise LogRhythm Inc., IBM Corporation, Paraben Corporation, AccessData Group LLC, FireEye Inc., Micro Systemation, Binary Intelligence LLC, Guidance Software Inc., CISCO, and AB, NUIX amongst many others.For the study the market has been segmented as follows:Global Digital Forensics Market SegmentationBy TypeComputer ForensicsNetwork ForensicsCloud ForensicsMobile Device ForensicsDatabase ForensicsOthersRequest Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114870/Digital-Forensics-Market By ApplicationHealth CareEducationBanking, financial services and insurance (BFSI)Defense and AerospaceLaw EnforcementTransportation and LogisticsInformation TechnologyOthersBy RegionNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaReport Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114870/Digital-Forensics-Market Research Report Insights PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 04:08:00 Press Information Research Report Insights Research Report Insights 42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0, Muskoka, Ontario T: +1-631-721-4201 Vikas Bahurupi Manager 6317214201 email https://www.researchreportinsights.com # 432 Words Research Report Insights42 joseph street,Portcarling P0B 1J0,Muskoka, OntarioT: +1-631-721-4201Manager6317214201 Recombinant vector vaccines are made through biological preparation that produce active immunity against certain microorganisms in human-beings and animals. They produce antibodies to fight with different types of bacteria and virus. The vaccine enables an antigen T-lymphocyte which in turn generates strong cell in the body that fight against antigen of microbes or virus. This combination of vaccine is effective as it is produced by DNA technology for the prevention of lethal disease. There is high demand of these vaccines due to the prevalent diseases such as swine flu, malaria, cancer, Zika virus, Ebola virus, among others. It is also a part of various research and development activities that are carried out to treat different types of cancers and tumors.Request For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upsample/120124906/Recombinant-Vector-Vaccines-Market Recombinant vector vaccine generates good immune response against the microbes when compared to traditional vaccines. Therefore, it is increasingly preferred for the same, across the world. Rapid developments in genetic engineering and molecular biology is another factor facilitating the growth of the recombinant vector vaccines market. Although, high cost of vaccines is likely to hamper the market, growing technological advancements and awareness among people is expected to reduce the impact of the limitation during the forecast period.Global Recombinant vector vaccines market is segmented on the basis of diseases, product type, end user, and region. On the basis of product, the global recombinant vector vaccines market can be segmented into attenuated recombinant vaccines, subunit recombinant vaccines, and vector recombinant vaccines. On the basis of disease type, the global recombinant vector vaccines market can be segmented into cancer, pneumococcal disease, Hepatitis B, DPT, influenza, and others.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/updiscount/120124906/Recombinant-Vector-Vaccines-Market On the basis of the end user, the global recombinant vector vaccines market can be segmented into hospitals and clinics, adults, veterinary, pediatrics, and others. The veterinary sub-segment is further bifurcated into poultry and livestock. On the basis of region, the global recombinant vector vaccines market can be segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America and North America. Amongst all, Europe is expected to be the most lucrative recombinant vector vaccine market owing to favorable government initiatives and increasing demand in vaccine development in the region.The key players operating in recombinant vector vaccines market are Johnson and Johnson, Serum Institute of India Private Limited, Daiichi Sankyo Inc., Emergent Bio Solutions Inc., Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Abiomed Inc., Sanofi Pasteur SA, Mitsubishi Tanabe, and Pharma Corporation among others.Report Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124906/Recombinant-Vector-Vaccines-Market PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 12:26:24 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 643 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 HAMBURG / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Topas Therapeutics GmbH (Topas), a Hamburg, Germany-based private platform company leveraging the natural tolerance induction capabilities of the liver, today announced that the Company will participate at several conferences this spring.Learn more about the Topas Particle Conjugates (TPC) technology platform at these upcoming conferences:2nd Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance Drug Development Summit 2019March 26-28, 2019Boston, MA, USATimm Jessen, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Topas, will give a talk entitled, "Preparation of Liver-Targeting Nanoparticles for Clinical Trials," on March 28th at 10:30 AM EDT.As the race to generate compelling clinical data to prove the concept of antigen-specific immunotherapies gains momentum, the conference seeks to help large pharma, biotech, and academic researchers overcome the complexity of auto-immune mediated disorders, expand opportunities through combination strategies and undertake a more precise and antigen-specific approach to novel drug development. Please click here for more details about the event.TReg Directed Therapies SummitMay 20-22, 2019Boston, MA USASabine Fleischer, MD, Head of Translational Medicine of Topas, will give a presentation entitled, "Leveraging Tolerogenic Nanoparticles to Induce Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance in vivo," on May 22nd at 2:15 PM EDT.The conference is dedicated to the clinical translation of engineered and stimulated cell therapy and small molecule approaches to deliver cures for autoimmune and inflammatory indications. For more information, click here.Meet with Topas management at these industry events:2019 German Biotech Days (Deutsche Biotechnologietage 2019)April 9-10, 2019Wurzburg, GermanyTopas will attend this event. To request a meeting, please contact Dr. Timm Jessen at jessen@ topas-therapeutics.com The 2019 German Biotech Days event is co-organised by BIO Deutschland and the Council of German BioRegions and provides a forum for all stakeholders in Germany's biotech scene to exchange views and experiences. The conference is a meeting place for more than 850 representatives from business, science and government, including partners from funding institutions and public administration. The conditions for innovation in biotechnology and the wide range of biotech applications will be discussed through a series of talks, panel discussions and breakfast sessions. For more information, please click here.20th Annual BioEURquity EuropeMay 20-21, 2019Barcelona, SpainTopas will give a corporate presentation and host 1X1 meetings at this event. To request a meeting with Topas, please sign up through the event's partneringONE meeting system or contact Dr. Timm Jessen at jessen@ topas-therapeutics.com BioEURquity Europe is the seminal industry event for financial dealmakers looking for investor-validated life science companies positioning themselves to attract capital and for pharmaceutical licensing professionals to assess top prospects. BioEURquity Europe has showcased more than 800 leading European companies to thousands of investment and pharma business development professionals. Delegates from 24 nations attended the 2018 event.More information on the event can be found here.About Topas TherapeuticsTopas Therapeutics GmbH is a private Hamburg, Germany-based biotechnology company focused on developing products to address areas of major unmet need, including autoimmune diseases, allergies and anti-drug antibodies. Topas' technology platform induces antigen-specific immune tolerance by harnessing the liver's natural immunology capabilities. The Company has several proprietary programs; the lead one is in an orphan disease and is expected to enter the clinic in 2019. Topas has a research and option agreement with Eli Lilly and Company focused on antigen-specific tolerance induction, a multi-year agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim to collaborate in the field of anti-drug antibodies and a co-development agreement with Evotec for a Type 1 diabetes program that is currently in pre-clinical testing. Topas' investors include: Epidarex Capital, Gimv, EMBL Ventures, Evotec and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.For additional information, please visit: www.topas-therapeutics.com Contacts:Topas Therapeutics GmbHDr. Timm-H. JessenCEO / Managing DirectorFalkenried 8820251 HamburgEmail jessen@ topas-therapeutics.com Web www.topas-therapeutics.com Media Relations EuropeMC Services AGAnne HenneckePhone +49 211 529 252 22Email anne.hennecke@mc-services.eu Media Relations U.S.Laurie DoylePhone +1 339 832 0752Email laurie.doyle@mc-services.eu Web www.mc-services.eu SOURCE: Topas Therapeutics GmbH PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 13:32:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 720 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Taking the Lead Protecting the Environment in a Shareholder Focused WayLAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / Vivakor, Inc. (OTC PINK: VIVK), a technology and asset acquisition company with a focus in the area of natural resources, has recently formalized its Social Responsibility Initiatives and added board advisor Ron R. Chevalier, a recipient of three Life Saving Awards The Red Cross REAL HEROES Award, Shell Oil CEO Life Saving Award and Washington State Governor's Life Saving Award, as Head of Environmental Health & Safety. The Social Responsibility Initiatives at Vivakor, Inc are focused around ensuring that all Vivakor, Inc technologies and projects are first safe, for all involved and second, bettering the environment.''We have taken seriously the responsibility that technology can either hurt the environment or better our lives. Not only de we at Vivakor, Inc., want to create such technologically advanced natural recourse opportunities at a high margin, we will make sure that such technologies and projects leave the environment in a better situation then it was before we got involved. We are extremely pleased that Ron R. Chevalier HERO, has joined our advisory team. Not only is he a multi decorated life-saving award recipient, he had an extensive career in Health and Safety at Shell Oil. He then went on to form and run a successful waste remediation business. Ron will be working with the board operations to ensure that safety of both our employees and the earth, as Head of Environmental Health & Safety,'' stated Vivakor Chief Executive Officer Matt Nicosia.''Vivakor has taken a unique approach to cleaning-up Complex Hydro-Carbon spills caused by human error and natural occurrences in nature. I have been absolutely blown away by the effectiveness of this technology. I believe that Vivakor's approach, not only is extremely profitable, but most importantly, leaves a quantifiable, irrefutable impact on our wonderful earth. I look forward to ensuring safety and protecting the environment.'' Stated Ron R. Chevalier.About Vivakor, Inc.Vivakor, Inc. (OTC Pink: VIVK), a technology and asset acquisition company with a focus in the area of natural resources. Vivakor's corporate mission is to create, acquire and accumulate distinct assets, intellectual properties, and exceptional technologies that produce solid returns to its valued shareholders and partners. The company currently focuses on bitumen (heavy crude) extraction from shallow, oil-laden areas in Eastern Utah, along with petroleum based remediation projects across the globe. The technologies utilized are low-cost, proprietary and proving themselves industry disruptive when measured by a number of important factors. The general business model has been to be an acquisition hub, focused on building and acquiring cash-flowing assets in discrete areas that have an acknowledged technological advantage and enable a substantial market opportunity within significant target markets across the globe. Our research, and the technology we acquire are anchored by our relationships with synergistic partners and product-specific commercialization strategies. From the point of product or technology conception, or through acquisition, development and commercialization, we expect to have strategic partners, joint ventures or licensing arrangements in place for many of our products in order to sustain revenue attainment.For more information, please visit our website: http://vivakor.com Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the ''safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and uncertainties, including economic slowdown affecting companies, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid change in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, legislative, regulatory and competitive developments and general economic conditions. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties discussed in Vivakor's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which factors may be incorporated herein by reference. Forward-looking statements may be identified but not limited by the use of the words ''anticipates,'' ''expects,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''should,'' ''could,'' ''would,'' '' may,'' ''will,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''potential,'' or ''continue'' and variations or similar expressions. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.Investors Contact:949-281-2606info@ vivakor.com SOURCE: Vivakor, Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-20 11:03:45 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 976 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 WEED, Inc. and Yissum (of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) sign first-of-its-kind deal for exclusive license, assignment and transfer to WEED Inc. of groundbreaking intellectual property for novel technologies and formulations of cannabis-related and cannabinoid-based productsUPDATE: CEO is currently 'Down Under' at its subsidiaries, WEED Australia Ltd and The Cannabis Institute of Australia to discuss clinical 'CBD' trials to begin in Israel this year.TUCSON, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2019 / WEED, Inc., (OTCQB: BUDZ) (''WEED'') announced today that it has entered into an exclusive license and assignment agreement with Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd., Israel (''Yissum'').Under the terms of the agreement, WEED, Inc. agrees to exclusively license and, purchase from Yissum, certain patents, technology and know-how (upon payment of certain installments) relating to formulations for the administration and delivery of lipophilic compositions (including cannabinoids) developed by Prof. Elka Touitou at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Under the agreement, WEED is obligated to pay multi-million dollar consideration to Yissum, which is payable in installments and includes a product sales-related milestone payment, with WEED only receiving the exclusive license rights and the assignment rights to the above intellectual property after payment of the relevant installment payments.In order to close the exclusive license portion of the agreement and the assignment portion of the agreement, WEED, Inc. needs to raise additional funds to pay the consideration required under the agreement.WEED Inc. is also pleased to announce that it has entered into a consulting agreement with Prof. Elka Touitou, of the Institute of Drug Research, School of Pharmacy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Prof. Touitou will serve as the chairperson of WEED, Inc.'s Scientific Advisory Board and will advise and support WEED, Inc. with respect to its scientific research and product development for this project.Mr. Glenn E. Martin, CEO of WEED, Inc. said, '' WEED, Inc. has made history in the Holy Land! After several months of intense and productive negotiations along with several trips to Israel, WEED and Yissum have successfully concluded this multi-million USD exclusive license and assignment agreement.'' ''Further I'm pleased to announce that we believe this historic arrangement with WEED, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary WEED Israel Cannabis Ltd., for this exclusive license and assignment of five patent families held by Yissum based on the innovations of Professor Elka Touitou, will now allow us to move forward to help and benefit patients.CEO, Martin added, March 20th, '' I'm down in Australia until March 30th working with our Australian team to advance WEED's global research goals that we are starting in Israel. We are bringing Israeli advances in ''CBD studies to Australian patients, which is vital to WEED's 'country to country' product synergies.'' Prof Touitou is a pioneer in cannabinoid research, and published the first scientific work on transdermal delivery of cannabinoids in 1988. Our researchers are looking to develop efficient products for at least two 'indications,' one of which will be focused on woman's health, utilizing Cannabinoids.'' Dr. Yaron Daniely, CEO and President of Yissum stated, ''As global leaders in the field of Cannabis and Endocannabinoid research, Yissum diligently looks for appropriate commercial partners to advance promising technologies from Hebrew University for the benefit of patients. We are hopeful that this partnership delivers important new products and therapies to those in need.'' Elliott Kwestel, Director and Corporate Secretary of WEED Israel Cannabis Ltd. commented, ''WEED Israel is looking to acquire all appropriate licenses with the goal of bringing vertically integrated products to market globally within one year. Further studies in high dosage THC, THC and continuing CBD research are on the horizon.'' The assignment of the five patent families to WEED, Inc. pursuant to the agreement with Yissum, is the first-of-its-kind originating from Cannabinoid research conducted at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Prof. Touitou said, ''Cannabinoids are very lipophilic molecules with a relative low bioavailability, short activity and their existing formulations often have low patient compliance. There is a great need and demand for pharmaceutical products with improved efficacy and prolonged therapeutic effect.Our new sophisticated technologies offer diverse solutions for promoting enhanced delivery and adequate administration of Cannabinoids for high therapeutic efficiency in treating patients currently suffering from various diseases.'' Dr. Liat Shbiro PhD added, ''It's an incredible privilege to work with Professor Touitou who shall lead WEED Israel's cannabis research and chair our Israeli Scientific Advisory Board.'' In this deal, WEED Inc. was represented by the law firm of Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Phoenix, Arizona, USA and Marcella Eytan and Nir Zohar of the law firm Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz, Tel-Aviv, Israel.About YissumResearch Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd.Yissum is the technology transfer company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Founded in 1964, it is the third company of its kind to be established and serves as a bridge between cutting-edge academic research and a global community of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry. Yissum's mission is to benefit society by converting extraordinary innovations and transformational technologies into commercial solutions that address our most urgent global challenges.Yissum has registered over 10,700 patents covering 3,000 inventions; licensed over 950 technologies and has spun out more than 150 companies. Yissum's business partners span the globe and include companies such as Boston Scientific, Google, ICL, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Novartis and many more.For further information please visit www.yissum.co.il About Prof. Elka TouitouProf. Elka Touitou is the Head of the Innovative Dermal, Transdermal and Transmucosal Delivery Lab at the Institute of Drug Research, The School of Pharmacy, HUJ.Professor Touitou is an internationally renowned authority in the field of drug delivery and design of new technologies for efficient administration of drugs and development of new products. She has pioneered leading technologies in the field, being the inventor of Ethosomes, currently reco Despite the fear of a shortage of rice in 2019 due to flooding incidents last year, Nigerian farmers have said the early rains in the countrys rice-growing regions had boosted prospects for a good harvest. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, had earlier predicted a shortage of rice in the country if appropriate measures were not taken to replant after places like Jigawa, Kebbi, Anambra, and Kogi were affected by the flood. Bloomberg quoted the president of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Aminu Goronyo, as saying We have experienced early rains in the central states and the northeast, from all indications, we expect a bumper harvest thanks to favourable weather. The boost increases the likelihood of lower import by the country as Nigerias rice importation figures kept reducing since 2015. Nigeria currently produces 4.8 million metric tons of the grain a year and must import the balance to meet domestic consumption estimated at more than eight million tons a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nigerias Agriculture Ministry insists local output has reached seven million tons a year, with the government expecting to cut as much as 1.9 million tons of rice imports next year. Rice farmers are getting government support through a program backed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide them with low-interest credit, helping draw more farmers to the crop, according to Mr Goronyo. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Wednesday it would achieve the 2.3 million barrels per day production target in the 2019 budget by sustaining the improved security in the oil-producing areas. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, stated this at the presentation of the 2019 -2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the Senate Committee on Finance. Mr Baru said with improved security in oil bearing communities as a result of sustainable community partnership; the NNPC was confident the oil industry would attain the production target in the 2019 budget. The official was represented at the event by Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy of the corporation, Bala Wunti. Although he said the country had achieved a production capacity of over 2.5 million barrels per day, it was unfortunate the security situations of the past in areas of operation made it difficult to achieve desired production targets. Thankfully, the current administration under President Muhammadu Buhari is strongly focused on engagement and sustainable community partnership which has resulted in improved security and production. This will further improve. We are therefore confident of achieving the 2019 budget production target, he said. On the possible impact of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota decision on Nigerias production target, the NNPC GMD said the production target of 2.3 million barrels per day was a combination of liquid hydrocarbon production, comprising crude oil and condensate. With Nigerias condensate production currently oscillating between 400,000 and 600,000 barrels per day, he said the country was in a good position to attain the overall production benchmark of 2.3 million barrels per day. Mr Baru said the corporation was working assiduously with other relevant agencies in the industry to ensure the attainment of the 2019 budget assumptions contained in the 2019 2021 MTEF/FSP. According to the GMD, the NNPCs mandate on the MTEF was on the key thematic indicators of oil production volume, crude oil price and unit crude oil production cost. Nigerias crude oil grade, he said, traded higher than dated Brent. He attributed the development to the recent reforms in the crude oil management regime with emphasis on entrenching pricing transparency and performance. He reiterated NNPCs commitment to transparency and efficiency in every aspect of its operations. To further deepen the culture of pricing transparency in the corporation, the GMD said a pricing review committee meets monthly to review crude and products pricing by the market dynamics. The resurgent menace of the toxic loans in the banking sector could be checked if the Nigerian government revisits the return of the Failed Bank Act, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, has said. Mr Kuru who spoke on Wednesday in Lagos when he received officials of the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) said the return of the Act would compel operatives in the banking sector to account for their actions. RIMAN was led by its president, Magnus Nnoka, who is also the Chief Risk Officer, Coronation Merchant Bank. The management of banks, he said, will strengthen their risk management framework to stem the negative growth in the economy. The reintroduction of the Failed Bank Act into the countrys financial system will not only curtail the current trend of financial rascality on the part of some bankers, it will bring discipline to the banking industry in general, he said. Given the huge resources available in the financial institutions and the pivotal role they play in the development of the economy, Mr Kuru said it makes it mandatory for financial institutions to take risk management seriously, to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis. One of the reasons given for the failure of the banking system during the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, which eventually led to the creation of AMCON, Mr Kuru recalled, was the prevalence of weak risk management framework by financial institutions. The official said the trend became baggage, which contained all sorts of bad omen for the economy, including poor corporate governance structure, lack of robust risk management strategy and lack of adherence to laid down principles that govern credit approvals by financial institutions. I have been on both sides, first as a banker and now as a regulator. I can authoritatively comment on issues relating to risk management. Immediately after the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2009, they insisted that risk management must be given prominence right from the Board level to the account officer. What we have noticed now is the lack of consequent framework to manage the risk structure. We have noticed prevalence of key men risk. Credits are booked with impunity without any intention of paying back. The grievous impunity is taking place along the credit process. There is the urgent need to revisit the failed bank act so that operatives become responsible for their actions. We believe it will bring discipline to the banking industry, Mr Kuru said. He said the damage financial institutions do to the economy when they approve fictitious loans was worse than corruption. Currently, the AMCON MD said, the debt recovery agency sits on a huge stock of non-performing loans, with banks looking for liquidity to book more loans. Churchill Adekunle, the ex-husband of controversial Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh, has once again spoken about their crashed marriage and how they met at a Lagos nightclub. Mr Adekunle, who has had a running battle with Tonto in the last two years, disclosed this in an interview with a blogger, Azuka Ogujiuba, on Wednesday in Lagos. He also debunked allegations made by his estranged wife that she was responsible for all their bills while their marriage lasted. I met Tonto at my brothers birthday party back in 2014, and she became pregnant three months after we met. When I met Tonto, I was already one of the most successful young millionaires in Africa, he said. He said their marriage was plagued with several frivolous claims of falsity, ranging from domestic violence to false allegations. We broke up in 2016 at a house, I newly acquired for my mother in Lekki, Lagos State. I never laid my hands on her. I have never done that in my life before. She made up those things to discredit my philanthropic works. I am from a proper disciplined Yoruba home. I was well trained and brought up under the fear of God. Marriage isnt by force and so I encourage the entire public to shun the baseless sponsored social media propaganda which the actress has continued to fuel, he said. Tonto confirmed there were cracks in her 17-month-old marriage in February 2017. By June 2017, Tontos dad returned her traditional marriage bride price to his ex-son-in-law. Tonto, 33, who underwent a much-publicised beauty surgery which she said cost N5 million has been outspoken about her crashed marriage. She also told PREMIUM TIMES in 2018 that she hopes to remarry someday. Mozambique, on Wednesday, started three days of national mourning, still reeling after Cyclone Idai brought catastrophic winds and flooding to the region, causing possibly 1,000 fatalities in the southern African nation. President Filipe Nyusi, however, declared a state of emergency, while flags were flying at half-mast across the poverty-stricken country. Over 200 bodies had been recovered and an estimated 350,000 people had been affected by the storm, Mr Nyusi said. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Idai, a Category IV storm, could be one of the biggest cyclone disasters south of the equator. The cyclone made landfall in Mozambique March 14 after brewing in the Indian Ocean, bringing winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour before weakening slightly and heading toward Zimbabwe. The cyclone created a storm tide of 3.5 to 4 metres that swept Mozambiques coastal city of Beira, WMO spokeswoman Clare Naden said in Geneva. According to the UN, in Malawi, over 900,000 people were affected, with 56 deaths and 577 injuries recorded, while almost 83,000 people are estimated to be displaced. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, the storm caused strong winds and heavy rains, causing flash flooding, which killed about 100 people and destroyed countless properties. Many areas remained without power and water. The European Union has pledged almost four million dollars in emergency relief to the countries affected, while the UN Emergency Fund allocated 20 million dollars. (dpa/NAN) Kazakhstans new President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was sworn in on Wednesday, marking it the first time the Central Asian republic is having a new leader in almost 30 years. Presidential predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, 78, announced his unexpected resignation in a televised address on Tuesday. Mr Tokayev, a former parliamentary speaker who served for decades in the upper echelons of the government, quickly proposed that the nations capital, Astana, should be named after Nazarbayev. I consider it necessary to immortalise the name of the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr Tokayev said in a speech, excerpts of which were carried by the state news agency, Kazinform. Astana should be renamed Nursultan and the central streets in every Kazakh city should also bear his name, Mr Tokayev told a joint meeting of both houses of Kazakhstans parliament. Mr Tokayev, previously chairman of Kazakhstans Senate, has also served as prime minister and foreign minister and is fluent in Chinese and English Languages. In endorsing Mr Tokayev for president, Mr Nazarbayev said in his resignation speech on Tuesday that Mr Tokayev had been working alongside him since Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He is an honest, responsible and indispensable person. He fully supports implemented policy inside and outside the country. All programmes were developed and adopted with his participation, Mr Nazarbayev said. Mr Nazarbayev, a former Communist Party official, rose to power at the height of political reforms under Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He then ruled the resource-rich republic with an iron fist. (dpa/NAN) The wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has urged Nigerians to present themselves for Tuberculosis test, reminding them that the disease is curable and treatable if diagnosed early. Mrs Buhari in a press statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday said the clearest symptom of the disease is when an individual is coughing for two weeks without interruption. Mrs Buhari, who is a Global TB Ambassador, spoke at a TB outreach programme at Kpebi village, Kuruduma on the fringes of the Federal Capital Territory. The outreach was organised by her office in collaboration with the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme. Mrs Buhari said although Tuberculosis is one of the worlds most deadly diseases, it is treatable and curable. She said with proper diagnosis and treatment, patients can overcome the disease and live normal lives. We should not be caught unawares. Once you notice a cough that has refused to go after two weeks, visit a health facility and consult a doctor Mrs. Buhari said treatment for TB is free and called on citizens to take advantage of the screening going on in health facilities across the country, so that if found to be positive, they can be quickly diagnosed and placed on treatment. Speaking in a similar vein, the Minister of State for Health, Osagie Ehanire, said TB is spread through coughing and sneezing in overcrowded, poorly ventilated spaces. He said the disease is a leading cause of death in the world as 1.6 million people died of TB in 2017 alone. Mr Ehanire said silence by victims is the main problem of fighting the disease as 300,000 cases went undetected in 2017. These undetected cases are untreated people, who can spread the disease in communities, and that one person with untreated lung tuberculosis can infect 10 15 other persons per year, he said. Nigeria has the highest burden of the disease in Africa and the third highest burden in the world after India and Indonesia. At least 18 Nigerians die from Tuberculosis (TB) every hour. Though Nigeria has been making significant efforts in finding missing cases of the disease, cases yet to be detected are more than those reported. Nigeria has a record of only 25 percent reported cases, meaning 75 percent of TB cases in the country are missing. Detecting all cases is very important because the missing cases are a risk to those who are not infected. With this low rate of detection, Nigeria is classified among countries with high burden for TB, TB/HIV, and MDR-TB and currently ranks sixth globally. In 2017 and 2018, the country notified 104,904 and 106,533 cases of TB respectively. This implies that a large number of TB cases are still undetected/missing thereby constituting a pool of for continuous transmission of the disease in the community. Adebola Lawanson, National Coordinator, TB and Leprosy Control Programme, said the outreach was organised as one of the ways to create awareness about the disease and curtail the spread. She said the outreach was also organised as part of activities to mark the World TB Day, which comes up March, 24. The outreach she said provided screening and treatment for those found to be positive. She called on the villagers to take advantage of the opportunity and encouraged others to visit hospitals to be screened. The tests are conducted on a mobile lab tagged wellness on wheels. District Head of Kpebi, High Chief Audu Kaura welcomed guests to his village, while a TB survivor; Mr. Abubakar Bala spoke on his experiences living with the disease. Ahead of the March supplementary governorship election in Plateau State, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jeremiah Useni, has called on security agents to maintain neutrality during the exercise. Mr Useni, a retired general, gave the advice on Wednesday while addressing journalists in Jos. He cautioned security agents who would be deployed to the 40 polling units in the nine local government areas for the supplementary election not to harass or intimidate electorate at polling units and collation centres, but operate within the rules of engagement. Mr Useni, who is currently the senator for Plateau South, said voters were harassed during the March 9 elections in areas like Tudun Wada in Jos North Local Government Area. I was saddened at the instance where security personnel who had absolutely no business with the elections, harassed some electorate who came out to cast their votes by asking them to lie down on the ground without committing any offence, he said. Mr Useni also said civil servants and traditional leaders were being threatened to vote for the ruling party or lose their positions. The PDP governorship candidate revealed that he was still very much in the race and when elected he would lead in the most responsible manner. He revealed that his candidature was aimed at restoring the states lost glory, and called on the electorate to come out in their numbers to vote for him. Responding to Mr Usenis allegations, the state Commissioner for Information, Yakubu Dati, described it as laughable. Mr Dati said the PDP was just looking for excuses having known that they have lost out in the election, because where the supplementary election would hold are our very strongholds. How would PDP accuse this government of commandeering the various security agents into such nefarious act, he said. (NAN) Wait for a second, imagine how much your state received from the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement in December 2018. Stretch your thoughts to your local government as well. What numbers do you come up with? Hold your guess now. As the chart below clearly shows, the fact is, if you are not from Osun State, then your state received over N2.4 billion, and if you are not from Delta State, your state treasury received an amount definitely below N21 billion in December 2018. If the monies were actually shared to states equally, your state would have received N6.4 billion. Your local government would have also had a minimum of N118 million or a maximum of N741.8 million. FAAC Allocation To State, Criteria A recent analysis of the FAAC distribution to states and local governments of the federation in the last 12 years provides interesting insights into the revenue distribution matrix of the country. Dataphyte Analytics report revealed that the 36 states shared a total of N25.03 trillion, and each earned an average of N695.24 billion between 2007 and 2018. The total share of each state within this period is shown in the map below and you can see the dataset here FAAC distributes revenue from the federation account thus: the federal government 52.68 per cent, the 36 state governments share 26.72 per cent, while 20.60 per cent is given to the 774 local governments in the country. It also distributes the revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) thus: the federal government, 15 per cent; state governments all share 50 per cent; and the local governments share get 35 per cent. However, the general criterium that differentiates the amount one state government receives from the other is the population size of the state. FAAC disbursement to a state is meant to be directly proportional to its population, and, consequently, the number of local governments in the state. This is the reason why these five highly populated states Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Borno rank among the top 10 beneficiaries from the FAAC allocation till between 2007 and 2018, as seen in the chart below. Within this period, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina received N1.10 trillion, N808.10 billion, N627.93 billion and N608.57 billion respectively. Borno, the least on the top 10 got N601.66 billion. Then, there is the special criteria, which allocates an additional 13 per cent derivation from the net oil revenue exclusively to oil-producing states. This is the only reason why these other five states, namely, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Ondo, rank among the top 10 earners too. As shown in the chart above, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Delta got N2.36 trillion, N2.26 trillion, and N1.86 trillion in that order while Bayelsa and Ondo had N1.48 trillion and N731 billion respectively. FAAC revenue cum development of individual states While the K states Kano, Kaduna and Katsina seem to walk away from FAAC each month with big bags, thanks to their population, it all amounts to little, considering the per capita (or revenue per head) implication. For instance, even though Kano, Kaduna and Katsina got more money than the oil-producing Abia or Imo, it only amounted to a 12-year aggregate revenue per capita of N128,970, N140,633 and N160,239 (at the 36th, 35th and 30th positions) respectively while Abia, Edo, Imo and Cross River got a 12-year aggregate revenue per capita of N223,588, N210,686, N187,548 and N203,584 (11th, 12th, 22nd and 16th positions) respectively. These statistics show that increasing state population without developing individual state resources will not suffice in the long run. Each state in Nigeria has an area of comparative economic advantage that could be tapped into, both in human and natural resource, to create the wealth of their own. Higher productivity, whether in the exploration of mineral resource or through full employment of manpower creates higher income levels for the residents of a state, and this, in turn, leads to higher government revenues from corporate and income taxes. This is the only way out of the financial dependent status of many states who have difficulty running their states due to insufficient revenue to fulfil their governmental obligations. FAAC revenue is a cue to states to grow their IGR One unfortunate twist for the FAAC revenue big bags is that they fail to live up to their ranks in terms of their corresponding IGRs. For instance, six of the oil-producing states could not generate internally half of the revenue they each received from the federal account in 2017 Delta (47%), Abia (38%), Ondo (24%), Imo (18%), Bayelsa (12%), Akwa Ibom (11%). Their high FAAC revenue state counterparts who tender the population cheque for their higher federal allocation, such as Katsina and Borno, on their own made IGRs far below 50 per cent of their federal allocation, with only 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. For a country as Nigeria, with 65 per cent federal revenue from oil sales, whenever international oil prices drop, federal revenue drops significantly, causing the fiscally-dependant states to fall into administrative distress. Right thinking state administrators should reckon that their states are just mere political departments of the federal government except they have their own means of economic sustenance, as the country Nigeria does. Interesting Outliers Five states show great promises of financial independence based on the ratio of their internally generated revenue to FAAC revenue. Ogun, Osun, Cross River, Kwara, and Enugu who are ranked among the least 10 earners from FAAC intriguingly surpassed the 50 per cent line, with Osun and Ogun amazingly leading with 112 per cent and 286 per cent respectively. Industry experts and economic analysts have decried the reliance of states on the monies that come from the federation accounts, which seem to weaken the drive to generate income from other resources within the states. The Vice President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Emmanuel Ijewere, once advised the federal government to stop paying state government FAAC, as a compelling incentive to develop the agricultural sector. In an interview with Nairametrics, he reiterated that most of the 36 states are not ready to develop their agricultural sector, due to the monthly revenue allocation they receive from the federation account. The cheap revenue has made them complacent because the monthly allocation seems like a windfall to the states since it is not generated by them.. Way Forward While FAAC disbursement to states is a constitutional arrangement, it cannot be stopped by sheer discretionary measures. However, there must be a political will to ensure that states internally generated revenue surpass federal allocations. This speaks of increased state tax revenue rather than over-indulgence in debt financing of state projects. However, it is pertinent for states to look beyond the Pay As You Earn tax (PAYE) which literally comes from public servants. A breakdown of the 2017 IGR revealed that most of the states made the bulk of their revenue from PAYE which only reflects the formal sector of the states. Efforts then have to be made to digitally capture incomes from the informal sector and to incentivise informal sector practitioners to pay their taxes. Ultimately, for a state government to be fiscally self-sufficient, it must invest in infrastructure and provide incentives to encourage local and foreign direct investments in their potentially viable sectors. Besides, it must prioritise human capital development in the areas of health, education and entrepreneurship, and as well as prohibit the culture of corruption, to conserve its hard-earned revenues. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is considered as one of the most influential politicians in Nigeria, and since the return of democracy in 1999, has been having his say in who becomes the president of Nigeria. At least until now. Mr Obasanjo was in office as president of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007. He was later enmeshed in a third term agenda scandal, (a plan to modify the constitution so he could serve a third, four-year term as President.) There was media uproar during this time, and consequently, the bill was not ratified by the National Assembly. Mr Obasanjo has repeatedly denied he ever planned to stay longer than the two terms. In an interview with Channels Television in 2007, he denied involvement in third term agenda. He alleged that it was some members of the National Assembly that proposed tenure elongation. I never toyed with the idea of a third term, Mr Obasanjo said then. In this analysis PREMIUM TIMES reviews how Mr Obasanjo endorsed late Umaru YarAdua in 2007, Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and how he endorsed Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. His endorsed candidate for 2019 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, however, failed to win the election. Umaru YarAdua At the end of 2006 in December, Umaru Musa Yaradua was elected as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through the support of Mr Obasanjo. Mr YarAdua was afterwards tagged Mr Obasanjos puppet by the opposition. Despite his ailment, he won 2007 controversial presidential election that took place on April 21, 2007, and was sworn in on May 29, 2007. Mr YarAdua was flown to Germany a month after, March 6, for medical challenges. His media aide said then; the ailment was due to campaign stress. Mr YarAdua left for Saudi Arabia to receive treatment for pericarditis in 2009 but returned to Nigeria on February 24, 2010. He died on May 5 of the same year. Late Umaru Musa YarAdua (sitting) with Former President Goodluck Jonathan The election that brought in Mr YarAdua was considered by many as one of the worst elections conducted in Nigerias history as even the winner reportedly admitted that the election that brought him was flawed. Goodluck Jonathan Mr Jonathan simply became the president after the death of his boss in 2010, and in 2011, many Nigerians adopted his no shoes story. Mr Jonathan won the general election against Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate Pastor Tunde Bakare with 59 per cent of the votes and was declared the winner on April 18, 2011. Mr Obasanjo was instrumental to Mr Jonathans rise from a deputy governor in Bayelsa State to the governor, then vice president, acting president, substantive president and later elected as president. On February 8, 2011, while speaking at PDPs rally in Oyo State, Mr Obasanjo justified why he preferred Mr Jonathan to other aspirants. He said the South-south zone had suffered marginalisation over the years and it would be proper to give them a sense of belonging. Mr Jonathan eventually emerged as president. However, Mr Obasanjo soon fell out with his protege. It started by the exchange of letters between the duo. On December 2, 2014, a letter titled Before it is too late, came from Mr Obasanjo to Mr Jonathan. He accused him (Jonathan) of failure to deliver on his electoral promises, promote national unity, and tackle corruption. Goodluck Jonathan Mr Jonathan fired back in a letter dated December 20, dismissing all the allegations; and challenged the former president, his political benefactor, to substantiate them with facts. The rift between both leaders created some upset; not just in the PDP, but also in the country. Mr Obasanjo was instrumental to the political turmoil that ended with Mr Jonathans ouster at the polls. The Buhari endorsement Following the fallout between Mr Obasanjo and Mr Jonathan, the ex-president endorsed the opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress. Speaking at the launching of his book titled My Watch in Nairobi, Kenya, Mr Obasanjo, said Mr Buhari was smart enough to rule Nigeria. The circumstances (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the election are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature he knows that. Its a question of leadership political and military. Hes smart enough. Hes educated enough. Hes experienced enough. Why shouldnt I support him? he said then. Mr Buhari eventually emerged as president beating the incumbent with more than 2.5 million votes. FILE PHOTO: APC leaders pose for photo ops with former president Olusegun Obasanjo after a meeting prior to the 2015 elections The election marked the first time an incumbent president lost re-election in Nigeria. However, just like he did to Mr Jonathan, on January 24, 2018, Mr Obasanjo soon fell out with Mr Buhari highlighting his areas of weakness and advising him not to run for office in 2019. On January 31, 2018, he launched a political movement called Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM). The movement later adopted a political party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), to realise its dream of a new Nigeria. Endorsing Atiku Despite his past attacks on his estranged deputy, Atiku Abubakar, Mr Obasanjo endorsed him for 2019 election, an endorsement which failed to yield success this time. Mr Obasanjo had on August 3, 2018, exclusively told PREMIUM TIMES the former vice president should not count on him for support in his bid to actualise his life-long ambition of being elected president of Nigeria. How can I be on the same side with Atiku? he asked. To do what? If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me if I do not know, yes. But once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support. I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed. If my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not political. But on political ground, my position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him, maybe, but not now that I know him, God will not forgive me. On October 2018, Mr Obasanjo said he had forgiven Mr Abubakar. He then endorsed him to be the president. L-R Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar [Photo: @SaharaReporters] I took the stand I had taken based on the character and attributes you exhibited in the position you found yourself. I strongly believe that I was right. It was in the overall interest of everyone and everything to take such a position. From what transpired in the last couple of hours or so, you have shown remorse; you have asked for forgiveness, and you have indicated that you have learnt some good lessons and you will mend fences and make amends as necessary and as desirable. Whenever or wherever you might have offended me, as a Christian who asks for Gods forgiveness of my sins and inadequacies daily, I forgive, Mr Obasanjo said as he endorsed Mr Abubakar. Endorsement failure? Meanwhile, the election results of the February 23 presidential election showed how Mr Abubakar was defeated by the incumbent president, Mr Buhari. Except Mr Abubakar wins the court process he has initiated challenging the emergence of Mr Buhari in the election, the election outcome may put an end to the endorsement power of Mr Obasanjo. Since Mr Abubakars loss in the polls, Mr Obasanjo is yet to speak on the result of the election. He said on Tuesday that speaking on the results would be illegal as the result was already being challenged in court. Views Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer and political analyst, told PREMIUM TIMES that the 2019 election is an indication that some politicians have lost their roots. I dont believe Obasanjo determines who becomes the president. Elections only align with his endorsement as a coincidence. However, it is also an indication that his time has ended in influencing the result of the election, he said. Inibehe Effiong Beyond that, the political consciousness in Nigeria is increasing. Nigerians now believe that the influence of the former (leader) no longer matters. Another political analyst, Ademola Owolabi, said the political consciousness of many voters has increased. As per his (Obasanjo) endorsement, let us remember that yesterday, Alhaji Abubakar filed a petition in line with the law of the land. As long as that petition is yet to be determined, one cannot say Mr Obasanjos support has failed. The tribunal may succeed, and it may not succeed. But basically, Nigerians are becoming people of their mind as regards what is good for them. They no longer want baba sope (father said) as it used to be. We, however, hoped that it would go round in all parts of the country. An injunction requested to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission from further action on the Rivers State elections has been declined by the Federal High Court in Abuja. The African Action Congress and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Biokpomabo Awara, sought the restraining injunction through an ex parte application. Mr Awaras candidacy is strongly backed by the transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, who took the action after the Supreme Court barred the All Progressives Congress from fielding candidates in Rivers. Ruling on the application on Wednesday, the judge, Inyang Ekwo, refused to grant the prayer. Instead, Mr Ekwo asked the AAC and Mr Awara to put INEC on notice to show cause why the prayer should not be granted. The judge adjourned the case to Monday, March 25. INEC had suspended collation of results from the March 9 elections in Rivers State last Sunday following reports of violence and disruptions which the commission later blamed the army and armed thugs for. But on Saturday, the commission notified it would issue a statement on a definite timeline for the continuation of the collation exercise today, Wednesday. INEC says results from 17 of the 23 local government areas in the state were already collated and in its custody. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved five more contracts for the clean up of Ogoni land in Rivers State. This was announced by the environment minister, Suleiman Hassan, while briefing journalists at the end of a seven-hour meeting of the council on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Hassan said the new contracts, valued at N3.039 billion, are different from the 16 earlier approved and which sites were handed over to the contractors in January. While the 16 contracts awarded earlier were within the ministerial tenders board, the five approved today is above the tenders board and that is why we presented them to the council, he said. The minister said the ongoing Ogoni clean-up exercise follows a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report. Also, the governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, who is the vice chairman of the National Food Security Council, said the council, chaired by Mr Buhari, submitted two memos which were both approved by FEC. Mr Bagudu said the first memo is in respect of intervention for states that have been affected by conflicts and insecurity, where many have been displaced from their homes and some are living in Internally Displaced Persons camps. The governor said whole support has been given in terms of accommodation, food and welfare. He said the food council considered the importance of helping those displaced to restore their livelihood, particularly agricultural activities. Council approved the memo by Mr President and approved N8,558,529,755 for intervention in Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. The beneficiaries are estimated about 69,872 people. The intervention includes the provision of fertiliser, seedlings, chemicals, poultry and animals to enable them to resume economic activity, he said. The Kebbi governor also said the council considered and approved the submission which originated from the National Food Security Council on states that have been severely affected by flooding. He said it is not an exhaustive list because the National Emergency Management Agency statutorily provides support to states that experience one emergency or the other. Last year, there was an unusual amount of flooding in some states, about 14 of them, and the National Food Security Council considered the impact of that flooding on the agricultural sector, food security, animal husbandry and fisheries. And so, today the council approved an intervention totalling N18,942,818,912.14. Contracts would be awarded to 15 companies to provide seedlings, agrochemicals and fertilisers to 163,117 beneficiaries located in 14 states. The states are Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto and Taraba, he said. He also said as part of the work of national food security council, other interventions have been considered and are being worked upon by the beneficiary communities and also the livestock sector. He said the committee worked with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to draw up the list of beneficiaries. A fifth prosecution witness, Musiliu Obanikoro, in the ongoing fraud trial against former governor Ayodele Fayose, on Tuesday said that he was informed two years ago that his late Special Assistant (SA), Justin Erukaa, died in an accident. Mr Obanikoro gave the evidence in continuation of his cross-examination by a second defence counsel, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN), at the Federal High Court in Lagos. Mr Fayose, the immediate-past governor of Ekiti State, was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on October 22, 2018, alongside a company, Spotless Investment Ltd, on an 11-count charge. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of N50 million, with one surety in like sum. EFCC had opened the case for prosecution on November 19, 2018 and had called four witnesses. On January 21, 2018, the prosecution called its fifth witness, Mr Obanikoro, a former minister of state for defence. At the last adjourned date on February 5, Mr Obanikoro was still under cross-examination by the second defence counsel, (Ojo), who had sought to tender the extra judicial statement of Justin Erukaa, made to EFCC in the course of their investigation. In reaction, the prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs, had objected to the admissibility of the said statement, on the grounds that counsel was seeking to tender the document from the Bar, with which he wants to contradict a witness from the Bar. Mr Jacobs cited the provisions of Section 232 and 233 of the Evidence Act, arguing that the approach was wrong. Justice Mojisola Olatoregun had consequently ordered counsel to address the court on the admissibility of such extra judicial statement made by a person interrogated during the course of investigation and who is not standing trial. Parties had addressed the court on February 7, after which the judge reserved ruling. In her ruling delivered on Monday (yesterday), the court had admitted the extra judicial statement of the late Erukaa and marked same as Exhibit J. At the resumed trial on Tuesday, Mr Ojo (SAN) continued his cross-examination with Obanikoro, who has been in the witness box since January. Ojo asked him: Do you remember your statement on Exhibit G2 made on Oct. 8, 2018? Obanikoro replied: I will have to see that to acknowledge. After being showed the exhibit, Mr Ojo asked: In exhibit G2, you specifically stated that you were not privy to any discussion between the first defendant and the former NSA. Mr Obainokoro replied: That is correct. Mr Ojo: I suggest that because you were not privy to any such conversation, you cant on your oath tell the court any date or time of such alleged conversation. The witness replied: Correct. Mr Ojo: In the same Exhibit G2, you categorically said that Justin Erukaa died after he had made Exhibit J. The witness replied: Thats correct. This Justin Erukaa who was one of your Special Assistants, can you tell the court how you got to know about his death, after making Exhibit J. Mr Obanikoro: He left Lagos a day before Sallah about two years ago, and the police called one of my SAs that the owner of the phone just had an accident and died on the spot; and he immediately called me and informed me. Mr Ojo: Do you remember on February 4, you told the court that you could not recall whether or not Justin Erukaa made any statement to the operatives of the EFCC? Witness: Yes, I said so. The defence counsel then urged that Exhibit J be showed to the witness and then he asked him, What is Exhibit J and Obanikoro replied: It is a statement. Defence counsel: Whose name appears as the maker or author of Exhibit J? Witness replied: Justin Erukaa. Defence counsel: Did you attend the burial of Justin Erukaa? Witness: I was there with my family. Finally, Mr Ojo asked the witness if any document was provided to the EFCC operatives in the course of interrogation to back any of his statements before the court concerning the second defendant? The witness replied: No. With this last question, Mr Ojo informed the court that he had finished his cross-examination of Obanikoro. Mr Obanikoro, consequently, stepped down from the witness box. The prosecution called its sixth witness, Olugboyega Falae, a staff of Ecobank, who said he had worked in Skye bank, (now Polaris Bank), as Head of its Estate Support Department. On what he knows about the property identified as No. 44, Plot 1241, Osun Crescent, Maitama, Abuja, the witness told the court that one of the responsibilities of his unit, was to dispose non-core assets of the bank, that are in excess of the requirements. He said that the property was one of such assets, which was sold at the time, after acquiring requisite approvals. Mr Falae said that in the case of the said property, one Mrs Titiloye approached the bank with a N300 million offer for the property, adding that there were discussions and exchange of letters between them, before the property was eventually sold for N200 million. After the witness finished his evidence before the court, he was cross-examined by the defence counsel, but there was no re-examination from the prosecution. The court has adjourned until Wednesday (tommorow), for continuation of trial. According to the charge, on June 17, 2014, Mr Fayose and one Abiodun Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti State, which sum they reasonably ought to have known, formed part of crime proceeds. Mr Fayose was alleged to have received a cash payment of the sum of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion) from the then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution and which sum exceeded the amount allowed by law. He was also alleged to have retained the sum of N300 million in his Zenith Bank account and took control of the aggregate sums of about N622 million, which sum he ought to have known, formed part of crime proceeds. Mr Fayose was alleged to have procured De Privateer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd, to retain in their Zenith and FCMB accounts, the aggregate sums of N851 million which they reasonably ought to have known, formed part of crime proceeds. Besides, the defendant was alleged to have used the aggregate sums of about N1.6 billion to acquire properties in Lagos and Abuja, which sums he reasonably ought to have known, formed part of crime proceeds. The accused was also alleged to have used the sum of N200 million, to acquire a property in Abuja, in the name of his elder sister, Moji Oladeji, which sum he ought to know, also forms crime proceeds. The offences contravene the provisions of Sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2)(b), 16 (d), and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011. (NAN) Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the North-Central zone in the House of Representatives have called on the ruling party to zone the position of the speaker to their zone. The lawmakers made the demand at a press conference after the plenary on Tuesday. Speaking on behalf of the caucus, John Dyegh (Benue, APC) said their call was in the spirit of equity and justice. He was accompanied by only four others, while he signed the speech for and on behalf of the APC North-Central Caucus. We, the members of the North-Central Caucus of the All Progressives Congress in the House of Representatives, called this briefing to express our position with respect to the leadership position of the ninth Assembly. You are not unaware of the interest the issue of the leadership of the next assembly has generated in the public space. We want to use this medium to acknowledge the supremacy of our party, the APC, in addressing the issue of zoning of positions in an equitable, just and fair manner that will foster unity and cordial relations among members of our party and our colleagues from the other political divides. We are confident of the ability and capacity of the national leadership of the APC to do what is right to all in order to advance national cohesion, balance of power and federal character. It is in this regard that we humbly wish to appeal to our great party, the APC, to strongly consider the North-Central geopolitical zone for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly. The lawmaker said giving the slot to the North-Central zone would satisfy and advance the cause of equity since the North-West and the South-West already have the president and vice-president positions, respectively. He added that apart from the North-West and the North-East, the North-Central delivered handsomely for the party in the general elections and as such needs to be rewarded for the hard work and loyalty. The need to ensure balance and spread between and among the six geopolitical zones has made it imperative to give prime consideration to the North-Central zone to produce the position of the speaker. Being the zone with delicate and peculiar location and challenges within the federation, it is of utmost importance to carry us along in the hierarchy of power distribution in the country as this will in no small measure, help in stabilising the polity. The incoming 9th National Assembly may still throw up old foes in the contest of Speakership of the House of Representatives. In 2015, Yakubu Dogara representing Dass/Bogoro/Tafa Belewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State edged out Femi Gbajabiamila representing Surelere Federal Constituency of Lagos State despite the preference of the APC leadership for the latter. There are however other factors such as political parties and zoning that will shape the contest in June. Members from different parts of the country have indicated interest for the number four seat in the country. The annual iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival will honour some of the recently deceased members of the art and culture community at its opening cocktail on Wednesday. The event holds at amphitheatre of Freedom Park in Lagos. The departed artists to be honoured include Pius Adesanmi (1972 2019), Okwui Enwezor (1963 2019), Paul Emema (1965 2019), Olabisi Silva (1962 2019), and Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike (1950 2019). According to the festival directorate, these are very important contributors to the building and sustenance of our creative community, but who have regrettably, moved on to higher services. We wish to celebrate their life and career in our own little way as a means of keeping them fresh and evergreen in our memory. Though the festival is conceptually framed around the iREP generic theme of Africa in Self-Conversation, the theme for this year is Storylines,' the organisers said in a statement. It will explore the various dynamics of storytelling with a view to tracing the importance of stories to human and social developments, especially as it concerns nation-building in Africa. Over 50 films collected from 22 countries, and three continents Africa, Europe and the Americas are expected to feature in the festival. Also eight presentations and panel discussions on various dimensions of the theme have been designed to elucidate on the theme, while the various filmmakers in attendance will also interface with the audience on the content, form and techniques of realising their work in an educational exchange manner. Short bio of departed artists to be honoured: NWACHUKWU FRANK UKADIKE (19502018) He received his Bachelor of Arts from Croydon College, London, in 1980 and a Masters degree in film and telecommunications from the University of Oregon in 1982, before moving to New York University, where he earned a Masters degree in cinema studies in 1986 and his Ph.D in 1989. FRANK UKADIKE He was on the faculty of the University of Michigan before joining the Tulane faculty in 1998. Professor Ukadike was a scholar of cinema and film history, with a particular focus on African cinema, and film and media of the African diaspora. His first book Black African Cinema, published by the University of California Press in 1994, was widely reviewed and much heralded as one of the first books to address the medium through a combination of film theory, history, and theories of decolonizing the Other. In recent years, he published a book of interviews with African filmmakers called Questioning African Cinema (2002), an edited collection of essays called African Cinema: Narratives, Perspectives and Poetics (2014), and was a regular jurist for film festivals. He served on the advisory panels for the NEH, Fulbright, Guggenheim, and the Nollywood Study Center at the Pan-African University in Lagos. OLABISI SILVA (1962 2019) Founder and artistic director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos), which opened in December 2007, to promote research, documentation and exhibitions related to contemporary art in Africa and abroad, Bisi curated numerous exhibitions, and was also the founder of the Asiko Art School, which describes itself as part art workshop, part residency, and part art academy. BISI SILVA She was co-curator of The Progress of Love, a transcontinental collaboration across three venues in the United States and Nigeria (October 2012 January 2013). She was co-curator of J. D. Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty, Kiasma, Helsinki (April November 2011). She was also co-curator for the second Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece, Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty in September 2009. In 2006, Silva was one of the curators for the Dakar Biennale in Senegal. In collaboration with the Portuguese art critic Isabel Carlos, she selected artists for the third Artes Mundi prize in Wales. She also curated Contact Zone: Contemporary Art from West and North Africa (October 2007) and an exhibition titled Telling Contemporary Finnish photography, in the Seventh Biennial of African Photography in Bamako (November 2007). She wrote on contemporary art for international publications, including Art Monthly, Untitled, Third Text, M Metropolis, Agufon and for Nigerian newspapers such as This Day. She was on the editorial board of n.paradoxa, an international feminist art journal and was the guest editor for Africa and African diaspora issue of n.paradoxa (January 2013). PIUS ADEBOLA ADESANMI (1972 2019) Born in Isanlu, in Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in French language from the University of Ilorin in 1992, a Masters degree in French from the University of Ibadan in 1998, and a PhD in French Studies from the University of British Columbia, Canada, in 2002. He was a Fellow of the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) from 1993 to 1997, and of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) in 1998 and 2000. From 2002 to 2005, he was Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. In 2006, he joined Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada, as a Professor of literature and African studies.[5] He was the director of the universitys Institute of African Studies until his death. For many years, Adesanmi was a regular columnist for Premium Times and Sahara Reporters. His writings were often satiric, focusing on the absurd in the Nigerian social and political system. In 2015, he gave a TED talk, titled, Africa is the forward that the world needs to face. His publications include The Wayfarer and Other Poems (Oracle Books, Lagos; 2001); Youre Not a Country, Africa (Penguin Books; 2011); Naija No Dey Carry Last (Parresia Publishers; 2015). OKWUI ENWEZOR (1963 2019) Born as the youngest son of an affluent Igbo family in Awkuzu in Anambra state, Okwui in 1982, moved to the Bronx area of the USA at the age of 18 after a semester at the University of Nigeria. In 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political sciences at the New Jersey City University. MUNICH, GERMANY MARCH 06: Okwui Enwezor, director of the Haus der Kunst, attends the All the Worlds Futures International Art Exhibition Press Conference at Haus der Kunst on March 6, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Joerg Koch/Getty Images) After graduation, he embraced poetry, and performed at the Knitting Factory and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the East Village. His study of poetry led him through language-based art forms like Conceptual Art to art criticism. Teaming up in 1993 with fellow African critics Chika Okeke-Agulu and Salah Hassan, he launched the triannual Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art from his Brooklyn apartment. After putting on a couple of small museum shows, he had his breakthrough in 1996 as a curator of In/sight, an exhibit of 30 African photographers at the Guggenheim Museum. In/sight was one of the first shows anywhere to put contemporary art from Africa in the historical and political context of colonial withdrawal and the emergence of independent African states. He was the director of the Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany; and also had the roles of adjunct curator of the International Center of Photography in New York City, and Joanne Cassulo Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. In 2013, he was appointed curator of the Venice Biennale 2015, making him the first African-born curator in the exhibitions 120-year history. Previously, he had served as the artistic director of the Documenta 11 in Germany (19982002), as the first non-European to hold the job. He also served as artistic director of the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (199697), the Biennial Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo de Sevilla, in Seville, Spain (2006), the 7th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea(2008), and the Triennale dArt Contemporain of Paris at the Palais de Tokyo (2012), among other major international curatorial roles. He served on numerous juries, advisory bodies, and curatorial teams. PAUL EMEMA (1965-2019) Born Paul Okeoghene Emema, he was a native of Oleh in Isoko town of Delta State. Way before he studied Mass Communication at the University of Uyo, he had created and written all the episodes of the popular TV series, Behind The Clouds and later Supple Blues produced by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). PAUL EMEMA His work, Barbers Wisdom was selected as part of the South African New Directions Initiative, and directed by Amaka Igwe on 35mm; produced by Tajudeen Adepetu. He was co-writer, co-producer and co-director of over 100 episodes of I Need To Know, a commissioned series on girl child HIV education. In 1999, he was commissioned to direct a biographic feature of the Catholic saint, Father Tansi, produced by Francis Onwochei. He later released a documentary on Hayford Alley in respect of his mission on church growth and set up. He was at a time commissioned by Shell Petroleum to produce 26 episodes of a sensitization drama series: Friends At The Gate. He did several documentaries for Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and DESOPADEC governmental agencies catering for the oil-producing states. He was a poet and published author. One of his plays is titled A Plague Of Gadflies which he had hoped to put on stage before his final call. (Adapted from a tribute by Francis Onwochei) Amidst rowdiness, the Senate on Wednesday passed resolutions to check the roles of the military in the 2019 elections and inconsistent application of electoral laws by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The deliberations leading to the adoption of four resolutions supporting the motion were marred by rowdiness as senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) openly showed dissent to the debate. The motion on the militarisation of the electoral process and alleged double standard of INEC was presented by Dino Melaye (PDP, Kogi West). Mr Melaye prayed his colleagues to look into the matter to forestall future occurrences. The Senate is conscious of the need to grow our nascent democracy through the institutionalisation of procedures, application of civil laws and the restriction of excessive use of military force in the civil affairs of the state, said Mr Melaye. The Senate is aware of the growing militarisation of our nations electoral process, and the inconsistent application of electoral laws by the institutional umpire, the lNEC, especially as witnessed in the recent national election 2019, where the pretence of the use of extreme military force akin to a war campaign was applied in electoral polling stations, and the declaration of inconclusive elections, as a term being used inconsistently, and partially at the whims of electoral officers in occasions that appear solidly as similar cases; The Senate is concerned that this extreme militarization of a democratic electoral process and the inconsistent application of electoral laws by INEC matters of national elections pose serious threats to our democracy, and has security implications that must be nipped in the bud; The Senate is persuaded that the nation is on the edge of a precipice, and our democracy can be saved for future posterity if only we can build strong institutions that can operate within established laws, and with our military forces restricted to their traditional roles of defending the nation. Giving a further explanation on the motion, Mr Melaye bemoaned the number of deaths recorded during the conduct of the election and the high-handedness of the military. In the midst of all these, it is pathetic that there is no presidential broadcast or statement from the leader of this country. This is a national calamity, he said. The leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North), said elections in Nigeria are still works-in-progress that require attention at all times. He urged the Senate to review the election and see where legislative action is required rather than taking the whole issue in whole. He was swiftly counter by the Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South). Whoever is siding with what went wrong in the elections is unfair to Nigerians. That election is a sham. There was no way that election could have been an advancement of the 2015 election. Everything was inconsistent; INEC was inconsistent. The parameters they used were different in states and units. That is wrong, she said. Her comments, however, incurred the anger of opposition senators who shouted on top of their voices. The Senate was soon plunged into rowdiness. The rowdiness continued even after another speaker, Mao Ohabunwa (PDP, Abia North), had been recognised to speak (on) the consideration of prayers. Adopting the four prayers of the motion, the Senate condemned the massive use of military forces in the national electoral process of the nation and urged INEC to ensure the unrestricted and consistent application of all electoral laws without bias to a candidate or a party in all elections. The Senate also urged the president, Muhammadu Buhari, to give assent to the recent Amendment to the Electoral Act to ensure a level playing field and adoption of equal standards in our national elections for a strong and peaceful democracy in Nigeria. The Senate Committee on lNEC was also mandated to investigate all perceived inconsistent application of electoral laws by INEC in the 2019 Elections Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday faulted a claim by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) that it pays him an annual allowance for his role as a facilitator of the university. Mr Obasanj is a lecturer or facilitator at the Abeokuta campus of the university. Premium Times reported that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Abdalla Adamu, revealed that Mr Obasanjo was being paid N40,000 annually as an allowance for being a facilitator of the university. Mr Obasanjos allowance is N40,000 a year and he is happy being our facilitator. He has an office in our Abeokuta Study Centre, where we attached to him two students of Christian Theology. But Mr Obasanjo faulted Mr Adams claim, saying he renders service to the university free of charge. He is demanding that Mr Adams retracts the statement and offer him an apology. In a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former president said the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor made it necessary for him to make the clarification and to set the records straight on his engagement with the university. Ordinarily, this will have been unnecessary exercise, if it has been the usual shenanigans of the media to sell their newspapers. But, the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdalla Adam, on the headline made this clarification imperative and to set the records straight on His Excellencys engagement with the University, the statement said. In putting the records in right perspective, His Excellency wishes to draw the attention of the Vice-Chancellor to his letter dated 12 April 2018, which was written to the University Registrar, Mr. Felix Edoka, when the Council offered him a Part-Time appointment as an Instructional/Tutorial Facilitator and Project Supervisor in the Faculty of Arts at the Abeokuta Study Centre. Mr Obasanjo recalled that, specifically in paragraph 3 of the letter, he wrote: I will gladly undertake any of the functions mentioned in paragraph two of your letter pro bono and I hope that the functions will be flexible enough to accommodate my rather tight schedule. The former president said he has not received a dime either as salaries or otherwise from the university. He said he stated in his letter that the appointment was received with pleasure and duty to give back to others out of what God and NOUN have given me. He said the statement by the universitys vice-chancellor was embarrassing to him, having generated mixed reactions across the globe, hence, the need for the Vice-Chancellor to retract the statement and tender an apology. The publication, which has generated mixed reactions from the general public and calls from far and near on the Elder statesman expressing concern, is, to say the least, embarrassing, uncharitable, mischievous and in bad taste, with immediate demand for a retraction and apology from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, the statement said. An FCT High Court, Maitama, on Wednesday further fixed March 26, for the adoption of final written addresses in the no case submission filed by Maryam Sanda, charged with the alleged killing of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello. Billyaminu was the son of a former acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bello Haliru Mohammed. Maryam was alleged to have killed her husband on November 19, 2017, through multiple stabbing and was arraigned alongside three other persons. The three other persons, Maimuna Aliyu, Maryams mother; Aliyu Sanda, her brother; and Sadiya Aminu, her housemaid, were charged with conspiracy in the murder case. They all pleaded not guilty to the charge. The case which was supposed to be heard by Justice Yusuf Halilu, was further shifted due to the absence of the judge who was said to be on an urgent official assignment. Counsel in the matter were present in court and with their consensus, the next adjourned date was fixed, the defendants were also present in court. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution closed its case on January 22 after calling six witnesses. Olusegun Jolaawo, counsel for Sanda, thereafter informed the court that he was going to file a no- case- submission. (NAN) A Seventh Prosecution Witness, Kennedy Osunwa, on Wednesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that he was engaged to prepare a Deed of Assignment with respect to a property lying at 100, Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island, Lagos. The witness, who is a legal practitioner, gave the evidence at the resumed trial of immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who is standing trial on allegations bordering on fraud. Mr Fayose was arraigned on an 11-count charge by The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on October 22, 2018 alongside a company, Spotless Investment Ltd. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and the court had granted him bail in the sum of N50 million with one surety in like sum. EFCC had opened the case for the prosecution on November 19, 2018 and called four witnesses. On January 21, 2018, the prosecution called its fifth witness, Senator Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defence. At the last adjourned date on Tuesday (yesterday) both the fifth Prosecution Witness, Mr Obanikoro, and the sixth witness, Omotayo Falae, had both concluded their evidences before the court. On Wednesday, Mr Osunwa appeared in court as seventh witness for the EFCC. The Prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), led him in evidence and asked him to tell the court what he knows about the case. Mr Osunwa narrated: Sometime in 2014/2015, a company that I had retainership with as a tenant solicitor, (Still Earth Ltd), called me and said they had acquired some properties lying at 100, Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island And that they have concluded arrangement to sell some because they have a buyer and the particulars of the buyer were given to me to prepare a Deed of Assignment. I was told that one Abiodun Agbele with a company, J. J Technical, are buying the property, The witness said the necessary particulars as well as the consideration for the property which he was to insert in the agreement were supplied to him and he prepared the Deed. He said at completion, he informed the officers of the company that the Deed was ready for execution and they instructed him to bring the agreement to the company as the said Agbele would be coming to take same. The witness told the court that the agreement was sent as requested and after some days he was called by the officers of the company that same had been executed and he was shown a copy of the Deed that was acknowledged by Agbeles lawyer, one Mr Kolade. He said in 2016, he was invited by the EFCC to come with all the officers of his company as well as with all the Deeds of Assignment he prepared with respect to the property at Victoria Island. The witness said after he received the invite, he immediately travelled to Abuja with all the requirements, adding that he submitted all document to the Commission. Laying a foundation for tendering of the document, the prosecutor asked the witness If you see the document will you recognise it and the witness replied Yes The document was tendered without objections from defence, it was admitted by the court and marked exhibit M to M5. Mr Jacobs asked the witness to look at the exhibits and tell the court how much he was asked to put as consideration for the property. The witness replied that for exhibit M2 he was asked to put the sum of 1.1 million dollars as consideration; for exhibit M3 he was asked to put 1.17 million dollars, for exhibit M4, he was asked to put N40 million and for exhibit M5 also same cost of N40 million. According to the witness, the price stated in the agreement was the price he was asked to put down by the Assignee. Under cross examination by defence counsel Olalekan Ojo (SAN), the witness said when invited by the EFCC, he was directed to tell them what he knows about the Deed. Mr Ojo: Did you tell them any lie, and the witness replied to the best of my knowledge, No. Mr Ojo then suggested to the witness So, it is possible that you unintentionally lied in your statement, and the witness replied I cannot say that. When asked if at any point after making his statement, he returned to the EFCC to say he forgot to put in any fact, the witness replied I cant remember. Mr Ojo: Are you telling this court that you cannot remember whether you went to the EFCC to say I forgot to say this or that, and the witness replied I remember I made statement to the EFCC but I cannot remember whether I made additional statement. Meanwhile, there was a mild drama in the courtroom when the witness made assertions before the court alleging intimidation by counsel. He had first said Sir, you know you are my senior at the Bar, and subsequently the witness again said (referring to Ojo) The way you are looking at me I am intimidated and I seek the protection of the Court, The judge urged parties to make progress, adding that her court was concerned with law and justice, and would only continue to uphold what is lawful and just. Mr Ojo then asked the witness if the parties had informed him that the price he was putting down as the consideration for the property was false, and the witness replied No. The witness added that he only got to know about it at the EFCC. Mr Ojo again asked the witness if after learning about the falsehood, he had made any additional statement to the EFCC stating that fact, and the witness replied I did not Mr Ojo My lord, with due respect that will be all for this witness, Continuation of trial will resume on April 15. According to the charge, on June 17, 2014, Mr Fayose and one Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti State, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds. Mr Fayose was alleged to have received a cash payment of the sum of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion) from the then Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution and which sum exceeded the amount allowed by law. He was also alleged to have retained the sum of N300 million in his bank account and took control of the aggregate sums of about N622 million which sum he ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds. Mr Fayose was alleged to have procured De Privateer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd, to retain the aggregate sums of N851 million which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds. Besides, the defendant was alleged to have used the aggregate sums of about N1.6 billion to acquire properties in Lagos and Abuja, which sums he reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds. The accused was also alleged to have used the sum of N200 million to acquire a property in Abuja in the name of his elder sister Moji Oladeji, which sum he ought to know also forms crime proceeds. The offences contravenes the provisions of sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2) (b), 16 (d), and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011. (NAN) The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against setting dangerous and evil precedence in the political history of Nigeria by declaring elections inconclusive. The speaker, who was adressing a PDP NEC meeting in Abuja Wednesday, also warned against craving for power at all costs just for the sake of being in power and not for impacting lives positively. Citing examples of elections recently conducted in Ghana and other African countries, he noted that it is only in Nigeria that it is a practice to declare elections inconclusive as there is nothing like that in other climes. Observing that there is always a consequence for every action, Mr Dogara said, It will be very, very unfortunate that INEC, which is led by a first-class professor of History, will set this dangerous and unacceptable precedence in our political history. What has happened is pure evil. Our consolation as faithful members of this society is that evil does not last forever and no evil doer has ever escaped punishment. it is a law of nature, that whatever you sow is what you will reap. Furthermore, he averred that , For those who believe in power for the sake of power and not because they want to empower people, not because they want to better the lives of our People, there are also lessons they can learn from history. History is replete with examples of all those who pursued power for the sake of power. Whether it is Hitler, I dont want to name more, one example is enough. Their lives have always ended up in some tragedy, that is the fate of anyone that seeks power for the sake of power. We have seen that displayed in Nigeria and I wish we can take heed from the lessons of history. He, however, charged PDP members not to despair because of the supplementary elections that have been ordered by INEC for positions they are contesting for, saying that the party won five out of the six states where there will be reruns and God willing, victory will be theirs after the exercise has been concluded. Nigerias Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said that the victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the just concluded polls will be short-lived. The Senate president stated this on Wednesday at an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja. Mr Saraki explained that contrary to the views of many Nigerians, the outcome of the March 9 presidential election was a loss to the entire country and not just the PDP. INEC had declared President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC winner of the election. Mr Buhari, according to the electoral body, scored 15,191,847 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP garnered 11,262,978 votes to finish as runner-up. But in his response to the declaration, the PDP candidate said the result was unacceptable to him and he would challenge it in court. While delivering his remarks, Mr Saraki further noted that the conduct of the election, including the role of the military during the exercise, has made the country a laughing stock in the international community, adding that the purported winners of the election are ashamed of the process. This victory that the other party has seen is going to be short lived. If anybody believes that it is a loss to PDP, it is a loss to the country that history will not forgive. We said it many times here, that the worst to do is to do an election that as a country Nigeria will not be proud of. We have done an election that no doubt anybody and even those that think they have won are ashamed of the kind of election that we did. I think it is a shame to the country and to those that were given that responsibility to do. They have Saturday as their last opportunity to try as much as possible to reclaim part of their embarrassment to the country. How can a country like Nigeria, as the speaker said, Ghana has done it, even Congo, even Zimbabwe have done elections. And we say we do elections, with seven inconclusive. We did elections before, in 2015, we did it in 2011, 1999 and after so many years, this is what we can produce. It is not a loss to the PDP, it is to the country. It just shows the level of desperation. I have confidence that this will be shortlived and as such let us ensure on Saturday, that these five states that are ours remain within the PDP and INEC should for once do what is right. We have a great future ahead and I believe we will start that on Saturday to make sure that we defend those five states that are declared inconclusive, Mr Saraki said. Also speaking at the NEC meeting, the PDP vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, said he wondered the kind of legacy the APC administration is setting for the younger generation if they supervise electoral malpractices. As for me, while we blame the INEC and the security agencies, the biggest shame goes to those who are directing them to do the wrong thing. If you choose to be a leader, especially with APC that claims integrity, the biggest corruption and the biggest show of a government that does not believe in integrity is to rig election. Because the process through which you come into office, is far more fundamental than what you do there after. I think we should hold them responsible for what is happening in this country now. The examples we are setting for the young ones, I dont know what they will tell a young man who is cheating in an exam in this country after seeing the ways our elections are conducted. I dont know what they will tell those who are robbing banks and kidnapping people, because we have seen the biggest of it by this election where people are happy after robbing the nation and their states, Mr. Obi said. Earlier, in his welcome address, the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, said the emergency NEC meeting is to enable party members deliberate on issues relating to the March 23 supplementary polls. The PDP chairman cautioned the INEC chairman to ensure that the results of the supplementary polls reflect the wishes of the people of the affected states. He added that if the INEC chairman continues the way he has been going, he would truncate the nations democracy. He charged the INEC boss to see the supplementary polls as an avenue for the electoral commission to redeem its credibility. He also admonished the military personnel that might be deployed for the supplementary elections to stick to their rules of engagement. The media office of former Governor Bola Tinubu on Tuesday sent the statement below to PREMIUM TIMES in reaction to speculations that he travelled to Kano to dabble in the forthcoming supplementary election in the state. READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW. Asiwaju Tinubu Is Not in Kano, Not Dabbling in Kano Elections All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has put a lie to the rumour going round that he is at present in Kano and meddling in the Kano elections. Asiwaju is not in Kano and has not been in Kano at any point during the conduct of these elections. The picture that these liars are circulating of Asiwaju and Governor Ganduje is one that was taken last year when the governor visited Lagos, his Media Adviser, Tunde Rahman, said in a statement last night. He said those peddling the rumour know the picture is not true, but they still use it because their relationship to the truth is an adversarial one. According to him, Asiwaju has nothing but utmost admiration and respect to the people of Kano and Kano brand of progressives politics provided the impetus for the formation of the APC. The statement reads: Weak and mean politicians turn to rumor and fear mongering because their true appeal to the people is limited and uncertain. These desperate operatives stir resentment of others as a way to get the support of the people. Politicians of this ilk are afraid to stand before the people on their own two feet. They use lies and deception as their crutch. Such is the case with the false stories of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu being in Kano, casting him as some type of one-man political invasion intending to unduly influence the governorship election. For the record, Asiwaju is not in Kano and has not been in Kano at any point during the conduct of these elections. The picture that these liars are circulating of Asiwaju and Governor Ganduje is one that was taken last year when the governor visited Lagos. The fear-mongers know the picture is old and was taken in Lagos. They still use it because their relationship to the truth is an adversarial one. Scratch a liar and you will find a hypocrite as well. These people encouraged and cheered when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and outgoing Senate President Bukola Saraki led a posse of Peoples Democratic Party figures into Lagos, boasting they were going to capture Lagos during the governorship elections. These people did not call Atiku and others to order for interfering in Lagos. Instead, they urged Atiku and others to undertake this misadventure. The All Progressives Congress did not cry and lament that Atiku came to Lagos to swing an election that did not concern him. Instead, we rose to the occasion and relied on our organic and positive relationship to the people. With regard to the impact these PDP operatives had in the Lagos election, let it be said that they came, they saw, they lost and they left with nothing in hand but another defeat. Regarding the people of Kano, Asiwaju has nothing but the utmost respect and admiration. Kano has historically stood as a bastion of progressive politics. Its brand of politics helped inspire the establishment of the APC. Kano has an enlightened electorate that will vote as they believe. Asiwaju hopes that they will disregard the lies and rumors about him and remain faithful to their progressive tradition. If the people do so, then they would have voted in their best interests and that is for the APC, the party of President Muhammadu Buhari. Let us all join in making an important observation. It is curious that these fear-mongers devote so much attention trying to disparage one man who is not even a candidate, holds no public office and who has not even set foot on Kanos soil during this election. These politicians are so shameless that they must demonize Asiwaju Tinubu to attract support. Theirs is but a blatant attempt to stoke regional and ethnic resentment and division to accomplish their selfish aims. Such tactics are harmful to the democracy Nigeria seeks to enshrine and goes against the progressive tradition that describes Kanos politics and that has made Kano a beacon of hope and advancement in our nation. It is expected that a party leader of Asiwaju Tinubus standing will encourage his partys candidates. PDPs attempt to make something nefarious of this normal pattern is disingenuous. If they truly believed what they were saying they would discourage PDP members from other states from visiting Kano or offering any form of support. Of course, they do no such thing. But what is proper for the PDP to do, they say it is a dangerous affront for the APCs Tinubu to do. We believe their attack against Tinubu is not so much that they fear what he might do but that they fear they lack the support of the people. Thus, they try to portray Tinubu as an interloper as the best way to gain support. Asiwaju will not play this game with them. He believes in a free and fair electoral process, a project to which he has devoted the majority of his adult life to achieve. Let this election be decided on the relative merits of the competing candidates. Do not cast Asiwaju Tinubu as some villain in a plot you have contrived in a feeble attempt to cloak your political weaknesses and uncertainties. Asiwaju is a committed democrat and advocate of free and fair electoral processes. He will neither support nor work to promote anything that will undermine or weaken the electoral system. He has been at the forefront of the struggle for electoral reforms, justice and equality over the years. He will never do anything that will detract from these fine ideals for which he has strenuously worked. Any reports to the contrary are just the lies and mongering of those whose love and support for democracy are much less than his. Tinubu Media Office, Tunde Rahman March 19. The Senate has suspended its plenary for two weeks to allow lawmakers to attend to budget matters. The motion for the adjournment was moved by Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, on Wednesday. Mr Lawan (APC, Yobe North) prayed the lawmakers to suspend their plenary until Tuesday, April 2. The senators adopted the prayer via a voice vote. Nigerias 2019 budget was on Tuesday passed for second reading at the Senate. After the passage, the Senate mandated its committee on appropriation to work on the N8.8 trillion budget. For the same reason, the House of Representatives on Tuesday suspended its plenary for two weeks. A spokesperson of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Buba Galadima, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of using the military to intimidate voters and rig the just concluded elections. Mr Galadima, while speaking on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, said the events in Rivers State were evidence of the intimidation. It is not an accusation, the military are good candidates of the International Criminal Court, he said. I saw it on television where they were going to houses killing people, he added. The APC in Rivers State had earlier said that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC) in the state were collaborating with Governor Nyesom Wike to announce concocted results for the elections in the state. The party praised the military, which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the other hand, had accused of interference in the elections. The military on Monday denied the accusation. Mr Galadima said records are available to show that Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, won the presidential election. They said they won and want to go to court to inspect the election materials, that is clearly to show they rigged the election, he said I am speaking with authority and I can defend it in the court of law, he said. Have you ever heard that a respondent went to court to check the results of an election because he was not sure his agents did the right thing? he said. The APC had, indeed, filed applications seeking to inspect the election material used in the 2019 presidential election. A source told PREMIUM TIMES there were two applications one by the party and another by President Muhammadu Buhari seeking an order of the court for the inspection. The PDP and Mr Abubakar filed a petition on Monday challenging Mr Buharis victory at the polls. According to the PDP and Mr Abubakar, the INEC computer server showed that Mr Abubakar won the February 23 election with about 1.6 million votes to defeat Mr Buhari of the APC. Mr Galadima also accused the APC of paying highly placed Nigerians to beg Mr Abubakar not to court. Even after the Supreme Court ruled the 2003, 2007, and 2011 election free and fair, Mr Buhari did not congratulate the winners, he said. Jimi Agbaje, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, has denied the raging rumour that he had abandoned the party in anger. I remain in PDP, Mr Agbaje told PREMIUM TIMES following an enquiry seeking to corroborate claims of his departure. Disregard the fake news. Mr Agbaje, a career pharmacist who had sought to govern Lagos three times in the last four general election cycles, was reported to have left the PDP following insufferable attacks directed at him because he lost the recent governorship election in the state. Mr Agbaje was roundly defeated by Jide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress at the March 9 governorship poll. He wasted no time in placing a call to congratulate Mr Sanwo-Olu and accept the outcome. It was not immediately clear where claims of Mr Agbajes exit from PDP emanated, but Western Post, a regional newspaper, was amongst the earliest platforms to publish the disputed story Wednesday morning. The Western Post report subsequently earned a footing on social media, where a flurry of pro-APC social media handles had had a filled day passing it around with biting commentary. The paper said Mr Agbaje did not immediately indicate interest in another political party following the purported resignation. Even though there was no specific source attributed for the purported resignation of Mr Agbaje from PDP, the report also managed to gain immediate traction even amongst PDP loyalists. Femi Fani-Kayode, a senior member of the opposition, lamented Mr Agbajes resignation and quickly drew similarities between it and other recent development in the party. The former aviation minister later tweeted a retraction, saying he had Mr Agbaje on the phone and the Lagos politician denied leaving the PDP. The debunked report came as the party was still reeling from the resignation of Gbenga Daniel, a former governor of Ogun State who played a crucial role as a top PDP strategist in the presidential campaign. Mr Daniel resigned on March 14, saying in a letter to party chairman Uche Secondus that he had seen it all in politics and had no immediate reasons to continue in partisan politics. He, however, said a day later that he was considering a request by his supporters to join the APC. Members of the 2019 election petition tribunals have been warned to avoid sentiments in handling the various cases brought before them. The President of the Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, gave the warning on Wednesday at the induction of the tribunal members in Abuja. Ms Bulkachuwa inaugurated the tribunal members before they were sworn in by the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, in January. She urged the members to own their tribunals and ensure justice in the adjudication of the various election petitions. The Appeal Court President urged the members to decide on cases without fear or favour. She noted the vast nature of the work at hand and called on the judges to ensure due diligence and professionalism in the discharge of their duties. Always be law-abiding and do not allow yourselves to be stirred by emotions, fear, or sentiments. You are expected to be in charge of your courts. As judicial officers, we should discharge the responsibilities reposed on us, both individually and collectively by dispensing justice in accordance with the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will within the dictates of our conscience and oath of office, Ms Bulkachuwa said. The 250 members of the tribunal were inaugurated by Mr Muhammad shortly after the suspension of the CJN, Walter Onnoghen in January. The induction ceremony took place at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Gudu District, Abuja. North County Transit District has postponed the removal of about 90 bus stops, saying it needs more time to address concerns and to post notices at each of the locations to be eliminated. We are unfortunately behind schedule in deployment of signage at stops slated for removal, said NCTD communications officer Kimy Wall. Notices must be posted at each stop at least 30 days in advance, she said. As a result, the service that had been scheduled to end April 7 will now end April 21. NCTD has 30 bus routes with 1,800 stops. Plans call for the elimination of 27 stops in Oceanside, 18 in Escondido, 13 in Encinitas, 11 in Carlsbad, 10 in Vista, seven in Solana Beach and three each in San Marcos and San Diego. Each city is represented by one of its city council members on the transit districts board of directors. Feedback from the city of Solana Beach resulted in the retention of four bus stops there that were previously proposed for elimination, Wall said. Carlsbad and at least one individual also had questions about some of the stops, she said. Jason Haber, assistant to the Carlsbad city manager, said there was some back and forth between Carlsbad and transit district officials, but the city did not plan to dispute any of the proposed removals. Its just been requests for additional information, Haber said. An Oceanside planning official last week did not object to the closures there and said speeding up service could be an incentive to get more people to ride buses. Bus ridership has declined across the country for at least the past decade, as people turn to online ride-hailing services such as Uber and other transportation alternatives. More than 6.4 million bus trips were taken on the districts Breeze buses in 2018, a drop of 26 percent from the 8.7 million trips taken in 2009. NCTD sent letters in January to all the cities in its service area announcing the optimization program and the specific stops to be eliminated. The program was outlined to the NCTD board in February. The truth of the matter is weve got to make transit a lot more competitive and a lot better, district Executive Director Matt Tucker told the board. To do that, this is the easy step. He also suggested that more cuts could be coming. If you squirm over this, you are really going to squirm later in the process, as we get down to the consolidation and the optimization so we can raise that quality, Tucker said. No one from the public or on the board objected to any of the closures at the Feburary meeting. Stops to be eliminated are under-used, have other stops nearby, and have limited or no facilities such as benches and shelters, district officials said. Most have five or fewer riders per day and dont comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other factors considered included proximity to schools, medical services and disadvantaged communities. The closures announced for April are the first phase of a program that could include additional eliminations in the second phase. In the third phase, the district plans to add amenities to the most heavily used remaining stops and making them ADA compliant. The timeline and potential implementation of future phases will largely be addressed based on the results of comprehensive studies that will begin this year, Wall said. A full list of the stops to be eliminated is posted on the districts website, www.goNCTD.com. NCTD also has announced it plans to increase fares for the first time in 10 years. The new fares would be coordinated with changes by the Metropolitan Transit System in San Diego as part of an effort to ease passenger transfers between the two systems. NCTDs basic one-way bus fare of $1.75 is expected to increase to $2.50, but so far no date has been announced for the new ticket prices to take effect. The newly sworn-in Kogi East senator, Isaac Alfa, on Wednesday said he would sponsor a bill for the federal government to recognise Kogi as an oil-producing state. Oil-producing states in Nigeria are states rich in oil and from where the federal government derives crude oil. After several legal battles, Mr Alfa was finally sworn in by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, last week but the new senator only has two months to function as a lawmaker. Addressing journalists after plenary on Wednesday, the former Chief of Air Staff listed bills he would sponsor if time permits. (I) dont know if I can achieve anything for my people in two months, even though I had bills and motions in the pipeline before I left. But even if I cant push in anything again, I would like to draw the plight of Kogi East to the attention of the Federal Government. When I was here, myself from Kogi State, Senator Utazi from Enugu State and Senator Princess Oduah from Anambra State were going to co-sponsor a bill to make these three states declared Oil Producing Areas. It was sad that this wasnt followed up after I left. There is so much for the Federal Government to benefit from. I am baffled that extraction of oil had not commenced in Odolu axis of Kogi East when the capped oil wells there is even greater than Anambra and Ibaji put together. The other sore point is the delay in the completion of the Green Refinery at Itobe which was inaugurated at the same time with that of Lagos. Lagos has stated operating I am told but that of Itobe is not progressing. Hopefully, I will get the Senate Presidents cooperation to bring this up. The senator also wants the federal government to build more bridges over River Niger to create more links between the northern and the southern parts of Nigeria. Specifically, he wants the government to construct bridges to link Idah- Agenebode, and Lokoja-Shintaku, both in Kogi state. My argument is that if River Thames has 290 bridges over it with at least eight major crossings in London alone. There is nothing wrong with the whole country having 20 bridges over Rivers Benue and Niger. The more we have, the better, safer, he said. He added that he would seek the Senate Presidents cooperation in his clamour for the establishment of Maritime University in Lokoja to serve the interest of the North Central, North East, and North West zones. On his return to the Senate, Mr Alfa thanked the Senate leadership for upholding justice, noting that his insistence to return was borne out of his desire to serve his people. The other day, someone asked me why I wasnt sworn in much earlier despite my numerous court judgments. And I answered him that even if Senator Saraki had wanted to swear me in before now, he couldnt have done it because God hadnt given him the go ahead. I believe in pre-determination. There is a record here. I am told that in the history of the National Assembly, I am the first person to be sworn in twice and that I would go into the record. If that is true, I thank the Almighty God and I will ask the Senate president to give me a prize. A former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has stated his role in the resignation of two of his lead counsel, Onyeachi Ikpeazu and Emeka Etiaba. In a statement explaining the withdrawal of the lawyers, Mr Metuh said he took the decision to free them from the harrowing challenges they have been facing on account of the conduct of his case. Mr Metuh, who is facing trial for alleged fraud, was represented by the two senior advocates since the beginning of the matter in 2016. In a recent letter signed by both lawyers, they alleged intimidation from unidentified persons and added that they were facing a conflicting situation of meeting the demands of their other matters and satisfying the expectations of Mr Metuh who had insisted on having them present in his day-to-day trial. In a reaction to the reports regarding the lawyers withdrawal, Mr Metuh cited the alleged intimidation and the lawyers involvement in election matters as reason for their resignation. Mr Metuh who alleged that the lawyers have been faced with numerous threats in the course of the matter, added that he holds Messrs Ikpeazu and Etiaba in high esteem and was still utilising their legal services in other matters. Consequent upon numerous enquiries and various reports on the change of counsel in my case with the Federal Government, I have decided to set the record straight. The fact is that in the past three years, my counsel have been under immense intimidation and harassment on account of the conduct of this case. Despite their travails, they have held steadfast on my innocence and have gone to considerable personal costs in the conduct of the case. However, in the last few weeks, I have become aware that their life and personal freedom have been under severe threats which development informed their application to the court to withdraw from the case. I therefore came to the conclusion that instead of allowing the issue of their withdrawal to be at the discretion of the court, it was better in the circumstance, to free them from the harrowing challenges they have been facing on account of the conduct of this case. Mr Metuh confirmed the claim by the lawyers that their other election matters constituted a cause of conflict between them and the former spokesperson. Secondly because of the day-day trial ordered by the court, it became difficult for them to give my case the time and full energy the matter demanded given their diaries and involvement in other cases, (election cases inclusive) It is pertinent to state that the said counsel are however still representing me in other matters in other courts, as my estimation, respect and value for them have increased now, more than ever before. More importantly, there has been a smooth transition as I have been mindful of any undue delay in the change of counsel, even with the difficulty and near impossibility of getting a Senior Counsel in Nigeria, who will endure the threats and pressures from official quarters as well as abandon election petitions in this season. My fervent prayer remains that at the end of the day, justice will not only be done, but would also be seen to be have been done in this matter, Mr Metuh said. Also in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Etiaba said their decision to withdraw should not be viewed as an abandonment of Mr Metuh. He reiterated the claims made in their letter to the court. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vehemently rejected what it termed as the arm-twisting of the judiciary and the court by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to unconstitutionally halt the conclusion of collation of already declared results in the Bauchi State governorship election. The party made this known in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, and made available to PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Ologbondiyan described the order as akin to the infamous order that derailed the 1993 democratic process. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to go ahead with its plan to collate and announce the result of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area which would have given the PDP an almost unassailable lead in the Bauchi governorship election. The judge, Inyang Ekwo, made the order based on an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar. The restraining order is to last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs. But the PDP while rejecting it described it as part of the plot by the APC and certain compromised elements in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to escalate crisis and derail our electoral process. The power to collate, suspend collation and or to reverse such decision based on obvious circumstances as the case in Bauchi is clearly within the domain of INEC, he said. He said until collation is completed and results declared no one can question the constitutional powers of INEC in that regard. The PDP cautions that if this desperate underhand measure by the APC to halt electoral processes is not checked, our hard earned democracy will fail us and our nation thrown into anarchy. Our party should not be constrained into a situation in which we will have no option than to allow our members to seek similar exparte orders to halt statutory processes including the swearing-in of APC candidates at various levels, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari. It is clear that collation of result is part of the electoral process and that INEC cannot act on a purported exparte order to jettison its independence and halt the collation of results, which is a key component of its statutory electoral duty. He added that Section 87 (10) of the Electoral Act is unambiguous in its prescription that nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general election or the processes thereof under this Act pending the determination of a suit. The PDP further charges INEC to be properly guided by the law in this regard. The PDP urges the institution of Judiciary not to allow the APC to entangle the court in its shenanigans to destroy our hard-earned democracy. He said Nigerians in Bauchi state have elected the PDP and nothing can change the reality. The APC and Bauchi governor had prayed for an order of interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding or announcing the result of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State in respect of the governorship election. The election was initially declared inconclusive by INEC due to incidents in Tafawa Balewa local government. INEC later announced it would go ahead with collation and complete the results sourced from backup result sheets, a move Mr Abubakar, who scored the second highest votes in results so far collated, rejected. The governor wants supplementary polls to be conducted. On Monday, he met with President Muhammad Buhari and vowed to challenge INECs actions in court. The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of the substantive suit filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the governor of Bauchi State, Muhammed Abubakar, to March 21. This was after an appeal by the counsel to the APC, Ahmed Raji, that he was served with a preliminary objection and a counter affidavit by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and that he would need time to reply. The judge, Inyang Ekwo, had granted an interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding and announcing the governorship election result in the state, pending the determination of all issues raised by the plaintiffs in their originating summons. The plaintiffs in the suit are challenging the decision of INEC to resume collation of results of an election that was earlier declared inconclusive. Mr Ekwo added that the substantive matter shall be taken alongside the preliminary objection raised by INEC. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also appeared in court seeking to be joined in the suit as an interested and affected party. The PDP also petitioned the National Judicial Council over what it described as a violation of the Constitution and Electoral Act by Mr Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja. The party made this known in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday morning. The party accused the judge of sitting on a matter that ought to have been handled by an election petition tribunal, as created by the provisions of the laws. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to go ahead with its plan to collate, conclude and announce the results of the governorship election in Bauchi State, which held on March 9. The judge, Mr Ekwo, made the order based on an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar. The restraining order is to last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs. The INEC, however, said while it would halt the collation of the governorship election results in Tafawa Balewa local government in obedience to the court order, it would go ahead with the councils constituency election results. But, the PDP noted that in granting an ex parte order stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from concluding the governorship election in Bauchi State, the judge violated Section 87(11) of the Electoral Act, which states that no court has the power or jurisdiction to stop any election pending the determination of a suit. The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, Jeremiah Useni, has sid he would still participate in the governorship re-run election schedule to hold on 23rd March in the state. The Plateau governorship election was, on March 11, declared inconclusive by the state returning officer, Richard Anande, a professor. He said the margin between the two leading candidates is less than the number of votes cancelled in the entire election. Mr Anande had on March 11, announced that Governor Simon Lalong of the APC had scored 583,255, while Mr Useni of the PDP scored 548,336 votes, highlighting that none of the leading candidates met all the requirements of the law to win the election. 49,347 votes across 41 polling units were cancelled in nine Local Government Areas of the state. Mr Useni, who expressed confidence in winning the rescheduled election, assured people of the state that he was only spending one tenure of four years. He highlighted that the issue of governance is not about how long you stay in power. The PDP governorship candidate made his position known on Wednesday during a press briefing held at his party Secretariat, in Jos. I want to assure the people of Plateau that I am still very much in the race and I will lead in the most responsible manner. I want to assure the people that I will only spend one tenure of four years, because I believe it is not a matter of how long you stay in office but how much you can do within a short time. I cannot turn my back now when we are coasting home to victory. The whole election is about the soul of Plateau; its heritage and its People. I call on our stakeholders and supporters to stand taller and even stronger than before as we approach the supplementary election, he said. The former general, who alleged electoral malpractices in the first election, warned that security personnel be fair to all political parties as required by the law. There was widespread thumb printing, vote-buying and outright Intimidation by some security men who had absolutely no business with the election. In one instance, I personally went out to Tudun Wada Collation Centre and freed voters who were made to lie down on the ground by some security men; Civil servants and our traditional rulers were threatened to either deliver to APC or lose their jobs or be dethroned. Votes were simply allocated to APC or bought with large sums of money We caution against the deployment of Security Personnel that will harass and intimidate our people at their polling units and collation centres. The security agencies should remain neutral and stick to their constitutional roles. I call on our people not to give room to fear, he added. Mr Useni, however, vowed to challenge all the electoral frauds claimed to been recorded during the elections. After due consultation, we have decided to take specific legal steps to address areas of concern in the last elections. These include, a petition to INEC, and we hope they will look into it as quickly as possible, Mr Useni said. The Deputy Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Cosmos Chukwudi Ndukwe, has been arraigned before Justice C.C. Thomas Adiele at the Abia State High Court, Umuahia, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), for allegedly using his position as a public officer for self-gratification and corrupt enrichment to the tune of N54, 610, 000 (Fifty-Four Million Six Hundred and Ten Thousand) Naira. The accused person alongside his company, Conk Productions Nigeria Limited, and his agent, Chijioke Okonkwo, are being slammed with an 8-count charge bordering on gratification and abuse of office. Mr Ndukwe is alleged to have used his position as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency between February 2007 and April 2012 to confer corrupt advantage upon himself by accepting N5,850,000 (Five Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) purportedly as a loan from Messrs. Ancoold Nigeria Limited, a contractor with the Agency where he had served as an official, an offence that is contrary to and punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. In addition, the defendants Mr Ndukwe and his company, Conk Productions Nigeria Limited, were alleged to have received gratification to the tune of N42,750,000 (Forty-Two Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) in various monthly instalments between March 2009 and January 2010. He was also alleged to have corruptly accepted for himself, the total sum of N5 million through an agent, Chijioke Okonkwo, as a reward for assisting Ancoold Nigeria Limited to secure prompt payment of the contract fees for the provision of environmental sanitation services to Abia State Environmental Protection Agency. Mr Ndukwe and Mr Okonkwo were also alleged to have conspired to conceal the gratification by depositing the said sum in the account of Messrs Conk Productions Nig. Ltd. under various names, an offence that is contrary to Section 26(1)(c) and punishable under Section 24 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000. The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges and the defence counsel tendered a formal bail application for them. The prosecuting counsel, Ephraim Otti, did not raise any objection because the offences were bailable. Justice Adiele granted bail to each of them in the sum of One Million Naira and one surety each in like sum who shall show evidence of means, tax payment, residential address within Aba and Umuahia, and the address verified by the Registrar of the court. The judge gave them seven days to perfect their bail conditions. The case was then adjourned to June 3, 4, and 5, 2019 for definite hearing. Several months after the governors of Ekiti and Osun states, Kayode Fayemi and Gboyega Oyetola respectively, were sworn in as governors, their state executive councils are yet to be constituted. PREMIUM TIMES findings showed that the new governments could not embark on the appointment of new commissioners due to outstanding financial responsibilities they inherited and the inadequacy of financial inflows. In Ekiti, Mr Fayemi, who was sworn in for his second term in office on October 16, 2018, is currently running his government with only two commissioners manning the Finance and Economic Development and the Ministry of Justice. These ministries, in the wisdom of the government of Ekiti, are very crucial for the running of the states economy and the protection of citizens pending when the government is able to appoint commissioners. Mr Fayemi has not hidden his inability to hire new commissioners, saying he lacked the financial solvency to procure the services of commissioners and other political appointees whose coming involves a huge financial implication. The governor had chosen to rely solely on the services of Permanent Secretaries who are career civil servants to man the ministries and help implement government policies pending the coming in of new commissioners. The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Olayinka Oyebode, informed PREMIUM TIMES that the government of Ekiti State would only appoint new commissioners after clearing all the financial backlogs bordering on workers emoluments, pensions and gratuities. Speaking on the delay in the appointment of commissioners, Mr Oyebode said there was a need to get the state running, while the issue of appointments was pending due to financial challenges. When you bring in commissioners, they come in with other financial responsibilities, said Mr Oyebode. The government is trying to use the little money it has now to settle certain things and that is why the issue of commissionership is being delayed. When you bring in commissioners, there is a minimum number you must bring in and there is a minimum emolument that must be provided. They will also have personal assistants, accommodation and official vehicles and things like that. We felt that could still be held down and settle some basic things first and foremost. We are trying to address certain gaps. Previous commissioners and appointees were not being paid their severance package. Those who served 2010 to 2014, none of them were paid their severance package. That was part of the financial challenge. Some also served in previous administration, the governor is just trying to offset that now. Somebody who served as commissioner and special adviser is entitled to his severance allowance. The government has sorted that now. Also the issue of pensions. There was a backlog of unpaid pensions and salaries. We are trying to make sure that we dont owe pensions, we dont owe salaries. That has also created some financial responsibilities. He said workers were owed six months salaries when Mr Fayemi came into office, and that one month of the arrears had been paid, leaving an outstanding of five months. He, however, added that the governor was not owing salaries since he came into office as salaries are being paid as and when due. The gratuities of retirees run into several millions and we have to deal with that too. So, the government has increased the monthly allocation for gratuities from N10 million to N100 million, said Mr Oyebode. These are some of the commitments the governor felt he needed to attend to before attending to the appointment of commissioners which brings another financial burden. I can assure you that in a couple of months and or weeks, the commissioners will be appointed, especially now that the basic things are being handled. He added that other financial hindrances delaying the appointment of commissioners include the wrongful dismissal of some permanent secretaries that the court had ordered to be paid their entitlements as well as the free education of the government. In Osun State, the situation is not different, as the governor is yet to appoint any commissioner since it assumed office in November last year. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the state government is grappling with the arduous task of paying salaries, and had yet to begin the payment of several months of salary arrears to the different categories of workers incurred under the last administration. The previous governor, Rauf Aregbesola, also citing financial constraints, did not appoint commissioners for more than a year after he was sworn in for his second term in office. There are fears that the new government might be walking the same line, as he has already appointed supervisors over the ministries instead of commissioners. Seven supervisors have been appointed to do the work of commissioners over the ministries of works, finance, agriculture, home affairs, education and Information. However, the governors Chief Press Secretary, Niyi Adesina, has rather blamed the schedule of elections and electioneering activities for the delay in the appointment of commissioners. There has not been any delay in the real sense of the word because the governor came in in November, we had elections, he explained. We had the presidential elections, then the house of assembly elections, these are crucial elections. We had all hands on deck toward the election. If you make appointments before elections you could ruffle some feathers. So the governor had to get all hands to finish the elections and after elections we can begin to make appointments. Before then, anyway, he had appointed seven people as supervisors over some key ministries. Like finance, works, home affairs, education, and agric. They were appointed as supervisors for key ministries in an ad hoc basis. As soon as the elections were over last week, he appointed the Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the State Government. Any moment from now the names of the commissioners would be sent to the house of assembly. There has not been really any delay. The governor doesnt want to create bad blood among party members. An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has dismissed the suit instituted by Ayoade Adeseun seeking to nullify the primaries conducted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Mr Adeseun and another applicant also sought a court order to nullify the election of all candidates of the PDP in the state. Justice Ganiyu Sunmonu, however, dismissed the case, saying the primary was perfect and in line with the PDP constitution and the guidelines of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the case with suit Number I /956/2018 was instituted by the claimants against the PDP and the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in October 2018. Lateef Adedigba, one of the defence counsel for the PDP which was the first defendant in the suit, expressed happiness at the outcome of the case. We thought otherwise and the judge agreed with us. The judge said what was done in the primary conducted was perfect and in line with the PDP constitution and in tandem with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act as amended. They wanted the court to set aside the senatorial, governorship, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly primaries, claiming the party did not follow normal procedure, he said. The PDP chairman in the state, Wasiu Adeleke, also described the judgment as a victory for democracy. He assured the state of good governance under the leadership of the PDP. The Oyo State governor-elect, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday hailed the court ruling. Mr Makinde, who said it was the hallmark of democracy that the opinion of the minority should be heard, added that the judgment proved that the majority opinion was superior. In a statement by his spokesman, Dotun Oyelade, Mr Makinde lauded the court for being objective and dispassionate in its judgment. He appealed to the people of the state to forge ahead in spite of the distractions caused by the suit. (NAN) A Yaba Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered that a 50-year-old man, Gafar Anifowose, accused of allegedly defiling his 16-year-old daughter, be remanded in prison. The police charged Mr Anifowose, who resides in Ikorodu area of Lagos, with rape. Chief Magistrate K.B. Ayeye, gave the order after the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge. Mrs Awe adjourned the case until June 3, for trial. Earlier, the police prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen, told the court that the defendant, on March 3, at about 9 a.m. at No. 5, Faniran str., Ikorodu, Lagos, raped his 16-year-old daughter. He said Mr Anifowose raped his daughter twice and warned her not to tell anyone about what he did. The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sections 137 stipulates life imprisonment if convicted. (NAN) A coroners inquest has been requested into the cause of the collapse of the Lagos Island building that killed several persons, including school kids, last week. The request was made by a charity, Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA) led by Funmi Falana, wife of Femi, senior Nigerian lawyer. The charitys request was delivered to the office of Chief Registrar of the Lagos State High Court on Monday. We request you to use your good office to cause a coroners inquest to be conducted into the cause of the collapse of the three-storey building at Ita-Faaji area of Lagos Island that led to the death of 13 people on the 13th day of March and make appropriate recommendations pursuant to the Section of 15 of the Lagos State Coroners Law, 2007, the letter reads. Days after the Lagos incident, another building fell in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. While the latter caused injuries to the victims, authourities said nobody died, unlike the former. The Lagos law invoked by WELA provides that an inquest shall hold whenever a Coroner is informed that the death of a deceased person within the Coroners district was a result of a death in a violent, unnatural or suspicious situation. The fatal collapse of the building on Massey Street, Ita-Faji, on the Lagos Island, happened last Wednesday and killed several persons. Many trapped in the collapsed building were injured and evacuated to hospitals. The building had been marked for demolition but due to Nigerias challenge of ineffective public service, it was allowed to remain until the tragic incident last week. Though originally a residential building, it housed a kids school illegally and authorities did not know or move to act before the tragedy struck. Mrs Falanas charity, WELA, demanded the conduct of the inquest without delay and that the report should be made public to forestall such ugly re-occurence. Del Mar households will pay increasingly more over the next five years for drinking water, sewage and stormwater services starting in July if the City Council follows through with its direction to administrators Monday, March 18. Council members voted 5-0 to accept in concept its staffs proposed rate hikes for the services and schedule a public hearing and initial approval of the charges on May 20. That would set the stage for final approval June 3 and the first escalation of utility bills July 3. Then, a typical household would see its monthly bill rise $4.02 to $75.75 for potable water; $5.54 to $109.92 for sewer; and $2 to $20.64 for stormwater runoff controls. Under the schedule proposed by the citys public works staff, rates would continue to escalate regularly on Jan. 1, 2020, through 2024. Del Mar Public Works Director Joe Bride said the increases were calculated largely to cover construction projects needed to deal with unexpected structure failures, plus aging facilities and dwindling revenue due to reduced water usage during the recent drought. Said City Manager Scott Huth: The reality is we have a lot of infrastructure that we need to correct. Council members observed that even with the increases, the rates would be in the middle of what other utility agencies in San Diego County are assessing their customers. Mayor Dave Druker recalled that in years past, Del Mars water use rates were at the high end. At one point, we were the most expensive in the county ... and now were close to the average, which says something, Druker said. For Del Mar, Huth said, that is somewhat unexpected, given its size. Del Mar is the the smallest city in the county. Its good to be in the middle of the road, he said of the proposed charges. No members of the public appeared at Mondays meeting to comment on the utility rates issue. Councilman Dwight Worden said he supported the staffs recommendations. This is a responsible thing to do, he said. Its never fun to tell people your rates are going up. ... Im convinced this is as lean as we can do it and do a good job. Council members also expressed support for studying the concept of installing a computerized water-use metering system for properties throughout the city. The panel, however, decided against endorsing a surcharge for the service until it could further study of the costs. Widely employed by other cities, the automated infrastructure, often called smart metering, provides much more current information to a household about its utility use, compared to the citys present approach. The reportage of water usage is totally archaic at this point, Druker said. Accurate, timely readings will be especially important during drought conditions, he said. For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. The DCF will feature a user-centric, universal, cross-border, all-digital, mobile-first loyalty platform that enables bank consumers and merchants to redeem points anytime, anywhere (online and in-store), from any device (mobile, desktop or wearable) and using any payment method (credit, debit, points or split payment). "Through our partnership with novae, Borgun is excited to harness online and mobile tools that will take customer benefits and the customer experience to the next level," said Smundur Smundsson, Borgun's CEO. "novae is honored to have the opportunity to work with such an industry leader as Borgun to support its digital transformation," said Sergio Arana, novae's CEO and Head of Ventures. Thanks to novae's single, smart payment solution on an invisible and securely encrypted payment platform, Borgun clients will be able to manage rewards as digital currency that can be used alone or split with other payment methods, such as credit or debit cards registered on the platform, to make payments online and contactless in-store around the world. "Borgun intends to leverage the powerful solution novae is creating with us not only in Iceland, but also in the UK, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other markets where our company operates," said Petur Fridriksson, Borgun's General Manager, Card Services and Business Development. "novae's alliance with Borgun is an exciting one, and this is only the beginning. Iceland will be our gateway for expansion throughout Europe," said Adriana P. Sanchez Krieger, novae's Head of Europe. Finally, by integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, novae's platform will help Borgun better understand the interactions and purchase behaviors of its clients to proactively present increasingly relevant offers. Leveraging novae's Hum/bot technology, Borgun will seamlessly combine AI-powered customer interactions when speed is the priority with human interactions when preferred, as well as provide support to customers in the messaging channels they use every day. About Borgun Founded in 1980, Borgun was the first issuer and acquirer of credit cards in Iceland, providing acquiring services to merchants in six countries in Europe. It offers a comprehensive range of simple, secure payment processing solutions that can be tailored to fit specific business needs. Borgun is a member of Visa Inc. and MasterCard International and has exclusive agreements with JCB, Diners / Discover, Union Pay and American Express. Borgun is a licensed financial institution regulated by Iceland's Financial Supervisory Authority. For more information, visit us at borgun.com or write borgun@borgun.is. About novae novae improves the customer experience through technologies and services that make mobile transactions, communications and other business-consumer interactions faster, easier, more effective and more enjoyable. Headquartered in San Francisco and with a business and innovation hub in Miami, an insurtech hub in London and shared services centers in Buenos Aires and Bogota, novae has clients across the Americas and Europe. novae is part of a&a Co, a global equity investment company based in San Francisco and focused on creating, acquiring and investing in artificial intelligence (AI), mobile services and payments/loyalty ventures. novae's strategic partners include Visa, CyberSource, Canopius Syndicate at Lloyd's, Expedia and AAXIS. Investors in novae include the private debt and equity capital funds CASEIF III LP and ExWorks Capital LLC. For more information, visit us at wearenovae.com or on Twitter or LinkedIn. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838675/novae_Borgun_Executives.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/403593/novae_Logo.jpg Related Links http://wearenovae.com SOURCE novae Move over Avaya: More than 700 of Your Customers Choose Genesys for Speed of Innovation and Faster Business Results DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesys (www.genesys.com), the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions, announced its cloud sales have risen 32% year-over-year. The cloud business growth spans all market segments with 70% gains in the mid-market, 50% in small-and-medium sized enterprises, and 30% in large enterprises1. While sales are up across the company's cloud offers, the Genesys PureCloud platform stands out for its hypergrowth with sales more than tripling since 2016. PureCloud's rapid expansion and impressive sales momentum blows peers away. In fact, PureCloud has accelerated beyond the fastest growing SaaS platforms including Workday, Zendesk, ServiceNow and others2, with a projected annual revenue growth rate of nearly 130% since 2017. In addition, PureCloud's customers benefit from continuous innovation and the fastest feature velocity in the industry with over 300 new enhancements delivered in the last two years alone. Genesys Strengthens Customer Roster with Cloud Wins In 2018, cloud deals valued at $1 million or more increased by 110% over the previous year. Many of these resulted from the Genesys PureBridge program, which has helped nearly 1,200 companies smoothly transition off of legacy systems from vendors including Avaya, Cisco and others to a modern customer experience platform by Genesys. One such customer is Alberta Treasury Branches (dba ATB Financial), the largest financial institution in Alberta, Canada. "For ATB Financial, the migration to a Genesys cloud solution is part of our customer-centered approach," said David Bradshaw vice president, ATB Financial Client Care and Sales. "It allows us to connect better with our customers, as well as improve employee communication, workplace planning and cost management." An additional example is a major consumer credit reporting agency that selected a Genesys cloud offering to replace an archaic Avaya environment. In a multi-million dollar deal, its move to Genesys provides the foundation for this company to support all communication channels and rapidly transform its customer experience leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, it expects to improve digital self-service capabilities and reduce servicing costs. Strength in Numbers For the last two years, Genesys has closed more than three deals per day to replace an antiquated system from a competitor, with more than 700 coming from Avaya alone. Notably, more than half of all displacements moved to a Genesys cloud solution in 2018. The company's partners have been instrumental in driving this momentum. In fact, 86% of new logos were booked through a partner as channel sales grew by more than 250% over last year. Leading Brands Leverage Genesys to achieve businesses outcomes "With hundreds of migrations from on-premises to the cloud, companies are flocking to Genesys because of our track record of delivering value and continuous innovation," said Paul Segre, chief executive officer at Genesys. "Our customers understand how intertwined digital channels, AI and the cloud have become and they want to work with a strategic partner that can solve these needs holistically." Companies that have moved to Genesys offerings are realizing tremendous return such as: Coca-Cola Business Service North America , the world's leading beverage company, reduced its total cost of ownership by 50%. , the world's leading beverage company, reduced its total cost of ownership by 50%. Heineken Mexico improved call effectiveness by over 40%, sales success by 6% and agent efficiency resulting in a 1.5 hour per agent reduction in the workday. improved call effectiveness by over 40%, sales success by 6% and agent efficiency resulting in a 1.5 hour per agent reduction in the workday. Westpac New Zealand reduced infrastructure costs, increased outbound customer care calls by 100 percent and realized rapid time-to-value. Its first customer care agents were up and running in just three months. Segre explained, "First and foremost, we understand that for our customers to excel in their markets, they need faster time-to-value. That means they need to innovate and adopt AI along with other new technologies, deliver better customer experiences, make their employees' jobs easier, increase sales, and reduce costs. With the cloud, we're enabling them to meet these goals faster and more cost effectively than ever." In the last year, Genesys has made significant strides to facilitate its customers' success including: Faster deployments and migrations : With more than 100 prescriptive use cases, both on-premises and cloud, Genesys has cut customer deployment time in half. Genesys cloud customers with highly complex requirements are now typically live in less than six months. : With more than 100 prescriptive use cases, both on-premises and cloud, Genesys has cut customer deployment time in half. Genesys cloud customers with highly complex requirements are now typically live in less than six months. Enhanced speed-to-market : The Genesys shift to DevOps and a microservices architecture enables customers to adopt innovation faster and achieve business results sooner. : The Genesys shift to DevOps and a microservices architecture enables customers to adopt innovation faster and achieve business results sooner. Investment in innovation: Genesys commits more than $250 million annually in research and development (R&D) so customers can access innovative solutions that address the next wave of change whether in consumer behavior, technology advancements or industry shifts. Find out more about Coca-Cola Business Services North America's journey to the cloud with Genesys. 1Genesys defines mid-market as companies with under 3,000 employees; small-and-medium sized enterprises as companies with 3,000-10,000 employees; and large enterprises as companies with 10,000 employees or more. 2 Source: Based on publicly available financials from SEC filings (with exception of PureCloud) (1) Twilio: Total revenue from FYE Dec 2013 to FYE Dec 2015 (2) Netsuite: Total revenue from FYE Dec 2004 to FYE Dec 2006 (3) ServiceNow: Subscription revenue from FYE Jun 2009 to FYE Jun 2011 (4) Zendesk: Total revenue from FYE Dec 2011 to FYE Dec 2013 (5) Workday: Total revenue from FYE Dec 2009 to FYE Jan 2012 (37 months) (6) PureCloud: PureCloud revenue from FYE Dec 2017 to FYE Dec 2019 (budgeted) About Genesys Genesys powers more than 25 billion of the world's best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel. Every day, 11,000 companies in more than 100 countries trust our #1 customer experience platform to drive great business outcomes and create lasting relationships. Combining the best of technology and human ingenuity, we build solutions that mirror natural communication and work the way you think. Our industry-leading solutions foster true omnichannel engagement because they perform equally well across channels, on-premises and in the cloud. Experience communication as it should be: fluid, instinctive and profoundly empowering. Visit genesys.com on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and the Genesys blog. 2019 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Genesys, the Genesys logo, and Genesys PureCloud are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Genesys. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. Rachel Faulkner Public Relations Director Genesys rachel.faulkner@genesys.com +1 317-715-8109 Adriana Saldana Sterling Communications genesys@sterlingpr.com +1 408-395-5500 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/408485/Geneys_RGB_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.genesys.com SOURCE Genesys The ASEAN SUPER 8 event is hosted by Ministry of Works, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) supported by Royal Malaysia Police, Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia, Malaysia Civil Defence Force. Endorsed by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and a total of 73 stakeholders from the industry. Various free seminars from large industry players such as PETRONAS, CIDB, British Standards Institution and many more were held right after the opening ceremony. More several conferences and seminars of various topics will be held in the following remaining two days of the exhibition. Conglomerate namely Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM), NBS, United Kingdom, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and many more will touch on numerous topics on vast pressing issues such as sustainability, construction, ISO, managing human resource and future trend which are not to be missed. ASEAN Super 8 is the leading regional exhibition for the construction, engineering, energy, heavy machinery & equipment and security industry. The leading event comprises of eight power-packed industry leading events including ASEAN M&E, TENAGA Expo, ASEAN SOLAR & ECOLIGHT, ASEAN LIFT Expo, IFSEC SEA, HEAVY MAC and ECOBUILD SEA. "With climate change happening at a rapid rate today, we need smart infrastructure that brings economic benefits alongside environmental care. CIDB worked in collaboration with industry players to develop Sustainable INFRASTAR for the industry. Various technical committees and taskforces had been established and coordinated by CIDB leading up to the launch. I urge all industry players and relevant government agencies, be it at the federal, state or regional level, to come forward to have their infrastructure projects assessed by CIDB using the Sustainable INFRASTAR," said Tuan Baru Bian, the Minister of Works. ASEAN SUPER 8 is expected to attract over 20,000 trade visitors, over 500 participating companies from 18 countries, 4 country group pavilions, 300 group visits from corporate, government bodies, associations and universities. ASEAN SUPER 8 will feature more than 200 sessions to conduct Business Matching by MATRADE and CIDB Trade Visitors. General Tan Sri Dato Seri Panglima Mohd Azumi (RTD) said, "ASEAN SUPER 8 will be one of UBM Malaysia's leading events showcasing the latest developments across the entire spectrum of construction in under one venue" ASEAN SUPER 8 is being held at Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC). MITEC is Malaysia's largest and most innovative exhibition centre with over 13.1 acres of flexible function or exhibition space and fully equipped state-of-the-art facilities. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/837804/ASEAN_Super_8.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/837808/Opening_Ceremony_of_ASEAN_Super_8_and_ICW_2019.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/837816/YB_Tuan_Baru_Bian_delivered_opening_remarks_at_the_Opening_Ceremony.jpg SOURCE UBM Asia (Malaysia) DUBLIN, Ohio, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 percent of hospital executives reported that healthcare industry pressures, along with the lack of time and resources, prohibit them from focusing on innovative initiatives for the hospital, according to a new Cardinal Health survey of hospital C-suite decision makers. And, more than two-thirds of respondents revealed that they don't even consider the innovation that can be leveraged within the hospital pharmacy. "Hospital leaders, and the success of their hospitals' performance, are driven by outside market forces, industry changes and availability of resources to support new ideas, updated technology or creative solutions. They seldom are afforded the time or resources to look internally at ways they can drive innovative change with the resources they already have, like their hospital pharmacy," said Debbie Weitzman, president of U.S. Pharmaceutical Distribution at Cardinal Health. "A high-performing pharmacy can and should serve as a center of innovation for the hospital that delivers critical care to patients." Nearly 68 percent of survey respondents reported that pharmacies were not a focus area of innovation. In addition, despite expectations of hospital leaders to drive improvements, hospital leaders indicated that 50 percent of all pharmacy-related innovation or improvements were the result of reactionary decisions to external industry changes. This creates an opportunity for hospitals to uncover better ways to leverage the pharmacy department to drive innovation, efficiency and improvement, noted Weitzman. "The hospital pharmacy can have a positive impact on operating expenses and patient care delivery, and when hospital leaders can utilize it as an asset, they realize improved profitability and better patient outcomes," said Mike Brown, RPh, vice president of managed services at Cardinal Health. "A high-performing pharmacy can deliver better performance and drive results for the entire hospital." 3 Ways Hospital Pharmacies Can Improve Hospital Profitability and Patient Outcomes Identify the true costs of medication utilization. When hospital leaders understand the true cost of medication utilization across the hospital, it enables them to identify the most impactful clinical programs to improve patient outcomes and realize meaningful savings. Drive continuous compliance with changing standards and regulatory requirements, which can be resource-intensive and complicated to implement across multiple hospital departments and teams. Create cost-efficient solutions that supplement on-site pharmacy teams to meet the increased demand for services. Today, pharmacists are members of patient care teams, and are being asked to provide services that were previously met by providers, like medication reconciliation and discharge patient counseling. In order to meet these new demands, many pharmacies leverage remote pharmacy models as a cost-efficient solution to supplement on-site pharmacy teams. To learn more about how hospital leaders can improve profitability and patient outcomes via the pharmacy, visit https://www.cardinalhealth.com/en/services/acute/pharmacy-services/management-solutions.html. About the Cardinal Health hospital pharmacy c-suite survey This study, conducted with Burke, Inc., was fielded in July 2018 to assess attitudes and experiences of hospital executives regarding their in-house pharmacy and external consultants. The study targeted the C-suite (CEOs, COOs, CFOs and presidents) of health systems and stand-alone hospitals, including small, medium and large hospitals. The survey included 176 online survey respondents and 15 one-hour phone interviews with hospital executives. About Cardinal Health Cardinal Health, Inc. is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. To help combat prescription drug abuse, the company and its education partners created Generation Rx, a national drug education and awareness program. Backed by nearly 100 years of experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in nearly 46 countries, Cardinal Health ranks #14 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth on Twitter, @cardinalhealthwings on Facebook and connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ company/cardinal-health. SOURCE Cardinal Health Related Links http://www.cardinalhealth.com TRONDHEIM, Norway, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The annual general meeting of Aker BP ASA will be held on Thursday 11 April 2019 at 10:00 (CET) at Akerkvartalet, Oksenyveien 10 (building B), Lysaker, Norway. Notice of the annual general meeting is attached hereto. Enroll to Annual General Meeting 2019: https://investor.vps.no/gm/logOn.htm?token=0788d61cfb935a6a4f973834351bca4ce2e4cd04&validTo=1557561600000&oppdragsId=20190314VPQ2JNU0 All documents to be processed in the meeting will be made available on www.akerbp.com Aker BP Notice of AGM 2019 Contacts: Investor contact: Kjetil Bakken VP Investor Relations tel.: +47-918-89-889 Media contact: Ole-Johan Faret Press Spokesman tel.: +47-402-24-217 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/aker-bp-asa/r/akerbp--notice-of-annual-general-meeting-2019,c2766905 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/1629/2766905/1010077.pdf PDF https://mb.cision.com/Public/1629/2766905/a61c4102c266b254.pdf Aker BP Notice of AGM 2019 SOURCE Aker BP ASA Related Links http://www.akerbp.com NEW YORK, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global applicant tracking system market accounted to US$ 675.3 Mn in 2017 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period 2018 2025, to account to US$ 1345.7 Mn by 2025. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05653770/?utm_source=PRN Driving factors such as demand for time-efficient selection systems owing to rising number of job applicants, and gaining prominence of the cloud-based applicant tracking system are anticipated to have a huge impact on the development of applicant tracking system market in the coming years. The key trend which will predominantly affect the applicant tracking system market in the coming year is the integration of artificial intelligence with ATS system for enhanced capabilities.As the HR groups in the coming years are expected to raise the demand for solutions, which in response would further enhance the employment curve and understand not only the effects of AI on their workforces but also the benefit of incorporating new and exciting tools into their workflows, especially for recruitment. With a plethora of startups out there in this space, it's easy for talent acquisition teams to experiment and find what works for them. Applicant tracking system market by end-user is segmented into IT & Telecom, retail, BFSI, Retail & Consumer Goods, Manufacturing, healthcare, government & others.Despite slightly gloomy employment outlook, the IT & telecom sector is expected to boost the adoption of applicant tracking systems based on two major factors. The first one it's the rising demand of talents across the globe and increasing count of applicants every day.In order to effectively manage these employees, the IT & Telecom companies are increasingly deploying applicant tracking systems. The second factor is the spending capability of the IT & Telecom companies. IT & Telecom imbibe the highest spending capability on the upcoming technologies owing to which the sector is expected to contribute significant profits to the applicant tracking system. The overall Applicant tracking system market size has been derived using both primary and secondary source.The research process begins with an exhaustive secondary research using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the Applicant tracking system market. Also, the primary interview was conducted with industry participants and commentators in order to validate data and analysis. The participants who typically take part in such a process include industry expert such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers, and national sales managers, and external consultant such as valuation experts, research analysts, and key opinion leaders specializing in the applicant tracking system market and industry. Reasons to Buy Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global applicant tracking system market - Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies - The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the applicant tracking system market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long term strategies - Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets - Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it - Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution - Examine the political, economic, social and technology impact of the five regions namely: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05653770/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com SUN CITY, Ariz., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Arizona Eye Institute & Cosmetic Laser Center is proud to announce the grand re-opening of its Sun City, AZ office at 10701 West Bell Road. To commemorate this occasion, the practice will host a party on Friday, March 22nd from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. The celebration is free and open to the public. Arizona Eye Institute & Cosmetic Laser Center's Sun City office The renovated lobby "I encourage you to come and enjoy the festivities and the beautifully updated office," said practice founder and Medical Director Dr. Emilio Justo. "We will have food, tours of our beautiful new office, and information available about our services, as well as some other valuable surprises we will announce soon on our Facebook page." The grand re-opening event will give visitors a chance to meet Dr. Justo, tour the new facility, win raffle prizes, and meet other members of the team. Services Offered The practice offers vision treatments and anti-aging therapies, including: Introducing Dr. Manuel Zambrano The grand re-opening also provides patients with a chance to meet Dr. Manuel Zambrano. The latest addition to the team, Dr. Zambrano is a skilled optometrist and a veteran. "I am thrilled to gain him as a doctor and as a friend, and I know you will be as well," said Dr. Justo. Dr. Zambrano will join Dr. Justo and Director of Optometry Dr. Eugene Shifrin. RSVP for the Grand Re-opening Interested parties are encouraged to RSVP for the event by calling (623) 876-2020. A Better Experience for Our Sun City Patients With the completion of the renovation, patients who schedule appointments and consultations at the Sun City office will enjoy the improved ambiance, which is aimed at creating a calm, enjoyable, and comfortable setting. "We are proud of the renovations that I know patients will enjoy taking in as they come to us for top quality care," said Dr. Justo. "It is important to me that a visit to the Arizona Eye Institute is a superior experience with only the very best memories and results created." Contact Us To learn more, contact Arizona Eye Institute & Cosmetic Laser Center. View the full version of this Press Release. Media Contact: Beth Lucas 623-975-2020 [email protected] SOURCE Arizona Eye Institute & Cosmetic Laser Center NEW YORK, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Scope: The scope of this report is broad and covers many different types of automotive coatings used globally on various types of vehicles.The market is broken down into major types of automotive coatings, by technology, by region, by layer and by car age. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p02274677/?utm_source=PRN The market for automotive coatings is also estimated by layer, regional market and technology. Revenue forecasts for 2016-2022 are given for each type of automotive coating, technology, layer and regional market. The report also includes a discussion on major players in each regional market for automotive coatings.It explains the major market drivers for the global automotive coatings industry, current trends within the industry, major industry challenges and regional dynamics of the global automotive coatings market. The report concludes with a special focus on vendor landscape. It includes detailed profiles of major vendors in the automotive coatings industry and discusses market share of major players by automotive coating type. Report Includes: - 81 data tables - An overview of the global market for automotive coatings - Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2017 and 2018, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023 - Details on the technical and commercial aspects of various layers of automotive coating, and advantages of automotive coating technologies - Identification of significant drivers of revenue growth in specific categories of the automotive coatings industry - Information on the technological innovation, the environmental concerns and the regulatory pressures that are currently faced by coating suppliers - Profiles of the major players in the industry, including AkzoNobel, BASF SE, Cabot Corp., HMG Paints Ltd., Nippon Paint Automotive Coatings Co. Ltd., RPM International Inc. and Sherwin-Williams Co. Summary A coating is a layer on the substrate that protects the substrate from the external environment and gives color and glossiness to the substrate.In addition, the coating provides safety from corrosion, ultraviolet (UV) light and temperature fluctuations. Automotive coating features such as scratch resistance, compatibility with any substrate and environmental friendliness fuel demand for automotive coatings. Although automotive coatings face threats from environmental issues such as volatile organic compound (VOC) and hazardous air pollutant (HAP) levels and increasing raw material prices, their market continues to grow with increasing demand from Asia Pacific, North American and other developing markets. The slow recovery of the European economy and that region's automotive industry also is contributing to the growth. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p02274677/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BetterCloud , the leading SaaS Operations Management platform, today released its first insider threats report: "State of Insider Threats in the Digital Workplace 2019." The report found that 91 percent of IT and security professionals surveyed feel vulnerable to insider threats, and 75 percent believe the biggest risks lie in cloud applications like popular file storage and email solutions such as Google Drive, Gmail, Dropbox and more. Click here to download the report . "The rise of SaaS in the digital workplace has made companies more vulnerable than ever to insider threats," said David Politis, Founder and CEO, BetterCloud. "A major reason is SaaS has given users all the control over data within the application and, as a result, IT and security teams have lost control. Another major challenge is the complexity of SaaS application architecture, which makes functions like sharing permissions and configurations difficult to manage. Because SaaS is new territory, companies are unprepared to deal with the security blind spots these challenges create." For the report, BetterCloud surveyed nearly 500 IT and network security professionals from the world's leading enterprise organizations. The company also looked at its own proprietary product data to shed light on where IT and security professionals are most vulnerable. Among the key findings: Nearly all of the IT and security professionals surveyed (91 percent) feel vulnerable to insider threats. 62 percent of respondents believe the biggest security threat comes from the well-meaning but negligent end user. 75 percent believe the biggest risks lie in cloud storage and email solutions (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) and email (e.g., Gmail, Office 365). 46 percent of IT leaders (heads of IT and above) believe that the rise of SaaS applications makes them the most vulnerable. 40 percent of respondents believe they are most vulnerable to exposure of confidential business information (financial information, customer lists). vulnerable to exposure of confidential business information (financial information, customer lists). Only 26 percent of C-level executives say they've invested enough to mitigate the risk of insider threats, versus 44 percent of IT managers. Politis adds, "Historically, companies have relied on perimeter-based security mechanisms like firewalls and intrusion detection systems to keep data inside company walls, but that paradigm simply doesn't work in the cloud. Our findings make it clear that in order to combat these rising threats, organizations must expand their defenses by monitoring and managing the user and all of their interactions within the application." To learn more about these growing threats and how to prepare, download the full report from the BetterCloud website . About BetterCloud BetterCloud is the first SaaS Operations Management platform, empowering IT and security teams to define, remediate, and enforce management and security policies for SaaS applications. Over 2,500 customers in 60+ countries rely on BetterCloud for continuous event monitoring, quickly remediating threats, and fully-automated policy enforcement. To further guide customers on their SaaS strategy, the company established the first-ever "SaaS Application Management and Security Framework" in its newly published book, Controlling Your SaaS Environment . BetterCloud is headquartered in New York City with an engineering office in Atlanta, GA. For more information, please visit www.bettercloud.com . SOURCE BetterCloud Related Links www.bettercloud.com REDDING, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CalCom Energy and Bella Vista Water District announce the completion of a 693-kilowatt solar project to provide clean energy for the utility's use in Redding, CA. The system will advance the district's sustainability efforts, improve resiliency and reduce costs by offsetting electricity used to pump water throughout the district. CalCom Energy designed and constructed a 693-kilowatt solar project for Bella Vista Water District in Redding, CA. The solar array reduces electricity costs and carbon emissions by using clean energy to pump water throughout the district. The solar project is the second solar PV system installed by the district as part of a comprehensive energy strategy to increase the district's reliance on locally produced solar energy. Together, the two systems are expected to offset 75 percent of the district's annual electricity use. Bella Vista financed the projects using a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART grant and district funds. The cost savings from reduced energy consumption is estimated to be well over $3 million over the next 25 years. CalCom Energy engineered and built the ground-mount system, located near the district's Regulating Facility on Hidden Acres Road in Redding. The system is expected to produce more than 1,000,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy per year, offsetting the equivalent carbon emissions generated by 123 houses' electricity use per year. "Water districts in California are faced with many challenges today, including water shortages, drought and resiliency challenges and solar can help address all these issues," said Dylan Dupre, chief executive officer of CalCom Energy. "By utilizing clean energy to reduce costs and carbon emissions, Bella Vista can serve its customers in a more sustainable and resilient way." "By leveraging District funds, we managed to maximize our overall investment in locally produced clean energy, which is central to the District's energy strategy to reduce dependence upon retail power purchases and exposure to greatly increasing energy costs," said David Coxey, General Manager of Bella Vista Water District. About CalCom Energy CalCom Energy is solar developer and energy services company based in Visalia, CA, serving agriculture and water customers throughout California's Central Valley. CalCom engineers, installs, and finances solar and energy storage projects that offset rising electricity costs while helping customers reduce operational expenses, improve their bottom line, and farm more sustainably. CalCom has developed 100+MW of solar to date, including some of the largest agricultural solar farms in the West. Learn more at www.calcomenergy.com. About Bella Vista Water District Bella Vista Water District, with a customer population of approximately 20,000, provides safe, reliable water for homes, businesses and agricultural operations with a service area of over 53 square miles in Shasta County. A member of the Association of California Water Agencies, Bella Vista Water District located within Shasta County is an equal opportunity employer with 26 employees. Learn more at www.bvwd.org. SOURCE CalCom Energy Related Links http://calcomenergy.com The 2019 Delta Global Build takes place March 18-22, marking Delta's 16th Global Build with Habitat for Humanity and the first build in Brazil. Volunteers include 54 Delta employees and two retirees, representing 24 stations and four countries, and 12 employees from GOL. Four employees from Santander Brasil will also join the team of volunteers. The 72-member team will work alongside future Habitat homeowners in Nossa Senhora do O, a small town near Recife, to begin construction of six new homes. The work involves the construction of exterior walls, bathrooms, kitchen facilities and the first two rooms of each home. "The Delta Global Build shows that travel is not just about connecting destinations, but also experiences, cultures, people, airlines and the global community," said Tad Hutcheson, Delta's Managing Director Community Engagement. "It is a privilege to have our colleagues at GOL join us on this year's Global Build with Habitat for Humanity, strengthening our partnership and supporting the community we serve together in Brazil." "The team is happy to take time from their work to join forces with GOL and Santander Brasil to be an active participant in making our communities stronger. This is at the heart of Delta's core values," said Fabio CamargoDelta's Director, Brazil. "The days spent on this project will be memorable for all of us." "Delta has truly made a global impact in helping families secure safe and affordable housing," said Julie Laird Davis, vice president of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Habitat for Humanity International. "We are grateful to Delta for its support over the years and the many employees who volunteer their time and skills to work alongside Habitat homeowners around the world." Delta employees have helped build or rehabilitate 264 homes in 12 countries all over the world since its partnership with Habitat for Humanity began in 1995. Delta Global Builds have been organized in Argentina, Chile, China, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and the United States. Giving back to the communities where they live, work and serve is core to Delta's culture, and the Delta Global Build is the company's special way for Delta employees to give back by helping Habitat create safe and decent shelter in partnership with those need of affordable housing. About Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines is working to connect the world and that starts by making a difference in the communities where Delta people live, work and serve. When customers choose Delta, they make a difference in communities around the world. Last year, Delta and The Delta Air Lines Foundation contributed over $50 million through the airline's commitment to give one percent of its income to key charitable organizations. Delta people actively volunteer their time and talents, an effort is amplified through the Great Delta Give Back, the airline's commitment to pay employees to spend a day volunteering for a host of causes across the globe, with key focus areas including health and wellness, education, military and veterans, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion. About Habitat for Humanity Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort on a community farm in southern Georgia. The Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org. SOURCE Habitat for Humanity International Related Links http://www.habitat.org Gutierrez started the meeting with an analysis about Venezuela: "The richest country in Latin America lives the most severe humanitarian catastrophe in the history of our continent. This murderous tyranny managed to divide the Venezuelan society and the cost has been too high". Quiroga explained the situation of such country, which he finds similar to the case of Cuba and Nicaragua: "The origin of the problems in these countries is "continuity", which does not allow other parties to reach office, thus wiping out democracy, fostering corruption, destroying independent institutions and muzzling the press". However, despite the difficulties, Gutierrez mentioned that "this is an important moment for Venezuela. In the twenty years of dictatorship, probably this is the first time in which we see a real opportunity that cannot be wasted. Advantage has to be taken with an internal military coup or with military foreign intervention". Quiroga expressed that what is needed is "to halt military Cuban intervention. Maduro handles the speech of a hypothetical North American military invasion -which has not happened- so that people do not realize that what is really happening is a Cuban invasion that is imprisoning and torturing the Venezuelan people". Additionally, he described five elements that democracy in Latin American countries requires: "free and transparent elections; independent institutions; free press; opposition right without the risk of jail; and the respect to time in office established by the constitution". Gutierrez concluded with a message to the citizenship: "Each election cycle we dust off democracy to later forget our citizen responsibilities, and instead of being active citizens, we are passive witnesses of governments that kidnap the present and future of our nations. We need to claim self-respect. Citizen commitment and participation on the public arena of the proposal and debate of ideas is indispensable". Watch the panel of former presidents, where Jorge Tuto Quiroga participated at the IV Encuentro Ciudadano. SOURCE Fundacion Libertad y Desarrollo BOSTON, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Drizly , North America's first and largest alcohol e-commerce marketplace, today announced that Jacqueline P. Flug has joined its leadership team as VP of Legal, Regulatory and Industry Affairs, deepening the company's considerable regulatory expertise. Flug formerly served as General Counsel to the New York State Liquor Authority, where she advised the agency on matters including internet sales of alcoholic beverages and third party providers, and oversaw the state's task force on alcohol-related e-commerce. She will collaborate with Nidhi Kumar, Drizly's General Counsel and SVP for Industry Affairs, on compliance and legislative matters. "Drizly was founded with a deep understanding of, and respect for, the complex legal and regulatory systems governing alcohol sales and distribution in this country, and is very mindful of the sensitivities and nuances of bringing a controlled product online," said Cory Rellas, Drizly's Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. "We are thrilled to have Jaci on our team. She brings not only tremendous experience as an attorney, but also a solid understanding of the beverage alcohol legal environment and invaluable insights from a regulator's point of view, at a time when alcohol e-commerce continues to expand." Rellas said that Flug's regulatory experience in the alcoholic beverages industry, combined with Drizly's expertise in operating an e-commerce platform, will contribute to Drizly's growth and further solidify its leadership position. "The opportunity to apply my regulatory experience to the enterprise side at a company with Drizly's reputation, vision, technology and talent is energizing," said Flug. "I'm looking forward to contributing to the growth of an emerging category and advancing Drizly's thought leadership in the industry." Drizly, now available in over 100 cities in North America, is the best way to shop for beer, wine, and spirits online, offering consumers of legal drinking age the widest selection of adult beverages, unrivaled price transparency and comparison power, an easy and intuitive shopping experience right from their smart phones and laptops, and the convenience of delivery to homes and offices in under one hour. The Drizly mobile app and website offer deep wells of information , packed with cocktail recipes, pro tips and popular adult beverage trends. About Drizly Drizly is the world's largest alcohol marketplace and the best way to shop beer, wine, and spirits. With the speed and convenience of on-demand delivery and shipping, customers can easily browse and order their favorites through the Drizly website or mobile app. By partnering with the best retail stores in over 100 cities in North America, Drizly provides consumers a rich e-commerce experience that offers unrivaled selection, competitive pricing, and personalized content to users of legal drinking age. Drizly operates across the United States and Canada, from Austin to Boston, Calgary to Tampa, New York City to Denver (and beyond). Backed by world-class institutional investors, the company has raised over $67 million to date. SOURCE Drizly Entropia, based in Kuala Lumpur and Manila, brings its expertise to the joint venture in evolving customer value proposition (CVP), customer experience design, data and UI/UX to the fold. Aladdin will be led by Rajeev Bala, currently the CEO of Rudra Labs. He will be supported by a team of 22 people spread across Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore. The outfit will deliver end-to-end from value mapping to concept development to prototyping to final production. It will also close the full customer data-to-sales loop once usage begins. "It's time that brands go beyond merely campaigns and content to offer IoT utility that creates a new level of value for customers and higher margins for businesses," said Rajeev Bala, Chief Inventor of Aladdin. "In a world deeply impatient with sales pitches, an IoT based brand value can establish a more meaningful value exchange between people and brands. Aladdin aims to do exactly that," he added. "The future of living resides in a matrix of sensors that work in tandem to simplify and enhance our lives. Hence, we can pack more life in each life," said Prashant Kumar, Founder and Senior Partner of Entropia. "Aladdin is conceived to enhance brand power by using connected objects to better customer experience as well as solve unmet customer problems. It opens up a whole new world of customer value propositions that have the power to transform many categories," he added. SOURCE Entropia HOUSTON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Flotek Industries, Inc. ("Flotek" or the "Company") (NYSE: FTK) today announced that as part of its ongoing commitment to strong corporate governance, the Board has decided to separate the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer effective as of the 2019 Annual Meeting. John W. Chisholm will remain as the President and CEO of Flotek. In connection with separating the roles of Chairman of the Board and CEO, the Board has determined to elect David Nierenberg as Chairman of the Board effective as of the 2019 Annual Meeting. Mr. Nierenberg will continue to serve as Chairman of the Strategic Capital Committee, which is currently reviewing a wide range of options to determine how Flotek will deploy the remaining net proceeds from the sale of Florida Chemical Company, LLC ("FCC"). L.V. "Bud" McGuire will continue in the role of Lead Independent Director. Additionally, Flotek has increased the size of its Board of Directors from seven to eight directors and has appointed Paul Hobby to the Board, effective immediately. Mr. Hobby shall stand for re-election at the 2019 Annual Meeting together with the Company's other nominees. The Board has also appointed Mr. Hobby to the Board's Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the Company's Strategic Capital Committee. These initiatives follow constructive dialogue and collaboration with BLR Partners LP ("BLR"), a Flotek shareholder, regarding the Company's strategic plans and Board composition. "We appreciate the input we have received from BLR and all of our shareholders. I look forward to working with David, Paul and the rest of the Board to execute our plan and increase value for shareholders," said Mr. Chisholm. "We have executed a number of value-creating initiatives including the sale of the FCC business and continued cost-cutting programs to improve long-term margins. We are now refocusing the growth strategy of our Energy Chemistry Technologies segment to position it for enhanced long-term performance." Mr. Nierenberg commented, "I believe that Flotek has significant turnaround potential and I am excited to take on the role of Chairman at this important juncture. I look forward to working closely with John and the Board and welcome the contributions and expertise of our new director, Paul Hobby. This Board will continue to take the necessary actions to enhance performance and create value for our shareholders." Flotek and BLR have entered into an agreement under which BLR has agreed to certain customary standstill, voting and other provisions with Flotek. The complete agreement will be filed in a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About Paul W. Hobby Mr. Hobby is a founder and a Managing Partner of Genesis Park LP., a regional private equity firm that has expertise in communications, energy technologies and other technology sectors. Mr. Hobby has served on the board of a number of public companies including: NRG, Eagle Global Logistics, Stewart Title, Coastal Banc, Amegy Bank of Texas and Aronex Pharmaceuticals. He is former Chairman of the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Texas Ethics Commission, the Texas General Services Commission and the Texas Business Hall of Fame. He has also held a number of other community leadership positions over time. Mr. Hobby is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he has been honored for service to the University, and the University of Texas School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct faculty member and been honored as an Outstanding Young Alumnus. He has been a guest lecturer at the Rice University Jones School, the University of Houston, Texas State University and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. About David Nierenberg David Nierenberg is Founder and President of Nierenberg Investment Management Company (NIMCO) of Camas, Washington, which manages The D3 Family Funds, which seeks long term capital gain, principally through investment in a concentrated portfolio of undervalued micro-cap public equities. He has served on dozens of not for profit, public, and private for profit boards since 1985. Mr. Nierenberg is a former partner for consulting firm Bain & Company and has significant experience in corporate governance. He serves on the Washington State Investment Board, which oversees $130 billion of public employee retirement and other funds. Additionally, he chairs The Ira Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School, a world leader in corporate governance. Previously, he was Vice Chair of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance at Yale. David chairs the Research Advisory Committee for Glass-Lewis, the second largest global proxy advisor. He currently serves as a director of Rosetta Stone (RST) and Riverview Bancorp (RVSB). David earned a B.A. with Distinction in History from Yale College in 1975 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1978. He is a retired member of the Massachusetts Bar. About Flotek Industries, Inc. Flotek develops and delivers prescriptive, reservoir-centric chemistry technologies to oil and gas clients designed to address every challenge in the lifecycle of the reservoir and maximize recovery in both new and mature fields. Flotek's inspired chemists draw from the power of bio-derived solvents to deliver solutions that enhance energy production. Flotek serves major and independent energy producers and oilfield service companies, both domestic and international. Flotek Industries, Inc. is a publicly traded company headquartered in Houston, Texas, and its common shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "FTK." For additional information, please visit Flotek's web site at www.flotekind.com . Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements set forth in this Press Release may constitute forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) regarding Flotek Industries, Inc.'s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements in this Press Release. Although forward-looking statements in this Press Release reflect the good faith judgment of management, such statements can only be based on facts and factors currently known to management. Consequently, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results and outcomes may differ materially from the results and outcomes discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences in results and outcomes include, but are not limited to, demand for oil and natural gas drilling services in the areas and markets in which the Company operates, competition, obsolescence of products and services, the Company's ability to obtain financing to support its operations, environmental and other casualty risks, and the impact of government regulation. Further information about the risks and uncertainties that may impact the Company are set forth in the Company's most recent filings on Form 10-K (including without limitation in the "Risk Factors" Section), and in the Company's other SEC filings and publicly available documents. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Press Release. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this Press Release. SOURCE Flotek Industries, Inc. Related Links http://www.flotekind.com CENTER CITY, Minn., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the crucial role that community-based support organizations play in helping people sustain recovery from addiction, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has selected an innovative Oregon recovery leader as the third recipient of its annual "Kelly Clark Spirit Award." Recognizing the crucial role that community-based support organizations play in helping people sustain recovery from addiction, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has selected innovative Oregon recovery leader Brent Canode as the third recipient of its annual Kelly Clark Spirit Award. Canode, executive director of the Alano Club of Portland, will receive the award at a dinner event May 17 at The Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Ore. Brent Canode, executive director of the Alano Club of Portland, will receive the award at a dinner event May 17 at The Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Ore. Nationally known speaker and bestselling author William C. Moyers, Hazelden Betty Ford's vice president of public affairs and community relations, will emcee the event. "No one in the country is doing more than Brent at the grassroots level to expand the availability of diverse, community-based supports for people who are in recovery from substance use disorders," Moyers said. "Brent knows that people in recovery often face barriers and is knocking those down every day, empowering people to not only stay healthy but to lead their best lives and pursue their dreams." Over the past decade, Canode has led the Alano Club of Portland to become the nation's largest non-clinical recovery center. Under its Recovery Toolkit Series brand, the Club provides Oregonians in recovery with the latest evidence-based programming and resources. Among its free offerings are certified recovery mentors; yoga and meditation classes; mindfulness-based stress reduction and relapse prevention training; health and wellness seminars; expungement clinics; exercise-based recovery groups; and opportunities to participate in advocacy initiatives and large-scale social events. "Our patients benefit when they return to communities that support recovery, and Brent is helping Portland become a recovery-friendly city, which makes him an ideal collaborator for us and a worthy recipient of the 2019 Kelly Clark Spirit Award," said Heidi Wallace, executive director of Hazelden Betty Ford in the Northwest. "We enhance each other's missions." The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2019, is the nation's leading nonprofit addiction treatment provider, with 17 sites across the country, including a residential facility in Newberg, Ore., an outpatient center in Beaverton, Ore., and a soon-to-open outpatient clinic in Bellevue, Wash. In addition to its comprehensive treatment services for adults and youth, the organization has extensive education, prevention, research, advocacy and publishing resources. "It is an honor to be recognized by Hazelden Betty Ford and to be part of extending Kelly Clark's legacy of generosity, hope and love," said Canode. "I am grateful for every opportunity to collaborate with an organization that does so much to help people and to continually advance addiction treatment and recovery in the United States." In 2018, Canode worked closely with Hazelden Betty Ford to convene a large community-planning event in Portland called the HOPE summit, where local, national and state leadersincluding Gov. Kate Browndiscussed how to build an effective state recovery strategy. Canode's work with the Alano Club of Portland has earned wide recognition nationally, including the Joel M. Hernandez Award at the 2017 America Honors Recovery Gala in Washington, D.C. The award is given to just one entity each year for innovation in the field of recovery support services. He is also a founder and past chair of the statewide advocacy group, Oregon Recovers; co-founder and vice-chair of the Oregon Recovery High School Initiative; an editor with the national Journal of Recovery Science; a recovery consultant with the Center for Social Innovation; a member of the policy and research think-tank Recovery Science Research Collaborative; and an appointee to the Governor's Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. In addition, he has held leadership roles with several national recovery advocacy organizations. "Brent truly embodies the spirit of Kelly Clark with his passion and commitment to recovery and service, both locally and nationally," said Ann Highet, chairwoman of Kelly Clark Spirit Award dinner. Clark was a Portland lawyer well known for his civic leadership and recovery advocacy, as well as for his successful lawsuit involving the Boy Scouts of America. The New York Times published an obituary following his death in December 2013. Clark served on the Board of Trustees for Hazelden Betty Ford in Newberg, where a beautiful and beloved "Kelly Clark Twelve Step Pathway" is named in his honor. Clark was a generous supporter of the organization and its patients, especially those who need financial aid to supplement their insurance benefits so they can stay in treatment longer. Hazelden Betty Ford Chief Medical Officer and nationally known expert Dr. Marvin Seppala will be among those speaking at the May 17 award dinner. Net proceeds will help support patient aid and related educational efforts in Oregon. All, including media, are welcome to attend. When: Friday, May 17, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Where: The Sentinel Hotel, 614 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205 Register: www.hazeldenbettyford.org/events/kelly-clark-award About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient treatment for adults and youth, the Foundation has 17 locations nationwide and collaborates with an expansive network throughout health care. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction. Learn more at www.HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford. SOURCE Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Related Links http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org "Demand for smart, sustainable solutions to address complex environmental challenges continues to grow globally," said Jacobs Global Environmental Solutions Senior Vice President and General Manager Jan Walstrom. "These awards stand as a testament to our employees and clients who advance innovative technologies and sustainable approaches to improve the spaces we inhabit and transform communities for the better." In conferring the awards, EBJ and CCBJ recognized the company for its leadership in technology, environmental restoration and remediation, climate change adaptation and resilience and social contribution. Technology-Enabled Approaches The world around us is becoming smarter and more connected from vehicles, roadways and factories to water treatment plants, entire cities and even technologies that calculate detailed and robust analysis. Advancements in technology will continue to mature and shift how we live and operate in a digital world. By transforming intangible ideas into intelligent solutions, Jacobs is tackling the demands for water supply, smarter infrastructure and flood management. EBJ Technology Merit: Water Supply: Developed first-of-its-kind sustainable water supply solution for Lee County Utilities in Florida, increasing water supply flexibility and reliability of their treatment plant while reducing operational costs by as much as 60 percent. EBJ Technology Merit: Smart Cities: Extended Aurangabad Industrial Smart City project in India, integrating smart technologies and next-level infrastructure to transform AURIC (Aurangabad Industrial City) into a smart, green industrial city of the future. CCBJ Technology Merit: Climate Change Risk Modeling and Assessment: Launched Jacobs' Flood Cloud service that delivers quicker flood risk analysis results while enabling more climate change scenarios, at any scale, in the cloud. Environmental Restoration and Remediation With global demand for environmental clean-up and remediation services growing, planning and sustainability steps taken today can lead to healthier, climate-resilient environments tomorrow. From excavating and safely disposing chemical compounds originating from a Superfund site, delivering triple bottom line benefits restoring industrial land at a coalfield, to helping rebuild reef beds for Australia's largest-ever reef reconstruction project Jacobs delivers forward-looking innovative solutions that solve clients' toughest challenges. EBJ Project Merit: Remediation: Completed in-situ thermal treatment at Velsicol Superfund Site in St. Louis, Michigan, removing nearly 60,000 pounds of contaminants which posed an ongoing threat to residents and natural resources. EBJ Project Merit: Environmental Restoration: Developed numerical modelling and the engineering design to rebuild lost reefs for Windara Reef shellfish restoration project, restoring natural capital, creating a healthier environment and more human use value in South Australia. EBJ Project Merit: Brownfield Redevelopment: Restored heavily polluted industrial land at The Avenue Remediation and Landscaping Project, with client Homes England and partners, bringing long-lasting environmental, social and economic benefits and resiliency, habitats for wildlife and a development platform for community and residential opportunities. Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Today's challenges of urbanization, resource scarcity, climate change, digital proliferation and security demand innovative approaches to deliver a more connected, sustainable world. Whether it's enhancing long-term groundwater supply, or safeguarding the environment, Jacobs works with clients, partners and communities to find better ways to deliver the best outcome. CCBJ Project Merit: Climate Change Resilient Infrastructure: Collaborated with the Government of Belize and Inter-American Development Bank for its Shoreline Management Plan that is improving disaster and climate resilience along coastlines. CCBJ Project Merit: Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience: Commissioned by the New Zealand Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Government of Kiribati for a feasibility study and conceptual plan of reclaiming inhabitable land, and transforming it into an urban development, resilient to predicted ocean levels. CCBJ Project Merit: Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience: Supported Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia for its ground-breaking potable reuse project SWIFT (Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow) aimed at protecting the region's environment, enhancing long-term groundwater supply and helping address environmental pressures. CCBJ Policy Innovation Merit: Partnered with Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), Water Corporations and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) on Catchment Carbon Offsets Trial In Victoria, Australia, achieving emissions reductions and providing triple bottom line benefits to complement climate change, water, catchment management and biodiversity strategies. Social Contribution Jacobs is committed to creating a culture of caring a workplace that values the safety, positive mental health and sense of belonging of all employees. Jacobs' success in embedding health and safety into company practices and policies, using a variety of best practice approaches, demonstrating a long-term, in-depth commitment to employee health has been recognized for its industry-leading progress in mental health programs. EBJ Social Contribution Merit: Mental Health: Mental Health Matters, a Jacobs company initiative, continues to develop a more inclusive environment where people feel safe, healthy and supported. Employees can become Positive Mental Health Champions, where they are trained in how to guide staff who have mental health concerns or crises, to the appropriate level of help; support fellow employees; and encourage positive mental health throughout the workplace. View full descriptions of EBJ and CCBJ award-winning projects. EBI will recognize 2018 EBJ and CCBJ awardees at the 17th annual Environmental Industry Summit on March 20, a three-day executive retreat in San Diego, California. Jacobs' environmental leaders will also participate in executive panels at the summit. Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2018 revenue and a talent force of more than 80,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein. For press/media inquiries: Kerrie Sparks 214.583.8433 Brian Morandi 720.286.0719 SOURCE Jacobs Related Links http://www.jacobs.com TOKYO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- - World's First Project Interlocking Animation and Samurai Drama - Samurai Drama Channel, Japan's paid television broadcasting exclusively Japanese period dramas, operated by Nihon Eiga Broadcasting Corporation along with its production committee, announced on March 20 the release of a new Japanese special-effect period drama called "BLACKFOX: Age of the Ninja" produced by director Koichi Sakamoto. This will be the world's first project interlocking animation and Samurai drama, with the original SF action animation "BLACKFOX," produced by director Kazuya Nomura of Studio 3Hz. Photo1: (C) PROJECT BLACKFOX Age of the Ninja https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M101057/201903184375/_prw_PI1fl_1vGn1vfW.jpg Photo2: (C) PROJECT BLACKFOX https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M101057/201903184375/_prw_PI2fl_0MCRqRr8.jpg The Japanese special-effect action costume drama has a female ninja in the leading role and, while the animation version tells the story of a ninja clan descendant set against a near-future backdrop, the live-action drama is set in the past, going back to the ninja and samurai era. Director Sakamoto, who is known as a key person in the Japanese special-effect "TOKUSATSU" film industry, was looking to take on a new challenge: "I have included in the production everything I know, particularly what I learned from my time in Hollywood -- a sense of tempo, commitment to action and homage to my favorite work." While adding that he is delighted with the final result, he said he is ready to inspire people from Japan and elsewhere in the world. Photo3: Director Koichi Sakamoto https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M101057/201903184375/_prw_PI3fl_bbUmGwAd.jpg The first video trailer of the live-action version will be released on March 23 on the official website and the official SNS account as well as at a BS Fuji booth and an Infinite booth at "AnimeJapan 2019" that is being held at Tokyo Big Sight on the same day onwards. Stay tuned for more information that will be released soon about the ninja heroine and the wonderful cast and team members! TOEI is a leading company for special effects in Japan having worked on multiple projects over the years. It is committed to producing a new era of special-effect action costume dramas at TOEI Studious Kyoto which is considered a leading place for the production of Japanese costume dramas. Official website: www.jidaigeki.com/BLACKFOX_Ninja/ Official Instagram account: @blackfox_ninja SOURCE Nihon Eiga Broadcasting Corporation NEW YORK, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Local Media Consortium today announced that it has partnered with the Information Trust Exchange Governing Association to develop and implement a first-of-its-kind model to protect consumer privacy, improve brand safety, combat ad fraud and support local journalism. The group aims to establish the first consumer-focused governing protocol to protect and balance trust, data privacy, identity and information commerce. Amid pressing concerns about a lack of accountability and transparency in today's digital advertising ecosystem, this unique group of stakeholders has established the Internet Multi-Stakeholder Privacy Initiative, a public-benefit consortium that includes publishers, technologists, researchers, entrepreneurs, advertisers and privacy advocates working together to develop a consumer-friendly privacy policy and standards for the online services of digital publishers. The group will host the "Trust, Identity and Data Privacy A Multi-Stakeholder Approach: Protecting consumers, news, brands and democracy" convening event in Washington, D.C. April 24-25 to begin developing a policy that will be implemented by all of the LMC's 80 media company members and other local publishers. To enhance discussion at the meeting and gather input from a broader range of thought leaders, the LMC and ITEGA seek participation and input from policy makers, brands, agencies, associations and ad technologists. For more information and to request a seat at the meeting, click here . "As consumers look to regain control of their privacy and identity online, ITEGA and its stakeholders understand the importance of creating a governing framework that is consistently adopted across publishing platforms and that reflects privacy protections and user consent," said Fran Wills, CEO of the LMC. "During meetings in Chicago and Brooklyn, a consensus emerged that a new model is possible; we are now gathering in Washington, D.C., to continue to map out a data ecosystem that best protects consumers, supports quality journalism and works for advertisers." The Brooklyn meeting, held earlier this year on Jan. 15-16, discussed what, if any, kind of ad targeting is acceptable to consumers, the types of data individuals are comfortable sharing with news outlets and advertisers, and what the value exchange might be to support journalism. The 46-member group determined that success will depend on the ability of a nonprofit rule-making body to establish a privacy statement that can be consistently adopted across major publishers, strong consent policies and technology prototypes, and a federated sign-on structure offered by publishers to benefit users who choose to share information with permission. Task groups were formed to address privacy statement language, governance, technology and user experience. Each group will report on their progress at the Washington, D.C. convening. "We look forward to another meeting to establish a forward-thinking privacy policy that works for individuals, publishers and advertisers," said Michelle De Mooy, an expert in privacy, data protection and technology policy, and a project consultant for ITEGA and the LMC. "We welcome stakeholders with expertise, insight and creativity to join this collaborative approach to support publishing in a user-centric, sustainable way." The D.C. meeting may include the following actions: the approval and announcement of a privacy statement approved by LMC publishers; a discussion and approval of plans for a tech stack that will include a single sign on that individual publishers can implement and an opt-in user data exchange; and a discussion on the rules and processes for the governing nonprofit. The group aims to complete the first draft of a formal privacy statement in June. About the Local Media Consortium The Local Media Consortium delivers economic value through strategic partnerships on behalf of more than 80 local media companies in top markets across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 2,500 outlets. By harnessing the combined volume and scale of its members, the LMC reduces costs and increases revenue with technology and service providers like Google, Facebook, Monster and others. The aggregated LMC audience footprint spans 160 million unique monthly visitors and its member companies serve more than four billion pageviews to consumers. More information is available at www.localmediaconsortium.com . About the Information Trust Exchange Governing Association The Information Trust Exchange Governing Association (itega.org) enables the trusted exchange of information in the online marketplace. Through the development and enforcement of rules and network protocols, ITEGA champions the protection of individual privacy and user identity online and creates a framework of transparency and accountability for internet stakeholders. ITEGA is currently focused on helping news organizations improve the trustworthiness, relevance and value of advertising, and to build a sustainable marketplace for the sharing and distribution of valuable content. ITEGA is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public-benefit corporation. Media Contacts: Christina Gillham, 646-868-5174 [email protected] Kristin Brocoff, 949-400-4899 [email protected] SOURCE Local Media Consortium Related Links http://www.localmediaconsortium.com SAN ANTONIO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating 15 years in business, Massage Heights, a leader of professional, affordable, and convenient therapeutic massage and facial services, announced another banner year for the brand, reporting $104.8 million in revenue, as well as a new partnership with Franchise FastLane to sign 20 franchise agreements in 2019. The brand is actively recruiting single- and multi-unit franchisees to expand in major metro areas like Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, South Florida, and Las Vegas. Over the last 15 years, Massage Heights has grown from a single Retreat in San Antonio, Texas, to over 140 across the U.S. and Canada. Co-founder and president Shane Evans founded the company in 2004 with her husband, Wayne, after realizing the need for professional and affordable massage services. After experiencing years of painful, recurring back pain and being unable to find a consistently affordable, therapeutic option for massage therapy, Shane and Wayne opened the first Massage Heights location. It was so popular that they opened a second just nine months later. After realizing the growing demand for massage therapy as part of people's everyday lives to manage chronic pain, reduce stress, and countless other symptoms, they saw an opportunity to take the brand national through franchising. "As I reflect on the past decade and a half in business, the first thing that comes to mind are the career opportunities that we've been able to provide to hundreds of entrepreneurs, massage therapists, and estheticians, and the countless lives they've transformed through affordable massage therapy and facial services," said Shane Evans, co-founder and president of Massage Heights. "The continued success of Massage Heights is a direct testament to the tireless dedication of our franchise owners, leadership team, and team members at every location. We're proud to be here today and look forward to the next 15 years." Additionally, to celebrate its 15th anniversary, Massage Heights will treat one lucky fan to an all-expenses paid trip for two to The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, for a luxurious weekend of relaxation and pampering. From April 1-30, 2019, fans can visit www.massageheights.com/15thanniversary to enter for the chance to win. Additional prizes such as annual memberships and other services and products also will be awarded for a total of 15 winners selected. For the closest location, visit www.massageheights.com. For more information on franchise opportunities with Massage Heights, visit www.massageheightsfranchise.com. About Massage Heights Massage Heights is a family-owned, membership-based therapeutic services franchise company that provides Members and Guests convenient, professional, affordable resort-quality massage and facial services that help people achieve a balanced and healthy lifestyle, in an upscale Retreat environment. Regular massage and skin therapy services help people look and feel their best from the inside out by aiding in the reduction of stress, pain management and increased relaxation, all resulting in the ability to tackle daily life with a higher level of vitality and positivity, truly elevating the everyday. MEDIA CONTACT: Fish Consulting Shannon O'Reilly [email protected] 954-893-9150 SOURCE Massage Heights Related Links http://www.massageheights.com AUSTIN, Texas, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Petros PACE Finance, LLC (www.petros-pace.com) announced today the closing of a $1.2 million Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) transaction in Toledo, Ohio, marking Toledo's first privately funded C-PACE project and Ohio's first Opportunity Zone project to include C-PACE financing. The Toledo-Lucas Port Authority is the C-PACE program administrator and Coda Management Group is the developer. "More developers are deciding every day to integrate C-PACE financing into their capital stacks as an efficient source of funding for building efficiency upgrades associated with redevelopments of older properties and revitalization of surrounding neighborhoods," said CEO of Petros PACE Finance, Mansoor Ghori. "Coda Holdings is an experienced developer with an impressive portfolio of residential and commercial developments across the Midwest." The transaction will fund energy efficiency upgrades as part of the redevelopment of a 1900's era commercial warehouse building into a 690-unit self-storage facility. Proceeds will be utilized to replace the roof, insulate the ceiling, and install double-pane windows, high-efficiency furnaces and AC units, LED lighting and controls. "C-PACE financing was a critical component in the capital structure for this transaction and we had a short window to close in order to take advantage of this Qualified Opportunity Zone funding," said Scott Krone, CEO of Coda Management Group. "Petros stepped up to provide timely execution along with competitive terms and we look forward to working with them in the future." The Opportunity Zones program, passed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, promotes economic development in distressed communities by giving investors and developers the ability to forgo and defer paying some capital gains taxes if they invest in any of the designated zones. "We have a long-standing relationship with Petros PACE Finance and it's been great to work with them," said Josef Pipoly, CEO of PACENERGIES, who consulted on the project. "Their deep bench of expertise brings a high level of efficiency to every part of the transaction process and that's why we brought them in as the financial partner for this project." Last year, Petros PACE Finance announced that it had secured a multi-billion-dollar capital commitment from institutional investor partners for funding C-PACE transactions nationwide. The capital commitment enables Petros PACE Finance to fund new construction and gut rehab projects nationally and, most importantly, provides property owners and developers certainty of close on projects financed by Petros PACE Finance. Founded in 2013, Petros PACE Finance has dedicated all of its resources to providing long-term C-PACE financing to commercial property owners and developers across the country and has completed C-PACE financing transactions in 11 states, including the District of Columbia. C-PACE is a long-term, fixed-rate financing product secured as a parcel tax assessment and solves many problems that have historically prevented commercial property owners from investing in energy efficiency retrofits or renewable energy retrofits. Legislatively approved in 36 states, C-PACE financing can also be utilized by developers to replace expensive mezzanine debt or equity in their new construction and redevelopment projects. Petros PACE Finance provides property owners and developers with the low-cost upfront capital for these projects. About Petros PACE Finance Petros PACE Finance, LLC is the industry leading financier of long-term C-PACE capital. Leaders, Mansoor Ghori, Jim Stanislaus, and Tommy Deavenport have 60+ years of executive-level expertise in all major aspects of C-PACE: commercial lending, structured finance, debt fund management, and direct, long-term institutional investor relationships. Petros PACE Finance is able to close transactions in active C-PACE markets using private funds to promote energy conservation and economic development nationwide. With billions in committed capital and a track record of execution, Petros PACE Finance is setting the standard of excellence and providing clients certainty of close. To learn more about Petros PACE Finance visit our website at www.petros-pace.com. Contact: Kylie Fitzpatrick, [email protected], 512-599-9042 SOURCE Petros PACE Finance, LLC Related Links http://www.petros-pace.com BOULDER, Colo. and KRAKOW, Poland, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TextUs , the most popular business-class text messaging software in North America, has expanded internationally. The company has opened its first European office in Krakow, Poland -- one of the continent's fastest-growing tech centers. Bringing the power of business texting to Europe, TextUs is redefining how businesses communicate in real-time. The platform supports the new way customers engage businesses on-demand and on their own terms. TextUs eliminates endless cold calls, ignored voicemails, and unanswered emails. It helps professionals boost response rates, communicate faster and build relationships through 1-to-1 conversations. The company's newest headquarters is located in Diamante Plaza, home to Europe's most prestigious tech, healthcare, and IT organizations. The branch is managed by Jacek Kilian, Global Account Manager of the Year 2015-2018 during his tenure at CRM-superstar, Bullhorn , due to his record bookings, year after year. Kilian and team will bring TextUs' passion and authenticity to Europe, making it easy for sales and staffing teams to: Build authentic relationships with customers and candidates via personalized text messaging Boost response rates over phone calls and emails by 800% percent Save time by eliminating wasted voicemails and reducing cold calls Text directly from their computers and their favorite CRM or ATS Optimize results across teams "TextUs Europe is an exciting adventure for us," said TextUs CEO, Ted Guggenheim. "We've had such fantastic success in the United States, and we're extremely excited to move into new territories in Europe. We look forward to working with our new partners to bring the next wave of real-time communications to European customers." Join TextUs at 2019 CWS Summit and GigE March 26 - 28, 2019, where they will demonstrate the latest features in business-class text messaging platform. About TextUs TextUs is the world's first real-time communication platform designed to dramatically improve how businesses communicate with their leads, candidates, and customers. With a 98 percent read rate and up to 40 percent response rates, TextUs delivers business-class text messaging combined with integrated cloud-voice features to connect businesses with their customers in real time. Visit www.textus.com and connect with the company on Facebook , Twitter , and LinkedIn . Contact: Olivia Heel [email protected] (303) 581-7760 SOURCE TextUs Related Links http://www.textus.com CHARLESTON, W.Va., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being released by The Masters Law Firm and Carey, Scott, Douglas & Kessler, PLLC as Class Counsel in The Kay Company, LLC v. EQT Production, Co. A Settlement has been reached with the EQT Corporation; EQT Production Company; EQT Energy; EQT Gathering, LLC; EQT Investment Holdings, LLC; and EQT Midstream Partners (together called the "EQT Defendants") over royalty payments on gas leases in West Virginia. An EQT Lease is included if: The lease is on land in West Virginia ; ; The royalty owner owned a royalty interest for this lease anytime from December 8, 2008 to December 31, 2017 ; to ; Gas was produced on the land anytime between December 8, 2008 and December 31, 2017 ; and ; The royalty owner received or are due royalty payments from this lease; and The royalty owner received or are due royalty payments from the EQT Defendants. There are three different groups included in the lawsuit: the Flat Rate Subclass and two Percentage Subclasses. The Flat Rate Subclass only includes flat rate natural gas wells that have been converted to a Percentage royalty. A $53.5 million Settlement Fund will be established by the EQT Defendants. After deducting court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses, Settlement Payments will be distributed to eligible Class Members. The EQT Defendants will also pay certain costs (up to $2 million) to administer the Settlement, separate from the Settlement Fund. Moving forward, the EQT Defendants have also agreed to a new Royalty Method to calculate royalties on leases. More details on the Settlement and the Royalty Methods are included in the Settlement Agreement and detailed notice, which are available at www.EQTRoyaltyWVClass.com. The amount of each Settlement Payment will be based on: The production and sale of the natural gas from wells and leases which a royalty owner had an interest in during the class period December 8, 2008 and December 31, 2017 , and , The royalty volumes of gas produced from the royalty owner's well(s) and the amount of any improper deductions taken, less attorney fees, litigation costs, and incentive awards, The percentage ownership that the royalty owner may own in the wells, and The total number of Class Members who participate in the Settlement. Eligible Class Members who file a valid claim will receive a minimum payment of $200. The claims process will open after the court grants final approval of the Settlement. If Class Members do not want to be legally bound by the Settlement, they can exclude themselves by May 17, 2019. If they do not exclude themselves, they may object to the Settlement by May 28, 2019. The Court will hold a hearing on July 11, 2019, to consider whether to approve the Settlement. Attorneys representing the Class will request payment up to one-third of the Settlement Fund, plus the costs of litigation which would be deducted from the Settlement Payments before distributing the rest to Class Members. Please note that the attorneys' fees and litigation costs are deducted proportionally from each Class Member's Settlement Payment. Class Members and their own lawyers can appear and speak at the hearing, but they are not required to do so. For additional information about the Settlement, please visit www.EQTRoyaltyWVClass.com or call 1-800-564-6019. SOURCE The Masters Law Firm; Carey, Scott, Douglas & Kessler, PLLC WASHINGTON, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Philanthropy to support health and medicine is the focus of the updated exhibit "Giving in America" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Donations from The Estee Lauder Companies Archives and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) March 19 include artifacts such as a 2018 U.S. Mint commemorative coin designed to help raise funds and a breast cancer awareness petition. "Giving in America" is a long-term exhibit that looks at philanthropy's role in shaping the United States. It is part of the Smithsonian Philanthropy Initiative, which launched in 2015 to explore philanthropy's collaborative power through collecting, researching, documenting and displaying materials related to the history and impact of giving. The initiative hosts an annual "Power of Giving: Philanthropy's Impact on American Life" symposium, which will take place March 19 after the donation ceremony. In 1992, Evelyn H. Lauder, with SELF magazine, used the Estee Lauder global brand to launch a pink ribbon campaign to raise breast cancer awareness. A year later, she founded BCRF; Lauder was able to motivate consumers to help support the mission. The donations to the national collections will include a SELF magazine and Estee Lauder Companies "Count Me In" petition with a pink ribbon from that first year; a Breast Cancer Awareness donation card with enamel pink ribbon from October 1993; a BCRF press kit, also from 1993; and an Estee Lauder pink ribbon makeup compact from 1997. BCRF is donating three proof coins from the commemorative coin program: a $5 pink gold coin, a $1 silver coin and a half-dollar coin made of copper-nickel. Authorized by law, the coin prices include surcharges that benefitted BCRF to further breast cancer research in the U.S. and abroad. "Health and medicine have long been central to philanthropy and its expansive reach," said Amanda B. Moniz, the museum's David M. Rubenstein Curator of Philanthropy. "Diseases cross borders and so do the means to tackle them, and, as a result, medical philanthropy has connected Americans to a global effort. Many Americans are inspired to give to medical causes because they hope to find a cure for a loved one or honor someone who has passed. Whatever the reason, these gifts contribute to medical ecosystems around the world." "We hope these artifacts of breast cancer philanthropy will long serve as a testament to visionaries like our founder Evelyn H. Lauder who worked tirelessly to end breast cancer," said Myra Biblowit, president and CEO of BCRF. "We are honored alongside our partners at The Estee Lauder Companies to be part of the museum's collection showcasing the power of donors, volunteers and partnerships to improve outcomes and save lives." Exhibition highlights include an 1852 medal from the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for work in rescuing drowning victims, an operating-room cap worn on a Liberia medical mission, a mosquito net to prevent malaria, a 1973 New York Chinatown health fair poster and a Rotary International "polio free" hat. Sneakers worn by Puerto Rican actor and comedian Raymond Arrieta in 2015 represent an annual charity walk around the island to support cancer patients. Letters by signers of the Giving Pledge known for their health and medical philanthropy will be on view in the exhibit. In addition, visitors can peruse over 140 other Giving Pledge letters on an adjacent digital kiosk. The Giving Pledge is a commitment by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Online videos enhance exhibit content, including a March of Dimes video that highlights the organization's pioneering mass-fundraising techniques in the 20th century. The Smithsonian Philanthropy Initiative is made possible through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a gift from David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group and chair of the Smithsonian Board of Regents. Additional support comes from the Fidelity Charitable Trustees' Initiative, a grant-making program of Fidelity Charitable. For more on the Philanthropy Initiative, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu/philanthropy and the Giving and Health webpage at http://americanhistory.si.edu/giving-and-health. Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. The museum is located on Constitution Avenue, between 12th and 14th streets N.W., and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. SOURCE Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Related Links http://americanhistory.si.edu NEW YORK, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hair Removal Devices Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Laser, Intense Pulse Light), By End Use (Beauty, Dermatology Clinics, Home Use), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05741290/?utm_source=PRN The global hair removal devices market size is expected to reach USD 3.4 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 14.9% over the forecast period. Growth in beauty consciousness particularly among women has boosted the market. The male population is also following this trend due to rise in awareness about grooming. This factor is projected to further fuel the demand. High demand for noninvasive techniques for hair removal such as the laser treatment owing to its benefits, such as precision and saving time and money in the long run. Most hair removal devices can be used at home, which, in turn, is also contributing to the high demand for personal noninvasive grooming techniques. Availability of technologically advanced products has also played an important role in positively impacting the growth of the market.New laser devices emit longer wavelengths of light, enabling them to focus only on the melanin present in hair follicles. This eliminates the risk of skin burns. These factors are expected to drive growth of the hair removal devices market over the years to come. Further key findings from the study suggest: Laser devices held the largest share of the hair removal devices market in 2017 owing to benefits such as painless treatment and rapid hair reduction Diode lasers is a lucrative segment as these devices provide rapid hair reduction with minimum adverse effects IPL systems also held a high market share in 2017 as these devices are more affordable than other devices In 2017, beauty clinics dominated the market because a large number of women prefer rapid treatment sessions unlike dermatology clinics Home use segment is anticipated to exhibit impressive growth over the forecast period due to easy availability of these devices through retail and online distribution channels North America held the largest market share in 2017 due to well-developed healthcare infrastructure and growth in the number of hair reduction procedures in U.S. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness highest growth over the forecast period owing to increasing awareness about advanced equipment and availability of affordable laser hair removal devices in China Some of the key market players include Cynosure Inc.; Solta Medical, Inc.; Lumenis; Alma Lasers; Syneron Medical Ltd.; Venus Concept Canada Corp.; and Cutera. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05741290/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com This launch of new river ships is Viking's latest milestone as the company continues to expand and dominate industry awards. Just two weeks ago, Viking swept Cruise Critic's 2019 Cruisers' Choice Awards with 11 First Place Wins including the new "Best for River Cruises" category and just last month the company took delivery of its sixth ocean ship, Viking Jupiter , which will be named in Oslo on June 6 . In addition, Viking was again named the #1 River Cruise Line by Conde Nast Traveler in the publication's 2018 Readers' Choice Awards, and Travel + Leisure readers named Viking a #1 Ocean Cruise Line and one of the World's Best River Cruise Lines in the 2018 World's Best Awards. "We began hosting guests on the rivers of Russia 22 years ago, and we have always done things differently. We focus on the destination, and we provide travel experiences that allow our guests to learn, to enrich their lives and to explore the world in comfort. It is 'The Viking Difference' that has made us the leading river cruise line in the world and has helped river cruising become one of the fastest-growing segments of travel," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "As the leader, it is also important that we recognize those who have helped us achieve success. This year I am especially proud to honor members of the Viking family as godmothers of our newest river ships." Viking Naming Ceremony In keeping with a maritime tradition that dates back thousands of years, Viking invited seven long-serving employees and important members of the company's family to serve as honorary godmothers of the new ships. Leah Talactac , Godmother of Viking Einar , Godmother of Natalia Hofmann , Godmother of Viking Helgrim Godmother of Wendy Atkin-Smith , Godmother of Viking Sigrun Godmother of Rikke Semb Pertile , Godmother of Viking Sigyn Godmother of Gisela Ruckert, Godmother of Viking Tir Godmother of Linh Banh , Godmother of Viking Ullur Godmother of Minxuan Zhao, Godmother of Viking Vali The naming event was executed by connecting the new ships via satellite across four European cities. Viking Einar and Viking Sigrun were docked in Basel and named by in-person by their godmothers. The other five ships were "virtually" named by their godmothers: Viking Sigyn and Viking Ullur in Rostock, Germany; Viking Tir and Viking Vali in Brunsbuttel, Germany; and Viking Helgrim in Porto, Portugal. In keeping with another maritime tradition, a bottle of Gammel Opland aquavit was broken on the bow of each new ship. Gammel Opland hails from the same county in Norway where Chairman Hagen's mother, Ragnhild also lovingly known as "Mamsen" was born and was her favorite brand of aquavit. Following the naming event, guests enjoyed dinner at Basel's Fondation Beyeler museum, set amidst the museum's newest and most ambitious exhibition: The Young Picasso. Blue and Rose Periods. Guests were also treated to a performance by Alma Deutscher, the 14-year-old English composer, pianist, violinist, and child prodigy who is a favorite of Chairman Hagen's. The Viking Difference Designed for discerning travelers with interests in history, art, music and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. Ships are small to get guests closer to their destination, with more time in port and more overnights. On board, guests find serene Scandinavian spaces, where every room is both beautiful and functional, quiet and filled with light. With the most al fresco dining opportunities whether on the rivers or at sea, featuring regional cuisine and always-available American classics, Viking's guests can truly dine in their destination. A focus on cultural enrichment brings immersive experiences on shore and on board. And only The Viking Way of exploration provides guests with itineraries that feature Local Life, Working World and Privileged Access experiences. Local Life excursions shine a light on everyday activities and include experiences such as Viking Chef-hosted trips to local farmers markets, tea at home with local residents and visits with local schoolchildren. Working World excursions feature behind-the-scenes "making of" experiences, illuminating destinations through their most famous exports, such as factory and farm visits. Privileged Access excursions include experiences like The Oxford & Highclere Castle program, Viking's highest-rated Pre/Post Extension that visits "The Real Downton Abbey;" a private tour of Gottweig Abbey, where Viking guests have a rare opportunity to dine with the Abbey's monks at Stift Gottweig and receive a special Traveler's blessing; and an exclusive dinner in the Churchill War Rooms in London as part Viking's new Churchill's London Pre/Post Extension. In addition, Viking offers a compelling value compared to other cruise lines. Every cruise fare includes an outside stateroom, a complimentary shore excursion in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes. Guests also enjoy many complimentary amenities as part of their fare, including: beer and wine with lunch and dinner service; Wi-Fi; and cultural performances as part of the Viking's Cultural Curriculum onboard programming. Booking Details From now through March 31, 2019, Viking is offering U.S. residents special cruise fares on select 2019, 2020 and 2021 ocean itineraries, as well as on select 2019 and 2020 river cruises, with additional discounts on air. About Viking Cruises Viking was founded in 1997 with the purchase of four ships in Russia. Designed for discerning travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. In its first three years of operation, Viking has been rated the #1 ocean cruise line in Travel + Leisure's 2016, 2017 and 2018 "World's Best" Awards. Viking currently operates a fleet of 78 vessels, offering scenic cruising on rivers and oceans around the world. In addition to the Travel + Leisure honors, Viking has also been honored multiple times on Conde Nast Traveler's "Gold List" as well as recognized by Cruise Critic as "Best Overall" Small-Mid size ship in the 2018 Cruisers' Choice Awards, "Best River Cruise Line" and "Best River Itineraries," with the entire Viking Longships fleet being named "Best New River Ships" in the website's Editors' Picks Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or visit www.vikingcruises.com. SOURCE Viking Cruises Related Links https://www.vikingcruises.com Over the past few years, the e-cigarette industry has witnessed several revolutionary developments to grow the pods system and Heat-not-Burn (HNB) devices. Being elegant, simple, portable and easy-to-use, pods system products have gained popularity among a large number of businesspersons. At the beginning of 2019, many 3C industries in China have entered the e-cigarette industry and launched their own e-cigarette brands, making it the top new investment trend in 2019. From Zhu Xiaomu, former Product Director of Smartisan Digital Co., Ltd., who launched the brand "FLOW", to "Tongdao", a famous KOL who created "YOOZ", the investors of the vape industry immediately became the trending topics on major media platforms. With the great performance of leading pods system brands in China, the current valuation of "RELX", a vape brand, has reached about USD 1 billion. Under the influence of celebrity brands endorsements and channels, these re-entrepreneur brands with their inherent traffic have gained sound feedback from the market, injecting new stimulus into the vape market and bringing strong confidence in the industry's development. The new tobacco product HNB is also following up, seizing the middle and high-end market with strong competitiveness. In addition, with China Tobacco gradually joining the market, HNB products are bound to be the market's favourite in the next few years. Meanwhile, traditional e-cigarette products are still present in mainstream markets in Europe and North America. In 2018, Juul, the leading brand of pods system, dominated the vape market in the United States with the largest market share of vapes after only two years, with a market value of 38 billion US dollars. This fully shows the opportunities present in this market. In December 2018, China Tobacco made its debut in the first "IECIE Shanghai Vape Culture Week". The China Tobacco companies, represented by those in Sichuan, Hubei and Yunnan, brought their traditional smoking utensils and the latest HBN products to the industry's expo for the first time, showing optimism about the prospects of the vape industry and a positive attitude towards participating in the innovation of the industry. In 2019, the e-cig industry will usher in a new development opportunity. The IECIE Shenzhen eCig Expo will continue with the aim of fully expanding the industry and taking globalization and specialization as its organizing policy. It will bring the latest trends to the e-cig industry and provide a professional platform for discussion, exchanges of opinions, and an opportunity for displaying new products to further boost development and innovation in the industry. At the 5th anniversary of IECIE Shenzhen eCig Expo, the expo will cover a total area of 40,000 sqm, bringing together 1,500+ brands from 45 countries and regions. It is estimated that more than 50,000 visitors and 350 media will attend the expo. Professional exhibitors and visitors from around the world will participate in the show, including brand dealers, wholesalers, distributors, vape amateurs, physical stores, franchisees, e-commerce enterprises, trading companies, overseas buyers, investment and financing institutions, gift procurement institutions, group procurement institutions, and so on. Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center is being held from April 14 to 16, 2019. For pre-registration please click here. SOURCE UBM Creativity SYDNEY, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals (60P) and its Australian distribution partner Biocelect Pty Ltd, began commercialising the new malaria prevention medicine, Kodatef (tafenoquine succinate). The two organisations announced today that the first shipments of Kodatef have arrived and are now available to customers in Australia. Biocelect In September 2018, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved Kodatef for the prevention of malaria in adults 18 years of age and above for up to 6 months of continuous dosing. The approval marked the first time in more than 20 years that the TGA had approved a new drug for the prevention of malaria. Malaria remains widespread in many countries, including Australia's near neighbors. "The first shipments of Kodatef into the Australian market represent an exciting and important milestone for 60P and our partner, Biocelect," said Doug Loock, Vice President of Global Commercial Operations at 60 Degrees Pharma. "We know that the threat of malaria is growing in a number of areas around the globe. It is gratifying to be part of the effort to protect individuals from this life-threatening disease when they are travelling to malaria endemic areas. We look forward to continuing to build on today's success." "In Kodatef, the travel medicine community now has an antimalarial option that provides protection in all of the malaria endemic zones," said Karl Herz, Managing Director of Biocelect. "We remain committed to serving the Australian travel market with new and exciting products and today we took our first step to doing so." Kodatef has the potential to protect Australian travelers from the devastating and life-threatening effects of malaria. Approximately 700-800 Australians contract malaria every year, largely through foreign travel, and suffer severe symptoms that generally require hospitalization and which, without treatment, can be fatal. After an initial loading dose prior to travelling, Kodatef is to be taken once a week, with only one dose required on return from the malaria-affected region. This convenience may make it more likely that travellers will adhere to the drug regimen. For Kodatef dosing information, refer to the regimen below or the Kodatef (tafenoquine succinate) Approved Product Information. You may also refer to the Kodatef (tafenoquine succinate) Product and Consumer Medicine Information Licence. 60P plans to launch a similar product under a different brand name in the United States during summer 2019. Important Safety Information Dosing regimen for KODATEF (tafenoquine succinate) Loading Dose Before travelling to a malarious area 200 mg (two of the 100 mg tablets) once daily for three days. Maintenance Dose While in the malarious area 200 mg (two of the 100 mg tablets) once weekly start seven days after the last loading dose. Final (Terminal) Dose In the week following exit from the malarious area Single 200 mg (two of the 100 mg tablets) 7 days after the last maintenance dose. Individuals need to complete the full course of KODATEF including loading and terminal doses. If leaving the malarious area before the start of the maintenance regimen, a single terminal dose should be taken 7 days after the last dose of the loading regimen. Contraindications: KODATEF should not be administered to: Individuals with G6PD deficiency or unknown G6PD status due to the risk of haemolytic anaemia. Pregnancy and Lactation. Subjects with current or history of psychosis. Known hypersensitivity to tafenoquine, other 8-aminoquinolines, or any other component of KODATEF formulation. Due to the long half-life of tafenoquine (up to 17 days), hypersensitivity reactions may be delayed in onset and/or duration. Special warnings and precautions for use: G6PD enzyme deficiency G6PD deficiency should be excluded before prescribing KODATEF due to the risk of haemolytic anaemia in patients with G6PD deficiency. Physicians need to be aware of residual or unrecognised risk of haemolysis due to limitations of the G6PD tests. In clinical trials, declines in haemoglobin levels have been reported in patients with normal G6PD enzyme levels. Monitor patients for clinical signs or symptoms of haemolysis. Advise patients to discontinue KODATEF and seek medical attention if signs of haemolysis occur. Psychiatric Effects In patients receiving KODATEF in clinical trials, adverse psychiatric reactions included sleep disturbances (2.5%), depression/depressed mood (0.3%), and anxiety (0.2%). KODATEF was discontinued in one subject with a reported adverse reaction of suicide attempt (0.1%) deemed unrelated to KODATEF by the Investigator. Subjects with a history of psychiatric disorders were excluded from the pivotal clinical study (trial 033) supporting the use of KODATEF for prophylaxis of malaria. Serious psychiatric disorders such as psychosis and depression have been associated with some quinoline anti-malarial agents. KODATEF should not be used in subjects with a history of serious psychosis or current psychotic symptoms, delusions or hallucinations. If psychosis or other serious psychiatric events occur while taking KODATEF, urgent medical advice should be sought. Haematological effects Haemoglobin decreases by 0.66 g/dL have been frequently reported in clinical trials of KODATEF. Asymptomatic elevations in methaemoglobin, characteristically increases to >1% but below 10% (a level associated with hypoxia), have been observed in the clinical trials of KODATEF. Discontinuation of KODATEF treatment is recommended if signs and symptoms of methaemoglobinaemia occur, followed by medical advice and appropriate medical therapy. Gastrointestinal effects Gastrointestinal effects including diarrhoea (13% of subjects), vomiting (4%), and gastroesophageal reflux disorder (2%), occurred at a greater frequency in KODATEF - treated subjects than in placebo subjects in clinical trials. Administration of KODATEF with food may ameliorate these gastrointestinal effects. Use in hepatic impairment KODATEF pharmacokinetics have not been studied in patients with hepatic impairment. Patients with serum levels of ALT >60 U/L and total bilirubin levels >2.0 mg/dL were excluded or infrequently entered in the pivotal clinical trials (mean ALT = 28 U/L, SD=12; mean total bilirubin = 0.5 mg/dL, SD=0.3). Use in renal impairment KODATEF pharmacokinetics have not been studied in patients with renal impairment. Patients with serum creatinine >1.8 mg/dL were excluded from the pivotal clinical trials. Use in the elderly Clinical trials did not include sufficient numbers of subjects 65 years of age and over to determine if they respond differently than younger subjects. Use in the elderly Clinical trials did not include sufficient numbers of subjects 65 years of age and over to determine if they respond differently than younger subjects. Paediatric use Safety and effectiveness in children have not been established. Effects on laboratory tests The use of KODATEF may influence the results of certain laboratory tests including biochemical parameters of the liver and kidneys and haematology parameters. These changes, which are expected due to the oxidative nature of 8-aminoquinoline drugs, generally remain within the normal laboratory range of each parameter. Biochemical parameter changes may include mild ALT elevations (> 60 U/L) and serum creatinine elevations > 1.8 mg/dL. Change in haematology parameters, may specifically include a reduction of haemoglobin > 0.66 g/dL and methaemoglobin increases to >1%. Methaemoglobin does not increase to as much as 10%, a level associated with hypoxia. INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER MEDICINES AND OTHER FORMS OF INTERACTIONS KODATEF may inhibit drug transporters in the kidney. Since inhibition of these transporters may lead to increased exposure to medications that they excrete, when KODATEF is coadministered with procainamide, it may be advisable to re-evaluate the safety and/or efficacy of procainamide. Tafenoquine inhibited the in vitro transport of [14C] metformin via OCT2, MATE1, and MATE2-K. Clinical predictions indicate there may be a potential, but low risk of lactic acidosis in subjects who receive tafenoquine and metformin concomitantly, due to an increased exposure to metformin arising from this interaction. Treatment with Other Potentially Haemolytic Drugs Drugs including dapsone may cause haemolysis in G6PD-normal individuals. It is possible that dapsone in combination with KODATEF might cause haemolysis in G6PD-normal individuals. If dapsone is co-administered with KODATEF, monitor urine for dark colour and perform periodic checks of hematocrit. About Malaria Malaria, a life-threatening disease transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, caused an estimated 429,000 fatalities and 212 million clinical cases in 2015, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Malaria cases among travellers returning to the U.S. have been trending upwards. About Kodatef (tafenoquine succinate) Tafenoquine is an 8-aminoquinoline chemically derived from primaquine, with activity against all types of malaria. It was first synthesized by scientists at WRAIR in 1978. The TGA approval was a culmination of more than 30 years of research and development with the USAMRMC, from the discovery of tafenoquine at WRAIR through the current collaboration between 60P and USAMMDA. Further information is available on www.biocelect.com. About Biocelect Biocelect is all about "Building Pathways to Patients". Being Sydney based, Biocelect is 100% Australian and family owned and is a company that sources, in-licences and commercialises biopharmaceutical, device and in vitro diagnostic products that address unmet medical needs of patients and customers in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region. In Australia, Biocelect has just registered its first specialty prescription product, Kodatef with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. The first prescription product with a new active ingredient for malaria prophylaxis in Australia in 20 years. Preparations for the launch of Kodatef are now underway. Being an agile company, we can provide a range of bespoke partnering solutions for companies wanting to distribute their products in Australia and the region. Biocelect has an experienced and seasoned team with many years of experience in the global pharmaceutical, device and in vitro diagnostic markets. Biocelect also has the ability to draw on the extensive capability of its sister company, Biointelect, including Biointelect's deep knowledge of market evaluation and market access in Australia and internationally. This allows Biocelect to provide the functions of a bigger company, with an experienced team of people. Hence ensuring the success of the product in the region and ultimately meeting the needs of patients and customers. For further information on Biocelect or Kodatef please contact us at [email protected] About 60P 60P, founded in 2010, focuses on discovering, developing and distributing new medicines for treatment and prevention of tropical diseases, including malaria and dengue. 60P's mission is supported through in-kind funding from the U.S. Department of Defence. The company also collaborates with prominent research organizations in the U.S. and Australia. In addition, 60P has been funded by Knight Therapeutics Inc., a Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company. 60P is headquartered in Washington D.C., with a subsidiary in Australia. For more information about Kodatef (tafenoquine succinate) visit www.biocelect.com. In August 2018, 60P received U.S. FDA licensure and marketing approval for Tafenoquine under a different brand name; for more information visit the company's website, 60degreespharma.com. The statements contained herein may include prospects, statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Media contacts: 60P: Doug Loock Vice President, Global Commercial Operations 202-327-5422 [email protected] Biocelect: [email protected] SOURCE 60P Degrees Pharmaceuticals Related Links https://60degreespharma.com RED WING, Minn., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Wing Shoe Company, a global leader in the footwear industry for more than 110 years, announces the opening of a flagship retail store in New York City. The company's first permanent presence in Manhattan, open now, includes a tribute to the workers who helped build the city. Located at 11 Penn Plaza in the heart of midtown, the 3,300-square-foot store celebrates the company's rich heritage and tradition of quality craftsmanship. In addition to selling Red Wing's famed purpose-built work boots and stylish Heritage collection, the store also offers expert shoe-fitting and refurbishing services, along with experiential displays. "Red Wing Shoes have been a mainstay on New York City job sites for more than a century, but until now we haven't had a physical presence in Manhattan," said Mark Urdahl, Red Wing's chief executive officer. "We are excited to make it easier than ever for New York's workers, residents and visitors to find the right product and services for their needs, whether it's working on a construction site or commuting to the office." The new store offers a wide range of unique services and features, including: Ultimate Fit Experience : Customers can take advantage of Red Wing's Ultimate Fit Experience with experts who can offer advice on the best size and fit for tailored needs, including highly specific work conditions and safety requirements. Boot repair and care bar : Red Wing boots can be reconditioned and repaired on-location while the customer watches. The company also plans for interactive demonstrations, providing tips on how to make a favorite pair of boots last season after season. Accessory selection : Red Wing's new store offers a comprehensive collection of laces, inserts and socks to create a truly personalized, and comfortable, pair of boots. New York City Wall of Honor : The store offers a tribute to New York's skilled laborers through an interactive installation of epic stories about the toughest jobs done in Red Wing boots. One memory, submitted by Chris Csoka, tells of his work cleaning up Ground Zero after 9/11 and how his Red Wing boots saved his life in an electrical explosion during recovery efforts. His work boots are on display in the store. Boot construction display : An interactive display showcases how Red Wing boots are made by following the company's traditional step-by-step processlargely unchanged since its founding in 1905and highlights the many parts and pieces that contribute to its quality workmanship. Red Wing believes that opening urban stores, such as the one in New York, is one of many ways that it will continue to achieve consistent growth. The company also recently launched Red Wing for Business, a digital footwear program that makes it easier for companies to offer Red Wing boots to their workers. With these advancements, and a strong pipeline of innovative products, the company is primed to retain its place as the top safety footwear brand for workers around the country. For more information about Red Wing Shoe Company and the New York City store, visit www.redwingshoes.com. About Red Wing Shoe Company Red Wing Shoe Company Inc. is a global leader in the design, production and distribution of work, safety and lifestyle footwear and work apparel. Established in 1905 in Red Wing, Minnesota, today the privately held company's family of brands includes Red Wing, the premium choice for purpose-built work footwear, workwear and accessories including a collection of Heritage styles created for any occasion; Irish Setter, the footwear brand of choice for hunters and workers who want uncompromising quality and technological innovation; Vasque, a pioneer of performance hiking footwear; WORX, a trusted brand for the industrial safety footwear market; and S.B. Foot Tanning Company, one of the largest U.S. producers of fine tanned leather for footwear and leather goods. Its brands are distributed to more than 110 countries in an immersive multichannel environment of 500+ Red Wing retail stores, third-party partners, and owned e-commerce platforms. The Red Wing Shoe Company employs more than 2,000 employees worldwide and operates two U.S. manufacturing facilities in Red Wing and Potosi, Missouri. For more information, please visit redwingshoes.com, facebook.com/RedWingShoes or follow @RedWingShoes. Media Contact: Chelsey Knutson [email protected] 612-375-8540 SOURCE Red Wing Shoe Company Related Links http://www.redwingshoes.com NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing efforts to give back to the communities in which it serves, Acceptance Insurance is proud to once again be a presenting sponsor of the Sista Strut Breast Cancer Walk in multiple cities across the country. The goal of Sista Strut is to heighten awareness about the issues of breast cancer in women of color, as well as provide information on community resources. "We've had the privilege to sponsor Sista Strut since 2016. I've attended the Nashville walk, and it was truly inspiring to see so many people come together to support survivors and others who have been affected by breast cancer," said Chief Insurance Officer Juliet Diiorio. "We understand the importance of people having the information they need about this disease and are thrilled to increase the number of walks we're involved in this year from 8 to 12. Our first walk this year is in Nashville on March 30, and we invite the community to join us. We'll have pink boas to hand out and a huge pink chair for selfies! While it's an emotional experience, it's also a lot of fun!" In addition to Nashville, Acceptance Insurance will also be sponsoring and participating in upcoming walks in Memphis, Florence, Augusta, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Houston, Mobile, Macon, Chicago, Montgomery, and Tampa. Acceptance thanks Cracker Barrel and iHeart Media for the opportunity to once again contribute to Sista Strut's efforts to educate and support the communities in which it operates and serves. About Acceptance Insurance Acceptance Insurance is an insurance agency owned and operated by First Acceptance Corporation, a publicly-traded corporation (OTCQX: FACO) based in Nashville, Tennessee. Its employee-agents sell automobile insurance and other insurance products (commercial, term life, renters, motorcycle and homeowners) through 350 retail locations in 15 states and a call center. Customers can also purchase insurance through Acceptance via the internet at www.acceptance.com. SOURCE First Acceptance Corporation Related Links http://www.acceptance.com SCOTTSDALE, AZ, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - AgJunction Inc. (TSX: AJX) ("AgJunction" or the "Company"), the Autosteering Company, is announcing a CFO transition plan following the resignation of current CFO Mike Manning, who has made the decision not to relocate to the Company's new Scottsdale, Arizona headquarters. Manning will work part-time for AgJunction effective March 29th to assist in a transition period through the Company's annual general meeting on May 10th. The Company intends to appoint an interim CFO while it conducts a search for a permanent CFO in the greater Scottsdale, Arizona area. "Mike has played an integral role in the history of AgJunction, helping to bring the company to the unique position it now occupies in precision autosteering," said Dave Vaughn, president and CEO. "Mike has decided that remaining in Kansas City is the right decision for him and his family, and we appreciate his many contributions to AgJunction. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors." Manning commented: "I'm proud to have been a part of AgJunction's development and strategic shift into the business it is today, and I would like to thank Dave and the board for supporting my decision. The company is in a unique competitive position at a time when farmers need it most, and I am confident in the leadership team's ability to guide AgJunction through many additional years of success." About AgJunction AgJunction Inc., the Autosteering Company is a global leader of advanced guidance and autosteering solutions for precision agriculture applications. Its technologies are critical components in over 30 of the world's leading precision Ag manufacturers and solution providers and it holds over 130 fundamental steering and machine control patents. AgJunction markets its solutions under leading brand names including Novariant, Wheelman, and Whirl and is committed to advancing its vision by bringing affordable hands-free farming to every farm, regardless of terrain or size. AgJunction has locations in California, Arizona, and Australia, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "AJX." For more information, please go to AgJunction.com. SOURCE Agjunction Inc. Related Links http://corp.agjunction.com/Home.aspx As CEO, he will have primary responsibility for strategy, operating results, continued organizational growth and advocacy for the osteopathic profession. He will work with the board of trustees, affiliated associations and staff to advance the organization's strategic vision and execute its programs. "As an osteopathic physician, I am humbled, and so very proud, to serve the osteopathic profession, the American Osteopathic Association, our current and future members, and all osteopathic physicians and medical students. As one of many priorities, I have accepted the charge to enhance and ensure the value of AOA membership and chart a successful course for our profession's future," said Dr. Klauer. "Advocating for the osteopathic profession is a passion, not a job. I look forward to committing 100 percent of my time and efforts in support of the AOA and its important role with the osteopathic profession and our nation's health care delivery system." "We are thrilled for Dr. Klauer to join the AOA as our next CEO," said AOA President William S. Mayo, DO. "The DO profession is undergoing significant growth, with approximately one in four medical students attending a college of osteopathic medicine. This is a pivotal moment for the osteopathic profession and health care overall, and we are confident in Dr. Klauer's experience to lead us through a dynamic and evolving landscape." Dr. Klauer joins the AOA from TeamHealth, a leading clinician services organization, where he most recently served as chief medical officer for hospital-based services, chief risk officer and executive director for the patient safety organization. He is a clinical assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine. Prior to his arrival at TeamHealth in January 2015, Dr. Klauer spent 15 years with Emergency Medicine Physicians, Ltd. (EMP), serving in many capacities. He was also a member of the board of directors for Physicians Specialty Limited Risk Retention Group and the EMP Medical Group board of directors. Outside of full-time professional work, Dr. Klauer is involved in and has been recognized by numerous healthcare organizations. He was recognized by the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians with the 2018 Outstanding Educator of the Year award. Dr. Klauer was elected to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) board of directors in October 2016 and he previously served as ACEP Council Speaker. Dr. Klauer also serves as the medical editor-in-chief for ACEP Now, ACEP's monthly publication, and was editor-in-chief for Emergency Physicians Monthly. He has received the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA) Robert Dougherty ACEP/EMF Teaching Fellowship as well as the ACEP National Faculty Teaching Award. In 2014, Dr. Klauer was the recipient of the American College of Emergency Physicians Honorable Mention Outstanding Speaker of the Year Award and was recognized by the Ohio Chapter of ACEP with the Bill Hall Award for service. Dr. Klauer earned his DO degree from the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He also holds an Executive JD, with honors, from Concord Law School. About the AOA The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) represents more than 145,000 osteopathic physicians (DOs) and osteopathic medical students; promotes public health; encourages scientific research; serves as the primary certifying body for DOs; and is the accrediting agency for osteopathic medical schools. To learn more about DOs and the osteopathic philosophy of medicine, visit DoctorsThatDO.org. SOURCE American Osteopathic Association Related Links http://DoctorsThatDO.org SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Automation Anywhere, the global leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), today announced major advances to IQ Bot 6.5, its artificial intelligence (AI) solution that greatly expands the global market for RPA. Capable of learning from humans, IQ Bot can now auto-detect, read and process a variety of complex, low-resolution documents and emails in 190 languages as well as process document images with the Automation Anywhere Mobile app. With the global workforce becoming increasingly mobile with 1.87 billion mobile workers by 2022 1 -users can now access IQ Bot from a mobile device, process images and have the results emailed to them all while on the go, so that anybody, anywhere can use it: field workers, home appraisers, insurance adjusters and delivery workers. Today, an estimated 80 to 90 percent of organizations still manually extract data from documents and emails. The advanced AI capacities of IQ Bot are designed to free up business users around the world from the mundane task of entering data into enterprise applications. Automation of such complex, repetitive tasks liberates people to focus on what humans do best innovate, collaborate and use their talent to solve business challenges. "The ability to implement a bot quickly and cost-effectively to automate data capture can dramatically impact a company's bottom line," said Harvey Spencer, president of HSA, a leading analyst firm that follows this market. "As organizations eliminate legacy document processing solutions and bots become smarter using AI, the potential market for tasks that can be automated expands significantly. In many ways, RPA companies are at the forefront of this." Advances in AI and cloud technologies are rapidly expanding the market for data capture, a $20 billion untapped opportunity, according to a new study by Harvey Spencer Associates (HSA)2. A separate research study found that automation can cut down the cost of processing documents, such as invoices, insurance claims and loan applications, by as much as 84 percent3. The latest release of IQ Bot, which combines AI with RPA, offers: Unique ability to process low-quality documents and detect handwriting Ability to process documents in 190 languages with localized interface for English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin and Simplified Chinese Capability to process document images via the new mobile app Advanced AI algorithms for smarter document classification and separation Enhanced integrations to unlock capabilities, such as predictive modeling and chat bots sourced from the world's largest ecosystem of AI partners "We believe the full potential of enterprise automation can only be realized when RPA and AI work together," said Mihir Shukla, chief executive officer, Automation Anywhere. "Today, we are providing universal access to automation, with new language and mobility features in IQ Bot eliminating the friction that limits productivity and helps workers do their jobs better." Additional information on IQ Bot is available here. Interact with Automation Anywhere: Visit our website: www.automationanywhere.com Check out our monthly webinar series BotVisions: https://www.automationanywhere.com/company/webinars Follow us on Twitter: @AutomationAnywh and on Instagram: @automation_anywhere Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/automation-anywhere About Automation Anywhere Automation Anywhere is the leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the platform on which more organizations build world-class Intelligent Digital Workforces. Automation Anywhere's enterprise-grade platform uses software bots that work side by side with people to do much of the repetitive work in many industries. It combines sophisticated RPA, cognitive and embedded analytic technologies. Over 1,600 organizations use this AI-enabled solution to manage and scale business processes faster, with near-zero error rates, while dramatically reducing operational costs. Automation Anywhere provides automation technology to leading financial services, insurance, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, telecom and logistics companies globally. For additional information, visit www.automationanywhere.com. 1 Global Mobile Workforce Forecast Update 2016-2022 2 Capture 2.0 Input Solutions Software Sizing Rationale and Discussion, by Harvey Spencer and Mike Spang, HSA Inc., 2019 3 Institute of Finance and Management Accounts Payable Benchmark Report, 2017 SOURCE Automation Anywhere Related Links http://www.automationanywhere.com LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global legal education provider BARBRI and the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) are offering BARBRI's international students and alumni enhanced networking and career-building opportunities with a free two-year membership to NYSBA. In addition, BARBRI is offering NYSBA members discounted fees on its international programmes to prepare foreign-qualified law graduates to sit for the New York or California Bar Exam. BARBRI is also offering discounted fees for NYSBA attorneys seeking requalification as a solicitor in England and Wales through the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme (QLTS). The rapid growth of U.S. law firms in London and internationally, and the global nature of today's legal landscape have created tremendous opportunity for lawyers qualified in more than one jurisdiction, particularly those dual-qualified in the U.S. and U.K. An increasing number of lawyers are expressing the need or desire to be able to advise transatlantic clients. BARBRI offers the path for those lawyers with its International Bar Preparation programme for non-U.S. law graduates and lawyers. QLTS Prep by BARBRI prepares qualified lawyers in other jurisdictions to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. This agreement builds on BARBRI's international expertise, offering students and alumni of the programmes the chance to make and foster connections through NYSBA's powerful network to help them meet their international career aspirations. For more than 140 years, NYSBA has served the legal profession in New York, influencing the development of law, advocating for important legislation and working for justice. With tens of thousands of members around the world, 65 chapters outside of the U.S and regional meetings around the globe, NYSBA membership offers tremendous prospects for lawyers looking to expand their expertise and international network. BARBRI International Bar Preparation and QLTS Prep by BARBRI students and alumni will receive a free two-year membership to NYSBA the International section and one additional section of their choice. "Our aim is to not only prepare international lawyers to become dual-qualified, but to support them in building their careers and international networks," said Sarah Hutchinson, BARBRI international managing director. "The NYSBA relationship, with its incredible worldwide network, events, education and other benefits, will provide the opportunity for our alumni to enhance their international employability." About The BARBRI Group The BARBRI Group companies meet the legal education and specialized training needs of law students, attorneys and other professionals throughout their careers. The companies offer a comprehensive portfolio of learning solutions for higher education institutions and law- and finance-related businesses. At the core of The BARBRI Group Companies is BARBRI Bar Review, which has helped more than 1.3 million lawyers around the world pass a U.S. bar exam. The company also provides online J.D., post-J.D. and international programs for U.S. law schools and specialised ongoing training and certifications in areas such as financial crime prevention and eDiscovery. The BARBRI Group, founded in 1967, is a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company headquartered in Dallas, Texas with offices throughout the United States and around the world. About the New York State Bar Association The New York State Bar Association is the second largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Since 1876, the Association has helped shape the development of law, educated and informed the legal profession and the public, and championed the rights of New Yorkers through advocacy and guidance in our communities. SOURCE BARBRI B. Marc Allen, 45, current president of Boeing International, was named senior vice president of Boeing and president of Embraer Partnership and Group Operations. Reporting to Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg, Allen becomes Boeing's lead executive responsible for preparing for integration of multiple Embraer group operations with Boeing, and upon the deal's closing, for delivering on execution, financial performance and growth of the Embraer partnership assets. He will continue to serve as a member of Boeing's Executive Council. The change is effective April 22. Boeing and Embraer announced in December 2018 that they had approved the terms for two joint venturesa commercial aviation partnership and a KC-390 joint ventureand the Brazilian government gave its approval for both in January 2019. Shortly thereafter, Embraer's board of directors ratified its support for the deal and Embraer's shareholders approved the deal in February. Boeing will hold an 80 percent ownership stake in the new commercial aircraft and services company, and Embraer will hold the remaining 20 percent. Upon closing, Allen will chair the new company's board. Embraer will own a 51 percent stake of the KC-390 joint venture, with Boeing owning the remaining 49 percent. Allen will serve as Boeing's lead representative to the KC-390 joint venture's board. The closing of the transaction is now subject to obtaining regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, which Boeing and Embraer expect to achieve by the end of 2019. "Marc's global experience and relationships, deep knowledge of our industry and passion for people make him uniquely qualified to lead the integration of these two iconic companies," Muilenburg said. Allen, who joined Boeing in 2007, has served for the last four years as president of Boeing International, leading the company's global growth strategy and corporate operations. Previously, Allen held numerous leadership positions including president of Boeing Capital Corporation, president of Boeing China, vice president for Global Law Affairs and general counsel to Boeing International. Before Boeing, Allen practiced law in Washington, D.C. and served as a clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Sir Michael Arthur, 68, current president of Boeing Europe and managing director of Boeing U.K. and Ireland, will succeed Allen as president of Boeing International. The change is effective April 22. As president of Boeing International, Arthur will join the Executive Councilthe first non-U.S. citizen to join the groupand report to Muilenburg. Arthur will lead the company's global strategy and corporate operations outside the U.S., overseeing 18 regional offices in key global markets. Arthur will maintain offices in London and Arlington, Va. "Sir Michael Arthur is a leading voice on international issues and has been key to helping Boeing become a more global company in recent years," Muilenburg said. "Leveraging insights and relationships that he's developed over decades, Sir Michael's elevation to our senior-most ranks will further accelerate our progress toward becoming not only the leader in aerospace but a global industrial champion." Before joining Boeing in 2014, Arthur, who is a British citizen, spent three decades of international government service with the British Diplomatic Service of the Foreign Commonwealth Office, including serving as British ambassador to Germany and British high commissioner to India. John Slattery, 50, current president and chief executive officer of Embraer Commercial Aviation and executive vice president of Embraer S.A., was announced as president and chief executive officer for the commercial aviation and services joint venture between Boeing and Embraer. The position is subject to formal appointment by the joint venture's Board of Directors after closing. Once approved, Slattery will report to Allen as the chair of the new company's board of directors. Slattery will be based in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. "This joint venture will be one of the most significant partnerships in the commercial aviation industry and John is the right person to lead it," said Greg Smith, Boeing chief financial officer and executive vice president of Enterprise Performance & Strategy. "He brings a tremendous customer focus, depth of knowledge and industry respect to the role, combined with a passion for innovation and vision for the future of Brazil's commercial aviation industry." Slattery joined Embraer in 2011 as senior vice president responsible for customer finance, asset and risk management. He was named president and chief executive officer of Embraer Commercial Aviation and executive vice president of Embraer S.A. in 2016. Prior to Embraer, he spent 15 years in executive roles in commercial aviation advisory, leasing and banking organizations. Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As the top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries. Boeing employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and leverages the talents of a global supplier base. Building on a legacy of aerospace leadership, Boeing continues to lead in technology and innovation, deliver for its customers and invest in its people and future growth. Contact: Allison Bone Boeing Communications Office: +1 312-544-2201 [email protected] SOURCE Boeing Related Links http://www.boeing.com DUBAI, UAE, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Seara Alimentos, a global food company based in Brazil and part of JBS - the largest animal protein producer in the world, has teamed up with Carrefour to expand the company's online offerings in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Seara products are now available on Carrefour's e-commerce platform where consumers can conveniently purchase an extensive range of Whole Chicken, Chicken Parts, and Ready-to-Eat products at the click of a button. The website also features new products launches namely Seara Perfect Cuts and 100% Natural, developed specifically for the Middle East region. The unique pairing of quality food products from Seara with Carrefour's robust online portal aims to serve the ever-growing needs of the region's consumers. "The Seara development in this region and around the world is directly linked with major partnerships, such as this one with Carrefour. The UAE's importance to the Company is reflected in our focus on constantly developing exclusive and innovative products that can now reach end consumers even more easily in the online environment", says Joanita Karoleski, CEO of Seara. Marcos Delorenzo, director of Marketing and New Business at Seara MENA (Middle East and North Africa), affirms it will mark an important step on the brand development in UAE. "Consumer habits are changing. Our partnership accelerates the omnichannel approach we want to offer our customers." Miguel Povedano, Chief Operating Officer of Carrefour UAE and Head of Operational Excellence at Majid Al Futtaim Retail said: "Today marks the first time that an entire poultry range has been added to the branded section of our website, a decision that comes as we strive to meet consumer demand for popular products with the convenience of delivery. We're proud to be working with the largest animal protein producer in the world and look forward to growing our online portfolio further through select brand partnerships." Shoppers can visit Seara's newly-created, exclusive brand shop at: https://www.carrefouruae.com/seara The Seara 100% Natural chicken range caters specifically to Islamic requirements and is available in Arab markets in four different cuts: chicken breasts, breast strips, drumsticks, drumsticks and thigh fillets. The products comply with strict international quality standards and hold animal welfare certifications, attesting to the fact none of the poultry has received any antibiotics or hormones at any stage in the production process. Furthermore, all animal feed used throughout the poultry breeding process is 100% vegetable-based. Seara Perfect Cuts range covering chicken breasts, diced chicken, drumsticks and marinated chicken was also developed according to Islamic requirements and offers only the finest hand-cut chicken parts that are ideal for preparing traditional Middle Eastern recipes. About Seara With more than 60 years of expertise, Seara is a Brazilian food brand that is completely committed to high quality products, offering a large portfolio in the In-Natura meats and Poultry segments (frozen and fresh), as well as prepared and industrialized food solutions. Seara Alimentos is part of JBS - the largest animal protein producer in the world. Seara is present in more than 150 countries (such as China, England, Kuwait, France, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United States and United Arab Emirates), and it has international certifications for excellence in production, such as BRC (British Retail Consortium), SWA (Supplier Workplace Accountability), Global GAP (Global Certificate for the Agricultural Chain), Swiss Law, ISSO 14001, Halal Certifications, Certificate of Conformity (ESMA Halal National Mark), among others. About Carrefour Carrefour is one of the largest hypermarket and supermarket chains in the world. The brand was launched in the region in 1995 by Majid Al Futtaim, which is the exclusive franchisee to operate Carrefour in 37 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Today, Majid Al Futtaim operates over 270 Carrefour stores, serving more than 750,000 customers daily and employing over 37,000 colleagues. Carrefour operates different store formats, as well as multiple online offerings to meet the growing needs of its diversified customer base. In line with the brand's commitment to provide the widest range of quality products and value for money, Carrefour offers an unrivalled choice of more than 100,000 food and non-food products, and an exemplary customer experience to create great moments for everyone everyday. Carrefour was launched in the UAE in 1995. Today, Carrefour operates 28 hypermarkets and 69 supermarkets, employing more than 11,000 colleagues. SOURCE Seara; Carrefour Related Links www.carrefour.com "We wanted to provide our customers with an innovative, bold line of superior CBD vapes," said Caryn Dunayer, Co-founder & President of cbdMD. "Mingo Rad offerings are bright, vibrant, and promote Naturally Good Vibes with a natural and beneficial alternative to traditional vape products." Mingo Rad is available in five flavors including Melon H 2 O, Electric Razz, Coco Key, Mocha AF, and Sugar Cane offering something for everyone! Visit www.MingoRad.com to get yours today! About cbdMD (www.cbdMD.com) cbdMD, a Level Brands company, offers a comprehensive line of natural, THC-free, hemp-derived CBD oil products made in the US, including tinctures, capsules, gummies, pet products, bath bombs, topicals, and vape oils. As a company committed to the highest standards for CBD sourcing, extraction, and production, cbdMD is for consumers seeking to experience the full benefits of CBD in a safe, convenient, and cost-effective manner. For more information, please visit www.cbdMD.com. About Level Brands (www.levelbrands.com) Level Brands owns and operates the nationally recognized consumer cannabidiol (CBD) brand cbdMD, whose current products include CBD gummies, CBD tinctures, CBD topical, CBD bath bombs, CBD oils, and CBD pet products. The Company also operates a licensing and corporate brand management businesses under the kathy ireland Health & Wellness; Ireland Men One (I'M1), and Encore Endeavor One (EE1) brands, as well as a personal products division Beauty & Pin-Ups. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as ''should,'' ''may,'' ''intends,'' ''anticipates,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''projects,'' ''forecasts,'' ''expects,'' ''plans,'' and ''proposes.'' These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading "Risk Factors" in Level Brands, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on December 12, 2018 and our other filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Level Brands, Inc. and are difficult to predict. Level Brands, Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements except as may be required by law. Public Relations (cbdMD): Danielle Crary [email protected] Investors: RedChip Companies Dave Gentry, 407-491-4498 [email protected] SOURCE cbdMD Related Links http://www.cbdmd.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The final shipments of fresh new spring Charlotte Russe merchandise are arriving in stores this week. As the Charlotte Russe stores head into their last 10 days of a "Going Out of Business" sale, associates are getting the new arrivals processed and pushed directly to the selling floor. The merchandise is flowing from the Charlotte Russe distribution center in Ontario, California, as well as from the 3PL which supported the ecommerce business. The wind-down of the company necessitated an expedited distribution of merchandise to clear the facilities and allow all product to be liquidated through the Charlotte Russe stores. Fresh new spring arrivals are being discounted at the prevailing store discounts of up to 60% off. The shipments include products from every Charlotte Russe merchandise classification. Tops, bottoms, dresses, sweaters, jeans, shorts, shoes and accessories are included. Every day this week will bring something new to many of the Charlotte Russe stores. The Charlotte Russe "Going Out of Business" sale began March 7 in all 416 remaining Charlotte Russe stores. Sales quickly diminished inventory levels in many stores, and 41 of them have already closed. The new shipments this week will give Charlotte Russe customers more of what they want at prices they otherwise would not see. The actions undertaken the last two weeks to liquidate the Charlotte Russe stores are part of a program overseen by SB360 Capital Partners. SB360 was the successful bidder in a process conducted by Charlotte Russe, and approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy court, to operate the stores during the "Going Out of Business" sale. Upon approval, SB360 quickly implemented a plan allocating all product from distribution facilities into the stores. Ziggy Schaffer, Executive Vice President of SB360, said, "Charlotte Russe customers will be happy to see this new merchandise roll in. It's fresh, trendy, popular product, all at liquidation prices." "Customers were clearing the racks these last two weeks," said Aaron Miller, Executive Vice President of SB360. "They're sad to see Charlotte Russe close and they're buying everything they can while they still have the opportunity." In a separate transaction, Charlotte Russe is continuing with negotiations to spin off the intellectual property to a new owner. ______________________________ About SB360 Capital Partners, LLC SB360 Capital Partners (www.sb360.com), a Schottenstein Affiliate, helps businesses manage change, restructure assets, and turn around dwindling profitability. SB360 makes equity investments to infuse capital for growth opportunities, fund turnarounds, and provide liquidity to businesses experiencing change. SB360 acquires assets of all types including inventory, fixed assets, intellectual property, real estate, and complete business units. The firm's asset disposition services range from providing guaranteed asset value recovery to acting as a liquidation consultant. Additionally, SB360 has entities engaged in real estate advisory, commercial real estate investment, and the operation of the SBC Logistics Asset Recovery Center in Columbus. A lending affiliate, Second Avenue Capital Partners, provides asset-based loans for middle market companies. The principals of SB360 hold extensive commercial interests in national retail and wholesale operations; internationally recognized consumer brands; commercial, residential, and industrial real estate properties; and financial service operations. About Charlotte Russe Charlotte Russe is a fashion brand for young women, offering affordable on-trend apparel, shoes and accessories for all sizes, with a fun and engaging shopping experience wherever and whenever she wants. Prior to the commencement of Chapter 11 proceedings, Charlotte Russe operated in the contiguous 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico through their online store and mobile app, as well as over 500 brick-and-mortar stores located primarily in malls and outlet centers. In 2016, the Company expanded to include Peek Kids, operating 10 stores and an ecommerce site. For more information, please visit http://www.CharlotteRusse.com and on Instagram @CharlotteRusse and @Peekkids. SOURCE SB360 Capital Partners Related Links http://www.sb360.com SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chelsio Communications, Inc., a leading provider of high performance (1Gb/10Gb/25Gb/40Gb/50Gb/100Gb) Ethernet Unified Wire adapters and ASICs for storage networking, virtualized enterprise datacenters, cloud service installations, and cluster computing environments, today announced the showcasing of its latest T6 based 100 GbE L2 NIC adapters with soft-iWARP at NVMe Developer Days event in Fremont, California. The results show that Chelsio's T6 with soft-iWARP delivers line-rate throughput and more than 1 Million IOPS at 4K I/O size. In addition, with only 12 s delta latency between remote and local storage, Chelsio's T6 based 100GbE L2 NIC with Soft-iWARP is shown to be the best-in-breed for providing cost-effective, scalable storage connectivity over industry-standard Ethernet infrastructure. "iWARP is the perfect cost-effective, high-performance, easily managed, interoperable solution that enables today's datacenters to non-disruptively deploy RDMA enabled Ethernet networks, with management under a single unified network infrastructure," said Kianoosh Naghshineh, CEO, Chelsio Communications. "Using the flexibility, performance and cost-effectiveness built into soft-iWARP end-to-end Ethernet RDMA networking, datacenters can now leverage the ubiquity of a software-based iWARP solution." The soft-iWARP open source software provides enterprise and cloud datacenters with the following key advantages: Any L2 NIC can now run the iWARP protocol and leverage the high performance of Ethernet RDMA networking. It provides a simple path for transition of RDMA applications to the cloud platform. It enables client/initiator side applications like iSER, NVMe-oF, NFSRDMA, LustreRDMA etc. to cost-effectively connect to hardware offload-based iWARP versions on the target side. It supports the ability to work with any type of switch infrastructure, including non-DCBX switches, enabling a decoupled server and switch upgrade cycle. Additional Resources Soft-iWARP Performance with Chelsio 100GbE Technical Brief About Soft-iWARP Soft-iWARP is an open source software implementation of the iWARP protocol suite. It comprises of two main building blocks: a kernel module, which implements the iWARP protocols on top of TCP kernel sockets, and a user level library. Soft-iWARP integrates with the industry standard RDMA host stack and thus exports the OpenFabrics RDMA API to both user space and kernel space applications. Due to close integration with the Linux kernel socket layer, Soft-iWARP allows for efficient data transfer operations and since the implementation conforms to the iWARP protocol specification, it is wire compatible with any peer network adapter (RNIC) implementing iWARP in hardware. This software is available under a choice of GPL-2.0 or BSD-3 license. About Chelsio Communications Chelsio is a recognized leader in high performance (1Gb/10Gb/25Gb/40Gb/50Gb/100Gb) Ethernet adapters for networking and storage within virtualized enterprise datacenters, public and private hyperscale clouds, and cluster computing environments. With a clear emphasis on performance and delivering the only robust offload solution, as opposed to simple speeds and feeds, Chelsio has set itself apart from the competition. The Chelsio Unified Wire fully offloads all protocol traffic, providing no-compromise performance with high packet processing capacity, sub-microsecond hardware latency and high bandwidth. Visit the company at www.chelsio.com , and follow the company on Twitter and Facebook. SOURCE Chelsio Communications, Inc. Related Links http://www.chelsio.com The first episode of CLANDESTINO offers a real and up-close portrait of arms trafficking from the United States sold to criminal groups in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia. In order to reach the heart of the organization, Beriain develops a unique connection with the top players through a strong trusting bond that result in first hand shocking human stories never seen before in television. Thousands of legally acquired weapons cross the border each month to arm dangerous guerrilla and paramilitary crime organizations in Latin America. An extraordinary unprecedented access allows CLANDESTINO to keep track of these weapons that originate their journey in the north and end up in bloody war conflicts killing their neighbors in the south. Beriain continues his research in Venezuela to access to the criminal underworld of the kidnapping industry. Face-to-face interviews with kidnappers reveal details of how they operate and the insights of their illegal business. Beriain interviews surviving victims and shows how Venezuelans currently train to face abductions, patrols the streets with authorities, and gets testimonies from police officers involved in the kidnapping of civilians. The new season also reveals the day to day operations of other criminal groups in Europe, including the Italian "Baby Camorra", led by descendants of old mafia bosses, and the Albanian Mafia, one of the world's most hermetic criminal organizations that still maintains ancestral codes of honor and revenge. CLANDESTINO will be available in the "Discovery en Espanol GO" app. For more information, visit facebook.com/discoveryenespanol and Instagram @discoveryenespanol. About Discovery en Espanol Discovery en Espanol connects Spanish-speaking viewers in the U.S. to the world and all its wonder and possibilities. It provides quality programming focusing on bold storytelling across core genres including adventure, ingenuity, natural history, investigation and current affairs. Created by Discovery Communications, Discovery en Espanol is widely distributed on Hispanic tier packages throughout the country. It also reaches audiences across screens on the "Discovery en Espanol GO" TV Everywhere app (Android: http://bit.ly/2w6Spod iOS: http://apple.co/2fiMNE3). For more information, please follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/discoveryenespanol, Twitter @DiscoveryenESP and Instagram @discoveryenespanol. SOURCE Discovery en Espanol SANTA BARBARA, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 6th, Vitamin Angels, a global aid organization that protects millions of women and young children from malnutrition, hosted a 25th Anniversary Celebration at Disney's California Adventure Park. Nearly 350 guests from the natural products industry and beyond as well as Founding Partners Rainbow Light and NOW Foods celebrated Vitamin Angels' milestone achievement. The event raised nearly $300,000 for the cause. In a speech highlighting the successes of the organization over the past quarter century, Vitamin Angels' Founder and President / CEO, Howard Schiffer thanked supporters and called upon them for a renewed commitment to further the organization's efforts. "Vitamin Angels is now poised at the beginning of a new dawn. You are helping us to change public health on a global scale," said Schiffer. "We've grown from reaching thousands of children, to last year reaching over 70 million children and mothers. With your continued support, we can make the dream I had twenty-five years ago to end malnutrition, a reality." In its first event at Disney's California Adventure Park, Vitamin Angels delighted guests with live performances, custom audio/visual effects and 3D animation, as well as a dinner featuring global cuisine. Networking brought together industry executives and associates representing retailers, manufacturers and vendors. Following the reception, Vitamin Angels hosted a booth at the Natural Products Expo West, which took place at the Anaheim Convention Center. Representatives shared information about Vitamin Angels' work and corporate partnership opportunities. Vitamin Angels event was made possible through the generous support of these event sponsors: DSM, Walgreens, Kirk Humanitarian, The Vitamin Shoppe, Barlean's, Purity Products, Rainbow Light, Vitaquest, Lief Labs, Thrive Probiotics, Sprouts Farmer's Market, NOW Foods, New Hope, William Hood & Company, Aker BioMarine, HP Ingredients, AIDP, Presence Marketing, Phoenix Formulations, Terra Kai Organics, Zorbitz, SmartyPants Vitamins, and Fresh Thyme Farmer's Market. About Vitamin Angels Since 1994, Vitamin Angels has fought to protect pregnant women, mothers, and young children from chronic malnutrition. This year, Vitamin Angels will provide life-saving vitamins and minerals to over 70 million women and children in more than 70 countries and in the U.S. Both Charity Navigator and GuideStar give Vitamin Angels their highest marks for financial transparency. Press Contacts: Stacey Simon, Havas PR +1 412-983-5932 [email protected] SOURCE Vitamin Angels Related Links http://www.vitaminangels.org SAN MATEO, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Education.com , the leading online education destination for teachers, parents, and homeschoolers looking to help their children master essential skills, is now a Premier Partner in the Google for Education Partner Program. Education.com now offers to its millions of teacher members the ability to use Google Classroom to instantly assign resources in the classroom or for homework, save resources, sign up, and set up their classrooms using the entire suite of Google tools. "Our goal is to not only provide high-quality, teacher-created digital and printable resources," says Todd Schwartz, co-CEO of Education.com, "but to make the classroom experience for educators as easy as possible." With Google Classroom Share, teachers can easily provide their students with Education.com's 30,000+ award-winning, standards-aligned lesson plans, worksheets, science projects, interactive games as well as its step-by-step digital Guided Lessons that show real-time progress to identify students who need help. "Google Classroom is synonymous with technology in the classroom and we believe that integration will greatly benefit teachers who want to get the most from Education.com resources and provide an engaging learning experience for their students," says Marc Frochtzweig, Vice President of Product Marketing at Education.com. Google's G Suite for Education has reached 80 million users since it first debuted in 2006 and Google Classroom now has more than 40 million students and educators using the platform to help classes communicate, boost collaboration, and make teaching more productive. Besides sharing resources, Google's classroom tools also let teachers quickly import their student roster from Google Classroom directly into Education.com saving time and effort when setting up their classes. "Not only can teachers share the resources from Education.com they've come to love and trust, they can easily add their students to our learning platform," says Tatum Omari, Education.com's Head of Curriculum and Content, "allowing them to focus on what really matters teaching." Education.com's integration with Google also includes the ability to join and log into the site via their Google account and even save Education.com's content to Google Drive. These integrations combine Education.com's award-winning resources with the power of Google Classroom tools to help supplement and motivate student learning and make the classroom experience as fun and effective as possible. ABOUT EDUCATION.COM Over 20 million teachers and parents worldwide have joined Education.com since we launched our early learning platform in 2015. Our curriculum is comprehensive, covering core skills from Preschool through 5th grade, across Math, Reading, Writing, ELA, Science, and more. Education.com is designed with flexibility, so it can be tailored to every child's unique interests and needs. Parents and teachers can follow our guidance step-by-step, create their own curriculum, or deep-dive into specific areas with more than 30,000 games, worksheets, activities, and lessons. Media contact: John Heltzel [email protected] 650-208-3874 SOURCE Education.com Related Links http://www.education.com STOCKHOLM, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Electrolux today announces the launch of a brand new kitchen range to be rolled out across Europe. Combining technology with human-centric Scandinavian design, it takes the cooking experience to a whole new level for the consumer. The company has developed a line of Electrolux-branded products comprising a truly intuitive kitchen range, designed to work in harmony with the cook. From meal inspiration, all the way through cooking and cleaning up, the range offers appliances that help the consumer at every stage of the cooking journey. The innovative products have been developed in three main categories based on the primary benefit they offer: Flex, Pro and Sense, for flexible, precise and assisted cooking. The Sense series includes ovens enriched with connected features which are compatible with Electrolux European smart kitchen partners, notably Google for voice assistance and the Innit recipe app. "We're extremely proud of the new Electrolux kitchen range, which truly puts the needs of the consumer first to offer outstanding experiences around great tasting food. For the past 100 years, Electrolux has improved the everyday life of people in their homes through innovation and superior design. We believe this range is a game-changer," said Anna Ohlsson-Leijon, Head of Electrolux business area Europe. The range will be launched starting in April. Several of the smart, connected appliances will also be shown at the Future Kitchen event, taking place at the Electrolux headquarters in Stockholm on March 21. Electrolux is inviting partners from startups to retailers and tech giants to discuss how to create value through the food and kitchen ecosystem. Follow the event on Twitter and join the conversation with #FutureKitchen. The products The new Electrolux kitchen range is born from the simplicity of Scandinavian design to offer a seamless aesthetic with attention to detail and ergonomics, making the products intuitive to understand and use. Including hobs, ovens, fridges, freezers, dishwashers and hoods, some highlights are: The multi-functional 900 SteamPro oven. Its Steamify feature automatically combines the right amount of steam and traditional heat for best-in-class baking, roasting and steaming results. The oven is connected and works with the Innit recipe app and can be voice controlled through Google Home for even more intuitive cooking assistance. oven. Its Steamify feature automatically combines the right amount of steam and traditional heat for best-in-class baking, roasting and steaming results. The oven is connected and works with the Innit recipe app and can be voice controlled through Google Home for even more intuitive cooking assistance. The Electrolux 900 CookView oven has an integrated camera that together with the 'My Electrolux' app allows consumers to keep an eye on their food on a mobile device, even while not in the kitchen. oven has an integrated camera that together with the 'My Electrolux' app allows consumers to keep an eye on their food on a mobile device, even while not in the kitchen. The Electrolux 900 SensePro hob is the most advanced induction hob to date. Coming with the world's first wireless and battery-less food probe, it enables perfect results by letting the user simply tell the hob what's cooking and how they'd like it done. The probe can also control water temperature so accurately it allows users to cook sous vide on the hob. is the most advanced induction hob to date. Coming with the world's first wireless and battery-less food probe, it enables perfect results by letting the user simply tell the hob what's cooking and how they'd like it done. The probe can also control water temperature so accurately it allows users to cook sous vide on the hob. The Electrolux 700 Hob2Hood hood wirelessly synchronizes with most Electrolux hobs and is automatically activated when the hob is turned on, adapting the speed of the kitchen fan to the hob's power settings. hood wirelessly synchronizes with most Electrolux hobs and is automatically activated when the hob is turned on, adapting the speed of the kitchen fan to the hob's power settings. The 2019 iF Design award-winning Electrolux 900 ComfortLift dishwasher with QuickSelect. The new intuitive touch slider only requires one choice to be made, cycle time, and guides the user to the most eco-friendly choice. ComfortLift is the world's first lift-and-load rack for easy loading and unloading. dishwasher with QuickSelect. The new intuitive touch slider only requires one choice to be made, cycle time, and guides the user to the most eco-friendly choice. ComfortLift is the world's first lift-and-load rack for easy loading and unloading. The Electrolux 800 MultiSpace stands tall at 190 cm, providing extra space and visibility of the ingredients. Through its unique SpinView 360 rotating shelf for complete access to food at the back of the fridge, it helps optimize space and minimize food waste. For further information, please contact Electrolux Press Hotline, +46-8-657-65-07. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/electrolux/r/electrolux-to-launch-a-new-intuitive-kitchen-range-across-europe,c2766930 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/1853/2766930/1010101.pdf PDF https://news.cision.com/electrolux/i/electrolux-comfortlift-dishwasher-with-quickselect---small,c2594154 Electrolux ComfortLift dishwasher with QuickSelect - small https://news.cision.com/electrolux/i/electrolux-intuitive-kitchen-range---small,c2594155 Electrolux intuitive kitchen range - small https://news.cision.com/electrolux/i/electrolux-appliances-including-steampro-oven-in-matt-black---small,c2594156 Electrolux appliances including SteamPro oven in matt black - small https://news.cision.com/electrolux/i/electrolux-hob2hood---small,c2594157 Electrolux Hob2Hood - small https://news.cision.com/electrolux/i/electrolux-sensepro-hob-with-wireless-food-probe---small,c2594158 Electrolux SensePro hob with wireless food probe - small SOURCE Electrolux Companies can enter for the opportunity to win in one of 18 categories. As well as global recognition, other benefits include networking and new business opportunities, increased brand exposure and inclusion in an influential business community. Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards, said: "The European Business Awards recognises the drivers, innovators and game changers: the successful businesses that look beyond their own desks and office blocks to make a difference to the world. If that is you then enter today." He continued: "The Awards exist to develop a stronger, more successful and more ethical business community in Europe because we believe that businesses play a key role in tackling major global issues such as unemployment, climate change and widespread poverty." The European Business Awards is one of the world's largest and most prestigious independent cross border, cross sector business competitions. It analysed over 111,000 companies from 34 countries in last year's competition alone. This year the Awards is also pleased to announce award winning private equity firm, Inflexion, as the new sponsor for its Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Andrew Priest, a Partner at Inflexion said: "We are honoured to sponsor The European Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which recognises the vision, talent and tenacity of Europe's vibrant community of entrepreneurs." To read what others say about the awards go to www.businessawardseurope.com/testimonials As well as a robust, transparent competition, The European Business Awards runs in-depth research, alumni groups, conferences and webinars to give leaders from different industries the opportunity to learn, share and solve major challenges. Adrian Tripp said: "We understand the power of networking and bring together the movers and shakers from multiple sectors all under the same roof." This year the competition has a three-stage process. Following entry, the Awards will publish its "Ones to Watch" list of the most successful, innovative and ethical businesses from each European country. After further judging, 18 National Winners in each country will be announced in September (one National Winner for each category), and then in December 2019 the final 18 European Winners will be announced at a high profile two day Business Summit and Awards Gala Dinner, bringing together over 700 of the most successful and influential businesses in Europe. The Awards Categories for 2019: The Inflexion European Entrepreneur of the Year Award The ELITE Award for Growth Strategy of the Year The New Business of The Year Award The Germany Trade and Invest Award for International Expansion The Social Responsibility and Environmental Awareness Award The Workplace and People Development Award The Award for Innovation 0 - 25M The Award for Innovation 26M - 150M The Award for Innovation 150 + The Customer and Market Engagement Award 0 - 25M The Customer and Market Engagement Award 26M - 150M The Customer and Market Engagement Award 150 + The Digital Technology Award 0 - 25M The Digital Technology Award 26M - 150M The Digital Technology Award 150 + The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 0 - 25M The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 26M - 150M The Business of the Year Award with Turnover 150 + To enter this year's European Business Awards or for more information about the competition please go to www.businessawardseurope.com About the European Business Awards: The European Business Awards is one of the world's largest and most prestigious cross border, cross sector business competitions. Since 2007, it has been rewarding the most successful, ethical and innovative businesses across Europe; businesses of all sizes that are a force for social good and making a difference to the world we live in. Our primary purpose is to support and develop a strong, successful and more ethical business community as we truly believe businesses play a key role in tackling major global issues such as unemployment, climate change and widespread poverty. The European Business Awards is now in its 12th year. Last year it considered over 111,000 businesses from 34 countries. Sponsors and partners include Inflexion, ELITE, Germany Trade & Invest and PR Newswire. Twitter: @The_EBAs Facebook: www.facebook.com/businessawardseurope LinkedIn: the company page "The European Business Awards" Instagram: the_ebas About Inflexion: Inflexion is as an award-winning mid-market private equity firm, investing 10m to 250m for a minority or majority stake across all sectors. As a firm founded by entrepreneurs 20 years ago, it backs high-growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and works in partnership to accelerate growth. It supports businesses to achieve the next stage of their growth through international expansion, mergers and acquisitions, digital expertise, operational improvements, talent management and access to Inflexion's network. With experts in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and India, and the U.S., our investee companies benefit from privileged access to these growth markets. www.inflexion.com About ELITE: ELITE is a full-service programme designed to share best practice and increase growth opportunities for fast growing companies, with a focus on understanding the capital markets. ELITE is an innovative programme based on exclusive training and a tutorship model, supported by access to the business and financial community. Its aim is to prepare companies for their next stage of growth and investment. For further information on the programme, companies and the full list of partners, please go to: www.elite-growth.com About Germany Trade & Invest: Germany Trade & Invest is the economic development agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The company helps create and secure extra employment opportunities, strengthening Germany as a business location. With more than 50 offices in Germany and abroad and its network of partners throughout the world, Germany Trade & Invest supports German companies setting up in foreign markets, promotes Germany as a business location and assists foreign companies setting up in Germany. About PR Newswire: PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client's content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on PR Newswire please visit www.prnewswire.co.uk SOURCE European Business Awards Related Links http://www.businessawardseurope.com/ AKRON, Ohio, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Home, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), now offers a service program through HomeServe USA designed to help residential customers in central New Jersey save money on urgent household repairs. HomeServe USA, a leading third-party provider of home emergency repair service programs, was selected by FirstEnergy Home to provide this optional protection to residential customers to cover things not typically covered by basic homeowner's insurance, including interior/exterior electrical wiring, heating and cooling systems, water heaters and water/sewer/septic service lines. The service plans available through HomeServe are priced starting between $5.49 and $21.99 per month depending on coverage selected. Customers who choose to enroll will be able to pay for the coverage with convenient payment options directly with HomeServe. The program is completely optional and the coverage can be canceled at any time. Depending on the product selected, the benefits include: Multiple service calls up to yearly benefit amounts; yearly benefit amount depends on coverage plan(s) selected 30 day wait period with a money-back guarantee from HomeServe for covered repairs 24/7 emergency repair hotline Priority repair status Repairs performed by local, licensed and insured technicians One-year guarantee by HomeServe on all covered repairs. Enrollment information will be mailed to eligible homeowners beginning next week. For more information go to www.homeserveusa.com or call HomeServe toll-free at 833.492.3887. Based in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy Home is authorized in the state of New Jersey to engage in the business of product development, marketing, sales, commercialization and distribution of home products and services. About HomeServe USA HomeServe USA Corp. (HomeServe) is a leading provider of home repair solutions serving 3.7 million customers across the US and Canada under the HomeServe, Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) and Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) names. Since 2003, HomeServe has been protecting homeowners against the expense and inconvenience of water, sewer, electrical, HVAC and other home repair emergencies by providing affordable repair coverage, installations and quality local service. As an A+ rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business, HomeServe is dedicated to being a customer-focused company supplying best-in-class repair plans and other services to consumers directly and through over 600 leading municipal, utility and association partners. HomeServe is a proud sponsor of This Old House on PBS, working together to provide homeowners expert advice on maintaining, enhancing and protecting their homes. For more information about HomeServe, a Connecticut Top Workplace winner and recipient of thirty-three 2019 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or to learn more about HomeServe's affordable repair plans, please go to www.homeserveusa.com. To connect with HomeServe on Facebook and Twitter, please visit www.facebook.com/homeserveusa and www.twitter.com/homeserveusa. SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp. Related Links http://www.firstenergycorp.com MONTREAL, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GAL Aerospace launched its solution to increase overhead bin capacity for regional airlines operating the Dash 8 Q400 aircraft with classic interiors. GAL Aerospace Corp. The new overhead bin solution is part of an ongoing product development effort by GAL Aerospace to improve the customer experience and extend the service life of Q400 aircraft fitted with classic interiors by providing a plug and play replacement for the original, undersized bins. Insufficient overhead bin space poses a major challenge to on-time departures, frustrates passengers and cabin crew, and causes airlines to employ inconvenient and expensive gate check or plane side service to mitigate the problem. GAL's replacement overhead bin solution is specifically designed to accommodate standard roll-aboard bags, thereby eliminating the need for gate check service, and greatly improving the passengers' overall travel experience. "Our overhead bin solution for the Q400 was developed in response to an identified demand from regional airlines and aircraft leasing companies such as our launch customer, Nordic Aviation Capital. With our design now fully certified by the Canadian, American, and European authorities, we are very excited to move forward in support of regional aircraft customers," said Jonathan Cornwell, Vice President of Business Development and Sales for GAL. "The Q400 is an incredibly versatile aircraft that will continue to play an important role in the regional market for many years to come. Our overhead bins and other regional aircraft interior products will enhance the customer experience, reduce the cost for the airline, and allow better service integration during fleet expansions," said Glen Lynch, President and CEO of GAL Aerospace. "The Dash 8 family of aircraft is part of the fabric of the Canadian Aerospace industry and we are proud to play a role in supporting the global operators." About GAL Aerospace GAL Aerospace is a leading global provider of integrated cabin interior solutions for commercial, regional, and business aircraft. Services include design, engineering, manufacturing, and complete STC development for stowage systems, bulkheads, galleys, and lavatories, headliners, sidewalls, window shades, upholstery, and LED lighting systems. Additionally, GAL provides full staffing and airline technical support services through its wholly owned staffing subsidiary, GAL AeroStaff. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, GAL has operations in Canada, United States, and Columbia. The company is AS9100D certified, a Transport Canada Approved Maintenance Organization with Manufacturing Authority and an FAA Repair Station. About Nordic Aviation Capital NAC is the industry's leading regional aircraft lessor serving over 75 airline customers in 51 countries. The company provides aircraft to well-established carriers such as British Airways, Air Canada, LOT, Azul, Lufthansa, Garuda, Flybe, Aeromexico and airBaltic as well as major regional carriers including Air Nostrum and Widere. NAC's current fleet of almost 500 aircraft includes ATR 42, ATR 72, Bombardier Dash 8, CRJ900, CRJ1000, CS300, A220, E170, E175, E190 and E195. In addition, the group has circa 50 aircraft on firm order. NAC is the largest owner and lessor of both ATR and Bombardier aircraft in the world. Media Contact: Jonathan Cornwell, Vice President, Business Development & Sales Phone: 214.218.3110 Email: [email protected] Related Images gal-aerospaces-overhead-bins-for.jpg GAL Aerospace's Overhead Bins for the Q400 gal-aerospace.jpg GAL Aerospace SOURCE GAL Aerospace Corp. Related Links https://www.galaerospace.com NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GenNx360 Capital Partners ("GenNx360") is pleased to announce that it has acquired a majority interest in Miller Environmental Group Inc. ("MEG" or "the Company"). Based in Calverton, New York, MEG was founded in 1971 to service the utility, transportation and petrochemical industries. Through growth and diversification, MEG has remained at the forefront of the environmental services industry by delivering exceptional customer service in the areas of emergency response, waste transportation and disposal, remediation, and industrial as well as marine services. More recently, MEG has acquired a transfer, storage and disposal facility to better serve its clients and is permitted to process regulated non-hazardous liquid and solid wastes. "We chose GenNx360 as our partner because we appreciated their specialization in the industrial sector and saw they would be a great match for MEG," said Mark Miller, MEG's Owner/President/CEO at the time the transaction closed. "GenNx360 has an extremely talented team, many of whom have solid technical and operational backgrounds. These folks 'get' operations-oriented companies and speak our language. We see numerous exciting growth avenues and look forward to accelerating those initiatives leveraging GenNx360's expertise as MEG enters a new chapter of growth under their new ownership." Mark Miller will continue as a member of MEG's Board of Directors and will be exiting from the day to day operations of the Company. Effectively immediately, Jerry Coogan has been appointed President and CEO and George Wallace is Executive Vice President. Matt Guenther, the GenNx360 Managing Partner who led the transaction said, "We are pleased to make this investment in MEG. We recognized the Company as a leader in its sector and believe they are well-positioned to capitalize on the increasing demand for differentiated environmental services. We look forward to working with MEG's strong, experienced management team and to broaden its offerings through organic growth and strategic add-on acquisitions to expand its geographic reach." GenNx360 Capital Partners is a private equity firm focused on acquiring middle market business services and industrial companies. We invest in companies with proven and sustainable business models in expanding industries with the objective of implementing the required operating changes to deliver cost efficiencies, accelerate growth, and generate strong financial returns. Target industries include industrial machinery and components, logistics and supply chain solutions, industrial and environmental services, food and agricultural products and services, infrastructure equipment and services, specialty chemicals, packaging, and aerospace and defense. GenNx360 was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York City. For more information on GenNx360 Capital Partners, please visit http://www.gennx360.com. For media inquiries about this press release, please contact: GenNx360 Capital Partners Carmen Rojas, Director of Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Tel: (212) 257-6772 SOURCE GenNx360 Capital Partners Related Links http://www.gennx360.com PARIS, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor , one of the world's largest job and recruiting sites, has announced today that it has opened its first office in France, representing its third European office location. The office is located in the heart of the Eighth Arrondissement at rue du Colisee. The new office will initially be home to Sales and Customer Success employees responsible for helping to connect French employers with high quality talent. Glassdoor launched its French mobile apps and website in 2014, and now millions of people in France use Glassdoor every month. Job seekers leverage the platform to search and apply to jobs, while researching employers, salaries and other company-specific information. Glassdoor offers employers a range of recruiting solutions, including job advertising, job posting and employer branding products. Glassdoor has an active client-base of diverse French employers across all industries , including: Orange , Airbus , Renault , Natixis , Schneider Electric , Sanofi-Aventis , Societe Generale and Capgemini . Research shows that Glassdoor candidates are more likely to be hired compared to those from other job sites1, and hires who use Glassdoor are more likely to stay2. Glassdoor delivers quality and informed candidates because it connects employers with millions of job seekers who use its wealth of company insights to find and apply to not just any job, but the perfect job. "With the unemployment rate in France now at a ten-year low, and with labour laws being eased with regards to hiring workers, now is the perfect time for Glassdoor to put teams on the ground and connect the right people with the right employers," said John Lamphiere, Glassdoor Vice President and Managing Director of EMEA. "We're seeing more demand by French employers who want to leverage Glassdoor to support their recruiting efforts and by being in France, we can better support their hiring needs." Glassdoor launched in 2008 and offers the latest jobs online paired with nearly 47 million reviews and insights from employees on more than 900,000 companies in 190 countries, including those across Europe.3 Glassdoor welcomes approximately 64 million unique users, on average, to its desktop and mobile platforms each month.4 Glassdoor has 18 localised sites and mobile apps. The company recently expanded into Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Glassdoor is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and employs more than 800 people around the world. Glassdoor's other European offices are in London, UK and Dublin, Ireland. In addition, Glassdoor has offices in Mill Valley (Calif.), San Francisco, Chicago, and Canton (Ohio). Glassdoor is hiring across all offices. 1 Data analysis of 12M applications 7/1/16-12/31/17 from leading ATS provider Greenhouse comparing application-to-hire ratios for Glassdoor vs. other job sites 2 Glassdoor EMI Research, November 2017 3 Glassdoor Internal Data, December 2018 4 Google Analytics, Unique users represents peak monthly unique users in Q4 2018 About Glassdoor Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for more than 900,000 companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc. SOURCE Glassdoor Related Links http://www.glassdoor.com LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. (OTCPink: GRSO) March 19, 2019 Dear Shareholders, On March 5, 2019, Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") consummated a share exchange agreement with the shareholders of Pure Roots Holding, Ltd. ("Pure Roots"), as a result of which Pure Roots became wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the "Merger"). The Company was initially drawn to Pure Roots based upon the prospect that the AeroPod growing system will revolutionize the way that communities grow high quality food for their needs. This combination fits perfectly with our company Grow Solutions as the AeroPod is the ultimate in solutions for growing plants and vegetables of all varieties in all climates. The AeroPod can produce a variety of Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs, Leafy Greens, and Decorative/Edible Flowers. In assessing the possibility that Pure Roots technology could be of assistance in improving the Company, we came to understand and appreciate other exciting opportunities presented by Pure Roots technology, so much so that ultimately we acquired Pure Roots. Our website is www.GRSOinvest.com and we are at the beginning of a great journey and are very excited to be able to announce as such. This letter will serve to summarize for you those developments and plans and to announce what we will be planning in the near and not too distant future as well as further discussing those plans and to respond to shareholder questions. New Website To further indicate that we are a "new" company, i.e., a combination of Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. and Pure Roots in effect operating as a single entity, we have released a new website "www.GRSOinvest.com" that reflects the histories, assets, operations, news, etc., of the combined companies as well as showcasing our unique and industry disruptive new product the AeroPod. New Company CEO Chad Fischl. Who was the co-founder of Farm Boys Design Corp., a research and development company that invented and perfected the AeroPod grow system; thereafter, licensing the rights to the AeroPods and all of the AeroPod technology to Pure Roots Holding, Inc. We are fortunate to have serving as our new Chief Executive Officer, Chad Fischl, who has worked with both Pure Roots Holdings, Inc., since its inception, and as a co-founder of Farm Boys Design Corp., the AeroPod inventor, in connection with the AeroPod Grow systems. The Board has determined that Chad would be an ideal CEO for us after the Merger, given his knowledge and experience with both the pre-merger Pure Roots, Farm Boys Design Corp., and his knowledge of the AeroPod growing systems. About AeroGrow AeroGrow is the primary manufacturer of the AeroPod designed and tested by Farm Boys Design Corp. The AeroPod has been developed and tested over the past 2 years and has produced the highest aeroponic yields when compared to all other competitors in the market. AeroGrow manufactures custom indoor agriculture solutions of varying scales utilizing the AeroPod technology. AeroPods mimics ideal growing environments for high-quality food; from the quality of air to each ml of nutrients delivered to the plants. The closed system assists plants in growing faster and healthier than traditional methods, all year round. More details on the Food Production AeroPod: The grow room is 550 sq/ft and contains 104 grow columns with 88 - 216 grow spaces in each. A total of 9,152 - 22,464 plants can be grown at any given time. Each AeroPod contains a nursery that ensures your grow room is being utilized as soon as you harvest. Just simply replace your harvest with new plants and begin the growth cycle again. The ideal growing environment is monitored and controlled by proprietary monitoring hardware and software. The automation will be updated with optimized growth patterns as they are available to keep your yields the highest possible. THE FUTURE At this point we are moving forward rapidly in pursuing the Pure Roots opportunities involving the exploitation of its exciting AeroPod food production technology and the commercialization of the AeroPod grow systems. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Read more about the Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Pure Roots Holding, Ltd., on our official website, as well as further information about the Company and its latest news releases at www.GRSOinvest.com ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Chad Fischl Chief Executive Officer and Director PO Box 2869 Jackson, WY 83001 (360) 612-0180 Source: Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. (GRSO) Released March 19, 2019 OTCPink: GRSO This press release may include certain statements that are forward-looking in nature and that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc., current expectations and projections regarding future events, which are based on currently available information. The forward-looking statements in this press release may also include statements relating to Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc.'s anticipated new developments, business prospects, financial performance, strategies and similar matters. Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. SOURCE Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. CHICAGO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Gregory T. Lucier to form Corza Health, Inc. ("Corza Health"). The new company, headquartered in San Diego, CA, will focus on acquiring companies and assets as part of a strategy to build a market-leading healthcare business with a particular focus on the broader life sciences and medical technology sector. GTCR, the firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth will invest in Corza Health from GTCR Fund XII, a private equity fund with $5.25 billion of equity capital commitments. Mr. Lucier will serve as Chief Executive Officer of Corza Health and make a substantial investment alongside GTCR. "We are excited to partner with Greg to build a leading healthcare company as part of The Leaders Strategy," said GTCR Managing Director and head of Healthcare, Dean Mihas. "Greg has an exceptional track record in the sector, including his leadership as CEO of Life Technologies, transforming the business through organic growth and acquisition. Greg has a longstanding relationship with GTCR, including his role as a director of Cole-Parmer, a previous GTCR Fund XI company. His industry expertise, strategic vision and M&A acumen make him an ideal partner as GTCR commits to build another platform in this attractive segment of healthcare." Mr. Lucier is a 25-year veteran of the healthcare industry. From 2003 to 2014, he served as Chairman and CEO of Life Technologies, a global life sciences company that grew revenue from approximately $700 million to nearly $4 billion under his leadership. During Mr. Lucier's tenure at Life Technologies, he grew the predecessor company known as Invitrogen via organic and M&A initiatives, integrating more than 20 add-on acquisitions and leading the transformational merger in 2008 of Invitrogen with Applied Biosystems, rebranding as Life Technologies. Mr. Lucier's leadership helped scale Life Technologies into a global life sciences company with 50,000 products and 12,000 employees, which ultimately sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014 for approximately $15 billion. Mr. Lucier most recently served as Chairman and CEO of NuVasive, an innovative medical device company specializing in minimally-invasive spine surgery that grew revenue from approximately $775 million to more than $1 billion in just over three years as CEO. In addition to continuing to serve as the Chairman of NuVasive, Mr. Lucier serves on the Board of Catalent, Inc., and is a former director of CareFusion Corporation, which was acquired by Becton, Dickinson & Co. in 2015 for approximately $12 billion. His early career included roles as a Corporate Officer of General Electric and as an executive at GE Medical Systems. "I am thrilled to partner with GTCR to build Corza Health into an industry-leading healthcare company," said Mr. Lucier. "GTCR has deep domain expertise in healthcare, a great track record of creatively building platforms in this space, and a long history of backing experienced CEOs. With our partnership, Corza Health is well-positioned to create a compelling platform in the broader life sciences and medical technology field." Brian Berning will join Mr. Lucier as Chief Financial Officer of Corza Health. Mr. Berning most recently served as CFO at GreatCall, a GTCR-funded connected health and personal emergency response services company which was acquired in October 2018 by Best Buy for approximately $800 million. "GTCR's formation of Corza Health with Greg and Brian is another excellent example of The Leaders Strategy and builds on our deep sector expertise," added Ben Daverman, Managing Director at GTCR. "Leveraging our track-record and specialized industry focus, we believe there are a number of compelling industry trends that we are excited to capitalize on. We are actively looking for acquisitions, ranging from founder-led businesses to large corporate carve-outs. Greg and Brian provide us a unique position to evaluate and pursue a wide range of assets." About GTCR Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. About Corza Health Corza Health was formed in 2019 as a partnership between Gregory T. Lucier and GTCR. Corza Health's mission is to build a market-leading healthcare business with a particular focus on the broader life sciences and medical technology sector. For more information about Corza Health, please contact +1 (888) 780-0930. Media Inquiries: Eileen Rochford +1 (312) 953-3305 [email protected] SOURCE GTCR Related Links https://www.gtcr.com CAESAREA, Israel, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IceCure Medical, developer of the next generation liquid-nitrogen-based cryoablation technology to treat tumors by freezing, today announced promising results from its first-ever interventional radiology study. Marking kidney cancer awareness month, the early evaluation, presented last week at the 34th Annual European Association of Urology Congress in Barcelona, reported the ProSense system was safe, effective and without serious adverse events in the treatment of small kidney tumors. Of 74 patients with 78 small kidney masses ( 4cm) treated, ProSense showed treatment success by lack of enhancement on CT or MRI in 93% (42 of 45) cases at 1 year follow-up. "The ProSense system enables a safe, efficient and short minimal-invasive procedure that preserves renal function," said Prof. Ofer Nativ, Head of Bnei Zion Hospital Urology Department, Haifa, and principal investigator of the study. "There were over 400,000 new cases world-wide in 2018. The ProSense system adds a viable option to treat renal cancer in patients who have at least one comorbidity, had surgeries in the past or are a subject to multiple renal masses." The minimally-invasive ProSense cryoablation system, uses next generation liquid nitrogen (LN2) technology, to enable the treatment of benign and cancerous tumors by freezing, without surgery. "The ProSense system has already demonstrated excellent progress as a rapid, in-office solution for the treatment of breast tumors," said Eyal Shamir, CEO, IceCure Medical. "This new data adds to our growing clinical evidence for its expanding use in the field of interventional oncology as a non-surgical alternative to treat cancer of the kidney, lung, bone, and prostate." The IceCure team will be providing a hands-on demonstration of the ProSense Cryoablation technology at the European Conference on Interventional Oncology (ECIO), April 8-11 in Amsterdam. To learn more or to schedule your personal demo, please visit icecure-medical.com or contact [email protected]. About IceCure Medical Founded in 2006, Israel-based IceCure Medical (TASE: ICCM), develops and markets minimally-invasive cryoablation therapies for women's health and the interventional oncology market, with the primary focus areas being breast, kidney and lung cancer. The Company's proprietary, flagship ProSense liquid-nitrogen based system, has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510k and CE Mark approvals and is safe, innovative with clinical and economic benefits compared to the current standard of care. SOURCE IceCure Medical Related Links https://icecure-medical.com/ WASHINGTON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In a rare development, the Austrian independent prosecutor's office, called the Office of the Procurator General and charged with safeguarding the interests of the Republic of Austria in the administration of criminal justice, contested the decision of the Vienna Higher Regional Court to extradite Dmitry Firtash to the United States. The Procurator General stated that the appeals court's decision did not correctly interpret the U.S./Austrian Extradition Treaty that allows the requested state to deny extradition if it finds that the request was politically motivated. The Procurator General also maintained that the appeals court did not satisfactorily explain its opinion that there was no sufficient evidence of political motivation. Mr. Firtash is currently residing in Vienna, Austria while he awaits a decision from the Supreme Court of Austria as to whether or not he should be extradited to the U.S. The U.S. made the extradition request after Chicago U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors secured an indictment in U.S. federal court for allegations of a proposed bribery scheme. Mr. Firtash strongly denies these charges as well as any attempts to extradite him to the U.S. "From October 2013 to March 2014, while the U.S. was trying to convince Ukraine to sign a European Union Association agreement, U.S. authorities asked Austria to arrest Mr. Firtash. U.S. authorities withdrew the request when it appeared that Ukraine would sign a European Union association agreement but then reissued it as the Ukrainian president wavered in his decision to sign the agreement," said Lanny J. Davis, the U.S. spokesperson for Mr. Firtash. "Once it was clear Ukraine would not sign with the EU, Mr. Firtash was finally apprehended by Austrian authorities at the request of U.S. prosecutors. Are we supposed to believe that timing is just a coincidence?" In April 2015, the Regional Criminal Court in Vienna, the first court to consider the extradition issue, denied the U.S. request for extradition of Mr. Firtash, finding the request politically motivated. However, in February 2017, the Vienna Higher Regional Court overturned the Regional Criminal Court's decision and approved Mr. Firtash's extradition to the U.S. It is that ruling, which is currently pending before the Austrian Supreme Court, that the Procurator General contests. "It is absolutely significant that Austria's own Procurator General, who acts as a guardian of Austrian law at the level of the Austrian Supreme Court and is tasked with safeguarding the interests of the Republic of Austria in the administration of criminal justice, has determined that the appeals court did not sufficiently consider the issue of political motivation," said Dan Webb, attorney for Mr. Firtash and former Chicago U.S. Attorney. "We are confident that a proper review of this issue will show, just as the Regional Criminal Court initially ruled, that the arrest and attempted extradition to the U.S. of Mr. Firtash were clearly politically motivated." The Procurator General's decision to contest the decision of the Vienna Higher Regional Court is just the latest setback for U.S. prosecutors in their case against Mr. Firtash. In late December 2018, the New York Times published a lengthy report proving that the document relied on by U.S. prosecutors as "clear proof" of Firtash's alleged proposal to bribe Indian officials was not such proof at all. Rather, the Times proved that document a single PowerPoint slide that mentioned using bribes to pay named Indian officials to secure the mining license was, in fact, created entirely by McKinsey & Company, not Firtash and colleagues. See link here. DISSEMINATED BY DAVIS GOLDBERG GALPER, A REGISTERED FOREIGN AGENT, ON BEHALF OF DMITRYO FIRTASH. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT THE US DEPT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. Contact: Eleanor McManus [email protected] (202) 899-3846 office (202) 460-1451 cell SOURCE Lanny Davis The giveaway includes the completely remodeled and fully furnished home, the redesigned 2019 Honda Pilot Elite, plus $250,000 from Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans. The home is located in Whitefish, Montana, a charming Rocky Mountain resort town with picturesque scenery of majestic mountains and big skies. Fulkerson says she was first drawn to the HGTV home giveaways in 1998 when HGTV Dream Home was located in beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina. She has been entering ever since, though she claimed, "I entered knowing that I would never win." Much to her surprise, entering almost every day, twice a day during the sweepstakes period majorly paid off. The incredible mountain-side views first caught Fulkerson's attention, leading her to fall in love with this home. "I would love to be sitting on that porch and in that hot tub!" she said excitedly. Though Fulkerson has lived in nine different states, she has never travelled to Montana and could not be more thrilled to discover what all it has in store. As a mother of two and a grandmother of three, Fulkerson noted that her family keeps her busy. During the surprise ambush, Fulkerson believed she was gathered with family to celebrate an award for one of her daughters. It was then that Tiffany Brooks arrived and her "mind went blank." Fulkerson said she was "a deer caught in headlights" and that this life-changing news is "just now starting to sink in." Fulkerson and her husband will get a chance to see the home for the first time in the coming weeks. Viewers can witness her reaction to the ambush and the home itself by watching the HGTV Dream Home 2019 Giveaway Special premiering Friday, May 24 at 1 p.m. ET on HGTV. Constructed with the finest materials, reclaimed historical resources, and timber frame architecture characteristic to the area, the HGTV Dream Home 2019 was conceived by Timber Forge Design, built by Malmquist Construction, and designed by Brian Patrick Flynn. The approximately 3,650-square-foot house is situated on the edge of Glacier National Park with breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains and Whitefish Lake in Montana's renowned Flathead Valley. Designed to cater to both an active lifestyle and big doses of fireside relaxing and entertaining, HGTV Dream Home 2019 can best be described as "mountain modern." Packed with custom touches and local craftsmanship, the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath retreat boasts a great room with floor-to-ceiling accordion windows that open to an expansive outdoor living area. An upper deck and lower patio provide dining and lounging areas, grill, fireplace, and Scandinavian hot tub, all near a private entry to the Big Mountain ski slopes. Back inside, other notable features include a large mudroom essential for Montana living, a cozy pet nook, bunk room, and a "lodge" for hanging out with friends. Sponsors of HGTV Dream Home 2019 include Honda, Lumber Liquidators, Quicken Loans, Wayfair, Belgard, Cabinets To Go, Delta Faucet, CESAR Canine Cuisine, Peloton Interactive, Inc., Trex, The Sherwin-Williams Company, SimpliSafe Home Security, Sleep Number, and Cabot. To learn more about the giveaway, visit HGTV.com/HGTVDreamHome. ABOUT HGTV HGTV delivers the superstar experts, fascinating families, compelling renovations and stunning transformations that make all things home fun. America's favorite way to get entertaining, relatable and inspirational home and lifestyle content, HGTV offers: a top 10 cable network that is distributed to more than 90 million U.S. households; a website, HGTV.com, that attracts an average of 9.7 million people each month; a social footprint of 16.8 million; HGTV Magazine, a monthly publication that reaches more than one million readers and exclusive collections of home-oriented products through the HGTV HOME consumer products line. Viewers can become fans of HGTV and interact with other home improvement enthusiasts through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. HGTV is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories, whose portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. SOURCE Discovery, Inc. OMAHA, Neb., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The first federal jury, and second jury in the country, found the most widely used and promoted herbicide in the world, Roundup, caused blood cancer in a 70 year old farmer who used it on his 57 acre special products farm. Domina Law Group pc llo, Omaha NE, filed the first case in the country for Midwestern farmers, and among the first half dozen in the country claiming the connection between the herbicide's Glyphosate chemical, and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The verdict in federal court today was issued in San Francisco where Roundup cases have been consolidated for early trials. Dave Domina, who filed the Nebraska part of the Roundup battle for four Nebraskans including three farmers and an agronomist, was pleased. "We really see Roundup as a dangerous chemical and strongly believe that the science supports the connection between the chemical and blood borne cancer." Domina was complimentary of the lawyers who presented the case in California. When he filed the Nebraska case, Domina knew the challenge. "I searched for the firm I liked best and thought would work best with our clients and us. They did a great job. It is an honor to have a role in effort," he said. The California case now moves to part two of the trial to present the question of specific causation between Roundup and a single farmer's cancer. "Today's verdict rejects the Monsanto/Bayer claim that Roundup cannot be the cause in any circumstance," Domina said. The Nebraska case was filed in 2016 for Larry Domina, the lawyer's brother from Cedar County, former State Senator Bob Dickey also from Cedar County, Royce Jensen from York County, and Fremont agronomist Frank Pollard. All four contend exposure to Roundup caused them to contract Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a blood borne cancer. Dave Domina is the Founding Lawyer of Domina Law Group, a Nebraska-based Trial Law Firm with a national reputation. Mr. Domina is one of a handful of U.S. attorneys to have secured a $1+ billion verdict, has tried over 340 cases to verdict, and has appeared in courts in 43 different states. Domina and the firm serve clients nationwide in a range of complex civil and criminal cases, including product liability, class actions, serious injury, wrongful death, and more. Visit www.dominalaw.com for more information about the firm and its areas of practice. SOURCE Domina Law Group pc llo Related Links http://www.dominalaw.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kentik, the provider of network analytics for the cloud-native world, today announced it is the recipient of Frost & Sullivan's 2019 Product Line Strategy Award in the global cloud-based network operations industry. Kentik's recognition comes at a time when large enterprises and service providers increasingly struggle to understand the growing volume and complexity of network traffic and its business impact, particularly as more applications and workloads move to one or multi-cloud environments. According to Frost & Sullivan's analysis , with Kentik "a more meaningful context can be derived that allows network engineers to determine the core issues of the disaggregated network and then neutralize them effectively." "Frost & Sullivan commends Kentik for delivering an analysis solution that unifies the needs of both network and security teams and provides a more meaningful fault analysis of the network and its associated applications," stated the Frost & Sullivan award analysis. Kentik was recognized for its modern network analytics, including: Bringing observability to the network layer of the application stack . "To provide observability for networks, Kentik tags raw network data with business-level attributes, along with other information, such as geolocation and routing data, to ascertain the network's path. Tagging the traffic with many threat indicators allows engineers to identify any malicious traffic," wrote Frost & Sullivan. . "To provide observability for networks, Kentik tags raw network data with business-level attributes, along with other information, such as geolocation and routing data, to ascertain the network's path. Tagging the traffic with many threat indicators allows engineers to identify any malicious traffic," wrote Frost & Sullivan. Kentik Data Engine (KDE) , the company's proprietary distributed column-store database that collects, enriches and stores large volumes of raw network data. "KDE can recreate entire conversations that occurred on the network, based on boundary conditions supplied by the customer," stated Frost & Sullivan. , the company's proprietary distributed column-store database that collects, enriches and stores large volumes of raw network data. "KDE can recreate entire conversations that occurred on the network, based on boundary conditions supplied by the customer," stated Frost & Sullivan. API-first approach, "meaning it is easier to integrate the solution with other tools or solutions built in-house by the customer. Engineering the platform as API-first is a big improvement over most other solutions that do not have many APIs, which limits the integration with other applications in data centers situated across different regions worldwide," noted Frost & Sullivan. "We are proud of our team for delivering on a platform that combines traditional network visibility requirements with modern, cloud-native needs, for both enterprise and service providers' operations and security teams," said Avi Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Kentik. "We appreciate the recognition as a leader in this industry and we thank Frost & Sullivan for their research. It is well-timed, given cloud-native adoption among enterprise DevOps groups and service providers as they push to 5G and edge deployments." Download the complete Frost & Sullivan industry research on Kentik , or learn more about Kentik's modern network analytics by requesting a live demo . ABOUT KENTIK Easily the world's most powerful network insight and analytics for the cloud-native world, Kentik uses real-time traffic analysis, uniquely enriched with application, routing, and internet context to power the network operations of leading enterprises and cloud and communication service providers (CSPs). Kentik's SaaS platform is built on a patented big data engine to deliver modern network analytics that is both powerful and easy to use. Kentik is based in San Francisco - learn more at www.kentik.com . SOURCE Kentik Related Links https://www.kentik.com HOLMDEL, N.J., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage (NYSE: VG), a business cloud communications leader, has announced the launch of its newest contact center solution, CX Cloud Express . Designed as an expansion of the Company's flagship cloud-native platform, Vonage Business Cloud (VBC), CX Cloud Express is a CRM-integrated contact center solution specifically architected to enable businesses to deliver great customer, agent and employee experiences. Attendees at Enterprise Connect this week in Orlando can visit Vonage booth #1907 to experience a hands-on demo of the new solution. CX Cloud Express seamlessly integrates with the VBC application, and is built on top of the One Vonage platform, a microservices architecture with the ability to meet the individual communications needs of all businesses. It is the first integrated offering of Vonage Business Cloud and the NewVoiceMedia contact center solution on a single stack. "With the acquisition of NewVoiceMedia in 2018, Vonage now owns the entire technology stack required to deliver a fully programmable communications solution. And, we control our own roadmap and service reliability - from carrier to application," said Jay Patel, Senior Vice President, Product Management. Patel continued, "Businesses everywhere are competing on experience. CX Cloud Express now makes it possible for mid-sized businesses to deliver a great experience using a simple, easy-to-use platform. Reducing IT complexity for ease of use and deployment, CX Cloud Express seamlessly integrates with the mission-critical business applications and CRM tools businesses are already using." Key features of CX Cloud Express enable contact centers to deliver an unparalleled integrated experience for end customers, agents, and employees including: Advanced voice capabilities, such as IVR and skills-based routing, to address customer needs as quickly as possible, increasing productivity and improving customer satisfaction. Performance Management tools, such as customizable reporting and analytics, to optimize service levels, as well as streamline the agent and admin experience. Broad integration capabilities leveraging the Vonage Integration Suite, including CRM integration with Salesforce, Zendesk, SugarCRM and others to enable screen pops, call logs, and note taking, as well as business application integrations with G Suite and Office 365. Sheila McGee-Smith, President and Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics, commented, "Mid-sized business have typically been unable financially or technically to attain the sophistication of on-premises contact center solutions. With Vonage Business Cloud and CX Cloud Express, companies with hundreds of employees will begin to enjoy both the unified communications and contact center functionality reserved for much larger businesses in the past." Dennis Fois, President of Vonage's Applications Group, noted, "We know that a great experience is enabled by great communications. The combination of Vonage Business Cloud and CX Cloud Express is an integrated communications offering like no other in the industry because it is built on a single stack. We are not only driving great experiences for our customers, we are also helping them create great experiences for their own customers, their agents and their employees." Zeus Kerravala, Founder & Principal Analyst, ZK Research, added, "The vision of unified communications has been slow to materialize as communication services have remained highly fragmented and siloed. This adds complexity to IT as they need to manage multiple vendors and platforms, and it introduces a tremendous amount of human latency as people wind up being the integration point for the various systems." Kerravala continued, "Vonage's microservices based platform enables the company to quickly add new capabilities and integrate other products. A proof point for this is the speed in which it integrated NewVoiceMedia. Now Vonage customers have a single platform for their unified communications, contact center and communications API needs." To learn more, visit www.vonage.com/business/lp/cx-express About Vonage Vonage is redefining business communications, helping enterprises use fully-integrated unified communications, contact center, and programmable communications solutions via Nexmo, the Vonage API Platform, to improve how business gets done. True to our roots as a technology disruptor, we've embraced technology to transform how companies connect, collaborate and communicate to create better business outcomes. Vonage's fully-integrated cloud communications platform built on a microservices-based architecture enables businesses to collaborate more productively and engage their customers more effectively across all channels, including messaging, chat, social media, video and voice. Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage . To become a fan on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/vonage . To subscribe on YouTube, visit www.youtube.com/vonage. (vg-a) SOURCE Vonage Related Links http://www.vonage.com DENVER, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An upcoming episode of Innovations with Ed Begley Jr. will feature life.ai digital city operating system, a platform dedicated to providing a turnkey hyper-localized economy that supports small business, education and the community in a sustainable way. The life.ai platform was developed with the future in mind. The Digital City technology can be tailored for any community. Our initial projects include The Meridian Group's The Boro $1B development at Tyson's Corner and Gramercy District, a $700M mixed-use transit-oriented development on Ashburn Station by 22 Capital Partners. Connecting these communities and others along the silver line will create a walkable urban lifestyle. The turnkey platform will become the foundation for urban life. These projects will be highlighted on the upcoming television series. "We are excited to deliver our game changing Digital City Operating System starting in 2019 with great real estate partners like 22 Capital Partners and The Meridian Group," says Dave Ladouceur, chief executive officer of life.ai. "Creating the world's best experiences and interactions is what we live for the best experience powered by AI that learns and adapts to your needs, helps you, connects people with unlimited potential to improve living using the world's only citizen-centered privacy-first model." "Our dream team is implementing the next generation digital city," says Minh Le, chief executive officer of 22 capital partners. "Leading pioneers like life.ai our joint venture partner with citylink.ai are laying the foundation for digital cities of the future." Starting with mixed-use environments and scaling to education hubs and suburban areas will lay the foundation of a hyper-localized economy. Each citizen and business has access to our digital city architecture with AI, IoT and a personalized environment. A model where you can create great experiences with efficiency and sustainability and escape big-data. The only privacy-first smart city model in the world - your life, your business, your way. Bylines About life.ai life.ai is an artificial intelligence company focused on human centered design to simplify the way people live, work, play and learn. Their digital city operating system is focused on creating personalized and seamless experiences streamlining business. A privacy-first hyper-localized approach reduces cost and complexity. All aspects of daily life and business operations can be addressed by the digital city operating system securely and efficiently. The life.ai platform can be customized for suburban, mixed-use and education centers. Life.ai approach to living will enable digital cities of the future to flourish. For more information please visit life.ai. Follow life.ai on Twitter @yourlifeai For more information call our press relations. Austin Felker 303.406.1234 About Fox Innovation Series Innovations, hosted by award-winning actor Ed Begley, Jr., is an information-based series geared toward educating the public on the latest breakthroughs in all areas of society. Featuring practical solutions and important issues facing consumers and professionals alike, Innovations focuses on cutting-edge advancements in everything from health and wellness to global business, renewable energy, and more. About citylink.ai Citylink.ai is a global leader in citizen-centric smart city development and technology. Through their dedication to providing complete, urban technology and education solutions, citylink.ai is revolutionizing every aspect of the way people live. Whether you are a real estate developer, small business, international company, local government, citizen, software developer or student, citylink.ai's platform offers a full suite of products and tools that empower you to do more. Welcome to The Future of Living. For more information, visit citylink.ai. Follow citylink.ai on Twitter @citylinkai. About The Meridian Group The Meridian Group is a real estate investment and development firm based in Bethesda, Md. Since its inception in 1993, Meridian has acquired and developed more than 14 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, mixed-use, and land with a focus on the metropolitan Washington, DC market. To learn more, visit Meridian's website at www.tmgdc.com. Media contact: Mark Pankowski at 301-260-9250 or [email protected]. About Blau & Associates Blau & Associates is a strategic restaurant planning and development company that specializes in creating exceptional food-and-beverage concepts. Founded by Elizabeth Blau in 2003 our team applies extensive industry experience with modern analytics to help a wide range of clients conceptualize, establish, operate, and reinvigorate food and beverage outlets. Blau & Associates is based in Las Vegas, NV and has clients throughout North America, the Middle East, and Asia. https://elizabethblau.com/ Related Files 2019 life.ai innovations series Revisions.pdf SOURCE Life.ai DARMSTADT, Germany and NEW YORK, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Not intended for UK-based media Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates its biopharmaceutical business as EMD Serono in the US and Canada, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the discontinuation of the ongoing Phase III JAVELIN Ovarian PARP 100 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of avelumab in combination with chemotherapy followed by maintenance therapy of avelumab in combination with talazoparib,* a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, versus an active comparator in treatment-naive patients with locally advanced or metastatic ovarian cancer (Stage III or Stage IV). The alliance has notified health authorities and trial investigators of the decision to discontinue the trial. The decision was based on several emerging factors since the trial's initiation, including the previously announced interim results from JAVELIN Ovarian 100. The alliance determined that the degree of benefit observed with avelumab in frontline ovarian cancer in that study does not support continuation of the JAVELIN Ovarian PARP 100 trial in an unselected patient population and emphasizes the need to better understand the role of immunotherapy in ovarian cancer. Additional factors include the rapidly changing treatment landscape and the approval of a PARP inhibitor in the frontline maintenance setting. The decision to discontinue the JAVELIN Ovarian PARP 100 trial was not made for safety reasons. The alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer was the first to test an immunotherapy in this indication, given the significant unmet need in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Four out of five women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed with disease that has spread to the lymph nodes or to distant organs.1 Most women with advanced ovarian cancer ultimately die within five years due to refractory, resistant or recurrent disease.2,3 JAVELIN Ovarian PARP 100 (B9991030) is an open-label, international, multi-center, randomized study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of avelumab in combination with chemotherapy followed by maintenance therapy of avelumab in combination with talazoparib versus an active comparator in treatment-naive patients with locally advanced or metastatic ovarian cancer (Stage III or Stage IV). The primary endpoint is progression-free survival (PFS) as determined based on blinded independent central review (BICR) assessment per RECIST v1.1. The decision to discontinue the JAVELIN Ovarian PARP 100 trial does not impact the currently approved indications for avelumab or the remainder of the ongoing JAVELIN clinical development program. The program involves at least 30 clinical programs and more than 9,000 patients evaluated across more than 15 different tumor types, including breast, gastric/gastro-esophageal junction, and head and neck cancers, Merkel cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and urothelial carcinoma. *Avelumab and talazoparib are under clinical investigation for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer and have not been demonstrated to be safe and effective for this use. About Avelumab (BAVENCIO) Avelumab (BAVENCIO) is a human anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody. Avelumab has been shown in preclinical models to engage both the adaptive and innate immune functions. By blocking the interaction of PD-L1 with PD-1 receptors, avelumab has been shown to release the suppression of the T cell-mediated antitumor immune response in preclinical models.4-6 Avelumab has also been shown to induce NK cell-mediated direct tumor cell lysis via antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in vitro.6-8 In November 2014, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize avelumab. Approved Indications in the US In the US, the FDA granted accelerated approval for avelumab (BAVENCIO) for the treatment of (i) adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (mMCC) and (ii) patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. These indications are approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for these indications may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. Avelumab is currently approved for patients with MCC in more than 45 countries globally, with the majority of these approvals in a broad indication that is not limited to a specific line of treatment. Important Safety Information from the BAVENCIO US FDA-Approved Label BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of pneumonitis, and evaluate suspected cases with radiographic imaging. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Withhold BAVENCIO for moderate (Grade 2) and permanently discontinue for severe (Grade 3), life-threatening (Grade 4), or recurrent moderate (Grade 2) pneumonitis. Pneumonitis occurred in 1.2% (21/1738) of patients, including one (0.1%) patient with Grade 5, one (0.1%) with Grade 4, and five (0.3%) with Grade 3. BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated hepatitis, including fatal cases. Monitor patients for abnormal liver tests prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater hepatitis. Withhold BAVENCIO for moderate (Grade 2) immune-mediated hepatitis until resolution and permanently discontinue for severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) immune-mediated hepatitis. Immune-mediated hepatitis was reported in 0.9% (16/1738) of patients, including two (0.1%) patients with Grade 5, and 11 (0.6%) with Grade 3. BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated colitis. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of colitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater colitis. Withhold BAVENCIO until resolution for moderate or severe (Grade 2 or 3) colitis, and permanently discontinue for life-threatening (Grade 4) or recurrent (Grade 3) colitis upon reinitiation of BAVENCIO. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 1.5% (26/1738) of patients, including seven (0.4%) with Grade 3. BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated endocrinopathies, including adrenal insufficiency, thyroid disorders, and type 1 diabetes mellitus. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency during and after treatment, and administer corticosteroids as appropriate. Withhold BAVENCIO for severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) adrenal insufficiency. Adrenal insufficiency was reported in 0.5% (8/1738) of patients, including one (0.1%) with Grade 3. Thyroid disorders can occur at any time during treatment. Monitor patients for changes in thyroid function at the start of treatment, periodically during treatment, and as indicated based on clinical evaluation. Manage hypothyroidism with hormone replacement therapy and hyperthyroidism with medical management. Withhold BAVENCIO for severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) thyroid disorders. Thyroid disorders, including hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and thyroiditis, were reported in 6% (98/1738) of patients, including three (0.2%) with Grade 3. Type 1 diabetes mellitus including diabetic ketoacidosis: Monitor patients for hyperglycemia or other signs and symptoms of diabetes. Withhold BAVENCIO and administer antihyperglycemics or insulin in patients with severe or life-threatening (Grade 3) hyperglycemia, and resume treatment when metabolic control is achieved. Type 1 diabetes mellitus without an alternative etiology occurred in 0.1% (2/1738) of patients, including two cases of Grade 3 hyperglycemia. BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction. Monitor patients for elevated serum creatinine prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater nephritis. Withhold BAVENCIO for moderate (Grade 2) or severe (Grade 3) nephritis until resolution to Grade 1 or lower. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for life-threatening (Grade 4) nephritis. Immune-mediated nephritis occurred in 0.1% (1/1738) of patients. BAVENCIO can result in other severe and fatal immune-mediated adverse reactions involving any organ system during treatment or after treatment discontinuation. For suspected immune-mediated adverse reactions, evaluate to confirm or rule out an immune-mediated adverse reaction and to exclude other causes. Depending on the severity of the adverse reaction, withhold or permanently discontinue BAVENCIO, administer high-dose corticosteroids, and initiate hormone replacement therapy, if appropriate. Resume BAVENCIO when the immune-mediated adverse reaction remains at Grade 1 or lower following a corticosteroid taper. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for any severe (Grade 3) immune-mediated adverse reaction that recurs and for any life-threatening (Grade 4) immune-mediated adverse reaction. The following clinically significant immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred in less than 1% of 1738 patients treated with BAVENCIO: myocarditis with fatal cases, myositis, psoriasis, arthritis, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme, pemphigoid, hypopituitarism, uveitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and systemic inflammatory response. BAVENCIO can cause severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) infusion-related reactions. Patients should be premedicated with an antihistamine and acetaminophen prior to the first 4 infusions and for subsequent doses based upon clinical judgment and presence/severity of prior infusion reactions. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of infusion-related reactions, including pyrexia, chills, flushing, hypotension, dyspnea, wheezing, back pain, abdominal pain, and urticaria. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion for mild (Grade 1) or moderate (Grade 2) infusion-related reactions. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for severe (Grade 3) or life-threatening (Grade 4) infusion-related reactions. Infusion-related reactions occurred in 25% (439/1738) of patients, including three (0.2%) patients with Grade 4 and nine (0.5%) with Grade 3. BAVENCIO can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise patients of the potential risk to a fetus including the risk of fetal death. Advise females of childbearing potential to use effective contraception during treatment with BAVENCIO and for at least 1 month after the last dose of BAVENCIO. It is not known whether BAVENCIO is excreted in human milk. Advise a lactating woman not to breastfeed during treatment and for at least 1 month after the last dose of BAVENCIO due to the potential for serious adverse reactions in breastfed infants. The most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) in patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) were fatigue (50%), musculoskeletal pain (32%), diarrhea (23%), nausea (22%), infusion-related reaction (22%), rash (22%), decreased appetite (20%), and peripheral edema (20%). Selected treatment-emergent laboratory abnormalities (all grades, 20%) in patients with metastatic MCC were lymphopenia (49%), anemia (35%), increased aspartate aminotransferase (34%), thrombocytopenia (27%), and increased alanine aminotransferase (20%). The most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) were fatigue (41%), infusion-related reaction (30%), musculoskeletal pain (25%), nausea (24%), decreased appetite/hypophagia (21%), and urinary tract infection (21%). Selected laboratory abnormalities (Grades 3-4, 3%) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC were hyponatremia (16%), increased gamma-glutamyltransferase (12%), lymphopenia (11%), hyperglycemia (9%), increased alkaline phosphatase (7%), anemia (6%), increased lipase (6%), hyperkalemia (3%), and increased aspartate aminotransferase (3%). Please see full US Prescribing Information and Medication Guide available at http://www.BAVENCIO.com. Indication for talazoparib (TALZENNA) from the US Prescribing Information TALZENNA is a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline breast cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA)-mutated (gBRCAm) human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Select patients for therapy based on an FDA-approved companion diagnostic for TALZENNA. Important Safety Information from the TALZENNA US Prescribing Information Myelodysplastic Syndrome/Acute Myeloid Leukemia (MDS/AML) have been reported in patients who received TALZENNA. Overall, MDS/AML have been reported in 2 out of 584 (0.3%) solid tumor patients treated with TALZENNA in clinical studies. Myelosuppression consisting of anemia, leukopenia/neutropenia, and/or thrombocytopenia have been reported in patients treated with TALZENNA. Grade 3 anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia were reported, respectively, in 39%, 21%, and 15% of patients receiving TALZENNA. Discontinuation due to anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia occurred, respectively, in 0.7%, 0.3%, and 0.3% of patients. Monitor complete blood counts for cytopenia at baseline and monthly thereafter. Do not start TALZENNA until patients have adequately recovered from hematological toxicity caused by previous therapy. If hematological toxicity occurs, dose modifications (dosing interruption with or without dose reduction) are recommended. With respect to MDS/AML, for prolonged hematological toxicities, interrupt TALZENNA and monitor blood counts weekly until recovery. If the levels have not recovered after 4 weeks, refer the patient to a hematologist for further investigations. If MDS/AML is confirmed, discontinue TALZENNA. TALZENNA can cause fetal harm when administered to pregnant women. Advise women of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for at least 7 months following the last dose. A pregnancy test is recommended for females of reproductive potential prior to initiating TALZENNA treatment. Advise male patients with female partners of reproductive potential or who are pregnant to use effective contraception during treatment with TALZENNA and for at least 4 months after receiving the last dose. Based on animal studies, TALZENNA may impair fertility in males of reproductive potential. Advise women not to breastfeed while taking TALZENNA and for at least 1 month after receiving the last dose because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants. The most common adverse reactions (20%) of any grade for TALZENNA vs chemotherapy were fatigue (62% vs 50%), anemia (53% vs 18%), nausea (49% vs 47%), neutropenia (35% vs 43%), headache (33% vs 22%), thrombocytopenia (27% vs 7%), vomiting (25% vs 23%), alopecia (25% vs 28%), diarrhea (22% vs 26%), and decreased appetite (21% vs 22%). The most frequently reported Grade 3 adverse reactions (5%) for TALZENNA vs chemotherapy were anemia (39% vs 5%), neutropenia (21% vs 36%), and thrombocytopenia (15% vs 2%). The most common lab abnormalities (25%) for TALZENNA vs chemotherapy were decreases in hemoglobin (90% vs 77%), leukocytes (84% vs 73%), lymphocytes (76% vs 53%), neutrophils (68% vs 70%), platelets (55% vs 29%), and calcium (28% vs 16%) and increases in glucose (54% vs 51%), aspartate aminotransferase (37% vs 48%), alkaline phosphatase (36% vs 34%), and alanine aminotransferase (33% vs 37%). Coadministration with P-gp inhibitors or BCRP inhibitors may increase TALZENNA exposure. If coadministering with the P-gp inhibitors amiodarone, carvedilol, clarithromycin, itraconazole, or verapamil is unavoidable, reduce the TALZENNA dose to 0.75 mg once daily. When the P-gp inhibitor is discontinued, increase the TALZENNA dose (after 35 half-lives of the P-gp inhibitor) to the dose used prior to the initiation of the P-gp inhibitor. When co-administering TALZENNA with other known P-gp inhibitors or BCRP inhibitors, monitor patients for potential increased adverse reactions. For patients with moderate renal impairment, the recommended dose of TALZENNA is 0.75 mg once daily. No dose adjustment is required for patients with mild renal impairment. TALZENNA has not been studied in patients with severe renal impairment or in patients requiring hemodialysis. TALZENNA has not been studied in patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment. No dose adjustment is required for patients with mild hepatic impairment. Please see full US Prescribing Information available at http://www.TALZENNA.com. Alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Inc., New York, US Immuno-oncology is a top priority for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer. The global strategic alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer enables the companies to benefit from each other's strengths and capabilities and further explore the therapeutic potential of BAVENCIO, an anti-PD-L1 antibody initially discovered and developed by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The immuno-oncology alliance is jointly developing and commercializing BAVENCIO. The alliance is focused on developing high-priority international clinical programs to investigate BAVENCIO as a monotherapy as well as combination regimens, and is striving to find new ways to treat cancer. All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the EMD Group Website. In case you are a resident of the USA or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service. About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 52,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices the company is everywhere. In 2018, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of 14.8 billion in 66 countries. The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Performance Materials. Since its founding 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Pfizer Inc.: Working together for a healthier world At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products. Our global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines as well as many of the world's best-known consumer health care products. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer_News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer. Pfizer Disclosure Notice The information contained in this release is as of March 19, 2019. Pfizer assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this release as the result of new information or future events or developments. This release contains forward-looking information about avelumab (BAVENCIO), the Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany-Pfizer Alliance involving avelumab, and clinical development plans, including their potential benefits, that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things, uncertainties regarding the commercial success of avelumab; the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including the ability to meet anticipated clinical endpoints, commencement and/or completion dates for our clinical trials, regulatory submission dates, regulatory approval dates and/or launch dates, as well as the possibility of unfavorable new clinical data and further analyses of existing clinical data; risks associated with interim data; the risk that clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments by regulatory authorities; whether regulatory authorities will be satisfied with the design of and results from our clinical studies; whether and when any drug applications may be filed in any jurisdictions for any potential indications for avelumab, combination therapies or talazoparib; whether and when regulatory authorities in any jurisdictions where applications are pending or may be submitted for avelumab, combination therapies or talazoparib may approve any such applications, which will depend on myriad factors, including making a determination as to whether the product's benefits outweigh its known risks and determination of the product's efficacy, and, if approved, whether they will be commercially successful; decisions by regulatory authorities impacting labeling, safety, manufacturing processes and/or other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of avelumab, combination therapies or talazoparib; and competitive developments. A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Pfizer's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Information and Factors That May Affect Future Results", as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov and www.pfizer.com. References 1.SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Ovarian Cancer. National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/ovary.html. Accessed March 2019. 2.Ledermann, JA, Raja FA, Fotopoulou C, et al. Newly diagnosed and relapsed epithelial ovarian carcinoma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2013; 24 (Supplement 6): vi24vi32, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdt333. 3.Ozol, RJ. Challenges for chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. Ann Oncol. 2006;17(5):v181-187. 4.Dolan DE, Gupta S. PD-1 pathway inhibitors: changing the landscape of cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Control. 2014;21(3):231-237. 5.Dahan R, Sega E, Engelhardt J, et al. FcRs modulate the anti-tumor activity of antibodies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis. Cancer Cell. 2015;28(3):285-295. 6.Boyerinas B, Jochems C, Fantini M, et al. Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity activity of a novel anti-PD-L1 antibody avelumab (MSB0010718C) on human tumor cells. Cancer Immunol Res. 2015;3(10):1148-1157. 7.Kohrt HE, Houot R, Marabelle A, et al. Combination strategies to enhance antitumor ADCC. Immunotherapy. 2012;4(5):511-527. 8.Hamilton G, Rath B. Avelumab: combining immune checkpoint inhibition and antibody-dependent cytotoxicity. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2017;17(4):515-523. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Media Relations: +49-6151-72-6328, [email protected] Investor Relations: +49-6151-72-3321, [email protected] Pfizer Media Relations: +1-212-733-6213, [email protected] Investor Relations: +1-212-733-8160, [email protected] SOURCE Merck KGaA MILWAUKEE, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE: MTG) announced its board of directors has authorized an additional share repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to $200 million of its common stock through the end of 2020. The Company has approximately $25 million remaining on an existing share repurchase authorization announced in April 2018 that remains in place through the end of 2019. Repurchases may be made from time to time on the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. The repurchase program may be suspended for periods or discontinued at any time. The Company expects to fund the purchases with Company cash and investments, which as of December 31, 2018, totaled $248 million. The Company currently has approximately 356 million shares of common stock outstanding. About MGIC The principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corporation is Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, or MGIC (www.mgic.com), which serves lenders throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and other locations helping families achieve homeownership sooner by making affordable low-down-payment mortgages a reality. At February 28, 2019 MGIC had $210.8 billion of primary insurance in force covering over one million mortgages. From time to time MGIC Investment Corporation releases important information via postings on its corporate website, and via postings on MGIC's website for information related to underwriting and pricing, and intends to continue to do so in the future. Such postings include corrections of previous disclosures, and may be made without any other disclosure. Investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information for MGIC Investment Corporation alerts can be found at https://mtg.mgic.com/shareholder-services/email-alerts. Enrollment information for MGIC alerts can be found at https://www.mgic.com/ClearRates/index.html. SOURCE MGIC Investment Corporation Related Links http://www.mgic.com DUBLIN, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Middle East and Africa Online Payment Methods 2019" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. MENA E-Commerce sees cash on delivery challenged by cards and mobile wallets Cash on delivery has been a top payment method used by online shoppers in countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. However, recent surveys cited in the report show that consumers are now becoming more comfortable with paying online. In the UAE, more than two-thirds of shoppers who paid online at least once by a card or a digital wallet will consistently choose this method in the future. The African continent shows diverse preferences of digital buyers when it comes to payment means. South Africa stands out with the majority of shoppers paying online by credit or debit card. In Egypt, digital wallets such as PayPal and CashU are popular; while in Uganda, more than one in two online shoppers choose to pay via mobile money services, according to data cited in the report. Mobile payment adoption is gradually taking off, driven by mobile wallets in the MENA region and mobile money in Sub-Saharan African countries, as shown in the report. A number of mobile wallet solutions were rolled out over the past months, including Google Pay in the UAE and Apple Pay in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, mobile money services such as M-Pesa are helping drive financial inclusion in African countries, where card and bank account penetration rates are generally low double or even single digits. Report Highlights In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, cash is used by digital buyers Online shoppers in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE use cash on delivery as their top payment method. Notwithstanding, consumers are adapting more and more to paying online, suggests a survey mentioned in the report. African online shoppers' payment preferences vary There is a great deal of diversity amidst digital buyers' preferences of payment means in Africa. South Africa is distinct, where most shoppers paying online use credit or debit cards. This is juxtaposed with Egypt, where digital wallets are popular, and then again with Uganda, where mobile money services take the top seat, quotes the report. The ground work is laid for mobile payment growth in the Middle East and Africa Adoption rates for mobile payment are increasing in the region, compelled by MENA's mobile wallet usage and Sub-Saharan Africa's mobile money popularity. The publication cites that mobile wallet solutions like Apple Pay and Google Pay are being rolled out in the region, with the latest developments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Questions Answered in this Report What are the major digital payment trends in the Middle East and Africa ? and ? How do payment method preferences of online shoppers vary between countries? How high is the share of digital buyers using cash on delivery in various countries of the Middle East and Africa ? and ? Which barriers prevent consumers from using online payments? What is the projected growth of mobile payments in the Middle East and Africa by 2022? Companies Mentioned Apple Inc Beam Wallet Ltd CashU Inc Google LLC Mastercard Inc Paypal Inc Samsung Co. Ltd Visa Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/kbspm6/middle_east_and?w=5 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com The blockchain mania of 2017 has worn off, but there are many lingering questions around which projects and ideas will remain in 2019. This one-day conference will explore where the technology and its applications are headed and create a conversation around defining the next phase of blockchain. Join industry experts and company leaders as they look back at lessons learned over the years and predict the road ahead. Speakers will address navigating this ever-changing landscape and the strengths and weaknesses of blockchain, as well as promising new initiatives. Session topics will include: How to leverage blockchain technology for social impact, and the importance of increased diversity in emerging tech How the Asia Pacific region is navigating explosive growth in the blockchain market, amid crypto restrictions region is navigating explosive growth in the blockchain market, amid crypto restrictions Smart contracts and expanding access to legal services The future of crypto and how cryptocurrency, banks, and regulation will co-evolve Designing a price-stable cryptocurrency The evolution of blockchain technology, and how issues like interoperability and scaling might be the key to wider adoption The growing line-up of speakers includes: Ariana Fowler - Blockchain Strategist, UNICEF - Blockchain Strategist, UNICEF Caitlin Long - Cofounder, Wyoming Blockchain Coalition - Cofounder, Wyoming Blockchain Coalition Sopnendu Mohanty - Chief FinTech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore Charley Moore - Founder and CEO, Rocket Lawyer - Founder and CEO, Rocket Lawyer Haseeb Qureshi - Partner, MetaStable Capital - Partner, MetaStable Capital Jessica Rosenworcel - Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Peter Van Valkenburgh - Director of Research, Coin Center - Director of Research, Coin Center Simon Whitehouse - Senior Managing Director, Financial Services, Growth and Strategy, Accenture - Senior Managing Director, Financial Services, Growth and Strategy, Accenture Hui Zhang - Director, Ant Financial Blockchain Division PwC , a global professional services firm that helps companies reimagine their business and transform their organization's outcomes with digital and emerging technology, will serve as Business of Blockchain 2019's Event Sponsor, and BIGfish Communications will return as Media Partner. Click here for full conference details, registration, and partnership opportunities. Media who would like to attend the event should reach out to [email protected] to learn more about obtaining press credentials. About The EmTech Event Series MIT Technology Review's EmTech Event Series dives into emerging technologies that will drive the new global economy. From mainstage keynotes to Q&As and small discussions, these events provide a curated view of the year's most important developments. EmTech gives attendees the opportunity to discover future trends and learn from the most innovative people and companies in the world. Currently in its 18th year, EmTech events have quickly become a must-attend for entrepreneurs, innovators, policy leaders, media and more. This year's EmTech events include EmTech Digital, March 26-27; Business of Blockchain, April 23; EmTech Next, June 4-5; and EmTech MIT, September 10-13. Learn more . About MIT Technology Review Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned, independent media company whose insight, analysis, reviews, interviews and live events explain the commercial, social and political impact of new technologies. MIT Technology Review derives its authority from the world's foremost technology institution and from its editors' deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and unequaled access to leading innovators and researchers. For 117 years, MIT Technology Review's mission has been to equip readers with the intelligence to understand a world shaped by technology and the impact upon their careers and lives. Subscribe . Follow: Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn , Google+ , Instagram . Media Contact: Adriana Howell BIGfish Communications for MIT Technology Review [email protected] 617-713-3800 SOURCE MIT Technology Review Related Links http://www.technologyreview.com This week, Poland Spring will launch a campaign around the Maine sources of its 100% Natural Spring Water to help better educate bottled water drinkers in the Northeast. "Poland Spring has been a trusted brand that's been loved by consumers since 1845 and we've recognized the need to further build consumer awareness and education," states Rosa Veliz, Sr. Brand Manager for Poland Spring. "This year, we'll work to address this through the launch of our new campaign that focuses on 100% Natural Spring Water." The "Spring Water From the Heart of Maine" campaign will have unique spots that highlight different aspects behind Poland Spring 100% Natural Spring Water, from being filtered through 10,000 year old glacial aquifers to its naturally occurring minerals that contribute to its unique crisp, refreshing taste. The campaign gives the springs a voice to tell their story on what it means to be 100% Natural Spring Water and reinforces what sets Poland Spring apart from other bottled waters. Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water can be found in-store at supermarkets, club, convenience and chain drug stores in the Northeast region, complete with a list of its spring sources listed on every bottle. You can also get it delivered through ReadyRefresh by Nestle and on Amazon, FreshDirect and Walmart.com. For more information about Poland Spring, visit https://www.polandspring.com/ and click here to view the new campaign. Survey Methodology On behalf of Poland Spring, KRC Research conducted an online survey among a nationally representative sample of n=1,004 adults, ages 18+, living in the United States. This survey was conducted from March 7-10, 2019. About Poland Spring Brand Natural Spring Water Established in 1845, Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water has been served throughout the Northeast for more than 170 years. Filtered by 10,000-year-old glacial aquifers of Maine, Poland Spring offers a crisp, refreshing taste. Poland Spring has no additives, only the naturally occurring electrolytes that provide a crisp, refreshing taste. To learn more, visit: https://www.polandspring.com/. SOURCE Poland Spring Related Links http://www.polandspring.com SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on harnessing powerful biology underlying major diseases to develop transformative therapeutics for patients, today announced the appointment of Hsiao D. Lieu, M.D. as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Lieu most recently served as Vice President of Early Clinical Development at Genentech, where he was responsible for early phase drug development for all non-oncology indications, including ophthalmology, metabolic, neurology and inflammation. He brings 15 years of drug development experience and will oversee the clinical development of NGM's pipeline, which includes NGM282 that is in Phase 2 studies for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Alex DePaoli, M.D., who had served as NGM's founding Chief Medical Officer, will transition to the role of Senior Vice President, Chief Translational Officer. In this new role, Dr. DePaoli will focus on guiding NGM's robust discovery portfolio into clinical development. Both Drs. Lieu and DePaoli will be members of NGM's executive team, reporting to Chief Executive Officer David Woodhouse, Ph.D. "We are thrilled to welcome Hsiao to the NGM team. As we progress NGM282 into Phase 2b studies in NASH in addition to several additional clinical programs, we look forward to leveraging Hsiao's extensive experience leading early and late-stage clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas relevant to NGM," said Dr. Woodhouse. "Alex's expertise in identifying early signals of human translatability has been essential to NGM's success to date and a crucial skill we need to prosecute development of our early portfolio. Advancing our broad development pipeline while progressing a robust discovery portfolio are parallel priorities for NGM. With Hsiao and Alex leading these dual tracks simultaneously and collaboratively, we are well positioned to further our continued aspiration to operate one of biopharma's most productive R&D engines." "I am excited to join NGM at this important time, given the company's impressive scientific foundation and significant potential to help tackle some of today's most critical unmet medical needs," said Dr. Lieu. "NGM has unlocked novel insights about powerful human biology and, in a relatively short amount of time, has transformed these findings into a deep pipeline of novel, first-in-class medicines for multiple therapeutic areas and diseases. I look forward to working closely with Alex and the rest of the team as we continue to translate NGM's ongoing scientific accomplishments into potential breakthrough therapies for patients." Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Lieu held roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly, most recently serving as Global Brand Development Leader, Autoimmune, responsible for both global medical and commercial leadership of Taltz (ixekizumab), an IL-17 inhibitor for psoriasis and arthritic indications. Dr. Lieu's other roles at Lilly included Head of Global Clinical Pharmacology (Diabetes) and Managing Director of Chorus, a division of Lilly Research Laboratories specializing in drug development from candidate selection to clinical proof of concept. As the general manager of Chorus, Dr. Lieu was responsible for a portfolio of large and small molecules spanning metabolic diseases and diabetes, oncology, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune and pain. He also previously served as Senior Medical Director, U.S. Medical Affairs and Head of Cardiovascular and Autoimmune Platforms at Lilly. Prior to his tenure at Lilly, Dr. Lieu served in leadership roles at several companies, including CEO and Co-Founder of RetinoRx, LLC; Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Development at Nile Therapeutics; and Clinical Therapeutic Head responsible for elinogrel development at Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Lieu was also an adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Lieu earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from New York University and his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia University, a clinical cardiology fellowship at UCSF and a postdoctoral fellowship as a physician scientist at the J. David Gladstone Research Institutes at UCSF. About NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. NGM is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics based on scientific understanding of key biological pathways underlying cardio-metabolic, liver, oncologic and ophthalmic diseases. The company leverages its biology-centric drug discovery approach to uncover novel mechanisms of action and generate proprietary insights that enable it to move rapidly into proof-of-concept studies and deliver potential first-in-class medicines to patients. NGM aspires to operate one of the most productive research and development engines in the biopharmaceutical industry, with multiple programs in clinical development. Visit http://www.ngmbio.com for more information. SOURCE NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Related Links https://www.ngmbio.com/ NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- North America Quantum Cryptography Market By Component (Hardware & Service), By Application (Data Base Encryption, Network Layer Encryption & Others), By End-User, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013-2023 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05730621/?utm_source=PRN According to "North America Quantum Cryptography Market By Component, By Application, By End-User, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013-2023" quantum cryptography market is projected to grow $ 332 million by 2023.Huge data generation owing to growing IoT market, which encompasses IIoT, smart grids, smart cities, smart consumer wearables, smart appliances and smartphones, is boosting demand for quantum cryptography in the region. Rising concerns related to data theft and cyberattacks, growing cybersecurity market and booming fiber optics industry are some of the other factors that are expected to further aid growth in the region's quantum cryptography market during the forecast period. Some of the major players operating in North America quantum cryptography market are ID Quantique SA, MagiQ Technologies, Inc., Quintessence Labs Pty Ltd., Qubitekk, Inc., Toshiba Corporation, qutools GmbH, NuCrypt LLC, SK Telecom, etc. "North America Quantum Cryptography Market By Component, By Application, By End-User, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013-2023" discusses the following aspects of quantum cryptography market in North America: Quantum Cryptography Market Size, Share & Forecast Segmental Analysis By Component (Hardware & Service), By Application (Data Base Encryption, Network Layer Encryption & Others), By End-User, By Country Competitive Analysis Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities Why You Should Buy This Report? To gain an in-depth understanding of quantum cryptography in North America To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years To help industry consultants, quantum cryptography distributor, distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs Report Methodology The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research.Primary research included interaction with quantum cryptography distributor, distributors and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05730621/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- North America Stretchable Electronics Market By Component (Electroactive Polymers, Stretchable Conductors, Stretchable Batteries, Stretchable Circuits & Photovoltaics), By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2017 2023 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05730623/?utm_source=PRN According to "North America Stretchable Electronics Market By Component, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2017 2023" stretchable electronics market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 83% by 2023, owing to rising investments in research & development of stretchable electronics in the region.Moreover, growing focus towards development of touch sensitive e-skin and stretchable sensors, expanding Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem and rising number of start-ups entering the stretchable electronics market is expected to fuel the region's stretchable electronics market. Growing popularity of smart apparel and surging demand for conformal healthcare devices for effective health monitoring is expected to aid in accelerated growth of stretchable electronics market in North America during the forecast period. Some of the major players operating in North America stretchable electronics market are MC10 Inc., StretchSense Limited., E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, FINELINE Ltd., imec USA, etc. "North America Stretchable Electronics Market By Component, By Application, By Country, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2017 2023" discusses the following aspects of Stretchable Electronics market in North America: Stretchable Electronics Market Size, Share & Forecast Segmental Analysis By Component (Electroactive Polymers, Stretchable Conductors, Stretchable Batteries, Stretchable Circuits & Photovoltaics), By Application, By Country Competitive Analysis Changing Market Trends & Emerging Opportunities Why You Should Buy This Report? To gain an in-depth understanding of Stretchable Electronics in North America To identify the on-going trends and anticipated growth in the next five years To help industry consultants, Stretchable Electronics distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies To obtain research-based business decisions and add weight to presentations and marketing material To gain competitive knowledge of leading market players To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs Report Methodology The information contained in this report is based upon both primary and secondary research.Primary research included interaction with Stretchable Electronics distributors and industry experts. Secondary research included an exhaustive search of relevant publications like company annual reports, financial reports and proprietary databases. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05730623/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com HOUSTON, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PARR) ("Par Pacific") today announced that Will Monteleone, Par Pacific's Chief Financial Officer, will attend the Scotia Howard Weil 2019 Energy Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 26-27, 2019 and participate in one-on-one meetings. About Par Pacific Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PARR), headquartered in Houston, Texas, owns and operates market-leading energy and infrastructure businesses. Par Pacific's strategy is to acquire and develop energy and infrastructure businesses in logistically complex markets. Par Pacific owns and operates one of the largest energy networks in Hawaii with 148,000-bpd of combined refining capacity, a logistics system supplying the major islands of the state and 91 retail locations. In the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, Par Pacific owns and operates 60,000-bpd of combined refining capacity, related multimodal logistics systems and 33 retail locations. Par Pacific also owns 46% of Laramie Energy, LLC, a natural gas production company with operations and assets concentrated in Western Colorado. For more information contact: Suneel Mandava Senior Vice President, Finance (713) 969-2136 [email protected] SOURCE Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. This year's event will be an opportunity to see results from PICI staff scientists collaborating with top investigators at our partner institutions. Our multi-center clinical trial in metastatic pancreatic cancer shows promising early results for immunotherapy combined with standard-of-care chemotherapy. PICI researchers will also share the latest data on how a cancer patient's diet and supplements, including probiotics, can affect immunotherapy response. PICI CEO and President Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., will also be awarded with one of the meeting's highest individual honors. The AACR Annual Meeting highlights the best in cancer science and medicine and is expected to draw more than 22,500 scientists, clinicians, advocates and others to discuss advances in cancer science. More than 90 abstracts and events at AACR 2019 feature scientists affiliated with the Parker Institute. Below are select awards, symposia, plenary sessions and abstracts highlighting Parker Institute researchers. AWARDS PICI CEO and President Jeffrey Bluestone Honored with AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship March 31, 2019, 4-4:45 p.m. Murphy Ballroom, Building B, GWCC PICI CEO and President Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is this year's recipient of the AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship. This achievement recognizes outstanding science that has the potential to inspire creative thinking and new directions in cancer research and is awarded by the president of AACR. His work on T-cell activation has had a profound impact on many areas of medicine, from diabetes to organ transplantation, and now cancer. Under his leadership, the Parker Institute has grown into one of the top nonprofit organizations devoted to cancer immunotherapy. His talk is titled, "T Cell-Mediated Immune Tolerance in Health and Disease." (LE03) SYMPOSIA AND SESSIONS The PRINCE Trial for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: First Phase Ib Results March 31, 2019, 2:27-2:50 p.m. Marcus Auditorium, Building A, GWCC The first results from the Parker Institute's PRINCE trial involving a novel combination of a CD40 agonist (APX005M), checkpoint inhibition and standard of care chemotherapy to treat metastatic pancreatic cancer will be presented during a clinical trials plenary session. Robert Vonderheide, Ph.D., DPhil, a Parker Institute investigator at the University of Pennsylvania, is senior author. Parker Institute staff scientists Christopher Cabanski, Ph.D., Pier Federico Gherardini, Ph.D., Lacey Kitch, Ph.D., Theresa LaVallee, Ph.D., Jaclyn Lyman, M.S., and Cheryl Selinsky, Ph.D., are co-authors. First author Mark O'Hara, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, will present updated data during the "Predictive Biomarkers for Immunotherapy" session (CTPL01) that runs from 12:45-3 p.m. Embargoed. (8060) Making Science Count for Patients: From T-Cell Signaling to CTLA-4 Approval April 1, 2019, 5-6:30 p.m. Hall A - Convention Center The pioneers of checkpoint immune therapy will give their perspectives on the development of CTLA-4, the first checkpoint inhibitor to be approved for cancer treatment. Panelists include Parker Institute CEO and President Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., a UCSF professor; Nobel Prize winner James Allison, Ph.D., PICI center director at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and Jedd Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D., PICI center director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. PICI investigator Nina Bhardwaj, M.D., Ph.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, chairs the session, which also includes Alan Korman, vice president of immuno-oncology discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb. (SS05) Achieving Equitable Patient Care through Precision and Convergent Cancer Science March 31, 2019, 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Hall A - Convention Center Crystal Mackall, M.D., Parker Institute center director at Stanford Medicine, and E. John Wherry, Ph.D., PICI center co-director at the University of Pennsylvania, will speak during the opening plenary session. Dr. Mackall will speak about next generation CAR-T therapies designed to overcome tumor resistance. Wherry will address T-cell exhaustion and its role in resistance. (PL01) Escape from Immunosurveillance and Therapeutic Opportunities Aimed At Tumor Escape April 2, 2019, 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Hall A - Convention Center Parker Institute investigator Robert Schreiber, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, chairs and leads this discussion. Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., PICI center co-director at MD Anderson Cancer Center, will address mechanisms of response and resistance to immune checkpoint therapy. PICI Center Director Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, will speak about combination therapies designed to overcome resistance to treatment. (SY08) Systems Biology and Cancer Immunology March 31, 2019, 1-2:45 p.m. Murphy Ballroom, Building B, GWCC Catherine Wu, M.D., Parker Institute investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will speak about using systems approaches for creating personalized cancer vaccines and chair the session. PICI investigator Michael Angelo, M.D., Ph.D., of Stanford also will present during this session on using MIBI to characterize immune cell populations. (SY11) Overcoming Resistance to T Cell-Based Therapies April 2, 2019, 1-2:45 p.m. Murphy Ballroom, Building B, GWCC Parker Institute investigator Christopher Klebanoff, M.D., at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Parker Institute investigator Wendell Lim, Ph.D., of UCSF are featured on this panel about engineering T-cells to overcome resistance to cancer treatment. (SY07) Immune Exhaustion and Cancer Therapies April 3, 2019, 10:15 a.m.-12 p.m. Murphy Ballroom, Building B, GWCC In this symposium, PICI investigator Andrea Schietinger, Ph.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will be presenting on how chromatin state dynamics impact tumor-specific T-cell dysfunction. Andy Minn, M.D., Ph.D, a PICI investigator at the University of Pennsylvania, is chairing the session and will present on the role of interferon signaling in adaptive and innate immunity against cancer. (SY09) Rational Combination of GITR agonism with PD-1 blockade April 1, 2019, 4:05-4:20 p.m. Room A411 GWCC Roberta Zappasodi, Ph.D., a PICI Bridge Scholar at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, presents on her ongoing work investigating the combination use of an antibody targeting GITR and an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor during the mini-symposium "Rational Combinations of Immunotherapy" that runs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (MS.IM02.01) The Role of Biomarkers in Selecting Patients for Immunotherapy Trials March 30, 2019, 1-1:30 p.m. Room B206 - GWCC PICI Vice President Lisa Butterfield, Ph.D., will speak during this methods workshop on biomarker-directed clinical trials that runs 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (MW06) NOTABLE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Please note all times are subject to change per the event organizer. For the most up-to-date information, please visit the AACR Annual Meeting 2019 Online Itinerary Planner. About the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy brings together the best scientists, clinicians and industry partners to build a smarter and more coordinated cancer immunotherapy research effort. The Parker Institute is an unprecedented collaboration between the country's leading immunologists and cancer centers. The program started by providing institutional support to six academic centers, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The institute also provides programmatic support for top immunotherapy investigators, including a group of researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Robert Schreiber, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Philip Greenberg, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Stephen Forman, MD, of City of Hope. The Parker Institute network also includes more than 40 industry and nonprofit partners, more than 60 labs and more than 170 of the nation's top researchers focused on treating the deadliest cancers. The goal is to accelerate the development of breakthrough immune therapies capable of turning most cancers into curable diseases. The institute was created through a $250 million grant from The Parker Foundation. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram SOURCE Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Related Links http://www.parkerici.org AUSTIN, Texas, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An affiliate of Peak Rock Capital ("Peak Rock"), a leading middle-market private equity firm, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Turkey Hill Dairy business ("Turkey Hill"), a leading manufacturer and distributor of ice cream, refrigerated drinks, and dairy products, from The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). Founded in 1931, Turkey Hill is a leading manufacturer and distributor of ice cream, refrigerated drinks, and dairy products for the retail, foodservice, and alternative channels. Turkey Hill has a diverse customer base, including blue chip grocers, distributors, wholesalers, and convenience stores. Headquartered in Conestoga, Pennsylvania and operating out of an SQF Level 3 manufacturing facility, Turkey Hill has built a strong reputation in the industry for its broad product offering, outstanding quality, and unmatched customer service. Robert Pistilli, Managing Director of Peak Rock, said, "Turkey Hill represents an exciting opportunity to invest in a premier brand with an established reputation for quality, flavor variety, and authenticity, within the large and growing ice cream and refrigerated drinks space. We are impressed with the accomplishments of the business under the stewardship of Kroger, and look forward to completing a seamless transition of the business to a standalone entity and partnering with Turkey Hill's management team to drive significant growth through continued product innovation." Anthony DiSimone, Chief Executive Officer of Peak Rock, added, "This transaction further exemplifies Peak Rock's deep experience and capability in executing complex carve-out transactions. It also highlights our continued interest in attractive assets in the food and beverage industry. We believe that Turkey Hill represents an excellent platform for growth through near-term organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions. We will be aggressively pursuing complimentary acquisitions to extend the product and brand portfolio." The acquisition of Turkey Hill represents Peak Rock's eighth current investment in the food and beverage industry. Peak Rock's current investments in the food and beverage industry include: Berner Food & Beverage, a manufacturer of dairy-based beverages and shelf-stable snacks; Diamond Crystal Brands , a manufacturer and distributor of portion control and single serve food and beverage products; , a manufacturer and distributor of portion control and single serve food and beverage products; Gold Coast Bakeries, a manufacturer of specialty and organic breads, buns, and rolls; Louisiana Fish Fry, a manufacturer of branded, Louisiana -inspired food products; -inspired food products; Pretzels, Inc., a supplier of pretzels and snack products; Sweet Harvest Foods, a producer and distributor of honey; and TNT Crust, a manufacturer of pizza crusts. The parties expect the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, to close in Kroger's fiscal Q1 2019. ABOUT TURKEY HILL DAIRY Founded in 1931, Turkey Hill is a leading manufacturer and distributor of ice cream, refrigerated drinks, and dairy products for the retail, foodservice, and alternative channels. Turkey Hill has a diverse customer base, including blue chip grocers, distributors, wholesalers, and convenience stores. ABOUT PEAK ROCK CAPITAL Peak Rock Capital is a leading middle-market private equity firm that makes equity and debt investments in companies in North America and Europe. Peak Rock focuses on investing in opportunities where it can support senior management in driving rapid growth and profit improvement through operational and strategic change. Peak Rock's principals have deep expertise in complex situations, carve-outs, and cross border transactions, with the ability to provide tailored capital solutions and close transactions quickly where speed and certainty are priorities. For further information about Peak Rock Capital, please visit www.peakrockcapital.com. Media Contact: Daniel Yunger Kekst CNC (212) 521-4800 SOURCE Peak Rock Capital Related Links http://peakrockcapital.com SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Peerspace, the world's largest marketplace for hourly rentals of unique spaces for events, meetings, photo shoots and media productions, today announced the expansion of their offering to Dallas, Texas. Peerspace provides simple booking of over 10,000 venues along with expert support. Peerspace locations are currently available in areas including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, and Atlanta with more locales slated to be added throughout 2019. "A unique and inspiring space is an often overlooked, yet essential part of a successful and memorable meeting or event," said Eric Shoup, CEO at Peerspace. "We're excited to partner with local Dallas venue owners to make it easy for anyone to find and book a unique, inspiring space that adds to any special occasion whether it be a film or photo shoot, offsite meeting, product launch, charity event or even a baby shower." Peerspace's expanding catalog of unique spaces and locations range from an authentic Brooklyn Coffee Shop to a 1906 Historic Church in Pasadena, California to a Downtown Chicago office at one of the most famous buildings in the world. Peerspace enables hosts to generate income from their facilities, offices and spaces which otherwise may remain empty or underutilized seasonally or on certain days of the week. For event planners, Peerspace removes the hassles of intricate booking negotiations and paperwork, while Peerspace's expert support provides knowledgeable guidance to make any event go off without a hitch. Notable Dallas locations now available for hourly rental include: "Peerspace is great because it enables me to rent out my venue by the hour without having to worry about accommodating overnight guests," said Alishan Jadhavji, a Dallas-based Peerspace host. "Peerspace clients have been amazing, and I've hosted interesting events including modeling shoots, corporate meetings and retreats, and even a music video shoot for an Australian pop star." To view Peerspace Dallas locations, please visit: https://www.peerspace.com/venues/dallas--tx For more information on hosting, or to sign up to make you space available through Peerspace, please visit: https://www.peerspace.com/host Visit Peerspace on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/peerspace/ About Peerspace Peerspace provides access to cities' best places to meet, create, and celebrate removing the hassle of securing a space for events while making it easy for anyone to rent out their space. The Peerspace community marketplace opens the door to thousands of spaces available at all price points from lofts and mansions to storefronts and studios so people have a choice of places to get together. By making their space available to an audience of millions, Peerspace makes it easy for both individuals and businesses to safely share and earn extra income from their space. Founded in April of 2014, Peerspace is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The company's investors include Google Ventures, Foundation Capital, Structure Capital, Carthona Capital, and 31VENTURES. SOURCE Peerspace Related Links http://www.peerspace.com "Some families would not have access to clean energy without PosiGen," said Mayor-President Weston Broome. "The deep investment, which is a hallmark of my administration, an investment in dis-invested communities, wholly embodies my mission of equity and inclusion across the City no matter what the zip code. So PosiGen, I look forward to working with you. I welcome you into our community as you continue to advance in your achievements and operations right here in the Capital City. Thank you for adding value to the lives of families, saving the environment and certainly aligning with my vision of progress for this community." PosiGen team members were also on hand to explain the company's "Solar For All" mission, which makes solar and energy efficiency available to all homeowners, regardless of income or credit score. Two Baton Rouge area customers spoke about the savings and other reasons they chose to go solar with PosiGen. Katherine Robillard, a single mother, says she was shocked by the savings from the beginning. "It was a budget crunch month and the extra money in my wallet allowed for me to do something special with my son," Robillard said. "The whole experience has been win-win. Not only am I able to reduce my carbon footprint in my community and save money, the most important part has been being able to teach and show my son the benefits of going solar." "PosiGen took care of everything," said customer Susan Kaufman. "They came into our home and did an analysis and sealed all of our leaking doors and made our home energy efficient. Of course we appreciate the savings, but for us the environment is really important and moving Baton Rouge forward is really important and renewable energy is the future, it is progress, it is our future." PosiGen's Baton Rouge office is starting off with a sales team of 10 employees. The future plan is to base their operations center in Baton Rouge, creating 30+ high-paying jobs. PosiGen CEO Tom Neyhart is excited about the impact his company looks to make in Baton Rouge. "The new office will not only help Baton Rouge homeowners who need it most face their energy burdens, but will also inject the local economy with the addition of well-paying, cutting edge renewable energy jobs," Neyhart said. "We are excited about the potential for growth in the Baton Rouge market. Our goal is to help as many people as possible, and by being the only solar company focusing on low-to-moderate income homeowners, we know we are making an impact on deserving families." Since 2011, PosiGen has worked to close the clean energy affordability gap by delivering lower utility bills and the benefits of clean energy through solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades to low-to-moderate homeowners. Baton Rouge and surrounding area homeowners will now join the 13,000+ homeowners across the country who are already enjoying PosiGen solar savings. In addition to Louisiana, PosiGen currently operates in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Florida, with plans for more expansion. ABOUT POSIGEN: Headquartered in New Orleans, LA, PosiGen is one of the nation's leading residential solar, energy efficiency and energy education providers for low-to-moderate income families. PosiGen has more than 13,000 residential customers, over 220 direct employees and supports more than 120 employees through its contractors in Louisiana, Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida. PosiGen's unique services and products make solar energy affordable to homeowners of all income levels, and offer individuals, families and businesses the opportunity to achieve greater fiscal autonomy and energy independence by lowering their utility bills. To learn everything about PosiGen, please visit www.posigen.com. Contact: [email protected] SOURCE PosiGen Related Links http://www.posigen.com CLEVELAND, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The lighting industry has been no stranger to major restructuring in recent years. Since 2016, traditional major players from General Electric to Royal Philips and Osram have been divesting or spinning off once-core lighting operations. Jennifer Mapes-Christ, Freedonia's Consumer & Commercial Group Manager, commented, "With lighting both light sources and fixtures experiencing heavy downward pricing pressure, this is a low margin business. Consumer type lighting, in particular, is a tough business to be in." The trend has continued, even into lighting operations involving newer LED technologies that have also seen sharp price competition from lower cost manufacturers in China and elsewhere. Mapes-Christ points out "Even former lighting giants, including those in the cutting-edge LED space, are increasingly ceding these areas to concentrate on their higher margin operations." Recently announced transactions include: March 1 Eaton announced plans to spin off the company's LED-based lighting operations into an independent publicly-traded entity by the end of 2019. The new business will include Eaton's lighting business, its Airport Lighting business, and the Mains Lighting and Intrusion Systems businesses, but the Crouse-Hinds Industrial Lighting and the Life Safety Division's Emergency Lighting business will stay with Eaton . announced plans to spin off the company's LED-based lighting operations into an independent publicly-traded entity by the end of 2019. The new business will include lighting business, its Airport Lighting business, and the Mains Lighting and Intrusion Systems businesses, but the Crouse-Hinds Industrial Lighting and the Life Safety Division's Emergency Lighting business will stay with . March 15 Cree announced the agreement to divest its Lighting Products unit to Ideal Industries ( Sycamore, Illinois ) for $310 million . This plan reflects Cree's stated goal of concentrating on its growing Wolfspeed semiconductor business. This deal, which is expected to close by in the second quarter of 2019, involves Cree's LED lighting fixtures, lamps, and lighting solutions for use in applications from consumer to commercial and industrial. Cree's targeted high-value operations are semiconductor technologies designed for use in electric vehicles, 5G telecommunications networks, and specialty applications for LEDs. Ideal Industries, a company with existing businesses in hand-held tools and electrical components, has been developing operations in building management, including commercial lighting controls. CEO Jim James sees a lot potential growth in the lighting industry. At the time of the announcement of the transaction, he categorized the industry as "nearing a transformational phase" and pointed out "Building owners, architects and engineers clearly want large-scale solutions that are smart, sustainable and human." Mapes-Christ agrees, "We forecast smart lighting in the commercial and industrial space to quadruple by 2025, benefiting primarily from interest in energy-saving efforts, using analytics and automation to reduce unnecessary light use, but also a drive to customize the color of lighting to make occupants more comfortable and productive." Additional analysis of the lighting industry can be found in the following Freedonia reports: Smart Lighting in the US General Purpose LEDs & Other High-Efficiency Lighting General Purpose Lighting Fixtures About The Freedonia Group The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, and market share information. Studies can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com. Press Contact: Corinne Gangloff +1 440.684.9600 [email protected] SOURCE The Freedonia Group Related Links http://www.freedoniagroup.com DALLAS, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RQI Partners LLC, a joint venture partnership between the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical focused on delivering innovative resuscitation solutions to dramatically enhance patient outcomes across healthcare systems, is taking another major step in its goal to implement a new standard of resuscitation quality and patient care in U.S. hospitals. The company announced today it has entered into an agreement with Learnsoft Technology Group (Learnsoft), a national leader in providing organizations with fully-integrated learning solutions through innovative and comprehensive information technology and business-skills training programs, to market and sell the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical's co-developed Resuscitation Quality Improvement program and HeartCode portfolio of Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support eLearning programs. Additionally, Learnsoft will provide RQI Partners' customers access to these programs on Learnsoft's healthcare-specific CENTERLINE Learning Management System (LMS). The agreement is effective immediately. Last July, the American Heart Association, the leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives, and Laerdal Medical called for a new standard of care by shifting resuscitation practice away from course training once every two years to verified CPR competency for healthcare professionals provided through the Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) program. RQI is a self-directed, simulation-based performance, mastery learning and quality improvement program for healthcare professionals that offers "low-dose, high-frequency" hands-on learning sessions that provide vital CPR skills practice in 10 minutes every 90 days. Data is archived in the learning management system, which is used to track and document individual learner performance and competency. "We're pleased to work with Learnsoft, a company committed to delivering the most comprehensive and effective learning solutions to enhance individual performance and maximize organizational efficiency, to market, sell and provide our customers access to our product portfolio on its LMS platform," said Clive Patrickson, RQI Partners' chief executive officer. "This move illustrates RQI Partners' commitment to an LMS-agnostic environment, as well as extending distribution channels for our product suite. We want to ensure healthcare professionals possess the essential skills to perform high-quality CPR on every patient, every time and are excited to partner with Learnsoft to further the reach of our resuscitation products." Each year, more than 200,000 adult cardiac arrests occur in U.S. hospitals and less than 26 percent of adult patients survive. High-quality CPR is the primary component that influences survival from cardiac arrest. In January 2019, RQI Partners introduced RQI 2020, a comprehensive, continuous quality improvement program that will deliver higher CPR quality at a lower cost to healthcare systems and professionals. "Learnsoft offers the RQI program through its software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based learning management system," said Brian Wachsberger, Learnsoft's chief executive officer. "These products expand Learnsoft's learning management suite of products with solutions for healthcare organizations to launch, track and report on clinical training and competency management for their workforce." Currently, there are nearly 400 U.S. hospitals that have implemented the RQI program and more than 300,000 healthcare providers have improved CPR competency since the program's introduction. For more information about RQI and RQI Partners, visit www.rqipartners.com. About RQI Partners LLC RQI Partners LLC is a joint venture partnership between the American Heart Association and Laerdal Medical, positioning the organizations to deliver innovative solutions that accelerate the impact of their lifesaving mission. The company blends the Association's leadership in science with Laerdal's expertise in technology and implementation to deliver impactful and innovative resuscitation quality improvement programs. For more information, visit www.rqipartners.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. About the American Heart Association The American Heart Association is a leading force for a world of longer, healthier lives. With nearly a century of lifesaving work, the Dallas-based association is dedicated to ensuring equitable health for all. We are a trustworthy source empowering people to improve their heart health, brain health and well-being. We collaborate with numerous organizations and millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, advocate for stronger public health policies and share lifesaving resources and information. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1. About Laerdal Medical Laerdal Medical, one of the world's leading providers of healthcare solutions, is dedicated to helping save lives with products and services for Simulation, Airway Management, Immobilization, Basic Life Support, Advanced Life Support, Patient Care, Self-Directed Learning and Medical Education. Laerdal is pleased to serve all healthcare providers and educators, from the lay rescuer to medical professionals. Laerdal operates sales and support offices in 23 countries worldwide, and with the head office located in Stavanger, Norway. For more information, visit www.laerdal.com or call 1-877-523-7325. About Learnsoft Learnsoft's CENTERLINE ("Centerline") learning/talent management system is a national leader in providing healthcare organizations with comprehensive learning and talent management solutions. Our specialization in the healthcare industry and clear focus on the development and implementation of integrated software and specialized services provide optimal methods to enhance hospital workforce productivity, maximize human capital and increase patient satisfaction. Centerline and its affiliates have had the privilege of working with over 7,500 corporate, government and healthcare-related clients. More than 1.5 million users in over 600 healthcare facilities throughout the United States rely on our service platform and products for comprehensive learning and talent management solutions. For more information, visit www.learnsoft.com or call 858-546-1800. SOURCE RQI Partners, LLC Related Links https://rqipartners.com VANCOUVER, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Rubicon Organics Inc. (CSE:ROMJ) (OTCQX:ROMJF) ("Rubicon Organics" or the "Company") a super-premium, organic cannabis producer with operations in Canada, Washington and California, is proud to announce their membership in the Global Cannabis Partnership (the "GCP"). The Global Cannabis Partnership is a collaboration of leaders in the government-sanctioned adult-use recreational cannabis industry. With representation from government, private-sector and affiliate organizations, the GCP works to create international standards for the safe and responsible production, distribution and consumption of legal recreational cannabis. "Rubicon Organics is fully committed to supporting our communities, protecting and preserving our natural resources, and ensuring that cannabis plays a positive role in society" said Jesse McConnell, CEO and Co-Founder. "Joining the GCP further strengthens this commitment, enabling us to work with likeminded partners to develop a governance framework which promotes the safe and responsible production, distribution and consumption of legal cannabis." A full list of Founding Members and Members can be found at globalcannabispartnership.com ABOUT RUBICON ORGANICS INC. Rubicon Organics Inc. ("Rubicon Organics" or the "Company) (CSE:ROMJ) (OTCQX:ROMJF) is a Licensed Producer focused on building super-premium organic cannabis brands* with operations in Canada, Washington and California. Rubicon Organics' flagship Canadian facility is a 125,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art hybrid greenhouse with industry leading LED lighting and is located on a 20-acre property in Delta, British Columbia. The Company's Washington facility is a newly constructed, 40,000 sq. ft. hybrid greenhouse and extraction facility. Rubicon Organics has commenced production in both facilities with a combined Phase I capacity of 15,500 kg per year, including 4,500 kg leased to a Washington State licensed operator applying Rubicon Organics' proprietary organic cultivation methods*. The Company also owns two award-winning U.S. cannabis brands: 1964 Supply Co.TM in California and Doctor & Crook Co.TM in Washington. * Organic certification pending from FVOPA Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, statements regarding Rubicon Organics' plan to cultivate, timing and estimates of production for its facilities, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans" or "is expected", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results are "to begin", "ramping up to", "imminent", "set to" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. The forward looking information in this press release is based upon certain assumptions that management considers reasonable in the circumstances, including that its capital needs will be as currently projected, that Rubicon Organics will be able to successfully obtain all necessary permits and approvals to conduct its business as currently proposed to be conducted, that Rubicon Organics will not be prosecuted in the U.S. for its involvement in the cannabis industry. Risks and uncertainties associated with the forward looking information in this press release include, among others, dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including acquiring and renewing state, local or other licenses and any inability to obtain all necessary governmental approvals licenses and permits to complete construction of its proposed facilities in a timely manner; engaging in activities which currently are illegal under U.S. federal law and the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution; regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, particularly in California, due to inconsistent public opinion, perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry, bureaucratic delays or inefficiencies or any other reasons; any other factors or developments which may hinder market growth; Rubicon Organics' limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability; competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; and the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with customers and suppliers. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although Rubicon Organics has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Rubicon Organics assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law. SOURCE Rubicon Organics Global leader in mobile workforce management to use funds to meet rising market demand for solutions that can intelligently optimize and engage the deskless workforce SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Skedulo , the leader in mobile workforce management, today announced the closing of a $28 million Series B funding round led by M12 , with participation from returning investors Blackbird and Costanoa Ventures , bringing the company's total fundraising to $40.5 million. As part of the financing, Priya Saiprasad , Principal of M12, will join Skedulo's Board of Directors. "Since day one, Skedulo has been focused on helping companies overcome the significant challenges of managing their deskless workforce. This is an increasingly complex problem that impacts billions of mobile workers across millions of enterprises worldwide," says Matt Fairhurst, CEO and co-founder of Skedulo. "It's a problem that Skedulo is committed to addressing at scale something no other solution provider has ever done. We're inspired every day by our customers who use Skedulo to engage with their workforce in new and innovative ways, from managing schedules to driving productivity." He adds, "The way people work is changing and enterprises that capitalize on these changes through modern platforms like Skedulo will be best positioned to compete and lean into rapidly changing customer and employee expectations. We look forward to helping our customers become the next class of industry disruptors with Skedulo's transformative technology." "Skedulo makes it easier than ever for modern businesses to manage a mobile workforce, providing customers the tools and resources needed to empower their employees on the go," said Priya Saiprasad, principal at M12. "We're excited to support the Skedulo team in its efforts to better serve customers by enhancing the way employers engage with their employees." Skedulo plans to use the funds to increase headcount by 118 percent across its four offices, including adding 60 new employees to its Australian offices in Brisbane and Sydney. Skedulo will continue to advance its Mastermind intelligence engine, a powerful solution that automates and optimizes the matching of available and qualified employees to customer needs within the context of the company's priorities. Skedulo plans to introduce new analytics features and increase the intelligence of the platform through additional machine learning capabilities. In addition, the company will enable more integrations with enterprise systems of record, such as human resource management, financial management, electronic health records, and payroll systems. The enhancements will serve to increase workflow capabilities while delivering greater flexibility around customization and configuration. These developments will allow Skedulo to meet the growing need for advanced mobile workforce management solutions. More than 2.7 billion workers worldwide are deskless, comprising 80 percent of the total global workforce in almost every industry sector and segment, yet few enterprise technologies address their unique needs. By the end of 2022, the global Mobile Workforce Management category is estimated to reach a record $9 billion in revenue. The industry's evolving understanding of the needs of this rapidly expanding population of mobile workers is contributing to the market's momentum. A growing number of companies are seeking ways to intelligently schedule, dispatch and support these resources in the field, while maintaining unified, trustworthy data. "The needs of employees who work outside the traditional office setting are becoming a central focus for many organizations as they enact digital transformation initiatives," said Raul Castanon-Martinez, Senior Analyst at 451 Research. "Organizations will require technologies that allow them to improve mobile employee engagement and productivity." He adds, "Skedulo's mobile workforce management platform provides the flexibility that organizations need to address the complexities involved in managing and improving the productivity of a large, decentralized workforce. The company has a compelling value proposition that should appeal to organizations looking to optimize complex mobile workforce management at scale." Skedulo's platform is comprised of a web and mobile application. For service and operations teams, Skedulo offers faster, easier scheduling and matching at a lower cost to improve customer and employee satisfaction. For mobile workers, the Skedulo mobile app is a powerful productivity solution in the palm of their hands that can help ensure they are doing their best work on every job. The result is happier customers, employees, and more efficient mobile workforce operations. For a demo, please visit: https://www.skedulo.com/request-a-demo/ To learn more about Skedulo, please visit: https://www.skedulo.com/ About Skedulo: Founded in 2013, headquartered in San Francisco and with offices in Australia, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom, Skedulo has enabled over 120 companies, including Easterseals Bay Area, Achieve3000, and Area Wide Protective, to seamlessly schedule and service more than 5 million appointments around the globe. The company has secured more than $40 million in funding to date, led by M12, Costanoa Ventures, and Blackbird. For more information, please visit www.skedulo.com , or our blog , @Skedulo , Facebook and LinkedIn pages . About M12: As the corporate venture arm for Microsoft, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures) invests in enterprise software companies in the Series A through C funding stage with a focus on big data & analytics, business SaaS, cloud infrastructure, machine learning & artificial intelligence, productivity and security. As part of its value-add to portfolio companies, M12 offers unique access to strategic go-to-market resources and relationships globally. The Company has offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London and Tel Aviv. Media contact: Annie Gudorf [email protected] 206-691-8975 SOURCE Skedulo Related Links https://www.skedulo.com This year at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Synack unveiled the industry's first Guardians of Trust Awards. The awards recognize outstanding individuals and teams that are leading the industry in proactively pursuing excellence not just in security, but also trust. In today's digital world, getting to trust is difficult and often goes unrecognized. Synack launched these awards to recognize those silent professionals that go above and beyond to protect consumers, stakeholders, and brands. In typical crowdsourced fashion, Synack opened up nominations to partners of the industry, the Synack Red Team (the company's crowd of elite ethical hackers), and members of the Synack Mission Operations Team (who partner with leading enterprise companies and government agencies to manage their crowdsourced security programs). The winners chosen have proven that they protect the customer first, exhibit innovation in cybersecurity practices, represent excellence in the protection of their brands, and never settle for the status quo. We are pleased to announce--- Most Trusted CISOs: Dave Sheridan of Santander UK of Santander UK Ethan Steiger of Domino's of Domino's Most Trusted Pioneer CISO: Kevin Fielder of Just Eat of Just Eat Most Trusted Hacker: Nikhil Srivastava Most Trusted Security Teams CrowdStrike General Dynamics Information Technology For these winners, security is not an afterthought; it's a deliberate and continuous practice. As the winners took the Synack stage to accept their awards at the RSA Conference earlier this month, they shared with the audience how they build trust in practice: Prioritizing rapid remediation to reduce the lifetime of a vulnerability Building security into their development life cycle Aggressively hunting for vulnerabilities that could undermine their operations, businesses, and brands on a continuous basis. "Building a security lifestyle into your organization gets you to trust. This means integrating security into the development lifecycle from the onset of product development," this year's Most Trusted Pioneer CISO, Kevin Fielder of Just Eat, remarked. Watch a clip with Kevin Fielder at this year's Guardians of Trust awards ceremony talk about building trust into security and the importance of continuous testing. Another award winner, a featured Fortune company, shared the secret behind their success: "Continuous testing is very valuable for our applications. As we've been using Synack and finding deeper issues with our applications, bringing that type of information back to our developers, closing the loop, and teaching them how to program around this has been extremely helpful." Continuous security and integration into the product life cycle is proving to be crucial for trust within the company. Ethan Steiger, CISO of Domino's and Most Trusted CISO award winner, commented: "Now, in 2019 more than ever, I need to prove to my board, executives and customers that they can trust that our security is working, and therefore trust our brand." The Guardians of Trust Awards encourage increased transparency and trust between consumers, companies, and ethical hackers. These awards advance the industry's awareness about the importance of security in brand value by recognizing the security leaders who exhibit excellence in their everyday work. Congratulations to all of the 2019 Guardians of Trust! About Synack Based in Redwood City, California, Synack is the trusted leader in Crowdsourced Security. By leveraging the world's best ethical hackers and an AI-enabled platform, Synack helps organizations find and fix critical security issues and provides valuable security intelligence on digital assets. This intelligence secures critical infrastructure and leading brands and businesses around the world- Synack protects leading global banks, DoD classified assets, and close to $1 trillion in Fortune 500 revenue. For more information, please visit www.synack.com. SOURCE Synack Related Links http://www.synack.com WASHINGTON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY) announced today that they would be launching a new chapter of their award-winning organization here in DC this Spring with free offerings for local young people who stutter and their families. Taro Alexander founded SAY in New York City in 2001, and it continues to grow and flourish there. Now, with the launch of SAY: DC, the organization's first satellite office has opened in the Nation's Capital. To officially kick off SAY: DC, the organization is hosting a free day camp on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, 2019. It will be the perfect opportunity for kids and teens (ages 8-18) to meet new friends who stutter and participate in exciting activities that help build confidence. The two-day event will take place in DC amidst the historic grandeur of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., former Vice President of the United States and person who stutters, has praised SAY, stating, "Growing up, I struggled with stuttering and understand firsthand the anguish, frustration, and anxiety that this common speech disorder inflicts on young people. I hope that every child who stutters has the opportunity to benefit from SAY's program and that others will support this vital organization." SAY Founder, Taro Alexander, was raised in Washington, D.C. and has stuttered since he was five. Alexander loved growing up in the DMV in the 1970's and 80's, spending his formative years immersed in the vibrant atmosphere of the groundbreaking theatre company, Living Stage -- which was founded by his father, the late Bobby Alexander, as an outreach program of Arena Stage. A 1991 graduate from the legendary Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Alexander felt comfortable portraying characters on the stage, but inside he was hiding. "My childhood and youth were challenging times because I didn't meet anyone else who stuttered until I was 26. I grew up feeling isolated, alone, and ashamed of my stutter." After graduating from Ellington, Alexander left his hometown, heading to New York with close friend and classmate, Dave Chappelle, to pursue a career as a professional actor. Alexander says, "Dave was a real pivotal person for me. At a time in my life when I lacked confidence because of my stutter, Dave always believed in me. He's a great listener and a great friend, and he always encouraged me to go after my dreams and not let my stuttering hold me back." Over the ensuing years as his acting career blossomed, Alexander was afforded opportunities on the stage and screen and criss-crossed the country on two national tours (Lost in Yonkers, STOMP) but he always knew that his true calling was to follow in his father's footsteps and continue the legacy of Living Stage. In 2001, he realized that the time had come to start making his dream a reality, and so SAY was founded. Over the course of the last 18 years, SAY has transformed into a multifaceted organization offering innovative programs addressing the physical, social, and emotional impacts of stuttering for young people and their families. Since founding SAY, many professional milestones have brought Alexander back to DC: In 2002, Alexander received the Charles Van Riper Award at The Kennedy Center from the National Council on Communicative Disorders. In 2008, Alexander and SAY came back to DC to perform at Union Station as part of the VSA Arts Start with the Arts Family Festival. In 2017, Alexander and SAY once again returned to DC to receive the prestigious National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, which cited SAY as one of the ten best Creative Youth Development Programs in the country. This is the nation's highest honor for these programs and is presented through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in cooperation with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). Jane Alexander, Tony and Emmy-award winning actress, and past Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts notes, "SAY has been a leading organization for young people who stutter for more than eighteen years, empowering them through arts education, song and speech. SAY's commitment changes lives, inspiring youth, their families and all who work with them to a better world." Stuttering is a common, yet widely misunderstood speech disorder that affects over 70 million people worldwide, including approximately 5% of all young children, many who continue to stutter into adulthood. Children who stutter often have significant difficulty in establishing friendships and experience discrimination, profound cruelty and bullying. Children who stutter may underperform in school by declining to participate in school activities, and avoid participation in class discussions literally silencing themselves to avoid ridicule and shame. This cycle can deny children the opportunity to build educational and communication skills, compromising opportunities to attend college or pursue a desired career. Central to the mission of SAY: DC is the breaking down of all financial barriers to attendance. SAY: DC is dedicated to providing their programming completely free of charge in order to bring together a socio-economically diverse range of the population a group that is truly representative of our larger community and of all young people who stutter. Parents of children and teens who stutter may find out more information by contacting SAY at [email protected], 202.919.4848, www.say.org/dc. The Stuttering Association for the Young is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers, educates, and supports young people who stutter and the world that surrounds them. Through creative expression, summer camp, and speech therapy, SAY builds a community of acceptance where young people who stutter gain confidence and communication skills. Since 2001, SAY has offered comprehensive and innovative programs that address the physical, social, and emotional impacts of stuttering. This year alone, SAY will underwrite more than $1,000,000 in programming costs for children from families in need. To date, no child has been turned away due to a family's inability to pay. Press Contact: Leigh Pennebaker Phone: 202.919.4848 [email protected] SOURCE The Stuttering Association For The Young Related Links www.say.org For years, The Villa Group's collection of Mexico beach hotels has been adding to their repertoire of gourmet festivals and international food events , which highlight the very best of Mexican culture and the food experiences the country has become known for. Beginning with the Cuisine of the Sun International Food and Wine Festivals , which began in 2016 in Riviera Nayarit, the Mexico hotels that make up The Villa Group Resorts have added to the current events in Mexico by creating a number of food festivals for guests staying at each of their hotels . These Mexican festivals touch on a number of themes that range from wellness minded initiatives to culinary activities with guest participation. In just the first three months of 2019, their hotels in Cabo San Lucas, Villa del Palmar , Villa del Arco , and Villa La Estancia Los Cabos hosted the Tacos & Mexican Dishes Fest , and have six more food festivals planned throughout the year, including the 2nd edition of the Cuisine of the Sun in Cabo and their Wellness Week , which places an emphasis on eating healthy and taking care of one's mental health. Many of these events will put the talents of celebrity chefs on display as they participate in cooking challenges, Mexican food demonstrations, and more, in addition to preparing gourmet festival foods and multiple-course meals. Further south on Mexico's Pacific coast, Villa del Palmar Puerto Vallarta and Villa del Mar have already wowed guests with the Tequila & Agave Fest and the Craft Beer Making festival, and have plans for five more food festivals in 2019, which include guest favorites, such as the Fest of the Seas and their ever-popular Mexican Traditions Culinary Fest. Given the location of these Puerto Vallarta resorts, guests not only have a chance to revel in diverse culinary activities onsite at the Mexican beach hotels, but they also can experience the glory of the Mexican culture that is continuously on display throughout the city. Just north of Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit has been rising through the ranks as one of Mexico's premier destinations for beach vacations due to the ongoing current events in Mexico that provide a unique culinary experience for visitors and a smorgasbord of entertaining activities and stunning vistas to keep them enthralled throughout their stay. At Villa del Palmar Flamingos and Villa La Estancia Riviera Nayarit , guests have had the opportunity to attend the Wine Makers ' food festival, which took place in January, and the 2nd edition of the American Divas culinary experience where some of the best female celebrity chefs took over the resort for a few days in February. With seven more food festivals planned for 2019, those vacationing in Riviera Nayarit are in for a real treat. If you are looking for unique opportunities and vacation packages for your next trip to Mexico, look no further than The Villa Group Resorts in Puerto Vallarta , Riviera Nayarit , and Cabo San Lucas . These Mexico beach hotels will provide you and your travel companions with more than a few current events in Mexico to look forward to during your stay. Whether you decide to enjoy the international wine and foods of the Cuisine of the Sun festival, the authentic Mexican cuisine at the countless gourmet festivals, or the lively spirit and true Mexican culture at these diverse Mexico events, you'll be making memories that will last a lifetime. About The Villa Group Beach Resorts and Spas: The Villa Group is one of Mexico's leading privately-owned hotel, resort and real estate development companies. They have 9 distinct luxury hotel properties in 5 Mexican destinations that cater to all types of vacationers and travel enthusiasts. The Villa Group is dedicated to making your vacation unique. For more information or reservations, call toll-free from the U.S. and Canada 1 800 831 1191 or visit https://villagroupresorts.com/ . Los Cabos Name: Otto Pareto Phone number: 624 145 7000 Ext. 678 Email: [email protected] Puerto Vallarta Name: Luis Quintero Phone number: 01 322 226 1400 ext 6380 Email: [email protected] Riviera Nayarit Name: Ruben Avila Phone number: (52) 322 226 97 00 Ext.6000 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Villa Group Resorts Related Links https://villagroupresorts.com/ LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Forecasts & Analysis by Biometric Type (Fingerprint Recognition, Iris Recognition, Face Recognition, Other (Retinal Scan, Hand Geometry, Palm Vein Authentication, and Voice Identification)), by Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV)) & by Region and Country Plus Profiles of Top Companies Do you need definitive Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies market data? Succinct Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies market analysis? Technological insight? Clear competitor analysis? Actionable business recommendations? Read on to discover how this definitive Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies report can transform your own research and save you time. The automotive industry is developing biometric vehicle access technologies that measure biological and physiological traits to grant individual access to a vehicle. Biometrics can be used to measure the physiological and behavioural characteristics that differentiate one individual from another. Companies that are developing biometrics for automotive applications have been looking beyond just vehicular access and considerations such as the ignition switch, vehicle immobilizers, rationalization, and health monitoring for driver monitoring systems (DMS). These technological advances have led Visiongain to publish this timely report. The $574.3m Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies market is expected to flourish in the next few years because of growing security concerns with keys and remote fobs and also because of the broader implementation of driver monitoring systems as part of ADAS. This is expected to feed through in the latter part of the decade driving growth to new heights. If you want to be part of this growing industry, then read on to discover how you can maximise your investment potential. Report highlights 153 tables, charts, and graphs Global Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Biometric Type Forecast 2019-2029 Fingerprint Recognition Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Iris Recognition Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Face Recognition Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Other Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 (Retinal Scan, Hand Geometry, Palm Vein Authentication, and Voice Identification) Vehicle Type Forecast 2019-2029 Passenger Cars Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV) Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Regional Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 North America Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 U.S. Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Canada Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Mexico Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Europe Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Germany Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Spain Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 France Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 U.K. Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Russia Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Czech Republic Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Italy Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Rest of Europe Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Asia Pacific Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 China Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Japan Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 India Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 South Korea Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Thailand Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Rest of APAC Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Rest of the World Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 South America Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Brazil Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Argentina Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Rest of South America Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Middle East Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Turkey Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Iran Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Rest of Middle East Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Africa Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Forecast 2019-2029 Company Profiles of Leading Players in Biometric Vehicle Access Technologies Altran Technologies SA Apple Inc. Bioenable Continental AG Fingerprint Cards AB Fujitsu Limited Gentex Corporation Hitachi Ltd Miaxis Biometric Co., Ltd. Optalert OT-Morpho Sober Steering Sonavation Inc. Synaptics Incorporated Techshino Technology Key questions answered What does the future hold for the biometric vehicle access industry? Where should you target your business strategy? Which biometric applications should you focus upon? Which disruptive technologies should you invest in? Which companies should you form strategic alliances with? Which biometrics company is likely to success and why? What business models should you adopt? What automotive industry trends should you be aware of? Target audience Automotive OEMs Biometrics specialists Electronics companies Software developers Security specialists Access control companies Component suppliers Hardware vendors Electronics engineers Technologists R&D staff Heads of strategic development Marketing staff Market analysts Procurement staff Company managers Consultants CEO's Business development managers Banks Investors Governments Agencies Industry organisations Regulators To request a report overview of this report please contact Sara Peerun at [email protected] or refer to our website: https://www.visiongain.com/report/biometric-vehicle-access-technologies-market-report-2019-2029/ Did you know that we also offer a report add-on service? Email [email protected] to discuss any customized research needs you may have. A-Kerr Altran Technologies SA Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) Apple Inc. Arkami Inc Arrow Electronics Ashok Leyland Audi Biel Crystal Bioenable BMW Bosch Chrysler Conexant Systems, LLC Continental AG Delphi Delta ID Dongfeng Empatica Fingerprint Cards AB Ford Motor Company Fujitsu America Fujitsu Frontech Limited Fujitsu Group Fujitsu Limited General Motors Gentex Corporation Gestigon GM Google Harman International Industries Hitachi Automotive Systems (China) Ltd. Hitachi Group Hitachi Ltd. Hitachi Saudi Arabia, Ltd. Honda Motor Company Hyundai ImageWare Systems, Inc. Jaguar Land Rover Mahindra MAN Marvell Technology Group Mercedes-Benz Miaxis Biometric Co. L:td. Mitsubishi Electric Nissan Nissan Hyundai Oberthur Technologies (OT) Optalert OT-Morpho Precision Biometric Renault Safran Group Samsung Scania Sober Steering Sonavation, Inc. Synaptics Incorporated Tata Motors Techshino Tesla Valeo Vigo Volkswagen Volvo Organisations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) Association For Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) A&M University of Texas Kanazawa University To see a report overview please e-mail Sara Peerun on [email protected] SOURCE Visiongain Patriots in the hunt for third gold ball Coming off a 2020 season in which they went 1-5, the 2021 Mission Veterans Patriots football team may have caught some people by surprise by winning seven of their eight District 16-5A Div. II games and claiming a share of the district title. But while there is Baghdad, March 20 : Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi and US Vice President Mike Pence have agreed to continue the two countries' cooperation against terrorism. Mahdi received a phone call from Pence, his office said on Tuesday in a statement, without mentioning when the call was made, Xinhua news agency reported. During the call, the two sides pledged to support the partnership to promote the interests of the two peoples, and continue to support the efforts of the Iraqi government to eliminate the remnants of the terror group Islamic State (IS). Pence hailed Mahdi's support for the rights of religious minorities, follow up the affairs of Yazidis, and reconstruct the liberated areas in order to return all the displaced people to their homes, the statement added. In Washington, Pence's office said in a statement that the two leaders "discussed opportunities to advance the strategic partnership between the US and Iraq, including continuing to work together to strengthen and professionalize Iraq's Security Forces and grow Iraq's economy". Mahdi updated Pence on the Iraqi government's efforts to exhume the mass graves of IS genocide against Yazidis in Sinjar, while pledging to personally investigate the security and economic impediments preventing the return of many of Iraq's religious components and other displaced persons, the statement said. London, March 20 : British Prime Minister Theresa May is writing to the European Union (EU) to formally ask for Brexit to be postponed. One ministerial source told the BBC the longer delay could be up to two years, amid reports of a cabinet row, but No 10 said no decision had been made. EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU would not grant a delay without a "concrete plan" from the UK about what they would do with it. Under current law, the UK will leave the EU with or without a deal in 10 days. MPs rejected the withdrawal deal Mrs May has negotiated with the EU for a second time last week by 149 votes. They also voted in favour of ruling out leaving the EU without a deal, and in favour of extending the Brexit process. The Prime Minister had hoped to have another try at getting MPs to back the deal this week - but Speaker John Bercow effectively torpedoed that with his surprise intervention on Monday. She still hopes to ultimately get it in front of MPs for a third go, but says even if that happens and they vote in favour of it, the UK will need a short extension to get the necessary legislation through Parliament. A cabinet source told the BBC she therefore plans to ask the EU to agree to postpone the UK's departure until June 30, but with an option of a longer delay as well. May has warned Brexiteer Tories that longer extension will be needed if her deal does not get through Parliament. One ministerial source said there was "no agreement" around the cabinet table when a delay was discussed. Another cabinet source said they were frustrated that the Prime Minister had not been clear about which delay option she would be arguing for. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom is said to have criticised colleagues, saying they now amounted to a "Remain cabinet", not a "Brexit cabinet". Chancellor Philip Hammond said ministers all wanted the "shortest possible delay" but cabinet members "have different approaches to how we should do this". Any delay will have to be agreed by all 27 EU member states and May is heading to Brussels on Thursday to discuss the options with fellow leaders. Berlin, March 20 : German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will fight for an "orderly Brexit" until "the very last hour". Merkel said that current events were in a "state of flux", adding that European Union leaders would try to react to whatever the UK proposed, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The UK is due to leave the EU in 10 days' time, with or without a deal. Prime Minister Theresa May is writing to European Council President Donald Tusk to ask for an extension. She will meet EU leaders later this week. May's proposed Brexit deal has already been rejected twice by MPs at Westminster. The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has ruled that Mrs May cannot bring it back for a third vote without "substantial" changes. Merkel refused to be drawn on whether she would now support an extension. Addressing a conference in Berlin, she said: "I will fight for an orderly Brexit on March 29 until the very last hour. "We don't have that much time left... I must say that I'm not in a position to speculate on what I will do on Thursday because it depends on what Theresa May will tell us." An aide to French President Emmanuel Macron also said any possible request for an extension would not be automatically accepted. "An extension is not for certain", the aide said. "First point: is there a plan, a strategy, to justify an extension?" Also on Tuesday, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters that if Mrs May requested an extension, it would be for EU leaders to "assess the reason and the usefulness" for such a request. "EU leaders will need a concrete plan for the UK in order to be able to make an informed decision and key questions will be: does an extension increase the chances for the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement?" he said. Meanwhile, the European Council has adopted a series of contingency measures in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. The measures are aimed at limiting "the most severe damage caused by a disorderly Brexit", and set out proposals for transport, fisheries, education and social security. They include ways to minimise disruption to UK students studying in the EU and EU students studying in the UK under the Erasmus+ programme. Washington, March 20 : The US government has ordered a review of the way Boeing's 737 Max aircraft got its licence to fly. It comes after two crashes in five months, amid suggestions from experts that there were "clear similarities" between the disasters, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Transport Secretary Elaine Chao has asked the US Inspector General to audit the aircraft's certification process. One focus of crash investigators has been the Max's anti-stall system, which Boeing says needs a software update. In a memo to Inspector General Calvin Scovel, Chao said she wanted the review in order to "assist the Federal Aviation Administration (the regulator) in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively". After the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft on March 10 which followed a Lion Air disaster in October, there were questions about why the FAA took so long to ground the 737 Max. According to reports, the US Justice Department has also begun preliminary inquiries into the FAA's oversight of the Boeing aircraft. Meanwhile, Europe and Canada said they would seek their own assurances over the safety of the aircraft, a move likely to complicate plans to get the aircraft flying again across the world. European and Canadian regulators have typically tended to follow the FAA's lead. The European Union's aviation safety agency EASA promised its own deep look at any design improvements. "We will not allow the aircraft to fly if we have not found acceptable answers to all our questions," EASA executive Patrick Ky told an EU parliament committee hearing. Canada, which ground the aircraft before the US, said it would independently certify the 737 Max in the future, rather than accepting FAA validation. The FAA declined to comment on individual actions by Canada and the EU, but said in a statement that "the current, historic aviation safety record in the US and globally is achieved through the FAA's robust processes and full collaboration with the aviation community". The two crashes killed 346 people. While there is no conclusive evidence so far that they are linked, French experts analysing the Ethiopian Airlines' flight data black box say early investigations point to "clear similarities". Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing's aircraft - intended to stop stalling by dipping the nose - may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it. Boeing said in a statement that it would fully cooperate with the inspector general's review. Canberra, March 20 : Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday criticised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for threatening to send Australians "back in a coffin" following the Christchurch attacks. Scott Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that Erdogan's comments were "very offensive." He said that he would summon the Turkish ambassador to Australia to demand an explanation, Xinhua reported. "I find it a very offensive comment and I will be calling in the Turkish ambassador to meet with me and discuss these issues," Morrison told the ABC. On March 15, Brenton Tarrant, 28, of Australia, a self-described white supremacist, live-streamed the attack on Facebook as he killed 50 and injured 50 more in what is New Zealand's worst attack. Washington, March 20 : The US has signed an agreement with Brazil to protect its technology associated with US participation in space launches in the South American country. According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the State Department, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford and Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo on Monday signed the Technology Safeguards Agreement between the two governments, Xinhua reported. The agreement is about "technology safeguards associated with US participation in space launches from Brazil," the statement read. It added that "upon entry into force, the Agreement will establish the technical safeguards to support US space launches from Brazil while ensuring the proper handling of sensitive US technology consistent with US nonproliferation policy, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and US export control laws and regulations." Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is scheduled to visit the White House and meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, during which the two leaders will discuss opportunities for defence cooperation, pro-growth trade policies, combating transnational crime, and situation in Venezuela, the White House said on March 8. Bolsonaro visited the US Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in the state of Virginia on Monday as part of his first official trip to Washington. Mumbai, March 20 : The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Wednesday opened on a positive note during the morning session of the trade. The BSE Sensex opened at 38,433.86, touched a high of 38,462.62, and a low of 38,363.76. The Sensex is trading at 38,392.21, up by 28.74 points or 0.07 per cent from its Tuesday's close at 38,363.47. On the other hand, the broader 50-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 11,553.35 points after closing at 11,632.40 points. The Nifty is trading at 11,534.45 points in the morning. Houston, March 20 : India is a very attractive market with high brand recognition for a computer hardware producer like Hewlett Packard, said HP Inc's President for Asia Pacific and Japan, Tian Chong Ng. The Asia Pacific region -- in which India is a key focus area -- has been the fastest growing for HP and provided 16 per cent revenue growth last year. In Q1 of FY2019 it registered 8 per cent growth year-on-year, said Ng in the course of the HP Reinvent 2019 conference, the company's largest global partner event. One reason for that is -- India - and also the Asia Pacific region -- tick marks on demographics trends which provide clear wins for HP: rapid urbanisation and more millennials are joining the work force. While HP is very positive on India and recognises its potential, there are no plans yet for setting up a manufacturing base in India. Ng said it already has a manufacturing base in China apart from others in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan. "There is an existing ecosystem in China and we don't have plans for setting up a manufacturing base in India, he said. One focus area is the 3D printer, which offers HP great opportunity. Construction and automotive sectors are the focus areas here. Meanwhile, an MoU has been signed with the Andhra Pradesh government. "To be successful in India demands that we understand it," he said. HP is also pushing gaming in a big way. However, this has not led to any thinking for manufacturing mobile phones in India, despite the high number of gamers in the country spurred by affordable android phones and cheap data. "Our strength is the PC business and we offer a whole family of products in that space," Ng said. Mirzapur, March 20 : On the third-day of her campaign along the river Ganga on Wednesday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will visit former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's memorial in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi. Speaking to reporters before beginning her day, she said, "BJP has systematically attacked every institution in the country in the last five years. You all know it better than I do. So I think the Prime Minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics." According to party workers, Priyanka, who is also Congress in-charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, will interact with her party workers at a guest house in Chunar before leaving for Shastri Memorial by road in Ramnagar. She will then arrive at Ramnagar ghat to take the boat ride to Assi Ghat, where she will interact with the fishermen, the Jain community as well as women. The Congress leader will then reach Dashashwamedh Ghat by motor boat and go to the Vishwanath Temple to offer her prayers. This will be Priyanka's fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj on Monday. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi on day two of her campaign and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal thereafter. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. The Congress leader will then meet her party workers in Varanasi and leave to visit the homes of three Central Reserve Force Police (CRPF) troopers, who died on February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. She will meet the family members of Avadhesh Yadav in Chandauli district. On her way back to Varanasi, she will meet the families of Vishal Pandey and Ramesh Yadav. The Congress leader will then return to the Varanasi airport to leave for Delhi. Srinagar, March 20 : A civilian injured in firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri sector, on March 10, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday. Hospital sources said, Riyaz Ahmad, 32, a resident of Kamalkote, was admitted in the super specialty Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Srinagar on March 10. "He succumbed to his injuries today," hospital sources said. Riyaz Ahmad and three others were injured in shelling from Pakistan in Kamalkote area on March 10. The other injured persons are stable, police said. Beijing, March 20 : India cannot be a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative as it ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity, Indian envoy to Beijing has said. Beijing is set to hold the second Belt and Road forum in April and the tone of Vikram Misri, India's envoy to China, in an interview to state media suggests that New Delhi will skip the event for the second time, marking its protest. China's Belt and Road aims to connect Europe, Asia, and Africa through a wide network of roads, highways, sea lanes and ports. Its jewel project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), cuts through Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi did not attend the launch of the Belt and Road forum in 2017, saying CPEC violates its territorial sovereignty. Talking to China's Global Times Misri made India's view clear when asked why New Delhi has a complicated perception of the Belt and Road Initiative. "To be honest, we have made no secret of our views and our position on BRI is clear and consistent and one that we have conveyed to the authorities concerned. "India shares the global aspiration to strengthen connectivity and it is an integral part of our economic and diplomatic initiatives," Misri said. "We are ourselves working with many countries and international institutions in our region and beyond on a range of connectivity initiatives. "However, it is also our belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance and rule of law. "They must emphasise social stability and environmental protection and preservation, promote skill and technology transfers and follow principles of openness, transparency and financial sustainability," Misri added. "Above all, connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects the sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations. "No country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," the envoy said in an oblique reference to the CPEC. He also lamented the widening trade deficit in favour of China and demanded more market access for Indian firms. "The growth in bilateral investments has not kept pace with the expanding trade volume between the two countries. While both countries have emerged as the top investment destinations for the rest of the world, mutual investment growth is yet to catch up. "Bilateral trade will cross the $100 billion mark this year. However, this figure includes a deficit of $58 billion for India and this deficit has been increasing over the years. "India has been working with the Chinese side for export of a greater number of Indian goods and services to China. There has been some progress in this regard and market access has been granted to some Indian agricultural products, even though we still need to translate this market access into actual exports so as to expand India's export basket to China and bring down the deficit. "In addition, we also need to address the barriers for greater access to Indian pharmaceuticals and IT products and services in the Chinese market," Misri added. Gurugram, March 20 : The millennium city is apparently witnessing a rise in illegal trade of marijuana with the police having seized 60 kg of the banned substance worth around Rs 80 lakh in March. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajbir Deshwal said: "We have registered 19 FIRs linked to the trade and transportation of contraband. Of this, 17 are linked to marijuana export." Deshwal said curbing illegal trade and smuggling of the contraband, also called ganja, was a challenge. "We have issued strict directions to heads of police stations, police posts, the crime branch and intelligence units to keep a close watch on the suspects," he said. On Tuesday, the crime branch of the Gurugram police arrested a woman, Poonam, a resident of Helimandi near Pataudi town, with 1.7 kg marijuana. "During interrogation, Poonam revealed she would buy marijuana from Delhi's Subhash Nagar and sell it to regular customers from home and was in this trade for around two years," Deshwal said. "Her husband Kuldeep Singh was also arrested for the same offence a fortnight ago, he added. Jugati Yadav, a resident of Dhanwapur, was arrested by the crime branch and 1.05 kg contraband was seized from him. Interestingly, he also bought it from Subhash Nagar, said Deshwal. The consignment, he said, was transported using Delhi Transport Corporation and Haryana Roadways buses. Guddu Singh was arrested from the posh sector 53 locality with 250 gram of ganja. Involved in the business for only a month, he claimed association with a syndicate. The DCP said the target customers of these traders were mostly youth in the 15-40 age group. As Gurugram has over 170 night clubs, we maintain extra vigil on suspects and the cops rigorously check taxi stands, paan shops and street vendors, Deshwal said. According to investigations, the maximum quantity of ganja originated from Old Delhi, considered a safe haven for drug mafias. They mostly source it from Uttarakhand. Punjab and Rajasthan are large suppliers of the contraband. New Delhi, March 20 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked people to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi again only if they wanted their children to become watchmen. "Modi wants to turn India into a nation of watchmen. If you want your children to become one, vote for Modi. But if you want your children to get educated and become doctors, engineers and lawyers, vote for AAP, a party of honest and educated people," he tweeted in Hindi. Capitalising on the Opposition's attack on him in the Rafale jet deal, Modi last week tweeted a video with the hashtag "#MainBhiChowkidar" (I am also a watchman) and called out to all those fighting corruption, dirt, social evils and working hard for India's progress to join the campaign identifying themselves as "Chowkidar". Initially several BJP leaders started tweeting using the hashtag but soon many of them prefixed "Chowkidar" to their Twitter handles. The AAP has launched fielded candidates in all the seven seats in Delhi, giving a direct fight to the BJP in the national capital. Srinagar, March 20 : Life across the Kashmir Valley was adversely affected on Wednesday following a shutdown called by separatists to protest against the death of a youth in police custody on Monday. Rizwan Asad Pandit, 28, died in police custody in Srinagar, three days after he was arrested from south Kashmir's Awantipora town. The custodial death of the youth, who worked as a teacher in a private school, has been condemned across the political and social divide in Kashmir. Authorities have ordered a magisterial inquiry into it under Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc). A departmental inquiry has also been ordered by police to ascertain the circumstances that led to the youth's death. Shops, public transport, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar city and other district headquarters of the Valley. Though skeletal private transport moved in the uptown area of Srinagar city, inter-district transport remained closed. Authorities have made sufficient deployments of police and paramilitary forces to maintain law and order in the Valley. Mobile and internet facilities have been suspended in south Kashmir districts, while its speed has been slashed down in other parts of the Valley as a precautionary measure. New Delhi, March 20 : India is the fastest-growing country for tech spending in Asia Pacific, increasing by 8 per cent in 2019 and by 7 per cent in 2020, according to a new report from global market research firm Forrester. Software and services will post the fastest growth in Asia Pacific, according to the report entitled "Asia Pacific Tech Market Outlook For 2019 to 2020". India's hunger for software will continue in 2019 and 2020 as the digital transformation of government and private-sector business processes remains atop India's agenda, said the report. Spending on tech consulting and outsourcing services will bolster IT expenditure growth in the country, increasing by 11 per cent in 2019 and 16 per cent in 2020. China and Japan dominate the Asia Pacific tech market with about a 60 per cent combined share. India is in third place, with total spending of around $70 billion, the Forrester report said. China will spend $256 billion on tech goods and services in 2019 and Japan is expected to come in second with $198 billion in tech spending, according to the estimate which warns that global tech market growth will slow to 4.5 per cent in 2019 and 3.8 per cent In 2020. New Delhi, March 20 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said Congress President Rahul Gandhi was not keen on seat sharing in different states in 2019 as he believes that he has no chances of winning the Lok Sabha battle and was eyeing the 2024 elections. "RG (Rahul Gandhi) believes he has no chance in 2019. He is eyeing 2024. Sharing seats now will diminish RG's 2024 dream," AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj tweeted. He also said that BJP strategists had asked the media to make 2019 a "Modi vs RG" contest. "RG is basking under manufactured illusion though it is a trap by the BJP. In parallel, RG jokes are being pushed hard by the BJP," he said. For the coming Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is not very keen on sharing seats with other parties, be it in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Delhi, Bharadwaj said. This was against the idea of a Grand Alliance which had planned that there should be one candidate in each constituency against the BJP to avoid splitting of anti-BJP votes, the AAP leader said. Christchurch, March 20 : New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called for a global fight to root out racist right-wing ideology following last week's deadly attack on two mosques here. Talking about the rise of right-wing nationalism she said: "This was an Australian citizen but that is not to say that we do not have an ideology in New Zealand that would be an affront to the majority of New Zealanders," the BBC reported on Wednesday. She said there was a responsibility "to weed it out where it exists and make sure that we never create an environment where it can flourish". "But I would make that a global call," she said, adding that "what New Zealand experienced here was violence brought against us by someone who grew up and learned their ideology somewhere else". "If we want to make sure globally that we are a safe and tolerant and inclusive world we cannot think about this in terms of boundaries." Ardern also rejected the idea that a rise in immigration was fuelling racism and defended New Zealand's record on accepting refugees. "We are a welcoming country. I utterly reject the idea that in any way in trying to ensure that we have a system that looks after those who choose to call New Zealand home, that we have perpetuated an environment where this kind of ideology can exist," she said. Fifty people were killed and dozens injured when 28-year-old Australian national Brenton Tarrant opened fire in two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch on March 15. Singapore, March 20 : Information Technology (IT) major IBM has created a Blockchain-based global payment network that transmits monetary value in the form of digital assets, commonly known as cryptocurrencies or "stable coins." The payment network called World Wire uses the Stellar protocol that reduces intermediaries and allows users to accelerate settlement time. World Wire has already enabled payment locations in 72 countries, with 47 currencies and 44 banking endpoints, IBM said in a statement this week. "We've created a new type of payment network designed to accelerate remittances and transform cross-border payments to facilitate the movement of money in countries that need it most," said Marie Wieck, General Manager, IBM Blockchain. "By creating a network where financial institutions support multiple digital assets, we expect to spur innovation and improve financial inclusion worldwide," Wieck said. While local regulations will continue to guide activation, IBM said it is actively growing the network with additional financial institutions globally. The network already supports settlement using Stellar Lumens and a US dollar stable coin through IBM's previously-announced collaboration with Stronghold, a financial services platform. Pending regulatory approvals and other reviews, six international banks, including Banco Bradesco, Bank Busan, and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), have signed letters of intent to issue their own stable coins on World Wire, adding Euro, Indonesian Rupiah, Philippine Peso, Korean Won and Brazilian Real stable coins to the network, IBM said. New Delhi, March 20 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked self-styled godman Daati Maharaj and others to file a response on a CBI plea seeking cancellation of their anticipatory bail in a rape case. The bail was granted to them by a trial court in January. Justice Chander Shekhar issued the notice to the godman and three of his associates as he listed the matter for next hearing on August 26. Earlier, the High Court had ordered transferring the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation from the Delhi Police. Daati Maharaj alias Dati Madan Lal Rajasthani has been named in the CBI FIR along with Ashok, Arjun and Anil -- all known by their first names -- for raping a 25-year-old woman at his Ashram in Fatehpur Beri on January 9, 2016, and for having unnatural sex with the victim. The Delhi Police in June 2018 registered the case on a complaint from the Delhi-based victim and later filed a charge sheet against Daati Maharaj and others. Patna, March 20 : Former BJP MP from Bihar's Purnea district, Uday Singh, on Wednesday joined the Congress and is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Purnea seat. "I have joined the Congress and will do whatever the party will ask me to do," Singh said at a press meet at the Congress headquarters here. Singh said he was happy to return to the Congress. He had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2004 following the request of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He had contested the then Lok Sabha polls and won. He resigned from the BJP in January, saying: "I had joined the BJP in 2004 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but the party is no more strong as it was and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also declined." Singh was reportedly unhappy with the BJP after the saffron party joined hands with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in a clear signal to give the Purnea seat to a JD-U candidate. Seoul, March 20 : Samsung Electronics Co on Wednesday said it will propel technology innovations to tackle the unfavourable business environment and foster new growth drivers such as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G. Samsung vowed to step up its innovations to overcome business challenges amid falling prices of memory chips and flattening global demand for new smartphones. "The company plans to push for profound innovations across the divisions as the unfavourable business environment is expected to continue this year," Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, said at a meeting at the company headquarters attended by about 1,000 investors. To get ahead in the fast-changing tech industry, Samsung said it will expand investment in burgeoning tech segments to propel growth. "We will focus on new, promising businesses, such as AI and 5G, to bring meaningful changes and will actively respond to new business opportunities," Kim said. Announcing business plans during the shareholders meeting, the first since a 50:1 stock split in May which was aimed at making it easier for retail investors to purchase stakes in the firm, Kim said: "We will continue to release innovative products in our home appliance and IT and mobile communication divisions to expand our market-leading position." The world's largest handset and memory chip maker said it posted $215.8 billion in sales and $52 billion in operating profits last year on a consolidated basis, posting record high profits driven by the boom in memory chips, Yonhap news agency reported. Its bid to propel its 5G business comes as Huawei, the world's largest telecom equipment maker, faces growing pressure from the US over security protection issues. The Korean tech firm currently has a mere 3 per cent share in the 5G equipment sector, lagging far behind Huawei's 28 per cent and Ericsson's 27 per cent, according to market researcher IHS Markit. The company has set a goal of capturing a 20 per cent share in the 5G equipment market by 2022. Bengaluru, March 20 : The death toll in the collapse of a multi-storey commercial building under construction in Dharwad in Karnataka on Wednesday rose to four, police said on Wednesday. Four people have been killed in the Tuesday disaster and so far 62 people had been rescued, police Inspector M.I. Basapur told IANS from Dharwad, about 400 km northwest of here. Rescuers were still searching for people who may be trapped under the debris, he said. Of the rescued, some received serious injuries and were being treated at hospitals. A 25-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team flew in from Lucknow to undertake rescue operations, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said. The reason for the accident was still being being ascertained. New Delhi, March 20 : Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, whose upcoming movie "Tashkent Files" is set to release during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, says only an "idiot or a guilty person" can call the movie a propaganda and that it is about a "citizen's right to truth". The film, which raises questions about former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death, is scheduled to hit the screens on April 12, a day after the seven-phased general elections commence. Why was such a time chosen to release this film? "Do you question when films are released on Eid day or Republic Day or Diwali day? We are a small film and this is the best window we are getting when there is no other film. Because after this, there are huge films like 'Kalank' and 'Avengers: Endgame' which won't give us screens," Agnihotri told IANS over text messages. The director added that the film started rolling in 2017 after years of research. "Shastri was the PM of India and one of the most respected leaders of India. He is definitely not contesting the elections in 2019. Why should anyone feel threatened?" Political films like "Raajneeti", "Thackeray" and "The Accidental Prime Minister" have been termed as "propaganda" films. Several social media users have said a lot of propaganda films are coming up. "How can it be a propaganda film? Shastri was a Congress PM so, am I propagating Congress's agenda? Are you telling me such great leaders are owned by political parties? He led us to victory in a war with Pakistan after humiliating defeat from China in 1962," he said. Agnihotri said for him, Shastri was "India's first economic reformer and a military PM". "Only an idiot or a guilty person can call it propaganda. It's a great service to the great leader whose mysterious death was never probed in the last 53 years. The film is about a citizen's Right to Truth. Is that propaganda?" he asked. What all aspects related to Shastri will be shown in the film? "The film is strictly about the death of Shastri...," he replied. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty and Shweta Basu Prasad. Talking about the casting, Agnihotri said: "For such a sensitive subject I needed the best actors of our times. I am lucky that I could cast five National Award-winners plus six multiple award winners," he said. Agnihotri promises the film will "stand out for its stellar cast and their outstanding performances". (Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in) Chunar: Congress General Secretary (Uttar Pradesh East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at an interaction programme with party workers in Chunar, Uttar Pradesh, on March 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Chunar: Congress General Secretary (Uttar Pradesh East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at an interaction programme with party workers in Chunar, Uttar Pradesh, on March 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Jaipur, March 20 : With both the Congress and the BJP stressing on the winnability of candidates as the prime factor in distribution of tickets, the parties face a strange predicament in Rajasthan. Both fielded most of their winnable candidates in the Assembly elections and are now facing a severe dearth of faces for the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress is loathe to field legislators with a strong support base due to its wafer-thin majority in the state assembly. "We reached the majority figure of 101 in the 200-member Assembly after a very tough fight. We are standing on the edge and any risk can spell doom for us in the House. So the party refused to take any chances and allow its MLAs to contest the Lok Sabha elections. "But the air strikes in Balbetter than I do. So I think the Prime Minister should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics." According to party workers, Priyanka, who is also Congress in-charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, will interact with her party workers at a guest house in Chunar before leaving for Shastri Memorial by road in Ramnagar. She will then arrive at Ramnagar ghat to take the boat ride to Assi Ghat, where she will interact with the fishermen, the Jain community as well as women. The Congress leader will then reach Dashashwamedh Ghat by motor boat and go to the Vishwanath Temple to offer her prayers. This will be Priyanka's fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj on Monday. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi on day two of her campaign and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal thereafter. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. The Congress leader will then meet her party workers in Varanasi and leave to visit the homes of three Central Reserve Force Police (CRPF) troopers, who died on February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. She will meet the family members of Avadhesh Yadav in Chandauli district. On her way back to Varanasi, she will meet the families of Vishal Pandey and Ramesh Yadav. The Congress leader will then return to the Varanasi airport to leave for Delhi. New Delhi, March 20 : The Congress on Wednesday said the government intended to bring a bailout package for the cash-strapped Jet Airways - partly owned by foreign investors - using Indian tax payers' money. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told the media that the Modi government had asked public sector banks - State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) - to waive the debt on the airliner totalling Rs 8,500 crore by taking an equity of Rs 1. "Naresh Goyal, who is a London-based NRI, owns 51 per cent stakes while Etihad Airways has 24 per cent stake. It means the 75 per cent ownership is with an NRI and a foreign company," said Surjewala. "Why is the Modi government giving a 'bailout package' to a bankrupt corporate entity like Jet Airways owned by foreign investors, out of public money, but not to India's debt-ridden farmers?" "The PMO (Prime Minister's office) has issued two orders. It has asked the SBI and other PSU banks to waive the loan by converting it into equity of Rs 1. Also, it is going to pay Rs 150 for every share to Etihad. "Will the Modi government now save every defaulting crony capitalist out of public funds?" New Delhi, March 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attacked the Congress for its "dynastic politics" and said its biggest casualty are the institutions. Addressing voters in his blog post, Modi urged them to remember the Congress' past when they vote -- "how one family's desire for power cost the nation greatly". "From the press to Parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress's way. "Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct. As you go to vote- remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation ...," Modi said. "If they (Congress) could do it then, they can surely do it now. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty," he added. He said India has seen how rise of dynastic politics has forced institutions to take a severe beating. To prove his point, the Prime Minister said one need not go beyond the party to understand it. He pointed at the Congress' internal democracy and said if a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out of the Congress. "Political parties are vibrant bodies that manifest diverse public opinion. Sadly, Congress does not believe in internal democracy. The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. "At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply," he said. Modi urged the voters to "stay vigilant" and work hard to strengthen the intuitions given to the country by the makers of our Constitution. He also listed his government's achievement and said in 2014, the people voted decisively for honesty over dynasty, development over decay, security over stagnation, opportunities over obstacles and development over vote-bank politics. "Indians were tired of our beloved nation being included in the Fragile Five, where corruption, cronyism and nepotism made headlines instead of anything positive. India voted to shed the baggage of the past in pursuit of a better future. "The mandate of 2014 was epoch-making also because it was for the first time in the history of India that a non-dynastic party was blessed with a complete majority," he said. Modi also said when a government works with the spirit of "India First" instead of "family first", it shows. "Over the last five years, the Indian economy has been the cynosure of the world's eyes," he said. "India has made remarkable achievements in sanitation coverage, banking the unbanked, financing the un-financed, building futuristic infrastructure, homes for the homeless, providing healthcare for the poor and educating the youth," he added. He said reflective of this "paradigm shift" is the fact that now, there was a government that puts institutions above everything else. New Delhi, March 20 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) to attend important welfare meetings, staying a varsity's notification till July 17. The court was hearing a plea filed by JNUSU President N. Sai Balaji and other office-bearers challenging the varsity's decision restraining them from participating in the statutory meetings. "The matter be now listed on July 17. Till then, the minutes dated February 15, related to the issue of circular to all deans of schools/chairperson of centres/special centres restraining the students to attend meetings of various bodies at school/centre level shall be kept in abeyance as no prejudice shall be caused in attending such welfare meetings by students' union," Justice Yogesh Khanna said. Balaji, in his plea said that the university had barred them from performing their duties for not providing separate bills of their individual poll expenses. He also said that individual bills were never asked for prior to the 2018 elections and under the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, only an audited statement of accounts was required and not individual bills. The university said that an advance notice had been sent to the office bearers to submit their audited accounts within two weeks from the date of declaration of the results and the dean would not notify the final results if those were not submitted. The petitioners won the elections conducted on September 14, 2018. They have sought the court's direction to declare them as elected office-bearers of the university. The court has listed the matter to the Grievance Redressal Cell and sought a report within two months. Agra, March 20 : An experimental project to produce "gobar-wood" for holi has offered new hope to bring down pollution levels in the Taj city. For the past one month, inmates of district jail have been producing five to six quintals of "gobar-wood" which is now available at selected outlets in the city for ritualistic burning in the Holi fire. "Gobar-wood" is made by compressing cowdung in a machine to produce logs of three-feet and longer that look like wood. The local Satya Mev Trust installed three machines to promote "gobar-wood" in place of fire-wood obtained by felling green trees. "It is an excellent alternative to firewood and the quality is better and the emissions are cleaner," Mukesh Jain, a trustee, told IANS. The district jail has around 180 cows so raw material is available in plenty. Packed in 50 kg bags, the gobar-wood is sold for Rs 6 a kg to popularise its use in havans, Holi burning, and daily puja in temples. "We are exploring how firewood use could be replaced by gobarwood at the cremation grounds in the city," Supreme Court monitoring committee member Raman, who uses onl one name, told IANS. "Gobar-wood is being made at Apna Ghar on Bharatpur Road, Ram Lal Ashram and the district jail. If you want to increase the calorific value, you can add dried leaves, grass, sawwood dust. It produces very little smoke and is well tolerated. We are keeping the costs competitive. "It is a much better substitute for firewood. The machine cost is hardly Rs 50,000 and only three workers are required. Drying the gobar wood takes time but now that summer is there, it should be easy. We hope more and more people switch over to gobar wood in the interest of saving forests and environment," Raman explained. "Those who have used it once, have expressed satisfaction with the quality," Nand Kishor Goyal, a member of the team, said. New Delhi, March 20 : Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Wednesday arrested in London in connection with a Rs 3,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan default case, official sources here said. Police in London made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who fled India in a month before the scam came to light in 2018. Hyderabad, March 20 : The ruling TRS' tally in the Telangana Assembly reached 100 on Wednesday as another MLA of the main opposition Congress party switched loyalty. B. Harshvardhan Reddy, who was elected from Kollapur constituency in the recent elections, met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao and announced that he will soon join the ruling party. He said he decided to join the TRS in the interest of the development of his constituency. The MLA also said that if necessary he would resign from the Assembly and seek re-election. Harshvardhan is the ninth Congress MLA to defect to TRS this month. With the latest defection, the Congress tally in the 119-member Assembly has plunged to 10. With some more Congress MLAs reported to be in touch with TRS leaders, all the defected legislators may request the Assembly Speaker to recognize their merger with the ruling party. Under Anti-Defection Law, if two-third legislators of a party defect, they will not attract disqualification. The Congress may even lose the status of main opposition party as it requires 10 percent of the total strength of the House. With the ninth Congress MLA crossing over to its camp, the TRS strength in the Assembly crossed 100. In the elections held in December, it bagged 88 seats. A couple of days after the results were announced, an independent MLA and another legislator elected on Forward Bloc ticket joined TRS. One of the two MLAs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also joined the TRS early this month. With the 9th MLA switching loyalty, the TRS has hit a century. Besides 119 elected members, the Telangana Assembly also has a nominated member. The ruling party nominates a leader from the Anglo-Indian community as the legislator. TRS nominated Elvis Stephenson for a second consecutive term. London/New Delhi, March 20 : Fourteen months after he fled India, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was on Wednesday arrested in London on charges of defrauding on a huge loan taken from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), official sources said. Police made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. He will be produced before a court later in the day. The Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi in July 2018 at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The businessman's whereabouts were a mystery as he had been spotted in New York, Hong Kong and other cities. Along with his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group, Nirav Modi left the country before the CBI formally started investigating the PNB scam. The ED had on May 24 and 26 last year filed chargesheets against both men. Non-bailable warrants were also issued against them. The development came days after the The Telegraph newspaper in Britain claimed that Modi was spotted in London. Accused in the Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case, Nirav Modi was living in a three-bedroom flat, occupying half the floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, The Telegraph reported. The report also claimed Nirav Modi was involved in a new diamond business, run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his apartment. The new business was incorporated in May 2018, it said. An extradition request against him had been pending before the UK authorities since September last year. The ED on February 26 attached Rs 147 crore worth of property of Nirav Modi and his associate companies in connection with the PNB case. San Francisco, March 20 : Google will now ask European Android users their browser and search engine preferences, following a regulatory action against the company for the way it bundles softwares in its mobile operating system (OS). Last year, Google was fined a record $5 billion by the European Union (EU) regulators for violating anti-trust laws and was ordered to stop "illegally tying" its browser Chrome and its search app to Android. Post the EU ruling, the search engine giant started charging manufacturers licensing fees for Play Store and other apps, while offering the option to include Chrome and Google's search app in the overall package for free, The Verge reported. "Now we'll ensure that Android phone owners know about the wide choice of browsers and search engines available to download on their phones," Kent Walker, Senior Vice President, Global Affairs, Google, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. "We've always tried to give people the best and fastest answers, whether direct from Google, or from the wide range of specialist websites and app providers," Walker said. The company plans to make further updates in Europe over the next few months. In 2010, Microsoft showed its "browser ballot" web page to Internet Explorer users to comply with a similar European Commission ruling. Later in 2014, Microsoft retired the page. Patna, March 20 : RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has denied reports of a deadlock over seats in the "Mahagathbandhan" (Grand Alliance) in Bihar, saying it has been finalised and will be announced after the Holi. "The Grand Alliance is intact. There is no problem over seat-sharing. We have finalised everything. After Holi we will formally announce seat-sharing as well as candidates", Tejashwi said, here on Wednesday, on return from New Delhi, where he was camping for the last several days for finalising seat-sharing pact with top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi. Tejashwi, former deputy chief minister, said talks over the seat-sharing pact concluded on a positive note. "There is nothing to worry. Everything is well in the Grand Alliance". According to sources in the RJD and the Congress, the seat-sharing pact was finalised on Tuesday night after a talk between Tejashwi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. The RJD and the Congress have reached an agreement, after bargaining for days, with both deciding to compromise on the number of seats, an RJD leader said. "The Congress is likely to contest 9 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, the RJD 18 or 19, and the remaining seats will go to smaller allies", he said. The Grand Alliance comprises old allies like the Congress and the RJD, and new entrants such as the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and the Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP). Tejashwi said he and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have decided not to celebrate Holi this year in view of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. Mumbai, March 20 : Actor Kunal Kemmu got injured while shooting for his web series "Abhay". According to a source from the set, during an important chase sequence, an unforeseen incident took place on Monday leaving Kunal injured. The actor tripped while chasing an antagonist from the show, in the process he injured his knee and shoulder. The makers immediately rushed in to help and the doctor has advised the actor complete bed rest for a couple of days. "We were shooting a chase sequence for 'Abhay' and while shooting that Kunal tripped, slipped and what I saw on the video is that he skidded along the ground on his shoulder and forehead, it looked really really scary. We stopped the shoot immediately and called in doctor, he was really in a lot of pain and painkillers were given to him," director Ken Ghosh said in a statement. The director said that the crew had decided to cancel the shoot for the day. "He took an hour in his van just sort of rest and then called me because we had planned to move ahead and reschedule the entire shoot. He said 'No don't, I will come back and finish the shoot'. After about an hour or two's break he came back on the set and finished the shoot for the day, which is actually sweet of him to do. I wouldn't have done that," he added. Panaji, March 20 : Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday won the trust vote in the Goa Assembly and pledged to carry forward his late predecessor Manohar Parrikar's vision of "positive thinking". Twenty of the 36 members in the House voted for the coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while 15 opposed the motion. After the vote, opposition MLAs accused Governor Mridula Sinha of being partisan and facilitating "trading of MLAs" even as Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said that the Congress would not try to topple the Sawant-led government but instead wait for the ruling coalition to "topple under their collective greed". The 20 legislators who voted for the motion included 11 from the BJP, 3 each of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party and 3 Independents while 15 MLAs (14 Congress and 1 NCP) opposed the motion. The 'magic number' for a simple majority in the 36-member House was 19. The trust vote was overseen by Acting Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo. Addressing the Assembly after winning the trust vote, an emotional Sawant said: "Manohar Parrikar had given a message before passing away about being positive. If we go ahead with this message, we can build a bright future for Goa." The 45-year-old Chief Minister also said that the philosophy of his government would be the Antodaya principle, which involves reaching out to the most marginalised sections of society. "And for that to work, it is not just up to a CM or MLA, but every member of society. For this I would the need help of every Goan," Sawant said. Sawant, named the Chief Minister on Tuesday, said that portfolios would be allotted later in the day and he would head to Delhi to meet President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. Speaking about the Lok Sabha elections and by-elections, Sawant said: "I believe this is a challenge for me and definitely we will win this challenge. We will win both Lok Sabha seats and the Assembly seats." A highlight of the brief session was the presence of ailing BJP MLA Pandurang Madkaikar, who suffered a brain stroke in June 2018 and had not made a public appearance since then. Just before the floor test was ordered by Acting Speaker Michael Lobo, the latter allowed Madkaikar to raise his hand, while sitting in his chair and not stand in agreement or against the motion like the rest of the MLAs, because of his physical disability. When Madkaikar did raise his hand in support of Sawant-led coalition government, it was with the help of an Assembly marshal who had to hold the BJP's MLA hand upright. The other significant development was the switchover of NCP MLA Churchill Alemao from the treasury to the Opposition. His decision comes at a time when his daughter Valanka is angling for a Congress ticket for the South Goa seat for the Lok Sabha elections. Speaking to reporters after the trust vote, opposition leader Kavlekar said that it was the first time in recent history in Goa that the treasury benches won a trust vote with a count of 20. "Never in the past has the majority winning number slipped below 21. This is the reality of how 'popular' this government is," Kavlekar said. He also slammed the Governor for refusing to invite the Congress to form a government despite being the single largest legislative party. "She called those in the minority to form a government. The BJP had to perform a midnight circus and crack deals with MLAs to get to the number of 20," Kavlekar said. New York, March 20 : A team of scientists from NASA have discovered the evidence of abundant water-bearing minerals on the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Bennu is the target of NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission, which began orbiting the asteroid on December 31. "The scientists are interested in the composition of Bennu because similar objects may have seeded the Earth with water and organic materials," said the study's lead author Victoria Hamilton from the Southwest Research Institute. "OSIRIS-REx data confirm previous ground-based observations pointing to aqueously altered, hydrated minerals on the surface of the asteroid," Hamilton added. In the study, published in the Nature Astronomy journal, the team identified infrared properties similar to those in a type of meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites. Two types of carbonaceous chondrites called CI and CM chondrites contain several per cent by weight of organic compounds and some also contain water in abundance of 10-15 per cent and as much as 20 per cent in rare cases. The presence of volatile organic chemicals and water indicates that they have not undergone substantial heating. "Because asteroids with hydrated minerals are found throughout the main asteroid belt, significant ice must have been present in the disk during and shortly after the time of carbonaceous asteroid accretion," Hamilton said. During planetary formation, scientists believe that water was one of the many chemical components that accreted to form Earth. However, most scientists think additional water was delivered in part by comets and pieces of asteroids, including water-bearing carbonaceous meteorites, Hamilton said. "Many of these meteorites also contain prebiotic organic chemicals and amino acids, which are precursors to the origin of life. The details of water delivery to Earth as well as the larger issue of the different inventories of water ice in the early solar system affect how we view the solar system formation," she explained. OSIRIS-REx, launched in 2016 to explore Bennu, the smallest body ever orbited by spacecraft, is expected to return a sample of the asteroid to Earth in 2023. Bennu may contain unaltered material from the very beginning of our solar system. Chennai, March 20 : Targeting 50 per cent of its turnover from overseas, plastic moulded toys major Funskool (India) Ltd on Wednesday commissioned its new unit at Ranipet, said a top company official. The trade war between the US and China has come as a good opportunity for Indian toy makers with many US companies looking at India as a sourcing base. "Our exports are on the rise. So we've decided to set up a new unit solely for exports at Ranipet with an outlay of Rs 25 crore," said Funskool (India) CEO John Baby. "Export orders are catered from our Goa plant. But transporting consignments from Goa to the Mumbai port is difficult. From Ranipet, it is easier to send export shipments to the Chennai port," said Baby. Funskool ships out its goods to the US, Africa, Europe and the Gulf countries. According to Baby, the company may set up another unit to earn 50 per cent of its revenue from exports and Ranipet has sufficient space for that. The company will be closing this year with a turnover of about Rs 225 crore and export revenue of Rs 60 crore. "Last year, our turnover was Rs 235 crore and export revenue was Rs 40 crore. The dip in current year's turnover is due to discontinuation of the distribution agreement with Lego," Baby said. He said Funskool manufactures its own toys as well as that of foreign companies under a licencing arrangement. The CEO said Funskool's own toys contribute to about 30 per cent of the turnover and the balance is from licenced products and the plan is to increase the former to 50 per cent. Baby said the domestic toy market is estimated to be about Rs 3,000 crore and 80 per cent of the toys sold here are imported. He noted that price is an inhibiting factor for a toy buyer as it is a discretionary purchase. "Most toys are bought for gifting and hence there is always a budget constraint," he said. New Delhi, March 20 : From Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic to a film on Congress President Rahul Gandhi's life and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death, filmmakers are trying to look through the political prism for their celluloid projects. A host of films and web series, inspired by the lives of political personalities, are likely to be released ahead of the 2019 general elections. The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases, from April 11 to May 19. Here are some of them, listed for you by IANS. PM Narendra Modi : Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/vivekoberoi/ PM Narendra Modi Helmed by National Award-winning filmmaker Omung Kumar, "PM Narendra Modi" will showcase the journey of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his humble beginnings to his years as the Gujarat Chief Minister, his landmark victory in the 2014 general elections, to finally becoming the Prime Minister. The film is set to be released on April 5. The movie will see actor Vivek Anand Oberoi portraying Modi. It also features Boman Irani, Darshan Kumaar, Waheeda Rahman, Manoj Joshi and Barkha Bisht-Sengupta. Modi:The Journey Of A Common Man : {"title":"Actor Mahesh Thakur depicts as Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the shooting of the upcoming web series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life ","description":"New Delhi: Actor Mahesh Thakur depicts as Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the shooting of the upcoming web series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life "Modi: The Journey Of A Common Man"."} "102 Not Out" director Umesh Shukla is making a web series on Modi, which will showcase his life as an inspiring and influential leader. The 10-part series will be released in April. According to a source, it will premiere on April 7, five days before the first phase of voting. The series will begin with a 12-year-old Modi, and present his life journey from teenage to youth to becoming the Prime Minister. Tashkent Files : Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/vivekagnihotri Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri To be released on April 12, "Tashkent Files" revolves around former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death. The investigative thriller, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, features veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakaraborty, and will have two sides to the narrative. Shastri died in Tashkent, then in Soviet Union's Uzbekistan, soon after signing a peace pact with Pakistan to end the 1965 India-Pakistan war. My Name RaGa : Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/RaGaMovie/ My Name RaGa The film, to be released in April, focuses on Congress President Rahul Gandhi's life. The movie, helmed by Rupesh Paul, will allow a glimpse into the inner life of the Congress party president. Some more such films, reportedly, are in the pipeline. Washington, March 20 : Negotiators for the US and China have scheduled a new round of high-level trade talks in Beijing and Washington, aiming to close a deal by late April to end the year-long dispute between the worlds two largest economies. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to fly to Beijing next week to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, The Wall Street Journal quoted Trump administration officials as saying. The following week, a Chinese delegation led by Liu is expected to continue talks in Washington, the officials said. People tracking the negotiations said the talks appear to be in their final stages, following a rocky patch after Chinese leaders were unnerved by US President Donald Trump's decision to abruptly break off nuclear disarmament talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February. "We're in the endgame," said Myron Brilliant, Executive Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce. If the two sides continue to make progress, he said, they should be able to finish a trade deal by the end of April. The two sides are aiming for a package deal that includes substantial increases in US exports to China, and Chinese pledges to boost protection of intellectual property, end pressure on US companies to transfer technology to their Chinese partners and reduce subsidies for Chinese firms. Failure to achieve a deal would likely see the US more than double the 10 per cent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods and impose fresh tariffs, the BBC reported. Trump has in the past threatened to tax all the Chinese goods going into the US. The US has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, and China has retaliated with duties on $110 billion of US products. The trade war has cast a shadow over global trade and is contributing to a slowdown in the world economy. Chennai, March 20 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday reiterated national security is important for a democratic country like India and only Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the capability to ensure this. In his address at a poll meeting in Salem, he said: "India is a big democratic country. Security is important for all in this country. It is only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has the capability to lead the country in a secure manner while implementing various schemes for the people." He hoped the BJP alliance wins the Lok Sabha elections in a big way to provide a stable government at the centre. Palaniswami said that his state government will take steps to link Godavari-Cauvery rivers to solve the water problem of the state, once the BJP-led government come back to power at the centre. With Palaniswami recently stressing on national security in his speeches, experts are divided on whether it would help him in the elections. "The Pulwama attack on CRPF troopers, the preventive attack by India on terror camps inside Pakistan and the downing of Pakistan F-16 fighter plane, capture of Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, his answers to his captors have captured the imagination of the middle class voters," writer and political commentator Maalan Narayanan told IANS. "Further, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman being a woman and from Tamil Nadu is an added factor that is gaining traction in favour of BJP government," Narayanan said, but added, that "at the grass root level I don't think the issue would gain electoral importance". On the other hand, political strategist Jhon Arokiasamy told IANS: "Nationalism as a narrative does and will work." He said the narrative on nationalistic pride and feelings in terms of safety, security, and well-being of people will have longevity till the elections. Arokiasamy, however, said in states like Tamil Nadu, where sub-nationalism is dominant in the form of Tamil pride, then it has to be contextualised for the narrative to succeed. Mumbai: The 1971 India-Pakistan war hero, Captain M.N. Samant of the Indian Navy, who helped set up the foundation of the Bangladesh Navy, passed away following a cardiac arrest in Mumbai, on March 20, 2019. (File Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Mumbai: The 1971 India-Pakistan war hero, Captain M.N. Samant of the Indian Navy, who helped set up the foundation of the Bangladesh Navy, passed away following a cardiac arrest in Mumbai, on March 20, 2019. (File Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Mumbai: The 1971 India-Pakistan war hero, Captain M.N. Samant of the Indian Navy, who helped set up the foundation of the Bangladesh Navy, passed away following a cardiac arrest in Mumbai, on March 20, 2019. (File Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News Mumbai, March 20 : The 1971 India-Pakistan war hero, Captain M.N. Samant of the Indian Navy, who helped set up the foundation of the Bangladesh Navy, passed away here on Wednesday following cardiac arrest, an official said. Capt. Samant, 89, who breathed his last at the Bharatiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital in Juhu. He is survived by his wife Nirmala and daughters Ujjwala, Natasha and Meghna. His funeral will be held at the Vile Parle Crematorium on Friday with military honours, said a Defence Ministry official. After the 1971 war, which saw East Pakistan's birth as a new country Bangladesh, Samant helped the fledgling Bangladesh Navy to expand. Decorated with Mahavir Chakra for his role in the 1971 war, Samant was the Senior Officer of a force comprising vessels which carried out daring and highly successful attacks on the enemy in Mongla and Khulna ports in the erstwhile East Pakistan. Manoeuvring his brave men in the squadron through an extremely hazardous territory and unfamiliar route, Samant caught the enemy by total surprise in Mongla port and inflicted heavy losses on their forces. He then attacked the enemy forces strongly entrenched on Khulna Port. In the bitter battle that followed, Samant's forces were subjected to incessant air attacks. Two boats belonging to the Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh, which were operating with the Indian forces, were sunk. But disregarding his personal safety, Samant managed to rescue a large number of survivors while simultaneously continuing the attack on the enemy. Brussels, March 20 : The European Union's antitrust regulators on Wednesday fined Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for abusing its dominance in the online search market by blocking rivals. Google has abused its market dominance by imposing a number of restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites which prevented Google's rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites, the European Commission (EC) said in a statement. "Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euros for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts," EC Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. It is the third EU fine for Google in just two years. "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules," Vestager said. The Commission said the fine which is equivalent to 1.29 per cent of Google's turnover in 2018 takes account of the duration and gravity of the infringement. "The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of competition," Vestager said. Websites such as newspaper websites, blogs or travel sites aggregators often have a search function embedded. When a user searches using this search function, the website delivers both search results and search adverts, which appear alongside the search result. Through AdSense for Search, Google provides these search adverts to owners of "publisher" websites. Google is an intermediary, like an advertising broker, between advertisers and website owners that want to profit from the space around their search results pages. Therefore, AdSense for Search works as an online search advertising intermediation platform. Google was by far the strongest player in online search advertising intermediation in the European Economic Area (EEA), with a market share above 70 per cent from 2006 to 2016. Google's provision of online search advertising intermediation services to the most commercially important publishers took place via agreements that were individually negotiated. The Commission reviewed hundreds of such agreements in the course of its investigation and found that starting in 2006, Google included exclusivity clauses in its contracts. This meant that publishers were prohibited from placing any search adverts from competitors on their search results pages, the European Commission said. Film: "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"; Director: Dean DeBlois; Voice Cast: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Justin Rupple, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kit Harington, F. Murray Abraham; Rating: **1/2Designed as a simple boy-and-his-pet story with fantasy elements, "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World", is the third instalment of the series of films about Vikings and their dragons, based on books by Cressida Cowell, which at its core has always been a tale of prejudice and family. Here writer-director Dean DeBlois neatly ties up the threads of broken families that have dogged the franchise's characters, delivering a message of hope and togetherness. Picking up years after the events of the second film, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) the dragon trainer, who first appeared as an awkward teen, has now grown into a confident Viking leader for the island of Berk. His constant companion, over the years, is Toothless, the sleek, obsidian-skinned Night-Fury - the medium sized, bat winged, Strike Class dragon who has a mix of dog-and-cat like qualities, long believed to be the last of his particular species of dragon. Together they live in the over-populated Berk. In response to the overcrowding, Hiccup spells out his desire to find the "Hidden World" a safe haven for dragons. Meanwhile, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) the dragon hunter, threatens their existence and sends a white female Fury as a bait to capture Toothless, who serves as the alpha to Berk's entire dragon population. This sparkling white female dragon is dubbed as Light Fury by Hiccup's friend Astrid (America Ferrera). So, while Hiccup and the other Vikings band together, escaping Grimmel's traps, in search for the long lost Hidden World of dragons, we have a romance brewing between the dragons that complicate the human-dragon relationship. While this is a well told story, the following points do not work for the film: The plot is redundant, stuck in an endless loop of capture, escape, capture, escape. Also, the love story between Toothless and Light Fury saps some of the franchise's main focus of the human-dragon relationship. The inclusion of Light Fury appears to be perfunctory to drive a wedge between Hiccup and Toothless. And the titular Hidden World, a dragon Utopia where the dragons live in harmony without fear and harm, is rendered as a fantastical, neon-coloured mountain of kitsch, which gives you a feeling of deja-vu and has a very short on-screen time. The place ultimately does not register in the holistic scheme of things. On the visual front, the animation is spectacular with every character faithfully created, they are appealing to look at and truly alive. You'd be captivated by every frame. Whether it is two characters interacting with a gorgeous backdrop or dragons soaring through the skies with an emotional score to support the visuals. Also, the voices of the ace cast match the characters to perfection. Overall, while the story is a bit of a disappointment, you'd be blown away by the film's technical brilliance. Bengaluru, March 20 : IT services firm Mindtree's board on Wednesday deferred its decision on the proposed buyback of shares to a later unspecified date. "The board considered the proposed buyback of equity shares of the company at its meeting. Following detailed discussions, the meeting has been adjourned to a future date," the city-based company said in a BSE filing. "No decision has been taken in relation to the proposed buyback of equity shares," the firm said. The details of when the next board meeting will be held were not disclosed. The board meeting on Wednesday came in the backdrop of diversified conglomerate Larsen and Toubro Ltd's (L&T) bid to take it over. The L&T on Monday bought a 20.4 per cent stake in Mindtree from Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha for about Rs 3,300 crore. The company had said it would also buy additional stake in Mindtree through an open offer. Kolkata, March 20 : Stressing that world peace will depend on how India and China manage their relations, former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Arup Raha on Wednesday said both the countries ignore each other but India should focus on a "neighbours first" policy. "Strategically, peace and tranquillity in the world will depend on how India and China, two big nuclear and naval powers, handle each other and manage relations. We cannot ignore each other. So far whatever statistics have come indicate that we ignore each other totally," Raha said here. He mentioned that the two countries should know themselves and each other very well. "I think India's policy should be neighbours first. It is better to have a good relationship with a neighbour than with a friend thousand miles away," he said while announcing the 'Annual Calcutta Dialogue 2019'. The former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief said that "strategic autonomy" should be the foundation policy of India's relationship with any country - be it China, the US, Russia, Japan or South Korea. "These relations should be one to one." Former Army Chief General Shankar Roychowdhury, present at the event, said they "want to promote contact with China" through the seminar. Chandauli/Varanasi/Mirzapur, March 20 : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for describing the arrest of absconding PNB fraud case accused Nirav Modi in London as an achievement, asking who let him flee. "Is it an achievement? Who let them escape from the country?" she said. Speaking to reporters in Chandauli after visiting the family of Awadhesh Yadav, who was among the 40 CRPF troopers killed in February 14 suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, she said that her visit was not political. "...I had spoken to the father of the trooper some days after the attack. He had said to me that 'you people come as we want to meet you'. Thus I had come. My visit to his house is not connected to politics," she said. Asked about her three-day river ride campaign in eastern Uttar Pradesh, of whose she is the in-charge for her party, Gandhi said, "It felt nice. And I feel that the organisation will be strengthened here and people will come to know that we believe in strong and new kind of politics." Gandhi's journey, which began in Prayagraj on Monday, ended in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Modi, on Wednesday. Asked when she is planning to kick off the second part of her Lok Sabha campaign, she said it will be "soon after Holi". Before going to Chandauli, Gandhi offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi for over half an hour. It was her fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal on the second day of her campaign. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. She had arrived at the Vishwanath temple after deboarding from the motorboat at Dashavamedh ghat in Varanasi. Reaching Ramnagar village, the ancestral village of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, in Varanasi via road from Chunar in Mirzapur, where she had made a night halt on Tuesday, Gandhi then went by boat to Assi ghat where she held discussions with the fishermen community. She also paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Shastri Chowk and visited his residence. A minor scuffle broke out between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party workers after the latter raised pro-Modi slogans. Gandhi later condemned the violence. "When I was coming to Varanasi, few people raised slogans for the BJP... then people slapped them. We don't believe in such kind of politics. The Congress workers had been beaten by the Britishers. We took all the pain and didn't raise our hand (in return) but only tried to bring the truth," she said. She also accused Modi of not fulfilling any of the eight promises made to the people of the city, citing the BJP's manifesto for Varanasi in 2014. "This politics of advertisements is easy and it can be done by anyone," she said. Gandhi, before leaving Chunar in the morning, had also accused the BJP of systematically attacking every democratic institution in the country and advised the Prime Minister to "stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics". She also said that she was not afraid. "Even if anything is done, and we are harassed, we will not feel afraid. We will continue our fight against them. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be our fight," she said. Gandhi, who was followed by Congress workers raising slogans like "Gali gali me shor hai, chowkidar chor hai" and "Dahan karne Modi ki Lanka, aa gai behen Priyanka", also seem to have struck a chord with locals, many of whom who pointed out her resemblance to her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sanjay Kumar said, "Her arrival augurs a change. People are looking for a new ideology. Now people want to get away from the politics of temple and mosque." "We have felt helpless in the last five years, we feel cheated by the government," he added. Shahnawaz told IANS, "The BJP has not lived up to our expectations. We see a hope in Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress." (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in) New Delhi, March 20 : The plight of refugees and their constant state of movement and instability became the central theme of "1 Sq Ft", a contemporary dance act by Manipuri choreographer Surjit Nongmeikapam, who was first inspired by the horrors of the World World II wreckage in Manipur. The 30-minute act enunciated the human cost of war and the displacement it caused worldwide. Using the metaphor of his props -- bamboo for boundaries, oars for crossing water bodies and chairs for comfort and seats of power -- his act builds a powerful case for the reality of war and violence. For a young Nongmeikapam, who now often sees refugees in Europe, the story started with his grandmother's painful narration of the Battle of Imphal in 1944, when Japanese troops caused much destruction in the region. "When I was little, my grandmother used to narrate the Japan attack and how they ran for survival. She told me there wasn't enough food to survive yet they shared it with the soldiers. They even ate rotten food. Because of the war, she couldn't study further and regretted it lifelong," Nongmeikapam, who is trained in Kathak, Kalaripayattu, Manipuri dance, contemporary dance and Manipuri martial art Thang-Ta, told IANS. The act's title "1 Sq Ft" is a sharp elocution of how even a square foot, the space needed to stand, is not available for the refugees in a foreign land. The choreographer, who equates war with "not just fighting, but also running for survival and a better life", has used constant motion to signify the unstable lives of the refugees on the move. "My idea was to explore people travelling from place to place to find ways to survive," the young performer said. Beginning with three dancers shifting seats, the brief act graduates to one of them succumbing to circumstances on the floor. Chairs, symbolising power, are slowly weighed down on him, and soon he is unable to stand. "Whatever is happening right now is dictated by power, whether it's war or development. They can control the system. Even if one doesn't want to fight, he is commanded by the powerful to do it," he explained. The act then shows two dancers -- Waikhom Biken and Senjam Hemjit -- moving with a long bamboo pole, not letting it fall. "Bamboo is very Asian. It is used for rowing water, and many refugees cross oceans and rivers for days and days -- hoping for a better life. I also think that bamboo is a boundary that is easily visible. It also makes the pole for flags, which again refers to boundaries of different countries," Nongmeikapam said. The poignant dance act ends with Nongmeikapam giving in to the power of the bamboo pole, his body falling on it and getting transported across the stage. The bamboo does not touch the ground, the human body does. "Not just human beings, but animals and birds migrate too, often because of ecological disasters. It's not just war that kills us, the changing ecology kills us too," Nongmeikapam said, adding that we must answer humanity's call. "1 Sq Ft" premiered at the ArtEast Festival that concluded at the India International Centre (IIC) here last week. It will feature in several upcoming cultural events. (Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in) London, March 20 : British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday wrote to the European Union seeking extension of the Brexit negotiation until June 30 to allow her time to secure backing of Parliament, which has twice rejected her current proposal. May laid the blame for the required extension on lawmakers and the Speaker of the House of Commons, the UK's lower parliamentary chamber, where her deal met an impasse, Efe news reported. "You will be aware that before the House of Commons rejected the deal for a second time on March 12, I warned in a speech in Grimsby that the consequences of failing to endorse the deal were unpredictable and potentially deeply unpalatable," May said. "The House of Commons did not vote in favour of the deal." Lawmakers later passed an amendment compelling May to request an extension to the negotiation period, which had been due to wrap up by March 29, the official Brexit date set by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism to leave the bloc. But May had plans to bring the deal back to the Commons for third attempt. It was scuppered when Speaker John Bercow drew on a 400-year-old guideline preventing government from pressing lawmakers to vote repeatedly on the same policy unless it contained substantial changes. "This position has made it impossible in practice to call a further vote in advance of the European Council," she said in reference to the EU leaders' summit, scheduled for March 21 and 22. "However it remains my intention to bring the deal back to the House," she said. Stating that it was unlikely to be ratified by March 29, the Prime Minister said she was seeking an extension to Article 50 until June 30. May said she thought the extension did not mean that the UK would have to run in the European Parliament elections slated for May 22. May's two attempts to push her Conservative Party minority government's withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons have failed -- the first by a historic majority and the second by the fourth-largest majority in Parliament's history. In a thinly veiled warning to hardline Conservatives, who by and large oppose the government's Brexit plan, May warned after her second defeat their failure to back her deal could result in an extended delay that could ultimately see the UK take part in the European elections and could also lead to no Brexit at all. The EU leaders have said they would only ratify the extensions if the UK government included fresh proposals. All 27 remaining EU states will vote on the proposed extension. France has said it would be willing to veto a delay only if it had an "objective and strategy." Speaking to German radio on Wednesday, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he did not believe a specific date for the delay would be agreed on during a European Council summit on March 21-22. "My impression today at 8.15 am is that this week we will not conclude anything, but rather we will have to meet once again next week," he said. May's next moves depend on how the EU responds to her request. On March 14, European Council President Donald Tusk said he would ask EU leaders at the summit to get behind a long Brexit extension. Anti-Brexit leaders in the UK, however, have accused her of trying to appease hardline members of her own party. "The question is how long the so-called moderates in her own party are going to allow this pandering to the hardliners to continue," Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said on Twitter. May has struggled to please pro-Brexit back-benchers in her own ranks, who favour a harder withdrawal, as well as the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her executive. The UK electorate narrowly voted to leave in a 2016 referendum, although voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland backed remain. San Francisco, March 20 : Technology companies, including Facebook and Twitter, have been asked to brief the US Congress on March 27 regarding their response to dissemination of the video of the New Zealand terrorists attack on their platforms. In a letter to CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson also warned them unless they do better in removing violent content, the Congress could consider policies to bar such content on social media. Strapped with a GoPro camera to his head, the gunman broadcast graphic footage of the New Zealand shooting via Facebook Live for 17 minutes, which was later shared in millions on other social media platforms, including Twitter and YouTube. Fifty people were killed and dozens injured in the shootings at Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Avenue Masjid in Christchurch on March 15 after 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant opened indiscriminate firings. Facebook on Sunday said it had removed nearly 1.5 million videos of the attack in the first 24 hours. Thompson slammed the tech giants for being slow in removing the terror content from their platforms despite calls from New Zealand authorities to take down those videos. New Delhi, March 20 : India is facing the "most crucial" elections after Independence where the criterion for deciding whom to vote for will not be the government's mere performance, but the fact that our secular democracy is in peril and has to be saved, said CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. "This is not an ordinary election where the ruling party of the day is judged on the basis of its delivery of its promises made at the time of the last general elections alone. The balance sheet of its betrayals is often the main issue of electoral discourse," Yechury has written in the forthcoming issue of the party's mouthpiece "People's Democracy". "This election, however, is the most crucial one in the history of Independent India because what is at stake is the very future of the secular democratic republic, as enshrined in our Constitution," he added. Yechury said the Narendra Modi-led government has mounted an "unprecedented assault" on all constitutional authorities and institutions during these last five years. "The four fundamental pillars of our Constitution -- secular democracy, economic self-reliance, social justice and federalism -- have all been systematically weakened during the last five years. "Hence, the primary task before India's electorate is to ensure the defeat of this government and give a mandate for the establishment of an alternative secular democratic government that must defend our constitutional republic," Yechury said while arguing that this would require a stronger presence of the CPI-M and the Left in the 17th Parliament of India. "As a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leader and MP, now seeking re-election, Sakshi Maharaj had infamously said recently that 2019 elections would be the last general election in India. This has not been contradicted by the BJP or Prime Minister Modi," Yechury wrote. He said it was imperative to "defeat these forces in order to save India", underlining that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Left were committed to realise this objective in the forthcoming elections. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Rio De Janeiro, March 20 : Gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks carrying uranium fuel to a nuclear power plant near the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, police said. The convoy came under attack as it drove past a community controlled by drug traffickers in Angra dos Reis, a tourist city 145 km from here, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Police escorting the convoy responded and a shootout followed. No one was injured and the convoy reached the nuclear plant 20 minutes after the attack. The uranium was being transported in armoured containers in a "natural state" and would not have offered any risk as it had the same level of radioactivity as when it is found in nature, Brazil's nuclear agency Eletronuclear said. The agency, however, said the convoy "had not been attacked by bandits" directly - it was passing from the area at a moment the shootout was happening. New Delhi, March 20 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday greeted the nation on the occasion of Holi, calling it "a celebration of spring and of our sense of fraternity". "On the occasion of the joyous festival of Holi, I convey my greetings to all fellow citizens in India and abroad," the President said in a statement. "This festival is a celebration of spring and of our sense of fraternity and mutual goodwill. May the confluence of colours bring positive energy to all our families and our shared society." Houston, March 20 : In the Instagram era you have to be photo-ready, is what Nina Garcia, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Magazine said about her meeting with Enrique Lores, HP's president imaging and printing. Someone wanted her to pose for a photograph with Lores and she had hesitated because she felt she wasn't camera ready. At HP Reinvent 2019, the company's biggest global partner event, Garcia and Lores gave details of a collaboration between them with the latter trying to find an ally for HP in print. For Garcia too, who at that time had just taken over as head of the fashion magazine, there was good reason for the collaboration. "We met looking for ways to shape things up," she said. In short, it meant HP could help Elle in having customised content for its readers by pulling data from its customer list. This was when they decided to have cover posters for readers but did not know whose poster customers would like to collect. "So right there we started being strategic," Garcia said about how the subject was chosen. The cover had to be of someone who had a fan base and a social media presence. That was how Kim Kardashian featured on the cover, which was signed by her. "This was a personalised cover from Kim. Then it was Jennifer Aniston. They were unique," she said. Lores asked her whether there could one day be a fully personalised magazine for an individual -- taking cues on content to be provided by sifting data. "That is a dream. We have incredible data from our digital site. That would be a logistical feat but this is possible," she said. Lores gifted her a blue scarf that had been produced on an HP Stitch machine. He explained later that it helped to overcome the problem of ink colour matching and provided consistency. London/New Delhi, March 20 : Fourteen months after he fled India, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi has been arrested in London in connection with a Rs 13,500 crore PNB fraud case and was sent to police custody till March 29 after being denied bail. The 48-year-old businessman was arrested from Holborn on Tuesday afternoon on behalf of Indian authorities and was produced before a judge at the Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He was denied bail and will stay in custody until the next hearing on March 29. According to informed sources, the Westminster court in its lengthy hearing observed that Nirav Modi should be kept in Metropolitan Police custody due to his involvement in fraud of high value funds and access to means of escape. The Police made the arrest seven days after the Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. The court had issued arrest warrant after UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid referred to India's extradition request for Nirav Modi. The Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Nirav Modi in July 2018 at the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The businessman's whereabouts were a mystery as he had been spotted in New York, Hong Kong and other cities. Along with his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group, Nirav Modi left the country before the CBI formally started investigating the PNB scam. The ED had on May 24 and 26 last year filed chargesheets against both men. Non-bailable warrants were also issued against them. The development came days after the The Telegraph newspaper in Britain claimed that Nirav Modi was spotted in London. He was said to be living in a three-bedroom flat, occupying half the floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, the daily reported. It claimed Nirav Modi was involved in a new diamond business, run from an office in Soho, just a few hundred yards from his apartment. The new business was incorporated in May 2018, it said. An extradition request against him had been pending before the UK authorities since September last year. The ED on February 26 attached Rs 147 crore worth of property of Nirav Modi and his associate companies in connection with the PNB case. Gurugram, March 20 : A member of a Mewati gang responsible for uprooting 30 ATMs in the first half of last year and who subsequently went underground has been arrested here, the police saod. The accused, identified as Amjad Ali, is a resident of Tawru sub-town in Nuh district. He had uprooted an HDFC ATM in Sector 53 on May 7 and since then been declared a proclaimed offender with a bounty of Rs 50,000. "We arrested Amjad from near the Gurugram civil court on Tuesday evening. The accused has confessed that he was involved in firing on police teams twice in Mewat region," Crime Branch ACP Shamsher Singh said. Police said Amjad is part of an organised gang run by one Shahid alias Advani, also a native of Tawru. The gang members were specialists in cutting open or uprooting ATMs. The gang members would tie the ATM kiosk with belts and yank it off its moorings with the help of an SUV. They would then take away the kiosk to the Aravalli range in the Mewat region to cut open the ATMs. "The gang, with seven to eight members, would roam in an SUV in Gurugram at night to located guard-less ATMs. The accused either broke the lock of the ATM or if they had the time, would use gas cutters to pry it open and take away the cash," the officer said. The gang-members did not hesitate to attack policemen or individuals if they arrived at scene. They would carry firearms and knives with them, the officer added. Besides, Amjad has also confessed the he and the other gang members were involved in loot, dacoity, vehicle thefts, tyre theft and battery thefts in Gurugram, Maneser and the Farukhnagar area. We have produced him in Gurugram civil court which granted 3 days police custody," Singh said. New Delhi, March 20 : The Modi government is bartering away "nothing less than the national sovereignty of the country" by bowing down to the US over oil imports from Iran and Venezuela, the CPI-M has said. "Becoming a strategic ally of the United States is coming with a heavy price," an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy" said. The Communist Party of India-Marxist said that the US first ordered that India should stop buying oil from Iran, forcing New Delhi to drastically cut its imports from Tehran, after it imposed unilateral sanctions on Iranian oil trade last year. "Now, the US is back to the business of coercing India to stop buying oil from Venezuela on whom it has imposed illegal sanctions. "The Modi government, after having bound itself into the strategic ties with the imperialist superpower, is unable to act in the national interests. It is proving itself to be incapable of safeguarding the energy security of the country," the editorial said. It said that the Indian stand was in stark contrast with the stand taken by China. "When the US approached China to cut oil imports from Iran last year, it was firmly rebuffed. China is the biggest importer of Iranian oil and it continues to be so." Iran was the third largest supplier of oil to India till the last quarter of 2018. Venezuela had become the third largest supplier of oil to India, replacing Iran, before the new US fiat came. "The US national security advisor, John Bolton, warned India and other countries last month against purchasing oil from Venezuela. "Subsequently, Bolton publicly stated that he had twice spoken to the Indian National Security Advisor, (Ajit) Doval, about Venezuelan oil. "That the Modi government is preparing to capitulate to the US demand is also indicated by the enigmatic response of Bolton who said that American concerns regarding India continuing to buy oil from Venezuela have been resolved." Thiruvananthapuram, March 20 : Congress Kerala unit (KPCC) chief Mullappally Ramachandran has rejected suggestions that the party's candidate selection process was severely affected by rampant infighting between the 'I' and 'A' groups. In an interview to 'Malayala Manorama', Mr. Ramachandran said that the pressures of striking a balance in seat distribution between the two factions was much less this time around as compared to previous elections. In the last assembly elections, the party had faltered owing to rampant factionalism, he said. On the confusion over naming candidates in four constituencies that did not figure in the first list announced by the party, the KPCC chief said that the dispute over the Wayanad seat had found resonance in the other three constituencies. Congress had delayed decision on candidates for Wayanad, Vadakara, Attingal, and Alappuzha constituencies reportedly after talks within the party failed to thrash out a consensus. Wayanad constituency - considered a safe seat for the party - was reportedly the bone of contention, with both factions staking claim to the seat. Mr. Ramachandran also exuded confidence that the delay in announcing its candidates would not affect the party's chances. "The congress always takes its time in naming candidates but once the list is out, the party rank and file and the candidates will function like a well-oiled machine," he said. On former KPCC chief K Muraleedharan's candidature from Vadakara, Mr. Ramachandran conceded that the revolutionary marxist party (RMP) played a hand in his nomination. "There was pressure from RMP. Muraleedharan was one of the names proposed by them. IUML leaders also insisted on fielding a strong candidate from the constituency. That's how Muraleedharan came into the picture," the KPCC chief said. RMP, which enjoys sizeable influence in certain pockets of Vadakara constituency, has vowed to support the UDF candidate purportedly in protest against the CPI(M)'s politics of murder and violence. RMP founder T P Chandrasekharan was hacked to death by CPI(M) workers in May 2012. The party had the other day threatened to withdraw support to the UDF in the event the coalition fielded a 'weak' candidate. The KPCC chief also took responsibility for the minor controversy created by the denial of seat for congress veteran K V Thomas, the incumbent Ernakulam MP. Mr. Thomas is the only sitting MP of the congress not to get a ticket this time. On K V Thomas throwing a fit over being denied a seat, Mr. Ramachandran confessed that the controversy stemmed from his failure to inform Thomas of the decision not to field him again on time. "Initially it was decided that all sitting MPs will be in the fray this time. I had communicated this to Thomas. However, the situation when changed when the CPI(M) named P Rajeeve as their candidate. Although I was still confident Thomas will win, there was concern from some quarters about his candidature," the KPCC chief said. With CPI(M) fielding Rajeeve in Ernakulam, there was reportedly clamour within the congress to field a young candidate from the constituency and hence the party settled on young MLA Hibi Eden as its candidate. British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, on Friday moved his bail plea in a Delhi court. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, March 20 : The Narendra Modi goverment has succeeded in bringing back 18 fugitive offenders, including alleged AgustaWestland deal middleman Christian Michel James, to India in the last five years and is strongly pursuing extradition cases of absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Sources said that India has been strongly articulating the issue internationally and had presented a nine-point agenda for action against fugitive economic offenders at the G-20 Leaders' Summit held at Buenos Aires last year. India has also pursued the agenda against fugitive economic offenders in various fora of the G20 like Finance and Sherpa Tracks, the Anti-Corruption Working Group and the Denial of Entry Experts Network. Here is the list of the fugitives brought to India in the last five years. 1. AgustaWestland chopper deal co-accused Rajiv Saxena was extradited from United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the end of January this year. He was extradited alongwith corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar. 2. British national Christian Michel James was extradited from UAE on December 4, 2018 in a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy for his alleged role as middleman in AgustraWestland case. 3. Mohammed Yahya, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on October 12, 2018. 4. Vinay Mittal, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on September 9, 2018. 5. Mansoor/Farooq Takla, who faces charges of involvement in terrorist activities, was extradited from UAE on March 8, 2018. 6. Marinoiu Mohd Farooq Yasin, a Romanian national, was extradited from Nicaragua on March 3, 2018 in a bank fraud case. 7. Abubakr Kadir Lonut Alexandru was extradited from Singapore on September 23, 2017 in job scam racket case. 8. Abdul Raut Merchant Mohmmad Sultan was extradited from Bangladesh on November 8, 2016 on charges of murder. 9. Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was extradited from Britain on October 19, 2016 on charges of murder, and criminal conspiracy. 10. Kumar Krushna Pillai was extradited from Singapore on June 27, 2016 in attempt to murder case. 11. Abdul Wahid Siddibapa was extradited from the UAE on May 20, 2016 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 12. Willy Naruenartwanic, a Thai national, was extradited from Thailand on December 9, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 13. Kollam Gangi Reddy was extradited from Mauritius on November 15, 2015 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and attempt to murder. 14. Anup Chetia was extradited from Bangladesh on November 11, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 15. Chhota Rajan was extradited from Indonesia on November 6, 2015 on charges of murder and kidnapping. 16. Bannaje Raja was extradited from Morocco on August 14, 2015 on charges of murder. 17. Jagtar Singh Tara was extradited from Thailand on January 16, 2015 on charges of murder. The nine point agenda presented is below. The Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, says that the member countries will explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, "including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems". The declaration, sources said, reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. The nine-point agenda for economic offenders calls for strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace of fugitive economic offenders. It seeks cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime, early return of the offenders and says efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. The other points are: "Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders." "Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to 'International Cooperation' should be fully and effectively implemented." "FATF (Financial Action Task Force) should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs." "FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders." "FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law." "Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance, etc." "G-20 Forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have a tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery." Herzliya, Israel-based impact fund Copia Agro and Food Technologies Fund raised USD 27m from institutional investors, family offices, private investors and corporates in Israel, Europe, Asia, USA and Africa. Led by Eyal Cohen, Managing Partner, Copia Agro & Food is an impact fund investing in proven technologies addressing key global challenges related to food and agriculture. Its focus is on: increasing global food security and safety; reducing environmental degradation caused by modern agriculture; and promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation. The fund cooperates with Israels leading Agri-food research institutions and universities, such as the state-owned Agricultural Research Organization (Volcani Center), Weizmann Institute of Science and leading universities, such as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Led by Ohad Zuckerman, Managing Partner, Copia screens and selects promising scientific projects within research institutes, finances the research while focusing it on specific market requirements, and partners with industrial companies to commercialize the innovations into viable products or processes for global markets. To date, the fund has created a portfolio of 13 technologies, of which seven have been incorporated with industrial partners. For example: biological control of phloem-based bacterial diseases (e.g. Citrus Greening that decimated Floridas citrus industry); a wide spectrum soil-disinfectant against noxious organisms and weeds (to replace the multi-billion Methyl Bromide market); a method to eliminate bacterial contamination of dairy products that also increases cheese production efficacy by 5-10%; a biological treatment to prolong the shelf-life of fruit and vegetables; and more. FinSMEs 20/03/2019 New Delhi, March 20 : Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, agreed on Wednesday to process any request from the Election Commission to take down content within three hours during the 48-hour period before voting days. The agreement was arrived at a meeting between the Election Commission and Internet companies as part of a "Voluntary Code of Ethics" for the staggered Lok Sabha elections starting on April 11, an official statement said. The code, voluntarily agreed upon by the participants, has been developed to ensure free, fair and ethical usage of social media platforms to maintain the integrity of the electoral process and it comes into operation with immediate effect, the Election Commission said. While the code would apply for the whole duration of model code of conduct, the portion about taking down posts would only apply for the 'silence period' -- that is the 48-hour period before voting days. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that formulation of the Code augurs a good beginning but was essentially a work in progress. He said the participants need to follow in letter and spirit the commitments made in the three-page model code document. Also taking part in the meeting were Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, and representatives of WhatsApp, Google, ShareChat and TikTok. "The platforms have committed to process any violations reported under Section 126 of Representation of People Act, 1951 within three hours as per Sinha Committee recommendations," the EC statement said. As per Section 126 of the Act, campaigning is prohibited during the 48-hour period before the voting day. The poll panel said that the online platforms also agreed to create a high priority dedicated reporting mechanism for the Commission and appoint dedicated teams for taking expeditious action on any reported violations. "Participants have also agreed to provide a mechanism for political advertisers to submit pre-certified advertisements issued by Media Certification and Monitoring Committee. The Code of Ethics also promises to facilitate transparency in paid political advertisements... Participants have also committed to voluntarily undertake voter awareness campaigns," it added. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement that it would act as the liaison between the participants and the poll panel. After the meeting, Berges Y. Malu, Policy Head of ShareChat, said the company reaffirmed its commitment and looked forward to work with the Election Commission. "We are happy to be part of this and proud to have signed the ethical code document," he said. The Election Commission (EC) had on Tuesday urged Internet companies, including social media platforms, to come up with a model code document for themselves on the lines of the model code of conduct for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as well as for the future. They, in turn, had agreed to come up with a code of ethics laying down the operational rules for the industry by Wednesday evening. Hyderabad, March 20 : With Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao eyeing a key role in national politics in the post-poll scenario, his son K. T. Rama Rao appears set to take over the mantle. Buoyed by the massive victory in the recent Assembly elections and confident of a clean sweep in the next month's Lok Sabha polls in the state, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) hopes to play a pivotal role in formation of next government at the Centre. Ever since he floated the idea of Federal Front as an alternative to both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress a year ago, KCR never tried to hide his prime ministerial ambitions, saying he will not shy away from discharging his responsibility. TRS leaders expect the regional parties will win 100-120 seats and as the leader of this new formation, KCR, shift to the national capital to play his role. Going by the way he groomed his son K. T. Rama Rao over the last five years, it left nobody in doubt that KCR will hand over the mantle to him. After the TRS retained power with the landslide victory, KCR made Rama Rao the Working President of party so that he can focus on the national politics. There have been other indications as well. KCR, who took over the as the Chief Minister for a second term on December 13, 2018, has not inducted KTR into his cabinet. He has also not allocated key portfolios, including finance, industry, information technology and urban development. Political analysts say this could be aimed at giving free hand to KTR in pick his team as and when he takes over. KTR, however, on many occasions has dismissed the talk of his taking over as the Chief Minister. He always remarked that KCR is fit enough to serve the state for another three terms. Ever since TRS formed first government in India's youngest state in 2014, KTR had emerged as the number two both in the government and the party and came to be seen as KCR's heir-apparent. Suave, soft-spoken and dynamic, KTR hogged the limelight at most of the events as KCR virtually shunned public appearances, focussing on post-bifurcation, governance and party related issues. As minister for information technology, industry and urban development, the US educated leader with IT background developed good rapport with the IT honchos and industrialists and played a key role in attracting the global investments to the state. Effectively using the social media platforms, KTR connected well with the people, especially the young. A good orator in Telugu, English, Urdu and Hindi, he has inherited many capabilities of his father. KTR also emerged stronger by leading the party to a massive victory in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections in 2016. He also led the party's campaign in and around the state capital in the Assembly elections held in December and helped the party win a majority in the Assembly. KTR gave TRS a headstart in the campaigning for Lok Sabha by urging people to elect all 16 candidates of TRS, leaving Hyderabad seat for the party's ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). He is also said to be playing a key role in wooing MLAs from main opposition Congress party. The Congress party has targeted him for allegedly engineering defections. As many as nine Congress MLAs have defected to TRS this month, dealing a huge blow to the party ahead of April 11 elections. KCR's daughter K. Kavitha is also a leader in TRS but she has had a limited role in the party. She was elected from Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Though the party is yet to announce the list of candidates, Kavitha is among five sitting MPs who were asked by KCR to start campaigning in their respective constituencies. TRS leaders say it is obvious that KTR, the only son KCR, will take over as and when the latter moves to Delhi. (Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in) New Delhi, March 20 : High-level officials from the government, the public sector banks and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here on Wednesday to discuss the future of financially-troubled Jet Airways in the backdrop of speculations that an Indian suitor is being searched to save the beleaguered carrier. Speculations have been building up ever since the airline's partner Etihad apparently refused to inject any more funds into Jet Airways, leaving just the public sector banks and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) as the only viable creditors for the airline. In fact, the Gulf carrier has expressed its wish to walk out of the venture and is said to be looking for buyers from among financial institutions. According to industry observers, a third alternative of roping in a major Indian player is also being looked at. However, the prospective names are just in the realm of speculation at present. Sources said Air India, Tata Group or SpiceJet's Ajay Singh might be among the contenders. However, Air India could not be entrusted with such a responsibility due to its own financial difficulties or even the Tata Group, which has already invested in two airline ventures -- Vistara and AirAsia India -- leaving only Singh, who has been credited with the turnaround of SpiceJet from a brink of collapse. The markets took notice of the buzz around Singh with shares of SpiceJet surging intra-day over 20 per cent to settle 16.38 per cent up at Rs 91.65 apeice on the BSE on Wednesday. Singh has served on board of the Delhi Transport Corporation in 1996. Two-years later, he joined Pramod Mahajan, then I&B minister, as an officer on special duty (OSD). He has also been credited with coining the BJP's 2014 campaign slogan, "Abki baar Modi sarkar". Speculations sprouted after the PMO on Wednesday marked its direct involvement in the matter as Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra, along with SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar and Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, met the Finance Minister to work out a revival plan through state-owned banks for the near-grounded airline. Mishra's participation in the discussion to revive an airline could be seen in the context of general elections when the government would not want job losses, airfare hikes and loss to lenders who are striving to recover non-performing assets. Meanwhile, according to a source in a bank, which too has lent to the airline, the revival plan for Jet Airways through a change in management is imminent, but details are still being worked out. The SBI Chairman nearly echoed that when asked if a new player is in the offing. "No possibility is ruled out," Kumar said. Kumar also discarded the efforts to put the airline under insolvency, saying for the service industry, resolutions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is near impossible, making it clear that Jet is not heading towards the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) anytime soon as lenders fear doing so would make it impossible to recover dues. Jet has a debt of Rs 9,000 crore to the banks. "Airline is a service industry and the IBC is the last option here as under the IBC, resolution for an airline is nearly impossible. Going to the IBC will mean grounding the airline. We have not reached the point where we can give up. The IBC is the last option in the recovery process," Kumar said. The SBI, lead lender of a consortium that extended loans to Jet, almost hinted that but for few issues the package to rescue the airline is ready. "Extensive work has been done by the lenders in the last five months. There are few issues. We will sort them out soon," Kumar said hinting at an early resolution. The SBI Chairman said all efforts should be made to keep Jet afloat. The sector needed competition as air fares have shot up because of the grounding of MAX and Jet Airways planes, he added. The lead banker also refuted any charge of being directed by the Finance Ministry to bailout Jet Airways. "No direction has come from the government. We are bankers and it is in our commercial interests. It is our duty to keep the government informed," Kumar said, adding the government is the most important stakeholder in the process. "All stakeholders, including the government, are of the view till the time all hopes are not lost, efforts should be made to keep the airline going," he said. On the reports that Etihad, a 24 per cent partner of Jet Airways, is seeking to exit the airline, Kumar said nothing conclusive has come from the foreign partner and dialogue with it is on. This comes amid reports that with a formal offer to the SBI, Etihad wants to sell the lender its Jet stake and take over its liabilities in the form of a guarantee. On an immediate basis, lenders are expected to give Rs 750 crore to Jet Airways, which would come by pledging the airline's stake in Jet Privilege with banks. Sources said the Punjab National Bank (PNB) could be the lender in question. Etihad was also to infuse Rs 1,600-1,900 crore for a stake of 24.9 per cent, just below the 25 per cent threshold to avoid an open offer. Lenders are expected to infuse Rs 1,000 crore and take 29.5 per cent stake, according to banking sources. There are reports of Naresh Goyal, founder-promoter of Jet, being in talks with Qatar Airways for a possible investment with Goyal as the minority investor, a pre-condition put forward by Etihad. The pilots' union of Jet Airways had on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if clarity on the resolution plan is not brought to their notice by March 31. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), only 41 Jet Airways aircraft are available for operation and there may be "further attrition" of flights "in the coming weeks". New Delhi, March 20 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon start the auction of 173 paintings and 11 vehicles of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi after it obtained permission from a special court in Mumbai on Wednesday. The development comes after Nirav Modi was arrested in London's Holborn on Tuesday afternoon in connection with Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case and was on Wednesday sent to Metropolitan Police custody till March 29 after being denied bail. The ED will put the 173 paintings of the 48-year-old businessman on sale which are valued at Rs 57.72 crore and eleven vehicles that include a Rolls Royce, Porsche, Mercedes and Toyota Fortuner. The auction is expected to be held on March 26. The ED has till date attached properties worth Rs 4,765 crore of Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group. Both left India days before the case came to light in January 2018. The court has also issued a non-bailable warrant against his wife Ami Modi, a US national, for being the beneficiary of alleged purchase of two apartments at Central Park in New York using $30 million laundered money, which her husband had obtained fraudulently from thee PNB through Letters of Undertaking (LoU) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs). The ED recently filed a supplementary charge sheet against Ami. The court also allowed the Income Tax Department to sell another 68 paintings seized by it as part of its separate probe against the absconding diamantaire. Nirav Modi's extradition proceedings are likely to start soon. Nirav Modi and Choksi are under probe by both the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The ED filed money laundering cases against them and others on February 15, 2018 on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI. Varanasi/Chandauli/Mirzapur, March 20 : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for describing the arrest of absconding PNB fraud case accused Nirav Modi in London as an achievement, asking who let him flee. "Is it an achievement? Who let them escape from the country?" she told media in Chandauli after visiting the family of Awadhesh Yadav, one of the 40 CRPF troopers killed in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. She said that her visit was not political. "...I had spoken to the father of the trooper some days after the attack. He had said to me that 'you people come as we want to meet you'. Thus I had come. My visit to his house is not connected to politics." In the last leg of her three-day, 140-km-long poll campaign on the Ganga river from Prayagraj to Varanasi on a special motorboat, Gandhi, the Congress in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, also met the family members of CRPF troopers Vishal Pandey and Ramesh Yadav who were also among the killed. Asked about her river ride campaign, she said, "It felt nice. And I feel that the organisation will be strengthened here and people will come to know that we believe in strong and new kind of politics." Asked when she is planning to kick off the second part of her Lok Sabha campaign, she said it will be "soon after Holi". Before going to Chandauli, Gandhi offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi - Modi's the Lok Sabha constituency - for over half an hour. It was her fourth temple visit since March 18, when she kicked off her river ride from Prayagraj. On Monday, she visited the famous Hanuman Mandir in Prayagraj, followed by trips to the Sita Samahit Sthal temple in Bhadohi's Sitamarhi and the Vindhyavashini temple in Vindhyachal on the second day of her campaign. She also offered a chadar at Kantit Sharif dargah on Tuesday. She had arrived at the Vishwanath temple after deboarding from the motorboat at Dashavamedh ghat in Varanasi. Reaching Ramnagar village, the ancestral village of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, in Varanasi via road from Chunar in Mirzapur, where she had made a night halt on Tuesday, Gandhi then went by boat to Assi ghat where she held discussions with the fishermen community. She also paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Shastri Chowk and visited his residence. A minor scuffle broke out between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party workers after the latter raised pro-Modi slogans. Gandhi later condemned the violence. "When I was coming to Varanasi, few people raised slogans for the BJP... then people slapped them. We don't believe in such kind of politics. The Congress workers had been beaten by the Britishers. We took all the pain and didn't raise our hand (in return) but only tried to bring the truth," she said. She also accused Modi of not fulfilling any of the eight promises made to the people of the city, citing the BJP's manifesto for Varanasi in 2014. "This politics of advertisements is easy and it can be done by anyone," she said. Gandhi, before leaving Chunar in the morning, had also accused the BJP of systematically attacking every democratic institution in the country and advised the Prime Minister to "stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all his antics". She also said that she was not afraid. "Even if anything is done, and we are harassed, we will not feel afraid. We will continue our fight against them. The more we are harassed, the stronger will be our fight," she said. Gandhi, who was followed by Congress workers raising slogans like "Gali gali me shor hai, chowkidar chor hai" and "Dahan karne Modi ki Lanka, aa gai behen Priyanka", also seem to have struck a chord with locals, many of whom who pointed out her resemblance to her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sanjay Kumar said, "Her arrival augurs a change. People are looking for a new ideology. Now people want to get away from the politics of temple and mosque." "We have felt helpless in the last five years, we feel cheated by the government," he added. Shahnawaz told IANS, "The BJP has not lived up to our expectations. We see a hope in Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress." (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in) New Delhi, March 20 : In a veiled attack on opposition parties for raising questions over the Indian Air Force's (IAF) targeted strike against terrorists in Balakot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday the attack took place in Pakistan but the trouble was felt in India by the "tukde-tukde gang." Interacting with around 25 lakh security guards via audio bridge technology, as part of his campaign "Mai Bhi Chowkidar" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Modi hit out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his "Chowkidar Chor Hai" (watchman is the thief) jibe, saying some people in the last few months have run a disinformation campaign against "chowkidars" for their "vested interests". "The country is taken aback by the opposition parties's attitude. Those who support the 'tukde-tukde gang' are not able to digest that our forces dropped bombs in Pakistan. Bomb was dropped in Pakistan, Pakistanis got hurt but they are shouting here in Hindustan," the Prime Minister said. "Vaar Pakistan par hua aur bimar koi Hindustan me hua (the attack took place in Pakistan, but pain was felt in India by some). We need to identify such people," he said. Modi said the entire nation was proud of the armed forces and their strong decisive action against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF troopers on February 14. "The nation will never forgive the opposition parties for their misinformation campaign," he said, adding the words of opposition members here are being heard in radio and published in newspapers there (Pakistan), even in their Parliament. The Prime Minister slammed the opposition, specially the Congress, for defaming the watchmen with their "Chowkidar Chor Hai" slogan and raised apprehensions that the opposition parties would continue with their misinformation campaign to target him. "I want to apologise as some people in the last few months have been abusing watchmen by saying 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' for their vested interests. By doing this, they have questioned the dedication and honesty of 'chowkidars'," Modi said. "If he (Rahul) abused me by taking my name, it could not have caused damage to you. But he doesn't have the courage to do so. It's unfortunate that such abuses by the opposition are hurting you. They are not going to stop here. They will try to find new ways to defame the chowkidar," he said. The Prime Minister said this was not for the first time that he was abused. "This has been in the nature of 'naamdars'. It is the habbit of 'naamdars' to spread hatred against 'kamdars' as they can't accept them," he said, adding the country was proud of chowkidars. Modi said he was not deterred by the abuses of the opposition, which he converted into appreciations. "I turn every abuse into ornament," he said urging the security guards to not be afraid of anyone. Wishing them a happy and colourful Holi, the Prime Minister said chowkidars played an important role in making the colours look beautiful. Saluting the exceptional work done by them, Modi said he was proud to celebrate Holi with them. Every Indian was now saying "I am also a chowkidar," he added. Modi said watchmen were inspiring everyone to fight all kinds of evils in the country, and urged everyone to keep a chowkidar alive inside them. During the interaction, the Prime Minister also mentioned the various reforms initiated by the government for the welfare of the poor such as the Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana and Jan Dhan Yojana. New Delhi, March 20 : India on Wednesday Awelcomed the arrest of bank fraud accused Nirav Modi in London and said it continues to actively follow up the matter with British authorities concerned to extradite him at the earliest. "With a view to have Nirav Modi extradited to India at the earliest, the Government of India continues to actively follow up this matter with the authorities concerned in the UK," an official spokesperson said in response to media queries regarding the arrest of Nirav Modi. His arrest came days after a London court issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a request by the Enforcement Directorate for his extradition in a money laundering case. "We welcome the fact that Nirav Modi has been arrested by the United Kingdom authorities pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Westminster Magistrate Court," the spokesman said. New Delhi, March 20 : India's domestic air passenger traffic growth slowed further in February owing to high air fares even as airlines continued to cancel flights due to various reasons. According to industry observers, seasonal factors too contributed to the slowing of growth rate in February at 5.62 per cent to 1.13 crore. In January, the number of passengers flown by domestic airlines grew at 9.10 per cent on the year-on-year basis, while in December 2018 it increased by 11.03 per cent. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, January-February 2019 passenger traffic grew to 2.38 crore from 2.22 crore reported for the corresponding period of the previous year. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-February 2019 were 238.56 lakh as against 222.09 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering a growth of 7.42 per cent," the DGCA said in its monthly domestic traffic report here on Wednesday. According to the data, low-cost carrier SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor (PLF) -- a measure of capacity utilisation of an airline -- at 94 per cent, followed by GoAir at 92.6 per cent, AirAsia India at 91.8 per cent, Vistara at 89.1 per cent and IndiGo at 88.4 per cent. Kolkata, March 20 : The Election Commission on Wednesday slapped showcause notices on Trinamool Congress leaders Jitendra Kumar Tiwari and Anubrata Mondal, following the BJP's complaint against the duo and two state ministers from the ruling party for violation of the model code of conduct. Earlier in the day, the BJP had lodged a complaint with the poll panel accusing the Trinamool leaders including state ministers Firhad Hakim and Rabindranath Ghosh of "intimidation" and resorting to "malafide campaigning" against the EC to derail its intention for holding free and fair polls. In West Bardhaman district, Asansol Mayor and Trinamool MLA Tiwari had announced monetary benefits for his councillors for ensuring a lead for party candidates in their municipal wards while Mondal, the party's President in Birbhum district, had advocated violence obliquely, the BJP said in its complaint signed by state Vice President Jay Prakash Majumdar. "We have asked for a factual report in all for cases. The DEO of Birbhum and West Bardhaman districts have already given a show cause notice," Additional Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Sanjay Basu told reporters. The BJP also complained that Hakim, also the Kolkata Mayor, had in a television interview said that the central police forces would be there for only a few days and "afterwards the state law and order would be looked after by the state police". "The tone and tenor of his statement was nothing but a veiled threat to the voters to create an atmosphere of fear," Majumdar said in his complaint. About Ghosh, Majumdar alleged that the minister had made an "inciting" speech against the central forces, and "encouraged party workers to rig the poll". Basu said, "Once all the reports come from the respective DEOs, action will be taken as per the Commission's rule." He said that they were "still waiting" for BJP MP Babul Supriyo to "give the reply to the show cause notice" served on him by the commission. The Election Commission on Tuesday sent the notice to Supriyo for failing to seek required permission before releasing videos of his party theme song for Bengal on social media. Sharing the details of 'c-Vigil App', Basu said, "As many as 1,268 complaints have been registered so far, out of which 789 have been resolved." Also, 1,151 complaints were received via the EC's National Grievance Services (NGS) portal and 436 of them have been resolved, he added. He also said that a cumulative seizure of cash amounting of over Rs 70 lakh and fake Indian currency notes (FICN) of face value Rs 2.5 lakh have been made by police and Election Commission officials across the state. As many as 96 weapons, 293 rounds of ammunition, 46 bombs, 18,200 kg of ammonium nitrate, 333.23 kg ganja, 1,162.6 litres of country spirit, 7,684.73 litres of illicit liquor and other items have also been seized. Kolkata, March 20 : The Left Front on Wednesday announced its candidates for two of the four Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal it had so far left for the Congress, as chances of a seat adjustment between the two parties receded further. Zulfiqar Ali would be the candidate from Jangipur, and Biswanath Ghosh from Malda North, LF chairman Biman Bose said in a statement. Both nominees are from LF spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist. The Congress had won both the seats in the 2014 general elections. Two other constituencies held by Congress-- Malda South and Baharampur - have still been left vacant by the Left. "In a bid to consolidate the anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool votes in the state in the 2019 General Elections, a seat adjustment between the Left and the Congress was proposed, but it did not work out in any way. Congress' decision to field candidates in the two seats held by the Left created complexities in seat adjustment," Bose said in a release. Bose was apparently refering to the Raiganj and Murshidabad seats, that were won by the LF in 2014. The Congress has nominated former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi as its candidate for Raiganj and Abu Hena for Murshidabad. However, Bose said the LF would reconsider its decision to put up candidates in Malda North and Jangiour if the Congress withdrew candidates from Raiganj and Murshidabad. "We have fielded candidates in Murshidabad's Jangipur and Malda district's Malda North seats today. However, as per previous understanding with the Congress, if they decide to withdraw the candidates from the two seats won by Left in 2014, we would consider the matter with a positive outlook," he said. Invl Asset Management, a Lithuania-based asset management firm, completed the first closing of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, at 106m. The closed-end private equity fund, intended for professional investors, was supported by the European Investment Fund (EIF), Estonias LHV pension funds, INVL pension funds and other financial and private investors. The EIF, part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, which has committed to invest 30m, is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). It is committing ressources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a Fund-of-Fund initiative launched with the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in order to boost equity investments made into Baltic small and medium businesses with high growth potential. The second and final closing of the fund led by Deimante Korsakaite, is scheduled in 2019, with the intention of reaching a target size of 200m. The portfolio of INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund will comprise of 8-12 investments. The fund seeks to invest in medium-size companies with an attractive risk-return profile, providing them with capital for further growth. In its investments, the vehicle will focus on controlling or significant minority stakes and will play an active role in the management of target companies, aiming to significantly increase their value over the long term. The fund will make investments of 10 million to 30 million (or larger amounts with co-investors) in mature companies that can compete on global markets and have big potential for growth in value. Emphasis will be on transactions bigger than those that private equity players in the Baltic countries undertake, but smaller than those that interest the largest international private equity and strategic investors. The fund will seek to form a diversified portfolio of the Baltic Sea region companies and will focus on growth capital, buyout, and buy and build investments. The foreseen life is 10 years from the initial closing. FinSMEs 20/03/2019 Buenos Aires, March 20 : The world needs to harness the power of exchanges between countries in the Global South if it is to reduce poverty and malnutrition while rising to the challenges posed by population growth and climate change, the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development said on Wednesday. "South-South and Triangular Cooperation has an important role to play in delivering and accelerating rural solutions to improve food and nutrition security -- not least because many countries of the Global South share similar climatic, environmental and economic features with each other. "As a result, rural innovations and technologies developed in the South can be adapted to other countries of the South much more easily and appropriately than those designed in the North, for the North," IFAD Vice-President Cornelia Richter said in her address to delegates at the Second High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation here. Forty years after the Buenos Aires Plan of Action in 1978, world leaders convened again in Argentina's capital this week to discuss how to shape a sustainable future by sharing knowledge, technology and expertise, enhancing trade and investments, and learning from each other's experience. The steady rise of the Global South in recent decades in terms of population size, economic outputs and political weight, has triggered a proportionate increase in the importance of SSTC. But at the same time, the challenges have also increased. Today, nearly 821 million people are chronically undernourished; mainly in the developing countries, according to the UN. "The enormous potential for SSTC in agriculture, food production and rural development must be exploited to a much greater extent than it is today so that the world, in particular developing countries, can adequately meet the challenges of the future," Richter said. IFAD has a special role to play by embedding cross-country technological and knowledge exchange into its projects and programmes, but developing countries can also co-finance initiatives in other developing countrie, she argued. "We are identifying such opportunities to apply SSTC more systematically," she said. While SSTC primarily entailed sharing technical expertise, knowledge and skills about issues such as livestock, health, food processing and efficient water use, technical cooperation also includes dialogue on regional policy coordination and other government actions that are crucial to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to IFAD. IFAD said it promotes SSTC as a key mechanism for delivering relevant, targeted and cost-effective development solutions and other resources to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and poor rural people. During the conference, the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, IFAD and the World Food Programme hosted a series of events to promote dialogue and to identify action to pave the way for a food-secure future. British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, on Friday moved his bail plea in a Delhi court. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, March 20 : The Narendra Modi goverment has succeeded in bringing back 18 fugitive offenders, including alleged AgustaWestland deal middleman Christian Michel James, to India in the last five years and is strongly pursuing extradition cases of absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi and liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Sources said that India has been strongly articulating the issue internationally and had presented a nine-point agenda for action against fugitive economic offenders at the G-20 Leaders' Summit held at Buenos Aires last year. India has also pursued the agenda against fugitive economic offenders in various fora of the G20 like Finance and Sherpa Tracks, the Anti-Corruption Working Group and the Denial of Entry Experts Network. Here is the list of the fugitives brought to India in the last five years. 1. AgustaWestland chopper deal co-accused Rajiv Saxena was extradited from United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the end of January this year. He was extradited alongwith corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar. 2. British national Christian Michel James was extradited from UAE on December 4, 2018 in a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy for his alleged role as middleman in AgustraWestland case. 3. Mohammed Yahya, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on October 12, 2018. 4. Vinay Mittal, who faces cases of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, was extradited from Indonesia on September 9, 2018. 5. Mansoor/Farooq Takla, who faces charges of involvement in terrorist activities, was extradited from UAE on March 8, 2018. 6. Marinoiu Mohd Farooq Yasin, a Romanian national, was extradited from Nicaragua on March 3, 2018 in a bank fraud case. 7. Abubakr Kadir Lonut Alexandru was extradited from Singapore on September 23, 2017 in job scam racket case. 8. Abdul Raut Merchant Mohmmad Sultan was extradited from Bangladesh on November 8, 2016 on charges of murder. 9. Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel was extradited from Britain on October 19, 2016 on charges of murder, and criminal conspiracy. 10. Kumar Krushna Pillai was extradited from Singapore on June 27, 2016 in attempt to murder case. 11. Abdul Wahid Siddibapa was extradited from the UAE on May 20, 2016 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 12. Willy Naruenartwanic, a Thai national, was extradited from Thailand on December 9, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 13. Kollam Gangi Reddy was extradited from Mauritius on November 15, 2015 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and attempt to murder. 14. Anup Chetia was extradited from Bangladesh on November 11, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 15. Chhota Rajan was extradited from Indonesia on November 6, 2015 on charges of murder and kidnapping. 16. Bannaje Raja was extradited from Morocco on August 14, 2015 on charges of murder. 17. Jagtar Singh Tara was extradited from Thailand on January 16, 2015 on charges of murder. The nine point agenda presented is below. The Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, says that the member countries will explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, "including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems". The declaration, sources said, reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. The nine-point agenda for economic offenders calls for strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace of fugitive economic offenders. It seeks cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime, early return of the offenders and says efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. The other points are: "Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders." "Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to 'International Cooperation' should be fully and effectively implemented." "FATF (Financial Action Task Force) should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs." "FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders." "FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law." "Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing syst from Singapore on June 27, 2016 in attempt to murder case. 11. Abdul Wahid Siddibapa was extradited from the UAE on May 20, 2016 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 12. Willy Naruenartwanic, a Thai national, was extradited from Thailand on December 9, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 13. Kollam Gangi Reddy was extradited from Mauritius on November 15, 2015 on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and attempt to murder. 14. Anup Chetia was extradited from Bangladesh on November 11, 2015 for waging or attempt to wage war against India. 15. Chhota Rajan was extradited from Indonesia on November 6, 2015 on charges of murder and kidnapping. 16. Bannaje Raja was extradited from Morocco on August 14, 2015 on charges of murder. 17. Jagtar Singh Tara was extradited from Thailand on January 16, 2015 on charges of murder. The nine point agenda presented is below. The Leaders' Declaration, adopted at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit, says that the member countries will explore the links between corruption and other economic crimes and ways to tackle them, "including through cooperation on the return of persons sought for such offences and stolen assets, consistent with international obligations and domestic legal systems". The declaration, sources said, reflects the will exhibited by the G20 members to tackle the issue of return of persons sought for economic offences and stolen assets through international cooperation. The nine-point agenda for economic offenders calls for strong and active cooperation across G-20 countries to deal comprehensively and efficiently with the menace of fugitive economic offenders. It seeks cooperation in the legal processes such as effective freezing of the proceeds of crime, early return of the offenders and says efficient repatriation of the proceeds of crime should be enhanced and streamlined. The other points are: "Joint effort by G-20 countries to form a mechanism that denies entry and safe havens to all fugitive economic offenders." "Principles of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNOTC), especially related to 'International Cooperation' should be fully and effectively implemented." "FATF (Financial Action Task Force) should be called upon to assign priority and focus to establishing international co-operation that leads to timely and comprehensive exchange of information between the competent authorities and FIUs." "FATF should be tasked to formulate a standard definition of fugitive economic offenders." "FATF should also develop a set of commonly agreed and standardized procedures related to identification, extradition and judicial proceedings for dealing with fugitive economic offenders to provide guidance and assistance to G-20 countries, subject to their domestic law." "Common platform should be set up for sharing experiences and best practices including successful cases of extradition, gaps in existing systems of extradition and legal assistance, etc." "G-20 Forum should consider initiating work on locating properties of economic offenders who have a tax debt in the country of their residence for its recovery." Kolkata, March 20 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday refused to give any credit to the Narendra Modi-led government for the arrest of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi in London and termed it a "got-up match". "This is a ploy of the BJP. The credit must go to the London Telegraph journalist who exposed Nirav Modi. It is a got-up match. No credit goes to the BJP government," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat, Nabanna. Calling the businessman's arrest a "strike" by the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool Congress supremo said there will be a number of such "strikes" by the Centre during the general elections. "You will see many such 'strikes' during the time of elections. You have seen a strike on Nirav Modi. There will be two-three similar strikes. All these are made up like a film script. They (Centre) have done this intentionally," she said. "You (the Centre) cannot see where he is hiding. Now a journalist is giving you information about where he is staying. Don't we know what is going on behind the curtains? It has been exposed that the main thief is behind the curtain," Banerjee said, making a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Banerjee said the BJP government's ploys would not yield much benefit as its "expiry date" was already over. "This government has no credibility. I have said before that its expiry date is already over. We do not need their 'medicines'. We do not consume medicines that have passed their expiry dates," she said. "I do not give them any credit. There is another man. I do not want to mention his name. He is also there. They are not Indian citizens now. There are so many people with a lot of property," she alleged. Taking a swipe at Modi for calling himself the "chowkidar" (watchman) of the country, Banerjee said it was more important to be loyal to the nation and maintain peace than turning oneself from a "chai-wala to chowkidar". Fourteen months after he fled India, Nirav Modi was on Wednesday arrested in London on charges of defrauding on a huge loan taken from the Punjab National Bank (PNB), official sources said. The police made the arrest seven days after the London Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against the businessman, who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. Kolkata, March 20 : Questioning the content of the show-cause notice sent by the Election Commission to Union Minister Babul Supriyo on a campaign song, the BJP on Wednesday alleged pro-Trinamool Congress officers were deployed in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal. "We have asked the CEO whether the letter was drafted in his office or Trinamool's office. Babul Supriyo will reply to the show cause notice by tomorrow (Thursday). The CEO, in his letter, admitted that the video was related to the making of a video song," BJP leader Jay Prakash Majumder told reporters. Advertisements for campaign of any political party are required to be pre-certified by the Commission before uploading it on social media or transmitting it on any audio-visual media The Election Commission on Tuesday slapped a show-cause notice on Supriyo for not seeking permission before releasing a video of his party's campaign song for Bengal on the social media. "We have asked the Commission whether the video song was found to be promoted or advertised in any social media platforms. Whether it was released and transmitted in advertising forms," he asked. BJP leaders said that media coverage of recording of the campaign song was uploaded by some enthusiasts and it became viral. "The Commission should show cause the persons who had drafted the letter. Some pro-Trinamool officers are deployed in the CEO's office," Majumder alleged. Supriyo also accused West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of maligning the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). "They are accusing the CRPF because they are not confident of winning the election if it is conducted in a free and fair manner," he said. According to Majumder, Trinamool lodged a complaint before the Election Commission against the CRPF for talking to people. "They should welcome them. Why are they afraid of free and fair elections? We have urged the Commission to ensure free and fair elections." Asked why the BJP was delaying announcement of candidates' list, Supriyo said, "We have 84 extraordinary candidates for 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal. Sometime, it takes time to take any decision. BJP is a national party and it is not a regional party like Trinamool Congress.The central ledership will finalise candidates by tonight or by tomorrow." Asked about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's comment on Ram Mandir, he said, "There are cases pending before the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly said we will wait for the Supreme Court's verdict. She perhaps made this comment as a Trinamool leader and if she respects the chair of West Bengal Chief Minister, she should not make such comments." Banerjee on Tuesday said while they (the Modi government) could not even construct one Ram temple, her government has spruced up the pilgrimage spots as part of its development programmes. New Delhi, March 20 : The government on Wednesday said it was working with the airlines to increase capacity across sectors to keep a check on spiralling air fares. "To ensure passenger convenience, stable operations and affordable fares, MoCA is working with airlines to provide sufficient capacity across the entire network. We continue to monitor safety and compliance on a daily basis," the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) tweeted. "All airlines are required to follow the Passenger Charter requirements fully and comprehensively. Any complaints may be registered with the AirSewa portal," it said. The development has come after a meeting between the Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola and airlines' representatives. On Tuesday, a similar meeting was held between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the airlines. A senior DGCA official said on Tuesday the government did not issue a directive, but advised the airlines to increase capacity and keep fares under check. The regulator is undertaking sector-specific reviews on price hike. The government has advised the domestic airlines not to go for predatory fare pricing as several 737-MAX aircraft were grounded due to safety reasons in the wake of a plane crash in Ethiopia. India suspended operations and overflight permission for all Boeing 737-MAX aircraft from 4 p.m. on March 13. In India, SpiceJet (12) and Jet Airways (5) together operated 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft. Since March 14, passengers have faced the prospect of high fares and fewer choices as several airlines cancelled operations for a number of reasons, including grounding of Boeing 737-MAX aircraft. According to industry insiders, with no short-term relief in sight, some sectors will continue to see a rise of more than 100 per cent in case of last minute bookings. A part of Jet Airways' fleet has already been grounded due to other reasons. Facing financial crunch, Jet has grounded over 40 aircraft over non-payment of dues. The Jet Airways Group operates a fleet of 123 aircraft. Several other planes have been grounded due to a host of reasons, including lack of spare parts. Budget carrier IndiGo is going through massive turbulence on account of pilot shortage, leading to a truncated flight schedule. The airline said earlier 30 of its flights have been affected. It has decided to curtail its schedule till March 31 by about 30 flights a day. For sometime now, Air India grounded 17 aircraft due to technical reasons. The national carrier has also cancelled several international flights on account of low passenger yields. The airline said six international flights from Delhi to places like Birmingham and Madrid have been cancelled. Rome, March 20 : Italian authorities "continue to follow" the case of 23-year-old Italian aid worker Silvia Romano, who was kidnapped in southern Kenya in November "but haven't yet got to the bottom of it", Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday. "We are following the case," Conte told a group of students during a meeting with them at Rome's private Luiss university. "There was a moment when we seemed close to solving it. But unfortunately, we haven't yet got to the bottom of it," he added. The search for Romano took a new twist last month after Kenyan media reports cited police as saying they believed she was involved in the lucrative ivory trafficking business and may have been abducted after she failed to pay for ivory pieces supplied to her by one of the suspected kidnappers. Romano was seized from her accommodation in an armed attack on November 20 in a coastal area of Kilifi County, 80 km from Malindi. She was working as a volunteer for the Africa Milele NGO based in Torno in Italy's eastern March region. Initial lines of enquiry followed by Kenyan investigators included Roman's kidnapping by a local gang aiming to get a ransom for her release or by militants from Islamist militant group al-Shabab. President Sergio Mattarella mentioned Romano in a Christmas address, saying the country hoped she would be returning home "soon" and that volunteers like her were "a source of pride for Italy". Kolkata, March 21 : Slamming the Congress after the arrest of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, Union Minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo on Wednesday said that some corrupt businessmen fled the country because they knew the "chowkidar" is in power and that no UPA leaders would be able to save them. "Congress has been asking why did Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi flee India. They fled the country because they knew 'chowkidar' is there at the Centre and they do not have UPA leaders or big heads of UPA to save them," he told reporters here. Fourteen months after he fled India, Nirav Modi was arrested in London on Wednesday in connection with a Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case and was sent to police custody till March 29 after being denied bail. The 48-year-old businessman was arrested from Holborn on the behalf of Indian authorities and was produced before a judge at the Westminster Magistrates Court. The Police made the arrest seven days after the Westminster Court issued an arrest warrant against Nirav Modi, who left India days before the scam came to light in January 2018. Supriyo, the Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise, said that untrue comments were being made by some Congress and opposition leaders. Supriyo also alleged that Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi secured their loans in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime and accused former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of facilitating the process through which loans were availed by the fugitive businessmen. He also attacked Congress President Rahul Gandhi for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal. "Rahul Gandhi utters lies and all the lies are being exposed. He made false allegations. He thinks that the premise of his entire political campaign can be based on repeated lies, which will turn into truth one fine morning. But that is not happening. We are all chowkidars now," Supriyo said. Taunting the opposition alliance, he said that "corrupt leaders" were getting together for malafide intentions." Rome, March 21 : Italy's populist Premier Giuseppe Conte will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping here on Saturday during the latter's visit to Italy aimed at boosting economic and political ties, it was announced on Wednesday. A ceremony to mark the signing of a series of accords will be attended by Italian ministers and their Chinese counterparts after a handshake in front of the cameras by Conte and Xi, Conte's office said in a statement. According to diplomatic protocol, there will be no joint press declarations after the ceremony, the statement noted. Xi is on a trip to Italy, Monte Carlo and France from Thursday till Tuesday with delegation containing over 500 people, while a further 300 Chinese representatives will take part in a joint business, culture and overseas investment forum in Rome during his visit. In an article published in leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera on the eve of his visit to Italy - the eurozone's third largest economy - Xi said China was ready to strengthen its "global strategic partnership" with Italy and enter "a new era" of bilateral relations. Climate change, including cooperation within multilateral organisations, notably the United Nations, the G20, the ASEM and the WTO were areas where China and Italy were eyeing closer cooperation, Xi said. Ports, shipping, telecoms and pharmaceuticals were areas where Italy and China could develop cooperation projects, also in third countries, he said. Italy's government plans to sign a preliminary accord on China's new Silk Road - the Belt and Road initiative, a multi-billion-dollar plan that includes rail, road and port projects during Xi's visit to Rome, Conte said last week. The BRI accord will lift Italy's exports while safeguarding its strategic assets, Conte claimed. Although the government says the accord carries no binding obligations and does not signal wider cooperation between Beijing and Rome, it has alarmed the US and European Union partners, who are wary of China's ambitions. Bhopal, March 21 : A dreaded woman Maoist leader accused in the murder of Madhya Pradesh minister Likhiram Kawre in 1999 has been gunned down in Chhattisgarh, police said. Jamuna, 45, carried a reward of Rs 18.50 lakh. She was killed at Bhave in Chhattisgarh in an encounter with the security forces, a police statement said on Wednesday. Kawre, then Madhya Pradesh Transport Minister, was killed by the Maoists on December 16, 1999. London, March 21 : British Prime Minister Theresa May has told the public she is "on their side", laying the blame for the delay to Brexit squarely with MPs. Speaking from Downing Street, May said people were "tired of infighting and political games" and it was "high time" politicians made a decision on the next steps, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Earlier, May wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk requesting to delay Brexit until June 30. She said the postponement was a "matter of great personal regret". The Prime Minister reiterated she would not be willing to extend Brexit any further than that date -- despite appeals from some MPs for a longer extension to give time for a change in direction. The UK is set to leave the EU next Friday, on March 29, unless the law is changed. All other 27 EU members would have to agree any extension beyond that date. Tusk said he believed the EU would agree to a short extension, but only if the withdrawal deal negotiated by Theresa May is signed off by MPs next week. It has already been overwhelmingly rejected twice. In her statement, May said: "Of this I am absolutely sure. You the public have had enough. "You are tired of the infighting, tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side." She said it was "now time for MPs to decide" whether they wanted to leave with her deal, no deal or whether they chose not to leave at all - the latter she warned could cause "irreparable damage to public trust" in politicians. "So far Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice," said May. "Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without Parliament ever deciding what it wants. All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want." She made a final appeal to MPs to back her deal and told the public: "You just want us to get on with it and that is what I am determined to do." IPlytics, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered patent analytics software platform, received several million euros in venture capital round. The round was led by eCAPITAL, with participation from High-Tech Grunderfonds. The company intends to use the funds to for the further technical development of the software as well as the expansion of sales into international markets, in particular USA, Korea and Japan. Led by founder and CEO Tim Pohlmann, IPlytics offers an online-based market intelligence tool to analyze technology trends, market developments and a companys competitive position. The SaaS-based tool empowers its users to analyze technology landscapes, market developments and a companys competitive position for any industry. IPlytics Platform integrates multiple data sources and intelligent search algorithms to provide a mapping of e.g. patents to technology standards, products or M&A deals. The tool allows companies to make the right R&D investment decisions by providing actionable insights on relevant Intellectual Property (IP) assets. Currently, it integrates over 80 million patent documents, 60 million scientific publications, 3 million company information and 2 million standard documents in its analyses. Customers include Volkswagen, Audi, Daimler, Fraunhofer, Intel, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Panasonic, Canon, LG and Huawei. FinSMEs 21/03/2019 The film director behind Mad Max and Babe, George Miller, has secured $19.8 million for the historic art deco The Metro theatre in Sydney's Potts Point which was listed with $20 million plus hopes. ASX-listed Abacus Property Group has emerged as the buyer of one of Sydney's oldest cinemas, the historic Metro Theatre in Potts Point, but have not revealed their intentions. Local residents had hoped it would be bought by the Sydney City Council, but Clover Moore ruled out the acquisition amid her battle with rival councillors who'd advocated the move. It has been Miller's headquarters for more than three decades, but now redundant given his relocation to Fox Studios. It was built in 1939 as The Minerva Theatre opening with a production of Idiot's Delight. Sam Hood took photos. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the building in 1950 and converted to a movie theatre, renaming it the Metro Cinema with stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton attending premieres. Then as a theatre it hosted performances including the 1970s musical Hair by Harry M. Miller. The 2300-square-metre property at 30 Orwell Street was on the market for the first time in 35 years, but had been available for lease. Miller had struggled with maximising its usage and potential in recent years, with various concepts floated but not implemented. He was seeking $25 million plus at one stage for its sale. In 2018, Liberal councillor Christine Forster put a motion to the council to buy the property as a town hall, similar to those in Glebe and Balmain, and could be used for film festivals, as a theatre, arts venue, function centre, bike hub, local museum and for exhibitions and meetings. The Metro represents a huge opportunity for the local community as it has so much heritage value and is so important to the area, she said. Theres a precedent too for something like this, when we spent $15 million on buying the Tabernacle in Darlinghurst and converted it into the Eternity Playhouse. It would be terrific to put it into public hands for community use. Team Clover, comprising of councillors Jess, Scully, Philip Thalis, Robert Kok and Jess Miller voted against an outright purchase of the Metro. Previously a spokesperson for the Lord Mayor had advised after corresponding with the local community late last year, Lord Mayor Clover Moore forwarded the suggestion that the City of Sydney should purchase the Metro Theatre in Potts Point to City staff for consideration. Councillor Jess Scully, from Team Clover, sent an email to a local resident passing the buck for any purchase to the State Government. City Hub reported she said the Metro Theatre should also be considered within the broader context of the NSW Government cultural infrastructure strategy. The local resident Warren Fahey noted at the time that "we do feel the City has turned its back on us" with Potts Point a "disenfranchised part of the City of Sydney". ASIC has successfully sought orders from the Federal Court to wind up the highly solvent Melbourne-based company Aviation 3030 Pty Ltd on the basis that there is a justifiable lack of confidence in the management of Aviation by its directors. Aviations primary asset is property located at 756 Aviation Rd, Point Cook, which it purchased for $7.8 million in 2011 with a view to rezoning the property to increase its value. In ordering that Aviation be wound up, Justice OCallaghan stated the case that ASIC makes to wind up Aviation is an overwhelming one. "Directors have issued to themselves and to their associates large numbers of shares at a gross undervalue; they have fabricated correspondence and invoices; they have provided false instructions to the companys external solicitors; they duped and misled investors; they entered into related party loans; and they made unauthorised and exorbitant expenditures. "The audacity of the March 2016 share issue alone could well be enough to warrant a winding up order, but it is not necessary to decide the case on that sole basis because of the many and varied ways that the directors have demonstrated that they are unfit to sit on the board of Aviation." ASICs winding up application was opposed at trial by Aviation and its two majority shareholders (which were companies associated with the directors of Aviation) to which 63% of Aviations share capital was issued in March 2016. ASICs application was supported, however, by a group of 12 minority investors who were granted leave to intervene in the proceeding. The Federal Court also ordered the winding up of an unregistered managed investment scheme operated by Aviation through five separate trusts, as well as their trustee companies, which were also used to raise funds for the Aviation scheme. John Lindholm and George Georges of Ferrier Hodgson were appointed as joint and several liquidators of Aviation, the Aviation scheme and associated entities. The orders have been stayed for seven days to allow the defendants to consider an appeal. ASIC Commissioner John Price said the orders made by the Court will allow an orderly and lawful winding up of the companies and the investment scheme they have operated and will place the future process of distribution of funds to investors into independent hands. To facilitate the purchase and rezoning of the property, Aviation raised around $10.59 million from approximately 73 shareholders and unit holders. Many investors in the trusts paid significantly less than $500,000 for their units, and were therefore retail clients rather than sophisticated investors. In 2011 Aviation had entered into an agreement with auDirect Property Group Pty Ltd to provide project management services in relation to the Aviation land, for an annual fee of $120,000, plus reimbursement of costs. On 13 September 2012, the Aviation property was rezoned from Green Wedge Zone to Farming and significantly increased in value. In March 2016, Aviation issued 63% of its share capital to companies associated with the directors of Aviation. On 25 October 2018, the property at Point Cook was sold to Shanghai-based developer, Dahua for $135 million through Colliers International and Biggin & Scott Land. The purchaser paid Aviation a deposit of $27 million. The balance of $108 million is payable in April 2023. Following an investigation, ASIC commenced proceedings in September 2018 to wind up Aviation, the trustee companies and the Aviation scheme. The defendants resisted the making of the winding up orders primarily on several grounds, including the investors were only ever promised 1/240th an interest for every million shares. ASIC first wrote to Aviation in December 2015 in relation to concerns about Aviations fundraising activities, and it commenced its formal investigation back in May 2016. ASIC recommenced taking active steps in its investigation in August 2017 which included section 19 examinations, in addition to those which ASIC had previously conducted in 2016, including with Hakly Lao, Khay Taing, Huy Taing, Marintha Lao, Terry Grundy, Michael Bishop and Jenny You. The investor group included the Deva Family Trust; JS Fotia Superfund; Harbourlink Wealth, as trustee for the Zou family; Sergio Valentino and Darryl Williams; Sang Aung; the Yuantong Family Trust; Heng Aung; Yoke Ngoh Wong and Jessie and Colin Luxton. The Victorian Government has moved to prohibit public auctions of land before 1pm on Anzac Day, bringing the industry into line with the standard restricted business hours for the day. The Sale of Land Amendment Bill 2019 was introduced to parliament this week. It is unlikely to have taken effect by this year, although being a Thursday, it not likely to be an issue. The issue arose in 2015 when Anzac Day fell on a Saturday. It is next set for a Saturday in 2020. Melbourne agents mostly offered afternoon auctions, but Premier Daniel Andrews expressed concerned about reports raised on Neil Mitchell's 3AW that home auctions were held on the 2015 Saturday morning. "It may be legal to be having auctions and things of that nature, but I think it's pretty ordinary," Andrews said in 2015. About 80 were scheduled for the 2015 Anzac Day, with 18 held before 1pm. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says it was disappointing some vendors and agents had ignored their advice about maintaining respect for the day. In 2015 Amanda Lynch, chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of Australia indicated there was a need a nationally consistent position on ANZAC Day opening hours. "This year, were especially excited to increase the donation if we reach our goal of 10,000 posts globally," said Miranda Dickson, Absolut Elyx Global Brand Director.. "We truly believe in the work that Water For People is doing and look forward to bringing more awareness to this important issue." On World Water Day, March 22, 2019, Absolut Elyx launches its annual Raise It Forward social media movement, inviting people around the world to take action to combat the global water crisis. By posting a photo of a raised glass from March 22 through Earth Day, April 22 with the hashtag #RaiseItForward and mentioning @WaterForPeople and @AbsolutElyx, Absolut Elyx will contribute one week of safe water to an individual in need in the communities where Water For People works. When the movement reaches 10,000 posts, the donation amount will increase to one month of safe water for every #RaiseItForward post Absolut Elyx is committed to helping solve the global water crisis. 2.1 billion people lack access to safe water, 4.5 billion lack access to adequate toilets, and it is not uncommon for women to walk four hours a day to fetch water from contaminated sources. Elyx is on a five-year mission to reach 100,000 people with safe drinking water through its support of Water For Peoples work. Since partnering with Water For People in 2015, Elyx has impacted 40,000 people, who now have safe water for generations to come. Raise It Forward is an incredible campaign we look forward to every year because of the impact it can have on so many lives by providing clean, safe water worldwide, said Miranda Dickson, Absolut Elyx Global Brand Director. This year, were especially excited to increase the donation if we reach our goal of 10,000 posts globally. We truly believe in the work that Water For People is doing and look forward to bringing more awareness to this important issue. We could not be more grateful to Absolut Elyx for continuing to raise awareness about the global water crisis through efforts like the Raise It Forward campaign. Inspiring people to raise a glass and, thereby, raise the profile of this important cause is ultimately how we will continue tackling the problem, said Water For People CEO, Eleanor Allen. What we take for granted safe drinking water out of a tap is what we believe everyone deserves. Thank you, Absolut Elyx, for continuing to be by our side on our journey toward this goal. In addition to #RaiseItForward, Absolut Elyx contributes to Water For People through the sales of Elyx Bottles and Elyx Boutique copper products. Water For People is a global nonprofit dedicated to promoting the development of high-quality drinking water and sanitation services, accessible to all, and sustained by strong communities, businesses and governments. We want every family, clinic and school to have lasting access to safe water and sanitation for generations to come. We call this impact model Everyone Forever. Learn more at waterforpeople.org. Agderposten, a longtime Newscycle customer, has teamed up with 15 other Scandinavian news media companies and Newscycle to implement digital-first software and print automation. It is very important for us to radically increase the efficiency of our print production, and we are very pleased with Newscycles understanding and commitment to achieving this goal together with us. - Nils Kristian Gauslaa, CEO of Agderposten Medier Agderposten Medier, in partnership with multiple Norwegian media houses, signed a contract with NEWSCYCLE Solutions (Newscycle) for the Infomaker Digital Universe to manage cloud-based content creation, production and presentation. Our main objectives for Agderposten Medier and the partnership are to establish a central repository covering all kinds of editorial assets and to introduce new efficient, web-based tools for our journalists, said Nils Kristian Gauslaa, CEO of Agderposten Medier. It is also very important for us to radically increase the efficiency of our print production, and we are very pleased with Newscycles understanding and commitment to achieving this goal together with us. The Infomaker Digital Universe solution includes omnichannel authoring tools, a dashboard for planning, central repositories for all content, and the headless Everyware web presentation layer. News media companies throughout Scandinavia are benefitting from the easy-to-use Infomaker interface for reporters, the ability to bring in other media such as video, and the ability to integrate other programs or add custom tools. The contract also includes a total migration of the existing Newscycle editorial production tools to the Newscycle Cloud hosting facilities powered by Amazon Web Services, and joint development projects. Agderposten Medier will take a comprehensive role in the implementation of the solution, as well as providing support to partnered media companies through problem screening and basic diagnostics. Agderposten Medier is a Newscycle customer on both the editorial and advertising sides of the business. Recently, it partnered with other Norwegian media companies, not only to share costs, but more importantly to share experiences in different areas of their business. Currently, the partnership consists of 16 news media companies throughout the country. At Newscycle, we are very excited about this contract and the growing relationship it represents, said Jonas Bringle, Managing Director of Newscycles EMEA region. Agderposten has been a Newscycle customer for more than 20 years, and we are happy to extend our engagement and help the company and its partners to manage current and future publishing challenges and become even more competitive. We look forward to continuing our tight cooperation with Newscycle, added Gauslaa. This also includes joint development projects for print automation. About NEWSCYCLE Solutions NEWSCYCLE Solutions is the leading provider of software and services powering the global media industry. Our content management, advertising management, subscription management and mobile solutions help companies drive profitability and accelerate digital business models. With headquarters in Bloomington, MN and regional offices throughout the world, Newscycle is a trusted partner serving over 2,500 customers in 45 countries. Training, leadership, strategy and tactics are key themes attendees will hear championed when they gather March 24-28 for Firehouse World 2019 Conference and Expo being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Along with education and fellowship, department leaders will shop products and services offered by more than 500 vendors -- including Aladtec, the premier provider of scheduling software and workforce management solutions for public safety. The Aladtec system easily handles the complex scheduling and unique rotation requirements common in fire service. Its features allow members to submit availability, request time off, initiate shift trades, and log overtime hours -- all from a smartphone, tablet or desktop. It helps leaders monitor and meet minimum staffing requirements, helps control overtime, integrates with payroll, and allows agencies to track certifications and licensing. Aladtec e-forms speed up rig checks and provide airtight documentation. Firefighter-paramedic Jerry Craddock recalls the hassles of trying to check a schedule, request time off or swap a shift before Mentor (OH) Fire & Rescue subscribed to Aladtec. Hed either need to drive to the station or phone in to check a paper schedule posted somewhere. It was crazy, but when we got Aladtec, it all became so organized, said Craddock. There was quick acceptance. It streamlined what was once a chore. I believe that if they took Aladtec's Fire Manager away from us, there would be a mutiny. Chief Brian McMahon at Central Stickney (IL) Fire Protection wanted to solve two problems when he went searching for a digital scheduling solution: Our scheduling was a mess, with no way to keep up with trades, and our forms and documentation were nothing but clutter and ineffective. Aladtec solved both problems by giving us a live scheduling program, easy to use by officers and members, and a form (application) that have eliminated all our paper forms. I feel there is no going back now. We are hooked. Watch this short video to see how the Maplewood (MN) Fire Dept. uses Aladtec to schedule multiple crews at several stations. CAL FIRE Chief Thom Porter will provide the keynote address Monday, reflecting on the challenges faced by California firefighters during this record-breaking year. More than 7,600 wildfires burned over 1.8 million acres and claimed 100 lives, both civilians and emergency responders. Hes expected to share the lessons learned that will shape the California fire service for years to come. Other conference highlights include a general assembly Tuesday afternoon entitled: Camp Fire: The Fire That Changed California, and another Wednesday afternoon that will spotlight "Managing the Turnaround of the Detroit Fire Department." Tuesday evening will also feature a special screening of TruTV's new American comedy series "Tacoma F.D" Conference attendees are invited to stop by the Aladtec display (#1627) during the expo: from 11:30 am to 5 pm, Tuesday, March 26; 9:30 am to 3 pm, Wednesday, March 27; and 8 -9:30 am, and 3-4:30 pm, Thursday, March 28. Account executive Ernesto De La Torre and Support Specialist Floyd Linaberry will provide demonstrations of the software and answer any questions.. Aladtec currently has 26 California departments using its software -- including CAL Fire's San Diego- and North San Diego County Fire Authority, NASA JPL in Pasadena, and Truckee Fire District. Nationwide, 2,200 Public Safety agencies use the platform. For a free demonstration, visit http://www.aladtec.com. Call 888-749-5550 with questions, or to arrange a customized demonstration for your agency. CONTACT INFORMATION: Aladtec, Inc. 387 Arrow Court River Falls, WI 54022 (888) 749-5550 (801) 406-5550 Fax steve@aladtec.com info@aladtec.com Harringtona successful entrepreneur whos founded at least 20 companies that have each topped $100 million in revenueis a regular keynote speaker at AsSeenOnTV.pros quarterly Innovators Think Tank, and serves on the companys Advisory Board. Joined by international brand strategist Bill Barlow, Amazon guru Brad Moss, prodigy Brian Harrington, and other heavy-hitters in the industry, Harrington welcomed Mike Locker who has tremendous experience launching new products, from developing a multimillion-dollar Amazon sales channel to generating $80 million in sales revenue with Wal-Mart. Ive been working with Mike and Locker Innovation for many years, Harrington said of the Advisory Boards new addition. Locker Innovations reputation precedes them, they attract opportunity, and theyre connected to some of the greatest resources available to help develop and launch new products. The announcement means that participants of AsSeenOnTV.pro and guests of the invite-only Innovators Think Tank event will now have an exclusive opportunity to tap into Locker Innovations vast network of partners to help make their product a success. Our business has been family-owned for over 25 years, and that sense of loyalty from father to sons is what motivates us everyday to be a valued partner, Locker said proudly of Locker Innovations. Our clients success is our success and we honor that principle wholeheartedly. With funding to invest, manufacturing partners in both US and China, warehousing in CA, an experienced legal team, PR/Media team, package and design teams, and more, Locker Innovations will be an asset to the Advisory Board. Locker and his family say they are always open to sharing new and exciting products with their mass retail associates at Walmart, Sams Club, and Target stores along with hundreds of mom-and-pop stores and ecommerce channels. If you need help with bringing your product to the next level, we at AsSeenOnTV.pro have a dream team advisory board that can turn dreams into reality, Harrington states. About AsSeenOnTV.pro Headquartered in South Florida, AsSeenOnTV.pro is a full-service production, branding, and marketing company that specializes in direct response television, short- and long-form commercials, and brand building. Based out of a 25,000+ sq ft, state-of-the-art studio, the companys creative team handles every aspect of production from script to screen to airing. For nearly two decades, AsSeenOnTV.pros veteran staff of writers, producers, videographers, and editors has amassed more than 50 Telly Awards, thousands of prestigious clients, and over $20 million in television placements. About Kevin Harrington As the inventor of the infomercial, founder of As Seen on TV, and one of the original Sharks on Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington has worked with some of the worlds biggest celebrities and launched some of the best-selling DRTV campaigns in history. Since producing his first 30-minute infomercial in 1984, Harrington has been involved in over 500 product launches that have resulted in more than $5 billion in global sales. Now, in his latest venture with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Harrington is on the hunt for the best new products and ideas, bringing them to homes everywhere through personalized DRTV campaigns featuring the Shark. About Locker Innovations & Mike Locker For over two decades, Locker Innovations has been a leading consulting and development company helping entrepreneurs assess all aspects of their products. The full-service firm offers consulting and planning, product design and development, prototyping, manufacturing, and everything in between. Through his experience, partnerships, and reputation, Mike Locker has helped countless entrepreneurs around the world break into the market and succeed. For more information on Locker Innovations, please visit http://www.lockerinnovations.com The Auction of Washington Wines (AWW) has bolstered its ranking among the nations largest charity wine auctions, landing third in Wine Spectator Magazines list of highest-grossing live charity wine auctions in 2018. AWW enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2018, raising over $2.7 million through live bids and over $4.3 million overall via its weekend of charitable wine events. The auction has raised over $46 million since its founding in 1988. Funds raised go to Seattle Childrens Hospital and Washington State Universitys Wine Science Research. AWW also gives to local organizations supporting the Washington wine community through its Industry Grant Program, launched last year. Each year, Wine Spectator ranks the top charity wine auctions across the U.S. based on dollars raised in live auction bids, with AWW in the top three with Auction Napa Valley and Naples Winter Wine Festival this year. We are honored to be recognized as a part of a collective of auctions making a true impact on the future of the wine industry nationwide, said Beth McCaw, Board President, Auction of Washington Wines. To earn the number three spot this year is extremely exciting and validates the hard work and generosity of many individuals. Our Board and staff are humbled by the dedication we witness from the Washington wine community coming together year after year. We are excited to see what 2019 will bring! This year, AWW events will take place August 15-17, 2019. For more information, please visit http://www.AuctionofWaWines.org. ### About the Auction of Washington Wines Since its inception in 1988, AWW has raised more than $46 million, benefitting Seattle Childrens Hospital and Washington State University Wine Science Research. Events hosted by AWW give wine lovers the chance to support the Washington wine industry and families in our communities around the region. The 2019 Auction of Washington Wines Events will take place August 15-17, 2019. Major sponsors include Wells Fargo, CenturyLink, Chateau Ste. Michelle, The John L. Scott Foundation, King 5, The Seattle Times and Wine Spectator Magazine. AWW was ranked among 2018s top three highest-earning charity wine auctions in the nation by Wine Spectator Magazine. For more information, go to http://www.AuctionofWaWines.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. MEDIA CONTACTS: Aaron Blank, The Fearey Group aaronblank(at)feareygroup.com 206.343.1543 Brandon Ford of Tampa, Florida, is getting ready for its Truck-Fest event after being named the Worlds Largest Volume Ford Truck Dealer for 2018. Our Truck-Fest event is ... our way of thanking our customers for all of their support. Theyre the reason we were named the Worlds Largest Volume Ford Truck Dealer for 2018, and theyre the reason we do things like Truck-Fest. - Tom Murray Brandon Ford, a dealership in Tampa, Florida, was recently named the Worlds Largest Volume Ford Truck Dealer for 2018 by Ford, an achievement the dealership is looking to celebrate in a big way. More specifically, Brandon Ford is celebrating this achievement by putting on its Truck-Fest event, which is going on now and features discounts on 1,500 new Ford trucks, including the 2019 Ford F-150 lineup, the 2019 Ford Super Duty lineup, the 2019 Ford Ranger lineup, all new Ford SUV lineups and more. Brandon Ford has always had a strong commitment to its customers, and that commitment has seen the dealership increase its inventory over the years in an effort to ensure customers can always find the exact make and model for which theyre looking. That commitment extends to helping customers before they step foot on the Brandon Ford lot. In fact, the Brandon Ford website houses the informative Brandon Ford Blog, which features posts related to all of the latest news and notes about new Ford models, and the Brandon Ford model information page, which features model-specific research pages so customers can learn all they need to know about any new Ford model in which they might be interested. Once a customer figures out which new Ford model theyd like to see, theyre encouraged to come celebrate with Brandon Ford during Truck-Fest. Our Truck-Fest event is a one-of-a-kind event that brings people in from all over Florida, said Tom Murray of Brandon Ford. Nothing is off limits, everything is discounted. Its our way of thanking our customers for all of their support. Theyre the reason we were named the Worlds Largest Volume Ford Truck Dealer for 2018, and theyre the reason we do things like Truck-Fest. More information about Brandon Ford and the Truck-Fest event can be found on the dealerships website at http://www.brandonford.com. Customers can direct any questions they may have to the friendly and knowledgeable Brandon Ford staff by calling 813-246-3673 or by emailing Tom Murray at tmurray(at)brandonford.com. Brandon Ford is located at 9090 Adamo Drive in Tampa. Mingo Rad CBD Vapes cbdMD, a Level Brands company (NYSE American: LEVB), has launched a new CBD oil vape brand Mingo Rad. Mingo Rad dedicates its resources to offering superior CBD packed with innovative, bold flavors. Sourcing exclusively from domestic hemp and crafted with a unique manufacturing process, Mingo Rad offers as non-GMO, gluten- and THC-free broad-spectrum product. Mingo Rad CBD vape oils deliver a smooth, satisfying vape experience, making it easier than ever to improve ones overall health and wellness. We wanted to provide our customers with an innovative, bold line of superior CBD vapes, said Caryn Dunayer, Co-founder & President of cbdMD. Mingo Rad offerings are bright, vibrant, and promote Naturally Good Vibes with a natural and beneficial alternative to traditional vape products. Mingo Rad is available in five flavors including Melon H2O, Electric Razz, Coco Key, Mocha AF, and Sugar Cane offering something for everyone! Visit http://www.MingoRad.com to get yours today! About cbdMD (http://www.cbdMD.com) cbdMD, a Level Brands company, offers a comprehensive line of natural, THC-free, hemp-derived CBD oil products made in the US, including tinctures, capsules, gummies, pet products, bath bombs, topicals, and vape oils. As a company committed to the highest standards for CBD sourcing, extraction, and production, cbdMD is for consumers seeking to experience the full benefits of CBD in a safe, convenient, and cost-effective manner. For more information, please visit http://www.cbdMD.com. About Level Brands (http://www.levelbrands.com) Level Brands owns and operates the nationally recognized consumer cannabidiol (CBD) brand cbdMD, whose current products include CBD gummies, CBD tinctures, CBD topical, CBD bath bombs, CBD oils, and CBD pet products. The Company also operates a licensing and corporate brand management businesses under the kathy ireland Health & Wellness; Ireland Men One (I'M1), and Encore Endeavor One (EE1) brands, as well as a personal products division Beauty & Pin-Ups. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as ''should,'' ''may,'' ''intends,'' ''anticipates,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates,'' ''projects,'' ''forecasts,'' ''expects,'' ''plans,'' and ''proposes.'' These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading "Risk Factors" in Level Brands, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on December 12, 2018 and our other filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Level Brands, Inc. and are difficult to predict. Level Brands, Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements except as may be required by law. NS8, a Las Vegas-based eCommerce SaaS company that combats online fraud, completed a $26m round of funding. The round was led by Edison Partners, Sorenson Ventures, and Lytical Ventures, with participation from TDF Ventures, Hanna Ventures, and others. In conjunction with the funding, Lenard Marcus, General Partner for Edison Partners, joined NS8s board of directors. The company intends to use the funds to continue to grow in multiple areas including product innovation, channel development and sales acceleration. Founded in 2016 by CEO Adam Rogas, NS8 offers NS8 Protect, a SaaS based solution used by eCommerce merchants in over 50 countries to defend their online stores against transaction fraud, advertising fraud, and site reliability issues. NS8 Protect, which incorporates behavioral analytics, real-time user scoring, and global monitoring into a single solution, is available to eCommerce stores through app installations on major eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and thirty bees. Through direct API integrations, NS8s extensible technology can also be implemented by enterprise businesses, including everything from large-scale eCommerce sites and platforms to payment service providers. A graduate of the MACH37 cybersecurity accelerator program, NS8 now supports over 2,300 businesses worldwide in over 50 countries. The company has regional offices located in Florida, Michigan, California, Amsterdam, and Singapore. FinSMEs 20/03/2019 I hired Suzanne because she was far and away the best candidate for the job, and she immediately attracted an incredibly talented female, senior full stack principal engineer to the team, - Michael Crowe Theres no denying that the tech industry has been predominantly male dominated. In recent years, corporations have taken action to pave the way for what the future in tech will look like from a more balanced workplace. Clearsurance, the only customer-first marketplace for insurance consumers is not only changing the way Americans find the best insurance for them, but theyre also taking huge strides to ensure women are a part of the Insurtech startup ecosystem. Michael Crowe, the CEO of Clearsurance has spent several decades building insurance focused startups. Its no secret that both the insurance and technology industries have struggled to reflect the broader U.S. gender demographics, Crowe said According to recent census data 50.8 percent of the U.S. population is female so for us it feels natural that the executive team, as well as the broader company, would reflect the world around us. More than half 57 percent to be exact of the Clearsurance leadership team is female, including its CTO, Head of People and Compliance, and its Finance Leader. Today, more than half of all startups have no women in executive positions, according to Silicon Valley Bank. Furthermore, Women Who Tech reports that 86 percent of venture-funded businesses have zero women in management positions. The numbers are even worse when you look at tech positions specifically. Just 12 percent of IT leadership positions are held by females (up from 10 percent last year) and women represent just one in five employees on technology teams, according to the 2018 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO survey. Suzanne Poirier, who was recently promoted to CTO of product and engineering of the company, believes that Clearsurances balance in executive leadership is a fantastic way to show women not only belong in these roles it validates that their hard work is equal to those of men. Even as a young girl, I always questioned stereotypes and asked why I couldnt do certain things because Im a girl, Poirier said. I think in someway, I set out to prove those stereotypes wrong. And even though the notion that girls are not as good at science and math as boys is outdated, some people still hold on to that perception. This reflects in their decision making, and it can really hold women back. From the standpoint of gender inclusion and diversity, Poiriers experience with Clerasurance has been very different from some of her other work experiences as a female engineer. I think the biggest challenge is finding your voice and having the confidence to use it, Poirier said. There were environments in which I worked that was more of a fraternity culture. And while Im confident in my abilities, in that type of environment, my voice was not valued and my contributions overlooked and ignored. While women in tech are becoming more recognized, for example, startups with female executives are three times as likely to receive venture funding than 15 years ago, there is still lots of room for improvement. Today, U.S. female-founded startups have raised just 2.2 percent of venture capital investment in 2018, according to TechCrunch, making it more difficult for them to get off the ground. Though having women like Poirier in executive roles like the one she holds at Clearsurance is so pivotal for this shift to happen. Ive spent many years teaching technical courses and have been involved in local school programs that encourage young women to consider STEM careers, Poirier said. Having the role of CTO and working in a small company in which all voices are equal allows me to set an example of what is possible in technical roles, regardless of gender. Crowe explained that the company did not deliberately set out to achieve a specific gender balance. It really just happened organically as two of the executive recruiters Crowe used to fill key positions are women that Crowe has known since high school. I hired Suzanne because she was far and away the best candidate for the job, and she immediately attracted an incredibly talented female, senior full stack principal engineer to the team, Crowe said. Crowes views on gender inclusiveness in the workplace are rooted in his experience as a young entrepreneur, founder and CEO for his prior start-up, Crowe Paradis. As a younger CEO, I made every mistake one can make and most of those mistakes resulted from my own blind spots, Crowe said. When you have a team full of people who look and think alike, youre missing diverse viewpoints originating from different life experiences. I tend to think and act too fast so Im always looking to surround myself with people who tend to be more thoughtful and methodical in their approach to problem solving to balance things out. The two colleagues I came to rely upon most heavily at Crowe Paradis were my Chief of Staff and COO, both women. The COO wound up becoming my hand-picked successor as CEO and is running the company to this day. (Crowe Paradis was acquired in 2010). Lisa Strader, a senior full stack principal engineer for Clearsurance, has enjoyed the fact that everyone at Clearsurance has a voice and can contribute to the success of the company. From graduate school through the first half of my career, I was often the only or one of just a few women in a class, in a technical meeting or on a development team. And while most of my colleagues treated me with respect, there were definitely times when I was not treated as an equal to my male peers, Strader said. But I quickly learned that I was in control of my career and chose to pursue projects and jobs where I would have a voice and be respected. As it turned out, these tended to be teams that had a balanced mix of male and female engineers and were often led by female managers. Ripples of the female representation at Clearsurance can be seen within the broader Clearsurance team 52 percent of its 21 employees are women. What makes this company so unique is that they never set out to fulfill a mandate that would call for a predetermined gender balance within their company; it happened purely organically. Theyre truly what the future of tech should look like: capable women in leadership roles hired not because of their gender, but because of the diversity of their views, their intelligence, experience and innovative approach to building a tech company. About Clearsurance Based just outside of Boston, Mass., and founded in 2016 by Michael Crowe, Clearsurance is the leading online publisher of insurance consumer data. Its mission is to make insurance transparent so consumers have more control and better choices. For more information, visit clearsurance.com. Media contacts: Ryan Baillargeon ryan(dot)baillargeon(at)clearsurance(dot)com 207-671-0920 During Mirage Madness at Continental Mitsubishi, customers can get incentive pricing on a selection of new 2019 Mirage and Mirage G4 models Drivers in the Chicago area looking for a vehicle that is efficient both in the city and on the highway should consider the new 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage and 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage G4. Those interested in a compact and practical hatchback or sedan are encouraged to check out the models currently available at Continental Mitsubishi. Located in Countryside, Illinois, and catering to the greater Chicago area, Continental Mitsubishi is currently hosting its Mirage Madness sales event. During Mirage Madness at Continental Mitsubishi, customers can get incentive pricing on a selection of new 2019 Mirage and Mirage G4 models, with an additional $1,000 savings on select vehicles. This deal is reserved for specific models in the dealerships stock and this offer is only available while supplies last. Great for students and commuters, the Mirage and Mirage G4 not only offer affordable fuel economy, but they come with reasonable price tags as well. With the Mirage Madness savings, drivers can get behind the wheel of a new model for under $10,000. Shoppers with questions or inquiries about the stock currently available for the Mirage Madness Sales Event can find further information on the Continental Mitsubishi website at http://www.continentalmitsubishi.com. There theyll also find additional information about the Mirage and Mirage G4 models through the dealerships blog. To reach out to dealership staff, customers are encouraged to call the dealership at 708-669-0516, submit an online contact form via the Continental Mitsubishi website or visit the dealers location at 5800 South La Grange Road. As technology progresses, it is also becoming increasingly difficult to identify lab-grown diamonds from natural-mined diamonds. Now, the industry is looking to the blockchain to solve these issues. Blockchain technology has found a fairground in the diamond industry to push the boundaries of its capabilities. One of the most interesting ways for this to unfold has been the creation of consortia dedicated to bringing in more transparency and efficiency into this centuries old sector. While the novelty of blockchain still has some holding their reservations about its performance, forward-thinking enterprises, such as Diamante, have already dipped their toe in exploring its advantages. Diamante Blockchain Foundation, the non-profit wing of Diamante Group LLC, is set to take the Diamante Blockchain story to a wider audience with CNBC and DMG Productions. Being one of the first of its kind, the journey of Diamante Blockchain till now and its way forward is the focus of the interview organized by DMG Productions. The episode was recently shot in New York, USA, and India, which is one of the top-ranking diamond hubs in the world. The segment will delve into the core ideas behind the project as explained by the team members. Dinesh Patel (CEO of Diamante Blockchain), Chirag Jetani (Chief Operating Officer), Erik A Jens (Ex- ABN AMRO CEO & Chief Financial Expert), and Raj Chowdhury (MD of HashCash Consultants and Chief Technology Architect of Diamante) will be speaking on topics ranging from the structure of Diamante Blockchain, and the potential of blockchain and future payment services in the diamond industry, and its plans of expansion. The interview will be broadcast on an upcoming episode of Advancements via CNBC. Diamante Foundation is a part of Diamante Consortium, which is a non-profit open source platform which is dedicated to bringing transparency and accountability to the diamond industry. It will provide a unified marketplace for diamond companies of every size and scale. Diamante Foundation will operate on Diamante NET, a state of the art blockchain network. Transactions and trade can be carried out within this highly secure network using DIAM, the native digital asset of Diamante NET. Overall, a blockchain-based system would revolutionize supply chain management. Diamante is compliant with the Kimberly Certified norms, Anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, and the USA Patriot Act. The aim of these set of rules is to mitigate the circulation of conflict diamonds and the generation of income by illegal means. Speaking from New York, Eric A. Jens said The diamond industry has struggled to maintain authentic and accurate records about the source and provenance of diamonds. As technology progresses, it is also becoming increasingly difficult to identify lab-grown diamonds from natural-mined diamonds. Now, the industry is looking to the blockchain to solve these issues. Since the diamond industry spans all over the world, Advancements global coverage via CNBC is ideal to inform about blockchain diamond consortium to a wider audience. The network has a strong presence in the U.S., Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. It is a world leader in business news and is watched in more than 409 million homes worldwide, including more than 91 million households in the United States and Canada. In the USA alone, 22.84% of the number of people assessed are those in the aged 18 to 29, and 30-49 years make up approximately 33%. The first group is socially aware and highly dependent on technology with a natural penchant toward distributed ledger technology. The second group comprises of seasoned professionals who are looking to improve outdated company infrastructures. The Collaboration between Diamante and DMG Productions is bound to excite both the parties. About Diamante Blockchain Foundation: Diamante Blockchain LLC, the USA-based diamond foundation is your one-stop destination if you are looking for result based diamond supply chain management. The foundation provides a unified marketplace for players across the diamond industry - from mining companies to cutters, polishers, certifiers, manufacturers, retailers, and end-customers. Built on Distributed Ledger Technology, Diamante Blockchain Foundation promises its clients and members complete transparency, assured quality, and cost-effectiveness in trade and transactions within its network. The Diamante Foundation makes for an ecosystem where its members can obtain a line of credit with ease. It provides a first-of-its-kind marketplace for the Gem and Jewelry industry where trade is established through smart contracts. The foundation operates in compliance with Kimberly Certified norms, Anti-money laundering (AML), and USA Patriot Act. Diamante Blockchain Foundation uses DIAM its native digital asset to carry out transactions and trade in its blockchain network. Transaction and advertising fraud are an increasing burden for merchants that drain their profits and inhibit future business. Adam and his team have developed industry-leading tools that make online fraud identification and protection easy." Edison Partners, the growth equity investment firm, today announced leading a $26 million funding round in Las Vegas-based ecommerce security and website performance company NS8. The company will use the funds to accelerate product innovation and go-to-market expansion. Ecommerce fraud is growing at nearly twice the rate as online sales, according to Experian, and experts estimate that fraud costs merchants more than 7.5 percent of their annual revenue. BI Intelligence also reports that U.S. companies experience a loss of nearly $9 billion annually due to false positive losses, in which retailers decline to make a sale because they mistakenly flag the order as fraud. NS8 provides a SaaS platform that uses behavioral analytics and real-time scoring to provide revenue protection against order fraud, advertising fraud, and poor site performance. Transaction and advertising fraud are an increasing burden for merchants that drain their profits and inhibit future business. Adam and his team have developed industry-leading tools that make online fraud identification and protection easy, said Lenard Marcus, General Partner of Edison Partners who led the investment and joins the companys board of directors. NS8 is poised for continued momentum in the $33 billion global fraud detection and prevention market. Were thrilled to partner to help the company accelerate go-to-market execution and expand to even larger enterprises. More than 2,400 mid-market and enterprise customers in over 50 countries rely on NS8 to monitor their site traffic and shoppers behavior to protect them from various types of marketing and transactional fraud. The company saw five-fold revenue growth in 2018 and a 400 percent increase in bookings. NS8 continues to show strong growth. Simple fraud prevention tools do not always protect merchants from the threats they see on a regular basis, and the genesis of our platform is our low-friction approach that effectively defends merchants against the big three revenue killers: transaction fraud, advertising fraud, and site reliability issues. With their domain expertise in enterprise security and scaling growth, Edison Partners will be an immensely valuable partner to us as we look to bring new abuse, fraud and user experience products to the marketplace, said Adam Rogas, CEO of NS8. NS8s flagship product, NS8 Protect, tracks over 170 different attributes and lets merchants create their own customized order rules to avoid declining real customers. NS8 Protect is available on major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and thirty bees. Through direct API integrations, NS8s extensible technology can also be implemented by enterprise businesses, including everything from large-scale ecommerce sites and platforms to payment service providers. Edison Partners has financed and guided more than 200 private companies, a third of which have been in the enterprise solutions space. Edisons current enterprise solutions portfolio includes All Traffic Solutions, Blue Medora, Bricata, Emplify, eSentire, ExecVision, Jornaya, Kemp, Giant Oak, Motionsoft, PathFactory, Predata, Sigstr and Terminus. Notable exits in the sector include Archive Systems, Billtrust, InSoft, Logfire, Notable Solutions, Operative, Tangoe, Telarix, Virtual Edge, and VFA. The growth equity investment in NS8 marks the eighth new investment from Edison Partners latest fund, Edison Partners IX. About Edison Partners For more than 30 years, Edison Partners has been helping CEOs and their executive teams grow and scale successful companies. The firms investment team brings extensive investing and operating experience to each investment. Through a unique combination of growth capital and the Edison Edge platform, consisting of operating centers of excellence, the Edison Director Network, and executive education programs, Edison employs a truly integrated approach to accelerating growth and creating value for businesses. A team of experts in financial technology, healthcare IT and enterprise solution sectors, Edison targets high-growth companies with $5 to $25 million in revenue; investments also include buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases. Edisons active portfolio has created aggregated market value exceeding $10 billion. Edison Partners is based in Princeton, NJ and manages more than $1.4 billion in assets throughout the eastern United States. About NS8 Founded in 2016, NS8 began with the goal of empowering businesses to better fight the growing epidemic of online fraud. Its fraud prevention platform incorporates behavioral analytics, real-time user scoring, and global monitoring into a single solution that combats online fraud with industry-leading time to value. A graduate of the Mach37 cybersecurity accelerator program, NS8 now supports over 2,300 businesses worldwide in 50+ countries. Headquartered in Las Vegas, NS8 also has regional offices located in Florida, Michigan, California, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Embassy Suites Lompoc's New Director of Sales We are thrilled Ms. Jose has joined our team, said Golda Mae Escalante, General Manager. Ms. Joses experience, area knowledge, and proven record of accomplishment make her a perfect addition to our leadership team. We are also excited for her involvement in our local community. The award-winning Embassy Suites by Hilton Lompoc Central Coast, managed by Windsor Capital Group, Inc (also known as WCG Hotels), is proud to announce that Jessica Jose has been appointed as the Director of Sales. Ms. Jose will oversee the full service hotel's group, catering and leisure sales, as well as local and negotiated corporate relations. Ms. Jose spent the past eight years working in the California Central Coast area, primarily in Santa Maria, working with group, catering, and business travel clients which will be invaluable in her new role. Ms. Jose held various positions in the hospitality industry such as front desk, sales coordinator, sales and catering manager, and group sales manager. She also has years of restaurant experience which will continue to be helpful in assisting catering clients. Ms. Jose is excited to be working in Lompoc, near Vandenberg Air Force Base, Vandenberg Air Force Base is near and dear to my heart, and is the reason why I am here in California. Her husband, now retired, served in the United States Air Force and relocated to Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2009. We are thrilled Ms. Jose has joined our team, said Golda Mae Escalante, General Manager. Ms. Joses experience, area knowledge, and proven record of accomplishment make her a perfect addition to our leadership team. We are also excited for her involvement in our local community. Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Bruce Skidmore, stated Ms. Jose will provide substantial contributions to the hotels success in the future and a will prove to be a great asset in helping our clients meet their objectives. The newly renovated all-suite hotel features a relaxing interior courtyard waterfall and spacious two-room suites with upgraded wired and wireless internet. Digital check-in with room selection and Digital Key are exclusively available through the industry-leading Hilton Honors mobile app. All two-room suites feature a separate living area, private bedroom, two 43-inch HD LCD TVs, in-room safes, microwave, mini-fridge, and coffee maker. All guests receive complimentary made-to-order breakfast and evening reception. Only 8 miles from Vandenberg Air Force Base and less than an hour from Santa Barbara, the hotel is the only full-service, all-suite hotel in Lompoc and is close to Santa Maria, Solvang, Buellton, and many other popular Central Coast cities and sites. For reservations or more information, visit http://www.embassysuiteslompoc.com or call 805-735-8311. About Embassy Suites by Hilton Embassy Suites by Hilton, one of Hiltons 14 market-leading brands, is dedicated to delivering what matters most to travelers. The full service, upscale brand offers two-room suites, complimentary made-to-order breakfast and a nightly two-hour reception with complimentary drinks and snacks. Both leisure and business travelers looking for a relaxed, yet sophisticated experience will feel right at home with brand-standard amenities like inviting atriums, complimentary 24-hour business centers, and fitness centers. Embassy Suites by Hilton has 238 hotels with 48 in the pipeline. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount that cant be booked anywhere except the brands website. About Windsor Capital Group Windsor Capital Group is a hotel management and development company that owns and operates full-service, focused, upscale branded hotels throughout the United States, with the Embassy Suites and Marriott flags. It also runs Windsor Management Services, a top-performing hotel management company that customizes hotel management services to meet the needs of the properties. With more than 30 years of experience to call on, Windsor Management Services is known for unmatched results for its owners and unparalleled service for its guests delivered with a personal connection. For more information, please visit http://www.windsormanagementservices.com or http://www.wcghotels.com. Connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. For more information, contact Patrick Nesbitt, President, at 310-566-1100. The opportunity for large consumers of electricity to reduce both their greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs through procuring renewable energy is very compelling. Energy Edge Consulting recently supported E&B Natural Resources Management Corporations (E&B) negotiations on two solar power projects. E&B, an independent oil and gas company based in California, is investing in solar electricity to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to economically optimize its oil production business. Energy Edge guided E&B through the development of a solar based energy strategy and ultimately facilitated the economic evaluation, procurement, and contract negotiation process. Additionally, Energy Edge assisted E&B in understanding the different financing structures available to fund the solar projects. The Energy Edge Consulting team provided the necessary technical, financial and commercial expertise needed to evaluate the solar power purchases in a timely manner, said Steve Layton, President of E&B Natural Resources. Energy Edge worked seamlessly with our internal stakeholders and their industry knowledge was critical to the development of these projects. E&B will install a 23 MW DC photovoltaic facility at its Poso Creek oil field in Kern County and a 3 MW DC photovoltaic facility at its oil operations in Cuyama Valley in Santa Barbara County. Combined, these two renewable energy projects will reduce E&Bs carbon dioxide emissions by more than 700,000 metric tons over the 20-year life of the projects. The opportunity for large consumers of electricity to reduce both their greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs through procuring renewable energy is very compelling, said Matt Hobson, Principal at Energy Edge Consulting. E&B is a leader in the California independent oil & gas industry, and were honored to work with them on these bold new solar projects. About Energy Edge Consulting Energy Edge offers strategic energy management and renewable energy solutions to a wide range of businesses and institutions. The Energy Edge team has extensive experience in various aspects of the electricity and natural gas industries, and the knowledge and expertise from this experience is leveraged every day to deliver value to clients. Energy Edge provides services in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Western Europe. For more information, contact: Matt Hobson Vice President Energy Edge Consulting, LLC (713) 300-0680 x702 mhobson(at)energyedgeconsulting(dot)com http://www.energyedgeconsulting.com This is the pivotal event for women business owners that can help them to connect with buyers of large corporations and propel their business to the next level. On Wednesday, April 10, the Womens Business Council Southwest (WBCS) is hosting its first Connections to Contracts event focusing on increasing corporate supply chain opportunities for women-owned businesses. This event features multiple procurement-focused sessions that are ideal for businesses looking to connect with corporations and government entities. Connections to Contracts is an evolution in our procurement events, combining all of the most popular parts of our previous events to best serve our members, said WBCS President, Debbie Hurst. This is the pivotal event for women business owners that can help them to connect with buyers of large corporations and propel their business to the next level. Sponsored by Oncor and Software Professionals Inc., the event begins with corporate roundtable meetings in which women-owned businesses have the opportunity to meet with over 30 decision-makers representing the major corporations and public entities in the Metroplex; and learn first-hand about opportunities available in their supply chain and their initiatives to do business with diverse suppliers. The keynote luncheon will feature representatives from local municipalities discussing how women-owned businesses are key to their growth plans. Oncor is proud to serve as the title sponsor for the Womens Business Council Southwests Connections to Contracts, said Grace Hastings-Case, Supplier Diversity Manager for Oncor. Oncor has a long-standing commitment to supplier diversity and the Womens Business Council Southwests efforts in the development and utilization of certified women-owned businesses. In the afternoon, a new session format called Prime Time features three corporate members, DFW International Airport, Flour, and Shell, along with their prime suppliers. Attendees will learn about the prime suppliers upcoming projects and how to bid on them. This is the perfect way for smaller women-owned companies to get a foot in the door on larger projects with corporations. With women-owned businesses being one of the fastest growing small business segments, its vital to provide opportunities to help these businesses grow. During the event, the Council will also announce the amount that corporate members spent with women-owned businesses in 2018. Last year, members reported over $8.6 billion spent in 2017. Event Details Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at 9 a.m. Irving Convention Center 500 West Las Colinas Boulevard, Irving, TX 75039 Online registration for WBCS members is $100 and $125 for non-members. On-site registration is available at an increased rate. For additional event information, contact Elizabeth Garner at 817-299-0566. About WBCS Headquartered in Irving, Texas, the Womens Business Council Southwest (WBCS) is dedicated to increasing mutually beneficial procurement opportunities between certified women-owned businesses, corporations, businesses, government entities, institutions, and other organizations. With more than 1,100 Womens Business Enterprise (WBE) Members and 75 Sustaining (Corporate) Members, WBCS is in its 24th year of providing national certification to women-owned businesses. WBCS administers the national certification on behalf of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) for north and central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico. To find out more about WBCS, please visit http://www.wbcsouthwest.org We had a lot of fun creating this podcast. It captures the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of our city. Not only did we interview unique Lakewood business owners, but we also recorded the podcasts in our Lakewood studios with local natives hosting and producing the show. Evergreen Podcasts (Evergreen), a Lakewood, Ohio-based podcast publisher, is proud to announce the launch of the StartUp Lakewood podcast. This will be the second business podcast to launch on the Evergreen network. This podcast explores the trials and tribulations of rustbelt entrepreneurs who are taking risks and defying expectations in Lakewood, Ohio, the most dense population base in the State. Entrepreneurs enjoy this open, liberal, individualistic, yet supportive city. While not as large as its next door neighbor, Cleveland, their startup stories are just as impressive. The podcast captures the unique entrepreneurial spirit of the city and is produced exclusively by the Lakewood-based Evergreen Podcasts team. "We had a lot of fun creating this podcast. It captures the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of our city. Not only did we interview unique Lakewood business owners, but we also recorded the podcasts in our Lakewood studios with local natives hosting and producing the show," says production director, Brigid Coyne. What a thrill being an entrepreneur in this great city, offered Michael C. DeAloia - CEO of Evergreen Podcasts, and getting the chance to interview other entrepreneurs. Just so cool. Episode List The first season launched in March and episodes of StartUp Lakewood are available for listening every Wednesday on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and EvergreenPodcasts.com/startup-lakewood. Episode 1 Mike Besito, Product Collective Episode 2 Tom Fraser, First Federal Lakewood Episode 3 Vince Frantz, Sprokets Episode 4 Matt Fish, Melt Episode 5 Bill Grimberg, Enduring Wellness Episode 6 Todd Mesek, IdeaStream Episode 7 Patty Ryan, Lakewood Chamber of Commerce About Evergreen Podcasts Evergreen Podcasts is a proud member of the Front Porch Media Network. Evergreen is a community where people think big without talking down. We are boots on the ground storytellers, who love capturing the color and diversity of modern makers. From entrepreneurs and musicians, to philosophers and artists we are in the business of uniting audiences through podcasts and great conversations. EvergreenPodcasts.com hosts a diverse and dynamically curated blend of creative shows, featuring a wide range of lifestyle and niche programming. Listen up. Listen in. Listen good. Follow Evergreen Podcasts: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/StreamEvergreen Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StreamEvergreen Twitter: https://twitter.com/StreamEvergreen iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-lakewood/id1455532352?mt=2 The Employee of the Year ceremony is one of my favorite parts of each year, because we get to showcase the amazing employees that work for Express and the franchise owners that invest in them, said Bill Stoller, Express CEO. Just three short years ago, James Michael walked in an Express Employment Professionals office with one goalto regain custody of his son. Not only does his son now live with him full-time, but James life has been completely transformed by the investment of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Express franchise owner Terry Lukas and her staff. Michael was one of five nominees for Express Employment Professionals Employee of the Year award, ultimately securing the top honor and accepting the prize in person at the International Leadership Conference (ILC) in Grapevine, Texas. He was initially awarded $1,000 from Express as the Employee of the Year winner for his region, eventually winning $5,000 as the overall winner, plus more than $2,000 for the all-inclusive trip. Michael was placed on his first assignment with the East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Express office in 2009 before moving out of the area. He returned in 2016, counting on Express to change his life. He was homeless, staying in the local Salvation Army Shelter and needed a job to gain custody of his son who was in a bad living situation. Express was able to put him to work the very next day. We felt James had many obstacles in his way, which so many would use as reasons to miss work, but he never did, Lukas said. James did so much to get his young son into a better living environment, and you just dont see that often. When someone shows such will and determination to improve not only their life, but the life of their child, they deserve to be rewarded. He never put himself first, but just continued to do everything in his power to better the life of his son. Last fall, Lukas and her team worked with the client company where Michael was employed to announce his regional Employee of the Year news as the companys monthly meeting. As the regional winner, he was also now eligible for the national award. They filled Express backpacks with goodies and presented Michael with airline tickets for both him and his son, Landon, for the leadership conference in February. They continued the celebration by taking the pair suit shopping for their big moment. At ILC, Landon was able to join his dad on stage when Michael was recognized for his outstanding work in front of more than 1,700 Express franchise owners and their staff. James said thank you a million times and said he never thought just doing your job and doing the right thing could amount to this, Lukas said. I told him we can only hope that Landon remembers this great experience and why he received the award. Hopefully, because of how and why Express rewarded him, his son will grow up with the work ethic, compassion for others and ambition to be great. With the prize money, Lukas said her star employee plans to replace his car, which several co-workers had been helping him repair. Those co-workers even helped give Landon rides to daycare and pick Michael up for work. Lukas said she was not surprised that everyone pitched in to help Michael in his time of need. That is just how much people like him, she said. The remaining four nominees also received $1,000 as regional Employee of the Year winners, however, during the awards ceremony, Express surprised them further with $5,000 each in appreciation of their dedication to the company. The Employee of the Year ceremony is one of my favorite parts of each year, because we get to showcase the amazing employees that work for Express and the franchise owners that invest in them, said Bill Stoller, CEO and chairman of the board for Express. I cant think of a better representation of providing hope through employment. Other nominees for Employee of the Year included: Michael BowdenBremerton, Washington Eric KramerCedar Falls, Iowa Rasjhen Z. CottonNorth Miami-Dade County, Florida Aaron Williams-MathisRoyal Oak, Michigan About Express Employment Professionals Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated $3.56 billion in sales and employed a record 566,000 people in 2018. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com. James Welch, Lead Pastor First Baptist | FTL Our hearts are full of love for a people we havent truly met yet. We are excited to learn about the people of the church and South Florida. We are humbled by this assignment from our Heavenly Father and are eager to share with you [them] not only the gospel but our lives as well The congregation of First Baptist Fort Lauderdale invites the Fort Lauderdale community to join them as they welcome their new Lead Pastor, Rev. James Welch, this Sunday, March 24th, at 10:30AM, as he begins his leadership of the downtown Fort Lauderdale church. Coming to Fort Lauderdale from New Orleans, Louisiana, Pastor James and his wife Amy have three children: Addison, William, and Blythe. As a family, they planted Harbor Community Church in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where they made it a family and missional priority to love their city and intentionally engage the unchurched for the sake of the gospel. Pastor James heart is to bring that same mentality to South Florida. Our hearts are full of love for a people we havent truly met yet. We are excited to learn about the people of the church and South Florida. We are humbled by this assignment from our Heavenly Father and are eager to share with you [them] not only the gospel but our lives as well ~ Pastor James Welch Pastor James was unanimously recommended as the next Lead Pastor by the Lead Pastor Search Team, made up of a diverse group of congregants, and then affirmed by the entire congregation on February 24, 2019. The Search Teams process took just short of three years to complete, during their process they vetted and researched resumes and recommendations of 205 pastoral candidates before being unanimously led to recommend Pastor James as the Lead Pastor. About First Baptist | FTL: First Baptist | FTL is located in the heart of downtown at 301 E. Broward Boulevard. Founded in 1907, the church pre-dates the city it calls home. Boasting a diverse congregation hailing from over 40 countries, demonstrated by services which are translated into multiple languages and a web broadcast viewed around the world each week. With a motto of, In the City, For the City, their focus is not on religion or a denomination; but for each person to discover their unique design and purpose through a deeper relationship with God. More information can be found at http://www.FirstBaptistFTL.com. Peerfit, a Tampa, Fla.-based digital health company working with employers to fully fund fitness experiences for their employees, received an $18m investment from Virgo Investment Group. This investment opened the companys Series C funding round. In addition to the raise, Virgo Investment Group Managing Director, Pooja Goel, joined Peerfits board of directors. The company intends to use the funds to expand its core brand, reach more employers and their employees, and grow into the Medicare Advantage space with Peerfit Move. Led by Ed Buckley, III, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Peerfit connects employers and carriers with personalized fitness experiences. Through their digital platform, insurance carriers, brokers and employers can provide benefits programs giving employees access to a network of fitness studios and gyms offering a variety of classes that cater to all levels of fitness using workplace wellness dollars. Peerfit also empowers consumers to access flexible fitness experiences that fit their needs and interests all through a digital dashboard. FinSMEs 19/03/2019 Having belonged to gyms my entire life, I have oftentimes seen equipment stand in disrepair for far too long. It's not enjoyable to wait in line for an elliptical, especially in a place you go to be active. We're ready to help solve these all too common issues..." Fitness Machine Technicians, specialists in the maintenance and repair of exercise equipment for fitness centers, universities, hotels, and private residences, announced today it is expanding into the Columbus, OH market. The local owners are Greg and Cynthia Dove of Mechanicsburg, OH. Greg has a degree in Business Administration from University of Southern Maine. Prior to his and his wifes new venture, he was president of a holding company located near Dayton, but has always been inspired by his wifes work with her father, who is a small business owner. Cynthia and Greg are eager to follow in his footsteps by bringing their experience to opening their own local business. Having belonged to gyms my entire life, I have oftentimes seen equipment stand in disrepair for far too long. Its not enjoyable to wait in line for an elliptical, especially in a place you go to be active. Were ready to help solve these all too common issues, whether at local universities, apartment complexes, or community gyms, said Greg. Fitness Machine Technicians offers service/repair and maintenance on a variety of exercise equipment on a contract and non-contract basis. The company is headquartered in Philadelphia and currently operates in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Georgia, Utah, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Missouri, and Ohio. Don Powers, CEO and Founder notes, Greg and Cynthia are incredibly knowledgeable business owners who understand the pains of both gym-goers and gym owners when it comes to broken equipment. Were lucky to have them on-board, serving a community they know well. For more information, visit http://www.FitnessMachineTechnicians.com/MidOhio. French Canal Boat Company announced that they will be exhibiting in the Europe section of the San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show. French Canal Boat Company will have experts on site to meet with consumers interested in barge cruising and booking reservations. French Canal Boat Company announced that they will be exhibiting in the Europe section of the San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show. They will be educating consumers about vintage luxury barge cruising in France on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, 2019 at booth #1450. Kim Dickey, Sales and Marketing for French Canal Boat Company, will highlight why barge cruising is becoming increasingly popular. French Canal Boat Company will have experts on site to meet with consumers interested in barge cruising and booking reservations. Experts will discuss The Loire, Frances longest river, Burgundy, originally a watery super-highway connecting the rivers Yonne and Soane, and opportunities to see a private view of its hidden history. I always enjoy learning about what travelers look forward to most when booking their vacations. At our booth, well be answering questions and booking unforgettable luxury vacation experiences. Im certain that attendees will enjoy learning about how the barge, crew, itinerary, region, food and wine all combine for luxury travel through the Burgundy Canal or through the Loire Valley, said Dickey. The event will be held at Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA 95054 with public show hours from 10:00am-5:00pm on Saturday, March 23 and from 11:00am-4:00pm on Sunday, March 24. To purchase tickets, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-sfbay-area-travel-adventure-show-tickets-50284137208?aff=tsweb About French Canal Boat Company: French Canal Boat Company provides luxurious cruises through the Burgundy Canal on board Le Papillon or through the Loire Valley on board Nymphea, offering an insiders view of this hidden aspect of France. With a gourmet chef onboard and crew providing impeccable service, guests are sure to experience history, adventure, culture, cuisine and wine. For more information visit: http://frenchcanalboatcompany.com/ About the Travel & Adventure Show: The San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show provides its visitors with the ultimate destination to find, plan and book their next vacation. Thousands of destinations will be represented for guests to explore, with free on-site experiences including the Discover Yosemite Virtual Reality Activity Pavilion and a Green Screen Photo Booth sponsored by Arizona allowing you to see yourself in the states most picturesque locations. Fans of CBS Survivor can look forward to meeting Adam Klein, the winner of Survivor Season 33, who will be on-site for a meet and greet as well as an open casting call for the series upcoming season. Some of the worlds top travel experts and celebrities including Rick Steves, Cheryl Strayed, Patricia Schultz, Peter Greenberg and Johnny Jet will be present to answer questions on all things travel. Guests will also interact one-on-one with many of these celebrities at the show! For more information visit: https://travelshows.com/shows/san-francisco-bay-area/ Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Easterseals DC MD VA, and JP Morgan will co-host a networking reception and presentation for attendees to learn about the Easterseals Veteran Staffing Network. The event will take place March 20 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the firms Northern Virginia office. Corporate Shareholder Scott Meza, who serves as an Easterseals board member, will give welcoming remarks. The Veteran Staffing Network, a social enterprise business developed by Easterseals DC MD VA, helps returning members of the armed services navigate an often-difficult journey to re-acclimation. All revenues generated by the Veteran Staffing Network go toward providing crucial support services for veterans, wounded warriors, and their families. For nearly 100 years, Easterseals has been at the forefront of helping to ensure people with disabilities and special needs, military members, veterans, and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work, and play in our community. Their community-based programs are designed to support and strengthen families, enrich the lives, create stronger communities, and reduce system-wide health care costs. Easterseals DC MD VA serves the 6 million-plus residents of the Washington, D.C. metro area. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com; Twitter: @GT_Law. Finding affordable insurance deals for high-risk drivers is not an easy job. High-risk drivers are recommended to compare multiple quotes from specialized insurers and pick an offer that satisfies their needs, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company Carinsurancehints.com has launched a new blog post that explains how high-risk drivers can obtain better car insurance rates. For more info and free quotes, please visit: https://www.carinsurancehints.com/get-good-car-insurance-high-risk-drivers/ Persons that are considered high-risk drivers by the insurance companies will have to pay a lot on their car insurance policies. Obtaining cheaper car insurance for this type of drivers might be tricky and will require great efforts to be done. High-risk drivers that are still insured and werent dropped out by their insurers, should stick with their current coverage while doing some research on alternative coverage options. To obtain better insurance deals, high-risk drivers can follow the next tips: Look for specialized non-standard carriers. Most standard insurance companies, dont want to deal with high-risk drivers. These specialized insurers are used to deal will all kinds of high-risk drivers like DUI/DWI convicted drivers, drivers with long coverage gaps, or drivers with many traffic violations. Usually, these specialized insurers are subsidiaries of larger, well-known insurance brands. Pay for the whole policy in advance. Even high-risk drivers can take advantage of this discount. All they have to do is to make one large single payment to the insurer, once they found one that is perfect for their needs. Doing so, high-risk drivers can secure a discount that can be as large as 10% of the whole policy costs. Install safety devices. High-risk driver or not, installing safety devices to a vehicle will make the insurance premiums paid by anyone to drop. Safety devices like lane departure warnings, cruise control, automatic brake systems, collision warning systems and so on, might be eligible for a discount. Graduate a defensive driving course. Another way that can help high-risk drivers to obtain lower insurance rates is by enrolling and graduating a defensive driving course. High-risk drivers will learn the states traffic laws and how to better recognize road hazards. Also, they will have the chance to improve their driving skills and learn new driving techniques. Compare online quotes. The best way for high-risk drivers to find a better coverage deal is by comparing multiple online quotes. In their case, they will have to compare online quotes from non-standard carriers. Luckily, brokerage websites will help them finish this task faster by displaying quotes from multiple specialized insurers that are willing to insure high-risk drivers. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://www.carinsurancehints.com/ Carinsurancehints.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. Dr. Eitan, Imad and his cousin Ayoub. Photo courtesy of Yediot Aharonot A Palestinian womans life has been saved thanks to the expert care of Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer. And in an amazing turn of fate and friendship, the Israeli doctor who helped save her was once rescued by her family when he was attacked by a vicious crowd in a Palestinian village. Four years ago, Dr. Eitan was traveling with his son and made a wrong turn into a Palestinian village near Ramallah. An angry mob formed around the car, throwing stones and breaking the car windows. The lives of Dr. Eitan and his son were clearly in danger when two bystanders who lived in the village, Imad and his cousin Ayoub, rescued them. Imad and Ayoub ushered the Israelis into their home, calling for a rescue team and protecting them from the threatening crowd that closed in around the house. Without question, Imad and Ayoub saved their lives. As a result, a deep friendship was born between the three men, and now it has come full circle. When Imads sister-in-law was severely injured in a vehicle accident, Imad knew just who to call Dr. Eitan. The doctor helped facilitate the sister-in-laws transfer to Sheba Medical Center for lifesaving treatment and continues to oversee her care. Her condition is improving, and she will soon be transferred to Shebas Rehabilitation Hospital. This story is the latest example of Sheba Medical Centers long history of spreading peace through medicine. This hospital without borders has a firm belief in providing the highest quality of medical care available, regardless of nationality or religion. For more information about this story or to arrange for an interview with Dr. Eitan, please contact Kelcey Kintner at 646-391-8001 or email her at Kelcey@redbanyan.com About Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer Born together with Israel in 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. Sheba is the only medical center in Israel that combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately. To learn more, visit: eng.sheba.co.il. Some of the dealerships most popular vehicles are available to lease during the Volkswagen Sign then Drive Event with incentive financing opportunities The Volkswagen Sign then Drive sales event is back again at Karen Radley Volkswagen, offering shoppers great deals on new leases on popular new Volkswagen models. Located in Woodbridge, Virginia, Karen Radley Volkswagen proudly serves the Washington D.C. area with its wide inventory of new and used vehicles. Some of the dealerships most popular vehicles are available to lease during the Volkswagen Sign then Drive Event with incentive financing opportunities. Some of the highlights available with special lease offers include the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas, the 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan, the 2019 Volkswagen Passat and the 2019 Volkswagen Jetta. These leases offer drivers low monthly payments for 36-month lease terms, as well as immediate savings in the form of an exemption from the down payment, security deposit, first month payment or amount due at signing. To read more about the special deals available at Karen Radley Volkswagen during the Volkswagen Sign then Drive Event, as well as the available leases terms and conditions, shoppers are encouraged to visit the dealerships website at http://www.karenradleyvw.com. There theyll also find further research on the models currently available on the dealerships lot via its informative blog. Those with questions or inquiries about the models available during the Sign then Drive Event are encouraged to reach out to the Karen Radley Volkswagen staff. Representatives can be reached through the dealerships website, by calling 855-450-7323 or by visiting its location at 14700 Jefferson Davis Highway. Marketing is so important to what Im doing with the show, and JFG was just a perfect fit for me; their approach and attitudes are exactly what Ive been looking for. J. Fitzgerald Group, a full-service integrated digital and traditional marketing communications firm based in Lockport, N.Y. serving local, regional and international clients, has been named the marketing agency for Laramy Sasquatch Miller, star of Last of a Breed on The Sportsman Channel. Miller, a native of Colorado, truly lives up to the nickname Sasquatch, standing an impressive 6 7 and weighing in at 270 pounds. Unlike the Sasquatch of lore, however, Miller has become highly recognizable among hunters and wilderness enthusiasts for his use of traditional approaches to hunting and survival. He uses only his own hand-made bow and a .54-caliber Hawken rifle when hunting and survives off the land, employing the most basic of tools and techniques to thrive in all conditions. From a young age, Miller was influenced by his uncles Dirk and Colt Ross who helped him learn how to be self-sufficient and thrive in the tough Rocky Mountains. After their death in a plane crash in 1995 while scouting for elk in Colorado, Miller continued to pursue a career as a modern-day mountain man, striving to teach the next generation of hunters how to successfully track game animals using only the equipment available to the hunters and trappers of the mid-1800s. Since starting his professional career as a mountain guide in Colorado, he has expanded his knowledge on hunts across the country and around the globe, and today works to provide the world with educational and exciting hunting programming to inspire new hunters and show them that todays technology doesnt make a sportsman successful. Were thrilled to be working with Laramy and help him grow his brand even further, said Jack Martin, president and co-owner of J. Fitzgerald Group (JFG). Sasquatch is definitely a big opportunity for JFG. Hes a unique and charismatic individual with a vast knowledge of the wilderness, so its easy to see why so many people love to watch his shows. We look forward to working with him to promote his show and his way of life. JFGs immediate work with Miller will include the development of a new website to give current and new fans a place to learn about his hunts and exploits all across North America. In addition, JFG will develop a new logo and tagline for Millers merchandise and apparel, build tradeshow materials, and assist with his visibility online through search engine optimization and social media management. The show is all about honoring the people who founded this country and the old ways of hunting, Miller said. Ever since I was a kid, Ive wanted to live off the land tracking and hunting the way our forefathers did. Nothing is staged with this show; what you see is exactly what I encounter. Marketing is so important to what Im doing with the show, and JFG was just a perfect fit for me; their approach and attitudes are exactly what Ive been looking for, Miller said. This is just a great partnership. Millers new show, Last of a Breed, premieres this July on The Sportsman Channel. Watch your local listings for details on airtimes this summer. About J. Fitzgerald Group Founded in 2002, J. Fitzgerald Group is an integrated marketing company specializing in full-service branding, digital and traditional advertising, web design, and research. JFGs clients span local, regional, and worldwide markets. For more information, visit them online at http://www.jfitzgeraldgroup.com. About Laramy Sasquatch Miller Since starting his professional career guiding in the mountains of Colorado, Laramy Sasquatch Miller has expanded his hunts across the country, enhancing his hunting knowledge and skills. Today he works at his dream job, creating exciting and educational hunting shows that follow in his uncles footsteps that allow him to share his knowledge and passion for hunting with the world. Look for his new show, Last of a Breed, premiering this July on The Sportsman Channel. Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Kristen Mathews has joined the firm in the New York office as a partner. Ms. Mathews joins the firms market-leading Global Privacy + Data Security Group, which is comprised of more than 60 lawyers across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has focused her global practice on data privacy and cybersecurity for more than 20 years and is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer in the space. Ms. Mathews comes to Morrison & Foerster from Proskauer Rose LLP, where she served as head of its Privacy + Cybersecurity Group. Among other things, Ms. Mathews extensive data privacy and cybersecurity experience includes advising clients on complying with data laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); protecting data in critical transactional matters, such as in M&A deals; and preventing, preparing for, and responding to cybersecurity breaches. She also provides counsel on direct marketing compliance, and defense of claims and online, telematics, and employee and workplace privacy. Ms. Mathews represents clients in a broad range of industries, including technology, finance, retail, consumer goods, health, insurance, media, education, auto, utilities, sports, and hospitality. Kristen is an exceptional lawyer who adds even greater depth and experience to our top-tier group, said Miriam Wugmeister, Co-chair of Morrison & Foersters Global Privacy + Data Security Group. Kristen will further help us meet the rapidly growing global demand for our counsel on privacy and data security matters. Her broad practice will be invaluable to our clients as they navigate increasingly complex legal demands and challenges. Similar to many other Morrison & Foerster privacy and data security partners, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and The Legal 500 all regularly rank Ms. Mathews as a top lawyer. Over the last decade, they have recognized her for her outstanding client service and extensive knowledge of the data privacy and cybersecurity space. Ms. Mathews accolades include being named to The Legal 500 Hall of Fame in the category of cyber law. In 2005, Ms. Mathews was an early achiever of the Certified Information Privacy Professional certification bestowed by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Ms. Mathews is also a prolific writer and speaker on the topic of data privacy and cybersecurity. I am delighted to join Morrison & Foersters large global team of privacy and data security lawyers, said Ms. Mathews. The firm has a highly respected and well-established platform and a notable roster of clients. I look forward to helping further grow MoFos outstanding practice and to advising the firms clients on their critical privacy and data security needs. Morrison & Foersters Global Privacy + Data Security Group advises on a broad range of privacy and data protection matters. It counsels some of the largest and best-known global enterprises, including many of the worlds leading technology businesses, as well as numerous smaller organizations. The groups services are used most by companies that operate in highly regulated sectors, such as financial services, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals, those with an online presence, and those operating internationally. The group is rated Band 1 by Chambers USA. Ms. Mathews joins a growing list of lateral partners who have recently joined Morrison & Foerster in New York. Within the last year, the firm has welcomed finance partner Jonathan Jacobs, executive compensation partners Ann Becchina and Ron Aizen, capital markets partner John Owen, federal tax partners Jay Blaivas and Anthony Carbone, and securities litigation partner Michael Birnbaum. ABOUT MOFO Morrison & Foerster is a global firm with exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in Northern America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Bankruptcy and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education for poor children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, winning asylum for the persecuted, and safeguarding the environment. "We will continue to add the best and the brightest to our team with a laser-focus performance, communication and accountability. Our resolve to be known as a best-in-class sponsor across all areas of our business is on the front of our minds every day." NB Private Capital, LLC, a nationally recognized real estate firm specializing in student housing, has hired new staff to assist with its growing portfolio of properties. As Senior Vice President of Accounting, Jennifer Welker rejoins many of the associates she had previously worked with at the companys predecessor, Nelson Brothers Professional Real Estate, where she was controller for six years. According to Brian Nelson, founder and president of NB Private Capital, Welker is a welcome addition to the staff, bringing both a familiarity with the entire executive team as well as an in-depth knowledge of the companys books and records. Welker worked as Director of Finance at Buy.com, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC and, more recently, as Vice President of Accounting at The Picerne Group. She has a bachelors degree in business with an emphasis in accounting from San Jose State University and is a Certified Public Accountant. In his role as Senior Vice President of Asset Management, John T. Burns brings over 30 years of real estate experience to the company, specializing in the commercial retail sector. Before joining NB Private Capital, Burns was Vice President of Portfolio Strategy, a privately held retail owner/developer located in Orange County, California. He has developed and executed business plans, adding value to the assets through strategic planning. His experience also includes working with REITS and the oversight of internal property management departments supervising all areas of responsibility. Burns has been a member of International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) for over 25 years. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelors degree in finance and is a native of Southern California. In the newly created position of Corporate Accounting Manager, Mark Antoun brings more than 10 years of experience in budgeting, accounting and operations. He began his career as a night auditor with Perflag Hotels LTD in London and quickly moved up the ranks to a property accounting supervisor responsible for overseeing eight staff accountants. During his tenure, his position entailed training, creating and developing processes and the implementation of accounting procedures. Most recently, he worked in accounting and management positions for SmartStop Assets in Ladera Ranch, California. At NB Private Capital, Antoun will manage the preparation and delivery of corporate annual reports, monthly investor distributions, daily accounting including accounts payable/receivables, cash management and budget and forecast analysis. He received his bachelors degree in accounting and finance from Alexandria University in Egypt and has an MBA from Preston University in Alabama with an emphasis in marketing. Joe Maymo has joined the firm as Vice President, Capital Markets for the Northeast region of the U.S. In his previous positions, Maymo worked in high-level executive roles as Regional Vice President at Nationwide and Transamerica Financial. His 19-year career as a financial services professional includes the wholesaling of variable annuities and mutual funds to the independent broker-dealer channel, along with more than six years of wholesaling publicly, non-traded REITS and Regulation D offerings. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The Ohio State University in 1997 and also holds his Series 7, 65 and 63 licenses. NB Private Capital, LLC has completed three syndications, launched three new programs, exited two investment programs and raised close to $100 million since our inception last year. This is great; however, the reason we launched NB Private Capital was to shift the focus from growth at all costs to measured and responsible growth, Nelson said. Asset management, property management and client services are every bit as important as top-line sales numbers. In fact, probably more so. We will continue to add the best and the brightest to our team with a laser-focus performance, communication and accountability. Our resolve to be known as a best-in-class sponsor across all areas of our business is on the front of our minds every day." For more information about NB Private Capital, LLC, please visit http://www.nbprivatecapital.com or contact Brian Nelson at Brian(at)NBprivatecapital(dot)com. About NB Private Capital NB Private Capital, LLC, offers individual investors direct ownership interests in institutional quality, professionally managed real estate. The company, founded by Brian Nelson, focuses on well-positioned, income-producing properties, targeted growth opportunities and value-added investments for its clients through capital improvements, cost efficiency and revenue maximization. NBPC specializes in the acquisition, financing and ownership of real estate investments in the niche area of student housing. NB Private Capital currently manages over $660 million in multi-family housing real estate. Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute Logo The traditional method of patients visiting multiple specialists and doing exercises at physical therapy not only costs them a lot of time and money, but its often completely ineffective in treating the vestibular dysfunction, said Dr. Howard Mango. Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute (the Institute) will present, Coming Full Circle: Evaluation and Treatment of the Dizzy Patient at the American Academy of Audiologys AAA Conference in Columbus on March 30th at 10:30 a.m. Dr. Stacie Pilgrim, Director of Clinical Research, is the Lead Presenter, and other supporting presenters will be Dr. Jennifer Grace, Clinical Director and Dr. Howard Mango, Founder and CEO. Co-presenting will be Jaime Carmody, owner of Midwest Dizziness and Balance Institute (MDBI). Carmody will discuss clinical findings from her patients diagnosis and treatment; comparing success rates from conventional therapy and our proprietary Advanced Vestibular Treatment (AVT). The Institutes presentation will explain its unique approach to diagnosing and treating dizzy patients, as many issues originate from the vestibular system in the inner ear, which is the audiologists domain. The clinicians will outline how they perform comprehensive balance evaluations and various methods of vestibular rehabilitation, including the use of virtual reality, in an audiology setting. They will also discuss outcome statistics following treatment and share insightful case studies. We look forward to demonstrating our Institutes approach to the treatment of the dizzy patient, said Dr. Jennifer Grace, Clinical Director, Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute. As a research and data driven practice, we will outline how our treatments use both subjective and objective data collected throughout the course of treatment to guide patients therapy. Learning Objectives: 1. Identify the important steps to a comprehensive vestibular evaluation and understand the importance for determining differential diagnosis and development of a treatment plan. 2. Evaluate the modern vestibular rehabilitation theories and techniques that are available to audiologists. 3. Define the results of subjective and objective outcome measures following a course of vestibular rehabilitation therapy performed by audiologists. Dizziness is one of the most common complaints in a primary care physicians office, next to pain and fatigue. Vestibular dysfunction is the leading cause of dizziness, therefore it falls within the scope of an audiologists practice to diagnose and treat the dizzy patient, as they specialize in the inner ear where the vestibular system lies. Research indicates that audiologists believe that a simple vestibular screening, such as a fall assessment, is within scope of practice, however, a small percentage feel they have the knowledge and skills to provide this assessment. The Institutes clinicians hypothesize that a very similar statistic would be found for views of audiologists on conventional therapy such as vestibular rehabilitation. Vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) is most commonly referred out to physical therapists. However, audiologists possess the knowledge and falls within the scope of practice of vestibular anatomy and physiology, the skillset needed to provide appropriate treatment as well as access to the equipment necessary to provide treatment independently. It benefits patients to be able to visit an audiologist to both diagnose and treat their dizziness, said Dr. Howard Mango, owner and CEO of Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute. The traditional method of patients visiting multiple specialists and doing exercises at physical therapy not only costs them a lot of time and money, but its often completely ineffective in treating the vestibular dysfunction. About Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance & Ear Institute is one of the country's leading practices for the research, diagnosis and treatment of patients with vestibular dysfunction one of the leading causes of dizziness, vertigo and balance disorders. Serving patients from all over the U.S., the Institutes team of doctors of audiology utilize advanced, state-of-the-art technology at two locations - Newport Beach and Ladera Ranch, California. The Institute provides both comprehensive diagnostic testing and proprietary Advanced Vestibular Treatment (AVT) with more than a 90 percent success rate. A full spectrum of audiological solutions is also offered to enhance hearing health, including adult and pediatric hearing loss evaluation, advanced hearing devices and tinnitus treatment. Since 1977, the Institute has served over 50,000 patients. 500 Old Newport Blvd., Suite 101, Newport Beach, CA 92663 | 949.642.7935 | http://www.dizziland.com. ### Skedulo, a San Francisco, CA-based mobile workforce management company, closed a $28m Series B funding. The round was led by M12, with participation from returning investors Blackbird and Costanoa Ventures, bringing the companys total fundraising to $40.5m. As part of the financing, Priya Saiprasad, Principal of M12, will join Skedulos Board of Directors. The company, which has secured more than $40 million in funding to date, plans to use the funds to increase headcount by 118 percent across its four offices, including adding 60 new employees to its Australian offices in Brisbane and Sydney. Founded in 2013 by Matt Fairhurst, CEO, Skedulo provides the Mastermind intelligence engine, a solution that automates and optimizes the matching of available and qualified employees to customer needs within the context of the companys priorities. Skedulo plans to introduce new analytics features and increase the intelligence of the platform through additional machine learning capabilities. In addition, the company will enable more integrations with enterprise systems of record, such as human resource management, financial management, electronic health records, and payroll systems. The platform is comprised of a web and mobile application. For service and operations teams, Skedulo offers scheduling and matching to improve customer and employee satisfaction. For mobile workers, the mobile app is a productivity solution that can help ensure they are doing their best work on every job. The company has offices in Australia, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom, and serves over 120 companies, including Easterseals Bay Area, Achieve3000, and Area Wide Protective, to schedule and service more than 5 million appointments around the globe. FinSMEs 20/03/2019 We are very pleased to establish this relationship with Elevate and EDC. This program will allow Newterra to better support our customers with financing options for projects that are needed to provide safe and secure drinking water and sewage treatment as well as other water solutions. Newterra Ltd. (Newterra) is pleased to announce it has entered into a strategic partnership with export financing company Elevate Export Finance Corp. (Elevate). In working with Elevate, Newterra can now provide its US-based and international customers with financing options that support its wide-ranging treatment solutions for water, wastewater and groundwater. Elevate, an established partner of the Canadian governments Export Development Canada (EDC), will offer Newterra customers competitive rates, medium-term loans of up to $10 million USD via a streamlined process and supported by Elevates private lending network. Newterra is a water treatment system solutions provider focused on three distinct market areas, Groundwater treatment, Decentralized modular sewage, potable water and desalinization systems, and Industrial Process water for boiler feed and other clean water applications including ultrapure water. Dee Bryant, Chief Growth Officer for Newterra commented, We are very pleased to establish this relationship with Elevate and EDC. This program will allow Newterra to better support our customers with financing options for projects that are needed to provide safe and secure drinking water and sewage treatment as well as other water solutions. Duncan Munn, Founder and Chair of Elevate said, We are delighted to partner with an innovative, advanced Canadian manufacturer such as Newterra. We have significant overlap in many markets and find significant alignment with Newterra to expand their global reach. https://newterra.com/financing About Elevate Export Finance Corp. Elevate, a Canadian-based lender has partnered with Export Development Canada (EDC) and financial institutions to provide the customers of Canadian small and medium-sized businesses with structured finance solutions. Elevate lends to foreign buyers of Canadian Exporters to help support Canadian Export Success. For more information, please visit https://www.elevatefinance.ca/. About Newterra Newterra is recognized as a leader in designing, engineering, manufacturing and supporting modular treatment solutions for water, wastewater, and groundwater. Since 1863, Newterra has been helping clients in a wide range of industries and sectors operate more efficiently, sustainably and safely. For more information, please visit https://newterra.com/. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Dee Bryant Chief Growth Officer +1 (800) 420-4056 dbryant(at)newterra.com James Reble Business Development Manager +1 (416) 342-9988 jreble(at)elevatefinance.ca All existing FDA vaccine approvals illegal FDA violating 1986 law for over 30 years The Natural Solutions Foundation and the Institute for Health Research have joined forces with the Worlds #1 Anti-Vaxxer, Kent Heckenlively, California Attorney-at-Law. Counsel Heckenlively is the father of a seriously vaccine injured child. He is well-known for crusading world-wide for Informed Consent. Highlighting the growing vaccine truth censorship he has been banned from Australia and other countries for his Informed Consent advocacy. Counsel Heckenlively says: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Esq. recently proved in court what weve said for years: the FDA has been approving vaccines as drugs in defiance of the 1986 law that was supposed to make vaccines safer. Instead, theyve become ever more dangerous, even deadly. Ive become the Worlds #1 Anti-Vaxxer by taking on the corrupt vaccine industry. The Citizens Petition was filed on March 8th, seeking FDA emergency action to suspend all current vaccine approvals until, and unless, the reporting and safety provisions of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act are finally enforced. The Petition includes a demand to the President that he should abide by the US Constitution requirement, in Article 2, Section 3, that he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) requires Federal Agencies to respond to formal APA petitions filed at Regulations.gov within 90 days. FDA was given binding statutory responsibility to provide annual reports to Congress on the safety and efficacy of every approved vaccine. Not one such report has been produced or submitted in direct violation of the law. Furthermore, the same 1986 statute requires that every vaccine be safer and more effective than the previous ones. FDA has never tested a single vaccine for safety and effectiveness, relying on industry data from an industry relieved of all liability responsibility by that same law. The result is a mis-branded, unapproved cocktail of unproven drugs now being increasingly mandated in violation of internationally and nationally protected rights to refuse any and all medical procedures known collectively as the Right of Informed Consent. Vaccines have been ruled unavoidably unsafe by US Courts and the government has been forced to pay out more than $4 Billion US in compensation for vaccine injury or deaths in the Special Vaccine Injury Court set up by the 1986 legislation. The Petitioners hold FDA has knowingly violated the law and that no vaccine approved under those violations can be a legal biological drug. As an illegal substance, FDA is required to cancel approval for each illegal substance it had previously approved. FDA failure can result in court intervention. Concerned parties are invited to express their support for the Vaccine Approval Suspension by joining the petition here: https://tinyurl.com/StopIllegalVaccines For more information: Natural Solutions Foundation: http://www.DrRimaTruthReports.com Institute for Health Research: http://www.InHeRe.org NS8 is a fast-growing eCommerce SaaS company that combats online fraud. Thousands of businesses embrace and use our services consistently to better protect themselves against fraud, which has a significant impact on their bottom line. NS8, a fast-growing eCommerce SaaS company that combats online fraud, announced today that it has completed a $26 million round of funding led by Edison Partners, Sorenson Ventures, and Lytical Ventures. Additional participants include: TDF Ventures, Hanna Ventures, and others. The companys flagship product, NS8 Protect, is used by eCommerce merchants in over 50 countries to defend their online stores against transaction fraud, advertising fraud, and site reliability issues. It is the only solution that combines three offerings into a single platform. The additional capital will help NS8 continue to grow in multiple areas including product innovation, channel development and sales acceleration. Thousands of businesses embrace and use our services consistently to better protect themselves against fraud, which has a significant impact on their bottom line. NS8 is enhancing the extensibility and key functional areas of our software with this funding, said CEO Adam Rogas. This is a very exciting time in the evolution of our company. We would like to thank Edison Partners and our entire investment group for sharing our vision of growth. Ecommerce fraud according to industry reports continues to grow almost twice as fast as eCommerce sales. This has created significant market demand from merchants for NS8s revenue protection solutions. With this funding, NS8 is well poised to build on its strong revenue and bookings growth, and further innovate and scale its offerings to even larger enterprises. We are excited to partner with Adam and team in this next stage of transformative growth, said Lenard Marcus, General Partner for Edison Partners, who led the investment and joins NS8s board of directors. NS8 Protect is available at scalable pricing to eCommerce stores through easy app installations on major eCommerce platforms, including: Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and thirty bees. Through direct API integrations, NS8s extensible technology can also be implemented by enterprise businesses, including everything from large-scale eCommerce sites and platforms to payment service providers. Fraud scoring by NS8 is generated by its proprietary EQ8 Scoring Engine, which processes a massive amount of analysis, in fractions of a second, to assess risk. An EQ8 Score tracks hundreds of user attributes and is leveraged by NS8 services to differentiate legitimate site traffic from low-quality visitors. NS8s frictionless scoring methodology goes beyond analyzing transaction-level attributes in its decisioning, using behavioral analytics and front-end user scoring to expose many fraud indicators left undetected by other fraud solutions. About Edison Partners For more than 30 years, Edison Partners has been helping CEOs and their executive teams grow and scale successful companies. The firms investment team brings extensive investing and operating experience to each investment. Through a unique combination of growth capital and the Edison Edge platform, consisting of operating centers of excellence, the Edison Director Network, and executive education programs, Edison employs a truly integrated approach to accelerating growth and creating value for businesses. A team of experts in financial technology, healthcare IT and enterprise solution sectors, Edison targets high-growth companies with $5 to $25 million in revenue; investments also include buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases. Edisons active portfolio has created aggregated market value exceeding $10 billion. Edison Partners is based in Princeton, NJ and manages more than $1.4 billion in assets throughout the eastern United States. About Sorenson Ventures Sorenson Ventures is a Silicon Valley and Utah-based early-stage venture capital fund focused on enterprise software and security investments. Sorenson Ventures has more than $100 million in capital under management. The fund is managed by Ken Elefant and Rob Rueckert, who have both operating experience and venture experience at Battery Ventures, Lightspeed and Intel Capital. The principals of the fund are especially known for making value add connections to Global 2000 customers and have partnered with outstanding entrepreneurs through the years. About Lytical Ventures Lytical Ventures, an affiliate of Lyrical Partners, is a NYC-based venture firm specializing exclusively in Corporate Intelligence, including Cybersecurity, Data and Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. Lytical's team of professionals has decades of experience in domain-relevant, early-stage, direct investing. About NS8 Founded in 2016, NS8 began with the goal of empowering businesses to better fight the growing epidemic of online fraud. Its fraud prevention platform incorporates behavioral analytics, real-time user scoring, and global monitoring into a single solution that combats online fraud with industry-leading time to value. A graduate of the MACH37 cybersecurity accelerator program, NS8 now supports over 2,300 businesses worldwide in over 50 countries. Headquartered in Las Vegas, NS8 also has regional offices located in Florida, Michigan, California, Amsterdam, and Singapore. http://www.ns8.com The 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan at Capistrano Volkswagen is an excellent choice for compact SUV shoppers in Orange County. Compact SUVs are increasing in popularity these days and a top choice for the compact SUV segment is the 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan, with its sleek styling, excellent performance, off-road capabilities, a roomy and versatile interior and advanced multimedia and driving assistance technologies. Capistrano Volkswagen, which is located at 32922 Valle Road in San Juan Capistrano, California, now offers the 2019 VW Tiguan. Whether driving on the daily commute or going on a weekend camping trip, drivers of the 2019 VW Tiguan will be well-connected and entertained with its many connectivity and multimedia technologies. This includes the MIB II infotainment system, USB ports, SiriusXM Radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration and the 9-speaker Fender Premium Audio system. Under the hood of the 2019 VW Tiguan is the robust 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine. It churns out 184 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque, with an estimated highway fuel economy of 27 mpg. All 2019 Tiguan models come equipped with the smooth and efficient eight-speed automatic transmission. Also, for off-road adventures in Southern California and for confident driving in adverse weather conditions, the 2019 Tiguan offers the available 4Motion with Active Control all-wheel drive system. The 2019 Tiguan delivers high-level safety with its multitude of safety-enhancing driving assistance technologies. This includes Autonomous Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Monitoring, an Overhead View Camera, Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Traffic Alert. The cabin of the 2019 Tiguan is quite spacious, with the ability to seat up to seven people and a cavernous total passenger volume of 123.9 cubic-feet. Also, its easy to load up for Southern California excursions with the Tiguans maximum cargo capacity of 65.7 cubic-feet. Orange County SUV shoppers can find out more information about the 2019 VW Tiguan by visiting Capistrano Volkswagens website at http://www.capovw.com, calling (949) 493-4511 or with a visit to the dealership at 32922 Valle Road in San Juan Capistrano. Safety tends to be an afterthought, especially for smaller construction companies who are more likely to experience accidents, so I work to educate about the upfront costs and how they end up saving money in the long run when they invest in safety. PRECO Electronics is proud to announce Fernando Figueroa, President, and co-founder of Curv Compliance, as the winner of the 2018 Excellence in Safety Award. Figueroa has built his career on keeping employees safe, well trained, and knowledgeable to reduce injuries and illnesses in the workplace. In honoring those who educate and take action to improve safety on and off the worksite, PRECO strives to support and bolster the significant difference safety leaders like Figueroa make across the globe. Figueroa is recognized for his initiative in launching Curv, a safety and compliance-focused consulting company. Designed to provide safety training, compliance audits, inspections, education, and guidance for businesses in need of industry-specific compliance resources, Curv implements corrective action processes to establish safe and effective operations. Figueroa serves as a board member for Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and many other organizations, as well as serving as Chair for the AGC Education Committee. From an early age, Figueroa was exposed to worksites through his father and earned discipline and leadership skills throughout his eight years in the United States Marine Corps. After serving, he began a career in construction and was quickly selected to be a safety leader. Using his experience, Figueroa soon realized the impact a shared understanding of regulations and accident causation could have on reducing incident rates. The biggest safety issues I see are the lack of training and tools provided to employees, Figueroa said. Many companies arent putting safety at the forefront, primarily due to the perceived cost. Safety tends to be an afterthought, especially for smaller construction companies who are more likely to experience accidents, so I work to educate about the upfront costs and how they end up saving money in the long run when they invest in safety. Before starting Curv, Figueroa worked as the Safety Director for Yantis Company, who nominated him for the award. At Yantis, Figueroa began training and conducting site inspections, and successfully built a connection with his workforce. These relationships allowed Figueroa to improve adoption, getting workers on board with his safety initiatives. Figueroa now works to make Curv a top outreach training center to help provide low-cost community training and continue to provide construction companies with the tools necessary to meet and exceed OSHA regulations. Under his leadership, Curv has been named the three-time recipient of the San Antonio, AGC chapter ACE TINCH Service Provider of the Year award, as well as the 2017 Bubba Muller Award for Outstanding Service. PRECO appreciates the growing participation and nominations for the award. It is an honor to be among outstanding safety leaders such as our nominees and to hear from those who support and recognize their hard work and dedication to safety. For more information, please contact Reyna Clow at rclow(at)preco.com, or visit our website. About the Excellence in Safety Award As a leader in safety, PRECO Electronics established the Excellence in Safety Award to honor safety professionals for their initiative and commitment to the advancement of safety within their community, business or industry. The Excellence in Safety Award honors those with exceptional proofs of innovation, leadership, vision, and best practices in safety within heavy-duty industries. This award is intended to recognize an individual that demonstrates excellence in advancing best safety practices throughout the community, business or industry by continuously going above and beyond to integrate, innovate, and educate others to inspire change and improve safety. Award Criteria Initiative: The nominee demonstrates leadership, initiates open discussions, introduces programs, and gives voice to safety concerns within the industry, community, or business. Involvement: The nominee takes an active role in industry associations, community safety programs, and/or business/legislative policy changes to advance safety. Innovative: The nominee is creative and imaginative; introduces new ideas and suggestions to move safety into the forefront of the community, legislature, business or industry they serve. About PRECO Electronics As the global leader in collision mitigation technologies for over 70 years, PRECO Electronics strives to mitigate risk, while eliminating accident-related injuries and fatalities through active blind spot monitoring. Keeping pace with the evolving needs of the industry, PRECOs engineering team proudly continues their innovative advances in new safety technologies. For more information on PRECOs heavy-duty vehicle collision mitigation technology, please visit http://www.preco.com. SalesFirst Recruiting moves to Historic Lair Hill Neighborhood Lair Hill is filled with beautiful Victorian homes, steep hills, dead ends, and about 100 Gibbs Streets. I definitely recommend asking Siri for a little help on your first visit to our new headquarters, SalesFirst Recruiting has called Portland home since its inception in 2012, but the company is proud to make it official with the purchase of a building in the historic Lair Hill neighborhood. The acquisition makes SalesFirst Recruiting official Portlanders, and the company looks forward to developing a relationship with the unique community it will now call home. The new building offers SalesFirst Recruiting employees, clients, and candidates a more centralized location that is easier to visit than the companys current location. While it may be more accessible, SalesFirst Recruiting does recommend that visitors utilize GPS to find the building. Lair Hill is filled with beautiful Victorian homes, steep hills, dead ends, and about 100 Gibbs Streets. I definitely recommend asking Siri for a little help on your first visit to our new headquarters, Adam Morris, SalesFirst Recruitings founder and CEO, joked. Were thrilled that we get to work in this neighborhood every day. Its very community-centric, and you get a real sense of Portlands history around every turn. Like the Lair Hill neighborhood, SalesFirst Recruitings new headquarters offers character, history, and lots of twists and turns. The building was built in the 1950s, and underwent substantial structural changes during the 60s. It was restored in 2011, and still provides the charm of its original intention. Morris said, Weve chosen to preserve as much of the building as possible. Were leaving it as-is, except for a fresh coat of paint in some areas. Were going with high-contrast white and black pain, which will highlight the buildings mid-century modern style and sunlit rooms. The deal was made official today at closing, and SalesFirst Recruiting will begin offering services out of 11 SW Gibbs Street on April 15th. We feel so lucky to have the opportunity to make a new home for our company in this building. The previous owners did an amazing job restoring it to retain its character. They put a lot of heart into this building, and you can feel it as soon as you open the doors, Morris shared. SalesFirst Recruiting New Address: 11 SW Gibbs Street Portland, Oregon 97223 Interested parties can learn more by contacting Oregon@salesfirstrecruiting.com or by visiting http://www.salesfirstrecruiting.com. About SalesFirst Recruiting The SalesFirst Recruiting team opened its doors in 2012 with the goal of providing the best sales and marketing professionals to businesses throughout the Portland region. SalesFirst Recruitings dedication to finding the highest caliber of candidates didnt go unnoticed, and demand quickly grew. Following on the success of the Portland location, SalesFirst Recruiting expanded to Denver and Phoenix, and continues to make meaningful connections between its clients and recruits throughout the southwest and Oregon markets. Tom Karson, MD Securlinx Healthcare Advisory Board Member Every organization is wrestling with the fundamental question of how to reliably determine with whom they are dealing, whether that individual is already known to that organization, and that persons relationship and role within that organization. Securlinx, a leading provider of identity management solutions, today announced the publication of An Enterprise Perspective for Biometric Identification introducing the Repository for Universal Biometric Identification (RUBI), a white paper authored by Advisory Board member Tom Karson, MD. We are extremely proud of the contribution Dr. Karson has made in how to think about enterprise-wide identity management, said Barry Hodge, CEO of Securlinx, Too often an isolated solution to one problem creates an even larger issue in the future. Tom has been there before and describes a clear path to utilize identity as a strategic asset instead of a tactical patch. Craig Workinger Securlinx, General Manager & EVP of Business Development announced the upcoming release of the RUBI white paper at a recent New York State HiMSS Chapter meeting. Securlinx continues to develop our offerings as outlined within the framework Dr. Karson so eloquently describes. Our vision for the future of identity management is data security focused on the needs of organizations that address healthcare, finance, retail and government verticals as a horizontal platform. The ProblemWho Are You Really? Personal Identity has become a major problem in the complex digital world in which we live. With today's increasing requirements for remote access to information, every organization is wrestling with the fundamental question of how to reliably determine with whom they are dealing, whether that individual is already known to that organization, and that persons relationship and role within that organization. Tom Karson, MD Dr. Karson is a physician and healthcare IT executive who has served as Corporate Chief Medical Information Officer at Continuum Health Partners, Deputy CIO for Yeshiva University and Medical Director Information Systems at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He is a cardiologist, intensivist and Harvard-MIT trained informaticist who has been on the faculty at some of our nations most prestigious institutions including the Cleveland Clinic and the Brigham and Womens Hospital. Get the RUBI White Paper To request a complimentary copy of Dr. Karsons RUBI white paper (pdf), visit https://securlinx.com/contact-us/ About Securlinx Securlinx is a leading provider of integrated, affordable identity management and access control systems. The company serves customers in healthcare, law enforcement and other industries with a critical need to manage identity data securely. The company develops systems that use any combination of facial image, fingerprint, iris, vein and other biometric applications to create a secure identity record and integrate it with any existing database. Customers achieve a highly secure centralized operating environment that can manage facility access, identify vendors, and maintain employee records and other important functions, resulting in improved security and productivity. For more information, visit: https://www.securlinx.com. Andy Reiman, Senior Technology Advisor Andys experience as a former business owner and IT executive adds a new layer of expertise to our consulting arm." - Ray Steen, Chief Strategy Officer, MainSpring Last month, MainSpring added a seasoned professional to their team: Andy Reiman. As a former CEO, Reiman brings 25 years of experience in helping businesses run predictably and efficiently with a variety of technologies, including systems management, software, automated testing tools, and enterprise information management software. Andys experience as a former business owner and IT executive adds a new layer of expertise to our consulting arm, said MainSpring Chief Strategy Officer Ray Steen. He understands first-hand how businesses today need to operate, beyond the day-to-day IT support functions. His experience in tying best practices to business initiatives supports the firms commitment to productivity and security. Reiman will take on the role of Senior Technology Advisor at MainSpring. In this role, he will meet with senior executives of small businesses, nonprofits and associations in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia areas to discuss technology and industry trends, and solutions to impact their organizations productivity and security. Im really excited to start this journey with MainSpring, Reiman said. I think my background in business and technology will help organization leaders in the DMV gain a new perspective of IT, which will allow them to become more productive and scalable. Prior to joining MainSpring, Reiman worked with Fortune 500 companies at the enterprise-level, served as a channel manager in the software development industry, and was instrumental in establishing HIPAA-compliant scanning centers in Northern Virginia. Reiman was twice named to the Bulldog 100 for fastest growing companies owned by a University of Georgia alumni. About MainSpring MainSpring, Inc. is an IT strategy and consulting firm that arms organizations with the strategy, tools and resources to impact their mission. Founded in 1993, MainSpring is headquartered in Frederick, Md., with offices in Florida, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin. The firm supports a wide range of clients including businesses, nonprofits and government agencies such as the Department of Defense. SFL Scientific CEO, Michael Segala at GTC 2019 SFL Scientific today announced that it has been recognized with the Americas 2018 NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN) Service Delivery Partner of the Year Award. SFL Scientific was presented with this award at the NPN Reception and Awards Ceremony held during the 2019 NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference (GTC). The NVIDIA Partner Network honored SFL Scientific for its contributions over the past year in educating partners and customers on the value of NVIDIA GPUs in several key areas, including data science, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Among, their many collaborations, SFL Scientific has been working closely with NVIDIAs Healthcare team and Inception startup program partners to develop such systems as disease prediction tools using 3D CNN models based on patient CT data. It is an honor and privilege to receive this recognition and work alongside NVIDIAs Partner, Business Development, and Solutions teams in this rapidly growing market of deep learning and AI-based solutions, said Michael Segala, CEO, SFL Scientific. NVIDIAs industry-leading GPU portfolio benefits not only our respective clients, but can begin to help solve complex challenges across every industry and organization. Together we are impacting human health, quality of life, and productivity alike. As a service delivery partner, SFL Scientific plays a critical role in NVIDIAs ecosystem, understanding our customers problems and ultimately driving the sale of GPU architectures, said Craig Weinstein, Vice President of the Americas Partner Organization at NVIDIA. SFL Scientific also has been an important educator and evangelist, providing custom AI training courses for the commercial and government sectors. The NVIDIA Partner Network hosts an annual awards ceremony during GTC in Silicon Valley honoring its top North American partners that have shown growth in their GPU business through the investments they have made throughout the year. About SFL Scientific SFL Scientific is a data science consulting and professional services company, providing a broad range of solutions in data engineering, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence. We provide strategy, prototype, integrate, and manage sophisticated AI solutions by leveraging emerging technology. With a globally connected network of technology partners such as NVIDIA, SFL Scientific brings world-class capabilities, delivering professional services and insights to address the most complex business challenges. Our team brings experience and domain knowledge across twenty industry sectors, working at the intersection of business and technology to help clients to develop new products, solve R&D or complex problems, lower operating costs, and set the stage for their AI augmented future. For more information, contact us at http://www.sflscientific.com For further information, contact: Paul Briggs Vice President SFL Scientific LLC (617) 456-7645 pbriggs(at)sflscientific.com We're honored to be receiving this award for the fourth year in a row. We always make sure our customers know their satisfaction is our priority. This year, Sir Grout Northern New Jersey has the privilege of being one of the few hard surface restoration companies in the area that received Angie's List's coveted Super Service Award. Angie's List, the go-to online directory for home improvement services, grants this award to the best service providers each year. To achieve such a high level of recognition, companies must go beyond normal service standards. 2018 marks Sir Grout Northern New Jersey's fourth consecutive year as winners, which showcases how committed they are towards keeping customers satisfied. Angie's List users can grade companies on an "A" to "F" scale after hiring their services. To be eligible for a Super Service Award, a company must have an "A" rating as their Overall Grade, Recent Grade, and Review Period Grade. The grades are determined through the ratings, testimonials, and reviews provided by customers. In many cases, it only takes a company one bad review to be disqualified as a potential winner of Angie's List prestigious award. Earning this prize isn't an easy task. "Hard surface restoration companies must meet really high standards in Northern New Jersey. Only a small percentage of companies have performed well enough to receive our Super Service Award," stated Angie's List founder, Angie Hicks. As a result, earning this award not once, but for four consecutive years is a testament to Sir Grout Northern New Jersey's impeccable customer service. Upon learning about this recognition, this franchise's owner, Jeff Miller, stated: "We're honored to be receiving this award for the fourth year in a row. We always make sure our customers know their satisfaction is our priority. To see every client, recognize our efforts to establish a positive customer relationship and deliver top-notch services motivates us to keep going." Sir Grout Northern New Jersey has cultivated a great reputation in their area, which shows why they were chosen as one of the awardees. Through years of delivering top-of-the-line services, they became the go-to hard surface restoration company for people residing in several counties in Northern New Jersey. They offer home and business owners in the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Union, and Rockland the best products and services in the field of hard surface restorations. The best way to schedule a free evaluation with the hard surface restoration specialists at Sir Grout Northern New Jersey is by visiting their website http://www.sirgroutnorthnj.com or giving them a call at (201) 571-2424. Vixiar Medical, Inc., a Baltimore, Maryland-based company dedicated to the development of non-invasive devices and systems for monitoring cardiopulmonary diseases, closed a $1.5m financing. Backers included new investors Emerald Development Managers, MMG Opportunities and several individual investors and existing investors The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) through its seed fund, the Abell Foundation, individual investors and management. The company intends to use the proceeds to complete an ongoing clinical trial and to prepare regulatory submissions. Led by CEO Kevin Thibodeau, Vixiar develops non-invasive technologies for monitoring cardiopulmonary diseases, particularly those with significant clinical and economic burden. The companys first product, Indicor, is a handheld point-of-care device and digital platform for the early detection and monitoring of worsening heart failure. Vixiar is a spinout of Johns Hopkins. FinSMEs 20/03/2019 Jeenie Mobile App As a global company focused on international use cases, Jeenie is leveraging our Washington D.C. roots and the citys role as a jumping-off point for significant international activity. Jeenie is proud to announce its inclusion in MindShare, an exclusive organization designed especially for CEOs of the most promising high-tech companies in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Jeenie is a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand video or voice calls with HUMAN language and culture concierges. With the tap of a button, Jeenie mobile app connects customers to LIVE language help and cultural advice in less than 1 minute. Jeenies CEO and Co-Founder, Kirsten Brecht Baker, will join the 2019 class of MindShare, an organization founded in 1997 with a mission to help high-potential CEOs build long-term, sustainable companies. At the conclusion of the year-long Mindshare program, members graduate and join a powerful alumni network of over 1,000 CEOs. We are delighted to welcome Kirsten Brecht Baker to this years class, said Steve Balistreri, Managing Director at Deloitte and executive committee board member. Each year, our MindShare participants hail from some of the most innovative organizations in the DMV, and this years class is certainly representative of the momentum and diversity we see in technology companies across the region. MindShare selects CEOs from some of the areas hottest emerging companies. MindShare received more than 160 nominations for 2019, with 58 of those accepted into the final cohort. Ms. Brecht Baker was also selected to serve as a 2019 WeDC Ambassador. The WeDC Ambassador Program, a collaboration between the D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership, engages the Districts most promising and passionate business leaders, entrepreneurs, and influencers to represent DCs diverse, vibrant business ecosystem. As a global company focused on international use cases, Jeenie is leveraging our Washington D.C. roots and the citys role as a jumping-off point for significant international activity, says Brecht Baker. Joining DMV-based (DC-Maryland-Virginia) communities like Mindshare and the WeDC Ambassador program put us at the center of the citys innovation. We look forward to supporting, and collaborating with, our fellow Mindshare members and WeDC Ambassadors. Jeenie's participation in both programs will include opportunities to represent Washington D.C. locally, nationally and internationally as a hub for creativity and innovation. # # # About Jeenie The Jeenie Mobile App provides on-demand, real-time language assistance and cultural advice by connecting users via video-chat or audio to a live bilingual, bicultural HUMAN who can help hold three-way conversations, navigate new cities, read signs and menus, and experience more of the local culture. The Jeenie Mobile App is compatible with iOS and Android and available in the app store in 60+ countries. Easter Bunny Every year, the Bunny Hut brings so much joy to Grossmont Center. Its not Easter without the Easter Bunny, so Grossmont Center is bringing back its hugely popular Bunny Hut for the spring holiday season. From April 6 through April 20, the Easter Bunny will greet visitors at the La Mesa shopping center and pose for photos. Every year, the Bunny Hut brings so much joy to Grossmont Center, says Trevor Moore, the Centers Director of Public Relations and Events. Families, especially children, love to meet the Easter Bunny and come away with a photo of this special memory. Coming to Grossmont Centers Bunny Hut is a beloved tradition for people, and we are proud to host this special annual event. This is one of the many events that take place at Grossmont Center and they have earned us a reputation as more than just a mall. The Center is truly a gathering spot for the entire community. The Bunny Hut will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Centers courtyard gazebo. Photos will be available for purchase and appointments can be booked in advance online to avoid waiting in line. To book an appointment or for more information on the Bunny Hut, visit the event page at http://www.grossmontcenter.com/event/bunny-hut/ To learn more about Grossmont Center, visit http://www.grossmontcenter.com About Grossmont Center Grossmont Center is an outdoor shopping center in San Diego located at 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa, CA 91942. Grossmont Center is more than just a mall. Its an experience. With its outdoor setting, local, and national retail partners, restaurants, and year-round community events, Grossmont Center is where friendships are made, family bonds are strengthened, and memories are created. The Center is home to more than 100 unique stores, half of which are locally owned, 20 restaurants and a movie theater. Grossmont Center occupies 1 million square feet and is sure to have something in store for everyone! For more information, including hours of operation, visit http://www.grossmontcenter.com TrueLake Logo TrueLake Holdings Limited (TrueLake), a leading publisher of Mandarin audiobooks by several of the worlds best-selling authors, today announced it had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in Chaoyang District Court in Beijing, China, against Xi Da (Shanghai) Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Ximalaya), an Internet audio platform in China, purported to have over 400 million registered users. The lawsuit filing states that TrueLake has evidence notarized by the Beijing Guoli Notary Public Office of publicly available data on Ximalayas website showing that unauthorized copies of Dan Browns book "The Da Vinci Code" had been downloaded or accessed by its listeners over 1.7 million times. In addition to publishing the Mandarin audiobook version of "The Da Vinci Code," TrueLake produces and distributes Mandarin audiobooks of Inferno by Dan Brown, "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin, and "IT," "The Green Mile," "Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King. In cooperation with the Beijing Guoli Notary Public Office, TrueLake has been formally documenting evidence of apparent copyright infringement of its other titles on the Ximalaya website and on other websites. Commenting on the case, Cliff Miller, CEO of TrueLake, said, A lawsuit can be bittersweet medicine for all parties. However, if this leads to Ximalaya developing a robust system to identify, eradicate and prevent infringement in its own audio library, it will be a huge win for everyone, including Ximalaya. Miller added, Theres ample reason for optimism here, not only in obtaining a positive judgment in this particular case, which we believe is clear cut, but in general. Many executives in the Chinese audiobook publishing industry have come to embrace intellectual property rights. TrueLake is extremely bullish about the future. The case number in Chaoyang District Court in Beijing, China is (2018) Chao Yu Min Zi No. 137185. TRUELAKE COMPANY OVERVIEW: TrueLake Holdings Limited is an audiobook publisher, specializing in Mandarin titles. It produces and distributes bestselling titles such as "The Story of Yanxi Palace," based upon the top TV series in China in 2018, as well as Mandarin versions of international mega-hits by authors like Dan Brown, Steven King and George R.R. Martin. TrueLake recently began producing audiobooks for children, including a Mandarin-English bilingual version of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." TrueLakes distribution channel includes the major Internet audio platforms in China, reaching over 95% of the Chinese audiobook market. Its sales and marketing efforts are strengthened through domestic programming by an affiliate radio network and its own Internet radio station broadcasting to a worldwide audience. # # # Contact: Rachel Tarlow Gul Over the River Public Relations rachel(at)otrpr.com, 201-503-1321 Cliff Miller TrueLake cliff(at)truelake.com, 415-324-9903 "Theres never been a better time than now to massively improve the world, and maybe even become a billionaire yourself in the process. If socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) have their way, there will be way less billionaires in the U.S., and not because of the 70-90% taxes they propose on the rich. As venture capitalist Vinod Khosla recently said, Heres the problem with those (high taxes)--there is international mobility. Billionaires can set up businesses anywhere in the world they want; when politicians try to overtax the rich, theyll simply move where theyre welcome and treated fairly, as the U.K.s richest man Jim Ratcliffe moving his operations to Monaco last month perfectly illustrates. Says author of Beyond Billions David Roy Newby, If politicians truly want to help average citizens improve their lives financially, theyll drastically cut government spending and ease the tax burden on their citizens, not kill jobs through excessive taxes on 'the rich.' How can individuals increase their wealth the fastest? By loving, appreciating, and emulating their favorite billionaires. Love- thank billionaires for inspiring others, encourage them to keep providing massive value to the marketplace, and give them a hug when interacting with them (a side hug in case theyre germ-conscious like Donald Trump). Billionaires have feelings just like everyone else, and they need love and encouragement. Appreciate- basically this is doing the opposite of how AOC drove Amazon out of New York recently. Citizens should encourage their local, state, and federal officials to slash government spending and lower everyones taxes. This will make it easier and most likely for billionaires (and other job creators) to provide good-paying jobs in their local area. Emulate- set up a corporation to lower taxes, live within one's means, invest wisely, and increase skills and ability to add more value to the marketplace. Doing these things, anyone can amass wealth quite quickly. The ultimate way to emulate billionaires is to follow the Rockefeller-Templeton Rules: give 10% to charity, live on 50% of one's income, and wisely invest the other 40%. Says Newby, When you make the sacrifices necessary to slash your expenses, and wisely invest your savings modeling King Solomon, you can create massive wealth. Theres never been a better time than now to massively improve the world, and maybe even become a billionaire yourself in the process. The main question of the 2020 election cycle should be: how big of a government do citizens want to pay for? Citizens would do well to demand a leaner, more responsible, and more accountable government, and politicians would do well to embrace their inner billionaire and slash expenses, making it easier for others to pursue happiness with fewer tax burdens. This spring, Holiday House is publishing a nonfiction book a that will shed more light on a dark stain in American history, due both to the prominence of the man at the center of this tale, as well as the highly topical nature of a story about the U.S. government incarcerating immigrants and their children 75 years ago. Enemy Child: A Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Internment Camp During World War II by Andrea Warren (Apr. 30). tells the story of Norm Mineta, a 10-year-old boy who was taken by military police with his family from San Jose, Calif., to Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Ralston, Wyo., where they lived for the duration of World War II. Today, Mineta lives in Maryland, after a long career in politics that included serving as a U.S. congressman and culminated with his serving in the cabinets of two U.S. presidents. Mineta and his family were just a few of the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast (two-thirds of them U.S. citizens) who were relocated by the U.S. government to interment camps in the rural Southwest and West after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There were 10 camps in all run by the War Relocation Authority between 19421945. Since The Moved-Outers by Florence Crannell Means was published in 1945, there has been a steady stream of childrens nonfiction and fiction titles about this incident, including, most famously, Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese-American Experience During and After the World War II Internment, a 1973 book by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston that was made into a film in 1976. Although the Densho organizations online encyclopedia of the Japanese-American experience during World War II lists close to 100 childrens books about the relocation camps, many young Americans remain unaware of this incident in U.S. history. Mineta, now 88 years old, probably is the most prominent American to have lived in one of the camps. Born in 1931 in San Jose to parents who were Japanese immigrants, Mineta became his hometowns mayor in 1971. After serving as mayor for four years, Mineta served for 22 years (19751995) in the U.S. House of Representatives from the states 13th congressional district. He later briefly served as President Bill Clintons Secretary of Commerce and then five years as President George W. Bushs Secretary of Transportation. In an interview with PW, Warren explained that she approached Mineta to ask him if she could write a book about the internment camps that would focus on his experiences there. The idea came to her while she was in Cody, Wyo., doing research for an earlier childrens biography, The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas (Two Lions, 2015). Learning that there was a World War II internment camp in the vicinity that was now a museum, and not knowing anything about these camps, she paid a visit and saw a poster featuring Mineta. She learned that Mineta was one of the 14,000 people housed there during World War II, and that U.S. Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.)was friends with Mineta going back to that time. As an 11-year-old Boy Scout, Simpson visited Heart Mountain, where he met Mineta. They resumed their friendship when Mineta was elected mayor; Simpson wrote Mineta a letter congratulating him, reminding him of their meeting at Heart Mountain. Mineta is not someone you can just call on the phone or find his home address to write him, Warren said, disclosing that she reached out to organizations associated with Mineta to ask him if he would agree to cooperate with her on such a project. Her query included packages containing those of her previous eight history books for children that she deemed most pertinent to Minetas situation at Heart Mountain: Orphan Train Rider: One Boys True Story (Houghton Mifflin, 1998); Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps (HarperCollins, 2002); and Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam Orphan Became an American Boy (Square Fish, 2008). I wanted him to see my style, she explained. He said hed been approached many times, and hed always said no, he didnt want to be involved in a commercial endeavor. But, she added, the books she sent him won him over and he agreed to cooperate with her on the project. After Mineta invited Warren to his home to interview him, the two spent three full days talking at Minetas kitchen table. Hed never reconstructed the whole story before, she said, But Norm has an excellent memory. He could recall who came to the house, their tone of voice, he recalled dialogue. These people lost everything, even their beloved family pets. Its hard to believe our government would do this. Warren also interviewed Sen. Simpson, whose recollections of his visit to Heart Mountain comprise a chapter entitled, Meeting the Enemy. Beyond interviewing two retired politicians, Warren said, she had to be very careful, and focus on telling Minetas story as he remembered it, although she interviewed others who lived there at the same time. Warren also consulted with Dakota Russell, the museum manager at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, describing him as helping Warren sort out what was fact and what wasnt. If there was an upside to having had such a traumatic experience at a young age, it was that it inspired Mineta to enter politics, Warren said that she concluded from her extensive conversations with Mineta that he went through this and did something with his life, not just to restore his peoples honor, but also to ensure that something like this doesnt happen again. He never forgets how fortunate he was and how devastating it was for so many people. For Warren, she wants children who read her booksabout young people struggling to survive horrific situationsto come away with the realization that they can work through any problems they might encounter in their own lives. Attitude makes all the difference, Warren said, noting that children can process such difficult stories as Nazi death camps and orphan trains, if presented in an appropriate way. In a statement provided to PW, Mineta wrote, When Andrea Warren approached me about writing a book based on my boyhood experiences in an internment camp, I agreed for a couple of reasons. Ive never wanted to profit from what happened to me. But Andrea writes for young readers, and I feel passionately about getting this story into the hands of students. They need to understand what happened and why, so they will recognize the signs of such a thing happening again and will resist it. Because Andrea is a careful researcher who knows her readers well and writes with empathy and objectivity, I knew she was the right person to entrust with my story. Heart Mountain War Relocation Center was mis-identified in an earlier version of this story and has been updated. With authors and others touting books on television and social media and creating a buzz months before their release, capturing pre-order sales has become increasingly important to publishers, as they have become an essential component in a books success in the marketplace. While Amazon inevitably captures the bulk of pre-orders, Atria is looking for a way to compete by conducting an exclusive pre-order campaign with indie bookstores for one of its lead summer releases, Jennifer Weiners latest novel, Mrs. Everything (June). Mrs. Everything follows the story of two sisters and their lives from the 1950s to the present day, set against the backdrop of a changing America. (The book is set in Detroit.) Customers who pre-order copies of Mrs. Everything with participating booksellers will receive a custom-made enamel pin in addition to the book. Booksellers will receive one pin for each copy of Mrs. Everything ordered through Atrias promotional page by March 25. Besides the pins, participating bookstores will receive social graphics and digital website banners from S&S to promote the title and the pin online, as well as an easel-back poster for in-store displays. Atria Publishing Group publisher Libby McGuire said that publishing companies have been challenged to find unique ways to support all bookstores across the country, and conceived of this campaign with value added to pre-orders because we couldnt get amazing books like Mrs. Everything into the right readers hands without [the indies]." The American Booksellers Association, which convened a pre-orders task force and held a pre-orders information session at Winter Institute 14 in January, is supporting Atrias initiative by posting a Mrs. Everything sell sheet on the ABAs pre-order calendar and including a pre-order ad in the printed May Indies Next list. To date, 25 indies around the country are participating in the promotion, including McLean and Eakin Bookstore in Petoskey, Mich. Frontlist adult buyer Alex Ness told PW that the store is participating in this promotion in a bid to capture more pre-orders from the bookstore's newsletter subscribers, who are all over the country, as well as from the store's social media followers. Ness emphasized that McLean and Eakin does not want to replace in-store sales with pre-orders, saying, "We want to increase the places that people might not necessarily be looking for titles to buy, but might see this [Mrs. Everything and forthcoming releases with added value] and say, 'hey, yes.'" Ness is also hoping to build up Weiners visibility among McLean and Eakin's customers. While Weiner has written 21 books, including a few nonfiction titles and a novel for middle grade readers, she is best known for such novels about angst-ridden womens lives and loves as Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes, which, Ness says, sell fairly okay in the store already. Noting that "beach reads" -- novels appealing primarily to female consumers -- "do very well" at the store, particularly during the busy summer months in Petoskey, Ness said that this campaign will certainly pump up sales of a novel that is "a good fit" with the store's customers. The store has previously participated in pre-order promotions for childrens books, and, childrens buyer Sara Grochowski said, has done very well with them, in terms of both online sales and pumping up the visibility of the author in the store. The secret, she said, is to supplement the publishers promotional materials with the stores own grassroots materials. We would not do a publishers pre-order campaign if the book was not a good fit for our store, she said. Were trying to capture some of those sales that go to Amazon. How many of their [pre-order] sales do you get something extra? For her part, Weiner told PW that she appreciates the special efforts being made to promote Mrs. Everything, saying, I will always have a special place in my heart for independent booksellers and for the smart, thoughtful, well-read people who work there. I am so proud of this book and these characters, and hope theyll love them as much as I do. This article has been updated for clarity. In a memo sent to Simon & Schuster employees, Jennifer Bergstrom, senior v-p and publisher of the Gallery Publishing Group, said that effective immediately, the Saga Press imprint, created in 2015, will move from the Childrens Publishing Group to Gallery. The imprint focuses on the publication of science fiction, fantasy, and horror books, and Bergstrom said that while Saga has been part of the childrens division, it has always acquired and published for a mature reading audience. After conferring with Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of S&S adult publishing, childrens group head Jon Anderson, and the Saga team, the decision was made to move the imprint to Gallery.As part of the switch, Sagas editorial director Joe Monti and senior editor Navah Wolfe have joined Gallery with Monti reporting to Bergstrom. In her memo, Bergstrom said the move is a natural progression for Saga in its evolution and makes for a natural fit with the Gallery publishing program. In addition to its editorial compatibility with Gallery, Bergstrom also noted that Sagas list has always been sold to accounts by S&Ss adult sales team. Now, with the editorial strengths that Saga brings married to the marketing and publicity support provided by our Gallery team, we have created a formula for growth and success with a vibrant list in a thriving segment of the reading marketplace, Bergstrom said. A photo of a Yucatec Maya mother and newborn is featured on the cover of the American Journal of Human Biology. (Photo provided by Rosy Garibay) Indigenous Mexican mothers practice prolonged breastfeeding even after C-sections and their babies benefit WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The increase in cesarean sections is on the verge of a global epidemic. Though the World Health Organization recommends an optimal C-section rate of 10-15 percent, the United States C-section rate is more than 30 percent. In many Latin American countries, the procedure is sky rocketing, reaching more than 50 percent in some. While C-sections are lifesaving in some cases, they are increasing beyond recommended rates with harmful consequences for childrens health. Cesarean delivered children tend to be susceptible to infections, obesity, asthma and allergies. This occurs in part because many mothers are unable to successfully breastfeed them after a C-section. However, recent research shows that this may be culturally mediated. In some parts of the world, mothers are able to breastfeed successfully after C-section deliveries, and this practice may reduce their negative child health effects. Amanda Veile, an assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, and her team report that indigenous mothers in farming communities in Yucatan, Mexico, breastfeed for about 1.5 months longer following cesarean deliveries than they do following vaginal deliveries. Veile believes this is possible because the mothers live in an exceptionally supportive breastfeeding environment. Moms living in this Mexican community dont have to hide in a bathroom to feed their child when they are in public, says Veile, a biological anthropologist who specializes in infant and child development. Here, it is a cultural norm to breastfeed anytime, anywhere, and to sustain breastfeeding for longer than two years. And we think that prolonged breastfeeding offers protective benefits that reduces some of the health problems we often see in children delivered by C-section. Veiles research appears in the American Journal of Human Biologys special issue on the evolutionary and biocultural causes and consequences of rising cesarean delivery rates. Veile and collaborator Karen Rosenberg, a professor from the University of Delaware, are the guest editors for the special issue. It features 10 research articles written by anthropologists, biologists and healthcare practitioners, which are available open access through spring 2019. In Veiles study, she and her team compared breastfeeding durations and childhood infection rates based on how the child was born to Yucatec Maya farmers. Following 88 children from birth until age 5, the results show that those children born via C-sections were breastfed for about 2.7 years, whereas vaginally delivered children were breastfed for just over 2.5 years. There was no difference in infection rates between the two groups of children. What a powerful message supporting breastfeeding, Veile says. We need to continue studying this issue, but it seems that these mothers, perhaps subconsciously, increased their breastfeeding efforts post-cesarean. Veile says that Yucatec Maya women do experience post-cesarean challenges in the hospital environment, such as prolonged separation from their infants, latching issues and delayed milk let-down reflex. Still mothers overcome these challenges through determination, consumption of special foods, and the use of herbs and compresses. They also receive emotional support and breastfeeding advice from their family and friends. Now that C-sections are becoming more universal, it is important to understand more about the consequences for childrens health in a variety of settings, Veile said. This includes very rural communities worldwide that are transitioning to increased health care access, while simultaneously experiencing poor community sanitation and the double burden of malnutrition. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, Purdue Research Foundation and Dartmouth College. Veile collaborated with Sydney M. Tuller, graduate student in Purdues Department of Anthropology; Amy A. Faria, graduate student in Purdues Department of Consumer Science; Sydney Rivera, medical student at the Indiana University School of Medicine; and Karen L. Kramer, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah. Other research by Veile examined childhood growth patterns and environmental health issues in indigenous children as related to C-sections. Veile is the director of the Laboratory for Behavior, Ontogeny and Reproduction (LABOR), which studies maternal reproductive biology and the immuno-nutritional development of infants and children. In addition to Mexico, she has conducted research in Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru. The work aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the universitys global advancements made in health, longevity and quality of life as part of Purdues 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebrations Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues. Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu Source: Amanda Veile, aveile@purdue.edu Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in a copy of the journal article can contact Amy Patterson Neubert, Purdue News Service, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu ABSTRACT Birth mode, breastfeeding and childhood infectious morbidity in the Yucatec Maya Amanda Veile, Amy A Faria, Sydney Rivera, Sydney Tuller, Karen L. Kramer DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23218 Objectives: Cesarean delivery is linked to breastfeeding complications and child morbidity. These outcomes may disproportionately affect Latin American indigenous populations that are experiencing rising cesarean delivery rates, but often inhabit environments that exacerbate postnatal morbidity risks. We therefore assess relationships between birth mode, infant feeding practices and childhood infectious morbidity in a modernizing Yucatec Maya community, where prolonged breastfeeding is the norm. We predicted that under these conditions, cesarean delivery would increase risk of childhood infectious morbidity, but prolonged breastfeeding post cesarean would mitigate morbidity risk. Methods: Using a longitudinal child health dataset (n = 88 children aged 0-60 months, 24% cesarean-delivered, 2290 observations total), we compare gastrointestinal infectious (GI) and respiratory infectious (RI) morbidity rates by birth mode. We model associations between cesarean delivery and breastfeeding duration, formula feeding and child nutritional status, then model GI and RI as a function of birth mode, child age, and feeding practices. Results: Cesarean delivery was associated with longer breastfeeding durations and higher child weight-for-age, but not with formula feeding, GI, or RI. Adolescent motherhood and RI were risk factors for GI; formula feeding and GI were risk factors for RI. Regional housing materials protected against GI; breastfeeding protected against RI and mitigated the effect of formula feeding. Conclusions: We find no direct link between birth mode and child infectious morbidity. Yucatec Maya mothers practice prolonged breastfeeding, especially post cesarean and in conjunction with formula feeding. This practice protects against childhood RI, but not GI, perhaps because GI is more susceptible to maternal and household factors. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. More than 100 food science students representing seven universities will gather on Purdue's campus March 29-30 for a variety of social and career development opportunities as part of the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association's Midwest Area Meeting and College Bowl Competition. The event is hosted by Purdue's Department of Food Science and is being organized by students in the department. In addition to Purdue, attendees will be coming from Michigan State University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee and Wayne State University. It's been eight years since Purdue was the meeting host, so we are looking forward to showcasing the university and our community," said event co-chair Anna Hayes, a doctoral candidate student from Lafayette, Minnesota. "The meeting is a great opportunity to gather and take part in activities and network with other students who share a passion for food science. We like to call ourselves the Official Food Geeks. The IFTSA event kicks off March 29 with the organization's business meeting and evening social activities. The activities on March 30 will feature industry tours designed to give attendees a taste of the local community while expanding their food science knowledge. And that knowledge will be put to the test at 1 p.m. on March 30 during the College Bowl Competition, which will be in Pfendler Hall's Deans Auditorium, Room 241. During the College Bowl Competition, university teams will compete in a double-elimination tournament featuring food science trivia questions on topics ranging from food chemistry and food microbiology to nutrition and food law. The winning team earns a spot to compete this summer at the international level during the annual Institute of Food Technologists Food Expo. "What makes this special for us is that students are given the opportunity to plan, organize and run this gathering for other students," said Erin Sukala, event co-chair and a sophomore majoring in food science from Auburn, Indiana. "That student focus and input is what helps make this a unique event for our food science peers from other universities." The IFTSA is a community housed under the Institute of Food Technologists that provides students with networking opportunities, scholarship and research funds, and access to resources. IFTSA members gain leadership skills, experience and knowledge that prepares them for their food science careers. Sponsors for the Purdue meeting are The Gerber Foundation, Skidmore Sales and Distributing, Purdue Ag Alumni Association, and the Bluegrass and Ohio Valley sections of the Institute of Food Technologists. Media contact: Maureen Manier, Purdue Agricultural Communication, mmanier@purdue.edu Sources: Anna Hayes, hayes100@purdue.edu Erin Sukala, esukala@purdue.edu Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415; Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page GHANA: The railways are coming in a big way into Ghana, and we shall open up our country for the development that we all desire, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said in his state of the nation address last month. INDIA: Tenders for design, construction and commissioning of civil engineering works on around half of the planned Mumbai Ahmedabad high speed line were invited by the National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd on March 15. USA: The Federal Transit Administration on March 18 announced that it had ranked the Gateway Programme to increase rail capacity between New York and New Jersey with a medium to low financing status, making it ineligible at present for federal Capital Investment Grants. Like its Spanish-language broadcasting parent network , WGEN Estrella 8 has experienced growth in ratings and ad sales revenue over the last 12 months. It has built a local sales team, led by broadcasting veteran Nicolas Valls, general manager.In the past year, WGEN-8 has added local accounts in various industries, such as automotive, health plans and clinics, insurance companies, travel agencies, law offices and concert promoters; on the national ad clients side, the station has also successfully secured key regional banks and retailers, as well as automotive, insurance companies, quick service restaurants, regional supermarkets and national retailers.Our commitment to serve the South Florida market is stronger than ever, said Valls. We continue to raise our market presence via extensive tune in campaigns and have been very successful in developing innovative brand integration campaigns for our local advertisers to amplify and differentiate their brand messaging to our viewers. As we reach our first-year milestone, we are excited to announce the launch of our local WGEN-8 newscasts, which will not only increase our viewership in the South Florida area, but will give Miami Hispanics a vibrant news product designed and produced specifically for them. At a press conference last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed cautious optimism about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is set to replace the quarter-century-old North American Free Trade Agreement. "I have always thought that this was probably one of the easier trade agreements to come to agreement on, but so far we're not there yet," she said. For the sake of the American energy industry, lawmakers should get "there" soon. By ratifying USMCA, the United States will spur economic growth and bolster our booming domestic energy sector for years to come. It's time for Congress to put partisan hangups aside and pass the deal as quickly as possible. USMCA retains key provisions from NAFTA that have helped sustain North American energy trade. The new agreement will keep oil and gas products like gasoline tariff-free. It will also reduce tariffs on thinning materials that help crude oil pass through U.S.-Canadian pipelines. USMCA maintains an important legal provision for U.S. oil and gas firms operating in Mexico. The investor/state dispute settlement allows companies to sue governments that impose harmful regulations. This would be crucial for American firms if Mexico attempts to nationalize its energy industry and expel foreign companies as it did in 1938. Such protection is crucial to continuing the vast flow of energy between North American nations. According to the Congressional Research Service, petroleum products made up between 10 and 17 percent of total North American trade over the past decade. More than 80 refineries across America process imported crude oil from Canada or Mexico for domestic use. In addition to providing us with the energy we need, Canada and Mexico are some of our best energy customers. In 2016, energy exports to Mexico exceeded imports by a two-to-one margin. Mexico is now the biggest market for U.S. natural gas exports, and the fourth largest market for exported oil and gas equipment. In fact, American petroleum and natural gas exports to our southern neighbor exceeded $20 billion in 2017 -- more than double that of a decade ago. And that figure is expected to rise. Mexican demand for natural gas will likely jump more than 26 percent by 2031, according to Mexico's Secretariat of Energy. Canada's demand for American energy is also growing. Canadian imports of U.S. crude oil increased more than a hundredfold between 1993 and 2017. Most of that growth has come in the last decade. Passing USMCA would benefit countless Americans. The oil and natural gas industry supports over 10 million U.S. jobs and accounts for nearly 8 percent of the nation's economy. USMCA will also continue to reduce our dependence on oil from hostile foreign countries. Rather than import oil from the Middle East to supplement domestic energy production, we can turn to our friendly neighbors to the north and south. In 2017, we imported more oil from Mexico than Iraq. One USMCA sticking point has been the Trump administration's insistence on inflicting tariffs or quotas on North American steel. Both Mexican and Canadian officials have said they won't ratify the deal if current tariffs on steel and aluminum remain in place. Both quotas and tariffs would ultimately backfire. America needs steel from our trading partners as much as they need our oil. American energy firms rely on Canadian and Mexican steel to outfit pipelines, drilling well casing, refineries, and petrochemical plants. Nixing steel tariffs and ratifying USMCA is in the best interest of all three North American countries. Congressional leaders have no time to lose. Valkyrie was the name given to the WW2 Nazi operation (under the control of the Reserve Army) focused on protecting Hitler, or at least the government in Berlin, in special circumstances such as: - should communications be cut off from the Fuhrer or - should the Fuhrer die Operation Valkyrie was modified and put into motion by a select group of German military officers opposed to Hitler's Nazi ideologies and practices. They also questioned his abilities in maintaining a sustainable German state in the future. They felt it necessary to remove Hitler and his top Nazi officials (Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goering) by assassination and over throw the government. Several attempts were actually aborted because all three Nazis weren't present, and eventually the plot kill three was dropped in favour of just killing Hitler. Why Hitler could not be taken alive Killing the Fuhrer was essential - The conspirators realised that if they managed to imprison Hitler, the entire German army would still be bound to the Fuhrer by their oath of allegiance (Reichswehreid). Only a dead Hitler would free the military ranks (including the Reserve Army under Operation Valkyrie) from their oath and be able to assist in the coup against the Nazis. Australias Cardinal Pell has been sentenced to six years for child sex abuse, but the evidence against Pell is far from convincing. Something needs to be done. The Innocence Project is a program that has exonerated over 300 people wrongly convicted of serious crimes since 1992. Is it time to set up an Innocence Project for Catholic priests wrongly convicted of abuse? Lets be clear, it is horrific that clergy have abused children and young seminarians. The crime is even worse when the offender is or was part of the Churchs hierarchy. Its long past time for the Catholic Church to purge these vile sex offenders from the ranks of the clergy, and for civil authorizes to bring them to justice. And yet the understandable desire to console abuse victims coupled with general anti-Catholicism, which appears to have been a factor in Cardinal Pells case risks convicting innocent men of guilt by association simply because they wear a clerical collar. Australian prosecutors charged Pell with sexually assaulting two choirboys in the Melbourne Cathedral immediately following Sunday Mass in the mid-1990s, but his conviction has all the markings of a wrongful conviction. As revealed in a Catholic News Agency investigation, only one of the alleged victims testified to support the prosecutions case. The other died in 2014. Pells attorneys presented a strong defense that the alleged abuse was literally impossible. Witnesses testified that Pell was never alone in the sacristy with altar servers or choir members. The cathedrals sacristy has large open-plan rooms, each with open arches and halls as well as multiple entrances and exits. It was all but impossible for anything sordid to have gone unnoticed there. The cumbersome and layered liturgical vestments that require help in removing also make a quick, clandestine sexual assault by Pell after Mass highly improbable. Finally, there was overwhelming testimony that Pell was constantly surrounded by priests, other clergy, and guests after Mass a detail that will surprise no one who has ever attended a Mass celebrated by an archbishop. Their masters of ceremony normally accompany bishops at all times. How, then, could Pell possibly have had time to so egregiously abuse two boys in an ecclesiastical Grand Central Station? Unlike cases involving pathological predators, the allegations against Pell are isolated. The alleged incidents in the cathedral, and the highly suspect single incident when Pell was a young seminarian which prosecutors have since abandoned, are the only complaints to emerge, despite years of aggressive investigation by the Australian government. How could someone so cavalier and desperate as to attempt such abuse basically in public not have hundreds of other victims? And, unlike prelates whose double lives were notorious, such as the now-defrocked Theodore McCarrick and West Virginias former bishop Michael Bransfield, those who know Pell are shocked and disbelieve the allegations. Immediately after the charges were leveled against him, Pell decided to take leave of his post as head of the Vaticans Secretariat for the Economy and return to Australia to defend his innocence. He did so knowing that his country is aflame with anti-Catholicism from other Catholic sex scandals an anti-Catholicism that prosecutors played to at trial, according to the Catholic News Agency. Its worth remembering that earlier this year another high-ranking Australian prelate was convicted on the charge of failing to report clerical sexual abuse. An appellate judge overturned his conviction in early December of last year, noting that hype over the Church's sexual abuse crisis may have been a factor in the erroneous guilty verdict. So why did Pells prosecutors, after the initial jury deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of his acquittal, feel so emboldened to prosecute a second time? Law professors Paul Marcus (William and Mary) and Vicky Waye (South Australia) have noted numerous differences between Americas "rights-oriented" and Australias "official-centered" criminal jurisprudence. This may explain why, rather than stand down, Australian prosecutors forged ahead with the second jury trial that finally found Pell guilty last December. The Catholic Church certainly needs to address the crisis of sexual abuse and corruption within its ranks. Some important reform steps have already been taken. More have been suggested and not yet implemented. Chief among these are a zero tolerance policy against clergy sexual abuse for all priests including the hierarchy. But zero tolerance should not mean that any accusation automatically becomes a credible allegation. It should not mean that the burden of proof to convict a person for sexual misconduct is lower because the accused is a Catholic priest. If Cardinal Pells conviction is not reversed on appeal, we may indeed need a new Innocence Project. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is Legal Advisor for The Catholic Association Foundation. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! . : , Foreign Affairs. , , , ... , We're sorry, this article is not currently available By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 11/24/2021 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Which couples are still together and which MAFS couples have broken up and divorced? And where are they now? 's first twelve seasons featured 44 different couples getting married at first sight -- so which couples are still together, who has broken up and divorced, and where are they all now?Each season of -- which premiered in the United States seven years ago and is based on a Danish series -- features couples (previously three couples, but four couples on Seasons 8 and 9, and five couples beginning with Season 10) being matched together by relationship experts and agree to marry when they first meet.Complete strangers become husband and wife in a matter of minutes, and the couples' lives are then documented by TV cameras over the course of the next four to eight weeks (eight weeks, in the case of 's most recent seasons).The couples typically enjoy their first night together in a hotel after exchanging vows -- with some couples deciding to consummate their marriage immediately -- and then embark on a honeymoon, move in together, and simply attempt to deal with the struggles of daily life as man and wife.At the end of the extreme marriage experiment, each couple must decide whether they'd like to stay married or get a divorce on "Decision Day."has experienced very mixed results over the years. While a significant number of couples decide to stay together and continue their new marriage at the end of their season, the real world seems to hit them hard after the cameras leave, resulting in the couple splitting up only months later.Do cast members see a different side of their spouses once cameras are gone, or do the romances naturally fizzle over time?Some couples are still together to this day and are extremely happy. Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner from Season 1, for example, have had two children.Several other couples have also had children -- including Ashley Petta and Anthony D'Amico Shawniece Jackson and Jephte Pierre Danielle Bergman and Bobby Dodd Deonna McNeill and Greg Okotie , and Jessica Studer and Austin Hurd However, there are also relationships that ended badly. Jessica Castro from Season 2, for instance, accused Ryan De Nino of alleged death threats, and she went on to file a restraining order and lawsuit against him.Some couples have also never even made it to "Decision Day" and ended their marriage prematurely, including Season 4 couple Heather Seidel and Derek Schwartz as well as Season 6 couple Molly Duff and Jonathan Francetic Are the remaining couples now lovers, friends or enemies?! What about early season couples like Cortney Hendrix and Jason Carrion, Jaclyn Methuen and Ryan Ranellone, Vanessa Nelson and Tres Russell, Sonia Granados and Nick Pendergrast, and Lillian Vilchez and Tom Wilson?And how about more recent season couples like Danielle DeGroot and Cody Knapek Sheila Downs and Nate Duhon Jaclyn Schwartzberg and Ryan Buckley Dave Flaherty and Amber Martorana , and Tristan Thompson and Mia Bally Keith Dewar and Kristine Killingsworth , and AJ Vollmoeller and Stephanie Sersen Click thelink below to see photos of each couple and find out! BEGIN GALLERY >> Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. Athens, GA (30605) Today Foggy this morning followed by thunderstorms during the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly this evening. Low 39F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. While in custody and until the first hearing in his extradition case next week, Modi is likely to be held in a separate cell but may also have to share a cell with other prisoners given the overcrowding pressures. IMAGE: Wandsworth Prison.. Photograph: Courtesy, Derek Harper/Wandsworth Prison/Wikimedia Commons Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, arrested by Scotland Yard on behalf of the Indian authorities, will be held at a prison in south-west London considered one of England's most overcrowded jails. The 48-year-old, who appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Wednesday in a sombre white shirt and trousers, was taken to Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) Wandsworth after he was remanded in custody until March 29 by District Judge Marie Mallon. While in custody and until the first hearing in his extradition case next week, Modi is likely to be held in a separate cell but may also have to share a cell with other prisoners given the overcrowding pressures. Modi, who was living in a plush apartment in Centre Point in the West End until his arrest on Tuesday, was sent to prison on the eve of Holi. In the prison in south London, Modi's inmates will include the likes of alleged Dawood henchman Pakistani-origin Jabir Moti, currently undergoing extradition proceedings to the US. HMP Wandsworth is classed as a Category B prison, where criminals are held if not deemed to be of a high level of security risk. IMAGE: HM Prison Wandsworth from the air. Photograph: Courtesy, Thomas Nugent/HM Prison Wandsworth/Wikimedia Commons According to a March 2018 inspection report by the UK's Chief Inspector of Prisons, it holds 1,428 men and remains "one of the most overcrowded prisons in England and Wales. "There were too many prisoners, many with drug-related or mental health issues, and with not enough to do, noted the inspection report. Cells designed for one prisoner were occupied by two, with poorly screened lavatories and the prisoners confined in them for far too long each dayIn common with many other prisons of this type, prisoners at Wandsworth had far too little time out of their cells," the report added. The Wandsworth Prison building was originally built in 1851 and the UK Justice Department claims that extensive refurbishment and modernisation of the wings, including in-cell sanitation, privacy screens for cells occupied by more than one prisoner and installation of in-cell electricity, have taken place since 1989. Modi will be lodged at the prison until he appears for his first case management hearing on March 29, which is expected to be presided over by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot the same judge who ordered the extradition of former Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya to India last December. IMAGE: Panorama of HMP Wandsworth from Heathfield Road. Photograph: Courtesy, Wikimedia Commons That case is now in the High Court as part of Mallya's application seeking leave to appeal against Arbuthnot's ruling. Modi was arrested from a Metro Bank branch in London by uniformed officers on Tuesday, when he went there to open a new bank account. He and his uncle, Mehul Choksi, are the main accused in the PNB scam and they both left India before the details of the fraud came to light in January 2018. Modi is one of India's richest men, worth an estimated $1.75 billion, according to Forbes. He launched his own eponymous brand in 2010 and he soon had stores across India, as well as in New York, London and Hong Kong. 'There is little doubt that his exertions are among the reasons why Narendra Damodardas Modi routinely lambastes the dynasty at nearly all his rallies, suggesting that he regards the Congress's First Family as a bigger threat than any other political formation,' argues Amulya Ganguli. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com It is odd that in an electoral battle which is being seen by the national Opposition as a contest between the multicultural 'idea' of India and an insular, theocratic Hindu rashtra, virtually the entire burden of the anti-BJP campaign is being borne by Rahul Gandhi. The previously reclusive scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has shed his reserved nature to engage in a kind of political barnstorming which has not been seen from anyone in his party in recent years. Evidently, there is a realisation in the Congress that its earlier smug attitude of resting on past laurels is no longer sustainable in the face of a highly energetic opponent who appears to be rolling in money. Given such a formidable challenge, one would have thought that the entire Opposition would gird its loins to take on the adversary in a unified manner which its promised mahagathbandhan or grand alliance presaged. But no such concerted effort is being made by any of the 20-odd parties which recently attended a rally in Kolkata. It is not that the Opposition does not have leaders with years of political experience. The chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Mamata Banerjee, are among them, as are Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar and the two former UP chief ministers, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. At least two of them -- Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati -- are also believed to harbour prime ministerial ambitions. Then, there are the Communist leaders, Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, who are known as effective speakers as are the father-and-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah. But they have all chosen to remain in the background, leaving it to Rahul to lead the charge singlehandedly against a redoubtable adversary. The only time the others have emerged from the shadows is when a 'mega' rally is organised as by Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. Otherwise, they have confined their angst and anger to occasional outbursts on Twitter. It is possible that their failure to stitch together even mini, state-level alliances (as in UP and Delhi), let alone a maha one, has prevented them from playing a larger role because they are aware of their inadequacies in terms of attracting crowds outside their home provinces. Moreover, some of them also probably believe that unless they are given a first among equals status, they will not take any initiative and bide their time. What their caginess has achieved is to enable Rahul to play a leading role, thereby making him the front-runner in the prime ministerial stakes in the Opposition camp. After all, having stayed back in West Bengal and UP, neither Mamata Banerjee nor Mayawati can suddenly assert their claims for the top job if the opportunity presents itself. As a result of their reticence, the Congress president's position has undoubtedly been bolstered. For some, this is as it should be. After all, the claims of Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati stem from nothing other than state-level influence. Their parties, too, lack the all-India stature of the Congress, which is gradually finding its feet after the drubbing in 2014. As its recent successes in the heartland states showed, the 134-year-old party is recovering its pan-India image and that, too, understandably, under its First Family. It is obvious that if any party can offer the BJP a major challenge at the national level, it is the Congress. Neither its offshoots like the Trinamool Congress or the NCP with their restricted areas of influence can do so; nor can the other regional parties with their limited bases in Andhra Pradesh or UP or Tamil Nadu. The Communists, too, despite their sizeable presence in Kerala have become for all intents and purposes regional politicians who cannot be expected to wield even the kind of influence at the national level which Jyoti Basu once did because of his magnetic personality and success in holding together a large coalition in West Bengal for more than two decades. In view of these deficiencies of the regional parties, it is not surprising that Rahul's name as a prime minister has been endorsed by Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, DMK President M K Stalin and the RJD's Tejashwi Yadav. Their suggestions are an acknowledgement of the obvious in the absence of suitable alternatives. It is also undeniable that Rahul has put behind his unflattering Pappu image of being the poor little rich boy, and his habit of occasionally disappearing from public view, to devote virtually all his time to rev up the moribund party organisation and criss-cross the country, addressing public meetings. There is little doubt that his exertions are among the reasons why Narendra Damodardas Modi routinely lambastes the dynasty at nearly all his rallies, suggesting that he regards the Congress's First Family as a bigger threat than any other political formation. It is a left-handed compliment to a party which was down and out with 44 seats five years ago. If anyone deserves praise for this revival, which did not seem possible at one time, it is Rahul. Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current affairs. The BJP deliberately chose Gorakhpur in UP to launch the scheme to reassert the importance of the state in the party's larger agenda given the fact that it has 80 Lok Sabha seats. Virendra Singh Rawat reports. IMAGE: A farmer works in her paddy field in Gopalsarai village, about 25 km from Prayagraj. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters Facing anti-incumbency and the spectre of a formidable Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party combine in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is looking to reap a rich electoral harvest from 'PM Kisan', the flagship minimum income guarantee scheme for small and marginal farmers. So far, more than 10 million UP farmers have already received the first installment of Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts, totalling over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in payouts. Together with the PM Kisan dole and the earlier UP crop loan waiver scheme worth Rs 36,000 crore (Rs 360 billion), the Ajay Singh Bisht government in UP is confident it would be able to turn the tide in the BJP's favour during voting. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi launched the scheme in Gorakhpur, February 24, 2019. Photograph: Press Information Bureau The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM Kisan) is targetted at over 120 million small and marginal farmers across India, of which UP comprises the maximum number of 21.4 million farmers or nearly 18% of beneficiaries. PM Kisan is estimated to cost Rs 75,000 crore (Rs 750 billion) annually. It guarantees an income of Rs 6,000 annually, payable in equal instalment of Rs 2,000 every four months. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi at a Gorakhpur rally on February 24. The BJP deliberately chose Gorakhpur in UP to launch the scheme to reassert the importance of the state in the party's larger agenda given the fact that it has 80 Lok Sabha seats. "So far, more than 10.03 million small and marginal farmers have received money in their bank accounts," says UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait claimed although PM Kisan does not fully compensate against rising farm input costs, it provided temporary relief to farmers to meet sundry agricultural expenses. SP President Akhilesh Yadav has put PM Kisan in dock alleging the money being credited to the farmers's bank accounts was getting forfeited within 24 hours. Akhilesh based his allegation on media reports and feedback from beneficiaries. He demanded a probe even as he flayed the Modi government for allegedly duping the farmers with false promises. Sealing an alliance after days of hectic parleys, the Congress and National Conference on Wednesday announced they will fight two and one Lok Sabha seats respectively, while agreeing on a "friendly contest" on the rest three constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir. In a joint press conference, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that while the Congress will contest on the Jammu and Udhampur seats, the National Conference will fight from Srinagar. There will be a "friendly contest" between the two parties on the Baramulla, Anantnag and Ladakh seats, Abdullah said. "I will contest from the Srinagar seat," he told the press conference. "We had a give-and-take and nobody should be under illusion that one party lost or the other won during the agreement." State Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir and AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni were also present at the press conference. The state sends six Lok Sabha MPs. "Friendly contest means that we will not go hard against each other and at the same time will make a joint efforts to defeat the opponents. Whether they (NC) win or we, it will make no difference because the (seats) will add to the national kitty," Azad said. Had the two parties entered the fray separately in Jammu, he said, it would have benefited the Bharatiya Janata Party. "And in Kashmir, if we fought separately, it is difficult to transfer votes." He said, "We have some MLAs in Anantnag and Baramulla and (by friendly contest) we will be able to maintain our turf." The alliance has been finalised in national interest and will strengthen the secular forces in J-K as the state faces threat from Pakistan, Azad said. "Live and let live." The Rajya Sabha MP said he himself and other leaders of his party would campaign for Abdullah in the Srinagar constituency, which the NC patron currently represents. Abdullah also appealed to the Congress to exhibit magnanimity and reach out to like-minded parties in other parts of the country to safeguard the secular character of the nation. "We have to keep our nation secular. Try hard in other places and reach an understanding (with other parties). We have to make this nation stronger and keep it secular and equal for everyone," Abdullah told the Congress. The country is faced with dangers from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries and the people living on the border in J-K are the worst sufferers of the animosity between India and Pakistan, he said. "If there is peace between the two countries, the first beneficiary will be the people of the state." He said secular parties need to come together because communal forces only strengthen Pakistan, China and "our enemies of the nation and weaken the country from within". Azad appealed to the people of Jammu to vote for strengthening secularism and isolating communalism. "A communal India cannot face any nation but secular India can fight any country in the world." Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP alleged the Congress conceded to the National Conference's pro-separatist agenda. Azad said they were not working for BJP. "We have an alliance with like minded parties at five or six places, it (BJP) has alliance at over 40 places." On the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's criticism of dynastic politics, Azad said, "The one who had no family what will he do? Abdullah also rejected the dynastic barb, saying nobody can come to power if people don't vote for them. "They are creating this fuss because they have no other issue. If an actor, a doctor, a film director, and others put forward their son in the same field, nobody raises dynastic thing. I am Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's son and have seen politics form my childhood and faced problem. "Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter (India Gandhi) gave atom bomb to the nation to make it strong. She gave her blood for the nation and her son," Abdullah said. Azad said the BJP government is the most "corrupt and scandalous" in the entire world. "I have said this in presence of Modi in the house. You are not allowing inquiry wherefrom the information will come to the fore," he said. Germany has initiated a move at the European Union to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, days after China blocked a bid at the United Nations to ban him, diplomatic sources said. They said Germany was in touch with several member-nations of the European Union to list Azhar as a terrorist which will result in his travel ban as well as freezing of his assets in the 28-country bloc. Germany has floated a proposal to ban Azhar by the European Union, but no resolution on the issue has been moved yet, diplomatic sources said Tuesday. They said all 28 member-countries of the European Union will have to support the move to ban the Pakistan-based terrorist as the bloc decides on such issues under the principle of consensus. On March 15, France imposed financial sanctions on Azhar and said it will work with its European partners to put the JeM chief's name on the EU list of persons and entities involved in terrorist acts. The decision by France came two days after China put a hold on a fresh move to designate Azhar a global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council. The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council supported the proposal, but China was the only country which did not go with the move. 'He consulted widely, both formally and informally and acted quickly on pragmatic suggestions.' 'Parrikar took the initiative to reduce excessive litigation against armed forces veterans and widows over small sums of pensionary and disability benefits,' points out says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd). IMAGE: Then defence minister Manohar Parrikar at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot after the terrorist attack in January 2016. Photograph: PTI Photo Four times chief minister of Goa, once India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar endeared himself to the rank and file with his sincerity and caring attitude and has left behind a glowing legacy. During his two-and-a-half years as defence minister, Parrikar came across as a perceptive leader and an accomplished manager. He gave a free hand to the army to act pro-actively on the LoC. He got the prime minister to approve surgical strikes first across the border in Myanmar and then across the LoC into PoK -- operations that changed the paradigm. Parrikar worked closely with the leadership of the armed forces and the bureaucracy to put the stalled process of military modernisation back on the rails. And, as an IIT graduate, he put his skills as a technocrat and management experience to good use to review policies and procedures for the efficient functioning of the ministry of defence and the armed forces. Under Parrikar's leadership, the Narendra Damodardas Modi government began the long process of addressing the 'critical hollowness' plaguing defence preparedness -- a term used by General V K Singh as the army chief in a letter he had written to the then prime minister. Besides major operational voids in the war establishment of the three Services, there were large-scale deficiencies in the holding of important items of equipment, ammunition and spares that had an adverse impact on combat readiness. According to a CAG report, the army's depots have stocks of some key varieties of ammunition - for example for some tanks and artillery guns - for barely ten days of conflict. It has been estimated that it would cost over Rs 20,000 crore to replenish stocks and increase holdings to the required levels. Under Parrikar's guidance, the MoD invoked the government's emergency financial powers to sign contracts with Russian manufacturers to procure ammunition and spares worth Rs 5,800 crore for the army and Rs 9,200 crore for the air force. Similar deals were negotiated with French and Israeli companies. However, the serviceability state of warfighting equipment still needs substantial improvement. Modernisation of the armed forces had been stagnating during UPA rule due to inadequacy of funds, rigid procurement procedures, frequent changes in the qualitative requirements, the black-listing of several defence manufacturers and bureaucratic red tape. Parrikar took it as a personal challenge to give a fillip to modernisation. He appointed a committee to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) and lost no time in studying and approving its recommendations. Several pragmatic amendments were approved by the defence minister and DPP 2016 was issued in April 2016, including an emphasis on 'Make in India', raising of FDI in defence to 49 per cent and tweaking of the policy on offsets. Consequently, weapons and equipment purchases worth over Rs 150,000 crore were accorded AON (acceptance of necessity) approval by the Defence Acquisition Council. Contracts were signed for acquisitions worth approximately Rs 90,000 crore without a scam. However, it takes three to five years before deliveries begin. On the negative side, on Parrikar's watch, the defence budget for FY 2017-2018 dipped to 1.62 per cent of the country's GDP, the lowest level since the disastrous 1962 border war with China. It continues to be grossly inadequate to build the defence capabilities required to meet future threats and challenges and discharge its growing responsibilities as a regional power. A portion of the budgetary allocations on the capital account for the modernisation of the armed forces still continues to be surrendered unspent. The 12th Defence Plan that ended on March 31, 2017 was not accorded formal approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security. The CCS has also not formally approved the tri-Service long-term integrated perspective plan (LTIPP 2007-2022). The defence minister was widely expected to initiate long-pending structural reforms to improve national security decision making and synergise combat capabilities, including the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff and new tri-Service commands, but was unable to do so. On other fronts, all the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission have still not been implemented for the armed forces. The agitation for OROP launched by the Veterans was allowed to linger on for an embarrassingly long period of time, with many anomalies remaining unresolved. Also, there has been no progress on the establishment of the National Defence University and the construction of a National War Memorial-cum-Military Museum has been completed only in 2019. He consulted widely, both formally and informally and acted quickly on pragmatic suggestions. To his credit, Parrikar took the initiative to reduce excessive litigation against armed forces veterans and widow over small sums of pensionary and disability benefits. He took keen interest in the welfare of serving personnel and their families. Overall, Manohar Parrikar's achievements as India's defence minister far outweighed the disappointments. He deserves compliments for his untiring efforts to enhance India's combat capabilities. The armed forces will remember him fondly as one of the best defence ministers. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) is a former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi. Dear Abby: I met a really great guy online eight months ago. He lives in another country, and we have been in a long-distance relationship for the last six months. We talk all the time, video-chat frequently and have grown very close. I have never clicked with anyone like I have with him, and I know he feels the same. We are having a significant disagreement about meeting in person. Im willing to travel to his country. The expense, while not negligible, is within my means. However, he says he has some serious health problems and he wants to wait until they are resolved to meet. He has had them for much of his life, although they have gotten worse during the time I have known him. So far, there has been no diagnosis or treatment plan. When I have asked, he says I should be patient and he doesnt want our relationship to be about waiting to do things because of his condition. TORRINGTON Maria Christines Bridal, East Pearl Street, Torrington, is still seeking donations of trendy, gently used dresses for junior and senior girls to wear to their prom, who cannot afford to purchase one of their own. Donations are being accepted until March 31 and may be dropped off at the shop; Santoros Cleaners, 462 Torringford West St., or Barrantes Cleaners at 372 Main St. In 2018, the shop received more than 75 donated dresses; donations are still needed. Girls receiving dresses must be referred and can make a donation if they are able to do so. Last year, the Princess at the Prom collection and giveaway was able to donate $200 to Carl Bozenskis Christmas Village toy shower in December Organizers plan to make the donation to the village again this year. For information, call Mary at Maria Christines Bridal at 860-489-4774. Litchfield schools earn distinction status LITCHFIELD The Litchfield public school system has been rated as the best among schools with similar socioeconomic status, according to rankings released this week by the states education department. In addition, each of Litchfields schools - elementary, middle, and high schools - received Schools of Distinction Awards. Litchfield schools topped all comparable school districts in the states District Reference Groups (DRG) analysis, which ranks student achievement across district income levels. Litchfield scored an 85.7 on the Next Generation Accountability System Results index, which had an average of 77.0 in DRG E, surpassing several other districts with higher income levels. The high score was achieved despite Litchfields relatively modest expenditures. Litchfield public schools spend only $20,545 per student. The highest per-pupil expenditure in other districts in the group is over $33,000 per student, and the lowest is slightly more than $13,000. All of us in Litchfield can be very proud of this accomplishment, said Gayle Carr, Chair of the Litchfield Board of Education. We have a very talented group of teachers and administrators, as well as families committed to ensuring their children receive a quality education. Carr added that this success is also due to other boards in Litchfield governance who have worked with the Board of Education to ensure the school systems success. Region 10 named schools of distinction Regional School District #10 officials recently announced that Lake Garda Elementary School and Harwinton Consolidated School were named Schools of Distinction by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). The CSDE released the results Feb. 21, from the 2017-18 Next Generation Accountability System. The system measures school and district performance based on 12 indicators including school attendance rates; student performance and growth on the Smarter Balanced Assessments (administered in grades 3 & 4); and performance on the physical fitness assessment (administered in grades 3 & 4). Each school in the state is given an Index Score based on the measures in the Next Generation Accountability System. The Index Score that Lake Garda Elementary School received was in the top 25% of the state and the Index Score that Harwinton Consolidated School received was the 14th highest in the state. The CSDE designated 160 schools in the state of Connecticut as Schools of Distinction. To be recognized as a School of Distinction schools must meet criteria to be considered a highest performing, highest growth, or greatest improver. Lake Garda School is being recognized for highest growth for the high needs learners on the Language Arts Smarter Balanced Assessment. Harwinton Consolidated School earned two Distinctions from the CSDE. HCS is one of only 76 schools in the state to be recognized for high level of overall performance. Harwinton Consolidated School was also recognized for the Highest Growth based on the improvement in performance from 3rd to 4th grade on the Language Arts and Math Smarter Balanced Assessments. This is the fourth year that the state has used a rating system to recognize Schools of Distinction. This is Lake Garda Schools first year being recognized and Harwinton Consolidated has received this distinction each year. This achievement would not be possible without the commitment of the outstanding teachers and staff members in both schools. This is a collaborative effort and is a testament to the support that the students receive from home. Parents and caregivers in in the Region 10 community make education a priority and together high level of achievement are possible for all of our students. You can view the CSDE press release here: https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2019/CSDE-Overall-State-Accountability-Results-Improve Kindergarten readinesss fair coming to Torrington TORRINGTON The 11th annual Torrington School Readiness Council Kindergarten Readiness Fair Is set for March 23, with a snow date of March 30, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at Torringford Elementary School, 800 Charles St. All children entering kindergarten for the 2019-20 school year, and attending any school in Torrington (not just Torringford School) are invited. Children must be age 5 on or before Jan. 1, 2020. All Star Transportation will provide shuttle service for parents and children to this event on a school bus from TJ Maxx (9:30 and 10:30 a.m,; Price Rite (9:45 & 10:45 a.m.;, and Woodland Hills at the big rock, 9:50 & 10:50) and will depart Torringford School at 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Volunteers are needed to run stations and set up: Contact Donna Labbe dlabbe@torrington.org or 860-489-2327 X1630. Kindergarten registration at elementary schools listed below from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. will take place March 25-29 and April 1-5. Information on registration can be found at Torrington.org. Parents can call their district school if they have any questions: Torringford School 489-2300; Vogel-Wetmore School 489-2570. Litchfield holding annual senior luncheon LITCHFIELD Seniors in the Litchfield community are invited to celebrate the arrival of spring during the tonws Senior Luncheon, put on by Litchfield Parks and Recreation at the Litchfield Community Center, March 21 at 12 p.m. The event features the very popular Ian Campbell for listinening and dancing. Food will be be catered by the culinary students of Oliver Wolcott Technical School, with lasagna, salad, bread, dessert all-inclusive for just $10. Tickets are on sale now at Murphys Pharmacy, Litchfields Town Hall, and at the Litchfield Parks and Recreation office in the Bantam Annex or you can make reservations at the Litchfield Community Center and pay at the door. Admission fee is $10 each. Desserts are always welcome. For more information, contact Litchfield Parks and Recreation at 860-567-7569. Two leading developers are set to undertake major projects that they predicted would reshape the downtown areas of the countrys top metropolitan markets. Allied Properties REIT and Westbank will be constructing office towers primarily catering to the burgeoning tech sector, an industry hailed by various observers as a major contributor to the stability of Canadas commercial real estate segment. In Toronto, the 264-metre Union Centre will be situated nearby Union Station, and will offer 1.7 million square feet of office and data-centre space along with an event venue. [Union Centre] is a sign of what Toronto is becoming, Westbank chief executive Ian Gillespie told The Globe and Mail. The city isnt just about finance any more. Its about everything: tech, culture and a variety of other pursuits. Read more: Vancouvers high-rises enjoying sustained growth in value In Vancouver, Allied Properties REIT and Westbank will be erecting their 500,000 sq. ft. tower beside BC Place. This volume would make the project one of the citys largest office buildings. These developments are just a few of the indicators of much-accelerated development and demand over the next few years. Marcus & Millichap predicted that a majority of this hunger for office space will be coming from tech firms, many of which have already established firm roots in Canadas largest commercial markets. Helping this is the fact that tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon will likely hire tens of thousands of new workers and spend billions in office expansions within the next half-decade. Microsoft currently has 2,300 employees in the country and 14,000 partners, which could grow to 60,000 overall jobs between employees and partners. Amazon will also grow substantially with plans for 6,000 new jobs across corporate offices in Vancouver and Toronto and multiple new fulllment centres, Marcus & Millichap stated in its recent report. A European Union delegation met with top officials in Cambodia Wednesday to discuss whether the Southeast Asian nation should continue to enjoy preferential trade terms with the bloc amid rollbacks on democracy, even as Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered attacks on the countrys opposition. The EU decided in February to launch a six-month monitoring period to determine whether Cambodian exports should continue to enjoy tax-free entry into the European market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme. The EU trade measure, and a similar one proposed by the U.S. Congress, was motivated by the September 2017 arrest of opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Kem Sokha for alleged acts of treason and the dissolution of his party two months later, along with a wider crackdown on media and civil society. On Wednesday, EU Cambodia mission spokesman George Edgar confirmed to RFAs Khmer Service that the visiting delegation had met with deputy prime ministers Sar Kheng and Prak Sokhonn, who are also Cambodias interior and foreign ministers, as well as Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak. They discussed EBA and other issues, he said in an email, adding that he was unable to provide additional details of the meetings. Following a meeting between Sar Kheng and European External Action Service (EEAS) deputy managing director of Asia & the Pacific Paola Pampaloni, Interior Ministry spokesman Phat Sophanith told reporters that the two had discussed how to boost mutually beneficial cooperation between Cambodia and the EU. But Phat Sophanith also suggested that the meeting had focused on resolving the EBA issue, adding that Sar Kheng told Paola Pampaloni that the government is working to resolve political, human rights and land issues. He said Sar Kheng stressed that Cambodia is continuing to improve its fledgling democracy and wont abandon it. Also on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs spokesman Ket Sophann told reporters following a meeting between Prak Sokhonn and the EU delegation that the EU had reiterated a call for the government to release Kem Sokha from house arrest, but said the request was similar to one made last year. His Excellency [told the delegation] that in Cambodia, the government cant discuss or request a releaseonly the Ministry of Justice can review the case, because it concerns a court process, he said. On Tuesday, the arrival of the EU delegation had prompted a group of 66 local and international NGOs, trade unions, and activists to issue a statement calling on the government to address the Blocs concerns, saying they are deeply worried that the EBA suspension will directly and negatively impact Cambodian peoples welfare and livelihood. But government spokesman Phay Siphan responded to the statement by telling RFA that Hun Sens regime wont kneel down for EBA in exchange for our integrity or destroying the Supreme Courts verdict, referring to its November 2017 decision to dissolve the CNRP, which paved the way for the ruling Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in a July 2018 general election. The Supreme Court also slapped a five-year ban on the political activities of 118 CNRP senior officials for the partys role in an alleged plot to topple the government. In December last year, Hun Sens Constitutional Council unanimously approved an amendment to the draft law on political parties, paving the way for the reinstatement of rights to the 118 CNRP officials banned from politics by the Supreme Courts decision. The legislation does not provide for the reestablishment of the CNRP, and Hun Sen has said the political rights of the officials will only be reinstated on an individual basis if they had shown respect for the Supreme Courts ruling, and provided they each make an individual request. So far, nine of the 118 have accepted Hun Sens offer, which is widely seen as part of a bid to ease international pressure on his government in response to a crackdown on the opposition, NGOs and the independent media. Critics have called it a trap aimed at fracturing the CNRP, and CNRP activists say those who apply for reinstatement are opportunists who are betraying the interests of the public. Threat of arrests The prime minister on Wednesday dismissed concerns over the potential loss of benefits under the EBA and ratcheted up warnings to the remaining banned senior CNRP officials to accept his terms, ordering authorities to arrest any who conduct political activities without having first been granted reinstatement of their rights. Why are you organizing forcesI am warning all of you throughout the country, please stop it, said Hun Sen, suggesting that some CNRP members are involved in plots of terrorism in a speech addressing thousands of workers in Pursat. If you dont ask for rehabilitation, you dont have the right to gather with peopleyou dont have any rights at all, he added. The prime minister called on authorities to attack [CNRP officials conducting political activities] if you see one, and attack two if you see two. I order you to do so, he said. Hun Sen also dismissed suggestions that he had bought the nine senior CNRP officials who requested reinstatement of their political rights, as some in the opposition party have suggested, and who have already been expelled from the party, according to senior leadership living in self-imposed exile. Regarding the EU review of trade preferences, Hun Sen said the EBA scheme has no bearing on whether Cambodias economy will improve and that, regardless of government ministers meeting with the EU delegation, he will have the final say on charting the countrys course. At the end of the EBA monitoring period, the EUCambodias largest trading partnerwill take three months to produce a report based on its findings, and in February 2020, the European Commission will conclude the procedure with a final decision on whether or not to withdraw trade preferences, as well as the scope and duration of the withdrawal. Any withdrawal would come into effect after a total of 18 months. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. People in Hong Kong are more pessimistic about the city's future than at any point in the past 25 years, a recent public opinion survey has found. "Peoples net confidence in the future of Hong Kong has plunged by 15 percentage points to negative 16 percentage points, a record low since the question was first asked in 1994," a survey carried out by the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong reported. Confidence in Beijing's promise that Hong Kong would keep its traditional freedoms and separate legal jurisdiction under the "one country, two systems" framework also dropped by 10 percentage points since the last poll was carried out in January. "The younger the respondent, the less one trusts the Central Government [in Beijing] and the less confident in Hong Kongs future and 'one country, two systems,'" senior data analyst Edward Tai wrote in a commentary on the findings. The survey also found that Hong Kong people's trust in the city's government under the administration of chief executive Carrie Lam has fallen by 19 percentage points since January, while trust in Beijing fell by 15 percentage points compared with six months ago. Conversely, Hong Kong peoples net trust in the government of the democratic island of Taiwan rose by six percentage points since January. "Peoples confidence in the future of China remains the highest among the three," Tai said. Of a telephone poll of 1,024 Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents over 18, 34 percent said they trusted their city's own government, while 33 percent expressed trust in Beijing, the figures showed. Just 39 percent of respondents said they had confidence in Hong Kongs future, while 62 percent had confidence in Chinas future, while 41 percent had confidence in the one country, two systems framework. While the poll offered no reasons for the sharp drop in public confidence, it listed a number of key news events to occur since the last poll, including Beijing publishing its plans for greater integration between Hong Kong and nearby cities in mainland China, Beijing's very public support for the banning of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), and proposed amendments to existing laws that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China, to face both violent and non-violent charges. Chinese president Xi Jinping's call for Taiwan to be "unified" with China, the resurgence of China-friendly candidates in November's elections in Taiwan, and the tabling of legislation banning "insults" to China's national anthem were also cited as possible influences. Disqualification of lawmakers Bruce Lui, senior journalism lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, said there are other, less recent, political factors that could have led to such a result over time, including the disqualification of six popularly elected next-generation lawmakers for "improper" oaths of allegiance, and the government's plan to introduce subversion and sedition laws mandated by Beijing. "I am guessing that a lot of young people were enraged by the government's disqualification of [elected] members of the Legislative Council [LegCo], which was really unreasonable and which was a deep wound inflicted on an entire generation," Lui said. "[Young people] have borne the brunt of this, and yet they are the ones who need to come forward to work for Hong Kong's future," he said. "How are they supposed to hold out any hope for the future of Hong Kong?" Chung Kim-wah, assistant professor of social policy at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said he was not surprised by the results. "I think there are a lot of factors coming together here," Chung said. "The government has used a lot of tactics ... in particular since the [2014 pro-democracy] Umbrella Movement, to disqualify people [from elections], and has even extended these tactics to the rural committee elections, where there are people also getting disqualified," he said. "They have also revised the procedural rules," he said, in reference to rule changes making it harder for opposition partieswho lack the seats to outvote pro-government membersto use filibustering to oppose government proposals in LegCo. "While the majority of citizens may not pay attention to specific issues, overall, they have the feeling that things aren't going well," he said. "That's why I think that the overall [confidence] trend will continue to go down." Democratic Party chairman and lawmaker Wu Chi-wai said the Hong Kong government has done little to reassure the public that there has been no warping of the "one country, two systems" framework to the detriment of the city's freedoms. "One of the reasons for the fall in public confidence in the government is the failure of the government to act in the interests of its citizens," Wu said, citing failure to tackle issues relating to healthcare and access to housing. Chief executive warning Meanwhile, Lam warned that anyone "harming national security" in Hong Kong or attempting to "split the country" could face criminal prosecution under existing laws. "The fact that we have yet to enact local legislation doesn't mean that we will turn a blind eye ... to attempts to split the country or endanger national security," Lam told reporters on Tuesday. "Nor does it mean that we won't use existing legislation to deal with certain acts that should be strictly prohibited," she said, adding that the banning of the HKNP last September under colonial-era laws on sedition that were once used to target criminal gangs was "an obvious example." The HKNP was banned because it was judged by security chief John Lee to pose an immediate threat to the government. While Hong Kong police acknowledged that the party had not committed any violent acts, the government considered a ban necessary as preventive measures because the possibility of HKNP using force to achieve its goal could not be ruled out. However, under the United Nations-endorsed Johannesburg Principles governing national security and human rights law, restrictions to freedom of speech on the grounds of national security aren't legitimate if they seek to "entrench a particular ideology," rather than to stave off a violent threat of a military or internal nature. Reported by Lee Wang-yam for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Chinese President Xi Jinping gears up for a visit to Italy this week amid mounting speculation that he could meet with Pope Francis to further relations between the Catholic Church and Beijing. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang declined to elaborate on Xi's plans when pressed at a news conference on . But he said the ruling Chinese Communist Party wants to "promote ... forward development" following an interim agreement signed with the Holy See last September on the appointment of bishops. "This is an important phased achievement of the two sides in the process of improving relations," Geng said. "The Chinese side is willing to continue to move with Vatican in the same direction, conduct constructive dialogue ... and promote the constant and forward development of the relationship," he said. Xis official schedule indicates he will make a state visit to Italy, Monaco and France from -26. According to the official Vatican website, during the visit of Xi Jinping to Italy, the pope will host a religious event on the 24th, but has no other public engagements scheduled. Reuters quoted a senior Vatican source as saying that the pope is willing to meet Xi and that the presidents intermediaries have made overtures to the Vatican, with another source suggesting the meeting could be arranged "at the last minute." On , Italy's Corriere Della Sera newspaper said the pope could potentially meet Xi outside the walls of the Vatican City, in spite of there being no diplomatic ties between the Holy See and Beijing. 'A huge deal' Such a meeting would be the first in history between a Chinese leader and a pope. Professor Chang Chia Lin of Taiwan's Aletheia University said such a meeting would be momentous for the Vatican, and that more reports would already be emerging if it were genuinely on the cards, however. "They would be making a huge deal with reporting everywhere," Chang told RFA in a recent interview. "The main business of Xi Jinping's trip to Italy is with Italy," he said. "He is trying to win support for China's economic globalization policies." "He is trying to get around [trade] obstacles set up in China's way by U.S. President Donald Trump, not set up diplomatic relations with the Vatican," he said. Rev. Chen Ko, secretary-general of Taiwan's Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference, and a previous delegate to the Vatican, agreed, saying that such meetings between heads of state can't just be set up on a whim. "The agreement was signed in September last year, and the heads of state are meeting so soon after to establish diplomatic relations?" Chen told RFA. "This goes against the way things are done, and wouldn't be a prudent approach." "Of course, the pope, as ... a religious leader would welcome meeting anyone from a religious perspective." Chen added: "We feel that the time is not ripe because there is an agreement that has not yet been implemented, and the issues lie with China, not the pope." Religious persecution continues unabated Christians in China gave mixed reactions to September's agreement between Beijing and the Vatican over the appointment of bishops, amid warnings that religious repression would likely intensify on unofficial churches. The controversial deal eliminated the division between bishops and churches recognized by the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association and those appointed by Rome, which will likely result in an expansion of the Catholic Church in China. But rights groups and leading Catholics have warned that religious persecution continues unabated under Xi's administration, amid heavy-handed controls by religious affairs officials. Under the agreement, Rome recognized seven bishops appointed by the Chinese state, and the agreement saw the founding of a new Catholic diocese in Chengde, in the northern province of Hebei. Under the terms of the interim agreement, the Vatican may express opinions on the appointment of Chinese bishops, but the agreement reiterates that the Holy See will retain its diplomatic relationship with the democratic Republic of China government on Taiwan. The Vatican broke off diplomatic relations with China in 1951, and Sino-Vatican relations have improved in recent years. However, the two sides' relationship has been plagued by disagreements over the appointment of bishops. Taiwan's foreign ministry said the deal wouldn't affect diplomatic ties with the Vatican, which is Taiwan's last-remaining diplomatic partner in Europe, the island's Central News Agency reported at the time. Officially an atheist country, China has an army of officials whose job is to watch over faith-based activities, which have spread rapidly in recent decades. Party officials are put in charge of Catholics, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Protestants. Judaism isn't recognized, and worship in non-recognized temples, churches, or mosques is against the law. Earlier this year, a group of leading Catholics in Hong Kong and the U.S. strongly criticized the rapprochement between Beijing and the Holy See, citing church articles as saying that the right to nominate and appoint bishops belongs only to the Church, and not to any secular body. Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Hsia Hsiao-hwa for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. UPDATED 11:14 P.M. EDT on 2019-03-20 Laos deputy prime minister has identified poor soil analysis for a fatal hydropower dam collapse, often described as the countrys worst flooding in decades. At a concluding environmental sector annual meeting early this month in Vientiane, Deputy Prime Minister Bounthong Chitmany, who also heads the investigative committee tasked with finding the causes of the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project disaster, blamed the collapse on a severe lack of oversight. As of now we have not been able to come to an agreement on why the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy saddle dam D collapsed. Both the company and the independent investigative team have their own theories and reasons, he told the gathering, according to a transcript obtained by RFAs Lao Service. [We are however in agreement] that we did not properly study the environment of the soil or conduct proper soil analyses, he said. If we had carefully conducted soil analyses like we are doing now after the fact, we would have rejected the project altogether, or we wouldnt have allowed the construction of the dam, said Chitmany. If the plan had been submitted to the ministry of environment and natural resources and the ministry of energy and mines with [what we have discovered about the soil], probably all of you, my comrades, would not have allowed the company to build this dam, said the deputy prime minister. The disaster occurred when a saddle dam at the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project collapsed, inundating 12 villages and killing at least 40 people in Champassak and Attapeu provinces, leaving many more missing. Civil Engineering professor Richard Meehan said that he was able to determine that the project was dangerously flawed without conducting soil analysis. He said that the dam failed because of unstable geologic and soil conditions at the site. He also said that if normal and proper geological and soil investigations had been done, it would have been clear that the saddle dam design was flawed and that the dam would not be safe, the former Stanford University professor told RFAs Lao Service on Wednesday. Well, this is the same conclusion that I had written last year when I made my study of the satellite data, because the satellite data indicated to me the same thing, Meehan said. Meanwhile, geography professor Ian Baird of the University of Wisconsin-Madison praised the deputy PM for telling the truth. Its better than saying nothing, he told RFA. What he said indicates that he is sincere that he really wants to find out the problem even though it doesnt make Laos look good. Id rather praise him on this, said Baird. PNPC was a consortium between formed by a local Lao company and South Koreas SK Engineering & Construction. Korean involvement in the project has prompted Seoul to send its own relief teams to Laos to help mitigate the effects of the disaster. In the wake of the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy disaster, Laos has stepped up scrutiny of an ambitious hydropower dam building program under which it aims to serve as the battery of Asia and sell hydropower to its more industrialized neighbors China, Thailand and others. Reported and translated by Phouvong for RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Eugene Whong. A house burns after being hit by exploding artillery shells in a village in Mrauk-U township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, March 18, 2019. The Myanmar military indiscriminately opened fire Monday night in the ancient Rakhine town of Mrauk-U, including at historical religious sites, injuring seven villagers in the latest shooting incident in war-torn Rakhine state, area residents said. Local residents said government troops started shooting from military trucks as they passed around 7 p.m., wounding the seven civilians, including women and children. The Myanmar Army denied the random shootings. According to locals, government soldiers shot into the town from the hills, and it was not a battle, said Tun Thar Sein, a lawmaker representing Mrauk-U in the Rakhine state parliament. They said it was a clearance operation by the government army, he added. Government soldiers fired their weapons in response to an attack by the Arakan Army (AA), a Buddhist Rakhine military fighting for autonomy in the state, said Colonel Win Zaw Oo, spokesman of the Myanmar militarys Western Command which is responsible for Rakhine, on Tuesday. We have a military headquarters in Mrauk-U, he said. The AA began shooting at us from the front as well as from the sides at about 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. last night. They also shot at our security guards in town and on the streets, as well as from the historical site, he said. Thats why we had to shoot back. We shot back at them carefully. We didnt shoot back without reason. The Myanmar Army has been fighting Arakan forces in several townships in the northern part of Rakhine state since late last year. Other residents also reported that no AA troops were in the vicinity of the gunfire. Military trucks came into town, and soldiers were shooting around with small arms and heavy weapons from these trucks, said Ashin Wunna Thara, a monk from Myo-U Monastery. There were no AA soldiers in town, and nobody said the AA did it. Now locals do not go out at night, and everyone goes to bed around 8 p.m., he added. We have heard that police and soldiers are checking houses in downtown Mrauk-U, the monk said. I visited downtown today, and it was like a ghost town. Army did it intentionally Kyaw Zan, a resident of Mrauk-Us Pan Myaung village, said he believes that soldiers opened fire on purpose. The government army did it intentionally, he said. Because of their random firings, a 10-year-old child from Mro Chaung village was injured on her arm, and a woman from Pan Myaung village was injured on her leg. The government soldiers are checking the monasteries in villages, he added. Many locals displaced by fighting in Mrauk-U and other Rakhine townships have sought shelter in monasteries. A resident of Myaung Taung village confirmed that a child had been injured. A child from Mro Chaung village was injured by the government armys shooting, and we saw some soldiers putting bandages on that child, said the villager who declined to give his name. Some of those injured, including a husband and wife wounded by an exploding artillery shell, were being treated at the main hospital in Mrauk-U, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported. RFA was later unable to reach Win Zaw Oo for further comment on the injured civilians. On Tuesday, the Myanmar militarys information team said in a statement that the AA is engaging in deliberate sabotage by destroying civilian, government, and historical religious buildings. On Monday, AA spokesman Khine Thukha accused the government army of damaging ancient monuments and temples in Mrauk-U, remnants of a powerful empire that existed there from the 15th century to the late 18th century. Meanwhile, the AA and two other ethnic armed groups released a joint statement on Tuesday, accusing the Myanmar Army of committing crimes against civilians and historical zones by attacking civilians, religious sites, and pagodas with heavy weapons and fighter jets, The Irrawaddy reported. Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Russian State Duma deputy Vadim Belousov has been detained on suspicion of accepting a $49 million bribe. Here's how this compares to other cases that have been tried in the courts. KABUL -- Afghanistan's presidential election has been postponed by more than two months to give the authorities more time to organize the ballot and fix the problems that occurred during the October parliamentary polls, the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) says. IEC Chairwoman Hawa Alam Nuristani told reporters in Kabul on March 20 that the presidential election was now planned for September 28, together with the country's district-council elections and parliamentary polls in Ghazni Province. Nuristani added that the IEC will only be able to organize the polls once the necessary funds have been provided by the stakeholders involved, including the Kabul government and the international community. The presidential election was initially scheduled for April 20, then delayed until July 20. Many observers had considered both dates unrealistic given that the IEC is still finalizing results of October's parliamentary elections, which Nuristani described as "the worst elections in the last 15 years." These polls, which were held after months of delay, were marred by inefficiencies including absent electoral staff and missing voting materials. The IEC said in a statement on March 20 that the vote had faced "numerous problems and challenges...therefore holding the elections based on the timelines previously announced is not possible." It said the date for the polls were pushed back to September in order to "better implement the rule of election law, ensure transparency as well as voter registration." A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, who plans to seek reelection, said the government respected the IEC's decision and was "fully prepared to cooperate" with the commission. The IEC was not fully staffed until the beginning of March. Previous members had been heavily criticized for the October polls. Attacks have continued in Afghanistan despite stepped-up U.S. efforts to find a negotiated resolution of the 18-year war. U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has held several rounds of peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar, but the Western-backed government in Kabul has been absent from the negotiations, with the militant group insisting it will not engage with a Western "puppet." With reporting by Tolo News, AFP, and dpa Nazarbaev gifts Toqaev a car, but without a steering wheel. Toqaev: Hey, where's the wheel? Nazarbaev: You just keep your foot on the gas pedal, and I'll steer. This quip was made by Kazakh journalist Svetlana Glushkova who took to Twitter to react to the news that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev was stepping down after nearly 30 years in power. Nazarbaev's handpicked successor Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was sworn in on March 20 as interim president, but many Kazakhs believe Nazarbaev, 78, will call the shots. Along with his status as "Elbasy," or "leader of the nation," Nazarbaev will also keep his positions as the head of the ruling Nur Otan party and as the lifetime chairman of the country's Security Council. "Maybe it's not a real resignation from power but still people are congratulating each other," Kazakh satirist Samat Jamaev wrote on Facebook. "There are so many happy emotions expressed in Internet chats. For the first time, Kazakh people are happy!" Jamaev added. 'Thanks For Leaving While Still Alive' Kazakh Journalist Tatyana Panchenko described the resignation announcement as "the biggest news in 30 years," while poet Erbol Zhumagul wrote: "Thank you for leaving while still alive." In Central Asia, presidents stay in power for decades, sometimes until they die. In Uzbekistan, President Islam Karimov ruled the country for 27 years until his death in 2016. Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov was in charge from 1985 until he died in 2006, while in Tajikistan, President Emomali Rahmon has held onto power since 1992. The only exception in the region is Kyrgyzstan, where the presidency has changed hands several times in recent years. "Kyrgyz people, please tell us what to do when the president changes, because we don't have a f***ing idea, honestly," Sultan from Kazakhstan wrote on Twitter. "There is only one bit of good news in this situation: We lived to see the next president of Kazakhstan," Kazakh journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov wrote on Facebook. "Otherwise, everything is just like our childhood: everyone knew that Grandfather Frost is the PE teacher, but we were happy anyway," he added. A user on Twitter couldn't contain their excitement: "This year, we've been waiting for the finales of three major franchises: The Avengers, Game of Thrones, and the new Star Wars. But Nursultan Nazarbaev beat all of them. This is the finale of finales." Meanwhile in Belarus, some social-media users called on the country's President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to follow Nazarbaev's example and resign. Lushashenka, a more sprightly 64 years old, has been in power since 1994. "Accept the challenge, Alyaksandr Grigoryevich," wrote Minsk- based Ivan Karpenko. There has also been talk of other potential replacements. Some social-media users suggested Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage and Borat, a fictional Kazakh journalist created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, as successors to Nazarbaev. Cage was the butt of jokes after a 2017 trip to Kazakhstan, where he was photographed in a traditional Kazakh winter coat and fur hat at the height of summer. "All of Kazakhstan shivered when it learned the name of the new president," tweeted kirapigeion. "Urgent! Nursultan Nazarbaev's successor has been announced!" wrote Vorontsov on Twitter, sharing a photo of Borat with the Kazakh national flag in the background. Mikhail Lesin, the high-flying former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin who died in Washington under murky circumstances in 2015, spent his final 72 hours consuming copious amounts of alcohol, pestering service personnel for even more booze, and changing hotels after run-ins with management. Alcohol, according to authorities, was a contributing factor to his death in a penthouse suite at the capital's Dupont Circle Hotel on November 5, 2015, which authorities ruled an accident. Police and prosecutors attributed his death to blunt-force injuries caused by falls. But no manner of death has been given, and speculation that Lesin, who had fallen out of favor with the Kremlin, was a victim of foul play has persisted. RFE/RL has charted Lesin's final three days in Washington based on official law-enforcement and medical documents. These include reviews of surveillance video from the two hotels where he stayed. That footage, according to authorities, did not indicate anything suspicious, though police reports indicate that due to a defective recording authorities may have been unable to review nearly three hours of video that was captured after Lesin was last seen alive. It's unclear whether this specific footage was ever recovered by U.S. authorities, though case-related documents obtained exclusively by RFE/RL last week include one titled "903 camera footage timeline" -- a reference to the room at the Dupont Circle Hotel where Lesin's body was discovered. That timeline includes a welfare check on Lesin in his room by the hotel personnel who last saw him alive on the eve of his death. (Some times are approximate) October 21, 2015 Lesin arrives in Los Angeles, where his family resides, by air under a U.S. visa most commonly used for foreign tourists, according to U.S. travel records disclosed by Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. November 2, 2015 3:44 p.m.: With no prior reservation, Lesin checks into the upscale Four Seasons hotel in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. The official police report gives no indication whether Lesin had a reservation or how he paid for the room. Based on surveillance video, it appears Lesin was dropped off at the hotel by someone driving a Mercury Sable with Virginia license plates. The license plate number is "unreadable" on the video, and it's unclear whether authorities ultimately identified it. 3:53 p.m.: Lesin enters his room, No. 266. Over the next 13 hours, he removes numerous airline-size bottles of liquor from the minibar, as well as bottles of wine and beer. November 3, 2015 5 a.m.: Over a 40-minute span, Lesin props the room to his door open, exiting and reentering several times. 5:41 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room and takes the elevator to the lobby, where he heads empty-handed toward the hotel's Bourbon Steak restaurant. 5:45 a.m.: Lesin is seen returning to the elevator with a large bottle of tequila from Bourbon Steak that was later found empty in his room. A room-service order for penne pasta was also being delivered around the same time. 1:45 p.m.: An man identified by police as Lesin's "friend" arrives at the hotel. 1:52 p.m.: A security officer and an individual whose name is redacted by police go to Lesin's room and find him passed out on the bed. They leave the room, and the unidentified person "stays at the hotel." 5:45 p.m.: Around 30 minutes after Lesin removes two beers from the private bar, hotel security conducts a welfare check and finds Lesin on the bed "either sleeping or passed out." 6:15-6:25 p.m.: Lesin removes a bottle of wine and a bottle of scotch from the minibar. 6:30 p.m.: Lesin is on the guest list of a dinner and a fundraiser honoring Russian billionaire and philanthropist Pyotr Aven at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, but he does not show up. 6:50 p.m.: Hotel security conducts a welfare check and finds Lesin again "either sleeping or passed out." Inside the room, a chair and an ottoman have been knocked over. The hotel decides to remove all the remaining alcohol from Lesin's minibar. 8:30 p.m.: Hotel personnel find Lesin moving about his room but somewhat incoherent. The security officer notices a contusion below Lesin's left eye. Lesin is informed that a "friend" downstairs is "concerned for his welfare" and wants to see him, but Lesin says he does not want to speak with him. After being informed of this, the friend, a man whose name is redacted in official reports, leaves the hotel. 10:38 p.m.: Lesin leaves his room, dressed but barefoot, and goes down to the hotel lobby, where he "just walks around." He uses the walls to steady himself several times. 10:42 p.m.: Lesin is denied service at the restaurant bar, but tries to take "partially consumed cocktails from the well." 10:53 p.m.: After briefly sitting down in a lobby chair -- and once entering and immediately leaving a lobby elevator -- Lesin is escorted back to his room by security. At some point during the day, video surveillance at the Four Seasons shows Lesin with a "left eye contusion" -- confirming the security officer's earlier observation. November 4, 2015 12:35 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room and "wanders the hallway" before going down to the lobby 20 minutes later. 12:53-12:57 a.m: Lesin leaves his room and goes to the hotel lobby. He returns to the restaurant, which is now closed. He looks around, lifts the security rope and enters. He removes a bottle of alcohol from behind the bar. As he is leaving, Lesin is stopped by an unidentified "security officer." Lesin is escorted back to his room by security personnel. An individual whose name and title is redacted asks hotel staff about Lesin, after which he calls his "command post" and relays Lesin's name and date of birth. 1:45-2:30 a.m.: At the request of U.S. Secret Service (USSS), which was on site expecting the arrival of a dignitary under its protection, a hotel security officer is posted outside Lesin's room to ensure he remains inside. At one point during Lesin's stay at the Four Seasons, a USSS agent saw Lesin in the lobby in a bathrobe. Lesin was also seen "wandering the hallways and lobby in various states of undress." 4:46 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room with the door propped open and goes down to the lobby. He leaves the hotel and returns 10 minutes later. He offers money to a front-desk employee in exchange for alcohol, but the employee refuses. 5:00 a.m.: He leaves the hotel and catches a cab without checking out from his room at the Four Seasons. 5:30 a.m.: Lesin checks into the top-floor penthouse on the ninth floor at the Dupont Circle Hotel, 1.6 kilometers away from the Four Seasons, appearing "very intoxicated" and paying for one night with $1,200 in cash. 5:37 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room at the Dupont Circle Hotel. 5:50 a.m.: Lesin returns to the Four Seasons hotel with a small "traveler" bottle of Johnnie Walker and goes to his room. Hotel staff does not appear to notice his entrance. 7:51 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room at the Four Seasons, takes the elevator down, and exits the hotel premises. He returns less than 10 minutes later with what appears to be a pack of cigarettes. 7:59 a.m.: Over a 45-minute span, Lesin leaves and reenters his room six times. At one point he is seen near an elevator wearing only underwear. Video surveillance reviewed later shows "no visible signs" of blunt-force injury on Lesin's body "when he walked in the hallway with his underwear on." 8:54 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room, goes downstairs, and tries to persuade hotel staff to buy alcohol for him. 9:09 a.m.: Lesin leaves the Four Seasons, asks for a taxi, and is heard telling the driver to take him to the Dupont Circle Hotel. After learning that Lesin had left, the security supervisor at the Four Seasons enters his room and takes photographs of multiple empty bottles of alcohol on the floor, including the Johnnie Walker bottle he had brought in just hours earlier. 9:32 a.m.: Lesin is escorted to his room at the Dupont Circle Hotel by a security officer. 9:34 a.m.: Lesin leaves his room, reenters, and then leaves again. 9:37 a.m.: The Four Seasons orders the keys to Lesin's room to be changed, locking him out. A USSS agent asks the hotel about Lesin, saying he wants "to ensure there was not a threat" to the person he was assigned to protect. 10:20 a.m.: Lesin returns to the Four Seasons by taxi and, while carrying two plastic bags with alcohol, "almost falls to the ground" as he exits the vehicle. His only visible injury is the contusion under his left eye, and he shows no signs of pain as he walks into the lobby. Hotel security tells Lesin they are concerned for his well-being. Lesin attempts to retrieve the bags containing the alcohol from the valet outside but is stopped by security. Lesin insists he wants the bags, which he goes outside and gets from the valet. He leaves the Four Seasons by taxi and does not return. During his time at the Four Seasons, Lesin drank in total "14 bottles of either beer, wine, or liquor" from the minibar, along with a bottle of tequila and the bottle of Johnnie Walker. 10:48 a.m.: Lesin returns to his penthouse at the Dupont Circle Hotel with two "large grocery bags." This is the last video footage known to show Lesin alive. 1:57 p.m.: Two housekeepers enter the room and leave right away after "apparently" finding Lesin "on the bed either asleep or passed out." 2:23 p.m.: A security officer and front-office manager enter Lesin's room. They perform a welfare check and find Lesin, who greets the two wearing a blue shirt and his underwear, "drunk and stumbling around the room." Lesin is asked whether he plans to stay another night, to which he responds in Russian: "Da" ("Yes"). Lesin is then asked whether he needs medical attention. He places his arm on the shoulder of one of the visitors and says, in Russian: "Nyet" ("No"). Neither the security officer nor the manager noticed any injuries on Lesin. 8:17 p.m.: A security officer and hotel floor manager check on Lesin, who is passed out "face down on a rug" but still breathing. Attempts to wake Lesin fail. They leave the room less than two minutes later. This is the last time Lesin is known to have been seen alive. Security-camera footage does not show anyone else entering Lesin's room until he is discovered dead the following day. November 5, 2015 11:32 a.m.: A security officer and an assistant front-office manager enter Lesin's room to remind him of his check-out time at noon. They use a master key to enter after no one answers the door. Lesin is found "face down on the rug" and not breathing. Death is "apparent." The room is strewn with empty and unopened containers of alcohol. 11:34 a.m.: A 911 call is placed from the Dupont Circle Hotel reporting the discovery of Lesin's body. 5:46 p.m.: Washington's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) informs the State Department's Diplomatic Security Bureau that the Russian Embassy "would like to help identify" Lesin. The embassy says that "if he is who we think he is," then he is a prominent Russian official, the medical-examiner office's report states. 8 p.m.: A police detective informs the medical examiner's office that a "friend" of Lesin's had called inquiring about his whereabouts, saying he was "last known alive" two days earlier "in the afternoon" leaving the Four Seasons. The identity of the friend -- and precisely when the call was made -- is unclear. November 6, 2015 Washington's OCME conducts an autopsy on Lesin. Members of the staff of the Russian Embassy in Washington identify Lesin's body. Identification is conducted "by tattoos and latent prints." U.S., Russian, and international media report news of Lesin's death. RFE/RL Makes Lesin Autopsy Files Available Nearly two years ago, RFE/RL filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the autopsy records of Mikhail Lesin, the former Russian press minister who was found dead in a Washington hotel room in November 2015. Last month, Washington Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo ordered the city to turn over the files, which were finally released to RFE/RL on March 15 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The 149-page file offers the most precise scientific description to date about Lesin's death, around which many questions still remain. RFE/RL is now making the autopsy files available to the general public for the first time. Find them here. November 8, 2015 At the Four Seasons hotel, "a friend of a friend" of Lesin's informs a Washington city police detective that Lesin had stayed at the hotel prior to moving to the Dupont Circle Hotel. The name of the "friend of a friend" is redacted. November 9, 2015 An official with the Russian Embassy in Washington, whose name is redacted, calls a city police detective. The detective informs the diplomat that Lesin's death is under investigation and that "he could not answer" some questions posed by the Russian official. March 10, 2016 The OCME releases its first public statement describing the cause of Lesin's death as "blunt-force injuries of the head" and contributing factors as "blunt-force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities and lower extremities with acute ethanol intoxication." The manner of death is described as "undetermined" and the statement says Washington city police continue to investigate. October 28, 2016 The U.S. Justice Department announces that its D.C. bureau and Washington city police have ruled Lesin's death an accident and closed the investigation. It says that "Lesin died as a result of blunt force injuries to his head, with contributing causes being blunt force injuries of the neck, torso, upper extremities, and lower extremities, which were induced by falls, with acute ethanol intoxication." March 15, 2019 Following a successful lawsuit challenging a denied freedom-of-information request, RFE/RL exclusively obtains 149 pages of documents related to Lesin's autopsy from Washington's OCME. The documents state that Lesin sustained a fracture to a neck bone just below the jaw line "at or near the time" of his death. Such a fracture is most frequently associated with strangulation or asphyxiation, though the documents raise the possibility that the neck bone -- known as the hyoid -- might have been damaged during the autopsy. A Pakistani court has sentenced a 22-year-old Czech model to eight years and eight months in prison on charges of attempting to smuggle heroin out of Pakistan. The court in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, sentenced Tereza Hluskova on March 20. According to the court, Hluskova was arrested in possession of 8.5 kilograms of heroin in January 2018 at the Lahore airport, from where she was heading to Ireland via the United Arab Emirates. Hluskova has told investigators since her arrest that she came to Pakistan to work as a model and that someone put the drugs into her luggage as she was returning. Her lawyer, Sardar Asghar Dogar, says she will appeal. Hluskova was convicted during a court appearance last week. Her sentence also includes an $800 fine. Based on reporting by AP and dawn.com ISLAMABAD -- The leaders of one of Pakistan's main opposition parties have been summoned by the country's anticorruption agency to face questions in three separate cases. Former President Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who head the secular Pakistan People's Party (PPP), were questioned at the headquarters of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Islamabad. Hundreds of angry supporters gathered outside the facility in protest. Some of them clashed with police, chanting "Down with Imran Khan." Bhutto, the PPP chairman, later accused Khan's government of deliberately targeting political opponents. "This isn't a system of accountability. This is a system of political engineering. This is a system of the politics of revenge," Bhutto told a news conference. In a statement, the NAB said that investigators had quizzed Bhutto and his father for around two hours about three cases, adding that both men were given questionnaires to be handed back within 10 days. It gave no details on the cases. Officials have told Pakistan's Supreme Court that the cases were related to corruption and money laundering. The family denies all accusations of corruption. The PPP rules Pakistan's southern province of Sindh and finished third in last July's general election, which was won by Khan's Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI). Bhutto is the son of two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007. His father, Zardari is the PPP co-chairman. In December 2018, Pakistani authorities announced they were imposing a travel ban on him, while investigators completed a probe into money laundering. Zardari was elected president in 2008, after leading efforts to remove military ruler Pervez Musharraf, and served until 2013. He left the country in 2015 after delivering a speech in which he criticized the role of the military in Pakistani public life, and returned in 2016. With reporting by Dawn and Reuters A student in Pakistan has has been accused of stabbing and killing a professor for allegedly planning a party to which both men and women would be invited. The student, Khateeb Hussain, was arrested on March 20 after being held at the scene of the incident by fellow students. Police said he would be charged with murder. English professor Khalid Hameed, of Sadiq Egerton College in the eastern city of Bahawalpur, was preparing a farewell party for his students when Hussain allegedly attacked him with a dagger, a police official said. "Apparently the accused has no link to any religious group, but we are investigating his past and the reasons behind his mind-set," local police spokesman Farhan Hussain said. A police report quoted the accused as saying that "the gender mix reception is against the teachings of Islam, and I had warned him to stop it." Hameed died of his injuries at a local hospital. The director of the college, Wali Muhammad, told Reuters news agency that the college had a majority-female student population, with 4,000 women studying alongside 2,000 men. The slain professor was due to retire in four months. Religion and gender issues are volatile topics in Pakistan, where many Islamic fundamentalists view women's rights as heretical. In 2018, a Thomson Reuters Foundation poll found Pakistan the sixth-most-dangerous country in the world for women. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP YAKUTSK, Russia -- Police in Russia's Sakha-Yakutia region have detained a group of people accused of attacking migrants from Central Asia following the arrest of a Kyrgyz man suspected of raping a local woman. Police in the regional capital, Yakutsk, told RFE/RL on March 20 that several people were detained but did not say how many. The police in Yakutsk have called on residents to avoid "inciting ethnic hatred." Tensions rose in Yakutsk, 4,900 kilometers east of Moscow, after police said on March 17 that a 23-year-old Kyrgyz citizen was arrested on suspicion of abducting and raping a 36-year-old woman a day earlier. Amid reports of attacks on migrants, many businesses owned and operated by people from Central Asia were closed on March 19, and dozens of buses usually driven by Central Asian migrants were not operating. About 200 protesters rallied in downtown Yakutsk on March 17, demanding the deportation of all labor migrants from Central Asia, and some 5,000 people gathered at a stadium on March 18 to voice anger over the alleged crime. A high-level delegation from Kyrgyzstan met with regional and local officials on March 18 to discuss the situation. Yakutsk Mayor Sardana Avksentyeva said on March 19 that all companies that employ migrant laborers would be inspected in an effort to determine whether they employ any illegal migrants. There are some 30,000 Kyrgyz citizens living in Sakha-Yakutia, including more than 8,000 in Yakutsk, according to Avksentyeva. Yakuts, a Turkic-speaking indigenous people, make up about half of the vast region's population of roughly 1 million. There is tension between labor migrants from Central Asia and other residents, including ethnic Russians and other indigenous groups, in cities across Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have discussed ways to "roll back Iranian aggression" in the region and around the world, the Israeli leader said after the two met in Jerusalem. "There is no limitation to our freedom of action, and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions," Netanyahu said on March 20, speaking alongside Pompeo. Accusing Iranian leaders of seeking the "annihilation and destruction" of Israel, the top U.S. diplomat pledged continued U.S. support. "With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparalleled commitment to Israel's security and firmly support your right to defend yourself," Pompeo said. Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to keep Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighboring Syria, where Iran, along with Russia, has given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crucial backing throughout his country's eight-year civil war. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in the war-torn country against what it describes as Iranian targets and those of allied militias, including the Lebanon-based Shi'ite militant group Hizballah. Netanyahu also welcomed Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers last year, as well as U.S. sanctions that were reimposed on Iran's economy. "This pressure is working," he said. "We need to increase it." In a video statement posted on YouTube to mark the Norouz new year holiday on March 21, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that his country will overcome "inhumane and illegal" U.S. sanctions. "We rely solely on our own people to overcome any challenges, but we also welcome constructive engagement, including with the expanding array of nations who are equally sick and tired of the bullying of the U.S.," Zarif said. Pompeo's Jerusalem visit comes less than a month ahead of Israel's April 9 general elections in which Netanyahu is facing a stiff challenge from a centrist alliance. The Israeli prime minister is set to visit Washington next week and meet with President Donald Trump. Pompeo arrived in Jerusalem after a stop in Kuwait, where he renewed calls for a resolution to a dispute between Qatar and four other Arab states. From Israel, he is to travel to Lebanon. With reporting by AFP and AP Kalmykia, a Russian region that was long headed by a chess-mad authoritarian who claimed to have met aliens on a spaceship, now has a champion kickboxer at its helm. President Vladimir Putin appointed Batu Khasikov acting head of the region on the southern steppes near the Caspian Sea on March 20, part of a shakeup in which the governor of another Russian region was replaced a day earlier. A Kremlin statement said Putin met with Khasikov and told him that he would replace Aleksandr Orlov, who announced his resignation earlier in the day after eight years in office. Khasikov, 38, is a professional kickboxer who has won several world titles. He represented Kalmykia in the Russian parliament's upper chamber in 2012-14 and has been an adviser to the head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs since June 2017. Kalmyks, a Mongol-speaking and predominantly Buddhist ethnic group, make up a majority of the population of the Republic of Kalmykia, according to Russia's 2010 census. The region was headed from 1993 to 2010 by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a flamboyant figure who was accused of oppressive rule during his tenure. An aide to Ilyumzhinov was convicted of the 1998 murder of journalist Larisa Yudina. Ilyumzhinov was president of the global chess governing body FIDE from 1995-2018. Eighteen of Russia's 83 administrative regions are due to elect leaders in September, and the daily Kommersant reported on March 18 that up to six regional governors could be replaced in the coming days. On May 19, Aleksei Teksler replaced Boris Dubrovsky as governor of the Chelyabinsk region, while Murmansk region Governor Marina Kovtun said she would step down. With reporting by TASS, Kommersant, RBK, and Interfax Human Rights Watch and eight other rights groups have urged the Tajik government to immediately release a gravely ill political activist who claims to have been tortured. During a visit on March 9, Muhammadali Hayit showed his wife "injuries on his forehead and stomach that he said were caused by beatings from prison officials to punish him for refusing to record videos denouncing Tajik opposition figures abroad," the groups said in a March 20 statement. The statement quoted Savrinisso Jurabekova as saying her husband had told her that "he was not getting adequate medical care, and they both fear he may die in prison as a result of the beatings." Hayit, 62, was arrested in September 2015 on what human rights activists called politically motivated charges and sentenced to life in prison in June 2016 following a closed trial. He had been deputy head of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT). The political activist is currently being held at a detention center in the capital, Dushanbe. "We ask diplomatic representatives on the ground in Dushanbe to seek permission to visit Hayit and other prisoners of concern and press for their immediate release," according to Nadejda Atayeva, president of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia. Marius Fossum, Central Asia representative of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, said that Tajikistan's human rights situation "has been spiraling downward rapidly, and Washington, Brussels, and all actors should consider enacting targeted punitive measures unless immediate human rights improvements are made." The other groups are the Association for Central Asian Migrants, Freedom House, Freedom Now, Global Advocates, Human Rights Vision Foundation, and International Partnership for Human Rights. The IRPT, long an influential party with representatives in the government and parliament of Tajikistan, was labeled a terrorist group and banned in 2015. Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many of them imprisoned, drawing criticism from human rights groups. The party's founder, Umarali Quvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul in March 2015. ASTANA -- Former President Nursultan Nazarbaev's eldest daughter was elected speaker of Kazakhstan's upper parliament house a day after her father announced his resignation, thrusting her into a highly prominent role just over a year ahead of the next scheduled presidential election. Darigha Nazarbaeva, 55, was chosen in a unanimous vote by Senate members on March 20, hours after outgoing upper house chairman Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was sworn in as interim president of the Central Asian country. Under the constitution, he is to remain in office until an election that is due to be held in April 2020. Nazarbaeva has long been seen as a possible successor to her father, who is retaining his positions as head of the ruling Nur Otan party and lifetime chairman of the country's Security Council, as well as his status as "Elbasy," or leader of the nation. The 78-year-old Nazarbaev, who had ruled since before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and tolerated little dissent, is expected to continue to wield powerful influence in the country of 18.7 million. Nazarbaeva has chaired the International Affairs, Defense, and Security Committee in the Senate since September 2016, and before that served as a deputy prime minister. She will now hold the No. 2 spot in Kazakhstan's political hierarchy and would become acting president if the president were to die or become incapacitated. Nazarbaeva was recommended by Toqaev, 65, a Moscow-educated former prime minister and foreign minister who took the oath of office at a joint session of the parliament's chambers, the Mazhilis and the Senate. The interim president said that Nazarbaev's "respected opinions" will be key in making "strategic decisions" and proposed that the capital, Astana, be renamed Nursultan after him, a request that was swiftly approved by parliament a little later in the day. "It is necessary to immortalize the name of our great contemporary -- the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbaev -- in the following way: Our capital must carry the name of our president and be called Nursultan," Toqaev said. "Nursultan Nazarbaev remains the only father of the nation for life." Toqaev also proposed erecting a monument to Nazarbaev in the capital and naming central streets in every town and city in the country after him. Infographic: Almost Three Decades Of Nazarbaev Nazarbaev moved the capital of Kazakhstan from Almaty to Astana in 1997 and the windswept city on the steppe was built up substantially, making it a modernized symbol of his power. In announcing on March 19 that Toqaev would be interim president, in accordance with the constitution, Nazarbaev said that his successor "can be trusted to lead Kazakhstan." Toqaev served a total of 10 years as foreign minister, was prime minister from 1999-2002, and headed the Senate for two long stints, in 2007-11 and from 2013 until his promotion to the presidency. He has also served as director-general of the UN office in Geneva and is fluent in Kazakh, Russian, English, and Chinese. The U.S. State Department on March 19 expressed confidence that the strong U.S. relationship with Kazakhstan will continue after the resignation of Nazarbaev, who met with President Donald Trump at the White House in January 2018. Washington looks forward to "continuing our work with Kazakhstan on a wide variety of issues," a State Department spokesperson said. A spokeswoman for the European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, praised Nazarbaev for driving forward modernization reforms, including constitutional reforms, and for playing an important role in promoting cooperation both regionally and globally, with a particular emphasis on promoting peace, stability, and security. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke to Nazarbaev by phone the day he announced his resignation. senr Toqaev a congratulatory telegram on March 20. According to a Kremlin statement, Putin told Toqaev that he is known in Russia as "an experienced statesman who has made a large personal contribution to strengthening" the "strategic partnership" between Russia and Kazakhstan. Putin called for joint efforts to further develop constructive bilateral ties and for "partnerlike interaction in resolving current issues on the international agenda," saying that such cooperation "is doubtless in the interests of our brotherly peoples" and would promote regional stability and security. Once a steelworker, Nazarbaev has been the senior leader in Kazakhstan since June 1989, when he became Community Party boss in what was then a Soviet republic. Rights activists and critics say he persistently suppressed dissent, prolonged his time in office through undemocratic votes or referendums, and used the levers of power to neutralize potential opponents. As president, Nazarbaev maintained close relations with Moscow, helping create economic and security groupings that include Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, while also courting investment from Europe, the United States, China, and other regions to develop Kazakhstans plentiful oil and natural-gas resources. Two Mormons who were detained in Russia and accused of violating immigration laws have been released and are returning home to the United States. Americans Kole Brodowski, 20, and David Gaag, 19, "have been released" and were returning to the United States, Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S.-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in an e-mail to RFE/RL on March 20. Russian media reports said the two men had been deported. The regional news site Novaya Kuban quoted unnamed sources as saying they took a predawn flight from the southern city of Krasnodar to Istanbul and would travel from there to New York. Brodowski and Gaag, described by the church as "volunteers," were detained by the authorities on March 1 "while engaged in a meeting at a local meetinghouse" in the Black Sea coastal city Novorossiisk, Hawkins told RFE/RL in a previous statement. A court in Novorossiisk ruled on March 7 that the two U.S. citizens must be deported for what it called violations of immigration laws. The detentions come with growing scrutiny within Russia on religious groups that don't qualify as one of the four formally recognized religions. Freedom of religion is formally guaranteed in Russia, but the Russian government and the dominant Russian Orthodox Church frown on proselytizing by foreign-based religious communities. Russian law sets out Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as the country's four traditional religions, and other faiths -- including U.S.-based Christian communities -- often face discrimination or restrictive action by state authorities. Russia outlawed the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2017, declaring it "extremist," and the group says that seven of its members in Russia were tortured by law enforcement officers in the Siberian city of Surgut in mid-February. A Danish Jehovah's Witness, Dennis Christensen, was convicted on February 6 of "organizing the activity of an extremist organization" and sentenced to six years in prison by a court in the western city of Oryol. In its annual report on human rights around the world, issued on March 13, the U.S. State Department said that human rights abuses in Russia included "severe restrictions on religious freedom." While in custody, Brodowski and Gaag "were treated very well and maintained regular contact with their families and mission president," Hawkins said in the March 20 e-mail. "The church is closely monitoring conditions in Russia for all volunteers and will continue to fully comply with Russian law," he said. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church, has long been a presence in Russia, with members teaching English classes and proselytizing. According to church figures, registered Mormons grew from 300 in 1991 -- the year the Soviet Union collapsed -- to more than 14,000 a decade later. Today, the church claims 23,000 adherents in Russia. Brodowski was "nearing the end of his service" and would return home to the state of California, Hawkins said. Gaag "will return to the United States for a short time, receive any needed support, and then continue his service in a new mission," he said. Ukraine has imposed economic and other sanctions on hundreds of individuals and entities for their alleged roles in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia over the Crimea region and the war in eastern Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko on March 20 signed the order to implement the sanctions against 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, overwhelmingly Russian, as approved by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine the previous day. Some of the sanctions target people and entities connected with the construction of the Kerch Strait bridge between Ukraine's annexed Crimea region and Russia. Others are applied against people and entities believed to have played a role in the detention in November 2018 of two Ukrainian naval vessels and their 24 crew members by Russia near the Kerch Strait. The 24 Ukrainian sailors are still being held by Moscow. Still others are applied to people and entities that organized and held unauthorized and unrecognized "elections" within the separatist entities occupying parts of Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions in November 2018. Others included in the new sanctions list are accused of violating Ukrainian travel legislation by visiting Crimea or of playing a role in the relocation or use of museum collections belonging to Ukraine. Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been at a nadir since Moscow annexed Crimea in March 2014 and began providing military, political, and economic support to the separatist formations waging a war against Kyiv in parts of eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict, which the International Criminal Court ruled in November 2016 was "an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation." Based on reporting by UNIAN, Ukrinform, and TASS A GROUP of trees was granted protected status in Rotherham town centre despite opposition from residents and businesses. The councils planning board agreed a tree preservation order (TPO) for five London planes and a sycamore off Moorgate Street. Neighbours complained that the trees blocked light, attracted anti-social behaviour and prevented efforts to landscape the area. Resident Ralph Atkinson said: Theres no amenity to anyone apart from trespassers and drug dealers. The trees are on private land with views from Grove Road being very restricted. We have put forward several ideas on how we can improve the overall amenity to the people will actually experience it. Rotherham Borough Council had the trees assessed twice. Both times they scored at least 16 on the tempo scale, which says trees getting 12 and up are worthy of protection. Nigel Hancock, RMBC planning development officer, said: I think there might be a slight misconception about TPOs. A TPO doesnt say these trees will always be here and you cant do anything to them. It doesnt prevent the removal of trees, or developments which outweigh the benefit of keeping the trees. It just means that an application has to be submitted. The order was put forward by the council after an earlier application to fell the sycamore by Precision Dental and Facial Aesthetics. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a Notice to Proceed to Ames Construction today to allow work on the concrete weir and fish bypass at Intake. The long delay has been due to the bid complaint filed by American Southwest Electrical, which has now been denied by the courts. Ames can begin to resubmit applications for permits, which had expired due to the delay, and mobilize its efforts towards completing the project. Actual river work will probably not start until mid-July since they are not allowed in the river during the spawning season, but site prep should begin once the permits are finalized. Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project manager James Brower stated, We are glad that these Unnecessary court delays to the saving of the Endangered Pallid Sturgeon are finally over and the Construction of the Fish Bypass can start before the Wild Pallid Sturgeon becomes too old to reproduce sufficiently to repopulate the wild population. Punjab & Haryana High Court Chandigarh-March 20th- While issuing notices to CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) for 25.3.2019, in a Writ Petition filed by Deepanshu Bansal of Mansa, who alleged that he had reached at the gate of the examination Hall of St Xavier Senior Secondary School, Phase-3, Modal Town, Bathinda, on 2.3.2019, for appearing in English Paper of 12th Class, at 10.03 AM, but he was not allowed to enter the Examination Hall by the Principal-cum-Centre Supdt of the said School, which is affiliated with CBSE, resulting into loss of full one year of his educational career, as he is to seek admission into MBBS Course, on the basis of NEET Result. However, even if he appears in Compartment examination this year, for passing paper of English, he would be late, as counseling will by then be over. Castigating the conduct of the Centre-Supdt, the petitioner has enclosed with his petition the copies of Guidelines issued by the CBSR for Centre Superintendents, which are to the following effect:- 4.5.11 Advertisement Examination The doors of the exam/hall should be opened 45 minutes before the time specified for the commencement of Exam every day, i.e. 09.45 a.m. Candidates should be advised to be in their seats 30 minutes before the scheduled commencement of the examination i.e. by 10.00 a.m. After the commencement of the examination, no candidate is allowed inside examination centre. The petitioner has further alleged that two more students were also stopped from appearing in paper of English on that day, and when the parents of students approached the DC, Bathinda, the latter deputed DEO (Secondary) to resolve the dispute, and on asking by the latter, the Deputy DEO (Primary), Bathinda, reached the School, who could not resolve the matter. Advertisement CCTV Cameras installed at the gate of examination Hall Then Tehsildar, was appointed by the DC as Duty Magistrate, but the Centre Supdt did not open the gate of Examination Hall for him also. Duty Magistrate then called SHO, Police along with Police personnel, who got the gate of examination hall opened with the help of Police officials standing inside the Examination Hall, but by then the examination time was over. The DEO (Secondary), Bathinda procured the footage of CCTV Cameras installed at the gate of examination Hall. The petitioner, in his writ petition, filed through his father and natural guardian, Hem Raj Bansal, has prayed for direction to CBSE for conducting special paper of English for the petitioner, or to pay to him compensation of Rs. Ten lakhs, for wastage of valuable one year of his educational career. He has also demanded that CBSE be directed to disaffiliate St Xavier Senior Secondary School, Phase-3, Modal Town, Bathinda,for the aforesaid conduct of its Principal. Nirav Modi London: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, accused of masterminding the Punjab National Bank last year is arrested in London. 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. To abort or not to abort -- making difficult choices alone Almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned. In 2017, 12 733 abortions were carried out in Norway. The number of live births the same year was 56 600. In her doctoral work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Alesund, Assistant Professor Marianne Kjelsvik interviewed 13 women between 18 and 36 who came to the hospital for an abortion, but who were so unsure about their choice that they went home again to think about it more. Between 10 and 20 per cent of women are still uncertain about whether they should have an abortion when they come in for the procedure. "The women said that they'd been very careful about whom they talked to about abortion. Some of them hadn't brought it up with the man they'd become pregnant by. They searched online to find stories about women who had been in the same situation. When I asked if there was anyone they would have like to talk to but were hesitant to, several said 'my mother,'" says Kjelsvik, who works in NTNU's Department of Health Sciences. Taboo over generations Among the women who had talked with their mothers, several mothers opened up and admitted that they'd had an abortion themselves. "When this is kept secret, even from the people you're closest to, it says something about how alone a woman can feel," says Kjelsvik. The PhD candidate is a trained nurse and has extensive experience as a supervisor with the counselling service Amathea, an independent health service whose goal is for women to be able to live well with the decision that they've had time to think through. The voice we don't hear Kjelsvik finds that the abortion debate lacks the voices of women who have faced the choice between terminating or completing their pregnancy. "Ideally, a woman who wants to have an abortion should be sure of her choice, but many women aren't. They find themselves in a situation that isn't conducive to having a child, and at the same time they find it difficult to go through with an abortion. Then they end up making the final decision at the hospital." "Healthcare workers have busy schedules, and several mentioned that they hadn't received training on how to help women who were in doubt." Religion often enters into the abortion debate. However, the women in this study did not bring up religion when they talked about their values. "Women have their own values, and the women in the study were concerned with the fact that their decision involved a life. They considered the possibility of life with a child. Everyone has an opinion about abortion, but for the women who were in this situation, figuring out right and wrong became a complex question," says Kjelsvik. Difficult for health care workers The 13 women in the study were recruited from six different hospitals around the country. The women felt well received at the hospital when they came for the abortion. They felt respected. But at the same time, they wished that staff could have dealt better with their doubts. Not necessarily by giving advice, but by listening to them. The women really needed someone to talk to. Someone who could tell the women how difficult it had been for them. The health care workers, on the other hand, were very careful not to be judgmental or to influence the women in any way. "Health care workers have busy schedules, and several staff mentioned that they hadn't received training on how to help women who were in doubt. If several conflicted women come in on the same day, it can mess up the schedule completely," says Kjelsvik. She thinks more time should be allotted for these appointments and that it shouldn't be solely up to the individual nurse to help. "Everyone benefits when a woman is confident that she's made the right choice. For health care workers to avoid appearing judgmental or influencing the decision, I'd suggest an open introductory question like, 'What has it been like for you to make your decision about this abortion?' That kind of question signals caring rather than judgment," says Kjelsvik. Lingering doubt Even after the women in the study had made their final decision, they still had lingering doubts. Kjelsvik did follow-up interviews four weeks and twelve weeks after the women had made their decisions. Everyone was relieved to have come through a difficult time, but at the same time some women were still unsure about whether they had done the right thing. Those who had chosen to carry their pregnancies to term had mixed feelings. Some were troubled because they didn't enjoy being pregnant and worried whether they would be able to love the child. The reason they had considered abortion had not disappeared. Some of those who chose to get an abortion later thought that they could actually have gone through with the pregnancy. Taboos shrinking Berge Solberg, professor of medical ethics at NTNU, believes the scepticism towards involving the outside world in the question of abortion has many causes. "We're seeing a demystifying and 'de-tabooing' of abortion. More and more people are coming forward and talking about having had an abortion. But even though we're having these big social debates, the issue is perceived as very private for the person who finds herself in this situation. Even people who regard abortion as unproblematic and not ethically difficult know that people can have strong opinions in the opposite direction. So, you become cautious about bringing up the topic," says Solberg. He is the deputy chair of the Norwegian National Committee for Medicine and Health Research Ethics. Fully human at birth Norway's Abortion Act came after a long historical battle for women's rights. Norwegian abortion law is based on the idea that a woman has the right to control her own body, which applies without restriction until the end of the twelfth week of pregnancy. After twelve weeks, a panel makes the final decision and weighs the woman's interests against the foetus' right to life. This may result in a conflict of interest. The panels are required to pay close attention to the woman's point of view, and in most cases her choice is honoured. The requirements for granting abortion becomes increasingly strict as the women gets closer and closer to term. Norway does not give the foetus legal status before birth, but recognizes an individual's "full human dignity" at birth. "But even if the law were to be interpreted that the foetus has full moral status as a person before birth, it doesn't mean that abortion wouldn't be allowed. The woman's rights over her own body can trump the foetus's right to life," says Solberg. Temporary freeze The debate on foetal reduction - aborting one foetus when a woman is carrying twins - became a hot topic after Norway's Ministry of Justice and Public Security interpreted the abortion law to mean that full self-determination also applied in these cases. The government's Granavolden platform, consisting of the Conservatives (H), the Progress party (Frp), the Liberals (V) and the Christian Democratic party (KrF), agreed to remove the possibility of self-determined foetal reduction and to temporarily freeze the Abortion Act and the Biotechnology Act. Professor Solberg believes that proposals to liberalize these two acts will be made when this period is over. "It's more likely that the Abortion and Biotechnology Acts will be liberalized than tightened. However, the support for today's Abortion Act is strong, and fights over it can contribute to sharper divisions," Solberg says. Abortion rate the same regardless of law According to the ethics professor, the number of abortions in practice is pretty consistent from country to country, even though legislation differs. Ireland had a ban on abortion until recently, but the consequence of the ban was that Irish women travelled to England get abortions. "We find that the legislation on the issue doesn't affect the choice of action. The consequence of a ban or very strict laws against abortion isn't fewer abortions, but far more dangerous abortions, and a lot of suffering. Unsafe abortions are a major global health problem," says Solberg. ### Reference: Kjelsvik, M., Sekse, R. J. T., Moi, A. L., Aasen, E. M., Nortvedt, P. & Gjengedal, E. (2019). Beyond autonomy and care: experiences of ambivalent abortion seekers. Nursing Ethics, doi: 10.1177/0969733018819128 This story has been published on: 2019-03-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Research led by the University of Southampton (UK) suggests that 'rogue' waves are occurring less often, but becoming more extreme. Scientists have, for the first time, used long-term data from a wide expanse of ocean to investigate how these rare, unexpected and hazardous ocean phenomena behave. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Waves are classed as 'rogue' when they are over twice the height of the average sea state around them. From trough to peak, past observations have put some at over 30 metres high. The fiercest are capable of damaging or sinking ships, can wound or kill crew members and on occasions have swept people off the shoreline and out to sea. A team of engineers and oceanographers from the University of Southampton, together with researchers from The National Oceanography Centre (NOC), examined over 20 years of information (sourced between 1994-2016) from 15 buoys which provide surface data along the US western seaboard -- stretching from Seattle in the north, to San Diego in the south. The data showed instances of rogue waves vary greatly, depending on the area of sea and time period focused on. On average though, the team found instances of rogue waves (across the two decade window) fell slightly, but that rogue wave size, relative to the background sea, increased. The scientists showed rogue waves are more prevalent and of greater severity in the winter months and, intriguingly, are happening with increasing frequency within calmer background seas. Lead researcher Alex Cattrell, from the University of Southampton, said: "The occurrence of rogue waves is difficult to predict, but simply understanding when and how these rare events occur is extremely important for mariners, both in terms of ship safety and economics." Rogue waves along the western shoreline of the USA have fatally swept people out to sea at Point Reyes, Maverick's beach and Arcata, in California and Depoe Bay, Oregon. In the year 2000, the NOAA research vessel R/V Ballena capsized off Point Conception, California, and in 2006, M/V Westwood Pomona encountered a rogue wave off Port of Coos Bay, injuring one person and damaging the vessel. Research supervisor, Professor Meric Srokosz, from NOC, adds: "Ports along the west coast of America handle almost half of the country's container trade and, together with shipping connected to the Californian oil industry, there is a high volume of tanker, cargo, fishing and passenger vessel activity in the region. "Our research can help inform these industries and suggests that if data on rogue waves is to prove useful -- geographical, seasonal and year-on-year variations need to be taken into account, rather than just relying on a single value for an entire region, for all time." Around the world, rogue waves occur many times each day and are a major issue globally for the shipping industry. For example, a study in 2004 (ESA MaxWave), with a three week window, identified more than ten individual giant waves above 25 metres in height. The scientists behind this latest Southampton study now hope more work can be done using their research method in other parts of the world, adding to existing research sources, to better understand how and predict when these destructive forces may strike. Two isolated mountain lion populations in southern California's Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains are at risk of local extinction, perhaps as soon as within 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. The study showed the extinction risk is due to low genetic diversity and mortality that affects the stability of the population. Mountain lion mortality is often caused by humans, but can also result from changes in the environment, such as wildfire and fluctuations in prey density. The two mountain lion populations in the human-dominated landscape of southern California are isolated by freeways and development. For the study, lead author John Benson of the University of Nebraska and co-authors at UCLA, the University of California, Davis, the National Park Service, the University of Washington, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Wyoming used population viability modeling to predict the possibilities of extinction from genetic and demographic risk factors. "It's easy to read our paper as yet another pessimistic story about wildlife threatened by human actions -- and in a sense that is true," said Benson. "However, there is also a more optimistic message in that our model predicted that these populations can persist with relatively modest increases in landscape connectivity. If we can maintain healthy populations of mountain lions -- a species that roams widely and requires such large spaces -- here in greater Los Angeles, that bodes well for our ability to conserve large carnivores anywhere." INBREEDING A CONCERN Both mountain lion populations have very low genetic diversity as a result of inbreeding, which is inevitable given the lack of connectivity between the mountain ranges and surrounding areas. advertisement Genetic diversity in these two populations is expected to rapidly decline over the next 50 years, which raises concern about inbreeding depression -- a phenomenon in which survival and reproduction of animals decline due to low genetic diversity. When the researchers simulated the effects of inbreeding depression in the two populations, the model predicted that rapid extinction was almost certain. The model predicted generally similar dynamics in the two populations, but the research also revealed differences driven by greater population size and higher mortality in the Santa Ana Mountains. EFFORTS UNDERWAY, MORE NEEDED "Our research has shown that the mountain lions in the coastal Santa Ana Mountain Range are primarily put at risk by restriction of their movement across Interstate 15, and their high mortality rates from vehicle collisions and being killed after they have killed unprotected pets or livestock," said T. Winston Vickers, report co-author and associate veterinarian at the University of California, Davis' Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center. "Efforts are underway with highway engineers to improve wildlife crossing structures or build new ones on both the I-15 and 101 freeways to enhance movement into and out of both mountain ranges." The research highlighted that conservation of large carnivores, including mountain lions, is achievable within urbanized landscapes. But this requires effort. Land protection, connection between the lands and strategies to promote coexistence with humans are necessary to prevent the extinction of these top predators. "It was interesting to see the differences between the two populations, such as the higher mortality rates in the Santa Anas, and sobering to see the fast rates of extinction predicted for both populations if serious inbreeding depression sets in," said co-author and National Park Service Wildlife Ecologist Seth Riley, who has been studying mountain lions in the Santa Monica mountains since 2002. "However, it's also really heartening to see how much of a difference increasing connectivity can make for these isolated populations." Research in the Santa Ana Mountains was supported by California State Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Fish and Game, The Nature Conservancy, McBeth Foundation, Anza Borrego Foundation, Nature Reserve of Orange County, National Science Foundation, Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, San Diego County Association of Governments Environmental Mitigation Program, San Diego Foundation, Felidae Conservation Fund, Mountain Lion Foundation, Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation, Institute for Wildlife Studies, and private donors. Major funding for John Benson's work on this project was provided by the La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science at UCLA and the National Park Service. An active substance that has been known for 30 years could unexpectedly turn into a ray of hope against eye tumors. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Magdeburg together with US colleagues. The results are published in the journal "Science Signaling." The plant leaves of which contain the tested substance is anything but rare: At Christmas time you can find it in every well-assorted garden center. The coralberry decorates many German living rooms during the winter months. At this time it forms bright red fruits, which make it a popular ornamental plant. The plant, originally from Korea, is surprisingly resistant to insect attack: Its leaves contain bacteria that produce a natural insecticide -- a toxin with the cryptic name FR900359, abbreviated FR. This toxin could soon become a star in a completely different field: as a potential drug against uveal melanoma, the most common and aggressive variant of eye cancer. FR has been the focus of pharmaceutical research for some time now: "The substance inhibits an important group of molecules in the cells, the Gq proteins," explains Prof. Dr. Evi Kostenis from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Bonn. Gq proteins have a similar function in the cell as a city's emergency control center: When the control center receives a call, it informs the police, ambulance and fire brigade as required. Gq proteins, on the other hand, can be activated by certain control signals. In their activated form, they switch different metabolic pathways on or off. However, the cell should not permanently change its behavior. The Gq proteins therefore inactivate themselves after a short time. In uveal melanoma, however, a tiny mutation prevents two important Gq proteins from returning to their inactive state. They thus remain permanently active -- this is as if the control center were constantly sending emergency vehicles to the source of the fire, even though the fire has been extinguished for days. Due to this malfunction, cells harboring this mutation begin to divide uncontrollably. "FR can stop this division activity," says Kostenis. "That's something no one would have expected." It has been known for some time that FR can prevent the activation of Gq proteins. The substance "clings" to the proteins and ensures that they remain in their inactive form. Common understanding was that FR ignores any Gq proteins that have already been activated. "Therefore, it seemed impossible for the substance to be effective in mutated and thus permanently active Gq proteins," emphasizes Dr. Evelyn Gaffal. A firm grip on the cancer causing protein Gaffal recently moved from Bonn to the University of Magdeburg. Her research there includes strategies for combating skin cancer. "We also used FR in our experiments and were surprised to find that it suppresses the proliferation of cancer cells," she explains. Scientists now also know why this is so: The mutated Gq proteins also seem to occasionally revert into their inactive form. As soon as this happens, FR900359 intervenes and gets a firm grip on the molecule. As a result, over time, more and more Gq proteins are successively withdrawn from their activated state for good. FR has already proven its effectiveness in cell cultures and in experiments with mice suffering from cancer. But there are still a few hurdles to overcome before application in humans becomes feasible. Above all, the substance must reach the tumor cells precisely, without hitting other tissues. "Gq proteins assume vital functions practically everywhere in the body," explains Prof. Kostenis. "If we want FR to kill only the tumor cells, we have to get the drug right there. However, this is a challenge that many other chemotherapies also have to deal with." FR was isolated for the first time 30 years ago by Japanese researchers. Another 25 years would pass before its biological mode of action was described -- by none other than the research groups led by Professor Gabriele M. Konig and Professor Evi Kostenis at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology of the University of Bonn. This work now forms the basis for a research group of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on the group of G proteins and the possibility of their pharmacological manipulation. More than one-third of healthcare workers were contaminated with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) after caring for patients colonized or infected with the bacteria, according to a study published today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that 39 percent of workers made errors in removing personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns and gloves, increasing the incidence of contamination. "Based on these findings, we should reevaluate strategies for removing personal protective equipment, as well as how often healthcare workers are trained on these methods," said Koh Okamoto, MD, MS, a lead author of the study. "An intervention as simple as education about appropriate doffing of personal protective equipment may reduce healthcare worker contamination with multi-drug resistant organisms." Researchers at Rush University Medical Center monitored 125 healthcare workers in four adult intensive care units who were caring for patients colonized or infected with a MDRO, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Researchers took more than 6,000 samples from healthcare workers' hands, gloves, PPE, and other equipment, such as stethoscopes and mobile phones, taking cultures before and after patient interaction. Additionally, trained observers monitored the technique each worker used to put on and remove their PPE and tracked errors based on guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC suggests two removal methods for PPE -- a gloves-first strategy, and an approach that removes gown and gloves together. Researchers also tracked a third method of removing the gown first. A significant majority of the healthcare workers had received training on appropriate methods for putting on and removing PPE within the past five years. After patient contact, 36 percent of healthcare workers were contaminated with a MDRO. Contamination of healthcare workers' PPE was more common in settings of higher patient and environmental contamination. After removing their PPE, 10.4 percent were contaminated on their hands, clothes, or equipment. Healthcare workers who made multiple errors when removing their PPE were more likely to be contaminated after a patient encounter, however the rate of making errors depended on the PPE removal method, with 72 percent of workers who used a glove-first removal making multiple errors. Examples of errors included touching the inside of the gown or glove with a gloved hand, touching the outside of the gown or glove with bare hands, and not unfastening the gown at the neck. Given the high rate of hand contamination of those who used the gloves-first strategy, the authors recommend further research and possible reconsideration of this technique, as well as research to examine the impact of improved education for putting on and taking off PPE. Additionally, the authors note several limitations to their work, including the influence of observers on healthcare workers' practices and the potential that not all contamination was detected. A new species of Surazomus, which belongs to the class Arachnida and the order Schizomida, has been discovered in the eastern Amazon, according to a study published March 20 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gustavo Ruiz and Roberta Valente of the Universidade Federal do Para in Brazil. Schizomids are rare, small arachnids that are found in humid tropical and subtropical forests, mainly in leaf litter, caves, tree bark or under stones. They are all known as short-tailed whip scorpions due to the presence of a short flagellum -- a lash-like appendage -- in males and females. The flagellum of the male is held by the female's chelicerae -- appendages in front of the mouth -- during copulation in what is known as the mating march. But relatively little is known about the different shapes of male flagellum within Surazomus in terms of evolution, or the mechanism by which the female chelicerae anchor onto the male flagellum. The authors named this new species, collected in the eastern Amazon, Surazomus saturninoae after arachnologist Dr Regiane Saturnino, who collected the specimen on which the species description is based. S. saturninoae is less than 5mm long and the male of the species has a distinctive pentagonal flagellum, similar to those of three other species in the genus. The existence and placement of two coupling pockets on the male flagellum offers insight into the position of a couple in the mating march, in particular, how the female chelicerae anchor onto the male flagellum. According to the authors, the findings shed new light on the poorly understood mating march and evolutionary changes that may have occurred in the male flagellum within the Surazomus genus. The Morgan County Girl Scouts met on Saturday, March 16 at the Morgan Church of the Nazarene for their annual awards ceremony. Troops from Fort Morgan, Brush and Wiggins were presented badges and awards for accomplishments and volunteer events. The event initially began years ago to simply present awards. Now they have added Tasting of all Countries, where participants prepare dishes from around the world that are voted on by the troops and parents. Winners receive gift cards for best dish and best presentation. Time was taken during the event to recognize Service Unit Manager and Troop Leader Karen Zink, who is retiring from the group in August. Zink and her husband are looking at some big changes in their family. They are going to be grandparents again, and will be working with the Boy Scouts. They were Cub Scout Leaders back in 1989 with their son, and now will be going back to be troop leaders for their grandson. I started out as a Daisy Troop Leader in 1996, and have been doing it ever since, said Zink. She has served as Daisy Leader; Brownie Leader; Junior Leader; Cadet Leader; Senior Leader; Area Cooking Manager for Northeast Colorado and Service Unit Manager. She spends approximately 500 hours a year working with the cookie sales on top of running a troop. Zink credits husband John for her success, who earns what she calls brownie points for all of the hours he has volunteered right along side of her. She joked that each hour he volunteered for the Girl Scouts, he earned one hour of hunting time. This did benefit me. We have moose, antelope, deer and elk in the freezer all the time, she said. Zink invites anyone who might be interested in volunteering their time to consider the Girl Scouts. You just have to want to donate your time and care. The time that you give them matters, a lot, she said. Its a few hours a week and a few trips during the years, said Zink. Its not only Scouts, its 4-H, FFA, any organization that involves kids. We do a ton of fundraising and we know that people get tired of seeing kids at their doorstep. In a county this small, we dont have corporate sponsors, said Zink. Every fundraiser we have matters. It provides funding for trips, archery, hiking, camping and other projects, Zink explained. Nikkie Cooper, another troop leader with the group for 19 years, will also be retiring. I dont even have kids, said Cooper. One of the girls told me that it would be more fun if I helped her mom who was a troop leader, and I have done it ever since. Cooper, who is also a high school teacher, will be working with other volunteer opportunities in the community. Rowena Eicher will be taking over as Service Unit Manager, now that Zink is leaving. She will be overseeing nine troops with approximately 100 girls in the service unit. All of the girls are referred to as Girl Scouts, they are just at different levels, said Eicher. Eicher said that participating with the Girls Scouts has also been a family endeavor. Eichers mother was a service unit manager, and Eicher has been a troop leader for her daughter and granddaughter. I have been associated with Girl Scouts most of my life, Eicher said. Over the past few years, the Morgan County troops are the second largest seller of cookies in the United States, only topped by Washington, DC. However, this year may not be the case. Cookie sales were down 10 percent and the county has fewer Girl Scouts than in the past, Eicher said. The weather also played a major role. If you are interested in being involved with the Girl Scouts through volunteering or becoming a Scout, you can contact Rowena Eicher at brownietroop77058@gmail.com. This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. The SEC's case against two defendants who partially settled in 2015 in connection with a pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors in YaFarm Technologies Inc., a company that purported to provide stem cell therapy, has concluded after one was sentenced and the other died after pleading guilty in parallel criminal cases. On July 26, 2018, Frank Morelli, III, of Colorado, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge J. Curtis Joyner in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to 84 months in prison and three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $40,000 for a similar pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors in the securities of Super Nova Resources, Inc. Morelli had previously pled guilty on April 23, 2014 to one count each of conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud. The criminal case against his co-defendant in the SEC case, Louis Buonocore, formerly of Massachusetts, was dismissed on October 16, 2018 due to his death. Buonocore had pled guilty on November 17, 2015 to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud for his role in the YaFarm scheme. He had been ordered to forfeit $1,196,357 on August 25, 2016, but had not yet been sentenced. The SEC's previous settlements with Morelli and Buonocore permanently enjoined them from engaging in further violations of the federal securities laws, prohibited certain stock promotional activity, and barred them from serving as officers and directors of publicly traded companies and from participating in a penny stock offering. The SEC originally had sought disgorgement and penalties in its action, in addition to the other relief obtained, but notified the Court on December 11, 2018 that it was foregoing seeking those remedies in light of Morelli's criminal sentence and Buonocore's death. Gollum or Smeagol, who will have the upper hand in the upcoming stealth-action adventure? Coming to PC and consoles in 2022 The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Long Beach, Calif. investment adviser with stealing millions of dollars from investors to perpetrate a Ponzi scheme. The SEC alleges that Carol Ann Pedersen, a former CPA and unregistered investment adviser, raised at least $29 million from 25 investors, falsely promising to invest their money in securities. Pedersen told prospective investors that she would place their money in "federally guaranteed" securities with returns typically greater than 8%. Pedersen also solicited investments in the C.A. Pedersen Client Investment Pool, a limited partnership managed by Pedersen that she claimed owned a large and diverse stock portfolio. According to the complaint, rather than make the promised investments, Pedersen used about $25.6 million to make Ponzi-style payments to investors, and the remaining funds to pay for personal expenses including car payments and home renovation costs. To conceal her fraudulent scheme, Pedersen provided investors with fabricated account statements that falsely represented that their money had been invested and was earning a return. Pedersen's scheme fell apart in 2017 when she began to experience chronic cash flow problems and investors sued her. In a separate action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California today announced criminal charges arising from the same conduct. The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, California, charges Pedersen with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. Pedersen has agreed to the entry of a final judgment in which she consents to injunctive relief and to be liable for approximately $2.7 million in disgorgement and interest, which will be deemed satisfied by the anticipated entry of a restitution order against her in the criminal action. The final judgment also does not order a penalty against Pedersen in light of her anticipated guilty plea and conviction. The settlement is subject to court approval. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Robert C. Stillwell and supervised by Finola H. Manvelian of the Los Angeles office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. One of the many joys of Peruvian cuisine is the beautiful way in which it has melded with the foods of immigrants. Nikkei cooking, for example, is Japanese-Peruvian food, the result of a 19-century influx of Japanese migrants to Peru. Peruvian food has influenced the way Japanese food is cooked there, and Japanese food has changed how Peruvians cook. The results are damn delicious. One fun example is tiradito, which combines elements of ceviche and sashimi in a single dish. Ceviche typically involves "cooking" raw fish in an acidic marinade. One doesn't make ceviche and serve it right away; it's better to wait about 15 minutes until the fish has turned more opaque, and the exterior of each small piece has taken on a partially cooked consistency. Compare that to Japanese sashimi. While some species like mackerel are cured or seared, many are served completely rawno heat, no acid, no lengthy salt-curing process. And unlike ceviche's smaller chunks of fish, sashimi is often cut into larger rectangular slices. When served, it's adorned minimally, with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger on the side. Tiradito marries the two traditions. Like sashimi, the fish is cut into large slices and spends no time curing before being served. But like ceviche, it's served with a tart, spicy citrus-chili marinade known as leche de tigre (tiger's milk . . . you know, because it's got enough attitude to make you go RAWR). Some tiradito recipes call for infusing the leche de tigre with pieces of fish and then straining them out and discarding them. This brings it closer to the sauce that comes with a ceviche, in which fish juices have mingled with the marinade. I did not do this for my tiradito recipe, though, since it requires sacrificing some of your (likely pricey) fish to the marinade for what amounts to a nice, but nonessential, step. If you want to do this, though, you can; just soak some fish pieces in the lime juice for 15 or 20 minutes before straining them out and continuing with the recipe (you can, of course, eat those fish pieces in the kitchen, so that they're not totally wasted). If you're working with a whole fish and filleting it yourself, this infusion step becomes much easier since you'll definitely have scraps. Tiradito sauces come in many flavors, but the most classic features lime juice and a puree made from Peruvian aji amarillo peppers, which have an incredible floral aroma and a decently spicy kick. It varies from pepper to pepper, but it tends to be hotter than your average jalapeno but not nearly as hot as a habanero. There are a couple ways to get aji amarillo paste in locales where the fresh peppers aren't available. Easiest is to buy a jar of the puree at a market that sells Peruvian ingredients. Better is to make it yourself from frozen whole aji amarillo peppers. The from-frozen stuff has a more complex flavor that captures more of the pepper's natural floral and fruity notes; the jarred option is good, but some of aji amarillo's charms are snuffed out in the canning process. Making your own with frozen peppers is as easy as boiling the peppers for 10 minutes, removing their stems and seeds (and, if you want to be more finicky about it, their skins, too), and then liquifying the flesh in a blender with just enough water to get it moving. Beyond that, the leche de tigre for tiradito goes like this: Blend fresh lime juice with garlic and some fresh ginger, mix in enough of the aji amarillo paste to give the sauce a punch of chili heat and enough viscosity that it doesn't just flow like water on the plate. Some freshly minced cilantro can go in at the end. In Peru, the fish is typically white-fleshed, something along the lines of corvina or fluke. Pictured here, though, are salmon and yellowtail (hamachi in Japanese), which are common substitutes, at least here in North America. The important thing is to get fish that you can serve as sashimi; your selection will depend heavily on where you live. On the side, you might add some choclo (a type of large, white Peruvian corn) or some thick rounds of cooked sweet potato, both of which are traditional tiradito accompaniments. Neither is necessary, though: Tiradito is, at its heart, a dish open to interpretation. It was born of cultures colliding and being flexible enough to embrace each other. Setting its presentation in stone cuts against that spirit. Oaklands new Department of Transportation, backed by bond proceeds that voters approved in 2016, promised a renaissance in a city of potholes and rutted roads. And in the two years since the departments genesis, it has unleashed a flurry of plans and ideas. Protected bike lanes on 14th Street, from Lake Merritt to the edge of Interstate 980. Better crosswalks on 35th Avenue and High Street in long-neglected neighborhoods of East Oakland. New guardrails on winding roads in the hills, and traffic signals along International Boulevard. But of nine major street projects funded with part of a $600 million infrastructure and housing bond, only one is under construction. One was delayed when the city lost a state grant because its construction contractor didnt meet the requirements. Six are lingering in the design phase, and one is still being planned. Cyclists and pedestrians are getting impatient. Im experiencing what Ive always experienced the streets arent in good condition, said Dave Campbell, advocacy director of Bike East Bay. Hes especially peeved about 14th Street, one of the arteries poised for funding. Its downtown section lacks bike lanes, and cars speed so fast that bicycles have to hug the curb, swerving around parked cars and delivery trucks. Campbell lives one block away but avoids the street at all costs. At a time when Oakland finally has the capital and the political will to fix asphalt and paint bike lanes, plans are languishing on shelves. Transportation czar Ryan Russo acknowledged that the slow pace of change has been frustrating for voters who overwhelmingly supported the bond, Measure KK. Eighty-three percent of residents voted for that infrastructure bond, he said. They pulled that lever, came home that day, and said, Wheres the paving truck? Russo and others stressed that Oakland has issued only a portion of the bonds so far, and that city officials had always intended to spend the money gradually. In reality, though, building a new department is challenging, and Oakland faces more acute difficulties than other cities. Its suffered years of disinvestment, and although politicians tout a bright future of housing and commercial projects, the boom hasnt quite arrived yet. Oakland doesnt have a huge tax base to pay government workers, so Russo relies heavily on his employees passion and enthusiasm. Yet passion only goes so far. The Department of Transportation known as OakDOT has a 20 percent job vacancy rate overall, and 27 percent of its engineering and planning positions are open. Those holes severely impact its ability to deliver projects, according to a report the city released earlier this month to track spending of the infrastructure bond. I love Oakland its an emerging town, and I got to do a lot of things creatively, said Mahendra Gautam, a former OakDOT engineer who spent two years with the department. Ultimately, he couldnt justify Oaklands modest wages or his hour-long commute from a suburb because he couldnt afford housing near his job. Gautam departed six months ago for a higher-paying gig at a regional transportation agency. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle The high turnover has stymied street projects that residents have desired for years. Its also hindered OakDOT from spending its bond money. Of $5 million allocated for the nine Complete Streets projects that make roadways safer for pedestrians and cyclists, the city has spent less than $250,000 so far. By contrast, the department has spent nearly half of the $25 million in bond money it directed toward paving, which is less complicated and doesnt require the city to seek federal or state grants. Until they fill all these vacancies, we have this new department thats really struggling to make the kind of change we need on our streets, said Christopher Kintner, board president for the advocacy group Transport Oakland, which pressed for the infrastructure bond. In some senses, Oaklands struggle reflects a larger regional trend. As infrastructure booms in the Bay Area, many public agencies are scrambling to hire and retain engineers, amid intense competition from the private market. Tech companies are seeking people with the same skills and degrees, and Silicon Valley can dangle much higher wages. At the same time, Baby Boomers are retiring, leaving positions open and straining cities that have to pay for retirement plans. This is an almost universal problem for public agencies: as the cost of staffing government rises, tax revenues are not rising at the same rate, said Jeffrey Tumlin, principal at the transportation consulting firm Nelson\Nygaard. He served as interim director of OakDOT before the city recruited Russo from New York Citys Department of Transportation in 2017. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Still, if demand for engineers is picking up across the nine-county Bay Area, other cities are faring better than Oakland. The vacancy rate in San Joses Department of Transportation hovers between 12 and 15 percent, and most of the openings are for electricians and maintenance workers, rather than engineers and planners. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District has three engineering positions open out of 33 a rate of less than 10 percent. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. To Kintner, the delays seem more pronounced in the low-income neighborhoods that Oakland has tried to prioritize. He pointed to an urgently needed project thats slated for infrastructure bond funding a set of crosswalk enhancements along 35th Avenue in Fruitvale, near the area where a 14-year-old boy was dragged four blocks by a hit-and-run driver in January. After that crash, the city bumped the 35th Avenue improvements up on its priority list, and expects to finish the work next year. Thats a street where Id really like to see the department have a rapid-response team that makes short-term fixes, Kintner said. OakDOT tried to chip away at traffic fatalities after hiring Nicole Ferrara to lead its street safety program in 2017. Its made some progress, adding protected bike lanes on Telegraph Avenue and shaving out traffic lanes downtown. When a pedestrian was struck by a car and killed two years ago at Harrison and 23rd streets, the city responded with quick crosswalk improvements. Yet OakDOT lacks the staff to handle such triage every time a pedestrian or cyclist is killed. Kenya Wheeler, chair of the citys Bicyclist and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, said hes waiting for a makeover of a treacherous stretch of 69th Avenue, an East Oakland roadway where one cyclist was killed and another injured by a hit-and-run driver two years ago. The city plans to eventually repave that street, where a tattered, gully-ridden road feeds schools, churches, a library and rows of houses. But theres no timeline for the proposed improvements, which include new crosswalks, speed bumps and extended red curbs. OakDOT spokesman Sean Maher said they should be done in the coming year. Wheeler empathizes with OakDOTs staff, who are trying to create new plans and sustain the fledgling department, while making up for decades of deteriorating infrastructure. The people who worked on the Telegraph Avenue bike lane project were great, he said. They put a lot of time into responding to public comment and meeting with merchant groups. He paused a beat, then added: I wish we could clone them. Theres just not enough staff. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan Startups that aspire to become as large as Uber or Square will soon have a chance to work in the same San Francisco building where those two tech companies are headquartered. WeWork, the worlds largest co-working operator, leased 67,000 square feet of a former bank vault at 1455 Market St. The space once held cash for Bank of America, which operated a data center in the Mid-Market building and sold it in 2010. Starting in 2013, Uber and Square leased upstairs offices, but the former vault remained empty. Over the past year, owner Hudson Pacific Properties renovated the vault space and created an open-plan office, which is popular with technology companies. It was one of the few large office vacancies in the Mid-Market area, which has filled up with tech companies (Twitter and Zendesk are also in the area). WeWork, which rents out shared desks and private offices by the month to individuals and companies, plans to open its co-working facility in the fall. Were committed to expanding along Mid-Market, and this location is one part of that, Elton Kwok, WeWorks Northern California general manager, said in a statement. WeWork has expanded tremendously in the past few years, roughly doubling its square footage both globally and in the Bay Area. The company leased space in the nearby Tenderloin neighborhood in 2013 at 25 Taylor St., a move that was hailed by city officials as a sign of the areas economic revitalization. It was the companys second location in the Bay Area, where it has since grown to two dozen locations. In 2015, WeWork added a new co-working space at 995 Market St. in Mid-Market. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes WeWork and partners are also seeking to redevelop Fort Scott in the Presidio. In a sign of downtown San Franciscos shift as primarily a financial center to a tech hub, other former San Francisco bank facilities are also being turned into co-working spaces. Last year, WeWork leased the former Union Bank Building at 430 California St. A rival co-working company, Spaces, will occupy 345 Montgomery St., once the flagship Bank of America retail branch. Roland Li is a Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf It would be more than 10 months until the U.S. entered World War II, but on Jan. 18, 1941, a small prelude to the conflict played out on OFarrell Street in San Francisco, when two U.S. Navy sailors tore down a Nazi flag flying outside the German consulate as a crowd cheered below. We noticed a social media post about the incident from the Real Time World War II Twitter account and saw the photos referenced were clearly from The Chronicle. A search in our archive turned up articles that explained the full story of how sailors tore the flag of Nazi Germany off 29 OFarrell and what happened afterward. Since early morning when the first persons going to their offices in the vicinity sighted the German flag, the crowd had grown steadily until police estimated that more than 3,000 jammed the first block off Market street from curb to curb, The Chronicle reported on the front page the next day, Jan. 19, 1941 alongside a giant photo of the event. The swastika flag was being flown outside the German consulate office in honor of the countrys Foundation Day. But as calls jammed the switchboards of the Army, Navy, newspapers, and the police departments demanding it be taken down or at least an American flag be flown beside it, the crowd grew. As more than 60 police officers, including the chief of police, poured into the area, two sailors on leave from Mare Island Naval Hospital took matters into their own hands. Dig deep into Chronicle Vault Like what you're reading? Subscribe to the Chronicle Vault newsletter and get classic archive stories in your inbox twice a week. Read hundreds of historical stories, see thousands of archive photos and sort through 153 years of classic Chronicle front pages at SFChronicle.com/vault. See More Collapse Up the fire escape of the Consulate building, evading police officers who sought to stop them, went, Harold Sturtevant, 22, and E.G. Lackey, 20. (Later articles would give Sturtevants age as 19.) They climbed to the floor above the flagpole and someone let them in a window. After a short discussion, it was Sturtevant who shimmed out on the flagpole, with Lackeys pocket knife. As he began cutting the flag loose, an attache of the Consulate leaned out a window directly below him, grasped the end of the glass, and a short-lived tug-of-war followed. The flag ripped, sending several pieces of cloth and rope fluttering down to the street. The crowd fought to secure them as souvenirs. Sturtevant was pulled to safety by three other men who had followed the sailors up the fire escape. He and Lackey were arrested by San Francisco police, charged with malicious mischief, and sent back to the U.S. Navy, smiling all the way. They laughed and joked and said they would do it again, The Chronicle wrote. I feel proud, Sturtevant said. Im a sailor, paid to protect the American people. I felt like protecting them and I did. But both men said they didnt know the flag was flying from the consulate, and oddly told The Chronicle they wouldnt have bothered if they knew. Representatives of the German consulate were not as happy, telling newspapers the incident should be considered a violation of international law. They also had their lease canceled on them shortly after, The Chronicle reported. Sturtevant was eventually dismissed from the Navy for the stunt, but not for long. After the U.S. declared war on the Axis powers following Pearl Harbor, the Navy accepted his re-enlistment, The Chronicle reported on Dec. 23, 1941. The ex-sailor has been forgiven by the Navy for declaring war slightly in advance of the Nation. / 1941 More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond. More from Chronicle Vault Not Your Century: March 20, 1913 Who Killed King George? Portals of the Past: Hundreds of Germans spent early days of WWII on Angel Island. Down Market: For 150 years, San Francisco has loved a parade. Tribute to troops: How S.F. sent World War I troops a message of love a century ago. After Pearl Harbor: 1942 San Francisco braces for war. From the Archive is a weekly column by Bill Van Niekerken, the library director of The Chronicle, exploring the depths of the newspapers archive. Its part of Chronicle Vault, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting more than 150 years of San Francisco stories. It is edited by Tim ORourke, The Chronicles assistant managing editor and executive producer of SFChronicle.com. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Chronicle Vault on Instagram. Contact Bill at bvanniekerken@sfchronicle.com and Tim at torourke@sfchronicle.com. Sarah Ravani A 22-year-old man wanted in a double shooting that killed one man and injured another in Oakland this month has been arrested in Sparks, Nev., Oakland police said Wednesday. Oakland officers responded to a shooting just after 7:30 p.m. on March 10 in a parking lot on 8th Street and Washington, where two men were found with gunshot wounds. One victim, Cassius Stroman, 42, of San Francisco, later died, and a Sacramento man was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital. A court monitor has found Oakland police are losing ground in their 16-year struggle to comply with dozens of reforms, dealing a major setback to the departments goal of finally emerging from federal oversight. Robert Warshaw released his findings Wednesday in a quarterly report to U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick, confirming what sources had previously told The Chronicle and signaling the court-appointed monitor intends to pick apart more of the departments hard-fought gains. The recent backslide stems from the fatal 2018 police shooting of Joshua Pawlik and an internal investigation overseen by Chief Anne Kirkpatrick that Warshaw found deficient in several ways. Warshaw said the department has fallen out of compliance in reforms related to the Executive Force Review Board, which reviews police shootings and in-custody deaths. Warshaw also found the departments mishandling of the probe extends to other areas of reform previously achieved by the department, which had completed all but three of more than 50 tasks when Kirkpatrick was hired as chief two years ago. The monitors new report re-opens a fourth task and hints that hes eyeing more. The developments brought about as a result of this matter have called into question the measure to which the department fully understands its responsibilities pertaining to the relevant tasks and the NSA in general, Warshaw wrote, referencing the courts Negotiated Settlement Agreement with police. The findings made public in Warshaws report will almost certainly stall the departments efforts to achieve full compliance a goal Kirkpatrick outlined as a key priority for 2019. In a statement, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said the department had a productive meeting with the monitor and team this week and continues to move forward to gain full compliance. The federal oversight is rooted in a two-decade-old police brutality case known as the Riders scandal, when a group of rogue officers were accused of beating and framing Oakland citizens of crimes. The case prompted a judge in 2003 to issue dozens of orders to remedy the departments training, as well as tracking and discipline of officers and the tasks were supposed to be completed in five years. Oakland taxpayers have paid millions for the court oversight and monitors fees. Jim Chanin, a plaintiffs attorney in the Riders case, said its very possible Warshaw could find even more tasks out of compliance. I think there could be more backsliding in the short run, Chanin said. Rashidah Grinage, a leader with the Coalition for Police Accountability, which has called for the police chiefs firing, said Warshaws report doesnt go far enough. She stressed that the city is paying Warshaw two salaries as monitor and compliance director, and that his recent statements are all bark and no bite. Not only must he fault the chief and the department, he needs to fault himself, Grinage said. If he has no faith in the chiefs ability, which it appears he does not, he needs to fire her. In a statement, Justin Berton, a spokesman for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, said the mayors goal remains the same to build the most progressive Police Department in the United States. He added, The monitors report provides a transparent and clear look at the departments challenges and progress made as it strives toward a model for 21st century policing. Warshaws report blasted the departments internal investigation of the shooting of Pawlik, who was found armed and unconscious between two homes in West Oakland. Officers opened fire on Pawlik as he was apparently waking up, saying he failed to respond to repeated commands and pointed his gun at officers. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Kirkpatrick, as well as the departments Executive Force Review Board, cleared the four officers who fired their weapons of wrongdoing. While both found fault in the supervision over the incident, Kirkpatrick recommended lighter discipline. Warshaw overturned these findings in a blistering rebuke of the departments brass. The board, Warshaw said, failed to address discrepancies in the officers account of the incident and the body-camera footage, and he called Kirkpatricks assessment of the investigation disappointing and myopic. The officers violations now qualify as fireable offenses, and the four officers last week were placed on administrative leave. A citizen review panel has yet to release its findings, which may dispute or uphold Warshaws report. The dispute between the monitor and chief has caused tension within the departments ranks, and concerns have been raised that Kirkpatricks job could be on the line. Police watchdog activists have called for Warshaw to fire the chief, which he has the power to do in his role as compliance director. The Pawlik spat came months after Warshaw condemned the department for underreporting use-of-force incidents. The revelation prompted Judge Orrick in November to reactivate three previously completed tasks for further scrutiny from the monitor. Orrick said he was concerned that the department was checking boxes on compliance that will prove ephemeral over time. Those tasks, which involve use-of-force reporting and police shootings, are not officially out of compliance, but the judges action has raised serious concerns the department is moving in the wrong direction. Warshaw said his team has since requested reports, video and other documentation for all recent use-of-force incidents, and those findings will be addressed in his next report. The monitor did offer some praise for the departments achievements in tracking officer conduct and data regarding discretionary stops, but it also took issue with the departments Force Review Board, which reviews lower-level use-of-force incidents. Warshaw found that while these boards followed policy, they often pushed deadlines. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy Students with UC Berkeleys Black Student Union demonstrated on campus Wednesday to protest the arrests of two black students the group says were racially profiled by campus police. Nearly 100 students gathered outside the Golden Bear Cafe, where protesters lay on the ground with signs protesting police brutality. To think that I can walk on campus one day and that I can be targeted and harassed by the very people that are supposed to protect us its an outrage. Im just angry. Im just mad, said Reanna Norman, 18, a first-year student. A UC Berkeley student and a student from the University of San Francisco were arrested at around 9:30 p.m. March 8 by two university police officers who stopped the two black students and their friend, another UC Berkeley student, on Upper Sproul Plaza, the BSU said in a statement posted to social media on Monday. The BSU said the three friends were walking home from campus when police asked if they were carrying a weapon. They said no and when pressed the USF student did state that she had a Taser on her, the student unions statement says. The student usually has a Taser on her for nighttime security purposes. UC Berkeley said in a statement that stun guns are prohibited on campus, and that a struggle ensued with the two students, who were arrested after police tried to take the stun gun. The BSU statement said the students were forcefully searched and brutalized by police officers and that one of the UC Berkeley students was thrown to the ground, arrested and interrogated. The USF student, who was also arrested and interrogated, was never advised of her rights, the BSU statement said. University officials, in a statement released Tuesday, said officers were responding to a report of someone carrying a stun gun near Sather Gate in the heart of campus. One officer told the students that due to safety concerns, the student couldnt touch her stun gun and and that the officer would have to take it, university officials said. Thats when they said the struggle began, involving the officer, the USF student with the stun gun and one of the UC Berkeley students, who sought to intervene. University officials did not detail the moments after the pair was detained, nor did they respond to allegations of racial profiling by members of the Black Student Union. The campus is satisfied with reports indicating that the District Attorney has reviewed the case and is referring both individuals to a diversion program in lieu of prosecution, university officials said. University officials noted that the incident unfolded during a time of heightened tension and suspicion between members of communities of color and law enforcement. Marc Fisher, the vice chancellor for administration at UC Berkeley, said university officials recognize that the arrest has become a racial issue for some of our community members. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. We are committed to supporting a fair and thorough investigation, and to taking the steps necessary to maintain a relationship of trust with our community and our guests, while ensuring their safety, Fisher said. On Wednesday, students said they wanted to send a strong message to the university. Anytime we see black students brutalized or harassed or treated unfairly by a police force its time to organize, said Amir Wright, 21, a third-year student and senator on the universitys student body. We cant stand by silently and let these things happen. He said community leaders had a meeting scheduled later in the day with the chancellor to discuss what the university can do to help black students feel safe. Wright said he hopes the university will waive fees for the diversion program the two students were assigned to, and that it will provide bias and community training for UCPD. Lauren Hernandez and Sarah Ravani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor, @SarRavani Black people are far less likely than white people to develop skin cancer, but they also have much lower survival rates. With the deadliest form of skin cancer, nearly 90 percent of white people will live for at least five years after their diagnosis, compared to just 66 percent of African Americans. There are many reasons for this striking disparity, including systemic racism, lack of access to health care and deeply rooted mistrust in mainstream doctors by the black community. And theres one deceptively simple explanation: Most dermatologists are white, and white doctors are rarely trained to look at and make diagnoses in dark-colored skin. Dr. Jenna Lester, who may be the only black dermatologist in San Francisco, is trying to change that. Shes started a skin of color clinic at UCSF, focused on addressing the specific needs of patients with darker skin. The goal initially is simply to give people of color a comfortable medical home with a doctor who understands their needs both because of her training and her personal background. Eventually, shed like to expand the clinic to teach other dermatologists to work with people of color and conduct research to improve care. When a patient walks into a room and the patient is black, and Im black, there is a certain relief I see in their face, Lester said. Once Ive established myself and have patients coming to me, we can address gaps in our medical knowledge. Things like research and education, theyll come a bit later. The clinic opened late last year, and so far its not limited to a specific location or day or time of the week patients are referred to Lester, or they track her down by word of mouth, and they make an appointment. She mostly sees patients by referral from within UCSF, but some have come from far reaches of the Bay Area and other parts of the state. Photos by Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Lester said shes always been interested in addressing health disparities among people of color, and she realized in medical school that dermatology was a field wide open for improving care. Black people already are underrepresented in medicine, and even more so in specialty fields like dermatology. That underrepresentation feeds the cycle of health disparities that lead to worse outcomes for black people in almost all areas of health, from heart disease and diabetes to most types of cancer. Erasing those disparities is going to require a massive overhaul of the health care system and beyond from changing how science is taught in high schools to stabilizing medical costs and improving communication between health care providers and communities of color. A single dermatology clinic isnt going to solve the broader problems, but its an important solution in the interim, said Dr. Bruce Wintroub, chair of dermatology at UCSF. People of color have been underrepresented in medicine, and for that reason populations of people of color have really been underserved, Wintroub said. We felt that it was time to offer the beginnings of a solution to this problem. Only about 5 percent of all doctors in the United States are black, though black people make up about 13 percent of the total population. And though the total number of black doctors has increased over the past several decades, the percentage hasnt budged much. Those rates can be even more worrisome when applied to medical specialties like dermatology. Malcolm Chelliah, a medical student at Stanford who will graduate this year, said he chose to focus on dermatology for many of the same reasons Lester did because he knew access to care was a problem for many communities of color. When he was growing up in Cleveland, his family and friends were more likely to talk to each other than a doctor when they had a question about a rash or other health problem. Im the first person in my family to go to college, and I recognized by the time I got there that the way health care is practiced in urban areas is very different from more affluent areas, Chelliah said. Where youre from should not dictate the services available to you or the outcomes. Dermatologists treat all kinds of disease of the skin, hair and nails, though skin cancer is the most serious. Melanoma the deadliest type of skin cancer is more common in people with lighter skin because pigmentation offers some natural protection from ultraviolet rays, which can cause certain skin cells to grow out of control and form tumors. People with darker skin have more pigmentation than those with lighter skin. Black people are still at risk of developing skin cancer, but often both doctors and patients underestimate that risk and dont think to check for early signs of melanoma, leading to later diagnoses and worse outcomes. Tumors on black skin may be a different color than what white dermatologists are expecting, or they might just look different against a darker backdrop. And black people are more susceptible to tumors on the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet, where they dont have as much pigmentation. In dermatology we have many diagnostic maneuvers, but our primary is visual. Its looking at the skin and recognizing a pattern, Lester said. If were not trained to recognize things in skins of color, we may miss diagnoses. Skin cancer isnt the only dermatological issue that might affect people of color in different ways than white people. Everything from eczema to an allergic rash may be harder for doctors to identify if they were only trained to look at lighter skin. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Hair conditions also can look different on people of color, and treatments may vary too. Lester said she may give different advice or recommend different products to patients based on the texture of their hair or whether its straight or tightly curled. Chelliah pointed out that a black doctor may think to remind a black patient to remove a weave from her hair before an appointment. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Among Lesters first patients in the skin-of-color clinic was Elba Clemente-Lambert, who had a scalp condition that was causing her to lose hair. Clemente-Lambert, 77, said shes comfortable enough seeing doctors who arent black shes had to be, given how few of them there still are. Still, after meeting Lester she made sure to schedule her next dermatology appointments with the clinic, in part because she appreciates that a black doctor may have more experience with her specific needs. Its not easy to explain, but just knowing that she was a person of color and so was I, and she may be more aware and more in tune I could relate to her, Clemente-Lambert said. Their first visit, though, ended up being about much more than addressing her health needs. Clemente-Lambert was a longtime UCSF employee and deeply involved in the universitys black caucus, a group formed in the 1960s to improve representation among the staff and students of the medical school. The day Clemente-Lambert met Lester was almost exactly on the 50th anniversary day of the founding of the caucus. A whole bunch of memories flooded my mind when I saw her. There was a lot of discrimination and racism and prejudices back then. People just wanted to feel valued or respected, Clemente-Lambert said. When Dr. Lester walked into that room, I felt such a connection to her, she said. It felt really good. At the end of the session, I asked if I could give her a hug. Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com U.S. Air Force / AFP / Getty Images The Pentagon this week reluctantly identified the more than 400 military projects that could be stripped of nearly $13 billion in congressional appropriations to fund President Trumps border wall. They include more than 30 California projects worth over $1 billion, all real contributions to national security that could be diverted for a fake national emergency. Trump issued the emergency declaration after Congress, under both Republican and Democratic leadership, repeatedly declined to spend billions of dollars on hundreds of miles of added border barriers. Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate joined the Democratic House in an unprecedented vote to overturn the emergency, but the presidents subsequent veto allows him to proceed with redirecting funds unless court challenges by California and others succeed. Would you ask a tobacco company to do the research and development to help people quit smoking? Its a no-brainer that people who profit from peoples addiction to nicotine are the wrong choice to carry out such work, but thats precisely what San Francisco-based Juul Labs is purporting to do. It has launched an ambitious research and education program with the stated aim of helping people quit smoking. Outgoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is so skeptical of Juuls smoking prevention and cessation claims that Tuesday he raised the possibility of pulling pod-based products like Juuls off the market if youth vaping use continues to rise. According to a recent CNBC report, Juul Labs is working with employers and insurers to help their employees stop smoking conventional cigarettes by using Juuls. The company plans to survey possible candidate organizations for this new smoking cessation program and will provide discounted products and support in forms such as educational articles and instructional videos, CNBC says. Allowing this new program is tantamount to regulators, researchers and the general public agreeing, sans any independent scientific evidence, that Juul is a cessation device. To make therapeutic or cessation-related claims, Juul Labs is required to apply for and receive authorization from the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Juul Labs does not have such authorization, nor does it have a pending application. This is not the first time Juul has circumvented or ignored the rules. Juul has a history of creating education curricula that are suspect. In 2017-2018, it created and disseminated its youth vaping-prevention curriculum, vowing to prevent youth use of Juuls. As we wrote in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the company failed to provide content or strategies germane to successful tobacco prevention programs. Nowhere did it discuss the role of flavors, how tobacco companies use marketing to attract new users, the high level of nicotine in a JuulPod, or the health effects of e-cigarettes. In fact, the company barely mention the word Juul in its curriculum. Perhaps even more disturbing to us personally, Juul described its curriculum as being drawn largely from the work of Stanford Medicine, with a link to the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit that we developed. One of the PowerPoint slide decks in Juuls curriculum was identical to materials found in the toolkit, and other components of the Juul curriculum were taken from or mirror the toolkit and other previously published education materials. Juul used our material without permission, violating the copyright. But the infringement on Stanfords intellectual property isnt the issue: Juuls unwillingness to spend the time and effort consulting us and learning about our program casts doubts on its commitment to develop an effective curriculum. It chose to look good rather than do good. Juuls youth curriculum, as well as its more recent efforts, are as much about growing its own business as curtailing tobacco use. In the self-evaluation section of its youth curriculum, young vapers were asked to indicate, Whats appealing about using e-cigarettes or Juuls? Why do students use them? Such questions are reminiscent of strategies once employed by Big Tobacco to garner data on smoking from a segment of the population off-limits to their marketing: youth. Fast-forward to Juuls new anti-smoking plan whereby surveys will also be conducted. Is this simply another avenue to discover how to make e-cigarettes more appealing? If Juul really wanted to be in the cessation business, then it would like any good cessation program have options to facilitate nicotine step-down, by offering pods with less nicotine to allow users to wean themselves off and eventually quit. Juul offers no such products. Juuls claim that its devices are a cessation tool is certainly unlawful and its also another warning flag that this is a company that should not be trusted to safeguard public health. This is the company that publicly disavowed tobacco-industry affiliation, then, with great fanfare, sold 35 percent of its business to Altria, makers of Marlboro tobacco. Juul proclaims that its product is not for youth, yet it continues to entice youth, who constitute a large segment of its customer base, with hip, slick and cool yummy-flavored products. Its prevention curriculum is prevention in name more than substance. Its latest initiative seeks to take the good intentions of institutions trying to help people lead healthier lives and using those intentions to addict them to a death-delivery system. Juul Labs track record equates it with Big Tobacco, and once again supports the notion that no tobacco company should ever do its own research or prevention. The FDA, other regulators and the public should take note, be aware and stop these actions. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher is a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University and the founder and executive director of the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit. Karma McKelvey is a postdoctoral fellow in Halpern-Felshers lab. Placards carried by unionized teachers during their recent strikes in Los Angeles, Oakland, and West Virginia were a study in misdirection. On strike for smaller class sizes. On strike for more student support. On strike for a living wage. In reality, the primary motivation behind the strikes was organized opposition to charter schools, which have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schools. The teachers unions are hardly alone. In many states and jurisdictions, virtually the entire education establishment school boards, superintendents, teachers unions, and even the universities where future teachers are trained seems to be allied against charters. The only interest group that doesnt seem to be opposed to charter schools is parents. Thats why many charter schools have long waiting lists. Some 3.2 million children in 43 states and the District of Columbia are now attending charter schools. By law, these schools are tuition-free and open to all, regardless of race, creed, national origin, religion, ancestry or physical or intellectual ability or disability. As the U.S. Department of Education notes, the contracts or charters the schools have with local and/or state authorities exempt them from certain state or local rules and regulations. In return for flexibility and autonomy afforded by these exemptions, the schools must meet educational accountability and financial standards. If the standards arent met, then the schools can lose their charters and are shut down. This remedy for nonperformance is in stark contrast to traditional public schools, which often limp along for years and years without being held accountable for their failures. I became involved in education by accident. Im an electrical engineer by profession. After establishing and leading the bioengineering section at the University of Texass M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and later starting (and selling) a business, I retired and volunteered as a science teacher at Wesley Elementary School, a low-income, predominantly African American school in Houston. Wesleys then principal, the late Thaddeus Lott, taught me what works in education: the proper curriculum executed with discipline, order, high expectations, and committed teachers and administrators. His results were more than impressive. I later moved to Wilmington, N.C., where inspired by Lott Ive helped establish four charter schools. They have 2,200 students and employ 305 teachers and staff. All four are whats known as Title 1 schools, meaning 40 percent or more of their students are economically disadvantaged. Three of the four schools are among the top-ranked in their respective counties despite the fact that the state tests required of our students are based on the Common Core standards used in most traditional public schools, not the classical, direct instruction curriculum our schools use. Our fourth school, Douglass Academy named for 19th-century civil rights icon Frederick Douglass has been outperforming its neighboring traditional public schools and is on its way to becoming a top-ranked school in its own right. Critics of charters complain about many things: that theyre responsible for re-segregating district schools, that theyre skimming the best students from the traditional public schools, that theyre hurting district school finances, and that the system is rigged in our favor, because of the flexibility and autonomy we enjoy. A visit to a charter school will quickly belie these assertions. Demographically, most charter schools mirror the communities in which theyre located, as ours do. In fact, a U.S. Department of Education analysis a few years ago found that charter schools nationally educate a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students (those qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch) than traditional public schools. Regarding finances, while funding formulas vary, in North Carolina, like most states, charters receive less funding per student for operations than the traditional public schools and receive no funding whatsoever for facilities. And if its the flexibility and autonomy that bother our critics, then they should seek to eliminate the one-size-fits-all rules and regulations that prevent traditional schools from innovating as charters do rather than lobbying against charters, depriving families of educational choice. They also may evaluate whether theyre ready to submit to strict academic accountability standards. As I mentioned before, and it bears repeating: If a charter school doesnt perform well, then parents can move their kids elsewhere and the school can be required to close. Charter schools arent the problem: Theyre part of the solution. Instead of fighting with us, the education establishment should study our methods and copy what were doing. Baker A. Mitchell Jr. is founder of The Roger Bacon Academy, a charter school management organization in Leland, N.C. He wrote this commentary for InsideSources.com. Video of a conservative activist being assaulted on the campus of UC Berkeley went viral last month. Many saw the video. Many heard the smack of fist meeting skin and were transfixed by the pure rage on the face of the assailant. But what bothered me most wasnt the assault itself. Embed 1003152Z-1553027019040 Video of conservative/liberal attack at UC Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2019 What I couldnt take my eyes off were the people in the background. Standing silently. Hoping someone else would intervene, then stepping aside to let the assailant stroll away from the crime scene. My eyes were set on those grainy faces, not because of what they did, but because of what they didnt do. For too long, most Americans have been no better than those bystanders. Standing idly by while thugs and bullies posing as social justice warriors stifle the speech of the few with violence and intimidation. Ive been on more than 100 college campuses in the past three years fighting for free speech, and Ive seen those types of people all too often. President Trumps declaration on March 2 that he would issue an executive order to withdraw funding from universities that dont support free speech is a direct rebuke to those who would stifle it, as well as those who would rather do nothing. While the White House has yet to release details on what such an order would entail, the fact that such a conversation is being held in the first place is a step in the right direction. For obvious reasons, conservatives were quick to praise the president. After all, weve long been begging the media and politicians to pay attention to the war being waged against conservative and libertarian students on campuses. But liberals should be the most supportive of an executive order to incentivize colleges to defend speech on campus. Having spoken to thousands of students in the past year, its those on the left who are suffering most from the current system, which has suppressed speech and muted controversial ideas. While conservative students are constantly having to defend their ideas and debate their points of view, liberal students often go unchallenged and, as a result, miss out on the whole point of going to college: being challenged. When universities enable silencing of certain ideas, they not only further exacerbate the political polarization on campuses, but they also hinder the ability of students to debate and learn what the other side has to offer. When you only hear one worldview, your ability to defend that view is greatly diminished. To put it simply, universities that want to protect students from the dangers of free speech are curtailing their intellectual development. Put yourself in the shoes of an 18-year old. You arrive on your college campus as a politically apathetic freshman, and pretty soon youre told in your orientation that any time you hear an opinion that makes you uncomfortable, you should report it to the bias response team. Challenged with a political take you dont like? Youre told to label that hate speech and go to the administration. On the first day of class, your professors make clear their liberal views and rant against the hate and intolerance from the other side. Pretty soon, even the most tepid conservative ideas sound extreme. How would you respond then, when you find out that a right-leaning speaker is coming to campus? What would you do when you see a student soliciting signups for their conservative club? Would you attend the speech and engage with those students, viewing their ideas as a learning opportunity? Or would you label them hate speech and pressure the university to banish them from campus? Im sure youd like to think of yourself as the exception, but youre likely to revert to the latter. And thats a problem. Right now, our college system is churning out hundreds of thousands of college students who have been shielded from debate and left unprepared for the real world. When universities stifle free speech, they are at best coddling students and at worst, crippling them. What better place to hone your debate skills and challenge your deeply held beliefs than a college campus? If Americans on all sides of the political spectrum want to see an educated electorate that can peacefully debate and exchange ideas, then we must take action on our college campuses. And that starts with supporting President Trumps executive order. Cabot Phillips is media director for the Leadership Institutes CampusReform.org. Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. THURSDAY Two Koreas: Harry Harris, U.S. ambassador to South Korea, and Cho Yoon-je, South Korean ambassador to the U.S., discuss the future of relations between the two Koreas as well as U.S. relations with the countries. $25 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students. Noon, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. FRIDAY Heather Booth: Democracy Labs hosts a screening of Heather Booth: Changing the World, and a talk with the longtime organizer and activist. $10, students free. 6:30 p.m., Mannys 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here. Simon Bolivar: Screening of The Liberator, the story of the Venezuelan military leader who fought Spanish rule in Latin and South America. Sponsored by the S.F. Party for Socialism and Liberation. $3-$10. 7 p.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here. SUNDAY Bernie Sanders: Candidate for Democratic presidential nomination holds a rally at Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Gates open at 11 a.m., rally at 12:30 p.m. More information is here. Latino Democratic Club: Monthly meeting. Free. 6 p.m., 362 Capp St., San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 28 Jerry and Anne Gust Brown: An evening with the former governor and states former first lady at the Commonwealth Club. $40 for nonmembers, $15 for students. 6:30 p.m., Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here. Indigenous resistance: Nick Estes, author of Our History is the Future, traces iIndigenous resistance from the days of the Indian Wars through the campaign for indigenous rights at the United Nations. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here. Transportation town hall: East Bay Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, BART Director Lateefah Simon, WestCAT board Chair Chris Kelly and Pinole City Councilman Ray Swearingen hold a transportation-related town hall meeting. 6 p.m., Pinole City Hall, 2131 Pear St. More information is here. Code for America: CTO Lou Moore and members of the engineering team give a look at technology such as tools that help Clear My Record parse rap sheets. $10. 5:30 p.m., 972 Mission St., fifth floor, San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 30 Dorothy Gilliam: First black female journalist at the Washington Post and co-founder of the Maynard Institute discusses her new memoir, "Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist's Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America." $10. 1 p.m., Kapor Center, 2148 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here. Pro-Palestinian march: March and rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza, on the first anniiversary of the Great March of Return. Noon, 24th Street BART station plaza, 24th and Mission streets, San Francisco. More information is here. MARCH 31 Indivisible East Bay: All-member general meeting. 1 p.m., Sports Basement, 2727 Milvia St., Berkeley. More information is here. APRIL 1 Police disciplinary records: A discussion on state Attorney General Xavier Becerras attempts to retrieve police disciplinary records obtained through the Public Records Act by two UC Berkeley graduate students. Panelists include John Temple, investigative reporting program director at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism; David Snyder, attorney and director of the First Amendment Coalition; and civil rights attorney Daniel Sheehan, who worked on the Pentagon Papers case. Noon, Charney Hall Room 101, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real. More information is here. APRIL 3 Cuba: A discussion of Cuban politics and the economy with Rafael Betancourt, professor of urban economics at Colegio Universitario San Geronimo de la Habana. Free. 4 p.m., Institute of Governmental Studies library, 109 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley. More information is here. Drinking water crisis: A discussion with people working to provide safe and affordable drinking water to more than 1 million Californians who lack it. Sponsored by the Community Water Center, Sierra Club California, and the David Brower Center. Free. 6 p.m., 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. More information is here. Honduran coup aftermath: Author and UC Santa Cruz Professor Dana Frank discusses the 2009 coup in Honduras, its fallout and the resistance movement. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., St. Johns Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave., Berkeley. More information is here. APRIL 4 Youth in politics: A forum on the power of young people to effect change. Panelists include Nora Hylton, chair of San Francisco Youth Commissions Transformative Justice Committee; Berkeley City Councilman Rigel Robinson; Lexie Tesch, Berkeley High School student and former chair of the Berkeley Youth Commission; and Scott Warren, author and CEO of Generation Citizen. Sponsored by YR Media and the Commonwealth Clubs Inforum. $30 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students. 6:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 5 Brexit: Former BBC correspondent Allan Little discusses Brexit. Sponsored by St. Andrews Society of San Francisco. Free. 7 p.m., 1088 Green St., San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 6 Newsom chief of staff: Gov. Gavin Newsoms chief of staff, Ann OLeary, discusses her job and goals. $15. 7:30 p.m., Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 8 Paying for affordable housing: Fay Darmawi, who has been helping finance community development projects for over 20 years, talks with Bay City Beacon writer Mike Ege about how affordable housing projects can be funded. $5. SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 11 Valerie Jarrett: Former adviser to President Barack Obama discusses her book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward, in a Commonwealth Club event. $35 for nommembers, $10 for students. Noon, Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here. Womens equality in California: Authors of Paving the Way: Womens Struggle for Political Equality in California talk about their work. Free. 4 p.m., Institute of Governmental Studies library, 109 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley. More information is here. APRIL 16 Young women in politics: Political and Proud CA celebrates young women who are leaders in the greater Alameda community. Discussion panels on Effective Organizing and Leadership, moderated Rad Women series author Kate Schatz, and on Young Women Paving the Way in Male-Dominated Fields, moderated by Alameda school board President Mia Bonta. Free, registration encouraged. 6:30 p.m., Encinal Junior and Senior High School Student Center, 210 Central Ave., Alameda. More information is here. APRIL 17 Sean Spicer: Former press secretary for President Trump talks about media bias and the threat it poses to the U.S. Sponsored by Berkeley College Republicans. Free. 7 p.m., Evans Hall, UC Berkeley. More information is here. William Burns: Former deputy secretary of state and former ambassador to Russia in conversation at the Commonwealth Club with ex-Rep. Ellen Tauscher. $25 for members, $10 for students. 6:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here. New citizen voting: Democracy Action volunteers will register new citizens to vote following swearing-in ceremonies. Two sessions, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here. APRIL 18 Lawrence Lessig: Harvard legal scholar gives a TED+Salon talk on the future of democracy. Comedian Will Durst opens. $32.50 and up. 7:30 p.m., Angelico Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael. More information is here. Journalism in peril: Roman Anin, a Russian journalist who was on the Panama Papers reporting team and is now at Stanford University as a Knight Fellow, discusses how autocrats try to discredit the news media. $6-$12. 6:30 p.m., Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 24 Legal marijuana: Is legalization of recreational use of marijuana a good idea? Panelists talk about the controversies, risks, and challenges surrounding legalization. Free. Noon, online and at Golden Gate University, 536 Mission St., Room 2201, San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 25 Gun violence prevention: A community forum with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and members of Congregation Shomrei Torahs Social Action Committee. Free, RSVP encouraged. 7 p.m., 2600 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa. More information is here. Housing crisis: A discussion about the struggle to build enough affordable housing in California. Panelists include state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco; Kate Hartley of the San Francisco Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development; Matt Schwarz of the California Housing Partnership; Ramon Kochavi of Marcus and Millichap Commercial Real Estate Investment; Chris Martin of Housing California; and Zack Olmstead of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Free. 4 p.m., online and at Golden Gate University, 536 Mission St., Room 2201, San Francisco. More information is here. APRIL 25-27 Right-wing studies: UC Berkeleys Center for Right-Wing Studies holds a three-day conference hosting scholars whose work deals with the right as a social, political andintellectual phenomenon from the 19th century to the present day. $25, $20 for students. Full agenda and more information are here. To list an event, email Politics Editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com Rep. Devin Nunes could be waiting a long time to see any of the more than $250 million hes seeking from Twitter and others for what he called defamation and insulting words, lawyers unconnected with the Central Valley Republicans lawsuit said Tuesday. Nunes charged in the suit that the operators of two parody Twitter accounts and a Republican political consultant who opposes President Trump used Twitter to post hundreds of egregiously false, defamatory, insulting, abusive, hateful, scandalous and vile statements about Nunes. So what? suggested Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. People get to say nasty things about you, said Levinson, an expert in political ethics. We allow that in our country. The bar for legal action is high for someone like Nunes, a member of Congress since 2003. Defamation plaintiffs who are public figures must show that defendants made false statements with reckless disregard for whether they were true, and statements that amount to opinion are broadly protected. Simply being an elected politician would qualify Nunes as a public figure. The fact that he has been one of Trumps most vocal supporters in Washington as the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee only elevates his profile. Nunes is not just a public figure, hes a voluntary political public figure, Levinson said. One of the countrys highest free speech values is the right to criticize the government, and that includes government officials. The suit charged that the anonymous people behind the parody sites @DevinNunesMom and @DevinCow were involved in a conspiracy to defame Nunes and interfere with his duties, employment and investigations of corruption as a United States Congressman. But the real target in the suit is Twitter. The suit argued that the San Francisco company actively shadow bans conservatives by limiting their online reach, ignoring their complaints and letting people defame them. Shadow banning is the deliberate act of making someones content undiscoverable to everyone except the person who posted it, unbeknownst to the original poster, according to the complaint. Twitter has a political motive, Nunes contends in the suit: allowing the defamation in an effort to undermine him and benefit opponents of the Republican Party. The companys agenda was to squelch Nunes voice, cause him extreme pain and suffering and interfere with Nunes investigation into corruption and Russian involvement in the 2016 election, the suit states. Twitter has denied any political motives in its monitoring of its site. The company declined to comment on Nunes lawsuit. On Sean Hannitys Fox News show Monday night, Nunes said his lawsuit was the first of many lawsuits that are coming. Twitter is at the front of the line, he said, because they are the main proliferator of slanderous news. When theyre regulating us, theyre regulating what people can see on my tweets which theyve done and then theyre proliferating out things that they agree with the algorithms that they develop, the Tulare congresssman said. They need to come clean. Theyre not a public square. They are content developers. Nunes central complaint is that Twitter allowed the parody accounts to spread derogatory falsehoods about him. His lawsuit says that from February 2018 to March 2019, Twitter allowed @DevinNunesMom to falsely suggest that the congressman had white supremacist friends and distributed disturbing inflammatory racial propaganda. The account called him a presidential fluffer, a swamp rat and a treasonous Putin shill, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, predicted that the suit will almost certainly fail. ... I assume he is doing this to make a political point, not because he expects to win $250 million. This suit is a perfect example of a double standard: Devin Nunes thinks Twitter is simultaneously liable for banning everything he likes and for not banning everything he doesnt like, Lemley said. Even some conservative attorneys questioned how effective Nunes effort will be. On the show Fox and Friends, former New Jersey Judge Andrew Napolitano, a regular Fox News commentator, suggested that the case faces tough sledding. Usually when public officials sue because of what somebody said or didnt say about them, they lose, the theory being they have as big a megaphone as the person they claim has harmed them, Napolitano said. Nunes did get support from at least one big-name attorney. Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated then-President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, said the suit will push Twitter and other social media platforms into the age of accountability. Twitter, Facebook and others have enjoyed running free, running loose, doing what they want to do, but especially since they hold a very important power: censorship, Starr said Tuesday on the Fox program Americas Newsroom. The congressman also received a boost from Trump, who linked to Nunes suit Monday night and said Tuesday that Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats. But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA. That statement, like many of Trumps pronouncements, came from his Twitter account. Nunes is no stranger to disputes with the media. During last years re-election campaign, he spent tens of thousands of dollars on a 38-page, full-color mailer that portrayed his districts largest newspaper, the Fresno Bee, as a propaganda machine working with radical left-wing groups to promote fake news stories about him. The newspaper denied the charges and pointed out that until last year, it had endorsed Nunes in each of his congressional elections. Like the fight with the Bee, the Twitter dispute is unlikely to hurt Nunes in his strongly Republican district, said Lisa Bryant, a political science professor at Fresno State University. To his supporters, going against the media is noble, since they already believe the media is against conservatives, she said. But when I talked with students on campus, they thought the whole dispute was mildly amusing and made (Nunes) look silly. In addition to @DevinNunesMom and @DevinCow, the complaint names political consultant Liz Mair, a right of center operative who the suit says is famous for her appearance on CNN in which she used a vulgar term on the air to refer to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Mair tweeted a statement Tuesday in which she said, I have very different views on the applicable law (including the First Amendment) than Rep. Nunes. Democrats were quick to seize on Nunes suit, poking fun at his attempt to sue the Twitter parody site reputedly written by one of the cows at his familys dairy farm. As Rep. Nunes tries to scrape the cow pie he stepped in off his shoe, well be sure to milk it for all its worth, said Andy Orellana, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The suit also has also been good news for @DevinCow, which saw its number of followers jump from about 1,000 before the complaint was filed to 214,000 late Tuesday closing steadily on the congressmans 393,000. The cow promised not to quit its day job and tweeted, I might be able to afford the lawsuit after I dig up the rubles Devin buried around the dairy. The @DevinNunesMom account was deleted before the suit was filed, but scores of other parody accounts have sprung up to take its place. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com @jfwildermuth Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is a liberal Democrat by her voting record, but compared with some of her more left-leaning competitors running for president, she passes for a centrist. Medicare for All? She supports it as an aspirational goal. But as president, she would focus first on enabling more people to buy into Medicare or Medicaid as a way to have every American covered by health insurance. The Green New Deal? Sure, Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of the nonbinding proposal backed by first-term Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that calls for the U.S. to run on 100 percent renewable energy within 10 years. But when headlining a climate change roundtable Tuesday in San Francisco, Klobuchar focused on the more immediate actions she would take if elected starting with returning the United States to the Paris climate change accords that President Trump withdrew the nation from in 2017. Then she would reinstate Obama-era regulations on clean power and automobile mileage standards that the Trump administration scaled back. I would push those because you could get some immediate gains from that, Klobuchar told The Chronicle Tuesday on the Its All Political podcast. She isnt worried that her more pragmatic approach will be overshadowed by her rivals proposing major overhauls of the nations health care and industrial systems. I support bold moves, Im also being honest about trying to find common ground where we can, Klobuchar said. That doesnt mean the bold things wont happen. It doesnt mean that you wont get there. But right now were at a standstill. The only way we get action is by getting there to begin with. It is not economics versus the environment, Klobuchar said of how climate change doubters frequently try to cast the debate. What will resonate with skeptical Americans is explaining how more frequent wildfires and floods are contributing to skyrocketing insurance rates. If we do nothing, we have major economic problems. Klobuchar spent two days in the Bay Area this week raising money for her 2020 run before heading to Southern California for more of the same. She is in the middle of the Democratic pack in the early polls, supported by 3 percent of voters, according to a RealClearPolitics.com average of major surveys. That puts her far behind the 30 percent of respondents who support the polling leader, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is widely expected to announce his candidacy soon. Klobuchar is taking a more measured path to the nomination. She touts her ability to work with Republicans and Democrats in hyper-partisan Washington as something that separates her from the rest of the presidential field. One nonpartisan assessment Tuesday backed up that assertion. Among the six Democratic presidential candidates serving in the Senate, only Klobuchar of Minnesota was rated as bipartisan, according to an annual bipartisan index ranking released Tuesday by the Lugar Center, led by former Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, and Georgetown Universitys law school. Overall, the study ranked Klobuchar at 23rd out of the 100 senators it scored. The index measures how often a member of Congress introduced bills that succeeded in attracting co-sponsors who belong to the other party, and how often they co-sponsor legislation introduced from the other side of the aisle. Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney was the most bipartisan candidate in the Democratic field, according to the index. Oakland City Councilman Dan Kalb, who participated in the roundtable, said Klobuchar should be on everybodys short list. Shes on Kalbs short list, and he backed one of Klobuchars rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders, when he ran three years ago. Shes experienced, shes smart, she has a lot of good qualities and she knows this issue, climate change, well. She doesnt seem too strident, said John Herbert, a San Francisco resident who attended the roundtable and has not committed to a 2020 candidate. Were so divided on everything and she seems like one of them that could break through. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli The proposed Navigation Center on the Embarcadero could be up and running in much less time than it normally takes to open a homeless shelter in San Francisco, thanks to a pair of ordinances unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday. The legislation, sponsored by Mayor London Breed, exempts shelters and Navigation Centers from the building permit process and expedites the hiring of contractors to manage the facilities. The changes could shave as much as nine months off the process for opening new homeless shelters. We need to cut the bureaucracy that delays new shelters from being created in order to get our unhoused residents the care and services they need to help them exit homelessness, Breed said in a statement. If the Port of San Francisco allows the city to build a proposed 200-bed Navigation Center at Seawall Lot 330 across from Piers 30-32, the city will not have to go through the normal building and permit process. Instead, directors from relevant departments such as the Fire Department, Department of Building Inspection and Public Works will just have to sign memos authorizing construction after a set of inspections. Thats because one of the ordinances declared a shelter crisis in San Francisco, which triggered provisions of a state bill that allows city officials to skirt a number of building code requirements when setting up a homeless shelter. Public appeals will now have less impact on shelters approved by the city, as there will be no building permits to take issue with. The Board of Supervisors, however, could still vote to veto proposed shelter locations with a supermajority vote. To ensure accountability in the process, the ordinance requires the Department of Homelessness and Humans Services and the Department of Public Works to submit detailed annual reports on all contracts awarded under the expedited procedure. The ordinances were critical for the timely opening of the proposed Navigation Center in South Beach, said Emily Cohen, a policy adviser to the mayor on homelessness. This will allow us to do both a robust community process and the contracting to open the facility in a streamlined way that could otherwise take much longer, Cohen said at last weeks Land Use and Transportation Committee. The proposed shelter on the Embarcadero would be the citys first SAFE Navigation Center, which offers similar services to Navigation Centers but would be bigger and stay open longer. It hit major resistance last week, when residents of Rincon Hill, South Beach, South Park and Mission Bay jammed two community meetings in overwhelming opposition. A Port Commission vote is expected in April, following more community outreach by the homelessness department and other agencies. Also at Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Matt Haney proposed a resolution to rename Gilbert Street in honor of late Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who died last month. Gilbert Street runs parallel to Sixth and Seventh Streets next to the public defenders office. For decades, Jeff Adachi walked from the public defenders office back entrance door out to Gilbert Street to get to the criminal courthouse at 850 Bryant, Haney said. Jeff would use Gilbert Street not just as his daily thoroughfare, but also as a place to connect with, mentor, and support fellow attorneys on their way to and from the court. If the resolution is approved, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency would have to create a new street sign that says Jeff Adachi Way in a larger font, with Gilbert Street in smaller font below it for five years. After five years, SFMTA can create a new sign that includes only the new name. Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani Kelly Beardsley has been going to Richmond twice a day for the past 12 years. As soon as he gets there, he leaves. Not that theres anything wrong with Richmond, he said on Monday, but he has a schedule to keep. A few moments in Richmond is about all he gets. Beardsley is a BART train operator, which means the Richmond-to-Millbrae train doesnt leave Richmond until he says so. The way he says so is by pushing a blue button. On a good day, pushing the blue button is about all a BART operator must do. BART trains are automated. When the computer says its time for a train to leave a station, an orange light flashes in the cab. That tells Beardsley to hurry up already and push the blue button to close the doors, because a train cant leave a station with the doors open. Its all routine and routine, said Beardsley, is good. Open the cab window and stick your head out. Check that the train doors are clear. Push the blue button. Close the window. Do it again at El Cerrito Del Norte. Then El Cerrito. Then North Berkeley. Keep doing it, about 100 times a day, until your two daily round trips are over and its time to go home. Wait longer than a minute or so to push the blue button and a dispatcher calls on the radio from the control center in Oakland. How come you havent pressed the blue button? Whats going on? Beardsley, 46 years old and a 12-year BART veteran, is one of a handful of operators certified to run the shiny new trains. Thats the kind he was running on Monday. BART managers call the new trains the Fleet of the Future. BART managers call the old trains the Legacy fleet. Everyone else calls them the new trains and the old trains. The new trains, Beardsley said, have a lot more buttons, switches and knobs to push. There are five green buttons, three blue ones, two red ones and a black one. There are several dozen blue circuit-breaker switches, two black touch-screen control panels and one silver throttle. The idea is to touch nothing except the blue button. On an automatic elevator, which is the closest thing to a BART train there is, pushing the door close button hardly ever does anything. On a BART train, pushing the door close button is the whole ballgame. Its anything but boring, Beardsley said. Something could happen at any moment. A breakdown, a medical emergency, a police activity or every operators nightmare a jumper. And when the train is above ground, theres plenty to look at. In the wetlands near San Bruno, there was a heron. In an empty lot in West Oakland, there were two dogs. Along Martin Luther King Boulevard in Oakland, there was a pedestrian who could have been an acquaintance of Beardsley if hed had time for a closer look, which he didnt. You cant slow down for a heron, and you certainly cant make the train turn when it isnt inclined to. With a train, Beardsley said, you pretty much have to go where the track does. From the drivers cab, a BART ride is anything but routine. The Transbay Tube turns out not to be straight and flat but undulating and slightly curved. The rail line between stations is full of trash, even though its hard to imagine how it got there. A little blue sign appears trackside every 2/100ths of a mile. Theres a 9.56 sign followed by a 9.54 sign followed by a 9.52 sign. Every once in a while every couple of weeks, perhaps the phone rings in his cab with a passenger calling from one of the train cars saying a thief just stole his or her cell phone and ran off. Beardsley is sympathetic but if a BART operator stopped a train every time a thief stole a passengers cell phone, no one would get anyplace. On Monday, BART was feeling pretty good about itself. It was something called Transit Operator Appreciation Day, and there were signs and friendly waves and free doughnuts for train drivers, which will not happen the rest of the week. Beardsley has a thing about wheels. He used to drive school buses, operate big rigs and deliver parcels by bicycle. He likes BART trains the best. Is it fun? he said. Yes, I think it is. Its challenging, especially when something goes wrong and things get a little crazy. That happens rarely. Rarely is relative. Rare things seem to happen more often for a passenger than for an operator. Except that, on Monday, one of those rare things actually happened. By coincidence, a Dublin-bound train was departing the Daly City Station at about the same time that Beardsleys Richmond-bound train was arriving, and the computer disabled the automatic door-opening function on Beardsleys train. There it sat in the Daly City Station while Beardsley called the control center in Oakland to tell them what happened. But the dispatcher was busy with another minor problem, in Hayward, and so Beardsley and his train had to wait, doors still shut. By the time Beardsley received permission to override the computer, put the train into manual mode, operate the silver throttle to nudge the train forward into a new position and then open the doors, the train was about three minutes behind schedule. These things happen, Beardsley said. For the rest of the run to Richmond, the automated system attempted to make up time by slightly increasing train speed and by slightly reducing the dwell time in stations. But when the train arrived in downtown Oakland, it was still running late. As a result, the central computer automatically switched Beardsleys Richmond train onto the Antioch-bound track to make way for a Fremont-to-Richmond train that, because of the Daly City delay, was arriving at about the same time. That meant Beardsley had to make a bunch of loudspeaker announcements to passengers waiting on the Oakland platforms at 12th and 19th streets that his train was not an Antioch train but a Richmond train using the Antioch platform. What happens in Daly City can affect faraway Oakland. Nothing happens in a vacuum. These things make life interesting, Beardsley said. Even with such minor and occasionally major kerfuffles, BART is the best way to get around, Beardsley said. Especially if you can take it to go someplace besides work. Going to work during rush hour is something that can make people cranky even though the need that people have to go to work is not BARTs fault. In my opinion, said Beardsley, pushing the blue button to signal all was well with the world, its a lot more pleasant to take BART when you dont have to take it than when you do. Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com El Dorado County leaders said warehouse giant Costco is considering to open a location in El Dorado Hills. Talks are in the initial stages, according to county spokesperson Carla Hass. Some neighbors said they're concerned with the location for the potential store. Here are five things to know about the possible El Dorado Hills Costco. 1) Is the decision final? No. According to Hass, Costco is going through an internal process to review the potential site. The company's president is expected to visit the location this month. Hass said the county expects to know Costco's decision by April. 2) Where is the potential site? According to the county, the location is located off Silva Valley Parkway, near Highway 50. There are several gated communities surrounding the proposed site. Hass said plans for the store include downward facing LED lights to minimize light pollution and parking lots and delivery locations facing Silva Valley Parkway to limit noise for neighbors. 3) Why build a Costco when there's one in Folsom? Hass said the Folsom location is over-capacity. She said opening another location in El Dorado Hills would relive the burden on the Folsom store, making for a better shopping experience for members. According to Hass, Costco has determined there are 40,000 members in the area where it's looking to build the new store. 4) What would the store look like? According to the county, the store would be about 150,000 square feet and have up to 800 parking spots. Before construction, Hass said community meetings would be held for neighbors to discuss their concerns and share their thoughts on potential designs. Hass said Costco stores have different looks and designs. 5) When could the store open? If the project were to be green-lighted, Hass said doors could open by 2022. She said environmental studies and permitting would need to be completed. That could take up to a a year and a half to complete. Construction would take about a year, according to Hass. The county said the store could create up to 250 jobs. This story originally appeared on KCRA. The front end of a massive migrating butterfly swarm reached Northern California late last week, and the so-called painted ladies are flying through some unexpected places, including San Francisco's Presidio National Park. The butterfly species, which travels from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific Northwest every spring, is experiencing a population explosion this year. As millions filled the skies over Southern California, the winged insects made news headlines and appeared all over social media. The butterflies typically follow an inland route, sweeping the Central Valley. A small number of strays might veer toward the coast, but this year, a larger group migrated west and there are confirmed reports of migrating butterflies along the Great Highway at Ocean Beach, in the Presidio and in Bolinas. Jonathan Young, a wildlife biologist at the Presidio Trust, says there are resident painted ladies in the Presidio who are often spotted feeding on nectar-rich flowers, but the migrating insects are different. They move quickly, up to 25 mph, in a northerly direction, and they usually don't stop. Young hasn't conducted an official butterfly count, but he has seen hundreds in the park and around the Bay Area since Friday. In the eight years since he has worked in the park, he has never seen anything like this. "There has definitely been a big spike in the past couple days," Young said. "It's not the millions they're seeing in Southern California, but it's definitely a migration. I've never heard of the masses come through the city itself." ALSO: California town reopens access to super bloom after closure due to massive crowds Arthur Shapiro, a professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, is an expert on painted ladies and he's baffled by their migration this year. "Damned if I know," he said. "It blindsided me. This year, they went to the west for whatever reason. The weather patterns have been very different so that might have impacted it. We had an unusually cold February, and we've only seen some warm weather in the last few days." Shapiro has seen hundreds of migrating painted ladies around the Davis campus, and he thinks there are still hundreds, probably millions, more to come. "The numbers have remained low until yesterday, when I counted over 300 here," Shapiro told SFGATE in an interview Wednesday. "I went out twice. In the morning, I counted one every 90 seconds. That sped up to one per minute in the afternoon. I haven't seen any today due to the bad weather. I expect the flight will not peak until early next week." Shapiro assumes when the main swam arrives, it will pass through Kern and Inyo counties before moving up through the Central Valley. Painted ladies are reputedly the most widespread butterfly in the world, and due to their orange and black coloring, they're commonly mistaken for monarch butterflies. Their population has multiplied this year because thriving plant life and blooming flowers from a wet winter provided a healthy food supply for the butterflies in the desert. This is the largest migration of painted ladies since 2005, and Shapiro says the insects totaled around a billion that year. Scientists suspect this year's migration to be in the millions. BRUSSELS Europes antitrust regulators slapped Google with a big fine Wednesday for the third time in less than two years, ordering the tech giant to pay $1.7 billion for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business. The ruling brings to nearly $10 billion the fines imposed against Google by the European Union. And it comes at a time when big tech companies around the world are facing increasing regulatory pressure and fierce political attacks over privacy violations, online misinformation, hate speech and other abuses. Still, the latest penalty isnt likely to have much effect on Googles business. It involves practices the company says it already ended, and the sum is just a fraction of the $31 billion in profit that its parent, Alphabet, made last year. Alphabet stock rose 2 percent Wednesday. The EU ruling applies to a narrow portion of Googles ad business: when Google sells ads next to Google search results on third-party websites. Investigators found that Google inserted exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Googles rivals. As a result, advertisers and website owners had less choice and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers, said Margrethe Vestager, the EUs competition commissioner. Anyone who suffered from Googles behavior can seek compensation through national courts, she said. EU regulators opened their investigation in 2016 seven years after Microsoft filed a complaint though by that time, Google had already made some changes to give customers more freedom to show competing ads. For that reason, regulators did not require a specific remedy to restore competition. But Vestager said it appeared rivals havent been able to catch up, and some are quite small. By contrast, the EU said, Google has more than 70 percent of the European market for selling ads that run alongside search results on third-party websites. Google did not say whether it would appeal. Weve already made a wide range of changes to our products to address the commissions concerns, Googles senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a statement. Over the next few months, well be making further updates to give more visibility to rivals in Europe. The EU has led the way in promoting tougher regulation of big tech companies. Besides cracking down on antitrust breaches by Microsoft and Intel, it has enforced stricter data privacy rules that affect Facebook and other social media companies. U.S. regulators havent been as tough, though the Federal Trade Commission recently created a task force focused on anticompetitive behavior in the industry. Last year, Vestager fined Google a record $5 billion for forcing cell phone makers using the companys Android operating system to install Google search and browser apps. In 2017, she penalized Google $2.7 billion for manipulating online shopping search results and directing visitors to its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping, at the expense of its rivals. Google, which is appealing those two earlier fines, has said it has since made adjustments to its shopping results and will start asking European users of Android phones if they want to use other search or browser apps. Kelvin Chan and Raf Casert are Associated Press writers. Experiential city history : Free guided tours of Bonn subway stops During Subway Week, the Werkstatt Baukultur Bonn guides visitors through the distinctive subway stops of the main line. Each of them has its own special features. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Everyone knows them, almost everyone uses them, but only a few really perceive them: For most people, the stations of the Bonn subway are not much more than transfer points between work and private life, bus shelters made of plastic and ceramics, where they don't want to spend more time than necessary. The stations of the so-called main line between Bonn main station and Bad Godesberg can make the history of the city tangible in a very special way, as the workshop Baukultur Bonn impressively proves. During Subway Week, the association offers free guided tours through five different stations in order to point out their architectural features and thus promote their designation as architectural monuments. In fact, there is more concealed behind the facade than can be seen at first glance. At the end of the 1960s, the Bonn subway was a prestige project of the federal government and an attempt to at least symbolically declare the former federal village a metropolis. "At the opening of the main line on 20 March 1975, Bonn was the smallest city in West Germany with such a route network," explained Alexander Kleinschrodt of the Werkstatt Baukultur during the first guided tour on Monday evening at the Universitat/Markt stop. "The emphasis was on a modern, forward-looking design: soft edges, polygonal shapes or light bands that always remind me of the space aesthetics from the film 2001'". Uni yellow-green, Juridicum blue Architect Alexander Freiherr von Branca, who later also designed several Munich underground stations, had even provided the individual stops with identification colours. Yellow-green for the university, blue for the Juridicum, chocolate brown for the Koenig Museum. "Unfortunately, repairs often use elements that are not in the original colours or use a different font - something like this could be avoided," said Kleinschrodt. "There is simply a lack of sensitivity for the protection of historical monuments. After all, subway stations are time capsules for architectural history." The numerous listeners attended with open ears. "I was a student in Bonn in 1976. But back then I hardly noticed that there was a subway in the city," said Helmut Bolt. "But I find it extremely exciting to learn the background to the stations." Bettina Nothe added: I find it admirable that the Werkstatt Baukultur makes such an offer and enlightens citizens about design ideas from that time. Please note: The tours are in German but still very interesting. Additional dates: This week the Werkstatt Baukultur offers free 30-minute guided tours of the various underground stations along the main line every evening from 6 p.m.: this Wednesday "Bundesrechnungshof" (meeting point entrance Arndtstrae/ Adenauerallee); Thursday "MuseumKoenig" (meeting point entrance Museum Adenauerallee 160); Friday "Heussallee" (meeting point entrance Kunstmuseum, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2). A bobcat that survived the November 2018 Woolsey Fire in Southern California was hit and killed by a car in Calabasas (Los Angeles County), the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area said in a tweet. The male bobcat, named B-361, "roamed between the burned and unburned areas of Malibu Canyon," according to the recreation area. He was killed on Las Virgenes Road and his carcass will undergo a necropsy. This article, I tried an online doctor -- and survived, originally appeared on CNET.com. It was a burning smell in the air that got me. Fumes from a nearby burning landfill in neighboring Malaysia had wafted over, causing my eyes to water and my nose to drip incessantly. I'm sensitive to smoke, and the smoke was apparently triggering my allergies. This finally gave me the excuse I needed to bust out WhiteCoat, a telehealth app that let me consult a doctor remotely from the comfort of my home here in Singapore. Most of the time when you get sick, it makes a lot more sense to head to a clinic or doctor's office. But you will, of course, have to deal with transportation, queue times and other sick people. This time I decided to go the guinea pig route and dial in a doctor. With the telehealth industry projected to hit $19.5 billion in 2025, perhaps that future is already happening. I sat myself down on my couch and fired up the WhiteCoat app. After signing up, I uploaded my credit card and drug allergy information and then had the option to choose from a list of six doctors, or let the system assign one to me. I chose the latter and right away, I was connected to Dr. Lee Hsiao Wen. No waiting whatsoever. After explaining how we would proceed, she professionally ran me through a list of questions, including drug allergies. I had already answered a question about that, but it's better to be safe than sorry. As with any patient-doctor consult, I then explained what I was feeling. Lee had me open my mouth into the camera to check out my throat. (I used another phone as a flashlight.) She then showed me how to do a quick self-check to see if any parts of my face around my nose were tender, which could have been a sign of a more severe illness. Once done, it was a matter of then explaining which medicines she was doling out to me -- cetirizine for my nose and eye drops -- and that I could choose not to buy them. If I did, though, they would be delivered to my place slightly later in the day, with ID verification required since we were dealing with drugs (of the completely legal variety). WhiteCoat doctors can issue electronic sick passes to get you a day off work too. I passed on this offer. (You're welcome, CNET.) The entire 20-minute process was smooth and breezy. It felt like an actual doctor's visit, without having to queue, and it kind of made sense for a minor illness like my allergies. Also, you don't necessarily have to be sick to use the app. WhiteCoat notes that you can use it to consult on lab test results. That said, WhiteCoat doesn't encourage frivolous use of the app -- plus you have to pay the consultation fee. WhiteCoat wouldn't reveal the number of patients who have used its app due to "commercial sensitivities," which is corporate speak for: we don't want our competitors to know how we're doing. What WhiteCoat did tell me was that about 42 percent of patients use the service for the common cold, with 13 percent dialing in for stomach problems, 8 percent for a fever or headaches, and the remainder for skin and muscular issues. As for doctors, Lee told me that it isn't any easier or harder to treat a patient over video. And if she determines that it doesn't work to treat a patient remotely, she asks the patient to come for an in-person consultation, see another doctor or head to the emergency department at a hospital. "I believe that a tech-savvy population like Singapore's, coupled with the rise in demand for on-demand professional services including transportation, logistics and retail, means patients will help [doctors] in the medical community realize and maximize the potential of telehealth here," Lee said. So is telehealth the future? I'm not sure. As tech progresses, perhaps one day, we can easily send over our blood pressure and heart rate through our watches, measure our body temperature using our phone's infrared camera, or even use a VR or AR helmet with sensors to meet a doctor face to face, at least virtually. Before that happens, though, I'll likely stick to a good, ol' fashioned, germy clinic visit. Perhaps it's just me, but I'd still prefer meeting my doctor in person. I do concede, though, that there are plenty of advantages to seeing a doctor without leaving the house. PITTSBURGH A prosecutor urged jurors Tuesday to focus on a white police officers frame of mind when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager near Pittsburgh last summer. Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld, 30, fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was a front-seat passenger in the cab and was shot as he fled. Prosecutors said Rosfeld, who was charged with homicide, gave inconsistent statements about the shooting, including whether he thought Rose had a gun. What really, really matters is what Michael Rosfeld knew and what he believed and what he thought when he pulled the trigger, Deputy District Attorney Daniel Fitzsimmons told jurors in his opening statement. Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said Rosfeld did not intend to shoot anyone that day and did nothing wrong in his fatal encounter with Rose. A jury of six men and six women, including three African Americans, was selected across the state in Harrisburg last week and will be sequestered in a Pittsburgh hotel for the duration of the trial. Rose had been riding in the front seat of an unlicensed taxicab when the backseat passenger rolled down a window and shot at two men on the streets of North Braddock. The shooter was Zaijuan Hester, 18, who pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated assault and firearms violations for the shooting, which wounded a man in the abdomen. Hester told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting. Ramesh Santanam is an Associated Press writer. A few days after the Securities and Exchange said Elon Musk's defense of his tweets "borders on the ridiculous," the Wall Street Journal published a profile of his pop star girlfriend, Grimes, and luckily for Musk, she had some nicer things to say about him. "I mean, he's a super interesting goddamn person," she told the Journal, after nearly collapsing to the ground "in a long, pained groan" at first mention of his name. MORE: Elon Musk describes helping Grimes design her outfit for the Met Gala "Don't tell him I groaned just now," she told the Journal. "I groaned out of, I don't know, feminism." Musk and Grimes, nee Clare Boucher, who has recently rebranded herself as "c," like the symbol for the speed of light, reportedly started dating about a year ago after an interaction surrounding an obscure joke on Twitter. The surprising pairing caused a stir online when they appeared together on the red carpet at the Met Ball, she in an outfit he helped her design. ALSO: Grimes defends 'capitalist' boyfriend Elon Musk, says she's investigated alleged Tesla union busting Amid news reports alleging union-busting practices at Tesla, Grimes drew criticism from some fans on the left when she responded to a tweet last May imploring her, "please ask Elon to let his workers unionize." "He has never prevented them from unionizing," she replied, followed by two heart emojis. "Trust me," she added, "I've investigated this heavily and even visited factories etc." She went on to say that she "can respect a capitalist" when they "throw the phuck down" on issues like mass transit, space travel and universal basic income. Grimes told the Journal this week that she was not ready for the amount of attention these kinds of missives would garner. "I was simply unprepared," she said of the level of scrutiny that came with dating Musk. "I just thought I could keep going along in my funny little way, and then you casually respond to someone in a tweet and it's on Fox News, and you're like, ugh, you know? That was a very disturbing moment." She concluded her thoughts on Musk with a word salad peppered with pauses and uncharitably transcribed by the reporter. "And look, I love him, he's great. There's got to be some reason, I just think," she paused, "I wish," she paused again. "Yeah. It doesn't matter" pause "Cool." Musk weighed in with a single sentence sent via email: "I love c's wild fae artistic creativity and hyper intense work ethic." Hyper intense workers of the world... unite? Hundreds began lining up in the courtyard of Grace Cathedral as the sun dipped behind the stone spires on a warm San Francisco night in September. The crowd, many dressed in sweatpants or pajamas, were not waiting for a prayer service, nor a pop-up dining experience, nor tickets to "Hamilton." They were waiting to meditate. The group queued up for the sold-out Sound Healing Symphony, organized by Sound Meditation SF, was diverse and large about 1,200 people of all ages and subcultures, awaiting a few hours of sound-induced bliss. An usher, prayer beads draped across her chest, checked the ticket on my smartphone as another usher doused our surroundings in burnt sage. A woman with a pillow tucked between her arms chatted with a friend as they waited to be let inside the cathedral. "It can induce orgasm," the woman with the pillow said. Her companion nodded, sucking marijuana vapor through a silver contraption. According to Guy Douglas, founder of Sound Meditation SF and a veteran gong player, the Sound Healing Symphony in San Francisco is the "largest sound bath in the country." Other sound meditation facilitators in California, including Jamie Bechtold of the Soundbath Center in LA, confirmed such claims. Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to an intimate experience like meditation, but thousands of peace-and-love seekers in San Francisco have welcomed Sound Meditation SF into their health-and-wellness arsenals. The company has organized six mass meditations of 1,200-plus attendees at Grace Cathedral this year, tickets for which sold out in a matter of hours. A typical sessions costs $25 for a floor space and up to $150 for the VIP meditation experience a reserved spot at the front, near the instruments. (Note: Sound Meditation SF provided me with a free ticket.) My curiosity was piqued by sound bath-faithful friends and Facebook events with 6,000 RSVPs, and I decided to set aside my skepticism and attend Sound Meditation SF's September session to try the new meditation craze sweeping up the city in a cloud of incense. "I don't know where my money is actually going," mused one friend in attendance, who swears by the "magic" of sound healing. "But heck," she said, "it's cheaper than therapy." The evening was undeniably enjoyable, even for someone like me, who often rolls her eyes at Burning Man-esque endeavors. In the end, it's hard to knock hundreds of people coming together in pursuit of inner peace, by whatever means. Laying on a yoga mat, surrounded by folks with blankies and sleep masks, I felt like I was attending a giant slumber party, albeit with more gongs and New Age speak. Admittedly, such moments of equanimity were disrupted by some of the less zen among the attendees, who became possessive of their meditation space and growled when I tried to place my mat closer to the gongs. As the evening progressed, a small orchestra of instruments a harp, didgeridoo, monochord, vibraphone, Native American flutes, Tibetan bowls, chimes filled the stone building with waves of complex tones for two blissful hours. Sometimes I found the bizarre sounds distracting (I'm used to meditating in silence, with limited instruction from a teacher), and my mind filled with chatter as it tried to place which tone was coming from which instrument. Other questions popped into my mind, too, no matter how hard I tried to keep my thoughts and skepticism at bay. *** As a lifelong practitioner of Buddhist meditation I was suspicious of Sound Meditation SF, having spent years attempting to cajole friends into attending meditation sits at my local, donation-based studio in the Mission District to no avail. What made the company so successful? And how were they enticing some folks to pay $150 for a two-hour-long meditation? I spoke with Douglas and his co-founder Simona Asinovski to find out the magic behind the meditation movement. Sound Meditation SF began with the gongs. Douglas, also known as "The Gong Guy" in certain communities, has played the instrument for upwards of 10 years throughout the nation. It wasn't until he joined forces with Asinovski, a self-described "little hippie who got into tech," that the massive sound baths truly took off. Asinovski comes from a tech marketing background she's already brought the baths to employees at Adobe and Facebook and she's spearheaded the efforts to bring sound healing to the mainstream in San Francisco. "I've ended up using a lot of the techniques I learned in tech marketing to promote Sound Meditation," she said, citing Facebook advertising as the primary way she reaches out to prospective meditators. Ultimately, Asinovski and Douglas chock up their lightning-quick success Sound Meditation SF was started about a year-and-a-half ago not to savvy marketing, but community need. "With the way times are right now, just how this year has been politically, people are feeling a lot of despair and stress," Douglas noted. "People are looking for some sanctuary, some place to go to unplug from the daily madness." Sound baths, he suggests, are just the place. When talking with the pair, it's obvious that Douglas is the spiritual brains behind the operation. He speaks in grand proclamations about the power of sound and its manifold healing benefits, some of which would certainly raise an eyebrow among scientists. "The sounds of sound baths are designed to cancel mind chatter and bring you to that zero point of meditation," he said. "They can make your cells vibrate with the harmonics so that you reach a meditative state faster than with traditional meditation techniques." The planets, he said, vibrate at a particular frequency, and musicians have "taken that knowledge and put it inside of these gongs." Douglas went on to cite multiple incidences in which attendees had begun the sound meditation with physical pain and left with none. "We're not exactly sure what's happening," he said. Asinovski was quick to bring the conversation back to more concrete terms. She explained that they named the organization "Sound Meditation" in order to relate to more people. "Healing is something people think you do when you're sick," she said. "We want to encourage the idea that coming home to yourself is something we should do all the time." *** As is true of many forms of meditation, the scientific research surrounding sound healing is nebulous. Chris Kyriakakis, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California and director of the Immersive Audio Laboratory, studies sound and its manifold effects for a living. He says there are countless scientific studies demonstrating the benefits of music therapy, specifically for those with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, anxiety, depression and people recovering from acute myocardial infarction. Kyriakakis also concurred that sound can induce meditative state, although not necessarily faster than other forms of meditation. None of the research he cited, however, relied on sound baths, crystal bowls, resonances or vibrations. He also debunked Douglas' claims that gongs can be tuned to the frequencies of the planets and that cells vibrate in response to sound. "[Cells] can vibrate," Kyriakakis, though only "when exposed to infrared laser light." But what of orgasms, as my fellow sound bath attendee insisted she had experienced? "As for inducing orgasm," Kyriakakis said, "the answer is ... sort of. There is quite a bit of published research on the ability of certain music patterns to produce chills or goosebumps. One psychologist has gone as far as to call this a 'skin orgasm.'" *** In the end, I didn't experience a "flying through space" sensation nor an orgasm at Sound Meditation SF's Sound Healing Symphony. But I'll admit, it felt peaceful to lie down and hear live, beautiful music for a few hours. When the sounds faded and the musical cleansing was complete, I fluttered my eyes open and quietly rolled up my mat to outpace the slow-moving masses maneuvering towards the door. That evening, as I carved a path across the darkened streets of San Francisco toward home, I took a moment to check in with my body, and my psyche. I felt rested, undoubtedly, though hardly enlightened. Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com. BOSTON Harvard University has shamelessly turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Conn., is suing the Ivy League school for wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation of images she says depict two of her ancestors. Her suit, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos, acknowledge her ancestry and pay an unspecified sum in damages. Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said the university has not yet been served, and with that is in no position to comment on this complaint. At the center of the case is a series of 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photo, taken of two South Carolina slaves identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. They were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the U.S. The lawsuit says Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially pure slaves born in Africa. To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens, the suit says. The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered. The suit attacks Harvard for its exploitation of Rentys image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It says Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a hefty licensing fee to reproduce the images. It also draws attention to a book Harvard sells for $40 with Rentys portrait on the cover. A researcher at a Harvard museum rediscovered the photos in storage in 1976. But Laniers case argues Agassiz never legally owned the photos because he didnt have his subjects consent, and that he didnt have the right to pass them to Harvard. Instead, the suit says, Lanier is the rightful owner as Rentys next of kin. The suit alleges that by contesting Ms. Laniers claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans genealogy by a centurys worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy. Collin Binkley is an Associated Press writer. A man who was driving drunk in Fremont when his minivan crossed the center divide and hit another car car head-on, killing a passenger in that vehicle, has been charged with murder, police said Tuesday. Juan Martinez, 47, had a blood alcohol concentration higher than the state legal limit of .08 percent and was on probation for a 2016 DUI conviction when he crashed his minivan at 6:17 p.m. on Sunday, Fremont police said. Police said he was traveling eastbound on Central Avenue near Blacow Road, drove over the raised center median, and crashed head-on into a Honda Civic, then fled the scene on foot. The woman in the Hondas passengers seat, Erlinda Domingo, 70, of Newark, died at the scene. The driver, only identified as a 69-year-old man, was sent to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Martinez was charged by the Alameda County district attorneys office Tuesday with one count of murder in Domingos death, two counts of driving under the influence and causing injury to another person, and one count of fleeing from the scene after an injury collision. Responding officers told investigators they found Martinez hiding in the backyard of a residence on Briarwood Drive after the crash. He exhibited several objective signs of intoxication and failed a number of sobriety tests, police said. Police said Martinez had been convicted twice in recent years of driving under the influence in Alameda County. In 2015, he pleaded no contest to driving under the influence in Hayward and was sentenced to 20 days in county jail and three years of probation, police said. He was convicted on another driving under the influence charge in 2016, when officers say he fled from the scene of a DUI-related crash in Newark. Martinez was sentenced to 10 days in county jail and five years of probation. As part of his probation related to the 2016 conviction, police said Martinez was ordered by the court to complete an 18-hour Drinking Driver program and prohibited from driving a car with any measurable amount of alcohol in his blood. Its unclear if he completed the 18-hour-long program. He is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to jail records. Martinez is scheduled for a plea hearing at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor WASHINGTON The 2019 Economic Report of the President runs 705 pages and features chapters on expanding labor force opportunities and ensuring a balanced financial regulatory landscape. It also claims to be written by Batman. For the second straight year, the group of economists that do regression analyses and forecast annual growth rates for President Donald Trump has slipped a straight-out-of-Comic-Con Easter egg into its annual report. The list of Council of Economic Advisers interns on Page 624 of the report includes Steve Rogers (aka Captain America), Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Bruce Wayne (Batman). Theres also Aunt May (Peter Parkers guardian; apparently there are no anti-nepotism rules at the council), J.T. Hutt (a superfan abbreviation for Jabba the Hutt, the Star Wars gangster who hangs a frozen Han Solo on his wall), actor John Cleese, Kathryn Janeway (a Star Trek captain) and someone called John Snow (more on him later). The names stuck out because most Council of Economic Advisers interns are university students depending on which movie or comic you prefer, Peter Parker is the only one on the list who fits that bill and also, real human beings. An actual former council intern, Martha Gimbel, who is now research director at Indeed, noticed the names and tweeted about them Tuesday afternoon. Last years list was pretty impressive, too, it turns out. The 2018 report included abbreviated references to a pair of famed Star Trek captains, James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. The White House says its all in good fun. The Council of Economic Advisers official Twitter account said late Tuesday that the list was an effort to call attention to its intern super heroes, who made significant contributions to the economic report. Its worth noting that Jabba the Hutt is not, in fact, a superhero he enslaved Princess Leia and tried to feed Han Solo and Luke Skywalker to a slow-digesting pit monster in the desert. Also, who is this John Snow they speak of? Is he the former Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush? An actual intern? Or did the council, in a blow to its nerd cred, misspell the name of the Game of Thrones hero Jon Snow? The New York Times asked a council spokeswoman to clarify. Have a sense of humor! she replied. Funny, thats what people usually say to economists. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. OAKLAND (BCN) A Hayward construction company owner was convicted by a federal jury in Oakland of engaging in the forced labor of undocumented workers he recruited from Mexico. Job Torres Hernandez, 38, was found guilty of one count of obtaining forced labor and a second count of harboring and concealing undocumented immigrants for financial gain. He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White on June 25 and could face up to 20 years in prison on the forced labor conviction and 10 years on the harboring conviction. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said evidence at the 10-day trial showed that Torres recruited workers from Mexico, paid them far less than what he promised, kept them in squalid conditions and threatened them or their family members if they complained. The evidence showed that Torres housed dozens of workers in a warehouse in Hayward and other properties, with limited access to showers and toilets, and at times kept the properties locked, according to Simmons. Simmons said witnesses testified that Torres told the workers that if they reported him to authorities, he would harm them physically, have associates in Mexico harm their families and have them deported. After Torres was arrested and charged in August 2017, prosecutors said that seven people were recovered from the warehouse during a search. Torres had been free on bail, but was ordered into custody by White immediately after the conviction. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. STANFORD (BCN) Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will return to a fellowship at Stanford University's Hoover Institution think tank in May after resigning from his White House post in December. Mattis will rejoin the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, where he served as a fellow before being appointed by President Donald Trump as Secretary of Defense in 2016. "I believe we have an obligation to pass on the lessons we've learned so that future generations can study, learn and become better," Mattis said in a statement. "Hoover has made this part of its mission, and I look forward to returning." Mattis served as a U.S. Marine Corps general and commanded operations against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His two-year tenure as secretary of defense ended with his resignation in 2018 after he and Trump clashed over whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. During the fellowship, Mattis will focus on research and writing about domestic and international security policy and participate in military and national security-related events. "The wealth of knowledge and experience of an already extraordinary career has been made even richer by General Mattis' latest endeavor as Secretary of Defense, and we are fortunate to once again be beneficiaries of his acumen," Tom Gilligan, director of the Hoover Institution, said in a statement. The public policy think tank operates on the Stanford campus but is overseen by its own board of directors. Activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and economist George P. Shultz are among its notable fellows. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A federal jury in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that exposure to Monsanto Co.'s Roundup herbicide was a substantial factor in causing the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of a Sonoma County man. The unanimous verdict by a six-person civil jury enables the lawsuit by Edwin Hardeman, 70, to move to a second phase of trial before the same jury to determine Monsanto's financial liability. Hardeman's lawyers plan to ask the jury to award him compensation for his injury and punitive damages as well. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria scheduled opening arguments in the second phase to begin Wednesday morning. The jury reached the verdict on its fifth day of deliberation following two and one-half weeks of evidence. Hardeman's lawsuit is the first to go to trial of more than 760 lawsuits that were filed against Monsanto in federal courts around the nation and transferred to Chhabria's court for judicial coordination. Hardeman claimed his blood cancer was caused by 26 years of spraying Roundup to kill poison oak and weeds at first in Gualala and later on a 56-acre property he and his wife owned in Forestville. Monsanto, which was acquired last year by Bayer AG of Germany, contended there was no proof of a link between Hardeman's lymphoma and Roundup and its main ingredient, glyphosate. Hardeman's lawyers, Aimee Wagstaff and Jennifer Moore, said in a statement, "Mr. Hardeman is pleased that the jury unanimously held that Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Now we can focus on the evidence that Monsanto has not taken a responsible, objective approach to the safety of Roundup. "We look forward to presenting this evidence to the jury and holding Monsanto accountable for its bad conduct," the attorneys said. Bayer issued a statement saying, "We are disappointed with the jury's initial decision, but we continue to believe firmly that the science confirms glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer. "We are confident the evidence in Phase 2 will show that Monsanto's conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardeman's cancer. We have great sympathy for Mr. Hardeman and his family, but an extensive body of science supports the conclusion that Roundup was not the cause of his cancer," Bayer said. Hundreds of other lawsuits against Monsanto are pending in state courts around the nation. Last year, a San Francisco Superior Court trial ended in $289 million jury verdict, later reduced by the trial judge to $78 million, for cancer-stricken former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson of Vallejo. More than 250 other superior court lawsuits filed in California have been coordinated in Alameda County Superior Court. The first of those, filed by Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who claim the use of Roundup caused them both to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is scheduled to go on trial on March 28. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN LEANDRO (BCN) A 64-year-old San Lorenzo man was killed Tuesday morning when a semi truck collided with his motorcycle at a traffic signal at a highway on-ramp in San Leandro, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said. Gregory Ott died in the collision that occurred at about 9:20 a.m. near the on-ramp to southbound Interstate Highway 238 from Hesperian Boulevard, CHP Officer Gabriel Walters said. The 21-year-old driver of a Kenworth Aerocab big-rig was stopped as the lead vehicle in the left-hand turn lane on northbound Hesperian Boulevard while waiting to enter the on-ramp to southbound Highway 238 when Ott pulled his 1996 yellow and black Harley-Davidson motorcycle in front in front of him in an apparent attempt to be the lead vehicle, Walters said. When the signal turned green the truck turned forward and its front end struck the motorcycle. Ott was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Walters. He said the truck driver may not have been aware that the motorcycle was next to him. The truck driver, who wasn't injured, remained at the scene and cooperated with officers. Drugs and alcohol are not considered factors in the collision. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney on Tuesday proposed renaming a South of Market street after late Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who passed away last month. During the Board of Supervisor's meeting, Haney introduced a resolution to rename Gilbert Street to Jeff Adachi Way. The street is located between Brannan and Bryant streets and runs parallel to Sixth and Seventh streets and is directly behind the Public Defender's Office. "For decades, Jeff Adachi walked from the Public Defender's Office back entrance door out to Gilbert Street to get to the criminal courthouse at 850 Bryant St. Jeff would use Gilbert Street not just as his daily thoroughfare, but also as a place to connect with, mentor, and support fellow attorneys on their way to and from the court," Haney said in a statement. Newly appointed Public Defender Manohar Raju said in a statement, "Jeff Adachi dedicated his life to setting vulnerable people on the right path and championing criminal justice reform. He left an imprint on the neighborhood and communities of San Francisco, so it's fitting that this city that he loved so much would name a street after him." Adachi's family is honored by the resolution, Raju added. If passed, the Department of Public Works would initiate street renaming procedures and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency would create and put up a new sign with "Jeff Adachi Way" written in larger font and "Gilbert Street" in smaller font. After five years, the SFMTA could create a new sign with just the new name. Adachi, 59, passed away on Feb. 22. Police have ruled out foul play. Adachi, the city's first Asian American Public Defender, was credited with advocating for the reform of the state's cash-bail system and with calling out alleged injustices happening within San Francisco's police and sheriff's departments, including claims of abuse at the city's jails and racist text messages sent between police officers. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Electronic cigarette company Juul Labs said Tuesday it's taken aggressive action to make sure their products stay out of the hands of young people after San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced measures that would effectively stop the company from expanding in the city. In a statement, the San Francisco-based company said, "We share the city of San Francisco's concerns with youth usage of tobacco and vapor products, including our own." According to Juul, it's taken action nationwide, including halting the sale of flavored products to retailers and supporting regulations that aim to curb youth smoking. Juul's response comes after Herrera said the Food and Drug Administration has failed to conduct a required pre-market review for e-cigarettes before they were allowed to be sold in stores. "The FDA has given the e-cigarette industry a pass. For no clear reason, the FDA has given these nicotine companies until 2022 to apply for what was supposed to be a pre-market review. The result is that millions of children are already addicted to e-cigarettes and millions more will follow if we don't act," he said. "These companies may hide behind the veneer of harm reduction but let's be clear, their product is addiction. They're in the business of getting people addicted or keeping them addicted," he said. "Now it's up to local governments like San Francisco to protect our children." Herrera announced that his office has teamed up with the cities of Chicago and New York to send a letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb to demand that the agency conduct the required public health review of e-cigarettes, which Herrera says was already supposed to have been conducted years ago. If the FDA does not conduct the review, the cities are threatening possible legal action. Second and third measures to curb youth access to e-cigarettes in the city involve separate pieces of legislation introduced by Supervisor Shamann Walton at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. One ordinance would prohibit citywide sales of any e-cigarette that has not undergone FDA review. It would also prohibit those products from being bought online or shipped to a San Francisco address. The other ordinance would prohibit the sale, manufacture and distribution of e-cigarettes on city property, as well as Port of San Francisco property. That legislation would stop Juul, which subleases property on San Francisco's waterfront, from doing business and expanding. "E-cigarettes have been targeting our young people with their colors and their flavors and enticing our adolescents and this is predatorily pulling them toward nicotine addiction," Walton said. Furthermore, Herrera said his office sent notice on Tuesday to Juul and the Pier 70 developer that Juul subleases from, seeking an explanation for why the e-cigarette company holds a tobacco distributor license at the location while maintaining that Juul does not sell tobacco products. "What Juul is doing is irresponsible," Walton said. According to Juul, however, their products can help smokers transition away from smoking regular cigarettes and Walton's legislation would leave people trying to quit smoking with fewer options. "This proposed legislation's primary impact will be to limit adult smokers' access to products that can help them switch away from combustible cigarettes. We encourage the city of San Francisco to severely restrict youth access but do so in a way that preserves the opportunity to eliminate combustible cigarettes. This proposed legislation begs the question -- why would the city be comfortable with combustible cigarettes being on shelves when we know they will kill more than 480,000 Americans per year?" If Walton's proposals pass, they would add to an already restrictive list of saleable tobacco products in the city. In 2017, the city passed legislation to restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco including menthol cigarettes. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. A San Francisco police officer was hospitalized after being injured in an altercation with a woman in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood on Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said. At 6:37 a.m., the officer contacted the woman, who police spokesman Officer Robert Rueca described as being "in crisis" and trespassing at a property in the 200 block of Turk Street. An altercation ensued that led to injuries to the officer, who was eventually taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, Rueca said. The officer called for assistance and other officers arrived around 7:20 a.m. The woman was taken into custody but will be cited and released for trespassing, according to Rueca. Her name was not released. Officers were clearing the area and reopening the street as of shortly after 8 a.m., Rueca said. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. California Wildlife Day will be celebrated on Wednesday at the Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek, officials with the organization said. Since 2017, California has celebrated California Wildlife Day and Wednesday everyone can visit the Lindsay Wildlife Experience at 1931 First Ave. for $1 per person. The experience will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. California Wildlife Day is celebrated every year on the spring equinox following a resolution passed by the state legislature two years ago. A man who was shot in East Oakland early Sunday morning died from his wounds on Tuesday, police said. The 30-year-old Oakland man, whose name hasn't yet been released by authorities, was shot near the intersection of 96th Avenue and Sunnyside Street at 1:23 a.m. Sunday, according to police. The man was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he died on Tuesday morning, police said. No one has been arrested for the fatal shooting and police haven't released information on a suspect or a motive. A federal jury in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that exposure to Monsanto Co.'s Roundup herbicide was a substantial factor in causing the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of a Sonoma County man. The unanimous verdict by a six-person civil jury enables the lawsuit by Edwin Hardeman, 70, to move to a second phase of trial before the same jury to determine Monsanto's financial liability. Hardeman's lawyers plan to ask the jury to award him compensation for his injury and punitive damages as well. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria scheduled opening arguments in the second phase to begin Wednesday morning. The jury reached the verdict on its fifth day of deliberation following two and one-half weeks of evidence. Hardeman's lawsuit is the first to go to trial of more than 760 lawsuits that were filed against Monsanto in federal courts around the nation and transferred to Chhabria's court for judicial coordination. Electronic cigarette company Juul Labs said Tuesday it's taken aggressive action to make sure their products stay out of the hands of young people after San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced measures that would effectively stop the company from expanding in the city. In a statement, the San Francisco-based company said, "We share the city of San Francisco's concerns with youth usage of tobacco and vapor products, including our own." According to Juul, it's taken action nationwide, including halting the sale of flavored products to retailers and supporting regulations that aim to curb youth smoking. Juul's response comes after Herrera said the Food and Drug Administration has failed to conduct a required pre-market review for e-cigarettes before they were allowed to be sold in stores. "The FDA has given the e-cigarette industry a pass. For no clear reason, the FDA has given these nicotine companies until 2022 to apply for what was supposed to be a pre-market review. The result is that millions of children are already addicted to e-cigarettes and millions more will follow if we don't act," he said. California Highway Patrol officers are investigating a vehicle fire that killed two men and burned two others Tuesday morning, Dixon police said. The survivors suffered second- and third-degree burns and were taken to a hospital. Dixon Fire Chief Greg Lewis said the burn victims were found on the ground outside the vehicle, an older model class A recreational vehicle. A dog was found dead at the scene and animal care personnel were summoned this afternoon, according to the CHP. The 4:25 a.m. fire was at the Dixon May Fair, a fair and fairgrounds at 655 S. First St. The property manager said the RV's registered owner left the premises but returned about a week ago, according to Lewis. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will return to a fellowship at Stanford University's Hoover Institution think tank in May after resigning from his White House post in December. Mattis will rejoin the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, where he served as a fellow before being appointed by President Donald Trump as Secretary of Defense in 2016. "I believe we have an obligation to pass on the lessons we've learned so that future generations can study, learn and become better," Mattis said in a statement. "Hoover has made this part of its mission, and I look forward to returning." Mattis served as a U.S. Marine Corps general and commanded operations against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His two-year tenure as secretary of defense ended with his resignation in 2018 after he and Trump clashed over whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. During the fellowship, Mattis will focus on research and writing about domestic and international security policy and participate in military and national security-related events. Martinez city staff will be introducing a commercial cannabis ordinance to the City Council for a public hearing and first reading of the proposed ordinance Wednesday evening, at which time community members will have an opportunity to comment. In its current iteration the proposed ordinance would permit two in-town retail cannabis operations with delivery options, one manufacturing facility, one cannabis testing laboratory, one delivery-only retail operation and one cannabis distribution center with no retail sales for a total of six cannabis operations within city limits. The ordinance would also permit an unlimited number of out-of-town delivery services. Those businesses would have to apply for and be granted a permit to do business within city limits, however. In terms of zoning the permitted businesses would be allowed to operate wherever similar operations are already allowed, with retail businesses in retail spaces, manufacturing and laboratory businesses in commercial spaces that already accommodate manufacturing and laboratories. Those businesses would not be permitted to operate in residential areas, on Main Street or on Ferry Street. They would also be unable to secure a license within 600 feet of a school, daycare or youth center as required by state law, according to city staff. One man has died and two others have been injured following a pair of shootings in Oakland late Tuesday, according to police. Police said the first shooting was reported at 6:24 p.m. in the 1500 block of East 16th Street, where one man died from his injuries. Nobody else was hurt. The second shooting was reported around 10 p.m. in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard, police said. Two men were shot and transported themselves to a hospital where at least one was in critical condition early Wednesday morning. No suspects are in custody for either shooting. Wednesday will be breezy with showers likely and a slight chance of thunderstorms. Highs will be in the upper 50s. Southwest winds will be 20 to 30 mph. Wednesday night will be mostly cloudy with a chance of showers in the evening and a slight chance of showers after midnight. Lows will be in the upper 40s. Southwest winds will be 10 to 20 mph. Thursday will be mostly cloudy in the morning, then becoming partly cloudy. Highs will be in the upper 50s. Southeast winds will be 5 to 10 mph, before becoming west winds at 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Copyright 2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. La La Land star Emma Stone has placed her Beverly Hills, CA, home on the market for $3.89 million, according to Variety. The Oscar-winner purchased the charming abode in 2012 for $2.5 million. The sweet cottage, surprisingly spacious at 3,862 square feet, comes with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. Built in 1953, the home was recently overhauled. A red front door opens to interiors with dark hardwood flooring and darling red-print wallpaper. The open floor plan features a combined living and dining room. An entertainer's dream home, French doors line the back of the house, opening to a stone patio. Eye-catching chandeliers grace the high ceilings. Emma Stone's Beverly Hills, CA, home realtor.com Living and dining room with high ceiling and fireplace realtor.com Dining area and French doors realtor.com Kitchen with center island realtor.com Breakfast nook and sitting area realtor.com Open layout for entertaining realtor.com The chef's kitchen is equipped with high-end appliances, including a double-oven Wolf range, Sub-Zero fridge, and double dishwashers. The built-in Miele coffee maker also adds a nice perk. The large, country-style eating area has plenty of space to spread out, with room for a couch, chairs, and a breakfast table. Along with seating and a TV at the center island, there are French doors leading to the backyard. Retro highlights of the main level include light-blue accent walls, black counters, and white cabinets. There's even eye-popping wallpaper (a green floral pattern in the kitchen, and a bird design in the powder room). Watch: Mandy Moore Makes a Fresh Start in Her Newly Renovated Fixer-Upper Upstairs there are four bedrooms, including the master suite with a fireplace, two walk-in closets, and a bath with a separate shower and tub. A bonus room, which is currently being used as a media room, comes complete with a wet bar and full bath. The fun continues outdoors, with a heated pool, grassy lawn, flower beds, and large patio. An Arizona native, Stone reportedly owned a Chelsea townhome in New York City. But its not clear if the actress will head East or stay in La-La Land. Either way, the 30-year-old A-lister may not have much time to plan her next move. The highest-paid actress in 2017, Stone is currently filming Zombieland: Double Tap, and is set to star as Cruella de Vil in the movie Cruella. She is also voicing the animated sequel The Croods 2. The post Leaving La-La Land? Emma Stone Lists Beverly Hills Home for $3.89M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. With one storm leaving and another arriving, the northern Sierra Nevada will see snow showers through the weekend, but breaks between systems will allow for mountain travel. A storm that swept the mountain range Tuesday night will continue to deliver light, scattered snow flurries through Thursday morning. Snow levels in the Tahoe Basin will be 5,000 to 6,000 feet Wednesday and drop to as low as 4,500 feet on Thursday. LONDON Diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, whose jewels once adorned stars from Bollywood to Hollywood, was ordered held without bail in London on Wednesday, more than a year after Indian authorities alleged he was involved in a $1.8 billion bank fraud. A judge remanded Modi into custody at the end of a Westminster Magistrates Court hearing. District Judge Marie Mallon said there was a risk Modi wouldnt appear for future hearings because of his access to large sums of money that could help him evade the courts and his keenness to do so. CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate ban Thursday on semi-automatic and automatic weapons like the ones used in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 worshippers. The man charged in the attack had purchased his weapons legally using a standard firearms license and enhanced their capacity by using 30-round magazines done easily through a simple online purchase, she said. Every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned, she said. Arderns announcement comes less than a week after the killings, as more of the dead were being buried. At least six funerals took place Thursday, including for a teenager, a youth soccer coach and a Muslim convert who loved connecting with other women at the mosque. Cashmere High School student Sayyad Ahmad Milne, 14, was known as an outgoing boy and the schools futsal goalkeeper. Tariq Rashid Omar, 24, graduated from the same school, played soccer in the summer and was a beloved coach of several youth teams. In a post on Facebook, Christchurch United Football Club Academy Director Colin Williamson described Omar as a beautiful human being with a tremendous heart and love for coaching. Linda Armstrong, 64, a third-generation New Zealander who converted to Islam in her 50s, was also buried, as were Hussein Mohamed Khalil Moustafa, 70; Matiullah Safi, 55; and Haji Mohammed Daoud Nabi. Families of those killed had been awaiting word on when they could bury their loved ones. Police Commissioner Mike Bush said authorities have formally identified and released the remains of 21 victims. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible. An Australian white supremacist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, was run off the road and arrested by police while he was believed to be on his way to a third target. He had livestreamed the attack on Facebook and said in his manifesto he planned to attack three mosques. Tarrant, 28, is next scheduled to appear in court on April 5. Police have said they are certain Tarrant was the only gunman but are still investigating whether he had support. Meanwhile, preparations were under way for a massive Friday prayer service to be led by the imam of one of the two New Zealand mosques where worshippers were killed. Imam Gamal Fouda said he is expecting 3,000 to 4,000 people at Fridays prayer service, including many who have come from abroad. He expects it will take place in Hagley Park, a city landmark across from Al Noor mosque with members of the Linwood mosque also attending. Al Noor workers have been trying feverishly to repair the destruction at the mosque, Fouda said. They will bury the carpet, he said. Because it is full of blood, and its contaminated. As the investigation continues into the attack, Ardern has also said an inquiry would look into intelligence and security services failures to detect the risk from the attacker or his plans. Ardern said Thursday the government is working on a large-scale buy-back plan to encourage owners of now-banned weapons to surrender them. She did not say what would happen to those who violate the law. She also said she and the Cabinet would work through legal exemptions to the ban, such as for farmers needing to cull their herds but said any exemptions would be tightly regulated. Nick Perry, Juliet Williams and Kristen Gelineau are Associated Press writers. JERUSALEM Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday renewed calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between Qatar and four other Arab nations, all of them Americas partners in the Middle East. On a visit to Kuwait, which has been attempting to mediate an end to the crisis, Pompeo said the dispute that has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. Its not in the best interest of the region, its not in the best interest of the world, Pompeo told reporters at a news conference with Kuwaits foreign minister. We need the Gulf countries working together on the complex set of challenges that face each of them. Pompeo lauded mediation efforts in the dispute by Kuwaits emir and said the United States would do whatever it could to assist. We are working to help those countries find a set of common ground, he said. We all have the same set of threats, the threats from al Qaeda and from ISIS, the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran. We all are working diligently to find a path forward so that the rift between those countries can be resolved. ISIS is an alternative acronym for the Islamic State. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began a boycott of Qatar in June 2017, alleging that Qatar funds extremist groups and has too-cozy ties to Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists, but Doha shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran that gives its citizens one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world. It restored diplomatic relations with Iran after the crisis erupted, marking a setback for Saudi Arabia, which views the Shiite power Iran as its main regional rival. A similar dispute involving Doha erupted in 2014 but this time positions have hardened against Qatar, whose support for Islamist opposition groups has angered the Arab nations now boycotting it. Pompeo was in Kuwait on the first leg of a Mideast tour that includes Israel and Lebanon. In Israel Wednesday, Pompeo promised to step up pressure on Iran, and gave a public boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the height of a tight re-election campaign. The White House later announced Netanyahu would be welcomed in Washington over two days next week. Standing together, Pompeo and Netanyahu made no mention of the heated Israeli election campaign. But Netanyahu, facing a tough challenge from a popular former military chief and reeling from a series of corruption allegations, has repeatedly sought to focus attention on his foreign policy record and strong ties with President Trump. Matthew Lee is an Associated Press writer. Adrien Barbier / AFP / Getty Images CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe Mozambique began three days of national mourning on Wednesday for more than 200 victims of Cyclone Idai, while the death toll in neighboring Zimbabwe rose to more than 100 from one of the most destructive storms to strike southern Africa in decades. Torrential rains were expected to continue into Thursday and floodwaters were still rising, according to aid groups trying to get food, water and clothing to desperate survivors. It will be days before Mozambiques inundated plains drain toward the Indian Ocean and even longer before the full scale of the devastation is known. THE HAGUE, Netherlands United Nations appeals judges on Wednesday upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment, which means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. Karadzic had appealed his 2016 convictions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as his sentence for masterminding atrocities in his countrys devastating 1992-95 war Europes bloodiest conflict since World War II. The ex-leader is one of the most senior figures tried by the Hague war crimes court. His case is considered a key in delivering justice for the victims of the conflict, which left over 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence given what he called the sheer scale and systematic cruelty of Karadzics crimes. Families of victims who traveled to the Hague welcomed the verdict. Mothers of victims, some elderly and walking with canes, wept with apparent relief after watching the ruling read on a screen in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic is also awaiting an appeal judgment of his genocide and war crimes conviction, which earned him a life sentence. Both men were convicted of genocide for their roles in the slaughter by Serb forces of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnias eastern Srebrenica region in July 1995. Mike Corder is an Associated Press writer. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and ad networks. Such third party cookies may track your use on Sharedots sites for better rendering. Our partners use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on Sharedots website. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time. Learn more Page Content The Irish Workplace Relations Commission has awarded a legal secretary with 40 years' service 24,000 euros (approximately U.S. $27,272) following a finding that the decision to retire the employee at 67 was discriminatory. Complainant's Case The complainant worked in a local solicitor's firm for 40 years before the practice was taken over by the respondent solicitor. The complainant's employment transferred to the respondent solicitor by operation of the Transfer of Undertakings legislation. Shortly after her 67th birthday, the complainant received a letter from the respondent solicitor informing her that she had been dismissed. The letter stated, among other things, that, "We all have to retire at some stage," and made no mention of the reason for her dismissal other than her age. The complainant challenged her dismissal on the grounds that there was no contractual retirement age in place and therefore the employer did not have the right to terminate her. Employer's Argument The employer argued that it had presumed that the complainant would retire at the age of 65 as this was the normal retirement age for many industries but that it allowed her to continue working until she was entitled to her state pension and subsequent to that, compulsorily retired her. The employer also argued that the complainant's work was substandard and had a detrimental effect on the business. It argued that, due to the complainant's age, she was unable to upskill sufficiently in order to effectively and efficiently use the IT package that the employer had invested in. However, there was no reference to performance in the dismissal letter. Decision The adjudication officer (AO) held that the complainant was dismissed, not as a result of poor performance, but rather by virtue of her age. She went on to say that: "There are 70- and 80-year-olds within the labour force, who are more productive, able and capable of change than some 20-year-olds. Terminating someone's employment, on the basis of age, is discriminatory which, unless it is objectively justified, is unlawful." The AO awarded the complainant 24,000 euros for the discriminatory dismissal. In order to retire an employee, an employer must be in a position to meet a two-part test. Firstly, a contractual retirement age must exist. Ideally, this should be included in a contract of employment or a staff handbook. Secondly, the contractual retirement age must be justified by reference to an objective aim such as succession planning. This case was particularly clear as the employer was not in a position to get over the first hurdle. The complainant did not have a contract of employment. Furthermore, the employer was unable to prove that the complainant had been provided with the staff handbook, which did refer to a retirement age of 65. In the circumstances, the second test of "objective justification" was not relevant. Nonetheless, the AO did consider the point. While the AO pointed out that there were a number of issues that could have been put forward as objective justification the employer was unable to rely on objective justification at the hearing as no objective justification was provided at the time of the dismissal. The employer could not argue that that the employee was dismissed for performance when they expressly said the reason for dismissal was her age. The AO noted that while the employer did make some inference to succession planning in an e-mail to the complainant that could have constituted as objective justification, the employer failed to give any evidence on this point at hearing. Claims of age discrimination following forced retirement are becoming increasingly common and can be costly to an employer. This case highlights the need for employers to have a retirement age in place that is fixed and which employees are aware of. Further, employers should seriously consider their objective justification and be able to provide evidence that objective justification was considered and formulated when setting the retirement age rather than being devised at the hearing of the claim. One way of doing this is to introduce a retirement policy setting out the objective justification for the retirement age that can later be relied upon in the event of a claim. Brian Hammond is a trainee solicitor and Siobhan Lafferty is an attorney with McDowell Purcell in Dublin. 2019 McDowell Purcell. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology. Page Content In a bid to increase the diversity of workforces, and increase access to employment for those with disabilities, Taiwan has a quota for the number of employees with disabilities. Here's how this works in practice. People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act The People with Disabilities Rights Protection Act (PWDRPA) requires any employer that employs more than 67 employees to proactively seek to employ those with disabilities. The PWDRPA requires that employees with disabilities make up "no less than 1 percent of the total employee population, with a minimum of at least one person." Defining Disabilities In order to comply with the PWDRPA, employer must hire employees "with disabilities." To avoid lengthy disputes about who satisfies the definition and what amounts to a disability, the obligation extends to employees who have been issued a disability identification card. Noncompliance When an employer is unable to comply with the quota for hiring employees with disabilities, it is required to periodically pay a subsidy to the Disabled Employment Fund. The subsidy is calculated based on the number of employees that the employer should have employed to meet the quota, multiplied by the monthly statutory basic wage. Key Takeaways Employers should routinely audit whether they are reaching the 1 percent quota and, if not, consider how their recruitment practices might be updated to attract employees with disabilities. At the same time, employers should ensure that they are making the relevant subsidy payments. Herbert Smith Freehills LLP is a global law firm with offices in Asia. 2019 Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology. Page Content In recent years, much of the legal action impacting the employer-employee relationship has been at the state and localnot the federallevel, said Jonathan A. Segal, an attorney with Duane Morris in Philadelphia, speaking to attendees at the 2019 Society for Human Resource Management Employment Law & Legislative Conference on March 19. Segal outlined several recent trends in state and local legislatures and discussed how HR can ensure that employers comply with new employment laws. Compliance can be quite complicated for multistate employers, he cautioned, listing practical ways to address the challenges these employers may face. Minimum-Wage Laws While the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour, 29 states plus Washington, D.C., have higher wage floors. Forty local jurisdictions have minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum, and, in some cases, the local minimum wage is higher than the state's own mandated wage rate. Two states, Arkansas and Missouri, through 2018 ballot measures, are raising their minimum wages over time to $11 and $12 an hour, respectively. There are currently bills pending in state legislatures that would raise the wage floor in several additional states. "This is not a partisan issue," Segal noted. Raises are being contemplated in red, blue and purple states. Five statesCalifornia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Yorkplus Washington, D.C., will eventually reach $15 an hour, Segal said. Bans on Asking About Prior Compensation Numerous states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon and Vermont, ban employers from asking applicants for information about their compensation at their previous jobs. Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Washington state are currently considering such bans. And a number of municipalities, including New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Albany, N.Y., have also enacted their own laws prohibiting such inquiries. But these laws are not all the same, making compliance even more difficult for multistate employers. They differ as to: Whether current employees are covered, in addition to job applicants. What compensation is covered by the prohibition, whether salary only or other compensation as well. What the appropriate action is if an applicant voluntarily discloses his or her previous compensation. These laws should force HR to consider whether the company "really needs prior compensation in deciding what to pay new employees," Segal said. He noted some options HR could consider: Remove the question from at least the job application, if not from the entire recruiting process. Post or otherwise share employer salary ranges. Make, document and monitor special exceptions. "Exceptions will happen," Segal said. What is important is that HR documents the exceptions at the time they are made, he added. Pay-Equity Laws States are also passing pay-equity laws, which go beyond the federal Equal Pay Act. While the federal law mandates equal pay for equal work, the state laws require equal pay for comparable work, Segal said. States that have recently passed such laws include California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. The states' pay-equity laws differ from one another, creating additional challenges for multistate employers, Segal said. For example, while the Massachusetts, New York and Washington state laws apply only to differences in pay between men and women, the laws in California, Maryland, Oregon and New Jersey take into account other protected factors as well. The laws generally provide the same defenses to a claim of unequal pay, Segal said: Seniority. Performance. Experience. Location (except in New Jersey). "Employers should expect more of these laws, and not only in blue states," Segal said, noting that Indiana, Pennsylvania and South Carolina currently have pay-equity bills pending. The emergence of these laws raises the question of whether an employer should undertake a pay-equity analysis, Segal said. But what test do you use, he asked, noting that the state laws use different standards for comparing jobs. Must the jobs be "comparable" or "substantially similar"? Are the workers "similarly employed"? Segal advised that, if an employer decides to do a pay-equity analysis, it should use an expert so that "it is done right, and the expert can testify in the event of a lawsuit." LGBTQ Issues Current federal law provides no explicit employment protection for sexual orientation or gender identity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) employees, Segal noted. However, 24 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, offer employment protections based on sexual orientation, and 22 states offer protections based on gender identity. In addition, at least 200 municipalities have passed laws providing employment protections based on applicants' and employees' sexual orientation and gender identity. Segal recommended that multistate employers maximize inclusion, even in states that have not passed their own laws. "You don't say, 'We reserve the right to discriminate in Ohio,' for example," he said. Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Currently, numerous states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, require employers to provide some paid sick leave. We will see more ballot initiatives on this topic, especially in purple states, Segal predicted. Once again, these laws vary from state to state. The differences include: Accrual rate. Carryover obligation. Minimum increments. Because of these differing laws, Segal said, employers may want to make handbooks "a thing of the past [and] have separate libraries for each state." Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer in Annapolis, Md. After more than a year of working to get the final approval, Disney has officially sealed the deal on its $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The merger gives the entertainment giant full control over a number of 21st Century Fox entities including the company's entire movie studio division, its 30 per cent stake in streaming service Hulu and the Fox Television Group. "This is an extraordinary and historic moment for us -- one that will create significant long-term value for our company and our shareholders," Bob Iger, Chairman-CEO, Disney, said in a statement, Variety reported late on Tuesday. "Combining Disney's and 21st Century Fox's wealth of creative content and proven talent creates the pre-eminent global entertainment company, well positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era." Despite the acquisition, Fox Corp. would retain its independence and entities like Fox News and Fox Sports in the US. Disney now has a controlling 60 per cent stake in Hulu and analysts predict that Iger will try to gain even more ownership over the streaming service, according to The Verge. Read More News: Microsoft releases refreshed 'Skype for Web' on Chrome, Edge browsers Medtech firm wins Qualcomm challenge for start-ups STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Despite bizarre behavior displayed by the alleged killer of Gambino crime boss Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali during his extradition hearing and in the weeks before the murder, the suspect knows what he did the night of the slaying, according to a law enforcement source. He definitely has some issues, but he knows what he did," the source said. "I doubt he could mount an insanity defense. Anthony Comello, 24, of Eltingville, is expected to appear for arraignment next week in Criminal Court in St. George, after police say he appeared to have lured Cali out of the mobsters home on Hilltop Terrace with a deliberate car crash, then shot him after a brief discussion. Sources said the motive for the killing remains uncertain, though previous speculation that Comello was enraged after Cali denied a shot at a relationship with the mobsters niece seems less likely. There is also no evidence at this time that Comello was tapped by a rival organized crime outfit to carry out a hit. It may prove that the suspect is a mob-obsessed conspiracy theorist, another source said. Police said Tuesday that in the weeks leading up to the slaying, Comello attempted a citizens arrest on Mayor Bill de Blasio and other elected officials. After his arrest, he told investigators he feared Cali was going to come after him, sources said. Then, during an extradition hearing Monday, he displayed to the media scribblings on the palm of his hand that referenced President Trumps Make America Great Again slogan, along with the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits Trump is attempting to save the planet from a global pedophile human trafficking ring that involves high-ranking politicians and Hollywood figures. Comellos attorney said Wednesday that he hasnt yet decided on a defense strategy moving forward. I have made no statements about what our defense would be, said Manhattan-based attorney Robert Gottlieb. This is a very serious matter that requires very thorough investigation and thats exactly what we are doing. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Scarlet McMaster and Annadale native Matthew Sclafani Jr. take the saying love is in the air literally. The pair met at the Boston Logan Airport one year ago, when McMaster was a flight attendant on the plane Sclafani piloted. Just before McMasters birthday, the Monsignor Farrell alumnus recruited a dozen passengers to help him create the perfect proposal. It went better than I dreamed it would, Sclafani told SILive after it happened. I knew the gate that her aircraft was arriving at, so I went up to the gate agent to ask if I could make a podium announcement. As McMaster made her way down the ramp, she was greeted by strangers handing her roses saying Scarlet, this is for you. After the Long Island native accumulated the dozen roses, the crowd began to cheer as Sclafani got on one knee behind her saying: I fell in love with you in this airport and I want to ask you to spend the rest of my life here. Will you marry me? The Staten Islander presented her with a two-carat, solitaire-cut ring. After the first rose I received, I thought it was just a birthday thing, McMaster told SILive, still riding the high of excitement. I became overwhelmed, not in a bad way, but in a surprised, happy way. Her response to the question was: Absolutely, of course. The couple says after Sclafani popped the question, they couldnt keep their hands off each other. They celebrated McMasters birthday in New York shortly after they left Boston. Although neither of their families could witness the big moment in person, the couple plans to have future celebrations at home. As we wrote in 2013, Sclafani has been flying since before he had his drivers license. For decades, the Catholic Church has turned a blind eye to the child predators in its ranks and refused to be held accountable for the thousands of lives it ruined. Yet it took less than two days for the Brooklyn Diocese to respond to a joke on Saturday Night Live that compared the Catholic Church to R. Kelly. There is no greater evidence that the Church refuses to take its child abuse problem seriously. It is clear the priorities lie in feigning outrage, not actually changing the culture of secrecy and abuse that has become the tenet of the modern Catholic Church. Take, for example, the recent Vatican conference on sexual abuse of minors that was portrayed by many as a positive step forward by the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the conference failed to establish any real solutions or tangible outcomes for survivors of clergy abuse. The Church has knowingly allowed abuse against minors to go on for decades, working hard to keep the abuse quiet and rotating sexual predators around different communities. Despite a contrite tone, Pope Francis proposed no concrete solutions to deal with the scourge of clergy abuse and failed to promise a zero-tolerance approach from the Church. Survivors of clergy abuse in New York and beyond deserve more. It is time for Catholic bishops in New York state to make real reforms rather than empty promises, and do what the participants of the Vatican conference refused to do focus on the survivors and enact concrete changes so that this abuse never happens again. For example, New York bishops must convene a statewide summit and actually listen to the voices of survivors, not the clergy and institution that allowed this corruption to happen. By failing to prioritize the needs of survivors, the Church is once again choosing its leadership over the people it has failed to protect for decades. The Church must also implement a zero-tolerance policy towards abusive clergy members and the priests and bishops who protect them, resulting in automatic dismissal from the clerical state. In addition, candidates for the priesthood should have to undergo more rigorous screening to help prevent such abuse from occurring in the first place. Finally, the Vatican must reveal everything it knows about the destruction of files that could have prevented some abuse from occurring. The Church has proven that it cannot be trusted to do the right thing, so it must be forced to be entirely transparent and provide answers to questions survivors have struggled with for decades: What did the Church know about clergy abuse and when? And why didnt it do more to stop it? Part of ending the culture of covering up is holding abusive priests, the individuals who protected them, and the Church accountable in court. Despite resistance from the likes of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Child Victims Act was recently signed into law, creating more opportunity for survivors to seek justice and get answers. The new law gives survivors of sexual abuse more time to seek criminal or civil charges against their abusers and creates a one-year window for survivors to file lawsuits that were previously barred by the statute of limitations. It helps ensure that from now on, survivors of sexual abuse in New York will not be silenced. For the Church, the new law means they will be held accountable for the mistakes of the past that theyve never had to address in the legal system before. The culture of covering up the exploitation of innocent children will be exposed, and the Church will be forced to change its ways so that future generations do not fall prey to the same tragic abuse. Hopefully, through the bravery of survivors who have come forward so far, others who have experienced similar abuse will be inspired to come forward and seek the answers they deserve. All survivors of sexual abuse now have the opportunity to pursue the truth and demand complete transparency from the Church. Nothing can reverse the trauma of sexual abuse that survivors will live with their entire lives, but justice is a good place to start. (Anthony J. Raiola is a Staten Island resident who grew up in Brooklyn and says he was abused by his high school principal at Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School. Michelle Simpson Tuegel is an advocate for sexual abuse survivors and of counsel with New York-based Seeger Weiss LLP.) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A New Dorp man sold a sizable amount of cocaine to an undercover cop last year, and his payoff is a stiff prison sentence. Jose Machicote, 43, of the 200 block of Mill Road, pleaded guilty Monday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, the top charge against him. The defendant had been accused of multiple counts of criminal drug sale and criminal drug possession. In pleading guilty, Machicote admitted to peddling at least two ounces of cocaine to an undercover officer in Grant City in January 2018. In exchange, Machicote will be sentenced on April 2 to eight years in prison and five years post-release supervision. Defense lawyer Mark J. Fonte declined comment on the case. Assistant District Attorney Travis Atkinson is prosecuting it. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The flush times are finished for the head of a Staten Island special-needs preschool who, officials said, pocketed public money to lavish gifts, such as pricey cars and flowers, on his family and to create a no-show job for his wife. Now, Dennis Mosesman, 71, and his spouse, Elsie Mosesman, 72, are on the hook for nearly $800,000 after pleading guilty to grand larceny for siphoning off cash designated for the former Gingerbread Learning Center. In January 2018, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the Mosesmans indictments. They said the couple had falsified records for the preschool, which had sites in Willowbrook and Annadale serving 3-to-5-year-old kids with special needs. A 2015 audit by the state comptrollers office determined items listed on Gingerbreads consolidated fiscal reports for the three fiscal years ending in 2011, 2012 and 2013 were not reasonably related and necessary to the schools operation, authorities said. Dennis Mosesman claimed the money went toward program-related items, such as car and insurance payments for two Mercedes-Benzes, a Porsche and a Toyota Highlander; flowers for his wife and daughters; cell phone payments for his daughter and son-in-law; life insurance on himself with his wife as beneficiary, and gifts cards, officials said. The audit, McMahon said, was prompted by an anonymous complaint received by the state Department of Education alleging Elsie Mosesman was a no-show employee. She was listed on the company website as the schools educational director and was making about $100,000 annually, plus fringe benefits, said authorities. In all, the couple stole more than $770,000 in public funds, officials said. The preschool program closed last August, according to Advance reports. The West Long Branch, N.J. residents each pleaded guilty on Monday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to second-degree grand larceny. In exchange, they must pay $625,000 in restitution and forfeit assets of $175,000 by their June 18 sentencing date. They will be sentenced then to five years probation. Stealing funds designed to help special-needs children is abhorrent, said DiNapoli in a statement. Thanks to my staff in partnership with District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and the New York City Police Department, these individuals are now convicted felons and must pay back the money they stole. Said McMahon: This couple has been convicted of stealing taxpayer money that should have gone to help special needs children, but instead was spent on personal indulgences. While we believe such despicable crimes deserve nothing short of time behind bars, the judge on this case ultimately undercut our offer and instead sentenced the defendants to serve five years probation. They are now convicted felons and will be required to pay full restitution for the money they stole." McMahons spokesman said prosecutors had offered Dennis Mosesman six months in jail and five years probation, plus restitution and forfeiture, while his wife was offered five years probation along with restitution and forfeiture. In response, Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said, The sentence handed down by Judge (Alexander) Jeong was based on the facts and circumstances of the case. Nothing else. In a statement, Glenn Morak and Alan M. Abramson, Dennis Mosesmans lawyers, said their client and his wife ran the Gingerbread Learning Center for over 32 years. It was, without a doubt, an extraordinary school for special needs children. It is regrettable that the district attorneys office failed to exercise prosecutorial discretion and refused to resolve this case prior to the filing of an indictment despite our willingness to make full restitution, said the lawyers. It was widely recognized that Gingerbread was the best run special needs program in Richmond County, said the attorneys. "Every child received a comprehensive education and extraordinary services according to their individualized special needs. Not a single penny was diverted from the childrens needs or services. As result of this case, Gingerbreads Board of Education program is now closed. Although deeply saddened, Mr. and Mrs. Mosesman are pleased that this case is coming to an end. " Manuel Ortega, Elsie Mosesmans lawyer, could not immediately be reached for comment. Assistant District Attorneys Gregg Brown and Andew Botelho are prosecuting the case. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Rep. Max Rose is no socialist. If you didnt know that, the Democrat made it clear during the town hall meeting that he held on Staten Island on Monday night. Roses town hall comes less than three months after he was sworn into office. Which puts him ahead of his predecessor, former GOP Rep. Dan Donovan, who was slammed early in his tenure for failing to hold a town hall. Donovan was hounded by Democratic protestors throughout his time in office, including by those scarlet-wearing Handmaids. Funny thing, though. Its some of those same progressive Democrats who might eventually get in Roses hair. Figuratively, of course. Rose ran and won as a centrist. Which makes sense in the 11th Congressional District, where a lot of Democratic voters lean conservative. But the national party is changing around Rose and his centrist classmates. Dems like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are wrenching the party ever leftward. Top-tier presidential candidates are vying to out-progressive one another. What was once extreme a government takeover of health care, total elimination of fossil fuels, guaranteed income for all, free college tuition is now in vogue. But socialism isnt Roses game. For instance: The Green New Deal, championed by Ocasio-Cortez and other supporters as a bill that will save the planet from the horrors of climate change. At the town hall, Rose said that while climate change is the most significant national security crisis that we face, he is not a signatory to the Green New Deal. The legislation, he said, takes a socialist economic agenda and puts it under the umbrella of environmentalism. Thats not who I am, Rose said. Instead, Rose favors cap-and-trade, the building of smart-grid infrastructure and improvements in battery technology to better harness wind and solar power. Rose has irked the left before. He was among those Dems who joined House Republicans to vote for an amendment that would allow ICE to be notified if an illegal immigrant tried to buy a firearm. The vote enraged progressives, and Ocasio-Cortez vowed to keep a list of centrist Dems who stray from the fold. Rose isnt worried about having to walk a line between his district and his socialist colleagues in the House. I dont have to walk any line, Rose told reporters after the town hall.. The person I am is the very person that these folks, and people all across Staten Island and South Brooklyn elected. And thats someone whos on their side. On the side of the working class and the middle class, and on the side of the men and women who have been ignored and ripped off for more than a generation. He said, The Democratic Party can do whatever they want to do, alright? Im not a socialist. But what I am is an old-school Democrat thats going to focus on the working class and the middle class. So, no worries about anybody keeping lists and taking names? I dont have a worry in the world about them, Rose said. Not a worry in the world. They can yell and kick and scream all they want, they can even come primary me. Well beat them, and well send them back to wherever they came from. If anybody in the crowd of about 200 is worried about Roses bona fides, they didnt show it. The town hall was a civil affair, and Rose was at ease working the crowd. He joked that his House lapel pin was actually a listening device for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said he loved the multi-part questions from the crowd. He took a dig at Mayor Bill de Blasios low tax bill. And Rose at the town hall showed that hes reliable on plenty of core Democratic issues. He pledged to be a militant defender of labor unions. Hes against President Donald Trumps border wall. Hes a yes on the Dream and Promise Act, which would give the so-called Dreamers a path to legalization. He thinks 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote. Rose understands what got him to Washington. Frankly, he should be so lucky as to be placed on AOCs naughty list. Few things would go over better in the district. And I bet Rose knows it. STATEN ISLAND -- Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that hes confident in his administrations ability to find the right location for homeless shelters and open them right away. During an appearance on Inside City Hall, the mayor defended his plan to open 90 new homeless shelters across the five boroughs over the next five years. His remarks come as residents on Staten Island fiercely oppose the de Blasio administrations plan to open a 200-family homeless shelter at 44 Victory Blvd. on the North Shore by next winter, and a 22-bed all-female shelter at Mount Loretto on a site owned by Catholic Charities. Earlier this week, dozens also protested in front of the home of Commissioner of Homeless Services Steve Banks to demand that he and the mayor be more transparent about how the city opens homeless shelters. Were going to prevail because we have the right to find a location and put it in place without going through the normal extensive review process, the mayor said. We do want to communicate with communities. We do want to build as much consensus as possible. We want to make adjustments according to community concerns. You know, a lot of times well propose a site and people will have a concern and Ive said to many Council members and others, give us a different site and if it works were very open to a better alternative. Before a shelter opens, the city gives communities 30 days notice to voice any potential concerns about a site. However, before that notification, the public can't immediately see what the plans entail, because the city's procurement rules do not require contracts to be made available to the public until they are reviewed and finalized. The city says there are currently 618 households -- or 1,332 individuals -- from Staten Island experiencing homelessness who are living in city shelters around New York City. However, Staten Island just has one city shelter big enough for 140 people. Whats not up for debate is whether were going to have shelters in the very kind of community that needs them, he continued. And that was the plan I put forward almost two years ago. I said were going to reorient the whole shelter system to where people actually come from. Staten Island is an easy example. A thousand or so folks I think more than 1,000 come from Staten Island who are in our shelter system, historically sent off the Island for shelter that disconnected them from family, friends, the kids school it made no sense. Weve obviously announced that were going to be setting up shelter facilities in Staten Island. Last month, the North Shores Community Board 1 voted overwhelmingly in favor of suing the city to stop the homeless shelter from coming to 44 Victory Blvd. Not just CB 1, but the heads of the neighboring civic associations said if the Islands elected officials would not try to stop the shelter from being built, the community would figure out a way to stop it themselves. A group of Island elected officials also submitted a list of alternative sites for the city to consider before moving forward with the planned 200-family homeless shelter. However, they declined to say which sites they pitched. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Crossroads Church in New Dorp is saying thank you to the NYPD with its annual Police Appreciation Day, which highlights the sacrifices and work police officers do by putting their lives on the line every day. The event will take place on Wednesday, March 27, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. with an award ceremony at 1 p.m. It will take place inside the church, and commanding officers, retirees, active duty officers and their families are expected to attend and participate throughout the day. Pastor Ray Parascando, the organizer of the event, said the concept started in 2014, when he feared many residents had a negative stigma of police, and sought to try and change that view by showing all the good that they do. In 2015, the first ever Police Appreciation Day commenced with officers from not only Staten Island but all over the city of New York as well, awarding retirees, active duty members and their families. One of the goals of doing an event like this was providing education to our younger generation and rather than have arguments and marchers, one of the most powerful things we can do is just appreciate one another, Parascando said. The pastor anticipates that this will be another successful year and says that we should become more unified together and that theres great power in recognizing peoples efforts. These people have families, theres people behind these shields and regardless of what somebodys age is, or their race is, at the end of the day they want to go home to their family too and their family wants them to come home, he said. At the end of the day, we have to look at that bigger picture and I felt thats what this event was geared toward. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The slain mob boss of the Gambino family was laid to rest Tuesday morning during a private burial at Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp. At around 9:30 a.m., the casket carrying the remains of Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali, 53, was carried out of Scarpaci Funeral Home in Pleasant Plains. Family members exited out another entrance. Mourners took part in a procession to Moravian. Four unmarked black law enforcement cars were parked across the street, each with a male driver armed with a hand-held radio used to communicate with each other and cameras with 500 mm lenses about a foot wide, according to a New York Post report. Thats just standard Investigation 101, a source told the Post of the authorities photos. They want to know who shows up, who the players are, whos going to possibly take over, whos active, whos not, the pecking order." Unfortunately, its very limited, the source added of the scope of the group. But they have to take what they can get. About three dozen long-stemmed white roses were scattered in front of Calis crypt, which bore a temporary white-tape label that read FRANCESCO CALI 1965 2019," the Post reported. Cali was gunned down in front of his home on Hilltop Terrace last week. Anthony Comello, 24, of Eltingville, was arrested Saturday in New Jersey in the vicinity of a blue pickup truck police say was seen leaving the crime scene. Police said video surveillance of the encounter outside 25 Hilltop Terrace shows the suspect pull out a handgun about a minute into a conversation with Cali and fire 12 shots, at least six of the bullets striking Cali, who was pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, authorities said. Neighbors on Comellos block in Eltingville said they knew him to be good kid, and a nice guy. During an extradition hearing Monday, Comello appeared in court with the words MAGA forever," and what appears to be a reference to QAnon in blue ink on his hand. A law enforcement source said Comello told detectives he feared Cali was coming after him in the days leading up to the shooting. Police, and some experts, havent completely ruled out a mob angle for the shooting. Comello remains in lock-up in New Jersey. He is expected to be brought back to Staten Island for an arraignment in the coming days, perhaps next Monday, according to his lawyer. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Starbucks is changing the way its loyal customers are rewarded with free drinks and food. The coffee giant announced Tuesday its plans to change the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program -- allowing members to earn and redeem stars, or reward points, faster, and given them more redemption options. Starbucks said the current programs more than 16 million members will have more flexibility and choice when redeeming reward stars, beginning April 16. Members earn two stars for every $1 spent when using their registered Starbucks -- which will continue under the new loyalty program. Since introducing Starbucks Rewards 10 years ago, weve experienced tremendous growth and continued to evolve the program to meet the changing needs and purchase patterns of our customers, said Matthew Ryan, Starbucks chief marketing officer. These new updates put choice in the hands of our customers and a personal touch they can only get from Starbucks. Instead of redeeming a free drink or food item for 125 stars under the current program, Starbucks is introducing a new, tiered rewards structure. The company said this will offer customers more ways to use their rewards points toward free items. Here is the new Starbucks restructured rewards program: 25 stars: Extra espresso shot, dairy substitute or additional flavor. 50 stars: Brewed hot coffee, hot tea or select bakery items. 150 stars: Handcrafted drink, hot breakfast or yogurt parfaits. 200 stars: Lunch sandwich, protein box or salad. 400 stars: Select merchandise or packaged coffee. A breakdown of Starbucks' new rewards tier. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A Staten Island tax preparer who tried to bilk his clients and the government of $1.3 million is instead behind bars and on the hook himself for thousands of dollars. Tom Shin, 36, was sentenced Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $335,000, authorities said. He is also subject to two years of supervised release stemming from his prior guilty plea to aiding the preparation of a false tax return and wire fraud, said officials. Authorities did not provide a street address for the defendant. Federal prosecutors said the scheme worked this way: Two unidentified individuals hired Shin to prepare their joint federal and state tax returns for 2017. Afterward, the defendant showed them completed tax returns which said they owed about $1.3 million in taxes to the government, said prosecutors. However, unbeknownst to the clients, Shin filed false tax returns on their behalf indicating they owed no taxes, authorities said. Shin, who had filed extensions to submit his personal tax returns, then directed tax authorities to withdraw about $1.3 million from his clients bank account. He then filed his personal tax returns seeking a $1.3 million refund, said prosecutors. The net result of the alleged scheme would have been a transfer of about $1.3 million from the clients bank account to Shin, officials said. Instead of honestly performing the tax service he was hired to do, Tom Shin used his expert knowledge in a scheme to defraud his clients of more than $1.3 million that was intended to pay taxes owed to the federal and state governments, said Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Shin has been held accountable for breaching his clients trust. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett M. Kalikow prosecuted the case. Berman thanked the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Taxation and Finance for their work on the case. The name of Shins lawyer was not immediately available. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The suspect arrested in connection with the shooting of the Gambino family crime boss, Francesco Franky Cali attempted to make a citizens arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasio and multiple other elected officials weeks before the slaying, authorities said. NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said that Anthony Comello, 24, of Eltingville, showed up at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, where he asked to make a citizens arrest of a number of elected officials. According to Miller, Comello wanted to make a citizens arrest of Maxine Waters, the U.S. representative for Californias 43rd congressional district, and Adam Schiff, the U.S. representative for Californias 28th congressional district. Comello was noted to be making rambling statements during the incident, Miller said, and blamed Nancy Pelosi and all kinds of other people for stealing the election. It appears Comello was referencing the recent midterm election. Based on that incident and the language used there, his description and image, police officers who were assigned to Gracie Mansion recognized him as an individual that they encountered the following day, Feb. 22, as somebody who showed up asking to make a citizens arrest of the mayor, Miller added. While officers spoke to Comello following the Gracie Mansion incident, he reportedly left the scene before more police arrived. Comello will be returned to Staten Island over the next week to face charges in the brazen assassination in which Cali, 53, was gunned down in front of his home on Hilltop Terrace on Wednesday. His wife, children and niece were home when Cali ran out front to check on what he thought was a car accident, but turned out to be an ambush. During an extradition hearing in New Jersey on Monday, he held his open handcuffed palm up to reporters, showing a symbol and several words scrawled in pen. MAGA forever and united we stand were some of the phrases he had printed, while others were not entirely legible. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sex offenders who use the subway to hunt and grope their victims have been getting away with little to no punishment, says state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), who has for years been pushing for stricter penalties for acts of forcible touching. Savino made a fresh call for tougher laws Tuesday, after a Brooklyn Councilman proposed banning sexual offenders on public transportation. Recidivist transit sexual offenders use the trains and buses as their hunting ground, assaulting, abusing and terrorizing other riders, said Councilman Chaim Deutsch, the Post reported. Savino said in response on Tuesday, While banning these repeat offenders is a smart idea, the fact of the matter is that if these crimes were appropriately punished these people would not be on our trains to begin with. In 2017, state Sen. Diane Savino released Perverted Justice: How Subway Grinders Continue to Victimize New Yorkers, a report that outlines subway sex crimes since 2014 and how theyre reported. According to the report, more than 600 women are victims of sex crimes on the citys transit system each year, 40 percent of which go unsolved. The report also outlines the increasing rate at which these crimes are being committed. There were 620 reported sex crimes in 2014, 738 in 2015, and 941 in 2016 a 51.77 percent increase over three years, the report states. Additionally, it states: Statistics this year also indicate that the NYPD has a 44.7 percent arrest ratio of sex crimes reported in the subway, meaning that more than half of cases will remain unsolved, and based on the one-third percentage of repeat offenders, many of these unsolved cases are likely caused by repeat offenders. STATEN ISLAND WOMAN GROPED ON SUBWAY; SUSPECT STILL AT LARGE On Aug. 31, 2018, Staten Island resident Chantal Castanon was groped by a man while walking down the stairs in the 42nd Street station when an unidentified man suddenly grabbed her buttocks, according to police. The grip was so strong, the 26-year-old said, that she felt the mans hand long after the incident was over. Castanon then chased the man down and began punching him as he tried to get away, surveillance footage shows. I didnt even think about it. I just went after him and hit him, and I kept hitting him Castanon told NBC. I was willing to take whatever punches of whatever he was willing to throw back at me." The suspect in Castanons case is still at large. In February, a Staten Island woman caught a man exposing himself on the Staten Island-bound SIM4C bus. The 38-year-old woman who asked to remain anonymous, said she woke up to the man pleasuring himself while gawking at her. Police arrested Amado Rodriguez, 40, of Bulls Head, and charged him with public lewdness, exposure of a person, criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana. LEGISLATION WOULD CHANGE DEFINITION OF SEXUAL ABUSE Savino introduced new sex abuse legislation in 2013 and it passed the Senate in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but has not been brought up for vote in the Assembly. The bill would change the definition of sexual abuse in the first degree, which is currently defined by forcible touching. Under the legislation, first degree sexual abuse would be related to an offender who makes sexual contact with a victim without the victims consent. The offense would be a class D felony and punishable by up to seven years imprisonment and up to $5,000 in civil penalties. Currently, forcible touching is considered a class A misdemeanor and carries up to one year imprisonment and up to $1,000 in civil penalties. The bill also amends the law related to public lewdness in the first degree to include within the offense of a person who commits the act while being a passenger on public transportation. Its time for the legislature to pass this legislation to send a message that these crimes are taken seriously and ensure that its safe for women to ride the train in New York, Savino said. Happy World Happiness Day! The world happiness day is celebrated around the world today. In Finland, its a normal Wednesday. In late March it means that its a grey day and raining, but all of the snow still hasnt melted. Oh wait, the rain just turned into snow. I check Twitter, where people are talking about the World Happiness Report, in hopes of finding any happy Finns. Its an insider joke everyone here knows you only go to Twitter to complain about things. But Im persistent. What makes Finns happy today? I find some answers. Family, nature, freedom. Walks in the forest, safety. Having a roof over your head. Being healthy, living in peace. Good education, safe food. Sounds like we Finns live and breathe Maslows hierarchy of needs, and when the pyramid has a solid foundation, there is some happiness on the top too. Being born in Finland is like winning a lottery is a Finnish saying that I quite didnt understand before living in other countries. After 20 years of living in other countries, I moved back to Finland because now I agree. The infrastructure, the way things are taken care of, the basics for our well-being they are all just taken care of in Finland. And its not like I had bad countries to experience ten years were in the USA and then some years in Germany, Canada, and Sweden. All great countries, where I was happy. Just not feeling quite the same as in Finland. Finland is the happiest country in the world The World Happiness Report 2019 results are in, and Finland is the happiest country in the world, now the second year in a row, and now even more ahead of the second runner up, Denmark. Finlands happiness has also been rising since 2014, the report says. The World Happiness Report surveys the state of happiness of 156 countries and Gallup World Poll has been a primary source of global data behind the life satisfaction rankings. This years World Happiness Report focuses on happiness and the community: how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on the technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes. The World Happiness Report also measures social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, job security, corruption level, and LGBTQ rights. While many Finns think we should be doing much better on all of these we still rank up. But how do you really measure happiness? Is happiness a subjective feeling or something else? There is some critique to the method of measuring happiness, and Gallup World Poll could be measuring more of an overall wellbeing than happiness. But can you truly be happy, if you are not also feeling safe, or if you are feeling angry or threatened? What is Happiness in Finland really like? Finnish happiness is not being over the top happy or exited. Its more of being content, and focusing on making everyday life a little bit better than grand gestures or experiences of a lifetime. But can you be happy without showing you are happy? I guess I am questioning this a little bit because when I walk around Helsinki, I dont see many happy people. Actually when I smile, and open a door to someone, I am usually thanked in English (not in Finnish, my native language), because something in my mannerism must say that I am not a Finn. The everyday politeness is almost non-existent, and the nations favorite pass time is complaining. Actually one of the biggest differences in the culture here and the United States is the complaining. Even if things are generally OK, Finns complain much more than Americans in general. But Finns dont just complain, they take an initiative to fix things. Ah. Thats it. Finns are not complainers really, we are fixers. When things go wrong, the average American is much more likely to find a silver-lining than the average Finn is. But Finns we are willing to fight to the end to get something fixed for the better. And Finns dont do it for the glory or for the thanks, but because its the right thing to do. Finnish greatness often goes unnoticed, and even now when the global attention to our happiness is being noticed, wed rather not make too much noice about it. Does having money matter? The statistics used in the World Happiness Report focus on economics and the rational side of what people do: what they spend, how much they make and whether they have a job. But traditional metrics like these might not tell us much about peoples happiness. They say more about well-being and economical wealth. United States is leading with the GDP, but in the happiness index US comes 19th. Finlands GDP is 45th in the world. But compared to everyday life in the US, the average Finn doesnt seem that well off. We live in small houses, we drive old cars or take the bus, the lavish lifestyles dont exist here (Finnish luxury is drinking sparkling wine wearing handmade wool socks watching a lake view in the middle of nowhere). We are content in a different way. The difference is that in Finland our kids go to school for free (even college), eat a free lunch, get child allowance from the government, and our health care costs pennies, or is free. The everyday worries are different than in many other countries. Honestly, its not the people, its not the weather, its not the disposable income we have that makes us Finns as a nation happy. Its the infrastructure of putting the collective content ahead of individual or corporate happiness. Money matters, but seems like when it comes to happiness it matters more what governments do with the money than individuals. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! National Australia Bank has vowed it will not close any regional bank branches across Australia until at least January 2021, with acting chief executive Phil Chronican describing the pledge as an extension of its recent decision not to close any branches in drought-affected communities. "We are proud of our heritage in regional and rural Australia and we want our customers to know that our priority is to serve them, Mr Chronican said. "We also know that regional and rural Australia is undergoing significant change and impacts like bank branch closures are difficult for communities. "The local NAB branch and the bankers we employ can play a key role in supporting communities and customers through change and this decision provides certainty that we will continue to be there for them. A tie-up between Coles and food delivery giant UberEats to include food staples in home deliveries has been hailed as a "long overdue" innovation for supermarkets. In late January, Uber announced its Coles partnership would allow customers to order "ready-to-eat", "ready-to-heat" and "grab and go" options from Coles' Pagewood outlet. At the time Coles said it had no plans to deliver packaged groceries and staples through UberEats. But a rollout of the trial to selected stores this week offers customers access to goods like milk, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables as well as a range of desserts and snacks. Bayer shares have plummeted in Europe overnight while major herbicide companies have defended weed killer glyphosate following a successful US court action against the product, saying it had been used for decades and that many studies had confirmed the product was safe. "We continue to believe firmly that the science confirms that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer," Bayer said in a lengthy statement in response to a trial underway in the US District Court in San Francisco, California. Roundup is used around the world. Credit:AP On Tuesday, a US jury found in a unanimous ruling that the glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup was a "substantial factor" in causing the cancer of California resident Edwin Hardeman. The high-profile case, the second of thousands of Roundup lawsuits in the United States, will now advance to a second trial phase to determine Bayer's liability and potential damages. Households that have secured decent power discounts may be worse off in future under a fixed basic power price, as electricity retailers could cut these offers to recoup potential losses. The Grattan Institutes submission to the governments proposed default market offer (DMO) a potential regulated basic power price warns that if a standard price is set too low, electricity companies could be motivated to pull more discounted offers. A regulated default price has been introduced as a way of curbing historically high power prices. Credit:Caria Gottgens "The risk remains that retailers simply remove the best market offers or increase their prices to offset losses from reduced standing offers," the report said. In our view, a disengaged customer [who hasn't searched for the best deals] should not receive protection over and above what an engaged customer can reasonably achieve in the market." Platinum Asset Management's shares fell 11.1 per cent to $4.89. Street Talk reported that founder Kerr Neilson and Judith Neilson were selling a $300 million stake in the local fund manager. UBS was offering the couple's 60 million shares at $5 each, at a 9 per cent discount to their $5.50 closing price on Tuesday. Wisetech Global returned from a trading halt on Wednesday announcing the successful completion of a $300 million placement to new and existing institutional investors, with the funds set to be used to fund the company;s growth and acquisition strategy. The placement was issued at $20.90 a share. Wisetech's shares declined 0.8 per cent to $23.00. New Hope Corp shares fell heavily for the second day in a row, down 14.1 per cent to $3.34. Credit Suisse downgraded the coal miner from 'outperform' to 'neutral' following its disappointing profit result on Tuesday. Corporate Travel Management shares rose 4.4 per cent to $25.36. On Wednesday the company reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance and said it was targeting organic earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 15 per cent over the next two fiscal years. Stock watch WESTPAC Morgans retained its 'add' recommendation on Westpac following the bank's announcement that it will exit its personal financial advice business, and merge the group's wealth and insurance businesses into the expanded Business and Consumer divisions. The broker said it saw the changes as being positive for earnings the 2019-20 fiscal year, adding that Westpac remained its preferred major bank. "The personal financial advice business made a cash earnings loss of $53m in 2017-18," analyst Azib Khan said. "The changes announced [on Tuesday] are expected to be earnings per share positive (excluding any remediation costs) in 2019-20 due to exiting a high cost, loss-making business." Morgans retained its $33.00 price target on Westpac, at a 24.9 per cent premium to its $26.42 Tuesday close price. What moved the market EURO-ZONE BONDS Euro-zone government bonds have fallen sharply since the start of the year on the back o f a combination of safe-haven demand and the European Central Bank's re-launching of its asset purchase program. "We think that the prospects for core bonds in the remainder of 2019 are generally bright," said Capital Economics markets economist Simona Gambarini. "In particular, we expect global growth to remain weak, prompting investors to move away from risky assets into safe havens, like German Bunds. Although we anticipate that bond yields in the euro-zones periphery will in general decline by more than in the core in 2020, Italy might be an exception." PALLADIUM Precious metals rose on Tuesday, led by the platinum metal group, as the price of palladium hit a record high. The price of the precious metal rose above $US1,600 an ounce amid supply concerns and increased demand. Fiat Chrysler had been forced to recall more than 860,000 gasoline-fuelled cars in order to replace their catalytic converters with analysts estimating 77,000 additional ounces of palladium would be needed to fulfil this increased demand. That demand could be hard to fill however, with reports Russia is considering a ban on the export of precious metals scrap in order to promote domestic refining of the materials. NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR The New Zealand dollar has been one of the strongest performing currencies this week on the back of an increase in dairy prices at the country's twice-monthly dairy auction. "The key whole milk powder price increased by 4 per cent following year-to-date increases of 20 per cent," said CBA senior currency strategist Joseph Capurso. "The strength of dairy prices will support New Zealand's terms of trade and the New Zealand odllar's fundamental valuation." The industry in key to the country's economic health, with the dairy sector contributing $7.8 billion, or 3.5 per cent, to New Zealand's total GDP. CONFLICTING REPORTS "But I'm an emotional cripple," says the bad parker. "I don't care," responds the do-gooder. "That's the problem," the parker wails. "Nobody cares!" He delivers the punch line in a welter of tears and hyped up emotion. Fahey is a Canberra garbo by day and a stand-up by night, an incongruous combination. The first time he walked out on that unforgiving stage was eleven years ago in Melbourne. He had gone back to his mum to sort his life out and happened to meet an Aboriginal comedian who said that he also had the comic gift. It prompted him to work on material privately - and after three months he decided to give it a go for real. "I walked out on a stage to 500 people. From the first moment, I was hooked," he says. Indigenous comedian and garbage truck driver, Cy Fahey. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos "It was so surreal that I was making so many people laugh. It's like a power, but it's not a power to lord it over people. You're just giving so much to them. "The day that my daughter was born was the happiest moment of my life but the day I walked out on the stage was the greatest moment." Making people laugh is hard work. Routines have to be honed. Nerves have to be overcome. Gags have to be smoothed. Timing has to be perfected. Fahey likes to quote American comic Reginald D. Hunter, who said that "it takes ten years to be an overnight success". Not every performance gets them laughing in the aisles. He admits he has gone down like a lead balloon on occasion. "If you haven't bombed, you aren't a comic," he says. "It's the most soul-crushing experience but that's where the love of comedy comes out. True comedians keep going back for more. It's a bit like drug addicts chasing that high of big laughs." Analysing comedy can be deadly dull so ... Different groups have different styles. It's been said that English comedy often has an obsession with class differences - think of the great British sitcoms, from Fawlty Towers down. And Jewish humour has a strong dose of self-deprecation - of the gentle self-mocking of foibles within the community. So how is Koori humour different? Fahey says the routines often involve story-telling - episodes take unexpected turns and that is in the Aboriginal tradition. Another of the comics in the group, Bill Makin, says it's "very working class". "It's not aimed at the posh section of society," he says. Keed says they often make fun of racism and racists. Above all, it's about personal experience. Audiences need to identify with the situation. "It's about navigating your mum throwing a phone at you!" Makin says. One joke is about being mistaken for other downtrodden groups. Fahey, for example, was born in Malaysia on an RAAF base. As the son of a Djadjawurrung mother and a white father, his skin tone means he gets mistaken for an Italian. That prompts his dry joke about his own apparent European/Australian/Asian background, with the punchline: "Do you know how hard it is to eat kangaroo lasagne with chopsticks?" There is an element of "laugh or cry" to a lot of humour - the comic who laughs on the outside but cries inside. Fahey says he has suffered from depression in the past but "comedy has helped". He quotes the maxim that "tragedy plus time equals comedy" - that sadness, healed over time, leads to humour. In an early episode of The Heights, the ABC's 21st century Australian soap, two of the many characters go in search of a third who has fled her hospital bed and newborn son overnight. When talking to a housemate, the missing woman's brother, Ryan (Mitchell Bourke), starts playing the master detective. His old friend and fellow searcher, Ana (Cara McCarthy), has to rein him in. "OK, Miss Fisher," she says, suggesting he chill out. It's a good line and a telling reference. The Heights is currently airing on Friday nights at 8.30pm, which has previously been the very successful home of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, the risque-and-retro whodunit that had a large and dedicated audience. Quite why The Heights is in that timeslot is unclear. It's long been the preserve of, well, murder mysteries, but thankfully the new show's body count is currently zero. The ABC has tried something different with the series, which is set in and around a fictional and long-standing inner-city social housing apartment tower and its gentrifying surrounds. It's taken a leap forward in terms of inclusiveness, clearly making diversity on multiple fronts an identifying feature, while simultaneously resurrecting a genre that's long been the preserve of commercial networks. The ABC has an alternative to Neighbours and Home and Away, and I'm not sure it knows where to put it. A total of 30 half-hour episodes have been commissioned, which would disappear after a mere six weeks if the traditional soap schedule of weeknights Monday to Friday was adhered to. As it is, it's airing two episodes on a Friday night, at least until mid-April, when the show goes on hiatus for approximately two months so the highly anticipated second season of Killing Eve can take over. It's a baffling decision any momentum The Heights has gained will dissipate. Morris Property Group director Barry Morris grins after making one of three winning bids on the Stuart Flats for the company. Credit:Elesa Kurtz We're in for another overcast day, with a top of 27. But who's complaining? At least we aren't melting like we were a few weeks ago. Looking ahead to the weekend, you can expect showers and a top of 35 on Saturday, and 27 on Sunday. A handful of Canberra developers are no doubt celebrating after snapping up three former public housing complexes across the territory. Griffith's troubled Stuart Flats was split into four separate blocks for Wednesday's auction at Manuka Oval, with Morris Property Group - fronted by director Barry Morris and a man unknown to agents, Tony Yeend - snapping up three of them. Their combined $55.62 million haul included the largest of the Stuart blocks. Cassandra Morgan has all the details here. 'It's bad science': Bettongs in Lower Cotter release end up dead Revelations that 67 eastern bettongs had been killed in a release program devised in liaison with the government come as no surprise to academic Mike Braysher, who says he warned organisers. The animals had been wiped out from the Lower Cotter Catchment where they had been released between 2015 and 2017 by about March last year, manager of Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary, Dr Will Batson, confirmed. Adjunct professor at the University of Canberra Mike Braysher (pictured) is adamant there is no practical way to reintroduce bettongs into the wild. Credit:Jeffrey Chan Most of them, taken from captivity in Mulligans Flat and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve when they reached nine months, died immediately or shortly after they were released. The longest-surviving bettong died at 18 months. Eastern bettongs generally have a lifespan of five years in the wild, Dr Batson said. Two Australian far-right ringleaders banned by Twitter have urged supporters to follow them to shadowy messaging service Gab, a "free speech" alternative notorious for its use by extremists. Blair Cottrell and Neil Erikson, two men with criminal convictions who have preached neo-Nazi values on social media over recent years, have become markers in the debate over whether Facebook, Twitter and Google should do more to deal with extremist accounts on their platforms. Far-right figurehead Blair Cottrell at a rally in January. Credit:Darrian Traynor The two figures started publishing from their Gab accounts this week, and since Tuesday have urged followers through their remaining social media channels to join them. Australia's far-right scene is facing intense scrutiny following Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant's alleged killing of 50 people at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Far-right Queensland senator Fraser Anning spent more taxpayers' money flying his family around the country than any other politician last year. Senator Anning, who is under fire for blaming the Christchurch massacre on Muslim migration, also racked up the highest bill for staff travel of any MP who does not hold a ministerial or shadow ministerial role. Maligned Queensland senator Fraser Anning has lashed out at a young protester. Credit:ninevms Data from the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority released on Tuesday shows federal politicians claimed $139 million for all categories of expenses in 2018 an increase of about $10 million on the previous year. Senator Anning claimed $34,672 for family travel expenses on 44 trips between January and December more than any other MP. Derek Piggott, who has died aged 96, was recognised worldwide as an outstanding gliding instructor who established a number of altitude records. He also made numerous film appearances as a stunt pilot. In 1955, few glider pilots had flown above 20,000 ft. Piggott had flown a basic, open-cockpit two-seat glider in 1953, when his passenger was an Air Training Corps cadet, to a great height in a large cumulus cloud. Flying without oxygen and frozen stiff, Piggott abandoned the climb when he came out of the cloud at 17,000 ft over Derbyshire. British pilot Derek Piggott, in Australia to compete in the official Austraglide '84 titles at Benalla Aerodrome, broke several gliding records. Credit:The Herald & Weekly Times Ltd. Two years later, on July 14, 1955, thunderstorms were forecast over the gliding site at Lasham in Hampshire where Piggott was the chief flying instructor. He took off in a single-seat Skylark glider hoping to reach 16,000 ft, which would qualify him for the International Diamond Certificate. After releasing from a tug aircraft, he entered a large thundercloud and climbed rapidly in his plywood glider, which soon became covered in ice. To prevent the gliders controls freezing up, he had to make frequent, harsh movements of the control column in the cockpit. Hail battered the glider and he received a number of electric shocks but the up-draughts took him higher. On Monday, Sevens Sunrise host David Koch asked Pauline Hanson, This terrorist manifesto almost reads like One Nation immigration and Muslim policy. Do you in any way feel complicit in this atrocity? And then, "But most of the (Australian) terrorist attacks are right-wing white supremacist. We had Hilton bombings. We had IRAs (sic). Wrong. The Hilton bombing was detonated by an extreme leftist and the IRA was disinterested in Australia. Thankfully we can say no-one has ever died from an extreme right-wing attack in Australia. David Koch asking One Nation leader Pauline Hanson about the Christchurch shooting on Sunrise. Credit:Seven The aim of the Christchurch shooting and manifesto was to inspire others to do the same. That would likely set off a 1980s Northern Ireland-style tit-for-tat with the jihadis or Antifa and decades of mass causalities and bitter polarisation. We must take all necessary actions now to prevent it. Post the Cold War there have been two other massacres by right-wing extremists that overlap significantly with Christchurch. In 1995 white supremacist Timothy McVeigh killed 168 when he blew up a building of public servants in Oklahoma as revenge for the raid in Waco. In 2011 Anders Breivik in Norway killed 77 members of the youth division of their centre-left party. There have been dozens of other extreme right-wing attacks in the West in this era but thankfully only one other (the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting last year) had fatalities in double figures. Police have charged a Catholic priest over alleged historical indecent assaults in Sydney's west. Police commenced investigations in 2018 after receiving a report of alleged indecent assaults upon a 15-year-old boy at a high school in the Fairfield area in 1993. On Tuesday, officers attended a home in Berkeley and arrested a 61-year-old man. He was taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station and charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault - victim under 16 and aggravated indecency - victim under 16 and under authority. The man was granted conditional bail and is due to appear in Port Kembla Local Court on Wednesday May 15. The violent former head of an Australian right-wing group, who was recently jailed for attacking his neighbour, allegedly continued to post anti-Islamic material online under the nose of authorities, despite a court order specifically prohibiting him from doing so. Ralph Cerminara, a previous figurehead of the Australian Defence League, was handed a two-year good behaviour bond by a Burwood Local Court magistrate in May 2015 for inciting a brawl in Lakemba the previous December. Ralph Cerminara in a still from an online video posted to Facebook. He pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive manner while a charge of affray was withdrawn. Cerminara told the Herald in 2015 "we spent five weeks in jail" for insulting the prophet Muhammad, referring to his time in custody while the charges were pending. A swimming instructor charged with more than 30 offences related to the alleged sexual and indecent assault of eight young pupils was allowed to keep his job despite a complaint being made nine months earlier. Kyle Daniels, 20, a graduate of the prestigious Knox Grammar School who attends Sydney University, was charged last Wednesday with sexually touching a six-year-old girl and raping an eight-year-old girl. Kyle Daniels, right, who is accused of sexually assaulting two children he was teaching to swim. Credit:Facebook In the intervening seven days, six more alleged victims - all under the age of 10 - have come forward. Police have now laid an additional 28 charges, including eight counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, six counts of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 and 14 counts of indecently assaulting a person under 16. In a successful bail application on Wednesday, Manly Local Court heard that a parent made a complaint last August about Mr Daniels' "inappropriate holds" when teaching her young daughter to swim. Where 17-year-old Cody ends up sleeping every night depends on when and where he lands in the late afternoon. "If I end up in Wyong, I go to my uncle's. If I am in Narara, I go to my pop's; Erina, mum's," said Cody after eating a few serves of bacon and eggs at an Aboriginal Family Wellbeing program for young men aged 14 to 18 in Wyoming on the Central Coast. James and Malikye, both 14, playing pool at the Aboriginal family wellbeing program in Wyoming on the Central Coast. Credit:Louise Kennerley The program is designed to keep boys in school, out of jail, off drugs and alcohol, improve their mental health and develop their Indigenous identity and culture. "Without the program, male youth on the Central Coast would fall apart," said Anthony Freeman who is one of 200 men to complete the program. It is good the government is at last talking about population rather than boats. But the population plan it has released is very obviously a grab bag of measures rather than a carefully considered plan for Australias future. Imagine a population plan without a single reference to what the government considers is our best long-term population trajectory. A population plan that fails to explain how it will deal with the implications of our rate of population ageing even though this will have a major impact on our economy and society. The Prime Minister has moved to cut Australia's immigration intake, but the details will matter. Credit:Nine A population plan that largely avoids discussing how it will deal with our declining fertility rate, which is now at a record low, or our death rate, which will climb rapidly over the next 10 to 20 years. Imagine a population plan that studiously avoids explaining how the Prime Ministers commitment to create 1.25 million jobs will be delivered even though the rate of immigration-driven population growth will be crucial to delivering that commitment. Brisbane's new Metro transport service could be run by 60 electric vehicles when it begins in 2023. The choice of vehicle to make up Brisbane Metro will be made by mid-2019, Brisbane's deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said on Wednesday. The latest design image for Brisbane Metro. Credit:Brisbane City Council "At the moment we are considering all options for power trains," Cr Schrinner said. "We are looking at everything from fully electric through to more traditional power trains. Any effort to bring back extinct species needs to be done in conjunction with the people who share their space, a science forum in Brisbane has been told. The planet is in the grip of its sixth great mass extinction, scientists contend, but if we develop the power to raise species from the dead, should we use it? (From left) pannellists Duane Biggs, Andrew Pask, Kerrie Wilson, Thomas Hildebrandt and moderator Robyn Williams. Credit:Stuart Layt At the 'De-extinction Debate', one of the events being held as part of the World Science Festival on Wednesday evening, the audience asked to consider the return of the thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger. Scientists currently have its genome sequenced, and the techniques are being refined to develop a viable embryo. Practise your terrified faces, Brisbane, because Godzilla is coming to town or at least to the Wickham Terrace Car Park. Filming of Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Entertainment's Godzilla vs. Kong began on the Gold Coast in January, with its stars spotted across the region in the weeks since. Godzilla was rebooted in 2014. Godzilla vs. Kong, due to be released in 2020, will star Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things, True Blood actor Alexander Skarsgard and Baby Driver's Eiza Gonzalez. Production is expected to make its way to Brisbane soon, where filming has been booked out for several days at the end of March using the heritage-listed car park's open rooftop. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size At just a year-and-a-half old Rome Walker is the funniest kid ever, cheerful and happy all the time. But in his short life, Rome has already faced many challenges, including diagnoses of profound deafness and cerebral palsy. We had no idea, we had absolutely no idea, Romes mum Renae Whelan said. We were like yeah, he was normal, he looks normal, the pregnancy was normal - we just didnt see it coming, so it was very overwhelming. Everything changed after Rome was born, and for Renae and her partner Ryan Walker, life became a revolving door of specialist appointments and learning as much as possible about the future for Rome. Rome was born with congenital CMV, or cytomegalovirus, which affected his hearing and contributed to other issues. From birth we knew he had hearing problems because he didnt pass his newborn screening, Ms Whelan said. Advertisement So we went back and we did more testing and it still wasnt OK and I was in denial. We just kept going back and back and the hearing test kept coming back the same. Romes hearing gradually became worse, until he finally lost nearly all hearing in his left ear and his right ear began going the same way. He cant communicate with us, I know his signals but if someone else was to have him which no one does because I dont like leaving they probably wouldnt pick up on the signals of what hes trying to get at, Ms Whelan said. When I found out he was profoundly deaf I was in denial, even though I knew he had hearing problems and it could progress it was a bit of a shock. But on Wednesday a major breakthrough was made for Rome the switching on of his first cochlear implant. Rome Walker has seen plenty of challenges in his short life. Credit:Lucy Stone/Brisbane Times Advertisement Last week Rome had surgery to place the implant, and on Wednesday at Brisbane Hear and Say in Ashgrove, his family and friends gathered to witness the moment the implant was switched on. Grandparents and aunties, and his little brother Cove, just four months old, all waited at the specialist centre in a room specially designed to show families the moment their loved ones realise they can hear once more. Ive been coming here for months and I always see [upstairs] where they do the switch-ons and Im like, Ill be there one day, Ms Whelan said. And todays the day. Its so exciting but Im so nervous with everyone here. For Rome, it wasn't just his close family watching Ms Whelan has a following of 40,000 on Instagram where she raises awareness around raising children with profound deafness and cerebral palsy. Its been a long process with months of appointments and work, but as friends and family watched on, Rome and his parents went into a soundproof room with specialists from the centre. Advertisement Rome's family and friends assembled to watch the moment his hearing is given back to him. Credit:Lucy Stone/Brisbane Times Distracting Rome with toys, his implant was connected to a computer and switched on, pinging a set of simple sounds at different pitches to test his reaction. After a few trials, at one sound, Rome stopped playing and looked up, a serious expression on his face. The moment he reacted, a puppet show began next door, as the specialists work to train Rome to react hear a sound, look at the puppet show. Its a way to confirm he has heard the sound, rather than guessing based on a young child's subtle physical reactions. As the testing continued, Rome saw the puppet show multiple times, until the computer had logged enough of his reactions at different tones to create a map for the cochlear implant. Mapping the algorithm to set sounds to a comfortable frequency for Rome to hear, the specialists then switched on his brand new implant. Advertisement The electorate of Herbert, which includes Townsville, topped the list, with 55,460 land parcels exposed to flooding. Sixteen of those were in Queensland, while four were in New South Wales. Local residents salvage items from their flood-affected home in the suburb of Hermit Park in Townsville on February 6, 2019. Credit:AAP Image/ Dan Peled Analysis by the Insurance Council of Australia revealed 20 of Australia's most flood-affected federal seats. The flood-ravaged city of Townsville is Australia's most flood-prone area. Blair, which covers parts of Ipswich, was at number four, while Griffith, Moreton, Brisbane and Oxley, which cover Brisbane and Ipswich, were at nine, 10, 11 and 12. Insurance Council of Australia risk and disaster planning general manager Karl Sullivan said the research was a wake-up call to all levels of government about the urgent need to prioritise investments in flood mitigation. "Insurers are painfully aware that Queensland experiences more natural disasters than other states, but we were shocked that more than half of its electorates are so exposed to flood," he said. "Flood risk is one key reason why many householders and businesses in those electorates may pay high insurance premiums." The council analysed official flood data, collated from governments for the industry's national flood information database, which was matched against federal electoral boundaries. The judge who will decide the innocence or guilt of the accused Claremont serial killer has ruled evidence the state proposed to submit about extreme pornography found in his home is inadmissible. The decision was handed down during a case management hearing for Bradley Robert Edwards on Wednesday, where it was also revealed about 580 prosecution witnesses would be called to give evidence during the mammoth nine-month trial. A courtroom sketch of Bradley Robert Edwards from his pre-trial directions hearings in February. During the hearing, Justice Stephen Hall ruled on what propensity evidence the state would be allowed to submit at trial, and whether all eight charges against Mr Edwards would be heard in one trial or two. Propensity evidence is evidence which alleges an accused person has previously engaged in similar acts to those they are being trialled for. A man charged over the alleged attempted abduction of a 15-year-old girl in Mt Lawley has faced court. Sean Wood, 50, is alleged to have tried to abduct the teenager in August 2017 as she was jogging along Clifton Crescent. Police are alleging Mr Wood assaulted and threatened the girl about 8.40am before she was able to break free and run away. Police announced earlier this month they had charged a man over the incident with assault with intent to commit a crime, detained another with intent and threaten to kill. On Wednesday Mr Wood faced the Perth Magistrates Court for the first time on the three charges, appearing via video link from Hakea prison. News cycles may operate at a heady pace, with us moving to the next event with lightning speed. But like many others, my mind cant move from last Fridays terrible events in Christchurch. The individual stories are too hard to release from memorys grip. Like Hosne Ahmed who shielded her wheelchair-bound husband Farid from bullets. He lived, she perished. Or the unknown man whose last words were hello, brother as the gunman walked towards the door of the mosque. And three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim. A tiny child made the target of a truly heinous act. Three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim was killed in the Christchurch massacre. Credit:AP Public debate this week has rightly focussed on what speech should receive the benefit of being classed as free speech. But before we move to that, can we respect another freedom: the freedom to go about your daily life without fear and humiliation? Can a person visit a place of worship and simply pray in peace? Can a woman wearing a hijab walk down a street without worrying about having to wipe someone elses spit from her clothes? Can parents drop their kids off to school without being humiliated by a slur about their faith flung from window of a passing car? Or can people be free of being used to score political points or ratings for a media outlet? Thats the freedom I want to focus on. Our responses now are critical not just thinking about what must be done in the future, but also taking the time to look over our shoulder at where weve been and how weve acted. And we dont need blame shifting. Leadership should involve making yourself accountable. The social media giants should be more accountable for the content that spreads on their platforms. But so should traditional media outlets that allow extremist views to be aired outlets that knowingly do this not because of a deep commitment to freedom of speech but to exploit controversy for ratings. One Nation has a ready platform to chat with David Koch on Channel Sevens Sunrise program, while Channel Nines Sonia Kruger called for a ban on Muslim immigration without any negligible impact on her role in the network. And while Sky News presenter and former NT chief minister Adam Giles calls for a crackdown on social media content, lets not forget his role in hosting known extremists on his own show. Labor leader Michael Daley has struggled to explain the details of his signature election policies in a televised debate as voters prepare to go to the polls in three days. Mr Daley was debating Premier Gladys Berejiklian before a live audience of 100 undecided voters in Penrith when he failed to recall the costs of his TAFE policy or his Gonski education package two centrepieces of Labor's election. Premier Gladys Berejiklian arrives at the leader's debate on Wednesday night. Credit:Wolter Peeters Ms Berejiklian however stumbled over a question involving Sydney's M4, and whether motorists would be slugged with a new toll between Penrith and Parramatta. The Premier indicated there would be a toll before later tweeting that there wouldn't be. Opposition Leader Michael Daley blamed Wednesday night's televised stumbles over his signature election policies on the "pressure of debate". Mr Daley and Premier Gladys Berejiklian went head-to-head on breakfast television on Thursday morning, just hours after the Sky News-hosted debate on Wednesday which saw Labor leader Michael Daley struggle to explain key policy details. "Yeah, both of us made a couple of blunders last night, no doubt about that, under the pressure of debate," Mr Daley said when asked about his stumbles. "The Premier announced a new toll on the M4 which she corrected. I got capital and recurrent spending mixed up in education and TAFE, and that's what happens sometimes in the pressure of a campaign." NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has stepped up his apology to Asian Australians for his racially charged remarks, as it emerged that up to four Labor MPs have expressed their shock to him. With less than three days until the state poll, a remorseful Mr Daley changed his tune and offered an "unqualified" apology for telling Blue Mountains voters last year that "Asians with PhDs" were "moving in and taking jobs". NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley and City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore in Alexandria on Wednesday. Credit:Kate Geraghty Earlier, he offered a qualified apology to anyone who felt offended, but on Wednesday in a soft and contrite voice he said: "Im not [a racist], I've never been ... I did use words I shouldnt have, and my apology is unqualified." Labor has gone into damage control, taking out advertisements featuring a photo of Mr Daley and his family on the front pages of Chinese newspapers. Leaders in Sydney's Asian communities have condemned NSW Labor leader Michael Daley's comments about foreigners "moving in and taking the jobs" of young Sydneysiders as "extremely racist and offensive". In damage control after the video of Mr Daley's remarks became public, NSW Labor took out full page advertisements on the front pages Sydney's three Chinese language newspapers on Wednesday. Michael Daley campaigning on Tuesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley The ad features a large photo of Mr Daley with his wife and two children above the slogan: "Michael Daley and Labor. Put education and health before stadium construction." The advertisement also features head shots of Labor's candidates in 10 key Sydney seats that have a high proportion of Asian voters. Councils in Sydney's west have seized on the looming state election to push the major political parties for a better funding deal to drive down the booming area's "social infrastructure backlog". With days to go before NSW residents go to the polls, the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) has called on Labor and the Liberals to consider how, if elected, they will help meet the costs to councils of sports facilities, community centres, libraries and swimming pools. WSROC president, Cr Barry Calvert, said local councils struggled to find funds to build and maintain adequate levels of such infrastructure. The 50-metre outdoor pool at Lane Cove Aquatic Centre has been closed. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Those funding pressures were felt more keenly in rapidly growing areas such as western Sydney, Cr Calvert said. The ACT government has rejected a Canberra Liberals bill to create anti-consorting laws in a bid to combat outlaw motorcycle gang-related criminal activity, for the third time in two years. ACT Labor and the Greens on Wednesday voted down the opposition's latest bill to create the laws, despite the Liberals making some changes aiming to better protect human rights, in line with recommendations by the NSW Ombudsman on that state's anti-consorting laws. ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay has again rejected an opposition bill to create anti-consorting laws in Canberra. Credit:Karleen Minney Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay again rejected the proposals on the grounds academic evidence showed they would not curb criminal activity and could disproportionately affect vulnerable Canberrans including Indigenous residents and people experiencing homelessness. Mr Ramsay labelled the opposition's latest push for the laws as "gutter politics" aimed at creating media headlines, rather than actually strengthening efforts against organised criminals, instead pointing to recent government reforms to help seize criminal assets and extra funding to prosecutors. The Morrison government is forging ahead with plans to commemorate Anzac Day at Gallipoli despite an incendiary claim by Turkish President Recep Erdogan that Australians and New Zealanders could return in coffins in retribution for last weeks terror attack in Christchurch. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has despatched the Australian ambassador to Turkey to speak to Mr Erdogans presidential aides in Ankara to prevent a deepening dispute over the highly offensive remarks. The ambassadors talks in the Turkish capital will help determine whether the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade changes its official travel advice on whether Australians should head to Gallipoli next month to honour the dead from World War 1. Mr Morrison has said "all options are on the table" if he is not satisfied by Turkey's response to Australia's anger, leading to speculation the Prime Minister could expel Turkish ambassador Korhan Karakoc. Extended TV coverage of election day may become deflating, as the growing trend of pre-polling and postal votes slows down the count and means a winner may not be picked on the night. In 2007, 8.22 per cent of voters pre-polled nationwide, compared with 22.67 per cent at the 2016 federal election. Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers says pre-polling and postal voting "complicate" matters. Credit:Janie Barrett Pre-polling combined with postal votes was at 31.25 per cent of total ballots at the 2016 election. Australian electoral commissioner Tom Rogers said elections were starting to become a "voting period rather than a voting day". Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being warned against playing "footsie" with Pauline Hansons One Nation in a growing row over whether to put the minor party last on Liberal and National how-to-vote cards at the federal election. Senior Liberals including former Western Australian premier Colin Barnett said Australian voters would recoil from any hint of co-operation with Senator Hanson, outweighing the potential gain from trading preferences. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Liberals lost the Western Australian state election in March 2017 despite a preference deal with One Nation and then lost the Queensland state election in December the same year despite putting One Nation ahead of Labor in preference arrangements in dozens of seats. Mr Barnett said any agreement with One Nation was "fraught with danger" for the Liberals because it drove some voters to Labor and led to constant questions during the election campaign over support for Senator Hanson. The Morrison government faces its first test under the new medical transfer regime for refugees after doctors signed off on applications that are now sitting with refugee lawyers. It is expected the applications will be put to Department of Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo and Immigration Minister David Coleman by the end of the week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison travelled to Christmas Island to confirm the detention centre there was reopening. Credit:AAP Progress under the new system has been far slower than anticipated by the government, which predicted hundreds of refugees would be sent to Australia within weeks of the bill receiving royal assent. That occurred three weeks ago but no applications have yet been sent to the department for consideration. One of Australia's most prominent far-right extremists has escaped prosecution even though he left explicit, violent and repeated threats on the message bank of a Melbourne freelance journalist. The man who left the phone threats was Nathan Sykes, a lieutenant of Australias most prominent white supremacist, Jim Saleam. Mr Saleam founded the right-wing group National Action, and was previously jailed for property offences, fraud and planning the attempted murder of anti-Apartheid activist and African National Congress diplomat Eddie Funde. Extremist and online troll Nathan Sykes (front) and chairman of the Australia First party, Jim Saleam (behind). Credit:Twitter But despite receiving complaints about the threats, NSW police failed to interview Mr Sykes or lay charges, saying there was "not enough evidence". The news comes as senior former and serving security officials warn in the wake of the terror attack in Christchurch of an inconsistent approach across law enforcement agencies in dealing with right-wing extremist groups. Nairobi: On February 22, activists, reporters, and well-wishers from Kenya and all over the world gathered in a courtroom in Nairobi, hoping to witness a historic moment: the decriminalisation of homosexual conduct for the first time in conservative East Africa, a region where anti-LGBT crackdowns are common, sometimes even at the behest of presidents. A judge ultimately deflated the room with a last-minute postponement of the ruling fuelling the rumour mill that Kenya's top politicians were interfering but the mood wasn't glum. One activist joked that he'd have time to buy a snappier suit before the new date set for the ruling in late May. A collection of artwork made by Ugandan LGBT refugees at a safe house on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Credit:The Washington Post/Max Bearak But on that same day, 20 LGBT refugees who had come to Kenya hoping to escape repression in countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and Congo were spending their first full day in jail. Their ordeal has now lasted nearly a month and demonstrates the difficulties LGBT people in Kenya face regardless of what happens in the courts. The refugees were arrested en masse near the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in an upscale neighbourhood of the Kenyan capital. Police say they were creating a public nuisance, trespassing, and defecating in public. In interviews during visiting hours at Nairobi West prison, five of the refugees said the charges are trumped up and that they have suffered horrible physical abuse at the hands of prison guards and other prisoners. Geneva: A panel convened by the World Health Organisation in response to a Chinese scientist announcing last year that he had edited the genes of twin babies said it would be "irresponsible" for scientists to use gene editing for reproductive purposes, but stopped short of calling for a ban. The experts also called for the UN health agency to create a database of scientists working on gene editing. The recommendation was announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting in Geneva to examine the scientific, ethical, social and legal challenges of such research. Experts have particular concerns about gene editing babies because of possible DNA changes being passed on. Credit:AP "At this time, it is irresponsible for anyone to proceed" with making gene-edited babies since DNA changes could be passed down to future generations, the experts said in a statement. Last year, Chinese researcher He Jiankui rocked the scientific community with his announcement that he helped make the world's first gene-edited babies, altering the DNA of twin girls to try to make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Brussels: The European Parliament's main centre-right grouping voted on Wednesday to suspend Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz Party until further notice amid concerns that it has violated EU principles on the rule of law. Viktor Orban, Hungary\'s prime minister. Credit:Roni Rekomaa The decision of the European People's Party (EPP), made by a vote of delegates from member parties meeting in Brussels, came after widespread calls for Orban's party to be disciplined over its anti-immigration campaigns and contested judicial reforms. "The suspension entails: no attendance at any party meeting; no voting rights; no right to propose candidates for posts," EPP president Joseph Daul said in a tweet. Earlier, the EPP's lead candidate for the European Parliament's elections in May, Manfred Weber of Germany, backed the suspension of Fidesz pending an inquiry into its actions, which he said would have "enormous political bearing". Cairo: Egypt's top media regulator on Tuesday, local time, put into effect tighter restrictions that allow the state to block websites and even social media accounts with over 5000 followers if they are deemed a threat to national security. The move is the latest step by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to suppress dissent. In recent years, Egypt has launched an unprecedented crackdown on reporters and the media, imprisoning dozens and occasionally expelling some foreign journalists. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Credit:AP The new regulations, published in the official gazette late on Monday, allow the Supreme Media Regulatory Council to block websites and accounts for "fake news", and impose stiff penalties of up to 250,000 Egyptian pounds ($20,460), all without having to obtain a court order. Prominent Egyptian journalists have called the measures unconstitutional, saying they grant far-reaching powers to authorities to censor the media, in violation of basic press freedoms. The award, which comes with a $700,000 ($991,000) prize, will be presented to Uhlenbeck in May by Norway's King Harald V in Oslo. Uhlenbeck was recognised for her work in geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems, which have provided insights into modern physics, including the nature of reality and space-time, and has been called some of the most important work in 20th-century mathematics, the university said. Karen Uhlenbeck, who taught mathematics at the university from 1987 to 2014, has been awarded the 2019 Abel Prize, which recognises achievements in mathematics and is considered the most prestigious international award in the field. Fort Worth: A retired University of Texas professor has become the first woman to receive the world's top prize in mathematics, granted for her pioneering work in geometric analysis, which studies curved shapes and surfaces. "I can hardly believe it, and I am deeply appreciative," Uhlenbeck said in a statement on Tuesday. "Many thanks to the Norwegian Academy and the institutions and people who have contributed to what has been so far a full and interesting life. I hope that my selection for this award demonstrates that a great variety of individuals are capable of contributing to mathematics at the highest level." Uhlenbeck is most known for her 1980s work on the "calculus of variations", which helps explain how geometric objects such as soap films and soap bubbles achieve shapes that minimise energy. The work has been used by researchers to model the behaviour of electrical fields and other phenomena. She also made important contributions to "gauge theory" that help physicists create models of electromagnetism and gravity. Uhlenbeck has been recognised with several other awards in the course of her career. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1983; was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1986; was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2000; and received the Steele Prize for a Seminal Contribution to Research from the American Mathematical Society in 2007. "For more than three decades at the University of Texas, Karen Uhlenbeck conducted research that revolutionised geometric analysis and mathematics as a whole," UT President Gregory L. Fenves said in a statement. "She was an inspiring teacher and dedicated mentor to thousands of UT students, motivating them to reach great heights in their academic and professional lives." Andrea Nahmod, a mathematics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said she met Uhlenbeck as a post-doctorate student at UT and later collaborated with her on a project. She said the two would spend hours talking about ideas, sometimes missing lunch. Wellington: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Winston Peters would travel to Turkey to "confront" comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Credit:AP Erdogan - who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections - said on Tuesday that Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not. The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook. Vietnam has freed a key political dissident less than two weeks before the first US visit by a post-war Vietnamese head of state, a prison official and state media said Sunday. Nguyen Vu Binh, a 39-year-old journalist and so-called "cyber dissident," was released Saturday afternoon and allowed to return to his Hanoi home, the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said. It said President Nguyen Minh Triet had on Friday "granted amnesty to a man who was serving a jail term for spying." It named him as Binh, who was arrested in September 2002, jailed for seven years and given three years' house arrest. An official on duty at Nam Ha prison, about 50 kilometres (35 miles) south of the capital Hanoi, who declined to give his name, confirmed to AFP that Binh was released on Saturday. To: The Government of the Netherlands The Parliament of the Netherlands The Senate of the Netherlands The Organization of American States Bonaire, March 19, 2019 Subject: Objection to elections for members of the island council of Bonaire and the electoral college/council of the Dutch Senate organized by the Dutch government Dear Sirs, With this letter we Foundation Nos Kier Boneiru Bek, civil society NGO, with the trajectory to re-inscription of Bonaire on list of Non-Self-Governing-Territories of the United Nations object to both elections to be held on March 20, 2019. The people, citizens of Bonaire are invited to vote for the island council representatives which have no responsibilities or power to decide and govern the Bonerian peoples as the powers are held by the 2nd chamber, the Parliament of the Netherlands consisting of 175 members and the Dutch Senate consisting of 75 members situated in the Hague, Netherlands. This structure was imposed on the people of Bonaire by annexation through unilateral embedding of the territory of Bonaire and its peoples under unequal rights into the Dutch constitution. This current political system, a colonial structure, under Dutch rule which the Bonaire peoples has shown time after time their dissatisfaction of political alienation against and that has democratically been rejected trough referendum of 2010 and 2015. The election, a mockery to democracy, considered a Dutch democratic trap to legitimize the 1st chamber, the Dutch Senate, by voluntary participation, with the ultimate aim to legalize the current illegal status, the annexation, and embedding, and all imposed laws against the Bonerian peoples. This objection is simultaneously an act of solidarity with the peoples of our sister island Sint Eustatius which cannot vote because of the Dutch government undemocratic abusive actions of their unilateral legislative powers and military and police powers which deposed the legitimate elected government of Sint Eustatius February 2018 and appointed a non-elected ruler to govern and are depriving the citizens of St Eustatius of their democratic rights by blocking the scheduled free election. We further are urging the Organization of American States (OAS), Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation, through the Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy objective promoting and strengthening democracy that has been invited by the Dutch government to observe the Island Council elections on March 2019 to denounce their findings to the international community. The main objective of the Dutch government interest in this elections that comprise voting for the island council members and voting for the electoral council of the Dutch Senate is to legitimize the illegal 'colonial' status imposed on the Bonerian peoples on October 10, 2010. Sincerely Yours, James Finies, President Foundation Nos Kier Boneiru Bek (We Want Bonaire Back) PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry (COCI) Supervisory Board and Executive Director are offering a unique business opportunity for the Sint Maarten business community, an all-expense paid participation for a business owner to attend the upcoming SeatradeCruiseGlobal Conference that will take place from April 8-11 at the Miami Beach Convention Center bringing together approximately 11,000 professionals. SeatradeCruiseGlobal is considered the cruise industrys most significant worldwide event that presents the opportunity to promote the island and the business community. For additional information about the conference, you can visit: www.seatradecruiseglobal.com The unique opportunity is part of the Supervisory Board and Executive Director initiative in giving back to the business community after the experience of Irma and Maria in September 2017, to stimulate business activity and innovation in a challenging economic environment. COCI is celebrating its 40thanniversary this year and this initiative is part of the Chambers inclusion campaign to get registered businesses more involved in such initiatives. The selected business owner will be part of Team Sint Maarten that would include Port St. Maarten, representatives from the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and COCI, who will be at the Sint Maarten booth showcasing the latest destination developments. In order to be selected for the aforementioned, a locally registered business will have to pitch themselves in order to qualify. The campaign is open to all businesses that would benefit from attending the cruise conference. The winning business will receive a round-trip ticket to Miami, hotel accommodations, and a daily allowance and SeatradeCruiseGlobal conference pass. The person representing the business must be able to travel to the USA from April 7 to April 12, 2019; the business must be on good standing at COCI where their annual dues are concerned; must have marketing material that they can distribute at the cruise conference. The business owner must submit 90 seconds or less video why this business should be chosen and how this opportunity would benefit their business. The business owner must also submit a one-page biography of their business (history, type of business, current situation and future plans for the business); and must include contact information of the business owner. The deadline to submit the aforementioned is Monday, March 25, 2019 at 1.00pm. All information should be submitted by email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . The winner will be announced on March 28, 2019. Any businesses interested in attending the cruise conference at their own expense can also inquire about conference passes which COCI has available. PHILIPSBURG: --- Members of Parliament including those that support the current United Democrats /St. Maarten Christian Party Government posed several critical questions to the Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings when he appeared in Parliament on Tuesday to present the draft 2019 budget. Questions were posed about the allocated budget for new vehicles for members of the council of ministers. Government budgeted money for 7 new vehicles that cost $50,000.00 each, while other Ministries such as TEATT lacks money for key projects. Government also budgeted NAF.800,000.00 for a state of art meeting room while schools need more classrooms. MP Christophe Emmanuel asked the Minister to provide parliament with information about SOREMAR building that was purchased by the Ministry of Justice and is still not in use. Emmanuel asked the Minister if SOREMAR companies that are registered on St. Maarten have a board and if they do, he asked the Minister to provide parliament with the names of those board members. Emmanuel asked the Minister asked about the contract for the upgrade of the Tax Department that was granted to Bearing Point. He asked if Bearing Point is a Curacao based company or if the company is registered on St. Maarten. Emmanuel wants to know how many companies participated in the bidding process and how the other companies scored. The National Alliance MP asked the Minister to present parliament with the contract awarded to Bearing Point. MP Frans Richardson asked the Minister to tell Parliament if the Council of Minister took a decision and passed a resolution or if they discussed the possibility of dissolving of the PJIAE Holding Company and if the intention is to sell shares to the Dutch Government. I read this on the news online and I want to know how true is this? Let parliament know if this issue was even discussed. Richardson further asked the Minister if Piper Jaffrey financing for PJIAE was sidelined or what is the status of the private financing. MP Rolando Brison questioned the Minister about the preparation of the 2019 budget, Brison said the Minister allotted NAF 3M in his budget for consultant fees. He said that this is the first time such is done and for him that doing so is problematic. Brison informed the Minister while the budget showed that the salaries were cut but the fact that the consultant fees are under his Ministry poses a problem. He made clear that the 2019 draft budget will not get his support because of that alone. Regarding the loan granted to PJIAE, he asked the Minister for the LANDSVERONDING. Brison said he wants more explanation on the loan granted to PJIAE. He asked the Minister to give parliament more explanation as to why he went against the advice given by the CFT with regards to European Investment Bank (EIB) for PJIAE. Brison said he agrees with the CFT because the Minister must explain why the Government of St. Maarten got involved with EIB and PJIAE and why did he not allow EIB to deal directly with PJIAE. He asked the Minister to further breakdown the amount allocated for investment and asked the Minister to explain to parliament what will happen if his ambitious plans fail. Brison asked the Minister to give parliament proper explanation on the NAF.800.000.00 allotted for security guards for Ministers. Brison informed the Minister that the Ministers already have drivers and guards and having more security is simply not justifiable. The USP MP highlighted the various departments that the Minister did not allocate any money to, those being the Mental Health Foundation, and the library. He said the zeros in the draft 2019 budget is not at all acceptable. Brison said the Council of Advice in their advice already indicated that policies are not in place and this he said is also not acceptable. The USP MPS both the leader and Brison said that they will continue to pursue the Mullet Bay property and ensure that is returned to the people of St. Maarten. Richardson told the Minister while he is busy taking loans, he should take a loan and buy back the Mullet Bay property from Ennia. The leader of the NA Silveria Jacobs also asked the Minister to give parliament more explanations on the consultant fees. She asked the Minister to also inform parliament if the debt of NAF 60M was paid to APS and SZV since the former Minister of Finance Richard Gibson did his best since 2015 with his skeleton budgets to clear up St. Maarten debts. The former Minister of Education said what she endured as a Minister with a meager budget is unimaginable especially when schools needed classrooms. She informed the Minister if the NAF60M was used post-IRMA for shelters, or social assistance then that should have been clearly stated in the draft budget. As for cost-cutting measures MP Jacobs told the Minister that while she was in the administrative branch she discovered some two and half million guilders was overpaid to school bus drivers but it appears as though the current government is not interested in proper cost-cutting measures as that was not touched. Jacobs asked for clarity on the cuts placed on public education and the cuts applied for the inspectors. She asked the Minister to give parliament more details on the personnel budget because parliament needs to know what the schools be lacking. Jacobs said that the cuts applied to renovation costs for schools also must be explained. The cuts are very alarming and strange. She asked for clarity on the cuts made on social assistance, she asked if there are less needy people on St. Maarten post-IRMA. SZV cuts the NA leader said she wants to know how possible is that when the government owes the institution. Jacobs said that government cannot cut off its nose to spoil its face because the various cuts are not explainable. Meyer Burger awarded contract for about CHF 15 million from leading Asian customer for its MAiA? 6.1 cell coating equipment Posted by Publisher Internet Meyer Burger Technology Ltd (SIX Swiss Exchange: MBTN) today announced the successful conclusion of an order from an existing, major Asian customer for its high performance MAiA? 6.1 platform which delivers an impressive throughput of over 6,000 wafers per hour for mass production scalable PERC technology.?By selecting Meyer Burger?s MAiA? 6.1, which launched in 2018, to drive the production expansion of its high quality PERC solar cells, this global leader in the PV industry has chosen today?s foremost standard in PERC manufacturing technology. ? Meyer Burger?s industrialized MAiA? with its superior passivation technology played a key role in finally establishing PERC as the new global standard in mass manufacturing of solar cells. PERC delivered a much higher module performance while reducing production costs compared to the former Al-BSF standard technology. Dr Hans Brandle, CEO of Meyer Burger, stated: ?Today?s announcement of a repeat order from a leading PV module manufacturer for our next generation MAiA? 6.1 signals the beginning of ambitious new PERC expansion plans by the solar industry.? ? Meyer Burger?s CTO, Dr Gunter Erfurt, added: ?Meyer Burger?s proprietary passivation technology for PERC solar cells is based on our own IP which is patented in the EU as well as in China and Korea. The patents describe and claim the deposition method, the tool configuration, the process sequence as well as the resulting passivation structure on the solar cell. Thus, PERC solar cells processed on our leading MAiA? platform apply a significantly different passivation structure compared to the structure e.g. applied using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and are not in the scope of the recently filed patent infringement claim by a leading PV company against other solar manufacturers.? ? THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT BEING ISSUED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND SHOULD NOT BE DISTRIBUTED TO U.S. PERSONS OR PUBLICATIONS WITH A GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES. THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE FOR, EXCHANGE OR PURCHASE ANY SECURITIES. IN ADDITION, THE SECURITIES OF MEYER BURGER TECHNOLOGY LTD HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE ?SECURITIES ACT?), OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD OR DELIVERED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS ABSENT REGISTRATION UNDER OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS. ? This press release may contain ?forward-looking statements?, such as guidance, expectations, plans, intentions, or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. The reader is cautioned that actual future results may differ from those expressed in or implied by the statements, which constitute projections of possible developments. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on data available to Meyer Burger Technology Ltd as of the date that this press release is published. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Meyer Burger is a leading global technology company specialising on innovative systems and processes based on semiconductor technologies. The company\-\-s focus is on photovoltaics (solar industry) while its competencies and technologies also cover important areas of the semiconductor and the optoelectronic industries as well as other selected high-end markets based on semiconductor materials. As an international premium brand, Meyer Burger offers its customers in the PV industry superior products and innovative solutions for the manufacturing processes of wafers, solar cells and solar modules. The company provides substantial added value to its customers and clearly differentiates itself from its competitors by focusing on core technologies of the value chain. Meyer Burger\-\-s comprehensive product portfolio is complemented by a worldwide service network with spare parts, consumables, process know-how, customer support, after-sales services, training and other services. Meyer Burger is represented in Europe, Asia and North America in the respective key markets and has subsidiaries and own service centres in China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan and the USA. The company is also working intensively to develop new markets such as South America, Africa and the Arab region. The registered shares of Meyer Burger Technology Ltd are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (Ticker: MBTN). 1st International Osmium Symposium Posted by Publisher Internet After five years preparation, the 1st International Osmium Symposium in Singapore kicked-off a global revolution in the osmium business. The osmium market was officially launched at the conference in Singapore held on March 9th 2019. There were participants from four continents and fourteen countries. Sales have been already made through the institute?s first partners in the lead-up to the summit, the global competition for market share is now open for business. Delivery volumes and the projected ramp up over the coming months formed the primary discussion. As the market is highly limited, an increase in production over the next few years will unlikely ease pricing pressures as the output of crystalline osmium will lead to higher production costs. This, along with a limited supply, will be a factor for an expected substantial price increase. With a total availability of around two cubic metres worldwide, Osmium is very limited and expected demand from India alone will exceed the maximum production capacity. Currently the total market value for the entire supply is just EUR48 billion (USD54 billion). Osmium-Institute Germany director, Ingo Wolf, said: ?We are delighted that the symposium was so well attended. There is a real opportunity to create a brand-new market for Osmium globally and the reception from our partners has been overwhelmingly positive. We have partners in most corners of the globe now who are actively taking orders for Osmium. The Swiss production lines are ramping up and we are confident that all delivery targets will be met.\-\- Wolf continues: ?Initial meetings with family offices and interested individuals from Asia confirmed a significant and sustainable interest in the market. This trend is supported by the fact that the osmium market is subject to some special drivers. This is a highly investable product and, due to its scarcity, the price increases will be significant.? Wolf goes on to say that demand pressure from the jewellery industry, especially in India, China and the other Southeast Asian countries, is emerging. This means that the real market is in line with what experts believe makes sense for a solid and broadly based development. Long term investors will find that their investments are likely to be in high demand as the the crystalline, flat form for jewellery production and the watch market will see a significant uptick. Unsurprisingly, the \Made in Switzerland\ and certification \Made in Germany\ monikers created the most activity in Europe to date, but interest of Asian investors was predicted and is taking off. Delivery times are already now up to half a year, especially for the larger disks produced for the family office packages. Other, smaller products such as Osmium Diamonds, Stars and Starrows or Bars will not run out in the near future, but the Investor Disks, which cost EUR120,000 (USD136,000) are seeing a supply squeeze. The Osmium-Institut zur Inverkehrbringung und Zertifizierung von Osmium GmbH was founded in 2017 as a change of name from the Commodity Trade GmbH. Holding the exclusive rights to introduce crystallized osmium, the core task of the institute is to ensure global governance and standardized, secure market conditions for crystallized osmium. The institute is responsible for certifying each piece of the unforgeable metal and link it to its Osmium Identification Code (OIC). Internationally, the company cooperates with osmium institutes to introduce the last of the eight precious metals to local markets. What is Osmium Osmium is the rarest of all precious metals and belongs to the platinum group in the periodic table. The metal was hardly known until 2013 because its original form, so-called osmium sponge, is toxic. It was not until late 2013 that this changed when a process was developed to crystallize the metal. The crystalline form of osmium has a modified atomic structure which renders the metal non-toxic. The process is comparable to the production of diamonds from carbon. The crystalline form of the metal is considered unforgeable because in addition of having the highest density of all metals, each individual osmium piece has its own unique crystal surface structure which provides more security in recognition than a human fingerprint. This makes it possible to certify each individual piece and, together with a high-resolution photograph of the crystal surface structure, document it in the International Osmium Database together with its unique identifier, the so-called Osmium Identification Code (OIC). After osmium has been crystallized in Switzerland and certified in Germany, the metal enters international markets through local osmium institutes and plays an increasingly important role in investment and jewellery markets. The value of the rarest element is rising and exceeds already now the price of gold or platinum by a factor of 20. An end of this trend is not in sight. 4 smart ways to use security to power the business of the future In the new era of work, our relationship with the workplace is defined by flexibility and mobility. Employees are working across the home, office, and blended spaces more than ever before, as well as working varied hours to suit the modern work schedule. This new hybrid workforce model holds the potential for more diverse talent and better productivity, but it also comes with its challenges one being how to ensure security, health, and safety in the workplace. Strong and smart security ecosystem While nearly one-third of companies report that theyve implemented a hybrid model, according to a recent survey by STANLEY Security, many still have much to do to prepare their office for the future. Building a strong and smart security ecosystem is crucial in preparing for the future. As such, businesses should consider technologies that help protect their people, as well as safeguard their assets, optimise their operations, and secure their network. 1)Protect your people Implementation of a security ecosystem combines health, safety, and security hardware and software solutions seamlessly Nearly 60% of mid-market and enterprise businesses across the UK and US report that the health and safety of their employees and customers are a primary concern when implementing modern and hybrid working models. This begs the question: How can businesses create a safe and healthy work environment when 59% are planning to bring employees back on-site in some capacity within the next 18 months? The answer lies, in part, in the implementation of a security ecosystem that combines various health, safety, and security hardware and software solutions seamlessly. Integrating platform Nearly half (46%) of business decision-makers say they are interested in adopting an integrated platform such as this. This means integrating traditional and digital security solutions, then leveraging the data and insights they produce to further enhance the workplace experience. Take this example: With employees and visitors moving in and out of the office at different times, a business may lack oversight of occupancy or density levels, people flow, workspace scheduling, visitor check-in processes, and more. However, with visitor management, access control, and other building/business systems integrated, employees can reserve a workspace for a specific date and time and be granted access to the building. Leveraging AI and machine learning Visitors can pre-register, answer a health screening questionnaire, and receive a mobile credential before arriving. Once the visitor arrives on-site, the system can alert the respective department all without the close contact typically required for traditional visitor check-in processes. When layering artificial intelligence and machine learning on top of the data, a business may identify trends in people flow and opportunities to optimise congested areas. They may also see that certain rooms within the building get more use than others and leverage these insights to manage their space more effectively. All of this is powered by a security ecosystem that can help a business better protect its people while realising other benefits in the process. 2) Safeguard your assets Businesses are concerned about the security of their assets when it comes to the hybrid workforce model Even more, businesses are concerned about the security of their assets when it comes to the hybrid workforce model. About 72% of leaders say this is, in fact, their primary concern with the hybrid approach. This figure isnt surprising when you consider the impact of the pandemic, which left many businesses closed either temporarily or permanently, with few people allowed on-site to manage facility operations. As a result of the pandemic, we saw tech adoption accelerate at an astonishing rate simply because businesses had to implement cloud and remote technologies to survive during a time when buildings were closed indefinitely. Remote management and visibility This was particularly true for security solutions, such as cloud video surveillance and cloud access control solutions like wireless IoT-connected locks. Nine out of 10 businesses (91%) report that they have already implemented cloud security technology; of those, nearly half (48%) stated that this was due to the pandemic. These technologies allow for remote management and provide visibility into business operations at the same time. In a retail setting, for example, cloud video surveillance allows businesses to identify and track not only criminal activity, but also foot traffic patterns, peak operating hours, staff shortages, and more. Loss prevention strategy When integrated with the retailers point-of-sale (POS) system, businesses can gain greater insights into their traffic counts, end cap effectiveness, loyalty card activity, and a variety of POS exceptions, such as high-dollar transactions, repeated transactions, excessive returns, employee discounts, and more. For retailers especially, a security ecosystem means a more efficient loss prevention strategy that helps safeguard assets and profits. 3) Optimise your operations The future of work is still very much a work in progress, but one thing is clear: Businesses are looking for ways to increase efficiencies, drive cost savings, and, ultimately, optimise their operations especially now with the challenges posed by price inflation. A relatively untapped opportunity for businesses to achieve these goals lies within their security infrastructure. Security technology and solutions gather incredibly rich data which, when unlocked, can help businesses understand how their buildings are being used, when the busiest times are, where there are highly trafficked areas, and more. Leveraging cloud video surveillance systems, businesses could identify emerging staff training needs Cloud video surveillance systems For example, by leveraging the insights produced by cloud video surveillance systems, businesses could identify emerging staff training needs, which could ultimately result in improved employee satisfaction and reduced attrition. However, much of this data sits untouched within the infrastructure, leaving businesses unaware of the opportunities in front of them. 44% of businesses that currently use a cloud security system for its primary use say they want to know how else this technology can be utilised, and an additional 20% arent even aware that it could be used in other ways. AI and analytics The interest in adoption is promising for the office of the future, especially when we see that the majority of businesses (78%) would consider using AI and analytics technologies to optimise their operations, helping their business to operate more effectively and efficiently. The increase in adoption of cloud technology paired with the rise in interest in AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics could make it possible for businesses to uncover invaluable insights from their security infrastructure and leverage them to adapt and build business resilience. 4) Secure your network Advanced technology help businesses improve their cybersecurity, making it harder for hackers to gain entry With cyber threats becoming more prevalent, businesses are increasingly looking to secure their networks and protect their data. More than half (54%) of those surveyed expressed interest in using AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to secure their network by identifying and eliminating cybersecurity threats. Advanced and automated technology can help businesses improve their cybersecurity, making it harder for hackers to gain entry to the larger corporate network. Modern cybersecurity tools that use AI and machine learning can detect anomalies in network traffic or alert and act on suspicious behaviour. Cybersecurity software For example, if an IoT device suddenly begins broadcasting and establishing connections with multiple devices, cybersecurity software could detect this abnormal behaviour, send an alert, and suspend traffic or quarantine an endpoint immediately saving precious time during a potential breach. A single data breach could result in widespread distrust from workers and customers, potentially leading to decreased business as well as litigation issues. As such, businesses need to take action to update and strengthen their defences so that they can avoid downtime and continue to operate with peace of mind. Prepare your business for the future Businesses will continue to look for more ways to extract value out of their existing infrastructure, including their security technology. For many, the tools to do so are already in place, its just a matter of unlocking the insights with a security ecosystem. With such an ecosystem one that helps protect a business people, assets, and network, while optimising operations companies can better safeguard the future of their workspaces and usher in the new era of work with confidence. Georgetown County Councilman Austin Beard speaks to the media following a Board of Elections hearing on March 15 where it was determined his voter registration is not valid. Georgetown, SC (29440) Today Mostly cloudy. High near 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional showers. Thunder possible. Low 53F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. STAMFORD A one-time senior official in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who testified in 2017 to the U.S. Senate about the agencys response to the opioid crisis, is now reportedly working as a consultant for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which faces hundreds of lawsuits tied to its alleged role in the epidemic. Demetra Ashley, the DEAs former acting assistant administrator, is advising the Stamford-based company, according to unnamed sources cited by NBC News. She left the DEA in March 2018 and started Dashley Consulting LLC, as one of the nations leading experts on pharmaceutical regulatory compliance and investigation, according to her LinkedIn page. I have been consulting for members of the industry and I began my consulting business in June 2018 after I retired, Ashley told NBC. She said she could not confirm or deny the identities of her clients unless they say its OK. There is no indication that Ashleys consulting for Purdue is illegal, NBC said. It quoted experts, however, who expressed concerns about former federal officials working for companies that they once regulated. A Purdue spokesman said Wednesday that the company does not comment on its consultants or experts, but it is standard practice across all industries and for both sides, plaintiffs and defendants, to consult with appropriate experts. The company certainly has a right to defend itself against such misleading and inaccurate (legal) claims. The spokesman was referring to more than 1,000 lawsuits including ones from Connecticuts attorney general and about three dozen cities and towns in the state that have alleged that Purdue fueled the opioid crisis by deceptively marketing opioids such as OxyContin. Purdue denies the allegations. Ashley also told NBC News that she had been subpoenaed to be deposed in a consolidated group of approximately 1,500 complaints involving Purdue and several opioid makers, to discuss her work at the DEA to help combat the opioid crisis, according to NBC. Those lawsuits are being processed in a federal court in Cleveland, with the first trial scheduled to start in October. In her December 2017 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ashley covered a number of DEA initiatives to tackle the epidemic of opioid abuse, including measures to counter the writing and filling of illegitimate opioid prescriptions. She also cited the proliferation of illegal opioids including heroin. Our nation has been devastated by the opioid abuse, with more than 300,000 opioid-related deaths, Ashley said. The epidemic has created a generation of abusers, currently estimated at 12 million. While prescriptions for Schedule Two opioids have begun to decline, making Schedule Two opioids less accessible, Mexican drug cartels have filled the void by producing cheap heroin and counterfeit pills, often mixed with fentanyl. The results are tragic. OxyContin, Purdues top-selling drug, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1995. But its federal regulation has done little to dissuade prosecutors across the country from suing. As the company faces jury verdicts or settlements that could amount to tens of billions of dollars, Purdue CEO Craig Landau confirmed last week that it was considering bankruptcy a move that could help contain its liability. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott NEW HAVEN Unionized workers at the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority will picket outside the quasi-public utilitys Sargent Drive headquartersThursday as contract negotiations with management drag on. A total of 127 Regional Water Authority workers who are members of United Steelworkers Local 12160 will be picketing outside the headquarters starting at 3 p.m. The picketing will overlap with the start of the Authoritys regularly scheduled Representative Policy Board meeting. The Representative Policy Board is the governing body of the Authority and is made up of individuals representing each of the 15 towns served by the utility. The agenda for the meeting includes a 7 p.m. public hearing on a proposed 6.7 percent increase that if approved would take effect on July 1. Dan Doyle, a spokesman for the utility, said the proposed increase would add 12 cents per day to customers bills.. Wanda Howard, president of the union local, questioned why the Authority is seeking a rate increase at a time when the utilitys financial position seems stable and employees have gone months without an acceptable contract offer. The workers that Howard represents are still working under the terms of a contract that expired in April of last year. Union negotiators are concerned the management of the utility is trying to eliminate some contract elements that are currently in place, she said. Those elements include: : Overtime pay after eight hours. All double time pay. Set lunch hours. The opportunity for wage increases. Howard said negotiators with the utility are proposing provisions in the new contract that would put union members at risk of being demoted at will. The Authoritys management is also seeking to have workers take on higher insurance co-pays and premiums, she said. We thought we had some of these issues resolved, but when we met with them last Friday, they had backed off on some of the things they had previously agreed to, Howard said. Union members also picketed in February. Doyle said officials at the Authority remain committed to continuing bargaining in good faith with members of USW Local 12160 on what will ultimately be a fair contract for our employees, customers and the company. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com . S truggling DIY chain Kingfisher is ousting chief executive Veronique Laury three years into a five-year turnaround plan widely regarded as a failure. Laury, one of the few female bosses of a FTSE 100 company, paid the price for plunging profits and poor returns across the group apart from at the UKs Screwfix arm, which caters for the building trade. Kingfisher is best known for B&Q, which has struggled to cope with online rivals and declining interest in DIY from millennials. Today Kingfisher reported a 13% fall in profits to 693 million, a sign of Laurys failure to revive the French chain Castorama. She will stay until a replacement is found but can expect compensation of around 1.5 million, her pay last year. The shares are down by a quarter during her reign and kept falling today, down 3% at 237p. A shake-out sees chief financial officer Karen Witts depart to join Compass. She will be replaced temporarily by former Fitness First executive John Wartig, though he wont join the board. Steve Willett, its digital chief, is retiring after 20 years. Laurys strategy was dubbed One Kingfisher. A break-up of the company now appears a strong possibility. It has already quit Russia, Spain and Portugal. There was an 111 million cost for store closures, and sales were flat at 11.7 billion. Julie Palmer at Begbies Traynor said the results gave little hope to investors, pointing to tumultuous market conditions and civil unrest in France. She said: The group will now be facing growing pressure to hold on to its prized assets, B&Q and Screwfix, which have seen vultures circling for some time. Investecs Kate Calvert said: The business will now be in strategic limbo and the new CEO will inherit a business where it is hard to identify the longer term growth story. Kingfishers chairman Andy Cosslett said: We are now moving into a new phase where we can extract more of the benefits resulting from the hard work that has been put in and it is therefore timely that we commence a succession process. Laury said: As the transformation approaches its final year, I believe it is right for someone else to lead the next phase of the One Kingfisher journey. W hile the future of Sir Philip Greens Arcadia empire may be hanging in the balance, his legacy at BHS has led to war breaking out in the sleepy world of pension buy-outs. With the controversy over BHSs pension deficit still ringing in his ears, Sir Philip might consider putting the Arcadia pension scheme into a so-called pension superfund. These are new investment vehicles being set up by City investors to offer companies a cut-price way of offloading their heavily indebted pension schemes. Currently, firms can only sell their pension schemes to insurers but this is expensive and many cannot afford it. The new superfunds will offer a more affordable route, which supporters say is vital to solve Britains pension funding crisis. But superfunds have triggered a backlash from some in the UK insurance industry, who claim it will inadvertently drive up risks for pensioners because superfunds will be less heavily regulated and have thinner capital buffers. Green helped the BHS scheme transfer to an insurer after the chains collapse by agreeing to pay 363 million but insurers say if superfunds had existed at the time, Green could have jettisoned the indebted scheme for much less, driving up the risks for the pensioners. The insurers regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, has even taken the unusual step of warning about the current plan. If you had the superfunds available, do you really think in a million years Sir Philip Green would have made the contributions he made to BHS? It wouldnt have happened, says Association of British Insurers head of policy Yvonne Braun. Theres a danger superfunds will bring pensions overall into disrepute. Superfunds may still be in their infancy only two have launched so far but they have already triggered significant interest from investment banks and private equity firms eager to disrupt the 20 billion-a-year sector. Private equity firm Warburg Pincus made the leap last year linking up with the first superfund, called The Pensions Superfund, to co-invest in deals. The credit arm of TPG, the giant private equity firm co-founded by Ryanair chairman David Bonderman, has also promised 500 million for a new venture, Clara Pensions, which will act as a warehouse for indebted pension schemes before selling them to an insurer. A third, dubbed the CRC Superfund, is also mulling a launch with backing from New York private debt fund investor Christofferson Robb and Company. The looming shake-up has put some in the insurance industry, which traditionally buys out pension schemes, on high alert. Because superfunds will be able to buy pension schemes for a lower price, insurers say theres more chance that finance chiefs and tycoons such as Green will pick the riskier budget option over the gold-plated insurance route. Insurers are regulated to much tougher standards, known as Solvency II. But superfunds will look and act like a normal defined benefit pension scheme, permitted to invest wherever they want (within reason) and regulated under The Pensions Regulator. They are also likely to hold less capital than insurers. RBC Capital Markets says this means superfunds will be able to do buyouts 10% cheaper than insurers. Tracy Blackwell, chief executive of the Pension Insurance Corporation, says it is wholly inappropriate to have commercial institutions such as superfunds making a profit in a framework designed for not-for-profit pension schemes. Pension scheme members and trustees should be very concerned about the proposals to bring into existence a whole new class of financial institution that will be allowed to offer the same products, but with lighter regulation and lower levels of financial security, she says. Pension schemes can be broken broadly into four divisions: a Premier League of 100%-funded schemes that can afford to jettison their pension scheme to an insurer today; a first division that could offload it with a one-off payment from the company; a second division which could reach Premier League status within five years through relatively affordable contributions from the company; and a final tier of schemes that havent a hope in hell of ever ditching their pension. Some insurers fear superfunds will target pension schemes in all four divisions The Pension Superfund, for example said it was looking at schemes of up to 10 billion rather than the stragglers. Companies who potentially can afford to secure your pension as promised will be able to exit for less money, says Sammy Cooper-Smith, who runs business development at one of Britains largest bulk annuity providers, Rothesay Life. If less money is being put into the pension scheme the chance of default must in itself be higher. The Department for Work and Pensions, which closed a consultation on superfunds last month, has proposed banning schemes that can afford an insurance buy-out within five years from taking the superfund route. Insurers fear that could force boardrooms to starve their schemes of cash to make them seem poorer funded, helping them to opt for superfunds. For their part, the superfunds are perplexed about the backlash from the insurance industry. Theres an argument that it looks like insurance but we contend it doesnt, says Pension Superfund chief Luke Webster. Everything were doing is completely within precedent in the pension fund world. Clara chief executive Adam Saron adds: Its a convenient narrative that sponsors are trying to run away from their obligations but on the whole people are trying to make good on their promises. "The insurers need to ask the question if people cant afford a Rolls-Royce there are plenty of other good cars to get you from A to B. Insurers like Legal & General have also played down the threat. Chief Nigel Wilson said: We think it complements what we do. Its the same solution of trying to pool risk and it will expand an already huge market. The DWP received more than 60 responses to its consultation. Pensions minister Guy Opperman has said he wants to put new laws in place for superfunds by the summer but Cooper-Smith still fears the policy will lead to a new breed of vehicles that are insurers in all but name. Y ou may have noticed the upward drift in petrol prices as you filled up following your weekly shop. Opecs agreement with Russia in December to curb supplies did the trick and helped end a glut. The Brent crude oil futures price has risen by 31% to $67 since. The oil producers cartel over the weekend agreed again with Russia to keep the cuts, totalling 1.2 million barrels per day in place until June, and probably for the rest of the year. You might think this is an old story, rent-seeking oil sheikhs and greedy dictators ripping off consumers again. But the world is very different today and the crude oil market is no longer simply a battleground between Western consumers and Middle Eastern producers. It is primarily a long-drawn out war for market share, and the country winning the battle now is the US. Thanks to the shale oil revolution the US is not just able to cover its own needs but is now exporting huge quantities of crude as well as oil products. The US Energy Information Administration signalled in November that for the first time, it had exported more oil in a single week than it imported, selling to foreign customers 3.2 million barrels per day of crude and 5.8 million of petrol products. It reckons that by 2020 the country will be, overall, a net exporter of crude. The US continues to import it to satisfy the demand of some refiners for heavy, sulphurous (sour) crudes more on that later but the soaring output of light, sweet crudes from shale is turning the global oil market upside down, with the worlds biggest consumer being also a major exporter. So much more is coming out of shales in Texas and the Dakotas, a million extra barrels since July, that American oil producers are setting prices in Europe. Because US oil is now so often the cheapest light sweet crude delivered to Rotterdam, Argus, the oil price assessment agency has decided to include it in a new North Sea crude price benchmark. And so influential are US imports that Argus has decided to include some US light sweet crude in its assessment of the daily physical North Sea Brent crude price benchmark. If the US is gaining share in supplying the worlds biggest commodity market, the question is who is losing share? And the answer is Opec countries. The output cut agreed in December is only part of the problem because some of the cartel are unable to even meet their entitlement in quota share. Iran is in thrall to US sanctions and Venezuela has been devastated by years of government looting and investment neglect. Iran and Venezuela export heavy sour crudes, which have in the past suffered a significant price discount to the lighter (less viscous) crudes produced in the North Sea, the US and a few Opec countries, such as Nigeria. It also suffered a heavy discount to benchmark North Sea Brent because it is more costly to refine into valuable products, such as petrol or naphtha, used as a raw material for petrochemicals. However, the rules that governed pricing in the oil world have recently been turned on their head. The US flood of light, sweet crude oil and the collapse in exports of heavy Venezuelan and Iranian oil mean that sour crudes, once the Cinderellas of the oil market, are now fetching prices almost on a par with Brent. The upset is playing havoc with the profit margins of some US and Indian refiners, who invested heavily in sophisticated equipment to refine very cheap Venezuelan or Iranian heavy crudes, only to find them suddenly too expensive. Since November, 2.5 million barrels per day of sour crude output has been taken off the market due to sanctions, Opec quotas and disruption, said Sean Cronin, analyst at Argus a huge disruption in market dynamics. Many in the industry wonder whether the market shift to lighter crudes is long-term or just a blip. The shift to light, less sulphurous oil is good for the environment and the world, and it is filling the pockets of the core Opec producers, who are getting more bucks for each barrel of sour crude they export to Asia. Yet, the resource remains in the ground; there are billions of barrels of heavy crude in Venezuela, Iran and Canada. A higher price makes investment and production more likely, if politics and the market permits. L ord Digby Jones, the former trade minister and ex-director-general of the CBI, on Wednesday called on billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe to base production of his 4x4 Projekt Grenadier in the UK after his firm ruled out Germany. Ratcliffes Ineos Automotive on Monday selected German car giant BMW to make engines for the new vehicle, inspired by the old Land Rover Defender and named after the Grenadier pub in London. Lord Jones, who also chairs Triumph Motorcycles, said Ratcliffe, the UKs richest man, should base production in Britain to boost the UK car industry by picking the BMW plant at Hams Hall in the Midlands to build the engines. The car is so iconically British that it would be a crying shame if it wasnt built here, he told the Standard. In cold-hard cash terms, you will not get better productivity or better value for money than you would at Hams Hall. All-Party Parliamentary Motor Group chair Richard Burden MP said: This is not an appeal to patriotism, its a recognition of the world-class engine facilities that already exist. The 4x4 is in the DNA of the Midlands. Jack Dromey MP, who has Jaguar Land Rover in his Erdington constituency, said Ratcliffe should build British. Ineos and BMW declined to comment. Some industry insiders believed Brexiteer Radcliffe would choose to make the car in Germany because automotive firms tend to cluster their supply close to production. However Ineos said: Well make an announcement on manufacturing in the coming weeks. Sites in the UK and Western Europe are under consideration, but were not currently looking at Germany. BMW is the second German company selected to work on Projekt Grenadier, following Stuttgart-based MBtech. R ugby-loving Andy Cosslett knows a thing or two about the ruthlessness of boardrooms. The chairman of Kingfisher got his big break in 2004 when Intercontinental Hotels Groups boss was shockingly fired by a board led by the indomitable David Webster. Cosslett nabbed the CEOs job and was propelled to the corporate stratosphere. He wasnt at the meet-the-executives dinner Kingfisher hosted at a swanky Holborn hotel less than a year ago, but the half dozen or so in the senior executive team were. Memorably, three were women unheard of. Now, the entire trio are gone. First went Arja Taaveniku, the Ikea design guru hired to speed up its new interior designs. Out today are finance director Karen Witts and the chief executive herself, Veronique Laury. Only Witts quitting for the catering giant Compass leaves with reputation intact. The rest, like so many before, have been chewed up and spat out by the devilishly difficult task of turning this accident-prone business around. Its not a woman-only thing: the male boss of the digital business was kicked out today, following the head of France last September. But the sudden disappearance of diversity makes Cossletts overhaul look all the more stark, and highlights just how hard the DIY refurb of Kingfisher is. Youd have thought it would be a fairly simple business, this. Buy hammers, nails and barbecues cheap. Sell them for a bit more. If only that were so. Despite the efforts of successive bosses, Kingfisher was a mish-mash of out-of-town DIY sheds around the world. Each country bought its products separately and inefficiently. Not only that, but every region it operated in was, and still is, fiendishly competitive with peculiarities about the way their shoppers do DIY. Its the same in the building trade: British tradesmen love Screwfix Kingfishers jewel in the crown but in Germany, its gone so badly that 19 stores are being shuttered. Laury has had more success than any of her predecessors in integrating sourcing and IT across the globe. But the underlying businesses remain moribund. The structure may be more efficient, but where are the long-term prospects for growth? There was a time when you could justify buying Kingfisher shares in the hope of a break-up bid. But, as Investec analysts point out today, the newfound integration makes that a far more complicated prospect. Ironically, Laurys successes in harmonising the global structure may actually work against the share price. Quite how Cosslett deals with this is far from clear. Simply removing yet another series of bosses just sows more uncertainty and drift. When he was hired by IHG, it was a sleepy business in growth markets which just needed enthusiastic new leadership. The contrast with Kingfisher could hardly be more stark. T HE distribution of 775 million of money from Royal Bank of Scotland to boost competition in business banking risked descending into farce today when the third-biggest award was the third to come under attack. Having already seen grants to Metro Bank and Starling Bank face controversy, industry rivals are now sniping about a 60 million payment to Tide. Critics point out that Tide is an IT platform which doesnt have a banking licence. Its partner ClearBank was only recently granted one. The 60 million grant is therefore no more than a massive boost to Tides venture capital investors, rivals claim. Some say it simply does not meet the eligibility criteria of the Banking Competition Remedies body, which is charged with distributing the grants. Others say it is more an issue of suitability than eligibility. ClearBank said it takes its obligations to the public and indeed the BCR very seriously... Whilst the collaboration may have only been announced following the submission of the application both entities had engaged much earlier than that. Metro, the biggest winner from the Pool A money with 120 million, is under intense pressure because of an accounting scandal that has left it facing allegations it misled bank authorities. BCR chairman Godfrey Cromwell wrote to Metro chief Craig Donaldson to draw attention to his pledge to offer true, accurate and complete information about the banks finances. The Evening Standard previously revealed the chief executive of Starling Bank, the second-biggest recipient of the taxpayer funds with 100 million, has a close, long-standing relationship with BCR executive director Aidene Walsh. Even Starling, led by Anne Boden, felt this a clear conflict of interest and admitted so in a letter to BCR. The BCR is now looking at handing out Pool B money, with more traditional lenders such as Nationwide and CYBG looking to have a strong case. D avid Lidington is one of the sane and sensible voices left in the heart of Downing Street. He became Theresa Mays effective deputy after she fired Damian Green and William Hague turned down her entreaties to do the job. Six days ago he said this in Parliament about the idea of asking for a two- to three-month delay to Brexit: In the absence of a deal, seeking such a short and, critically, one-off extension would be downright reckless. It would, he warned MPs, make a no-deal scenario far more rather than less likely. Six days later that downright reckless path is the one that his Prime Minister has chosen. We are told she will be asking the EU for a delay in our departure date from March 29 until the early summer. She does so with no prospect in sight of passing her deal through Parliament which she herself last week set as a condition for seeking a delay. Such a short delay will achieve nothing for the country. Quite the reverse. The chronic uncertainty facing the economy and business will be prolonged. The small margin of safety that existed between our scheduled exit and the hardstop of the European elections will be eaten up. As Mr Lidington said, it makes it more likely that we go off the cliff of a no-deal. Thats why the Brexiteers pushing for that outcome have banked it with a smile. Even in the grim story of her handling of Brexit, the past 24 hours have been a low point. She started yesterday with a plan to ask for a delay to the end of this year. Then the Brexiteer faction in her Cabinet staged a revolt. She is now so weak a Prime Minister that she was unable to sum up the discussion of the meeting shes paid to chair. The letter she was supposed to send to Brussels in the afternoon with the formal request for a delay never materialised. This morning the collapse in her position was complete. Downing Street said shed only be asking for a short delay. Her only objective now is to stay alive and put off the reckoning for a week. When asked to choose between the interests of her party and her country, she has picked neither. Now her fate lies in the hands of the European leaders she has publicly blamed for her own failures. They may well grant a stay of execution. A couple of months delay costs them next to nothing. But there will be those in the EU tempted to force the issue. Why shouldnt they insist that if there is a delay, its a long one? Thats what Donald Tusk was suggesting a week ago. At least that would give time for the proper rethink that both the hard Brexiteers and the Peoples Vote campaigners seek. Or, if they really wanted to play hardball, the EU could refuse any delay and force Britain now to confront this question: leave without a deal, or revoke Article 50 and remain. For today, Mrs May has made that ultimate choice much more likely. Scrutinising arts gifts The Sackler Trust has withdrawn a gift of 1 million in support of the National Portrait Gallerys Inspiring People project. The reason is that controversy over the donation, because of the association of some members of the Sackler family with a pharmaceutical company associated with the opioid crisis, could be a distraction for the gallery, as the trust puts it. The Evening Standard last year revealed the scale of the opioid problem here. We also published the extent of donations by the Sackler Trust to UK institutions, in return for the usual naming rights. The gallerys move is an acknowledgement that it, and other public bodies that rely on corporate philanthropy, must scrutinise donations in future to ensure that they do not cause justifiable disquiet. They must be careful where their gifts come from. T his evening I will be interviewing the Dutch public intellectual Rutger Bregman at Londons Emmanuel Centre for a How to: Academy event. In his polemical attack upon philanthropy as a shoddy substitute for taxation, Bregman electrified this years World Economic Forum in Davos daring to mention the fiscal elephant in the plutocratic conference hall. But his governing thesis is even more sweeping. In his bestselling book Utopia for Realists, Bregman contends that the greatest obstacles to progress are psychological rather than practical. We are conditioned, herd-like, to hug close an orthodoxy, even if the available evidence suggests overwhelmingly that it is time to pursue a new course. Bregman cites the famous work of the psychologist Solomon Asch, who observed that when test subjects were asked which of three lines on a card was longest, they went along obediently with the answer given by the other people in the room (all working secretly for Asch) even when that answer was clearly false. But Asch discovered something else. If just one of his secret accomplices told the truth and pointed out line one was patently longest the test subjects were much more likely to do likewise. The spell had been broken. This, in fact, is precisely what John Bercow has done by intervening so spectacularly in the Brexit crisis. In denying Theresa May a third meaningful vote on her deal with the EU, the Speaker was invoking a convention that dates back to 1604 the year, as it happens, when work began on the authorised King James version of the Bible and Othello was first performed. Matthew d'Ancona Yet the notional antiquity of this rule was incidental. In reality Bercow was simply introducing a measure of grown-up empiricism to the parliamentary carnival of magical thinking, ideology and paralysed discord. By ruling out yet another vote on the same proposition, he was reminding the House that a bad idea does not become good simply because it is asked repeatedly. You cannot really have your cake and eat it. You cannot actually make circles square. And though he would never spell out such detail there is no version of Brexit that will simultaneously satisfy the doctrine of the hardliners and preserve the Good Friday Agreement. We should all grow up and admit as much. Diplomatically speaking, there could scarcely be a more awkward prelude to the Prime Ministers appearance at tomorrows European Council. She will meet her fellow heads of government without parliamentary endorsement of her deal or anything close as she reluctantly seeks an extension to Article 50. She will then return to the House with whatever the EU proposes, present it in tandem with the withdrawal agreement, hope that Bercow agrees that this hybrid offer represents a substantially new proposal, and seek MPs approval. The question, of course, is what she will be granted in Brussels. Yesterdays fractious Cabinet meeting ended in a mood of explicit disunity: it is clear that May risks the resignation of Brexiteers, including Chris Grayling, Liam Fox and Andrea Leadsom, if there is now a lengthy extension. One can also see why Mays personal preference might be for a short deferral, long enough to hold another Commons vote and steer through the administrative legislation required for the UKs departure, but short enough to force MPs back to her own wretched framing of the issue: my deal, or no deal. "Tusk and Barnier have been at one in their insistence that the extension cannot be yet another can-kicking exercise" A brief extension would indeed put the flame to MPs feet, and is essentially Mays last hope of securing our departure from the EU before the third anniversary of her entry to No 10 on July 13, 2016. In this demented parlour game it might indeed be her last chance of achieving that objective at all. There was much agonising in Westminster yesterday about what precisely the Prime Minister would ask for in her letter to Donald Tusk, the European Council President. But this feverish speculation betrays how crazily introspective we have become as the notional Brexit date of March 29 has drawn closer. Frankly, it doesnt matter all that much what May asks for. What counts is what the 27 are ready to grant her unanimously, remember. Tusk and Michel Barnier, the EUs chief negotiator, have been as one in their insistence that the extension cannot be yet another exercise in can-kicking. As the latter put it yesterday: Does an extension increase the chances of the ratification of the withdrawal agreement? ... what would be the purpose and outcome of an extension? And how can we ensure that at the end of a possible extension we are not back at the same situation as we are today? These questions are both pitiless and fair. Almost three years since British voters were promised in the referendum campaign that it would be a piece of cake (eaten and preserved, presumably) to exit the EU, that egregious claim has been tested to destruction. The 27 are predictably weary of British intransigence and would only agree on a lengthy extension if they are persuaded that the time will be put to good use. They also know that May will not survive two more years as Prime Minister. Any longer extension would be a leap, collectively, into the unknown. Contrarian as it may sound, the unknown is precisely what is needed. The Brexit process has been an unmitigated disaster, yielding a deal that even its authors dislike and resulting in parliamentary turmoil, a Government barely worthy of the name and yet further corrosion of public trust in the political process. W eve got ourselves a Joseph newcomer Jac Yarrow will don the coat of many colours in the new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this summer. The 21-year-old will make his professional stage debut alongside Sheridan Smith and Jason Donovan in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical at the London Palladium. But what do we know about the rising star so far? Impressively, Cardiff-born Yarrow has nabbed the role before he's even finished drama school - he will graduate from performing arts school ArtsEd this year. During his time there, he has starred in productions of Once On This Island, Street Scene and the taken the lead role in Disneys Newsies. He also performed in a celebration of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at last years Olivier Awards alongside Jason Donovan, Lee Mead and Joe McElderry, all of whom have played the title character. Yarrow said: I cant quite believe it. Here I am, 21 years old, still at drama school and come June Ill be standing centre stage at the prestigious London Palladium, singing the iconic music and lyrics of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. My dream came true. The musical, directed by Laurence Connor, follows the story of a young man sold into slavery by his brothers. Ending up in Egypt, he ingratiates himself with some important people when he discovers his ability to interpret dreams. London actor Mark Strong believes film stars no longer need to move to Hollywood as the industry is truly international. Strong, 55, who lives in north London with his wife, producer Liza Marshall, and two sons, said he never felt compelled to relocate to America. The award-winning star, below, is returning to the big screen next month as Dr Thaddeus Sivana in Shazam!, a new DC superhero movie. He told the Standard: I was born in London, I grew up in London, my family are here, and I can work out of here it has become truly international these days, you dont have to be based in LA. Strong, who has 44 films to his name, won the 2015 best actor Olivier award for his role in Arthur Millers A View From The Bridge at the National Theatre. He wants to return to the London stage by next year and said his dream role would be playing a Shakespearean villain, such as Richard III or Macbeth. Dream role: Strong said he would love to tackle a Shakespearean villain / Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images But he is working on two other projects before then, including Sam Mendess First World War film 1917, which has been picked up by Steven Spielbergs Amblin Partners. Shazam! Super-powered funfair opens on London's Southbank He also made his debut behind the camera this year, as executive producer for Sky-commissioned thriller series Temple, working alongside his wife. Superpowered: DC opened a funfair on Londons South Bank this week to launch new superhero film SHAZAM! (Handout ) / Handout Strong said: I realised how much scaffolding is required to actually build a production. Its a whole different world from the one where youre just required to turn up and do your job of acting. "I hope to do more, because as you get older you actually realise maybe youve got some wisdom to impart. Disney reboots are on a roll at the moment, the latest being Dumbo, which sees director Tim Burton recreate the 1941 classic in a live-action style similar to The Jungle Book. While the beloved flying elephant is a CGI creation, the film stars Colin Farrell, Eva Green and Michael Keaton - as well as newcomer Nico Parker. Here's everything to know about Disneys newest star and the daughter of the Westworld actress Thandie Newton and director Ol Parker - and why she won't be taking acting advice from her famous parents. Who is Nico Parker? Getty Images for Disney Nico is a British actress currently starring in Disneys upcoming reboot of Dumbo. Though this is her first movie, the 14 year old is the daughter of British actress Thandie Newton while her father is writer-director Ol Parker, who recently wrote and directed Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Who does Nico Parker play in Dumbo? Dumbo official trailer Nico Parker plays a girl named Milly Farrier, whose circus worker father Holt (played by Colin Farrell) is asked to look after Dumbo. After growing close to the little elephant, she soon discovers that he can fly - which is when things take a turn for the worse. The film, which is directed by Tim Burton, also stars Eva Green, Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton. Reboots of any beloved movie always have an enormous amount of pressure heaped onto them by fans. As Parker told Vogue, "At first it was nerve-wracking remaking such a classic story. In the end, though, I just got swept up in the magic of it all - the costumes, the stunts, the effects." With Dumbo set to land in theatres on March 29, Parker also quipped, "I am really excited to get to share it with people. Not family, though. That's scary." How is Nico Parker related to Thandie Newton? Getty Images Westworld actress Thandie Newton is Nico Parkers mother. Though Thandie Newton has a number of acting awards including a BAFTA under her belt, Parker says she's keen to forge her own path. She told The Hollywood Reporter, When it came to acting, I didnt really want advice. It was very much my own experience. But she did take on board one piece of advice: her director father Ol Parker impressed on her that it was important to remember peoples names with a memory trick: Say the name in your head three times and trace the way the name is spelt on your leg three times." Nico Parker with Ol Parker and Thandie Newton / Getty Images Parker also has a sister called Ripley Parker, who is 18 years old. While Ripley is not following her parents into Hollywood, she made headlines in 2017 when she approached MP Boris Johnson at a performance of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and insulted him to his face. Her mother said she was "proud" of her daughter, telling The Sunday Times magazine, "She went over to say, 'Hello Mr Johnson my name is Ripley and I just wanted to tell you you're a c***. I hope you enjoy the show.' Does Nico Parker have Instagram? Yes - but it's a new one. Her account @nicoparkerofficial has just four posts which include behind-the-scenes of her photoshoot with British Vogue and The Hollywood Reporter. Her mother Thandie Newtons Instagram is also full of glowing posts about her daughter. In fact, after Thandie found out she been nominated for a best supporting actress Golden Globe for Westworld, she celebrated with a photo of her daughter being prepped for a day of press. E ach summer, youll be hard-pressed not to find a Brit on the beaches of Spain , Italy and Greece. Yet, it seems the tide may be changing as we succumb to the mysterious allure of Eastern Europe. Between 2007 and 2017, the report found there was a 638 per cent increase in British travellers visiting the under-the-radar European nation . Lithuania was named as the second fastest-growing destination for UK travellers, increasing by 187 per cent in the same decade and Mexico the third, with traveller volume increasing by 145 per cent. You can see the full list below: Top 20 fastest-growing travel destinations for Brits 1. Romania, up 638 per cent 2. Lithuania, up 187 per cent 3. Mexico, up 145 per cent 4. Hungary, up 70 per cent 5. U.A.E, up 64 per cent 6. Poland, up 56 per cent 7. Portugal, up 50 per cent 8. Denmark, up 45 per cent 9. Nigeria, up 38 per cent 10. Morocco, up 37 per cent 11. Italy, up 25 per cent 12. Netherlands, up 18 per cent 13. China, up 18 per cent 14. Slovakia, up 17.5 per cent 15. Pakistan, up 17.5 per cent 16. Austria, up 14 per cent 17. Bulgaria, up 11 per cent 18. Jamaica, up 10 per cent 19. Sweden, up nine per cent 20. Greece, up five per cent European nations represented 14 out of the 20 fastest-growing destinations, with Mexico, U.A.E., and Nigeria being the most popular non-European nations to visit. Awash with history and culture, Romania is also a cheap city break for Brits, with flights to Cluj-Napoca starting from just 12 return, and flights to the capital of Bucharest from just 18 return from London. I t may not feel like it with the grey skies and brisk winds we're experiencing, but as today's Google Doodle will tell you - spring is officially here. The Spring Equinox, or the Vernal Equinox as it's more formally known, marks the astronomical start of spring when the sun passes north through the Earth's equator. From March 20 the days will begin to get longer and the nights shorter as the Earth wakes up from its winter hibernation and Brits look forward to the promise of sunshine. Here's all you need to know about the Vernal - or Spring - Equinox. The Spring Equinox marks the beginning of spring / Unsplash When is the Spring Equinox? The Spring Equinox falls on March 20 this year, which marks the first day of the astronomical spring. The meteorological spring fell on March 1. The Met Office says that astronomical seasons "refer to the position of Earth's orbit in relation to the sun," whereas meteorological seasons are "based on the annual temperature cycle" to coincide with the calendar. This year, the Spring Equinox takes place on Wednesday, March 20 at 9.58pm UK time - just four hours before the third and final supermoon of the year will take place. The Spring Equinox always falls on one of three days towards the end of March. Spring is nearly here / Unsplash What is the Spring Equinox? An equinox is a phenomenon which only happens twice a year - once during the Spring Equinox and once during the Autumn Equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere the Spring Equinox happens around March 20, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The Autumn Equinox occurs around September 23 in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the beginning of autumn. An equinox happens between the summer and winter solstices, marking the point when the sun positions itself exactly above the equator before crossing through it. According to the Met Office, the spring equinox marks the beginning of astronomical spring and from this day forward the day is longer than the night. The autumn equinox marks the start of autumn as the night becomes longer than the day. What does equinox mean? During the equinox, day and night will be around the same length. A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after trying to slash another pupils face with a meat cleaver at school, police said. Police in Brent tweeted a picture of the huge cleaver on Tuesday evening prompting shocked reactions from their followers. They said the arrest had come following a dispute at a secondary school in the north London borough. Police did not say when the argument took place. One Twitter user said: A. Where the hell did he get that from? B. Why did no adult know he was carrying this? C. He needs urgent help from police, social workers, community so as to know this is NOT acceptable. Another added: The most dangerous thing I took to school was a well sharpened pencil. While a third commented: The world has gone mad. Thats crazy. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a 100 million fund to tackle knife crime in his Spring Statement, but the chair of the Police Federation said it was nowhere near enough. John Apter said the extra government money has got to be welcomed but added that the figure falls short of what is needed for a solution. Nathaniel Armstrong, 29, was the latest person to be stabbed to death on Saturday night in Fulham. S elf-styled Yellow Vest demonstrator James Goddard has denied assaulting a news photographer at a Manchester protest. The 29-year-old Brexit campaigner pleaded not guilty to assaulting Manchester Evening News photographer Joel Goodman at Manchester Magistrates' Court today. The alleged incident is said to have taken place in Manchester city centre on February 9, during a demonstration. Supporters and signs protesting Goddard's innocence were seen outside court as he appeared before magistrates. Supporters of James Goddard outside Manchester Magistrates' Court / PA A supporter of Goddards, pictured wearing in a yellow high-vis vest, was pictured outside of court as well as signs which read: Freedom of speech is not a crime. Goddard pleaded not guilty to common assault and to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards Mr Goodman. Brexit protester James Goddard / PA District Judge John Temperley adjourned the case until June 25 for trial. As part of his bail conditions, Goddard must not contact Mr Goodman or attend any organised demonstration in Manchester city centre. A n Indian billionaire jeweller wanted over an alleged 1.5 billion fraud has been arrested in London. Nirav Deepak Modi, 48, was held by officers from the Metropolitan Police in Holborn, central London yesterday. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court today as part of extradition proceedings by the Indian authorities. The Daily Telegraph reported that Modi was arrested after its reporters tracked him down at a flat in central Londons Centre Point tower. K atie Price has pleaded not guilty following an alleged playground row with the girlfriend of her estranged husband. The former model is said to have confronted Michelle Penticost at the school where she works as a teacher, allegedly asking her: Are you enjoying f***ing my husband? Arriving at a court today for the third time already this year, she joked you must be bored of me now with photographers as she made her way into the building. She pleaded not guilty at Crawley magistrates court to a charge of using threatening and abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. The former model appeared at Crawley magistrates court / PA It follows an alleged incident outside a primary school in the West Sussex village of Shipley on September 6 last year involving Ms Penticost, the girlfriend of her ex Kieran Hayler. Price, 40, appeared in court wearing a fur trimmed coat and black leather trousers with stiletto shoes. She arrived in a blacked out Mercedes people carrier. Chairwoman of the bench Serena Stewart told Price her trial would be at Horsham magistrates on June 3. Price told the court: I will definitely attend. She had failed to turn up at an earlier court appearance because she was on holiday in Thailand. A 28-year-old man is fighting for life after being shot by police in north-east London. A police officer was also slashed as violence broke out following a reported "domestic incident at a home in Hackney. Armed officers were called to reports of a suspect "armed with knives and making threats to kill" on Tuesday night. The man was rushed to hospital with a gunshot injury. Police confirmed the man was shot by a firearms officer. The officers slash injury is not believed to be life-threatening, Scotland Yard said. There were no other reported injuries. Police were called to the scene at a residential address in Knights Close just before 9.45pm. In statement, The Metropolitan Police said: The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed. H ealth Secretary Matt Hancock has raised hopes of transforming one of Londons oldest hospitals after admitting he can see the case for rebuilding Whipps Cross. Mr Hancock was asked to visit the increasingly busy Leytonstone hospital, parts of which date back more than 100 years, after its condition was raised by Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith at Prime Ministers Questions. He saw for himself how many inpatients were treated on large Nightingale wards, where beds are separated only by curtains and there is a risk of cross-infection and a lack of dignity. Doctors told him how patients often have to be wheeled across an open-air footbridge to and from surgery when a lift breaks down. The hospital has an 88 million repairs backlog and bosses adopt an Elastoplast approach to keeping it open. Nurses told Mr Hancock about truly, truly awful, unbearable conditions last summer on wards without air conditioning. Bottles of water and ice lollies were distributed daily. Bosses at Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs Whipps Cross, want to knock down derelict parts of its sprawling campus and build a new 360 million hospital, part-funded by hundreds of new homes alongside. A new A&E department opened in 2012 and some wards and theatres have been modernised but staff say a new hospital is vital. Only 11 per cent of beds are in single rooms. Modern hospitals have about 30 to 35 per cent. Mr Hancock told staff: There is clearly a need for improvement to the estate of this hospital. That is evident to anybody walking around it. Speaking to the Standard afterwards, he said: We have given Whipps Cross the go-ahead to take their planning for a redevelopment to the next stage. The amount of capital money there is for new hospitals will be in the spending review, but I can see the case for modernisation of Whipps Cross. H ealth officials are investigating a case of deadly Legionnaires Disease at one of Londons most notorious apartment blocks. A resident of Dolphin Square has contracted the disease, according to Public Health England which said it was working with the management company to inform residents. Officials said the resident who contracted the disease was responding well to treatment. The 10-storey block of flats in Pimlico has a colourful past and has been described as Londons most famous apartment block. During World War Two, blackshirt leader Oswald Mosley was arrested in his Dolphin Square flat and driven to prison. MI5s Maxwell Knight recruited Ian Fleming to the Secret Service from a flat a few doors down. Former residents also include Princess Anne, Harold Wilson and Christine Keeler. Charles de Gaulle based his Free France government in the square during the war. A resident aged in her 60s, who asked not to be named, told the Standard: "We were only told about it today. There is only one person affected in a flat. "It is not a disease that is easily spread around apparently so I am not too concerned. "Its something where bacteria is always there but sometimes this sort of thing happens." A student, 27, who lives in one of flats, said: Im quite freaked out about it. I have never experienced anything this before. I called the management after getting an email and they said it was fine all fine. She added: I hope it is not a major issue and it is just one case but lets hope we all dont catch it. Im going down to the shops now to get Evian water until I know it has been sorted out. Im taking that individual approach to safeguard against anything. My sister is a doctor and thats what she recommended. It is understood that traces of the bacteria may have been found in one shower within the apartment blocks and that the water system is being tested on a daily basis. Public Health England issued a statement saying: PHE has been notified of a case of legionnaires disease at a domestic residence in central London. The person is responding to treatment, and PHE is working closely with the local authority and management company to inform and advise residents. Legionnaires disease is an illness caught by breathing in droplets of water containing bacteria which cause infection. Symptoms include fever, a persistent cough, breathing difficulties and chest pain. In severe cases it can cause pneumonia. Dolphin Square Limited confirmed that a resident had recently been diagnosed with a respiratory illness caused by legionella bacteria. In a statement it said : We are in contact with the affected resident and are providing ongoing support. As a precaution we have informed all of our residents and reissued guidance on the prevention measures that should be taken. We work closely with Feedwater, a leading water treatment specialist who oversee the monitoring and testing regime of our domestic water system and we are currently taking further advice and direction from Public Health England and the Local Authority. The health and welfare of everyone at Dolphin Square is central to all we do, which is why we invest heavily in ensuring that the water supply is safe and secure. Water at the Square is treated in accordance with all applicable national regulations and guidelines. A spokesman said the restaurant at the square remained open. Last year residents of Dolphin Square criticised plans for a 400 million makeover that includes new rooftop penthouses. US property company Westbrook plans to increase the number of apartments from 1,250 to 1,395 and want to demolish and rebuild the northern block, Rodney House. Earlier this year an inquest heard how a woman died after contracting Legionnaires disease after staying at a hotel. Elaine Brown, 69, from Liverpool, died from a stroke shortly after a visit to the Feathers in Ludlow, Shropshire in July 2017. The jury heard she contracted Legionella pneumonia which contributed to the stroke. S adiq Khan escalated his ongoing row with President Donald Trump today, saying the next US leader cant be Trump. The Mayor of London warned that the 2020 US election has global ramifications and hinted that left-winger Bernie Sanders will not win the race to beat Mr Trump. In an interview at Advertising Week Europe, the mayor likened Mr Trumps presidential campaign to Project Fear during the EU referendum and said the president amplified messages of hate. Mr Khan, who has previously clashed with the president over Twitter, said: I think the next president hasnt declared yet. I think its not going to be Trump. It cant be Trump - jeez! US President Donald Trump / EPA Weve got to recognise those people who voted for Donald Trump and made him president think hes doing an OK job. One of the challenges...is youve got to recognise reasons why people supported him and why they still support him. And there are some great people that are already in the race currently, I'm not sure the winning candidate is yet declared. Im clearly hopeful its a Democratic candidate becoming the next president. What happens in America matters for the rest of the world. Im hoping those Americans who didnt get involved in the last campaign get involved, get registered. Who the president is affects not just American citizens it affects all of us. Bernie Sanders / AFP/Getty Images We are looking forward to continuing great relations with Americans and American businesses. But it would be nice to have a great relationship with the president too. His comments suggest he does not think Mr Sanders - who is often likened to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - will win the race. Rather, it suggests support for Joe Biden, Barack Obamas former vice-president, who is tipped to run although he has not yet launched a bid. Mr Trump and the mayor previously came to blows after the president attacked the Mr Khan for doing a terrible job in response to the 2017 terror attacks. In an interview ahead of his visit to the UK in July last year, the president said: "Take a look at the terrorism that is taking place. Look at what is going on in London. I think [Mr Khan] has done a very bad job on terrorism. The mayor refused to rise to Trumps beastly accusations and gave permission for the giant Trump Baby to be flown during a protest against the presidents visit. Yesterday, at Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly, the mayor was asked if he was concerned about the rise of the far right. He said there had been an increase in people attempting to commit acts of terror from far right groups and said mainstream politicians had given credence to some of their views and normalised them. He added: I think what the referendum campaign in this country, presidential campaign in America, some the actions Im afraid of your president in amplifying messages of hate, has sent a signal to these people that its OK to feel this way. F irst it was the Ladies for Leave; now its Bitches Against Brexit. What started out as a throwaway joke on Twitter as a reaction to Esther McVeys Ladies for Leave pro-Brexit grouping is now, within three weeks, a fully fledged anti-Brexit campaign with T-shirts, films and events. Actor Emma Kennedy, who accidentally started the movement, says it had got to the point now with Brexit that its so desperate and serious that she wanted to make this awful mess as fun as possible.McVey, a former work and pensions secretary, founded Ladies for Leave in late February as a platform for women who voted to leave, alongside a video (below) of various women saying: Im a lady for leaving. It was just so infuriating, Kennedy told The Londoner, I just found it really patronising and slightly revolting. Ill be honest, I think Im developing a slight allergy to Esther McVey. But that hasnt stopped her and Bitches Against Brexit challenging the Ladies for Leave to a rounders match. The gauntlet is down. We are yet to hear if theyre afraid then theyre right to be. Kennedy says the reaction to her jokily suggesting Bitches Against Brexit was astonishing: Actual people in the real world started contacting me. In short order a website was created, videos made, and merchandise designed, all without charge. Kennedy tells us money from merchandise sales is split between UK small businesses and funding for content for the website. Bitches Against Brexit will march with Peoples Vote campaigners this Saturday. Afterwards, Kennedy says, We want to be a group that does things rather than just complains about things thats going to be our mantra. Race rap for Owen Has Guardian columnist Owen Jones had his wings clipped after accusing colleagues of inciting racism? Mainstream newspapers whip up and legitimise hatred against minorities, tweeted Jones, before attacking Guardian beauty columnist Sali Hughes, among others. Jones was rebuked by Guardian bosses and an email was later sent to staff reminding them not to use social media to air internal disputes with colleagues or contributors, or The Guardian. Chastised, Jones later wrote: Id like to clarify that the Guardian provides space for excellent anti-racism voices. -- Gisela Stuart, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove in 2016 / Getty Images Former Vote Leave chair Gisela Stuart says the only solution to the current political crisis is a general election. Changing MPs is logical, Stuart told us at the launch of Editorial Intelligences new book Commentland, because if youre a FTSE100 company and after two years all your workers say its too difficult, what do you do? Give them P45s. -- Jess Phillips popped up on Celebrity Bake Off last night where she faced a gentle grilling from host Noel Fielding. Are you happy? Fielding asked her about her bake. I dont care enough about winning to do it again, Phillips replied. Fielding shot back: Is that why youre in the Labour Party? Sieghart maps out TV discrimination Mary Ann Sieghart says its time for the archetype of the wise old woman to appear on British TV as well as wise old men. As soon as [women] get to 50, there are very few of them on current-affairs news on TV, the broadcaster and political commentator, who is 57, told us at an event in Mayfair this week. Its a shame, she added, because you get loads and loads of older men whose faces look like a relief map of the Mendips. Women are not allowed to look like that on TV and I just ask myself why? -- "Borne to Dance": Dame Darcey Bussell and Nicola Formby / Dave Benett/Getty Images Darcey Bussell, left, returned to her spiritual home last night for a charity gala at the Royal Opera House. The one-time principal ballerina was joined at the fundraiser for Borne by Nicola Formby, right, the South Africa-born journalist and former model. Vaudeville night for trailblazing women The Doctor finds a Bodyguard: David Tennant and Keeley Hawes (Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett The Vaudeville Theatre last night celebrated trailblazing women at a performance of Emilia, which has just transferred from Shakespeares Globe. Guests included Dame Harriet Walter, MOBO founder Kanya King and Sherlock star Louise Brealey. The play honours Emilia Bassano, thought to be the Dark Lady of Shakespeares sonnets, focusing on her poetry and mission to make her voice heard in a patriarchal society. One audience member, sat behind The Londoner in the stalls last night, was overheard remarking that there was much buzz around the work of the playwright an exciting guy named Morgan Lloyd Malcolm. We obligingly informed him that he is, of course, a she. Patriarchy still in play, then. Also last night, Bodyguard star Keeley Hawes and former Doctor Who actor David Tennant were in Finsbury Park for the press night of The Life I Lead, which has started its run at The Park Theatre. The pair appeared together in 1999 period drama The Last September: perhaps a reunion could be on the cards. SW1A Did Anna Soubry let the cat out of the bag by mentioning that the Labour MP Alison McGovern was requesting an emergency SO24 debate about the Governments handling of Brexit on the Today programme? It is bad form to mention requests of this sort until the Speaker has made a ruling because it is seen to put pressure on him. A source says: The thing about this coup by MPs to take back control, is [that] it has to be a silent coup. -- Luciana Berger disputes Labour claims that there were no plans to remove her as the health and social care committee chair. Her fellow Independent Group MPs Mike Gapes and Ian Austin were yesterday removed from the foreign affairs select committee. For the record, UK Labour advertised internally for someone to take my place on Commons health 2 weeks ago (the day before my baby arrived), Berger says. Its just no one came forward/wanted to do it. Quote of the Day Precious locks: Kit Harington / WireImage, I cant tell you the amount of conversations Ive had about whether my hairs going to grow back in time T heresa May has asked EU leaders for a short extension to Article 50. The Prime Minister made clear that she was not prepared to delay Brexit beyond June 30. European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU would grant an extension but only if MPs back the PMs deal. But Mrs May hit out at MPs, saying Parliament has done "everything possible" so far to avoid making a choice. So whats next for the Brexit process? PM Theresa May made a short statement in 10 Downing Street on Wednesday / AFP/Getty Images Thursday March 21 Mrs May will travel to Brussels for a summit of the European Council, where she will make her case for a three-month extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process, putting Brexit back from March 29 to June 30. The Prime Minister is expected to address leaders of the other 27 EU states before leaving them to discuss their response for about three hours in her absence. The outcome is likely to be announced by Council president Mr Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in a joint press conference before Mrs May joins the other leaders for dinner. Mr Tusk has indicated the EU27 could agree an extension in principle, subject to Mrs May getting her Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament next week. Their agreement must be unanimous. If they do not offer an extension, the legal default is that the UK leaves on March 29 with or without a deal. Mrs May has already accepted that she no longer has time to complete the necessary legislation by that deadline, leaving her with the unenviable choice of revoking Article 50 to keep the UK in the EU or leaving without a legislated deal. Donald Tusk says Article 50 extension possible with condition of positive Brexit vote Friday March 22 Mrs May will remain in Brussels to discuss issues like climate change, jobs and the 25th anniversary of the European Economic Area. This will possibly be the final participation of a British prime minister in a summit as one of the 28 EU leaders. Saturday March 23-Sunday March 24 Intensive talks are expected to continue with MPs - particularly Conservative Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party - to try to shore up support for Mrs May's Withdrawal Agreement. Saturday is expected to see large crowds attend a Put It To The People march and rally in central London demanding a second referendum. Theresa makes a statement inside 10 Downing Street on Brexit / AFP/Getty Images Monday March 25 Under an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Act secured last year by Remain-backing MP Dominic Grieve, the Government must table an amendable motion in response to its second "meaningful vote" defeat last week. MPs are likely to use the opportunity to promote their own preferred options. These could range from a no-deal Brexit to a close Norway-style relationship with the EU, a longer postponement or a second referendum. Mrs May's effective deputy David Lidington has also promised to kick-off a two-week process to seek a majority on the best way forward, which may involve indicative votes on alternative outcomes. Theresa May requests three-month Brexit delay Monday March 25-Friday March 29 Mrs May is expected to put her Withdrawal Agreement package to a third "meaningful vote" in the Commons - assuming that Speaker John Bercow accepts that her motion is fundamentally different from those defeated by 230 votes in January and 149 in March. She is also expected to push a statutory instrument through the Commons and the Lords to remove the exit date of March 29 from Brexit legislation, in a process which Downing Street expects to take one or two days. If the Agreement gets through at the third attempt, the European Council is likely to confirm the offer of an extension, allowing the UK to complete the process of ratifying the treaty and getting legislation in place for an orderly exit in May or June. If the package is rejected for a third time, there will be intense pressure on the EU27 to nonetheless offer an extension to preserve the hope of a smooth Brexit. Thursday March 28 Next Thursday has been mooted as a possible date for an extraordinary European Council summit to find a last-minute solution if no agreement has been reached. Friday March 29 If no extension has been offered and no agreement approved by MPs, the UK will leave the EU without a deal at 11pm, with the potential for widespread disruption. Leave Means Leave marchers demanding a no-deal Brexit are due to arrive in London after a two-week walk from Sunderland. Trump adviser John Bolton says America wants to partner with Brexit Britain March 30-June 30 If Mrs May's plan has worked, this period will see the UK pass the necessary legislation for an orderly withdrawal from the EU. If Brussels has delivered an extension but Mrs May's deal has been rejected by MPs, there will be furious debate in Westminster on the way forward. April 11 Deadline for the UK to declare it is participating in the European Parliament elections. May 23-26 European Parliament elections. Brussels says that no further extension to Article 50 will be possible if the UK has not taken part in the vote. June 30 Under Mrs May's plans, the UK would leave the European Union and enter an 18-month transition period lasting to December 31 2020, during which it would observe EU rules but have no representation in Brussels institutions. T he EU will allow a short Article 50 extension and delay to Brexit but only if MPs vote for Theresa May's deal, Donald Tusk has said. European Council president Mr Tusk, speaking in Brussels, said: "In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. "But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. "The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension." President of the European Council Donald Tusk delivers a statement on Brexit ahead of the EU summit in Brussels / REUTERS After his statement, Mr Tusk tweeted: "Even if the hope for final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking - until the very last moment - a positive solution." It comes after Theresa May today asked the EU to delay Brexit until June 30 and threatened to resign as Prime Minister if MPs demand a longer postponement. Her stance increased the risk of the country crashing out accidentally on no-deal terms. Under pressure: Theresa May speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday / AFP/Getty Images Mrs May said she would stage a third vote on her twice-rejected deal, and if that failed, Britain should leave by June 30 in order to avoid having to hold elections to the European Parliament. She will make a statement outside No 10 in Downing Street at 8.15pm after holding meetings with opposition party leaders and a Brexiteer group. Mr Tusk indicated that it should be possible for leaders of the remaining EU 27 to approve his plan for a short extension at a summit in the Belgian capital starting on Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May and some of her Cabinet ministers in the Commons today / EPA He said that while he did not foresee the need for another "extraordinary" summit next week, he would not hesitate to call one if necessary. "If the leaders approve my recommendations and there is a positive vote in the House of Commons next week, we can finalise and formalise the decision on extension in the written procedure," he said. "However, if there is such a need, I will not hesitate to invite the members of the European Council for a meeting to Brussels next week." Speaking in the Commons earlier today, Mrs May said: The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable. Theresa May's letter to Donald Tusk / AFP/Getty Images It would be a failure to deliver on the referendum decision this House said it would deliver. I have therefore this morning written to President [Donald] Tusk ... informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period until June 30. The pound fell within minutes of Mrs Mays statement, and was down 0.93 per cent against the euro shortly before 1pm. Mrs May will formally ask the European Council summit in Brussels tomorrow, where the unanimous approval of all 27 remaining member states is required for any extension. It is not yet clear if the EU will agree to the date. Some European legal experts think Britain must leave earlier to avoid holding elections for new MEPs in May. She asked for a three-month delay to Brexit / AFP/Getty Images In an astonishing tirade, Mrs May told the House of Commons the public were fed up with navel gazing by Parliament. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long, she said. The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. If that vote is passed the extension will give the House time to consider the withdrawal agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed. Hinting she would quit if Parliament forced a longer delay, Mrs May added: But, as Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. Mrs Mays close aides confirmed she was ready to resign if thwarted. Asked if she would quit, an official said: You should infer from those words the strength of the PMs resolve and extent of her determination to deliver for the people. A senior minister commented: Today represents a further event in a catastrophic failure of the political process - here and in the EU. "That we are where we are with a week or so to go before March 29 is nothing short of a matter of bewilderment for the UK and some shame for us all in Parliament. We are fortunate the British people are so patient. In her letter to European Council president Mr Tusk, Mrs May said that it remains the Governments policy to take the UK out of the EU in an orderly manner. She set out plans to prevent Speaker John Bercow blocking a third vote on her deal, which was rejected by MPs by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Theresa May wrote to Donald Tusk asking for an extension to the Brexit deadline (file image) / Reuters Only six days ago Mrs Mays de facto deputy David Lidington described delaying Brexit from March 29 until June as a downright reckless idea. It appeared to be a wholesale cave-in to Right-wing MPs and ministers, who piled pressure on the Prime Minister in Cabinet yesterday and plotted delegations in private meetings at Westminster last night. Mrs Mays demand flew in the face of a European Commission document that flatly opposed extending British membership of the EU to June 30 unless European elections are held in the UK. The memo sent to officials said Britain either must leave before May 23 or else face a lengthy delay to at least the end of this year. TODO: define component type apester It stated: This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions. The reason is that EU lawyers say European MPs must be elected by each member state to maintain the legal status of the institutions. Mrs Mays nuclear ultimatum caused astonishment and uproar across the Commons. Jeremy Corbyn accused her of a lack of respect and said she was desperate after blackmail, bullying and bribing had failed to pass her deal. But Mrs May tried to blame Parliament for her ultimatum, saying MPs had voted against a second referendum and moves towards a softer Brexit. She claimed: Its time this Parliament faced the consequences. David Lidington described a short extension as reckless last week / PA Labours Yvette Cooper said Mrs May was in the worst state of denial. Truly shocking, she tweeted. Liberal Democrat Tim Farron warned: We are dancing to the tune of extremists, not listening to the people. Cross-party groups of MPs desperately hatched plots to seize the reins from the Prime Minister. On Monday, the group that includes Tories Sir Oliver Letwin and Nick Boles and Ms Cooper, plan to relaunch their bid to take control of the Commons agenda to debate other Brexit options. Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain would be in the hands of God / AFP/Getty Images A minister told the Evening Standard privately: We are going to stop this nonsense. If the only way to do that is to vote for Cooper/Boles then so be it. Labours front bench launched a bid to challenge Mrs Mays letter to Mr Tusk in the Commons this afternoon. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer applied for an emergency debate under Standing Order 24 on the length and purpose of the delay, which some MPs hoped could be used to trigger a vote.Mr Lidington told the Commons on March 14 that an extension of the Article 50 process to the end of June would be impossible. He told MPs: In the absence of a deal, seeking such a short and, critically, one-off extension would be downright reckless ... making a no-deal scenario far more, rather than less, likely. Works by American artist and French-Vietnamese artist to be displayed in Da Nang The event will be held to strengthen friendship and international cooperation, contribute to the achievements of Da Nang city in the field of cultural diplomacy, and at the same time to meet the demand for public enjoyment of art in the current period, on the occasion of the 44th Anniversary of Liberation Day of Da Nang city (March 29th). Artist Mark Cooper currently lives and works in the field of art in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is known worldwide for large-scale installations. He has had many major exhibitions in different countries such as at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum; Yuan Art Museum (Beijing, China), Lesley University (Cambridge, England), Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Institute of Contemporary Art , the Corcoran Museum, Butler Institute of American Art (USA), the City Museum of Paris (France), the Westlicht Museum (Austria). Artist Vu Trong Thuan, after a long time settling in France, returned to Vietnam and chose Da Nang as his second homeland to fulfill his passion of drawing. He is an artist who had many contributions to the development of fine arts of the city and is known for his large-scale abstract paintings in lacquer and mixed acrylic materials. The exhibition entitled Bridge will run at the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum until April 20th./. T heresa May tonight told the nation that MPs have done "everything possible" to avoid making a choice on Brexit and that she was not prepared to delay the exit date beyond June 30. In a televised address from 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister said that it was "a matter of great personal regret for me" that Brexit will not go ahead on March 29 after she had to ask the EU for a delay. She blamed MPs for failing to agree a means to implement the result of the 2016 referendum and said she believes voters just want this stage of the Brexit process to be over. And she told voters: "I am on your side." Mrs May said: "Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. Theresa May speaks outside Downing Street / Sky News "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide." She went on: "It is high time we made a decision. So far Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice... tabling motion after motion and amendment after amendment." "All MPs have been willing to say is what they don't want." Mrs May said: "I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30." PM Theresa May made a short statement in 10 Downing Street / AFP/Getty Images She also told the public she is "on their side" and that she had requested an Article 50 extension to June 30 to "give MPs time to make a final choice." The Prime Minister added that she would "work night and day" to secure backing for her Brexit deal which she wants to put back to MPs to vote on for a third and final time. Mrs May said she passionately hoped that MPs would find a way to back the deal she had negotiated with the EU. Her remarks came after she held talks with opposition party leaders to discuss a way forward. Jeremy Corbyn refused to take part because members of the breakaway Independent Group were there, according to Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and TIG spokesman Chuka Umunna. TODO: define component type apester Mrs May had today asked the EU to allow the UK's withdrawal date to be delayed to June 30 and threatened to resign as Prime Minister if MPs demand a longer postponement. European Council President Donald Tusk then said the EU would grant a "short extension" but only if MPs back the Prime Minister's deal in the Commons during a third meaningful vote next week. In the Commons on Wednesday, Mrs May set out plans to prevent Speaker John Bercow blocking a third vote on her deal, which was rejected by MPs by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Prime Minister Theresa May and some of her Cabinet ministers in the Commons today / EPA Westminster was in turmoil with MPs, who were granted an emergency debate in the Commons by Mr Bercow, desperate to hear Mrs May's plans as to how she will seek to get the deal through after two staggering defeats. On Thursday, Mrs May will travel to Brussels for a summit of the European Council, where she will make her case for a three-month extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process, putting Brexit back from March 29 to June 30. The Prime Minister is expected to address leaders of the other 27 EU states before leaving them to discuss their response for about three hours in her absence. The outcome is likely to be announced by Council president Mr Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in a joint press conference before Mrs May joins the other leaders for dinner. President of the European Council, Donald Tusk (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker / EPA European Council president Mr Tusk on Wednesday wrote a letter to leaders of the 27 EU states saying that he believes the extension of Article 50 until June 30, as requested by Mrs May, has its merits and in my view does not create risks. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, he said: "In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension would be possible. Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January 1 /33 Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January Pro-EU and pro-Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A man holds a 'Stop Brexit' sign aboard a campaign bus travelling down Whitehall in Westminster, London PA Pro-Brexit demonstrators chant slogans outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter vapes electronic cigarette in front of a group of remain supporters AP Pro-Brexit protestors dressed as suffragettes demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images An anti-brexit supporter holds banners in London AP Pro and anti Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP A campaigner dressed as Charlie Chaplin walks by the Houses of Parliament PA A leave supporter holds banners at the parliament gates AP Pro-Brexit, left and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP Pro-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter holds banners in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London AP Police officers stand near Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posters outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London Reuters Leave supporters hold placards in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London, AP A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Leave supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in Londo AP Leave and remain supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in London AP Pro-Brexit activists hold placards and wave flags as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London AFP/Getty Images A remain supporter, left and a leave supporter, center, discuss during demonstrations in London AP Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images v Reuters Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on a double decker bus outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images "But it would be conditional on a positive vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons. "The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension." After his statement, Mr Tusk tweeted: "Even if the hope for final success may seem frail, even illusory, and although Brexit fatigue is increasingly visible and justified, we cannot give up seeking - until the very last moment - a positive solution." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The Prime Minister has shown tonight she is in complete denial about the scale of the crisis we are facing and unable to offer the leadership the country needs. "To continue to bring back her damaging and twice rejected deal without significant changes, while threatening a no deal outcome ruled out by MPs, is unacceptable and reckless. "I made clear to the Prime Minister tonight that we must move immediately to agree a compromise alternative that supports jobs and living standards, can win the support of parliament, be negotiated with the EU and bring the country together." Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage described the Prime Minister's speech as "appalling and pathetic". He tweeted: "Appalling and pathetic performance from the Prime Minister. "She rules out leaving with no deal. The Brexit betrayal is hers." Former Attorney General and Remain backer Dominic Grieve said the PM has "very much repeated" what she said in the House and said he "regretted her tone because it's a very aggressive one towards the House of Commons." He told Sky News that for the PM "to attack and denigrate the sincerely held views of MPs is a mistake" and he "can't see how that will work in her advantage to find a solution to the problem." Conservative Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns criticised the Prime Minister's statement, saying it said "very little" and encouraged her to ensure that Brexit happens on March 29 regardless of Parliament. "As usual another statement saying very little," she tweeted. "PM says she regrets having to delay. Then don't do it! "It is in the Prime Minister's power to ensure we leave on the 29th, regardless of what Parliament suggests." Fellow Conservative Conor Burns tweeted in response to the speech: "What was actually the point of that?" Lucy Powell, a Labour member of a group of MPs in support of a "Norway-plus" model for Brexit, denounced the suggestion by Mrs May that the members of the Commons have not decided what they want. T heresa May has been accused of pitting Parliament against the people by blasting MPs for doing everything possible to avoid making a decision on Brexit. Furious MPs said Prime Ministers impassioned speech to the nation after requesting an extension to Article 50 on Wednesday was dangerous and reckless. Lisa Nandy, Labour MP for Wigan, said Mrs May was pitting Parliament against the people by blasting her colleagues for infighting and political games. She said: The Prime Ministers statement was disgraceful. Pitting Parliament against the people in the current environment is dangerous and reckless. Yesterday her government attacked their civil servants. Now shes attacking the MPs whose votes she needs. It will have cost her support. In a televised address from 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said it was "a matter of great personal regret for me" that Brexit will not go ahead on March 29 after she had to ask the EU for a delay. She blamed MPs for failing to agree a means to implement the result of the 2016 referendum and said she believes voters just want this stage of the Brexit process to be over. Mrs May told voters: "I am on your side." Theresa makes a statement inside 10 Downing Street on Brexit / AFP/Getty Images Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, said Mrs Mays speech was incendiary and irresponsible and suggested it could lead to MPs being harmed. In a furious rant on Twitter, he wrote: Ive thought long and hard before saying this, but [Mrs May] knows that MPs across the House are subjected to death threats - some very credible. Her speech was incendiary and irresponsible. If any harm comes to any of us, she will have to accept her share of responsibility. Donald Tusk says Article 50 extension possible with condition of positive Brexit vote Former Attorney General and Remain-backing Tory MP Dominic Grieve said the PM has "very much repeated" what she said in the House and said he "regretted her tone because it's a very aggressive one towards the House of Commons." He told Sky News that for Mrs May "to attack and denigrate the sincerely held views of MPs is a mistake" and he "can't see how that will work in her advantage to find a solution to the problem." Conservative Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns said the PMs statement mentioned "very little" and encouraged her to ensure that Brexit happens on March 29 regardless of Parliament. Donald Tusk has said an extension would be granted if MPs back Mrs May's deal / REUTERS "As usual another statement saying very little," she tweeted. "PM says she regrets having to delay. Then don't do it! It is in the Prime Minister's power to ensure we leave on the 29th, regardless of what Parliament suggests." Fellow Conservative Conor Burns tweeted in response to the speech: "What was actually the point of that?" Lucy Powell, a Labour member of a group of MPs in support of a "Norway-plus" model for Brexit, denounced the suggestion by Mrs May that the members of the Commons have not decided what they want She wrote on Twitter that MPs have "never been asked what we want", adding: "We just keep getting asked about the same thing that we've said we don't want!" In her speech, Mrs May said: "Of this, I am absolutely sure: You the public have had enough. You are tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide." PM Theresa May made a short statement in 10 Downing Street / AFP/Getty Images She went on: "It is high time we made a decision. So far Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice... tabling motion after motion and amendment after amendment." "All MPs have been willing to say is what they don't want." Mrs May said: "I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30." Her remarks came after she held talks with opposition party leaders to discuss a way forward. Jeremy Corbyn refused to take part because members of the breakaway Independent Group were there, according to Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and TIG spokesman Chuka Umunna. Mrs May had today asked the EU to allow the UK's withdrawal date to be delayed to June 30 and threatened to resign as Prime Minister if MPs demand a longer postponement. F rance has warned that Theresa May's request for a Brexit delay could be vetoed by the European Council if she cannot offer guarantees that her deal will be passed in Parliament French Foreign Miniser Jean-Yves Le Drian told France's parliament Mrs May would need to make her case at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday. "A situation in which Mrs May would not be able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees about the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit," Mr Le Drian told lawmakers. Mr Le Drian made the warning as the Prime Minister faces backlash from Europe after announcing her decision for a third vote on her deal and her request of a Brexit delay to June 30. But French president Emmanuel Macron took a softer tone, saying he takes note of Mrs May's announcement in the Commons. French President Emmanuel Macron / EPA However, he warned that if a third vote fails, it would pave the way for the "undesirable outcome of no-deal". He added: A technical extension could be envisaged to complete legislative work in case of a deal. That's what Mrs May is asking for and will be discussed tomorrow at the European Council. However, a document seen by Reuters suggests the European Commission opposes extending the deadline to June 30. "Any extension offered to the United Kingdom should either last until 23 May 2019 or should be significantly longer and require European elections," the document said. "This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions." This opinion was reflected by Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, who said Britain should leave the EU by the start of the European Parliament elections on May 23 if the country is not taking part. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker / AP An EU Commission official said Mr Juncker told the Prime Minister in a telephone call on Wednesday that "the withdrawal has to be complete before May 23," the first day of the European elections. The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that if the deadline comes later Mr Juncker warned Mrs May that "we face institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty." He insisted EU elections would have to be held in Britain if a June 30 date was asked for. The 27 EU nations meeting in a summit Thursday need to back an extension to the deadline unanimously. Mina Andreeva, deputy chief spokeswoman for the European Commission, also warned that Brexit had to be complete by May 23 or the UK would have to take part in European elections. She said on Twitter: "@JunckerEU thinks it is good that @theresa-may sets out her thoughts ahead of EUCO; warned her in phone call against including a date for the extension that is after #EUelections2019. "Brexit has to be complete before 23 May - otherwise EU elections 2019 have to be held in UK." On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs May threatened to resign as Prime Minister if MPs demand a longer Brexit delay than June 30. She said: The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable. It would be a failure to deliver on the referendum decision this House said it would deliver. I have therefore this morning written to President [Donald] Tusk ... informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period until June 30. Hinting she would quit if Parliament forced a longer delay, Mrs May added: As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. T heresa May today asked the EU to delay Brexit until June 30 and threatened to resign as Prime Minister if MPs demand a longer postponement. Her stance increased the risk of the country crashing out accidentally on no-deal terms. Mrs May said she would stage a third vote on her twice-rejected deal, and if that failed, Britain should leave by June 30 in order to avoid having to hold elections to the European Parliament. She said: The idea that three years after voting to leave the EU, the people of this country should be asked to elect a new set of MEPs is, I believe, unacceptable. Theresa May's letter to Donald Tusk / AFP/Getty Images It would be a failure to deliver on the referendum decision this House said it would deliver. I have therefore this morning written to President [Donald] Tusk ... informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period until June 30. The pound fell within minutes of Mrs Mays statement, and was down 0.93 per cent against the euro shortly before 1pm. Mrs May will formally ask the European Council summit in Brussels tomorrow, where the unanimous approval of all 27 remaining member states is required for any extension. It is not yet clear if the EU will agree to the date. Some European legal experts think Britain must leave earlier to avoid holding elections for new MEPs in May. She asked for a three-month delay to Brexit / AFP/Getty Images In an astonishing tirade, Mrs May told the House of Commons the public were fed up with navel gazing by Parliament. This House has indulged itself on Europe for too long, she said. The Government intends to bring forward proposals for a third meaningful vote. If that vote is passed the extension will give the House time to consider the withdrawal agreement Bill. If not, the House will have to decide how to proceed. Hinting she would quit if Parliament forced a longer delay, Mrs May added: But, as Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30. Mrs Mays close aides confirmed she was ready to resign if thwarted. Asked if she would quit, an official said: You should infer from those words the strength of the PMs resolve and extent of her determination to deliver for the people. A senior minister commented: Today represents a further event in a catastrophic failure of the political process - here and in the EU. "That we are where we are with a week or so to go before March 29 is nothing short of a matter of bewilderment for the UK and some shame for us all in Parliament. We are fortunate the British people are so patient. In her letter to European Council president Mr Tusk, Mrs May said that it remains the Governments policy to take the UK out of the EU in an orderly manner. She set out plans to prevent Speaker John Bercow blocking a third vote on her deal, which was rejected by MPs by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Theresa May wrote to Donald Tusk asking for an extension to the Brexit deadline (file image) / Reuters Only six days ago Mrs Mays de facto deputy David Lidington described delaying Brexit from March 29 until June as a downright reckless idea. It appeared to be a wholesale cave-in to Right-wing MPs and ministers, who piled pressure on the Prime Minister in Cabinet yesterday and plotted delegations in private meetings at Westminster last night. Mrs Mays demand flew in the face of a European Commission document that flatly opposed extending British membership of the EU to June 30 unless European elections are held in the UK. The memo sent to officials said Britain either must leave before May 23 or else face a lengthy delay to at least the end of this year. TODO: define component type apester It stated: This is the only way of protecting the functioning of the EU institutions and their ability to take decisions. The reason is that EU lawyers say European MPs must be elected by each member state to maintain the legal status of the institutions. Mrs Mays nuclear ultimatum caused astonishment and uproar across the Commons. Jeremy Corbyn accused her of a lack of respect and said she was desperate after blackmail, bullying and bribing had failed to pass her deal. But Mrs May tried to blame Parliament for her ultimatum, saying MPs had voted against a second referendum and moves towards a softer Brexit. She claimed: Its time this Parliament faced the consequences. David Lidington described a short extension as reckless last week / PA Labours Yvette Cooper said Mrs May was in the worst state of denial. Truly shocking, she tweeted. Liberal Democrat Tim Farron warned: We are dancing to the tune of extremists, not listening to the people. Cross-party groups of MPs desperately hatched plots to seize the reins from the Prime Minister. On Monday, the group that includes Tories Sir Oliver Letwin and Nick Boles and Ms Cooper, plan to relaunch their bid to take control of the Commons agenda to debate other Brexit options. Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain would be in the hands of God / AFP/Getty Images A minister told the Evening Standard privately: We are going to stop this nonsense. If the only way to do that is to vote for Cooper/Boles then so be it. Labours front bench launched a bid to challenge Mrs Mays letter to Mr Tusk in the Commons this afternoon. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer applied for an emergency debate under Standing Order 24 on the length and purpose of the delay, which some MPs hoped could be used to trigger a vote.Mr Lidington told the Commons on March 14 that an extension of the Article 50 process to the end of June would be impossible. He told MPs: In the absence of a deal, seeking such a short and, critically, one-off extension would be downright reckless ... making a no-deal scenario far more, rather than less, likely. There have been 1,000 days since Britain voted to leave the European Union. Here is a look at Brexit and Britain's relationship with the EU in numbers. 33.6 million: The number of people who voted in the June 26 2016 referendum. Leave won by a slender majority of 51.9% to 48.1%. 3.7 million: The number of EU-born migrants living in the UK the year after the referendum. They accounted for 5.7% of the UK population, according to the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory. 784,900: The number of British citizens living long-term in the EU around the same time. Just over two-thirds of them were living in Spain, France or Germany, according to the Office for National Statistics. 230: The margin of defeat for Theresa May's deal in the first meaningful vote in the Commons. MPs including 118 Tories voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal. It was the biggest defeat for a prime minister in British parliamentary history. 49.5: The percentage of UK trade done with the EU. A further 10.8% is done with countries under trade agreements they have struck with the EU. The Government has been signing agreements with these countries so trade can carry on uninterrupted. The remaining 39.7% of international trade takes place with other countries. 25: The number of times the EU council leaders have met since the referendum. This includes scheduled EU Council meetings, informal or partial gatherings, extraordinary meetings. Nine: Days until Britain's scheduled departure from the EU. March 29 will mark two years exactly since a letter stating the UK's intention to leave the EU was delivered by hand to EU Council president Donald Tusk by UK ambassador Sir Tim Barrow, triggering the Article 50 process. "We will be legally and politically at the mercy of Brussels, since we will be obliged to accept all EU legislation, during the so-called implementation period: the first time since the Norman Conquest that a foreign power has passed the laws of this country. "Worst of all, the Irish backstop arrangement gives the EU an indefinite means of blackmail, so that they will be able to keep us locked in the customs union and large parts of the single market, unless we are prepared to abandon Northern Ireland; and they will use this blackmail to get their way throughout the negotiations, notably over the free movement of people. "If we agree this deal and unless we have a radical change in our approach to the negotiations we face an even greater humiliation in the second phase." T he leader of the newly formed Nigel Farage-backed Brexit party has abruptly resigned after the discovery of a series of now deleted anti-Islam tweets that were posted from her account before she took the role. Catherine Blaiklock resigned on Wednesday, two months after she set up the party with the Ukip leader, who went on to represent the group in the European Parliament. Twitter posts sent from the former Ukip economics spokeswoman's account said that Islam was a threat to most of society, was "incompatible with liberal democracy" and a submission "mostly to raping men". It is understood Ms Blaiklock took the decision to stand down after journalists questioned her about the comments. Ms Blaiklock responded to questions about the tweets in a statement, saying: "My appointment as leader of the Brexit Party was only ever supposed to be temporary. My role working with Nigel Farage was to set the party up and get it registered with the Electoral Commission, all of which has now been achieved. "The out-of-character comments that I made on social media some time ago were unacceptable in tone and content. After speaking to Nigel Farage, I realise that my comments fall well short of what is expected in any walk of life. "I have accordingly tendered my resignation as party leader. The tweets were originally uncovered by Hope Not Hate campaign group. The group claim that the numerous statements on the now removed Twitter account included that Islam is incompatible with liberal democracy and that Islam = submission mostly to raping men it seems. They added that Ms Blaiklock's account had on dozens of occasions retweeted or quote-tweeted posts made by former leading British National Party (BNP) figure and neo-Nazi Mark Collett, including his claims that there is a white genocide taking place in Britain. Another tweet posted on December 2, 2017 said: Islam Threat to women, gays, whites, non Muslims, Blacks, Indians, Chinese aggression to everyone but themselves. The great multicultural threat their very own socialist parents are importing And [sic] this multiculturalism is all imported with good, albeit misguided, intentions. Another posted a day earlier said: Got of [sic] at Mornington Crescent yessterday [sic] afternoon. 8 people waiting for lift, 5 Muslim girls, 1 black, 1 other Asian Chinese, 1 white. Immediately outside saw a drug deal take place. Looked like Turkey. J eremy Corbyn refused to take part in crucial Brexit talks between opposition parties and Theresa May because breakaway Independent Group MPs were present, Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said. The Labour leader is reported to have left at the start of the meeting because TIG MP Chuka Umunna, who defected from Labour, was present and allegedly said he is not a real party leader. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince described it as a very strange way to behave in a moment of national crisis." We were just going round in circles, very courteously and friendly but no change," Sir Vince said of the meeting with opposition leaders and Theresa May after she asked the EU to allow Brexit to be delayed until June 30. Independent MP Chuka Umunna. / Getty Images "Unfortunately it wasn't even the opposition leaders because Mr Corbyn chose to walk out because the Independent Group were there which is rather a strange way to behave in a moment of national crisis. "Those of us that stayed behind had a friendly, amicable discussion but I'm afraid it was exactly the same as it was stated in Parliament this morning with no indication of listening or responding in any flexible way." Mr Umunna, spokesman for The Independent Group, tweeted a clip of him speaking on Sky News describing Mr Corbyn's refusal to engage in talks as "extraordinary" and "very juvenile". He said the country is in "a crisis situation" and the people of the UK expect conflicting political groups to "come together" to find a way forward. "That's why the Prime Minister convened the meeting and I welcome the fact she did so," he said. "I think it's really extraordinary behaviour for the Leader of the Opposition to behave in really this kind of very juvenile way when the moment demands that we all step up and engage in some serious dialogue to find our way through this chaos and this mess. "But he will have to explain his actions." MP Chris Leslie, a member of the Independent Group, described Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to engage in talks as "astonishing" and "petty". He tweeted: "Astonishing. Yet again @jeremycorbyn puts petty party politics before the national interest." SNP MP Stewart McDonald has told Jeremy Corbyn to "get a grip" after his refusal to engage in talks with the Independent Group present. He tweeted: "I mean honestly, nine days until the country he wants to be Prime Minister of leaves the EU and @jeremycorbyn has gone full 'you can't sit with us'. "This isn't Mean Girls. Get a grip of your life, man!" Hours earlier, at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Corbyn said:"In an effort to break the deadlock, I've held meetings with members all across the house, and I'm having further meetings today, to find a compromise that supports jobs and living standards. T he Prime Minister tonight addressed the nation from Downing Street after asking the EU to allow a delay to Brexit until June 30. Following a day of turmoil in Westminster, Mrs May gave a speech to the British public telling them she was "on their side" and blaming MPs for failing to make a choice on Brexit. European Council President Donald Tusk then said the EU would grant a "short extension" but only if MPs back the Prime Minister's deal in the Commons during a third meaningful vote next week. In the Commons on Wednesday, Mrs May set out plans to prevent Speaker John Bercow blocking a third vote on her deal, which was rejected by MPs by 230 votes in January and 149 votes earlier this month. Westminster was in turmoil with MPs, who were granted an emergency debate in the Commons by Mr Bercow, desperate to hear Mrs May's plans as to how she will seek to get the deal through after two staggering defeats. Here is the full text of Mrs May's speech from Downing Street on Wednesday night: "Nearly three years have passed since the public voted to leave the European Union. "It was the biggest democratic exercise in our country's history. "I came to office on a promise to deliver on that verdict. "In March 2017 I triggered the Article 50 process for the UK to exit the EU and Parliament supported it overwhelmingly. "Two years on, MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK's withdrawal. "As a result, we will now not leave on time with a deal on the 29th of March. "This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me. "And of this I am absolutely sure: You, the public, have had enough. "You're tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime. "You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side. "It is now time for MPs to decide. "So, today, I have written to Donald Tusk the President of the European Council to request a short extension of Article 50 up to the 30th of June to give MPs the time to make a final choice. "Do they want to leave the EU with a deal which delivers on the result of the referendum, that takes control of our money borders and laws while protecting jobs and our national security? "Do they want to leave without a deal, or do they not want to leave at all causing potentially irreparable damage to public trust not just in this generation of politicians but to our entire democratic process? "It is high time we made a decision. "So far, Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. "Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without Parliament ever deciding what it wants. "All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want. "I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I've negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable. "And I will continue to work night and day to secure the support of my colleagues, the DUP and others for this deal. "But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June. "Some argue that I'm making the wrong choice and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward. "That would mean asking you to vote in European elections nearly three years after our country decided to leave. "What kind of message would that send? And just how bitter and divisive would that election campaign be at a time when the country desperately needs bringing back together. "Some have suggested holding a second referendum. "I don't believe that's what you want and it is not what I want. "We asked you the question already and you've given us your answer. "Now you want us to get on with it. "And that is what I am determined to do." TODO: define component type apester T ory MP Owen Paterson has claimed people approach him on the Tube to tell him to just get on with Brexit. In an interview with Channel 4 News, the Conservative MP was asked what was going to happen if the UK did not leave the EU on the long-planned planned March 29 exit date. If we dont leave, this whole saga carries on, he said. People would be dismayed, people come up to me on the Tube, on the trains, saying, Just get on with it. Theresa May was on Tuesday was preparing a letter to ask the European Union to postpone Brexit after admitting the country is facing a crisis. With just 10 days to go, the Prime Minister told Cabinet she will send a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk asking for an extension of the Article 50 process. Some critics on social media mocked Mr Patersons comments as they pointed out that people dont talk to each other on the Tube. Some argued that if Mr Paterson actually did use the Tube he would know that nobody talks to each other. Another said: I know how they feel! Theres always one clown at the barrier who cant work their Oyster card! B ritons are becoming increasingly happy after an annual UN survey placed the UK as 15th in the 156-country ranking. The seventh annual World Happiness Report, conducted between 2016 and 2018, showed Britain climbing the charts by four places since last year. Scandinavian countries were found to be the happiest, with Finland, Denmark and Norway in the top three. On the other hand, South Sudan and Burundi were the least happy out of the 156 countries. Respondents to the survey, published by the London-based Action for Happiness charity, placed the status of their lives on a 0 to 10 scale. Top 15 happiest nations in the world 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Iceland 5. Netherlands 6. Switzerland 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Canada 10. Austria 11. Australia 12. Costa Rica 13. Israel 14. Luxembourg 15. United Kingdom The nations at the bottom of the list are usually affected by economic, political and social turmoil. Laurie Santos, professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University told the BBC: Science has proved that being happy requires a conscious effort. Its not easy, it takes time. Being happy isnt something that just happens. Youve got to practice to be better at it, she said. Her class called Psychology and the Good Life is the most popular in the 317 year history of the US Ivey league college. Professor Santos recommends writing a gratitude list, eight hours sleep, meditation, quality time with friends and family, and less social media. She said: We've seen that the students who regularly do this exercise actually tend to be happier. "It might seem silly, but we know that sleeping more and better reduces your chances of suffering from depression and improves your positive attitude, she added. A devout Catholic and mum-of-five faces being questioned by police after being reported for using the wrong pronoun to describe a transgender girl on Twitter. Caroline Farrow, 44, has been told police in Surrey want to conduct a taped interview under caution after receiving reports she had made transphobic comments online. The 44-year-old is being investigated under the malicious communications act, and although the interview would be voluntary, she claims she could face arrest if she does not attend. A spokesman for Surrey Police said they are carrying out a thorough investigation to establish whether any criminal offences have taken place. It comes after Mrs Farrow, who does not believe people can change sex, took part in a heated debate with transgender rights campaigner Susie Green on Good Morning Britain. Transgender beauty queen Jackie Green / Rex Features Mrs Greens transgender daughter Jackie Green was born Jack before becoming one of the youngest people in the world to undergo sex-change surgery after turning 16. Six months after the on-air debate, Mrs Farrow and Mrs Green were involved in a spat on Twitter, during which Mrs Farrow allegedly used the wrong pronoun to describe Mrs Greens daughter. Although she said she could not remember her tweets in October, she said she probably said he or son or something before saying: I have done nothing wrong. She wrote on Monday: Had a message from Guildford police tonight about my tweets following an appearance on GMB with Susie Green and Piers Morgan. Susie Green has reported me for misgendering her daughter. I have pointed out to the police that I am a Catholic journalist/commentator and it is my religious belief that a person cannot change sex. 'We are in the middle of a national conversation about what it means to be male and what it means to be female. Nonetheless, following my appearance on National Television the CPS have decided I need to be interviewed under caution for misgendering Susie Greens child. I dont even remember said tweets. This was in September! I have done nothing wrong, nothing illegal and will happily do jail time for my right to say that people cannot change sex. Mrs Farrow has also said she has since received online abuse. A spokesman for Surrey Police said: We received an allegation on 15 October 2018 in relation to a number of tweets which were posted in October 2018. "A thorough investigation is being carried out to establish whether any criminal offences have taken place. P rince Harry set down the roots of a new tree as he spent the afternoon bonding with children at a London school. As part of a royal initiative to highlight the importance of trees to the environment, the Duke of Sussex joined youngsters at St Vincents Primary School, in Acton, to take part in a tree planting project. Year Five pupils at the west London school took part in the project with Harry, in support of the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) initiative. Dozens of schoolboys and girls gathered in the playground to greet the duke, weeks before he is set to become a father himself for the first time. Harry high fives with Asher Charles-Bowen / AP Harry also stroked the school's adorable white dog during his visit, which was being held by one of the boys. Harry was given two presents by the children and lifted the wrapped present to his ear to guess what it was before opening it upon his arrival at the school. Harry plays with the school's dog / EPA He was also handed a bouquet of flowers by a young girl. He joked with children on the visit to the school in Acton / EPA After meeting with school ambassadors, the duke planted his tree alongside Year 5 pupils who placed saplings in the outdoor area, to grow a forest school. Harry's wife Meghan is due to give birth in April / AP The QCC, launched in 2015 along with the Woodland Trust, has provided 74,000 trees across the UK, as well as 8.4 million hectares of forests in 43 countries, dedicated to the Queen's service to the Commonwealth. A n organisation monitoring Islamophobia has reported a surge in demand for security help in the wake of the New Zealand terror attack. After the horrific attack in Christchurch, in which 50 people were killed and dozens injured, Tell MAMA has been helping mosques bolster their security. This includes sending ex-police officers into mosques to train people in community safety and issuing security tips. They are also advising mosques to temporarily stop their open-door policy and speak to every person who comes through their doors, carry out bag checks and change their opening hours. The strategy includes patrols around mosques and is used by many synagogues and Jewish buildings in the UK. Iman Atta, director of Tell MAMA, said mosques in the UK can no longer assume everything will be alright, adding: Copycats can happen. It takes one person to take action into their own hands after being radicalised by online material. "They would be more emboldened to do that now. Its quite concerning. Therefore the levels of fear in communities are quite high. Mosques have informed us they are limiting their opening hours, ensuring they are checking people going in. Theres definitely a raised level of vigilance around mosques. Ms Atta also called on the government to provide resources for this security training and increased CCTV. A spokesman from the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre, based in Whitechapel, said: We are reassuring our community by increasing security. We already have 24/7 security here, but we are doubling up on shifts, and volunteers are assisting too. On Monday security minister Ben Wallace warned a mosque attack absolutely could happen in the UK and the government was considering increasing funds for security at mosques. Meanwhile, worshippers at the largest mosque in western Europe, Baitul Futuh Mosque, in Morden, south London, said they were greatly hurt by the attack. Khalil Yousuf a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community said they already had well thought out security, adding: If you can have an attack in New Zealand like this in such a peaceful country you can have an attack like that anywhere. Iman Zahir Hussain, from Al-Muzzammil Mosque in Tooting, said: We havent implemented extra security, but the local police officers have been stopping in a few times today. While praying we have someone at the door but its just to keep an eye out. People are calm, its mainly to reassure them and give them confidence to come here. Recent days have seen a spate of incidents allegedly targeting Muslims including a hammer attack in east London and a stabbing in Stanwell, near Heathrow, which is being treated as a far-right terror attack. B ikers have vowed to stand guard outside New Zealand mosques as Muslims take part in their first Friday prayer following the Christchurch shootings. Gangs like The Mongrel Mob, King Cobra and The Black Power have promised to support and protect their local Muslim communities across the country, after 50 people were killed and 50 injured in the attack on March 15. Waikato Mongrel Mob president Sonny Fatu offered to shield the Jamia Masjid Mosque in Hamilton. We will support and assist our Muslim brothers and sisters for however long they need us, Fatu told New Zealand news outlet, Stuff. He explained how The Mongrel Mob were contacted by representatives saying members of the Muslim community were fearful about Friday prayers. Traditional haka performed outside NZ mosque Fatu said: The question was posed whether we could be a part of the safety net for them to allow them to pray in peace without fear. Of course we would do that, there was no question about that and we will be dressed appropriately. We will not be armed. We are peacefully securing the inner gated perimeter, with other community members, to allow them to feel at ease. King Cobra bikers lay flowers outside Ponsonby Mosque 1 /17 King Cobra bikers lay flowers outside Ponsonby Mosque A King Cobra gang member places flowers outside the Ponsonby Mosque in Auckland. Getty Images Bikers embrace members of the Ponsonby Muslim community. Getty Images King Cobra bikers arrive at the Ponsonby Mosque to show their respect. Getty Images Bikers across the country paid their respect after 50 were killed and 50 were injured. Getty Images A member of a biker gang watches as the haka is performed by other gangs as a tribute to victims in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images Members of a New Zealand biker gang pay their respects to the victims of the mosque shootings REUTERS Members of a New Zealand biker gang pay their respects to the victims of the mosque shootings REUTERS Members of a New Zealand biker gang pay their respects to the victims of the mosque shootings REUTERS Ex-gang member Jacob Leo Skilling, 26, shows his freshly inked tattoo of the face of a Muslim woman wearing a face veil with the words "They are us" AFP/Getty Images Members of biker gangs perform the haka in front of a gathering of people as a tribute to victims in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images Biker gang members pay their respects to victims of the Christchurch shootings AFP/Getty Images Biker gang members pay their respects to victims of the Christchurch shootings AFP/Getty Images Biker gang members pay their respects to victims of the Christchurch shootings AFP/Getty Images Biker gang members pay their respects to victims of the Christchurch shootings AFP/Getty Images Biker gang members pay their respects to victims of the Christchurch shootings AFP/Getty Images A policeman (L) and a biker gang member perform a hongi, a touching of noses AFP/Getty Images Members of different biker gangs perform the haka AFP/Getty Images Dr Asad Mohsin, head of the Waikato Muslim Association said he appreciated the support received from different sections of society, different interests and dispositions. He added: It all gives us strength to overcome the grief we are undergoing. We would welcome them to come into the mosque and pray with us. They are part of us as we are part of them. Biker gangs across the country have pledged to support their local Muslim communities. / AFP/Getty Images Islam is inclusive, free of judgement we dont see gang members, as we see them. We value them as humans and we appreciate that they value us too. Dr Mohsin also told the New Zealand Herald: "There are no fears, and we are not scared. They don't have to stand outside the mosque, they can come inside, right behind where the sermon is given." Members of The King Cobra gang also paid their respects to senior members of the Al-Masjid Al-Jamie mosque in Ponsonby on Saturday. Other Mongrel Mob chapters have also shown their support throughout the country, including the Aotearoa branch who paid their respects at Hagley College school in Christchurch. T he Christchurch mosque gunman was planning to continue his deadly assault after killing 50 people in two shootings, New Zealand police have said. Commissioner Mike Bush has said officers stopped stopped him before the death toll rose even further. He spoke as victims' families were beginning to lay their loved ones to rest. The attacker was apprehended by two police officers after the attacks, in which dozens of others were injured. Mr Bush said: We strongly believe we stopped him on the way to a further attack. So lives were saved by our staff - courageous in their intervention. New Zealand: Christchurch shootings - In pictures 1 /28 New Zealand: Christchurch shootings - In pictures An armed police officer watches as a man is taken by ambulance staff from a mosque in central Christchurch AP An image taken from the alleged shooter's video AP An emotional man wearing a traditional Maori bone carving necklace speaks on a mobile phone near one of the mosques AP Photo/Mark Baker A forensic official works at the Masjid al Noor mosque after a shooting incident in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images An image grab from TV New Zealand of armed New Zealand special forces arriving outside the mosque following a shooting in Christchurch AFP/Getty Images Armed police officers outside the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Grieving members of the public sit on a curb following a shooting resulting in multiple fatalies and injuries at the Masjid Al Noor in Deans Avenue in Christchurch, New Zealand EPA Ambulance staff take a man from outside one of the mosques in central Christchurch AP Police are seen in front of Christchurch Hospital during a lockdown Getty Images A man rests on the ground as he speaks on his mobile phone across the road from one of the mosques AP Armed police patrol outside one of the mosques AP A man makes a phone call next to car with shattered windows near one of the mosques AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Images An injured person is put into an ambulance following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Police keep watch at a park across the road from one of the mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand AP Armed police push back members of the public following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters An armed police officer following a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Reuters Police stand outside the Linwood Islamic Centre AP A police officer is seen running after the initial reports that several shots had been fired Reuters Reuters Ambulances race towards one of the mosques AFP/Getty Images Police cordon off Strickland Street where a car bomb was found Getty Images Police Commissioner Mike Bush speaks to media during a press conference at Royal Society Te Aparangi in Wellington Getty Images Police block the road near the Linwood Islamic Centre AP Ambulances and police outside the Masjid Al Noor mosque EPA Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at Kirribilli House in Sydney, Australia Getty Images A police officer talks on her phone at a roadblock near the Linwood Islamic Centre AP Armed police maintain a presence outside the Masijd Ayesha Mosque in Manurewa, Auckland, as part of the security response Getty Images Mr Bush said investigators believe they know where the gunman was going, but wouldnt share further details because of an active probe into the attack. Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder and remanded in custody. First funerals for New Zealand mosque attack victims Mr Bush also revised the timeline of the police's response. He said officers rammed a suspect off the road and arrested him 21 minutes after the first emergency call, rather than 36 minutes as previously reported. The latest development comes as the first victims of the massacre were buried. New Zealand PM vows never to say gunman's name Among the six people were father and son Khaled and Hamza Mustafa, aged 44 and 15. The pair had only arrived in New Zealand from war-torn Syria last year. They were buried before hundreds of mourners. "I cannot tell you how gutting it is," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on her second visit to the city since the tragedy. "A family came here for safety and they should have been safe here." Bodies of the victims were carried in open caskets on the shoulders of mourners into a large tent at Christchurch's Memorial Park Cemetery. Wrapped in white cloth, the bodies were laid to face Mecca. After prayers, they were carried towards their freshly dug graves. Heavily armed police stood watch with flowers tucked in their revolver holsters and attached to their rifles. So far, 21 victims have been identified. More burials are expected during the week. T he first funerals of those killed in the New Zealand shooting massacre were held today with the burial of a Syrian man and his teenage son who fled the civil war for the safest country in the world. Khalid Mustafa, 44, and 15-year-old Hamza Mustafa were laid to rest five days after a white supremacist gunned down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch. The father and so, who were killed at the Al-Noor mosque, had been living in New Zealand for less than a year when they were murdered. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be buried as soon as possible but the funerals have been delayed by the scale of the identification process. Mr Mustafa leaves behind a wife and a younger teenage son Zaid Mustafa, who was also injured in the attack and attended the funeral in a wheelchair. Jacinda Ardern reacts as students perfom a Haka during her visit to Cashmere High School / Getty Images Heavily-armed police stood watch with flowers tucked in their revolver holsters and attached to their high powered rifles, as hundreds of mourners gathered at the cemetery near the Linwood Islamic Centre - the other place of worship targeted in the attacks. Hamzas high school principal described the student as compassionate and hardworking, saying he was an excellent horse rider who aspired to be a veterinarian. Further burials are expected in coming days with police confirming that most of the victims bodies would be released by the end of the day. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who admitted she shared the frustration of families who had not been able to bury their loved ones, announced that two minutes of silence would be held on Friday as a mark of respect for those who died. A memorial service would be held at a later date. Mourners carry the body of a victim of the mosque shootings for burial / AP Twenty nine people remain in hospital after last weeks terror attack, eight in a critical condition, Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-described white supremacist, has been charged with murder. Ms Ardern returned to Christchurch this morning, visiting a local school where three of the victims had been pupils. She told students: Its OK to grieve. The Prime Minister also repeated her earlier concerns about New Zealands gun laws, admitting that massive loopholes needed to be addressed. Her comments came as it emerged in Christchurch that a firearms shop which sold weapons to the alleged killer had sold out of the semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre. Zaed Mustafa, centre, brother of Hamza and son of Khalid Mustafa who were killed in the shootings / AP The shop reported that it had had a run on the weapon before stricter laws on weapons were introduced. Meanwhile, a man accused of sharing video of the attacks was remanded in custody. Philip Arps, 44, appeared in a Christchurch court on two charges of distributing the video of the attack on Al Noor mosque, a violation of the countrys objectionable publications law. F ormer Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic has been sentenced to life in prison at an appeal court in The Hague for his role in mass killings of civilians during the Balkan wars 25 years ago. Five UN judges on Wednesday upheld Karadzics conviction for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. By a majority of three to two, they decided to increase his original 40-year jail term to life in prison, saying the trial chamber had abused its discretion in passing sentence. Survivors erupted into applause after Presiding Judge Vagn Joensen read the final sentence, which cannot be appealed. Karadzic, who had argued that the United Nations court was biased against him, stood impassively. The crowd applaudes as UN court's conviction and sentencing of ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is broadcasted in the city hall in Sarajevo. / AP The sentence was fitting given the "extraordinary gravity of Karadzic's responsibility and his integral participation in the gravest of crimes...committed throughout the entire area of the conflict in Bosnia", Mr Joensen said, reading the panel's decision. Karadzic, 73, was convicted in 2016 for the genocide at Srebrenica. He was also found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the 44-month Serb siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo that terrorised the civilian population, and for overseeing a campaign of ethnic cleansing that drove Croats and Muslims out of Serb-claimed areas of Bosnia. Bida Smajlovic (R) and Vasva Smajlovic (L), survivors of the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, stand near the memorial wall during their visit at the Srebrenica-Potocari memorial cemetery. / AFP/Getty Images On appeal, prosecutors had sought a life sentence and a second genocide conviction for his role in ethnic cleansing. Judges rejected the request for the second genocide conviction, but upheld his conviction on all other war crimes and crimes against humanity charges including persecution and murder. "I am partially satisfied but a bitter taste remains that the Hague tribunal could not convict him on the second genocide charge, because of international pressure protecting the interests of Serbia," said Mirsad Duratovic, a former Bosnian Muslim prisoner in three Serb-run detention camps in the northwestern town of Prijedor during the war. Mira Dogas of the Mothers of Srebrenica group travelled to the Netherlands for Wednesday's verdict. Bosnian Muslim women, survivors of the Srebrenica 1995 massacre, gathered at the Srebrenica memorial in Potocari. / AFP/Getty Images "I cried because I lost my children, I am all alone. I am very shaken. I lost three sons, my husband, my grandchild, my father died," she said. "Hes still alive while our children have been in the ground for a long time and they had a horrible death. He (Karadzic) is alive, he has food and drink. He killed and destroyed our children. I will go home to an empty house tonight and look at the walls. I have nobody." Karadzic's lawyer said he would continue to consider ways to look for a judicial review or commutation of sentence. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic looks on as he arrives at the court room of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague. / AFP/Getty Images "Karadzic says that if the choice to have an independent (Serb republic in Bosnia) meant that he had to lose his freedom hes prepared to make that choice and lose his freedom," Peter Robinson told reporters outside the courtroom. "He has a lot of regret about what happened during the war and feels very badly for the all of the suffering today...He has a moral responsibility but he feels he does not have an individual criminal responsibility for any of those crimes for which he's been convicted today." In hiding for over a decade after the war, Karadzic was arrested and handed over to the court in July 2008. He will remain in custody at the court's detention centre in The Hague until judges determine where he will serve out his sentence. T hings are about to get even stranger in Hawkins, Indiana, if this first look at the new series of Stranger Things is anything to go by. The cast of the Netflix hit including Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven are seen moving on with their lives in the teaser trailer for series three, which was released today. They were last seen having seemingly dealt with the powerful mind flayer monster at the end of the second series, which was broadcast in October 2017. But things dont stay quiet for long, according to the teaser for their highly- anticipated return of the show on July 4. The new series is set one year after the second, in the summer of 1985. New adventures: the Stranger Things gang will return in July / Netflix In exclusive shots released to the Standard, Eleven is seen enjoying an ice cream on a bus with Maxine, portrayed by Sadie Sink. Later, they are seen with a group of their friends outside the emergency room of a hospital. Another clip shows Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) with blood on his face as he tried to decipher something with co-star Winona Ryder, who plays Joyce Byers. Stranger Things season three: brand new teaser images released 1 /8 Stranger Things season three: brand new teaser images released Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) enjoys an ice cream on a bus with Maxine (Sadie Sink) Netflix Things don't stay quiet in Hawkins for long... Netflix Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) hangs out at the pool Netflix The gang are pictured outside a hospital emergency room Netflix Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) look puzzled Netflix Steve (Joe Keery) appears to have a new summer job Netflix The trailer opens with Motley Crues Home Sweet Home playing as Dustin, played by Gaten Matarazzo, arrives home after a trip away to a summer camp. He is puzzled to see his toys moving by themselves across the floor of his house, only to discover that it is a prank played by Eleven. Clips then show Steve (Joe Keery) working in a shopping mall and bully Billy (Dacre Montgomery) as a lifeguard at an outdoor swimming pool. In a voiceover, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) says: Were not kids any more. What did you think? We were just going to sit in my basement all day playing games for the rest of our lives? In the last series finale, Eleven was seen using her powers to close up a portal to a mysterious dimension known as the Upside Down. G oogle has been hit by a third huge fine from Brussels in just two years with a 1.3 billion penalty for breaching competition rules. The European Commission said in a ruling today that the US tech giant had illegally abused its market dominance over a decade by blocking the use of rival search engines on third party websites. It means that Google has accumulated fines of more than 7 billion since 2017 following a series of investigations by EU officials. Last July it was fined 3.8 billion for serious illegal behaviour relating to illegal restrictions on the use of its Android operating system, while in June 2017 the commission imposed a 2.1 billion penalty after finding that Google had used its search engine to boost its internet shopping service. In the latest breach, Googles AdSense for Search service was found guilty of forcing websites that carried their own search engines to sign contracts that either banned or severely restricted the display of search adverts from competitors such as Microsoft or Yahoo. Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: Today the Commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euros for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts. Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of competition. In its ruling the Commission said Googles rivals were not able to compete on the merits, either because there was an outright prohibition for them to appear on publisher websites or because Google reserved for itself by far the most valuable commercial space on those websites, while at the same time controlling how rival search adverts could appear. The investigation covered the period from 2006 to 2016, when Google had a market share in online search advertising broking of more than 70 per cent. The EU said it had reviewed hundreds of contracts signed with websites that agreed search engine deals with Google forcing their owners to rely almost solely on Google. The Commission added: Market dominance is, as such, not illegal under EU antitrust rules. However, dominant companies have a special responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition, either in the market where they are dominant or in separate markets. 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While encouraged by the focus on skills development, diversity and advancements to enhance critical infrastructure (i.e. cyber security), todays announcement is limited, not addressing integral investments required around innovation and modernization, which would increase Canadas competitiveness on a global scale. Four of ITAC`s recommendations tabled in ITACs 2019 Pre-Budget Submission , Strengthening Canadas Place in a Digital World, were addressed in todays Budget. This includes long called for changes to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Credit that will help Canadian companies scale-up; and an increased focus on skills, diversity and talent initiatives, designed to develop a modernized youth employment strategy and attract global talent. Measures supporting rural broadband and additional government investment in cyber security including a commitment to tabling cyber legislation are also seen as positive steps forward. However, a number of important industry recommendations were not addressed, including: a long-awaited national data strategy; Smart Cities investments; improvements to create a more digital government (i.e. a Digital First approach, improvements to procurement, and the re-training of federal ICT workers); market place frameworks; data and data privacy; the Cloud; or a commercial-first approach, which would enable the public and private sectors to work closely eliminating competition and increasing customer service, were noticeably absent. A data-driven digital economy requires investment in data and artificial intelligence, in smart infrastructure, in smart cities, and in 5G. Disruptive technologies provide opportunities and challenges for Canada and they must be addressed through policies and initiatives. With limited time before the next election, the ICT industry will be seeking information from the federal parties regarding their election platforms on several technology issues, including those that will help improve efficiencies, innovate and to increase Canadas overall competitiveness. ITAC is looking forward to its continued work with key government officials and industry leaders to develop measures that will serve the interests of Canadians and Canadian businesses to fully and safely compete in the global digital economy. QUOTES: We live and work in a world that is increasingly digital in nature. All industries including Canadas governments are directly impacted by a digitally focused approach to doing business. Innovative competitors, disruptive technologies, shifting regulatory frameworks and cyber security threats all have a direct and serious impact. Together, government and industry need to find solutions to increase efficiencies and competition; leverage data and analytics; increase cyber security measures; support technology-based SMEs; support the socio-economic goals of the Government; and enable the use of federal procurements to support economic growth. Denise Shortt, Acting President and CEO, Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) On Talent: ITAC has been a strong advocate for investment in skills development in the face of growing demand for technology professionals, as well as changes across the Canadian economy. Todays Budget is a step in the right direction to help address and fix equity and inclusion in the ICT sector. All businesses must engage more women, people with disabilities, Indigenous Canadians and other dispersed workers if we are to remain a technological powerhouse. And by working together, government and industry can play a role in driving Canadas economic and social development and find real solutions to the challenges that need to be addressed. Gina van Dalen, Executive Director, ITAC Talent (Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC)) About Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) As Canadas national ICT business association, the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) champions the development of a robust and sustainable digital economy in Canada. A vital connection between business and government, we provide our members with the advocacy, networking and professional development services that help them to thrive nationally and compete globally. A prominent advocate for the expansion of Canadas innovative capacity, ITAC encourages technology adoption to capitalize on productivity and performance opportunities across all sectors. A member-driven not-for-profit, ITAC has served as the authoritative national voice of the $170 billion ICT industry for over 60 years. More than 36,000 Canadian ICT firms create and supply goods and services that contribute to a more productive, competitive, and innovative society. The ICT sector generates over one million jobs directly and indirectly and invests $4.9 billion annually in R&D, more than any other private sector performer. Laws appear without an analysis of legitimacy and we wind up with laws that breach laws, and the Constitutional Court declares them unconstitutional, National Bank of Romania (BNR) strategy consultant Adrian Vasilescu said on Wednesday in reference to the laws on credit agreements, leasing operations and financial relations in the banking area. "We have a recent example with three laws that reached the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Court said they are not constitutional," Adrian Vasilescu told "The Financial Conference". He added that former President of the Constitutional Court, Augustin Zegrean, when he retired he met with journalists and told them that he left behind 14,000 confusing, meaning interpretable, laws. The Constitutional Court of Romania admitted this month the notification of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR) regarding the draft laws on credit agreements, leasing operations and financial relations in the banking area, establishing that they are unconstitutional. Culture and National Identity Minister Valer-Daniel Breaz congratulated the AGERPRES National News Agency for its 130 years of activity and voiced his appreciation regarding the quality and veracity of AGERPRES news. "First of all, I want to congratulate you for all the activity carried out within these 130 years. (...) I congratulate you for the quality of the news and I am glad that there is such an agency, which truly promotes real and very good quality news. Without, of course, denying the merits of other agencies. I have the belief that you will continue on the same note. I congratulate you once again. Many happy returns, AGERPRES! May you have a long life and news as real and clear as possible that shall clarify many of the citizens' problems and may their information be as good as possible," the Culture Minister stated. ***The history of AGERPRES National News Agency starts on 27 March 1889, when P.P. Carp, the then Foreign Minister, signs the birth certificate of the Telegraphic Agency of Romania, which broadcast nationwide "an exact and fast service of all news items of general or special interest."In less than a month, the Telegraphic Agency of Romania started its actual activity, by sending the first 'telegram', on 11 April.Since 1921, the National News Agency has been broadcasting news items and information without interruption.In the 130 years of activity, AGERPRES has kept its role of being the main information source for the citizens and institutions in Romania, as well as the most important source of news about Romania, for those abroad. The National News Agency continues to update the world and provide balanced, unbiased information. The Deputies' Chamber rejected on Wednesday the simple motion against Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, accordind to Agerpres. There were recorded 108 votes in favour, 154 against and 18 abstentions. The simple motion on Finance, called "the PSD (the Social Democratic Party) greed undermines national economy" and initiated by the Save Romania Union (USR), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the People's Movement Party (PMP) was debated on Monday. There is no funding issue in Romania when it comes to motorways, but the capacity of certain public bodies to get those things done, as there have been cases when the allocated money was not used, said on Wednesday Minister of Public Finance Eugen Teodorovici. "I mean, for many years there have been cases with funds allocated, I hope this will not be the case this year, when the money was not used. This shows that something, somewhere in the system has happened. And I said it all the time, the companies, if talking about the large infrastructure, the relevant companies - railway and road companies - are the ones responsible, as they have no impediment to achieve these goals," Teodorovici said in the Parliament. He asserted that as regards the Moldova motorway, there is money for its construction. "They have the money, so the attribution documentation must be revised, they must launch it nicely in the electronic public procurement system, the documentation must be attributed in such a manner that no appeals or at least very few exist, the assessment must be completed in a very short time, if they lay down very clear conditions in it so that there is no room for interpretation, things may go very smoothly. Afterwards, when the contract is signed, they must assure that the contractor is in good will, having enough equipment and employees to finalise that contract," Teodorovici added. Eugen Teodorovici also said that "any investment this year, any invoice from this area will be supported by the Finance Ministry with no trouble at all. The Foreign Affairs Minister (MAE) celebrates on Wednesday the International Francophonie Day, with Romania following to host this year several international events which will focus on digital development in the academia of the Francophone states. Gathered under the IDNEUF 4 name, the events are organised by Romania's Government, the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) and the Francophone University Agency (AUF), under the high patronage of Romania's President, a MAE release sent to AGERPRES informs. The International Day of Francophonie is celebrated on Wednesday, 26 years after Romania's accession to the Francophone movement.On this occasion, Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu stated that "Francophonie is a system of values and cultural benchmarks. The modern Romania was built on this benchmarks." "Our history, our country projects, the Romanians' natural affinity for the French language and our openness for the culture of the Francophone space on five continents recommend us a state engaged in the Francophone movement," the head of the Romanian diplomacy mentioned, as quoted in the release.Within the international month of Francophonie, Romania hosted the first visit of the Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo to a central and east-European member state of the OIF. Moreover, 2019 marks the 29th anniversary since the International Francophonie Agency for Central and Eastern Europe (AUF-ECO) Directorate has been operating in Bucharest.In view of marking the International month of Francophonie, the Foreign Affairs Ministry hosted a festive meeting with members of the French Embassies, Institutes and Delegations Group (GADIF), with the participation of the Secretary General of the OIF. The MAE also contributes to the organization of artistic and cultural events, in cooperation with Romanian institutions and diplomatic missions from French-speaking countries, under the slogan "En francais, s'il vous plait.""The MAE voices its hope that the celebration of the International Francophonie Day will provide additional motivation for the younger generation to embrace with even greater conviction the French language, taking into account the important stakes that a language spoken on five continents has for the future of those who want to interact with political, economic, business and cultural milieus around the world," the Ministry release added. President Klaus Iohannis is attending, Thursday through Friday, the European Council meeting in Brussels. According to the agenda, the president will also attend the Transatlantic Annual Conference organized by the American Chamber of Commerce of the European Union (AmCham EU), due to take place in Brussels on Thursday. On this occasion, he will emphasize, according to a press release of the Presidential Administration, the special importance of transatlantic cooperation in promoting freedom and prosperity on the two continents. Further on, President Iohannis will attend the EPP Summit and then the European Council meeting. On Friday, the Prime Ministers of the governments of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will also attend the meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the European Economic Area (EEA). According to the Presidential Administration, President Klaus Iohannis will plead for continued efforts by Member States to consolidate and deepen the Single Market in all its dimensions. The prsident will point out that "a strong digital market is essential to maintaining Europe's position as one of the world's most important economies." Iohannis will also highlight the fact that the fight against disinformation is essential in the context of the forthcoming election to the European Parliament. In this respect, he will advocate the intensification of efforts by Member States to combat this phenomenon in order to ensure a free and fair European election process. "The President of Romania will emphasize that the common objective is to avoid a disorderly withdrawal of the UK from the Union and our country, in its capacity of Presidency of the Council of the EU, will work to complete the preparations for any possible scenario related to the Brexit process. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis will reiterate the need to maintain the EU27 unity in this process," the Presidential Administration shows. First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila confirmed at the "brief" meeting they had in Brussels on Wednesday that the "work" on the "implementation" of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) recommendations and of "the additional issues identified has intensified with the prospect of delivering concrete results soon," a spokesperson for the European Commission told AGERPRES. "First Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had a brief meeting and both confirmed that the technical discussions between the Commission and the Romanian authorities are advancing and that the work on the implementation of the CVM recommendations and the additional issues identified has intensified with the prospect of having concrete results soon," the spokesperson said. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is visiting Brussels, where she met on Wednesday with First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OAKVILLE, Ontario, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (Saint Jean or the Company) (TSX-V: SJL) is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 11,428,571 Units (the Units) at a price of $0.035 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $400,000 (the Offering). Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company and one (1) common share purchase warrant (each a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one (1) additional common share in the capital of the Company (each a Warrant Share) at an exercise price of $0.05 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from the date of issuance. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Offering to preserve the Companys existing operations and general corporate and administrative purposes. The Company intends to close the Offering as soon as practicable. Closing of the Offering is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. The pricing of the Offering is in reliance on the temporary relief measures established by the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange), and therefore the Offering and pricing of the Offering require approval of the Exchange having regard to the temporary relief criteria set out in the Exchanges bulletin of April 7, 2014, in relation to the extension and modification of temporary relief from certain pricing requirements. All securities issued as part of the Offering will be subject to a four month and one day hold period. About Saint Jean Saint Jean is a publicly traded carbon science company, with specific interests in energy storage and green energy creation and green re-creation, with holdings in graphite mining and lithium claims in the province of Quebec in Canada. For the latest information on Saint Jeans properties and news please refer to the website: http://www.saintjeancarbon.com . On behalf of the Board of Directors Saint Jean Carbon Inc. Paul Ogilvie, CEO and Director Information Contact: Email: info@saintjeancarbon.com Tel: (905) 844-1200 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, concerning Saint Jeans business and affairs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, intends budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements include those with respect to the Companys intention to complete the Offering and use the proceeds of the Offering as working capital to fund the continued development of the Companys business. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ materially. The forward-looking statements in this news release assume, inter alia, that the conditions for completion of the Offering, including regulatory approval will be met. Although Saint Jean believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct. There are risks which could affect Saint Jeans ability to complete the Offering, the impact of general global economic conditions and the risk that they will deteriorate, industry conditions, that required consents and approvals from regulatory authorities will not be obtained. Statements of past performance should not be construed as an indication of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors, including those discussed above, could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release, and Saint Jean assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. English French TORONTO, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Rogers applauded the federal governments plan to connect Canadians to high-speed internet and announced its own plans to connect over 1,000 kilometres of unserved highway corridors through a wireless network investment of $100 million over five years. As a proud Canadian company, we are committed to bringing connectivity to rural and remote areas that do not currently enjoy wireless service. Canada has some of the best networks in the world and this investment will improve public safety, and increase economic opportunities for residents and businesses, said Joe Natale, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Communications. Through this investment, even more Canadians will enjoy high-speed LTE service in areas such as Route 245 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and Highway 5a in Kamloops, British Columbia, with more locations to be announced in the months ahead. Rogers network will also improve public safety by providing essential emergency wireless coverage to all Canadians so they can access 911, regardless of their carrier. Last year Rogers invested $2.8 billion in infrastructure to bring Canadians world-leading technology. The planned investment will take advantage of the recently announced Accelerated Investment Incentive, introduced in the federal government's Fall Economic Statement in 2018. In January, Rogers announced a significant increase in capital expenditures that it will invest in its networks and, in particular, coverage in rural and remote areas. In addition to connecting rural and remote parts of Canada, Rogers remains committed to delivering Canadians a state-of-the-art wireless network. Through its 5G multi-year network plan with Ericsson, Rogers is ensuring Canadians will be at the forefront of emerging technologies. Meaningful investments in our network is vital to our countrys success. We look forward to partnering with the federal government on connecting rural Canada, added Natale. About Rogers Rogers is a leading diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are Canadas largest provider of wireless communications services and one of Canadas leading providers of cable television, high-speed Internet, information technology, and telephony services to consumers and businesses. Through Rogers Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, sports, televised and online shopping, magazines, and digital media. Our shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). SOURCE Rogers Communications Canada Inc. English For further information: media@rci.rogers.com, 647-747-5118 French English HERMES Very good sales and performance in 2018 Recurring operating profitability amounts to 34.3% of sales Net profit reaches 1.4 billion, up +15% Paris, 20 March 2019 The Group's consolidated revenue amounted to 5,966 million, up +10.4% at constant exchange rates and +7.5% at current exchange rates. Recurring operating income increased 6% to 2,045 million (34.3% of sales). Net profit increased 15% to 1,405 million. Axel Dumas, Executive Chairman of Hermes, said: " This year again, Hermes achieves a remarkable performance, thanks to the talent and incredible commitment displayed by the women and men of Hermes, and confirms the strength of the Group's growth model. " Sales by geographical area at the end of December (at constant exchange rates unless otherwise indicated) The significant rise in revenues recorded in 2018 in Group stores (+11%) was driven by growth in all geographical areas. Hermes continued to improve the quality of its distribution network, both by opening stores that highlight the profusion of our creations and by completing renovation and extension work on almost twenty stores. Hermes successfully continued the roll-out of its new digital platform in Europe and in China in October. Asia excluding Japan (+14%) pursued its strong growth in China and in South Asian countries. The Shanghai IFC and Singapore Marina Bay Sands stores were extended and renovated, after opening the Landmark Prince's in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, Changsha and Xi'an in China, and Chadstone in Australia. Japan (+8%) recorded a sustained increase with no price or scope effects. America (+12%) confirmed its momentum throughout the area. The 34th store in the United States opened in May in Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Cancun store in March, and the Mexico Artz Pedregal in December. Europe excluding France (+8%) achieved a sound performance, driven in particular by the United Kingdom and Italy. France (+6%) posted growth, despite the negative impact of year-end events. The Parisian store on avenue George V, now covering three floors, re-opened in November after renovation and extension. Sales by business lines at the end of December (at constant exchange rates unless otherwise indicated) All business lines recorded growth, with a remarkable performance of the Ready-to-Wear and Accessories division. Leather Goods and Saddlery (+9%) recorded growth thanks to the increase in production capacity, in order to meet the high demand, both for the re-invented classics and other models such as the Mosaique and 24/24 bags. Development projects continued with the Manufacture de l'Allan workshop gaining momentum and the launch of the Guyenne and Montereau workshops, which are expected to be completed by 2020. A new site will be built in Louviers by 2021, with the creation of 250 jobs. Hermes strengthens once again its territorial roots in Normandy, the development of employment and the creation of social value. The Ready-to-Wear and Accessories division (+14%) confirmed its dynamic activity despite high comparison bases, driven by the success of the ready-to-wear collections, and fashion accessories, particularly shoes. The Silk and Textiles business line posted an increase (+3%), with collections that combine diversity of materials with creative design. Perfumes (+9%) performed well, thanks particularly to the success of Terre d'Hermes and Twilly d'Hermes. The Watches business line (+10%) recorded good sales performance in group's stores, that reflects the creativity of the collections. The presentation of the Hermes' new women's watch Galop d'Hermes and the Arceau L'heure de la lune watch at the International Salon of Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva last January was very well received. Other Hermes business lines (+20%), which encompass Jewellery, Art of Living and Hermes Table Arts, were up sharply. The high jewellery collection, Enchainements libres, was presented in September enhancing the creativity of the design with precious metal work. Strong growth in net profit and free cash flow Recurring operating income increased 6% to 2,045 million compared to 1,922 million in 2017. Thanks to particularly healthy growth and good cost control, recurring operating profitability reached 34.3% of sales, close to the outstanding level achieved in 2017. After including the 53 million net capital gain on the sale of the former Galleria store premises in Hong Kong, operating income increased 9% to 2,098 million, representing 35.2% of sales. Consolidated net profit (Group share) increased 15% to 1,045 million. Restated with the Galleria disposal capital gain, the increase is 11%. After adjustment for capital expenditure (312 million), free cash flow amounted to 1,447 million, up 8%. Net cash gained 553 million to reach 3,465 million as at 31 December 2018, after payment of the ordinary dividend (428 million) and an extraordinary dividend (521 million). In 2018, Hermes International redeemed 103,237 shares for 59 million, outside transactions completed within the framework of the liquidity contract. Growth in workforce The Hermes Group increased its workforce by almost 800 people, including more than 500 in France, mainly in the production units and sales teams. At the end of 2018, the Group employed 14,284 people, including 8,846 in France. Hermes has announced payment of an exceptional 1,000 bonus to all employees who earned less than three times the annual minimum wage in 2018. This bonus will be paid on top of the 100 increase in monthly salaries for all staff in France and an additional bonus for employees outside France. These measures confirm the willingness and commitment of Hermes to share the fruit of its growth with all those who contribute to it on a daily basis. Outlook In the medium term, despite growing economic, geopolitical and monetary uncertainties around the world, the Group confirms an ambitious goal for revenue growth at constant exchange rates. "In the pursuit of dreams" will be the theme of the year 2019. Celebrating the dream of Hermes means to affirm the need to dare to see further, to open the field of the imagination that stimulates creation. Thanks to its unique business model, Hermes is pursuing its long-term development strategy based on creativity, maintaining control over know-how and singular communication. Proposed dividend At the General Meeting of 4 June 2019, a dividend proposal of 4.55 per share will be made. The 1.50 interim dividend paid on 22 February 2019 will be deducted from the dividend approved by the General Meeting. Coming events: 25 April 2019: Q1 2019 Revenue publication 4 June 2019: General Meeting of Shareholders 23 July 2019: Q2 2019 Revenue publication The press release and the presentation of the 2018 results are available on the Group's website: http://finance.hermes.com. At the Supervisory Board meeting on 19 March 2019, Executive Management presented the audited financial statements for 2018. The audit procedures have been completed and the audit report is under preparation. The complete consolidated financial statements will be available by 30 April 2019 at the latest, at http://finance.hermes.com and on the AMF website (www.amf-france.org). 2018 KEY FIGURES In millions of euros 2018 2017 Revenue 5,966 5,549 Growth at current exchange rates vs. n-1 7.5% 6.7% Growth at constant exchange rates vs. n-1 (1) 10.4% 8.6% Recurring operating income (2) 2,045 1,922 As a % of revenue 34.3% 34.6% Operating income 2,098 1,922 As a % of revenue 35.2% 34.6% Net profit - Group share 1,405 1,221 As a % of revenue 23.5% 22.0% Operating cash flows 1,683 1,580 Free cash flow (3) 1,447 1,340 Operating investments 312 265 Equity - Group share 5,503 5,039 Net cash position 3,465 2,912 Restated net cash position (4) 3,615 3,050 Workforce (number of employees) 14,284 13,483 (1) Growth at constant exchange rates is calculated by applying the average exchange rates of the previous period to the current period's revenue, for each currency. (2) Recurring operating income is one of the main performance indicators monitored by the group's General Management. It excludes non-recurring items having a significant impact likely to affect the understanding of the group's economic performance. (3) Free cash flow correspond to the sum of Operating cash flows and the change in working capital, less operating investments. (4) The restated net cash position includes short-term investments that do not meet IFRS cash equivalents criteria mainly because their original maturity exceeds three months REMINDER OF PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS INFORMATION BY GEOGRAPHICAL ZONE (1) Fiscal Year Evolutions In millions of Euros 2018 2017 Published At constant exchange rates France 802.2 754.9 6.3% 6.3% Europe (excl. France) 1,106.5 1,044.1 6.0% 7.5% Total Europe 1,908.7 1,799.0 6.1% 7.0% Japan 748.3 716.6 4.4% 7.5% Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) 2,142.4 1,946.0 10.1% 13.7% Total Asia 2,890.7 2,662.6 8.6% 12.0% Americas 1,058.6 995.8 6.3% 11.5% Other 108.1 91.8 17.7% 17.8% TOTAL 5,966.1 5,549.2 7.5% 10.4% 4th quarter Evolutions In millions of Euros 2018 2017 Published At constant exchange rates France 214.9 205.1 4.8% 4.8% Europe (excl. France) 322.0 299,2 7.6% 8.5% Total Europe 536.9 504.3 6.5% 7.0% Japan 222.2 201.2 10.4% 8.1% Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) 550.5 483.5 13.9% 13.1% Total Asia 772.7 684.6 12.9% 11.6% Americas 310.7 286.8 8.3% 7.9% Other 29.9 23.4 27.8% 27.8% TOTAL 1,650.2 1,499.1 10.1% 9.6% (1) Sales by destination. INFORMATION BY SECTOR Fiscal Year Evolutions In millions of Euros 2018 2017 Published At constant exchange rates Leathergoods and Saddlery (1) 2,975.8 2,800.3 6.3% 9.4% Ready-to-wear and Fashion accessories (2) 1,310.4 1,181.1 10.9% 14.1% Silk and Textiles 536.9 534.3 0.5% 3.2% Other Hermes sectors (3) 424.7 365.0 16.3% 19.6% Perfumes 311.7 287.5 8.4% 8.9% Watches 168.6 157.5 7.0% 9.9% Other products (4) 238.0 223.4 6.5% 7.9% TOTAL 5,966.1 5,549.2 7.5% 10.4% 4th quarter Evolutions In millions of Euros 2018 2017 Published At constant exchange rates Leathergoods and Saddlery (1) 820.7 742.7 10.5% 9.8% Ready-to-wear and Fashion accessories (2) 335.5 298.5 12.4% 11.7% Silk and Textiles 173.5 171.9 0.9% 1.3% Other Hermes sectors (3) 120.7 108.4 11.3% 11.2% Perfumes 73.3 67.0 9.5% 9.5% Watches 50.3 44.0 14.4% 13.9% Other products (4) 76.2 66.6 14.4% 15.0% TOTAL 1,650.2 1,499.1 10.1% 9.6% (1) The "Leather Goods and Saddlery" business line includes bags, riding, diaries and small leather goods. (2) The "Ready-to-wear and Accessories" business line includes Hermes Ready-to-wear for men and women, belts, costume jewellery, gloves, hats and shoes. (3) The "Other Hermes business lines" include Jewellery and Hermes home products (Art of Living and Hermes Tableware). (4) The "Other products" include the production activities carried out on behalf of non-group brands (textile printing, tanning.), as well as the John Lobb, Saint-Louis, Puiforcat and Shang Xia products. With all that is happening in the world Crimea has taken a bit of a backseat recently. Yes, the US, EU and Canada just added more sanctions on Russia via the odious Magnitsky legislation but this is inconsequential. Theres been a flurry of good news coming out of Crimea and the Black Sea recently that bears discussion. Lets start with the most important. President Vladimir Putin was in Crimea earlier this week to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the peninsulas reunification with Russia. There he also officially inaugurated two major upgrades to Crimeas power grid. Located in Simferopol and Sevastopol, two new power plants will produce 940 megawatts and secure Crimeas energy needs for now and into the future. Power has been Crimeas Achilles heel since breaking off from Ukraine in 2014. It received almost 90% of its power from the mainland. In November 2015, the trunk lines into Crimea were sabotaged by Ukrainian nationalist radicals, encouraged by President Petro Poroshenko plunging it into darkness as winter took hold. Does this sound familiar? A place that defies US edicts geopolitically is first hit with a full trade embargo, sanctions and threatened militarily by proxies before having its electricity shut off? *Cough* Venezuela *Cough* And there are reports that the US has game-planned a similar fate for Iran as well. For Crimea it was easy because of the single-point-of-failure, the trunks from the mainland. For Venezuela it was as well, with the Guri dam, which affected nearly 70 percent of the country. So, Putin timing the fifth anniversary of reunification with the announcement of the plants moving to full operational status was yet another smooth bit of international political maneuvering. A not-so-subtle poke in the eye of the Gang Who Cant Sanction Straight in D.C. as well as lame duck Poroshenko. Elections are at the end of the month and this celebration by Russia and Crimea will not sit well with many Ukrainians, especially the diaspora here in the US which is virulently anti-Putin in my experience. Secure and stable power generation is a hallmark of a first world territory. Without that economic growth and stability are impossible. This is why to first help stabilize the situation in Crimea after the blackout Russia brought in 400 MW of power across the Kerch Strait from Krasnodor. Tying Crimea to the mainland via the Kerch Strait bridge was a masterstroke by Putin. The initial power lines were simply a necessity. For those that complain he isnt doing enough to counter US and European aggression need only look at the Kerch Strait bridge. Not only did the Russians not seek international approval given the nearly universal refusal to recognize Crimea as Russian they built the thing in a time frame that defies description. Imagine if this had been an EU project. They would still be debating the initial engineering plans and the political effects on some protected minority. Not only does it open up the Eastern Black Sea to trade via Crimea but it ends the use of the Sea of Azov as a potential staging ground for naval provocations as last falls incident proved. Ukraine is cut off from acting aggressively and cannot count on any help from the US and Europe. Moreover, Crimea is now permanently Russias. And every bit of infrastructure Russia builds there ties the two further together and weakens any bonds Crimea had with Ukraine. The resultant growth and modernization will make its way, economically and culturally back into southern Ukraine and erode the hard border over time. This is far more important than striking out and metaphorically punching Poroshenko in the mouth, that many of Putins detractors wish for. Presidents change, after all. Patience and attrition is how you beat an aggressive, distant enemy like the US To remind everyone just how insane the Trump White House has become on matters international, no less than Vice President Mike Pence lobbied Germany to provoke another naval incident at the Kerch Strait. If there was ever an example of how little Trumps gang of moldy neocons think of Europe it is this bit of news. In effect, Pence was saying, We cant start a war with Russia because it would go nuclear, but you can because Russia cant live without your trade. This coming after the US unilaterally pulled out of the INF treaty and is now flying nuclear bombers to eastern Europe. The message is clear. If the EU doesnt get with this open-ended belligerent program against Russia and China of John Boltons they will be the ones paying the price when chaos breaks out. On the other side there is Putin; building bridges, pipelines, power plants and roads. Hes making it clear what the future holds not only for Europe but the Middle East, central Asia and India. We will defend Crimea at all costs, develop it not only into a tourist destination but also a major trade hub as well. You are more than welcome to join us. But, we dont need you. These power plants will raise Crimeas power output well beyond its current needs, allowing first export of power as well as providing the foundation for future growth. And as if it werent coordinated in any way, the Chinese, on the morning of Putins speech, announced that Crimea would be an excellent fit for investment projects attached to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Thats according to the head of the association of Chinese compatriots on the peninsula, Ge Zhili. Our organization is bolstering cooperation ties, exchanges and friendly contacts with the Crimean society, he said at an event dedicated to the fifth anniversary of Crimeas reunification with Russia, which was held in the Russian Embassy in Beijing on Monday. It is also ready to contribute to the establishment of reliable partner ties and the explanation of legal details of business cooperation with Crimea, Ge Zhili said. The Chinese society hopes for the development of friendly cooperation with Crimea; we are ready to overcome difficulties for fruitful results. Again this is a direct challenge to the US who has Crimea under strict sanctions in the West. China is happy now to move forward with integrating Crimea into its plans. Its just another example of how Russia and China simply ignore Trumps fulminations and move on. I cant wait until I get to write this article all over again, this time about North Korea, now that Bolton has thrown Russian and Chinese assistance in getting North Korea to the negotiating table back in their face by destroying the Hanoi talks. This announcement is not to be underestimated given that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is in Rome this week to open up relations with the new Italian government. Five Star Movements Leader Luigi Di Maio said he would welcome becoming a part of BRI, much to the consternation of Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as his coalition partner Lega Leader Matteo Salvini. Its already well known that Salvini is interested in ending sanctions on Crimea and re-opening trade with Russia. Italy is desperate for new markets and opportunities, currently stifled under the euro itself as well as Germanys insistence on austerity hollowing out Italys economy and its future prospects. These issues as well as energy security ones are coming to a head this year with Brexit, the European Parliamentary elections in May and the completion of the Nordstream 2 pipeline later this year. As Putin continues to polish his Black Sea jewel, Europe has to decide if it is going to continue playing the U.Ss games over Ukraine or begin the next phase of its independence. Salvini will lead a Euroskeptic revolt within the European Parliament in May. It may be big enough to finally defy Merkel and end EU sanctions on Russia over Crimea. At that point the US will also have a choice, burn down the world economy with even more sanctions, tariffs and acts of war or accept the facts on the ground. by Austin Bay March 20, 2019 On March 18, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin imperiled 21st-century peace among nation states when he stood in Red Square and announced Russia had annexed the Crimean Peninsula. "We will do much more," Putin told an adoring crowd. Putin's popularity poll ratings spiked. Unfortunately, that March 18 in Red Square marked a dangerous reversion. For the first time since the end of World War II, military aggression in Europe by a major European power had led to political annexation and territorial expansion. The historical legacy of military invasion and territorial annexation by a major power in Europe, whatever the rationale for expansion, is slaughter and suffering that afflicts the combatants and affects the entire continent. It often spreads to other continents. In the 20th century, revanchist warfare in Europe seeded global war and massive loss of life. "Revanche" is French for revenge. Make no mistake: The Crimea caper is revanchist. The Kremlin openly states it has "re-integrated" Crimea into Russia. On the fifth anniversary of the Kremlin's revanchist annexation -- March 18, 2019 -- Putin visited Crimea. His photo ops included a tour of power generation facilities. Despite sanctions (more on that in a moment) Russia has poured billions of dollars into Crimea. The Russian president also gave a speech. Before a crowd chanting "Russia, Russia, Russia," he touted the Kremlin's program for modernizing Crimea and declared that "Russia has taken you (Crimea) into its fold with delight and joy ... We will fulfill all of our goals ... because we are together now." Hugs and kisses, we're together. However, Putin's 2019 speech -- as well as the brief Crimea tour -- were a tinnitus-riddled tin echo of 2014's Red Square glory. Reuters quoted a poll that reported only 39 percent of Russians believe the Crimea annexation "brought more good than harm, down from 67 percent in 2014." The poll suggests Russians have paid a hefty domestic price for their government's military aggression. Corrupt European politicians and a crooked media can be bribed to praise the Kremlin, and the Kremlin does that. However, sensible people understand the big picture, which is why the invasion and annexation changed the geopolitical landscape. Today, Finns and Swedes openly discuss joining NATO. Poland is building a mechanized army outfitted with U.S. and western European weapons. For good reason, the invasion seeded deep distrust of Putin and his government. The invasion violated the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, a multilateral mutual security agreement that U.S. president Bill Clinton signed. In exchange for Ukraine's nuclear weapons (over 4,000 Soviet-era weapons), the Russian government guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity. Putin's Kremlin shredded the Budapest agreement, ignored the May 1997 Russia-Ukraine bilateral Treaty on Friendship, invaded Ukrainian territory without provocation and swiftly proclaimed Russian sovereignty. A harsh lesson but an old lesson: Cunning thugs treat contracts and diplomatic agreements as momentary conveniences. In 2014, Putin surveyed Europe and North America and did not see an adversary with the will to confront him. In the short term, he was right. He calculated he could ride out economic and political sanctions because he could cut off natural gas supplies to Western Europe. What he didn't count on was the U.S. energy industry. Its innovative "fracking" technology to extract "tight" oil and gas eliminated the Kremlin's economic cudgel. Putin hasn't given up. In August 2018, Russia started stocking a new cultural center in Crimea with art masterpieces from other Russian galleries. Moscow has built an expensive bridge across the Kerch Strait so Russians can drive from Russian territory to the peninsula. Alas, most countries still recognize Crimea as Ukrainian territory; they know the history. On March 12, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Crimea Annexation Non-Recognition Act, which prohibits federal agencies "from taking any action that recognizes Russian sovereignty over Crimea." Crimea has yet to ignite a devastating military conflict in Europe. However, a deep and dangerous economic and political war is underway. You cannot call it peace. Source: Spofity Streaming music service Spotify has filed an antitrust claim against Apple with the European Commission, reports CNBC. Spotify, which launched in 2006 and is based in Sweden, claims the so-called Apple tax of 30 percent is unfair and deprives consumers of choice. It also gives Apple an unfair competitive advantage, not just over Spotify but over other streaming and subscriptions services consumers access via the App Store. Services must either mark up their fees by 30 percent to recoup the loss or eat the 30 percent fee that Apple takes off the top. In a March 13 blog post, Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek spoke out about the issue. My goal for Spotify is and has always been to reimagine the audio experience by giving consumers the best creativity and innovation we have to offer. For that to be a reality, it is my firm belief that companies like ours must operate in an ecosystem in which fair competition is not only encouraged, but guaranteed, Ek wrote. In recent years, Apple has introduced rules to the App Store that purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience-essentially acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers. After trying unsuccessfully to resolve the issues directly with Apple, were now requesting that the EC take action to ensure fair competition, added Ek. Source: Apple In his post, Ek explains that for companies who choose not to use Apples payment system, Apple restricts Spotifys features and experience for the consumer. For example, Apple can stop Spotify from communicating with its subscribers, or it can block service upgrades. We arent seeking special treatment. We simply want the same treatment as numerous other apps on the App Store, like Uber or Deliveroo, who arent subject to the Apple tax and therefore dont have the same restrictions, Ek continued. This includes allowing services to compete based on their own merits, not on who owns the App store; allowing customers to choose their payment methods and systems; and not allowing app stores to control communications between the service providers and their customers. In a point-counterpoint style move, Apple addressed Spotifys claims in a March 14 post in its newsroom. At its core, the App Store is a safe, secure platform where users can have faith in the apps they discover and the transactions they make. And developers, from first-time engineers to larger companies, can rest assured that everyone is playing by the same set of rules. Thats how it should be. We want more app businesses to thrive including the ones that compete with some aspect of our business, because they drive us to be better. What Spotify is demanding is something very different. After using the App Store for years to dramatically grow their business, Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem including the substantial revenue that they draw from the App Stores customers without making any contributions to that marketplace. At the same time, they distribute the music you love while making ever-smaller contributions to the artists, musicians and songwriters who create it even going so far as to take these creators to court, Apple wrote. Apple addressed several of Spotifys specific claims, disagreeing with many of Spotifys points outright. For example, Apple said it has approved and distributed close to 200 app updates for Spotify which resulted in 300 million downloaded copies of Spotify. Yes, there were some points on which they disagree, but Apple explains those as technicalities and more complex than meets the eye. Apple also said Spotify wants the benefit of a free app but without being free. Apple states 84 percent of its apps pay the App Store no commission or fee of any kind. Apple also pointed out that Spotify joined other streaming services not including Apple in an appeal of the U.S. Copyright Royalty Boards new ruling that dramatically increases royalty fees for services like Spotify, Pandora and Google. Apple basically says, thats not cool. (See this Fridays Five on Friday for more on this issue.) Insider Take: There you have it. Two streaming music giants, each fighting for their piece of the pie, are now fighting each other directly for market share in a he-said-she-said fashion. Spotify insists they are right, just as Apple insists that they are right. It doesnt look like they will come to an agreement on their own, so it will be up to the EC to decide for them, and that could take months, perhaps years. In the meantime, Spotify will continue to grow its audience, but it wont get any help from Apple to do so, and Apple will continue to grow its audience without having to bow to anyone elses rules or demands. Iron and steel products are among major exported items to Laos Major commodities imported from Laos are petrol and oil, iron and steel, transport vehicles, and products from iron and steel; occupying about 40.84% of the total; in which petrol and oil made up the highest proportion with USD12.8 million. Vietnam is now the third largest trade partner of Laos, after Thailand and China. Now, the Lao government is removing regulations and complex procedures, reducing time to establish enterprises, cutting tax and improving infrastructure; contributing to perfecting the business and investment environment in order to attract more foreign investment, especially capital from Vietnam./. Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Healthcare Robotics Market: Focus on Product Type, Application Type, 23 Countries Data, and Competitive Landscape Analysis and Forecast: (2018-2023)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global healthcare robotics market was estimated at $5.40 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to reach $11.44 billion by 2023. There are different types of healthcare robots that have emerged over a period of time which includes, surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, diagnosis robots, and radiotherapy robots. The surgical segment accounted for the highest share of the market in the year 2017 due to higher adoption rate across various hospitals, recurrent sales of accessories of these systems, and huge demand for highly efficient replaceable components. The overall enhancement in patient outcomes has a positive impact on the growth and adoption rate of surgical robotics technology. Rehabilitation robots include robots for providing assistance and therapy to the patients in their daily living tasks and to the patients suffering from stroke or as disable. The recent scenario involves robots that are used for diagnosis through endoscopy procedures. Radiotherapy robots are costly due to their non-invasive surgical procedure used for the treatment of chronic diseases such as, cancer. The scope of advancements in healthcare robots is very wide due to its high potential in the treatment and faster recovery of the patients. Thus, providing physicians and surgeons with the wider interface and platform for better decision making at the time of procedures and treatment. The market analysis of global healthcare robotics includes an in-depth examination of the key ecosystem players, and the key strategies and developments taking place in this market. Additionally, it includes market dynamics (market drivers, opportunities, and challenges), and industry analysis. Presently, the healthcare robotics market can be categorized into four major types of robots that are commercially available. It includes surgical robotics, rehabilitation robotics, diagnostic robots, and radiotherapy robotics. A considerable number of other healthcare robots are presently in the pipeline, that are expected to be commercialized in the upcoming years. The global healthcare robotic market is divided on the basis of product type which includes, robotic systems, instruments and accessories, and services. Based on surgical robot's application, the healthcare robotics market can further be sub-segmented into categories which include, General Surgery, Gynecology Surgery, Urology Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurological Surgery, Transoral Surgery, and Others. The rehabilitation robotics is also further sub-segmented into assistive, therapeutic, and exoskeleton and bionics. Geographically, the market can be segmented into five distinct regions including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. The answers to the following key questions can be derived from this report: What are the key features of the healthcare robotic technology promoting its incorporation in different applications? What is the impact of the requirement of a skilled professional? What would be the future of disruptive robotic technology in the market? What is the scenario for established and non-established players? What are key advantages of the robotic-assisted surgical procedure over conventional surgical procedure? How did the healthcare robotic market evolve and what is its scope in the future? What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global healthcare robotics market? What are the key developmental strategies which are implemented by the key players to stand out in this market? What are the leading companies dominating the global healthcare robotics market? Which surgical robotics application market would witness massive incorporation of the healthcare robotics in the forecast period? What are investors' perceptions about the global healthcare robotics market? Also, who are leading stakeholders of the market holding a significant share in the market's intellectual property? What are the key companies which made substantial investments to aid technological advancements in the market? What are the regulations pertaining to the global healthcare robotics market? What are initiatives implemented by different government bodies to combat the growing prevalence of different types of diseases? What was the market value of the leading segments and sub-segments of the global healthcare robotics market? How will each segment of the global healthcare robotics market grow during the forecast period, and what will be the revenue generated by each of the segments by the end of 2023? How will the industry evolve during the forecast period 2018-2023? Which region will contribute to the highest sales of the global healthcare robotics market during the forecast period? Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary 1 Overview 1.1 Advent of Healthcare Robotics 1.2 Factors Driving Acceptance of the Healthcare Robotic Systems 1.3 Challenges of Healthcare Robotic Systems 1.4 Advantages of Robotics Surgery 1.5 Future Potential: Scope for Advancements 1.5.1 Haptic Technology to Reshape Healthcare Robotics Market 2 Market Dynamics 2.1 Impact Analysis 2.2 Market Drivers 2.2.1 Growing Prominence for Minimal Invasive Surgery 2.2.2 Successful Incorporation of Miniature Robots for Diagnosis 2.2.3 Encouragement & Funding Provided by National Government 2.2.4 Rising Instances of Strokes and Injuries 2.3 Market Restraints 2.3.1 Shortage of Skilled Professionals 2.3.2 High Cost of Robotic Platforms 2.3.3 Reimbursement Issue 2.4 Market Opportunity 2.4.1 Development of the Low-Cost Healthcare Robotic Systems 2.4.2 Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Healthcare Robotics 2.4.3 Development of Simulators for the Training of Professionals 2.4.4 Development of Micro and Nano-Robots for Surgeries 2.4.5 Increasing Adoption of Robotics Technology to Treat Cancer and Benign Brain Tumors 2.4.6 Robotic Capsules for Diagnosis 3 Competitive Landscape 3.1 Key Strategies and Developments 3.1.1 Approvals, Grants, and Certifications 3.1.2 Awards, Recognitions, and Others 3.1.3 Collaborations, Agreement, Joint Ventures, and Partnership 3.1.4 Product Launch and Enhancements 3.1.5 Mergers and Acquisition 3.2 Market Share Analysis 3.3 Brand Value Analysis 3.4 Growth Share Analysis 3.4.1 Growth Share Matrix (by Application) 3.4.2 Growth Share Matrix (by Surgical Applications) 3.4.3 Growth Share Matrix (by Region) 3.5 Surgical Robots Market Scenario: Established Players Vs Non-Established Players 3.6 Industry Attractiveness 3.6.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 3.6.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers 3.6.3 Threat of New Entrants 3.6.4 Threat of Substitutes 3.6.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry 4 Industry Insights 4.1 Legal Requirements and Regulations 4.1.1 Regulations in the U.S. 4.1.2 Regulations in Europe 4.1.3 Regulations in other Countries 4.1.4 Consortiums, Associations, and Regulatory Bodies 5 Global Healthcare Robotics Market (by Product) 5.1 Robotic Systems 5.2 Instruments and Accessories 5.3 Services 6 Global Healthcare Robotics Market (by Application) 6.1 Surgical Robotics 6.1.1 General Surgery 6.1.2 Gynecology Surgery 6.1.3 Urology Surgery 6.1.4 Orthopedic Surgery 6.1.5 Neurological Surgery 6.1.6 Transoral Surgery 6.1.7 Others 6.2 Radiotherapy Robotics 6.3 Diagnostic Robotics 6.4 Rehabilitation Robotics 6.4.1 Therapeutic 6.4.2 Assistive 6.4.3 Exoskeleton and Bionics 7 Global Healthcare Robotics Market (by Region) 7.1 North America 7.1.1 The U.S. 7.1.2 Canada 7.2 Europe 7.2.1 Germany 7.2.2 France 7.2.3 The U.K. 7.2.4 Italy 7.2.5 Spain 7.2.6 Belgium 7.2.7 Sweden 7.2.8 The Netherlands 7.2.9 Switzerland 7.2.10 Rest-of-Europe 7.3 Asia-Pacific 7.3.1 Japan 7.3.2 China 7.3.3 Australia 7.3.4 South Korea 7.3.5 India 7.3.6 Singapore 7.3.7 Rest-of-Asia-Pacific 7.4 Latin America 7.4.1 Brazil 7.4.2 Mexico 7.4.3 Argentina 7.4.4 Rest-of-Latin America 7.5 Middle East and Africa 7.5.1 Saudi Arabia 7.5.2 Israel 7.5.3 U.A.E 7.5.4 Rest-of-Middle East and Africa 8 Company Profiles 8.1 Accuray Incorporated 8.2 Auris Health, Inc. 8.3 Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. 8.4 Endomaster Pte Ltd. 8.5 FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation 8.6 Hocoma AG. 8.7 Intuitive Surgical, Inc. 8.8 Medtronic plc 8.9 Restorative Therapies 8.10 ReWalk Robotics Ltd. 8.11 Smith & Nephew plc 8.12 Stereotaxis, Inc. 8.13 Stryker Corporation 8.14 Think Surgical, Inc. 8.15 Tyromotion GmbH. 8.16 Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dmsf22/global_healthcare?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. ATLANTA, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WestRock Company (NYSE: WRK) today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss second quarter fiscal 2019 results and other topics on Tuesday, April 30, at 8:30 am ET. WestRock will release its second quarter fiscal 2019 results prior to market open on Tuesday, April 30. The webcast of the call, along with the presentation, press release and other relevant financial and statistical information, will be accessible on the Investors section of WestRock's website at ir.westrock.com. The webcast and presentation will also be archived on ir.westrock.com. Investors who wish to participate in the webcast via teleconference should dial 833-287-0804 (inside the U.S.) or 647-689-4463 (outside the U.S.) at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call and enter the passcode 7289258. About WestRock WestRock (NYSE: WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks team members support customers around the world from locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com. Investors: James Armstrong, 470-328-6327 Vice President, Investor Relations james.armstrong@westrock.com John Stakel, 678-291-7901 Senior Vice President, Treasurer john.stakel@westrock.com Media: John Pensec, 470-328-6397 Director, Corporate Communications john.pensec@westrock.com One person has been critically injured following a crash on State Highway 27, north of Matamata. The emergency services are responding to the crash at the intersection of State Highway 27 and Kereone Road after being alerted at around 11.35am today. A police spokesperson says The Serious Crash Unit is in attendance and part of State Highway 27 is currently closed. "Diversions are in place at Maungakawa Road for southbound traffic, and at Walton Road for vehicles travelling north. "Motorists are being asked to expect delays and avoid the area if possible." At this stage there is no information regarding the number of vehicles involved or any other injuries. Have you got more potatoes than you know what do with? Or a tin of beetroot slices you can't see yourself using anytime soon? Never fear, food sharing app Olio has arrived in New Zealand to help you find a loving home for any food you have going spare. Co-founder and CEO of Olio, Tessa Clarke and her friend Saasha Celestial-One developed the app in a bid to solve the issue of food waste at a grassroots level. "Over half of all food waste takes place in the home, so we are half the problem and we don't have to wait for governments or big businesses, we can actually help solve the problem of food waste ourselves," says Tessa. "Globally a third of all the food produced gets thrown away, worth a trillion US dollars every year, environmentally, food-wastage is catastrophic," says Tessa. A 2017 RaboDirect survey found New Zealanders throw away almost $2 billion worth of food a year, with younger people more likely to waste food than their parents. Olio aims to solve this problem, while connecting neighbours and strengthening communities. Once signed up, users take a photo of the food they have going spare, list it on the app along with preferred pick-up times and the area they are in, and wait for somebody to request it. About 5,000 Kiwis were signed up to Olio on Thursday March 14, and on Wednesday March 20, more than 900,000 Kiwis are signed up. Aucklanders account for 25 per cent of users, while 21 per cent live in Christchurch, 14 per cent in Wellington, with others spread across the country. Within the 5km radius of Auckland's Ponsonby, items up for grabs on Thursday morning included an unopened box of Red Seal mi-chai tea, a tin of beetroot slices and a packet of Italian branded lady fingers for making tiramisu. Tessa says half of all food added to the app was requested in less than an hour. "People can list cooked food but that's less than 5 per cent of what goes up, so someone might batch cook lasagne or curry or do too much baking that they want to give away," says Tessa. In the terms and conditions of the app, the onus is on the person collecting the food to ask about preparation, storage and allergens. However, the majority of listings are packaged items such as crackers and biscuits, fruit and vegetables, tea and bread. Users can also list miscellaneous household items on the app. Annie from Wellington, was giving away an anti-imperfection foundation purchased in Canada, while Annabelle had a jar of Blackmore Macu-Vision tablets up for grabs in Lower Hutt. Olio generates revenue through its scheme Food Waste Heroes, where trained volunteers pick up unused food from businesses and redistribute it to users on the app. "Instead of the large chains paying for waste services to come and dispose of their food, they pay us and our volunteers take it away," says Tessa. The Food Waste Heroes scheme is not yet up and running in New Zealand. Olio has so far been a hit globally, with about 950,000 users signed up around the world and food successfully shared via the app in 41 countries. The app's early success in New Zealand has "come as an amazing surprise", but Tessa says she and her all-women team followed a number of Kiwi bloggers on the topic of sustainable living. "New Zealand has a very high level of awareness of the problems and opportunities around food wastage and sustainability, you're also very tech-savvy and have loyal communities." The Olio app is available to download on the App Store and Google Play. -Stuff.co.nz/Charlotte Carter The Cheyenne County Communications Center needs to expand its territory, electronically. To do so, the Communications Center is planning to have a second radio tower constructed adjacent to the current tower. It has been at capacity for a while, Communicators Director Heidi Gillespie said Monday afternoon. She said the need was made known when companies she worked with while assessing how to include Deuel County dispatching services into Cheyenne Countys system noted there was almost no real estate left on the existing tower, Gillespie said. She said she was advised to make a... As shown on this map, most of Nebraska has been affected by flooding. The numbers shown here show areas affected as of Monday evening. While Sidney and Cheyenne County fared pretty well during last week's blizzard, its affects on the state have been devastating. With many of the state's rivers already being watched for flooding due to the buildup of ice, the storm's added moisture and wind resulted in severe flooding across nearly two-thirds of the state. As of Monday, 65 of the state's counties had declared emergencies due to flooding, with more than 70 towns or cities affected. Some, like Niobrara, no longer exist. Others, including Freemont, were cut off from the outside by flood waters surrounding their towns. Accordi... While last weeks blizzard was fast and ferocious, it didnt result in a lot of calls for service by local emergency personnel. In 16 years this was the most uneventful blizzard weve ever had, said Cheyenne County Sheriff Adam Frerichs. Frerichs, and Region 21 Emergency Management Director Ron Leal, both agree that the states action to close the interstate early, before the storm was actually on top of the area, was the biggest reason it was so quiet. Last April was just the opposite, when local emergency services rescued more than 100 people off of the interstate after tha... LINCOLN, NEB. The Nebraska Farm Bureau has launched relief efforts to aid Nebraska farmers, ranchers, and rural communities suffering from the natural disasters that have impacted the state. The relief efforts include the establishment of a disaster relief fund and launch of an online agriculture disaster exchange portal to connect those in need with those who can help. Nebraska is a special place with special people. Many of our friends and neighbors across the state are suffering. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost or are missing loved ones, and to all those who... Rodney E. Rod McConnell, age 87 of Broadwater, NE passed away in Bridgeport, Thursday, March 14, 2019. Memorial Services will be held at 10:00 A.M., Friday, March 22nd in the First Presbyterian Church in Bridgeport with Rev. Jonathan Mark Berosek officiating. Inurnment with Military Honors will follow in the Dalton Cemetery. Cremation has been held. You may view Rods Book of Memories, leave condolences, photos and stories at www.gehrigstittchapel.com. A complete obituary will be published when available. Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service, LLC is in charge of Rods care... Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Switchgear Monitoring System Market by Switchgear Type, Component, End-User, Voltage, Monitoring Type, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The switchgear monitoring system market is projected to reach USD 2 billion by 2023 from an estimated USD 1.4 billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 7.83%. Growing investments in renewable energy and demand for safe and secure electrical distribution systems have increased the demand for switchgear monitoring system. However, high cost of monitoring devices and stringent regulations for SF6 switchgears could act as a restraint for the market. The gas insulated switchgear segment is expected to be the fastest growing market from 2018 to 2023 The gas insulated switchgear (GIS) segment is expected to hold the largest market share in 2018 and is projected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. They are mainly used in industrial areas to fulfill high-energy demands through a space-saving design of minimum cost. GISs are deployed in various industries, serving different needs at varying voltage levels. Many developed countries have also started improving their T&D network to ensure safety and security with the help of switchgear monitoring system. The hardware segment by component is expected to be the largest market from 2018 to 2023 The hardware segment is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period because these devices can be controlled or automated from the control room by the control system/software, and are essential in monitoring operations. Asia Pacific is expected to hold the largest market for hardware with rapid adoption in countries such as China and India. Rapid expansion of power plants and transmission lines to meet the growing electricity requirements is expected to drive the utilities segment market between 2018 and 2023 The utilities segment, by end-user, held the largest market share in 2018 and is estimated to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period because the utilities segment is responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. Electric utilities include investor-owned and publicly-owned cooperatives and nationalized entities, which are the major providers of electricity in most of the countries, worldwide. Europe: The second fastest growing market for switchgear monitoring system The European region is expected to be the second fastest growing market for switchgear monitoring system by 2023. The European power generation, transmission, and distribution systems are comparatively mature. Therefore, the EU is focusing on upgrading its aging infrastructure, integrating renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, and building interconnections to enable more efficient power and energy trading. This would also require replacement of switchgear from electromechanical to digital by installing switchgear monitoring system. The switchgear monitoring system market is dominated by a few major players that have a wide regional presence. The leading players in switchgear monitoring system market are Schneider Electric (France), Siemens AG (Germany), ABB (Switzerland), General Electric (US), and Emerson (US). Topics Covered 1 Introduction 1.1 Objectives of the Study 1.2 Definition 1.3 Market Scope 1.4 Years Considered for the Study 1.5 Currency 1.6 Limitation 1.7 Stakeholders 2 Research Methodology 2.1 Market Size Estimation 2.2 Some of the Insights of Industry Experts 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Opportunities in the Switchgear Monitoring System Market During the Forecast Period 4.2 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Region 4.3 Asia Pacific Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Monitoring Type & Country 4.4 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Switchgear Type 4.5 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By End-User 4.6 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Component 4.7 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Voltage 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Demand for Safe & Secure Electrical Distribution Systems 5.2.1.2 Demand for Continuous Monitoring of Switchgears 5.2.1.3 Revival of Investments in the Construction Sector 5.2.1.4 Growing Investments in Renewable Energy 5.2.2 Restraints 5.2.2.1 High Cost of Monitoring Devices 5.2.2.2 Stringent Environmental and Safety Regulations for Sf6 Switchgears 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Growth of Data Centers 5.2.3.2 Execution of Performance-Based Incentive Schemes and Definite Service Programs 5.2.3.3 HVDC Transmission 5.2.3.4 Aging Power Infrastructure 5.2.4 Challenges 5.2.4.1 Cybersecurity 5.2.4.2 Delays in Grid Expansion Projects 6 Switchgear Monitoring System, By Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 GIS 6.3 AIS 7 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Component 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Hardware 7.3 Software & Services 8 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By End-User 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Utilities 8.3 Industries 8.4 Commercial 8.5 Others 9 Switchgear Monitoring System, By Voltage 9.1 Introduction 9.2 High Voltage 9.3 Medium Voltage 10 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Monitoring Type 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Temperature Monitoring 10.3 Partial Discharge Monitoring 10.4 Others 11 Switchgear Monitoring System Market, By Region 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Asia Pacific 11.3 North America 11.4 Europe 11.5 Middle East & Africa 11.6 South America 12 Competitive Landscape 12.1 Overview 12.2 Market Share Analysis 12.3 Competitive Scenario 13 Company Profile 13.1 Schneider Electric 13.2 General Electric 13.3 ABB 13.4 Siemens AG 13.5 Eaton 13.6 Emerson 13.7 Koncar - Electrical Engineering Institute Inc. 13.8 Tiara Vibrasindo Pratama 13.9 TrafAG 13.10 Senseor 13.11 Fortive 13.12 Independent Power Engineering Consultants 13.13 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zb7356/global_switchgear?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- INV Metals Inc. (INV Metals or the Company) (TSX:INV) is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the Private Placement) of common shares (Shares) at a price of $0.65 per Share for gross proceeds of approximately $3 million. The Company issued an aggregate of 4,615,385 Shares under the Private Placement, including 1,642,355 Shares to IAMGOLD Corporation to maintain its 35.6% interest in the Company and 1,434,568 to directors and officers of the Company (Terrance MacGibbon, Chairman, Candace MacGibbon, CEO, and William Shaver, COO) (collectively, the Insiders). The proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for general working capital and corporate purposes. The Private Placement constitutes a related party transaction pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101) given the participation of the Insiders. The Company is exempt from the requirement to obtain a formal valuation or minority shareholder approval in connection with the Insiders participation in the Private Placement in reliance of Sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 due to the fair market value of the Insiders participation in the Private Placement being below 25% of the Companys market capitalization for purposes of MI 61-101. The Company will file a material change report in respect of the Private Placement. However, it will be filed less than 21 days in advance of the closing of the Private Placement, which is consistent with market practice and the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances given that no conditions to closing remain unsatisfied that would have required the closing to have been delayed until after April 5, 2019. About INV Metals INV Metals is an international mineral resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of precious and base metal projects in Ecuador. Currently, INV Metals primary assets are: (1) its 100% interest in the Loma Larga gold exploration and development property in Ecuador, and (2) its 100% interests in exploration concessions in Ecuador, including the Las Penas, Tierras Coloradas, La Rebuscada and Carolina exploration projects. For more information please contact: Sunny Lowe Chief Financial Officer Phone: (416) 703-8416 E-mail: slowe@invmetals.com Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking information. Forward-looking information contained in this new release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the use of proceeds in respect of the Private Placement. These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. In certain cases, forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as anticipates, believes, could, estimates, expects, may, shall, will, or would. Forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on certain factors and assumptions made by management and qualified persons in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management and the qualified persons believe are appropriate in the circumstances. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters as plans continue to be redefined, risks relating to grade or recovery rates, reliance on key personnel, operational risks, regulatory, capitalization and liquidity risks. The Feasibility Study may also be subject to legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of Loma Larga. Please refer to the Companys Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2018 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for other risks that could materially affect the Company. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Companys forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Companys forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Syracuse, N.Y. Charter Communications pledged to improve service and reduce its customer complaint rate as part of a deal to get the states approval of the cable giants acquisition of Time Warner Cable in 2016 If Charter doesnt reduce customer complaints about its cable television service, the state could force it to spend millions of dollars on improvements. So, has Charter lived up to the agreement? Charter says it has more than met the requirements, but if the company has its way, the public may never see the data it says back up its claim. Charter, which operates under the Spectrum brand name, last month filed a progress report with the New York Public Service Commission on its complaint rate. But it filed two versions one for the commissions eyes only and a second one for the public. The public version contained lots of black marks -- 14 of them, to be exact -- covering up all relevant complaint data. Charter, acting within its rights under the states Freedom of Information Law, asked the commission to keep the uncensored version out of its public file, saying it contained trade secret information that, if disclosed publicly, would cause substantial injury to Charters competitive position and provide Charters competitors an advantage to Charters detriment. But a consumer group, Stop the Cap!, objected. It filed a request under the same law, asking the commission to release the unredacted version of the companys report. The group called Charters claim that the information would be useful to competitors unproven and specious. Charter is effectively asking the (Department of Public Service) to prohibit the publics access to data that is part of a public interest test, said Phillip Dampier, founder and president of the Rochester-based consumer group. Further, there is no demonstrable causal link shown between competitive injury and disclosure of video customer complaint rates that are the direct result of poor service experiences with Charter Communications, he added. Charter Communications' initial report to the New York State Public Service Commission on its progress reducing customer complaints about its Spectrum cable television service contained lots of redactions like these.Rick Moriarty Informed by the commission of the groups challenge, Charter quickly backed off and filed a new, public report that included the complaint data. But it was still impossible to see if the rate went up or down because the company refused to reveal how many cable television customers it has in New York. The company also only counted unresolved complaints made to the state PSC, not all complaints made to the state or complaints made directly to the company. In approving the cable giants acquisition of Time Warner, the state required Charter to reduce its video customer complaint rate by 35 percent by the end of 2020, with half achieved by the end of 2018, compared with Time Warner Cables 2014 complaint rate. In the uncensored report signed by Charter attorney Maureen Helmer, the company said its 2018 cable complaint rate represents a nearly 30 percent reduction in Time Warner Cables 2014 complaint rate. If true, that would mean the company has already come close to meeting the commissions requirement that it reduce complaints by 35 percent by the end of 2020. However, a closer look shows that the nearly 30 percent reduction it boasts about in the report is not really a complaint rate reduction. Its a reduction in a small portion of the number of complaints filed by customers, not in the percentage of Charter customers who filed complaints. According to Charters report, a total of 1,145 complaints related to its cable television service were filed with the PSC, of which a total of 113 were escalated for further handling and investigation when the customers were not satisfied with the companys initial response. By comparison, a total of 1,409 initial complaints were received by Time Warner Cable in 2014, of which 161 were escalated, the company said. The company came up with its claim of a 29.8 percent reduction in its complaint rate by calculating the reduction in the number of escalated complaints from 161 in 2014 to 113 last year. In relation to the tens of millions of customer transactions that Charter handles every year, a total of only 113 (escalated) complaints provides clear evidence of Charters commitment to excellent customer service, Helmer wrote in the report. But a reduction in escalated complaints is not actually a rate reduction. To determine a rate of complaints, you need to know how the number of complaints vs. the number of customers. And its impossible to tell from the companys report what its complaint rate is or was because Charter has never publicly disclosed how many cable TV customers it has in New York. It discloses that number to the Public Service Commission every month but requests that the information be kept confidential, contending its a trade secret that, if disclosed, would hurt its competitive position. James Denn, a spokesman for the Public Service Commission, said the commission will make its own calculations to determine if the company has met its required reduction in complaints. Charter spokesman Andrew Russell said the company would not comment beyond whats in its filings. The companys report only counts complaints that customers filed with the Public Service Commission. It does not report -- nor was the company required to report -- what is likely to be the vastly greater number of complaints that customers made directly with Charter. Complaints that reach the commission typically concern the accuracy of billing statements and service trouble, according to the commission. The commission did not define within its 2016 order approving Charters acquisition of Time Warner Cables franchises in New York how the company should calculate its video service complaint rate. However, in the case of telephone companies, its standard measure is the number of complaints filed with the commission per 1,000 customer access lines. The commission imposed several conditions to its approval of Charters acquisition of Time Warner Cable, a purchase that made Charter the second largest cable provider in the nation, behind only Comcast. Among the conditions was a requirement that Charter improve on what the commission said was Time Warner Cables poor customer service record. In addition, the commission required the company to spend at least $50 million in customer service quality improvements within two years following its acquisition of Time Warner Cable. If the company fails to reduce its customer complaint rate by 17.5 percent by the end of 2018 or by 35 percent by the end of 2020, the commission said it might require Charter to spend an additional $2.5 million on customer service quality for each miss. Denn said the company met the requirement that it spend $50 million on customer service quality improvements. A decision on whether to require additional investments will be made after the commission determines if the company has met its complaint rate reduction requirement, he said. A significant reduction in customer complaints would be impressive, given that Charter sharply raised prices for its cable television service when it took over for Time Warner Cable. Charter quickly did away with Time Warner Cables promotional pricing plans, resulting in price increases of up to $60 a month, according to customers, for packages that can include phone and internet service along with cable television. The price hikes, which were not exclusive to Charters New York customers, have caused thousands of customers to drop the companys cable television service. Charter lost 296,000 cable television (video) customers, a 1.8 percent decline, throughout its service territory in 2018 alone, according to its most recent earnings report. The company did not specify in the report how many video customers in New York dropped their subscriptions. But despite the loss of nearly 300,000 customers company-wide, Charter said its video revenues rose 3.4 percent to $4.4 billion last year because its remaining 16.1 million TV customers paid higher prices. Helmer, in the companys customer complaint report, said Charter cant be blamed for many of the escalated complaints. It should be noted that over half of these 113 escalated complaints did not involve any error or mistake by Charter and fall into the category of customer complaint that cannot realistically be satisfied by Charter, such as where the customer disagrees with the companys policies or merely objects to Charters rates, she said. Dampier said thats an odd position for the company to take. Shouldnt the companys rates and policies, such as requiring every TV to have a set-top box, be counted as complaints? he said. Those are fully within the realm of their control. Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 ALBANY, NY -- Hopes for a quick approval of legal marijuana use for adults in New York state disappeared Tuesday as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pulled the plan from his 2019-2020 budget proposal. But a framework for legalizing pot is still possible this year if Cuomo and state lawmakers can agree on the basics before the legislature session ends in June. That means theyd have to sort out the arguments from the various groups that favor or oppose legalization. The delay gives those interest groups more time to push their agendas, possibly complicating the negotiations. Even those in favor do not agree on certain aspects, such as who would be able to sell legal weed, how they would be licensed, or what reparations might be made to communities most affected by the prosecution of marijuana offenses.. At the heart of the recreational marijuana proposals are provisions allowing those over 21 to possess limited amounts of weed for personal use. The plans also deal with setting up production and retail outlets, authorizing taxes and addressing social issues, such as sealing the criminal records of those convicted of past marijuana offense. A recent Siena Research poll found that 53 percent of New Yorkers favor legal marijuana for recreational use, with 44 percent opposed. It was one of the issues that may have helped Democrats take control of the state Senate in the last election. Democrats now have majorities in both houses of the legislature, and, with Cuomo, hold the governors office. Cuomo, a former skeptic about legal marijuana, made it one of the central pieces of the Justice Agenda he announced in January. He had hoped to get the components of that agenda approved in the first 100 days of the year, which roughly coincides with the due date for the upcoming budget. He also hoped to use the roughly $300 million in new marijuana taxes to help solve problems in the New York City subway system. While some of the Justice Agenda programs have been approved, legal marijuana has proved trickier. Cuomo hinted at the difficulties in getting a marijuana plan through the legislature last week in an interview on WAMC Northeast Public Radio. I support legalizing marijuana, Cuomo told host Alan Chartock."Yay. Ok, everybody claps. Now, how do you do it? Now you have to govern as opposed to just do a bumper sticker political slogan and how you do marijuana is very important. You want to make sure you dont sell to young people, that there is a legal market and thats what they (lawmakers who support the idea) havent worked through." Opponents and skeptics of legal marijuana for adults include the New York State Sheriffs Association, many medical practitioners and education officials around the state. Some education leaders went to Albany Tuesday to urge delay. Last week, some Senate Democrats who favor legalizing pot expressed their opposition to Cuomos proposal for licensing retailers. They want to ensure that the legal marijuana business has specific benefits for communities that have been affected by law enforcement practices that they say have targeted minorities. (Cuomo has proposed sealing some records for those convicted of past marijuana offenses.). Some proponents of legal pot think taking the issue out of the state budget debate may be a positive thing in the long run. I actually think, and this may not be popular everywhere, that taking it out of the budget is good news, said Gary Colmey of Rome, a member of Legalize It! CNY, a pro--marijuana advocacy group. The whole tax issue misses the point that this is about freedom and people not being arrested anymore. Thats what we need to focus on." Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook. OSWEGO, N.Y. -- The president of a SUNY Oswego conservative student organization has been invited to the White House for President Donald Trumps signing of an executive order promoting free speech on college campuses Thursday, according to a release from the organization. Tyler Toomey, who is the chairman of the universitys College Republicans organization and the president of Young Americans for Freedom, was invited after the group received online threats for organizing on campus. Trump will sign the executive order Thursday at 3 p.m., the release said. In February, Young Americans for Freedom applied with the university to set up a table promoting federal funding for a border wall. The group spent most of Feb. 12 tabling in the Marano Campus Center without issue, but later received threats on social media. There should be zero tolerance for threats of violence. This is a sad commentary on what is happening on college... Posted by New York Republican State Committee on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 Most of the threats included expletives or slurs, according to screen shots Toomey sent Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Bro (expletive) make me wanna troop over there to grease them myself, one post said. If you go to Oz & you havent violated that table as of yet you (expletive) idc, another said. Somebody shoulda boomed at you (expletive), another post read, with two gun emojis at the end of it. Another threat asked a student to pop on them." An investigation later found that none of the threats were from students at SUNY Oswego and the organization declined to press charges. Dr. Sunny P. Aslam is assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Upstate Medical University. Dr. Brian Johnson is director of addiction medicine at Upstate. By Dr. Sunny Aslam and Dr. Brian Johnson | Special to Syracuse.com Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York state Legislature have indicated their intent to legalize recreational cannabis. New Yorks neighboring states and provinces have done so, or are in the process, and the industry in New York is estimated at up to $3.5 billion per year. Although a commercial approach has been promoted in all U.S. states with legal recreational cannabis, New Yorkers would do well to consider nonprofit options, such as a state-run monopoly. Our neighbors to the north in the province of Quebec use this approach, and New Mexico is considering it, as well. Most people agree prohibition has failed to curb use of a drug not that different than alcohol. Decriminalization sounds appealing to many, but drug income is left in the hands of the illicit market. Cannabis income could be used to combat the health risks and educate the public about potential harms of cannabis. A state-run monopoly with a public health emphasis could focus on limiting access and the violent illicit market. No one knows the safest way to legalize cannabis. For lessons on commercializing addictive drugs, we can turn to the alcohol and tobacco industries. Tobacco and alcohol cause 480,000 and 88,000 deaths each year, respectively, in the U.S. After recent decreasing rates of tobacco use in youth, companies are aggressively rebranding themselves through electronic delivery of nicotine. About one in four children report vaping nicotine and one quarter of those say they vape cannabis. Drugs and alcohol are wildly profitable and very expensive to taxpayers. Tobacco profits in the United States are $124 billion per year, and costs to society are $300 billion, including $170 billion in direct medical care. Income from alcohol in the United States is $223 billion and cost to the taxpayer is $249 billion. Corporate profits result from targeting vulnerable populations, such as daily users, the mentally ill and youth. Colorful advertising, branding, fruit flavors and candy cannabis are particularly alluring to younger consumers. If the state sells cannabis, it can be done with an eye to ban these products and advertising, while providing cannabis in a limited, boring way. The state is best positioned to avoid harms of commercialization, and minimize use of the illicit market. The state could sell non-combustible cannabis pills that wont harm the lung at the county public health department. Addiction treatment could be available at point of sale. A perpetual public health campaign should be started before cannabis is legalized to stress risks, including to a pregnant womans fetus, those with addiction, mental illness and youth. The current proposed approach from Gov. Cuomo would likely lead to multiple pot shops on the street and a tax on a fraction of income. Commercialized models have led to increased cannabis use, such as in the proliferation of Dutch coffee shops. Turning profits over to private entrepreneurs leaves taxpayers to pay medical costs of treating addiction, medical illness and car accidents. Multiple competitors selling a drug that is cheap to grow will likely lead to low prices. Lack of risk of prosecution or seizure by authorities also lowers cost. Cheap pot would encourage higher usage, which is best combated by avoiding a focus on profits. The state can set prices high enough to discourage use, but low enough to limit usage of the illicit market. Only state control favored by monopoly best opposes inevitable, relentless, anti-regulation lobbying by industry. In Colorado, this relentless industry lobbying was described with even mild proposed pesticide safety rules. Another example of industry power is how the alcohol and tobacco industries have protected themselves from legal prosecution. Harms from cannabis use are focused on daily users who commercial enterprises focus sales on. One in 10 cannabis users will become addicted, a figure that increases to 1 in 6 in adolescents. A study showed 48 percent of those with severe cannabis use disorder were unable to maintain employment. Cannabis use can cause psychosis and increases risk of chronic psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia, in vulnerable persons. Costs of treating schizophrenia are estimated at $156 billion in the U.S. Additional costs are expected to be the care for in utero exposure, hyperemesis, the pulmonary damage caused by using the lung to get cannabinoids to the brain, more addiction, accidents caused by intoxication and increased emergency visits for emotional complications of intoxication, such as panic. Medical cannabis for pain has little rigorous evidence. Patients insist their chronic pain, anxiety and moods are improved despite opposing or contradictory evidence in the few studies available. Cannabis legalization in New York appears imminent. Whether or not you support legalization, we all need to be informed about the options for legalization. Taxpayers would do well to advocate for public health, nonprofit approaches to cannabis legalization, so we can avoid the harms of commercializing a drug in widespread use. Syracuse.com has updated its search of the latest residential and commercial real estate sales in Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga and Madison counties. Search real estate sales in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties This weeks update includes: The $19 million sale of commercial property at the corner of East Genesee Street and Crouse Avenue in Syracuse. Business Venture Associates, LP sold 1000 East Genesee St. to Syracuse Medical Properties, LLC. The building houses the Hill Medical Center. The $1.2 million sale of the commercial property at 7 Fennel St., Skaneateles from Borneo Jimmy Properties, LLC to Clover Rae Monroe, LLC. The building was assessed for $548,000. Adam Weitsman, whose children are named Clover, Rae and Monroe, submitted a proposal to the village planning board to build 4 residential units above the commercial space, records show. The $750,000 sale of warehouse and distribution facility in the city of Oswego to Connextgen LLC from the Oswego County Industrial Development Agency. Syracuse.com updates a search of real estate sales every week. Readers can search properties by place, price, school district or the names of the buyers and sellers for the last 3 years. The records come from the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services. If you have a news tip about a sale, email reporter Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com. ALBANY -- State lawmakers Tuesday approved a measure permitting Buffalo to install cameras on streets around some schools in the city in order to crack down on motorists who speed. The legislation creates the speed camera system under a five-year pilot program in which the devices will be limited to no more than 20 school zone locations at any one time. While some communities in the nation have taken down traffic infraction cameras over questions about their effectiveness, supporters of the Buffalo camera program to catch speeders predict children and other pedestrians around often-busy school zones will be better protected. These school speed cameras will help identify these school zones for drivers, calm drivers and keep our children safe, said Sen. Tim Kennedy, a Buffalo Democrat and sponsor of the bill in the Senate. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat, has the bill in the Assembly. The city of Buffalo is just doing a demonstration project. We really dont need to a demonstration because we know this works in the City of New York, she said. Rochester ended a red light camera enforcement program a couple of years ago after the citys mayor said poor neighborhoods were being disproportionately hit with costly tickets. The Buffalo effort is being twinned with a bill permitting New York City to expand its camera infraction program. The five boroughs have red light and speed cameras; the bill raises from 140 to 750 the number of school zones covered by speed cameras in the city. Nine other jurisdictions in the state have red light cameras, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The camera bills for Buffalo and New York City easily passed both the Assembly and Senate Tuesday afternoon. We want to be sure that Buffalo has the same life-saving system that they have in New York City, Kennedy said. School zone speed cameras were begun in New York City in 2013. City transportation officials have reported a decline in speeding in zones covered by cameras; officials there also say the risk of pedestrian death when hit by a vehicle rises from 5 percent when the motorist is driving at 20 mph to 45 percent at 30 mph. The measure comes as Buffalo officials are looking to make mandatory -- instead of the current advisory warning -- a 15 mph speed limit around 100 public and private schools in the city. Buffalos speed limit is 30 mph. Will Keresztes, chief of intergovernmental affairs, planning and community engagement for the Buffalo Public Schools, told the City Council last month that there has been a noticeable rise in reckless driving in school zones. The legislation limits photographs to be taken of only those vehicles exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph. The bill has no provisions to address repeat speeding offenders. Under the Buffalo measure, requested in home rule legislation by the city, cameras can be mounted in stationary positions or via mobile platforms that can be moved at the citys discretion. The city adjudicates infractions and determines -- based on a number of measures, including crash history and a roadways geometry -- where the cameras will be placed. A separate law then needs to be passed by the city identifying the locations of the speed cameras. The cameras will be live -- and capturing license plate and vehicle images of those violating speed laws -- for an hour before the start of school and throughout the day until an hour after school ends. During school activities, they will be turned on from 30 minutes prior to an events start until 30 minutes after. The person in whose name the vehicle is registered is the one who gets the ticket -- with a fine of up to $50 -- whether or not they were actually driving the car at the time of the violation. Vehicle owners will have a right to get paid by the driver who was speeding through a school zone. Drivers have 10 days to pay a fine or face a $25 surcharge. The infraction is not a moving violation, but will be considered a parking infraction. As a result, no points are added on a license and it doesnt become an insurance matter for drivers caught speeding. For privacy reasons, faces of anyone in the vehicle, as well as any contents, will be blurred by the camera monitoring system. Photographs will be destroyed after a fine is paid. A legislative memo accompanying the bill cites a study by a group called Safe Kids Worldwide that found a 13 percent increase in the pedestrian death rate among 12- to 19-year-olds in the United States since 2013. The legislation also requires warning signs notifying drivers that they are about to enter a school zone with a speed monitoring camera. Buffalo will also have to issue a report to the state with a variety of specifics about its speed camera program, including number of violations issued and amount of revenue the city has received. Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, an Amherst Republican, voted against the bill because of what he said is a lack of adequate deterrence, such as taking away the license or registration of a driver or vehicle owner for repeatedly violating speeding laws. Theres nothing here which deals with driver behavior, Ranzenhofer said during the Senate floor debate. Kennedy told his colleagues during a floor debate that he did not have information about how much Buffalo projects it will receive from speeders caught on camera. The measure will need to be signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, which is expected. We must continue to do everything we can to calm traffic in school zones. This tool serves to remind all motorists to slow down, obey traffic laws and keep our children safe, said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. By Tom Precious, The Buffalo News, N.Y. NEW YORK (AP) A New York City councilman accused the Kushner family real estate company on Tuesday of putting tenants in danger by allowing several of its buildings to avoid safety inspections. New York Oversight Committee Chair Ritchie Torres said his investigation showed that the firm once run by President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been renting apartments to hundreds of tenants in nine buildings with certificates of occupancy that expired months or years ago. Torres also said that the company has been trying to push low-paying tenants out of its buildings and didn't want the regulatory scrutiny that comes with inspections required to renew the certificates. "The goal here is a concerted campaign to evade scrutiny," said Torres at a news conference outside the Kushner Cos. headquarters at 666 Fifth Avenue. "The company is engaged in what I call the weaponization of construction the use of construction as a weapon for harassing tenants out of their apartments." But a city regulator that oversees landlords called the expired certificates cited by Torres and tenant watchdog group, Housing Rights Initiative, "paperwork lapses" and blasted the findings as "pure grandstanding." Our "top priority is safety and indeed, we have inspected all these buildings or renovated units and deemed them safe to occupy," said Buildings Department spokesman Andrew Rudansky in an emailed statement. The Kushner Cos. said that the problems with the certificates stretch back to its previous owners. Certificates for two of the nine buildings expired while Jared Kushner was CEO. "Similar to many other landlords, we inherited from prior owners certificates of occupancy with various issues," it said in an email. "Kushner will continue the long and detailed process to work with our consultants and the Department of Buildings to correct every issue outstanding." The city requires a certificate of occupancy whenever significant renovation is done such as changing the layout of a building or of its fire exits. Most of the nine Kushner buildings cited are in the East Village section of Manhattan and appear from city records to have undergone substantial renovation and faced several violations. The Kushner Cos. was fined $210,000 by city regulators last year after an Associated Press report found that the company had submitted paperwork to regulators that claimed it had no low-paying, rent-stabilized tenants in dozens of its buildings when it, in fact, had hundreds. The false paperwork allowed the company to avoid inspections and other scrutiny during construction work that critics have said are often used by landlords to chase low-paying renters out. The Kushner Cos. has said that the paperwork was handled by another firm and mistakes were corrected when they came to its notice. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that the Kushners have hired a broker to sell five apartment buildings in the East Village as their company comes under public and media scrutiny. It is not clear if those are among the nine buildings with expired certificates of occupancy. Jared Kushner stepped down as the head of his family firm two years ago to become a White House adviser. He still owns stake in Westminster Management, the Kushner Cos. subsidiary that oversees its residential properties. A financial disclosure filed with federal ethics regulators shows he earned $1.5 million from the holding last year. At Tuesday's news conference, the head of Housing Rights Initiative said that many landlords, not just the Kushners, were flouting the rules and regulators need to crack down. A certificate of occupancy is essentially like a drivers license for landlords, said Aaron Carr, executive director of the group. Ignoring the lack of one is like a police officer pulling someone over and forgetting to check their license. Conover, NC, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Fortran Corporation (FRTN) is pleased to announce that the legal action initiated against our former President and CEO has been resolved in an out of court settlement (the "Settlement"). As a result of the Settlement, 6,180,808 shares of Fortran Corporation's common stock and 1,350,000 shares of Fortran Corporation's preferred stock will be retired. This will reduce the number of issued and outstanding shares by approximately 20%. Glenn Withers, Fortran Corporation's current President and CEO, said, "The resolution of this legal issue will allow our team to focus our time on growing the business." About Fortran Corporation: Fortran Corporation is a telecommunications system integrator dedicated to designing, implementing and maintaining complex communications solutions. Fortran Corporation is comprised of engineering and design, network service, sales, remote monitoring, and on-site services. In October 2015, Fortran Corporation acquired an 80% interest in Tower Performance Construction, Inc. and Tower Performance, Inc., with offices in Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For more information contact us at: info@fortrancorp.com. Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 With the exception of historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements and considerations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The actual future results of Fortran Corporation could differ from those statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, fluctuation in operating results, the ability of Fortran Corporation to compete successfully and other events, factors and risks previously and from time to time disclosed in Fortran Corporations filings with the OTC Markets Group including, specifically, those factors set forth in any Risk Factors section contained in such filing. Redline6800 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 370 Thanked: 1,603 Times Re: Can China's Comac ever challenge the Airbus-Boeing duopoly? Quote: V.Narayan Originally Posted by You make some good points. Allow me to offer some counter arguments :- (1) The Chinese are not fools; while some products they make might be cheap and cheerful most of our laptops and smartphones under American brands are also made in China. They know how to make quality products where needed. (2) There will be enough third world airlines, other than the vast home market, that will buy the COMAC aircraft in one's and two's where they do not get the full ASS support from the two biggies or where they needed buyers credit to acquire jetliners. (3) The Chinese don't need to dominate this market nor they ever will. They just need to become one more major player of 4 or 5. The current situation of only two biggies, Airbus & Boeing, is an unnatural state that has existed from 1996 to mid-2010s. Embraer is eating into the regional jet segment and now China is attempting its foray into the mid-sized and regional segments with a large home market to back it. I would assume that China wants to be seen as an aerospace power, which is why it is investing the tens of billions of dollars to make this happen. Selling to 3rd world countries in Africa, South America and SE Asia often involve aspects other than economic or business logic (read corruption) - hence sales to these nations are never treated on par with an aircraft sale to a well run airline or lessor in the developed world or in major aviation markets. To a well run airline, whose business it is to make money, it matters not if the airplane is American, European, Russian, Brazilian, Canadian or Chinese. They will pick up the most efficient airplane - to my mind state run enterprises in Russia, China and even India will never deliver a competitive airplane in the commercial sector. Respect in the aviation community cannot be gained by making copycat products of existing western platforms - either in commercial or military aviation. Embraer succeeded because they targeted a niche, where the only other competitor was Bombardier's CRJ - while Airbus & Boeing chose not to get into this area. The current state-of-the-art in terms of commercial aviation is not the A320neo and 737 MAX but the A350, 787 and soon to be delivered 777X. In this area, one must consider China at least 20 years behind the west (an eternity in the aerospace industry). Aviation technology is tightly controlled by the Western powers as this is one area where they have a lead that is almost unbeatable. Even Russia which has a highly advanced aerospace sector has not been able to make a dent in commercial aviation. Aboulafia puts it best "That emphasis on state-owned enterprise and heavy-handed commie interference in the economy is good news for Chinas national jetliner programs. Like any government industrial products, they will continue to be miserable; perhaps even as bad as the awful ARJ21. They will also be un-exportable, outside of Laos. If you are a Western supplier on these jets, you wont be in a few years. Local content with copied technology will replace your components, making these jets even worse. Its what a Marxist economy does. Meanwhile, there will be greater Chinese government pressure on airlines to buy local jetliners rather than superior imported ones. A local A320 production line and a local 737 completion center wont be able to compete with brilliant rays of Marxist-Leninist truth. In short, 2018 saw China and the US move towards a repeat of the Soviet experience: The West goes its own way with aviation, and China creates inferior clones, arriving a generation late. The ARJ21 is an inferior E-Jet/CRJ, two decades late. The C919 is an inferior A320neo, a decade late. The CR929 will be an inferior 787/A35XWB, a decade late. However, since the domestic China market is much larger than the old USSR market, they might be able to make autarky work for some time. At least for single aisles on domestic routes, that is, since twin aisles on international routes would compete with Airbus and Boeings, guaranteeing disaster for Chinese carriers stuck with a CR929." Quote: V.Narayan Originally Posted by We have come to believe that the commercial airliner market being a duopoly is the natural state of things. The present duoply is a function of the collapse of USSR in 1991 and Boeing buying out McDonnell Douglas in 1996. In 1990 we had 2 American, 1 European and 2 Russian OEMs of size. It is an unstable state where only the two biggies existed and picked the segments that suited them (120 seat +) and ignored those that did not (40 to 120 seats). It also resulted in the duopoly squeezing the ancillary suppliers dry (ask me) and this industry runs on the strength of independent specialized suppliers who do their own R&D. Embraer and now COMAC are simply addressing a gap crying out to be filled. However with A220 (erstwhile Bombardier C Series), Airbus now has an aircraft smaller than the A320 and it owns a 50% stake in ATR, the leading regional transport aircraft maker and Boeing is looking to acquire Embraer's commercial aircraft division for $4.2 billion. Yes sir, I agree with the fact that the Chinese dont need to dominate the market. But I guess the point is, will China grow to a level where they have the respect of the world community as an aviation power ?I would assume that China wants to be seen as an aerospace power, which is why it is investing the tens of billions of dollars to make this happen.Selling to 3rd world countries in Africa, South America and SE Asia often involve aspects other than economic or business logic (read corruption) - hence sales to these nations are never treated on par with an aircraft sale to a well run airline or lessor in the developed world or in major aviation markets.To a well run airline, whose business it is to make money, it matters not if the airplane is American, European, Russian, Brazilian, Canadian or Chinese.They will pick up the most efficient airplane - to my mind state run enterprises in Russia, China and even India will never deliver a competitive airplane in the commercial sector.Respect in the aviation community cannot be gained by making copycat products of existing western platforms - either in commercial or military aviation.Embraer succeeded because they targeted a niche, where the only other competitor was Bombardier's CRJ - while Airbus & Boeing chose not to get into this area.The current state-of-the-art in terms of commercial aviation is not the A320neo and 737 MAX but the A350, 787 and soon to be delivered 777X. In this area, one must consider China at least 20 years behind the west (an eternity in the aerospace industry).Aviation technology is tightly controlled by the Western powers as this is one area where they have a lead that is almost unbeatable. Even Russia which has a highly advanced aerospace sector has not been able to make a dent in commercial aviation.Aboulafia puts it best"That emphasis on state-owned enterprise and heavy-handed commie interference in the economy is good news for Chinas national jetliner programs. Like any government industrial products, they will continue to be miserable; perhaps even as bad as the awful ARJ21. They will also be un-exportable, outside of Laos. If you are a Western supplier on these jets, you wont be in a few years. Local content with copied technology will replace your components, making these jets even worse. Its what a Marxist economy does.Meanwhile, there will be greater Chinese government pressure on airlines to buy local jetliners rather than superior imported ones. A local A320 production line and a local 737 completion center wont be able to compete with brilliant rays of Marxist-Leninist truth.In short, 2018 saw China and the US move towards a repeat of the Soviet experience: The West goes its own way with aviation, and China creates inferior clones, arriving a generation late. The ARJ21 is an inferior E-Jet/CRJ, two decades late. The C919 is an inferior A320neo, a decade late. The CR929 will be an inferior 787/A35XWB, a decade late. However, since the domestic China market is much larger than the old USSR market, they might be able to make autarky work for some time. At least for single aisles on domestic routes, that is, since twin aisles on international routes would compete with Airbus and Boeings, guaranteeing disaster for Chinese carriers stuck with a CR929."Fully agree - McDonnell Douglas was one of the aviation greats, sad that Boeing swallowed them up. Just look at some of their aircraft, the F-15, F-18 and C-17However with A220 (erstwhile Bombardier C Series), Airbus now has an aircraft smaller than the A320 and it owns a 50% stake in ATR, the leading regional transport aircraft maker and Boeing is looking to acquire Embraer's commercial aircraft division for $4.2 billion. Last edited by Redline6800 : 20th March 2019 at 09:49 . Reason: grammar Why it matters: California is the 20th state to introduce Right to Repair legislation. Its goal is to protect consumers and allow them to repair their own products wherever and however they want. Tech companies have fought hard against these types of laws across the country, but it is likely a losing battle. Assembly Bill 1163 was introduced by Susan Talamantes Eggman and is currently under consideration. A similar piece of legislation was put forward last year, but Apple hired a team of lobbyists that were able to successfully block it. As modern technology becomes ever more complex, the repair process is changing as well. Companies are hesitant to provide manuals and parts, and some devices are even programmed to brick themselves if they detect unauthorized repair. Right to Repair legislation is designed to combat this. It requires manufacturers to provide the necessary tools, spare parts, and documentation for consumers or third party repair shops. Many states already have some form of consumer protection, but manufacturers often exploit loopholes to get out of actually repairing their devices. In California, manufacturers were able to monopolize the repair companies which allowed them to charge huge fees for simple repairs. The new legislation closes this loophole and will allow consumers to choose where they want their device repaired. Eggman released the following statement to iFixit: "The Right to Repair will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, creating a competitive market that will be cheaper for consumers and reduce the number of devices thrown in the trash." If you live in California and support the bill, you can contact your legislators here. Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "The US Healthcare Cybersecurity Market, 2018" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This new report provides essential healthcare cybersecurity market tracking data as well as revenue projections through 2023. It also provides insights into the market drivers and restraints that will shape cybersecurity spending by healthcare IT over the next 5 years. The healthcare market is a prime target of hackers looking for protected health information (PHI). The US Office of Civil Rights, which tracks major data security breaches in the healthcare space, reported at least 300 significant breaches in 2018 alone. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the threat posed by hackers is increasing every year. In addition, technological advances will require an even more focused approach to security in healthcare. In particular, the Internet of Medical Things will greatly expand both the number of devices in the healthcare network and the number of exploitable points. As the number and variety of devices explodes, healthcare IT will be faced with a much more complex security environment. Likewise, the application of new analytical tools based on artificial intelligence, Big Data, and cloud services will make the security of patient data harder to achieve. Big Data alone has the potential to amplify the effect of data breeches. Where previously a breach could compromise a subset of patient information, with Big Data lakes living in an interconnected cloud environment, a breach can now expose vast amounts of personally identifiable patient data. Cloud services, too, can exacerbate the healthcare cybersecurity space by involving third parties in the security of patient data. Where a healthcare IT organization historically had control over 100% of patient data, now it must depend on cloud service vendors to implement strong cybersecurity protocols. All of these changes make cybersecurity more difficult. Yet, in spite of the increasing threat, healthcare spends far less than most industry verticals on cybersecurity. The HIMSS cybersecurity survey discloses that, on average, healthcare organizations spend half what enterprises in other market verticals spend on cybersecurity. New research discloses that this situation is about to change. Indications are that healthcare IT is preparing to increase its spending, with the result that the author projects a 10.3% compound annual growth rate for healthcare cybersecurity revenue through 2023. Increases in spending will occur in every cybersecurity market segment and will include an increase in managed services spending as healthcare IT seeks to leverage the professional cybersecurity skills of third parties. Topics Covered 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Key Findings Key Questions this Study will Answer Market Engineering Measurements CEO's Perspective 3 Big Predictions 2. CYBERSECURITY'S IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS The Healthcare Cyber Threat is Increasing Importance of Cybersecurity in Healthcare Cybersecurity Spending by Market Vertical 3. EVALUATING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES Healthcare Cybersecurity Represents a Growing Market 5 Growth Opportunities Critical for Future Strategy Strategic Imperatives for Market Participants 4. MARKET OVERVIEW Introduction Growth Opportunities Resulting from Broader Industry Convergence Market Segmentation Market Distribution Channels Market Distribution Channels Discussion Defining Healthcare Trends in the Future Game-Changing Strategies 5. DRIVERS AND RESTRAINTS Market Drivers Drivers Explained Market Restraints Restraints Explained 6. FORECASTS AND TRENDS Market Engineering Measurements Forecast Assumptions Revenue Forecast Revenue Forecast Discussion 7. HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY MARKET - A TELEHEALTH MATRIX TM DISCUSSION The Telehealth Matrix TM Telehealth Matrix TM Description Professional Consumer Spectrum ICT Healthcare Spectrum Telehealth Matrix TM - Top 20 Telehealth Markets Telehealth Matrix TM Discussion 8. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Changes in the Competitive Environment Competitive Environment Top Competitors Competitive Factors and Analyst Assessment Cybersecurity Value Chain 9. GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES Growth Opportunity Evaluation as Part of a Business Strategy Levers for Growth Growth Opportunity 1 - Integrated Security Solutions Growth Opportunity 2 - New Technology Growth Opportunity 3 - Flexible Pricing Growth Opportunity 4 - Simplification 5 Major Growth Opportunities Strategic Imperatives for Success and Growth 10. NETWORK PERIMETER PROTECTION SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 11. ENDPOINT PROTECTION SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 12. END-USER ACCESS SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 13. PUBLIC-FACING ASSET SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 14. DETECTION AND RESPONSE SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 15. MANAGED SERVICES SEGMENT ANALYSIS Key Findings Market Engineering Measurements Revenue Forecast Pricing Trends and Competitive Assessment 16. THE LAST WORD 3 Big Predictions Last Word Discussion 17. APPENDIX Market Engineering Methodology List of Exhibits For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hm7ch8/the_healthcare?w=12 In brief: Google has long faced the wrath of the European Commission for breaching antitrust laws. Now, the company has announced it will prompt Android users to pick their preferred web browser and search apps, thereby avoiding any more sanctions. Back in July last year, Google was hit with a record $5 billion fine by the EU over antitrust violations related to illegal practices regarding Android. Officials said that by pre-installing the Chrome browser and Google search app on Android devices, Google had an unfair advantage over its competitors. Following the fine, Google said it would start offering phone and tablet manufacturers paid licenses for the Play Store and Googles apps, search engine, and Chrome. In a recent blog post, SVP of global affairs Kent Walker said that Google would do more to ensure European Android users know about the wide choice of browsers and search engines they can download. Walker notes that Android users have never been restricted to Googles products. On Android phones, youve always been able to install any search engine or browser you want, irrespective of what came pre-installed on the phone when you bought it. In fact, a typical Android phone user will usually install around 50 additional apps on their phone, he wrote. Google said the prompts will arrive sometime over the next few months, though we dont know which alternative search engines and browsers will be suggested to users. Should the EU decide Google has failed to stop its anti-competitive practices, the company could be fined 5 percent of parent Alphabets average daily worldwide turnover. Are humans sensitive to the planet's magnetic field? Some are, but even those with the capability are not aware of their "sixth sense." Magnetoreception is a common trait among many animals, but humans have never been shown to display this ability until now. Researchers Design Highly Controlled Environment To Find 'Sixth Sense' In a new study published in the journal eNeuro, researchers reveal that the human brain is capable of sensing the Earth's magnetic field. Joseph Kirschvink, study author and geophysicist from Caltech, explains to Gizmodo that the research team focused on brainwave activity for the study. "If the brain is not responding to the magnetic field, then there is no way that the magnetic field can influence someone's behavior," he says. "The brain must first perceive something in order to act on it there is no such thing as 'extra-sensory perception.' What we have shown is this is a proper sensory system in humans, just like it is in many animals." Kirschvink and other researchers designed a special chamber, which blocks extraneous interference that could potentially compromise the findings. Inside this chamber, participants' brainwaves were monitored using electroencephalogram (EEG). As the researchers write in Discover Magazine, the magnetic field shifts relative to the skull when someone turns their head in regular life. The brain registers no surprise, since it directed the movement. If another person turns the head, the body will still register a change in its position in space from vestibular clues. For this study, the researchers controlled the magnetic field around the participants' heads without alerting the brain with movement or other spatial cues. Only the magnetic field shifted and the scientists wanted to see whether the participants will be able to register the changes. None of the participants reported sensing any changes in the magnetic field, but the EEG findings reveal a wide range of reactions. Some brains barely took note of the changes, while four of the 34 participants showed strong brain responses to the rotations of Earth-strength magnetic fields. Specific Responses In Few Participants Brain responses were only triggered when the vertical component of the magnetic field pointed downward at around 60 degrees. Since this is a natural occurrence in Pasadena, California, the researchers suggest that responses are connected to the brain's natural stimuli. Previous research shows that it's a similar mechanism to a number of animals who only respond to magnetic signals that are relevant and common in their environment. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Girls born with twin brothers may come with a disadvantage. Researchers find that girls who share their mother's womb with a boy twin are more likely to be unsuccessful in school, marriage, and income. Researchers from Northwestern University and Norwegian School of Economics embark on what they say is the biggest and most extensive study of its kind. The findings of the study strengthens the premise that having exposure to a male twin in utero can result in persisting effects on females. Data Collection On Testosterone Transfer Effects The data from the study come from the Norwegian Registry Data, which is a compact database that covers Norway's entire population. For the research, the team looks into all the twin pairs born from 1967 to 1978. All the entries have at least one twin who did not manifest any birth defect, survived the first year of life, and at least one twin is observed at 32 years of old, when long-term outcomes are evaluated. They exclude those with observations for education information only (absence of income data), because of reasons such as childhood death or emigration. With these restrictions, the team was able to gather a total of 13,717 samples, with 36.2 percent female to female pairs, 37 percent male to male pairs, and 26.7 percent female to male pairs. The researchers then study the effects of testosterone transfer. The theory designates that such transfer occurs in both female to female, and female to male twin pairs. Effect Of Males On Females Results strengthen the theory that females in female to male twin pairs are subject to more testosterone while inside the womb through the amniotic fluid or mother's bloodstream that the siblings share. The numbers show negative results, literally. About -15.2 percent females are able to finish high school, -3.9 percent are able to complete college, -11.7 percent get married, -8.6 percent present life earnings, and -5.8 percent show good fertility rates. In-utero Effect Or Postnatal Socialization Result? The long-term effects of having a male twin are partially explained by changes in behavior over time. In the past, girls with boy twins are observed to have such changes. Boys, on the other hand, are not known to have long-term effects from having exposure to female twins while inside the womb. When babies are inside the womb, ovaries and testes generate steroids such as testosterone, which create distinct differences between males and females. Some small studies show that exposure to hormones of the opposite sex may result in behavior and trait changes. Others link these changes to interaction after being born, or females being raised alongside their male twin. To rule out the effects of post-birth socialization to the results of the current study, the researchers focus on female babies, whose twins, either male or female, died shortly after birth. Such babies are considered singletons. The findings turn out unchanged, proving that the long-term effects of having a male twin is due to what happens inside the womb, not on what occurs outside after birth. To Each His Own While the study is considered big for its kind, the researchers emphasize that the results particularly apply to Norwegian society. However, they do not completely limit the possibility of having the same effects on other cultures. "Basically we find that there are some very interesting long-term biological effects of being a sister to a twin brother," says Christopher Kuzawa, coauthor and anthropology professor. He adds that the choice as to whether people see the findings as negative or positive depends on the cultural norms. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Is it ever possible to create a cloned woolly mammoth or even a mammoth-elephant hybrid? A groundbreaking new experiment may pave the way for that. Scientists from Japan and Russia successfully revived the cells of a 28,000-year-old woolly mammoth in a new research published in the journal Scientific Reports. Led by Prof. Akira Iritani, a 90-year-old biologist from Kindai University, the team of researchers reactivated the cells of the woolly mammoth named Yuka by performing the process of nuclear transfer. However, although the team reawakened the cells of the woolly mammoth, the study itself lacked the right tools to induce cell division, which could be necessary in creating woolly mammoth clones or a mammoth-elephant hybrid. With more advanced equipment and well-preserved samples, scientists could potentially attempt to use mammoth DNA and potentially add them to elephant eggs which could create hybrids. Kei Miyamoto, one of the researchers from Kindai University in Wakayama, Japan, said one of their dreams is to move the research forward to cell division. Miyamoto said the team was able to use mouse embryo in the study, but because of possible ethical implications, however, there are no plans to repeat the experiment with an elephant embryo just yet. "Collecting elephant eggs is difficult as you need to think of the animal's welfare," he told CNN. Reviving The Cells Of An Ancient Woolly Mammoth So how did the researchers reactivate the cells of the woolly mammoth Yuka? Prof. Iritani, who has been working on the study for two decades now, was ecstatic when one night he saw the cells of the mammoth move under the microscope. The well-preserved specimen that Prof. Iritani examined came from the Siberian permafrost and was discovered seven years ago. The professor and his team collected at least 88 nucleus-like structures from the woolly mammoth's muscle tissue. Afterward, they added these structures into mouse oocytes, which simulated embryonic development in female mice. To see how the mammoth cells would react, Iritani used live-cell imaging technique. He was then able to see some biological activity. In fact, although the mammoth DNA did not facilitate cell division, the experiment activated the process known as spindle assembly, where the DNA get attached to several spindle structures. This occurs ahead of the division of the parent cell from the daughter cells. Saving Species And Saving The Climate Another hindrance to the study was the fact that although the woolly mammoth cells were well-preserved, it was also damaged. If scientists plan to replicate the research with elephant embryo, they will need an even more advanced version of gene-editing technology such as CRISPR and higher quality woolly mammoth cells. Such equipment and material could help researchers determine if modern elephants could survive in massive swaths of cold or dry land in areas of the world where woolly mammoths used to reside. Scientists said such studies could find out if modern elephants could help curb climate. George Church, a geneticist from Harvard University who was not involved in the recent study, explained that elephants helped keep the climate stable in significant ways. For instance, these animals knocked down trees that kept the cold air in the ground, and they also helped grow grass and reflect sunlight during summer. Meanwhile, Prof. Iritani said his main goal in this study is to preserve endangered or even extinct species. "It's because of people that certain animals have gone extinct," he added. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A report from a nonprofit watchdog that aims to end wasteful animal testing claims the U.S. government conducted stomach-churning experiments on cats. Remains Of Euthanized Animals Used As Lab Food In its report released on March 19, the White Coat Waste Project said researchers at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service's Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, conducted experiments that fed the remains of euthanized "meat market" dogs and cats to healthy lab cats. More than 400 dogs from Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam and more than 100 cats from China and Ethiopia were reportedly euthanized to become lab food. The report said the cats and dogs were killed, and their tongues, brains, and hearts were fed to cats in the USDA lab. The WCW said some of the animals were bought from the same Asian meat market that the U.S. congress has condemned in a House resolution last year. "The details of these kitten experiments keep getting worse and they need to end now," said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who co-sponsored a legislation aimed at stopping cat killings. "The fact that the USDA has been rounding up pets and other innocent dogs and cats in foreign countries including at Chinese meat markets condemned by Congress killing them and feeding them to lab cats back here in the States is simply disgusting and unjustifiable." Toxoplasmosis Experiments The experiments are believed to have taken place as recently as 2015. They were supposedly aimed at studying toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that causes foodborne illness. Toxoplasmosis results from infection with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which occurs from exposure to infected cat feces, eating undercooked contaminated meat, and mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy. The WCW, however, said the tests were outdated and unnecessary since cats do not eat other cats. Americans neither eat cats and dogs. "USDA kitten toxoplasmosis experimentation causes unnecessary animal pain and suffering, little or no scientific benefit, and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars as a consequence of non-competitive perpetual intramural federal funding," the report reads. The group also raised concerns over the cats that survived the experiments. It said that instead of being put up for adoption, these months-old animals are slaughtered despite being generally healthy. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. HP has joined the virtual reality bandwagon with its new Reverb VR headset, and the specs prove the company isn't just cashing in on the current rise of VR with a gimmick. With 2,160 x 2,160 resolution optics, inside-out tracking, and a lightweight design, the HP Reverb is looking to be a formidable foe for both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. HP Reverb The device will come in two variants: One is a $599 consumer model and the other is a $649 enterprise Pro version, which comes with a 0.6-meter cable and a fabric face mask. The resolution alone is enough to make the HP Reverb one of the most attractive options in the VR headset market, but there's plenty more to be impressed with here, including the 114-degree field of view. Paired with 2,160 x 2,160 resolution, it's clear gamers can expect a highly immersive VR experience. What's not clear is HP offering two models, although The Verge speculates that's likely due to marketing. The device will work with Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality platform, which is geared less toward gaming and more focused on the business side of VR. That might explain why there's an "enterprise" variant perhaps HP is trying to calibrate the messaging about Reverb's potential in both creative and business ventures. HP Reverb Price And Release Date In any case, the headset itself shows incredible promise. Early impressions say it's highly comfortable, which makes sense. HP says it designed the headset to be appear as invisible to the wearer as possible, which just adds to the overall immersion one can experience using it. The company confirms that the Reverb will support the passthrough feature in Windows Mixed Reality, meaning gamers can use external cameras on the headset to view the real word. Both headset variants come with a pair of Bluetooth motion controllers, the same ones that ship with HP's current Mixed Reality headset. The HP Reverb supports both Windows Mixed Reality and Steam VR. Both models are poised to go on sale in late April, HP says. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. YouTube star Logan Paul is hopping on the flat-Earth theory and he's hoping to be the person to prove it with a visit to Antarctica. Paul, 23, attended the recent Flat Earth International Conference in Denver and spoke to the event's founder Robbie Davidson, expressing his desire to see what flat Earthers believe is the edge of the world. "I am that guy that will make it to the edge," he says, according to Forbes. Paul Spreads Flat-Earth Belief During Paul's conversation with Davidson, the controversial YouTube celebrity talked about his thoughts on a flat Earth, saying that he's "a man of truth." "I think I'm coming out of the Flat Earth closet," he continues, adding that he wants to know the facts before proclaiming himself as a supporter of the movement. "The fact that we haven't been to the moon in over 50 years, the fact that the moon emits its own light. Some of the best scientists can't explain gravity; Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, in the end, do they even know?" Paul also spent time during the Flat Earth International Conference filming for his upcoming documentary The Flat Earth: to the Edge and Back. It's slated for release on March 20. Flat Earth Expedition To 'Edge of the World' Paul is not the only one planning a trek to Antarctica to check out what the edge of the planet looks like. Davidson and a massive group of flat-Earthers will be going on a cruise to Antarctica in 2020. A report from the Guardian points out the irony in flat Earth believers hopping on a ship for a trip to Antarctica: ships navigate the seas with systems that rely on a round Earth. "Nautical charts are designed with that in mind: that the Earth is round," Henk Keijer, who used to be a cruise ship captain with about 23 years of navigation under his belt, explains in an interview with the Guardian. He adds that even the global positioning system or GPS, which people use daily in their regular lives, proves that the Earth is round. After all, 24 different satellites constantly orbit the Earth for the positional and navigational information that it provides. Three satellites are necessary to determine position and a set of three satellites would be enough to provide this data to the entire planet if the Earth was flat, according to Keijer. However, since the Earth is round, more satellites are required to cover the entirety of the planet. Davidson did not address the issues of navigating the seas without relying on a round Earth, but he did explain his own take on the flat Earth. It would be, he says, as if a globe has been squished from the top and Antarctica forms an ice shore around the planet. The ice shore is bound to be extremely large and visitors can't simply peek over the edge. "We don't believe anything can fall off the edge, because a big portion of the flat earth community believes that we're in a dome, like a snow globe," Davidson describes. He explains that the heavenly bodies are all contained inside the high dome. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Authorities in Texas this week arrested a man who had been charged more than a year earlier in the 2013 robbery that left a Loomis armored truck guard dead outside a New Orleans bank. The arrest of Robert Earl Brumfield III, 25, ended a 16-month search for a man whom the FBI described as one of its most wanted fugitives. Constable Mark Hermans office said deputies received a tip that Brumfield was at a home in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston, on Monday. When deputies arrived at the home, Brumfield nicknamed Lil Rob attempted to flee but was quickly captured, Hermans office said in a Facebook post. Brumfield now faces a transfer to New Orleans, where five others charged in the slaying of Loomis guard Hector Trochez are awaiting a federal court trial scheduled to start Nov. 4. A Kenner resident, Trochez was shot to death Dec. 13, 2013, outside the Chase Bank branch at South Carrollton and South Claiborne avenues. A group of masked men fired pistols and a rifle at Trochez as he was bringing money to the banks ATMs. Trochez, a 45-year-old native of Honduras, returned fire but died after being shot in the head. Trochezs killers took a bag containing about $265,000 and fled in a stolen Chevrolet Tahoe. In view of a witness who followed them, the group then ditched the Tahoe about 10 blocks away and escaped in another car. Investigators identified one suspect Lilbear George after finding his DNA on a screwdriver left in the Tahoe. Georges girlfriend, Jasmine Theophile, then allegedly used her car to drive him and other men out of Louisiana. In November 2017, a federal grand jury indictment charged George, Theophile, Brumfield, Chukwudi Ofomata, Curtis Johnson Jr. and Jeremy Esteves with roles in the robbery that claimed Trochezs life. Brumfield was the only member of the group who was still at large when the indictment was unsealed. He and Esteves face life imprisonment if convicted of having a hand in the murder of Trochez. Prosecutors have indicated that they intend to seek the death penalty for Ofomata, George and Curtis Johnson Jr. Theophile faces a lesser sentence because she is accused only of obstructing justice after the fatal stick-up. +2 Feds to seek death penalty against 3 defendants charged in 2013 slaying of Loomis guard Hector Trochez Federal prosecutors in New Orleans will seek the death penalty against three of the six defendants charged in a 2013 robbery that left a Loomi The feds singled out Ofomata as the man who fired the bullet that killed Trochez, and local authorities have separately charged him with two 2008 killings at a 7th Ward car repair shop. George also is accused of taking part in a December 2007 armored car robbery less than a mile from where Trochez was later slain. In that incident, a shootout between the robbers and a guard erupted as well. However, no one was killed, and the statute of limitations to prosecute the robbery case expired before charges were filed. Trochez was one of two Loomis armored truck guards to be killed on-duty in New Orleans in recent years. Jimmy McBride was fatally shot during a robbery attempt outside a Mid-City bank on May 31, 2017. SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Smart Cannabis Corp. (OTC: SCNA) has announced the development of an Advisory Board established to leverage the expertise of advisors who specialize in the fields of construction and engineering. As longtime licensed experts contracted through Smart Cannabis Corp. subsidiary, Next Generation Farming, the advisors will help determine feasibility and planning of contracted projects so the Company optimizes every opportunity for corporate growth. Jared Schneider, a General Engineering and C-13 license holder, is the company's first appointee and has lifelong experience in fabricating steel and grading solutions which provide a myriad of resolutions to development challenges developers face. Jareds unique skill set which includes using steel to fabricate under and above ground structures necessary to construct and erect exceptionally well-built products like greenhouses, barns, and commercial structures, has proven to be an invaluable asset to the company's success over the years. Smart Cannabis President and CEO, John Taylor, confidently asserts, Jared has a stellar reputation and has been extraordinarily dependable as we've faced difficult decisions and challenges on-site of projects. Having him commit to serving our company so we can plan well and bid on projects helps to fulfill objectives surrounding efficiency and reaching lofty financial goals we've established. I'm pleased to be focusing on strengthening our position in this industry by securing some of the greatest talent in the industry to our team. Smart Cannabis (OTC: SCNA) is a public equity corporation advancing the agriculture and cannabis industries and growing through acquisition, strategic alliances, and proprietary intellectual property. The companys wholly owned subsidiary, Next Generation Farming Inc., provides turnkey, automated, commercial greenhouses systems that efficiently improve yields and decrease water consumption for cultivators of organic food and cannabis crops. The company websites are http://smartcannabis.com https://sapinvestments.com https://smartcannabis.com/nextgenfarming Disclaimer: The Company relies upon the Safe Harbor Laws of 1933, 1934 and 1995 for all public news releases. The company may make forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forward-looking statements are estimates that reflect the companys best judgment based upon current information. All investments involve risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. It is impossible to identify all such factors. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the company include, but are not limited to, government regulation; managing and maintaining growth; the effect of adverse publicity; litigation; competition; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the companys public announcements. The stories are of unspeakable cruelty. I was severely punished by a board cut full of holes to raise the blisters, then I was whipped with a strap to burst the blisters, which were then salted and peppered, Thomas Brown said. "This burned me very badly. The South Carolina slave had escaped and hidden in nearby woods but had been found by bloodhounds and brought back. "And I never tried to run away again. His very words. His story. Brown's powerful telling of his treatment as a slave, along with that of more than 200 other former slaves, can be found online because of the work of John B. Cade Sr. and Southern University. When Cade was on the faculties of two historically black universities in the first half of the 20th century, he sent students to collect stories from former slaves. The narratives are in the Southern University library that is in Cade's name. For all practical purposes, though, the stories could have been locked in a vault. The collection has been sitting in the library for years, and no one attempted to do anything about it, said Angela V. Proctor, university archivist and digital librarian at the John B. Cade Library. That changed three years ago when Southern posted the narratives online. Now, anyone with internet access can read what the slaves had to say. That's prompted calls to Proctor from researchers in several countries interested in learning what former American slaves said about their lives. Cade began collecting the stories after he arrived at Southern in 1929 as registrar and as principal at Southern University Lab School. He continued while on the faculty at Prairie View A&M from 1931-39 and after returning to Southern in 1939 as dean and director of extension services, Proctor said. Cade retired in 1961 and died in 1970. The collection at Southern includes interviews Cade collected while at Prairie View, Proctor said. Part of Cades motivation was to counter white historians suggestions that slaves had not minded their status, Proctor said. Few narratives in Southerns collection support the idea that slavery was a benign institution. Cruelty, particularly from the overseers hired to manage slaves, is a frequent theme. South Carolina slave Louis Bishop said that to maximize productivity, punishment for infractions would be delayed until rainy days, when the slaves wouldnt be working. My master was so cruel to his slaves that they were almost crazy at times, said Bill Collins, an Alabama slave born in 1846. He would buckle us across a log and whip us until we were unable to walk for three days. On Sunday, we would go to the barn and pray to God to fix some way for us to be freed from our mean masters. Where To Go, What To Eat Each week we'll highlights the best eats and events in metro Baton Rouge. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The slaves made clear they had virtually no control over the most basic decisions. They needed permission to marry, a permission that some owners declined to give. In some cases, owners decided which slaves could wed and to whom. It was common for families to be broken up as some members were sold to other owners. My mother was sold away from me, said Collins. I was so lonesome without her that I would often go about my work and cry and look for her return, as I was told by some of the slaves that she would be brought back to me, but she never came back. Our Views: A sinister slavery railroad once led to Louisiana In grade school, many Americans learn about the Underground Railroad, a clandestine network that helped Southern slaves escape to freedom else Jourden Luper, born in Charleston, South Carolina, ended up in Texas with no memory of a mother or father, who were sold separately before he turned 2, his grandmother told him. The worst thing about slavery was selling the slaves on the auction block like they were cattle, said William Haynes, a Virginia-born slave who was moved to Texas. Common themes from the narratives are that most slaves lived in simple, dirt-floor cabins, wore homespun clothing and were forced to work hard especially field slaves. They would rise well before dawn, eat, feed and milk cows, then report to the fields so they could begin work as soon as it was light enough to see. The women, as well as the men, had to work in the fields chopping and picking cotton," Haynes said. "The only pay was a whipping." Some masters forbade any religious practice, forcing slaves to sneak into the woods to pray and sing or risk being caught in their quarters. Other masters took slaves with them to church. They would pray saying, O Lord, lift the yoke of bondage of us that we may serve God under our own vine and fig tree. And, O Lord, control Ole Masters temper so he will not be so mean to us, wrote Esther Lane-Thompson of her interview with Mark Slater, an Alabama-born slave who was taken to Washington County, Texas. Word of emancipation arrived, with tragic results for a slave named Klora, who was told of it by a white boy. Kloras master saw her talking to the boy and asked if hed said anything about emancipation. She denied it. Then, her master tied her across a barrel and whipped her until she died, said Luper, the South Carolina slave who ended up in Texas. The masters girls begged for Klora, but it did no good. He then whipped the boy until he died. The white boys mother cried and begged for her sons life, but it did no good. That was a very miserable crime. Slaves who had kind masters celebrated their emancipation. We were not cruelly treated, said Jake Delaney. But after freedom, I could see that slavery was the worst thing that a race could experience. Southern University slave narratives The Mississippi River appeared to hit its crest Tuesday in Baton Rouge after an extended rise following heavy rain up river, reaching the seventh-highest level in recorded history, authorities said. The high water on the Mississippi has had the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and area levee districts in a continuous flood-fight mode since late October, reaching 144 days on Tuesday with at least another month on the horizon. "It's been a very, very long high-water season, and it just keeps looking like it's gonna keep going for us," said Ricky Boyett, a Corps spokesman in New Orleans. "We don't have an end." The Corps opened the Bonnet Carre' Spillway upstream of New Orleans on Feb. 27 to relieve pressure on that city's levees. In the spillway's nearly 90-year history, it was the first time the Corps had opened the spillway in back-to-back years. It has also been opened in three of the last four years. Boyett said Corps officials can't say yet when the river diversion into Lake Pontchartrain will be closed again. After briefly reaching 44 feet at the Baton Rouge gauge every day between Friday and Monday, Mississippi water levels remained at or above 44 feet most of the day Tuesday, topping out at 44.18 feet about 2 a.m., National Weather Service readings say. The river reached 45.01 feet in May 2011 and reached its record in during the Great Flood of 1927 at 47.28 feet on May 15 of that year, according to gauge records going back at least to 1874. Patricia Brown, a senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Slidell, said gauges north and south of Baton Rouge, at Red River Landing and at Donaldsonville, were or had already crested and will start dropping, though that process is expected to take weeks. "It's a very slow fall," she said. Boyett said lower Mississippi River levees are holding up well. A little more than half as many "inspection points" are being monitored along the levees this year as in the May 2011 flood, though the current number still totaled more than 250. Only four of those are sand boils. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Boyett and Brown added that severe flooding on the Missouri and other rivers in the Midwest isn't expected to boost Mississippi River levels beyond what they have already reached in the Baton Rouge area, though the water headed south is expected to create another crest. Mississippi River in Baton Rouge reaches 7th highest crest in history but remains 3 feet below levee The Mississippi River in Baton Rouge reached 44.1 feet on Friday and again Monday, marking the seventh highest crest on record and the second That water isn't expected to reach Baton Rouge and New Orleans until mid-April, Boyett said, when levels in the Mississippi are expected to have dropped some. "We should have enough capacity in the river to hold that (extra water) without exceeding what we have already gone through," Boyett said. Water levels are also expected to drop on the Red River in central and northern Louisiana in the coming weeks, helping matters on the lower Mississippi, Boyett said. One factor to watch for, however, is rainfall in the Ohio River Valley, which contributes about 60 percent of the lower Mississippi's flow. Despite the high water, Boyett said the Mississippi is expected to fall short of levels that would require opening the Morganza Flood Control Structure in Pointe Coupee Parish. Red River Landing, the benchmark gauge for the Morganza Spillway, is expected to reach its second highest level ever, said Brown, the Weather Service hydrologist. The height, tentatively at 61.86 feet, has been surpassed only by high water in May 2011 when the rarely used spillway was last opened. ExxonMobil is considering $410 million of investment at the refinery which processes 500,000 barrels of crude oil each day and has carved out several million for local small businesses. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Eric Ho is one of four winners in the Dixie Electric Membership Corp. Rural Electric Youth Tour essay contest. NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via CannabisNewsWire CannabisNewsWire ("CNW"), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, today announces the publication of an editorial featuring Sugarmade, Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD), a client of CNW investing in products and brands with disruptive potential. To view the full publication, titled Hemp Boom Leads to Cultivation Supply Shortages, visit: http://cnw.fm/In8IB Like any dramatic development in the economy, this emerging sector brings with it challenges and difficulties. One of these is providing the cultivation supplies that new and expanding hemp growers will need. Shortages of critical cultivation supplies, particularly relating to plant tissue micropropagation and cloning are being reported potentially threatening the plans of many farmers to get their hemp crops planted this spring. But one persons challenge is another persons opportunity, and in this case, the opportunity will go to companies that have prepared for the growing need for cultivation supplies. This young hemp cultivation supplies industry is not dominated by established corporate giants, which leaves plenty of space for relative newcomers such as Sugarmade Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD), via its pending acquisitions. About Sugarmade, Inc. Sugarmade, Inc. is a product and brand marketing company investing in products and brands with disruptive potential. Sugarmades brands include ZenHydro.com, CarryOutSupplies.com, and BudLife Cannabis Storage Solutions. For more information on the companys products, please visit www.Sugarmade.com. About CannabisNewsWire (CNW) CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is a specialized information service that (1) aggregates cannabis news, (2) provides CannabisNewsBreaks that quickly updates investors in the space, (3) enhances corporate press releases, (4) helps companies with distribution and optimization of social media, and (5) delivers comprehensive corporate communication solutions. CNW is uniquely positioned in the cannabis market with a strong team of journalists and writers who can help private and public companies reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public through our ever-growing dissemination network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets. CNW is bringing unparalleled visibility, recognition and content to the cannabis industry. For more information please visit https://www.CannabisNewsWire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications: Four top officials of a state facility for children with developmental disabilities suspended during a State Police probe have been absolved of any wrongdoing and are back at work, officials said Wednesday. The site is the Louisiana Special Education Center, which is one of three schools that make up the Special School District. The four, including Director Kristy Flynn, were suspended with pay following what officials called a "child on child" incident alleged sexual battery. Allegations against Louisiana Special Education Center sparks State Police probe State Police are investigating allegations of wrongdoing at the Louisiana Special Education Center in Alexandria, officials said Friday. Officials of the state Department of Education said on Feb. 22 that the four were placed on leave "so that the inquiry can proceed fairly and efficiently." Concerns on how the alleged incident was handled sparked the suspensions. The suspensions lasted from Feb. 8-March 20. However, the employees are back at work after the State Police investigation was turned over to the district attorney's office for Alexandria. "The Rapides Parish district attorney's office has notified the Louisiana Department of Education they have found no wrongdoing relative to the allegations at the Louisiana Special Education Center in Alexandria," Sydni Dunn, spokeswoman for the department, said in an email. "Staff who had been placed on paid leave out of an abundance of caution during the investigation have resumed their job duties," Dunn said. "We appreciate their continued service and that of all educators and caregivers at the Special Education Center," she added. The issue has been one of the flashpoints in controversy over Pat Cooper, interim superintendent of the Special School District and former superintendent of the Lafayette Parish School District. Gary Jones, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, is one of Cooper's top critics and said last week his tenure has been a failure in stabilizing the district. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "I am glad that the employees were absolved and am glad that they are back at work," said Jones, who lives near Alexandria. "I think this is something that could have been avoided in the first place," he said Wednesday. Louisiana Special School District interim chief's tenure a 'failure,' BESE president says The president of Louisiana's top school board accused the interim superintendent of the Special School District of running the schools through Other critics contend the four were suspended as part of a power struggle with Cooper. Some parents and others have said in interviews, and in appearances last week before the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, that Cooper has made multiple mistakes overseeing the center, as well as the Louisiana School for the Deaf and the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired. Those two schools and the Special Education Center makeup the Special School District, which has 284 students. Cooper, who is paid $150,000 per year, said last week he has run a professional operation. Allies contend he has been unfairly criticized for making changes sought by BESE, other state officials and parents. State Superintendent of Education John White, who named Cooper, said last week Cooper's tenure has been marked by successes and some missteps. The Special Education Center also treats children and young adults with orthopedic problems. Ages range from 3 to 32. Cooper, who has been on the job for the past eight months, said he plans to apply for the post permanently when his interim post expires on June 8. The local groundwater board intends to double the fees for water pumped for residential and industrial use in an effort to secure more funding to protect the aquifer beneath Baton Rouge. The Capital Area Groundwater Commission claims $10 for every million gallons pumped, but its board voted Tuesday to raise the amount to $20. +2 State to drill new wells to combat saltwater leaching toward Baton Rouge drinking supply Authorities have given a regional commission the go-ahead to drill test wells around downtown Baton Rouge in the region's ongoing fight to kee The commission collected about $407,000 from pumping fees in the six months between July and January, according to a report provided Tuesday. Board members worried that without more money, they wouldn't be able to address saltwater leaking across an underground fault line which threatens to contaminate the freshwater supply. Commissioner Barry Hugghins said that, because rates are already low, a typical family might pay an extra $1.60 per month to cover the new rate. The board voted unanimously for the new rate but will schedule a public hearing before any change takes effect. The board has recently taken some new steps to fight saltwater intrusion, such as hiring the Water Institute to perform a three-year study of the problem that is expected to cost about $750,000. They've also planned to dig scavenger wells to suck up saltwater and pipe it out or inject it deeper underground. +3 Groundwater commission hires Water Institute to brainstorm aquifer protection, mulls fee increases The regional groundwater commission is thinking about increasing the fee charged to pump water out of the aquifer beneath Baton Rouge to pay f In addition to the added costs, the groundwater commission is also taking a financial hit due to the closure of parts of the local paper mill run by Georgia-Pacific, which draws a significant amount of water from the aquifer. Hugghins estimated an annual loss of pumpage fees around $90,000. Georgia-Pacific, along with the Baton Rouge Water Co., ExxonMobil and Entergy all have seats on the 17-member groundwater commission. Chairman Nelson Morvant, who represents Entergy, said Georgia-Pacific will continue to tap the aquifer and that he's heard of no suggestions its board seat be removed. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Commissioner Matt Reonas, of the state Office of Conservation, asked whether last year's decision to bring Ascension Parish into the district could help offset the cost of losing income from Georgia-Pacific. The parish lies south of the aquifer, but residents and businesses use water pumped in by the Water Co. Wells in Ascension are probably too shallow and too little-used to make a major contribution though the issue is still under review, said executive director Anthony Duplechin and commissioner Mark Walton. For the sake of fairness, the groundwater commission needs to figure that out and start collecting whatever it's due, said commissioner William Daniel, who works for Ascension Parish but represents East Baton Rouge Parish. Daniel was among the commissioners who were concerned about the board's ability to protect the supply of water used for drinking and industry. First wave of Georgia-Pacific layoffs begin Tuesday, affecting 270 workers The first wave of about 270 workers at Georgia-Pacific's paper mill north of Baton Rouge were laid off Tuesday, as the company begins a weeksl The region should have a better idea of the scope of the problem by the end of the year, when the Water Institute plans to issue a report looking at models of the aquifer and solutions pioneered in other aquifers, said institute Vice President Alyssa Dausman. She anticipates holding public workshops in August and September to solicit input. Past discussions have included calls to limit industrial pumping, to prohibit out-of-district sale of water and to institute tiered fees. Reonas wondered whether, for example, rate payers in Pointe Coupee or the Felicianas parishes should be charged less because they're farther from the fault line where the salt is creeping in. Other commissioners were resistant Walton, because it's not permitted under the law, and Daniel, because it would pit parishes against each other. The matter was dropped without a vote. Reonas also questioned how his colleagues decided on a $10 rate increase. Hugghins said the amount would permit the agency to pay for existing work as it goes, and other commissioners emphasized that the rate can be further adjusted as they determine how to proceed in the future. Louisiana lawmakers shored up the states finances during a special session last year, but that doesnt mean budget showdowns are over at the State Capitol with an election looming just months away. During a budget hearing on Tuesday, House Republicans continued to press Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne about the spending proposal the Edwards administration gave lawmakers last week, the states revenue outlook and taxes that have been approved over the past three years. Were responsible to make sure that we hold (the administration) to the fire, said state Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge. +4 Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration presents $31 billion proposed budget outline In Gov. John Bel Edwards view, the state will have enough money in the coming year to fully-fund the popular Taylor Opportunity Program for S Edwards, a Democrat who took office in January 2016, is seeking re-election this year. Two Republicans, U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham and Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone, are running against the incumbent. Since taking office just over three years ago, Edwards has often tangled with the House GOP majority leadership largely over efforts to address the states tenuous finances. Edwards has called seven special sessions since taking office. House Republican leadership again blocks effort to improve state budget outlook for coming year Louisiana leaders remain at an impasse over how much money the state can spend in the coming year, after a House Republican leader for the f Tuesdays sparring prompted Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, to joke about tension remaining high since its an election year. The latest battle is an extension of an ongoing fight with House Republican leaders over adjusting the states financial forecast. Typically, a four-person panel that includes House and Senate leaders, a representative from the governors administration and an independent economist makes regular adjustments to the revenue outlook at the advice of the states economists. Louisiana Legislature's budget panel meets without discussing state revenue forecast dispute Without discussion, a bipartisan and bicameral panel of Louisiana lawmakers on Thursday acknowledged that the state budget projection won't be The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But House Republican leaders repeatedly blocked attempts to update the states revenue forecast before the governor released his spending outline for the coming year. The Edwards administration bucked tradition last month when Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne unveiled a budget proposal higher than the existing revenue outlook. Its totally unrealistic, Dardenne told the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Tuesday of the decision not to present a lesser budget that would not have included dedicated funds that make up the bulk of some state agencies budgets. Edmonds questioned whether the governor could legally propose a larger budget and said he felt that it could give false hope to people. Its not a violation of the constitution and the members should not view it as so, Dardenne said. Youre in a much better position than youve ever been. Meanwhile, House GOP Chair Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, pressed the administration on one of Edwards re-election campaign messages. Edwards repeatedly has said that his administration cut taxes by more than half a billion dollars. That number is based off of a sales tax hike that the Legislature passed when Edwards took office that was only partially extended last year. The sales tax rate when Edwards took office was 4 percent. It went to 5 percent for two years and now is 4.45 percent. Were extracting much more money out of the taxpayers pocket than we were three years ago, Harris said. Dardenne defended the situation as a result of not relying on one-time spending that had propped up past budgets, prompting support from some Democrats on the panel. Now Louisiana seems poised for growth, thats how I see the current state of where we are, said Rep. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican and consistent advocate for the unborn, will use a rare parliamentary procedure next week to f FILE - This Jan. 25, 2017, file photo shows a truck driving near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, New Mexico. President Donald Trump will face many obstacles in building his big, beautiful wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, including how to pay for it and how to contend with unfavorable geography and the legal battles ahead. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File) ORG XMIT: WX301 When a New Orleans mayor does something that sparks memories of former mayor Ray Nagin, it cant be a good thing. So Mayor LaToya Cantrell might want to think again the next time she accuses a news outlet of trying to hurt the city. Cantrell claimed Tuesday that The New Orleans Advocate was somehow derelict in reporting that the struggling Sewerage & Water Board may be owed as much as $134 million in unpaid charges since 2016. New Orleans S&WB owed $134M in unpaid bills; amount is almost half the agency's budget The Sewerage & Water Board has failed to collect more than $134 million in charges racked up by customers over the last three years, money LaToya Cantrell rips story about S&WB owed $134M: 'What do you want to do, screw the city?' The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board may be owed as much as $134 million in unpaid charges racked up by customers over the past three ye To be clear, that figure was compiled from S&WB data by City Councilman Joe Giarrussos staff and discussed during a public meeting. Neither Cantrell nor water board officials immediately disputed that it could be accurate. Still, the publication of the estimate got the mayors goat, at a time when shes negotiating with business and state leaders to redirect some of the tax revenue that now goes to tourism into infrastructure. What do you want to do, screw the city? Cantrell asked in a phone call to Advocate reporter Jeff Adelson after he posted an online story. Is that what you want? Whos doing the work trying to get the money we need? Me, she said. Its for the city. And its just that serious. You can play games if you want, but this is not the one. Its not it. Of course Cantrell is not Nagin, who once accused then-WWL-TV reporter Lee Zurik, who was investigating a corrupt program ostensibly aimed at remediating blight, of being against the citys recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The information Giarrusso offered does not hint at any criminality. Nor does it point to poor management that suddenly developed on Cantrells watch. The boards problems, including with its billing operations, are long-running and systemic. And the press isnt playing games by reporting it. Its doing its job, which is to share the best available with the public. Thats true whether it makes the people in charge look good, or not. JOY AUCTION: "Giddy Up for a Good Time" will be the theme for the annual auction at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 57210 Allen Road, Slidell. The event features quilts, crafts, vintage and estate items, plants and baked goods. A light lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. HAITIAN EVENING: "A Night in Haiti" will celebrate the partnership between Mary, Queen of Peace Church in Mandeville and St. Benoit in Dessources, Haiti, at 6 p.m. Saturday at the school cafeteria at 1501 W. Causeway Approach, with a dinner and Caribbean music. Haitian crafts and art will be available for sale, with the proceeds going to education and lunch expenses for students at St. Benoit. Tickets are $40 or $75 per couple. For reservations, email MQPHaiti@gmail.com or send a check to Mary, Queen of Peace Parish Center, ATTN: Haiti Ministry, 1501 W. Causeway Approach, Mandeville, LA, 70471, payable to Mary, Queen of Peace and note Night in Haiti on memo line. Tickets may also be purchased at the MQP Parish Center starting Monday and after Mass on the weekend of March 17. For more information, call (985) 626-0944 or visit www.maryqueenofpeace.org/haiti-partnership. PRAYER SERIES: Christ the King Anglican Fellowship will hold evening prayer services at 5 p.m. Sundays, March 24 and 31, at First United Methodist Church, 203 N. Jefferson Ave., Covington. For information, visit www.christthekingcovington.com. GAITHER CONCERT: Grammy winner Bill Gaither will host a concert with the Gaither Vocal Band at 7 p.m. March 29 at First Baptist Church of Covington, 16333 La. 1085. Tickets are $20-$35. For information and tickets, visit www.gaither.com or call (855) 484-1991. APPRECIATION SERVICE: Quillen Temple Church of God in Christ will hold an appreciation musical for Ronald Pritchard, the minister of music, at 7:30 p.m. March 29, 812 Stanley St., Slidell. On the program will be the City Wide Choir, local church choirs and more. NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via CannabisNewsWire CannabisNewsWire ("CNW"), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, today announces the publication of an editorial featuring Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF), a client of CNW building reputable brands and quality products that incorporate the synergistic effects of plants and their extracts. To view the full publication, titled CBD Industry Soars in Wake of Farm Bill; Massive Growth Projected to Continue, visit: http://cnw.fm/iN1wF Hemp is making a comeback thanks to the growing popularity of cannabidiol (CBD), an active ingredient found in many forms of cannabis. Its an ingredient that companies such as Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF), a creator of plant-based health and wellness products, have been making extensive use of in recent years. Combined with other naturally occurring plant compounds, full-spectrum CBD is used in a range of Wildflower products, including capsules, topicals, soaps, tinctures and vaporizers . Under the Farm Bill, hemp production will be tightly regulated . Most states already have existing regulations in place, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be developing its own regulations as well. But for an established company such as Wildflower, which already works in California, Washington and New York, this shouldnt be a problem. Cannabis companies are accustomed to working in a tightly controlled environment and meeting the legal standards set by state legislators, as well as the product standards required by retail outlets. In that context, working within new federal regulations shouldnt present a significant challenge, while the existence of consistent national standards will create opportunities for growth. About Wildflower Brands Wildflower Brands is a company headquartered in Vancouver building reputable brands and quality products that incorporate the synergistic effects of plants and their extracts. For more information, visit the companys website at www.WildflowerBrands.co About CannabisNewsWire (CNW) CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is a specialized information service that (1) aggregates cannabis news, (2) provides CannabisNewsBreaks that quickly updates investors in the space, (3) enhances corporate press releases, (4) helps companies with distribution and optimization of social media, and (5) delivers comprehensive corporate communication solutions. CNW is uniquely positioned in the cannabis market with a strong team of journalists and writers who can help private and public companies reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public through our ever-growing dissemination network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets. CNW is bringing unparalleled visibility, recognition and content to the cannabis industry. For more information please visit https://www.CannabisNewsWire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications: Fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, wanted by Indian authorities over a $US2 billion ($2.8 billion) loan fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) was remanded in custody after appearing before a British court. Nirav Modi was arrested after he went into a London bank to open an account. India asked Britain last August to extradite Modi, 48, whose diamonds have sparkled on famous Hollywood stars, after he was accused of massive bank fraud, charges he denies. The diamond magnate was arrested in the Holborn area of central London on Tuesday after he went into a bank to open an account and a member of staff contacted police. On Wednesday, he appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates Court accused by India of two charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to conceal criminal property. More than $500 million was wiped off the value of the agribusiness Nufarm on Wednesday as it swung to a first half loss, suspended its interim dividend and revealed that its performance had been crunched by severe drought in eastern Australia. Nufarm revealed an earnings downgrade for the full year of about $60 million because of the big dry in Australia and supply challenges in Europe, putting its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) guidance between $440 million and $470 million. Agribusiness Nufarm has swung to a net loss and lowered its earnings guidance for the full year. Credit:Bloomberg The company also warned that challenges to its Australian business would continue in the second half, "due to very low sub-soil moisture levels in key cropping areas and expectations of a poorer than average season in eastern states". Shares in Nufarm closed down a whopping 23.9 per cent, to $4.23, eroding the company's market cap by $504.9 million. The ACT still has the highest rates of breast cancer in the country but has the lowest number of deaths and cases of cancers overall. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, Cancer in Australia 2019, released today found there were 133.6 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 in the ACT in 2010-2014, the highest rate in the country. The institute's spokesman Justin Harvey said a range of factors could have contributed to the high figure, which have been age standardised, including high screening rates and ACT's comparatively higher socio economic status. While ACT had the highest breast cancer incident rate by a significant number, the territory's mortality rate was only slightly above the national average and the fourth highest in the country. The only other cancer in the ACT in which the rate of cases was above the national average was pancreatic cancer - which had a small data set of 222 cases over five years - with the second highest rate at 13.1 cases per 100,000 people. The CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, is being used to promote a weight-loss pill despite there being no scientific evidence it helps people lose weight. The Metabolic C12 pill is sold by Blackmores under a CSIRO-developed weight loss program called Impromy. Blackmores sells Metabolic C12 at pharmacies in packs of 30 pill for $19.99. Credit:Eddie Jim The CSIRO gets 5 per cent of the revenue from Impromy sales. The packaging says Impromy was "developed in collaboration with the CSIRO" and the pill was "developed and clinically tested by the University of Adelaide". A man who attacked two paramedics, including a woman, as they tried to help him has narrowly avoided jail for the terrifying incident. Despite laws introduced last year by the Andrews government decreeing "mandatory" jail for anyone who attacks emergency workers, the magistrate in the case ruled it would not be in the best interests of 26-year-old Orion Jesse Harding, nor of the community, to impose a prison term for what he described as "extremely serious offending". Orion Jesse Harding won't be going to jail for his attack on NSW paramedics. Credit:Border Mail The Wodonga Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday that Harding was snapping in and out of reality during the alcohol-fuelled episode last year. Two NSW paramedics were called to Granthams Bend in Wahgunyah, on November 17. While other students were stuck in classrooms learning maths and English on Tuesday, one group of kids were out picking grapes. But they hadnt run away to join the fruit picking circuit. Mount Lilydale Mercy College students hard at work picking the grapes for this year's wine. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Their school, Mount Lilydale Mercy College, is one of just a handful in Victoria that teach winemaking. Before you start imagining teenagers quaffing the fruits of their labours (yes, they are often asked about this), agriculture teacher Tim Thompson says that wine tasting duties fall to him. A six-month police investigation headed up by the Major Fraud Squad has seen 28 people charged with a range of serious offences, including extortion and drug trafficking. And on Wednesday, police revealed charges from the investigation also related to a wild car chase through Rivervale and Burswood caught on CCTV and dash-cam in December last year. CCTV vision showed the vehicles weaving in and out of traffic in December last year. Credit:WA Police Sixteen search warrants were executed last week at properties in Redcliffe, Cloverdale, Gosnells, Warwick, Parmelia, Rivervale, Dayton, Cannington, Koongamia, Langford and Beckenham as part of the operation. Approximately three kilograms of methamphetamine, four kilograms of cannabis, cocaine, magic mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA, and about $140,000 in cash was seized during the raids. Police are searching for the mother of a newborn baby after he was abandoned outside a medical centre in Perths southern suburbs on Wednesday morning. Fremantle detective sergeant Dixie Johnson said the baby, believed to be less than 24-hours-old, was found alone inside a box and covered with a blanket outside a Booragoon medical centre around 8am. The baby at Perth Children's Hospital. Credit:Nine News Perth "There was a note left [with the baby] ... I won't comment on what exactly the note said at this time but obviously the mother was expressing that she wanted the baby to be cared for," Ms Johnson said. "We believe the baby was only there for around 10 minutes, maximum." New York, NY, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), engaged in building its business through the development, distribution, and licensing of proprietary products as well as the evaluation of potential acquisition opportunities and equity investments, today announced that it has increased its Research & Development (R & D) budget to continually improve and enhance its CBD infused chewing gum (CBD Gum) product line, branded as Tauri-Gum. The Company is currently in the process of establishing two new Tauri-Gum flavors to complement its existing MINT flavor. The Company will modify its existing graphic design and artwork to correlate with blister packs (front and back) of the new Tauri-Gum flavor(s). There is also a plan to test a thin candy coating on samples of Tauri-Gum tablets, to determine whether it improves the taste and texture. In other news, The Company is finalizing the terms of a comprehensive distribution agreement (the Agreement) with a major New York City headquartered firm (the Distributor). This Distributor has a major presence throughout the New York City Metropolitan area (NYC Metro area), as well as other regions of the United States, and generates annual revenue well in excess of $100,000,000. Should the Company be successful in consummating this Agreement, it will notify its shareholders promptly via a press release. ABOUT: TAURIGA SCIENCES, INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is engaged in building business through the development, distribution, and licensing of proprietary products as well as the evaluation of potential acquisition opportunities. One such opportunity on which the Company has acted, involves the Company having entered into the cannabidiol (or CBD) infused chewing gum product business, as more fully described above and in prior press releases. This CBD infused chewing gum product has been branded under the following name: Tauri-Gum. See also our periodic reports filed by us with the SEC for a more complete description of our business and material agreements that we have entered into. Further, the Company continues to identify and evaluate additional potential opportunities to generate revenue, as well as shareholder value, and leverage its resources and expertise to build a diversified and sustainable business model. Please visit our corporate website at www.tauriga.com . In addition, on March 11, 2019, the Company announced the official launch of its E-Commerce site - as part of its Tauri-Gum commercialization strategy. This site can be accessed by visiting the following URL address: www.taurigum.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The hate-filled killer at Christchurchs mosques may be in custody, but he is still achieving what he wanted: escalating chaos. Who could have imagined that just a month from Anzac Day, the leaders of Turkey and Australia would be at each others throat for the first time since their predecessors fought on Gallipolis slopes 104 years ago? It is almost unthinkable. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sunk to a new low. Credit:AP But the dreary truth is that both Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison are facing tough elections, and their spectacular intercontinental brawl must be seen at least partly in the light of that circumstance. Striding down the thoroughfare of Hurstville's Chinatown on Wednesday morning, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet was in a jolly mood. Lunch at a local yum cha restaurant had only been penciled into his schedule that morning, after Liberal Party strategists deemed a ministerial visit to the Labor-held electorate of Kogarah opportune. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet during a visit to Hurstville. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Accompanying the Treasurer on his walk was Scott Yung, the Liberal candidate for Kogarah, who was happy to weigh in on the storm engulfing Labor leader Michael Daley. "Michael Daley's comments are racist," Mr Yung said, as TV cameras encircled them. "I'm proud of my Chinese heritage." Two days before NSW heads to the polls, stadiums have remained a major issue on the agenda of both Labor and Liberals but if betting sites are to be believed, Gladys Berejiklian has climbed back to the leading position. Loading The Premier defended her decision to press ahead with demolishing and rebuilding Allianz Stadium for $730 million today, despite a report saying the stadium's safety issues could have been addressed for as little as $18 million. The Opposition Leader started his day outside the stadium in Moore Park following a poor performance during Wednesday night's leaders' debate, determined to stay positive and making every effort to resurrect his campaign. Later, he visited businesses along the light rail line construction site in Surry Hills, promising to create a $100 million fund to help residents and businesses affected by the botched project. Loading The Premier, on the other hand, was visiting a construction project that voters are more excited about. She and Transport Minister Andrew Constance donned protective gear at Barangaroo to see where the machine dubbed 'Kathleen' will begin boring the Sydney Harbour train tunnel. And that's a wrap for the blog today, ahead of a big election eve tomorrow. Make sure you tune in! Cyclone Idai, the storm that battered cities, submerged homes and potentially killed hundreds of people in south-eastern Africa, may prove to be one of the worst weather-related disasters ever in the southern hemisphere, a UN official said on Tuesday. More than 350 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing. Officials with global aid groups and in Mozambique, where the storm hit hardest, are only beginning to reckon with its destruction. Potentially 1.7 million people were in the direct path of the cyclone, the United Nations estimated on Tuesday, and rain is forecast to continue in parts of the region for several days. A view from a drone above Praia Nova Village, one of the most affected neighbourhoods in Beira, razed by the passing cyclone. Credit:AP Herve Verhoosel, a spokesman for the UN World Food Program, said in an interview that the agency's workers had described seeing "water and water for miles and miles" flooding so severe it resembled an inland ocean where homes and towns had stood. The situation remained dire, he said, for potentially hundreds of thousands of people in need of food, clean water and evacuation. National Weather Service hydrologist Kevin Low said during a telephone briefing on Wednesday that "major and perhaps historic" flooding is possible later this month at some spots on the Big Sioux and James rivers in South Dakota and northwestern Iowa. A ute is swamped by floodwaters in Hamburg, Iowa, on Wednesday. Credit:AP Parker, the state Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokeswoman, said even though southwestern Iowa was hit hardest in the state during this round of flooding, there are concerns of more widespread flooding ahead. "We're definitely not out of the woods," she said, before later adding, "So take this opportunity to get prepared." Farmer Jeff Jorgenson looks out over 750 acres of cropland submerged beneath the swollen Missouri River, and he knows he probably won't plant this year. But that's not his biggest worry. He and other farmers have worked until midnight for days to move grain, equipment and fuel barrels away from the floodwaters fed by heavy rain and snowmelt. The rising water that has damaged hundreds of homes and been blamed for three deaths has also taken a heavy toll on agriculture, inundating thousands of acres, threatening stockpiled grain and killing livestock. Flooding along the Missouri River in Iowa on Tuesday. Credit:AP In Fremont County alone, Jorgenson estimates that more than a million bushels of corn and nearly half a million bushels of soybeans have been lost after water overwhelmed grain bins before they could be emptied of last year's crop. His calculation using local grain prices puts the financial loss at more than $7 million ($9.9 million) in grain alone. That's for about 28 farmers in his immediate area, he said. Once it's deposited in bins, grain is not insured, so it's just lost money. This year farmers have stored much more grain than normal because of a large crop last year and fewer markets in which to sell soybeans because of a trade dispute with China. Loading "The economy in agriculture is not very good right now. It will end some of these folks farming, family legacies, family farms," he said. "There will be farmers that will be dealing with so much of a negative they won't be able to tolerate it." Jorgenson, 43, who has farmed since 1998, reached out to friends on Saturday, and they helped him move his grain out of bins to an elevator. Had they not acted, he would have lost $135,000 ($190,000). Vice-President Mike Pence surveyed flooded areas in Nebraska on Tuesday, local time, where he viewed the raging Elkhorn river, talked to first responders and visited a shelter for displaced people. He promised expedited action on presidential disaster declarations for Iowa and Nebraska. "We're going to make sure that federal resources are there for you," Pence told volunteers at Waterloo, a town of less than 1000 residents about 34 kilometres west of Omaha that was virtually cut off by the floodwaters. The flooding is expected to continue throughout the week in several states as high water flows down the Missouri River. Swollen rivers have already breached more than a dozen levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. The flooding, which started after a massive late-winter storm last week, has also put some pig farms in southwest Iowa underwater. The dead animals inside must be disposed of, Reynolds said. Vice-President Mike Pence and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, second right, point to flooded areas, with Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, left, during a helicopter flight over areas affected by the flooding of the Missouri and Elkhorn Rivers on Tuesday. Credit:AP The water rose so quickly that farmers in many areas had no time to get animals out, said Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University. "Places that haven't seen animal loss have seen a lot of animal stress. That means they're not gaining weight and won't be marketed in as timely a manner, which results in additional cost," he said. In all, Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson estimated $400 million ($565 million) of crop losses from fields left unplanted or planted late and up to $500 million ($706 million) in livestock losses. In a news release issued on Tuesday, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts said there have been deadlier disasters in the state but never one as widespread. He said 65 of the state's 93 counties are under emergency declarations. A train sits in flood waters from the Platte River, in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on Sunday. Credit:AP In neighbouring Missouri, water was just shy of getting into Ryonee McCann's home along a recreational lake in Holt County, where about 16,188 hectares and hundreds of homes have been flooded. She said her home sits on a 2.5-metre foundation. "We have no control over it," the 38-year-old said. "We just have to wait for the water to recede. It's upsetting because everything you have worked for is there." The Missouri River was forecast to crest on Thursday morning, local time, at 3.5 metres above flood stage in St. Joseph, Missouri, the third highest crest on record. More than 100 roads are closed in the state, including a growing section of Interstate 29. Leaders of the small northwestern Missouri town of Craig ordered an evacuation. The Holt County Sheriff's Department said residents who choose to stay must go to City Hall to provide their name and address in case they need to be rescued. In nearby Atchison County, Missouri, floodwaters knocked out a larger section of an already busted levee overnight, making the village of Watson unreachable, said Mark Manchester, the county's deputy director of emergency management. Flooding in rural Iowa, where crops have been devastated. Credit:AP Officials believe everyone got out before thousands of more acres were flooded. But so many roads are now closed that some residents must travel more than 160 kilometres out of their way to get to their jobs at the Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska, he said. "It's a lot harder for people to get around," Manchester said. ZF acquires mobility provider 2getthere SEE ALSO: "They All Look Alike To Me" - Milton Snide, Snide's Remarks SEE ALSO: Robotic Taxi's Cost Twice Per Mile As Today's Human Driver Taxi's MIT Study Shows SEE ALSO: Autonomous Vehicle News Archive SEE ALSO: Big Brother-Like "Birth to Grave" Autonomous Driving Will Take Our Freedom And Kill The Automobile Industry SEE ALSO: Autonomous Autos Give Bad Guys The Power To End Our Freedom To Go Where We Want When We Want To - Investment of 60 percent stake in the experienced provider of automated electric passenger transport systems - Acquisition complements existing co-operations and investments - ZF strives to set new standards for autonomous mobility and transport solutions FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany and UTRECHT, Netherlands, March 19, 2019; ZF Friedrichshafen AG has acquired a 60 percent share of 2getthere B.V. The company offers complete automated transport systems and is located in Utrecht/Netherlands, with offices in San Francisco, Dubai and Singapore. Applications range from driverless electric transport systems at airports, business and theme parks to dedicated urban transport infrastructures. With this strategic investment, ZF is executing its Next Generation Mobility strategy to strengthen its foothold in the Mobility-as-a-Service and automated guided vehicle growth markets, complementing its existing activities. "2getthere has more than three decades of experience in the market of autonomous passenger transport vehicles as well as unique engineering and software competences. This acquisition supports our strategy to become a leading autonomous transportation systems supplier in the booming new mobility market", said Wolf-Henning Scheider, Chairman of the Board of Management at ZF Friedrichshafen AG. With this strategic investment, ZF is strengthening its position in the growth markets of Mobility-as-a-Service solutions, autonomous transport systems, and shared autonomous vehicles. The majority stake in 2getthere complements ZF's existing investments and co-operations, such as the e.GO Moove, a joint venture with e.GO Mobile AG, which targets the production of the e.GO Mover autonomous minibus, as well as Transdev, a leading operator and global provider of integrated mobility solutions. 2getthere was founded in 1984 and has accumulated more than 100 million kilometers of autonomous mileage with driverless passenger and cargo transport systems in several major cities worldwide, including Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, as well as numerous ports and airports. 2getthere' s fully electric driverless systems at business parks in Rivium (Capelle aan den IJssel) and Masdar City (Abu Dhabi) have transported more than 14 million people reliably and safely. The reliability of the systems installed by 2getthere, including vehicle controls and software architecture, exceeds 99.7 percent. "The market for driverless electric transport systems is developing dynamically. We want to continue to lead the market and the involvement of ZF is helping us to realize our growth plans, accelerate our technology roadmap and provide the required security for new and existing customers," said Carel C. van Helsdingen, founder and CEO of 2getthere. "The technological cooperation with ZF will support 2getthere's work for the delivery of mixed traffic applications like Rivium and Brussels Airport." Looking at the past three years alone, the company's revenue has increased by 60 percent. In the future, ZF and 2getthere will work closely together to further develop technologies for autonomous transport systems. "We have developed into a complete systems supplier for automated functions and we are therefore in an ideal position to support 2getthere. We can deliver electric drivelines, solutions for sensor technology, high performance computing, and actuators for all levels of automated applications," explained Scheider. Conversely, ZF will also benefit from the vast field experience of the Dutch company and its extensive engineering and software competences when it comes to configuring and implementing complete autonomous transport systems. 2getthere's engineering and software development teams in Utrecht are expected to grow significantly over the next years, approximately doubling its current 60 employees. The two companies agreed not to disclose the transaction volume. ZF Friedrichshafen AG ZF is a global leader in driveline and chassis technology as well as active and passive safety technology. The company has a global workforce of 146,000 with approximately 230 locations in some 40 countries. In 2017, ZF achieved sales of 36.4 billion. ZF is one of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide. ZF allows vehicles to see, think and act. The company invests more than six percent of its sales in research and development annually in particular for the development of efficient and electric drivelines and also in striving for a world without accidents. With its broad portfolio, ZF is advancing mobility and services in the automobile, truck and industrial technology sectors. For further press information and photos, please visit: www.zf.com 2getthere B.V. 2getthere delivers driverless transit applications, in mixed traffic, on dedicated lanes or segregated infrastructures. The systems are based on over 30 years of experience with automated vehicles in different demanding environments. Our vision is to continually develop the landscape of automated transit technology by maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit. 2getthere has been at the forefront of introducing new transit systems since 1984. We will continue to push and innovate, providing efficient, high-quality transit systems for point-to-point connections, corridors and networks. Ho Chi Minh city Peoples Committee Standing Vice Chairman Le Thanh Liem presents a gift to Mr. Patrick ODonovan. (Photo: thanhuytphcm.vn) So said Standing Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh city Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem during his reception for Patrick ODonovan, Irelands Minister of State at the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, on March 18on his working visit to Vietnam. According to Mr. Liem, the relationship between Ireland and Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh city, is developing well. Vietnam and the EU are looking towards signing the free trade agreement, which will boost the bilateral relationship, especially in trade and investment, he said. He expressed his hope that Mr. Patrick ODonovan will call on Irish healthcare businesses and groups to study investment and cooperation in Ho Chi Minh city; support in linking Irish universities and the Vietnamese citys ones; and encourage prestigious Irish companies to work with the city in building the e-authority. Confirming that his visit aimed to discuss cooperation opportunities between Ireland and Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh city in particular, Mr. Patrick ODonovan said that over the past time, Ireland and Vietnam had seen strong development in agricultural and educational cooperation. The cooperation will be huge when the free trade agreement between Vietnam and EU is signed, he said, adding that as Ho Chi Minh city has great potential in bilateral cooperation, the Irish trade cooperation promotion agency will open its office in the city. Considering Vietnam a gateway to trade with Southeast Asian nations, Ireland hopes to be considered a trade partner of Vietnam./. Program assembles experts in big data and weather information to discuss the impending overload of earth observation data and its effects on weather-impacted decisions Oxfordshire, England, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Orbital Micro Systems (OMS), a leader in advanced instrumentation for small satellite missions and analytic-ready earth data intelligence platforms, will host the first Weather Intelligence Forum at InterMET Asia 2019, the worlds premier weather, flood, and air quality conference. InterMET Asia is taking place March 26 through 29, 2019 at the SunTec Convention Center in Singapore. The Weather Intelligence Forum will be presented March 28, 2019 as part of Asia Climate Week and InterMET Asia. The program brings together experts in the management, processing, and interpretation of weather data collected by satellites, terrestrial and airborne systems, and other sources, to discuss the current and near-term challenges facing weather information users such as MET offices, and industries including agriculture, insurance and reinsurance, aviation, and maritime transport. OMS is one of many commercial enterprises launching satellites to gather earth observation data in greater volumes and lower latencies, said William Hosack, chief executive officer at OMS. These companies will be adding vast amounts of data to large government-operated platform datasets, and we expect this influx of raw data entering the ecosystem will overwhelm the traditional data processing systems utilized today. The Weather Intelligence Forum is designed to bring the realities of data overload to the forefront by involving data users and producers to build awareness and offer solutions to all participants in the ecosystem. InterMET Asia is the perfect venue for this discussion, since it attracts participants from every continent, as well as from MET offices in areas that have had limited satellite-based data and stand to benefit the most from the data generated by these new commercial satellite platforms. In addition to participating in the Weather Intelligence Forum, Hosack will also deliver a plenary session address at InterMET Asia on Wednesday, March 27, at 11:30 a.m. In his remarks, he will discuss the challenges facing urban and regional entities in obtaining weather information with sufficient detail and temporal frequency to make timely and informed decisions regarding weather impacts. Getting to the necessary level of detail is one challenge, but the bigger one will be managing the huge volume of raw data and quickly extracting useful and relevant information, he said. Without this imperative, the information will likely remain unseen long after the weather event has done its damage. OMS has established the International Center for Earth Data (ICED) in Edinburgh, Scotland to create an easily accessible marketplace for earth observation data which offers analytics-ready data on demand or via subscription often within 15 minutes of collection. In addition, OMS is building a constellation of some 48 low-earth orbit satellites equipped with miniaturized passive microwave radiometers to gather temperature, precipitation, and moisture data at up to eight altitudes. OMS is also participating in the launch of its first Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) satellite April 17, 2019 from Wallops Island, Virginia. When a full complement of GEMS satellites are in orbit, the constellation will provide global weather observations at 15-minute intervals. To register to attend the free Weather Intelligence Forum at InterMET Asia 2019, please visit https://intermet19.reg.buzz/oms. For more information about Orbital Micro Systems please visit www.orbitalmicro.com. About Orbital Micro Systems Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) specializes in the development and delivery of technology and data for space applications. With broad expertise in applied science, weather science and earth observation, instrumentation development, data science, space operations, and program delivery, OMS is positioned to deliver innovation to many areas of the aerospace sector. For more information about OMS, please visit www.orbitalmicro.com TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pangolin Diamonds Corp. (TSX-V: PAN) (the "Company" or "Pangolin") is pleased to update its shareholders on its recent activity at its kimberlite diamond projects in Botswana, Africa. Investment Highlights Team has a proven track record Dr. Leon Daniels co-founded African Diamonds (AIM: AFD) that had ownership in the AK6 pipe (now known as The Karowe Diamond Mine purchased by Lucara Diamonds). Dr. Daniels recognized for identifying the economic potential of the AK6 pipe prior to acquiring ownership. Dr. Chris Jennings, a special advisor to the Company, has been involved in over 100 kimberlite discoveries world-wide with 70 in Botswana, as well as Canadas second diamond mine Diavik. Other mines include: Gaghoo GO25 (Botswana), Klipspringer & Marsfontein (South Africa). He recently purchased a 2.6% GOR (Gross Overriding Royalty) from Pangolin for $1.2M, whereby 20 kimberlite targets will be collectively identified and planned to be drilled in 2019 (as set out below in more detail). Dr. Jennings believes there is the potential to discover a new diamondiferous kimberlite field within Pangolins projects. Two kimberlite project areas are 100% owned in Botswana All projects located SE of the Orapa Kimberlite Field; closest is ~40 km. A total of 45 diamonds have been recovered at surface in soils. Plan in place to identify 20 high priority kimberlite drill targets and to drill the first 5 once all the data has been compiled and reviewed that meets the selection criteria. An option to acquire up to 75% of the Orapa AK10 Diamondiferous Kimberlite Pipe 6 hectares in size has been extend to December 31, 2019 Located within the Orapa Kimberlite Field and only 4.4 km away from AK6 (Lucaras Karowe Diamond Mine) and infrastructure. Positive kimberlite chemistry recently processed by CF Mineral Research Ltd., owned by Chuck Fipke who discovered Canadas first diamond mine - The Ekati Diamond Mine. AK10 chemistry demonstrates it has the potential to have large +50 carat diamonds. A 500 tonne mini-bulk sample is underway to confirm diamondiferous character and determine economics of the kimberlite. As previously stated by Dr. Leon Daniels, Being a co-founder of African Diamonds where I identified the potential of the AK6 kimberlite (Karowe Mine), I am very excited about the positive classification of the kimberlite indicator minerals of the AK10 kimberlite to potentially host large +50 carat diamonds. This is a step in the right direction for the Company to have a two prong strategy with the ongoing 500 tonne mini-bulk sample of the AK10 kimberlite to confirm the reported diamondiferous character of AK10, dove-tailed with our own exploration activities in search of a new diamondiferous kimberlite field in Botswana where we have recovered 45 diamonds in soils roughly 90 km SE of the Orapa Kimberlite Field, the largest being 0.19 carats thus far. Dr. Chris Jennings GOR Projects There have been new developments and two main changes to Pangolins exploration activities in Botswana. The first main development is the royalty agreement with Umgeni, a company controlled by Dr. Chris Jennings that has bought a 2.6% GOR on certain projects for a total of $1.2M, and where Pangolin is currently focusing on these exploration prospecting licenses covered in the partnership. Under this partnership with Umgeni, a total of 20 high priority drill targets will be selected by both Umgeni and Pangolin. Umgeni will focus on geophysics and Pangolin will focus on kimberlite indicators and soil sampling. There is good reason for this, as in the past targets selected by geophysicists as classical kimberlite signature magnetic anomalies have resulted in drilling into basalt. The minimum selection criteria now are that any target selected for drilling must meet both geophysical and positive kimberlite indicator criteria as agreed by both parties. To date, Pangolin has identified targets that fit within the agreed selection criteria. However, more work is required to meet the final selection criteria, which includes: additional soil sampling to confirm the initial soil sampling results; more detailed ground magnetic surveys over the identified geophysical anomaly; and additional geophysical surveys using technology that will assist in identifying whether the targets are intrusions into the country rocks. Additional targets are being developed. The programme is to have at least ten targets available for drilling, however, the five having the highest selection criteria score will be drilled first. The second significant change Pangolin has brought about is the re-organisation of the exploration projects from three major projects with multiple prospecting licenses into two project areas. In addition to the reorganization of the Prospecting Licenses into two projects areas, two separate project managers have been appointed for each one. Both projects have specific teams (geophysical and soil sampling) allocated to them. The Company believes this rearrangement of resources will bring about greater productivity and cost saving in the medium and long term. Pangolin is already seeing the initial positive results from this re-organisation. Orapa AK10 Diamondiferous Kimberlite Pipe Pangolin has successfully negotiated the extension of an option agreement to acquire up to 75% of the AK10 diamondiferous kimberlite pipe. The kimberlite indicator mineral chemistry classification suggests it has a high probability to contain diamonds that can be +50 carats in size. The 500 tonne bulk sample of extracting kimberlite is underway to determine the potential economics. Results will be announced once all the material has been processed and analyzed. AK10 is located in the prolific Orapa Kimberlite Field in Botswana. Botswana is the second largest producer of diamonds, both by value and carats. In 2016, the Orapa Kimberlite Field produced 8.85 million carats and contains 83 known kimberlite bodies of which eleven are currently mined, scheduled to be mined or have been mined. These include: AK01, AK02 and AK07 (Orapa, Debswana), AK06 (Karowe, Lucara Diamond Corporation), BK01, BK09, BK12 and BK15 (Damtshaa, Debswana), and DK01 and DK02 (Letlhakane, Debswana). The mineralization and results on the aforementioned kimberlites are not necessarily indicative of the results will be for the AK10 kimberlite. The AK10 kimberlite pipe was originally discovered in 1968 from airborne magnetics by De Beers who established it to be diamondiferous but felt it may not be economical and too small. The compositions of the garnets from AK10 are consistent with the kimberlite having sampled the diamond stability field. It has been modeled to between 5 and 6 hectares in size and is close to surface with only 11 metres of cover. It has excellent infrastructure close by with road access, and the main power grid is less than 1.5km away. Lucara Diamond Corporations AK6 kimberlite pipe (Karowe Mine) is 4.4 km away from AK10. Karowe Mine recently produced Type II large diamonds inclusive of the 813 carat Constellation and the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona. A database of mineral chemistry analyses from the Orapa AK10 kimberlite consisting of 8,969 analyses of individual kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs) were submitted to CF Mineral Research in Kelowna, BC for classification using their proprietary classification scheme for KIMs to assess the diamond potential of the Orapa AK10 kimberlite. A total of 1,908 clinopyroxene analyses were classified. The result of the classification found that 12.6% of the clinopyroxenes, both eclogitic and peridotitc, are associated with a derivation from the diamond stability field. The mineral chemistry of 15.4% of these diamond inclusion type clinopyroxenes is consistent with the chemistry of clinopyroxe diamond inclusions recovered from +50 carat diamonds. This result is consistent with the close spatial association with the large stone producing Karowe Mine of Lucara Diamond Corp. which is a mere 4.4 km distant. The classification of 4,066 garnets resulted in 16.3% of the garnets, both peridotitic and eclogitic, having mineral chemistry consistent with a derivation from the diamond stability field. The majority of these garnets are derived from the lherzolitic mantle environment, consistent with the presence of clinopyroxes from the diamond stability field. The number of spinels with greater than 45 wt% Cr2O3 totalled 1,050. It was found that 9.5% of these chrome-rich spinels had a mineral chemistry similar to spinels recovered as diamond inclusions worldwide. These diamond inclusion spinels are derived from the harzburgitic environment, similar to the source of the G10 garnet population in the Orapa AK10 garnet suite. The KIMs classification results indicate that the Orapa AK10 kimberlite has sampled several source areas (lherzolitic, harzburgitic and eclogitic) in the diamond stability field. A significant proportion of the clinopyroxenes are similar in chemical composition to clinopyroxenes extracted as diamond inclusions from +50 carat diamonds. Grant of Stock Options The Company also announces that its board of directors has approved the granting of 150,000 options under its Stock Option Plan, each share under option having a 5 year term and an exercise price of $0.05. The Options in question were granted to a key employee. Quality Control and Quality Assurances Quality assurance procedures, security, transport, storage, and processing protocols conform to chain of custody requirements. The technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Leon Daniels, BSc., BSc. Honours Geology, PhD and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Pangolin Diamonds Corp. and Our Social Connections For more information on Pangolin Diamonds Corp., please visit our website at http://pangolindiamonds.com Follow us on Twitter @pangolindiamond and Facebook at Pangolin Diamonds Corp Pangolin Diamonds Corp. - Contact Information Scott Young, Investor Relations Phone: +1.705.888.2756 Email: syoung@pangolindiamonds.com Graham C. Warren, Chief Financial Officer Phone: +1.416.594.0473 Fax: +1.416.594.1630 Email: gwarren@pangolindiamonds.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. While we're on the subject of what's coming to Netflix, check out some of the other titles we'll be seeing in April! Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Part 2 (5/04/2019) Part 2 finds Sabrina exploring her darker side, curious to learn more about her heritage, while struggling to maintain her friendships in the mortal world. Tijuana (5/04/2019) When a prominent politician is murdered in cold blood, intrepid local journalists risk their lives to uncover the truth. You vs. Wild (10/04/2019) In this interactive adventure series, you'll make key decisions to help Bear Grylls survive, thrive and complete missions in the harshest environments on Earth. Special (12/04/2019) A gay man with mild cerebral palsy decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after the life he wants. Suzzanna: Buried Alive (3/04/2019) After a pregnant woman is murdered, her spirit seeks revenge against her increasingly terrified killers, who are determined to finish her off for good. Unicorn Store (5/04/2019) Kit (Brie Larson), a twenty-something dreamer, receives an invitation that would fulfill her childhood dreams. The Perfect Date (12/04/2019) To save up for college, Brooks Rattigan creates an app where anyone can pay him to play the perfect stand-in boyfriend for any occasion. The Silence (12/04/2019) When the world is under attack from terrifying creatures who hunt their human prey by sound, 16-year old Ally Andrews (Kiernan Shipka), who lost her hearing at 13, and her family seek refuge in a remote haven. But they discover a sinister cult who are eager to exploit Allys heightened senses. THE SILENCE is directed by John R. Leonetti (ANNABELLE) and stars Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka, Miranda Otto, John Corbett, Kate Trotter and Kyle Breitkopf. Kevin Hart: Irresponsible (2/04/2019) Kevin Hart brings his sold-out comedy tour, Kevin Hart: Irresponsible, to a global audience for his first original Netflix standup special. The one-hour special was filmed in front of a sold-out live audience of over 15,000 people at the O2 Arena in London, England. Hart touches upon his friends, family, travel, ... and a year filled with Irresponsible behavior. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) speaks to guests during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, on March 19, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) 2020 Candidate Kirsten Gillibrand Wants Illegal Aliens to Have Social Security Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a 2020 hopeful, appeared to call for the expansion of Social Security to illegal immigrants residing in the United States, footage of her speech at a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa showed. First, we need comprehensive immigration reform, she said. If you are in this country now you must have the right to pay into Social Security, to pay your taxes, to pay into the local school system and to have a pathway to citizenship. That must happen. Sen. Gillibrand: expand Social Security to all illegal immigrantshttps://t.co/Lc5hJY3oCK pic.twitter.com/lZgypZ4yjr RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 20, 2019 Last year, Gillibrand became the first sitting senator to call for the termination of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. She told CNN that it should be reimagined under a new agency, with a very different mission adding that the current department should start over. The senators comments on immigration are a sharp contrast from her past. In 2009, she voted to increase funding for ICE and once said she believed English should be the official language of the United States, according to The Washington Examiner. Only legal immigrants are able to have Social Security benefits after paying into the program for a certain amount of time, according to current U.S. law. Democrat @SenGillibrand: I believe you should get rid of [ICE], start over, reimagine it, and build something that actually works #CuomoPrimeTime https://t.co/3SwLWVK0Fa pic.twitter.com/HnpFj19w0z Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 29, 2018 Earlier this week, Gillibrand made similar comments in support of illegal immigrants during an MSNBC town hall. Immigration is not a security issue. It is an economic and a humanitarian and a family issue, she said on March 18. There is no such thing as an illegal human. During the town hall, she also claimed what President Donald Trump has done on the border is inhumane and intolerable. .@SenGillibrand: Immigration is not a security issue. It is an economic, and a humanitarian, and a family issue. #allin2020 #inners pic.twitter.com/i1GX68N9sl All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) March 19, 2019 Gillibrand formally launched her presidential campaign on March 17, with an announcement in a video posted on Twitter. The message concludes with an invitation to her kickoff campaign speech in front of the Trump International Tower in New York City on March 24. Most of the senators kickoff video targets Trump. The suggestively edited footage casts a negative light on the president that largely aligns with the attacks on him by establishment media outlets. In the video, the senator from New York embraces several socialist policy proposals, including universal health care and the Green New Deal. Gillibrand has co-sponsored both the Green New Deal resolution and the Medicare for All legislation in Congress, which are fervently promoted by both the Communist Party USA and the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist group in the United States. We launched ourselves into space and landed on the moon. If we can do that, we can definitely achieve universal health care, Gillibrand said in the video. We can provide paid family leave for all, end gun violence, pass a Green New Deal, get money out of politics, and take back our democracy. Gillibrand already has been campaigning in key states that hold early Democratic primary contests. In an average of public opinion polls tallied by Real Clear Politics, she has earned less than 1 percent support, far behind socialist Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), who is tied for the lead with Former Vice President Joe Biden at 26 percent. Gillibrand then won the seat in a special election and was re-elected to six-year terms in 2012 and 2018. She has attributed the ideology shift to representing a liberal state versus a more conservative district. She joins a crowded field of Democratic contenders. Former Rep. Robert Beto ORourke (D-Texas) announced his bid days before Gillibrand. All of the Democrats who have formally announced their candidacy and are polling above 1 percent have officially sponsored the socialist Green New Deal resolution, suggesting that the proposal is a litmus test for Democratic candidates. The Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report. Airbnb Murderer Goes to Prison Over Dispute on Unpaid Bill A Melbourne man was sentenced to 11 years behind bars on March 19 over a deadly dispute with an Airbnb guest about an unpaid bill. Jason Colton, 42, was found guilty of fatally bashing and choking to death an Airbnb guest over A$210 (US$149) owed to another man. Victim Ramis Jonuzi, 36, died on the front lawn of a Brighton East home where he had rented a room for 10 days back in October 2017. A Melbourne man with a violent criminal history has been jailed for 11 years for killing an Airbnb guest.https://t.co/PFQUTaDoXF Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) March 19, 2019 Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth ruled Colton, who was living in the garage, had instigated leasors Craig Levy and Ryan Smart to continuously assault Jonuzi until he died. Levy and Smart are already in jail for manslaughter over the attack and serving maximum 7.5- and 9.5-year sentences respectively. Jason Coltons housemates are already serving jail time after confessing to the manslaughter, which arose from a dispute concerning a $210 unpaid accommodation bill. #9Newshttps://t.co/HYN181bTuv Nine News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) March 19, 2019 Colton also pleaded guilty to manslaughter, though the plea was not accepted until prosecution evidence wrapped up in his murder trial earlier in March. Hollingworth ordered Colton to serve at least eight years before being eligible for parole, describing the attack as cowardly, vicious and unprovoked against what seemed to be a restrained and defenceless man who was just trying to flee the scene. A man who pleaded guilty over the fatal bashing of an Airbnb guest in Melbourne will spend at least eight years behind bars. #9Newshttps://t.co/5lKi71FQJf Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) March 19, 2019 The fight began when Colton participated in a rental dispute that was none of your business. You were by far the most physically violent and were involved for the longest time, Hollingworth said according to the Australian Associated Press, noting he could only have done so much damage with the help of Levy and Smart. Colton allegedly punched Jonuzi until he was unconscious before Levy and Smart carried the unconscious body outside and Colton dragged him around the front yard by the chin. With his knee on his victims back, Colton is believed to have choked Jonuzi, and later tried to have Levy hit the struggling man with a wrench. Levy refused and instead called the police. Jonuzi did not fight back, and posed no threat to any of you at any stage, Hollingworth said. Colton allegedly told police a pack of lies after the killing, accusing Jonuzi of being the primary aggressor and downplaying the nature and extent of the violence. A man who choked his housemate to death over unpaid rent has been called a disgraceful liar by a judge for trying to pin https://t.co/qhicOn2IqX NetworkofNews AUS (@NofNews_Aus) March 15, 2019 Police and paramedics failed to revive Jonuzi and he passed away. Hollingworth claimed Colton still called his victim a scumbag who deserved everything he got even after finding-out Jonuzi had died. In a pre-sentence hearing the assault on Jonuzi, it became clear this was not Coltons first violent attack on a housemate. He previously served three months of a five-month jail sentence in Norway during 2013 for hitting a man in the head and holding him by the throat while he slept in one of several attacks after they argued about living arrangements. Airbnb killer spent time in Norwegian jail after he bashed housemate https://t.co/UBfPYNRBqt Move2Sydney (@movetosydney) March 19, 2019 Hollingworth said Colton had reasonable prospects of rehabilitation and noted he showed some signs of remorse, though fell short of full responsibility or acknowledging he had anger management issues. The Australian Associated Press contributed to this article. A Taiwan destroyer launches a surface to air missile during exercises meant to simulate an attack by China, near the east coast of Taiwan on Sept. 26, 2013. The Trump administration has recently taken steps to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan militaries. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images) Assuring Taiwan Includes Nuclear Signaling Again In lieu of formal state-to-state relations with Taiwan, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of the U.S. Congress has for forty years provided a flexible framework for the United States to sustain economic, political, and military relations with one of Asias most vibrant democracies. Taiwan is a valuable democratic partner that was a Mutual Defense Treaty ally until the end of 1978, and the TRA is not an alliance. But under the TRAs aegis, the United States can pursue its interest in Taiwan having the military capabilities needed to deter attack from Communist China. While China demanded that the United States end its formal relations with Taiwan in order to have normal relations with Beijing, the TRA makes clear that the U.S. decision to establish diplomatic relations with China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means. Under the previous Mutual Defense Treaty, the United States at times had to come to Taiwans aid. In 1958, during a Taiwan Strait crisis which included massive artillery shelling and aerial combat, the U.S. Air Force briefly deployed 20 kiloton nuclear warhead armed MGM-1 Matador cruise missiles to Taiwan. Back then, nuclear deterrence worked and China did not invade. This incident confirmed Nikita Khrushchevs fears that Mao Zedong could drag the Soviet Union into a nuclear war, and thus sped the dissolution of the first Sino-Soviet alliance in 1960. American nuclear cruise missiles were withdrawn from Taiwan by 1962. Since 1979, successive U.S. administrations have sought to use the TRA to arm Taiwan to deter Chinese attack, but some have also sought to limit Taiwans military capabilities to avoid provoking Beijing. The Carter and Reagan administrations did not sell Taiwan advanced fighters, especially eschewing the 4th generation Lockheed-Martin F-16. George H.W. Bush decided to do just that in 1992, in part responding to Chinas purchase of Russian 4th generation Su-27 fighters. No U.S. President has sold Taiwan what the State Department would consider offensive weapons, like long-range land-attack missiles. But after 40 years the TRA framework is facing its greatest challenge, not from Taiwan, which has managed a full transition to democracy, but from China which is again nearly able to invade the island as its first conquest on the way to global hegemony. Analysts now speculate that China could be planning to actually invade Taiwan by the early to mid-2020s. Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has the means to invade Taiwan, and is implementing reforms aiming to increase modern joint force capabilities. For almost two years the PLA has conducted threatening military exercises around Taiwan, both to intimidate the people of Taiwan and the region, and to train its own forces for war. Furthermore, the PLAs space attack, missile, air, and naval forces are now designed to defeat U.S. forces coming to Taiwans aid. Developing China-Russia military cooperation could include Russian military assistance to help China win on the Taiwan Strait. To meet this challenge, both the Obama and the Trump administrations have successfully urged Taiwan to adopt a new counter-invasion strategy which stresses asymmetric responses to exploit the weaknesses of Chinas invasion strategy. Reflecting the gravity of the Chinese threat, the Trump administration recently has also reintroduced nuclear signaling. On Feb. 26, the Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony from the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) Commander General John Hyten, the military commander of U.S. nuclear forces. In his testimony, General Hyten listed Taiwan among the countries from which his command had met senior leaders, as part of USSTRATCOMs effort to assure allies and partners. General Hyten did not say who was met from Taiwan or what was discussed, and such a meeting does not imply any U.S. commitment. However, it does convey a clear signal to China: The United States has the option to use all of its military capabilities, including its nuclear weapons, to deter a Chinese attack against Taiwan. Washington must now act to make such gestures more credible. In 2010, President Barack Obama destroyed the last possible U.S. nuclear-armed theater range missile, a nuclear-armed version of the Tomahawk cruise missile the U.S. Navy was keeping in storage. In much-needed contrast, President Trump is now strengthening nuclear deterrence. He dumped the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty which Russia was violating and he has put the United States back in the missile business. The U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army are currently working on respective new theater-range ballistic and cruise missile programs, some of which could be nuclear-armed. In three-to-five years, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran may be thinking more carefully about possible aggression. But there is also much work for Taiwan. It must continue to increase its defense spending, and to prepare for real war by building ammunition stocks and exercising its 1.2 million army reserves. Washington should also update old policies so as to help Taiwan and other allies develop long-range land attack missiles. So far this year, China has rejected suggestions from President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that it join a new INF Treaty. Perhaps when Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have long-range missiles capable of sinking Chinese invasion forces, Beijing will reconsider. Until then, President Trumps path holds the best chance for preserving peace in Asia and securing American interests codified in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Rick Fisher is a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center and this piece is based on an article published previously by the Geostrategy-Direct newsletter. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. NOVATO, Calif., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Accelitas, Inc., a leading provider of AI-powered credit risk and identity intelligence services that enable lenders to say yes to more good customers, today announced that the company has expanded its executive team, appointing Mark Smith as Senior Vice President, Product Development, and Scott Mullins as Senior Vice President, Marketing. Smith has over 20 years experience delivering product solutions to corporate and government customers. He has an extensive background in finance, operations, and IT management including work in IT consulting, software application development, and IT support for public sector companies and utilities. For over 20 years, he worked in management roles involved in planning, implementation, IT infrastructure, software deployment, and managed services for ERP applications. Most recently, he served for three years as director of government solutions for First Data, a role that gave him an opportunity to work on initiatives leveraging artificial intelligence (AI). Its obvious to me that Accelitas has the AI expertise and the data it needs to solve critical problems in lending, said Smith. At First Data, I had the opportunity to see how AI could be applied to specific use cases in the Fintech market. Accelitas, with its expertise, uncorrelated alternative data, and commitment to working closely with customers is in an excellent position to solve pressing problems in the financial services industryproblems that larger, less agile competitors will have trouble addressing. Mullins has been building iconic global brands through integrated communications for more than 20 years. His diverse category experience and strategic leadership has contributed to the growth of some of the worlds most recognizable companies like Adobe, Samsung, HP and Intel. His experience building and activating brands across the customer journey has successfully launched companies, products, technologies, and worthy causes. In his role as SVP, Marketing, Mullins will oversee all aspects of Accelitas marketing, including branding, messaging, go-to-market strategies, and lead generation. Im excited to be joining this seasoned team and working to transform the credit risk market to enable lenders to identify more creditworthy borrowers, said Mullins. In this tightening credit market, lenders need every advantage they can find to continue growing profits while minimizing risks. The thin-file and no-file market comprises about 70 million consumers, but traditional screening services overlook the creditworthiness of these Americans. The Accelitas team has developed unique technology for solving this problem, combining predictive AI analytics and alternative data. Its exactly what the credit risk market needs, and I look forward to helping lenders discover and take advantage of this exciting solution. Scott and Mark bring a wealth of experience to the Accelitas team, said Greg Cote, Accelitas co-founder and CEO. Their insights and expertise will help us bring our predictive analytics solutions to market more quickly and effectively, helping lenders say yes to more profitable accounts, even for thin-file and no-file consumers. In addition to expanding its executive team, the company has also recently moved to a new office at 201 1st Street, Suite 300, in downtown Petaluma, California. To learn more about Accelitas and its Accelerated Insight Platform, visit www.accelitas.com . About Accelitas Accelitas provides AI-powered credit risk and identity intelligence services that enable fast, fair, and frictionless access to more customers. Our Accelerated Insight platform delivers a real-time Credit Risk Web Service called AI Lift that leverages alternative data to identify and accept up to 20-30% more creditworthy borrowers that traditional screening services miss. The resulting increase in acceptance rates and decrease in rejection rates, FPD, and charge offs help lenders grow profitable accounts while minimizing risk. Accelitas is a trademark and Accelerated Insight is a registered trademark of Accelitas, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders. Media Contact: Scott Mullins Accelitas, Inc. 1 (415) 637-0255 (mobile) smullins@accelitas.com FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, March 1, 2019. REUTERS/Staff Auto Rally Powers European Stocks to Near Six-Month Peak European shares were on course for a fifth day of gains on March 19, powered by a strong rally in automakers after Peugeot suggested Fiat Chrysler was among the options for a merger, and as Bank of America Merrill Lynch talked up stocks in the sector. The STOXX 600 autos & suppliers sector index jumped 2.4 percent to post their biggest one-day gain in more than three months, helping the benchmark STOXX 600 climb 0.6 percent and scale a near six-month peak. The rally was also spurred by investor anticipation of a more accommodative Federal Reserve, as well as some likely short covering as fund managers named bearish bets in European equities as the most crowded trade for the first time. There is likely to be some short covering today given that sentiment across the world is positive in stocks and some traders have been viewing the poor economic indicators of the eurozone as justification for shorting the eurozone, said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. Madden said the Fed was likely to maintain its data-driven policy approach. This would follow moves by the European Central Bank two weeks ago to reloosen policy and pump more money into the financial system, offering hope of a continuation of stock market gains. The auto index was boosted by a 5 percent jump in Fiat Chrysler after the president of Peugeot family holding company suggested that it was among the options for a merger, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch recommending contrarian investors buy select carmakers. Daimler, Volkswagen, and Porsche were among BAMLs top picks, helping German stocks stage a rebound from Mondays fall to a five-month high and lead gains in the region. The merger talk took the respective country indexs higher. Shares of Fiat Chrysler were among the top three gainers on the benchmark STOXX index. Retail and basic resources stocks were also particularly strong, while bank stocks handed back early losses to trade up 0.15 percent. Scandal-hit Danske Bank fell more than 5.6 percent in the aftermath of a vote by shareholders against a proposal to break up the bank. New Vote Brexit news pointed to a delay in efforts by British Prime Minister Theresa May to get her divorce deal through parliament. The speaker of parliament on March 18 ruled May could not put her deal to a new vote unless it was re-submitted in a fundamentally different form. May is due at an EU summit in Brussels on March 21 at which she will ask for a delay to Britains planned departure from the bloc on March 29. We still dont see a Hard Brexit over the coming weeks or so. Its already been highlighted that there are quick fixes around what was presented earlier. Focus will be on Brussels and what comes out of the meeting there, said Geoffrey Yu, head of UK investment office at UBS Wealth Management. Londons FTSE 100, packed with international companies that benefit from a weaker British pound, rose 0.4 percent, boosted by oil majors and miners. Online supermarket Ocado climbed to a record high after posting strong gains in first-quarter retail sales despite a fire at its flagship distribution center. Luxury stocks got a lift from positive trade surplus data from Switzerland, with the retail index gaining nearly 1 percent. French telecoms operator Iliad dropped almost 3 percent after the company cut its cash flow target for 2020 in France and added it was considering the sale of part of its mobile assets. By Susan Mathew Rev. Al Sharpton (L), and former Vice President Joe Biden during the National Action Network Breakfast on Jan. 21, 2019, in Washington. (Al Drago/Getty Images) Biden Tells Supporters He Plans to Run for President Former Vice President Joe Biden called six of his supporters on March 19, told them he is running for president, and asked them to line up major donors so he can quickly rake in millions in contributions, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Biden told the supporters that he wont be able to quickly raise enough contributions from small donors to outpace socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Texas Rep. Robert Beto ORourke, both of whom raised hefty sums in the 24 hours following their formal 2020 bid announcements. Sanders raised $5.9 million in the 24 hours following his announcement on Feb. 19. ORourke reported raising $6.1 after announcing his bid on March 14. Biden wants to outpace ORourke and Sanders in what some call the money primary to enhance his standing. In an average of early 2020 Democratic primary polls tallied by Real Clear Politics, Biden is polling ahead of 14 Democrats who have formally announced 2020 bids. He is 8 points ahead of Sanders and 23 points ahead of ORourke. Bidens strategist, Steve Ricchetti, has been telling Democrats and would-be candidates that Biden is 95 percent likely to enter the race, The New York Times reported on March 7. Biden made a verbal slip during a speech at a Delaware Democratic Party dinner, saying I have the most progressive record of anybody running for theanybody who would run. The slip earned him a jab from President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election in 2020. Joe Biden got tongue-tied over the weekend when he was unable to properly deliver a very simple line about his decision to run for President, Trump wrote on Twitter on March 18. Get used to it, another low I.Q. individual! Biden quickly corrected himself after the verbal slip, clarifying that he meant to say anybody who would run, then added, I didnt mean it. The Democratic primary field is crowded with far-left candidates embracing the socialist Green New Deal and Medicare for All policies. Bidens stance on either policy is unknown, but he will likely be asked about both once he begins the media circuit after announcing his bid. Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He served as a senator representing Delaware from 1973 to 2009 when he was elected as vice president on a ticket with Barack Obama. Trump said in a 2018 interview that he especially hoped to run against Biden in 2020. I dream about Biden. Thats a dream, Trump said. Look, Joe Biden ran three times. He never got more than 1 percent and President Obama took him out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did. Id love to have it be Biden. Biden failed to develop a strong base of political support in his two previous presidential runs, dropping out of the race both times. If he were to be elected, he would be 78 years old when taking office, which would make him the oldest president-elect in U.S. history. Biden has been a frequent critic of Trump, and both have shot barbed words at each other during the last two years. During his speech to Delaware Democrats, Biden repeatedly attacked Trump and accused him of stoking division. Biden also bemoaned how the rising new left of his own party had criticized him for being cordial to Republicans. Bowen Xiao contributed to this report. File Photo: Hundreds of illegal immigrants are apprehended in Texas. Most are families and unaccompanied minors from Central America. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) Border Agents Snag Over 400 Illegals In Span of 5 Minutes Border patrol agents in Texas apprehended over 400 illegal aliens in the span of just five minutes. U.S. Border Patrol agents working in El Paso apprehended two large groups of illegal immigrants consisting of over 400 people within five minutes, said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a statement. CPB said agents near the wall just west of Bowie High School in El Paso came across a group of 194 illegals around 2:45 a.m. on March 19. Just five minutes later, agents apprehended a second group of 245 individuals near downtown El Paso. These groups, like many others before, are comprised primarily of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles, CBP said. Officials added that, all told, more than 430 people had been taken in near the El Paso Sector Border Patrol. These numbers continue to stretch the resources available to the U.S. Border Patrol to deal with this influx and the challenges that come with it, CBP officials said. The El Paso port of entry averages 570 apprehensions each day. Illegal Border Crossings Could Hit 1 Million According to earlier Epoch Times reporting, illegal border crossings are on track to reach nearly a million this year. In February alone, 66,000 people crossed the border illegally, according to border patrol. An additional 10,000 were detained after presenting at a port of entry without proper paperwork. Large groups of more than 100 migrants crossing the border illegally are a new trend. More than 70 such large groups have been apprehended by Border Patrol so far this fiscal yearcompared to 13 such large groups in all of fiscal 2018. Million Illegals Ordered Deported May Wait Years for Removal There were more than a million illegal aliens with final orders of removal in the country as of June 2, 2018, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), an anti-mass-migration advocacy law firm. While there are at least 11 million, and perhaps many more, illegal immigrants in the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only arrests and deports a small percentage of themless than 260,000 people in fiscal 2018 (pdf). This means even when a person is ordered to be deported, it would still take ICE about four years, on average, to actually remove that person from the United States. Pentagon Finds $12.8 Billion for Border Wall The Department of Defense has identified $12.8 billion in funds from projects that can be reallocated to the construction of the U.S.Mexico border wall. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) released a spreadsheet from the Pentagon on March 18 that lists military construction projects from which funds can be taken for the construction of a border wall. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the southwest border in February and ordered the Pentagon to shift $3.6 billion from the military construction budget to build the wall. The Pentagon list represents an initial step in the vetting process to decide which projects funds might be tapped for the wall. Congress passed a resolution last week to end Trumps emergency declaration, but the president issued his first veto to block it. A dozen Republican senators defied Trump on the termination vote. The declaration also faces legal challenges, though the White House is confident it will prevail. Trump declared a national emergency after Democrats in Congress blocked all efforts to approve $5.7 billion for a border wall requested by the Department of Homeland Security. Congress appropriated $1.4 billion for border wall constructionfar short of Trumps request. In addition to shifting $3.6 billion by using the emergency declaration, Trump ordered the reallocation of an additional $3.1 billion from the Treasury and Defense departments, which did not require an emergency declaration. Epoch Times staff writers Charlotte Cuthbertson, Ivan Pentchoukov, and Peter Svab contributed to this report. A Google Maps photo shows the "Flintstones house" on 45 Berryessa Way in Hillsborough, California (Google Street View) California City Sues Woman Over Eyesore Flintstones House The owner of a Flintstones housea home that was designed to look like the famed cartoonwas sued by the city of Hillsborough, California. The house is owned by Florence Fang, a media mogul who founded the San Francisco Examiner and who is in her 80s, and she bought the home in 2017 for $2.8 million, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. The home features dinosaurs, Flintstones characters, and a sign with the words, Yabba Dabba Doo. Its located in an affluent part of San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is suing her over gaudy outdoor decorations and other work, including a herd of large dinosaur sculptures and the sign, the Chronicle reported. The Chronicle noted that the home, built in the 1970s, is located on a hillside at 45 Berryessa Way thats visible from Interstate 280 and it overlooks Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir. Bay Area architect William Nicholson built the home by using a steel frame and spray-on concrete. But Fang modified the home, including a retaining wall, columns, gates, a deck, steps, and a parking area, according to Hillsborough city attorney Mark Hudak, who claimed the improvements created live-safety hazards that required immediate correction to protect visitors to the property. Fang, he said, made the modifications without getting building permits or planning approvals except for a very limited permit for a low wall in the front of the property. Recognizable for its bright hues and bulbous shape, views of the Flintstone House from Interstate 280 have captured the imaginations of many who have passed by the Hillsborough home for years. San Mateo Daily Journal 2019315 The lawsuit also said that it a highly visible eyesore and are out of keeping with community standards, The Guardian reported. The San Mateo Daily Journal reported that she received three stop orders from the citys building department and was fined $200 for new landscaping additions. City officials contend that those additions were designed to be very intrusive, resulting in the owners vision for her property being imposed on many other properties and views, without regard to the desires of other residents. Fang paid the penalty, but she didnt remove the additions, prompting the lawsuit, according to the paper. They ordered that she remove all of her figurines and that she correct other code violations, Hudak said. We expect that the court will uphold this decision and order her to comply with the panels decision. In a statement to USA Today, Fangs grandson, Sean, said the family will fight to save the home. I think the dinosaurs are beautiful. They make everyone smile and should stay, Sean Fang said. Owner of California Flintstones house vows to fight to save it: I think the dinosaurs are beautiful, says son https://t.co/ZktIdSt3ye pic.twitter.com/aDtAao0P7T Newsweek (@Newsweek) March 19, 2019 According to ABC7 in San Francisco, Fangs lawyers have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit. Fate of Simpsons House in Nevada Builders once made an exact replica of the home featured in The Simpsons cartoon in Henderson, Nevada, in 1997. Fox commissioned the building of the home and made it the grand prize for a Simpsons fan. The winner of the contest, however, didnt want the replica and instead went with a $75,000 cash prize because the home was too far away from her family farm. According to The AV Club, the home now looks like any other house. Doh! Daily Mail 20131221 In a DVD commentary, Simpsons creator Matt Groening suggested the place be blown up on live television, but in reality the house simply became a piece of commercial real estate, it says. California Woman Scammed out of $273,000 by Fake Internet Boyfriend: Report A California woman said she was scammed out of $273,000 by a man who posed as a U.S. Marine Corps Major on a dating website. The 56-year-old Oakland woman, identified as Yin, told ABC7 that she had no time for a social life as she worked as a hairstylist and cared for her elderly mother. I never talk about mention about meeting new guy at work because Im a shy person (sic), said Yin. Yin went on March.com and bought a six-month membership. She met someone named David Perez, who claimed to be a Marine Corps Major and a divorced father, from San Francisco. Do you know this U.S. Marine? His pictures have been used to scam an Oakland woman out of her life savings, after she used a popular dating site. Im working on the story. #ABC7now pic.twitter.com/EcksYJongb Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 18, 2019 They had exchanged photos and even texted. At one point, Perez said he was deployed in Afghanistan. I fell in love with him quickly, you know, Yin told ABC7 via ABC11. Like really deeply fall in love with him, trust in everything he said. Yin showed the local news station a text message from him, which said, Today was just an ordinary day until I thought of you and suddenly everything, everywhere became extraordinary. He also wrote, according to the text she had received, We have to keep our relationship between us ok. Promise me that. Because most friends could be jealous. She answered him with: Sure! I promise. Im preparing a special report later today about scam artists. Have you lost money to a scam? Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 18, 2019 After about five weeks, he tried to scam her for money. He told her that he is on a secret mission in Afghanistan and needs money quickly. I know youre doing everything to help me, but I just want you to try your best, he told her at one point. I was so nervous shaking, I did not know what to do, Yin told the ABC affiliate. I told him, he said dont worry, dont worry, you know dont cry. An extreme case of #catfishing has cost an Oakland hair stylist her life savings. The scammer used a U.S. Marines photographs, and she respected and trusted the military. Finishing up the investigation for tonight. #ABC7now pic.twitter.com/tC171lpI22 Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 19, 2019 Yin then sent money to someone she never met. According to ABC7, she sent $273,000 over quarter of million dollars. Kerry OBrien with the Federal Trade Commissions Western Region told the I-Team that she isnt alone. Talk to your friends and family about your relationship, said OBrien in the report. If theyre suspicious, you know, you probably should be too, but the main thing is dont be embarrassed if you fall victim to this type of scam. These people are really good at what they do. Yin used most of the cash from a Chase Bank account, and, according to ABC7, there isnt much they can do. This particular case is difficult because the customer confirmed and willingly made the transactions. This is why we urge customers to only send money to people they know and trust. We will continue to look into any and all options, she said. Yin realized what was happening when she said he would meet her at a birthday dinner at a restaurant. He never came, she said. He said he was in the, in the restaurant waiting for me, Yin told the station. I went there, I couldnt see him, thats why I said a, you know, its probably a scam. The scammed California woman then told Match.com that she lost her life savings to a scam artist. They then deleted the David Perez account and refunded her money, which amounted to about $107. She filed a complaint with the FBI several months ago, but she hasnt gotten any word back from them. Catfishing According to Digital Trends, at the end of Catfish, the documentary, the term catfishing was coined. The narrator says, They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. Theyd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the catfish because we would be droll, boring and dull if we didnt have somebody nipping at our fin. In this April 24, 2016 photo, a medical staff member collects an egg on a laboratory dish during an infertility treatment through in vitro fertilization (IVF) for a patient at a hospital in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Chinese Student Sells 29 of Her Eggs to Illegal Fertility Agencies to Repay $9,000 Debt A Chinese university student has revealed how she sold 29 of her eggs to illegal fertility agencies to repay a US$9,000 debt. The student from Wuhan, Hubei province, who requested anonymity, described how she underwent two surgical procedures in a voice recording provided to Chinas state-run media outlet, The Paper. For each procedure, she was given drugs over 10 days to stimulate her ovaries before the eggs were removed in a procedure conducted without anesthesia. The first time I felt like I was dying. The second time was alright, said the student. The student said these agencies place a strong emphasis on whether the women are healthy, their height, appearance, and academic performance. The first time I think 24 of them [the eggs] matured, and they removed 17. The second time in Wuhan not as many maturedI think it was 15. In the end they removed 12. A woman naturally produces one egg each month. Taking fertility drugs carries a wide range of health complications including increased risk of miscarriage, nausea and unstable moods. According to the student, these procedures were not performed in hospitals; illegal agencies have their own private operating theaters and offices. In addition, some girls traveled to Thailand to undergo these procedures, where anesthesia is provided. We arent allowed to bring mobile phones into the facility. We cant bring anything. We have to undergo checkups every day, she said. It is illegal in China for medical practitioners to perform surrogacy procedures, and for women to sell their eggs. On March 19, a staff member of the Party Committee Propaganda Department at the Central China Normal University told The Paper that advertisements from illegal agencies aimed at cash-strapped college students were found on campus. While the university has removed these advertisements whenever they are reported, and lecturers have advised students away from these activities, entirely ridding the campus of these advertisements has been an exercise in futility. The staff member pointed out that the open campus makes it easy for advertisers to enter and place their materials in the school grounds. Colombian Proposal to Ditch NY Coffee Price May Send Buyers Elsewhere NEW YORK/BOGOTAA proposal by Colombian coffee growers federation that producer countries sell their high-quality harvests untethered from the New York market price could encourage buyers to look for alternative providers, importers and exporters said. The federation in late February said it would discuss a possible unlinking from the New York benchmark price with other producers of high-quality arabica and buyers in an effort to sell coffee above production costs. Prices on the New York market have hovered at or below $1 per pound so far in 2019. Last week, the most-active ICE arabica futures contract bottomed at a 13-year low of 94.65 cents per pound. Brazil harvested a record-large coffee crop last year and is on track to produce another massive harvest this crop year, despite it being the off-year in its biennial production cycle. Colombia, which prices much of its coffee at a differential to futures, is proposing an unlinking that would set its prices between $1.40 and $1.50 per pound. The Colombian federation is already beginning discussions with other producers, it said. But despite the proposals popularity with struggling growers, an alternative price could have buyers looking elsewhere. There was a time a while ago, when Colombia was so far above everyone else, quality-wise, said Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors, a Florida-based futures brokerage and research firm specializing in agricultural commodities. Nowadays, theres some really good quality in Brazil, really good quality in Central America, in Africa. Past Efforts Colombias federation has long made the case to large buyers that it is in their interest to ensure producers earn a profit. Colombian farmers need to make 760,000 pesos ($245.84) per 125-kg (275-lb) shipment on the domestic market to meet production costs, the federation has said. Prices were at 692,000 pesos per shipment on March 18. Coffee price cartels have been attempted before, but failed. An effort in 2000 to get coffee producers to hold back 20 percent of output until prices climbed to $1.05 per pound was scrapped after just a few producer countriesincluding Colombiaagreed to participate. The higher the target price, the greater the incentive for those outside a price agreement to increase output, a United Nations report on the effort said. Successful control of coffee prices will also require the participation of importers, who have largely ignored requests to pay more, despite warnings that farmers will switch crops if they cannot turn a profit. Due to slumping prices and delays in certifying organic beans, coffee producers in Peru, for example, have been seen abandoning their crop to work on plantations that grow coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, the federation there said recently. In 2013, some Colombian farmers even floated switching from arabica coffeewhich is a smoother-tasting, more expensive beanto the cheaper-to-grow robusta, which is used more in instant coffee. If the spread between the market and the prices that the Colombian exporters are trying to charge gets big enough, you will probably see a lot of people switch over to other origins, said a U.S. importer. People will become less dependent upon Colombian coffee. Colombian exporters agree. I dont think the proposal is realistic, said Giancarlo Ghiretti, of specialty exporter Caravela Coffee. Selling large amounts of coffee outside of the market is difficult and risky. Large buyers will look to replace Colombia with other origins. The U.S. National Coffee Association said its members, who include major chains Starbucks and Peets Coffee & Tea, agree growth requires stability for farmers, but price controls are generally unsuccessful. While the pressure to find quick economic fixes is understandable due to current market dynamics, history shows that policies designed to control price ultimately hurt those they are meant to protect, the industry groups president Bill Murray said in an email. Colombia produced 13.6 million 60-kg bags of washed arabica last year, more than any other country but down 4.5 percent from 2017. Dry weather is expected to help the crop recover this year. By Julia Symmes Cobb & Ayenat Mersie Danish Telecom Operator TDC Selects Ericsson Over Huawei for 5G Network Denmarks biggest telecommunication provider has announced that it will not use Chinese tech giant Huawei to build its 5G network. TDC Group, which is headquartered in Copenhagen, announced it has chosen Swedish firm Ericsson over Huawei for the construction of its 5G infrastructure, according to a March 19 article by Danish newspaper The Copenhagen Post. TDC didnt provide a reason for not choosing Huawei in its press release that announced the decision on March 18. The partnership with Ericsson will begin April 1 and will run until the end of 2024. The mobile operator expects to officially roll out 5G services nationwide by the end of 2020. As part of the deal, Ericsson will also update TDCs current 4G networks. TDCs current 4G network is managed in part by Huawei, which signed a six-year, $727 billion contract with the Danish firm in September 2013, according to online news site ScandAsia. 5G is the next generation of wireless mobile communications technology and is considered key to revolutionizing many industries, including transportation, health care, and manufacturing. For example, smart manufacturing, which relies on industrial robots to produce goods in automated factories, would require 5G connectivity, since the signal delay with 4G would result in too slow of a response time for the robots. While speaking to Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), TDC Group President and CEO Allison Kirby said the decision to pick Ericsson over Huawei was based on purely business considerations. However, Kirby added that her company had been in continuous dialogue with Danish security services, since the firm runs critical infrastructure. According to DR, Danish Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen previously voiced security concerns about Huaweis equipment because of the Chinese tech giants close ties with Beijing. In response to TDCs decision, Lisbeth Bech Poulsen, a member of the Danish Parliament, stated that she was pleased with the decision, as safety is the most important thing, according to another DR article. She added that Huawei, as a Chinese company, is committed by [Chinese] law to cooperate with intelligence agencies in China. Beijing has a number of regulations in place, as well as broad powers, to demand that Chinese companies hand over customer data. For example, the National Security Law passed in June 2017 requests that any organization and citizen should support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence work, and keep secret any such work known to them. Carsten Nielsen, a tech analyst at DR, explained that TDC probably paid more to partner with Ericsson than if it had selected Huawei instead, according to another DR article. Nielsen elaborated that Huawei has the support of Beijing, which subsidizes the companys research and development, allowing the firm to provide 5G services at cheaper prices. However, the Danish analyst believed it was fair to pay a higher price for Denmarks security. Danish newspaper Dagbladet Information, in an editorial published March 20, said that it was a good decision to keep Chinese companies away from Denmarks critical infrastructure because China is not an ally, and that many of Chinas interests are fundamentally different from Denmarks. Other Danish telecom providers, specifically Telia, Telenor, and Three, will soon have to choose their 5G partners. According to Dagbladet Information, Telia and Telenor seemed to engage with Finnish telecom firm Nokia, while Three has carried out 5G tests with Huawei. Three is owned by Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Holdings, which is controlled by Hong Kongs richest man Li Ka-Shing. Three also provides its mobile services in Indonesia, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, among other countries. Dagbladet Information asked pointedly whether Li and his son would be able to see reason in staying away from a Chinese [5G] supplier. In December 2018, The Telegraph reported that Three was in close contact with the UK government after British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson voiced concerns about Huaweis role in the countrys 5G network. In June 2018, Three inked a 2 billion pound ($2.6 billion) deal with Huawei to build its 5G network in the UK. Security concerns involving Huawei in the UK was also raised in a February 2019 report written by think tank Royal United Services Institute. Allowing Huaweis participation is at best naive, at worst irresponsible, the report warned. Outside view of the Deutsche Bank and the Commerzbank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski Deutsche Bank Merger Talks With Commerzbank Raise Job Fears, Lift Shares BERLIN/FRANKFURTDeutsche Bank and Commerzbank faced concerns from workers unions, Chancellor Angela Merkels office and top shareholders on March 18 after confirming merger talks. Combining Germanys two largest banks could result in 30,000 job losses, a union warned, prompting Merkels chief of staff to say the government was scrutinizing the issue. The concerns underline the obstacles to combining the banks, which confirmed talks about a tie-up on March 17 following months of pressure from Berlin, which has pushed for a deal amid concerns about the health of Deutsche Bank, which has struggled to sustain profits since the 2008 financial crisis. Chancellery Chief Helge Braun told Bild newspaper that it would be difficult if thousands of jobs would be cut, warning that the government was never passive when it comes to deals of such magnitude. Together the two banks employ 140,000 people worldwide, 91,700 at Deutsche and 49,000 at Commerzbank and a merged bank would have one-fifth of the German retail banking market. Despite the worries about jobs, the market reaction to news that the two banks were engaged in talks, which ended months of speculation, was positive. The supervisory boards of both banks are due to meet on March 21, with the merger likely to top the agenda. However, two top shareholders in Deutsche Bank expressed their disapproval, with one questioning not only the logic but also the timing of a deal. There is no obvious reason why these two banks should be merged, a person close to another shareholder said. And while international credit ratings agency Standard & Poors, which downgraded Deutsche Bank last year, said a well-executed merger could reap efficiencies, it warned a deal would entail significant uncertainties and risks. In addition to regulatory and antitrust risks, an effort to merge would mean several more years of significant internal restructuring, while competitors move forward. The banks have patchy track records in executing strategic programs, S&P said. Jobs Hurdle Berlin, which holds a stake of more than 15 percent in Commerzbank following a bailout, wants a national banking champion to support its export-led economy, best known for cars and machine tools. However, the jobs impact could be a major hurdle. A merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank could result in as many as 30,000 job cuts over the long term, a representative of German union Verdi, who is a supervisory board member at Deutsche Bank, told n-tv broadcaster. Most of the 30,000 positions at risk are based in Germany, with 10,00 at threat in the short term, Verdis Jan Duscheck said in comments published by the TV station. A possible merger would not result in a business model that is sustainable in the long term, Duscheck said. By Andreas Framke & Tom Sims Flowers are placed at the site of a shooting in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on March 19, 2019. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters) Dutch Shooting: Letter Suggests Possible Terrorist Motive Authorities in the Netherlands are investigating the possibility that there was a terrorist motive behind the killing of three people on a tram on March 18. Prosecutors said that they found a letter in the car used to escape by suspect Gokmen Tanis. The 37-year-old Turkish-born man was arrested after a 7-hour manhunt in the city of Utrecht. Two other suspects aged 23 and 27 have also been arrested, police said, but it is unknown what part they may have played in the shootings. Up to this point, a terrorist motive is seriously being considered, prosecutors said in a statement, citing the nature of the shooting and a letter found in the getaway car. However, Tanis may have been motivated by personal reasons, not politics, police said. Other motives are not being ruled out, they said in the statement. Tanis had a known criminal history, according to local broadcaster RTV Utrecht, including a shooting incident in 2013. He was detained earlier this month on suspicion of rape but was released on March 1, the Utrecht District Court said in a statement. Tanis is due to face the rape charge in July, the court said. Dutch law stipulates that he be brought before a judge by Thursday, March 21 but does not necessarily have to be charged. One local businessman told BBC Turkish that Tanis had in the past fought in the Russian republic of Chechnya, a well-known jihadist haven. He was arrested because of his connections with [the ISIS terrorist group] but released later, the businessman said, according to the BBC. Prosecutors are yet to find a link between the victims, a 19-year-old woman and two men aged 28 and 49, and Tanis. Three other people were critically injured in the shooting, which took place in a quiet residential neighborhood known for its sizable immigrant community. Mahmut Tanis, an uncle of the suspect who lives in the Netherlands, told Turkish media that he doubted Tanis had a terrorist motive. Looking at my nephews condition, the possibility that what he did was a terror attack is low, he said, according to Reuters, but added that he had not seen him in years. Utrecht is a picturesque city with around 340,000 residents. It went into lockdown following the shooting. Mosques, schools, and local universities were evacuated, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte convening crisis talks. Flags flew at half mast across the Netherlands on March 19 as a tribute to the victims, and many people came to lay flowers at the site of the attack in Utrechts 24 Oktoberplein. Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Drug Discovery and Therapy World Congress 2019 - Corporate" conference has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This conference will host leading scientists from the academia and industry worldwide, to discuss the latest developments in drug discovery and therapy and promises to be a large event with up to 400 lectures in 45 thematic sessions with an allied poster presentation. At the 2019 congress, the major topics of discussion related to drug, discovery and therapy will include: Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Translational Medicine, Regenerative Medicine, Enabling Technologies, Structural Biology, Drug Delivery & Targeting, Antiinfectives, Biologics, CNS Drug Discovery & Therapy, Diabetes and Obesity Drug Discovery & Therapy, Women's Health Drug Discovery & Therapy, Drug Discovery in Preclinical Research, Cardiovascular Drug Discovery & Therapy, Oncology, Process Chemistry and Drug Manufacturing, Pulmonary Drug Discovery & Therapy, Recent Advances in Patient Treatment and Care, Inflammation and Immunology, Innovative Drug Discovery and Nanotechnology, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Pharmacogenomics, Protein and Peptide Sciences, Drug Metabolism, Hot Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, Medical Imaging, Hot Topics in HIV Research, In-silico Drug Design and in-silico screening, Combinatorial Chemistry, High-throughput Screening & Laboratory automation, Hot Topics in Drug Targets, Hot Topics in Natural Products, Stereoselective Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds, Recent Advances in Spectroscopy, Academic CRO/Industrial collaborations in drug discovery. The conference aims to provide many interesting perspectives on how science and technology of drug discovery and drug therapy are changing rapidly, thereby providing new opportunities and challenges to scientists and medical doctors. This unique international conference will provide a platform for all pharmaceutical scientists, internists and primary care physicians to discuss important international breakthroughs in drug discovery and new therapeutics. The focus of the conference will be on the interdisciplinary fields of drug discovery, drug therapy and translational medicine. A similar series of conferences have been held by the organizers in the UAE over the last several years. These events have been highly successful and many top international scientists, including over 22 Nobel Laureates, have presented their work. Throughout the course of the three day conference, you will get an exclusive opportunity to network and be involved in inspiring and interesting discussions of scientists and researchers from the international pharmaceutical, academic and clinical communities. Benefits of Attending Exchange ideas and network with leading pharmaceutical scientists and clinicians. Brings together top international scientists and clinicians presenting cutting-edge discoveries, research and new therapeutic drugs. This conference aims to span the interdisciplinary fields of pre-clinical and clinical drug discovery and drug therapy and to highlight the burgeoning fields of Translational Medicine - and the major advances from "bench to bedside" research and practice. Participants can gain direct access to a core audience of professionals and decision makers and can increase visibility through branding and networking at the conference. Obtain a global roundup of Pharmaceutical research capabilities and opportunities. Who Should Attend: The conference will appeal to a targeted group of scientists and senior international decision makers. Delegates will have a valuable, informative and positive experience. Pharmaceutical scientists Clinicians/Doctors CEOs, CROs, senior instrumental professionals directors and research associates from the pharmaceutical industry and academia Speakers Plenary Speaker Ferid Murad (President) (Nobel Laureate) The Stanford VA Hospital, Palo Alto, CA, USA Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Laureate) Institut de Science et d'Ingnierie Supramolculaires, Universit de Strasbourg, France Dimitris Roukos Professor of Surgery and Precision Cancer Genome Medicine Founding Director Centre for BioSystems and Genome Network Medicine Ioannina University, School of Medicine Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, Greece Ada Yonath (Nobel Laureate) Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100, Israel Charles N. Serhan Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury Brigham and Women's Hospital and The Simon Gelman Professor of Anaesthesia (Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) Harvard Medical School & Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity Harvard School of Dental Medicine U.S.A. Roger Kamm Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering M.I.T., Depts. of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering 77 Massachusetts Ave, NE47-321 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA keynote Speakers D.K. Lahiri USA Department of Psychiatry and of Medical & Molecular Genetics, IADC, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA M.I. Choudhary Pakistan H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Rakesh Kumar India Cancer Biology Program, Rajiv Gandhi Center of Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram 695014, India For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bp3jdr/world_drug?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. President Donald Trump speaks after his introduction by RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel at a fundraising breakfast in a restaurant in New York, New York on Dec. 2, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) RNC Raised a Historic Amount of Money in February The Republican National Committee (RNC) raised a historic amount of money in February, as Republicans gear up for 2020, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned Wednesday, March 20. The RNC raised $14.6 million, a record high for the month of February in a non-election year, according to internal numbers shared with TheDCNF. The number is also the second highest of all time for the month of February, going back to 2004. The party is also zero dollars in debt as the RNC has continued to beat The Democratic National Committee (DNC) in fundraising. Nearly 60 percent of the RNCs donations, $8.9 million, came from small-dollar donors. Also the RNC and President Donald Trumps campaigns joint fundraising committee (TMAGAC) has already had five seven-figure fundraising days. This comes as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said it raised $11.6 million in February on Wednesday, the most ever raised in the month. (RELATED: RNC Raised Historic Amount Of Money In January) RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has continued to lead the committee to historic fundraising numbers, giving the party hope for the 2020 elections. The RNC and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) also raised a historic amount of money in the month of January, as Senate Republicans gear up for a fight to keep the Senate. The NRSC raised a record $5.58 million in January, the most money ever raised by the committee in that month. (RELATED: RNC Raised Historic Amount Of Money In January) The committee filed a record-setting $19.8 million January 2017 after Trump was elected into office. By Henry Rodgers And Capitol Hill Tropical Cyclone Trevor, seen here by Suomi-NPP as it approaches the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, Australia on March 18, 2019. Ferocious Cyclone Trevor Hits North QLD The mayor of a remote far north Queensland community says Cyclone Trevor was ferocious and the worst he has endured. The cyclone made landfall just south of Lockhart River as a category three storm late on March 20, dumping more than 200mm of rain in just six hours and bringing wind gusts of more than 130km/h. Severe Tropical Cyclone Trevor made landfall on the Cape York Peninsula on Tuesday and is expected to plow westward into the Gulf of Carpentaria, threatening parts of the Northern Territory later this week: https://t.co/QdWUW6PsFX pic.twitter.com/dRT0bvIO8Q AccuWeather (@breakingweather) March 19, 2019 It has since weakened to a category one system and is expected to pass just north of Aurukun on the west coast of Cape York before re-intensifying into a category four storm as it pushes towards the Northern Territory. Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher said it was a difficult night. It was ferociousthe wind was just constant between 4 p.m. and midnight, he told AAP on Wednesday morning. This was probably the worst one this one basically sat near the community and hounded us for hours. Ive got a timber house and I could feel it shaking. Lockhart River resident Hannah Brown posted on Facebook that they had spent the evening getting absolutely smashed. Were okay at the Lockhart River aerodrome, lots of destruction after a horrid night, she wrote. Cr Butcher said he would spend the morning in the community assessing the damage with police and other emergency crews. He said initial reports suggested no major infrastructure damage. Weve got a few trees across houses and a few sheds have gone flying, he said. Damaging to very destructive winds in the core of tropical #cycloneTrevor. Some images of damage from #LockhartRiver. For cyclone preparedness and safety advice: https://t.co/3AD7YyJhdg. For emergency assistance call Qld SES on 132 500 or 000. For info: https://t.co/Tw65a1FNqM pic.twitter.com/LF8fSP4Ii4 Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 19, 2019 The cyclone warning for the east coast has since been cancelled, but the danger is not entirely over. Jess Gardner from the Bureau of Meteorology has warned flooding will be a high risk across the cape over the coming days. Were going to see large falls right up to next Friday with chances of flash flooding, she told AAP. It will be very dangerous. A moderate flood warning remains in place for the Daintree River, with a general flood warning for the Mossman River. Roads and schools remain closed across the cape and residents are warned not to risk driving on flooded roads. A copy of the letter sent by British Prime Minister Theresa May to European Council President Donald Tusk is seen next to a European Flag on March 20, 2019. (Yves Herman/Illustration/Reuters) France Threatens to Reject Theresa Mays Brexit Delay Request LONDONFrance threatened to reject British Prime Minister Theresa Mays request for a three-month delay to Brexit on March 20 unless she can guarantee to get her departure plans through parliament, potentially sending Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal. May asked the European Union to allow Britain to extend Brexit to June 30 and EU leaders are expected to discuss the matter at a summit on March 21. The decision must be taken unanimously by all remaining 27 EU members. Some EU states, including Germany, had given a largely positive response to Mays well-flagged request. But with the clock ticking toward Britains formal departure date on March 29, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said May would need to make her case before EU leaders in Brussels. Our position is to send the British a clear and simple message: As Theresa May said repeatedly herself, there are only two options to get out of the EU: Ratify the Withdrawal Agreement or exit without a deal, Le Drian told the French parliament. A situation in which Mrs. May will not be able to present to the European Council sufficient guarantees of the credibility of her strategy would lead to the extension request being dismissed and opting for a no-deal exit, he said. Mays initiative came just nine days before Britain is formally due to leave the European Union and marked the latest twist in more than two years of negotiations that have left British politics in chaos and the prime ministers authority in tatters. After the defeats in parliament opened up the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and a smooth transition, May said she remained committed to leaving in an orderly manner and wanted to postpone Brexit until June 30. Her announcement prompted uproar in parliament, where the opposition Labour Party accused her of blackmail, bullying, and bribery in her attempts to push her deal through, and one prominent pro-Brexit supporter in her own Conservative Party said seeking a delay was betraying the British people. Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU by 52 to 48 percent, but the decision has split the country, opening up divisive debates over the future of the economy, the nations place in the world and the nature of Britishness itself. A European Commission document seen by Reuters said the delay should either be several weeks shorter, to avoid a clash with European elections in May or extend at least until the end of the year, which would oblige Britain to take part in the elections. European Council President Donald Tusk said that granting Britain a short postponement of Brexit was possible on condition that Britains parliament votes in favor of the stalled divorce agreement next week. Should that happen, Tusk said no extraordinary EU leaders summit would be needed next week before the current Brexit date of March 29. Otherwise, he might call the 27 national leaders of EU countries staying on together after Brexit back to Brussels. In the light of the consultations that I have conducted over the past days, I believe that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons, Tusk told journalists before chairing the EU leaders talks in Brussels on March 21 and 22. Tusk said there remained the question of how long such a delay should last. Prime Minister Mays proposal of the 30th of June, which has its merits, creates a series of questions of a legal and political nature, he said. Tusk said that an extension could be granted in writing if EU leaders approved his proposal and Britains parliament voted in favor of the withdrawal agreement. By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan, and William James A robotic arm fills a glass with Bavarian Weiss beer at the booth of German company Kuka at the world's biggest industrial fair, "Hannover Fair," in Hanover, Germany on April 24, 2017. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters) Germany to Create Fund to Foil Foreign Takeovers and Curb Chinese Companies BERLINGermany plans to pass legislation by the end of 2019 to create a state-owned fund that can protect key companies from takeovers by Chinese and other foreign firms, government sources said, in a marked shift from its hands-off approach to business. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier proposed the fund in February as part of a more defensive industrial strategy, and three officials told Reuters the government was now working on draft laws so the fund could be up and running next year. Two senior government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the idea was for the state-owned investment fund to work with the private sector when buying company stakes to foil unwelcome takeovers. One official said the state could buy a stake initially and then sell it on as soon as possible to private investors, while the other official said in some cases the fund could work with private investors from the start. In the past, Germany was too reluctant to define its national interests. This is changing now, the first government official said. We see that we cannot lean back anymore and let everything be decided by the free play of market forces, he said. And this means more protection from the state. Long an ardent advocate of free markets, Germanys move is a response to Chinas state-driven metamorphosis from customer to competitor and U.S. President Donald Trumps threats of unilateral trade sanctions and higher tariffs, the sources said. For decades, German politicians followed the ordoliberal principles of post-war economy minister Ludwig Erhard who said free markets should decide winners and losers, with the state only providing a framework for fair competition. The German move also comes at a time the European Union as a whole is reconsidering the blocs industrial strategy and relations to China in the face of increased investment in critical sectors by Chinese state-owned enterprises. The European Commission has urged the bloc to back its ideas to curb Chinese companies, and EU leaders are due to discuss the issue at a summit in Brussels this week. Wake-Up Call In Germany, the Chinese takeover of robotics maker Kuka in 2016 was the wake-up call for the government that underlined the urgency for the state to become more active, the officials said. An attempt by Chinas State Grid last year to buy a stake in power grid operator 50Hertz also focused German minds. After Berlin failed to find an alternative private investor in Europe, German state-owned bank KfW stepped in to keep the Chinese out. Thats why the German government is now aiming to pass new laws creating the investment fund by the end of the year so it can be ready for use in 2020, the first official told Reuters. Ideally, there will be stake acquisitions together with private investors, the official said, adding that Berlin had no plans to intervene in daily business decisions. Its not about the state becoming entrepreneurial. The state-owned fund could be managed by KfW, or be an altogether new entity empowered to hold company shareholdings, the second official said. The plan goes hand in hand with a decision by the government in December to lower the threshold for screening, and even blocking, purchases of stakes in German firms in strategic areas by non-European investors. An economy ministry spokesman said investment by the state fund would be limited to very exceptional cases and stakes would only be bought for a restricted period. Such cases would mainly involve the protection of critical infrastructure where the government viewed a non-European investor as a threat to Germanys national interests, the ministry spokesman said. The idea and its possible implementation are being discussed now in the further process of the industrial strategy, said the spokesman, who declined to comment on the funds expected size. Economic Sovereignty Altmaier said in February after presenting Germanys industrial strategy for the next decade that key sectors were steel and aluminum, chemicals, machine and plant engineering, optics, autos, medical equipment, Green technologies, defense, aerospace and 3D printing. Among the companies whose survival Altmaier described as crucial for the economy as a whole were marquee names such as Deutsche Bank, thyssenkrupp, Siemens and Germanys big carmakers. Altmaier told Reuters in an interview that his aim was to safeguard global competitiveness and technological leadership of German industry for the coming decades. This should also be a top priority for the next European Commission, he said. With this, we will secure jobs and prosperity in Germany and Europe. And, above all, its what will give Europe its economic sovereignty and independence. Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the euro zone, are liaising closely on how the EU could overhaul its competition and state subsidy rules to support European champions that can compete on a global level. Following a decision by Brussels to block a rail deal between Siemens and Alstoma merger that was meant to counter Chinese competitionGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to put reform of Europes competition laws high on the agenda during Germanys EU presidency in 2020. Business Backlash While Germanys powerful BDI industry association has welcomed the governments plan to tackle a more assertive China, support national champions and reform competition law, it has criticized the idea of a state investment fund. New instruments for state ownership should not be used to fend off company takeovers, they should only support projects of new technologies, BDI director general Joachim Lang said. In light of growing unease among coalition lawmakers and industry groups, Altmaier is trying to reassure critics that Germany will remain open for foreign direct investment and that the government wants to intervene as little as possible. However, there can be exceptional cases in which the state must take action to avoid severe disadvantages for the economy as a whole and the countrys national welfare, Altmaier told Reuters. For example in cases when our critical infrastructure is at stake or when it comes to game changer technologies. Carsten Linnemann, deputy leader of Merkels conservatives in parliament and head of the blocs business-friendly Mittelstand wing, said the governments focus on national champions was problematic. We shouldnt confuse size with competitiveness, Linnemann told Reuters. He said Germanys hidden championsmostly family-run firms that are market leaders in niche segmentswere a good example that innovation is often driven by small enterprises. Linnemann also rejected the idea of state intervention. The state simply doesnt have more knowledge than the market. This basic rule hasnt changed in times of big technological disruptions, in fact rather the opposite. Asked if parliament would block legislation for a state investment fund, Linnemann said coalition lawmakers were still in the process of forming an opinion. He said they generally shared the governments goal to support the industrial sector. But we wont achieve this by copying the industrial policy of China, the United States and France. ($1 = 0.8829 euros) By Michael Nienaber Girl on Amber Alert Found, Father Taken Into Custody MARKHAM, Ont.A fiveyearold girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert north of Toronto on Tuesday, March 19, was found safe after a few hours. York regional police said the girls father was taken into custody but they do not know if he has committed a criminal offence as the investigation continues. Police had issued the alert Tuesday afternoon after the girl was allegedly taken from her classroom in Markham, Ont., by her father. Suspect in missing child case is father, Soloman Jaffri, who is believed to have abducted Jannah from her Markham school. Described as: 25 years old 6 ft 1 in average build short, brown hair tattoo of word Jannah navy blue dress coat black cargo pants#AmberAlert pic.twitter.com/VHCEz43q6X Kamil Karamali (@KamilKaramali) March 19, 2019 The girl is described as a having brown skin, light brown shoulder-length hair and brown eyes wearing a pink sweater, white tank top, grey leggings, navy blue coat and carrying a sparkly white unicorn backpack. Jaffri, 25, is described as having brown skin, average build, standing at 6-foot-1 with short brown hair and a tattoo on his right arm that says Jannah while wearing a navy blue dress coat and black cargo pants. Police looking for 5-year-old Jannah Jaffri after they say her dad 25-year-old Soloman Jaffri walked into her classroom at Armadale Public School in #Markham today & abducted her. @YRP say Jaffri is not supposed to have access to the child. Last seen getting into a mini-van taxi pic.twitter.com/D7GZ3TOCZd Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) March 19, 2019 Police said he was not supposed to have access to his daughter and investigators received some information that caused concern. The child was reported missing, we knew that the father came to pick her up, we had information that he was not supposed to have access to her at that time, so we were essentially dealing with it to make sure that we found her and we could find out that she was safe, police spokeswoman Const. Laura Nicolle said. Certainly it was a very big concern for us to find her quickly and were very, very relieved, obviously, to find out that shes safe. A wonderful outcome to this #AmberAlert. Heres Const Laura Nicolle from @YRP on how Jannah Jaffri was found safely. Its still unclear if her father Soloman will be charged. Im told police are still investigating pic.twitter.com/8vzW4zqMGw Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) March 19, 2019 Police said the pair was picked up by a minivan cab and dropped off at a second location, where they got into another vehicle. This is the mall parking lot off New Delhi Drive where Soloman Jaffri and his 5-year-old daughter Jannah Jafri were last seen getting out of a minivan taxi and transferring to another vehicle. A number of @YRP vehicles just left in a hurry #AmberAlert pic.twitter.com/dnx1FO23IL Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) March 19, 2019 Nicolle said the two were found just before 6 p.m. near the second location, after someone saw them in a business and recognized them from photos shared through the Amber Alert. She said police had been scouring the area with helicopters, canine units and patrols in search of the pair. Indonesia Crash Revelations Raise Pressure on Ethiopia Investigation ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia/JAKARTA, IndonesiaThe worlds biggest planemaker Boeing faced growing obstacles on March 20 to return its grounded 737 MAX fleet to the skies, while details emerged of an Indonesian crash with potential similarities to the Ethiopian disaster. Experts suspect an automated system, meant to stop stalling by dipping the nose, may be involved in both cases, with pilots struggling to override it as their jets plunged downwards. But they stress neither investigation is complete and crew actions and training will also be closely scrutinized. The March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash has shaken the global aviation industry and cast a shadow over the flagship Boeing model intended to be a standard for decades to come, given parallels with the Lion Air calamity off Jakarta in October. The two crashes killed 346 people in all. Chicago-headquartered Boeing has promised a swift update of automatic flight software, but regulators in Europe and Canada want to be sure themselves. As Ethiopian investigators pored over black box data from their crash, sources with knowledge of the doomed Lion Air cockpit voice recorder revealed how pilots scoured a manual in a losing battle to figure out why they were hurtling down to sea. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash want to know how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency. Communications showed that in the final moments, the captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, while the first officer was unable to control the plane. It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75, said one of the sources with knowledge of the cockpit recording that has not been made public. So you panic. It is a time-out condition. In the end, the sources told Reuters, the Indian-born captain, 31, was quiet, while the Indonesian officer, 41, said: Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)an Arabic phrase to express excitement, shock, praise or distress. The plane then hit water. Credibility Damaged Boeing has said there was a documented procedure to handle the problem, which crew are supposed to memorize. A different crew on the same plane the evening before had the same situation but solved it after running through three checklists, though they did not pass on all that information to the doomed crew, according to the preliminary report by investigators released in November. Rowing back from previous reliance on U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) vetting, Canada and the European Union will now seek their own guarantees over the MAX planes, complicating Boeings hopes to get them flying worldwide again. Regulators want to be absolutely sure of Boeings new automated control system, known as MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), and that pilots are fully prepared to handle it. It is meant to prevent a loss of lift which can cause an aerodynamic stall and send the plane downwards in an uncontrolled way. Our credibility as leaders in aviation is being damaged, wrote Chesley Sullenberger, a U.S. pilot famed for landing a jet on the Hudson River, saving all 155 people aboard, a decade ago. Facing such high-profile scrutiny, Boeing, one of the United States most prestigious exporters, reshuffled executives in its commercial airplanes unit to focus on the crash fallout. Voice Recordings The FAA said its robust processes and full collaboration with the aviation community were key to safety worldwide. In Ethiopia, which is leading the investigation, experts were poring over the in-flight recording of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed. As with the Indonesia flight, they radioed control problems shortly after take-off and sought to turn back, struggling to get their plane on track before it hit a field. However, experts emphasize every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors. Ethiopias civil aviation head Wosenyeleh Hunegnaw told Reuters the investigation was proceeding as quickly as possible within international standards. Im 100 percent sure the report will be issued within 30 days, he said. For now, more than 350 MAX aircraft are grounded around the world, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 moreworth more than $500 billion are on hold. Development of the 737 MAX, which offers savings of about 15 percent on fuel, began in 2011 after the successful launch by its main rival of the Airbus A320neo. The 737 MAX entered service in 2017. While some airlines are worried about the impact on profits, they have been able to keep services going, swapping MAX planes for others, or using partner carriers. By Maggie Fick, Jason Neely & Tim Hepher ISIS Calls for Fanatics to Take Revenge for New Zealand Mosque Shootings Leaders of the ISIS terror group have called for retaliation for the attack on two mosques in New Zealand, leaving 50 dead. ISIS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir broke a six-month silence to deliver the message in a 44-minute audio recording, according to The New York Times. Dozens of people were killed when a terrorist went on a rampage through two mosques in the city of Christchurch on March 15. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, is accused of the shooting and has been charged with murder. Police have said they are certain Tarrant was the only gunman but are still investigating whether he had support from others. The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion, al-Muhajir said. The leader of the terror group compared the Christchurch killings to the battle raging over the village of Baghouzthe extremists last stronghold in Syria. Here is Baghouz in Syria, where Muslims are burned to death and are bombed by all known and unknown weapons of mass destruction, he said. The true identity of the ISIS spokesman is not knownAbu Hassan al-Muhajir is an alias. He is not known to have appeared in any photographs or ISIS propaganda videos. He communicates rarely. His last messagea four-minute long audio recordingwas in September 2018. The attacks in Christchurch left 50 dead and 50 more injured. Nine of the wounded are in critical condition. After days of intense grieving, preparations were underway to begin burying the victims. New Zealand Holds First Funerals After days of preparations, the first funerals took place March 20 for victims of the shootings. A father and son who fled the civil war in Syria for the safest country in the world were buried before hundreds of mourners. The bodies of Khalid Mustafa, 44, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, were laid to rest five days after the massacre. Those present included Hamzas younger brother, 13-year-old Zaed, who was wounded in an arm and a leg during the attack. The boy tried to stand during the ceremony but had to sit back in his wheelchair, one mourner said. We tried to not shake his hand, and not touch his hand or his foot, but he refused, he wanted to shake everybodys hand, he wanted to show everyone that he appreciated them. And thats amazing, said Jamil El-Biza, who traveled from Australia to attend the funeral. The Mustafas had moved to New Zealand last year, after spending six years as refugees in Jordan. Mustafas wife, Salwa, told Radio New Zealand that when the family asked about New Zealand they were told, its the safest country in the world, the most wonderful country you can go you will start a very wonderful life there. She added, But it wasnt. The victims, killed during Friday prayers, were largely Muslim migrants, refugees, and residents from countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Kuwait, Somalia, and others. What Happened? A gunman broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one of the mosques, showing him driving to the scene, entering the building and shooting people at random. Witnesses described the shooter as dressed in a bulletproof vest and a helmet as he opened fire at the Masjid Al Noor mosque at 1:40 p.m. local time, where there could have been as many as 300 people praying. He had a big gun he came and started shooting everyone in the mosque, everywhere, said witness Ahmad Al-Mahmoud, according to Reuters. He said he and others escaped by breaking through a glass door. Video footagenot corroborated independently for authenticityshows worshippers, possibly dead or wounded, laying huddled on the floor. After spending more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying people with bullets, the gunman then walks outside to the street, where he shoots at people on the sidewalk. Childrens screams can be heard in the distance as he returns to his car to get another rifle. The gunman then walks back into the mosque, where there are at least two dozen people lying on the ground. After walking back outside and shooting a woman there, he gets back in his car and drives away. The video then cuts out. Witness Len Peneha told The Associated Press he saw the gunman enter the mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror. Peneha, who lives next door to the mosque, said after the gunman drove away, he went into the mosque to try and help. I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque, he said. Its unbelievably nutty. I dont understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. Its ridiculous. Hospitals said children were among the victims. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini reacts in the upper house of the Italian parliament, in Rome on March 20, 2019. (Yara Nardi/Reuters) Italian Parliament Wont Lift Salvinis Immunity From Migrant Kidnapping Probe ROMEThe Italian parliament on March 20 blocked prosecutors from pursuing an investigation into Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini for abuse of power and kidnapping migrants. Salvini, who is interior minister and leader of the right-wing League party, has declared Italys ports closed to illegal migrants and asylum seekers since he formed a ruling coalition last year with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. In August, he blocked an Italian coastguard ship with 150 migrants aboard for almost a week off the coast of Sicily before finally letting it dock after Albania, Ireland, and Italys Catholic Church agreed to house them. Magistrates subsequently put him under investigation and asked parliament to strip him of his immunity from prosecution, but on March 20, the upper house, the Senate, threw out the request and said he had been acting in the national interest. I hope no one in this chamber has any difficulty in understanding the concept of nation and national sovereignty, Salvini told lawmakers ahead of the vote. This is why Italians pay my salary: to defend our borders and to maintain the security of our country. With voting still under way, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, who heads the panel charged with considering Salvinis case, said it was already clear that a large majority had voted in his favor. The issue has sown division within the government and particularly within 5-Star, which has in the past criticized parliamentary maneuvering to halt judicial proceedings against lawmakers. Luigi Di Maio, the 5-Star leader, held an online ballot last month among members, who voted 59-41 percent to protect Salvini. However, two 5-Star senators said they would ignore that ballot and vote against their coalition ally. These are expected to be expelled from the movement, which would reduce the governments already slim Senate majority. An Italian-led push to disrupt smuggling networks and boost Libyan coastguard interceptions helped to reduce the number of migrants who successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Italy by around 80 percent last year, to about 23,000, according to the International Organization for Migration. Some 1,300 died in the attempt. In the latest of a series of stand-offs involving charity rescue ships, an Italian vessel carrying 49 African migrants was escorted into the port of Lampedusa by police on March 19, with Salvini calling for the crew to be arrested. Prosecutors on March 20 ordered the ship to be seized and opened an investigation into the captain on suspicion of aiding and abetting human trafficking. A judicial source said a magistrate had ordered that the boat, the Mare Jonio, be seized. The vessel picked up the migrants, including 12 minors, on March 18 after their rubber boat started to sink in the central Mediterranean, some 42 miles off the coast of Libya. The humanitarian ship immediately set sail for the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa, defying Salvini. After initially being prevented from docking, the Mare Jonio was unexpectedly accompanied into port by police at nightfall as a storm approached. The judicial source said the migrants would be allowed to disembark, while the boat would be impounded and the crew faced possible questioning. FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian Red Cross workers carry a body bag with the remains of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash victims at the scene of a plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner Lenders and Travelers Stick With Ethiopian Airlines, for Now NAIROBI, KENYAFinanciers, passengers, and industry partners are, for now, still backing Ethiopian Airlines quest to become Africas dominant carrier, despite a March 10 crash that killed 157 people. The causes of the Flight 302 tragedy will likely take months to establish. While much of the international focus has been on U.S. planemaker Boeing and its 737 MAX 8 jet, the airlines reputation could also hinge on the results of the investigation. Although crash inquiries focus on preventing future accidents rather than attributing liability, any findings that the carrier fell short in plane maintenance or piloting could be damaging. For the present, however, passenger confidence in Ethiopian Airlines, long regarded as one of the most reliable in Africa, has remained steady, according to the company. Cancellation and booking rates are unchanged since the crash, said spokesman Asrat Begashaw. We are operating as normal, he told Reuters. Our brand is keeping its level, and we are okay. Two banking sources with knowledge of the matter said that barring a major new twist in the investigation with long-term fallout, banks were still comfortable lending to Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian is a solid company, said one, an official from an international bank that helped finance the acquisition of some Ethiopian Airlines planes. No reason to change the way the bank sees its credit risk at this point. A vote of confidence from lenders is important for the airline because its years of rapid expansion have largely been financed by international borrowing. The second source, a top European aviation banker, said Ethiopian Airlines was a good airline, with a good reputation. So unless it (the crash) is a major problem of piloting or maintenanceand it is far too early to talk about that they will still have access to financing, the source added. The sources declined to be identified because the matters are confidential. Foreign Investors Ethiopian Airlines has borrowed from foreign banks including JP Morgan, ING Capital, and Societe Generale over the past decade. It also has outstanding bonds worth $540 million, though none due until 2024, Refinitiv data shows. The borrowing helped finance the acquisition of stakes in or establish partnerships with at least four African carriers, establishing hubs to feed traffic into Addis Ababa. Last year, the Ethiopian capital overtook Dubai as the main gateway for long-haul passengers into Africa. The airlines fleet grew from 35 planes in 2007 to 111 in 2019. It now flies to more than 119 international destinations, up from 52 a decade ago. The expansion has made the state-owned carrier, founded in 1945, the most profitable major airline on the continent. Ethiopians net profit in the 2017/18 financial year rose to $233 million from $229 million the previous year; operating revenue jumped 43 percent to $3.7 billion. Last year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced plans to sell a minority stake in the airline as part of a broad strategy to open up the country to foreign investors. Industry analysts said it was too early to evaluate the impact of the crash on the airlines long-term plans but said, for now, its reputation remained largely intact. Its a very strong management team, with good vision, said Nawal Taneja, an author, and professor at Ohio State Universitys Center for Aviation Studies. Weve got to look at the strength of the airline as a whole, not just this one incident. Partners, Boeing Bookings Those who want to travel across Africa have few options other than flying. Conflict, poor roads, and limited cross-border train transport often make travel by land difficult. At Addis Ababas Bole International Airport, businessman James Markland said he felt no reservations about flying with Ethiopian Airlines and had just come back from a day trip with the carrier to Asmara, capital of neighboring Eritrea. Both flights were fine, the 62-year-old told Reuters on March 19. They were pretty full. Analysts said the Flight 302 crash was unlikely to damage Ethiopians partnerships with African carriers, key to a strategy that helped increase passenger numbers from 2.5 million a decade ago to 10.6 million last year, or with other industry players. One such partner is ASKY, a Togo-based carrier which Ethiopian Airlines helped launch in 2010. Ethiopians accident has not affected our partnership in any way, said Lionel Tsoto, the airlines head of public relations. We continue just as before. Global aviation leasing firm GECAS said the airline was a close and valued partner who we look forward to working with in the future. The crash, which saw the Nairobi-bound flight go down minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, triggered a global grounding of 737 MAX planes, wiping about 10 percent off Boeings share price. Investigators have noted similarities with another deadly crash in Indonesia five months ago involving a plane of the same type owned by Lion Air, but safety officials stress the investigation is at an early stage. Ethiopian Airlines, which grounded its handful of remaining 737 MAX planes, said it would decide whether to cancel orders for 29 others after a preliminary investigation. Analysts said it was unlikely that the carrier would cancel the orders, worth $3.5 billion at the current list price because Boeing would have to fix any problems before regulators permit the jet to fly again. Boeing will be keen to retain the airline as a customer; more than half of Ethiopians fleet are Boeing jets. Ethiopian have been very loyal to Boeing in the past, said Phil Seymour, chief executive of the IBA Group, a Surrey-based aviation consultancy. They will be in control of the conversation with Boeing now, he added. I would suspect that the business decision is to stick with the order. By Omar Mohammed Man Charged With Trafficking Illegal Drugs Through FedEx An illegal alien was arrested on March 12 and charged with trafficking drugs via the FedEx courier service in North Carolina. Suspect Yoshio Avila-Munoz, 37, was detained after a police K-9 identified an en route package containing 20, one pound vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. Avila-Munoz was charged with trafficking marijuana, possession of methamphetamine and maintaining a dwelling for keeping and selling controlled substances, a report from the Rowan County Sheriffs Office said. Bond was set at $1,000,000. An immigration detainer was placed on Avila-Munoz. The California-sent FedEx package was allegedly addressed to the residence of Avila-Munoz, which was then delivered by authorities to his home, leading to the arrest. Mexican-born Avila-Munoz is separately accused of living illegally in the United States for 25 years. Mexican National arrested for trafficking marijuana in FedEx scheme, police say. https://t.co/0wXSO0hezj Caroline Fountain (@CarolineFount) March 13, 2019 Bringing the Drugs Home After Avila-Munoz received the illegal package, he allegedly placed it in his mobile home. He then left for a convenience store where he was stopped by the sheriffs office. Officials secured a search warrant for Avila-Munozs home that uncovered evidence of prior deliveries from California, as well as additional drugs worth about $60,000 and firearms. Because the suspect is an illegal alien, possession of firearms may result in federal charges, according to the report. Rowan Sheriff: Man received 20 lbs. marijuana through FedEx to mobile home. Yoshio Avila-Munoz in $1 million bond. He is in US illegally, accdg to report. More details shortly. @ConcordNCPolice and Rowan Sheriff case. pic.twitter.com/JZn0Gn1kFD David Whisenant WBTV (@DavidWhisenant) March 13, 2019 The suspect is awaiting trial and the investigation is continuing. If found guilty of trafficking drugs via FedEx, Avila-Munoz will be one of many more criminals convicted of exploiting American delivery services for illegal means. Exploiting Delivery Services Different ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border are hot targets for drug traffickers. However, drugs are sometimes pushed through the hands of law abiding citizens unknowingly in the United States. When The Epoch Times asked what FedEx has done to address the matter, a spokesperson said the company does not tolerate the use of its network for illegal purposes. Our security processes and procedures are effective and we cooperate with all levels of law enforcement in investigations of illegal shipments, the company said in an email dated March 19. The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is the investigation and legal department of the United States Postal Service (USPS). It has seized thousands of pounds of illegal drugs shipped through the postal service. For this weeks History Spotlight, we look at the Gentleman Bandit, who was hardly a gentleman. (1/2) #USPIS #History pic.twitter.com/n1bIE5UofK U. S. Postal Inspection Service Headquarters (@USPISpressroom) March 16, 2019 Because of its efforts, USPIS drug seizures have been on the rise since FY 2014, with over 40,000 pounds seized in FY 2017, a report from the United States Postal Service said. Drug Dealers and the Darknet Some drug traffickers take advantage of the anonymity of the darknet or the deepweb: places on the internet that are commonly associated with illegal activity. According to the USPS report, 104 drug product sites that identify the drug trafficker have been investigated. Ninety-two percent of those sites used USPS to distribute drugs, and 54 percent of them were based in America and distributing domestically. Nationwide operations targeting darknet drug traffickers have been carried out by different departments of law enforcement. More than 35 dealers who sold illicit goods were arrested on June 26, 2018, according to the Department of Justice. The department said authorities would devote its resources to exposing the sale of drugs and other illicit items on the darknet. Postal inspectors and their law enforcement partners will spare no resource or expense to shine a light on the sale and distribution of illicit and dangerous items on the Darknet, that serve to destroy the lives of many through addiction and despair, Department of Justice Inspector in Charge Rendina said. From NTD.com Dublin, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Biotechnology Congress 2019 - Corporate" conference has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Biotechnology Congress (GBC 2019) in the USA will welcome distinguished Nobel laureates, speakers, delegates, biotechnologists and pharmaceutical industry leaders, from around the world . This event will focus on various important disciplines of biotechnology and its applications for improvement in health and quality of life the world over. It is anticipated that up to 1000 of the world's leading scientists, researchers, industrialists and academicians, including several Nobel Laureates, in the fields of biotechnology and medical and biological sciences, will attend this forum, in Boston, to share and discuss new scientific ideas, products and breakthroughs. We are indeed pleased to host such an international conference in the United States of America. This conference will have a variety of lectures from eminent scientists, including Noble Laureates, who will deliver lectures on plant and environmental technologies, transgenic plants and crops, bioremediation, microbial diversity and bio-monitoring. Focus will be given to medical biotechnology, stem cells, gene therapy, tissue engineering, bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing, cell based therapy, cell cultivation, diagnostics, imaging, pharmacogenomics, microarray technology, biomarkers, pharmaceutical biotechnology, vaccines, CNS, Cancer, antibodies, protein engineering. There will also be important lectures on food, marine, bio-safety systems biology, clinical reserved/clinical trials, bioethics and Nano biotechnology. Benefits of Attending Exchange ideas and network with leading biotechnologists and decision makers. Bring together top international biotechnology professionals presenting cutting-edge discoveries, research and opportunities for new biotech business practices and partnerships. Participants can gain direct access to a core audience of biotechnology professionals and decision makers, and have increased visibility through branding and networking at the conference. Obtain a global roundup of Pharmaceutical research capabilities and opportunities. The conference will feature a commercial exhibition and poster sessions. Who Should Attend: The conference will attract to a targeted group of scientists and senior international decision makers. Delegates will have a valuable, informative and positive experience. Biotechnologists Pharmaceutical Scientists Food, Environmental and Plant Scientists Clinicians CEOs, CROs, directors and research associates from the biotechnology industry and academia Agenda: The conference will encompass the following subjects including: Pharmaceutical Biotechnology: Biopharmaceuticals Discovery (CNS, cancer, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, systems biology); Vaccines; Antibodies; Protein Engineering; Bioinformatics; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Biopharmaceuticals Discovery (CNS, cancer, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, systems biology); Vaccines; Antibodies; Protein Engineering; Bioinformatics; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Plant and Environment: Transgenic Plants and Crops; Bioremediation; Microbial Diversity; Bio-monitoring; Photosynthetic Microorganisms; Cyanobacteria and Microalgae; Translational Genomics and Genomics-assisted Breeding. Transgenic Plants and Crops; Bioremediation; Microbial Diversity; Bio-monitoring; Photosynthetic Microorganisms; Cyanobacteria and Microalgae; Translational Genomics and Genomics-assisted Breeding. Industrial and Manufacturing: Bio-fuels; Energy Crops (cellulosic ethanol industry); Industrial Enzymes; Bioprocess Engineering and Optimization. Bio-fuels; Energy Crops (cellulosic ethanol industry); Industrial Enzymes; Bioprocess Engineering and Optimization. Medical Biotechnology: Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing; Diagnostics; Imaging; Pharmacogenomics (personalized medicine); Microarray Technology; Biomarkers; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing; Diagnostics; Imaging; Pharmacogenomics (personalized medicine); Microarray Technology; Biomarkers; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Business Development: Strategic Alliances; Partnering Trends; Product Opportunities; Growth; Business Models and Strategies; Licensing; Merger and Acquisitions; Outsourcing; Venture Capital and Financing; Intellectual Property. Strategic Alliances; Partnering Trends; Product Opportunities; Growth; Business Models and Strategies; Licensing; Merger and Acquisitions; Outsourcing; Venture Capital and Financing; Intellectual Property. Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cells; Gene Therapy; Tissue Engineering; Cell Based Therapy; Cell Cultivation; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Stem Cells; Gene Therapy; Tissue Engineering; Cell Based Therapy; Cell Cultivation; Clinical Research/Clinical trials. Marine Biotechnology: Environment Applications of Marine Biotechnology; Marine Natural Products; Bio products and Bioactive Compounds; Marine Microbiology and Biodiversity; Marine-based Drug Discovery & Development; Genomics and Proteomics of Marine Organisms; Aquatic Microbial Ecology. Environment Applications of Marine Biotechnology; Marine Natural Products; Bio products and Bioactive Compounds; Marine Microbiology and Biodiversity; Marine-based Drug Discovery & Development; Genomics and Proteomics of Marine Organisms; Aquatic Microbial Ecology. Food Biotechnology: Food Microbiology; Recombinant DNA Techniques; Indigenous Food Production; Fermentation Processes; GM Foods; Human Nutrition and Metabolism; Food Safety; Current Status and Future Prospects of Food Biotechnology. Bio-Safety and Bioethics: Biosafety Regulations; Intellectual Property Rights; Ethical Issues of Human Genome Project, Organs Transplantation and Stem Cell Research; Handling and Disposal of Hazardous Materials. Biosafety Regulations; Intellectual Property Rights; Ethical Issues of Human Genome Project, Organs Transplantation and Stem Cell Research; Handling and Disposal of Hazardous Materials. Nano Biotechnology: Disease Diagnosis; Drug Delivery; Biosensors; Nanofabricated Devices; DNA Nano biotechnology; Lipid Nanotechnology; Future prospects of Nanobiotechnology. Speakers Plenary Speakers Ferid Murad (President)(Nobel Laureate) 1674 Oak Ave., Menlo Park, California, 94025, USA Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Laureate) Institut de Science et d'Ingnierie Supramolculaires, Universit de Strasbourg, France Dimitris Roukos Professor of Surgery and Precision Cancer Genome Medicine Founding Director Centre for BioSystems and Genome Network Medicine Ioannina University, School of Medicine Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, Greece Ada Yonath (Nobel Laureate) Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100, Israel Charles N. Serhan Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury Brigham and Women's Hospital and The Simon Gelman Professor of Anaesthesia (Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) Harvard Medical School & Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity Harvard School of Dental Medicine U.S.A. Roger Kamm Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering M.I.T., Depts. of Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering 77 Massachusetts Ave, NE47-321 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Keynote Speakers D.K. Lahiri USA Department of Psychiatry and of Medical & Molecular Genetics, IADC, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA M.I. Choudhary H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Rakesh Kumar India Cancer Biology Program, Rajiv Gandhi Center of Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram 695014, India For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bvltg4/global?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Maryland Man Gets 35 Years For Firebombing Ex-girlfriends Home With Molotov Cocktails A Maryland man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for throwing two Molotov cocktails at his ex-girlfriends apartment. Darius Wilder, 41, will serve 35 years in a federal penitentiary followed by five years of supervised release for committing arson and for using a destructive devicea molotov cocktailin committing the crime of firebombing his ex-girlfriends home. Prosecutors said in a statement on March 18 that U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel handed the sentence to Wilder, of Silver Spring, following his August 2018 conviction. Darius Wilder is a violent criminal who used Molotov cocktails to commit arson in an attempt to seriously injure his ex-girlfriend, her children, and endanger the surrounding community, said ATF Special Agent in Charge Rob Cekada. We are glad to see that justice has been served. Investigators found two incendiary devices after firefighters responded to the blaze Wilder started at a Gaithersburg apartment on April 15, 2017, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office statement. Crews from the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services extinguished the fire, which had been set on the apartment balcony. The investigation established that one of the Molotov cocktails had been thrown onto the balcony of the apartment and damaged the wooden decking and childrens bikes. Police found the second incendiary device on the ground below. Investigators later confirmed that the bottles and wick material found in the dump had traces of gasoline. Victim Tried to End Relationship The firebombing victim had tried to end a relationship with Wilder, but he kept trying to contact her, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office statement. In February 2017, Wilder threatened to set himself on fire and sent photographs showing a gas can and a lighter with a flame. Evidence heard at Wilders trial showed that on several occasions in March 2017, he loosened and removed lug nuts from the wheels on the womans car. Later that same month, she found broken glass in front of her tires. Google searches on Wilders phone showed that on March 18, he searched for images of gas lines and brake lines for the womans car. On the day of the firebombing, Wilder texted and called the woman over and over again. Could Have Killed All the Residents The woman whose residence Wilder targeted in the attack lived there with her three children. The evidence at trial proved that Darius Wilder attempted to firebomb his ex-girlfriends apartment, said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur. This kind of violence will not be tolerated. If he had been successful in starting the fire, Wilder could have killed all of the residents of the apartment complex where the victim resided, including the woman and her three children. Police arrested Wilder several days after the firebombing. Witnesses said that on April 18, 2017, law enforcement saw Wilder leave his home carrying a cooler with a black trash bag on top. Wilder got into his vehicle and drove away. When authorities tried to stop him, he rammed a police vehicle and ran away. Police then pursued and arrested Wilder. Police searched Wilders car and found three lighters, a black plastic bag with a gas can with gasoline, a 48-quart red cooler, a backpack containing a composition book and a tire iron. Wilder admitted that he had filled a gas can at a gas station nearby, moved the gas into the bottles and then put the bottles together on the side of the house. We are all safer with Darius Wilder removed from the community for 35 years in federal prison, where there is no paroleever, Hur said in a statement. ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents arrest a suspected MS-13 gang member and Honduran national at his residence in Brentwood, N.Y., on March 29, 2018. (John Moore/Getty Images) Over One Million Illegal Immigrants Ordered to Be Deported May Wait Years for Removal Illegal immigrants already slated for deportation remain for years in the country before they are finally removed, government data shows. There were more than one million illegal aliens with final orders of removal in the country as of June 2, 2018, according to data obtained through a freedom of information request from the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), an anti-mass immigration advocacy law firm. While there are 11 million and perhaps many more illegal immigrants in the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only arrests and deports small percentage of themless than 260,000 people in fiscal 2018 (pdf). This means even when a person is ordered to be deported, it would still take ICE about four years, on average to actually remove him or her from the United States. In addition, there are more than 1.1 million people who have a pending final order, Conservative Review reported, meaning theyve been slated for deportation but have likely appealed their case to the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the appellate body of the immigration court system. About two thirds of those with final or pending removal orders hail from four countriesEl Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. The first three countries in the Central American triangle have very much become the leading source of illegal immigration. Around one million of their citizens have been apprehended by Border Patrol, and caught trying to enter the country illegally since 2013 (pdf). Border Patrol union leader: Trump is right, Congress is wrong National emergency on border is realhttps://t.co/T7pdcQQa39 via @FoxNews Immigration Reform Law Institute (@IRLILaw) March 19, 2019 Influx Escalates IRLI only obtained data up to June 2 before the latest increase in illegal border crossings, which have nearly doubled in the first five months of fiscal 2019 compared to the same period a year earlier, based on Customs and Border Protection apprehension data. Illegal border crossings are on-pace to reach nearly one million this year. In February alone, 66,000 people crossed the border illegally, according to border patrol. An additional 10,000 were detained after presenting at a port of entry without proper paperwork. Instead of taking on more aliens from caravans, our country should expedite the removal of those who have already received due process and been given removal orders, IRLI Executive Director and General Counsel Dale Wilcox said in a release dated March 12. DHS Secretary Projects That Border Patrol Will Catch 100,000 Illegal Immigrants in March Alonehttps://t.co/dtzHNpRAjr via @TheIJR Immigration Reform Law Institute (@IRLILaw) March 19, 2019 More than a million annually is NOT an emergency?https://t.co/xYBra9cgKP Mike Grosam (@MikeGrosam1) March 19, 2019 About two thirds of those removed by ICE in 2018 were either convicted criminals or had pending criminal charges against them. ICE data indicated the nearly 140,000 criminal aliens it arrested in 2018 most often faced or were convicted of less serious crimes, such as driving under influence, though a significant portion were violent criminals. Over 50,000 had charges or convictions of assault, over 5,000 of sexual assault, and over 2,000 of homicide (pdf). ICE could discourage further influx across the southern border, if it focused resources on clearing the backlog of people slated for deportation, according to former ICE Associate Director in the Obama administration Thomas Homan. ICE should do a nationwide operation to locate, arrest, and remove those who have entered the United States illegally, including family units, who have had their due process, lost their cases, and have been ordered removed by a judge, he said. If a final order issued by a federal judge doesnt mean anything and it isnt executed, then there is no integrity in the entire system. JUST IN: Border Patrol catches 400 illegal immigrants in five minutes https://t.co/77o894DPOr pic.twitter.com/LpmC3bdFdH The Washington Times (@WashTimes) March 19, 2019 Millions of Hispanic Americans support @realDonaldTrumps agenda. Rolando lives in Texas, and he supports the wall to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country. pic.twitter.com/aQWy6HmX36 Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) March 19, 2019 Update: An attribution has been added for the increase in illegal border crossings. A man stands next to the wreckage of vehicles washed away on March 18, 2019, in Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe, after the area was hit by the cyclone Idai. (Zinyange Auntony/AFP/Getty Images) Mozambique Mourns as Cyclone Idais Toll Rises Above 300 CHIPINGE, ZimbabweMozambique on Wednesday began three days of national mourning for more than 200 victims of Cyclone Idai, one of the most destructive storms southern Africa has experienced in decades. In neighboring Zimbabwe, state media said the death toll was above 100. The full extent of the devastation will only be known once floodwaters from torrential rains, expected to continue into Thursday, recede. It will be days before Mozambiques inundated plains drain toward the Indian Ocean, and aid groups have warned the waters are still rising. People have been reported clinging to rooftops and trees since the cyclone roared in over the weekend. The United Nations humanitarian office said the town of Buzi, with some 200,000 people, was at risk of becoming at least partially submerged. Flood waters are predicted to rise significantly in the coming days and 350,000 people are at risk, the U.N. office said. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa received a somber welcome in the hard-hit mountain community of Chimanimani near the border with Mozambique. Zimbabwean officials have said some 350 people may have died. Some bodies from Zimbabwe have been swept down the mountainside into Mozambique. Some of the peasants in Mozambique were calling some of our people to say, We see bodies, we believe those bodies are coming from Zimbabwe, said July Moyo, the minister of local government. The Red Cross says that as much as 90 percent of Mozambiques central port city of Beira has been damaged or destroyed by tropical Cyclone Idai. Mozambiques president late Tuesday said more than 200 people were confirmed dead there. President Filipe Nyusi after flying over the affected region on Monday said he expected more than 1,000 deaths. Aid workers were shocked as they arrived in the badly hit Mozambique port city of Beira, estimated to be 90 percent destroyed. Its 500,000 residents are scrambling for food, fuel and medicine. Some neighborhoods are below sea level. The power of the cyclone is visible everywhere with shipping containers moved like little Lego blocks, the aid group CAREs Mozambique country director Marc Nosbach said. International aid has started trickling in to ease the crisis, while churches in Zimbabwe collected supplies to send on. Everyone is doubling, tripling, quadrupling whatever they were planning in terms of aid, said Caroline Haga of the Red Cross in Beira. Its much larger than anyone could ever anticipate. On Wednesday, the Emirates News Agency cited the Emirates Red Crescent as saying that the United Arab Emirates would provide 18.3 million dirhams ($4.9 million) to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Zimbabwes president said a planeload of aid from the UAE was expected to arrive in the capital, Harare, later Wednesday. The chairman of the African Union Commission said the continental body would provide $350,000 in immediate support to the countries. The European Union has released 3.5 million euros ($3.9 million) in emergency aid, and the United Kingdom pledged up to 6 million pounds ($7.9 million). Tanzanias military has airlifted 238 tons of food and medicine, and three Indian naval ships have been diverted to Beira to help with evacuations of stranded people and other efforts. Sacha Myers of the nonprofit Save the Children described rising floodwaters and rivers and dams bursting their banks. She said getting aid to affected areas was difficult as roads and bridges across the region have been washed away or submerged. Now hunger and illness are growing concerns. Crops across the region have been destroyed. Waterborne diseases are likely to spread. There are large areas where people are really finding it difficult to find sources of clean water, Gert Verdonck, the emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders in Beira, said in a statement. He added: On top of all of that, theres the issue of how to treat people who fall sick, with so many health centers damaged or destroyed. By Farai Mutsaka Montreal to Remove Crucifix from Council Chamber and Place it in Museum MONTREALThe City of Montreal announced Wednesday, March 20, it will take down the crucifix that has hung in its council chamber for more than 80 years and move it to a new home. The issue of crucifixes in legislative chambers across Quebec, in particular, the one prominently displayed at the provincial legislature in Quebec Cityhas been central to the provinces debate over secularism. Coun. Laurence Lavigne Lalonde told the citys executive committee meeting that the crucifix, on display above the main door of the council chamber since 1937, will be removed ahead of three years of scheduled renovation work at city hall. Lavigne Lalonde said the crucifix was installed in a different era to remind councillors of the oath before God that they took and, it wont be put back in the chamber when city hall reopens. I think we can agree the context has changed today, Lavigne Lalonde said, noting society is now represented by democratic institutions that are secular, neutral and open. While Montreal is moving forward, the provincial Coalition Avenir Quebec government remains opposed to removing the crucifix from the legislature, although the premier said his caucus would discuss the issue. The crucifix was first installed above the Speakers chair in the national assembly in 1936, and successive provincial governments have rejected requests to remove the symbol. That includes the Coalition government, which said last October it is an important part of Quebecs heritage. The debate comes as the government moves to impose strict religious neutrality rules on state employees in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers, who would be forbidden from wearing visible religious symbols. Legislation is expected in the coming weeks. The City of Montreal has the power to take down the crucifix, Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette told reporters Wednesday in Quebec City. The national assembly has always decided to maintain it, and thats the position of the government, because its a patrimonial symbol. Questioned separately about Montreals move, Premier Francois Legault said the crucifix issue would be discussed at caucus. Everyone must make compromises. Well look at positions of different voices in caucus, and well come back to you, Legault told reporters. Its all part of secularism discussions. Lavigne Lalonde said Montreals crucifix is an important piece of Montreals heritage, and it will have a new home in a museum space in the renovated city hall where other significant historical items will be on display. The debate over Montreals crucifix and the place of religion at city hall has been going on for more than 30 years, beginning when prayers were replaced with a moment of silence in 1987. Lavigne Lalonde noted the crucifix was supposed to be removed during previous renovations in 1992. A public commission was also expected to discuss the matter in 2002 but never held any hearings. Mayor Valerie Plante said it is important to distinguish between the city hall crucifix installed 82 years ago to guide municipal lawmakers in what is now considered a secular institution and the citys most famous cross. For example, the cross on top of Mount Royal, we dont have any intention of taking it down, because its not a democratic institution where we make decisions, she said. I think its important to make the distinction. By Sidhartha Banerjee An aerial view of damaged buildings after a storm triggered historic flooding, in Valley, Nebraska, in this still image from a handout video taken on Mar.16, 2019. (Office of Governor Pete Ricketts/Reuters) Nebraska Is Underwater: 74 Cities, 65 Counties Under State of Emergency Much of Nebraska was inundated with flood waters, leading the governor to declare a state of emergency. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts called it the most widespread destruction we have ever seen in our states history, and said farmers will suffer the most, CBS News reported. According to USA Today, 74 cities, 65 counties, and four tribal areas were under a state of emergency as of March 19. The states farm bureau said that ranch and farm losses could total $1 billion. Vice President Mike Pence went to the state to survey flood damage, visit a temporary shelter, and speak to first responders. Were going to make sure that federal resources are there for you, Pence told volunteers, as reported by Yahoo. South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin also declared states of emergency due to flooding, CBS reported. NEW: Roads and bridges were washed out and rescue operations were in full swing as rivers across a swath of the Midwest rose to record levels. Yahoo News 2019319 Obviously weve got a lot of recovery left ahead of us, Ricketts told CBS. Its going to be a long road for us to rebuild our infrastructure and get people back in their homes. Ricketts added that 14 state bridges were damaged and 200 miles of highway were compromised and cannot be used. Were still very focused on keeping people safe right now and as late as yesterday we were still conducting rescues of people, he said. He elaborated on the damage done to farmers lands. In our initial assessment, weve got $400 million in livestock loses and $440 million in grain losses, Ricketts told the news outlet. Were encouraging our farmers and ranchers to contact their local FSA office, Farm Service Agency, to notify them that theyve got these loses and to keep track of this, so they can take advantage of things like the livestock indemnity program. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said that severe flooding across the Midwest might last all spring. Snowmelt and additional rains could create more flood hazards due to compromised levees along rivers. Were in for the long haul. Were just getting started, said Reynolds, USA Today. It looked like an ocean. AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok told USA Today that flooding could last until late spring. El Nino is likely to persist through the spring and not weaken like it usually does this time of the year, he said. More Details Ricketts said more than 2,000 homes and 341 businesses have been damaged or destroyed in the flood, according to The Associated Press. The damage to private homes and businesses has reached $85 million so far. The governor stressed that the numbers are preliminary and subject to change. The numbers were included in the governors request for expedited assistance from the federal government. The floodwaters have also damaged hundreds of homes in other Midwestern states and been blamed for three deaths. In northwest Missouri, two more levees were breached March 19 and the 220 residents of the town of Craig were ordered to evacuate. Local officials said water also is lapping at the edge of the tiny town of Fortescue, where residents used excavators to create a makeshift levee, according to AP. The Associated Press contributed to this report. New York Mom Gives Birth to 15-Pound, 15-Ounce Girl A New York woman gave birth to a 15-pound, 15-ounce baby, according to reports. The girl is one of the largest babies ever born in the United States. Harper Buckley came into the world at about 23-inches long, and she was the heaviest child ever born at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, New York, reported USA Today. Some say Harper could be the heaviest baby born in New York state. Joy Buckley 2019312 I knew she was going to be big but I didnt anticipate no 15-pound baby, mother Joy Buckley told WETM. Buckley described the child as a miracle baby after she was told by doctors that she had a 15 percent chance to conceive after she was diagnosed with ovarian syndrome, according to USA Today. Buckley has also given birth to son, who weighed 11 pounds. She also has adopted a child. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS: A New York state mom gives birth to a baby girl clocking in 15 pounds! The birth set a new hospital record! pic.twitter.com/tlhdZqI0BO WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) March 15, 2019 On March 12, she gave birth to Harper via C-section. The feeling was like being hit by two tractor-trailers simultaneously, she told the Washington Post. I still had some resentment like so and sos pregnant, they have six kids already, why are they pregnant again? Ive wanted to for years and I havent been able to, Buckley told Today.com. The thing Ive always wanted to do in my life was to be a mom. Harpers weight is that of an average 5-month-old baby. Harper Buckley could be the heaviest baby ever born in New York state. https://t.co/uqAWfX6oaj USA TODAY (@USATODAY) March 20, 2019 She remained in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital after she was born. Its definitely hard, but I know she wont be here forever, Buckley told Today.com. Shell be coming home soon. Shes in good hands. I trust the doctors, they know what theyre doing. The U.S. National Library of Medicine says that the average birthrates are from 5.5 to 8.8 pounds. Woman gives birth to 15-pound baby after infertility struggle https://t.co/VyIabxOIGc TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 20, 2019 The heaviest baby ever born in the United States weighed in at 22 pounds, according to the Guinness World Records. The child was born in the 19th century and passed away hours later. The Guinness World record for the heaviest baby to survive was 22 pounds and 8 ounces. The child was born in Italy in 1955. Seven Babies Born at Same Time A 25-year-old Iraqi woman gave birth naturally to six girls and a boy at the same time, and all the children are reportedly healthy. According to the Daily Mail, the unnamed woman gave birth in the Diyali Province of eastern Iraq, which is the first septuplet case in the Middle Eastern country. The local health department issued a statement about the birth, saying the mother and seven infants are perfectly healthy. The 25-year-old gave birth to six baby girls and one boy UNILAD 2019215 The father, Youssef Fadl, said he and his wife werent planning to expand their family, and now they have 10 children, the Mail reported. Photos posted online show the small babies next to one another in the hospital. Other photos show the newborns lying together after birth. Last year, a Lebanese woman gave birth to sextuplets, including three girls and three boys. They all survived, the Mirror noted. Ouch Ouch Ouch!!! Daily Mail 2019215 The wreckage of a bus that was set ablaze by its driver in protest against the treatment of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, is seen on a road in Milan, Italy, March 20, 2019. (Vigili del Fuoco/Handout via Reuters) No One Will Survive: Driver Hijacks Packed School Bus, Sets It on Fire in Apparent Protest A driver hijacked and set ablaze a school bus with 51 children aboard on the outskirts of MilanItalys business capitalon March 20, Italian authorities said. All 51 school children managed to escape the bus with the help of police before it was engulfed in flames. Twelve of the children were reportedly taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure due to bruises and shock, reported The Sun. None of the children suffered serious injuries. Awful news in Italy more here as we get it: The Sun 2019320 Police identified Ousseynou Sy, 47, as the driver who allegedly shouted No one will survive as he rammed cars on a provincial highway and threatened to douse the children with gasoline and set them alight. He shouted, Stop the deaths at sea, Ill carry out a massacre,' police spokesman Marco Palmieri quoted Sy as telling police after his arrest. At the time of the incident, Sy was driving the children from Vailati di Crema school to the gym, according to the news website. One of the children managed to call the police, who rushed to the scene and broke windows to get all the children to safety. A teacher who was with the middle school children was quoted by Ansa news agency as saying that the driver had said he wanted to get to the runway at Milans Linate airport. Sy apparently went on a rampage in an apparent protest against migrant drownings in the Mediterranean. One of the pupils said, He wanted to kill us. He said he lost three daughters at sea, according to The Sun. An unnamed girl was also quoted as saying that Sy blamed deputy prime ministers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio for the deaths of African migrants at sea. Sy, who is an Italian citizen of Senegalese origin since 2004, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, intention to commit mass murder, arson, and resisting law enforcement. He was also treated for burns. The 47-year-old has a criminal record for drunken driving and for sexual abuse on a minor, reported La Repubblica. L'allarme dato ai carabinieri da ragazzino a bordo la Repubblica 2019320 Investigators must clarify how the transport company permitted such a delinquent to drive a bus, especially one carrying children, said Milan provincial security official Riccardo De Corato. Sy had worked for the bus company for 15 years without any issues related to his work performance, reported Sky TG24. Italys Ministry of Defense thanked the police for the efforts to save the school children. #20marzo #bus di una scuola sequestrato e dato alle fiamme. I complimenti di @Eli_Trenta ai@_Carabinieri_ di San Donato Milanese che hanno arrestato il responsabile dellassurdo gesto: grazie per aver salvato le vite di 51 bambini e perche rendete le nostre citta piu sicure Ministero Difesa (@MinisteroDifesa) March 20, 2019 The United Nations estimates that some 2,297 migrants drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2018 as they tried to reach Europe. A Libyan security official said on March 19 that at least 10 migrants died when their boat sank off the Libyan coast near the western town of Sabratha. The Italian government has closed its ports to charity rescue ships that pick up migrants off the Libyan coast. Deputy Prime Minister Salvini said this has helped reduce deaths because far fewer people are now putting to sea. Human rights groups said deaths might have increased with hardly any boats now searching for the would-be refugees. Reuters contributed to this report. A police officer in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 17, 2019, where one of two mass shootings occurred. (Vincent Yu/AP Photo) Notorious Mongrel Mob Gang Vows to Guard Mosque in New Zealand A notorious biker gang has vowed to stand guard outside a New Zealand mosque during first Friday prayers since the attack in Christchurch that left 50 dead. Hearing that Muslims in the city of Hamilton were frightened to go to Friday prayerstheir main weekly gatheringthe regional leader of the Mongrel Mob said they would secure the perimeter of the building. The Mongrel Mob is a Maori-dominated gang that was spawned in the 1960s. Like other ethnic minority gangs, it follows the same structure as Hells Angels: a president, vice president, sergeant-at-arms, patched members, prospects (unpatched recruits), and associates. Waikato Mongrel Mob President Sonny Fatu told Stuff NZ that they would guard Jamia Masjid Mosque in Hamilton, a city on the North Island. We will support and assist our Muslim brothers and sisters for however long they need us, Fatu said. We were contacted by a representative who tagged me in and said some of our Muslim brothers and sisters have fears for Friday during their prayer, and the question was posed whether we could be a part of the safety net for them to allow them to pray in peace without fear, Fatu said. Fatu said that they would not be armed and that membersknown for their facial tattoos and leather jackets emblazoned with a bulldog patchwould be dressed appropriately. We are peacefully securing the inner gated perimeter, with other community members, to allow them to feel at ease, he said. Waikato Muslim Association President Asad Mohsin said he appreciated the support. He said he did not view the Mongrel Mob as gang members. We value them as humans and we appreciate that they value us too, he said. 'We will support and assist our Muslim brothers and sisters for however long they need us' Daily Mail 2019319 Other Mongrel Mob gangs have been seen guarding Muslim buildings in Sydney in neighboring Australia, where the gang has spread in recent decades. The first of the funerals for the 50 victims of the attacks in Christchurch were held on March 19. The majority of victims were migrants or refugees. The youngest was a boy of 3, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist living in New Zealand has been charged with murder following the attack. He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5. Police said they are certain he was the only gunman in the attack but are investigating whether he may have had assistance in planning or execution. Tarrant wore a GoPro camera from which he live-streamed the attack to Facebook. A 44-year-old man who distributed that live-stream has been charged with violating the countrys objectionable publications law. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Several ethnic minority gangs have shown public support for the Muslim community following the attack. The head of the Waikato Muslim Association said he hopes gang members will join Muslims for Friday prayers after the Mongrel Mob pledged to guard Hamilton's mosque. Waikato Times 2019319 That community support is in contrast to the violent reputation and image of the gangs pumped up by various high-profile cases. Until the early 2000s, gang sex and gang rape of women (both referred to as blocking) was endemic to gang culture, states the New Zealand government website. One particularly infamous incident occurred in 1988 when a young woman was kidnapped and taken to a Mongrel Mob convention in Auckland, where she was raped by more than 15 men. That practice of gang rape has declined in recent years, pushed down by heavy prison sentences and a switch in focus to selling drugs. Student Zheng Zizan from Xian in China poses for family photos after graduating with a Masters of Commerce from Sydney University on Oct. 12, 2017. (William West/AFP/Getty Images) NSW Labors Michael Daley Accused of Rank Hypocrisy NSW Labor leader Michael Daleys comments on skilled Asian migrants taking local jobs have been widely condemned but the premier held back from criticising the racial element of his remarks. View this post on Instagram Happy Chinese New Year! #LunarNewYear A post shared by Michael Daley (@michaeldaleynsw) on Feb 2, 2019 at 9:44pm PST Premier Gladys Berejiklian instead focused on Daleys rank hypocrisy after a video emerged of him telling a Blue Mountains pub forum in September that highly-skilled Asian migrants were forcing Australian-born workers to flee Sydney. Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs, he said. So theres a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs. Two months later, he held a press conference in Parliament House exclusively for Chinese media in which he reportedly said the Chinese have a great sense of energy, entrepreneurship, great business people youve lifted the spirit of this nation. Berejiklian highlighted the contradictions in Daleys comments. Gladys Berejiklian 201932 What the issue is at hand today is the two-faced hypocrisy of the leader of the opposition, thats the issue, Berejiklian told reporters. Pushed on whether she was offended by the racial nature of the comments, Berejiklian said: Of course there are offensive elements to what he said, no doubt about that, but what rankles with me the most is his hypocrisy. She argued: He thinks he can say one thing to one group of people, and another thing to another group. Berejiklian in May 2018 slammed then-Labor leader Luke Foley for his comments on white flight when he suggested Anglo families were leaving parts of Sydney. The premier called Foleys comments deeply divisive, dangerous, and nasty, adding that hed crossed the line. Luke Foley 2018627 Berejiklian in October then called for a breather on immigration into NSW because rates had gone through the roof. Daley issued a qualified apology on March 19. The opposition leader insisted hed been discussing housing affordability and a desire to ensure all of our children could continue to live in Sydney. I have conceded that my language could have been better, Ive readily acknowledged that and if anyone has taken offence to what Ive said, I do apologise, he told reporters. Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said Daleys comments were poorly worded. Bruce. What a legend. 7AFL Bill Shorten MP 201938 Treasurer Dominic Perrottet also accused the state opposition leader of hypocrisy. Hes trying to be Pauline Hanson in the Blue Mountains and (Greens Senator) Sarah Hanson-Young in the city, the Liberal minister told reporters. But Perrottet went a step further than Berejiklian by condemning the racial focus of Daleys remarks. It is completely wrong and irresponsible to single out a race and say that people are fleeing Sydney as a result, the treasurer said. Former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane agrees. Those remarks (by Daley) are disappointing, Soutphommasane told ABC TV. Many people would have interpreted them as involving an appeal to racism. You can have a debate about congestion or housing affordability or quality of life without singling out racial groups. Daley Ads Appear in Chinese Newspapers Daley advertisements have shown up on several Chinese-Australian newspapers, as he faces criticism over comments he made about Asian migrants taking local jobs. Accompanying a large photo of Daley and his family, is his key election slogansschools and hospitals before stadiums and putting people firstwritten in Mandarin. The ads also include the head shots of 10 Labor candidates. Daley on Tuesday admitted he could have used better language and apologised if anyone was offended by the remarks made at a pub forum in the Blue Mountains in September. In an apparent move to reassure parts of Sydneys Asian community, Labor on Wednesday took out full front-page advertisements in at least three locally-produced Chinese newspapersthe Australian Chinese Daily, Australian New Express Daily, and Daily Chinese Herald. Its understood an ad is also featured on the front page of the Sing Tao Daily Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday denounced the state opposition leaders comments, as he announced a cut to Australias immigration intake. He described the remarks as appalling, very upsetting, and offensive. I reject the comments and I think that Bill Shorten should disassociate himself as well, he told ABC News. Shorten acknowledged on Tuesday that the comment was very poorly worded but said Daley had apologised. Daley Says No Part in Chinese Paper Ads Daley says he played no part in organising full-page ads featuring him on the front of several Chinese language newspapers after he was criticised suggesting Asian migrants were taking local jobs. Its not something I had any role in, Daley told reporters on Wednesday. Im not (a racist), I never have been, people who know me know that Im not, Daley said. I did use words that I shouldnt have, I accept that and my apology is unqualified. The opposition leader said hed discussed the comments with some Labor MPs including Kogarah MP Chris Minns who later issued a bilingual statement on Chinese social media platform WeChat. Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk said voters at polling booths on Tuesday didnt raise Daleys comments with her. The point he wanted to make was that everyone deserves a fair go, she told reporters. The main issues people raised with me was they are really tired of this government not looking after them. I reject the comments and I think that Bill Shorten should disassociate himself as well, he told ABC News. Manson Bryant, 32, was sentenced to 28 years in prison earlier this month in Painesville, Ohio. (Lake County Sheriffs Office) Ohio Felon Hurls Abuse at Judge, Gets Longer Sentence An Ohio man who directed a torrent of abusive language at a judge during sentencing had his punishment extended by six years. Manson Bryant, 32, was initially sentenced to 22 years when he faced a judge in Lake County Common Pleas Court in Painesville on March 1, according to WOIO. After launching into an abusive tirade in court, however, Bryant received a sentence of 28 years behind bars. Ive made a lifetime of bad decisions, Bryant told Judge Eugene Lucci, referring to a criminal history that included a recent felony charge of aggravated robbery and kidnapping following a home invasion last year, according to a Facebook post from the Lake County Sheriffs Office. I am truly sorry. I respect you and I respect your decision, Bryant said moments before Lucci delivered the verdict, WOIO reported. Courtroom video showed the judge saying that he was sentencing the defendant for a total of 22 years, adding that the court determines that you have or will have the ability to pay restitution Luccis utterance was interrupted, however, by Bryants angry outburst. [expletive] your courtroom, you racist [expletive]! [expletive] your courtroom, man, Bryant shouted out, adding, Twenty-two [expletive] years! You racist [expletive]! Bailiffs restrained the visibly agitated Bryant as he continued to vent his fury. Lucci observed the defendants reaction, before saying Actually, actually you know what? Remember when I said that you had some remorse? When I said that you had a certain amount of remorse, I was mistaken. Bryant interrupted the judge with further obscenities. The defendant has shown me that he has no remorse whatsoever, Lucci said, adding, and therefore the court determines that maximum imprisonment is needed. So thats 28 years. Lucci added: He poses the greatest likelihood of recidivism. I apparently thought that he was more remorseful than what he was. He was just feeding me a line of bull. It was clear that the remorse he was trying to portray was phony and that he wasnt remorseful at all, the judge told Fox affiliate WJW. And that if given the chance, if I let him loose on society, hes going to prey on other people. Daniel Williams, Bryants attorney, said his client had a regrettable reaction. I would only comment that sentencing hearings can be emotional for all involved. Mr. Bryant received a significant sentence, and had an emotional and regrettable reaction to it, he said, according to WJW. Williams said his client intends to appeal the verdict. Violent Home Invasion The crime Bryant faced sentencing for was a violent home invasion dating back to July 6, 2018, at a residence in Painesville Township. According to the Lake County Sheriffs Office, the victim, Mr. Artura Gonzalez, said that at about 4:50 a.m. that day two males entered his bedroom and brandished a firearm. Mr. Gonzalez explained that he was in fear for his life as one of the males pointed the black firearm at him, the LCSO said in a statement, adding that the victim believed the trigger was pulled as he heard a click from the weapon. Three Persons Arrested By Lake County Sheriffs Office Detectives After Violent Home Invasion in Painesville Lake County Sheriff's Office 2018716 The statement went on to say that both of the males continued to terrorize Mr. Gonzalez as he reported that the black gun was then physically placed on his head; at roughly the same time one of the males forcefully covered Mr. Gonzalezs head with a blanket retrieved from his bed. One of the suspects held the blanket over Mr. Gonzalezs face and proceeded to strike him. The firearm was then placed into Mr. Gonzalezs ribcage at which time one of the males stole his wallet from the pants he was wearing. The LCSO said in the statement that the two suspects stole cash, a gold ring, cellphone, and laptop. Detectives launched an immediate manhunt for the suspects due to the violence involved and danger to the community. A Repeat Pattern Lucci told WOIO this wasnt the first time Bryant targeted him with a foul-mouthed tirade. In 2014, when Lucci sentenced him to 12 months in prison, he said Bryant walked out of the court saying, Suck my [expletive], judge. It seems to be a repeat pattern with him, Lucci said. MIAMI, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Miami-based United American Corp ("UnitedCorp") (OTC: UAMA) announced today that their legal counsel Akerman LLP has filed a Consolidated Opposition to Defendant's Motions to Dismiss Complaint in its suit against Bitmain Group, Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, Jihan Wu, Kraken, Jesse Powell, Amaury Sechet, Shammah Chancellor and Jason Cox (the "Defendants"). The opposition was filed after the Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the UnitedCorp action on February 1st 2019. The suit is the first antitrust action brought in the United States involving the cryptocurrency industry. It alleges that the Defendants collectively engaged in unfair methods of competition, and through a series of deceptive and unfair practices, manipulated the Bitcoin Cash network for their benefit and to the detriment of UnitedCorp and other Bitcoin Cash stakeholders. Their alleged actions resulted in the network losing more than US $4 billion in value as a direct result of the alleged hijacking of the network, in addition to a forced network fork with the implementation of their specific new rules set in the Bitcoin ABC 0.18.5 version under the control of the Defendants. UnitedCorp alleges that these new rules set have irreparably harmed the Bitcoin Cash blockchain network and Bitmain, along with the co-Defendants, should be held liable. UnitedCorp alleges that the Defendants colluded to effectively hijack the Bitcoin Cash network after the November 15, 2018 scheduled software update with the express intent of centralizing the network. This includes allegations that Roger Ver, along with Kraken and developers of Bitcoin ABC, colluded with Chinese-based and Chinese government-financed mining rig manufacturer Bitmain to unfairly redirect hashing power at the exact moment of the scheduled software update, forcing the implementation of Bitcoin ABC software centric checkpoints and thereby moving the network away from its native Bitcoin-based blockchain design. UnitedCorp also believes that the attempt to dominate the network in favor of a particular Bitcoin ABC version was enhanced by Bitmain's use of firmware known as "Overt ASICBoost" which provides significantly increased operational mining efficiency. This firmware was made available in advance of the last Bitcoin Cash update by Bitmain only to Bitcoin ABC-supported pools, which are operated by Bitcoin.com which is owned by Roger Ver. Overt ASICBoost was not usable by other Bitcoin Cash pools in a time frame that would have allowed them to apply the efficiency during the software upgrade. This gave the Bitcoin ABC-Bitmain-Bitcoin.com group-supported pools a significant advantage and allowed them to accomplish the network control centralization plan. UnitedCorp alleges that these activities are evidence of not only a violation of the accepted standards and protocols associated with Bitcoin since its inception, but a violation of US antitrust laws including parts of the Sherman Act. In their motion to dismiss, the Defendants have argued that the UnitedCorp action does not meet the standards to proceed. "While the Defendants are attempting to dismiss the lawsuit by primarily alleging lack of evidence, their own statements and a mass of publicly available data clearly shows otherwise," stated UnitedCorp President Benoit Lalibert. "This is an important juncture for the public blockchain and cryptocurrency industry as we believe the industry must remain decentralized and beyond the control and manipulation of any individual or group in order to maintain the confidence and integrity of the network. We challenge the Defendants to explain their actions under oath and justify why their actions have not violated US antitrust laws. Should any of the counts in our suit actually be dismissed, the complaint will be amended as appropriate. One way or another we intend to compel Mr. Ver, Mr. Chancellor and other co-Defendants to provide depositions under oath in the US in the near future in order to shed some light on this alleged fraud." In its opposition to dismiss, UnitedCorp provided a significant number of details to support the suit including evidence that the Defendants themselves made explicit statements declaring that they coordinated, conspired and agreed with each other. This included a YouTube video from an online forum where Andreas Brekken, a Kraken software engineer, acknowledges that Bitcoin ABC developers and crypto exchanges such as Kraken agreed to the entire scheme in advance. In the video, Brekken further admits that the scheme had been planned for a long time and included a software patch that could be applied by the exchanges at a strategic point during the software update which "prevents all future re-orgs" in other words which allows control of the network. The YouTube video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjAHJY0QZhs UnitedCorp's filing also provides support for the allegation that the Defendants' collective actions were for unlawful purposes and in an attempt to manipulate the cryptocurrency market for Bitcoin Cash, violated consensus rules regarding voting and precluded any future changes to Bitcoin cash functionality and changes to the consensus rules. The actions are compared to the illegal action of "bid rigging" in that Bitmain "mercenary" miners were temporarily redeployed to the Bitcoin Cash network during the software upgrade for the sole purpose of diluting the traditional voting process exercised by existing Bitcoin Cash nodes to dominate the process for a short period of time. This violated the established ground rules of the network that others had respected and relied on for years. The Bitcoin white paper clearly states that "Nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone. They vote with their CPU power, expressing their acceptance of valid blocks by working on extending them and rejecting invalid blocks by refusing to work on them. Any needed rules and incentives can be enforced with this consensus mechanism." Therefore, the use of CPU power that was never part of the network prior to the network upgrade could not possibly have "rejoined" the network for the voting process. The transient spike in CPU power could only have been achieved at that time through deliberate and coordinated manipulation by the Defendants. Due to their residency outside the United States, certain of the Defendants have not as yet been served in the suit and UnitedCorp is continuing activities to provide proper service. In the meantime UnitedCorp has filed a motion with the Court to extend the time to serve these Defendants presently located overseas. UnitedCorp's Consolidated Opposition to Defendant's Motions to Dismiss Complaint can be obtained at www.unitedcorp.com/corporate About United American Corp Established in 1992, United American Corp is a Florida-based development and management company focusing on telecommunications and information technologies. The company currently holds the rights to manage a portfolio of patents and proprietary technology in telecommunications, social media and Blockchain technology, and owns and operates the BlockchainDomes which are designed to provide heat for agricultural operations using computer equipment in naturally cooled data centers where efficiency and low-cost operations are a priority. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors that may be beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made, and the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances in management's expectations or opinions change. Source: United American Corp Contact: Investor Relations investorrelations@unitedcorp.com An Audi car is displayed during the second day of the 17th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai on April 20, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Owners of Chinese-Made Audi Cars Claim Toxic Material Caused Them to Develop Leukemia Six Chinese citizens recently publicly claimed that a major Chinese automaker used toxic materials in car parts that have led some owners to develop leukemia. Relatives of the six alleged victims on March 9 published an online article on WeChat, a popular social-media platform, claiming that the six bought Audi cars manufactured by FAW-Volkswagen. Within a short period of time, they developed leukemia; two of the six people have died. They believe the use of toxic materials in Chinese-made Audi cars was the cause of leukemia. The article included the car models and hospital records of the alleged victims, in addition to excerpts from medical journals, media reports, and related lawsuit complaints. FAW-Volkswagen, headquartered in Changchun City, Jilin Province, in northeastern China, is a joint venture between the Chinese state-owned automaker FAW and the famed German carmaker. It manufactures Audi and Volkswagen passenger cars for sale in China. In 2013, Chinas state broadcaster CCTV aired a segment that highlighted a complaint among drivers of luxury cars, including Chinese-made Audi cars: a strange odor emanating from inside the cars. It was ultimately traced to asphaltused to make dampers that absorb shock and noise. A CCTV reporter collected damper samples from several Audi owners and sent them to a laboratory to analyze the material. They were confirmed to be made of asphalt. Asphalt dampers are placed close to the cars sheet metal, and when heated, it can release gases. Many scientific articles in the field of environmental and occupational health have pointed out that asphalt gases contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)which are known carcinogens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chinese media uncovered a March 2017 public announcement by FAW-Volkswagen that said cars it manufactured between September 2013 and March 2016 emitted gases when the dampers became hot. On March 11, Chinese media Beijing News contacted an Audi customer complaint officer, who said he hadnt received any complaints of illnesses resulting from strange odors. He also said that the Audi Q5, A4L, and A3 models manufactured after April 2016 no longer have a strange odor. The complaint officer said that if a customer detects a strange odor in an Audi car, they can go to an Audi dealer to have it checked. Beijing News inquired at an Audi site, where a staffer told the media outlet that if a customer owns an Audi car manufactured between September 2013 and March 2016, they can get a free inspection and can have the damper changed free of charge. By press time, FAW-Volkswagen hasnt responded to a request for comment. More Alleged Victims Identified Radio Free Asia (RFA) reached one of the alleged victims described in the viral WeChat post, a woman who only identified herself as Ms. Lin. She told RFA on March 10 that after the article was published, it was viewed more than 400,000 times in one day. Many people contacted her to tell her that they too developed leukemia after purchasing an Audi car made by FAW-Volkswagen. Lin said she bought an Audi A4 in May 2015, and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia M2 in January 2018. It was found that formaldehyde and benzene in my Audi car have seriously exceeded acceptable levels, Lin said. More and more victims have contacted me. All are leukemia patients. The imported Audis dont have problems. All these victims have a domestic-made Audi, she added. According to Lin, as of March 11, more than 2,000 owners of Chinese-made Audi cars have contacted her, saying they would join her to form a collective to seek justice. More than 20 Audi owners told Lin that they either have been diagnosed with leukemia or have symptoms of leukemia, according to a follow-up RFA report on March 11. Many Chinese Automakers Use Asphalt In March 2013, Chinese media 21st Century also reported on the phenomenon of strange odors emanating from asphalt dampers in Chinese-made luxury cars. According to an auto repair professional interviewed by the media outlet, many domestic car models use asphalt dampers, a common practice for a large number of Chinese automakers. In addition, a salesperson for a damping material supplier told 21st Century that his company has a production capacity of 20,000 tons of asphalt dampers per year, making it one of the largest manufacturers of such materials. Other anonymous experts in the automotive industry told 21st Century that in developed countries, car dampers are usually made from polymer resins or rubber. Neither of these materials emits toxic gases. Lacking National Standards The 21st Century report also pointed out there are two main reasons why Chinese-made luxury cars use asphalt instead of resin. First, there is no national standard regarding auto parts and accessories, and second, the use of asphalt can help reduce production costs. Zhou Guangya, a senior engineer at domestic carmaker China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, said that in the case of an ordinary sedan, asphalt dampers would cost about 50 to 70 yuan each (about $7.40 to $10.45). Dampers made from non-toxic materials cost about 150 yuan to 200 yuan (about $22.40 to $29.80) more. Mr. Qin, an auto industry employee, explained to RFA that when a state-owned auto company establishes a joint venture with a foreign company, usually only core components, such as engines, are imported from foreign countries. Its very common for Chinese carmakers to use inferior materials in less important auto parts and vehicle decorations, as there is no mandatory national standard. Victims Struggle for Justice Fang Shuai is one of the two people mentioned in the WeChat post who died from leukemia. His wife told RFA that Fang bought an Audi Q5 in December 2014 and was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016. He had bone marrow transplant surgery, but ultimately died at the age of 40. The domestic-made Audi Q5 was rolled out in 2010 and became very popular on the Chinese market. Fangs wife has filed a lawsuit in Beijing against FAW-Volkswagen. She tried to seek help from Chinese media, but was turned away, she said. Fangs wife believes the difficulty shes had in filing suit is because FAW-Volkswagen is a state-owned enterprise (FAW owns majority shares). Pigs are seen on the farm of pig farmer Han Yi at a village in Changtu County, Liaoning Province, China on Jan. 17, 2019. (Ryan Woo/Reuters) Piles of Pigs: Swine Fever Outbreaks Go Unreported in Rural China BAODING, ChinaWhen pigs on the Xinda Husbandry Co. Ltd breeding farm in northern China began dying in growing numbers in early January, it looked increasingly likely that the farm had been struck by the much feared African swine fever, an incurable disease that has spread rapidly across the country since last year. But after taking samples from some pigs, local officials in the Xushui district of Baoding City, about an hours drive from Beijing, said their tests came back negative, said Sun Dawu, chairman of Hebei Dawu Agriculture Group, the farm owner. As hundreds of pigs began dying daily on the 20,000-head farm, the company obtained a test kit that showed some positive results for the virus. But after further lobbying by Xinda, officials just offered the company subsidies for farm buildings and other investments, said Sun. Suns account of events and pictures taken by farm staff of dead pigs lying in rows and a pile outside the farm could not be independently verified. Xushui district said in a faxed response to Reuters on March 19 that it was opening an investigation into the case, adding that it had found some discrepancies with the reported version of events. Farmers and other industry insiders told Reuters that Chinas African swine fever epidemic is far more extensive than official reports suggest, making the disease harder to contain, potentially causing pork shortages and increasing the likelihood that it will spread beyond Chinas borders. Our full expectation is that the number of cases is under-reported, said Paul Sundberg, executive director at the Swine Health Information Center in Ames, Iowa, which is funded by American pork producers. And if theres so much of that virus in the environment in China, then we are at increased risk of importing it. China does not permit the commercial sale of African swine fever test kits, though many are now available. Official confirmation must come from a state-approved laboratory. Public confirmation of disease is the governments job, Sun told Reuters at his company headquarters in Xushui in late February. Frustrated by the lack of action and mounting losses from the disease, Sun eventually published details of the suspected outbreak on Chinas Twitter-like platform Weibo on Feb. 22. Two days later, it became the first African swine fever case in Hebei Province, one of the norths top pig producing regions, to be reported by Chinas Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, about seven weeks after the company says it had alerted local authorities. By then, more than 15,000 pigs on the Xinda farm had already died, said Sun, and the company even sold thousands of pigspotentially spreading the disease further. Sun said officials did not explain why their first test had been negative, though he suggested it may have been because they took samples from live pigs on the farm and did not test the dead ones. Chinas Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not reply to a faxed request for comment on the case. The agriculture ministry has warned against covering up outbreaks of the disease, and in January highlighted two large farms that had tried to conceal outbreaks. Unconfirmed Outbreaks Detailed accounts of unconfirmed outbreaks shared with Reuters by two other farm company managers suggest Suns experience is not unique. In one case in northern China last year, local officials declined to even carry out a test. In another case in Shandong Province, official test results came back negative, despite clinical symptoms that strongly pointed to African swine fever and a positive test result obtained by the company itself. Neither manager was willing to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Once an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) is confirmed, all pigs on the farm, as well as any within a 1.8-mile radius, must be culled and disposed of, according to Chinese law, and farmers should be paid 1,200 yuan ($180) per pig culled. For some cash-strapped county governments, avoiding compensation payments could be an incentive not to report disease, said a senior official with a major pig producer. When the disease hit one of the companys 6,000-head sow farms in the northeast in November, local authorities did nothing, the official said. It was never tested by the government. We couldnt do the test because we didnt have the capability. But theres no question it was ASF, based on the symptoms and lesions, he told Reuters, declining to be identified because of company policy. A county official in northeastern Liaoning Province told Reuters in January that the local government had poured so much money and resources into preventing and controlling African swine fever that it risked bankrupting the county. But wealthy Shandong Province, northern Chinas biggest producer of hogs, has only confirmed one case of the disease, on Feb. 20. Insiders at one company said four of its farms in the province had suffered swine fever infections, however, suggesting more unconfirmed outbreaks may have occurred. After the companys first outbreak in early January, the local government tested and the results came back negative, said an executive, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. Shandong Provinces animal husbandry bureau did not respond to a fax seeking comment on unreported cases. Spatial Randomness There is no cure or vaccine for African swine fever and it kills about 90 percent of infected pigs. Analysts forecast pig production in China, which eats about half of the worlds pork, will fall more than during the 2006 blue ear epidemic, one of the worst disease outbreaks in recent years, with some expecting a decline of around 30 percent in 2019. That would send meat prices soaring and trigger huge demand for imports. The agriculture ministry said last week the pig herd in February had dropped 16.6 percent year-on-year, and sow stocks were down more than 19 percent. China also has a patchy record of reporting disease. Details of the blue ear outbreak, which infected more than 2 million hogs, did not emerge until months after the damage had already been done, and the number of pigs that died is still disputed. Like blue ear, African swine fever does not harm people. But it is classified a reportable disease by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), a global body that promotes transparency, and member country China is obliged to report each outbreak. You need to move faster than the virus, its a very simple equation of how to control disease, said Trevor Drew, director of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory at the national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. If you dont know where the virus is, you cant stop it. Since August 2018, Beijing has reported 112 outbreaks in 28 provinces and regions. The increase has slowed considerably in 2019 and the agriculture ministry said earlier this month the situation was gradually improving. But some suspect the disease is worse than the official data suggest. I am very much hoping that I am wrong, but if I consider the epidemiological characteristics of this virus disease, I would have to be extremely skeptical, said Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of veterinary epidemiology at the City University of Hong Kong. He pointed to the spatial randomness of the reported outbreaks, unusual for an infectious disease, which normally develops in clusters. The high rate of detection of the virus in food products carried from China to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia, as well as domestically, also indicated a much higher presence of the virus in Chinese pigs than reported, said Pfeiffer and others. Large Farms, Large Losses With extremely high density of pigs, raised largely on low-biosecurity farms, tackling disease is widely recognized as a major challenge for China. But the disease has hit both small farms and large producers, say industry insiders, despite better hygiene and training at factory farms. The large producers have not been spared, said a manager with a company that supplies several of Chinas top pig producers. Everyone is trying really hard on biosecurity, but theyre still getting outbreaks, and theyre frustrated and losing hope. He said he knew of eight large breeding farms that had experienced outbreaks, including two on very large, 10,000-head sow farms. None were officially reported. He declined to be named or to reveal the names of the producers because of client confidentiality. Beijing has not officially reported any swine fever on the farms of large listed producers, whose shares are trading at record levels as investors bet the big producers will benefit from tighter supplies. Qin Yinglin, chairman of Chinas No.2 producer, Muyuan Foods Co Ltd, which raised 11 million pigs for slaughter last year, said most large companies were likely to be infected. If you checked carefully, testing one-by-one, then for sure everyone has it, he told Reuters in an interview. This is a high probability event. He said it was not yet known if his firm had been hit. (For a graphic on African swine fever in China click https://tmsnrt.rs/2QMhmzL) By Dominique Patton Arizona voters make their way to a polling place to cast their ballot during the midterm elections, Phoenix, Arizona, on Nov. 6, 2018. (Ralph Freso/Getty Images) Poll: Only 17 Percent Support Lowering the Federal Voting Age to 16 A new Rasmussen poll released Tuesday shows only 17 percent of likely U.S. voters support lowering the federal voting age from 18 to 16, with an overwhelming 74 percent rejecting the idea. The poll comes just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she personally supported the idea of 16-year-olds voting in federal elections. According to Rasmussen, the poll shows that only 25 percent of Democrats support lowering the voting age and nine percent of Republicans support this view. Broken down between race, only 32 percent of blacks support lowering the voting age and 16 percent of whites favor that stance. Both male and female voters are relatively on the same page with this issue, according to Rasmussen. Seventy-seven percent of males surveyed oppose lowering the voting age and 71 percent of females oppose it as well. The poll also shows 65 percent of 18- to 39-year-olds oppose lowering the voting age, 77 percent of those aged 40 to 64 do not want to see the voting age lowered, and 84 percent of those 65 or older say the voting age should not be lowered either. The Rasmussen poll was a survey of 1,000 likely voters and was conducted between March 17-18. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. I myself, personallyIm not speaking for my caucusI myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16, Pelosi said last week. I think its really important to capture kids when theyre in high school, when theyre interested in all of this, when theyre learning about government to be able to vote. Reducing the voting age to 16 was debated on the House floor two weeks ago when it came up as an amendment on the For The People Act, a House Democratic passed bill (H.R. 1) that would revamp U.S. election and campaign finance laws. Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley proposed the amendment, but it was defeated 126-305, with just one Republican, Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, supporting the measure. The House Speaker joined Democratic Missouri Rep. Lacy Clay Monday in his home state in Ferguson to discuss H.R.1 and the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 (H.R.4). She further explained, Many years ago, when I was in school, civics was a requirement. Then remember that? Well, you dont remember that, but you read about it. She added in part, But then, it became an elective, and I dont know. There were other things kids took instead. So, the point is that when they are in high school, we see such a heightened interest in history and civics and climate and gun safety and you name it. And that would be a time for them to be registered to vote. Two Democratic presidential candidates, Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris appeared interested in listening to those who support lowering the voting age. Republicans panned the idea, arguing that Democrats are supportive of the measure simply because younger voters tend to support Democrats more often than Republicans. Im of the opinion that we shouldnt arbitrarily lower the voting age just because, right now, I believe Democrats think theyll gain more votes, said Republican Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis said during debate on the floor of Pressleys amendment. I believe it will institutionalize a Democrat majority here in this House of Representatives. Since 2013, 13 states have proposed bills to lower the voting age, ranging from school board elections to state elections. By Kerry Picket Follow Kerry on Twitter White House press secretary Sean Spicer (R) gives Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (L) the first quarter check of U.S. President Donald Trump's salary, which he donated to the National Park Service as Tyrone Brandyburg (C), Harpers Ferry National Historical Park superintendent, looks on during the daily press briefing at the White House, on April 3, 2017 (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) President Trump Donates Paycheck to Department of Homeland Security President Donald Trump donated another paycheck to a government agency, giving $100,000 to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump has donated all of his paychecks since taking office. He receives $400,000 a year, or $100,000 a quarter. He has been donating the money on a quarterly basis. While the press doesnt like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security. If I didnt do it there would be hell to pay from the FAKE NEWS MEDIA! pic.twitter.com/xqIGUOwh4x Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2019 Trump posted a picture of the check he wrote to the department, writing on Twitter: While the press doesnt like writing about it, nor do I need them to, I donate my yearly Presidential salary of $400,000.00 to different agencies throughout the year, this to Homeland Security. If I didnt do it there would be hell to pay from the FAKE NEWS MEDIA! he added. In January, Trump donated his salary from the third quarter of 2018 to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The institute is part of the National Institutes of Health. On its website, the institute is described as the lead agency for U.S. research on alcohol use disorder, and other health and developmental effects of alcohol use. Our mission is to support research, and then translate and disseminate research findings to reduce alcohol-related problems, the website added. Trump has said hes never had any alcohol after being affected by his brothers heavy drinking. I had a brother, Fred. Great guy, best-looking guy, best personality, much better than mine, Trump said during a speech in 2017. But he had a problem. He had a problem with alcohol. Trump said that Fred Trump, who died at the age of 43 in 1981, would tell him, Dont drink, dont drink. He was substantially older and I listened to him and I respected him. He would say it over and over and over again. And to this day, Ive never had [a] drink. And I have no longing, I have no interest in it, Trump said. I learned because of Fred. He was a strong guy but it was a tough, tough thing that he was going through. By law, Trump must be paid as president. As part of a post touting Trumps accomplishments during his first two years, the White House noted on Jan. 20, Each quarter since taking office, President Trump has donated his salary, fulfilling a promise he made to the American people. He donated his third-quarter 2017 salary, for instance, to Health and Human Services (HHS). The department was told to use the money to help combat the opioid crisis. Eric Hargan, acting HHS secretary, said during an announcement that the donation was a tribute to [Trumps] compassion, to his patriotism, and a sense of duty to the American people. He said the agency would use the money for a public awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid addiction. The president is personally dedicated to defeating this crisis because addiction hits home for so many of us, Hargan said. You heard him share the story in his opioid speech about how he lost his own brother to alcoholism. And speaking personally, opioid addiction has been a presence in my hometown, in my family, for years. Trump also donated $100,000 to the Small Business Administration, with the agencys head Linda McMahon accepting a check at a White House briefing in October 2018. She said the funds would go toward a training program that helped veterans interested in starting their own businesses. Other agencies that have received donations from Trump include the National Park Service, the Department of Education, and the Department of Transportation. The French government has appealed to the patriotic sentiments of France's major airline, Air France, requesting that it rethink its decision to order airplanes from Boeing. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images) Report: Dog Found Dead in Cargo Hold of Air France Plane A dog was found dead on an Air France flight heading from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, according to a report from TMZ. The dog, which appears to be a husky or husky mix, was found dead in the cargo hold, TMZ reported, citing sources at the Los Angeles International Airport on March 20. One Air France employee with knowledge of the incident claims the dog was incorrectly loaded in the cargo hold and lost oxygen during the transatlantic flight, TMZ reported. The flight time took about 10 hours and 45 minutes, the report said. The unnamed owner of the dog picked the animal up at the Air France warehouse at the Los Angeles airport. She was devastated, the report stated, adding that there were pictures of the dead animal that are too disturbing to share. A dog was found dead on arrival at LAX after being stored in a cargo hold of an Air France KLM flight from Amsterdam. TMZ 2019320 Air France hasnt issued a statement on the matter. Other details about the incident arent clear. Last year, there were several reports of dogs dying on planes. The 8-year-old Pomeranian, Alejandro, died during a layover on his way from Phoenix to Newark, New Jersey CNN 201863 More Dog Deaths on Planes In June, an 8-year-old Pomeranian dog died on a trip from Delta Air Lines from Phoenix to Newark, CNN reported. There was a stop in Detroit at 6 a.m. Alejandro was checked on. He was alive. Then between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. he was checked on again and he was dead, said Michael Dellegrazies attorney, Evan Oshan. Dellegrazie owned the dog. During a layover in Detroit, the dog was held in a cargo facility. An official with Delta found the dog unresponsive. The family is very upset, Oshan said. This is essentially their family member who died. To say they are upset is a gross understatement. The dog's barking stopped halfway through the flight The Independent 2018313 Meanwhile, a United Airlines flight attendant forced a dog into an overhead bin on a flight, apparently leading to the dogs death, reported The Independent. Maggie Gremminger was told a passenger had to place her dog into the bin. The dog was barking in the bin, but it went quiet when the plane hit a patch of turbulence. United accepted full responsibility for the death of the animal, which was 10 months old. Gremminger said, I just flew into LGA and witnessed a United flight attendant instruct a passenger to put her dog bag in the overhead bin. It was clearly a dog and while the customer was adamant about leaving it under the seat, the attendant pushed her to do so. At the end of the flight, the woman found her dog, deceased. She sat in the airplane aisle crying, and all of surrounding passengers were utterly stunned. According to another passenger, the flight attendant apparently INSISTED that the puppy be locked up for three hours without any kind of airflow. This is awful. New York Post 2018313 But, there was no sound as we landed and opened his kennel. There was no movement as his family called his name, the passenger said. Research Says High-Potency Cannabis Linked to Psychosis If high-potency cannabis mysteriously disappeared from Amsterdams smoke-filled coffee shops and streets, the number of psychotic episodes in the city would be cut in half. Thats the conclusion of researchers who examined the link between cannabis use and psychosis, drawing on data from 11 European cities. The research, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, showed that daily cannabis use, especially of high potency cannabis, is strongly linked to the risk of developing psychosis. Psychosis is a medical condition characterized by hallucinations and delusionsdistinct from hearing voices, paranoia, or mind-altering effect of being high on drugs. Observational studies and biological evidence support a causal link between cannabis use and psychosis, said a statement from Kings College London. But until now, it has been unclear whether, at a population level, patterns of cannabis use influence rates of psychosis. The link was particularly marked in the cities of London and Amsterdam, where skunk is smoked at much higher levels than other European cities. Using records, the researchers identified all individuals in the cities who had their first psychotic episode over a five-year period, including information about their history of cannabis use. They categorized their cannabis use into two categories by looking at levels of delta-6-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Anything over 10 percent was high-potency. They compared the 901 people with a first episode of psychosis with 1,237 healthy controls to be able to adjust for other risk factors. Once adjusted for other factors, the authors found that across the 11 European sites, people who used cannabis on a daily basis were three times more likely to have a diagnosis of first episode psychosis, compared with people who had never used cannabis, said the KCL statement. This increased to five times more likely for daily use of high potency cannabis. Lead author Dr. Marta Di Forti said in a statement, Our findings are consistent with previous studies showing that the use of cannabis with a high concentration of THC has more harmful effects on mental health than the use of weaker forms In Amsterdam, those who reported using high-potency cannabis on a daily basis were nine times more likely to develop psychosis, compared with those who didnt use marijuana. Risk to Young People In London, a third of psychosis cases are the result of smoking skunk, according to the study. In Amsterdam, it is half. Cannabis with a THC content of 14 percent or higher makes up 94 percent of the drug sold on the streets of London. Weve got a problem with potency, Nick Hickmott from the British drug and alcohol charity Addaction told the BBC. People who regularly take lots of high strength cannabis are at risk of potentially serious harm. It can be particularly harmful for younger, developing brains. Last year a California study found that the impact of cannabis use on skills, memory, and behavior is worse than alcohol. The research also suggests cannabis works as a gateway drug by reducing the mental capacity to control the impulses associated with addictive behavior. Three thousand and eight hundred adolescents were tracked from the age of around 13 over a period of four years. The researchers, from the University of Montreal, are urging teenagers to delay their use of cannabis, saying it affects important cognitive functions. A statistical link was already established between drug use and impaired cognition in teenagers. However, previous studies had not been able to establish that cannabis use was causing the drop in cognition. Dr. Patricia Conrod, from the Department of Psychiatry at Universite de Montreal, said, Our study is unique in that it followed a large sample of high school students from seventh to 10th grade using cognitive and substance-use measures. Using this big-data approach, we were able to model the complex nature of the relationship between these sets of variables. The researchers looked at year-to-year changes in substance use and cognitive development in recall memory, perceptual reasoning, inhibition, and working memory. Roundup products are seen for sale at a hardware store in San Rafael, Calif., on July, 9, 2018. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images) Second Federal Jury Says Roundup Contributes to Causing Cancer A U.S. jury ruled March 19 that agrochemical company Monsantos weed killer product, Roundup, was a contributing factor in causing cancer. It is the second such ruling. Shares in Bayer, the German parent company of Monsanto, fell more than 12 percent on March 20 after the latest jury decision made in the San Francisco federal court. The unanimous decision was not a finding of Bayers liability for the cancer of plaintiff Edwin Hardeman. Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup and its main active chemical, glyphosatethe worlds most widely used weed killercause cancer. The company said it was disappointed with the jurys initial decision. Bayer acquired Monsanto, the creator of Roundup, for $63 billion in June 2018. We continue to believe firmly that the science confirms that glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer, the company said in a statement. We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsantos conduct has been appropriate and that the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardemans cancer. Agrochemical giant Monsanto loses 2nd major court case over Roundup. US jury rules weedkiller contributed to mans cancerhttps://t.co/htrtKGDSJi@AFPgraphics factfile on glyphosate, the worlds most widely-used weedkiller pic.twitter.com/wxzqucTrYC AFP news agency (@AFP) March 20, 2019 The case is the second time in eight months that a jury has reached such a verdict. The drop in Bayer shares was the biggest intraday loss in 16 years, wiping some 8 billion euros ($9.1 billion) off its valuation. This looks like 20 plaintiffs, and clearly not helpful for the overall payout calculus and resolution of the litigation, said Gunther Zechmann, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. Monsantos Roundup, the first glyphosate-based weed killer, is no longer patent-protected and many other versions are now available. Bayer doesnt provide sales figures for the product. The latest case was the second of some 11,200 Roundup lawsuits to go to trial in the United States. Another California man, school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, was awarded $289 million in August after a state court jury found Roundup caused his cancer. That award was later reduced to $78 million and is on appeal. The company claimed that any decision made in the current trial will not affect future cases. Regardless of the outcome, however, the decision in phase one of this trial has no impact on future cases and trials because each one has its own factual and legal circumstances, the company said. We have great sympathy for Mr. Hardeman and his family, but an extensive body of science supports the conclusion that Roundup was not the cause of his cancer. In November 2018, Bayer announced that they were selling a number of businesses and cutting around 12,000 jobs and 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in impairments due to the avalanche of lawsuits. Some of Americas most popular beers and wines contain glyphosate, according to a new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). In a report titled Glyphosate pesticide in beer and wine, U.S. PIRG tested 20 samples of beer, wine, and hard cider, including several organic brands. The report found that all but one contained glyphosate. The report also found it particularly concerning that glyphosate was discovered in 3 out of 4 organic alcoholic beverages tested, despite the fact that weed killer products like Roundup have long been prohibited in the making of organic beer and wine. Baader Helvea equity research analyst Markus Mayer noted that Bayer management announced ambitious targets in December 2018. (It) is now under pressure to deliver and trying to avoid becoming a target for activist or strategic buyers. Under Pressure Bayer had claimed that the jury was overly influenced by plaintiffs lawyers allegations of corporate misconduct and did not focus on the science. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria called such evidence a distraction from the scientific question of whether glyphosate causes cancer. He split the Hardeman case into two phases: one to decide causation, the other to determine Bayers potential liability and damages. Under Chhabrias order, the second phase would only take place if the jury found Roundup to be a substantial factor in causing Hardemans non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The jury found that it was on March 19. Union Investment fund manager Markus Manns cautioned that it was too early to read anything into individual rulings in courts of first instance. What will be important for Bayer is the outcome of the appeals hearings, he told Reuters, adding that Bayer should not yet engage in settlement talks. Chhabria has scheduled another bellwether trial for May and a third trial is likely to take place this year. All three cases will be split into causation and liability phases. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and other regulators have found that glyphosate is not likely carcinogenic to humans. But the World Health Organizations cancer arm in 2015 reached a different conclusion, classifying glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. Reuters contributed to this report. Smoke Always Leads to the Fire as FBI Revelations Prove Clinton Was Protected by the Obama DOJ Commentary Where there is the thick smoke of corruption there is always fire, and the source of the fire within the anti-Trump halls of justice in Washington just got more evident. The disgraced FBI agents who helped launch the witch hunt against President Donald Trump have shed disturbing new light on the corrupt mishandling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, exposing the urgent need for a second special counsel investigation. Robert Mueller has spent nearly two years and more than $25 million taxpayer dollars searching for evidence of a crime that never took place based on the disingenuous machinations of political partisans within the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ). Yet, when Hillary Clinton jeopardized national security by sending and receiving classified materials on a private, unsecured email server, the DOJ went out of its way to ignore evidence that should have led to the filing of criminal charges. The double standard was revealed by recently-released transcripts of closed-door congressional testimony from Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and it demonstrates the serious need for a comprehensive investigation of its own. The American people deserve to know how political pressure was allowed to influence federal law enforcement activities, and what the DOJ and FBI will do differently in the future to prevent partisan bureaucrats from abusing their powers in this way. Remember, the special counsel investigation of alleged Russian collusion started with an unverified dossier commissioned by political consultants on the payroll of Clintons campaign. After obtaining the Steele dossier, FBI agents concealed its political origins to trick the FISA court into using it as the basis for approving surveillance of affiliates of the Trump campaign. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) The obfuscation by career agents is particularly infuriating because it exploited the secrecy of a court that was established to protect Americas national security, which authorized a warrant for the federal government to spy on an opposition partys campaign. To date, no one has been charged for any of these actions. In fact, many of the same officials who deliberately concealed relevant facts from the FISA courtthat the dossier was unverified; who paid for it; that the author, Christopher Steele, was desperate to see Trump lose the election; or that Steele had previously been fired by the FBIare still running the show at the highest levels of federal law enforcement to this day. Their job security sustained a major blow, however, with the release of the transcripts of the closed-door House committee interviews of Strzok and Page. Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images) The most damning revelation came from Page, who confirmed under oath that the Obama DOJ ordered the FBI not to charge Hillary Clinton for gross negligence in the handling of classified informationa blatantly political attempt to bury Clintons email scandal before the 2016 election. The transcript from Strzoks private interview indicated that the DOJ also took steps to bury evidence of Clintons wrongdoing. According to Strzok, the DOJ negotiated an agreement with Hillary Clintons legal team that prevented the FBI from accessing emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation. The New York Times reported in 2015 about allegations that then-Secretary of State Clinton accepted donations to her foundation from Russia in exchange for a favorable ruling from the U.S. government on the Uranium One deal, which gave Russia a massive stake in uranium production. Since then, additional sleuthing has provided even more evidence that Clinton illegally used the foundation as a political slush fund. At long last, we may finally be on the verge of getting an honest investigation into the extremely serious allegations against Hillary Clinton. Former FBI agent Peter Strzok. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) In response to the revelations made by Strzok and Page, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has called for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate potential crimes related to the DOJs handling of the Clinton investigation, saying that two questions need to be answered: Did DOJ officials stop the Clinton investigation in an effort to help her win the 2016 election? And did they start the Russian investigation against Trump as an insurance policy in case he won? Graham is right. The American people deserve to know whether we can trust those responsible for upholding the rule of law, and the only way to make that determination is through a comprehensive, independent investigation by a second special counsel. If we are ultimately able to put out the fire of federal investigative corruption that is evidenced from the Obama DOJ and FBI, we must first acknowledge there is smoke, lots of it, and from which camp its coming. Joseph diGenova is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1983 to 1988. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A statue outside the Supreme Court of the United States that stands for the contemplation of justice in Washington on Sept. 22, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Supreme Court Reviews Role of Race in Death Penalty Case WASHINGTONThe lawyer for a black death row inmate in Mississippi told a sympathetic Supreme Court on March 20 that her clients 2010 conviction at his sixth trial on the same charges was tainted because the white prosecutor unconstitutionally excluded blacks from the jury at that trial and at others that preceded it. When all of the evidence in this case is considered the conclusion that race was a substantial part of [Montgomery County District Attorney Doug] Evans motivation is inescapable, and the Mississippi Supreme Courts conclusion to the contrary is clearly erroneous, said attorney Sheri Lynn Johnson, a professor at Cornell Law School and assistant director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project. Curtis Giovanni Flowers, 48, was condemned to death for murdering four employees of a furniture store during a 1996 robbery in Winona, Mississippi. Three of Flowers victims were white; one was black. Two of his trials ended in hung juries. Convictions from three trials were reversed because Evans, an elected prosecutor and Democrat, violated Batson v. Kentucky, a 1986 Supreme Court decision. Batson forbids a state from using its peremptory challenges to exclude jurors because of their race. A peremptory challenge is one that a lawyer does not have to justify in court. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered the Mississippi Supreme Court to reconsider its findings in light of Foster v. Chatman, a 2016 ruling that found another prosecutor in Georgia showed racial animosity in excluding all four black prospective jurors in a murder trial with a black defendant. The convictions and sentence from the final Flowers trial were then upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court, which rejected claims of racial bias by Evans, even though he dismissed five of the six black potential jurors. Flowers appealed to the Supreme Court, which decided Nov. 2, 2018, to hear his case. Justices Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan all seemed disturbed by Evans conduct. Alito said the prosecutors previous behavior was very troubling and certainly relevant. Sotomayor pointedly observed that Evans had passion for prosecuting Flowers, and Kagan said the difference in how he questioned white and black would-be jurors was staggering. Responding to Kagan, Mississippi Special Assistant Attorney General Jason Davis said the sixth-trial exclusions of jurors was supported in the record. Each of the jurors that were struck either worked with a relative, were related, or knew, intimately, family members, the defendant or his family members, up to and including one juror who lied on her questionnaire and then admitted to lying on the stand. Chief Justice John Roberts told Johnson he was interested, because, obviously, the rule we adopt will apply in other cases, how far your argument that we need to look at the past history is pertinent. After Johnson acknowledged that the defense lawyer at the sixth trial exercised peremptory challenges to excuse prospective jurors, Justice Clarence Thomas asked, what was the race of the jurors struck there? This was reportedly the first time in three years that Thomas, who is known for staying silent during oral arguments, asked counsel a question. She [the defense attorney] only exercised peremptories against white jurors, Johnson replied. But I would add that the motiveher motivation is not the question here. The question is the motivation of Doug Evans. The 16 States Suing Trump on Border Emergency Will Likely Lose, Says Retired Judge After 16 states filed a lawsuit against President Trump and his administration for calling a National State of Emergency, a retired California judge has spoken out. The States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, the Commonwealth of Virginia filed the lawsuit in a Northern California federal court on Feb. 18, 2019, in opposition of the presidents use of emergency powers to divert money from other departments to the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Congress passed a spending bill that allocated $1.375 billion for construction of the wall. President Trump said he plans to apportion approximately $8 billion for the wall, which involves redirecting $3.6 billion in military construction funds and $2.5 billion from the Department of Defenses counter-drug activities. In attempt to take a closer look at the issue, The Epoch Times sat down with Steven Bailey, attorney and retired California Superior Court Judge, to discuss the current situation and lawsuit. Bailey was the Republican candidate for California Attorney General in the 2018 midterm election. The lawsuit claims Trump demonstrated a flagrant disregard of fundamental separation of powers principles engrained in the United States Constitution. Part of the argument also stems from Trumps statements regarding the situation at the border and wall funding. I didnt need to do this [declaration of national emergency], but Id rather do it much faster, said Trump during a press conference. The main focus of the lawsuit lies with the question of whether Trump is permitted to redirect funds from other departments. In 1976, Congress authorized the President of the United States to have the power of declaring national emergencies through the National Emergencies Act, Bailey explained, so there isnt a separation of powers issue. The real argument is whether the president has the authority, under general law, to then appropriate and move money from accounts to do something that Congress thinks is different. The 16 states alleged in the lawsuit that redirecting the funds would cause significant harm to public safety, financial well-being, and natural resources of the plaintiff states and their residents. The issue is now narrowed down to does he have the power to move military construction funds, which arent typically used for border walls and that type of thing. Can he spend that money? And thats what the court needs to and will look at, Bailey said. He noted that the military construction funds mentioned in the lawsuit have not been allocated for any specific project, so the argument is based on speculation of whether redirecting funds would impact not yet contracted state military projects. One, I think theyd probably lose because they cant really point to any specific project thats being abandoned by the president after he committed to it. And secondly, the whole issue of reallocation of unspent, unallocated funds, its done every single day, explained Bailey. As such, Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border is in accordance with the law, since a president is permitted to declare a state of emergency if it seems necessary. According to Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States, the president is obligated to protect the country from invasion. Trump emphasized throughout his campaign and presidential term that securing our southern border is one of his top priorities. This means controlling the influx of illegal materials and people entering the United States through the U.S.-Mexico border. According to yearly reports by U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the number of individuals apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border has increased over the years. By the end of 2018 fiscal year, the number of apprehensions reached 107,490, which is a 56.5% increase from the 68,684 apprehensions during 2014 fiscal year. Additionally, the 2018 CBP report shows that officers seize daily, on average, 4,657 pounds of narcotics, $290,411 in undeclared or illicit currency, 16 fraudulent documents, 75 arrests of wanted criminals, among other items, along the U.S.-Mexico border. If you have no border, you have no country. Every sovereign nation in the world has a defined border. In our case, I dont think theres any question. Nobody in Mexico or the United States are arguing that there isnt a border line. If you continue to allow people into the country, how do you argue that it isnt an invasion of some sort? said Bailey. He elaborated that throughout human history, large groups of people invaded other territories with or without uniforms and weapons. The act of crossing territory borders by force is considered invasion. Its also notable that of the 16 states filing the lawsuit, all but Maryland have Democratic governors. Lawsuits against a president is commonplace. Under the Obama administration, President Obama was sued 46 times by Republican state attorney generals. At present, the lawsuit has yet to progress in the court, because the standard process of overturning an executive order requires Congressional vote and action. At the time of the lawsuit filing, Congress had yet to act. On March 15, Trump vetoed Congresss resolution aimed at terminating his national emergency declaration over the crisis on the southwest border. To override the presidents veto, Congress would need a two-thirds majority vote. KJIPUKTUK (HALIFAX), March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KJIPUKTUK (HALIFAX) Students in Nova Scotia are joining students across the country in solidarity actions to protest the Ontario governments attack on students and student unions. Through the so-called Student Choice Initiative, introduced by Premier Doug Fords government on January 17, post-secondary students in Ontario will have the ability to opt out of paying fees for democratically voted-on student services. These fees will also no longer be covered by provincial loans and grants, making it harder for low-income students to pay since they will have to come up with the money out of pocket. Ford is targeting student unions and organizations that have been critical of his government through this initiative, said Aidan McNally, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students Nova Scotia. This policy is a clear attempt to muzzle any resistance to Fords anti-public education agenda and will place campus services and student union representation in jeopardy. Students from across the country are united in our opposition to this policy. Student unions provide a number of services which will now be under threat. These include but are not limited to, food banks, centres and resources for 2SLGBTQ students, Indigenous students, sexual assault support centres, academic advocacy, campus newspapers and campus radio, and the administration of student transit passes and health and dental plans, among many others. Under the Student Choice Initiative, the associated fees for these services are being labelled non-essential. In solidarity with students in Ontario, and recognizing the dangerous precedent this could set for students across the country, students have released a letter calling for legisltaion to be passed in Nova Scotia protecting students unions and will be hosting letter writing to Ford on campuses along with solidairty walk outs against this policy. This attack on progressive values is reprehensible, said McNally. This policy is accompanied by devastating cuts to the provincial grants program, converting many existing grants to repayable loans, making education that much more inaccessible to low- and middle-income students in Ontario. Taken together, these policies are devastating for students and must also be opposed here. The Canadian Federation of Students is the oldest and largest student organization in Canada, representing more than 500,000 college and university students across the country. -30- Sarah Trower, Organiser, Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia Organiser@cfs-ns.ca 902-802-0055 Former FBI director James Comey laughs while answering questions during an interview forum at the Washington Post on May 8, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) The High Comedy of Spygate Commentary The recently unsealed deposition of an associate of the late Sen. John McCain really would be a tale of high comedy if its implications werent so serious. The Spygate plotters inside the government agencies and the DNC Media Complex were in such a hurry to cover their tracks and launch attacks on the incoming Trump administration that they made several crucial mistakes. Former McCain associate David Kramers deposition was unsealed March 14, and you can read my earlier column on it, entitled The Spygate Insurance Policy Coup Never Had a Chance. Page 48 of the deposition is where Kramer is asked about what media contacts he had, once he had passed Christopher Steeles dossier to McCain. Kramer had received the dossier from Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson at the firms office on Nov. 29, 2016, and McCain gave then-FBI Director James Comey the dossier on Dec. 9, 2016. So there was a 10-day gap between Kramer receiving the dossier from Fusion GPS and McCain passing it on to the FBI. When discussing his contact with reporters about the dossier, Kramer reveals that he was contacted directly by a number of reporters. When these media people suddenly start reaching out to him out of the blue, Kramer testifies that he was completely mystified as to how they knew all about his role in this matter. Q: Up until, lets say, December 10th when you understood that The Senator had gone to Director Comey, had you yourself had any communications with media outlets about The Memos? A: December 10th? I couldnt tell you exact dates, but I was contacted by Mother Jones, and the Guardian, and ABC News. And then the Washington Post, there was a reporter whom I had known, who we had been talking to throughout The Campaign before I knew the existence of this, and became clear to me that he was aware of the document as well. Im trying to think if there were any others. I was not in touch with New York Times. And I was in touch with McClatchy. And also up until December 10th I think those were the ones. But most of the ones I mentioned contacted me. How they knew my role, I dont know. But I did not reach out to them. But they were aware that I had given it to Senator McCain. It becomes obvious that either Simpson or Steele or both had given Kramers name and number to numerous reporters immediately after Kramer had received two different versions of Steeles dossier. And another interesting detail: Kramer revealed that even before Dec. 9, at least one member of the news media, ABC News producer Matt Mosk, with whom Kramer had had no previous contact whatsoever, was calling him up and asking about the dossiers status. Q: With whom did you speak at ABC News? A: With Matt Mosk, who is a producer there. Q: And am I correct that he contacted you? A: Correct. I did not know him before. I had [also] never spoken to Korn or to Borger before any of this. Q: And what did Mr. Mosk ask you? A: M-O-S-K. I dont think theres an E at the end. I think [its spelled] M-O-S-K. He must have contacted me before Senator McCain gave it [the dossier] to Comey, because he initially asked me about the status with Senator McCain. Kramer makes it clear that from the questions he was getting from the reporters, it sounded like they already knew what was in the dossier. Well, of course, all these reporters and media people did know. Steele and Simpson had been sharing the dossier with various media outlets for months, long before Kramer was ever brought in and given his own copies of it. Kramer wasnt really giving any of these reporters new information, he was being used to provide the dossier to media outlets in a way that allowed them to say We didnt get this dossier from Fusion GPS. Some of these reporters had already been writing articles based on allegations in the dossier, such as David Corn of Mother Jones, before the election. Kramer was actually a latecomer to all of this. This led to the spectacle of Kramer haranguing the reporters he was giving copies of the dossier tojournalists whod already been talking to Steele and Simpson for months about the allegations in itmaking sure they didnt publish the dossier itself, but only wrote vague accusations based on it, something many of the reporters had already been doing well before the election! You know who also knew what the Steele dossier said even before McCain showed up at the FBI building to personally hand him a copy of it? Comey! The whole point of the subterfuge in enlisting Kramer and McCain was to manufacture a path for both the DOJ/FBI and the DNC Media Complex to get the Steele dossier without it having Fusion GPSs or Hillary Clintons fingerprints all over it. Remember that the FBI had been forced to cut ties with Steele, Simpson and Fusion GPS before the election; the FBI had cut ties with Steele after the former spy had shared intelligence reports with media outlets. After months of illegal spying and lying to the FISA court to generate warrants, the Spygate plotters needed cover following the election. A cover story had to be put in place. The plotters needed to pretend they didnt have any of this dossier info at the FBI before the election, they certainly werent running any counterintelligence investigations based on that dossier, and that the dossier only came to the FBI much later through McCain, when his associate Kramer was alerted to intelligence collected by our foreign allies that Trump was compromised by Vladimir Putin. Thats where George Papadopoulos proved useful. The cover story would be that Crossfire Hurricane, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign, was initiated in July 2016 because of Papadopouloss bragging to Downer, not from a dossier coming straight from Fusion GPS and Clinton. And for this reason, the cover story also had to claim that the FISA warrant granted to spy on former Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser Carter Page was based on the Papadopoulos information and not on the Steele dossier. Do you see how these morons have locked themselves into a narrative they simply cant change at this point? If that warrant is made public and it says almost nothing about Papadopoulos, but its instead based entirely on the Steele dossier and several news stories for which Steele and Simpson are known to be the sources, a whole lot of people are going to face some very serious questions. Do you know how many people have seen that original unredacted Carter Page FISA warrant at this point? A list of the names would likely include several dozen people. It would include DOJ Inspector General investigators, prosecutors working under Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber, members of Congress such as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), as well as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, and by now, the current Attorney General, William Barr. And, oh yes, lets not forget President Donald Trump, who was thoroughly briefed on the FISA documents when he was conducting his declassification review. And a final reminder: that first FISA warrant allowing the FBI to begin legally spying on Page was issued in October 2016. Which isif Im reading this calendar rightmore than a month before Dec. 9, 2016. So, what if it turns out that the FBI was already getting a FISA warrant to spy on a U.S. citizen by making use of the Steele dossier more than a month before its being claimed it was brought to them by McCain? These people are so very, very stupid. They deserve everything thats about to happen to them. Brian Cates is a political pundit and writer based in southern Texas and the author of Nobody Asked For My Opinion But Here It Is Anyway! He can be reached on Twitter at @drawandstrike. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. President Donald Trump before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Feb. 2, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Trump: ISIS Will Be Gone by Tonight President Donald Trump said that the ISIS terrorist group will be gone by tonight. Holding a map in his hand, Trump said on March 20, he said that were leaving 200 people there, and 200 people in another place in Syria, closer to Israel. He showed a map on Election Night in November 2016 showing a significant portion of Iraq and Syria controlled by the terrorist group. Trump on Wednesday said ISIS will be gone by tonight and held up a pair of maps to reporters that he claimed shows the dramatic reduction of the Islamic States presence in Syria since his election in 2016 https://t.co/u7WqOVz8gn pic.twitter.com/3YzQn6Gyv1 POLITICO (@politico) March 20, 2019 When I took it over, it was a mess, Trump declared to reporters in Washington. Pointing to the bottom, which showed virtually no territory controlled by ISIS, there is no red, Trump said. There is a tiny spot which will be gone by tonight, he said. This just came out 20 minutes ago, he said. Thats the way it goes, he added. Asked about eliminating ISIS in Syria, Pres Trump pulls out two maps that show ISIS sites in red on the day he was elected, and the bottom map shows only a tiny red spot for ISIS that he says will be gone by tonight. pic.twitter.com/aqA0V9pkRv Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 20, 2019 In December, Trump announced he would pull thousands of American troops from Afghanistan and Syria. Late last month, Trump called on European countries to take back ISIS fighters who have been captured, adding that they should be put on trial. 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, Trump tweeted. Trump said that it is time for European nations to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100% Caliphate victory! Lt. Gen. Paul LaCamera, the top U.S. general in Iraq and Syria, its not clear what will happen to these captured ISIS fighters. Now heres the real challenge: if you joined ISIS, you handed over your passport, you handed over your ID card, you handed over your birth certificate and that was destroyed and you were issued into ISISso the real question is, its not just the prisoners, the detainees, its what are we going to do with these stateless people? LaCamera told reporters. Its not just the detaineesit is those that have been displaced by ISIS or dont have an identity, LaCamera added. How are we going to deal with them? You know, will the Iraqis take them? And again, if youre a refugee, you cant force them back, right? Update on the War According to Reuters, in an update on March 20, the operation to take the last enclave of ISIS in eastern Syria looked close to an end on Wednesday. Reuters reporters overlooking Baghouz from a hill on the bank of the Euphrates at the Iraqi border said the area was calm, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia searched for tunnels and landmines, an SDF official said. The SDF on Tuesday captured an encampment where the jihadists had been mounting a last defense of the tiny enclave, pushing diehard fighters onto a sliver of land at the Euphrates riverside. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain, whose country has participated in the campaign, said in Paris he expected the announcement of the final territorial defeat to be made in the next few days. There was no immediate update from the SDF on Wednesday on the fate of these remaining militants. A group of women and children were seen being evacuated from the Baghouz area. Reuters noted that some of ISISs fighters remain holed up in the central Syrian desert and others have gone underground in Iraqi cities to wage an insurgent campaign to destabilize the government. Over the past two months, some 60,000 people, mostly women and children, have poured out of shrinking IS territory, said the SDF. Relatives and former residents told Reuters that many of them were Iraqi Arab Sunni Muslim families who crossed into Syria fleeing revenge by Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militias that had overrun their towns. The SDF has said that among the civilians who fled were some ISIS victims such as enslaved women from Iraqs Yazidi religious community. The SDF estimated at least 5,000 fighters surrendered. In recent days, as the enclave shrank, the SDF said hundreds more of them started to surrender, or were captured trying to escape. Most of the women and children who were detained were moved to displacement camps in northeast Syria. The fighters were taken to security prisons, but the SDF has urged foreign countries to take back their citizens, causing a dilemma for some Western states who regard them as a menace. Reuters contributed to this report. Trump, Nadler War Looms on Executive Privilege, Mueller Report WASHINGTONA titanic legal battle looms following House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadlers (D-N.Y.) March 19 warning that President Donald Trumps executive privilege claims on the forthcoming report of special counsel Robert Mueller were waived long ago. Nadlers warning came in response to a CNN claim based on unnamed sources that White House lawyers plan to review the report before Attorney General William Barr sends it to Congress. The review would be to identify passages to be excised under executive privilege. Neither Trump nor Barr responded to the CNN report but Nadler issued a flurry of tweets, with the first declaring, when he finishes his work, Special Counsel Mueller is required to report to the Attorney General, who is required to report to the House and Senate judiciary committees. And, Nadler said, there is no provision in the regulations for White House review, and it would be unacceptable for President Trumpthe subject, if not the target of the Special Counsels workto edit the report before it goes public any claims of executive privilege covering the material in Muellers report were waived long ago, when White House officials agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation. Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on March 20 Let it come out. Let people see it. Well see what happens. Lets see whether or not its legit. The phrase executive privilege is not in the Constitution, but every president has claimed it as an inherent right of the office. A 1974 Supreme Court decision forcing President Richard Nixon to release the Watergate tapes was the first time the high court officially defined the parameters of executive privilege. In the present case, the debate centers around this question: Does Trump have the right to review any executive branch documentincluding a special counsels reportprior to its release to Congress or the public or is he excluded from such a review by the law, which specifies a special counsel report goes to the attorney general, who then decides whether to show it the president or Congress? Chairman Nadler is right to push back on the White House claim of executive privilege and the possibility that it would request redactions from the special counsels report, Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) told The Epoch Times. The White House has the burden to explain its privilege claim, prove that the president personally invoked it, and prove that it wasnt waived. Unless something was discussed or placed in writing at the time, any claim of privilege might be too late, said Amey, who has been with POGO since 2003. Others see a totally different situation regarding the special counsel and Trumps right as the head of the executive branch to review the report. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told The Epoch Times that the president runs the Justice Department and the idea that he is not allowed to look at it is just wrong. Judicial Watch is a non-profit government watchdog that has used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to force the release of hundreds of documents related to the Mueller investigation and the events that led up to it. Theres this notion that has crept in, and of course the Justice Department bureaucrats and the FBI bureaucracy have been happy to let it solidify, that somehow these agencies are separate and apart from the executive branch and that they are their own fourth branch, Fitton said. We need to bring the Justice Department back into the government, Fitton continued. So the idea that they can do things separate and apart and over the objections of the president, thats not the way our system is set up and its contrary to the rule of law. Former Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky agreed, telling The Epoch Times that Nadler is quite simply wrong. There is no constitutional or statutory prohibition on the president seeing the report. He is the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S. under the Constitution, not the attorney general. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) of the judiciary panel told The Epoch Times he wouldnt be surprised if committee Democrats file a legal challenge to Trump on executive privilege and the Mueller report, but he doesnt think they will find a very favorable outcome when it gets to the Supreme Court, if it does. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Feb. 27, 2018. (Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images) West Virginias Attorney General Sues Diocese for Knowingly Employing Pedophiles West Virginias Attorney General filed a lawsuit on March 19 alleging that a Roman Catholic diocese and its former bishop knowingly employed pedophiles, thereby ignoring the obvious danger to children, according to a notice from the generals office. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey alleged that former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield failed to conduct suitable background checks for potential employees at the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese working at schools and camps. A copy of the civil complaint alleges the diocese and its bishops, including Bransfield, chose to cover up, and conceal arguably criminal behavior of admitted child sex abusers. The suit alleged that the bishops actions lacked transparency and stood in stark contrast to the dioceses advertised mission of providing a safe learning environment for their children. Our investigation reveals a serious need for the Diocese to enact policy changes that will better protect children, just as this lawsuit demonstrates our resolve to pursue every avenue to effectuate change as no one is above the law, Morrisey said in a statement. He said that the parents, who had paid and entrusted the diocese to care for their children, deserve full transparency. The investigation, first initiated by Morrisey in September 2018, brought the suit against the diocese and Bransfield for violations of the states consumer protection laws, in addition to seeking a permanent court order blocking the diocese from the continuation of any such conduct. As of January, more than half of the 187 Roman Catholic dioceses across the United States have started investigating clergy child sex abuse claims or have announced plans to do so in the coming months. At the same time, around 20 local, state, or federal investigations, either criminal or civil, have begun since a bombshell Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing widespread abuse by priests was released 2018. Father Patrick Condron, who had admitted to sexually abusing a student at St. Joseph Preparatory Seminary High School in Vienna, West Virginia, was named in the complaint. The diocese allegedly sent Condron for treatment and later reassigned him to another schoolwithout notifying parents of his history. Condrons example was just one of many such cases detailed in the complaint. In a different case, the diocese, despite its knowledge of a credible sex abuse accusation against Victor Frobas in Philadelphia, still ordained Frobas as a priest in West Virginia and years later named him director at Camp Tygart, now known as Camp Bosco, in Huttonsville. The accusations resulted in Frobas getting treatment, but he was later employed again as a chaplain at Wheeling Central Catholic High School. After that, he received more treatment and eventually prison time for pleading guilty to sexually abusing children in Missouri. He died in 1993. The suit alleges that the diocese failed to notify parents about Frobas upon his assignment to Wheeling Central High. Today is a sad day, but the Attorney General still believes there are so many priests and deacons in the Catholic churchwho are good menwho will support this effort so we can really seek meaningful changes in how the church handles sexual abuse, Morrisey said. Womans Cough Dismissed as Allergies Thrice Turns Out to Be Cancer The content is not available due to expiration. STAMFORD Technology-training firm General Assembly has launched its local center in the Comradity co-working complex at 845 Canal St. in the citys South End. The opening follows General Assemblys announcement last December that this year it would start running full-time courses in web development and data science at a site within walking distance of the main Metro-North train station in Stamford. Comradity operates about 1 mile from the downtown transportation center. Were incredibly excited to partner with Comradity as we work together to build a highly skilled and inclusive talent pipeline that can support Connecticuts economic development in the years ahead, Lizzie Livingston, General Assemblys manager of instruction and education programs, said in a statement. Their unique and state-of-the-art space is the ideal location for our Stamford campus, and will help foster an environment tailored toward creative learning and instruction. Opened in 2015 by husband-and-wife team Jim and Katherine Kern, Comradity has established itself as a hub for startups in a range of industries, including consumer goods, media and information technology. Multinational companies such as GE and Spotify also hold meetings there. It is a compliment that General Assembly chose Comradity to deliver their exceptional learning experience, Jim Kern said in a statement. Katherine Kern cited Comraditys belief that businesses flourish when they are open minded, collaborative, and provide opportunities for growth. Comradity and General Assembly said they will offer businesses a 24/7 open-studio membership plan, which includes a 50 percent discount on General Assembly workshops and boot camps. A state-funded allocation of $1.25 million to General Assembly is supporting the new center. The state is providing the same amount of funding to an equivalent program, run by Tech Talent South, in Hartford. Combined, General Assembly and Tech Talent South are expected to enroll about 400 students by 2020. Manhattan-based General Assemly runs campuses in many cities, including New York, Boston, Providence, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Denver and Washington. With our Manhattan campus, we saw a lot of demand from people in Connecticut, General Assembly President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Kirkpatrick said in a recent interview. Given that there are so many tech jobs now, we said, Why dont we run a campus right here in Connecticut? Demand for tech professionals continues to grow, as several companies have announced major expansions in Connecticut. Last December, job-search firm Indeed pledged to add another 500 jobs at its downtown Stamford offices, where about 900 now work. The announcement followed a separate plan rolled out last year to create 500 jobs. Indeed aims to raise its Stamford contingent to about 1,700 by the end of 2031. Last September, IT consulting and research firm Gartner announced it would add 400 jobs during the next five years at its headquarters in Stamfords Waterside neighborhood. The company employs about 1,200 at the main offices and about 100 elsewhere in the state. Another IT firm, Infosys, announced in March 2018 that it would open a center in Hartford, aiming to employ about 1,000 there within the next four years. More than $50 million in state subsidies are cumulatively supporting the projects at Indeed, Gartner and Infosys. pschott@scni.com Swedish English 2019-03-20 Aino Health has signed a contract with Attendo Finland regarding Aino's SaaS solution HealthManager. The order value of the agreement is, for the first year, SEK 800,000. The agreement is valid until further notice. Attendo will use Aino's HealthManager for its own internal needs. The deployment of the implemented system is estimated to be in the third quarter 2019. For Attendo Finland access to HealthManager means that the company gets a powerful tool and a platform for analyzing and following up on employees' health and wellbeing in a more automated manner. The goal is to develop a more proactive way of working to decrease sick leave and increase employee engagement. "We already have a partner agreement with Attendo Finland. That they now choose to implement Aino HealthManager themselves is the best endorsement our SaaS solution can get. This proves that our services fully satisfy their high requirements," says Jyrki Eklund, CEO Aino Health AB. For more information: Jyrki Eklund, CEO Aino Health, Phone: +358 40 042 4221 Certified adviser Erik Penser Bank +46 8 463 83 00 certifiedadviser@penser.se About Aino Health (publ) Aino Health is the leading supplier of Software as a Service solutions in Corporate Health Management. The company's complete system of SaaS platforms and services reduces sick leave, lowers related costs, and improves business results through increased productivity and employee engagement by making health, wellbeing, and safety an integrated part of everyday work. For more information visit ainohealth.com. NORWALK There appears to be little hope for reconciliation between Board of Education Chairman Mike Barbis and NAACP local chapter President Brenda Penn-Williams. The two parties had been sparring at least since last September, and in February, Penn-Williams led calls for Barbis resignation after it was learned that he urged other board members not to attend an NAACP fundraiser. Mayor Harry Rilling had been vocal about the rift and his intentions to bring Barbis and Penn-Williams together for a meeting. But near at the end of Tuesdays Board of Education meeting, Barbis appeared to quash the idea. As I told the mayor, its a two-way street, and were not the bad guys, just like others are not bad guys necessarily, Barbis said. But its a two-way street. And until people are willing to accept and admit that, there will never be any kind of peace between the parties. Rilling confirmed Wednesday that no meeting had been set. We need to do what is in the best interest of our students. My focus is on our community and young people, Rilling said. I want the parties to come together and have a conversation so we can begin to move forward. My offer to host that meeting still stands. I am hopeful once they meet and have a discussion we can move forward and refocus our attention on the great achievements happening in Norwalk. Barbis comments came after fellow board member Mike Lyons spoke in defense of Barbis. Lyons also has come under fire recently. Penn-Williams and other community members have also called on both Barbis and Lyons to resign. Lyons was criticized after the February leak of an email to his fellow board members and Central Office. In it Lyons spoke negatively about former school board members, a district teacher and administrator, a former administrator and current Common Council members, many of whom were people of color. The email, coupled with the existing tension between Barbis and Penn-Williams, prompted protests at board meetings earlier this month, at one of which, several community members accused the board of racist behavior, targeting black administrators and excluding former board members, women of color, from emails in which board business was discussed. In response to the accusation of targeting black administrators, Lyons said, The statement of targeting is provided without any evidence to back it up whatsoever. Its simply an assertion and I think its worth noting that whatever the problems of that set of administrators may have been, 11 African-American administrators have been advanced and appointed by this board and the administration during this time frame as well. Accusations of exclusion came from former board members Shirelle Harris, Rosa Murray, Shirley Mosby and Migdalia Rivas, and were backed by a 2017 deposition of Lyons relating to a defamation suit filed by former Norwalk Special Education Director Christina Fensore, which cost the district $150,000. She sued Lyons over a disparaging letter he sent to her future employer. Legal fees exceeded $200,000. In the deposition, Lyons said that it was common to send emails regarding board business to the majority that included current members Mike Barbis, Heidi Keyes and Bryan Meek and former member Artie Kassimis, but not the minority that included four women of color. To those accusations, he said, I never at any time made a statement or said that I had included every member of the board in every email I wrote during the time I was on the Board of Education. This new principle, Lyons continued, that if youre a member of a caucus, and you dont cc the opposition caucus members on every email that youre now guilty of some great crime of racism, has got to be the most asinine thing I have ever heard in the entire time Ive been involved in Norwalk politics starting in 1981. He also addressed accusations that Barbis had lied about urging board members not to attend the fall NAACP event. All of the statements accusing Mr. Barbis of lying because of that are false, because Mr. Barbis was asked about MLK events. He honestly answered the question about MLK events. And this is an example of what debaters call a straw man argument, which is, you put words into the mouth of somebody they didnt actually say and then you attack them on that, Lyons said. According to local news website Nancy on Norwalk, Barbis was asked in January whether he had instructed board members specifically not to attend Marin Luther King Jr. Day events in Norwalk, to which he responded, I dont have the time or bandwidth to tell Board members what events they should or should not attend. The Oct. 5 email sent by Barbis to the board said, My view is that the BOE should not give any implied endorsement to an organizations chapter whose leadership continuously slanders our school system, the Board and its employees. I have attended this event myself in the past, but can no longer do so given its current leaderships actions. Barbis has defended the email, citing repeated criticisms and calls for resignation by Penn-Williams and other NAACP members and past members. On Tuesday, Barbis thanked Lyons for his explanation and then made his own statement. Thank you, Mike, for saying that, Barbis said. Weve seen the press repeat these lies and they have no problem doing so. The world of journalism has really tarnished its reputation and this whole term of fake news thats developed, we can understand right here how that term has developed. Barbis comment led to a quick exchange between several board members before the meeting was adjourned. Just to point out, the press left this meeting at 8:37 p.m., before we got to all of the action items, everything good that were doing, Bruce Kimmel said. Hopefully theyre watching on the live stream, Julie Corbet added. I wouldnt count on it, Julie, Barbis laughed. But we can hope. justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586 LIMA, Ohio - President Donald Trump, in a speech largely crediting himself for the strong economy, told plant workers here Wednesday that his future 2020 Democratic opponent will struggle in debates because he will just rattle off unemployment statistics. "So it's going to be really easy on the debate stage when they hit me with nonsense and I say, 'Really, but African American employment, the best it has ever been. Hispanic, Asian, women, everybody, it's all the best it has ever been.' How do you top that in a debate? What are they going to say? Well, it could be better?" Trump said. That was as close as he got to talking politics. Trump then spent the better part of his 50-minute speech focused on economic issues, sticking to the kind of positive message that Republicans were desperate for him to lean on during the 2018 midterm elections. Trump's visit to the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, which is operated by General Dynamics, was an official White House event and not one of his more freewheeling "Make America Great Again" rallies. Still, Trump did spend five minutes at the start of his speech disparaging the late Sen. John McCain and later said former president Barack Obama and "Crooked Hillary" could not have achieved what he has. The trip here marks his 10th visit to Ohio since becoming president. A senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday night that the president's repeat trips to the state are a sign of his priorities. Trump won Ohio in the 2016 presidential election, and the swing state is expected to be critical to his keeping his job in 2020, as well. The Lima plant produces Abrams tanks, the U.S. Army's main battle tank. The Trump administration steered funding to the plant in 2017, so the president asserted several times in his speech on Wednesday that without him the plant would be closed. "You better love me. I kept this place open, that I can tell you. They said, 'We're closing it.' And I said, 'No, we're not.' And now, you're doing record business," Trump said when he came onstage to chants of "USA, USA." Trump campaigned for president on the promise of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Yet, roughly three hours east of Lima, and an hour northeast of Canton, Ohio - where Trump is set to speak at a private fundraiser Wednesday evening - is Lordstown, Ohio, home of the auto manufacturing plant that General Motors announced last fall it was shuttering. The Lordstown plant is not the only one that GM has closed or scaled back in recent months, and Trump's struggles with the auto industry have undercut his message of economic prosperity - and a resurgence of manufacturing jobs, in particular. Over the weekend and into Monday, Trump publicly lashed out at the company and said he had spoken with chief executive Mary Barra. "I am not happy that is closed when everything else in our Country is BOOMING," Trump wrote on Twitter. "I asked her to sell it or do something quickly." He added that Barra had blamed the United Auto Workers union. "I don't care," he wrote. "I just want it open." In another tweet, he cast the automaker's problems as an aberration in the successful economy. "Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST!" Trump wrote. Trump also slammed the local UAW president by name in a tweet over the weekend, writing, "Democrat UAW Local 1112 President David Green ought to get his act together and produce. G.M. let our Country down, but other much better car companies are coming into the U.S. in droves. I want action on Lordstown fast. Stop complaining and get the job done! 3.8% Unemployment!" Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke seized on the moment, live-streaming on Facebook a conversation with Green on Monday in a direct rebuke of the president. Trump continued his criticism of GM and union leaders generally during the Wednesday speech, telling the crowd that while union workers are great, union leaders are dishonest because they praise him privately but then support Democrats. Trump also told the workers that the union "ought to lower your dues, by the way. You're paying too much." - - - Kellie Gormly contributed to this report. English French TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In yesterdays announcement on the release of the Summary Report of the Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey, the Ontario government has ignored the contributions of student organizations in addressing sexual violence on campus. The survey referenced in yesterdays announcement by Minister, Merrilee Fullerton was developed in large part through the Premiers Roundtable on Violence Against Women, an initiative cancelled by the current Progressive Conservative government early in their mandate. This Roundtable included representation from students and sector stakeholders. Student groups played an influential role in advocating for mandatory sexual assault policies at post-secondary institutions, which now exist across the province. For decades, student organizations, like the Canadian Federation of Students, have been at the forefront of combating sexual violence on campus, said Sami Pritchard, National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. The creation of the Student Voices and Sexual Violence Survey was largely informed by the Premiers Roundtable on Violence Against Women, which this government cancelled. For Minister Fullerton to make this announcement without any mention of the students and members of the Roundtable who made this all possible is disappointing. The Summary Report of the Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey indicates that a high percentage of students at colleges and universities do not understand how to access supports related to sexual violence, how to access information about these supports, or what the formal reporting options available to them are in case of a sexual assault. Over half of all respondents also indicated having experienced one or more incidents of sexual harassment since the beginning of the school year. It is great to see this government increasing grants for institutions to invest in sexual assault supports and better technology, like the Minister mentioned. However, students know that the resources and support systems that make campuses safer are actually under attack by this government through the Student Choice Initiative, said Pritchard. Students unions have always done the hard work of educating students about things like consent, of running womens centres and pride centres, and providing support for students in crisis. If Minister Fullerton was really committed to the safety of students, she would repeal the Student Choice Initiative that threatens all of these essential services that students unions offer on a daily basis. The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario previously held the only student seat on the Premiers Roundtable on Violence Against Women, and is the largest student organization in the province, representing over 350,000 college and university students. For more information: Sami Pritchard, National Executive Representative, at 416-925-3825 Ian McRae, Government Relations and Policy Coordinator, at 416-925-3825 or 306-852-0128 SMITHFIELD, Va., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. is pleased to announced that Chris Lahti, vice president of distribution, has been named a Rock Star of the Supply Chain by Food Logistics magazine. The award recognizes champions in the global food and beverage supply chain industry whose achievements, hard work, and vision have shaped and attained milestones in safety, efficiency, productivity, and innovation. Lahti received this honor for his efforts and his teams role in supply chain consolidation initiatives within the company, which resulted in significant operational, sustainability, and economic benefits. It is an honor to receive this award and to be recognized as a leader in supply chain operations, said Lahti. It is extremely gratifying that our efforts to streamline our supply chain and logistics network have also allowed us to meet our goals and deliver on our promise to produce good food in a responsible way. I am proud to be part of a team that is constantly seeking innovative solutions and know these fresh ideas will pay dividends far into the future. As vice president of distribution, Lahti oversees distribution and supply chain strategy for Smithfield. Lahti has more than 25 years of experience in all facets of supply chain and logistics operations and played an important role in streamlining the global food companys supply chain and logistics network. Lahtis extensive industry knowledge and approach to problem solving has enabled him to play a leading role in optimizing Smithfields supply chain operations to ensure maximum efficiency, enhance customer service, and reduce the companys carbon footprint. In 2017, Smithfields overall supply chain consolidation efforts lowered costs by $29 million, reduced the distance the companys fleet traveled by 147,000 miles, cut fuel use by more than 17,200 gallons, and cut the companys carbon footprint by 168 tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e). With Chriss leadership of our supply chain efforts, Smithfield has made extensive progress toward reducing complexities within our operations, which continues to have a positive impact on our business and the environment, said Scott Saunders, Executive Vice President, U.S. Supply Chain for Smithfield Foods. His unrelenting pursuit of operational excellence makes him a true rock star of the supply chain, and we are proud he has been recognized. The 2019 Food Logistics Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain honorees were determined by Food Logistics editorial staff and advisory board, and are showcased in the magazines March 2019 issue . About Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathans Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cooks, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curlys, Healthy Ones, Morliny, Krakus, and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com , and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , and Instagram . Media Contacts: Smithfield Foods, Inc. Lisa Martin lvmartin@smithfield.com (757) 365-1980 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/42c046d0-5861-4bbf-a0a8-f7159058a2d3 GLEN CARBON An investigation is still underway in the weekend incident involving an armed carjacking in Glen Carbon and subsequent Interstate 55 shooting in Staunton. The carjacking is being investigated by Glen Carbon Police Department, and a full investigation has been launched by the Illinois State Police Division of Internal Investigations following the incident Saturday afternoon. Police identified the now-deceased suspect involved in the shooting and carjacking as a 53-year-old Billy L. Walker Jr. of Hillsboro, Missouri. Walker was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m. Saturday by the Macoupin County Coroner. The Illinois State Trooper wounded in the incident is recovering in a regional hospital and is expected to return duty, ISP says. The 36-year-old trooper suffered gunshot wounds and is an 11-year veteran of ISP. The investigation stems from a Saturday incident where an Illinois State Police trooper responded to the area near Sams Club in Glen Carbon regarding a report of an armed carjacking. The trooper located the suspect vehicle traveling northbound on I-55 and attempted to stop the vehicle before a pursuit ensued. The suspect, while still being pursued by the ISP trooper and Staunton Police Department, ran off of the roadway and got stuck in the median in the intersection of Staunton Road and I-55. The suspect exited the vehicle and fled on foot. The ISP trooper initiated a foot pursuit of the suspect who brandished a handgun and fired at the trooper. The trooper returned fire, striking Walker, who is deceased. Prior to the incident in Glen Carbon, Walker was discovered to have an outstanding felony warrant for a probation violation resulting from weapons offenses. Walker was considered armed and dangerous. Information surrounding the investigation will be released as it becomes available. GODFREY Lewis and Clark Community College Honors College student Vanessa Perkinson will host Faith and Feminism: A Conversation About Equality, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 27. The panel is Perkinsons honors research project this year. Vanessa is a dedicated learner and the ideal Honors College student, full of energy and excitement to understand the world around her, Honors College Coordinator Jen Cline said. This event is particularly important because the faces we are typically shown of religious leaders are men, but she is disrupting the traditional narrative by showing us the women leaders in faith. This free event, which will be held in the Hatheway Cultural Center, is open to the public and will include free pizza and soda for attendees. Panelists will include Pastor Amy Brooks, from the First Unitarian Church of Alton; Rabbi Karen Kriger Bogard, from the Central Reform Congregation; and Venerable Kongyan, from the Mid-America Buddhist Association. As the chair of Diversity Council here at Lewis and Clark, Im so excited about this upcoming event and Vanessas desire to bring this remarkable group of women to our campus, L&C Professor of Music/Percussion Peter Hussey said. To have an Honors College student coordinate such an event is a testament to not only Vanessas own personal conviction for the subject, but to the nature of our Honors College students, and their willingness to dive into meaningful topics and meaningful projects in meaningful ways. Students of the L&C Honors College choose one course each semester to designate as an honors course, in which they work with their professor to create a research or action project, in addition to their regular studies. Honors College is the reason I have opportunity to make this panel happen, Perkinson said. The panel is the product of inspiration from Lewis and Clark courses Ive taken and my own exploration of a topic in my chosen field of study. To view the event on Facebook, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/622057914931079/. To learn more about the L&C Honors College, visit www.lc.edu/honorscollege. This L&C Diversity Council event is presented by the Mannie Jackson Endowment and Center for the Humanities with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information visit www.lc.edu/diversity. EDWARDSVILLE Although classes had been dismissed for the day, 30 Columbus Elementary School students recently remained in a classroom to work on projects involving technology. The students were part of the Columbus Elementary Technology Club that met once a week for six weeks after school. Inside the second-floor classroom, computers lined the perimeter of the room while the students worked independently designing 3D pyramids, 3D houses and animated math study guide presentations. Columbus Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Rob Canada led the club. The theme of it was create your content dont be just a consumer, create your content, Canada explained. Columbus Elementary Principal Julie Matarelli explained that the Tech Club was open to fourth- and fifth-grade students at the cost of $90 per student. We pay teachers a little bit and then part of it goes into technology, she noted. Mr. Canada is using the software VideoScribe and SketchUp so part of that money goes toward paying for the software. A lot of Mr. Canadas kids are teacher assistants. Canada said that at first, the club was very structured. You will create a WIX page with a blog and the entries for what we do each week because if the kids are staying, I want something to show for what they do each week. Then once we came in and showed them how to do it, then it becomes more of a personal trainer. Throughout the six weeks, an architect visited the club to teach the students how to use SketchUp, a 3D modeling software. Architects use SketchUp to visualize design, Canada said. We had the idea to put text into them for information. Just to use them as a presentation tool. Canada pointed out that one student created an entire house using the SketchUp. He built his dream house on it, he said. What he made is next level. The students also participated in a virtual reality (VR) demonstration and built continents out of sand using an augmented reality sandbox. Its like a hologram you can touch. Its really amazing, Canada said. During the last week of the club, students were busy working on multiple projects. Some students worked on their WIX web page while others were making animated PowerPoint presentations. While most students were building 3D pyramids and houses, one student was busy making a math study guide. He animated it so the steps of the math come up. He solves the problem, but if you look over here Look at all the steps he took, Canada said, revealing all the work behind the presentation. Then, we take a video of it and we post it on YouTube. They also post it on their WIX page. The kids work really hared on something if they can publish it so we put it on YouTube, Canada said. Then if its really great, I put it in a playlist, kind of like a highlight reel. So, they work really hard interdependently on math concepts, and if we post it, everybody benefits from the work they did on it. And they benefit from everyone acknowledging their expertise. It was a six-week commitment. They chose to stay (after school). They are really great kids that want to learn, Matarelli added. We provided snacks and water for them just because its a long day. Something to kind of tide them over and then they get picked up at 5 p.m. The Tech Club met Tuesdays and Thursdays immediately after school with 30 students meeting on Tuesdays while a different 30 students met on Thursdays. 3 1 of 3 Courtesy of Edwardsville Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Courtesy of Edwardsville Police Department Show More Show Less 3 of 3 EDWARDSVILLE A suspect has been taken into custody and charged with murder in the double homicide investigation after a well-known Edwardsville couple was found dead in their home Monday morning. Zachary I. Capers, 23, with a last known address of Collinsville, Illinois, has been charged with four counts of first-degree in the stabbing death of Michael Ladd and Dr. Lois Ladd. Charges were filed by the Madison County States Attorney Tuesday. Capers was taken into custody over the weekend in an unrelated incident. Judge Kyle Knapp signed the charges. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Chinese guest Lu Xinshe (Photo: VNA) PM Phuc welcomed Lus first visit to Vietnam to attend a spring meeting with secretaries of Party Committees of the border provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Ha Giang. Stressing that the two countries share deep and comprehensive relations, he suggested both sides work to raise awareness among party members and younger people of the good friendship between Vietnam and China, and particularly to bolster economic and trade ties between their border localities. PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam wants to accelerate the development of cross-border economic zones, and the Vietnamese Government will instruct border localities to develop transport infrastructure to promote trade links with Chinese localities. Noting that Guangxi accounts for 25 percent of Vietnam-China trade value, he expressed hope for a strong and more balanced development of the bilateral trade ties in the coming time. On the occasion, the PM suggested that Guangxi authorities create favorable conditions in custom clearance procedures for more Vietnamese exports to enter the Chinese market. Furthermore, he said that both sides should work together to prevent trafficking and border crimes, making contributions to building and maintaining a peaceful border. Lu, for his part, spoke highly of the exchange mechanism between Guangxi and Vietnamese border provinces, which help both sides develop transport connection and trade ties. He hoped to receive the Vietnamese Governments support in developing land and sea transport connectivity between Vietnam and China in general and Guangxi in particular. The official also urged the two sides to pay attention to the building of cross-border economic zones to enhance trade ties between the two nations. As Guangxi has an important role in the Vietnam-China relations thanks to its geographical location, Lu said he will do his utmost to consolidate and further develop the good friendship and collaboration between the two countries./. RESTON, Va., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHAT: Carahsoft Technology Corp. , The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, will host Drones: Elevating Government Intelligence , a half-day seminar discussing the history, current trends and future of the expanding field of unmanned aerial systems (UAS). During keynotes and panel discussions, attendees will gain insights into how agencies are developing strategies for UAS usage to empower their missions. Topics include: A Brief History of UAS Integration UAS Regulations Real Time Mapping and Imagery Security Opportunities The Future of UAS Integration WHO: This seminar will feature government and industry speakers experienced in the UAS field to provide insight on the latest software and tools agencies need to excel with emerging drone technologies. Keynote speakers include: Chuck Johnson, Senior Advisor for UAS Integration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Retired Jim Williams, Unmanned Integration Office Director, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Retired Davis Hackenberg, UAS Integration, NASA Pete Kelsey, Technical Evangelist, Carahsoft In addition, panel sessions will feature government, academic and industry experts discussing the opportunities to capture data that was once challenging, hazardous or costly to obtain. Carahsoft UAS solutions partners participating include Measure , Juniper Unmanned and PrecisionHawk . In addition to several keynote speakers, panelists include: Mark Skoog, Project Manager, NASA, Dryden Flight Research Center Jerry Hendrix, Director of UAS Research Programs, University of Alabama Huntsville Burton Putrah, Vice President of Data Engineering, Measure Jeff Cozart, Chief Executive Officer, Juniper Unmanned Aubrey Vaughan, Vice President, PrecisionHawk WHEN: 8 a.m. 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 26, 2019 WHERE: Crystal City Marriott at Reagan National Airport 1999 Jefferson Davis Highway Arlington, VA 22202 REGISTER: Register for the seminar to learn how UAS can empower agency missions; registration is free for all attendees. Contact Kendall Mann at (703) 921-4187 or geospatial@carahsoft.com for more information. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider. As a top-performing GSA Schedule and SEWP contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the master government aggregator for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value. The company's dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and deliver VMware, AWS, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Veritas, Dell, Adobe, F5 Networks, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Open Source, Micro Focus Government Solutions, SAP, Salesforce, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer and is listed annually among the industry's fastest growing and largest firms by CRN, Inc., Forbes, Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and Bloomberg Government. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook . Contact Back in 1991, a poll commissioned by the American Bar Association revealed that only 33 percent of Americans could successfully identify the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In light of the shocking historical and political illiteracy now found in most Americans, such a poll conducted today would surely yield even more depressing results. Id be astounded if more than a handful of Americans are familiar with the Second Bill of Rights. Sometimes referred to as the Economic Bill of Rights, the Second Bill of Rights can be found in President Franklin D. Roosevelts State of the Union address, which he delivered to congress on January 11, 1944. It was a grim time in our nations history. We had been at war with the Axis powers since late 1941 and victory was by no means certain. D-Day, when the Allies established a western front, was still six months away and the atomic bomb had not yet been developed. FDR came to the presidency in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression. The New Deal, his bold course to lift our nation from the economic disaster that had paralyzed it, gave hope to Americans. Government programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration provided jobs for millions of young Americans. The enactment of Social Security ensured that elderly Americans would no longer be forced to live in poverty. Roosevelt noted in his speech that while the American standard of living in 1944 was higher than ever before known, we cannot be contentif some fraction of our people are still ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed and insecure. In other words, the Republican philosophy of Ive-Got-Mine-Screw-You should be morally unacceptable to Americans who possesses a conscience. We have come to a clear realization.that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence, FDR said. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. Quite true. Hitler rose to power by exploiting issues such as unemployment and economic insecurity. Trump won the presidency in part by promising to put unemployed steel workers and coal miners back to work. Our Second Bill of Rights, Roosevelt said, must include The right to a useful and renumerative job that would pay enough money to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation. Too many Americans in 2019 must work multiple minimum-wage jobs just to eat and avoid eviction from rat-trap dwellings. And speaking of inadequate housing, the right of every family to a decent home is also included in the Second Bill of Rights. When I worked for Habit for Humanity back in the 1990s, I told the public that we regarded decent, affordable housing as a basic human right. I still very much believe that. Roosevelt believed that Americans should have the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Since the 1960s, Medicare has ensured that senior citizens have access to medical care. Obamacare represented a big step in the right direction, but many now believe that its time to extend Medicare to all Americans. The Second Bill of Rights includes the right to a good education. No one should graduate from college with a mountain of debt that takes decades to pay off. Is free college the answer? Joe Biden said that we should make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education 100 years ago. Roosevelt believed that Americas own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. Contrary to Trumps claim, America has never ceased being great. It will be even greater if we implement the Second Bill of Rights. John J. Dunphys latest book, Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials, includes interviews with veterans of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, who apprehended and prosecuted Nazi war criminals after World War II. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 09:25 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82ccf83 1 Editorial #Editorial,ring-of-fire,earthquake,tsunami,natural-disaster,flood,landslide,Indonesia,volcanic-eruption Free Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and between two continental plates so we can only accept our fate and be prepared for the worst: earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. We are destined to live with disasters. Data show that from 2014 to 2018, thousands of natural disasters occurred in the country every year. Floods, landslides, tropical cyclones, droughts andangin puting beliung (small tornadoes) have happened one after another across the archipelago, claiming lives and causing material losses. How many of us would blame ourselves for the disasters? The fact is that many of the calamities were man-made. They struck as a result of environmental degradation that humans have caused. When desire for fast profit and growth beats the vision of sustainability, nature will retaliate in the form of disaster. Over the weekend, floods and landslides hit Papua, Yogyakarta and Central Java, killing nearly 90 people with 74 still missing and displacing more than 4,000 others. A resident of Jayapura, Papua, said he heard a rumbling sound of large rocks tumbling down the Cyclops Mountains when a flash flood came. National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho and Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) Papua head Aiesh Rumbekwan agreed that environmental damage in Cyclops Nature Reserve was the cause of the disasters. Earlier in January, a bigger flood struck South Sulawesi, affecting thousands in 13 regencies and municipalities. The BNPB said the death toll from the disaster was 79. South Sulawesi Governor Nurdin Abdullah said the flood stemmed from deforestation in the mountains and watershed area degradation along some rivers flowing from the mountains. Walhi in South Sulawesi said that even though the intense rainfall was also to blame, environmental degradation just exacerbated it. Later, Vice President Jusuf Kalla ordered the provincial government to restore the environment, especially on Bawakaraeng Mountain. Before the recent floods in Papua and Yogyakarta, the BNPB reported that up until Feb. 7, 101 people had died this year as a result of hydrometeorological disasters. In late 2018, the agency had warned of another year of living dangerously as such disasters would remain predominant throughout 2019. The agency underlined that environmental damage would trigger the disasters, citing the 14 million hectares of critical land that dot the country. The number of disasters is indeed increasing and surely worrying. Consistently, hydrometeorological disasters have been the predominant type of calamity, with floods and landslides accounting for almost half of them. The combination of small tornadoes, forest fires and droughts also classified as hydrometeorologicalaccounted for the other half of the disasters. We have played a part in the disasters by supporting unsustainable development, evident in the rampant deforestation, which only takes quick dollars into consideration. Unless we change now, more floods and landslides will threaten our children tomorrow. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Beata Stoczynska and Peter F. Gontha (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 10:14 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82d224b 3 Opinion Poland,Peter-Gontha,bilateral-relations,Education,educational-expenditure,higher-education,economy,study-abroad Free Indonesian economy is boldly moving forward by over 5 percent per year. Its middle class keeps growing by tens of thousands of citizens. Each of them has professional ambitions and the will to contribute to the countrys further growth. They are ready to invest their limited resources available to support their dreams. To fulfill their ambitions, the young middle class Indonesians might choose to study abroad: in the US, Australia, Germany or the Netherlands. Perusing education in these developed countries comes with a caveat: it is prohibitively expensive. There is however another option to gain a world-class education, without having to indebt yourself for a lifetime. One may choose to earn a degree in a country offering European standard education, the exposure to the latest technologies and an open society. Studying there costs at least ten times less than in Western Europe or the US, including lower tuition fee and living costs. This country is Poland. Poland offers various fields of studies that respond to the needs and challenges of Indonesia. The long list of technical degrees in offer includes: IT, telecommunications, space technologies, maritime navigation and shipbuilding, renewable energy, waste management, urban planning, as well as civil engineering, including road, railway, and sewerage construction. There is also a broad offer of purely vocational training. Studies might be conducted in English or Polish (in the latter case, with a one year preparation program). We believe that the program of studies in Poland should be driven by the provincial governments. Each region of Indonesia may identify its own educational priorities. Indonesian local businesses shall have their say. Polish universities are ready to fine-tune their offer to match these priorities. Responding to their needs and requirements, Indonesian students may be placed as trainees in companies that are in line with their studies. Ambassador of Poland Beata Stoczynska met Minister of Higher Education Mohamad Nasir in June 2018 to discuss cooperation. (Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Jakarta/Handout) The Polish educational offer is financially competitive, whilst it still costs some money. Who should pay for such a program? We propose that the provincial governments establish special scholarship funds. They may be additionally supported by the local businesses. The cost-effectiveness of the education in Poland means that results of even small fund will be exponential: the fund can support the studies of 10 times more students than in other Western countries. Ten times more of ambitious young people can achieve the education of their dreams and contribute to the development of their province. The prospects of the overseas education is recognized by the central government of Indonesia which funds its own scholarship program. Similar idea is becoming more popular among provincial government. West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) has recently established a fund for university studies in Poland. Every young person from NTB who wishes so, might count on a grant from the provincial government to cover their tuition fee. In November 2018, the first batch of 20 students uploaded videos on Facebook to share their first impressions. Not discouraged by cold weather, they seemed grateful for the chance their received and confident in their opportunities in the faraway country. They joined a growing community of dozens of Indonesians already studying in Poland. Over 20 of them each year begin postgraduates technical studies, fully funded by the Polish Ignacy Lukasiewicz scholarship. Others pursue their studies independently. Each province of Indonesia that decides to form a scholarship program for Poland may count on short and long term results. Within 2-3 years since its establishment, young graduates will return to the province, bringing the unique know-how and ideas. With this effect accumulating, Indonesia will gain new assets in human capital that will translate into growth boost. This will help Indonesia to avoid the dreadful middle-income trap. We therefore encourage the provincial governors and the soon-to-be elected DPRD members to consider establishing a dedicated fund for studying in Poland. This investment will bring first returns within 2-3 years and over time will pay off tenfold. In the meantime, the young NTB students have acclimatized in Poland. Soon Polish spring and summer will bring the comfortable temperature of over 25C. With Indonesian food easily available in Warsaw, they are bound to soon call Poland their second home. Those students who live in Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) might soon get a good taste of Poland too. Quite literally. During the Polska Festival in Jakarta on March 18-24 in PIK Avenue mall, there will be tasting of Polish cuisine and drinks, free art exhibitions and movie screenings. We hope the Festival will help you to consider Poland as your studying destination. *** Beata Stoczynska is Polish ambassador to Indonesia and Peter F. Gontha is an entrepreneur and former Indonesian ambassador to Poland. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hendarsyah Tarmizi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 The third round of the presidential debates on Sunday evening that pit vice-presidential candidates Maruf Amin and Sandiaga Uno against each other was a flat affair. Although the two could easily express their ideas and programs articulately, they refrained from attacking each other orally during the two-and-half-hour debate on education, health, manpower and culture. Unexpectedly, the 76-year-old Maruf, a Muslim cleric, demonstrated his extensive knowledge on issues other than Islam during the debate, as he explained in plain language the programs he and the incumbent President Joko Jokowi Widodo would realize if they were elected. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Wed, March 20, 2019 14:17 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e0360 4 Inforial Free Completed by world-class designer Atelier Bow-Wow it redefines the art of spacious living. For some reason, living in an apartment in a crowded city like Jakarta is becoming increasingly preferred. There is no denying, however, that comfort, convenience and quality of life in an apartment are inseparable from how well the spaces are designed. This explains why FARPOINT, an Indonesian real estate developer, has engaged world-class Japanese designer Atelier Bow-Wow (ABW) to redefine their 20-story apartment complex, The Loggia. Comprising transformable furniture and storage, The Loggia unveils exceptional design to make more efficient space available, an area geared for a multisensory experience. ABW uses innovative design to embody the art of spacious living through the "Reversibility into Emptiness" concept that FARPOINT has adopted. Teaming up with Japanese real estate developer, Tokyo Tatemono, FARPOINT is currently developing The Loggia in South Jakarta. The Loggia, as the first and only property development in Indonesia to provide such an exceptional design concept, is expected to be completed by 2022. Efficiency features . (./.) As one of the world leaders in micro-architectural design, ABW highlights the value of physical space by creating rooms that are empty and transformable to serve more than just one function. "The Loggia changes the concept of modern vertical living to make urban dwellings more compatible and most importantly, comfortable. With such efficiency features that can easily be transformed according to necessity, this will significantly improve quality of life, so residents can move all their sentimental belongings while decluttering the limited apartment space efficiently," said Mulyadi Janto, the head of residential SBU FARPOINT. The transformable concept at the future apartment site mimics the concept of "ikigai," which translates to the Japanese secret of a long and happy life, through decluttering things. Limited to only around 498 apartments in the two main towers, The Loggia will allow residents a sense of openness in the confined spaces of crowded Jakarta, thus people can improve their quality of life. Research by leading real estate marketplace Zillow.com stated there was an increasing priority for younger home buyers to find a more spacious home to live in. "However, we have to admit, it is hard to find the perfect spacious home in Jakarta, particularly at affordable prices. Unveiling this unique design concept, we see that the Japanese micro-home concept will take the lead, as it offers an ingenious way to make even small space seems bigger," added Mulyadi. Making comfort and convenience home in the heart of Jakarta, a number of space-saving techniques and furniture in The Loggia divulges a new sense of emptiness, which allows the space to become empty again on certain occasions. Private sanctuary . (./.) With a wide range of residences, from 72 square meters to 117 sq m, each apartment can be upgraded into a private sanctuary, adorned with day and bunk beds, as well as rattan sliding panels and hidden storage spaces. Its raised bedroom of 60 centimeters offers built-in and subfloor storage to declutter your home without throwing out all your stuff. "Reversibility into Emptiness is not only about decluttering homes, it is also about letting various elements behave better in the room. Sunlight reflects on the tile floor and reaches to the ceiling, light dapples through a rattan screen, a breeze blows through a window to a corridor. Furniture transformation and movements are the tangible moment to the wooden edge with your finger. Dining table can be folded up and the room then transforms into a communal space where 10 people can gather comfortably. The multisensorial ambience fulfills the room and refreshes you," said Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, said Dr. Eng, ABWs co-principal architect who is also a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. For maximize comfort and happiness, The Loggia also adding a sentimental Indonesian touch to the design, including vintage-style handmade tiles from Yogyakarta. To get prevailing natural breezes in each unit, the designer created the entrance door to cross-ventilate the living space. International awards FAIRPOINT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gunung Sewu Group, a well-established and respected business in Indonesia. FARPOINT projects have received numerous international awards over the past couple of years, with the most recent one being at the 2018 International Architecture Awards for the Skyscrapers/High Rise category for Sequis Tower. In previous years, various other honors were also bestowed on FARPOINT, such as the Indonesia Property Awards for the Best Green Development and Best Universal Design Development for Sequis Tower in 2017, the Properti Indonesia Award for The Well Designed Office Project in Jakarta for Sequis Tower in 2016, the South East Asia Property Awards for the Best Office Architectural Design for Sequis Tower in 2015, the Indonesia Property Awards for the Best Office Architectural Design for Sequis Tower also in 2015 and Greenship Gold Level by Green Building Council Indonesia for Sequis Center. In 2014, the company palmed the MIPIM Award Asia Pacific for The Best Futura Project for The Hundred, an integrated mixed-used development in Mega Kuningan. Also that same year, FARPOINT won the 2014-2015 Asia Pacific Property Awards in Residential High-rise Architecture category for VERDE Two. FARPOINT was internationally recognized in 2013 when it earned the MIPIM Award Asia Pacific for The Best Futura Project for Sequis Tower, an international Grade A office building in SCBD. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Wed, March 20, 2019 10:44 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82d2dbd 4 Inforial Free Ministry of Health -- in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Indonesias Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) -- will hold a youth town hall meeting in Jakarta on March 20 and 21 to raise awareness among youngsters about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle as a requirement to advance the nation. Acep Somantri, the chief of the ministrys international cooperation bureau, said the Southeast Asian Regions (SEAR) Youth Town Hall, which is the first to be held in the region, was to provide a participative platform for youngsters to discuss health and welfare issues affecting them with all stakeholders. During the two-day meeting, the young participants will have the chance to express their views and feedback on how to solve the health problems they face and how they can get involved in health and public welfare programs. The SEAR Youth Town Hall will be attended more than 1,000 youngsters between the ages of 18 and 39, with the main focus being the 18 to 29 age group. The participants will consist of 1000 youngsters from Indonesia and 50 from 4 other Asian countries, namely Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, the Maldives and Bhutan. Other youngsters from other regions outside of SEAR will also be invited to join to share their views and best practices in dealing with adolescent health and welfare issues. They represent various sectors of civil society, government institutions, academics, business and media, which are relevant to health development programs. The themes to be discussed will include non-communicable diseases, as well as city, mental and sexual health, reproduction, the reform of health workers, and others. For consultations at regional level, participants will be involved in a participative workshop with short presentations, interactive sessions and group discussions. For national consultations, they will be involved in an interactive panel discussion, in which all participants will deliver reports, and then open consultations in which they will be allowed to express their views. As a global health platform and in recognition of the youngsters, the WHO and ministry will use the event as a opportunity to get all necessary inputs and recommendations on how to increase the participation and collaboration of the youth in improving the health and welfare of adolescents. Previously, the WHO held the youth town hall meeting in Cairo, Egypt, on Dec.4, 2018, where it managed to involve more than 100 young leaders from six continents. The significant involvement of youth is the main theme of the youth town hall meeting in Jakarta. In developing countries, like those in SEAR, the youth very often makes up a huge portion of the population. Therefore, their voice and participation should be considered when making decisions, especially on issues that will affect their lives. The 11 countries of SEAR have more than 1.5 billion people who account for a quarter of the worlds population, despite the fact that the regions member states are categorized as developing countries. Acep pointed out that the youth town hall meeting was expected to help develop effective strategies involving the youth in development programs, especially in health and welfare development. Through the youth town hall meeting, all stakeholders will gain knowledge about the health needs of youngsters in Southeast Asia. All stakeholders will also get input from the youngsters on friendly health services for youngsters and health programs in schools, which will be then used to redesign the existing health services. Well also get feedback from the youngsters on how to involve them in the health development activities, and define the main challenges facing them and how to deal with the challenges. Then, with the results of discussions well come up with a plan to deal with the youngsters health problems, he said. Acep underlined the very important role of the youth in Indonesia, particularly as Indonesia is entering a period called the demographic bonus from 2020 to 2035. It is the period when the number of productive people is higher than non-productive ones. The productive people, who will account for 70 percent of the total population of Indonesia during the period of demographic bonus, are those age between 15 and 64. Those below 15 and above 64 are categorized as non-productive people. If Indonesia manages to utilize the demographic bonus for its own benefits, then it is expected to become a developed country. As the youth accounts for a greater portion of the population, they will play a very important role in realizing it. Acep noted that in Indonesia there were about 65 million youngsters, or 26 percent of the total population of 265 million, in Indonesia. Its important, therefore, to give them a chance to take part in the process of taking part in decisions that will affect their lives, particularly their health and public welfare, he said. He added that through the youth town hall meeting, the ministry wanted the youngsters to deal with all health challenges. They are now facing various kinds of challenges with regards to health. The youngsters are easily exposed to non-healthy lifestyles, such as smoking, consuming junk food and alcoholic as well as not exercising, which can heavily affect their health. Those problems, if not resolved, will negatively affect their lives and hinder Indonesias efforts to take advantage of the demographic bonus. So, through the youth town hall meeting we want to change their non-healthy lifestyles. That way we hope we can reap all the benefits from the demographic bonus, he said. He pointed out that the results of the meeting will be used by the government to design the next medium-term development planning (RPJM) in the health sector. So, the youth town hall meeting is also timely for Indonesia, as the government will be designing its RPJM. The results of the meeting will also be used to design health development programs under the RPJM. And I think at global level, this will also be an example for other countries on how to deal with the health problems of youngsters, he said. (*) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivan Couronne (Agence France-Presse) Washington Wed, March 20, 2019 06:05 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82c9212 2 Health health,#health,HIV,united-states,HIV-infection,infection,HIV-AIDS Free Almost 40 percent of new HIV cases in the US occur because people do not know they are infected, while a similar proportion know but are not in treatment, according to a study released Monday. The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based on 2016 data and aims to bolster a strategy outlined by President Donald Trump to end the epidemic within 10 years. The strategy has two main strands: far more widespread screening, and enabling the infected better access to treatment from the moment they test positive. The study found that 38 percent of infections came from HIV-positive people who were unaware of their status, and 43 percent from people who knew they were infected but took no anti-retroviral drugs. The remaining infections came from people who were receiving HIV treatment but were not yet "virally suppressed." The CDC blamed financial, social and other reasons for people not using medication, which these days typically comes in the form of a daily pill with minimal side effects. The study said that the infection rate from the half million people in the United States who take medication and are virally suppressed -- meaning they cannot pass on the disease to others -- was zero. Screening The most at-risk group remains homosexual men, with almost three-quarters of new infections coming from men having sex with men, the report said. Five percent of infections came from intravenous drug abuse among homosexual men, while 10 percent came from injecting drugs among the rest of the population. Twelve percent of infections were among heterosexuals. Overall, the highest rate of transmission was among 13 to 24-year-olds. Read also: Stigma still thwarts HIV prevention The Trump administration has said it will invest $291 million in the next financial year to fight HIV/AIDS, which has plateaued since 2013 to around 39,000 annual transmissions. The goal is to reduce that number by 75 percent within five years and by 90 percent in 10 years. Questioned about the relatively small amount of money earmarked for the multi-billion dollar task of treating HIV carriers, CDC head Robert Redfield said he was "confident that the resources that are required to accomplish this mission are in the long term plan." The CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, wants doctors to make HIV screening a routine procedure. "Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should get tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime," said Eugene McCray, the head of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. "Those at higher risk should get tested at least annually," he said. "The key to controlling is helping those with HIV to control the virus," said the CDC's Jonathan Mermin, who focuses on preventing the spread of the HIV as well as other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and hepatitis. "Time spent working closely with patients who are having trouble paying for, picking up or taking their daily medications is time well spent." The Jogja Gallery in Yogyakarta held a special exposition of works of 50 artists with the theme The Life Episodes of National Hero Diponegoro from Feb. 1 to 14. The curator of the exhibition was Dr. Mikke Susanto. In November last year, artists were invited to produce scenes of the life of Pangeran Diponegoro, taken from Babad Diponegoro (Autobiography of Diponegoro). The organizers did not only promote the work of painters, but was also aiming to raise the publics historical awareness of the prince. Diponegoro was a prince from the Court of Yogya who took up arms against the Dutch colonial government. The insurrection lasted five years from 1825 to 1830, which was the biggest, longest and costliest war during the colonial period. More than 200,000 people were killed out of a population of 2 million and the Dutch lost 8,000 soldiers and 7,000 mercenaries. The war cost 25 million Dutch guilders which depleted the treasury. But through forced plantation fees imposed on the farmers in Java, known as the cultuur stelsel, the Dutch from 1831 to 1877, gained a profit of more than 832 million guilders (US$70 billion in current terms) which contributed to the vast infrastructure development of Holland in the 19th century. During the nationalist movement, Diponegoro was a symbol of resistance, used by schools and the countrys founding father, Sukarno, in the nationalist movement. In 1967 then-president Sukarno proclaimed Diponegoro a national hero. Nearly every big city has streets named after Diponegoro. The Indonesian Military (TNI) command headquarters in Central Java is also named afterhim, as well as a state university in Semarang, also in Central Java. The highest international recognition for the prince came in 2013, when UNESCO registered his autobiography -- written while in exile in Manado in 1830 and 1831 -- in the Register of Memory of the World. After the recognition from UNESCO, more publication and performances commemorated Diponegoro, which made him better known to the public. Books were written, as well as monologues by Landung Simatupang, and a play by Remy Silado. These followed in the footsteps of Sardono who in the 1980s produced a Diponegoro ballet. The rising interest in Diponegoro was also reflected at the Jogja Gallerys Diponegoro exhibition in February. The exhibition attracted 9,000 visitors -- a high number considering the exhibition was held in Yogyakarta. But the most surprising fact is that nearly half of the paintings were bought by the public, which surprised the organizers and the artists. Four paintings fetched over Rp 100 million ($7,047). The gallery is housed in an old building in the northwest corner of the big Alun-Alun (town square), not far from Keraton. Although the building is not big, the exhibition halls are roomy and exhibited 51 paintings with ease. The paintings represented a variety of styles, mostly naturalism and symbolism, while several painters showed abstract styles. Ronald Manullangs painting In the Morning of 28 March 1830 in Magelang impressed at once, by the simplicity of its composition: the prince sitting in the middle, a woman next to him sitting on the floor, and two Dutch officers standing left and right. The painting looks like a modern family photograph, which Ronald is famous for. Although it should represent the scene of a treacherous meeting by the Dutch, it looks more like a family gathering. The message of despair and treachery is so subtle, Diponegoro sitting in the middle pointing a finger, looking abstract but resigned, the woman mourning on the floor, and the Dutch general with a small satisfying smile. The painting fetched the highest price. The five paintings, which fetched the highest prices, represented realistic naturalism, reflecting the taste and the preference of the public for naturalistic-style paintings. It is interesting to note that 22 paintings out of the 51 exhibited were sold. That the name Diponegoro had a big influence on the decision of the buyers is in no doubt. The big interest in the paintings could be ascribed to their good quality and the rise of connoisseurs who appreciate good art and are willing to buy them. This should be good news to the art world in general, because a good public/audience is the prerequisite for success in the creative industry. The painting industry has enjoyed robust response from supporters since the 1980s, in line with the booming economy. The Yogyakarta exhibition shows the positive response from people, with 30 percent of the paintings being bought for around Rp 50 million each. Let us hope that this trend lasts, or even matures. (dev/kes) *** The writer is a former minister of education and culture. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Katrin Figge (The Jakarta Post) London Wed, March 20, 2019 17:59 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82eab2e 1 Books #literature,#book,#author,#LondonBookFair,#Indonesia,#SenoGumira,#Seno-Gumira,#PEN,#Author-of-the-Day Free Seno Gumira Ajidarma is somewhat of a paradox a prolific author, who has penned both fiction and nonfiction, short stories and essays, and has also worked as a journalist. Many of his writings have broken down barriers, addressing topics that were deemed taboo, subjects that others did not dare to put down on paper. But even though many of his works deal with violence, trauma and oppression, he has maintained a remarkable sense of humor, both on and off the page, a sly hint of sarcasm and a boyish grin that seems to mirror mischievous thoughts. Author of the day: Indonesian author Seno Gumira Ajidarma engages in conversation with Sian Cain at the English PEN Salon during the London Book Fair. (Courtesy of London Book Fair/-) At the London Book Fair on March 12 to 14, where Indonesia was the Market Focus this year, Seno was one of the featured writers at the Author of the Day program, which put some of the most successful and acclaimed authors into the spotlight to celebrate their work. Seno, who has already received several literary awards, including the SEA Write Award (1997), the Dinny OHearn Prize for Literary Translation for Eyewitness (1997), the Literary Award from the Indonesian Education and Culture Ministry for Dilarang Menyanyi di Kamar Mandi (Dont Sing in the Bathroom, 1997), the Khatulistiwa Literary Award for Negeri Senja (The Land of Never-ending Sunset, 2004) and Kitab Omong Kosong (The Book of Nonsense, 2005), was invited to share the stage with Sian Cian, the books site editor of The Guardian. As a boy in elementary school, Seno said he had read the adventure novels about Old Shatterhand and his Apache friend and blood brother Winnetou, set in the American Old West, penned by German writer Karl May. Their free spirit, riding across the prairies and overcoming challenges and obstacles together, fascinated Seno and inspired him to leave home as a teenager to travel and begin his own lifes journey. Only later did I find out that Karl May had actually never visited the places he wrote about, Seno said. But initially, I wanted to be a wanderer because these stories felt real to me and I thought they were true. The search for facts and truth became part of Senos daily routine when he was working as a journalist during the New Order regime under then-president Soeharto. I started out as a writer and poet, but then I got married and I needed a regular income, Seno said, with a smile. I was wondering what I could do, and since I was already writing, the step to being a journalist seemed to be the easiest one. Known as an advocate of free speech and freedom of publication, Seno struggled with censorship under Soeharto, yet he didnt shy away from confrontation. If there was something I wanted to [convey in my articles], there was always a way, he explained. In Indonesia, we did so by hiding our real message between the lines. Throughout his career, Seno has often conveyed through literature what he could not say as a journalist. He once said he lived by the motto: "When journalism is silenced, literature must speak. Because while journalism speaks with facts, literature speaks with truth". Seno tackled the difficult subject of military violence in East Timor (now Timor Leste) and the Santa Cruz massacre of November 1991, where more than 250 pro-independence protestors were killed by Indonesian troops, in his collection of stories Eyewitness and the novel Jazz, Perfume & the Incident (1996), hiding facts behind fiction in order to avoid censorship. During the time of the massacre, I was the editor of Jakarta-Jakarta magazine, Seno recalls. I decided to publish a report on what had happened and was immediately sacked by my editor-in-chief. So I had to find another way to talk about this incident. In a similar way, Seno wrote about state violence in his short story collection Mysterious Killings (1993) and sexual violence against ethnic Chinese women during the riots in Jakarta in May 1998 in his short story Clara. After the fall of Soeharto in the same year, the Reform Era in Indonesia began, and the people felt hopeful that real change could be achieved. Journalists and writers did not have to fear censorship from the government anymore and were suddenly free to voice their opinions and mainly unhindered in their quest for truth. For Seno, however, there were still a lot of issues that attracted his attention the insurgency in Aceh, a conflict that lasted until 2005, being one of them, resulting in the short story Phone Call from Aceh. Seno also engaged himself in the case of Munir Said Thalib the human rights activist and founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) who was poisoned with arsenic in 2004 while he was on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam, on his way to pursue a masters degree in the Netherlands. When the accused general was released by the judge, I decided that it was time for literature to punish him, Seno recalled. I wrote a short story that was basically a confession from him, opening with the lines I am a scoundrel, and thats why I killed Munir. Seno added that in this particular case, he used fiction as a way to get justice: When the law in the country fails, literature can play an important role when it comes to punishing people. Speaking about Indonesias future generation of writers, Seno said he felt optimistic because they had the opportunity to express themselves without fear. He has also enjoyed the newfound freedom and while still writing about political, social and cultural issues from a critical point of view he has more time to pursue other projects. I have recently started to write stories in the Betawi dialect because I feel that our national language, Bahasa Indonesia, has suppressed the many dialects in our country. (ste) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Washington Thu, March 21, 2019 06:08 996 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82fa831 2 People Donald-Trump,Melania-Trump,body-double,conspiracy-theory,Photoshop Free No, President Donald Trump told conspiracy theorists Wednesday, he does not have a body double of his wife accompanying him on work trips. A bizarre claim that First Lady Melania Trump is sometimes replaced by another woman hidden behind large sunglasses and similar outfits resurfaced after Trump made a trip to the site of a deadly tornado in Alabama last week. Days later, Trump leapt on the story, which is an outlier even by the feverish standards of the Washington rumor mill. Read also: Much Ado About Melania: US first lady does it her way "The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that its actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places," he tweeted. "They are only getting more deranged with time!" The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that its actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2019 The body double conspiracy theory has been around since at least 2017, but resurfaced Monday when participants on ABC television's morning show "The View" examined a surge of internet chatter about the former fashion model's Alabama appearance. The first lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham called the show's joking on the subject "shameful." TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) applauds Minister Morneau and the federal government for making home buyers and housing issues a priority of the federal budget, announced today, but continues to be concerned about unnecessary mortgage restrictions, which were not addressed. TREB has been vocal about the need for governments at all levels to address housing issues, especially with regard to affordability and first-time buyers. This federal budget takes some important actions in that regard. The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive is an interesting proposal and TREB is reviewing these details to better understand how it will affect home buyers. We are also encouraged that the government is proposing to increase the limit on the RRSP Home Buyers Plan from $25,000 to $35,000, something which we have advocated for many years. Nevertheless, this budget leaves some important issues unaddressed, including the mortgage stress test and restrictions on 30-year mortgage amortizations, said Garry Bhaura, TREB President. In recent months, TREB has been calling on the federal government and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to reconsider Guideline B-20, which imposed an onerous mortgage stress test on home buyers, requiring them to qualify at mortgage rates that are two percent higher than actual market rates. TREB has also called on the federal government to allow for federal mortgage insurance on 30-year mortgage amortizations. Current market realities indicate that the OSFI stress test and the federal limitations on 30-year mortgage amortizations are not warranted. This is especially true at a time when first-time buyers are facing serious challenges in achieving the dream of home ownership. We applaud the federal government for acknowledging that housing issues are a top priority for Canadians, but current mortgage restrictions still need to be addressed, said John DiMichele, TREBs Chief Executive Officer. Media Inquiries: Mary Gallagher Senior Manager, Public Affairs maryg@trebnet.com (416) 443-8158 TREB is Canadas largest real estate board. Over 53,000 residential and commercial TREB Members serve consumers in the Greater Toronto Area. Greater Toronto REALTORS are passionate about their work. They are governed by a strict Code of Ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple Listing Service. www.TREBhome.com https://www.facebook.com/TorontoRealEstateBoard https://twitter.com/TREBhome https://www.youtube.com/user/TREBChannel https://www.pinterest.com/trebhome/ http://www.linkedin.com/company/treb http://www.trebwire.com/ https://plus.google.com/+trebchannel https://www.trebhome.com/rssfeed.htm https://www.instagram.com/trebhome https://soundcloud.com/trebhome/tracks Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Josa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 16:08 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e4569 1 Lifestyle #lifestyle,#fashion,#FashionShow,#FashionWeek,#Jakarta,#Indonesia,#PlazaIndonesia,#Alleira,#MichaelOng,#TheTerian Free Plaza Indonesias annual fashion parade returns with a curated line-up of homegrown talent and international brands. Plaza Indonesia Fashion Week (PIFW), which runs until March 22, features a plethora of major designers and brands from Auguste Soesastro, Rama Dauhan, Toton, Sean Sheila to Aigner. The fashion week, held as part of the shopping malls 29th anniversary, opened with a show by Wilsen Willim in collaboration with the Indonesian Heart Foundation (YJI). The collection, titled Convoluted Repetition Theory, features a total of 30 looks split into two phases. The first presentation featured Wilsens latest offerings, utilizing shades of grey and loose, oversized pieces punctuated with floral patchworks on key items. Wilsens signature androgynous silhouettes are still the collections main draw, allowing both men and women to rock the outfits influenced by classic menswear pieces, such as coats, blazers, and straight-leg trousers. Feminine touches are also present, visible in skirts and dresses while still retaining the structured lines of the collection. The second phase featured the YJIs vibrant red, although used sparsely as contrasting pieces to the existing grayscale color palette. A recurring styling choice in the presentation is the use of red tights underneath monochromatic bottoms, creating an interesting contrast that also highlighted the wearers footwear. Serene: The Terian, a fashion brand by Asia NewGen Fashion Award national finalist Merliza Fire Terian, goes minimalistic. (Courtesy of Magnifique /-) The Terian, a fashion brand by Asia NewGen Fashion Award national finalist Merliza Fire Terian, went with the same general mood of minimalist lines. Titled Serene at Dusk, the collection serves up visions of summer sunsets through shades of blue and coral, while silhouettes are kept simple yet structured. Slip dresses are a focal point of the collection, seen mostly in an asymmetrical cut in combination with a shirt-like sleeve and lapel, cut from contrasting light and dark fabrics for a classic styling. Along with asymmetry, coats are also a key look, albeit with a more airy, lighter fabric for summer. Classic black and white with simplified silhouettes seem to be a theme for 2019, as it is very much pronounced in AVA Prologues collaboration with Hakim Satriyo. Titled Vol. II Monochrome: EN ROUTE, the collection is rendered in black and white as the name implies, interspersed with metallic embellishments to elevate the daytime aesthetic. Grayscale: Monochromatic color palettes still dominate the catwalk at Plaza Indonesia Fashion Week, which runs until March 22. (Courtesy of Magnifique /-) Simple, clean silhouettes are key to the brands offerings, using surefire versatile pieces such as lightweight vests as well as loose trousers that could work in a number of styles. Traces of menswear are also present, seen in boxy blazers and jackets made feminine through cinching at the waist and strategic embellishment placements. The other end of the spectrum sees German leather goods brand Aigner, utilizing the logo-heavy aesthetic of the 1990s that is making a comeback over the past few seasons. The Dadaism-inspired collection features the Aigner logo reimagined in vibrant primary colors used in both footwear and handbags, allowing users to create a statement even with a neutral wardrobe. Also on the more colorful end is the collaboration between Alleira Batik and Malaysian designer Michael Ong. First working together in last years Plaza Indonesia Mens Fashion Week, this years womenswear collection served up 24 looks in soft yet effervescent colors like blues, purples, and yellows. Titled Two in One, Ong designed the collection to be able to provide two different styling methods for one garment, working in the niche of day-to-night dressing that can be done in a pinch. The collection is specially made so that career-oriented women can attend evening functions without needing to go home and change, says Ong, noting the pieces multifunctional styling. He may have designed the clothes for the working woman with a full schedule, but the queens of RuPauls Drag Race come to mind when the presentation involves the models transforming the look mid-stride on the runway. A full length coat in black batik with purple and orange details detach horizontally to reveal a strapless mini-dress underneath, while a midi-length coat for a formal daytime look transforms into a cropped jacket that compliments the lightweight gray lace dress underneath. Not all of the garments have dramatic reveals, with some having tearaway pieces obfuscating small details such as Swarovski crystals or metallic fringes underneath. Still, the notion of two-in-one looks is quite an interesting concept to behold, and might make an impression as one saunters into a room, be it business meeting or RuPauls workroom. (ste) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Syafrizaldi (The Jakarta Post) Makassar, South Sulawesi Wed, March 20, 2019 18:35 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82ed866 1 Food chocolate,South-Sulawesi Free Cacao farmer-turned-businessman Baharuddin Iskandar has found a way to address sluggish demand for homegrown cacao in North Luwu, South Sulawesi. As cacao plantations play a significant role in the local economy, the farmers of North Luwu are worried about the weakening price of dried cacao beans. A seasoned cacao farmer, Baharuddin, who is better known as Haji Rudi, is giving fellow farmers hope by offering them a higher price for their cacao beans and turning them into delectable treats. Rudi was all smiles as he savored a cup of chocolate with his wife Erna and their eldest child Ani at his cafe, Kampoeng Cokelat Chalodo, in Masamba, a small town by a river in North Luwu. Ani was born when we were growing cacao trees in Salulemo, a long way from Masamba, said Rudi, who started planting cacao in the late 1980s. The Salulemo plantation was his first cacao estate after marrying Erna. He originally collected rattan from the area, before cultivating corn and cacao there. From their small cacao plantation in Salulemo, Haji Rudi and Erna built their chocolate business. Their extensive estate in Masamba comprises of the chocolate-themed cafe, a chocolate factory and a plantation. Rudis family lives in a stilted wooden house in one corner of the estate. Next to his house, Rudi parks his luxury SUV a rare type of car on the streets of Masamba. From the 700 cacao trees on his Masamba plantation, Rudi can harvest as much as 2 tons of wet cacao beans per month. His factory produces between 50 and 100 kilograms of chocolate bars and powder daily. In addition to that, Rudi and Erna have also developed chocolate noodles. Sweet and savory: Rudi serves chocolate noodles at his cafe. (JP/Syafrizaldi) Rudi promises that his sweet treats will not harm ones teeth. I dont want to hear the toothache myth anymore when children consume chocolate. The ache is actually caused by particular ingredients in the chocolate mixture. We use safe ingredients for our blends, he claimed. The couple plans to extend the business by opening two chocolate stores in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar. It all began with a machine Rudis is a rare success story in South Sulawesis cacao industry. While he can live comfortably from selling a variety of chocolate products, many fellow farmers in the region are still pinning their hopes on selling dried cacao beans and more often than not, the price is just not good enough. In the local market, dried cacao beans are sold at Rp 27,000 (US$1.90) to Rp 30,000 per kg, said Ismail Lendre, the chairman of the Salotok Village Economy Institute in North Luwu. The price was once Rp 37,000, but only for a while, Ismail added. Rudy leaped from being a farmer to a chocolate businessman after receiving a cocoa processing machine from the provincial administration in 2008. The machine can produce 5 kg of cocoa powder and butter per week. Rudi has spent Rp 300 million to improve the machines production capacity. The money was spent on supporting equipment as well as for upgrading the factory and warehouse, he said. Rudi had to subsidize his factory for almost four consecutive years to cover labor and electricity costs. Luckily, he also owns a haj travel firm, which helped support his chocolate factory. With additional support from the government, Rudi reached a daily production capacity of 30 kg in 2012. Shared vision: Rudi and his wife Erna started their cacao business in the late 1980s with a small plantation in Salulemo, North Luwu. (JP/Syafrizaldi) Now that he has established his chocolate business, Rudi wants to share his success with fellow farmers. Though were small, I want cacao farmers [] to earn profits as well. From farmers, I buy dried cacao beans at Rp 40,000 per kg at least, up to Rp 50,000 if the quality is good. But as my factorys capacity is limited, I dare not buy in large quantities, he said. Cacao farmers feel bitter North Luwu Regent Indah Putri Indriani said her administration was striving to boost cacao production and improve farmers income through its Cacao Center. As of 2017, North Luwu has 39,400 hectares of cacao plantations producing a total of 26,300 tons of wet cacao. The regency plans to open another 11,000 ha of land for cacao plantations. It is also promoting the use of North Luwus leading cacao clones of MCC-01 and MCC-02. Pinning hopes on cacao: As of 2017, there are 39,400 hectares of cacao plantations in North Luwu producing a total of 26,300 tons of wet cacao. The North Luwu regency plans to open another 11,000 ha of land for cacao plantations. (JP/Syafrizaldi) Farmers are encouraged to take part in a chocolate certification program that will help them secure a higher selling price and an incentive called premium payment. Ismail of the Salotok Village Economy Institute, however, said the regencys program was not enough to solve the farmers problems. Many Masamba cacao farmers have been certified but have not received the promised premium payment. For almost two years now, the premium has not been paid, he said. Ismail suggested that the central government interfere in the market with purchases to give farmers a high selling price. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 15:32 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e3f6a 1 City pornographic-content,porn-videos,pornography,jakarta,distribution,police Free The Jakarta Police have arrested a man for allegedly selling pornographic videos stored on external hard drives on Jl. Sunter Pradise, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Saturday. Tanjung Prioks general crime division head, Adj. Comr. Faruk Rozi, said the suspect allegedly sold hard drives filled with around 1,500 of porn videos at Rp 2 million (US$141) each. He made a profit of Rp 1 million from each sale, Faruk said on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com. He allegedly downloaded the porn videos himself and some he took from his friends collection, he added. Faruk said the suspect used to sell bootleg movies in VCD and DVD format in Glodok, West Jakarta. We are still investigating how long this has been going on. The suspect [claimed that he] did it on his own. Faruk said the suspect had been detained at the Tanjung Priok Police station and would be charged under Law No. 44/2008 on pornography. (ami) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Semarang, Central Java Wed, March 20, 2019 13:05 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82d9446 1 Business toll-road,restaurant,Semarang,solo,Kertajati-Airport,Transportation,jasa-marga,JasamargaTransjawaTol,java,shopping Free Private toll road operator Astra Infra, the infrastructure arm of diversified business group PT Astra International, is working to improve its services by upgrading its facilities for both road and rest area to keep its business growing. Astra Infra never intended to stop at "merely" connecting cities. To maintain and grow its toll road business, the company is developing four sections of its flagship Trans-Java toll road, which spans 1,176 kilometers from West Java to East Java. The four sections the Tangerang-Merak section in Banten, the Cikopo-Palimanan in West Java, the Semarang-Solo in Central Java and the Jombang-Mojokerto in East Java span a combined length of 302 km. Wiwiek D. Santoso, the CEO of Astra Infras toll road business group, expressed hope that the companys post-development strategies would increase the volume of traffic and boost revenue by at least 25 percent this year. We dont want to build just a toll road. We want to create something that will inspire customers as well as local residents that live near our road, she said during the companys Trans-Java media tour on Feb. 24. Thats why we have [customized] plans for each of our four sections in Trans-Java toll road, such as boosting local businesses at our rest areas on the Semarang-Solo section, and expanding the lanes on the Tangerang-Merak section because of its industrial character, said Wiwiek. Astra Infra has planned a Rp 200 billion (US$14.2 million) project to develop rest areas with pedestrian bridges on the Semarang-Solo section, the first of their kind in the country. Astra Infra has budgeted about Rp 800 billion in capital expenditures this year. The project is to be developed under a consortium with state-owned toll road operator Jasa Marga and provincially owned company PT Sarana Pembangunan Jawa Tengah of Central Java, and aims to add value to rest areas by turning them into tourist and shopping destinations. The plans for Resta Pendopo 456, or rest pavilion, consist of five buildings in two locations with a combined area of around 3 hectares on both sides of the Semarang-Solo section. It is slated to open in 2021. Wiwiek said the company expected its toll road business to grow 30 percent through its post-development strategies. Another driver was the full connectivity of all sections of the Trans-Java toll road [since the end of 2018]. Hence, we are upbeat that we will see growth in traffic [volume] and revenues of 25 to 30 percent this year, she said. Astra Infra CFO Thomas Tan concurred that the growth target was achievable, provided that there were no arbitrary policies on toll rates, which the logistics industry had criticized as too costly. We are optimistic [about our target]. Still, it must be supported by regulatory certainty. The toll road industry is a long-term business, so we must stick to what has been agreed in the initial business plan, he said. Thomas added that Astra Infra would only contribute to the profitsof its parent company, possibly as soon as 2021, when it made significant revenues from the gradual growth of traffic volume on the Trans-Java toll road. Last December, the four sections of the Trans-Java toll road saw about a 20 percent increase in traffic [volume] from the previous month, [...] due to the inauguration of the Jakarta-Surabaya route, he said. Another plan is to develop the infrastructure of the 72.45 km Tangerang-Merak section, which is managed by Astra Infra subsidiary PT Marga Mandalasakti (PTMM). PTMM president director Kris Ade Sudiyono said the plan included improving the toll road sections access and capacity to achieve PTMMs 10 percent growth target for 2019. "We will add more lanes in some parts of the toll road section to [improve] travel time, and build two interchanges in Cikupa and East Balaraja to improve access," said Kris. He added that PTMM had allocated around Rp 2 trillion to capital expenditures this year, which would be used primarily to finance the infrastructure development project. The project includes adding an extra lane at kilometer marker (KM) 12 on the route from West Balaraja to Cikande to expand it to three lanes. The lane expansion project started in 2017, and had expanded the Bitung-Cikupa-West Balaraja to four lanes by December 2018. Meanwhile, Kris said PTMM was coordinating with local property developer Alam Sutera to acquire land for the Cikupa interchange project. "We expect to complete the East Balaraja interchange this year, while the Cikupa interchange will be completed next year," he said, adding that at least Rp 300 billion ($21.3 million) was invested in the interchange project. Similarly, Astra Infra subsidiary PT Lintas Marga Sedaya (LMS), which operates the Cikopo-Palimanan (Cipali) toll road section in West Java, said the company was focusing this year on opening new access routes. LMS vice president director Firdaus Azis said at least two access routes would be developed, one connecting the new Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, and another connecting Patimban Deep Sea Port in Subang, which is located 40 km from the Cipali toll road. The access route to Kertajati airport [...] will increase traffic [volume] by 2,000 to 4,000 vehicles per day, he said. LMS has set a minimum 10 percent growth target this year for both revenue and traffic volume. Last year, the company recorded Rp 300 billion in average daily toll revenue. The 116.7 km Cipali toll road section currently sees an average of 36,000 vehicles per day, which falls within the companys targeted daily traffic volume. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 14:02 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82dbd3e 1 City drug-courier,drug-abuse,pilgrimage,arrest,Depok Free Depok Police have arrested tattoo artist Riko Afandi in West Java for allegedly distributing crystal meth, locally known as sabu-sabu. Riko, 34, who was recently released after serving a four-year prison term for a similar crime, claimed that he used the money he made from distributing drugs to fund umrah (minor pilgrimage) and to cover the costs of childbirth. The drug money was used for my mother's umrah and [for] my wife to give birth to [our] second child, Riko said Tuesday at the Depok Police station, as quoted by kompas.com. Riko said he had been distributing drugs for three years, but that he did not know the identity of the head of the drug trafficking ring. Ive never met my boss, as I was instructed by phone to deliver the drugs, he said. He said that he usually secured the drug package to an electricity pole for the customer to retrieve. Riko said he was paid Rp 200,000 (US$14) for each gram of crystal meth, and that he once earned Rp 20 million for delivering 500 grams of meth. Depok Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Arya Perdana said that police had been tracking Riko since last December, and that he had been charged under the Narcotics Law, which carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison or a Rp 1.5 billion fine. We are still hunting down the [head of the drug trafficking ring], he added. (fac) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 16:39 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e6822 4 Business social-assistance-funds,disbursement,February,2019,Sri-Mulyani-Indrawati Free The government has intensified the disbursement of its social assistance to low-income households ahead of the April 17 presidential and legislative elections. Finance Ministry data show the disbursement of social assistance had grown by Rp 23.6 trillion (US$1.66 billion) or 70.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) in February. The disbursed assistance accounted for 24.31 percent of the total social assistance in 2019, which was set at Rp 97.06 trillion. The ministry says the high realization of the social assistance in April was triggered by a number of factors, including the increase in the Family Hope Program (PKH), particularly assistance for healthcare services and education. Secondly, in February, the government disbursed the premium assistance (PBI) for low-income participants of the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) for the payment up to April. Nominally, the realization of the central government spending was higher than the spending in 2018 because of the increase in two kinds of social assistance the PKH and the allocation for PBI BPJS Kesehatan, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday as quoted by kontan.co.id. Thirdly, the government also disbursed the funding for the Indonesian Smart Card (KIP) Program and scholarships for students from low-income families. In total, the ministry shows that government spending up to February this year reached Rp 145.68 trillion, an increase of 14.19 percent compared to the spending in the corresponding period last year. The spending by ministries and other institutions grew by 29.06 percent yoy to Rp 71.23 trillion, 8.33 percent of the whole-year spending of Rp 855.45 trillion, while the spending by non-ministries/institutions only grew 2.86 percent yoy to Rp 70.46 trillion. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 09:08 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82cc2f7 4 Business ride-hailing-application,drivers,fares,demand,demonstration Free Ride-hailing app taxi drivers have threatened to take to the street if their proposed fare of Rp 3,000 (21 US cents) per kilometer is rejected by the government, which plans to issue a fare decree on Friday. We have no other choice. Our demand is Rp 3,000 gross or Rp 24,000 net, said Igum Wicaksasono of the Combined Presidium for Two-wheel National Association (Garda) in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com. Igum did not mention when the protest would take place, saying the drivers would wait on the governments decision. He claims that he represented all drivers who are fighting for higher fares. Garda does not represent drivers of a single ride-haling app, we are a combined community of ride-hailing apps drivers from all over the country, he said. The Transportation Ministry recently issued Ministerial Regulation No 12/2019 on safety for motorcycle users rented by the public. Its land road director general, Budi Setiyadi, said on Monday said that the ministry would issue a ministerial decree on the fare this week. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the ministry had not decided on the exact amount yet because it was still negotiating with both drivers and ride-hailing app providers. Drivers have demanded that the fare should be increased to Rp 3,000 per km, while providers have insisted on maintaining it at Rp 1,600. They also offered an alternative scheme of minimum fares of between Rp 9,000 and Rp 10,000. Budi Karya said the ministry would make a decision no later than Friday. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 16:15 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e5705 1 City Ragunan-zoo,renovation,Competition,design Free The Jakarta administration is set to hold a design competition for the renovation of Ragunan Zoo. The city has allocated Rp 1 billion (US$70,000) for three winners. Zoo management head Widodo said the revitalization would be aimed at making the zoo a conservation center and recreational site. "The first, second and third place winner will respectively get Rp 500 million, Rp 300 million and Rp 200 million," Widodo said, kompas.com reported, noting that the money had been allocated from the city's 2019 budget. Besides prize money, Widodo added that funds would go to other expenses during the competition, such judge fees. The renovation itself will take place in 2021, he said. The city administration previously held such design competitions for several of its programs, such as for the Jak Lingko logo and National Monument (Monas) area. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 12:11 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82d709b 4 Business Jokowi,durian,palm-oil,diversification Free Amid low demand and the price decrease of crude palm oil (CPO) in the global market, President Joko Jokowi Widodo has advised oil palm tree growers to grow durian trees, as he believes the commodity has good prospects. Jokowi said oil palm tree growers needed to diversify their business with the many oil palm plantations in the country. He said durian had better prospects in the international market. Are there other commodities that have a better market? We have become the greatest CPO producer, the President said at the opening of a coordination meeting with the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday. As the worlds largest CPO producer, Indonesia produces 46 million tons annually. The President said the commodity was facing difficulties in market expansion because certain countries had linked it with environmental issues and many others had imposed high tariffs on the commodity. Read also: Indonesia deregulates palm oil exports Jokowi believes durian has better prospects than CPO. He said China had high durian demand, however most of its supply was sourced from Malaysia. Our durian is good. We have various kinds of durian. But the commodity is poorly managed, he said as quoted by kompas.com. In trying to address the overwhelming stocks of the commodity, the government has tried to expand the domestic palm oil market with the use of biofuel. The government introduced in September 2018 the compulsory use of 20 percent blended biodiesel (B20) and was conducting a study on producing B100. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 17:39 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e9503 1 Business Jakarta-Bandung-High-Speed-Train,land-acquisition,progress,Wijaya-Karya Free State-owned construction company PT Wijaya Karya (WIKA) is planning to finish the land acquisition process for the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway project in April so that construction of its transportation infrastructure can reach the targeted 60 percent by the end of 2019. WIKA corporate secretary Puspita Anggraini said that, as of March 15, 92 percent of land had been acquired. We set a target to fully complete the land acquisition process in April 2019, he said as quoted by kontan.co.id recently, adding that, after all land is acquired, the company would focus on the construction of 142.3 kilometers of railway tracks. The high-speed railway will have four stations Halim Station in Jakarta and Karawang, Walini and Tegalluar stations in West Java. The total investment for the project is US$6.07 billion, 75 percent of which is a loan from the China Development Bank (CDB), while 25 percent comes in the form of equity from Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) shareholders PSBI and Beijing Yawan HSR Co., Ltd. He said CDB had disbursed $1.1 billion so far and future disbursements would be based on construction progress. Securities firm Phintraco Sekuritas analyst Valdy Kurniawan said the $1.1 billion loan indicated that there was progress in the project, the groundbreaking ceremony of which was led by President Joko Jokowi Widodo in January 2016. He said he believed the bank would disburse more loans this year to finance construction for the project, which is expected to be completed in 2021. (bbn) Cleveland, Ohio, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Greetings Corporation (American Greetings or the Company) today announced the expiration and results of its previously announced tender offer (the Tender Offer) for any and all of its 7.875% Senior Notes due 2025 (the Notes) set forth in the Companys Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement (the Offer to Purchase) and the related Consent and Letter of Transmittal (the Letter of Transmittal), each dated February 20, 2019. The Tender Offer expired at 12:00 a.m., New York City time, on March 19, 2019. As of the expiration, $16,920,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes, which includes $15,420,000 aggregate principal amount of Notes tendered prior to the Consent Time (as defined in the Offer to Purchase) and previously accepted for purchase, had been validly tendered and not withdrawn in the Tender Offer, representing 96.5% of such Notes previously outstanding. The Company expects to accept all of the tendered Notes for purchase and make payment on March 20, 2019. Holders are urged to read the Offer to Purchase and the Letter of Transmittal carefully. Acceptance of the tendered Notes in the Tender Offer is subject to certain conditions as described in the Offer to Purchase and the Letter of Transmittal. The Huntington National Bank served as the Information and Tender Agent in connection with the Tender Offer, and can be contacted at (614) 331-8698, or email at corporatebondops@huntington.com. This announcement is not an offer to purchase, a solicitation of an offer to purchase, or a solicitation of an offer to sell securities with respect to the Notes. The Tender Offer was made only pursuant to the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal. About the Company As the leader in meaningful connections, American Greetings is committed to making the world a more thoughtful and caring place. Founded in 1906, the creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products offers paper cards, digital greetings, gift wrap, party goods and more to help consumers honor the people and moments in life that really matter. The Company's major greeting card brands are American Greetings, Papyrus, Recycled Paper Greetings and Carlton Cards. AmericanGreetings.com lets consumers shop and buy paper cards, ecards, printables, party supplies and gift wrapalong with providing useful content that educates and inspires visitors to connect more meaningfully. The 113 year-old Company is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.americangreetings.com/corporate. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain information that includes or is based upon forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give expectations or forecasts of future events. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as anticipate, estimate, expect, project, intend, plan, believe, potential, and will, and other words and terms of similar meaning, or are tied to future periods, in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, prospective services or products, future performance or results of current and anticipated services or products, sales efforts, expenses, the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings, trends in operations and financial results. Any or all forward-looking statements may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Many such factors will be important in determining the actual future results of the Company, its subsidiaries and affiliates. These statements are based on current expectations and the current economic environment. They involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties, and other factors that might cause such differences include the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified herein, including, without limitation, that our cost-savings initiatives may not be successful, that the Company will not be able to spread risk as broadly as anticipated, that the Company will not be able to generate cash flow and earnings as anticipated and that the Company may not continue its track record of success. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly correct or update any forward-looking statement if the Company later becomes aware that such statement is not likely to be achieved. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Bloomberg) London, United Kingdom Wed, March 20, 2019 19:19 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82ef8fe 2 World Brexit,delay,Theresa-May,EU Free Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the European Union for an extension to the Brexit deadline until June 30, she told lawmakers in the House of Commons, after pro-Brexit ministers objected to being stuck in the bloc for much longer. It increases the chances that the UK could crash out of the bloc at the end of June, and could make for a tense meeting with European leaders on Thursday. As prime minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June May told lawmakers in the House of Commons after announcing that she has written to EU Council President Donald Tusk. Meanwhile, the mood in Brussels is very bleak today, as EU officials dont know how to read the UK governments plans. One senior diplomat warned of a looming catastrophe and said the blame game for a no-deal has already started. Everybody should realize that responsibility must lie with Mays lack of clarity and delaying tactics over two years, he said. Many EU governments are pressing for a crisis summit next Thursday -- thats the day before the UKs scheduled leaving day -- if theres no definitive decision tomorrow, he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Markus Makur (The Jakarta Post) Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara Wed, March 20, 2019 12:09 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82d6284 1 National manggarai,village,accessibility,East-Nusa-Tenggara,NTT,Indonesian-Military,TNI Free A 6.6-kilometer road being built by the Indonesian Military (TNI) in collaboration with the local administration in a remote area of Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), will give students and farmers better access to schools and markets. Built under the TNI Manunggal Membangun Desa (military builds villages) community service program, the road connects the village of Lada in Watu Baur, Reo district, with Rura in West Reo district. Until recently, students of Lada had to walk some 13 kilometers around a hill every morning to go to the Satu Atap Junior High School in Rura. They had to walk the same distance to get home in the afternoon. They had to leave home at 5:30 a.m. to get to school at 7:30 a.m. They leave school at 1 p.m. Parents who own a motorcycle would take the same route to bring their children to school. It has been going on for a long time. Yet, they are always upbeat. The students here understand the importance of education, Watu Baur subdistrict head Albinus Ken Lambung told The Jakarta Post recently. The situation was similar for farmers in the subdistrict selling their agricultural produce outside of their village. Until recently, they hired a man to carry their produce for Rp 15,000 (US$1) per sack or a motorbike taxi for Rp 30,000 per sack, Manggarai Military District Commander Lt. Col. Inf. Rudy M Simangunsong told the Post. Building a road through rocky terrain and over steep slopes could be very challenging for the people and local administration, he said. Military personnel assigned to Reo and West Reo often see students from Lada walking 13 km to get to school and then back every day, Rudy said. Manggarai Regent Deno Kamelus inaugurated the program on Feb. 26, and the construction work was scheduled to be completed within a month. Three excavators belonging to the local public work agency were deployed to help make a way where there was none. At least 150 military personnel and dozens of residents are involved in the work. Manggarai Deputy Regent Viktor Madur also welcomed the project, saying the road would ease the distribution of agricultural products from the region and cut short trips to school for the students. With the new road, it no longer takes hours to go from Reo to West Reo and vice versa, Viktor said. (swa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 18:51 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82ee6ed 1 World #Christchurch,Christchurch,New-Zealand,New-Zealand-shooting Free In a visit to Jakarta on Wednesday, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters offered his condolences to the families of Indonesian victims of the recent Christchurch mosque shootings. We are here to pass on our condolences to the family of Pak Lilik, and the two who are seriously wounded -- who are still in the hospital, Peters said after a bilateral meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla -- which took place on the sidelines of a high-level dialogue on Indo-Pacific cooperation. Peters was referring to Indonesian citizen Lilik Abdul Hamid who was among 50 people killed in the mosque attacks last Friday. Two other Indonesians -- Zulfirman Syah and his 2-year-old son -- were injured. According to the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington, Zulfirman had undergone multiple operations and was still receiving intensive care at Christchurch Hospital, while his son was in a stable condition. Peters also told the media in Jakarta that the attacks changed how his country perceive gun possession, saying that New Zealand would see swift gun law reforms as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised tough new gun laws. This time next week you will see the principal behind what she [Ardern] said -- developing a new law to go to the parliament. So it is going to be really quick, Peters said. Ardern has said she supports a ban on semi-automatic weapons and that the cabinet has made in-principle decisions to change gun laws which she will announce next Monday, Reuters reported. The gunman used semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, with large magazines, and a shotgun during the rampage last Friday, according to Reuters. (ipa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 16:41 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e7538 1 City pertamina,workers,rally,hijack,truck Free The Jakarta Police have detained 10 suspects in the hijacking of two tanker trucks owned by state-owned energy company PT Pertamina that were subsequently taken to a protest staged by workers laid off by the companys subsidiary PT Pertamina Patra Niaga on Monday. The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) condemned the police for arresting the Tanker Drivers Union (SPAMT) members. It also claimed that the police had hindered LBH lawyers who sought to represent the workers. Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said the police had questioned and detained the suspects. We named five more suspects after the investigation, Argo told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The police had previously arrested five suspects. According to an LBH Jakarta statement on Tuesday, some police officers visited the SPAMT post in Plumpang, North Jakarta, on Monday night, claiming that they would help the workers resolve their problems. The officers asked the union leader Wuryatmo and nine of his colleagues to accompany them to the North Jakarta Police headquarters. "The workers have not been allowed to meet their lawyers even though they have signed power-of-attorney letters," LBH Jakarta stated. "In our opinion, such actions have the potential to spread fear among the workers and their families, who are fighting for their rights. They are demanding to be hired as permanent employees after 20 years of service with PT Pertamina Patra Niaga." SPAMT council board Aris Wiyono denied that the incident amounted to hijacking. He admitted that some protestors had taken over two tanker trucks in North Jakarta on Monday morning, but he refuted the allegation that the action had been planned. He said the initiative was taken to attract the attention of President Joko Jokowi Widodo (ggq/vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Glenda Kwek and Daniel de Carteret (Agence France-Presse) Christchurch, New Zealand Wed, March 20, 2019 20:42 996 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82f2527 2 World #NewZealand,#Christchurch,#shooting,#mosque-attack,#victims,New-Zealand,New-Zealand-shooting,Christchurch,shooting,mosque-attack,burial Free A Syrian refugee and his son who fled the chaos of their homeland only to meet tragedy in New Zealand were buried on Wednesday in the first funerals of those killed in the mosque massacres. Hundreds of mostly Muslim mourners gathered at a cemetery in the southern city of Christchurch to lay to rest Khalid Mustafa and his 15-year-old son Hamza, who were among 50 people slaughtered at two mosques by an Australian white supremacist. The pair had fled to New Zealand seeking sanctuary from the Syrian maelstrom but died in last Friday's hail of bullets, a bitter irony that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called "gutting". "I cannot tell you how gutting it is to know that a family came here for safety and for refuge, and they should have been safe here," Ardern said at a press conference in Christchurch after the funeral. Khalid, 44, and Hamza were shot dead at the Al Noor Mosque, the first site to be attacked, but not before Hamza called his mother in a panic. "After that I heard shooting and he screamed and after that I didn't hear him," she told New Zealand media this week. Their younger son Zaid, 13, was also wounded in the attack and attended the funeral in a wheelchair. In a powerful scene, he held his hands aloft as he prayed alongside rows of mourners. "I shouldn't be standing in front of you. I should be lying beside you," Zaid said at the graves of his brother and father, according to Jamil El-Biza, who travelled from Australia for the funerals. Also attending was Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee who confronted the gunman at Linwood Mosque. He was embraced by many mourners. A total of six burials took place on Wednesday and more were expected in the days ahead after police on Tuesday began releasing victims' remains for burial. The scale of the attack has caused global revulsion, including alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant's use of social media to livestream the carnage in real-time. Ardern, who has vowed to tighten New Zealand's lax gun ownership laws, said Wednesday the horrific events in Christchurch showed the need for a global approach to confront the dangers posed by extremists' use of social media. "There is an argument there to be made for us to take a united front on what is a global issue," she said. "This is not just an issue for New Zealand, the fact that social media platforms have been used to spread violence (and) material that incites violence." New Zealand on Wednesday charged a second person with sharing the gruesome livestream video of the deadly attack. Philip Arps, 44, who was arrested the day before, was charged with two counts of distributing objectionable material under the Films Act and was remanded in custody after appearing in Christchurch District Court. A teenager appeared in court earlier this week on the same charge. The 28-year-old gunman was arrested after the shootings and is expected to spend his life in prison as New Zealand has no death penalty. In a rambling "manifesto", Tarrant had said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke religious conflict between Islam and the West. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday condemned what he called "highly offensive" comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warning that he would consider "all options" in reviewing bilateral relations. Erdogan had said the attack was part of an assault on Turkey and Islam and warned anti-Muslim Australians would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, a blood-drenched World War I battle. In the latest display of cross cultural solidarity in New Zealand, as Muslims prayed and prostrated before Al Noor mosque dozens of locals silently stood behind them, their arms interlinked. Moments earlier hundreds of people thumped their chests, stomped their feet and stuck out their tongues for a haka performance, their cries echoing across the park. Nuha Asad, who lost her husband Ali Elmadani in the massacre, watched from the sidelines, visibly moved. "The New Zealand community really cares for us and we're really together in this," she told AFP. "It made us a little happier in the grief". The traditional haka is used in Maori culture in a variety of ways -- to intimidate rivals, to celebrate weddings but also to mourn, melding both hostility and beauty into a powerful outpouring of emotion. The start of funerals should ease pressure from Muslim families, many of whom have traveled long distances to claim loved ones' remains and complained that police investigations have delayed the return of bodies and prevented the speedy burials prescribed under Islam. New Zealand authorities are yet to release an official list of the dead, making it difficult to assess the full histories of victims. But few are likely to present a narrative as poignant and tragic as the Mustafa family. The New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz this week ran a picture of Hamza smiling on a boat as he showed off a freshly caught fish. His mother said that after their phone connection was cut during the shootings, she tried repeatedly to reach him again. "After that someone picked up the phone and told me your son can't breathe, I think he's dead," the website said quoted her saying. Salwa described her son and husband as both "very caring" people, adding that "our lives have completely changed." "God will punish him [the gunman], my son and my husband are in heaven now and we're going after them, we're going to follow them to the heavens." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan Wed, March 20, 2019 14:28 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82e0704 1 National fire,fire-accidents,toddler,North-Sumatra,forensic-lab,autopsy Free Two toddler sisters a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old burned to death in an abandoned car parked in a neighbors garage in Silau Barat subdistrict, Asahan regency, North Sumatra, on Tuesday. The incident occurred at about 9 a.m. local time, according to Perapat Janji Police precinct chief Adj. Comr. Nasib Manurung. The two were allegedly playing inside the car not long before the fire started. The source of the fire was not yet determined. Neighbors initially thought the car was burning car with no victims inside as they joined hands to extinguish the fire, so they were surprised to later find two dead bodies, according to Budi, a resident who helped put out the fire. We were shocked to find bodies of toddlers inside. They were both found on the left seat, he said, adding that the parents of the toddlers also helped extinguish the fire, not knowing that their children were inside the car. The local police announced that a team from the North Sumatra Polices forensics laboratory would help investigate the incident. We hope they will be able to answer the question [on the cause of the fire], Nasib said on Tuesday. Nasib added that the bodies of the victims had been transported to a hospital in Pematang Siantar for an autopsy. (swa) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ary Hermawan (The Jakarta Post) Thu, March 21 2019 At home: George Najarian fled the war in his home town Aleppo, Syria, for Beirut before finally settling in Australia. (Courtesy of Facebook/George Najarian) It had been exactly two years since Syrian-Armenian George Najarian stepped foot on Australian soil for the first time when The Jakarta Post and Indonesian journalists from other media met him at the Settlement Service International (SSI) head office in Ashfield, New South Wales, on Feb. 25. His face was brimming with joy when he told us that the day before he had had a flashback of how glad he was to be finally in Australia after years of living as a refugee in Lebanon with his family. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Evan A. Laksmana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, March 21 2019 The Indonesian Military (TNI) has come under heavy fire in recent months for its proposal to expand its force structure and assign more officers to civilian agencies and ministries. The proposal is meant to address the growing promotional logjams within the officer corps, which has left hundreds of officers without billets. Civil society groups charge that the TNI seems bent on resurrecting the now-defunct dwi fungsi (dual function) doctrine that allowed the military to have both socio-political and security roles. Scholars also wonder whether the proposal reflects the growing militarization of Indonesian democracy. But the logjams are not some poorly constructed excuse to resurrect the New Order. The organizational problems are real and they require immediate solutions. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Istu Septania (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, March 21 2019 Spring festival: Visitors browse the booths at the Polska Festival in PIK Avenue in North Jakarta on Wednesday. The festival, celebrating the arrival of spring, will be held until Sunday. (JP/Arief Suhardiman) Visitors to PIK Avenue (Pantai Indah Kapuk Avenue) mall in North Jakarta can witness the arrival of spring at the Polska Festival. Spring is an important season for Polish people after the long cold winter. The festival, held from March 18 to 24, promotes Polish products, culture and cuisine. In the main lobby of the mall, booths are lined up side by side, exhibiting various products, such as food and beverages, cosmetics and jewelry, among other things. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Keshie Hernitaningtyas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, March 20, 2019 18:31 997 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee82ebbfc 1 News Smailing-Tour,Smailing-Xperiences,travel,travelers,destination,tour-agencies,experience Free Amid the rise of new travel-related online services, major travel agencies face greater challenges to come first in travelers minds. In a bid to offer something different to its customers, Smailing Tour, which has been around for 43 years, introduced a new brand "Smailing Xperiences" on Monday as part of its tourist packages and services. "Our keyword is to listen to what our customers want, not what we want. Because today's travel agencies are not about knowing everything, but listening to the market and learning from them," Jason Lim, the CEO of Smailing Tour's leisure outbound and DMC, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the brand's launch. Planned a couple of months ago, Smailing Xperiences boasts "extraordinary" products and services that are categorized based on special interests and segments and available at flexible times and dates. "Sydney with a twist", for instance, targets the family segment and offers experiences like the three-hour Sydney Opera House guided backstage tour. "Contrasts of Dubai" caters to culture enthusiasts with activities like a three-hour authentic Emirate cultural meal and talk in Old Dubai. "Frames of Hong Kong" boasts access to back alleys and places only known to locals with experiences like the four-hour tour with a professional photographer and three-hour Ping Shan Heritage Trail Polaroid workshop. "Osaka foodie Xperiences" takes tourists on a four-hour Osaka bar and pub crawl, three-hour foodie bike tour and three-hour teppanyaki wagyu cooking experience. Meanwhile "Tokyo foodie Xperiences" invites travelers to enjoy experiences like the four-hour Shibuya bar crawl and four-hour home-cooked bento lesson in local Japanese homes. Read also: Google's new travel tools already know what you did next summer "[These aforementioned destinations] are already available [for our customers]. As we want to launch this slowly, step by step, we will continue to tweak the products after launching them and listen to the market's response in order to enhance the Xperiences," said Jason, adding that travelers to Japan can also expect to enjoy experiences like Mario Karting on the streets of Tokyo. "We aim to provide products that are currently popular. We arrange times so you can easily mix-and-match different Xperiences. [The ones listed] are only examples of what you can do; we can also customize them so you can do more or fewer activities than what we offer." Other than abroad, the company also offers domestic Xperiences such as interacting with orangutans in Mount Leuser National Park's Bukit Lawang in Sumatra as well as trips to Bali, Yogyakarta, Bangka Belitung and Batam. All the Xperiences are available for all types of customers, from individuals to tour groups -- the latter of which is still a huge market for the company. "Many of [our customers] are first-time travelers; that's why they travel with a group. But there's also a growing number of millennials and professionals who want the adventure of not knowing what will happen tomorrow; they usually book with us when they're looking for specific experiences," said Jason, adding that in the past year the company's customized travelers accounted for close to 30-40 percent. Mostly catering to Indonesian customers, Jason said that among the most popular destinations currently were Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. "Japan and South Korea are also always exciting, usually very seasonal such as cherry blossoms. Europe and Dubai are also [popular destinations]; sometimes we do a mix like transit in Dubai for a couple of days." Meanwhile, among the emerging destinations are said to be Eastern Europe and Central Asia. "We are currently preparing products for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia." For the company, highlighting content-driven communication is key to reaching potential customers. "[Promotion] is no longer about putting up posters saying 'five days four nights tour priced at Rp 5 million'; we must tell them what's special [about the destinations]. We still put up posters but also provide videos of them that can be seen using virtual reality headsets [in some retail points] to let our travelers see the destinations before they go," said Jason. Chicago, IL, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- truCrowd, Inc. , the owner and operator of Reg. CF FINRA-registered equity crowdfunding portals, has completed an official soft launch of the Companys fourth Reg. CF portal, Musicfy equity crowdfunding portal focused on the music space. Musicfy is an exciting new funding portal, dedicated solely to the music industry, stated Vincent Petrescu, CEO of truCrowd, Inc. If you look at some of the largest crowdfunding platforms on the internet, the category of music usually places second when it comes to funding popularity. Therefore, we anticipate that this portal, along with our cannabis and crypto-blockchain focused portals, will continue to grow the popularity of our service offerings, the strength and quality of our user base, our revenues and the overall enterprise value of truCrowd, Inc. Varner Enterprises, the owner of independent record label L2 Records, is the first offering listed on Musicfy . L2 works with artists in the pop, EDM and hip-hop genres, and is offering their investors both a short-term and long-term exit on their investment, pending the issuer meeting their funding goals. Thanks to the wonders of Regulation Crowdfunding, now everyday people non-accredited investors or accredited investors without access have the opportunity to participate in the very lucrative music industry through the ownership of L2 Records. Petrescu concluded, We chose to add this vertical to the truCrowd family of portals because, lets be honest, everyone likes some type of music. Music is in us. It moves us, and we all have some sort of personal connection when a certain song or genre of music is played. Like Fundanna.com does for the cannabis space, Musicfy will serve the music community better than the typical equity crowdfunding platform, because it is purely music-based and will cater to the hearts, minds and rhythm of music-focused investors. The customer base we build for Musicfy will be music supporters investors solely interested in investing in music related projects. This becomes very valuable for the issuers added to the platform, as well as the investors themselves who can now benefit from these types of music offerings. We have very high expectations for the value that Musicfy will bring to our truCrowd family of portals. Management indicated that the Company will look to on-board a minimum of 12 quality, fast growth, high-value companies in 2019. For more information about Musicfy, please visit https://musicfy.us/ . ABOUT truCrowd, Inc. (owner and operator of truCrowd.com) Located in the heart of the financial district of downtown Chicago, truCrowd is a FINRA member equity crowdfunding portal operating under Regulation Crowdfunding (Title III of JOBS ACT); connecting startups and emerging businesses with non-accredited and accredited investors. Built on the belief that not all businesses and investors are alike, we pride ourselves on delivering a personalized and professional funding experience through industry-leading technology. Website: www.truCrowd.com Musicfy: https://musicfy.us/ Forward Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company's actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "expect," "intends," "intend," "anticipate," "anticipates," "plans," "plan," to be uncertain and forward-looking. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GT Gold Corp. (GT Gold or the Company) (TSX.V: GTT) announces, pursuant to the Companys stock option plan, the granting effective March 19, 2019, of 2,060,000 five-year stock options to management, directors and consultants to the Company. The options vest in three equal tranches at exercise prices as follows: one-third immediately at C$0.74, an additional third at C$0.84 one year from the date of grant, and the final third at C$0.94 two years from the date of grant. About GT Gold GT Gold Corp. is focused on exploring for base and precious metals in the geologically fertile terrain of British Columbias renowned Golden Triangle. The Companys flagship asset is the wholly-owned, 45,847-hectare Tatogga property, located near Iskut, BC, upon which it achieved in 2017 two major discoveries at its Saddle prospect: a near surface bulk-tonnage and potential deep high-grade underground-style epithermal gold-silver vein system at Saddle South and, close by at Saddle North, a large-scale, richly mineralized and high-grade porphyry copper gold mineralized intrusion. The Company has the backing of major institutions and is currently in the process of planning its 2019 drilling campaign For more information please contact: GT Gold Corp. GT Gold Corp. GT Gold Corp. Steve Burleton Charles J. Greig, P. Geo. Amandip Singh President and Chief Executive Officer Vice President, Exploration Director, Corporate Development Tel: (647) 256-6752 Tel: (250) 492-2331 Tel: (647) 256-6754 Website: www.gtgoldcorp.ca Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Companys filings with Canadian securities regulators, that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. DENVER, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starbuds, one of the worlds largest cannabis retailers, is pleased to announce its expansion into Jamaica. With plans to open in late Spring of 2019, Starbuds will become one of only 4 dispensaries to open its doors in the Jamaican capital of Kingston. Through this licensing agreement, Starbuds will partner with Jamaican native Jonathan Harris to bring its exceptional customer service, industry knowledge and cannabis education to what is often thought of as the mecca of cannabis. Jamaica has a reputation as the birthplace of cannabis. It only makes sense that the market will continue to expand through International partnerships with more established companies and Starbuds is proud to be among the first. says Brian Ruden, founder of Starbuds. Through our unique owner-operator model, we have been able to provide an unprecedented level of customer service and industry know how while catering to the local demographic of each individual location. We strive to continue this model in Jamaica by pairing our history of experience in the industry with Jonathans connection to the community and the islands affinity for the plant. In Jamaica, Ive always been surrounded by cannabis, says Jonathan Harris, Starbuds Jamaica owner operator. It wasnt until I started understanding the medicinal benefits of the plant and what cannabis can actually do, that I fell in love with it. I wanted to share the knowledge with my home country. Starbuds Kingston represents Starbuds continued international ventures. Following the opening of Starbuds Kingston, Starbuds and Harris plan to partner on a second licensing agreement, to bring an additional Starbuds location to the Northern Coast of the island. About Starbuds Starbuds is changing the way people think about cannabis. Founded in 2013, Starbuds was among the first retail outlets to receive licensing when Colorado legalized recreational cannabis. Starbuds intends to establish its footprint as one of the largest internationally-operating cannabis retail companies. For further information contact Rachel Hirschey Marketing Director rachel@starbuds.us CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This communication contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and forecasts, as well as the beliefs and assumptions of Starbuds management, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Many factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated, including: risks and uncertainties discussed in this communication. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Torontonians will gather at Nathan Phillips Square to launch the Migrant Rights Network and to demand anti-racist, pro-migrant laws on March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism at 5:30 pm. The event will feature photos of Christchurch Mosque shootings victims, speeches, and performances. Immigrant rights and labour activists as well as Muslim and Indigenous leaders will share first hand experiences of organizing against white supremacy and xenophobia in workplaces, neighbourhoods and in laws and policies. Since the Quebec City Mosque shooting in 2017 that left 6 dead and served as a blueprint for the New Zealand shooter, police reported hate crimes have increased by 47% in Canada. The Migrant Rights Network has come together to intervene in an increasingly divisive and alarmingly dangerous anti-immigrant environment, in the context of a federal election year. The Network is led by grassroots migrant and refugee groups, civil society organizations and labour unions. In addition to calling for legal reforms, March 21 marks the beginning of a national dialogue to create a Platform for Racial and Migrant Justice ahead of the federal election. The Migrant Rights Network is being launched simultaneously in over a dozen cities from Vancouver to Halifax. Full list of actions at www.migrantrights.ca/en/march21 WHEN: 5:30pm, March 21 2019 WHERE: Nathan Phillips Square WHO: Migrant workers, refugees, Muslims, Indigenous leaders, Labour activists. Organized by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and dozens of community organizations. VISUALS: Photos of victims of Christchurch mosque shooting, large Medicine Wheel, performances, interactive community activities, hundreds of Torontonians. AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Syed Hussan (Migrant Workers Alliance), Azeezah Kanji (Muslim legal scholar), Kara Manso (Caregivers Action Centre), Deena Ladd (Fight for $15 and Fairness Campaign) THE MIGRANT RIGHTS NETWORK DEMANDS STATUS FOR ALL, STATUS NOW: Permanent resident status and family unity for all migrants and refugees here, and landed status on arrival for those that arrive in the future. Replace Caregiver pilot project with a Federal Care Workers Program that provides landed status upon entry for Care Workers and their families. No detentions, no deportations! DECENT WORK: $15 minimum wage, full labour rights and no employer specific or time limited work permits. UNIVERSAL SERVICES: Full access to quality public services including healthcare, education, income security, childcare settlement services, pensions, and more for all residents. JUST SOCIETY: Indigenous self-determination, gender justice, and an end to racism, particularly anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. NO DISPLACEMENT: An end to practices of displacement and persecution that force people to migrate including climate change, wars, corporate impunity and economic exploitation. NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), the industrys leading integrated marketing services group announced today the appointment of Jacki Kelley to the newly created position of President, Chief Client Officer, Dentsu Aegis, U.S. Kelley will report to Dentsu Aegis Network Americas CEO Nick Brien and will join both the Dentsu Aegis Network U.S. Executive Team and the Dentsu Aegis Network Global Senior Leadership Forum. Kelleys appointment completes the U.S. Executive team and furthers Briens strategy to innovate the way brands are built, via a simplified client experience across the DAN portfolio of diversified marketing agencies. Kelley brings her global expertise and diverse network to help define unique partnerships, with platforms and media owners to deliver solutions for clients, and advise on Dentsus long term acquisition strategy. Working at the DAN Executive level in this key role, Kelley will have responsibility for coordinating and operationalizing the integrated brand solutions delivery for all key clients across the groups many agency brands, including mcgarrybowen, Carat, iProspect, 360i, Isobar and Merkle. Kelley joins Dentsu Aegis Network from Bloomberg LP, where she was Deputy Chief Operating Officer and has been a leader in the advertising and media industries for over 25 years. Kelley joined Bloomberg Media in 2014 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed to the broader role of Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Bloomberg LP in December 2017. While at Bloomberg LP, Kelley worked across critical functions including Technology Operations, Workplace Operations, People Operations and Philanthropy & Engagement. Prior to Bloomberg, Kelley was the CEO, North America, and President of Global Clients for IPG Mediabrands as well as Global CEO, Universal McCann. She was a Vice President, Worldwide Strategy & Solutions, at Yahoo! and worked with USA Today for 18 years, leaving the company as a Senior Vice President. Kelleys background and expertise perfectly align with Dentsu Aegis Networks strategic priorities, as it continues to operationalize a best-in-class simplified and integrated client experience to help our clients win, keep and grow their best customers. Brien said: Jacki Kelley is a proven senior marketing executive with recognized leadership expertise and deep operational skills. Her diversified range of career experiences across the media, marketing and agency sectors is equally unusual and extremely valuable, as we seek to deliver more integrated marketing solutions for our clients. Jackis role in our industry, both as a visionary and game-changer, makes her ideal for the President, Chief Client Officer role at Dentsu Aegis Network. Kelley said: It is an exciting time to return to an agency network as I see the disruption as a significant opportunity to differentiate with integrated solutions for clients. Dentsu was the most compelling opportunity based on exceptional capability across all disciplines, a culture of collaboration, a structure to deliver integrated solutions at scale and an appetite to invest for the future. Kelley serves on the board of Comic Relief USA and has been honored with the United Way of New York Citys Power of Women to Make a Difference Award. She was named a Matrix Award Honoree by New York Women in Communications; Advertising Woman of the Year by the Advertising Women of New York; a New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award Honoree; and was inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement. She has been honored as one of Crains New York Businesss 50 Most Powerful Women in New York and Advertising Ages 100 Most Influential Women in Advertising, as well as number one on Business Insiders 30 Most Powerful Women in Advertising list. Kelleys hire follows a series of recent appointments to the newly-formed U.S. Executive Team, as Brien follows through on his commitment to innovate the way brands are built to help clients win, keep and grow their best customers. The Dentsu Aegis U.S. Executive team will be instrumental in integrating and optimizing its offerings to better serve their clients end-to-end marketing needs; pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase. In addition to the creation of the Dentsu Aegis U.S. Executive team, Brien has also restructured the broad and diverse range of agencies into four service lines to ensure optimum discipline expertise and maximum resource leverage. These new service lines are Creative & Content, headed up by Pat Lafferty as President mcgarrybowen, U.S.; Media (Brand & Performance) headed up by Doug Ray as Chairman of DAN Media US; CX & Commerce headed up by Deb Boyda as CEO of Isobar, U.S.; CRM & Loyalty, headed up by Craig Dempster as President, Merkle, Americas. These leaders sit on the U.S. Exec board alongside, Nick Brien, as CEO, Americas; David Williams as Chairman, Americas; Hap Brakeley as Chief Growth Officer, Americas; Jennifer Ferguson as Chief Communications Officer, Americas; Dirk Herbert as Chief Strategy Officer, U.S.; Libby Barden as Chief People Officer, Americas; Michele Salle as Chief People Officer, U.S.; Shiva Vannavada as Chief Technology Officer, Americas; Neil Gissler as Chief Operating Officer, Americas. About Dentsu Aegis Network Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of ten global network brands - Carat, Dentsu, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum and supported by its specialist/multi-market brands. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital and creative communications services. Offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with more than 40,000 dedicated specialists. www.dentsuaegisnetwork.com Attachment Early morning accidents kill vehicles, drivers safe PHUKET: Two accidents within 20 minutes early this morning saw a car driven by an Army lieutenant and two pickup trucks, one carrying fruit, wrecked as they slammed into roadside poles, but luckily resulted in no deaths or serious injuries, police confirmed today (Mar 20). transportaccidentspolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Wednesday 20 March 2019, 05:26PM The front of the black pickup truck was destroyed by the impact on the bypass road in the second accident this morning. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The only casualty on the bypass road in the second accident this morning was the fruit. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The blue pickup suffered heavy damage to its rear when the black pickup truck slammed into it on the bypass road in the second accident this morning. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The bonnet open unexpectedly on the blue pickup truck while driving along the bypass road in the second accident this morning. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Lt Kietsak Chaichana, 42, of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact when his car slammed into a roadside power pole in Koh Kaew,. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Lt Kietsak Chaichana, 42, of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact when his car slammed into a roadside power pole in Koh Kaew,. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Lt Kietsak Chaichana, 42, of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact when his car slammed into a roadside power pole in Koh Kaew,. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Lt Kietsak Chaichana, 42, of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact when his car slammed into a roadside power pole in Koh Kaew,. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Lt Kietsak Chaichana, 42, of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact when his car slammed into a roadside power pole in Koh Kaew,. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Capt Suporn Muangkai of the Thalang Police was informed of the first accident, on Thepkrasattri Rd on the curve near the Tha Reau Shrine, south of the Heroines Monument, in Koh Kaew, at 4:30am. Police arrived at the scene to find a black Toyota sedan with heavy damage to its front. The driver, 42-year-old Lt Kietsak Chaichana of the Royal Thai Army, suffered an injury to his right leg, but was otherwise unaffected by the impact, Capt Suporn said. Rescue workers took him to Thalang Hospital for treatment, he added, Lt Kietsak was driving from Phuket Town to Krabi province when he lost control of the vehicle and hit a power pole beside the road, Capt Suporn explained. Police have not charged him yet, but we have impounded his car as evidence, he added. By 4:50am, Capt Udom Phetratrong of the Phuket City Police had received call informing him of an accident on the bypass road northbound involving two pickup trucks, one of them laden with fresh fruit. Police and rescue workers arrived to find blue Toyota pickup car askew off to the side of the road, Capt Udom said. The blue pickup had sustained heavy damage to its rear, inflicted by a black Nissan pickup truck that was still in the middle of the left lane with very heavy damage to its front. The driver of the blue pickup truck Supakorn Chaipeng, 54, explained that he was driving along when the bonnet unexpectedly released, Capt Udom said. The bonnet opened fully, blocking his view, and so he was slowing down and moving to the side of the road to stop when he was struck from bheind by the black pickup, he added. The fruit was spread out all over the place, but there were no injuries from the accident, he said. Both pickup trucks have been taken to Phuket City Police Station while we finish our investigation into the accident, he added. Polish hotel owner charged after threatening staff with gun PHUKET: Police have arrested a Polish man who operates a hotel in Patong after he was accused of threatening his hotel manager with a gun. crimepolicepatongviolence By Waranya Prompinpiras Wednesday 20 March 2019, 07:06PM Blurred photos of the Polish suspect and the firearm and ammunition found at his hotel in Patong. Photo: Patong Police Patong Police Deputy Chief Investigator, Lt Col Nikorn Chuthong led a team of officers to a hotel on Pisitgoranee Rd in Patong after being notified by a Thai woman that she was threatened by a man with a gun at 6:20pm yesterday (Mar 19). The woman, who is a hotel manager, accused the Polish man of threatening her with a gun during an argument about "documents". The woman then went to Patong Police Station to report the incident and officers followed her back to the hotel. Patong Police Chief Col Anotai Jindamanee told The Phuket News, At first, the man denied that he had a firearm. But his Thai wife, who was present during the argument, took police to show them where he kept it. I cannot reveal the name of the Polish man now because the case is still under investigation. He has been arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm and for illegally carrying a firearm in a public place, Col Anotai confirmed. He is currently being held in a cell in Patong Police Station. He refused to speak about the case when questioned until his lawyer arrives at 8pm on Wednesday (Mar 20). Col Anotai reported that after early investigations, it seems the Polish man is in Thailand on a tourist visa. We are also investigating how the man came to own a hotel here, he said. Capt Ekarat Chartpai of the Patong Police told The Phuket News today (Mar 20) that no further information would be disclosed about the case until the Poles lawyer arrives at 8pm tonight. Triple armed robbery suspect caught at home making liquid kratom PHUKET: Police have arrested an armed robbery suspect while he was preparing liquid kratom extract at his home in Chalong. crimepolicedrugs By The Phuket News Wednesday 20 March 2019, 02:53PM The suspect steals 15,000 from Dharmasorn pharmacy in Chalong with an axe. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police The suspect was taken to Chalong Police Station and was charged. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police Clothes that matched those used by the suspect were found during the raid in Chalong. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police The suspect was caught making liquid kratom extract at his home in Chalong on March 19. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police The suspect with the motorbike believed to have been used during the three robberies. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police The suspect steals B15,000 from Dharmasorn pharmacy in Chalong with an axe. Photo: CCTV Screenshot Chalong Police were investigating three robberies of two pharmacies in Chalong that took place on March 8, 13 and 18. CCTV footage from Dharmasorn pharmacy in Chalong shows a man parking his motorbike outside the store at just before 9pm on Friday, March 8, before walking in and snatching what looks like cash from the counter. Lt Col Prawit Ang-chuan, Chief Investigator of the Phuket Provincial Police, did not disclose what exactly was stolen. On Wednesday, March 13, the suspect walked into Camp Pharma pharmacy in Chalong with an axe and stole B15,000. The employee explained that while she was behind the counter, a man dressed in dark clothing walked in with a helmet on. I thought he was a customer until he came to the counter and threatened to hurt me if I didnt stay still. He had an axe tucked in his waistband which he pulled out, she said. I didnt move as I was scared. He took around B15,000 from the draw before fleeing. On Monday, March 18, CCTV footage shows the suspect parking his motorbike outside Dharmasorn pharmacy again. This time he walks in with what looks like a long knife and goes straight to the counter, opens the draw and makes off with around B30,000 in cash. Lt Col Prawit Ang-chuan, Chief Investigator of the Phuket Provincial Police, was investigating the three robberies which led him to an address in Chalong after obtaining an arrest warrant at Phuket Provincial Court for 25-year-old Rattapol Pases. When police raided the address on March 19, they caught Rattapol in the process of making liquid kratom extract. In the house, they also found clothes that matched those that were worn by the suspect in the three robberies as well as the motorbike parked outside. During the raid, we seized about 450ml of boiled liquid kratom, clothes, a helmet and a red Honda Wave motorbike, Col Prawit confirmed. Ratthapol was taken to Chalong Police Station where he was charged with armed robbery and illegal possession of narcotics. Watertown Development Co. executive director resigns Watertown Development Company Executive Director, Mark Vaux, has resigned from his position. Atlanta, Indiana, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The We Care for Orphans Adoption Fund raised $31,970 through its 2018/2019 We Care Sweepstakes. The winners of the sweepstakes, Paul Foran of Bement, Ill., and Cody Boothe of Crown City, Oh., received a Polaris RZR XP Turbo and Polaris General 4 1000 EPS Ride Command Edition, respectively. We Care for Orphans was founded in 2011 by Scott and Shantel Beck after they adopted their daughter, Jadyn. The organization is dedicated to assisting families with the resources needed to fund adoption. This was We Cares fourth sweepstakes and fifth fundraising effort. My wife and I are retired school teachers, and I also worked as a guidance counselor, said Cody Boothe, winner of the Polaris General 4 1000 EPS Ride Command Edition. Weve worked with kids most of our lives, and we did our best to help kids any way we could, so I feel great that the money raised in the sweepstakes is going to help kids find loving families. The winners were drawn on March 5, 2019, and announced during the State of the Company Address at Becks on March 20, where the winners were handed the keys to their new ATVs. When I donated money a few times for the raffle, I never thought I was going to win anything, said Paul Foran, Becks dealer and winner of the Polaris RZR. Its money going somewhere for a good cause, and that is what it is all about. Thats what Becks is all about, too, trying to help people, whether its farmers or families. Since 2011, We Care for Orphans has mobilized more than $1.6 million to assist adopting families. With the help of those funds, 370 children from 36 different countries, including the U.S., have been adopted. There are hundreds of families that desire to adopt children, but are unable to because of the financial resources required, said Shantel Beck. After Scott and I went through the process of adoption, we felt a calling to help others adopt. We sincerely thank the folks who helped make this happen, including the Beck's family of employees, dealers, and customers. Your contributions will help orphans around the world find homes with loving families. Congratulations to the winners, Paul and Cody, and thank you to everyone who made this sweepstakes possible. Polaris, Indy Power Sports, Load Trail, and the Beck Foundation all contributed to the Polaris RZR and General vehicles. To learn more about We Care for Orphans and to donate visit http://wecarefororphansfund.org. ### About We Care for Orphans In an effort to unite orphaned children with loving families, the We Care for Orphans Adoption Fund was started to help families with the resources needed to make their adoption a reality. We Care for Orphans assists families with the resources needed to fund their adoption. The organization has partnered with Lifesong for Orphans to help with reviewing applications and distributing funds to qualifying families. Scott, president of Becks Hybrids, and Shantel Beck started We Care for Orphans Adoption Fund in 2011. To learn more visit http://wecarefororphansfund.org. About Becks Becks is a family-owned and operated seed company that serves farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. According to a recent seed industry survey, Becks ranks as the third largest seed brand in the United States and the only one in the top five that is family-owned, making Becks the largest retail, family-owned seed company in the United States. To learn more about Becks, please visit www.beckshybrids.com. Follow Becks Hybrids on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BecksHybrids, like Becks Hybrids on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BecksHybrids, or visit the Becks Blog at www.beckshybrids.com/blog. HATFIELD TWP. A new industrial building planned for Sterling Drive could be an indicator of a strong local economy. Developer Allan Nappen of Nappen and Associates made the case to the township commissioners last week for a new 212,500-square-foot industrial building, to be built at the corner of Sterling Drive and Bethlehem Pike. Theres a lot of activity in the marketplace right now. We have been, what I call, soft marketing it, just letting the brokerage community know we intend to construct the building in Hatfield Township, Nappen said. During the commissioners March 13 meeting, Nappen and a team of consultants presented plans on behalf of Naplin Six Land Development, the company proposing the new building, which would be called the Sterling Business Center. Their plans show a rectangular building, 850 feet long by 250 feet wide, to be built just east of Sterling and south of Bethlehem Pike, on a 26-acre parcel that is one of three adjacent pieces of land owned by the company. Nappen told the board that his firm owns and leases out warehouse space in industrial zones up and down the Route 309 corridor, including elsewhere in Hatfield and in adjacent Montgomery Township and into Bucks County. We have about 3.3 million square feet. Of that 3.3 million, we only have two buildings available that total about 50,000 square feet, Nappen said. Theres a lot of demand in the marketplace, so I dont see this sitting very long, he said. No tenants for the planned building have been finalized yet, but occupants tend to be very limited, light manufacturing, which is more like assembly not heavy manufacturing, for tenants that can include small machine shops up to large pharmaceutical companies, Nappen told the board. Normally, we build our buildings with about 10 percent office, and the rest is warehouse, warehouse distribution, and manufacturing, he said. Anyone who has a credit card in their wallet, probably has a credit card from one of our tenants down in Montgomeryville, where they just stamp the plastic. We have all kids of companies, Nappen said. Attorney Marc Jonas told the board on behalf of the applicant that the project had been vetted by both the township and Montgomery County planning commissions, and the developer will comply with all of the conditions set forth in review letters from both. Those review letters are included in the boards meeting materials packet for March 13. Engineer Rick Stoneback of engineering firm Charles E. Shoemaker Inc. said the building will make use of all public utilities, including sewer and water connections, with two large retention basins to be located south of the building for handling of stormwater runoff. The plan is pretty easy to interpret. Its a 212,000-square-foot building, and were thinking there will be four tenants, in roughly 50,000 square feet each, with parking in the front, loading in the rear, Stoneback said. Access to the property would only come from Sterling and no changes would be made to the intersection at Sterling and Bethlehem Pike, according to Stoneback and township planning and zoning officer Ken Amey. I think what you see is what you get. With the Nappen family, that Ive worked with for 25 years, its going to be a good project, Stoneback said. Township Solicitor Christen Pionzio said her office will work with staff to draft a formal motion of approval spelling out the waivers discussed in the review letters, and would have that ready for board approval on March 27. I dont see anything abnormal about this application, relative to everything else weve seen and thats been reviewed by this board, she said. Nappen said once that approval is granted, he can then develop a construction timeline and begin lining up tenants. We cant pre-lease it without having a completion date, Nappen said; its kind of like, Build it, and they will come. Hatfields commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on March 27 at the township administration building, 1950 School Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Hatfield.org or follow @HatfieldPA on Twitter. Quantitative analysis of biomarkers From biomarker discovery by identification of proteins with statistically significant changes in abundance to verification and validation of putative biomarkers, protein research frequently requires quantitative analysis of proteins. A wide array of LC-MS techniques is available for quantitative analysis of proteins. Some can be performed on triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. Others require the high mass resolution and mass accuracy of Thermo Scientific Orbitrap technology. Selected-Reaction Monitoring (SRM) Selected-reaction monitoring (SRM) on triple quadrupole mass spectrometers is the traditional gold standard for targeted protein quantification. It involves the analysis and quantitation of target peptide ions characteristic of the targeted proteins. SRM quantitation is extremely sensitive, reliable, and suitable for analyzing large numbers of samples. The biggest limitation of SRM quantitation is the need to determine in advance the MS/MS product ion(s) that can be use for confirming the identity of each target ion. This makes method development challenging. Thermo Scientific triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS systems are ideal for SRM quantitation of protein samples, providing outstanding sensitivity and reliability. Thermo Scientific Pinpoint software is specifically designed to set up SRM assays, process the resulting data, and use the results to further refine the assay. More information about: TSQ-Series triple quadrupole mass spectrometers Pinpoint software Skyline Targeted Proteomics Environment Parallel-Reaction Monitoring Parallel-reaction monitoring (PRM) provides high selectivity, high sensitivity, and high-throughput quantification with confident targeted peptide confirmation. PRM is most suitable for quantifying tens to hundreds of targeted proteins in complex matrices. PRM methodology isolates target precursor ions, fragments the precursors, and then detects all resulting product ions in the Orbitrap mass analyzer. Quantification is carried out using selected fragment (product) ions post data acquisition. PRM reduces assay development time since no target transitions (product ions) need to be preselected. It eliminates most interferences, providing more accuracy and attomole-level limits of detection and quantification. It also enables the confident confirmation of the peptide identity with spectral library matching. The Thermo Scientific Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap instruments are ideal for PRM analyses. More information about: Q Exactive Plus hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer Selected-Ion Monitoring Selected-ion monitoring (SIM) provides the simplest method set up and the most selective and sensitive quantification. It also provides higher sensitivity for quantification of labile peptides which do not fragment efficiently. SIM is most suitable for quantifying tens of proteins in samples of medium complexity. SIM methodology isolates a selected peptide ion characteristic of the targeted protein. Only the selected target ion is transferred to the Orbitrap mass analyzer for detection. There is no fragmentation. Confirmation of the targeted peptide is accomplished using accurate-mass measurements in combination with elution-time information. Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometers are the instruments of choice for SIM analyses. More information about: Q Exactive Plus hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer Data-Independent Acquisition Data-independent acquisition (DIA) provides a high throughput method for comprehensive quantification with qualitative confirmation. It is most suitable for quantifying large numbers of mid- to high-abundance proteins in samples of simple to medium complexity. Unlike SRM, PRM, or SIM experiments, DIA does not require advance selection of target peptides. Instead, a precursor mass range is selected, usually one that covers the masses of most enzymatic peptides. That range is then divided into a series of relatively wide isolation windows. MS/MS data is acquired from all detected precursor ions in the first isolation window. That is repeated for each consecutive, adjacent isolation window until the entire precursor mass range is covered. MS/MS spectral libraries are used to identify peptides of interest from the acquired data. DIA significantly increases coverage and reproducibility by acquiring MS/MS data from all detected precursor ions. This also makes possible retrospective data analysis. Because no prior knowledge of expected precursors is required, DIA method development is very simple. Due to the wide isolation windows used in DIA, MS/MS spectra of interfering background ions may be acquired along with the spectra from peptides of interest. Thus, the dynamic range, accuracy, and precision of targeted quantification by DIA may be limited in complex samples. DIA experiments do not provide the same sensitivities and low quantitative limits as PRM and SIM. Multiplexed DIA (msxDIA) is a variation of the DIA technique. It can reduce interference from background ions and improve selectivity while retaining the comprehensive coverage of DIA. DIA and msxDIA techniques have been designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometers. More information about: Q Exactive Plus hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer Sample Preparation and Labeling Technologies A range of protein sample preparation techniques are available that can improve protein quantitation by helping you get more, or more accurate, information from your samples, and increase sample throughput. They include: Metabolic (in vivo) labeling with stable isotopes Isotopic tags Isobaric mass tags Spiked heavy peptides Thermo Fisher Scientific offers a complete range of products to enhance your quantitative proteomics analyses. More information about protein sample preparation solutions Featured webinar x x Advances in Quantitative Proteomics: Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM) Applied to Large Scale Studies Dr. Bruno Domon of the Luxembourg Clinical Proteomics Center, CRP Sante, discusses the challenges of quantitative proteomics, particularly in the context of clinical samples. He presents a parallel-reaction monitoring (PRM) workflow for large-scale quantitative proteomics research and also discusses targeted versus untargeted methods. Featured video x Pushing the Boundaries of Protein ID, Characterization & Quantitation Learn more about the Orbitrap Fusion MS Journal articles Clinical & Translational Resource Library Access a targeted collection of scientific application notes, case studies, videos, webinars, and white papers for clinical and translational research. Fast forward 25 years to October 2014 and the opening of Thermo Fisher Scientifics new Niche Diagnostics Center of Excellence in Fremont, Calif. Among the major areas of focus for this new $85 million facility is drugs of abuse screening, a welcome sign that innovation continues. After all, despite the success of programs such as Drug Court, the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that illicit drugs cost our nation $193 billion annually . Miami-Dade County, Florida, established the first Drug Court in 1989 amidst a growing crack cocaine epidemic. Tired of seeing the same abusers reentering the system for drug-related crimesa sign the system wasnt workingMiami-Dade took a chance on a new approach. The role of drugs of abuse screening cannot be overstated. According to Christopher Deutsch, director of communications for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), Drug Court not only provides quality treatment, it also offers substance abuse monitoring. If participants can get away with using drugs while in the Drug Court, it negatively affects their individual outcomes and undermines the efficacy of the entire program. The NADCP has advocated for broader nationwide drug court expansion for 20 years. Its first president, Judge Jeffrey Tauber, played a major role in developing the drug court-focused portion of the 1994 Crime Act under President Clinton, which provided significant federal funding to Drug Courts. (Watch The Beginning, a documentary profiling how the concept of Drug Court was first received and what it took to implement the first several programs.) Drug Courts rely heavily on laboratory technology, and that technology must keep pace with a growing offender population and the proliferation of new designer drugs such as cathinones, bath salts and other amphetamine derivatives. Without instruments such as the Thermo Scientific Indiko Plus benchtop chemistry analyzerwhich can analyze up to 350 samples an hourcombined with a broad portfolio of assays and advance sample collection technologies, Drug Courts could easily be overwhelmed. Instead, the technology continues to advance, bringing greater efficiency to the process. Shelby County, Alabama, has relied on Thermo Scientific drugs of abuse solutions for years. Its drug court lab operates seven days a week and tests between 200-300 samples daily. David Horn, the executive director of Shelby County Community Corrections, says that it's imperative that court officials have reliable technology since offenders in his jurisdiction are tested 8-12 times each month. I look at the lab as the backbone, Horn said. Its like the engine of a car. Without it, were done. And the validity of it is huge. Today, there are more than 2,800 Drug Courts nationwide, with at least one in each of the 50 states. And, according to NADCPs Deutsch, about 75 percent of the participants who successfully complete Drug Court are never arrested again. The reverse is true for addicts moving through in the traditional court system. Proponents of Drug Courts agree that accurate testingdone randomly and regularlyis key to the success of the program. Knowing that the system is unbeatable is an important first step in an offenders journey toward personal accountability and responsibility. Drug Courts must be able to test frequently and randomly to be effective, says Deutsch. Resources can sometimes be scarce, so it is critical that the technology continually advance to allow drug courts to do more with less. And thats why the new Niche Diagnostics Center of Excellence is so importantthe work of advancing drugs of abuse testing is never done. As the drug court system enters its next 25 years, and continues to expand, the team in Fremont is ready to do its part to ensure that the best supporting technology is always there, helping to prove that addicted people can be rehabilitated and find permanent recovery. I have had an abiding interest in the question of antimicrobial resistance and public health microbiology since entering graduate school. As an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, I had absolutely stupendous teachers in microbiology. They ignited a passion that shifted my interest from chemistry and physics to bacterial genetics and public health microbiology. I began to read voraciously about pioneers in microbiology. During my postdoctoral studies, my supervisor, Dr Charles C Brinton Jr, began working on Neisseria gonorrhoeae, investigating pili as possible candidates for a gonococcal vaccine. Time in his laboratory exposed me to newly emerging recombinant DNA methods and the emerging genetic knowledge of N. gonorrhoeae. After my postdoctoral work, I made pilgrimages to Louis Pasteurs birthplace and the World Health Organization (WHO) to see what they did. Ever since, I have tried to link research in public health microbiology and molecular biological methods. My service in the Government of Canada allowed me to work on both national and international issues regarding sexually transmissible infections, especially the molecular epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of N. gonorrhoeae. I have been privileged to be the founding co-ordinator for WHOs Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (GASP) in Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout my career, I have balanced the role of administrator with my passion for research and public health. I have also been an advocate of the positive benefits of volunteering to work with various scientific organizations in my field. I have had the pleasure of leading several such organizations and this has facilitated my meeting scientists, clinicians, other researchers and health care workers from around the world. CALGARY - Ten months after tenants started moving into the still mostly empty New Horizon Mall just north of Calgary, its first anchor tenant is being announced this week. That means the grand opening originally scheduled for October could take place at last this spring, says Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group, which developed the Asian bazaar-style centre in conjunction with its partner, MPI Property Group. The Calgary anchor tenant is The Best Shop, which operates a store described as a Chinese Walmart in Torontos Pacific Mall, a similar shopping centre opened by The Torgan Group about 20 years ago. Negotiations are nearing completion for an unnamed second anchor store, which Swirsky said is in food merchandising but not a restaurant or grocery store. It took two years with Pacific Mall to get to full occupancy and I think were going to match the same. I think those two anchors are going to provide a major momentum for other tenants to come in, said Swirsky in an interview. Unlike most shopping centres in Canada, about 70 per cent of New Horizon Malls retail space has been sold to individual investors who have the option of leasing to others or operating their spaces themselves. The rest of the space about 80,000 square feet is being held by the developer for anchor tenants. The mall began allowing tenants to set up their shops in May of 2018 but only nine of its 517 spaces were occupied by last September. It says The Best Shops opening will take the total number of shops to 73. According to the mall, the stores products will include mahjong tables and an extremely small washing machine that sells for around $100, plus brands such as Haier and Midea that are popular in China but relatively unknown in Canada. It will be the second outlet in Canada. Best Shop is getting about eight months of free rent and financial help with improvements on its 15,000-square-foot space, Swirsky said, adding the mall is also offering to help unit owners cover the costs of bringing in tenants to occupy spaces they own. Everybody wants the traffic to be there so that when they open the business they have the customers outside the front door, said Swirsky, asked to explain why its taking so long to fill the mall. The reality is the more businesses open, the more traffic that will be generated. Tenants at the mall welcomed the anchor signing, while pointing out that rents have been falling steadily since opening due to the lack of customers. (My rent) is a good deal. I think there could be a better deal, said Ryan Low-On, who said hes negotiating a reduction in the $2,000 per month he pays for his 450-square-foot custom decal and imported products shop opened last summer. A lot of unit holders here are giving out essentially free rent, just pay condo fees for 12 months. Farther down the echoing hallway, David Chamberlain of Boardgames4Us said he intended to rent out the two 40 square-metre (436-square-foot) units he bought but couldnt find a tenant willing to spend the $6,000 each per month he thinks the spaces should command. Instead, he decided to convert his online board game and puzzle marketing business into physical stores in December. Right now, Id say were still in the perception of the glass is half-empty, he said. So until we start to get more of the units occupied ... we really wont get the benefit of being near CrossIron Mills. Alina Wu, who opened a clothing alternations shop on Monday, said shes only paying $1,000 per month for her space. New Horizon Mall is located next to the highly successful CrossIron Mills outlet shopping centre but its location next to a highway in a rural/industrial area is a problem, said retail analyst Maureen Atkinson, a senior partner at J.C. Williams Group of Toronto. Its based on an Asian model thats not necessarily applicable in Calgary ... The challenge is its not in the middle of an Asian community, she said. CrossIron Mills has proven that people will go that distance to shop for something different. But whether this (mall) is strong enough to be able to do that is really very questionable. She conceded that strong anchor tenants will help New Horizon Mall fill its many empty spaces. Follow @HealingSlowly on Twitter. The worlds largest tobacco companies suffered a legal setback in Quebec this month that drove two local cigarette makers into creditor protection. That may be the tip of the iceberg in Canada for British American Tobacco Plc and others facing separate government lawsuits seeking hundreds of billions of dollars. BAT, Philip Morris International Inc. and a local unit of Japan Tobacco Inc. are defendants in lawsuits by Canadas 10 provinces that want to recoup health-care costs linked to the effects of smoking, a move reminiscent of the U.S. in the 1990s. The first of these cases, some of which date back almost two decades, is scheduled to come to trial this year. The countrys three most-populated provinces alone have signalled combined claims of more than $500 billion (Canadian). While such an amount would overwhelm the industry, analysts are predicting a similar outcome as in the U.S., where tobacco companies negotiated smaller settlements that allowed them to stay in business. Governments generally prefer that consumers smoke and pay taxes on legal cigarettes rather than using contraband products. The legal threat posed by Canada got more real this month, when the three companies local units were ordered to pay damages of about $14 billion in a set of class actions filed by Quebec smokers. That lawsuit, which prompted the Canadian units of BAT and Japan Tobacco to file for protection from creditors, is separate from the provincial claims. Wake-Up Call The decision sent a wake-up call to the courts throughout Canada, where the provincial cases have been mired in procedural delays, said Richard Daynard, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston who has followed litigation against the industry for decades. It shows that these cases are serious, that a very serious multibillion dollar judgment can get affirmed. In the 1980s, Daynard co-founded the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern, which helped provide resources to support lawsuits against cigarette makers. The provinces argue that tobacco companies should compensate governments for smoking-related health costs. The firms say Canadian residents were fully aware of the risks since the 1950s. Settlement Opportunity The creditor protection gives BATs Canadian unit an opportunity to settle all of its outstanding tobacco litigation while continuing to run its business, a spokesman said. Consumers in Canada were well informed of the risks and tobacco is a legal product, according to JTI-Macdonald, Japan Tobaccos Canadian unit. While the Tokyo-based company isnt named as a defendant in the provincial cases, it has assumed obligations that could force it to pay penalties for R.J. Reynolds assets it had acquired. A spokesman for Philip Morris declined to comment. The legal challenges have so far had little impact on shares. Since the Quebec ruling on March 1, BATs stock has gained 12 per cent and Philip Morris 3.4 per cent, while Japan Tobacco is down 0.9 per cent. The share impact has been muted because the cases are likely to drag on for some time, according to Duncan Fox, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Moodys Investors Service cited the legal issues in Canada on Tuesday when it put Japan Tobaccos Aa3 debt ratings under review for a downgrade. In contrast to the Quebec class actions, the provincial cases pose a bigger threat by naming parent companies as co-defendants, Citigroup analysts wrote in a March 4 note. Canada generates no more than 4.5 per cent of earnings for any of the three tobacco companies, they said. British Columbia filed its case 18 years ago. That case and the other suits have been grinding through the judicial system ever since. The first trial is scheduled to start in November in New Brunswick. The province of 747,000 people declined to comment on how much its seeking, though in its latest annual report, BAT cites estimates of $11.1 billion to $23.2 billion. Ontario wants to amend its claim to $330 billion from an initial $50 billion. Quebec is going after $61 billion. British Columbia is finalizing its own number, though a preliminary report quantified damages at $118 billion. Hard-Fought Litigation This is the largest piece of litigation in Canadian history and it continues to be very hard-fought, the western provinces attorney generals office said in an emailed statement. The defendants have made numerous applications to court and multiple subsequent appeals, all of which have contributed to the lengthy process. Big Tobacco hasnt faced a legal threat this severe since the U.S. in the 1990s, when Philip Morris USA and its rivals entered a settlement that forced them to make annual payments to 46 states in perpetuity, including some $206 billion over the first 25 years. Analysts expect a similar negotiation in Canada after two potential delays cropped up that could undermine the start of the New Brunswick case. The tobacco companies won a temporary stay in Canadian litigation when the local units of Japan Tobacco and BAT sought protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act, which is equivalent to Chapter 11 in the U.S. Also, in the New Brunswick case, a judge ruled that the provincial government needs to come up with records to justify the health-care costs its claiming. Analysts say a settlement could allow a speedier alternative. Canada will now look to gather up the cases together and come to one combined settlement that is affordable and that would not see the tobacco companies go bankrupt, Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett said in a research note last week. TORONTO - Cannabis industry players welcomed the change in the Federal Budget to tax edibles, extracts, oils and concentrates based on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol rather than weight, as it could ease pricing for some products and potentially boost product availability. However, licensed producers and a patient advocate group say they are disappointed that medical cannabis will continue to be taxed, despite a campaign calling on Ottawa to exempt patients. Organigrams chief executive officer Greg Engel said under the new framework, prices for some of these next-generation cannabis products, depending on potency of THC, could see some relaxation. Ultimately for the consumer, theyre only going to be paying ... for what is in the final product, not how it was produced, he said. The Liberal government on Tuesday laid out its 2019 budget which proposed that cannabis edibles, extracts, topicals and oils which Ottawa has said will be legalized by no later than October of this year be subject to excise duties based on the total quantity of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in the final product, rather than by weight of the cannabis used as an input. Since Canada legalized cannabis for adult use last October, dried cannabis flower and cannabis oils are subject to an excise tax of one dollar per gram or 10 per cent of the final retail price, whichever is higher. The tax rate is higher on flowering material, and lower on non-flowering material, such as stem. But for the next generation of cannabis products, such as edibles, Ottawa has proposed an excise duty of one cent per milligram of total THC. Cannabidiol or CBD, the active ingredient found in cannabis and hemp that does not produce a high, is exempt from the excise tax. The Cannabis Council of Canadas executive director Allan Rewak adds that this taxation change would also make it more economical for licensed producers to use low-grade, low-THC cannabis in their inventory that is not suitable for sale to produce edibles and other products once legalized. Under the old regime, licensed producers were incentivized to use high-potency plants rather than this low-grade unfinished inventory as it would require large volumes to yield enough THC and would be taxed accordingly, he added. Now, with this revision... we can utilize all that grade-three trim, hemp product, all of that wonderful material, in a viable way, he said. And allow us to ease the supply crunch by getting more high-grade dried flower to the people who want to consume it via combustion. Engel said despite the incentive, many producers were sending much of their high-grade bud to consumers due to high demand, and using trim and other leftovers for extracts and oils. The tax change also simplifies licensed producers accounting, said Michael Armstrong, a professor at Brock University. Rather than having to track the different inputs for each product throughout the manufacturing process for tax purposes, it will only require testing what ends up in the final product, he added. It will be easier to verify in an audit, as a lab test could confirm the THC content in the bottle, Armstrong said. While this tax tweak was generally heralded as a positive step, the lack of change for medical patients was met with disappointment. Removing the excise tax for medical cannabis is a very important step we have not seen yet, said Peter Aceto, chief executive of CannTrust, adding that the licensed producer has 66,000 patients who rely on cannabis as medicine and the cost can be prohibitive. Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana said it appreciates the governments move to reduce taxation on certain products, but basing taxation on THC content continues to stigmatizes those who rely on the psychoactive ingredient to treat conditions such as Parkinsons Disease and multiple sclerosis. Max Monahan-Ellison, a spokesman for the patient advocacy group, said while the stereotype is that THC is deemed to be for a high and CBD is used for therapeutic purposes, it is much more complex for a medical user. Taxes can increase the cost of medical cannabis by as much as 25 per cent, depending on the province, making it difficult for patients to manage their treatment costs, he added. Many licensed producers such as Organigram and CannTrust are absorbing the excise tax for medical patients. Last month, CFAMM launched an official campaign to call on the government to remove all taxes on medical cannabis. This wasnt reflected in the latest budget, but the organization is hopeful that there is still opportunity for change with the federal election approaching. There just shouldnt be tax on medicine, because it ends up hurting patients in the long run, he said. TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Global Infrastructure Securities Income Fund (the Fund) (TSX: BGI.UN) today announced a distribution of C$0.15 per unit for the quarter ending March 31, 2019. The distribution will be paid on or before April 15, 2019 to holders of record on March 29, 2019. Eligible holders of the Units (Unitholders) may participate in the Funds Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP), where they may elect to automatically reinvest their dividends in additional Units. Details of the DRIP are available on the Funds website at www.brookfield.com . Unitholders who wish to participate in the DRIP should contact their investment advisor for further information and to enroll. Brookfield Investment Management (Canada) Inc. and Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (together, the "Firm") are the manager and investment manager of the Fund, respectively. Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (the Firm) is an SEC-registered investment adviser and represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With approximately $16.5 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2018, the Firm manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for institutional and individual clients, including financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth investors. The Firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $350 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2018. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material company information. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfield.com. For more information, please visit www.brookfield.com or contact: The head of the Montreal-based construction giant at the centre of a political firestorm warned the company remains undervalued, is vulnerable to a takeover and at risk of shedding jobs in Canada. Neil Bruce, president and chief executive officer of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., said Wednesday that Canadian prosecutors should be grilling ex-executives instead of the firm. The company is facing fraud and corruption charges related to decade-old activities in Libya, and efforts by Justin Trudeaus government to intervene have exploded into a crisis for the prime minister. Justice is upside down on this, Bruce said in a BNN Bloomberg television interview. Weve apologized for the behaviour of the previous management, and ultimately, I firmly believe the prosecution service should hold those responsible to account and stop damaging the innocent people. SNC-Lavalin once had 20,000 workers in Canada and now has 9,000, he added. If we cant put some of this behind us, its highly likely that well have less, he said. Bruces comments are the latest twist in a saga over whether his company will get a deferred prosecution agreement, a negotiated fine that would end prosecution and help it avoid a ban on bidding for federal contracts that would come with a potential conviction. Trudeaus former attorney general alleges the prime minister and several staff pressured her to help SNC. Political scandal The scandal is dominating political debate in Canada, coinciding with a drop to second place in opinion polls for the governing Liberal Party. Trudeau, whose finance chief delivered his final budget this week before an election this fall, has lost two cabinet minister, one of his top political aides and Canadas top bureaucrat to the controversy. Opposition threatens to delay budget in call for answers in SNC-Lavalin affair despite probes end Opinion | Susan Delacourt: Trudeaus damage-control plan is aimed at Liberal MPs SNC-Lavalin affair: We answer your most pressing questions Bruce said Wednesday he never spoke with Trudeau directly about job losses or a deferred prosecution agreement, but that his company lobbied through normal channels. We put forward in our submissions what the public interest case is, he said. Weve never asked for charges to be dropped, weve never asked for this to be circumvented in any way. Well follow the rule of law, whether its the court process or a remediation agreement. He said he never threatened to move the company headquarters from Montreal: This is where we want to be, in terms of our base. But the chief executive also signalled the company could pivot its focus elsewhere. We are a proud Canadian global champion one of the few, actually, Bruce said. Were a global company, weve got over 50,000 people. We can dial up, dial down, where we work. And if we are not in a position to do federal contracts, then thats really clear. We dont do that, we do something else. He said the company is looking at all its options and that it remains undervalued. Its always a possibility, but no, we havent been approached recently about a takeover, he said. Asked if he was considering spinning off parts of the business, he said every option is open. Bruce added: Ultimately, this uncertainty just makes it very, very difficult to surface the true value. The prosecution could take another three or four years, he said. Saudi Arabia and Scheer The legal case wasnt the only thing Bruce singled out as hurting SNCs business. He also cited uncertainty in Saudi Arabia, saying its not of our making, in terms of the intergovernmental relationships there. Trudeaus government clashed with Saudi Arabia last year over human-rights issues, prompting the kingdom to restrict Canadian investment. Bruce criticized political leaders for the current scandal, likening it to an unacceptable hockey game between Trudeaus team and that of his rival, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, with his employees caught in the middle. Its politics, its not actually anything to do with us. Weve gone through the right channels, weve been really transparent and weve been clear, Bruce said, adding that hes spoken to Scheer on social occasions. He seemed pro-business and seemed supportive, so Im sort of puzzled by the reaction, he said. Read more about: VANCOUVERA large number of child sex-exploitation convictions across Canada could end up being overturned after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Criminal Code provisions that made it easier to convict people of child luring, according to a lawyer who argued the case. In the R. v. Morrison decision on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down two areas of the countrys child-luring charge under Section 172 of the Criminal Code, impacting cases in which police officers pretend to be minors to catch suspected predators online. Mark Halfyard, a lawyer who argued the Supreme Court of Canada case, said the result means similar child-luring cases could now be successfully challenged and potentially overturned, resulting in new trials for the previously convicted. On an individual, case-by-case basis, the Crowns office is going to have to look at which ones should be reprosecuted, Halfyard said. A person shouldnt be standing out there, whoever they are, whatever their circumstances, convicted on the basis of an unconstitutional law. In undercover sting operations, officers approach child-luring suspects online, disclose that they are underage and see whether the suspect plays along. Read more: Police overwhelmed by rampant, hidden evil of child exploitation online B.C. privacy watchdog investigating 'Creep Catchers' who expose alleged sex predators First of its kind report outlines sexual abuse against nearly 1,300 students in Canadian schools over past two decades Halfyards client, Douglas Morrison, was one of those suspects and was being investigated by an undercover officer pretending to be a 14-year-old. They exchanged conversations of a sexual nature over a few months in 2013, including making plans to meet and engage in sexual touching, but the meeting never happened. Morrison was arrested and charged with child luring but maintained that he thought he was speaking to an adult and that the conversation was sexual role-play. The Criminal Code charge for child luring presumed a suspect understood they were dealing with a minor if thats what they were told by a police officer, Halfyard said. The court ruled that this violates a suspects presumption of innocence, as the suspect is free to disbelieve such a claim. Additionally, the accused had been obligated by law to show they took reasonable steps to verify the person they were dealing with was not a minor, or else be found guilty. The court ruled that it is the Crowns job to prove guilt. The accused could argue he took reasonable steps to verify as part of a defence, and the Crown is free to refute that defence but the lack of verification is not proof in and of itself that the accused believed the other party was underage. People that are still luring children, police still have the exact same tools to build a case against them, it just wont be presumed in law just because they throw an age at a person in chat conversations, that (the suspects) necessarily believe theyre talking to a child, Halfyard said. The Creep Catchers vigilante group, which conducts similar sting operations and films encounters with suspects who agree to meet, said the group is now reviewing the court decision. Its not going to change the way we expose people. When it comes down to exposure, people who are watching or seeing who were exposing ... they dont care about technicalities, they dont care that this person said this first, or they have a defence, the bottom line is: they still came to meet, said Nicole Hunter, a director of the Creep Catchers group. The whole point, the reason of why there is Creep Catchers, is because there isnt enough charges in these stings, there isnt enough investigations, there isnt enough law enforcement out there to catch these guys. They may not be the ones raping children yet, but theyre still willing to come and meet them. Thats our whole point. Read more about: VANCOUVERAs a pair of Canadians mark their 100th day detained by the Chinese government in an undisclosed location, former diplomats are warning that Western countries can no longer afford to ignore the human-rights abuses of a country set to overtake the United States as the worlds most powerful economy. Diplomat-on-leave Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were arrested in China on Dec. 10 in a move observers and diplomats have called retaliation for Canadas arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. Beijing has officially denied the link. However, media statements from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials suggest a different story. In a December editorial in The Globe and Mail, Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye responded to public criticism over Kovrig and Spavors detentions by raising the issue of Mengs arrest a clear indication Beijings behaviour is motivated by politics, not rule of law, a political analyst told the Star at the time. Mengs arrest in Vancouver on Dec. 1 was conducted at the behest of the U.S. She is being sought for extradition to face fraud charges related to violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. The CCP has called the process a U.S.-led plot to undermine Chinas economic and technological ascendancy. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has always used the tactic of disappearing individuals for political ends, said David Mulroney, who served as Canadian ambassador to China between 2009 and 2012. The covert roundup and detention of over a million members of the Uyghur minority population in the Western region of Xinjiang is the latest shocking example, he said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying has rejected those accusations, saying they had no factual basis. Read more: The forgotten Canadians detained in China Opinion | My friend Michael Kovrig was arrested in China. Please, pay attention Rebuke of China from Canadas allies clearest and best diplomatic path forward, say experts What the detentions of Kovrig and Spavor point to is an increasingly aggressive and blatant detention of foreigners by the Chinese government under President Xi Jinping, Mulroney added. This is a real and growing threat, said Mulroney, now a distinguished senior fellow at the University of Torontos Munk School of Global Affairs. The only silver lining, and it is a small one given the human tragedy involved, is that people in the West may finally be encouraged to see China as it really is. In practical terms, it means that China-bound exchanges should be scaled back while China-related travel advisories should be scaled up. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations a United Nations document outlining the rules of diplomatic law provides protection for any diplomat and her or his family from any form of arrest or detention while travelling in a foreign state. Although Kovrig may arguably have been protected from arrest under the Convention, he was on leave from his diplomatic post at the time of his detention. He had travelled to China for his work with foreign affairs think tank International Crisis Group on a regular passport and business visa. In January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly chastised Beijing for failing to respect the diplomatic immunity to which he said Kovrig is entitled under the Convention. In a regular press briefing just days later, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs shot back that any Canadian suggesting such a thing made themselves a laughingstock. Michael Kovrig is not entitled to diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by any measure. He is not currently a diplomat, Hua, the Chinese spokesperson, told reporters at a Jan. 14 regular press briefing. A Monday article in the South China Morning Post, quoting anonymous sources, paints a picture of a diplomatic community scrambling to insulate themselves from the same fate and terrified to travel to China on anything aside from a diplomatic passport and on government business. Former counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing and China expert Charles Burton, now a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institutes Centre for Advancing Canadas Interests Abroad, said such fears are not misplaced. Burton said Beijing is all too willing to flaunt international protocols and agreements, as evidenced in part by the CCPs refusal to observe a ruling from The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration rebuking the countrys establishment of military facilities in the international waters of the South China Sea. As incidents demonstrating Chinas increasing disrespect for the norms of international diplomacy continue to mount up, the West will have no choice but to disengage from the PRC in global affairs, he said. This will inevitably impact on trade and investment as well as political relations. Swedish human-rights worker Peter Dahlin was detained in China for weeks. In a December interview with the Star, he gave an insiders account of the harsh conditions under which he believes Kovrig and Spavor are being kept: alone in a constantly-lit, padded room, guarded by two men they arent allowed to talk to and subjected to interrogations and sleep deprivation. In a March 13 Hong Kong Free Press article, Dahlin painted a grim picture of the future for citizens of Western countries whose governments Beijing wishes to punish for any number of reasons. Soon the U.K., France, and eventually Germany will be added to the list of nations whose citizens will be disappeared (by Beijing), not because of any legal reasons, but as tools of foreign policy, he wrote. Guy Saint-Jacques, Canadian ambassador to China between 2012 and 2016, said the former detainees troubling prediction is not lost on Western governments. The detention of Messrs. Kovrig and Spavor by China has had a negative impact among Western and Asian countries as they understood that this could happen to their citizens as well, Saint-Jacques, now a senior fellow at the China Institute of the University of Alberta, told the Star in an email. This explains why Canada has been able to gather international support from European and Asian countries. A chorus of protests from foreign officials, scholars, former diplomats and academics has been unleashed in the wake of Kovrig and Spavors detentions. Officials from the U.S., U.K., Germany, the EU, Australia and NATO as well as from numerous independent think tanks and foreign policy institutions have all urged fair treatment for the pair, with some calling for their immediate release. Beijings deafness to these entreaties will lead to a reassessment of countries engagement with China and (of) how to ensure that it adheres to international norms and standards in the future, Saint-Jacques said. I expect that it will take the form of increased co-ordination in a number of areas to prevent such behaviour in the future but also to ensure that the multilateral system is not undermined further. In the meantime, Kovrig and Spavor remain imprisoned without access to lawyers and now stand accused of committing espionage on Chinese soil. According to Dahlins account, the likeliest scenario is that the men are being kept in a compound near a small airport used by the Beijing branch of the Ministry of State Security, where their only sense of place might come from the sound of planes above their cells. And according to Burton, there is little sign of an end to their bleak saga. Despite international pressure, Burton told the Star on March 4 it is clear Beijing continues to view the pair as a bargaining chip in its bid for Mengs release. Tragically, he said, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig could be heading for life imprisonment in China, or even for one or both a sentence of death, depending on the outcome of Meng Wanzhous extradition process. Read more about: VERNON, B.C.An arbitration board says two employees were wrongfully dismissed from their jobs with the fire department in Vernon, B.C., after a videotape showed them having sexual relations in the fire chiefs office. The pair were fired two days after the incident in March 2018, but their union grieved the dismissals and proposed four-month suspensions. A camera had been installed in the office several months earlier after David Lind, who was the interim chief at the time, became concerned that someone might be accessing his locked file cabinet, which contained sensitive staffing and budget documents. A majority of the arbitration board found that while fire captain Brent Bond and dispatcher Cara-Leigh Manahans conduct was worthy of harsh discipline, the dismissal was an excessive disciplinary response. Bond is to be reinstated effective Feb. 1, with no loss of seniority or benefits. The board ordered Manahan to be reinstated without loss of seniority or service but since dispatch services for the department have been contracted out, the employer must compensate her for the severance or any other payment she would have received when her job was terminated. Neither will be compensated for lost wages during the time they were fired. The Arbitrators Association of B.C. says in its decision released Tuesday that the two employees became close friends in early 2017 and developed a sexual relationship away from work later that year. Although Capt. Bond knew the relationship was inappropriate, he did not take any steps to try to have him and Ms. Manahan assigned different shifts, James Dorsey, chair of the arbitrators association, wrote in the decision. A disciplinary suspension of five months will also be on Bonds employment record and he will be demoted to the rank of first class firefighter until Feb. 1, 2022, when he will be reinstated to the rank of captain. Key to this consideration ought to be that the grievors have already suffered a heavy penalty, said Dorsey. They have undergone embarrassment, dishonour, rumours in the community and destruction of their family life. This is (a) far harsher penalty than could be ordered by an arbitrator. The union had applied to have Bond and Manahan remain anonymous, which the board denied. There is no exceptional personal privacy circumstances or persuasive labour relations reason in this situation that justifies departing from the open court principle, said Dorsey. The decision by the board to reinstate Bond and Manahan was not unanimous. John McKearney, retired chief of the Vancouver Fire Department, said the activity between Bond and Manahan must be considered cause for termination. The conduct was antithetical to Bonds responsibility as captain and leader of the shift and has created a poison work environment for other females in the hall, and for males, he wrote. His actions were a gross violation of his duty to create a welcoming work environment for all, and especially for women. Will Pearce, chief administrative officer for the City of Vernon, said he is disappointed in the decision of the arbitration board. It sends entirely the wrong message to fire personnel across the country and to staff of the City of Vernon, he said. It is not now and never will be acceptable or ethical for a direct supervisor to engage in a sexual relationship with junior and subordinate staff. The city is exploring a range of options in response to the arbitration decision, Pearce said. Read more about: OTTAWAThe Liberals will happily run on their economic record in the upcoming federal election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, despite the billions of dollars theyve added to the national debt. At an afternoon stop outside a housing development in Ottawas eastern suburbs, touting the measures in the new federal budget to make homes more affordable, Trudeau gave what sounded much like a stump speech, talking about historic investments in Canadians getting there after dismissing Conservatives complaints that the Liberals should have to answer more for the SNC-Lavalin affair. What eats away at the Conservatives the most is that our approach is working, he said. Over the past three years, 900,000 Canadians created new jobs. Over the past three years, weve seen the lowest employment in 40 years. And weve see 825,000 Canadians, including 300,000 kids, lifted out of poverty because of measures this government is taking. And in this budget we just put forward yesterday, from easier access to home-ownership, to support for students, to money directly for seniors, to investments in broadband and high-speed internet access right across the country, we are responding to the priorities that Canadians have. The Conservatives have no plan for the economy, thats why they want to talk about anything else. We are going to stay focused on delivering for Canadians, as we are today. While Trudeau emphasizes what all the government spending has done, the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer say its a spree funded by borrowing against the future. Scheer had given a public speech to his caucus members in Ottawa earlier in the day, portraying Trudeaus Liberals as a big-spending government with nothing but disdain for the idea of balanced budgets. During the 2015 campaign, Trudeau warned that a Liberal government would initially run modest deficits, but would balance the books by 2019. That promise went out the window Tuesday with a budget that projects of 2019-20 deficit of $19.8 billion. Read more: Winners and losers of the 2019 federal budget Federal budget promises help for seniors, home buyers and workers Opinion | Susan Delacourt: Federal budget reveals little about Liberals election plans During the televised leaders debate, he said this: I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest the way we always have ... We will balance the budget in 2019, Scheer said to the laughter of his colleagues. Canadians who dont have family fortunes like him know ... that you cant borrow your way out of debt and you cant make other people pay for your mistakes. Trudeau acknowledged that his government has been borrowing heavily but he emphasized that although the national debt keeps growing, the economy is growing at about the same rate, so the burden isnt getting harder to bear. Canadians need to know that our projections are sustainable, he said. Finance Minister Bill Morneau made his own post-budget sales effort Wednesday, defending the Liberal strategy of investing in consumer confidence in two separate appearances. The budget Morneau tabled Tuesday in the House of Commons showcased several measures aimed at helping more would-be homebuyers get into the housing market for the first time; thats what he focused on in a morning speech to the Empire Club in Toronto. Under the new measures, the government is proposing to pick up five per cent of a mortgage on the purchase of an existing home for households that earn under $120,000 and have been approved for a mortgage no more than four times their income or 10 per cent, if the house is new, in an attempt to spur construction. The Liberals will also let first-time buyers, and a few others in special circumstances, take up to $35,000 from their tax-free retirement savings accounts to spend on homes. But Morneau insisted the government has also taken prudent steps to ensure that additional demand in markets like Toronto and Vancouver wont result in higher prices. When we think about the overall homebuyer market, we have roughly half a million home purchases a year, but 100,000 of them are first-time homebuyers, Morneau told a news conference after a morning speech to the Empire Club in Toronto. Were talking about (adding) 20, maybe 30, maybe 40,000 new families, which is really important to those families, but weve done the modelling to show (its) not an issue around changing demand dynamics. In particular, Morneau picked out three other measures in the budget that he said are aimed at preventing a spike in home prices: A Canada Revenue Agency crackdown on real-estate money-laundering, $10 billion in affordable rental construction financing and a $300-million contest of sorts to challenge municipalities to come up with creative solutions to adding housing stock. In an afternoon appearance back in downtown Ottawa, at just the same time as Trudeaus, Morneau focused on a program to help workers pay for skills training while keeping their jobs. Were always going to try and encourage Canadians to invest in their own success. Like weve put forward in this budget, were hoping that people will continue to improve their skills so that they can do better in their current jobs and do better for themselves and their families, he said. Im always going to hope that we can have a higher level of growth. I think that the only way we can do that is by recognizing that what the tools are at our disposal are people. So, if we have highly educated, highly trained people, were going to do better. And then he echoed Trudeau on how content the Liberals will be to fight the election on their record of borrowing and spending. I think what will be happening in the election campaign is Canadians look at what weve done over the last four years, Morneau said. We made promises that we would invest in Canadians. What they can see is we followed through on those promises. Read more about: When police stopped a 19-year-old man on Vancouver Island on March 15 for riding a bicycle without a helmet, they werent expecting to get involved in a Toronto murder investigation. Nanaimo RCMP officers stopped a man on a bike for not wearing a helmet, which is against the law in B.C., and noticed the bike looked similar to one that had just been reported stolen. They confirmed their suspicions with a serial number check. Police arrested Kyle Dias, of Etobicoke, for possession of stolen property. Before he was taken to the station, police say Dias identified himself by several different names and what appeared to be a fake Ontario drivers licence. While they were processing Dias, they discovered he was wanted by Toronto police for second degree murder in the Feb. 13 shooting of Tefsa Welsh-Hope in Toronto. This just goes to show the inherent risk that our officers are facing on any given day, said Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary OBrien. Police never know when someone they stop for a minor infraction might actually be more dangerous. OBrien said the arrest was amazing proactive work. Dias had no connection to the island, OBrien said. He had spent most of his money and had been sleeping in shelters and on the streets for eight or nine days. The arresting officers have been nominated for a letter of appreciation award. Toronto police are expected to collect Dias on Wednesday and bring him back to Toronto to face the murder charge. Nanaimo RCMP say the bike was returned to its lawful owner. They will not be pursuing the helmet violation. A Danforth Ave. condo is the latest in a series of residential construction cancellations to disappoint Toronto-area home buyers, who handed over deposits to Brampton-based DIAM Developments nearly three years ago. They received letters this week telling them the 135-unit, 10-storey On the Danforth development was being terminated due to unforeseen circumstances outside of DIAMs control. A company statement cited unanticipated construction cost increases, delays and its lender calling in a construction loan. These circumstances ... have left us no option but to cancel the sale of the proposed units, said the statement emailed to the Star. DIAM is also the developer of Radiance, an Innisfil townhouse project that is supposed to be completed this year, according to the companys website. Read more: Toronto condo market expected to moderate in 2019 Angry condo buyers want Vaughan to reject developers second application How 22 Toronto homeowners ended up in condos they dont own On the Danforth buyers deposits will be refunded, according to the Tuesday letter to the purchasers. The cancellation came as a disappointment but not a surprise to Dave and Laura Wright, who bought a one-bedroom-plus-den unit in June 2016 for $322,000 as an investment. The project had sold out 100 per cent and theres actually a wonderfully deep hole at the site but I knew something wasnt right when the occupancy date went from November 2017, to August 2018, to April 2019, said Dave Wright. They also noticed a crane that had been standing idle on the building site east of Woodbine Ave. disappeared in January. When Wright called DIAM, he was told that more information would be coming mid-March and then on Tuesday they received the cancellation letter. Wright says buyers are owed more than a refund of their $49,000 deposit a loan on which they have been paying interest. (DIAM) had 100 per cent of sales so theyre sitting on millions in cash in their pocket. Theyve profited from just holding our money. Theyve expended quite a bit of money digging a hole but they still have the asset which is the land, he said. Wright said he wouldnt be surprised if the same developer relaunched a project on the east-end site, which is in an area where other condos have sprouted up since On the Danforth launched. Although he expects to look for another real estate investment, Wright said he doesnt think hell find a property in the range of $320,000. There should be some sort of penalty maybe not bankruptcy but they should at least have to liquidate that site, Wright said. The provinces new home warranty provider, Tarion, has not received any complaints about DIAM, it said on Wednesday. Tarion is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the DIAM condo cancellation to ensure that it is in compliance with its obligations as a registered vendor, said an email from a spokesperson. An update to its builder directory that will flag developers cancellation histories something Tarion suggested last fall and the province promised last month isnt expected until the end of summer. The project follows the cancellation last year of 17 condos with 4,672 units in the Toronto region up from 1,678 units cancelled in 2017 and only 379 in 2016. Pauline Lierman, director of market research for Urbanation, a company that tracks condo construction, says she expects there will be more cancellations this year but not as many as the area experienced in 2018. Weve kind of flushed through a lot of the buildings that launched before the peak of 2017 so they didnt capture the pricing they needed, she said. Were going to start to meter down to a normal level of cancellations, said Lierman, who put that number at about 400 to 500 units a year. Some On the Danforth buyers said the project launched when there were few options in the east end. But that has changed. In the three years DIAM buyer Andres Vernall has been waiting for his one-bedroom-plus-den condo, the nearby Canvas building launched and is nearing completion. He said he chose the Danforth project because, I wanted to get out of downtown, I really wanted more of a neighbourhood vibe. But on Wednesday, Vernall said, Its been a letdown for me. Next time, he said, he would buy a resale home, rather than pre-construction. A spokesperson for DIAM Developments said the circumstances surrounding On the Danforth wont impact its other projects. DIAM is the sister company to Shyamora Luxury Homes, founder Moninder Khudal said in a June 2017 interview in CondoLife magazine. Among last years terminated projects were the giant Cosmos towers by Liberty developments and Gupta Groups Icona condos. Buyers in those projects are pursuing compensation for lost property appreciation through the courts. Another condo, similar in size to On the Danforth, was also cancelled in Georgetown late last year. Even courtroom veterans were stunned when the witness calmly confessed to opening fire on two men killing one of them stopped at a red light in Torontos east end. I took a gun ... out of my left pocket ... and I took aim and shot four times, Walid Zakaria testified in Superior Court in January. Listening to his boyhood friend was Simeon Harty, 25, the man actually on trial for the first-degree murder of Kevin Gidden and attempted murder of Kemar McFarlane around 1 a.m. on Oct. 27, 2016. The prosecution alleged Harty was driving a car that followed McFarlane after leaving a gas station, pulled his vehicle up on the passenger side of McFarlanes car and opened fire, killing Gidden, 23. McFarlane drove away, uninjured. Jurors heard no evidence of motive nor that Harty knew the men, just that he had been inside the gas station store at the same time as McFarlane. But Zakaria, 25, told the jury that police and prosecutors had fingered the wrong man. Im the killer, Im the one ... not Harty, me, the deep-voiced man said at one point, claiming he started shooting in self defence because he saw a gun in the hand of one of the other cars occupants. What kind of gun, Crown attorney Craig Coughlan asked during cross examination. Im not a gun master, Im not sure, he replied, before later offering that it might have been a .40 calibre Glock. Sounding incredulous, the prosecutor asked Zakaria if he had given Harty any warning before he allegedly started blasting. You fired over top of your friends head four times ... into this vehicle based on seeing what you thought was a gun? Zakaria muttered yeah in response. Coughlan put it to Zakaria that he was making up the whole story, who responded: Then I guess I was carrying an imaginary gun. Zakaria also seemed eager to let jurors know he was no novice of the criminal justice system, boasting about his money-making prowess selling drugs in the penitentiary, and sporting a tattoo on his chest that reads I have no attachment to anything, and another on his hand, reading Bang bang. Before the defence called Zakaria as a witness, Harty also implicated his friend when he testified in his own defence. After pulling up to the intersection, Harty said he was manually rolling down his drivers side window when I see a flash ... it came from inside my car. Did you hear anything?, asked his lawyer, Craig Bottomley. Yes I heard bang, bang, bang. Who had the gun? Walid had the gun. The jury rejected the pairs evidence and convicted Harty of the reduced charge of second-degree murder and discharge a firearm with intent. His sentencing hearing is Friday. Bottomley declined to make any comment. Gary Giroux said this was the first time in his 22 years on the Toronto police homicide squad he has seen someone come into court, admit theyre responsible and say youve got the wrong guy. Also, in theory, if the jury had acquitted Harty, Giroux said he could have charged Zakaria with the murder and brought Harty in as a witness. But I wouldnt, because I dont believe it to be true, the now-retired Giroux said this week. Prominent defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine, who wasnt involved in the case, said someone who confesses to a crime while giving sworn testimony could be charged, but the evidence he gave wont be admissible against him and likely nothing derivative of it will be admissible against him. Therefore, the police would have to build a case completely independent of the persons testimony. Before Zakaris began answering questions, he told court he had sought legal advice and that he was protected from self-incrimination under the Canada Evidence Act. He is currently serving an 18-month jail sentence for contempt of court after refusing to testify at Hartys preliminary hearing last year. Toronto police have arrested an 80-year-old man after a 79-year-old woman was killed in an Etobicoke home. Emergency services responded to a request for an ambulance at 57 Widdicombe Hill, an apartment building near Kipling Ave. and Eglinton Ave. W, at 8:25 p.m. Monday night. Police said they located an elderly woman without vital signs suffering from obvious signs of trauma. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was identified as Helen Fronczak, of Toronto. Police arrested 80-year-old Toronto man Larry Fronczak that night and charged him with second degree murder. Police did not divulge his relation to Helen Fronczak, but said the killing was believed to be a domestic incident. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning. Helen Fronczak is Torontos 14th homicide victim of 2019 and the third victim of an alleged domestic homicide. Police have not yet released her cause of death. Jerome Belle, 22, of Toronto was shot dead Wednesday, becoming the citys 15th homicide victim. Five women and ten men have been killed in the city so far this year. They are: Ian Dyer, 36, who was stabbed to death in a Toronto Community Housing building near Danforth and Midland Aves. on Jan. 6. Leigh Min, 34, was arrested two days later and charged with first-degree murder. Lorraine Kerubo Ogoti, 30, who was stabbed to death in an eighth-floor unit of a Scarborough apartment building on Jan. 8. A man identified as her boyfriend was found dead outside the same building. Aseel Yehya, 18, who was shot dead in an Etobicoke street on Jan. 9 after police said he was approached by a dark-coloured vehicle. Lingathasan Suntharamoorthy, 36, who was shot dead in a Scarborough apartment building in the early morning of Jan. 12. Hanh (Hana) Nguyen, 41, who was stabbed to death at her home, near Jane St. and St. Clair Ave. W., on Jan. 24. Austin Le, 40, was found at the scene and charged with second-degree murder. Veronika Mrhova, 24, of Toronto, who was sitting in a white Mercedes-Benz when it was shot at multiple times near Lake Shore Blvd. and Silver Moon Dr. early on Feb. 10. She died in hospital five days later. Tesfa Welsh-Hope, 28, who was shot dead near Islington Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. in Rexdale on Feb. 13. Police said Kyle Dias, 19, of Toronto, is wanted for second-degree murder. Nicklus McKain, 18, who was shot near 18 John Garland Blvd. in Rexdale shortly before 2 p.m. on Feb. 24. He was taken to hospital, where he later died. Jason-Otis Lewis, 47, who was found unconscious and not breathing near Broadway Ave. and Mount Pleasant Rd. early on March 4. He died in hospital. His death was ruled a homicide after an autopsy found he died of blunt-force trauma. Quentin Luke Lewis, 42, was arrested March 4. Martin Anthony Johnson, 51, who was found dead at a North York apartment complexafter a shooting on March 11. Jennyfer Lachappelle, 41, who was found dead at 3 a.m. on March 13 at an apartment near Davenport Rd. and Symington Ave. Police have charged Andrew Gerber, 38, with second-degree murder. Friends said Gerber and Lachappelle were in a relationship and may have been engaged. Helen Fronczak, 79. Jerome Belle, 22, who was shot shortly before 3:30 p.m. on March 20 near the area of the Bloor GO and Dundas West subway station in the Junction Triangle. He died in hospital. Police are searching for at least one male suspect. In 2018, Toronto broke its record for homicides in a single year, with 96 in total. Masters student Tamara Rayan is pondering the need for a third job to pay down her student debt she says the Ontario governments changes to post-secondary funding will slash grants that cover half of her tuition fees. Rayan, 26, was among some 250 students who walked out of classes at the University of Toronto Wednesday to protest the Progressive Conservatives move to eliminate free tuition for low-income students and make some student fees, including those funding campus clubs, optional. This year, Rayan said she received $6,000 in grants to cover half of her close to $13,000 in fees. With the government cuts, now Im only going to get $3,000 in grants and have to use a $10,000 loan, which is not OK, she said while waving a placard amid a gaggle of students on the steps of the U of T administrative offices. Rayan was among thousands of students at Ontario university and college campuses to walk out Wednesday in a call for the province to scrap the proposed changes and to increase access to grants, like the ones Rayan uses to lessen her need for loans. Equally concerning to the masters of information student is the end of the long-standing interest-free grace period students had before needing to start repaying their OSAP loans. Once I graduate, I have to hope that I have a job, because how am I going to pay off what is going to accumulate to being $16,000 in debt, Rayan said. Everything was so sudden. How am I supposed to plan for this? Im already working two jobs and doing a graduate degree. Have your say The government is promising a 10 per cent cut in tuition fees and an option to opt out of some ancillary fees, but Rayan says thats just a drop in the bucket. She hopes the government will reverse the changes it announced January. The provincial overhaul could translate into an estimated loss of $360 million for universities and $80 million for colleges, a key concern for protest organizer, Simran Dhunna, a masters of public health student. Schools will compensate for the loss of money by hurting our most racialized, vulnerable, gender diverse and low-income students, she said. This is a shame. The previous government had made it possible for low-income students to cover the bulk of their tuition fees with grants. The impending changes will now force those students to cover more of their tuition with loans. At U of T, Dhunna said, the now-optional student fees go to key services, like supporting food banks, peer counselling and equitable services for LGBTQ2S folks. Student protests against the funding changes have been ramping up in recent weeks, including a recent outburst in the legislature where students shouted obscenities at the premier. U of T student, Nour Alideeb, the chair for Canadian Federation of Students Ontario, one of the groups behind the provincewide day of protest, said the tuition reduction is a step in the right direction, but without the governments funding students will be impacted. Were not going to stand for it. ZHENGZHOU, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Customs in central China's Zhengzhou City said they had recently intercepted 1,250 vials of human placenta extract, hailed as a tonic and cosmetic panacea in a number of Asian countries. Zhengzhou customs said they found the vials in suspicious mail parcels that arrived from Japan on March 15 and March 18. No permit was provided for their entry. Human placenta extract is popular among those who believe it can remedy disease and combat aging, spawning a profitable black market in China where traditional medical theories also recognize the therapeutic values of human placenta. However, due to risks of transmission of hepatitis, syphilis or HIV, human placenta extract is strictly supervised and entry without certification is illegal in China. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE: AMG) today announced the appointment of Thomas M. Wojcik as its next Chief Financial Officer. Jay C. Horgen, President and Chief Financial Officer, will serve as CFO until no later than the announcement of AMGs earnings for the second quarter of 2019, and will continue in his role as President of the Company thereafter. Mr. Wojcik will join AMG on April 22, 2019, as Executive Vice President, Finance, and upon his transition to Chief Financial Officer, he will oversee AMGs finance, accounting, and capital management functions, including investor relations, reporting to Mr. Horgen. Mr. Wojcik joins AMG from BlackRock, Inc., where he most recently served as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Head of EMEA Strategy, and Global Head of Investor Relations. Mr. Wojcik was also a member of the firms Global Operating Committee, Human Capital Committee, and EMEA Executive Committee. He previously served as Head of Americas Strategy and on the firms Americas Executive Committee. We are pleased to appoint an executive of Tom Wojciks caliber and wide-ranging skillset as AMGs Chief Financial Officer, said Nathaniel Dalton, Chief Executive Officer of AMG. We have built an outstanding senior management team over time, which has a good balance of long-tenured executives and fresh perspectives, and there are many positive developments in its ongoing evolution. Alongside the addition of Tom and the broadening of Jays responsibilities as President, several other key executives have stepped up over the past year, and I look forward to leveraging this teams collective expertise as we continue to execute on our growth strategy and broad opportunity set. I have known Tom for nearly two decades and believe he is uniquely positioned to take on the CFO role at AMG, said Mr. Horgen. With his distinctive industry experience as an investor, operator, and strategic leader, I am confident in Toms ability to lead our finance functions and contribute broadly to the next phase of our success as a member of AMGs executive management team. Before joining BlackRock in 2012, Mr. Wojcik was responsible for coverage of the financial services sector at Hunter Global Investors, a fundamental long/short equity hedge fund. Prior to that, he was an investor at Durham Asset Management, a distressed credit and special situations hedge fund, and at Nautic Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. Mr. Wojcik began his career as an investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch & Co. He earned a B.A. in economics from Duke University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. About AMG AMG is a global asset management company with equity investments in leading boutique investment management firms. AMGs innovative partnership approach allows each Affiliates management team to own significant equity in their firm while maintaining operational autonomy. AMGs strategy is to generate shareholder value through the growth of existing Affiliates, as well as through investments in new Affiliates and additional investments in existing Affiliates. In addition, AMG provides centralized assistance to its Affiliates in strategic matters, marketing, distribution, product development and operations. As of December 31, 2018, AMGs aggregate assets under management were approximately $736 billion in more than 500 investment products across a broad range of active, return-oriented strategies. For more information, please visit the Companys website at www.amg.com. ________________________________________________________________________________ Certain matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, and could be impacted by a number of factors, including those described under the section entitled Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. From time to time, AMG may use its website as a distribution channel of material Company information. AMG routinely posts financial and other important information regarding the Company in the Investor Relations section of its website at www.amg.com and encourages investors to consult that section regularly. Investor and Media Relations: Jeffrey W. Parker Jonathan Freedman +1 (617) 747-3300 ir@amg.com pr@amg.com The chair of the Toronto police board is backing a request by a former Ontario Court of Appeal judge that would allow her to scrutinize how police probed the disappearances of the men murdered by serial killer Bruce McArthur. Retired judge Gloria Epstein is six months into her broad, independent review of how Toronto police conduct missing persons cases, an examination commissioned by the police board last year. The review was called in the wake of McArthurs arrest and mounting public concern about police handling of missing persons investigations, particularly within the citys Gay Village. McArthurs criminal court proceedings, however, had prevented Epstein from being able to review the specific disappearances of those now known to be McArthurs victims men who were reported missing to police as early as eight years before the killer was apprehended in January 2018. But McArthurs recent guilty plea he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years has made the restrictions placed to protect McArthurs fair trial rights unnecessary, Epstein wrote in a letter to the board after the killers plea, requesting an expanded scope. Citing the expiry of McArthurs appeal period as well as his plea, board chair Andy Pringle recommended the board lift the restrictions. I know that there are many in our community who are closely watching this important work, and awaiting any recommendations that arise, Pringle wrote in a March 14 letter, released this week as part of the board agenda. With the concerns about Mr. McArthurs criminal proceeding no longer applicable, it is time to expand the reviews mandate so that it can independently assess and make recommendations about the very cases that motivated its launch in the first place. Read more: Unlikely to ever be released from prison, Bruce McArthur ineligible for parole until he is 91 Eight men, eight stories: What we know about serial killer Bruce McArthurs victims A timeline of the Bruce McArthur case and the police investigation into the Gay Village killings If granted an broadened scope, Epstein has requested additional time to conduct her review. Instead of the anticipated April 2020 release, the report and its recommendations would be made public by Jan. 31, 2021, Epstein writes in a recent letter to board, noting shell release the report earlier if possible. She also said she will require more funding, an amount to be determined in the coming months. The review has so far been provided a budget of $3 million. McArthur preyed on his victims over a seven-year period before he was arrested in January 2018 and charged in the deaths of two men who went missing from Torontos Gay Village in 2017. Police launched an extensive investigation that ultimately uncovered evidence that linked him to eight deaths dating back to 2010. Three of McArthurs victims Skandaraj (Skanda) Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan went missing between 2010 and 2012 and their disappearances were the subject of Toronto police taskforce dubbed Project Houston. McArthur, who police had linked to all three men in 2013, was interviewed as a witness during the 18-month probe, but no arrests were made and the project winded down in 2014. Two of McArthurs victims were never reported missing to police. In the wake of McArthurs arrest, public concerns arose about why the killer hadnt been caught sooner. A coalition of community advocates has called for a public inquiry into the case, but Ontarios attorney general said last month the province has no plans to call any such review. Haran Vijayanathan, the executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, told the Star last month that his organization supports the ongoing Epstein review. If there are remaining concerns once her review is completed, a public inquiry could still be called, he said. That is the right next step for accountability. Upon completion of Justice Epsteins review, consideration should be given to whether further steps are necessary, including a public inquiry, he said in a statement. Speaking to the board last summer, Epstein said her review will examine whether the handling of missing persons investigations may have been tainted by systemic bias or discrimination and whether procedures and policies in place adequately protect against implicit or explicit bias or discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community or marginalized groups. McArthur was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Navaratnam, Faizi, Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam, Selim Esen, and Andrew Kinsman. The Toronto police board meets Tuesday. JOHANNESBURG - The Latest on Cyclone Idai and the flooding damage to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi (all times local): 7:10 p.m. United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq says the U.N. will ask the international community for money to help victims of Cyclone Idai but at this stage what we want to do is underscore the sheer level of this crisis. He told reporters that this may be one of the worst natural disasters to hit southern Africa in living memory. The cyclone roared ashore overnight into Friday and flood waters are still rising amid torrential rains. Haq says the scale of devastation in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi is not yet known but the amount of money requested will be large. ___ 5:35 p.m. Zimbabwes president says that we do not want to hear that anyone has died of hunger as aid is rushed to remote areas hit hard by a tropical cyclone. President Emmerson Mnangagwa spoke during a visit to eastern Zimbabwe as the countrys death toll rose above 100 and burials continued. The president of neighbouring Mozambique has said more than 200 people are confirmed dead there after the cyclone roared in over the weekend. Zimbabwes military is using helicopters to deliver aid to mountainous areas where roads and bridges have been washed away. Survivors say whole towns have disappeared. ___ 12:55 p.m. Pope Francis is praying for victims of the cyclone-induced flooding in southern Africa and is urging support for those affected. Francis issued an appeal at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday for those affected by the flooding in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi that have killed more than 350 people. Francis said: I express my pain and closeness to those dear people. I entrust the many victims and their families to the mercy of God and urge comfort and support for those who have been struck by this calamity. Aid workers are rushing to rescue victims from treetops after the cyclone unleashed the devastating floods. ___ 12:40 p.m. Mozambique Telecom says some mobile phone service has been restored in the city of Beira after a tropical cyclone knocked out communications over the weekend. The company says in a social media post on Wednesday that efforts continue to restore communications to other affected areas in central Mozambique. Beira is a city of some 500,000 people and much of it has been destroyed. It is the staging area for frantic rescue efforts throughout the badly flooded region. ___ 12:35 p.m. Indias government says three naval ships have been diverted to Mozambiques port city of Beira after much of the city of 500,000 was destroyed by a tropical cyclone. A statement says the ships changed course after a request from Mozambiques government and are providing humanitarian assistance that includes the evacuation of people stranded by rising flood waters. A helicopter from one ship also is operating. The Indian statement also says the naval ships are expected to set up medical camps and provide food and other badly needed supplies. ___ 12:25 p.m. More humanitarian aid is being pledged for the three southern African countries badly hit by a tropical cyclone that has killed hundreds of people. The Emirates News Agency cites the Emirates Red Crescent as saying that the United Arab Emirates will provide 18.3 million dirhams ($4.9 million) to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa told survivors that a planeload of aid from the UAE is expected to arrive in the capital, Harare, later Wednesday. And the chairman of the African Union Commission says the continental body will provide $350,000 in immediate support to the countries. ___ Zimbabwe is retrieving and burying bodies Wednesday as Mozambique begins three days of national mourning for victims of Cyclone Idai. The death toll is rising in both countries, but the full number of those killed and damage done will only be known when torrential floodwaters recede. Persistent rains are forecast through Thursday so it will be days before the plains of Mozambique drain toward the Indian Ocean. Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa is to visit on Wednesday the hard-hit mountain community of Chimanimani on the eastern border with Mozambique. Some 300 people may have died in Zimbabwe as a result of the cyclone, say officials. Mozambican officials say its death toll is 200 and rising. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said earlier this week he expects fatalities to be more than 1,000. MEXICO CITY - Press groups are condemning the weekend slaying of a Honduran television journalist. The InterAmerican Press Association says Gabriel Hernandez was shot to death Sunday in the southern province of Valle. The 54-yer-old Hernandez hosted the The People Speak program on Canal Valle TV and he frequently criticized local government and local politicians. He also reported for the Radio Globo station. Hernandez reportedly had asked for protection because of threats against him, but the request was not granted. MANILA, Philippines - Philippine authorities said Wednesday that they have seized methamphetamine concealed in tea wrappers and biscuit cans in their second-largest drug haul this year in a sign of how the problem has persisted despite the presidents bloody anti-drug crackdown. Three Chinese nationals and a Chinese-Filipino interpreter were arrested late Tuesday in buy-bust raids in an upscale residential enclave and outside a shopping mall in Alabang village in the Manila metropolis, said Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino. The drugs, with a street value of 1.1 billion pesos ($20.7 million), were concealed similarly to seizures in Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, indicating an international drug syndicate was behind the trafficking, Aquino said. Last month, anti-narcotics agents raided a house in Tanza town in Cavite province south of Manila, killing two suspected Chinese drug dealers in a gunbattle and seizing 1.9 billion pesos ($36 million) worth of methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant locally known as shabu, Aquino said. Aquino has called for the return of the death penalty in the Philippines for drug traffickers, better security along the archipelagos extensive coastlines and more extensive databases of foreign drug suspects for the immigration bureau to deter drug trafficking. Corruption also fosters the drug menace, he said. There are those who have been detained for drug offences, for example, in China but they could still enter our country. We have arrested many of those identified foreign offenders here, Aquino told The Associated Press by telephone. The Chinese will never stop putting up drug laboratories because, firstly, there is no death penalty, and secondly, they can buy anybody, Aquino said. They can buy judges, they can buy prosecutors and eventually they can go home safely. Aquino has also sought legislation to make it easier to criminally charge owners of plush residences, condominium units and buildings, where he said drug traffickers have shifted their bases from more public areas and rural warehouses that have been raided by law enforcers. Tuesdays drug raid targeted a house that the Chinese suspects rented in posh part of Alabang village where prominent lawmakers, politicians and business executives live under tighter security. President Rodrigo Duterte has elevated drugs to a national security concern and launched a crackdown that has killed more than 5,000 mostly poor drug suspects in reported clashes with the police since he took office in mid-2016. The killings have alarmed Western governments, U.N. human rights experts and rights groups and sparked two complaints for crimes against humanity which are being examined by the International Criminal Court. Dutertes move to withdraw the Philippines from the tribunal supposedly took effect on Sunday, but its prosecutor said she would continue examining the complaints. Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings but has openly threatened drug traffickers with death. Last week, he drew fresh criticisms when he publicly named 46 government officials, including three congressmen, he alleged were involved in illegal drugs but have not been criminally charged. Critics have warned him against making such public announcements without solid evidence but Duterte said he trusted the government agencies that provided the information. Several of the politicians he named denied they were involved in the drug trade. HONG KONGOut of the darkness appeared a snout. Fei zhu! Fat pig! 8-year-old Shino Chen shouted to her younger brother as she jumped up and down and pointed at a wild boar. The hairy black pig, which must have weighed at least 150 pounds, grunted and snuffled through a flimsy, old fence along the sidewalk. The children tiptoed toward the animal then sprinted back to their fathers side. Kenneth Chen, 44, and his children visit the boars almost every night. All they have to do is step out of their apartment here in the neighbourhood of Tai Wai, located on the fringes of an ever-expanding metropolis. I bring my kids to see a natural habitat because they seldom get to see live animals in Hong Kong, Chen said. Hong Kongs 7.4 million residents spend most of their days rushing between highrises, metro stations, tiny apartments and air-conditioned offices. People occupy less than a quarter of the 426-square-mile region, making its urban core one of the most densely populated places in the world. The rest of Hong Kong belongs to monkeys, snakes, porcupines, boars and other wildlife. The city is a concrete jungle in the middle of an actual jungle. Now, as urban areas sprawl into the surrounding hills, Hong Kong is struggling to contain a wild boar problem. The pigs are everywhere: sprinting down the highway, digging into dumpsters, falling through the ceiling of a childrens clothing store, sauntering into metro stations, taking over barbecues, confronting police at the airport, even swimming across the balmy bays of Hong Kong Island. No one has conducted a census to determine the actual number of wild boars in Hong Kong. But encounters reported to local authorities have more than doubled in the last five years, from 294 in 2013 to 679 in the first 10 months of 2018 alone. There have also been injuries: A 70-year-old man was hospitalized last week after he threw a stone at a wild boar and the animal retaliated by biting him. The classic solution for boar overpopulation in most places is hunting. Hong Kong once licensed hunters to kill boars, especially in rural areas where farmers often complained about the animals uprooting their crops. Boars have also provoked anger for lurking around cemeteries, waiting to eat food that people leave on graves to honour deceased relatives in accordance with Chinese tradition. But Hong Kongs government suspended boar hunting in 2017 in response to an outcry by animal rights activists. Roni Wong, the 35-year-old founder of the Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group, has spearheaded public confrontations with hunters, shouting at them to desist from harming the pigs. It is very cruel, not civilized behaviour to do that, Wong explained. He says that humans and boars can peacefully coexist as long as people follow a few basic rules: We always educate the public, dont feed the wild boars or make them angry. Just leave them and they wont attack. On the other side of the debate are activists who say defenders of the boars are naive. They actually have absolutely no idea how dangerous these animals are, said Wesley Ho, spokesman for Feral Pig Hong Kong, a group formed last year to demand stronger action against the pigs. Killing boars isnt wrong when its necessary for protection, he said. They may not attack 100 times, but the 101st time, they could, and those attacks could be fatal, Ho said. No matter what, human lives are the most precious thing. They come first in any case. He said many Hong Kongers are afraid to go camping or have picnics, because gluttonous boars are encroaching on human space and stealing food. Looking at them, theyre so fat, he said. How hungry can they be? Searching for a compromise, politicians have suggested different tactics for the boar problem, including introducing natural predators into Hong Kong or sending the boars to nearby islands. But wild boars are strong swimmers, and their predators tigers and wolves, among other carnivores wouldnt exactly fit the urban landscape either. For now, the citys solution is birth control. A team of veterinarians recently launched a two-year pilot sterilization program that starts with tracking down boars and shooting them with tranquilizer darts. It takes 15 minutes for the darts to kick in, giving the hogs ample time to freak out before they collapse. Sometimes its in the middle of the city centre, like a big pig in a small area and its very challenging, said Karthi Martelli, one of the vets. Then the females are injected with a three-year contraceptive and, along with the males, released back into Hong Kongs country parks. Its not a perfect system, Martelli acknowledged. But so far nobody has invented a more humane option. Can you imagine caging a (330-pound) wild boar? she said. They have tusks. There is no real cage that can hold them for a few days. So we need to come up with a method of sterilization thats minimally invasive. The biggest problem in Hong Kong is not that boars or humans are hurting each other, she said, but that too many people find the pigs adorable and decide to feed them. It doesnt help that 2019 is the Chinese Year of the Pig and that some consider boar sightings a sign of good luck and prosperity. It was really cute once upon a time, but I mean, wild pigs running loose in a city centre is not very exciting anymore, Martelli said. Her husband, Paolo Martelli, who is also a veterinarian, pointed out that the invading species is the human, not the boar. Theyve always been here, he said. Now the boars are eating more, reproducing more, and living an unhealthy urbanized life, Karthi Martelli added: Its a man-made problem but the pigs are paying the price. Her advice: The best way of protecting animal and human alike is to disengage. But that is becoming harder as development presses into the wild lands. With more people moving to Hong Kong from other parts of China, developers built 21,000 new homes last year, the most in 14 years. Many were in the New Territories, a largely rural area that stretches north to mainland China. New train routes are also under construction, carving deeper into areas once inhabited only by wildlife. Tai Wai, which is in the New Territories, was a farming village until the late 1970s. There are signs warning people not to bother the animals, but not everybody obeys. As the Chen family marvelled at one boar, another local resident, 36-year-old Wai-ling Tang, came walking down the street when she was startled by another boar wiggling toward the fence, which was only about 50 feet long and had a boar-sized hole at the bottom. Tang gasped and jumped to the side, arcing wide around the sidewalk. Theyre too close, Tang said. They should move back up the mountain. The boars seemed to be getting bolder every day, at times wandering into the road. It didnt help that her husband occasionally fed them cheap apples from the supermarket. Tang was not happy about that. He treats the pigs better than he treats me! she said. Read more about: NEW DELHI - An Indian court on Wednesday acquitted four Hindus charged with triggering explosions on a train heading to Indias border with Pakistan 12 years ago, killing 68 people, mostly Pakistani citizens. Defence attorney Mukesh Garg said the court in the northern Indian town of Mohali ruled that investigators failed to conclusively prove that the accused were guilty. Two coaches of the Samjhauta Express, or Friendship Express, were engulfed in flames after the blasts in 2007 outside Dewana, a train station near New Delhi. The train was travelling from New Delhi to Atari, the last station before the Pakistan border. At Atari, passengers switch to a Pakistani train. Pakistan had been pressing India to expedite the trial. Indias National Investigation Agency filed charges of criminal conspiracy to murder against the defendants in 2011. Pakistan summoned Indias ambassador to protest Wednesdays acquittal. In a statement, Pakistan called it a travesty of justice that reflected an Indian state policy of promoting and protecting Hindu terrorists. BEIJING - The Philippine foreign secretary heaped praise on Chinas ruling Communist Party during a visit to Beijing on Wednesday, underscoring the growing distance between the Philippines and its ally partner the United States as Chinas regional political and economic influence rises. Teodoro Locsin said that Chinas authoritarian one-party system has provided opportunities for developing economies to grow and given them momentum for improvement that Western democracies currently lack. Without the new China there will be no prospect whatsoever for the developing world to grow into emerging economies, Locsin said. We would still be as we were throughout the second half of the last century. We were at the mercy of Western markets which on a whim can turn us away as they did throughout the post- and neo-colonial period. Locsin said the Chinese Communist Party is supplying direction that no other institution anywhere in the world could. The secretarys remarks reflected sentiment in the Cabinet of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has frequently praised China and criticized his countys long-standing alliance with the U.S. Earlier this month, the Philippine defence secretary said his countrys defence treaty with the U.S. needs to be re-examined, bringing expressions of concern from Washington. The newfound goodwill comes despite the fact that China and the Philippines have competing claims to territory in the economically and strategically crucial South China Sea. The Philippines has been successful at international arbitration to contest Chinas claim to virtually the entire crucial waterway, but Beijing has ignored the ruling. Speaking at the same occasion Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi ignored concerns over such disputes, calling China and the Philippines friendly brothers and trusty friends. The co-operation between the two countries ... brings more benefits to the people from two countries. It also contributes to the peace and stability of the region, Wang said. TOKYO - Japanese police arrested an American man on Wednesday on suspicion of fatally stabbing his Japanese wife at a court where they were to settle a divorce, officials and media reports said. The man, identified only as a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, stabbed the woman in the neck near a security check at the entrance to Tokyo Family Court, police said. The suspects name was not released due to concern about his mental condition and his motive was not known, police said. The victim, identified as Kyoko Wilson, 31, was taken to a hospital but later died, police said. Television video showed police and court guards scrambling to cover the crime scene with a blue tarp. An aerial view showed the man after he had apparently fled being caught in a nearby park, where he was seen lying on the ground surrounded by police. The suspect had three knives and police believe he ambushed the woman when she walked into the building, NHK public television reported. ATHENS, Greece - In March 2016, European governments breathed a sigh of relief as the European Union reached a deal with Turkey designed to stop hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants heading into the heart of Europe. For many of those who had fled war, hunger and poverty hoping for a bright future on the continent, the deal shattered their dreams. Three years on, here is a look back at the agreement and the effect its had on migration. WHAT DID THE EU-TURKEY DEAL SAY? One of the main provisions of the deal, which came into effect on March 20, 2016, was that all those arriving on Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast the preferred route at the time would be detained and returned to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece. They wouldnt be able to move on to the Greek mainland, from where hundreds of thousands before them had made their way through the Balkans and on to central and northern Europe. However, the deportations didnt go as planned. Instead of waiting to apply for asylum in their preferred European country, new arrivals applied as soon as they arrived on the islands, which delayed deportations and created a massive backlog in Greeces asylum system. In practice, actual deportations have been very few and far between. DID THE AGREEMENT WORK? On a very basic level of reducing the number of asylum-seekers heading to other European countries, the deal was very effective. More than 1.2 million people registered for asylum in EU member states in 2015 and again in 2016, at the height of the crisis. That number fell by half the following year, with just over 654,000 new asylum applications in 2017 and even fewer just over 580,000 in 2018, according to the EUs statistics office Eurostat. Germany continues to be the most popular country for those seeking refugee status, followed by France and Greece. The main countries of origin of the applicants are Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. But the reduction in numbers has come at a cost. Aid groups have repeatedly slammed the deal as inhumane, noting it has left thousands stranded in miserable conditions. On the eve of its third anniversary, 25 human rights, medical aid and volunteer groups signed an open letter calling on European leaders to take immediate and sustained action to end the unfair and unnecessary containment policy. It has also not completely stopped arrivals on Greek islands, although the numbers are far lower than the thousands per day in 2015 and early 2016. WHAT IS THE SITUATION ON THE ISLANDS? The stipulation of new arrivals being held on the islands has left thousands languishing in crammed camps. Samos island has seen the worst overcrowding, with around 4,000 people vying for space in a camp with a capacity of 648. The largest camp in the eastern Aegean, Moria on the island of Lesbos which holds more than 4,800 people in facilities designed for 3,100, has come under the severest criticism from rights groups and even local officials over poor living and security conditions. Greek authorities note that the terms of the EU-Turkey agreement prevent them from moving people off the islands en masse. Instead, they have tried to ease overcrowding by sending to the mainland those designated as vulnerable such as the sick or very elderly, families with young children or single parent families. But with dozens, sometimes hundreds, arriving each week, that hasnt been enough to definitively deal with the problem. As of Monday night, a total of 14,742 people were being held on the islands, most of them on Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos. Greece has become a dumping ground for the men, women and children that the European Union has failed to protect, Emmanuel Goue of the Doctors Without Borders medical aid group said in a statement on the third anniversary of the EU-Turkey deal. What was once touted as a refugee emergency has given way to inexcusable levels of human suffering across the Greek islands and on mainland Greece, Goue said. The EU and Greek authorities continue to rob vulnerable people of their dignity and health, seemingly in an effort to deter others from coming. This policy is cruel, inhumane and cynical, and it needs to end. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF EUROPE? The increased difficulty heading into Europe from the Greek islands meant migrants and refugees soon sought out alternative routes to get into the EU. With more than 57,000 unauthorized arrivals by sea in 2018, Spain became the No. 1 route to the EU by sea. The figure was more than double the number of arrivals in 2017 at 21,000. NGOs and the Spanish government itself blamed the increase on the EU-Turkey deal and on later agreements with Libya which essentially shut down the central Mediterranean route which had seen boats head from Libya to Italy. There has, however, been a sharp decrease in the number of arrivals by sea in Spain in late 2018 and the first three months of this year. More people are also dying. According to the International Organization for Migration, around 2,300 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year, almost double the year before. Nearly one third of them perished in the so-called Western Mediterranean, which links the northwestern African coast with European coasts in Spain. ____ Aritz Parra in Madrid, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, contributed to this report. BRUSSELS - The main centre-right alliance in the European Unions parliament refrained from expelling Hungarys ruling party Wednesday, opting instead to suspend Fidesz following a long dispute over its values and policies. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sought to put on a brave face after his partys suspension from the European Peoples Party grouping, arguing that at least EPP remained united ahead of May 23-26 European Parliament elections. The EPP made a good decision because it maintained unity, said Orban, who attended the meeting where the action took place. We made a good decision, as no roads were closed. After the elections, Fidesz and the EPP can both decide freely about our relationship. EPP leader Manfred Weber said Fidesz can no longer propose candidates for posts in the group and said they cannot vote on issues or join major group meetings as long as the suspension lasts. The EPP was very clear and united ... that the suspension is needed, Weber said. It was a very hard decision. Orban said Fidesz had itself proposed the measures approved Wednesday by the EPP and repeated his claim that his party would have abandoned the alliance if it would have made any disrespectful decisions about the Hungarian party. In my right hand during the meeting, I had the letter where it was already stated that we would leave, Orban said. So, if we would have not had this compromise proposal, I would have left the EPP today. An evaluation commission led by former EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy will now follow developments within Hungary, where the Fidesz party controls the government, to see when and if the suspension can be lifted. We will now campaign for the victory of the EPP, said Orban, but added that after the elections, we will have to see how we will position ourselves. Orbans authoritarian style and anti-European Union, anti-migration policies have long put him at odds with many members of the alliance, and he made it clear after the meeting that he did was not planning major changes. We are committed to a strong European Union ... and we cant imagine any change in issue of migration, Orban said. Neither can we imagine a compromise in the protection of European Christianity, of Christian values and culture. EPP member parties from 12 countries called for Fideszs suspension or ouster, deeming Orbans views and policies incompatible with Christian Democratic values. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the new leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union, said that freezing Fideszs membership would be a feasible route and it was confirmed by Weber hours later As long as Fidesz has not fully restored confidence, normal full membership cant remain in place, Kramp-Karrenbauer said, according to German news agency dpa. The Fidesz-led Hungarian government last week ended a campaign targeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also part of the EPP, and Orban sent letters apologizing for describing as useful idiots those in the EPP advocating for his partys expulsion. Orban also showed a greater willingness to compromise on a third condition set by EPP parliamentary leader Manfred Weber for Fidesz to stay in the alliance letting the Central European University, founded by Hungarian-American financier George Soros, keep all of its activities in Budapest. CEU says it soon will be moving its U.S.-accredited programs to Vienna because the Hungarian government has refused to sign agreements needed for them to stay in the Hungarian capital. The state of Bavaria, home to Weber, has offered to finance two professorships at the CEU via Munichs Technical University at Webers encouragement. After the EPP meeting, CEU reiterated its position that it still needs legal guarantees from the Hungarian government about its activities in Budapest. These developments do not change CEUs plans in relation to Vienna, CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff said. The university will establish a campus in Vienna to begin operations in September 2019. ___ Gorondi reported from Budapest. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. EVANSVILLE, Ind., March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana South (Vectren), a CenterPoint Energy company, announced it has received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to build a 50-megawatt (MW) universal solar array in eastern Spencer County as part of Vectrens long-term electric generation transition plan. The solar farm will be located near Troy, Ind., on approximately 300 acres and will consist of about 150,000 solar panels. Todays approval marks the next step toward Vectrens carbon reduction plan of lowering carbon emissions by 60% over 2005 levels by 2024. We are pleased to receive authorization from the IURC as the final step in the process to adding more solar electric generation to our portfolio, said Lynnae Wilson, chief business officer, Indiana electric. This significant renewable resource, a key piece of Vectrens Smart Energy Future vision, will be among the largest single-sited solar farms in the state and will serve Vectren customers for decades to come. Vectrens 4 MW of solar generation already in service and this planned facility, which should be fully operational in the fall of 2020, are expected to generate enough power to meet the needs of more than 12,000 households per year. When including Vectrens 80 MW of wind power purchased through contracts with the Benton County and Fowler Ridge wind farms and its 3.2-MW landfill gas facility in Pike County, there will be enough renewable energy in Vectrens portfolio to power more than 35,000 homes. In October, Vectren reached an agreement with the Indiana Offices of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) and the Citizens Action Coalition to create a customer-friendly rate mechanism that maximizes the available tax incentives associated with solar projects and spreads all costs evenly over a 35-year period. Construction to support the solar farm is expected to begin later this year. First Solar, a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) solar systems, will build the solar farm. Vectren worked with Orion Renewable Power Resources LLC, a joint venture between Orion Renewable Energy Group and MAP Renewable Energy, to select, secure and develop the property. This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news release regarding future events, such as CenterPoint Energys expected decreases in carbon emissions and the timing of such decreases, the anticipated timing of completion of the project and any other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news release speaks only as of the date of this release. Factors that could affect actual results include timing and impact of future regulatory and legislative decisions, weather variations, changes in business plans and other factors discussed in CenterPoint Energys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About CenterPoint Energy Headquartered in Houston, Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is an energy delivery company with regulated utility businesses in eight states and a competitive energy businesses footprint in nearly 40 states. Through its electric transmission & distribution, power generation and natural gas distribution businesses, the company serves more than 7 million metered customers primarily in Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. CenterPoint Energys competitive energy businesses include natural gas marketing and energy-related services; energy efficiency, sustainability and infrastructure modernization solutions; and construction and repair services for pipeline systems, primarily natural gas. The company also owns 54.0 percent of the common units representing limited partner interests in Enable Midstream Partners, LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops strategically located natural gas and crude oil infrastructure assets. With approximately 14,000 employees and nearly $29 billion in assets, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit CenterPointEnergy.com. BUDAPEST, Hungary - The Latest on the dispute between the European Parliaments centre-right EPP alliance and its Hungarys Fidesz party (all times local): 7:10 p.m. Manfred Weber, leader of centre-right EPP alliance in European Parliament, says Viktor Orbans Fidesz party has been suspended from the grouping. After daylong discussions among members in the European Parliaments biggest alliance, Weber said Fidesz can no longer propose candidates for posts in the group and said they cannot vote on issues or join major group meetings. It was a very hard discussion, said Weber, adding that Orban was at the meeting in person. The message was crystal clear, he said The EPP was very clear and united ... that the suspension is needed. An evaluation commission led by former EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy will now follow developments within the Fidesz party. ___ 12:40 p.m. A senior lawmaker from Germany Chancellor Angela Merkels party says Hungarys ruling Fidesz party may be suspended from the main centre-right bloc in the European Parliament. Prime Minister Viktor Orbans authoritarian style and anti-European Union, anti-migration policies have long put him at odds with many members of the European Peoples Party, whose delegates are meeting Wednesday to debate possible disciplinary measures against Fidesz. Inge Graessle, an EU parliament lawmaker from Merkels Christian Democratic Union, told Germanys SWR2 radio that she believes the EPP will temporarily suspend his membership today that is the step before expulsion and then he can choose how he wants to continue. Graessle said Orban, who had led Fidesz practically unchallenged since the early 1990s, has to show credibly that he will change. BERLIN - The Latest on Britains departure from the European Union (all times local): 9:45 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says she has great personal regret that the U.K. wont leave European Union with a deal next week and its time for her countrys lawmakers to decide what they want to do about Brexit. In an address to the nation late Wednesday, May outlined three choices she said remain for Parliament: approving her deal with the EU, going forward with a no-deal Brexit on March 29 or not leaving the EU. May asked the EU on Wednesday to postpone the U.K.s departure until June 30. She says she will not allow a much longer delay while she is leading the British government. The leaders of the remaining member countries could consider her request at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. European Commission President Donald Tusk, the summits host, said Wednesday a short extension is possible on the condition that Parliament approves the Brexit deal it has rejected twice. ___ 6:40 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to make a televised statement after asking the European Union to delay Brexit. With British politicians deadlocked, May has asked the EU to postpone the U.K.s departure from the scheduled date of March 29 until June 30. The EU says it will only agree to a delay if Parliament approves Mays divorce deal with the bloc, which lawmakers have already rejected twice. May says she is determined to try a third time. Mays Downing St. office would not confirm reports she planned to speak to the nation on Wednesday evening. But Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said I understand that shes going to speak to the country tonight. May has made such statements at key moments in the Brexit process to underscore her commitment to taking Britain out of the EU. ___ 6:30 p.m. The European Parliaments chief Brexit official says Wednesdays developments over Britains looming departure from the EU mean theres only one way British Prime Minister Theresa May can get a short extension to the countrys scheduled date of departure getting a cross-party majority of lawmakers to back her withdrawal agreement with the EU. Guy Verhofstadt said Donald Tusk, the European Council president who will chair Thursdays summit of EU leaders in Brussels, made it clear that the only relevant question now is if Prime Minister May can muster a cross-party majority by next week. Following two heavy defeats in Parliament for her deal, May faces an uphill struggle to get it through. That raises the prospect that the country could crash out of the EU on March 29 without a deal. Verhofstadt has long-said there could not be an extension of the March 29 date, unless there was a well-founded reason for it. The European Parliament also needs to approve the Brexit divorce deal. ___ 5:15 p.m. European Union chief Donald Tusk says the EU will agree to a short Brexit delay on the condition that U.K. lawmakers approve a divorce agreement theyve rejected twice. Tusk said Wednesday that a short extension will be possible, but it will be conditional on a positive vote in the U.K. parliament on the Brexit agreement British Prime Minister Theresa May reached with the EU. The European Council president says Mays petition for a withdrawal date of June 30 instead of March 29 poses legal and political issues since elections for the EU Parliament are being held May 23-26. He stressed that the existing Brexit deal wont be reopened, though says he doesnt see a problem with Mays March 11 agreement with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that provided some extra guarantees. Tusk is set to chair a summit of EU nation leaders on Thursday. ___ 4:40 p.m. Frances foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has set three criteria that Britain must meet if British Prime Minister Theresa May is to be granted a Brexit extension. Speaking at the National Assembly ahead of the meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday where Mays request for an extension to the countrys departure date from March 29 to June 30 will be discussed, Le Drian warned that the country would likely crash out of the bloc without a deal if the conditions are not met. He said that the May must convince leaders that the purpose of the delay is to finalize the ratification of the deal already negotiated and that the deal agreed last November wont be renegotiated. He also said that the short delay request has to be conditioned on the U.K. not participating in the European parliamentary elections from May 23-26. ___ 3:25 p.m. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says his country is ready to approve Britains request for a delay to its scheduled departure from the European Union. According to Czech public radio, Babis told lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament a no-deal Brexit would be the worst possible outcome and that the best solution would be a second referendum in Britain whose result would keep Britain in the EU. He said that voters in the Brexit referendum of June 2016 when Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU, were influenced by disinformation. ___ 3:05 p.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkels spokesman is welcoming the fact that Britain has finally made a clear request about how to proceed on Brexit, but isnt saying how Germany will respond. British Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the EU for Britains departure to be delayed from March 29 to June 30, but said she wasnt prepared to delay Brexit any further. A delay will need approval from all 27 other EU leaders, and they are meeting at a summit in Brussels starting Thursday. Merkels spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin: We welcome the fact that there is now a clear request from Britain. Seibert said that the request will certainly be discussed intensively at the summit, but wouldnt offer an opinion ahead of the talks. He said Germany remains convinced that a no-deal Brexit would be in no ones interest. ___ 2:55 p.m. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, says Britain should leave the EU by the start of elections to the European Parliament on May 23 if the country is not taking part. Thats earlier than the request British Prime Minister Theresa May has made. In a letter to the EU, May wants EU leaders to back an extension to the Brexit date from March 29 to June 30. An EU Commission official said Juncker told May in a telephone call that the withdrawal has to be complete before May 23, the first day of the European elections. The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that if the deadline comes later Juncker warned May that we face institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty. He insisted EU elections would have to be held in Britain if a June 30 date was asked for. The 27 EU nations meeting in a summit Thursday need to back an extension to the deadline unanimously. ___ By Raf Casert in Brussels. ___ 2:30 p.m. French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux says a delay to Britains scheduled departure from the European Union can be considered but only on condition that British Prime Minister Theresa May provides guarantees. Speaking following a weekly Cabinet meeting, Griveaux said May must express to EU leaders in Brussels at a summit on Thursday what purpose lies behind her delay request. We cannot speculate on any scenario, he said. Earlier, May formally, via a letter, asked the EU to delay the scheduled Brexit date from March 29, until June 30 following Parliaments failure to vote for the withdrawal agreement that she negotiated with the bloc. ___ 1:15 p.m. Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the European Union to delay Britains departure from the European Union until June 30. The U.K. is currently due to leave the bloc in nine days, but Parliament has twice rejected Mays divorce deal with the EU. May told European Council President Donald Tusk in a letter seeking the extension that she intends to try a third time to get the deal approved. A delay to Brexit needs approval from all 27 remaining EU member states, who are meeting in Brussels on Thursday. ___ 9:55 a.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to ask the European Union for a short delay to the countrys divorce from the European Union. Britains Press Association is citing sources in the prime ministers office as saying May will write to EU leaders on Wednesday to formally request a bit more time. Parliament last week voted for a three-month delay to the end of June, but some EU leaders have suggested another two years might be necessary. Education Secretary Damian Hinds told the BBC on Wednesday that a shorter delay is the right option. Hinds says the process has already gone on for more than two years, and I think people are a bit tired of waiting for Parliament to get our act together and get the deal passed. ___ 9 a.m. The head of the European Unions executive branch says a decision on a delay to Brexit is unlikely at this weeks EU summit and the blocs leaders may have to meet again next week. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit, currently scheduled for March 29, ahead of an EU summit starting Thursday. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that he hadnt received a letter as of Wednesday morning. Juncker told Germanys Deutschlandfunk radio: My impression is ... that this week at the European Council there will be no decision, but that we will probably have to meet again next week. He added that Mrs. May doesnt have agreement to anything, either in her Cabinet or in Parliament. ___ Follow APs full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday lauded the White Houses warm ties with Israel during a visit to the country and promised to step up pressure on Iran, giving a public boost to Israels prime minister at the height of a tight re-election campaign. The White House meanwhile announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be welcomed in Washington over two days next week with Israel just two weeks from the April 9 polls. Standing together, neither Netanyahu nor Pompeo made mention of the heated Israeli election campaign. But Netanyahu, facing a tough challenge from a popular former military chief and reeling from a series of corruption allegations , has repeatedly sought to focus attention on his foreign policy record and strong ties with President Donald Trump. Netanyahu thanked Pompeo for the Trump administrations strong stance against Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat. The prime minister also accused Iran of attempting to set up a terrorist network to target Israel from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967. He used the incident to repeat his goal of international recognition for Israels claim on the area. You could imagine what would have happened if Israel were not in the Golan, he said. You would have Iran on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah, in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Pompeo did not mention the issue, but the administration is considering recognizing Israels sovereignty over the Golan. Last week, in its annual human rights report, the State Department dropped the phrase Israeli-occupied from the Golan Heights section, instead calling it Israeli-controlled. Israeli and U.S. officials say they expect an announcement on U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan could come as early as Netanyahus visit to Washington next week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been made public. While Pompeo avoided the issue of sovereignty over the Golan, he touted last months Mideast conference in Poland , where he said dozens of countries discussed ways to stop Irans regional rampage. Accusing Iranian leaders of seeking the annihilation and destruction of Israel, he pledged continued American support. With such threats a daily reality of Israeli life, we maintain our unparalleled commitment to Israels security and firmly support your right to defend yourself, he said. Netanyahu considers Iran to be Israels greatest threat. In recent years, Israel has carried out many airstrikes in Syria to halt what it says are Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah militant group, and to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in the country. Iranian and Hezbollah forces have been supporting Syrian President Bashar Assads troops since the early days of the eight-year civil war. Netanyahu said he was working closely with the U.S. to roll back Iranian aggression in the region and around the world. There is no limitation to our freedom of action and we appreciate very much the fact that the United States backs up our actions, he said. He also welcomed last years U.S. withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Iran, as well as tough U.S. sanctions that were re-imposed on the country. This pressure is working, he said. We need to increase it. We need to expand it. Netanyahu is one of Trumps strongest backers on the global stage. Since taking office, Trump has upended U.S. policy and taken a series of steps welcomed by Israel, most notably by recognizing contested Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. The step prompted the Palestinians to sever ties with the White House. Trump also has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians and shuttered the Palestinians de facto embassy in Washington. The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected a peace plan the White House is said to be preparing, saying that the Trump administration is unfairly biased toward Israel. The White House said Netanyahu would be welcomed next Monday and Tuesday with both a working meeting and a dinner with Trump. Netanyahu said he was looking forward to making the relationship even stronger during the visit. Pompeo arrived in Jerusalem after a stop in Kuwait, where he renewed calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between Qatar and four other Arab nations, all of them Americas partners in the Middle East. Kuwait has been attempting to mediate an end to the crisis. Pompeo said the dispute, which has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years, is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations. In Israel, Pompeo also attended a summit of Mediterranean natural gas producers Israel, Cyprus and Greece. From Israel, he is to travel to Lebanon. ___ Associated Press writer Josef Federman contributed to this report. JERUSALEM - The Latest on Secretary of State Mike Pompeos visit to the Middle East (all times local): 6:30 p.m. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given Israels leader a welcome boost at the height of a tight re-election campaign. Pompeo appeared alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, praising the warm ties between Israel and the U.S. and voicing tough words against Israels arch-enemy, Iran. Pompeo touted last months Mideast conference in Warsaw, where he said dozens of countries discussed ways to stop Irans regional rampage. Pompeo arrived as the White House announced that it will host Netanyahu over two days next week. Netanyahu praised the U.S. stance against Iran and said he expects to discuss ways to take even tougher action against Iran during his talks with President Donald Trump next week. ___ Noon U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is renewing calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between Qatar and four other Arab nations, all Americas Mideast partners. On a visit to Kuwait, Pompeo says the crisis that has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, the Islamic State group and others. Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began a boycott of Qatar in June 2017, alleging that Qatar funds extremists and has too-cozy ties to Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists, but Doha shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran. Pompeo is in Kuwait on the first leg of a Mideast tour that will take him next to Israel and Lebanon. KEENE, N.H. - Democrat Beto ORourke is calling for an end to what he sees as racist voter ID laws during his first presidential campaign stop in New Hampshire. Speaking at Keene State College on Tuesday, the former Texas congressman also called for expanding same-day voter registration, as well as federal oversight of the voting system. He says, We have kept too many people out for too long. Republicans have pursued voter ID laws aimed at preventing in-person voter fraud, including by people in the country illegally. Many experts say such voter fraud is extremely rare, and critics contend the efforts are meant to suppress turnout from groups who tend to back Democrats, including racial minorities and college students. ORourke plans to campaign in all 10 of New Hampshires counties over two days. Reports from thousands of women that breast implants are causing problems like debilitating joint pain and fatigue, claims long dismissed by the medical profession, are receiving new attention from the Food and Drug Administration and researchers. This may be a long-awaited moment of validation for tens of thousands of women who have been brushed off as neurotic, looking to cash in on lawsuits or just victims of chance who coincidentally became ill while having implants. The FDA has begun to re-examine questions about implant safety that have long been disputed by doctors and implant manufacturers, and that most consumers thought had been resolved a decade or so ago. Millions of women have implants, which are silicone sacs filled with either salt water or silicone gel, used to enlarge the breasts cosmetically or to rebuild them after a mastectomy for breast cancer. On Tuesday, the agency warned two makers of breast implants that they had failed to conduct adequate long-term studies of the devices effects on womens health. Those studies were mandated as a condition of approving the implants, and the agency cautioned that the devices could be taken off the market if the research wasnt properly carried out. The agency also issued a statement Friday that applied to a broad array of medical devices, acknowledging that implanted devices may make some people sick. A growing body of evidence suggests that a small number of patients may have biological responses to certain types of materials in implantable or insertable devices, the agency said. Those effects can include inflammatory reactions and tissue changes causing pain and other symptoms that may interfere with their quality of life. Read more: More provinces warning cancer risk of textured breast implants My entire body was shutting down. Breast implant recipients say doctors gloss over risks Breast-implant-related complications, including cancer, kept secret thanks to broken reporting system The FDA said it was gathering information to fill information gaps in the science to further our understanding of medical device materials and improve the safety of devices for patients. Silicone, used in implants, is one of the materials under scrutiny. And next week, the agency will hold a two-day meeting about breast implants, hearing from researchers, patient advocacy groups and manufacturers. One problem to be discussed is an uncommon cancer of the immune system called anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which has been detected so far in 457 women with breast implants, according to the FDA. Removing the implants usually eliminates the disease, but some women have also needed chemotherapy, and 17 deaths from the cancer have been reported worldwide. Nearly all the lymphoma cases have occurred in women who had implants with a textured surface, rather than a smooth one. Textured implants made by Allergan, a major manufacturer, were taken off the market in Europe in December. Smooth implants are used more often than textured ones in the United States. The new warnings are of potential concern to millions of women with implants. About 400,000 women in the United States get breast implants every year, including 300,000 for cosmetic reasons and 100,000 for reconstruction after mastectomies performed to treat or prevent breast cancer. Worldwide, about 10 million women have breast implants. The FDAs new focus on implants is a testament to the power of patient activism in the age of social media, as sick women frustrated by their doctors lack of answers sought information online, found other patients with similar complaints and banded together to demand regulatory action. One Facebook group, has nearly 70,000 members, according to its founder, Nicole Daruda, a Vancouver Island, British Columbia, woman who felt well when she got implants in 2005 for reconstruction after cancer surgery, but soon became so ill she had to stop working. Daruda had them removed in 2013, and said most, but not all, of her symptoms have lessened. Another patient activist, Jamee Cook, now 41, had implant surgery for cosmetic reasons when she was 21. Over the next few years she developed so many health problems, including fatigue, memory lapses, migraines and numbness in her hands, that she had to quit her job as a paramedic. After having the implants removed in 2015, she said, her health has improved. Though she still has some bad days, Cook said, Its been like a 180. Silicone-filled breast implants were first marketed in the United States in the 1960s. Over the next few decades, reports of illness emerged. In 1992, silicone implants were banned, except for reconstruction after mastectomy or to replace a previous implant, and then only in clinical trials. A flood of lawsuits followed. Studies conducted afterward generally found no link to connective tissue disease, but a few did suggest a connection. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine, then part of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded that overall, there was no evidence that breast implants caused connective tissue disease, cancer, immune disorders or other ailments. In 2006, silicone implants came back on the market. But manufacturers were required to follow large numbers of women for seven to 10 years, as a condition for FDA approval. Deficiencies in the studies have now prompted the agency to send warning letters to two of the four companies approved to market breast implants in the United States. One warning letter, sent to manufacturer Sientra, of Santa Barbara, California, on Tuesday, said the company had not kept enough patients in its study of an implant approved in 2012, and warned that if the follow-up monitoring did not improve, the agency could withdraw approval of the implant, effectively taking it off the market. Rosalyn dIncelli, vice president of clinical and medical affairs for Sientra, said the company tries to retain patients in follow-up studies by compensating them, contacting them several times a year through email, phone calls, letters and postcards, and transferring them to doctors in more convenient locations. But she said that patients work obligations, child care, lack of transportation and other issues often present obstacles. We are aware of and take this matter seriously, DIncelli said, adding that the company will respond to the FDA about corrective measures it plans to take. Patient safety, ensuring long-term safety and effectiveness of our devices and complying with FDAs requirements are our highest priority. Its stock price dropped a little more than 4 per cent on the FDA news. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused its former chief executive, Hani Zeini, of concealing damaging information about the manufacturer of its implants before closing a $60 million (U.S.) stock offering in 2015. The Brazilian manufacturer had had a certificate of compliance required for selling in the European Union suspended. Sientra said its issue with the SEC had been resolved. The other letter went to Mentor Worldwide, owned by Johnson & Johnson and based in Irvine, California. The FDA said the company had not enrolled enough patients in a study of its MemoryShape implant, approved in 2013, and also threatened to rescind approval for the product. Withdrawing approval for a medical device is time-consuming and rarely occurs. Mindy Tinsley, a spokeswoman for Mentor, said the company was disappointed by the FDAs decision to issue a warning letter despite our good faith efforts to address post-approval study requirements. She said Mentor notified the FDA last year that it would fall short of study enrollment targets because of changes in consumer preferences, but did not hear back. Johnson & Johnsons stock remained unaffected Tuesday. According to the FDA, the other two manufacturers whose breast implants are approved in the United States are Allergan and Ideal Implant, which did not receive warning letters Tuesday. But their implants have also drawn some illness-related complaints from women. Plastic surgeons and implant manufacturers often say breast implants are the most intensely studied of all medical devices. But critics and patient advocates say most studies done to date are flawed. When plastic surgeons tell women that this is the most studied medical device in the world, women assume that means they are proven safe, said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research in Washington, D.C., who has been advising advocates for patients with implant-related illness. But, we still dont know what percentage of women become seriously ill from their breast implants. We still dont know why some women get sick right away, some get sick years later and some never get sick. Plastic surgeons at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who looked at the long term outcomes of 99,993 women with silicone implants reported finding they had six, seven and eight times the normal population rates of rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma (a connective tissue disease) and Sjogren syndrome (an autoimmune disorder), all of which are relatively rare diseases. An author of the study, Dr. Mark Clemens, cautioned that it did not prove cause and effect, and said in an interview: The overarching message is that breast implants are reasonably safe and have high patient satisfaction, but also have complications that patients should be made aware of. Critics said the study, published in Annals of Surgery in September, did not adjust for underlying differences between women with and without implants, and that the data, drawn from the FDAs own database, was flawed because of high dropout rates. All the evidence we have to date is that implants are safe, said Dr. Amy S. Colwell, a plastic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who wrote an editorial criticizing the study, and who is a consultant for Allergan, an implant manufacturer. WASHINGTON - There is credible evidence that U.S. military airstrikes in Somalia have killed or wounded nearly two dozen civilians, an international human rights group said Tuesday, charging that the Pentagon is not adequately investigating potential casualties. U.S. Africa Command officials immediately disputed the allegations laid out in a report by Amnesty International, and insisted that the military has investigated 18 cases of possible civilian casualties since 2017 and found that none were credible. The seemingly contradictory information underscores the complexities of military operations against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group in Somalia, involving airstrikes by several allied nations in hostile, remote locations that are difficult to access safely. The report came the same day that a Somali intelligence official and two local residents said a U.S. drone strike on Monday killed civilians. The Somali official said the drone targeted a vehicle carrying suspected militants and apparently hit another vehicle that may have been carrying civilians. The official was not authorized to talk with the media and did so on condition of anonymity. Residents concurred with the officials assessment. Mohamed Siyad, an elder in Lanta Buro, a village near the farming town of Afgoye, Somalia, told The Associated Press that four civilians including employees of a telecom company were killed. They were known to us they had nothing to do with al-Shabab, he said by phone. Another resident, Abdiaziz Haji, said that the drone destroyed the vehicle. Bodies were burnt beyond recognition, he said. They were innocent civilians killed by Americans for no reason. They always get away with such horrible mistakes. In a rare move, U.S. Africa Command on Tuesday mentioned those possible casualties in a press release about the strike and said officials will look into the incident. But, more broadly, U.S. defence officials said casualty allegations in Somalia are questionable because al-Shabab militants make false claims or force local citizens to do the same. Amnesty International, however, said it analyzed satellite imagery and other data, and interviewed 65 witnesses and survivors of five specific airstrikes detailed in the report. The report concludes that there is credible evidence that the U.S. was responsible for four of the airstrikes, and that its plausible the U.S. conducted the fifth strike. It said 14 civilians were killed and eight injured in the strikes. Amnesty Internationals research points to a failure by the U.S. and Somali governments to adequately investigate allegations of civilian casualties resulting from US operations in Somalia, the report said, adding that the U.S. doesnt have a good process for survivors or victims families to self-report losses. U.S. Africa Command said it looked at the five strikes and concluded there were no civilian casualties. In the fifth case the command said there were no U.S. strikes in that area on that day. The groups report and Defence Department officials also agreed that the strikes usually take place in hostile areas controlled by al-Shabab militants. And those conditions, the report said, prevented Amnesty International organization from conducting on-site investigations and severely limited the organizations ability to freely gather testimonial and physical evidence. U.S. defence officials told reporters that American troops were on the ground at strike locations in a very limited number of cases. Even in those instances, they said, U.S. troops ordered strikes to protect local Somali forces they were accompanying, and there was little opportunity to investigate possible civilian casualties at that moment. Still, the rights group concluded that the U.S. militarys insistence that there have been zero civilian deaths is wrong. The civilian death toll weve uncovered in just a handful of strikes suggests the shroud of secrecy surrounding the U.S. role in Somalias war is actually a smoke screen for impunity, said Brian Castner, a senior adviser at Amnesty International. U.S. officials countered that they have access to information not readily available to nonmilitary organizations, including observations from people on the ground at the site and post-strike intelligence gathering from various electronic systems. Those systems can include overhead surveillance and data collected through cyber operations and other intercepted communications and electronic signals. The defence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss the issue publicly. They said the U.S. rigorously assesses targets in advance to make sure no civilians will be hurt or killed. The officials noted that Kenya and Ethiopia also conduct airstrikes in the region, but provided no details. There are 500 to 600 U.S. troops in Somalia at any time. The pace of U.S. airstrikes in Somalia has escalated during the Trump administration, from 47 in all of 2018 to 28 already this year. So far more than 230 militants have been killed in 2019, compared to 338 killed in all of 2018. In March 2017, President Donald Trump approved greater authorities for military operations against al-Shabab, allowing increased strikes in support of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali forces. Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, who heads Africa Command, told reporters in a recent interview that al-Shabab controls about 25 per cent of the country and the key effort is to help the government regain control of its land. The intention is to keep the pressure on that network, he said. He said there are three categories of strikes: ones to target senior al-Shabab leaders, ones to take out training camps or involve Islamic State militants in the north, and ones aimed at helping the government increase security and regain control of the country. He said the last group involves the most strikes. ___ Associated Press writer Abdi Guled in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report. LIMA, Ohio - President Donald Trump on Wednesday brought his re-election campaign to Ohio a state essential to his 2020 strategy touring a military tank plant and telling many of its cheering workers: You better love me. I kept this place open. Trump also used the visit to criticize John McCain, saying the late senator didnt get the job done for our great vets. He complained that McCains family didnt thank him for giving the senator the kind of funeral that he wanted. McCain died last year of brain cancer. Trumps visit to Ohio was his first since last years midterm election campaign, when the state was a rare bright spot for Republicans in the upper Midwest. But with Trumps path to another four years in the White House relying on a victory here, his nascent campaign is mindful of warning signs that Ohio can hardly be taken for granted in 2020. Perhaps no state has better illustrated the re-aligning effects of Trumps candidacy and presidency than Ohio, where traditionally Democratic-leaning working-class voters have swung heavily toward the GOP, and moderate Republicans in populous suburban counties have shifted away from Trump. Its for that reason, administration officials said, that Trump keeps returning to Ohio this weeks visit marks his 10th to the state since taking office. The visit is part of a 2020 Trump strategy to appear in battleground states in his official White House capacity as much as possible this year, said a person with knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly. Trump is expected to make similar trips throughout the year as he seeks to boost enthusiasm to counter an energized Democratic base. Its a strategy employed by previous presidents, both to leverage the prestige of office for political purposes and to offset the steep costs of presidential campaign travel with corresponding taxpayer-funded events. Trump visited the Lima Army Tank Plant, which had been at risk for closure but is now benefiting from his administrations investments in defence spending. He also attended a re-election campaign fundraiser in Canton. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference on the Rose Garden of the White House with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, March 19, 2019, in Washington. In this heavy manufacturing state, Trump cited his efforts to negotiate new trade agreements and enact tariffs to protect steel manufacturers. He described how his administration has confronted China over its trading practices and the stealing of American jobs and ideas. For both parties, the results of the 2018 midterms have become a sort of choose-your-own-adventure moment for 2020 prognosticators. Republicans contend that the election of the states GOP governor, Mike DeWine, largely mirrored Trumps 2016 path to victory and proves the strength of his coalition. They believe Trumps coattails in the state are long, as incumbent Republican congressional candidates in suburban counties like Reps. Steve Chabot and Troy Balderson won re-election last year in no small part because of the presidents frequent visits. Hes a fighter, said Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken, and thats one of the reasons why if you look at the Mahoning Valley, thats become a Republican portion of the state. Democrats, for their part, highlight the re-election of Sen. Sherrod Brown, viewing his victory on a populist appeal as a signpost for their 2020 ticket. A lot was driven by a realignment occurring among former Republican strongholds in the suburbs, said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. With the right candidates, with the right message, 2020 could look a lot like Sherrod Browns victory. Nationally, Democrats have placed less of an emphasis on the traditional battleground state. Ohio was conspicuously absent from the list of key 2020 states Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida that are receiving a share of a $100 million investment by the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA. The state doesnt even make the PACs phase two roster, which includes Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire. The Republican National Committee, in laying the groundwork for the Trump campaigns field program, has maintained a constant presence in Ohio since 2012. Former RNC co-chair Bob Paduchik, who ran Trumps 2016 effort in the state, is repeating his role. Trump visited days after he railed against the closure of a General Motors plant in Lordstown, a significant contributor to the economy in the eastern part of the state. The plant, which produced Chevy Cruze sedans, closed this month despite bipartisan pressure on the automaker, which claimed it was responding to consumer demand for larger vehicle types. Trump said GM should re-open the plant or sell it to somebody who wants it. Get it open now, dont wait, he said Wednesday. Allies acknowledge he may be limited in what he can accomplish for the Lordstown plant, but said his vocal advocacy signalled to his supporters in the area that he is fighting on their behalf. Trump continued his criticism of union leaders in his speech, saying, Theyre not honest, and they ought to lower your dues, by the way. Last weekend he criticized a local union leaders handling of the GM plant closure. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, called Trumps attacks disgraceful and beneath the office of the president of the United States. ___ Miller reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - An Arkansas House panel on Wednesday rejected for a second time a proposal to change the meaning of a star on the states flag that represents the Confederacy, despite an endorsement from the Republican governor. The proposal was not to change the design of Arkansas flag, but to remove language that describes a blue star above Arkansas name on the flag as representing the Confederate States of America. Instead, that star would represent the United States of America and a blue star currently representing the U.S. would represent Native American nations. The House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee rejected the proposal by a 10-5 vote. The panel rejected another version of the proposal last month. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has endorsed the change, calling it the right thing to do. Democratic Rep. Charles Blake, the bills sponsor, said he hasnt ruled out bringing up the proposal again and said its also possible a similar proposal could be filed in the Senate. Our state flag is the largest and most prevalent symbol we can put out to the world, Blake, who is black, told the committee. That symbol should be an inclusive symbol. That symbol should be the Arkansas we all want to be going forward. The other two blue stars on Arkansas flag represent France and Spain. The fourth star representing the Confederacy was added in 1923 and a year later it was placed above the states name on the flag. Blake has said that change came at the height of the Ku Klux Klans rise in Arkansas and other Southern states, and can be viewed as a symbol of white supremacy. Opponents testifying before the committee called the proposal an effort to erase the states Confederate history and questioned why the Native American nations should be commemorated on the flag. One opponent, Robert Freeman of Hot Springs, said the Native American tribes that would be commemorated were vicious, murdering savages. Is there even one among this committee who wishes to commemorate a star on our state flag to a people who contributed actually nothing to our civil service, nor our court system, nor the formation of the states counties and law enforcement agencies, nor the educational systems, either in Little Rock or the county seats? Freeman, 82, who said he is a historian for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told the panel. Hutchinson underlined his support for the measure Wednesday afternoon. I continue to support this legislation, and I am certain it will come back up for debate in future legislative sessions, he said in a statement. My hope is that someday we can have a flag with symbolism that unites the whole state. The committees only four Democrats and one Republican voted for the bill, while all the votes against the measure came from Republicans. To me, that star is a reminder we never need to go back to a divided day like that and we need to continue to move forward, said Republican Les Warren, who voted against the measure. Hours after the bill failed, another Republican who voted against the measure filed new legislation that would remove the language in state law explaining what the flags stars represent. The vote occurred two years after Hutchinson signed into law legislation hed backed to remove Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state holiday honouring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. That proposal had failed repeatedly before a House committee in the 2015 session and Hutchinson made it part of his legislative agenda two years later. ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo WASHINGTON - Many of Hollywoods power elite, including prolific television hit maker Shonda Rhimes, were hosting a fundraiser Wednesday for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The evening event is billed as a reception in support of Kamala Harris for the People, and Harris is expected to attend, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press. The reception will be held at the Pacific Palisades home of director J.J. Abrams and his wife, Katie McGrath. Tickets cost $2,800 per guest, with co-chairs donating $10,000, according to the invitation. Co-chairs for the event include a number of prominent Hollywood names, including Rhimes, as well as Chris Silbermann of ICM Partners, Universal Pictures chair Donna Langley, producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. The fundraiser was first reported by Variety. The California senator has been courting donors in her home state of in the final weeks of the first fundraising quarter of the 2020 campaign. She has plans to return April 1 for a Sacramento fundraiser. Harris has spent the week on the West Coast while Congress is in recess. On Tuesday, she was a guest on ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live! and posed for pictures with Star Wars star Mark Hamill, who appeared on show the same day. After leaving California, Harris plans to campaign in Texas, her first trip there since announcing that she was seeking the Democratic nomination. Two Texans, Beto ORourke and Julian Castro, are also seeking the presidency. Shell travel to Tarrant County, which Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016, before holding a Saturday rally in Houstons Texas Southern University, a historically black college. Max Verstappen has joined those who don't think the 2019 rule changes have made overtaking easier. Lewis Hamilton said in Melbourne that the wider and simpler front wings were "no different" in terms of giving the chasing car the ability to pass. And Romain Grosjean said it is now easier to follow but not pass, due to the weakness of the Pirelli tyres. Red Bull's Verstappen added: "I had no chance to get past Lewis. "It's still very hard. I always had to keep my distance so as not to ruin my tyres," the Dutchman is quoted by Auto Bild. "The only positive thing that has improved is the DRS effect. As soon as it opens, it's a lot more powerful than last year. But there is still a lot of turbulence when following." F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn, however, says the data shows there has been an improvement, with more overtaking moves in Melbourne in 2019 compared to a year ago. "The initial signs are encouraging, as apart from the actual overtakes, we saw some thrilling battles," he told F1's official website. "Several drivers said the cars felt more neutral when following another when compared to previous years. "But the Australian track isn't the most accurate test, so I'd prefer to wait for at least another three races before drawing any conclusions," said Brawn. (GMM) ABBEVILLE, Ga. - Jurors watched a videotaped confession Wednesday of a Georgia man admitting he helped a friend burn the body of a slain high school teacher until it looked like it was all ash. The incineration of Tara Grinsteads remains in a pecan orchard after she vanished in October 2005 would help keep her death a mystery for more than a decade. Now the first of two men charged in the case is standing trial in rural Wilcox County south of Macon. Bo Dukes is charged with concealing the death of the teacher and onetime beauty queen, hindering the arrest of her killer and lying to police in an interview conducted months before his videotaped confession in February 2017. Defence attorney John Fox, however, told jurors the evidence will show Dukes never concealed information. In the video, played in court on the third day of trial, Dukes was slouched forward at a table while being questioned by a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent. Dukes said his friend with a similar name, Ryan Duke, told him the morning after the crime that he had killed a woman and then used Dukes pickup truck to move the body. Dukes said his friend took him to a pecan orchard owned by Dukes uncle and showed him Grinsteads undressed body lying in tall grass. Dukes said he asked exactly what had happened. He used a credit card to get into her front door, Dukes told the investigator. He jumped on her while she was in bed and strangled her right there. Dukes said he helped move Grinsteads body deeper into the woods, where the two men covered it with wood and set it ablaze. He said they kept the fire burning for two days until even the bones turned to ash. I remember asking him, you know, several times, why. He never told me, Dukes said. I asked him if he was there to rape her, or kidnap her. He said he was not, did not. Grinsteads disappearance stumped her hometown of Ocilla for more than a decade. Her face loomed large on a billboard in the area seeking tips in her disappearance. Prosecutors have said Duke confessed to killing Grinstead, saying he broke into her home to steal money for drugs. He was charged with murder and his trial is scheduled to start April 1. In a recent court filing, Dukes defence attorneys said he made a false confession under the influence of drugs and was actually home asleep the night Grinstead was killed. On Tuesday, John McCullough, who said he met Dukes during Army basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, testified that Dukes confessed to him one night during a Christmas break visit to Georgia that he helped dispose of Grinsteads body. But also on Tuesday, the jury heard an earlier interview that Dukes gave the GBI in June 2016, in which he denied having that conversation with McCullough. When Dukes admitted to helping burn Grinsteads remains months later, GBI agent Jason Shoudel asked Dukes why he had previously denied McCulloughs story. I dont remember the conversation I had with him, Dukes said. I guess I was probably drinking a lot that night. GREENVILLE, Miss. - A judge has dismissed charges against a 25-year-old Mississippi woman after two of her three children drowned when she left them in a locked car that rolled into a creek. The Delta Democrat-Times reports Washington County Justice Court Judge Laverne Simpson threw out negligent homicide and child neglect charges Tuesday against Jenea Monique Payne following a hearing. Simpson noted Paynes lack of criminal history and ruled there wasnt enough evidence to find her at fault. Leland police arrested Payne after she left three children in an SUV while she went into a grocery store. She returned to find the Nissan Pathfinder had rolled into Deer Creek, which is across the street from the store. Its unclear whether the car was running or turned off. Leland Assistant Police Chief Marcus Davis said investigators believe Paynes oldest son, 4-year-old Steve Smith, shifted the vehicle out of park, causing it to roll into the creek Bystanders and a firefighter jumped into the creek and tried to break the SUVs windows. They rescued 2-year-old Raelynn Johnson, but could not save Smith or 1-year-old Rasheed Johnson, who both drowned. Their bodies were recovered hours later when a tow truck pulled the Pathfinder from the creek. Police said that they charged Payne because she left the children unattended. Thats illegal in itself, Davis said earlier. That was part of the negligence that led ultimately to their deaths. When the Clarion Ledger asked Police Chief P.K. Nelson to comment Wednesday on the charged being dropped, he said only that was the judges ruling. Prosecutors could still seek to indict Payne. Washington County District Attorney Dewayne Richardson previously said he was waiting for a report from Leland police before deciding what to do. Paynes attorney, Stan Perkins, could not immediately be reached for comment. ___ Information from: Delta Democrat-Times, http://www.ddtonline.com LOS ANGELES - Prosecutors have charged a mother with murder in the death of her 9-year-old daughter, whose body was found in a duffel bag along a suburban horse trail near Los Angeles. Twenty-eight-year-old Taquesta Graham was charged Wednesday in the death of Trinity Love Jones. Its unclear whether she has an attorney. Graham is expected to be arraigned later Wednesday. Also charged with murder in the case is Grahams boyfriend, Emiel Hunt. His arraignment is set for April 16. On March 5, a park worker found Trinity at the bottom of an embankment in the suburb of Hacienda Heights. She had been wearing pants with a panda pattern and a pink shirt that said, Future Princess Hero. A huge memorial for the girl sprung up after community members heard about the case. BOSTON - Harvard University has shamelessly turned a profit from photos of two 19th-century slaves while ignoring requests to turn the photos over to the slaves descendants, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, is suing the Ivy League school for wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation of images she says depict two of her ancestors. Her suit, filed in Massachusetts state court, demands that Harvard immediately turn over the photos, acknowledge her ancestry and pay an unspecified sum in damages. Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said the university has not yet been served, and with that is in no position to comment on this complaint. At the centre of the case is a series of 1850 daguerreotypes, an early type of photo, taken of two South Carolina slaves identified as Renty and his daughter, Delia. Both were posed shirtless and photographed from several angles. The images are believed to be the earliest known photos of American slaves. They were commissioned by Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose theories on racial difference were used to support slavery in the U.S. The lawsuit says Agassiz came across Renty and Delia while touring plantations in search of racially pure slaves born in Africa. To Agassiz, Renty and Delia were nothing more than research specimens, the suit says. The violence of compelling them to participate in a degrading exercise designed to prove their own subhuman status would not have occurred to him, let alone mattered. The suit attacks Harvard for its exploitation of Rentys image at a 2017 conference and in other uses. It says Harvard has capitalized on the photos by demanding a hefty licensing fee to reproduce the images. It also draws attention to a book Harvard sells for $40 with Rentys portrait on the cover. The book, called From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery, explores the use of photography in anthropology. Among other demands, the suit asks Harvard to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for the humiliation of Renty and Delia and that Harvard was complicit in perpetuating and justifying the institution of slavery. A researcher at a Harvard museum rediscovered the photos in storage in 1976. But Laniers case argues Agassiz never legally owned the photos because he didnt have his subjects consent and that he didnt have the right to pass them to Harvard. Instead, the suit says, Lanier is the rightful owner as Rentys next of kin. The suit also argues that Harvards continued possession of the images violates the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Renty is 169 years a slave by our calculation, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, one of Laniers lawyers, said in an interview. How long will it be before Harvard finally frees Renty? Lanier says she grew up hearing stories about Renty passed down from her mother. While enslaved in Columbia, South Carolina, Renty taught himself to read and later held secret Bible readings on the plantation, the suit says. He is described as small in stature but towering in the minds of those who knew him. The suit says Lanier has verified her genealogical ties to Renty, whom she calls Papa Renty. She says he is her great-great-great-grandfather. If given the photos, Lanier said she would tell the true story of who Renty was. But she also hopes her case will spark a national discussion over race and history. This case is important because it will test the moral climate of this country, and force this country to reckon with its long history of racism, Lanier said at a news conference outside the Harvard Club of New York City. Crump, her attorney, added that the case could allow Harvard to remove the stain from its legacy and show it has the courage to finally atone for slavery. Lanier alleges that she wrote to Harvard in 2011 detailing her ties to Renty. In a letter to Drew Faust, then Harvards president, Lanier said she wanted to learn more about the images and how they would be used. She was more explicit in 2017, demanding that Harvard relinquish the photos. In both cases, she said, Harvard responded but evaded her requests. The school has used the photos as part of its own effort to confront its historical ties to slavery. At the 2017 conference called Universities and Slavery: Bound by History, referenced in the lawsuit, Harvard printed Rentys portrait on the program cover and projected it on a giant screen above the stage. In the image, Renty stares hauntingly into the camera, his hair greying and his gaunt frame exposed. Lanier, who was in the audience at the event, said she was stunned by a passage in the program that described the origins of the photo but seemed to dismiss her genealogical findings. It said that the photo was taken for Agassizs research and that while Agassiz earned acclaim, Renty returned to invisibility. The suit alleges that by contesting Ms. Laniers claim of lineage, Harvard is shamelessly capitalizing on the intentional damage done to black Americans genealogy by a centurys worth of policies that forcibly separated families, erased slaves family names, withheld birth and death records, and criminalized literacy. ___ Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley LEWISTON, Idaho - The U.S. Forest Service has rejected the recently completed management plans for three national forests in the Pacific Northwest, restarting the 15-year process to revise the plans. The plans for the Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman national forests were issued last summer, promising to support more than 2,800 jobs and provide about $133 million in annual income, the Lewiston Tribune reported Wednesday. The plans guide management of the forests that cover more than 7,800 square miles (20,000 square kilometres) in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington state and northeastern Oregon. Objections to the plans were filed by more than 300 organizations and individuals, including representatives from timber and livestock industries, environmental groups, state wildlife management agencies, and the Nez Perce and Umatilla tribes. The plans follow regulations, but they are confusing and could lead to fights over forest management, acting Forest Service Deputy Chief Christopher B. French wrote in a letter to agency officials. The revised plans also did not fully account for the unique social and economic needs of the affected communities, French wrote. The resulting plans are difficult to understand, and I am concerned that there will be ongoing confusion and disagreement as to how each revised plan is to be implemented. The agency aims to map out a path forward over the next several months, said Eric Watrud, supervisor of the Umatilla National Forest. A timeline has not yet been set for fixing the issues in the plans. The purpose in the end is to have durable plans that can be implemented over the course of the next decade or more in a way that is successful and meets the needs of the landscape and the local communities as well, Watrud said. ___ Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com SALT LAKE CITY - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Wednesday that two of its missionaries have returned to the U.S. after they were detained in Russia for more than two weeks in an alleged visa violation case. The men were treated well and permitted to stay in contact with their relatives and church officials during the detention, church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement. The Utah-based faith had previously said it was troubled by the circumstances of the young mens detention but declined to elaborate or discuss the case in more detail. Latter-day Saint missionaries have not been allowed to legally proselytize in Russia since 2016 and are called volunteers while they perform missionary duty in the country. The change was triggered by an anti-terrorism law signed that year by Russian President Vladimir Putin that put restrictions on religiousmissionarypractices and dictates that religious work can only be done in houses of worship and other related religious sites. The church that year decreased its number of members serving as volunteers in Russia down to about 50, but Hawkins declined to specify how many are currently serving there. The church is closely monitoring conditions in Russia for all volunteers and will continue to fully comply with Russian law, Hawkins said in the statement. Kole Brodowski, 20, and David Gaag, 19, were detained on March 1 in Novorossiisk, a Black Sea port city . A Russian court ordered their deportation after they were accused of working as English teachers without proper credentials. The two men were fined the equivalent of $470 each on charges of illegal missionary activities, according to details of court proceedings covered by Russian news agencies. Russian government officials have declined to comment about specifics of the case. U.S State Department spokesman Noel Clay said the agency cannot provide specifics about the case because of privacy considerations but that it has no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad. Serving a mission for the religion, widely known as the Mormon church, is considered a rite of passage for the faiths members. Men serve for two years and go on missions as young as 18. Women serve for 18 months and are allowed to start them at age 19. Brodowski was near the end of his service and will return home to Garden Grove, California, Hawkins said. Gaag, of Bothell, Washington, plans to stay in the U.S. for a short period and then serve the rest of his mission in a different location country, he said. Gaags father, Udo Gaag, said in a statement to the church-owned Deseret News newspaper that the family is relieved. We spoke with David and he is healthy and in good spirits, Udo Gaag said. He is happy that the detention is over but sad to leave his Russian friends. It is clear to us that he enjoyed his experience serving the Russian people and truly grew to love them. ___ Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal judge improperly praised Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines decision to delay an execution based on the judges scathing critique of the states lethal injection method, the state attorney general said. In a court filing earlier this week, Attorney General David Yost said Magistrate Judge Michael Merz remarks were an improper use of the judges position. At issue is a series of execution delays ordered by DeWine, a Republican, after Merz raised concerns about Ohios lethal injection method. After the governor issued his first delay - of the February execution of death row inmate Warren Henness - Merz said that decision embodies excellent public policy. The judge also said he was deeply gratified by DeWines expression of trust in Merz lethal injection ruling. The Court fully expects that the Governor will do whatever is needed legally to keep the public commitment he has made, the important first step being the reprieve of Warren Henness, Merz wrote last month. The attorney general said judges are not supposed to use the federal bench as a bully pulpit to influence state policy. The judges statements needlessly (and perhaps unintentionally) entangle the federal judiciary in a policy dispute on a hot-button issue, Yost said. Merz declined comment Wednesday. DeWine has ordered the prisons department to come up with a new lethal injection method, a process that could take months or years. Yost says that wouldnt prevent the state from carrying out executions earlier with its current system. The governor has announced his intention to develop a new protocol, but he has never suggested that he would deny death-row inmates the choice to use the current protocol, Yost said. Ohio could still use the current method if a federal appeals court rejects Merz criticism of Ohios method or if the state cant come up with a new method, Yost said. Merz said on Jan. 14 that Ohios system could cause inmates severe pain because the first drug, the sedative midazolam, doesnt render them deeply enough unconscious. He suggested inmates could experience a sensation similar to waterboarding. But Merz stopped short of halting executions, saying attorneys for Henness hadnt shown that viable execution alternatives exist in Ohio. Afterward, the governor postponed Henness execution until September and then three more executions into the fall and then 2020. Ohios not going to execute someone under my watch when a federal judge has found it to be cruel and unusual punishment, DeWine said in January. A DeWine spokesman confirmed that executions could resume if Merz order was overturned by a higher court, or if the state created a new lethal injection method that was found constitutional. If the court decision was overturned on the basis of fact, the governor would certainly look if situation has changed, press secretary Dan Tierney said Tuesday. Henness was sentenced to death for killing 51-year-old Richard Myers in Columbus in 1992. Myers had been helping Henness find a drug treatment for his wife, authorities said. KINGWOOD, Va. - Authorities say a New York woman is one of two people killed when a bus overturned on an Interstate 95 exit in Virginia. Virginia State Police announced Wednesday that 81-year-old Janetta Cumberbatch of Jamaica, New York, was killed in the crash early Tuesday. Police say theyre still trying to reach relatives of a man who was also killed. State police say the Taos Travel Inc. bus was travelling from Florida to New York with 57 people aboard when it entered the exit ramp. The bus ran off the left side and overturned. Police say investigators consider speed a factor. The surviving passengers injuries ranged from minor to serious. The bus driver, 40-year-old Yui Man Chow of Staten Island, New York, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. SALT LAKE CITY - The remains of a World War II pilot shot down in Germany have arrived back in his home state of Utah, where they are expected to be buried. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Lynn W. Hadfields remains are set to be buried Thursday, 74 years to the day of Hadfields crash, the Salt Lake Tribune reported on Tuesday. Hadfield, from Salt Lake City, was piloting a bomber plane from France to Germany just months before the end of World War II when it was struck by anti-aircraft fire and crashed somewhere near the German city of Dulmen. Hadfleid was 26 during his last bomber mission, meant to obstruct German troop movement as Allied forces crossed the Rhine River two days later. A German researcher found evidence of a crash site in 2016 in Hulsten-Reken, about 10 miles (16.1 kilometres) away. It was Hadfields plane. Hadfields remains arrived in Utah on Tuesday. I didnt think that after 74 years he would come back, and I would be here to see it, said Mary Ann Turner, Hadfields daughter. Turner was 2 years old when her father was killed. A DNA analysis confirmed the remains belonged to Hadfield and his crew members. It gives me peace that I havent known my whole life, Turner said. The excavation team also recovered Hadfields officer wings and his ID tag, which Turner now has. Now, Turners relatives and friends are gathering in an unforeseen reunion to pay respects to the war veteran. Hadfield will be buried Thursday the anniversary of his death in Bluffdale Veterans Memorial Park cemetery after a funeral service at Larkin Sunset Gardens Mortuary in Sandy. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m., three seconds before the time of day that the plane crash was recorded, Turner said. ___ Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com HOUSTON - The Latest on a fire that had been burning at a Texas petrochemical storage facility (all times local): 6:35 p.m. Officials say a fire that was extinguished after burning for days at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility briefly flared up. The blaze in Deer Park had been extinguished at 3 a.m. Wednesday. But the city of Deer Park said in a tweet in the late afternoon that there was a small flare-up of the blaze. The flare-up, which sent flames and smoke into the air, was contained within 30 seconds by firefighters. Robert Hemminger, Deer Parks emergency services director, says flare-ups are expected with fires of this scale. Intercontinental Terminals Company officials didnt immediately return calls or emails seeking comment. An ITC spokeswoman said earlier Wednesday that crews would continue spraying foam and water on tanks that caught fire to cool them down and prevent the blaze from reigniting. ___ 4:15 p.m. Some residents and environmental and community groups have concerns following a fire at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility despite reassurances from officials that the air quality is safe. The fire in Deer Park was extinguished at 3 a.m. Wednesday. It began Sunday at the facility southeast of Houston, sending a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet in the air. The Environmental Protection Agency says its testing shows the air quality to be within acceptable levels. But some who live near the facility, including longtime Deer Park resident Terri Garcia, said Wednesday they dont have confidence in those results, saying they are too perfect. Bryan Parras, with the Sierra Club, says some residents have reported various symptoms since the fire, including headaches and nausea. ___ 11 a.m. Crews that extinguished a fire that burned for days at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility are now cleaning up the site. Intercontinental Terminals Company spokeswoman Alice Richardson said at a Wednesday news conference the cleanup efforts will allow workers to reach the site and begin the investigation into what caused the blaze. Richardson says crews will continue spraying foam and water on tanks that caught fire to cool them down and prevent the blaze from reigniting. The tanks contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. The fire in Deer Park was extinguished at 3 a.m. Wednesday. It began Sunday at the facility southeast of Houston, sending a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet in the air. Adam Adams with the Environmental Protection Agency says testing shows the air quality remains safe. ___ 5:50 a.m. Crews have extinguished a fire thats burned for days at a Houston-area petrochemicals storage facility. Intercontinental Terminals Company says the blaze in Deer Park was extinguished as of 3 a.m. Wednesday. The fire began Sunday at the facility southeast of Houston, sending a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet in the air, though officials said air quality remained safe. ITC says crews will continue to spray foam and water on the storage tanks that caught fire to cool them down and prevent the fire from reigniting. The company says steam and smoke will be visible, and the fire could still flare back up. The tanks that caught fire contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the name of the company that owns the petrochemicals storage facility is Intercontinental Terminals Company. A street vendor in India. Photo: Xavier Galiana/AFP/Getty Images During the six seasons of Chefs Table, director David Gelb has explored the rarefied world of fine dining through the experiences of some its most famous chefs. (The show also took a largely Eurocentric approach at first something that Gelb attempted to change in the last two seasons.) Now, he and his production company, Supper Club, will pan out from the tweezers and take a seat at the hawkers table, too. According to tweets from Brian McGinn, a producer and director on Chefs Table, Netflix will debut Street Food, a show thats you guessed it about street food, on April 26. Thrilled that our new show STREET FOOD will be out 4/26 on @netflix. Some very exciting stories and delicious destinations we can't wait to share. Brian McGinn (@brimcgi) March 19, 2019 According to Netflixs press release, parts of which were shared McGinn on Twitter, the first season will focus entirely on Asia. Nine different countries will be featured, including Singapore, with its world-renowned hawker stalls, and India. The idea is to explore some of the worlds most vibrant cities and highlight stories of perseverance and culture. Of course, the question still stands as to whether or not well get slow motion shots of hand-pulled noodles being thwacked while Vivaldi blares in the background. BOSTON - The Latest on a lawsuit over images held by Harvard University of slaves (all times local): 3:40 p.m. A woman suing Harvard University over portraits of two slaves says she hopes her lawsuit sparks a national reckoning with its history of racism. Tamara Lanier said at a news conference outside the Harvard Club of New York City on Wednesday that her case is important because it will test the moral climate of this country. Laniers lawsuit says Harvard has wrongly withheld and profited from 1850 portraits of two slaves who Lanier says are her ancestors. Harvard says it has not been served with the lawsuit and is not in a position to comment. The suit says the photos were commissioned by former Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose ideas were used to support slavery. It says Harvard requires hefty licensing fees to reproduce the photos. ___ 12:20 p.m. Harvard University says it is not in a position to comment on a lawsuit complaining it has profited from images of two 19th-century slaves. Spokesman Jonathan Swain said Wednesday that the Ivy League university has not yet been served with the lawsuit. Tamara Lanier says in her lawsuit that Harvard has ignored her request to turn over the photos. The woman from Norwich, Connecticut, says the slaves depicted in the photos are her ancestors. Laniers suit says the photos were commissioned by former Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose ideas were used to support the enslavement of Africans. The lawsuit says Harvard requires hefty licensing fees to reproduce the photos, and has used one image on the cover of a book. ___ 10 a.m. A Connecticut woman says Harvard University has shamelessly turned a profit from images of two 19th-century slaves she says are her ancestors. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, says in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that Harvard has ignored her request to turn over the photos. Her lawsuit in Massachusetts state court asks Harvard to relinquish them and pay unspecified damages. A message was left with Harvard seeking comment. The images depict a South Carolina slave named Renty and his daughter, Delia. Lanier says she is a direct descendant. Laniers suit says the photos were commissioned by former Harvard biologist Louis Agassiz, whose ideas were used to support the enslavement of Africans. The lawsuit says Harvard requires hefty licensing fees to reproduce the photos, and has used one image on the cover of a book. PITTSBURGH - The Latest on the homicide trial of a white Pennsylvania police officer in the shooting of an unarmed black 17-year-old (all times local): 6:40 p.m. The second day of the criminal homicide trial of a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager has ended for the day with compelling witness testimony that included a neighbour saying he heard the officer say I dont know why I shot him. Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfelds trial will continue Thursday. A neighbour said he was on his porch when Rosfeld fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rosfelds attorney says the former officer was justified in shooting Rose. Rosfeld was charged, investigators said, after his story changed about whether he saw or believed a gun was in Roses hands. ___ 4:10 p.m. A police officer who responded to the East Pittsburgh shooting death of an unarmed black teenager said the white officer who shot him asked if he saw the gun. Allegheny Housing Authority officer Charles Rozzo testified Wednesday at the second day of the trial of former Officer Michael Rosfeld. Rozzo said he approached a distraught Rosfeld, who asked him how 17-year-old Antwon Rose II was doing. Rozzo said Rosfeld then asked if Rozzo saw the gun. Its unclear what gun Rosfeld was referring to. Rosfeld was charged, investigators said, after his story changed about whether he saw or believed a gun was in Roses hands. Authorities have said two guns were inside the vehicle and an empty ammunition clip was in his pocket. Rozzo said Rosfeld then asked him to call his wife. ___ 1:50 p.m. A witness who was in an East Pittsburgh senior centre a white police officer entered after fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager says he heard the officer say, Why did he take that out of his pocket? Patrick Shattuck testified Wednesday as the second day of the trial of former Officer Michael Rosfeld resumed. Shattuck said that about five minutes after 17-year-old Antwon Rose II was shot, Rosfeld went into the building with swollen, red eyes saying, Why did he do that? Why did he do that? Why did he take that out of his pocket? East Pittsburgh Mayor Louis J. Payne was also there for a council meeting. He said he heard Rosfeld say, Why did he do that? but not the comment about the pocket. ___ 11:50 a.m. A witness says he saw a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in Pittsburgh panicking on the sidewalk, saying, I dont know why I shot him. I dont know why I fired. Neighbour John Leach testified Wednesday as the second day of the trial of former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld resumed. Leach lives a couple houses away. He said he was on his front porch when Rosfeld fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Leach says he saw other police officers consoling Rosfeld. Leach says Rosfeld was bending over crying, hyperventilating and looked like he was about to pass out. A second witness video was also played in court. ___ 10:10 a.m. The mother of an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a white former police officer is urging prosecutors to show what a kind, loving and funny person her son was. Michelle Kenneys letter to prosecutors was released Wednesday, as the second day of the trial of former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld resumes in a Pittsburgh courtroom. In the letter, Kenney asks prosecutors to paint a picture of her son Antwon Rose II as the loving, exceptional person that he was. She says they must counter the defences portrayal of the 17-year-old high school student as just another thug. She says he taught children in the neighbourhood how to roller blade and skateboard and would give away his skates to kids in need. She calls him a rose that grew from concrete. In June, Rosfeld fired three bullets into Rose after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was shot as he fled the car. ___ 3 a.m. Video that showed a white police officer shooting to death an unarmed black teenager is among the evidence presented during the first day of the former cops criminal homicide trial. More testimony is expected Wednesday when the trial of former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld resumes in a Pittsburgh courtroom. The 30-year-old Rosfeld is accused in the June death of 17-year-old high school student Antwon Rose II. Rosfeld fired three bullets into Rose after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was a front-seat passenger in the cab and was shot as he fled. A neighbour who recorded the confrontation said the tone of Rosfelds voice is what got her attention. LOS ANGELES - The Latest on the naming of a new University of Southern California president (all times local): 4 p.m. Students say they hope the University of Southern Californias new president is transparent about recent scandals plaguing the school. Carol Folt was introduced as president on Wednesday, a week after a college bribery scandal came to light involving USC and other universities nationwide. Graduate student Myla Bastien says Folt must be honest with students about what happened and outline a clear plan to make sure it doesnt happen again. Accounting major Jason Chang agreed, saying students want transparency from school officials. Folt will assume the presidency on July 1, taking over from interim President Wanda Austin. Austin stepped in after C.L. Max Nikias stepped down last year amid reports the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist. ___ 3 p.m. The chairman of the board of trustees of scandal-plagued University of Southern California has introduced its new president, saying the school has worked hard to turn a corner and is ready to move forward. Rick Caruso told a news conference Wednesday that the selection of Carol Folt solidifies a dramatic culture change at the university. It comes a week after revelations of a college bribery scandal involving USC and other universities nationwide. Folt most recently was chancellor of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Shell become USCs president on July 1, taking over from interim President Wanda Austin. Austin stepped in after C.L. Max Nikias resigned last summer amid reports the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist. ___ 12:10 p.m. The University of Southern California has announced a new president to usher in a new era. The university said Wednesday that Carol Folt will become the universitys 12th president. The announcement comes a week after news broke of a massive college bribery scandal involving USC and other universities across the country. Folt most recently was chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She will become USCs president on July 1, taking over from interim President Wanda Austin, who stepped in after former President C.L. Max Nikias resigned last summer. Nikias stepped down amid reports the school ignored complaints of widespread sexual misconduct by a longtime campus gynecologist. USC says Folt will promote positive cultural change and uphold the highest values of excellence, integrity and trust across USC. ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The Latest on shooting that killed a Washington state sheriffs deputy (all times local): 10:55 a.m. Authorities have identified a Washington state sheriffs deputy who was killed and police officer who was wounded in a shootout during an attempted traffic stop. Authorities said Wednesday that Kittitas County sheriffs Deputy Ryan Thompson was killed near the central city of Ellensburg. The 42-year-old was married with three children. Kittitas police Officer Benito Chavez was shot in the leg and underwent surgery at a Seattle hospital. Officials say the 22-year-old is married and his wife is pregnant. The suspect was shot and later died at a hospital. His identity hasnt been released. Ellensburg Police Chief Ken Wade says the officers were responding to reports of a road rage incident when they were shot. ___ 9:30 a.m. A sheriffs deputy was killed and a police officer was injured after an exchange of gunfire during an attempted traffic stop near the central Washington city of Ellensburg. Ellensburg Police Capt. Dan Hansberry said Wednesday that the suspect died at a hospital. The Kittitas County Sheriffs Office says in a statement that deputies Tuesday night tried to stop a vehicle related to a driving complaint. The suspect fled, prompting a police pursuit. The statement says the vehicle came to a stop and the suspect exited and exchanged gunfire with the sheriffs deputy and a police officer from the town of Kittitas. The deputy was fatally shot. The officer was wounded and airlifted to a Seattle hospital. The names of the officers and suspect have not been made public. LIMA, Ohio - The Latest on President Donald Trumps visit to Ohio (all times local): 6:30 p.m. President Donald Trump is attending a re-election campaign fundraiser in northeast Ohio. Trump is participating in a round-table event with supporters before delivering remarks at a reception Wednesday at the Brookside Country Club in Canton. Both events are closed to press coverage. According to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press, tickets for the reception start at $2,800. Getting a photo taken with Trump costs $15,000 and the dinner tab is $50,000 per person or $70,000 per couple. Proceeds benefit Trump Victory, a joint fundraising effort between the Republican National Committee and Trumps campaign. Julie Carr Smyth __ 3:45 p.m. President Donald Trump, touring an Ohio Army tank plant, says he wanted to get into one of the vehicles but was stopped by the memory of Michael Dukakis. Trump says Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, tanked when he got into the tank. He adds that Dukakis helmet was bigger than he was and that was not good. Dukakis was ridiculed during the 1988 campaign after he donned a military helmet and rode in a tank, intending to portray himself as worthy of becoming commander in chief. Dukakis Republican rival, then-Vice-President George H.W. Bush, ran campaign ads with images of Dukakis in the tank. Most politicians since then have avoided wearing anything on their heads, but Trump often wears caps bearing his Make America Great Again campaign slogan. __ 3:30 p.m. President Donald Trump has toured a tank manufacturing plant that is benefiting from a boost in defence spending. Trump was shown the bottom half of an Abrams tank being refurbished at the Lima Army Tank Plant and then saw the completed tank during his second stop Wednesday. After completing the tour, Trump told cheering workers: Well, you better love me. I kept this place open. The plant had been at risk for closure but is now benefiting from his administrations investments in defence spending. Trumps visit marks his first trip to Ohio since last years midterm election campaign, when Ohio was a rare bright spot for Republicans in the upper Midwest. ___ 2:35 p.m. President Donald Trump has arrived in Ohio to tour an Army tank plant and raise money for his re-election campaign. The Lima Army Tank Plant had been at risk for closure but is now benefiting from Trumps focus on boosting defence spending. The president has asked Congress for $750 billion for the Pentagon next year, more than was appropriated in each of his first two years in office. Trump will also attend a campaign fundraiser in Canton, Ohio. The visit is Trumps first this year to the politically important state. It follows complaints by the president about General Motors decision to close its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, as part of a corporate restructuring. Trump won the state of Ohio, and its a key focus of his re-election effort. ___ 12:30 a.m. President Donald Trump is returning to Ohio, the state that foretold his 2016 victory and serves as the linchpin of his re-election effort. Trumps visit Wednesday marks his first trip to Ohio since last years midterm election campaign, when Ohio was a rare bright spot for Republicans in the upper Midwest. Relying on a victory in the state, Trumps campaign is mindful of warning signs that Ohio can hardly be taken for granted in 2020. No state may better illustrate the re-aligning effects of Trumps candidacy and presidency than Ohio. Traditionally Democratic-leaning working-class voters have swung heavily toward the GOP, and moderate Republicans in populous suburban counties have shifted away from Trump. Trump visit to Lima and Canton mark his 10th trip to the state since taking office. WASHINGTON - The Latest on Trumps attacks on the late Sen. John McCain (all times local): 4 p.m. President Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on the late Sen. John McCain, saying that he gave the longtime lawmaker the kind of funeral he wanted and I didnt get a thank you. Trump went on a lengthy diatribe against the Vietnam war hero, Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday. At an event in Ohio, Trump repeated his complaint that McCain voted against his legislation to repeal President Barack Obamas health care law and argued that McCain was not supportive of military veterans. Trump said Ive never liked him much, adding that he probably never will. McCain died last year of brain cancer. Trump has spent days attacking him on Twitter and in his public comments. ___ 10:10 a.m. A Republican senator says that hes had enough of President Donald Trumps personal attacks on the late John McCain and that the country deserves better. Johnny Isakson of Georgia is quoted as telling The Bulwark conservative news and opinion website that nothing is more important than the integrity of the country and those who fought and risked their lives for all of us. McCain served in the Vietnam War and died of brain cancer last year. As an Arizona senator he was a Trump foe. Trump has escalated his feud with McCain in recent days, saying he was never a fan of the former GOP presidential candidate and never will be. Over the weekend, Trump renewed his long-running grievances in some caustic tweets. McCains daughter Meghan McCain called Trumps life pathetic. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Wednesday the last pocket of the Islamic States land in Syria will be liberated by U.S.-backed forces by tonight. Trump has previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters have re-emerged. With no signs of fighting Wednesday, however, the long-running battle to retake the militants last outpost in eastern Syria appeared to have reached its conclusion. The caliphate is gone as of tonight, Trump said in a speech at a factory in Lima, Ohio, where military tanks are assembled. The complete fall of Baghouz would mark the end of the Islamic State groups self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. Controlling territory gave it room to launch attacks around the world. During his speech, Trump held up two maps of Syria one covered in red representing territory held by the militant group when he was elected president in November 2016 and the other that had only a speck of red. When I took over, it was a mess. They were all over the place all over Syria and Iraq, said Trump, who has said the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely. For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign against the group. But even after Baghouzs fall, IS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten a continuing insurgency. The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their notorious propaganda machine working even on the brink of collapse. The battle for Baghouz has dragged on for weeks and the encampment had proven a major battleground, with tents covering foxholes and underground tunnels. The siege has also been slowed by the unexpectedly large number of civilians in Baghouz, most of them families of IS members. Over past weeks they have been flowing out, exhausted, hungry and often wounded. The sheer number who emerged nearly 30,000 since early January, according to Kurdish officials took the Syrian Democratic Forces by surprise. Ciyager Amed, an official with the Kurdish-led SDF, said they were searching for any IS militants hiding in tunnels in a riverside pocket in the village of Baghouz. The SDF has not yet announced a victory over IS. Associated Press journalists saw SDF soldiers loading women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghouz a sign that evacuations were still underway Wednesday. Black smoke was rising from the village. On Tuesday, the SDF seized control of the encampment held by IS after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, signalling the groups collapse after months of stiff resistance. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH-hoo) at the White House next week. The president will welcome Netanyahu for his third White House visit since Trump took office, the White house said Wednesday. They will discuss Middle East issues in a meeting March 25 and Trump will host Netanyahu for dinner March 26. Trump and Netanyahu have enjoyed a close relationship and Trump has been applauded in Israel for recognizing Jerusalem as their capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there. His administration has been working on a Middle East peace plan, but has yet to release details. The prime minister is visiting the United States weeks before elections in Israel. His poll numbers have sagged since the announcement of a pending indictment on corruption charges. BILLINGS, Mont. - A judge blocked oil and gas drilling across almost 500 square miles (1,295 sq. kilometres) in Wyoming and said the U.S. government must consider climate change impacts more broadly as it leases huge swaths of public land for energy exploration. The order marks the latest in a string of court rulings over the past decade including one last month in Montana that have faulted the U.S. for inadequate consideration of greenhouse gas emissions when approving oil, gas and coal projects on federal land. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington appeared to go a step further than other judges in his order issued late Tuesday. Previous rulings focused on individual lease sales or permits. But Contreras said that when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctions public lands for oil and gas leasing, officials must consider emissions from past, present and foreseeable future oil and gas leases nationwide. Given the national, cumulative nature of climate change, considering each individual drilling project in a vacuum deprives the agency and the public of the context necessary to evaluate oil and gas drilling on federal land, Contreras wrote. The ruling coincides with an aggressive push by President Donald Trumps administration to open more public lands to energy development. It came in a lawsuit that challenged leases issued in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado in 2015 and 2016, during President Barack Obamas administration. Only the leases in Wyoming were immediately addressed in Contreras ruling. It blocks federal officials from issuing drilling permits until they conduct a new environmental review looking more closely at greenhouse gas emissions. The case was brought by two advocacy groups, WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility. WildEarth Guardians climate program director Jeremy Nichols predicted the ruling would have much bigger implications than a halt to drilling in some areas of Wyoming, assuming the government does what Contreras has asked. This is the Holy Grail ruling weve been after, especially with oil and gas, Nichols said. It calls into question the legality of oil and gas leasing thats happening everywhere. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon criticized the ruling, saying carbon emissions shouldnt be reduced at the expense of workers who provide reliable and affordable energy. Bringing our country to its knees is not the way to thwart climate change. We need solutions not grandstanding, said Gordon, a Republican. Federal officials were reviewing the court ruling to determine its implications and had no further comment, BLM spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt said. Emissions from extracting and burning fossil fuels from federal land generates the equivalent of 1.4 billion tons (1.3 billion metric tons) annually of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, according to a November report from the U.S. Geological Survey . Thats equivalent to almost one-quarter of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Companies paid more than $6.5 billion to produce oil, gas and coal from federal lands and waters in 2017, according to the most recent government figures. The money is split between the federal government and states where the extraction occurs. Kathleen Sgamma with the Western Energy Alliance, which lobbies on behalf of the oil industry, said the BLM already was analyzing emissions appropriately under rules set up during the Obama administration. Following previous court rulings over climate change, the BLM has gone back and reconsidered the effects of fossil fuels and then re-affirmed its approvals of projects. That could happen again in this case, with further studies done before drilling is allowed to proceed, said Harry Weiss, an environmental lawyer based in Philadelphia whose clients have included oil and gas companies. This decision should not be interpreted as a ban on leasing activities, Weiss said. The court is not ruling on whether its thumbs up or thumbs down. The court is simply grading how the administration did analyzing the issues. ___ Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming. ___ Follow Matthew Brown athttps://twitter.com/matthewbrownap Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A former West Virginia state trooper who was fired after an investigation into a traffic stop beating was indicted in federal court Wednesday. A grand jury indicted 29-year-old Michael Kennedy of Morgantown on one count of deprivation of rights under colour of law language used to describe crimes committed by police officers while on duty. Kennedy and a fellow trooper from Martinsburg were fired in January. State police reviewed dashcam video of the Nov. 19 incident after Gov. Jim Justice ordered an investigation into what he called the beating of a 16-year-old male suspect. Police say the white teen was involved in a crash with a Berkeley County sheriffs department cruiser before the two troopers pursued him. The indictment accuses Kennedy, who is black, of using excessive force resulting in bodily injury. Its not immediately known whether Kennedy has an attorney. Two sheriffs deputies also were fired, but a hearing board last week ordered one of them reinstated. The teen was treated at a hospital and released. State police previously did not provide details of the traffic stop, the teens injuries and whether they were related to the arrest or the crashes. The American Civil Liberties Unions West Virginia chapter had said it would look into whether the teenagers civil liberties were violated. Authorities have not released the dashcam video. Justice had said the incident cast a dark shadow on law enforcement. Egg and cheese on a bagel, improved with a Russian-inspired addition of caviar and honey. Illustration: Alexander Atkinson Like any New Yorker, my mother loves an egg-and-cheese on a bagel. She eats one for breakfast most mornings. Shell crack an egg into a hot pan, and pop the yolk with the side of her spatula while it fries, coating the firm egg whites with a thin layer of yellow. She covers the bagels bottom half with cheese Swiss, gorgonzola, maybe some provolone and slides the cooked egg on top. Then she takes the bagels top half and spreads on a thin layer of honey. After that, a little bit of red caviar, the small eggs shaped like pomegranate seeds. Then she closes the sandwich and takes a bite. My mom has loved caviar and honey since she was a little girl in Russia; when she arrived in New York more than 20 years ago, she fell in love with the quintessential New York bagel. So she combined them. My brother was born in New York, and I moved here when I was 6 months old. We have known the citys culture all our lives, and we consider ourselves Americans first and foremost. But weve also been exposed to hybridized meals that are united by the flavors of our home country and those of our parents. In our case, that means Russian-American meals, but its a situation that will be familiar to many children of immigrants. Professor Krishnendu Ray, the chair of NYUs Nutrition and Food Studies department, says this type of melting-pot cooking is noticeably common, as immigrants form what he calls bridges between their native cultures and the new ones theyve adopted. This experience is nothing new, of course, and some of Americas greatest foods are cross-cultural mash-ups, but for the children who grow up with this kind of food, it can result in entirely unique eating experiences that become as familiar as they are distinct. Food writer (and Grub Street contributor) Priya Krishnas upcoming cookbook, Indian-ish, is a collection of recipes from Krishnas own mother, who began altering the traditional dishes shed eaten in India when she came to the United States. She couldnt find a lot of the ingredients she was used to, like roti and certain spices, Krishna says. She tells me stories [about] eating her daal with pita and working with olive oil and discovering it worked really beautifully in Indian dishes. For many children, the dishes can be revelations. The last time my mom made gnocchi, she stirred the dumplings into a vegetable stew that had the distinct flavors of Eastern Europe: dill weed, hints of parsley, onions, and maybe the occasional carrot. (Served with aplomb, as if its a normal dish that my very American mouth should have craved.) The Russian-Italian-American fusion made my taste buds feel temporarily unmoored, uprooted from their familiar trenches and thrown down a cliff of confusion until I registered just how well the stews flavors played off the comforting gnocchi. For my mom, it was no big deal she was just cooking an unfamiliar ingredient the way she knows how, she told me but the final product was something entirely new. My friend Jason, a first-generation American from a Guyanese family, grew up with his own traditions. I dont like American meatloaf I think its disgusting, he says. But my mom makes it really well. She uses curry powder to make it. Its a very prominent West Indian spice. He said his family tends to spice meatloaf differently each time they make it, transforming this American meal into something more familiar for them, using curry powder, turmeric, and other spices. Another friend, Joy Ling, told me about a time her family went to an Italian restaurant for dinner, and her grandparents felt inspired to create their own version of marinara sauce made out of tomato sauce, garlic, and oyster sauce to serve with fish, inadvertently fusing together Italian-American and Chinese food. Ray, from NYU, points out that, while this happens everywhere immigrants might settle, its a much more frequent occurrence in a city like New York, where 38 percent of residents are foreign-born immigrants, and cross-cultural pollination happens every day. Ray explains that immigrants who experiment with foods from dual cultures are more likely to believe that the food a person eats is not an identifying factor of their culture; food is more malleable than something like religion, he explains, pointing out that, If a child changes his religion, that feels like a much bigger betrayal than changing food. Immigrants dont seem to view food differences as a loss of culture. And, as it turns out, my moms caviar-and-honey egg sandwich fits in with these trends in other, more unexpected ways. Breakfast is the most frequently altered meal, Ray tells me. In his studies, hes found that women are usually responsible for meals in immigrant communities, but nowadays are generally part of the workforce and have less time, so traditional breakfast elements become more prone to be modified or replaced. The timing of the meal is also crucial: Breakfast is a meal that opens the door to the public world. You get out into the world, you go out into it, you work in it. So immigrants are looking toward the community outside of their own, which is why theyre more open to trying newer or less familiar flavors with the first meal of the day. Then you come home; you kind of shut the door behind you, and physically and materially, you want to create a bit of an island of your native culture, Ray says. This kind of cooking expanded my palate in ways I couldnt recognize at the time. Eating food thats fused from different cultures encouraged me to experiment with ingredients and unfamiliar cuisines in my own cooking and dining. But beyond that, for my family, and for millions of families like mine, food is ultimately just one more way to learn about and participate in American culture. And like those millions of other families, we do it in our own particular way making our own food life that much richer. As I was about to begin my graduate studies the parent of a student I was tutoring offered me $800 an hour to help her son to get accepted into the school I would be attending. I said I didnt feel comfortable, and that I was happy to provide general advice gratis. She was silent and then said, $1,200 an hour? I turned her down, but I wonder where her son is today. The indictment of a number of wealthy parents for bribing their childrens way into elite American schools has rightfully called into questions about education and meritocracy. And its not just an American phenomenon. In South Korea, Ewha University, an all-womens university that has consistently been one of the countrys most prestigious, was embroiled in an admissions scandal involving the former senior adviser to the Korean president. In Britain, two senior school officials were forced to resign when an undercover reporter successfully bribed them for admissions. Canada is not immune, either. My alma mater, McGill University, was the subject of a lawsuit by a former admissions official who made a number of allegations about how the school consistently allowed admission to low performing offspring of the countrys elite, though none of it was substantiated. Ironically, a 2014 study found that students who are poised to succeed tend to do so even if they dont get into the Ivy League, with the exception of students who come from less privileged backgrounds who benefit greatly from selective colleges. Elite higher education gives them social capital they didnt already have. Fascinating to me that social capital is such an important indicator of future success. For every child who gains admission to a school on the basis of false or exaggerated recommendations, another who doesnt have access to the hallways of power gets left behind; perpetrating the status quo. On the other hand, as parents, do we have the right to use all resources at our disposal to help our children get that unpaid internship that is the difference between getting accepted, or not, to graduate school or that first job that fundamentally defines trajectory of an entire career? Who amongst us hasnt make a call or written a recommendation for a friends child and exaggerated their contributions? And just like immigrant parents like mine, every parent is rightfully anxious because getting into the right school matters, especially today. While buying access to admission is clearly unethical, for me it raises questions about what other less obvious advantages create a cycle of entitlement for the advantaged. The New York Times Claire Cain Miller recently highlighted the significant gap in the U.S. on the annual spend on education and extracurricular activities between the wealthiest families and the rest of the country is a question of multiples, almost twice in those in the upper middle class. In South Korea, more families have taken on dangerously high levels of debt to spend on cram schooling and tutoring to ensure a proper placement for their children. And this cycle will worsen as the first millennials approach their 40s with children of their own. They were the first cohorts to experience the diminishing economic opportunities for the middle class. There are number of solutions and some are Canadian-made. In Quebec, the government introduced the R code for university admission. The score took into account a students ranking against other classmates but also compensated if a student attended a less prestigious school. The government and financial institution can support those studying in less lucrative fields through greater bursaries and loan forgiveness programs. But the current situation serves as the bellwether of the question we need to ask ourselves as parents: How do we raise responsible, independent, and productive children? And, what values we declare really matter the most? For my wifes family, the answer was very simple. As a Korean high school student, my wife wanted to train as a math teacher at an elite college, then her teacher propositioned her: in exchange for money, she could put in a good word into the admissions office. Her family said no and my wife didnt attend her first-choice college. Worse, she knew others paid and got in. Today, my wife teaches math in Montreals public high school system while her former teacher was fired when caught. Before we tar and feather the likes of Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin and David Sidoo, there is plenty of blame to go around. Perhaps significant responsibility falls to schools, college testing companys and hiring managers. Shouldnt a university operating as an enterprise have basic compliance safeguards in place? How did the college entrance exams companies miss a pattern of students from high income zip codes suddenly getting accommodations, taking the test at special locations, and seeing score jumps of 400 points? And as employers and business leaders, perhaps we should be less impressed by candidates with elite college degrees (like mine) and be more impressed by candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds who meet or exceed qualifications, without overvaluing the aid of the social capital that comes from an elite school education. For his fourth budget as Justin Trudeaus finance minister, Bill Morneau has produced a document that manages to be both forward-looking and retro at the same time. Forward-looking, because even in the face of a slowing economy and an uncertain international environment, he is not retreating from the robust spending that has been this governments hallmark for the past three and a half years. Morneaus budget promises $22.8 billion in additional spending over the next six years. And, as expected, he offers no date certain for balancing the federal books. He projects deficits, albeit smaller ones, as far as the eye can see. Expect Conservatives to howl that the Liberals have broken their promise back in 2015 to eliminate the deficit by, yes, 2019. And expect the public not to care a whole lot, because Morneau is right that the governments financial situation is quite manageable. Compared to other comparable major countries, in fact, its comfortable. At the same time, Morneaus fourth budget has a decidedly retro feel about it. While the minister titled it Investing in the Middle Class, a familiar Liberal theme, it feels more like an old-fashioned attempt to woo an array of groups whose support the government believes it will need if it is to be re-elected in October. So rather than one over-arching theme, there are half a dozen. Theres modest help for first-time home buyers, a.k.a. millennials who are having trouble affording houses in expensive cities like Toronto, and will form the biggest voting bloc this year, eclipsing their boomer parents. Theres aid and comfort for seniors, including stronger guarantees that they wont see their pensions slashed if their company goes bankrupt (as notoriously happened to former employees of Sears). Theres a suite of training programs designed to make it easier for workers to keep up their skills as the needs of the economy change. Theres a promise of high-speed internet for everyone, major new money for Indigenous communities, subsidies for electric vehicles and clean energy, new ferries in the Atlantic region, a bridge across the Ottawa River. and on and on and on. What there isnt is a big new initiative along the lines of what must still stand as the Trudeau governments single most important social measure, the Canada Child Benefit that it introduced back in 2016. That was a game-changer for many families and made a substantial contribution to cutting the number of children living in poverty. Statistics Canada reported in February that this one program was key to lifting some 280,000 children out of poverty in just two years news that barely made a dent in the public consciousness amid the sound and fury of the SNC-Lavalin affair. The Trudeau government has every right to be proud of that achievement, but at this point it is proposing nothing even remotely as ambitious. It could have been national pharmacare, which would be a similarly transformative move. The absence of comprehensive prescription drug coverage is the most glaring hole in our much-vaunted medicare system, and the Liberals could have made it the central theme of this pre-election budget. But, disappointingly, they have chosen a much more modest approach, promising only to start us down that road by setting up a national drug agency and putting in place a plan to deal with the ruinous cost of drugs for rare diseases. Its understandable why the government is taking that cautious, step-by-step approach. Setting up a true national pharmacare program will be expensive and difficult, involving major push-back from the insurance industry and complex negotiations with the provinces. But the Liberals should not shy away from the challenge. As Morneau insisted on Tuesday, they came into office promising to make real changes in the lives of ordinary people and they can rightly claim to have made important progress on that front. Tackling the job of bringing down drug prices and making sure everyone can afford them would be another big and long-overdue step in that direction. The government set up an advisory panel last year to help it map out the road toward a Canada-wide program bringing prescription drug coverage into medicare. That group is due to issue its final report soon, and once that advice is in the Liberals should put national pharmacare front and centre in their program for this falls election campaign. Its that important, and its high time for the government to lead from the front on this issue. Much of Morneaus budget was foreshadowed by selective leaks, but he did include one important measure that came as a surprise perhaps because it will make some important people unhappy. The government will put strict limits on the use of stock options to reward employees, typically senior executives, which allows them to pay just half the tax they would pay if they received a regular salary. It will restrict use of stock options at what it calls long-established, mature firms, while allowing them to continue where they can have a real economic purpose at start-ups that need to attract talent but cant afford to pay big salaries. This is an important step toward tax fairness, one the Trudeau government should have taken years ago. Rather than sneak it in at the back of his budget, Morneau should have crowed about it. It may upset some people, but many more will cheer especially those middle-class families the Liberals prize so highly. My God, those things get hot: Is it time for lawyers to ditch the black robes? March 17 As far as the judicial system is concerned, I have never been a lawyer, judge or criminal. That said, I do have 40 years of military service, so I know a thing or two about uniforms. Tradition is a wonderful thing; it allows us to celebrate our history and culture, usually through ceremony. As time and practicality have eroded the desire to don certain accoutrements, we evolve into eras of more sensible, though perhaps less fashionable, attire. Take, for example, the bearskin hat worn by grenadiers in the 17th century. Today, it might be a bit warm for a soldier deployed in Afghanistan, and a dead giveaway if hiding in a fox hole. Nurses no longer have to wear the white origami hat. Scholars only wear the mortarboard for graduation ceremonies, although in class a professor might effectively dodge a well-aimed spit ball by tucking chin to chest. Perhaps it is time for lawyers to closet their robes and tabs. Does the uniform make the lawyer? One exception: judges should continue to wear the black robes. I cant see someone in a polo shirt and designer jeans sentencing me to life. With the possible exception of a few drug company executives, Canadians overwhelmingly support universal pharmacare and they have for years. But like a reluctant swimmer who inches closer and closer to the water but never jumps in, the federal government keeps inching toward implementing a national pharmacare program but just cant seem to take that final plunge and actually do it. The latest tiny step forward came this week when Finance Minister Bill Morneau released his latest federal budget in which he announced some foundational measures on the path to national pharmacare. The moves include setting up a national drug agency to allow bulk buying of drugs by the provinces and pledging to spend $500 million a year, starting in 2022, to lower the high cost of drugs for rare diseases. Unfortunately, though, the federal government wasted a glorious opportunity in the budget to launch a true universal pharmacare program. Instead it has opted for a go-slow approach to resolving a major health policy issue and continue Canadas sorry status of being the only country in the world with universal health care but without a national drug coverage. Importantly, the big reason theres been so little movement on pharmacare is that no one in the Trudeau governments cabinet has stepped up to champion it. Its a tough job to gain full federal-provincial co-operation on what will be a program that may cost up to $22 billion a year. And its especially hard when both Ontario and Quebec, the two biggest provinces, arent too keen on the idea under their current governments. Its even more difficult when you have to deal with opposition from rich drug companies and skepticism by some Canadians who already pay for private drug insurance. So who in cabinet will step forward? Clearly its not Bill Morneau, who favours a go-slow approach that seems to be going nowhere, especially given that the Liberals may be out of power after the Oct. 21 election. And its not Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, who in the 19 months that she has held the post has shown she doesnt feel empowered to take on such a role on an issue that will cause huge, albeit positive, upheaval in the health-care system. One possibility was Jane Philpott, who was health minister in the early days of the Trudeau government, but resigned from cabinet last month. The only other big champion of pharmacare in Trudeaus inner circles was Gerald Butts, who quit last month as Trudeaus principal secretary in the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair. Today, political leaders can learn much from the past about what it takes to be a champion of health care in Canada. In 1957, National Health Minister Paul Martin Sr. was the driving force behind the passage of the Hospital Insurance Act, the forerunner of todays medicare that set standards for hospital care and provincially run hospital insurance. Just as today, the Liberal government of Louis St. Laurent faced a hostile political landscape with opposition from the Ontario and Quebec governments and a lukewarm reception by the middle class. Martin is now considered one of the fathers of medicare in Canada. In 1966, Health Minister Allan MacEachen was the cabinet champion who fought through lengthy cabinet and House of Commons debate to win passage of the Medical Care Act that established national medicare. In 1984, Health Minister Monique Begin was alone for a long time in the Liberal cabinet of Pierre Trudeau in championing the Canada Health Act, which strengthened the medicare system. Canadians may see some more steps in the right direction in late May or early June when former Ontario Liberal health minister Eric Hoskins releases an in-depth report by a National Advisory Council on pharmacare, which he was appointed last year by Ottawa to lead. But Hoskins is not a cabinet minister and his councils report will be impossible to implement without a champion in cabinet. Thats because bold plans like pharmacare require the use of political capital, and only a strong champion with serious cabinet clout can make things happen. Is there anyone in Trudeaus cabinet ready to step forward and be the real champion for pharmacare? If so, the time for action is now. Premier Doug Ford is threatening to call the Ontario Provincial Police to probe the fundraising practices of the opposition New Democrats. With NDP pouncing on ousted Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hilliers allegations about how the Tory government conducts business, Ford lashed out Wednesday. I cant wait to the call the OPP on the illegal fundraising that the NDP are doing, said the premier, referring to an event Saturday featuring NDP Leader Andrea Horwath where tickets range in price from $100 to $800. Last month, Fords party held a $1,250-a-plate fundraiser from which the media were banned after the Star revealed lobbyists had been enlisted to sell tickets. On Wednesday, he accused the NDP of selling access to Horwath. I have no problem calling the OPP to investigate how the fundraising is going with the NDP. Thats what Im concerned about. You cant be going around saying: Heres $800 to have access to the leader of the NDP, the premier said. Horwath said Ford was muddying the waters because of a searing letter Hillier sent to his constituents on Monday. Read more: Ford denies Hilliers allegations of possible illegal and unregistered lobbying at Queens Park Ethics watchdog says Doug Ford did not breach law in OPP hiring Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: How Doug Ford became Ontarios empathy premier She emphasized her party has done nothing wrong and mocked the premier for his threat to call in the OPP on the NDP when they have already contacted the police about Hilliers allegations. The OPP confirmed it received a complaint from the New Democrats about the allegations made by Hillier against the Tories. After he was turfed from the PC caucus last week, Hillier said he was expelled for raising concerns of possible illegal and unregistered lobbying by close friends and advisers employed by Premier Ford. The Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP has provided no specifics about the alleged improper lobbying. He was not available for comment Wednesday. Featured stories: Ontario failed to build a reliable vaccination tracking system and for now uses the honour system, Star investigation finds More provinces warning cancer risk of textured breast implants Students protest for better mental health services at University of Toronto following suicide on campus Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: Doug Ford did not breach the law when the Progressive Conservatives tried to install his friend Ron Taverner as Ontario Provincial Police commissioner, despite the role of the premiers office in a troubling and flawed hiring process, says the provinces ethics watchdog. I found that the premier stayed at arms length from the recruitment process and that he believed it to be independent, integrity commissioner J. David Wake wrote in a 101-page report released Wednesday. However, I found that there were some troubling aspects of the recruitment process and ultimately made the finding that the process was flawed, said Wake, whose investigation found Fords office stickhandled nearly every aspect of the controversial posting. Taverner, a 72-year-old Toronto police superintendent, withdrew his name from consideration for the post on March 6 after months of controversy about his close relationship with the premier. York Regional Police deputy Chief Thomas Carrique, who does not know Ford, was appointed the new commissioner last week. The premier told reporters Wakes report represents a complete vindication for our government. Weve been cleared. We followed the letter of the law, Ford said, blaming opposition parties for forcing Taverner to abandon his bid with gutter politics. But Wakes findings question the Tories claim the hiring was handled by an independent panel. The report raises important questions about the appointment power of the premier and cabinet, particularly when the appointee is a friend of the premier and the position is that of the commissioner of the OPP, the integrity commissioner wrote. Wake recommended that there be an established appointment process in place which is independent, transparent and readily activated with predetermined criteria and membership on the selection committee. There were concerns throughout the Taverner affair about the governments insistence the 51-year police veteran had been selected without political interference. On Dec. 3, Steve Orsini, who was then secretary of the cabinet, sent a text to Fords chief of staff Dean French, reminding him Taverner once worked for the deputy minister on the hiring panel, Mario Di Tommaso, at the Toronto police service. The messaging in todays legislature on the OPP commissioner uses the term independent selection panel, wrote Orsini, who resigned suddenly on Dec. 14 after insisting Taverners appointment be delayed until the integrity commissioners report was completed. Independent of who? Im the deputy minister to the premier and Ron reported to Mario when he was at TPS. I would drop the word independent and just call it recruitment selection panel where no political staff were involved, he continued. Wakes report says Orsini confided to former deputy minister Matt Torigian, who was ousted in favour of Di Tommaso last year, that he was getting pressure to hire Taverner. The secretary confided in him that he felt pressured to hire a friend of the Fords and that he mentioned Mr. Taverner and another name (unrelated to this matter), the integrity commissioner wrote. Wake interviewed 21 witnesses, including the premier and Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones. He said the mysterious changing of the qualifications threshold allowing Taverner, whose rank was initially too low, to apply for the job was due to confusion not collusion on the part of Fords office and bureaucrats, though he noted key emails were missing. His probe sparked by a complaint by NDP MPP Kevin Yarde (Brampton North) that Ford may have breached the Members Integrity Act found French was deeply involved in the Taverner matter. The chief of staff told Wake he and Ford both recommended to Orsini that Taverner be considered for the job, but stressed it was a referral and not a direction from the premiers office. After Taverner was appointed and did an interview with CP24, Orsini texted French to say he needs media training fast! I will get Chris Froggatt on this, replied French, referring to the founding partner of lobbying firm Loyalist Public Affairs and vice-chair of Fords election campaign. Wake found that Froggatt wrote the Dec. 16 email for Taverner which requested that his appointment be postponed until the integrity commissioners report was done. Ford defended that arrangement. Chris Froggatts a great communicator and hes great with communication, said the premier. NDP MPP Taras Natyshak (Essex) said Ford got off on a technicality because of the limited scope of Wakes powers and urged a full public inquiry. It looks like a co-ordinated effort to do everything they could to push forward Mr. Taverner into this appointment. We dont know at this point whether Doug Ford was doing Dean Frenchs dirty work or Dean French was doing Doug Fords dirty work, said Natyshak. Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser called the entire episode was a fiasco while Green Leader Mike Schreiner said Ford still doesnt understand it is wrong for him to hire a family friend to lead the OPP. The report suggests heading the OPP was a consolation prize for Taverner, who had been initially tapped personally by Ford for a $270,000-a-year job as president of community outreach at the Ontario Cannabis Store, the governments new recreational marijuana retailer. But Taverner said he was getting cold feet about leaving law enforcement. He knew that it was a very good offer but explained that he was struggling with leaving policing in light of his 50-year career in that field, wrote Wake. As he put it, [i]t really wasnt about the money. It was more whether I could get my head around not being a cop. Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow, the Texas-bred outlaws better known in pop culture by only their first names, cast a long shadow in "The Highwaymen," a new movie version of the story of how Parker and Barrow robbed and killed their way through a large swath of the country in the early 1930s. Bonnie and Clyde loom large, but they are also largely invisible. Although we see Bonnie (Emily Brobst) helping to orchestrate a jailbreak in one early scene, it is only from the back, and at a distance. Unlike the 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway - a multi-Oscar nominee, including two wins - we hardly know what she or her partner-in-crime (Edward Bossert) even look like, until their violent end. That's because "The Highwaymen," an excellent and entertainingly old-fashioned police procedural about the case, isn't really about Bonnie and Clyde at all. Rather, it's the true story of the two men who hunted them down: Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, played by Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as a kind of twangy Holmes and Watson, dogged in their pursuit of justice, and with the ability to identify a brand of tobacco simply by sniffing a cigarette butt. In that sense, the new movie offers a corrective to the older one, in which the character of Hamer (Denver Pyle) was almost the villain, a humorless curmudgeon who pursued what that movie presented as fun-loving bandits not out of a sense of right and wrong, but out of vengeance. In one famous scene, Bonnie and Clyde take Hamer hostage and humiliate him. Costner and Harrelson are low-key fabulous as a pair of middle-aged former Texas Rangers, brought out of retirement and assigned to a special highway detail by the Texas governor, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson (played by a no-nonsense Kathy Bates in a role that deserves its own movie). With no jurisdiction outside their home state, Frank and Maney must bend the rules to follow their quarry, who have left a trail of blood and bank robberies from New Mexico to Iowa and south to Louisiana. In doing so, the film's heroes also run afoul of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (as the F.B.I. was then known), whose agents are depicted here as arrogant bumblers. Without access to fingerprint kits, wiretaps or even police radios, Frank and Maney repeatedly put their federal colleagues to shame with little more than shoe-leather policing and their combined experience as manhunters. And there are pleasures that go beyond the detective work, too. (Besides, who doesn't already know how things will end up? Not well for Bonnie or Clyde.) Directed by John Lee Hancock ("The Founder") from a serviceable and at times surprisingly sharp screenplay by John Fusco ("The Shack"), "The Highwaymen" also grapples with some fascinatingly contemporary themes. In scenes in which Frank and Maney reminisce about their past adventures - including some where the notion of bending the law comes closer to breaking it - the issue of ethics in law enforcement is brought to the fore, sometimes painfully. Other echoes of today come from the ways in which Bonnie and Clyde use the media - meaning, in those pre-Instagram days, the newspaper - to cultivate a following. (The movie opens in 1934, during the Great Depression, a time when the public often identified more with bankrobbers than with those who were trying to catch them.) Of course, Frank and Maney realize pretty quickly that they're probably not going to be able to take Bonnie and Clyde alive. In any other version of this story - especially one in which the bad guys are depicted as folk heroes - this realization would be hard to swallow, even accepting the fact that they're coldblooded murderers. (Frank calls them "animals" at one point, and the film goes to great lengths to itemize their depredations.) What's most interesting is that the word "highwayman" has a double meaning: It can refer both to the bandit and the person who patrols the roadway. Here, that ambiguity suffuses "The Highwaymen," making what is otherwise a straightforward tale of cops and robbers, one in which the lines between good and evil are so sharply drawn, into a richly nuanced morality story. --- Three and one-half stars. Rated R. Available via Netflix streaming on March 29. Contains some strong violence, bloody images and smoking. 132 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. Hamantaschen, as essential to Purim as matzo is to Passover, are typically sweet, the triangular cookies filled with a jam thats often made from poppy seeds. During Purim, which begins this evening and ends Thursday evening, Jews are encouraged to indulge in playful revelry, eating rich pastries, drinking to excess and dancing in the synagogue something like Mardi Gras, and coincidentally coming around the same time of the year. Originally called mohntaschen, hamantaschen date back at least to 16th-century Germany, when mohn, or poppy seeds, were eaten as a snack during winter, when little grew. The seeds, from the flower that produces the powerful drug opium, were also turned into jam and encased in pastries for special occasions. (Could it be possible that they were celebrating this holiday by memorializing this intoxicating plant medicine? asked Michael Pollan, the author, most recently, of How to Change Your Mind, about psychedelics and who, by the way, prefers poppy seed hamantaschen to all other kinds.) The word hamantaschen, a Yiddish term, is a reminder of the Jewish peoples deliverance from their enemy Haman, an official under the Persian King Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes I, in the fifth century B.C. The name referred to Hamans pockets or purses, and is now associated with his tricornered hat. (The hat is lore; he didnt wear it.) According to the central story of the Book of Esther, called the megillah and read aloud every year, Haman had planned to kill all of Persias Jews. However, when Queen Esther told the king of Hamans plot, he instead ordered Hamans execution. On Purim, both children and adults shake groggers (or noisemakers) whenever they hear Hamans name in the reading and, of course, munch on hamantaschen. Although I still use poppy seeds in my sweet hamantaschen, I have created this savory spinoff, tucking crumbled feta under thyme-scented caramelized onions for the filling. To please traditionalists, you still can fill some of the buttery dough with jam. Whatever you do, gift hamantaschen with fresh fruits to friends and family as a mishloach manot the sending of portions another delicious Purim tradition. Caramelized Onion and Poppy Seed Hamantaschen Yield: About 36 hamantaschen Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes 2 cups/255 grams unbleached all-purpose flour 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder Kosher salt 10 Tablespoons/140 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 1 large egg, yolk and white separated Ice water, as needed 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 large onion, halved and very thinly sliced 2 fresh thyme sprigs 1 fresh or dried bay leaf 1 teaspoon honey Freshly ground black pepper 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds 3 ounces good-quality feta or goat cheese, crumbled (about cup) 1. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add 9 Tablespoons butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add teaspoon balsamic vinegar and the egg yolk and pulse, adding from 2 to 3 Tablespoons or so of ice water, if needed, to form a soft dough. Wrap the dough in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate, about 30 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, heat the oil and the remaining 1 Tablespoon butter in a medium nonstick pan over medium-low. Add the onion, thyme, bay leaf and honey, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Stir in the poppy seeds and the remaining 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar and season to taste. Let cool. 3. Remove the dough from the fridge, heat the oven to 375 degrees and cover 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. 4. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until -inch thick. Using a 2-inch round mold or glass, cut the dough into rounds. Top each round with a hefty pinch of cheese in the center, then a heaping teaspoon of the cooled onion mixture. Working with one round at a time, dip a pastry brush or your finger into the egg white and moisten the edges of the excess dough surrounding the filling. Fold up 3 sides of the round to form a triangle, partly covering the filling with the dough, and pinch the dough firmly at all 3 tips of the triangle. Transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheets and repeat to make about 36 hamantaschen. 5. Bake until golden, rotating midway through baking, from 15 to 20 minutes, then serve warm. Speaking in front of an audience gives 8-year-old Emerson Blizman from Chico, California, "stage fright," she says. Yet on the evening of March 6, when Emerson and her 10-year-old brother stood up to address the Chico Unified School District, this second-grader felt brave. "Climate change is a threat to our future," Emerson told the board members. "I think all school districts should pass rules about how we can all work together to learn about droughts and wildfires." Emerson and her brother Brayden, whose school was closed for three weeks during the 2018 Camp Fire - the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California's history - will travel to Washington, D.C., on March 28 for a youth and educator climate advocacy day. It's part of a campaign, not connected to a political party, whose message to Congress is "to act quickly and boldly." They'll join 130 to 150 kids ages 6 to 18 to deliver climate resolutions to the offices of all 535 members of Congress. "We call on Congress to swiftly end decades of climate neglect by passing common-sense national climate policies, such as carbon-pricing, a 100 percent clean-energy transition plant, and/or green infrastructure investments, to restore the climate for the good of young people and future generations," the resolution says. More than 55 school boards (including Fairfax County, Virginia's), parent-teacher associations, student councils and educational unions from nine states have signed climate resolutions. Young Voices for the Planet is co-sponsoring the event, which will include a news conference with national climate experts and youth advocates. "I want to tell our representative that we need to make new rules to stop climate change," said 10-year-old Brayden, who recalls wearing a face mask during the Camp Fire when he and his family brought sandwiches to neighbors. Their father, Brandon, has scheduled a meeting with his kids at the office of Republican Doug LaMalfa, the member of the House of Representatives from their home district. At a 2017 packed town hall meeting in Chico, LaMalfa told the crowd that he does not "buy the idea that man-made activity is responsible" for climate change. This idea of delivering climate-change resolutions to Congress was born the same year as the 2017 Tubbs Fire raged through Northern California. That month, Park Guthrie - a California public school teacher in Sonoma County and father of three children - was on his way with his kids to talk to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors about climate change. They had to wear face masks, and the experience inspired Guthrie to co-found Schools for Climate Action. "Climate change is not a partisan issue," Guthrie says. "It is a generational justice, a social justice and a human rights issue. Congress has failed to act, and by doing so it has put our current and future students at significant risk. We know the harm. ... No educator or educational institution has to be a silent witness to the generational neglect that national inaction on climate constitutes." "Climate change is a threat to my future," adds Guthrie's daughter, 12-year-old June, who will travel to Washington with her older brother and sister to urge Congress to support and enact new climate policies. --- GET INVOLVED For more information, contact Schools for Climate Action (S4CA) at schoolsforclimateaction.org, and/or Kimberly Gutzler at Young Voices for the Planet at youngvoicesfortheplanet.com. If you'd like to contact your own local, county or state school boards, S4CA can send you a template email to customize for your area. EDWARDSVILLE Additional legal bills from the Madison County Veterans Assistance Commission will be the subject of a special meeting of the County Boards Executive Committee. The committee will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday prior to the 5 p.m. County Board meeting, where a Resolution to Pay Veterans Assistance Commission Bill is on the agenda. County Administrator Doug Hulme said the issue would probably go back to the Finance and Government Operations Committee before final County Board action. The County Board recently approved a $56,000 emergency appropriation to the VACs 2016 budget to pay legal fees stemming from legal actions relating to the previous administrations barring of Chairman Brad Lavite from the Administration Building because of a post-traumatic stress breakdown. The Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court recently ruled that the county must pay the bills. Wednesdays meeting and any subsequent action will deal with bills incurred after the bills covered in the previous action, Hulme said he expected Wednesday meeting to deal specifically with the remainder of bills from 2016. According to audio recordings of the meeting, Lavite talked extensively about the issues at last weeks County Institutions Committee meeting. There are more legal fees because when the auditor said in a meeting that he wasnt going to pay any of our bills, that created an adversarial relationship with the VAC, Lavite said. So from that day forward we stopped submitting invoices because they said they will not pay them. Which actually did the county a favor, because if the invoice had been submitted then interest and penalties would have been assessed for the last 3 years, he added. Two issues still awaiting resolution are the federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from the countys actions, and a county lawsuit relating to what Lavite said was a long-term improper reduction in the VACs tax levy over the past decade. At no time did the VAC ever want to have this problem, he said. It wasnt our intent, we never set out to have this problem. Lavite noted he has been working with the Madison County Treasurers Office in unraveling a lot of the mistakes of the last 10 years. We are to a point now where were having conversations, he said at last weeks meeting, adding a big part of that is taking the attorneys for both sides out of the equation. The funding suit, filed Dec. 24, stems from what Lavite called an improperly set property tax levy that funds the VAC. He said it began in 2008 under then-County Clerk Mark Von Nida (now Circuit Clerk) and continued under his successor, Debra Ming-Mendoza. The suit claims that since then the County Clerks Office improperly determined the levy, resulting in a shortfall of approximately $1 million. The other issue to be dealt with by the Executive Committee is a resolution authorizing Access to USL Financial Systems. This deals with an ongoing dispute between the administration and the Auditors Office over access to detailed financial information. Hulme has argued that the administration needs access to those records for budgeting and to track current finances. Auditor Rick Faccin disagrees, and during sometimes heated debate had said he did not trust County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler or Hulme. The resolution is also set for discussion or possible approval at the full County Board meeting. EDWARDSVILLE A 23-year-old man has been arrested on charges of first-degree murder after a well-known Edwardsville couple was found dead in their home Monday. Zachary I. Capers of Collinsville has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Michael and Dr. Lois Ladd. The charges were filed Tuesday by Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons. Capers is being held in the Madison County Jail without bail. At a press conference outside the Public Safety Building on Main Street, Maj. Jeff Connor, chief deputy commander of the Major Case Squad, said the investigation was intense. Police declined to discuss a motive. The charges stem from the discovery of the bodies Monday when an employee at Lois Ladds chiropractic office called police after Lois failed to report for work. Edwardsville Police Department officers responded to the home near a wooded residential area north of downtown and found the Ladds dead in their home around 10:30 a.m. that morning. Upon discovery, the Major Case Squad was contacted for assistance into the investigation. The Ladds had no children. Connor said there was no known connection between Capers and the Ladds. Connor said Capers was arrested Sunday in Staunton on an outstanding warrant in an unrelated incident that tied him to this case. Connor confirmed that Capers has no connection to the carjacking, chase and shooting that began in Glen Carbon Saturday and ended in Staunton. Connor said that incident ended before the Edwardsville one started. I cant say enough about the work that went into this, Connor said of his investigators, referring to them as the gold-standard of investigations. Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons explained the charges against Capers. For each victim, Capers is charged, without lawful justification, with the intent to kill or do great bodily harm as Capers stabbed Michael and Lois Ladd to death. The other two charges are, that without lawful justification, Capers knew that stabbing the pair would create a strong likelihood of death for them. Gibbons said Capers will receive a possible life sentence and that no one else was involved in the crime. We are seeking a life sentence only because I dont have the death penalty available to me, Gibbon said. If I did have it, I would use it. I think the death penalty is the most serious of penalties to use in the most serious crimes. He said it brings a full measure of justice. Gibbons said the family had been kept up-to-date on the proceedings since Monday. Theyre devastated, he said. This will be a loss to so many of us; some may never totally recover. He said he will fight to keep Edwardsville a safe place to live. Mayor Hal Patton extended his appreciation to the Major Case Squad. This was a horrific crime, Patton said. The Ladds would help anyone and at any time. They would have done whatever they could for this individual [Capers] if approached properly. The Ladds remembered Lois, 68, had her own business, The Last Resort Whole Body Health, located at 344 S. Fillmore St., where she worked as a certified chiropractor and acupuncturist. She provided pain management services and traditional Chinese medicine to area patients for about 30 years. Michael, 79, worked as a general contractor in the area. They attended services at St. Boniface Church on East Vandalia Street. The Ladds lived on hilltop property in the 800 block of North Kansas Street. Neighbors say Michael bought the house and land during the mid-1980s. Two of his siblings live at the bottom of a hill on the same street. Its insane, said an anonymous 14-year employee of the Stagger Inn Again Bar and Restaurant on East Vandalia Tuesday, describing the Ladds death. The Ladds often visited the bar to watch friends play shuffleboard. They came here and ate all the time; they were here Saturday. Theyve probably been coming here for 40 years. Other patrons mentioned that Lois dressed appropriately for most every holiday and that she recently returned from a Thailand trip. Besides working as a chiropractor and serving as a Rotarian, she was a member of the Quercus Grove Rural Club, which owned the old Quercus Grove School between Hamel and Edwardsville before it burned in 2007. Ladd also once served on the personnel committee for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center. Over the years On Sunday, Capers received a ticket for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was filed Monday by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Jan. 16, a SIUE police officer responded to a report of a suspicious person pulling door handles in Peck Hall and Capers was arrested on a felony warrant out of Scott County for failure to appear. He was eventually taken to Madison County Jail because he was unable to post bond. In September 2017, Capers was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle after an incident in Alton. In October of the same year, Capers was charged with a felony in Madison County. Capers has been charged with various misdemeanors involving theft, trespassing, assault, and resisting a peace officer from late 2017 to 2018 in Edwardsville. Charles Bolinger can be reached at 618-656-4700, ext. 31 EDWARDSVILLE A 23-year-old has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder after a well-known Edwardsville couple was found dead in their home Monday morning. Zachary I. Capers, 23, with a last known address of 1511 Saratoga Drive, Collinsville, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Michael and Dr. Lois Ladd. The charges were filed Tuesday by Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons. He is being held in the Madison County Jail without bond. Judge Kyle Knapp signed the charges. At a press conference outside the Public Safety Building on Main Street Tuesday afternoon, Maj. Jeff Connor, chief deputy commander with the Major Case Squad, said the investigation, with approximately 35 officers, was intense. Police refused to discuss a motive. The charges stem from the discovery of the bodies Monday morning when an employee at Lois Ladds chiropractic office called police after Lois failed to report for work. Edwardsville Police Department officers responded to the home near a wooded residential area north of downtown and found the Ladds dead in their home around 10:30 a.m. that morning. Upon discovery, the Major Case Squad was contacted for assistance into the investigation. The Ladds had no children. Connor said there was no known connection between Capers and the Ladds. Connor said Capers was arrested Sunday in Staunton on an outstanding warrant in an unrelated incident that tied him to this case. Connor confirmed that Capers has no connection to the carjacking, chase and shooting that began in Glen Carbon Saturday and ended in Staunton. Connor said that incident ended before the Edwardsville one started. I cant say enough about the work that went into this, Connor said of his investigators, referring to them as the gold-standard of investigations. Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons explained the charges against Capers. For each victim, Capers is charged, without lawful justification, with the intent to kill or do great bodily harm as Capers stabbed Michael and Lois Ladd to death. The other two charges are, that without lawful justification, Capers knew that stabbing the pair would create a strong likelihood of death for them. Gibbons said Capers will receive a possible life sentence and that no one else was involved in the crime. We are seeking a life sentence only because I dont have the death penalty available to me, Gibbon said. If I did have it, I would use it. I think the death penalty is the most serious of penalties to use in the most serious crimes. He said it brings a full measure of justice. Gibbons said the family has been kept up-to-date on the proceedings since Monday. Theyre devastated, he said. This will be a loss to so many of us; some may never totally recover. He said he will fight to keep Edwardsville a safe place to live. Mayor Hal Patton extended his appreciation to the Major Case Squad. This was a horrific crime, Patton said. The Ladds would help anyone and at any time. They would have done whatever they could for this individual [Capers] if approached properly. The Ladds remembered Lois, 68, had her own business, The Last Resort Whole Body Health, located at 344 S. Fillmore St., where she worked as a certified chiropractor and actupuncturist. She provided pain management services and traditional Chinese medicine to area patients for about 30 years. Michael, 79, worked as a general contractor in the area. They attended services at St. Boniface Church on East Vandalia Street. The Ladds lived on hilltop property in the 800 block of North Kansas Street. Neighbors say Michael bought the house and land during the mid-1980s. Two of his siblings live at the bottom of a hill on the same street. Its insane, said an anonymous 14-year employee of the Stagger Inn Again Bar and Restaurant on East Vandalia Tuesday, describing the Ladds death. The Ladds often visited the bar to watch friends play shuffleboard. They came here and ate all the time; they were here Saturday. Theyve probably been coming here for 40 years. Other patrons mentioned that Lois dressed appropriately for most every holiday and that she recently returned from a Thailand trip. Besides working as a chiropractor and serving as a Rotarian, she was a member of the Quercus Grove Rural Club, which owned the old Quercus Grove School between Hamel and Edwardsville before it burned in 2007. Ladd also once served on the personnel committee for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center. Over the years On Sunday, Capers received a ticket for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was filed Monday by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Jan. 16, a SIUE police officer responded to a report of a suspicious person pulling door handles in Peck Hall. Capers was arrested on a felony warrant out of Scott County for failure to appear. He was eventually taken to Madison County Jail because he was unable to post bond. Capers has been charged with various misdemeanors involving theft, trespassing, assault, and resisting a peace officer from late 2017 to 2018 in Edwardsville. In September of 2017, Capers was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle after an incident in Alton. In October of the same year, Capers was charged with a felony for in Madison County. Anyone with relevant information about the case, including any connections between Capers and the Ladds, should call the Major Case Squads direct line at (618) 307-1611, or the Edwardsville Police Departments tip line, (618) 692-7552. Callers to the EPD tip line may remain anonymous. Reach Charles Bolinger at (618) 656-4700, ext. 31 EDWARDSVILLE A welfare check has resulted in a homicide investigation after an elderly couple was found dead Monday morning in their Edwardsville home. Michael Ladd, 79, a local contractor, and Dr. Lois Ladd, 68, a chiropractor, were found dead around 10:30 a.m. Monday at their residence in the 800 block of North Kansas Street, according to police. Both were Edwardsville Rotarians. LOS ANGELES - The former chancellor of North Carolina's flagship public university was named president of the University of Southern California on Wednesday as USC seeks to move past scandals that have cast a shadow over its reputation as a school on the rise. Carol Folt will take the helm July 1 at the 45,000-student research university in Los Angeles, the head of USC's board of trustees said in a statement. Folt drew national attention for her decision in January to remove a pedestal from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that had been the base of a monument, known as Silent Sam, that commemorates Confederate soldiers. Protesters had toppled the bronze statue in August, decrying it as a symbol of white supremacy. Others said the monument should be preserved in accord with state law and in recognition of North Carolina's history. The stone pedestal remained until Folt ordered crews to haul it away. Folt left UNC-Chapel Hill abruptly in January - months ahead of her initial timetable for transition - after leaders of the UNC System's board of governors expressed displeasure at her actions. As USC's 12th president, Folt will lead a university facing myriad challenges. Max Nikias, who had been president of USC since 2010, was forced out in August amid turmoil over the university's handling of controversies that included allegations of abuse by a USC gynecologist and the resignations of two medical school deans in connection with alleged misconduct. Now, USC is at the center of a scandal involving efforts to help children of the wealthy secure admission to prestigious universities through cheating and bribery. Wanda Austin, an aeronautics and systems engineering expert, has served as interim president of USC this school year. "I have no doubt that under the enterprising and accomplished leadership of Dr. Folt, USC is set to embark on an exciting, upward, and unprecedented journey along with cultural renewal and positive change," Rick Caruso, USC's board chairman, said in a statement. "That includes ushering in a new era of excellence, innovation, scholarship, and principled leadership that our community so justly deserves." Frederick Ryan, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, is also a member of the USC board. Folt, 67, led UNC for 5 1/2 years. Before that, she was a professor, dean of the faculty, provost and interim president at Dartmouth College. She holds a bachelor's degree in aquatic biology and a master's degree in biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a doctorate in ecology at UC-Davis. As an undergraduate, Folt started in community college and worked her way through school as a waitress - a path that resonates with many at USC who come from working-class backgrounds. She praised USC's commitment to access for disadvantaged students - what she called the "heart of a public" institution, in a private one. "Of course, I also am aware that our community is deeply troubled by a number of immediate challenges," she said in a statement. "I assure you that we will meet these challenges together, directly, decisively and with honesty and candor. This is a moment of responsibility and opportunity, and we will seize them both." The choice drew swift praise from USC faculty. "It's a great choice," said Ariela Gross, a professor of law and history. "I think at Chapel Hill, Carol Folt showed herself to be a person of great integrity, someone with moral leadership, someone who wasn't afraid to get out in front of issues - and also a really caring leader and teacher who worked with students and with faculty in an educational community." Shaun Harper, a professor of education and business, said: "I am relieved that we have hired a new president who has experience leading an institution in recovering from massive scandals. Hopefully President Folt will help us maintain all that makes USC such an excellent university, while holding all in our campus community accountable for acting with the highest levels of integrity." On campus, students glanced at an email announcing Folt's appointment and then resumed studying and research. Omair Qureshi, a biological studies major who is heading to medical school next year, said he was heartened to hear about Folt and the stand she took on removing the Confederate monument. He hopes Folt can help mend the school's brand. Students had received an email Tuesday saying tuition was rising because the value of a USC degree was increasing. "I don't know if that's true anymore," Qureshi said, adding that things have changed since he was a freshman. "USC was sort of untainted then." Rini Sampath, who graduated from USC in 2016 and served as president of the student body, said she was disappointed the university chose another president without input from students. Sampath, 24, a management consultant in the District of Columbia, said the university has a record of ignoring students and staffers, something she hopes will change with Folt. "We can't forget that students weren't included in this search. Students and faculty don't really have a true voice in university decision-making," Sampath said. Some of the scandals the university is grappling with grew out of a refusal to listen to students, she said, adding that the controversies are unlikely to abate unless the school changes its tack. William Tierney, a professor of higher education, called Folt a logical selection." "The university at this point needs someone who knows how to be president," Tierney said. "That's certainly a strength of Carol Folt." Noting Folt's role in the Silent Sam controversy, Tierney said: "Although she had problems with her board, she stood up for the kinds of values we need." - - - Anderson and Svrluga reported from Washington. EDWARDSVILLE Prospective students and the general public are invited to learn more about graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles joint Graduate Admissions Open House and Graduate School Research Symposium on Monday, April 1. The Graduate Admissions Open House will be held from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Pre-Function Room, adjacent to the Morris University Centers Meridian Ballroom. The Graduate School Research Symposium will be held from 2:30-4 p.m. in the Meridian Ballroom. At the Open House, prospective students will learn about SIUEs more than 100 masters programs, post-baccalaureate certificates, specialist degrees, doctoral degrees and cooperative doctoral programs. They will also receive information on graduate admission requirements and financial support, including graduate assistantships and competitive graduate awards. SIUEs diverse array of programs make it an excellent option for the pursuit of an advanced degree, said Jim Monahan, director of graduate admissions at SIUE. We invite prospective students to discover the many opportunities for educational advancement during our open house. Graduate admissions representatives will be on site and happy to discuss the admission process. The $40 Graduate School application fee will be waived for prospective students who apply during the Open House. Register now at siue.edu/graduate-admissions/visits. Prospective students and the general public are invited to become inspired at the Graduate School Research Symposium. The annual event celebrates the research efforts and accomplishments of students, featuring research poster displays, creative exhibits and oral presentations. Visitors can talk to current graduate students about their projects and experiences at SIUE, as well as meet faculty and admissions staff. Our graduate students make significant contributions to their fields of study that is presented in national and international conferences, published in peer-review journals, and contributes to patented discoveries, said Jerry Weinberg, PhD, associate provost for research and dean of the SIUE Graduate School. The Symposium is an opportunity to showcase their scholarship, recognize achievement and inspire future scholars. Student presentations will span academic disciplines from an action research project aimed at assessing perceptions and policy preferences regarding global climate change to developing telepresence teaching robots with social capabilities. The array of projects will also feature important research on Alzheimers Disease, the prevalence of the Male Athlete Triad, and the fostering of connection and sustainment via artmaking. A list of student research presentations is available via siue.edu/graduate-school-symposium/index. Registration is not required to attend the Graduate Research School Symposium. By preparing the next generation of leaders in a knowledge-based economy, SIUEs Graduate School fulfills the regions demand for highly trained professionals. Graduate school offerings include arts and sciences, business, education, engineering, nursing and interdisciplinary opportunities. SIUE professors provide students with a unique integration of theoretical education and hands-on research experiences. Students can obtain graduate certificates or pursue masters degrees, and be part of a supportive learning and rich intellectual environment that is tailored to the needs of adult learners. The Graduate School raises the visibility of research at SIUE, which ranks highest among its Illinois Board of Higher Education peers in total research and development expenditures according to the National Science Foundation. Doctoral programs are available in the Schools of Education (EdD) and Nursing (DNP). The School of Engineering and the Department of Historical Studies feature cooperative doctoral programs (PhD), and the College of Arts and Sciences features an Environmental Resources and Policy cooperative PhD. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday escalated his unrelenting attacks on the late senator from Arizona and former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who even in death has remained one of Trump's top targets for criticism as fellow Republicans have repeatedly begged him to stop. In a five-minute diatribe during an appearance at a General Dynamics tank factory in Lima, Ohio, Trump argued that McCain, a lifelong Pentagon booster and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, "didn't get the job done" for veterans; the president also groused not receiving proper gratitude for McCain's funeral in September. "I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve," Trump said inaccurately, an apparent reference to allowing the use of military transport to carry McCain's body to Washington. "I don't care about this, I didn't get a thank-you, that's OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain." He added, "I have to be honest, I never liked him much. Hasn't been for me. I've really, probably, never will." The full-throated repudiation of a deceased and revered member of his party was remarkable even for a president constantly at war with his rivals, and it came amid an outpouring of statements in recent days praising McCain in the face of Trump's attacks. "It's deplorable what he said," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said in an interview with Atlanta-based Georgia Public Broadcasting earlier Wednesday, referring to previous Trump attacks on McCain. "It will be deplorable seven months from now, if he says it again, and I will continue to speak out. . . . We should never reduce the service that people give to this country, including the offering of their own life." Trump's comments are part of a longtime pattern in which he lashes into those he sees as challenging him - whether prominent or obscure, alive or dead. In recent days, the president has also attacked George Conway, the husband of senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway, calling him a "stone cold loser," "a whack job" and a "husband from hell" after Conway raised questions about the president's mental health on Twitter. Others who have drawn the president's ire in recent days have included weekend Fox News hosts and "Saturday Night Live" writers and performers. Some close to the president have attributed his frustrations to worrying over the looming report on Russian election interference from the special counsel's office - which he mocked Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House en route to Ohio - while others said he simply has fewer advisers to restrain him from airing his grievances. Animosity between Trump, who received draft deferments from military service, and McCain stretches back decades and came to a head during the 2016 campaign, when Trump declared that McCain was "not a war hero," because he had been captured after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam. Aides say the new round of frustrations over McCain was fueled by a news report Trump saw recently about McCain's role in handing over a copy of an intelligence dossier to the FBI after the 2016 election. Trump inaccurately blames the disputed document for kicking off the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the campaign to help Trump. Trump has regularly railed about McCain in the nearly seven months since his death, complaining about the dossier and the senator's vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act. Exasperated advisers have encouraged him repeatedly to drop the issue, but his grudge against McCain is particularly visceral, according to current and former aides. Some of McCain's supporters said the criticism would amuse McCain, who would have appreciated that the president was still tormented by his legacy. Mark Salter, McCain's longtime friend and co-author, said that at first he was angered by the president's mischaracterizations. "It's reaching a point of boredom for all of us. McCain is getting some kind of amusement out of it that he's still in the guy's head somewhere," Salter said. "It doesn't help him, but he can't control himself. He obviously resents John. He obviously craves the admiration that John received in life. He may excoriate the establishment and fake news and everything else, but he craves its approval." At Trump's event in Lima, Fred Creech, a 61-year-old welder from Wapakoneta, Ohio, said he was a Trump supporter who appreciated the president's visit but said he was not thrilled by the extended anti-McCain diatribe. "I can understand what he was saying, but I don't know that it was totally necessary to explain all that to every single person out here," Creech said. Mike Phillips, 58, of Lafayette, Ohio, who works as a forklift driver at the plant, said he was a Trump supporter who appreciated the president's political incorrectness. "We've got a president up there right now that has backbone," he said. "And we're sorry if we hurt a few feelings, if that's the way it is, but we've got to be strong again." But Phillips was not eager to wade into the McCain controversy: "I do not have a comment on his comment. I'm not going there." Republicans have privately urged Trump to be more decorous about their late colleague, but most have done little in response to the continued attacks, aside from veiled criticisms. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., posted a tweet before Trump's Ohio speech that praised McCain but did not mention the president. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was close to McCain and remains close to Trump, said at an event in South Carolina on Monday that he had repeatedly counseled the president against attacking his late friend, to no avail. "He's an American hero, and nothing will ever change that in my eyes. I want to help this president, I want him to be successful," he said. ". . . I think the president's comments about Senator McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Senator McCain." A number of Democratic presidential candidates on Wednesday sharply criticized Trump's attacks on McCain, including South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who said Trump "faked a disability in order to avoid serving," a reference to the president's disputed medical deferment for bone spurs. Beto O'Rourke, appearing at a campaign stop in Conway, New Hampshire, pointed to McCain's disavowal of racial attacks in the 2008 presidential race against Barack Obama. "I think that kind of dignity and civility and mutual respect in our politics is missing right now," O'Rourke said. "I hope that we go back to his example. Instead of focusing on the president's comments, I want to focus on Senator McCain and his example." The president is unlikely to change his posture toward McCain, aides say. He takes particular pride in the idea that GOP voters prefer him over McCain, and aides say he has bragged that Republicans might cringe but not punish him over the attacks. On the day of McCain's death, he scuttled a statement drafted by White House aides honoring the senator's life. He reluctantly lowered the U.S. flags over the White House briefly before they were raised - then, under a fierce backlash, lowered them again. The president also fumed about the wall-to-wall news coverage of McCain's death and that he was not invited to the funeral at Washington National Cathedral, current and former administration officials said. Trump said in Lima that he did not like McCain because he received a "fake and phony" dossier and handed it over to the FBI, "hoping to put me in jeopardy." McCain had said he handed over the document after it was provided to him on the sidelines of a security conference because he thought it was important for law enforcement to investigate. The president said, without providing examples or evidence, that McCain "didn't get the job done for our great vets at the VA, and they knew it." And he attacked McCain's status as a longtime defense hawk who advocated a robust U.S. presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan. "We're in a war in the Middle East that McCain pushed so hard," Trump said. After about five minutes of complaining about McCain, Trump seemed to realize he had flown to Ohio for another reason. Explaining his jeremiad, he said the news media had asked him about McCain - after he tweeted attacks on the late senator. "Not my kind of guy, but some people like him and I think that's great," he said. "Now, let's get back and get onto the subject of tanks and this economy." Virgin airlines has said that it will start flying between London and Sao Paulo in Brazil next year. The 11 hour 55 minute flight will be operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and will be the airlines first route to South America. The announcement has not given an exact start date. The service will connect Heathrow to Sao Paulos Guarulhos International Airport and aims to capitalise on the fast-growing Brazilian economy, adding that there would be year-round demand for the flights. All flights will have Virgin Atlantics upper class, premium and economy cabins. The UK-based carrier says the new service aims to capitalise on the fast-growing Brazilian economy. Sao Paulo is the commercial capital of Brazil and is the largest city in the Americas after New York. Virgin noted that it also has a booming tourism industry. In particular The Iguacu Falls and the Amazon rainforest are two of South Americas main tourist attractions, are easily accessible from the city and the airline said convenient connections would open up other iconic attractions, such as Rio de Janeiro and the beaches of Santa Catarina. Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic executive vice president commercial, said: Sao Paulo represents an incredible opportunity for our business, and were very excited to be flying to a brand new continent for the first time. But its not all about business Im also thrilled to introduce an exciting new destination to our leisure customers. Sao Paulo boasts numerous cultural institutions such as the Museu de Arte, has a rich architectural history, and acts as a gateway for leisure travel within the rest of Brazil and beyond. He confirmed Virgin Holidays will offer package holidays to Brazil on the back of the new service. Flights, will go on sale later this year. Virgin is also launching new services from London Heathrow to Las Vegas, Manchester to Los Angeles and London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. At least five (5) years working experience in any educationalinstitution of which two (2) years must have been in the areas of SpecialNeeds Education sector or Inclusive Education Bayport FinancialServices (U) Ltd is part of the Bayport International Group (BML) headquarteredin Johannesburg, South Africa with Financial Services Operations in over NineCountries in Africa and South America. In line with our Corporate Objective ofcontinuous improvement and achieving efficiencies in our Country Operations, weinvite applications from suitably qualified, professional and experiencedcandidates for the following openings within our EXCO and MANCO levels of ourUganda Operations The UN World FoodProgramme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency against world hunger. Itis the largest and longest serving humanitarian agency in Uganda. Currently WFPfocuses on three priority areas: Saving lives in Emergencies; BuildingResilience through Predictable Safety Nets; Improving Nutrition &Mother-and Child Health; and Supporting Small Holder Farmers to Access Markets.WFP has operations in various parts of the Country. Touched by the compassion of the nurses who tended to her... Accusing the Congress and BJP of failing to ensure comprehensive development in the country in spite of the natural resources it is endowed with, TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday favoured a federal front government in the country. Campaigning in Nizamabad, Rao alleged that Hindutva followed by the BJP was "political Hindutva." "Dont we have resources? There are (resources) in the country. But, there is no intelligence to use... There is no water policy in the country because of the alleged misrule of the two parties (Congress and BJP)," he said. Irrigation projects are not built to provide water to agriculture, he claimed. The situation should change, he said. "If federal front government comes, if a true peoples government comes and governance is done with people as the central point, these are problems that can be solved and not problems that cannot be solved. The existing policies need to change completely," Rao said. People were fed up with the Congress and BJP which together ruled for over 60 years, he claimed. China and Singapore have achieved rapid progress in various spheres, he said. A new economic model and a new agriculture policy need to come in the country and the alleged unrest among poor and farmers should go, he said. The speeches being made everyday in the country were painful, he said. "Congress president Rahul Gandhi says the Prime Minister is a 'chor' (thief), while Modi says Gandhi and his mother are on bail (in National Herald case)," Rao said. "Are these leaders of the country? Are they who should become Prime Minister," he said. Rao hit out at state BJP president Laxman who criticised him on Monday. On Rao's remarks that BJP leaders spoke as if they have taken "contract for Hindu religion", Laxman had said it was "devil quoting the scriptures" as the TRS joined hands with the AIMIM which is "anti-Hindu". "What is your party's stance on Ram temple issue?" Laxman had asked. Rao said Laxman should first reveal if his party works for people or a party that does religious campaign. Should political parties deal with 'Janmabhoomi' (birth place) of Lord Ram or other figures in mythologies, he asked. Religious gurus would deal with issues like birth place of gods and the political parties should address problems like providing water and electricity to farmers, he said. The matter (Ayodhya issue) was in the Supreme Court and the courts will decide the issue and "we" need not interfere, he said. BJP talked about Hindu-related issues but "are we not Hindus," he asked. Alleging that BJP spoke as if Hindus abuse other religions, he said Hindu faith preached love and respect for all. "Yours is political Hindutva. Ours is true Hindutva... Ours is spiritual Hindutva. You are duplicate Hindus, Laxman ji. Your games would not work for long," Rao said. Reiterating TRS stance of seeking 16 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana (leaving Hyderabad held by ally AIMIM), Rao said he would announce party candidates on March 21. Telangana goes to polls in the first phase on April 11. TRS MP from Nizamabad K. Kavitha, Rao's daughter, mentioned the problems of red jowar and turmeric farmers in the region. There have been reports that turmeric and red jowar farmers planned to file 1,000 nominations in the Lok Sabha elections as an expression of their protest against failure of governments to provide remunerative price for their produce. "The BJP government, which boasts about their farmer centric schemes, should first and foremost know the plight of farmers... Thus we want there should be 1,000 nominations to be filed by turmeric farmers," she said, according to a TRS release. Noting that TRS has stood with the turmeric farmers, also raising the demand for a national turmeric board in parliament, she said the party would continue to speak for the farmers. She slammed the Congress and BJP for allegedly saying thousands of nominations should be filed in Nizamabad constituency to highlight the problems of red jowar and turmeric farmers at the national level. Such a thing can be done if a permanent solution can be found, Kavitha told the gathering. However, the problems of farmers would be highlighted and addressed if 1,000 nominations are filed in Amethi and Varanasi, the constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi respectively, she added. (Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PR Newswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.) MUMBAI, March 20, 2019/PRNewswire/ -- The leading tableware and cookware brand relaunches with a new positioning on International Women's Day ROXX, India's leading tableware and cookware brand, has recently signed up actress Parineeti Chopra as the brand ambassador. The brand - ROXX, offers a wide range of products under - glassware, dinnerware, steelware, cookware and non-stick. ROXX positioned as 'Always Special' was launched by Parineeti Chopra on International Women's Day, 8th March, 2019. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/837919/ParineetiChopraRoxxBrandAmbassador.jpg) The actress announced her official brand association with ROXX on her social media handles that witnessed a huge traction within hours of going live by the consumers at large. Speaking on the occasion, Abhinav Agarwal, MD, ROXX, said, "ROXX is a fast-growing brand and with Parineeti signing up as brand ambassador, it is sure to add further value to the brand. The choice to have Parineeti representing ROXX was unanimous. Parineeti's persona has what it takes to project the brand and resonate well with our consumers across India. We aim to have greater market penetration and reach newer milestone in the years to come." Actor Parineeti Chopra chipped in, "I personally like ROXX's vast range and quality. Plus it's an upcoming Indian brand offering world-class tableware and cookware at affordable prices. It has an extremely youthful and sophisticated persona, which I can relate with. It's a pleasure to be associated with a brand like ROXX." The brand is managed by Eggfirst , a Mumbai-based advertising agency having well-spread portfolio and expertise. Ravi Banka, the Founder & CMD of Eggfirst Advertising, commented, "Assigned with the onus of re-energising brand ROXX, we decided to add the apt star power. After deliberating on various celebrities, we zeroed in on Parineeti as her vibrancy and exuberance blended with elegance was a perfect brand-fit. ROXX as a brand is and will be #AlwaysSpecial to us and we intend to explore its full potential with Parineeti as the brand ambassador." ROXX is available via their online store http://www.roxx.in and offline through a well-spread distribution network of over 6,000 multi brand retail stores plus 4 Exclusive Business Outlets (EBO's) as ROXX World. Currently, ROXX has four EBO's in - Delhi, Kolkata (has two outlets) and Kharagpur, and company plans to launch few more including one in Mumbai during the first quarter of 2019. About ROXX: The brand name is owned by East Coast Distributors (ECD). A leading company serving Indian consumers varied requirements in table ware segment from over a decade. ECD's rich experience of international and domestic markets has helping to deliver many innovative products of the highest quality. Source: ROXX PWR PWR Utrecht (Netherlands), Mar 20 (AFP) Dutch police said they were investigating a terrorist motive for the Utrecht tram attack, as they arrested a new suspect over the deadly shooting. Authorities said they had found a suspicious letter in a getaway car used by Turkish-born main suspect Gokmen Tanis, 37, which made them "seriously" consider terrorism might have been involved in Monday's rampage in which three people were killed and seven injured. Armed counter-terrorism officers meanwhile arrested one new suspect, aged 40, in Utrecht on Tuesday who was "suspected of being involved in the shooting incident", prosecutors said, adding that his "role was being further investigated." Two other men who were arrested Monday in connection with the shooting had been released, prosecutors added. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte earlier in the day laid flowers for the victims at the scene of the attack and said he was "still filled with horror" by the bloodshed. "So far, a terrorist motive is seriously being taken into account. This is based on a letter found in the getaway car among other things and the nature of the facts," Dutch police and prosecutors said in a joint statement. Apparently ruling out reports that the shooting was due to a family dispute, the statement added: "Our investigation has established no link between the main suspect and the victims." The three people who died in the shooting were a 19-year-old woman from Vianen, south of Utrecht, and two men aged 28 and 49 from Utrecht itself, the statement said. Armed police captured Tanis after an eight-hour manhunt that virtually shut down the Netherlands' fourth largest city and saw security stepped up at airports and key sites across the country. Police said they found a red Renault Clio that the suspect had carjacked before the attack and used as a getaway car afterwards. They had also found a firearm after his arrest. Tanis is expected to appear before a judge later this week in a closed-door hearing after which he most likely will be remanded in custody. A stream of mourners laid flowers on Tuesday at the site of the attack near the 24 Oktoberplein square. "One of the victims was my friend's girlfriend. So coming here today was the least I could do," Marco van Rooijen, 43, told AFP. The attack raised security fears ahead of Wednesday's provincial elections in the Netherlands. Populist and far-right parties have seized on the attack to push their agenda for the polls but Rutte has remained restrained. "A day later, I am still filled with horror," Rutte told parliament. "There are still many questions about the motive, and the police and prosecutors still have to do a lot of work. But there is no doubt that the impact was huge." Flags were flying half-mast on many buildings around the Netherlands and on foreign embassies. Public transport was running again after forensic police finished their investigations at the scene and removed the tram on which the shooting erupted. But there was also growing anger after it emerged that the suspect had only been freed from jail in a rape case two weeks ago. Tanis was originally arrested in 2017 then released from pre-trial detention, before being taken back into custody when he breached his bail conditions, the central Netherlands district court said. He was freed again at the start of March. In 2014, he was also convicted of "illegal possession of weapons" and attempted theft but acquitted of attempted manslaughter. He was also convicted in recent months for shoplifting and burglary. Broadcaster NOS meanwhile said some of his relatives had links to fundamentalist Islamic groups, but also that he was known for unstable behaviour after divorcing his wife two years ago. A woman involved in the rape case told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper: "He is completely mad and uses drugs. I have previously warned the police against him. He's not a terrorist but a psychopath." Support for the Netherlands poured in from around the world, including the United States, the EU and Russia. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "America stands with you. We will continue to do all we can to help you in this terrible time of tragedy." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's intelligence agency was "looking into" the attack. (AFP) IJT New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people on Wednesday to think wisely before casting their vote and attacked the Congress, alleging that the grand old party believed in insulting institutions, including Parliament, judiciary, media and the armed forces, when it was in power. "As you go to vote - remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly. If they could do it then, they can surely do it now," he wrote on his blog. He said eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty. "Think wisely: From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way." "Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct," he said, taking a dig at the principal opposition party. He said his government has changed things as it puts institutions above everything else. "India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating," he said. He said the present Lok Sabha had a "phenomenal 85-per cent" productivity. "The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses. It is clear that when a non-dynasty party [has a] higher number, its tendency to work more is visible," he said and asked which were the "forces disrupting the House and why." Referring to freedom of expression, he alleged dynastic parties have never been comfortable with a free and vibrant press. "No wonder, the very first constitutional amendment brought in by the Congress government sought to curtail free speech. Speaking truth to power, which is the hallmark of a free press was seen as vulgar and indecent," Modi wrote. He pointed out that the UPA years saw the bringing of a law that could land you in prison for posting anything offensive. "A tweet against the son of a powerful UPA minister could land innocent citizens in jail. Just a few days ago, the nation watched with horror when a few youngsters were arrested for expressing their true feelings at a programme in Karnataka, where the Congress is sharing power," he said. Modi said he wants to tell the Congress that "no amount of intimidation" will change the ground realities. "Curbing freedom of expression will not change people's poor impression of the party." Referring to Emergency, he said it was imposed to "safeguard" the interests of a "dynasty". "The Congress has imposed Article 356 almost a hundred times, with Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself doing so about fifty times. If they did not like a state government or leader the government was dismissed," he wrote. Referring to the judiciary, he alleged that Congress' contempt for courts "is anyway legendary." "It was Mrs. Indira Gandhi who called for a 'committed judiciary', which seeks to make the courts more loyal to a family than to the Constitution," he claimed. This pursuit of a committed judiciary, Modi said, made Congress overlook several respected judges while appointing the chief justice of India. "Congress' modus operandi is simple- reject, discredit and threaten. If a judicial verdict goes against them, they reject it, then they discredit the judge and thereafter, talk about bringing impeachment motions against the judge," he said apparently referring to moves to impeach then CJI Dipak Misra. He said from CAG to the erstwhile Planning Commission, Congress never respected institutions. "In a telling comment, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called the Planning Commission led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, 'A bunch of jokers'," he said. The CBI, he alleged, became the Congress Bureau of Investigation and was used time and again on political parties just before crucial parliamentary votes. "Tensions were deliberately created in organisations such as IB and RAW. A policy decision taken by no less than the Union Cabinet was torn into pieces by someone who was not a member of any ministry and that too, in a press conference," he said. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi tearing a copy of an ordinance which sought to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on immediate disqualification of a lawmaker upon conviction. "The NAC was created as a body parallel to the Prime Minister's Office. And then, Congress talks about institutions?" he asked. Referring to defence preparedness, he alleged that Congress has always seen the defence sector as a source of income which is why the armed forces never got the respect from the Congress that they deserved. "After 1947, every Congress government has seen multiple defence scams. They began with jeeps and then moved to guns, submarines and helicopters. Every middleman is linked to one family." "When a top Congress leader calls the Army chief a 'gunda' and is subsequently promoted in the party rank and file, it shows their scant regard for the forces," he wrote. Continuing his attack, he said, "When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing 'Khoon Ki Dalali.' When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too." In an opaque reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra's appearance before investigating agencies, he said, "The sense of entitlement can be seen in their conduct towards routine legal processes. At present, their top leadership is on bail vis-a-vis a major scam. When the authorities seek to question them on their dealings, they do not even bother to reply." He also accused the Congress of lacking "internal democracy", saying if a leader dares to dream to head that party, he or she is shunted out. PTI NAB ABH ABH CHARIHO: Charihos girls and boys soccer teams both won Division II titles in dramatic fashion. The girls won in penalty kicks and the boys in the final two minutes of double overtime. The football team reached the D-III title game, as did the field hockey team. The girls volleyball team played in the D-II semifinals. Erin vonHousen was All-State in girls cross country. STONINGTON: Stoningtons boys soccer team earned its second straight Class M state title, closing the season with 21 straight victories. The field hockey team lost in the Class S title game. WESTERLY: Westerlys girls volleyball team reached the Division III semifinals, losing to eventual champion Scituate. The football team played in the D-II semifinals. The girls soccer team reached the D-III semifinals. Jake Serra and Kaya West were All-State in cross country. WHEELER: Wheeler boys and girls soccer teams qualified for the Class S state tournament. Vote View Results BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China's procuratorates will launch a campaign against counterfeit and substandard agricultural supplies, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Tuesday. The crackdown will target crimes involving fake and poor-quality seeds, pesticides, fertilizer, veterinary drugs, fodder, feed additives and agricultural machinery, the SPP said. It will focus on areas including rural-urban juncture zones, business and distribution centers for agricultural supplies, as well as breeding and production bases of agricultural products. The SPP requires local procuratorial organs to give targeted suggestions to relevant authorities in a timely manner to help improve social management in rural areas. It also demanded coordination between different procuratorial departments to ensure protection of agricultural supply safety and the interests of rural people, as well as cooperation with relevant administrative departments and public security organs in information sharing and testing and authentication. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] David Charles took advantage of the new stocks and shares Isa in 1999 David Charles is now a millionaire, thanks to the Isa. By using his tax-free savings allowance every year for the past 20, the 62-year-old from Berkshire has amassed a fortune of 1.1 million. Since the Nineties, David, who is married to Frances, 60, has used tax-free accounts to invest 250,000 in the stock market. For five years before the launch of the Isa, he used Personal Equity Plans (Peps), a government-backed tax-free account allowing investors to buy shares in UK companies. When the stocks and shares Isa replaced Peps in 1999, it became a vital tool in shielding David's savings from punitive taxes. On top of his initial 250,000, he has now earned 290,000 in dividends and 560,000 from lucrative investments. David, an experienced investment banker, uses his annual tax-free allowance every year to purchase shares through investment platform AJ Bell. He used to pick the shares himself, but now he leaves it to fund managers. As a higher-rate taxpayer, without the shelter of the Isa's tax-free status he would be liable to pay 32.5 per cent tax on the dividend income he earns and 20 per cent tax on any capital gains, after his allowances were taken into account. David quickly caught the bug after watching his father manage his own savings and investments. He says: 'It got me thinking about saving, investing, capital growth and dividends and the importance of setting aside money for the big purchases, such as a house deposit.' It is a mindset he is keen to pass on to his children, Piers, 21, and Tara, 19. He says: 'My daughter and son are both students, so they don't pay tax, but I have already started them off with their own Isas. 'My advice to people who may not be taxpayers at the moment, but think they will be at some point in the future, is not to wait. 'Make use of your tax-free allowance now, because you will never get it back.' If you are interested in becoming an investor, read our quick-start guide to DIY investing, and our round-up of the best and cheapest platforms you can use. When the Isa was first announced in 1997, the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said he hoped it would encourage a new national savings habit. And his wish came true. Britons fell in love with the tax-free account, piling hundreds of millions of pounds into cash, stocks and shares every year. The start of March is now known as 'Isa season', when banks and building societies frantically launch top deals to lure savers rushing to use up their annual allowance before it resets on April 6. The start of March is now known as 'Isa season', when banks and building societies launch top deals to lure savers rushing to use up their annual allowance before it resets on April 6 But the arrival of the personal savings allowance, which enables basic-rate taxpayers to earn up to 1,000 in savings interest tax-free, has had the knock-on effect of diluting the cash Isa. This is because you could often get a better rate with an ordinary taxable account and still pay no tax on interest earned. Politicians had also realised by this point that Isas were a vote-winner and had launched a string of new types of account. All this means a once very simple yet brilliant savings product can now be fiendishly complicated. Meanwhile, after ten years of rock-bottom rates, the amount of money we are putting aside for the future is also at an historic low. But none of this is proof that we should stop saving and we certainly shouldn't abandon Isas. Indeed, if rates continue to creep up, we increasingly risk exceeding our personal savings allowance particularly if you are a higher earner with a lower tax-free allowance of 500. The Government is also far more likely to scrap the personal savings allowance than touch our precious Isas (only last year, the tax-free dividend allowance was cut from 5,000 to 2,000). Meanwhile, for those dabbling in the stock market, an Isa protects any profits and income from tax. And, best of all, as our Prudent Investor points out, Isas make filling in your tax return a doddle. So, for now, long may the love affair continue. Beat scammers On Monday, our investigations team exposed how conmen based in India are terrorising thousands of Britons every day by posing as HMRC officials. Chancellor Philip Hammond: Plans to remove phone lines used in scams are well under way Victims are typically left a voicemail claiming they owe tax and face arrest if they do not pay their bill immediately. If they call back, the crooks then convince them to make a bank transfer and they never see their money again. Chancellor Philip Hammond and Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride have promised that plans to remove phone lines used in scams are well under way with almost 450 numbers removed from service. But telecoms giants need to do more still to stop these calls getting through. Number-spoofing technology that allows crooks to make it appear as though they are calling from a genuine telephone number is hugely effective in convincing victims they really are speaking to tax officials yet it is still freely available online. Readers also complain that HMRC is not doing enough to highlight the scam to taxpayers. They add that if the tax system wasn't so cumbersome, it wouldn't be so easy to confuse people into thinking they owe money in the first place. Remember, HMRC will never call you out of the blue and demand payment. If you receive a similar call, hang up and do not respond to voicemails, either. Never give up! Finally, a reminder of how it can pay to persevere. Last May, Money Mail reader Wendy was told by staff at a Nationwide branch that she could earn 5 per cent if she switched her Flex account to a Flex Direct savings account. It wasn't until July that Wendy realised she had lost her free European travel insurance in the switch and the perk was no longer offered to new customers. As a frequent traveller, Wendy never would have willingly given up her cover and she implored Nationwide to reinstate it. The society declined to do so, but Wendy refused to let it go. Six months on, Nationwide has finally buckled. It said that while it was sure Wendy had been made aware the insurance would cease when she moved accounts, it would reinstate her policy as a gesture of goodwill and pay her 50 in compensation. If you have a tale of dogged determination paying off, email me at v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk Kingfisher - the DIY group behind B&Q, Screwfix and Castorama - is on the hunt for a new boss, it said today, as it came clean on tumbling full-year profits. The FTSE-listed firm said it had begun succession planning for chief executive Veronique Laury who took up the job in 2014, but has not yet set a date for her departure. Kingfisher chief executive Veronique Laury (above) will depart when a replacement is found It also said it will shutter 15 under-performing shops in the next two years, and exit all of its Screwfix sites in Germany, leaving it with just an online presence for the brand in that country. The radical changes come as the firm reports a more than 50 per cent drop in annual profits to 322million. Excluding costs relating to previous store closures, profits fell 13 per cent to 693million. Sales at B&Q fell 3 per cent in the last year The group is three years through a five-year transformation plan, One Kingfisher, which was masterminded by outgoing boss Laury. Her strategy to streamline buying processes, shake up ranges and introduce better digital systems across the group has faced growing scrutiny amid falling sales and profits, some of which was down to execution issues. Today, she said: 'Leading the transformation has been so exciting but also very challenging. 'As the transformation approaches its final year, I believe it is right for someone else to lead the next phase of the One Kingfisher journey.' At B&Q, the UK's market-leading DIY chain, sales sunk 3 per cent over the year. Meanwhile, Screwfix sales rose 4.1 per cent, but this marks a slowdown in growth on the previous year. Screwfix - aimed at trade workers - is once again the strongest growing chain in the group While Kingfisher is pulling its Screwfix stores out of Germany, it pledged today to open more in the UK, increasing its target to 800 outlets, and setting up shop in Ireland. A slowing housing market and depressed consumer confidence in the UK has weighed on the group's performance in the last year. The firm has also come up against weak footfall and the yellow vest demonstrations in France where it operates the Castorama chain (where sales dropped 7 per cent) and Brico Depot. 'The Castorama business has long been a thorn in Kingfishers side,' said Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter. 'The company is planning some restorative measures to the unit although it remains to be seen whether a robust improvement can be made,' he said. Kingfisher shares are down more than a third over the last year, and a further 3 per cent in early trading today to 3.38. 'With more questions than answers remaining on the transformation plan, investors patience seems to have evaporated, with the market consensus of the shares now coming in at a sell,' Hunter adds. A grieving widow told yesterday how she lost almost 50,000 to fake taxmen fraudsters who made her feel like she was being held at gunpoint. Linda Butler was terrified into making repeat payments to aggressive criminals posing as HMRC officials who warned her she faced a huge fine and being arrested at her home if she refused to pay non-existent tax debts. The Government pledged to take action this week after a Daily Mail investigation revealed how as many as 10,000 Britons a day are being hit by the scammers, who work from call centres in India. But despite the promised crackdown, the fraudsters continue to operate with apparent impunity. One mother described how she was left in tears after being targeted on the school run only yesterday morning. Meanwhile, scores more readers have contacted the Mail about the scam. Linda Barker pictured with late husband David, she was the victim of a scam when crooks asked her for 50,000, purporting to be taxmen Undercover footage from inside an Indian call centre where scammers posing as HMRC staff terrorise thousands of Britons every day Mrs Butler, 56, described how she came home last December to find a stern voicemail from a man purporting to be an HMRC officer ordering her to call back urgently or face legal consequences. When she did, she was told she had been avoiding tax. The scammer said she owed HMRC 4,000 and if she failed to pay up she would face a 30,000 fine. Mrs Butler, who had recently lost her husband David, said she felt frightened because the man was so aggressive. Assuming that there had been a mistake with her tax bill, she logged into her online bank account and made the 4,000 payment he demanded. But the fraudster then claimed the transfer had not gone through and ordered her to make the payment again. This continued repeatedly for almost two hours. Mrs Butler could see her account balance going down but the fraudster was adamant the payments were not going through and assured her any overpayment would be refunded. At one point the man made her call her bank, NatWest, to confirm she was authorising the payment. He said that if she mentioned HMRC the bank would freeze her account and she would be unable to pay her mortgage. Mrs Butler said: I felt like I was being held at gunpoint. Eventually she hung up and contacted her bank, to discover she had lost almost 50,000. Mrs Butler said: I was so frightened. He said he had come to my house before and I had no idea if they were waiting around the corner. After investigating, NatWest managed to retrieve 2,700 but refused to refund the remainder because Mrs Butler had authorised the payments. Chancellor Philip Hammond has promised to do more to stop the telephone scammers. Despite this, however, the fraudsters continue to operate. Amy Diamond, an administrator who lives near Bromley in South-East London, told the Mail she was targeted yesterday morning. Miss Diamond was one of ten Daily Mail readers who contacted us to say they had received intimidating calls yesterday, just a day after the Government promised a crackdown on the fraudsters. She said: I completely believed it until something told me to call HMRC direct. I was in the car on the school run with my children and it had me in tears. It was so aggressive and demanding. It was petrifying. A spokesman for NatWest said last night: We sympathise with Mrs Butler, who has been the victim of a scam and appreciate this has been a very distressing time for her. We take our responsibilities in preventing scams seriously and will always try to help customers to recover their funds. Unfortunately, as she made the payments herself and confirmed a number of them as genuine when we contacted her, we are unable to refund her loss. Ex-pensions minister: They tried to con 20k from my Mum by Ros Altmann When my mother phoned, she was in a terrible state. I could hear from her voice that something had left her petrified. My mother is a strong, independent woman of 86 with a sharp mind. But she has had some serious bouts of ill health and it was obvious that, at that moment, she was on the verge of panic. Gradually, she managed to explain what had upset her so badly. A phone call had come out of the blue from an official claiming to be from Her Majestys Revenue & Customs. According to the caller, she owed 20,000 for years in unpaid taxes and if she didnt pay them the money straight away, she faced a visit from the police and immediate arrest. It was a scam, a blatant fraud, one of the type that the Mail Investigations Unit has done so much brilliant work to expose this week. But my mother was beside herself with worry, so she phoned me. Im so thankful that she managed to reach me to share her worries, and was not frightened into just handing the money over to these shameless conmen. The vicious hoax began with an answerphone message. My mother lives alone: she has always valued her independence, and she is adamant that she will never impose on anyone, even those who love her most dearly. She knows that, if she decided to move in with us, wed welcome her gladly. But I respect her independent spirit and I would certainly never want to take it away from her. Ros Altmann, the former pensions minister, says her mother was the victim of an HMRC scam, when crooks told the elderly lady she owed 20,000 Sadly, to some evil people, the fact that she lives alone makes her vulnerable and a perfect target for their criminal schemes. The first phone message came at a time when she was not feeling particularly robust. She has had treatment for lung cancer, and was recovering from heart surgery. So when the message with its official tone informed her there was an issue with her tax payments, she felt she had to call back on the number the crooks had left. That was a grave mistake. The man who answered the phone immediately began to hector and bully her. He accused her of attempting to evade her taxes, and warned that she had placed herself in serious trouble. If she didnt make a bank transfer straight away, and pay the 20,000, he would send police to her house to arrest her. I know where you live, he said aggressively. What a horrible ordeal for anyone, but especially an octogenarian in fragile health. It makes me very angry that these scammers have such contempt for people and are prepared to inflict such mental torture to steal from them. Frankly, it disgusts me. My mother protested that her accountant handled all her affairs, and he had said nothing about tax arrears. She had always paid all her tax bills. The crook accused her of ignoring repeated written demands and, when she insisted that she had seen nothing in the post, he said the letters had been going to the accountant who was either incompetent or worse, he added. Thank goodness my mother was not harried into parting with money there and then. It wasnt possible: 20,000 is a very large sum, much more than she had access to that day. She insisted that she had to speak to her financial adviser, and put the phone down, shaken and confused. She tried calling her accountant, only to discover he was on holiday, and she really became distraught. Thats when she called me. I immediately guessed what was going on and tried to assure her it must be a scam. I said I would find out what I could. I called the fraudsters number from my mobile, to see if I could find out more about how they operated information I intended handing to the police. They didnt answer my call but, when I tried ringing again with my number withheld, a man picked up. I said I was calling on my mothers behalf, and asked him what this was all about. He put the phone down. This type of crime is so calculating, callous and immoral. It is targeted mainly at the elderly, those from a generation that respects authority and has always believed in doing their bit for society. The thought of avoiding paying taxes, to my mother and her contemporaries, is abhorrent. They settle their bills, and theyre proud of it. If, by some administrative error, my mother really did owe anything to HMRC, she wouldnt rest till it was paid and these contemptible thieves think that they can take advantage of that. Theres something else about my mothers generation: they are polite. They speak patiently and courteously on the telephone, even when the caller is being rude and disrespectful. The idea of putting the phone down on anyone, even a scammer, is almost physically painful. It is hateful that these organised criminals treat human decency as weakness. They have no compunction. When I read the Mails outstanding investigation on Monday, in which reporter Tom Kelly infiltrated a fake call centre in the Indian city of Ahmedabad and revealed these scammers target a staggering 10,000 Britons a day, my blood boiled. Research by the Money Advice Service suggests that there could be as many as eight scam calls every second the equivalent of 250million calls per year. More than that, the British police and Whitehall departments should be doing their utmost to prevent the gangs from accessing the private phone numbers of British citizens. It would also make a huge difference if the scammers were stopped from buying and using bogus UK phone numbers, even copying the HMRC phone number, to make the scam seem authentic. The telecoms industry and the Government should introduce measures to prevent people from being able to hide their identities behind these bogus numbers. Clearly, the technical issues involved are complex. I have been campaigning for a long time to put a stop to cold-calling pension scams that deprived many of funds for their retirement. In January, these fraudulent practices were outlawed the culmination of the work that I began as Pensions Minister. But there is more to do and crooks will always attempt to find a way around any safeguards. Registering your phone number with Telephone Preference Service to screen out cold calls, for example, doesnt make a scrap of difference in most cases. What would work is if banks were to freeze all accounts that have been used in transferring scammed funds. Scammers never con only one person: there will always be more. The sooner banks are alerted and can shut down or freeze accounts being used by these criminals, the more people will be protected. There is clearly more to do to protect the public and to co-ordinate responses across the banking system, so all banks are alerted when a scam is discovered. Most of all, we all need to be aware of the risks, and to make sure that our loved ones know never to transfer money to spurious callers. A few weeks after the scare, my mother had another scam call. She hung up. Lesson learned. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF's stock was trading at $73.25 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, EFG shares have increased by 50.0% and is now trading at $109.85. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Albany Charter is getting another reprieve to remain in New York state - at least for now. Once again, the state Public Service Commission has granted Charter an extension to keep negotiating a settlement with staff at the Department of Public Service. The talks aim to end an eight-month impasse over the company's obligations to extend its high-speed internet network to 145,000 new households in the state, expected to cost roughly $300 million. The PSC voted last July to essentially revoke Charter's license to operate its Spectrum cable TV system in the state, saying the company had been deceptive in how it was extending its network by counting expansions in cities instead of building out the network in rural areas where broadband internet service is less prevalent. The PSC also gave Charter 60 days to come up with a six-month "exit" plan to sell off the Spectrum network to another provider so that cable TV and internet customers would not experience any drop in services. Since that July vote, Charter and staff at the Department of Public Service, which work under the PSC commissioners, have been in near-constant talks to come up with a solution that would keep Charter in the state. Charter has more than two million customers of its Spectrum cable TV network in New York. Because of the complexity of the talks, however, the PSC has had to regularly provide extensions to Charter so that it could continue working toward a settlement that would satisfy the PSC, which has said that any agreement would have to require Charter to go beyond the original 145,000 new addresses. The two sides have exchanged a "term sheet" that outlines the general terms of an agreement, although not the final one that will be signed. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "Further data analysis is still under way on certain (cable connection) passings under discussion, and additional time will allow the parties an opportunity to fully review the information exchanged, as well as to convert the term sheet into a fuller written agreement," PSC Chair John Rhodes wrote in a one-commissioner order justifying the extension, which was granted on March 6. Passings are when a cable TV company runs its network cables to within reach of a potential customer, typically to the telephone pole that serves them. Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, who represents parts of Schenectady, Montgomery and Albany counties, says that the Charter settlement, if it happens, will help the state achieve its goal of universal high-speed internet for all residents in the state. "With this settlement, we have an opportunity to deliver on that promise," Santabarbara wrote in a Feb. 19 letter to the PSC. "The many residents in my district that are still without service have been waiting far too long." Albany University at Albany biology professor Paolo Forni has been awarded $3.439 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health since September. Forni, a native of Italy who got his Ph.D. at the University of Turin, has been working at UAlbany since 2014. He is an assistant professor and operates a research lab on campus called the Fornilab that has trained 19 students so far. Forni's research involves studying the connection between the neurons that form in the nose and then migrate to the brain during embryonic development and ultimately control the sexual hormonal axis. He also studies how olfactory dysfunctions are an early marker of cognitive decline associated with aging and neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and dementia. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "The fact that Paolo has garnered three NIH awards at this early stage of his career is remarkable," said UAlbany professor Richard Cunningham, who is chair of UAlbany's biological sciences department. "These awards come from two different Institutes at NIH and show his broad interests in developmental neurobiology. I cannot remember another junior faculty member in the Biological Sciences who has had this level of success in grant funding in my 35 years at UAlbany." Guns. In a divided era, few topics prompt a wider split. On one side of the cultural and political chasm: Gun owners. On the other side: Advocates for more gun control. Between them: a gulf filled with disparate worldviews, conflicting definitions of safety, cultural stereotypes and fear. How to cross it? "Opening up conversation between people right now in America is kinda difficult. Kinda touchy. Nobody's giving anyone the benefit of the doubt," said the playwright E.M. Lewis. "So the conversation is very much all or nothing. Which isn't helping. I think there are a million steps in between." In the coming week, two Albany events will put firearms front and center. The first is a gun show this weekend at the Polish Community Center on Washington Avenue. The second, set for March 27 down the road at the University at Albany, is "The Gun Show," Lewis' one-person play designed to break down assumptions and spark conversation on the topic. The juxtaposition of the events scheduled just a few days and a five-minute drive apart is pure coincidence. When they were planning it, the organizers of the gun show didn't know about "The Gun Show." And the artists behind "The Gun Show" didn't know about the gun show. But taken together, the two events turn a lens on a subject too often reduced to sweeping generalizations. To some on the left, their counterparts on the right are Second Amendment zealots. To some on the right, people on the left want to revoke it and seize their guns. The subject is so fraught that even the possibility for dialogue is open to question. "There's no changing their minds. ... The statistics that they throw out are like, you know, the Ten Commandments burnt into stone which they are not," said David Petronis, who's presenting this weekend's gun show with his wife, Cathy. The couple run both a gun shop in Mechanicville and NEACA Inc., which mounts shows around the Northeast usually, 20 a year in New York and Vermont. Among the many Petronis events over the years were the now-banned gun shows in Saratoga Springs' City Center. He's had many conversations with protesters, he said. To them, and to everyone with an argument against guns, "I would say: 'Open up your brains. Open up your minds.'" Lewis is sympathetic. Yes, she said, she gets his frustration with the left. "Although, honestly, I would say the right is no better." Directed by Robert Jordan who also helmed a staging at PS 21 in Chatham "The Gun Show" tries to open up minds on both sides of the chasm. "Our country, on this subject and so many other subjects, is so horribly polarized that it doesn't feel like we're talking with each other," Lewis said. "It doesn't feel like we're reaching for common ground and finding community with our neighbors. ... It's almost as though we don't live in the same country." The playwright was on the phone from rural Oregon, where she grew up in a family and in a world where guns were part of everyday life, whether for hunting or other uses. "But they were farm implements. They were tools, you know? I didn't think a thing of them when I was growing up." As guns entered her life in other ways, her views began to shift. The play, structured around five stories, follows Lewis' "increasingly complicated interactions with guns" starting with her childhood, then being taught to shoot by her future husband, then an account of being held up at a bookstore. The play climaxes with a dark and deeply personal story that cracks Lewis wide open, encouraging audience members to do the same in the post-play talk-back. "These were my experiences that I was trying to make sense of to see what we can do, both on a personal and on a political level," she said. "Because the play doesn't end by saying, 'This is what you should do.' It's not an essay. It's a play. It doesn't say, 'You should do this, and this is the answer.'" The idea, with both the piece and the discussion afterward, is to shake off political credos and stick, instead, to the personal. "When we deal in story, there's no arguing with someone's experience," said Christopher Smith, the actor channeling Lewis's voice in all five segments. "You take it as your experience and there's an openness that happens." "It sounds like a very interesting 'Gun Show,'" Petronis said. Still, he's skeptical. Told that it's meant to strip away bias, he cited a description of the play on the UAlbany website. "It mentions 'taking aim' we'll put that in quotes 'at America's most dangerous pastime.' That's kinda leaning real liberal left." He then referred to an online list of 25 dangerous pastimes, guns nowhere among them. Smith sees his point. "I mean, in all fairness, I can't say that he's wrong." The play's conversation occurs in the middle but the middle feels differently to folks on each side. "So it would probably feel very moderate to people who are very left. To someone who's very much on the right, it's not going to feel smack-dab in the middle. It's probably going to feel like it leans left." He, too, grew up with guns in Los Angeles, where his father once served on the highway patrol and his brother still does. "As young as I can remember, I was always around guns. My dad would take his handgun everywhere we went." Smith got his hunting license when he was 12 in that context, totally normal. "Guns were just always, for a lack of a better phrase, a non-scary part of my growing up. They were just always around." Years later, he was working in a restaurant when a shooting occurred outside. "Bullets came through the glass, and we dropped down on the ground. And I was on the floor of the restaurant while gunshots were coming through the front windows and thinking, 'Oh, this is perfect I'm going to die at the job that I hate.'" Two valet parking attendants were killed that night, hit by stray bullets. Now based in Manhattan, Smith doesn't hunt any longer and his views have shifted to the left. But if his dad asked him to join him for skeet-shooting, he'd go. It's fun, he said. The way he sees it, the disagreement boils down to safety: the left defines it one way, the right defines it the other. "What we all have in common is that we want to be safe. ... I don't know what the way forward is," he said, "but we're human beings. And we should be able to wrestle this with respect for each other." There are patches of common ground. According to a variety of polls, a sizable majority of gun owners support universal background checks. And, according to a February 2018 poll conducted by The Economist/YouGov, only one in five Americans support repealing the Second Amendment. Included among those who oppose doing so is a slim plurality of Democrats. More Information If you go "The Gun Show" Where: UAlbany Performing Arts Center, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27; a 10 a.m. Thursday, March 28, performance for school groups is sold out, but teachers can contact the PAC at 518-442-5738 or PAC@albany.edu to be put on the waiting list Tickets: In advance, $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff; $5 more day-of. Info: albany.edu/pac; 518-442-3997 Albany Arms Fair Where: Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave. Extension, Albany When: 9 p.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 23, and 9 a.m-3 p.m. Sunday, March 24; additional Friday hours for NEACA members Admission: $8 general, $7 senior; children under 14 free with adult Info: neaca.com See More Collapse Petronis doesn't buy it. "When they say they aren't against the Second Amendment, I think that's fictitious. That's a lie." But he likes the idea of finding a compromise, though he's hard-put to say what that might be. On the one hand, he worries about gun registration, calling it "the first step to gun confiscation." On the other hand, he'd be on board with a gun-owner's equivalent of an enhanced license something that automatically identifies a carrier as licensed and legally vetted. "There has to be some laws that are agreeable to both sides," he said. "And I believe in the NICS system" i.e., the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. "There's nothing wrong with it. We've done it for decades now. The NICS system is fine." With "The Gun Show," Lewis is looking to at least explore the idea of a middle ground. With that in mind, she said, "We should come to his gun show, and he should come to ours." Petronis, in fact, extended an invitation to all associated with it. He plans to attend Lewis' show; Smith might well attend Petronis'; Lewis will be staging the play this weekend elsewhere with a different actor, "so I can't take him up on it, but I would, I would." The play has been staged more than 30 times over the last five years. Does it give her hope? "It gives me glimmers of hope. What has given me the most glimmers of hope is that we have had people in the audience from all kinds of perspectives and experiences and political stances. We've had police officers, we've had military, we've had people on the right, on the left. and nobody leaves. "People stay and listen to the stories in the wake of that," she continued. "And that alone to come together in a room and say: 'We can sit together, and we can open up something together, something that's difficult, and we can act like a community.' That gives me hope." Petronis said he's looking forward to "The Gun Show." At the end of the play, during the discussion session, "I might jump up on top of the seat and wave my arms." But for now, he doubts the viability of a real, rational conversation. Is it possible across the divide? "No," he replied. No? "No." abiancolli@timesunion.com 518-454-5439 @AmyBiancolli Josh Woodward, the local firefighter who was nearly killed by an aggressive septic infection that cost him a hand and toes, was released from St. Peter's Hospital on Wednesday. The 33-year-old left the hospital to cheers, waiting on a stretcher for an ambulance that would take him to Sunnyview rehabilitation center in Schenectady. Woodward is expected to spend several weeks in therapy before being sent home. Since shortly after her husband was hospitalized in early February with a septic infection doctors feared could kill him, Chelsea Woodward kept up a steady stream of information about his case on Facebook. She's celebrated his recovery and chronicled his setbacks. Chelsea Woodward posted the video of his release from the hospital. Within 30 minutes, the post received 700 comments from well wishers. On Tuesday, Chelsea Woodward said she was preparing for her husband's eventual arrival at home. She said she purchased a number of things to help him continue his recovery at home. "The next few days he will see every single doctor he has (lots) who have to individually clear him for discharge," she said. "And then he's coming home." The recovery has been startling. While he lost his right hand and toes, Josh Woodward survived a widespread infection that can often be lethal. A firefighter at Albany International Airport, he underwent foot surgery on Monday, a procedure carried out by a doctor dedicated to ensuring that Woodward will be able to walk, Chelsea Woodward wrote Monday. The surgery will keep him off his feet for as much as two months and he's learning how to use a wheelchair to get around during the recovery, she wrote. A tube attached to his gallbladder was also removed, leaving Josh Woodward with only an IV connected to his body. "Obviously the biggest [news] being Josh's kidneys are functioning and he no longer needs dialysis," she wrote. "They will confirm this is the case with tomorrow mornings blood draw but all signs point to kidney success!" Josh Woodward has been at St. Peter's Hospital since he arrived at the emergency department there in early February to have pain in his arm examined. He thought it was a pulled muscle, but doctors quickly determined he had an infection that triggered sepsis. Sepsis is the body's extreme response to an infection. Without timely treatment, it can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. After Woodward arrived at the hospital, he was rushed into emergency surgery and was in critical condition for weeks. He remained unconscious for more than a week. A family friend set up a GoFundMe page, and the Albany Airport fire department is making its own plans to support the family. So far, the GoFundMe effort has raised $111,965 of its $150,000 goal. The money will be used to defray Woodward's medical costs and other expenses tied to his care. On Sunday, March 24, a special series When Pigs Fly: Do You Believe in Miracles continues at the Capital Church in Albany at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., where Chelsea Woodward and church Pastor David Mazzella will discuss Josh Woodward's journey to recovery in a program titled Miracles of Healing. "Have you ever seen an actual real-life miracle? We have," the event page reads. "Do you need God to do the impossible in your life? We do too. This week, Pastor David invites us to see, with our own eyes, that real life miracles do happen and to believe, with our hearts, that they CAN happen in our lives too." At the end of the event there will be a video message from Josh Woodward, Chelsea Woodward said. For more on the event, go to capitalchurchny.org/whenpigsfly ALBANY Its become a common sight on YouTube as well as the occasional evening newscast: motorists who illegally zip past school buses as they pick up or drop off children, despite the stop sign that flips out from the left side of the bus. Lawmakers say this sort of dangerous moving violation could become less of a problem if a measure allowing cameras to be mounted on the buses becomes law this year. On Tuesday, the Assembly passed such a measure unanimously. Syracuse Democratic Assemblyman William Magnarelli, who sponsored the bill, called it a deterrent that would "ultimately save students' lives." The Senate has the proposal in its one-house budget plan. "Were looking to fast-track it, said Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo. Under its provisions, buses would have cameras mounted near or facing the "stop arms," which swing out when a bus stops to let kids get on or off. The devices could capture the license plate numbers of vehicles that illegally go around the buses. The school bus industry backs the measure. Citing periodic enforcement campaigns by police, David Christopher of the state Association for Pupil Transportation and Assembly members estimate that motorists pass stopped buses up to 50,000 times per day in New York, including traffic-clogged New York City. A one-day enforcement crackdown last year yielded 850 tickets. Under current law, drivers can only be ticketed by a police officer who witnesses the act. The fine is $250. The number of students actually killed by errant drivers ignoring a bus' stop sign in New York has been low, with one fatality in 2014 and another in 2016 in New York. But there was a spate of five such deaths in the midwest this year, said Christopher. And dozens of kids are struck and injured each year. Weve had some unbelievable close calls this year, said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, who like many law enforcement officials supports the proposal. School officials have concerns about implementation. School districts dont want to be in the business of issuing school bus fines, said Michael Borges, executive director of the state Association of School Business Officials. But Magnarellis bill makes municipalities, rather than school districts, the lead players in enforcement. In the 16 states that allow the on-board cameras, the company providing the devices typically records the traffic. Technicians then forward any footage showing an apparent violation to police. Local police then decide whether to go after the violators. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Others see commercial imperatives at work: Equipment suppliers such as camera companies are looking for new customers since the market for red-light cameras has cooled in recent years, said James Walker of the National Motorists Association, a group that generally opposes more traffic fines. In some cities including Albany red-light cameras have failed to meet anticipated fine revenues. Walker cited National High Safety Administration statistics indicating that more people younger than age 19 were killed by school buses (71) than by passing vehicles (40) between 2005 and 2014. Christopher said that bus providers are constantly working on training their drivers to improve safety. But the image of cars going around school buses raises plenty of public outrage. One recent clip, which showed a car driving pass a bus on a Brooklyn sidewalk, went viral. Still, both sides agree that overall, riding a bus is the safest way to get to school especially compared to riding in a car. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU They cast spells and engage in Nerf wars. They go on a "cookie capture mission," suspending themselves over a granite countertop in a handsome suburban kitchen to swipe their sister's baked goods. The siblings who appear in the blithe family comedy series "Fantastic Adventures," which has garnered nearly 800,000 subscribers and hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, exude wonderment and youthful joie de vivre. Police say that when the camera wasn't rolling, however, the seven adopted children were being starved and sequestered for days in a closet with a bare tile floor. Its color evoked a green room, almost like a staging area for their performances. They were being pepper-sprayed and beaten with belts, brushes and hangers. They were forced to take ice baths. They were required to stand with their arms raised above their heads from dawn until midnight. On more than one occasion, at least one of the boys bled when the tip of his penis was pinched. The perpetrator of this catalogue of abuse, according to a statement of probable cause prepared last week, was their adoptive mother, Machelle Hackney, 48, who goes by her maiden name, Hobson, and runs the "Fantastic Adventures" channel, which has had more than 250 million views. The channel started in 2012 and features 10- to 15-minute videos of the children engaging in various make-believe scenarios, involving everything from zombies to spiders to s'mores. Several new videos appear each month. At the end of the segments, the children face the camera and ask viewers to like the videos and subscribe. Hackney was arrested Friday at her home in Maricopa, Arizona, along with her two biological sons. She was charged with molestation of a child, child abuse, unlawful imprisonment and child neglect. Her adult sons, Logan and Ryan Hackney, face charges of not reporting abuse. Machelle Hackney's biological daughter was the one who contacted authorities on March 13, prompting a welfare check at the home 30 miles outside of Phoenix, according to court records. "Fantastic Adventures" remained available as of early Wednesday, although YouTube said it had demonetized the channel when the company became aware of its creator's arrest. The video-sharing website, which is owned by Google, declined to specify how much money Hackney has made on the platform. A popular YouTube presence can be highly lucrative, with a channel netting almost $10 per 1,000 views, according to the business solutions company G2 Crowd. That suggests that Hackney could have grossed as much as $2.5 million from her exploits on the site. "We take safety on YouTube very seriously," a company spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post. "We work closely with leading child safety organizations and others in our industry to protect young people. When we're made aware of serious allegations of this nature we take action, which may include suspending monetization, or, upon conclusion of an investigation, terminating channels." Hackney's arrest adds to questions about how the world's biggest video site polices its platform in a moment of intense scrutiny about the spread of misleading and hateful content. Last week, technology companies became unwitting accessories in the quest for publicity undertaken by the man accused of opening fire on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people. YouTube struggled to keep up with users uploading new versions of the gruesome footage, which also spread on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. YouTube debuted in 2005 as a do-it-yourself platform with the slogan "Broadcast Yourself." Recently, the video-sharing behemoth has had to answer for its role in disseminating poisonous online conspiracy theories, terrorist recruitment videos and other content deemed harmful to children, such as suicide instructions interspersed with footage from a popular Nintendo game. The company has aimed to crack down in particular on pedophilic content, erasing tens of millions of comments from its site that a video blogger said amounted to a "soft-core pedophile ring" driving traffic - and revenue - to the platform. Sometimes, it has misfired. YouTube corrected itself last month after mistakenly deleting the accounts of several high-profile users who said they had been unfairly caught in the dragnet. But the prospect that a commercial endeavor on YouTube could be facilitating child abuse off-screen appears to present a relatively new challenge for the company. In responding to a query about Hackney's channel, YouTube emphasized its feature allowing users to flag inappropriate content but didn't explain how its drop-down option for reporting offensive material would have applied in this case, when no abuse was featured on-screen. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. For accusations of abuse happening offline, the company suggests that users notify the police. A spokesperson didn't return a query about whether the company saw fit to screen popular content creators who have vast platforms on its service. According to authorities in Arizona, Hackney's YouTube channel was the reason for her alleged mistreatment of her adopted children. She meted out punishment, they said, when the young actors didn't remember their lines or otherwise didn't perform as directed. Ricardo Alvarado, a Maricopa police spokesman, said the seven adopted children range in age from about 6 to 15. After the welfare check Wednesday, they were removed from their mother's custody by the state's Department of Child Safety. Hackney denied using pepper spray and ice baths to punish the children, according to the statement of probable cause. (Two cans of pepper spray were discovered in her bedroom.) She told police that she instead resorted to spanking and grounding them, as well as forcing them to stand in a corner. But the court filing paints a macabre picture of all-encompassing abuse, which flourished beneath the veil of "Fantastic Adventures." The children reported being removed from school several years ago to focus on the videos. When police interviewed them, they appeared malnourished, underweight, and had pale complexions and dark rings under their eyes. One of the children, when offered the chance to drink, guzzled three 16-ounce bottles of water in 20 minutes. Another child, provided a bag of chips, was reluctant to eat, fearful that her mother would smell the food on her breath. A third said she had not been allowed to eat in two days. In interviews with child safety officials, the children described being pepper-sprayed all over their faces and bodies, including their genitals, causing pain for four to five days. When they resisted ice baths, they said, their mother would force their heads underwater. They were frequently locked in the closet off their mother's master bedroom, sometimes for as long as a week. Hackney and her two biological sons were arrested at their home shortly before noon on Friday. Ryan Hackney invoked his Miranda rights, declining to speak with police. Logan Hackney admitted knowledge of the abuse, according to the filing, and said he and his brother had discussed reporting their mother. The adopted children said Ryan would sometimes sneak them food when they were locked in the closet. The videos in which the children appear have diverse themes, but a number revolve around "escape game" situations, where players have to solve puzzles to free themselves. They vanquish aliens and gingerbread men to find their way out. According to police, their real-life captor proved more difficult to elude. ALBANY Do New Yorkers support giving undocumented immigrants the chance to obtain driver's licenses? Maybe with more information. The Green Light campaign, a coalition of organizations advocating for the change, pushed back against a Siena Research Institute poll in which 61 percent of New York respondents opposed the idea. One of the campaign's organizations, the bipartisan advocacy group FWD.us, released its own poll suggesting that people were more likely to support the proposal once they know more about it. In the advocate's poll, 47 percent of respondents initially opposed the change. But when they learned applicants would still have to meet normal requirements to get a license such as passing a road test, opposition dropped to under 40 percent. Siena's poll was conducted the second week of March with 700 respondents via phone, while FWD.us contracted with the progressive Global Strategy Group firm, which conducted an online survey with 815 respondents in January. Twelve other states plus Washington, D.C., make driver's licenses available to undocumented immigrants. While New York's undocumented population had been able to obtain licenses before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's 2007 attempt to push a bill to change the law engendered stiff opposition. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Republicans in the state Legislature and Congress have blasted the bills, arguing that the change is unfair to legal residents, poses a security threat and could be prone to fraud. This year, proposed bills would allow New York residents without Social Security numbers to provide other forms of identification when they apply for driver's licenses. The licenses wouldn't be REAL ID-compliant, meaning the holders couldn't use them for air travel. ALBANY Local authorities rescued 15 cats, including a litter of kittens, from an abandoned building this week. The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society (MHHS) and Albany County District Attorney posted photos of the cats, some just young kittens, on social media on Tuesday. The cats were photographed inside 21 Judson St. building, where trash is strewn about and the walls deteriorating. "Yesterday we were alerted to an abandoned house in Albany in which there was an unknown number of cats," the MHHS said on its Facebook page Tuesday. A man was found living inside the building, which had been abandoned for quite some time, Officer Steve Smith, a spokesman for the Albany Police Department, said. The man was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation. No charges were filed against him. MHHS rescued a litter of five kittens Monday, trapped six more adult cats on Tuesday and captured the mother cat on Wednesday. "The cats are extremely scared and shy, but seem in good health," said MHHS President Todd Cramer. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The cats are being well tended to with water, food, clean beds and lots of attention, MHHS said. "We don't often get called to abandoned buildings to gather cats," Cramer said. "But I think it safe to say that free-roaming cats will be anywhere there is shelter and a food source." Officials said the man found squatting in the building had been feeding and trying to care for the cats. Troy Police TROY - An 18-year-old was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stabbing another man during an altercation on Congress Street earlier this month, police said. Zack Beckner, who resides in Troy and Virginia, was charged with attempted murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, police said. A woman who allegedly tried to pass forged $100 bills and then left her purse and identification behind when the clerk discovered the money was fake is among the fugitives State Police said they are searching for as part of their Warrant Wednesday initiative to track down wanted people. Crysan Garriques, 29, is wanted by State Police in Monroe on a forgery charge that accuses her of trying to use $1,000 in $100 counterfeit bills. Troopers said Garriques ran from the store, leaving behind her purse and identification, when the clerk used a detector pen to determine the money was fake. She is wanted in Monroe Town Court. Soul Fire Farm, in Grafton, is a bucolic postcard: Acres of crops spill over mulched beds and the first fruits and berries of summer ripen on hillside espalier trellises and mounded patches. A loyal dog Rowe meanders with gentle purpose, and chickens diligently scratch the earth for grubs, aerating and fertilizing the soil. A sun-heated house built from straw bales and local timber stands sentinel over the farm, with windows that reflect hazy mountains in the distance. As beautiful as Soul Fire Farm is, the daily tasks there point to a less-beautiful cultural landscape of many social injustices. Leah Penniman and her husband, Jonah Vitale-Wolff, bought the property that is now Soul Fire Farm in 2007 with the idea of creating a farm focused on the role of food and farming as social justice. The couple met at Clark University in Massachusetts and went on to work in education and agriculture before settling in Albany's South End. Penniman teaches environmental science part-time at Tech Valley High School in Albany, while most of Vitale-Wolff's time is spent on the farm. They moved to the farm in 2010 with their two children and now work five of their 72 acres, harvesting from two acres of produce at a time, including small fruits like strawberries and cold-hardy kiwi. Chickens are raised for meat and eggs, and most of the produce is sold through a "farm share" model based on the regenerative farming system promoted by the late Booker T. Whatley at Tuskegee University in Alabama. The program delivers 80 boxes of produce a week to low-income neighborhoods in Troy and Albany. Payment is made on a sliding-scale income basis and EBT cards (which have replaced food stamps) are accepted. Soul Fire Farm does not deny participation in the program based on income. "We are committed to working with the most marginalized issues. It's a different economic model. It's about relationships. It's not just a model of selling," says Penniman. In the winter months, she works on relationship-building with the communities served, organizing neighborhood cooking nights and teaching customers how to use produce they receive, which tends to be culturally relevant crops like sweet potatoes and greens. Project Growth, a program with Albany County district attorney's office, was started by Soul Fire Farm in 2014 as a 50-hour training program alternative to incarceration for youth already in the court system. The program focuses on offering farm-related training "in a way that honors their sovereignty and dignity and gives them real skills," says Penniman. "I would like every single person in our area to have access to food that gives them life, not steals it," Penniman says. At Soul Fire Farm, food is a tool to create an egalitarian society, and every activity (like workshops held there by community action groups) is a way for the farm to serve a justice movement. Farming, says Penniman, taps into the ancestral roots that were stolen by slavery and sharecropping, and working the land is a chance to heal systemic trauma. [March 20, 2019] Blueberries Medical Appoints Former PharmaCielo CEO Dr. Patricio Stocker as Chief Executive Officer TORONTO, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blueberries Medical Corp. (CSE: BBM) (OTC: BBRRF) (FRA: 1OA) (the Company or "Blueberries"), a leading Colombia-based licensed producer of medicinal cannabis and cannabis-derived products is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Patricio Stocker, the former Chief Executive Officer of PharmaCielo Ltd. (TSXV: PCLO) as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Christian Toro has been appointed as Executive Chairman of the Board. Dr. Stocker is an accomplished executive with extensive international experience having led the successful development of numerous companies, including most recently PharmaCielo Ltd. (PharmaCielo), a leading Colombian producer of medicinal cannabis. Dr. Stocker joined PharmaCielo in 2015 and served as CEO through 2018. During his tenure of as CEO, Dr. Stocker was instrumental in the development of corporate strategies, formation of strategic relationships, the cannablis licensing process and capital raising initiatives. Dr. Stocker was also actively involved in the development of PharmaCielos Colombian operations to establish a scalable and competitive cultivation and oil production strategy. "Dr. Stocker has a proven track record of growing emerging businesses, combined with extensive expertise in the cannabis industry and capital markets. The board of directors is confident that his skillset and experience make him an ideal leader for the company as we continue to scale our operations rapidly and execute on our global growth strategy stated Christian Toro, Executive Chairman. Dr. Stocker stated I have been very impressed with Blueberries on a number of fronts. Their team, relationships, facilities and strategy are unique and have positioned the Company to become a dominant player in the Latin American and global cannabis markets. I am looking forward to leading Blueberries as we continue to execute on a domestic and international business plan. Dr. Stocker is fluent in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese. He also holds a PhD in Economics and B.A. in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Prior to his role as CEO of PharmaCielo, Dr. Stocker held top management positions in the automotive industry, including service on the board of directors of multinational corporations. The Company has granted 1,000,000 compensation shares to Dr. Stocker as well as options (the Options to purchase up to 3,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company, pursuant to the Companys stock option plan. The Company has also granted 100,000 Options to advisors of the Company pursuant to the Companys stock option plan. The Options are exercisable at a price of $0.55 per share. About Blueberries Medical Corp. Blueberries is a Colombia-based licensed producer of naturally grown premium quality cannabis with its primary operations ideally located in the Bogota Savannah of central Colombia. Led by a specialized team with proprietary expertise in agriculture, genetics, extraction, medicine, pharmacology and marketing, Blueberries is fully licensed for the cultivation, production, domestic distribution, and international export of CBD and THC-based medical cannabis. Blueberries combination of leading scientific expertise, agricultural advantages and distribution arrangements has positioned the Company to become a leading international supplier of naturally grown, processed, and standardized medicinal-grade cannabis oil extracts and related products. Additional information about the Company is available at www.blueberriesmed.com. For more information, please contact: Camilo Villalba, Chief Operating Officer Tel: +57.313.483.0131 Email: [email protected] Jessika Angarita, Pacta Relations [email protected] Tel: +1 (305) 877 4710 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the Colombian and international medical cannabis market and changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution and sale of cannabis and cannabis related products in Colombia or internationally; and employee relations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. Additional information regarding the Company, and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Listing Statement dated January 31, 2019 filed on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] A Canadian first: apply for a job at McDonald's with "Snapplications" McDonald's partners with Snapchat to launch hiring initiative TORONTO, March 20, 2019 /CNW/ - McDonald's will be the first brand in Canada to launch 'Snapplications', a one-day virtual hiring event that will allow millions of job seekers to instantly apply for a career at McDonald's restaurants through the Snapchat app. On March 27th, Snapchat users will find a unique lens that enables them to film a 30-second video capturing why they want to work for McDonald's that can be submitted to the McDonald's Canada hiring portal. As one of the largest employers of youth in the country, McDonald's Canada and its franchisees are committed to leveraging technology to build new ways to apply, learn and grow at McDonald's. This new approach to recruiting is one of the ways McDonald's Canada is bringing mobile-first innovaton to its guests and employees. Later this month, the brand will also be launching a first-in-Canada partnership with Google Voice. Canadians will be able to discover local offers available in the MyMcD's app through asking their Google voice-activated devices. Quotes: "We wanted to offer a convenient and flexible application process to attract more young people through our one-day virtual hiring event," says Stephanie Hardman, Chief People Officer at McDonald's Canada. "From youth applying for their first jobs, to experienced candidates, Snapplications is a new and exciting way for people to kick-start a career at McDonald's Canada." "As a leader in the Quick-Service industry we know that technology is a critical driver of success. Our partnerships with Snapchat and Google Voice are examples of how we're bringing first-to-market innovation to our guests," says Lara Skripitsky, Chief Technology Officer at McDonald's Canada. Additional facts: While interested applicants are encouraged to submit their Snapplications on March 27th , job applications can still be submitted through traditional methods. To find out more, visit McDonalds.com/ca/en-ca/careers. , job applications can still be submitted through traditional methods. To find out more, visit McDonalds.com/ca/en-ca/careers. In Canada , Snapchat has over 12 million daily users and more than 82 per cent are millennials. , Snapchat has over 12 million daily users and more than 82 per cent are millennials. McDonald's together with its franchisees are one of the largest employers of youth in our country; 83 per cent of its nearly 100,000 employees are millennials. 50 per cent of McDonald's franchisees started as crew and have gone on to build exciting careers as very successful entrepreneurs. Over the past decade, McDonald's has consistently ranked among Canada's 50 Best Employers. 50 Best Employers. McDelivery, McCafe Mobile Rewards, MyMcD's App and Mobile Offers are a few recent examples of McDonald's Canada's commitment to evolving its digital offering. ABOUT McDonald's Canada In 1967, Canadians welcomed the first McDonald's restaurant to Richmond, British Columbia. Today, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited has become part of the Canadian fabric, serving close to three million guests every day. Together with our franchisees, we proudly employ nearly 100,000 people from coast-to-coast and more than 90 per cent of McDonald's 1,400 Canadian restaurants are locally owned and operated by independent entrepreneurs. Of the almost $1 billion we spend on food, beverages and packaging, more than 85 per cent is purchased from suppliers in Canada. For more information on McDonald's Canada visit McDonalds.ca. SOURCE McDonald's Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 19, 2019] CNOC Endorses Federal Budget Commitment to End Digital Divide Investment in broadband funding an important step to building a fully connected Canada TORONTO, March 19, 2019 /CNW/ - Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) welcomed today's Federal Budget commitment to end Canada's digital divide that limits high-speed Internet access to Canadian homes and businesses. "CNOC endorses the government's plan to achieve universal high-speed Internet access fo all Canadians with new funding and a clear timeline for 100 per cent access by 2030. Our rural, remote and Northern communities need equal access at comparable speeds to participate fully in a modern, technology-driven, and digital economy," said Matt Stein, CNOC's Chair and CEO of Distributel. The Federal Government continues to put the best interests of Canadian first when it comes to affordability, access, choice and competition. "Today's commitment builds on Minister Navdeep Bains' recent policy directive that places consumers at the forefront of Canadian telecom policy. Together, they will provide all Canadians with the access to Internet services that they need and the benefits of competition and consumer choice that they deserve. The Federal Government's vision is clear: high-speed Internet with even higher speeds and greater demands for access will continue to grow as a necessity for all Canadians," said Mr. Stein. About CNOC CNOC is comprised of over 30 competitive telecommunications providers that operate wireline and/or wireless networks in many regions of Canada. CNOC's mission is to increase the level of competitive choice and innovation in the delivery of communications services to Canadians. For further information, visit www.cnoc.ca SOURCE Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 19, 2019] ARLO SHAREHOLDER ALERT: CLAIMSFILER Reminds Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Lead Plaintiff Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Arlo Technologies, Inc. - ARLO NEW ORLEANS, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until March 25, 2019 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Arlo Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ARLO), if they purchased the Companys shares issued in connection with its August 3, 2018 initial public offering (IPO). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Get Help Arlo investors should visit us at https://www.claimsfiler.com/cases/view-arlo-technologies-inc-securities-litigation or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options. About the Lawsuit Arlo and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On December 3, 2018, the Company disclosed that shipments of Arlo Ultra, its recently-announced flagship security camera system, were delayed due to a quality issue with the battery from one of its suppliers discovered during the final testing phase, and that as a result it lowered its Q4 2018 financial guidance. On this news, the price of Arlos shares plummeted 42% from its IPO price. The case is Wong v. Arlo Technologies, Inc. et al, 19-cv-00372. About ClaimsFiler ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations. To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com . [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 19, 2019] Skycoin Announces Public Release of Skywire Mainnet SHANGHAI, March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Work on Skycoin began in 2011 with the merging of three separate projects that aimed to improve upon the design and implementation of Bitcoin. The Skycoin developers identified several major philosophical design issues that they saw as obstacles to global use of cryptocurrency as a censorship-resistant payment system. Skywire, the decentralized internet protocol and mesh network, was created as a solution to answer many of these problems . Skywire Mainnet is here for Developers to Test After about ten months of intensive testing on a network of nearly 10,000 nodes spanning the globe, Skycoin is happy to announce that the developer version of Skywire's mainnet is now available to the public. Its official launch date was the 4th of March 2019 . This first iteration of Skywire's mainnet features entirely rewritten software from the ground up and is primarily focused on a platform for developers to start building the next generation of distributed apps. All existing apps have been rewritten and optimized for the mainnet including a distributed and secure chat app, SSH, and a multi-hop tunneling proxy app. Many more will be coming soon. This first version of Skywire's mainnet represents a huge milestone for Skycoin and for the future of the internet . Skywire will serve as an unstoppable, highly resilient network, removing any possibility of censorship. Skywire mainnet's developer build is the first release of many. Over the course of the next few months, Skycoin will be releasing new iterations and features for Skywire one of these is an updater that allows Skycoin to push new features constantly stay tuned for additional information, technical details, and further updates from the team. Skywire Mainnet on Github Please note: Do not install this on your skyminers as they are running testnet and will stop receiving rewards. Skywire mainnet can be installed on any other device to run, test and develop. Bug reporting should be done through the repo, with steps taken to reproduce any feedback. Details of the process will be available in the readme section of the branch. What's Next for Skywire? A new and intuitive UI for developers and users to easily interact with the mainnet Bandwidth monetization will be coming soon that will allow users to earn Coin Hours through bandwidth sharing Coin Hours bank Private Skycoin transactions utilizing CoinJoin Remote management of unlimited nodes Combining the CXO protocol with Skywire for distributed data storage About Skycoin Skycoin is a third generation blockchain company that has its own chain, consensus algorithm, programming language, hardware, and their flagship product Skywire which is a decentralized community-driven mesh network where users themselves will own and control the network's infrastructure. Skywire's goal is to provide everyone with access to fast, secure, private and reliable internet. To learn more visit the Website: https://www.skycoin.net Read the White Paper https://www.skycoin.net/whitepapers Chat with Skycoin on Telegram: https://t.me/Skycoin Connect on Twitter https://twitter.com/skycoinproject Find out more on GitHub https://github.com/skycoin/skywire/tree/mainnet Media Contact Contact Name: Danish Chaudhry Contact Email: [email protected] Skycoin is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skycoin-announces-public-release-of-skywire-mainnet-300815328.html SOURCE Skycoin [March 19, 2019] EQUITY ALERT: Rosen Law Firm Files Securities Class Action Lawsuit Against Mobile TeleSystems PJSC - MBT Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Mobile TeleSystems (News - Alert) PJSC (NYSE: MBT) from March 19, 2014 through March 7, 2019, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for Mobile TeleSystems investors under the federal securities laws. To join the Mobile TeleSystems class action, go to https://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-1531.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. or Zachary Halper, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. NO CLASS HAS YET BEEN CERTIFIED IN THE ABOVE ACTION. UNTIL A CLASS IS CERTIFIED, YOU ARE NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL UNLESS YOU RETAIN ONE. YOU MAY RETAIN COUNSEL OF YOUR CHOICE. YOU MAY ALSO REMAIN AN ABSENT CLASS MEMBER AND DO NOTHING AT THIS POINT. AN INVESTOR'S ABILITY TO SHARE IN ANY POTENTIAL FUTURE RECOVERY IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON SERVING AS LEAD PLAINTIFF. According to the lawsuit, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Mobile TeleSystems and its subsidiary were involved in a scheme to pay $420 million in bribes in Uzbekistan; (2) consequently, Mobile eleSystems knew or should have known it would be forced to pay substantial fines to the U.S. government after disclosing in 2014 that the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating its Uzbekistan operations; (3) Mobile TeleSystems' level of cooperation with the U.S. government and remediation was lacking; (4) due to the aforementioned misconduct, Mobile TeleSystems would be forced to pay approximately $850 million in criminal penalties to the U.S. government; and (5) as a result, defendants' public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 20, 2019. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. If you wish to join the litigation, go to https://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-1531.html or to discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, please contact Phillip Kim or Zachary Halper of Rosen Law Firm toll free at 866-767-3653 or via email at [email protected] or [email protected]. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn (News - Alert): https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm or on Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook (News - Alert): https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm. Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 3 each year since 2013. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190319005979/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Cohesity and SoftBank Announce Joint Venture to Empower Japanese Enterprises to Back Up, Store, Manage and Derive Insights from Their Data Cohesity (News - Alert) Inc. ("Cohesity"), the leader of hyperconverged secondary storage and a portfolio company of SoftBank Vision Fund, and SoftBank Corp. ("SoftBank") today announced a joint venture that ushers in modern data infrastructure in Japan, enabling Japanese enterprises to back up, store, manage and derive insights from all of their secondary data and applications through the Cohesity DataPlatform. The joint venture operates under the name Cohesity Japan KK ("Cohesity Japan"). SoftBank and SoftBank C&S Corp. will distribute and resell Cohesity solutions in Japan, along with other partners including Networld Corporation and ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation. Solutions from Cohesity are available today to Japanese enterprises. Cohesity and SoftBank share a belief that technology is fueling an Information Revolution (News - Alert) and the impact of that revolution can transform industries around the world. As the Information Revolution continues to accelerate, more secondary data is created which needs to be backed up, stored and analyzed. Cohesity provides technology that unlocks the power of secondary data and applications. "We are thrilled to collaborate with SoftBank in enabling Japanese enterprises to use modern data infrastructure to advance their digital transformation journeys," said Mohit Aron, CEO and Founder, Cohesity. "SoftBank and Cohesity both believe that if enterprises can derive maximum insights from secondary data and applications, the possibilities are endless across a variety of industries including financial services, healthcare, public sector, life sciences, media, technology, telecommunications and education." "Collaborating with SoftBank Vision Fund, we support their portfolio companies in deploying cutting edge technologies and services to Japan," said Kunihiro Fujinaga, Senior Vice President, Head of Enterprise Business Strategy Division, Enterprise Business Unit, SoftBank. "Cohesity is disrupting the $60 billion secondary data and apps market. We look forward to working with Cohesity to deliver data infrastructure technology that empowers Japanese enterprises to provide better customer experiences and accelerate innovations that can change the world." Secondary data includes data used for backups, archives, analytics, testing and development and other workloads and comprises 80 percent of an enterprise's total data volume. Many organizations today manage secondary data in silos utilizing multiple point products that do not integrate and are very costly to run. This creates a phenomenon called mass data fragmentation. According to a global survey conducted by market research firm Vanson Bourne in October 2018*, 91 percent of surveyed IT decision makers in Japan believe their secondary data is fragmented and is or could become nearly impossible to manage long term. Of those who believe their secondary data is fragmented in Japan: 40 percent are concerned about major data compliance issues with data privacy regulations that could lead to large fines and reputational damage. 43 percent fear it puts their organization at a real competitive disadvantage, especially if competitors are able to exploit their data more effectively. 35 percent are concerned about offering inferior customer experiences. 50 percent worry about depleting their organization's IT budget by spending too much on unnecessary storage. Cohesity Japan solves mass data fragmentation challenges by consolidating secondary data silos onto the Cohesity DataPlatform. Customers no longer need multiple products to backup, archive, manage and analyze their secondary data, which reduces infrastructure costs and management complexities. This approach is similar to a smartphone that consolidates a phone, camera, flashlight, navigation services and other features on to a single platform with one user interface. And, like the smartphone, customers can also run Cohesity and third-party applications directly on the Cohesity DataPlatform to conduct granular analysis, help ensure data compliance, and improve security, among other functions. Customers are embracing Cohesity technology around the world. Cohesity announced a 300 percent increase in revenues when comparing its fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017 results. The company also announced that it quadrupled the size of its customer base globally compared to the previous fiscal year. Cohesity customers include Cisco Systems (News - Alert), Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corporation, LendingClub Corporation, NASA, Northern Trust Corporation, the San Francisco Giants, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Air Force. Cohesity has appointed Hiromasa Ebi as Representative Director of Cohesity Japan. Hiromasa is based in Tokyo and has more than 25 years of experience in IT, with a focus on storage and data infrastructure. He has held senior leadership positions at a variety of companies including Scality Inc., Dell (News - Alert) EMC, and NetApp, Inc. "Enterprises in Japan are looking for cutting-edge technology that consolidates data silos, eliminates mass data fragmentation and makes it easy to extract more value from their data," said Hiromasa Ebi, Representative Director, Cohesity Japan. "Data is the key to digital innovation and we are excited to partner with SoftBank to help Japanese customers realize the full potential of this business-critical asset." *A survey conducted in October 2018 by market research firm Vanson Bourne Ltd. reflects the responses of 100 respondents from Japan across multiple industries, with average annual revenues of $19.6 billion. About Cohesity Inc. Cohesity makes your data work for you by consolidating secondary storage silos onto a hyperconverged, web-scale data platform that spans both private and public clouds. Enterprise customers begin by radically streamlining their backup and data protection, then converge file and object services, test/dev instances, and analytic functions to provide a global data store. Cohesity counts many Global 1000 companies and federal agencies among its rapidly growing customer base and was named to Forbes' "Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2017," LinkedIn's (News - Alert) "Startups: The 50 Industry Disruptors You Need to Know Now," and CRN's "2017 Emerging Vendors in Storage" lists. For more information, visit our website www.cohesity.com and blog https://cohesity.com/blog/, follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/cohesity and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/3750699/ and like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cohesity/. About SoftBank Corp. SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO:9434), a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO:9984), provides mobile communication, fixed-line communication and Internet connection services to customers in Japan. Leveraging synergies with other companies in the SoftBank Group, SoftBank Corp. aims to transform lifestyles through ICT and expand into other business areas including IoT, robotics and energy. To learn more, please visit https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190319005853/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] ecxx.com and global award-winning Ledger forge strategic partnership backed by US$44 million from prominent venture capital funds to launch a world-class digital asset exchange ecxx.com will officially launch its digital assets exchange in Singapore on 21 March 2019 with more than 12,000 users already registered during pre-launch on with more than 12,000 users already registered during pre-launch Will become the first exchange in Asia to use the Ledger Vault solution. Ledger is a global award-winning leader in security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications to use the Ledger Vault solution. Ledger is a global award-winning leader in security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications Backed by US$44 million funding led by CapitalX and a consortium of prominent venture capital funds including Epsilon Investment and Ariki Asia funding led by CapitalX and a consortium of prominent venture capital funds including Epsilon Investment and Ariki Asia Focused on security and building a platform in accordance with prevailing regulations and licenses in various countries, ecxx.com is looking to aggressively scale its network and reach across multiple new countries and geographies SINGAPORE, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ecxx.com announced today that a consortium of investors led by renowned Singaporean investor Eric Cheng, Founder and CEO of CapitalX and two other venture capital funds in Southeast Asia have acquired a majority stake in the company. To date, ecxx.com is backed by US$44 million in funding. Backed by an experienced management team well versed in token economics and blockchain ecosystem, ecxx.com is in the midst of applying for a recognised market operator license from regulators. ecxx.com will become the first digital asset exchange in Asia to use the Ledger Vault solution. Ledger is a global leader in security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. More recently, its Ledger Nano X was awarded the CES Innovation Award in Cyber Security and Personal Privacy for 2019. ecxx.com provides a digital asset exchange platform designed for both professional traders and retail investors The platform aims to deliver trustable and secured digital asset trading services that allows users to buy, sell, and store digital assets. ecxx.com ensures protection of client assets with its world-class multi-layer security system. The platform will officially launch on 21 March 2019 with more than 12,000 users already registered pre-launch. By running on its own in-house proprietary system, ecxx.com is able to run a full-suite crypto ecosystem with high liquidity. Branson Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of ecxx.com said, "We see regulation and government licensing as critical factors that will drive the future of the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. As such, we intend to work closely with the regulators to have the right licenses in place for ecxx.com to grow into a leading digital asset exchange and a dominant player in the cryptocurrency market." Demetrios Skalkotos, Global Head of Ledger Vault said, "Secure storage of large digital asset funds is complex, and institutions are looking for safe, comprehensive and integrated storage solutions. This integration will ensure that investors have total control and peace of mind that their assets are secure, while not sacrificing convenience." About ecxx.com ecxx.com is a digital asset exchange platform designed for both professional traders and retail investors. The platform allows users to buy, sell, and store digital assets. By running on its own in-house proprietary system, ecxx.com is able to run a perfect ecosystem with high-liquidity. With its vision to be the World's Leading Digital Asset Exchange, the group aims to deliver trustable and secured digital asset trading services. ecxx.com ensures discretion by protecting client assets with a world-class multi-layer security system. For more information, please visit https://www.ecxx.com About Ledger Ledger is a global leader in security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. With offices in Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, Ledger's team of nearly 200 professionals develop cutting edge solutions to safeguard cryptocurrency assets for individuals and companies. For more information, please visit Ledger.com About Mr. Eric Cheng Eric Cheng is the Founder and CEO of CapitalX, a firm dedicated to sourcing high-quality digital assets and investments specialising in crypto exchanges, blockchain consultancy and next-generation financial services powered by blockchain technology. Eric has vast experience in international venture capital investments and is a serial crytpo entrepreneur. He became the first foreigner to own a 100% stake in a Japanese FSA-licensed crypto trading platform in May 2018, after acquiring the Japanese crypto exchange BitTrade for US$50 million. Eric subsequently sold a majority stake in BitTrade to global crypto giant Huobi. More recently, Eric acquired a majority stake in ABCC, a leading global crypto exchange. Today, Eric and his team studies and develop multi-million-dollar digital transformations, software development, and innovative tech solutions to create world class security exchange systems and trading centres around the world. SOURCE ecxx.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Thales Appoints Nicolas Bouverot as Vice-President to Drive Growth in South East Asia Nicolas Bouverot will drive the business in the ASEAN countries as well as Bangladesh , Maldives , Nepal , Papua New Guinea , Sri Lanka and Timor Leste. will drive the business in the ASEAN countries as well as , , , , and Timor Leste. He brings over twenty-five years of international experience in hi-tech telecommunications. over twenty-five years of international experience in hi-tech telecommunications. With 7 billion Euros invested in digital technologies since 2014, including the imminent arrival of Gemalto, Thales is strengthening its position as a global technology giant in Asia and beyond. SINGAPORE, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Home to 650 million people and a burgeoning middle class, South East Asia's digital economy is expected to surpass USD240 billion [approximately 212 billion Euros] by 2050, making it one of the world's fastest-growing regions. To drive the long-term development and big ambitions of the region's economies in an increasingly digital world, Thales has announced the appointment of Nicolas Bouverot as Vice-President for Thales in South East Asia. His geographical remit includes the ten ASEAN markets, as well as Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste. Nicolas brings with him over 25 years of professional expertise in strategy, business development and general management. Prior to joining Thales, Nicolas was the Vice-President for the South Asia region at Nokia, with oversight for sales, delivery operations, R&D activities, Centres of Excellences and a Customer Cloud Collaboration facility. "Nicolas is a seasoned leader with rich international experience and a solid track record in Asia, and we are delighted to welcome him to the Thales Group," said Pascale Sourisse, Thales Senior Executive Vice-President, International Development. "Digital disruption is changing how consumers, businesses and governments collaborate. We believe that Nicolas' extensive experience in the telecommunications industry will bring a fresh perspective in how we support and deploy high-value solutions to our customers in the region. ASEAN is a booming market for us, and we are confident that Nicolas will help us drive the next phase of growth in the region," she added. Throughout his international career with Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, Nicolas held several leadership roles including Managing Director of Lucent Technologies France and Alcatel-Lucent Vice-President for the Middle East, based in Dubai. He has a deep understanding of Asia, having spent over 12 years in various assignments and management roles in Indonesia, China and Japan, prior to moving to Singapore in 2016. Nicolas succeeds Frederique Miller, who has been promoted to take on the role of Vice-President for Sales for the Land & Air Systems activities within Thales, based in France. Nicolas holds a Masters of Telecommunications from Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (France) and an International Business Masters from INSEAD and Lyon Business School (France). He resides with his family in Singapore. About Thales The people who make the world go round -- they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today. From the bottom of the oceans to the depths of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster, mastering ever greater complexity at every decisive moment along the way. With 66,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of EUR15.9 billion in 2018. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190318/2404759-1 SOURCE Thales [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] SecureRedact Brings Video Anonymisation to All - SecureRedact platform from Pimloc allows anyone to anonymise video using machine-learning - First customers in law enforcement, road surveying and global brands - Launched by experienced team from Hawkeye, Nokia and Oxford University LONDON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Policies like GDPR and California's Consumer Privacy Act have made the conversation around personal data more active and healthy than ever before. And yet, while a text string like your email address or birthday is easily fixed, the same organisation might hold thousands of hours of video, full of innocent faces. Today, Pimloc is launching SecureRedact, a platform that makes video anonmous by default. From law enforcement agencies to security, smart cities and global brands, teams can now use machine-learning to make their video anonymous in an instant. Our appearance is our most recognisable biometric personal data. But it's also one of the hardest to anonymise manually, requiring big teams to trawl through footage, and with significant risk of missing something. What's the difference between a video showing you were in a certain place at a certain time and the location data on your phone? This isn't just about some abstract piece of digital data, this is one of the most important, biometric and unchangeable aspects of identity. The conversation has become digitally-focused, and video is the link that locates you in the real world. Key details: ? Available in the cloud, with the option to host on premise where needed ? Sign up to try the engine for free at www.secureredact.co.uk ? Usage based pricing The challenges of anonymous video Facial recognition is nothing new - but in most cases, the algorithms are trained to identify and profile individuals, not to remove them. SecureRedact is designed for the exact opposite purpose, and errs on the side of caution to ensure no frames of facial privacy are missed. Furthermore, it has been developed to thrive against even the most messy and difficult to process video, from sources like CCTV and vehicle-mounted cameras in all weather and lighting conditions. And it can be refined by learning from each organisation's specific data to improve this further. About SecureRedact Secure Redact uses the latest Machine Learning technology to provide fast and accurate redaction of security, survey and events footage to keep your ongoing data operations compliant with GDPR and Data Privacy legislation without creating unnecessary manual work for your teams. Secure Redact has been developed by Pimloc (www.pimloc.com), World experts in visual deep learning technology. The Secure Redact service uses Pimloc's proprietary Deep Learning Platform which has been trained on millions of images and video. It has been further fine-tuned with domain specific video from security and road survey footage. Please contact Simon Randall, [email protected] for more info. Image: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838043/Secure_Redact_Login.jpg Image: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838044/Secure_Redact_1.jpg Image: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838045/Secure_Redact_2.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Pharmaceutical Collaborations and Rare Diseases Drive the Drugs to Watch as New Blockbusters Are Forecast to Hit the Market in 2019 New report from Clarivate Analytics identifies seven new drugs predicted to achieve annual sales of >$1 billion by 2023 Game-changing therapies addressing immune-related and genetic disorders target under-served patient populations PHILADELPHIA, March 20, 2019 /CNW/ -- Clarivate Analytics, a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation, announced today the launch of its annual "Cortellis Drugs to Watch" report. The analysis identified seven new drugs forecasted to achieve annual sales of $1 billion or more (i.e., blockbuster status) by 2023 using data and analytics from Cortellis, the company's suite of life science intelligence solutions. Additionally, the report highlights the impact of strategies and incentives put in place by global regulatory bodies to encourage the focus of drug development on niche markets and unmet medical needs. The drugs forecasted to launch in 2019 are described in the Appendix below and dominated by immune-related and genetic disorders including: spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and peanut allergy. This indicates a shift toward blockbuster-potential drugs targeting niche patient populations, buoyed by strong collaborations between big and specialty pharma companies to develop these therapies. Analysis also suggests the drugs highlighted in the report face a variety of market scenarios ranging from a first in class therapy with no competitors (AR-101 for peanut allergy), to having a single strong opponent (Zolgensma for SMA), to launching into a crowded market (Upadacitinib for RA), with each strategy having its own strengths and weaknesses. For the full list of drugs and their sales projections, please see the link provided below. "This year's Drug to Watch report demonstrates the impact of regulators' incentives, including accelerated reviews and tax breaks, on drug development that targets rare diseases," explained Mukhtar Ahmed, President of Life Sciences at Clarivate Analytics. "It's extremely encouraging to see how these incentives, along with discovery breakthroughs and new R&D approaches, are positively impacting patients in under-served populations. What's more, these novel treatments demonstrate the power of collaboration across the industry, which ultimately accelerates innovation." Projections in the Cortellis Drugs to Watch 2019 report were determined using data and analytics in Cortellis, which curates the broadest and deepest sources of intelligence, including 70,000+ pipeline products, 325,000+ clinical trials, 91,000+ deals, and 165,000 company profiles. For the first time, Cortellis Drugs to Watch forecasts include insights from Cortellis Analytics Drug Timeline & Success Rates (DTSR), a predictive analytics tool that improves the accuracy of pipeline forecasts vs. traditional methods by 25%. The full report is available at: https://clarivate.com/drugstowatch2019 Join the conversation on Twitter: @Cortellis | #blockbusterdrugs2019 About the Cortellis Drugs to Watch 2019 Report Data and analysis featured in this report were derived using Cortellis, the suite of life science intelligence solutions from Clarivate Analytics.?This includes Cortellis Competitive Intelligence, Cortellis Deals Intelligence, Cortellis Regulatory Intelligence, Cortellis Clinical Trials Intelligence and Cortellis Analytics Drug Timeline & Success Rates, a patent-pending tool that applies machine learning to forecast the timeline and probability of success across all stages of drug development. About Cortellis Cortellis gives life to science by unlocking the hidden insights in data. As an industry-leading solution, Cortellis curates broad and deep sources of intelligence to enable precise, actionable answers to specific questions across the R&D lifecycle from discovery and clinical development through regulatory submission and commercialization. By supporting data-driven decisions, Cortellis helps pharmaceutical companies, biotech and medical device/diagnostic firms accelerate innovation. For more information, visit www.clarivate.com/products/cortellis/. Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Analytics is a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Building on a heritage going back more than a century and a half, we have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including the Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet. Today, Clarivate Analytics is a new and independent company on a bold entrepreneurial mission, to help our clients radically reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit www.clarivate.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and oral statements made with respect to information contained in this release may contain forward-looking statements regarding Clarivate Analytics. Forward-looking statements provide Clarivate Analytics' current expectations or forecasts of future events and may include statements regarding anticipated synergies and other future expectations. These statements involve risks and uncertainties including factors outside of Clarivate Analytics' control that may cause actual results to differ materially. Clarivate Analytics undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Media Contact Jessica Stanek e: [email protected] Appendix Drug Disease 2019 2023 Company (HQ) 1 Upadacitinib *| (ABT-494) Rheumatoid arthritis 53M 2.20B AbbVie (US) 2 Zolgensma ?| (onasemnogene abeparvovec; AVXS-101) Spinal muscular atrophy 449M 2.09B AveXis (US) (a Novartis subsidiary) 3 Roxadustat * (FG-4592; AZD-9941; ASP-1517) Anemia in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis 30M 1.97B AstraZeneca(UK) FibroGen (US) Astellas (JPN) 4 Ultomiris ?| (ravulizumab; ALXN-1210) Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria 170M 1.93B Alexion (US) 5 Skyrizi *| (risankizumab; BI-655066; ABBV-066) Psoriasis 132M 1.74B Boehringer Ingelheim (DE) AbbVie (US) 6 AR-101 *| Peanut allergy 35M 1.17B Aimmune Therapeutics (US) 7 LentiGlobin ?| (betibeglogene darolentivec) Beta-thalassemia in transfusion-dependent patients 11M 1.12B bluebird bio (US) Table: Analysis of 7 new drugs forecast to enter the market in 2019 and achieve blockbuster sales of over $1 billion by 2023 Data was obtained from the Cortellis Competitive Intelligence database as of March 05, 2019. Forecasts are in U.S.$ million(M) and billion (B). *=immune-related disease. ?=genetic disorder. =Breakthrough Therapy designation. =Fast Track designation. |=Orphan Drug designation. =Priority Review. =first-in-class. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pharmaceutical-collaborations-and-rare-diseases-drive-the-drugs-to-watch-as-new-blockbusters-are-forecast-to-hit-the-market-in-2019-300815272.html SOURCE Clarivate Analytics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] More Than the Bottom Line: Business for Peace Announces the 2019 Award Winners Celebrated for Delivering Opportunities for Women, Minorities and Diverse and Disadvantaged Groups The Oslo Business for Peace Award is given to inspiring business leaders who have put society first. 2019's winners are: Dr Agbor Ashumanyi Ako, medical director of GiftedMom, Alice Laugher, CEO of Committed to Good and Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani. These three are at the helm of companies which have a broader view than the bottom line and see business as a tool for change. The award boasts an impressive list of previous winners, including Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) and Paul Polman (Unilever). A committee of Nobel (News - Alert) Laureates in peace and economics selected this year's Honourees, following a nomination process through the ICC, PRI, UNDP, and UNGC. "These Honourees have created enterprises with significant social impact" comments Business for Peace Founder, Per L. Saxegaard. "They have worked to counteract inequalities, encouraging inclusion and democratising access to health, aid and work. Through business they promote human rights, contribute to sustaining peace and help build environments in which huan potential can flourish." Agbor Ashumanyi Ako is the medical director of GiftedMom, a Cameroon-based digital health platform that gives pregnant women and mothers across Africa access to vital health information. As a digital-first platform GiftedMom can expand faster than traditional healthcare systems and aims to reach 10 million women in the next five years. The award-winning app has significantly improved both pregnancy check-up attendance and vaccination turnouts. Alice Laugher is the CEO of CTG, Committed to Good, which provides employment and logistics services to development programmes in fragile and conflict-affected countries. From running Ebola treatment clinics in Liberia, to food distribution in Afghanistan and South Sudan, assisting refugees in Libya, and rebuilding government constitution in Somalia, the work of CTG is as diverse as our world's issues. Hamdi Ulukaya is the founder and CEO of Chobani, the number one Greek yoghurt in America. Chobani has over 2,000 employees, 30 percent of which are legally resettled immigrants and refugees. Ulukaya has created a corporate culture in which everyone is welcome and has an opportunity to thrive. Ulukaya has also taken a leadership role in the global business community to encourage action to tackle the refugee crisis. For information, quotes and imagery: media pack View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005251/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] INOX Becomes the Official Partner of Rajasthan Royals MUMBAI, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- INOX guests stand a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Jaipur to watch an IPL match India's fastest growing multiplex operators INOX Leisure Ltd. announced that they have become the official partners with Rajasthan Royals. Under the partnership, INOX will have its logo presence on the team attire. INOX has been consistently undertaking exciting initiatives for its viewers to redefine the cinema experience in the country, blending top class luxury, impeccable services and best-in-class technology with its irresistible offers for its viewers. The strategic partnership with Rajasthan Royals will further lend a touch of royalty and offer its patrons an extraordinary experience beyond cinemas. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/838575/INOX_Rajasthan_Royals.jpg ) INOX has introduced a special offer for its guests across the country enabling them to win a free trip to Jaipur to watch a Rajasthan Royals match during this year's Indian Premier League. INOX viewers will have to book their movie tickets through INOX's mobile application or through its website http://www.inoxmovies.com in the month of March to be eligible to win the all-expenses-paid trip to Jaipur. Those guests buying a Rajasthan Royals Popcorn Tub will also be eligible for winning the coveted trip. Along with free match tickets, INOX will offer free return air tickets from their place of residence, a 2 Nighs-3 Days stay and sightseeing at Jaipur to the winning viewers. The eligible viewers also stand a chance to win the Rajasthan Royals jerseys, autographed merchandise and a chance to meet the Rajasthan Royals players. Rajasthan Royals have re-launched themselves in its new color Pink with first Royal, Shane Warne, as its brand ambassador. Having donned various hats with Rajasthan Royals, Shane Warne, the brand ambassador of Rajasthan Royals, said, during a recently held interactive session at INOX Atria at Mumbai, "Thank you INOX for getting on-board with the Rajasthan Royals. It's a terrific family to be a part of. I am privileged to have witnessed such a beautiful cinematic experience today." Alok Tandon, CEO - Inox Leisure Limited, adds, "With a clear focus on curating the best experience for our patrons, we have continuously been working on partnerships, allowing us to take their cinema experience to new levels. The partnership with Rajasthan Royals adds a royal touch to our brand offering. We invite our patrons across the country to come forward and win a chance to experience the royalty of Rajasthan Royals from close quarters. We would also like to thank Shane and the entire Rajasthan Royals leadership for coming on-board with INOX." On his recent visit to INOX Atria at Mumbai, Shane Warne set the partnership rolling as he addressed the top management of INOX Leisure Ltd and shared his life experiences on how teamwork, respect within the team, and leadership matters for any sport or an organisation to be successful. Link of video of Shane Warne's visit to INOX Atria, Mumbai: https://youtu.be/f7-yA0SHv8M About INOX Leisure Limited INOX Leisure Limited (INOX) is amongst India's largest multiplex chains with 137 multiplexes and 563 screens in 67 cities. INOX has redefined movie experiences in India making it truly a 7-star experience. Each INOX property is unique with its own distinct architecture and aesthetics. Beyond the normal screens, INOX also has INOX INSIGNIA for the discerning audience or KIDDLES for young patrons at select locations. INOX brings the very latest in projection and audio technology with INOX Laserplex, IMAX & INOX ONYX. Some of the key multiplex features include plush micro adjustable leather recliners with a butler on call facility, gourmet meal choices by celebrity chef, designer staff uniforms. For easy and convenient ticket booking, INOX offers online booking on http://www.inoxmovies.com and through its smart phone applications across Android and Apple platforms. For more information, contact: Media Contact: Puneet Gupta [email protected] +91-9893049161 GM - Corporate Communications INOX Leisure Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Annual General Meeting in Alfa Laval AB (publ) LUND, Sweden, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders in Alfa Laval AB (publ) (Reg. No. 556587-8054) are hereby given notice to attend the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 24 April 2019 at 4.00 p.m. CET at Scandic Star Lund, Gastelyckan, Glimmervagen 5, Lund, Sweden. Registration for the meeting begins at 3.30 p.m. CET. After the meeting, refreshments will be served. Program for shareholders In connection with the meeting, there will be an opportunity to view the production of plate heat exchangers at the facility in Lund. The tour begins with a gathering at Scandic Star Lund, not later than 1.30 p.m. Buses will then transport the visitors to the production facility and afterwards back to the premises at which the meeting will be held. The number of visitors on the tour is limited, and a notification of participation in the tour shall be made in connection with the notification of participation in the Annual General Meeting. 1.30 p.m. The buses depart from Scandic Star Lund to the Alfa Laval production facility in Lund 3.00 p.m. Coffee is served adjacent to the premises at which the meeting is held 3.30 p.m. Registration for the Annual General Meeting begins 4.00 p.m. The Annual General Meeting is opened Right to participate A shareholder who wishes to participate in the meeting and have the right to vote shall be registered in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Tuesday 16 April 2019 , and notify its participation to Alfa Laval AB together with any advisors (though not more than two) not later than on Tuesday 16 April 2019 , preferably before 12.00 noon. , and notify its participation to Alfa Laval AB together with any advisors (though not more than two) not later than on Tuesday , preferably before 12.00 noon. In addition, a shareholder whose shares are nominee-registered must temporarily have its shares registered in its own name in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB in order to be entitled to participate in the meeting. Such temporary ownership registration shall be executed by Tuesday 16 April 2019 . This means that the shareholder must notify the nominee in ample time prior to that date. Notification Notification to participate in the meeting can be made by mail: Alfa Laval AB, Juridik, P.O. Box 73, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden by e-mail: [email protected] on the website: www.alfalaval.com/investors, or by telephone +46-46-36-74-00 or +46-46-36-65-00 The notification shall include name, personal or corporate ID number, address and telephone number as well as information of any advisors (though not more than two). The notification shall also include any wish to participate in the tour of the production facility. A proxy for a shareholder shall, at the Annual General Meeting at the latest, present the original copy of a dated proxy form in writing. The proxy form may at the time of the meeting not be older than one year, if not the limitation stated in the proxy is longer (not more than five years). A proxy form can be obtained from Alfa Laval AB, Juridik, P.O. Box 73, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden and is also available at the Company's website, www.alfalaval.com/investors/corporate-governance/. In addition, a proxy or a representative of a legal entity shall submit a certificate of registration no later than at the Annual General Meeting. To facilitate the registration, the proxy form and, if applicable, the certificate of registration shall be sent (although not electronically) to Alfa Laval AB in connection with the notification. Alfa Laval AB will, on 17 April 2019 at the earliest, dispatch an entrance card to be produced at the registration as a confirmation of the notification. Proposed agenda Opening of the meeting. Election of a Chairman for the meeting. Preparation and approval of the voting register. Approval of the agenda for the meeting. Election of one or two persons to attest the minutes. Determination whether the meeting has been duly convened. Statement by the Managing Director. Report on the work of the Board of Directors and the Committees of the Board of Directors. Presentation of the annual report and the Auditor's report, as well as the consolidated annual report and the Auditor's report for the group, and the Auditor's report regarding compliance with the guidelines for compensation to senior management adopted at the 2018 Annual General Meeting. Resolution on (a) the adoption of the income statement and the balance sheet as well as the consolidated income statement and the consolidated balance sheet; (b) allocation of the Company's profit according to the adopted balance sheet, and record date for distribution of profits; and (c) discharge from liability for members of the Board of Directors and the Managing Director. 11. Report on the work of the Nomination Committee. 12. Determination of the number of members of the Board of Directors and deputy members of the Board of Directors to be elected by the meeting as well as the number of Auditors and deputy Auditors. 13. Determination of the compensation to the Board of Directors and the Auditors. 14. Election of Chairman of the Board of Directors, other members of the Board of Directors and deputy members of the Board of Directors, Auditors and deputy Auditors. 15. Resolution on guidelines for compensation to senior management. 16. Closing of the meeting. Proposed resolutions Item 2 The Nomination Committee proposes that the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Anders Narvinger, is appointed Chairman of the 2019 Annual General Meeting. Item 10 (b) The Board of Directors proposes a distribution of profits in an amount of SEK 5 per share for 2018. Friday 26 April 2019 is proposed as record date for the right to receive dividend. If the meeting resolves in accordance with this proposal, Euroclear Sweden AB is expected to pay the dividend on Thursday 2 May 2019. Item 12 -14 The Nomination Committee proposes as follows: Item 12: The number of members of the Board of Directors to be elected by the meeting is proposed to be eight with no deputies. Both the number of Auditors and the number of deputy Auditors are proposed to be two. Item 13: The compensation to the Board of Directors is proposed to be a total of SEK 5,845,000 (SEK 5,035,000) to be distributed among the members of the Board of Directors who are elected by the meeting and not employed by the Company as follows: Chairman of the Board of Directors SEK 1,750,000 (SEK 1,675,000) Other members of the Board of Directors SEK 585,000 (SEK 560,000) In addition to the proposed compensations to members of the Board of Directors, it is also proposed that the compensations mentioned below shall be distributed to the members who are Chairman or member of the Committees mentioned below. The proposed compensations are as follows: Extra amount for the Chairman of the Audit Committee SEK 200,000 (SEK 175,000) Extra amount for the other members of the Audit Committee SEK 125,000 (SEK 125,000) Extra amount for the Chairman of the Remuneration Committee SEK 50,000 (SEK 50,000) Extra amount for the other members of the Remuneration Committee SEK 50,000 (SEK 50,000) Bracketed figures refer to compensation for 2018. Compensation to the Auditors is proposed to be paid as per approved invoice. Item 14: Members of the Board of Directors Anders Narvinger, Finn Rausing, Jorn Rausing, Ulf Wiinberg, Anna Ohlsson-Leijon, and Henrik Lange are proposed to be re-elected for the time up to the end of the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Helene Mellquist and Maria Morus Hanssen are proposed to be elected as new members of the Board of Directors. Margareth vrum has declined re-election. Helene Mellquist is currently Senior Vice President of Volvo Lastvagnar, Area International. From 1 April she will be responsible for Area Europe. Helene has long experience from the Volvo Group, where she has held various senior positions, such as Chief Financial Officer and several Vice President appointments. She has also been Chief Executive Officer of TransAtlantic AB. Helene Mellquist is currently board member in Cavotec and Thule Group. Maria Morus Hanssen is since 2018 Chief Executive Officer of DEA Deutsche Erdoel. Morus Hanssen has long experience from Norsk Hydro, Statoil and Aker, where she has held several senior positions and Vice President appointments. The Nomination Committee proposes that Anders Narvinger shall be appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. Should Anders Narvinger's assignment as Chairman of the Board of Directors end prematurely, the Board of Directors shall appoint a new Chairman. Information on all members proposed to the Board of Directors and the Nomination Committee's reasoned statement is available at Alfa Laval AB's website, www.alfalaval.com and will also be available at the meeting. The Nomination Committee proposes, in accordance with the Remuneration Committee's recommendation, that the authorized public accountants Staffan Landen and Karoline Tedevall are elected as the Company's Auditors for the forthcoming year, thus for the time up to the end of the 2020 Annual General Meeting. The Nomination Committee further proposes that the authorized public accountants Henrik Jonzen and Nina Bergman are elected as the Company's deputy Auditors for the forthcoming year, thus for the time up to the end of the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Item 15 In the notice, the Board of Directors wishes to make some clarifications to the guidelines for compensation to senior executives, based on among other things comments from shareholders. The intention is to clarify the principles for compensation and the conditions for the variable compensation. Among other things, the possibility of qualitatively set goals has been removed from the individual annual variable compensation (item 15.4 (i) below) and the goals and maximum outcome for the long-term incentive program have been clarified (item 15.4 (ii) below). The Board of Directors hereby proposes that the meeting adopts a resolution on the following guidelines for compensation to senior management: 1. Scope The term senior management refers to the Managing Director and the group management. These guidelines apply to employment contracts for members of the senior management entered into following the adoption of these guidelines by the meeting, and to amendments to existing employment contracts for senior management made thereafter. The Board of Directors has the right to deviate from the guidelines if there are special circumstances for such deviation in an individual case. Special circumstances may, e.g., be that it must be possible to offer to members of the senior management who reside outside Sweden terms which are competitive in their country of residence. If the Board of Directors deviates from the guidelines due to special circumstances, the reasons for the deviation must be clearly justified. 2. The main principle and how compensation matters are prepared The main principle for the guidelines is that Alfa Laval AB shall offer compensation on market terms so that the Company can attract and retain a competent senior management. The levels of compensation are compared on a regular basis with other companies that operate in the same markets in order to ensure compensation on market terms. The Board of Directors has established a Committee within the Board, with the tasks of preparing the guidelines for compensation for the senior management, which shall be resolved upon by the Annual General Meeting, as well as to propose to the Board of Directors remuneration and employment provisions for the Managing Director. The Board of Directors shall resolve on matters regarding remuneration and employment provisions for the Managing Director following preparation by the Remuneration Committee. The Committee shall resolve on matters regarding remuneration and employment provisions for senior management which reports directly to the Managing Director. The Committee shall continuously report to the Board of Directors. The Managing Director and the senior management are not present when their respective compensation terms are decided. 3. Fixed compensation The fixed salaries shall be revised annually and shall be based upon areas of responsibility and results of each individual. 4. Variable compensation The variable compensation comprises (i) an individual annual variable compensation, and may also, as a supplement, include (ii) a long-term incentive program. (i) The individual annual variable compensation may be between a maximum of 40 and 60 percent of the fixed compensation, depending on position. The outcome depends on the degree of fulfilment of predetermined financial targets. The outcome of the individual variable compensation is reported after the result for the current year has been determined. In addition, the goals and the underlying criteria for determining the goals are presented at the subsequent Annual General Meeting. Given that goals and criteria are commercially sensitive to the Company, public disclosure of these in advance, would, according to the Board of Directors, be detrimental to the Company. (ii) The long-term incentive program is directed to the Company's senior management and top executives (not more than 95 persons). The program is intended to be a supplement to the individual annual variable compensation. According to the Board of Directors, the proposed long-term incentive program is designed to strongly contribute to long-term value creation for the shareholders. It is the Board of Directors' proposal to implement a long-term incentive program for 2019, on the same terms as for the 2018 program. The long-term incentive program for 2019 is, as the long-term incentive programs for 2016, 2017 and 2018, a cash-based program. The intention is that the long-term incentive program is related to the financial targets over a business cycle, which have been decided by the Board of Directors and communicated externally. The programs for 2018 and 2019 are therefore based on an operating margin (adjusted EBITA margin) of 15 percent and a Net Invoicing growth of 5 percent with a 50/50 distribution. The program runs, as before, over three years. The outcome of the program is calculated as an average of the outcome of EBITA and Net Invoicing growth for the three program years. The outcome for the operating margin is calculated linearly between 14 percent and 17 percent and for Net Invoicing growth linearly between 4 percent and 7 percent. Thus, maximum outcome is awarded when the externally communicated long-term financial targets are clearly exceeded. The compensation from the modified long-term incentive program may for the CEO amount to a maximum of 50 percent of the fixed compensation. For other senior management, a maximum of 30-40 percent and for other participants in the program a maximum of 20-40 percent of the fixed compensation depending on the position. The maximum cost for the long-term program over the three program years is estimated to amount to approximately SEK 81 million, of which approximately SEK 22 million for senior management. Payment to the participants of the program is made after year three, provided, however, that they are still employed at the date of payment. The outcome for the long-term incentive program 2019-2021 is thus calculated at the beginning of 2022 and is based on an average of the three program years' results. The previous programs for 2016 and 2017 are connected to the Company's earnings per share, taking possible acquisitions of the Company's own shares into account. The Board of Directors may consider proposing the General Meeting a share or share price-related program for the senior management. 5. Pension benefits A detailed description of current pension schemes for the senior management is available in note 6 of the Annual Report for 2018. Early retirement is offered selectively and only after a special decision by the Remuneration Committee. As from 2006, a premium based early retirement scheme with a premium of 15 percent of the pensionable income is offered. For old-age pension, in addition to the ITP benefits, a premium based scheme, with a premium of 30 percent of the pensionable income above 30 basic amounts is being offered since 2006. Members of the senior management also have a survivor's pension consisting of either a life insurance or a special family pension filling the gap between the old-age pension and the family pension according to the ITP plan. In addition, they have the opportunity to allocate salary and bonus to a temporary old-age and family pension. 6. Non-monetary benefits Members of the senior management have the right to normal non-monetary benefits, such as company car and healthcare benefits. 7. Dismissal and severance pay Should Alfa Laval AB dismiss a member of the senior management, the compensation during the notice period and the severance pay may be an amount corresponding to a maximum of two annual salaries. Available documents The annual report, the Auditors' report, the Board of Directors' reasoned statement regarding the proposed distribution of profits under item 10 (b), the Auditors' report regarding compliance with the guidelines for compensation to senior management adopted at the Annual General Meeting held in 2018 and complete proposals for all other resolutions as set out above will be held available for the shareholders at Alfa Laval AB on Tuesday 26 March 2019 at the latest. Copies of the documents will be sent to shareholders who so request and state their postal address. The documents will also be held available on the Company's website, www.alfalaval.com/investors/corporate-governance/, no later than on the above-mentioned date. The proposals from the Nomination Committee and their reasoned statement will also be published on the same web address. Number of shares and votes in the Company At the date of this notice, the total number of shares and votes in the Company is 419,456,315. All shares are of the same class. The Company itself holds no shares in the Company. Information at the Annual General Meeting The Board of Directors and the Managing Director shall, if any shareholder so requests, and if the Board of Directors considers that this can be done without significant harm for the Company, give information on circumstances that can affect the assessment of an item on the agenda, circumstances that can affect the assessment of the financial situation of the Company or its subsidiaries and the Company's relationship with another group company. Processing of personal data Personal data relating to shareholders retrieved from the share register, notification of participation in the Annual General Meeting and information on representatives and assistants will be used for registration, preparation of the voting list for the Annual General Meeting and, if applicable, minutes of the meeting. The personal data is handled in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) 2016/679), which applies from May 25, 2018. For further information on the Company's processing of personal data and your rights, see the Privacy Policy at the following link: https://www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf or contact the Company at the following email address: [email protected]. Lund, March 2019 ALFA LAVAL AB (publ) The Board of Directors This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/alfa-laval/r/annual-general-meeting-in-alfa-laval-ab--publ-,c2767130 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/905/2767130/1010281.pdf PDF View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/annual-general-meeting-in-alfa-laval-ab-publ-300815524.html SOURCE Alfa Laval [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] AppDetex Secures $10 Million in Series B Funding to Fuel Growth AppDetex, the global digital risk protection leader in combating misuse of intellectual property, brand infringement, fraud, and piracy, today announced it has raised $10 million in Series B equity financing to expand national sales and marketing efforts and invest in product development. The round is led by First Analysis, a leading venture capital firm investing in established rapid-growth companies, with existing investors including EPIC Ventures and Origin Ventures also participating in the round. The Series B funding rounds out $17.5M in total funding to date. "Digital brand infringement is at an all-time high, and current market solutions are insufficient in fighting bad actors across a brand's entire digital footprint. The market is poised for the differentiated digital risk protection product that AppDetex offers," said Howard Smith, Managing Director, First Analysis, and new AppDetex Board Member. "We're thrilled to partner with a management team known for its history of innovation in this industry and look forward to their continued leadership and growth." The Boise-based company was founded in 2012 by digital risk protection pioneers Faisal Shah and Chris Bura. AppDetex provides technology solutions and services to global corporations experiencing reputation and revenue loss from brand infringements outside the firewall via mobile or online activity. This expanding scope of a brand's online presence across multiple platforms increases the complexity and urgency around protecting against counterfeiting, piracy, phishing, cybersquatting, and unauthorized use of trademarks. AppDetex supplies a unique solution that combines domain monitoring and protction with digital risk protection across multiple channels. "Our goal is to be the all-in-one solution protecting all brands, anywhere that they live online - both through constant monitoring and discovery, and swift and effective enforcement," said Faisal Shah, CEO of AppDetex. "This new investment enables AppDetex to continue to develop its team and industry-leading products necessary to defend brands across the globe against dilution of their intellectual property through nefarious means." About AppDetex AppDetex is a global digital risk protection leader in securing the digital footprint of brands and offering online and mobile brand protection solutions as well as corporate domain name registration and management services. AppDetex specializes in the areas outside of the company's firewall to prevent brand infringement and dilution, including fraud, and piracy within the increasingly complex worlds of mobile apps, marketplaces, social media, websites, and domains. The company focuses on developing and delivering best-in-class technologies and methodologies that expose brand infringements and enable takedowns of the many egregious undertakings found online today. AppDetex's strengths include its depth of experience in the brand protection industry and willingness to serve as an extension of its client's IP team, and the company's nimble approach to software development and the robustness of the solutions. AppDetex understands how to reduce consumer confusion, brand dilution, and fraud while protecting reputations, credibility, and company bottom lines. Founded by Faisal Shah and Chris Bura, the original pioneers of the online brand protection space, AppDetex has quickly become the first choice for many of the world's most recognizable brands. For more information, visit www.appdetex.com. About First Analysis First Analysis is a leading venture capital investor, having invested more than $780 million over four decades. With our integrative research process, we aim to invest in the best, established rapid-growth companies in the targeted sectors where we are acknowledged experts and where our success benefits not only our investors, but also our broader society and environment. The integrative research process combines 1) dynamic investment research on thousands of publicly traded and privately held companies with 2) thousands of relationships among executives, investors, and other key participants in our focus areas, yielding a deep, comprehensive understanding of each sector's near-term and long-term potential. We help companies become profitable leaders in large markets, funding growth plans, working closely with management in areas including strategy, recruitment, sales and marketing, and corporate development, and typically investing $3-10 million as lead investor or as a syndicate partner who brings valuable perspective. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005180/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] DataStax Announces The Stax Awards DataStax, the leading provider of the active everywhere, hybrid cloud database built on Apache Cassandra, today announced the inaugural Stax Awards ("Staxies"), to recognize customers that are delivering technology innovation and outsized business results with DataStax. To qualify for the 2019 awards, companies must be active DataStax Enterprise, DataStax Distribution of Apache Cassandra, and/or DataStax Managed Cloud customers. Click to Tweet: Just announced the Stax Awards ("Staxies") for enterprises using @DataStax #ApacheCassandra to drive innovation. Learn how your company can be recognized for delivering innovation and outsized business results https://bit.ly/2TL5ovE #DataStaxAccelerate The deadline for award submissions must be received by April 30, 2019 via the submission form here. Once the submission window closes, a panel of judges, including: Adrian Bridgwater, Reporter at Computer Weekly, Ed Targett, Editor at Computer Business Review, and James E. Curtis, Senior Analyst, Data, AI & Analytics at 451 Research will determine a winner and runner-up for each category. The awards will be presented and publicly announced on May 22 and 23, 2019 at DataStax Accelerate. "We're thrilled to kick off the inaugural Stax Awards to recognize the business results and innovations that our customers are achieving with DataStax," said Steve Rowland, EVP and President at DataStax. "We encourage all DataStax customers to enter what's sure to be a fun and exciting competition for many years to come." Awards will be given in the following categories: The Best Use of DataStax in a Hybrid/Multi-Cloud Environment Award recognizes companies that have deployed DataStax Enterprise across multiple cloud providers or in a hybrid cloud environment. recognizes companies that have deployed DataStax Enterprise across multiple cloud providers or in a hybrid cloud environment. The Modern Applications Powered by DataStax Award showcases companies that are building transformative applications-apps that are always-on, contextual, real time, distributed, and scalable-on top of DataStax. showcases companies that are building transformative applications-apps that are always-on, contextual, real time, distributed, and scalable-on top of DataStax. The Promising Innovation Award highlights customers that are planning innovative projects that fundamentally transform the way their companies leverage data in a mission-critical way. In addition, DataStax will present Partner Awards at DataStax Accelerate. The Partner Awards will be given in three categories: Solution Partner of the Year, Emerging Partner of the Year, and Technology Partner of the Year. "Our customers are leveraging transactional data at the core to build truly innovative, leading-edge applications," Rowland said. "We're excited to read all the submissions and honor the best of the best use cases, apps, and innovations." To learn more about the Stax Awards, please read the following blog, The Stax Awards: Highlighting the Amazing Ways Companies Are Using DataStax. Learn more: To learn more about DataStax and DataStax Enterprise, please join DataStax at DataStax Accelerate, the world's premier Apache Cassandra conference, May 21-23, 2019, in the Washington D.C. area. To register, please visit: www.datastax.com/accelerate About DataStax DataStax delivers the always-on, active-everywhere distributed hybrid cloud database built on Apache Cassandra. The foundation for personalized, real-time applications at scale, DataStax Enterprise makes it easy for enterprises to exploit hybrid and multi-cloud environments via a seamless data layer that eliminates the issues that typically come with deploying applications across multiple on-premises data centers and/or multiple public clouds. Our product also gives businesses full data visibility, portability, and control, allowing them to retain strategic ownership of their most valuable asset in a hybrid/multi cloud world. We help many of the world's leading brands across industries transform their businesses through an enterprise data layer that eliminates data silos and cloud vendor lock-in while powering modern, mission-critical applications. For more information, visit www.DataStax.com and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @DataStax. 2019 DataStax, All Rights Reserved. DataStax, Titan, and TitanDB are registered trademarks of DataStax, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Apache, Apache Cassandra, Cassandra, Apache Tomcat, Tomcat, Apache Lucene, Lucene, Apache Solr, Apache Hadoop, Hadoop, Apache Spark, Spark, Apache TinkerPop, TinkerPop, Apache Kafka, and Kafka are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation or its subsidiaries in Canada, the United States, and/or other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005149/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] YogaDownload Launches Free, Robust App for Wellness Enthusiasts Offering Easy-to-Take Yoga and Fitness Classes, Anywhere Anytime DENVER, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- YogaDownload, the premier online yoga studio offering downloadable audio and video classes for all styles and levels, announced today the launch of its new app. Hitting mobile devices worldwide, the app helps support a consistent yoga practice, bringing the accessible, efficient, beginner to advanced classes YogaDownload is known for to yoga enthusiasts anywhere and everywhere. Available immediately to users of iOS and Android, the YogaDownload app is the most robust of its kind. With a growing library of over 1,500 classes from 65 of the world's most coveted yoga teachers, it offers yoga for every body, ability, time and place. Its advanced filtering system allows users to seamlessly sort classes by length, intensity, style, objective, body part, teacher, level, and more while its expertly curated programs including Yoga For Weight Loss, Travel, Sleep, Sports, Healing, Prenatal and more, help users stay on track. "YogaDownload was created over a decade ago in response to yogis' needs for quality yoga classes outside of the studio," said Jamie Kent, founder of YogaDownload. "Today, we are excited to bring our community of over 250,000 our latest practice innovation improving the accessibility of yoga classes you can tust, in a platform that can truly be taken anywhere." For yogis whose practice objectives change day to day, it even offers a 'goal' filter with options like 'get toned,' 'wind down,' 'relieve back pain' or 'learn the basics.' For those diving into yoga for the very first time, it provides several programs for absolute beginners who can develop an understanding of yoga in the comfort of their own home. New classes and programs will be added to the app regularly and all classes are available to both stream and download for use when not online. The YogaDownload app will offer a free 20-day trial, followed by unlimited access membership to its entire library of yoga, fitness/fusion, meditation and pilates classes. Membership plans cost $17.99 for an unlimited month or $119.99 for an unlimited year, a fraction of the cost of in-studio practices. Non-members will still have free access to 20-30 classes that vary in style, length, and intensity. Existing Yogadownload.com members will have complete access to their account via the app including class favorites. For more information on Yoga Download, visit: http://www.yogadownload.com About Yoga Download YogaDownload.com is a privately-held company based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2006, YDL was created to make yoga practices more accessible, convenient and affordable. Combining the modern technology of portable media with the ancient practice of yoga, YDL provides personal, quality, customizable yoga classesanytime, anywhere. YDL offers a wide variety of yoga styles, class lengths, teachers, music and pose guides to help each user maintain the benefits of the practice, with one simple download. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from all Yoga Download purchases benefit a variety of charities. To learn more, visit www.YogaDownload.com Media Contact: Lindsay Reisman [email protected] (310)985.3329 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yogadownload-launches-free-robust-app-for-wellness-enthusiasts-offering-easy-to-take-yoga-and-fitness-classes-anywhere-anytime-300815420.html SOURCE YogaDownload [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Listen Up: Call for Entries to AI and Voice First Entrepreneurs to Showcase Tech Solutions for People 50-Plus at What's Next Innovation Competition NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Idol meets tech entrepreneurs focused on solutions for people age 50-plus at the What's Next Innovation Competition. The event is hosted by Mary Furlong & Associates and sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs during the 16th Annual What's Next Boomer Business Summit held here on April 18. Competition winners have the opportunity to continue to the AARP Innovation Labs national pitch competition in Washington, D.C. later this year. The competition asks entrepreneurs and start-up companies to showcase how they can improve social connections and empower older adults to live engaging and purposeful lives using artificial intelligence and home-based digital voice assistants known as voice first technology. The criteria for applying to the competition is limited to start-up companies with less than $500,000 in annual revenue or who have raised a maximum of less than $5 million in investor funding. Finalists will be chosen by April 5, 2019 and must be available to present on center stage at the What's Next Boomer Business Summit held at the Hyatt Regency News Orleans Hotel on April 18. Click here to apply before the March 29, 2019 by 11:59pm PST deadline. "The majority of people age 50-plus desire to live as independently as possible and technology can play a role in making that happen," said Andy Miller, senior vice president, Innovation & Product Development for AARP. "We know from AARP Foundation research that social isolation impacts eight million people over the age of 50 and that it can have harmful health effects on people of all ages. The goal with pitch events like this one is to help identify voice and AI-focused solutions that can help empower people to choose how they live as they age." Author, entrepreneur and thought leader on aging Mary Furlong, and her visionary What's Next events are one of several local competitions around the country leading to the national AARP pitch event for entrepreneurs focused on solutions for people age 50-plus. Competition winners are voted on by AARP members and event attendees as well as a panel of expert judges `a la American Idol. "We were thrilled that last year's What's Next Innovation Competition winner, Embodied Labs, which uses a Virtual Reality (VR) immersive platform and storytelling to create empathy and education of aging issues such as dementia, went on to win the national AARP competition," says Furlong. The What's Next Business Summit event has gained a reputation for being at the epicenter of thought leaders focused on the $7.6 trillion 50 plus marketplace. Leading businesses, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, authors, analysts, media and marketing experts come together to network and learn. Find more information at: boomersummit.com. Media Contact: Ben Adkins MFA associate 502.619.4267 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/listen-up-call-for-entries-to-ai-and-voice-first-entrepreneurs-to-showcase-tech-solutions-for-people-50-plus-at-whats-next-innovation-competition-300815046.html SOURCE Mary Furlong & Associates [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Michael Loeb's Loeb.nyc Unveils Branding That Taps Company Strengths: Adapt, Respond, Succeed NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Loeb, president and CEO of Loeb.nyc , the New York City-based venture collective, recently introduced the company's new branding. Central to Loeb.nyc's branding is the hexagon, a six-sided figure known to be the most efficient and least wasteful shape in all of nature. This figure is seen in various iterations on the company's website, digital and print assets, and the form also plays an active role in the company's interior design. "Since the beginning, I've envisioned Loeb.nyc as a dynamic environment that allows for elasticity, growth, and, most importantly, strength strong concepts, strong partnerships, and a group of strong minds wholly dedicated to success," said Michael Loeb during the unveiling of his company's logo, website and other branding. "The hexagon is a symbol you'll find not just in our logo but throughout or physical space which, like the shape itself, is constructed to adapt and respond with utmost proficiency." Following Loeb's remarks, startup founders, employees and other stakeholders of Loeb.nyc were introduced to the new website which outlines the company's mission, expert methodology, and the "tool shed" of shared services that provides Loeb.NYC startups access to skilled consultants in a variety of disciplines including operations, sales and marketing, data analytics and technology. Rich Vogel, founding partner and CFO of Loeb.nyc, said: "The hexagon is an appropriate metaphor for how this company operates each and every day. Loeb.nyc is a group of professionals working together to obviate anything that may allow for failure as we create and fully embrace a culture of achievement. While our approach is merit-based and studied, we are all deeply dedicated to interaction, innovationand the flexibility required to grow winning businesses." Loeb and Vogel's venture collective is comprised of roughly two-dozen startups and early stage investments including digital platforms, direct-to-consumer products, and enterprise solutions. The ever-growing portfolio of Loeb.nyc companies includes 3x3 Insights, All The Rooms, Butler Hospitality, Dashride, Fetch Rewards, Finexio, Mercato, OpenMessage, Payoneer, Penrose Hill, Popwallet, SingleComm, Sio Beauty, Steady, SummitSync, Sweet Defeat, and Thnks. With holdings around the country, Loeb.nyc is headquartered in a Midtown Manhattan tower where it occupies three full floors. ABOUT MICHAEL LOEB Michael Loeb is a New York-based veteran entrepreneur and Direct Marketing Association Hall-of-Famer who has backed, built, or funded over fifty successful companies. Chief among his successes are Priceline.com, known for its travel deals and travel search engine, and Synapse (acquired by Time, Inc.). Loeb now leads Loeb.nyc and Loeb Enterprises both of which are based in New York City. A leading New York philanthropist, Loeb donates to a variety of charities, and he's donated the location fees related to his Hampton's home being used as a set for the Showtime television series Billions. A graduate of Amherst College, Loeb helped established and provides ongoing support to the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning. About Rich Vogel Rich Vogel is a seasoned marketing executive and startup advisor who co-founded both Loeb Enterprises and Loeb.nyc. In his role as CFO and COO, Vogel directs all operations while overseeing the finances of both entities. A celebrated marketer, he has spent a career forming businesses and is known for advancing concepts from the idea stage to marketplace success and rewarding exit. Prior to forming Loeb Enterprises with Michael Loeb, Vogel was the president of MDSC Corp where he established partnerships with leading credit card issuers, major publishers, international airlines and e-commerce companies. As a partner and contributor, he is actively involved with The Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut. Vogel also directs Loeb.nyc's participation in PeacePlayers International, an organization devoted to using the power of sport to unite and inspire youth around the world. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and earned his MBA at the Stern School of Business at New York University. About Loeb.nyc The venture arm of Loeb Enterprises, Loeb.nyc is a startup lab and early-stage private investor built on the belief that aligning the right people with the right ideas creates successful companies. Want to pitch an investment idea? More information can be found at www.loeb.nyc. Press Contact: Shea Communications, Richard Shea, (212) 627-5766 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michael-loebs-loebnyc-unveils-branding-that-taps-company-strengths-adapt-respond-succeed-300815348.html SOURCE Loeb.nyc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Blix Bikes Readies to Replace Your Car SANTA CRUZ, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blix Electric Bikes plans to launch an Indiegogo campaign for their new bike model, the Packa, on March 26, 2019. Starting below $2,000, the Packa will be the most fully-featured, affordable electric cargo bike available. Shaped around the compact cargo concept, the Packa has a total length of 81 inches, comparable to the length of a regular bike. It has dual 24" wheels which provide a low center of gravity for easy handling. It also boasts one of the lowest step-through frames for a cargo bike, making it accessible to most riders and incredibly easy to get on and off the bike. "We looked to develop the perfect balance of convenience and rider friendliness with the Packa at an approachable price point," states Pontus Malmberg, Blix's founder and CEO. "Built for utility, it's alsoa bike that will bring the fun back to your everyday adventures. It features a uniquely designed multi-modular racking system that allows you customize for your cargo needs in over 200 ways." The Packa utilizes a 750-watt motor with dual battery capacity. The system smartly uses both batteries ensuring you never have to stop when one battery runs out. The bike can go up to 70 miles with both batteries and carry up to 200lbs of cargo. At time of purchase, you can select a single or dual battery option. The crowdfunding campaign goes live Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Further launch details, pricing and product specifications can be found on the Blix website, www.blixbike.com . About Blix Founded in Santa Cruz, CA in 2014, Blix offers innovative e-bike models including commuters, cruisers, and folding bikes, with over 75 dealers in North America and a dynamic e-commerce site. Founder and CEO Pontus Malmberg draws inspiration from his Swedish roots to combine electric bike technology with a clean balance of form, function and user-friendly features. Blix electric bikes are affordable and beautifully designed, without sacrificing performanceperfect for an alternative mode of transportation and recreation. Contact: Sarah Owens, Blix PR Manager Phone: 855-655-2549 x104 Email: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blix-bikes-readies-to-replace-your-car-300815306.html SOURCE Blix Electric Bikes [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Iterable Raises $50 Million to Accelerate Adoption of Disruptive Growth Marketing Platform SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Iterable, the leading growth marketing platform for cross-channel customer engagement, announced today that it has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Participants in the round included Blue Cloud Ventures, CRV, Harmony Partners, Index Ventures and Stereo Capital. The current round brings the company's total funding to $80 million to date. This Series C financing will build on the tremendous triple-digit year-over-year growth that Iterable has experienced. Iterable is poised to disrupt the $5.5 billion global marketing automation software market with its cross-channel capabilities supporting email, push, SMS, in-app and more. "Iterable's sustained and accelerated growth is testament to its ability to manage the scale of data that leading, digitally-native brands are using to compete in the post-Amazon world," said Rami Rahal, ManagingPartner at Blue Cloud Ventures. "We rarely hear rave reviews from both the marketing and tech sides of an enterprise, but that's exactly what we hear from Iterable customers. Marketers love Iterable's ease of use when building cross-channel campaigns, and engineers love the platform's wide support for complex data types at scale." This funding will support continued product development and fuel international go-to-market expansion. Iterable's customers, including Zillow, Box, and SeatGeek, use Iterable to manage their marketing to over 2 billion of their subscribers. According to a recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting, investing in Iterable yielded a 700% ROI for clients. "Today's consumers expect highly personalized experiences that are relevant and consistent across all their channels," said Justin Zhu, CEO of Iterable. "Marketers are collectively spending billions of dollars to engage their customers, yet they struggle with antiquated software to manage the dynamic needs of the digital era. Currently analyzing over 1 billion customer events per day, Iterable's growth marketing platform is the only solution that can dynamically orchestrate customer journeys in real time at scale." Future product innovations will be announced at Iterable's growth marketing conference, Activate , which takes place April 22-24, in San Francisco. About Iterable Iterable is the growth marketing platform that enables brands to create, execute and optimize cross-channel campaigns with unparalleled data flexibility. Leading brands, like Zillow, SeatGeek, and Box, choose Iterable to power world-class customer engagement throughout the entire lifecycle. Iterable was founded in 2013 and is backed by Blue Cloud Ventures, Index Ventures, CRV and other top-tier VCs. Visit iterable.com for more information. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iterable-raises-50-million-to-accelerate-adoption-of-disruptive-growth-marketing-platform-300815236.html SOURCE Iterable [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Nokia Commits US$750K to Support the Work of the Internet Engineering Task Force Press Release Support of the premier Internet standards development organization will include hosting the 106th IETF meeting on 16-22 November 2019 20 March 2019 Espoo, Finland - Nokia, a global leader in creating the technologies at the heart of our connected world, has made a multi-year commitment of US$750 thousand to support the work of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). As the Internet's premier standards organization, specifications developed in the IETF are a foundation for services and technologies used across the global Internet. This commitment establishes Nokia as an IETF Global Host, the highest recognized level of support. "We are very pleased that Nokia has made this significant commitment to support the important work of the IETF," said Alissa Cooper, Chair of the IETF. "Nokia's support will help extend the IETF's long tradition of bringing together a diverse technical community around work that embodies innovation, technical excellence and practical relevance, and results in standards that make the Internet work better." As an IETF Global Host, Nokia will have the opportunity to work closely with the IETF community over multiple years. This includes serving as host for the upcoming IETF 106 meeting to be held on November 16-22, 2019 in Singapore. IETF 106 is expected to bring together more than 1200 technologists from around the world. "IETF plays a critical rle in making the Internet work better through an open and pragmatic approach that emphasizes collaboration and working implementations," said Steve Vogelsang, CTO of IP and Optical Networks at Nokia. "We proudly support our employees who contribute to the IETF and are also pleased to support its mission as a sponsor, particularly given Nokia's long track record of building products that implement relevant IETF technologies." Technical standards developed in the IETF form the foundation for online services and capabilities used billions of times each day. These capabilities include online security, the Web, email, and domain names. Since its first meeting in January 16, 1986 in San Diego, California, the IETF has published more than 8000 documents that describe standards for the fundamental technologies and widely used services on today's global Internet. About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. We develop and deliver the industry's only end-to-end portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing that is available globally. Our customers include communications service providers whose combined networks support 5.7 billion subscriptions, as well as enterprises in the private and public sector that use our network portfolio to increase productivity and enrich lives. Through our research teams, including the world-renowned Nokia Bell Labs, we are leading the world to adopt end-to-end 5G networks that are faster, more secure and capable of revolutionizing lives, economies and societies. Nokia adheres to the highest ethical business standards as we create technology with social purpose, quality and integrity. nokia.com About the Internet Engineering Task Force The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the Internet's premier technical standards body. It gathers a large open, global community of network designers, engineers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. The IETF seeks broad participation. The work of the IETF takes place online, largely through email lists, reducing barriers to participation and maximizing contributions from around the world. For more information, see:http://www.ietf.org/ Media Inquiries Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: [email protected] IETF Greg Wood [email protected] +1-703-625-3917 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Easy Transfer Grows to US$776M in Gross Transactions as Student Payment Platform's Popularity Soars Easy Transfer's financial services platform is growing on campuses around the world, reaching US$776M in total transaction volume in 2018 and projected to top US$1B in 2019. After rapidly expanding to over 30 countries around the world, the fintech platform saw an 829% growth in transaction volume and 1079% growth in overall number of transactions in just two years. Adding financial services for rent payments and other living expenses in addition to tuition transfers since 2017 has allowed Easy Transfer to see new user growth with an 85% user retention rate as users pay with Easy Transfer more frequently. Easy Transfer's quick growth has been enabled by the service's integration into the mobile apps of major Chinese banks. These institutions include China Guangfa Bank (CGB), Industrial Bank (CIB), Suning Finance, and UnionPay Quick Pass App, which is connected to 27 other major Chinese commercial banks. "We're very excited that Easy Transfer has reached and been embraced by over 53,000 Chinese students globally," Co-Founder Tony Gao says. "Being able to help make the lives of Chinese students abroad easier and more productive has been our mission from the very beginning." Founded by Tony Gao and Michael Shang in March 2013 while attending university in the US, the company's inspiration came when the duo was unable to find a hassle-free way to transfer funds from China to pay their tuition, housing costs, and other expenses.Before Easy Transfer, Gao and Shang -- along with countless other students -- found it time consuming and expensive to transfer money. Students' families would have to visit their bank in-person, often several times over multiple days. Easy Transfer has brought this process down to as little as 3 minutes. Easy Transfer's easy-to-use interface not only features a smooth and simple payment process that is completely online, but also automatically applies for exemption from Chinese forex capital quotas (which are typically US$50,000 per year). To make sure families get the most value out of their tuition payment transfers, the platform uses big data analysis and A.I. to predict forex rates, suggesting the optimal time to make a transfer from RMB to other currencies. Easy Transfer is used by Chinese students in markets around the world such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and all member countries of the EU. Its widespread success led to the introduction of an Easy Transfer student credit card in July 2018, which saw 10,000 sign ups during its first 15 days after launch. The credit card, which was issued in partnership with China Everbright Bank, is designed for Chinese international students, offering 2-3% cash back for educational, travel, dining, grocery and gas expenses. The team is working to further expand their financial services platform with the help of its newly announced funding, a US$7M Series B investment, bringing the total amount raised to $15M. Easy Transfers investors include IDG Capital Group, ZhenFund, and China Equity Group. About Easy Transfer Easy Transfer is China's largest online financial service platform for overseas students, on which students are able to pay tuition fees and dormitory rent to thousands of renowned colleges and universities worldwide. By forming close partnerships with payment processors like UnionPay, Visa and Mastercard, as well as major Chinese banks like China Guangfa Bank, Industrial Bank and China Merchants Bank, Easy Transfer provides Chinese students, their families and higher education institutions worldwide with the go-to service for international education payments. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005344/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Nuevo Midstream Dos, LLC Agrees to Purchase Republic Midstream, LLC Nuevo Midstream Dos, LLC ("Nuevo Dos") announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement with an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners ("ArcLight") to purchase Republic Midstream, LLC ("Republic Midstream"). Republic Midstream owns and operates a crude oil gathering, storage and intermediate transportation system in the Eagle Ford (News - Alert) Shale. The transaction is expected to close early in the second quarter of 2019. Nuevo Dos is backed by EnCap Flatrock Midstream. Nuevo Dos plans to expand the system, which currently consists of approximately 100 miles of gathering pipeline that feeds a central delivery point ("CDP") with 300,000 barrels of crude oil storage and a six-bay truck station. The system also includes an approximately 26-mile intermediate pipeline that moves volumes from the CDP to the Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate Pipeline ("KMCC") and the Eagle Ford Crude Oil Pipeline System, which is owned and operated by Enterprise. The Kinder Morgan and Enterprise pipelines deliver crude and condensate to multiple terminals with access to refineries, perochemical plants and export terminals on the Texas Gulf Coast. From Nuevo Midstream Dos "We are very excited about this acquisition and the opportunity to expand the footprint and service offerings of the Republic system. We really like these assets and their location within the Eagle Ford," said Nuevo Dos President & CEO Randy Ziebarth. "The Eagle Ford is experiencing a resurgence and is advantaged by its proximity to the Gulf. Nuevo Dos looks forward to helping producers fully participate in moving crude and condensate to market." From EnCap Flatrock Midstream "We have been partnering with the Nuevo team since 2011," said EnCap Flatrock Vice President Zach Kayem, a member of the Nuevo Dos board of directors. "This is a team with a very successful track record of acquiring a system and developing its potential, as it did in the Permian. We're looking forward to assisting the Nuevo Dos team with the acquisition and expansion of Republic's Eagle Ford system." Advisers Locke Lord LLP is advising Nuevo Dos, with partner Bill Swanstrom and associate Jenelle Simmons in the lead roles from the firm's Houston office. Mr. Swanstrom is co-chair of the firm's energy practice group. Latham & Watkins, LLP is providing legal counsel to Republic Midstream in conjunction with the transaction, while Jefferies LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to ArcLight on the transaction. About Nuevo Midstream Dos, LLC Nuevo Dos provides a full complement of midstream solutions to producers and marketers of crude oil, condensate, natural gas and NGLs. The company is based in Houston and led by the core management team that formed Nuevo Midstream, LLC in 2011. The Nuevo team built a significant midstream footprint in the Delaware Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico, which ultimately was sold to Western Gas in 2014. The Nuevo Dos team has a successful track record in strategic midstream design, large project development, operations, product marketing and energy finance, as well as a deep working knowledge of the challenges and opportunities that producers face in shale plays across North America. For more information, please visit www.nuevomidstream.com. About EnCap Flatrock Midstream EnCap Flatrock Midstream provides value-added growth capital to proven management teams focused on midstream infrastructure opportunities across North America. The firm was formed in 2008 by a partnership between EnCap Investments L.P. and Flatrock Energy Advisors, LLC. Based in San Antonio with offices in Oklahoma City and Houston, the firm manages investment commitments of nearly $9 billion from a broad group of prestigious institutional investors. EnCap Flatrock Midstream is currently making commitments to new management teams from EFM Fund IV, a $3.25 billion fund. For more information please visit www.efmidstream.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005139/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] How Important is Data Governance from a Business Perspective? Quantzig's Recent Success Story Reveals the Benefits of Deploying a Data Governance Framework A global data analytics and advisory firm, Quantzig, that delivers actionable analytics solutions to resolve complex business problems has announced the completion of their latest engagement during the course of which they implemented a data governance framework for a leading financial conglomerate headquartered in Europe. To help the client address their key challenges, the analytics experts worked closely with their team and developed a data governance framework that helped them to address the issues arising due to a siloed data environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005436/en/ Implementing a Data Governance Framework for a Leading Financial Conglomerate (Graphic: Business Wire) The growing competition and the unrelenting pressures from non-traditional banking service providers is a major factor that is driving banks to transform themselves digitally by deploying an effective data governance framework. But to completely transform, banks have to first adopt the key data management trends and tackle the key challenges. As such, banks have realized the importance of a robust data governance framework that helps in ensuring the quality of data while monitoring the data management infrastructure. The Business Problem: The client is a leading banking and financial services provider based out of Western Europe with revenues in excess of 20 million and more than 30,000 employees. The banking services provider found itself grappling with multiple regulatory compliance and data governance issues. As such, the banking firm wasstriving hard to drive data governance and data analysis across its enterprise. The client approached Quantzig to leverage its data analytics expertise and implement a data governance framework that would help them address their challenges. An effective data governance framework can help banking service providers to monitor data and effectively draw insights that help transform the business model. Get in touch with our experts for more insights. "Most of the data quality issues faced by banking firms result from poor data governance processes, lack of well-planned tactical solutions, and weak data governance frameworks governing the data management system," says an analytics expert from Quantzig. The Solution Offered: The lack of a dynamic enterprise data governance framework prevented the client from addressing the myriad regulatory needs to facilitate regulatory reporting. Hence, we collaborated with their team and devised a data governance framework that not only aided them in addressing the compliance issue but also helped them to save a significant sum. This success story is a typical example of how data governance frameworks can help banks to manage and monitor the vast datasets. Request a free proposal to know more about the benefits of deploying a data governance framework. Quantzig's data governance solutions helped the client to: Gain rigorous control over real-time data sets Prepare and validate risk reports Request a free demo to know how a robust data governance framework can help you gain a competitive advantage. Quantzig's data governance solutions offered predictive insights on: Finding pragmatic and efficient ways to iteratively build the required data governance model Reducing data silos Don't you feel a robust data governance framework is the need of the hour? Request for more information now! About Quantzig Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India. For more than 15 years, we have assisted our clients across the globe with end-to-end data modeling capabilities to leverage analytics for prudent decision making. Today, our firm consists of 120+ clients, including 45 Fortune 500 companies. For more information on our engagement policies and pricing plans, visit: https://www.quantzig.com/request-for-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005436/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Flashpoint Introduces Innovative Approach for Use Case-Driven Intelligence NEW YORK, March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flashpoint, the global leader in Business Risk Intelligence (BRI), today introduced a new use case-driven approach to its packaged solutions that allows organizations to more effectively consume and automate threat intelligence. These offerings support traditional cybersecurity and operations use cases, as well as fraud, insider threat, corporate & physical security, and third-party risk. While every organization needs meaningful intelligence and information, not every organization consumes it in the same way. By working with the private and public sector to prioritize their intelligence requirements, Flashpoint can uniquely support different sized organizations in dozens of industries that have varying program maturity, and deliver relevant context to a broad range of teams. For example: Cyber Threat Intelligence: Gain the context needed to quickly discern and take action on relevant alerts and indicators of compromise (IoCs) while reducing false positives; identify and mitigate imminent or existing threats; and initiate and shape protective measures to proactively mitigate threats and reduce organizational risk. Gain the context needed to quickly discern and take action on relevant alerts and indicators of compromise (IoCs) while reducing false positives; identify and mitigate imminent or existing threats; and initiate and shape protective measures to proactively mitigate threats and reduce organizational risk. Corporate & Physical Security: Track conspiring actors and imminent threats across illicit communities at scale, to support physical security investigations, mitigation, and response efforts. For public-sector organizations, Flashpoint also supports counterterrorism missions. Track conspiring actors and imminent threats across illicit communities at scale, to support physical security investigations, mitigation, and response efforts. For public-sector organizations, Flashpoint also supports counterterrorism missions. Fraud: Identify and halt imminent fraud schemes and related threats, and monitor for relevant data leaks, and marketplace and payment-card shop offerings. Identify and halt imminent fraud schemes and related threats, and monitor for relevant data leaks, and marketplace and payment-card shop offerings. Insider Threat: Support insider threat investigations, mitigations, response, and forensics efforts. Share proven guidance for building an internal insider threat team. Support insider threat investigations, mitigations, response, and forensics efforts. Share proven guidance for building an internal insider threat team. Third-Party Risk: Provide deep analysis of third-party vendors to help support visibility into partners security controls and development processes. Intelligence programs are not one size fits all, and pushing only automated feeds or indicators without context to a customer creates more noise than it creates solutions, said Josh Lefkowitz, CEO and Co-Founder, Flashpoint. Different teams analyze data differently based on their use cases, and the best way to help these teams is to focus solutions on use cases, not on a source of data or technology. Flashpoints use case-driven intelligence approach starts by including the following, which can be tailored according to organization size, industry, and team focus, to ensure contextual analysis and immediate action: Flashpoint Intelligence Platform: Grants access to an expansive archive of finished intelligence reports, data from illicit forums in translated languages, marketplaces, chat services such as Telegram, technical indicators, and risk intelligence observables (RIOs) in a single, streamlined experience. Grants access to an expansive archive of finished intelligence reports, data from illicit forums in translated languages, marketplaces, chat services such as Telegram, technical indicators, and risk intelligence observables (RIOs) in a single, streamlined experience. Curated Alerting: Relevant tactical analysis and risk assessments from illicit online communities, based on continual human-in-the-loop monitoring of alerts based on intelligence requirements (IRs). Relevant tactical analysis and risk assessments from illicit online communities, based on continual human-in-the-loop monitoring of alerts based on intelligence requirements (IRs). Requests for Information: Direct access to Flashpoint intelligence analysts with specific questions to help teams fill intelligence gaps. The company works with customers to create optimal search patterns, capture intelligence requirements, and prioritize keywords and identifiers. Multilingual intelligence analysts , with years of experience navigating illicit online communities, assess whether the risk poses a threat to the customer, help maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio, and provide additional context to foreign language content. Flashpoint stands alone when it comes to the diversity of its offerings, and the way that it can support different types of organizations, industries, and teams, in assessing and addressing their intelligence requirements, said DJ Goldsworthy, Director of Security Operations and Threat Management at Aflac. The next step is for organizations to determine how they want intelligence delivered and consumed, and can also choose an approach that includes: Flashpoint API: Near real-time access to finished intelligence, forums, technical indicators, and RIOs, allowing users to enrich and enhance internal data with our targeted data acquired from highly curated services. Near real-time access to finished intelligence, forums, technical indicators, and RIOs, allowing users to enrich and enhance internal data with our targeted data acquired from highly curated services. Industry Alerting: Tactical information derived from conversations from illicit communities in a customers respective industry. For customers without highly visible brands, industry alerting on trends can also keep them aware of potential threats against them, even if not mentioned by name. Tactical information derived from conversations from illicit communities in a customers respective industry. For customers without highly visible brands, industry alerting on trends can also keep them aware of potential threats against them, even if not mentioned by name. Customer Success: Comprised of former analysts who have spent their careers serving various public and private organizations, our team brings industry-related experience, supporting operations in cybersecurity, fraud, and counterterrorism. As organizations learn more about specific risks hitting their sector or use case, they can evaluate the following options that specifically address targeted threats, staff augmentation, or threat-actor tracking: Executive Exposure Reports: Comprehensive evaluation of online risk exposure and threats targeting executives provides a narrative that identifies the areas of risk to executives and the business and includes human-derived analysis, as well as key takeaways and next steps to reduce risk. Comprehensive evaluation of online risk exposure and threats targeting executives provides a narrative that identifies the areas of risk to executives and the business and includes human-derived analysis, as well as key takeaways and next steps to reduce risk. Threat Response & Readiness: Prepare for, as well as quickly assess and respond to, a ransomware or cyber extortion attack. Flashpoint provides research to organizations impacted by attacks, and also directly engages with threat actors; includes access to cryptocurrency. Prepare for, as well as quickly assess and respond to, a ransomware or cyber extortion attack. Flashpoint provides research to organizations impacted by attacks, and also directly engages with threat actors; includes access to cryptocurrency. Insider Threat Assessment: Augments existing resources and expertise to enhance, or assess a need for an in-house insider threat function. The program is supported by Flashpoints seasoned insider threat experts, who have unparalleled experience building insider threat programs for Fortune 50 companies to federal government agencies. Augments existing resources and expertise to enhance, or assess a need for an in-house insider threat function. The program is supported by Flashpoints seasoned insider threat experts, who have unparalleled experience building insider threat programs for Fortune 50 companies to federal government agencies. Flashpoint Analyst Services Team (FAST): Fueled by Flashpoints robust technology, unmatched expertise, and industry-leading professional services, empowers customers with operational and tactical intelligence updates tailored to their requirements on a regular cadence. FAST analysts hunt for threats impacting an organization and proactively provide quick assessments, rapid actor engagement, and procurement and analysis of relevant data. Fueled by Flashpoints robust technology, unmatched expertise, and industry-leading professional services, empowers customers with operational and tactical intelligence updates tailored to their requirements on a regular cadence. FAST analysts hunt for threats impacting an organization and proactively provide quick assessments, rapid actor engagement, and procurement and analysis of relevant data. Actor Engagement: Flashpoint is able to securely and anonymously engage with threat actors on a customers behalf. The team is able to support objectives such as: procurement of relevant data, verifying the legitimacy, extent, and impact of a suspected attack or cyber-extortion situation, or evaluating the credibility of a suspected attackers claims. According to Gartner, "[Threat Actor Tracking] is arguably one of the most advanced threat intelligence (TI) use cases, because it often requires an expensive list of staffing and technologies invested over a long time. However, it can produce large benefits, because, once you establish and have the TTPs correlated, actors behaviors appear and are often repeated. This is where TI can be proactive."1 Flashpoint also recognizes that information sharing in the intelligence community is one of the most powerful tools. That is why all customers are provided with some level of access to its Flashpoint Collaboration (FPCollab), a cross-industry community that includes industry veterans across the companys extensive customer base. This trust network provides a channel for collaboration and timely intelligence to facilitate more effective decisions around risk, and features live communication between more than 1,000 users as events unfold. Organizations and teams across every industry are having to assess and address a larger number of potential threats than ever before, said Michael Antico, Chief Information Security Officer of a biometric company. It is incredibly important to use a wide variety of unique data sources when evaluating these threats, but the true benefit of having a partner like Flashpoint is its ability to help us understand how we can immediately action them. Flashpoint delivers these products and services in several progressive packages, tailored to an organizations size, industry, and teams. Learn the best fit for your organization. 1 Gartner, Market Guide for Security Threat Intelligence Products and Services, Craig Lawson, Ruggero Contu, Ryan Benson, 19 February 2019 About Flashpoint Flashpoint delivers converged intelligence and risk solutions to private and public sector organizations worldwide. As the global leader in Business Risk Intelligence (BRI), Flashpoint provides meaningful intelligence to assist organizations in combating threats and adversaries. Through sophisticated technology, advanced data collections, and human-powered analysis, Flashpoint is the only intelligence firm that can help multiple teams across an organization bolster cybersecurity, confront fraud, detect insider threats, enhance corporate and physical security, improve executive protection, address third-party risk, and support due diligence efforts. Flashpoint is backed by Georgian Partners, Greycroft Partners, TechOperators, K2 Intelligence, Jump Capital, Leaders Fund, Bloomberg Beta, and Cisco Investments. For more information, visit https://www.flashpoint-intel.com/ or follow us on Twitter at @FlashpointIntel. PR Contact: CHEN PR Jennifer Torode [email protected] 781.672.3119 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Nanorobotics: Global Market to Reach $8.3 Billion by 2023, with Nanomanipulator Holding the Largest Share by Type DUBLIN, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Nanorobotics Market by Type (Nanomanipulator (Electron Microscope and Scanning Probe Microscope), Bio-Nanorobotics, Magnetically Guided, Bacteria-Based), Application (Nanomedicine, Biomedical, Mechanical), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The nanorobotics market is expected to reach USD 8.3 billion by 2023 from USD 4.9 billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 11.1%. This growth can be attributed to the increasing government support and level of investment in nanorobotics, growing advancements in molecular robots, and rising focus on nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. However, implementation of excise tax and heavy customs duty on nanorobotics in the medical field restrict the growth of the nanorobotics market. Nanomanipulator is expected to hold largest share of the overall nanorobotics market, by type, during the forecast period Nanomanipulator is expected to hold a larger share of the overall nanorobotics market in 2018. In nanorobotics, nanomanipulators are mainly used to manipulate the atoms and molecules and were among the first nanorobotic systems to be commercially available. Nanomanipulators presents more capabilities similar to those in industrial manipulators and is expected to be highly used for nanomedicine applications. Market for mechanical application to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period The market for mechanical applications is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during 2018-2023. Mechanical nanorobotics system, an advanced step of nanotechnology, is flexible enough to be manipulated in various ways. Also, mechanical nanorobots can be built on any type of nanorobotics systems, such as bio-nanorobotics, magnetically guided, and bacteria-based. The market for other applications is expected to grow at the second-highest CAGR during the forecast period. Americas to be largest shareholder in 2018, whereas Europe is expected to register highest CAGR during forecast period The Americas is expected to account a major share of the overall nanorobotics market in 2018. The growth in this market is mainly driven by the favorable government scenario for nanorobotics research and focus on nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. Also, the large share of this region can also be attributed to the highly developed healthcare system and the presence of a large number of nanorobotics players. The market in Europe is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The high growth of the market in this region can be attributed to the increasing aging population and rising governmental healthcare expenditure in Europe. Also, Europe was among the earliest regions to recognize the potential of nanorobotics; therefore, a high level of public and private funding contribute to the high growth of nanorobotics in Europe. Players in the nanorobotics market include Ginkgo Bioworks (US), Imina Technologies (Switzerland), Thermo Fisher Scientific (US), Klocke Nanotechnik (Germany), Oxford Instruments (UK), Kliendiek Nanotechnik (Germany), Bruker (US), JEOL (Japan), Toronto Nano Instrumentation (Canada), EV Group (Austria), Xidex (US), Synthace (Germany), Park Systems (South Korea), Smaract (Germany), Nanonics Imaging (Israel), Novascan Technologies (US), Angstrom Advanced (US), Hummingbird Scientific (US), NT-MDT Spectrum Instruments (SI) ( Russia), and WITec (Germany). Factors such as growth opportunities in emerging markets, increasing application areas of microscopes, integration of microscopy with spectroscopy are expected to generate opportunities for the nanorobotics market players. Topics Covered 1 Introduction 1.1 Objectives of the Study 1.2 Definition 1.3 Study Scope 1.3.1 Markets Covered 1.3.2 Geographic Scope 1.3.3 Years Considered 1.4 Currency 1.5 Limitations 1.6 Market Stakeholders 2 Research Methodology 2.1 Research Data 2.1.1 Secondary Data 2.1.1.1 List of Major Secondary Sources 2.1.1.2 Key Data From Secondary Sources 2.1.2 Primary Data 2.1.2.1 Primary Interviews With Experts 2.1.2.2 Key Data From Primary Sources 2.1.3 Key Industry Insights 2.1.3.1 Breakdown of Primaries 2.1.3.2 Secondary and Primary Research 2.2 Market Size Estimation 2.2.1 Bottom-Up Approach 2.2.1.1 Approach for Capturing the Market Share By Bottom-Up Analysis (Demand Side) 2.2.2 Top-Down Approach 2.2.2.1 Approach for Capturing the Market Share By Top-Down Analysis (Supply Side) 2.3 Market Ranking Estimation 2.4 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation 2.5 Research Assumptions 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Nanorobotics Market 4.2 Nanorobotics Market, By Type 4.3 Nanorobotics Market in Europe, By Application and By Country 4.4 Nanorobotics Market, By Region 4.5 Country-Wise Analysis of Nanorobotics Market 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Increasing Government Support and Level of Investment in Nanorobotics 5.2.1.2 Growing Advancements in Molecular Robots 5.2.1.3 Rising Focus on Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine 5.2.2 Restraint 5.2.2.1 Implementation of Excise Tax and Heavy Custom Duty on Nanorobotics in Medical Field 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Growth Opportunities in Emerging Markets 5.2.3.2 Increasing Application Areas of Microscopes 5.2.3.3 Integration of Microscopy With Spectroscopy 5.2.4 Challenges 5.2.4.1 Commercialization of Nanorobotics Systems 5.3 Value Chain Analysis 6 Nanorobotics Market, By Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Nanomanipulator 6.2.1 Electron Microscope (EM) 6.2.1.1 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) 6.2.1.1.1 High Depth of Field and Resolution to Boost the Demand for SEM 6.2.1.2 Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) 6.2.1.2.1 Growing Suitability to Study the Ultrastructure of Components and High Resolution Drives the Demand for TEM 6.2.2 Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) 6.2.2.1 Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM) 6.2.2.1.1 Growing Use in Aqueous Solution Offers an Unprecedented Opportunity 6.2.2.2 Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) 6.2.2.2.1 High-Level Surface Scanning Capability to Drive the Demand 6.3 Bio-Nanorobotics 6.3.1 Emerging Players to Boost the Demand 6.4 Magnetically Guided 6.4.1 Nanomedicine to Hold Highest Share of Magnetically Guided Nanorobotics Market 6.5 Bacteria-Based 6.5.1 Mechanical Application to Grow at Highest CAGR 7 Nanorobotics Market, By Application 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Nanomedicine 7.2.1 Growing Involvement of Companies to Drive Market Growth Across the World 7.3 Biomedical 7.3.1 Magnetically Guided Nanorobotics to Grow at Highest Rate in Biomedical Application 7.4 Mechanical 7.4.1 Biomechanics and Nanomachines to Boost the Demand 7.5 Others 8 Nanorobotics Market, By Region 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Americas 8.2.1 US 8.2.1.1 US to Account for Largest Share of Nanorobotics Market in Americas 8.2.2 Canada 8.2.2.1 Canada to Witness Second-Highest Growth Rate in Nanorobotics Market in Americas 8.2.3 Latin America 8.2.3.1 Increasing Adoption of Nanorobotics for Nanomedicine Applications and Growing Aging Population to Drive the Market 8.3 Europe 8.3.1 Germany 8.3.1.1 Growing Nanotechnology Research to Boost the Demand 8.3.2 UK 8.3.2.1 Growing Nanotechnology Development Programs to Boost the Demand 8.3.3 France 8.3.3.1 Modern Network of Research Facilities for Nanotechnology to Drive the Market 8.3.4 Switzerland 8.3.4.1 Growing Synthetic Biology and Robotics to Offer Opportunities 8.3.5 Rest of Europe 8.4 APAC 8.4.1 Japan 8.4.1.1 Japan Holds Largest Share of APAC Nanorobotics Market 8.4.2 India 8.4.2.1 Indian Nanorobotics Market to Grow at Second-Highest Growth Rate in APAC 8.4.3 Australia 8.4.3.1 Increasing Focus Toward Nanorobotics to Offer Significant Growth Opportunities 8.4.4 China 8.4.4.1 Growing Number of Collaborations for R&D in Nanotechnology and Life Sciences is Driving the Growth 8.4.5 Rest of APAC 8.5 RoW 8.5.1 Middle East 8.5.1.1 Growing Healthcare Market in Middle Eastern Countries to Drive the Market 8.5.2 Africa 8.5.2.1 Growing Synthetic Biology to Generate Opportunities 9 Competitive Landscape 9.1 Overview 9.2 Market Ranking Analysis 9.3 Competitive Leadership Mapping 9.3.1 Visionary Leaders 9.3.2 Innovators 9.3.3 Dynamic Differentiators 9.3.4 Emerging Companies 9.4 Business Strategy Excellence (For 25 Companies) 9.5 Strength of Product Portfolio (For 25 Companies) 9.6 Competitive Scenario 9.6.1 Product Launches 9.6.2 Acquisitions and Expansions 9.6.3 Agreements, Collaborations, and Joint Ventures 10 Company Profiles 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Key Players 10.2.1 Bruker 10.2.2 JEOL 10.2.3 Thermo Fisher Scientific 10.2.4 Ginkgo Bioworks 10.2.5 Oxford Instruments 10.2.6 EV Group 10.2.7 Imina Technologies 10.2.8 Toronto Nano Instrumentation 10.2.9 Klocke Nanotechnik 10.2.10 Kleindiek Nanotechnik 10.3 Other Key Players 10.3.1 Xidex 10.3.2 Synthace 10.3.3 Park Systems 10.3.4 Smaract 10.3.5 Nanonics Imaging 10.4 Key Innovators 10.4.1 Novascan Technologies 10.4.2 Angstrom Advanced 10.4.3 Hummingbird Scientific 10.4.4 NT-MDT Spectrum Instruments 10.4.5 Witec For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7mtsgq/nanorobotics?w=5 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nanorobotics-global-market-to-reach-8-3-billion-by-2023--with-nanomanipulator-holding-the-largest-share-by-type-300815607.html SOURCE Research and Markets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] CNote Launches Wisdom Fund to Close Lending Gap for Women OAKLAND, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S. Yet less than 5 percent of small business lendingonly $1 in $23goes to women. CNote aims to fix this disparity with the Wisdom Fund, a new impact investment opportunity launching today. Created in partnership with mission-driven lender CDC Small Business Finance and four innovative nonprofits, the Wisdom Fund funnels money from accredited investorsinstitutions, funds, foundations, family offices and individualsinto business loans for low- to moderate-income women and women of color. The loans are provided by nonprofit community lenders with decades of experience delivering the capital and resources that women small business owners need. Fixing a social injustice "We hear a lot about the gap in venture capital funding for women, but the vast majority of women who need capital are not forming hyper-growth startups; they are starting small businesses to pursue economic freedom, flexibility and independence. The financial system is not serving them well, and we're very much failing women of color in particular," said Catherine Berman, CEO and co-founder of CNote, an impact investing platform whose mission is to close the wealth gap in the U.S. "With the Wisdom Fund, we're taking a major step toward fixing a huge injusticewomen's businesses receive far less funding than they deserve," said Berman. "We're working with an amazing group of nonprofit community lenders nationally to entirely rethink lending to women." CNote is also already earning support from major corporations as well as nonprofits. "Access to capital is one of the top challenges female small business owners face and we're excited to see CNote working to combat this with the introduction of their Wisdom Fund collaboration," said Amy Neale, vice president and startup engagement lead for Mastercard Start Path, which supports high-potential startups around the world, including CNote. "At Start Path, we look forward to helping CNote scale their business to ensure a more inclusive economy, because when you invest in women the returns are priceless." Collaboration drives scalability and impact During a three-phase build-up, Wisdom Fund partners will collect, share and act on data about what works for women entrepreneurs. In the first eight months, participants will fill in the knowledge gap, gathering information on how women interact with the loan process, what hangs them up and what eases their path. In phase two, the partners will experiment with new ways to serve women that remove barriers. Around the one-year mark, the focus will shift to scaling the program by continuing to add new lending partners, increasing investment and implementing best practices across the network. "There's lots of data on how women are shut out of venture capital. We don't know as much about why women are hut out of debt capital," said Allison Kelly, senior vice president of strategy and innovation at CDC Small Business Finance. "What are the product-level needs? Who are the business owners and what barriers are they experiencing? Why are women opting out of taking on debt? The whole financial system is set up to serve a certain segment of the population. Maybe we need to rethink the distribution of capital and how we assess risk. The Wisdom Fund is an opportunity to create new debt products by working collaboratively with the women we aim to serve." CDFIs are an under-the-radar impact powerhouse Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like the ones CNote is working with are perfectly positioned to take on this work. They're distributed across the country, they have always invested in financially underserved communities, and they have enormous unrealized potential for financial and impact returns. "We looked at the trends and realized that CDFIs are undercapitalized," said Kelly. "The sources of capital were mismatched to CDFI needsit was all big capital sources deploying larger chunks of capital to fewer and fewer CDFIs." That's where CNote comes in. Since its September 2017 debut with a product for retail investors, the fintech startup has invested more than $18 million in underserved communities through a growing CDFI network covering more than 35 states. Those investments have helped to create or maintain over 2,000 jobs and fund more than 400 small business loans. Investors can start funding women-owned businesses now Investors in the Wisdom Fund will earn an estimated 4 percent annual return, over a 60-month term, on a loan portfolio that's diversified across established CDFIs. Email [email protected] to learn how you can help fund more women-owned businesses today. Women seeking loans should contact a participating CDFI. Partners in the Wisdom Fund's first phase include: Carolina Small Business Development Fund, which provides small business loans and financial training to startups, existing businesses and community organizations in North Carolina . . LiftFund, a Texas -based organization that empowers underserved entrepreneurs with capital and support services in 13 states. -based organization that empowers underserved entrepreneurs with capital and support services in 13 states. TruFund, a national nonprofit organization that provides affordable capital to small businesses and nonprofits in Alabama , Louisiana and New York . In addition, Pacific Community Ventures will match all borrowers from the Wisdom Fund with pro bono business advisers. Pacific Community Ventures, a Bay Areabased CDFI, invests in small businesses in California that are past the startup phase and creating jobs, and manages a national network of pro bono expert advisers who mentor small business owners on any topic, challenge, or opportunity. About CNote CNote is an award-winning, first-of-its-kind financial platform that allows anyone to make money investing in causes and communities they care about. With the mission of closing the wealth gap, CNote directs every dollar invested toward funding female- and minority-led small businesses, affordable housing and economic development in financially underserved communities across America. About CDC Small Business Finance CDC Small Business Finance is a leading small business lender, award-winning nonprofit and advocate for entrepreneurs. Over four decades, it has provided more than $18 billion in funding to over 11,000 borrowers...and counting. Its lending also plays a role in bolstering economic development, and has helped to create or preserve more than 200,000 jobs in California, Arizona and Nevada. Media contacts Thinkshift Communications Anya Khalamayzer | [email protected], 732.614.2318 Sandra Stewart | [email protected], 415.391.4449 Related Links Wisdom Fund Information Page CNote Home View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cnote-launches-wisdom-fund-to-close-lending-gap-for-women-300815200.html SOURCE CNote [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] MichBio Announces 7th Annual "Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol," Seeks Participants Michigan's premier biosciences industry trade organization, MichBio, presents its annual Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol in Lansing, Michigan on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. The Biosciences Day at the Capitol is a unique opportunity for industry representatives to share their innovations and engage with decision-makers on behalf of their organizations and the statewide bio-industry. "Michigan has a long and rich legacy in bioscience discovery and innovation that improves the health and well-being of Michigan residents, and those around the globe, with new treatments and products," says Stephen Rapundalo, PhD and CEO of MichBio. "It's critical that we raise awareness of the bio-industry's impact with legislators." According to the national Biotechnology Innovation Organization, BIO, the state is home to over 1,700 bioscience establishments across multiple industry sectors - including agricultural feedstock and industrial biosciences, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research and testing - employing almost 134,000 people in direct or secondary bioscience positions. Rapundalo continued, "It's imperative for legislators and policymakers to understand that Michigan's bio-industry is a greater than $28 billion economic driver. The state has all the necessary components to be a national and global bioscience leader if we harness growth strategically around a common vision, in public-private partnership, and with the deployment of bio-industry friendly policies and initiatives." On April 10th, industry leaders will gather to advance a policy agenda for growing Michigan's bio-industry through outreach to elected officials. They will meet with key legislative leadership and relevant district offices throughout the day to discuss the strength and diversity of Michigan's bioscience industry, its competitive status, how it contributes to Michigan's economy, and how their organizations fit into the regional biosciences ecosystem. The Michigan Biosciences Day at te Capitol is free for MichBio members. There is space available for additional participants - early registration is essential for successful one-on-one meeting planning. Legislators and policy staff are invited to attend one of two briefings (morning or afternoon) on the make-up of Michigan's bio-industry, its role in the statewide economy and policies needed to improve competitiveness. The event begins with a staging and networking breakfast for industry leaders beginning at 8:30am. MichBio will schedule 1:1 meetings with district offices for bio-industry attendees. In addition, attendees will hear from the co-chairs of the Bioscience Legislative Caucus during the lunch break. The day will end with a networking reception for legislators and staff, as well as bio-industry leaders, from 4-6 p.m. The briefings and reception will be held at the offices of Government Consulting Services, Inc. (GCSI) at 2nd Floor, 120 N Washington Square, Lansing, Michigan. The Michigan Bio-Industry Roadmap for Success, a statewide strategic plan that lays out a vision for economic growth, sustainability and competitiveness will be distributed to legislators during the event. Key priorities outlined in the plan include: 1. Developing a favorable business climate with value-based policies and resources; 2. Enhancing Michigan's risk-capital market for company growth; 3. Implementing visible economic development and branding initiatives specific to the bio-industry; 4. Seeking greater support to develop skilled talent and workforce. MichBio appreciates the support of the Michigan Biosciences Legislative Caucus, a bipartisan, bicameral body formed in 2007 whose membership is open to any legislator interested in Michigan's bio-industry. Current co-chairs consist of Sen. John Bizon (R-19), Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-13), Rep. Brandt Iden (R-61), and Rep. Rebekah Warren (D-55). The Biosciences Caucus uses education, communication, and outreach as tools to discuss, promote, and formulate potential policies to help grow the state's bio-industry. Event agenda and registration are available at www.michbio.org/events. MichBio is the trade association committed to driving growth in Michigan's biosciences industry and its many sectors, including agri-biotech, food and nutrition, bio-based technologies and renewable chemicals, industrial and environmental biotech, medical devices and technologies, pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare, diagnostics and research products, testing and research services, and clinical research. MichBio members include bioscience companies, academic and research institutions, bioscience service providers, and related organizations. For more information, visit www.michbio.org or follow us on Twitter @MichBio. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005575/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] The $40+ Billion Industrial Robotics Market by 2024 - Industry 4.0, Along With Digitalization Initiatives Across Regions Presents Lucrative Opportunities DUBLIN, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Industrial Robotics Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2019 - 2024)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global industrial robotics market was valued at USD 18.05 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach USD 40.75 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 14.11% over the forecast period (2019-2024). Industrial robots play a crucial role in industrial automation, with many core operations in industries being managed by robots. With economic growth across regions, the growth of e-commerce, electronics, and the automotive industry, among others has been on the rise. With the increased demand across economies, product manufacturers are adopting robots to automate some of the repetitive processes. According to the Robotic Industries Association, more than 250,000 industrial robots had been installed in the United States alone, which gives an estimate of the penetration of industrial robots. Robots have been employed in manufacturing units across most of the industries, because of their ability to take up complicated, repetitive tasks with accuracy, even in hazardous environments. Although automating tasks in the industrial set up would replace human labor, the need for people who can manage the robotics and maintain them will be on demand. Industrial workforce, who can maintain hardware and software, apart from designing the automation process, is also required. Rising penetration of the IoT and investments in robotics across regions have been major contributors to the growth of the market. For instance, the Made in China 2025 announcement was aimed at broadly upgrading the Chinese industry by moving toward quality focused and innovation-driven manufacturing. Key Market Trends Automotive End-User Industry to Hold Major Share The growing adoption of automation in the automotive manufacturing process and involvement of digitization and AI are the primary factors driving the demand for industrial robots in the automotive sector. In 2017, more than 170,000 robots took part in the production process in the European automotive industry. The growing presence of robots and automation in the European automotive industry is expected to fuel the market for industrial robots further in the region. According to the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), in the first quarter of 2018 shipments to the automotive OEM sector were down by 43%, while units shipped to the automotive component industry increased by 42% in North America. China has also become, both the world's largest car market and the world's largest production site for cars, including electric cars, with much growth potential. There are 27 automotive manufacturing and assembly plants in Malaysia. The growing automotive industry in Asia is also creating a massive opportunity for the global industrial robots market. The shifting of the automotive industry toward autonomus and electric vehicles is also creating a massive opportunity for industrial robots. North America Region to Hold Significant Share According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the North American automation market had set new records very recently. For the first nine months of 2017, 27,294 orders of robots, valued at approximately USD 1.473 billion , were sold in North America . Modern manufacturing facilities in North America are relying on new technologies and innovations to produce higher quality products at faster speeds with lower costs. In order to survive in the current competitive scenario, they are implementing more intelligent software and hardware. With over five heavy-duty assembly plants, over 540 OEM parts manufacturers, 400 dealerships, and many other automotive-related industries, Canada is the 9th largest vehicle producer in the world, and the automotive sector is the biggest contributor to the manufacturing industry of the country. According to the government of Canada , the country's automotive suppliers export parts globally and are integral to Canada's automotive sector, which accounts for over USD 34 billion in sales annually. The manufacturing industry is estimated to contribute approximately 11% to the Canadian GDP. The manufacturing sector is the largest investor in research and development (R&D) and implementation of new technologies in Canada . The government has also taken many initiatives, such as lowering taxes for new investments, various trade agreements with other countries, investments in new technologies, and many skill-training programs, which have helped the manufacturing sector to boom in Canada . Competitive Landscape The industrial robotics market is highly fragmented. Industry 4.0, along with digitalization initiatives across regions, provides lucrative opportunities in the industrial robots market. The degree of transparency is said to be high, considering the number of robotic trade shows across regions conducted from time to time. Overall, the competitive rivalry among existing competitors is high. Moving forward, acquisitions and collaboration of large companies with startups are expected, which are focused toward innovation. Some of the key players in the market are ABB and Yaskawa. Some of the key developments in the area are: ABB Ltd and Kawasaki Heavy Industries announced collaborative robot automation cooperation. Both the companies are projected to join forces, to share the knowledge and promote the benefits of collaborative robots, in particular, those with dual-arm designs. The companies also created the world's first common interface for collaborative robots. The common interface is poised to help address the shortage of skilled workers in several industries. Denso Corporation announced plans to exhibit Cobotta and other robots, at the Automatica fair in Munich, Germany . Cobotta is an innovative compact robot for a safe human-robot collaboration. The next highlight is a dual-arm control - a new feature of the RC8A controller is its capability to control two SCARA robots in different operations, at the same time. Topics Covered 1 Introduction 1.1 Study Deliverables 1.2 Study Assumptions 1.3 Scope of the Study 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Market Dynamics 4.1 Market Overview 4.2 Introduction to Market Drivers and Restraints 4.3 Market Drivers 4.3.1 Increased Emphasis on Workplace Safety 4.3.2 Emerging Technologies in Industrial Robots 4.4 Market Restraints 4.4.1 Lack of Skilled Workforce 4.5 Value Chain Analysis 4.6 Industry Attractiveness Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5 Market Segmentation 5.1 By Product Type 5.1.1 Articulated Robots 5.1.2 Linear Robots 5.1.3 Cylindrical Robots 5.1.4 Parallel Robots 5.1.5 SCARA Robots 5.1.6 Other Product Types 5.2 By End-user Industry 5.2.1 Automotive 5.2.2 Chemical and Manufacturing 5.2.3 Construction 5.2.4 Electrical and Electronics 5.2.5 Food and Beverage 5.2.6 Machinery and Metal 5.2.7 Pharmaceutical 5.2.8 Other End-user Industries (Rubber, Optics) 5.3 Geography 5.3.1 North America 5.3.2 Europe 5.3.3 Asia-Pacific 5.3.4 South America 5.3.5 Middle East & Africa 6 Competitive Landscape 6.1 Company Profiles 6.1.1 ABB Ltd. 6.1.2 Yaskawa Electric Corporation 6.1.3 Denso Corporation 6.1.4 Fanuc Corporation 6.1.5 KUKA AG 6.1.6 Kawasaki Robotics 6.1.7 Toshiba Corporation 6.1.8 Panasonic Corporation 6.1.9 Staubli Mechatronics Company 6.1.10 Yamaha Robotics 6.1.11 Epson Robots 6.1.12 Comau SPA 6.1.13 Adept Technologies 6.1.14 Nachi Robotic Systems Inc. 7 Investment Analysis 8 Market Opportunities and Future Trends For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k458dp/the_40_billion?w=5 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-40-billion-industrial-robotics-market-by-2024---industry-4-0--along-with-digitalization-initiatives-across-regions-presents-lucrative-opportunities-300815777.html SOURCE Research and Markets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] SoCal's Top Startup Incubator EvoNexus Bolsters Executive Leadership Team Naming Marco Thompson President and Dr. George Chrisikos CTO LA JOLLA, Calif., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California's leading startup incubator EvoNexus today is announcing two new executive staff members, Marco Thompson as President and George Chrisikos, Ph.D. as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Mr. Thompson has been a significant contributor to the Organization since its inception, as an active board member, as well as mentoring startup companies in a Senior Executive in Residence position. Dr. Chrisikos joined EvoNexus as Chief Technology Product Strategist last August. He has since become a member of the startup Selection Committee and is an Executive in Residence. Danielle Toledo has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer (CFO), expanding her executive staff finance and operations responsibilities. "This is a dynamic time for us as we continue in a pivotal role reshaping the innovation economy throughout the Region with high impact results," said EvoNexus CEO and Co-founder Rory Moore. "As that momentum continues, building our executive staff is important to execute new programs in support of new corporate sponsorships and strategic funding partnerships." Moore continued, "Together Marco and George bring deep business and technical experience to EvoNexus and all of our top tier portfolio companies. I'm enthusiastic about working with Marco, George, Danielle and the entire EvoNexus organization as we realize our collective vision and sustainability goals." As President of EvoNexus, Mr. Thompson is responsible for the oversight of all activities for the San Diego incubator, including portfolio deal flow, admission to the program and mentoring the portfolio. Additionally, he, along with Rory Moore and Dr. Chrisikos, will be responsible for making strategic and institutional investor introductions to portfolio companies when they are prepared for an infusion of capital. As a successful technology entrepreneur, investor and sales and marketing visionary, Mr. Thompson brings more than 44 years of experience in startup and executive leadership to EvoNexus. He is a familiar face in the boardrooms of numerous innovative San Diego companies and organizations. Mr. Thompson has founded several non-profit startup assistance organizations that provide networking, mentoring and funding opportunities to San Diego entrepreneurs. These include the San Diego Telecom Council (that later developed into the incubator EvoNexus) and San Diego Sport Innovators. Mr. Thompson has served as an Angel Investor for over 30 years, funding more thn 50 companies. He is currently Managing Partner of an early stage venture capital firm Express Ventures. Early in his career he founded Doctor Design, an embedded engineering services firm that contracted for fortune 500 companies. The $50 million company was later sold to Integrated Systems which merged with Wind River (WIND) in 2009 and later merged with Intel (INTC) in 2009. Mr. Thompson stayed with the firm for 25 years before departing in 2009. Mr. Thompson earned his BSEE in Applied Physics & Information Systems in 1979 from the University of California San Diego. In 2003 he was named the Alumni of the Year by UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Dr. Chrisikos, as Chief Technology Officer at EvoNexus, is providing deep technical expertise to the Organization and its portfolio companies across many sectors. He will be instrumental in developing the sectors of hard tech, and certain fintech and healthcare technology. Dr. Chrisikos will assist in insuring high quality startup company admissions, the incubator company review process, mentoring and technology guidance. In addition, he is a technical liaison with EvoNexus corporate partners and their respective technology leads. Dr. Chrisikos formerly led advanced technology development efforts at Qualcomm's QCT division. He holds over 120 granted and pending U.S. and international patents in 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi, GNSS, RF, IoT, and computing algorithms. Most recently, he was selected to advise Qualcomm's executive leadership on technology strategy, M&A, and Ventures, and to build revenue synergies from technology investments including autonomous driving, machine learning, and RF front-end. Previously, he had two successful startup company exits where he held management and engineering leadership roles. He was the engineering director and product line manager at Applied Wave Research (AWR) Inc. where he was responsible for architecting and leading the development of a design automation suite for modem and RFIC design that gained widespread industry adoption worldwide. He also led the business and account management of the product line, increasing the revenue many fold and growing the customer base to more than 100 of the leading communications companies including Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nokia, Ericsson, and TriQuint. AWR was acquired by National Instruments. Earlier, he spearheaded communication systems engineering and modem design efforts for development of CDMA and WLAN chipsets, leading to an acquisition by Texas Instruments. Dr. Chrisikos is a Fellow of the IEEE, has been an invited speaker and delivered keynotes at various corporations and conferences worldwide, published numerous papers in international journals and conferences, and contributed to textbooks. He received the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles with an emphasis in communication theory, statistical inference, digital signal processing and RF/electromagnetics. Subsequently, he completed the Management Development Program at the USC Marshal School of Business, Office of Executive Education. As CFO at EvoNexus, Ms. Toledo is responsible for management oversight and audit functions for all of the Organization's financial reporting, cash management, budgeting and forecasting. Additionally, her role encompasses all operational responsibilities of the Organization including human resources, information technology, facilities, administration, legal and corporate matters. Ms. Toledo works closely with the Executive and Finance Committees of the Board. She contributes to the development and implementation of strategic initiatives including new partnerships and office locations. Ms. Toledo previously served as Director of Finance and Operations for the Organization (2016-2018), and Controller (2013-2016). She possesses a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship, and brings a decade of experience in financial management, accounting and operations to EvoNexus. She holds a B.S. in Management Science, Economics from UC San Diego. About EvoNexus EvoNexus is Southern California's leading startup incubator with locations in San Diego and Irvine. We enable motivated entrepreneurs to turn their transformative technologies into fundable, commercially-viable companies. Since 2010, $1.6B in funding and acquisition outcomes have been achieved by EvoNexus startups. A total of 26 EvoNexus startups have been acquired since 2013. EvoNexus is supported by corporate investors, including some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. Its companies enjoy Class A offices and dry lab spaces provided by California's leading commercial real estate developer the Irvine Company. For more information, visit EvoNexus' website and its Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. EvoNexus Press Contact: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/socals-top-startup-incubator-evonexus-bolsters-executive-leadership-team-naming-marco-thompson-president-and-dr-george-chrisikos-cto-300815525.html SOURCE EvoNexus [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Brain Canada welcomes the Government of Canada's renewed partnership in brain research and investment in the Canada Brain Research Fund MONTREAL, March 20, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - The Brain Canada Foundation (Brain Canada) welcomes the Government of Canada's decision to renew its partnership with Brain Canada, as announced in the federal budget. Finance Minister Bill Morneau's budget committed $40 million in new investments over two years in brain research, through the Canada Brain Research Fund. "We are pleased that the Government of Canada has continued its support of world-class brain research through Brain Canada," said Inez Jabalpurwala, President and CEO, Brain Canada. "The funds committed in the budget will support Canada's leadership position in brain research globally, and accelerate discoveries aimed at improving the lives of all Canadians." The Canada Brain Research Fund is an innovative partnership between the Government of Canada (through Health Canada) and Brain Canada, designed to encourage Canadians to increase their support of brain research, and maximize the impact and efficiency of those investments. The Fund supports the very best Canadian brain research, fostering collaboration across disorders, fields, disciplines, institutions, and provinces, and enhancing global linkages. "Researchers who are exploring the brain are our modern-day pioneers, working to conquer the final frontier of science," says Naomi Azrieli, Chair and CEO of the Azrieli Foundation and Chair of Brain Canada. "By strategically leveraging goernment funding with private donor and partner support, Brain Canada's model has been a powerful catalyst towards great research, providing funds that would otherwise not be available to Canadian scientists." Since the Canada Brain Research Fund's inception, Brain Canada has raised $115 million from private donors and non-federal partnersnow numbering more than 100which has been matched by Health Canada on a 1:1 basis, with an additional $5 million for program and operating expenses. To date, the Fund has awarded $220 million to support 255 projects across Canada involving more than 1,000 researchers at 115 institutions. This commitment by the federal government is an important step to ensure that Canada continues to be among the leaders in the global challenge to understand brain function and brain diseases. More than simply contributing public money to this vital cause, the matching nature of the fund is stimulating and rallying private donations and other non-governmental funders to support transformative brain research on a scale never before achieved in Canada. As Brain Canada celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2019, this renewed partnership with the Government of Canada enables all Canadians to look to the future in anticipation of what we will discover. "This is positive news for the brain research community and for the health of all Canadians. The added investment will allow us to expand our work with a range of valued partners, together with Government," said Franco J. Vaccarino, Chair of the Research Policy Committee of the Brain Canada Board. "As we build the next phase of programs, we will continue to establish our priorities through the contributions of an ecosystem of stakeholders, including researchers from different disciplines (in Canada and internationally), research institutes across the country, and the health charities that have direct outreach with patients, families and caregivers. We look forward to continuing our collaborative relationship with everyone committed to the 'One System' approach to brain research." About Brain Canada Brain Canada is a national registered charity that enables and supports excellent, innovative, paradigm-changing brain research in Canada. Brain Canada's vision is to understand the brain, in health and illness, to improve lives and achieve societal impact. For two decades, Brain Canada has made the case for the brain as a single, complex system with commonalities across the range of neurological disorders, mental illnesses and addictions, brain and spinal cord injuries. Looking at the brain as one system has underscored the need for increased collaboration across disciplines and institutions, and a smarter way to invest in brain research that is focused on outcomes that will benefit patients and families. Brain Canada raises and leverages funds from a range of donors and partners, including individuals, corporations, foundations, research institutes, health charities, and provincial agencies. To date, Brain Canada and its supporters have invested $250 million in 300 research projects across the country. To find out more, visit: www.braincanada.ca SOURCE Brain Canada Foundation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Project group funded by Law Foundation of Ontario launches website to improve access to family justice TORONTO, March 20, 2019 /CNW/ - A new website designed to help Ontarians with their family law needs launched on February 12. Now, members of the public can go to FamilyLawLSS.ca to access a roster of trained lawyers who are willing and able to provide such services. The Family Law Limited Scoe Services Project aims to improve access to family justice for middle and lower income Ontarians by increasing the use of limited scope services, also known as "unbundled" legal services, in family law. These services provide an affordable option between full representation and no representation at all, where the lawyer only takes on specific responsibilities agreed to between the lawyer and the client. In over half of the family cases in Canada's courts, one or both parties appear without a lawyer. Inability to afford full legal representation is the most significant factor, but other reasons include the rise of "do it yourself" social attitudes, the increasing availability of self-help information and a perception among some self-represented litigants that having a lawyer does not necessarily get them better results. The new website is designed to: Help people to decide if limited scope services may be an option for them Provide practical tools, such as checklists, flow charts, and a guide on how to hire a lawyer who will provide limited scope services Provide resources and referral information for family legal services in Ontario Provide lawyers with information and precedent materials, including retainer agreements, file opening checklists and other precedents List upcoming training opportunities for lawyers. Funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Family Law Limited Scope Services Project is an unprecedented, private-bar driven collaborative effort. Its Advisory Committee is made up of members from the Ontario Bar Association Family Law Section, the Federation of Ontario Law Associations, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts - Ontario Chapter, the Advocates' Society, the Family Lawyers Association, the Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Justice, as well as experts in non-traditional legal services delivery and researchers. This collaboration of key justice sector players, with input from leading justice and legal organizations, ensures that the information and resources available on FamilyLawLSS.ca meet the needs of Ontarians. SOURCE The Law Society of Ontario [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] MNG Enterprises Receives Highly Confident Letter to Finance Proposal to Acquire Gannett for $12.00 Per Share MNG Enterprises, Inc. ("MNG" or the "Company") today announced that Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. ("Oaktree"), a subsidiary of Oaktree Capital Group, LLC (NYSE: OAK), delivered a letter stating that Oaktree is highly confident in the Company's ability to attain a debt financing package in an aggregate principal amount equal to not less than $1.725 billion in connection with MNG's proposed acquisition of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI (News - Alert)) ("Gannett"). This financing would be sufficient to refinance the existing indebtedness of both MNG and Gannett, fully finance the $12.00 per share cash consideration payable to Gannett's shareholders, and pay all related fees, costs and expenses in connection with the transaction. "Oaktree is a knowledgeable investor with experience in the newspaper publishing industry, and we are pleased they have confidence in our ability to attain debt financing to acquire Gannett on these terms," stated R. Joseph Fuchs, Chairman of the Board of MNG Enterprises, Inc. "MNG is a profitable newspaper operator with a strong, unlevered balance sheet. The combined company's leverage profile would be conservative relative to industry comparables." Mr. Fuchs continued, "It's time for Gannett's Board of Directors to stop blocking value creation opportunities for its shareholders and engage with MNG. On January 14, 2019, we made a proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Gannett, not owned by MNG, for $12.00 per share in cash, representing a 41% premium over Gannett's closing share price of $8.53 on December 31, 2018 and a 23% premium to its closing share price of $9.75 on January 11, 2019. We are prepared to move quickly and believe if granted the ability to conduct confirmatory due diligence, we can complete our work and finalize a financing package within weeks." Additional information about MNG, its proposal to acquire Gannett, and its six nominees for eletion to Gannett's board of directors is available at www.SaveGannett.com. Moelis & Company is acting as financial advisor to MNG. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP are serving as its legal counsel. Okapi Partners LLC is acting as MNG's proxy solicitor. About MNG Enterprises MNG Enterprises, Inc. is one of the largest owners and operators of newspapers in the United States by circulation, with approximately 200 publications including The Denver Post, The Mercury News, The Orange (News - Alert) County Register and The Boston Herald. MNG is a leader in local, multi-platform news and information, distinguished by its award-winning original content and high quality, diversified portfolio of both print and local news and information web sites and mobile apps offering rich multimedia experiences across the nation. For more information, please visit www.digitalfirstmedia.com. Important Information MNG Enterprises, Inc., together with the other participants in the solicitation (collectively, "MNG"), have filed a preliminary proxy statement and an accompanying BLUE proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC (News - Alert)") to be used to solicit votes for the election of its slate of highly-qualified director nominees at the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders of Gannett Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"). Information concerning the identity of the participants in the solicitation and a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is available at http://savegannett.com/disclaimer. MNG STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS, INCLUDING A PROXY CARD, AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON (News - Alert) THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST. REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS' PROXY SOLICITOR, OKAPI PARTNERS LLC, AT ITS TOLL-FREE NUMBER (888) 785-6668 OR VIA (News - Alert) EMAIL AT [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005699/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] KBRA Affirms Ratings for Hamilton Re and Hamilton Insurance Group On March 14, Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) affirmed the insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) of A for Hamilton Re, Ltd. (Hamilton Re), a class 4 Bermuda specialty reinsurer. KBRA also affirmed the issuer rating of BBB+ for the organization's ultimate holding company, Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd. (Hamilton Group). Hamilton Re and Hamilton Group are collectively referred to as Hamilton. These actions followed the announcement by Hamilton that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Pembroke Managing Agency Limited (Pembroke) platform at Lloyd's and Ironshore Europe DAC (IEDAC) from Liberty Mutual Group. The Outlook for both ratings is Stable. The ratings reflect the fact that the 2018 results for Hamilton are in line with KBRA's expectations, as well as the strategic benefits to be provided by the announced acquisition. The announced transaction is consistent with Hamilton's strategic vision to grow - both organically and inorganically - as a global specialty insurer and reinsurer. The acquisition will roughly double the size of Hamilton's premium base and diversify its underwriting portfolio with low volatility and high-quality specialty business. Additionally, Hamilton will earn fee-based income from managing third-party Syndicates which will reduce earnings volatility and enhance overall returns. KBRA believes the transaction will materially enhance Hamilton's presence at Lloyd's as well as provide it with a Dublin-domiciled carrier with a UK branch. The non-Lloyd's platform provides Hamilton with primary insurance capabilities in the E.U. as well as in the U.S., including U.S. excess and surplus lines licenses. KBRA expects the transaction to have a slightly favorable impact on Hamilton's earnings in 2020, with significant accretion thereafter. Moreover, KBRA does not expect Hamilton's financial leverage to increase materially as the proposed acquisition is to be funded mainly with internal resources. To the fullest extent possible, the proposed acquisition is structured so that Liberty Mutual Group etains responsibility for prior year business at both Lloyd's and the Dublin-domiciled carrier, thereby reducing uncertainty surrounding prior year reserve development for Hamilton. The trade-off for Hamilton is reduced underwriting revenue in 2019 and 2020 due to the time required to restore earned premium levels within the acquired business. Balancing these strengths is significant execution risk for planned business initiatives, including integration of the newly acquired entities upon closing and further development of Hamilton's capital markets capabilities, partially offset by management's proven track record in M&A execution and integration. The Stable Outlook reflects KBRA's expectation that, in addition to successful integration of Pembroke and IEDAC post-closing, Hamilton will continue to maintain sound capitalization while prudently executing its business plan. Additionally, KBRA expects Hamilton Re to maintain sufficient liquidity to cover projected liability cash flows. Related Publications: (available at www.kbra.com) Hamilton Insurance Group, Ltd. Rating Report CONNECT WITH KBRA Twitter LinkedIn Download the iOS App YouTube About KBRA and KBRA Europe KBRA is a full service credit rating agency registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus, is recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider, and is a certified Credit Rating Agency (CRA) by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered with ESMA as a CRA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005732/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Athene Explores Consumer Biases in Retirement Savings Through New Online Video Series Athene USA ("Athene"), a leading provider of retirement savings products, announced the launch of a four-part video series created in partnership with Wall Street Journal Custom Content examining common behavioral biases that hinder retirement planning. Retirement planning and behavior disconnect Today's retirees are facing unique financial challenges compared to previous generations, particularly increased life expectancy and the risk of outliving savings. While ensuring guaranteed lifetime income has arguably never been more important, comparatively few consumers purchase annuities as a means to achieve that security. "A recent survey indicates that 84 percent of respondents said receiving a monthly paycheck during retirement was important to them, yet only 14 percent of working-aged Americans have purchased an annuity," said Grant Kvalheim, Chief Executive Officer at Athene. "Since annuities are one of the best ways to guarantee lifetime income, we wanted to understand why that disparity exists and raise awareness about solutions that can help consumers." Addressing uncertainty biases To understand the disconnect, Athene commissioned a review of research conducted by consumer investment behavior experts from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Solving the Annuity Puzzle: A Behavioral Analysis1 examines why annuity contracts are purchased less often than other types of insurance vehicles. The study defines 10 biases that keep consumers from purchasing annuities - including unrealistic optimism about the future and misguided assumptions about risk. Paired with the biases are solutions retirees can use to hep overcome them. "Our goal was to make these biases easy to understand and show why addressing them is crucial to long-term financial security," said Kvalheim. Leveraging insights from the study, the animated videos bring to life four of these biases: Don't Discount the Future: Present Bias - The choice between immediate gratification and future rewards. The choice between immediate gratification and future rewards. Building Confidence: Fluency Bias - Electing the option that is more simply described, even if it's riskier. Electing the option that is more simply described, even if it's riskier. History vs. Recency: Availability Bias - Look to history for investment decisions rather than recent events. Look to history for investment decisions rather than recent events. Countering Overconfidence: Overconfidence Bias - Naive positivity can cloud judgment, especially when planning for the future. Watch the videos and learn more Athene's four-part video series was produced in partnership with Wall Street Journal Custom Content. To view the video series, visit https://partners.wsj.com/athene/debunking-retirement-planning-myths/ To learn more about Athene, visit athene.com. To download the whitepaper, financial professionals may visit http://more.athene.com/whitepaper. 1Hershfield, Hal E. and Craig R. Fox. "Solving the Annuity Puzzle: A Behavioral Analysis." UCLA Anderson School of Management. 2018. About Athene USA Athene USA is an Iowa-domiciled corporation that serves as the U.S. holding company for Athene's annuity operations in the United States. Headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Athene USA serves customers in all 50 states, and through its predecessor companies, has been serving American consumers for more than 100 years. Further information about our companies can be found at athene.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005743/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] World-Leading Mobility-Focused Startup Event EcoMotion's Preview Edition Debuts in Japan TOKYO, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexvision Mobility (a division of Nexvision Technologies, Inc.) and Plug and Play Japan announced today that they will host "EcoMotion in Japan" as a preview for "EcoMotion Week 2019", a global-scale event that focuses on startups within the mobility sector, on Tuesday, March 26th, 2019 at Plug and Play Shibuya powered by Tokyu Land Corporation. This event in Japan will serve as an advance preview for "EcoMotion Week 2019", and as it is the first stop in EcoMotion's world promotion tour, Japan receives the extraordinary honor of getting to host the tour's initiation. Coming this June in Tel Aviv, "EcoMotion Week 2019" enables global exchange regarding the state of affairs within the autonomous driving and smart mobility sectors, and also demonstrates to the world the success of startups in Israel. Furthermore, this event presents a diverse networking opportunity for professionals in these sectors to exchange ideas with each other as they build the technology of tomorrow. This event in Japan will introduce the contents of "EcoMotion Week 2019" to the world, before the European previews start in May. Date: Tuesday March 26th, 2019 16:00-17:30 Location: Plug and Play Shibuya powered by Tokyu Land Corporation Capacity: 100 people Target Audience: Those involved in the autonomous driving, smart mobility, and automobile industries Attendance fee: Free Registration site: https://ecomotioninjapan.eventbrite.com/ We in Japan welcome Orlie Dahan, the Executive Director of EcoMotion, who has worked alongside Israeli startups, venture capitals and global corporations to refine EcoMotion into the prestigious event it is today. At this event in Japan, she will preview the contents of "EcoMotion Week 2019", present the current state of autonomous driving and smart mobility as well as Israeli startups, and introduce some outstanding startups in their respective fields. In addition, she will present how Israel launched and expanded its innovation in the automobile industry, explain the reasoning of global trends in the industry, talk about investments in mobility throughout the past years, and detail both the role of the Israeli government in creating an apt environment for the rowth of these industries, as well as how Israeli startups have collaborated with global corporations. Lastly, the following startups will give their pitches to the audience. - Participating Startups Karamba Security ( https://karambasecurity.com/ ) https://karambasecurity.com/ Innoviz Technologies ( https://innoviz.tech/ ) Israel has proven to be a technological hub for hundreds of startups within the autonomous driving and smart mobility sectors, with many companies boasting cutting-edge technology calling the country their home. In recent years, due to this incredible showing, numerous companies seeking such technology have taken notice of Israel and the strengths it has to offer. In this rapidly advancing landscape, EcoMotion works to embolden this success even further by connecting Israeli startups to automobile manufacturing companies and their suppliers, as well as investors. Bolstered by the support of communities all over, ranging from startups to large corporations and investors, research institutions and universities to the government, EcoMotion leverages this support in order to complete its mission of driving the state of mobility technology, both within Israel and beyond, into the future. It aims to achieve this goal with the events it hosts, such as Hack-a-thons and Investor Seminars, as well as its main focus, "EcoMotion Week". About EcoMotion: EcoMotion is a joint venture of the Israel Innovation Institute (private NGO) together with the Israeli government - the Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Initiative (PMO office) and the Ministry of Economy. EcoMotion is a dynamic community with over 600 start-ups (constantly growing) and 8,000 members in the Smart Transportation sector. Understanding startups do not grow in a void, we bring together entrepreneurs, academics, government officials, local & global automotive industry representatives, investors and much more; providing a support platform for knowledge-sharing, networking and collaboration. Our mission is to support the growth of the Israeli Smart Transportation sector and enhance the implementation of innovation in our field, while simultaneously, positioning Israel as a global innovation center for Smart Transportation. EcoMotion has an extensive innovation toolkit to support public and private sector organizations in the implementation of innovation, such as Challenge Competitions, Adaptathons, Networking Events and more! About Nexvision Technologies: Nexvision Technologies supports the open innovation of Japanese Mobility Industries through our extensive global network. By teaming up with startups possessing cutting-edge technology, we contribute to the current technological revolution happening in Japanese society. Our focus area is the autonomous driving and sensing-related landscapes, and we pride ourselves in connecting global startups in these fields to Japanese corporations. Furthermore, our in-house engineers excel in machine learning and deep learning sectors, allowing Nexvision Technologies to develop our own algorithms as well as offer our clients insight into the technological capabilities of the startups they look at. For more information, please visit at https://nexvision.io About Plug and Play Japan: Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, they have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, their programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. Plug and Play Japan, the Japanese arm of Plug and Play, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, opened its doors in 2017. We operate mainly in Tokyo and aim to establish the city as a world-class startup ecosystem. By connecting Japan to markets abroad, we will provide startups from Japan with global access like never before. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/world-leading-mobility-focused-startup-event-ecomotions-preview-edition-debuts-in-japan-300815948.html SOURCE Nexvision Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [March 20, 2019] Elastic Nominates Caryn Marooney to Board of Directors Elastic N.V. (NYSE: ESTC), the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack, announced that Caryn Marooney has been nominated to join its Board of Directors. Marooney is a globally recognized marketing executive who is currently Vice President of Global Communications at Facebook (News - Alert), a position she's held for seven years. "Caryn brings a unique perspective to Elastic, having worked with some of the most successful companies the technology industry has ever seen," said Shay Banon, founder and CEO of Elastic. "We are excited to have Caryn join our team and be a part of our journey, and I am particularly excited to work closely with her and learn from her experience." "I am humbled to be asked to join Elastic's Board of Directors," said Caryn Marooney. "I am excited to work with Elastic's leadership to continue serving Elastic's customers and its wider community by building search technology that is useful, real-time and flexible." Marooney has strong roots in the technology industry, having worked with many companies who have, and continue to, disrupt the status quo. As CEO and co-founder of The OutCast Agency, she helped companies like Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce and VMware build their brands into the household names that they are. At Facebook, Marooney leads global communications, shaping the company vision and narrative for Facebook and its family of apps including Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Oculus. Since 2014, Marooney has served on the board of directors of Zendesk. Pursuant to Dutch law, Marooney's nomination to the Board of Directors is subject to a shareholder vote, expected to be held at an extraordinary general shareholder meeting in late April 2019. Upon her election to the Board, Marooney will also be appointed to serve as a member of the Company's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. About Elastic Elastic is a searc company. As the creators of the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash), Elastic builds self-managed and SaaS (News - Alert) offerings that make data usable in real time and at scale for search, logging, security, and analytics use cases. Founded in 2012, Elastic is a distributed company with Elasticians working in countries around the world. Learn more at elastic.co. Elastic and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Elastic N.V. and its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Important Additional Information and Where You Can Find It The Company plans to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC (News - Alert)"), and furnish to its shareholders, a proxy statement (the "Proxy Statement") in connection with the election of Caryn Marooney to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Director Election"), to be voted upon at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (the "Extraordinary Meeting"). Anyone who is a shareholder of record or beneficial owner of the Company's shares as of the record date will be entitled to vote their shares at the Extraordinary Meeting. This communication is not a substitute for the Proxy Statement or any other document that the Company may file with the SEC or send to its shareholders. SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT THE COMPANY WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THE DIRECTOR ELECTION. Shareholders will be able to obtain free copies of the Proxy Statement (when it becomes available), any solicitation materials and any other documents filed with the SEC by the Company through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov or by contacting the Company's Investor Relations department at +1 (650) 695-1055 or [email protected]. Participants in the Solicitation The directors and executive officers of the Company may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of the Company in connection with the Director Election. Information regarding the interests of participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the Extraordinary Meeting will be included in the Proxy Statement. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements herein are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks identified in our SEC filings. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this report and the exhibit hereto. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190320005769/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 may be the middle child of the S10 lineup, but don't sleep on this powerful smartphone or its beautiful display. The 6.1-inch Galaxy S10 may be the middle child of the S10 lineup, but don't sleep on this powerful smartphone or its beautiful display. Make way, Galaxy S10. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is here, which bring advanced cameras, 120Hz displays and improved performance to the company's flagship phone. That brings up an interesting question: should prospective buyers entertain one of the newer models, or snag a Galaxy S10 on the cheap, while many retailers have heavily discounted their stock? That all depends on how badly you want the S20's upgrades. The S20 models packs 5G connectivity and Snapdragon 865 power; a triple-lens rear camera with a 48-megapixel, 3x optical zoom lens; a 120Hz display; and a larger, 4,000-mAh battery, among other upgrades. es. You could save nearly a quarter of what the S20 costs and still get one of last year's finest phones in the Galaxy S10, with its dazzling OLED display and great (if not class-leading) cameras that come alive when shooting low light. Even with the S20 looming large, the S10 is still every bit the jack-of-all-trades premium Android handset it was when it launched not to mention one of the best smartphones money can buy. If you're on the fence, be sure to check our Galaxy S20 versus Galaxy S10 comparison to see all the differences. And see how Samsung's flagship stacks up against Apple's in our Galaxy S10 vs iPhone 11 Pro face-off. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Price and availability You can buy a Galaxy S10 from all major retailers. The big four U.S. carriers AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile carry the S10, as do U.S. Cellular and Xfinity Mobile. You can also order an unlocked Galaxy S10 online. Following the Galaxy S20's launch, Samsung began offering the 128GB Galaxy S10 for $749 and the 512GB model for $899. Those models cost $899 and $1,149, respectively, before the S20 entered the picture. Check out our roundup of best Galaxy S10 deals for more opportunities to save. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Specs Price $899 Display (Resolution) 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED (3040 x 1440) Rear Camera(s) 16-MP ultrawide (/2.2), 12-MP dual-pixel wide (/1.5, /2.4), 12-MP telephoto (/2.4) Front Camera 10-MP dual-pixel (f/1.9) CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 RAM 8GB Storage 128GB, 512GB microSD Yes, up to 512GB Battery 3,400 mAh Colors Prism Black, Prism White, Prism Blue, Prism Green (except U.S.), Flamingo Pink (except U.K.) Size 5.9 x 2.77 x 0.3 inches Weight 5.5 ounces Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Display Almost every other smartphone maker has eliminated bezels by adding a notch that swoops down from the top of the device to disguise the front-facing camera. Samsung avoided that trend altogether with all three Galaxy S10 models, instead developing the unique Infinity-O display, which embeds the front-facing camera lens directly in the screen. The midsized S10 sports a hole-punch-size cutout for its single selfie lens, which is far less distracting than the S10 Plus' oval-shaped cutout. I read lengthy New York Times articles, raced my trusty Mitsubishi Lancer in Asphalt 9 and took multiple selfies with the S10, and the hole punch never took away from the experience. When snapping photos of myself, I realized that the obvious cutout ensured I always looked directly at the lens. For those of you who never seem to nail eye contact with the camera lens, the S10's cutout is a great feature, making this task ridiculously easy. You can also hide the hole punch with Samsung's cleverly designed wallpapers. That won't help when you're streaming videos or browsing the web, but the disguise looks pretty damn good when you show it off to friends. The slightly curved glass practically cascades from the phone's frame. That curved glass also makes it a little too easy to accidentally press something simply because you were holding the device; this was also a problem in past generations of Galaxy phones. If you want to hide the cutout altogether, thats an option, but that effect is so ugly that you may as well buy another Android device with a notch and call it a day. The S10 broke DisplayMate's records for display brightness, color accuracy and image contrast, and the list goes on, so the S10 earned an A+ for a virtually perfect display. We found the same in our testing. The S10's AMOLED display covers 208.2 percent of the sRGB color gamut and notched a 0.38 Delta-E rating for color accuracy (numbers closer to 0 are better). The S10 hit a peak brightness of 611 nits when we shone a flashlight on its sensor, making the phone's panel almost as bright as that on the S10 Plus (625 nits). The Pixel 3 is ultra dim by comparison, hitting just 362 nits. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Design Aside from the hole-punch display, the Galaxy S10 is the same as every other smartphone on the market. That's not a bad thing, but if you're waiting for innovative smartphone design before spending close to $1,000 (or far more) for a new device, you'll have to hold out for the foldable phones arriving this year. The 6.1-inch S10 has the exact same dimensions as Apple's 6.1-inch, $749 iPhone 11 but is more than a full ounce lighter. The S10 isn't a one-handed device for those of us with petite paws; the 5.8-inch S10e is both smaller and cheaper, so go for that device if size is the deciding factor for you in phone selection. The S10 comes in the same colors as the larger $999 Galaxy S10 Plus, which offers a few simple options (like white and black) and some bolder ones (blue, Flamingo Pink). I tested the Prism Black model, which is a terribly boring glassy black slab. I suggest going with Prism White, or one of the more interesting hues, which will help you stand out. The black model collects so many fingerprints that you'll look like a really uncool forensics investigator. Like all Galaxy S models, the S10 is rated IP68 water-resistant, meaning it can survive in up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water for a half-hour. That's respectable in the flagship phone realm, and thus earns the Galaxy S10 a spot on our list of the best waterproof phones. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Cameras The S10 and S10 Plus have one key difference, aside from the larger phone's bigger display: The Plus sports an additional 8-megapixel, depth-sensing, front-facing camera for better selfies. Both devices have a selfie-portrait effect, which enables other effects, including wind-swept and black-and-white backgrounds. But the S10 achieves those effects using software instead of an additional depth-sensing lens, and it shows when comparing the two side by side. As you can see in the black-and-white Live Focus image above, the S10's camera software gets a little messy around my curls. Meanwhile, the S10 Plus seamlessly softens the background around them, creating a more natural effect. Otherwise, the S10 and S10 Plus have the same rear triple-lens camera array, with telephoto, standard and wide-angle shooters for capturing a variety of viewpoints. I compared the S10 with a Pixel 3 by capturing a Brooklyn storefront. Both images capture the detail in the brick and the gleam of the coffee shop's sign, but the S10 is more color-accurate; the neon "No Sleep Till" sign glowed more yellow than blue-white in real life. I also compared the S10's telephoto lens and optical zoom with the iPhone XS cameras by playing tourist with a photo of the Statue of Liberty as seen from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. It's an almost impossible shot, because Lady Liberty is extremely far away and the midday sun is not helpful. The iPhone's optical zoom fared better, as the S10's image is darker, with more artifacts in the photo. The S10's cameras are good, though if you want more dramatic photos, the Pixel 3 and newer Pixel 4 remain better options, while the latest iPhones capture more-natural shots. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Security Samsung can't compete with Apple on biometric authentication, and we're not sure the Galaxy maker is even trying. This is one area where Samsung needs to work harder to ensure that unlocking your phone and authenticating payments are locked down with the most secure biometric scans that money can buy. In our testing, the S10's facial recognition is easily fooled by a photograph of a person's face. That's just plain embarrassing. The photo trick doesn't work if you turn off Fast Facial Recognition in the S10's settings, but the facial-authentication method is still less secure than it should be. That's because Samsung doesn't use hardware to create a 3D map of your face the way Apple does with its Face ID. The S10's in-display reader is more secure, due to an ultrasonic sensor that maps the 3D curves of your fingerprint. You have to press a little longer on the sensor than you would think, but the phone unlocks quickly enough, and I appreciate that it's not a two-step process, like on the iPhone XS. (On that phone, you have to wait for the camera to scan your face and then swipe up.) There have been some complaints about the Galaxy S10's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor not working properly when a screen protector is applied to the phone. In fact, one woman claims that anyone could unlock her Galaxy S10 after she purchased a screen protector off of eBay. Fortunately, Samsung issued an update designed to fix this problem shortly after release. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Performance The Galaxy S10 Plus and smaller S10 have the same exact specs, and it shows in their performance power. With Qualcomm's 7-nanometer Snapdragon 855 processor and 8GB of RAM, the S10 easily matches the larger S10 Plus' speed. The two devices scored evenly on Geekbench 4, a synthetic test of overall system performance. The S10 notched a multicore score of 10,813, sneaking just ahead of the larger phone's performance (10,732). Both phones lag behind the iPhone XS' A12 Bionic processor, which blows away the competition with a 11,420 score. But both S10s handily crush their Android rivals, including the Pixel 3 (7,316) and OnePlus 6T (8,972). MORE: Best phones: Here are the 10 best available And the S10, like the S10 Plus, pulled ahead of both the iPhone and competing Android flagships in the 3DMark Slingshot Extreme graphics-performance benchmark. The S10 notched a score of 5,606 on the OpenGL ES 3.1 test, just behind the larger S10's score (5,648) and easily ahead of the results from the OnePlus 6T (5,183), Pixel 3 (4,396) and iPhone XS (4,339). I unlocked one premium race car after another in my favorite graphics-intensive game, Asphalt 9, easily killing 45 minutes burning rubber around the globe. The S10 never lagged or felt warm to the touch. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Battery life The Galaxy S10's 3,400-mAh battery isn't as large as the massive, 4,100-mAh pack inside the S10 Plus. And as expected, the smaller device doesn't last as long on a charge, though you can still go a long time without topping off your battery. The S10 eked out 10 hours and 19 minutes on the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over 4G LTE. The S10 Plus landed near the top of our list of longest-lasting smartphones, reaching 12 hours and 35 seconds on that test. MORE: Smartphones with the longest battery life The Galaxy S9 Plus, released in 2018, also lasts longer on a charge than the S10, but that older phone has a slightly larger, 3,500-mAh battery. The S10e and its smaller, 3,100-mAh unit died after 9 hours and 42 minutes. The S10 outlasted both the iPhone XS (9:41) and the Pixel 3 XL (9:30). In the iPhone 11 Pro vs. Samsung's S10 face-off, the Pro lasted four minutes longer (10:23) than the S10. All three Galaxy S10 models have a new Wireless PowerShare feature that we wish every smartphone on the market offered. The tool, which you toggle on in the shortcuts menu by swiping down, lets you charge up any Qi-compatible device. I used this to charge up Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active, and the process works quickly and seamlessly. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Software The OneUI software on the Galaxy S10 is streamlined as promised and fairly to easy to use. The settings menu, for example, presents a lot fewer options than previous Galaxy phones. By default, theres a Recent Apps, Home Button and Back button along the bottom of the display. But you can switch to full-screen gestures. You'll swipe up from the bottom left to see recent apps, up from the bottom to go home and up from the right to go back. The Galaxy S10 also now offers some of the more compelling software features of the Galaxy Note 10. These include Live Focus video for applying bokeh effects to your footage and Samsung DeX for PC, which allows you to see notifications and send and receive messages on your laptop without having to fire up your phone. Samsung Galaxy S10 review: Verdict Even more than a year since its release, the Galaxy S10 offers superfast performance and a beautiful display, with a less distracting camera cutout than on the larger, pricier S10 Plus. I also love that the S10 offers my favorite feature, Wireless PowerShare. That means you don't have to splurge on the priciest Galaxy to reverse-charge all of your devices. Apple and Google's latest flagships sport better cameras, depending on whether you prefer more dramatic or more natural shots. And if you want longer battery life, the S10 Plus is a better bet, provided you can handle a larger, 6.4-inch screen. We do prefer the S10 to the value-priced OnePlus 6T, based on our face-off. Sure, the Galaxy S20's redesigned triple-camera stack and 5G connectivity could put the Galaxy S10's photography and data speeds to shame. But at the end of the day, if all you're looking for is a well-rounded, well-crafted Android flagship that can do it all including work with a pair of good old-fashioned wired headphones for a price you can sleep easy at night spending, the Galaxy S10 remains an unbeatable proposition. Many of the rumors swirling about the entry-level versions of Googles Pixel smartphone appear to be on the money except what Google plans to call its upcoming devices. (Image credit: The Pixel 3 XL (left) and Pixel 3 could soon see budget versions named the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. (Credit: Tom's Guide)) The common assumption about the reported phones was that Google planned to call them the Pixel 3 Lite and 3 Lite XL. But not so fast, according to 9to5Google, which reports that the phones will instead arrive as the Pixel 3a and 3a XL. That claim is based on the Android Q beta, which became available to developers last week. The beta code contains references to the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, and 9to5Google says its confirmed that these will be the release names for the phone when they arrive this spring. The report also debunks another assumption people had been making about Googles lower-cost phones. Early reports suggested those phones would feature LCD screens as a way to keep the cost of the devices down. But 9to5Google cites a source claiming that the 5.6-inch Pixel 3a will use an OLED panel. MORE: Best Budget Phones The report didnt give certain details on the screen for the Pixel 3a XL, but it seems unlikely the 6-inch version of Googles Lite phone would use a different type of display. Both handsets will still feature plastic-body designs that mimic their premium Pixel counterparts, and theyll be powered by lesser processors. 9to5Google says its confirmed that the Pixel 3a will run onthe Snapdragon 670, while its been expected that the Pixel 3a XL will use a Snapdragon 710.The 3a and 3a XL are likely to offer a healthy 64GB of storage. The report seemingly confirms other rumored details, particularly about the Pixel 3a. Its expected to have 4GB of memory, a 3,000 mAh battery, and the same camera as the premium Pixel, though its expected to lack the second selfie lens found on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. Googles expected splash into flagship-budget handsets would happen right after the two big phone makers in the world have released their first attempts at lower-priced models the Samsung Galaxy S10e and the Apple iPhone XR. With the Pixel 3a and 3a XL being the most budget handsets of the bunch, based on specs, Google could be in position to start its phones at $600 or cheaper and undercut its competition. Since Googles reported spring release for the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL cant be too far away, we should have all of our answers soon. (Image credit: MariaX/Shutterstock) The European Union (EU) isn't letting up on Google. Authorities fined the company 1.5 billion euros (roughly $1.7 billion) today for violating antitrust regulations by stifling competition in the online advertising market on which much of the web relies. Here's what the European Commission's Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy, said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate--and consumers the benefits of competition. This is the third fine the EU has issued Google since 2017. The first one, which involved the company favoring its shopping services in search results, was for 2.4 billion. The second fine revolved around the company using Android to promote its services; the 4.34 billion fine set a new record for tech companies. Google published a blog post yesterday saying it's complying with the EU's orders. The company said it is "testing a new format that gives direct links to comparison shopping sites, alongside specific product offers from merchants" and has changed Android's licensing model to make it easier to offer alternatives to its apps. The post didn't mention any fines. It's not clear if Google plans to appeal the decision--like it did with the two previous fines--or if it's merely waiting to release a response. Either way, it's clear that the EU doesn't plan to relieve any of the scrutiny it's placed on tech companies. "There isn't anything that Trump could do or say that cable news wouldn't debate," Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks said, referencing Trump's Fifth Ave. comments, "he could say 'you know what I'm Black' and his supporters would go on cable news and go 'orange is the new black, of course he is' and they'll have a debate!" Kansas City Copes With Rising Tide Below Experts offer tips to prepare for basement flooding ahead of time KANSAS CITY, Mo. - With significant flooding happening north of Missouri, experts suggest Kansas City area homeowners inspect and prepare their basements before nearby rivers rise. For decades, in Kansas City, Missouri, has been focused on foundations, helping more than 45,000 homeowners. Police Want To Talk To This Dude After Armed Dollar Store Robbery Video: KCPD asking for help to identify armed robbery suspect The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department is asking for help to identify the suspect involved in an armed robbery at a KC discount store.Police released video of the incident, which happened at a discount store in the 5900 block of Wilson Road.That incident happened in broad daylight at 1:54 p.m. Local Catholic Followup Former Kansas City priest's medical licenses become inactive in 2 states KANSAS CITY, KS (AP) - A former Kansas City priest who was defrocked last year following an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse no longer has valid licenses to practice medicine in Kansas and Missouri, according to registration records. Kansas City Gunfire Aftermath Man rushed to hospital after shooting Tuesday morning Police are investigating. SOURCE: KMBC The Kansas City, Missouri police department is investigating an early morning shooting.Police said a man called for help around 7:15 a.m. Local Capture Aftermath IN CUSTODY: Travis Lee Davis captured in east Sedalia Travis Lee Davis in custody Escaped inmate Travis Lee Davis has been captured in Pettis County.According to the Pettis County sheriff, Davis was arrested in eastern Sedalia early Tuesday morning.Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond said authorities believe Davis returned to Missouri Friday night, and that he had been hanging out, "just over the county line from Sedalia."Authorities conducted two manhunts for Davis in the Sedalia area. Serving BBQ In Crisis Operation BBQ Relief heading to Nebraska to serve flooding victims KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A local barbecue nonprofit is headed to Nebraska to help thousands of people affected by flooding. Operation BBQ Relief said on Facebook that it plans to visit shelters north of Omaha. Crews will likely serve as many as 1,500 meals per day. City Hall Hosts Conflicted Politicos All KC candidates should disclose conflicts of interest | The Kansas City Star Kansas City requires officeholders and city officials to file personal financial disclosure statements. That doesn't extend to non-incumbent candidates, an issue the city should address this year. Rent Too Damn High in The Dotte In Wyandotte County, Housing Is Eating Up Paychecks And Harming Health It's no longer news that when it comes to its residents' health, Wyandotte County ranks near the bottom of Kansas counties and Johnson County ranks at the top. Nor is it news that the health disparities between the two adjoining counties have less to do with individual behaviors than with socioeconomic factors like income levels, jobs, education and long-standing practices such as redlining and predatory lending that discriminate against people of color. Local Biz Talk Today Linda McMahon speaks at business conference in Overland Park Linda McMahon, who heads up the Small Business Administration, spoke at an international business conference Tuesday in Overland Park, Kansas. Sen. Blunt Stands Up For Troops Senator Roy Blunt meets with Missouri troops on Afghanistan trip KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (KCTV) -- Senator Roy Blunt (MO-R) traveled to the Middle East to visit with Missouri service members deployed to Afghanistan. Blunt released the following statement after the meeting: "I couldn't be more proud of the Missouri service members who dedicate their lives to keeping our country safe. More On Mean Tweet Switcheroo Kansas governor withdraws nomination for state appeals court SOURCE: John Hanna Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has withdrawn a trial-court judge's nomination to Kansas' second-highest court in the face of opposition in the Republican-controlled state Senate.Kelly's decision Tuesday came only a day after Senate President and Wichita Republican Susan Wagle predicted that nominee Jeffry Jack would not be confirmed to the Kansas Court of Appeals.Republicans decried posts on Jack's Twitter feed in 2017 that criticized President Donald Trump and expressed support for gun control and abortion rights. EPIC Kansas City Turnaround Context for our discourse . . .Closer to home, here are the news links we're checking regarding alleged misdeeds and all manner of other local topics . . .And this is thefor right now . . . The Hump! Podcast Ep. 19: Go Go Juice | HeSaysSheSaysKC Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Welcome to The Hump! Podcast .... In episode 19 of The Hump! Podcast: Go Go Juice .... hosts Brent Bowen and Chad Beland talk the life-sustaining nectar of coffee. Our favorite family talkers speak with another Internets radio crew in a local media collab that takes a deep dive into local niches. Take a listen Kansas City Soggy Hand Up KC metro groups step up to help others impacted by flooding WESTON, Mo. - With parts of the Midwest dealing with flooding along the Missouri River, some groups in the Kansas City metro are stepping up to help people in need. At Weston United Methodist Church, members have been collecting supplies and donations for the last few days to put together cleaning kits. Local Foodie Kill List Kansas City restaurant openings and closings for April 2019 After months of delays, Laura Norris has at last reopened Italian eatery Ragazza at a new location just off the Plaza (4301 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.). The new space offers 96 seats - a huge jump from the 40 seats at the original location - and features an expanded menu. Rock Chalk Discount Recruitment Kansas Hopes To Convince California Students To Trade Beaches For Cheap College Tuition Kansas universities are looking beyond the Midwest - as far out as California - for out-of-state students to fill their classrooms. But other states are competing just as hard for Kansas students. For more than 20 years, the Midwest Higher Education Compact has lowered the barrier to Midwestern students studying at other universities in the region. Something River This Way Comes Army Corps of Engineers monitoring vulnerable levees The Army Corps of Engineers is monitoring vulnerable levees as the Missouri River continues to rise. Caring For KC Chesticles Insurance companies in Kansas and Missouri are now covering 3D mammograms Breaking News Kansas City, MO - Women who wanted 3D mammograms in the past, had to pay an additional $30 to $50. At the start of the new year, that fee went away. Dr. Onalisa Winblab with the University of Kansas Health System says it's the newest technology and it has two major benefits. Home Team 100 Game Loss Prep Kansas City Royals: How is the bullpen shaping up? Compared to last year, almost anything would be an improvement for the Kansas City Royals bullpen. In fact, I believe the bullpen improved the moment Brandon Maurer, Justin Grimm, Blaine Boyer and Burch Smith were off the team. This group accounted for 181 hits and 141 runs in 143.2 innings. Kansas City Spring Weather Day One Warm, sunny for first day of Spring This weekend is looking a little damp. Hottiewith a brief consideration of auto good life . . .Closer to home here are the local news links we're checking right now . . .is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . . Riverside mayor vows to fight legislative effort to allow video gambling in retail businesses The mayor of Riverside regardless of what you call them, she considers them slot machines, and she is not happy.A bill that just passed a Missouri state senate committee would allow retailers with liquor licenses, like restaurants and bars, to install video lottery terminals. A worthwhile report reminds us that the gaming industry pretty much decimated the local working-class in and around Kansas City as bankruptcies & foreclosures spiked since the rise of the boats . . . Now, there's really no stopping this vice that sells itself by way of education funding, ironically, so that they can continue to prey upon people who don't understand probability or statistics.Read more: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of Missouri fired a campus police officer after a blackface photo of him was discovered, the university announced on Tuesday. A release from the university said MU Police Officer Marcus Collins admitted he was the person in the the picture. LAWRENCE, KS (AP) - Lawrence officials are considering a plan to slash the city's penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, which can currently add up to hundreds of dollars. The City Commission on Tuesday evening was set to discuss a draft ordinance to reduce the fine to $1 for first and second convictions of possessing 32 grams or less of marijuana, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Do you remember Henrik Fisker? He is the man behind the original Karma PHEV that drove Fisker Automotive into bankruptcy. However, Fisker has now announced a sub $40,000 SUV that will be one of the three mass-market cars that his company, Fisker Inc., plans to build in the near future. The automaker is aiming for a 300-mile range and is planning to launch this unnamed SUV in the second half of 2021. Will Mr. Fisker be able to secure a chunk of the market this time around? On paper, the SUV looks better than the Tesla Model Y LISTEN 03:22 Is This Just Another Promise? Fisker has assured that the SUV will carry a price tag of less than $40,000. This primarily means that Fisker has its eyes set on the Tesla Model Y. The teaser for the SUV is actually a sketch of its design. But, given that the Karmas production version was very close to the concept revealed, something that even James May went on to acknowledge in Top Gear, we can expect the same to happen with this SUV too. The sketch revealed shows sleek LED headlights and a massive grille placed on the bumper. In all honesty, the SUV looks great upfront and is one of the smartest-looking SUV faces that we have seen lately. It will carry an 80-kWh battery pack that will help the SUV travel 300 miles on a single charge. According to Fisker, a drivable prototype will be ready by the end of this year. The SUV would also feature an optional all-wheel-drive system. The Tesla Model Y, on the other hand, comes with a 230-mile range and a price-tag of $39,000 for the entry-level variant. Fisker And Its History Henrik Fisker is not a new name in the automotive industry. This designer-turned-automaker is responsible for cars like BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9. His first company, Fisker Automotive, created the ill-fated Karma which was one of the first luxury PHEVs to be introduced to the world. The Karma made its debut at the 2008 North American International Auto Show. The first deliveries were made in 2011, but in 2012, the company went into bankruptcy which resulted in the premature death of the Karma. A smaller version of the Karma, called the Atlantic, never made it to production and the bankruptcy meant that $168 million became bad debts. However, a Chinese company later took over the manufacturing facility in Delaware and the rights to the plug-in hybrid engine. That company eventually launched the car under their brand called the Karma Revero. Youre seeing it right... Those are BUTTERFLY doors Fast-forward to 2016, and Henrik Fisker came back for his second stint as an automaker with a new company called the Fisker Inc. The new automaker showed off the near-production version of the EMotion EV at CES 2018. But, it looks like the car will be pushed until the affordable EV is launched; that means at least till 2021. While this new SUV sounds pretty exciting and strong in theory, will it actually make to production, given Fiskers history, or just like the Atlantic sedan and the EMotion EV, will this Tesla Y competitor may also fade away into oblivion? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. Further reading Composed of Carbon Fiber and Lightweight Aluminum it offers a light-weight and economical presence on the road Read our full review on the 2019 Fisker eMotion. Read our full review on the 2011 Fisker Karma.